There is plenty of room for budget cuts in the F-35 program to pay for Hurricane Superstorm Sandy Relief for 500,000 people currently in distress.

Exclusive: U.S. sees lifetime cost of F-35 fighter at $1.45 trillion (click here)

An F-35 Lightning II over Florida's Eglin Air Force Base.

...In that one-page summary, (click here) GAO states the F-35 program now projects “costs of $395.7 billion, an increase of $117.2 billion (42 percent) from the prior 2007 baseline.”  The much more complete story is in this table from the report:...

If Republicans are having a difficult time finding cuts in budgets to pay for Sandy Relief Aid, they can look to the overruns of the F-35 for cuts. The costs of the F-35 are never ending. It is time to get real about this plane. The F-35 is one of those Black Hole military projects that need severe review at this point. The production plant for the F-35 is in Fort Worth, Texas.

...The White House has requested $60 billion in federal disaster relief (click here) to repair the damage caused by Sandy, but Republicans have balked. Rep. Scott Garrett of New Jersey  called disaster relief “wasteful spending.” And four other right-wing Republicans told The Hill that they would demand cuts in other programs to offset the expense.

Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho said “We have these emergencies every year and we should prepare for that in our budget.” That’s reasonable, but rich. In Sept. 2011, Senate Democrats approved $6.9 billion to refill the disaster emergency fund and House Republicans cut that amount by nearly half. Not yet satisfied, they demanded $1 billion in offsetting cuts from a loan program to develop energy-efficient automobiles.

Only in the labyrinth of the right would it make sense to cut a long-term program to deal with the fact of climate change and its impact on the environment to pay for storm-related devastation that is one of the effects of global warming....

Oh, Canada, Oh, Canada...

By Rob Gillies - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Dec 12, 2012 18:20:07 EST

TORONTO — Canada is considering buying fighter jets other than U.S.-made F-35s (click here) because of escalating costs associated with Lockheed Martin’s troubled Joint Strike Fighter program, the country’s defense minister said Wednesday.

Defense Minister Peter MacKay said the government needs to ensure a balance between military and taxpayer interests.

MacKay said Canada needs to have all viable options on the table to replace the current fleet of 1980s-vintage CF-18s, which the government says will reach the end of their projected service life around 2020....

Crossroads GPS: "Over" (click title to entry - thank you)

The racism is real. It is very, very real. As long as racism has power it will never stop.

MONDAY, DEC 10, 2012 11:21 AM EST

The disgusting racial codes in his (Karl Rove) super PAC's new ad suggest the GOP will never stop pitting us against each other

BY DAVID SIROTA

...“You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger,’” (click here) he said. “By 1968 you can’t say ‘nigger’ — that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.”

Though Atwater made those comments and those ads a generation ago, they are — sadly — not outdated tactics merely for debate among historians. They are particularly relevant this week thanks to a new television ad campaign launched by Atwater’s friend and protégé Karl Rove.

Constructed by Rove’s Crossroads GPS, the spot is airing on cable throughout the nation and focuses on what Atwater would call “totally economy things.” View the ad and make sure to closely watch the visual presentation:...

Ambassador Rice will never be left alone now.

She had the endorsement of President Obama. She should have gone forward with her potential nomination. 

She should never, never, never step back into the shadows because of racists. What makes her think their harassment is going to stop? They aren't going to stop.They will ruin a career at the first perception of weakness right into the ground. 

I do believe she was very hurt when she called for the meeting of her detractors and they continued to stab her in the back. Don't bother ever again. Racists are never, ever interested in the truth, they are interested in weakness and opportunities to cut people to pieces. I am a bit surprised. I am hurt now. It's unfortunate.

She needs to sue.

