Until tomorrow night...

...Ms. Lawrence is a beautiful woman who's career is dependent on her image. She speaks to the understanding that Hollywood is responsible for the self-definition of young women.

Good night.

When is the AMA going to stand up for women?

Worried about the membership bolting for the door? Really?

By Kathie Giltinan
March 6, 2014

House Bill 4588, (click here) the proposed ban on abortions at 20 weeks, is an anti-choice extremist proposal that is out of line with what the majority of West Virginians want. It is dangerous for West Virginia women, could make criminals of their doctors and is unlikely to withstand a test of constitutionality should it become law. I am upset our Legislature not only wastes time and money with it, but they may actually pass it....

The limits of the law in 2014 puts women's lives in danger and cast couples into poverty. The profession needs to realize they practice out of ethical standards and advances in that practice and when law impacts those practices in a dangerous way it is the obligation of the profession to speak truth to power.

The extremist abortion laws will cause hardship and deaths. The AMA has a responsibility in that. No enforced adoption at any stage of the pregnancy, that is a choice that needs to be made by the woman and man. Currently states like West Virginia are prohibiting physicians from practicing their conscience and putting their patients in danger.

Opinion 2.01 - Abortion (click here)

The Principles of Medical Ethics of the AMA do not prohibit a physician from performing an abortion in accordance with good medical practice and under circumstances that do not violate the law. (III, IV)

Issued prior to April 1977.

1977? Yeah? That is negligence of practice by the organization the USA relies on.

Passing the buck to the couple or women for protecting their health after a diagnosis and/or determination a woman does not want to continue a pregnancy is malpractice. People need to start suing and organizations have to appeal those suits to the higher courts. But, physicians that refuse service and/or diagnosis an abortion as a reasonable solution should be sued.

H-5.983 Pregnancy Termination (click here)

The AMA adopted the position that pregnancy termination be performed 

only by appropriately trained physicians (MD or DO); and encourages any specialty society which has adopted a contrary position to review and 

modify its position to comply with that of the AMA. (Res. 520, A-95; Reaffirmed: CSA Rep. 8, A-03)

Paralympics Day 2 Standing

CBC Sports  

Posted: Mar 07, 2014 5:00 AM ET  

Last Updated: Mar 07, 2014 6:58 AM ET

The Canadian Paralympic team (click here) is looking for a top-three finish in the medal standings in Sochi.
Ozzie Sawicki, Canada’s Paralympic chef de mission, said the goal is definitely within the team’s reach.
“We've been realistic, and we look at the medal count and which athletes fit into those gold medal spots,” he told CBC’s Scott Russell. “Is it possible? Yes it is. Definitely there's five, six, seven countries that are competitive with us.

“But when we speak with the athletes and speak with the sports, that's the beauty of the competitive nature of our group, is that they believe, ‘Why should we not be that third-place gold medal team versus any of the other nations that we're competing against?’”

Canada finished third at the 2010 Vancouver Paralympics with 10 gold medals, behind Russiad, which had 12, and Germany, with 13. The Canadian team also tied for third with Ukraine in total medals with 19, including 10 gold, five silver and four bronze. Russia won the total medal count with 38; Germany was second with 24....

The highly sought after Paralympics medals. They have a different design.

These should already be in mass production and used globally by medical corps.

EMTs need to train with these and carry it with them. UN missions need them for medical treatment. They need to be fast tracked. I bet most anyone can learn to use them. If they were put in First Aid kits with antiseptic it would sell well and bring down the price of the product. 

The inventors need to think about making varying sizes of the instrument. 

By Tracy Miller 
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, February 5, 2014, 6:17 PM
Thursday, February 6, 2014, 11:54 AM

An ingenious new invention (click here) will save precious seconds in treating life-threatening gunshot wounds on the battlefield.
The XStat looks like a syringe filled with pills, but the capsules it contains are actually tiny sponges that plug wounds and stop bleeding minutes faster than packing them with gauze.
Army medics have long wished for a better solution for treating deep wounds, said John Steinbaugh, a 25-year U.S. Army veteran and former Special Operations medic who now heads up strategic development at the Oregon-based company RevMedX.
Currently, it's an imprecise process in which medics must pack the gauze several inches inside the body, attempting to get it all the way to the bottom of the wound. Then they must apply pressure for three minutes, hoping the bleeding stops....

