I love the sneakers on the horse.

By Carlos E. Medina

Correspondent

Published: Saturday, November 16, 2013 at 5:17 p.m.

Rob Kolb (click here) was a little nervous as he leaned in to kiss Hercules on the lips Saturday afternoon. After all, it was his first time.

Hercules, a gray miniature horse with a little, white poodle riding him, waited until Kolb was just near his muzzle to flare his lips out and make the kiss even more interesting.

"It was a little scary. He kind of opened his mouth a little bit," Kolb said.

Kolb was the winner of the fifth annual Kiss the Horse for Literacy campaign, which raises money for the Marion County Literacy Council. The council teaches adults to read and helps them earn their GED diplomas....

Some people will do anything for money refusing to see the immorality of it all.

Horse slaughter halted by federal appeals court (click here)

Posted: 8:43 am, November 16, 2013 

by Posted by Habitat for Horses

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A federal appeals court temporary halted plans to resume domestic horse slaughter. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver recently issued a temporary injunction barring the Department of Agriculture from inspecting the plants.
Slaughterhouses in New Mexico and Missouri had hoped to start up after a federal judge in Albuquerque threw out a lawsuit by the Humane Society of the United States and other animal protection groups on Nov 1.
The lawsuit alleged the Agriculture Department had failed to conduct proper environmental studies when it issued permits to Valley Meat Co. in Roswell, N.M., and an Iowa company to slaughter horses for human consumption....

Yep. Some people will do anything for money refusing to see the immorality of it all.

Posted: 1:32 pm, November 15, 2013 

by Posted by Habitat for Horses
From: McClatchy DC By: Ali Watkins

WASHINGTON — A bill that would safeguard show horses (click here) from painful practices designed to heighten their crowd-pleasing high gaits sparked a lively debate Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
A House Energy and Commerce Committee panel heard testimony on proposed amendments to the 1970 Horse Protection Act from Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., that would place substantial penalties on any show horse owner caught using a practice known as “soring.” His measure also would add independent overseers to the largely self-policed industry.
Although the Horse Protection Act outlawed soring, Whitfield and more than 220 co-sponsors of his legislation claim that it’s still widely practiced throughout the walking horse industry.

No, it is not Helen of Troy.

The original (click here) concept of mythical water horses was a valid starting point for the artistic development of the structures. I took that concept and moved with it towards a more equine and contemporary response, shifting from any mythological references towards a socio-historical monument intended to celebrate the horse’s role in industry and agriculture as well as the obvious association with the canals as tow horses.” says Scott.

Well, I'll be darn the horses in New Mexico have a friend. It looks as though the market for horse meat is shrinking after all.

Queen's daughter wonders about eating horse meat (click here)

Posted: Nov 15, 2013 7:36 AM EST  

Updated: Nov 15, 2013 7:37 AM EST

 LONDON (AP) - Britain's Princess Anne says Britons should consider changing their attitude toward eating horse meat.
The queen's daughter, a former British Olympic equestrian competitor, says creating a market for horse meat may improve the welfare of horses because owners would take better care of them if they had more value at the end of their lives.
The princess spoke Thursday at a conference on horse welfare. Other countries, notably France, value horse meat but Britain has no strong tradition of eating it.
Anne said she raised the question "because I think it needs a debate."
Anne is one of the country's top officials at the International Olympic Committee and rarely makes headlines with her opinions.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. 

The thing is this. Horses work for a living. Steers don't. Horses have advanced civilization and steers haven't. Horses have a special place in the heart of a nation and are often memorialized in sculpture such as the Kentucky Horse Park and a variety of generals. So, the idea an animal so noble should end up on a dinner plate is more offensive than most want to admit. I always considered that horse meat was a last resort for any civilized nation.

Severe flooding in Riaydh. It looks as though it took them by complete surprise.

Published time: November 16, 2013 22:39

Severe flooding (click here) is being reported in Saudi Arabia, especially in the kingdom’s capital of Riyadh, with the government closing schools and urging people to stay indoors amid heavy rain. Flooding is rare in the country dominated by the Arabian Desert.
Witnesses in Riaydh, which is also the country’s largest city, are reporting flooded streets and shops. Pictures posted on Twitter show cars drowning in rainwater. 

Riyadh is caught in a very wet southern ICZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) assisted by water vapor from the Mediterranean Sea. 

These satellite images are a little different than UNISYS satellites, but, they illustrate what I am stating. The top photo is obviously on the ground tragedy. The black and white image is an infrared satellite illustrating the 'Y' shaped system coming into Riyadh. There is flow from the south heading north meeting with water vapor off the Mediterranean Sea from west to east.

The colored photo to the right is a section from the photo below showing the southern ICZ in the right lower corner of the photo. It is somewhat difficult to discern in this image, but, it crosses northern Africa, across Mauritania, Mali, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, crossing the Red Sea across Saudi Arabia. It is a lot of water when those two water vapor sources come together. I hope everyone is okay.

Click here for satellite loop. 

About the same time the southern ICZ is soaking Saudi Arabia's capital city, the northern ICZ moved as far north as I have ever witnessed it.

