Peaceful Demonstrations are not welcome by Israel or the USA.

I would think as soon as a Palestinian filmmaker made it as far as LAX there would be safety and welcome for his magnificent accomplishment. But, nooooooooooooo....actually having a peaceful opposition to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is too much to tolerate by Homeland Security.

Someone owes someone an apology in a very big way.

Palestinian director Emad Burnat, nominated for Academy Award, detained at LAX immigration, Michael Moore tweets (click here)

This is ethnic profiling. This is NOT national security. His papers were in order. He is a world renowned documentarian. He puts his life on the line everyday in Palestine to make films to bring the plight of his family and his neighbors face due to oppression. But, USA Homeland Security nearly sent him home rather than allowing him to participate in American rewards for such extraordinary bravery.

When he tried to make the trip to Amman he was stopped and detained along with his wife and child. When they finally were on their way to the USA little did they realize the USA was going to profile them for no valid reason as did Israel.

It seems to me if this is the methodology Homeland Security is using at LAX to determine dangers to the USA, it is not a good methodology. At all. Every Palestinian is suspect or did the family actually qualify for intense frisking because they didn't like the x-ray search for the fear of long term effect of their child?

...“Not every traveler (click here) or piece of cargo poses the same level of risk to our security,” Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, said Friday at her second annual “State of America’s Homeland Security” address at the National Press Club.

“Think of it this way: If we have to look for a needle in a haystack, it makes sense to use all of the information we have about the pieces of hay to make the haystack smaller,” Ms. Napolitano said....

I suppose this PRE-CLEARANCE is just for some class of privileged Americans. It doesn't matter that before this Palestinian family boarded their plane to the USA they were cleared to be there. That doesn't matter at LAX. At LAX, when a passenger arrives they are considered contaminated and have to be cleared all over again. Well, then what kind of companies are landing into LAX that have contaminated people arriving on USA soil?

Why would any airliner be allowed to land at LAX with terrorists on board? I want to know why these good people, albeit, controversial due to being a documentarian were DETAINED and THREATENED by Homeland Security at LAX. Yes, threatened. They were threatened to be returned from whence they came as dangerous people. I am sure that would be really well received in Israel. Here come three dangerous people being rejected by the USA from entry.

Emad Burnat was upset about missing his dinner and his friends. Lord knows the man seems to have far fewer friends than most Americans might expect. But, he was upset because he was going to miss his dinner and potential award for his magnificent film.

ME? 

I and I am quite confident everyone at the dinner was upset because Mr. Emad Burnat was profiled. I am worried he could be detained and worse. Worried? That is an understatement. His life was in danger the minute he stepped off the plane at LAX along with his wife. 

I know that wrath. It is not a good feeling. I was pulled aside in Boston when pumice rock from Iceland was found in my carry on. Four Homeland Security officers showed up out of the woodwork to state I would be arrested and detained for pumice rock from Iceland. Why? Because rocks were considered a potential threat to pilots and a weapon against pilots behind metal doors in the cockpit. Like. What?

It takes a real imagination to believe pumice would survive being thrown at the door yet alone be a weapon.

I had to return to the check in area to ask for my luggage being loaded on the plane to put my SCIENTIFIC material in the luggage (and pack it so it would survive gorilla baggage handlers). I nearly missed my flight. I had to go through this mess called screening under greater scrutiny this time to insure I wasn't being SNEAKY.

I can only imagine the wrath this family met with at LAX. Scary is not the word. I am appalled such a distinguished man and his family were treated like objects and not the decent people they are.

I apologize for the US Department of Homeland Security. They are ignorant people. Their only excuse is that in the USA they ain't paid as well as they should be to demand THEY THINK.

Last night, on my way from Turkey to Los Angeles, CA, my family and I were held at US immigration for about an hour and questioned about the purpose of my visit to the United States. Immigration officials asked for proof that I was nominated for an Academy Award® for the documentary 5 BROKEN CAMERAS and they told me that if I couldn't prove the reason for my visit, my wife Soraya, my son Gibreel and I would be sent back to Turkey on the same day.

After 40 minutes of questions and answers, Gibreel asked me why we were still waiting in that small room. I simply told him the truth: 'Maybe we'll have to go back.' I could see his heart sink.

Although this was an unpleasant experience, this is a daily occurrence for Palestinians, every single day, throughout the West Bank. There are more than 500 Israeli checkpoints, roadblocks, and other barriers to movement across our land, and not a single one of us has been spared the experience that my family and I experienced yesterday. Ours was a very minor example of what my people face every day."

Emad Burnat

He flew in from Turkey. Turkey is an ally. Is there any reason the USA should believe Turkey is sending terrorists through LAX?

The States are successful with Balance Budget Amendments.

There are reasons for that. A State understands its income and expenditures in a much smaller universe. States don't support a military or declare war. That is to begin with.

