One other thing. About Bo.

The bouncy presidential dog (click here) helps the first lady during a pre-Easter visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

He is a working dog as well as a family pet. He is also a dog and not a human being who might know where to find the nearby toilet. It also means there is staff that has to walk him. Bless the grounds keeper of the White House for making this a priority when Bo needs him.

Michelle Bachmann Trashes OBAMA with Lies but Won't Explain Herself to C...

I congratulate Dana Bash on pursuing very inflammatory remarks by Michele Bachmann. I think the nasty dialogue by Michele needs a conversation rather than simply ridicule. Ms. Bash was correct in pursuing the topic. So, let me pick up where Rep. Bachmann refused to do so.

To begin to click at the title to the entry is a list of White House employees and their salaries by The Washington Post. The year was 2006. The White House hires a lot of people. I think of it as I do an emergency room or flight nurses. We pay them for when they are needed and not just 'on call' for when they might be needed. Why? Because we cannot afford to have them somewhere else doing something else should circumstances arise.

The picture here is a gathering of the President and his executive branch staff including the military the day Osama bin Laden was killed by the US Navy Seal Team Six. They are huddled around all kinds of sophisticated communication devices, including video screens and audio capacity. I know for a fact that the people responsible for playing movies for the First Family when there is leisure time (And of course there is nothing but leisure time for the First Family according to Right Wing media) also are required to maintain the equipment. So, I am quite confident there are not full time employees, security cleared of course, hanging out at the White House to simply 'Push Play.'

In regard to Air Force One and a staff of chefs. The number of people in that aircraft are many. There is at the very least The President, the pilot, the co-pilot, the navigator, the driver to the car that could not read Hebrew and put gas in the Presidential Limo instead of diesel and my guess a few journalists. People eat. And they eat three times a day and they eat American food. I doubt seriously the Brown Bag Lunch the First Lady prepared for her husband before leaving on Marine One would last through an entire trip of the Middle East.

What does that mean?

It means that people are employed for a reasonable work day in the USA. Usually eight hours. In the case of the White House employees I am sure they are available 'On Demand' should the need arrive. But, when one divides 24 hours by 8 hour shifts that means there are at the very least three chefs to staff each one of the shifts. I know that seems indulgent thinking the Prez would have a midnight snack, but, the world has 24 times zones and the entire idea of 8 hour shifts gets a little bizarre at times. I would fully expect there to be an assistant to the lead chef for at least two of those shifts. The White House employees have to be staffed for 24 hours a day and for every day of the year. It requires people and that means there appears to be duplicity in many instances but that sincerely is not the case.

Rep. Bachmann needs to stop targeting the White House as a reasonable place to rant her political nonsense and sincerely focus on her ability to discern what is important in the problems of the USA like supporting The Iron Dome in Israel in the House Budget.

I also thank Lawrence O'Donnell for commemorating the people in the USA that were right about the Iraq invasion. They are great people, they are citizens and they are some of the most dedicated patriots this nation has. Thank you, it was a great moment for The Last Word.

Where is liberty when it comes to the American farmer?

Vernon Hugh Bowman, a 75-year-old Indiana soybean farmer, speaks with reporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, after justices heard oral arguments between Bowman and high-tech agriculture company Monsanto Co. that produces genetically engineered and patented seeds. The case is to consider whether Bowman violated Monsanto’s patents when he planted an unmarked mix of soybeans that he bought from a grain elevator and that is often used for feed. At rear is Bowman's lawyer, Mark Walters. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Monsanto has a monopoly on seeds in the USA. They demand that farmers have to repurchase their seeds from year to year to insure their hold on the market. To hold onto the market share they chronically bioengineer seeds.

by GARY CHITTIM / KING 5 News
Posted on February 26, 2013 at 12:12 PM

...Rancher Maurice Robinette of the Lazy R Ranch near Spokane is watching this case on the other side other side of the country. (click here)

Robinette, a cattle rancher, also has a beef with Monsanto. He markets his cattle as GMO free and feeds them only GMO-free alfalfa grown on his ranch. But he is concerned that if a neighbor decides to use Monsanto's GMO 'Roundup Ready' seeds, they could blow into his field. Robinette said if that happens, he could lose his GMO-free status.

We contacted Monsanto about those concerns and a spokesman told there has never been a case when a farmer or rancher lost 'Organic' or 'GMO Free' status because of Monsanto seeds invading their fields. The entire Monsanto statement is printed below.

Walters said the Supreme Court Justices peppered him with hard questions but they seemed to understand the plight of the small farmer who cannot afford top priced seed for all off-season crops....

