I think the guy is special even if the USA miltiary industrial complex leans on him.

The Global Connections for Women Foundation (click here) will create a path to success for women in under served communities around the world, who seeks it regardless of their background, nationality or societal status.

He has the right idea, the wrong media though. If "Democracy Now" had the media penetration of the corporate networks, the USA would be engaged in effective dialogue, not one of surrender to Wall Street.

The D.C. Navy Yard (click here) shooting comes just after a major report on gun ownership in the United States confirmed the link between firearm homicide rates and the number of people who own guns. According to the study in the American Journal of Public Health, for each 1 percent increase in gun ownership, the rate of people murdered by firearms increased by point 9 percent. The researchers found "states with higher rates of gun ownership had disproportionately large numbers of deaths from firearm-related homicides." 

Yes, guns are a public health issue, not a Wall Street profit issue. 

This is a near shore storm no one is likely to forget soon.

Published: August 30, 2013
 
ST. PETERSBURG — Winds from a waterspout (click here) caused damage to boats and docks at South St. Petersburg’s Maximo Marina this afternoon.

The waterspout was spotted at 12:04 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
As the storm moved through, winds picked up speed and hit 80 or 90 mph, said Joe Burgess, the dock master at the marina, located at 4801 37th St. S. — a little north of the Sunshine Skyway

Winds toppled several metal shelters, which collapsed on top of at least four boats and docks were also damaged.

The damage was limited to one section of the marina, but extensive at the five or six slips affected, Burgess said. A few boats have 1,000 pounds of steel sheets and beams on them, he said.

“It’s pretty bad on one end of the dock,” Burgess said.

“Everything collapsed on top of the other boats.”

No injuries were reported.

"...two years on: we're still the 99%." EXACTLY.

If all a nation does is focus on death and destruction why would anyone annoyed with the lack of progress to return function to our society be a priority? At least yesterday, President Obama tried and now the media wants to demonize him for it.

And why do they want to demonize him?

To return to politics that sells Wall Street guns. Hello? 

Where exactly did we lose this thing? I think we lost it with the name of the movement.

Occupy Wall Street, two years on: we're still the 99% (click here)

The wave of Occupy protests in 2011 was forcibly suppressed. But it changed public debate, inspiring a generation of activists 

Justin Wedes 
theguardian.com, Tuesday 17 September 2013 07.00 EDT 

This week marks two years since I joined a ragtag crew of outraged young Americans in the streets of lower Manhattan.

We had exhausted the list of available political remedies as we watched our stalemated Congress spiral into deeper indecision. We refused to be silent in the face of a teetering economy and captured political system. We occupied Wall Street, and were soon joined in solidarity by thousands across the country and around the world...  

I can't stress enough the need to put LABOR FIRST. We need a society full of diversity and opportunity and that will only happen when we are all valued for our talents and finally find economy in that.

LABOR FIRST!

As a populous dialogue LABOR FIRST. The first thing off anyone's lips is better pay and better quality of life. Wall Street can easily afford it. Ask Larry Summers. He knows these things. Doesn't he? I mean he is a guy after all. Testosterone rules!

    

Colorado is not alone.

View (click here) of the flooded area in Acapulco, Guerrero state, Mexico, after heavy rains hit the area on September 16, 2013. (AFP Photo/Pedro Pardo)

Two devastating storms converged over the Pacific Ccean to ravage Mexico, killing at least 42 people and stranding approximately 40,000 tourists in resorts in Acapulco in some of the worst flooding in decades.

What is left of Tropical Storm Manuel battered the Pacific coast as Tropical Depression Ingrid forced the closure of Mexican oil operations. Both storms weakened but not before at least 42 died in the states of Veracruz, Guerrero, Puebla, Hidalgo, Michoachan, and Oaxaca, according to the US National Hurricane Center....

This area of Mexico has been hit repeatedly by strong storms all season. Here again they are mostly near shore storms because of the lack of tropospheric water vapor.

It started out with Tropical Storm Barry and Frenand, Tropical Depression Eight and Tropical Storm Ingrid on the Atlantic side of the nation.

On the Pacific side there has been Hurricane Barbara and Erick, which hit Cat 1 status; followed by Tropical Storms Ivo, Juliette, Kiko, Lorena and currently Manuel. 

