This Blog is created to stress the importance of Peace as an environmental directive. “I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” – Harry Truman
(I receive no compensation from any entry on this blog.)
It isn't even a matter of 'recharge' anymore. It is a matter of 'sustained' ability of Earth to freeze ice in the Arctic Ocean. There are 'chronic' heat transfer systems all year round. The Arctic Ocean has no 'relief' from the heat.
One has to realize, there is 'higher amounts of 'COLD' reserve in the 'aged' ice. As the aged ice melts it is ONLY replaced with annual ice less able to 'sustain' against increased tropospheric temperatures.
I can't wait to see the details of the Non-Proliferation Agreement. Any chance it will be soon?
This entire 'Georgia thing' with NATO is hideous. Completely hideous.One Kaboom and its all over anyway.
Russian submarine successfully test-launches strategic missile (click title to entry - thank you)
22:0113/07/2009
SOCHI, July 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday that Russia had successfully test-launched a strategic missile from a submarine. "The target was hit and the pieces of the missile landed in the designated area," the president said at a meeting with Navy personnel in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi. The president said the test occurred on Monday, but did not specify the type of missile or the name of the submarine. Last month Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky, the Russian Navy commander, said Russia would carry out the next test of a Bulava sea-launched ballistic missile in late July, one of a total of four or five launches this year. Despite five failures in 10 trials, the last unsuccessful trial being in December 2008, Russia's Defense Ministry is planning to complete Bulava tests and put the ICBM into service by the end of 2009. The Russian military says the Bulava, along with Topol-M ballistic missiles, will become the backbone of Russia's nuclear triad. The triad comprises land-based ballistic missile systems, nuclear-powered submarines armed with sea-launched ballistic missiles, and strategic bombers carrying nuclear bombs and nuclear-capable cruise missiles.
A displaced woman returning home to the Swat valley. Photograph: Reuters (click title to entry - thank you)
Some aide workers are concerned the people are returning too early. I believe the Pakistani military is overseeing their return. I also believe some disturbance by the Taliban is expected, but, then that would be the case no matter when the people returned. One has to remember the people wanted their liberation from the oppressors. It is time to 'secure' the region by returning citizens to their homes and regular activities. The sooner the people experience 'freedom' and 'rights' the more they will seek to secure their communities.
There is the argument, that, keeping people in refugee camps much longer would be a 'sentence' all by itself. If the Pakistani government can succeed in preparing the region for the promise of a better life, there is every reason to believe they will have the loyalty of the people in continuing to secure their liberation rather than recidivism and timidity.
It was cruel and difficult with the Taliban. The people of Pakistan now have a chance to rid themselves and their regions of such oppressive regimes. They will succeed. They had the will to bring their military into the region, they will support them especially now.
...But some aid workers say the process has been poorly conceived and people are vulnerable to further attack. "The Pakistani government is sending people home far too early," said Kristèle Younès, of Refugees International. "Displaced people should be the ones to determine whether it is safe for them to return, and we fear the government is not providing them with clear and accurate information." "There are some suspicions that [the return] is not as free as you would like," said Dorothy Blane of Concern. "They should not be forced back just so the government can say that normal life has returned, because if they have to come out again it will be a disaster." The return process got off to a slow and chaotic start. Residents trying to travel to Swat in private cars were turned back at the town of Sher Gur, on the edge of the conflict-affected area....
...and money, but, since I never carried it out, the point of breaking the law is mute. Is that what the media is trying to say now?
So, anything, Dickey wanted to toy with as official business, was okay? Really?
It is called abuse of power. And who is to say Dickey would decide an American citizen was an al Qaeda leader and send out the goon squad? Huh? Answer me that. Because we have already had innocent people sent on Renditions. Answer? No one?
Cheney's SS (Schutzstaffel) in training.
Cheney “Assassination Unit” Still Active Under Obama, Including Domestically (click here) Joint Special Operations Command comprises Delta Force personnel that have killed U.S. citizens and acted in support of Obama’s expanded war in Pakistan Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Saturday, March 14, 2009 Revelations that a political assassination unit which reported solely to Dick Cheney was in operation during the Bush administration are absent the fact that the unit in question, the Joint Special Operations Command, has been active for decades, has been deployed domestically in the U.S., has killed U.S. citizens, and is an integral part of Barack Obama’s expanded wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan....
See, Richard Cheney didn't care about the law, he cared about power. He abused the power of his office regularly for the sake of 'expanding' the authority of the Vice Presidency.
...One Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said CIA Director Leon Panetta (click title to entry - thank you) told them that former Vice President Dick Cheney ordered the program be kept secret and that CIA directors agreed, placing Cheney squarely at the center of the controversy. "He was told the vice president had ordered that the program not be briefed to the Congress," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. "I think that is a problem, obviously."...
Richard Cheney and George Bush CHRONICALLY lied about their activities in the White House including wireless wire taps and the PRIVATE companies that were forced into servitude during their years in the White House. Richard Cheney breached his authority within the Vice Presidency all the time, including the outing of a CIA agent for a personal AND political vendetta after her spouse wrote an editorial in the Op-Ed section of The New York Times.
