They are having fits. Too bad.

The Fed has provided a huge pillow for Wall Street to fall into, they need to do exactly that. I would not have been that generous.

The S&P 500 (click here) recorded its biggest daily decline since November 11, 2011, on the year's heaviest day of trading. All 10 S&P sectors were sharply lower, with 94 percent of stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange down for the day and more than four-fifths of Nasdaq-listed shares ending lower.

The Dow Jones industrial average dived 353.87 points, or 2.34 percent, at 14,758.32. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 40.74 points, or 2.50 percent, at 1,588.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 78.57 points, or 2.28 percent, at 3,364.64....

The USA small business sector is losing income. They do a percentage of their business over the net. International currency is unstable and falling. The value of the dollar.

On the first banking day of 2013, January 2nd, one USA dollar could be exchanged for 8.4918 South African Rand. 

Today, one USA dollar can be exchanged for 10.0233 South African Rand. That is a fall in value of 18% or if one is favoring the US Dollar that is an 18% gain. 

The Euro today is slightly down against the USA Dollar, however, it has been a roller coaster ride and there were times since January 2, 2013 there were significant loses in the value of the Euro. All those ups and downs are rough on the small business sector of the USA.

The dynamic for the Euro is the same for the Canadian and Australian dollar. The New Zealand dollar was marginally worse. 

The point is while Wall Street has been having a "Hey Day" they have been doing so at the expense of both small business in the USA and the USA treasury. The Glory Days of Wall Street from QE1 to QE2 had slowed the job growth while robbing income to the USA Treasury. The more people employed the more taxes paid, the more the USA Treasury recovers from a decade of raids. 

I think there is solid evidence QE3 finally helped the job market in the USA. I am pleased it is this version that still reigns until Wall Street has been successfully weaned from an abundance of cash flow. 

The next year will prove insight to inflation, monetary stability and global security of their financial status. It is best to apply these dynamics in portions that are reasonable and measured, BUT, it has to forward. There is not going to be an implosion and it is time normalization occurred.

This will shock the soxes off folks, but, I would not expect the DOW to fall below 11,000. It has been there before and before QE3. QE3 occurred in September 2012.

May 21, 2012
Expect to see Dow 11,000 before Dow 14,000 (click here - lots of charts to give everyone that feel good feeling)

I mean you guys have got to be joking. 15,000 in a year? Get over yourselves.

Japan cannot tolerate this current currency roller coaster. Nor should anyone expect them to.

Japan is an ally to the USA, but, I am quite confident and for many reasons it sure doesn't feel that way. But, this is a big insult to the Japanese economy. When the USA has weak allies, the USA is weak. Enough. 

June 20, 2013

During the local session (click here) the Yen shed much of its recent gains against the US Dollar, falling by over 1 per cent to a low of 98.28 Yen per Dollar.
The Japanese Yen exchange rate was in the region of 97.9500 Yen to one US Dollar as of 11:15 am GMT

The Asian currency dropped against a bullish US Dollar after the latter currency broadly strengthened in response to the highly-anticipated outcome of the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting.

After extensive discussion with the Federal Open Market Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke asserted that if the economic situation in the US should continue to improve US quantitative easing could be phased out by the end of next year....

The jury is chosen. I thought it would go on for at least another week.

July 20, 2013
By David Ovalle and Audra D.S. Burch

SANFORD -- Sixteen months (click here) after George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin during a brawl that drew worldwide attention and sparked racial tension, an all-female jury — all but one of whom are white — will decide if the neighborhood watchman is guilty of murder.

Lawyers will present their opening statements Monday morning. The six jurors plus four alternates were sworn in Thursday afternoon.

Each of the jurors, during the nine-day selection process, promised to be fair and impartial. The panel was chosen despite prosecutors’ unsuccessful attempts to remove two of the women. Legal experts, who believe people of color might side with prosecutors in this case, were surprised at the lack of racial diversity and split on the effects of the all-female jury. The jurors were chosen from a pool of 40 potential jurors — 24 were women, at least five were African American and at least two were Hispanic....

Let's all hope this will be an unremarkable trial steeped in the truth. All involved deserve that much from our justice system.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/20/3461323/defense-questioning-potential.html#storylink=cpy

FCC’s short application window (click here) for new stations will run from October 15 to October 29. "This is a one-shot opportunity," Rousset says. "The work that we do over the next four months will really help shape the course of this country’s media landscape for the next 40 years.

If the sincere non-profits don't use this opportunity it will go to Wall Street.

Do this thing. Labor Unions need to have a way to contact the public to promote information about their rights and benevolent intentions. This is a good thing. 