November 16, 2013
1830.18z
UNISYS Infrared Satellite of North and West Hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

Below is the northern movement of the ICZ. It doesn't appear to be finished moving north either.

Evidently some Supreme Court Justices make their own rules to live by rather than setting an example to the country and other federal judges.

Justice Thomas has once again graced the Federalist Society with his presence for their annual fundraiser, without shame or apology, along with fellow justices Alito and Scalia...

...A top House Democrat (click here) is going after one of the Supreme Court’s most conservative justices and trying to enlist the Chief Justice in her cause.
On Wednesday, New York Rep. Louise Slaughter wrote to Chief Justice John Roberts asking that he formally reprimand his colleague Justice Clarence Thomas for participating in the conservative Federalist Society’s annual fundraiser. Thomas’ appearance at the event, writes Slaughter, is a “clear violation of the ethical standards embodied in the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges.”

Her letter was co-signed by representatives from two progressive advocacy groups: Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, and Arn H. Pearson, vice president for policy and litigation for Common Cause.

Canon 4(c) of the Code of Conduct forbids judges from personally participating in fundraising events. Although it is not legally binding upon Supreme Court justices, Roberts has previously written that it [Canon 4(c)] provides “a current and uniform source of guidance” for the members of the Court.

“Justice Thomas is among several members of the high court who’ve made a habit of flouting judicial ethics by headlining Federalist Society fundraisers,” said Pearson in a statement. “He gets away with it because the Court has exempted itself from the Code, but that doesn’t make it right.”


(C) Fund Raising. (click here) A judge may assist nonprofit law-related, civic, charitable, educational, religious, or social organizations in planning fund-raising activities and may be listed as an officer, director, or trustee. A judge may solicit funds for such an organization from judges over whom the judge does not exercise supervisory or appellate authority and from members of the judge’s family. Otherwise, a judge should not personally participate in fund-raising activities, solicit funds for any organization, or use or permit the use of the prestige of judicial office for that purpose. A judge should not personally participate in membership solicitation if the solicitation might reasonably be perceived as coercive or is essentially a fund-raising mechanism.

The difference between Libertarians and Progressives...

...is that Progressives don't sacrifice people as a learning curve to their outcomes.

Ruthlessness. No respect for the country's national holiday.

Thanksgiving is a family holiday. While the Walmart Family sits comfortably after their celebration, they can then ride the economic wave to deprive the nation of it's holiday.

Part of the reason these are national holidays is because so many celebrate them as a holy day. If the country didn't recognize Thanksgiving as a holiday very few employees would show up in their government positions and/or their private positions for employment. Therefore, the reason for Thanksgiving is based in religious observation. 

This is some of the ruthless behavior I have ever witnessed by Wall Street. Walmart is among the largest retailers and should be setting an example, but, are they? NOoooooo.....money first before family, family bonding and time with purpose beyond that of the financial status of the nation. 

Where are the unions?

By Jillian Berman  
Posted: 11/12/2013 12:03 am EST 
Updated: 11/12/2013 12:54 pm

Walmart is kicking off Black Friday 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day (click here) -- two hours earlier than last year, the company announced Tuesday.
The retailer joins 9 others, including Target, Kmart and Best Buy, in opening its doors and starting Black Friday deals on Thanksgiving. It continues a recent industry trend of moving Black Friday earlier and earlier -- ultimately to Thanksgiving Day. Chains are looking squeeze more out of the hugely profitable holiday shopping season, especially this year, when calendar quirks have made it six days shorter...

Originally Published 11/16/2013

Thanksgiving and Hanukkah fall on hte same day for the first time in 125 years (click here)

Bruce Posten

Reading Eagle

 

For the first time in 125 years, Jewish families will celebrate two overlapping holidays, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, as they gather together to dine in gratitude on Nov. 28.

"I got my menurkey," said Jayne Kleinman, program director at the Jewish Cultural Center of Reading, Wyomissing. "It's a plaster turkey-shaped menorah with the holes in the back to light the candles. I bought it through an Internet program for a fundraising event."

The menurkey was designed and named by a New York City fourth-grader, with the unique purpose of combining the thoughts of thankfulness at the heart of the two holidays.

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, is an observance commemorating the rededication of the ancient temple in Jerusalem by the Maccabees following their victory over the Syrians around 165 BC....

Thanksgiving and Hanukkah fall on the same day for the first time in 125 years.

There is already a model to fix the regulations of the PPACA.

Straightening out the regulations written under Sebelius is not a hurdle at all. Currently, SSI pays dividends to private health care insurance carriers through the Medicare Advantage program which still exists and will continue to exist. The payments have about a 60 day lag to the insurance companies. So, when the regulations are written properly and the government has to supply the subsidy up front to the insurance companies there is already a model to do that and the insurance companies don't mind it a bit.

The up front subsidies will not effect the national budget deadline in January or the Debt Ceiling deadline in February. 

The monies for the subsidies are already there in the form of three years of tax collection spawned within the law. 

From the previous article.

