The October 1st meeting for the Great Lakes Advisory Board was cancelled.

March 13, 2013
 
The first two-year appointments to the advisory board are: (click here)

- J. David Allen, Professor – University of Michigan.
- Patricia Birkholz, Founder – Great Lakes Legislative Caucus.
- Kathryn Buckner, President – Council of Great Lakes Industries.
- Naomi Davis, President – Blacks in Green.
- Molly Flanagan, Program Officer – The Joyce Foundation.
- Steve Galarneau, Director – Office of the Great Lakes, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
- Jennifer Hill, Field Manager – National Wildlife Federation and Healing Our Waters - Great Lakes Coalition.
- Roger Germann, Executive Vice President – John G. Shedd Aquarium.
- Bill Hafs, Director of Environmental Programs – Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District.
- Michael Isham, Tribal Councilman – Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Government and Chair of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.
- Simone Lightfoot, Manager of Conservation & Sustainability – NAACP Detroit Branch.
- Joy Mulinex, Director – Public Policy and Great Lakes Land Conservancy Coalition – Western Reserve Land Conservancy.
- Jim Ridgway, Vice President – Environmental Consulting and Technology, Inc.
- Joan Rose, Professor – Michigan State University.
- Richard Stewart, Co-Director – Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute.
- Matt Thompson, Environmental Resources Coordinator – Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe.
- David Ullrich, Executive Director – Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.
- Jim Wagner, City Administrator – Trenton, Michigan.

The Interagency Task Force is in the process of scheduling next steps for the Great Lakes Advisory Board in the spring.

The Great Lakes provide more than 30 million Americans with drinking water and underpin a multi-billion dollar economy. In February 2009, President Obama proposed the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the largest investment in the Great Lakes in two decades. GLRI funds are being used to accelerate cleanup work in the 29 remaining AOCs identified by the U.S. and Canada under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

I thought he was going to cry for a second.

He complained the President will negotiate with other nations but not Congress. Well, Congress has a disadvantage then, they speak the same language and live in the sovereign USA with little to add to global peace. The USA House needs to improve on their war mongering and things might change.

Google commenmorates Yosemite National Park.

Of all days, right? The national parks will close today because Congress can't choose to fund the USA's federal government.

The camp sites in the National Parks are being emptied due to the US House.

Overview of the Annual Pass for US Military and Their Dependents (click here)

And the President's Approval Rating is going up according to Gallup. (click here) So, McCain's 2014 election strategy is going to backfire. The independents are walking his way. Rasmussen's approval rating for the President has stabilized over the past two weeks at 51% and Real Clear Politics improved while the disapproval rating has fallen.

By Martine Powers

Globe Staff   October 01, 2013

The USS Constitution: closed to tourists. (click here) The Faneuil Hall Visitor Center: padlocked. The Minute Man National Historic Park, the Bunker Hill Monument, Acadia National Park: All shuttered until further notice.
As the looming threat of a widespread federal government shutdown grew from a probability to certainty, federally funded agencies and organizations in the Boston area prepared to close their doors or furlough employees Tuesday, a grim procedure that will probably have immediate repercussions for tourists and for some businesses and organizations around the region.
Top tourist destinations were likely to close Tuesday, but city departments, local nonprofits, and university research centers in the Boston area were facing a different calculation. Officials at agencies that rely partially on federal funds were nervously crunching numbers to figure out just how long they could last in the face of a federal freeze-out.
“It’s going to be a kind of ripple effect,” said Sean Hennessey, spokesman for the National Park Service. “There’s a significant economic impact that our national parks have in their communities.”...
continued...

This action by Republicans for the purpose of politics threatens the nation.

They are anarchists. They are happy today.

We have been here before!

July 30, 2011
by Henry S. Cole, Ph.D.
...Hostage takers: Right now our economic and nation security is under threat – not from the outside, but from a minority cabal of ultra-right hostage takers. The Tea Party caucus has cowed the Republican leadership to adopt positions that if adopted would create irreparable damage to the economic well being of the great majority of the American people and that has made compromise on an acceptable solution difficult or downright impossible. Note that Tea Party House members forced Speaker Boehner to make changes in his bill that would create even greater havoc. The bill would not only have slashed critical benefits for the poor, the middle class, the sick, senior citizens, college students, and much needed research and infrastructure development but would require another vote on the debt ceiling by year’s end – clearly a ploy to hold the nation hostage again (during the Holiday season and before the next election)....

The Debt Ceiling is coming in Mid-October and this will no doubt continue to be a problem. Anarchists don't care about people or the government.

