Ambassador Stevens' Personal Journal.

I remember when Nic Robertson found the 'bin Laden Tapes;' some of them were aired, but, the USA government was notified of their existence. I hope that is the same policy of CNN today. According to a report by Anderson Cooper a journalist affiliated with CNN found the personal journal of Ambassador Stevens and sent it to Cooper. There was no mention of it being verified as the ambassador's, but, since it was forwarded to his family I suppose the handwriting was easily recognized by those that knew him.

I was also surprised there was no mention of the government knowing of the journal and their consent to allow it to be sent to Ambassador's Family. I hope the investigators to the murders in Libya had a chance to at least look through the contents for clues.

I congratulate Anderson on his exclusive, I was just surprised the investigation and government wasn't mentioned at all.

Perhaps the GOP should cut their salaries for pandering to stupidity.

I've always said, "If ya don't know what ya need to know when your born, then you don't need books!"

Anybody ever check this guys IQ. Not that it matters actually. I mean sincerely. Does he believe if one is reading they 'ain't workin.'

...Footage (click here) has been uncovered of North Carolina Republican State Sen. David Rouzer stating that he wishes to defund the Department of Energy because people there read books.

In specific the senator said:

When I served in the executive branch for about a year and a half, and I learned how the bureaucrats operate. It gives me a lot of insight into how to defund them and get rid of them. When I went over to the Department of Energy one day, you walk down the hall and most of them who are drawing 6-figure salaries are sitting there reading books....

All that book learning shoulda been done before those six figure guys got to the government. Peer review baloney. If ya don't know what ya know by the time you git the six figure job then ya don't belong there in the first place.

If you ain't interestin' enough to git on Leno or Letterman than you ain't no one I need to know!

They grow them mighty fine in North Carolina, don't they? The state has over 20 state universities (not to mention community colleges), but, all the graduates are simply a waste of time and money. Even those Out of Staters are a pain where no one can put a blaster. So what they pay tens of thousands of dollars they are learnin' from NC universities, ain't they?

Everyone of them outta be behind a plow or in front of it and our food would be cheaper, too.

You go get 'em, Bubba. Any chance this guy was unemployed before coming to office?

House Representative Maxine Waters cleared of any wrong doing. It was simply maliciousness from those making the complaint.

Sep 21, 2012 3:51pm

The House Ethics committee (click here) announced today that Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., did not violate House rules after a three-year investigation examining her office’s assistance to a bank tied to her husband during the depths of the financial crisis....

Republican Pundits expected her to lose her case and be put out of office years ago. That didn't happen, but, in the article below I love way she is character assassinated as an 'above the law' Democrat. Hate. This is about hate. 

I understand her grandson might be involved, but, everyone needs to realize this is nothing she carried out as a power broker above the law. The article below even sets her up for being guilty if she was found to be innocent of all suspicions and charges. Amazing. Racism. Oh, well.

December 9, 2010
Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) (click here) is the latest Congressional Black Caucus member to find themselves in the crossfire of the House’ Ethics Committee. She’s facing accusations of helping an African American-owned bank that had ties to her husband. Since the committee already came for Harlem-based Rep. Charlie Rangel, stripping him from his leadership positions, Waters is preparing for the fight by threatening to put the ethics committee itself on notice....

Wait a minute here. He averaged out his income in 2011?

Posted by David Stewart
September 21, 2012 04:10 PM 

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff 

...For political reasons, (click here) Romney claimed a charitable deduction of $1.75 million less than he could have – claiming $2.25 million from contributions of $4 million. The reason, according to his accountant, was so that he could still abide by a pledge he made in August that he paid at least 13 percent in income taxes in each of the last 10 years....

...by a pledge he made in August that he paid at least 13 percent in income taxes in each of the last 10 years....

He manipulated his tax rate for 2011 to MAKE UP for taxes in the previous years less than 13 %?

Joking.

Romney is remorseful for the lack of taxes he paid to the USA government over the past ten years? He is manipulating his returns so he can qualify votes. I am getting this right?

So, his statement that he paid no less than 13% any given year of the past ten isn't that he paid 13%, it is that it was AVERAGED to 13% for low years compared to other higher years where 20.1% may have been paid.

Is this guy for real?

He is manipulating the truth to fool the electorate.

Real simple arithmetic here:

If Romney paid an average of 13% for 10 years it would be a number of 130 divided by 10. If he paid ZERO for three years that would mean he would have only paid more than that in seven years. In other words, 130 divided by 7 equals 18.57%.

Follow that?

If Romney has three years where he paid no taxes that means the only numbers adding up to 130 are seven other years. So, the three years where he paid no income tax doesn't matter to the 130 total number.

