Husted has no basis for appeal of the oppressive Ohio voting laws.

The 15th Amendment is very clear, African American Men are not to be discriminated against in any way shape or form. THAT is USA Constitutional law. Simply because White Men in Ohio continue to play with Article One, Section 4 of the USA Constitution it does NOT mean it applies to African American Men. It is amazing to me how 'buffaloed' the Republicans have this nation.

...The most direct attack (click here) on the problem of African American disfranchisement came in 1965. Prompted by reports of continuing discriminatory voting practices in many Southern states, President Lyndon B. Johnson, himself a southerner, urged Congress on March 15, 1965, to pass legislation “which will make it impossible to thwart the 15th amendment.” He reminded Congress that “we cannot have government for all the people until we first make certain it is government of and by all the people.” The Voting Rights Act of 1965, extended in 1970, 1975, and 1982, abolished all remaining deterrents to exercising the franchise and authorized Federal supervision of voter registration where necessary.

Let's look at the way voting rights were set up in the original document of the USA Constitution.

Article One

SECTION 4.

The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.

The second paragraph really isn't my concern.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

These are the original words written when the US Constitution was signed. A lot has happened since then.

The Thirteenth Amendment was passed over 100 years later. The wording is straight forward and never did any one passing the 13th amendment believe there would be anything other than freedom of citizenship for Black Men, no different than that of White Men. 

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation

The reason things went so badly after the 13th Amendment was passed is because of the USA Constitution's Article 1, Section 4. I have placed the text above. Every time there are laws passed to dissolve bigotry and provide equality it is removed as soon as White Men at the state level get their hands on it.

As the states tinkered and tinkered and tinkered the Fourteenth Amendment came into being. You think the nation would learn that after two Constitutional Amendments were passed to SECURE the rights of Black Men that would be enough, but, it never is.

The really interesting thing about the 14th Amendment, other than the right of women of any ethnicity to vote, is the fact Section 1 assigns jurisdiction to the United States, not individual states.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Even though the 14th Amendment clearly places jurisdiction of all persons to the federal authority while recognizing the states as entities of those federal borders, there is NOTHING here assigning voting rights laws to the states.

The method of carrying out the vote is still relegated to the states. The organizing of the COUNTING of the ballots and reporting of the counting of the ballots are the responsibility of the jurisdiction reporting for the House of Representatives. In all honesty, it really isn't the states responsible for the vote count, so much as each House of Representative seat in Congress.

The way election laws are administered TODAY by each state is a violation of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendment. Now, how many times is the federal legislature going to pass laws and Constitutional Amendments before it is done correctly with a firm set of federal laws defining the LACK OF CONDITIONS necessary to vote in the USA. There is no identity fraud that cannot be detected with a finger print reader or a simple signature, so to allow this mess to continue is outrageous.

Besides the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the NATION'S Constitution there is also the Voting Rights Act. WHY?

The White Men at the state level continue to game the system because it is allowed, not because it was ever suppose to continue. Why was the 13th amendment every necessary? Aren't black skinned men as human as white skinned men? Why was the 14th Amendment ever necessary? Were women as human as men? Why was the 15th Amendment ever necessary? We are back to the issue of the civil rights of black men born in the USA (I suppose in the mid 1800s they were the Dreamers of the day.).

The states lost their credibility a long time ago to carry out nothing more than the TASK of counting the vote and reporting to the US Congress in the House of Representatives. The states rights to continue to harass minorities ended, in my opinion, with the 14th Amendment. I sincerely believe the 14th Amendment clearly hands accountability of laws to the federal government and the jurisdictional reporting ONLY to the individual federal House seats.

Article One, Section 4 of the USA Constitution was written for 13 states. There was slavery then. It took 100 years and a civil war to stop slavery. It was a moral social issue. Somehow slavery continued due to the clout of the whip and gun and not because the USA Constitution every allowed it in the first place.

The problem today, no different than from the beginnings of this country is bigotry. Today, bigotry seeks control of the outcome of elections. It is a return to the Civil War by allowing the states control over election laws in the year 2012. The states were dissolved of their jurisdiction for setting voting laws a long time ago. 

In the 15th Amendment it clearly states Black Men are not to be impeded in any way. There is no state that is to violate that and currently Husted is in violation of that Constitutional Amendment by targeting a minority demographic, Black Men, to prevent them from casting their vote on an extended timeline. Husted is in violation of the USA Constitution in his very thought of committing the crime of OBSTRUCTING the 15th Amendment.

