The George Washington Bridge. It is such a beautiful bridge and named after our first president. It is a shame there is a scandal that brings attention to it.

I have differed in opinion of the majority before, why should that change now?



December 8, 2014
By Bob Jordan
The probe's findings (click here) include records showing Christie and his current chief of staff, Regina Egea, exchanged messages while Egea monitored testimony of Port Authority officials last December about the bridge lane closures.
Yet Christie, in August, said he had "no recollection" of the texts and that "it obviously was something of no moment or no import because I have no recollection of it at all."...

I first want to congratulate the New Jersey Democrats. They have held steadfast to their commitment in finding a resolve to this obvious problem and they are now at the front door to the truth. Magnificent.

I am not a fortune teller or a mind reader and my own perspective is based in the lessons of life and nothing else.

When it comes to Chris Christie one has to know there is little to no connection to his involvement in Bridgegate. Now, perhaps my memory doesn't serve me well, but, when the first e-mails were found was it not from an anonymous source? Not that the emails were good information, but, the emails were not volunteered by anyone is my recollection.

That enters doubt into the issue of deleted emails throughout the proceedings. So who is to say how the emails in question were deleted or by whom. Naturally, a staff to the governor would state they were deleted in the normal process of any work day. 

But, fathom this. What if the Governor is not at all involved. Not in any way. What would bring attention and circumstantial evidence to the forefront of any investigation? Missing documents.

So, while there is a good reason to be proud of the Democrats in New Jersey in their dedication to bring the most truth to any circumstance and to resolve problems for the state; there is doubt that will create a degree of difficulty in prosecuting the Governor. They should realize that perspective exists as they wade deeper in to legal proceedings.

I wish everyone involved well. The best lessons learned are sometimes the hardest to face.

This is an absolute joke. A CIA operative was outed by this administration,....

...how dare he state these people are valuable patriots and good Americans. The American people don't need a Bush to tell them what is a good American or a bad American either.

I think the issue was yellowcake,right? Something about a statement about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction. An essay by Joe Wilson in the New York Times (click here) and then Valerie Plame's life is put in danger. 

Don't tell the American people who is a good American or a bad American; we've already witnessed the best and the worst.

Senator Feinstein is correct the report needs to be released now.

Why would anyone believe if the report wasn't released it would circumvent violence? That is ridiculous. If the facts are known there are leaders that can assure the truth of the report or not. Many of these activities were conducted overseas without the consent of foreign leaders. The reason the torture took place was because the USA CIA could conduct it, not that it should conduct it. The Black Sites are USA not any foreign government. The jails may have been considered torture, but, no more than the sponsoring government conducted.

I cannot believe the people most in question in the USA are actually going to be able to oppress the report.

December 5, 2014
By Josh Rogin

Secretary of State John Kerry (click here) personally phoned Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Friday morning to ask her to delay the imminent release of her committee’s report on CIA torture and rendition during the George W. Bush administration, according to administration and Congressional officials.

Kerry was not going rogue -- his call came after an interagency process that decided the release of the report early next week, as Feinstein had been planning,  could complicate relationships with foreign countries at a sensitive time and posed an unacceptable risk to U.S. personnel and facilities abroad.  Kerry told Feinstein he still supports releasing the report, just not right now.

“What he raised was timing of report release, because a lot is going on in the world -- including parts of the world particularly implicated -- and wanting to make sure foreign policy implications were being appropriately factored into timing,” an administration official told me.  "He had a responsibility to do so because this isn’t just an intel issue -- it’s a foreign policy issue."...

If these reports are not released now they could be censored forever and/or destroyed. Such antics have existed in the federal government before. Secretary Kerry needs to move any embassy staff ahead of the release if he believes the embassy cannot be defended. Harm will come anyway no matter the decision. It is foolish to believe otherwise.

The winds that will be creating chaos and tragedy in Europe are actually off Africa.

I have never seen that before. There was always a heat conduit from west Africa to South America, but, never a complete loop from west Africa to Europe.

December 8, 2014
1200 SSEC
METEOSAT
Full Disk Africa, Europe, Atlantic Ocean Water Vapor Satellite Imagery (click here for loop).

