He's back and I can't wait.

Miranda Richardson (click here) (with Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson) played Rita Skeeter, the tabloid gossip columnist of the wizard world. Her latest “dispatch” from the Quidditch World Cup has the world again talking about Harry Potter.

Hamas needs to stop attacking Israel. The Palestinians have their land in Gaza. That is a fact. There is no more fighting.

With that said, Israel is wrong. How are the people in Gaza?

Israeli soldiers stand on their tanks near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza with more than 50 strikes overnight after Hamas militants fired scores of rockets over the border.

By Bill Chappell
July 8, 2014

..."Of the 60 rockets fired from Gaza overnight, several rockets reached Beersheva and Ashkelon, some 25 miles from Gaza, in what Israeli officials saw as an escalation.
"Israel called up some 1,500 reservists, which seemed to mean that Israeli officials believe the tensions with the Islamist Hamas in Gaza will continue.
"An Israeli army spokesman said that in the Israeli airstrikes overnight, Israel destroyed the homes of several senior Hamas military men. Palestinian medics reported that at least nine people were wounded, including seven children.

Can Palestine have an anti-missile system, too? That would be helpful. This attack was completely uncalled for.

"In Israel, the anti-missile system Iron Dome shot down some of the rockets headed for populated areas. There were no reports of casualties or damage."
The Israeli Defense Force has posted video online of two airstrikes from last night, attacks that it says targeted the "activity sites" of two Hamas members involved in conducting rocket fire from Gaza. Helicopters and warplanes took part in dozens of other attacks.
It seems that in at least one case, the activity site was a house — and that the occupants got a phone call telling them to get out before it was bombed....

Telephone calls do not mean it is okay to fire missiles at Gaza. One has to stop to realize how much of a strategy his aggression is and how much it is promulgated by USA right wing politics that leads to huge militarization of Israel. A USA politician has to 'buy in' to the genocide of a people before it can be a political dogma for elections to USA President. Let there be no doubt about it, if USA right wing politics didn't carry Israel on their sleeve, this would not have happened. The people most responsible for this tragedy of nations is Mr. Romney and the right wing media.

I cannot say Hamas is wrong in the way it views the world. I once thought that, but, the killing is unreasonable when considering the decades of time this spans. Israel is a secure nation and Palestine is not. 

Yes, genocide. That is exactly what will happen here as Israel continues to build settlements and carries out military attacks. Is there a different EQUATION I should be looking at stating it is not the problem of Israel we are looking at? 

Israel has been denied nothing by the USA so it feels secure. It is time to reconsider that directive. 60 airstrikes in Gaza and dearly few Hamas rockets made it to ANY target in Israel.

..."No time limit was put on the operation, but senior diplomatic officials said it could be 'for a long time,' " reports the Jerusalem Post. The newspaper adds that Netanyahu says the time has come to "take off the gloves" to fight Hamas....

It is such a joke. Israel defines rockets stopped by The Iron Dome an escalation. Israel defines an escalation. Are settlements an escalation? Who defines where Israeli settlements are built? Do the Palestinians define the escalation of settlements and call it an escalation of hostilities? It would seem not. Israel defines settlements, too.

The Palestinians have to fight for ever inch of land THEY KEEP. But, their defense of their land is an escalation. There is no morality in these circumstances and the USA plays a very defined role in the deaths of Palestinians.

IRS Forms.

There is a way to relieve the burden of finding women to be sure their birth control has been paid, even retroactively.

There are always clinics. Those clinics could take a credit off their tax reporting for the number of contraceptive units they dispensed. 

For women who do not go to clinics, it would be a matter of a simple one item line next to the penalty line for the ACA, which allows a woman to take the cost of their non-reimbursed health care and/or clinic visits directly off their income taxes.

When men are completely incompetent in understanding the needs of a woman's health, there is usually at least one woman around who competently can fix it.

Does anyone expect the killing to stop soon?

LIVE UPDATES: Israel launches aerial offensive in Gaza (click here)

More than 85 rockets fired on Israel on Monday; Hamas claims responsibility for some of launches; IDF to call up 1,500 reserve soldiers.