The idea there has never been loss of status by a farmer of a certification does not mean it won't happen. It is an argument that should be vacated by the Supreme Court. It will happen. Food Cooperatives in the USA are a larger and larger piece of the market share in the USA and they have a contract too. Their contract is with their memberships to guarantee they are purchasing the foods they seek as pure to their health.

"I am not aware that any producer has ever lost organic certification as a result of the inadvertent presence of seed or pollen from genetically modified crops, alfalfa or otherwise.   We believe farmers should have the opportunity to select the production method of their choice – whether that be organic, conventional or the improved seeds developed using biotechnology. All three production systems contribute to meeting the needs of consumers.  Since the advent of biotech crops over 15 years ago, both biotech and organic crop production have flourished. We have no reason to think that will not continue to be the case."

It is not a valid argument. It is based in dominating the American diet. Monsanto has out lasted its usefulness.

Published on Thursday, January 3, 2013 by Common Dreams

In 2013, Our Fight Against GMO Food Continues (click here)

by Ronnie Cummins

On November 6, in the wake of one of the most expensive and scurrilous smear campaigns in history, six million voters scared the hell out of Monsanto and Big Food Inc. by coming within a razor’s edge of passing the first statewide mandatory labeling law for genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Prop 37, a citizens’ ballot initiative that would have required the mandatory labeling of billions of dollars of genetically engineered (GE) foods and put an end to the routine industry practice of fraudulently marketing GE-tainted foods as “natural” or “all natural,” lost by a narrow margin of 48.6% to 51.4%. Opponents couldn’t claim anything close to a landslide, even though they outspent the pro-labeling campaign almost six to one.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) immediately put a happy face on the narrow victory, repeating its tired old propaganda in a public statement: “Proposition 37 was a deeply flawed measure that would have resulted in higher food costs, frivolous lawsuits and increased state bureaucracies. This is a big win for California consumers, taxpayers, business and farmers.”...

The reason food cooperatives are gaining ground in market share is because the definition of organic and other certifications are not well defined. So, the food cooperatives are setting their own standards such as "GMO Free."

Genetically Modified Seafood: Whole Food, Trader Joe's and Others Vow Not to Sell GMO Fish (click here)

Reuters  |  Posted: 03/20/2013 12:00 am EDT
By Lisa Baertlein

March 20 (Reuters) - Whole Foods Market Inc, Trader Joe's and other food retailers representing more than 2,000 U.S. stores have vowed not to sell genetically engineered seafood if it is approved in the United States, a new advocacy group said on Wednesday.

The announcement from the Campaign for Genetically Engineered-Free Seafood comes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration appears close to approving genetically engineered salmon from Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Technologies.

If it gets final approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the salmon would be the first genetically engineered animal to enter this country's human food supply. The United States already is the world's largest market for foods made with genetically altered plant ingredients....

Wall Street is involved with the definitions of GMO labeled foods. It is corruption. People have a right to know what they are eating.

The Supreme Court will rule on the 'contract' of Monsanto and the real body of the case. The STRICT CONSTRUCTIONISTS will throw out the real issues and focus solely on the WORDS of law.

The USA Farmer is expected to be the loser.

Harry Reid has a "B" rating by NRA.

Brennan Linsley / AP file

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, left, serving as moderator in a debate on gun violence hosted by CELL, the Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab, listens as University of Colorado law professor and panelist David Kopel speaks against gun control legislation in Denver, Tuesday Feb. 19, 2013.

...“This didn’t come from the White House,” Hickenlooper said. (click here)
Hickenlooper's signature came the day after the head of Colorado’s Department of Corrections, Tom Clements, was shot and killed in his home, apparently after he answered a ring at his front door, authorities said....

I don't see Senator Feinstein changing the wording of her bill because of lack of interest by other Senators.

Reid scores B by NRA on pro-gun rights policies (click here)

While widely recognized today as a major political force and as America's foremost defender of Second Amendment rights, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has, since its inception, been the premier firearms education organization in the world. But our successes would not be possible without the tireless efforts and countless hours of service our nearly three million members have given to champion Second Amendment rights and support NRA programs.

What the Grades Mean

A+: A legislator with not only an excellent voting record on all critical NRA issues, but who has also made a vigorous effort to promote and defend the Second Amendment.

A: Solidly pro-gun candidate including voting record.

AQ: A pro-gun candidate whose rating is based solely on the NRA-PVF Candidate Questionnaire and who does not have a voting record.

B: A generally pro-gun candidate; may have opposed some pro-gun reform in the past.

If the death in Colorado of a government official is at all linked to anyone involved with the gun lobby or an activist at all that is treason. Death of a government official with intent to effect the vote of a legislative body or the signature of a Governor is treason .