It is an equality issue based in ethnic realities, physical realities at times and the right to be fashionable. When men cut their hair or shave their heads it isn't even a question. The bias that a woman has to have hair longer than what Ms. Lee is wearing as her fashion statement is ridiculous. Her hair style is not at all a political statement designed to inspire comment. The viewer obviously wasn't exposed to her reality of idea of appropriate fashion flair and it was not his place to exhibit any hate toward her for being polite and correct. I can't the station actually fired this woman for this reason. This is ridiculous.

Jamil Smith, @JamilSmith

5:34 pm on 12/12/2012

KTBS meteorologist (click here) Rhonda Lee was fired last month from her job at ABC’s Shreveport, Louisiana affiliate–a position she had held for almost a year. It was not for anything she said on-air, or in the newsroom. It was for responding to viewer comments online regarding her hair, comments such as these from a viewer identified as Emmitt Vascocu, written on the station’s Facebook page on Oct. 1:...

Excuse me? This is as much a gender issue, fashion freedom as it is an ethnic issue. That is the famous Al Roker. We don't mind he has short or absent hair. Why should anyone be offended by a woman with the same fashion statement. Women have hair loss, too. So, what's the problem!

This is Naomi Sims. This photo appeared on a "Time Magazine" cover with the title "Black Models Take the Center Stage." (click here)

The model to the right is Chanel Iman. Man, talk about chic.

And then there is the gorgeous Grace Jones.

Get out of my life with this baloney about long hair for women. The eyes have it !!!!!!

Every country in the world is going to do their darnest to undermine USA's quality of life.

...Bracing for planned tariffs on their products, (click here) Chinese makers of solar-power have cut back production at home and in the United States.

The moves are in response to the Nov 8 ruling by the Commerce Department's International Trade Commission that US solar-panel makers have been hurt by Chinese competitors that, according to Washington, engaged in illegal dumping and received illegal government subsidies.

The ruling, which clears the way for implementing tariffs of as much as 36 percent, capped an ITC investigation that was prompted by an October 2011 complaint from the US unit of Germany's SolarWorld AG. Other US-based solar companies have supported SolarWorld's case....

The Nebraska Governor Heineman speaks about trade in the way it is suppose to exist. Goods from all nations are suppose to compete and give their people a quality of life. The problems comes when cheap labor undermines the healthy balance of trade. President Obama has been pushing back against that unfair competition to return the USA economy to where it is suppose to be. Every legislator of every federal, state and local authority should be doing the same thing. This is not protectionism, but, it is safe guarding a vital American economy necessary for so many reasons, including, 'Balance of Power.'

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman (click here) led a trade mission to China in July to enhance the state's economic relationship with China. Governor Heineman recently sat down with China Daily in Tampa Florida while attending the Republican National Convention and shared his views on how expanding Nebraska-China relations will benefit both countries.

And that was balance of power, not a destructive force that can march into any country on Earth to exploit their natural resources. The countries themselves do a heck of a job exploiting their natural resources already without our help. Do I understand the North Korean satellite is out of control? Well, I wouldn't laugh, they did it, they'll fix it eventually.

"But, that isn't the way the world works."

Those words are my all time favorite Republican rhetoric. My reply is always, "No, I suppose not, especially when Republicans set policy or should I say don't set policy and ignore their responsibilities to the citizens of the USA." 

Any fiscal cliff will be irrelevant once wage labor is back where it belongs.

Long term changes are unrealistic at this point in the USA recovery. No doubt there are going to be budget cuts, but, there is a difference between budget cuts in the next fiscal year as opposed to long term changes that are unrelated to current problems.

Long term changes do not address the changes in government spending as of New Years Eve. They are unrelated and that is the sincere problem in having Republicans move to preserve the Middle Class tax rates while letting the Bush Tax Cuts expire.

The New Years Eve deadline is more than interesting realizing the revenues to the USA Treasury automatically go up and the national debt automatically start to be paid. But, it impacts the Middle Class. The Middle Class is adjusting to the reality the Republicans don't value their wage and spending priorities.

Getting Republicans to actually address the fiscal issues of the USA is the challenge. The entitlements are not related AT ALL to the anticipated end of the Bush Tax Cuts on New Years Eve.

