The Tabloid Press, Dog each Dog Politics.

ByLARRY MCSHANE

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

JANUARY 19, 2014

The mayor of Hoboken (click here) accused a pair of top Gov. Chris Christie lieutenants of a “Sopranos”-style shakedown, denying the city hurricane aid over a delayed redevelopment plan.

Mayor Dawn Zimmer said New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and a second official warned her that millions in Hurricane Sandy relief for her city were tied to the approval of the Rockefeller Group’s proposal.

In classic Jersey style, the blunt conversation with former prosecutor Guadagno occurred on May 13 in the parking lot of a Hoboken ShopRite, Zimmer told MSNBC in a Saturday interview....

There is a lot to straighten out about his complaint by the Hoboken Mayor. Her complaint is not valid and she is attempting to rid her city of the responsibility of being accountable for the relief monies. She needs to reassess her accusations.

The Press doesn't do their homework and play their viewership and readership for ratings and sales of the tabloid rags. The Press doesn't care how this all washes out, they only care about the exploitation. "You go right ahead and hang yourselves." I warned about this getting out of hand and believe it or not when all is done, they won't be able to run Governor Christi out of office or out of politics. The Democrats on the other hand will appear to be unprepared to handle their disaster monies.

The money ALLOCATED out of the USA Fiscal Year 2013 budget is provided to States and not individuals or cities. The Governors are responsible for the method of the spending of these monies.

The Sandy Recovery Division (click here) manages the majority of the federal funds being used to assist the State in recovering from Superstorm Sandy. These funds come from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Division is committed to efficiently and effectively addressing the long-term needs of New Jersey’s Sandy-impacted residents and communities through programs designed to help homeowners, tenants, landlords, developers and local governments....

New Jersey has build an electronic page for citizens and cities to provide information. Other called transparency. That isn't all of it. If the Press and the Mayor looked into the information provided on the New Jersey 'Sandy Page' they would find allies in finding the way to receive monies to rebuild.

There was $16 billion within the Sandy Funding for "Community Development Block Grants.

Each grantee is responsible for the design, (click here), implementation and oversight of its grant program, including the monitoring of subgrants and any activities undertaken through the grant. 

The GRANTEE is the State of New Jersey. Hoboken or any citizen in Hoboken or any other city involved in this horrid disaster are "Grantees". These block grants are especially focused on low income rehabilitation. 

The State of New Jersey carries the responsibility for accountability to these funds. When Hoboken's Mayor complains her city is being held responsible for submitting a redevelopment plan to the Governor's office, she isn't taking responsibility for accountability that the State has to maintain in their records for any audit. Given the hostile manner Governor Christie obtained these funds from Congress he knew people of all stripes would seek to audit these monies to find corruption. He is always touted as a potential candidate for US President and he always has problems because of the viciousness of the politics in the USA. Christi is used to this. I am not surprised he requires his staff to be careful about how they address others and the press. I imagine there are few that actually care to be loyal to Christi himself. 

So, in this particular instance, Governor Christi is not the problem. If the Hoboken Mayor contacts federal authorities in DC at HUD they will assist to provide guidance on how to build a block grant plan. It is not the Governor's responsibility to hold the hand of every mayor in the state to build their grants. 

This complaint is irrelevant.

Sec. 6.10 Compliance information. (click here)

(a) Cooperation and assistance. The Responsible Official and the
Award Official will provide assistance and guidance to Recipients to
help them comply voluntarily with this part

.
(b) Access to data and other sources of information. Each Recipient
shall permit access by authorized representatives of HUD to its
facilities, books, records, accounts, minutes and audio tapes of
meetings, personnel, computer disks and tapes, and other sources of
information as may be pertinent to a determination of whether the
Recipient is complying with this part. Where information required of a
Recipient is in the exclusive possession of any other agency,
institution, or person, and that agency, institution, or person fails or
refuses to furnish this information, the Recipient shall so certify in
any requested report and shall set forth what efforts it has made to
obtain the information. Failure or refusal to furnish pertinent
information (whether maintained by the Recipient or some other agency,
institution, or person) without a credible reason for the failure or
refusal will be considered to be noncompliance under this part.

