There needs to be an investigation of the cruise industry.

Their ships are more than a worry. The industry carries thousands of people in oceans and there is little reassurance the voyages will result with a good ending. This is not the time of the Titanic, it is 2013 and while ships take a long time to build there are reassurance needed to be identified to end the problems. The problems keep reoccurring. Illnesses of norovirus and ship breakdowns. This is nonsense.

Norovirus is transmitted from fecally contaminated food. It speads easily among people in crowded conditions. It is airborne and contaminates 'fomite.'

There is a new word for you. It is a medical term. Formite is an object (as a dish or an article of clothing or a counter top or table top or table cloth or sink) that may be contaminated with infectious organisms and serve in their transmission contained.

The industry can do better. The hygiene of staff and passengers need to be encouraged. Hand cleaners should be easily visible at convenient locations throughout the ship and its operations for all people.

But worried most about his episode was the ship itself. It was reported by passengers they witnessed listing. It would list to the left, then to the right. The engine was vital to it's stability in the ocean waters. I realize this ship was disabled following a severe storm, but, that makes the concern greater.

The USA Coast Guard Cutter was at the side of the ship to reassure passengers, but, in reality what were they suppose to do if the ship lost it's ballast in the ocean? The listing of the ship is a major worry. These ships are top heavy. Their displacement is not that deep compared to its entire mass. The cruise ships rely on their engine to maintain an upright status.

The need for engine redundancy is obvious, however, there is no reassurance even two engines will not fail given the fact they may not be well maintained and/or serviced while at sea. Diesels are great engines, but, they are worry, too.

They are reliable as long as there is sufficient care of their operations.

#1. A clean intake system and air filter.
#2. Regular oil changes.
#3. Keeping a log of oil consumption.
#4. Watching for excess smoke in the exhaust.

There also has to be more than adequate electrical system that is basically fool proof. Submarines have exceptional electrical systems for their crews' safety. It makes little sense for anything less in cruise ships. 

Thousands of people. If one actually sunk or a fire resulted in severe damage to the ship's structural integrity, it would be a disaster. That would end the confidence the public has to 'Cruise.' Even with all the perks that comes with a disappointed and compromised passenger, the public would be finished with it.

So, the industry has to do better.

The Coast Guard Cutter was where it needed to be, but, that also ties up a vital component to USA coastal security. There are drug cartels loving these breakdowns, too. We have half-subs and submarines to worry about coming from drug cartels. That is important, too.

Carnival Triumph cruise passengers getting free booze as crippled, stranded 'shantytown' ship is pulled toward Mobile, Ala. (click here)

BY DAVID BOROFF / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published Wednesday, February 13, 2013 

As a crippled Carnival Cruise ship limps toward land in the U.S., crew members are trying to deal with the terrible conditions by handing out free booze, a relative of one of the stranded passengers said...

Those young faces behind President Obama became very somber and quiet when he started to speak about violence. He is obviously impressing values on them. It is great speech.

FOX News should have a new motto. My suggestion, "Whichever way the wind blows"

Drop the fair and balanced stuff, it is just a lie. There is no fairness if all that exists are lies and fantasy. There is no balance if all the talking heads speak only Mind Speak to 'power up' Republican Push Button electorates.

In case no one 'gets it.' Those are trial balloons. That is all FOX and the Right Wing Media does with at least 75% of their material. They fly trial balloons to find what will work with the electorate for the GOP. 

That is all they do and when they find 'something' that works for the Right Wing, regardless of the harm to the nation, they go with it. Baseless as it might be, they have a methodology to find deception that works for the GOP.

It is an understood feedback loop between the Republicans, GOP, Rove, FOX and the Right Wing Media that causes gross dysfunction in the USA and endangers citizens . 

Lindsay Graham floated the political trial balloon that President Obama didn't make the early morning call to Benghazi. He makes these hideous statements for political fodder, not because it has relevance or brevity for the nation. The Graham statement was directly taken from the "3AM Phone Call" that is famously linked to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. So, it was a political attack on Clinton to benefit the Republicans. FOX then picks up on the political fodder and floats it on their airwaves.

This hurts the nation and provides legitimacy to myth and irrelevant banter. Whether the President made a phone or not has no relevance to the Benghazi attacks. The USA military was already responding by sending in unarmed drones to begin intelligence that didn't exist. There was no intelligence to deploy troops or send in planes or plan any retaliation.