Rather than empowering Republican arguments to cut entitlements, Americans need to discuss whether accepting the end of the Bush Tax Cuts need to be balanced with increased wages, benefits and stabilizing the American economy. We need to stop the 'cheap labor' effects of outsourcing. We need to make the American economy our own again. It doesn't necessarily mean ending Wall Street, but, it does mean making Wall Street respect our Middle Class.

If Wall Street doesn't want to respect the Middle Class and our STANDARD OF LIVING to protect the sovereignty of the USA, then we need to take it away from them. When Nixon went into China it wasn't to empower the impoverishment of the American people. He opened China to improve the standard of living and quality of life of the Chinese people. China, India, Iraq, Brazil and Russia weren't suppose to be draconian to the USA economy. They were suppose to take example of the American economy and emulate it for their own people.

Outsourcing happened because CEOs found 'easy bonus' money while destroying their own product base when Americans increasingly entered poverty.

When CEOs finally learn they can't push the American people into an impoverished dynamic that is impossible to recover from, they'll find welcome in the economy in the USA. The problem for Wall Street includes "The Bain Effect" and quick paths to wealth. Those days have to be over. The Middle Class of the USA has to be empowered to protect their own country from loss of its constitutional meaning.

Our constitution is not about wealth of the few, it is about the empowerment of the majority.

The only relationship CEOs should have with the American people and their government is to pay taxes and seek assistance through the State Department for in roads to facilitate a better economy for other nations. Russia is a great example. Russia has incredible bureaucracy. If Russia wants to increase the quality of life of their people through welcoming investment from Wall Street firms there is a lot to be done. For the most part, Russia has worked very hard to facilitate those changes. It is a cultural change and an infrastructure change, but, it is coming along. There is no reason why every large nation cannot do the same thing the USA does. No nation should rely on export and import to have a satisfying economy.

There is a progression of facilitating nations to move their economies forward without destroying the quality of life of the Middle Class of the USA. Tourism and cultural exchanges are the beginnings of such a dynamic. But, to remove manufacturing from the USA is not the answer for any Wall Street company. Removing manufacturing to another country in the hopes less costs will result in higher profits only reduces their product base. When cheap labor is available in Mexico or other nations where does Wall Street think this is all going? Their own labor in any nation won't be able to afford their products and produce real profits rather than 'profits of deterioration.'

That is what is so "W"rong about the Republican ideology. Reducing taxes on corporations has not and will not spawn economic growth in the modern era. When the wealthy were paying 98% income tax in the time of FDR that might be true, but, in the year 2012 there is plenty of monies left over after they pay taxes for their growth and comfort. The tax cutting has gotten far out of control while proving it accomplishes nothing anymore. There is no job growth or economic expansion when taxes are cut on the wealthy.

Wages are far more important to economic growth than tax cuts for the wealthy. The expansion of any economy is accomplished by empowering the Middle Class and not destroying it. The Republican rhetoric is draconian to the USA.

Politically, the DNC has to believe in their mission and provide a strong opposition to the propaganda of the Right Wing Media. They are assaulting our economy and our sovereignty for the sole purpose of existing rather than serving a purpose to the country. No Right Wing Media broadcast can be credited for improving the jobs number of the USA, quite the contrary, they seek to destroy it to turn citizens against their best interest.

Posted on Thu, Dec. 13, 2012 07:20 AM

BY DON KUSLER

...On the fiscal front, House Republicans must drop their intransigent resistance to higher tax rates on our most fortunate households as part of an overall response to our national debt problem.

In deals struck last year, President Obama has already agreed to over a trillion dollars in spending cuts over the next decade. Now, the spirit of compromise requires that House Speaker John Boehner put a realistic revenue increase on the table (click here) ....

