The Revolt and The Revolting

"Welcome Home" should extend to other cities. Thank you, heroes!

2012-01-28T20:30:00.001-05:00

...Several hundred veterans, (click title to entry - thank you) many dressed in camouflage, walked alongside military vehicles, marching bands and even the Budweiser Clydesdales. People in the crowd held signs reading "Welcome Home" and "God Bless Our Troops," and fire trucks with aerial ladders hoisted three huge American flags along the route.

"It's not necessarily overdue. It's just the right thing," said Maj. Rich Radford, who became a symbol of the event thanks to a photo of his young daughter taking his hand while welcoming him home from his second tour in Iraq in 2010....

Transocean exonerated from liabilty in BP Gulf Oil Spill

2012-01-28T14:05:00.000-05:00

Tim Probert (r.) of Halliburton is sworn in along with officials from BP and Transocean before May 11 Senate hearings on the Gulf oil spill.

Published on Fri, 01/27/2012 - 11:25

By FNNO Staff

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) is advancing (click title to entry - thank you) after a judge ruled that Transocean (NYSE:RIG) will not have to pay any clean up costs and economic losses caused by the 2010 Gulf oil spill. Transocean's indemnity agreement with BP (NYSE:BP) protects the company from having to pay compensatory damages, the judge found.

Meanwhile, BP has sued Halliburton, which was the cement contractor for the well that triggered the Gulf spill, for all of the damages and costs caused by the disaster. Similar to Transocean, Halliburton has countered by saying that its contract with BP indemnifies it from all damage claims related to the disaster.

In mid-morning trading, Halliburton gained $1.09, or 3.01%, to $37.25, while Transocean rose $0.89, or 1.88%, to $48.15 and BP fell $1, or 2.23%, to $43.77....

The Arab League needs help, which, indicates there are sincere problems in Syria.

2012-01-28T12:42:00.001-05:00

A member of the Free Syrian Army (click here) gestures during a patrol in the western border town of al-Zabadani in this undated still image taken from amateur video obtained by Reuters. (Reuters)

Assad has no intention of giving up his thrown. Oh, sorry, his office. It would appear as though the circumstances in Syria are escalating without regard to human life. There are door to door attacks now. The attacks seem indiscriminate and somewhat for revenge as woman and children are killed as well. There are no trials occurring in Syria, just assault by government forces.

...For the first time (click title to entry - thank you) since the team of monitors was deployed in mid-December, mainly to oversee a cease-fire between Syrian forces and the armed opposition, the league said Syria's government was "in complete contradiction to its commitments" to stop the violence. The news comes as fighting has intensified in several suburbs of Damascus, a new phase of Syria's conflict that holds the potential to move the capital toward chaos.

For the first time in the country's 11-month uprising, commanders of the dissident Free Syrian Army said they have fought back the military for stretches of hours or even days in some Damascus suburbs over the past week, using "hit-and-run" operations that are supported by lightly armed civilians.

The Arab League's mission, which had been extended for a second month, had a mandate to observe the implementation of a peace plan across Syria. The U.N. estimates that more than 5,400 people have been killed in protests against the rule of President Assad, which began in March. Syria, which blamed the violence on armed militants seeking the overthrow of the government, said 2,000 of its security forces have been killed.

The Arab League's decision is likely to escalate diplomatic efforts by the Arab League and Western nations to secure a U.N. Security Council resolution to stop the violence. The efforts have faced opposition from Moscow, a longtime ally of Damascus....

Three people in Texas at a High Roller, Inc. fracking facility were injured.

2012-01-27T23:51:00.004-05:00

“A Railroad Commission inspector (click here) responded around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, to a storage tank fire at a saltwater disposal facility operated by High Roller Well, LLC, south of Pearsall on State Highway 581, south of Pearsall. Preliminary information provided to the inspector indicates that while a truck was unloading saltwater with a skim of condensate (liquid hydrocarbons) into a collection tank, welders were working nearby and sparks from the welding may have ignited vapors around the storage tank, causing the explosion. A firewall around the storage tank site contained spilled fluids, which were picked up with by a vacuum truck.

No violations of RRC rules were found, and the High Roller Well LLC lease is in compliance with Commission rules. As injuries were reported in this incident, the lead investigating agency for this incident would be the federal agency, OSHA, which needs to be contacted for further information.”

The responding fire department was a volunteer unit that had just left their regular jobs at 5:30 PM. At least that was the way it was explained by them. They reported putting the fire out in an hour and a half, but, the report at the link above stated the fire burned for hours until 9 PM. There are inconsistencies in reporting and OSHA has yet to investigate.

The article below is from the news in "Fire Engineering."

Three Injured in TX Fracking Well Explosion, Fire (click title to entry - thank you)

01/20/2012

Three people were injured during an explosion and fire at an oil well in Pearsall, Texas. Hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. "fracking") occurs at the site.

The fire burned for several hours and was extinguished by firefighters. PearsallVolunteer Fire Department Chief Placido Aguilar told StateImpact Texas (http://bit.ly/wuFtNt) an oil tank exploded, causing the fire. Firefighters took about an hour and a half to get the fire under control.

Aguilar also said the fire department has not received any additional funds or personnel during the fracking boom in the area, nor does he expect any to be forthcoming. He noted the fortuitous timing of the incident, which occurred just asvolunteer firefighters were getting out of their day jobs, thereby providing good staffing levels for the response.

It is perfectly obvious the practices reported in both sources the Petroleum Industry continue to be sloppy and dangerous.

continued...

There is a wonderfully qualified lady is running for office in Saginaw County.

2012-01-27T17:50:00.002-05:00

Democrat Judith Lincoln announces her candidacy for 94th District State Representative at Saginaw County Democratic Party Headquarters in Saginaw 122 N. Michigan in Saginaw.

It would be wonderful if she received the support she deserves. We need wonderful ladies in the Michigan State Legislature and quite frankly she has the right idea when it comes to this wayward Governor.

...Lincoln (click title to entry - thank you) is the first Democrat to enter the race....

...“We have witnessed what happens when those in control have as a priority benefiting the wealthiest and most influential people, industries and corporations,” said Lincoln to more than 20 supporters at the Saginaw County Democratic Headquarters, 122 N. Michigan in Saginaw. “We have seen many sacrifices from senior retirees, children (and) working families... but there has been no shared sacrifice.”

Lincoln, an attorney and 12-year former member of the Saginaw Township School Board, said Gov. Rick Snyder and the Republican policies have “raided” $700 million from school funding and transferred it to the general fund.

“How many years has higher education taken hit after hit after hit,” said Lincoln, reiterating her theme pointing to the lack of “shared sacrifice.”...

Now is her time and she has the best message for Michigan and Saginaw County!

There are some real problems with the use of Lake Michigan shoreline in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

2012-01-27T17:10:00.012-05:00

In 1917, (click here) John and Carrie

Klock d e eded a half mile of

Lake Michigan frontage to the City

of Benton Harbor Michigan in

memory of their deceased daughter

Jean. Their gift consisted of

90 acres of globally rare natural

resources that included Great Lakes Dunes, a Great Lakes Marsh and interdunal

wetlands. The donated land was named Jean Klock Park and was dedicated

"FOR THE CHILDREN" - "in perpetuity" - "FOREVER."

The proposed project called "Harbor Shores" has a less than dignified history.

...Billed by the state government as a public-spirited, (click here) grassroots plan for community redevelopment, the project was blocked by the National Park Service (NPS) late last year for failing to involve the local community in decision-making and offering inadequate parcels in trade for the waterfront.

Developers resubmitted the plan, and the NPS-mandated public hearing and comment period, which concluded last month, revealed deep concerns about the plan and its purported benefits to the town. Over 300 written comments were submitted to the city.

Jean Klock Park is the only Lake Michigan waterfront owned by an African-American community and the proposed golf development has emerged as a national environmental justice story with pieces in The Washington Post, and Chicago Tribune. Last month, Michigan Messenger revealed that two top backers of the project, Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) and Whirlpool CEO Jeff Fettig, live just down the street from the planned course....

To say the community doesn't want to give it up is an understatement. I don't know why there are conservation organizations involved and more verbose about this. I realize CEOs believe they can covet any project as nothing short of genius, but, to remove pristine use of this area when an entire community objects to it is more than worrisome. Perhaps the only sin the Benton Harbor Community committed was to ask the National Park Service to charge admission to those outside the community in order to benefit the community in a small way. It is lake shore and summer bathing can be a premium.

In all honesty, the exploitation of the lake shore area could be happening about a few city blocks or so from the park where motels and concessions could be an attraction.

As everyone knows, Benton Harbor is the first city in the USA to be remanded to a Financial Manager. Governor Snyder washes his hands of any knowledge of what is transpiring with his Financial Managers. Unbelievable, that a Governor of any state would actively seek to destroy the democratic processes of elections and simply look the other way, but, hey who wants to be burdened by such things when they go wrong in elections.

The Financial Manager of Benton Harbor has been exceptionally aggressive in destroying the ability of the Mayor and Council to conduct their duties. The Financial Manager is Joseph L. Harris. He must have made a New Year's Resolution because he is discharging elected officials and assigning his own people in their place.

"Benton Harbor - Port of Opportunities" (click here)

Order 12.1 and 12.2 destroys the Benton Harbor Planning Commission. But, Order 12.3 is very curious. See, Mr. Harris has taken the power away from the elected Mayor and Council so there really isn't anything they can do to spend more monies nor resolve the city's debt. But, what is so curious is that a completely disarmed Mayor Pro Tem is being replaced.

WHEREAS, the Emergency Manager (click here) has determined that it is in the best interest of the
City to rernove Marcus Mutrammad from position as Mayor Pro Tem and to appoint Sharon
Henderson as Mayor Pro Tem.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDERED BY THE EMERGENCY MANAGER OF THE
CITY OF BENTON HARBOR" PURSUANT TO ACT 4:
1. That Marcus Mutrammad is hereby removed from the position of Mayor Pro Tem.
2. That Sharon Henderson is hereby appointed to the position of Mayor Pro Tem.
3. This Order shall become effective immediately.
SO ORDERED this this 10th day of January,2Ol2.

LIke, ahh? What the heck is this already! Perhaps understanding what Mr. Mutrammad has to say may bring light to the query. Yes, indeed.

At first blush, (click title to entry - thank you) you might think Mr. Harris was moving autocratically to sideline one of his critics. The now-former mayor pro tem, Marcus Muhammad, has called for an investigation into the relationship between Mr. Harris and the powerful nonprofit that's building the Habor Shores golf result stock-imaged above. That nonprofit is backed by Whirlpool, which has its corporate headquarters in Benton Harbor and is the biggest economic player in the sad, busted-up town.

So it would make sense that Mr. Harris would want to quiet Mr. Muhammad. But it turns out that Mr. Harris says he made the move at the request of the new mayor, who wanted to appoint his own mayor pro tem. The new mayor can't do that, because in an order last year (pdf) Mr. Harris stripped Benton Harbor's elected officials of all powers except the ability to call a meeting to order, approve the minutes, and adjourn the meeting. Now the unelected manager is carrying out, autocratically, the normal duties of the democracy he gutted.

Which is weird.

Weird it is. No doubt in my mind. It would seem Mr. Harris is abusing power and seeks to remove his critics from office. Why? I have no clue, because, if Mr. Harris actually believes that will quite Mr. Mutrammad he forgot that doesn't mean he will NOT become mute. No insult to the handicapped intended.

Someone want to explain how Snyder is actually getting away with this mess? The unemployment in Michigan is improving and there is absolutely no need to sell every city's assets to the highest bidder.

I am worried. The citizens of Benton Harbor thought their wishes were honored years ago, but, evidently their rights to have their own will in regard to their city's lands is being trampled again. Perhaps the CEOs can get in their newly built electric cars and travel a short distance to places other than the beautiful shoreline of Lake Michigan as valued by Benton Harbor!

TV: I Vote 4 Energy

2012-01-27T16:07:00.001-05:00

Reality check on 'the moon colony' Gingrick has proposed.

2012-01-27T10:58:00.010-05:00

Not that I am encouraging Gingrick for President. That is not what this is about. There is a reality about the Moon rarely discussed and quite possibly rarely conceptualized JUST YET.

There is a robotics loop from Honda if one clicks at the title to this entry.

A few facts about what is occurring in regard to the USA focus 'of the future.'

There is currently a Moon Mission the USA has engaged in that maps the surface and quite possibly the subsurface of the Moon. The purpose is to discern the relationship the Moon has to Earth in their development a long time ago. It is important, but, there is also a lot of analysis that will turn up what exactly the Moon is composed of and it is not Green Cheese.

There is also the issue of 'Rare Earth Minerals' ongoing with Afghanistan. China is known to have a bit of a monopoly on that topic. If the analysis of the Moon comes back with a potential to mining of these minerals, there will be colonies on the Moon in the future. They won't be human colonies, but, they will be colonies of robots controlled in offices operated by companies on Earth.

I am sure everyone has seen the Exxonmobile commercial of their sponsorship of projects on robotics in USA High Schools.

We forget all too quickly whom the heroes of the Gulf Oil Spill were over one mile deep.

Robots of the Gulf Spill: Fishlike Subs, Smart Torpedoes (click here)

Meet the 'bots that illuminated deep, dark threats of the BP spill.

Joel K. Bourne for National Geographic News

Published October 26, 2010

SPECIAL SERIES | DEEP IMPACT
Deciphering the unseen, underwater effects of the Gulf oil spill.

This summer, as the world cringed at live video feeds of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from a broken BP wellhead, one message was all too clear: Technology had gone horribly wrong.

What viewers might have missed, however, was that the images were brought to them by a technology that went remarkably right—deep-sea robotics....

The USA will not be undone. It just won't. The focus of the President is correct. Putting a focus on a new launch vehicle, the sincere future of the space program and securing the nation from a limited Earth Element resource may prove to be one of the most valuable changes to the space program. That is profoundly the future. Whether Mr. Gingrick is correct in believing it will see Moon Colonies by 2020 is another question, but, the Republicans pride themselves on private industry ambitions and that is what will follow after NASA finishes their analysis. The only thing Mr. Gingrick is guilty of is providing a 'vision' of the future. The reality is, the potential is already in place.

The President asked states to reduce the drop out rate by staying in school to 18 years old.

2012-01-27T08:28:00.009-05:00

There are currently 20 states that already have 18 years old as an age for drop out of high school. They would probably prevent it from happening at all if the age of majority was 21 years old.

Some of the states are resistant to that change for a couple of reasons; overcrowding and funding.

..."I think (click here) legalizing the age to 18 before a student can drop out sends a strong message," said Assistant Superintendent of Palm Beach County Schools Keith Oswald.

However if the drop out age increased to 18 in Florida, it poses two big questions, over-crowding and how to pay for it....

