Good decision.

By Mark Trumbull, Staff writer / February 1, 2013
Republican Scott Brown (click here) won't vie for US Senate seat vacated by John Kerry of Massachusetts, he said Friday. His decision increases the likelihood the seat will stay in Democratic hands.

Oh. Why is it a good decision? He proved he isn't a GOP puppet. You know, Pavlov's dog. Always salivating for the first bone the GOP throws him. I think it is admirable. He put some thought into it. A real move away from extremism. Stop and realize what his last campaign was like. Anyone really want that? At least Brown may be more sane than anyone thought.

I mean he sold out,too. He sold out to big money and I doubt he will have a problem with his future wealth. Why bother? He has a lot of back peddling to do. He has to prove somewhere, somehow he didn't deserve to lose. He lost. Why run again, especially considering the tone and evidence of his time served. Can he hold a candle to the man he replaced? Answer that and then realize who he is looking at in the mirror.

Does anyone actually think Ted Kennedy had no use for Wall Street? His family owned an oil interest. Ted never put any insurance company out of business in Massachusetts when he advocated for the state's responsibility to the citizen. He wasn't interested in destroying Wall Street. He didn't believe they were everything to the country and they aren't, nor should they be, but he did find benefit in having those companies here on USA soil. I am quite sure he was more than miffed at what occurred with the global economic collapse. He would never look the other way and would expect those responsible be held to ridicule.

So, while Mr. Brown took his seat for a short while, it doesn't mean he ever filled those shoes.

Okay, we all know what followed the last time.

I wish there were fitness tests for the banks long about now. I also want the Republicans to take a good look at how successful the Obama Administration has been.

...Dow closes above 14,000 for first time since 2007. (click here)

An encouraging U.S. jobs report propelled blue-chip stocks to their highest level since October 2007 on Friday, closing above the closely watched 14,000 bulwark as investors momentarily sidelined their concerns about the recovery....

President Obama has a plan for the country and I hope he expands on comments during his State of the Union address, he made a few weeks where he alluded to a real strategy for recovery and growth. The country needs to pay attention, the Obama Administration has the country on a strong economic path. The country will pay attention even if the Republicans don't and are caught up in their own dysfunctional politics.

If President Obama provides them proof of past recovery and the path forward the people will pay attention and the confidence issue will disappear. 

It is a diffcult story to read. They are very brave people, a magnificent couple and dedicated to their children.They have every reason to be proud of their parenting. Every reason.

By SUSANNAH MEADOWS
Published: February 1, 2013

...A month after our first appointment,(click here) we went to see Philip Kahn, a pediatric rheumatologist at NYU Langone Medical Center, who gave Shepherd a diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (J.I.A.), an autoimmune disease that causes painful swelling in the joints. J.I.A. can lead to stunted growth, disability and, rarely, blindness....

Not all juvenile arthritis is the same. I wish pharmaceutical companies were more involved with universities to facilitate break through. For all the fuss over embryonic tissue and research with stems cells, the benefits of a benevolent society would be solving the problems of the children already here.

...Researchers have identified (click here) changes in several genes that may influence the risk of developing juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Many of these genes belong to a family of genes that provide instructions for making a group of related proteins called the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex. The HLA complex helps the immune system distinguish the body's own proteins from proteins made by foreign invaders (such as viruses and bacteria). Each HLA gene has many different normal variations, allowing each person's immune system to react to a wide range of foreign proteins. Certain normal variations of several HLA genes seem to affect the risk of developing juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and the specific type of the condition that a person may have....

I realize sometimes genetic treatment means one treatment and success, so there is not a lot of reason for pharmaceutical companies to invest, but, prices for that one treatment can be bargained for reimbursement with insurance companies. Drugs are expensive and if we are to successfully move into the future the savings for the elimination of pharmaceuticals is astronomical. It is easily justified to pay for treatments that minimize the suffering and return quality of life to any person and family.

Gen. Eric Shinseki from 02.25.03. Did the media not 'GET IT' or what?

The minute I find a personal flaw in my assessment I'll admit to it. Promise. I must not love my country enough either. Fear and killing is so much more comforting.

So why we seek the end of gun violence in the USA, did everyone notice there are reports that Iran is restarting their nuclear program. What an opportunity to bring out the domestic angels and the foreign policy demons to balance the public psychi, isn't it?

In a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency, (click here) Tehran said it would introduce new centrifuges to its main enrichment plant near the central town of Natanz, according to an IAEA communication to member states seen by Reuters.