It is time to move forward. It is time for the people of the USA to stop their sacrifice of wrongful wars and put their lives back into order by increased wages and the return of The Union. It is time to rebuild the USA.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/12/13/3963757/gop-should-bow-to-voters-wishes.html#storylink=cp

Federal judge orders Healthbridge to reinstate employees, restore wages and benefits, and bargain with union (click here)

A federal judge has ordered a Connecticut nursing home chain to offer reinstatement to approximately 600-700 workers, to rescind changes made to employee wages and benefits, and to bargain in good faith with the union that has long represented its employees...

To the right are the members of the NLRB; Mark Gas, Brian Hayes, Sharon Block and Richard F. Griffin, Jr.

When Republicans say they want less government they seek to victimize the Middle Class and not empower it.

Drastic proof of the seismic dangers of hydraulic fracturing.

do-it-yourself earthquake liquification (click here)

Liquefaction produces deterioration more rapidly depending on the soils. There is no soil or rock that completely withstands the dynamic. Every place seismic activity occurs there is the danger for liquefaction.

Scientists can be corrupt as well. For decade after decade scientists receiving funding from the petroleum industry attempted to say the only problem with increased global temperatures due to human induction would be ice melt and a mild rise in the sea level. They continued to say that even after 90% of the world's scientists state otherwise. Today, the same phenomena holds true with hydraulic fracturing. But, where there is one scientists willing to side with the petroleum industry, there are numerous others that state otherwise. I don't know about you, but, 90% is a strong majority in my opinion. Scientists aren't virginal. There are good ones and bad ones, just like politicians. But 90% majority opinion should be enough proof for any government.

...The editorial points to one seismologist, (click here) Oklahoma Geological Survey's Austin Holland, who said, "until you can prove that it's not a natural earthquake, you should assume it's a natural earthquake." However, experts believe that the November 2011 earthquake and other events in Oklahoma -- such as the drastic increase from six earthquakes between 2000 and 2008 to 850 earthquakes between January 2010 and March 2011 in Oklahoma County -- point to a link between fracking-related activites, specifically wastewater injection, and seismic activity. Similar links have also been made in Dallas, Texas , Ohio, and Arkansas. Scientists from the United States Geological Survey also presented a report in April that found that "seismicity rate changes" in Arkansas and Oklahoma "are almost certainly manmade," although it remains unclear if the changes were related specifically to fracking or to the rate of oil and gas production....

Chavez has months to live.

10:13 11/12/2012

...Venezuelan doctor (click here) Jose Rafael Marquina, who is based in the United States and is known for his accurate prognoses on Chavez’s health, told RCN radio that Chavez has "between two and three months to live."

“The disease has entered an aggressive stage. He has metastases in the lumbar area, compressing nerves around the lumbar area of his backbone, which may lead to paralysis,” said Marquina, who claims to have access to firsthand sources and information about the president’s health....

By TAMARA PEARSON 
VENEZUELANALYSIS.COM
December 12th 2012

...However, all of the 23 PSUV candidates (click here) were chosen by President Hugo Chavez and the national PSUV executive. The PSUV is a national “machine”, as we are prone to call it here, and despite some regional differences, its state campaigning has been conducted according to national lines and a national strategy. So, although this article will focus on experiences in Merida state, the problems discussed of treating PSUV members like voters rather than activists, of isolating political parties and movements that are not aligned to the PSUV and so on, are problems that are across the board, and though more pertinent in this election campaign, can be said to be general problems in the PSUV....

China denounces any military use of North Korea's technology.

North Korea’s (click here) official news agency announced that the Unha-3 carrier rocket has delivered into orbit the second version of Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite on Wednesday.

I think China was as alarmed as any other country on the planet. Russia on the other hand is very subdued in their response.

4:17PM EST December 12. 2012 - BEIJING — North Korea's launch (click here for video) of a long-range rocket Wednesday in defiance of international warnings prompted denunciations from the U.S. and its allies as the regime of Kim Jong Un took a giant step forward in its quest to develop the technology to deliver a nuclear warhead.

