A write in candidate?

June 11, 2014
Brant Clifton

...If all goes as one group of activists hopes, (click here) North Carolinians will have a FOURTH choice for US Senate this November. Democrat Kay Hagan, Republican Thom Tillis, and Libertarian Sean Haugh already have places on the Senate ballot. Activists led by some Charlotte-area Tea Partiers are seeking to qualify former Republican state legislator John Rhodes as a write-in candidate on the November ballot. A web site (writeinrhodes.org) has been launched, and a video interview with Rhodes, himself, has been released. The site includes downloadable forms for collecting signatures and instructions on what do with those signatures. They must be collected and submitted by no later than July 22.

State law requires at least 500 signatures from duly registered North Carolina voters to ensure that a write-in's votes are tallied on Election Day. You can write in "Donald Duck," but unless petitions have been submitted in support of Mr. Duck, those votes will simply be ignored at tally time.

Long-time followers of North Carolina politics may remember Rhodes as a member of the long-suffering Republican minority in the state House. Many saw him as the key — the catalyst — in the downfall and indictment of House speaker Jim Black. Rhodes utilized his floor privileges, and the media, to call attention to the misdeeds of Black and his Republican ally Richard Morgan....

I liked this commercial. I had no idea that was finally resolved.

It went on for what seemed like forever and no one came forward to resolve the issue. Thank you.

I think Senator Hagan needs to make a commercial about #Occupy. There are those that are attempting to steal their message and pervert it. Senator Hagan needs to let the young voters of North Carolina it is important to turn out and vote for the President's agenda to roll back the high cost of a college education.

GREENSBORO, North Carolina — U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan (click here) is running her first two television ads of the fall campaign that promote her legislative efforts to help victims of Camp Lejeune water contamination and the textile industry.
Hagan's campaign said the ads began running Tuesday and will air statewide over the next couple of months. A campaign spokeswoman says the ads will cost at least $1 million.
The commercials seek to portray the Greensboro Democrat as someone who's gotten things done during her first Senate term.
One commercial featured a former Camp Lejeune drill instructor whose daughter died from leukemia. Jerry Ensminger thanks Hagan for getting involved in giving health benefits to those exposed to the water.
Another commercial highlights Hagan's work on legislation closing a trade agreement loophole that hurt U.S. yarn makers.

The topic of higher education is important. In North Carolina even the Governor is cheating public educations students out of fair tuition rates. He wants to divert funding to private colleges.

BY JANE STANCILL AND JOHN FRANK

jstancill@newsobserver.comJanuary 29, 2013 

...The remarks came in a national radio interview (click here) with conservative talk show host Bill Bennett, former President Reagan’s education secretary. The breezy, 10-minute interview, in which the Republican governor touched on hot-button issues, elicited a swift, angry response Tuesday from faculty and others.

McCrory declined to be interviewed about the detaill. By day’s end, his staffers were trying to temper his remarks.

“This was not meant to be a personal attack on UNC,” said spokeswoman Crystal Feldman. “Gov. McCrory did not mean to tarnish UNC’s reputation.”

On the show, McCrory said “educational elite” had taken over, offering courses that have no path to jobs. He said he instructed his staff Monday to draft legislation that could alter the state money that universities and community colleges receive “not based on how many butts in seats but how many of those butts can get jobs.” (Listen to the audio here.)...

UNC is/was one of the best university systems in the nation. But, McCrory has UNC high on his agenda for austerity cuts.

May 14, 2014, 2:03pm EDTUPDATED: May 14, 2014, 3:15pm EDT
While the governor (click here) protected some funding for the UNC System, particularly at those that serve minorities, he did call for an overall reduction in university spending. Specifically, the overall UNC budget would be reduced by 2 percent to $2.55 billion.

Reduced funding to public universities increases tuition and raises the need for more loans.

May 19. 2014

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/01/29/2641893/mccrorys-call-to-revamp-higher.html#storylink=cpy

Yet another round of proposed budget cuts (click here) looms for UNC system schools as the N.C. General Assembly determines the future of education funding.

