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
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Today, the Right Wing Media is screaming about First Amendment Rights as if their form of communication is actually speech.
There is no integrity in what they do. It is pure victimization day after day. This was an all time high for them.
All too often the Right Wing media makes lemonade out of the every lemons they dole out and that is exactly what is occurring now.
There is no respect for Ms. Fluke. There is no heart felt anything. There is simply graveling for money with churlish language.
It is more than obvious, if a woman does not fit the regressive and restrictive mold of the Right Wing then she is a not woman. The demonstration of lack of respect for women by these broadcasters is more than anyone should have to be subjected to.
I congratulate Ms. Fluke for continuing to be willing to stand up for her integrity and the integrity of all women. The attacks are continuing by mispronouncing a her name to make it sound like a sexual act. The Right Wing media continues to victimize the young lady.
I sincerely appreciated "The View" taking on the responsibility of providing a platform for Ms. Fluke to speak to defend herself and provide more insight to her character. Thank you.
Is it too much to hope for that Ms. Fluke might actually be the next Gloria Steinem. One can only hope.
Angel Babcock, (click title to entry - thank you) 14 months, died in hospital after being found with severe head injuries following a deadly storm which tore apart her family's mobile home in New Pekin, southern Indiana, on Friday evening.
Her tragic story ignited international sympathy. Twenty members of her extended family including both sets of grandparents were at her bedside as her life support machine was turned off at 4.10pm.
She was discovered by rescuers in the dark near the town of Salem, in a field which some reports suggested was as much as 10 miles from her home.
Other sources said that the distance was less, but that Angel's initial survival remained a miracle given the severity of the winds....
KASILOF - Any Iditarod veteran knows it’s never a good idea to play favorites.
“I don't like to use the f-word for favorite, but yeah, I do. I don't like to say it in front of them,” said Kristy Berington of her sled dogs.
Kristy readied her team for a training run, mostly rookies and a few vets, all raring to go....
An Iditarod veteran herself with two races under her belt, Kristy will have one more pup tagging along on the trails to Nome this year—her sister Anna, who’s younger by all of five minutes....
Not that the race is conducted at sea, but, there are some considerable gale warnings (click here) along the coast. That interprets into inland storms. The 'sheltered coast' is seeing small craft advisories.
The link to this map provides an excellent interactive to the weather conditions.
The race started in Anchorage and ends in Nome. This year is an even numbered year, so the Northern Route is used.
Anchorage is in southern Alaska on the map above and Nome is in northwest Alaska.
Right now the racers/mushers are experiencing zero to five below weather.
The field is stated to be the best in it's history. The twins are not the only women in the race.
Check out times later tonight, especially the ones to Yetna. That will indicate the condition of the trail. as I mentioned, a 3.5 hour run is fast trail, 5 hours is slow trail. That will affect strategy.
Secondly, times into Finger Lake will suggest our pack of contenders....
I was astounded when I saw this film. It is at the heart of the Guns and God culture. The format is that of a B Movie because it instills a sense of 'second class citizen' by being a Christian. I am quite confident the film maker could easily afford more in the way of upgrading the cinematography, but, that would defeat the sense of deprivation and mission with the audience. The comment was made to me, as the lady that invited me felt embarrassed by the 'quality' of the film and film making. She stated the film makers simply do the best they can. No lie. The film maker knows the audience all too well and patronizes and enforces their feeling of victimization by outside forces.
These are church folks. Nice people. Good citizens. One is a very good friend and the others close enough to be worried about them.
This movie institutionalizes racial stereotypes and the ultimate hero is hard work at the generous generational hand of "Old White Men."
The movie was called a tear jerker. A grown man in the room wept while in the arms of his wife. This theme strikes at the very heart of the masculinity it captures of this culture within a segment of the Christian faith.
