I want justice for James Boyd. He should still be alive. His death was brutal and cruel. He suffered and knew he was dying. It was wrongful death.

A significant amount of force cases (click here) reviewed were found to involve persons with mental illness and in crisis. The department’s policies, training and supervision were found insufficient to ensure officers properly responded to people they encountered with mental illness or in distress.

I want no excuses. There were 23 deaths. 23 unnecessary and cruel deaths. The idea the police were unprepared to actually be among civilians should have been validated before this ever occurred. This is an outrage.

There also needs to be a review of the lack of support for the homeless in Albequerque. Mr. Boyd's death was one of the cruelest deaths anyone could imagine. Innocent of any wrong doing. He was surviving and hurting no one. There is no excuse that justifies this level of police brutality.

The APD turned police work into a sport. James Boyd requires justice.

I am sure the Secretary has many offers and plans. She brought perspective regarding rural health care to her position. I hope she is happy and will be well.

Postal workers are some of the best eyes and ears a neighborhood can have.

They just know the route so well. 

There ya go. He openly admitted "we" wanted to effect the VW vote.

Governor Bill Haslam, "It is no secret at all that we had an opinion about what should happen there."

The tape at this news stations website is all the UAW needs. Don't have to pry open a can in order to get to the truth. The Governor implicated himself. Get on with it.

"Roll the video tape." 

That should significantly bring down the costs of litigation for the UAW. It should be the shortest hearing on record.

Haslam, Corker Subpoenaed By UAW Lawyers (click here)

Posted: Apr 09, 2014 4:40 PM EST  
Updated: Apr 09, 2014 10:34 PM EST
by Phil Williams
Chief Investigative Reporter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- United Auto Workers lawyers issued subpoenas Wednesday for Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, U.S. Senator Bob Corker and key members of the Haslam administration to testify at an upcoming hearing over the union's efforts to organize the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga.

Economic and Community Development (ECD) Commissioner Bill Hagerty, ECD chief-of-staff Will Alexander, House Speaker Beth Harwell, Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Bo Watson and Rep. Gerald McCormick were among the 20 individuals or organizations to receive subpoenas.

Corker's chief-of-staff Todd Womack and press secretary Micah Johnson were listed on the subpoena list, along with conservative activists Grover Norquist and Matt Patterson....

This is litigable. Husted has a history. It is a history that can be clearly illustrated in court.

Jeremy Pelzer 
February 25, 2014 at 12:09 PM 
updated February 26, 2014 at 7:10 AM

COLUMBUS, Ohio— Ohioans (click here) will be able to vote in person on two Saturdays and no Sundays ahead of this year’s general election, under a statewide early-voting schedule released Tuesday by Secretary of State Jon Husted....

The Voting Rights Act, while important, was passed nearly 100 years after the 15th Amendment was ratified. The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments were about empowering African Americans as citizens.

The 15th Amendment guarantees the right of African American men the right to vote. That is guaranteed to them from words AMENDING the USA Constitution. It is not an act of Congress, it is the will of the American people.

The reason The Voting Rights Act was necessary is because the states were leveraging power against our minorities through challenges to their 'fitness' to vote. Literacy, Poll Taxes, etc. Implied in the 13th through 15th Amendments is the fact bigotry and racism exists. The 13th could be argued to be an economic issue as it freed slaves. But, from that moment forward the demand of amending the USA Constitution was revealing overt racism. 

The problem with Mr. Husted and the Ohio vote is leveraging power based in racism. So, while Mr. Husted believes he is exonerated from racism because of the power within his office, he is not. Mr. Husted is overtly racist for the same reasons the 14th and 15th Amendment were ratified. 

Mr. Husted believes the Robert's Court leveraged power as well in favor of racism. No one had to make a phone call to Mr. Husted from the Supreme Court to state same, it is IMPLIED. We know Clarence Thomas can't see racism if it were hanging before him, so his vote against the Voting Rights Act is mutt as a statement about our minority voters. 