LPFM Filing Window Period Dates (CLICK HERE)
The next LPFM filing window is projected to be about October 15, 2013.   Exact dates for the filing period will be announced via Public Notice before the start of the filing period.  See the December 4, 2012 Order at Paragraph 211.  Notice will also be posted on the FCC's website.  (Sorry, we cannot provide personal notice of filing dates or procedures.)

A few things caught my attention about this article. The obvious is the new Super-PAC.

Jebbie says we got it! Jebbie says we got it!

"It was just the three of us guys handing the phone back and forth--me with the numbers, one of them a governor, the other the president-elect. Now that was cool." ---John Ellis, Bush cousin, working the Fox News Channel election desk on November 7, 2000, as the network unilaterally proclaimed a Bush win at 2:16 am.

Yeah, they got it alright. Right after they purged the voter rolls and now in 2016 they are pushing Voter ID.
 
New Super-PAC to help Central Valley GOP congressmen(click here)

by John Ellis on June 19, 2013

 

Former Republican Congressman Richard Pombo is heading up a newly formed Super PAC, which will focus on electing — or keeping in office — Central Valley-based Republican and conservative congressmen.
The federal political action committee will be known as Empower Central Valley. Pombo is the chairman — and its public face. As with so many other such independent organizations, everyone else — including donors — will remain anonymous....

Then I paid attention to the fact California is used as a donor state to the rest of the GOP interests. The money raised in California helps them out a great deal. Well, Issa is a California Representative. Mr. No-Credibility himself.

Realizing how California is going to be raising a lot of funds for the 2016 Presidential Races, I noticed the name of the author to this article. Now, it could be coincidence, but, it reminded me of a Bush victory of 2000.

Remember John Prescott Ellis?

John Prescott Ellis was the man at FOX that stated Florida was going for Bush. Remember that? 

He is venture capitalist now. He runs a firm called "Sand Hill Partners." (click here)

The website for this Silicon Valley venture capital firm, Sand Hill Partners, is very sparse in information. Very sparse. According to Linkin this is the description of it's mission. And it is an LLC, too.

Sand Hill Partners LLC in Silicon Valley provides seed capital, mentoring, and experienced, hands-on help for early stage technology startups in Silicon Valley.
We show entrepreneurs how to quickly nail the product that will sell and build a repeatable, scalable business model. We create smart, fun startups that are great places to work and will forever ruin you for working in a big company again.

Specialties

determining the minimum product feature set needed to sell, testing the problem you are solving to see if its truly monetizable, maximizing learning about customers with minimal expense and time, building ideas into fundable startups 

I find it more than interesting that a lot of the funding for the GOP comes out of California and there sits John Ellis with his venture capital firm. I thought it was interesting.

continued...

This is nothing but a bankruptcy shuffle. They aren't sorry for anything. They are continuing their work under different names, that is all this is.

An organization that closes it's doors can't pay any claims filed against them in court if it doesn't have an income.

June 20, 2013
By Daniel Trotta

...Exodus International (click here) billed itself as the oldest and largest Christian ministry dealing with faith and homosexuality, operating since 1976. It announced it would cease operations in a statement on its website on Wednesday.

The Irvine, California-based group's board unanimously voted to close Exodus International and begin a separate ministry, the statement said....
 
Exodus is an umbrella organization which grew to include over 120 local ministries in the United States and Canada and over 150 ministries in 17 other countries.  

The Exodus Global Alliance (click here) was formed out of Exodus International in 2004.

"Love in Action" was the founding organization to all this mess. It boils down to one man.

Love In Action International (click here) was started in 1973 by Frank Worthen. At 43, Frank rededicated his life to Jesus Christ after spending 20 years pursuing homosexual behavior. With a testimony tape and a newspaper ad, Frank gave a message seldom heard before, “There is a way out of homosexuality!”

How much government monies have these organizations receive?

Excellant and there is nothing the legislature can do about it.

The Bush administration never honored the separation of church and state. One of the first things he did when he was inaugurated was to attack women's health clinics overseas. This was later a part of the same corrupt values that administration demonstrated.

By Robert Barnes
Thursday, June 20, 2013

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday (click here) that the federal government may not force groups that receive funding for overseas anti-HIV/AIDS programs to adopt its views against prostitution and sex trafficking.

The justices ruled 6 to 2 that a requirement in a multibillion-dollar anti-AIDS program that withholds funds from organizations that do not have a policy “explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking” violates an organization's free-speech rights....

...The disputed provision is part of a 2003 law under which the United States is spending $60 billion to combat infectious diseases around the world. It forbade any of the money being used to “promote or advocate the legalization or practice of prostitution or sex trafficking,” which it said are ways the diseases are sometimes spread....

This decision is in reaction to legislation by the extremists in the legislature and White House during the Bush administration. The Congress can waste it's time and taxpayer monies by attempting to 'play' with the electorate to state they can do anything they want in the USA, including leap tall buildings in a single bound, but, they would be lying. There is absolutely nothing anyone in the legislature or the White House can do about the ruling.