(c) Compliance data. Each Recipient shall keep records and submit to
the Responsible Official, timely, complete, and accurate data at such
times and in such form as the Responsible Official may determine to be
necessary to ascertain whether the Recipient has complied or is
complying with this part.

(d) Notification to employees, beneficiaries, and participants. Each
Recipient shall make available to employees, participants,
beneficiaries, and other interested persons information regarding the
provisions of this part and its applicability to the program or activity
under which the Recipient receives Federal financial assistance and make
such information available to them in such manner as the Responsible
Official finds necessary to apprise such persons of the protections
against discrimination assured them by Section 109 and this part.

The FEDS mean it.

New Jersey Democrats don't like the Governor. I don't necessarily blame them. I think he is all to willing to spend fiscal RESERVES within the state to answer problems. He wants to dissolve unions. There are several aspects to his leadership I don't like and his communication style is one of them. But, I especially don't appreciate it when politicians use harsh communication with citizens. It serves to oppress any response, especially by women. In this instance, the mayor is wrong.

By: Andrew Miga | TWC

Published: January 28, 2013

WASHINGTON -- Congress is sending a $50.5 billion (click here) emergency relief measure for Superstorm Sandy victims to President Barack Obama for his signature.

The Senate on Monday cleared the bill, 62-36. Northeast lawmakers say the money is desperately needed to help recovery efforts from the one of the region's worst storms. The House passed the bill two weeks ago.

President Obama gave the following statement regarding the matter. 

"I am pleased that Congress took bipartisan action to provide funding for the communities in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and other eastern states devastated by Hurricane Sandy.  For the families working to put their lives back together, every day without relief is one day too many.  So while I had hoped Congress would provide this aid sooner, I applaud the lawmakers from both parties who helped shepherd this important package though."...

New Jersey was given a great deal of help through the federal government, including waiving flood insurance until the communities are back on their feet. The flood insurance waiver cost almost $10 billion alone.

That fighting style of Governor Christi just may have been what New Jersey needed to get DC to respond given the current "Punish them" climate with the US House.

In 1792 the USA funded 95 percent of the nation budget with tariffs. The amount collected was $4,400,000 The tariff rate in 1792 was 15.1%.

222 years have gone by and the tariffs collected by the USA hasn't even kept up with the cost of doing business.

In 2010 the USA collected $25,298,000,000 in tariffs. It funded 1.2 percent of the USA Budget. The tariff rate was 1.3%.

The tariff schedule for the USA is called "Harmonized Tariff Schedule."

The U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule classifies a good based on its name, use, and/or the material used in its construction and assigns it a ten-digit number. There are over 17,000 unique ten-digit HTS classification code numbers.

The Harmonized Tariff Schedule is based on the international Harmonized Commodity Coding and Classification System established by the World Customs Organization (WCO). Virtually all countries base their tariff schedules on the WCO's Harmonized System.

Currently, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (click here) is off line for repair and is expected to be back online on January 19, 2014.

Consumers don't really pay tariffs directly, Wall Street does. If a citizen is returning from overseas they pass through customs. They are assessed for taxes with any incoming commodity. The USA is giving away it's domestic market to facilitate other nations wealth. 

Think about it.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership cannot go forward without a Public Comment period.

There are many citizen groups that would be impacted by this trade agreement and they won't have a say in it's implementation.

The Border Trade Alliance is an excellent example of such a group.(click here)

Membership (click here)
BTA is North America’s premier authority on issues affecting the U.S. northern and southern borders, representing a large grassroots network of over 4.2 million public and private sector representatives, including business leaders, chambers of commerce and industry, academic institutions, economic development corporations, industrial parks, transport companies, customs brokers, defense companies, manufacturers and state and local government agencies.