The 14th and 15th Amendments state African American men are suppose to be considered citizens with full rights. What occurred with the Voting Rights Act was to remove any attempt to taint the rights through manipulation of words by those seeking to reduce the number of citizens voting through 'qualifying' events. The Amendments create NO qualifying events except perhaps a person's freedom and/or birth within the borders of the USA.

It is amazing to realize how our minorities have been chronically challenged with burdens to remove their voting rights. But, Husted is an easy assail for justice. 

This is a video from The Rachel Maddow Show highlighting aspects of the 2012 elections. The 2012 election was that last nationwide election previous to 2014, so events that occurred two years ago are still valid as to testament to what is occurring in Ohio today.

It is completely obvious through his 'behavior' that Mr. Husted is a bigot, racist and all around nasty man that wants to 'fix an election.' That is illegal. Mr. Husted once again has to be taken to the wood shed and reminded he is about the nastiest no good in the country. I also believe because this is CHRONIC 'behavior' by Mr. Husted should be considered a criminal. His actions speak for themselves and once again minorities in Ohio are unduly burdened in order to vote. Amazing, isn't it? There is not one decent ounce of morality in that man. Not for one minute is he the man that should be handing down voting REGULATIONS in Ohio and with a history besides. But, he is and that makes this newest assault on minorities all that more easy to illustrate to a judge and quite possibly a prosecutor. 

Mr. Husted cannot state he was simply under the impression he could do what he felt was needed given his history of oppression of the Ohio vote. This new effort to suppress the vote by Mr. Husted is more fraudulent than oppressive.

Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates, or both.

Electoral fraud can happen in any election where a cheater perceives the potential gain as worth the risk.

Mr. Husted is a cheater. 

So. Besides his nasty racist agenda he also is overtly breaking the law by cheating people out of their vote. He now has a history and I do believe charges of fraud should be filed along with a civil suit to remove the burdens from Ohio voters. He has gone too far and it is time he pay the price. 

The Global Gender Gap Report 2013 (click here) benchmarks national gender gaps of 136 countries on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria. The Global Gender Gap Index was developed in 2006, partially to address the need for a consistent and comprehensive measure of gender equality that can track a country’s progress over time. The index points to potential role models by revealing those countries that – within their region or income group – are leaders in dividing resources more equitably between women and men than other countries, regardless of the overall level of resources available.

 “The findings of The Corporate Gender Gap Report (click here) are an alarm bell on International Women’s Day that the corporate world is not doing enough to achieve gender equality. While a certain set of companies in Scandinavia, the US and the UK are indeed leaders in integrating women, the idea that most corporations have become gender-balanced or women-friendly is still a myth. With this study, we are giving businesses a one-stop guide on what they need to do to close the corporate gender gap,” said Saadia Zahidi, Co-author of the report and head of the Forum’s Women Leaders and Gender Parity Programme.

USA is 57th in Women's Pay

These statistics come from an annual exhaustive study by "Save the Children" entitled "The Mother's Index and Country Ratings" (click here)

This particular graph regarding women's pay came from the 2010 study.

The indexes begin on page 32. The best place to be a mother is Norway. The worst place to be a mother is Afghanistan.

The graph on the right ranks the USA as 70th in women in government. It came from the information below.

The data (click here) in the table below has been compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the basis of information provided by National Parliaments by 1st February 2014.

Why is it important for women to be in government? To correct everything that is wrong when they aren't including pay rates.

Duck and Cover

The report’s authors claim Britain has stockpiled anti-viral influenza drugs that effectively do not work as billed and may cause serious side effects in a significant minority of people.

Steve Connor
10 April 2014 

Britain (click here) has spent £600m on a stockpile of influenza drugs that are no better than paracetamol in relieving flu symptoms and are next to useless in preventing a pandemic, a major study has found....

Cheney and Halliburton 

Now, Rumsfeld and Roche Laboratories

No wonder he is out with his own "Don is Great" movie.

Do you know who markets TAMIFLU?

ROCHE LABORATORIES.

Do you know who bought the patent for TAMIFLU from ROCHE LABORATORIES in 1996?

GILEAD SCIENCES INC.

Do you know who was the then president of GILEAD SCIENCES INC. and remains a major shareholder?