Those two reasons raise questions about the willingness of states to take on the challenge of educating their children. The funding would be there if a young person stayed in school to graduation so that is a bit of an odd reason. If the state believes it takes additional resources for young people challenged to stay in school there is the question as to what services a high school provides for mentoring and tutoring. If tutoring was completed in classroom, like an old one room school house, the cost would be very minimal.

The second issue, overcrowding, clearly illustrates the real problem facing schools in the USA. The state of California is among the states with highest overcrowding rates.

…Students in overcrowded schools (click title to entry - thank you) pay less attention, achieve less, and experience more violence. Overcrowded schools are more likely to have inadequate or substandard electrical and lighting systems, safety features, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, floors and foundations….

In the illustration above a growing number of California school are taking on the 'calender' of year round school. There are problems in achieving the best outcomes of children in year round schools. This particular website attempts to take on the problems facing California schools to provide better educational opportunities.

The President in his American Jobs Act offered his own solutions to attempt to stem the inadequate facilities and teacher-student ratio. He proposed supporting the number of teachers in the classroom and reconstruction and renovation of schools currently under standard. Yet, those initiatives were obstructed by Republicans in passing The American Jobs Act.

The problem in educating our children WELL and in anticipation of the future and the current global competition requires investment, both, in returning teachers back to work and improving the very structures they are educated. So, the President had the best ideas to improve problems with overcrowding, but, once again obstructionists saw the reason of improving the lives of our students as a meaningless pursuit to improve and grow out economy.

Quite frankly, I admire the President's focus to take on the problem of children dropping out of school, but, there is unwillingness within our government to take the opportunity in a 'paid for' American Jobs Act to carry out some of the most important problems facing our educators and children.

1,000,000 students in multi-track, year-round schools

- Remain in large, overcrowded schools

- Can’t take courses that are offered only on particular tracks, including electives and advanced courses

- Have ill-timed vacations that make it hard for students to get ready for state tests and prepare their college applications

- Miss out on extracurricular activities, remedial and enrichment
programs

- Nearly 350,000 California students in 240 Concept 6 multi-track, year-round schools with fewer (but extended) school days

- Lose the equivalent of a full year of school days and nights for homework (over their 12 years in school)

- Are far more likely to have a teacher without a full credential

- Learn less

Why do I get the idea school districts are starved for monies to improve the circumstances of their students. The other reason there is such a down turn in the quality of the education of out children is due to the 2008 economic implosion. There are more homes in foreclosure, reducing the tax base of cities and counties causing drastic action in some districts to survive the ECONOMIC CRISIS, yet alone the education crisis.

There is nothing wrong with the learning capacity our children, but, there is a lot "W"rong with the esteem we hold the importance their teachers and classrooms.

The one way states can immediately prevent children from leaving school is to close the allowance of emancipation of minors. That is a small number of children, but, currently children as young as 14 can require a court to grant emancipation of their status. That is ridiculous. There needs to be a financial component required by all states before any minor should be emancipated.

In some states, (click here) certain forms need to be completed and filed with the court. Minimally, a minor must show he or she:

(1) is at least 14 years of age;

(2) willingly wants to live away from home with the consent or acquiescence of his or her parents;

(3) can manage his or her own finances; and

(4) has a legitimate source of income.

The court must also be convinced that emancipation would not be contrary to the minor's "best interests."

Such a status is likely to be viewed as an option for children that want to leave school. Don't think for one minute children don't entertain these ideas, because, they do.

The President has opened discussion about requirements to maintain 18 year olds to graduation for specific reasons. Those reasons are best addressed when overcrowding of our schools and the removal of public employees from their jobs are scrutinized under a microscope.

Jan Brewer is practicing to be a Gossip Columnist in her next life. Can we move on from here?

2012-01-26T10:59:00.006-05:00

The fact of the matter is Arizona is heavily reliant on tourism for their GDP. I covered this some time ago. I think it was during the '10 elections.

But, tourism is recovering since 2008. Most areas of THE WORLD, including places like Belize are seeing increases in their GDP due to the recovery of tourism.

So, while the Governor wants to annoint herself as the Queen of Job Creation, she isn't. The reason Jan Brewer is Governor is because she doesn't believe in government and thus stays out of the way of a recovery when it occurs. There is nothing exceptional about her leadership, most third world countries are experiencing the same effect.

The places she concentrates her 'jazz' for election purposes is in 'harassing law enforcement.' The problem with Mexico is a federal problem because it spans several states and not just an Arizona problem.

When Reagan reformed immigration the southern border states should have done then what they are doing today to stop employers from breaking the law and exacerpating the problem. Decades have gone by and it is too late to attempt to undo those years of negligence. There has to be another immigration reform bill with a resolve to secure the southern border of the USA.

After the immigration reform is in place, then and only then can the border be secured. There is no way the USA can afford to spend time routing out illegals currently in the USA. The focus of law enforcement has to be on securing the country from extremists and not people risking their lives to obtain work for less than minimum wage. The illegals may have raucous behavior on Saturday Night, but, they don't aim to destroy the civilization after they risked their lives to be here.

The Red States along the southern border rather control the situation by 'being tough' because they don't want the expense of offering food stamps and medicaid to those that find themselves the USA side of the Rio Grande. California is the only state not taking a hard line because it has put in place support systems for the illegals for decades. They are human beings, not animals to put in a cage. They came to this country for opportunity.

The children of the migrants have come to call the USA home and there is nothing anyone can or should do about making their lives nightmares. They love the USA, have known nothing else and seek to be productive, responsible citizens with happy lives where they EARN their living and pay taxes.

The entire 'culture of control' as practiced by the Republican Party is detimental to human beings and I don't care if it is the 'legal citizens' finding themselves impoverished and needy or if they are illegal citizens finding their way here due to the lack of government responsibility since Reagan tackled immigration problems. The responsibility for the illegals being in the USA directly falls on the states that allow them to be employed and have for decades because it served cronies to make money on the backs of the naive. There is nothing moral about 'the culture of control' in the Red States. It is not about crime, it is about money!

When I heard the words as spoken by Willard M. Romney today, "...Republicans want to help the Middle Class..." it sounded eerie and familiar.

2012-01-25T23:02:00.003-05:00

And then I remembered where I had heard it before.

The year was 2000 and the candidate George W. Bush stated he would cut taxes that would help the Middle Class.

There was a surplus in the USA Treasury at that time, established by the Clinton/Gore administration.

So, Bush decided he'd 'buy' the electorate. The promise to give the lower tax brackets the biggest percentage reductions didn't really work out the way most people thought. Bush somehow mixed up his words when he actually meant the HIGHER TAX BRACKETS would receive the biggest percentage of reductions.

I knew I heard those words before. At least when I heard them when Bush said it, it was believable with a USA Treasury surplus existing.

...Cut Taxes and Make The System Fairer. (click title to entry - thank you)

The Bush economic plan saves over half the surplus to strengthen Social Security and reduce the national debt, and saves over 10% of the surplus for important priorities like education, national defense and health.

This still leaves a quarter of the surplus for much needed, long-overdue tax relief. Governor Bush’s goal is to make it easier for people to join the middle class by cutting taxes and making them fairer.

The Governor’s tax cut will reduce tax rates for every taxpayer, double the child tax credit, slash the marriage penalty, expand deductions for charitable giving, make the research and development tax credit permanent and end the death tax. The biggest percentage reductions go to those in the lower tax brackets because they often face higher marginal tax rates than the wealthy. Taxpayers earning below $50,000, will see their income tax bills cut by over 20% on average. Some politicians say America cannot afford a tax cut in this time of prosperity. Governor Bush says if we leave the money in Washington, it will spent on more government and that giving it back to taxpayers through cuts and reforms is an important insurance policy to help guarantee continued prosperity....

I'd be worried the Iranian fishing vessels were sabotage, but, the Navy doesn't seem to worry about it.

2012-01-25T15:34:00.000-05:00

In this handout (click here) provided by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG 100) responds to a distress call from the Iranian fishing vessel Al Molai off the coast of Somalia approximately 400 nautical miles north of the Republic of Seychelles January 5, 2012 in the Arabian Sea. (File photo by U.S. Navy via Getty Images )

Iran can't respond to the danger their own fishermen face? Something tells me no matter how much the Iranian authorities attempt to demonize the USA Navy to their people, they don't believe them. I am telling you, those 'fast boats' like riding the US Navy's wake waves. They appear to be doing that everytime there is a video loop of them.

Repeating success is not a fantasy. Congratulations to the President and the Seals. Thank you.

2012-01-25T15:08:00.003-05:00

Obama had authorized the mission Monday night. (click here)

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

...American Jessica Buchanan (click title to entry - thank you) and Dane Poul Thisted, who both worked for the Danish Refugee Council Demining Group, were rescued unharmed after helicopter-borne US commandos swooped in on scrubland in central Somalia early Wednesday local time, according to a local Somali official....

Evidently, there were no diplomatic missions that would rescue the pair. Why do NGOs go into such dangerous areas of the world? I realize there are people starving in Somalia, but, there has to be a limit to the amount of danger NGOs expose themselves. Being kidnapped dismantled any ability to deliver the care the people of Somalia need.

By the order of the President of the United States (click here) and under the direction of U.S. Africa Command (U.S. AFRICOM), early Wednesday morning, January 25, 2012, U.S. Special Operations Forces rescued an American citizen and a Danish citizen from captivity in Somalia.

Mrs. Jessica Buchanan of the United States and Mr. Poul Thisted of Denmark, who both worked for the Danish Demining Group, a non-profit humanitarian organization, were kidnapped at gunpoint on October 25, 2011, near Galcayo, Somalia, and were being held for ransom.

The Department of Justice requested assistance from the Department of Defense, which, in turn, directed U.S. AFRICOM to plan and conduct the rescue operation....

continued...

The President in his State of the Union address illustrated the double standard between Clean Energy and Natural Gas.

2012-01-24T22:03:00.006-05:00

He did so not a day to early. The investment the USA has made into developing natural gas without the same investment in Clean Energy has placed clean energy industries in the path of danger of extinction.

Herman K. Trabish

January 18, 2012

Will the Plunging Price of Natural Gas Ruin Renewables? (click title to entry - thank you)

Yes, says Warren Buffett’s policy guy: renewables have a policy option and a marketplace advantage.

...At a meeting of the five largest solar developers and the three largest turbine manufacturers last September, the manufacturers said they had no orders beyond June 2012 and the developers said they had no plans beyond November 2012 according to a Capitol Hill lobbyist that spoke with GTM. “Just nothing,” the lobbyist said. “It’s a cliff.”

Those companies faced the prospect of Congress allowing the lapse of the 1603 cash grant for the solar industry’s investment tax credit (ITC), the impending threat that Congress will not extend the wind industry’s crucial production tax credit (PTC) beyond this year, and the likely inability of federal trade regulators to stop Chinese anti-competitive practices.

Warren Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy has built nearly 600 megawatts of wind in the last two years. But, as MidAmerican federal policy vice president Jonathan Weisgall noted to GTM, “do we have plans beyond December 31 of this year for wind? No.” Because, Weisgall explained, “If the production tax credit is not extended, wind will probably not be the least-cost option.”...

The President's Annual address to Congress is tonight. I am looking forward to it.

2012-01-24T09:11:00.002-05:00

...“It’s going to be a fighting speech,’’ (click title to entry - thank you) said Robert Dallek, a presidential historian and Boston University professor emeritus of history. “He’s going to lay out a contrasting agenda to what the Republicans, particularly Mitt Romney, has been saying about the use of federal power and the way the government approaches the economic difficulties that the country continues to face.’’...

He wore a nice tie last year, but, he needs to prove he is improving the economy by wearing a new tie, preferably one "Made in America" if it still exists.

Obama Speech to Embrace Manufacturing Rebirth as Job Creator (click here)

January 24, 2012, 8:31 AM EST

By Roger Runningen and Margaret Talev

(Updates with Plouffe starting in 10th paragraph.)

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama tonight will lay out what he calls a “blueprint” for revitalizing the economy, emphasizing a rebirth for U.S. manufacturing, bolstering domestic energy production and training workers....

The President has pointed to the success of the auto industry in the USA as a footprint in manufacturing for Made in America. We would like more. In the year 2012 it is possible to have responsible manufacturing in the USA. Manufacturing that does not endanger the health of employees or community.

I went to the movies last night instead of tonight. I saw "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." (click here) Wow, what a movie. It was a very healthy reminder of the dear people touched by the tragedy of September 11th. It was told through the life of a very talented child. In hindsight, I am grateful we took the time and care of the families. It is easy to find oneself in this movie.

In 2010 Willard Mitt Romney paid $3 million in federal income taxes. That should be enough to buy him Florida.

2012-01-24T08:43:00.008-05:00

Mitt Romney talks to the press after holding a round table on housing issues in Tampa, Fla., Jan. 23, 2012. (Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images)

Staff and wire reports

January 23, 2012, 10:44 p.m.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney reportedly paid about $3 million in federal income taxes in 2010 on income of $21.7 million.

Romney's tax returns show most of his income came from investments. He also gave nearly $3 million combined to charitable causes and the Mormon Church, helping reduce his effective tax rate to less than 14%....

He paid an effective rate of 14% to the USA federal income tax. I paid more than that and the amount I paid actually was felt in my household. I guarantee Mr. and Mrs. Romney didn't feel a thing. The Former Governor was also NOT WORKING for a living.

...Gingrich and his wife, Callista, paid $994,708 in federal taxes on gross income of $3,142,066 in 2010, according to copies of the couple's return. The 31.5% tax rate paid by the Gingriches is more than double the amount that Romney reportedly paid on his much larger income....

That is about the percentage, maybe slightly less, of income I paid in income. I didn't have a $1 million credit account at Tiffany's though. Actually, it was probably about 25%. It just seemed like more.

...Thirty years ago, (click here) Congress created the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to administer and enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA)–the statute that governs the financing of federal elections. The regulation of federal campaigns emanated from a Congressional judgment that our representative form of government needed protection from the corrosive influence of unlimited and undisclosed political contributions. The laws were designed to ensure that candidates in federal elections were not–and did not appear to be–beholden to a narrow group of people. Taken together, it was hoped, the laws would sustain and promote citizen confidence and participation in the democratic process....

This is what is so very disturbing about the Robert's Court decision in "Citizen's United." There are laws on the books existing over 30 years that REQUIRE the type of funding for the elections of the USA. "The Federal Election Commission" was couped by the Robert's Court in the Citizen's United decision!

Mr. and Mrs. Adelson are providing the Former Speaker a fighting chance in the GOP primaries.

2012-01-24T08:29:00.002-05:00

Adelsons donate another $5m. to Gingrich (click title to entry - thank you)
By GIL SHEFLER
01/24/2012 11:06
Donation brings casino tycoon and Israeli newspaper owner's contributions to Republican candidate to $10m. in two months.

