I can't believe what I am reading or hearing in regard to the death of Osama bin Laden.

He was listed with the FBI as "Wanted Dead or Alive." 

There isn't anything else to say. 

The Navy Seals lives came first and if they felt any threat from a prolonged encounter then they had EVERY RIGHT to shoot him.  They were engaged in gunfire when they entered the building.  What?  They were suppose to ask bin Laden to 'please' come with them? 

He was a dead man walking when they encountered him.  I don't believe how self-righteous Americans can be regarding a man that had no regard for human life. 

Get over it.

The people complaining are the same crackpots that complain the Justice Department reads arrested terrorist their Miranda Rights.  Maybe that is what is missing in the Navy Seal Operation, a cop on the beat to rean bin Laden his Miranda Rights.  Right?  Or perhaps they should have waited for Mullah Omar to arrive to give bin Laden his last rights. 

What next?

I must say, I appreciate the praise Rush Limbaugh paid to President Obama.  I thought that was nice.  Very decent.  Unexpected, but, appreciated.  I listened to the entire eight minutes and could not believe what I heard.  In a rare moment, I thank him for his appreciation of President Obama.  It would be nice if we always stated issues in a civil and well prepared manner. 

As far as our young people rejoicing.  That was simply a way for them to find relief from the ten years of fear from the point of September 11, 2001.  I don't blame them at all.  I find it youthful happiness to realize what a great moment it was for our military and our President.  Their behavior is not at fault.  I hope their expression of 'relief' helped.  They were young when those attacks occurred.  Only they know the trauma of that event and its aftermath from young hearts and minds.  I'm on their side.

The downfall of the Middle East Peace Process post bin Laden death and the Arab Spring.

I believe there has been diminished support for al Qaeda in the Arab world and the two events are not linked.


Are we seeing a transformation of the Islamic community to be empowered in a way they have used violence to be heard?  That is obvious.

Will the Arab Spring result in a Peaceful Middle East?  Don't know yet and it will be an ongoing process that will have to be measured through intelligence.  I believe Israel has a right to be cautious.

When the attacks of September 11, 2001 occurred Palestine was praising the attacks.  To say the oppressed appreciated the hatred bin Laden had regarding the USA is an understatement.  Will that diminish as those without 'clout' gain a voice in government?  That is always the hope.  Will that happen?  Don't know.  If Lebanon is a 'test' of such a process, then there is hope, but, that hope comes with danger from extremists that do not see empowerment as the 'end result.'  Some in communities, such as Hamas, see only the world as perfect if it is not shared.  They are backed in their extremist view by a nation named Iran. 

Extremism never has a place in a civilized world where tolerance and 'diversity' is valued to achieve a propersous and peaceful world.  Defeating extremism is a dangerous game and that is never more so than in the Middle East.

I am not surprised Hamas has opposed the death of bin Laden, they praised him when he murdered Americans within their own borders.

 

Seems 'status quo' so far.

Tue May 3, 2011 6:13am EDT

By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to use a visit to Britain and France to portray Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's unity deal with Hamas Islamists as a blow to already dim prospects for peace.
Netanyahu is due to hold talks in London with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday and see French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Thursday.
It will be the Israeli leader's first trip abroad since the surprise announcement last week that Abbas and his long-time rival Hamas had agreed to a unity pact that envisages formation of an interim government and Palestinian elections this year.
"This is a major problem and raises all sorts of questions, and that issue will be very much on the table," an Israeli government official said on Tuesday.
"If the (Palestinians) are going for a unity government with Hamas, there's no doubt that's a step in the wrong direction -- a very negative step."...

It is simply outrageous how the Financial Markets 'play' with tragedy.

This is Moody's Price Index of Commerical Property right up to the crash of 2008.  Today Commerical Property has lost move value than Residential Property.

I mean do these people have a clue and what are we valuing them for?

...While economic costs (click title to entry - thank you) for disaster relief and reconstruction following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami are likely to be about 3 to 5 percent of Japan's gross domestic product (GDP), "there is uncertainty attached to that," Senior Vice-President Tom Byrne said on Tuesday.

"A big source of uncertainty is from the power supply situation and that has not stabilized. There could be further costs," he told Reuters in an interview in Hanoi....

Get over it !  Even a tragedy of this enormity doesn't shut down a global market.  Even the Christmas Tsunami of 2004 didn't cause large disruptions of markets in that country, if anything it increases commerce.