DONALD RUMSFELD, the present (now former) Secretary of Defense of the USA.

What isssue was this addressing? What solutions were proposed?

Image. He ran on image and he could not even live up to that. He is there for one reason, petroleum.

McAllister first worked in the oilfield technology business and then branched into oil and natural gas leasing, real estate, convenience stores, pipeline construction, equipment rental, and the promotion of wrestling matches and other sporting events. His most successful company is an oil exploration and production company, Texas Coastal Energy Company, based in Irving. Texas Coastal explores for oil and natural gas domestically, and is run by its CEO, Jeff Gordon.

Rush County Oil Project, Burdett Oil Project are in Kansas. (click here) The only thing this company has in Texas is an office in Dallas. 

This illustration (click here)  probably won't make much sense to most people, but, these are the oil layers in Oklahoma and Kansas Rep. McAllister is trying to get oil and gas from.

I have seen this over and over again in more countries than the USA, where someone with a little bit of money buys some leases and then goes begging for partners when the fields are so dried up they don't yield an ounce.

The MLP (click here) (Mississippian Lime Play) is a porous limestone formation that encompasses areas of northern Oklahoma, and southern and western Kansas. The region was considered tapped out by vertical drilling decades ago, but a technique known as hydraulic fracturing (also called fracing or fracking) in combination with horizontal drilling has the potential to significantly revive oil and gas activity in the region.

The fact of the matter is, Mr. McAllister has a problem. He has invested in dried up oil fields that won't yield the cost of his operation. He wants partners in hopes the cost will be spread among many people. 

Has any fracking opponent ever asked how much oil and gas these companies are actually getting out of the ground with horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing chemicals and tons and tons of precious water? Texas Coastal is going to drill and drill and punch holes in Earth causing all kinds of destabilization of the land and it won't yield any amount worth the effort. Then Americans will be stuck with the bill from now into forever for earthquakes and pulverizing landscape. This, all because George Failing of Enid, Oklahoma was able to manipulate a drill bit at the end of a steel pipe in 1934. 

McAllister is the generation of oil men willing to go to any length to save their sorry investments no matter what it takes. He is now in Congress to find a way to make wealth happen for him and become the most powerful oilman in the world. He isn't there for any reason except wealth. His antics with Congressional personnel has a long history of abuses within the USA Congress and quite frankly what is so different than the scandal at Mines and Mineral Management under Bush? 

He serves on the Agricultural and Natural Resources Committees in the House. No surprise there. 

Did he talk about the issues or did he blow smoke up everyone's skirts?

I thought he was runnin' for preacher.

As Secretary of State Hilary Clinton invoked some of the most sweeping changes to empower women around the world. The facts are there.

Secretary Kerry will have that opportunity again in 2015. I am sure he will keep the priorities of the Former Secretary of State from 2010. 

Secretary Clinton was the first cabinet officer to invoke this review within the State Department. How is a country suppose to match it's defense strategy if the State Department isn't measuring programs and policies to avert war and promote peace. War is failed diplomacy. 

How can we do better? (click here)

  It’s a question that business owners across the country are asking themselves everyday. They want to make sure they’re getting the most out of every dollar. It’s an important exercise even in the best economic times. In tough times, it’s critical.

Many government leaders ask themselves the same question. When I was a

Senator, I served on the Armed Services Committee, where I watched the Defense Department go through its impressive Quadrennial Defense Review. I saw how the QDR provided a strategic plan for the department. It forced hard decisions about priorities, and it made sure those priorities were reflected in the budget. It was a clear-eyed answer to the question: 

How can we do better?...

I have no sympathy for Mr. Bundy. He doesn't follow the rules when everyone else does.

By John M. Glionna

April 7, 2014, 2:10 p.m.

..."Cattle (click here) have been in trespass on public lands in southern Nevada for more than two decades. This is unfair to the thousands of other ranchers who graze livestock in compliance with federal laws and regulations throughout the West,” the BLM website announced. “The Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service have made repeated attempts to resolve this matter administratively and judicially. An impoundment of cattle illegally grazing on public lands is now being conducted as a last resort."...