By Haaretz | Jul. 8, 2014 | 4:30 AM

Shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet decided Monday to escalate attacks against Hamas and the Gaza Strip, militants in the coastal territory fired a barrage of some 35 rockets at Israel.

Sirens rang across the south as well as in central Israel and the Jerusalem area, for the first time since the recent round of escalation began. More than 85 rockets have been launched over the course of Monday.

In preparing for the escalation, the Israel Defense Forces has decided to call up some 1,500 reservists....

The Crime Statistics are skewed in Chicago. Those with guns know that are killing people are in the hands of people who know now they can get away with murder.

Jessie Jackson needs to consider running for Mayor or bringing in someone who can stop the violence. No one else seems to understand the circumstances.

Jul 7, 2014, 1:38 PM ET

By MEGHAN KENEALLY

The spree of shootings in Chicago (click here) during the long holiday weekend reached 82 incidents and included 14 deaths, according to a tabulation of police reports.

That number marks a significant jump from the same period last year, despite an increase of "hundreds" of officers on the street to prevent violence.

"It’s groundhog day here in Chicago again," Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said this morning, in an apparent reference to repeated spasms of violence in the city.

Of the 14 fatalities, two were shot dead by police.

More Than 60 Shot, 9 Dead in Chicago's Bloody Holiday Weekend

The Chicago police department released different statistics claiming the weekend saw 50 shootings that included nine fatalities.

The difference in the statistics is the difference in the time frame. Chicago police figures spanned a period from 6 p.m. Thursday as the long holiday weekend began to midnight Sunday. Figures calculated by ABC News' affiliate WLS began at 4 p.m. Thursday to 3:30 a.m. Monday and totaled 82 shootings....

Freedom to kill never stops the killing. Contrary to popular belief.

Not all Beyonce voters are women or need contraception.

Chris Christy should sign the gun bill to save the lives of at least of four children.

He has already impressed the conservatives donors with other  issues.

Information on the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)

On July 1st, (click here) due to changes imposed by Governor Christie and the New Jersey State Legislature in 2011, most public employees participating in the New Jersey State Health Benefits Program (SHBP) will have to pay a higher rate towards the cost of their health insurance premium. The percentage rates are based on salary tiers and level of health insurance coverage and have been phased in over the past four years. Click here to view the plan rates for 2014.

Thank you. Anyone else?

I think the Foster status is important, but, until the circumstances in their homeland is decided impossible to return to (ie: no parents) the children have a right to go home and be with their family in a country of peace and not suffering. These children are important to their countries. They don't know it yet, but, they are the future. There has to be a reasonable future to return to.

...Local officials (click here) who would likely be involved in the housing and care of 2,000 immigrant children are scrambling to form a solid plan following County Judge Clay Jenkins’ Saturday announcement. 

County officials and service agencies who would be the ones dealing with the children only heard about the large logistical undertaking just before the announcement and are forming a plan now.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)

Commissioner John Wiley Price said at an unrelated press conference today that a place to house the children has been found, but did not give details. The county also intends to get Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas County Health and Human Services and the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office involved.

...“There’s a lot of moving parts,” Price said. “We plan on inviting those as a collaborators but unlike Katrina, we used everything that was at our disposal, we have some planning time so as a result we’re vetting it a lot better.”

County Commissioner Dr. Elba Garcia said she talked to the county judge before he made the announcement but has no firm plans about what might come next. She said her office has been flooded with calls from local social service agencies and officials who are willing to help....

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, (click here) who took office in early 1933, would become the only president in American history to be elected to four consecutive terms. He would lead his nation through two of the greatest crises in its history—the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II (1939-45)—and would exponentially expand the role of the federal government through his New Deal reform program and its legacy. From March 1933 to June 1944, Roosevelt addressed the American people in some 30 speeches broadcast via radio, speaking on a variety of topics from banking to unemployment to fighting fascism in Europe. Millions of people found comfort and renewed confidence in these speeches, which became known as the “fireside chats.”