Hey, there ya go. Maybe Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson were al Qaeda leaders and we just didn't know it ! What do you think, huh?
Then again, I always thought Judith Miller was al Aqeda. After all she hung Libby out to dry !
I sincerely wish they would come together over the passions of their people. The Iranians want peace. The enemy that existed in Iraq is gone. There is clearly a 'Shi'ite Province' in Southern Iraq with The Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
There is far less danger to the Shi'ites with the withdrawal of American forces and a 'friendly' Iraq as a neighbor. There is no way a radical Ahmadinejad can claim his nation has direct threats from any nation. At every turn, there are 'resolving' issues that once concerned the Iranian people of their national security.
I am concerned a new religious divide in Iran could lead to greater turmoil and tensions.
Majid Ghaemi Heidari is welcomed at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport. He and four other Iranians were freed after 30 months in U.S. custody in Iraq.
By Borzou Da
After a long absence, pro-Mousavi cleric Rafsanjani to lead prayers (click title to entry - thank you)
July 13, 2009 Reporting from Beirut -- A powerful cleric who has been a driving force behind the opposition movement challenging the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will lead Friday prayers this week after a two-month absence that was considered a sign of conflict within the Iranian establishment.
The semiofficial Iranian Labor News Agency reported Sunday that Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani will deliver the nation's weekly keynote religious sermon. Rafsanjani, who chairs powerful boards that oversee the office of the supreme leader and adjudicate disputes between government bodies, is the highest-profile backer of opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who lost to Ahmadinejad in an election marred by allegations of vote-rigging....
Published: July 12, 2009, 23:03 Tehran: Iran threatened the United States yesterday with possible legal action for detaining five of its officials for up to 30 months in Iraq. The five Iranians were given a hero's welcome home after their release last week, waving and smiling as they stepped from their plane at Tehran's Mehrabad airport to be met by their families. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who was also there to greet them, denounced their detention as "inhumane". The capture of the Iran-ians, some of whom US forces accused of arming Shiite Muslim militias at the height of Iraq's sectarian war, stoked tension between Tehran and Washington. The two powers are also at odds over Iran's nuclear programme....
...Dr. Regina Benjamin is known along Alabama's impoverished Gulf Coast (click here) as a country doctor who makes house calls and doesn't turn away patients who can't pay, even as she's had to find the money to rebuild a clinic repeatedly destroyed by hurricanes and once even fire....
...Benjamin was the first black woman to head a state medical society (click title to entry - thank you), received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights and just last fall received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." But she made headlines in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, with her determination to rebuild her rural health clinic Bayou La Batre, Ala., which serves 4,400 patients who would be hard-pressed to find care elsewhere.
A serial killer who terrorised a US town has been shot dead by police. Patrick Burris, 41, was gunned down in a shootout after he fired at officers sent to investigate his car. Bullets in his gun were found to match those that killed five people over an eight-day shooting spree.
N.C. couple gets $30,000 S.C. serial killer reward (click title to entry - thank you) Associated Press Published: Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 7:17 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 7:17 p.m. GAFFNEY, S.C. (AP) – Officials have decided a Dallas, N.C., couple will get a $30,000 award for calling in the tip that led to a man who authorities say was a serial killer who shot to death five people in South Carolina....
The statistics below reflect a "Stimulus Package," not a Republican Legislative Jobs Bill or Bush Tax Cut. It isn't 'a feel good feeling' with 'immediate gradification.' Sort of like a pat on the head. The Stimulus was all of two full months in the making when these statistics were reported, this is no measure of its effectiveness.
A good friend told me that on this past Thursday, in Wilmington, North Carolina, there was a call for the unemployed to report to the Unemployment Office to place applications with International Paper. There were many people that responded with lines out the door. That fact about the 'uptick' in the economy was never reported in the newspapers either.
May 2009 - Illinois - 9.9 % - Ranks 5th in GSP (Gross State Product)
May 2009 - Florida - 10.0% - Ranks 4th in GSP
May 2009 - Tennesee - 10.3% - Ranks 19th in GSP
May 2009 - Indiana - 10.4% - Ranks 18th in GSP
May 2009 - Ohio - 10.4% - Ranks 8th in GSP
May 2009 - Kentucky - 10.5% - Ranks 27th in GSP
May 2009 - District of Columbia - 10.7% - Ranks 34.5 place in GSP
May 2009 - Nevada - 11% - Ranks 31st in GSP
May 2009 - North Carolina - 11.1% - Ranks 9th in GSP
May 2009 - California - 11.2% - Ranks 1st in GSP
May 2009 - South Carolina - 11.6% - Ranks 28th in GSP
May 2009 - Oregon - 12.1% - Ranks 26th in GSP
May 2009 - Rhode Island - 12.1% - Ranks 44th in GSP
May 2009 - Michigan - 13.9% - Ranks 12th in GSP
May 2009 - Puerto Rico - 14.3% - Not Found
In 1928 Roosevelt became Governor of New York. (click here) He was elected President in November 1932, to the first of four terms. By March there were 13,000,000 unemployed (approximately 25%), and almost every bank was closed. In his first "hundred days," he proposed, and Congress enacted, a sweeping program to bring recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and to those in danger of losing farms and homes, and reform, especially through the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority. By 1935 the Nation had achieved some measure of recovery, but businessmen and bankers were turning more and more against Roosevelt's New Deal program. They feared his experiments, were appalled because he had taken the Nation off the gold standard and allowed deficits in the budget, and disliked the concessions to labor. Roosevelt responded with a new program of reform: Social Security, heavier taxes on the wealthy, new controls over banks and public utilities, and an enormous work relief program for the unemployed.