Lindsay Graham knows full well, as does Inhofe, that their objections to any of President Obama's nomination is nothing but politics regardless of the danger they place the nation. FOX only facilitates that danger and they will continue to do the same if nothing is done to end it. The purpose to the statements and obstruction by Republicans is dangerous to the USA.

Posted by Eric Sandy on Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 7:24 AM

The Federal Aviation Administration (click here) released documents earlier this month that reveal drone authorization approved for the Medina County Sheriff's Office, Lorain County Community College, the Ohio Department of Transportation and other area institutions and offices.

But don't expect much action on that front anytime soon. While Scene is awaiting contract information and detailed plans from the agencies, typical civilian drones clock in around one or two pounds and serve training purposes (via law enforcement) or studying purposes (colleges and universities)....


This information about unarmed drones is all over the Right Wing Media, including NewsMax and The Washington Times, but, appears nowhere in Main Stream Media. It is also quoted by RT from those same sources. I would expect if this information carried brevity it would be everywhere.

Boeing Scan Eagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) (AFP Photo / Sgt Guadalupe M. Deanda III)

Jim Williams, (click here) the chief of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Office, spoke at a drone convention outside of Washington, DC this week and reassured his audience that the missile-equipped Predator and Reaper drones that have become a hallmark of America’s foreign wars won’t be allowed stateside anytime soon.

“We currently have rules in the books that deal with releasing anything from an aircraft, period. Those rules are in place and that would prohibit weapons from being installed on a civil aircraft,” Mr. Williams told the crowd in Tysons Corner, Virginia, where people from across the world have gathered this week to attend an event sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.

More fantasy from FOX News.

What sources, because CNN had sources on the ground in Benghazi, too. So there is nothing magic here.

...Fox News has learned from sources (click here) who were on the ground in Benghazi that an urgent request from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. consulate and subsequent attack several hours later on the annex itself was denied by the CIA chain of command -- who also told the CIA operators twice to "stand down" rather than help the ambassador's team when shots were heard at approximately 9:40 p.m. in Benghazi on Sept. 11....

FOX's claim there is no information coming forward about Benghazi is a LIE. Their own reporting proves that. So, what is the point to the complaint, except, for political rhetoric? There is no basis for the complaints by Senate Republicans regarding the nominations for President Obama. There is political fodder. There are no facts to bear out the complaint. If FOX wants more transparency than their own reporting provides, talk to Wolf Blitzer, they might learn something and pass it on to Lindsay Graham and Inhofe. Graham and Inhofe don't seem to learn from anyone else what facts actually are.

Oh, wait, FOX is looking for the transparency that doesn't exist the Republicans are calling a cover up. Oh, I forgot about the fantasy transparency.

If FOX wants that transparency, then the talking heads simply need to look through their window and they find it. It exists in THE AIR and nowhere else.

Oh, FOX is still chancing the Susan Rice fantasy. How many times does the nation have to hear THE INTELLIGENCE was not sufficient. How many times does the nation need to hear about Italian air bases and unarmed drones? When is this news agency actually going to be an asset to the nation rather than nothing more then trouble makers for the their own ratings purpose?

Those who have accused (click here for Daily Show video) the Obama administration of a cover up in the wake of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi are "dead wrong, and they are in fact doing a disservice to those we lost," U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said Thursday on the "Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

"Those that have accused"? Who exactly is that? Because if I read my tea leaves correctly, it is those with a political chip in the game. So, what is the point? What does this accomplish? Ratings? I mean where is the relevance in all this junk?

FOX is attempting to minimize the deaths at Sandy Hook Elementary School

Bill Hemmer stated, "...my understanding of Sandy Hook was that there was only a 30 bullet clip found there. But, that was the only 30 bullets."

There is no social conscience at FOX.

In other words there were no 100 bullet drum at Sandy Hook so there is no analogy to the Colorado massacre.

Excuse me?

The first analogy are the dead people. The second analogy is the fact there were military style weapons in both instances.


- Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06, female (click here)
- Daniel Barden, 9/25/05, male
- Rachel Davino, 7/17/83, female.
- Olivia Engel, 7/18/06, female
- Josephine Gay, 12/11/05, female
- Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06, female
- Dylan Hockley, 3/8/06, male
- Dawn Hochsprung, 06/28/65, female
- Madeleine F. Hsu, 7/10/06, female
- Catherine V. Hubbard, 6/08/06, female
- Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05, male
- Jesse Lewis, 6/30/06, male
- James Mattioli , 3/22/06, male
- Grace McDonnell, 12/04/05, female
- Anne Marie Murphy, 07/25/60, female
- Emilie Parker, 5/12/06, female
- Jack Pinto, 5/06/06, male
- Noah Pozner, 11/20/06, male
- Caroline Previdi, 9/07/06, female
- Jessica Rekos, 5/10/06, female
- Avielle Richman, 10/17/06, female
- Lauren Rousseau, 6/1982, female (full date of birth not specified)
- Mary Sherlach, 2/11/56, female
- Victoria Soto, 11/04/85, female
- Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06, male
- Allison N. Wyatt, 7/03/06, female

