There is no blood on that teenagers hands. How lucky he was to fall into the grass.

There is no blood in the grass either. Why was there no blood anywhere? Because gunshots to the heart stops the heart. There was no pump. The only blood that would be coming out of his chest would be expressed/pushed out of his chest. His blood was now pooling inside his chest creating pressure against any chance of restarting the heart. The heart has to have room inside the chest to move. The pooling of blood was making that impossible.

He spent his last minutes of life in fear. In fear of his life. He knew he was profiled by then. His racial remarks were due to the feeling he had having been profiled. It was a description of his assailant. He didn't know if he died that anyone besides Rachel would know who did it. His reaction to being profiled by a crazy ass cracker was to defend himself and his killer walks free. The USA is a great country. Great country, indeed!

TJ is correct. Fear is a form of pain. And now we know that when a Black Man in the USA feels fear it is painful. Fear is a painful experience. It is not an experience anyone wants to repeat. Fear works to galvanize a person's reaction. Fight or flight. Trayvon Martin knew he was going to die. Now, who's voice was that? Who stopped breathing with the firing of the gun? The young man with a stopped heart and blood pouring into his chest compressed his lungs and ended his ability to push air out of his vocal cords. That is who was yelling for help. I don't anyone to tell me that. 

There were healthcare professionals on the jury, at least one was a nurse. They should have understood the hemodynamics of the chest. 

The New American Tragedy - Morons with Guns

The streets of the USA aren't safe.

It is a pay to play country. 

Murder is legal with enough money to make it so.

"Keepin' It Real."

"Crazy Ass Crackers" 

No truer words have I ever heard. 

It is a very strange time in the USA.

The hubris with the defense attorneys is unbelievable. They have successfully diminished the profiling of a young man and his subsequent death into some idea it was self defense. The jury didn't keep the actions of Mr. Zimmerman into context. They put themselves into Zimmerman's shoes and didn't want to admit no matter how self-righteous the act that brought the death of Mr. Martin, it would not be allowed to happen if they were George Zimmerman.

The defense attorney separated the predatory actions of Zimmerman from the death of Mr. Martin. They made the act of killing into an imagined outcome by someone terrified and defending himself from a teenage bothering no one. That is imagineering.

I expected a different demeanor from the defense team. They are very wrong about their attitudes. Mr. Zimmerman is not innocent. They may have gotten a not guilty verdict, but, Mr. Zimmerman is far from innocent in his actions. 

No one willingly enters into a patrolling of an innocent person without intent. Mr. Zimmerman never witnessed any wrong doing by Mr. Martin. Mr. Martin was profiled. There is injustice here. 

The State of Florida had a responsibility to carry out this investigation and trial. This outcome is bizarre. It exonerated a man that profiled a young man and saw his death. What? That innocent young man, teenager was scared and sought to defend himself and that turned into his death without guilt? What has happened to the laws of Florida and the USA? 

When does the death of an innocent person lose it's value? Oops. The gun wins? This is for real in the USA? Dear god what has happened here? I don't recognize my country anymore.

My deepest sympathies to the Martin family.

It should be a crime or at the very least a litigated liability to investors.

July 12,2012
By Matthew Hilburn
   
The number of earthquakes (click here) in the central and eastern United States has increased dramatically over the past few years, and scientists think the reason could be due to the disposal of wastewater associated with oil and gas production.

According to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey, there were more than 300 earthquakes above magnitude 3.0 from 2010 to 2012. That’s a five-fold increase from earthquakes observed from 1967 to 2000, when the average number was 21 per year.
 
In 2011, a 5.6 magnitude quake struck central Oklahoma, injuring several people and damaging over a dozen homes. According to the report, wastewater disposal appears to have been the cause of the temblor. Had an earthquake that size hit a more populated area, there would be the potential for severe damage and possible deaths....

Seismicity of the coterminous United States (click here) and surrounding regions, 2009–2012. Black dots denote earthquakes with a magnitude ≥ 3.0 are shown; larger dots denote events with a magnitude ≥ 4.0. Background colors indicate earthquake hazard levels from the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Map (NSHM).