I am worried about the current and proposed "Parternships" such as the NFTA. They are set up to treat the countries involved in them as if one nation. I think these partnerships are defended because the EU is a consolidation of many nations into a single authority. The difference between NFTA and the EU is land mass and population. The EU consolidated their assets to come together with a common currency because they are small countries and their citizens move frequently over their borders for visits to family, friends and to vacation. The EU structure creates a similar alliance of borders as the USA's federal association between states.

Michael Browning - Valley International Airport, Harlingen
Kevin Campbell - S.R. Campbell Properties, Harlingen
Bill Card III - Card Investment Group, Inc., Harlingen
Ruben Cardenas - State Farm Insurance, Weslaco
Anabell Cardona - Valley Grande Institute, Weslaco
Serigo Contrera - AT&T, San Antonio
Ralph Cowen - Port of Brownsville, Brownsville
Jose De Alba - Texas Gas Service, Harlingen
Jim Denison - Adams & Graham, Harlingen
Joe Forshage - Formost Paving, Weslaco
David Garza - Gulf Aviation, Inc., Harlingen
Daniel Gurwitz - Atlas, Hall & Rodriguez, LLP, McAllen
William Hull - Sunbelt Express Services, Inc., Harlingen
Brenda Ivory - Harlingen Medical Center, Harlingen
Tom Keeler - KGBT Action 4 News, Harlingen
Dr. Cesar Maldonado - Texas State Technical College, Harlingen
Armando Martinez, Jr. - Lone Star National Bank, McAllen
Fred McCaleb - McCaleb Funeral Home, Weslaco
Alex Meade - Mission Economic Development Corporation, Mission
Jose Munoz - Guzman & Munoz Engineering & Surveying, Mercedes
Lorenzo Olivarez, Jr. - South Texas Health System, Edinburg
Trey Pebley - McAllen Construction, McAllen
Michael Perez - Port of Harlingen Authority, Harlingen
Lee Reed - International Bank of Commerce, Brownsville
Julio Reyes - AEP Texas, Austin
Daniel Rios - S&B Infrastructure, Ltd., McAllen
Forrest Runnels - EIA Properties, Edinburg
Pete Sepulveda - Cameron County RMA, Brownsville
Ed Serna - Time Warner Cable, Austin
Kent Shepard - Shepard Insurance Agency, McAllen
Tom Torkelson - IDEA Public Schools, Weslaco
Manny Vela - Valley Baptist Health System, Harlingen
Rigo Villarreal - City of McAllen- Bridge Department, McAllen
John Wood - JWA Realty, Brownsville

Who are these people? First and foremost, they are American citizens. But, they also play a part in an economy and local government. 

They all belong to the Rio Grande Valley Partnership (click here). They are the Board of Directors (click here). This partnership represents an entire local economy. The Board of Directors have their pulse on the status and stability of their local economies.

How involved are these organizations such as the first one I mentioned, "The Border Trade Alliance?"
January 17, 2014
The Border Trade Alliance (BTA), (click here) a grassroots, non-profit forum dealing with North American trade and economic development, has applauded the adoption by Congress of an omnibus budget agreement that includes language allowing border communities to dramatically improve the infrastructure and staffing levels at their ports of entry. The bill also funds an additional 2,000 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers....

This particular alliance seeks to monitor the borders of the USA through stable communities with stable economies. Why is that important? The best eyes and ears to this country are the people and cities and towns have a stake in sovereign borders and their security.

These people are important and they are being ignored by the federal government determined to Fast Track a partnership throughout the Pacific that can cause severe problems with the USA economy. The companies with in the borders of the USA, such as Ford, GMC and Chrysler, need to partner with these smaller organizations to demand review of the TPP. 

Additionally, I am concerned the partnerships the USA is engaged in assaults the WTO (World Trade Organization). I believe they circumvent the authority of the WTO. The USA is seeking trade partnerships with nearly every country in the world. If the partnerships are honored, the USA doesn't need the WTO I believe the WTO is being dissolved with the formation of these partnerships.

I am not alone and in good moral company.

