President Obama was attempting to be helpful. He wants Congress to take this seriously.

This is a very difficult time for the majority of the country. They are not looking forward to paying more taxes after the stroke of midnight.

President Obama has his hand on the pulse of the people and want them to be heard. I don't know why this is always considered a political victory for the President. It is a victory for the people of the nation.

The GOP needs to be more accepting to his words and connectedness with the people of this nation. He has their loyalties in many ways. He does hold the nation's collective heart within the Oval Office.

He had to do this. It was not an option. He won his election. He is not conducting political agendas here. He is bringing attention to the words of many, many Americans he hears from everyday. He is simply passing along the way the nation feels at this time. The Republicans should take his words to heart as an advocate for the people they serve.

To prove how completely apolitical his actions are, he never asked Congress to decide about their pay raises.

By Nick Wing
Posted: 12/28/2012 5:23 pm EST
Updated: 12/29/2012 9:47 am EST

President Barack Obama (click here) gave a New Year's gift to returning members of Congress, federal workers and Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday, signing an executive order calling for an end to a years-long pay freeze....

That doesn't mean anything? It shows a great deal of respect for those this Executive Order serves. It was signed before he convened 'The People's Voice' from the White House. Come on already. That's enough complaining. He's a nice guy. The trouble with him for the GOP is that he is honest. Seriously. Congress needs to be serious about protecting the incomes of the working poor, the Middle Class and entrepreneurial businesses that supply incomes to hard working Americans.

The smart approach to all this is for the GOP to be appreciative of 'The People's Voice' from the White House as a reminder to how important this is to them. A word of appreciation of the struggle of these people go a long way.

Congress needs to stop fussing with the budget, debt ceiling and national debt and move on to making a difference in immigration, gun control, education and the list goes on. The nation has many needs to be addressed. It is time the government work for the best outcomes for the nation and set aside political differences.

Come on, get over this already. President Obama is not a bad guy and he needs to continue to bring public displays of 'The People's Voice' again and again. It is his responsibility and we are lucky to have someone who cares this much.

The USA House of Representatives have sleeping accommodations in their offices. There is no reason to leave. They passed this responsibility to the Senate. They should at least be willing to move on the bill the Senate passes. Could they be any more difficult for the sake of being difficult?

Thank you, Governor Perdue, justice has been served.

Submitted by WWAY on Mon, 12/31/2012 - 2:15pm.
RALEIGH, NC (AP) -- Outgoing (click here) North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue has issued pardons to the Wilmington 10, a group wrongly convicted in a notorious Civil Rights-era prosecution...

..."I have decided to grant these pardons because the more facts I have learned about the Wilmington Ten, the more appalled I have become about the manner in which their convictions were obtained," Perdue said in a news release Monday....

$450,000 threshold to increased taxes is not acceptable.

$450,000 INCOME is not net worth. It is nearly half a MILLION in income. That is not WORTH. Taxes need to increase at a Quarter Million.

There are plenty of ways to reduce the National Debt and Deficit. Increasing taxes on incomes over a Quarter of a Million is one and removing fraud from the USA is another. Playing with entitlements is not an option.

Dialysis company accused of giant Medicare fraud (click here)

By Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin, CNN Special Investigations Unit

updated 1:45 PM EST, Fri November 30, 2012

It started with a chance conversation between a doctor and a nurse several years ago. But that brief encounter may end up exposing what could be one of the largest Medicare frauds in U.S. history.

Dr. Alon Vainer, a medical director at dialysis clinics in Georgia, was discussing clinic procedures with one of the nurses, Daniel Barbir. The two men say they saw something they believed was very wrong: expensive medicine, and lots of it, was being tossed in the trash. And the clinic workers were being told to do it, the two men say.

"When we sat down and started talking about it and getting into details, we actually realized exactly what was going on," Vainer said.

The alleged waste was being carried out on a massive scale and, the nurse and the doctor said, they knew why almost immediately. They claim it was a way for their company, DaVita Inc., to defraud the government, overbill Medicare and Medicaid and make a fortune.

"We're talking in the hundreds of millions, easily," Vainer said. "The profit this company raked from those two schemes, only from those two drugs, was hundreds of millions of dollars."...

