Thursday, October 29, 2015

Get them out of there. They aren't safe. Iranians are moving into Iraq. The refugees need to be moved ASAP.

Move them to the USA. First more them into the billion dollar US embassy and then send them to the USA for asylum. This is a disgrace to the USA.

These refugees do not have options anymore. They need a place to call home and Iraq or any other place in the region cannot provide safety. They need to be moved out of the region. They need asylum.

October 29. 2015 Baghdad (AP) — A barrage of rockets (click here) slammed late Thursday into a former military base near the Baghdad International Airport that houses an Iranian refugee group, killing three Iraqi soldiers, officials said. The Iranian exiles said at least 20 of their people died in the attack.
Iraqi police said 16 rockets hit Camp Liberty, a former U.S. base that now houses the exiled Iranian opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. They said at least 16 soldiers guarding the camp were also wounded while the Iranian group, known as MEK, said dozens of Iranian refugees were wounded as well.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The statement from Mujahedeen-e-Khalq said that "due to darkness of the night, the exact number of dead and wounded has not been established."...
It is interesting the candidates for the Republican nomination are taking up the issue of their debates outside the RNC.

I congratulate them.

There is a gentleman among them with plenty of places to hold those debates. He could set up debates nearly anywhere in the country within reasonable notice. In the world, for that matter.

If Donald Trump is going to take his peers seriously and offer places for their own managed debates it will be nothing short of heroic. 

I look forward to the outcome. I am sure there will be plenty of press coverage.

Remember Toronto Mayor Rob Ford?

October 29, 2015
By Jennifer Pagliaro

Toronto councillor Rob Ford speaks to reporters Thursday after meeting with doctors at Mt. Sinai hospital 

Councillor Rob Ford (click here) says he is “99 per cent sure” his cancer has returned as he prepares to start chemotherapy again next week.
“We’re praying that it’s benign but you’ve got to deal with the realistic part of things and 99 per cent sure that it’s malignant,” said an emotional Ford outside Mt. Sinai Hospital on Thursday afternoon about a new tumour pushing on his bladder. “We’ve got to start this whole process over again.”
Ford said they are still awaiting results of a biopsy to confirm whether the new growth is malignant.
After two rounds of chemotherapy, Ford said he hopes the tumour will be operable by the end of December.
“That’s my Christmas gift,” he said. “I’m optimistic, but I’m a realist too. If this has spread once, where else has it gone?”
Doug Ford earlier told reporters: “The tumour is consistent with the previous tumour,” referring to the pleomorphic liposarcoma, a rare form of cancer, his brother was diagnosed with last year....

Who is next?

Oh, yeah, let's build a pipeline. How is the railroad car availability these days? We so much need new pipelines. NOT!

This is the time for existing pipelines to be refurbished and refitted and there will never be a need for a new one again.

October 29, 2015

Bismarck, ND — Two more energy companies (click here) operating in North Dakota’s Bakken oil patch have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the midst of slumping crude prices.
Tulsa-based Samson Resources and Denver-based American Eagle Energy plan to sell off Bakken assets to pay debts, the Bismarck Tribune reported.

Samson filed for bankruptcy in mid-September, hoping to clear out more than $3.25 billion in debt. Company spokesman Brian Maddox said Samson hasn’t yet succeeded in selling acreage.

Under a restructuring agreement, lenders own all the reorganized company’s equity in exchange for at least $450 million of new capital.

“The steps we are taking will allow our company to maximize future opportunities and compete more effectively with significantly less debt on our balance sheet,” Samson CEO Randy Limbacher said in a statement. “We fully expect to operate our business as usual throughout this process and to emerge as a financially stronger company.”...

Local economies need to pay attention. E85 is eight five percent ethanol and fifteen percent petroleum. It is time for local economies to look out for their local dealerships and those convenience stores to bring new fuels to their town.


October 29, 2015

Des Moines, Iowa — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (click here) says it is spending $100 million to help install nearly 5,000 additional ethanol fuel pumps in 21 states.
The agency said Wednesday that matching grants bring the total public-private investment to $210 million to increase the availability of the corn-based fuel.