NGOs that perform work on behalf of a USA policy are not allowed to discriminate between who dies and who lives due to religious, ethnic or gender basis. 

If a prostitute or sex trafficker presents with HIV and/or AIDS they are as much a public health concern as the most devout Christian Fundamentalist. They receive treatment. To insure they receive treatment, there is privacy to their identity and their profession otherwise they won't seek treatment. They will die at some point in time, but, they will also be spreading HIV all along the way.

....Roberts said government can restrict the ways funds are spent, but cannot require them to “pledge allegiance to the government’s policy of eradicating prostitution.”

He was joined by Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Samuel A. Alito Jr. Justice Elena Kagan recused herself from the case, presumably because she had worked on it while President Obama’s solicitor general.

Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented....

There are the immorals that actually carried out this level of discrimination. They caused deaths and a greater danger to the populations their organization, "Alliance for Open Society International," a subsidiary of "Open Society International." The title of the organization is obviously a lie. But, that isn't the worst part of this travesty.

Robert Kushen, Chair and President of the Board of Directors, is a former Human Rights Watch reporter, a former Executive Directorof Médecins du Monde, a member of the New York Bar Association and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Kushen also worked in the Office of the Legal Adviser of the United States Department of State where he focused on international criminal justice, counterterrorism, intelligence, and international scientific cooperation.

Ricardo Castro, President and General Council for the AOSI, has experience in the area of Latin American corporate finance. Treasurer Steve Gutmann audits AOSI financial operations in New York City and Budapest. Maria Santos Valentin, Secretary and Deputy General Counsel for the AOSI, has financial experience in several areas, especially Latin America and Eastern Europe.

This hideous policy was a PLEDGE by Bush. It was an anti-prostitution pledge. The kind of pledge that effects the outcome of primaries. Every organization had to commit to the pledge. Sort of like Skull and Crossbones.

"I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next five years, to turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean" President George W. Bush

In May 2003, (click here) the US Congress approved a five-year, $15 billion programme that launched the 'US Global AIDS initiative'.³ However, the initiative soon became known by the name of its five-year strategy presented to Congress in 2004, 'the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief' or PEPFAR. Although the act incorporates funding for other diseases, its main focus is HIV/AIDS and it has often been referred to as the "largest commitment by any nation to a single disease in history".

$15 billion is a lot of money and this PROVES beyond a shadow of a doubt, the GOP leadership wants to change the face of the USA and USA programs to effect other nations. $15 billion is PROOF that corrupt power corrupts absolutely. The organization involved in this travesty didn't care if they had to sign their pledge is a blood pact they were going to do it, ethnics and morality be damned.

This $15 billion program proved beyond a shadow of a doubt covert agendas exist and covert agendas are corruption.

This was the lousiest of public health policies, but, $15 billion US buys a lot of allies.

It is the very bad habit of the USA legislature to play politics with USA Treasury monies. This is among the most egregious because it caused the death of human beings in other nations. 

Legislation is suppose to support the BEST PRACTICES of any of the USA Brain Trust and not alter those practices by corrupt values for the purpose of paying off cronies and buying votes. Morality, the integrity of USA policy and ethics aren't suppose to be a bargaining chip. EVER!

This is the worst question I have ever heard. The MIss USA pagent is poorly managed.

The content of the question is silly.

This was a question about current events. The controversy was fairly new. I am not saying she was 'set up' to fail, I am saying the timeliness of the question was wrong. I don't have any interest in any way in this pageant, but, I don't like the controversy that states, "Women are dumb people." This lady is not dumb. She is a very smart girl without a reference point to the topic. She did her best.

The Miss USA Pageant has to put a limit on the 'current events' questions to no sooner than the arrival of the first participant. It is correct to expect a pageant winner to have read newspapers. That is a given. These gals are smart ladies and they have impact on our society and eventually Miss USA will go on to compete with a global audience. It is correct to have expectations of their prowess on all fronts of the American experience and where it is in global content.

What is unfair about this question is in order to have Miss Utah answer this well, she would have to be chasing the topic down in daily news articles either online or some media source. That is not realistic because participants are busy people. They have rehearsals to attend. They want to be perfect in every way, but, there are only 24 hours in the day. They will run themselves ragged to satisfy the 'perfect' component. There have to be reasonable limits to the questions asked. 

I would also like to entertain the level of controversy to the Miss USA questions and the tone of the pageant. Miss USA is a reflection of our society globally. While it is a good idea to remain steadfast in our American values, some are very controversial on a global scale. I would expect the Miss USA pageant to ask questions regarding worldly content as well as American content. Miss USA should not be so focused on her homeland that nothing else matters. I would think the questions of the Miss USA Pageant would reflect the type of questions asked in the Miss Universe Pageant. I would actually expect less cutting edge questions and more stalwart questions. 

