$2.5 billion sales tax hike. Sales tax takes money away from those trying to save for their first home.

January 31, 2013
By Hannah Franklin

Ohio poverty statistics: (click here)
 
- 1 in 6 Ohioans live below the national poverty level.

- Our statewide poverty rate is 16.4; the national rate is 15.9

- 42.3% of those living in poverty work full- or part-time.

- Poverty increased in Ohio by 57.7% between 1999 and 2011, though the population only increased 1.7%

- Over the past 22 years, the hourly wage of Ohio’s richest 10% increased by $3.99, while wages for low-income workers decreased by 71 cents and those for middle-income workers by $1.34.

- 1 in 12 Ohioans living in poverty has a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Cleveland’s poverty rate in 2009 was 26.3%; in 2011, it was 34.3% (a 7.3% increase)....

re: City of robots and rude people - 11/21/2010 - 2/18/2013
I have lived in major cities--New York, Los Angeles and Chicago--and I am overwhelmed with the rudeness that I have to deal with on a daily basis in Columbus, OH. My ex wife dragged me here so she could be close to her family and I seriously do not know what is wrong with these people, other than the fact that they worship boys' football here, and the violence is embedded in the pysches. Again, I come from what is considered tough cities, but I have never been in a physical confrontation until I got here. My neighbor, whom I don't even know, stared me down like he wanted to kill me after I had said hello. People are either angry or dismissive for no reason. And the "We don't do things that way here." attitude permeates throughout this town. I am moving in a month and cannot wait. This place is hell. 

Everyone knows a state sales tax increase effects the Poor more than anyone else. Republicans love to raise sales tax or add on fees here or there. Sales tax is always paid by out of state tourists and a person can decide to get involved with fees. So, the Republicans never tax the resident, it is always everyone else's money.

February 3, 2015
By Randy Ludlow

Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s (click here) budget plan to decrease income taxes by 23 percent while tacking an additional half-cent onto the state sales tax would deliver a few hundred dollars in tax savings to many Ohio families.
But the savings would be less for poorer families since they pay little income tax and spend a larger percentage of their income on sales taxes than more-fortunate Ohioans.
Kasich unveiled the latest step toward his goal of eliminating the state income tax yesterday when he rolled out his recommendations for the $72.3 billion state budget for the two years beginning July 1.
A $5.7 billion tax reduction from the state income tax cut combines with nearly $5.2 billion in tax increases for a net $523 million in tax savings....

Kasick is the latest Brownback Wannabee.

This short film received an Academy Award. It tells the story of how an emergency worker connects with veterans.

Within the film one of the workers state they recant the words of the veteran to maintain that connection to them. They don't make "I" statements such as I understand or I have been you, but, there is an accepted practice of maintaining the words of the veteran to relay the clear understanding they are connected with their feelings. 

This film is rather incredible. The agency has no limits to make a connection to a veteran at risk to take his own life. They do make a difference. 

February 23, 2015
By David Wood

...McDonald, (click here) a retired corporate executive who took over the VA last June as the agency was sinking in scandal, made the claim in late January as he was touring a rundown Los Angeles neighborhood during a nationwide count of homeless veterans. He was accompanied by a CBS-TV news crew, which recorded an exchange between McDonald and a homeless man who told McDonald he had served in special forces....

The Secretary carries his cell phone with him to allow veterans to reach him. It sounds as though he did try to connect with the veteran on the phone especially with a news crew accompanying him. 

I think Secretary McDonald is genuine and sincere about his dedication to the veterans he is trying to serve. His attention to detail was probably off in his willingness to connect with a veteran. He is also new to this agency. I think he needs to be better practiced with the emergency call center in order to be the best person to connect with by our military personnel.

There is currently an average of 22 veterans dying of self-inflicted wounds everyday. There are more deaths in the Homeland than the war. I can understand how Secretary McDonald felt a need to be of service to the people he serves. I think he wanted to make a difference and it went awkwardly. The question I have is how is the veteran, did he get his problem solved?  

One of the reasons any leader would take such a role is to be sure his work is translating into a difference for the end user. That has been the one plague the Veteran's Administration can claim as their own. The end user of the VA is not being saved or satisfied. I think Secretary McDonald wanted to know from the end user of his department that it was working for them.

The USA does not need or does it want another oil pipeline. There are plenty of old pipelines that can be replaced without causing harm to farmland or native American lands.

The High Plains aquifer underlies 174,000 mi² in parts of eight States—Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. (click here)

While George W. Bush was in office as President all we heard was how China was emitting carbon dioxide without regard to the problems created by that Greenhouse Gas. 

Then in a Senate session the country heard how the Senate states there is a definite problem called global warming. 