Sept. 30 2013 1:51 PM
By Eric Posner

...Barring a compromise (click here) with House Republicans, the government closes Tuesday. The showdown over the debt ceiling will come in mid-October. The implications of the threats, as well as the timing, are different. If the debt ceiling is not raised, and the executive branch stops borrowing, the government will need to cut spending by about 15 to 20 percent—or almost 40 percent of spending on everything (yes, Medicare and defense) other than the interest on the debt. The decision about what to cut appears to be largely, but not entirely, up to President Obama....

So much for being a Superpower.

September 26, 2013
David Thomas

..."We believe (click here) that the government would continue to pay interest on Treasury securities. However, the government would have to make painful choices as to which expenditure to cut, and there is no historic precedent that provides confidence that interest payments would be prioritized over discretionary spending. In the 2014 fiscal year, the CBO projects that interest payments will account for about 7% of total federal spending, leaving still considerable room to meet interest payments in the event of 15%-20% expenditure cuts. October interest payments are relatively small, but on 15 November, the Treasury will need to pay interest of about $16 billion - equal to about 6% of average monthly revenues in fiscal 2014, although monthly revenue collection varies considerably.
"Financial market and economic consequences would likely be more severe if the debt limit is not raised than under a government shutdown. Although the expenditure reduction under the debt limit scenario is smaller, the perception that the US government could default on servicing its debt if the debt limit is not raised could roil financial markets and damage business and consumer confidence."
--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 207-862-7492; email: dthomas@mni-news.com

The liabilities in these paradigms are huge and threaten the sovereign nature of the USA and future generations.

The Republicans like to think this is all a game and ridding the nation of federal authority a victory in many instances, however, the level of irresponsibility cannot be overlooked. The current debt of the USA and it's recent (2008 was not that long ago on an economic timeline) economic disaster provides a danger to the country's sovereign ability. That ability is tainted by the increase in government inefficiency when there are fewer or no employees carrying out their responsibilities and the lawlessness that results in having that occur. Add to that the INABILITY of the USA to service it's indebtness and making choices that have negative consequences on the people and there is are chance the USA will continue to slide into the ranking of a second class nation. 

Make no doubt about it, when the USA can't service it's debt and the well being of it's people are in the balance of choice in servicing that debt, the USA will enter into a slippery slope of increased impoverishment. That started when the Tea Party insisted on austerity over investment. It continues and now we are burgeoning on dysfunction. The slide into poverty by the USA will continue into future generations. Investment is cumulative and the lack of it is exponential. So, while the Tea Party plays with anarchy and impoverishment of the people, they are also altering the course of country. Everyday there is less stability and investment by the federal government is another day into the adverse outcome of our children's futures.

The longer the impoverishment of the federal government continues the more each state in the USA will look like Mississippi AND the dependency of the people grows on government help. LACK of investment INCREASE poverty and neediness, not decreases it.

 1. Mississippi (click here)

In Mississippi, about one in five households depended on food stamps last year, second only to Oregon. The state’s poverty rate was 24.2%, the highest in the nation by more than three percentage points. Like many of America’s poorest states, the median household income in Mississippi has declined considerably since 2008, when it was just over $40,000. Fewer households earned over $200,000 last year, proportionally, than any other state except West Virginia. In addition to poverty, income inequality was also extremely severe in Mississippi, ranking behind only New York and Connecticut.

Maryland, on the other hand, has the highest incomes in the nation. Gee, where is Maryland? Oh, yeah, right there by DC.

1. Maryland
 Maryland was the only state in the country with a median household income to exceed $70,000 in both 2011 and 2012. Also, nearly 11% of households in Maryland earned $200,000 or more last year, the third-highest percentage in the nation and close to double the national rate of 5.9%. People in Maryland were more likely to be employed and to hold good jobs. Just 6.8% of the workforce was unemployed in 2012, compared to 8.1% nationwide. Conversely, 15.5% of the workforce, the highest percentage in the nation, were employed in professional, scientific and management occupations, which are generally high skill and high pay.

The Affordable Care Act is an INVESTMENT in the well being, health and future of our nation. The highest financial failure rate of any individual American is medical and surgical costs. When a person has a glide path that is not effected by high medical debt they achieve financial stability and WEALTH. This breaks down among socio-economic classes. The reality of that is most obvious in our minority populations. The poor are less well than the wealthy. Increasing the opportunity for every American to be healthier increases the ability of the USA to have a healthy economy. The less well the populous of the USA, the less likely it will have economic stability and growth.

I have to laugh when I hear Republicans complain about the so called increase costs of health care. What increased costs? Oh, the premiums? That ain't nothing. You mean the CHOICE between health care or no health care. The CHOICE between increasing health costs to all people when the poor are unable to pay? You mean making choices between a home cooked meal and eating at McDonalds? Those CHOICES? You mean the CHOICE between irresponsible and responsible behavior. Those CHOICES?

