The MV Alaed doesn't have its paperwork in place to proceed.

The MV Alaed had its insurance withdrawn (click here) by The Standard Club in London while it was about 50 miles (80.4km) off Scotland's north coast.

The insurer said it had sought more information on the boat's cargo.

Withdrawal of insurance prevents the MV Alaed from sailing until its owner can secure new cover.

It is thought that the vessel has stopped off the Western Isles.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said it was unclear where the vessel would now go.

The Russian embassy in London has not yet commented.

The UK and US have raised concerns with Russia about shipments of weapons to Syria, which is subject to a European Union arms embargo....

29.11.2011

The fleet of FEMCO has been completed with m/v ALAED (click here)

FEMCO is a private shipping company. It may be the Russian government does not have direct involvement in the shipment to Syria. That might be some of the issue here. The shipping paperwork specifying the cargo and its owner is in question. Possibly a problem with ownership of FEMCO, too. Hm. Very confusing. Ship owners are suppose to have their act together. This is very upsetting to realize the ship was underway without proper credentials to a place where people are under attack from their government. Very curious. I wonder if the Brits are going to board that darn thing.

The termination of management agreement between Owner and United Nordic Shippin A/S -18.06.2012 (click here)

As per mutual consent by the parties, the Management Agreement between the Owner and United Nordic Shippin A/S for provision of commercial man...

FEMCO does servicing to oil rigs in Vietnam? Seriously? There is oil offshore Vietnam? If Vietnam has income from oil why are the people so impoverished? What the heck is this all about anyway?

Well, isn't FEMCO just all over the place, huh?

...towage of tanker "Shiraz" by AHTS "Neftegas-61" from Karimun Island to the port Aliaga (Turkey) (click here)

Turkey? Turkey has offshore oil?

Shiraz is a refinery. What bothers me about this is the fact they are getting through a pipeline. Turkey is always having a fit over the Kurds in Northern Iraq. This refinery has been in existence from 1970. 

Shiraz Refinery (click here)

In order to prepare the need of oil products in our country, Shiraz refinery was established in 1970 by “M.O.P” and “Snam Projetti “companies, with the capacity of 40.000 barrels a day, and was used in 1973.
The feed of crude oil of this refinery which is based on oil, one of the heavy oil, is provided by a 10” pipe line with the length of 230 km from the oil resources of Gachsaran.
During the war, there were numbers of changes to optimize the producing methods and increasing the products. Designing, making,  installing and operation of blown bitumen unit and producing the battery bitumen for the first time in Iran are some of them.
Shiraz refinery products are normal gasoline, super gasoline, jet fuel, jet oil, Kerosene, gas oil, bitumen 60/70, 90/15, bitumen MC 250, fuel oil, sulphur, 402 dissolver and 404 solvants.


Bitumen? That's coal, isn't it?


Shiraz bitumen plant
Bitumen producing unit was designed and installed in 1984 by Iranian specialists. This unit is designed for producing 1250 barrels of bitumen 90/15 a day or 2500 barrels of bitumen 60/70 a day, besides bitumen MC 250 is also produced.


That's tar. They have oil brought in by tanker to process the lousy stuff. Hm. I suppose it is easier to have the oil come from northern Iraq than by ship. Iran is involved with the bitumen plant. Indeed.


The 'connectness' is interesting. Here a company, FEMCO, specializing in offshore oil rig servicing also obtains ships that transport sensitive munitions into the Middle East. I am a little surprised Israel would not have intelligence on this mess.


It is just amazing what human beings find for uses of carbon. 


Enough of that, who owns the helicopters? If FEMCO is doing oil work 'at sea' how much of their cargo in the past has been munitions? It gives them great cover. I am quite sure President Putin would like to know as much about this as well. What really bothers me is that Vietnam has been screaming about offshore rights being dominated by China. I don't like any of this. It seems to me there needs to be an investigation into this companies activities globally before they start a nuclear event.

I'll be at my destination by late this evening.

Thought I'd stop in Ohio along the way.

Romney already stated he would repeal the Executive Order by President Obama.

