I'd like to address the horrible campaign propagated by the NRA.

To begin, the lovely young ladies currently gracing the White House have lent their Dad to the USA's people.   As a nation we are grateful for their sacrifice in sharing him. And. Their Mom. She has been an incredible force for good in the USA. How could we have "Moved" without Michelle Obama? She has been great and she is a great sport, too.

To turn to the rhetoric of the NRA and their lousy idea of fun on all fronts, including political, it is inappropriate. But, they are struggling. They are seeking any and all 'points of contact' to secure their monies to leverage power. They want to leverage power with the electorate in areas where lack of education exists, where people are naive as well as seeking to put the 'fear of the government' in people ready to believe it. I suppose it could be characterized as Anti-American. There is no one seeking to remove any gun sport and/or personal protection away from the American people. Given the verbiage of the NRA, they are simply Anti-American.

The dead across this country occurring with guns that simply do not belong among us is enormous. The NRA sees the dead as collateral. That is a battleground term. The USA is not a battleground. That was resolved a long time ago and except for extremists the American people are not interested in having their country establish killing fields again.

The country doesn't need high powered weapons. They are being bought by straw purchasers at our southern border and shipped across to ANOTHER country struggling to stop the drug cartels and protect their people while trying to improve the lives of their citizens. That is impossible if the USA doesn't stop this disaster. The USA is not alone in the world to conduct it's domestic life styles in a vacuum. We are causing problems for our allied neighbors. I would like to keep them as allies, too. That is not a minor issue either. It adds to endanger private gun ownership, if we as citizens can't own responsibly.

So, to prevent redundancy, the NRA is way out of line. They are not promoting sport or domestic tranquility or responsible gun ownership.

The NRA campaign is about money that they hope will ultimately bring power over the CITIZEN of the USA. Do folks stop to realize what the agenda of '...if guns were in the hands of the good guys the bad guys would be stopped,' actually means. 

Think about it.

It means every person in the country needs to own a gun for personal protection. It means everywhere an American travels with and without their children they need weapons to COUNTER RETURN fire by others with weapons.

It means everyone adds to their grocery list, the ammunition supply in the house. It means there will be more dead domestically at the hand of those they know. It means there will be more dead children within their own homes as they find the guns that are not secured (And there will be plenty regardless of any prosecution for neglect.). It means more dead citizens while shopping as they are dead and cannot return fire. It means there will be more dead children at schools as there will be gunfire in their classrooms and in the hallways of what is suppose to be thought about affectionately as THEIR SCHOOL. The place where they are entrusted to people who are basically strangers away from home.

The entire agenda of the NRA is unhealthy for our country. There is every reason to have personal protection within the home to protect those loved ones, but, to bring that to an agenda empowering the very people, the extremists that will kill you anyway is the wrong way to think about this.

We need to stop thinking about guns as an answer. They aren't. Guns have power. They have power to kill. We need to stop this madness in our country. The NRA is wrong and they know they are with no way to simply take a back seat so much as a methodology to exploit every opportunity for money and power. I am sorry, but, that is grossly immoral lacking ethical standards at every turn. 

The other thing is the NRA is advocating public spending on POSTING police at schools. We spend money, as a society, to protect the citizens that serve in pubic office. We do that because they have inequitable focus on their lives by people known to be violent. Not every citizen has that focus. 

The focus on the Obama children is grossly wrong and a threat. A real threat. The NRA and specifically their CEO, should be found criminally involved in an agenda of victimizing the innocent. The four year olds, too. The children at Sandy Hook Elementary School were killed by a weapon legally purchased by an extremist that believed in owning them and a weapon they advocate as responsible gun ownership. I suppose that is difficult for the NRA to take ownership of as FACTS.

The NRA is targeting anyone four years of age or older, not just elitists, so please get that right.

Elitism is not simply a definition about wealth. Elitism is about separating into special interests. The NRA is elitist. 