But, the entire issue of a federal balanced budget amendment can be answered very simply.

It.

Is.

Politics.

TITLE I--TROUBLED ASSETS RELIEF PROGRAM (click here)

In 2008, the Republicans sure as heck didn't worry about any kind of balanced budget except for their cronies.

A federal budget also does many more diverse activities with it's monies. It supports state budgets. In realizing the federal government supports states with balanced budget amendments is also to realize that helps stabilize the demands on the USA Treasury. The USA federal government has to develop legislation that will provide for fifty states. So, while some states are donor states and some are recipient states every federal legislative act has to take into account the fifty states. The federal government has to provide for equitable interests for every state. The fact of the matter is the recipient states, while at the center of the rhetoric for a federal balanced budget amendment, would be the first to be adversely effected by such an amendment.

It is all nonsense. Most Americans have grown weary of the nonsense. 

It would be helpful if Speaker Boner would stop lying.

To begin this sequester thing resulted because Boner could not bring home the Grand Bargain. He stood on politics and not solid fiscal policy when the Grand Bargain was a reality. The Grand Bargain had everything the Republicans cry about all the time. It even had more cuts that Senator Rand Paul states is something he would want. So, there is no reason for Boner to point to President Obama as the author of the sequester. 

By JOHN BONER 

A week from now, (click here) a dramatic new federal policy is set to go into effect that threatens U.S. national security, thousands of jobs and more. In a bit of irony, President Obama stood Tuesday with first responders who could lose their jobs if the policy goes into effect. Most Americans are just hearing about this Washington creation for the first time: the sequester. What they might not realize from Mr. Obama's statements is that it is a product of the president's own failed leadership....

Additionally, Boner and Senators like Paul actually expected the sequester cuts not to matter. They expected the puppet president Romney to be in the White House right now. In that reality are several facts. The first fact is that Boner and his Republicans were using the sequester for politics. If they were waiting for it to go away that is politics. Foolish politics while playing with the lives of Americans, but, politics just the same.

One of the other facts is the REALITY the puppet president was not elected and therefore on that basis alone there is absolutely no fact in stating President Obama has failed leadership. Many in the nation, including Ohio, would dispute that statement. Boner is lying. He is still playing politics.

The other fact is that failed leadership belongs to Speaker Boner. He has not had a consensus with any of his House votes unless it was for Post Offices that under his leadership will disappear anyway since the US Post Office is disappearing from the PROMISE of the USA Constitution.

...The sequester is a wave of deep spending cuts scheduled to hit on March 1. Unless Congress acts, $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will occur this year, with another $1.1 trillion (110,000,000,000) coming over the next decade. There is nothing wrong with cutting spending that much—we should be cutting even more—but the sequester is an ugly and dangerous way to do it....

The cuts this year are far less than the cuts in subsequent years. About $25 billion less. Yet, this year is a horrendous experience for the USA. The argument could be made that the recovering economy is more demanding than any subsequent year, but, won't be the case. With every annual installment for the sequester cuts, there will be contraction in the USA economy.

Realizing there will be annual contraction in the USA economy, it is a perfect opportunity for Republicans to rant on and on about the failed leadership of President Obama. Doing so is more a political agenda to defeat Democrats and shoot for a win in 2016. So, why the complaints, Mr. Speaker? This after all is what the goal of the GOP has been for years now.

...By law, the sequester focuses on the narrow portion of the budget that funds the operating accounts for federal agencies and departments, including the Department of Defense. Exempt is most entitlement spending—the large portion of the budget that is driving the nation's looming debt crisis. Should the sequester take effect, America's military budget would be slashed nearly half a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. Border security, law enforcement, aviation safety and many other programs would all have diminished resources....

That is a lie, Mr. Boner. The entitlements are paid for and currently supported though USA Bonds. The Congress has borrowed against the entitlements and replaced the money with USA Bonds. So, I am curious how the entitlements are the biggest part of the national debt. Unless, of course, the USA Bonds are rapidly going to become worthless with any and all role back of the sequester cuts.

I think the real issue is the resistance of the GOP to restructure the sequester cuts to more appropriate areas of government spending so the impact on employment of Americans are minimized. See, if that happens and we actually support the USA economic spending through employment, the cronies might actually have to feel the pinch. Here again the politics override the nation.

To return for a minute to the USA Bonds. The bond rating is important, so to simply disregard the sequester cuts as irresponsible for an economic recovery is out of the question. The cuts go forward, it is a matter of how they go forward.

...During the summer of 2011, as Washington worked toward a plan to reduce the deficit to allow for an increase in the federal debt limit, President Obama and I very nearly came to a historic agreement. Unfortunately our deal fell apart at the last minute when the president demanded an extra $400 billion in new tax revenue—50% more than we had shaken hands on just days before....

