Speaker Boner deferred from the Tucson memorial service to bargain for uninterrupted control of 'the message' from the House.

This photo of Bush appears with an article in "TheWashington Times."  It was photoshopped.  I mean they actually do this?  That is amazing.  They will go to this extreme to attempt to cover up the bigotry.

Jeb Bush guides GOP outreach to Latinos (click here)

...The new Hispanic Action Network is part of a growing number of Republican organizations reaching out to Hispanics in advance of next year's presidential election — and it has powerful support....

If Bush wanted to influence the Hispanic electorate to vote for the GOP candidate in 2012, they should have put a Hispanic at the top of the organization.


...Little known outside the Badger State (click title to entry - thank you) and the RNC, Priebus nonetheless marshalled strong and early support based on his record in the '08 elections:  last fall, Badger State Republicans picked up the U.S. Senate seat, governorship, two new U.S. House seats, and control of both houses of the state legislature....
...For all the high marks he received as a party-builder, Priebus did face questions as to how conservative he was and whether he was too close to Mississippi Gov. and potential 2012 presidential hopeful Haley Barbour.  The latter question rose in large part because the governor's nephew, Mississsippi National Committeeeman Henry Barbour, was a key operative in Priebus's campaign.

"It was a proxy race between [top George W. Bush advisor and Cino backer] Karl Rove and Haley Barbour," one political consultant told HUMAN EVENTS after Priebus's election, "and Barbour won."

Not so fast, several Priebus backers told me.  Both the candidate and his backers insisted that being supported by Henry Barbour in no way meant reciprocal support for Haley Barbour in 2012, that (like almost every RNC head going into a presidential year), Priebus was neutral....

...California's RNC member Steele, a conservative activist since he was a teenage volunteer for Barry Goldwater in 1964, went furthest when he predicted that Priebus "will be the most conservative RNC chairman since Dean Burch in 1964 [Burch was a close Goldwater friend who served as party chairman during the '64 campaign]."

Perhaps the best post mortem on the long contest came from Connecticut's State Chairman (and Anuzis backer) Chris Healy, who said that "we wanted a chairman who could work well with the donors,...

One has to wonder if the advise Michael Steele received over the past two years from his friend Reince Priebus wasn't sabotage.  (click here)

"Today the Republican Party took a major step toward renewal with the selection of Michael Steele as chairman of the Republican National Committee. I believe in Steele’s ability to move our party forward and I am extremely proud to have led his successful campaign for chairman.

Michael is committed to our conservative cause, has strong leadership skills and the ability to connect with and energize our grassroots supporters. Our core fundamental principles remain strong and mirror those of the majority of Americans so we must improve our outreach efforts in order to grow as a party.

Michael Steele will be a great new voice and outstanding leader for the Republican Party. As we work diligently to take our message to the people throughout Wisconsin and America, I look forward to continuing my partnership with him and at the RNC.”

-- Reince Priebus

I believe Michael Steele was personally wounded by what occurred in the elections.
Until tomorrow...

33 bullets and 20 victims of which 6 are dead. That is some pretty mean shooting.

updated 1/10/2011 5:12:31 PM ET 2011-01-10T22:12:31

The shooting in Tucson (click here) on Saturday took a heavy toll. Six were killed, and 14 more wounded including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Not all names and pictures of victims have been released. This listing will be updated as information becomes available....

This is NOT an isolated case and Loughner was NOT unique nor certifible.

Pamela Simon, 63  (click title to entry - thank you)Simon, Giffords's community outreach coordinator, still sees the carnage whenever she closes her eyes, she told USA Today. A former English teacher at the same school Loughner attended, she told the Wall Street Journal she never knew the shooter. But she knew students like him: angry and isolated people who needed help. She says her goal is to help those students after she recovers....

Anyone who wants to depose people for speaking their minds as 'malice' should know who they are taking too.  There will be NO retribution of these victims by the Right Wing Media.  NONE!

Arizona shooting victim blames Palin, others  (click here)

by Kendra Marr

Jan. 14, 2011 11:31 AM
POLITICO.COM

..."Their wish for Second Amendment activism has been fulfilled -- senseless hatred leading to murder, lunatic fringe anarchism, subscribed to by John Boehner, mainstream rebels with vengeance for all, even 9-year-old girls," he added, referring to the death of Christina Taylor Green.

Fuller, a 63-year-old veteran, had campaigned for Giffords during her re-election and was at the supermarket for her "Congress on Your Corner" event.

He was shot in the knee and the back in the tragedy that left six people dead and 13 wounded....

It would seem as though target shooting those 'tin cans' made all the difference in the world.

Cops: Black bag contained ammunition  (click here)
Posted: Jan 13, 2011 1:15 PM EST
Updated: Jan 14, 2011 8:27 PM ESTTUCSON, AZ (RNN) - The black bag found near the neighborhood where accused shooter Jared Lee Loughner lives was transferred to FBI custody for analysis.

The Pima County Sheriff's office said Friday the bag resembles one that was a source of a confrontation between Loughner and his father, Randy Loughner, on the morning of the shootings in Tucson, AZ....

That Walmart Ammunition was so cheap the killer bought it in excess and a carrying bag to boot.  Wow.

"The Glock" is a dangerous weapon. It is 'the gun of choice' by killers.

Sports are not going to disappear nor is the lucrative gun economy.  However, these weapons are completely unnecessary and irresponsible to allow to continue to exist in the USA.