The language throughout all these campaigns from the NRA is sloppy without any cohesion to a common ground of American values. They are struggling to find a ground to stand on and considering the video loop was propagated by Breitbrat it is understanding why there is no cohesive message. 

Breitbart really should leave the man's name alone to rest in peace. Sympathy to all, but, it is inappropriate to continue to 'seek to destroy' for the sake of seeking to destroy. The website has nothing but extremist MESSAGING.

One other word about the word elite. Elite is frequently used to describe Seal Team Six, so get over it.

This is a Springfield 9mm semi-automatic stated to have "Superior capacity with 19+1 in 9mm". This gun was used for killing at the Sikh Temple Massacre. It sells as Cabela's for  approximately $700.00 plus the cost of ammunition.

The gunman was a White Supremacist having served in the USA military. He was not just a White Supremacist, is was a leader of an entire group of White Supremists. He was also a populous figure. He was a singer in a White Supremacist Band.

The gunman should have been a leader among others and an inspiration to us all after having served for our country, but, he turned against us. He was a Fort Bragg soldier. He left the military and became engaged in hatred rather than patriotic participation in our nation. Heck, for all anyone knows he entered the military to kill Muslims. He displayed a tattoo stating 9.11.2001.

The gunman at the Sikh Temple was an extremist by every definition of the word. The laws of the USA provided him with a weapon to carry out his own personal war after leaving the military.

We have recently witnessed a man stating it is time to take up arms against the very citizens advocating better laws and regulations for the USA. He is an extremist by every measure of the word. He is 'powered' by the USA laws allowing guns within our society.

There are many extremists in the USA. I believe many are good people that simply don't or won't understand the real world for whatever reason they don't. Not all extremists have mental illness problems. Mental illness has SPECIFIC definitions. The Colorado gunman, in all honesty, doesn't fall into that category. The viciousness and sophistication of his plans within the theater and creating a bomb of his apartment is not the work of a madman. It just isn't.

I sincerely believe the reason the Colorado gunman sat in a parking lot and allowed the police to arrest him is because he had no place to run to barricade himself away from them. Not only that, but, he didn't want to die. He absolutely didn't want to die. He was wearing body armor and used tear gas in a closed space to disable anyone with a gun in the closed space he was killing. That is not a madman. Could he benefit from medication. You betcha, but, not because of a psychosis of some kind of organic condition, but, because he participated in a culture of violence. A culture of violence that uses fantasy as a method to remove the participant from the killing.

There are many reasons why the culture of violence is 'available' in the USA and there are professionals that will state it is necessary for a 'ready at will' military. That is nonsense. A culture of violence did not provide impulsion of a nation having Pearl Harbor attacked. When the time came, Americans rose to the need of the nation. Having a prepared military is not about having a nation of people full of fear and prepared to protect their Homeland 'no matter what.'

If the USA were ever 'invaded' and their 'military defeated,' then believe me, it is too late to look for the machine gun in the basement. It won't stop aircraft and tanks. Okay? At that point if the fellows outside the house are speaking in a strange tone and language while having marshaled their expertise in stating, "Put down your weapons," hell you better do it. And do it with a white flag, asap.

If the electrical grid breaks down and there is some kind of atmospheric magnetic attack on civilization, then find the candles and find some way into town and do what everyone else is doing, namely getting their food and provides. It is the only answer. Looking for zombies isn't where it is going to be at. I am absolutely sure the USA is prepared for such instances and it isn't going to turn weapons on it's citizens. That is not the way it is going to come down and the fantasy surrounding that aspect allows citizens to disconnect from being involved in their society and become isolationists while building arsenals.

I would think all these scenarios need to be addressed by the legislature of the USA. I fully expect these issues will be addressed.

The Second Amendment does not legislate extremists to carry out their personal agendas. Absolutely it doesn't. The Second Amendment was written at a time when the colonies were of 'one purpose / one mind.' The Second Amendment was not about killing each other. It is time the nation dealt with it.

The nation needs to remember whom these people are.