...Adelson, who also owns Israel Hayom, one of the most widely read newspapers in Israel, is deeply involved in Israeli politics and is known for his staunch support of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

The Boston-born billionaire also donates millions each year to Jewish and Israeli causes. Last December he gave $5 million to Taglit-Birthright, which brings Jewish young adults from the Diaspora on a free trip to Israel. That same month he gave $25 million dollars to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.

Adelson's net worth in 2011 according to Forbes magazine was $21.5 billion, making him the 16th wealthiest person in the world.

The four candidates for the Republican nominee for President all have superpacs. Rep. Ron Paul is spending $1.4 million in Florida. The superpacs are now the reality of American politics. Unfortunately, the elections within the USA appear to be moving further and further from the reach of the average citizen. This new 'allowance' by the Robert's Court is not only unconstitutional, but, a move against the sovereignty of the USA into the hands of the plutocrats. More and more the American people have to begin to make election choices on the interests of removing plutocratic control of their government.

Read their lips, "No new taxes!"

The Tornado Action Recovery Council is about to deliver their findings on the April 27, 2011 Alabama tornado. (click title to entry - thank you)

2012-01-23T15:12:00.005-05:00

January 23, 2012
0730z

UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite USA

This is the satellite before the Alabama tornado.

January 23, 2012
0830z

UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite USA (click here for 12 hour loop)

This is the tornado satellite.

January 23, 2012

0930Z

UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite USA

This is the satellite picture of the storm after it passed through the Alabama communities.

April 27, 2011 (click here for video)

Thunderstorms, severe winds and tornadoes slammed the South Wednesday, killing dozens of people in four states.

The numbers of known dead in Alabama rose rapidly this evening. At least 58 were killed in the state Wednesday, The Associated Press reported after 11 p.m. ET.

The toll came soon after ABC News Birmingham, Ala., affiliate WBMA, also known as "33/40," reported at least 53 people dead, which was not long after Alabama emergency officials told ABC News at least 40 had died.

We look forward to her return.

2012-01-23T13:05:00.000-05:00

Arizona should be proud of Congresswoman Giffords. I can only imagine the recovery she still faces. This tragedy struck at a sensitive time in her personal life as well. She was newly married to a wonderful man. They were looking forward to having a family. This injury did more than remove a brilliant Congresswoman from our midst, it placed her life in a new dimension that has an undetermined future.

I wish she and her spouse the greatest of peace and continued joy in their life together.

The American People have to address the gun violence within our society. This particular gun violence struck at the heart of our democracy, however, everyday there are police officers gunned down on the streets of the USA. The scope of guns within our society is dangerous while it fuels Drug Cartels robbing futures from our children.

The Culture of Violence in the American Society is more than removing dangerous weapons from our streets, but, also the commercial interests that fuel it.

Is the Republican Primary Process Broken?

2012-01-23T12:30:00.002-05:00

By Greg Giroux

Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The Republican primary in South Carolina had record turnout, with bigger gains in voter participation than in Iowa and New Hampshire earlier this month.

The Jan. 21 South Carolina vote drew 602,000 Republicans, a 35 percent increase over 2008 participation, as former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich defeated former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the front-runner in national Republican polls. Gingrich received 40 percent of the vote compared with Romney’s 28 percent....

The problems surrounding the final outcome to the Republican Primarires are nearly too numerous to address in a single entry.

To begin, the Republican Primaries are providing generous amount of time for "Early Voting" that will be denied the same Republican Voters in the Elections in November. There is every chance Republican Voters will be more effected by the limited Early Voting in many states. It may be that Republicans will be more effected as the Democrats are preparing their constituents for a limited window of Early Vetoing days and polling places.

Additionally, Former Governor Palin is advocating a continual vetting process for the candidates. The primaries are preceded by a debate and there are more and more topics that continue to prove to be problematic for candidates causing a backlash of ads by SuperPacs. If Mrs. Palin's words prove to be divisive to the party there may be no clear primary choice of the 2286 delegates at the convention. There are still four strong candidates. One needs 1144 delegates to win the nomination. I don't expect any of the four candidates to leave the race before the convention.

I find it more than fascinating Former Speaker Gingrick is expected to win the South Carolina Primary. I am not surprised because he appealed to SC voters over his rivals, but, because there was only one day between the debate and the beginning of the election.

I believe the debate had more of an impact on the SC Primary than any ad delivered to the voters intended to diminish the candidates without the ability to respond through their own Superpacs. The debates should carry more brevity as a sincere demonstration of democracy when all candidates are on a level playing field displaying their expertise.

...Early voting opened statewide in Florida, (click here) drawing Republican voters to polling stations 10 days before the state's Jan. 31 presidential primary....

"Morning Papers" - Its Origins

2012-01-23T05:00:00.000-05:00

The Rooster
"Okeydoke"

"Good Night, Moon"

2012-01-22T23:55:00.009-05:00

Sunday, January 2012

11:55 PM EDT

New Moon

0% Full

]

What does it take to get the USA government to do the work of the people?

2012-01-22T23:45:00.002-05:00

While the Republicans put Wall Street out of reach of the law, the American people are left virtually helpless to stop the MegaBillions of investment of corporations intent on buying the elections of 2012 as they did in 2010.

There is gross injustice in the USA when protesters of legitimate unaddressed problems are arrested, oppressed, prosecuted, ridiculed and further victimized while the wealthy priviledged 'go forward' uninterrupted with an agenda to end the Middle Class and impose suffering on those that live and work within the borders of the USA.

...In an interview, (click title to entry - thank you) Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos, called the latest technique by Anonymous "devilishly sneaky." In previous attacks, Anonymous enlisted supporters on a volunteer basis by calling on them to download a "low orbit ion cannon" -- a piece of software that launches large packets of data that overwhelm websites of organizations as a means of protest. Distributed Denial of Service attacks, known as DDoS for short, were responsible for helping Anonymous bring down the websites of Visa and Mastercard in 2010 in retaliation for their decision to cut ties with Wikileaks.

Cluley said Anonymous supporters have grown accustomed to clicking on links posted on the group's Twitter accounts, some of which have more than 200,000 followers, to read press releases about their latest exploits. But this time, he said, Anonymous supporters who clicked on the malicious link joined the attack and may have accidentally broken the law.

"If you participate in such an attack, you could find yourself receiving a lengthy jail sentences," Cluley wrote in a blog post.

Law enforcement has cracked down on participants in such attacks. Last July, the FBI announced charges against 14 people dating back to December 2010, when Anonymous members temporarily brought down PayPal's website in retaliation for the company suspending payments to the whistle-blower site Wikileaks....

During the Holiday, demonstrators provided a written note to President Obama stating, "4000 Protesters Have Been Arrested."

2012-01-22T23:30:00.002-05:00

Justice is indeed blind. As millions of Americans were looking with hope at the bailout of Wall Street, they were abandoned. As they realized a generation of Americans were without hope for a future of work and career, they were coveted for political gains or losses. As they were validated over and over and over again across the country the problem was indeed a problem, they were held at arms length. As they were welcome to demonstrate to bring attention to the legitimate problem all too real in their lives, they were arrested, displaced, prosecuted, their personal property confiscated and/or destroyed, their libraries regarded as trash and without ceremony abandoned by their Department of Justice. There hope for recognition and acceptance left to diminish and fade along with their devotion to purpose.

Not exactly "Google Headquarters."

2012-01-22T23:15:00.001-05:00

New Zealand police on Saturday (click title to entry - thank you) revealed bizarre details of the arrest of the suspected kingpin of an Internet copyright theft case against the James Bond-like backdrop of a country mansion hideaway with electronic locks, a safe room and a pink Cadillac.

German national Kim Dotcom, also known as Kim Schmitz, was one of four men arrested on Friday, a day before his 38th birthday, in an investigation of the Megaupload.com website led by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The group was accused of engaging in a scheme that took more than $500 million away from copyright holders and generated over $175 million in proceeds from subscriptions and advertising.

A police official said dozens of officers, backed by helicopters, forced their way into the mansion, nestled in lush, rolling farmland, after Dotcom refused them entry, a scene more reminiscent of a high-octane spy drama than the usual policeman’s lot in rural New Zealand....

"Oppression" and "Protectionism" at a time when communication among the citizens is important to life.

2012-01-22T23:00:00.001-05:00

...The popular file-sharing site (click title to entry - thank you) was shut down this week by federal prosecutors in Virginia, who accused the defendants of causing more than $500 million in damages for copyright holders of pirated music, movies, video games and other content. Hip-hop producer Swizz Beatz was revealed as a silent partner and the company's CEO, though he was not included on an initial list of seven defendants. Four of the seven were arrested Friday morning in New Zealand, after a standoff at Dotcom Mansion – named for the site's alleged founder, who goes by the name Kim Dotcom (born Kim Schmitz). The other three defendants reportedly remain at large....

The Injustice of the USA that dominates its benevolence.

2012-01-22T22:45:00.018-05:00

Corruption, Politics, Chaos, Legislation for Profit, Profit

Law, Justice, Democracy, Common Sense, Public Opinion.

2012-01-22T22:45:00.014-05:00

Protesters march in disapproval of the Iraq War in March 2003 in downtown Bellingham. Photo courtesy of Tore Ofteness

Written by Jessica Pain
Tuesday, 10 January 2012 06:30

Imagine (click title to entry - thank you) having the energy to march from Western to the Federal Building in downtown Bellingham every Friday.

Now imagine holding signs until your hands are sore, until your voice is gone and your feet are uncomfortable, all in an effort to protest against war or social or economic inequality.

This is Bellingham’s tradition.
　
…Bellingham gets occupied
City governments carry the cost for handling movements that are at the level of federal government, McShane said.

“As for the Occupy movement, I do think this protest is good,” McShane said….

Today, Occupy Bellingham is the community’s most recent social movement.

Written by Jessica Pain

Tuesday, 10 January 2012 06:30

The citizens are not interested in the "Wall Street Image."

2012-01-22T22:30:00.002-05:00

They want their problems to be ADDRESSED.

They don't care about the status quo. The status quo abandoned them.

Wall Street Messaging is the last 'image' they want to portray.

If the actions don't support the message, then maybe the victimization of their reality to exploit these people as weird and frauds for political gain should be victimized and defrauded.

Homeless count under way in Austin (click title to entry - thank you)

Multi-agency survey spearheaded by ECHO

Updated: Sunday, 22 Jan 2012, 7:49 PM CST
Published : Sunday, 22 Jan 2012, 4:39 PM CST

Jacqueline Ingles

AUSTIN (KXAN) - More than 150 volunteers are combing Travis County trying to count the number of people that call the streets home .

Sixty teams each consisting of three volunteers divided the county and are looking not only behind businesses and in wooded areas, they are also taking count in area shelters....

#Occupy is a global phenomena.

2012-01-22T22:15:00.018-05:00

Police officers in Auckland's Aotea Square wearing the same badge number. (click title to entry - thank you)

Many of the #Occupy movements are learning their voices are chronically confronted with oppression and authority rather than ADDRESS!!!!

Many of the #Occupy movments are living the same oppressed reality as #Occupy Wall Street.

In the USA House Speaker Boner stated today on FOX News Sunday "...the job the American people elected us for was to listen to what the American people have to say..."

There is a problem with governments ignoring the #Occupy movement. They boast they base their economies; economies that are to benefit the citizens in a sovereign country, are based in "Capitalism." Yet, the reality these protesters are living are not being benefitted by the economies their governments have fostered.

1. The #Occupy Wall Street movement as made it completely clear that Wall Street's capitalism has forsaken the very people they turned to in bailout monies.

2. The #Occupy Wall Street movement has clearly indicated their plight is an immediate peril.

3. Yet, the very citizens that are recognized with a legitimate problem, not just a concern, is being shut down, arrested, prosecuted and ridiculed.

The treatement of these citizens by their governments are the essence of oppression.

Smoke Bomb Thrown Over White House Fence (It wasn't tear gas.)

2012-01-22T22:00:00.003-05:00

..."Occupy DC" protesters demonstrating (click title to entry - thank you) against income inequality gathered at the Capitol building in Washington DC before marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, with a brief stop at the Supreme Court before arriving at the White House.

More than 1,000 protesters then held a rally outside the White House where a smoke bomb was propelled over a fence on the north side of the building.

George Ogilvie, a spokesman for the US Secret Service, said the suspected smoke bomb was thrown after the majority of demonstrators had left....

The gas canisters fired at protesters with LEGITIMATE problems and LEGITIMATE rights caused more than smoke and eye irritation.

2012-01-22T21:45:00.015-05:00

Ex-Marine Scott Olsen, 24, (click title to entry - thank you) suffered fractured skull after he was hit during California protests

Surgeons waiting to see if swelling in his brain has eased before they decide to operate

Veterans for Peace activist has a good job and home but opted to sleep at protest camp after work

'Nobody goes to work, nobody goes to school, we shut the city down,' vows protest organizer Cat Brooks

Anger over Oakland police ‘brutality’ fans across America as protesters march in solidarity with Olsen

Conditions in the Oakland camp were thought to have become unsavoury as tented town became semi-permanent

Radicalize...

2012-01-22T21:30:00.011-05:00

1. TO MAKE an advocate extreme measures to retain or restore a political state of affairs.

2. To regain a birth right.

3. To correct a "W"rong.

Income Inequity is a reality. It is not a political pundancy. It is not drug filled stupor.

2012-01-22T21:15:00.003-05:00

It is real.

Palpable.

Based in Facts.

Measurable.

Yet protests are ignored, classified as ugly and inappropriate, marginalized as a potential for election fodder or victory, regarded as losers, misfits and definately misinterpreted as an empty threat.

The truth regarding the economic politics of the USA has to be realized.

2012-01-22T21:00:00.003-05:00

No more lies.

No more pretending it will all go away.

No more playing with the future of the USA.

The Inequity of income in the USA is not a slogan, it is reflected in inequity of the perception of the message.

It's Sunday Night

2012-01-22T20:45:00.002-05:00

Money Talks and Wall Street Walks

Staind - Reality (click title of entry for Official Online Community)

2012-01-22T20:30:00.004-05:00

The lights are on but you're not home
You've drifted off somewhere alone
Somewhere that's safe
No questions here
A quiet place
Where you hide from your fears

Sometimes when you're out of rope
The way to climb back up's unclear
The walls you build around yourself
I guess they also keep you here
Are you afraid of what they think?
Whoever "they" happen to be
Or are you hiding
From the scars of your own Reality?

So you sedate and drown in vain
You've got a pill for every day
A suit and tie to mask the truth
Its ugly head is starting to show through

Sometimes when you're out of rope
The way to climb back up's unclear
The walls you build around yourself
I guess they also keep you here
Are you afraid of what they think?
Whoever "they" happen to be
Or are you hiding
From the scars of your own Reality?