When the states finally come to terms with the FACT they do not have authority over setting laws regarding voting this circus will stop, but, not before. The vote is a toy for politicians and until the protections of all Americans are standardized at the federal level this monkey business of the White Men will continue.

If Husted files an appeal to a court to SUBVERT the USA Constitution he is in treason of its laws and needs to be arrested immediately.

If our federal government doesn't stand strong for every Section of the USA Constitution and every Amendment we will be in danger of having the entire Constitution dissolved before our eyes by ? states rights ? Someone needs to get this straight. Husted is engaged in unconstitutional activity to subvert the vote with intent to over throw the USA federal government. What of that doesn't anyone understand?

−321 °F or −196 °C, what's your poison? How about a cryodrink?

Drinking Liquid Nitrogen (click here) does not include drinking the fluid, just the vapor.

October 9, 2012 - 6:52AM

British surgeons (click here) removed a teenager's stomach to save her life after she drank a cocktail made with liquid nitrogen during a night out with friends, police said.

The 18-year-old woman, named by newspapers as Gaby Scanlon, complained of breathlessness and gastric pain before being taken to a hospital in the northern English city of Lancaster where she was diagnosed with a perforated stomach.

Scanlon is currently in a serious but stable condition, local police said in a statement.

"Medical opinion is that this would have proved fatal had the operation not been carried out urgently," police said....

Gaby Scanlon ... had her stomach removed.

When it comes to having fun at a party, it does not include attempting to drink something your parents never drank at home.

Please everyone, especially our young and carefree adults, when it comes to Halloween parties be careful. Okay?

The confidence of the Right Wing Media has returned to their broadcasts.

For weeks now the Right Wing Media was playing with lies about national polls to bring loyalty from listeners. Today, the world is a great place and all is correct in national polls. 

Amazing. Last week the pollsters were wrong and today they are more correct than they have ever been before. Nothing like partisan politics to bring out the manipulator in all of them.

...Three new national presidential polls (click here) are out this morning which show the race for the president is a statistical tie between President Obama and Mitt Romney. In the Gallup presidential tracking poll President Obama was ahead by 3% over Romney in the poll released yesterday afternoon, Sunday, October 7, 2012. Obama was at 49% compared to 46% for Romney. Those numbers are unchanged from the previous day. However, the Gallup poll numbers taken directly before the first debate had Obama up 5% with Obama at 50% and Romney at 45%. Then the Gallup numbers taken following the debate Romney closed the gap completely. The Gallup poll numbers taken since the first debate have both Obama and Romney at 47% nationally. Support for Third party candidates combined with undecided voters ranged from 5% to 6% in the Gallup presidential poll. Overall, the Gallup presidential tracking poll is a seven day rolling average....

Was Huawei Russia responsible for this high quality connection?

This interview with Larry King Live was fascinating to me. There was no satellite problems. Most likely it was closed circuit between the then Prime Minister Putin and Mr. King.

The content of the interview with Prime Minister Putin was wonderful enough, but, to realize the exchange between the two gentlemen was seamless really tweaked by curiosity. Here was the former and next President of Russia speaking and reacting to Mr. King's interview as if they were sitting together at a table in Moscow. 

I have never seen such clarity and precision before in any exchange over long distance lines. It was unique. Special in every way.

Part of the problem with national security is being able to maintain certain bands of wavelength for government business, especially the military. 4G creates a problem with that capacity. 4G communications operate in closer proximity to government transmission wavelengths. 

Huawei Technologies Inc., and a second firm, ZTE Inc. are basically unregulated. They operate with abandon in most countries where they provide service. Their capacity to interfere and invade the government wavelength exists. There is no way to stop it, except to exclude it from our airspace.

So what has that got to do with the King interview?

At least one of those companies operates in Russia. Both probably do, I just didn't look into the other.

Huawei Russia (click here)

The point is to get connections so fast that cross a continent and an ocean to appear to be in the same room is a very powerful signal even if it was closed circuit.

The satellites Huawei uses has to be very strong with high intensity signals that can literally knock out the competition even if that competition is a government wavelength. 

The USA's Homeland Security does do some things correctly. The one thing they do well enough is cybercrime and cyberinvasion.