It reminds me of AEDs. The automatic external defibrillators. Anyone can use them. If schools across the USA were equipped with these all over their campus and in the school buildings and classrooms, they would save lives when gun nuts cut loose.

There are a lot of guns in the world and this could be the difference between death and survival. If bleeding can be stopped liquids can be swallowed and or saline infused to stabilize blood pressure and shock reactions. 

War and hatred can become meaningless. 

AP 
March 9, 2014, 11:12 AM

BEIRUT - About a dozen nuns (click here) held in Syria for more than three months have been released and are on their way to Damascus via Lebanon, a Lebanese security source and church officials said on Sunday.
The security source said the nuns had been transferred to the Lebanese town of Arsal earlier in the week and were on their way to Syria on Sunday.
The nuns went missing in December after Islamist fighters took the ancient quarter of the Christian town of Maaloula north of Damascus.
After being held in the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Thecla in Maaloula, they were reportedly moved to the town of Yabroud, about 13 miles to the north, which is now the focus of a government military operation.
Speaking to reporters at the border, Syrian Greek Orthodox Bishop Louka al-Khoury welcomed the news. "What the Syrian army achieved in Yabroud facilitated this process," he said....

There is no embedding. Everyone knows the circumstances of the people has deteriorated and it is a struggle to return quiet between different groups of people in Syria. Getting killed is unhelpful.

Will Campbell, The Canadian Press
Published Sunday, March 9, 2014 12:25PM EDT
Last Updated Sunday, March 9, 2014 2:56PM EDT

 

BEIRUT -- A Canadian freelance photographer (click here) was killed in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, his sister and activists said, the latest journalist to be killed covering a brutal war that has become the deadliest place in the world for them to operate.

Ali Mustafa died along with seven others when government aircraft dropped crude bombs and one exploded where was standing with firefighters in the rebel-held Hadariyeh area of Aleppo city, said an activist who identifies himself as Abu al-Hassan Marea.

Mustafa's sister, Justina Rosa Botelho confirmed her 29-year-old brother's death after activists sent her a photograph of his corp....

I actually don't have a problem in stabilizing the border between Lebanon and Syria. Why? Because as long as Assad can prove he still has control while trying to settle so many turbulent issues in Syria, Hezbollah will stand down. If Hezbollah feels there is complete anarchy in Syria, they will continue to kill people without discrimination as to whom and the domestic environment in Syria will never settle down. 

By Nabih Bulos and Patrick J. McDonnell

March 8, 2014, 4:45 p.m.

The military takeover of Zara, (click here) in Homs province, is the latest advance in the effort to block rebel supply routes from Lebanon.

BEIRUT — After weeks of fighting, the Syrian military has wrested control of a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border in the strategic province of Homs, military and opposition representatives said Saturday.

The seizure of Zara, close to the main highway linking Homs city to the Mediterranean coast, is the latest reported government advance in its effort to seal the porous border with Lebanon, long a conduit for antigovernment fighters and arms.
In a statement, the Syrian military hailed the seizure of Zara, which "had been used as a main passage for the terrorist groups that would come from Lebanon and head to neighboring areas to carry out their criminal operations."
The Syrian government routinely refers to rebels as "terrorists" and "mercenaries."...

Rebels are not terrorists. That is a reality Assad can't seem to come to grips with. Assad cannot simply kill ethnic settlements. He needs to seek peace with them. If Assad doesn't seek peace with the people within Syria he will have chronic war and killing.

Syrian rebels (click here) in battle-scarred Tal Khalakh have turned in their arms and signed loyalty pledges to the government. Similar truces, though tenuous, are spreading in some areas. 

By Patrick J. McDonnell

March 9, 2014, 7:00 a.m.

TAL KHALAKH, Syria — For more than a year, Ghassan Eid didn't speak to his son, Khaled, who abandoned his job as a policeman and joined the armed rebels.