...The smooth-firing Glock (click title to entry - thank you)  did not cause these massacres any more than it holds up convenience stores. But when outfitted with an extra-large magazine, it can raise the body count. The shooters in Arizona, Illinois, Virginia, Hawaii, and Texas could not have inflicted so many casualties so quickly had they been armed with old-fashioned revolvers. In its 2010 catalog, the manufacturer boasts that while the Glock 19 is "comparable in size and weight to the small .38 revolvers it has replaced," the pistol "is significantly more powerful with greater firepower and is much easier to shoot fast and true."

The Tucson gunman demonstrated those qualities all too vividly. Loughner is said to have emptied his 33-round clip in a minute or two, a feat requiring no special skill. (Glock does not sell magazines of that size to civilians, but some of its guns can accommodate them. The model 19 comes with a standard 15-round clip.) Loughner was wrestled to the ground by onlookers only when he paused to insert a fresh magazine. If he had been forced to reload sooner, the odds are good there would be fewer victims. Glock executives did not respond to multiple requests for comment....

The 'magazine' Loughner used is NOT sold with the gun.  THEREFORE, Loughner researched the weapon he wanted to use and how to enhance its ability to kill.  He obtained the 33 round magazines and set out on his mission.

He went to a Motel 6 to carry out his tasks because if he tried to organize himself with all the activity required that night he would have been discovered by his family, whom he did not want to risk being discovered.  His activity before 'his act' was very, very well researched and planned.  His activities from the motel room were 'direct' without being 'lost' or 'making mistakes' to his purpose and he was not wasting time.  When the first Walmart could not accommodate him within a short period of time he went to his 'second choice' and achieved his goal.

Barrett Says Glock Pistol Transforms U.S. Gun Culture (You Tube - click here)

Barrett is "W"rong.  The Glock is a very dangerous weapon even though it can be detected by x-ray.  Avoiding talking about any social problem simply allows it to develop.  The Glock was MERCHANIZED, by his own statements, and that is why it became popular.  It had nothing to do with the 'anti-gun' lobby or any other FREE SPEECH or PROTEST to end the gun accessibilty for such 'unnecessary' weapons in the USA.  Police and agents are the only people that should be allowed carry them.  If they showed up during the shooting, whcih lasted two minutes doing the damage it did, there would have been at least one dead officer until the gunman was dead.  I have to wonder if Loughner was wearing body armor, although I don't believe Walmart sells that and he probably could not afford it.

Anyone recognize her?

She has a DEFINED substance abuse problem, is very dysfunctional in her own life, is a 'threat' to herself and other, has a family that loves her deeply and there is very, very little that can be done through the court systems to stop her slide.  Donald Trump refuses to put her on Celebrity Apprentice.  Wow. 

Surprise, surprise. (click title to entry - thank you) Lindsay Lohan might be off the hook for her little incident involving the Betty Ford  staffer Dawn Holland.

According to TMZ, the case might be dropped because Holland has no interest in pursuing it.

Donald Trump to Lindsay: You're Not Hired!

She submitted a declaration to the D.A. that said, "I do not desire Ms. Lohan prosecuted for the events of December 12, 2010. I will not answer any questions to any policing or prosecutorial agencies regarding the events of December 12, 2010."

She reeeeeallly wants nothing to do with this all of a sudden! It’s almost too weird. It’s one thing if she didn’t care either way, but she’s making such a strong case against prosecuting Lindsay that it’s fishy to me.

It took Mothers Against Drunk Driving to begin the process of lowering deaths by drunk drivers.  If the CARS are the weapon of choice and alcohol facilitates it, then there is a chance it won't happen.

BUT.

If guns are the weapons of choice there is no to little recourse.

It is impossible to legislate behavior.

What Do Community Colleges Owe Their Students? (click title to entry - thank you)

Pima County Community College has taken a lot of heat over the past week because school officials recognized that Jared Lee Loughner was a troubled young man but failed to secure mental health treatment for him. But some have defended the school, arguing that educational institutions are responsible for, well, education, not their students' psychological well-being. Whatever the merits of the argument, school shootings, suicides, and other tragedies have drawn colleges further and further into the mental health world. According to USA Today, 80 percent of American colleges have some sort of "student of concern committee" responsible for identifying people who pose a danger to themselves or others. But critics argue that such groups are ineffective, no matter how well-intentioned they are, and sometimes they're not well-intentioned. In one case, an administrator demanded a mental health evaluation for a student who was causing political problems for him, and in Brooklyn, college officials had an international student committed when she complained (correctly) that her landlord was spying on her.

Read original story in The New York Times | Friday, Jan. 14, 2011

The New York Times Article.

...Virginia and Illinois passed laws (click here) requiring colleges and universities to establish multidisciplinary threat-evaluation teams. Today, more than half of the country’s 4,500 colleges and universities “acknowledge the need and have formed some capacity” to assess student threats, said Steven Healy, a former Princeton University police chief, who leads training programs in threat assessment under a grant from the Justice Department. On Tuesday, he was leading a workshop for 70 educators in Phoenix, which he began with a moment of silence.
At Virginia Tech, the Threat Assessment Team — a national model, whose members include the dean of students; the director of counseling; a university lawyer; and Dr. Deisinger, a psychologist who also holds the title of deputy police chief — meets weekly, discussing 6 to 20 cases.
A campus Web site about the team answers a hypothetical question, “Can’t you just make people leave campus if they are a problem?” in this way: “When people remain part of the Virginia Tech community, on-campus resources are available to them, and campus administrators are in contact with them to provide support they might not have if they were removed.”
In Arizona, people can be sent involuntarily for a mental health exam after any concerned party applies for a court-ordered evaluation, which can lead to mandated treatment....