Everyone needs to stop pouting because they lost their 'Republican feel good feeling' and find the veracity (devotion to the truth) of being a 'real' American. The Great Recession is due directly to the failed economic policies of eight years of Republican hubris. The Obama Administration isn't interested in the 'flash in the pan' economics of Bush/Cheney that distracted the country from the immoral and illegal activities of their administration. The Democratic Executive Branch and Legislature is interested in 'sustained' change to the country that isn't based in 'mythological economics.' Sustained change that will encompass changes in energy and transportation. Last I looked, I didn't notice President Obama's Magic Wand compliments of Harry Potter.
...The first Hispanic to be nominated for the court (click title to entry - thank you), Sotomayor faces what's expected to be a week of hearings that feature largely polite and only occasionally pointed questioning, most of it from Republicans. The committee has 12 Democrats and seven Republicans. Leahy, D-Vt., opened Monday's hearing by recalling other "firsts" on the court and how their races or ethnicities once raised questions. Today, however, Leahy said, "we're in a different era," and he said he hoped that Sotomayor would get the same kind of consideration as Sandra Day O'Connor, whom President Ronald Reagan named as the first woman on the Supreme Court in 1981. O'Connor won overwhelmingly bipartisan support. President Barack Obama "has done his part" in nominating Sotomayor, Leahy said. "He's made an historic nomination."...
It would seem the Ensign Affair was more extortion than love.
...Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a watchdog group (click title to entry - thank you), filed complaints Wednesday with the Senate ethics committee and the Federal Elections Commission, seeking the appropriate inquiries. Among the issues are whether the dismissals of the woman and her husband, once a top Ensign aide, were tied to the affair and, if so, could constitute sexual harassment; whether improper severance payments were paid to the woman or her husband; and what the circumstances were behind the hiring of the couple's son by the National Republican Senatorial Committee chaired by Mr. Ensign. CREW also questions Mr. Ensign's conduct if, as some media reported, he told people close to him that he was being extorted for money by the husband. Mr. Ensign never publicly said he was being blackmailed; his spokesman said the husband, through an attorney, made exorbitant demands for "cash and other financial benefits."...
Who Collected the Republican Soft Money
RNC = Republican National Committee
NRSC = National Republican Senatorial Committee
NRCC = National Republican Congressional Committee
July 7, 2009 12:07 AM S.C. Republicans Censure Sanford (click title to entry - thank you)
(AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastian)South Carolina's top Republicans voted overwhelmingly to censure Gov. Mark Sanford – who admitted to a lengthy affair with an Argentine woman – but fell well short of calling for his resignation. The state's GOP executive committee met for about three hours Monday. Twenty-two members supported the censure. Ten voted to call for his resignation and nine others voted against any reprimand. In a statement, Sanford says he appreciates the party's position and will continue to work to earn back its trust, the Associated Press reported. The governor has said repeatedly that he will serve his remaining 18 months in office. Some members of the state's Republican party reportedly do not want Sanford to resign because they wish to compete for the governor's mansion in 2011 and the state's current lieutenant governor, Andre Bauer, might have an advantage in running for reelection as the incumbent governor.
Two senators: CIA concealment may have broken law (click title to entry - thank you) By PETE YOST – 26 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Six months into Barack Obama's presidency, twin investigations may be on the horizon into Bush-era policies in the war on terror....
...Regarding the 8-year-old counter-terrorism program, the Bush administration's failure to notify Congress "is a big problem, because the law is very clear," said Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif....
Go figure.
Dick Cheney ordered the CIA to conceal counter-terrorism plan from Congress (click here) ...According to US intelligence officials quoted in the US media the CIA director, Leon Panetta, told congressional intelligence committees that information about the programme was withheld on Cheney's orders. Panetta told the committees that as soon as he learned of the programme's existence last month he shut it down....
The debate between Senator Leahy and Jeff Sessions is ludicrous. The video at the article below shows the very 'heavy' politiking that is going on by Republicans to salvage the Republican Party and force the JUSTICE that is guaranteed to the American people to the back of any priority. There is always this 'intricate' 'cloud of uncertainty' regarding the Bush Executive Branch and their demeanor in carrying out their power. Jeff Sessions plays it to the hilt !
Dick Cheney came to office with an agenda, within two weeks after inauguration he conducted a covert Energy Committee, followed by a downed Spy Plane over China, shortly followed by sidelining FBI and CIA intelligence regarding pending attacks by al Qaeda, to allow the attacks to happen, followed by a short war into Afghanistan while plotting an illegal war into Iraq.