If one looks in the archives of viruses, trojan horses, etc., Chinese hackers have been high on the list of insults to global networks. As a matter of fact they were jailed for years until China decided they could serve the government well and put them to work. The prowess is significant and they do not obey laws either national or international.

Huawei is not the usual telecommunications company. I am sure the leadership at Huawei will view this as a defeat for their empire, but, they will have to learn to work within parameters that do not threaten national security and sovereignty of any country, not just the USA.

There is no reason for a completely Chinese lead company with its headquarters in China to seek an IPO in NYC.

Hang Seng win streak ends (click here)
(10-08 16:35)
Hong Kong shares closed down 0.89 percent, breaking a five-day rally, as regional markets ended lower on concerns bout Europe's debt crisis.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 187.82 points to 20,824.56 on turnover of HK$43.39 billion, AFP reports. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Chinese shares tumbled 1.3 percent.
Shares in China closed down 0.56 percent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 11.75 points to 2,074.42 on turnover of 44.8 billion yuan.

China has a lot to do to secure a single currency. But, it needs companies like  Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. to stabilize Chinese stock futures and further the promise of the people of China.

U.S. panel: Chinese tech giants pose security threat (click here)

Originally published Sunday, October 7, 2012 at 8:06 PM

By Ken Dilanian

Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The federal government should "view with suspicion" attempts by two Chinese telecommunications companies to expand in the U.S. market because of a strong risk that they would aid spying and cybertheft by China, a yearlong investigation by the House intelligence committee concluded.

House investigators working for Democrats and Republicans said in a report that Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp., two private companies with deep ties to the Chinese ...

The USA has standards to prevent cybercrime. There is considerable monies invested by the USA for the technical infrastructure to combat invasion into systems and failure of security to the private sector already established in the USA. It would be remiss of the USA to allow questionable technologies with far more invasive capacity to market in this country.

There is also a moral side to the Romney / Ryan ticket that bothers me.

I would sincerely like both Romney and Ryan to address the fact every voter in the USA is suppose to consent to the 'so called' bullshit of the primary in order to vote for them as president and vice president.

See, there is at least one other candidate in the primary that didn't do that and it speaks eons to the morality of the current Republican ticket.

See, it is really important, because if this political ticket expects me to forget their ill tainted words, images and policies during the primaries to cast my vote. Well. I just can't do that. I believe in speaking the truth and according to this ticket even the fact checkers can go to hell. I am just wondering if that is where they expect to meet us, that's all.

Correction: hell was not spelled as a proper noun for a place. "Hell."

Paul Ryan needs to bring his Texas Instrument-89 Titanium to the debate.

Kindly remember, this man is Chairman of the US House Budget Committee. 

I have questions.

I want answers.

If given the 'opportunity' to carry out his plans, he will, regardless of what happens to the people of the USA.

Besides this Ryan Arithmetic there is more to realize about the Ryan Arithmetic in regard to his plans for Medicare.

Actually, the TI-89 is better applied to sincere arithmetic and not financial arithmetic. A far better calculator for Mr. Ryan would the Texas Instrument Inspire. If not up to the TI Inspire then a TI-83 will get him by, but, not as well as the TI Inspire would.

Congressman Ryan's arithmetic for his changes to entitlements and his budget thereafter just don't add up.

If he finds his memory doesn't serve him well then he definitely better be able to PROVE on stage how well he actually understands Actuarial arithmetic with his favorite calculator.

If 'time is of the essence,' well, it didn't bother Romney during his debate. We barely got to governance at the end of the debate after all.

But, the fuzzy arithmetic of Congressman Ryan is a concern to me.  He has taken 65 years of age, the eligibility age for Medicare at retirement, and subtracted 10 years which is when Medicare will expire with the Affordable Care Act in place to determine at age 55 all things Medicare changes.

After those folks run through the next ten years of Medicare the rest of the people in the USA are suppose to receive 'premium support' based on whatever the Medicare program receives in payroll deductions. His calculations are currently $7000 per year.

The thing is this. To begin, Medicare would not have a ten year run without the Affordable Care Act as it is currently law. Romney/Ryan wants to gut the provisions for Medicare in the Affordable Care Act. What exactly does Congressman Ryan do with the remaining structure of Medicare to make it last ten years as President Obama and the Democrats have already done?

Additionally, when the program runs out of 'Traditional Medicare Money' in ten years how do the folks currently receiving this benefit and those aging currently at the age of 55 continue their traditional coverage?