There are many states that have laws which allow 'persons of concern' to be picked up for evaluation and possibly for commitment.  People involved with substance abuse are the best candidates and are often referred to treatment, but, others that are considered a 'social problem' are released after the initial evaluation and/or if committed they stay a few days to a week, take the medication perscribed and released after they are 'in compliance' to return home to simply stop taking the medication perscribed. 

This has all been tried before and it is why the best way to prevent and stop violence is to eliminate the weapons that cause them.

It is nealy as psychotic to believe in the USA that any citizen has to fear for their lives enough they have to arm themselves from their government.  That in and of itself is delusional thinking.  There is NO WAY anyone could stop the USA military if it were turned loose on the citizens of the country. 

There are too many people, in command of those forces, to ALLOW that dynamic to occur.  It won't happen.  There are agencies of the FBI and CIA and all kinds of civil rights groups that simply 'safeguard' that dynamic from happening.  Not that people don't slip through the cracks like McVeigh, or the Holocaust Museum killer, but, for a mass amount of people to 'find a threat' coming from their government is nearly impossible in the USA.  I just don't see it.  We have to many allies that stand guard over us as well.  I just don't see THAT as a viable reason to own guns and ammunition.

...The timeline (click here) also confirms a previous account by law enforcement officials that Loughner was stopped at 7:30 a.m. by an Arizona Game and Fish Department officer. That officer gave Loughner a verbal warning for running a red light on his way home.

Between 7:31 a.m. and 9:40 a.m., authorities say, Loughner returned to his house, removed a black bag from his vehicle and fled on foot, carrying the bag, after his father, Randy Loughner, confronted him.

Shortly thereafter, a cab driver picked up Loughner from a nearby Circle K convenience store, then dropped him off at a Safeway, the scene of the shooting. At 9:54 a.m., Loughner and the cab driver entered the Safeway to get change for the fare...

His family was beyond being able to intercede with him.  No doubt his father was livid because his son was out all night without knowing where he was and what he was doing and whom he was with.  It is still my opinion, Loughner was very careful about being 'found out' and measured his behavior around people he came in contact with that could stop him and this is still more proof.  He was very covert.  The 'label' everyone wants to put on it is 'Lone Wolf.'  We have heard the descriptions over and over and over again about how 'nice' people can 'appear' and how they were never preceived as a threat 'like this,' etc., etc., etc.  This is really no different.  He was going through a 'process of failure' in his life and making up his mind to find meaning in some way. 

Boy, oh, boy.

Let's get this on record. The Morgan profit increase occurred BEFORE Daley went into the White House.

...Yet lately the No. 2 U.S. lender (click title to entry - thank you) has lagged behind its less impressive peers (see chart, right). Though the bank has gained market share in all six of its major businesses since the financial crisis erupted in 2007, says Mike Mayo of CLSA, the stock is trading at a discount to its historic valuation....

Morgan was the ONLY investment bank that was solvent going into the financial crisis.  Morgan has never been as big on profits as other banks.  They have already had lower stock prices that have been 'in reach' of the small investor.  It has always been a fairly 'bet' when it comes to investing and this is no surprise when one realizes it was solvent AFTER it absorbed the failing banks that were failing left and right since 2007.

Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr returns from a three year religious sabbatical and already the Anti-Sadrists are preparing for the next invasion.

I love this paragraph.

...During his three years (click title to entry - thank you)  in exile al-Sadr has spent his time studying under some of Iran’s hardline ayatollahs at the Holy City of Qom, the place where Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, developed his radical Islamic ideology....

To begin with, he was never exiled.  It was a known fact he wanted to study to have a potential to rise to the status of Ayatollah as his father did.  There is this weird precept to the religion that the distaff side of a Holy Man's lineage 'sorta' demotes him to be a Cleric at best.  That is where the Shi'ites and Sunnis part company, so to speak.  The Shi'ites have a reverence for their female lineage that offers esteem to the Holy Men of that family.  So, there is a better than 'good' chance Moqtada will be an Ayatollah or Grand Ayatollah someday considering Saddam Hussein nearly wiped out the entire lineage.

I don't know about anyone else, but, I think of higher education as of at least four years for an undgergrad degree.  I doubt Seminary is much different.  So, to realize he was studying in Iran is understandable as no opportunity of that nature was offered in Iraq.  A Shi'ite Seminary?  Where?

I think the man arrived by car.  It might have been a commercial jet, but, he didn't decend on a cloud or on a chariot of fire, okay?

He arrives to a country with an election process whereby his supports are called, of all things, Sadrists.  I'll be darn.

You know, I wonder if he has a newspaper enterprise yet?  The Bush Guys destroyed his last one.

Oops, there goes freedom of the press.

You know something else, he didn't march into the country of Iraq with tanks and bombers over head like we did.

I wonder how the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is doing?  No one ever hears from him anymore.  I have to wonder if that cardiac procedure in Great Britain was 'all that.'

What was that guy's name that advised Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld?  Screwball or Fastball or Have a ball?  Remember that guy?

Well, they are getting set up for the next one.

A number worry that the firebrand cleric will once again spark violent confrontations and question whether he has really changed.  (click here)

January 10, 2011
By Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Baghdad — Even as supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr rejoiced at his return to Iraq, some in the country's Shiite Muslim majority population expressed alarm Sunday about the implications of his homecoming.
In Baghdad and the southern provinces of Basra and Maysan, the news gave deep pause to some Shiite Iraqis, mindful of Iraq's history since 2003 and wondering whether Sadr would once more spark violent confrontations, or whether he had in fact truly evolved....