The point is rather mute, isn't it? There have been revenue increases, so here again the failed leadership was the Speaker and his House and the Senate Minority Leader and his filibusters. The politics was completely dysfunctional to the best outcome of the nation and the complaining about how and why the Grand Bargain failed is all too mute. The revenues were accomplished anyway. So, the failure is not President Obama's but the short sighted and draconian politics of the GOP. A tax by any other name....

The fact of the matter is the Grand Bargain should have gone forward with the increased revenues and we would not be at this juncture. This juncture and the ones in the future are about politics, not the nation. It is about the slippery political slope the GOP finds itself. It is about the FAUX knowledge base the GOP claims in their politics. The truth by any other name...

...the Budget Control Act.

The plan called for immediate caps on discretionary spending (to save $917 billion) and the creation of a special House-Senate "super committee" to find an additional $1.2 trillion in savings....

The House version of the Budget Control Act demanded a Balanced Budget Amendment. It was stuck in the bill without regard to the needs of the nation today or in the future. A budget amendment at the state level works due to population demographics, but, as a federal directive it limits the powers of the federal government and is unrealistic. To ask for it in the first place was politics and had nothing to do with governing. 

The Budget Control Act is where the $1.2 Trillion and the Super Committee was written. and you proudly admit it was written by "...I immediately got together with Senate leaders Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell...". So, where is the President's role in that? The fact the Executive Branch was protecting the federal government from political directives? Gee, wasn't that too bad. I suppose President Obama's demand to end the brinkmanship of the House was too much of a political cost.

Speaker Boner needs to stop playing politics with the nation's treasury and the rating of our bonds. We are tired of it. The nation has many, many issues other than MONEY ISSUES to face. The list is enormous of which the House's calender rarely lends time to address.

If President Obama is demanding to end the hassle of debt ceiling increases and budget battles it is because we don't have time for it and need to move on. Just because the House and the GOP blew the chance to make MEANINGFUL reform to the federal spending is the problem. It is so much a problem it needs to be a re-election and election issue of 2014. You want to play politics, heck, let's do that. The facts are very, very clear. If the Grand Bargain was struck this disaster that the Speaker, the Senate Minority Leader and Senate Majority Leader authored would not exist. If that is not a reason to throw the bumbs out in 2014, don't ask me what is.

I think the press protest too much. I sincerely believe the complaints of the media regarding President Obama's holiday weekend is about a lost opportunity to exploit Tiger Woods personal life. Neither he nor the President need to have scandal sheets seeking to ruin their enjoyment.

Senator Rand Paul wants to be viewed as serious about spending cuts.

That is all fine and good. He states he wants to have a larger cut than currently exists. Okay. But, we know that cutting spending is not the only solution to the National Debt.

Freedom Works agrees with Senator Paul's point of view. Or vise versa.

...However, there is a great deal that the government (click here) can do to spur economic growth without resorting to bailouts, stimulus packages, subsidies, or other forms of intervention. Fundamental tax reform, for example, is an obvious first step toward encouraging growth. Repealing corporate welfare subsidies will create a more level playing field between businesses of all sizes and give entrepreneurs a greater chance to succeed. Eliminating massive government interventions into the economy, such as ObamaCare, will help allow markets to function properly. Slashing harmful regulations that prevent entrepreneurs from starting businesses will go a long way toward restoring our traditionally innovative and enterprising American spirit....

But, where the Republicans and Right Wing lose legitimacy is when there are no answers for the problems the Affordable Care Act solves. Whether the Republicans like it or not, the ACA actually does solve the nation's problems. Health care is important. Okay. 

So while this is all interesting and Senator Paul wants to expand spending cuts, hacking away at the Affordable Care Act is not prudent. To return to a private sector solution would be a return to the problem. Senators are suppose to solve problems for the nation. Washing their hands of them to allow CEOs to 'have at it' is not problem solving. That has been especially true with the Health Care Industry.

So, if Senator Paul wants to be taken seriously as a leader, one with solutions, he needs to address problems and not simply political ideology. He also stated something late last year that complicates the solutions for the National Debt.

..."I made a pledge (click here) to the people of Kentucky that I'm not raising taxes. I took a pledge. I signed a statement, an oath that I wouldn't raise taxes, and I'm going to adhere to it," Sen. Paul told Fox New's Greta Van Susteren Monday night....

Pledges are problematic and we are back to Grover Norquist again. That is not being a leader. Taking a pledge is being lead.

Freedom Works also advocates cutting mandatory spending. Not discretionary spending and now we are back to the military ideology of the Right Wing.

...What is included in discretionary spending? Well, for one thing, military expenditures. Of the estimated $1.231 trillion in 2013 discretionary spending, a whopping $644 billion goes to national defense. In other words, more than half of discretionary spending is defense spending....

