The reality of tomorrow will be here soon enough. Currently 12 dead is what I've heard.

November 21, 2014

By Jeff  Z. Klein 

Buffalo — Highways were (click here) reopened and more snow-clearing workers and equipment reached western New York on Friday as the heavy storms that buried parts of the Buffalo region this week finally relented.

But many residents remained trapped in their homes, and anxieties abounded about roof collapses, dwindling supplies and the prospect of flooding with temperatures expected to rise well above freezing early next week.

“We have gone through the worst in terms of snowfall, and now we will go about snow removal,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said at a news conference in Cheektowaga, N.Y., one of the towns hardest hit by the storms that began on Monday night.

Mr. Cuomo addressed concerns about flooding....

Waiting for 'it to melt' is not really a good strategy. Evacuations before and in the early hours of the storm would have been a better idea. 

Safe zones in towns where municipal equipment can maintain safety for people how took shelter from the storm. It just seems to me high schools can be a good place to take shelter. They are large, have heat, parking lots and cafeterias.

I would expect animals, especially any pets, caught in the storm could be found as well. 

Immigration reform

There is no valid complaint against President Obama and any of his executive orders. 

President Obama is finishing his sixth year in office. His executive order has called for a pause in deportations of primarily families that has a history of five years. That means his administration is only responsible for any undocumented workers for one year of his presidency. Not only that, but, border security is better during his administration, he has achieved record deportations, he has decreased the numbers crossing the USA border and when it came to the children running for their lives because of drug cartels they were returned home. The USA even registered a visit from the First Lady of Honduras to identify her country's children and secure their return.

There is no case against President Obama. The graph above illustrates the mess he inherited. I think he's come a long way in his administration compared to the previous administration.

Again, the only undocumented workers in the USA given relief from this executive order have been in the USA for five years, hardly a reason for any more to come here.

It was also the First Lady of Guatemala, too.

July 30, 2014

The first lady of Guatemala (click here) has visited the Nogales facility where hundreds of child migrants from mostly Central American countries are being held.

The Arizona Daily Star reports that Rosa Leal de Pérez also visited Tucson's Greyhound bus station where many women and children suspected of crossing the U.S. border illegally are dropped off by immigration officials. The families are expected to report back to authorities within 15 days.

Leal de Pérez said she wanted to see the conditions in which children are being held. She also visited a new shelter set to open soon in Tucson.

U.S. border agents have seen a large spike in the number of unaccompanied children from Central American countries crossing the border illegally. Many of the children cross into Texas and are flown to Arizona to be processed here.

The arrival of the children across our southern border was and is a humanitarian crisis. The USA rises to the occasion of such an emergency, unlike those in the Republican party that can't seem to ADJUST to reality as it happens.

An America committed to children is a good and decent place. It is just a shame those most anxious to condemn decency and strong alliances with other nations can't get their own act together at home.

January 16, 2014
By Charles J. Dean

Two nights ago (click here) in his State of the State address to legislators Gov. Robert Bentley said this:

"Everyone in this room knows Alabama is one of the poorest states in America, where one in four children live in poverty. Nearly one million of our fellow Alabamians are dependent on Food Stamps."...

At least they aren't recruited for child soldiers or made to work in mines or experiencing death from drug cartels, but, then poverty falls in close behind any of those insults to childhood.

It occurred to me the Republican Party probably objects to minimum wage for the very same reason they want a border fence.

Ferguson, Missouri

I anticipate justice. There is no plausible reason for the death of an 18 year old unarmed black man. There just isn't. If there is not justice then the grand jury is as indoctrinated into 'the evil black man syndrome' as the police department.

That said, I expect the grand jury to uphold the justification for using overwhelming force.

To Mr. Michael Brown, Senior I thank him for his dedication and willingness to be spokesman for his son to the rest of the world. I encourage him to continue his steadfast belief in his son and his words of peace. I encourage him that considering there may be an expression of violence regardless of the outcome of the grand jury. 

The reason for such expression of violence is to realize how very threatened young black men feel in the USA. They can't seem to get away from this prescribed violence against them assigned by the racism that remains in the USA. If violence occurs, which I am hoping it will not, Michael Brown, Junior's reality is simply profoundly felt. 

I have no kind words for racism and those that practice it and adhere to it. It is still there. What reveals in any violence is the fact it is still there in an insidious way that young black men can't control regardless of how upstanding a citizen they are. We have seen it repeated over and over in the USA. And it is institutionalized. Police are a vital part of any government and to realize young black men are not safe within their own understanding of life is definitely an institutionalized hatred. The police get it from somewhere. Either police culture universally known through the country or by standards and training. Either way it is bad news for the country.

