The Executive Order is good for two years. We need to move this into a permanent law.

July 16, 2012

Vice President Biden, President of the Senate was in the chambers that day to pass the Senate bill.

Posted: 06/27/2013 4:22 pm EDT
Updated: 06/27/2013 5:36 pm EDT

WASHINGTON -- The Senate passed (click here) a politically fraught immigration reform bill on Thursday that would give a path to citizenship to some of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., bringing them out of the shadows and preventing continued record deportations that have separated hundreds of thousands of families.

The bill passed 68 to 32, picking up all Democrats and 14 Republicans.

Undocumented immigrants and advocates in the crowd, many of them young so-called Dreamers, broke out into applause and chants of "yes we can!" after Vice President Joe Biden, who came to the Senate to preside over the proceedings, read the results. Senators in the bipartisan "gang of eight" that drafted the bill -- Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) -- patted each other on the back....

This is a half hour interview that aired on C-Span. Ryan talks about immigration during this interview. Whether I agree with him or not is nearly not important. What is important is the dialogue. 

The House Speaker has stated there would be no immigration bill from the House. The legislation is dead, end of discussion. That is lie. This dialogue is proof, evidence if you will.

I think to a certain extent Ryan makes a lot of excuses about the budget and debt ceiling about being difficult and more important than anything else. Why do I believe Ryan is making excuses about immigration? Because the bill is written in a subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee. Does Ryan's name appear within that subcommittee?

Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security (click here)

Rep. Trey Gowdy (SC-04), ChairmanMr. Poe, Vice-Chairman

Mr. Smith (TX)	Ms. Lofgren
Mr. King	Ms. Jackson Lee
Mr. Jordan	Mr. Gutierrez
Mr. Amodei	Mr. Garcia
Mr. Labrador	Mr. Pierluisi
Mr. Holding

It would appear as though Ryan believes he was elected to the Executive Branch because his influence is omnipotent. He is wrong. There is absolutely no reason why the House Subcommittee can't finish drafting a bill for a vote. No excuses. The budget and debt ceiling is a separate issue with separate legislation. Ryan has nothing to do with this except vote on the bill.

Ryan is from Wisconsin. Remember, the USS Wisconsin and a lot of flag waving.

This is an article from 2009.

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- A new study (click here) shows the number of illegal immigrants (Undocumented Workers) in Wisconsin has stabilized in the last several years.

The Pew Hispanic Center study estimates there are about 85,000 illegal immigrants in Wisconsin, about the same level as in 2005. The center's study shows rapid growth in the number of illegal immigrants in the 1990s. There were an estimated 10,000 illegal immigrants in Wisconsin in 1990.

The study estimates there are nearly 12 million illegal immigrants in the country, or about 4 percent of the total population. It says about 75 percent are Latino.

The Latino population in Wisconsin is estimated at 283,000.

Like Wisconsin, the number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. has stabilized in recent years.

Those that will be lobbying Congress to pass immigration reform needs to realize why Republicans are terrified of them.

See, what that says?  ...4 percent of the total population....

How do many Republicans secure the House seats? 

Gerrymandering, right? 

Now, whether that is the reality in Wisconsin and with Ryan in particular is somewhat not the topic. The point is there are House members settled into a great deal of rhetorical comfort through gerrymandering. What happens when there is an additional population within any district that will primarily vote Democratic or Independent? 

They could lose their seats. Do GOP members want Undocumented Workers to actually become part of this country? No. They are completely content with things as they are.

For the most part, Republicans understand Undocumented Workers are important people. They should not be deported and should be considered important to the USA economy. Most of the Republicans understand the issue and they absolutely understand they have to legislate in favor of these wonderful people. They simply don't want to and to that end they will victimize the undocumented and ridicule them as law breakers and state all sorts of things that could be considered racist, bigoted and inflammatory. None of what the GOP states is the problem at all.

If I were leading Hispanics to victory in passing immigration reform, I would first be soliciting my Senator or a Senator from another state to help me lobby. The Senators weren't afraid of Undocumented Workers. 14 Republican Senators stood strong with the Democrats in passing the bill. It was filibuster proof. A very proud moment in the Senate.

Those Senators believe in addressing the needs of the country, not preserving seats immorally through gerrymandering any district in their favor. That is honorable and what is transpiring in the House is dishonorable.

The lobbying effort President Obama referred to is vital to the best outcome to the Undocumented. They are already a part of the American family and even in 2009 when that article was written by a Wisconsin media service, the USA borders are doing just fine and any influx is slowed and even stopped. The border is not the problem and we all know it.