Life Care Centers of America, Inc. is such a patriot name, too. Congress, the USA House and Senate, better be doing everything they can do to preserve the entitlements while bringing them into the scope of legal expenditures. If there is any Congressman or Congresswoman supporting fraud within out entitlements by being silent and/or removing funding from the ability to prosecute these criminals they need to be removed from Congress immediately. They need to be brought up on ethic violations as well. 

"Looking the other way is not an option. Empowering criminals is not an option." There are legal medical facilities striving to thrive !!!

Medicare Fraud is Charged (click here)

by Thomas M. Burton

December 3, 2012, 7:26 p.m. ET

A Tennessee-based nursing-care company systematically defrauded Medicare of millions of dollars by pressuring therapists to perform expensive, unnecessary treatments, according to a recently unsealed federal complaint.

The filing against Life Care Centers of America Inc. is part of an investigation by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services into high-priced nursing care. The inspector general reported last month that Medicare loses about $1.5 billion annually from over billing by skilled-nursing facilities....

Allowing fraud and corruption, which was rampant under the previous Republican administration and congressional majorities, to preserve jobs is not an option. 

One of the complaints and worries of the Republicans in Congress since 2008 was the further collapse of the job situation as the Obama Administration was determined to stop the sapping of the entitlements for the benefit of faux economic development. Some of the economic strategy of the previous Republican majorities was to look the other way to allow jobs look better than was LEGITIMATELY permitted. One of the reasons they despise regulations is because they don't know how to grow the economy. They allow fraud and illegal dipping into 'vats of money' such as Medicare to make them look good. When the criminals are caught they are all over it, of course, but they don't do anything to end it in the first place. They rely on the citizen to report fraud. Right.

91 Are Charged With Fraud, Billing Millions to Medicare (click here)

By REUTERS

Published: October 4, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Ninety-one people including doctors, nurses and other medical professionals were charged criminally after an investigation of Medicare fraud that involved $430 million in false billing in seven cities, officials said on Thursday.

It was the government’s second big raid in recent months after a similar investigation in May involving $452 million in possible fraud in Medicare, the health program for the elderly and disabled.

The accusations include billing the government for unnecessary ambulance rides in California, writing prescriptions for patients in Dallas who did not qualify for them and paying kickbacks like food and cigarettes to patients in Houston if they attended programs for which a hospital could bill.

The investigation is part of an effort by the Obama administration to find health care savings....

The preservation of the Bush Tax Cuts has to end. Throwing a SYMBOLIC preservation limit at $450,000 is outrageous! It is corruption and it is political pandering by the Republicans. They need to rehab their images and their party's priorities; which won't happen so long as they continue to pander to the wealthy.

I am still trying to figure out how the GOP actually pulled this one off. A Florida Governor that scalped Medicare for a living. Amazing.

Medicare fraud rampant in South Florida (click here)

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/08/03/627480/medicare-fraud-rampant-in-south.html#storylink=cp

Posted on Sunday, 08.03.08

BY JAY WEAVER

JWEAVER@MIAMIHERALD.COM

First in a series

Whenever Alexander McCray lights up his crack pipe, U.S. taxpayers help pay for his habit.

McCray has defrauded Medicare by selling his government-issued health card number to private clinics in exchange for kickbacks of $150 to $300 a visit -- as often as three times a day, three times a week over seven years, according to federal records and his own admission.

McCray has signed off on phony infusion treatments for his HIV illness -- therapy that is medically obsolete -- and he has received thousands of dollars from Medicare-licensed clinics all over South Florida.

Money that he has used to buy crack cocaine.

Dozens of clinic operators have in turn filed more than $1.1 million in false claims for fabricated HIV-infusion treatments billed in his name, according to Medicare records reviewed by The Miami Herald. Some 90 doctors, including one indicted in May, appeared on the phony prescriptions written on behalf of McCray....

Scott's case was one of the largest in history. Yet, he wins governorship. The small fraud cases are at least as important as the huge ones. It is important those receiving Medicare as a benefit for health care pay attention to the monies being charged their insurance, too. The small ones add up. It is the small ones where it all begins as criminals learn what they can get away with. The huge fraud cases make the headlines and provide a political benefit to those enforcing the law, but, the small infringements of the laws of the USA are just as important.