Was I the only one listening besides the journalist and camera person?  He was standing outside the bus nearly immediately after the announcement by President Obama. Romney stated, "...as President on Inauguration Day I could repeal the Obama Order."


Romney is hoping Rubio would carry Florida and the Hispanic Vote, he is now back peddling on his initial response after the President's announcement, which was interrupted, yet again, by a Right Wing nut case. President Obama has far better demeanor than I would if I were interrupted in making safe a path to Dream Act Hispanic Americans.


Rubio is an Obamawannabe. He came to the Senate and now wrote a book. I suppose he is in a hurry, but, he still isn't ready to be President. He is a choice as the GOP always tries to attract younger voters and now ethnic voters by consuming their young. They did it with Quail, Palin and now Rubio is the next pick to have a 'go nowhere career' to support the coattails of a old, white guy. The 2000 elections was a switch in place of the old white guy when Cheney appointed himself Veep. In 2000 Bush was the young man running against the then current Vice President Gore. Bush won the 2000 election illegitimately anyway with voter purging as seen in the year 2012.


...Florida's junior senator — (click here) 41 years old, the fastest-rising Hispanic political star in American politics and a contender to be Mitt Romney's running mate — is a man in a hurry.


His memoirs, titled An American Son, are being published Tuesday (Sentinel, $26.95). Since winning a Senate seat two years ago in a Tea Party-fueled upset, he has made official trips to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya and elsewhere, not to mention a visit to Guantanamo Bay that included his first steps on his family's native island of Cuba. President Obama on Friday essentially adopted Rubio's policy compromise to allow young people brought illegally to the United States as children to gain legal status, putting him smack in the center of one of the year's most contentious issues....


The feature article in USA Today is characterizing Rubio as a nice family man. I am sure he is, but, then so is President Obama he simply doesn't exploit that image to promote himself as qualified for the Presidency of the USA.


I wonder if Rubio's book covers the fact that Politico discovered.


Marco Rubio bio reveals he almost quit race (click here)

...Rubio allegedly “suspected that Crist’s campaign found out about the plans and was pressuring him out before he was ready to make the announcement. It angered him into staying in.”

“I crossed the bridge and burned it behind me. There was no way back and no way out but forward,” the senator wrote.

The book also reveals that Rubio almost lost his son Dominick during the campaign. According to the AP, then-candidate Rubio was making calls to donors one afternoon when he hung up and checked on his toddler. Rubio found Dominick face down in a shallow pool and pulled him out of the water....

So, let me get this right, if Rubio includes this description in his book. I betcha he doesn't. He didn't want to be a Palin and not complete an elected office and wasn't going to leave the security of his Florida Senate Seat, but, anger changed his mind. Really? So, the decision to run for US Senate was based in anger? That is not a reason to run for office. The USA Senate is not simply a status symbol, it is a responsibility prepared for by knowing how to IMPROVE the lives of Americans. Quite frankly, the Tea Party hasn't improved any American lives, yet, especially women.


The long term solution for Immigration to the USA, including current illegals has been on the books for TEN YEARS before President Obama excavated from committee. Romney, even with this issue is a RETURN TO THE OLD METHODOLOGIES, that don't work.

Here we go again with Romney flip-flops. Which way does the wind blow?

...Romney has, in the past, (click here) explicitly called for keeping the tax benefit in place. But this election cycle, even when asked directly, the candidate has not clearly articulated a position.

Campaign staffers have added to confusion over the candidate's position, occasionally suggesting that Romney would, once elected, consider rolling back the tax break. At other times, the campaign has walked those suggestions back.

The tax treatment of carried interest, an obscure compensation method used primarily in high-stakes finance, has long been a hot topic in Washington and on Wall Street....

Carried interest sparks bipartisan tax debate (click here)

By Mark Schoeff Jr.

January 22, 2012 6:01 am ET

When millionaire GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney last week estimated his federal tax rate at 15%, he drew howls of criticism from both Republicans and Democrats, and put a controversial tax treatment for private-equity returns back on the front burner in Congress...