Scientists found that earthquakes half a world away can also set off quakes at sites of more conventional oil production. (click here)

Thursday
By Todd Woody

...The paper published in the journal Science has implications beyond hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the process that injects pressurized chemical-laced water to break up subterranean rock formations that contain oil and natural gas. Scientists at Columbia University and the University of Oklahoma found that earthquakes half a world away can also set off quakes at sites of more conventional oil production.

For instance, the magnitude 9.0 quake in March 2011 that devastated Japan set off a 4.5 quake in the west Texas town of Snyder six months later as seismic waves caused faults in the nearby Cogdell oil fields to slip. Historically, the region has been relatively seismically calm but for decades drillers have injected fluids into the fields to extract oil and the growing pressure has weakened fault lines....

It is akin to the ancient Egyptian slaves greasing the skids of which the huge carved boulders rode on the way to building pyramids. The problem with the fracking grease is that it is a corrosive and not just a lubricant.

From Smithsonian's Blog: (click here)

July 12, 2013
From the late 1960s until 2000, there were only 21 earthquakes a year with a magnitude greater than 3 in the Midwest. But from 2010-2012, the region experienced over 300....

...From the New York Times:

When waste water is injected into rock formations, it increases pressure enough that long-dormant faults are primed to slip once again, shaking the earth. Dr. van der Elst suggested that small stresses from the passing seismic waves in effect “squeezed” the rocks at the injection sites, raising the pressure past the tipping point so that the faults slip and the earth shakes....

Open Letter to Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase and Company

Dear Mr. Dimon,

I saw your interview today. You were impressive as always. I congratulate you on your loyalty to JP Morgan Chase and Co. I am confident you have been a pivotal person in the leadership that has lead the great financial institution to the success it is today. JP Morgan Chase and Co. was the only great financial institution sincerely solvent when the third quarter of 2008 rolled around. That is no minor accomplishment. Still today the cost of a stock certificate of JP Morgan Chase and Co. is affordable to the average American. It is a worthwhile investment if one is looking for success in the long view.

I agreed with most of what you stated today in your interview. I agreed with most of it, but, we do disagree about one thing. You might be able to guess.

I found it refreshing to have a CEO of such a large institution believe deeply in the USA. If that is an expression of loyalty to the extent you are a part of JP Morgan Chase and Co. then we are lucky to have you here. The USA needs loyalty. It's Middle Class is vitally important to the USA economy and even still to the global economy. But, I don't have to tell you that. 

You stated, "The USA has the best economy in the world. The deepest, widest and most transparent. The markets of the USA are historic." I suggest the transparency is what makes it the deepest, widest and best.

You stated JP Morgan Chase and Co. are risk averse, seeking the lowest risk possible. The highest risk investment at JP Morgan is lending. Yet it is still carrying the largest lending to American Small Business, believing small businesses will recover with economic growth.

Globally you serve 16,000 diverse clients in the world and find the most volatility in emerging markets. But you also said it is always best to seek a sounder and safer financial future. You included government regulation as a method; partner if you will; to achieve sounder and safer financial futures. 

The Volcker Rule isn't written yet, but, you did not see it as a threat so much as a measure to support the financial future of the markets. That is rather admirable. The Middle Class of the USA and Small Businesses need a level of confidence different from JP Morgan and I am sure that is part of your calculus. 

I wish you well and hope for your continued success and steadfastness, however, there one thing. 

Earth.

I have four grandchildren, two wonderful sons and their spouses. I have an extensive Irish-American family with many, many youngsters at varied ages, shapes and sizes. Once a year we rent a golf course and a catering building for an annual reunion. It is something to see and be a part of.

I realize making money is a great deal of fun for someone like you. It is necessary for the success of JP Morgan. I understand that. I realize the money made from the petroleum industry is more than fun, it is a lot of fun. However, it is not a lot of fun for the global community that does not live in the same ivory tower as those making decisions within large institutions that imperil their lives. The American people are among those communities.

There are many names for the peril we all face; ivory tower or not; Climate Change, Human Induced Global Warming or what I prefer the Climate Crisis Induced by Anthropogenic Greenhouse Gases including methane and carbon dioxide.

I don't expect someone like you to disdain the monies you oversee so much as tp exclude viable investment opportunities. I have no desire to collapse JP Morgan Chase, you were autonomous in 2008. What I do ask is when those decisions are in regard to greenhouse gas emissions you have a company policy to temper them.