The governments of the United States, South Korea and Japan quickly condemned the morning launch, and experts on the Korean Peninsula weighed in on the international repercussions of the successful launch following several failed attempts....

I sincerely believe everyone was taken by surprise. The question is what's next. Will North Korea be content with it's new status or are their ambitions beyond that? I have to wonder what prompted President Obama to focus on the Pacific in recent years. It is just in time. 

WEDNESDAY, DEC 12, 2012 11:40 AM EST

BY NATASHA LENNARD

...The U.S. condemned the “highly provocative act”;(click here) Japan called the launch “extremely regrettable”; South Korea said it was “a clear violation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions … and a threat to peace to the Korean Peninsula and around the world.” The U.N.’s Ban Ki Moon concurred. China, North Korea’s closest ally in the region, even offered a tepid criticism: “We hope relevant parties stay calm in order to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” said a spokesperson from the Chinese Foreign Ministry....

NORAD and USNORTHCOM Public Affairs
December 11, 2012

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - North American (click here) Aerospace Defense Command officials acknowledged today that U.S. missile warning systems detected and tracked the launch of a North Korean missile at 7:49 p.m. EST. The missile was tracked on a southerly azimuth. Initial indications are that the first stage fell into the Yellow Sea. The second stage was assessed to fall into the Philippine Sea. Initial indications are that the missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit. At no time was the missile or the resultant debris a threat to North America.

But, It was suppose to work in our favor. All of it.

I would not underestimate the anger of Big Daddy Adelson. He invested heavily in Romney's win for the Executive Branch of the federal government. His primary motive is Israel. Absolutely.

But, making the stakes higher is what Adelson is all about.

He wants to exact revenge and rationalizes it by seeing America designed for his empire to carry out whatever his priorities are. He wants to play "Bain." He wants to destroy the unions. The unions are a safe harbor for the Middle Class and he wants them gone!

The bird is not a spy. It is an informant to a biologist studying the habitat.

If this is what politics looks like in Sudan, it is a little rough around the edges. I think the message is anti-Israeli. Why do these countries always have to play politics with antisemitism? Like feeding the masses and providing shelter and health care. Aren't there sincere and profound social issues they should be focused on rather than propagating war. The poor bird.

....The bird (click here) also wore an ankle label reading "Hebrew University Jerusalem," "Israel Nature Service" and the contact details of an Israeli avian ecologist.The ecologist, Ohad Hatzofe of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, has rejected the Sudanese government claims -- saying the vulture, which can fly up to 600 kilometers in a single day, was tagged with GPS equipment to study its migration pattern.

"The Sudanese accusations are untrue," Hatzofe told CNN. "The GPS gear on these vultures can only tell us where the birds are, nothing else."...

Syrian men try to boil water at a refugee camp near the Turkish border in Azaz.
Photo: Manu Brabo, Associated Press / SF

Rebuilding a country of citizens and not enemies. It sometimes takes a generation or two.

Animal activist Aldin Pasic carries off a stray dog in the Sarajevo suburb of Dobrnja, Bosnia. Sarajevo has become the only city in Bosnia where a law banning the killing of strays is respected thanks to a new city-funded dog shelter that performs sterilizations.
Photo: Amel Emric, Associated Press / SF

Neutering stray dogs is a small price to pay for the appreciation of life.

By Daria Sito-Sucic

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - A co-hosting (click here) of the European Youth Olympics by Bosnia's capital Sarajevo and a Serb-run former suburb should foster cooperation across former wartime front lines and help boost a struggling economy, municipal and sports officials said on Monday.

Sarajevo and East Sarajevo won a joint bid at the weekend to hold the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival (EYOWF) in 2017, boosting hopes of rehabilitating negative images of ethnic division lingering from Bosnia's 1992-95 war and reviving the spirit of the 1984 Winter Olympics hosted by Sarajevo.