See, this is what has me concerned. If I am age 55 and expect to receive traditional Medicare when I retire at the age of 65 according to the Ryan Arithmetic for all the rest of my life or is it 'natural life' (which is a term yet to be adequately defined) how is that program provided for in 'real life' terms. Do the monies come from the general fund to provide that benefit to those now receiving it and to those currently age 55 OR is this just a minor detail left out of the Ryan Medicare Plan and Budget? Because if it has to come out of the General Fund that has to show up in the Ryan Budget as well. 

Additionally, I would like to get the language nailed down. See, the flip flops of the Romney/Ryan ticket occur so frequently and sometimes in the blink of an eye, I never really know what is being said. So, one term frequently used in Right Wing Rhetoric is "natural life" for a person's life span. Does that mean if one has kidney dialysis it is not a natural life and does Medicare drop the subscriber when that happens?

It is obvious where the drone came from.

The real question is where did the drone come from.

Not long Pakistan bought something like two dozen drone spy planes to use for information regarding militants.

Where did this drone come from? I hope Israel has enough debris by now to know for sure.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad wanted intelligence to know where to send their rocket barrage. They wanted to kill people, not just scare them.


10/08/2012 11:24
By YAAKOV LAPPIN, BEN HARTMAN

The IDF struck targets in Gaza (click here) in response to a barrage of more than 30 rockets and mortar shells fired into farming districts in southern Israel by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

...An army source said that a tank directed fire at a Hamas position hidden inside a mosque located in southern Gaza. The source added that Hamas often uses "religious sites as cover for its terrorist activities against Israelis."...

They are using Mosques and people and neighborhoods as human shields. I remember the day it was announced the IDF had a precision strike killing The Sheik. Remember him? The one man that would never give Arafat the peace he was looking for.

After he was killed in a vehicle in a neighborhood near where he lived, I realized the people that came to him for prayer or ministering were actually soldiers for him. The Sheik used his home as a military strategic compound. The young men that came and went were not about religious devotion to Allah at all, they were about being brainwashed into The Sheik's hatred and to protect him from death while killing Israelis.

The Sheik ruthlessly used innocence as a human shield. We are seeing that in large measure among al Qaeda in Pakistan. These similarities are not coincidence. There is a common understanding of the decency of USA and Israeli morality in war. The morality of protecting the innocent while vanquishing the enemy, which found life in the Geneva Conventions, is being used against peace and peaceful intentions.

I don't approve of Israeli occupied territories, but, that is also a strategy to end any killing. It is why the people of Israel carry out that 'fashion' of muscle. The occupied territories of Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem are distained by civilized nations. First world nations dislike the aggressive tactic Israelis carry out to save their lives from violence and promote integration and peace. YET. When it comes to militants using human shields as protection, the world remains silent.

The USA is ridiculed on a regular basis by Karzai and the Pakistani government for strikes that kill their civilians. It is an act of aggression these country's leaders abhor. But, when it comes to militants using their own military on guard of their sovereign borders or innocent people in cities, town and tribal areas somehow that is something that cannot be handled.

Why was it at all necessary for the USA drone at the Pakistani border struck to kill al Qaeda using the Pakistan military at their border as a human shield? Why was it the Pakistani military didn't root out al Qaeda and gun them down. Why can't they remove the militants to prison as Saudi Arabia does? Why isn't there a Most Wanted list in Gaza, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the West Bank? Why is it the USA and Israel are always made to look like blood thirsty and ruthless killers when all we are trying to do is stop the violence and encourage autonomy within peace for these regions?

To speak to occupied territory through, it is a form of genocide if cultural icons and genetic purpose is to end the existence of a society. It is not what is intended. Israel is not sending out soldiers to rape women to dilute the genetic basis of the Palestinians. They are not destroying and closing Mosques. That argument doesn't work there and it gives no brevity to any reality today.

The purpose of the occupied territories is to remove the segregation that allows violence. Yes, it strongly appears an attempt by SOME Israelis to stop the violence in one manner or another. But, it is not intended to destroy cultural content or genetic strength among the Palestinian people. Israelis have never sought to destroy the existence of the Palestinian people, but, only to live in peace with them.

I congratulate Israel for being protective of its sovereign borders and it would be a good thing if the Israeli Prime Minister would point out exactly how difficult it is to defend those borders when a jet operating in its own air space has to turn on a dime to prevent from crossing a 'near border' and creating more tensions or QUESTION to their defensive action.