"Holy See (The Pope) Criticizes TPP and TAFTT/TTIP in WTO Speech (click here)

...While a minority is experiencing exponential growth in wealth, the gap is widening to separate the vast majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies that defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and of financial speculation. Consequently, there is an outright rejection of the right of States, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules. An even worse development is that such policies are sometimes locked in through trade rules negotiated at the WTO or in bilateral or regional FTAs (Free Trade Agreements)....

Some who oppose these partnerships state it should not be Free Trade Agreement, but, Fair Trade Agreements.

There are many in the USA and places like the Vatican opposed to these trade agreements. They undermine the Middle Class and create Poverty. I believe these trade partnerships should be litigated to remove their oppressive effect on all countries, except, "The Sovereign Wall Street Plutocracy." There are a lot reasons why elected officials need to pay attention to the people on this issue.

The people of West Virginia are sincerely kind and good people. They don't deserve to be treated this way.

Considering the chemical company has filed bankruptcy ahead of lawsuits and government fines the people are left on their own, except, for whatever help the EPA provides. 

I have a suggestion. If any resident effected by this chemical spill is returning to their homes and worried about their water, seek the help of local state universities. 

There are labs within any university structure that can run detailed chemical analysis of the TAP WATER. Samples of the water coming out of the faucet can be provided to a college lab for analysis to provide peace of mind. Until those results are received compliments of the state university system; bottled water needs to be used by everyone. It would be nice of The Tide "Loads of Hope" paid these folks a visit WITH clean water. American loves Tide and the company knows it. I am confident the company could provide this service free to these residents of West Virginia until any water testing is conducted.

If the water is found to be contaminated, the EPA will have to continue to supply clean water to these people. Bathing is going to require clean water and not from the faucet. The EPA should be leading the effort to decide what happens were with water quality and now to resolve the fears of these people.

Chemical Burns are No Joke.

Do these agreements circumvent the WTO?

Twenty Years Since NAFTA: Mexico Could Have Done Worse, But It’s Not Clear How (click here)

Mark Weisbrot  |  January 4, 2014  |  CEPR

It was 20 years ago that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico was implemented. Here in Washington, D.C., the date coincided with an outbreak of the bacteria cryptosporidium in the city’s water supply, with residents having to boil their water before drinking it. The joke in town was, “See what happens, NAFTA takes effect and you can’t drink the water here.”

Our neglected infrastructure aside, it is easy to see that NAFTA was a bad deal for most Americans. The promised trade surpluses with Mexico turned out to be deficits, some hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost, and there was downward pressure on U.S. wages – which was, after all, the purpose of the agreement. This was not like the European Union’s (pre-eurozone) economic integration, which allocated hundreds of billions of dollars of development aid to the poorer countries of Europe so as to pull their living standards up toward the average. The idea was to push U.S. wages downward, toward Mexico’s, and to create new rights for corporations within the trade area: these lucky multinational enterprises could now sue governments directly before a corporate-friendly international tribunal, unaccountable to any national judicial system, for regulations (e.g. environmental) that infringed upon their profit-making potential....

A few things. The USA has been absorbing the economic pressures of countries with cheap labor while their elite pump out a foreign brain trust that exceeds the current status of the USA. The downward pressure on pay to Americans has resulted in a lower rate of taxes to the US Treasury.

The USA National Debt is a result of being a sponge to other nation's entry into the global economy. These nations have feed off the US economy while it accumulated incredible debt. Basically, the US National Debt was accommodated while other nations, such as China, fed their economies without improving their citizen's quality of life or developing their Middle Class. Without the debt of the US, China would never have achieved an economy at all. That is also true of India. 

Differently put, the USA buoyed those growing economies while provided loans to maintain the cash flow. The USA borrowed back it's loss of economic growth so it could be further exploited. 

The only way the USA is guaranteed it's economic growth is to grow it's local economies. It is it's only protection from becoming Third World as the other global economies drags it down to that level. Any Wall Street economy has no conscience. The problem is that the Right Wing of the political USA doesn't either. The assault against The Voting Rights Act proves that. It is unconscionable there are states exempt from federal law. I don't even think it is constitutional. The Voting Rights Act as it is accepted today, allows States Rights by CERTAIN states while federal law is imposed on all others. It won't stand the test of lawsuits.