What will result with the Affordable Care Act is better access to quality health care and bending the curve down over time. As bills are paid and hospitals and physicians receive reimbursement from all their patients the cost of health care will come down, it is inevitable. There is NO rolling back the Affordable Care Act, the future of our children are counting on it. Rather than increasing dependency on government, the nation will have less and less. 

Currently THE MYOPIC rule in US House of Representatives. The politics of THE MYOPIC actually provides them power to be elected. That says something about the people of their districts as well. Gerrymandered were they and/or simply impoverished and feeling the pinch of every penny. In looking across the populous of THE MYOPIC in Congress, they are some of the most impoverished people of this nation and have no concept as to what security means.

A Seven-Part Series Bundled into Four Television Hours

The opening 56-minute episode, “In Sickness and In Wealth,” presents the series’ overarching themes. Each supporting half-hour episode, set in a different ethnic/racial community, provides a deeper exploration of how social conditions affect population health and how some communities are extending their lives by improving them....

...The net effect is a health-wealth gradient, (click here) in which every descending rung of the socioeconomic ladder corresponds to worse health. And it’s not just the poorest among us who are suffering, but the middle classes too. Louisville Metro Public Health Department data maps reveal 5- and 10-year gaps in life expectancy between the city’s rich, middle and working-class neighborhoods. We also see how racial inequality imposes an additional burden on people of color....

...Compared to other countries, the U.S. has the greatest income inequality – and the worst health. Today, the top one percent of Americans owns more wealth than the bottom 90% combined. Economic inequality is greater than at any time since the 1920s. One out of every 5 children in the U.S. lives in poverty (21%) compared with approximately 4% of Sweden. Social spending makes up most of the difference: in Sweden, social spending reduces child poverty by 70%, while in the U.S. it reduces child poverty only 5%, down from 26%....

The subsidies will be a part of the American Dream and there will be equal opportunity for a quality of life for all people. The hate of each other will end. 

...Neonatologists James Collins and Richard David (click here) believe that African American women are at increased risk during pregnancy, not because of something innate to their biology, but because of the cumulative impact of racism they experience over their lifetime - an impact that can outweigh even the benefits of higher social and class status.

To demonstrate their theory, Drs. Collins and David showed that African immigrants to the U.S. and U.S.-born white women had similar birth outcomes, yet African American women tended to have babies that weighed significantly less. Moreover, they showed that the results changed over time: outcomes for the African-born group worsened within one generation and became comparable to the African American group.

So how does racism get "under the skin" and affect pregnancy? Researchers like Michael Lu believe that chronic stress is the culprit: unequal treatment causes anxiety and the release of stress hormones, which over a lifetime of constant activation not only creates wear and tear on the body's organs and systems, but can trigger premature labor.... 

The impacts of USA inequality even strike the well being of immigrants.

...Recent Mexican immigrants, (click here) although poorer, tend to be healthier than the average American. They have lower rates of death, heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses, despite being less educated, earning less and having the stress of adapting to a new country and a new language. In research circles, this is the Latino paradox.
But as they are here longer, their health advantage erodes. After five years or more in the U.S., they are 1.5 times more likely to have high blood pressure – and be obese – than when they arrived. Within one generation, their health is as poor as other Americans of similar income status.
In Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, about 40 miles south of Philadelphia, Mexican immigrants like Amador Bernal now make up a quarter of the town's population. After almost 25 years in the U.S., Amador has never been to a doctor. And he's not alone....

Keep in mind the word "erodes." Erode in the case of the human experience is a synonym of poverty. Erodes is an active verb, however. That means poverty has a dynamic that is manageable. The one place it is manageable is in wellness. Poverty in a capital based economy, such as the USA, includes the 'entire' of one's life. Poverty should mean one cannot afford a Rolls Royce, but, what it has come to mean in the USA is that one cannot afford a full longevity.

CHOICES. The choices one makes in nutrition and health ERODES the very lives of Americans. In the USA there are fewer and fewer choices as income inequality progresses across the income spectrum. 

The Affordable Care Act REQUIRES basic services. Those mandated requirements have a purpose and that is to be sure every American is NOT ERODING their health outcomes over their lives. The Affordable Care Act DIRECTLY interprets into longevity and wealth over time.

The Affordable Care Act will have a direct effect on the nation's disability rate: (click here)

These are the disability rates of Mississippi, Maryland and the USA.

The closer the USA gets to the level of poverty, income inequality and wealth distribution of Mississippi, the higher the disability rates will be.

Does the nation want to have sincere equality for all, it means investing in the country in ways that matter.

The Republicans always like to pretend this is about politics and Right vs Left, but, rarely are the political aspirations of the Democrats ever frivilous or unrealistic. The Democrats know that certain requirements are necessary for a functional economy and government and health is one of them.