I believe Michael Brown Senior is correct in asking for peace regardless of the outcome of the grand jury. I trust him with preserving his son's legacy. I trust him with the calling for peaceful protests.

There is hope for peace and civility in the USA.

While this finding doesn't surprise me, I remind there was an original investigation among very distinguished people that allayed all concerns regarding the attacks in Benghazi. I hope this puts to rest all the insults of the Obama administration ever leveled at them.

I will say this in criticism of our media. FOX drove most of the lies and hate the country experienced. Do we have to go down the road of hate every time the USA has problems? The media should do better policing of it's own. The prime reason this incident in Libya has dragged on for years is because the right wing media had to drag then Secretary Clinton through the mud. It is time the right wing put away their pitchforks and learn to be Americans.

There exists still yet another House Select Committee convened in May. It is time to end the use of government funds for political purposes. This House Intelligence Committee was the SEVENTH investigation into the tragedy we all suffered with Benghazi. This is ridiculous. The House Select Committee is the EIGHTH investigation.

November 21, 2014
By Ken Dilanian

WASHINGTON (AP) — A two-year investigation (click here) by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees.

Debunking a series of persistent allegations hinting at dark conspiracies, the investigation of the politically charged incident determined that there was no intelligence failure, no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, no missed opportunity for a military rescue, and no evidence the CIA was covertly shipping arms from Libya to Syria.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, intelligence about who carried it out and why was contradictory, the report found. That led Susan Rice, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to inaccurately assert that the attack had evolved from a protest, when in fact there had been no protest. But it was intelligence analysts, not political appointees, who made the wrong call, the committee found. The report did not conclude that Rice or any other government official acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people....

"...as I warned the President..."

Boner took the presidency hostage in his warnings. So, let me see if I get this right. The Republicans in the House and Senate are threatening the country now that they won't pass legislation. Fine, we didn't want them to anyway."

They don't need to mess up the country more than they already did. There is nothing the President did wrong. He executed changes in laws needed to have the USA function. 

The American people don't want anyone to work together if they are incapable of governing. Over and over the Republicans have proven they can't govern. Their best political strategy for the Republicans is do nothing. Everyone gotten what they paid for. There is not a Republican in the House or Senate that wasn't purchased by Wall Street and the petroleum industry, Koch Brothers included.

The important issues are being handled by referendum. We don't need Congress. Between referendums and the President we are doing just fine.

The dangers of the climate crisis is more than snow.

November 20, 2014
By Rebecca Kreston

...According to the latest research (click here) presented this month at the annual gathering of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, rates of Chagas infection among Americans are on the rise and are presenting a growing yet unappreciated public health threat to the United States.

Researchers at Baylor University presented the results of a study of the emergence of Chagas disease in Texas which demonstrate not only a surprisingly high incidence of the parasite in the state of Texas, but also showing elevated rates of associated heart disease in afflicted individuals. The researchers found that one in every 6,500 blood donors in Texas tested positive for the parasite, a finding that grossly undermines the CDC’s national estimate that one in every 300,000 people may be infected with Chagas in this country....

The parasite was once confined to tropical regions of the world, but, with warming occurring, it's habitat is moving northward. It is adapting to new plants and animals vectors while the temperatures remain friendly.

Chagas disease, (click here) also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a potentially life-threatening illness caused by the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi). It is found mainly in endemic areas of 21 Latin American countries , where it is mostly vector-borne transmitted to humans by contact with faeces of triatomine bugs, known as 'kissing bugs', among other names, depending on the geographical area....

Toronto Giant Panda can't enough of the snow. Takes snack of bamboo with him.

Fighting the climate crisis has become very expensive.

20 November 2014

...The UK's contribution (click here) will come from the £3.87bn budget set aside in the aid budget from 2011-2016 for helping poor countries get clean energy and adapt to climate change.

In Bangladesh for example, British cash is helping landless people living in precarious temporary sandbanks that appear for a few years in the middle of rivers.

The cash pays them to build their homes on earth platforms so their possessions are safe from flooding which is expected to get worse with climate change.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has been under pressure from critics who say the UK should spend the money helping combat the effects of extreme weather at home.

The fund was agreed because developed nations have caused the majority of global warming so far - and their CO2 emissions stay in the atmosphere for 100 years. Poor countries asked for help to adapt to climate change they have not caused.

But as greenhouse gas emissions are a global problem, rich nations acknowledge a degree of self-interest in helping developing countries to invest in clean technology....