The USDA says a typical gas pump delivers 10 percent ethanol, but the grants will help install pumps that offer higher blends of ethanol for more recently made vehicles.
The largest grants are going to Texas, $17 million for 763 pumps, and Florida, nearly $16 million for 892 pumps.
Iowa, the nation’s top corn-producing state, will see $5 million.


Here is a place to start for contact information. US Senators or a House Representative should be able to find information regarding this change in fuel pump. When alternative fuels are available it will promote more sales of "Flex Fuel Vehicles." (click here)


Hobby Lobby Owners, the Greens, may be facing some real questions about their legal dealings in biblical artifacts.

The story starts with the idea Christians needed their own bible museum in Washington, DC. But, the story doesn't end there. I could not care less if there is a bible museum in Washington, DC. This is not about hate or discrimination, it is about a wealthy family that may be facing real problems with their chosen hobby.

September 4, 2015
By Noah Charney

...Now, (click here) though, the Good Book is coming to town in a big way. The Museum of the Bible — backed by the evangelical owners of the craft store Hobby Lobby, who famously took their objections to contraception and Obamacare to the Supreme Court — is set to open in 2017, just off the Mall. The proximity of the museum to the world-class Smithsonian and the Capitol has raised eyebrows. How will it fit in among the venerable institutions lining the Mall? How will it function ...

...Some academics and curators also worry about the origins of its collection — the more than 40,000 biblical artifacts were amassed in a remarkably short time by Hobby Lobby President Steve Green....

Green admits there is doubt about his collection of artifacts and where they came from. If they are coming from Iraq such as this tablet, there were thieves that raided the museums shortly after the USA invasion.

October 29, 2015
By Brianna Bailey


Oklahoma City — Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. (click here) says it is cooperating with a federal investigation involving ancient clay tablets from Iraq for the planned Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.
The Oklahoma City-based company confirmed there was an ongoing investigation after online news outlet The Daily Beast published an article Tuesday about an alleged claim surrounding the clay tablets. The article was written by Bible scholars Candida Moss, professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame, and Joel Baden, professor of Hebrew Bible at Yale University.
“Hobby Lobby is cooperating with the investigation related to certain biblical artifacts,” Hobby Lobby said in a statement. “The Museum of the Bible is a separate not-for-profit entity made possible, in part, by the generous charitable contributions of the Green family.”
According to the Daily Beast story, Hobby Lobby CEO Steve Green said in an interview that the Green family’s extensive collection of biblical artifacts may include items of dubious provenance. Moss and Baden have a forthcoming article to be published in the Atlantic on the federal investigation that includes the interview with Green.

If he admits there are issues with the artifacts, who the heck is he willingly dealing with?

There is a real issue and where any stolen artifacts should be stored. Currently there is war. Where is anyone going to find a safe place to keep such artifacts? Additionally, any stolen artifacts could actually serve as a measure of protection considering how Daesh is willing to destroy anything in it's path.

Reality Check!

This balloon costing billions of dollars can be shot down by State Troopers with shotguns. This balloon is suppose to protect the country from invasion and attack. Really?

It is pure stupidity and not a defense for the country.

October 29, 2015
Ian Duncan and Sean Welsh

By remaining blimp at Aberdeen Proving Ground (click here) grounded indefinitely after one of the two football field-sized military surveillance aerostats detached from its mooring Wednesday and traveled hundreds of miles north.
NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek said a technical recovery team is on the ground in Pennsylvania to handle the retrieval of the runaway blimp, which deflated and landed in a wooded area Wednesday afternoon.
Capt. Matt Villa, an Army planning officer who is on the scene, said the balloon's tail has come off and crews had to cut parts of its tether that had tangled in powerlines. About 60 military personnel are involved in the recovery effort, working alongside a team of contractors and local authorities, he said.
"We're focused on safety at this point," Villa said. "There is an investigation that is ongoing."...
Mayor Bill de Blasio is marking New York City's recovery (click here) from the devastation wrought by Superstorm Sandy nearly three years ago.