The opening scene is dramatic to introduce the black man as a dedicated father. But, when the scene opened to a car robbery by another black man, the women who sponsored the film in her home for the evening stopped it immediately and started to apologize for the violence as she thought this was a family film. There is very little blood and guts, with marginal violence in the film. So, the opening trauma needed to be thought through before continuing. There were young children and teens in the room. They were all allowed to watch it eventually.
All the violent criminals in the film are black men by the way. Not all the black men in the film are criminals. One white collar criminal was a white man, a police officer.
No one wants to dismiss the tragic death of a young girl, but, the 'family movie' speaks eons to the problems facing Americans with the Religious Right's depth of fear of 'losing their religion.'
I was told if I really appreciated this film, I should see one entitled "The Fifth Quarter," about a girl killed in an auto accident and being maintained on a ventilator. She was in the car with four (quarters) young people and evidently she was the 'fifth quarter' and was not suppose to be in their company. I haven't seen that film yet. These people love to use girls to build movies on, evidently.
There are some Promise Keeper Moments as well.
In my opinion, it is an attack on the psyche of people believing to be only in the keeping of God's Graces. I sincerely believe it has an Anti-American theme at its heart and one that instills uncertainty about the future, even in the good ole' USA.
Bush's "Cult-ure of Fear" lives.
For the record, the couples use contraception and there are three children per family at the gathering. They keep mainly to (caucasian) family. As a matter of fact, one couple are second cousins (good looking people, too). No lie. I cannot honestly say they have any friends of other ethnicity. I don't believe they do. Probably the only contact with ethnicity the adults have is at work. I'm trying to remember if their neighborhood is mostly segregated and I would have to say yes. As often as I have been to visit, which is about six times a year, I don't recall any other people in the neighborhood other than caucasians. I also don't recall neighbors being invited to their home. I don't remember them talking about their neighbors, actually. They talk about their family and church. The children are friendly and very talented by the way. They like music. They do well in school, public school, fairly certain of that. I am an outside and one of the few involved with them, I think. The family is not really group think either, some actually agree with my point of view. Practice is an entirely different story.
Marines salute Saloma Bejar (click title to entry - thank you) and Mariam Bejar, the mother and wife, respectively, of fallen police Officer Javier Bejar, after presenting the ceremonial flag at services in Reedley, Calif., in March 2010. (AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian, File)
"Gun control is what is killing Americans."
The Right Wing Media made a wedge issue out of it and the Assault Weapons Ban was allowed to expire.
"Every American needs to be armed to protect themselves."
The Right Wing media made a wedge issue out of it and now there are states passing legislation for weapons in parks, universities, the work place and every bathroom in America. At least one per household and more than one per month.
"Every crazy needs to be banned from owning guns."
That became the common cry of the Right Wing Media. Stop the crazies and arm the citizens.
Wow, that was a relief to me. Those ultralights simply buzz day and night in the USA carrying weapons to every corner of the nation.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold obtained their weapons from a gun show. Today, does that matter? Absolutely not. Why? Because the 'Statisticians for the Gun Lobby' play with percentages and completely disregard THE ONE LIFE necessity.
...Our results … (click here) provide no evidence to suggest that gun shows lead to a substantial increase in the number of homicides or suicides in either California or Texas. If anything, we find evidence of a modest decline in the number of homicides following the average gun show in Texas, though our aggregate implied effects amount to just 1 percent of all homicides in the state of Texas. Taken together, our results suggest that gun shows do not increase the number of homicides or suicides and that the absence of gun-show regulations does not increase the number of gun-related deaths as proponents of these regulations suggest....
California is where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carried out their 'dreamscape' to eventually highjack a plane and crash it into New York City. It was California where Harris and Klebold killed with impunity until they were satisfied they were going to die at the hand of police.
YET, this study chooses to ignore 'The One Death Rule' and hide those statistics in percentages and a game called wealth and politics.