The only analogy between bullet drums and the Sandy Hook massacre is the FACT the size of the capacity of these weapons does not matter. There were 12 dead in Colorado, there were far more at Sandy Hook. So, Bill Hemmer's point is what exactly?

How Many People Have Been Killed by Guns Since Newtown? (click here)

Is his point that he can be a wiser man than LaPierre to bring down any gun control in the USA?

NOT! The fact of the matter is neither man has a social conscience and could not care less about the lives of children and their longevity.

If Speaker Boner is looking for Santa Clause he needs to look to his own appropriations.

This definitely what I call a huge MISALLOCATION of funds.

This 2008 document states "...given the uncertainty surrounding the program as of this writing.

So, what the heck, let's blow ONLY $310,000,000 reduced by $139,000,000 on the project anyway. I am sure it will provide enough money to cronies for now. The rest of the $4 Trillion can be an incentive.

While the majority of congressional Republicans (click here) oppose most of the policies President Obama outlined during his State of the Union address Tuesday, House Speaker John Boehner deflected attention away from Republican resistance, challenging Senate Democrats to prove there is support for the president’s proposals.

“The president laid out his agenda and it’s one I largely disagreed with,” Boehner, R-Ohio, said. “It was largely more of the same: more tax hikes, more stimulus spending and the president likes to attack Congress. But if he’s serious about enacting his agenda, I think it must start with a part of this Congress that his party controls, the United States Senate.”

The American people are going to have their say about THEIR treasury monies and how the Republicans love their war machines so much they simply blow money for the sake of elections.

If Speaker Boner wants to talk about Santa Claus he can start with a well polished mirror.

Uncle and Aunt Sam wants YOU !

Republicans can't find their own military budget cuts and the entire nation is suppose to trust their young adults to them?

I don't think.

As a matter of fact, I know they are completely untrustworthy. They want to destroy the Department of Education. The federal government has a long way to go before the American people should ever trust them with all of us and behavior modification.

No Way. This is not your father's country anymore.

Dear God whoever came up with that idea? Johnson and Nixon wasn't enough?

The Cold War is over.

End Draft Registration.

We don't need it.

We never did!

They'd be killed by drones. No way. Ain't goin' ta happen anymore. 

Lindsay Graham and Inhofe are wetting their Depends about now.

Don't tell me how ruthlessly stupid these people are. They allowed service of men in their 60s to serve in a war zone in Iraq. If my memory serves me well, there was a 60 something father that went back to the military when his son enlisted. Why not just blow up the entire family and get it over with. That is unconcionable. The Republicans have no moral compass. They are church moral right up to the point where they aren't.

...Army Maj. Steven Hutchison, 60, (click here) was killed in Iraq on Sunday after a homemade bomb went off near his vehicle in Al Farr, according to the Department of Defense.

Richard Hutchison of Scottsdale told The Associated Press on Thursday that his big brother Steven wanted to re-enlist immediately after the 9/11 attacks, but that his wife Candy didn't want him to....

Mushroom clouds, duct tape, Judy Miller, Curveball. Recalling how Americans were sold a bogus case for invasion. (click here)

—By Jonathan Stein and Tim Dickinson

| September/October 2006 Issue

 CONGRESSIONAL hearing examining the march to war in Iraq, Republican congressman Walter Jones posed "a very simple question" about the administration's manipulation of intelligence: "How could the professionals see what was happening and nobody speak out?"

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff, responded with an equally simple answer: "The vice president."...

A draft? Some people have very short memories. Before a draft ever happens again in the USA, THE DANGER has to be KNOWN and not fantasized.

The fact of the matter is there is no major power that is a threat to the USA, but, they sure put up a great front.

(Since mid-2006, (click here) when the new age limit was established, 665 people over 40 have signed enlistment papers.) Both men see this as a way of growing closer and building common interests. This LA Times video captures the two men during pre-training, enlistment and tearful goodbyes with loved ones.

A draft? Of whom, anyone breathing?

The draft? The USA doesn't do that anymore. There is no need for it.