Vice President Biden knows all to well the loss of family in a sudden and traumatic way. He was perfect for this initiative.

President Obama has children of a tender age. It would be only appropriate and expected to have his focus seek the needs of the children of the nation. It is why we need a young President. We decided twice to place a young man in the White House. He carries their future with him in a very real way.

The people in the room have something in common, namely violence. They sincerely want the violence to end and prevent, in any measure, such acts of violence that continue to plague the USA.

This is called problem solving for the American people.

The American People may not recognize it. It is difficult to support problem solving legislators if the people don't understand what it looks like. 

This is is.

What the New York State Legislature and Governor Cuoma conducted in the past days is problem solving, too. So, if people are indecisive about what they should vote for on Election Day and whom, they can focus on the Problem Solvers and their performance.

By Jennifer Lipman

October 31, 2012

In what could be termed (click here) an ironic case of life imitating art, filming of a biblical epic telling the story of Noah and his ark was put on hold this week due to Superstorm Sandy.

Darren Aronofsky's film, starring Russell Crowe as Noah, was due to be filmed on Monday at locations in New York....

Perhaps, Russell Crowe as Noah might actually make the movie screen now. In case voters don't recognize this, it is called an economy and how when huge segments are removed from contributing while becoming a liability it sincerely is not a good idea. It is why problem solving has to be provided in a timely way. It rebuilds the economy so we can actually have one that pays it's bills.

By Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer, NBC News

Updated 7:30pm ET: 

The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday night (click here) approved an additional $33.7 billion in funding for emergency spending on recovery efforts aimed at helping those devastated by Hurricane Sandy. The final vote came after the House had passed another $17 billion in spending earlier in the day.

The approval of the $50.7 billion came only after political debates over spending that does not directly go to the areas impacted by the super storm. 

The House GOP leadership carefully orchestrated a multi-stage process designed to permit Republican members to vote for some Sandy aid, but not the full $60.4 billion the Senate OK’d last year, if they objected to that much spending. By designing the process in this way, the GOP leadership made it highly likely that the total package will ultimately become law after the Senate acts next week....

Healing the people of New Jersey is up to Governor Christi. I am confident he will succeed. He has fought hard for New Jersey, he won't stop now. New Jersey has always been a 'donor' state. It contributes more to the USA Treasury than it receives from federal programs. We, as a nation, cannot ignore that fact. The people of New Jersey are great people. They have suffered enough.

The USA can't put emergency relief on the backburner.

The National Debt has to be addressed, but, depriving our citizens of their economy is not the way to do it. Seriously.

Woman rescued between two cider block walls.

The Rescue Team has performed an incredible act in saving a woman who fell between two cider block walls, but, why did this space exist in a way that endangered her in the first place?

This is an eight inch space between two buildings. Like, what?

There needed to be locked and secured steel doors within the walls themselves to access the space and there needed to be a secure steel wire bridge at the top of the two walls closing off the space to such an accident.  

No zoning? I mean, this was an accident waiting to happen.

I suppose she either didn't have a cell phone or was unable to secure it her handbag or able to dial it.

Can Portland try to fill in the gaps in city planning?

Rescue underway for woman stuck between 2 buildings (click here)

by Michael RollinsFollow: @KGWNews
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 6:09 AM
Updated today at 7:28 AM

PORTLAND -- Portland Fire Bureau were crews trying to rescue a woman Wednesday morning who somehow got wedged between two buildings at 12th and Columbia in downtown Portland.

The incident began about 3:30 a.m. when a woman was seen on a second-story smoking area, a witness told KGW.

The woman was yelling for help and was seen climbing on a wall before apparently falling between the two buildings, the witness said.

Her loud behavior was out of the ordinary for the types of tenants in the building, the witness said, and described her mannerisms as "rude."

She had somehow fallen about 12 feet into a tight space at the Gretchen Kafoury Commons and an adjacent building....

