Children are safer today in North Carolina.

October 10, 2014

Wake County Deputy sheriff Chad Biggs and his partner Chris Creech exchanged vows as they are married at the Wake County Courthouse in Raleigh, N.C. Friday, October 10, 2014. Read the story here: (The News & Observer)

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/10/10/4223085_north-carolinas-first-same-sex.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

MICHAEL MOORE  World premier of Edward Snowden doc, CITIZEN FOUR, just ended to a long and rousing standing ovation at Lincoln Center. Brilliant, damning.

I happen to think balloting is private and that is especially true in the South where a job can hang in the balance.

I don't know why privacy is controversial for this candidate for Senate. I don't get it. I also don't routinely ask people who they vote for so much as discuss differences in principles and policy. It is silly. I am trying to remember the last time I asked anyone who they voted for and I can't. I expect the same respect from others.

October 10, 2014

LOUISVILLE, KY. — U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes (click here) has already shared a stage with President Bill Clinton, and now she will be in the spotlight with another member of the family when the former secretary of state joins her on the campaign trail.

Former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will try to boost Democrat Grimes' campaign to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is seeking a sixth term. Clinton's appearance is set for Wednesday night at the Kentucky International Convention in Louisville, Grimes' campaign said Friday.

"Alison has been a long-time supporter and admirer of Clinton's leadership and independence, and is humbled that she will be in Kentucky to endorse her campaign and her plan to get Washington working for Kentucky," Grimes campaign manager Jonathan Hurst said....

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/10/10/3905174/hillary-rodham-clinton-to-campaign.html#storylink=cpy

How contaminated are the crops? Don't do this half way. If the land is contaminated due to irrigation the people have a right to know.

Energy Zealots were more important than California's precious water supply. 

October 7, 2014

After California (click here) state regulators shut down 11 fracking wastewater injection wells last July over concerns that the wastewater might have contaminated aquifers used for drinking water and farm irrigation, the EPA ordered a report within 60 days.

It was revealed yesterday that the California State Water Resources Board has sent a letter to the EPA confirming that at least nine of those sites were in fact dumping wastewater contaminated with fracking fluids and other pollutants into aquifers protected by state law and the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

The letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity, reveals that nearly 3 billion gallons of wastewater were illegally injected into central California aquifers and that half of the water samples collected at the 8 water supply wells tested near the injection sites have high levels of dangerous chemicals such as arsenic, a known carcinogen that can also weaken the human immune system, and thallium, a toxin used in rat poison....

October 11, 2014

MINSK, Belarus (AP) (click here) Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country does not oppose ex-Soviet states seeking closer ties with Western countries, but has criticized them for not taking Moscow's interests into account.

Leaders from the 11-member Commonwealth of Independent States met Friday in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, to discuss closer ties. The president of Ukraine which is facing the most violent conflict in post-Soviet history, between government troops and pro-Russian insurgents did not attend.

Putin lashed out at the European Union for "not considering it necessary ... to discuss the risks" of political and economic integration with post-Soviet countries. Ukraine's decision to sign an association agreement with the EU in September provoked complaints from the Kremlin that it would hurt Russia's economy.                        

The last time the USA took Fallujah it was fully engaged and it was a chronic battle with the Ba'athists. Fallujah was the place where four contractors were burned and hung on the bridge. I have no doubt the Ba'athists are back in An Albar. If there are Ba'athists within the Islamic State there probably won't be any resistance when they come through the region. It could be when the Islamic State joins the Ba'athists in An Albar they will rearm with USA military equipment.

After the death of the four contractors the USA military organized an operation into Fallujah. On the morning of the action against the Ba'athists the Iraqi National Guard removed their uniforms and abandoned the USA military.

Now mind you, there were absolutely NO Iraqis fighting for the town but the IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL insisted the USA military carry out their attack. 40 Marines died that day and approximately 500-750 civilians and insurgents.
There was a pause in the attacks to allow 70,000 women and children to leave. The USA military then violated the Geneva Convention by taking Fallujah hospital, closing it and placing an assassin/sniper on the roof to kill anyone in sight.

While the USA was destroying Falljah, Muslims around the world were demonstrating against the invasion.