...A father of 14, Bundy insists that generations of his family have ranched and worked this unforgiving landscape along the Virgin River since the 1880s. He says government over-regulation has driven scores of fellow ranchers out of business in sprawling Clark County, leaving him as the last man standing....

"A" is here Gold Butte is and where the cattle were grazing. Federal land is frequently affiliated with watersheds. This is Lake Mead. It is Las Vegas water supply. It is connected to the Colorado River.

  

With the worst drought (click here) in decades under way across the West, Lake Meads water levels have dropped more than 100 feet over the last 10 years. The Colorado River feeds into the lake, supplying water that comes from the snow run-off of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. This water source accounts for 90 percent of the water used in Southern Nevada. On Jan. 1, 2004, a Drought Alert went into effect in the valley. Drought Alert is the second step in a three-phase alert system that calls for more progressive water-use restrictions based on drought conditions, Lake Meads water levels and the need to conserve...

Water rights is one of the most contentious issues in The West. The Colorado River is no exception. Mr. Bundy is illegally running several hundred head of cattle on federally protected land affiliated with the Lake Mead watershed. I don't care if the Desert Tortoise calls this it's home. The Desert Tortise doesn't eat that much and certainly doesn't drink that much. It also spends most of it's time underground.

Their (Desert Tortoise) (click here) most active time is in the spring when they will forage for food. During the hottest, driest periods of the year, the tortoise conserves water already stored in its body. This is especially important in the hot, dry Mojave Desert summers. Winter hibernation aids in minimizing water loss.

Cranky people that don't want to follow the rules frequently use conservation and species protections as an excuse to raise anger to assist their argument. Mr. Bundy wants everyone to believe the Desert Tortoise is more important than his cattle, ranch and 14 children. That is not the case. What is the case is the rare commodity called water in The West and Mr. Bundy is in violation of the law of the USA Government that has a larger picture to oversee than his cattle. 

Mr. Bundy's relatives may have come over on the Mayflower for all I care, but, that does not give him any special rights. He is a squatter. He doesn't obey the law and now he is seeking excuses to carry on as if he has a right to do it. He has broken the law and is being evicted from the land he and his cattle are occupying. Just that simple, as if anything in the west is that simple.

The Colorado River supports two major lakes, Powell and Mead. This is serious business and no one has more rights than anyone else.
 

By: Dr. Jeff Masters, 3:20 PM GMT on August 20, 2013

For the first time in history, (click here) the U.S. government has ordered that flow of Colorado River water from the 50-year-old Glen Canyon Dam be slashed, due to a water crisis brought about by the region's historic 14-year drought. On Friday, the Federal Bureau of Reclamation--a division of the Department of Interior that manages water and electric power in the West--announced that it would cut water released from Lake Powell's Glen Canyon Dam by 750,000 acre-feet in 2014....

Figure 1. Satellite comparisons of water levels in Arizona and Utah's Lake Powell between 1999 and 2013 show a huge reduction in the amount of water in the lake. Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory.

Charlene Dill Campbell was survived by a husband and three children. What are they going to do now?

Charlene M. Campbell, (click here) age 32 of Orlando, passed away Friday, March 21, 2014. She was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on August 14, 1981 to Charles R. Dill and Liliana Rodriguez Dill.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Liliana Dill. She is survived by her husband, David Campbell; son, Charles Dillon Campbell; daughter, Aubreanna May Campbell; son, Liam Bronson Campbell; father, Charles R. Dill; step-mother, Patricia Hanes; sisters; Melissa Dill and Margaret Dicks; brother, Hunter Truitt; grandparents, Norman and Phyllis Dill.

I told you so. The New Jersey legislature needs to solve the problems of the people.

This is not the end of it. The US Attorney still needs to evaluate his part in this. The State Legislature tried to act to protect the people and bring out what may have been a very nasty situation a mayor faced. There is nothing wrong in trying especially if the people were looking for more facts.

I am grateful the judge upheld the 5th amendment even in the face of all the frustration surrounding this event. It is important to know the USA Constitution still means something. 