The Affordable Care Act is the only market based solution in a First World nation. Now, either it works or it doesn't and if the Republicans are going to shoot it down before it has a chance at proving itself, then there is no possible market based solution anywhere in any country and Single Payer is the only reasonable answer and we may as well get on with it.

I don't know about anyone else, but, I am damn tired of carrying the Red States on the back of the nation. The economies and people are those of the impoverished and are Third World. It needs to be finished already. The Red States across the board receive more federal dollars for social programs than any Blue State. Enough already. Their economics are the most regressive, their social priorities lack esteem and they count on federal monies for their state treasuries. It is time to remove these problems from the national debt and bring equality to them.

The reasons the Republicans state will shutter the government tomorrow is opposition to health care.

However, be aware of plenty of mischief once there is no one carrying out federal authority tomorrow and until the House resolves their inability to function. There is more to this shut down than meets the eye.

Laws of the land are still in force, they will be difficult to ENFORCE tomorrow going forward.

Harry, I am proud of you!

My son is a small business operator with five young children. He is looking forward to tomorrow. 
 

PROOF. Republicans can't govern.

Lori Montgomery and David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post

Posted: Monday, September 30, 2013, 3:01 AM
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20130930_Shutdown_Looms_or_D_C__Stalemate.html#zZfS2fM7OdZM0rVG.99

Lori Montgomery and David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post
Posted: Monday, September 30, 2013, 3:01 AM
...McCarthy(click here) predicted the House will "send another provision not to shut the government down but to fund it. And it will have a few other options in there for the Senate to look at."...

Lori Montgomery and David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post

Posted: Monday, September 30, 2013, 3:01 AM
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20130930_Shutdown_Looms_or_D_C__Stalemate.html#zZfS2fM7OdZM0rVG.99

The US House is making a wish they got it right this time. I suppose being a Freshman never meant more.

Predicted? That is governing? That is not governing, that is politics.

Just in case the Freshmen needed an example of governing, this is it.

The President’s Fiscal Year 2014 Budget (click here) demonstrates that we can make critical investments to strengthen the middle class, create jobs, and grow the economy while continuing to cut the deficit in a balanced way....

...The Budget does all of these things as part of a comprehensive plan that reduces the deficit and puts the Nation on a sound fiscal course.  Every new initiative in the plan is fully paid for, so they do not add a single dime to the deficit.  The Budget also incorporates the President’s compromise offer to House Speaker Boehner to achieve another $1.8 trillion in deficit reduction in a balanced way.  When combined with the deficit reduction already achieved, this will allow us to exceed the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction, while growing the economy and strengthening the middle class.  By including this compromise proposal in the Budget, the President is demonstrating his willingness to make tough choices and his seriousness about finding common ground to further reduce the deficit.

McCarthy predicted the House will "send another provision not to shut the government down but to fund it. And it will have a few other options in there for the Senate to look at."
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20130930_Shutdown_Looms_or_D_C__Stalemate.html#zZfS2fM7OdZM0rVG.99

McCarthy predicted the House will "send another provision not to shut the government down but to fund it. And it will have a few other options in there for the Senate to look at."
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20130930_Shutdown_Looms_or_D_C__Stalemate.html#zZfS2fM7OdZM0rVG.99

It would seem as though the Giant Panda Cub program is very successful.

Giant panda cubs in the Chengdu giant panda breeding research center in Sichuan Province, southwest China.

China to upgrade tourism industry (click here)

Updated: 2013-09-29 17:32

NANNING - He Yuhan feels both happy and disappointed while visiting Detian Waterfall on the China-Vietnam border, eleven years after her first visit. Back in 2002, the then 15-year-old girl traveled from Beijing to admire the breath-taking waterfall.
Located in Daxin county in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, it is the biggest cross-border waterfall in Asia.
But the scenic area has not improved over the decade-long period, according to He, who thinks the local tourism industry is poor.
It took her more than three hours by bus to reach the destination after she arrived in Nanning, Guangxi's regional capital. It is exactly what happened a decade ago.
Adding to her disappointment was a lack of facilities such as restaurants and good resting areas, where the only visible change was retailers selling Vietnamese perfume.
"I could not find a good place to rest after more than two hours of walking and I had to go back to Daxin county to have supper, which is far from the scenic area," He said.

Ohio must have received debris from the larger meteor.

Russian Scientists Report Asteroid Near-Miss (click here)

MOSCOW, September 30 (RIA Novosti) – A 15-meter (approximately 50 feet) asteroid, similar to the one that exploded above Russia in February, was detected hours before it narrowly missed the Earth over the weekend, Russian scientists said. 

Vladimir Lipunov of the Moscow State University and the Sternberg Astronomical Institute said on Sunday a network of telescopes operated by his team recorded a celestial body approaching the planet. 