The only sincere problem at the USA southern border is the drug trade and the American guns that make it all possible. The drug trade has nothing to do with the undocumented. The people that carry drugs in the USA for the cartels are separate issue. There are US agencies prepared to deal with the mess. The US Border Patrol is caught right in the middle of the drug wars. For the most part any undocumented the US Border Patrol picks up don't cause them much grief.

If the US Senate is confident in their legislation and welcome to the undocumented, it is time the House welcome them as well. 

There is no reason to delay this vital legislation. It is time. A strong and vibrant lobbying effort needs to begin and continue until the legislation is finished. Why the Senators should help? Because they have basically the same financial backers as their House members. They can advocate for honesty and honor and serving the country while being confident a re-election lies in the ability to see past the cronyism and for the first time see the person waiting to be a full member of this country.

Do it. Don't take no for an answer and be sure the US House understands if they are going to obstruct a vote when in fact there is already a majority waiting to pass the law; they indeed will have to worry about their seats even if comfortably gerrymandered. I have witnessed the community. It is powerful and door to door canvasing is nothing to them. They have the numbers, the dedication and will. All they need is a theme, a flier, an Icon and a campaign. I know they can make it happen.

Time to get on with it.

The Przewalski’s Horse, which lives on the steppes of central Asia, likely deviated from the lineage leading to modern domesticated horses some 50,000 years ago. (Photo: Joe Ravi)

Blake de Pastino

Nov 19,2013

The frozen remains of a horse (click here) more than half a million years old have reluctantly given up their genetic secrets, providing scientists with the oldest DNA ever sequenced.

The horse was discovered in 2003 in the ancient permafrost of Canada’s west-central Yukon Territory, not far from the Alaskan border.

And although the animal was dated to between 560,000 and 780,000 years old, an international team of researchers was able to use a new combination of techniques to decipher its genetic code.

Among the team’s findings is that the genus Equus — which includes all horses, donkeys, and zebras — dates back more than 4 million years, twice as long ago as scientists had previously believed.

“When we started the project, everyone — including us, to be honest — thought it was impossible,” said Dr. Ludovic Orlando of the University of Copenhagen, who coordinated the research, in a statement to Western Digs.

“And it was to some extent, with the methods available by then. So it’s clearly methodological advances that made this possible.”

Orlando and his colleagues published their findings this summer in the journal Nature; he discussed them today in a lecture at The Royal Society, London....

There is a direct relationship between domestic violence and guns.

"I welcome the chorus of voices (click here) calling for an end to the violence that affects an estimated one in three women in her lifetime. I applaud leaders who are helping to enact and enforce laws and change mindsets. And I pay tribute to all those heroes around the world who help victims to heal and to become agents of change ."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Nov. 25, 2013 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (click here)BY ADAM CARLSONacarlson@ledger-enquirer.comNovember 25, 2013
• Up to 70 per cent of women experience violence in their lifetime.

• 500,000-2 million people are trafficked annually into situations including prostitution, forced labour, slavery or servitude, according to estimates. Women and girls account for about 80 per cent of the detected victims

• The cost of intimate partner violence in the United States alone exceeds $5.8 billion per year: $4.1 billion is for direct medical and health care services, while productivity losses account for nearly $1.8 billion.

There is a direct relationship between guns and domestic violence.

- 46 women are shot each month in the USA by current or former partners, about 44% of all female murders.

- The chance of a woman being killed in domestic violence increases by 500% when a gun is present. The chance of women being killed by a gun in the USA is 1100% more likely than other higher income countries.

There is a relationship between poverty and violence and gun use in murder.

By Tara Culp-Ressler

October 29, 2013

...Gender-based violence (click here) and gun policies have become particularly entwined lately. Over the past several months, proponents for looser gun laws have argued that women need easy access to guns to protect themselves against abusers and rapists. According to some of the conservatives who oppose gun control, additional regulations on concealed weapons and assault rifles aren’t compatible with feminism. On Tuesday, that line of reasoning made yet another appearance at a Senate hearing about Stand Your Ground laws, as a conservative policy analyst from the Cato Institute suggested that feminists support the policy that allowed George Zimmerman to kill an unarmed teenager.

Christy Salters Martin, a domestic violence survivor who was stabbed and shot by her husband after she attempted to leave him, has a very different perspective on the issue.