Though Japan appears to be set on a short-term course that includes a significant role for nuclear power, the future is geared toward a revolution in renewables, say advocates. (click here)

A protester holds a placard during an antinuclear rally in Tokyo on March 27 weeks after Japan's worst nuclear crisis began to unfold at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the northeast. The sign reads: "Don't spread radioactive substance."

Itsuo Inouye, AP

...But a growing number of Japanese are concerned about the cost of continued investment in nuclear power and are attempting to push Japan toward replacing nuclear energy with renewables....

Japan has to rethink its energy sources.  Its capacity for alternative energy is significant and given its 'logistics' on the globe it is only prudent Japan move away from CONTINUED RISK of their citizens.

Hello?

Wall Streeters are jerks.  I don't believe their is another word that best describes them.  They have a real God Complex.  Enough is never enough and where they see 'pennies' falling out of their control they go ballistic.  They should be that good and they wouldn't be crashing markets.  How many of them on a given day are snorting something or chasing tail?  I mean do they ever really FOCUS on the issues at hand or simply indulge is lavish lifestyles for the sake of it because they are so lousy at what they do they can lose it all the next day?  I mean seriously.  Moody's is not 'evaluating' anything here, they are completely shooting from the hip.

I sincerely do not believe there is much QUALITY in these folks.  They make hideous statements without fact or insight to back them up.


Geithner secures more time to break US budget stalemate (click here)

3 May 2011
Last updated at 04:59 ET

...Stalemate over the talks means the US risks defaulting on its debts because it will be unable to borrow beyond its $14.3 trillion (£8.6tn) limit.
Mr Geithner had previously said the deadline for a deal was 8 July.
But in a letter to Congress he said that better tax receipts meant the deadline could be extended to 2 August....

Thank you, Tim.  You manage to stay just the other side of the 'most dreaded financial expert' on the planet.  Secretary Geithner seems to working overtime to be sure the 'fiscal' viability of the USA remains intact in a completely hostile House of Representatives. 

The march of the Republican Governors is becoming more and more threatening to the USA Middle Class.

So, now before school lets out for the summer, teachers have to scramble to be sure their tenure is safe. Amazing. Where do these Governors want the attention of their teachers, on teaching or on their financial survival?

In Michigan it is even more bizarre.  The State Senate has this 'procedural' process called "Third Reading."  The law was to insure the legislators were reading the legislation, but, it has turned into a joke.  A bill was entered on the Michigan Senate floor yesterday to stop union strikes, it was given 'two readings' within fifteen seconds, but, the Secretary was only required to read the title twice.  Now, it is on its way to its Third Reading by first 'briefly visiting' "The Michigan Senate Reform, Restructuring and Reinvention Committee" (click here).

Scary.

The Third Read process in Michigan is broken.  It is the most bizarre thing I have ever seen.  A well intentioned law is being circumvented with every bill to expedite unwanted changes in the state before there are recall votes there as well.  I doubt the circumvention of the law is constitutional, even at a state level.  What a circus the Republicans are making of our democracy.

Teachers with no tenure by July 1 likely out of luck  (click here)

May 02, 2011

By Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel

Florida teachers who do not have tenure on July 1 will be out of luck, if Gov. Rick Scott signs a bill recently approved by state lawmakers.
The sweeping merit pay law that Scott signed in March ends tenure-like job protections for all newly hired teachers.
But some thought the new law allows teachers already "in the pipeline" to be eligible for "professional service contracts," commonly called tenure.
A separate bill finalized by lawmakers last week, however, would make it impossible for anyone who doesn't already have such a contract to get one after July 1. That means rookie and second-year teachers could not earn those contracts, which give them added job security.

Impasse in union contracts are buoyed by local school boards seeking to obstruct LAWFUL conduct by unions as mandated by the State.  The unions need to take the local school boards to court to force contractual compliance with state regulations.  This is not the unions fault, but, the local boards are playing politics to make it appear to be so and break down support by the Middle Class American for their teacher unions.  The local school boards are breaking the law, probably as mentored by Tallahassee and the Republican Governor.  Rick Scott is deliberating creating impasses to break union support.

Broward declares impasse in contract negotiations with teachers  (click title to entry - thank you)

Thursday, April 28th, 2011
Posted by Andrea FreygangFrom the Broward School Board
 After six months of negotiations to reach a mutually acceptable agreement with the Broward Teachers Union (BTU), The School Board of Broward County, Florida, has declared impasse in negotiations for the 2010/11 school year.