...Where do we need to cut?

Mathematically, it is obvious that our long-term spending problem is centered around mandatory spending, not discretionary spending (although we need to cut that, as well). If we're going to reduce spending and to get the national debt under control, we must reform the entitlement programs at the heart of mandatory spending....

The focus by Freedom Works is fundamentally wrong. Mandatory spending is not about reducing the National Debt unless of course the programs are ended. The challenge to the entitlements or as Senator Paul and Freedom Works refutes it; "Mandatory Spending" is to sustain it. How does the USA sustain it's entitlements? It's promises? So, seeking to cut Mandatory Spending is misguided in it's focus. It is an error.

The entitlements are already funded. It is a matter of how do we make sure the entitlements are sustained. Certainly that is more difficult when global economies implode and two entire years are eroded from the health of these programs.

The most prudent policies in regard to mandatory spending is to return those lost revenues into the programs through the health of the USA Bonds. It is the bonds that fund the entitlements currently. It is the USA Bonds that provide returns to the entitlements, so to insure the standing of the USA Bond is paramount to the MANDATORY PROGRAMS. There really is no funding problem here under NORMAL circumstances. It is when Republican economic programs destroy the USA economy that the entitlements run into problems. But, hey, the GOP doesn't need entitlements, right?

I admire Senator Paul for coming forward in a serious tone stating we have problems in the USA. I have advise. It may or may not be well received, but, it is advice I would consider important to his career. Kindly find sources of information that are not rhetorical and actually have a brain trust that cares about the people of the country. Organizations like Freedom Works ain't it. And Grover Norquist has out lived his usefulness. I would expect Senator Paul to want to emulate the values of a long career no different than his father. I suggest he consider the information he makes his policies decisions on be improved and accurate as well as a method to solving problems. 

I am quite confident the people of Kentucky can understand solid policy when it is presented to them. When politicians use rhetoric as policy it actually insults the electorate. Someday, Kentuckians will realize they are being regarded as a guaranteed vote to rhetoric and they won't like it. I only hope that day is coming soon.

I would like to see Senator Paul become a serious problem solver. Perhaps, he might take up President Obama on his invitation to the White House. If I were him I'd ask to be a part of a meeting with his economic team of advisers and I'd ask questions to 'get it right.'

Not bad first attempt.

George and Laura must be feeling frisky these days.

You know, he is over 60 years old. I would think that is a daring idea alone. Not many 60 year olds would paint their bodies necessarily.

I am not going to get Freudian. I am sure many will. I think he and Laura are in love. Nothing like renewing wedding vows I suppose. I always viewed them as a loving couple. Never thought they were eve distant from each other.

It is a curious set of pictures, but, the bath and shower might be the only two places "W" actually contemplates anything. Not bad. Grey hair and all. But, I think the context is a bit primitive as a painting. Water doesn't necessary run straight down and there is usually mist in the air. But, it is a good start. 

Okay, then.

South Carolina is that hard up for a brain trust?

Former SC Gov. Mark Sanford to wed ex-mistress Maria Belen Chapur (click here)

Mark Sanford is to marry his mistress. She is an immigrant. As soon as she gets her Green Card it will be "Hasta la vista, babe."

Mind Speak Obstructionism. Brinkmanship and Filibuster.

The Republicans are using the Sequester as a political strategy. If they can sell it as a Democratic initiative and there is pain in the country after the cuts go through it will work to their political benefit. Or so they think. Nothing is going to change here.

This editorial is from a Kentucky newsprint. Kentuckians are not blaming the Democrats alone, so the Republicans need to look at the real application of their strategy.

THE SEQUESTER for Republicans IS ALL ABOUT THE MILITARY. They are going to play this along with whatever Mind Speak Mess goes along with it, such as "White House Communist" from now until 2016. What are you joking? This is the best hand they have. I can hear it now, the Democrats are nothing but Commies and we all know it now; they hacked our military into nothingness. 

The GOP doesn't care about jobs, they will pin it all on Democrats from now until the end of time. They are about winning elections for the people that fund them. Where does anyone believe the Republicans care about the Middle Class? Look what they did for eight years under Bush. This is about elections folks. They don't care about citizens. Heck, the poverty in Louisiana is a badge of pride and courage for them. They don't own these SOCIAL PROBLEMS. Those people are simply lazy Americans. They deserved to lose their homes after 2008. What makes anyone think Republicans care about people in this country?

The Commies are not only coming, they are here and they took the White House. I mean to tell you, they have not only taken the White House, they are taking your guns, too. Vladimir Putin is only a heat beat away.

Woe is me. Woe is me....All because the President and Senate Democrats didn't lead. ..Woe is me.

Republicans can't trip up on their dialogue like Senator Hagel can. They keep themselves within a CODE and it works.