Well, unlike the Republican Senate and House, President Obama acted to reduce the pollution of these dangerous atmospheric gases. He brought a historic agreement with China to reduce Greenhouse Gases.

The EPA has issued regulations to eliminate old power plants that cause 24.5 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions of the USA. A joint proposal was achieved by the EPA that reflected an agreement among EPA, NHTSA, California, and most major automakers to improve CAFE standards through 2025. Those CAFE standards should be a point of pride for all Americans. It seeks to reduce CO2 emissions with all vehicles while increasing the mileage per gallon American cars deliver. CAFE standards have been enacted since 1975 and supported by bipartisanship. (click here)

President Obama has stated he will be vetoing the Keystone XL Pipeline legislation sent to his desk today from Congress. He is doing the right thing. The US Congress needs to respect his decisions considering he has been incredibly loyal to the best outcome of the USA in relation to other countries in reducing dangerous emissions.

The USA has an obligation to eliminate as much Greenhouse Gas emissions as possible. There is much that is possible in reducing and ultimately eliminating emissions of greenhouse gases. Considering President Obama was able to achieve an agreement with China there is no reason for him to sign a political legislative agenda of Republicans that insults that agreement. Tar Sands oil is the most carbon dense oil production on the planet. Why reverse the record of the USA when there has been such success on all fronts to date? 

February 13, 2015 
LINCOLN — A Nebraska judge (click here) has halted condemnation of private land for the Keystone XL pipeline, while new legal challenges to the project make their way through the courts.
Nearly 70 landowners sought the temporary injunction Thursday to block TransCanada Corp. from using eminent domain to secure right-of-way for the controversial oil pipeline....

This is what Congress was seeking to undo providing a Canadian company with American land through eminent domain. Canada does not have the right to declare eminent domain on US soil. The Congress doesn't see the danger to these demands? US citizens will lose private property rights because any government in the world decides to build on American land! I don't think so! These are some of the most productive farmlands in the world and a foreign government is suppose to be allowed to leverage power over them according to the Republican House and Senate.

Putting traffic officers at train crossings is the only way to stop this. Or institute elevated rail.

Federal law already exists to stop truck drivers and bus drivers before they cross the rails. The drivers are suppose to look both ways before proceeding. This is with or without the signal arms in motion. The law requires these drivers to wait if there is a train present in their visual field. The only way these drivers are to proceed is if it becomes obvious the train is stopped and not moving. 

February 24, 2015
By Joseph Serna

Metrolink train derailed in Oxnard (click here) early today after colliding with a tractor trailer on the tracks. It was a "multi-casualty" crash, officials said.
Four cars derailed and at least 30 people were injured. Train cars were lying on their side at the scene, where tarps were laid out to treat the injured.
The collision occurred about 5:40 a.m. at 5th Street and Rice Avenue....

For immediate relief from this tragedy, officers are should be employed to handle traffic at these crossings. This and the previous tragedy occurred near cities at busy crossings.

The reason buses are to stop at rails is because their cargo is children. There should be every precaution to protect young lives.

There is absolutely no way of predicting if crossing arms can mechanically fail either. That is why the regulations exist.

The reason trucks are suppose to stop at all rail crossings is because they are heavy and longer than normal traffic, so, they will have longer crossing times that puts them in the path of trains moving quickly. Estimating the arrival of a train at a crossing is bad practice. The ability to estimate the arrival of a train when all that can be seen is the front of the engine is unrealistic. It should not ever enter the driving strategy of anyone, including passenger car/van operators.

The long term goals should be to institute elevated rail for higher speed trains and otherwise. The intersection of roads and rails should be outlawed. 

The same impossible standards are at play today as in 2009.

April 8, 2009
By FOX News

...The spokesman (click here) pointed out a lengthy response Obama gave at a town hall meeting in California in March, when Obama called for strengthening the border and creating a pathway to citizenship for some illegal immigrants. He did not give a timeframe, however, for when this debate would occur. 

"This is not going to be a free ride. It's not going to be some instant amnesty," Obama said at the time. "What's going to happen is you are going to pay a significant fine. You are going to learn English. You are going to go to the back of the line so that you don't get ahead of somebody who was in Mexico City applying legally. But after you've done these things, over a certain period of time you can earn your citizenship."...

I would like President Obama to say, the standards demanded of the country to carry out immigration reform are impossible to reach and Congress has to change their methodology in drawing up the law.

The rant about border security and paying taxes and a fine are huge hurdles. I realize the Hispanic community and their legislators 'go along in an attempt to get along' to bring relief to their community in the USA, but, it isn't right, moral or realistic.

