Friday, January 31, 2014

Democrats and Progressives have a lot to brag about when it comes to The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Kaiser Family Foundation has a continuous poll regarding healthcare. Some of it is obviously due to the misinformation propagated by rightwing media, but, there are exciting statistics when one looks through this interactive site.

The public has remained (click here) deeply divided on the health reform law since it was passed in March 2010. Click below to examine how specific groups feel about the law and how those opinions have changed or not changed over time....

This law has begun to attack income inequality. I want to state first there is a high level of undecided across most of the statistics, so any of them are in transition and not determined.

But, when one looks into the ethnic statistics, African Americans and Hispanics are exceptionally satisfied with the law. They are benefiting. That reality means they are appreciating their future and seeking to be healthy to pursue it. At least that is the way I see it. They are participating (That is a reality we have measured with our minorities. Non-participation often equates to oppression and hopelessness.), engaged and happy.

The party divide is somewhat expected, but, there is also a wealth quotient that plays into that divide. Democrats seeks out the marginalized. The marginalized are usually not wealthy, but, left to cope with their lives. 

In the income dimension that plays out. The lower income folks have a higher approval rating, while those 49 K and higher tend to be less pleased with the law. 

The only statistics that I thought was something to explore was the downturn in January 2014 regarding insurance status. Something happened. The uninsured under the age of 64 were mostly approving of the law and the undecided were lower, but, January 2014 delivered a change in that movement. There are higher undecided than approve. It would be better if Congress looks at that statistic closely and reverse this trend.

The Superbowl requires Super Security.

ByBob Orr 
CBS News 
January 29, 2014, 7:06 PM

NEW YORK -- Part of Broadway in New York City (click here) was renamed Super Bowl Boulevard on Wednesday for a fan festival leading up to Sunday’s big game in New Jersey.

A million people are expected.  Ensuring their safety is a massive operation.
U.S. Customs SWAT officers are flying surveillance missions over MetLife Stadium and Manhattan.  Hercules Teams from the New York Police Department are mounting a show of force in Times Square.

New Jersey State Police river patrols are watching from the water and Transportation Security Administration officers armed with radiation detectors are sweeping train platforms at Penn Station,

It's a multi-front security challenge for New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and FBI Assistant Director George Venizelos.

"We worry about this every day here in New York,” Venizelos said. The Super Bowl “puts more focus on it.”

What does the latest intelligence say about potential threats?

"We're not picking up any direct threats against the event itself," Bratton said. "But please, be aware. Notice that backpack someone drops or walks away from."...

Could the Superbowl ever be played in Alaska? Bedsides the fact Alaska has no infrastructure for a SuperBowl, the temperatures may not be prohibitive to that potential.

I find it strange that Alaska has never even competed in holding a Winter Olympics. The state is wealthy. They give money to their citizens every year. So, what gives?

By HOWARD FENDRICH 
AP Pro Football Writer 
January 29, 2014
 
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — NFL players (click here) rely on all sorts of methods for dealing with the type of weather the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks are expected to face in the Super Bowl.

Even if there's no snow or rain on Sunday, which is what the National Weather Service predicts, the high temperature is supposed to be 38 degrees. With the opening kickoff set for about 6:30 p.m., it could be in the 20s by the time the big game comes to an end.

So how will the Broncos and Seahawks thwart the cold?

Depends on who you ask...

Alaska: No. 51 football state (click here)



Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2014/01/29/3297793/5-things-super-bowl-teams-might.html#storylink=cpy

I am not going to judge her. I didn't follow the case.




She had chosen (click here) the central Italian city over Milan and Rome because she believed it would be safer.

"She fought so hard to get out there," her father John has said.
"There were quite a few setbacks but she was determined to go and kept persisting and eventually got what she wanted."

Known as Mez to her friends, Meredith saw her time in Italy as a dream trip. Her parents said she was excited about learning the language, meeting new friends and immersing herself in a different culture....

What I don't understand is how can an American be extradited when our constitution clearly states there is no double jeopardy in the USA? 

This was not a hung jury. There was a finding, It was overturned on appeal. Why is Italy retrying this when Americans cannot be held for retrail based in double jeopardy. I find this very odd. 