The Prime Minister should realize by now logic and level headed reasoning goes further than inflammatory rhetoric, especially on military and international stages.

Happy Columbus Day to the workers at Sensata Technologies.

“Not only is Bain taking away these workers’ incomes and livelihoods, the company is forcing them to train their replacements from China. That’s outrageous.”

The employees at Sensata Technology want America to witness the USA economy according to Bain Capital. Yes, this is today, this is now, this is Bain Capital, Romney's legacy to all of us, in the USA.

DN! Exclusive: Live from Illinois Where Workers Demand Romney Visit Before Bain Sends Jobs to China (click here)

I have a question for Romney / Ryan. "Will they stop these draconian practices in the USA?" 

American labor wants to know.

You know the ones, the 47% which are a part of the 99%.

Dot Tuner of Winnegago (click here) - photographed Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012, on the Stephenson County Fairgrounds in Freeport — wears her “You can’t outsource freedom of speech!” badge to work at Sensata Technologies, where she has been on the payroll for 43 years. She has been staying at the Bainport protest encampment across the street from the plant.

Some of the 99%, even though they are working, are part of the 47%. That is why American workers are at strike at Walmart. Those folks work to earn MONEY, but, they don't earn enough to MAKE A LIVING. That is a problem for the country.

Walmart stores are not at all neighborhood markets. There is not a soul, including the greeters, who knows all the buyers and their preferences when they come into the store. So, the 'slogan' is false advertising. Sincerely. Walmart is the complete opposite of a neighborhood store. It is huge, depersonalized, 'Big Box,' and abuses their employees. So there sincerely is nothing 'homey' about Walmart. And if this was my neighborhood I seriously consider some profound rezoning and tighter definitions of what was allowed in neighborhoods in the way of benevolent employers. It is just a 'thing' I have about the American landscape.

Yes, indeed. Walmart exudes all kinds of characteristics that the former governor would consider A TOOL for profits. So, the question lingers in my mind about whether or not Romney/Ryan has changed their ways and will provide employer BENEFITS, such as private pensions to replace Medicare and SSI. I mean they want to end entitlements.

So, considering they want to end government entitlements what are they putting in place, which will be mandatory to employers with employees that are Middle Class or Poor, which will substitute for what SSI and Medicare has done for those retired and disabled. People with poor working conditions become disabled more frequently than those with good working conditions. It is only fair they have a disability program to replace SSD and Medicare. After all they became disabled helping their employers make exorbitant profits for their shareholders. Shareholders that aren't even Americans, huh?

Brandon Campbell 
Saturday October 6th, 2012, 10:50pm

Just days after striking warehouse workers (click here) staged a large blockade outside a major Walmart supply warehouse in the suburbs, a group of like-minded labor advocates marched in front of a downtown Chicago Walmart store.

The group, lead by Chicago Jobs With Justice, contained some of the same workers who attended Monday’s rally, like Dakari Whitfield.

Whitfield told Progress Illinois that many employees in the suburban Elmwood warehouse work in harsh conditions indoors without good ventilation, rarely get paid on time, and are treated badly when they complain to managers.

“It’s an unfair labor practices strike. We’re asking for a set schedule, benefits, and maybe transportation,” Whitfield said. “When we presented this position, people got fired and suspended.”...

Oh, one other thing. If the answer to my inquiry is more or less 'go to hell.' I sincerely am not looking for a pharmaceutical to help the lingering of the question to go away in my mind.

I am taking the night off.

It is a federal holiday. I am setting sail to find the Santa Maria. Okay, maybe just Santa.

But, if the banks call this a holiday; than I am all about it.

Until tomorrow...

Gasoline in Saudi Arabia is treated as a public utility.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (click here) 

In other words, the people of the country receive their own refined oil at the pump for what it costs to produce it and transport from the refinery.

It isn't as though they even are dependent on petroleum for energy. The Princes and Sheiks also use solar and wind to power their buildings and the like. 

Why? 

Because they know they live on a warming planet and they have a conscience.

POTENTIAL OF WIND ENERGY IN SAUDI ARABIA (click here)

Earth Hour, the one time a year when cities and citizens turn off the lights to conserve a maximum of energy for the sake of the planet we live on. The countries in the Mideast are major participants in these initiative. The countries like Saudi Arabia are becoming more and more Earth Friendly. 