But as to the TPP, it will serve to undermine the very bailouts the USA made in 2008 to sustain their domestic car industry. It is a definitive threat to the USA economy and might even be the final blow to it's stability. There are some nations that see that as a strategic victory. The more domesticated the USA economy the more the stable it will remain.

The TPP doesn't recognize the decency of the USA in providing assistance in developing these nations, except, for copyrights in intellectual property. The TPP just dives in and seeks to remove any and all protections between nations. The cheap labor market will be more evident than ever. 

...the leaked copies of the Intellectual Property chapter of the TPP suggests. Copyrights and patents created over the past century, so very many in film, music, pharmaceuticals and computer software by US companies will have enhanced protection, if the agreement is signed....

There will be tragic complications in the USA because of these dynamics. As the cost of labor is oppressed by the TPP, the cost of items protected by copyright will remain at higher costs than if there copyrights were allowed to expire as USA law dictates. The Pharmaceutical Industry will benefit from this the most while suspending the 'downward cost curve' on USA health care. It doesn't matter if there is a health care bill, the cost will remain primarily unchanged because of this provision.

Professor John Jackson, (click here) of the University of Michigan Law School, once suggested that international trade negotiations operated under the bicycle principal. Put simply: ‘If you're not moving forward you are probably falling off’.’ And, to take the example of the World Trade Organisation’s progress over the past decade, little forward motion is really needed.

But a recent article in The Age, ‘How China’s know-how is challenging the US’, suggests previously unrecognised factors may have spurred the US' entry into the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.

The article, by Dr Thomas Barlow,  tells the story of the decline in innovation in the west, and, in particular, the USA.

Barlow observes that “for more than half a century, the US has been the dominant force in global innovation”.

“For years, its intensity of investment in knowledge – estimated by totting up spending on software, R&D, and higher education as a share of GDP – has been twice that of Europe.”

One consequence is that “in the second half of the 20th century, 58 per cent of the world's Nobel Laureates were resident in the US”.

But, as he observes, “there is a zone of nations extending from Japan, China, and South Korea in the north, down to Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand in the south” whose “combined R&D investment in all sectors, public and private, zone exceeded that in North America for the first time” in 2011.

In addition “in 2009, total patent applications made through the patent co-operation treaty process from applicants in these nations also exceeded those from North American applicants for the first time”.  

It’s uncanny that around the same time the US opted to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement....

The previous administration started the TPP during their two terms. This is supposed to proceed to end without interruption. Why would the USA consent to a treaty that caused it's citizens harm? The track record of the Bush/Cheney administration in valuing profits over human life and American's quality of life is well known.

Bush gov’t agency refuses to lower the cost of a life-saving HIV/AIDS drug:(click here)  “The National Institutes of Health said it would forgo use of a little-known law to effectively lower the price of Abbott Laboratories' Norvir, a popular HIV medicine used to boost several life-saving AIDSdrugs.” [Source: Chicago Tribune , 8/5/04]

The pharmaceutical company had recently raised the price of this drug by 400%: The maker of the drug, Abbott, “raised the price of Norvir 400 percent in December.” [Source: Chicago Tribune , 8/5/04]

Bush administration refuses to enforce a law that could bring down the exorbitant price of this drug: Even though “consumer groups asked the NIH to ‘march in’ and let other companies make generic copies of Norvir before its patent expires, a power the government secured in 1980 under an law that has never been used,” the Bush administration refused. [Source: Chicago Tribune , 8/5/04]

"The government on Wednesday refused to override patents on the AIDS drug Norvir, effectively allowing a quintupling of the price to stand despite consumer groups' accusations of price gouging.” [Source: Associated Press, 8/5/04]

The American people have been STUCK with lousy deals lingering in our lives since the Bush/Cheney administration. We had to finally end the Iraq war, we are still lingering in Afghanistan, there was a global economic collapse which we are still recovering, we have extremists now in the USA Congress because Bush actually allowed church groups believe they would control the country to dissolve the wall between church and state and now the American people have to continue receiving blows to their own ambitions to own a home and receive a living wage from this profit scheme by the same lousy, corrupt administration.