My deepest sympathies for Meredith's family for their loss. I am sure she was wonderful. I think this retrial may enter into areas of USA Constitutionality. I am not a scholar, but, US law may contradict the Italian laws. I don't see the US State Department acting as a negotiator over and above US law.

Chiara Vasarri and Lorenzo Totaro, ©2014 Bloomberg News 
Published 7:44 am, Friday, January 31, 2014

Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Amanda Knox,(click here) who was convicted by an Italian appeals court yesterday of murdering a U.K. student in 2007, probably will have to wait several months before a definitive ruling in the case, a criminal lawyer said.

Knox, 26, who returned to the U.S. two years ago as a free woman after a court tossed out her 2009 murder conviction, was sentenced in absentia to 28 years and six months in jail for murder and slander by an eight-person jury. Her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito got a 25-year jail term.
Yesterday’s verdicts are not final because lawyers for Knox and Sollecito said they will appeal to Italy’s highest court. “It will take months, they may schedule it around October or November,” said Andrea Castaldo, a criminal lawyer and professor at the University of Salerno, about a possible hearing at Italy’s top court....

It is correct to stop this drone delivery program.

Janaury 31, 2014

One canny brewer (click here) had the idea of getting its beer out to fisherman in their huts on the iced over lakes of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Lakemaid Beer posted a YouTube advert showing the drone in action delivering a 12 pack to a thirsty fisherman.

The order is taken in the off-licence with GPS co-ordinates allowing the six propeller drone to carry the beer across the frozen lake....

This is dangerous. Not just the idea of drone flying overhead with a realiatively heavy package, but, also from the potential for drunkenness while ice fishing. I mean you've got to be joking.

To begin with there is the weight of the package, the fact is the brewer doesn't know who is at the end of the GPS signal. He could be selling to a minor and never know it. Then there is the danger of fisherman getting carried away with their alcohol intake. At least when they have to come off the ice they have to travel and be sober enough to do so. It creates a safety zone of understanding that the fisherman/women can't stay out on the ice while being inebriated and then expect to go back to the brewery to purchase more.

There is some real danger here and while the brewer meant no harm in providing a satisfying service, it is not thought out well. There has to be a way of establishing the age of the purchaser, limit a safe weight of any package in case it falls off the drone or the drone malfunctions. Drones can become huge and carrying packages of substantial weight. The beer will have to be packaged in smaller amounts per package. Then there is the accountability of the purchaser and their alcohol intake. Bar owners can be held responsible for serving customers to the point of danger. There has to be that same standard. 

It should not be difficult to determine the 'safe level' of consumption for such a service. The average weight of a person and the amount of alcohol consumed over a hour to maintain a sober state can be determined. The delivery would have to limit the delivery to a 'sober state' amount during the course of any day.

This all has to be looked at and limits placed on such a service.

Enjoy your retirement, you've earned it.

Thank you for fighting the good fight for so long.

January 30, 2014
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Rep. Henry Waxman, the dean of Jewish lawmakers (click here) in the U.S. House of Representatives, is retiring.
Waxman (D-Calif.), 74, who was first elected to Congress from a Los Angeles-area district in 1974, will finish out his term, which ends on Jan. 2.
“I am grateful for my supporters and allies, who have worked side-by-side with me to fight for issues we care about: health, environmental protection, women’s and gay rights, and strengthening the ties between the United States and our most important ally, the State of Israel,” he said in a statement Thursday.
Waxman has risen to leadership positions in the House, most recently as the senior Democrat on the powerful Energy Committee, which he chaired from 2009 to 2011. Waxman was perhaps most prominent as the chairman of the Oversight Committee during the last two years of the George W. Bush administration, convening hearings about the conduct of the Iraq War.
The longest serving Jewish House member, Waxman has taken a lead on pro-Israel issues, most recently in joining with Energy Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) to advance a bill that would increase cooperation with Israel in energy research.

I happen to think Jenny Sanford is an incredible person that has character credibility of her own.

I admired her beyond any imagination during a very difficult time. She speaks to the character strength and resolve of the women of the south. She is great.