The Bush/Cheney White House was among the most insidious of enemy to the USA Constitution and the Obama Justice Department needs to do what it needs to do !!!!
Leahy on Cheney: No One Is Above the Law (click here) July 12, 2009 11:48 AM Posted by David S Morgan "There was no evidence that the higher-ups participated in any way," Sessions replied, adding that one Abu Ghraib defendant said "there would have been hell to pay" had they known what was happening. "It was an unusual event and the military did the right thing in prosecuting the people who were responsible," he said....
New Evidence Cheney Swayed Reaction to Leak (click here) Discussions of CIA Agent Listed in Filing
By R. Jeffrey Smith Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, July 3, 2009
A document filed in federal court this week by the Justice Department offers new evidence that former vice president Richard B. Cheney helped steer the Bush administration's public response to the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson's employment by the CIA and that he was at the center of many related administration deliberations.
The administration's discussion of Wilson's link to the CIA was meant to undermine criticism by her husband of administration allegations that Iraq attempted to acquire uranium, a matter that her husband had probed for the CIA, according to testimony presented in a 2007 trial....
How convenient. The Supreme Court turns a blind eye to the Plame appeal just in time for the truth to be known. Isn't that intersting.
Cheney, Rove, Libby Shielded From Leak Suit as Appeal Rejected (click here) Last Updated: June 22, 2009 10:09 EDT By Greg Stohr ...The justices, without comment, turned away an appeal by Plame, who worked at the Central Intelligence Agency’s headquarters in Virginia, and her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson.
Plame and Wilson sued the three officials, along with former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, in 2006. The suit accused the men of leaking Plame’s identity to reporters in retaliation for a New York Times opinion piece by Wilson questioning then-President George W. Bush’s basis for invading Iraq....
Sounds like someone needs to make testimony !
Hastert son running for Congress (click here) By DENNIS CONRAD – 2 days ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Illinois congressional seat that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert once held for 20 years may see a Hastert comeback.
Hastert's son, Ethan, is running as a Republican for the seat now held by Democratic Rep. Bill Foster, a former physicist who succeeded the elder Hastert after a special election early in 2008.... ...For two years, until June 2002, Ethan Hastert worked in former Vice President Dick Cheney's office as a special assistant to Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Years later, Libby was convicted on felony charges of obstruction of justice and lying to investigators about his conversations with reporters.
"If they want to run against the former vice president, fine," Ethan Hastert said. "The fact of the matter is I am going to be on the ticket."
Judge Questions Justice Dept. Effort to Keep Cheney Remarks Secret (click here) By R. Jeffrey Smith Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, June 19, 2009 A federal judge yesterday sharply questioned an assertion by the Obama administration that former Vice President Richard B. Cheney's statements to a special prosecutor about the Valerie Plame case must be kept secret, partly so they do not become fodder for Cheney's political enemies or late-night commentary on "The Daily Show."
Karl Rove inks $1M-plus memoir deal (click here) The Associated Press
Updated: 07/02/2009 02:40:30 PM MDT
New York » GOP strategist Karl Rove has agreed to write about his years as an adviser to President Bush in a deal worth over $1.5 million with former colleague Mary Matalin's conservative imprint at Simon & Schuster, officials said Friday.
Rove, the architect of Bush's 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns and one of the most influential political advisers of his time, signed the deal with Threshold Editions, the imprint's publisher and executive vice president Louise Burke said.
"All of us at Threshold are thrilled to publish the book from the man who had the president's ear for two terms," Burke said.... Nigeria: NBA Seeks Urgent Action On Corruption, Halliburton (click here) 7 July 2009 President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), has urged the Federal Government to take a more critical look at the issue of corruption and specifically the Halliburton, Siemens and Wilbros scandals. The NBA boss who led a team of the association on a visit to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice (AGF), Michael Aondoakaa, in Abuja on Monday, expressed concerns of Nigerians on the high level of corruption on the country and urged the government not to pay lip service to the menace.
Responding, the AGF commended the leadership of the NBA for the timely visit despite the tension between his office and them, a development he described as constructive and not defined by disagreements.... ...Aondoakaa told the NBA team that Nigerians must be assured by the knowledge that the laws and institutions that form the basis of their legal system are there to uphold their rights and enforce responsibilities of every member of their community.
Justice, and the means to enforce it, must be available equally to every member of the community, regardless of means and without discrimination, he said....
JULY 8, 2009, 12:42 P.M. ET Weatherford, Halliburton, Schlumberger Eye Mexico Gas Project (click here) MEXICO CITY (Dow Jones)--Oil-services giants Weatherford International Ltd. (WFT), Halliburton Co. (HAL) and Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) have submitted proposals for a natural-gas drilling contract in Mexico's Burgos basin, said state-run Petroleos Mexicanos on Wednesday.
Two Mexican companies, Industrial Perforadoa de Campeche and CCC Fabricantes y Construcciones, also submitted proposals. Pemex, as the state-run oil company is known, is looking to boost natural-gas output at Burgos, which pumped 22% of Mexico's gas in May.