I suggest the State Legislature address the problems noted in the State of the State speech. I am confident they are as alarmed about the graduation rate in Camden as anyone.  

April 09, 2014 at 4:08 PM
updated April 09, 2014 at 4:18 PM
Christopher Baxter
Star Ledger

TRENTON — A state judge (click here) today ruled that two figures central to the Legislature's investigation of the George Washington Bridge lane closings do not have to comply with subpoenas to turn over records related to the scandal.

State Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson issued the 98-page ruling just past 4 p.m. denying the committee's request to force Bridget Anne Kelly, Gov. Chris Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Stepien, his two-time campaign manager, to comply....

..."Under these circumstances, it is reasonable for Mr. Stepien and Ms. Kelly to fear that they currently face the hazard of prosecution int he concurrent federal investigation," she wrote, adding that the act of production "could provide a 'link in the chain of evidence needed to prosecute the claimant for a federal crime.'"...

So long as West Virginia's water is still rejected, it might be time to take a good look at why.

It is interesting how ignorant people can be about their own water until something happens and there is an awareness of it's contamination. Currently, only five percent of the 300,000 people effected by water contamination from the Freedom Industries plant have returned to drinking the water.

Freedom Industries, (cute name, lousy product) which spilled thousands of gallons of a coal-washing chemical into the Elk River, is pictured on January 10, 2014, in Charleston, West Virginia. (Tom Hindman/Getty Images)

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

It’s been called one of the most serious episodes of drinking water contamination in U.S. history. Four months after thousands of gallons of the coal-washing chemical MCHM spilled from an unregulated above-ground storage tank into the Elk River, many people in and around Charleston, West Virginia, are still using bottled water.

Water bans after the Jan. 9 spill lasted as long as nine days in some Charleston communities. But residents continue to report that the water smells like licorice and it has sent people to the emergency room. A recent article in The New Yorker that profiled the power of the coal industry in West Virginia called the spill an accident with no clear ending, with the most basic question — “Is the water safe?” — unanswered....

The article above by "Here and Now" brings out a very interesting point. "The too big to fail West Virginia Coal Mine industry." But, that is only one aspect to this story.

Above is a picture of the Freedom Industries plant. Why is it located on a river to begin with?

Over the past five decades we have watched while 0.1% grew to monopolize the wealth of the USA. How did they get there? They got there by deregulating protections to consumers, allowing greater and greater lax government including the local and county governments and basically by impoverishing the country so citizens would be groveling for work to put food on their tables. Am I correct? Is there greater poverty? Is there more danger to consumers? Has the desire for consumer safety become cast aside in order to have a job?

Yes. 

Part of the problem regarding Freedom Industries is that the USA has hit bottom when it comes to protecting it's citizens and allowing the wealthy to get away with it. Industries in the USA complain and moan and grown about regulations and how it costs them so much money and how it is going to put citizens out of work. 

Okay. I suppose that is their point of view. But, is your life as an American worth the job you have today? That is the question Americans should be asking themselves. The regulations of today practiced by all levels of government are not the regulations of our parents and grandparents. The regulations today are intended to 'point to environmental deficits' of too big to fail industry and then supply expertise and funding to HELP them IMPROVE on their polluting. 

Excuse me? Improve? 

Let me see if I get this right.

The industries in the USA are too big to fail, so they have plenty wealth. But, the government has to come along to point to their deficits in polluting the environment. And then the governments have to supply HELP to get them to comply. 

I don't think so.

The priorities of government in pandering to the wealthy have created monsters that WON'T, not CAN'T comply with protections for our environment. Part of the problem in West Virginia is that the 'so called SAFE level of chemicals' in the water are still intolerable and it is allowed. As Jay Rockefeller said, "I wouldn't drink the water." The facts are clear. Over 50 years of political pandering to the wealthy have resulted in monopolies too big to fail that don't care about the safety of their products to consumers or otherwise. They have gotten away with it because they can THREATEN Americans with their jobs. They have taken the American citizen hostage to their greed.

Is that what Americans want for their children and grandchildren? 

