At least one CEO is already heeding the call of a different pay scale.

April 14, 2015
By Suzanna Kim

The CEO of a credit-card payments company (click here) in Seattle said executive pay is "out of whack," so he's cutting his own pay and creating a minimum salary for his workers. Now, he will be earning $70,000 like many of them, and he's OK with it.

Dan Price, 30, announced this week that any employee at his company, Gravity Payments, making less than $70,000 annually will receive a $5,000-per-year raise or be paid a minimum of $50,000, whichever is greater. The aim: By December 2017, everyone will earn $70,000 or more.

To facilitate this change, Price said his salary will decrease to $70,000 from about $1 million until or unless the company's profits are greater than last year's approximately $2.2 million....

Judge says no to Japan's nuclear reactors.

April 14, 2015

A Japanese court (click here) has blocked the restarting of two nuclear reactors in the western city of Takahama, after local people raised safety concerns.

The plant had already obtained approval from the country's nuclear watchdog.
But locals had petitioned the court in Fukui prefecture, where Takahama is located, to intervene, saying it would not withstand a strong earthquake.
All 48 commercial reactors in Japan remain offline following 2011's Fukushima disaster.
The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo says the ruling is a serious blow for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to have the reactors restarted.
Mr Abe has said the shutdown is damaging the struggling economy, forcing Japan to import expensive fossil fuels to make up the power shortfall....

The robot to provide a method to understand what is occurring in the reactor no longer works. It is believed it was fried by the radiation.

The reacotr is out of control and it sits at the rim of a quake zone near the Pacific Ocean. This is not a good thing. It is a very bad situation.

April 13, 2015

Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) (click here) has had to give up trying to recover a shape-shifting snake robot that was sent into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on 10 April to access damage from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami hit the Pacific coast of Japan in March 2011 and caused a major nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Three of the six nuclear reactors suffered meltdowns, releasing almost 30% more radiation than the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
The 60cm-long robot, developed by Hitachi and its affiliate, Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, was sent into one of the nuclear containment vessels at the No. 1 reactor at 9.25am on 10 April. It is the first robot to have ventured into the containment vessel since 2011....

Why is the country in poor condition?

In May of 2013, (click here) Congressman John Delaney introduced the Partnership to Build America Act (H.R. 2084). The Partnership to Build America Act finances $750 billion dollar in infrastructure investment using no appropriated funds and has 75 cosponsors (39 Republicans and 36 Democrats) in the House. Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) introduced the legislation in the upper chamber in January of 2014, with bipartisan support. The Senate version of the bill is sponsored by 6 Democrats, 7 Republicans, and 1 Independent.

The best that happened (click here) with this bill was a movement out of committee and introduced to the US House. It died there.

Senator McConnell is holding up legislation by the Senate because he favors religious discriminatory bills. There is a new Attorney General waiting for a vote. 

But.

Senator Corker states a Senate bill regarding Iran's sanctions is going to the floor of the Senate soon. 

Does anyone know what is actually happening in the Senate, because, according to the Senate Majority Leader, there will be no movement of any kind until the religiously based discrimination in the trafficking bill passes. 

The American people are looking forward to wide based discrimination preempting the priorities of this country. When is there going to be movement? When the next budget comes up? Than maybe not. I can't believe the American people actually voted for this mess all over again. Whatever. 

I think Secretary Clinton is being very sincere in her concerns.

She is a great woman. No one can say otherwise. I believe she was disappointed in her campaign that didn't place her in the nomination to the White House in 2008. 

I also believe being a grandmother adds a new perspective to people's lives. I believe her approach is very well considered. She wants to understand the problems and she doesn't want to alienate people. Standing on a stage can be more stardom than she wants for her campaign and I do not believe she wants that type of relationship this time. 

Look, she knows what the country is going through. She is not happy about where the country is. She is more than capable to lead and resolve the problems of the American people. The USA is not in good condition. 

I have confidence in her. As I said before, "I trust her." I believe she knows what she sees as a vital link to the people to actually solve their problems.

I like her. I believe she is very sincere. She isn't spending big money either. She is looking at a long campaign and she is conserving her resources. She has to make it to the finish line. 

I like what she doing. She looks wonderfully healthy. She looks happy. I think part of that happiness is the resolve she came to when she decided to run for President. I like what is happening. She is doing the right thing for us.

She is doing the right thing for us.

Hillary Clinton includes community colleges as part of the American Dream and upward movement.

Did I detect a bit of a nervous tone with Candidate Hillary Clinton?

I find that is charming. She wants to win and she still gets anxious about speaking to the press.

I do public speaking about environmental issues. It is a tough crowd that sits in the audience and they expect good answers to their questions. I never get used to speaking to the public. I could not be more prepared. But, that touch of anxiety as to what I could do or say to scuttle even one person's expectations is always there. It is never going to leave me. I know that, because, I care. And I finally resolved it is a good thing I care and I worry about the justice I am doing the audience and the topics. I can completely relate.

