Vote !

Bring your friends and relatives.

That is what everyone has to do this year. The principles that make the USA strong are Middle Class values. It is time to move the majority of the country's governance back into Middle Class hands.

Vote Democrat this November and I'll tell you why.

It's Monday Morning.

"The 6th Sense" by Common (click here)
(feat. Bilal)

The revolution will not be televised
The revolution is here
Yeah, it's Common Sense, with DJ Premier
We gonna help y'all see clear
It's real hip-hop music, from the soul, y'all
Yeah, check it, yo

The perseverance of a rebel I drop heavier levels
It's unseen or heard, a king with words
Can't knock the hustle, but I've seen street dreams deferred
Dark spots in my mind where the scene occurred
Some say I'm too deep, I'm in too deep to sleep
Through me, Muhammed will forever speak
Greet brothers with handshakes in ghetto landscapes
Where a man is determined by how much a man make
Cop Cognacs and spit old raps with young cats
with cigarettes in their ear, niggerish they appear
Under the Fubu is a guru, that's untapped
Want to be in the rap race but ain't ran one lap
Ran so far from the streets that you can't come back
You tripping with nowhere to unpack, forgot that

"This is rap for real, something you feel"
"And you know, yes you know"
"Rap for the black people"
"Heeeeyyyy, heeeeeyyyy"

(You know, yes you know
And you know, yes you know
Hey, hey
You know, yes you know)

In front of two-inch glass and Arabs I order fries
Inspiration when I write, I see my daughter's eyes
I'm the truth, across the table from corporate lies
Immortilized by the realness I bring to it
If revolution had a movie I'd be theme music
My music, you either fight, fuck, or dream to it
My life is one big rhyme, I try to scheme through it
Through my shell, never knew what the divine would bring to it
I'd be lying if I said I didn't want millions
More than money saved, I wanna save children
Dealing with alcoholism and afrocentricity
A complex man drawn off of simplicity
Reality is frisking me
This industry will make you lose intensity
The Common Sense in me remembers the basement
I'm Morpheus in this hip-hop Matrix, exposing fake shit

You know, yes you know
And you know, yes you know
Hey, hey
You know, yes you know

Somedays I take the L to gel with the real world
Got on at 87th, stopped by this little girl
She recited raps, I forgot where they was from
In 'em, she was saying how she made brothers cum
I start thinking, how many souls hip-hop has affected
How many dead folks this art resurrected
How many nations this culture connected
Who am I to judge one's perspective?
Though some of that shit y'all pop true it, I ain't relating
If I don't like it, I don't like it, that don't mean that I'm hating
I just want to innovate and stimulate minds
Travel the world and penetrate the times
Escape through rhythms in search of peace and wisdom
Raps are smoke signals letting the streets know I'm with 'em
For now I appreciate this moment in time
Ball players and actors be knowing my rhymes, it's like

You know, yes you know
And you know, yes you know
Hey, hey
And you know, yes you know
And you know, yes you know
And you know, yes you know
Hey, hey
And you know, yes you know

I am reading an article about tax cuts. It is not a current article and before I launch tonight's issues I want to finish reading this historical document.

I want to get it right so we all know where we stand.

Later.

Thank you.

I can never understand why President Obama's approval rating is hideously low.

He has worked diligently at providing a platform for so very many Democratic values. What good are values if they can't be expressed within society and government. 

We have a health care system that did not destroy insurance companies, but, gave them a place in the USA's culture.

We have a President that says the worlds global warming and climate crisis with an EPA changing the face of our country to end greenhouse gas pollution.

President Obama popular with environmentalists or not has provided an energy independent country.

The first first act as President saw the coarse correction for woman in the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay act.

He has brought our military out of Iraq without returning our soldiers, but, instead building a strong alliance between countries in the region. Their failure is not ours anymore.

Osama bin Laden is dead. Does no one understand that meaning of that? Most of his henchmen are dead as well. 

The Afghan people have a government of all their choosing and there is every reason to believe their will be a unified Afghanistan and not one divided against itself.

