Thursday, April 03, 2014

Kochtopia. Genius, Harry. We have a word now. Thank you.



Americans for Prosperity are only interested in their own prosperity. I am waiting for them to finally figure out that Democratic economies actually keep them in business. Where would they be without consumers? I suppose those consumers simply pick money off the Koch Tree as they do. The way Kochtopia defines their best interests is to mine and put long standing steel industries out of business where unions have brought the American Dream to the Middle Class. I don't know where they think they are going with these ideas they have. It sure isn't about democracy and it isn't about success for their companies.

The labyrinthian (click here) design of the political network backed by the Koch brothers and their fellow conservative donors serves several purposes, but one of the biggest is to ensure the privacy of its financial backers....
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9:26 AM PDT 4/3/2014
THR Staff 
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina

Gearing up (click here) for her annual Women in the World summit, Tina Brown appeared Thursday alongside the members of Russian activist band Pussy Riot on the Today show with Matt Lauer.

The veteran magazine editor articulated why Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Masha Alekhina are "game changers," while the duo focused their attention on pointing out the ills of Russian penal colony system. 

"It wouldn't be for the people who really were saying everything they could about us to support us, things would be completely different," Alyokhina said through a translator. "And it might have been that we wouldn't be healthy and sane and alive."...
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Ambien is a hypnotic.

Side Effects of Ambien
Anterograde amnesia 
Hallucinations, through all physical senses, of varying intensity
Delusions 
Altered Thought Patterns 
Euphoria and/or dysphoria
Impaired judgment and reasoning
Increased impulsivity

The FDA evaluated the results of Ambien on several occasions and adjusted the label to limit the dosage first for women and then men because they were drowsy and crashing their cars. 

Ambien was suppose to be a short duration sleep medication. Some analysis of the drug revealed similar mechanisms in it's sleep induction as benzodiazepine. The problem with that is the potential to sensitivity. Their chemical base structures are similar but not identical. The similarity in their actions occurs after the components break down in the body.

By Carri Geer Thevenot
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Relatives of Hard Rock Hotel (click here) executive Randy Kwasniewski, who committed suicide in March 2010, filed a wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday against the company that manufactures the sleeping pill Ambien.

The lawsuit alleges sanofi-aventis U.S., a limited liability company based in Delaware, knew Ambien was defective "and had the propensity to cause severe injury, including death."

Unbeknownst to Kwasniewski, the complaint alleges, "Ambien may produce suicidal thoughts, ideations, strange bizarre behaviors and actions."

"Defendant was well-aware of numerous adverse reactions to Ambien which resulted in suicide or suicidal ideation," according to the document, which claims sanofi-aventis "deliberately underwarned about the possible reactions to Ambien."...

By Lisa Maria Garza
FORT HOOD
Texas Thu Apr 3, 2014 8:58pm EDT

..."He was undergoing (click here) a variety of treatment and diagnoses for mental health conditions, ranging from depression to anxiety to some sleep disturbance. He was prescribed a number of drugs to address those, including Ambien," McHugh told a U.S. Senate committee hearing....

Posted 
By Carri Geer Thevenot
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL 

Relatives of a Hard Rock Hotel executive (click here) who killed himself two years ago have uncovered a 2006 memo from the Food and Drug Administration that examines possible links between sleep aids and suicide.
Lawyers representing the family of Randy Kwasniewski, who fatally shot himself in March 2010, recently filed the document as an exhibit in their wrongful death case against sanofi-aventis U.S. -- the company that makes the sleeping pill Ambien.
Also named as a defendant in the lawsuit is Nadine Leone, a marriage and family therapist who met with Kwasniewski five days before his death. The plaintiffs allege Leone knew Kwasniewski had been prescribed Ambien but failed to warn him about the possible mental and emotional effects of taking the drug....