...Jenny Sanford: (click here) 1984 Georgetown (University, not High School) grad expressed initial interest in C of C presidency last in August. Successful investment banker, driving campaign-manager force behind then-husband Mark's remarkable political emergence when he won 1st District House seat in 1994 and his later back-to-back gubernatorial-election victories, and bestselling author for her tell-a-lot book about her marriage's high-profile breakup. Illinois native can't be fairly accused - as former CSA Galleries store owner McConnell is - of nostalgia for Old South times (and flags) not forgotten....

Why didn't China demand better wages for their workers? Not just Walmart, all companies.

China needs a minimum wage that honors their workers and provides a good and promising quality of life. The Chinese oligarchs are destroying China's economy and not growing it. They MUST provide better wages to their workers.

NEW YORK  
Fri Jan 31, 2014 8:20am EST
 
Jan 31 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (click here) shaved its outlook for the fiscal fourth quarter and full year to account for special items, including those tied to its store closures in Brazil and China and its Sam's Club restructuring in the United States....

The one reason companies RAN to China for cheap labor was their profit margin. Well, it would seem as though their abuse of the Chinese people have instituted global poverty and a fall in the demand for their products.

American Local Economies are the hero to the people. Don't stop now. 

The USA MUST institute an increase in the minimum wage. 

President Obama has an unexpected ally. "Regular Order."

It has been something like 20 years since Mark Sanford had a seat in the US House.

No one can deny the US House has destroyed it's integrity while becoming completely dysfunctional. They caused a fall in the USA Bond rating while insisting on instituting a sequester that had nearly crippled the US military. Decreasing the military budget was a good idea, but, not simply institute 'slash and burn."

I don't know how many times I stated the House is committing treason. The Tea Party extremists took the US House hostage. Just that simple. They assaulted the US Constitution with abuse of power afforded them in the Hastert Rule. They have caused economic deterioration and proved to slow the recovery in exponential measure. The more the House inhibited the economy the more the economy contracted. If it weren't for the emerging funding from the Recovery Act in the years after it's passage, the US economy would be far worse today.

I don't like the fact Mark Sanford left his wife and only is a part time father, but, he does have a handle on the misdeeds of the US House. He remembers when Congress functioned for the nation while still upholding conservative values. The economy soared during the years he served his district. 

If Mark Sanford is willing to be a real person, a real Congressman without fear of retribution by his peers and constituency he is a very powerful person who can offer a sane voice to the debate of the GOP that now chronically imposes corruption and lies.

There is one thing about a democracy. Just one thing. The people understand freedom and fairness. If Mark Sanford is willing to be the voice of the sane people within his district to bring about a return to functional government, I would not overlook the potential of his ambitions to do so.

By Staff reports

info@islandpacket.com 
January 29, 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C. — “Though President Obama and I (click here) often disagree on how to reach outcomes, I think his address this evening underscored some themes that we do agree on, such as the need to expand economic opportunity and provide tools to better help workers prepare for retirement,” Sanford said. “I was also glad to see that the President invited a Charleston resident to tonight’s address. As a single mother who worked full-time while getting her education, Sabrina Simone Jenkins exemplifies the hard-working spirit of South Carolinians, and she deserves real credit for the way she has overcome obstacles. So while I was encouraged to hear that President Obama is focused on improving conditions for people like Sabrina, I’m troubled by the short-sighted approach this administration is taking to the problems facing our country. Ultimately, I don’t think the President is focusing on the right things, and a few thoughts struck me on that front.”

Read more here: http://www.islandpacket.com/2014/01/29/2918231/rep-sanford-issues-response-to.html#storylink=cpy

Harry stand your ground. At least there is one member of Congress with a brain.

Fast Track is completely immoral and removes democracy from the people.

Don't ask me what happened to Obama in the last year, but, he has become a sell out. Now he even wants to work with the GOP over immigration whereby people will have 'legal status' (Permanent Green Card) rather than citizenship. It is ludicrous. 

The United States is now going to CREATE AN UNDERCLASS OF PEOPLE thanks to the GOP. I don't think so.

The GOP plan for immigration reform is nothing short of institutionalized bigotry and hatred. True to form, the GOP has found a way to siphon money from a population of people while immorally treating them as nobody except a larger profit margin for Wall Street. Amazing. The GOP is completely void of a moral standard for their party. 