On this blog is an editorial that appeared in the Arab News. The Arab News is the official newsprint of the kingdom.

The editorial spoke about the future of Saudi Arabia as the fossil fuels ran out and there was less and less demand for it. The worried about the future of the country and the fact their citizens didn't worry much about energy sources.

People of conscience know it is time to be prudent about natural resources. The countries of South America do all they can to protect rainforests. Indonesia is a huge participant in saving rainforests. Indonesia is also an OPEC nation.

The United States of America is completely out of step with the global community in regard to the top of carbon dioxide and fossil fuels.

If anyone in the USA actually believes punching more holes in the ground is going to bring down the prices of oil, it is a diluted reality. The prices are not coming down. And all the oil in the world when refined in the USA for use is never going to change. It is time citizens in this country come to realize they are a victim of speculators because it is tolerated in this society and they always be until they change their paradigm in regard to their natural resources and the future of their children.

Riyadh is a modern day city with people who believe in their scientists and seek to find solutions to the problems presented by them. Riyadh is not a war, it is not at war, it has laws to control and root out any terrorist no different than in the USA where the FBI finds those seeking to hurt Americans.

In another article on this blog there is a clear discussion how terrorists within Saudi Arabia are listed as Most Wanted, brought to justice and rehabilitated. There are on average 21 individuals a year that fall into this category. We have known of instances on American compounds from time to time where the criminals were not captured before they were able to pull off their plots, no different than someone like McVeigh.

There is no blanket permission to kill anyone. The city and the country have laws. But, they also have morals. They love their children and want a future of happiness for them. They are concerned about the Climate Crisis. They are people with the will to fight off the Climate Crisis by conservation and seeking alternative energies, why doesn't the USA?

16 cents per liter is the cost of gasoline at the pump in Saudi Arabia.

The Pump (click here) price for gasoline (US dollar per liter) in Saudi Arabia was last reported at 0.16 in 2010, according to a World Bank report published in 2012.

The conversion of one gallon of gasoline to liters is:

1 Gallon US = 3.7854118 Liters

That means the folks in Saudi Arabia driving today are paying $.605 or 61 cents per gallon if sold in US volume.

Does anyone in the USA actually believe if every drop of petroleum in the ground under US soil were exploited we would be paying 61 cents per gallon? I mean really now. 61 cents per gallon when all the oil derricks are in place and pumping. 

I don't think so.

This is the biggest joke going.

Gas Prices Rise Again Overnight in California (click here)

Speculators want to get every dime before everyone buys electric cars.

Why does the USA Federal Government make capital investments in the country?

We GREW this understanding when infrastructure became a focus with the states and their 'shovel ready jobs.'

Right?

Those projects are government projects. They do not produce any income, the costs are very large and there aren't really companies interested in building such capital investments, yet they are important.

Infrastructure connects things. Stuff like bridges provide a 'vehicle' for movement, hence commerce between people, cities, companies. Where would the USA Post Office be without bridges, roads (even country dirt roads)? 

Where would the Tulip Festival in Hollard, Michigan be without access for tourism at least once a year?

The people of the USA don't CHARGE themselves for the use of that infrastructure. There is an understanding it is important, will bring jobs and it is basically a good thing. So, infrastructure projects are more or less a bonus to the people of a region. Right? Safe travel. Happy times. Togetherness. All good for commerce.

Where does capital investment in energy by the USA have a place in all this?

The consumer pays for energy. They get a bill in the mail. They pay at the pump, so how does this capital investment pay off for the people of the USA when it comes to alternative energy?

Fair question. Absolutely.

Let's begin with research.

The cost of research and development is an invisible cost to the consumer of any product. We always hear how the pharmaceutical companies complain about the cost of R&D. Recently, President Obama signed a bill extending patents so the original patent holder could make up their investment and even have more money to embark on new investment. For a longer period of time Big Pharma, or any researcher/inventor can now receive profits for their work and investment. 

Why would an inventor go beyond reaping back the original investment and some profit? So, extending the patent allows growth in their own resources and incentive to continue the research and even improve on it. Right? Of course.

Then there is the investment in distribution. Once the discovery/research has met its goal the product has to be distributed. In the case of alternative energy sources, it is the GRID. Yes? It is the trucks that deliver the biodiesel, the algal plants that produce the energy source and so on and so forth. One might call that marketing, transportation and employment. Expenses.