Below is a PDF from American Action Forum regarding Carried Interest. The American Action Forum is a right wing think tank (if there is actually such a thing) that wants to REFORM government. That always gets me, the Right Wing claims to be more patriot than any other citizen in the country, YET, they always want these board sweeping REFORMS of the USA government. This is the year 2012, the population in the USA is over 300 million and the idea government can be small when the country isn't is complete stupidity.

Executive Summary
Congress is considering proposals to increase the taxation of “carried interest” (click here) - an integral feature of the financial arrangements of partnerships. Taxing carried interest is not a matter of fairness or closing loopholes. Increasing taxes on carried interest would constitute a potentially large tax increase on partnerships – especially in finance, insurance, and real estate – both in dollar terms and relative to the income generation of the affected partners.  The specter of these tax implications will spawn reactions ranging from legal restructuring to crowding out valuable real economic transactions that are not 
sufficiently profitable to carry the additional burden.  Perhaps most damaging, the higher taxes on carried interest will re-allocate managerial talent, as the entrepreneurially-inclined are deterred by these higher taxes and seek their outlets elsewhere in the economy. The proposed tax treatment is inconsistent with basic principles of tax policy...


In no definition or explanation or tax code will anyone see the word THEFT. That is what Carried Interest is and it should be criminalized. NOT Thrift, Theft!

Definition of 'Carried Interest' (click here)

A share of any profits that the general partners of private equity and hedge funds receive as compensation, despite not contributing any initial funds. This method of compensation seeks to motivate the general partner (fund manager) to work toward improving the fund's performance....

Sounds like a plan, I think I like it, so long as assaulting citizen's rights are not part of THE PEACE PLAN.

This is the Middle East. A well crafted government to stabilize Egypt is a good idea. The Presidency in any free election is not a dictatorship. The only reservation I have about this  is the fact authority can be split and Egypt will end up with another Pakistan ISI.


CAIRO — Egyptian news organizations (click here) declared Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood the winner of the country’s first competitive presidential race on Monday just hours after the ruling military council issued an interim constitution granting itself broad power over the future government, all but eliminating the president’s authority in an apparent effort to guard against just such a victory....

Have her vitamin and mineral levels been tested recently.

Aimee Copeland suffers worst pain of entire ordeal (click here)

MONDAY JUNE 18, 2012, 6:06 AM

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA (AP) — The father of a Georgia woman battling a flesh-destroying disease says his daughter has been suffering the worst pain of her entire ordeal.
Andy Copeland says his daughter, Aimee, sometimes cries from the pain but stops because crying hurts her stomach.
She had resisted taking pain medications in recent days.
Andy Copeland said in a Father's Day post on his blog that she's now taking morphine and other medications, but they aren't enough to block severe pain, which has now spread beyond painful amputation sites...


Aimee is showing a very strong will to live on her own terms in refusing medication for pain. There could be several reasons for pain including her stomach including stress and recovery from shock. She could also be suffering from some malnutrition, especially water soluble vitamins. The one I have in mind is Vitamin D which if depleted could cause severe pain. Vitamin D is received from exposure to sunshine or replacement vitamins. Aimee has been hospitalized for some time now and I am wondering about her nutritional status in regard to vitamins and minerals, especially Vitamin D for systemic pain. Dr. Gupta of CNN may have some thoughts on this as well. Dr. Gupta is a neurosurgeon and Aimee is having neurological pain. My only thought is that the pain might be compounded by nutritional deficiencies and stress.

"Can we all just get along?"

Those words may have followed Rodney King all his life in ways it was never intended.  

...The officers attempted CPR, (click here) which was continued when paramedics arrived, he said. King was taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton where he was pronounced dead at 6:11 a.m., he said.

Next-door neighbor Sandra Gardea, 31, said she heard commotion in King's backyard early Sunday morning. Gardea said about 3 or 3:30 a.m. she heard someone sobbing.

“It just sounded like someone was really sad,” she said. “There was a lot of moaning and crying. Another person was trying to console that person.”...

King became a symbol for police brutality and the trou

I'll be traveling today.

I"ll check in later.

The Union Avoidance Industry is a draconian industry acting to remove quality of life to Americans.

Below is an abstract from a British Journal from 2006. It explores the tactics used against the citizen's right to quality of life as described by their own social standard.