May 20, 2010

By Sally Kestin, Sun Sentinel

It was and still is the biggest Medicare fraud case in U.S. history (click here) and ended with the hospital giant Columbia/HCA paying a record $1.7 billion in fines, penalties and damages.

Now the man who ran the company at the time wants to be Florida's governor.

Rick Scott was co-founder and CEO of Columbia/HCA in the 1990s, when the FBI launched a massive, multi-state investigation that led to the company pleading guilty to criminal charges of overbilling the government....

It has been difficult for Governor Scott to move the unemployment rate. It makes sense it has been difficult for him, since he never legitimately created any as a CEO.

I don't know why I would be astounded by Scott's election and lack of his ability to actually grow an economy; even with plenty of rehab money coming from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster; Cheney and Bush were Wall Street flunkies, too. They couldn't grow an economy either. It is a uniquely Republican dynamic guaranteed to Bubble and Bust the economy while destroying the American Dream. The Republicans, with some exceptions, are about money and not quality of life for Americans.

Florida sees positive October growth, but it still falls short of benchmark (click here)

Updated: Tuesday, November 27th, 2012

By Katie Sanders

...Scott celebrated the state's declining unemployment rate, which hit its lowest point in almost four years in October. At 8.5 percent, the rate is still higher than the national unemployment rate.

In a news release, he counted off several signs of growth, including increases in job postings, an uptick in consumer confidence and a trade surplus. He delighted in the creation of 12,100 private sector jobs and ignored the fact that government jobs got a 2,600-position boost....

I do not want to lose Hillary Clinton.

President Obama needs to ask Senator Kerry to move through confirmation. We have a problem in that Hillary has worked and worked and worked to the point of exhaustion. 

Enough. 

There will be no testimony regarding Benghazi or anything else, until in comes from the new Secretary of State.

She needs to be home with her married daughter, husband and their future. She needs to be on medical leave until the inauguration. No more stress, it is effecting her best outcome.

by DANA FARRINGTON
December 30, 2012 8:27 PM

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (click here) has been admitted to a hospital for a blood clot "stemming from" a concussion earlier this month, Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines says. In a statement, Reines says doctors found the clot during a follow-up exam on Sunday.
"She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at New York-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours," he says.
Clinton had been expected to return to work this coming week. CBS News reports:
"Aides and doctors say Clinton contracted a stomach virus in early December and became dehydrated, then fainted, fell and hit her head. She was diagnosed with a concussion on Dec. 13 and hasn't been seen in public since."...

Everyone, including the majority of Americans, have had enough high jinks by the Republicans. They have all the facts they could possibly have. They will get no more than is available now. No more hearings for her. She has been pushed past the endurance of normal human capacity. She needs rest, calm and to be surrounded by love and contentment. She has earned every minute of peace this country can afford her. She has known little else in her life besides service to this nation and it is time to give back in generous amounts.

Caught up in the turbulence of racial politics.

Benjamin Chavis Jr., 24 at the time, Southern regional program director of the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice
Ann Shepard (later Ann Shepard Turner), a 35-year-old white social worker
Reginald Epps. 18
Jerry Jacobs. 19
James “Bun” McKoy, 19
Wayne Moore, 19
Marvin “Chili” Patrick, 19
Connie Tindall, 21
William “Joe” Wright Jr., 19
Willie Earl Vereen, 18

Except for Chavis and Turner, all the defendants were Wilmington residents.

The violence resulting in the arrest and prosecution of the young, black men, their leaders; a social worker and regional director of the United Church of Christ; was a methodology of the KKK. If the Klan could bring about unrest, violence, destruction and death while pinning it on  African American activism in town they would succeed in ending desegregation and return the white race to supremacy. It was the Klan, Governor Purdue.

Now, if there was to be any further prosecution or investigation of these people it would show them as victims to political oppression existing as a strategy against them. This is real injustice and it time it ends in the pardoning of the innocent. All they are guilty of is saving their own lives. Any actions by them was in self-defense or aggravated by circumstance out of their control.

Boycotting is a non-violent method to express injustice and/or inequity. Non-violence is the method of the late Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. These people were victims of injustice and not simply released on a technicality. They should be pardoned as an apology to the African American community in the State of North Carolina.