Now, there is the COST TO CONSUMER. How many could afford to pay for the cost of a prescription without insurance? There are people that do, but, in all practicality, the goal in the USA is to have insurance to assist with the cost of prescriptions. I don't recall any energy insurance. I don't believe the consumer markets OR employers pay for energy insurance so the cost of gas at the pumps are covered to keep the cost affordable. Now, I might be missing something here, but, I don't think so.

The USA Federal Government makes capital investments in alternative sources of energy to compete with other sources. If I remember correctly any Republican, even Scott Brown, will state competition is the answer to everything. So, to carry out all that research, development of a distribution system, training for employees and infrastructure to support that distribution there is NO FLYIN' way the product would ever be developed by the private sector or be affordable to the consumer.

So. In order to move the country forward into the future, a happy future, a livable future, one we can be proud of to pass on to our children and their children and their children we have to make these investments.

I am deeply appreciative to President Obama for signing the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. I am deeply appreciative to the Congress that passed it. I will receive no direct income from that bill, BUT, my children, my grandchildren and their futures will be better for it.

That reality is why we make such capital investments as a country. It isn't for us, it is for the future and the generations to follow us.

Alternative Energy Sources and consumerism has 100 years to catch up on.

THAT REQUIRES INVESTMENT.

INVESTMENT AT TODAY'S PRICES, NOT THE PRICES OF 100 YEARS AGO !

When gas prices go up one cent at the pump the petroleum industry reaps $200 million per month.

...The Congressional Research Service states the fledgling oil industry in the United States first received government assistance in 1916. That was when intangible drilling costs were able to be fully deducted from a company's expenses for tax purposes. In 1926, a write-off for cost depletion was introduced. That provision allowed oil companies to deduct costs based upon overall gross receipts and not just the actual value of the oil.

Both of those subsidies still exist. The Obama administration claims the average subsidy for huge oil companies is $4 billion per year. The bill in the Senate would have saved $24 billion in 10 years. The White House claims when gas goes up one cent per gallon, oil companies make $200 million more per month....

Stop and think about that.

The land where the petroleum industry pumps this oil is OUR LAND. They are leased the privilege of MINERAL RIGHTS on our land. In turn for their lease payment they are allowed to profit from it. The petroleum industry is removing our minerals to sell, hopefully to us and not export it, so they can make a profit. No one said they had the right to exploit any dependency of the USA consumer on that mineral. 

The subsidies for oil production started nearly a CENTURY ago. There was a reason for the subsidies and it was to engage the use of petroleum as a source of energy. 

Today, the USA has to remove it's majority of oil dependency in its consumer markets to alternatives. We are suffering a huge drought currently involving a full two thirds of the nation of which 39% is severe to profound drought. The USA doesn't have a choice, the CO2 emissions from fossil fuels is destroying our crop land AND driving up the price of food, too. Probably medicines and plastics used in things like injection syringes, too.

The alternative energy sources, even after decades of research, were never invested in by the federal government in the way the petroleum industry was a century ago. Alternative sources of energy is not about hugging trees, it is about survival on Earth. Now, either the USA wants its sovereignty or it doesn't. If the people cannot find healthy food and clean water; corruption will take over this country and people will live outside the system and start their own personal sovereignty and communities will be the ONLY paradigm that exists worth having. We are on our way.

The Recovery Act provided INVESTMENT in alternative energy sources because there was no other way to secure the future of this country. Now, if I were the 1%, sure it wouldn't matter if there was investment in anything but what was most profitable. The 1% can afford anything. They can afford to abandon the planet if they wanted to, so to believe they care about the rest of humanity, yet alone the citizens of the USA, all one has to do is examine their priorities.

The wars of the USA are fought by the impoverished men and women primarily.

List the issues / problems facing the Middle Class and Poor in the USA and the priorities of the 1% become very obvious.

I spoke with a friendly stranger yesterday. An acquaintance. She stated she could not believe how warm it was in North Carolina in October. I told her North Carolina was the new Florida because of the Climate Crisis. 

She smiled and laughed and said she was delighted. I told her while it might be nice to think about NC as a tourist haven that doesn't mean it is a good thing or a safe trend.

She stated, "I hope it does stabilize because I am paying a fortune for natural gas and if we have a mild winter I'll have a better Christmas for my family."

I stated, "I thought natural gas was suppose to be the savior of our energy future?"

She stated, "Savior? At these prices! I dearly hope not!"