"I was ashamed," recalled the father, a shop owner in Tal Khalakh, long renowned as a smuggling hub with nearby Lebanon — and more recently as a cross-border terminus for arms and rebel fighters. "He was not my son anymore."
All that has changed. Khaled has renounced the uprising to oust President Bashar Assad and is studying to become a lawyer.
"I was wrong; some people deceived us," Khaled, 31, dressed in a track suit, said as he and other young men hung out on the eerily becalmed streets of Tal Khalakh, where bullet- and shell-pocked buildings attest to months of conflict. "I'm back to myself now."
He is among hundreds of ex-rebels in the Tal Khalakh area who, according to the mayor here, have joined what the Syrian government calls the "reconciliation" process....

This momentum has to sustain and not simply a temporary truce. The cities and town of Syria first need food and clean water and then they need to rebuild their economy.

Fear between the ethnicities has spread like wildfire in the Mideast from Arab Maghreb to Syria. At one time the minority ethnicities had no choice but to be extremists and conduct violence to maintain a footprint. That has changed and the region needs to appreciate a balance of respect. Their economies are completely dependent on mutual respect and equity on the lands. Their pilgrimages are vital to their lives and devotions and it cannot be interrupted by violence and hatred anymore.

By Essam Mohamed
17 February 2014

Tripoli, Siham Ali in Rabat, (click here) Jamel Arfaoui in Tunis and Jemal Oumar in Nouakchott — Top diplomats from across North Africa gathered in Tripoli on Saturday (February 15th) to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA).

"There is no doubt that the results in terms of consolidating this entity are still much lower than the aspirations of our peoples," Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan said in marking the occasion.

Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdulaziz chaired the meeting in the presence of his counterparts from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania as well as UMA Secretary-General Habib Ben Yahia.

"What we face in terms of challenges and obstacles are too large and requires effort and hard work on a political level as well as a real, serious, and focused dialogue," Zidan pointed out.

"Compromise is essential and necessary, and relations between states and peoples cannot be consolidated without concrete initiatives in the fields of economy, trade, education, and culture," the Libyan premier continued.
Zidan also called for "co-operation in security, the exchange of information, border protection, experiences and the development of expertise"...

Stolen passports aren't that rare and not isolated to Thialand. I wish the media wouldn't lie.

When it comes to the airline industry, the media are horrible liars. They rather blame any other reason than aircraft for a reason for a flight's failure.

Wall Street and it isn't necessarily about airlines so much as passenger travel. 

Posted on June 20, 2011  

by A.M. Costa Rica Staff

Thefts and robberies of U.S. passports (click here) are on the decline, although the reason or reasons are hard to pinpoint.

The stolen passport trend, which gave Costa Rica a black eye, appears to have peaked in 2007 and has continued to decline since, according to Paul D. Birdsall, U.S. consul general in Costa Rica. It is to his office that U.S. citizens come to obtain a new passport when their passport is lost or stolen....

Malaysia is a hub for al Qaeda? I didn't know they were FedEx.

Bangkok, 4 Nov 2007: (click here) A group of 47 Malaysians have been identified by Thai Police as suspects carried out suspicious activities involving Al Qaeda. Chief of National Thai Police has made some remarks about intense Al Qaeda activities in Phuket. They have some evidences that it may get some financial and weaponry supports from Malaysians. However, they don't want to reveal the evidences too early since it might make the relation between Thailand and Malaysia get worsened. The Al Qaeda related activities are focused mainly in Phuket that make Thai's government think it has strong relation with the efforts to destroy Thailand tourism development as part of Visit Malaysia 2007.

This is religious base support for financial purposes. The international community has isolated bank accounts, etc., so the extremists in the world seek money from the faithful. Honestly.

Hey, I got an idea, send a drone. 

This is a Malaysian affiliated with al Qaeda and an Afghan training camp. Doktor Azahari bin Husin. He was supposedly a technical guy. He is believed to have been an engineer involved with the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings. His activities were limited to Indonesia and Malaysia.

Well, guess what? His nasty activities earned him death at the age of 48 years old in 2005.

The region, especially Indonesia, has a long history of religious zealots. Christians and Muslims. Go figure, they usually get along so well, huh? 

Bali is a province of Indonesia. That is what this was about.  

Bali (©4Corners, Mar 2013)

Bali is a living postcard, (click here) an Indonesian paradise that feels like a fantasy. Soak up the sun on a stretch of fine white sand, or commune with the tropical creatures as you dive along coral ridges or the colorful wreck of a WWII war ship. On shore, the lush jungle shelters stone temples and mischievous monkeys. 