Ronald Reagan signed a bill stating the influx of the Undocumented had to stop and then provided amnesty to those already in the USA. The influx never stopped and this is how the right wing has imposed an impossible standard for their political position. 

There has been enormous amounts of money put into closing any flaws in the southern border, but, the truth is all those measures have failed in some way. The fence was caught up in shifting sands and had to be reworked to keep the fence floating on sand rather than being buried by it. These are very costly measures. The idea the southern border can be closed 100% belongs in the research lab rather than throwing good money after bad. The approach to closing the border is nothing but political. There is no real research about our southern border to guide the way forward. 

With the reality the southern border has never had a measure to close any flaws it remains the government's problem and not that of an immigrant population already here.

That said, the promise to the Undocumented is obvious. That promise should have a degree of brevity in the methodology of providing relief to the Hispanic community. There is also the reality young people have grown up in the USA, known no other country as their own and should be allowed to stay without question. 

The morality of the question regarding immigration reform is dense with proof. The H2 Visa program is victimizing human beings. Additionally the young people that have grown up in this country belong here. They are ours. We have spent monies to educate them and no doubt there were monies spent to maintain their health and well being. It was the right thing to do when they were young and it the right thing to do today. 

Those young people have families and we are victimizing our own by stating the family has to be split up and Undocumented family has to return to Mexico. These families have been in the USA long enough to raise their children. It is a generation of family in this country. They belong here as well. 

Fines and taxes are wrong unless the family/individual has a highly successful income. Below $250,000 per year is the standard to determine wealth in most legislation when it comes up. There is always the complaint that Middle Class in NYC is actually below $400,000. Basically, that is not the majority problem of the USA and decisions regarding what wealth is and is not should be determined by the majority of Americans, not the chosen few that haven't made it to the status of million/billionaire at the hand of taxation. Boo-hoo.

Analyzing any applicant for citizenship that have been in the USA for decades should require a background check and then it should be moved to litigation to determine any fines or detention in a prison facility. That has to be levied in the USA, but, to deport anyone after decades of time in the USA is a criminal record they earned here and not in Mexico. Why should Mexico be forced to mitigate criminals who have earned their activities in the USA? These people will simply be turned loose in Mexico to carry out their crimes there. Mexico does not need more corruption, it needs far less.

So, the entire DEMANDS by the politicians in the USA to facilitate voters' favor in elections is based in fantasy and not reality. The USA has benefited by the Undocumented, there is absolutely no reason to treat them less than a citizen. 

The current methodology demanded in any proposals has to be trashed and reality has to be instilled. These are people, not a commodity. I realize that is a stretch for Republicans, but, they can move forward with a far different methodology WITHOUT costing the taxpaying Americans any more hardship. By the way, the longer politicians take to pass immigration reform, the US Treasury will be lacking income. That lack of income is not the problem of the Undocumented, they want to stay and pay taxes, it is the political football that is keeping them from being vested as a full citizen.  

Could the Democrats of 2009-10 have passed comprehensive immigration reform?

June 19, 2009

President Obama (click here) this morning told a Hispanic audience that he remains committed to comprehensive immigration reform and upholding "America's tradition of a nation of laws and a nation of immigration."

"Those things aren't contradictory, they're complementary," Mr. Obama said at the Esperanza National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast. "That's why I'm committed to passing comprehensive immigration reform."

He said the United States should strengthen its border security and also "clarify the status of miillions who are here illegally."

Those who wish to become citizens should be required to pay a penalty, learn English, and get to the back of the line behind those who came here by the rules, he said.

"We must never forget the promise of America has been renewed by immigrants who make their story part of the American story," Mr. Obama said....

Was it all lip service for political gain? Some of the focus was due to legislation passed under "W." The Guest Worker was his. The border came into focus because of the September 11th attacks. The border still isn't secure. It never will be 100% secure and is a problem to move immigration reform forward. The Republicans know there are no chance of 100% security. 

There is significant immigration reform surrounding the Guest Worker program. If the program isn't working then reform should include getting rid of it. The USA doesn't need human rights abuses of their Undocumented.

February 2013

...Congress should look before it leaps. (click here) The current H-2 program, which provides temporary farmworkers and non-farm laborers for a variety of U.S. industries, is rife with labor and human rights violations committed by employers who prey on a highly vulnerable workforce. It harms the interests of U.S. workers, as well, by undercutting wages and working conditions for those who labor at the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. This program should not be expanded or used as a model for immigration reform....

,,,Bound to a single employer and without access to legal resources, guestworkers are routinely:

• Cheated out of wages

• Forced to mortgage their futures to obtain low-wage, temporary jobs

• Held virtually captive by employers or labor brokers who seize their documents

• Subjected to human trafficking and debt servitude

• Forced to live in squalid conditions

• Denied medical benefits for on-the-job injuries.