It gets more interesting though.

If Romney states he paid 20.1% as the highest rate he ever paid then there was more than three ZERO years. As a matter of fact, he probably got money back which would enter a negative number into the mix. Now, the 20 percent is in the 20 year summary, so we don't know if that 20% was in the last ten years, but, I guarantee you the income tax returns since the slide started in 2007 until the recovery in 2009 are probably ZERO paid and / or monies returned to him. This is his personal finances now.

It is my guess Romney not only has at least three years of ZERO taxes paid in the past ten years, but, negative (-) taxes with refunds as well.

Does that matter?

Wouldn't he expect it to matter? The USA Treasury is not a charity whereby one year 'the giving' is higher to make a pledge made to the electorate since August 2012. That is manipulative and dishonest. Now, I want to know what the taxes SHOULD HAVE BEEN for Romney with all his deductions including $1.75 million he left off his returns.

Why?

Because he can later go back and refile and get those monies back, that's why.

The nine percent in the article of the actual tax rate he would have incurred if he took all his charitable donation is not necessarily the actual rate. We don't know what he may have deliberately left off because he 'takes license' with his tax reporting year to year. His tax reporting is not honest. He pays the minimum of what is required of him under law, but, he could file higher rates when he choose to by leaving out deductions in a variety of ways.

He isn't honest. He skirts the system for his own aggrandizement to add 'capital' to his personal esteem and / or his political ambitions. He isn't honest in any of his dealings. He conveniently lies even about his tax returns. Wow.

Romney writes his own rules.

...Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, paid an effective rate of 20 percent in 2011 on $323,416 of adjusted gross income.

President Obama paid an effective tax rate of 20.5 percent in 2011 on adjusted gross income of $789,674. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife paid an effective rate of 23.2 percent on income of $379,035....

I post this with caution, but, from what I am learning about Michael Shuman he sounds to good to be true.

This is the link to Amazon for this book (click here)

I state caution because these are big ideas with big decisions and those decisions should never be taken lightly. I would think a business plan should be in place long before anyone tinkers with the idea of moving personal monies around.

Local Dollars, Local Sense (click here)

Michael Shuman

February 2012

Americans’ long-term savings in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, pension funds, and life insurance funds total about $30 trillion. But not even 1 percent of these savings touch local small business—even though roughly half the jobs and the output in the private economy come from them. So, how can people increasingly concerned with the poor returns from Wall Street and the devastating impact of global companies on their communities invest in Main Street?...

Don't forget that number. $30 Trillion is a lot of money. That is what the INVESTMENTS of many, many Middle Class people have as nest eggs.

The entire title of the book is this:

"Local Dollars, Local Sense: How to Shift Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity--A Community Resilience Guide"

I haven't gotten through this book yet, but, anyone that regularly visits this blog knows I advocate for local economies in every way to secure the USA from such economic hardships  such as the Great Depression and the Great Recession / Depression of 2008. If nothing else, I like very much the idea of a community based plan for entrepreneurs willing to build economies.

I am going to hear him speak. I hope he has insight for everyone attending. It is a members only event and that should present a 'clue' as to how to begin such ideas.

I think of this type of initiative as revitalizing local American economies. Local cities and counties could easily harness this movement and return people to work with advanced planning. I would expect a cooperative of people, if you will, to seek the interest of their local governments to facilitate their ambitions; not through monies necessarily, but, through effective zoning placing upstart enterprises in optimal locations for their success.

I would also expect anyone or any group of people coming together to carry out increases in local economies by starting new businesses to be involved with management at the very least and 'sweat equity' during hours or days in employee and customer interaction. So this is not a passive investment. I suppose it could be, but, I would not recommend that; at least until the economic opportunity was running well and practically by itself. I think owners should be involved with local economies and not passive investors that lose contact and influence as the economy grows only to be outsourced again. Follow?

I would also expect these ventures could take on substantial local manufacturing making televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, etc. I would expect unions to be welcome with the idea they would help build expertise in educating their employees to assist the company to grow. I would expect the union to understand and advocate for the employees. I would also expect unions to be open to the possibility of deferring some union dues to stock options in the company with active interests in its success.

This is not a dreamscape. It is possible and can be profitable. So, this book and the author's interest in speaking to small groups of people at the local level is more than interesting to me. He is putting 'sweat equity' into the advancement of success of his book, but, also the message he is advocating. I like that.

George W. Bush maintained his standing with southern Labor by appearing at his ranch with chainsaws.

There were times when that got him in trouble. I would like to point out also President Obama removed the burden of having to employ COUNCIL to handle lawsuits about White House Logs regarding visitors. I mean there are huge difference between the Obama White House and the previous Republican administrations when it comes to transparency.