It is like I always say, continue to war monger and instill fear in people so there is polarization of tourism and the impoverished really have a gripe. Oh, no, ecotourism.  

Gee, "How to be a good ecotourist."

Does anyone actually think any government actively involved with the economy of their lands will tolerate violent acts that will cause them hardship when they've worked so hard to over come it?
 

This is kind of an impossible question, but, are all private jets that fly that corridor accounted for?

Flightware (click here)

Current Squawk (click here)  

This is an area of the world where languages are very diverse. Any flight centers should be notified of request for information that seems pertinent including a head count of their lease holders, including transient tie downs.

The wave height is due to increase.

Interactive VietNam wave (swell) map for surfers, (click here) windsurfers and sailors showing open ocean wave size, wave period and wave energy. You can customize the wave and wind maps with overlays for wind arrows, pressure and general weather for surfing. There are also options to display live wind observations from ships, wave buoys and weather stations on the wave maps in the VietNam region.

The current off south Vietnam travels to land of  Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

By EILEEN NG and CHRIS BRUMMITT 22 hours ago
 
...The oil slicks (click here) were spotted late Saturday off the southern tip of Vietnam and were each between 10 kilometers (6 miles) and 15 kilometers (9 miles) long, the Vietnamese government said in a statement. There was no confirmation that the slicks were related to the missing plane, but the statement said they were consistent with the kinds that would be produced by the two fuel tanks of a crashed jetliner....

This floating debris off Long Island was in fairly quiet water.

The analogy with Air France 447 is probably accurate. Recovery of any kind took time.

The Gulf of Thailand is relatively shallow: its mean depth is 45 m, and the maximum depth only 80 m. This makes water exchange slow, and the strong water inflow from the rivers make the Gulf low in salinity (3.05–3.25%) and rich in sediments.

The varying depths of water moving toward the Java Sea tells me there may be some trenches.

INDONESIA - Kalimantan - South West Coast, Selat Karimata and Approaches to Selat Sunda – Rock. Depths. (click here)

I doubt any water movement will being any debris to depth this quickly. Jets are fairly light in weight. But, working in these waters could mean some surface turbulence not necessarily expected by ships unfamiliar with them, such as China. I would actually expect fishermen to understand these waters and currents better than any military assets. The "Law of the Sea Conventions" extended the coastal waters to 200 miles. I would expect mapping had begun with all these nations, but, may not be detailed or complete yet. The submissions were somewhere around 2008 - 2009. 

This is the latest spasm of the gun rights jerks.

The rhetoric of the GOP regarding exporting gas to Europe is simply that rhetoric.

The infrastructure doesn't exist. Kindly note this is as of February 21, 2014.

Export Terminal (click here)
APPROVED
UNDER CONSTRUCTION U.S.-FERC8.
Sabine, LA: - 2.76 Bcfd
(Cheniere/Sabine Pass LNG)

You can't float natural gas by hot air balloon either, it is heavier than air.

The approval of import terminals need to stop and/or be severely slowed. We don't need them. I mean according to the petroleum industry the USA is energy independent now, right? 

Export has to occur with LNG (liquid natural gas). Propane doesn't ship well. The export terminals have to be curtailed otherwise the USA will look like Swiss cheese. Nothing against Switzerland. Even "America's Got Talent" loves yodeling. Country-Western no less. Interesting, isn't it?

North American LNG Import/Export Terminals (below click here) 

This throw down the gauntlet mess has to stop. See, this is war and a threat to a global economy that establishes peace and balance of trade. When so called emergencies are declared you can count on government cutting all the corners and put American communities in danger.

The ONLY reason to expand any export of energy is because of a growing population that requires it. Right now, the 0.1% has every electorate in the USA convinced they have to make hay while the sunshines. The only way commodity prices stabilize is by exporting and importing ACCORDING to the needs of the population.

One might recall the GOP likes a 'supply side' economy. Bush instituted it by outsourcing American jobs and importing beyond any trade balance from China, creating a huge trade deficit while imploding the tax base by robbing good wages from the Middle Class.