Gov. Pat McCrory’s proposed budget of $20.6 billion for the fiscal years of 2013-15 was released last week, and recommends a 2 percent cut for the UNC system. Both chambers of the N.C. General Assembly will present budget proposals before July.

February 4, 2014(click here)

Poll: N.C. residents say they would pay higher taxes to give teachers a raise

...Respondents were mixed on legislation to eliminate teacher tenure, teacher performance bonuses and providing low income families with vouchers to attend private schools.

February 3, 2014

Obama slightly outpaces McCrory in new poll

Filed under: Governor's Race,Kay Hagan,Pat McCrory,polling,President Obama,US Senate — Jon Ostendorff @ 2:42 pm

A poll by High Point University found more people approve of President Obama in North Carolina than Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.

U.S. Senator Kay Hagan, a Democrat, and U.S. Senator Richard Burr, a Republican, are about tied for approval ratings, the poll found....

In 2013, McCrory gave a tax cut to citizens and corporations. NOW, he is asking citizens to pay higher taxes for closing the education budget in the state. He has yet to ask the corporations to give back their tax cuts.

July 23, 2013

RALEIGH Gov. Pat McCrory (click here) signed a major tax cut into law Tuesday, saying it would help ease the state’s economic pain.

The measure cuts personal and corporate income taxes to the lowest levels of neighboring states, starting with reductions in the 2014 tax year, and limits future state spending by more than $2 billion in the next five years....

CHARLOTTE — U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan this week congratulated former UNC-Chapel Hill head basketball coach Dean Smith on receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a move she had urged President Obama to make. Besides establishing her Tar Heel bona fides, it was one thing the North Carolina Democrat could do without anyone objecting....

Thom Tillis is also leading the right wing in suppressing the vote in North Carolina.

June 11, 2014
North Carolina residents are being denied First Amendment rights.

...They waited patiently for 10 hours (click here) in Tillis’ office in the state Capitol late last month. Then police charged them with trespassing, handcuffed them and hauled them out of the people’s house.

These Moral Monday protesters didn’t understand the situation as Tillis did or, for that matter, from the perspective of his fellow hardline Republicans from Wisconsin to Georgia. The way GOP hardliners see it, Tillis is the Speaker. He speaks, and everybody else shuts up and listens. These lawmakers don’t represent constituents in a constitutional democracy. They are overlords. And as rulers over the people, they’ve awarded themselves the power to muzzle and handcuff anyone who disagrees with them....

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/07/23/4184346/gov-mccrory-signs-tax-reform-bill.html#.U5pn2fldUms#storylink=cpy

Front Pages

The Arab News (click here)

By Aftab Kazmi, Bureau Chief
June 12, 2014

Al Ain: Tropical Cyclone 02A (Nanauk) (click here) on Thursday changed its predicted course slightly towards the north, baffling forecasters about its track and intensity.

The cyclone, initially expected to make landfall in Oman between Ras Al Hadd and Ras Madrakah, has appeared to be tilted towards the Al Ashkharah, north of Masirah Island, and even further north towards the Ras Al Jinz in the north-east of the country, according to the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC)....

Jubail: Sultan al Sughair

The Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC) (click here) announced on Thursday that another network has gone down, this time disrupting mobile and landline services in the Eastern Province. This follows on the heels of a fire at a facility in Khamis Mushayt on Sunday, which disrupted services in large parts of the Asir region, on the country's southwest coast. The company said its technicians in the Eastern Province had cut a double fiber optic cable that saw all mobile and landline services interrupted. Work is under way to restore services in the affected areas, it said....

Riyad: Arab News
Friday, June 13, 2014

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) (click here) has freed a woman from a person who had blackmailed her for 20 years.
Turki Al-Shulail, the spokesman of the Haia, said the agency solved the case in one week. He said the 30-year-old woman had been blackmailed from the time she was a child. 
The situation had even prevented her from getting married because she was afraid the blackmailer would contact her husband, said Al-Shulail.
Al-Shulail said the Haia is taking measures to ensure people are protected from blackmailers. There has recently been an increase in cases involving men and women abusing each other. There have also been cases of women abusing their female friends, and men abusing men, he said. He said the law must be enforced, regardless of gender or age. He did not reveal any statistics about the extent of blackmail cases, but said all complaints are investigated before being passed on to branches for action....