The Union Avoidance Industry has created seeking wealth a spectator sport.


The workers in the USA have to have the idea that once they go to work they expect to continue to improve their circumstances as time and expertise accumulates. I would never expect a worker in the USA to expect an economic depression to cause them hardship for the rest of their lives, which, is exactly what Republican lead states expect of their people.


"Times have changed, you know."


The Union Avoidance Phenomena running wild in Republican lead states is designed to not only stop unions for whatever reason it does, but, to remove quality of life from Americans. Today, Americans work harder, longer hours and more jobs for less pay, benefits and quality of life. The dream of improving their children's lives is vanishing.


Have a better day.



British Journal of Industrial Relations
44:4 December 2006 0007–1080 pp. 651–675
Abstract


This paper analyses the development of the union avoidance industry in the
United States during the past half-century. Focusing on one leading example
from each group, it examines the activities of the four main actors that constitute
that industry: consultants, law firms, industry psychologists and strike management
firms. Although these firms have experienced a fall in business as unions
have declined in strength and numbers — a development that the union avoidance
industry has contributed to — they continue to play an important role in
the US system of industrial relations. Over three-quarters of employers hire
consultants when confronted by organizing campaigns, and large union avoidance
firms are increasingly seeking export markets for their expertise.

When was the last time the "poverty line" was adjusted for inflation?

In 1989 there was a report by the Census Bureau stating the highest poverty rates in the nation was The South. 


Mississippi was 25.2 percent. (click here for the report)
Louisiana was 23.6 percent.


The Republicans hold power in the South that was only recently challenged and when economic recovery didn't happen in two years they voted for Republican majorities and nothing got better in two more years.


The poverty level in the year 2012 is described by multiples of the current dollar amounts. A table from "COVERAGEforALL.org" (click here) describes the way poverty is documented to allow a reasonable understanding of poverty level(s) in the USA in the year 2012.


The point is poverty in the USA has never been realized from a perspective of 'real impact' on citizen's lives. The poverty line is a number that basically never changes. If the poverty line of 1970 was adjusted for inflation nearly 30% of the citizens in the USA would be under it currently. It could even be a full third.


It is convenient for those in politics to discuss the poverty line and the people under that standard if it never changes as a standard, but, the reality of quality of life in the USA relies on more than a single standard set decades ago.


In the elections of 2012 one has to consider not simply what is occurring in the USA as far as economic recovery, but, the longevity in some states and entire regions of the country sometimes; how long poverty; profound poverty has been a standard that is literally a huge drag on the recovery. 


The USA South is definitely a standard of proof that long term poverty is easy to enforce through social mores while the wealth remains in the hands of a few. It is that standard the Republicans seek to emulate throughout the country.


The country has to look at where the social poverty standard is taking hold as well as where it is not and realize there are indoctrination of populous that are very difficult to change once survival is sought rather than comfort. Survival is fear.


This election is more important than anyone realizes. The Middle Class in most instances has been under assault for a long time and in some places accept the fact there is little available to change their lives.


I believe what is being witnessed to some extent in the country is complacency. A complacency that is a long term reality of The USA South. If impoverishment is accepted and there is a standard for that in the social understanding of survival, then to voters would it not be better to maintain the status quo to survive than to thrive. 


In 2012 the USA faces making a choice to maintain the status quo of impoverishing the Middle Class through complacency of survival then ever before. The realization the wealthy in the USA are opting to purchase the elections 2012 only validates that reality more and more.


The people of the USA South see it this way, "I am good at being poor." The economic upheaval in a citizen's life can happen quickly because there is no buffer to prevent discrimination to presence in the work place. A person can be fired from their job for basically no reason at all and the unemployment offices understand that. The unemployment offices in The South hold a different measure of eligibility to that reality. The State's unemployment offices realize the lifeline they provide to people willing and able to work but unable to because of some harsh decision make somewhere against them.


There is a broader picture and I believe President Obama articulates it exceptionally well, but, the 'mind speak' in the media is ignoring the very essence of the country's quality of life right before their eyes.