“Having a gun isn’t enough,” Christy explained in an interview with ThinkProgress. “Women who fear for their life don’t need a gun — they need to go to their local police department, they need to go a family member, they need to go to the domestic violence shelter in their area where they have some type of protection.”

Christy and her estranged husband both owned guns and both had concealed carry permits. Christy also had a very successful career in professional boxing. That didn’t stop her husband from shooting her....

Oversight and fine tuning the law is built into the PPACA.

I want to dispell this rant by people like Cornyn stating the Iranian treaty and the filibuster are to distract from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. That would be true if the treaty and the filibuster were not issues before October 1.

And in addition, Minority Leader Pelosi knows full well the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has a quality control principle built into the law. The law demands panels to continue the fine tuning of the law and to report those findings to the oversight of Congress. The real possibility that application of the law would result in speed bumps to it's progress was well anticipated. Minority Leader Pelosi needs to demand the panels and committees start their work. I hope developing those panels are not neglected by the HHS Secretary. too.

The law was to look at the cost of health care and bring it into a cost effective dynamic. Medicaid to the hospitals was a beginning to pay for what was once free care costing all Americans elevated costs to their health care. The escalating high deductibles are PROOF of the out of control costs of health care in the USA. The law is suppose to examine the costs, streamline the process and pay for care by those that cannot afford it. The purpose of expanding Medicaid is to bring costs down. The sooner the insured no longer have to carry the burden for the uninsured the sooner the costs will begin to scale back. There is an ongoing review process built into the law through panels and committees of professionals and citizens with oversight by Congress. That process should be in place by now unless the law states otherwise.

The uninsured is a cost problem. Not only that, but, the care the uninsured receives at emergency rooms does not resolve to a sustainable longevity. Higher costs to the insured isn't even proving life saving outcomes for the uninsured. It is simply a system gone completely wrong.

Iran's security is the answer to settling the peace accord in the Mideast. There has to be a Shi'ite homeland and unless that is completely validated by all parties the tensions will not abate. While Saudi Arabia is determined to maintain a Nuclear Free Mideast, it does recognize the right of Shi'ites to exist and the right of all Mideast nations to peaceful use of nuclear power. It is Iran's responsibility to provide reassurances to it's peaceful intent. It is Iran's responsibility to be completely transparent about it's nuclear program. It is Iran's responsibility to provide significant reassurances to the region regarding it's peaceful intent. Nothing short of sincere and profound reforms of the Iranian nuclear program will result in continued confident of Iran's ability to seek and sustain peace in the Mideast.

Iran needs to also roll back any support of jihadists in the region. If Iran is to be recognized as a nation intent on a peaceful Mideast, it needs to stop escalating tensions in the region, including Syria through jihadists such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the rest. The Shi'ites are not desperate for a land of their own, they need to stop acting like it.

A nation's strength in the Mideast is defined in identity and honor, not the ability to kill, maim and carry out hatred of others.

The Climate Crisis has a way of defining international relations.

By: Pots de Leon, InterAksyon.com
November 25, 2013 4:08 PM

Survivors of typhoon Yolanda are seen in Reuters file photoas they board a US C-130 out of Tacloban, the worst-hit by storm surges. The past two weeks, US forces on an aircraft carrier, later followed by amphibious assets, have helped in relief and rescue work.

MANILA – Days before super typhoon Yolanda (click here) unleashed deadly winds and storm surges that killed more than 4,000 people - and still counting - and flattened entire communities in five regions, Philippine and United States negotiators had reached an impasse in efforts to forge a framework agreement on increased US military rotational presence in the country. Now, officials from both sides say, the post-Yolanda work into which both sides have been thrust may yet allow the talks to resume smoothly.

Days after the deadly typhoon struck, thousands of US forces on rest and recreation in an aircraft carrier in Asia were quickly recalled to duty - thus it was that the US troops, with their C-130s and Ospreys, provided vital support in ferrying food and water to hungry, homeless storm survivors in remote villages; and transported the wounded to hospitals.

In the view of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, what happened further demonstrated the need for a new military framework agreement on an increased US rotational presence in the Philippines. The DFA chief made the remarks in a press conference with a visiting US congressional delegation headed by Representatives Chris Smith of New Jersey, Al Green of Texas and Trent Franks of Arizona....

I cannot image what it is to be a survivor of Super Typhoon Haiyan. Survivors are lucky to have any family and were left with nothing but compassionate nations seeking to bring their lives comfort. The refugees and citizens from Tacloban have to find common ground and trust others to become a new family.