The petition delivered by Reverend William Barber to Governor Purdue is a remarkable and resounding attempt to emulate the non-violent pleading of the boycott over 40 years later. How much longer will the pleadings of the boycott go on?  There is no political pitfall or blunder here, except, if the injustice continues.

Benjamin Chavis, (click here) a young man by any measure, arrived in Wilmington to help black students who had announced a boycott of the New Hanover County public schools the previous months. Racial tensions had worsened since the desegregation of the county’s school system in the 1969-70 school year and the closing of Williston High School, a beloved institution in the local black community.

Soon, black youths were confronting local Klansmen and members of a militant group called Rights of White People. On the night of Feb. 6, 1971, several firebombs were set in downtown Wilmington....

...Gregory Congregational Church, 609 Nun St., Wilmington [Map this], where Chavis and a number of boycotters had barricaded themselves. Two nights of rioting followed; a policeman shot a black teenager, and a middle-aged white man was killed by unknown assailants. On Feb. 8, National Guard troops entered the church, only to find it deserted.

Rev. William Barber (click here) after delivering signatures for Wilmington 10 to Gov.Purdue.

Governor Purdue needs to pardon the innocent.

Peace and a New Year of prosperity.

Good night.

The Payroll Tax Cut is ending. So what?

By Ron Scherer, Staff writer / December 18, 2012
No matter how the 'fiscal cliff' talks end, (click here) federal taxes of working Americans appear likely to rise after Jan. 1. That's because the Obama White House isn't pushing to extend the payroll tax cut....

The last time the Payroll Tax Cut was passed, the Republicans stated: "A tax cut doesn't have to be funded." With that they intended and passed an attack against Social Security and it's solvency.

The Payroll Tax Cut was an uptick to business as well. Both the business contribution and individual contribution was cut to benefit the economy. So, while business was considered important in the dynamic to recover the economy the working people got a break to their income to encourage spending. I think it is something like $1000 per year for the Middle Class of the country.

I don't see anything wrong with ending the Payroll Tax Cut. If the Republicans are going to attack the solvency of Social Security by not funding it, then the nation is better off paying the tax and having the business sector pay as well.

So, it looks as though regardless of the New Years Eve deadline to tax cuts, this one will end anyway, regardless of Congress's ability or inability to protect the Middle Class. The Middle Class can clearly state they are contributing to the stability of the Social Security Fund with this RETURN to normalized tax rates. This expiration of the Payroll Tax Cut simply defines the fact SSI is not the same as Federal Income Tax and the USA Treasury. The BUDGET and the National Deficit has nothing to do with the Payroll Tax Cut

Not directly.

The Payroll Tax Cut was viewed by President Obama as a mechanism to put monies in the hands of Americans SO LONG AS it was funded. President Obama never wanted to cause hardship to the SSI fund. He wanted to fund the tax cut only as a mechanism to put monies into the hands of those best acting to improve the USA economy (increased demand for products). When the Republicans didn't fund it the last time it was renewed, they were seeking to do damage to the SSI fund. I am sure they would term it, "Teach the nation a lesson." Of course, President Obama would not reinstate the request to Congress. Why would he? SSI is not the problem, the Income Tax burden of the Middle Class is the problem and the lack of appropriate tax on the wealthy is the problem.

The Bush Tax Cuts are the problem. The solvency of our USA Treasury is the problem. 

Just because the Republicans always attack SSI as if it has some kind of relationship to 'The Real Problems' of the country, doesn't mean it relevant to the problem at hand. The attack on SSI by the Republicans is ideology. It has no brevity on our National Budget or the deficit.  SSI is a completely separate issue. 

I say again, The Payroll Tax Cut was a MECHANISM to improved spending in the country (increase consumer demand; put people back to work through pressures from within the economy itself) so long as it was FUNDED. When the Republicans saw the opportunity to damage the SSI fund in this APPLIED mechanism by President Obama; the President moved off the opportunity to help the economy through this method. It was a METHOD, not a cure, but it had to be funded.

So, the idea the Republicans are against raising taxes on Americans and their private sector is nonsense. They are willing to do at least this much by not funding the mechanism to improve the economy.