To continue to prove the American people, especially women, have been under siege from the Bush years, I ran across a New York Times Magazine in my library the other day dated May 7, 2006. The front cover carried a red wrapper that is suppose to resemble that of a condom. The words written across the wrapper is "The War On Contraception." This bulloney never ends and the Right Wing intends to continue their assault as long as the American people will tolerate it while maintained ignorant of the progress they are making.

The Obama Administration becomes concerned about the 'anger level' within the nation. It isn't him exactly that Americans are angry with, it the CONTINUED oppression that lingers in our country. We don't want it. The TPP is just another lingering threat to the American Dream to maintain the anger of the people of this nation. The TPP will not help the USA economy and we all know it.

The Fast Track needs to be repealed and/or interrupted for Public Comment before ANY agreement.

By Ava TAkada and Yurly Humber
August 2, 2012

...The U.S. and Japanese governments want it. (click here) Mitsubishi backs it. Toyota Motor(TM) says it can’t compete without it. Yet whether Japan joins the biggest attempt at a free-trade pact may hinge on farmers like Tadashi Hirose. Hirose loses money on his 14 hectares (35 acres) of paddies in southwest Hokkaido, forcing him to take a second job at a construction company. Still, he says, if Japan joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, or TPP, the resulting competition from abroad would destroy his family’s livelihood and economically devastate Hokkaido, the top rice-producing region....

By CTC
March 4, 2013
Saying that the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s (click here) potential impact on the U.S. dairy sector is too significant to adopt a “wait and see” approach, 11 national organizations are urging Congress to replace Fast Track with a process that contains specific safeguards for dairy farmers, workers, processors and consumers....

This is not Nixon's America. Fast Track is pure corruption.

Fast Track was a U.S. procedure established in the 1970s by President Nixon for negotiating trade agreements that concentrated power in the president’s hands. It delegated to the executive branch Congress’ exclusive constitutional authority to “regulate Commerce with foreign nations.” In particular, Fast Track allowed the executive branch to select countries for, set the substance of, and then negotiate and sign trade agreements — all before Congress had a vote on the matter.

Kyodo New
January 15, 2014

Japan's farm minister Yoshimasa Hayashi (click here) told U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy on Wednesday that there is strong concern among Japanese farmers over the direction of the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks, a Japanese official said.

During their meeting, Hayashi emphasized that Tokyo and Washington need to boost bilateral cooperation further in the area of agriculture as well as over the TPP negotiations, according to the official of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry.

Kennedy agreed, saying the two sides should work even more closely on these issues, the official added.

Japan and the United States have been at odds over how to deal with tariffs that Tokyo seeks to retain on five sensitive farm product categories. The U.S.-led TPP aims to abolish all tariffs.

US soybeans will meet the dietary demands of the Japanese people.

By Aya Takada
October 24, 2013

From rice (click here) for controlling blood glucose levels to soybeans that reduce fatty acids, Japan is seeking new ways to make money from agriculture as pressure mounts to cut the tariffs its farmers rely on to make a living.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government estimates there’s a potential 600 billion yen ($6.2 billion) market for so-called functional foods, strains of mostly fruits, vegetables and grains with provable health benefits beyond regular nutrition. He’s put 2 billion yen into the agriculture ministry’s coffers for a three-year project to develop new varieties of rice, soybeans, barley, onions and buckwheat.

Japan’s senior citizens, whose ranks are swelling at the fastest pace in the world, are a natural market for these products that must be embraced as tariffs of as much as 778 percent on rice come under threat, said Makoto Nakatani, the ministry’s research director. Abe is pursuing a place in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact while OECD data shows the nation’s farmers depend on government handouts for more than half their income, versus 7 percent in the U.S....