"The Right to Work Standard" and the "Right to Work Standard For Less" is playing on the fear that incorporates poverty as a way of life for Americans. Those standards should be criminalized, quite frankly.


Have a better day.

Before there was mass killings in Rwanda, the UN Observers and Peacekeepers left the country.

They really had no choice, they were going to die if they stayed. Before Bush invaded Iraq, the UN inspectors left the country. They would have been killed as well. 


The violence is notching up in Syria in what might be a complete failure of government of the Assad regime.


According to RIA Novosti, it would appear Russia is serious about filling in the power vacuum in Syria. 

MOSCOW, June 16 (RIA Novosti)

The U.N. observers in Syria suspended on Saturday their mission (click here) “until further notice” because of the intensifying violence, Al Jazeera reported, citing the statement by General Robert Mood, the head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Syria.

"There has been an intensification of armed violence across Syria over the past 10 days," Mood said in the statement, adding that the current situation in the country was “posing significant risks to the observers.”

A group of almost 300 UN military observers and 112 civilian staff were sent to Syria in late April to monitor the implementation of the six-point peace plan brokered by the UN and Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan.

"The lack of willingness by the parties to seek a peaceful transition, and the push towards advancing military positions is increasing the losses on both sides: innocent civilians, men women and children are being killed every day,” Al Jazeera cited Mood’s statement....

It was Russia that stopped the killing in 2008 in South Ossetia. It was Russian peacekeepers standing on the border that first realized the attacks into the region by Georgia. It is Russia today standing with South Ossetia and Abkhazia to prevent further aggression against this area. 

The West often demonizes Russia as if it was losing its sovereignty with every movement of Russia authority in any region of the world, but, people are alive today in South Ossetia and Abkhazia when the West wasn't prepared to act at all. George W. Bush was still in office at that time and Condi Rice was Secretary of State. She is suppose to be an expert on Russia. Hm. The West failed those people with over a thousand people dead. Today, they are alive and attempting to support their own culture and hold their boundaries. I don't blame them. And it didn't take the USA occupation of a decade to achieve it.

VOA News

June 15, 2012

The head of the U.N. observer force in Syria (click here) has accused both rebels and government troops of stoking violence in the country, a charge that comes as Russia hardens its position against Western pressure to topple embattled President Bashar al-Assad....

The circumstances in Syria are not very different than when Georgia turned their guns on the people of South Ossetia. There are people dying and unable to arm themselves against the tanks and weaponry of others, no matter whom the others are.

...Russia denies post-Assad planning
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied his government is discussing plans for a political transformation in Syria. He said Russia does "not get involved in overthrowing regimes - neither through approval of unilateral actions by the U.N. Security Council nor by participation in any political plots."

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland suggested Thursday Washington and Moscow were discussing a post-Assad strategy for Syria.

In an interview on French radio, France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said discussions among U.S., French and Russian officials -- along with international mediator Kofi Annan -- are underway to prepare for a Syria without its current leader.

Russia, along with China, has vetoed two U.N. Security Council resolutions against Assad and has vowed to oppose any military intervention....

Russia has the ability to end this even if it means having Russia troops on the ground. I would imagine in a short period of time the Russians will stabilize the situation, the killing of innocent people will stop, there won't be anymore death squads and the UN with peacekeepers and observers might even return. 

For decades, Assad has terrorized the region and always pointed to Lebanon as the problem. We know different today. The killing has to end and the global community has tried everything else without success. All parties killing each other according to the reports of the UN Observers as they exit the country are having a field day. 

If Russia can be successful and I've never known Russia to be unsuccessful in ending internal struggles in a country, then it will be better than what is occurring today. I suggest the global community realize the choices in regard to Syria are very limited and it is time for a concentrated effort to begin. I don't see why Russian generals should not be in charge of Russian troops or Russian intelligence. I hope all goes well and there will be a ceasefire soon that will hold.

Title IV continued...

You have to know if the American Jobs Act was passed when it was first written there would not be an increase in home foreclosures now. More people would have transitioned differently and/or found work so they would still be owning their homes.

Subtitle C – Pathways Back to Work
Sec. 361. Short Title


This subtitle may be cited as the “Pathways Back to Work Act of 2011”.