One of the examples of excellence in discovering and mitigating pollution were the days of the New York State Love Canal. It lead to huge awareness of water quality standards and how without them people, their pets, livestock and wildlife can become very ill while their longevity is cut short. Those same standards don't exist today because the EPA of the 1960s has been dismantled by politicians winning elections that have dismantled those standards piece by piece. 

Today, the USA is scraping the bottom of the regulation barrel and it shows. Over and over we are seeing imposition of poverty and pollution on Americans so the wealthy can continue to be wealthy and get wealthier while they purchase their personal representatives in the House and Senate. 

The people of West Virginia aren't being difficult, they are taking a stand to say, "There is a lot wrong here and we aren't going to take it any more." The rest of the country needs to join them. 

Chapter 4
Gaping Holes in Government Bottled Water Regulation (click here)

The bottled water industry often makes the claim that it is far better regulated than tap water suppliers are. For example, the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) testified in 1991 that "When compared to the level of regulation and scrutiny applied to tap water . . .bottled water consumers come out way ahead." IBWA asserted that "If one considers the full range of FDA consumer protection standards, bottled water safeguards have been more complete and protective for a longer time than tap water standards."

This continues to be the industry argument. In a 1998 fact sheet, for example, IBWA contends, "Quality is in every container of bottled water. It's consistent and it is inspected and monitored by governmental and private laboratories. Unfortunately, tap water can be inconsistent -- sometimes it might be okay while other times it is not." The IBWA further declares that "bottled water is strictly regulated on the federal level by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and on the state level by state officials. This ensures that all bottled water sold in the United States meets these stringent standards."...

It is extremely ironic that West Virginia, the home of bottled water, should actually find it citizens need it more than ever, but for every different reasons. How did West Virginia ever get here?

West Virginia’s spring waters (click here) have a long history, including the regular patronage of George Washington at Berkeley Springs. Mineral water was bottled at West Virginia springs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, including Capon Springs, Berkeley Springs, and Pence Springs. The bottled water industry was revived on a large scale in the late 20th century, with the national boom in bottled-water sales. Today West Virginia producers bottle both spring water and well water, and in one case even the recaptured water from the sap of sugar maple trees.

Our state’s mineral springs and warm springs were originally valued for their reported health benefits, later becoming social gathering places. Resorts were developed at springs from the Eastern Panhandle to the southeastern region of the state. Drinking was often secondary to bathing in the spring waters, although both were believed therapeutic for a variety of medical conditions. Some springs were valued for their sulfur content, which makes their water unpalatable by today’s standards....

The 0.1 percent is a USA phenomena

Today, President Obama signed an Executive Order to promote equal pay for women. When one realizes how far women are behind the wealth of men, it is understandable why they are still victimized by men who donate large sums of money to politics.


Now, this chart does not reveal the gender of the top 0.1 percent. However...

...this paper compiled the information regarding the 0.1 percent from tax forms and files. The statistics within that information is below. The statistics were not important to the discussion in the paper, they were simply reported as a matter of fact to provide comprehensive information.

The average age of the 0.1 percent is 46 years old. Ninety percent of that wealth level are men. Eighty percent are married. Less than half have children at home, but, 71 percent have other dependents.

They are more often Executives, Managers, Supervisors, Finance Agents and Lawyers. The percentages drop off drastically from there. The purpose of this paper was to determine where the money is most likely to go to enhance those seeking investments.

"Income and Job Growth of Top Earners and the Causes of Changing Income Inequality: Evidence from U.S. Tax Returns. (click here)

Women are more than 50 percent of the electorate in the USA. It is vital they get out to vote their OWN BEST INTERESTS because those that spend for political gain aren't women and they are buying their own best interests through the corruption of Congress.

Senator McCain is as much 19th Century as Russia. There is no difference.

The Ukraine is capable. It needed leadership to return strength to a centralized military. The Neocons tend to forget exactly who the Ukraine was in it's former capability. That wasn't that long ago. This is not a minor country. It agreed to back down it's military prowess because of a treaty that guaranteed it's existence without invasion. The treaty was valid right up to the point where Russia allowed a dreamscape of annexation.

