You folks won. Let's stand down for the vote, okay?

Something tells me the sovereign borders are being defined far better these days. A little coordination would be good. I think Ukraine has accomplished what others thought they never could, a real shot at a country of people with a chance in the world. Let's not ruin it, okay? There is no reason to fear the invasion. It looks like everyone is okay for now. Let's just have an election.

It has been a rough couple of months and it is amazing how far the central government has come to secure the country. Amazing. I think the opposition has found new meaning and dispersed. Hard to believe, but, the oligarchs are actually valuing the country and not the separatists. It seems as though the country is coming to understand their future lies together at peace and not at war with each other. 

The dead need to be identified in this 'friendly fire' incident and the families comforted and provided for. Sorry, to realize the tensions were so high it caused such tragedy.

Ukraine has always had capacity. Now, it needs to realize the dangers of that strength all over again. It has been a long time of being a country focused on peace to simply have it's military spring back into action without some problems. Ukraine is no joke and never has been. They made it through. 

5/23/14
by Chris Wright 
...Vadim Khramov at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, (click here) one of the most closely-followed analyst voices about Ukraine, made his own predictions this morning, saying he believes that both Kiev and the west are likely to recognize the election result even if many people cannot vote; he also believes that Russia will recognize them too, “removing a large part of the remaining risks of further economic and political pressure on Russia from the west.”...

Let's hope the election goes better than anyone has expected. I would think the current acting President would be unafraid to discuss the truth with his countrymen and invite them to cast their votes.

US Rep. Conyers will appear on the ballot this November.

The Secretary of State of Michigan is wrong. The petition only should have required Michigan residents, not necessarily residents registered to vote. That comes later.

The Michigan Secretary of State was more interested in the virginity of the process as it was suppose to be pure and perfect above all human characteristics.

May 23, 2014
 ...“The Michigan Election Law is designed to protect the purity (click here) of the ballot access process,” the review said. “The laws governing this activity place affirmative duties on petition circulators. As evidenced over the past two election cycles, when campaigns fail to comply with the law by executing basic principles of petition circulation, they create their own ‘ballot access crisis’ when their failures are discovered by or brought to the attention of election officials. In this instance, consultant Steve Hood freely admitted that he failed to ensure that the petition circulators he hired to work on Conyers’ campaign were registered to vote.”...

Someone want to explain where 'pure' is defined in Michigan law? Citizen is defined, but, pure? 

Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God." 

I didn't know Michigan was in the end times. Man, oh, man if that is true, then I'm going to Texas. Rich Perry is promising all sorts of new business this is just the beginning.

It would seem as though the Koch Brothers discriminate against zoos.

Amy Dominello Braun

Digital Content Editor

Triad Business Journal

 

-- A 1-cent increase in the property tax rate (click here) has been proposed for Winston-Salem with a larger increase of 10 cents on the tax rate was proposed for property owners in the new downtown business improvement district, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. City Manager Lee Garrity said the increase is needed to offset a change in state law that eliminated a revenue stream and for the city to provide extra services downtown. The current tax rate is 53 cents for every $100 of taxable property....

 

They don't like animals?  Or world class zoos that attract tourism? Why would they not oppose such a significant tax increase in North Carolina?

There is a call for help from the Nikolaev Zoo.

There are 6000 animals at risk of starvation. As of yesterday the zoo curator was still asking for help.

Below translated:

05.22.14
Animals from zoos in Ukraine also suffered from the crisis in that country. In a difficult situation is a zoo in Kharkov, where food is running out.


This is an English article by the Telegraph. 

09 April 2014
By Fred Nathan  

Campaigners (click here) and Ukrainian citizens are facing a daily struggle to keep animals in a Kharkiv zoo alive while the political crisis in the country continues.

The government began in January to divert funds away from the Nikolaev zoo, which houses nearly six thousand animals, including big cats, bears, monkeys, crocodiles, boa constrictors and elephants.

The dire situation at the 114-year-old facility, which has survived two World Wars, was highlighted in March by a letter sent by zoo director Alexey Grigoriev to Ukraine's prime minister that said: "The Kharkiv animals on the verge of starvation."

"Our animals are not fighting for power, they do not share anyone's political views, they just want to live," continued the letter.