AHhhhhh, here comes nuclear holocaust right along with the appearance of bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran. Perfect timing.

I think the Boston Globe actually put some thought into it:

...The disclosure came (click here) amid high regional tension, a day after US officials said Israeli warplanes struck deep inside Syrian territory....would add to regional uncertainties...there was no immediate indication that the timing of Iran’s note to the IAEA was related to the events in Syria.

Ya think? I wonder why some came out in criticism of Israel. Hm? I wonder why that was?

...President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran first hinted publicly that Iranian scientists were conducting research to make these machines in 2006. According to news reports, Tehran began testing prototype centrifuges in 2010....

Not exactly earthshaking, is it? It was expected and the letter is a diplomatic formality to the IAEA so other nations have no reason for invasion. I'll be darn. I think a letter like that is called INTENTIONS.

The inflammatory media mess is dangerous. No different than when Iran stated everytime there are inspections of their facilities their scientists are assassinated. Why should Iran cooperate with inspections if afterwards their scientists are killed? No one thinks the scientists have replacements? What is the point in bring about a culture of fear? What are the results and how misinformed are the people of the USA anyway? I think they are considerably misinformed in matters of war and military involvement.

The culture of violence exists in the USA in disproportionate amounts, no different than the country's military budget.

"I wish Bush was back, long skirts that come to the ankle and lots of guns and bomb talk. I felt so much better than with Obama.

The Beyonce issue was MANUFACTURED by the media. I think it can be titled "Spoilers." Everyone is a suspect in plain sight. Get your gun. It started when someone didn't hear the band playing in the same way as before and tweeted the stupid observation. I mean, so what. Boyonce's performance was deceptive? Really? Oh, I know, it was treasonous or some stupid idea of fun.

There are two Americas.

Forbid he didn't prep and perform to media standard.

The entrenchment of fear from the past decade, including as it manifests in gun control is all to obvious.

Pathetic.

The medias timidity is palpable.

Yes or now answers. McCain has the media prowess correct. No complexity, keep it simple. No doubt in my mind.

Unbelievable. Is the American reading level still at the 8th grade or has it deteriorated since Bush?

Senator Hagel was correct when telling Senator Nelson he wanted to speak to McCain's attacks.

There have been many a Senate Committee meeting where hostile questions by one member or another was opened to the floor by yet another member of the committee.

After McCain attacked Senator Hagel yesterday and Senator Nelson provided a window for him to address his service to the country; Senator Hagel was correct to direct the time allowed to answer the hostility leveled at him. It would have been allowed for Senator Nelson to simply ask Senator Hagel if he wanted time to redress previous questions. If the answer was no, then Senator Nelson could have directed the question is ultimately asked. But, the courtesy to extend the nominees remarks usually occurs.

The media is, no doubt, going to back the status quo and treat the answers by Senator Hagel as a social event rather than Military Lobby attack that it was. For bid, Hagel should not have been politically correct in all his verbiage.

What issue divided them? (click here)
The war in Iraq, which Hagel opposed from the get-go, earning himself a place on the "axis of appeasement'' compiled by the neoconservative magazine The Weekly Standard. In 2002, Hagel delivered a thunderous speech on the Senate floor warning that "imposing democracy through force is a roll of the dice." The U.S., he said, did not truly understand the factional divisions among Iraq's Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. He then voted to authorize military action in Iraq — a vote he attributed to his loyalty to the office of the presidency. As the war spun out of control, Hagel became an ever-fiercer critic of the Bush administration. He voted against extending the Patriot Act in 2005, and led opposition in the Senate to the Iraq surge of 2007, calling it the "most dangerous foreign-policy blunder in this country since Vietnam."

It was and the Republicans continue to focus on it as a bragging point. It isn't. The death rate of innocents and soldiers escalated until enough Iraqis died to dilute their opposition to the USA Occupation. Bush changed his strategy after the Iraq Study Group findings to stay and cement his legacy rather than admit he was "W"rong and redraw troops in a "W"rongful war. Due to the fact Republicans hung their hat on the invasion they focus on The Surge as a real strategy rather than a killing field. Neocons have to be correct in everything the do, you know, otherwise they might have to admit the USA's overwhelming military presence in the world is overkill and nations invaded suffer from American politics and not national security.