I believe this is fine. The economy is rebounding. It was a V-shaped recession albeit "The Great Recession" but never once returned to a recessive process in the American economy. We are doing okay. This is a matter of continuing the Social Security Insurance program. It is a return to NORMALCY. I think it is a good sign. 

One more time, Americans have to increase their incomes. They have to demand the pay rates they deserve and work hard for. If unions can insure that will happen while understanding the need of the company to survive and deliver REASONABLE stock market investment to stockholders (in the case of Wall Street); then unions need to be pushing a better quality of life and a STABLE and vital economy as a benefit to that quality of life.

Think a minute what President Obama's administration has been doing to recover the USA economy. What did they and what are they doing exactly? They are increasing the MONIES in the hands of the Middle Class. If it also increased monies in the private sector because it was the only way Republicans would go along with it, so be it. If the increased income to business (As in the Payroll Tax Cut) improved the economic vitality, then fine. But, the sincere purpose of the President's Administration has been to empower the Middle to KEEP THEIR HOMES, increase their disposable income and increase demand for products and services in the USA economy that would ultimately increase the number of jobs.

It was a completely NATURAL PROCESS, the President was applying. The idea was to return to normalcy eventually anyway in whatever the new reality was of the new economy.

Let's say all tax decreases stops. Let's say we move past New Year's Eve and the tax incentives pass. The Middle Class is now paying more taxes and their 'take home' pay decreases. What has to happen to compensate that loss? They need more income. They need to demand more pay from their employers or in the case of independent business owners that have a Middle Class income from their business, they need to increase their product and/or their prices. Their product demand will occur with increased demand due to more income to Middle Class citizens. So, the independent business person has a real stake in seeing better pay for Americans. They also need to resist to some extent increasing their prices to prevent inflation.

It is math.

Now, will the American economy disappear because the tax cuts go up? No. We have had four years of recovery and while there will be some loss of economic vitality when the tax increases occur, much of the revitalized economy will remain.

The return to higher tax rates will be like a 'bungy cord' and not a cliff if Americans seek pay increases. In one year from now, on New Year's Eve 2013 every employee should have received at least one pay increase. Do you follow now?

It is exponential growth. For each person employed, increased income results in more demand for products, increases quality of life will result and that alone will build on itself. 

We can do this. The unions are capable of leading to this new standard of CIVIC involvement in the USA economy. It will happen and there should be no fear of it. 

As the income of Americans goes up, the taxes paid to the USA Treasury will increase and the National Debt and Deficit will come down.

It will hurt initially, but, Americans have to resolve they are WORTH THE FIGHT.

Now. When one reflects on the faux values of the Tea Party Republicans and Karl Rove's inability to speak to it while winning elections for the GOP, what does that say about Rove's actually ability to win elections at all?

When the electorate is given the truth and treated as thinking people able to discern the truth, falsehoods and what is not working as a strategy in their lives, they vote for people that can make a difference in their lives. Where corruption has existed for long periods of time, the efforts to turn the tables on ineffective and dangerous government is a 24/7 effort. It is why 'on the ground' works and high powered and expensive media does not.

The Republicans can try to mimic the Democratic Ground ? Game ?, but, they cannot mimic the truth the Democrats garner as their armor. Lies and manipulation are still that even in any ground game.

The Tea Party, the extremist wing of the GOP, has it completely wrong.

The Tea Party is a return to right wing extremism that is proven to be oppressive to society and to economic development.

The "Firearms Freedom Act" is anarchy. There is no other definition for it. It is not backed by the Second Amendment which demands "A well regulated Militia...." The reasons a militia in the USA has to be well regulated is ton insure the well being of citizens, that includes police officers. The Second Amendment does not provide for anarchy.

Firearms Freedom Act (click here)

Originally introduced and passed in Montana, the FFA declares that any firearms made and retained in-state are beyond the authority of Congress under its constitutional power to regulate commerce among the states....

United Nations Agenda 21 is no longer a UN agenda. It has moved on to be replaced by "The Millennium Assessment." So, let's get that out of the way. Agenda 21 was an attempt to look at the planet and it's ability to sustain human life, regardless of it's human view as a resource other than breathable oxygen. 