I mean they almost had the Boy Scouts. And you have to know they got to the Pope.

Pestilence has set upon this land and only the purest of Republicans can clean it up. Woe is me.

...It wasn’t his arms he mentioned in a recent interview (click here) with The Associated Press. He expressed weariness and frustration after a couple of rounds of failed budget talks, where he was stymied either by the president or, when he thought he had an agreement, his own rank-and-file.

“Frankly,” he told AP, “every time I’ve gotten into one of these high-profile negotiations, you know, it’s my rear end that got burned.” From now on, in what the wire service described as an “almost Zen-like approach,” he plans to rest against the ropes, so to speak, and let others — the White House, the Senate, his own party — take the initiative.

Boehner and the Republicans generally are trying to portray the looming sequester — $85 billion in across-the-board budget cuts — as not only exclusively Obama’s problem, but exclusively the president’s idea. In truth, both parties were complicit — the Republicans maybe even more so than the Democrats — in its creation in August 2011.

“Remember, this is the president’s idea,” Boehner now says. The solution is up to the president and the Senate Democrats. The House will take a look at whatever they propose....

Bless their hearts. Is there no one that can save them from themselves?

The Affordable Care Act / Obamacare

The ACA was a hugely important legislative action. It is vital to improving the well being of the people of the USA. Preventive care is free after all. That component alone is vital to bending the curve down on American health care. Early detection is key to preventing disease.

Health education is as important, too. First Lady Michelle is making wonderful in roads with our young to create good habits as impressionable ages.

The Health Exchanges are beginning in 2014. We knew going into the ACA the initial years would be as much learning years to health care professionals about the American people as any they have experienced before. Never before will so many people be seeking information about their wellness. For many Americans new habits on their health will be a venue they haven't entertained before. So, it is a given there are going to be problems that come to the surface and will need subsequent legislation in years to come.

One of the more troubling facts regarding the Private Insurance Industry is their willingness to exploit the people they currently have within their contracts to increase their rates in the future. 

Right now. The Health Care Insurance industry is driving rates up for Young Americans. I am quite sure it is unjustified, however, within the ACA there is the requirement to maintain reasonable prices to Older Americans. The Older American can only have their rates increased by three times that of the Young American.

The Health Care Insurance Company is acting in what can be coined as racketeering to increase prices to Young Americans, thus seeking future premiums at much higher rates for Older Americans. I remind this is a requirement in the USA now. So, there will be plenty of opportunity for exploitation by the industry and there is every indication that will be the case. I have no doubt Congressional oversight will be required.

I remind, the Health Care Industry has been the culprit to promulgating the need for The Affordable Care Act. They have taken Americans' premiums and not provided coverage while finding completely baseless reasons to deny coverage. The idea the ACA was never needed is hideous. It was getting to the point where coverage was virtually meaningless to more and more Americans. We know this industry has caused deaths in this country.

We also know, The Public Option was brought to light as a means to balance the premiums of the private sector. I would expect, in states such as California where exploitative practice by the private industry is reaching hideous realities, there may be a Public Option that actually passes the State Legislature.

So, in addressing those that would like to pummel Democratic candidates with the ACA in 2014 due to Private Industry costs before 2014 enacts the entire law; I remind; there are very real answers to those complaints by those seeking to victimize candidates. It was the Blue Dogs successful in excluding the Public Option, especially that of Lieberman. He isn't coming back either, even after his party juggling antics.

Affordable Care Act to Charge 50% Extra from Smokers for Insurance Premiums (click here)
Submitted by Satish Karat on Tue, 02/19/2013 - 12:52 

• Insurance Sector
• Health
 
• TNM

Ya think?

I already know Smokers are going to avoid preventive care. Some of them will. So, there has to be a 'default' standard that is not legislated in the ACA allowing insurance companies to increase their premiums to INDIVIDUALS incrementally if they refuse Preventive visits for more than two years. I would expect Preventive Care to be welcome to the country and where that is not the case, there needs to be education. So, the implementation of a 'default' premium for difficult individuals needs an introductory period for educating Americans not familiar with the idea.

Default premium is one that would reflect the possibility of undetected disease in the future. Most alcoholics see problems by the age of 45 years old. Severe alcoholics often face death at that age. 

A smoker will start to develop lung disease within months of starting the habit and is detectable on a chest x-ray. But, severe disease (minimally COPD) will begin within two decades of substantial cigarette use.

The Oversight Committees will have to discern the price breaks for any 'default' premium.

Just a suggestion.

These 'default' ideas are not foreign to the USA culture already. Take for instance, drunk drivers. When they have done their time on bicycles and can prove they deserve their driver's licenses back they have a great deal of expense to secure their mobility in an engine driven four wheel vehicle.