Now.

It is time to stop the hideous leveraging of the NRA.

Does Michael Steele want his old job back?

I don't want to cost Priebus his job, but, I think he correct. I think he has been doing his homework while Rove continues to believe brainwashing the electorate in faux 'anti' threats to liberty is a joke.

The GOP has neglected THE PEOPLE OF THE USA and counted on lies and political jokes to carry their elections to very important places in the seats of power of the USA. There has been no neighborhood understandings of the country by the GOP. They have sought to leverage power through media.

Does the country believe there is not good news to have the GOP realize what the real problems of the nation actually are? IF that is their intention. If the GOP is going to continue to try to pull the wool over the eyes of a nation based in local organizing without being a part of the solution, it won't happen then either.

The GOP is on the extremes in the USA. They have not got a clue about what Americans are all about. We know they will have turned the corner on understanding the people of the USA when they reject the NRA and find themselves standing at the podium of union meetings. Will that happen? They would be fools and waste their monies if they didn't.

Mar 19, 2013 6:13pm

Michael Steele says he could take Reince Priebus in a steel cage match. (click here)

“Oh, no question, I’d clean his clock,” Steele told radio host Andrea Tantaros, who asked him about that very proposition, The Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard reported today.

This week Steele has been dissing his successor as Republican Party chairman, Reince Priebus, as the Republican National Committee rolls out its party reboot and modernization plan....

In the previous entry is a very unique gift to Barak Hussein Obama. It is extremely symbolic of the relationship of this President of the USA with Israel. It literally embodies that relationship. It is a treasure. President Obama will most likely put it in his library.

The 2000 year old stone is symbolic of President Obama's religion. He is a Christian. The Jewish calendar goes further back in time and I am sure there are older stones in Israel.

The idea Israel and the USA share declarations of independence binds the freedom of their peoples to each other. The technology of the silicon chip is also symbolic of the advanced societies the two share. The gold may have been necessary to the reading of the declarations, but, more than likely it was also to dress up the gift a bit. 

It is a magnificent gift to President Obama. Extremely well thought out and produced. It is sincerely a treasure of respect.

Iran has little time to stop the foolishness.

It is obvious just because there are not bombs falling the commitment between the USA and Israel to stop Iranian military nuclear capacity is going to be stopped.

At this point in his trip to Israel, (click here) President Obama has likely already received his gift from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: a 2,000-year-old stone from Jerusalem embedded with a "gold-coated silicon chip" engraved, in an area of 0.04 square millimeters, with the Israeli and American declarations of independence.

"The etching was done by accelerating charged atoms, called ions, and bombarding them at various points on the surface of the chip," explains Technion-Israeli Institute of Technology, which created the chip at Netanyahu's request. "When an ion beam hits the chip it creates a tiny recess, in this case 20 nanometers deep." Oh. Okay. 

We don't know what Obama brought for Netanyahu, but for the love of God, don't let it be a DVD boxed set.

Having a unique ethnicity to the region of the Middle East does not mean the Shi'ites can have a dangerous capacity to their sovereign nations. They cannot give excuse to their fears to provide real death to others. There is no threat to Iran. Never once, not even in words, has Israel openly threatened Iran. It has been Iran with President Ahmadinejad that have expressed antisemitism and a goal of negating Israel as a country which created these circumstances.

News number: 9107154694
19:00
2013-03-20

President Ahmadinejad congratulated (click here) the nation on the advent of Nowrouz (marking the start of the Iranian New Year), and stated that this year would be full of blessings and honor for the Iranian nation.

"The year 1392 (March 2013-March 2014) will be a year full of honor and blessing and the trend of the country's all-out progress will continue with more speed this year," Ahmadinejad said.

"The Iranian nation's efforts will continue until enemies' complete disappointment and failure and until achieving the dreamed peaks and materializing global justice," President Ahmadinejad noted.

He added that the Iranian nation, which has had the lion share in the creation of civilization and culture in the world, could promote its position and grandeur in the last (Iranian) year....

In an odd manner, Ahmadinejad has tried to say we are the Israel of the Shi'ites. A favored nation to an exclusive ethnicity. But, that approach is causing PROBLEMS in its foreign policies. It is Iran's foreign policy to remove the nation of Israel from the Middle East. That idea, that language belonged in global conversations a century ago and not today. There was no Israel. The people were primarily without a homeland so much as their birth right. And the Jewish people have always been a brilliant and benevolent people. I don't know that you can look into their history and find a violent people, even the Romans hated them while they were enslaved. The only grievance of any Jewish person or people was their steadfast in their love of a single and benevolent god.