Agenda 21 is old business. It is over. Gone. No more. It was graduated to a functional global program. Agenda 21 is a prime example of how the Tea Party is successful by dredging up invisible agendas that are no longer valid; only their followers don't know that and are not empowered to find out the truth. They are lied to and/or kept ignorant by their own leadership because they have been lied to along the way. This is a populous movement that causes problems and does not solve them. Thank you Sarah Palin, the mother of all unsophisticated political hacks that actually 'dress up well enough' to win elections in the name of VIRTUE.

They state they are not interested in social issues, but, only fiscal problems. Hello? Since when is USA federal spending NOT about social issues? They do mean that they are not focused on social issues because they don't discern the impact of federal spending on social issues. 

Food Stamps is a hated agenda by the Tea Party of federal spending and people need the help. There will always be people that need the help. There are people that are no longer children and dependents to families that will always be 'in need.' Demographically there will always be poor and dependency in a population of over 300 million people. The Tea Party is under educated and radical because of their under education. They do not discern the needs of a populous and why there actually is a federal government with social programs.

I am not going to give the bozos lessons here. 

Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low-Wage Work (click here)

It is called a COLLEGE EDUCATION in Public Policy! Try it. It works. It works in the face of liberal, radical, left wing educators. Really!!!!!!

The strategy of the Tea Party is simplistic and has caused the QUALITY OF LIFE problems The South faces in the USA. The reason they are POPULAR as part of a POPULOUS movement is because Old White Guys still believe they can control the content of the USA in order to serve their purposes. They use the lack of sophistication of the people to manipulate them.

The Quality of Life suffers in The South because of its profound impoverishment. While there are households owning homes and seemingly Middle Class, but, they are not Middle Class in the same definition as citizens of New York. 

In the Northeast, people belong to unions and work for FAIR wages. The people of the Northeast USA have quality of life which can be defined as time at home with their families, active parenting by BEING AVAILABLE, owning boats to go fishing, owning new cars they trade in on a regular basis to maintain equity of their homes that aren't impacted by car repairs, etc. The same, if not more, is emphasized in California with a high quality of life based in FAIR wages based on economic demographics and social pressures of status. I could go on and on, but, the impoverishment of the USA South is profound. 

In the South, ONE PERSON works two and three jobs to maintain their quality of life. They aren't available as parents in the same way people in the Northeast and California are. The South relies on the pressures of religion to maintain their children's behavior. The prime example of the lack of ability to parent is the fact there are high teen pregnancy rates in the USA South. The men are men in ways that are counter productive to relationships because it demands extreme personal sacrifice in the lack of quality of life. The men are violent as a means of defining the extreme they will go to defend their values and THEIR WOMEN. The values are based in defending economic impoverishment and still finding status.

The state legislators are STUCK in believing they have to oppose organized unions to PRESERVE their ability to have economic vitality. HUH? What economic vitality? If every person in the USA South only worked one job with FAIR wages that would solve the nation's unemployment problem. The other two jobs the people of The South hold down to maintain their homes and cholesterol saturated food and nicotine supplies that they consider an indulgence of their wages, the unemployed would be able to be employed with FAIR wages.

The people of the South do not have a quality of life because if they were only allowed to have one job the majority would be homeless. Does Wall Street love this dynamic? You betcha!

That is Tea Party Land. It is a populous movement based in ignorance of anything better or different. Take on the Tea Party and PROVE they are nonsensical, although nice people, political entities.

The Tea Party Express (click here) are worried about "The Blackness Gestapo." The Tea Party believes there are organized efforts to maintain 'the blackness' of the colored population in the USA. It is the oldest strategy to victimize minorities since the beginning of slavery. See, if minorities could only break out of their 'blackness' mentality, they would be like the rest of us. The twist The Tea Party gives it portrays them as liberators and conquerors of a well kept 'establishment' agenda and secret. Give me a break with this, okay? The Tea Party is a populous movement and they support racism and bigotry; as well as Wall Street priorities as a solution to economic deficits and unemployment. The Tea Party causes problems, they don't solve them.

Ask ones self: "Self, how is the USA going to pay its bills when 98% of Americans receive minimum wage due to dissolved unions? And how are villages and hamlets in the USA going to pay for education if they no longer own homes to pay property tax?"

The injustice of believing in a minority President.