Former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel put it this way: “This guestworker program’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to slavery.”

There are many reasons the reform should go forward, this is just one of them.

...When the Southern Poverty Law Center published the first version of this report in 2007, we recommended reform or repeal of the H-2 program. Unfortunately, even after the enactment of modest reforms in recent years, guestworker programs today are still inherently abusive and unfair to both U.S. and foreign workers....

The Southern Poverty Law Center offers the conclusion it is an abusive program that has to end. The H-2 Visa program has been the excuse for politicians who evade immigration reform. All too often a politician will state, "We just have to add more H-2s and that will solve the problem. That is not the case.
 
Although the H-2A and H-2B programs (click here) offer different terms and benefits, they are similar in one significant way: Both programs permit the guestworker to work only for the employer who petitioned the Department of Labor (DOL) for his or her services. If the work situation is abusive or not what was promised, the worker has little or no recourse other than to go home. That puts the worker at a distinct disadvantage in terms of future opportunities in the United States, because his ability to return during any subsequent season depends entirely on an employer’s willingness to submit a request to the U.S. government. In practical terms, it means that an employee is much less likely to complain about wage violations or other abuses.

There are school closings across the country.

The northeast is understandable as there is cold and snow fall today, but, Oklahoma?

February 24, 2015


The following schools in the Tulsa area will be closed Tuesday: (click here)

Bixby

Bristow
Broken Arrow
Coweta
Dove Science Academy
Glenpool
Henryetta...

Bixby is less than 600 feet above sealevel. Altitude has nothing to do with the weather in Oklahoma today.

There is sincere hope the ceasefire in Ukraine will sustain.

February 24, 2015
By VOA News

Rebels in war-torn eastern Ukraine (click here) said they have begun pulling back heavy weapons from the frontlines, as required by an internationally brokered cease-fire.
Top rebel commander Eduard Basurin said the withdrawal began at 9 a.m. local time Tuesday. The move could not be independently confirmed.
Ukrainian military officials have not responded, but have insisted they will not pull weapons off the frontlines as long as the fighting continues.
Kyiv said rebel attacks persisted Tuesday near the port city of Mariupol and near Debaltseve, which the Russia-backed separatists captured last week.,,,

Here is comes. Failed infrastructure due to frigid weather. This is going to be a chronic problem.

I have been surprised any infrastructure did so well up to now, but, the polar vortex primarily hit the Midwest last year with some episodes on the East Coast. 

February 20, 2015
By Jeannette Reyes

WASHINGTON (AP/WJLA) - Cracked rails (click here) due to cold weather and switch issues are causing headaches for commuters using the rails early Friday morning in the D.C. area....

States need to be checking bridge and road infrastructure. The rails are not the only infrastructure under stress. 

I have my doubts about commercial airliners. They are exposed to cold and pressure changes in the upper troposphere, but, I'd keep a close eye on the jet's fuselage anyway. That goes for military jets as well. The enemy to jets isn't cold necessarily, but, the heat and expanding fuselage past what their design provided.

There is a bigger and more eminent problem with jets, namely turbulence. 

The rails are contracting beyond their design. This was all known. Sidewalks have been exploding in the southern margin of the country and expansion of the rails in that same area has slowed trains. There are going to be major problems from here forward. If carbon dioxide wasn't so loved by Republicans and their crony petroleum industry this could have all been avoided. The USA runs on movement. This is going to hurt.

Shipping lanes will probably be okay. The Arctic Circle is primarily sea ice as of this year. It still is a fairly hostile place, but, the icebergs will diminish in number and size. Antarctica has increasing sea ice because of the water run off, but, the icebergs will remain sizable. The ice shelves will completely collapse. There is a question about the terraces. The terraces can collapse and fall into the circumpolar circulation if they can't sustain their structure without the shelves. 

Antarctica ice is complicated. It flows and is not a completely solid ice structure. Because the ice flows it is a single structure. When the peripheral ice breaks down it effects the structural ice all the way to the highest glaciers. If the weight of the glaciers prove to be too much for the existing ice structures supporting them, there can be catastrophic outcomes. 

The only other factor is the ocean waters itself. The ice shelves are exposed to a warmer circumpolar circulation and deteriorate faster. There is a question to the extent hot air will cause deterioration of the land based ice structures. So far the land based ice has been melting and running off the continent. There is no guarantee that will continue in the same way once all the shelves are gone.

The Congress needs to pass a continuing resolution for Homeland Security.

The real problem with defunding any aspect of Homeland Security is that it attacks the small businesses through out the USA.