There is no way to secure the internet.

The only thing to end invasive activities are 'secure codes.' Secure codes can be overcome time and again. Eventually, secure codes will become so long it will require a large portion of any computer memory or hard drive the computer itself will be worthless.

The USA government needs to return to a paper system and FAX machines that are not digitally connected. Returning to old methods of securing information and communication will soon be state of the art.

November 21, 2014
By Terrance McCoy

In a dark corner (click here) of the Internet, a profound violation of privacy is quietly unfolding unbeknownst to thousands of victims. A Russian-based Web site allows its users to silently flip through hundreds of lives, observe for as long they’d like, and depart for the next living room, the next gym, the next child’s bedroom. There, through the grainy lens of a hacked webcam, you’ll find a New Jersey infant sleeping in a crib, the image of an Iowa high school hallway or an Illinois convenience store clerk....

Lies matter in the USA. Lies are powerful enough to end democracy and it's practice.

The United States government is an embarrassment, but, as long as the politics works to put Republicans into office when they don't belong there it will continue.

...Snow-removal continues (click here) at Ralph Wilson Stadium, where citizens are being paid $10 an hour and getting tickets to shovel out 220,000 tons of snow. Cuomo called those efforts “impractical” and questioned whether the 1 p.m. game should be played Sunday.

As of Thursday morning,  the game was still on for 1 p.m., with the final decision whether to play or where to play resting with the NFL. Bills’ practice again was canceled, another complicating factor as the NFL weighs just what to do about this game. By early afternoon, Pro Football Talk was reporting that possible site options include Detroit, Toronto and New Jersey....

The hideousness of it all. The biggest concern coming out of Buffalo, New York is whether or not the citizens in Ralph Wilson Stadium will get the field shoveled out in time for the football game.

So long as the American media continues to quote Republicans and give them center stage nothing will be done in the USA capitol. The climate crisis is devastating across the country and the biggest problems the Republicans face today is whether or not they can find enough head wind to falsely accuse and impeach the President. This is an international disgrace. I haven't decided what national embarrassment is worse, the return of the Cold War, Great Britain's pandering for dollars or the USA and the climate crisis.

Did I say the NSA was worthless? It is. The NSA is actually asking 'pretty please' don't attack us anymore.

NSA chief warns Chinese cyber attacks could shut U.S. infrastructure (click here) 3:30 am --  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China and "probably one or two" other countries have the ability to invade and possibly shut down computer systems of U.S. power utilities, aviation networks and financial companies, Admiral Mike Rogers, the director of the U.S. National Security Agency, said on Thursday. Testifying to the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on cyber threats, Rogers said digital attackers have been able to penetrate such systems and perform "reconnaissance" missions to determine how the networks are put together. "What concerns us is that access, that capability, can be used by nation-states, groups or individuals to take down that capability," he said. Rogers said China was one of the countries with that capability, but that there were others.... Did I say the government should not be relying completely on computer capacity for any reason? It shouldn't. There is no such thing as a secure computer. And what is Congress doing today? Making hate filled statements to run their political game on the country's dime.

There can be no work place fairness if employees have no redress of grievances.

Undocumented workers (click here) are among the most vulnerable and exploited workers in our country, as frequent victims of unpaid wages, dangerous conditions and uncompensated workplace injuries, discrimination, and other labor law violations. Workers who attempt to remedy the abuse routinely face physical and immigration-related threats and retaliation....

Welcoming the stranger among us means far more than anyone realizes. When people come out of the shadows of fear, oppression is relieved and we all have a safer and moral life to live. 

...In New York and 27 other states, (click here) court challenges have established that undocumented workers are entitled to workers’ compensation – typically the reimbursement of medical expenses and a cash benefit covering a percentage of lost wages –  just as any other workers are entitled to such compensation.

Many immigrant workers are unaware of these protections and advocacy groups have worked assiduously to inform them of their rights. Nonetheless, despite education campaigns, undocumented workers who are injured on the job are reluctant to confront their employers and press their claims. Fausta and others like him who have fought for compensation and won are in a distinct minority.

Fearful of retaliation, job loss, and deportation, undocumented workers keep quiet about their health and deal with injuries as best they can. Many work as day laborers on jobs that are inherently dangerous – roofing, carpentry, masonry, landscaping, window washing and the like. Even car washing, as Fausta’s case shows, can lead to serious injury.

While some workers in low-wage jobs are citizens, many are not. They are often paid in cash, and kept “off the books. ” Some employers won’t offer these undocumented workers a health plan or create any kind of safety net should they be injured....