Go get 'em, Ned.  Those conservatives with all the money to buy newspapers simply love this stuff.

"Faces of the Fallen" (click here)  Maybe next time 'you all' need to really 'get it right.'

Unfortunately we are still in that country and receiving fire with dead soldiers.  We not going to continue to do this and if there is an escalation of tensions and fighting, then we need to leave.  DEFINATELY.  We have been there BEFORE !

If the Iraqis need to separate into three autonomous provinces and fight to do it, then I'll guess they will fight it out alone !

8 U.S. Soldiers Killed Iraq NE- from 2008

As dedicated as Robert Gibbs is to providing factual and good information to the press...

...he missed 'the mark' yesterday with the Russian journalist. 

Rather than addressing the question with full 'content' of understanding, Gibbs chose to state 'the obvious' but not the 'reality.  He spoke about 'Americana' and NOT America.

The point the Russian journalist was making was exactly 'the point' Gibbs was unable to formulate an answer to.  The journalist portrayed 'not hatred' of American values but a very important point of 'denial' of the current American political process. 

Gibbs spoke of the FACT, American values does not include such violence against its government.  Talking about American Values was not the point and it was wrongly taken as a 'Russian opportunity' to defame the USA.

That wasn't at all the case.  Just because the journalist had a Russian accent doesn't mean he was being judgemental so much as being poignant.

His statements reflected the fact that violence, especially out of control social violence, is a very REAL part of the American landscape AND conveniently dismissed when 'talk' about violence is engaged in political discourse. 

The Russian Journalist was reflecting the 'value system' of the ever changing 'political face' of the recently elected House of Representatives which touts the USA Constitution as the do all and end all of the American government's challenges.  The journalist was being reflective of the 'value system' he is engaging within the current Legislative Branch of the USA.  Gibbs needs to get his mind around that fact and address the question without denying the reality.

The journalist was not out of line and shows exactly how 'denial stricken' the USA Press Corp sincerely is when it cannot even 'contextually' embrace the question from a colleague.

The answer by me is simply this.  "While the USA Constitution reflects all the words and the values associated with those words, the reality of the American Landscape is different.  The reality of the American Landscape reflects social problems that are addressed by laws.  The law in and of itself cannot stop violence although arguably IT SHOULD."

It is good to know at least ONE journalist among many is not tainted from reailty for the purpose of policital punditry.

This accounting in the Washington Post by a former classmate to Mr. Loughner is more than interesting.

From June 14: (click title to entry - thank you)..."We have a mentally unstable person in the class that scares the living crap out of me. He is one of those whose picture you see on the news, after he has come into class with an automatic weapon. Everyone interviewed would say, Yeah, he was in my math class and he was really weird. I sit by the door with my purse handy. If you see it on the news one night, know that I got out fast..."

Loughner was a very disgruntled young man.  The reports of him arguing with professors regarding grades, PROBABLY, showed how his family was attempting to have him take life seriously.  He was not 'free falling' unnoticed. 

We don't know what the family has been through either.  Having a sincerely troubled young man in a household is very, very upsetting while trying to seek resolutions where resolutions can be found.  I am confident many people if they reflect on acquaintances and their own family, perhaps their own family can somewhat identify with events that occur within our own understanding of these events.  Perhaps not everyone knows of such circumstances in other's lives, but, they exist.  There are more young men in the USA going through emotional shifts while 'out of reach' of any real resolve to their problems.  This isn't necessarily a male problem, it is just that men tend to become aggressive while females tend to be passive and removed during difficult times in their lives.

It is a problem and the reason it is a problem is because we are a nation of 'personal freedoms.'  Add to that the dynamics of 'merchanising' for economic purposes any personal freedom of a USA citizen has and there is evem more difficulty in 'reining in' people 'at the extremes.'   And don't tell me the merchanising of American freedoms doesn't happen, that would be a huge lie. 

Taking someone out of their day to day life and focus and earning and purchasing power is a huge dilemma for the judiciary considering the laws that oversee such events in a human life.  When people are removed by police to a onfinement center to be evaluated for instaibility to harm themselves or others it disrupts their employment and in many instances in low paying jobs it could cost them that tenuous attachment to income and a potential beyond their current status.

When a citizen lives within a democracy dominated by capitalism whereby life is guaranteed to them through engagement of that capitalism, there is little tolerance of problems sush as missing work, not calling in to a supervisor because they were 'detained' and school assignments being handed in late; it only creates more emotional turmoil and more focus on 'the system' as the problem with the 'enhanced' injustice of 'failure' to be successful.

It might have been that a 22 year old young man bargained to be a student to improve his life in order to maintain a status with his family and their hopes were to have him 'straighten out.'  The news reports included multiple visits to the family home.  I guarantee you the family has been through plenty.  If Loughner were 'smart enough' through trial and error to know what he could get away with 'in behavior' to stay out of reach of authorities there isn't any change in the law that is going to improve that EXCEPT to push 'tolerance' back a notch or two. 

I doubt the family was interested in 'sheltering' him from sincere help, either.

There is no legislation anyone can write that will chanage this violence EXCEPT removing THE OPPORTUNITY to own and use assault weapons within the borders of the USA.  Any PARTIAL measure short of that, will definately result in other and maybe even increasing violence within the USA. 

WHERE are the studies that say differently?

The 'Public Tone' definately has a place here.  People such as Loughner achieve greater and greater validity for their 'power struggle' when it is validated in a 'faux purposeful' way that is exploited for commercial gain. 

