Deepest sympathies to the Rodham family. I am sure Hillary feels the lose of her mother.

It is wonderful she was at the wedding. 

Secretary of State (click title to entry - thank you) Hillary Clinton’s mother, Dorothy Howell Rodham, died Tuesday morning, shortly after midnight. She was 92....

...Rodham, who has lived with Bill and Hillary Clinton outside  Washington since 2006, fell ill Monday night. She died at Georgetown University Hospital, surrounded by family, according to the Clinton family’s statement.

I can't help but wonder if the family has a charity in mind for donations.  I understand they are a private family and this is a difficult time, but, I am confident there are many in the USA and around the globe that would like to express their support of the family in a small way.

An old fort, an amazing history and the economy. The fort was shuttered in 2005, but, now stands as a victory during the Civil War.

Fort Monroe the stategic headquarters of Robert E. Lee.  It has played a significant role in the nation's history from its beginnings.

President Obama has never waivered on his outlook for the USA economy.  He stated from the beginning the recovery would find victory in small attempts to restore jobs.  While the car companies have been a victory for his administration, the fact that he seeks every opportunity of his Presidency to return the American economy to function is exampled by Fort Monroe.  I don't know why the military was removed from the fort in 2005, the history is far too important.  Fort Monroe stands as a symbol of our human rights commitment, the freedom of all people and the longing for the USA to have all people created equal.  It is a valuable historic site and should have been preserved as such long ago.

...Using his authority (click title to entry - thank you) under a century-old law, Obama signed a proclamation designating Fort Monroe a national monument. That saves it from major development and preserves its history for generations.

At a signing ceremony in the Oval Office, Obama said the fort had played a "remarkable role in the history of our nation." He said he looked forward to visiting and taking daughters Malia and Sasha along to "get a sense of their history."

The fort and the land it sits on are historically significant because it was where Dutch traders first brought enslaved Africans in 1619. It remained in Union possession during the Civil War and became a place where escaped slaves could find refuge. Confederate President Jefferson Davis also was imprisoned there after the Civil War.

Obama said the fort also helped create the environment that led President Abraham Lincoln to sign the Emancipation Proclamation....

...Beyond the historical issues, Obama noted the economic value of Fort Monroe's designation as a national monument. He said local officials have estimated that a plan for reusing the site would help create nearly 3,000 jobs in next-door Virginia. Obama won the commonwealth in 2008 and it may prove crucial to his re-election bid....

There is an increasing death toll due to the recent east coast storm.

Previous to the storm the eastern USA sincerely didn't need the moisture.  There are still large areas of the south and the middle of the country suffering from drought.

US Drought Monitor 10/25/11

Why states do not demand electric grid wires delivering electricity to homes and businesses to be buried underground has always been a quandary to me.  The number of climate scientists that line the hallway of understanding are not numbering in the millions, quite the contrary, they are doing the best they can with the capacity available to them in the way of brain trusts throughout the world.  Their focus on huge rain events will bring the best use of the talent as these events effect larger numbers of people on a global basis.  To realize a snow storm is a huge frozen storm will help put it into context currently being studied.  The sincerely cold event which have claimed the lives of at least 13 Americans to date disappeared within 24 hours of its arrival.  That is not normal and it is not a winter weather pattern.  This was a 'chance' storm due to the mixing of the frigid air displaced over the Artic Ocean to lower latitudes meeting up with a heat transfer system which is the mechanism of the cold air displacement.  The storm was not an early arrival of winter, but, a Climate Crisis storm which occurred due to the global physics of Earth.

Within in days of the storm the temperatures across the country are above freezing except for higher elevations.  Noted in drought areas, the temperature does not have to be extremely high to suffer drought.

13 dead, millions without power after rare storm (click here)

...Theo Brinkerhoff, 4, who planned to dress as a ghost on Monday but was forced to wear a heavy sweater and snow boots under his costume to keep warm, refused to believe it was the bewitching autumn holiday.
"It's not Halloween, because it's still winter," he said while visiting grandparents in Amherst, Massachusetts, a town still mostly in the dark.
Many roads were still barricaded to steer traffic away from downed trees and power lines. Utility officials said the storm caused more tree damage than most winter storms because leaves had not yet fallen so trees caught far more snow than usual.
"It was like wet cement that just adhered to trees, branches, leaves and power lines," said David Graves, spokesman for utility National Grid.
"That's what really caused the damage, the weight of that snow," he said....

In this Oct. 31, 2011 file photo, Thai residents carry their belongings along floods as they move to higher ground at Bangkok's Don Muang district, Thailand. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)

(AP) 

WASHINGTON - Freakish weather disasters (click title to entry - thank you) — from the sudden October snowstorm in the Northeast U.S. to the record floods in Thailand — are striking more often. And global warming is likely to spawn more similar weather extremes at a huge cost, says a draft summary of an international climate report obtained by The Associated Press.