Gun Shows should be highly regulated as a source of obtaining illegal weapons. They should be required to have competitions as the reason for the show and all transactions done on consignment through a gun dealer and/or store where background checks are required by law. There should be absolutely no changing ownership of guns and/or ammunition at gun shows. Appraisals are a good thing as gun shows, but, sales should be outlawed to opt for consignment.
The justification for a highly regulated gun lobby is this statistic:
It is, oh so easy. Oh, so easy, for the NRA to point to government as the problem preventing every citizen from arming themselves.
BUT.
It is not so easy for the NRA to claim they have facilitated the control of ILLEGAL GUN distribution in the USA or anywhere in the world.
Then legislation to control 30 bullet clips was submitted as a solution to the attempted assassination of a USA House Representative, the death of a child, the death of her dearest assistant, the death of a federal judge and dear sweet citizens that came to a gathering exercising their right to assembly. But, that was never going to happen in a completely dysfunctional house controlled by the NRA and their Wall Street cronies. Even when one of their own was nearly assassinated, the USA House looked the other way and opted for more munitions on the streets of the USA.
ValueOptions Inc., the company that held the state contract for providing behavioral health care until last year, was found 90 percent at fault in the death of Patrick Graham, 35, of Glendale. Graham was one of two men shot by Ed Liu, a ValueOptions patient who has suffered from paranoid schizophrenia for more than 20 years....
Even after the Right Wing's Precious Plutocracy was sued for millions of dollars US that won't find its way into their political coffers, they still acted in offense of the best interests to the American people.
Well, it must be the schizophrenia, you know. Wait. I have an idea. Let's simply lock up every schizophrenic and throw away the key now that indefinite detention is allowed by the USA. Sounds like a plan. But. It doesn't sound like a plan the USA has, should or could embrace.
Why is the GOP so offensive to the best interests of the people of the USA?
Political wedge issues.
Just that simple. If talking about gun control is political suicide then no one will do it.
The laws of the USA and the law making of the USA do not belong to the people anymore, they belong to wedge issues and what works for the wealthy to control their profits.
...The NRA never misses a chance to misrepresent (click here) the positions of people who advocate reasonable gun control, to make Americans afraid that the government wants to take away their right to defend their homes and their loved ones, and to turn any attempt to have a sensible conversation about guns into an assault on the Second Amendment....
...So it makes sense for military counselors to talk to at-risk active-duty soldiers about owning a gun. No, that’s against the law. A rule in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act — backed by the NRA of course — prohibits such conversations. The NRA was outraged, apparently, that a Kansas army base wanted soldiers to register privately owned weapons. Oh the horror! Next thing you know they’ll just take rifles away from combat soldiers and replace them with ACLU cards....
The right to council a person at risk for violence against themselves of others is a PATIENT PRIVACY ACT, yet, the NRA managed to override that privacy issue by instituting laws that PROHIBIT 'Therapeutic Speech.'
CHARDON, Ohio - Counselors, educators and experts who have lived through the aftermath of school shootings say the shootings leave deep trauma and require long-term healing.
"They are forever changed. In what direction, I do not know. But they will have to form a new identity. It is not going to be easy," Ann Bauer, associate professor and chair of the Department of Counseling, Administration, Supervision & Adult Learning at Cleveland State University's College of Education, said about the students, staff, parents and community members impacted by Monday's school shooting at Chardon High School.
Bauer knows first-hand the long-term scars left by a school shooting. She and her colleagues provided counseling for students, school staff and other members of the community following the March 24, 1998 shooting that left five students dead and 10 others injured at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas....
This scenario just won't end for the USA and those that sell guns and ammunition do NOTHING to change the dogma that surrounds the gun culture.
..."It is a chronic condition that comes back every so often. On the Monday morning of the Chardon shooting, I was right back and I could see the faces of the parents who drove away with their kids" from Westside Middle School in 1998, Bauer said....
Chronic problems in the USA that takes lives, young lives, lives full of hope and ambition, cannot be dismissed as 'one of those things that happens in the USA.'