The day of The Pentagon Papers are gone. The media runs in retreat since the Bush years, so don't expect any media service to do anything except uphold "The Mind Speak" which is the drum beat to war. They beat the drums into Iraq, they are poised to do it again and they will while waving the American flag when they should be waving a white one in surrender of the truth.

The Vietnam war was the Johnson Surge which cost over 50,000 American men their lives. Johnson eventually would state the war was unwinnable after the death of at least one million Vietnamese. But, hey, has know the bottom line of Bell Helicopter was great.

The word unwinnable never appears in the media anymore. The word doesn't exist. I am fairly sure it has been removed from the US media dictionary. All the American people need to know is that Beyonce is legit. That's all and we are great people for healing the wounded warriors and seeing the American flag over coffins in Dover.

by Peter Beinart Feb 1, 2013 4:45 AM EST
The only people (click here) who performed more poorly at Chuck Hagel’s hearing yesterday than Hagel himself were the senators who questioned him. Again and again, they delivered bloviating, tendentious monologues and then cut Hagel off when he tried to reply. “I don’t want to interrupt you,” explained New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte, before interrupting him. When Hagel asked if he could respond to Ted Cruz’s lengthy insinuation that he was dishonest, if not corrupt, the newly elected Texas senator said there wasn’t time....

The practice of appeasement continues. Where did I put that American flag anyway? Did it get burned? Oh, well, I think I still have the Bush effigy somewhere though.

The Jewish Lobby is still arguing among themselves. Could the Supreme Court be next?

Center in picture is Steve Rosen
April 26, 2012

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals (click here) issued a ruling this morning upholding the dismissal of a defamation lawsuit filed against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) by former employee Steven Rosen, who was fired following his arrest on espionage charges in 2005.

The charges were later dismissed, but Rosen sued AIPAC in District of Columbia Superior Court in 2009, claiming that statements AIPAC made to the press about him were defamatory; AIPAC had said that Rosen's behavior didn't comport with standards the lobbying group expected of employees. A trial judge granted AIPAC summary judgment in early 2011, and Rosen appealed.

In today's opinion (PDF), a three-judge appeals panel agreed with Superior Court Judge Erik Christian's finding that AIPAC's statements weren’t based on facts that could be verified objectively, and as a result couldn’t be "provably false," a standard for defamation claims....

The Israel Lobby gone wild (click here)

AIPAC staffers looking at porn and cruising for sex on Craigslist, according to allegations in court filings

BY JUSTIN ELLIOTT
WEDNESDAY, NOV 17, 2010 07:01 AM EST
The latest shot in a long-running legal battle between AIPAC and Steven Rosen, a former top official at the pro-Israel group, reveals that AIPAC staffers regularly looked at Internet porn in the office, and that the married Rosen allegedly cruised for gay sex on Craigslist, according to new court filings....

...“Q” here is an attorney for AIPAC, and “A” is Rosen.

Q How often would you browse for pornographic websites?

A I thought I answered that earlier. It varied a great deal. There were …

Q Daily?

A There were times where I viewed pornographic images daily. There were other times where I didn’t view them at all for long blocks of time.

Q And you know we have a copy of your hard drive, correct?

A I assumed it. I didn’t really know that.

Q And for how many years did you do this?

A That I really don’t know....

 ...Q When is the first time you viewed pornographic material using the    company computers at work?

    A I don’t know.

    Q You have no idea?

    A No. Mr. McCally, I have no idea. worked there 23 years. I really don’t know....

Rosen should have sued Bush for attempting to get leverage over AIPAC. At the very least it was sloppy prosecution, but, is the shoot from the hip Bush Administration's action any different here than when they justified their wrongful war into Iraq.

AIPAC felt targeted by U.S., new filings show (click here)

Thursday, December 23, 2010

It was a case that transfixed the pro-Israel community: the August 2005 arrest on espionage charges of two senior officials at AIPAC, the most influential pro-Israel group in Washington.

Before the government dropped the case in May 2009 — amid questions of whether the officials actually committed a crime by talking to Israeli officials about classified information one of them had received alleging an Iranian plot against Israelis stationed in Iraq — AIPAC fired the two men: foreign policy chief Steve Rosen and Iran analyst Keith Weissman.

Now the battle is on to clear their names.

Rosen has filed a defamation lawsuit demanding $20 million from AIPAC, and new court filings last week shed light on a key element of the case: Before firing the two senior staffers, AIPAC prepared a robust defense of them that alleged a conspiracy inside U.S. government agencies to target pro-Israel groups....