No one wants the TPP except Wall Street. Toyota competes just fine in the USA. Toyota wants to take over the US market and put US companies out of business.

2/22/13

The United States and Japan (click here) on Friday agreed on language aimed at giving Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe political cover to bring the world's third-largest economy into negotiations on a U.S.-led free trade agreement in the Asia Pacific region....

...In a carefully worded statement following Abe's meeting with President Barack Obama, the two countries reaffirmed that "all goods would subject to negotiation" if Japan joins the talks with the United States and 10 other countries.

At the same time, the statement leaves open a possible outcome to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, talks where the Japan could still protect its rice sector and the United States could keep duties on Japanese autos.

"Recognizing that both countries have bilateral trade sensitivities, such as certain agricultural products for Japan and certain manufactured products for the United States, the two governments confirm that, as the final outcome will be determined during the negotiations, it is not required to make a prior commitment to unilaterally eliminate all tariffs upon joining the TPP negotiations," the statement said....

Ford Motor, the only company that didn't need a bailout in 2008, and their employees are not at all happy about the TPP.

...That stance also worries Ford Motor Co and the United Auto Workers, which have pressured the Obama administration not to allow Japan into the talks until Tokyo makes reforms to open its market to more auto imports.

Although Japan already has no auto tariffs, Ford and the UAW argue that the country relies on regulatory and other non-tariff barriers to keep out auto imports....

General Motors says no.

July 18, 2013
by Ellen Crobier

General Motors has mounted an online petition drive (click here) in the wake of Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to demand the inclusion of strong currency provisions in the final agreement “to prevent subsidies to Japanese auto producers” and to demand that Japan fully open its market to U.S. products.

In a cover note to the petition, GM says that this effort is backed by Ford and Chrysler, as well as the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW). The petition seeks support from GM dealers, employees, suppliers, retirees and customers to express their message to members of Congress.

The cover note says that GM does not welcome Japan’s participation, but that it is now working “to do what we can to influence the details of the agreement so it includes strong, enforceable currency disciplines that will prevent Japan from manipulating the value of the yen and opens the Japanese market to U.S. products.”

“We strongly oppose completing the TPP with Japan at this time because Japan has the most closed automotive market in the world,” the petition states. It also charges that Japan continues to manipulate its currency to unfairly subsidize Japanese automobile companies....

Forbid the US Intelligence Community should be offended as Great Americans.

Well, the American people are offended along with most of our allies. I've heard it before and the attitude is not appreciated.

"W" loved to place the idea of complete innocence of government personnel over and above the rights of Americans. My favorite was when "W" addressed the environmental community. It went something like this, "Everyone involved with the energy community are people with children and families that don't want to see any environmental abuse."

Ask Dish, Texas what good that attitude did them?

The NSA has no right to invade the privacy of Americans or any foreign power for the sake of casual evaluation. Complexities are bullshit. Complexities is an excuse to give license to a government structure that knows no morality. Mass surveillance of any country is outrageous, offensive and dangerous to citizens.

The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance on those machines and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks.

This is NOT metadata. This is stealing the rights of people and governments to exist in privacy that secures them and their nation. There is SPECIFIC spying and there is specific targets and it has to end. There will be no generalized hunt for a human being that can cast into an obscure prison forever. 

The program needs to end. The transition needs to happen at warp speed. 

End of discussion!

Do you know who stopped the Shoe Bomber? A stewardess did.

Not the NSA.

Do you know who stopped the Underwear Bomber? A passenger did.

Not the NSA.

The people of the USA has had enough of incompetency and it's cost.

The NSA has never stopped any so called terrorist from entering the USA or carrying out their crimes against the citizens. It's effectiveness ended a long time ago.

This is a Snowden document. It reads like a high school term paper, except, it explains why the NSA needed a budget of $52.6 US so that citizens have to be irradiated at airports in order to make their next business meeting. Frequent travelers get tired of being pat down and it is more time consuming than walking through a radiation scan.