Solving these problems requires people that are WILLING to tackle the problem. They need to be more than faithful, they need to be dedicated to the purpose of ending 'the violence culture' within the USA. The Gun Lobby cannot be viewed as anything but dangerous to the people, especially children, of the USA.
There are those within the 'power structure' of the country that view 'incidences' such as this as an 'odds' issue. In other words, sooner or later, such problems will occur and there is simply nothing that can be done. That is a lie. There is plenty to be done. These same people have no answers. They have no ideas and support the lucrative practice of gun sales.
Virginia is already the single biggest supplier of guns used by criminals in the city. Up the so-called Iron Pipeline, otherwise known as Interstate 95, gunrunners transport illegal firearms into the five boroughs, selling them in dark alleys and out of the backs of vans, to wreak death and destruction on the populace....
Do I have to go through the exercise of listing all the schools? No. That would simply add to the victimization of the students and community. Do I have to go through the exercise of listing all the dead? No. That would simply involve innocent people in more pain when they should have or are healing.
Every American voter knows the problem. It could be a neighbor, a friend, a peer or a child now dead and we all know the dreaded reality of the violence that unleashes in our society, especially among children, students and the very hope for our nation to be a great nation.
I find the resolve by the USA Congress to recognize the violence unleashed on Gabrielle Giffords by some lame legislation to inhibit planes from carrying weapons to the USA a travesty. As far as I am concerned the measure is meaningless.
Giffords, who is stepping down to focus on her recovery from the January 2011 Tucson shootings that nearly took her life, said the bill would impose new penalties on smugglers who use small, low-flying aircraft to illegally bring drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border.
The bill is set for a House vote on Wednesday morning, according to Giffords' office, and the congresswoman will be there to vote on it as her last official act as a member of Congress....
Cross border weapons traffic didn't injure Gabby or kill a child along with others that day; Wal-mart did along with the liberal gun laws of the GOP. Gun trafficking didn't have a damn thing to do with the nearly deadly violence released against our former Representative to the USA House.
How many times now is the USA going to have empty legislation used as a tool for politics of the Plutocracy to win the day. The legislation passed into law, empty meaningless legislation is a victory for the Plutocratic Gun Lobby.
When there was still yet another school shooting in the USA, I could nearly hear the political media go 'Oh, dear god, we don't want to go there again, do we? I mean there is not a darn thing anyone is going to do about it anyway.'
Our politics is corrupted by the powerful, the wealthy. We are witnessing a GOP candidate purchase his way into nomination and then Michael Steele has the nerve to state, "We planned a long primary process to allow the underdog to compete." Sure and I was born yesterday.
The USA electorate has to take themselves seriously enough to realize they are being manipulated into believing they are too 'under qualified' to vote for the opposition to the wealthy. The American public doesn't know what is best for them anymore. They are allowed to organize and make noise, sometimes, but not to really have a voice in the 'authority' of their own best interests.
The American electorate allow themselves to believe others can tell them what is best in their lives rather than relying on their own experiences, insight and intelligence.
The violence that continues to take our young people from us is a clear example of corrupt politics that offers sympathy, but, without resolution. In the back halls of the NRA a sigh of relief is breathed to realize 'we got the politicians where we want them now.' That is not only immoral, it is a reality the electorate of the USA should not and cannot accept.
A 116-year-old man came to a polling station in Ingushetia, a small republic in Russia’s North Caucasus, to cast his vote in the presidential elections, Muslim Albogachiyev, a member of the republican election commission, said on Sunday.
“Iliyev, Appas Lorsovich, born in 1896, came to polling station No. 6 in the village of Guli,” Albogachiyev said.
The elderly and sick have the right to vote at home if they invite a member of the local election commission beforehand. However, retirees are usually the first ones to arrive at the polling stations when they open at 8.00 a.m.
Albogachiyev said no incidents or breaches of the electoral legislation had been registered by the election commission of the republic....