Alex Okrent died while dedicated to re-electing a President he believed would be best to lead the nation.

“He was a loving, (click here) passionate, bright young man, who should have had a long, bright future,” Mike Okrent said. “He looked to November and said ‘What am I going to do next?’ He said, ‘This is OK for a young man, but it takes a lot.’”

His obituary is below:

Alex S.Okrent, 29, (click here) beloved son of Michael Okrent and Lynn Pollack; loving brother of Abby Okrent; cherished grandson of Susan Okrent, the late Samuel Okrent, the late Marion and the late Alexander Pollack; dear nephew, cousin, friend and colleague of many. Service Monday, 11 a.m. at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, 303 Dodge Ave., Evanston, IL 60202. Interment Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorials in his memory to The Obama for America Campaign, www.barackobama.com, ACLU, www.aclu.org or JRC would be appreciated. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals -Skokie Chapel, 847-229-8822, www.cjfinfo.com

Published in Chicago Tribune from July 15 to July 16, 2012



On the internet there is a large variety of defamation of his character. It should not exist there. It is unusual to have a 29 year old to die of a heart attack, but, it is not strange. I believe I mentioned this phenomena once before when a basketball player died after taking ephedrine cold medicine in a large dose.

Young men, strong young men with a very healthy background and fit body can over tax their cardio-vascular system and have a heart attack. Skeletal muscles of the body at this age can actually demand performance from heart muscles it cannot deliver. Seriously. I have witnessed young, very fit police officers in a cardiac unit on monitoring after experiencing chest pain while chasing a suspect on foot. His fitness caused his heart a loss of the ability to deliver oxygenated blood to itself through it's coronary arteries because he was literally consuming oxygen in his skeletal muscles faster than his heart and lungs could deliver. The heart can also beat so fast it no longer has the ability to push blood out the left ventricle efficiently causing a drop in blood pressure. So, take your pick, which ever causes a loss to sufficient oxygen to the heart causes real damage. I also don't believe everyone can be a tri-athlete if they try hard enough, either.

Yes, they do heart damage that way.

Unfortunately, Alex went to the gym that day, already under stress from a tough campaign and experienced damage to his heart muscle while believing he was being smart about his fitness. There may have been other factors, such as dehydration or nutrient imbalances that could have contributed to his cardiac failure.

Alex kept a low profile in his dedication to his choice in Presidential hopefuls. That is not a crime and it is not suspicious. Some people are simply not demonstrative. Believe it or not, everyone doesn't post to Facebook or allow their lives to be chronicled there. It is attractive to his person and dedication to be also humble in his demand for attention.

I like Alex. I think he was very special and I am sorry he is gone. 

The internet content defaming his character and entangling him in some kind of wider conspiracy committed against him should be expunged from the net. Alex's memory is above reproach and it is time the internet displaces that. I would think a court order to his family would permit them to track it down and eliminate the nasty content posted by complete strangers.

The USA has wealthy people and wealthy agencies seeking adoption.

The minute adoptions by Americans started in 1994, they were never welcomed by the Russian government. (click here)

It is unfortunate the entire issue of adoption has had to become political in Russia.

I don't care of these are Middle Class families or heterosexual or not, the idea children have to be protected by their central authority is disturbing enough. I suppose the best way to approach this is victimize Russia as the evil empire again; as if the children involved have their heritage in that country. Nice. It is admirable the evil empire is on trial before the very children to be adopted. I think you guys really never handled this well. 

This is a State Department issue and not in the hands of average or above average (if there is such a thing) Americans. The idea the children will receive a foul opinion of the very country where they were adopted from is outrageous enough, but, there is more to this than meets the eye.

To begin, Russia is still a communist nation with communist priorities. I am assuming the children, when adopted, are well cared for and healthy. I mean it is not a human rights tragedy when these children arrive to their new homes in the USA, right? So, the idea that new American parents are defaming the very country that is the heritage of these children and their new sovereign government has not appreciation for the generosity in completing families in the USA is hideous. What do you think you are saying and what do you think you are doing?

This is Russia, not China. It does not have a population boom causing a stress on resources. As a matter of fact, Russia is worried about its population growth. Russian families can give birth to as many children as they want. There is no 'one child' limit there. Russia can afford to support these children, send them to school and give them a place within their society.