Sec. 362. Establishment of Pathways Back To Work Fund



(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the Treasury of the United States a fund which shall be known as the Pathways Back to Work Fund (hereafter in this Act referred to as “the Fund”.)
(b) DEPOSITS INTO THE FUND. —Out of any amounts in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated $5,000,000,000 for payment to the Fund to be used by the Secretary of Labor to carry out this Act.



Sec. 363. Availability of Funds
Sec. 364. Subsidized Employment for Unemployed, Low-Income Adults



(a) IN GENERAL.—
(1) ALLOTMENTS.—From the funds available under section 363(a)(1), the Secretary of Labor shall make an allotment under subsection (b) to each State that has a State plan approved under subsection (c) and to each outlying area and Native American grantee under section 166 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 that meets the requirements of this section, for the purpose of providing subsidized employment opportunities to unemployed, low-income adults.


Sec. 365. Summer Employment and Year-Round Employment Opportunities For Low-Income Youth


(a) IN GENERAL.—From the funds available under section 363(a)(2), the Secretary of Labor shall make an allotment under subsection (c) to each State that has a State plan modification (or other form of request for funds specified in guidance under subsection (b)) approved under subsection (d) and to each outlying area and Native American grantee under section 166 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 that meets the requirements of this section, for the purpose of providing summer employment and year-round employment opportunities to low-income youth.


Sec. 366. Work-Based Employment Strategies of Demonstrated Effectiveness



(1) on-the-job training, registered apprenticeship programs, or other programs that combine work with skills development;
(2) sector-based training programs that have been designed to meet the specific requirements of an employer or group of employers in that sector and where employers are committed to hiring individuals upon successful completion of the training;
(3) training that supports an industry sector or an employer-based or labor-management committee industry partnership which includes a significant work-experience component;
(4) acquisition of industry-recognized credentials in a field identified by the State or local workforce investment area as a growth sector or demand industry in which there are likely to be significant job opportunities in the short-term;
(5) connections to immediate work opportunities, including subsidized employment opportunities, or summer employment opportunities for youth, that includes concurrent skills training and other supports.
(6) career academies that provide students with the academic preparation and training, including paid internships and concurrent enrollment in community colleges or other postsecondary institutions, needed to pursue a career pathway that leads to postsecondary credentials and high-demand jobs; and
(7) adult basic education and integrated basic education and training models for low-skilled adults, hosted at community colleges or at other sites, to prepare individuals for jobs that are in demand in a local area.



Sec. 367. General Requirements


Sec. 368. Definitions



(A) AREA OF SUBSTANTIAL UNEMPLOYMENT.—The term “area of substantial unemployment” means any contiguous area with a population of at least 10,000 and that has an average rate of unemployment of at least 6.5 percent for the most recent 12 months, as determined by the Secretary.
(B) DISADVANTAGED ADULTS AND YOUTH.—The term “disadvantaged adults and youth” means an individual who is age 16 and older (subject to section 132(b)(1) (B)(v)(I) of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998) who received an income, or is a member of a family that received a total family income, that, in relation to family size, does not exceed the higher of—
(i) the poverty line; or
(ii) 70 percent of the lower living standard income level.


Not much to describe in this section, it is fairly self explanatory. This section was written to fill in all the gaps left by the rest of the bill. It also included summer employment. So when the Right Wing complains about how foreclosures have gone up or how there aren't enough summer youth jobs; this is why! They never passed the bill. Republicans never took the long view and how it would hinder more economic deterioration, close down product demand and all the stuff necessary for a recovering economy. This was not an empty bill the way others want to describe it. Quite the contrary, it was paid for, didn't add a dime to the budget or national debt and would have secured economic growth. Unless, of course, your primary purpose was to defeat Obama in 2012 and make him a one term President. Then if that was the priority, the country and its well being simply was abandoned for political purposes. Why is it the President is supposedly playing politics all the time while the Republicans never seem to by the media? Hm? Odd, isn't it?


TITLE IV -- OFFSETS


Title IV is how the bill was to be paid for. Until tomorrow.



continued...