The monster you're feeding
Your lack of perception
The things you will do
To fulfill addictions
The light at the end of your tunnel is closing
What is it that you're so afraid of exposing?
You'd give it all up
For what's there for the taking
Whatever it takes to keep your hands from shaking
The same things you're thinking
Might make you feel better
The same things that probably got you here

Sometimes when you're out of rope
The way to climb back up's unclear
The walls you build around yourself
I guess they also keep you here
Are you afraid of what they think?
Whoever "they" happen to be
Or are you hiding
From the scars of your own Reality?

The monster you're feeding
Your lack of perception
The things you will do
To fulfill addictions
The light at the end of your tunnel is closing
What is it that you're so afraid of exposing?
You'd give it all up
For what's there for the taking
Whatever it takes to keep your hands from shaking
The same things you're thinking
Might make you feel better
The same things that probably got you here

Hi. It has been an odd weekend. Hasn't it?

2012-01-22T19:58:00.000-05:00

I believe Washington, DC is not getting the intended message. I hope I can emphasis what I discerned and bring whatever importance I can to #Occupy.

Regardless if the actions lately, the message is a message and not a threat of violence.

Later.

Afghanistan isn't improving.

2012-01-20T12:57:00.000-05:00

...It still isn’t entirely clear (click here) whether the man arrested for fatally shooting the four French fighters and injuring 16 other people in eastern Afghanistan Friday was an Afghan army soldier, or instead a Taliban infiltrator. In some ways, however, that may be academic. The killing of Western forces by assailants in Afghan army uniform has become an increasingly frequent occurrence–one that earlier claimed the lives of two French Legionnaires less than a month ago. Yet something has clearly changed between those two attacks. While Sarkozy’s response to the French deaths blamed on Afghan soldiers in December was low key, his reaction Friday was both swift and dramatic. He announced an immediate suspension of French involvement in the training and joint patrols with Afghan army forces, and dispatched Foreign Affairs Minister Alain Juppé and Defense Minister Gérard Longuet to Afghanistan to review the situation—a deployment of cabinet heavyweights designed to highlight the gravity of Paris’ diplomatic state of mind....

By NBC News and news services

Updated at 3:33 a.m. ET: A helicopter crash (click title to entry - thank you) in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan killed six U.S. Marines, the NATO military command in Kabul told NBC News early Friday.

Officials said there were no signs of enemy activity in the area at time of the crash.

The Marines have a substantial presence in Helmand province....

Posted Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Bombings in southern Afghanistan leave 20 dead (click here)

BY ALI SAFI

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

KABUL, Afghanistan -- At least 20 people have been killed in suicide attacks in southern Afghanistan, authorities said Thursday, including seven civilians who died when a bomber blew himself up near an airport used by the U.S.-led coalition.

The attack near the entrance to the airfield in Kandahar - Afghanistan's second-largest city and the traditional heartland of the Taliban insurgency - occurred Thursday afternoon when a suicide bomber detonated a white Toyota Corolla, said Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Two children were among the dead, authorities said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its website. The insurgents said the target was a convoy of foreign nationals who were leaving the airfield, which is one of the largest bases used by the NATO coalition. Many civilians use the busy entrance as well, however....

Does this need an explanation?

2012-01-20T09:54:00.002-05:00

Senator Reid makes statement on Washoe Fire (click here)

Published: 1/19 4:19 pm

Updated: 1/19 4:24 pm

RENO, Nev. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) - Senator Harry Reid made the following statement in regards to the Washoe Fire:

"My thoughts are with those affected by the wildfires in Northern Nevada. I especially express my sympathies to those who have lost their home as a result. My appreciation goes to the first responders and firefighters who are on the scene and working very hard to keep residents safe. I will continue to monitor the situation as information becomes available. "

Moist ground will stop fires. But, moist ground does not necessarily yield crops or satisfy the thrist of livestock.

2011 Wildfire Season Worst in Texas History (click title to entry - thank you)

Friday, January 20th, 2012
Posted by Chace MurphyLast year’s wildfire season was the worst in Texas history.

The Texas Forest Service says wildfires destroyed nearly 4 million acres and 4,000 homes and other structures. Ten people died.

The agency recently declared Oct. 31 as the end of the 2011 season after going back to study fire activity and weather. The season started in mid-November 2010.

Two months ago officials said the season could drag on until spring, because large blazes could ignite anywhere across the drought-stricken state. But Thursday state fire officials said November rainfall turned out to be more widespread than expected.

The state’s longest wildfire season was from April 2005 through September 2006, when blazes charred about 2 million acres and left 12 people dead.

The 2012 Texas wildfire season hasn’t started yet.

Snow, rain, ice and a mess the northwest is struggling to survive.

2012-01-20T09:11:00.004-05:00

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air Operating Limited Schedules in Seattle (click title to entry - thank you)
By Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines
Last modified: 2012-01-20T03:29:44Z
Published: Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 - 7:29 pm
SEATTLE, Jan. 19, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Freezing rain and snow continue to affect Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air operations, which forced the carriers to cancel 310 flights to and from Seattle by early evening, affecting 29,000 passengers. Only 15 of Alaska's 114 daily flights and one Horizon flight had departed Seattle by that time as the region was hit by an extraordinary ice storm.

"We are doing our best to operate as many flights as possible to get people where they need to go as we cope with severe ice accumulation on our planes," Alaska Airlines' President Brad Tilden said. "We appreciate customers' patience and understanding as we contend with the freezing rain that has disrupted travel throughout the region. Our operational decisions will continue to be guided by our commitment to safety."

January 20, 2012
1330z
UNISYS Goes West Water Vapor Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)

As first glance the reason for such turbulence and vascillation of 'weather' is due to the Arctic Oscillation. But, that isn't it alone and this is a prime example why the verbiage of current weather/climate labels doesn't address the Climate Crisis.

Normally, the Arctic Oscillation is a big deal all by itself, but, this disasterous weather is also combined with a heat transfer system from across the Pacific. The heat transfer system mixing with the Arctic Oscillation has delivered varying weather, but, a lot of water in the form of rain and flooding. This is definately a weather pattern to pay attention to and is not in any imagination NORMAL. Also noted is another very wet air pattern that may deliver more moisture to Texas, but, again the drought of the land is so profound the likelihood there will be improvement in the climate is remote, very remote.

Governor Christine Gregoire of Washington state declared a state of emergency on Thursday authorizing the use of National Guard troops in the aftermath of snowmaggedon now turned icemaggedon that has paralyzed much of the state with downed trees and tens of thousands without electricity.

Authorities say that over 2,300 car wrecks have taken place so far, according to KCPQ News.
Up to 230,000 customers are without electricity according to Andy Wappler from Puget Sound Energy, according to KOMO 4 News. Some will be without power for up to five days.

First came a historic snow storm, then that snow turned to ice which put weight on trees causing some to fall or large branches to break off on to roadways and over power lines, now the concern is the next couple of days bringing a warm front that likely will cause flooding....

Tacoma, WA chain link fence

State of Emergency in WA after storm: 3 dead (click here)

Jan 19, 2012 at 5:08 PM PST

By Stephanie Ealy

Mr. One Percent can't handle his own reality. His aggressive defensive stance PROVES 'Guilty as charged."

2012-01-19T23:40:00.007-05:00

And Mr. One Percent (without a doubt he is) would consider other government constitutions as a potential answer for the USA? Since when?

Mr. One Percent is insensitive to the real issues and all his answers to date are to recover his lost Wall Street earnings that make up the most of his income. It is noted that while Goldman Sachs had a better than expected outcome for the quarter they are still disappointing investors. I heard complaints about how the earnings across the board aren't the way they used to be. Well. No. I guess not.

Let's get this right, Wall Street is not happy. Regardless of their earings, they aren't happy. They are still seeking to 'best' the $14,000 Dow under Former Secretary Paulson. Spending a few million on candidates is nothing compared to what the 'good ole days' were like.

...With the cost-cutting, (click here) Goldman managed to partially offset a 26 per cent slump in fourth-quarter net revenue and surprise analysts with net income of $1.1bn. That equates to earnings of $1.84 a share, outstripping consensus expectations of $1.23 a share.

The bank’s ratio of total pay to revenue for 2011 was 42.4 per cent – up from 39.3 per cent in 2010, and likely to fuel some arguments that Wall Street still needs to drastically slim down. Shareholders have to contend with a 3.7 per cent return on equity for the full year, though Goldman shares jumped more than 6 per cent to $103.93 in afternoon trading in New York on Wednesday....

A paltry 42.4 percent. My, my.

January 31, 2007 Goldman's stocks sold for $212.16 per share.

In 2007, the New York Stock Exchange hit $14,000. July of 2007 when the banks in the USA were beginning to fail.

Ruthie Ackerman
07.19.07, 6:15 PM ET

...The Dow Jones (click here) industrial average closed above 14,000 for the first time on Thursday on the heels of a strong technology sector. The comeback was a sign that Wall Street has bounced back after Wednesday’s disappointing earnings reports and testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the fallout from the subprime debacle would cause substantial financial losses....

Paulson had taken office as Treasury Secretary May of 2006. This is an article from "Rolling Stone" about Mr. Paulson.

Hank Paulson's Crony Capitalism (click here)

POSTED: December 1, 9:15 AM ET

By Tim Dickinson

Crony capitalism isn't usually this bald. But then again, this is Hank Paulson we're talking about.

This week, Bloomberg reported that in the summer of 2008, while serving as Treasury secretary under president George W. Bush, Paulson gave a gathering of Wall Street titans detailed, inside information about the government's plans for the troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It was July 2008, and Paulson had been insisting in public that Fannie and Freddie would remain privately owned. In private, Paulson gave his former colleagues in the investment banking world a preview of his true intentions: The government would be taking both Freddie and Fannie into conservatorship, largely wiping out stockholders....

What is a little insider trading among friends after all?

On November 28, 2008 Goldman Sachs hit a low at $78.99. In the long view of Goldman that wasn't bad because before the "Goldman Boom" the stock sold about $86.00 or so. It was not a high earner and when it started to move it received a great deal of clout in the market. So, across the spectrum of Wall Street these days there is DISAPPOINTMENT because they don't have the BUBBLE back YET.

Boom or Bust. It is the way Wall Street likes it and adrenalin is Romney's best friend. Promise the 1% the return of the $14,000 as a bench mark and all is well for the GOP.

Yep.

Nothing like the good ole days of George Walker Bush and Dick Cheney. You could count on them.

So, 'adrenalin hooked' Mr. One Percent Willard Romney just can't wait to prove that Bain Capital can out perform them all. Isn't that right Mitt?

Bain is the next Halliburton or is it Goldman? Be prepared for greater impoverishment and a hotter planet.

Goldman's Five Year Performance graph is at the title to the entry. Hm? I wonder. What was Bain Capital's during this time?

The count for Romney was 2. That was one, two....

2012-01-19T23:25:00.000-05:00

...and the official reporting was 22. That was twenty-two. Who was playing with the count? Where are the charges of fraud?

I don't care if it would not change the outcome for any Iowa county.

This was an official reporting to the State assignment of candidates.

There needs to be an investigation and every complaint needs to be taken seriously regardless of the final outcome. Who is playing with the outcomes of the primaries?

This is a Presidential election, not one for 'your favorite Bozo.'

The GOP is a joke. They absolutely NEED their billions to buy the elections. No doubt in my mind.

2012-01-19T22:14:00.006-05:00

Iowa GOP Chairman Strawn

Not one of the candidates in the debates tonight addressed the incompetency and/or corruption in Iowa.

GOP won't declare a winner of state caucuses (click title to entry - thank you)

By David Pace

Associated Press

January 19, 2012

...The final, certified results announced Thursday in Des Moines by Iowa Republican Chairman Matt Strawn had Rick Santorum 34 votes ahead of Mitt Romney. But Strawn said the party cannot declare a winner because the results are incomplete -- eight of the state's 1,774 precincts did not report their certified totals by Wednesday's 5 p.m. deadline....

The GOP can't competently hold their caucuses and primaries and they actually expect the country to take them seriously for a Presidential Election?

I don't think so. Not one of the candidates stated they were worried about the gross amount of "human" errors in Iowa that has a strong spell of corruption. I mean you have got to be joking. This is the election of a nominee for President of the United States of America and the nation is suppose to look the other way while they supposedly get their act together.

No, no, no!

Romney virtually ignored Iowa until very late while Santorum was there for month after month walking door to door and all of a sudden Romney is the winner? Tell me that makes sense. Nothing about the dynamics of Iowa speaks to a party prepared to do political business honestly. Who paid who? And when?

It reeks of investigation and no one at the debate even breached the fact the outcomes are suspicious? There is something very "W"rong here. Do I have to remind that the year of 2000 was a complete afront to freedom? This is not a minor issue, but, hey let's just sweep it under the carpet, okay?

I have yet to hear how any legislator, union official or petroleum industry magnet proposes to protect what is most important. And it ain't the oil.

2012-01-19T00:16:00.010-05:00

This is the USA Corn Belt (click here).

...The Corn Belt states of the US are ideal for campervan vacations and the endless miles of grain make great photo opportunities. The down to earth locals of the Corn Belt have a reputation for friendliness and community pride. A holiday in America's Wheat Belt is rewarded with plenty of memoriable sights, experiences and an encounter with old fashioned hospitality few holiday makers will forget.

This is a map of the varied and many routes for the plans of the Keystone Pipeline.

What the Republicans did in December of 2011 was nothing short of incompetent. They demanded the pipeline options be expedited to supply less than 10 thousand jobs.

One single accident could do incredible damage to the most productive agricultural land in the world. Why does anyone honestly vote for these people?

President Obama made the only decision left open to him and he made that decision competently and dedicated to the best outcome for people of the USA.

I have never witnessed the expression of more anger and hatred by a Speaker of the USA House in my life.

Speaker Boner stated he does not have the word "Compromise" in his vocabulary.

It is a shame what money does to a person.

The decision by President Obama was not about caving to environmentalists. There are legitimate concerns about this pipeline. Quite frankly, the final destinations for the sale of the oil out of Texas doesn't exist anymore, so the purpose of the pipeline makes no sense. None. The pipeline is has become a political icon and nothing more.

What exactly do we need the oil for?

Springfield, IL
Wed, Jan 18, 2012
USDA-IL Dept of Ag Market News
Eastern Cornbelt Ethanol Plant Report (click title to entry - thank you)

Downsizing = $$$$$$$$$$

2012-01-19T00:01:00.006-05:00

Romney states his
? investment ? role in companies touched 100 different and separate companies.

Why didn't the 'investment' result in the development of at least 101 companies?

I'd like to know how the investor actually improved the local economies?

The Former Governor does not want to release his tax reporting because part of what he claims is the USA tax rate is the highest in the world. Is there really a doubt that the tax rates are precisely where they belong? When one considers all the deductions, credits and evasions at any cost that actually robs the USA Treasury of its income, Romney has no basis for his statements. I have said before, the USA tax rate on businesses, not individuals, is more than competitive because the 'effective' tax rate is below that of most other nations.