If this is the resolve of the GOP to treat undocumented workers as another source of wealth while depriving them of citizenship then those with a permanent Green Card MUST be exempt form paying taxes!

Jan 29, 2014 3:18 PM ET

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (click here) said he opposes legislation to speed approval of trade deals, rejecting a top goal of U.S. exporters a day after President Barack Obama called for it in his State of the Union address.
“I’m against fast track,” Reid told reporters in Washington today. Asked whether he would block a floor vote on such a measure, he said, “We’ll see.” He said the Obama administration and top Senate Democrats are aware of his position.
“Everyone would be well-advised just to not push this right now,” said Reid, a Nevada Democrat...

The investigation needs to be through, sincere and SOLVE the problems created for the Ukraine people.

Mr. Bulatov was not a martyr, he was a complaintant. He didn't seek to be crucified in punitive measures to oppress the people, he wanted the government to understand the problems of the people and why they were important. This torture is about as disgusting as it comes. Thank god he is alive.

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Police on Friday opened an investigation (click here) into the kidnapping of an opposition activist, who said he was held captive for more than a week and tortured in the latest in a string of mysterious attacks on anti-government protesters in the two-month-long political crisis.

Dmytro Bulatov, 35, a member of Automaidan, a group of car owners that has taken part in the protests against President Viktor Yanukovych, went missing Jan. 22.

Bulatov was discovered outside Kiev on Thursday. He said his kidnappers beat him severely, drove nails into his hands, sliced off a piece of ear and cut his face. He said he was kept in the dark all the time and could not identify the kidnappers. After more than a week of beatings, they eventually dumped him in a forest.

"They crucified me, they nailed down my hands. They cut off my ear, they cut my face. There isn't a spot on my body that hasn't been beaten," Bulatov said on Channel 5 television. "Thank God, I am alive."

Bulatov's face and clothes were covered in clotted blood, his hands were swollen and bore the marks of nails....

The torture of people is not going to suppress, oppress or intimidate them. Torture increases their resolve to continue their oppositional determination. Once there is this level of hatred of people, where does it go next? Rounding up the people that are hated to attempt to return order the government demands in their willingness to be 'the leader that can get it done.' That isn't going to solve a country's problems, it will make it worse, far worse.

European's especially know the pains of being sheep to a power structure. They understand it all to well. They aren't going to lie down and die for the purpose of a 'stable state.'

The people have to have a voice honored by their government. Frequently, unions can be that voice. But, the people have to have the ability to organize in safety of their own opinions. Debate reveals THE TRUTH and brings about an understanding of the best way to solve a country's problem and find a path forward.

A great leader is one that honors their people, seek their best outcomes and provide the potential to a life worth living.  

There was an entire sector of employment in the USA that was lot in 2008.

January 31 
Anita Kumar 
McClatchy Washington Bureau

President Barack Obama (click here) will announce Friday that more than 300 companies, including 80 of the nation's largest businesses, have agreed to a new policy spelling out ways they will try to recruit and hire the long-term unemployed, according to the White House... 

The initial estimate to the loss to the USA economy when the global economic collapse occurred was $1.2 trillion. That is a lot of employment loss. And to that Americans seek to fall back on their OWN equity in their homes during troubled times and that wasn't even there.

I also think the private sector found removing employees for the excuse of a loss of monies from the crash was easy and continued it at it's leisure to improve stockholder earnings. The private sector also likes replacing employees with technology. 

State governments and federal shut downs caused problems as well. The excoriating of the USA economy for profits and politics have caused a greater problem than actually occurred in 2008. So, this initiative is exceptionally important.

The companies that drive the USA economy have to have employees if they want profits. It's just that simple. If consumers have nothing but subsistence monies as an income there will never be economic growth except for population growth and we have witnessed an entire generation without work. There goes the idea of Republican economic growth. 

Wall Street MUST realize they can't manufacture in countries with poor pay and impoverished populations and then merchandize in the USA for profit. IT DOESN'T WORK.

When BRIC countries FINALLY have a significant Middle Class the entire global economy will change. Only then will there be emerging markets worth the attention of investors. It doesn't matter the country, impoverishment and subsistence earnings will not grow an economy.