Reuters
June 13, 2014
SAO PAULO: Brazilian police (click here) and protesters clashed on Thursday before the opening game of the World Cup and five people were injured although the country finally burst into life with flag-waving fans flooding into bars and street parties.
The tournament has been largely overshadowed so far by construction delays and months of political unrest with many Brazilians furious over $11 billion being spent to host the Cup in a country where hospitals and schools are often poor.
Throughout much of Brazil, though, the dour mood began to turn festive on Thursday. Thousands of local and foreign fans sang and danced in front of giant TV screens set up in downtown Sao Paulo ahead of the opener between Brazil and Croatia.
Crowds of Croatian fans were drinking beer by mid-morning and streets in the bohemian neighborhood of Vila Madalena were so packed with fans that it was hard to move....

The Jordan Times (click here)

by JT | Jun 12, 2014 | 23:20 

AMMAN — HRH Crown Prince Hussein (click here) has directed the concerned agencies to install large flat-screen TVs at all of the Kingdom’s youth centres to enable young people across the country to watch the 2014 FIFA World Cup matches, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Higher Youth Council President Sami Majali commended the Crown Prince’s gesture and his support for young Jordanians.

The World Cup, which kicked off on Thursday in Brazil and concludes on July 13, has its own special flavour for football fans in Jordan, bringing together people to watch matches and enjoy their atmosphere.

With the subscriptions unaffordable for many Jordanians, avid football fans were planning to watch their favourite team’s games at cafés and restaurants.

beIN Sports, formerly known as Al Jazeera Sports, has the exclusive right to broadcast the matches in the Middle East....

by Mohammad Ghazal | Jun 12, 2014

AMMAN — The government on Thursday (click here) said it will sign an agreement this month for the construction of the country’s first oil shale-fuelled power plant after agreeing with Enefit on the final details of the $2.1 billion project.

Jordan and the joint Estonian-Malaysian consortium agreed that the price per kilowatt hour that the government will buy from the plant will be levelised, ranging from a minimum of 78 fils per kilowatt hour to a maximum of 99 fils per kilowatt hour, Energy Minister Mohammad Hamed told The Jordan Times in an interview on Thursday.

Reaching a final agreement on the price paves the way for going ahead with the project after the consortium threatened in early May to abandon the project if no final agreement is sealed with the government by mid-June.

“The draft of the final agreement is now complete and was sent to the Cabinet for endorsement,” Hamed said, adding that the two sides will sign the power purchase agreement after the Council of Ministers approves the deal.

The agreement will be for 30 years, with the option of being extended to 40 years, according to the minister, who noted that the plant will have a 470-megawatt capacity....

by Gaelle Sundelin | Jun 12, 2014 | 23:21

AMMAN — Jordan has great potential to develop its film industry (click here) in spite of the obstacles, Institut Français Director Charles-Henri Gros said ahead of Saturday’s opening of the 20th Franco-Arab Film Festival in Amman.

Although US blockbusters are still the predominant box office champions in the country, Gros told The Jordan Times on Thursday that an increasing number of foreign films were shot in the Kingdom, attracted by its many natural settings and carrying great potential for local talents.

“There are thousands of jobs connected to the cinema industry and it is important for young Jordanians to take this opportunity and show international productions that they can rely on local staff,” he added.

Although Jordanian cinema has a promising future, a survey led by the institute in October 2013 found that despite the growing audience attending the Franco-Arab Film Festival, attitudes towards cultural activities — especially cinema — remained timid, with less than half the respondents seeing a career in the field as being “respectable”.

Only one in 10 respondents said they would be willing to let their children engage in activities related to the film industry although 80 per cent of the entire survey sample said they believe that artistic activities are an asset for Jordan, a result that consolidated the Institut Français’ belief in its mission to promote film culture, according to Gros....