Fallujah continued to be the center of insurgent and USA fighting. Addition to the first 40 dead Marines there were 95 more dead and 560 wounded by December of 2004. During the same time frame an estimated 1500 dead and 1500 captured from the insurgency.

"...the amount of drug use (by USA soldiers) was very, very high..."

Analysis (click here)

In many respects, the U.S. approach in Fallujah resembled Israeli tactics in the West Bank and Gaza. This is not surprising because numerous sources indicate that Marine and Army officers studied Israeli tactics prior to OIF. Israeli urban warfare tactics are sophisticated, effective, and well practiced. In many respects, however, the IDF has different operational and strategic objectives from U.S. forces. In addition, the IDF historically—for example, in Jerusalem in 1967, Beirut in 1982, and Jenin in 2002—has proved willing to take high casualties in urban warfare....

Reliving it should be better than GOING THROUGH IT AGAIN. Why violate the Geneva Convention Twice?

Iraqi forces should take the keys out of the ignition when they take a break from war.

Iraqi security forces rest on a sidewalk following clashes with jihadists on Sept. 19 in Ramadi, the provincial capital of the western province of Anbar and the birthplace of al-Qaeda in Iraq. (Azhar Shallal/AFP/Getty Images)

Five vehicles, five drivers; where is everyone else?

Oh, wait, I forgot they are awaiting for American "Boots on the Ground," right? I don't think so.

I just checked my ballot and there was nothing there about Iraqi statehood.

Besides Congress is on vacation.

Senator Kay Hagan's sole focus is the people of North Carolina.

Of the nearly 300 votes (click here) by the US Senate, US Senator Kay Hagan chose to not vote four times.

In addition (click here) to her dedicated voting record, Senator Kay Hagan held 100 conversations with constituents. 

When Senator Hagan was elected, she pledged to visit all of North Carolina's one hundred counties. In 2012, Senator Hagan reached her goal of holding her 100th "Conversations with Kay," one-on-one meetings with North Carolinians, in every county in the state. Her "Conversations with Kay" series took her to each and every corner of the state to meet personally with residents, listen to their concerns and help them navigate issues with federal agencies.

Kay Hagan (click here) introduced her bill S 2569 "Bring Jobs Home Act" on July 8, 2014.

With North Carolina being the center of many landfall hurricanes and the recipient of multiple flooding storms Kay Hagan voted yes for HR 3370, "Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act or 2014 - Key Vote." 

Senator Kay Hagan is a life long North Carolina resident. She is North Carolina Blue through and through.

Senator Kay Hagan is the co-sponsor of SB 2223 "Minimum Wage Fairness Act," "Paycheck Fairness Act," "Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013, and the  "Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013." And that is only the beginning.

This is a statement Senator Hagan made in regard to the "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013."

Mrs. HAGAN. Madam President, (click here) as we conclude our work on S. 3254, the fiscal year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, I would like to draw attention to yet another important role my State is playing in our national defense.

North Carolina is home to the two major lithium suppliers in the United States. Not only are these important employers in my State, but they are serving our defense industry with critical materials that are vital to our Nation's defense capabilities both now and in the future....

Children of the world have received the Nobel Peace Prize.

October 10, 2014
By Alan Cowell

Reaching across gulfs of age, (click here) gender, faith, nationality and even international celebrity, the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday awarded the 2014 peace prize to Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India, joining a teenage Pakistani known around the world with a 60-year-old Indian veteran of campaigns on behalf of children....

Rick Perry's poll tax found to violate constitution.

October 10, 2014
By Will Weissert and Todd Richmond

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge (click here) likened Texas' strict voter ID requirement to a poll tax deliberately meant to suppress minority voter turnout and struck it down less than a month before Election Day — and mere hours after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a similar measure in Wisconsin.

The twin rulings released Thursday evening represent major and somewhat surprising blows to largely Republican-backed voter identification rules sweeping the nation that have generally been upheld in previous rulings.

Approved in 2011, Texas' law is considered among the nation's harshest and had even been derided in court by the Justice Department as blatant discrimination. Wisconsin's law was passed the same year and has remained a similar political flashpoint....

I hear the next strategy Perry will carry out to block the vote is call out  the National Guard.