Wall Street finally has to realize when Nixon went to China it was supposed increase the opportunity of the Chinese people to have a better quality of life while the USA economy continued to perk along. A billion people in China was a POTENTIAL emerging market, but, when Wall Street didn't act morally to include the Chinese people in their COST over profit margin the entire global economy was effected, including Europe. Wall Street built it's own coffin and now that the monies are sequestered to a very few people, they have a real challenge to realize those monies aren't doing them any good except personal creature comforts. That is moral? That is greed and an extremely poor understanding of economic dynamics that keep a company in business.

January 7, 2014
Joshua Green
...The number of long-term unemployed (click here)—those who have been out of work for at least 27 weeks and exhausted their state benefits—remains much higher than the cut-off point for emergency aid in previous recessions. About twice as high, in fact:...

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/01/31/4788513/obama-to-announce-program-to-help.html#storylink=cpy

Australia is experiencing severe drought. There is a cyclone to the Queensland coast.

January 31, 2014
Lucy Carroll
 
Sydney notched up its driest January (click here) in more than a decade this month, with most of the state left parched and facing little rainfall for the rest of summer.
With only 17.4 millimetres of rain recorded in Sydney - far less than the average January fall of 102 millimetres - coastal areas have relied on sea breezes for protection against heatwave conditions affecting much of south-eastern Australia.

''The past two months have been significantly drier than average,'' said Sean Carson, a meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology. ''We had some very wet years in 2009 and 2010, which means dam levels have been in good shape - until now.''

He said the last decent rainfall recorded was on Christmas Day, but since then a high pressure system off the Tasman Sea has led to hot and dry conditions.
A meteorologist at Weatherzone, Rob Sharpe, said all suburbs have had less than 33 millimetres, with Sydney Airport recording its driest January since 1985, collecting only 11 millimetres of rain. Horsley Park, in western Sydney, recorded 16 millimetres, the lowest January fall in 15 years.

In inland NSW, Gunnedah has had virtually no rainfall, collecting only 0.2 millimetres, and Quirindi has recorded less than 1 millimetre.

NSW Farmers spokesman Mitchell Clapham said surface water dams in northern NSW were almost completely dry.

''We haven't had any useful run-off rain in 12 months,'' he said. ''It's followed an unusually dry spring. Some areas north of Walgett haven't even sowed a crop.''

Last January, Sydney was drenched in 140 millimetres of rain.

Australia is not any different than the USA. Wet in areas when storms occur, but, regions are in severe drought with no end in sight.

Marissa Calligeros and Cameron Atfield 
January 30, 2014

Tropical Cyclone Dylan (click here) has been upgraded to a category 2 storm as it continues its path towards the north Queensland coast.

Boats have been ripped from moorings and washing up on beaches as north Queensland battens down for the season's first cyclone.

Dylan, a category one storm, was about 205 kilometres north-east of Townsville at 4pm, 260 kilometres north of Proserpine, moving west south-west at 12km/h towards the Queensland coast....

The Great Lakes are on their way to being completely frozen. I don't think that has ever happened before.




A photo posted (click here) by our friends at Michigan's Interlochen Public Radio is so cool we just had to know more about it and about what's going on with the Great Lakes during this extra-frigid winter.
As you'll see, the satellite image from the shows clouds and snow blowing across the now partially ice-covered Lake Michigan....

Grand Traverse Bay Freezes, Lake Michigan Half Frozen (click here)

[CLARIFICATION: Mark Gill told IPR Grand Traverse Bay was iced over on Wednesday morning. Open water may be seen on the bay since as ice cover on the lake rises and falls, sometimes dramatically.] 

Grand Traverse Bay is now mostly frozen along with almost half of Lake Michigan. Mark Gill at the U.S. Coast Guard says ice reaches from Traverse City to the Straits of Mackinac.

The bay used to freeze every eight or nine years out of 10 until the 1990s when it dropped off sharply. Grand Traverse Bay has not frozen completely since 2009.

Most of Lake Michigan’s main basin is open water still and from the Leelanau Peninsula to Indiana ice stretches out from the shore into the lake three to five miles....