Ann Clin Psychiatry. 1996 Jun;8(2):89-91
Zolpidem-induced psychosis
Markowitz JS, Brewerton TD.
Abstract (click here)

Zolpidem is reported to be a safe and effective hypnotic agent for the short-term treatment of insomnia. There are several case reports of zolpidem causing psychotic reactions in patients with no history of psychosis. We report two additional cases in which zolpidem was implicated in psychotic reactions characterized by auditory and visual hallucinations as well as delusional thinking. Both patient's symptoms resolved with the discontinuation of zolpidem use. It appears that our cases share several features in common with the other reported cases. All were female, there appeared to be some dose dependency involved, and the adverse event resolved fairly quickly upon zolpidem discontinuation. Zolpidem should be used at the lowest effective dose for the least amount of time as necessary. Female patients may possibly require smaller doses. In patients manifesting new-onset or unexplained psychotic symptoms, zolpidem use should be considered in the differential diagnosis.
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Unions need to pay attention. It is time to take this to the NLRB.

It is more than obvious charter schools are an agenda to privatize education and put unions out of business. The unions need to survey the charter schools to find out how many allow and have unionized teachers. These are public monies. There is a record number of autistic children in need of a well funded public school system with safe facilities. 

In some states, charter schools are provided special status and given more public monies than public school systems. It is time to call this what it is, a union busting agenda that leaves deserving children and handicapped children without funding to provide the opportunity public schools were intended to provide to every child in the country.

Charter schools are not about children. They are about profits, exorbitant salaried administrations and busting unions.

Any Charter School can have ONE extraordinary grades, such as the 5th grade, in scoring in required tests. But, can and do they achieve the recognition in all grades? No, they don't and they can't. How can they? There administrators are soaking up all the funding that could facilitate these goals. They don't have those resources applied to children. They have them applied to wealth regardless of there non-profit status.

Cuomo Played Pivotal Role in Charter School Push (click here)  

By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ and SUSANNE CRAIG


The moment proved to be a turning point, laying the groundwork for a deal reached last weekend that gave New York City charter schools some of the most sweeping protections in the nation, including a right to space inside public buildings. And interviews with state and city officials as well as education leaders make it clear that far from being a mere cheerleader, the governor was a potent force at every turn, seizing on missteps by the mayor, a fellow Democrat, and driving legislation from start to finish.
Mr. Cuomo’s office declined on Wednesday to comment on his role...

 

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Since when do treaties mean anything to Russia?

The Ukraine investigative board has found Yanukovych ordered police to kill the protesters in the Maidan.

 I hear Yanukovych election slogan is, "As President I will demand President Putin to return the Crimea." Odd. The Ukraine doesn't recognize the annexation now, why would they expect anyone to return it?

 Airmen board a NATO AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control Systems) aircraf during a joint NATO military exercise in Siauliai April 1, 2014. The NATO alliance said it will start reconnaissance flights with AWACS planes from their home base in Geilenkirchen and Waddington in Britain over Poland and Romania to monitor the situation in neighbouring Ukraine where Russian forces have taken control of Crimea.
CREDIT: REUTERS/INTS KALNINS

(Reuters) - Russia (click here) said on Thursday it wanted answers from NATO on its activities in eastern Europe after the Western military alliance promised to beef up defences for its eastern members.
Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region last month has caused the deepest crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War, leading the West to impose sanctions and sparking fear President Vladimir Putin has territorial designs beyond the Black Sea peninsula with its Russian-majority population.
NATO has ordered military planners to draft measures to reassure nervous Eastern European countries - which were under Moscow's domination until the 1989 end of the Cold War - but stopped short of calls by Poland to base more forces there.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said any increase in NATO's permanent presence in eastern Europe would violate a 1997 treaty on NATO-Russian cooperation....0
NATO is carrying it's promise to nations concerned about their sovereignty. NATO is not breaking any treaty, it is living up to it's obligations to it's members. If Russia will recall, it has a troop build up along the Ukraine border that has already annexed land from a sovereign nation with no capacity to attack Russia. The Crimea was litigated a long time ago in a soviet court and the land belongs with the Ukraine. It is Russia that is creating the problem of instability in the region including with members of NATO. 
There is no treaty violated by NATO that hasn't FIRST been violated by Russia. The fly overs are within the borders of member states that have every right to be concerned. Worries at this level with a threat of military invasion causes it's own level of instability. A small contingency of Russian troop withdrawal is not enough to return stability to the region and will continue to effect the Ukraine elections this May. It requires a complete withdrawal of Russia troops currently along the Ukraine border to remove that instability and threat. This is not an imagined threat, it is real and has already acted hostilely in removing land and assets from the Ukraine that was also covered by a treaty. Perhaps Russia has lost it's memory of what occurred in recent months, but, it violated a treaty with NATO then. Why should NATO expect anything less now.? 
27 May. 1997