This is a picture of Bush with a chainsaw on his ranch in Texas. The man in the background is Stephen Payne. So Dana Perino was more than evasive about Payne given the exposure he had to Bush.

There were a lot of reasons for secrecy during that administration and it wasn't necessarily about national security either.

I would suggest looking over guest logs of Senate and House candidates, especially in close races, to find out how transparent they are with their Guest Logs.

White men that do physical labor in the south have a strong core identity of camaraderie. That comes, in some but not all instances, from their spiritual side. But, it also comes with drinking libations. I find much of what southern white men do to find their identity among each other as 'still superficial' while so much of the nation on the east and west coast have moved past that over time. But, that is a female perspective, if you know what I mean. I am sure most feminists remember the old complaint or at least have read about the history of "My husband and I just don't have anything in common" (ie: Venus and Mars and I am not talking telescopes.)

Ya know come to think of it...hm...I lived, traveled and socialized in a lot of places in this country.

Elizabeth Warren needs to openly own her Choctaw heritage.

Miss Choctaw Nation (click here) Cheyenne Murray; Junior Miss, Cheyenne Shomo and Little Miss, Josephine Gilmore will represent our tribe this year as our royalty. For more information, pictures, winners, etc., follow the link to see results.

She is from Oklahoma and the Choctaw are tribes in Oklahoma. She should talk to that.

Six Oklahoma State University students to benefit from $350,000 Choctaw Nation endowment (click here)

I don't know that much about the Choctaw nation, but, I do know about The Trail of Tears and the hardship caused to these people because of it.

The picture to the article cited has some fairly pale members of the Choctaw nation. 

Elizabeth needs to talk about what she loves about her heritage whenever it comes up. I am quite confident she is proud of it, but, OWN IT. The Choctaw nation she is a member will appreciate being embraced as well.

Oh, the pictures of the young ladies? They are the princesses. Wait, I'll get that notice. There ya go, Miss Choctaw Nation. NOW, the picture is complete.

I've been to Oklahoma by the way. I have friends there. High School friend. Actually we were best friends. She was valedictorian of our class. She went to college and then got this really great job with Mobile. At least I think it is Mobile. Close to retirement now, if not already. She opens and closes the place. No lie. She is usually the first one on site and the last to leave. She is brilliant and loves to work. She met a dentist and they have a family. But, the tone of Oklahoma reflects the pride the state it has in its strong Native American Indian culture.

As I drove into Oklahoma the first thing I saw was the large Tipi in the rest area. I had not seen that anywhere else and it was something I had to turn around and take a picture of. Nice people in Oklahoma. I still have that picture by the way. I had my children with me for the visit so the Tipi was a fun stop.

I don't want to appear to be a know it all, but, I have a history in Massachusetts. I lived in the area off and on. First southern New Hampshire where I worked primarily in Lowell. I worked with the community regarding health care. Was one of the first to infuse gamma globulin to children testing positive for HIV in the minority community there. Troubling is the word I would use regarding that community. They really did have a language barrier which I strongly believe caused larger numbers to be HIV positive. They simply didn't know. 

But, that is not the point. There are four polls out of Massachusetts and the one reflecting a edge by Brown makes sense to me. Couple of reasons.

...The GOP incumbent is beating Warren by a 50-44 percent margin (click here) among registered Bay State voters, a turnaround from the last University of Massachusetts Lowell/Herald poll nine months ago that had the Democratic challenger leading by seven points. Among likely voters, Brown is leading the Harvard Law professor by a 49-45 percent margin, just within the poll’s 5.5 percent margin of error....

The most obvious, of course, from my experience in Lowell is the language barrier among minority voters. Also being sure those people vote this election cycle. But, the other thing is these folks are hard working people. They do LABOR and if there exists a language barrier or CULTURAL barrier of any kind it would be reflected by the 'visual choice' of 'the man in the pick up truck.' The reason Brown calls Elizabeth 'professor' is try to distance her from 'his exclusive constituency' which is enamored with his pick up truck, regardless of his violation of their trust by siding with Wall Street in crony relationships. "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." If that is not evident in Scott Brown I don't know what is.

Elizabeth is a good egg. She sincerely loves the people of Massachusetts and would be a great Senator for them. My only thought. Get your hands dirty, Elizabeth. Work in the garden, plant some vegetables. She should show people she is not above anyone's life work or experience in seeking to represent them.