The three-year contract is scheduled to start in mid-August, according to documents on Compranet, the government procurement Web site.
Mexico is increasing oil investments this year, even though prices have fallen compared with 2008, providing opportunities to major oil-service firms at a time when most oil companies are slashing budgets to adjust to lower prices.
Mexico is spending heavily to reverse a decline in oil production and expand natural-gas output. The company expects to increase capital expenditures by about 10% this year to $20 billion.
-By Peter Millard, Dow Jones Newswires; 5255-5001-5724; peter.millard@dowjones.com
Wall Street is notorious for taking without regard to the rights of the people of the country they 'occupy.' In the case of Nigeria, the people revolted against the 'filth' of the oil barrons that took the Nigerian oil without a care about the environmental devastation they were also conducting.
The Nigerian Oil Cartel literally took the government away from the people by villanizing the people as lawless when they were only attempting to stand up for their 'unlegislated' rights to a clean environment including clean air and water.
The Nigerian people, nor their government, ever faced such horrendous pollution and danger to their tribes. The people knew they were being poisoned by the oil industry, but, were characterized by The Wall Street Gangs as savages and illiterate. The Nigerian Oil Cartel demanded the government protect them from the savages as they had 'contracted' for the oil and gas rights regardless of any 'after thought' the people may have.
We all know the conditions in Mexico. There is poverty, uneducation of many of the people, water supplies are sometimes trucked into villages, there is crime networks not yet surmounted by the Mexican authorities and there was the beginnings of H1N1. The people of Mexico have many enemies already. Do they need anymore?
I strongly suggest when Wall Street decides to 'occupy' a country they do so with benevolence at the heart of their initiative. The people of Mexico need infrastructure to fight crime and return their streets back to them, they need clean water supply and healthy air to breath and they need to move from poverty and filth to stop any escalation of potential illnesses while becoming healthier and better educated. In other words, the profitable 'bottom line' to the oil drilling in 'occupied' Mexico just shrunk because Wall Street is going to do the 'right thing' from now on !!!!!
NM eligible for flu preparation funds (click here) Associated Press - July 11, 2009 9:05 AM ET
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico is eligible for more than $2.2 million in grants to help the state prepare for the fall flu season and swine flu.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the grants Friday. They're being funded by a supplemental appropriations bill signed by President Barack Obama in June.
New Mexico is eligible to receive $1.6 million in Public Health Emergency Response grants and $577,036 in Hospital Preparedness grants.
A total of $350 million in grants will be distributed nationwide.
The public health grants help states prepare for potential vaccination campaigns, implement strategies to reduce exposure and improve flu surveillance. The hospital grants help hospitals and health care systems prepare for health emergencies.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Mexico currently as has 10,200 known cases of H1N1.
2 to plead guilty in Big Dig concrete case (click here) By (AP) Published: 2009-07-08 14:50:05 Location: BOSTON Two former managers of a Big Dig contractor pleaded guilty Wednesday to being part of a conspiracy to deliver substandard concrete to the massive highway project.
Six former managers of Aggregate Industries NE Inc. were indicted in 2006 on charges they falsified records to hide the inferior quality of more than 5,000 truckloads of concrete.
They were accused of recycling concrete that was too old or already rejected by inspectors and in some cases double-billing for the loads. Gerard McNally, a former quality control manager, and Keith Thomas, a former dispatch manager, pleaded guilty to 12 charges, including 2 conspiracy counts, five mail fraud counts and five counts of filing false reports in connection with a federal highway project....
2 plead guilty in Big Dig concrete case (click here) By Associated Press Wednesday, July 8, 2009 Two former managers of a Big Dig contractor pleaded guilty today to being part of a conspiracy to deliver substandard concrete to the massive highway project.
Six former managers of Aggregate Industries NE Inc. were indicted in 2006 on charges they falsified records to hide the inferior quality of more than 5,000 truckloads of concrete.
They were accused of recycling concrete that was too old or already rejected by inspectors and in some cases double-billing for the loads....
Bechtel engineered and contracted The Big Dig in Boston. In Panama, who is to say what is substandard and what is not? Will the people be valued for the final product and the way production unfolds to protect the workers, the populous and the environment? In Panama?
Bechtel financially fittest in Panama bid-analysts (click here) Tue Jul 7, 2009 6:46am EDT * Bechtel-led group seen financially strongest
* European groups bring technical strengths
* Price looks key factor for contract
By Danilo Masoni and Sean Mattson
MILAN/PANAMA CITY, July 7 (Reuters) - A team led by U.S. group Bechtel is financially best placed to win the race for an estimated $3.3 billion contract to expand the Panama Canal, analysts said.
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) overseeing the bidding will open price bids on Wednesday but may take several weeks before announcing a winner. This $3.3 billion contract is the largest chunk of a $5.25 billion project to expand the canal....