"[The asteroid] was discovered on Friday night by our station near Lake Baikal and nine hours later it flew within 11,300 kilometers of the Earth surface, below the orbit of geostationary satellites. It was about 15 meters in size,” he said. 

The scientists originally thought that it could be a man-made object, such as a spent rocket booster, but rejected the idea when they couldn’t find a match in the space junk catalogue.... 

 

I didn't know space junk had a catalog.

 

By Ben Sutherly

The Columbus Dispatch Sunday September 29, 2013 8:15 AM

 

...“The initial trajectory (click here) suggests it passed over Columbus, Ohio, moving slightly north of west,” Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office told The Dispatch in an email. Cooke said there were some reports of sounds similar to sonic booms, which suggests some of the fireball’s fragments made it to fairly low altitudes.
NASA’s meteor camera in Ohio and Pennsylvania first detected it at 67 miles up, and it began breaking apart 41 miles above the earth. Cooke said it’s not yet certain, but it’s unlikely that the fireball produced meteorites on the ground given the “tremendous” speed at which it was moving....

I am watching a finale with friends.

Have a good evening.

Representative Diane Black is typical of the misleading GOP message surrounding Affordable Care Act.

I value all feedback (click here) from residents of the 6th Congressional District of Tennessee. I am here to serve you, and so is my staff. Below please find the best means by which you may contact me or my offices.

States Rights still exist with the state exchanges. The Red States have chosen to treat the Health Care Exchanges as a penalty rather than an asset to the people of their states. Red States are not in support of the exchanges and it shows. Rather than demanding quality exchanges that compete for best OUTCOMES they only ask there are barebones provisions.

The problems Republicans such as Ms. Black speaks about is not from the federal law, but, the lack of will and ability of the state exchanges.Possible the worst of the State Exchanges is Missouri.

September 28 
By DAVID A. LIEB 
The Associated Press 

JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri residents (click here) can begin enrolling Tuesday for health coverage offered through a new online insurance marketplace. But patients searching for insurance may want to practice some patience... 

The private sector is not convinced it is in their best interest to participate in the State Exchanges, so in many Red States they simply don't participate and in the case of Missouri, they actually seek to cause citizens concern of their only option. 

BJC HealthCare (click here) is one of the largest nonprofit health care organizations in the United States, delivering services to residents primarily in the greater St. Louis, southern Illinois and mid-Missouri regions. With net revenue of $3.6 billion, BJC serves urban, suburban and rural communities; and includes 13 hospitals and multiple community health locations....

Missouri's Health Care Insurance Exchange originally had one company participating, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Anthem was not providing BJC (Barnes-Jewish) as a provider for their 'in network' policy. Excluding BJC from 'in network' providers scared people because it is a Level 1 trauma center. The BJC health care system also houses St. Louis Children’s Hospital which is vital to pediatric medicine in the state. Needless to say there have been many worries about access and outcomes. 

Just a couple of days ago Coventry joined the Missouri exchange. It is sure thing for them. Coventry is offering BJC as a provider. Anthem put themselves out of favor now that Coventry is participating.

September 27, 2013 6:45 pm 

By David Hunn 

 

BJC Healthcare’s 13 hospitals will (click here), in the end, be available for residents who buy insurance on the federal health care exchange in Missouri.
Officials for BJC and the insurer Coventry Health Care Missouri both confirmed Friday afternoon that Coventry would offer BJC, Missouri’s largest hospital network, as a provider here.
Earlier this week, the Post-Dispatch reported that brokers had been told that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Missouri would sell only individual exchange plans that excluded BJC as a health care provider. They said Anthem was unable to reach agreement with BJC on costs. The insurer had declined to discussed its policies....

This is the gamesmanship the Red States participate in for the benefits of Wall Street and their strain of politics. The problems people are running is not the Affordable Care Act, but, it's application at the state level. Those finding frustration with this new law need to complaint to their state legislators, not their federal representatives. It is the lack of political will, the inefficiency in state governments and lack of state infrastructure that is the problem. The federal law has nothing to do with it. Citizens might want to investigate state level corruption in preparation of the health care exchanges. The opportunity to have a smooth beginning on October 1st was given plenty of time and attention by federal agencies.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/09/28/4514873/advocates-advise-patience-with.html#storylink=cpy

Iran has to lead the Shi'ites as a peaceful nation. They have to stop supplying arms to groups such as Hezbollah. Lebanon has a right to exist no differently than Iran has a right to exist.

By David Lev
First Publish: 8/26/2013, 4:43 PM

A rift has developed (click here) among various terrorist groups, who until recently had overlooked religious differences to cooperate in fighting Israel and other western interests, as they find themselves fighting on different sides of the Shi'ite/Sunni fault line which increasingly characterizes fight for or against the rule of Bashar Al-Assad.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC) terror group, which has conducted numerous terror attacks against Israel, is ready to defend Assad and ensure he remains president of Syria. Any group or nation that attacks Syria, said Popular Front spokesperson Anwar Rajah, will be a target of attack by Popular Front terrorists....