Reuters | Jun 12, 2014

Hours after ethnic Kurdish forces (click here) took advantage of the chaos to take control of the oil hub of Kirkuk as the forces of the Shiite-led government abandoned their posts, Obama was asked if he might order drone strikes or other action to halt the insurgency that has seized much of northern Iraq this week.

“I don’t rule anything out,” he told reporters, saying he was looking at all options to help the elected leaders who took full control of Iraq when the US occupation ended in 2011.

He added that the United States had an interest in denying a foothold to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and that Washington was prepared to take military action when its national security interests are threatened.

Vice President Joe Biden spoke to Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki by telephone. The White House signalled on Wednesday that it was looking to strengthen Iraqi forces rather than meet what one US official said were past Iraqi requests for air strikes.

With voters wary of renewing costly military entanglements of the past decade, Obama already last year stepped back (Congress ruled out air strikes and at the time Senator McCain had no idea who he was proposing to arm.) from launching air strikes in Syria, where ISIL is also active. Fears of violence spreading may increase pressure for international action, however. The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said international powers “must deal with the situation”

In Mosul, Sunni militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant staged a parade of American Humvee patrol cars seized from a collapsing Iraqi army in the two days since ISIL fighters drove out of the desert and overran the northern metropolis....

So far the only people owning any of this mess is the Neocon Press.


The Gulf News (click here)

June 13, 2014
AFP

Sao Paulo: Brazil (click here) rode a wave of national fervour to launch the World Cup with a 3-1 victory over Croatia on Thursday as an opening day which began with violent clashes gave way to an outpouring of joy.

Barcelona superstar Neymar scored in each half as Brazil recovered from conceding an early Marcelo own goal to set up a win before hordes of golden-shirted fans at the 61,600 Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo.

Chelsea midfielder Oscar put the seal on the win with a late strike from distance to trigger delirium.

The host nation’s Group A victory was greeted by an explosion of fireworks across Sao Paulo, a sharp contrast to several hours earlier when riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse angry protests....

AlJazeera (click here)

12 June 2014

An Egyptian court (click here) has acquitted a former interior minister who served under Hosni Mubarak of corruption, three years after he was sentenced to 12 years in jail by another court.

A cassation court had ordered the retrial of Habib al-Adly, who had been convicted of money-laundering and illicitly enriching himself.

The charges of which he was acquitted on Thursday were linked to the sale of land owned by him. Adly was acccused of tasking police officials with finding a buyer who would pay the highest possible price.

However, the disgraced ex-minister, who ran Mubarak's security services for more than a decade before a popular uprising overthrew the strongman in 2011, will remain in detention.

In February, a court upheld a three-year jail sentence handed to Adly for taking advantage of his position and forcing police conscripts to work on his private property.

He was also sentenced to life in prison along with Mubarak in 2012 over the kilings of protesters in the 2011 uprising, but a court later overturned the verdict on technical grounds. Adly and Mubarak are now being retried along with six police commanders.

I have stated for years the USA military was Maliki's personal militia. I was right. Iraq is going to have to figure this out for itself. We are not fighting Maliki's personal war on Sunnis. Nor should we be supplying him with killing machines his military can't hold on to. 

The current ISIS is holding a parade on USA Humvees. I think it was Mosul. We evacuated Vietman when it fell, too.

By Gulf News

Published 20:00 June 11, 2014

The Chaos of Al Maliki’s term as Iraqi Prime Minister since 2006 (click here) has been largely a matter for Iraqis to regret, as his increasingly sectarian style of patronage has favoured his own Shiite sect to the serious detriment of Sunnis in particular and the several non-Arab minorities who are an integral part of Iraq in general. His dictatorial style is exemplified by the way in which he concentrated power in his own hands. In the last cabinet, he was prime minister and acting interior minister, acting defence minister and acting national security minister.