There may have been plenty of clues he may have been approaching aggression rather than 'self hurt,' but, I don't know that law enforcement could sincerely 'make that call' in a way that actually removes people from their lives.  Judges are very, very careful about these issues.  Lots of VALID reasons why they have to be.  Sincerely HAVE TO BE.

This problem is a societal problem and not a legislative problem to control citizens and it is why 'weapons' have to be regulated and controlled because the people cannot necessarily be regulated, controlled or 'fit a logarithm' a computer could speak with to PREDICT what is coming next.  Social problems have to be addressed through measures that dilute the ability of 'social members' to 'deliver on outcomes.'  It is NOT necessarily a 'profit driven' approach NOR should it be.

In a society such as the USA whereby "The Second Amerndment" existed to ensure THIRTEEN original colonies from potential return of 'the king/ POTUS' it has no real meaning in a First World Country other than for reason of sports.  If 'personal protection' is the answer realize a 'legal gun touting citizen' coming out of a store where the Congresswoman attended to her citizens' concerns nearly shot an innocent man that grabbed the gun from Loughner's hand, believing he was the gun man.

HELLO?

Wouldn't that have been interesting, huh?  Citiznes believing that Loughner had an accomplish and shooting each other in the heat of the moment.  It is a lousy idea that simply doesn't have credence in a civilized society.  Guns should never be 'merchanized' as personal protection or as a 'shooters club.'  Not that they don't occur, but, it should never be that imposing 'in the fermament.'  Never. 

Hate in any form should never be tolerated in public discourse.  And hate backed up by actions and words is simply outrageous.  Unthinkable.  Even if only implied.

Adoptions can be lucrative. I am not surprised there is opposition of a Mental Health program that deals with abortion rights.

Lauren Gard has been counseling on Exhale's hot line since May.

...Calls to Exhale’s hot line (click here) surged after the program. But some opponents of abortion, including Bill O’Reilly, the conservative commentator, sharply criticized the program as “glorifying” abortion. Jill Stanek, a popular anti-abortion blogger, inaccurately accused Exhale and other “pro-abortion ideologues” of underwriting the program.
Advocates of abortion rights, on the other hand, mostly viewed the program more neutrally and even suggested that it might help curb abortion by showing the difficult decisions involved.
The reaction to the program has frustrated some Exhale staff members who said they never wanted anything to do with politics — Ms. Baker described Exhale’s position on abortion as “pro-voice.” It has also raised questions about whether an organization that calls abortion a “normal part of reproductive life” can avoid being drawn into the political battle over abortion.....

If it is NOT a normal decision to women seeking to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, then what is it?  Deranged?  By whom's standard?  The Christian Conservatives (a policital faction in the USA)? 

The BIBLE standards according to Christians is NOT included the DSM IV.



 

 

The political influence of the Christian Conservatives is grossly out of balance in the USA.  The reason for that is the FEDERAL funding of special interests.  It is corrupt and should not be occurring.  Let's see how much the Repuglican House rolls that back to Pre-Bush levels.

Intimacy is a comfort.  For people with lower incomes and not much else but togtherness as a remedy to life it is a huge comfort.  It is allowed to be a comfort, a human comfort, under the laws of the USA.  Until the Christian Conservatives Political Faction comes up with a substitution for comfort in intimacy will there be NO abortions.  Sex happens, babies DON'T.
The privacy of the support netword, "Exhale," help isolated women resolve their turmoil and gives them support where no support groups exist or are necessarily desired.  I thank the people at "Exhale."

The EPA has made the right and best decision.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is making good on a 9-month-old threat and revoking a permit for West Virginia's largest mountaintop removal mine.
The agency said Thursday that Arch Coal's Spruce No. 1 mine in Logan County would cause irreparable damage to the environment.
The nearly 2,300-acre operation would bury 7 miles of streams. EPA says it would likely hurt downstream water quality.
Arch has argued killing the project would hurt West Virginia's economy and tax base.
The St. Louis-based coal company has planned to invest $250 million in the project, creating 250 jobs.
The mine was permitted in 2007 but has been delayed by lawsuits.
This is only the 13th time EPA has vetoed a water permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

When the EPA turns sumersaults to 'find a way' for an entire year, it needs to be called what it is.  The Logan Mine was a disaster waiting to happen and would have caused severe impairment of citizens' ability to live productive lives with longevity and good health.

Sludge dam near mountaintop removal coal mining site in

Logan County, West Virginia (Photo by Kent Kessinger courtesy

NO MORE !!!

We have had enough of lousy business practices that destroy lives and ultimately costs the American Taxpayer more money than the company could ever produce in the first place.

The proposed mine project would have:

• Buried more than six miles of high-quality streams in Logan County, West Virginia with millions of tons of mining waste from the dynamiting of more than 2,200 acres of mountains and forestlands.
• Buried more than 35,000 feet of high-quality streams under mining waste, eliminating all wildlife.
• Polluted downstream waters as a result of burying these streams, leading to unhealthy levels of salinity and toxic levels of selenium that turn fresh water into salty water. The resulting waste that then fills valleys and streams can significantly compromise water quality, often causing permanent damage to ecosystems and streams.
• Caused downstream watershed degradation that will kill wildlife, impact birdlife, reduce habitat value, and increase susceptibility to toxic algal blooms.
• Inadequately mitigated for the mine's environmental impacts by not replacing streams being buried, and attempting to use stormwater ditches as compensation for natural stream losses.

