acquired August 1 - 31, 2013

The Arctic (click here) continued to shift to a warmer, greener state in 2013. That was the headline from the latest Arctic Report Card, an annual update prepared by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and partner organizations such as NASA. Scientists are tracking a variety of environmental indicators including: air temperature, snow cover, sea ice extent, ocean temperature, vegetation growth, and wildlife behavior. In comparison to 2012, most indicators this year were closer to their long-term averages, but signs of change (fueled by long-term warming) were still present....

One of his favorite rhetorical stance is "...we can't continue to borrow money from China..."

Indeed and we don't. China no longer lends money to the USA. See, China figured out that Wall Street came to their nation for extreme profits while destroying their American market. Then the USA was borrowing all the money it once had as income to their treasury from taxes both of the working class, businesses and the wealthy. So, China saw it's mistake and decided since the USA was headed over the fiscal cliff into the Debt Ceiling Abyss it would loss all the money the USA borrowed. China decided it didn't want to return the lost American economy to the USA when it no longer could pay China back.

"...Do we want to borrow the money from China to pay people not to work...."

Prophesy. That is profound prophesy. Senator Paul recognizes the fact that the unemployment rates are directly related to outsourcing by Wall Street. He sees the hypocrisy in borrowing money from the new Capitalist China in order to pay the people it put out of work. However, Senator Paul proposes no solution, only further victimization of the American worker.

"...You are taking away their choices."

It is amazing how much Marsha Blackburn reminds of Ronald Reagan when he, "In early 1984 (click here) on Good Morning America, Reagan defended himself against charges of callousness toward the poor in a classic blaming-the-victim statement saying that “people who are sleeping on the grates…the homeless…are homeless, you might say, by choice.”

When looking across the Reagan Universe compared to the USA today, it is completely obvious the trends are all the same where the Republicans cut federal monies to communities.

But, that aside, Ms. Blackburn insists people have a right to have poor health insurance as a choice. Amazing.

One man has been assigned "Guardian of the World."

That is not remotely realistic. 

The practice of the NSA is if nothing else unethical. It needs to stop.

I am not saying the program didn't turn up results, but, it didn't stop the underwear bomber or the shoe bomber. Therefore? It should continue? 

The program 'got lucky' on a few occasions. That doesn't mean anything. The NSA is patting itself on the back too much. They sure as heck didn't catch Osama bin Laden.

This program is a pipe dream and dangerous. "If we could only have a mind 
reader tell us when the next bomb is going off." Mind readers are few and far between. To my understanding, which may be completely wrong, the NSA doesn't even employ mind readers.

AND.

The NSA did not tip off Lebanon about the car bomb today! Didn't happen to run across THAT PATTERN in the meta data, huh? And don't tell me there is no one at the NSA not collecting data from Lebanon. That would be a lie.

When one counts all the war, car bombs, random acts of violence and the fact the NSA is collecting all this data and storing it, WHAT GOOD DOES IT DO? It sure doesn't encourage peace. If anything it is just the opposite and putting the USA in the cross hairs of plenty of speculation to it's activities and intentions.

President Obama needs to stop defending this practice and begin to analyze the effectiveness of the program at all. It is not preventing anything that would not be found in other ways. If we spent the money on this computer bullshit for agents and real national intelligence the world might actually be a safer place. 

Currently, considering the size and scope of the NSA program, it has a very poor performance. It isn't worth the money. And would it have stopped 911? NO. Why? Because the Executive Branch did NOTHING to stop it with the intelligence they had. It is impossible to stop maniacal men from being maniacal. That is what the people of the USA and the world are afraid of. They aren't afraid of the program so much as the people in the White House and their justification of another illegal war.

The PROGRAM is dangerous and needs to end. It is untrustworthy in the safety of Americans, for many reasons and not just it's poor performance.

The NSA surveillance program and it's collection and storage of data IS a menace in this world. It is as maniacal as those that claim it is beneficial. There is NO surveillance that is beneficial; that is not the nature of the beast. No one in this world wants a repeat of Iraq or worse. The program has to end. It is not effective, not even close. The storage of data needs to be destroyed.

It looks as though Mr. Snowden's allegations are headed for the US Supreme Court.