Military spending on compulsory service of young people is not a Social Program for creating a unified citizen model. 

No, thank you. We don't need the social engineering. Across the board, every war the USA has entered since Vietnam has resulted in veterans against war. I wonder why that is?

The Iraq War provided a new dimension for Shell Shock, called PTSD. I don't think so. That is all we need, an entire nation on medication post military service.

The Draft Registration should be ended!!!!!!!!!!!

Character building belongs with MOM!

That is going to be the new peace movement, END DRAFT REGISTRATION NOW!!!

A military draft will serve the purpose of the GOP to reduce the number of women voters. Please, their imaginations only move in one direction, how to win the next election. If killing women were a legitimate solution they would seek to start the next great war. 

NO! Get over it.

Is Military Draft for Women the Next Change to Come? (click here)

Posted by Jeanne Sager on January 28, 2013 at 3:14 PM

...As it stands, we do not. The announcement last week from Pentagon chief Leon Panetta, lifting the restrictions on women in the military, does not change the methods followed by the Selective Service. But that hasn't stopped people from calling for the change.

After all, if the draft can call our sons to arms, why not our daughters? If one sexist wall has been broken down, why not the next?...

Was Einstein a Republican? That would make an interesting documentary, "How the GOP destroyed their brain trust?"

Warren. You sly dog. You bought Teresa's company.

Buffet still has a few surprise moves ! Going to put some jobs out there, Warren?  The man is a hero. A little investment for the grandchildren?

Teresa Heinz Kerry’s $3 Million in Heinz Stock Grew 20 Percent (click here)

By Jonathan D. Salant & Peter S. Green - Feb 14, 2013 3:54 PM ET

...The $23 billion sale of Heinz valued the stock at $72.50 a share, 20 percent higher than yesterday’s closing price of $60.48....

Every place where Warren Buffet casts his shadow has a following. Go get 'em, Warren. Make people happy. Congratulations. Owning a piece of America's economic heritage has to be an exciting moment.

Concussion. It exploded and set off a concussion of the air. Waves of disturbance. Frequency. I wonder what the frequency of the concussion wave was.

Get for real. This is absolutely related to the 2012 DA14. DA14 is interacting with Earth's gravity that will change it's trajectory. Get for real, it is definitely related.

This was 1500 meteres (less than a 1000 miles) east of Moscow. That is about 55 degrees north latitude. That is very close to 60 and the Earth's atmosphere starts to thin there. 

The air mass nearer the poles has a shorter distance from ground to the top of the troposphere. There is a lot that happens at 60 North Latitude. Winds. It is one of Earth's air mass convergence areas. It might have skidded along a short distance and pushed further north nearer the convergence zone. I'd look at the trajectory of the entering meteor to know how it interacted with Earth. Earth is not a puny mass as a planet. Both were moving fairly fast from the perspective of a collision course. 

Earth is also moving around the Sun at about 67,000 miles per hour. (click here)

The speed of Earth in its trajectory around the Sun was met with a moving object and it was captured in Earth's gravity. It then entered the atmosphere because it does not have the capacity to orbit as the Moon does.

Interesting. I hope all the people will be okay, it sounds as though the government was very reactive to the event. That is a good thing. Congratulations to them.

That air mass considerably irritated the components of that meteor. It hit in pieces. That is a good thing. Wow. There are fragments that entered a water reservoir. I'd fish them out of there. I would worry about the quality of the water. When the meteor is analyzed, it will prove to be connected to DA14. Betcha.

I wonder how much water vaporized on impact. 

The trajectory of the meteor is a good measure for NASA to know their calculations of DA14 is precise. The trajectory is going to wobble because of Earth's gravity. So, precise is good thing.

Photo credit: AP/Nasha Gazeta | A frame grab from a video captures a meteorite contrail in Russia. (Feb. 15, 2013)

...The academy said (click here) in a statement hours after the Friday morning fall that the meteor entered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 kph (33,000 mph) and shattered about 30-50 kilometers (18-32 miles) above ground.

The fall caused explosions that broke glass over a wide area. The Emergency Ministry says more than 500 people sought treatment after the blasts and that 34 of them were hospitalized....

...Interior Ministry spokesman Vadim Kolesnikov said more than 400 people had sought medical treatment after the blasts, and at least three had been hospitalized in serious condition. Many of the injuries were from glass broken by the explosions.

Kolesnikov also said about 600 square meters (6000 square feet) of a roof at a zinc factory had collapsed. There was no immediate clarification of whether the collapse was caused by meteorites or by a shock wave from one of the explosions....