Lake Huron is the one that will freeze over first because it is the shallowest of the lakes. There is a theory which is mostly true. If the lakes freeze over the elevation of the water increases because the surface water expands as it freezes.

Sean Lennox
Jan 30th, 2014

One of the coldest winters (click here) ever recorded has left Lake Erie almost totally frozen, with experts reporting that Erie now has 96 percent of its surface covered with ice. Erie has sustained the most damage from consistently sub-zero temperatures as well as massive amounts of lake-effect snow and is the most frozen of the five Great Lakes....

Thursday, January 30, 2014

There was a time when the ASPCA played a larger role in society.

Much of it's power resulted from protecting work horses in the city. But, the first human child abuse case was recognized because if horses could be protected, why can't children. 

How One Girl's Plight Started the Child-Protection Movement

Mary Ellen’s story marked the beginning of a world-wide crusade (click here) to save children. Over the years, in the re-telling of Mary Ellen Wilson’s story, myth has often been confused with fact. Some of the inaccuracies stem from colorful but erroneous journalism, others from simple misunderstanding of the facts, and still others from the complex history of the child protection movement in the United States and Great Britain and its link to the animal welfare movement. While it is true that Henry Bergh, president of the American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), was instrumental in ensuring Mary Ellen’s removal from an abusive home, it is not true that her attorney -- who also worked for the ASPCA -- argued that she deserved help because she was “a member of the animal kingdom.”

The real story -- which can be pieced together from court documents, newspaper articles, and personal accounts -- is quite compelling, and it illustrates the impact that a caring and committed individual can have on the life of a child....

I am sure when the ASPCA was quite powerful they carried weapons. They had to remove abused horses from their business owners. It probably got very ugly.

I do believe these problems are handled by county animal control officers, carrying weapons that respond to complains of inhumane treatment of animals. So, there you have it. Weapons are sometimes necessary in enforcing humane rights to animals and people. 

It is good to see peace talks are going so well.

By Associated Press 
Published: January 29
Strategic Affairs and Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz (click here) called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas the world's most anti-Semitic leader, AFP reported on Thursday. 

"Since Ahmadinejad left the political stage, Abu Mazen [Abbas] is the number one leader in injecting anti-Semitic and anti-Israel poison," Yuval Steinitz said, at the Institute for National Security Studies conference at Tel Aviv University last Sunday. 

"Under Abu Mazen, the level of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement in the [Palestinian] Authority has reached new heights, where the bottom line is the destruction of Israel. As someone who denied the Holocaust in his youth, he today denies the very existence of the Jewish people and their right to their own state," he told the annual security conference, according to a transcript on the INSS website.

Abbas' spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rudeina, responded to Steinitz's comments by accusing Israel of inciting against Abbas and calling on the United States to intervene...

Well, it is some degree of solace to know independent documentarians are the only ones worked over when they enter the country. Forbid an Israeli businessman is inconvenienced. I am sure if the person in front of him in line were a documentarian from Palestine the view would be very different. So now that there has been an inconvenience the UN treats Israel like a punching bag. My, my, my.

BY URI DROMI
I have lived all my life in Israel, (click here) and I consider myself to be quite knowledgeable about Israeli matters. Yet last week, it was in New York that I found out how much I still have to learn.

The event I was invited to was The Israel Summit, the brainchild of Joseph Hyman, president of the Center for Entrepreneurial Jewish Philanthropy (CEJP). When I was asked by the officer at the passport control at Newark what was the purpose of my visit, being an Israeli and jet-legged, I mispronounced that long title, which almost got me into trouble.

Yet I remembered what Hyman had told me, and I managed to explain to the officer that the summit was a forum modeled after Venture Capital Investment Conferences, where philanthropists and foundations gathered to hear some outstanding pro-Israeli organizations showcasing their innovative work and financial needs. 

Much to the chagrin of the people in line behind me, the officer wanted to hear more, and finally, upon rewarding my passport with the long-awaited stamp, he suggested that maybe the public should have been invited.

Possession of Pot in Israel is illegal but decriminalized. The smugglers must have found the decriminalized market good enough. Israel should be seeking to meet with Egyptian leadership to find a way to better the economy of Egypt and put people back to work rather than riot. I am sure the looting is good and will put crumbs on the dinner table, but, isn't enough already?