The Sarajevo Olympics were held when Bosnia was still part of federal Yugoslavia, which broke up violently two decades ago. Most Olympic facilities on nearby mountains were destroyed during the war but many have been rebuilt in recent years....

"This one is for Daddy." Is the wife still alive?

Japan said the rocket passed over its territory, but it did not shoot it down

North Korea wants to attack the West. Japan is as much a part of the West than any country geographically there. Next stop Hawaii, but, Japan is nearly Hawaii.

By Anthony Sharwood
news.com.au
December 12, 2012
2:17PM

Speaking exclusively to news.com.au, (click here) University of Sydney lecturer Dr Leonid Petrov said North Korea had three main reasons for launching an intercontinental rocket.

"North Korea had promised to launch the rocket between the 10th and 22nd of December, and they have kept that promise," Dr Petrov said.

"These dates are important because it is one year since the death of Kim Jong-il.

"It was extremely important to them to launch this satellite and at this time. The new technology sends a strong signal to the domestic audience that North Korea is still a strong self-reliant economic power.

"The second message they are sending is to the world.

"They are saying that they have advanced rocket technology, and sooner and later will be able to deliver a nuclear payload. Until today they could not deliver it but they have now demonstrated they are one major step forward in the arms race."

The third reason North Korea launched the rocket today is strongly related to the other two.

"Basically, Korea has nothing to lose because of the UN sanctions against N Korea which have existed since 1950," Dr Petrov explains.

"All that matters to the [ruling] family is the survival of the regime. A change of regime could happen if there are perceived weaknesses."...

The next move for the Political Right Wing is to push companies in Michigan off unionization.

Any excuse is a good excuse. I am sure the Political Right Wing will see this as GM failing all over again when in actuality it is preserving American jobs. The unions are going to have to use media, suggestions radio and social media, to help the companies maintain their image and credibility. We know for a fact the GOP pundits stop at nothing. Obviously. But, they don't care if they force a false image and cause damage to USA companies to achieve a goal. They'll a company and cause damage out of pure will to win. Snyder never through past his own political ambitions. He did a reverse on his position with Right to Work because pundits are promising him some kind of payoff. Romney was just in Vegas with Money Bags Adelson. Adelson wants a bigger and better Bain. This all happened after that. They probably are looking at the big three and planning revenge.

It is time to save the unions in the USA, they are freedom and they are a healthy economy. We know that for a fact now.

GM-Opel plant in Germany to shut down (click here)

By Dietmar Henning 
12 December 2012

...“2016 ends the production of entire vehicles in Bochum”, Opel CEO Thomas Sedran told workers at the staff meeting on Monday. Following his less than one-minute statement Sedran hurriedly left the meeting room by a back entrance. Eyewitnesses report that an official of the factory union, the engineering and metal workers union IG Metall, sought to speak to Sedran before he left. The official was immediately pushed to the ground by security guards and assaulted....

This was all part of the bailout settlement. This plant was slated to be closed.

By Tim Higgins on December 11, 2012

December is turning out to be a good month to buy a pickup. (click here)

General Motors Co. (GM), straining with an oversupply of full- sized trucks, is offering a stepped-up package of incentives on Chevrolet Silverados and GMC Sierras. The incentives may have risen to as much as $5,000 per pickup in December from less than $4,000 last month on Silverados, according to researcher TrueCar.com’s estimates.

The incentive program represents a slippery slope for the world’s largest automaker. The company earlier vowed to hold the line on such promotions to protect profits through the end of the year, even as competitors flood showrooms with traditional year-end deals. Walking a line offering incentives that lure buyers without threatening profits or spooking investors is the difficult game that GM is now forced to play....

Buy American. I wish the truck manufacturers would concentrate on selling diesel trucks. They are more expensive to manufacture and their ticket price is higher, but, they are fuel conscience and better environmentally. Not only that but biodiesel is an option for diesel trucks without any modifications. If they become more popular their sticker price might come down.