On April 7, 2011, the Board presented a comprehensive proposal, which gave the teachers the step increase they were seeking. The step increase (1.86%) would be retroactive to January 2011 with a $250 bonus (FRS contribution) for teachers on step 22. The District can only accomplish the step increase by asking the BTU to work with us and consider cost saving measures in order to fund this proposal....

...Response from Pat Santeramo, Broward Teachers’ Union President
“The BTU finds unfortunate Superintendent Jim Notter’s decision to go to impasse in the ongoing contract negotiations for the 2010-2011 school year as this presents an unnecessary burden for the district’s new superintendent and all of the school system’s employees after Notter’s resignation takes effect in June.

“Sadly, Notter’s proposal that would provide teachers with a salary schedule step increase retroactive to January 2011 was largely contingent upon the union signing off on contract language that would give up the teachers, parents and other community members’ legal right to vote on their respective school’s schedule, which according to Florida statute the union is precluded from doing....

Flooding Fears Force Tough Choice

Big Bang theory to save Cairo, Illinois

Janice Bigham, center, and friends help her sandbag her flooded home in Olive Branch, Ill., near Cairo. Most of Cairo's residents have been evacuated. (Jeff Roberson, AP / May 1, 2011)


Click title for video - thank you

The river level feel two feet so far.

By CHRIS BURY (@ChrisBuryABC) and EMILY FRIEDMAN (@EmilyABC)

May 3, 2011

The Army Corps of Engineers activated the first set of explosions (clickc title to entry - thank you) at the Birds Point, Mo., levee late Monday in an effort to save Cairo, Ill., from disastrous flooding.
Overnight, with a thunderous boom and a brilliant flash against a black sky, the corps set off the charges and turned 130,000 acres of farmland into a muddy lake and lowered the Mississippi River by three to four feet.
"[The Cairo levee] continues to be under enormous and unprecedented pressure," said Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh during a news conference Monday....

Amateur video: Freak tornado rips off roofs, flips cars in New Zealand

Is this the USA? No. New Zealand. They are calling it a freak tornado. Great Britain had two last year.

Earth is hot.


Everywhere.


That doesn't make it any more safe.

Weather warnings lifted after Albany tornado wreaks havoc; one dead (Click title to entry - thank you)

8:12 PM Tuesday May 3, 2011

 

By Susie Nordqvist, Hayden Donnell, Troy Rawhiti-Forbes, Amelia Wade, Nik Dirga and Robert Smith

 

...A tornado ripped through a busy shopping centre in the north Auckland suburb of Albany this afternoon, leaving a trail of damage and debris.

Weather warnings for Auckland were lifted several hours after the tornado hit but MetService said the bad weather was moving south....

Most people believe this is episodic.  Seasonal.  The truth is this heat isn't finding relief on a global basis.  This is a continual process.  Earth is a 'closed system.'  An envelope of air, if you will. The heat that is trapped below the Greenhouse Gases will seek 'expression' in some form.  The more the ice formations of Earth disappear there will be a steady increase in tropospheric air turbulence.  This isn't going away until humans do something about their pollution of Greenhouse Gases.

Belligerence, through demonstrations, may win in some countries, but, that same stategy will increase resistence in others.

Freedom House, (click here) a U.S.-based group that monitors human rights around the world says the number of people with access to free and independent media has declined to its lowest level in more than a decade. In its newly released annual survey, the group says several key countries saw significant declines last year and that only one-in-six people live in countries with a press designated as free. 

In this year's annual index of global media freedom of 196 countries and territories, Freedom House says it rated 68 as "free" and the remaining two thirds as "partly free" or "not free."...

As a 'peer support' system of journalists, the Extremist Press does considerable damge to political infrastructure.  Other than President Obama, I don't know of any other global leader that would accept being ridiculed over citizenship with such grace and dignity.  In some countries, journalists would be jailed for openly defaming a government leader with such lies.  Seeking the truth is NOT oppression, what is "W"rong with the Press is more the problem than what is right with it.

Journalists and activists participate in a rally calling for press freedom in central Ankara, Turkey, March 19, 2011 (file photo) (click title to entry - thank you)

Poor journalism that seeks to finesse the truth when they should be reporting it is one of the most dangerous elements to any government, including the USA.  So, if the global press wants more freedom they need to work on 'what goes on' in the name of journalism. 

"Infotainment !" 

Really?

I think in 'the real world' it is called 'Quality Control.'