Unfortunately, he was not able to deliver on these many roles and the disaster that was waiting to happen unfolded this week when the radical Islamist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) walked in and captured most of government-controlled Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, as well as Samarra, having successfully held Fallujah since January against feeble Iraqi government efforts to dislodge them from this flashpoint city close to Baghdad. About 500,000 have now fled Mosul....

At least they aren't being left to die this time. Last time it was fires and 50,000 were dead.

07 June, 2014 10:06 AM | Photo by RIA Novosti / Alexandr Kryazhev
About 29,000 people (click here) have been evacuated after heavy floods struck southern Siberia. A total of 8,756 houses and 9,087 farmlands have been effected.

We could have sent the USA military to help, but, since we are suppose to be at war it wouldn't go over well.

If Russia runs into problems with the evacuation they could still ask, I think we have ships in the area.

Russia is arming anarchist groups in Ukraine.

We have witnessed this level of negligence by the Russian government to control their military suppliers. Now, they are simply sending them across the Ukraine border. The same sort of problem occurred when Russian military manufacturers attempted to ship tanks to Syria.

It is basically a strategy by Russia to appear to be incapable of controlling their military industrial complex. Perhaps the sincere truth is that Russia does not have control of the country as much as Putin likes to pretend it does.

The real question is, "Is Putin simply a figure head?"

12.06.2014
Russia has sent three tanks to Donetsk region, (click here) but they were intercepted by Ukrainian troops near the town of Snizhne, Donetsk region, the Censor.NET online newspaper has reported, citing Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

"Tonight, three T-72 tanks crossed Ukraine's state border from Russia. One tank is in the town of Snizhne. Two other tanks moved out of the town. In the vicinity of Snizhne these tanks were intercepted by Ukrainian troops. The fight is ongoing. There are reports that a Russian T-72 was hit," the newspaper quoted Avakov as saying.

According to Censor.NET, the Russian military in the immediate vicinity of the border with Ukraine have additional forces - armor and Grad BM-21 multiple rocket launcher systems - that could also be sent into Ukraine at any time.

Earlier, the head of the Information Resistance group, Dmytro Tymchuk, wrote on his page on Facebook that illegal armed groups in Snizhne had received two tanks, thought to be T-72s.

There is definitely this dual message coming from Russia. One has to ask if Russia has leadership that matters.

11 June 2014 Last updated at 14:13 ET

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (click here) has said a gas price discount deal offered to Ukraine was designed to help its economy.

After another round of negotiations, Ukraine rejected the price deal, saying it "won't fall into Russian gas trap".

But Mr Putin said on Wednesday that the offer was "to support the Ukrainian economy at a rather difficult time''.

The two sides have been locked in talks after Russia withdrew a deal to subsidise gas exports to Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Russia offered a discount of $100 for every 1,000 cubic metres of gas exported to Ukraine....

Russia's propaganda is stating the USA and NATO has launched a full scale invasion into the country. HUH? Maybe it is a Russia recruitment technique. Nationalism and a profound invasion into the homeland results in waiting lines at the recruitment station. It might play better on Russia television if the military exercises were in the Black Sea.

I am curious. Are Russians happy about the invasion? That would be an interesting opinion poll.

June 10, 2014

Russia launched military maneuvers in its European exclave, (click here) Kaliningrad, on June 10, one day after NATO began its own war games near the Russian border. 

The Russian Defense Ministry said military drills involving the Baltic Sea fleet, the Russian Air Force, and paratroopers are under way in Kaliningrad, Russia's westernmost region sandwiched between EU and NATO members Lithuania and Poland.

Meanwhile, NATO has launched one of its largest-ever military maneuvers in the former Soviet Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

The exercises come as tensions between NATO and Russia have spiked over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March.

Anyone start a new newspaper called, "The Daily USA Killing Chronicles?" Too much to keep up with? There would be plenty of "Breaking News" events.

Pheonix, Arizona
12:23 PM, June 12, 2014

A 28-year-old priest was shot and killed (click here) and another wounded at a Catholic church Wednesday near the state Capitol, a police spokesman said.

Police were responding to a burglary call shortly after 9 p.m. at the Mother of Mercy Mission, Sgt. Steve Martos said.