Welcome everyone to the year 2014, where the national press walks all over the USA President freely elected by the people of the USA. It isn't the president anymore that leads the plutocrats. It is the news media that leads the nation for the plutocrats. I am sure I am not the only one in the country that felt the violation and the proposed violence. I just had to set it straight there are Americans that sill love their President, look toward him for leadership and don't throw female justices under the bus.

Mike Huckabee has his presidential run set up. Did you see it? Country Western Band and Jessica Lynch. You know, the girls the American soldiers saved and brought home. Guess what she said," It is upsetting my fellow soldiers are going to have to back to war in Iraq."

First Appearance of ISIS Caliph Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi (English Subtitles)

Gregory this video. There were newspapers that enlarged photos to just make everyone loping made because the Prince in some Arab land who funded Mr. Baghdadi gave enough for a shining gold watch. I really could not care less. 

Everyone understand what a caliph is? Because Gregory never once stated what one was or what it took to be one. But, there was the devil incarnate. Right there on the American TV screen stealing Beck's ratings. Yep.

Caliph Is Supreme Leader. Holy man. Now, while the Middle East can be wild and wooly there is no caliph university. It isn't that sort of thing. Caliph is about history. Not one. In modern times they just manifest out of the woodwork.

Why would this man call himself a caliph  when he wasn't, but, that wasn't covered either. I imagine every young boy and especially those in madrases have aspirations to grow up to be a caliph. Any ruling leader, well established could take the name of caliph, including the King of Saudi Arabia and the King Of Jordon. Caliph is an ancient term dating back to the 600 AD. Do you know who the first caliph was? I betcha do. Mohammad. 

This man wants to take control of the entire world. He is a nut case. No different than Obama bin Laden was a nut case and Timothy McVeigh was a nut case. They are the men that have all the answers and nothing will stop them. That is who his man is. He has no special power. He has guns. Men with guns are dangerous. 

I was pleased to hear he and his followers praying, because they are going to need a lot of them from what I understand about other Arab nations in the Middle East.

This entry is not about the Middle East it is about the USA press and it's agenda. Now, pan to stage right and low and behold Judy Woodruff. And who is she interviewing? This is an easy one. Tony Blair and for another 10 to 15 minutes Blair reiterated his record and the current activities in the Middle East having nothing to do with them. See, he and Cheney have to stick together otherwise they would indict themselves. The Bush's don't have that problem, the Jrs just ride the coast tails of 41 and hide safely away from any trouble.

Guess what comes next? An American Muslim woman and her family and how she is a good citizen and patriot. But, that is not why she is on the show. For god sake these people just terrified or attempted to terrify an entire nation into war into Iraq. Do you actually believe an American Muslim and her family were going to the subject of compassion and patriotism. Heck, no. That women was put on the show so the those watching the show could say, "Oh my god, they are already here." 

I don't know about anyone else but this isn't what I would expect to find playing over the airwaves to the USA on Independence Holiday. The USA has a real shot at peace. I suggest we continue down that path because these people want your sons and daughters fun another illegal war.

Do you what happened this weekend? I just want to get his out of the way and give credit where credit deserves and it isn't about Glen Beck.

What happened this weekend was a national holidays. It legal it's legislated as a national holiday.

Did you feel the spirit move you, every time a flag passed, every time the bank played, every time little Jimmy lifted the boy scout flag. You just couldn't help wipe a tear form the corner of you eye.

There were plans made for everyone, but, they didn't know it. More extensive plans than Vladimir Putin could deliver. More nationalism lined with flag waving, fields of grain and god.

On Sunday, the Bush Playbook was opened and turned to chapter one.

There were shows on like Melisa Harris Perry that celebrated women and black when after the Supreme Court threw everyone under the bus. Even the three justices were thrown under the bus. The three female justices.

But, there were programs making plans, like Meet the Press.

You own't hear this anyplace else. Do you know how long Glen Beck has been mentoring Arabs about Calphate? Long time.

Everyone have a great 4th of July? Mom, Apple and Baseball. Great American celebration of the founding of our country. Simply make everyone swell with pride.