The Origins of the Second Amendment according to "Truthout"

Brown Bess flintlock Musket, circa 1790

This flint musket is probably one of the muskets bought by Matthew Boulton to defend the Soho Factory, from possible attack by the mob in the Birmingham Riots of the 14th-18th July 1791.

A well regulated militia being the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. (click here for Library of Congress Document)

Slave Patrol Militias. Huh? Makes sense though. It would be a way of controlling the enemy from within, won't it?

I did not know that. The meaning it has today is far different than that application of it's origin. Odd. I would think Judge Scalia would have thought it through a little more. Oh, well.

It just goes to prove, when it comes to the USA Constitution and it's Amendments there sincerely is no such thing as a Strict Constructionist. If one were to go by this interpretation, the Second Amendment could be struck down completely as antiquated as slavery no longer exists.

Tuesday, 15 January 2013 09:35By Thom Hartmann, Truthout | News Analysis

The real reason the Second Amendment was ratified, (click here) and why it says "State" instead of "Country" (the Framers knew the difference - see the 10th Amendment), was to preserve the slave patrol militias in the southern states, which was necessary to get Virginia's vote.  Founders Patrick Henry, George Mason, and James Madison were totally clear on that . . . and we all should be too.

In the beginning, there were the militias. In the South, they were also called the "slave patrols," and they were regulated by the states. 

Four sources of validation cannot be wrong.

The USA's temperature anomaly exhibits a huge Greenhouse Gas emission. The heat footprint begins at the USA southern border, continues into Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic Circle and into Europe and the Middle East.

There is significant gap between temperature over the Pacific. There is no way any USA politician can accuse any other burgeoning economy for the problems the USA currently exhibits. 

Every country needs to do their part. Nations such as China and India should be learning from the USA experience and seek to prevent Greenhouse Gas pollution at every opportunity. But, there is simply no way the USA can blame its warming on anyone but itself.

Time to get over it, people. The USA has a Greenhouse Gas emission problem and it is huge.

Chart acquired January 1, 1880 - December 31, 2012
Map acquired January 1 - December 31, 2012

Scientists (click here) at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) say 2012 was the ninth warmest year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. The ten warmest years in the 132-year record have all occurred since 1998. The last year that was cooler than average was 1976....

Scientists cannot be timid about what they know about the Climate Crisis. This validation by four separate authorities is more than significant to the truth.

Republicans do not want extremists to run for office. Here is proof.

By Errin Haines

Published: January 14

...Salahi (click here) told The Washington Post on Monday that running as an independent improves his chances in November.

“That’s the best way I can win this race, not going to the convention,” he said. “I’m doing just like Bill Bolling did. I can’t agree with anything that Cuccinelli believes in.”...

Clarence is that you? Don't stop now.

If Antonin Scalia can say broccoli and receive applause, certainly there is plenty of room for commentary.

Tue Jan 15 2013

When Supreme Court (click here for video) justices hear arguments in cases, they are normally throwing questions at the lawyers and interrupting one another -- it's very rapid-fire, and all are engaged. All of them, except one: Justice Clarence Thomas sits silent.

Heck, Clarence, when Antonin and the girls get out of hand at least call for silence. I mean, get there already. Isn't seven years long enough?

...“I think it’s an opportunity for the advocate, (click here) the lawyers, to fill in the blanks, to make their case,” Thomas said in a 2009 interview with C-SPAN. “I think you should allow people to complete their answers and their thought, and to continue their conversation. I find that coherence that you get from a conversation far more helpful than the rapid-fire questions.”...

I believe Dr. King was opposed to the USA culture of violence.

I hope this honors him on his birth day. It is the way I see it. Dr. King had magnificent insight and he knew the actions and loyalties of President Kennedy. I can't imagine his reaction when he realized the President was murdered.

I also believe the Late President Kennedy was murdered because he opposed the invasion into Vietnam when his Vice President did not.