The Diocese of Phoenix released a statement early Thursday identifying the slain priest as Father Kenneth Walker, who is listed as associate pastor at the Mother of Mercy Mission.

Father Joseph Terra, the pastor, was identified as the priest who survived but remained in critical but stable condition, according to the statement.... 

...A car that police were seeking in connection with the attack was found about four blocks north of the church, Martos said. It was spotted by KPNX-TV reporter Chris Williams, who alerted police.

The car was unoccupied when it was found, and Martos said no suspects have been arrested.

Arizona relies heavily on tourism. If I were a government leader in Arizona I would pay attention.

Ryan RevockTucsonSentinel.com

Gun deaths outnumbered deaths by motor vehicle in Arizona in 2010, (click here) a new report said. Tucson tracks the rest of the state, with more people killed by guns than by cars.

The Violence Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that advocates for stricter gun regulations, found that 12 states had higher numbers of death from firearms than deaths caused by motor vehicle. Arizona had 931 gun deaths and 795 motor vehicle deaths in 2010.

That same year, Tucson had 37 deaths by motor vehicles and 74 deaths caused by guns within the city limits, said Sgt. Chris Widmer, a Tucson Police Department spokesman. Of the 74 gun deaths, there were 36 homicides, 36 suicides and two accidental deaths....

Is Rick Perry right? Is homosexuality only an addiction?

Gov. Rick Perry gives a speech during the Texas GOP Convention in Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday, June, 5, 2014. / Rex C. Curry/Associated Press

Texas Gov. Rick Perry likened homosexuality with alcoholism, suggesting that an individual can “decide not to do that.”

I am sure every gay in the USA was a virgin at one time or another. But, forever? 

The San Francisco Chronicle reports the comment from Perry, made during a speaking engagement Wednesday night, came in response to a question on whether he believes homosexuality is a disorder.

“Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that,” Perry is quoted as saying. “I may have the genetic coding that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue that way.”...

So, the USA sends in drones into Pakistan in retaliation of attacks by terrorists and guess who is the bad guy now?

There is only one country in the region with drones capable of killing anyone. That is the USA. Hello?

The USA is engaging in Pakistani politics. Soon, the Pakistani government will come out saying the USA once again violated Pakistan's sovereign air space. Then the militants in Pakistan will see still yet the USA as the enemy. 

We are OUT of there! Questions? 

ISLAMABAD - Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Tasnim Aslam (click here) on Thursday did not confirm the pre-dawn strikes in North Waziristan as drone attacks, but said that Pakistan’s position on drones is clear.

During a briefing of the Foreign Office, when asked about the successive Mir Ali aerial strikes that killed 16 alleged militants late Wednesday and early Thursday, she said that the facts surrounding the attack are being determined. “The nature of the attacks is being ascertained,” she said, without clarifying whether the strike was carried out by a US drone or Pakistani military machinery. “Pakistan’s position on drone attacks is clear.”

In the past, the government has strongly condemned drone strikes – maintaining a stance that strikes violate the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Regarding Karachi Airport incident she said that the investigation regarding use of foreign made weapons in the Karachi terrorist incident is underway and the government can’t level any allegation against any country without having proof.

She said that comprehensive investigation of the incident is underway to determine the facts. She said that Pakistan fully supports peaceful election and transfer of power in Afghanistan in democratic way. She said Pakistan will provide security on the Pak-Afghan border during both the phases of Afghan presidential election....

Why does The West need alternative fuels? Because the Middle East is unable to promise any commodity stability to the rest of the world and we aren't fighting anymore oil wars.

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK, June 12 (Reuters) - Crude oil prices (click here) spiked on Thursday on worries over supply as violence escalated in Iraq, while a global stocks index edged down after Wall Street ticked lower.

Crude jumped after Iraqi Kurdish forces took control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk, in the face of a triumphant Sunni Islamist rebel march towards Baghdad that threatens Iraq's future as a unified state.