...I suspect many, many Americans like me will wait until the last moment to enroll for new coverage not because we want to do that but because we financially have no choice. That’s working class health economics 101....

All this is doable and I want to hear no excuses. 

FIX IT NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The changes necessary to the REGULATIONS can be conducted administratively, it requires no further legislation. This is what happens when an incompetent has no compassion for the people of this country. This is incompetency and if Kathleen Sebelius doesn't understand that, then is speaks to illegitimate place in government. She has no clear understanding of the people she is SUPPOSE TO SERVE. The people are not suppose to serve to her whims. She is demonstratively incompetent.

Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (click here)

Exchange Final Rule: Indian Provisions (click here)

The PPACA is about life and death. The regulation demanding the within 400% of the poverty line to pay for their subsidy for one year is hideous and cruel.

...In response to this need, (click here) the Kaiser Family Foundation with funding from Gilead Sciences has produced “Obamacare & You,” a new Greater Than AIDS consumer web portal Exit Disclaimer to help PLWHA learn about new coverage options and how the law could affect their care and treatment. Greater Than AIDS Exit Disclaimer is a leading national public information initiative developed by the Kaiser Family Foundation together with the Black AIDS Institute and supported by a broad cross section of public and private sector partners to increase knowledge, reduce stigma and promote actions to stem the spread of HIV in the U.S. -...

"Together we are greater than AIDS" (click here)

Fire Kathleen Sebelius ! She is incompetent in the rollout of the law AND the written regualtions.

She was once involved in government in relation to the health care insurance industry. She is owned by them. As a result when she wrote the regulations derived from the law she penalized the individual to keep the monies flowing in her parties direction at the time of elections. She needs to go.

...Enrolling in a new health plan (click here) on the ACA/Obamacare exchange requires payment of the premium at the time of enrollment. Many working class families live paycheck to paycheck or they are in the hole financially. They make too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to make an additional insurance payment right now that can be put off until the last moment. To be even clearer: working class people like me do not have hundreds of extra dollars in the bank to make that new premium payment in advance of when it will take effect. 

For many, like me, we are already paying a huge medical insurance premium (mine is $875 every month for individual COBRA/Aetna policy), and we’re in the hole trying to make that happen. 

Hence, I will look at what’s available to me on the exchange – Connect for Health Colorado – but I will wait to actually enroll until I have the money to pay the premium. Will that be tomorrow or December 1 or right before Christmas on December 15th (the last day to pay for the January 1st coverage)? I do not know. I just got the Medicaid denial this week after waiting 36 days for that denial that stopped me from going forward to shop for coverage. So, that’s a working class reality....

If one recalls when President Obama took office there was a crisis in this country. People were losing COBRA benefits at a rapid rate. In order to keep the COBRA policies intact he allowed for a credit to be entered by the employer involved in their taxes while the consumer paid their normal fees. It was the employer that carried the burden of the subsidy and NOT the individual. 

That is the way The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has to work. The individual CANNOT and WILL NOT BE ABLE to carry their subsides until their tax benefit is realized and applied to the upcoming year. 

The REGULATION regarding the subsidies and where the burden lies is written to defeat the law. 

Kathleen Sebelius is directly responsible for the pain the nation is feeling right now regarding this law. She has issued waiver after waiver because she is incapable of disconnecting from her loyalties to the profitability of insurance companies. She has to go. Her political career is now over. 

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is about life and death. It has been since the beginning and it is today. She has no right to cause any individual in this country the hardship of the burden of paying the subsidies for a year before receiving relief from it's cost. She is COMPLETELY DEFEATING the purpose of the subsidies. 

I don't care if the government pays the subsidy through a direct payment to the insurance companies on behalf of the people or they require the insurance carriers to do it, but, it will stop and the regulation recalled and written the way it was intended when the law passed in 2010. 

Sebelius is directly responsible and she has to go. She has incompetently written the regulations. She should have been dismissed when she wrote her first waiver. 

The way this regulation is applied not only states her incompetency in government it bring question to her dedication to the well being of the people of this nation.

I think some folks in the USA are completely demoralized of the value of their own lives.

Americans purchase all kinds of insurance and they look for the best rates. When they do they realize an event could destroy what they worked so hard for and seek to protect themselves. They understand the concept, but, health care is such a political hot potato for the Republicans because they can instill fear so easily in people.

The Health Security Act was defeated in 1994. It has been nineteen years that Americans have been compromised by the health care insurance companies. During that time they got used to being in danger of their life. They sought care at emergency rooms for their children. Did without preventive care. Looked the other way to health issues that needed attention until they were too sick not to attend to them. They have tried every measure under the sun trying to cope with a health care system that didn't care about them and costs were astronomical for average Americans.

The lack of health care was something no one really talked about because in all too many cases it was unattainable. I think people are going to have to start thinking about health care insurance in the same why they think about homeowner's insurance, renter's insurance, car insurance and even flood insurance. There is a reason to own a policy. That reason lives in the vapors of life and is unpredictable. Folks have been abandoned and abused in so many ways over the last twenty years it is going to take patience and persistence to help them find their ways back into reality about all this.