Planting fall-blooming bulbs: Spring gets all the attention, to be sure, but some bulbs bloom in fall, and they're gorgeous and easy to grow — and they're a wonderful sight to behold when the gardening year is winding down. Among this group are the autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale — no relation to true crocuses — or Crocus speciosus), winter daffodil (Sternbergia),Guernsey lily (Nerine bowdenii), saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), and even a species of snowdrops (Galanthus reginae-olgae). If your local garden center doesn't have these, look for them in specialty bulb catalogs or on gardening Web sites.

This may not be a blind sheikh, but, what doubt exists regarding treatment of terrorists in this administration?

There isn't any statement that is going to satisfy the USA Political Right Wing. Why bother?
They are more desperate than I have ever witnessed before and this is the result. Since when does anyone in the USA take orders from Egypt.
If Egypt's Morsi is asking for the release of a proven murderer and terrorist, then mybe Egypt isn't an ally after all.
Posted: Sep 20, 2012 5:51 PM EDTUpdated: Sep 20, 2012 5:51 PM EDT

Former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey (click here) on Wednesday called on the White House and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to issue a firm denial, without caveat, on whether the State Department is considering transferring Omar Abdel Rahman, also known as the "Blind Sheikh," into  Egyptian custody.

Though State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Tuesday said there is no plan to "release" the Blind Sheikh and that, to her knowledge, no "senior" Egyptians had made the request "recently," Mukasey told Fox News' Megyn Kelly the denial was indeed filled with caveats.

"I think the denials ought to come from the White House and from the secretary of state. And they ought to be flat, clear and unequivocal. Nothing about recently, nothing about senior leaders, nothing that leaves any door open," Mukasey said....
One might recall who was involved in the beginnings of the new politicalmovement in Egypt. Remember? I do. A man long trusted in international affairs.

Remember this guy? He is still around. Alive and well.
He would like more variety in the candidates in the future. His politicalstatement recently was "There could be a new emperor." Something tells me he is not taking things with a grain of salt.
The Nobel peace prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei has launched a new political party in Egypt. (click here)
28 April 2012 Last updated at 10:59 ET

The Constitution Party marks a return to public life for Mr ElBaradei, who is a former head of the IAEA, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog.

But the new party's launch comes too late for it to field a candidate in next month's presidential election.

Mr ElBaradei said its aim was to unite Egyptians behind democracy, and to take power in four years time.

He told reporters that the new party would be above ideology, and was keen to avoid labelling it as "liberal".

But the BBC's Jon Leyne says it is clearly designed to challenge Islamist politicians who were the big winners in parliamentary elections earlier this year, and who could soon win the presidency....
Revolution and paradigm changes to create democracy is not a Hollywoodscript. It is not neat and understandable. Democracies are chaotic, especiallywhen they were begun after a revolution as occurred in Egypt.
If Morsi mentioned the Blind Sheik in a speech, well, then welcome to the USA Political Right Wing that does nothing but make inflammatory speeches. It isfreedom of speech. At least that is what the courts are saying these days.
So, if the Republicans, like that Congressman from New York, wants to runaround chanting the President is a traitor then I suppose it is allowed, but, it sure does make most people wonder if the GOP has their heads screwedon at all and not just screwed on straight.
By the way, did Morsi show his birth certificate before the Egyptian elections? The long form. The conclusive one.
But, then again, I doubt if Egypt has any 'birthers', BUT, they might have afew 911 Truthers.
Omar Abdel-Rahman was born in Egypt on May 3, 1938. He is 74 years old and has served less than thirty years for his crimes. I imagine he is still in good health.I sincerely doubt Egypt wants him back. It was more or less a statement in defiance of the USA. I suppose. Foot stamping is the way I think about such things.World Tourists massacred at temple (click here)
Monday, November 17, 1997 Published at 19:28 GMT  ...Other reports say the death toll at the temple of Hatshepsut, near Luxor, could rise as high as 75, with up to 85 others injured.
The Islamic extremist group, Jamaa Islamiyya, is reported to have admitted responsbility for the attack.
Islamic militants have often targeted tourists since they took up arms in 1992 to topple the government and set up a purist Islamic state.
Luxor, about 310 miles (500 km ) south of Cairo, had previously been spared attacks by militants who have strongholds in other parts of southern Egypt....
Rahman was the leader of the Jamaa Islamiyya. He is an extremist with very violent ideas. He plans attacks that murder without a second thought. He is not the type of person the USA would ever consider for a prisoner exchange, even Mubarak, and Egypt should be more than pleased he is behind bars.Morsi needs to rise above all the temptations of power and allow the former President to leave Egypt for treatment. The former President Mubarak should be allowed to be as healthy as Rahman, at the very least. It is called human rights and Morsi needs to hold that idea in high esteem in his new leadership.