De Blasio and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro appeared Tuesday in Breezy Point, a Queens neighborhood damaged by the storm.

The mayor touted progress of the city's Build it Back program, which is rebuilding storm-damaged homes.

De Blasio said that when he took office in 2014, the program had not started construction on any houses.

He said there's now been work done at 1,877 homes and approximately 5,300 people have received reimbursement checks.

The storm, which hit October 29, 2012, was the worst natural disaster in the city's history.


From "Slate" an article from 2013. (click here) It gives a perspective to the damage. 

If Paul Ryan couldn't find funding for the continuation of the LWCF as budget chair, he isn't going to as Speaker.

The new Speaker Ryan gave a very nice speech and he even means it, but, the US House isn't going to change. He won't be using Regular Order and the function will continue to flounder. 

To prove the anti-American legislature that exists in the Congress, a vital Act needed to be reaffirmed and funded, the Land and Water Conservation Fund expired September 30th.

Known to many as the LWCF is vital to tourism throughout the country.

October 28, 2015
by Senator Angus King

Maine is blessed with countless natural wonders (click here) – it’s part of what makes our state so special. We are fortunate to live among such vast beauty and abundant resources, and it is our responsibility as environmental stewards to see that the land is responsibly managed so future generations can also appreciate what we enjoy today.

That’s why I am committed to reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a visionary partnership program that provides matching funds to states and local communities for acquisition, development, and conservation of parks and open spaces. Since the program was created by Congress 50 years ago, projects in Maine have received more than $172 million to help maintain and expand places such as Acadia National Park and the Saint Croix Island International Historic Site – support that has helped these areas increase accessibility to visitors and enhance their positive impact on the local economy.

Moreover, the fund also supports local recreational efforts that benefit Maine communities. While the LWCF is often known for its efforts to help maintain lands for our existing national parks, a significant portion of LWCF funds are also allocated to states and municipalities to support a wide-range of projects – from our many beautiful state parks and lands to local basketball courts and neighborhood swing-sets. In fact, I met earlier this year with local park officials from Bath, Bangor and Skowhegan who – thanks in part to support from LWCF funding – are able to run summer programs for kids, offer recreational opportunities, and partner with school lunch programs. So not only does this fund protect and preserve our most treasured national sites, but it also helps provide safe spaces for children to eat meals and play....

Previous to September 30th, there was not a newspaper in the country that carried the message to renew the LWCF. Coast to coast the Act was anticipated to pass. The Act wasn't even given a vote. It is retreating into the shadows and our lands are not supported to preserve it's beauty to support tourism.

That tourism includes hunting, skiing, hiking, fishing and photography including birding. These issues are normally considered Democratic bills and they are simply disregarded with this Congress while the country begins to have it's tourism industry degrade.

2014 proved to be yet another successful year (click here)
for the Travel & Tourism sector off the back of a modestly stronger economic backdrop. World GDP growth increased from 2.3% in 2013 to 2.4% in 2014. The direct GDP contribution of Travel & Tourism grew by 3.5%, up from 3.4% in 2013...

In 2014, the USA tourism industry grew 3.5 percent adding to the GDP of the country. (click here)

This funding has a direct effect on citizens' lives, jobs, income and local small business. 
Oh, women matter in the US House when they take CLERK (Teller) positions.

Three of the Four Tellers tallying the Speaker Vote are women. That is very different than panels regarding women's health that appear before committees, except of course, the issue is ending Planned Parenthood.

It is okay for women to be workers. It makes them look useful.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Shaun Walker

A crew of six Russian women (click here) have been locked away in a mock spaceship as part of an eight-day experiment to simulate conditions for a potential mission to the moon in 2029.
The experiment, the first of its kind to feature an all-female crew, is designed to “test the psychology and physiology of the female organism,” the space institute organising it said. The participants will be let out next Thursday.
Sergei Ponomarev, the scientific director of Moon-2015, said: “It will be interesting to see how well they get on with each other, and how well they are able to perform tasks. We believe women might not only be no worse than men at performing certain tasks in space, but actually better.”...