This is a report from NPR about life returning to Tacloban. Congratulations for those that responded to the emergency. The Phillipines may very well have a model for economic recovery. Let's hope the economy continues to return and perhaps refugees can return to some kind of sanity soon.

November 25, 2013

Nearly two weeks after super typhoon Haiyan (click here) wiped out much of the Philippine city of Tacloban, commerce there is coming back to life. Lines form in front of recently opened ATMs and gas stations. And a bustling street market has sprung up across several blocks downtown.

Here we go again.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NOV 24:
  

Consensus forecasts suggest (click here) that cyclone Lehar will hit Andhra Pradesh coast as a full-blooded ‘very severe cyclone’ in the next four to five days.

Internationally, it will be classified as number three on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale for storm strength. It is only one spin away from being called class-topping super cyclone.

EXTENSIVE DAMAGE

A storm of this strength can cause total destruction of thatched houses and extensive damage to kutcha houses. There can be potential threat from flying objects....

At first Lehar was believed to be fairly mild (Tropical Storm), but, that is changing the longer it remains over the ocean. 100 kilometers per hour (Equivalent to Category 1 hurricane) winds are now expected.

Date: 23-25 NOV 2013
Cyclone-1 LEHAR
ADV  LAT    LON      TIME     WIND  PR  STAT
  1   8.10   97.10 11/23/06Z   30     - TROPICAL DEPRESSION
  2   8.70   96.60 11/23/12Z   35     - TROPICAL STORM
  3   9.50   95.50 11/23/18Z   35     - TROPICAL STORM
  4   9.80   95.20 11/24/00Z   35     - TROPICAL STORM
  5  10.30   94.30 11/24/06Z   45     - TROPICAL STORM
  6  10.90   93.30 11/24/12Z   55     - TROPICAL STORM
  7  11.70   92.90 11/24/18Z   55     - TROPICAL STORM
  8  12.10   91.90 11/25/00Z   60     - TROPICAL STORM
  9  12.30   91.30 11/25/06Z   65     - CYCLONE-1

...FLEET-FOOTED

Earlier forecasts by some weather models had suggested that Lehar may take a bow before closing in and weaken a round before making landfall.

But that scenario is being ruled out with the fleet-footed (lateral speed of 20 km/hr over water on Sunday) cyclone forcing itself into the open Bay of Bengal waters by Monday.

Environment at the ground and upper level is decidedly benign for the ‘storm tower’ to build and gather strength rapidly.

Lehar is forecast to attain the level of a very severe cyclone as early as Monday and will spare no punches when it barrels into the coast....

Michael Hayden is a communist.

By Mark Joseph Stern

...Hayden, (click here) who spoke on Thursday at a cybersecurity forum hosted by the National Military Family Association, is famously expansive on national security concerns—and sanguine about the NSA’s effectiveness. In an exchange regarding the agency’s“systemic overcollection” of data, Hayden argued that those outraged by the practice probably misunderstand it and likely overestimate the extent of the agency’s transgressions. He also noted that he finds “curious” debates over the transparency of FISA courts, which hold secretive proceedings to evaluate government requests for surveillance. Critics have dismissed the courts as “rubber stamps” for the government, noting that they approve virtually all applications. But the courts dispute the label, defending the approval record by saying that they often require changes before giving the government the OK. Hayden says there’s another reason to like the present system....

No, Hayden misunderstands the people that are outraged. He is the epitome of patriarchal government in control over every aspect of a citizen's life.

"Morning Papers - It's Origins" (click here)

The Rooster 

"Okeydoke"

"Good Night, Moon"

Waning Gibbous

56% Full

21.6 Day Old Moon

January 24, 2011

Waning gibbous moon at Port Lockroy, Antarctica during it's Austral Summer.




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Friday November 15, 2013 Charlestown, RI 

(Current Weather Conditions)

A stunning photo I captured of Comet ISON this morning from Charlestown, Rhode Island, USA. -Scott

It rounds the Sun on Thanksgiving.

By Meeri Kim, Sunday, November 24, 6:10 PM

As Comet ISON hurtles toward the sun, (click here) its million-year-long journey through our solar system may end with its violent death — or a spectacular sky show.

On Thanksgiving, when the comet rounds the sun, professional and amateur astronomers alike will await ISON’s fate with bated breath. Its tail may get ripped off by a cloud of solar particles, or the sun’s brutal radiation and pressure may demolish it completely....