The rarest commodity you will ever handle, Mr. Dimon, is Earth and the future. You do consider the future at JP Morgan Chase and Company. That is a fact. If you think for one minute the decisions you make do not have an effect on Earth you are sadly mistaken.

The Climate Crisis is very expensive and hacks away at the very profits you seek. Some benefits come from rebuilding, but, would that not happen anyway over time?

There are great institutions just like JP Morgan Chase and Co. is a great institution, that can add to the insight you should have for policies to reflect company values. Great institutions such as Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute or the Earth scientists such as James Hansen from the Goddard Space Labs or better yet my favorite Dr. Christopher Fields of Stamford. There are populous figures such as Bill Nye from Cornell University. Mr. Nye knows the deal and it is not a perfect outcome. Some would say it is rather grim. Not at all what I would want to read as a bedtime story to my grandchildren.

I ask you to consider the impact you have from your office at JP Morgan Chase to the outcomes we face with our planet. You are pivotal there, kindly consider being pivotal within the calculus of Earth's biotic content and the cost the Climate Crisis has on your investments. Certainly, bankruptcy of failed businesses because of these tragic outcomes does not serve you well. Hedging against the Climate Crisis might make those loans less risky.

The Blue Marble. Our beautiful planet. The tropospheric air we are handing our future generations needs to be a priority with JP Morgan Chase as well as governments and great institutions across the face of Earth.

Kindly adopt policies, not just donations, that influence the best outcomes, not just mediocre outcomes of our precious space in this universe. It might be a lot to ask, but, recently The World Bank pleaded it's case regarding this matter. I know you are up to it. 

Best regards,
Elisa Barrett

The jurors of the Zimmerman trail want a list of the evidence.

It sounds as though they are settling in to make a decision, but, it doesn't sound as though it would be soon. They haven't yet decided. That is good, at least we all know they are taking these decisions very seriously.

Wall Street running out the clock.

The stated mission of the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) is to protect market users and the public from fraud, manipulation, and abusive practices related to the sale of commodity and financial futures and options, and to foster open, competitive, and financially sound futures and option markets

Posted by Felix Shipkevich

Jul 8, 2013 

After weeks of speculation, (click here) it looks like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will conclude a foreign regulatory issue this Friday, July 12th. The vote will regard how domestic regulations on swaps apply to foreign firms wishing to do business with those in the United States.

The regulations have become a devisive issue in the CFTC , with commissioners on the board giving competing advice on what exactly to do. Current CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler, Democrat, has advocated applying the domestic regulations to the foreign firms as well, but there has been some dissent. Mark Wetjen, Republican, has recommended being more cautious with a ruling on foreign firms, citing that it may hurt, rather than help, the US economy.

Conjecture that Gary Gensler’s term would be over in July prompted some to think that voting on swaps regulation would occur after his position were filled by someone else.

This issue has become important for the derivatives market, and some key players have gotten involved in the recent discussions with the regulatory giant. Speculation that foreign firms would be required to comply with CFTC standards has purportedly caused instability in the market.

The interested parties go beyond just banks, firms and regulators though. Recently, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has weighed in on the issue. In an interview with the Hill on June 20th, she said that “It would be a real mistake for commissioners to think they can run out the clock and just hold tight until Gary Gensler’s term expires. I will certainly still be here and watching this process very closely” But since it appears Gary Gensler will also vote on the regulation’s application to foreign markets, her concerns were unfounded.

As head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC], Brooksley Born became alarmed by the lack of oversight of the secretive, multitrillion-dollar over-the-counter derivatives market. Her attempts to regulate derivatives ran into fierce resistance from then-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and then-Deputy Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who prevailed upon Congress to stop Born and limit future regulation. This is the edited transcript of an interview conducted on Aug. 28, 2009.

Brooksley Born resigned on June 1, 1999, and later commented the failure of Long-Term Capital Management and the subsequent bailout as being indicative what she had been trying to prevent. Born resigned as chairperson on June 1, 1999, shortly after Congress passed legislation prohibiting her agency from regulating derivatives.

Vocabulary to know of which the market became dependent upon. These instruments were once regulated by the CFTC.