Founding Act (click here)

on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between NATO and the Russian Federation signed in Paris, France

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and its member States, on the one hand, and the Russian Federation, on the other hand, hereinafter referred to as NATO and Russia, based on an enduring political commitment undertaken at the highest political level, will build together a lasting and inclusive peace in the Euro-Atlantic area on the principles of democracy and cooperative security.
NATO and Russia do not consider each other as adversaries. They share the goal of overcoming the vestiges of earlier confrontation and competition and of strengthening mutual trust and cooperation. The present Act reaffirms the determination of NATO and Russia to give concrete substance to their shared commitment to build a stable, peaceful and undivided Europe, whole and free, to the benefit of all its peoples. Making this commitment at the highest political level marks the beginning of a fundamentally new relationship between NATO and Russia. They intend to develop, on the basis of common interest, reciprocity and transparency a strong, stable and enduring partnership....

 It was Russia that cancelled the treaty, not the Ukraine. Russia automatically relinquished it's right to any claim on the monies it paid the Ukraine. The Crimea did not come with a refund policy.

MOSCOW, April 03. /ITAR-TASS/. Termination (click here) of the effect of the Russian-Ukrainian treaties on the Black Sea Fleet does not relieve Ukraine of financial commitments to Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Thursday regarding its note sent to Ukrainian Embassy in the Russian capital of Moscow over the federal law on denouncement of the treaties related to deployment of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine that was enacted on April 2, 2014....
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Republicans know how to spend money on dysfunctional economies.

The election business is becoming as dysfunctional an economy as the spending on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. I never thought I'd see the day allies could be roped into investing in huge amounts of money that achieved nothing, but, it happened. It is why the allies need to develop their own military on their own terms. Talk about corruption. And they carried it out with allies no less.
So, here we are again with the next latest and greatest dysfunctional economy by and for Republicans. I have my own ideas as to how this will play out. It is my estimation the GOP whom is happy and contrite about about this Supreme Court decision will be far more sorry when reality hits.
By ANNE GALLOWAY / VTDigger
POSTED:   04/03/2014 09:20:42 AM EDT
...Vermont Legislature (click here) approved new campaign finance rules this year as the McCutcheon case was under consideration. Lawmakers included an escape clause for a cap on aggregate limits in the law, pending the results of the case. Gov. Peter Shumlin signed the bill into law early this session.
Act 90 puts an aggregate limit of $40,000 on contributions from "single sources" to candidates or parties. The McCutcheon ruling allows limitless contributions from an individual to candidates, PACs and parties.
Rep. Donna Sweaney, D-Windsor, chair of House Government Operations, which shaped the legislation, said the decision is very discouraging.
"I do believe money is the biggest factor in elections and it keeps piling up," Sweaney said. "The more money you have, the better your chances and the more people you know with money, the better your chances. It's a feeding frenzy I see in Washington."
Cheryl Hanna, a professor of constitutional law at the Vermont Law School, says lawmakers were wise to put a contingency plan in state statute.
"It was a good example of the state Legislature paying attention to what is happening in federal constitutional law and crafting a statute that would survive in this case was a well thought out strategy," Hanna said....

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Senator James Inhofe is a plethora of bad ideas.