Just a suggestion. The pageants in the USA are a strong suit for women. Many find their public demeanor while participating. They find success and that is an important component to a woman's idea of herself. That success transcends the understanding of a society we can all value. They are important ladies. I doubt with a woman's beauty that will ever end. I wish them all well. 

Just a personal note about violence.

If my home was a microcosm of the 'growth of violence' in our society, then know this. My two sons are at opposite ends of the spectrum of guns. One is a gun advocate and defines himself as Libertarian. The other abhors guns and violence and defines himself as an Independent. Both are successful in their career choices.

But, the son that is gun advocate watched "The Sopranos" religiously. He didn't do that in my home. He would have been twenty years old in 1999. He hung out with his college buddies on UNCW campus of Cameron Hall back then. Oddly, he does not have children. A beautiful wife and wonderful life, but, no children. They don't want children.

The son that wants absolutely nothing to do guns, never watched the lousy show. He would have been 18 and graduating high school in 1999. He would then attend the same university as his brother but a different cultural dynamic in studying marine biology. He owns his own business now, for about six years now. He has children and many of them.

Are guns a cultural issue and instilled by media? You betcha.

Violence is definitely a 'learned culture.' It is not innate.

I never sought to control their choices. Never. I did set the tone for our home. 

The track left on the Moon by Lunokhod 2 in 1973. (on right) On the left (arrow) is the mark made by the rover’s ninth wheel, which measured how far the vehicle had travelled.

Russian Academy of Sciences & Roskosmos 






Revised data show Soviet Union’s 1970s lunar vehicle outdistanced NASA’s Opportunity — for now. (click here) 

Alexandra Witze 
19 June 2013

...Now it seems that the second rover, Luno­khod 2, went even farther than many back then had thought. New calculations, using images from orbit that trace the rover’s 40-year-old tracks far below, show that Lunokhod 2 travelled some 42 kilo­metres in its lifetime — 5 kilo­metres more than the distance recorded in the official mission logs. And that means that NASA’s Opportunity rover, inching up to the 37-kilometre mark after nearly a decade on Mars, has a long way to go to break the record for the distance driven by a wheeled vehicle on another world (see ‘Space race’)....

The new studies of Sol (our sun) will provide information to levels of radiation into space. There is no way human beings can venture into deep space without understanding the radiation of the sun. Hopefully, the 'cycles' of the sun will provide a 'glide path' to PREDICT the storms that produce the radiation.

Understanding Sol means understanding Sol. It does not mean every sun in every solar system or universe has the same patterns or radiation, so there is a lot to understand about what we know about Sol and what we don't understand about other suns. They are similar, but, not 'genetically' identical. 

IRIS mission aims to scrutinize the layer between the star’s surface and its flickering corona. (click here) 

Alexandra Witze

19 June 2013

 

...But between these two charismatic regions lies a swathe some 1,700 kilometres thick — the chromosphere — that has largely been overlooked.
This region is about to have its day. On 26 June, NASA plans to launch the US$181-million Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The instrument’s ‘eyes’, working in the ultraviolet spectrum and designed to follow the flow of matter and energy in the chromosphere, will help astronomers to work out how the photosphere and corona are linked — including how temperatures soar from some 6,000 °C at the solar surface to more than 1 million degrees in the corona. The chromosphere is “a missing piece of the puzzle”, says Bart de Pontieu, the IRIS science lead at the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, California....

It would seem as though Congress if FINALLY getting around to policing the NSA.

In yesterday's hearing the Congress actually brought up the subject of how the NSA determines SECURITY CLEARANCE. 

I'll be darn it is FINALLY an issue. It only took about a month to 'get there' when the politics were dissolved in hearings where people capable of governing actually do.

I think Security Clearance needs to start and end with USA government employment. And, yes, the President is in office for less than a decade. 

The idea security clearance has to exist in order for the private sector to carry out their contracts is a lie. It is a very CONVENIENT lie. The private sector receives contracts to build things, not to run the government. And certainly not from China.

I can see it now, the F35 is flown not by the pilot but by a computer hacker in Beijing. I don't think so. 

Does that "Culture of Fear" exist in the USA military anymore. There are enemies out there, right? Not "Everything Bush and Cheney" is benevolent to this country ya know.

$85 million awarded to 12 Oregon soldiers; KBR guilty of negligence, not fraud (click here)

Neglect? Really? Could have fooled me.  

At any rate, Bush's brother wants to run the USA educational programs from communist China via computer. 

Ain't no way, honey. 

But, the economy of the USA military belongs to the sovereign nation and not foreign contractors, with the exception of long lived and loyal allies. NATO means something, with limits.

The issue of Security Clearance needs sincere rehabilitation post "W."