If Dr. King knew nothing of the murder of our President, he knew there was a force at work he could not deny. The drastic change in policy in Vietnam occurring with the oath of office of Lyndon B. Johnson cannot be ignored in the larger picture of why a man of distinction such as Dr. King spoke out against the war.

Dr. King was not a man of violence. He believed in life. He was not a martyr, nor did he expect those surrounding him act as one. He was a man of peace and non-violence. He knew this country and he knew the unrest and violence that lay ahead for our nation with a country returning to war when Kennedy was clear about his path of peace. President Kennedy hated nuclear warfare. Kennedy was extremely clear on his vision regardless of the politics.

Vietnam was wrong. And. The Warren Commission is a lie.

MONDAY, JAN 14, 2013 08:06 AM EST

...Almost 50 years (click here) after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, add another name to the list of Warren Commission skeptics — the president’s brother, then attorney general Robert F. Kennedy.

At a panel discussion in Dallas this weekend, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that while his dad supported the Warren Commission’s official conclusion in public, he told friends and family that the lone gunman theory left too many unanswered questions in his mind.

“In private, he was dismissive of it,” Kennedy said. “My father believed the Warren report was a shoddy piece of craftsmanship.”...

January 15, 2013
12:45 gmt
The Weather Channel Temperature Map


This is the weather on Figure Eight Island in North Carolina as I write this. 

Why? 

Because of a huge change in temperature on the way and a water vapor heat transfer system affiliated with that front.


There is going to be turbulent weather to the region.


UNISYS Infrared GOES East Satellite (click here)
Janaury 15, 2013
1230:10z

UNISYS Infrared GOES West Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)
January 15, 2013
1230:19z

The 12 hour loop shows a hot terra firma. The jet stream is carrying in water vapor from the Pacific onto the northwest North American continent. 

Currently the weather under that jet stream water is cloudy , but no precipitation. Vancouver is not expected to have rain until Wednesday. That was rain. The temperatures are above freezing. Anchorage is having homogeneous weather, except, for temperature. Anchorage is 22 F. Each end of the water vapor trail are experiencing clouds, but, not precipitation. It is heat transfer system within the jet stream. 

When the water vapor reaches into a southern path into northwest USA the water vapor disappears into the drought ridden country.

The colder temperature of Anchorage is being picked up by the water vapor in heat exchange. The final temperature within the heat transfer is noted in Vancouver where it is currently 39 F. That is without the benefit of the sun's rays which will being soon on the west coast. Then after the water vapor rises enough in temperature it is literally vaporized at low above freezing temperatures of the northwest USA.

Hee, haw; petroleum industry.

The water vapor leaving the Intertropical Convergence Zone in the lower right corner of this satellite image will sustain without interruption of the jet stream water vapor. The turbulence along this ICZ water vapor will result because of temperature and not water vapor content, THEREFORE, the likelihood is tornadoes rather than storms. 

Have a better day. Yes, that is sarcasm. Can you guess? I mean what does it take to get the message across in Washington, DC and a completely dysfunctional Congress that CAN'T and WON'T GET THE JOB DONE! This is ridiculous. Congress not only can't act to stop this insanity, but, they can't act morally to support relief to the victims of Super Storm Sandy. Talk about negligent and removed. I think we need to move Congressional Sessions to the Jersey Shore. Sound like a plan?

Complete negligence to the safety and security of the nation. Undisputed. There is no argument against that statement. It is real. As with the 2008 Housing Bubble the treasure of the citizen is nothing to Republicans. Gee, that's too bad, huh?

Excuse me? President Obama needs an outreach? He isolated himself? Really?

After his 2008 election...

Been there. 

Done that.

Obama Coordinates Congressional Outreach Campaign (click here)

By KATHY KIELY

WASHINGTON

...Obama, the first president elected directly from the legislative branch since John F. Kennedy, has packed his White House team with respected legislators and connected congressional staffers and has surprised lawmakers with phone calls — and not just to Democrats.

"This is unheard of," Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., who is retiring after 14 years in Congress, said of Obama's calls to Republicans. "I don't know of another president-elect who has done this."