Evidently, that is not the case anymore at Pungo Vidant Hospital in Belhaven

Is it possible for a Republican party to disdain the poor so much the larger scheme is to get rid of emergency rooms altogether. It is the biggest expense any hospital has. It is where the uninsured seek medical care. Could it be possible to make hospitals for profit only and eliminate the emergency room? 

What if all there was were Emergy-Centers? The poor would have to pay for their care then.

I would not expect Mr. Cheney to say anything else. He is too deep into the lies. If he changed his stories he would be causing his own indictment.

We all know the bind Cheney was in with Halliburton when he donned the crown of Vice President. He cooked the books and he wanted a way out. Iraq was a convenient country to invade. Saddam Hussein frequently fired his gun off on his balcony and for the purpose of rubbing Cheney and Bush's nose in it.

From Michael Moore (click here): 

Published on Thursday, August 19, 2004 by CommonDreams.org

How Dick Cheney Got Away With $35 Million Right Before he Government Launched a Probe into Halliburton (ciick here)
By Jason Leopold

It i obvious that no mainstream news reporter has the gumption to seriously question Vice President Dick Cheney's ethics when he was chief executive of Halliburton, the oil-field services company that is currently embroiled in a scandal with the Pentagon due to it's questionable accounting practices related to it's work in wartorn Iraq.

Pity those journalists because this is the stuff Pulitzers are made of . What's even more remarkable is that there's reams of documents in the public domain showing how Cheney cooked the books when he was CEO of Halliburton, which makes the vice president look like Ken Lay's twin brother. The evidence is beginning to collect dust. To tell the story of how Cheney's Halliburton used accounting sleight of hand to fool investors all you need to do is connect the dots, which is what this story will do.

Let's start with a bit of old news. A couple of weeks ago Halliburton agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission probe related to a 1998 change in the way Halliburton accounted for construction revenue. The commission says the undisclosed accounting change caused Halliburton's public statements regarding its income in 1998 and 1999 to be materially misleading, boosting Halliburton's profit on paper by $120 million...

Cheney and Saddam had something in common, power. 

When Bush invaded Iraq he unleashed MISTRUST of the USA in the global community. The entire world was with us after September 11, 2001, but, that radically changed as WMD was politicized and Iraq was then the target.

There it is, "...we went into Iraq for very good reasons...." Such as?

The Surge makes me laugh. Somehow the nation is suppose to believe 'The Surge' was a magical answer to the civil war within Iraq. The Surge killed people. It killed Iraqis. Of course it worked. There were less Iraqis to fight the civil war. The Iraqis learned that fighting the USA meant death. The USA was the ultimate warlord. I don't know if there is a body count when "The Surge" was launched, but, it was simply slaughtering people in order to dominate the country. The Surge is still what is the problem today. The rebels simply laid low until they had a chance to regain footing. The same thing happened in Afghanistan.

But, Cheney hangs on to those words "The Surge" as if it was something that actually changed the landscape. It didn't change a darn thing, it simply killed more people.

I think it is time the USA stopped killing people. Obviously, Mr. Cheney disagrees. When then? When does the USA stop using death as a means to control nations? Never? The USA is suppose to occupy every nation it invades such as South Korea? That is nonsense. If the USA needs to dominate countries, what does that say about our country? Is the USA so completely out of step with humanity it has to kill and control in order to exist?

Cheney bellyaches about the number of USA soldiers being left behind in Baghdad. 20,000? He simply wants a ready force to rule the country. The USA military was Maliki's private militia. Makiki never had peace in Iraq, he had the USA military. The civil war was simply to be thought of as 'insurgents' and 'terrorists' and 'dead enders.' There was only 'the end game to clean up.' What the USA was doing by leaving behind 20,000 troops was immoral from the standpoint that the USA was maintaining the peace and not the people. The citizens are suppose maintain the peace. They are suppose to run their own country.

20,000 USA troops lead by USA generals and commanders would continue to destablize Iraq. Today, the Kurds are strong enough to form their own independent state. Would that have happened if the USA dominated Iraq? Heck no, the USA military would have seen the Kurds as a threat to the Maliki government and would have confronted them as insurgents. 