George W. Bush on Illigal Immigration - Either he is correct of incorrect.

...I propose a new temporary-worker (click here) program to match willing foreign workers with willing employers when no Americans can be found to fill the job....


For all the Right Wingers using irrational thinking to argue Mexicans are taking their jobs.


So, was "W" correct or incorrect?

According to CNN today, the Gay sales market for a store like JC Penny is about 3.5%.

Why then include diversity in their advertising for Father's Day. 


Because diversity is necessary in the country to bring about equity we all value. 


The Gay market is not the only market that will act positively toward theses ads. Those with gay friends and family will welcome the open welcome of the gay community at J. C. Penney. Those that want to see change in the USA of the intolerance of two people of the same gender loving each other will find it refreshing.  I think JC Penney did the right thing for their store and for the country.


By  Tim Feran

The Columbus Dispatch Friday June 15, 2012 5:30 AM

...“Retailers, particularly fashion retailers, (click here) always like to be ahead of the curve,” said local retail analyst Chris Boring of Boulevard Strategies. “In 2012, supporting gay rights and accepting gays is pretty mainstream.” 

In one high-profile move, J.C. Penney is running an ad for Father’s Day featuring a gay Texas couple and their two children. A month ago, the retailer had an ad for Mother’s Day showing a lesbian couple with their children. The iconic retailer also has tapped openly gay comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres as a company spokeswoman. 

Macy’s, meanwhile, is marking June, Gay Pride month, with special in-store events, special merchandise and active support of parades around the country. 

They join a who’s who of other big-name retailers — including Limited Brands, Abercrombie & Fitch and Target — sponsoring local Gay Pride parades and touting their companies as gay-friendly....

President Obama took the right, best and moral measure he could for the young people that call the USA home.

These young people put their lives on the line to win the Dream Act to continue to be the citizen of this country they hope will someday be theirs as a citizen. They were then shunned and scared after the Dream Act was not passed in Congress. It was wrong to stop the Dream Act. I thank President Obama for his dedication to doing the right thing for our country. We educated them and they belong in this country carrying out the expertise that is now theirs.

Dream Act advocate: 'This means I can be normal' (click here)

June 15, 2012 |  9:52 am

It was early Friday morning, and UCLA graduate Maria Gomez had only heard some of the news -- something about President Obama granting immunity to young illegal immigrants like herself -- when the congratulatory text messages began flying in.

She would be able to apply for a work permit, and a driver's license, according to texts from her friends. Although Obama is paving the way for work permits, obtaining driver's licenses are a matter of state law and unaffected by his announcement.

For Gomez, these little privileges mean so much....

They may have been born here or brought here as children, but, they accepted the USA as their home and lived as legal a life as they could. They obeyed the law, went to school, some even worked along side their parents in the fields, but, they belong to us.


For those of the Right Wing upset over the fact there are young people protected from deportation, then they need to have their legislators do something about it. They need to have their Congressmen pass legislation that states otherwise. If they can't and won't do the right thing, then they have no complaints.

Rush Limbaugh states President Obama is up against the ropes.

He states the Obama for President campaign is selling tickets at $3.00 a piece for a dinner with the Prez and the Mrs. Rush also stated during the dinner the President spoke at last night, "It was up to everyone in attendance to set the agenda for decades to come this November."


It is up to all of us to set the agenda for the country come November, so the people last night were included. I don't see that as a threat at all.


But, in Rush's honor as I am sure he doesn't want President Obama up against the ropes as the first incumbent President in history to actually have less in his campaign coffers than his opponent, I am making a donation to "Obama for President." I am making that donation right now and it is in the multiples of $3.00.

Trawling Ban Grants Belize a Nomination for Award

International award celebrates solutions to save oceans and coasts - (click here)  Hamburg/Montreal/Washington D.C./Rome, 6 June 2012: Belize is on the list of nominees for this year's Future Policy Award. It has been nominated for its Statutory Instrument Banning Trawling in Territorial Waters (2011). The Future Policy Award celebrates policies that create better living conditions for current and future generations. It is granted by the World Future Council, an international policy research organization that provides decision makers with effective policy solutions....


They take themselves seriously.