All this water and wind have created a battered and saturated Mexican infrastructure that is leading to more danger and deaths, injury and displacement to it's citizens. 

The difference between Colorado and Mexico are the fires. Colorado's land was first decimated by fire before the rains which caused the rock and land slides and enormous flooding. But, they are all Climate Change events. Drought and flooding of monumental proportions are out of the norm and definitely related to the Climate Crisis. The Climate Crisis is complex and not simply a linear problem with a linear solution. The troposphere of Earth is very dangerous due to Greenhouse Gases. These are the results.

Guns ain't lipstick.

Given the level of gun violence in the USA, the most controversial issue in the media should be the most popular lipstick color. Instead they talk about pink guns and those available to children.

It is a slippery slope of disaster. See, lipstick doesn't kill, but, guns do and the more guns where people are, the more people die. It is consumerism and populous politics gone bad.

Politics is suppose to drive voters to the polls, but, not to their deaths. In the case of the Republicans, the politics is based in populous voter opinion. Populous anything is marketable. The more popular the product the higher the numbers purchased. The Republicans pride themselves on 'common sense' solutions, hence, consumerism is the basis of Republican politics. "The decision" is something American consumers are hooked on. "The Decision" is a democratic process. If there was only one choice to make when purchasing products, the question would be "What happened to our democracy?"

Policy is not populous. Policy is a STANDARD. Standards do not breed populism. Therefore, Republicans are not interested in policy, they are interested in controversy because it provides a place for "The Decision."

As long as this hideous paradigm takes place in the USA, the gun violence and gun deaths will be realized in higher frequency and numbers. 

The politics, policy and consumerism of DANGER is out of control. Danger is a fact and not a choice. Government is suppose to mitigate danger and eliminate it from citizen lives as a matter of good governance. To accept danger as a COMMODITY in the nation's politics is to provide venues for it to happen.

Those that seek gun control as a matter of policy are correct. It is just that simple. But, now because 'talking about gun control' is creating the danger government wants to avoid, they can't even talk about it. I ask, what has happened to our democracy when we have lost the right to talk about danger and eliminating it while Wall Street profits as citizens die if we do?

There is more than one way to kill a constitution.

Why is the American media talking about all the possibilities for the gun deaths in DC?

Because it drives gun sales. If the shooter is made to be a monster in the eyes of the public and the public sees only a gun between them and death the American consumer will purchase more Wall Street guns.

Just that simple. 

9/16/13
...But with calls for increased gun control on the decline, (click here) is the demand for guns receding as well? That is the conclusion many are jumping to as gun sales plateau and gun stocks level off....

The American media has to create the 'drive to purchase.' When they do that the advertising monies will increase. IF THERE IS A FALL IN THE CALL FOR GUN REGULATION and there will be no fight to control guns, then they have to create the monster in a different way.

...Even as many market watchdogs are saying that the gun bubble is about to burst, Smith & Wesson is still going strong.

“Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation delivered a profit and beat Wall Street’s expectations, and beat the revenue expectation,” reads the Wall Street Cheat Sheet. “The revenue beat is a positive sign to shareholders seeking high growth out of the company. Shares are down 4.27%.”

Gun shares have been taking some hits as investors pull out expecting a drop in the market.

Manufacturers like Smith & Wesson and Ruger have other logistical limitations that companies in other industries simply don’t have. All gun companies are facing limited supply of everything from common components to base materials. Many gun companies are working around the clock, literally, and seven days a week to manufacture product....

So, if the controversy surrounding the deaths of Americans can be put in a can to sell product, the American media will do it and profit themselves along the way.

Their favorite propaganda line today: "President Obama was inappropriate in his news conference and completely insensitive." Why? Because they want the President to come to the microphone again and again to drive gun sales. That's why.

Thirteen dead in Washington, DC. A victory for Wayne LePierre.

Rampage at Navy Yard: A gunman killed at least a dozen people and wounded others after opening fire at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday, police said. He died in a gunfight with police.

Nearly 9000 dead at the hand of guns since Sandy Hook. A victory for Wayne LePierre.

One of the biggest complaints by gun owners is there should be no restriction on guns passed on between family members. Well, guess where most of those incarcerated for gun violence get the weapons they killed with? 