Is al-Qaeda still real or has it become a catch phrase for the excuse of snooping? See, if I were al-Qaeda and hiding from detection as we know bin Laden was, why would the organization continue to operate under the same name? Are there card carrying members? Or is al-Qaeda a designation now by some arbitrary classification by The West? Do they have to have attended training camps or is anyone suspected as a potential threat to Western civilization considered al Qaeda?

This is also New York so did anyone expect a different ruling? What is astounding to me is how a US District Judge can lump metadata into the same category of al-Qaeda. There is something profoundly "W"rong with that. In this judge's mind there is no difference between billions and billions of data taken from Americans and Europeans and elsewhere and the idea there is information about al-Qaeda in there. That is a hideous idea. It is looking for a needle in a haystack and the stack keeps getting bigger and bigger all the time.

There is something very "W"rong about that thinking. A District Judge doesn't see the danger of innocent people in all that? Beyond his imagination that the US government will make a mistake. Wow. That is victimization. That is the issue with the NSA, they are ACTIVELY victimizing all those they collect data from. People don't feel safe and it is because of the NSA. People are CURRENTLY victimized by this operation within the NSA. NOW. TODAY. THIS VERY MINUTE. People, millions of people are victimized and feeling unsafe by their own government. That should mean something. Obama needs to stop making excuses for the practice. 

This data supposedly is COMING INTO the USA traffic. Well, then we need strong alliances with other nations seeking end violence in the civilized world. Threatening people with their own words and actions collected by the NSA is not the way to do this.

THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

New York District Judge William Pauley (click here) said the snooping was a "counter-punch" against al-Qaeda.

He said the National Security Agency (NSA) programme might even have prevented the 9/11 attacks.

Last week a Washington DC federal judge said the surveillance was "likely unconstitutional" and "Orwellian".

But in Friday's decision, Judge Pauley, of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, said "the balance of equities and the public interest tilt firmly in favour of the Government's position"...

I doubt Syria is linked with this assassination. There were no connections to Assad with the first assassination. Hezbollah was on it's own and it maybe there is even a spin off from Hezbollah responsible.

Forensic experts check the site of explosion near a crater in Beirut, Friday, Dec. 27, 2013. (The Daily Star/Mohammad Azakir)

...The March 14 coalition, (click here) which is headed by the Future Movement, pointed the finger of blame at the regime of Syria’s President Bashar Assad, which swiftly denied the allegations....

...The 62-year-old, who was also a close aide to former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, was headed to Hariri’s Downtown residence where a meeting of the March 14 coalition was under way....


At least 71 people (click here) were also wounded in the blast that targeted Shatah’s motorcade as it drove in the capital’s central district.

The March 14 coalition (click here) is named after the mass anti-Syrian rally on that date in 2005 in which over one million Lebanese converged on central Beirut to demand a withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and an end to Syrian meddling in Lebanese political affairs.

The March 14 rally, held in response to a pro-Syrian demonstration on March 8, was the climax of the month-long series of rallies that followed the assassination of Rafik Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister, in a massive truck bomb explosion on February 14, 2005....

Anytime Hezbollah is mentioned there is automatic mention of Assad. The March 14 coalition was organized following the assassination of a beloved Prime Minister of Lebanon.

...His (Former Minister Mohammad Shatah) killing comes days before the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon begins the trial of four Hezbollah suspects over the 2005 assassination of Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the founder of the Future Movement....

It may be the increased movement of Hezbollah in Lebanon is in response to the trial with very little to do with Syria.

Below is the Late Prime Minister's son Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. I sure he was anticipating the trail of his father's murderers.

December 27, 2013 12:39 PM (Last updated: December 27, 2013 03:20 PM)

..."Those (click here) who assassinated Mohammad Shatah are the ones who assassinated Rafik Hariri; they are the ones who want to assassinate Lebanon,” Hariri said in a statement hours after a car bomb killed Shatah and five others in Downtown Beirut.

"The suspects are those who are running away from international justice and refuse to appear in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon; they are the ones opening the window of evil and chaos to Lebanon and the Lebanese and are drawing regional fires,” he added....