There have been strides in non-proliferation. It is astounding there hasn't been fireworks between the USA and Russia over Ukraine. Any other administration would be loading canons and not economic treaties. 

The economy which suffered the greatest recession of our history has come back to an unemployment rate of 5.9%. I agree we have to increase the level of those resigned to never finding employment, but, the USA economy is better than we could have imagined in 2008. We made our recovery because of small businesses the President targeted when no loans were available. This recovery is not a Wall Street recover, it is a citizen's economic recovery. 

Wall Street has realized some of the highest levels of value in their history. While Wall Street bobs around it's universe seeking direction, our first woman Chair of the Federal Reserve are using words like wealth inequality. I never thought I'd hear those words from anyone at the Federal Reserve yet alone the Chairwoman.

President Obama has placed the first Hispanic minority in the Supreme Court and a woman besides. The US Supreme Court has a record number of women sitting today. 

The Obama Justice Department has moved mountains in making aware the gross injustice and remaining racism still in the USA. They have stood in defiance of a tainted police culture that permeates many of our cities. The Holder Justice Department has taken the lead in bring about awareness.

Saturday represented the two month anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, shot down in the street of Ferguson by police officer Darren Wilson.

I don't remember one week that has gone by when I thought, Obama is really some kind of President isn't he and yet his favorable ratings never reflected. 

Today in the USA, the electorate or at least the polled people in the country react in measuring the President's favorable ratings by the negative universe of the RNC. When the Affordable Care Act passed it was frowned upon as people didn't know the impact on their lives, but, today they do. The reach of that law has been incredible and is changing health care and budgets of hospital systems across the country. I would think if nothing else a President that has saved the lives of Americans while rolling back the danger in health care would receive a 100 percent rating at the very least. The rest of his accomplishments can only be 110 percent or 120 percent or 130 percent.

I am proud of my President and I don't appreciate the lack of express of his incredible administration by so many in the country. War and fear is all anyone understands as an American anymore? Well. Then there won't be favorable ratings for a President that not only avoid wars, but, empowers countries to defend themselves.

It is amusing to realize generations of Americans honestly don't know and can't appreciate peace.

Ron Klain is a welcome face at the White House. I guess an emergency was required to bring him back.

I am quite sure President Obama is relieved to have a capable person take over the day to day management of this national emergency. It is still best if Mr. Klain had a US Surgeon General at the other end of a phone. I thank Mr. Klain for accepting this difficult position.

President Obama meets with Cynthia Hogan, Counsel to the Vice-President and Ron Klain, Chief of Staff to the Vice President in the Oval Office, May 21, 2009. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza) 

October 17, 2014
By David Jackson

Washington — President Obama (click here) tapped veteran government insider Ron Klain to coordinate his administration's efforts to contain the Ebola virus Friday.

Klain, a former chief of staff to Vice Presidents Joe Biden and Al Gore, is well-known by Obama and White House aides. He was selected for his management experience and contacts throughout the government, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

"He is the right person for the job," Earnest said, particularly the challenge of "integrating the interagency response."

Klain's appointment marks a swift turnabout for Obama, who until Thursday had resisted calls to appoint a single official to run the government's response to Ebola....      

Cliven's hope is yet to be elected.

If Cliven wants to meet with AG Holder I am sure he'd be happy to arrange a meeting if he is accompanied by his lawyer.

The black man in the ad might bring some class to the congressional district. But, if I am reading the signs right when a white horse lifts it's tail along side a black cowboy it is a bad omen. No one can make up this stuff.

Perry seems to aspire to follow in "W"'s footsteps. He was "W"'s Lt. Governor. Sort of explains things.

The Islamic State has Ebola? We have that on record from them? Problem solved.

There is no autoclave in West Africa.

20 September, 2014

by Mark Doyle

...In West Africa (click here) the normal thing to do would be to stop, reach out one hand, or even two, shake warmly and then embrace.

This is followed by much backslapping, more handshaking on points of agreement and even the odd high five.

It's what children do, it's what men do, it's what elderly ladies do.

Well, not any more. Ebola is spread by contact with bodily fluids, so these days people shun contact with others - including handshakes....