Example: The higher insurance prices are a given. But, in states such as Massachusetts there is a legislated standard where a relicensed driver has to blow into a devise in order to start the car. Those costs are carried by the newly relicensed driver. I think that process goes on for at least a year or more.

So, the idea of 'default' premiums to provide relief to the general public that don't smoke is a real idea.

The idea that charging more for smokers will have an adverse effect on the tobacco industry, I say, "Ya, think?" But, it will provide a better quality of life to the American people. And while the tax revenues from cigarettes will wane to some extent there are new opportunities for the economy in Smoking Rehab and Support Groups as well as providing more inspiration for hobbies that enhance lives. Wouldn't be great if Former Smokers actually had their own 5K and ultimately their own Half-Marathons and Marathons. Follow? 

Cigarettes are expensive, but, scrapbooking can be a nice place to seek to spend money in expression of loving the family that much more.

Democrats, in order to win in traditionally Republican districts and seats need to be prepared for "SILLY" issues.

Right now, FOX media services, be it radio or visual is discussing this mess as if it were the most dire reality the USA has to face.

7:30 pm - February 16, 2013 — Updated: 7:30 pm - February 16, 2013

Science: Could lasers vaporize dangerous asteroids? (click here)

By Amina KhanMcClatchy-Tribune News Service

LOS ANGELES — Earth dodged a gigantic space bullet Friday when the 143,000-ton asteroid known as 2012 DA14 came within 17,200 miles of the Indian Ocean. Scientists and engineers are looking for ways to head off such close calls by targeting potentially dangerous asteroids well before they’re in a position to do us any harm.

Now, two California scientists have a new proposal to deploy an array of lasers that could vaporize asteroids from as far away as 93 million miles — the distance between Earth and the sun. They call their device Directed Energy Solar Targeting of Asteroids and exploRation, or DE-STAR for short....

There are a lot of ways to speak to these extreme issues. Namely, budget and the idea of 'The Bridge to Nowhere.' Pork barrel spending. There are many ways to counter the lies of the GOP. In good humor and with minimal effort to people sincerely scared of such 'out of their control' problems.

The idea of lasers is interesting, too. The idea that extreme issues are simply out of the venue of Democrats can be a real detriment to a campaign sincerely based in the desire to change the circumstances for the better of people easily manipulated by their fear.

The fear venue works for Republicans and receives high profile in Right Wing Media. The Democrats that want to make a difference with these folks need to be able to speak to their fears. Seriously.

There are answers for their fears and it is not based in dismissing them or participating in the lie. I can and have logged onto this blog and answered all the extremes and lies at FOX News without effort. It is worth the outreach to finally return sanity to the electorate of the USA. The extremists are good people, but, their experience and 'economy' in life sometimes limits their social priorities. Let's face it, The Washington Times is 25 cents on the news stand.

There are those media services that are intractable to their loyal followers, but, there are people sincerely bogged down in their understanding to issues of fear. They are worth talking to.

My opinion. Good luck. I want it, too. Know your strengths and where the State and Federal government needs you to help. Avoid 'pitfall words.' Mental health legislation in Washington, DC can be approached by an outsider without mentioning the Affordable Care Act.

10:13 pm - February 16, 2013 — Updated: 3:55 pm - February 18, 2013

Tribune Editorial: Mental health care isn’t the place to cut corners (click here)

On Wednesday, the Iowa House of Representatives passed a bill allocating $11.6 million to help counties pay for mental health services during their transition from county-based to regional services, which was mandated by a law passed toward the end of the last legislative session.

Rep. Lisa Heddens, D-Ames, who if she supports anything supports mental health care funding, voted against the bill. We think she was right.

This is a complicated issue. Mental health services and funding have a convoluted history dating back to the old county homes that were abandoned in favor of helping people with mental illness and intellectual disabilities live as independently in their communities as they are able to.

Back in the 1990s, a funding formula was devised that placed a dollar limit on how much a county could levy in property tax to support services for the mentally ill. It didn’t matter how the population or need for services fluctuated. Story County’s approximately $3 million cap is the same today as it was in the ’90s....

There is only one reason why Republicans hate the Lame Stream Media. The GOP lies.

The only media network willing to lie along with them is FOX News. Grassley states no truthful words.

Rove will back King. He can't survive in the real world otherwise. Rove is more hot air than Earth can handle. He needs to win an election. He didn't win one in 2012. Not one. He'll be looking for races where he can change his record.

By Peter Urban

Stephens Washington Bureau

10:49 pm - February 16, 2013 — Updated: 10:49 pm - February 16, 2013

WASHINGTON — The blowback from tea party conservatives (click here) against Karl Rove has Congressman Steve King feeling good about a run for U.S. Senate in 2014.

“Well, it has helped fundraising and there hasn’t been any discouragement whatsoever,” said King, a six-term Republican from Kiron.