6th Meeting of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism to be held in The Bahamas‏ (click here)Jun 14, 2012 - 12:03:33 PM


...More specifically, they will be touching on matters such as illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, developments in international law, and the establishment of an aquaculture working group. Another item of interest is the CARICOM/Spain diagnostic study to determine poverty levels in 10 CARICOM fishing communities. Ministers will also discuss proposals for the development of a regional strategy to tackle the lionfish invasion in the Caribbean, as well as disaster risk management and climate change....

President Obama's Ohio speech was thorough.

What you see is what you get. He did what he always does, he puts forward the facts, sets priorities based in reality and maps out the path forward. 


I thought it was a great speech. It was not a stump speech if that was what everyone was looking for, and it may be there was so much enthusiasm at the rally he believed they deserved to hear it like it is and how it is going to be.


I liked it, enjoyed it and I believe in him. No doubt, no worry, we have a clear path forward to bring continued change to this country in education, energy, employment opportunity and economic growth. What does anyone want? 

Nothing new in Romney's Ohio Speech.

Same old rhetoric with no ideas. He is relying on exploitation of the USA's natural resources without regulation. 


The facts are plain, President Obama was able to place priorities on the coal industry and mountain top mining is prohibited where mine shafts can serve the same purpose. Regulating the coal industry to stop the raping of our forests, pollution of our air and water has put miners back to work. It isn't possible to remove coal with environmental responsible methods with earth movers, large backhoes and trucks the size of buildings. But, coal extraction is possible with skilled labor, safe conditions and good pay. President Obama did that. He put miners back to work, saved the air and water from pollution and safeguarded forests important to the people of West Virginia and the Appalachians. Romney will again remove the regulations, cause layoffs and again provide profiteering as the real way to make a living in the coal industry.


There is nothing new. Romney has no ideas. He has rhetoric and the exploitation of natural resources already depleted for future generations. We have alternatives and we need to be vigilant to moving those priorities forward. Romney will move them backward.

I believe the military is losing its perspective.

The USA military stated the national debt of this country was a problem for the them. The country is reducing that national debt and the military has had plenty of time to prepare for it. 


Now, I don't know why the military seems so upset about all this when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs can't be specific about the outcome of the budget cuts to the military. I believe working on 'theory' is unbecoming the USA military. I am quite confident this can occur without severe disruption of our readiness.


Perhaps the military leaders need to remind themselves about how the USA participated in WW II. They might begin to appreciate readiness can happen FIRST within the infrastructure of our country and not just at our military bases.


In actuality, the USA military budget is greater than the sum of all other military spending on a global basis. I would think that was shameful, especially given the fact the country is still rebounding from the 2008 depression which was encouraged by the huge spending of military prowess in the eight years before.


When the USA says in diplomatic circles we advocate peace and democracy and doesn't reflect that in our overwhelming readiness then it doesn't carry much validity. I would hope standing down from overwhelming force enough to PROVE the USA is serious about peace and nuclear non-proliferation is far overdue!


And to the US Army that believes full page ads are necessary to thank the people of the USA, "You are welcome." But, in all honesty, the thanks is from the nation to those that pay the highest price to their country when and only when the time comes to defend this country's borders. Perhaps some of the Public Relations budgets need to be cut first, after all other departments of the government can't really afford NASCAR participation.

I appreciate the fact the USA military is a global enterprise that fights wars on foreign soil for whatever reasons politicians find handy, but, in all honesty we need to curtail that mess. And when it comes to drones patrolling within the USA borders that has to stop. If pictures of landscapes are necessary for the departments of the government it can be done from planes like it always has before. I don't consider domestic use of drones a prudent expense and quite frankly it is as hostile toward citizens as the size of the military budget is to the rest of the world. 

..."We can't yet (click here) say precisely how bad the damage would be, but it is clear that sequestration would risk hollowing out our force and reducing its military options available to the nation," Dempsey told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee. "We would go from being unquestionably powerful everywhere to being less visibly globally and presenting less of an overmatch to our adversaries, and that would translate into a different deterrent calculus and potentially, therefore, increase the likelihood of conflict."...