The USA can't even come close. There aren't enough women at NASA to make a complete crew for the ISS. 

And the Russian women are for a mission to the moon, not the ISS.

...Sergei Ponomarev, the scientific director of Moon-2015, said: “It will be interesting to see how well they get on with each other, and how well they are able to perform tasks. We believe women might not only be no worse than men at performing certain tasks in space, but actually better.”...


Russia is going forward with a manned Moon flight in 2029. There is a measured focus about Mars. That is why the USA is pushing the space program. I'll say this though; Russia was a signator to and ratified the Kyoto Protocol and did it's level best to mitigate carbon dioxide. The USA doesn't even try. 

And the USA doesn't try because of the corruption in government with unquestioned support of the petroleum industry. THIS IS RIDICULOUS. The US Congress can begin to build CREDIBILITY by eliminating petroleum support payments that are to be re-purposed into NASA.

And don't give me a bunch of bulloney about fuel needs of NASA. It is well known the USA military has worked very hard to move their fuel uses 50/50 with grain sources of fuel.
I have to add something. If Donald Trump did not bring up the issue of the H1B Visa illustrated by the cartoon of Rubio and Zukerberg I would not be writing this.

That is two for two. Immigration and now H1B Visas. I think he has something to add to the national dialogue regarding our disappearing Middle Class and the chronic return of criminal illegals. Americans are dead. That should mean something. The criminal element in the undocumented have to be dealt with. 

I haven't been paying attention to Republican politics. It is easy to see why Donald Trump runs on his own steam, he'd never be offered donations. Rubio is a very good example of corruption in our politics. The IT Cartel would never give Donald Trump a dime.

Where have the working poor come from? Companies like Cooper Tire.

Let's start here. Blanch Lincoln was US Senator for Arkansas since 1999. She lost her bid for re-election in 2010.

Zacks upgraded shares of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co (click here) (NYSE:CTB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Market Beat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $48.00 target price on the stock.
According to Zacks, “Cooper Tire’s second-quarter 2015 earnings per share increased year over year and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Revenues fell year over year, but outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Results were backed by strong unit volumes in the Americas segment, partially offset by weakness in international operations. The decline in revenues resulted from the sale of interest in CCT. Cooper Tire aims to attain operating profit over 10% and net sales of $5–$6 billion per annum in the long term.   The company is benefiting from its high-performance products, share repurchases and improving business operations. However, the loss of ownership stake in CCT, high competition, pressure from cheaper imports and fragile global economic conditions pose concerns. “

December 16, 2011
By Mischa Gaus

Steelworkers locked out at a Cooper Tire plant in Ohio (click here) are raising the alarm as scabs move in to start building tires.
The conflict at Cooper’s Findlay plant, where 1,050 Steelworkers build replacement tires for pickups, stems from new machinery the company recently introduced. Tires are mostly hand-built, but the equipment cut a step out of the process....

...The Steelworkers are incensed by the lockout because the union gave back $31.2 million in concessions in the last contract and because the union had helped manufacturers like Cooper by lobbying successfully for a tariff on Chinese tires.
The tariff curtailed imports, boosted Cooper’s profitability, and allowed it to buy the new equipment, the union says. Cooper, which produces tires in China, did not join the call for the tariff—but now says its expiration next year mandates another round of concessions.
The company wants a five-tier wage scheme, no defined-benefit pensions for new hires, and no health care coverage for future retirees. Cooper made $302.4 million in profit between 2009 and September 2011.
Cooper workers make most of their money from an incentive system, said James Gutierrez, a steward and member of the civil rights committee... 

Democrats need to get a clue. The Middle Class has disappeared on issues of poorly paid wage labor. The Unions have been demonized by the Republicans and the so called Free Trade Agreements have been promoted as a jobs maker by the Republicans. THAT IS NOT THE TRUTH. These trade agreements are casting the American worker into poverty.