Facebook Racism LOL-er Audra Shay: Wins bid to Chair Young Republicans (click here) July 12, 2009 (ChattahBox)—Audra Shay, a promoter of despicable hate and racism now serves as the national chair of the Young Republicans organization. The delegates tapped 38-year-old Shay to lead them in a vote of 470 to 415 over the weekend, effectively endorsing hate, racism and bigotry as the now and future platform of the GOP.
The election of the chair of the Young Republicans would have largely gone unnoticed, were it not for the discovery of racial slurs and hate found on Shay’s Facebook page. Certainly, a public endorsement of hate and racism should disqualify a person from becoming a leader of a major political party, but think again. This is the GOP and if anything, despite some outcries from a few fellow Young Republicans, Shay’s display of hate seemed to work to actually embolden her supporters.....
Gentilly's recovery from Hurricane Katrina is finally gaining momentum (click here) Posted by Kate Moran, The Times-Picayune July 12, 2009 7:49AM Among the city's devastated neighborhoods, Gentilly was something of an orphan after the storm. The Lower 9th Ward, with its manifest hardships, proved a magnet for volunteer groups. Lakeview and Broadmoor were meanwhile buoyed by robust and highly organized neighborhood associations. But momentum has gathered in recent months in Gentilly, a sprawling, diverse area that in many ways is a microcosm of the city itself. The post office and 3rd District police headquarters have returned, and construction is nearly complete on two major high schools. The high-profile public investments have begun to kindle the return of private business as well....
It would seem as though, Pastor Rick Warren is trying to unite the Muslim community and Christian community in 'good works.' Not a bad idea. However, the organization he is trying to unite with first has a bit of controversy laced with it because it supports Hamas.
Rick Warren envisions coalition of faith (click here) By Julia Duin Sunday, July 5, 2009 ..."I am not interested in interfaith dialogue but interfaith projects," said the pastor of the 24,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., who is widely known for his bestseller "The Purpose-Driven Life."...
Rick Warren is Wrong (click here) MADISON, Wisc., July 6 Christian Newswire Steve McConkey submits the following and is available for comment:
Rick Warren spoke to 8000 Muslim listeners at the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) at the Washington Convention Center on July 4th. He said, "Muslims and Christians can work together for the common good without compromising my convictions or your convictions. I am not interested in interfaith dialogue but interfaith projects."
Earlier, a Canada Free Press article said ISNA is an organization with ties to Hamasand other terrorist groups. According to the article, the organization's website has quotations like the following, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. 'O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.'"
Rick Warren is putting works first and faith second. According to the Bible in James 2:14-26, works should follow a person's faith. Warren has reversed this and has put works first and faith second.
According to the book of James, true faith is believing the exclusive claims of Christ and not putting faith behind works. Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven according to the Bible. As we share this truth with the world, we should then do good works....
...Interior Minister Rehman Malik said investigations were complete for these suspects and named another 12 men still wanted in connection with the case. The charges show Pakistan is serious in pursuing suspects in the case despite Indian claims to the contrary, he said. More than 170 people died in the attacks, including nine gunmen. India has accused Pakistan-based fighters from the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of carrying out the attacks. Pakistan has admitted they were partly planned on its soil and the two countries have suffered seriously strained relations....
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A pilotless U.S. drone fired two missiles into a Taliban communication center in an ethnic Pashtun tribal region on the Afghan border, killing five militants, intelligence officials said Saturday. The attack on the center run by Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistani Taliban chief and an al Qaeda ally, took place late Friday in the South Waziristan region. Here are some facts about the U.S. missile attacks, the controversy they have caused, and a list of some of the more prominent militants killed, according to Pakistani officials....
...January 28, 2008 - A senior al Qaeda member, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed in a strike in North Waziristan.
July 28 - An al Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert, Abu Khabab al-Masri, was killed in South Waziristan.
November 22 - Rashid Rauf, a Briton with al Qaeda links and the suspected ringleader of a 2006 plot to blow up airliners over the Atlantic, was killed in an attack in North Waziristan. An Egyptian named as Abu Zubair al-Masri was said to be among the dead in the same attack.
January 1, 2009 - A U.S. drone killed three foreign fighters in South Waziristan, Pakistani agents said. A week later, a U.S. counter-terrorism official said al Qaeda's operational chief Usama al-Kini and an aide had been killed in South Waziristan. The U.S. official declined to say how or when they died....
Tribal region poses harsh test for Pakistan army (click here) By NAHAL TOOSI – 4 hours ago ISLAMABAD (AP) — After relative success against Islamic extremists elsewhere, Pakistan's military faces its toughest test yet — a surgical operation against the country's most dangerous militant in a region of harsh terrain and fierce tribal rivalries. The target of the air and ground offensive now in its early phases is Baitullah Mehsud, the top commander of Pakistan's Taliban who has ties to al-Qaida. Mehsud is believed responsible for scores of suicide attacks — possibly including the December 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Pakistan considers Mehsud its greatest domestic threat. The U.S. views him as a danger to its war effort in Afghanistan because his base in South Waziristan harbors militants fleeing across the border. The Obama administration fears that a destabilized, nuclear-armed Pakistan could endanger the entire region. In recent months, U.S. missile strikes have increasingly focused on Mehsud-linked targets....