National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund (click here)

 
There has been a decrease in police deaths over the past few years.

2007 - 191
2008 - 142
2009 - 124
2010 - 161
2011 - 169
2012 - 120

But, basically, there is very little statistical improvement that remains significant. To say there is a sustained decrease is an error. The decreases don't maintain their status over a prolonged period of time. The fluctuations are too different to find a trend line. A simple trend line. It relates to numbers of officers in service, their conditions of employment and the conditions on the street they face.

Guns are a consistent condition for the death of police officers. It dispels the idea that if a person is well armed they can defeat anyone attempting to cause their death. It is a ridiculous idea attached to the gun industry profits. 

Those killed in domestic violence are the better proof of the lethality of gun ownership. There was the Facebook episode to prove the point. Guns are objects of personal power. It depends on the person to the degree of criminality attached to that personal power. 

Sure, guns are for sport and for self-defense, but, they are strongly attached to wrongful deaths and suicide. It cannot be ignored as an 'outlier' of a society because of the finality of it's outcome. 

Military style weapons have absolutely no place in the American society. They are an expression of personal power that is a hideous identity that escalates the image of killing as a soldier in a peaceful and orderly society.

The more people, the more guns equates to more deaths. The only way to eliminate these statistics is control the guns. In a democracy people are uncontrollable in a way that would mitigate this reality.
The availability of guns in high population areas has to be taken seriously. These incidence are ridiculous.

Just as a point of order. Republicans relate well to those things.

The Pacific Theater 'thing' of the USA military was initiated in 2007 as one of the last actions of "W" before he left office. It is about oil and methane and border disputes and strong arming the regions for the best outcomes of the American petroleum industry. You never know if a strong arming and muscle flexing might actually spark a war or any multiple of them. Of course, Bush would say there are real threats from Russia and China that needs to be addressed. Not.

China owns the USA economy. They already won their fight. Russia has a lot of oil. There is no reason they want war. Russia currently is at peace talks.

Let's take a vote. I hope you have your ID.

According to the American Media it is one or any combination of the following:

l.  The Thai Culture

2. PTSD

3. Mental health other than PTSD

4. Anger Management

6. The US Navy

7. Independent Contractors

8. The lack of megaphones so the most astute can be heard over the gun violence

9. The lack of more Good Guy Guns

10. Violent Video Games

11. None of the above is not an option.

And remember, ONLY YOU CAN DECIDE. This is important, probably the most important issue of the day, because your life depends on it.

The best part of the American media is it's ability to create scapegoats and justify flaws in society.

It is such a perfect direction for the New York Times to direct their emphasis because the USA military is adding the focus of The Pacific to it's focus in the Middle East. Absolutely, perfect. The USA never really cleared up southeast Asia after all, right?

Suspect in Shooting Had Interest in Thai Culture, and Problems With the Law (click here)
By MANNY FERNANDEZ 
Published: September 16, 2013
HOUSTON — Aaron Alexis, 34, the man killed by police officers and identified as the gunman in the deadly rampage at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday, served his country as a Navy reservist, had an abiding interest in Buddhism and Thai culture, and had problems with the law, records and interviews show... 

The best part of the DC evening news conference was to know everything is back to normal. The traffic pattern is back to normal and it will be about only 48 hours before the building will reopen. 

So, let's pick on President Obama for picking up the tatters of a day and focus on American labor and the need for jobs and economic growth. That sounds like a plan. Somehow, President Obama failed in his 'stage presence' in the news conference. 

I mean you have got to be joking. The NORMAL nation that wants these guns to actually end their presence among the populous have business to do and if the President of the United States of America were to stop his agenda for every 'drama' the American media decides is important enough to cover and create defense for the indefensible gun lobby, he would never get anything done.

There are over 30,000 deaths by gun violence in the USA every year. Do I have to refer to Slate and their gun death count page? Do I? 

There ya go, and the most recent slaughter in the USA is in yellow.


Matched Deaths: 8,238 or more since Newtown (click here)

Besides those in Washington, DC now dead in the USA because of gun violence were deaths in Detroit and Austrell, Georgia and I betcha they were conducted by other than the rash of "Thai Culture" assassinations in the USA.