I always treat the press as friends. If they ask a question off the scale of propriety and a gotcha basis, I simply correct the wording in my answer. I never insult them. If they insist I didn't answer their question, I simply, "Yes, I did. Thank you." 

Truth and honesty always wins out.

This is how the world maintains security while striving to peace.

It is called transparency. It provides for the understanding between major powers. 

It is a known fact the USA's military leaders consider themselves the equal to the ranking officers of other countries. There are conversations go on. It was not that long ago when Former Secretary Hagel visited China and it's new aircraft carrier. 

There really isn't that animosity between these countries military leaders. They have a job to do. They don't talk to each other with hatred and threats. 

This level of transparency provides for a balance of power.

A Defense Department is suppose to protect their homeland. That means wars aren't necessarily the best approach.  

April 14, 2015
To the befuddlement of Euro critics, (click here) Russian inspectors have arrived in the UK to oversee a mass NATO training exercise taking place in Scotland.
Despite current tensions between the West and Russia, the team from the Russian National Nuclear Threat Reduction Center is permitted to visit the country to observe military activities as part of a reciprocal agreement contained in the 2011 version of the Vienna Document.
The center is part of the Russian defense ministry. Its head, Sergey Ryzhkov, told the Daily Mail newspaper: “During the event, the inspectors will visit ranges and plan to hold command briefings on the conducted military activities.”
The inspectors started their four-day visit on Monday after arriving at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.
Exercise Joint Warrior involves more than 50 ships, 70 aircraft and 13,000 military personnel from 14 NATO member states and is being held off the north coast of Scotland.
A number of critics took to social media to express their concerns over Russia’s freedom to inspect a NATO exercise, with some citing the situation as evidence of diminished UK sovereignty.

The sale of interceptors by Russia to Iran was appropriate. It is a matter of accomplishing a secure agreement.

Israel doesn't like it, yet they enjoy the same type of defense system for Israel. So, the Iranian people are suppose to live in the fear of Israel's aggression, is that it? Women, children the elderly are all suppose to live in fear of Israel. I don't think so.

April 13, 2015

...Israel says Russia's decision (click here) to sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Iran is the "direct result" of the international community's framework nuclear deal with the Islamic republic. The US also expressed concern at the deal, the White House and Pentagon said Monday, while Iran claimed it could help regional stability....

I am not interested in any other land and it's people being Gaza 2.0. Russia is a member of the P5+1, so there is no doubt this is a reaction to the agreement. If Israel was praising the initiative perhaps no other country would believe they need to secure Iran to move the agreement forward. 

There is no reason to reject the framework. The only reason it is occurring is politics. People are banking their politics on a framework. Right.

There is no reason to oppose the agreement, including the Supreme Leader. This agreement has facts, science and transparency as stated in the framework. There isn't anything to oppose. It is framed in international conventions just like any other country that is a signator to the NPT and the Test Ban Treaty.   

...The US military echoed the statement, with Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren saying "Our opposition to these sales is long and public. We believe it's unhelpful," he told reporters.... 

It is too late. The Pentagon should have been consulting with Israel about it's relentless attacks on Gaza and it's invasion into Palestinian territory for settlements. Why isn't that happening? Israel has carte blanc with the USA Pentagon to carry on and kill thousands of people?

Israel's hate of Iran is completely obvious and the USA military never consulted with Israel to place a different tone to the region's relationship with Israel. Now, every other country will understand what the Iranians feel when Israel THREATENS them.

The last time Israel moved into Gaza it stated it was because of the death of three teenagers. No one stops to realize there was a Palestinian teen killed before the three Israeli teens. Not only that, but, what are young people doing sneaking around to kill each other. The Palestinian youth and Israel youth should be spending time together to grow, be educated and learn how an alliance is better than chronic violence. Where is the USA military when Israel begins an unjust attack into Gaza? There should have been a search for the murderers on both sides of the deaths to be brought to justice. Where is the justice system to address these problems? 

Everyone states Israel is the greatest democracy in the Middle East. It doesn't act like one. 

Russia is accommodating Iranians to provide security to the country. What country does Iran need protection from? The USA? France? Oh. Israel. Yeah. Exactly the point. 

Israel creates it's own problems.

The initial sale was completed in 2007-2010, (click here) but never actualized because of Israeli and US pressure. But Monday's news might not be as dangerous or earth shattering as the Russians and Iranians would want you to think.

During the time of the initial sale, Israel was reluctant to sell UAVs and advanced weapons systems to Georgia, Russia's local foe. At the same time, the Russians were training Iranians – including elite Revolutionary Guard forces – in the system's workings on Russian soil.

Israel never changes course. It always ratchets up the tensions. This is the outcome to those politics.