When low wage workers receive recognition of their rights as human beings we are all safer.

November 20, 2014
By Alan Constantini

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. – One of those (click here) most interested in President Obama's speech on immigration was undocumented worker Miguel. He and his wife work in the Twin Cities and have lived here for 30 years, but are not here legally under the law.

Miguel told KARE 11 that he has been living in fear of deportation because of his three children, Miguel, 5, Francesco, 2, and Esperanza, 1. The children were born here and are American citizens, but Miguel and his wife are from Mexico.

"I am hoping that President Obama give us our relief," said Miguel. "This is really just a step to go to immigration reform."

Minneapolis business immigration law attorney Sarah Stensrud consulted with the Obama White House in Washington, D.C. last week. She said stopping the deportations of people like Miguel is good for business...

W E L C O M E !!!!!!

From the "King and I," enjoy...."...we'll do it again."

Why would Republicans want to degrade education in the USA? Votes because of Common Core or is it more?

If it is votes, there is no valid reason to have those policies. There are very few counties in the country that have exactly the skilled labor they need. The reason stunting the growth of higher education makes sense with Republicans is it serves as a dog whistle for their voters.

This is really bad news. I know for a fact The Cameron School of Business on the UNCW campus turns out excellent prospects for employees in the finances industry. I know young women (I am sure their aspirations include someday to replace Chairwoman Yellen.) that currently work with Wall Street firms and have been there since their graduation with a one year paid internship. That is great news, isn't it? They are not burdened with loans they can't pay.

Just as a note: One of the young ladies had lost her mother to breast cancer going into her final year in UNDERGRADUATE work. She was supported by the fact her mother wanted her to graduate and find a good way of making a living. She came through for Mom. These students are great people. They need to have the chance to learn. This generation has been hurt by so many years of Republican dogma changing good policy into junk.

But, the Republican governance of NC is diminishing funding for education across the board including universities. It is the private schools and universities they favor. They favor these schools for political reasons, including cronyism. It has nothing to do with improving education. These educational programs in private schools or charter schools don't have a great record to date and they've been in existence since "W." Currently in NC school teachers are conducting their classes without books, supplies (unless students bring their own) and teaching assistants in classrooms where they have proven to be needed.

The country is in trouble and the next two years will bring about more trouble considering the US House and Senate have Republican majorities. 

What occurs anymore with voters that vote according to dog whistles, is that they demand the work be done they voted for. All those extreme agendas such as personhood and defunding public education become priorities to re-election. With majorities in the US House and Senate, the country is going to have a lot of problems by 2016 if their legislation actually makes it into law. It is going to be a very long and ruthless two years the way I see it.

Republicans talk a good story, but, they lie like rugs.

November 20, 2014
Fewer than 1 in 3 states (click here) – California among them – has a strong enough supply of skilled workers to match intense demand for their services, according to a new report about the growing skills gap....

...Between 2006 and 2012, some areas have made great strides – specifically Alabama and Washington, D.C., in the supply of skilled workers and Alaska and Montana in the demand for such employees.

But OECD researchers said many barriers remain to encouraging businesses and workers to seek higher skills and connecting them when they do.

Even in California, the skills gap is threatening economic growth. More than half of companies surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management said they have struggled to recruit candidates for open positions, particularly for higher-wage jobs....

Great Britain is asking for Crowd Funding for their space mission program. That's a new one.

I don't think this is in lieu of paying taxes. First austerity which impoverished people throughout the UK and while they are seeking ways of making a living through crowd funding, the government is going to interfere with that as well adding their own priorities to a global community. Amazing.

Next thing the world will know is that Great Britain is asking for donations for it's Treasury with a brick of recognition at a palace of your choice.

Donate and receive a tax credit.

The Republicans in the US House can take example and pay for the government with global crowd funding when they close it down for days on end. That should make every Republican happy. They keep all the money and make everyone else pay for things like infrastructure and social programs that feed people. Crowd funding for government. I don't think so.

November 18, 2014
By Pallab Ghosh
A British-led consortium has outlined its plans to land a robotic probe on the Moon in 10 years' time. (click here)

Its aim is to raise £500m for the project from donations by the public.

In return, donors would be able to have photos, text and their DNA included in a time capsule which will be buried under the lunar surface.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

The project's long term legacy will be a new way of funding space exploration”

David IronFounder, Lunar Missions Ltd

Lunar Mission One aims to survey the Moon's south pole to see if a human base can be set up in the future.