Republicans are Wall Street and not Main Street. The trade agreements have put the unions at odds with their own memberships. This is ridiculous. The American landscape is a huge economic engine that every country in the world wants a piece of. Why do they want a piece of the USA? Because otherwise the countries would have to build their own Middle Class. That means foreign laborers would have regular work hours with a fair wage to build a demand for products. Buildings would not be collapsing and the people would be empowered to demand a better quality of life. 

The trade agreements break down the quality of life of Americans without building a middle class in partner countries. Those foreign workers live in squalor and do not have disposable income to be a trade partner.

The USA trading partners should have an existing Middle Class. It is a standard we can all live with. 

I might point out the biggest abuser of quality of life abroad is the IT sector.

May 10, 2010
By Lori Robertson

...A Cooper Tire employee says (click here) in the ad that workers would not have had to agree to concessions "had Ms. Lincoln not voted for all those unfair trade deals." He says, "Those deals made it impossible for American workers to compete" and cites NAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement and a trade deal with China....
The Steelworkers are incensed by the lockout because the union gave back $31.2 million in concessions in the last contract and because the union had helped manufacturers like Cooper by lobbying successfully for a tariff on Chinese tires.
The tariff curtailed imports, boosted Cooper’s profitability, and allowed it to buy the new equipment, the union says. Cooper, which produces tires in China, did not join the call for the tariff—but now says its expiration next year mandates another round of concessions.
The company wants a five-tier wage scheme, no defined-benefit pensions for new hires, and no health care coverage for future retirees. Cooper made $302.4 million in profit between 2009 and September 2011.
Cooper workers make most of their money from an incentive system, said James Gutierrez, a steward and member of the civil rights committee.
- See more at: http://labornotes.org/2011/12/after-union-bails-out-cooper-tire-company-locks-workers-out#sthash.zVjrOng1.dpuf
Steelworkers locked out at a Cooper Tire plant in Ohio are raising the alarm as scabs move in to start building tires.
The conflict at Cooper’s Findlay plant, where 1,050 Steelworkers build replacement tires for pickups, stems from new machinery the company recently introduced. Tires are mostly hand-built, but the equipment cut a step out of the process.
- See more at: http://labornotes.org/2011/12/after-union-bails-out-cooper-tire-company-locks-workers-out#sthash.zVjrOng1.dpuf
Mischa Gaus

Mischa Gaus

Rubio's H1B Visa legislation is pure corruption of our government. That is a FACT. There is evidence.

Just to remind, there is sincere abuse of the H1B Visa programs by the USA Tech Sector. The IT companies signed a letter stating there were no American workers to fill jobs in the computer sector of the USA.

That is a blatant lie.

A census of how Community Colleges are doing in job placement with all their IT grads needs to be conducted. 

IT is one of the best paying jobs with grads from Community Colleges. The enrollment does not want for applicants. The letter to the US Executive Branch and Congress probably sparked such an investigation considering Second Lady Jill Biden is involved with Community Colleges.

Such a letter is actually the 'terms of endearment' for political monies. So, the IT sector, including Facebook and Microsoft, has set their standard for political donations in lying to the American federal government. This is ridiculous and anyone, evidently Marco Rubio, putting forth bills for a huge increase of H1B Visas should be disregarded for President.

This mess with Rubio has to be questioned as a young Senator that cannot handle power. He pushed the Columbian Free Trade Agreement through long before it was appropriate and now the IT sector of the USA is his 'Darling.' Rubio can't handle power. He corrupts it.

Bush has the attentions of a Vegas Supergirl.

In case no one but me have noticed; much of the political coverage by CNN is tabloid journalism.