Many Small Businesses are funded through the relationship DHS has with the Small Business Administration (click here). Additionally, many of the programs of DHS are implemented at the local level. So, with Republicans unwilling to fund DHS at all levels there is a very good chance some local initiatives and small businesses will face profound losses in their income and be faced to make choices including closing the doors for any business.

The cost to a Republican temper tantrum is not faceless or nameless.

There are also allies relying on funding to Homeland Security. (click here)

The Congress cannot defund immigration and fund everything else and expect DHS to be effective. Defunding immigration will be a welcome sign at the southern border.  

...B. Program Priorities (click here)

The National Preparedness System is the instrument the Nation employs to build, sustain, and deliver core capabilities in order to achieve the National Preparedness Goal (the Goal) of a secure and resilient Nation. Complex and far - reaching threats and hazards require a collaborative and whole community approach to national preparedness that engages individuals, families, communities, private and nonprofit sectors, faith -based organizations, and all levels of government.

Google is censuring content. I am not changing anything about this blog.

Blogs are not the national news. They bring a point of view to anyone who cares to read the content. There are ways of opting out of viewing a blog if the reader doesn't like the content. Censorship at Google? Really? What's next, asking pretty please in order to write on Blogger?

Nudity is not the problem, breaking the law is the problem. Victimizing every person that has a Blog compliments of Google is not the way to address issues with women's body image use by Hollywood. There are very important women in Hollywood voicing their concerns regarding inequity in society that impact women and the Middle Class. They are respected. Censorship limits the voices in the community and victimizes.

February 24, 2015

Google-owned (click here) blogging platform Blogger will no longer allow its users to post sexually explicit content, the company confirmed today. In a statement sent via email to selected Blogger users, Google said it would no longer allow blogs to feature "graphic nude images or video" from March 23rd. Any blogs that continued to show explicit images would be made private after that date — while graphic images and videos would remain, Google says they would only be visible to the blog owner, admins, and other people who the owner shared it with.

This may be in response to sexual assault that occurs on the net. It was noticeable Jennifer Lawrence wasn't at the Oscars. She went shopping instead.

Jennifer Lawrence (click here) finally speaks out in the new Vanity Fair about her hacked nude photos and she is really, really angry – at whoever stole the pics and at anyone who looked at them.

“It is not a scandal,” she tells the magazine. “It is a sex crime.”

Oh, and for the record, she’s not sorry she took the photos....

If she is going to be an activist for women, she should consider the role she plays when participating in movie violence among children such as the Hunger Games.

February 23, 2015
By Megan Johnson

...The Hunger Games (click here) actress was spotted cruising through the Shops at the Prudential Center on Sunday. Clad in a gray knit cap and heavy black winter jacket, Lawrence and her bodyguard were spotted in the Back Bay neighborhood toting her dog, Pippi. She was seen again later wearing a different black Moncler jacket with Pippi tucked warmly inside it....

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/stargazing/article2555399.html#storylink=cpy

What I am wondering...

...with the discovery of a Chicago police investigator acting as an agent of torture in Gitmo, were there others from other cities inside the USA?

There is also a 'thing' with Iran and Israel and a connection to South Africa as reported in The Guardian.

February 23, 2015
By Seumas Milne and Ewen MacAskill

...The South African Iran dossier, (click here) marked secret, is 128 pages long and provides biographical details about every suspected Iranian agent in South Africa. It lists their age, marital status, address, car registration, mobile phones, visits in the country and overseas, people they meet, their career before arriving in South Africa and their personal habits....

It has long been believed the Israeli Mossad was assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists within the borders of Iran.

It is interesting how The Guardian is coming up with a good deal of information that implicates the US and Israel in some very underhanded stuff full of lies. 

The Chicago Police department has come under scrutiny by the community due to what family members are calling a cover up of the deaths of African Americans. In particular, there was a young person found in an abandoned building dead. The case was eventually down graded from murder to an unexplainable death. The reason it was downgraded was due to the impact on statistics that benefited the 'promise' by the Mayor he would lower crime rates. 

The Mayor is having an unexpected difficulty in capturing 50 percent of the Democratic vote to insure his second term in office. I don't believe there is a conspiracy, however, it is interesting how these issues are coming to light with Democrats in office.

Americans are growing weary of the lies and corruption. I think much of this is coming to light while Democrats are in office because they didn't know it was being covered up. Oops.

It would be a huge mistake for anyone to get in the way of the truth at this point. I doubt any of this will be discussed in a public hearing by Senate or House Republicans. Their majority is convenient at this point. 

There is a 'thing' about the veto power I think Republicans are going to try to peddle as another illegal act by the President.