The plan has received the endorsement of a host of well-known scientists and organisations. These include Prof Brian Cox, the Astronomer Royal Lord Rees, and Prof Monica Grady of the Open University.

David Iron, who is leading the project, said he was setting up the initiative because governments were increasingly finding it difficult to fund space missions.

"Anyone in the world will be able to get involved for as little as just a few pounds. Lunar Mission One will make a huge contribution to our understanding of the origins of our planet and the Moon," he said....

It is all brainwashing for political reasons, not the truth.

This is an automated truck in Australia at an iron mine. The color has a red hue to it and gives away the fact there is a lot of iron in the soil.

But, when miners want to complain that the US government is destroying their livelihoods, they need to stop and realize what exactly is changing their way of life. Not the government, not the EPA; it is Wall Street destroying their jobs.

Robots may hold the key (click here for video) to preventing an industrial crisis in a country whose geography makes many key jobs undesirable.

I knew Australia was big, but it didn't really hit me till I stood on a viewing platform hanging over a valley in the Blue Mountains.

As I watched the land fall away below me, giving way to a valley of forest that stretched to the horizon, I could feel thousands of miles of silence sucking me in like a vacuum.

Part of Australia's beauty is also its problem. Its untamed, uninhabited interior contains rich pickings, but there are few who want to go and get them.

"We have a labour shortage in the areas we want them, in agriculture, mining, and other primary industries," Sydney University's professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems Salah Sukkarieh told me....

"Most of the population likes living along the coastline, along the beach," he says....

As a matter of fact, the Obama Administration in it's first term in office, sought to close the mountain top mines because of their destructive results to the environment and water quality to nearby towns. What occurred instead of miners looking for work, was a return to work of miners to work in 'in the ground mines.' So don't blame the Democrats for killing jobs, it is quite honestly the polar opposite, because, Republicans strive for higher profits and kills labor and the minimum wage. Americans need to grow up. 

In the real world rather than the political universe most Americans seem to live in today, mountain top mining destroys a work force of miners and reduces it to less than one eighth.

The facts in the real world is that Republicans destroy jobs. They hate labor unions, the Middle Class is a burden until elections roll around and they completely oppose the minimum wage. So, people need to stop hating Democrats because it is they and their current President that have worked the hardest at restoring the economy and good paying jobs.

The Republicans can be understood best when realizing the US House has refused to write an immigration bill or pass the Senate bill on immigration. The Republicans have REFUSED to pass immigration legislation since Reagan, so don't even try it anymore.

August 7, 2014
By Erica Peterson

...Kentucky coal employment (click here) hit its peak—about 75,000 miners—in 1949. Then employment started dropping, bottoming out in 1966, when there were 19,313 coal miners in Kentucky. It picked up again, but unfortunately for Kentucky’s coal industry, the overwhelming employment trend has been downward since about 1979.

This was before the Environmental Protection Agency—under Obama—announced plans to make coal-fired power plants restrict mercury and carbon dioxide emissions. It was also before the EPA began scrutinizing surface mining permits and before the Mine Safety and Health Administration began conducting enhanced coal mine inspections to check for safety violations.

The fluctuations in natural resources-based economies are complicated, and are based on a variety of factors. It may be politically convenient for McConnell and other politicians to focus only on the past decade of Kentucky coal employment, but doing so misses the big picture....

New York City and NORAD have a problem.

September 25, 2011
The NYPD began fitting police helicopters (click here) with heavy machine guns to shoot down terrorist airplanes about five years ago, after intelligence surfaced that al-Qaida was considering the use of crop dusters and other small craft for attacks, a senior city law enforcement official said Monday.
But while police officers have been trained to use helicopter-mounted .50-caliber machine guns against light planes, there was no intention to take down commercial passenger jets with such weaponry, said the official, who asked not to be identified....

There have been regular reports of drone helicopters interfering with the flight path of commercial aviation. These drones sound very similar to the fly overs of France's nuclear power plants. I don't really believe in coincidence, until it is absolutely known as coincidence.

December 30, 2013

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Aviation Administration (click here) selected Central New York today as one of six national test sites where researchers will figure out how to integrate drone aircraft into the national air space.

NUAIR, an alliance of more than 40 public, private and academic organizations in New York and Massachusetts, was named by the FAA to operate the only Northeast test site, according to the office of U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer.

NUAIR beat out more than 50 applicants nationwide, and had been among 25 finalists before today's decision. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta confirmed the selection in an 11 a.m. conference call....

The reported drones have been noted to be at altitudes of 3000 and 4000 feet. Helicopters can fly that high to take down any drone causing problems with commercial carriers.