I am just wondering if they voted before they died. I guess not.
Five people died of heart attacks at seperate polling stations during the presidential elections in Russia on Sunday, police said on Sunday.
One man, a 65-year old member of a local election commission in Zelenograd (northern Moscow), went for a cigarette break a few minutes before the polling station was supposed to open for voting, when he suffered a massive heart attack and died before the ambulance arrived.
Another man, who was 53-year old and had been discharged from hospital two days ago, also died from a heart attack after getting his ballot paper at a polling station in Omsk, West Siberia.
A 77-year old pensioner died near a polling station in eastern Moscow.
A 59-year old former school principal died in the village of Domna (Zabaikalsky Territory) as she arrived at a polling station.
A similar tragedy occurred in Vologograd where a 72-year old woman died five meters away from her polling station....
Does this mean voting is taking on importance? This is a communist nation with nearly guaranteed outcomes, yet, there seems to be enthusiasm for voting.
Electoral turnout for Russia’s presidential poll on Sunday exceeded 15 percent in the first two hours of voting, the Central Election Commission said on Sunday.
“Electoral turnout reached 15.3 percent as of 10.00 a.m. Moscow time (06:00 GMT),” Stanislav Vavilov, deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission, said.
Russians are voting on Sunday to elect a president for the fifth time in the nation’s post-Soviet history. Putin faces four opponents, none of which, analysts say, is likely to prove a serious threat to his bid to return to the Kremlin after working as prime minister for the past four-years....
...Some 110 million Russian citizens, including 2 million expatriates around the world, are eligible to vote in the election. The winner will serve a six-year presidential term and not four as was previously the case....
This source is stating there is now a 30% turnout with a rise of 4% participation. See, where candidates don't necessarily succeed is that they don't seek to encourage voters to participate. They are counting on the same voters to change their mind and that may not happen.
Moscow. The voter turnout in today’s presidential elections in Russia is 30.1% by 1:00 p.m. Moscow time, announced Leonid Ivlev, deputy chairman of the country’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC), cited byITAR-TASS.
He specified this is a rise of over 4% in comparison with the 2008 presidential elections and 2011 parliamentary elections.
There is a second source reporting a 30% turnout, but, the video defies understanding due to the dialect. That is a joke, I don't speak Russian. I am sure they are perfectly understandable.
The turnout at the presidential elections in Russia so far passed 30%, representatives of the Central Election Committee said at a press conference.
None of the polling places are reporting in yet, but there are turnouts of voters as high as 91% being reported. That shows a lot of enthusiasm for this election. I think a great deal of credit has to go to the candidates for building that enthusiasm.
Results of the exit polls will be announced after voting is finished. (click title to entry - thank you)
I have watched the election process this time from a distance and I am fairly impressed. I do believe Russians had a good time with their elections in many ways. I believe that is an extremely healthy approach.
Russians are finding life to be better than in decades past, they are looking forward to their Olympics in Sochi. They have millionaires seeking office. Times are better in Russia and to that end the elections have not been disappointing for the country.
There have been low spots, but, for the most part opponents received attention for displaying balloons on cars and exchanges of expression of ideas.
There are five parties with candidates.
Vladimir Putin, nominated by United Russia
Gennady Zyuganov, nominated by Communist Party of the Russian Federation
Sergey Mironov, nominated by A Just Russia
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, nominated by Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
Mikhail Prokhorov, independent.
I believe all these men to be courage with deep love of their country. They have been willing to talk about Russia and bring freedom of speech to a more potent place in Russia. I sincerely believe Prime Minister Putin, whom is expected to win his third term, found his opponents interesting and able to contribute to the political dialogue within Russia.
For Americans the most familiar candidate besides the Prime Minister is Mr. Prokhorov, the owner of the NBA New Jersey Nets. Below are comments from an article by the BBC.
"Whether they [Russian people] like it or not, Putin is so far the only figure who can manage this inefficient state machine," Mr Prokhorov said....