When it comes to long term costs to the state and federal governments these projects never, ever call up THAT DATA.  It is all short term gains without any consideration for what lies 'after the profit' runs out and it no longer makes enough money to continue to any environmental standard if any existed in the first place.  The population of the country isn't getting smaller, BUT, between lousy mining practices and hydraulic fracturing practices its clean water supply certainly is.

The House Repuglicans can have fund DEFUNDING the Superfund, right?  Let the local and state governments pick up the cost.  What the heck, why not?

Superfund Sites Where You Live (click here)

...The Kerr-McGee (Columbus) (click here) site in Mississippi, previously regulated under the state and federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) programs, could not be managed under RCRA authority following the potentially responsible party’s bankruptcy filing. As a result, the responsibility of the site transitioned to the Superfund Division. During the transition, a community engagement plan of action was immediately crafted for the site....

EPA vetoes water permit for W.Va. mountaintop mine  (click title to entry - thank you)

By VICKI SMITH

As I watch a flag being raised to comfort a family and a nation...

...I know that Nicholas Kristof is correct.  The gun industry has much to be desired.

...To protect the public, (click link to title - thank you) we regulate cars and toys, medicines and mutual funds. So, simply as a public health matter, shouldn’t we take steps to reduce the toll from our domestic arms industry?...

There is extremely poor quality control, especially in ammunition. 

I live in North Carolina most of the time.  It is my state of residence.  One might say I am no one to talk as I don't own a gun nor would I ever.  I don't shoot guns, nor would I ever.  However and much to my dismay I have friends and family that own and target shoot at local ranges.

There are different grades of ammunition that can be purchased to use in a weapon when arriving at the firing range.  The ammunition in nearly every trip to the range has disappointed someone in attendance.  There was one occassion whereby a nephew was with my son and his wife while practicing, so whatever it is they do.  The gun was lent to my nephew by a man at the range when they were having a conversation.  This was not an inexpensive weapon, but, one that anyone would want to own.  The ammunition was not cheap, but, after the second shot my nephew found he had smoke coming out of the side of the gun and his right cheek was splattered with a small amount of blood.  He was wearing protective googles and didn't have a splinter of any kind in his eye, but, he had a bruise and a cut that healed with some attendence of a bandage change and some ointment.

In another instance my daughter-in-law was firing her personal gun when she started to experience missed shots and found the bullets didn't fire correctly.  There was nothing wrong with the gun, but, with the ammunition purchased at the firing range.

There is no one I know that does not carry their own personal weapons to these firing ranges, so the guns are maintained and kept in good condtion.  Those blasted things are not cheap and neither is attending a firing range for an afternoon.

The point is the quality of the metal of bullet casings, the gun powder inside and the quality of the metal of the guns themselves REGARDLESS of their cost or their brand name is extremely CHEAP and dangerous and UNREGULATED.

In the case of the incident of my nephew, the owner was distressed more over the fact the gun literally blew up more so than the would my nephew sustained.  He was obsessed with taking pictures of the gun to file a complaint and a claim evidently.  The gun was relatively new and not an antique or otherwise. 

The gun industry is like the oil and gas industry, they are turned loose in the USA to do as they please with absolutely NO oversight and it is always the public that pays the price in one way or another.

The Southern Hemisphere caught in "Cliamte Crisis."

Cars sit in debris in Teresopolis, 65 kilometres north of Rio de Janeiro, on Wednesday. (Roberto Ferreira/Agencia O Dia/Associated Press)

Survivors of mudslides (click here) in mountain towns north of Rio de Janeiro recounted Thursday the horrors of watching homes swept away by walls of earth and water and of frantic efforts to dig with bare hands and reach trapped neighbours....

..."I don't even have the words to describe what I've seen," said Ramos, as she started on an eight-kilometre hike to the main part of her town, hoping to find food and water. "A lot of our friends are dead or missing. There are people we may never find."...

January 13, 2011

1219 GMT

Brazil Satellite

Janaury 13, 2011

1222 GMT

Western Hemisphere Satellite

And in Australia...

...They come seeking (click here) news of loved ones, appealing to their neighbours or friends for information, posting photos, and detailing their last known movements.
These are not official missing-person reports but two-line messages posted to sites such as Facebook and Twitter where the power of social networks is being harnessed to locate relatives and pets caught out by rising flood waters in Queensland....

The Australians and their government were worried about losing Brisbane completely.

Bligh urges caution after drain death

Queensland premier Anna Bligh warns residents of the dangers of floodwater after a 24-year-old man was swept to his death down a Brisbane drain....

I would not put a great deal of faith in the telecommuications network in the area.  The region maybe, but, the area where the floods exist should resort to 'tried and true' methods of emergency communications.  It isn't just software, it is hardware that is in need of repair.

Coastal and lowlands. 

.

A Telstra St George exchange sandbagged and wrapped in plastic

...Telecommunications networks (click here)  in Queensland are being hammered by the floods, with several exchanges offline and more outages expected as back-up batteries run out in power-affected areas.
Tens of thousands of people are without mobile, landline or internet access, despite telcos using helicopters, sandbags and plastic wrappings to protect their sites from water damage.
"We have a lot of damaged infrastructure but more importantly our biggest issue is access to power," a Telstra spokeswoman said....

 

Flood peaks in Brisbane

The flooded Brisbane River spills into residential areas close to the CBD. Photo: REUTERS/Tim Wimborne

BRISBANE

Latitude:  27.48 °S  

Longitude:  153.03 °E

Elevation:  38 m

..."Well over 100mm of rain  (click here) had already fallen around the lake since Friday, but yesterday an incredible further 249mm fell in just 24 hours. This wall of water is now being released by the dam and is heading towards Brisbane," says Mr Duncan.
A total of 370mm of rain has fallen in the area in just five days....