However, locals immediately responded to the plea, donating large sums of money as well as food supplies to the zoo....

The facts about deep well injection has been known for a long, long time. Decades.

Earthquake hazard (click here) associated with deep well injection; a report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

1990, Nicholson, Craig; Wesson, R. L.

USGS Bulletin: 1951

But, it took the Bush White House to do the unthinkable. With full knowledge as to what awaits the American landowner and water consumer they turned loose the monster with the 2005 Energy Policy Act. 

No warning to consumers. 

No warning to landowners. 

No warning PERIOD. 

No legal stipulation requiring every energy company pursuing hydraulic fracturing to hand every landowner and every water consumer a copy of Wesson and Nicholson book entitled, "Earthquake hazard associated with deep well injection; a report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency." (click here)

And, of course, no one ever expected the petroleum industry to have a conscience that might actually effect their profit margin. Not even in the face of govenrment subsidies. The American landowner and consumer is nobody in the petroleum industry and those they buy for government office.

The information was available to everyone and it is was not mentioned to those now suffering from the ravages of the profit demands of the petroleum industry. They exhibited no morality toward their contract signators and the industry is liable. The petroleum industry never acted in 'good faith' which is a baseline demand of contract law in the USA.

In contract law, the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is a general presumption that the parties to a contract will deal with each other honestly, fairly, and in good faith, so as to not destroy the right of the other party or parties to receive the benefits of the contract.

It is impossible to write every word of every possible outcome into a contract, therefore, there is an understanding that while language in a contract is important the very basis of contract law begins with a 'good faith' understanding. When an industry knows the dangers and pitfalls of it's practices and allow it's contracts to neglect vital information about same, it is very, very liable REGARDLESS as any 'general release of liability clause' states. This information is baseline knowledge and not cutting edge knowledge. Those contracting with the petroleum industry had the right to know what the industry knew. In concealing it brings about the industry's liability. 

In other words, they lied (LACK OF TRUTH is as good as lying) about the dangers of signing the contract they offered money to participate while they gained profits.


The petroleum industry has been nothing short of a snake oil salesman.


Alberta (click here) has always been a seismically quiet part of North America. There is no evidence that the province has ever experienced a significantly destructive earthquake, and there is no reason to believe that one is imminent. There have been fewer than 15 catalogued events greater than magnitude 3.5 since 1985.* Alberta does experience very small earthquakes. These earthquakes are usually less than 3 local magnitude (M_L). Although it is unusual to feel a an earthquake smaller than 2.5 M_L, it is important to monitor them.

Since seismic monitoring began in earnest in the mid-1960s, data collected have shown a recent increase in small- to microearthquake activity. From 1985 to 2010, Earthquakes Canada recorded 471 earthquakes in Alberta. The vast majority of these were natural earthquakes that occurred in a southeast trend along the Rocky Mountain Foothills. However, clusters of activity have also been observed in regions associated with gas production.

Scientists believe that it is important to understand Alberta’s seismicity patterns as well as the causes of the increased numbers of small and micro-earthquakes. Some of these earthquakes may have been triggered or induced by oil and gas production.

Alberta Earthquake Catalogue, Version 1.0: September 2006 through December 2010 (click here)

Authors: Stern, V.H.; Schultz, R.J.; Shen, L.; Gu, Y.J.; Eaton, D.W.

...We also note a persistent but diffuse cluster of events, termed the Del Bonita cluster, near the Alberta-Montana border.

Like I said, North Dakota is floating in oil. More and more infrastructure failures. The epidemiology of the state is going to change.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A spill of 100 barrels of brine (click here) and 140 barrels of oil has been reported in Crosby.

The North Dakota Department of Health on Wednesday said 90 barrels of brine and 65 barrels of oil have been recovered, but some reached a nearby farm field and shelter belt.

Operator Samson Resources Company reported the release to authorities on Monday. The company says the failure of a valve on a saltwater disposal well led to the spill.

A state inspector is at the site located in northwest North Dakota less than 20 miles from the Canadian border.

A state official says the company is in the process of cleaning the site and is monitoring for evidence of "stressed vegetation."

Samson Resources is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

This is the nearly million gallon spill in Tioga. When all is finally cleaned up I bet it tops a million gallons.