June 19, 2013
By Scott Clement and Sean Sullivan

...Overall, 43 percent support (click here) and 48 percent oppose criminally charging Snowden, a former government contractor. A large majority of those who oppose the surveillance programs also oppose legal action against Snowden (65 percent), while backers of surveillance efforts are somewhat less resolute: 55 percent support charging him with a crime.
Some reluctance to criminalize the matter is driven by liberal Democrats. While 76 percent of liberal Democrats support the NSA’s surveillance efforts, only 50 percent want Snowden to face criminal charges.

Among all Americans, most — 58 percent — support the NSA’s program collecting extensive phone call records and Internet data. The result mirrors a Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll released last week that found 56 percent saying the NSA’s tracking of phone call records of millions of Americans is “acceptable.”...

I never watched the Sopranos. Not one day.

I could not tell you one fact about the show. It was very violent and I would not allow it on the television in my home.

I know nothing about this show and I intend to know nothing. I had a life during that time that continues today.

To compare it to I Love Lucy or All in the Family or Mash is hideous. Those shows were about an entirely different aspect of human nature. Even Mash was not violent. There were no guns in Mash. There were surgical suites. Mash protested war. 

Gandolfini wanted to 'reconnect with Italian roots' (click here)

Evidently, he did.

No American can do this on $4.50 per day.

Obesity is now a disease.

What’s in this booklet for me? (click here)

 June 19, 2013
...The mayors (click here) of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and 15 other cities are reviving a push that's against allowing food stamps be used to buy soda and other sugary drinks.

In a letter sent to congressional leaders on Tuesday, the mayors say it's time to look at the use of the subsidies of the program, called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), for sugar-laden beverages in the interest of fighting obesity and related diseases.

"More than one third of American adults are now obese, costing approximately $147 billion per year in associated medical expenses," read the letter. "As a result of obesity, this generation of American children is the first to face the possibility of a shorter life expectancy than their parents. It is time to test and evaluate approaches limiting SNAP's subsidization of products, such as sugar-sweetened beverages, that are contributing to obesity."...

If states what to provide food stamps to parolees and those that have served them time in prison there is dearly little the federal government can do. It is called States Rights. I thought Vitter really was a proud States Rights supporter, no? I suppose there Congress can put an amendment or some silly thing on the law, but, it won't hold up in the courts.

Evidently, the French are not waiting to arm those most vulnerable.

This is not uncommon for the French. They do not like to tolerate ethnic cleansing, genocide or sectarian violence.

There is no reason to pursue a peace process if everyone involved in achieving a peace is dead. 

After two years of civil war there are terrible things happening, including child soldiers and that is on both sides of the war. 

But, when it comes to supplying arms, the USA usually negotiates with sovereign ally states, such as Israel and sales are established. This is a more sensitive issue as there is not a sovereign nation the Syrian rebels currently govern. However, arming the vulnerable is not unusual for the USA either.  

June 19, 2013
French military officials are training rebels fighting to bring down the Assad regime in the current Syrian conflict, according to a report by Army Radio.

The army-run radio station reported that French officers stationed in Jordan and Turkey are currently training the rebels in warfare tactics and weapons usage. Army Radio quoted "experts with access to the information" in their report.

If the information is accurate, this would mean that the French government is the most active Western power working to topple Bashar Assad's regime. On the diplomatic front, Paris is also working energetically to convene the so-called "Geneva 2" peace summit, though the chances of the summit's success are slim.

Army Radio reported that French intelligence officers are working in tandem with Saudi officials who are funding the rebels. There is also close cooperation with Turkish defense officials, especially in light of an anticipated battle over the city of Aleppo....

Under the Clinton Administration there was a peace initiative as well. It was the Dayton Peace Accords and President Clinton received a Nobel Peace Prize for the outcomes. Let me state right now President Obama is not vying for a Nobel. He already has one. The work his administration will carry out with Syria is a continuation of his first commitment to peace.

...After three and a half years of fighting, (click here) the Dayton Peace Accord was signed in Paris, France, on December 14, 1995. Three weeks of intense negotiations at the Wright Patterson Air Base in Dayton, Ohio, preceded the signing with the U.S. and other allies having taken an active role in those talks. Significant progress has been made in the restoration of Bosnia-Herzegovina by the U.S. and other countries, including a sharp decrease in inter-ethnic violence, restored freedom of movement from country to country, and more than one million refugees and others returned to their former homes by October 2004....

Oddly enough, the Dayton Accords achieved stability in the region in three and a half years where the occupation of Iraq lasted ten years. The lands involved are smaller then Syria, so establishing safe areas of Syria should be possible. I don't know of any nation that has tougher borders to defend than Israel. It is a small country in highly volatile circumstanes. 