Swap Exemption
Hybrid Instrument Rule
Swap Policy Statement
Hybrid Interpretation

It was like my worst nightmare coming true. (click here) I had had enormous concerns about the over-the-counter derivatives [OTC] market, including credit default swaps, for a number of years. The market was totally opaque; we now call it the dark market. So nobody really knew what was going on in the market.

And then it became obvious as Lehman Brothers failed, as AIG [American International Group] suddenly appeared to be on the brink of tremendous defaults and turned out had been a major credit default swap dealer and needed hundreds of billions of dollars to keep it alive, the contagion in the marketplace from those failures brought many, many of our biggest financial services companies to the brink of collapse. And it was very frightening....

Is this not the surveillance video from the convenience store?

There is no doubt about how Mr. Martin's clothing fit him. Absolutely no doubt.

What is this 'thing' about washing blood out of clothing by rain? There is no way.

Blood is very sticky stuff. It stains. Everyone knows that a cloth with blood requires soaking in cold water and laundering and then only hopefully the stain will be gone.

...Experience has shown that it’s virtually impossible (click here) to clean-up blood spatter at a crime scene so that no DNA can be detected. And that is after using water, solvents, cleaning fluids and other assorted chemicals in multiple washings to remove all visible traces of blood. Even though the human eye cannot see trace amounts of blood residue, luminol will detect it. Luminol is so sensitive that it can detect the presence of blood in serial dilutions down to 1:100,000. If luminol can detect it, PCR testing certainly will type the DNA present.

Other chemicals used in presumptive testing for the presence of blood are leuchomalachite green, phenolphthalein, Hemastixs, Hemident, and Bluestarr. All are as equally sensitive to blood as Luminol except for leuchomalachite green (1:10,000). For more information, please read this Technical Note in the Journal of Forensic Science, published in 2006. JFS is a peer reviewed professional journal....

The tiniest amount of blood will result in positive findings. I am quite confident Mr. Martin's evidence was reviewed by more than just one forensic specialist. There should be no confusion or debate. Seriously. There are many instances of crime scenes far older than seven hours that have proven to tell the tale of what occurred.
 

GOP passes the Farm Bill without Food Stamps

The cowards of the GOP divided the bill in half as if Moses dividing the Red Sea. I am quite confident the GOP is far less red today than yellow as a chicken. They are scared to vote for Food Stamps, so they'll let the Democrats pass the Food and Nutrition Bill if they ever bring it to the floor. 

These people are hideous and have no backbone. Wait and see, Speaker Boner will be scared to bring the Food and Nutrition bill to the floor. He needs to hand the gavel to Minority Speaker Pelosie for the day to finally get things done.

July 11, 2013 
by Scott Neuman 

..."Even in a chamber used to acrimony, (click here) Thursday's debate in the House was particularly brutal. Democrats repeatedly called for roll-call votes on parliamentary procedures and motions to adjourn, delaying the final vote by hours and charging Republicans over and over again with callousness and cruelty.

"Republicans shouted protests, tried to silence the most strident Democrats and were repeatedly forced to vote to uphold their own parliamentary rulings."

"The dropped food stamp section would have made a 3 percent cut to the $80 billion-a-year feeding program. Many Republicans say that isn't enough since the program's cost has doubled in the last five years. Democrats have opposed any cuts. The food stamp program doesn't need legislation to continue, but Congress would have to pass a bill to enact changes."...     

I want to thank the media that covered the trial in regard to the death of a promising teenager in our country. It was important. I realize there are some criticisms about the coverage, but, the trial was short and the realization of the facts important.

I think it will make a great deal of difference to all communities involved in this absolute tragedy.

I want to just mention the episode people experienced with Rachel Jeantel. I believe it was important we all witnessed her reality. Eventually, the defense lawyers came to understand her and she found fortitude to withstand the questioning. 

But, the part I want to speak to is the racial epithets. They existed both with Mr. Zimmerman and Mr. Martin. One person knew they were racial epithets while the other did not.

An epithet in it's purest sense is a characterizing word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a person or thing. It becomes disparaging when adjectives are added to it. I am not suggesting Ms. Jeantel's use was unique, but, there is a reality that deserves recognition.

She stated Mr. Martin called the man following him a "...crazy, ass, cracker..." She also stated, when asked, it was not a racial comment. I found that interesting. She really meant it and I was glad she spoke up for her understanding. 