King is exploring a run for the seat held by retiring Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, but is likely months away from a decision.

One thing that won’t come into play is the concerns from Republicans outside Iowa that he cannot win the general election.

“I’m not going to be bullied either into the race or out of the race. Iowans will make that decision and that is as it should be,” King said....

THE TRUTH is, President Obama's policies are working. Democrats have every reason to expect to be in good positions for wins. The GOP is too far right and they will always claim President Obama is a failure. It just isn't true. Any household is going to know that.

10:10 pm - February 16, 2013 — Updated: 10:10 pm - February 16, 2013

Demand for new homes is building (click here)

By Michael Crumb

Staff Writer

mcrumb@amestrib.com

Ames builders are seeing an increase in demand for new homes, thanks in part to an improving economic climate in Ames, which has led to the creation of new jobs.

“It’s definitely favorable,” said Mark Hanson, owner of Hanson Homes Inc. “It’s better than it has been for the past four to five years.”

After peaking in 2005 at 240, permits for construction of single family homes in Ames dropped for five consecutive years to just 58 in 2010 and 2011, according to records from the city’s inspections office. In 2012, the number of building permits issued for single family homes increased to 70 and builders are optimistic the local housing industry will continue to improve....

Even Ames, Iowa hasn't had it so good. If there is this much increase in economic uptick from years under Bush's economy, there is no holding Democrats back. The truth hurts Republicans.

Too cool not to share. It was a great Comedy Arts Festival. Moore knows how to party.

The local merchants had an uptick in commerce during the event, too. The street attractions were all free and the children were everywhere. They had a lot of fun.

It was premediated. She was so involved in her own upward mobility a scandal would have oppressed a response to domestic violence.

Tue Feb 19, 2013 6:20am EST
By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura

..."Without a doubt he's a danger (click here) to the public. He'll be a danger to witnesses. He must stay in jail. He's already shown how dangerous he can be for what he did to Reeva," said Gavin Venter, an ex-jockey who worked for Steenkamp's father.

"She was an angel, she was so soft, so innocent. Such a lovely person. It's just sad that this could happen to somebody so good," Venter said....

Pistorus' Twitter Account or Facebook or one of the social media services has entries where he was identifying her as an intruder two weeks before she was killed. He didn't know she was not an intruder? Come on, they didn't have mobile phones numbers where they each knew what the other was doing in seconds? He identified her as an intruder? Okay, then.

Abused women sometimes wait for a break before moving outside a relationship. Why should this be any different than Nicole Brown Simpson? A celebrity would measure her public presence before leaving a popular athlete. Her own social media accounts were stating she was anticipating a wonderful Valentine's Day. She would have put that information in her Twitter feed after the fact to tell everyone about her wonderful boyfriend, too.

The media between the two were intact. He knew where she was and what she was doing anytime he wanted to.

So much for the deep concerns in Red States like Louisiana for Homeland Security.

This undated file aerial photo (click here) provided by the Louisiana State Police via The Shreveport Times shows part of the smokeless explosive powder improperly stored outside Explo Systems Inc., a munitions dismantling facility at Camp Minden at Doyline, La. Documents reviewed by The Associated Press show Explo Systems Inc. misstated its storage capacity for dangerous materials when it sought a multimillion dollar Army contract in 2010. (AP Photo/Louisiana State Police via The Shreveport Times)

Jindal really needs to tax the petroleum industry and actually pay for State services to police their own corruption.

This could have endangered the entire country. It should not have happened in the first place.

The Mississippi River is a stone's throw from this disaster waiting to happen.

The military needs to send inspectors before they issue contracts. This is ridiculous. They lied when they bid and they need to be prosecuted.

And Rahm doesn't think his problem comes from outside Chicago? Give me a break.

Here are the priorities of a North Carolina city.

The stench gets so bad, that decent legislators leave office. There were many Democrats that did not run again in 2012. So, there are many methods to their madness, too.

By Adam Wagner
Adam.Wagner@StarNewsOnline.com

Published: Monday, February 18, 2013 at 5:11 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, February 18, 2013 at 5:11 p.m.

By December, (click here) rental cars will no longer be at risk of running onto the runway at Wilmington International Airport.

The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to borrow $4.5 million on the airport's behalf. The money will be used to build a new rental car service maintenance center at Hall Drive and Blue Clay Road.

“It's easier for cars to be delivered there, and it's not in the primary center of our business park endeavor, and it frees up the (current) space,” said Jon Rosborough, the airport's executive director..

The new building, which will be able to fit between four and six cars when it is finished in December, will be used to clean cars and perform routine maintenance after they are returned. Construction is slated to start in May....

Business cronies first. Construction lobby. Citizens second. I have flown in and out of ILM. I have rented cars from ILM. I was a resident there for many years. Never once have I heard of a rental car on the tarmac. But, I have heard of flooding rains on a regular basis in a coastal city.