The Reagan invasion, wayward to not, into Grenada didn't take an act of Congress.  

So, is President Obama within his right as President to seek to assist allies? Absolutely. As a matter of fact, if Congress seeks to end his right to assist allies before he actually does it would be litigable at the Supreme Court. The President does have powers. He has a right to use them. Pre-emptive Congressional legislation is unconstitutional. It is why the War Powers Act exists. If Congress wants to change the War Powers Act to impede the President further it may or may not be possible.

The French and Germany along with the UK may very well have a good idea of what is necessary to stabilize the carnage by Assad forces. The idea is to stop the violence and seek a power sharing government, for as problematic as they can be, it is still a viable solution. 

Should nations have a conscience about such violence? I can't imagine they should not. Is The West capable of leading an effort to stop the carnage and establish a peace process? They aren't? President Obama is not a war president. His answers to global violence is not more violence. Anyone can annihilate people with bombs. The USA could without a doubt stack the deck to favor a greater carnage than Assad can put together. But, we know from experience in Iraq that is a very bad idea.  While some ethnicities appreciate the USA's war machine clout, those dying are keeping score, they are not forgotten and retaliation comes. While The West sees an ethnic group as the bad guys, there is a party on the other side of it that sincerely disagrees.

I just think all this fuss about assisting allies is ridiculous. President Obama does not want to revisit wars of the past and repeat the same mistakes.

I think there will be working relationships that will come about with Russia and NATO allies that will bring about a peace for Syria to stabilize the region. I also believe it has to be given a chance and it seems as though the French are already assessing the dynamics and making plans. It would be ridiculously hideous to believe we could look the other way and expect our national security not be in question. I think those in Congress that want to tie the President's hands will find they are not pursuing constitutional processes.

Do I like the idea President Obama has to participate in throwing around the military clout of the USA? No. But, the reality exists and we cannot deny our allies are involved in something they have deemed a concern to their sovereign nations.

They'll find their sea legs, Mr. Bernanki.

They love money too much. They won't stay away for long. Promise.  Ya know, they might find out the Credit Unions had it right the entire time and the 'risk' in the consumer market is still the best place to do business.

June 19, 2013
By Binyamin Applebaum

...Stocks fell on Wall Street (click here) after Mr. Bernanke’s remarks, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 1.2 percent, or about 170 points. Investors sold on his indications that the Fed would reduce its stimulus efforts starting later this year... 

Perhaps now, the USA Senate and House will dust off the American Jobs Act and do something, like pass it. Ya think?

Yes, the US House hasn't been helpful to the recovery of the job rate. So, they attempted to pass a spending bill of $1 trillion in the Farm Bill to stroke their cronies and stoke the economy.

Now there is this. The Republicans are finally scared enough to do something, but, they are hiding these spending bills under the rug while they give their base the gossip point of abortion.

At some point in time, the House and Senate Republicans will realize they have run their penny pinching rhetoric to the end of the road. They need to do something to benefit the people of this nation besides giving their party a 'feel good feeling' about moralizing. 

The truth is the Congress should have acted long before QE anything was planned and carried out. If the job growth occurred long ago the retail businesses, including tourism, would have been chugging a long just fine by now. 

If Congress recovered the country correctly rather than seeking political power, the revenues to the USA Treasury would have increased ALREADY and the economy would be far better than it is today. Instead, they allowed The Fed to wager against the US Dollar while cowering in the corners of their office. It has been hideous, completely hideous and now the global currency is more fluid than ever. Other countries are hurting, that doesn't help the US economy in attracting commerce of any kind. It would be nice if the US Congress valued competency over political leveraging.
 

By Eric Florip and Stevie Mathieu
Columbian staff writers

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

A transportation budget (click here) proposed this week in the U.S. House doesn’t provide any money to finance an $850 million federal grant for the Columbia River Crossing project, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler said Tuesday.
The legislation is just one spending proposal being considered by Congress; the Senate is drafting its own version.
The House bill, which would cover the 2014 fiscal year, only includes $1.68 billion for the federal New Starts grants program. CRC planners are banking on a $850 million New Starts grant to pay for the construction of light rail on a new Interstate 5 Bridge over the Columbia River.
The House transportation spending plan doles out that $1.68 billion to 17 other projects around the country, from Honolulu to New York. Unlike the CRC project, those 17 other projects have already met Federal Transit Administration permitting and funding rules for the New Starts program, Herrera Beutler said. CRC planners are still waiting on some of the pieces of their project to fall into place.
The budget proposal’s $1.68 billion in New Starts money is “the exact amount needed to fund the other 17 projects in the House Appropriations bill,” Herrera Beutler’s spokesman, Casey Bowman, wrote in an email. “So even if the CRC were to surmount the huge permitting and local funding hurdles in front of it, there would still be no federal money available for it or any other New Starts project in (fiscal year) 2014.”