A birds-eye view (click here) of the 865,000 gallon spill of fracked oil in Tioga, ND; Photo Credit

Originally it was thought about 600,000 gallons (22,000 barrels) was spilled. Now, the measure is at least 27,000 barrels. Expected costs are over $11 million for clean up. Let's hope the land is recoverable after the clean up.

Carrying oil obtained via hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), the controversial horizontal drilling method used to capture oil and gas found embedded in shale rock basins worldwide, the Bakken Shale pipeline spill on September 29 was the largest fracked oil spill in U.S. history. Oil spill experts say the spill may be even bigger than originally estimated. 

That is the problem with fracking. It cannot be contained. It isn't simply a pipe carrying oil to the surface. It is dissolution of land and rock which permits 'oozing' everywhere. That is grossly evident in the Alberta Tar Sands. The water contamination in the wetlands is horrible. The water is contaminated from the MIGRATION of the 'Hot Steamed Tar.' 

See, the tar can't migrate into waterways and lowlands and wetlands. It is 'in place' and too thick. Besides that it is contained within the sands of the wildlands/woodlands. It can't migrate UNTIL disturbed by human activity.

But, once the 'hot steam' is added to the fracking (And yes, they frack the oil sands as well as excavate it. Oh, you didn't know that?) the tar becomes less viscous and literally oozes everywhere through every crack and crevasse that exists. The tar is showing up all over the place. There are endangered species of fish in Canada thanks to Trans-Canada. 

But, the whole excavation nightmare is only one insult to the land. See, once Trans-Canada finishes taking the top layer of tar sands off, they then introduce fracking to extract any amount possible out of the ground that might be at depth. So, the hot steam is injected into the tar below the superficial layer and the darn stuff surfaces, but, it also travels in all directions contaminating land and water. The land and water it is contaminating doesn't even have to be nearby either. Amazing technology.

Oh, the land can't be recovered either. See, Trans-Canada wants everyone to believe there is all sorts of restoration of the land after the superficial tar sands is removed, but, that is a lie. Once the hot steam is introduced into the lower layers of tar the land becomes unstable. It will take centuries for that land to even begin to define itself as anything but dangerous. As I write this, there are creatures, not to mention trees and plants, sinking into tar pits within their habitats because of Trans Canada.

The Canadian government should be fully ashamed of itself to not only allow such exploitation of CONTAINED CARBON but to allow the voting public to be this deceived about the very land they call home.

The USA State Department report? Yeah. It never accounted for all the LOSS of carbon sinks in Canada. The State Department report LIMITS the 'cost' of energy to simply THE PROCESS. The loss of carbon sinks never entered the equation. 

Yep. 

Corrupt. 

The State Department document is corrupt because it only recognizes the northern portion of the pipeline from the USA border to the southern pipeline. The State Department report is BLIND to anything that occurs in Canada as if it isn't happening and isn't part of the carbon load of the pipeline. 

That's corruption. 

Shame on everyone involved with the State Department Report to actually limit the scope of the carbon costs. Shame, shame. I mean they didn't even properly identify the MSDS. Honestly.

The so called fracking technology used in the Alberta Tar Sands actually has a name. It is called "Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD)." Guess who developed it as far back as the 1970s? Yep, Halliburton.

...With the introduction (click here) of the steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) drilling technique, production efficiencies of 60 percent or better are now possible in heavy oil reserves. Originally developed by the Alberta, Canada Department of Energy (formerly AOSTRA), Sperry Drilling’s SAGD technique utilizes twin horizontal wells, one drilled above the other, and steam injection to enhance the recovery of heavy oil. Steam is injected to the upper well, and the heated heavy oil and condensed steam are produced from the lower well. Reduced oil viscosity, along with improved sweep and displacement efficiency, provides a higher percentage of recovery than other traditional methods....

It uses huge amounts of water and HEAT to carry out the extraction of the carbon. There is absolutely no way once this technology is measured for the damage to carbon sinks and the cost of heat and water it can be in anyway 'balanced' as a beneign form of carbon fuel. The equations of any of this tilt heavily in one direction, "Huge CO2 damage through emissions to Earth's troposphere."

And yes, it was in my reply to the State Department, so within the million comments submitted the State Department can never say it didn't know.