If that isn't enough for you, what did Bush seek to inspire? Socially. What did he seek to inspire? This is a no brainer.

Supply side economics needs what in order to thrive? DEMAND. Supply side economics in order to work needs demand. Will advertisements alone increase demand?

Hell, no.

Bush promoted large families and lack of contraception. It is all based in greed and economics. Supply side economics REQUIRES a large investment in WAREHOUSING. So, the DEMAND has to JUSTIFY it. Supply side economics ANTICIPATES it's market and produces product to match it. Who has the capital to establish supply side economics? Wall Street. Investors. Anticipated profits will bring investors to the supply side economics. It is a cheap economy that pays shit, but, what does Wall Street care as long as they are making money. 

What happens with supply side economics and mass production? We saw under Bush.

As supply side economics takes over the face of Wall Street the companies lagging in production will increase their production and if it doesn't have the cash flow to do it a couple of things happen. What are they? 

First cut wages, then cut costs by reducing quality and then if all else fails mergers and buy outs by companies like Bain and Goldman and all that mess all over again. How did the 0.1% get where it is now? Yep. Bush.

Demand side economics is far more possible for whom? 

Small businesses and local start ups. Demand side works for the Middle Class and local economies. Market share is measured, production put into place, quality matters because of competition and high quality workers for production is necessary to win a PORTION of the market. Supply side economics REQUIRES far larger market share than demand side economics.

What company PROVES demand side economics works beyond any imagination?

TESLA.

The company's initial offerings were blunted in sales by corrupt intervention to oppress the company, why? 

Because "Tesla" could actually produce one vehicle at a time, it didn't require petroleum and the possibility it's engineering was 'spot on' was very high. It also had investment monies from the government to increase it's expertise and expand it's demand. 

"Tesla" found a way to market it's ingenious engineering miracle when everyone stated it could not be done and now the company is looking to produce a less expensive vehicle that is affordable by far more consumers than currently purchase their product.

Tesla is also looking at export markets as well.

So, the moral to all this is that simply throwing support of exploitative energy procurement is nothing more than corruption. If the product is not under demand don't produce it. If a glut of oil reaches the markets it will be a weapon and not a commodity designed to destroy economies while producing instability in 'traditional' USA enemies. The current tensions between The East and The West is in anticipation of the destruction of their economies and loss of their sovereignty.

March 10, 2014
Angela Macdonald-smith

Aspiring LNG project (click here) developer Liquefied Natural Gas is close to scoring a coup over its many larger rivals in the crowded US gas export sector, expecting to reach a milestone within weeks in the complex regulatory process for its $US3.5 billion terminal venture in Louisiana.
Managing director Maurice Brand said the critical filing with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the Magnolia LNG terminal was on track to be made in April, setting the first phase of the project on track for a potential final go-ahead in 2015.
LNG Ltd's progress on its Magnolia project comes as pressure builds on the US government to accelerate the pace of approvals of gas exports, especially in the wake of the crisis in Crimea that could threaten Russian exports to Europe....

 

The next G8 needs to be held in Kiev.

Other nations like the UAE have discovered the beauty and rich history of the Ukraine and have encouraged tourism. It is time to push back against the chaos and return the economy to the Ukraine.

Posted 25 May 2011

...Ukraine (click here) is the eighth most visited country in the world and its location at the cross-roads of Central, East, North and South Europe has long made it a popular tourist and transit spot within the region. The country has strong roots in European and Russian history but has forged a unique identity, offering tourists a distinctive adventure, cultural and leisure experience.

Ukraine is the eighth most visited country in the world and its location at the cross-roads of Central, East, North and South Europe has long made it a popular tourist and transit spot within the region. The country has strong roots in European and Russian history but has forged a unique identity, offering tourists a distinctive adventure, cultural and leisure experience. - See more at: http://www.arabianaerospace.aero/kiev-airport-chief-says-flydubai-entry-a-boost-to-ukrainian-travellers.html#sthash.sJUjKCdv.dpuf

Posted 25 May 2011

The F-35 costs have to be contained.

The budget should not have increased, the number of jets being produced should have decreased.

Lockheed Martin was counting on the Joint Strike Fighter for it's income. It was looking to more than just the jet order from the USA. The USA cannot continue to singularly support the F-35 either.