Brent crude futures rose 2 percent, the most in four months, to $112.12 a barrel, the highest since early March. U.S. crude added 1.4 percent to $105.86, its highest since September. Prices could rise further as events unfold in Iraq. The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB index rose the most in two months.

"There are no immediate oil export implications in as much as the latest news is about Kirkuk ... and that has a limited impact because the northern pipeline has been down for months already," said Gareth Lewis-Davies, a strategist at BNP Paribas....

It just happens to be true. The Keystone XL pipeline does not increase energy security to the USA. It increases the threat to national security both directly through sabotage and poisoning farmland as well as adding to the climate crisis. All it takes is one time and the farmland may as well be nothing but tar sands itself.


By Andy Tully
Sun, 08 June 2014 00:00

...A new report says the proposed Canada-U.S. Keystone XL pipeline (click here) would be an easy target for a terrorist attack that could create an environmental disaster.

David M. Cooper, a retired command master chief of the U.S. Navy SEALs who conducted the vulnerability study for NextGen Climate America, told The Huffington Post that it would take only a few terrorists with some basic hand tools and a small amount of explosives to conduct “a coordinated attack along just a few key nodes along that pipeline in the span of just really minutes.”...

...Cooper, a decorated 25-year veteran of the Navy’s special forces, shares the latter view. “That's an Exxon Valdez-level oil spill right in the middle of America,” he said.

The U.S. State Department is in the process of deciding whether the pipeline would be in the U.S. national interest. It has repeatedly postponed making a decision while it waits for legal challenges to the pipeline’s route through Nebraska to be resolved....

I thought the USA ended it's drone presence in Pakistan. The Pakistanis have their own drones.

The USA is not the world's police. Pakistan was supplied with spy drones in order to facilitate their forces to be effective against any terrorist movements. So, what is the problem?

BY MEHREEN ZAHRA-MALIK AND HAJI MUJTABA

ISLAMABAD/MIRANSHAH Thu Jun 12, 2014 9:05am EDT

...Two top government officials (click here) said Islamabad had given the Americans "express approval" for the strikes - the first time Pakistan has admitted to such cooperation.

Underlining Pakistan's alarm over the brazen Taliban attack on the airport, just weeks after peace talks with the Islamist militants stalled, the officials told Reuters a "joint Pakistan-U.S. operation" had been ordered to hit the insurgents.

Another official said Pakistan had asked the United States for help after the attack on the country's busiest airport on Sunday, and would be intensifying air strikes on militant hideouts in coming days....

American forces have been here many times before. It is time for nation's to stand on their sovereign legs. We have been there in Korea, Vietnam and any other battle whereby another nations says, "But, you do it, so we don't die."

We are not doing this anymore. The USA is not be drawn back into governments too scared of their enemies to mount their own defenses. It is over in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

The USA media is about Wall Street.

Want to talk war? Fine.

Want to talk human induced global warming? Censured.

Want to talk about the Great Bush Dynasty? Fine.

Want to talk "Perp Walk?" It will never happen.

Want to talk about human rights abuses? Russia and maybe China.

Want to talk about human rights abuses that killed tens if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqi in an illegal war? "What are you talking about that never happened."

Want to talk about how the US media looked the other way when the propaganda started about the invasion into Iraq? "What are you talking about that never happened."

Want to talk about how the invasion into Iraq completely compromised the battle in Afghanistan? Huh????????

Want to talk about how Bush completely compromised the war in Afghanistan that allowed Pakistan to reconstitution the Taliban? Huh??????????

Want to talk about the Haqqani network and the decade long neglect of the Bush administration and Donald Rumsfeld to recognize the real threat in Afghanistan? Nah, that would mean the Republican administration was incompetent. 

Want to talk about what the Iraq Study Group found? Nope. That was just a bunch of people that kindly pointed to the fact Condi Rice needed to come up with a new strategy to prevent Bush from being impeached.

Is there any way of justifying a return to the invasion into Iraq? "The 2006 US National Intelligence Estimate." I don't think so.

The American media will do anything to avoid a push for changes to greenhouse gas pollution.