...President Johnson Sirleaf had earlier said the disease was damaging Liberians' way of life. One thing she was surely referring to was the unusual Liberian handshake....

A.B.C. - Avoid Body Contact

The Ebola Handshake has several difference styles, but, it is a very effective way of putting this dangerous virus into a social environment. I love it. Congratulations.

This storm has reached category 4 hurricane status twice.

October 17, 2014

Hurricane Gonzalo (click here) barreled toward Bermuda on Friday, with forecasters warning of significant damage ahead and life-threatening storm surge. The National Hurricane Center said the eye of Gonzalo — currently packing Category 3 winds of 125 mph — will near the island Friday afternoon. "Gonzalo is expected to be a dangerous hurricane when it moves near Bermuda," according to the National Hurricane Center, which said the storm was moving north-northeastward and is expected to gain speed through Saturday....

The first time it reached category four status was on October 15, 2014 at 3PM with winds at 115 knots (132.5 mph) and a central pressure of 949. It sustained this status for six hours and then down graded to a category 3 for 12 hours with winds of 105 to 110 knots (121 - 126.7 mph) with a consistent central pressure of 953 millibars of pressure.

The second category 4 status was achieved the lowest central pressure 940 mbar or hPa which ever one prefers. The Cat 4 status sustained then for 27 hours with maximum sustained winds of 125 knots (144 mph). The storm is expected to hit Bermuda directly and cause damage. 

This is not an unusual event for Bermuda having sustained these storms since 1874 (click here). Of all these storms more than 16 percent were major hurricanes. In recent years 2003 was Hurricane Fabian with sustained winds of 104 knots (120 mph).

October 17, 2014
1630.19z
Unisys Goes East Water Vapor Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)

I think anyone can discern the hurricane and the little red dot that is Bermuda.

The safety of Americans are already compromised do to lack of governance.

A travel ban won't work. Will a refugee stop seeking refuge? A travel ban will only encourage circumventing the ports of entry to the USA.

Right now the traveler is better off being caught having an infection than to go it alone and hope to make it to an emergency room on their own disregarding any safety or monitoring along the way.

What occurred with Mr. Duncan is exactly what this country should not want. At either end of the monitoring, the potential patient will be found and provided monitoring and treatment. That is the only method whereby a person who may be ill knowingly or not will be found before they spread the disease.

Americans in West Africa has a right to come home. This disease may have been stemmed completely if there was sufficient funding for research. The Republican priorities are completely backward. A country with means does not abandon research and it does not create danger for its own citizens by turning sane people into fugitives from a travel ban. Republican priorities are dangerous and completely disregard the public when dismissing the importance of governance and policy.

Eboli is not the avian flu.

October 17, 2014
By Daniel M. Keller

PHILADELPHIA — A vaccine (click here) containing small amounts of influenza H7N9 antigen elicited good immune responses when mixed with a common adjuvant, according to the results of a new study.

"The H7 hemagglutinin is a very poor antigen," said Mark Mulligan, MD, director of the Hope Clinic of the Emory Vaccine Center and professor of medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. "We know that from earlier H7 containing subtype vaccines that there is very little immune response to the protein alone."

Speaking here at IDWeek 2014, Dr Mulligan reported that two doses of 45 μg of hemagglutinin antigen raised antibody titers only minimally, but when mixed with MF59 adjuvant, doses as low as 3.75 μg were very effective. The technique may be valuable during pandemics, when vaccine antigen is in short supply, and may help raise antibodies to poorly immunogenic antigens.

The study was also published in the October 8 issue of JAMA....

Any person is most likely to seek out government authority for help when there are no penalties to do so. Not only will they seek government authority and/or hospitals when they are infected, but, citizens within the USA are also willing to come forward without reservations to their treatment. 

The emergency rooms today around the country where people believe they have been exposed for whatever reasons they believe that are coming in fairly large numbers to be checked. It is important open doors continue to receive information. If this virus gets out of control the entire character of the country will change. Monitoring those that might be infected provides information to the public that proves tracing people and monitoring them works. Not only does it work, but, treatment appears to be successful.