In actuality, the involvement of the USA as advocated by Senators Graham and McCain against the Assad government is a thinly disguised assault against Iran. For the USA to position itself among ethnically opposed groups is highly immoral. It also serves only one purpose and that is to draw the Shi'ite nation of Iran into a proxy war.

For the USA to arm opposition groups when there is no viability of their governance is nothing short of an assault against humanity.  Anarchy is among the cruelest of governance. A person does not know whether his or her life is guaranteed to them. 

Human Rights abuses the USA and other nations complain of are best handled through the United Nations, sanctions and leveraging of power. I am confident Iran has come to understand the brevity of sanctions when they are fully implemented. Sanctions work with international consolidation of loyalty to the outcomes.  

The peace the Middle East needs requires stability of all nations. That means all nations contributing to the instability by supplying a flow of weapons to facilitate anarchy have to stop. The peoples in uprising for the reason of their own religious affiliations are pawns in international power struggles. No matter whom is participating in those power struggles are wrongfully involved in victimizing innocent people best allowed to live their lives uninterrupted and within a stable nation. 

The best international power struggle belongs only in economic competition, not trading weapons to promote anarchy. 

Assad needs to do a couple of things.

He needs to recognize Lebanon as a stable and autonomous nation.

He needs to re-establish a valid chain of command within his own military. Ultimately, it is up to Assad to deal with al Qaeda within his nation. The USA cannot arm those rebels.

He needs to allow UN Peacekeepers into Syria to carry out the removal of chemical weapons. He does not have to accept any other armed forces into Syria except those that are sanctioned by the United Nations with an understanding the UN forces will leave after the mission is complete unless he decides it would be best for them to stay to assist in stabilizing the nation.

He needs to declare a Cease Fire in order to facilitate NGOs to do their work while the weapon inspectors are in his nation.

In the RT video appears Said Arakat states, "...this opposition is primarily an Ad Hoc organization, each 3 or 4 people, sometimes 10 or 20 people..." That is exactly what has been occurring in Libya. There is no respected central authority. It is easy to defeat 3 or 4 or 20 people at a time. The reason they look cohesive is because they enter the fight together to survive the day. They are not affiliated, they are fighting together only to return to their own territories.

As Libya’s Prime Minister asks Britain for help in ridding his country of weapons, The Independent discovers a flourishing online arms market (click here)

On a late July day in downtown Tripoli, a young man steps into a car idling next to the Libyan capital’s iconic Martyrs’ Square. From the back seat, he hands to the driver what Libyans refer to as a “Turkish pistol” and some bullets. In return, the driver hands him a thick stack of 10-dinar notes. The exchange had been arranged using one of the numerous Facebook “groups” created in recent months to link gun-sellers to gun-buyers through the social network.
The driver, Muhammad, an unemployed, 23-year-old Tripolitanian, is one of hundreds of Libyans who are taking advantage of a security vacuum in a country awash with weapons nearly two years after its successful revolution removed a dictator.
It is these weapons that Libya’s prime minister, Ali Zeidan, asked for help in removing from his country while on an official visit to Britain yesterday. After meeting with David Cameron, Mr Zeidan called the mass of Gaddafi-era weapons an “international matter” and asked for assistance in disposing of them....

This blog is familiar with online sites where very dangerous weapons are for sale. The NRA and it's extremists in the USA are profiting off of death in other nations. That is illegal. Any escalation of instability in a nation puts the USA in the precarious position of entering a forever war, exactly as what is being witnessed in Libya and now Syria.

The Libyan military mission by NATO was correct as it stopped the slaughter of people in Benghazi. But, the after math has left the country in chaos. With the easy access to weapons 'online' the central governments of these nations haven't got a chance.

3 Libyan army officers assassinated in Benghazi (click here)
 
Posted: Sep 29, 2013 8:14 AM EST Updated: Sep 29, 2013 8:14 AM EST 
By ESSAM MOHAMMED
Associated Press
 
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - A Libyan security officer says unknown attackers have assassinated three army officers in the eastern city of Benghazi.
Sunday's killings are the latest to hit the security forces in Benghazi, where like much of the country the government faces a challenge from armed groups, many descended from the rebels that overthrew dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
Col. Abdullah al-Zayedi, spokesman of joint security operations in Benghazi, said two of the officers, one a lieutenant colonel, were killed by bombs attached to their cars. He said a third, who held the rank of colonel, was shot dead by unknown gunmen.
Benghazi has been hit by a months-long wave of targeted killings. Victims have included political activists, judges and members of security agencies.