Article I, Section 7, Clause 2 (US Constitution)

I am waiting to hear the rhetoric on this one.

There are many people who would appreciate it if "The Guardian" was diminished in it's credibility.

February 23, 2015
By Seumas Milne, Ewen MacAskill and Guy Grandjean
 
Binyamin Netanyahu’s (click here) dramatic declaration to world leaders in 2012 that Iran was about a year away from making a nuclear bomb was contradicted by his own secret service, according to a top-secret Mossad document.

It is part of a cache of hundreds of dossiers, files and cables from the world’s major intelligence services – one of the biggest spy leaks in recent times.

Brandishing a cartoon of a bomb with a red line to illustrate his point, the Israeli prime minister warned the UN in New York that Iran would be able to build nuclear weapons the following year and called for action to halt the process.

But in a secret report shared with South Africa a few weeks later, Israel’s intelligence agency concluded that Iran was “not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons”. The report highlights the gulf between the public claims and rhetoric of top Israeli politicians and the assessments of Israel’s military and intelligence establishment....

Claimants have to look at what their costs are in going through the court system.

The BP stock price hasn't wavered that much after the initial BP disaster in the Gulf.

There is no reason why the claims from those effected by the disaster aren't receiving their money and certainly there is no reason for any claim to be ignored. 

I'll say this much, this is Louisiana. The judges are bought and sold by the petroleum industry. The settlement process if more just than any appeal to the judiciary in the region.

There is a new watchdog on the beat. It is a non-profit corporation called "Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch." (click here)

This is the kind of nonsense LLAW is putting out:

BATON ROUGE, LA (Dec. 16, 2014) — Louisiana (click here) has earned the seventh-highest ranking in the 2014–2015 American Tort Reform Association Judicial Hellholes® report of the worst places to be sued. The state has been singled out for unbalanced courts and excessive legal practices for five consecutive years.

Louisiana dropped from last year’s No. 2 ranking on the ATRA Judicial Hellholes list to No. 7 as a result of promising work by state lawmakers during the 2014 legislative session. However, significant legal reform challenges remain. According to the report, “The shameless feeding frenzy initiated by personal injury lawyers and enabled by a plaintiff-friendly federal judge that began in the wake of 2010’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill continues, seemingly unabated, and other long-standing problems in civil courts there combine to qualify Louisiana as a Judicial Hellhole for another year.”...

If there is any more tort reform in the south, except for federal judges, the states and otherwise won't need judges. I betcha number one is Texas.

Greed?

Louisiana is one of the most impoverished states in the country. I wish they knew what greed was.

See below for LLAW Executive Director Melissa Landry’s column (click here) about coastal lawsuits and the greed, instead of environmental concerns, that motivates them. The column originally ran in the Louisiana Record. 

Gladstone Jones, a high-powered New Orleans personal injury lawyer, quietly filed several lawsuits on behalf of private property owners – mostly large, out-of-state landowners – against energy companies in Plaquemines and Jefferson parishes late last year.

These lawsuits, filed in the 24th and 25th Judicial District Courts last month, are not Jones’ first attempt to make money off of the hot-button issue.  Jones is the same attorney hired by the South Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East (SLFPA-E), which filed similar litigation targeting many of the same defendants for the same types of damages back in 2013. According to the New York Times, Jones expected the SLFPA-E lawsuit to net “many billions of dollars. Many, many billions of dollars.”

After the Louisiana Legislature passed a bill to kill the SLFPA-E lawsuit, which is now pending in state and federal courts, the new private landowner lawsuits give Jones the proverbial second bite at the apple....

How do you spell Louisiana? C-O-R-R-U-P-T. 

How do you spell morality in Louisiana? P-R-O-L-I-F-E.

Now was does CORRUPT + PROLIFE equal? Republican rhetoric they can be proud of.

The BP Deepwater Horizon complainants are being squeezed by the justice system and other non-profits that are thriving on making an issue of corrupt people rather than corrupt government. I think the Justice Department needs to step in to review some of the proceedings and possibly remedy this into a class action suit. There is suppose to be a $20 billion fund that can be added to if the liabilities are higher than $20 billion.  

It would be in BP's best interest to settle the lawsuits  ASAP, because, the interest alone on any monetary settlement will only increase the cost to the company. Any of these lawsuits have to ask for interest paid on the losses. If they aren't asking for interest and it is taking this long then the people are not receiving the best the law can provide.