He states today that Moore was a tragedy that was one of two tornadoes last year in Oklahoma causing catastrophic damage and that the people of Oklahoma are used to them and are strong people. 
Do you know how sick I am of hearing how strong people are in the USA when it comes to preventable tragedy?
Mr. Inhofe also stated that Oklahoma was building 'safe houses.' Houses with a safe place to go to protect from tornadoes.
By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist
April 03, 2014; 4:05 AM
As a multiple-day severe weather event continues, (click here) 43 million people will be at risk for violent and dangerous storms on Thursday from the Gulf Coast to the Ohio Valley.
Following the significant round of severe weather from Wednesday, the atmosphere will continue to energize on Thursday. The threat for severe weather will continue well into the night time hours, adding to this dangerous situation.
There are many communities at risk for severe weather on Thursday. Major cities in or near the alert area include Dallas, Houston and Austin, Texas; Shreveport, La.; Tulsa, Okla.; Little Rock and Fort Smith, Ark.; St. Louis, Springfield, and Kansas City, Mo.; Peoria, Ill.; Tupelo, Miss.; Memphis and Nashville, Tenn.; Paducah, Lexington, and Louisville, Ky.; Evansville and Indianapolis, Ind.; and Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus, Ohio...
Does Mr. Inhofe ever stop to realize what he is saying? All the years Inhofe and others from Oklahoma have been in office and they only this year see safe rooms in homes. Amazing.
May 22, 2013
By Chris Casteel 
...After the devastating tornadoes of May 1999, (click here) former President Bill Clinton went to Del City, which was among the hard hit areas.
“For goodness sake, build a safe room in your house when you rebuild,” Clinton told the crowd in one neighborhood.
Many Oklahoma residents used FEMA grants after those storms to build safe rooms, and then the IRS tried to levy taxes on the grant money.
Earlier this year, the city of Moore reported obstacles to its safe room rebate program. Changes in federal requirements to the city's Hazard Mitigation Plan were cited. And the city said there was not a lot of grant money available because there had been few major disaster declarations.
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The investigations are not finished and the right wing media is using every opportunity for fear mongering.

  
I think the level trauma I surgeons said it best, "This is central Texas." Exactly.When all the facts are known I am confident they will be known by the public. 

I thought the base commander was correct in stating the policy regarding personal weapons on base will not be discussed. No one at Fort Hood is allowed to carry concealed weapons. Yet, already to day Inhofe is complaining about the policy of the military base and advocating his usual mind speak protocol of the NRA. 

If Mr. Inhofe wants to live in the wild west he can, but, for the majority of Americans they rather have some control over guns. There are known mental health issues with this shooter and yet he was able to get a gun a few days before the shooting. Same 'ole, same 'ole.

If the country can't control the distribution of guns in our society then they need to control the guns. If the shooter didn't have his Smith and Wesson no one would be dead today.


by EYDER PERALTA
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I needed a day off.

James Boyd is someone. He is an American and people tend to forget that bad times occur with people most economically vulnerable. In 2008 we witnessed even people who thought they were secure fall in the rank of the impoverished.

 Yesterday, I mourned James Boyd. Not because he was homeless, but, because he was a target of an uncaring state and city government and a police force without an ounce of sense. 

 I sometimes work with homeless artists. They are primarily joyful people and a pleasure to talk to especially when they talk about their craft or art. 

 The region I live we perform a homeless census every year. We know who they are, the problems they face and then advocate for their circumstances and it isn't always 'need' they face, sometimes it is infrastructure or lack of monies available for loans or the loss of credibility both financial and personal reputation. Sometimes it is need as with Mr. Boyd who I noticed had a medication bottle among his belongs in the video. But, I have realized the circumstances that create homelessness can be individual. It is up to us to understand our citizens and move to correct the ills of our society. 

 The homeless that have I met are men, women and families. They are nice people in social situations where they are given the opportunity to be a part of something. They earn respect and then have personal references to take forward in looking for work. They do volunteer work as they stay at local shelters with don't allow alcohol. Those shelters are open everyday of the year and are supported by the community and their non-profit status. They are often affiliated with religious organizations. 

 But, for the most part they move on. There are some that don't and they live within their understanding of life. But, this year we have had the worst winter this area has ever seen with wind chills down to -60 F. They chronically homeless made it through. When police find them huddles somewhere they aren't allowed to freeze to death, they are picked up by the police and brought to a shelter. From their they find reality and grow from it. 

 I am so sorry James Boyd is dead. It is not part of my reality and nor do I want it ever to be part of my reality. He was lied to in order to enter into a 'prescribed profile' by police so they may kill him and practice their techniques. No one will ever convince me otherwise. He had turned to leave his circumstances and he was shot. It is very easy to see in the video when he was standing that his posture changed into a limp state and he then fell to the ground. Every effort should be made to find a relative and they need to sue the city and state for the lose of the life of James Boyd.
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