When R&D hasn't worked for thirteen years, nearly a generation, it is time to take a different direction. 

July 09, 2012
By Winslow Wheeler 


...The summary (click here) uses the wrong baseline.  As F-35 observers know and as the table shows, the cost documentation of the F-35 program started in 2001, not 2007.  There has been a lot more cost growth than the “$117.2 billion (42 percent)” stated.

Set in 2001, the total acquisition cost of the F-35 was to be $233.0 billion. Compare that to the current estimate of $395.7 billion: cost growth has been $162.7 billion, or 70%: a lot more than what GAO stated in its summary.

However, the original $233 billion was supposed to buy 2,866 aircraft, not the 2,457 currently planned: making it $162 billion, or 70%, more for 409, or 14%, fewer aircraft. Adjusting for the shrinkage in the fleet, I calculate the cost growth for a fleet of 2,457 aircraft to be $190.8 billion, or 93%.

The cost of the program has almost doubled over the original baseline; it is not an increase of 42%....

These folks aren't too smart, are they? Shooting at international observers?

It is rather strange that people in fear for their lives and brandishing weapons are now shooting at the very people sent to protect them. This really isn't about the safety of citizens, except, perhaps the Ukrainians on the mainland. This is about oppression of the masses and validates the militias in the country.

This is going to become another Yugoslavia. The Crimea will continue to advance against unarmed and helpless people and it won't stop at the Ukraine border either. This is about taking back the Soviet Union. I don't know who's idea this is, but, it is a bad one. This will escalate into major confrontation. This is nonsense.

By Will Stewart In Moscow and Ian Birrell In Crimea
PUBLISHED: 18:33 EST, 8 March 2014
UPDATED: 20:32 EST, 8 March 2014

The crisis in Ukraine deepened last night (click here) as warning shots were fired at international observers seeking to monitor the rapidly growing Russian military build-up in Crimea.

Forty gunmen in balaclavas and military fatigues aimed warning shots above a car leading a convoy of 57 unarmed civilian and military observers from the Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

At least three shots were fired from automatic weapons and although no one was injured, the incident was seen as a dangerous widening of the conflict....

When Yugoslavia broke up the entire region suffered and there was genocide.

When the Soviet Union dissolved that didn't mean the problems of the post soviet nations were solved. Quite the contrary. The divisions of ethnicities remained and the most dramatic example were the attacks by Poland on South Ossetia and Abkhazia. 

Look I don't know what Russia thinks it is doing, but, attempting to reclaim land mass isn't what the world is about anymore. Russia needs to get over it's angst and The West will then have to stop it's insidious ideas of destroying the communist nations. That is bullshit and McCain can blow it out his barracks bag.

Europe wants peace, I know it does. And for any nation removed from the Europe-Asia borders to think it can play with economic aggressions against Russia is nothing but idiocy. There ain't no way the USA will ever get away with starting another war. Iraq was enough to bring the entire world dowm on the backs of the USA if it even looks like it is going to happen again. 

If the war mongers in the USA actually believes there will be more and more economic aggression toward other nations, just try it and see what happens to Wall Street. We ain't gonna fight for ya, either. The USA has a Defense Department, not a war department and the Neocons days of glory are over.And if the USA military ever thinks they are going to run drone wars, they are delusional. If they think they have budget problems now try building a drone army and see what you get then.

I remind, NO BOMBS FELL IN SYRIA!!!!!!!

You mean to tell me all this violence in Venezuela is about food? Chavez never had a problem.

This is part of the problem with that pipeline, by the way. And I actually think that is why the pipeline at all, really. 

The Alberta Tar Sands will create a glut of garbage oil in the market place and send every other country's supply down in value. Right now a barrel is at a little over $100. It is heck of a way to wage a war and for what reason I have yet to understand, pure vengeance maybe. The pipeline will reek havoc on oil prices and nations that have been dependent on oil sales for their economy will find themselves hurting. This is an example. This is exactly what is going to happen.

Saudi Arabia, Russia, OPEC will all slide in their ability to generate income and the global economy will be in another decline. The USA has to stem it's exports, build up any and all reserves and stop drilling for god sake.