"The result was an Iraqi military that was unable to stand up to the terrorists." Does Cheney ever listen to his own words? Somehow the number of American troops in Iraq was suppose insure a democracy without conflict or war. 20,000 rather than 3,000 was a better presence to insure the USA had control over Iraq. 

What Mr. Cheney stated was, "The result was an Iraqi military that was unable to stand up to the terrorists." Is that right? So, how is 20,000 troops going to change that? It wouldn't. All 20,000 USA troops would insure is the best outcome of what the USA prioritized as important for Iraq and it's people. 

Was Iraq never to have a military that could stand up to the terrorists? Nearly a decade and the result was an Iraqi military that was unable to stand up to terrorists. 

"...extremists would have to rethink their strategy of jihad. Nearly a trillion dollars spent there with 4500 American lives lost there. What do you say to those that say you (Mr. Cheney) was so wrong about so much at the expense of so many?" 

"No, I just fundamentally disagree..."

Right. There weren't over 4500 Americans lost, there wasn't nearly a trillion US spent? But, yet the entire statement is fundamentally wrong.

Mr. Cheney cannot admit the intelligence was extremely flawed. He cannot admit the 'intelligence' leading to the Iraq invasion was as cooked as Halliburton's books. He CANNOT. If he ever admitted he was wrong and the invasion was a travesty, he'd be facing his own peril.

Is everything 'not quite accurate?' Dick Cheney is the only accurate man in the entire of Washington and the world? My goodness Mr. Cheney can read minds. He 'believes' Maliki thought the USA didn't want a Status of Forces agreement. Wow. Cheney 'believes' he knows everything Maliki thinks. Some kind of talent. 

He never has given up that 'magical thinking,' has he? I 'believe' therefore it is. 

Just because President Obama states the same thing about Iraq as his predecessors, doesn't mean he is correct either. The only person that appears to be correct is Vice President Biden at this point. President Obama won't even recognize VP Biden's assessment. That is a shame. Maybe things would have moved along quite nicely without the "ISIS Surge." 

Oh, dear, Liz Cheney states President Obama didn't do his job. Hm. And of course she knows what his job is in these circumstances. I mean this is President of the USA. Who writes his job description? 

See, Mr. Maliki followed Mr. Cheney in 'believing' President Obama didn't want to leave any USA troops in Iraq. So, because Mr. Maliki is a spineless ninny and can't speak up for the needs of Iraq, there was no Status of Forces agreement. I think it takes at least two signatures. Not only that, but, I would think the Status of Forces Agreement would include Iraqi soldiers as well as USA forces. That was the deal with the American people. The American people believed the entire time we were fighting this insane civil war there would be 'As Iraqi forces stand up, the USA would stand down.' Didn't I hear that from somewhere?

The Bush/Cheney administration IS responsible here. They lied, they cooked up the Cabal and they betrayed the trust of allies. Somehow that reality escapes Liz Cheney. We would not even be in Iraq if "When Bush lies people die." Somehow Ms. Cheney forgets that very important point.

By Evelyn Leopold and Nadim Ladki
1-10-3

UNITED NATIONS/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.N. inspectors (click here) on Thursday gave a mixed interim report on Iraq's arms programs, providing ammunition both to those backing U.S. preparations for a possible conflict and for the anti-war camp.

 

Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said his teams had so far found no "smoking gun" but added Iraq had failed to answer many questions about its armaments. Baghdad said it would do so.

 

Washington appeared unimpressed with Blix's double-edged comments.

 

"The problem with guns that are hidden is you can't see their smoke," a White House spokesman told reporters. "We know for a fact that there are weapons there." Blix's remarks, made to reporters as he prepared to brief members of the U.N. Security Council, were interpreted by the markets as making war more likely, and oil prices quickly rose.

 

In the nearly seven weeks since inspections resumed in Iraq, he said, "we have been covering the country in ever-wider sweeps, and we haven't found any smoking guns."...