The Jewish people have suffered enough during the past 100 years to guarantee they will never be gone from the face of Earth. While the Shi'ites suffered in Iraq, Iran was never toyed with by anyone. Exploited for oil by The West under the Shah, quite possibly. But at no time in Iranian modern history were there ever threatened not to exist by The West or by Israel. As to the aggressions between Sunnis and Shi'ites that has been going for hundreds of years. The West and Israel have nothing to do with that.

So, the USA stands with Israel. Absolutely. But, that does not mean the USA stands against any other nation, including Iran, unless they are going to demand deaths of others and the destruction of nations. That is incomprehensible. The President of Iran has used the idea of destroying Israel as a political volley and overseen progress to that end within the country. Israel has never acted against Iran, but, defensively. There isn't anything else to say. Iran has moved in decisive ways to secure a method to destroy Israel as the politics within that nation has demanded. 

No.

Part of the problem with hunting promotion throughout the USA is urban sprawl. The more people move into the wild lands of the USA, the less hunting land that is available. Just that simple.

Those voting with the Gun Lobby are voting for criminals and they know it.

I read something recently, I think it was in relation to the UN initiative to curb 
illegal weapon sales globally, that gun manufacturers actually can't survive 
without illegal gun sales. That includes Ted Cruz as a supporter of the gun lobby, too.

The article below is not the article I am referring to. If someone in the USA Senate wants to tap some information from the United Nations they will find support for the initiative to ban assault weapons.

If I could wave a magic wand for the gun industry it would returning to TRADITIONAL roles of hunting and the antiques market.

The Republicans have no ideas to enhance the industry in the USA except to remove barriers to illegal sales internationally and increase the numbers of assault weapons being sold. It is where the NRA lives. The ranting about the Second Amendment is a faux face for the industry, both internationally and domestic.

The violence in Mexico and the idea of building a wall is to ATTEMPT to stop invasion of the drug cartels. The drug cartels are already here, ask any inner city mayor. But, the idea a wall along the southern USA border will stop the drug cartels and the gun trafficking into and out of the USA is nonsense. A wall has nothing to do with it. A wall traps Mexican citizens in a hell created by the NRA.

But, the fact of the issue extends beyond the USA borders. There are large amounts of guns sold on the internet and otherwise that supply rebel groups throughout the world. The illegal sales are intricate to the gun industry in the USA. Cutting the USA budget will enhance these illegal sales with lack of enforcement. Those sales then put our cities and citizens at risk. It is no minor component to the problem.

The Gun Industry will find a greater role in the USA if they promote hunting. Hunting has fallen in large measure across the country. Conservationists welcome hunters and recreational fishermen and women. Conservationists know the recreational use of lands help manage wildlife to healthy numbers and protects livestock as well as protects waters and land. Recreational use of our lands is no minor issue and quite frankly some the license fees is dedicated to conservation of our lands. 

The gun industry has been lazy. Very lazy. They have welcomed monies that kill people to their sales of guns. That has to stop. The NRA should never have the stance that killing people is a proper place for weapons anywhere, including the USA. The idea military style guns in the USA protect liberty is a hideous aberration of criminality.

Internet sales and straw purchasers are a real problem to assist in illegal guns sales. It all has to stop and the gun industry has allowed the NRA to be an advocate to commit domestic and international crimes. The idea more guns are better has proven to be wrong and there are domestic and international venues of dead people to prove it.

The illegal sales internationally threaten sovereignty of stable governments. It is ridiculous.

The Gun Lobby Needs to Reinvest Itself Before it is too late
LEADERSHIP

1/14/2013 @ 12:54PM

This article is by Hank Cardello, (click here) a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a consultant to industry, public policy institutes, and government agencies on socially responsible products and practices, and the author of Stuffed: An Insider’s Look at Who’s (Really) Making America Fat.

Last month’s shooting of 26 elementary school children and adults at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school is beyond every parent and child’s worst nightmare. It has horrified the nation. As public outrage over mass shootings mounts, and as policymakers and gun-control activists rail for change, it’s time for gunmakers to do some soul-searching. If watching their products fall into the hands of dangerous people isn’t enough to move them, their profit motive should.

Here is why: Gun manufacturers that see their future narrowly as selling lethal weapons are leaving lots of money on the table for non-lethal personal protection devices. Further, by sticking to guns, firearms companies will risk facing legal battles of the type that have cost the tobacco industry hundreds of billions of dollars. A 2005 law largely shields gunmakers from those kinds of suits, but pension fund managers and other investors are nonetheless starting to act as if the tides have changed. If the legal floodgates open, the smaller and less profitable gun industry won’t be able to financially survive the attack that the tobacco companies withstood....