August 12, 2014

Drones may soon be buzzing near Batavia. (click here)

An announcement last week that researchers will soon fly a lightweight, self-guided drone over a farm near Batavia revealed that a federally backed project to test unmanned aircraft could reach farther into western New York than originally expected.

The flight in Genesee County will be the first overseen by operators of a drone testing program based out of Griffiss International Airport in Rome, Oneida County. It's one of only six sites in the U.S. where the Federal Aviation Administration said earlier this year it will allow tests to help regulators develop rules for pilotless aircraft to share the sky with traditional planes....

These are the LEGAL use of drones know to be active in the area of NYC. Could the drones in commercial aviation air space be the testing of drones? Maybe. But, it seems to me it also could be someone who knows how to operate these drones at high altitudes. At any rate, they have become a concern now of at least three commercial pilots.

Let's not set up commercial pilots to react quickly to possible drone dangers and cause injuries to passengers.

At the very least, no one is coordinating these flights with drone flights. That will be lesson number one. 

Kindly get this right. 

Contact all the researchers involved with drones in the area and ask for THE FLIGHT LOGS of the drones and their operators. Then determine if these are the drones in question or are they drones that can actually cause harm. 

Government helicopters, more like NORAD though, can fly at 3 to 4 to 5000 feet in altitude without any trouble. A helicopter with a gun can shoot them down. No missiles please. No shooting near commercial aircraft. At the time the intercepting helicopter is in the air, it's pilot needs to be in radio contact with the airliner's pilot(s) experiencing the problem with a drone.

Thank you. Holidays are coming. Lots of people flying all over the country. It would be nice if pilots had peace of mind and passengers were safe.

Where is the apology for President Obama from Speaker Boner?

The Republicans make me laugh when those in the US House state, if we didn't legislate then there wasn't a problem.

Really?

So, then the President and his DIRECTIONS are nothing, too.

Everyone in the country knows the Republicans are out of control and completely disinterested in governing. It is obvious. Credit rating drops, chronic fights over funding the government. When it is finally funded it sinks the USA military. Now there are those that enlisted and wanted a career being told they have to leave because there isn't enough funding for them to stay. The US House rather support hideous spending on military hardware than a ready force of great men and women.

The President has clout. If the Congress can't honor that it says more about them than they would ever expect.

Oh, by the way, where is Speaker Boner's apology from his insulting tone when he stated a veto would call the American people stupid. Where is the apology?

The entire country voted President Obama into office twice. It was only a district in Ohio that send Speaker Boner to the US House. The President deserves an apology and now.

Will President Obama's Executive Order meet the challenge of suppressing moral turpitude?

...Written opinions (click here) from the federal Board of Immigration Appeals (B.I.A.) describe moral turpitude as a “nebulous concept,” and one that “refers generally to conduct that shocks the public conscience as being inherently base, vile, or depraved, contrary to the rules of morality and the duties owed between man and man, either one's fellow man or society in general.” The person committing it should have had either an “evil intent” or been acting recklessly.

This collection of words seems to point to a highly subjective determination— if the immigration official or judge thinks the crime sounds morally wrong, or perhaps mean and nasty, it’s probably a crime of moral turpitude....

Maintaining 'good character' is a requirement for immigration to the USA. To realize millions of people will be brought into the fold so to speak, they need to be aware of the fact the USA demands high moral character to obtain citizenship or even continue the right to a Green Card.

I am excited about this announcement tomorrow. I hope it all goes well.

November 17, 2014

President Barack Obama (click here) and his Republican opponents are engaged in yet another fight over his use of executive orders, but the use of this powerful presidential tool is hardly new....

...The constitutional base for the executive order is the president’s broad power to issue executive directives. According to the Congressional Research Service, there is no direct “definition of executive orders, presidential memoranda, and proclamations in the U.S. Constitution, there is, likewise, no specific provision authorizing their issuance.”...

I heard the comments by Scott Walker. He is such a joke. Quite the showman, but, no brain to match. He stated this was an issue of "Division of Powers." No clue. Does know what that means? I don't think he does. He may even be a real dolt.

Walker seems to think the Legislative Branch has a laundry list of rights to legislation and there is a much, much shorter laundry list of rights to an executive order by the President.

I don't know if I should let him wallow in his own idiocy or actually straighten out the mess.

He is right it is a separation of branches of the government, however, it means the legislature has no Executive Power and the Executive Branch has no legislative power.