No president since Gerald Ford, a former House minority leader, has spent as much energy mastering Congress' 18th-century etiquette and byzantine turf wars as Obama, a former senator....

While Presidents are welcome to enjoy friendships with other people, I consider personal 'connections' that are suppose to result in enhanced political results as corruption. The Republicans are promoting corruption as a strategy to diminish President Obama's reputation as an 'engaged' leader? Why does that not surprise me? I think it goes like this, "If you are corrupt as me then we are thick as thieves? Did I get that right?"

I don't think so.

NRA App for 4 year olds.

Demented, immoral, positioning for lawsuit against the new laws and regulations.

Sick!

I can't imagine membership after this. There needs to be a boycott of the firms identifying themselves as NRA supports. 

There are two hotel chains offering discounts for NRA members, Best Western (click here) and Wyndham (click here).

When I first read about the boycotts I thought it was over bearing to make the point about the importance of an assault weapons ban, but, with this? I never expected anything as demented as this from an organization of sportsmen and women. 

There are others. (click here)

Obviously, VISA doesn't 'get it.'

Buy the way, Governor Cuomo is getting the job done.

By Glenn Blain and Kenneth Lovett
New York Daily News
Update: January 15, 2013
4:41 AM

...The legislative package 

(click here) would expand the state’s existing ban on assault weapons, limit 

the size of ammunition magazines, close a series of loopholes, and create 

safeguards to make it more difficult for the mentally ill to own firearms.

 

It would also impose tougher criminal penalties for gun crimes, including a 

mandatory sentence of life without parole for murdering an on-duty 

emergency responder.

“This is a proposal that seeks to limit gun violence,” Cuomo told reporters at a

news conference announcing the agreement. “It has nothing to do with 

legal gun owners who use their guns appropriately....

The New York State Legislators worked into the early morning hours to pass 

this bill. It looks like they mean it.

Do you want a parent to have a child or an extremist to have a weapon?

Sandy Hook Promise (click here)

The nation know walks with them forever. When the choice is a gun or a child is there any doubt what the Second Amendment intended?

This didn't mention a madman with a gun. It states an extremist with a weapon. In Colorado, there is every estimation the gunman will be found to be sane. In Connecticut, the extremist owned the gun which killed her and others. There is no room for extremism in the USA when it is met with weapons. The Second Amendment does not guarantee every extremist can arm themselves for a personal agenda of violence.

Senator Manchin stated, there is no support for passage of an assault gun weapon ban only. He is correct. That is not a strange statement nor should be taken lightly, because, the American people don't want to ban only assault weapons and be done with it. The American people want comprehensive policy to address all the issues Americans are faced with in a culture of gun violence.   The ban of assault weapons is only one aspect of the change in the policy in the USA.

Generations. This cannot cause generations to hate each other.

The French are correct. Reflecting on the imposition of extremists on Libya; it is easy to discern the impact of these militants. The weapons and ammunition for the continued militia presence in Libya are from this region. Has to be.

It makes sense a northern city would fall to the rebels.

People looked at newspapers focusing on France's military intervention on Monday in the capital, Bamako.

By STEVEN ERLANGER, ALAN COWELL and ADAM NOSSITER

Published: January 14, 2013

French forces (click here), Mr. Fabius said in a radio interview late Sunday, were now “taking care” of rear bases used by Islamists who took control of much of the north of the country last year after a military coup in the capital, Bamako. The duration of the French operation was “a question of weeks,” Mr. Fabius said, unlike the American-led military campaign in Afghanistan.

Diabaly is the small hamlet where the Muslim massacre occurred. There was a doubt about the 17 men actually being holy men on the way to a conference. When the 17 were arrested they were killed by gun fire of their captors. It could have simply been ethnic problems, too. The 17 should not have been killed; they were unarmed. 