The blame game is going to continue? Really? Then there is only one place to put it and that is on Congress.

The Surgeon General reports to the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH), who may be a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service, Commissioned Corps (PHSCC), and who serves as the principal adviser to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on public health and scientific issues.

Rand Paul is going to be losing supporters, even among Libertarians. He is becoming too extreme and backing candidates that fill the description of extreme. He says Dr. Murthy is primarily a political animal and that is life.

It is very strange to have a man who is an optomologist state another health care professional is a political animal. Hello?

October 16, 2014

...Rear Admiral Boris Lushniak (click here) has been acting surgeon general since Regina Benjamin’s resignation in July 2013.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) put a hold on Murthy’s nomination in February, noting “the majority of Dr. Murthy’s non-clinical experience is in political advocacy.”

“Historically, the Surgeon General of the United States has been a position with the purpose of educating Americans so that they may lead healthier lives, rather than advancing a political agenda,” Paul wrote at the time to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “Dr. Murthy has disqualified himself from being Surgeon General because of his intent to use that position to launch an attack on Americans’ right to own a firearm under the guise of a public health and safety campaign.”...

There needs to be criminal penalties for assaulting the sovereignty of the USA.

There is only one thing I think of other than friends when it comes to South Carolina and that is the iconic Palmetto Palm Tree. 

This is outrageous behavior by a Governor obviously pandering to racists for votes.

There needs to be criminal charges for desecrating the image of the USA by displaying and holding fond, especially by an elected official, the confederate flag. The confederate flag is an indication people still hold the ideas of the past dear seeking to adhere to them. It is an assault again the country. 

October 17, 2014 Nikki Haley (click here) has come under fire for declaring the confederate flag above the South Carolina statehouse a non-issue because no CEO has mentioned it. Haley, the incumbent Republican governor of South Carolina, said the line in a debate with gubernatorial candidate Democrat Vincent Sheheen.

The South Carolina flag controversy has existed for sometime. The confederate flag was originally placed on the main dome of the statehouse until a heated debate after the 2000 presidential race created a compromise. A monument was created for the soldiers who died for the South in the civil war and the flag was moved to the top of that monument, where it still flies today.

The confederate flag remains an issue for Nikki Haley’s opponent Sheheen, who has called for the flag to be taken down all together.

Saying in the Tuesday debate, “I think the people of South Carolina are tired of having an image across America that’s not truly who we are. We should rally together under a flag that unites us all, the American flag, that looks toward the future, and not the past.”...

I am very happy for Nina. Dallas did a great job with her recovery.

October 17, 2014

The first nurse (click here) to test positive for the Ebola virus arrived in Maryland Thursday evening on a chartered flight from Dallas, bound for treatment at a federal hospital outside Washington, D.C.,Nina Pham, saying "I'm doing really well,'' left Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in an ambulance for a chartered small jet waiting at the city's Love Field. The plane departed at 7:09 p.m. CT and arrived at an airport at Frederick, Md., less than three hours later....

I think it makes a great deal of difference if an individual contracts the virus when they are healthy and early to begin recovery. 

:But, I didn't have trip insurance." Everyone's got their priorities.

Oct. 15, 2014
WASHINGTON -- Obama administration officials (click here) said Friday that a Dallas health care worker who handled a lab specimen from an Ebola-infected man from Liberia who died of the disease was on a Caribbean cruise ship where she has self-quarantined and was being monitored for any signs of infection.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement that the woman had shown no signs of the disease and had been asymptomatic for 19 days.

The government was working to return the woman and her husband to the U.S. before the ship completes its cruise. The White House said the State Department was working with an unidentified country to secure their transportation home....

"I'm goin' on this cruise if it kills me."

"Ya only go around once, ya know."

"What goes around comes around."

Only in America are people with money this stupid.

"But, I wasn't thinking." 

Okay, then.

I sincerely can't imagine having the pursue gingerly knock on my stateroom door saying, "The Secretary of State of the USA is really upset right now." 

Depending on who one talks to there are either a total of nine or ten top tier infection control beds in the USA.