The Pakistani Government is claiming victory in its war against Taliban militants based in the Swat Valley. The army launched an offensive against the militants earlier this year after they began taking control of more areas outside the valley in breach of a peace agreement with the Government. Two million civilians fled the fighting and have spent the last two months living in makeshift refugee camps. The Government now says they can begin to return to their homes next week as the Swat region is now secure. It claims 1,500 militants have been killed in the offensive and nearly all of the valley has now been cleared of rebels.
Pakistani refugees begin returning home (click here) By RYAN LUCAS – 1 day ago SULTANWAS, Pakistan (AP) — Crammed into rickety vans with electric fans and sacks of flour roped to the roof, the first of Pakistan's 2 million refugees have begun returning to their homes after the army said it expelled Taliban militants from some northern strongholds. Their return is unlikely to end Pakistan's refugee crisis. The military is preparing for a major offensive in a neighboring region, ensuring that other Pakistanis will be displaced. The refugees have spent the past two months in crowded camps and squeezed into houses with relatives and friends south of the war zone, and are eager to restart their lives. The government must now quickly restore electricity and water — and prevent the militants from coming back. If the government fails, it could lose the goodwill it won among the public by confronting the Taliban during last spring's offensive. The military operation began after militants poured out of bases in the Swat Valley into the neighboring district of Buner and moved within 60 miles of the capital, Islamabad....
The sooner USA Forces are out of there the better. Allies need support in Afghanistan. That is if there is to be a defeat of al Qaeda. I guarantee you, Europe does not see it any other way.
Kurds lay claim to land and oil, defying Iraq's central government (click title to entry - thank you)
12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, July 11, 2009
By REESE ERLICH / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News Reese Erlich is a freelance journalist based in Oakland, Calif.
TAK TAK OIL FIELD, Iraq – With the passage of a controversial new constitution, the Kurdish regional parliament has added fuel to an already raging fire between Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq and Iraq's central government. The constitution, which still must be ratified in a popular vote, asserts Kurdish sovereignty over Kirkuk and other disputed areas, including oil fields. The constitution would require Baghdad to get Kurdish government approval of any international treaty signed by Baghdad that affects several disputed provinces with sizable Kurdish populations. Officials in the central government strongly oppose the constitution, saying it's an illegal grab for power. Behind the legal and political dispute, however, lies a fierce struggle for control of the country's oil....
They can keep their oil. I strongly suggest Detroit 'get busy' with producing the Electric Car. And I believe the Obama Administration is opening up 13 NEW High Speed Rail Systems across the country. Well. I suggest we get on with it !
The Iraqi Central Government is trying to gain 'confidence' of the people and the international community by attempting to bring International Soccer to Baghdad.
ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq hopes to convince FIFA the country is safe enough to host official soccer matches again when the national team plays Palestine on Monday in their first international in Baghdad since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The country hosted its first match since the war late on Friday, with Iraq beating Palestine 3-0 in front of jubilant supporters in the northern Kurdish city of Arbil....
Friday, July 10, 2009, 8:31am EDT Modified: Friday, July 10, 2009, 9:55am Senate pulls all-nighter, passes 135 bills (click title to entry - thank you) The Business Review Early Friday morning, the state Senate revived a popular program that provides low-cost power to businesses. The program, called Power for Jobs, died during the unprecedented battle for control of the Senate that lasted for more than a month. The stalemate broke on July 9, and senators passed 135 bills in an overnight session that ended just before 2 a.m. on Friday. The bills are expected to be sent to Gov. David Paterson for his signature. In early June, two Democrats broke ranks and voted with Republicans in a surprise attempt to oust Democrats from power. Democrats had a 32-30 majority in the chamber, the first time the party had controlled the Senate in nearly 45 years. One Democrat—Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens)--later left the Republican-led voting bloc, creating a 31-31 split. There was no way to break a tie vote, because the state had no lieutenant governor. The Senate went more than a month without conducting any official business. Those most responsible for the delay need to return a month's worth of paychecks and an investigation should follow ! The investigation should speak to the monies that were added to the New York State taxpayer because of the Abuse of Power by those individuals.
The products have always been of sufficient quality. I own some old models. They are collector items. They get reasonable fuel milage, but not by today standards. They are definately not for a commute.
The problem with GM has been their unwillingness to build autos the American people demand. With a 60% ownership to this company, the American People should participate in a burgeoning new company that has yielded to the demands of our priorities to 'survive the day.'
That is a huge victory for the people of this nation. Mounting draconian capitalism meant destroying the entity before allowing its Pheonix. Not bad. The people of the USA are powerful when they adhere with dignity to their moral directives. How many other countries can make that statement? How many should?
I would encourage all Americans to scrutinize the achievements of the new GM, write the company and let them know how they are doing. It is our right to participate in our democracy.
Buy the cars. They are made with us in mind. Be proud of the product the USA produces.
I thank Mr. Lutz for his dedication to his maintain his role in a transitioning American company.