Former Syrian minister of agriculture Asaad al-Mustafa (R) talks with former Syrian National Council (SNC) chief Burhan Ghalioun during the first official meeting of the Free National Gathering's general assembly in Doha March 8, 2013. (REUTERS/Stringer)


BY SERENE ASSI
Monday 18 March 2013
Last Update 18 March 2013 2:01 am

ISTANBUL: A former agriculture minister (click here) and an economist are leading candidates to be named Syria’s first opposition prime minister when the opposition Syrian National Coalition meets to vote in Turkey this week.

The two men are among around 10 opposition figures Coalition members are expected to consider during their gathering in Istanbul on March 18 and 19.
The list includes virtual unknowns, as well as some prominent members of the opposition to President Bashar Assad’s regime, with former agriculture minister Asaad Mustafa and economist Osama Kadi believed to be leading the pack.
In moving to select an opposition premier, who will choose a Cabinet to be approved by the Coalition, the opposition is hoping to show it can administer large swathes of captured territory where there is now a power vacuum.

Farm land and Wild Lands preservation is important.

Arkansas Farmland for Sale (click here)

Farmers are going out of business because of the severe droughts and floods that wash away the soil across the USA. There was a drop of croplands by 1% nationwide.

The number of farms in the USA in 2012 was 2.2 million, down 11,630 farm from 2011.

Total land in farms in the USA is 914 million, that is an full 3 million decrease from 2011. The average farm size in the USA is 421 acres, which is an increase of one acre.

I wouldn't brag about the number of acres in agricultural production in the USA as there are 2,379,964,800 acres that comprise the USA including Hawaii and Alaska. That is less than 1% agricultural lands with a growing population. It is actually closer to 0.9 percent than 1 percent. 0.9 percent and FALLING.

No one has to give credence to the words of Assad.

The USA has been there the entire time.

There is instability throughout the region and the Kurds are moving into a more autonomous stance.

If there was an invasion by The West into the region there would be more deaths than exist today.

U.S. troops in Turkey watch Syrian border (click here)

Troops to man Patriot missile defense batteries near border

(CNN) —U.S. troops arrived in Turkey on Friday to man Patriot missile defense batteries near the Syrian border, Turkish state media said....

Turkey has the Cat Bird Seat. No one knows what that means? Turkey has been an USA ally for a long, long time. It has control. The USA supports Turkey in protecting it's borders. It is why The West has been blocking munitions into Syria. If Syria lit up Turkey would be in the balance.

Russia and China know that.

There have been bomb blasts in Turkey that the political parties are calling attacks. They believe it is related to DHKP-C (Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Partisi/Cephesi - click here).

There are also complaints by Iraqi leadership the coziness of Turkey and the Kurds in oil trade will split the country.

By Peg Mackey

LONDON | Tue Mar 19, 2013 2:36pm EDT

(Reuters) - Rising oil trade between Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey (click here) threatens to split Iraq in two, a senior Iraqi official said, as the autonomous region ignores Baghdad's threats of tough action against what it terms illegal exports....

The USA is not going to war again in the Middle East. It just isn't. There is no reason to do that with a highly stable and sovereign government in Turkey.

The DHKP-C is the extremist group of the Kurds that have lead the revitalization of the ethnicity in some ways, but, they have done so with violence. That is not going to work in the real world. The POLITICAL PARTIES of Turkey are standing together in opposition of any escalation of violence within the country. If only that was the case in Pakistan.

But, the topic of returning to the Middle East to fight wars for strange and unusual reasons is out of the question. There are sovereign nations in the region that are strong allies to the USA and NATO. There is every reason to defer to them to lead the protections of their nations and formulate solutions for the region.

Arinc, "Who could have done such an act, (click here for original untranslated news article) what purpose could have done such a time, such places have chosen Is there any special meaning? I mean, of course, to question the thinking behind the event. Gentle, This was a time sensitive. Resolution process is moving on one side of the solution, everybody sees that the course of the current path, "he said.

The rough translation is a statement by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc. He is stating an alarm of concern to the radical act of violence. He believes the timing was a part of the attack to raise fear in the country. I think they have control. I am worried. He made a speech recently in Berlin about the Turkish vision into 2023.

DATE: 07-03-2013 | TIME: 16:48 
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc (click here) delivered a speech on Turkey's 2023 vision in a conference sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Humboldt University in Berlin....

While war mongering is good politics within the GOP, it destroys economies and a country's infrastructure besides killing people; which doesn't seem to be a priority for the GOP to prevent.