The Arms Market with or without the access to the internet is creating danger for people everywhere, not just within the USA domestically.

Inspectors and funding needed.

The timeline may be too short, there are only half the number of weapons inspectors to do the work and the civil war is still being carried out. Where are the peacekeepers coming from to protect the weapons inspectors that will work to remove the chemical weapons?

Funding is going to be needed to hire and train HONEST and RELIABLE inspectors to carry out the timeline. 

Bombing missile sites does not do anything to complete the task, so there is no back tracking on this resolution.

AFP | Sep 29, 2013, 12.57 PM IST
...Experts say the OPCW (click here) will need up to 200 inspectors for the Syria force. It currently has less than half that number who already have a heavy regular workload. The watchdog has had to appeal to the major powers to send scientists.

Those who go will become a new target in the 30-month-old conflict and the strife means the noxious potions will have to be moved out of Syria to be destroyed.

The US-Russia plan sets a target date of mid-2014 for completion, but few people believe it is achievable.

"No operation this big has been carried out before and certainly not in a war," said Dina Esfandiary, a disarmament specialist with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

The Syrian government has declared one list of chemical sites and weapons. It has until Friday to send more information to the OPCW. "The first obstacle is it is very difficult for us to know for certain whether Assad has declared all his stockpiles," Esfandiary told AFP.

"The inspectors will then become perfect targets in a situation of civil war. Anyone who wants to derail the process — and I am sure a lot of people will want to do that — will be able to target them as they visit the various sites."

UN investigators have already been the target of snipers in Damascus.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a consultant and former commanding officer of Britain's chemical and nuclear defence force, said that destroying the chemicals in Syria is not an option in the middle of a war... 

There are actually two United Nations missions in Syria regarding the chemical weapons.

September 29, 2013 11:26 AM (Last updated: September 29, 2013 11:53 AM)

...The United Nations has said (click here) the experts are investigating seven alleged chemical weapons attacks and expect to wind up their work on the ground on Monday.

They hope to have a comprehensive report ready "by late October".

The UN mission is separate from a team of Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons inspectors due to start work in the coming days to destroy Syria's chemical arsenal.

The alleged attacks being probed include a March 19 incident in Khan al-Assal, in Aleppo province of northern Syria, that both the regime and rebels reported, each accusing the other of responsibility.

Other sites being investigated include the Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood of Aleppo city, allegedly the site of an April attack, and Saraqeb in the northwest province of Idlib on the border with Turkey....

When are the peace talks beginning in a way that will result in a ceasefire so NGOs can do their work, too? There is a huddle to accomplishing any shared governance as the group representing the oppositional forces aren't speaking for the actual rebels.

The reality is that the oppositional forces in Syria are taking on the characteristics of Libya's dynamics. They are many, not consolidated into one group and carry questionable outcomes to their policies for governing. Basically, the rebel forces Senator McCann is backing aren't really capable of governing at all. There needs to be an end to the pretense of American Neocons to continue their charad. As a matter of fact the Senate needs to investigate this mess. How is it the USA has gotten involved with rebel groups who are not interested in democracy and is providing weapons and otherwise to those that seek to destabilize a government without another to come to bear?

September 26, 2013

Syrian Opposition Groups Stop Pretending

Posted by Rania Abouzeid

The pretense (click here) that the so-called Syrian opposition-in-exile speaks for those inside the country, never firm to begin with, was further exposed late on Tuesday, in a two-minute video statement called “Communiqué No. 1,” which was issued by eleven armed rebel groups that are influential in northern Syria. Their message was simple: the Western-backed hotel revolutionaries jetting from capital to capital, claiming leadership in the political National Coalition and an interim government-to-be, don’t speak for them—and they won’t listen to them. The new coalition, which has yet to announce its name, also said it wants Islamic Sharia law to be the basis of any future government, and that the various opposition parties should unite within “an Islamic framework.... 

I am beginning to believe Israel and the USA rather have anarchy in these nations rather than stability. 

It is time for Senators McCann and Graham to explain to the USA Senate why they believe they have the best idea for the use of the USA military in destabilizing governments based in "I don't like him (Assad)." If the American people are suppose to accept Acts of War dictated by the Legislative Branch of the USA government, there better be good reasons why this war mongering existed in the first place.

This is another Iraq. So far the Republican Neocons are responsible for TWO illegal wars. Iraq and the burgeoning impetus into Syria. TWO. The rebels are being armed by the USA. The rebels don't even know what they are going to do to govern except instill Sharia law. How convenient, the Quran has a 'Default Setting' for governing in Islam. 

The USA needs to review it's militiary budget for further cuts. The world does not need a push button arsenal.
 