So, to return to the presidential elections, for Willard Mitt "The Junk Yard Dog" Romney (which might explain why Seamus rode on the roof instead of with the family that was supposed to have loved the dog) to make analogies of petroleum industry subsidies versus alternative energy sources is not only illogical, it is criminal and a lie.

Stop being on the defensive.

Willard Mitt "Junk Yard Dog" Romney uses the style at the debating podium he does to achieve exactly what is going on in some corners of the media and opposition to his candidacy.

He is an attack dog pure and simple for the purpose of putting people in the defense.

Okay?

Now, Romney is attacking without remorse soft targets in the USA like illegal aliens (whom can become the focus of violence) and alternative energies (which will deliver us from drought). 

Stop being the defense over the issues Romney attacks viciously.

Illegal aliens have served a purpose in the USA and that is why they are here. They have come here because they were able to find work and scrape out a life for themselves and their children. They are human beings and not simply illegal aliens. Their children may or may not be eligible for being a Dreamer and that is very important. They are ours. They were born here and we have invested in them and they are achieving. They are a part of our brain trust. 

Alternatives fuels are vital to our country's future. I don't care if $90 billion was APPROPRIATED in the Recovery Act; that is still not a reason to subsidize the petroleum industry. Hello? The petroleum industry is rolling in MONEY and don't need subsidies, the alternative energy sources have been cash starved for DECADES. There is no logical analogy! 

The future of this country depends on the right of our Dreamers to stay in the USA forever and developing at a rapid rate alternative sources of energy. This is nothing by vicious politics no one should be paying attention to. 

Romney, the junk yard dog, has empty arguments within his viciousness, but, it is the fear of the dog everyone reacts to, not the fact he has no grounds for his attacks. A dog's bark is worse than his bite, especially if he has no teeth.

Seeking Anna's murderers is the right thing to do.

It is correct to bring this to light on the anniversary of their deaths. It is correct to ask the Russian authorities to step up investigations. I do not believe it was the government in any way involved with these murders.

MOSCOW, October 7 (RIA Novosti)

...Politkovskaya, (click here) a Novaya Gazeta reporter known for her scathing criticism of both the Kremlin and the North Caucasus authorities over rights abuses, was shot dead in the lobby of her apartment building in downtown Moscow in 2006. The investigators suspect that she was killed for her expose publications.

“We will continue to shine the spotlight on this case, and others, such as American Paul Klebnikov who was gunned down in Moscow eight years ago. Journalists across the globe who speak out against abuses and work to secure fundamental freedoms for their fellow citizens must be protected,” Nuland said.

Under the leadership of President Medvedev, Russia pulled out of Chechnya in 2009. I am sure Anna's writing and life contributed to that decision. That, however, did not stop the violence. The region reminds me somewhat of what Libya is not experiencing. There is a power vacuum and the militias are filling it. It is up to the regional authorities them and establish police.

Almost a hundred weapons caches, as well as 38 militant bases was found four months of this year with the participation of employees of main directorates of the Interior Ministry in the North-Caucasian Federal District

19 мая 2012 | 19:33

Almost a hundred weapons caches, (click here for the Russian article) as well as 38 militant bases were found in four months of this year with the participation of employees of the Main Department of the Interior Ministry in the North Caucasus Federal District, told a daily briefing on Saturday in Pyatigorsk Acting Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev. "With the direct participation of employees of central board for four months of the year in the North Caucasus was offset by 139 members of the armed gangs and 16 gang leaders," - said Acting Minister. Also, was arrested 161 members of illegal armed groups, eliminated 38 militant bases and 99 caches of weapons and ammunition.

The Jamestown Foundation receives reports from around the world. This was their latest reporting about the Northern Caucasus. There are still rebels seeking justice for their past dead through violence.

Doku Umarov's Shura, April 29 (Source: Kavkaz Center)

...Meanwhile, (click here) the militants have conducted their own propaganda event. A video recording and photographs of the Chechen rebels taking part in a meeting chaired by the leader of the North Caucasus armed resistance, Doku Umarov, on April 29 were posted on rebel websites. In Chechnya, the local authorities have been repeating the mantra about there being “40-50 surviving” rebels for the past seven years. Yet the video and photographs from the recent meeting depicted dozens of militants in attendance. Information from various sources in the North Caucasus armed resistance allows us to assess the approximate number of militants in each area of the republic....