October 27, 2015
By Ashley Killough

North Las Vegas, Nevada (CNN) "Supergirl" (click here) star Melissa Benoist got word that Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush called her "pretty hot."
"I don't know what to think about it," the actress said in between laughs in an interview with "CBS This Morning.
But she added that she's glad that the former Florida governor is "excited to watch the show," Benoist added.
Last week Bush was thrown a softball while speaking at an event in Las Vegas after nearly an hour-long discussion on serious policy:
Who is your favorite Marvel superhero?
Bush was amused that he was being asked the question but struggled to come up with an immediate answer. And then, as he confessed after the fact, dug himself into a hole.
"I like watching the movies. I wish I owned Marvel, as someone that believes in capitalism," Bush said, speaking at the Libre Forum in North Las Vegas.

Columbia, South America has problems. They seem to revolve around the Presiident.

One might think these are the monies Columbia teachers made per month. They are not. These are the salaries recruited American teachers receive in pay. (click here)

Cost of Living per month $500 to $900 US

Average Monthly Pay $500 to $900 US


It seems as though President Juan Manuel Santos isn't sincerely interested in his people. What is he doing in office then?

President Juan Santos entered office in 2010, but, he engaged government positions in 1991as the very first Minister of Foreign Trade. He was educated by a wealthy Columbia family in economics in London after four years in Kansas. He created his own political party. He is basically an emperor in Columbia. He is mostly unchallenged in his power and he has no taste for treating the Colombian people well.

May 5, 2015
by AQ Online

Over 330,000 teachers (click here) will continue to strike in Colombia after a 20-hour round of talks between the government and the Federación Colombiana de Educadores (Colombian Teachers’ Federation—FECODE) failed to produce an agreement. The results of the meeting were announced yesterday by the Defensoría del Pueblo(National Ombudsman’s Office), which is mediating the negotiations.
The strike, which began on April 22 and centers around teachers’ demand for higher salaries, better health services and the repeal of teacher evaluation, is affecting an estimated 9 million-plus students, who have not attended class since the strike began. After nationwide protests late last month, Colombian Minister of Education Gina Parody seemed to discount the possibility of resuming negotiations until the strike ended. Protesters marching on the Ministry of Education were greeted by a banner strung across the ministry’s façade that read: “Let the children return to class.” “My urgent plea is to not affect the children,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said at the time. “The children should not have to pay for the consequences (platos rotos) of these protests.”...

There is a long history of the Colombian government waging war in FARC. The previous President to Santos where he was involved with the administration killed innocent people in raids on FARC. There was a significant culling of the Columbian military by the previous President as well.

7 May 2009
 By Jeremy McDermott 

...In recent days another three colonels (click here) have been arrested, bringing the total number of military personnel captured to at least 22.
The "false positives" scandal has revealed that the army murdered civilians, who were then dressed in rebel uniforms or given guns. They were then presented as guerrillas or paramilitaries killed in combat.
These allowed units to fabricate results, and officers to gain promotion.
The number of victims is believed to be in the thousands....

Then it is a wonder why FARC still exists.

The problem within the military is well known. It can be called corruption, but, it was the way power existed in Columbia. The people were constantly under attack and deaths were enormous. It has gone on for decades. It was the way people existed in Columbia. 

There is a peace process supposedly with FARC now and a sticking point is the demands for compensation of victims by FARC. It seems as though their are victims on both sides of the peace treaty and the Columbian government needs to resolve their deaths as well. The negotiations are taking place in Cuba. The USA should request a presence at the table to bring talks to a close. 

FARC has to end it's presence in Columbia. This is 2015 and the Colombian children need to be the paramount concern of the country.

The child migration occurred further north than Columbia, but, the treatment of children in Columbia are as much a horror.

The current President is misdirecting his focus to his specialty of trade, AND NOT ECONOMICS. The Columbia Free Trade Agreement has to come into question. I don't know why it exists. Marco Rubio was the primary mover of the trade agreement and that was from his first days in the US Senate. Maybe he was prey to a President desperate for some kind of influence within Columbia. There should not be a Columbia Free Trade Agreement especially considering FARC is still strongly influential in the county. FARC will build an infrastructure to feed off the trade agreement and it will undermine the government again and the killing will resume.