This is a no brainer. Stop strategizing, listen and act. Really simple stuff.

Adaptation projects, (click here) such as flood defences, tree planting and soil improvement can struggle to find investment (Source: International Center for Tropical Agriculture)

Adaptation projects, such as flood defences, tree planting and soil improvement can struggle to find investment (Source: International Center for Tropical Agriculture) - See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/world-bank-warns-its-time-to-focus-on-climate-adaptation/#sthash.4IHZf07a.dpuf

Adaptation projects, such as flood defences, tree planting and soil improvement can struggle to find investment (Source: International Center for Tropical Agriculture) - See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/world-bank-warns-its-time-to-focus-on-climate-adaptation/#sthash.4IHZf07a.dpuf

I actually once had a PhD in economics tell me, "Oh, come on, it is only a degree or two."

Climate change will devastate developing world, says World Bank

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013 By Ilaria Bertini

If the world moves past 2C of warming, the lives of many people in vulnerable areas of south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa will be at risk by extreme weather and food shortages, according to the World Bank.

- See more at: http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2013/06/19/climate-change-will-devastate-developing-world-says-world-bank/#sthash.Rol3q0g2.dpufThe organisation’s new report, Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience, finds that poor communities living in informal settlements that lack proper drainage and public services would be heavily hit by extreme weather as sea levels rise and droughts become more likely.The organisation’s new report, Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience, finds that poor communities living in informal settlements that lack proper drainage and public services would be heavily hit by extreme weather as sea levels rise and droughts become more likely.The sincere problem with business taking any kind of lead in the Climate Crisis is that one does not know whom exactly they are protecting.

The problem with a business community taking any lead in the Climate Crisis is that one does not know exactly what interest they are protecting. The protections for people and business may very well be different. That sincerely is the so called 'problem.' 

The best example is the petroleum industry. Bush once said "America is addicted to oil." Bull-oney. The petroleum industry just won't go away no matter what is demanded by the consumer. Do you think electric cars would have taken this long to make it to the consumer markets if there were no petroleum industry? Heck, no.

I mean China of all countries has the worst industrial pollution of any developing nation. I don't see their industries jumping on the bandwagon for ordinary pollutants that cause lung disease and there are conferences about C02 emissions. Who is kidding who?

It is all fine and good to save the Panda, but, the river dolphin has disappeared and now bloated pigs float downstream. I mean what goes on already?

The Chinese came to the USA to buy pork manufacturing for a food supple back home. Hello? That is what I call responsible leadership, indeed. And to think a climate conference on water is going to change things is about the most ridiculous measure I have ever witnessed. Save the money on conferences, DO SOMETHING!

I mean when HSBC has a climate STRATEGY the world knows it is in trouble. Strategy is like, "How do I avoid disaster." Right? Too late now for a strategy, do something.

CCBF - Two Degrees Celsius Plus Water (click here) 

Globally, fresh water demand is growing and supplies are shrinking. Locally, Chinese agriculture, power generation, mining and cities are all vying for a water supply that is just 25% of the global average per capita. Rampant pollution and advancing climate change are exacerbating an already fragile situation.

 This event is the first in a series examining the nexus between climate change and key resources: water, energy and food. It will introduce why water is an increasingly scarce resource; provide an investor perspective on water risk for business; and explore how companies are addressing this risk.

CCBF is collaborating with China Water Risk on this event.

Confirmed speakers include:

Debra Tan, Director, China Water Risk
Su Liu, Greater Chain Manager & policy research, Civic Exchange
Wai-Shin Chan, Director of Climate Change Strategy, HSBC
Maureen Lee, General Manager, Sustainability, Swire Beverages
Mr. Anderson Lee, Vice President, Sustainable Business Fashion Consortium TBD, CIWEM 

It is also the sort of thing of who one listens to. I would hardly consider an economist the correct person to save the lives of people. I would think even Mr. Bernanke would opt out on this commentary, though. 

Climate change will devastate developing world, says World Bank (click here)

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013 By Ilaria Bertini 

If the world moves past 2C of warming, the lives of many people in vulnerable areas of south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa will be at risk by extreme weather and food shortages, according to the World Bank.

The organisation’s new report, Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience, finds that poor communities living in informal settlements that lack proper drainage and public services would be heavily hit by extreme weather as sea levels rise and droughts become more likely.

World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said, “The scientists tell us that if the world warms by 2C – warming which may be reached in 20 to 30 years – that will cause widespread food shortages, unprecedented heat-waves, and more intense cyclones.

“In the near-term, climate change, which is already unfolding, could batter the slums even more and greatly harm the lives and the hopes of individuals and families who have had little hand in raising the Earth’s temperature.”...