The tax code needs to be changed to exclude the current structure that allows Mr. Willard One Percent Romney from paying ONLY 15% on personal income. A new code that demands a rock solid TWENTY-THREE percent Willard and not a penny less.

Mrs. Palin came out today to advocate for a longer primary. The reasons are hers because it doesn't make sense. I think she is seeking to have a 'Tea Bagger' in the Presidential spot. She might even get a second chance at Veep. But, is it more likely if the GOP can't find a candidate by the end of the primary season, she and Trump might have their own run. A divided GOP would give a third party a sincere advantage.

Obama Takes Aim at Offshore Tax Havens (click title to entry - thank you)Updated
President Obama will present a set of proposals on Monday aimed at changing international tax policy, calling for the elimination of benefits for companies and wealthy individuals that harbor their cash in offshore accounts....

By JEFF ZELENY

STOP - The Assault Against Democracy (Do something - click title to entry - thank you)

2012-01-18T00:01:00.002-05:00

STOP SOPA

(Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA, H.R. 3261)

STOP PIPA

( Protect IP Act (PIPA, S. 968)

Call and Fax and e-mail your USA House Representative and USA Senators. Thank you.

Reba McEntire - Turn On The Radio

2012-01-17T20:41:00.001-05:00

McEntire in her S&M video is advocating radio listening. This song and video came out at the same time there was a compaign on Right Wing Radio called, "I heart radio." The 'heart' is a visible heart symbol.

"iHeartRadio" (click here)

I suppose promoting radio is a way of increasing 'product distribution' but it is really odd a Country singer as popular as McEntire actually uses herself as a commercial for the industry. I think Reba wades into political activism more than anyone wants to talk about.

I haven't heard anything about Reba being a guest on Limbaugh.

Reba --Van & Cheyanne Get Food Stamps

2012-01-17T20:13:00.002-05:00

The "Gingrick Food Stamp" gaffe is based in a Right Wing cultural attack. It is amazing how far the "County Community" (Reba McEntire) will go to back up their 'idea of political fun.'

The USA has suffered the worst economic recession in recent history due to the policies of the Republican administration of Bush and the info-tainment industry actually ridicule Americans that are receiving food stamps.

The drama that plays out pn "Reba" actually portrays Americans as lazy and enjoying 'government dependancy.' Not only that but the food stamps are viewed as a 'pay off' for the people. "Reba" continues past this segment to make the statement that employment is just waiting for those too lazy to look for it.

The entire show was amazing to realize how it aimed (displaced an entire 'class') anger directly at a group of Americans of a growing poverty level due to Wall Street abuses and abandonment. Maybe as Iraq is becoming the next China or India all the impoverished Americans need to emigrate.

Food stamps have become a populous political expression for the lazy in the USA. It is bigger than Gingrick's statements. There was a reason for the applause and it stems from the 'populous' expression of anger. It relates to the deficit and debt. See, the national debt would disappear if it weren't for the lazy poor in the country.

Maybe the Repubicans are simply trying to cover up the fact their welfare reform under Gingrick has resulted in the unemployed under Bush.

The 'condition' of the land has a direct effect on climate.

2012-01-17T13:22:00.006-05:00

January 10, 2012
USA Drought Monitor

Despite rains that have visited Texas in recent weeks, the drought is profound.

In the satellite picture below it is noted to have a heat transfer system extending from Mexico to the eastern third of the country.

There is an 'interruption' in the image over the extremely dry southern tip of Texas. That is not simply 'the weather' is a result of 'the drought.'

January 17, 2012

1730 z

UNISYS Infrared Satellite Image of the continental USA

The land in Texas is so parched it does not lend itself to rainfall.

When the weather system passes over poorly conditioned land the air heats up and absorbs the heat. As a result the 'water vapor' contained in the weather system is evaporated.

The reason Texas is remaining unrecoverable from the drought is because it has created its own hostile climate outcome.

One of the remarkable climate on the West Coast is contained in the Redwood Forest. There is not necessarily rain in the region in general, but, every morning when the ocean mist rests over the Redwoods it accumulates a humidity within the trees themselves due to the trees use of water for growth and nutrition. As the day progresses and the trees 'respirate' they provide high humidity to the own climate. Literally, the Redwood Forest maintains its own climate due to its storage and use of water vapor.

The same is true in Montain Forests or Cloud Forests. They create and maintain their own climate through their use of water vapor.

In the case of Texas the drought has created a very dry climate for the region. That dry climate simply reinforces itself due to lack of 'climate systems' that provide their own climate and the surrounding region.

Those two images are a full one week apart, yet it is profoundly simple to realize why they are so strongly related.

The auditors are not finished reviewing the Governor's past ten years of returns yet!

2012-01-17T09:20:00.001-05:00

by Tom McGregor
Thu, Jan 5, 2012, 03:31 AM

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, (click title to entry - thank you) a multimillionaire and the wealthiest GOP presidential candidate, disclosed that he would never release his income tax returns if he wins the party’s nomination. He’s setting himself apart from past nominees in both political parties who have routinely done so.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports that, “Romney whose recent disclosure in august estimated his personal wealth as much as $250 million, said Dec. 22 he had already released extensive financial information and had no ‘current plans’ to make his current tax returns public.”…

Time to bring in the salvage companies.

2012-01-17T00:57:00.000-05:00

This is the most hideous accident I have ever witnessed. The crew was completely incompetent in conducting the safety of passengers. Their only defense is the bizarre content of the disaster.

If divers cannot find those missing there is a chance it is a dangerous situation to explore. The divers need to assess the prospects of retrieving any people still within the hull of the ship. The reality may be, those still missing are not within reach in the current position of the ship.

I am not familiar with the tides and underwater environment including stability of the soils, but, there is the possibility the ship could drift further offshore with arrival of rough weather, etc.

The shipline should be held responsible in the most profound manner for this disaster. Besides the missing and traumatized there will be a environmental disaster accompanying it. I can't believe commercial interests of 'seeking cheap thrills for passengers' actually took priority over every other operational priority. Amazing. Competition is that tough, huh? If competition is that tough then it isn't profitable to leave port at all.

...my living will not be in vain.

2012-01-16T23:16:00.002-05:00

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. -
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Morning Papers" - Its Origins

2012-01-16T06:00:00.001-05:00

The Rooster
"Okeydoke"

"Good Night Moon"

2012-01-15T23:55:00.000-05:00

The last quarter, 21.9 day old moon, 52.6% lit:

How much is the religious bigotry, based in fear of Muslims, of the right also impacts American minorities?

2012-01-15T23:45:00.002-05:00

...After (click title to entry - thank you) winning the Heavyweight Championship of the World, Cassius Clay announced his conversion to the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims) under Elijah Muhammad. From that point forward, Mohammed Ali used his world celebrity to tell America of the plight African Americans had suffered. He was articulate and possessed an excellent speaking voice. And so, at the height of the conflict for Civil Rights, it was decided the best way to silence and punish Ali for his outspoken remarks was to draft him into the service....

Indeed, that left wing dominated media is a real killer, isn't it?

2012-01-15T23:30:00.004-05:00

Real conservatives. Hmmm... Sort of like 'the orthodoxy,' right? The unshakable. The 'proud to be a slave owner' history. Those 'real' conservatives?

...Real conservatives (click title to entry - thank you) do not go peeking under mattresses to try and flush out people who are not politically correct. That's what liberals do, like this guy in the Nation magazine who finds racism in ever utterance by a Republican.

In fact, the writings this bozo cited were all work I did for a newsletter that existed for the very purpose of puncturing pretensions of political correctness. It was called Heterodoxy and it was published by David Horowitz and Peter Collier.

As the name implies, the whole and entire purpose of Heterodoxy was to challenge the reigning orthodoxy embraced by the liberals who mostly control the mass media....

The GOP's Blatant Racism (click here)

Gary Younge

January 10, 2012

This article appeared in the January 30, 2012 edition of The Nation. (from Real Clear Politics - click here)

...Neither is the point to show how Republicans leverage racial anxiety for electoral effect. According to the Agriculture Department, more whites use food stamps than blacks and Latinos combined. By coloring poverty and food insecurity black, even in areas where few black people exist, Republicans hope to spin food stamps as a racial entitlement program, diverting attention from their attempts to balance the budget on the stomachs of the poor. Republicans want to slash spending on food stamps by around 20 percent and in June voted to cut the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program, which provides assistance to poor pregnant women, mothers and children, by 10 percent. All of this is important. But efforts to encourage whites to identify with their race rather than their class, as though the two could be separated and then ranked, is an age-old ploy perfected first by Southern Democrats....

"The Color of Conscience" (click title to entry - thank you)

2012-01-15T23:15:00.013-05:00

Middle Schoolers Study Area Racism (click here)

Jan. 13, 2012 8:42 a.m.

Middle school students in Coeur d'Alene are viewing film footage of their own community this morning, as part of a classroom lesson on racism. The Idaho Public Television special, “The Color of Conscience,” is being shown to Lakes Magnet Middle School students. Following the showing of the film, students in all the school's advisory classes will participate in teacher-led followup discussions on racism. Produced by Idaho Public Television host, Marcia Franklin, “The Color of Conscience” first aired in May....

The valid history of racism in the USA provides hopelessness for those born to inner city destiny.

2012-01-15T23:00:00.000-05:00

Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (click here)
(New York: The New Press, 2010), p. 4.

No one can deny there is a huge problem with the rates of incarceration of African Americans. How often is a drug economy all to available to young black people that believe their reality lies in being hated and deprived of their birth right in the USA?

A young man of any race does not want to know his future is refused. Americans are promised there is a better future 'for the trying.' There is something profoundly wrong within our minority communities and it lies upon a path of economic reality with hopelessness and greed at its heart. Greed is taught in the USA. It is not taught in schools and religious meetings, but, it is taught in the commercialized world of the American consumer. It is benign to most adults able to achieve a Middle Class lifestyle, but, when a child's realtiy is one of a 'dead end,' no doubt their lives become that prophesy.

Michelle, at the very least, is trying to engage the conversation. She does this with murders still occuring and incarcerations of African Americans occurring in disproportion. I applaud her engagement of the problem. It needs to continue to resolve.

...If news reports (click title to entry - thank you) from the last three decades should check clean, Black and Brown males only number the Criminal Justice System today because they choose, of own free will, to turn the ways of crime and disorder; perhaps also because they seem to come from stock inherently deformed and defiled—unable to adapt to a civilized world where barbarism is unacceptable.

And if the renowned rants of Black butlers on the Right should be treasured, Black males only find their human rights violated constantly, only find their dignities criminalized, only fall in the crosshairs of this very real War on Drugs, because they’ve discarded phonetics, filled their iPods with N.W.A. records, altogether accepted academic success as a White Thing, and preferred to sag their khaki pants three inches below waist level....

When the USA does not 'walk the walk' it has global implications that results in violence.

2012-01-15T22:45:00.002-05:00

Old city of Nablus, a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank and Mount Gerizim in background.

"From MLK to Nablus: Fighting Institutionalized Racism and Ongoing Discrimination" (click title to entry - thank you)

...While blatant discrimination remains illegal in the United States, American society still struggles with issues of more hidden discrimination. Education is at the heart of this debate. The fight to ensure equal access to a quality education for all American children, regardless of race, rages onwards. Poverty and the low quality of education available to minority groups are inextricably linked....

...Similar to the way that racial discrimination manifests itself in the American educational system, discrimination also plagues Palestinian refugees, both within the West Bank and in other host countries....

Posted on January 15, 2012 by claretyo

Tomorrow’s celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day offers us a unique opportunity to reflect on the significance of the Civil Rights Movement, the current situation of race relations in the United States, and some of the parallels that can be drawn between discrimination in the United States and Palestine....

The innoculating continues and continues and continues. Racism is natural after all.

2012-01-15T22:30:00.001-05:00

"Racism" is a word kicked around a lot, (click title to entry - thank you) that has expanded to mean just about anything that supports the preservation of a cultural identity at the exclusion of homogenizing it with another, some cultures more susceptible to branding than others. And everything demonized as "racist" has become synonymous with extreme evil, nazis, KKK, etc, which are totally inaccurate associations for the vast part. But at its very essence; at its very core, what most of Western society has now deemed "racist", is really just an extended instinct of self-preservation. Does not the self-preservation instinct extend beyond the proper functioning of ones own physical body into more abstract things like culture and society, making it only natural for a people to want to maintain their unique cultural identity as an extension of themselves?...

...The instinct to continue the culture in which you are part of is NOT synonymous with hate, is NOT mutually inclusive with lusting for the genocide of other cultures, and is NOT a wicked, vile thing that must be bred and brainwashed out of humanity as TPTB are, IMO, actively attempting, especially through the education system with younger people (see California for prime examples in principle). By creating a cultureless people with no history and no identity (or only an identity defined solely by TPTB), humanity is easily divided and broken in spirit. Peoples derive great power from their cultures; a cultureless people are easily fractured and conquered. Culture invisibly binds a people together, and allows them to be part of something greater than themselves; individuals, yet still part of the whole. Both culture and individual are contained within each other....
The Killing Fields of Post-Apartheid South Africa (click here)

JOHANNESBURG WORLD’S TOP MURDER CAPITOL

AUGUST 30, 2001 — The city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands — with 5,6 murders per 100,000 population — has been declared the “murder capitol of Europe”, it was reported here today. Johannesburg, with 61.2 murders per 100,00 population in the year 2000, remains the world’s murder city for the fourth year running, however.

SA POLICE Crime Statistics from 1994: http://www.saps.org.za/8_crimeinfo/bulletin/942000/murder.htm

Innoculating the response against the hatred is not only a form of racism, it enforces the fact there is nothing wrong in the first place.

2012-01-15T22:15:00.001-05:00

What is astounding about the Santorum/Gingrick 'thing' is that it didn't matter. The racial 'fact sheet' didn't matter. Santorum tied for Iowa and Gingrick is expecting to place well in South Carolina. Are the principles of hate so entrenched in the Republican Party that it is impossible for them to find abhorrence is not possible?

Racism? There’s An App For That (click title to entry - thank you)

by Daryl Gale, The Philadelphia Tribune

...Last week’s victims of foot-in-mouth disease, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, are perfect examples. When Santorum said he wouldn’t help Black people by giving them other people’s money; and when Newt opined that he’d give Blacks janitorial jobs instead of food stamps — you know, so “those people” can learn some sort of work ethic — they were slapped around by everyone from the NAACP to members of their own party.

Both were hauled in front of the cameras and forced to backtrack, explain, and further clarify their idiotic statements until they were blue in the face, and I loved every minute of it. When you say stupid, racist things simply to pander to stupid, racist voters you should be called on it....

For the sake of diversity do we tolerate ignorance? Absolutely not.