The American Media IS A JOKE. A complete and utter joke. Somehow Thai people are the problem and there culture. I am sure Wayne LaPierre is grateful for the SCAPEGOATING.

There is only ONE REASON, ONLY ONE why these deaths happen in this country and that is because THERE ARE TOO MANY GUNS ON THE STREET! And do tell, the American media is suppose to distract from that fact. The Great New York Times doesn't know there are too many guns on the street. Right? The Great New York Times, "The Assholes of Wall Street."

Oh, there ya go, Anger Management is the problem and PTSD. 

Do you know how many people in the USA practice the Thai Culture, attend Anger Management classes and have PTSD that don't own a gun, won't own a gun and don't kill. How many, but, yet it is the Thai Culture, PTSD and Anger Management problems that ARE THE PROBLEM.

NOT!

The problem is there are too many guns on the street. 

How did he get the security clearance? I'm tellin' ya the American news media has more EXCUSES for the deaths across this nation. Let's all just break it down to the IMPERFECTIONS of the system and the IMPERFECTIONS of the personality and the IMPERFECTIONS of the US Navy to assign responsibility for deaths yesterday. Let's do that. Let's not deal with the real reason and simply assign UNIQUE characteristics to THIS killing to make it go away while the killing across the USA continues and continues and continues. 

And, of course, the violent video games. The violent video games pulled the trigger yesterday. Right. So, the violent video games are the problem, but, the USA still has violent video games. And let's look to the actions nine years ago when he shoot out tires on a car as THE SIGN why he should not be at work in Washington, DC. 

This is complete moronity and this is the American media and their EXPERTISE.

And there goes Independent Contractors. If there were no independent contractors there will be no problems anymore. Has to be the answer. Waiting to hear from Wayne LaPierre. I am sure he has the best tilt on all this. 

Now, we are back to mental health. Talk to Sebelius, she is among the most mentally challenged in the country. 

There is the problem, the Good Guy with the Gun should have talked the GUNMEN with the semi-automatic weapons down from their rampage. Has to be the problem. Now, police and guards simply need a megaphone. 

Now we have patterns, anger, being alone and there it is, it is mental health as it relates to gun violence in the country, but, yet WE KNOW there are going to be more conversations 'to get this right.' Sure, let's just let the killing continue and have conversations.

Here's a few talking points for Wayne LePierre.

- "Look it could have been worse, 168 died in Oklahoma. Guns reduce citizen deaths."

- "Guns don't kill, people do."

- "There is no comprehensive mental illness database."

- "It is good for a country to know there are limits to their power."

- "Hey, there are no kids involved." True. Just the kids of their late parents.

- "Background checks would not have prevented this." More than likely.

- "The guns came from Mexico after the USA sold them to the Mexican government." Those straw purchasers are something, aren't they?

- "A gun ban would not have prevented this." Hmmmmmmmm? Lie. But, it sounds like Wayne.

- "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." But, not this time.

By all rights according to Wayne LaPierre all police and guards should be alive.

Our law enforcement officers are armed. What's the problem? They die anyway? Oh.

Uploaded on Jan 14, 2011 
First-time firing of pre-production KSG by officers at Lakewood Police Department. They are not used to the manual of arms, but you can see how the gun works and note the negligible muzzle rise on recoil. Ammunition is a mix of 00 buckshot and slugs. See KelTecWeapons.com and KTOG.org for more information about this firearm.

The NRA promotes anarchy and danger in the lives of Americans.

The reasons these conversations occur is to enforce the idea the American people have to have military weapons to protect from their government.

That argument is a PLACE HOLDER. The NRA and gun lobby are scared that if decent laws are on the books they will lose their millions. What's a few lives once in a while?

I suppose all the THREE involved in the slaughter today were crazy. All three. Amazing. 

...He (Alexis) worked his way to the third and fourth floors of a building, which then looked down on an open atrium.

Sources say with that assault rifle, which is believed to be an AR-15, Alexis essentially was a sniper, able to easily target his victims from a very high vantage point. He fired a large number of shots in a relatively confined area....
 

Every means of government insight and policy is not a lie.

The USA has too many guns on the street. Trained officers could stop them.

This was an attack on the government and when is Congress going to do something about these weapons?