It is obvious when these events happen, it causes militias to take up arms against their government. The Mali soldiers were not acting on government orders, they were killing on their own determination. I don't recall any report on that attack either. I don't know if Mali's government is capable of carrying out such an investigation either. The United Nations needs to act not only to stop the infiltration of militants into the Mali government, but, they also need to report to the people of that nation what occurred in Diabaly. There needs to be trials of the soldiers to put all this to rest and into perspective for the people.

...The preachers included at least nine Mauritanians and seven Malians, ranging in age from 25 to 54. They belonged to the Dawa Tablighi, a fundementalist but non-violent current of Islam....

The 17 preachers were acting in good faith. They were mercilessly massacred. This type of anarchy causes huge problems and now there are French jets over Mali.

Two of them had tried to come to Mali in July but had been turned back. So to make sure they wouldn't have any problems, they hired Moctar Bechir, a Malian truck driver who frequently transports merchandise from Mauritania to Mali.

It was an ethnic attack.

These concerns about Mali's military (click here) come at a time when the world is considering sending arms, equipment and troops to help it take back the north, which has fallen to Islamic extremists. Just this week, the United Nations Security Council instructed Mali's neighbors to submit a detailed plan for military intervention, which the U.N. would support.

I don't believe there is a resolution on Mali. It looks as though France acted on current intelligence while the UN Security Council was escalating their concerns. 

“This serious deterioration (click here) of the situation threatens even more the stability and integrity of Mali and constitutes a direct threat to international peace and security,” the members of the Council added in a press statement issued on Thursday night, after a briefing on the situation from the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman.

They do have resolutions to fall back on. Mali is becoming a place where militants can find a home, arms and a capital to plan further aggression in the region. There were reports coming out of Libya when the killing was ended in Benghazi that there was a source of weapons coming from across the Sahara. It has to be Mali. Where else would there have been enough arms and money to carry that out?

The problem is not the revolution. The problem is the momentum of militias in the face of a successful revolution and the dire effects on the people.

The renewed clashes in the north, as well as the proliferation of armed groups in the region, drought and political instability in the wake of a military coup d'état in March have uprooted hundreds of thousands of civilians. Over 412,000 people have been forced to flee the country's north, and an estimated five million people have been affected by the conflict.

The Malian Government and rebel groups are expected to meet for peace talks in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, on 21 January.

In their press statement, the Council members recalled their resolutions 2056, 2071 and 2085 – which dealt with the situation in Mali and were adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter – as well as the “urgent” need to counter the increasing terrorist threat in Mali.

All this is very tragic. Large numbers of people living without an infrastructure built in benevolence by an established government can and do act on their own beliefs about their reality. One of the ways people organize is around their religious beliefs. No doubt the 17 men were seeking to come together to find a sense of community in a world without sophisticated understandings of peace and prosperity. That is the other thing, when people are suffering from the lack of simple comforts in life, they seek answers. So, the gathering of holy men is a very viable way to educate people to their plight and how to work to resolving it. A threat to allowing those resolves to occur is exclusively a sincere problem. There is a much larger dynamic at work than simply 17 men traveling on a road.

Africa is experiencing horrible drought. There are arguments over resources and then the monies from the resources are used to fight wars over the resources which are powering their wars and on and on and on.

Now, we have a dynamic resulting in the French flying jets into areas of Mali to stop the continued build up of extremists and their arms network, etc.

Then it escalates and the USA Neocons start to seek profits through their military agenda to invade the area and so the story goes.

You know, if soldiers are going to act in anarchy simply because they can, then who the hell needs them? The people need to be left alone to work out their problems the way they need to. Although that is not exactly the case either, when there is a complete void of authority and government people become victims as in Darfur.

So, goes the work of the United Nations. Does it become simple? Are there ever clear answers without corruption? As a community of nations, we just keep at it. But, the flow of weapons to empower militias in Libya and otherwise has to stop. It has stop to stop the rest of the violence. More innocent people die, the graves become places of worship and the anger never resolves.

NO ESCALATION.