See, her 'ego defenses' allowed for those comments to describe those she didn't know but grouped together in an understanding defining the group. She used those group definitions to define her place in life. She didn't see a 'crazy ass cracker' as a racial slur because it defended her from others that might call her racial epithets as well. 

It is easy to be called a name if in defense one sees in the minds eye an equal name of those inflicting what most would consider an insult. It provides for peace within the mind and soul so as to not be considered less a person.

So, while Americans mull over how a black woman can openly state a racial insult was not really an insult, they need to consider their own understanding and how none of what was said that evening involved them at all. 

I wish he was still here and I wish that gun never existed.

"Flying off the wire"

San Francisco Flight Operations should have taken care of the understanding of what it meant to pilots involved with it's airspace while it was experiencing construction.

The exact parameters of what is involved when there is no "Fly by wire" should be spelled out with a requirement of an electronic signature BY THE PILOT and CO-PILOT to acknowledge that BEFORE the flight takes off or leaves as San Francisco airport as a final destination. 

Those instructions can be as simple as "Flight instrumentation will be inoperable in many parameters as there is no Fly by Wire currently at SFO. There are measures to provide for a safe manual landing and those are... Kindly check the Flight Operations Manual for the aircraft being flown to insure proper and safe operation."

Within the Flight Operations Manual there needs to be EXACT understanding of what is required to "Fly off the Wire." There also needs to be experienced pilots within the airline manufacturers personnel listing to answer questions should there be any questions to Flight Operations, pilots, co-pilots and navigators.

"Flying off the Wire" should never mean flying by the seat of your pants. 

Any airport also should have available to anyone, including passengers and the public, the landing dynamics in good weather and extreme. Every airport is unique with it's own geological location and has somewhat standard dynamics to the 'quality' of it's airspace. 

If SFO and Asian did not provide this information to their pilots then they are liable through negligence. If Boeing did not provide training for the 777 "Off the Wire" and include it in any manuals to pilots then they are negligent as well.

Wall Street's jargon for profits? EXCUSES.

A pilot should not have control of the plane?

A co-pilot should not notice the airspeed and report it?

A navigator should not report when a plane is off course?

All this because of culture diversity?

That is Bull-oney and everyone knows it.

Since when does a South Korean flight deck have to include the chatter of a million people in order to land the plane. 

The crash of Asian Flight 214 is a failure of the technology and how it was interpreted by those flying the plane. There is no cultural anything here.

When a culture is being blamed for the downing of a Super-Jumbo jet there is something very wrong and it isn't the culture. Blaming the victims is well known to those hearing oppression. Blaming the South Korean culture for planes falling to earth is Wall Street jargon for profits.

A culture of any nation should not require victimization to proceed with competition among multi-national industries. 

A car has a gas pedal, steering wheel and a brake. That translates into most any culture. How the car is received by the people as a BENEVOLENT TOOL within their culture is an interesting interpretation. But, to expect to have an entire nation take on the quirks and slang of a nation run by Wall Street whereby American citizens have less status than corporations is allowing not only destruction of the foreign culture, but, that of the American people as well.

If Wall Street culture demands the depersonalization of diversity in order to turn a profit, we don't need it nor should any other country seeking to compete with such hideous paradigms.

Technology of any kind is suppose to enhance the experience of living, not change it.

Cultural Genocide

The computer age brings many challenges to many people, but, one challenge it should never bring it the destruction of a culture to instill some kind of efficiency. If technologies cannot adapt to diversity than it is the technology that fails and not the culture.

Since when does a damn computer tell me or others how to live and conduct oneself!

It is an issue for the United Nations. As computer technology has taken hold on a global basis there are demands on other cultures to "Be Like An American." 

I don't think so. 

When South Koreans come to camps to learn American quirks and slang as a means of improving their own quality of life that is a war not worth fighting. 

Computers are suppose to be enhancement to any society, but, it is not suppose to dominate it to the extent 'missions of the religious' travel far and wide to convert those 'in competition' with the USA into 'habits' unfamiliar to their culture. That is cultural genocide and there is every indication it is occurring globally. That reality alone could be an impetus to radicalization and rebellion.