The average rainfall for Brisbane over a record from 1840 - 1994 is 159.6 mm.  (click here)

The mean for January is 159.6 mm and Brisbane received 370 mm in five days due to a deluge of water.  It stressed its infrastructure completely and challenged its dams.


China needs to pay attention.  The Three Gorges Dam has to be managed exceptionally well in this climate.

Brisbane not only had a ridiculously high amount of rainfall, it is completely unchararcteristic of the area in the last thirty years.  The mean in the last thirty years in Brisbane has been well below average.  Australia has been in drought conditions.

The Climate Crisis and fiscally challenged governments is not a good combination.

When meterologists glibbly state, "It is La Nina."  WITHOUT explaining the Climate Crisis dynamics along with it, they are dead wrong.

...But according to climate researcher David Karoly (click title to entry - thank you) from the University of Melbourne, the strong La Niña isn’t solely responsible for this year’s heavy Australian rainfall. The sea surface temperatures around Australia, rather than just its northeastern region, also contribute to the rains in Queensland, he says.

“What gives very heavy rainfall is high Indian Ocean temperatures and La Niña in the Pacific,” Karoly explains. “This year we have both of those, and both are at record highs.”...

There is nothing here, but, an angry young man loosening his associations while preparing an act of violence.

...He sang to himself in the library. (click title to entry - thank you) He spoke out of turn. And in an act the college finally decided merited his suspension, he made a bizarre posting on YouTube linking the college to genocide and the torture of students.
“This is my genocide school,” the narrator on the video said, describing the college as “one of the biggest scams in America.” “We are examining the torture of students,” the narrator said.
The documents offer vivid firsthand accounts of Mr. Loughner’s contacts with law enforcement officials in the months leading up to the shootings, and will inevitably be studied closely for answers to whether the college did everything it could have, and should have, with him....

Anti-social behavior, seemingly strange and unexplained behavior that is attention seeking and bold, confronting authorities, confronting police, etc.  The school is lucky he didn't cut loose in a classroom which is why there was a new committee set up.

He practiced with guns, he had at least one friend. 

Sorry.  He is not craxy.

...Many acquaintances and friends and fellow students at the college have talked about his outbursts and inappropriate behavior. The reports describe how Mr. Loughner behaved when confronted or questioned about his actions, and the images and perceptions that officers from the college’s Department of Public Safety recorded show a mixture of behaviors, by turns odd, belligerent or silent and removed, sometimes all in the same encounter....

He was a very disturbing individual.  Obviously.  If he could have been arrested I am confident the police would have done it.  He was smart, he knew how far to go.  He didn't want his plans messed up.  It sounds to me as though he was ready to die for his cause.   He was simply preparing to do so in the only way he knew how.  I couldn't be more sincere and I am not one that favors the death penalty either.

One other thing.  There is nothing at this point that says 'his will' was cast in iron.  He could have easily gone through a complete turn around and simply walked away with gross embarassment with his peers.  I am sure his friends were 'calling him' on his attitude and his behavior in hopes he would do exactly that. 

HE WASN'T A LEADER OF A PACK, either.

...At one point, Mr. Loughner said he had paid for his classes illegally, according to Mr. Conover, and when pressed he said, “I did not pay with gold and silver.” Mr. Conover said that throughout the meeting, “Jared held himself very rigidly and smiled overtly at inappropriate times.”...

That is an integrated part of the Right Wing value system.  DON'T TRUST THE COUNTRY'S CURRENCY.

...After an incident in February 2010 in which Mr. Loughner blurted out in a poetry class that dynamite ought to be attached to babies, a campus police officer wrote, “I suggested they keep an eye on him and call us if anything else developed that concerned them.”...

Ah, yes.  Where have I heard this before?

Poetry class.  Yep.

Thank you, Tucson for showing us the way. A city of remarkable people.

The Tucson newspaper, "The Citizen" is providing coverage of the events surrounding this tragedy. 

They would like people to bookmark the page and refer to it for updates and news to follow the progress of their community and news of the survivors.

The bookmark might have been just for this evening, but, I am sure The Tucson Citizen will be reporting on updates about events and progress.  They seem like a well engaged eommunity.  It makes sense to check in from time to time.

...So bookmark this page (click title to entry - thank you) and return here frequently for the latest on this historic night honoring the dead, the injured and the spirit of community that is enveloping Tucson.

The President needs to propose a bill, maybe in his State of the Union Address, named after the Christina Green or Tucson or the victims.  There needs to be a gun bill to make this outrageous act of violence.

The House Repuglicans aren't interested in having any more deaths of Democratic US Congresswomen from guns ended

As a matter of fact, the House Repuglicans won't be looking to change a thing.

...Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.), (click title to entry - thank you) chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said Tuesday that he'd introduce a new bill that bars anyone from carrying a gun within 1,000 feet of a federal official.
He believes the legislation could have prevented the Jan. 8 Arizona shootings that killed six and injured more than a dozen people, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).
Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for Rep. Cantor told the Daily News majority leader is against the proposed legislation.
"The proposal wouldn't have prevented this tragedy, or other mentally unstable individuals or criminals from committing horrific acts," said Dayspring.
Boehner's spokesman, Michael Steel, told The Hill that the speaker, too, was against the measure....

Representative King's bill would have an effect, BUT, it requires security personnel to be in attendance at every rally where elected government representatives appeared.  If there isn't ENFORCEMENT 'on site' it isn't going to mean much.