When is Ms. Cheney going to admit she is lying once again to the public and to herself. When will she include all the truth, not just the convenient truths.

There was absolutely nothing there, except, some scud missiles that had a range set beyond the Iraq borders, so the missiles were buried in the sand. Where is that truth? 

Ah, but, Ms. Cheney has the answers when no one else does. She has a group now that will reveal the 'real truth.' The mother of all truths.

Ah, Mr. Cheney does have the real truth in that President Obama is supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. And then there is the horrible truth that President Obama wants to work with the Iranians. My, my, "Iran is as big a threat as al Qaeda." Where does it stop? Where do the lies and fear mongering stop? The allies bailed on Cheney. The Coalition of the Willing. Remember? 

President Obama's desire is to weaken the nation. Hm. Indeed, it is easy to see it was never the Bush/Cheney administration that weakened the nation, it was that sly Kenyan in the White House pulling the strings the entire time.

The near enemy vs. the far enemy (click here)

One of the truly unique and dangerous elements of Al Qaeda’s brand of terrorism is its transnational nature. Bin Laden and many of his followers derided the governments of most Muslim-majority nations, in particular Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as apostates. Yet instead of targeting these governments, often referred to as the “near enemy,” Al Qaeda believed that destroying their U.S. and Western allies, the “far enemy,” would more effectively lead to the downfall of apostate Arab regimes. The group’s transnational aims and focus on the United States made it unique among terrorist organizations and brought jihadist terrorism to American soil.

Over the last decade, the United States has demonstrated the enormous costs associated with making it a target. When coupled with the death of bin Laden, the most effective advocate for this strategy, the near enemy/far enemy balance has shifted decidedly in favor of the near enemy. Al Qaeda affiliates, with the possible exception of AQAP, seem much more concerned about attacking domestic targets as opposed to spending their resources on a much more difficult attack on the other side of the planet.

The Cheneys have a chronic state of denial. 

Whom unleashed the beast by diverting the legitimate war in Afghanistan to Iraq?

Now, whom is sincerely dangerous?

Rural hospitals should never be closed.

The Hill - Burton Grant Act of 1946 (click here) established small community and rural hospitals all over the USA. The US federal government provided matching grants to communities. Those were monies the federal government saw necessary to protect the lives of Americans.

I gave the plight of Pungo Vidant Hospital in Belhaven a good deal of thought yesterday evening and I remembered something. 2010 saw a huge change in Republican state seats in North Carolina. More than had been in power for over one hundred years. North Carolina Republicans are vicious SOBs. There is no nice way to put it. It was later that year when they suspended the acceptance of Medicare at UNC Chapel Hill. Eventually, the hospital leadership persuaded the extremist state legislature to return function back to the citizens relying on UNC Chapel Hill for care. 

Then in 2011 the Republicans lost all respect when they enacted Senate Bill 33—formally known as the Medical Liability Reforms but simply called “tort reform."  It changed procedural rules and laws related to North Carolina’s medical malpractice law. What the law states is no physician carries any liability for deaths in emergency rooms.

I took a ride to several hospitals yesterday in the area. Baptist Wake Forest had a waiting time of over 4 hours. There was a young girl in the waiting room with her mother that had been there for 3 hours. She was having seizures.

The CEO of Baptist hospital is a man by the name of John D. McConnell, MD. The MD is questionable right now. 

In 2008, John D. McConnell, MD, (click here) was named as the first chief executive officer in the history of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, the largest employer in the Piedmont Triad, including almost 90% of the region's physicians listed among the "Best Doctors in America."...

He sits in a chair in his office, but, from what I have read and observed on newscasts it would seem as though he belongs on a Parrot perch simply because any of his public statements parrots Republican dogma. For carrying out this 'parroting behavior' he has been given a brand new cancer center there on his campus.

Totaling more than 530,000 square feet, (click here) the cancer hospital is the largest cancer facility in the state and consolidates both outpatient and inpatient services into a single location. All inpatient rooms are private and filled with natural light, and include recliners and sleeper sofas to accommodate family members. 