Thursday, July 9, 2009 Lutz to remain at GM as it emerges from bankruptcy (click title to entry - thank you) ...They are widely expected to announce structural changes marking the start of a new era for GM, which will also have a new name, General Motors Co. Henderson told senior executives that the bulk of management changes would come at the end of July. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan cleared the way for GM to exit bankruptcy when he rejected a request to delay the sale of its valuable assets into an entity that will be the future GM. GM's bad assets, including liabilities and brands it is shedding, will remain in bankruptcy and be sold off or liquidated. Kaplan denied a request to stay U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber's ruling that allowed a Treasury Department-sponsored entity to buy the bulk of GM's assets. The Treasury will own a 60.8 percent stake in GM, which hopes to launch an initial public offering in 2010. Members of the White House auto task force are expected to hold a conference call with reporters tomorrow following the GM announcement. A United Auto Workers health care trust fund will hold 17.5 percent of GM; the Canadian and Ontario governments will hold 11.7 percent. Unsecured creditors will hold 10 percent of GM....
I would. A trillion dollar US over ten years for health care is what the Republicans have been complaining about.
One Trillion Dollars over TEN (10) years. That's all it costs to insure Americans through a federally mandated health care system.
Let's get real here.
Kindly remember, these are the same Republicans that bailed out banks for $700 Billion US and we haven't got that money back yet. $700 Billion blown by people that don't give a damn about the people of the USA. If you remember those billions went to other countries as well. Okay? So, I don't want to hear squat about the cost of health care.
But, for the sake of argument.
The USA Health Care Industry is approximtately one sixth the entire economy of this country. One sixth. It will grow to far more once every American has affordable health care. It will not only grow, it will invest in R&D and grow even more jobs. It will expand and become the best health care the world has ever known. Better, far better than even today. Why? Because there will be monies and liquidity and a KNOWN populous to an industry devoted to supplying this life line to Americans. The cost of any industry always gets cheaper when there are more people to share its cost. The quality of any industry always gets better with R&D and the striving to improve on what is considered The Best.
When this legislation comes 'online' it will provide an entire country, 300 million people, to a health care industry already engaged in improving the wellness of its clients. A known knowledge bank to improve not only the quality of health care, but, its cost and delivary efficiency. A healthier population means less demand on 'chronic' illness and the issues that cause them. A healthier population is a better and ready work force.
With obesity in children and adults ruling the work force of the USA, the efficiency across the board to the health cost to employers has plummeted and its cost skyrocketed. We will be a healthier nation, when this administration is finished. They will provide guidance and education while returning 'gym classes' to our children in schools across the USA and reining in hideous foods in our American diet.
Perhaps every child in the USA, should be provided a Flintstone's vitamin at the beginning of lunch period everyday. Whatever. The idea of slimming this country and providing quality of life that comes with activity and wellness is a dream we should all strive towards. A safe food supply and a health care system that eliminates dangers to us at every turn will give Americans what they long for.
Now, the nuts and bolts of cost.
One trillion dollar US over ten years.
That breaks down to $334.00 per year. That is three hundred, thirty-four dollars US per year per American.
Can you afford that? I can.
Is it worth it? Yep.
Should there be complaints? Nope.
Will the cost of health care be paid in that methodology? Nope.
Why not?
Because the current Democratic House and Senate want to remove the pains of financial 'entrapment' from the Middle, Lower Middle and Poor Classes of populous of this nation.
So, what is the problem? The Republicans are complaining because the burden to the WEALTHY bunch will go up.
SO WHAT !!!!!!!!!!
We need to pass comprehensive health care for a nation desperately in need of it and we need to do it now.
Return FUNCTION to the American government. Vote Democrat in the 2010 elections.
Mr. Feinberg needs to define 'Excessive Risk Taking.' I also want to know with billions US owed to the USA Treasury, why is there Risk Taking allowed at all? How are those payments coming along, by the way? Where do Americans go to read the achievements of those indebted to them and their ability to pay back their exorbitant debt?
It would seem to me ANY Risk Taking should only insue ensue when their public debt has been satisfied. Until that point, I don't believe any form of 'experimentation' of financial instruments should be conducted. The landscape hasn't changed that much and basically, AIG should never have existed anyway. There is no private entity capable of insuring banks or investment corporations. The only entity capable of such 'high roller' stakes is a sovereign government. When will the financial industry stop gambling with the lives of Americans and their future?
AIG heads back to pig trough for bosses' pay (Click title to entry - thank you) Kenneth Bazinet and Bill Hutchinson Daily News Staff Writers Friday, July 10th 2009, 4:00 AM Just months after sparking national outrage by paying executives big bonuses, the American International Group is hoping to dole out $2.4 million more to top bosses. AIG is hoping President Obama's new compensation czar, Kenneth Feinberg, goes along with dishing out more gravy to about 40 corporate officers next week, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. Bosses are hoping approval by the government will shield the company from public furor. A Treasury Department spokesman wouldn't reveal Feinberg's view on the bonuses but said, "Companies will need to convince Mr. Feinberg that they have struck the right balance to discourage excessive risk taking and reward performance for their top executives."