Mr. Prokhorov or the other three opponents to Prime Minister Putin should not be deterred. I encourage them to seek office and continue to be an alternative voice to inspire political dialogue. When a country is doing well and the contest for leadership is sincerely between individuals and not ideologies, politics can be a great deal of fun.
Russia finds itself in a world still recovering from dynamics that were not of the people's making. It is difficult for newcomers with new faces and voices to become familiar to citizens when security is what they most rely on in changing times. None of the candidates should lose heart over the outcomes tomorrow. An election can be a new window opening and this election season in Russia can certainly be considered exactly that.
Good luck to all, I admire every one of them a great deal for the love of their country and their passion to be heard.
March 3, 2012 1430:00z UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of the North and West Hemisphere (click title to entry for 12 hour loop - thank you)
The hot air off the Equator is a bit dispelled right now, but, that doesn't mean anything in the long view.
The lack of hot air is temporary, when viewed beyond a hemispheric view, but, one of a global assessment, this is a lull.
What occurs when there are tornado outbreaks is the troposphere has eliminated energy in the troposphere. With each sunrise comes more energy entering the troposphere and with a think blanket of carbon dioxide to hold it, the infrared spectrum of Earth's mechanism means the 'energy used' is now replenished.
Energy in a 'system' is constant. So, with sunrise there is energy that enters the Earth's tropospheric system in the mechanism called 'wavelength.' One wavelength enters Earth's troposphere and magically (sort of) when it touches the surface of Earth it is returned to the air mass in the way of infrared wavelength. The CO2 and other Greenhouse Gases provides a mechanism to hold the heat against the surface of the Earth. It is the capacity of the Greenhouse Gases that allows life on Earth.
Earth, by nature, is an ice planet. We know this from records well studied and evidence maintained, but, when a build up of Greenhouse Gases occur Earth quickly heats. While 5 degrees Centigrade over the polar ice caps seems small, it is not when one considers how well balanced Earth is to maintain a livable troposphere for creatures with body temperatures of 98.6.
The quality that protects life on Earth is also a very delicate element to the planet. So, when heat enters 'the Earth system' everyday (24/7 actually - but, 'direct sunlight' is the power element) it will remain within that system until it finds 'definition.' When Earth loses its balance 'things happen.' Things like tornadoes. So, while the picture over the north and west hemisphere appears 'quiet' today, it is not, it is simply in transition to the next does of energy from Sol.
Liz Mair, David Weigel of The Washington Independent, and Republican strategist Sean Hackbarth at Continental Lounge in Rosslyn, Va., Thursday for Stimulus Happy Hour.
...but, mobility when it comes to wealth distribution.
..."Abound received a $400 million U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantee to expand it’s 65 MW Colorado facility and build a new 640 MW Indiana facility. So far, it has received $70 million of those funds," an article on Power Engineering said.
The company said it still has plans to build a new facility in Indiana once production of the next-generation modules begins, and expects to have an update on a build-out in mid-2013....
The stories circulating in the Right Wing Media are LIES. Yesterday on Murdoch's "The Five" this company was a scapegoat for Right Wing Propaganda. They are telling half truths. Why is this allowed to exist by the FCC?
The fact of the matter is Abound Solar is typical of a GROWTH INDUSTRY. When monies FINALLY reach starved operations 'things happen.' Things like expansions and movement into new venues of manufacturing.
I am pleased to see Abound Solar is taking their responsibility in handling their $400 million loan seriously and not simply looking to keep a facade to advance MORE LOANS. The fact they are changing their manufacturing venue and business model to match the new venue, which requires downsizing the work force temporarily, shows difficult choices are being made.
They have only used $70 million of the $400 million loan to date and that is hardly a rush to exploit the people of the USA.
Now, why is it Murdoch's propaganda machine is allowed to make scapegoats out of a growing industry that does not fit their POLITICAL MODEL?