He planned and built this monstrosity with tax payers money and in order to keep the treasury full enough to complete the building of it he laid off hospital personnel.

I think Wake Forest is a private hospital. The NC Republican legislature likes private anything including universities.

Posted: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 9:49 am
Updated: 2:22 pm, Thu Apr 11, 2013.
Richard Craver/Winston-Salem Journal

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (click here) has been warning since April that a workforce blow was coming to reflect the new economic realities of operating an academic medical center.

The hammer fell Wednesday when the center said it was eliminating 950 positions, including 475 held by current employees, by June 30 – the end of its 2012-13 fiscal year.

The restructuring is “designed to position the institution for success aligned with the challenges of health-care reform, federal budget deficits and a decline in research funding from The National Institutes of Health and private industry,” according to a statement from the center Wednesday....

CEO McConnell blames the Obama administration for all this trouble the people of Winston-Salem is experiencing and never the fact McCrory has his Republican state government refusing the Medicaid Expansion.

Vidant Health is the Trauma Center for Eastern North Carolina. Eastern North Carolina has a huge coastline. The size of the area is appreciated when realizing the state actually has two coastlines; the Intercoastal Waterway (click here), the actual state coastline and the coast line of the Outer Banks.

Vidant Health is insufficient to carry the responsibilities for the coastal needs of the state, especially considering the chances of tourists being injured while at the beach. It was Vidant Health that purchased and closed Pungo Vidant Hospital in Belhaven.

McCrory is real happy there is a hurricane coming, because he gets to call the people of North Carolina names.

Submitted by WWAY on Wed, 07/02/2014 - 1:52pm

..."Don't put your stupid hat on," (click here) McCrory said during a news conference at the New Hanover County Emergency Operations Center this afternoon. "Usually most injuries occur right before a storm or right after a storm, so especially on the coastal area, we want to make sure people don't try out the great waves before the storm comes, even though they are good waves. We don't want you to go into the ocean."...

If Governor McCrory believes there are people in the path of a hurricane and believes they are too stupid to take shelter, if there is any shelters, he should not have cut the state's education budget.

The Governor of North Carolina is rightfully calling attention to the hurricane as it makes it's way up the coast, but, besides enjoying his name calling of the people of his state, he is relieved attention can be diverted from his corrupt administration with all kinds of problems manifesting across the state, including water pollution and now it would seem a health care crisis with 'for profit' health organizations closing hospitals.

Pat McCrory is a perfect storm as a governor. He likes the state legislature and mostly goes along with their hideous priorities. He disagrees with them enough to maintain an image for re-election.

Pungo Vidant Hospital in Belhaven was closed even with 'human rights' cries of protecting human life. Why? Because Vidant doesn't have to worry about the deaths of the people in Belhaven because there is no financial liability to the health care organization when people die because of their decision.

I had lived in North Carolina for 11 years. One of the pride and joys of the state were the state of the art hospitals, world class physicians, world class state university system and it's compassion for the poor. At one time North Carolina was second to California for the preservation of wildlife and the appreciation for forests and coastal habitat. 

Since 2010, the North Carolina legislature along with a self-righteous governor has become a detriment to the people, corrupt to the core of the state's government, immoral to values of human health and human life and a hazard to the state's economy.

Pungo Vidant Hospital in Belhaven needs someone like Former Senator and UNC System President Erskine Bowels and Former Senator John Edwards to advocate and file a lawsuit against Vidant and the State of North Carolina for endangering human life with their reckless laws and indifference to the people of the state.

North Carolina has become dangerous and CEO's like John McConnell is a prime example of it. People will die in North Carolina emergency rooms and quite possibly before they reach the emergency room and it won't matter to anyone.

The State of North Carolina is currently run by ideologues. Why? Because they have no ideas, can't think worth a damn and get away with murder because they pass laws permitting it.

North Carolina (click here) Gov. Pat McCrory laughs as he shakes hands with Mitt Romney on Aug. 12, 2012, in High Point, N.C. Somewhere offstage, Art Pope is pulling the strings....