2012-01-15T22:00:00.023-05:00

The USA has a very low test for tolerance of difference. Simply because religious dogma indicates racism is permitted does not mean it is tolerated by the greater society.

....Again, (click title to entry - thank you) there seem to be an awful lot of parallels between Mormonism and Christianity. Then I researched the racist angle. Before 1978, Blacks weren't non-existent but pretty scarce in the Mormon faith for their doctrines did teach that Black men could not be ordained into positions of power like the priesthood. Today, there is a reported 500,000 members of African descent in the Mormon Church throughout North and South America, namely in the Genesis Group, a group that existed before the 1978 ban was lifted....

Is anger inappropriate when confronting the topic of intolerance, bigotry or racism. Absolutely not. Sometimes it takes a sincere expression of disgust to shake loose the social 'mind think.' Racism is powerful and lives are effected. When lives are affected for no justifible reason, anger would be more than the emotion when reality is realized and the truth revealed.

Racism is power.

2012-01-15T21:45:00.022-05:00

One of the very common reasons for racism to arise is the need for a "scapegoat". If things are going badly many people’s natural reaction is to blame somebody else. This is exactly what often causes racism, if the unemployment is rising or the national economy is very weak, many people will look for a scapegoat to blame, and in most cases they will choose the people that they do not know, such as those with a different ethnical or cultural background.

The permissiveness of racism taints the image of the USA to allies. There is simply no excuse.

The Many forms of Racism (click title to entry - thank you)

By FLORO L. MERCENE

January 15, 2012, 10:43pm

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the thin veneer of civilized behavior, racism still exists in America in many forms today.
Here’s an example of an article appearing on the Internet.

“Many people in the US continue to have some prejudices against other races. In the view of the US Human rights Network, discrimination permeates all aspects of life in the United States, and extends to all communities of color.

“Discrimination against African Americans, Latin Americans, and Muslims is widely acknowledged. Members of every major American ethnic minority have perceived racism in their dealings with other minority groups,” according to a study entitled Racism in America....

Residual Racism. Hatred is a strong emotion, a form of self-preservation, a survival instinct. Good excuse as any.

2012-01-15T21:30:00.002-05:00

...An internationally recognized expert (click here) on the subject who received a MacArthur Fellowship for his work, Zeskind ties together seemingly disparate strands—from neo-Nazi skinheads, to Holocaust deniers, to Christian Identity churches, to David Duke, to the militia and beyond. Among these elements, two political strategies—mainstreaming and vanguardism—vie for dominance. Mainstreamers believe that a majority of white Christians will eventually support their cause. Vanguardists build small organizations made up of a highly dedicated cadre and plan a naked seizure of power. Zeskind shows how these factions have evolved into a normative social movement that looks like a demographic slice of white America, mostly blue-collar and working middle class, with lawyers and Ph.D.s among its leaders.

When the Cold War ended, traditional conservatives helped birth a new white nationalism, most evident now among anti-immigrant organizations. With the dawn of a new millennium, they are fixated on predictions that white people will lose their majority status and become one minority among many. The book concludes with a look to the future, elucidating the growing threat these groups will pose to coming generations....

The Republicans' Rancid and All-Too-American Dance With Racism (click title to entry - thank you)

Sun, 01/15/2012 - 12:13 — Anonymous

by:

Linn Washington Jr.

As the racist rhetoric oozes from Republican presidential candidates, why are comments contained in Ron Paul newsletters from the 1980s and 1990s being widely considered more offensive than current bigoted banter uttered by Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum?...

Generational change helps.

2012-01-15T21:15:00.001-05:00

Of course, what Granny is saying is that if people are gay they automatically have a different emotional content and could never relate to the'heterosexual' event of pregnancy.

According to Granny, only heterosexuals have the biological drive for parental love.

Cultural consistency in respecting others makes it clear there is not much difference between people. In this case, respect for adults included all adults, not just those racially preferred in the house. No superiority. Simply diverse.

...My paternal grandmother (click here) had an African American woman who came to clean her house weekly. She did not hire her because grandma was wealthy, which she was not, but rather due to infirmity. It was just a big help to have someone come and do the heavy cleaning.

I do not remember the lady’s name, but I do remember that I was not permitted to call her, or any other adult, by a first name. I do remember that her first name was Peggy, because I called her that once and got in a decent amount of trouble for it. She was not a maid; she was a person who sold a service, which my grandparents purchased weekly....

Was the mission ever so sweet?

2012-01-15T21:00:00.002-05:00

Ending Racism (click title to entry - thank you)

Building Bridges is a volunteer organization founded to overcome racism through compelling dialogue, community building and a call to action.

The social struggle against racism and bigotry has never really ended in the USA. Besides the continuing bias against minorities, there is the NEW enemy, "Muslim Fear and Hatred." The beat goes on.

...Nearly 20 years ago, (click here) Building Bridges of Asheville initiated this program to give people of different races opportunities for frank discussions about racism; to explore and clarify their own beliefs and biases, and their complicity in racism; to understand and respect differing perspectives and experiences; to build honest relationships; and to experience the social and spiritual aspects of racial reconciliation.

“Why is this work still necessary in 2012?” some people ask. “After all, we have a black president; in fact Obama won North Carolina in 2008 by a small margin. Asheville elected an African-American mayor.” Many white people claim that Asheville, N.C., is racially progressive....• The median net worth among white families is twenty times that of black families—a difference of over $100,000.

• Even when a black person has a college degree, he or she is nearly twice as likely as a white person to be unemployed.

• Even when their credentials are the same, a white man with a criminal record is more likely to be called back for a job interview than a black man without a record.

• Two-thirds of people in jails and prisons are black and brown, while only a third are white....

It's Sunday Night

2012-01-15T20:45:00.001-05:00

Ike Reilly - Girls in the Backroom

2012-01-15T20:37:00.001-05:00

B.I.G.O.T. by Ike Reilly (official website - click title to entry - thank you)

2012-01-15T20:30:00.001-05:00

Pour the old wine, from a new skin
take your loose talk and spread it on a wheat thin
I heard the news, that you're the next big thing
they breed in Switzerland. they know from modeling

You gotta breed a better bigot for the band
You gotta breed a better bigot for the band
You gotta breed a better bigot
gotta stick your head in it
get the sparkle in the finish
and breed a better bigot for the band

Back at the art school, they speak in pastels
they draw in present tense, they drink from ink wells
he was a loner, he moved like a nursery rhyme
smelled like dirty hair and art school turpentine
once at a truck stop, I read the good news
it turned my old boots, it gave me new views
it turned my dead fish, into bisqwik
fry my chicken into some kind of pacifist
I'll take the anti-freeze,
you get the jerk beef
I'll get the rolaids,
you get some relief
I bought a cassette,
a compilation
it was Carrottop and Richard Petty back by operation, sayin

breed a better bigot for the band
You gotta breed a better bigot for the band
You gotta breed a better bigot
gotta stick your head in it
get the sparkle in the finish
and breed a better bigot for the band

Took my money to the banks for display
stood on a river bridge and waited for a jetstream
tossed my cash, watched my fortune blow away
all alone on a holiday
As my cash blows, as my luck goes
as my peace grows, as my priest knows
that my god shows, up in some strange clothes
and how it feels so, unpredictable
lookin down the river for a tree to call a casket
saw a baby in the water, floatin in a basket
he was a salesmen, god how he closed me
he never knew me, god how he knows me
dry scales fly in the Illinois wind
from that big fat fish that just flopped in

You couldn't breed a better bigot for the band
You couldn't breed a better bigot for the band
You couldn't breed a better bigot
if you stuck your head in it
get the sparkle in the finish
and breed a better bigot for the band

I'm part of nothing, I wish I was though
part of something bigger than myself now
I'm part of nothing, I wish I was though
part of something bigger than myself now
I'm part of nothing, I wish I was though
part of something bigger than myself now
I'm part of nothing, I wish I was though
part of something bigger than myself now

Low wages for citizens creates an intractible government failure.

2012-01-15T14:08:00.003-05:00

2007 and 2008 Federal Tax Schedule

The states and the federal government are facing record debt, but, it didn't happen overnight.

There are innumerable graphs and tables that illustrate the fall in wages in the USA. It is no coincidence the states and federal government increased their debts as the wages of the Middle Class deterioriated.

There is this really odd 'mind speak' of the political right wing stating "40% pay 60% of the taxes." Percentages lend themselves to interesting observations, but, to realize how there is a sincere fall in income in the Middle Class of the USA and therefore 'the tax base' while the wealthy Americans got wealthier and therefore ? may ? have paid more taxes obviously points to this convenient 'criticism of the ungrateful' Middle Class and Poor. The comparision is not valid, it is victimizing and will allow more abuse of those already effected.

There is a real danger in minimizing wages. It is why the Minimum Wage is so important. The Minimum Wage forces higher pay rates to be moved upward as well. But, to allow Wall Street to minimize wages to American Labor what occurs is a huge shift in the income to the USA Treasury. That is especially true when one realizes there are income tax benefits to the wealthier that are never adjusted to bring the nation's income into viability rather than decline.

There is a cost for a nation's sovereignty and it is not simply the ability to 'buy guns' to defend the borders.

When citizens do well financially, the nation is more secure. When citizens do well their government treasuries are easy to balance. When citizens do well and their treasuries are full, their tax rates can then come down. When citizens do well, not just the USA is more secure, but, the 'baseline' for Wall Street is assured.

The compare and contrast of South Carolina to Massachusetts is a very good look at how conservativism fails citizens.

2012-01-15T12:09:00.008-05:00

Besides the lady with needs that received $20+ in cash.

Both are 'original colony' states. (13 original colonies) (click here)

Under the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the category of "All Occupations": (click title to entry - thank you)

Massachusetts "Mean Hourly Wage" is $20.13. (click here)

South Carolina "Mean Hourly Wage" is $14.33 (click here)

Through the centuries Massachusetts invested in the future with interventions of government. They built their reputations, their sustainability as a community and the expertise of their labor force through infrastructure investment. Not necessarily roads and bridges infrastructure, but, education and strengthening the social net for citizens to be uplifted by their investments.

The educational system in Massachusetts surpasses many in the nation, but, that is especially true of the impoverished Bible Belt. The South.

Historically, the two states are very, very different and I won't beleaguer the point, but, destroying the social safety net in South Carolina served the wealthy while abandoning the poor. That is the truth about conservative principles. The wealth serves the wealthy because they can more efficiently spend monies normally assigned to 'the common good' on expanding their wealth.

And at the same time, the impoverished are eternally grateful for the crumbs tossed to them from the wealthy in any expansion that requires human labor. Not that labor practices were the best, but, the fact that the poor now had 'something' rather than 'nothing' was viewed as a real economic boom for them. Equity of 'quality of life' doesn't matter when 'life itself' is based completely in capitalism. So, to remain alive and have 'some' quality is better than none.

The 'endearment' of poverty to the citizens makes for 'a good habit' as 'righteous people' are always grateful for their life on Earth until they are delivered. Simple life, for simple folks. No education required, just a strong back.

The economic histories of the two states are as varied as their chronological histories. Those histories have delivered very, very different citizens with very different value systems and very different desperation for 'any' life vs 'quality' of life. That is the paradigm the unions run into in the Bible Belt. Employees are estranged from empowerment and only rely on their ability to deliver 'a product' no matter what that product might be. So, income is 'nice' but other 'substandard' practices in business means there are 'items' such as houses, clothing (imports) and furniture available for the purchase.

The average conservative citizen is exposed to 'cheapened' lives in order to 'have life.'

It is a lot to realize that Progressives, Liberals and whatever name anyone wants to attach to those that value 'all boats rising' in eqivalent 'esteem' based on 'a minimum of quality;' that may not be 'business OPPORTUNISTIC' and exploitative; actually have sounds values and historical proof about why government 'of, by and for' the people really works.

Romney advocates "Deep Pockets" as a solution for the unemployed.

2012-01-15T11:05:00.002-05:00

That is a typical reaction to impoverishment by Republicans. They throw their own personal money at it. They have to approve of the charity, so if it is at all tainted 'blue' there is just no chance. Having cancer is an equal opportunity offender so I don't know where that stands.

Posted at 07:50 PM ET, 01/14/2012

Mitt Romney gives cash to financially struggling woman at South Carolina rally (click here)

By Philip Rucker

SUMTER, S.C. – Presidential candidates hear tales of woe all the time on the campaign trail. But rarely does one respond by pulling cash out of his back pocket to help a struggling voter pay her bills....

South Carolina is new territory for Willard. His supporters in Iowa averaged an income of over $100,000. New Hampshire is the bedroom community 'up north' from Massachusetts. As soon as he arrive in South Carolina he stated he was especially worried about the poor. He thought it outrageous the top 5% of the nation ignored the needs of the 95%. HE doesn't believe only 1% is the problem, it has to be at least 5%. Dam the research about it. Father knows best.

For some unknown reason, the supporters son, age 26 with a chronic illness, does not sufficient funds to pay all his bills. How about that.

Willard is having a problem. He is visiting with every available VFW and military affiliation in South Carolina he can find. South Carolina is a new reality for Willard Romney. He has been alienated from poverty. Massachusetts takes care of its needy. They look after the disadvantaged. All that 'mess' is not common place in Massachusetts as it is in South Carolina. So, he is getting his feet wet. I can't believe his answer to the unemployed is throw cash at it. It sounds like he believes in extended unemployment benefits.

I doubt $20 + US will solve the unemployed woman's problems. In true Republican form, she was immediately put to work as a campaign volunteer for the monies she received. I hope circumstances improver in South Carolina, the state of Nicki Halley, Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint right along with Tea Party House members.

Posted: Saturday, 14 January 2012 7:39PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican (click title to entry - thank you) presidential candidate Mitt Romney has opened a wide lead over his rivals in the South Carolina primary election race, trouncing Newt Gingrich and gaining momentum in his march toward the party's nomination, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, could all but quash his rivals' presidential aspirations with a victory in South Carolina on January 21 after winning the first state-by-state nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Voters in South Carolina - who have favored Republicans in nine of the last 10 presidential elections - appear to have shrugged off attacks on Romney by rivals who accuse him of killing jobs as a private equity executive for Bain Capital in the 1990s.

The poll showed 37 percent of South Carolina Republican voters back Romney. Congressman Ron Paul and former Senator Rick Santorum tied for second place with 16 percent support....

10 years of Gitmo. I look at it this way. Republicans made an investment for the next petroleum deal.

2012-01-14T20:30:00.002-05:00

If it worked for BP and the UK, it should work for the USA and Halliburton.

...Under (click at title to entry - thank you) international law _ which the US was very instrumental in helping to frame _ all human beings, regardless of their citizenship, are entitled to basic liberties and the due process of law. At the heart of the Guantanamo issue is the question of whether the fight against terror justifies or even requires the suspension of these accepted international standards....