...State-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, (click here) which oversees the world’s largest oil reserves, is sending hundreds of thousands of barrels a day to China to pay back government loans. At the same time, refiners along the U.S. Gulf Coast are sourcing more domestic supply as a surge in drilling shale rock sends output to the highest in a quarter-century. A proposed pipeline to transport Canadian crude from oil sands in Alberta to U.S. refining centers could further restrict Venezuela’s access to profitable export markets, according to Tissot Associates....

So this is the new supply of oil China discovered, huh? That's interesting because if China keeps this up it will send the entire Venezuela economy into chaos and China will have to send its own rig workers. That doesn't usually go over too well, ask the petroleum industry in Nigeria.

The parade should have supplied canned goods, too. Castro and the other South American leaders need to supply some advise. This is terrible. They need to talk to China about it's demands. I know Argentina is in no place to bargain with them, but, this is unacceptable. The people need food. The NGOs better be given contracts for the meantime or our near borders are going to be receiving refugees and a new generation of boat people.

By WILLIAM NEUMAN
MARCH 5, 2014
 

CARACAS, Venezuela — In the year since the death of Hugo Chávez, (click here) this country’s longtime socialist president, one thing has remained constant: He is still loved and hated with almost equal fervor.

To mark the anniversary, the government on Wednesday held a parade, a ceremony with a cannon salute at his tomb and a religious service. In the afternoon, fireworks burst over the capital at the hour of his death.

His successor and acolyte, President Nicolás Maduro, presided over the events, which served as a distraction from weeks of protests against his government and the country’s deeply ingrained problems, including high inflation, shortages of many basic goods and violent crime....

We need to get some NGOs in Venezuela until the government comes to terms with it's inadequacy.

Hugo Chavez used to supply inexpensive oil to the people in New England during the winter and this guy can't put food on the table of the citizens? What the heck? 

What does he think he is doing, trying to starve the opposition for the next election? This is nonsense. It would seem the only thing the new president has control of are the folks with guns.

Fabiola Sanchez 

Published: March 8

 

CARACAS, Venezuela — In a major show of force, (click here) hundreds of National Guardsmen in riot gear and armored vehicles prevented an “empty pots march” from reaching Venezuela’s Food Ministry on Saturday to protest shortages of staple items.

President Nicolás Maduro’s socialist government, meanwhile, celebrated as a diplomatic victory an Organization of American States declaration supporting its professed efforts to bring a peaceful solution to the country’s worst political violence in years. The United States, Canada and Panama were the only nations to oppose the declaration....

I've got ideas about what happened, but, the pilot dumped his fuel before hitting the water so it wouldn't explode on contact.

I don't believe it had anything to do with terrorism. Why would the pilot dump his fuel if the plane exploded?

The jet was also cruising at 34 thousand feet. Most planes have air sensors, so if this was equipped with air sensors, I'd check to see what the air density was at 34 thousand feet. Then I'd check to see if the air was dense enough to keep the jet fins rotating. Of course, that is just my opinion in understanding how air density changes with the current state of Earth's climate.
 
A photo provided by Tienphong.vn shows what is believed to be an oil slick stretching a length of about 15-20 kilometers in the sea off the Vietnamese coast, March 8, 2014. It was spotted off the coast by Vietnamese search and rescue planes while looking for a missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet.(Photo: TIENPHONG.VN via EPA) 

Calum MacLeod, Thomas Maresca and Gary Strauss
USA TODAY 
 3:04 a.m. EDT March 9, 2014

As the hunt for the missing Malaysian Air jumbo jet (click here) gained momentum Sunday in the South China Sea and Malaysian intelligence agencies were investigating potential terrorism, hopes were all but gone for the 239 passengers and crew.
Military ships and aircraft from a half dozen nations continued to pour into area, searing for the Boeing 777 that vanished suddenly and without warning early Saturday morning, two hours after a scheduled six-hour flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
A search found two large oil slicks off the southern tip of Vietnam Saturday, but an overnight search that extended into Sunday afternoon yielded no signs of wreckage. Rodzali Daud, head of the Malaysian air force, said Sunday that military radar indicated the plane may have veered off course or attempted to turn back.
Speculation on the cause of the crash ranged from catastrophic mechanical failure to terrorism, fanned by a flight manifest which showed two passengers had flown with stolen passports....