They say depreciation (click here) begins the minute an owner drives a new car home. But if the car survives beyond a normal lifespan, it stops depreciating and begins acquiring value as a collectible. The process can consume a lot of time, as illustrated by this 1903 Ford Model A. New, its base price was $850. Last October, it sold at auction for $264,000, and to a noteworthy new owner: William Clay Ford, Jr., executive chairman of the board for Ford Motor Company and Henry’s great-grandson.

Mr. Ford is only the sixth owner of the Model A, which is believed to be one of the first three built, the third one sold, and the oldest surviving Ford production car. The original owner was Herbert L. McNary, who worked for a creamery in Britt, Iowa. He paid $850 for the car, which he and his family kept for over a half-century....

Target is 2014 for the unions, but, political shake ups will be pushed far before the next group of lawmakers in Michigan take their seats in 2012. The GOP picked the wrong year to attack the Middle Class. This should also reignite opposition in Wisconsin, too. The Snyder bill attacks private unions and not just public. No doubt Walker is eyeing the possibility in Wisconsin as well.

• By Chad Selweski/Digital First Media

• Posted: 12/12/12 12:01 am
  Updated: 12/12/12 03:26 am

• 
  

...Union leaders and members, (click here) many carrying anti-Snyder signs, vowed to continue the fight and seek revenge at the ballot box in 2014.

Terry O’Sullivan, general president of the Laborers International Union of North America, delivered a fiery, profanity-laced speech to a pro-union crowd that stretched from across Allegan Street to the front steps of the Capitol. O’Sullivan, referring to 2014, repeated the infamous remark by Teamsters President James Hoffa at the 2011 Labor Day parade in Detroit.

“We’re going to take them out,” O’Sullivan said, referring in particular to GOP lawmakers associated with the tea party. “If it’s a fight they want, it’s a war they’re going to get.”

War it is !

A triage tent?

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Sheriff's deputies (click here) say there has been a shooting in a shopping mall near Portland, Ore.

One witness at the Clackamas Town Center told television station KATU at least two people were shot, and he saw sheets put over them.

Another witness told the station she saw people screaming and parents grabbing their children as they fled the mall.

That witness said the gunman had a rifle and was wearing a camouflage outfit and a mask.

Another witness said ambulances were arriving at the scene.

Entrances to the mall have been blocked off.

No further details were immediately available from the Clackamas County sheriff's office.

There are more effected by the shooter than the dead. Why are there so many guns on the street in the USA? Obviously, the strategy that if everyone were armed there would be no more assaults against innocent people. There is no research to back up that idea. It is a populous idea spawned by fear of each other.

Can we please do something about the guns and gun capacity in the USA? Please. Why do we continue to allow people to be victims? This has nothing to do with Second Amendment Rights.

Our police are not safe. Assault weapons have wiped out four officers having coffee together in a dinner before they started work. Why does this continue? If Police Officers are not safe, how can citizens be safe?

I am tired of the EXCUSE of 'Lone Wolf.' If that is the problem then there are a lot of them.

Right to Work is a solution looking for a problem. It is a strategy against the citizen.

It is a political strategy that robs The Right to Assemble it's final result. Solidarity. The purpose of Right to Assemble is to bring people together in an effort to protect citizens from harm of any kind; economic, freedom of speech, etc.

Right to Assemble is no different than any other aspect of the USA Constitution and Bill of Rights; they are not just words on a page.

The picture above is not a union demonstration, it is a demonstration to prevent the former Bush administration from changing the management policies of The Mall in DC that would prevent the Right to Assemble. Seriously.

The National Mall is a national park and Bush assaulted the Right to Assemble on the National Mall through management of a national park. It never ceases to amaze me how much the Middle Class is hated by some political leaders. I mean it takes real hate to even attempt to redefine the management of The National Mall.

But, that is besides the point. The Right to Assemble is suppose to have a result. I don't know why people would assemble at all if there wasn't an 'end product' to be achieved.