...The biggest drawback to the establishment of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre is that in the end it has probably created many more enemies for the US and its allies than it ever took off the ''battlefields'' of the war on terror, and this is an issue that affects the entire world.

America's standing in the world has been severely damaged in the last 10 years not because of the attacks on the World Trade Center, but by the way it chose to react to the attacks, and in many ways this has left a moral void around the globe. The concept of inalienable human rights and justice for all was explicitly and eloquently written into the US constitution and has served as a model for other democracies around the world....

Strange circumstances for an Irish Setter.

2012-01-13T21:20:00.008-05:00

They are beautiful dogs. I never owned one, but, a good friend did. They have a lot of energy. As a matter of fact they could be called "High Energy Dogs."

Introducing Seamus Romney, 'Mr. Personality' (click title to entry - thank you)

Posted by Scott Helman, Political Reporter July 10, 2007 06:10 PM

By Neil Swidey
Globe Staff

Seamus, Mitt Romney's now departed Irish setter, has attracted worldwide attention in the two weeks since the Globe recounted a roof-top ride he made from Boston to Canada back in 1983....

Dogs really have to fit their owners otherwise it could make for problems.

Right Breed for You? (AKC post - click here)
A rollicking breed, the Irish Setter is high-energy and requires regular exercise. His outgoing and stable personality make him a favorite with families. Their long, glossy red coat, although beautiful, must be groomed regularly to prevent snarls or mats.

A twelve hour ride for any dog in a crate without relief from its biological functions is a long time. Even when dogs are shipped in these crates via airlines, they are exercised and kept warm and dry for their journey.

The children probably were a good fit for Seamus. The problem enters when the dog is locked in a questionably legal sized kennel to be transported without any concern for its comfort.

Type/size of Kennel (click here)

The kennel must be sturdy, properly ventilated, and, most importantly, must be large enough for the animal to freely sit and stand with its head erect, turn around, and lie down in a normal posture. To prevent accidental injury, no part of the animal's body can protrude through any openings in the kennel. For this reason, kennels made exclusively from wire are not accepted.

Super Size Kennels

Continental can transport dogs in "Giant" crates/kennels (700 series) whose dimensions do not exceed 48" L x 32" W x 35" H (121 cm X 68 cm X 89 cm). We can load these crates on most Boeing aircraft, but will need permission to alternately route any 700 kennels booked on smaller aircraft such as the 737-300 and 737-500. All bookings must be coordinated through the Live Animal Desk at 1.800.575.3335 or 281.553.5052....

To realize there was brown liquid coming down the side of the station wagon indicates there was not only feces in the kennel with the Setter, but, urine as well. Urine burns the skin and can cause open sores if not cleaned soon after the exposure. The long hair probably protected the Setter's skin for a while, but, once it was wet I am sure the dog was uncomfortable and feeling it more as time went by.

I guess years ago people got away with this stuff, however, today if there was a kennel on the roof of a car carrying an English Setter it would draw attention from police and animal control officials.

Romney is a real jerk. Certifible. The dog belonged in the car with the family. The dog needed to be walked at least every two hours and given water as frequently. Amazing.

See here they go again, only a few days ago. They should try jet skis if they like riding those 'wake waves' so much.

2012-01-13T20:49:00.000-05:00

U.S. Navy Face-Off with Iran Speed Boats ACTUAL VIDEO!!!!!!

2012-01-13T20:47:00.000-05:00

This was 2008. The Iranian Speed Boats are always confused about stuff. Someday, someone is going to get killed.

US Navy Rescues Iranian Boat From Pirates

2012-01-13T20:43:00.000-05:00

Too much 'Psy-Ops' training?

2012-01-13T12:54:00.000-05:00

January 13, 2012 7:44 AM

(CBS News)

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta (click title to entry - thank you) described video that apparently shows U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan as "deplorable" on Thursday.

CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports all four Marines in the video have now been identified, and could face charges after the military completes its investigation into the incident.

As investigators begin the job of determining who is guilty of what crime, the Marines are asking themselves a more basic question: "What made these guys think they could get away with this?"

The four Marines pictured in the video were members of a 1,000-man battalion that recently completed a combat tour in Afghanistan and returned to Camp LeJuene, North Carolina, where they apparently started showing the video around as a war trophy....

President Obama has been consolidating federal authority since he took office.

2012-01-13T11:54:00.004-05:00

By David Nakamura and Ed O’Keefe

Updated: Friday, January 13, 11:38 AM

President Obama asked Congress on Friday (click title to entry - thank you) for the power to consolidate parts of the federal government, proposing a first step of merging several trade- and commerce-related agencies under a plan that the White House said could eliminate more than 1,000 jobs and save $3 billion over 10 years.

Obama said he wanted to get rid of myriad duplications and inefficiencies — including having five different entities involved in housing, and more than a dozen agencies that regulate food safety....

...In his recent State of the Union Address, (click here) President Obama pledged to eliminate and consolidate duplicative programs, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report just this month finding the federal government could save hundreds of billions of dollars by eliminating duplication and overlap.

The federal government wastes more than $100 billion a year on programs with duplicative and overlapping missions, according to an analysis based upon the findings of the recent GAO report entitled "Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue."...

REDUCING INEFFICIENT DUPLICATION SAVES MONEY WITHOUT CUTTING ESSENTIAL SERVICES (click here)

The GAO report provides a blueprint outlining how Congress could save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars every year without cutting essential services.
Smart consolidations will improve service.

GAO identified a number of areas where consolidation would improve services and save hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. These include:

• DOD/VA electronic health record systems. Although the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Veterans Affairs (VA), for example, "have many common health care business needs, the departments have begun separate modernizations of their electronic health records systems. Reduced duplication in this area could save system development and operation costs while support higher-quality health care for service members and veterans."...

Oh, this is beautiful. This is absolutely beautiful

2012-01-13T10:32:00.003-05:00

First the pathetic of the financial markets are bailed out by Europe, hoard all the cash and now S&P is downgrading France and Austria.

What the hell?

The EURO is losing some value and now nations are going to be forced to pay higher interest rates.

This is outrageous. Who do they think they are? Nothing like biting the hand that feeds Wall Street.

...The euro has plunged against the dollar, amid rumours that the credit-ratings agency Standard & Poor's is poised to downgrade several eurozone countries later today, including France.

The euro declined sharply against the dollar, to below $1.27, as the reports swirled around Europe's financial markets.

The move, which was first signalled by S&P before Christmas, could plunge financial markets into fresh turmoil, just as a relatively successful bond auction by Italy this morning had raised hopes that the worst of the sovereign debt crisis was over.

The loss for France of its treasured AAA status would be a blow to the economic credibility of Nicolas Sarkozy, who must stand for re-election later this year.

Reuters quoted a "senior eurozone source" as saying that several countries were about to be downgraded. France's public finances are viewed as vulnerable if Europe has to bail out more eurozone members in the coming months, perhaps including Italy or Spain. Governments have to be given advance warning by ratings agencies of any sovereign rating downgrade....

I swear this is a plot against sovereignty. This is EXACTLY what they did in the USA. Exactly the same. Where is the investigation of the fiscal assault against national security of these nations

In 2008 the USA bailed out the financial sector, now four years later the exact MO is used for huge bailouts AGAIN. Where in 2016 if not before, Asia? When is Australia going to be tapped for money? Then what is the next 'operation' to SCAM monies from national treasuries?

The United Nations has to chime in on this. This is incredibly incidious to not just national security, but, global security. What is next, Zillionaires?

ENOUGH!

Nations need to leverage taxes against the markets and a good place to start is the tax on transactions ! Nations have to pay down their debt and they need to fashion a manner to do it and expediently within reason. Citizens are headed into poverty and tax bases are shrinking into the ZERO-ZONE!!!!

"Found Money" - Republican Representative Jef Miller wants to spend it. What happened to reducing the national debt?

2012-01-13T09:12:00.000-05:00

No, no, no. These monies belong to traverlers in the USA. They are donations. The monies go to pay down the national debt. Here again, are Republicans really committed to paying down the debt or simply playing politics at every turn?\

...Airline passengers leave about $400,000 a year in coins they forget to — or choose not to — take with them as they scramble to catch flights, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

In 2010, that loose change amounted to $409,085.56. That's $376,480.39 in dollar coins, quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies, plus foreign currency worth $32,605.17....

...Republican (click title to entry - thank you) Rep. Jeff Miller of Florida wants to change that.

Legislation he's proposing would give the money to the United Service Organizations to help operate their welcome centers for U.S. military personnel around the globe.

"Allowing TSA to keep unclaimed taxpayer money for any and all purposes is an egregious breach of its duty to the public that it serves," Miller wrote in a recent letter to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y. "This money should be put to good use, and there is no better organization to use this money wisely than the USO."...

The USA has laws. One of those laws is that assassinations are illegal. Iran is asking the UN to protect scientists.

2012-01-12T03:26:00.001-05:00

This undated photo released by Iranian Fars News Agency, claims to show Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, who they say was killed in a bomb blast in Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, next to his son.

In all honesty there are Iranian ex-pats camping near the Iraq-Iran border that are more likely a place where someone could hide successfully to carry out such attacks without interruption. There are many witthin Iran that want to see the end to nuclear proliferation and war mongering. There was an entire movement in the country not long ago which erupted because of Iran's willingness to confront every other nation on Earth to propagate nuclear weapons.

I do believe Iran coming forward to ask for assistance in ending the deaths of scientists is an effective way of beginning more discussion about the unstable aspects of Iran and the region. Iran has to have productive relationships with other nations, especially its neighbors. There is no nation that wants to see Shi'ites endangered by the sheer fact they are Shi'ites. That is ethnic cleansing. No nation wants that.

..."Based on the existing evidence (click here) collected by the relevant Iranian security authorities, similar to previous incidents, perpetrators used the same terrorist method in assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, i.e. attaching a sticky magnetic bomb to the car carrying the scientists and detonating it," Mohammad Khazaee, Iran's ambassador to the UN, said in the letter.

"Furthermore, there is firm evidence that certain foreign quarters are behind such assassinations."...

That is nothing but inflammatory language intended to escalate confrontations.

Between the nuclear issue and Iran's willingness to be a lone wolf in the global community the tensions are reaching a new extreme and there needs to be change in the way Iran finds alliance and participation in the global community, including, nuclear non-proliferation.

The Associated Press (click title to entry - thank you)

Date: Wed. Jan. 11 2012 4:07 PM ET

WASHINGTON — The United States denied any role in Wednesday's killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist, the latest in a series of events that have exacerbated tensions with Iran.

The assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was the latest in a year that has already seen new U.S. economic sanctions, threats to bar American ships from the Gulf, an Iranian death sentence to a jailed U.S. citizen and an escalation in Tehran's uranium enrichment program....

Opportunists seeks to merge the global investments boards.

2012-01-11T20:48:00.004-05:00

Wall Street never cease to provide audacity to reality.

Nathaniel Popper

January 11, 2012, 9:19 a.m.

Reporting from New York— (click title to entry - thank you)

...European regulators appear set to shoot down a controversial deal that would have seen Germany's largest stock exchange buy the New York Stock Exchange.
In a video message sent to employees of the Big Board on Wednesday, the chief executive of NYSE Euronext, Duncan Niederauer, acknowledged the growing rumors that European regulators are preparing to reject the deal due to fears that the new company would violate antitrust laws.
NYSE Euronext and the German exchange, the Deutsche Boerse, announced in February that the German company would acquire the New York exchange and its web of global subsidiaries in an exchange of stock.
Niederauer said Wednesday morning that he and his counterpart at the Deutsche Boerse had not received a final decision from the European Commission, but he expressed his disappointment that the combined company is being viewed as a monopoly threat....

There is so much 'liquidity' in the global financial sector they are trying to create a giant monopoly of the financial markets. Every global market has been approached about a consolidation. The monopolies have been denied for the most part.

The global financial crisis is not about envy. It is not about class warfare. It is about the power of the global plutocracy that would like to dissolve the sovereignty of every country in their way.

The serious imbalance between the wealthy and the poor is globally profound. If Wall Streets were to own the entire global financial network under a single Board of Trustees or ownership there would be no removing the poor standard anywhere. Their power would be all inclusive, including the ability to manipulate monetary policy.

If anyone believes for one minute Romney doesn't know this is a goal for his 'equity industry' they believe in the magic of Frosty the Snowman, too.

Romney is not a nice man. He is ruthless and he is typical of Republicans that hide behind their godliness and holier than thou attitude.

Mr. Romney continues to prove he is not a nice man.

2012-01-11T20:45:00.002-05:00

...ROMNEY: You know, (click title to entry - thank you) I think it’s about envy. I think it’s about class warfare. When you have a president encouraging the idea of dividing America based on 99 percent versus one percent, and those people who have been most successful will be in the one percent, you have opened up a wave of approach in this country which is entirely inconsistent with the concept of one nation under God. The American people, I believe in the final analysis, will reject it....

The word is used to close the debate. It is an emotional word designed in its use in this context to intimidate the discussion. In other words, Romney is 'the man' that 'knows' what the real problem is and it is that man in the White House and his rhetoric victimizing the entire country. Romney 'knows' the nation will come to see it his way, so he continues to use the word to victimize the people that have decided about 99% of estrangement in economic prosperity.

Allow me to prove to you how completely "W"rong Romney is in his politics without facts, but, simple emotional attacks of intimidation. See next entry. Thank you.

I heard a mention of a 'magnet bomb' on the radio and didn't catch all the details at first. I thought it was a rebirth of Herman Cain.

2012-01-11T18:28:00.005-05:00

Pokemon Magnet Bomb (click here)

The bomb could have been planted by anyone. Al Qaeda usually are the ones on motorcycles.

It could have been anyone. Was his wife happy?

Maybe Iran hasn't scanned the horizon lately but they are in the Middle East where turbulence has become a daily diet.

There are many, many countries that do not approve of the Iranian nuclear ambitions. There is no way of knowing. The neighbors to Iran in the entire region are not happy and feel it is a threat to any peace and stability. Those neighbors have friends that stretch around the globe.

Iran needs to get over it and change its ways.
\
Iran is always trying to focus its anger and inappropriate nuclear status on The West. I don't know of any nation in the region that believes Iran should have nuclear weapons or wants a nuclear Iran. To be honest, for the expediency it took place after Iran made their announcement about enrichment, it was probably implemented within the region if not the country itself.

The other bizarre possibilty is that this is to bolster the 'idea' that an American visiting family in Iran is actually CIA. Would that be quite a show, for Iran to execute an American after the professor was killed as if this was a CIA plot the Iranian government was trying to stop the entire time. Such a 'story' would give greater justification to confronting The West, especially in Homuz. It sort of sounds more like a Bush/Cheney stunt to justify escalation to the Iranian people. Is there a Radio Free Iran? There should be.

The West didn't do this. Nope.