Tuesday (click here)
As the winds come around to the south west, will be a milder today. These winds will strengthen throughout the course of the day with severe gales across northern Britain by the afternoon with gusts of 60 to 70 mph around exposed coasts of Northern Ireland and Scotland and 60 mph also over the northern Wales and northern England. Outbreaks of rain will spread in across all but the East Midlands, East Anglia and the south east during the day. This will be heavy in the north and the west and as colder air slips south, snow is likely across the hills of northern Scotland. This may extend down to low levels in the evening as may some snow showers into northern England overnight. Rain across England and Wales will be clearing but mat linger across East Anglia and the south east overnight. Very windy overnight. Expect maximum temperatures of 5 to 10 Celsius. 

It was obvious Senator Landrieu was out spent by the Republicans. It was her obligation to continue to strive to win the seat.

My choice in discussing Louisiana has nothing to do with sour grapes over a lost election. The facts that appeared on this blog are real and the problems with poverty in Louisiana more real than anyone wants to recognize.

The reality of Louisiana is stark to recognize how a GOP state government can impose political oppression of it's people. The people are in bad condition. It is directly related to Republican majorities in the state government with a Republican governor. 

The Republican leadership in Louisiana is typical of the governance they impose with results in the impoverished condition of the people. Louisiana is wealthy in natural resources, but, there is no reflection of same in the quality if life of the people. It is outrageous.

Louisiana is completely dependent on federal monies. There is no governance in these states, but, simply act as parasites to the federal government. If the Republicans carry out the same priorities in DC, where will Louisiana go to feed it's people and supply health care.

Considering the flights over Syria to disarm the war, this is within Israel's purview.

December 8, 2014

By Amos Harel

The Sunday attacks (click here) on two locations in Syria that were attributed to the Israel Air Force seem like a continuation of Israel’s policy with regard to the Syrian civil war for more than three years.

According to reports from Syria, Sunday’s attacks were aimed at two targets – the area of the Damascus airport and the Syrian border with Lebanon. To judge by past attacks, the airport air strike was probably aimed at warehouses where arms shipments that arrive by air from Iran are stored, while the border area was bombed to prevent an arms convoy from moving toward Lebanon....

This isn't about distracting from settlements. The settlements into Palestine is wrong and outside the expectations of any international understanding to the Palestinians.

Israel is allowed to protect it's people and borders. The settlements and this air strike are separate topics. The settlements are suppose to be sovereign Palestinian land. Airstrikes into Syria is being conducted by a coalition and I am certain Israel is considered an ally to the coalition. If not then it is an ally to the USA.

...Sunday’s attacks came after a relatively long period of quiet. As far as is known, there have been no Israeli bombings since the bombing of Jenta, on the Lebanese side of the border, in February. The bombing on Sunday was exceptional, however, in at least three aspects: It came after Hezbollah had tried to set new rules of the game with Israel on the northern front; it occurred after the international community had clearly changed its priorities regarding the war in Syria (from toppling the regime of Bashar Assad to defeating his rival, ISIS), and it is also the first Israeli operation in Syria since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he was planning new elections....

If this is due to arm shipments by Iran to the Assad government, the coalition has to decide how it discerns such support to Assad. If the Assad forces are the legitimate government of Syria, attacks to weaken him is not a good idea.

Assad can add to the defeat of the Islamic State. The UN has recognized the need for a power sharing government in Syria. If the Assad government is going to survive as a partner in Syria (which is necessary due to the minority Shia in Syria) there has to be recognition of the legitimate need for arms. If Iran is arming Assad to survive the Islamic State's uprising that has to be recognized.

Israel has every right to act in defense of it's people, however, Israel has to also recognize the need for stability in Syria and whom is going to supply it.

"Morning Papers" 

The Rooster

Okeydoke

Ayam Cemani is a rare breed of fowl has the fibromelanistic traits as that most coveted as a chicken breed from Indonesia.

"Good Night, Moon"

Waning Gibbous or Full Moon

16.4 days old

97.1 percent lit

December 7, 2014
By Pattarawadee Saengmanee

...John Nurminen Events, (click here) in cooperation with the US National Aeronautics and Space Agency, is presenting 350 artefacts from America's venture into the heavens. The show continues at the Bangkok Convention Centre at Central Plaza Lat Phrao all this month and through January.

The interactive, educational exhibition is touring the world and arrives in Thailand courtesy of Central Pattana, BEC-Tero Entertainment and Thaicom. 

"BEC-Tero wants the children and the Thai people to see interesting exhibitions from around the world," says Neil Thompson, the firm's deputy managing director, recalling its first such extravaganza, "Titanic", a collection of mementoes from the doomed passenger ship. 

"We spent many millions of baht on this project. You'll see the rocky moon and the lunar landing vehicle in an interactive environment."...