This is what Denver International Airport looked like on May 21st with a hail storm. The 'green hue' can be detected although with the darkness (lack of sunlight) it is difficult.

Below a snow plow is noted to be removing the hail. That is an exceptional amount of hail.

May 21, 2014
By Marc Stewart
DENVER - A large thunderstorm (click here) that moved over Denver International Airport property on Wednesday prompted a tornado warning, damaged jets and canceled, diverted and delayed dozens of flights.

Flights and security screenings were suspended while part of DIA was covered under the tornado warning. The warning did not include the airport terminal so passengers were not told to shelter.

Frontier Airlines said that 13 of its flights were canceled because of hail damage to six jets in its Airbus fleet."The aircraft remain out of service as our maintenance team performs inspections," Frontier spokeswoman Kate O'Malley said.

In all, 40 flights were diverted...

The voices of those filming the event from inside the terminal noted it was a fast moving storm. 

How lucky are we to have Phil continually turn up like a bad penny.

I originally thought, "Live and let live." But, this guy is becoming a real annoyance because he has no respect for anyone else. He's obnoxious. He is not a preacher. His celebrity gives him the right to stand on an alter of worship and provide guidance? I don't think so. "Duck Dynasty" needs to go where ratings don't belong. I hope Phil is correct, "This is the end times...for Duck Dynasty."

..."What's [Jesus] coming back for?" Robertson asked the congregation. "To bring salvation to those who are waiting for it. Are you waiting on Jesus? Or are you afraid to see that sky busting, you see him coming?" The reality TV star added, "You got two lists. I gave some guy one list," he said, apparently referring to GQ interviewer. "You say, 'Were they mad at you about that list?' They were mad at me."...

No, Phil. I am not waiting for Jesus and I am sorry to hear you are. See, morality exists everywhere around all of us if we reach for it. Jesus doesn't need to tell me I need salvation, I find it all the time.

As a matter of fact, Phil. I hope these words of moral value reach you and saves your sorry 'waiting for proof' in the final days butt.

Why does it always take trajedy to be compelled to elevate the impoverished?

This isn't just about the USA and generosity, Indonesia is not a poor country. Kuala Lumpur is among the most wealthiest of cities. Indonesia is a member of OPEC. It is about the global understanding Wall Street wealth and greed is normal while the lives of the impoverished is simply 'the way it is.'
I find it interesting a mosque survived, but, it was the only masonry building in the community. Perhaps Allah does speak in strange ways.

I am more than happy all the spending organized by the United Nations has changed the lives of those on Banda Ache. It will be ten years and the dollars donated by people and countries alike actually made it better. Now. That. Is a sincere global accomplishment. It simply, in retrospect, is a shame it could not or would not occur sooner to actually save lives before the tragedy hit. 

I mean, it's not like it is impossible to achieve. Right? People took up their places in the rebuilding both in Banda Ache and the world and it all happened. It wasn't impossible and the people of Banda Ache has the character and strength to undertake this huge task among the pain of loss. Imagine what they could have done without the loss and peace. And it would seem the wealth merchants are no worse for it. But, that all makes sense doesn't it? Circulating capital is, after all, what makes the world go round.

A mosque sits in a vacant area of Banda Ache, Indonesia after the Christmas Tsunami wiped out a neighborhood.

By Rohani Mohd Ibrahim
23 May 2014

...When interviewed, (click here) many Acehnese agreed that the tragedy has brought about many positive changes. Among them were peace among the factions, rapid development of infrastructure and a booming economy.

ROBUST DEVELOPMENT

When the writer and two other friends went out at night on a weekend, they found themselves stuck in a traffic jam in the middle of Banda Aceh.

Their driver, Munawer Suma, 34, said the roads did not use to be like that.

"Before the tsunami, there were not many motorcycles in Aceh. Today, the roads are packed with them. Almost every household has one or more. So, in a way, Aceh has become economically better", he said.

Munawer said Aceh started rebuilding itself two years after the disaster. Development was rapid due to the amount of aid that poured in.

"After the tsunami, many Acehnese lost their jobs. Then foreigners started coming in and hired us as helpers, security guards and drivers. We were paid in US dollars. Many ended up with a lot of money and felt overwhelmed with the amount.

"However, most of them were wise enough to save and today have become owners of large and beautiful homes", he said.