January 11, 2012
...Iranian media (click title to entry - thank you) said Wednesday two unidentified people on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to Roshan's car, killing him and his driver and wounding a passer-by....

With lack of private equity investment in the USA and the high unemployment among construction workers, President Obama sought a solution.

2012-01-11T09:18:00.003-05:00

June 30, 2011 (click title to entry - thank you)

...The initial partners in the Better Buildings Challenge include private sector companies, financial institutions and local governments....

The Republicans believe "Making Business Better" means layoffs and outsourcing.

The only defense Romney has on job creation is that he made business better according to Former New Hampshire Governor Judd Gregg. Gregg states in his support of Romney, it is necessary to layoff employees to make business better.

When will outsourcing and layoffs of employees be viewed as a failed business?

Laying off employees reduces the market for any product. Yet, Republicans see this 'relief from labor cost' as a genius move to make a business better. Amazing.

For CEOs to achieve poor stock returns and ultimately restructuring of the company and its labor force means the CEOs never knew what they were doing in the first place.

Boom or bust and riding the bubble, that is the Republican business model.

Historically, USA fisheries implode with Republican administrations (example: implosion of the Pacific fisheries under Bush) because deregulation of the industry. With deregulation there is a large increase in 'take from the fisheries' and the 'number of boats fishing.'

The same strategy is allowed of Wall Street when deregulated. There is a bubble and implosion. That is not a business model for sustained markets and employment, that is 'wealth greed' with complete disregard for a stable economy whjch leads to greater national security.

January 11, 2012

President Obama Hosts "Insourcing American Jobs" Forum at the White House (click here)

The Recovery Act influence is fairly obvious as the number of jobs saved and created. During the first year of the Obama administration job loss was completely halted and reversed. The jobs saved would not even show up on this graph.

The only ideas Republicans have, are the next set of rhetorical lies.

2012-01-11T08:52:00.001-05:00

A rhetorical lie is most sought that activiates all the senses of power, like, the Donald Trump wannabe rhetoric "I love to fire people."

One (click title to entry - thank you) of the toughest things about being a Democrat is that the Republican values sound really neat -- individual liberty! personal responsibility! a small government! low taxes! not much bureaucracy! entrepreneurial spirit!...

...Yet they sound really attractive. So here's what young Democrats need to do -- build up a habit of CHALLENGING it whenever Republicans ooze about "personal responsibility" and all the others. If you get into an argument that consists mostly of you chanting some Democratic values and their chanting the Republican ones, you won't win more than 50% of the time....

...So you have to move the arguments from ABSTRACT VALUES to ACTUAL FACTS....

The dreaded European socialism is not the problem, Wall Street continues to be.

2012-01-11T04:31:00.001-05:00

Where have I heard this before? When the USA bailed out the banks in 2008 and 2009 the same exact methods occurred. The monies were never reinfused into the USA economy to stabilize it or produce growth. I'll be darn. The stagnation in the Euro-Zone is directly a result of the methods of Wall Street, there is not any austerity methods that is going to improve this outcomes. Quite the opposite, it will make it worse!

...Almost all of the money (click title to entry - thank you) loaned to 523 euro-area lenders last month wound up back on deposit at the Frankfurt-based central bank instead of pouring into the financial system, according to estimates by Barclays Capital based on ECB data. Banks will use most of the money from the three-year loans to meet their refinancing needs for this year and next, analysts at Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc estimate.

“It’s illusory to think that the measure will translate into credit generation,” Philippe Waechter, chief economist at Natixis Asset Management in Paris, said in an interview. “It will assuage some of the anxiety banks have regarding their liquidity needs. But they’ve engaged into a massive overhaul of their strategy and shrinkage of their balance sheets, which is, coupled with the deteriorating economy, not compatible with increasing credit.”

Governments are urging European banks to keep lending to companies and individuals while requiring them to raise an additional 114.7 billion euros of core capital by June to weather a deepening sovereign-debt crisis. Instead of raising equity, most lenders across Europe have vowed to meet capital rules by trimming at least 950 billion euros from their balance sheets over the next two years, either by selling assets or not renewing credit lines, according to data compiled by Bloomberg....

Is Wildard Mitt Romney the next Dick Cheney? More than likely, yes.

2012-01-10T15:35:00.001-05:00

I don't trust Wall Street in the White House. Do we want a CEO from a liquidity bank leading the USA? I sure don't. I would never vote for the man. It has nothing to do with anything except the USA has been worked over the coals since Bush's administration took office in January 2001.

NO, THANK YOU. I learned my lesson the first time!

Bain is simply the next Halliburton and don't tell me for one minute that Romney won't bring his money management skills with him to the Executive Branch. There is a big difference between Bedtime for Bonzo and Bain Capital. Romney was once the President of the Actor's Guild.

Romney is nothing like Reagan. Nope.

The Democrats have had a diffcult time warming up to Secretary Geithner, just think what it is going to be like with a Wall Street CEO in the Oval Office. Romney has never had a treasury like the one of the USA. He never had the borrowing power either. He never had the clout and I guarantee he'll sidle up to China, India and Iraq like Paulson never did.

He'll never be able to compare his 'job creation' rate to that of President Obama. No comparison. Romney took no prisoners. That ruthlessness was never a priority with the President. It will be Wisconsin from Sea to Shining Sea.

The Republican War Mongers regarding the MIddle East really are way off base.

2012-01-10T08:38:00.002-05:00

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz (click title to entry - thank you) with Defense Minister Ehud Barak in the Golan Heights.

Photo by: Defense Ministry

Israel is accepting refugees from Syria. Israel has been and always will be interested in PEACE between itself and its neighbors. It would be wise for Iran to realize exactly how interested in peace Israel actually is and has always been.

Assad had to realize that once the Syrian people reached their tolerance of his regime it was going to be met with a strong effort to remove him and his military. Hezbollah has been entrenched in resistence for a long time in Syria, much of that time its efforts were aimed at Lebanon and Israel. But, the really it neither Israel or Lebanon had oppressed them, their own government did.

The reason Hezbollah has been displacing their efforts against neighbors to Syria is because that was always Assad's focus. Assad was always over reaching his authority across borders.

With the Arab Spring giving new reality to the citizens of the MIddle East, there was a new focus for and they removed themselves from the 'violent old ways' and seek change through passive resistence. When Assad met their passive resistence and their civil disobedience with violence against his own people, there was no holding back a populous now aware of their real enemy.

Israel has always been tolerant. It has sometimes over reacted to threats at its borders. Israel at times has been unjust within its borders with Palestinians. But, with the Middle East moving their focus off Israel to realize their oppressors far exceed a simple scapegoat, Israel may find a greater opportunity for humanitarian connections to Arabs in need.

...Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said Tuesday that Israel is preparing to absorb Alawite refugees once Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime collapses, which he expects to happen in the coming months.

Speaking at a Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs committee meeting, Gantz said Assad's turmoil could cause him to seek a military confrontation with Israel....

I would never expect Israel to change its defensive approach to their national security. It is not prudent for Israel to lower their expectations of defending their autonomy, but, I would not expect Israel to become an aggressor nation in the MIddle East. Quite the contrary, I would expect Israel to eventually move into a movement toward peace with a newly resolved Arab League. In many ways the Arab Spring is 'too good to be true' for Israel and there are still questions as the 'intent' of newly elected governments.

..."Assad cannot continue holding on to power and his downfall is expected to cause a crack in the radical axis," Gantz said.
"Assad and the Syrian regime may have a hard time acting against us in the short-term, but we also need to take into account that Syria has advanced weapons systems. They have advanced Russian arms such as Yakhont missiles."

The IDF chief said that he was not sure whether the Golan Heights, which border with Syria, will remain quiet in the near future.

"Assad is not the same type as [Former Libyan leader Muammar] Gahdafi, who fights until the last bullet down in the sewer. The day that the Syrian regime will fall, it will issue a blow to the Alawites, and we are preparing to absorb those refugees."
Gantz also discussed other threats the IDF perceives....

It would be a folly for the Arab League to allow Israel to wonder as to its own security with such dynamic shifts in power in many of its member countries. The Arab League is proving to be a guiding force in the Middle East, I would think its ultimate challenge would be to bring all its member nations to the table with Israel to hammer out a sustainable peace and a permanent Palestine Nation.

I would not expect a 'perfect start' to such efforts, but, I believe all parties are capable of ending the turmoil of the Middle East and establish a stable region.

I believe the Arab Spring is bringing a new savviness to the Arab League. I have been impressed with their resolve and willingness to work with the people. Their initiatives in Syria cannot be denied as one of the more brave approaches I have witnessed among members of the Arab League in all its existence. They are working to secure the people against violence to allow representative governments to grow. That is not only impressive, it is historical for this region. Quite amazing actually. Good allies and trade partners are growing.

I hear Republicans are waking up to the prospect of having an atypical QUALIFIED candidate as a nominee.

2012-01-10T08:25:00.001-05:00

Republican (click title to entry - thank you) presidential candidate, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and his wife Mary Kaye turns and gestures to the crowd after doing a television interview prior to a campaign rally in Exeter, N.H., Monday, Jan. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Mr. Lew is a very familiar face. Thank you, Mr. Lew.

2012-01-10T08:11:00.000-05:00

The best part of Mr. Lew's acceptance for Chief of Staff is that Congress has a one stop place for cooperation. Mr. Lew is from the Office of Management and Budget. Congress can now rely on the White House to be completely accurate in their assessment of any bills costs and REVENUES.

..."Over the past year he has helped strengthen our economy and streamline the government at a time when we need to do everything we can to keep our recovery going," Obama said. "Jack's economic advice has been invaluable and he has my complete trust, both because of his mastery of the numbers but because of the values behind those numbers."

Lew is well-regarded by Republicans, though he is likely to be perceived as more of a partisan than Daley, who had a close relationship with the corporate community.

Former Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, who worked with Lew on appropriations and budget matters, called Lew's appointment a "solid choice."

"He's a very professional guy, he's a straight shooter, he's obviously partisan, but he knows his stuff," Gregg said. "He always told you what he thought. He was very straightforward. He has a lot of credibility on the Hill."...

I thank Mr. Daley for staying at the White House over the past year after Rahm was elected Mayor of Chicago.

2012-01-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

By Christi Parsons and Peter Nicholas, Washington Bureau

January 9, 2012, 6:47 p.m.

Reporting from Washington — (click title to entry - thank you)

After a frustrating year of setbacks and bruising fights with Republicans, President Obama accepted the resignation of Chief of Staff William Daley and turned to a Washington veteran in an attempt to improve White House operations and the administration's dealings with Congress....

It is absolutely astounding to realize the length President Obama has gone to in trying to find a way to welcome Republicans home. It hasn't worked, it is not going to work because the Tea Party folks have a real chip on their shoulder. They didn't come to Washington DC to cooperate for the best interest of the country, they went to Washington DC to take control. There is quite a difference. The Tea Party members of the US House have literally set up a parrallel governing body whereby they assigned Speaker Boner as President and relished their own Congressional Christmas Tree Lighting VS The White House Christmas Tree.

The US House has disconnected from governing and is literally under seige. That is my point of view.

So, I am sure the required 'tensile strength' needed in the Oval Office and with its staff is more than anyone can imagine with the country having a 'fingertip hold' on a recovering economy. Although in all honesty, this recovery is different than others, in that Americans are taking up the call and growing their local economies without relying on Wall Street. The 'opportunity gap' is closing with focus on local economies, but, the shift to success is slower as it was stymied by events in 2009 that left Small Business start ups without bank loans. It took awhile for the Recovery Act to make its progress through the USA states and into the economy. So, while the economic recovery was lethargic, it was due to external forces no one could see coming. Wall Street literally picked up their money and left the country.

I wish Mr. Daley a great deal of success in Chicago and I appreciate all his efforts in DC. If his efforts to bridge a relationship from the Executive Branch to Congress were lackluster it was not for the trying.

Laura Ingram and the media hasn't got anything.

2012-01-10T07:41:00.000-05:00

Evidently, the 'gossip' this week is there was an 'over the top' Halloween Party at the White House.

As far as I am concerned, if a friend wanted to bring 'to die for' guests to a party, I am all about it.

I am quite confident the children at the party had the time of their lives. The strongest drink at the party was fruit punch and even that is supposed to be scandalous.

The fact of the matter is, there were new staffers that, while incredibly talented, didn't hold back or carry out security details. I find it even more interesting that President Obama came to the party as himself.

Party Hardy Kids. I mean really. Evidently, Laura Ingram is seeking character assassination rather than 'talking points' of the Republican Nomination Race. I guess it just isn't interesting enough for her listeners.

BY KENNETH R. BAZINET

DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Friday, February 26, 2010

WASHINGTON - White House (click here) social secretary Desiree Rogers is quitting, but the Obama administration insisted Friday she wasn't forced out over the embarrassing party-crasher security farce.
A close confidant of the Obamas, Rogers failed to provide staff to help Secret Service double-check a White House guest list last November....

Breathalyzer at the voting booth !!!!!!!

2012-01-09T23:59:00.006-05:00

Sound like a strange idea? There was a right wing political commentator today advocating a drink before voting for Republicans by Independents.

No lie.

Traveling is wonderful, I get to listen to a lot of radio. Today, it blew me away. No, no, not the storm, the female right wing commentator.

She was speaking to an Independent voter while on the air. She wanted to know whom he was going to vote for. He stated he wasn't sure, but, he thought it would be a Republican. He voted for President Obama last time.

She stated he absolutely could not vote for President Obama this. This Independent Voter was an African American Man. She stated if the voter looked around the area at the voting place, there had to be a bar within walking distance and rather than back sliding, he needed to go to the bar and take a shot of courage.

She advocated that voting for a Republican in 2012 would require an African American man to have his senses dulled in order to prevent him from voting his conscience.

That was a new one on me and it made me realize, while Republicans were demanding Photo IDs for balloting, they thought it was okay to be inebritated. Not only okay to be inebriated, but, the 'choice' for voting for Republicans in 2012. She was NOT joking. She was making the point that taking a drink before balloting would make it easy to vote Republican.

I could not believe my ears, so I thought it most appropriate to not only expect people to provide photo IDs, but, to be sure they weren't drunk.

Dead serious. The truth. Right Wing Commentators are suggesting a drink to change an Independent's vote for a Republican. You can't make this stuff up.

Now, if a minority heard HER commentL, it would have a special meaning as there sometimes is cited as an unnecessary evil in the inner city many bars and liquor stores. Seriously. It is a racist comment. She probably knew it, but, didn't care. If she didn't know it, then what is she doing on the air?

"The Dream Act"

2012-01-09T23:54:00.000-05:00

Pro-Life

Anti-Abortion

There are many babies born within the USA and want their dream, too!

If this is showing on the blog it is because I haven't finish my traveling for the day.

2012-01-08T20:30:00.000-05:00

Until later.