Additionally, Putin and Medvedev have historically been very sensitive to the fall in Russian population over recent decades. They have opened the borders of Russia to repatriate their diaspora. So, the idea this is some kind of tragedy for these children is not the approach to take with Russia. The State Department needs to address Russia's concerns regarding the adoption of these children. The State Department needs to provide facts and not fiction to counter the opinion of Russia to the global community, but, the fact Russia is shutting down adoptions to the USA is not a surprise. Between repatriation of the diaspora and Russian leaders concerned about population growth, this should have been expected.

President Putin will make his final term in office count to stabilize and promote the future of his country.

I take it Russian parents don't adopt American children. Is there a shortage of children in the USA for adoption? Or is there a shortage of white children for adoption in the USA?

The Up or Down Vote is for the CHANCE at a clear majority, rather than political interference by the GOP.

President says 'I believe we may be able to reach agreement' but White House prepares back-up proposal for Senate vote

..."Leaders in Congress (click here) are working on a way to prevent this tax hike on the middle class, and I believe we may be able to reach an agreement that can pass both houses in time," Obama said....

President Obama wants the government to work the way the government is suppose to work. Currently, the GOP are pulling power trips to cause problems hoping they will secure some kind of advantage in 2014. It is nonsense. The country needs their government to function and now is the time for many reasons.

Accusations an up or down vote is an attempt to trap members into being EXPOSED is more political nonsense. The country needs the government to function. Just that simple.

The Farmers in Europe have a different approach.

To the left is a picture of farmers spraying the legislature with milk. Below on the right is a blockade of the square where the Milk Hosing took place.

Think about it.

20 December 2012
Last updated at 09:01 ET

Dozens of dairy farmers blockaded a factory in Worcestershire as part of a campaign for a better deal on the price they are paid for milk.

...Escalating costs (click here)

Muller, which owns Robert Wiseman dairies, agreed to increase the price to 29p per litre in September.

In July, farmers and the processing firms they supply agreed on the broad principles of a deal in their dispute over milk prices.

The draft agreement related to a voluntary code of practice designed to give farmers more bargaining power.

Mr Handley said: "Negotiations have broken down and we have every intention of protesting again before Christmas.

"Farmers are not receiving the money to cover the bills and costs are escalating."

He said the group had staged protests in Manchester, Derbyshire and Leicestershire in the last fortnight.

Tim Brooks, a farmer from Leominster in Herefordshire who took part in the protest, said: "We haven't got the price we want, we are fighting for a fairer price."

There are alternatives to the milk crisis brought to the USA by the USA House.

Miniature Jersey Cow 

To the left is a picture of a Miniature Jersey Cow Bull. A Miniature Jersey cold live comfortably in the backyards of most suburban homes. They need grain to produce a decent amount of milk. Cleanliness is paramount to manual milking. And a fence. The cow won't stay in the yard. The manure can be used in the garden and/or packaged daily for disposal or sale. Selling the manure could be an uptick to the cost of grain.

Understanding The 'Milk Cliff' (click here)

by CAITLIN KENNEY

December 28, 2012 1:37 PM

...What something else to worry about?

Balagtas says there is another outcome here that could be equally bad — passing the 2012 farm bill in its current form.
Balagtas is concerned about a specific part of the 2012 farm bill that deals with dairy — theDairy Market Stabilization Program. The program is designed to keep milk prices high by taxing farmers for producing more milk than the government wants them to.
Balagtas says the program would be bad for successful dairy farmers because it "would explicitly penalize growth" — essentially punish them for being more efficient and producing more milk. Large, profitable dairy farmers share his concern about the program.
Discouraging farmers from producing more milk means less milk on shelves for sale, which once again, means higher prices for the rest of us.

Miniature Nubian Goats

For the apartment or condominium dweller there is an option. Miniature Nubian Goats.

These Minis are probably capable of being walked and house broken. So, the disposal of waste can be handled no different than a household pet.

I am quite sure there are a few in NYC already. They have some odd folks that perform all kinds of rituals and keep livestock around.

Now, if these are not an option for you for whatever reason, such as, allergies or hay fever, there are local farmers to be encouraged to open their own store front with a pasteurizing process and willingness to add Vitamin D.