I really don't want to hear any accusations about greed. The largest percentage of the people of Louisiana earn less than $15,000 per year. That is over 16% and the largest percentage in one group of income earners. These folks that are fishermen/women are low income people. They aren't be wealthy folks that can absorb their losses on an income tax return.  The next largest percentage is about 11% and that is folks between $75,000 to $100,000, the next percentage of any size population is 10% and they earn $100,000 to $150,000. So there are the very poor and the healthier upper Middle Class. In Lousiana $150,000 is considered wealthy. Seven percent earn more than $150,000. The rest of the income earners fall below $75,000 per year and are primarily in the $20,000 to $40,000 range. 

The loss to these folks is nearly immeasurable because they were poor to begin with, so when significant money demands comes before any judge, BP screams fraud automatically. There is nothing like a multiple billion dollar company setting itself up to reduce any costs in the USA by locating itself within an impoverished state's borders and paying for elections to enforce that poverty.

When the BP CEO came to the USA that night and told the crew aboard the Deepwater Horizon to push the drilling, that poverty was within that calculation. The USA waters of the Gulf of Mexico aren't in a safety zone when it comes to respect by CEO's that play odds with a financial outcome after the USA laws are applied. 

Republicans? They aren't trustworthy and don't give a damn about the people. The complaints about BP should be on the lips of Bobby Jindal. But, they aren't. The people are pushed around and discarded as trouble makers and liars until the problem goes away. 

I know these bastards and they are corrupt to the core.

Jindal is coming back from DC and the first thing he'll say when asked about the BP Deepwater Disaster is that he talked at length to the President and the AG and everyone is doing all they can. The people will just have to show patience with the process. 

The people victimized by this should load up their pick up trucks with dead shell fish and tar balls and drop it at the door of the state legislature building.

Here is what District Court Judge Janice Clark said about the moral people under the Capital Dome in Baton Rouge. The problem regarding this law will persist because it will be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court regardless of it's unconstitutional content. The AG should step in to ADVISE the Louisiana state Attorney General to improve the status of the people effected by BP.

Judge Clark Concludes Act 544 is Unconstitutional (click here)

By JSH&G 
November 21, 2014
 

On October 31, 2014, the Honorable Judge Janice Clark of 19^th Judicial District Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge issued a minute entry in which she concluded the newly minted Act 544 is unconstitutional.
Judge Clark presides over the matter filed by the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association (“LOGA”) against the Honorable James D. “Buddy” Caldwell, in his capacity as Attorney General for the State of Louisiana.  LOGA filed its suit seeking to invalidate the Attorney General’s approval of the resolution authorizing retention of counsel by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East (“SLFPA-E”) with regard the SLFPA-E’s separate suit against oil, gas and pipeline companies for damages caused to the coastal wetlands.  The SLFPA-E intervened into LOGA’s suit to protect the SLFPA-E’s interest in its contract with its attorneys, and after trial was had on the matter, Judge Clark dismissed LOGA’s suit.
Act 544 was signed into law following the 2014 Louisiana legislative session.  It amends certain provisions of Louisiana’s Coastal Zone Management Act, and its proponents contend it prevents SLFPA-E from pursuing the claims asserted in its pending suit for damages to coastal wetlands.
Following the enactment of Act 544, SLFPA-E filed a motion for entry of final judgment in LOGA’s suit.  The SLFPA-E’s motion outlined the reasons Act 544 does not apply to the SLFPA-E, the reasons Act 544 is unconstitutional, and, thus, the reasons Act 544 should have no impact on Judge Clark’s earlier rulings dismissing LOGA’s suit....

The people are held hostage by Republicans all the time.

December 11, 2014
9:38 pm est
A massive federal spending bill (click here) finally won the House's approval Thursday night, less than three hours before a midnight deadline that threatened a federal shutdown. The measure's fate had been in doubt after it narrowly survived a rules vote earlier in the day. The final tally was 219-206....

Even as the spending bill passed, the Republicans took the Department of Homeland Security as hostage. If any group of people seriously hate this country is it Republicans. As a party they think nothing of taking the people of this country as hostage to their politics. The country doesn't matter to them. If it did, these antics would not exist.

What is the worst the Democrats do, fund Food Stamps? That's a problem, huh? 

It is no different than congressional votes to end the ACA. Why? The ACA is completely funded, there is absolutely no reason to deprive the people of the USA health care. No one is asking the congress to do anything outrageous with the national treasury. Providing health care to the underserved and food to the poor. 

Excuse me? We need to fund Homeland Security because there are problems in the world and the USA is a target along with allies. This is ridiculous.  

April 15, 2015 the list of pork barrel projects will be published. There isn't that much to object to. The worst is the Denali Commission which received a little over $1 million. It is an agency that oversees utility needs of distant communities in Alaska. That's pork? Really? 

The outcome to the fire in Dubai is credited to the security officers.