The complex emergency in Mali (click here) has displaced 445,876 people from their homes since fighting erupted in the north early this year. Of these, 174,000 are internally displaced in Mali and 271,876 are refugees in neighbouring countries.

NO ESCALATION.

NO ESCALATION.

NO ESCALATION.

One of the best ideas for Africa is finding a way to handle their flood seasons to insure the well being of their people. I should not give directives as far as dams and the like because I have not studied the best ways to resolve the drought problem. But, dams do a couple of things. Conservationists will hate me, but, dams do control floods, contain water for future use and can return agriculture to drought weary lands. It is called irrigation. At this point Earth needs such a drastic return to water vapor in its troposphere, carbon sinks and  a far cooler troposphere, bodies of water are important to changing that path. We can't simply relocate entire nations of people. I always wanted a dam project for Ethiopia.

The USA military knows what the climate is doing to complicate the security of regions of the world. This is no joke. If a dam project will provide REAL hope for these people along with JOBS FOR THEIR CITIZENS, do it.

They don't need oil wells or hydraulic fracturing either. They need hope and real answers; not scared half out of their minds of The West.

The problem within Africa is that the people have so many problems it is difficult if not impossible to get them to coalesce around an agenda for their future. Their strife has been so profound they can't entertain the thought of the future. They don't know how to define the future. They have today and plans for tomorrow, but, plans for next week, next month, next year is exceptionally difficult for them.

A dam project can provide them 'the future.' Their future. Their children's future. Water. Crops. Lush forest. Protections for their wildlife. Biotic content propagates biotic content.

Dams require a people able to prepare for them and manage them, too. Huge problems. Really huge problems.

Murdoch's Major Barrett takes the Debt Ceiling Limit out of context. Murdoch's never ceases their assault on the USA.

President Barack Obama gestures as he answers a question during a joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The Debt Ceiling Murdoch's media moguls try to portray as the same as the debt ceiling today was some of the primary drives of our current trillion dollar debts surmounting $16 T.

Top Dems urging Obama to raise debt ceiling all voted against increase in ’06 (click here)

January 12, 2013 | 11:38 am 

...“We believe that you must make clear that you will never allow our nation’s economy and reputation to be held hostage,” the Democrats wrote.  “We believe you must be willing to take any lawful steps to ensure that America does not break its promises and trigger a global economic crisis — without congressional approval, if necessary.”...

In the years of Bush/Cheney there were huge increases in spending for the sake of "We are at war." Al that was under an umbrella of the culture of fear which remains in remnants today. These are the same remnants the current GOP continues to cling to as a political advantage.

The Bush/Cheney years started the drive to move the debt ceiling into unreasonable levels. The attempt by then Senator Barak Obama to end the endless war was sincere.

Today, we are trying to recover our economy after this disastrous administration bringing the USA two wars, an outsourced economy with 'job seekers' left to work in construction provided by inflated home markets whereby citizens were purchasing second and third homes, a construction sector powered by Congressional spending whereby every bill was a jobs bill, a Bush administration which treated the military as a supplement to our national budget; all of which had a final result of destroying the USA economy including the auto industry.

Those years of raising the debt ceiling never served the American people. Nearly every Wall Street entity had their hand out for a bailout. That is not a successful administration. So, when the then Senator Obama voted against the Debt Ceiling, heck, I would too. Do you suppose he saw this mess coming?

When is Murdoch's tribe of media jerks going to stop seeking a STRATEGY against the best outcomes for the American people that only results in losing elections for Republicans? Never? FINE! Lose the elections then and cause a stalemated government in order to find some kind of media following. Murdoch has an inferior media participation and by damn it we are all tired of it!

I also believe President Obama has to think about the recommendations of a unilateral action to most all the nation's problems. The House is UNABLE to resolve to do what is best for their party; whatever makes the President think he can actually garner the support of the House for any answers to our nation? That doesn't exist. He needs to get over himself and THE HOPE for a unified political base while marginalizing extremists. Be a dictator for God's sake.