Just a minor adjustment to the image of Rep. Meadows. He is from western North Carolina, the Smokey Mountains, where Eric Rudolph lived undetected for five years (capture 2003) after bombing abortion clinics for two years (1996-1998) killing two people and injuring 150.

I'm just sayin'.

Meadows wouldn't know what good government was if it bit him in the arse.

The last Republican to be in the House was Charles Taylor. Taylor was a Right Wing Nut, too. Taylor came to the House a lawyer of reasonable means, but, was voted out of office the wealthiest member of Congress. 

These legislators don't govern, they just craft give aways to cronies. 

The American Conservative Union (click here) doesn't have a rating on him yet. Schuler was the House member that retired before Meadows was elected. Schuler had 45 out of 100 rating. Taylor had a 92 out of 100 rating. Extremist. The ACU doesn't rate Speaker Boner because he hasn't been casting votes.

So good of you to notice.

Just a small folly, not a big one. It isn't like anyone died or something. Got the word out in plenty of time. It wouldn't be "The Sequester," would it?

By Associated Press
Published: September 28

MIAMI — Forecasters say a tropical depression (click here) is moving over the central Atlantic far from land.The National Hurricane Center in Miami said early Sunday that the depression has maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph) and could become a tropical storm later in the day.

The storm is about 1,000 miles (1,605 kilometers) east-southeast of Bermuda and is moving northeast at 9 mph (15 kph). Forecasters say there are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

Evidently, Western North Carolina US Rep. Mark Meadows is the instigator in regard to government shutdown.

(L to R) U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) shake hands as U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) looks on, during the "Exempt America from Obamacare" rally, on Capitol Hill, September 10, 2013 in Washington, DC. Some conservative lawmakers are making a push to try to defund the health care law as part of the debates over the budget and funding the federal government. 

He is one of those Republicans that believe deconstruction of the government is vital to his purpose. He is an anarchist.

He plays with words to victimize. In a discussion of the supposed IRS Scandal he stated Lois Learner in taking "The 5th" was not a patriot. He stated if she was telling the truth and not breaking the law there was no reason to "take the 5th." He doesn't care about the law or the people, he cares about making trouble. He complained that "The Tea Party Investigation" was changed to "Advocacy Group Investigation." It is silliness intended to undermine credibility. That is his tilt. There is no credibility in anything that goes on.

In the case of the Affordable Care Act he states there is no credibility in verifying the income of people receiving the subsidy. He won't stop saying these things. The validation is already set up across the country, it is called Social Services. There are verifications for food stamps, Medicaid and any other local, state or federal programs. It has long been established and there is no reason to believe there is widespread fraud for decades.

The movement by men and women such as these Tea Party Freshman has been ongoing in seeking to make The Affordable Care Act the center of their political clout and defunding every aspect of it, including the IRS budget, since they came into office. 

The real question to Mark Meadows is, why defund vital agencies of the government if you are worried about fraudulent subsidy applications? What the House is currently doing is to CREATE INEFFICIENCY so the Affordable Care Act appears to be the worst legislation on the planet. If a Congressman or Congresswoman is that concerned about the credibility of income reporting to receive a subsidy, they should be funding agencies sufficiently to catch cheaters. That is not what the US House is doing, they are defunding vital agencies so the capacity to do their work creates inefficiency. They are incompetent legislators in that they are very savvy in committing crimes against the people. It is malpractice of his legislative capacity to seek to cause the USA government to become ineffective. It creates the opportunity for crime and extends the need for lawyering within the country.

He knows what he is doing and seeks to do more of it. He is unethical in his performance as a legislator and incompetent in his ability to carry out his responsibilities to the people. He thinks he is slick, but, in fact he is criminal in the content of his focus. These are the Republicans of North Carolina. They have fought to create dysfunction in that state's government for decades and this is how they do it. North Carolina is becoming the worst state in the country to live in and now Meadows is attempting to bring that focus to the federal government. They don't want government, they want guns.

"The South shall rise again." 

This is still yet another example of "How to create bad government." It is a choice in case no one thought it wasn't.

By Scott Wilson and Karen DeYoung 
Published: May 21

...A close reading (click here) of recently released government e-mails that were sent during the editing process, and interviews with senior officials from several government agencies, reveal Petraeus’s early role and ambitions in going well beyond the committee’s request, apparently to produce a set of talking points favorable to his image and his agency....

Everything is politics and not governing. Petraeus had ambitions and misused his power. He victimized every agency of the government other than himself. He was making decisions from within the CIA to enhance his political ambitions. Little Tin Gods. They can do no "W"rong. Obama needs to rid his administration of traitors. He needs to get rid of Bush appointees.

The Republicans of both Houses are seeking to create bad government. It is a strategy. You might call it treason, if nothing else it is completely unethical. Dangerously unethical. 

Who wants bad government? Why have government if it is bad in the first place?