'Black Budget' leaked by Edward Snowden (click here)
PUBLISHED: AUGUST 30
A top-secret budget (click here) document obtained by The Washington Post from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden provides new details about U.S. intelligence and surveillance efforts. The so-called “black budget” describes, among other programs, the NSA’s hacking unit, known as Tailored Access Operations:...

The NSA in it's opening paragraphs even promises to be a good agency and cut down on spending. I suppose so, because Americans don't get any returns on their investment. In actuality, they are personally compromised by this expenditure by their government of an agency that is basically worthless.

If the NSA is so very good at verifying if individuals are in or out of the USA, then why is Immigration Reform impossible to pass because one of the reason it receives objection is Overstayed Visas. The NSA can't find people that have stayed too long in the USA? 

By David Seminara
September 24, 2013
...A new report from Pew Research's Hispanic Trends Project (click here) confirms what many of us have long suspected: Illegal immigration appears to be on the rise again, after a brief decline during the recession. The report estimates that the population of unauthorized immigrants was approximately 11.7 million in 2012, up from 11.5 million in 2011, but down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007. The report also made upward revisions to previous estimates of the unauthorized immigrant population. According to the report, the foreign-born population, legal and illegal, is now at 41.7 million, and 28 percent of those migrants are here illegally....

Why the big dilemma in solving this problem? Politics? 

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is doing just fine.

By Michael D. Shear and Robert Pear
January 13, 2014

...Of those (click here) who signed up in the first three months, administration officials said, 55 percent are age 45 to 64. Only 24 percent of those choosing a health insurance plan are 18 to 34, a group that is usually healthier and needs fewer costly medical services. People 55 to 64 — the range just below the age at which people qualify for Medicare — represented the largest group, at 33 percent....

This is information from the US Census with projections into 2050.

This graph only includes Americans from the age of 18 to 24. If one examines the graph closely, the number of young people in the country in that age group is 25.2 million.

The total population of the USA is 313.9 million people. That leaves that age group of 18-25 at 8 to 9 percent of the population of the USA. 

If the amount of those seeking health care through the new law is 24 percent in that age groups, that means there is a huge majority of these Americans are already involved in the exchanges. So, the 'idea' that ONLY 24% of this age group comprises the exchanges is actually very good news. The age group 45 to 64 are actually under represented in the exchanges. That actually creates a benefit to the cost of the premiums.

I am not surprised there are a greater number of young people in the exchanges, simply because folks over 35 are usually well employed and have insurance provided otherwise. The exchanges are not being used by the entire population of the USA. They are being utilized by people without health care.

I think the cost ratio is fine so far.

Young Americans are not stupid enough to believe this idiocy.

The three arrested are men, two moving away from the fire attempting to hide from sight as they did and one with ash on his clothing.

By Ari Bloomekatz and Matt Stevens This post has been updated with the latest developments.

January 16, 2014, 10:53 a.m.

Arson investigators (click here) were at the scene of a wildfire near Los Angeles that exploded in size Thursday to more than 1,700 acres and destroyed at least two homes, authorities said.

Three people had been arrested in connection with the fast-moving Colby fire, but Glendora police declined to provide further information.

L.A. County fire Inspector Scott Miller said the cause of the fire, reported shortly before 6 a.m., was still under investigation, but said arson investigators were on hand and working with Glendora police....

By Reid Wilson

• January 17 at 10:00 am

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) (click here) will use a morning news conference in San Francisco on Friday to declare a drought emergency amid one of the driest winters on record.

The declaration comes a month after Brown appointed a panel to assess the situation and make recommendations. Several members of Congress, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D), had pushed Brown to declare the emergency. During a two-day swing through California to push his budget proposal last week, Brown faced calls from local legislators to speed aid to their constituents.

More than 90 percent of California is experiencing severe drought conditions. Last year, dozens of cities in California set new records for lowest levels of precipitation; Occidential, Big Sur and Crescent, Calif., all recorded rain totals 30 to 40 inches below average, according to National Weather Service statistics....