February 21, 2015

A fire (click here) that ripped through a luxury residential tower in Dubai’s Marina district early Saturday morning engulfed several stories and displaced hundreds, but caused no casualties, according to multiple news reports....

The thing is, most high rise apartments run fire drills. That has been my experience. So, everyone is well schooled on how to respond to fires. But, this fire by all standards should have caused deaths and didn't. That is the word coming out of Dubai.

There is nothing wrong with making citizens in the USA aware of potential danger and how to respond. It's called public awareness announcements. People pay attention to such things. Any such practice by media is appreciated. It brings safety consciousness to the forefront of life. It is a good thing. 

It is so simple to create an atmosphere of awareness. In malls, the security department can hand out pamphlets to any shopper and encourage them to read it as a matter of concern by the mall management. 

Promoting security and awareness is not going to drive people away from the mall. It proves the management cares about their customers and takes their safety seriously in the face of threats. Security should have a higher profile these days. The only folks that will find such security status a problem is shoplifters.

Here is a simple straight forward awareness everyone should know in any mall, "The Exit Signs." Create awareness starting around "Exit signs." There should be security guards outside the exits during a time of emergency, too. To direct traffic out of the doors.

The Dubai fire was at 2 AM. The odds were there would be dead people. Amazing.

Congress has basically guaranteed Americans are on their own when it comes to dying at malls. Funding Homeland what?

The most likely attack on any mall in the USA would be an abandoned backpack. Any form of threat should be reported to mall security immediately. I am sure the employees in the mall are trained to respond quickly by contacting security to any perceived threat.

The claim to fame by "The Mall of America" brags about being big is to bring business to those that lease the space. It prides itself on being as much of a tourist attraction as it is a mall.

This is not that a creative an attack either. We have been here before when post 911 malls were a worry to many citizens. There was also a wacko that turned himself loose in a New Jersey mall. This type of danger exists and it exists without any extremist group calling for hatred of America from within it's borders. We have lone wolves all the time in the USA. So, this is just another wacko or bunch of wackos.

It is times like this I wish the country would pay attention to the nonsense with guns. Supposedly people are suppose to arm themselves to stop the attack before it begins. Really? If a bunch lunatics dressed in black show up with military style weapons to reek havoc in the mall, there is going to be enough citizens in the mall with body armor and military style weapons to stop the attack, huh?

The sporting goods stores might have guns hanging on the walls, but, I am fairly confident the ammunition is locked up. Let's see Walmart probably has enough weapons and ammunition to start a small war. Is there a Walmart in the mall? Nope. Everyone is shit out of luck, there is no Walmart (click here).

I guess any shoppers have to scope out the place to where the weapons are. But, come with ammunition as soon as the intelligence about the weapons is out on the net. That and wire cutters. If there are metal detectors there is a chance they won't let you in the mall anyway. That shoots that idea about bringing your own weapon. Concealed carry, but, AK47s is really stretching that idea, too. I am fairly confident any military style weapon that can't be placed under a jacket is out of the question.

February 23, 2015
By CNN
 
After a siege at a Kenyan mall (click here) two years ago, the FBI started staging mock attacks in U.S. shopping centers during off hours to test their readiness, an official said.
More than 60 people died when Al-Shabaab militants raided an upscale mall in Nairobi and held shoppers hostage for four days.
The terror group released a video Saturday calling for similar attacks in malls in the United States, Canada and the UK.
Although Homeland Security and the FBI say they are not aware of a specific, credible plot against U.S. malls, they’ve worked to improve security in light of the attack in Kenya.
Last year, the FBI teamed up with various malls nationwide to increase preparedness, a law enforcement official told CNN. It tested the readiness of SWAT teams by staging fake attacks at malls when they were closed, the official said.
Since then, the FBI has had a program that works with malls to improve security, the official said....

Could it be anymore of a target for those that hate the USA?

.57 miles is the walking distance (click here) around one level of Mall of America

I thought the walking distance was larger than that. Seriously. The reason I was surprised is because it is small enough to secure. I thought it would be a complete nightmare. It is reasonable to believe it can be secured in a short period of time. But, those that want to cause harm to the mall will seek to find that short period of time and exploit it. I am sure anyone trying to cause deaths will die themselves.

8 acres of skylights allow about 70% of the natural light to enter the Mall

4 out of 10 visitors to Mall of America are tourists

4.3 miles of total store front footage

7 Yankee Stadiums can fit inside the Mall

25 rides and attractions in Nickelodeon Universe^® 

32 Boeing 747s could fit inside the Mall

65 semi-trucks were needed to transport trees to the theme park to create the outdoor feel of an indoor park....

Just go shopping. Think local economy, too. Make me proud and get a job besides.