I am just wondering, is this what the rockets are all about? The smugglers? I bet they are part of it. Why doesn't Israel subscribe to medical marijuana and the smugglers will lose their decriminalized market. Betcha. I applaud Israel for the consistent demand for respect by securing their borders, but, they have to know there will be added aggression because of it. Someone was making money that isn't making money now.

By Maayan Lubell

ISRAEL-EGYPT BORDER, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Israel's newly fortified Egyptian (click here) border has delivered a severe blow to drug smugglers, forcing its hashish and marijuana smokers to deal with a new kind of high - soaring prices.

The ravines that snake past rocky red mountains once provided a popular, low-risk route for traffickers to run drugs, women and African migrants into Israel over the southern frontier along Egypt's Sinai desert.

But with a rise in Islamist militant violence in Sinai, Israel in 2011 accelerated the fortification of the border with a five-metre (16-foot)-high fence, state-of-the art surveillance and special military forces - with a crippling side effect for smugglers.


I thank Israel for offering human rights to those without it. Medical refugees. Certainly, when Russia and Syria reflect on this violence and the outcome of the people they will dedicate themselves to ending it. There has to be a result to stop this killing. There also has to be a resolve to remove those chemical weapons. I realize currently, securing the chemicals is important until the ships arrive, but, the ships will be there soon.




NAHARIYA, Israel — Two brothers, (click here) ages 10 and 8, were playing marbles outside their home in a town in Syria when a rocket decapitated the older one and critically wounded his sibling. Having rushed the surviving child to a local hospital, the mother recalled, medics told her: “If you want to save your son, you should take him to Israel.”
A few days later, the boy and his mother, 34, arrived at Western Galilee Hospital here in Nahariya, on the Mediterranean coast. The traumatized boy told the staff how he had seen his brother’s head fly....

And I might point out, Israel has a magnificent brain trust. It is world class and the country's companies compete globally. Yes, they compete against the USA. Think about it. Some want to limit jobs to menial labor for Americans while making education more expensive. I don't think that is wise.

JERUSALEM  
Thu Jan 30, 2014 10:18am EST

(Reuters) - Israel's Oramed, (click here) which is racing Novo Nordisk of Denmark to develop the world's first insulin pill, moved a step closer to its goal on Thursday by announcing successful results from a small mid-stage test.
The oral drug delivery specialist said its insulin capsule had met all primary and secondary endpoints in a Phase IIa clinical trial and it now plans to launch a larger mid-stage study in the third quarter.

Shares in the Nasdaq-listed company opened 10 percent higher at $28.50 on the news. The stock has surged from around $4 since the end of 2012 on rising hopes for its insulin pill.

The concept of oral insulin as a way to relieve diabetics of several daily injections has been around since the 1930s, but making it a reality is extremely difficult because insulin is destroyed by enzymes in the digestive system.

Oramed believes that it has now found a solution to allow enough insulin to survive the onslaught of digestive juices to still do some good....

Georgia Governor apologizes for the lack of preparedness

Last Updated Jan 30, 2014 3:29 PM EST

ATLANTA -- Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal(click here) took responsibility Thursday for the poor storm preparations that led to an epic traffic jam in Atlanta and forced drivers to abandon their cars or sleep in them overnight when a storm dumped a couple of inches of snow....

Fine. That doesn't change the hardship on the people and there are families surrounded by grief tonight because they lost members in a traffic jam. Those families need to be compensated for their losses. The people that died were bread winners in those families. They were mothers and fathers that provided valuable time with their families. The State of Georgia needs to do more than apologize, they need to recognize these families were their responsibility and they failed them.

No one heard about the Australian government seeking censorship against their press.

Think the reporting and Op-Ed pages of Edward Snowden.

January 30, 2013
Jonathan Swan and Matthew Knott

The Abbott government has launched an "efficiency study" into the ABC (click here) – a move that will exacerbate the already extraordinary pressure on the national broadcaster.

As revealed by Fairfax Media, the government's review into ABC spending and work practices will begin in February....

..."It is not a study of the quality of the national broadcaster's programs, products and services, or the responsibilities set out in their charters but of the efficiency of the delivery of those services to the Australian public.''...