Currently that is all that is necessary, but, if there was a need for more I am confident the USA could gear up for it. 

The first thing to remember is these bio-containment units existed before Ebola came to the USA. One might want to ask why they existed in the first place and how long ago.

...The NIH released a statement, (click here) saying, "The NIH Clinical Center's Special Clinical Studies Unit is specifically designed to provide high-level isolation capabilities and is staffed by infectious diseases and critical care specialists. The unit staff is trained in strict infection control practices optimized to prevent spread of potentially transmissible agents such as Ebola. No additional details about the patient are being shared at this time. NIH is taking every precaution to ensure the safety of NIH patients, staff, and the public."...

This is going to sound strange, but, remember when the astronauts came back from space? Right? They were bio-contained for a short while before returning to circulation among others. Bio-containment units are built to contain any dangerous microbs from circulation among human beings.

I'll say this much, the health care workers need to be healthy in case others aren't. If your health care workers go down, there is less capacity to be cared for. 

Also remember there are survivors of Ebola in West Africa. West Africa does not have bio-containment units, best to my knowledge. 

Also remember when SARS struck China it was very successful in limiting the spread of that disease. 

Medical professionals are just that good, but, they have to have the equipment, even freelancing with duct tape, to protect themselves from infection.

Equipment is the need and one of the failures in West Africa and the reason for it spreading so quickly is because the population is different than that of the USA and the governments are locked in political turmoil while supplies languish in airport cargo areas or worse. I would not doubt the equipment was sold in an underground market even though one has to understand how to use it. The equipment doesn't come with instructions.

In the USA nearly every hospital have negative pressure rooms. Where to do the microbs go? Good question. Very good question.

I was looking for a picture of something called a "Micron-machine."......Here it is.

Mobile Negative Pressure Isolation Rooms TB Tuberculosis (click here)

There is an average of one or two in every major trauma center. That is the usual requirement for the population that utilize any major trauma center. These little guys sort of remind me of R2D2 and they suck in air  to create negative pressure while purifying the air of TB microbs.

I don't know if they can be used for Ebola, but, I am sure there are plenty of questions being asked right now. I would feel better though if the USA actually had a Surgeon General.

If these negative pressure machines can't filter for Ebola, which I don't know why they couldn't, there are probably changes that can be made to them to 'make it so.'

The point is the USA has a lot of stuff, some probably in the basement of the NIH that can be used in case of a wider outbreak. Don't sell the country short, however, the USA does need leadership and not simply Congressmen/women to lazy to tell their constituents "We are doing everything that can be done and instituting a travel ban is not indicated as the best path for this problem."

It just amazed me to hear Republican lawmakers kiss the ass of their constituency and then pass it along as legitimate questions to those at the CDC and otherwise. The Republicans scare me more than usual. While they are always willing to jump into war no matter the reason, to realize they pander that intently to constituents that have the IQ of a fly is WORSE than Ebola.

I have said over and over, DO NOT POLITICIZE THIS VIRUS. I mean it. And if every Republican is going to be as much as an ass as I witnessed today they need to be thrown out on their butts while President Obama writes Executive Orders. Republicans are dangerous because they DO NOT ACCEPT expertise. They know what is best and the hell with the rest of the world. Well, that won't wash this time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To Fly or Not To Fly should not be answered by a potential patient of Ebola.

The CDC should have control of listing and delisting people possibly infected by Ebola.

"CDC No Fly List" 

The list should be available to the airlines no different than the current No Fly List.

It should be at least a 21 day quarantine list. That is what the CDC No Fly List would be. It automatically drops a person's name after 21 days. There is nothing saying a person's name would not reappear if they have been determined to have a second or third, etc. exposure.

The idea is to create a 21 day quarantine for anyone that has been exposed and is being monitored for fever.

There is the possibility a person's name may appear more than once on the list as the 21 days timeline might expire for a single exposure but they were exposed more than once. So, the last exposure would dictate the date a person's name would fall off the list.

Just because a person's name might appear more than once or a second or third time really is not definitive to infection, simply occurrences of exposure.