The permission for Canadian tar sands in any way is a profound lack of good governance. I might add good governance that should have begun 40 or more years ago. The Democrats have to call the Republicans on their lies and manipulation. Denying a warming climate is dishonest and completely out of step with all authorities that investigate climate.

When Republicans cherry pick information supplied to the American people, it is like calling the American people gullible. In that is the fact Republicans regard political manipulation of the truth their entitlement.

When Democrats are facing such issues, they need to speak the entire truth to the American electorate. 

In the case of climate, the verdict is in on that and it cannot be treated as a political issue.

The brain trust, including any of the USA agencies, have already prepared and supplied all the information needed for the USA federal government as well as any other level of government; there is nothing to debate. The overwhelming information is conclusive. This is not a social issue. This is about the well being of the American people, their economy, the national debt and the future of generations. There isn't anything else to do and there isn't any reason to continue the politics of climate. That is finished.

The USA military has also ruled on the climate and has declared the climate to be a matter of national security. Their conclusions are proving to be very true as we have witnessed this in the Middle East with vast drought, unproductive farmlands and diminishing sources of water. 

The war in Syria and Iraq is as much about water as any religious and ethnic bigotry. The ONLY reason I state that is because the Islamic State methodically took up residence along rivers. They knew full well that drying up the sources of water would kill others. They learned that as Ba'athists under Saddam when he dried up the Shi'ite wetlands in Iraq. 

The leaders of the USA cannot over look the impact of climate on the country. In doing so it will cause more problems than it will solve and people, including children, will die.

The politics spawned by the Koch brothers is cruel because their values are ignorant to anything other than profits. If they didn't turn up at every environmental crisis, including drilling and mining, I could never make those statements. They are ignorant and the politicians that they buy through elections are corrupt. Ignorance and corruption make for disastrous decision making. The lack of moral character of those elected has to enter into any equation.

There is absolutely no proof that supports Republicans politicization of climate. There is only corruption that supports it. The American people want an economy based in corruption? I don't think so.

By the USA contributing to the problem doesn't make it go away.

FACT #4: The Alberta tar sands (click here) are holding Canada back on climate change action. Canada would be on track to reduce climate pollution over the next decade if not for the planned expansion of the tar sands industry. Instead Canadian emissions are predicted to increase.⁴

FACT #5: The toxic tailing lakes are considered one of the largest human-made structures in the world. The toxic lakes in Northern Alberta span 176 square kilometers and can be seen from space.

FACT #6: Producing a barrel of oil from the oil sands produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than a barrel of conventional oil. In 2004, oil sands production surpassed 160 000 cubic metres (one million barrels) per day; by 2015, oil sands production is expected to more than double to about 340 000 cubic metres (2.2 million barrels) per day.

Fuel sources are currently evaluated by most environmental organizations, including the EPA, within a lifetime process. Oil Sands from harvest to burning far exceeds that of other forms of energy.

What are corrosion pits?
Corrosion pits are very localized corrosion defects, or small ‘pits’ in the metal of the pipe. Pitting corrosion, unchecked, can result in a pipeline leaking. Operators have criteria to assess pits. Canadian codes require pits to be repaired when they reach 80% of the wall thickness. European codes allow up to 85%. In-lineinspection tools (known as intelligent pigs - see below) are used to detect pits and/or cracks.

What causes leaks and ruptures?
Internal corrosion, external corrosion, external intervention (for example: hit by a truck or back-hoe), soil displacement such as landslides, material defects, and system malfunctions (for example: operating over design pressure) can cause leaks and ruptures.
Based on incidents reported to the National Energy Board, the majority of leaks are related to pump stations and valves, rather than the body of the pipeline. In general, corrosion accounts for about 20% to 30% of pipeline leaks.

The United States of America have standards regarding carbon emissions. The Canadian Tar Sands vastly fails those standards regardless of how it is transported. The reason the USA will never use any of the Canadian Tar Sands is because of the high carbon ratio to the that of other fuels. That is why our land is being used a gateway to Texas refineries and exportation to the rest of the world.

The answer is, No. We don't pander to greed while allowing the climate consequences of dirty oil, including the inevitable oil spill of our farmland, prairie lands and water sources. Cherry picking particular areas of the Canadian Tar Sands oil is corruption. There is a process every drop of Canadian Tar Sands goes through and it far exceeds any CO2 allowed from CAFE standards of the USA. So, if tar sands oil were coming out of the tailpipe of American cars the outcome for the climate would be far more dangerous in accelerating degradation of the troposphere.

August 10, 2014
By Bobby McGill
...A new study (click here) published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change says the State Department may have underestimated the pipeline’s CO2 emissions by as much as four times. That’s because the consumer demand for oil will rise as new crude oil coming on the market from of Keystone XL will drive global prices down, the study says.