Of course, since the Murdoch papers back government without question it doesn't apply to them.

January 30, 2014 - 11:18AM
Jonathan Swan
Tanya Plibersek has defended the ABC (click here) against Tony Abbott's attacks and the speculated termination of the broadcaster's $223 million Australia Network contract.
The Prime Minister's attacks on the ABC, in which he accused the broadcaster of lacking sufficient patriotism in its journalism, were now escalating into a "petty tit-for-tat exchange" which threatened the ABC's soft diplomacy arm, Ms Plibersek said.
"Before the election, the government were very clear that they wouldn't be cutting funding to the ABC. 
"And today we read in the newspapers that they're proposing to cut almost a quarter of a billion dollars from the ABC at what seems to be a very petty tit-for-tat exchange with our national broadcaster."...

Patriotism, huh? Perhaps Mr. Abbott means nationalism. Very different. This was reporting by ABC to the citizens of Australia because they didn't know their government was conducting these strikes. I suppose it isn't patriotic to squeal on the government in Australia.

The kill chain: Australia's drone war (click here)



Updated Wed 27 Jun 2012, 8:23am AEST

A senior Australian Defence Force officer has revealed details of how the Royal Australian Air Force deploys Israeli-owned drones for battlefield surveillance and to target anti-government Islamic fighters in Afghanistan.

Wing Commander Jonathan McMullan says Australia is "just buying hours" on the Heron drones from a Canadian company that in turn "leases them from IAI" (Israel Aerospace Industries), which is wholly owned by the Israeli government.

While enthusiastically endorsing the Heron's capabilities, Wing Commander McMullan was highly critical of the quality of training provided by Israeli and Canadian instructors to Australian drone crews.

Citizens are killed in Afghanistan on a regular basis. I see.

The unarmed Israeli Herons first entered RAAF service in Afghanistan in December 2009.

They are the centrepiece of the ADF's rapidly expanding drone warfare capability that has so far cost an estimated $550 million.
Australian Defence Force chief General David Hurley told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra late last month: "I wouldn't discount the fact that we might have armed UAVs thinking through our force structure review into the future."...

This is Larry Wayne Barnes. He has a very interesting story to tell about the depth of government corruption.

Who ever said, communist Russia and China are the only countries that practice corruption by imprisoning innocent people? They probably learned it from the forty years of Republican leadership in the USA. When in Rome...

Posted: Wednesday, January 29, 2014 8:03 pm 
Updated: 10:43 pm, Wed Jan 29, 2014.

The city of Tulsa has settled for $425,000 (click here) a federal lawsuit filed by a man who was freed from prison as a result of corruption within the Tulsa Police Department, attorneys on both sides of the lawsuit confirmed Wednesday evening.
Larry Wayne Barnes Sr. was released from prison after serving 16 months of a 66-month sentence he received when he was convicted in April 2008 of two drug crimes.
While U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton ruled in favor of the city on some issues, he found that Barnes offered sufficient evidence to create a fact dispute as to whether the city’s policymakers “can reasonably be said to have been deliberately indifferent to the need for further supervision” over its police officers.
Barnes had alleged that the city had notice of prior misbehavior by former Officer Jeff Henderson and other officers yet failed to take appropriate steps to supervise them.
The judge decided that the case could proceed to trial on Barnes’ malicious prosecution claim, his First Amendment retaliation claim and his negligence claims against the city.
On Wednesday, a settlement conference was held in Oklahoma City before U.S. Senior District Judge Lee West. Besides attorneys on each side of the lawsuit, city spokeswoman Michelle Allen confirmed that Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett was in attendance.
Previously, Barnes’ daughter, Larita Barnes, reached a $300,000 settlement with the city. She was convicted in April 2008 of two drug charges and was sentenced in October 2008 to 10 years in prison. She was freed July 2, 2009, as a result of a court order resulting from the police corruption investigation....

The thirteen deaths in Georgia.

"But, but, but, it was so unexpected..."

"We could not have predicted..."

Exactly.

That is exactly the problem. Believe it or not, there are city, county and state governments that HIRE and PAY for emergency managers to avoid EXACTLY what happened in the south. Interesting isn't it?