World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said, “The scientists tell us that if the world warms by 2C – warming which may be reached in 20 to 30 years – that will cause widespread food shortages, unprecedented heat-waves, and more intense cyclones.
“In the near-term, climate change, which is already unfolding, could batter the slums even more and greatly harm the lives and the hopes of individuals and families who have had little hand in raising the Earth’s temperature.”
According to the report, food shortages due to agriculture collapse would affect the areas in sub-Saharan Africa, while fluctuation of water resources would hit south and south-east Asia.
- See more at: http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2013/06/19/climate-change-will-devastate-developing-world-says-world-bank/#sthash.Rol3q0g2.dpuf

World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said, “The scientists tell us that if the world warms by 2C – warming which may be reached in 20 to 30 years – that will cause widespread food shortages, unprecedented heat-waves, and more intense cyclones.
“In the near-term, climate change, which is already unfolding, could batter the slums even more and greatly harm the lives and the hopes of individuals and families who have had little hand in raising the Earth’s temperature.”
According to the report, food shortages due to agriculture collapse would affect the areas in sub-Saharan Africa, while fluctuation of water resources would hit south and south-east Asia.
- See more at: http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2013/06/19/climate-change-will-devastate-developing-world-says-world-bank/#sthash.Rol3q0g2.dpuf

Climate change will devastate developing world, says World Bank

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013 By Ilaria Bertini

If the world moves past 2C of warming, the lives of many people in vulnerable areas of south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa will be at risk by extreme weather and food shortages, according to the World Bank.

- See more at: http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2013/06/19/climate-change-will-devastate-developing-world-says-world-bank/#sthash.Rol3q0g2.dpuf

The World Bank should seek contributions from highest CO2 polluters. That would be the real climate tax, now wouldn't it?

"Vulnerable regions are where the climate rubber meets the road": 2nd report for World Bank. (click here)

06/19/2013 - Crop yields put at risk in Sub-Saharan Africa, extremes of water scarcity and excess in South Asia and floodings of coastal cities in South-East Asia are but a few of the likely impacts of unabated climate change. They are investigated in the second report of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Climate Analytics commissioned by the World Bank: “Turn down the Heat II: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts and the Case for Resilience”. The analysis scrutinizes the state of science on impacts in a 4 degree warming world up to the end of this century. It was presented in London today....


 Western Africa and coastal and marine environments (click here)

ABIDJAN, Sep 30 2011 (IPS) - Sea levels on the coasts of Côte d’Ivoire (click here) and other West African countries have risen again this year, devastating houses and other infrastructure. The search for effective solutions is lagging behind accelerating coastal erosion.

For several years now, the third quarter of each year has brought extraordinarily high sea levels in the Gulf of Guinea.

In the Ivorian economic capital, Abidjan, a number of houses were destroyed and dozens of families made homeless in late August. The challenge is not limited to urban areas: not far from Abidjan, the artisanal fishing community at Grand-Bassam has lost valuable equipment, crippling livelihoods.

The Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, has experienced extensive flooding – by some estimates, 80 percent of the city could be waterlogged by 2020.

Thousands of kilometres south and east along the coast, the city of Cotonou, Benin’s economic centre, is also battling against erosion. A critical article published in Beninois daily Nouvelle Expression in September asked if the government had given up the fight to save the coastline, documenting the submersion of parts of the Roi de Langouste Hotel, east of the city....

People should never die at this age. I find it odd it would be in his own neighborhood. It is not your usual neighborhood, ya know?

Deepest sympathies to his family, friends and the profession that loved him.

By Michael Hastings
January 18, 2012
 
...When I arrive for my last day with Assange, (click here) I'm 45 minutes early. Most of his staff have gone home for the holidays, and he's alone in the house with only his personal assistant to keep him company. Assange is huddled over a laptop in the dining room he has turned into his office, monitoring what has become his sole focus over the past few days: the trial of Bradley Manning, the 24-year-old Army private alleged to have provided the diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. Assange has two lawyers representing him in the Maryland courtroom, and his name has been mentioned virtually every day during the initial hearing. The government's strategy, it has become clear, is to pressure Manning to implicate Assange in espionage – to present his work at WikiLeaks as the act of a spy, not a journalist.

When Assange comes into the living room and sits on the couch, a small Jack Russell terrier jumps up onto his lap and remains there for most of the next five hours. "You use two recorders," Assange says, looking at the digital recorders I've put down on the small coffee table. "I usually use three." But as soon as we start the interview, the phone rings. It's Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers, who had attended the Manning trial with Assange's lawyers. Ellsberg is in a car driving back to Washington, D.C. "I can hear you," Assange shouts, ducking into the dining room. "Can you hear me?"

Five minutes later he returns, energized by his talk with America's most famous whistle-blower. "Where were we?" he says. His assistant brings in two cups of coffee, and the interview begins....