Regardless, the internal economic structure has to be addressed and I can't think of a better place than teachers. The teachers have to be afforded a salary they need for their own families and that is case in point. If teachers are receiving good wages, the Free Trade Agreement will provide an economy that FARC will harness and prey once again on the people. Just because the corruption has been cleaned up within the Columbian military/police doesn't mean FARC's memory of power has faded.

Columbia sincerely needs the USA at the negotiations table. The USA has to capture the culled corruption and maintain it. Last I checked there were Special Forces in countries such as Belize. It would be well considered to move some muscle to Columbia to protect the people and bring the refurbished police to status.  

President Santos is going it alone for some reason and he appears to be losing. He is staving off economic success for teachers while pretending there is an answer in a peace agreement with FARC. He is trying to starve FARC at the cost of the economic condition of his people. Basically, Santos is hostage to FARC and FARC is winning. By the fact teachers are being held economic hostages makes me believe FARC has already won the war and the peace process is simply a way to more and more infrastructure advances because of the Columbia Free Trade Agreement. 

These trade agreements are absolutely toxic to countries where paramilitary organizations have control. The same toxic mix is noted in the Dominican Republic, however, there is no paramilitary, however, there is greed that is further impoverishing the people. The people are not receiving benefits from the trade agreement because the provisions of enforcing humane conditions and fair wages are completely absent. These are relatively small countries and their poverty is not that difficult to address as long as their wages and benefits are not absorbed through corruption of the agreements.

Fair Trade Farmers in Colombia (click here)

Fair Trade Organization have to be talked to by the US State Department. These organizations have been in the trenches with THE PEOPLE long before any free trade agreement. In recent years, there has been an undermining of the coffee trade THE PEOPLE were carrying out to improve their lives. There has been other issues such as a coffee tree blight, however, WALL STREET has sought their own type of "Fair Trade" coffees by establishing plantations. Those plantations are far easier to corrupt by organizations such as FARC because the economic power becomes concentrated away from the people and into the treasuries of organizations such as FARC. 

...Coffee has been a vital source of rural development income in this nation, the second largest coffee producer in the world, home to about 560,000 coffee farms. Railroads and roads were built to move coffee from the cool slopes of Antioquia and its southern neighbors to the Pacific coast, where ports were built to ship it out. Coffee proceeds financed the development of such other exports, as well as rural clinics and schools. Colombia's coffee belt became one of the richest and most stable regions of the country.

Small farmers have always been the dominant mode of production, in contrast to other Latin American countries where large plantations controlled the growing of such commodities as coffee, sugar, and bananas. Today, 96 percent of the country's coffee farmers tend plots smaller than seven acres....

The entire circumstance in Columbia is compromised by the free trade agreement. The monies are suppose to benefit the people and they are not. Santos has to begin an enforceable peace treaty and RETURN the economic strength of coffee TO THE PEOPLE.

There is no reason Columbia cannot enforce a peace treaty with FARC since the police have been culled of corruption. The struggle will be sincerely daunting especially with a free trade agreement in place, but, that is the reality and if FARC cannot not be brought under control and quality of life returned to the people then the Columbia Free Trade Agreement has to be repealed until more reasonable circumstances are brought to the people.

And for the record, Hillary Clinton did not vote for the Columbia Free Trade Agreement and Bernie Sanders is one of a bilateral group of Senators already examining the wrongful course of the same Columbia Free Trade Agreement. The State Department has a group of Senators very interested in Columbia's circumstances and should bring at least a Democrat and Republican to the peace tables of Columbia with negotiations ongoing in Cuba.

US Troops need to come home.

October 28, 2015

The Iraqi government (click here) said Wednesday it didn't ask for — and doesn't need — the "direct action on the ground" promised by the Pentagon.
The revelation came a day after Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the U.S. may carry out more unilateral ground raids — like last week's rescue operation to free hostages — in Iraq to target ISIS militants.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's spokesman told NBC News that any military involvement in the country must be cleared through the Iraqi government just as U.S.-led airstrikes are.... 

“We won’t hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting such missions directly whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground,” Carter stated.