Hispanic communities need to carry out mass demonstrations at the USA House offices and in DC.

The Republicans in general, but, more specifically in the US House will not own up to the responsibility of the USA to the people that live and work here. Immigration reform is not about giving a gift to criminals, it is about taking responsibility for those that came to the USA and worked along side of Americans. The Republicans like to victimize the American public. They believe being tough on citizens actually means something. 

The fact of the matter is the Republicans are playing politics with lives to benefit their re-election strategies. It is up to the Hispanic community organizers to get in the face of House Representatives at their homeland offices as well as at the Capital Dome in DC. I can't help but believe a million Hispanic march to the Capital would prove to be influential.

This is about the USA taking responsibility for it's people. The country allowed it and it is now time to take responsibility for those that made the USA their home.

It would be helpful to carry out boycotts of those that actually finance these immoral bumblers.

By MIKE ALLEN and JIM VANDEHEI 

7/9/13 8:59 PM EDT 

Republicans walked away (click here) from their 2012 debacle hell-bent on fixing their problems with Hispanics. Now, they appear hell-bent on making them worse.

In private conversations, top Republicans on Capitol Hill now predict comprehensive immigration reform will die a slow, months-long death in the House. Like with background checks for gun buyers, the conventional wisdom that the party would never kill immigration reform, and risk further alienating Hispanic voters, was always wrong — and ignored the reality that most House Republicans are white conservatives representing mostly white districts....

Colorado is awash of tragedy.

I spoke with a young woman yesterday who lives and works in Colorado. At no prompting by me she started to talk about the trauma in her daily life. She stated her household was evacuated last week due to wildfires. There have been 18 wildfires in the region of her home so far this year.

She stated the heat has been so bad she unwittingly became dehydrated and was rushed to the Emergency Room where she received two liters of IV fluid to save her life.

This was not an elderly person or a child. She was a young, twenty something, working a job and taking care of a household. It is time long overdue for legislators across this country to address the drastic reality of the Climate Crisis INDUCED by anthropogenic greenhouse gases.

While firefighters were buried in Arizona, the American public is fighting a very different battle everyday to maintain their well being and their sanity.

July 7, 2013
By Tom McGhee

Firefighters battling the West Fork Complex fire (click here) got some help from Mother Nature overnight when rain dampened flames that have been scorching isolated, rugged terrain in the San Juan and Rio Grande national forests.
"Things have cooled down," said Norm Rooker, spokesman for the Type 1 Incident Management Team. Three fires — West Fork, Papoose and Windy Pass — make up the complex.
The 110,028 acre fire remains at 25 percent containment.
So far the blaze has destroyed only one structure, a pump house.
Fire fighters are working in rough terrain where tinder-dry, spruce trees that have been ravaged by beetles are tearing loose from the ground and collapsing. "We call them snags. They are crashing left, right and center," Rooker said....

Oops, the forest lost it's green tops and the roots aren't living anymore.

Expansion of human development (click here) into forested areas has created a situation where wildfires can adversely affect lives and property, as can the flooding and landslides that occur in the aftermath of the fires.

Housing in "Dry Season Only" otherwise it is the homeless shelter post tragedy until it is safe to return to the mortgaged abode. 

The politicians were all warned. Any environmental or conservation group would have come forward to warn everyone of the tragedies to follow. I know for a fact the community always goes through the exercise, but, the builders lobbies have a slam dunk at the price of the public's well being. 

Homebuilder Associations along with the petroleum industry cost the USA more impact to it's local, state and federal treasuries than any other industries in the country. These industries carry out their profits at the cost of taxpayer dollars.

MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo.  — A thunderstorm (click here) has sent rocks, mud, debris and running water rushing down part of U.S. 24 in a canyon in Manitou Springs, leaving some vehicles covered or stuck in mud.
The rockslide closed a four-mile stretch of U.S. 24 Wednesday afternoon. El Paso County sheriff's officials said there was no immediate report of injuries.
The American Red Cross opened a shelter for people seeking higher ground.
The National Weather Service had issued flash flood warnings Wednesday afternoon for areas scarred by the Waldo Canyon Fire last year and the Black Forest Fire this year, since soil and vegetation that normally would absorb rainfall there has been burned away....

Increased incidents of Hendra virus in horses.

Veterinarians have called for mandatory vaccination of horses against the Hendra virus. 

I would imagine protecting the Kentucky Derby entrants is important, too. This is traumatic realization to the horse industry, be it commerial racehorses, precious show horses or backyard pleasure horses.

Factsheet 
July 2009

Hendra virus (HeV) is a rare, (click here) emerging zoonotic virus (a virus transmitted to humans from animals), that can cause respiratory and neurological disease and death in people. It can also cause severe disease and death in horses, resulting in considerable economic losses for horse breeders. 

Initially named Equine Morbilivirus, Hendra virus is a member of the genus Henipavirus, a new class of virus in the Paramyxoviridae family. It is closely related to Nipah virus.

Although Hendra virus has caused only a few outbreaks, its potential for further spread and ability to cause disease and death in people have made it a public health concern. The concern has heightened in the most recent outbreaks, as the horses’ symptoms have shifted to become largely neurological instead of respiratory. This suggests the possibility of genetic diversity in the strain, and potentially a more infective virus....

The horse industry has been through this before and require many proof of vaccines when transporting intrastate in the USA or across borders into Canada and Europe. 

July 11, 2013
Four horses have died from the disease in the Kempsey and Macksville areas in the past month. (click here)
Three properties remain in quarantine, six more horses will be tested for Hendra today and be vaccinated against it.
Kempsey vet Andrew Bennett said Hendra has never before been seen as far south as the Macleay Valley.
"This is the first this has been on our doorstep," she said.
"It's been extremely frantic since we had our first diagnosis of Hendra in this district on Sunday night.
"The people of the town have obviously been anxious to get their horses in and get them vaccinated.
"So besides dealing with a lot of enquires we're trying to rollout as much vaccine as we can as quickly as possible," she said.
Meanwhile the North Coast Public Health Unit says the owner of the horse that died from Hendra yesterday has been assessed for exposure to the virus.

Surviving the 2008 Global Econoomic Depression

Horses are very different than cows. Currently, horses receive all types of parasite medication into their digestive tracts to prevent blockage of intestines. 

The meat inspection standards in the USA do not provide guidelines for the feeding of horses to produce meat. There is no testing by the USDA of other factors that effect horse meat in the USA. 

Horses have very inefficient digestive systems. They will never turn a profit as cattle do if that is the goal of the horse slaughter industry in the USA.

By KATIE ZEZIMA

Published: April 6, 2009 

MURRAY, Ky. — Emaciated horses eating bark off trees. (click here) Abandoned horses tied to telephone poles. Horses subsisting on feces, walking among carcasses. 

As the economy continues to falter, law enforcement officers in Kentucky and throughout the country are seeing major increases in the number of unwanted and neglected horses, some abandoned on public land, others left to starve by their owners.

The situation has renewed the debate over whether reopening slaughterhouses in the United States — the last ones closed in 2007 — would help address the problem. Some states, Missouri, Montana and North and South Dakota, for example, are looking at ways to bring slaughterhouses back....

I remind the only reason abandoned horses became an issue was due to the Bush Global Economic Depression. When homeowners with barns in their backyard had to choose between paying the mortgage or feeding their pleasure horses. 

So, this is not a long term viable industry, unless there is another Republican elected into the Executive Branch again. At least if that happens the nation will know what they are facing and can plan for it now. If there is ever another Republican president the new 'Food Insurance' for survivalists will have to include their pets.

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - The federal government's "nationwide program of horse slaughter" threatens the environment and public health, the Humane Society and others claim in court.
     Lead plaintiff Front Range Equine Rescue et al. sued Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and two of his top assistants, in Federal Court.
     "Defendants are embarking on a nationwide program of horse slaughter that presents clear threats to the environment without complying with congressionally mandated requirements intended to protect the public and our natural resources," the complaint states....
..."For six years, from 2007 until the filing of this complaint, there has been no plan or policy for inspection of horses going to slaughter. For that entire time, horses were notably absent from any consideration of testing or inspection programs. Defendants have been modifying and supposedly improving their testing programs for slaughtered animals over the course of that time. But horses have been consistently excluded. Even USDA's 2013 National Residue Program for testing animals subject to slaughter, when the agency knew that horse slaughter was authorized, excluded horses from consideration."...