The final draft of the report from a panel of the world's top climate scientists paints a wild future for a world already weary of weather catastrophes costing billions of dollars. The report says costs will rise and perhaps some locations will become "increasingly marginal as places to live."

The report from the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will be issued in a few weeks, after a meeting in Uganda. It says there is at least a 2-in-3 probability that climate extremes have already worsened because of man-made greenhouse gases.\

This marks a change in climate science from focusing on subtle changes in daily average temperatures to concentrating on the harder-to-analyze freak events that grab headlines, cause economic damage and kill people. The most recent bizarre weather extreme, the pre-Halloween snowstorm in the U.S., is typical of the damage climate scientists warn will occur — but it's not typical of the events they tie to global warming....

I congratulate President Obama on his latest Executive Order, it was long overdue.

Washington, DC
Monday, October 31, 2011

President Obama (click title to entry - thank you) signed an executive order aimed at preventing shortages of prescription drugs.
The order broadens reporting of potential shortages of certain prescription drugs; speeds reviews of applications to begin or alter production of these drugs; and provides more information to the Justice Department about possible instances of collusion or price gouging.

Updated: Monday at 1:19pm (ET)

There were Congressional hearings leading to the President's decision of this Executive Order.  This order will begin to bring down the cost of health care and VASTLY improve the drug supply in the USA of vital drugs needed for treatment of diseases such as cancer.  In the hearings it was noted that cancer studies had to be put on hold imperiling hope for the participants and ultimately changing the treatment regime for the trials.  It isn't right.  The pharmaceutical industry should not be dictating the path of medicine to citizens, it should be the other way around.  The demand by the physicians needs to be responded to by the industry.  The system previous to this order was not allowing for 'the best path' of treatment and compromising doctors and their patients.

In testimony regarding the treatment of chronic disease this statement was made:

...The passage of the Affordable Care Act (click here) and with it the creation of the Prevention and Public Health Fund represents one of the most important actions by Congress and the Federal government to promote prevention to improve the overall health and well-being of the American people. It manifests an unprecedented commitment to ensuring that all Americans are able to achieve their potential by realizing the highest standard of health....

Besides the drugs the President mentioned, there is a very distrubing reality in that a chemoctheraputic agent, known as 5-FU has noted to be in very short supply.  5-FU has been around for decades and has a long track record of treatment with success.  It was one of the drugs that had to be abandoned in a 'treatment regime' under study in a trial for advanced treatement.  It is an outrage and I could not believe my ears when I heard it.

5-FU Added to Drug Shortage List (click here)

Posted by Kate Murphy on August 17th, 2011

This morning the FDA added fluorouracil to its drug shortage list. The American Society of Healthcare Pharmacists (ASHP) has also reported a shortage of fluorouracil (5-FU), a common backbone drug for colorectal cancer chemotherapy.

Two manufacturers have some doses of the drug on intermittent back order and are shipping it as it becomes available.  A third has all dose vials on back order and estimates shipping sometime in the fourth quarter of 2011.

A day after the Russians successful launch to the ISS, the Chinese matched the attempt preparing for the capacity to meet at ISS. (click title to entry - thank you)

China's achievements are somewhat marred by a confrontation of markets with the USA.  Noted are lawsuits pending about unfair practices by China that impact the solar industry.  The solar industry is the latest industry and probably the most dramatic example of how the Chinese can easily dominate the markets with cheaper products from cheap labor.  While it is understandable that China uses its labor force to its advantage, it is problem for global economic recovery.

Nevertheless, (click here) Washington is getting serious about trade distortions between the U.S. and China. The U.S. trade deficit with China is at an all time high, hitting $189 billion in the months ending Aug. 31, 2011.

Last week, the U.S. Commerce Department said it had found Chinese companies to be dumping steel wheels and setting duties ranging from 110.58 to 193.54% on U.S. imports. Also in recent days, a group of U.S. solar cell and solar panel makers filed a trade complaint against China, accusing the country of illegally dumping silicon solar cells and panels through massive subsidies. The sector is one of China’s crown jewels in its green technology portfolio. Solar cell panel production is dominated by the Chinese. Last Wednesday, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis said the U.S. had investigated over 200 Chinese domestic subsidy programs and is “going to keep pushing China and use all the tools,” China Daily reported.

And whom exactly is opposing the legislation to maintain China's trade distortions that are sapping the income from the USA Middle Class?  The House Republicans that state they will oppose the legislation that will begin to return the balance of trade between the USA and China.

President Hu Jintao and his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer attend a news conference after talks at the Hofburg palace in Vienna on Monday. [Photo by Ronald Zak/Associated Press]

Continent has ability to overcome present difficulties, president says (click here)

VIENNA / BEIJING - China has confidence in Europe overcoming its present difficulties, President Hu Jintao said on Monday ahead of a key global summit which will focus on the eurozone debt crisis.
"China looks positively at EU development and is following the economic development under the current difficulties with attention," Hu told reporters after meeting his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer in Vienna....