The USA is not going back to Iraq. End of discussion. Negroponte oversaw some of the greatest exploitation of the USA Treasury in history. He is nothing but an empty suit. He'll say and do anything to engage the USA military in any mess possible. He is s Neocon.

We have our own problems in the USA, we don't need Iraq's. Mr. Negroponte is welcome to go to Walmart and purchase a military style weapon and all the ammunition he can put in his Mercedes and fly to Iraq to help Maliki.

In that way, if Negroponte goes to fight for a foreign nation we'll be rid of him forever. We should ask all the American Neocons if they rather live in Iraq. We would be happy if they did.

By MICHAEL R. GORDON and ERIC SCHMITT
JUNE 11, 2014

WASHINGTON — As the threat from Sunni militants (click here) in western Iraq escalated last month, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki secretly asked the Obama administration to consider carrying out airstrikes against extremist staging areas, according to Iraqi and American officials....

This is the Iran - Iraq war all over again. They are welcome to fight it and no we are not fighting for a particular party to be in control of Iraq. When the USA engaged in war in the region in 2003 it was for oil. It was an oil war. It was for Wall Street. Now, there is sectarian violence because of the instability the USA brought to the region under Bush. There has been rash instability throughout the region because Bush destabilized Iraq to bail Cheney out of trouble with Halliburton. 

If the USA were ever to enter Iraq again every form of peace talks with Iran would again fall apart and we would have Ahmadinejad or someone like him back in leadership only this time they might actually take up nuclear weapons.

The Shi'ites have to figure this one out for themselves.

It is called human induced global warming when rains turn rivers to torrents and dissolves the land under one's feet.

FOX has a new look. They are happy, jolly and helpful during the morning hours, but, Bill O"Reilly wants to know, "Why can't Obama stop the children crossing the border?"

I have an answer. Get ready, Bill. You have a note pad?

It is because the USA does not kill those crossing the border, but, puts them in a detention center for processing. There is a gap in the law, although it was never intended to be a gap. The gap is while the children are in foster care waiting for judicial hearings regarding their status, they run away into the country. 

The countries these children come from have problems. They aren't just minor problems, it is somewhat related to climate, but, they also have criminality problems.

Agence-France Presse | Updated: June 11, 2014 00:15 IST

Guatemala City:  Guatemalan police (click here) on Tuesday captured two suspects in the grisly 1990 murder of an anthropologist.

Myrna Mack Chang died of 27 stab wounds in Guatemala City while conducting research about uprooted indigenous victims of military repression at a time when the Central American country was mired in civil war.

The murder occurred six years before the end of the 1960-1996 armed conflict, which left 200,000 dead or missing, according to the United Nations.

Julio Lopez, 50, and Jose Gonzalez, 49, were arrested on charges of crimes against humanity after a series of raids in the departments of Santa Rosa and Jutiapa, police said.

Their arrest was ordered by a Guatemala City court that did not provide details on the roles they were alleged to have played in the murder.

In February 1994, a Guatemalan court sentenced Sergeant Noel de Jesus Beteta, a member of the country's presidential guard, to 25 years in prison over the murder....

This is incredible. The Guatemala officials are only now solving the murder of an anthropologist from 1990.

The drug cartels are reeking havoc in many of these countries. But, to return to the fact the land in Guatemala has no predictability is due to the human induced global warming.

See, the soldiers in Guatemala are busy searching for survivors rather than chancing down the drug cartels. They already know the drug cartels are alive.

Soldiers search for survivors in a landslide in San Pedro Necta, Guatemala in this May 31, 2014 handout provided by the Guatemala Army.
Image by: HANDOUT / REUTERS

By Allie Goolrick Published: Jun 3, 2014, 7:40 AM EDT

At least five people are dead (click here) after heavy rains set off a landslide in a rural Guatemalan province over the weekend. Three more people were injured in the slide in Huehuetenango, a mountainous farming region in the country's western highlands.

Reuters reports that the slide crushed a home in San Pedro Necta, killing five members of the same family. It was unclear how large the slide was, but a dozen other homes were also damaged....