The USA attempts to carry out diplomacy and there are nothing but Right Wing Nuts with military equipment ready to try to access either leadership and/or weapons console. Maybe pilot a few drones or start WWIII because they have the idea enemies must die at all costs. This is ridiculous. Twelve people dead at a very important military instillation and the government is scratching their heads about gun control. Good, real good.

By Carol Morello, Peter Hermann and Clarence Williams'

Updated: Monday, September 16, 2:22 PM

...“The big concern for us right now (click here) is that we have potentially two other shooters that we have not located at this point,” Lanier said.

Mayor Vincent C. Gray said no motive is known. He said they have no reason to believe it was an act of terrorism, though he said he could not rule it out.

Lanier described one of the possible suspects as a white male in his 40s, wearing what appeared to be tan military clothing, “consistent with a Navy uniform,” and a beret. She said police also are looking for a black man in his 40s with gray sideburns, wearing an olive-drab military-style uniform.

“We have multiple pieces of information that would suggest” that the two suspects are armed. “We have reason to believe that they are involved in some way.”

Police are asking anyone with information on these two people to call 202-727-9099....

Someone had plans.

SSP (Strategic Systems Program) Headquarters, Washington DC (click here)

The majority of jobs are located at the SSP Headquarters at Washington Navy Yard, Washington DC. 

The Vice President's residence is about 7 miles from there.

The US Army Corp is needed in Colorado

Damaged roads and bridges (click here) have left hundreds of people stranded in small towns in Colorado. The Colorado National Guard is using helicopters to rescue people, but more bad weather has made flying difficult.

 The state needs pontoon bridges and Humvees. The Humvees need to be equipped with First Responders with radio link to a hospital.There is no sense in wasting anymore time, if people are alive they are dehydrating already.

Photo nr. 960227b1 (19Kb)
1st Armored Division soldiers work towards completion of a pontoon bridge over the Sava River as a tug boat moves a piece of pontoon bridge into place. The bridges are needed to replace the destroyed bridges so the Implementation Force (IFOR) troops may enter into Bosnia.
Photo by 2Lt. Stacey Wyzykowski 1st Combat Camera Charleston AFB SC

Some pontoon bridges can be very rudimentary in order to achieve rescues. 

 







Some can even be walkways as long as they can be secured from rapids and white water.

Oddly enough the more rudimentary the bridge, the quicker it can be fashioned. The US Army Corp can speak to the current technology and the expediency of the deployment in order to gain access to save lives.

Rescue rafts and life rafts can provide a bridge between civilization and stranded people.

Why would rebalancing the economy not include putting labor first?

Skewed vision of the economy (click here)

Monday 16 September 2013

 

I suspect Danny Alexander ("Thank LibDems 'for pulling UK out of slump'", The Herald, September 14) is being a trifle arrogant and premature in suggesting his party is responsible for economic recovery in the UK.

Some might even argue his views are delusional.

Perhaps any recovery is despite, rather than because of, the LibDems and their colleagues in Coalition.

An alternative view might be that the Government is failing in its stated quest to "rebalance the economy". The history of government going back to the Thatcher years is of dysfunctional deregulation of capital and rabid regulation of labour.

The richest individuals and corporations are awash with cash but neither spend it, due to "lack of confidence" and lack of need, nor pay their moral share of tax. Those with most need to spend - the poorest citizens and local government - cannot afford their modest needs. A rebalancing in favour of labour would achieve a fairer society and an economy which works.

Peter Moore,
3 Bellevue Road,
Ayr.

The fish finally have their reef back.

 September 16, 2013, 7:04 AM

GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy 

A complex system of pulleys (click here) and counterweights on Monday began pulling the Costa Concordia cruise ship upright from its side on a Tuscan reef at Giglio Island, where it capsized 20 months ago -- an anxiously awaited operation of a kind that has never been attempted on such a huge liner.
Engineers told reporters they'd succeeded in detaching the 952-foot-long vessel from the reef on which it was resting, and the operation was continuing. No bodies had been spotted, they said.
Engineer Sergio Girotto said it began at about 9 a.m., three hours late.
The delay was due to an early morning storm that pushed back a floating command room center from its position close to the wreckage.
The goal is to raise it from its side by 65 degrees to vertical, as a ship would normally be, for eventual towing....