Those that defend Right to Work policies surrender to outsourcing and admit they have no ideas to protect American workers. In doing so they assault unions to prevent their strategy from being defeated. 

Right to Work does cause dissolution of unions. Unions thrive on Right to Assemble. They assemble their memberships to achieve solidarity. It is solidarity that is guaranteed by The Right to Assemble freedom of the USA. By dissolving unions the Right to Assemble literally dissolves with them. If unions thrive on Right to Assemble it means their ability to protect workers is important enough to ask for a portion of their dues from non-union members in the same work place that receive those benefits. It is a matter of fairness, but, also brings non-members to the appreciate the unions efforts.

If non-union members don't want to pay a partial amount of union dues then they shouldn't receive the benefits. It is the union members that only should receive the benefits. That reality will bring about a lot of problems in the work place. It is far better that co-workers are on the same 'status' when doing the same work. Why bother with laws like Lilly Ledbetter if there isn't same pay for same work. But, Right to Work removes that aspect of the work place. It literally places worker against worker to bring about an adverse outcome for both of them.

Right to Assemble is not simply a right to stand around talking. It is about COMING TOGETHER for a benefit for the group. 

Right to Assemble = Solidarity 

Right to Assemble was important enough to have it protected by the USA Constitution.

No Justice of any court should be looking at Right to Assemble as something that can happen even though Right to Work exists in the work place. Those two ideas are in opposition of each other and not compatible. Right to Assemble is far more protected in the work place in the form of a union than any Right to Work law. Right to Work removes the importance of equality laws. Right to Work is not a democratic initiative. It assaults our USA Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

This isn't one of those Bain Capital things, is it?

...The existing Abandoned Plan Program (click here) provides streamlined termination and distribution procedures for abandoned individual account plans, including 401(k) plans, under which benefits may be distributed in a manner that can substantially reduce fees charged to participants' accounts for, among other things, annual reporting, legal compliance and other administrative services, including termination costs. By making this streamlined process available to Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustees, the time and resources required to "wind up" a bankrupt company's retirement plan can be significantly reduced. As a result, plan participants likely will see fewer administrative and termination fees charged to their accounts and should have access to their money sooner.

"The rule we're proposing today is designed to help workers and retirees of bankrupt companies gain access to their retirement money sooner. Far too often, the retired workers of these companies are unable to obtain their hard-earned retirement savings in a timely way. The legal status of a former employer should not impede retirees' access to their own funds, especially at the very time they need them most," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits Security Phyllis C. Borzi. "The proposed rule would extend the department's current Abandoned Plan Program to these retirement plans, and enable Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustees to more quickly and efficiently distribute retirement benefits to participants. The rule also would reduce the possibility of participants' accounts being eroded by excessive and unnecessary fees."...

Ya know, I think it is. Can't help but wonder how many companies Bain Capital bankrupted and dumped all those people on the good 'ole USA Department of Labor.

Vulture Capitalists will do it every time.

July 26, 2011

...A key part of EBSA's job is establishing policies (click here) that safeguard the money that workers and employers set aside for workers' retirement. There are about 48,000 private-sector defined benefit plans that hold approximately $2.6 trillion in assets.⁽¹⁾ In addition, there are nearly 670,000 private-sector 401(k) and other defined contribution account plans that hold about $3.9 trillion in assets.⁽²⁾ Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) hold an additional $4.7 trillion.⁽³⁾ In fact, nearly 50 million households own some type of IRA. That number represents more than 40 percent of the households in the United States.⁽⁴⁾ Americans' retirement security depends in large measure on the sound investment of this money. While some investment decisions are made by large professional money managers, today most are made by individual workers who must manage their own 401(k) accounts and IRAs. To guide their decisions, workers often rely on advice from trusted experts....

See what the American people would have given up if President Obama wasn't elected. There was a lot on the line wasn't there? Does everyone understand what would have happened after Romney took office? It would have been completely devastating to the Middle Class.