That is North Carolina backward politics. People never come first. Not anymore. The bunch they have in Raleigh are horrible since the 2010 elections. They were the ones that removed liability in emergencies rooms. Corruption through and through. 

Oh, well.

By Ashley Withers
Ashley.Withers@StarNewsOnline.com

Published: Monday, February 18, 2013 at 5:42 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, February 18, 2013 at 5:42 p.m.

After heated debate (click here) between the board’s chair and vice-chair, the New Hanover County commissioners on Monday narrowly rejected a $16.9 million septic tank replacement plan.

The plan, which failed on a 3-2 vote, would have removed the septic tanks in the Marquis Hills and Heritage Park communities and hooked the properties into the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority’s system.

The Marquis Hills and Heritage Park subdivisions rank first and second, respectively, on the authority’s list of high-priority areas with failing septic tanks in the county. Heritage Park is in the northern part of the county near North 23rd Street and Castle Hayne Road, and Marquis Hills is in the southern part of the county near South College and Sanders roads....

Ya think?

This 12-story building on the outskirts of Shanghai is the headquarters of Unit 61398 of the People’s Liberation Army. China’s defense ministry has denied that it is responsible for initiating digital attacks.

Chinese Army Unit Is Seen as Tied to Hacking Against U.S. (click here)

By DAVID E. SANGER, DAVID BARBOZA and NICOLE PERLROTH

Published: February 18, 2013

...The building off Datong Road, surrounded by restaurants, massage parlors and a wine importer, (sounds like a good deal compared to Chinese prisons. yes, indeed. happiness in one neighborhood. why bother with GPS ankle braclets) is the headquarters of P.L.A. Unit 61398. A growing body of digital forensic evidence — confirmed by American intelligence officials who say they have tapped into the activity of the army unit for years — leaves little doubt that an overwhelming percentage of the attacks on American corporations, organizations and government agencies originate in and around the white tower....

When the Chinese caught up with the international abilities of the folks they then considered criminals, they put them to work. It is a communist country. Everyone works and contributes. Capitalism or no capitalism of their markets. So, China must be very proud. They took hard core criminals and gave them a patriotic job. Well done, huh?

By Monica Campbell

...More than a year earlier, (click here) in June 2011, the two journalists had crossed into eastern Ethiopia from Somalia and embedded with members of the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front, or ONLF. "We'd heard about rapes, executions, and an exodus from the Ogaden region, and that a Swedish oil company had operations there," said Persson, who went to Ethiopia with Schibbye, a freelance writer, to report a story for the Swedish magazine Filter. "We wanted to go and see what was happening at the source." Ethiopian security forces seized the journalists during a raid on the separatist group. But unlike the cases of other foreign journalists who were expelled for covering issues Ethiopian authorities wanted to keep secret, the prime minister at the time, Meles Zenawi, called the Swedes "messenger boys of a terrorist organization" and authorized their prosecution under the country's anti-terrorism law. Ethiopian officials forced the journalists at gunpoint to participate in films re-creating their arrests--cartoonish skits with civilian actors playing ONLF members and the journalists cast as accomplices. "It was a circus," Schibbye said, "and we feared for our lives throughout."

Now, back in Stockholm, the journalists are troubled most by the six journalists still behind bars in Ethiopia, including the award-winning editor and blogger Eskinder Nega. "When we left the cell for the last time, everyone cheered," Schibbye said. " They said, 'Tell the world about us. Tell them what's happening.'"...

...CPJ research has tracked a significant rise in journalist imprisonments since 2000, a year before the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States fueled the expansion of anti-terrorism and national security laws worldwide. The number of journalists jailed worldwide hit 232 in 2012, 132 of whom were held on anti-terror or other national security charges. Both are records in the 22 years CPJ has documented imprisonments. CPJ's analysis has found that governments have exploited these laws to silence critical journalists covering sensitive issues such as insurgencies, political opposition parties, and ethnic minorities....

There are human rights issues with jailed journalists as well. When the only journalist covering a region is jailed, it is oppression of the people and their right to know.

18.02.13 21:07
Uzbek human rights activists (click here) intend to appeal to the Uzbek ombudswoman and other relevant organisations within the country in a bid to release journalist Salijon Abdurahmanov.

The Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan (HRAU) aims to obtain this by 5 March, the expiration date of the amnesty announced in Uzbekistan in honour of the 20th anniversary of the constitution.

The leader of the HRAU Elena Urlayeva, has said that she and her colleagues will try to persuade authorities in Uzbekistan to release journalist Salijon Abdurahmanov, 62, before the end of the amnesty.

“He was the only human rights activist and independent journalist in Karakalpakstan, a very unfortunate region of the country, therefore we deem his release of high importance,” Urlayeva said....