In other words, the more oil Keystone XL pumps, the more oil people will want to burn.

Peter Erickson and Michael Lazarus, both researchers at the Stockholm Environmental Institute, a research affiliate of Tufts University, said in their study that the State Department did not account for an increase in crude oil demand sparked by Keystone XL.

“The most important difference between our analysis and the State Department’s is that we consider the price effects of adding oil supply (in this case, Canadian oil sands) to global markets,” Erickson said via email....

Estimating jobs and emissions is not the same thing, although the Republicans would like it to be. Again, corruption for wealth.

This study validates AGAIN 'the lifetime carbon emission' of Canadian Tar Sands. The RESPONSIBILITY of the USA lies in acting morally to protect the lives of Americans in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

It is completely irresponsible to say, the USA isn't contributing to the climate crisis because Americans don't pump this processed oil into their cars. The oil is transported across the USA FACILITATING it's use.

The USA doesn't exist in isolation. This climate crisis is a global issue. The problem with any climate strategy so far in the USA has been to isolate itself from the reality and expecting the rest of the global community to compensate for Americans' abuses.

It is like having the largest and most deadly military in the world. You don't simply use it because there is a grudge against a dictator.

This article is from 2014.

...The Koch projects (click here) will extract bitumen using a non-mining technique called steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), and are in various stages of development. The projects could ultimately yield an estimated 2.9 billion barrels of “recoverable” resources and could position the buyer “to be a top tier Canadian bitumen producer,” according to an online description of the offering.

The move by Koch to sell off one of its partnerships pulls the curtain back further on the Koch family’s deep but quiet involvement in Canada’s tar sands industry. Koch Industries has had a stake going back 50 years in Canadian heavy oil through mining, pipeline development and refining. Its Pine Bend Refinery in Minnesota is now responsible for about 20 percent of the oil sands crude being piped into the United States and has played a key role in the growth of the family’s fortune. The family stands to profit further from growing U.S. reliance on tar sands imports.

The potential sale of Koch Exploration Canada comes amid a wave of deals involving oil properties and projects in Western Canada, home to the world’s third-largest proven reserves of crude oil.  The investment surge has sent billions of dollars to Alberta’s oil patch and is expected to fuel a doubling of oil production by 2020. It is being led by companies from China—though last month Kuwait’s state-owned petroleum company announced a $4 billion joint venture it hopes to close in October....

This directly links the Koch Brothers to the Canadian Tar Sands as the third largest holder of those lands to exploit them for oil. In realizing that, this also links every Republican for federal office or otherwise directly to the Canadian Tar Sands. That is called conflict of interest. I didn't notice anyone in the US House or Senate sitting out of the vote because the vote conflicts with their campaign contributions.

March 20, 2014
By Steve Mufson and Juliet Eilperin
CORRECTION: An earlier version (click here) of this piece said Koch Industries was the largest lease holder in Canada’s oil sands. On a net acreage basis the company is the largest American and foreign holder of leases in the region, but it might narrowly trail two Canadian companies overall. For more details on the top holders of oil sands leases, go here.
You might expect the biggest foreign lease owner in Canada's oil sands, or tar sands, to be one of the international oil giants, like Exxon Mobil or Royal Dutch Shell. But that isn't the case. The biggest non-Canadian lease holder in the northern Alberta oil sands is a subsidiary of Koch Industries, the privately-owned cornerstone of the fortune of conservative Koch brothers Charles and David....

This dirty oil is dirty in every sense of the word.

Why won't major oil companies purchase tar sands?

It is too expensive to process, the profit margin including capital improvements doesn't justify itself, it would reduce the price per barrel of oil, THUS, causing losses to their stockholders and possibly facing bankruptcy if the return on investment falls as expected with this processed oil. The Kochs had to go all the way to Kuwait to find investors to exploit the Canadian lands faster. That makes one third of the Koch's tar sands oil owned by Kuwait. We are back to realizing the Middle East owns most of the oil in the world following the USA.

If I were a Koch and wanted to control the world for the sake of "God's chosen people," I would seek to bankrupt all of Wall Streets competitors. If I recall, the oil barons of Texas have already complained publicly to the monopoly Koch is achieving and how it is effecting their ability to conduct business profitably. I would think the Democrats would at least be attractive enough for the major oil companies to donate to.  Oh, wait, ExxonMobile did donate to US Senator Landrieu. Lawyers far exceeded any other of the campaign donors, though.