2013 proved to be a tumultuous year (click here) in North Carolina politics, and a leading journalist's TV show will examine the battles underway in a documentary that will begin airing this week -- and that draws on research by the Institute for Southern Studies, publisher of Facing South....

Tornadoes in Chicago yesterday have arrived with warnings in New York today.

Staff report

11:12 a.m. CDT, July 2, 2014

About 80,000 customers (click here) remain without power from Monday's violent storms, most of them in the hardest hit south suburbs where some residents may not see electricity restored until Friday, according to Commonwealth Edison.

As of 10 a.m., 78,000 customers to the south of Chicago were still without power, ComEd said.  About 2,100 customers in Chicago were affected by outages, 150 to the north and 960 to the west....

This was the required staffing of the US Embassy in Iraq as of 2012 AFTER US troops ended their occupation.

As of early July, (click here) according to DoS, 15,007 personnel were supporting the U.S. Mission in Iraq:

•  1,235 U.S. government civilian employees (includes full-time and temporary government employees and personal-services contractors)
•  13,772 contractor personnel (U.S., Iraqi, and third-country nationals), 5,737 of whom were providing security services

There are growing reasons to end the presence of any US military personnel. Contractors are leaving as any allies have evacuated already.

June 18, 2014

ExxonMobil (click here) has carried out a "major evacuation,'' and BP had evacuated 20 percent of its staff, the head of Iraq's state-run South Oil Company said Wednesday.

Dhiya Jaffar also said ENI, Schlumberger, Weatherford and Baker Hughes had no plans to evacuate staff from Iraq following the lightning advance of Sunni militants through the country. The companies, which are based in southern Iraq where the government is still in firm control, were not immediately available for comment.

"This message is not satisfactory for us. We are not convinced the work should not be done remotely. They should be here on the ground,'' Jaffar told Reuters.

"I assure the companies that the current developments in the country have not affected and will not affect in anyway the operations in the south,'' he said, adding that the export level for June will be 2.7 million barrels per day.

CNBC could not immediately confirm the evacuations....

July 1, 2014
Indian government (click here) flies back citizens from Najaf, Karbala and Baghdad as evacuations continue from war-torn region. Efforts on to secure release of 39 abductees.

As many as 94 Indians left Iraq on Monday after a "pro-active approach" initiated by the Indian officials there that would see nearly 600 nationals leaving the war-torn country to safety this week. 

Indian officials in Iraq are reaching out to fellow-countrymen themselves, and are busy facilitating the paperwork and ticketing for those who need it to enable them to fly back home, a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson said. 

"The facilitation of Indian nationals in Iraq in areas which are not in conflict zones is now underway," the spokesperson said, adding that special mobile teams are reaching out to residences of Indians in Najaf, Karbala, Basra and Baghdad advising them to leave the country. ...

I am concerned for Belhaven, NC with the closure of their hospital and the nearest being 40 miles away. Helicopters don't fly in hurricanes.

July 14, 2014

0430z

UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of the North and West Hemisphere

From twin tornadoes to dual coastal hurricanes. 

Pacific storms have been spinning for a few days already. The trend is for one storm to begin immediately after another dissipates. There have already been two Cat 4 storms in the Pacific. Currently the only active storm in the eastern Pacific is Tropical Storm Douglas.

The first storm of the Atlantic season could cause problems exactly where a hospital has been closed. This is going to be a challenge for that community. I would not be surprised if Tropical Storm Arthur can move more inland than currently expected. 

Arthur is a typical post 2005 storm, in that it manifested as a 'near shore' storm. There is a couple of things rapidly occurring. There is turbulence immediately offshore of North Carolina now. There is also a higher tropspheric storm in the center of the country over Kansas that has a high water vapor air mass immediately south of it. If it absorbs that water vapor it could fuel it's acceleration and provide a new vector to the current trajectory of the Atlantic storm. I am trying to dismiss that, but, if the Kansas vortex picks up velocity it could drag the Atlantic inshore as far as Charlotte to Ashville. The upper winds might change that, but, right now I would be remiss to disregard that potential.

July 2, 2014
1430z
UNISYS Water Vapor West and North Hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop)