The man is incredible. He is such a relief to the suffering in North Carolina it cannot be measured.

I love the guy. I don't know what North Carolina would do without him at this time in the State's history. He is exactly where he is suppose to be.

He is a great man and will be written into history. He hasn't realized the height of his importance yet.

All he needs to say is, "I love you back." He knows the person that inspired those words.

The North Carolina Republicans are power players. They use every leverage point available to them to win elections and impose psychological stress on the electorate. The current legislation is an obvious paradigm to control the BEHAVIOR of the electorate.

If I may?

The Voting Rights Law is obvious. It is oppression of the electorate. It is to maintain control. It is obvious and can't be denied.

Now, the changes to abortion isn't about saving babies or ending abortion in North Carolina. The same is true in Texas. It is a psychological tool. It is a leverage point on the Bible Belt voter.

The GOP in the South know fully well the 'faith filled conscience' of the electorate of their citizens. There will be points made by Holy Men and Women imposed not in direct political dialogue, but, words from the bully pulpit. There is a voting record now that will become a point of ads during political campaigns to put pressure on the electorate. It is nearly subconscious pressure. That psychological pressure will help persons justify a vote for a candidate they otherwise disagree and ACTS AGAINST THEIR OWN BEST INTERESTS.

The way I see it, the laws the North Carolina and Texas Legislation are unconstitutional. It is fact. What the legislatures are doing is breaking the law. I don't see any Bible Belt legislator doing anything, but, to pass legislation that are lawful at all levels of the government. That means the federal government as well. We are a nation TOGETHER and not apart. There is existing federal law and that is the law of the land. We are a people of laws and not of men.

Abortion is a socio-economic problem and as long as voters continue to vote AGAINST THEIR BEST INTERESTS they will continue to be oppressed, be unable to purchase birth control OR afford to have a child or even many children. The decision about abortion is personal. It impacts no one but the woman making that decision. If that woman and her spouse or partner could afford a child or afford more children would abortion be necessary? Of course not.  

You will never convince me there are women, other than teens, seeking an abortion because it was her best option. Abortion usually is her only choice. 

We are a country that demands citizens be schooled, learn and be employed to earn a living. When that social fabric falls apart or becomes frayed the decisions a person makes may not be the decision that same person would make otherwise. That is a fact. 

So, at some point, the electorate of these states have to make a conscience decision to vote for their best interests, lift the oppression and reach for a higher quality of life, expectations and rewards. We all know God provides rewards that cannot be measured by men or women and are his alone to provide, however, he does not condone suffering in the face of the ability to change one's circumstances. Voting is a very valid method to change one's circumstances.

The people of these states have to harness their true self and stand up for themselves to find freedom and a better life. They can do this, I know they can.

It is "McDonald's Monopoly Game" time. It rolls around once a year.

I don't know a better time of year for employees to picket and go on strike. Does McDonald's accept Food Stamps?

Maria Perez

5:29 PM on 07/22/2013

McDonald’s (click here) new suggested financial plan for its minimum wage employees not only leaves out necessary expenditures like food, child care, clothes and gas—it also suggests people go out and get a second job.
“McDonald’s is essentially conceding that in order for a minimum wage worker at its fast food stores to make ends meat, they have to rely on publicly funded subsidies like food stamps,” said advocate Tsedeye Gebreselassie to MSNBC’s Alex Witt Sunday.
“People are not humans, they’re just machines that are working. At $7.25 an hour that’s $15,000 a year, assuming one full time job. That’s nearly not enough to support yourself, let alone a family,” said Gebreselassie, a staff attorney at the National Employment Law Project.
McDonald’s, Walmart, and other big corporations posted record breaking profits over the past year—in some cases improving on their performances from before the recession.

Forbes Agrees. 

7/22/2013 @ 3:08PM 

...As Forbes contributor (click here) Laura Shin pointed out, the fast food firm’s sample budget assumed staffers were working two jobs, and surmised that health insurance costs $20 a month instead of the national average of $215 for an individual. 

It also neglected to include child care, groceries, clothing or gas for the worker’s car. An early version of the controversial budget proposed that heating would cost $0 a month, leaving McDonald’s employees fresh out of luck from autumn onwards. 

The fallout from McDonald’s blunder drew renewed attention to the ways fast food chains deposit their workers’ wages — often via high-fee payroll cards by budget co-sponsor Visa....

McDonald's has just come out with new menu items when purchased exceed $6.00. I don't want to hear about their business model. I can go to a restaurant not far from the McDonald's; get better quality, more variety and pay about $7.50 for exactly what I can purchase at Mickey D's except I have to get out of the car to pick it up. I can even call in my order before I arrive. No waiting. 

Don't tell me the business model at McDonald's is welfare income. That is a lie. As a matter of fact the drive through allows much higher and faster income per minute and hour compared to lunch counters that compete with them. 

The profit margin for McDonald's has increased to incredible heights since 2000. The GREAT RECESSION didn't even touch McDonald's profit margin. As a matter of fact it increased. The decline was due to old menu items that were unattractive and weren't on the dollar menu. 

Don't even try it.

Former Representative Weiner should pay attention to good advise.

   
He probably needs to do some interviews about what his plans are as mayor. Col. Davis points out that Congressman are in office that actually had sex and didn't text about it.

“The Young Turks” host Cenk Uygur (click here) talks with law professor and former Guantanamo Bay chief prosecutor Col. Morris Davis about the ongoing sexting scandal surrounding New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner. “He’s a victim of religious discrimination here,” Davis says, pointing to Christian politicians like David Vitter and Mark Sanford, who emphasized the impact of their religion in their campaigns to return to public office after embarrassing sex scandals. “They actually had sex, they didn’t just text about it,” Davis says. “But they happened to belong to some New Testament religions where all they had to do was say ‘the good Lord forgave me and the voters should too’ and they’re back in office. You don’t hear their names mentioned during this debate.”

Imagine that, a real world answer for the Climate Crisis that excludes genetic engineered foods. I'll be darn.

There are many heritage seed banks in the world. The most prominent is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. These seed banks were planned for just these scenarios. They are there to bring back needed species when called upon.

The managers of these seed banks, including the one at the Smithsonian Institute, and their researchers are well versed on handling the seeds, their propagation to elicit more seeds. I am quite confident the seeds are well cataloged. I would think by now there would be a network of inventory among those that participate in these specialties.

Plan to crossbreed crops with their wild cousins to help boost resistance to climate change (click here)

July 28, 2013

...More than half the 455 known crop wild relatives of the world’s 29 most-consumed food plants have either not been collected at all, or are badly under-represented, making it essential to build stocks as soon as possible, warns Jonas Mueller, of the Kew Millennium Seed Bank....

Additionally, there are herbariums at nearly every teaching institution in the world. Within those herbariums are vast stores of dormant seeks well preserved. I hardly believe the search and research in obtaining species of hardy plants is over to resort to GMOs.

What appeared to be a benign feeding enhancement in a cow diet turned into a fatal gene. Don't start about what science doesn't know about GMOs.

What are prions?

Originally thought to be viral mediators of disease that were described as transmissible encephalopathies, spongiform encephalopathies and slow virus disease, prions (proteinaceous infectious particles) have been determined to be misfolded, protease resistant proteins which can mediate transmission disease. 

I do not want GMOs in my diet or the diets of the people of the USA. This is hideous. An entire gereration can be effected and/or die before the devastation of such genetic manipulation can occur.

Whereas the majority of cases of CJD (click here) (about 85%) occur as sporadic disease, a smaller proportion of patients (5-15%) develop CJD because of inherited mutations of the prion protein gene. These inherited forms include Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome and fatal familial insomnia.

I don't want to hear the argument, "But there is a small population of tragedy that occurs in nature anyway." That is not an argument to allow genetic manipulation as if it is a natural outcome. Those are statistical realities and FURTHER problems and dangers I do not have to accept in my life!

If the USA takes a 'wait and see' attitude about legitimizing GMOs, they are playing statistical awareness with the public. The government will be allowing the people and children of the USA to be guinea pigs.

Vitamin D fortified milk and iodized salt are not genetically modified. They are a food enhancement provided when it was realized the American diet lacked primary sources for the nutrient. The nutrient was NECESSARY to PREVENT disease.

Don't come near me or my family with GMO anything! 

GMOs are not emotional issues. This is not 'icky' rejection. Hybrids are not genetically turned off and on.

Rejection of GMO technology puts the science under a microscope. This is sound, not emotional. 

Do not treat me like an idiot woman out of control with her Mother Earth demands. There is a problem with GENETIC ENGINEERING. Hybrids are not genetically engineered. Statement of same is a lie. This bullshit never stops. Propaganda. This is nothing more than Wall Street looking for patents based in genes again. 

GMOs are UNKNOWN in their capacity to cause cancer. Will that get your attention? Metabolism is ORDERLY, it is laid down by nature. There is little to no plasticity to metabolism. They tried it with cattle and we got Mad Cow Disease.

It is COMPLETELY imprudent, dangerous and disasterous to realize an entire generation could be consuming that in 20 years will either kill them or make them sterile. I don't want to hear it. Prove to me there is absolutely NO SIDE EFFECTS to turn genes off and on. Prove that, then MAYBE I'll believe half of what I hear.

The bad news is that Earth is not pliable to the point of patentable. Human metabolism is set UNLESS of course one is going to genetically modify that to fit the Wall Street directive. GMOs are bad science to accommodate past abuses by capitalism.  I don't know of any genetically modified foods that have passed the NO HARM test. None. 

I will not compromise my metabolic stability to accommodate human abuses of my environment. I won't do it. 

Physicians can claim eating is necessary for survival, therefore, eat and this is what is available. No. That is surrendering best practices for Third World values. I won't do it. 

I’m a vegetarian yoga instructor, and even I can tell the case against genetically modified food is overblown. (click here)

July 25, 2013

Let me get a few things out of the way.

I'm a crazy hippie. I go to Burning Man every year. I teach yoga. I live in a co-op. For the past two years, I've been delivering organic vegetables for a local delivery service. I've been eating vegetarian for years, and vegan for the past four months.

I'm also fascinated by genetics. I read every book that comes my way on evolutionary theory, population genetics, and mapping the genome. I took several classes on the subject at the University of Pennsylvania. All told, I have a pretty solid understanding of how genes work.

And ultimately, I'm just not that scared of GMOs....

             

Non-negotiable

Earth is the ultimate ABSOLUTE. There is no place else to live.

Earth + Physics = Government Standard 

Nothing new.

Boring.

Nothing to change.

No Wall Street Derivatives can be written based on our paradigm.

Scientists are tired of being toyed with to benefit political cronies. We have other things to do besides spend decades of time pandering to politics. We want our quality of life back along with better use of the resources required for these legal issues. We know we are going to win. We know the crony politics are corrupt. We do no admire our government for manipulating the truth.

It is called governmental corruption to favor political cronies. These standards not negotiable. Clean Air Stardards, including Greenhouse Gases, have been known for decades. This is corruption, plain and simple.

When Clean Air and Clean Water Standards are breached the media needs to ask, "Why are you corrupting well established standards that are scientifically based and required for quality of life in the USA?" Simple. Straight forward. To the point. There is no reason for this disaster of a government policy.

These are not pendulums that swing between Republican or Democrat. This is quality of life. Rachel Carson died of cancer when she was exposed to toxins as a US Forest Ranger.  These are not negotiable.

Enforcement is as important as the law itself. Enforcement requires funding. Government has to function for quality of life in the USA. 

July 28, 2013
ECO WATCH/NEWS REPORT

The decision (click here) is the result of a suit brought by Earthjustice on behalf of the American Lung Association, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Natural Resources Defense Council, National Parks Conservation Association, and Appalachian Mountain Club. Also challenging the standards as too weak were the states of  New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, as well as Washington D.C. and New York City.
Health and environmental groups initially filed suit against the Bush Administration following the final EPA decision in May 2008.  Shortly after taking office, the Obama Administration asked the court to put the case on hold while EPA reconsidered the evidence that the standards were too weak to protect public health and welfare. The two-year reconsideration included three public hearings showing overwhelming public comment urging stronger protections, as well as a restatement by the EPA’s independent science advisors of their support for a tighter standard....

"Morning Papers" - It's Origins (click here)

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

"Good Night, Moon"

The waning gibbous 

(The Waning Quarter Moon / Half Moon)

21.6 day old moon

56.3% lit

This is the a painting by Millet of the waning moon throws a mysterious light.

Most of the time the moon is a thought of nighttime and sleep. However, there are those that find the moon a friend and welcome source of light. 

There is no notable constellation notes in the news this week. I suppose everything is anti-climax from the Supermoon.

Now is the time. The present has waited to long.

Longing for peace. In this file photo, a Palestinian man waves his national flag on the sidelines of a march organized by inhabitants of the West Bank village Nabi Saleh on December 21, 2012, to protect against the expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land.

July 29, 2013
by Agence France-Presse


WASHINGTON DC, USA (UPDATED) - Israeli and Palestinian (click here) officials resume direct peace talks Monday, July 29, after a 3-year hiatus, amid hopes US Secretary of State John Kerry's quiet diplomacy may this time carry some chance of success.

In a landmark agreement, the chief negotiators from both sides will meet face-to-face to draw up a plan for how the talks will proceed, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

The dream of a Middle East peace deal has for decades been a chimera chased by US presidents but has stalled since September 2010, shot down by deep divisions and distrust between the two sides.

After months of dogged diplomacy, Kerry earlier this month, on his sixth trip to the region, wrested from both sides an accord setting out "the basis for resuming direct final status negotiations," Psaki said in a statement Sunday, July 28....

Teresa is out of rehab after a terrible seizure. I hope she is regaining her strength everyday.

I don't see the Palestinians being assimilated into a homogenous Israeli culture. They have a right to a homeland defined by unique people, their traditions and heritage. I am sure that is something Israel can appreciate.

With all the security the USA affords Israel there absolutely no reason to delay this peace accord any longer and not one more year. 

Palestinian children belong in their schools and doing after school homework, not training to be soldiers. That is not a playground anyone should approve of.

Palestinian boy Mahmoud Haniyeh, 13, crawls during a military-style exercise at a summer camp organized by the Hamas movement in Gaza City June 17, 2013. Tens of thousands of children from the Gaza Strip spend at least part of their holidays in special summer camps, arranged around a wide array of activities. Some, organised by the United Nations, offer sports, art and dance classes. Others, laid on by Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas, include fun and games, while seeking to reinforce religious values and awareness of the conflict with Israel. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

Real life tragedy of the Maasi Mara Game Reserve.

This was July 2012. The wildebeest should be migrating about now in the Maasi region. 

I just don't understand what kind of education these folks could benefit from they don't already have?

You know there has been a lot of insults to the wildlife in Africa in recent years. The Serengeti Highway resulted in Gazelle through the windshields of cars.

I am all for improvements in quality of life, like vaccinations and reading and better sanitation and cooking skills. But, business? Highways? I would think they would have learned a lesson from the American Buffalo.

How do you reconcile the dedication of a Millionaire Mindset in completely changing the lives of people and the beauty of their country? There is just so much that can be done with migrating Wildebeest.

Reading Hemingway might be a real enhancement. A popular discussion around the tribal fire, but, then what? I just don't see a line of condos with a manmade swimming pool a part of the picture. The migrating Wildebeest IS the economy. There is no joy found in the lives of these people and their traditions?

ARSON HALTS WILDEBEEST MIGRATION! (click here)

A diplomatic row is simmering after Tanzanians living around the Serengeti Game Reserve allegedly set the area on fire to block the wildebeest migration.

The infernos that have lasted for two weeks have delayed hundreds of wildebeest from Serengeti plains gathered on the Mara River ready to cross into Kenya. Hundred of acres of the reserve in Northern Tanzania along the migratory routes are still on fire and have pushed back wildlife.

The spectacular Mara River wildebeest crossing is expected to kick off the annual tourism peak season in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve.

Richard, excuse me, but rather than making peace with the humans and saving wildlife, why not tell them to go away? Tell the people to get a life, the Wildebeest already do.

Douglas Main, Staff Writer 
May 15, 2013 05:37pm ET
Newark, N.J. — Building an elevated (click here) highway across the Serengeti may not sound like the most feasible or wise idea. But that's exactly what Kenyan scientist and conservationist Richard Leakey proposed yesterday (May 14), saying it could be the best solution for humans and wildlife....

The DERIVATIVES of Wall Street. How do you reconcile the immorality in all this?

Derivatives is a term used in calculus. In the financial markets it is abstract and cruel. It is more cruel  than a Margin Call.

The Derivatives Market perverts reality. It takes a purchase of a company stock as if a virtual garage sale. It takes the 'entire' of the asset of a business turns it into a commodity, sends it on a time warp and plays with the value as if all were available for disposition. 

It is nuts.

Then the derivative can be swapped and there can be more money based on more air contained in another companies assets. 

It is based on 'notional amounts.' Equity, interest, Currency, Total Returns based in values of LIBOR. And the consequence is they lose a lot of money. It's gambling based in values DERIVED from Financial Market Values.

There is no morality here. It is pure unadulterated greed. It does nothing to add to the value or PRODUCTIVITY of a company. It does not add assets to anything except individual accounts for those that WIN. 

Like an interest rate swap, (click here) a currency swap is a contract to exchange cash flow streams from some fixed income obligations (for example, swapping payments from a fixed-rate loan for payments from a floating rate loan). In an interest rate swap, the cash flow streams are in the same currency, while in currency swaps, the cash flows are in different monetary denominations. Swap transactions are not usually disclosed on corporate balance sheets....

Invisible money. What? You mean there aren't exchange rate swaps within the currency swap? What chicken livered investors you all are. 

They should be outlawed. There is nothing real here. It appears real because the numbers come from real investment paradigms, but, the PLAY is not based in something that actually and concretely happens with a company or a product. This is playing with market dynamics as if a game board.  The consequences are real, but, the dynamics are all contrived. There is nothing real life about it.

No one is going to stop this. No one.

This is the best moral program this country has ever put forth besides SSI and Medicare. 

If there are failures it will be in the states that decided late they were going to allow the federal government to write their programs and I won't feel bad, not one day. 

By Lena H. Sun

Published: July 26 

 

Maryland insurance (click here) officials approved final rates Friday for health plans to be sold in the state’s new online marketplace that are among the lowest in the country. The plans, which are for individuals, will be sold beginning Oct. 1.

The Maryland Insurance Administration approved premiums at levels as much as 33 percent below what had been requested by insurance carriers. For a 21-year-old non-smoker, for example, options start as low as $93 a month. Insurance Commissioner Therese Goldsmith reduced the premium rates proposed by every insurance carrier in the individual market, including some by more than 50 percent, according to an analysis by Maryland officials who will be operating the marketplace....

    

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is the USA's latest marine preserve.

Papahānaumokuākea Marine NM US Fish and Wildlife Photo Site on "flickr." 

...In all, there are 23 species (click here) found in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument that are listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, and there are undoubtedly many more that might be eligible for listing, especially in the case of terrestrial arthropods (Evenhuis and Eldridge 2004). Additionally, Papahānaumokuākea is home to 22 IUCN Red-Listed species.

Furthermore,Papahānaumokuākea contains countless endemics, often species that have ranges limited to a single island. Four endangered endemic land birds are found in the Monument, and nowhere else in the world....

Besides species of fish, marine mammals, turtles there are significant numbers of shorebirds and the food chain affiliated with all these larger species. The reason I note this island chain is the fact, like the Polar Bear, these species are dependent on their habitat. If these tiny islands were to succumb to sea level rise the terrestrial species would vanish and the fish species would be forced into chaos as their land based protections would disappear. It is also a World Heritage Site.

Papahānaumokuākea (click here) is a vast and isolated linear cluster of small, low lying islands and atolls, with their surrounding ocean, roughly 250 km to the northwest of the main Hawaiian Archipelago and extending over some 1931 km. The area has deep cosmological and traditional significance for living Native Hawaiian culture, as an ancestral environment, as an embodiment of the Hawaiian concept of kinship between people and the natural world, and as the place where it is believed that life originates and to where the spirits return after death. On two of the islands, Nihoa and Makumanamana, there are archaeological remains relating to pre-European settlement and use. Much of the monument is made up of pelagic and deepwater habitats, with notable features such as seamounts and submerged banks, extensive coral reefs and lagoons. It is one of the largest marine protected areas (MPAs) in the world.
 

The only way the plight of Detroit can be reconciled as a garbage dump is through hubris. Third World Happiness is Low Expectations. How was this allowed to happen? Why?

Published: 28 July 2013 07:18 PM 

Updated: 28 July 2013 07:18 PM

DETROIT — I know an old woman (click here) who hasn’t opened her windows in a decade, afraid that what’s outside will climb inside. Inside, there is the stale odor of dead air.
I know another woman who called me about a corpse lying outside her window for six and a half hours. This was because of cutbacks at the morgue. No dignity in death here. They do it better in Baghdad.
I know of an 11-year-old boy who was shot, the bullet going clean through his arm. The cops rushed him to the hospital. There was no ambulance available. About two-thirds of the city’s fleet is broken on an average day.
I know a cop who drives around in a squad car with holes in the floorboards. There is no computer, no air-conditioning and the odometer reading is 147,000 miles. His bulletproof vest has expired. His pay has been cut 10 percent.
I knew a firefighter who died in a fire, but not from the fire. He died when the roof of an abandoned house collapsed on him and his brethren could not find him because his homing alarm was broken and did not sound. He suffocated.
In our town, the 911 dispatch system recently went down for 15 hours, and no one seemed to give a damn. When the system is running, the average wait is 58 minutes.
If this were New York, these stories would have ricocheted around the world. But this is Detroit, and nobody gives a damn. Even here people have been conditioned to accept these things as normal. This numbness, in a peculiar way, is a sign of strength. People here manage to get along somehow....

The NTSB Charter has been changed since 1974. Does the agency need a new one?

...In 1974, Congress reestablished the NTSB (click here) as a completely separate entity, outside the DOT, reasoning that "...No federal agency can properly perform such (investigatory) functions unless it is totally separate and independent from any other ... agency of the United States."...

"The Sterile Cockpit," (click here - ASRS is a branch of NASA) is often, all too often, cited in NTSB formulas for aircraft failures. In other words, the pilots were not following the rules. This rule is in the current charter and the NTSB is required to cite it if there was any indication on the Voice Recorder.

The Sterile Cockpit is used by Commercial Airline Manufacturers to explain away their liability is primarily assigned to pilots breaking the rules. It places liability on the Carriers and Pilots rather than anywhere else.

The Sterile Cockpit is a myth. The Cockpit / Flight Deck crew talk before leaving the ground. It is a matter of bonding between people who have never worked together and provides an opportunity for pilot and co-pilot to become comfortable with each other. IT is a myth built into the NTSB Charter that is used as a legal liability tool. Where are the Unions on this and why hasn't it been amended in the current Charter to reflect REAL LIFE scenarios and practicality? I mean I know Congress is worthless these days and obstruction is everywhere, but, this is life and death. How can the NTSB function completely in a positive outcome if they have to cite hideous and outdated regulations?

It's no secret. (click here) When a flight crew's attention is diverted from the task of flying, the chance of error increases. Over the years there have been dozens of air carrier accidents that occurred when the crew diverted attention from the task at hand and became occupied with items totally unrelated to flying. Consequently, important things were missed. Things like setting the flaps prior to takeoff, or extending the landing gear before landing. Things like monitoring altitude on an instrument approach, or using engine anti-ice for takeoff during a blinding snow storm....

"Sole Survivor" states all occurred at the age of 17 or younger. There is one characteristic young people share at that age. It is called the Epiphyseal Plate otherwise known as The Growth Plates. Growth Plates end their purpose at the age of 20.

Noted in this picture the Epiphyseal Plate/Growth Plate is boardered in majority by what is called "Spongy Bone." Cortical Bone is the hard exterior bone. Spongy Bone is known to physicians and surgeons as Cancellous Bone.It is illustrated here in the smaller picture.

This type of bone is very vascular. It has a lot of squishy properties. The squishy properties provides for compressibility. Compressibility allows shocks to the tissue to be absorbed without causing injury. All the Sole Survivors, as children, grew up just fine. 

I sincerely believe one of the reasons George survived was because he was actively kicking the bulkhead wall in front of him and absorbing the shock of the crash at the same time. He was seventeen. He stated his kicking drove him outside the plane while it burst into flames. Perhaps bringing knees to the chest to put the feet on the seat in front of you is a better strategy than bending over with a person's face in their lap. In that posture one can still reach the oxygen masks when they fall. It is not a position every passenger will be able to achieve, however.

It is not all positioning and bone, it is also physics. Planes are not crash proof. They never will be. 

I believe George's mental state after the crash was due to the fact he fought for his life at the time when he survived. He also had his mother. The trauma bond with the accident was significant and he ultimately returned to live in the city where he lost his father. He also suffered from elated invulnerability as if Superman. He tested his ability to continue to survive by racing cars at high speeds, etc. Trauma bonds will do strange things. Most of the survivors were bonded to the crash and it played a part in their daily lives thereafter.

It is an excellent documentary. It makes many, many interesting and insightful points.

 

Who do you trust with the economy? The banks? How do you reconcile that?

By Jason Stein and Patrick Marley
July 26, 2013


Madison — A Democratic senator (click here) is upset that some 3,000 union state workers won't immediately share in the 1% pay raise put forward by Gov. Scott Walker's administration for each of the next two fiscal years.
Those employees have to wait for contracts to be negotiated over their wages with the Walker administration. In the past, pay increases for nonunion employees and separate contracts for union workers containing their pay increases were typically handled around the same time out of fairness, according to Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) and his office.
"Passing a state employment compensation plan without including any represented state employees reeks of punishment," Erpenbach wrote Thursday in a letter to Walker... 

Every household in the USA knows the more disposable income exists the faster the economy grows. The largest pool of purchasers is good for Wall Street. No, it is not good for Wall Street, it is VITAL for Wall Street. I don't know of one company that grows income to stockholders based on loss of GDP of a nation. 

Gus Lubin
April 9, 2010

Normalized to 1979, (click here) the top 1% have seen their share of America's income more than double. The bottom 90% have seen their portion shrink....

Investment Banks remove wealth from a country. They merge, they buyout, they horde money. They treat property as assets and not part of a whole.

Unions expand economies, return wealth to a large and diverse group of people, provide equity to a companies view of their assets and demand solvency to their members to pursue the American Dream. Unions make companies take notice of their investment in their workers and how productivity depends on experience and commitment. There is not one financial institution that can grow an economy the way Unions can. Not one financial institution can increase the quality of life of a large number of people to find integrity in WORK.

Allow these intelligent and loving creatures to become extinct? How do you reconcile that?

Despite our overwhelming hubris, humanity did not invent the concept of naming individuals. (click here)

Dolphins have been doing roughly the same thing for millennia.

Dolphins are incredibly smart creatures. Not only do they have the mental capacity to bond with humans and learn the complex routines taught at places like SeaWorld, but they're also smart enough to coordinate underwater attacks, and even plot out horrific acts like aquatic sexual assault. On a less terrible note, they also "name" one another, according to recent findings by researchers at Scotland's University of St. Andrews....

by Russell Tenofsky
March 5, 2013
 
New findings (click here) published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggest that bottlenose dolphins use “signature whistles” to identify themselves and are able to learn and recognize the “names” of other dolphins. This cognitive ability, known as “referential communication with learned signals,” was always thought to be unique to humans....

We are now a nation without a conscience. We had a close call this past week again in the Gulf of Mexico. Still? We are looking the other for the sake of oil way still?

Oil is more important than life. Life is nothing without oil. Oil is more important than fisheries and the people taking care of them and those providing this nation seafood for generations of families. Oil drilling is vastly more important than quality of life? You have got to be joking. 

An Institute for Marine Mammal Studies veterinary technician lifts a dead bottlenose dolphin.

February 24, 2011
By Nina Mandell

Trouble may not be over (click here) for the Gulf Coast after dead baby dolphins were discovered in Mississippi and Alabama, bringing the number of dead dolphins to a total of 28 this year, according to reports.
The four baby dolphins make a total of 18 dead baby dolphins this year – 10 times the annual average, AOL Travel reported
"We're definitely keeping a close eye on this situation,” Blair Mase, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration marine-mammal stranding coordinator told the Sun-Herald....

And we don't need health care reform? How do you reconcile that?

Adam Taylor and Samuel Blackstone  
Jun. 29, 2012, 2:44 PM

...In that same year, (click here) a report from the Commonwealth Fund ranked seven developed countries on their health care performance — the US came dead last.
So, what can we learn from the report?...

The Affordable Care Act is a huge program. The USA is a huge country. I don't appreciate the politics when retired and resigned elected officials can receive the best this country has to offer while others die outside access. I really don't appreciate it.

And for all those that have criticism; where is your plan? Where is your coverage for over 300 million people? I haven't never, ever heard a viable alternative.

The Affordable Care Act provides for care. It provides for access. I provides for quality of life and longevity. How do you reconcile living without it?