The USA has an obligation to protect the innocent and provide protections where and how possible, but, it has no obligation to engage in a war. A war, by the way, the Ukraine has no desire to conduct. The Ukraine government has no desire to kill anyone. It never did. It wants the oppression lifted and wants to open it's markets. 

The Ukraine people are very ambitious folks. It is my impression the Ukraine government wants a country with strong diversity living with prosperity. I never was under the impression otherwise. That is why this idea of Russia breaking up the country is so odd. Success isn't going to happen for the Ukraine if it is divided and full of hate of each other. They have to resolve their domestic anger. 

The priorities of the nation was skewed under Yanukovych. But, the treaty was all The West had to know and it never interfered. Either, The West believes in their own diplomatic initiatives and treaties or they are simply putting on a show. The diplomats from the USA aren't interested in putting on a show.

Senator McCain and the others voicing their own anger have no basis for their complaining. The Ukraine is not a Third World country without resources or a brain trust to envy. Their expression of democracy and hopes for it's people as demonstrated by the 2004 constitution provides a great deal of insight to their priorities. It is completely wrong to move against those priorities. It is a very high level democracy based in individual integrity. Rather inspiring actually when one realizes how careful they are about human rights within that constitution. Perhaps that is the problem, the American Neocons are scared to the ability of the Ukraine to inspire and shame even The West.

They are doing okay and no one is looking the other way.

This assessment of the Ukraine's capability is stated to be as of March 27, 2014. "The Ukraine military still showcases some of it's Soviet era roots though with a decidedly modern edge." (click here)

To some extent Russia is more worried about the Ukraine and the will and ability of it's people. The Russian state newspaper "RIA Novosti" repeatedly is focused on the military hardware in the Ukraine. There was an article today about the Ukraine taking their MIGs out of mothballs. Russia never stops once in any of their public assessments to realize the deep desire of these people to live in peace and shun human rights violations. If Russia actually admired the Ukrainian people, it might learn something.

 

Death toll is currently 34 in Oso.

Mudslide
Searchers head toward the site of the mudslide in Oso, Wash., on Friday. (Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press /March 28, 2014)

By Maria L. La Ganga

April 8, 2014, 1:19 p.m.

SEATTLE —  One month (click here) after the Washington state landslide that killed at least 34, President Obama is planning to survey the destruction firsthand.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced Tuesday that Obama will travel on April 22 to the site of the mammoth slide that closed State Route 530 and destroyed dozens of homes, prompting a major disaster declaration from the White House.

The president is scheduled to meet with families of the dead and missing, first responders and recovery workers, Inslee said....

The consensus among some is that this was a catastrophic event. The depth at which the landslide took place was very deep. Basically, the usual methods of treating 'slide areas' would not have worked. The concern also surrounds the speed and amount of land that actually was part of that slide. It was unusal.

My opinion has not changed. I believe given the composition of the land and the harsh winter the frigid cold added to changes in the composition of the hill and altered the 'spaces between the sand' especially when temperatures started to increase. The ice within the land would be altered and quite possibly had loosened that entire structure. 

There must have been a lot of weight on the bottom of the hill for such a massive amount of land to come down. That bottom structure once they get to it, if they get to it, will probably be studied to understand better what occurred.

Wildfires begin in Kansas.

April 6, 2014
By Eric Smith

...Kris Sanders, (click here) meteorologist with the National Service in Topeka, said this winter was unusually windy, and it carried over into the spring.

According to weather service data for the month of March, Topeka hit 40-plus mph peak wind gusts seven times, including four in the last six days of the month. March 30 and 31, when several fire calls were reported by county dispatchers — including one for a large wildfire northwest of Topeka that damaged several structures — the average wind speed was 15.7 and 20.1 mph, respectively.

Additionally, for March 30 the maximum sustained wind speed was 31 mph, and the peak wind gust was 41 mph. For March 31, the maximum sustained wind speed was 31 and the peak gust was 44 mph. Other areas in northeast Kansas had similar windy numbers for March.

With all that in mind, the state statute for legal burning says the wind speed has to be 15 mph or lower....

The wind is causing problems in what normally would be controlled fires or minor fires.