...He had no particular power base of his own, (click here) but his international experience was valued in government circles. Chatah has been described by Lebanon’s current Prime Minister Najib Mikati as a “noble political figure who believed in dialogue, the language of reason and the right to different views”. His work in government put him into contact with Hezbollah, though he was a vocal critic of it. A message on his Twitter account less than an hour before the blast accused the group of trying to take control of the country. The Shi’ite movement is now suspected by some of being behind his killing, although Hezbollah parliamentarian Ali Ammar described the explosion as a crime. “We condemn this terrorist act,” he told Hezbollah’s Al Manar television. “It is part of a terrorist wave which the region and Lebanon are witnessing.”

The new Sunni - Shia Civil War

This move by the USA will escalate out of control. This has nothing to do with Syria. That is just Iraqi propaganda.

Maliki doesn't want to accept what was Iraq are now three autonomous regions. Western Iraq is what has been known as Al Anbar. It was one of the most turbulent areas in Iraq when the USA was there. It's sovereign right to exist was handed over to the Iraqis some time ago.

Saudi Arabia has been directly involved with Al Anbar Sunnis. They helped them establish a water supply and I think there is even some oil being accessed there. There are Sheiks in Al Anbar. The Sheiks in Al Anbar were among the first to accept American presence in order to turn the region into a productive region. There is no reason to DAMN the entire of Al Anbar to bombardment of Hellfire Missiles. 

The journalist died in Tikrit. Tikrit is where Saddam Hussein is buried. It was his home, if I remember right. 

The introduction of heavy munitions into the hands of Maliki is simply extending the USA's OWNERSHIP of Iraq. It will escalate and be the next civil war to break out. It will escalate of it's own weight and has absolutely nothing to do with Syria's civil war.

When The West introduces heavy munitions into the Middle East they ARE setting up a civil war. Automatic. It will happen sure as the sun rises everyday. Why? Because of sectarian issues.

The MIDDLE EAST needs to be DISARMED and not armed. There needs to be peace among the religious and ethnic factions and the only way to achieve that is to have them end the killing of each other. No different than South Sudan. 

The USA is out of line here and it is because Hellfire Missiles ESCALATE war. It is not a POLICING tool as illustrated in the film above. The film was on Wikipedia.

This IS the USA Military Industrial Complex out of control! Oh, I know, I know, I know. If the USA doesn't do it, then Russia will. Not necessarily.

The film loop above shows EXACTLY how wars escalate. The target are two people walking down a road in an environment where there are shops and/or homes. The first missile does not kill both men and the survivor continues down the road after the explosion. He probably thought it was a road side bomb that went off. "Too bad, I'll get on with my day." Then the drone follows him and another explosion is set off. Then the man runs into a nearby building that the narrator states is a shop of some kind. What is to follow is the drone then seeking to destroy the building the person is now occupying to protect from another attack which he probably doesn't understand why it is happening or where the explosions are coming from.

So, there is one dead, one in shock of some kind hiding in a building and holes in the road that tells everyone there is a war on human life in a way that makes to sense to them.

No doubt when the building is blow to pieces there will be far more than one other casualty. That attack was conducted in Mexico. Hellfire missiles are being used in Mexico to fight the drug cartels and then the USA wonders why there is a war at our southern border.

It is unfortunate journalists died in Tikrit, Iraq, but, that is no reason to escalate the violence and provide a solid footing for another civil war. This time when Al Anbar decides to make a stand when a Sheik is accidentally killed or one of the Sheik's children, Maliki will call on Iran to assist in the war no different than in Lebanon with Hezbollah. 

These are the "W"rongful wars of Neocons. They begin without detection and become a national emergency to the USA and then soldiers die. So, here are the beginning to the return of USA soldiers to Iraq as, of course, the killing in the first 10 years simply didn't do the job when the next Republican enters the Executive Branch or a majority in the Legislature decide they want to conduct another war.

The US Industrial Complex is out of control. It is massive in it's size and scope and it promotes war without end.

By Michael R. Gordon and Eric Schmitt

Published: December 25, 2013

WASHINGTON — The United States (click here) is quietly rushing dozens of Hellfire missiles and low-tech surveillance drones to Iraq to help government forces combat an explosion of violence by a Qaeda-backed insurgency that is gaining territory in both western Iraq and neighboring Syria....