So, the 'idea' of small government and reducing essential services to people including police and firemen isn't important to House Repuglicans.  I doubt anyone in the Senate Republican chambers care about the topic much either.

The House wants to get on with its political agenda of bashing President Obama and all the other mess they value.  Don't expect 'reason' to come out of anything the House does.  It won't happen.  Not this year or next. 

"Reload"

Sharon Angle!

There are times when words convey a message that is understood without explicit directions.  Those words, "Relaod" and Angel's calling for the Second Amendment to take meaning falls just short of calling for assassination and violence.  Or does it?

According to David Frum, a man I usually regard as important with important things to say stated, the gunman was dillusional and saw things.  If that were the case then the government would have no case and there would NOT be charges of ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION.  I mean for real here, whom was the gunman shooting the Devil and his fellow devils?  The gunman knew exactly whom his target was and why.

Hannity is screaming the Pima County Sheriff is nothing but corrupt and covert and political for NOT releasing records.  Could it be that the prosecution is concerned about having too much 'case information' in the media and ruining a chance at a good jury pool?  Does Hannity want the gunman to walk free before the jury even is picked or convenes?  How convenient he can call it corruption when it is nothing but good practice.

The Right Wing Pundits have a lot of problems and I suggest they wok on it.

Let's make this real clear, there wouldn't even be a trial if the gunman was certifible and considered insane.  There are REAL LIFE charges against him, try to get your minds around it and WHY !

The guy wasn't 'certified' and there is a reason for it.

His lifestyle choices allowed him to plan the assassination, carry it out and formulate a priority for anyone surrounding his primary target.

There are schizoid and schizo-affective disorders that would benefit from medication but aren't certifiable.

He is not an atheist either.  Atheism is very different than believing in NOTHING.

He was a killer by choice with a mission for his priorities and he did it without supervision. 

He acted in a manner he felt was necessary for reasons that are dominated by the 'tone' of the country.  If this guy 'get off' on 'sanity' charges it will be a miscarriage of justice.  Anyone that can be autonomous in acting to kill isn't insane regardless of how dysfunctional they may be.

He attended classes, kept a schedule and knew that guns destroyed life.  He understood what he was doing.

Okay, nobody is going to like this entry. Too bad.

The text is from the New York Times.

...The account by Mr. Loughner’s friend, a rare extended interview with someone close to Mr. Loughner in recent years, added some details to the emerging portrait of the suspect and his family.
“He was a nihilist and loves causing chaos, and that is probably why he did the shooting, along with the fact he was sick in the head,” said Zane Gutierrez, 21, who was living in a trailer outside Tucson and met Mr. Loughner sometimes to shoot at cans for target practice....

...Mr. Gutierrez said his friend had become obsessed with the meaning of dreams and their importance. He talked about reading Friedrich Nietzsche’s book “The Will To Power” and embraced ideas about the corrosive, destructive effects of nihilism — a belief in nothing....

Believing in NOTHING is what allows the belief in ANYTHING.

It is why science has no meaning to people that find it 'inconvenient' to their profit margins.  There is APPLICATION of Nihilism in real life and it is practiced in a way that DEPERSONALIZES values structures to allow the intrusion of the 'unprovable' but 'plausible.

Example:  Birthers, 911 Truthers, Self Righteous, etc.

It is where myth lives and deception by and of the desperate PROVIDES a venue to escape the values of a 'Mainstream' society. 

After a sincere tragedy to a society that occurred in 2008, which is exampled in the Great Depression, people are desperate to 'gain control' and they grasp at any plausible reason to achieve 'an end.'  Complete demoralization of Americans occur when they are placed in poverty after achieving promised goals by a society.  ANY method of belief that will bring them out of their poverty 'state' or any method of belief that they BELIEVE will bring them BACK their promises will take hold.

Demoralizing a segment of a nation of people that have not only 'lost' their 'power' but also believe they are the only 'real answer' to their own promises will result in all kinds of mess in 'belief systems' JUSTIFIED by believing in the supernatural or God while achieving a 'spiritual reformation' of those that surround them.

In other words, the spirituality of 'the new truth' will provide the moral content to bring about a shift in values on 'human levels' while providing the 'psyche' the needed relief in believing it is 'wholesome' and 'good.'

If science challenges and disproves the belief system that provides the 'new venue' of 'power' it will be dismissed as inaccurate and hideous.  Experts that 'believe' in 'the new profit' of the 'new paradigm' will 'find' enough evidence to provide a basis of 'faux realtiy.'

There is only one 'main stream' party in Washington, DC that embraces those that are de-ranged to the American Social Fabric and they had to approach and agree with Nihilism to achieve their majority in the House.   They know it "W"rong and they continue down that path anyway.   Why?

Loughner is a PRODUCT of the society he lived in whereby violence and death is the ultimate solution to removing social fabric to a NEW PARADIGM of belief that will 'bring back' comfort.  This extremism was going to happen when a political tone in the USA demanded it. 

The fact he obtained weapons and used them should be no surprise to LIMITED government and less regulation.  Governments across the USA, either local or state or federal are all stressed beyond their capacity and this IS the result.  Government is vital to a civilized society and without it people LIVE BY THE GUN.  Who's philosophy is that and why is HALF of the USA opposed to it?

A major media enterprise with global reach embrassed Nihilism and did it for POLITICAL PROFITS.  The ODDS were this would occur and would escalate if EXPLAINED AWAY 'as a nut case.'  He is not an isolated incident and nobody from my side of the street believes it is.

What seemed like insanity is very, very EXPLAINABLE.