The buzz word for the Republicans is "UNSUSTAINABLE DEBT." They dont' see unstainability over a timeline, but, in an emergency to invoke fear in the electorate.

The Republicans are still talking about passing HR 3121. The same law that has been voted on 45 times before.

The CBO states if everything remains the same with the National Budget the debt will be 100% of GDP in 25 years.

In the Budget hearing where the CBO is speaking Ryan is very pessimistic about an agreement and Patty Murray states progress is being made and believes the differences will be resolved in a short period of time.

Ryan states the Budget hearing is very informal and any members of the panel can hold up their names to be recognized to ask questions. Basically, they have to raise their hands. Ryan is a joke. 

This isn't governance. It just isn't. The CBO, Douglas Elmendorf, comes to Congress and treated as if he isn't important. Amazing. 

There is no earnest effort by Ryan to take this seriously. This is obviously just drama. Ryan has no desire to settle into a budget before the deadlines. 

The American people have to take their elections seriously and elect serious individuals who actually care about the country and the voters. We are going to see more of the same come January and February. There are about 10 working days for Congress left this year and when they return in January they will be at the doorstep of the Budget and Debt Ceiling. Ryan is stalling in order to create another crisis. 

The lack of structure of the meeting is met with coping by other Senators in taking example and proceeding. It is causing confusion. 

The Republicans aren't governing. They are refusing to participate. They remind me of a two year old stuck on 'No.' I mean that. There is absolutely no impulsion forward into an agreement. It is all about finding fault and assigning blame. 

At this point, there should not be fact finding missions. At this point the Budget Committee should already have discussed the different budgets, resolved those differences and bringing NOT QUESTIONS before the CBO but the new agreement to make sure it will result in it's goal. 

This is still a fact finding meeting. It is a failure. Ryan is unable to lead. He is capable of a lack attitude that compromises reconciliation. There will be another dramatic Budget deadline followed by another Debt Ceiling deadline. Nothing is being done and it is completely obvious nothing will be done to avoid another fiscal crisis. 

Ryan's leadership is an abject failure. 

This is NOT difficult. This is a minor exercise in governing. Income and expenditures. This is not all that. Ryan can't get it done because he is an ideologue focused on politics. 

The CBO confirms to Senator Sanders there is significant inequality in wealth distribution. Senator Sanders pointed to 36% of the nation's wealth and income goes to the top 1% while the bottom 40% has 2.6% of the nation's wealth and income. 

Senator Sanders states the report by the CBO was absent of contemporary America. Mr. Elmendorf states he has some graphs that illustrates a raw picture of distributional wealth. 

Of course, Senator Sanders knows that when the nation's majority of population are poor, the nation is poor. The income to the treasury is from the nation's tax base. The better Americans receive wealth and income across a broad base the better the income to the Treasury. The point is cutting important monies to bring Americans to a greater level of earning isn't serving the sustainable economy of the USA. 

It is completely obvious the Republicans are running the clock for their own priorities and unable to govern because of those priorities. 

Senator Grassley just lectured everyone. Basically, he said, "The USA needs a strong economy to have a strong military. Dissolving The Sequester in order to spend more on defense is very shortsighted." He stated his remarks particularly are directed at US House of Representatives. 

Senator Warner states it is a global trend that private industry no longer is seeking to train their employees, there is a movement for the public sector train their citizens for employment. 

Senator Graham is back peddling. He has returned to slashing Medicare and Social Security. He wants entitlement reform. SSI is not a budgetary issue. SSI is an autonomous trust that can't be spent on the USA Fiscal Budget. He is worried about 80 million Baby Boomers. 

Chris Van Holen stated the greatest influx to Medicare and Social Security will occur in 10 years realizing that contribution of the tax base will also fall. ?? Maybe ?? to some degree, but, not completely. This generation tends to like to make money one way or another. But, the worst case scenario is correct. Rep. Van Holen also stated the business loop holes are stubbornly persistent and suggested the CBO do an analysis of those loop holes so they can be closed. He was also concerned about the policy ending this year regarding unemployment. Yeah, but, ??? there has been job growth and we aren't looking at a shrinking economy. I don't think we are still in an unemployment emergency, are we? That only justification would be if jobs are being outsourced at a rate detrimental to the employment of Americans. The other aspect one of the other committee members noted was the existing job openings already existing in the USA economy without trained people to fill those openings.

Mr. Elmendorf states he discourages increases in marginal tax rates on overtime pay because it will remove vitality from the economy. Taking those extra monies away from the spending behavior of the nation is a mistake. He  also stated cuts in the budget are not best for the current economy. 

Senator Whitehouse states President's Council on Economic Advisers states there is $700 billion to be saved in the health care industry. He also notes several private independent study groups with the same figure if not more. He wants to know from the CBO how important it is to work on the cost of health care. Mr. Elmendorf states it would assist the federal budget and deficit a great deal to address unproductive spending in health care. Those monies if removed from the health care costs of the nation do not at all effect the quality of the care provided. 

End.

Iraq will never be the same after the Bush invasion. No the USA will not send them more aid to increase the civil war.

Thursday 14 November 2013

Hundreds of foreign workers (click here) are being hurriedly evacuated from Basra in southern Iraq following violent protests by Iraqi oil workers and villagers over two incidents.

In one of them, a British security man tore down a poster or flag bearing the image of Imam Hussein, a figure highly revered by Shia Muslims. The violence may make international oil companies more nervous about operating in Iraq, which is at the centre of the largest oil development boom in the world....

Foreigners in Iraq don't allow for the fact there is no Western Diversity within the country's borders. The British guy was lucky he was still alive. This is a high holy day for the Shi'ites. Tearing down icons of the holiday obviously was a huge mistake. 

This isolationism in the Mideast is becoming a real trend. It is strongly based in the hatred of the former dictators placed in power by the USA. I am not interested in being a nightmare to these people ever again.

...The Iraqi Oil Report website said that BP, the main operator at Rumaila, was scaling back its workforce and that employees of Baker Hughes and Schlumberger “were massed at Basra airport”. There were conflicting reports about whether the oil services companies were shutting down their operations.

In an earlier incident affecting Baker Hughes, an Egyptian worker had removed the flags commemorating Imam Ali and Imam Hussein from company vehicles. Protests prompted Iraqi authorities to arrest the Egyptian on charges of insulting a religion, while Baker Hughes suspended its operations in the country and declared force majeure because of “a significant disruption of business”....

I remember very shortly after the invasion into Iraq the Shi'ites held ceremonial beatings of themselves with chains. It was a ritual Saddam prohibited. If he was doing it for humanitarian reasons because they do hurt themselves I could empathize. Saddam was doing that because he hated the Shi'ites.

The point is these folks are sincerely not interested in being converted to any other religion or culture or political understanding. If an entire segment of their citizens held their beliefs in oppression by a dictator, there is just no way their cultural basis is going to change, nor should it. 

"W" tried to destroy the Shi'ite culture in southern Iraq by destroying newspapers and attempted attacks on a temple. It just ain't going to happen no matter how much fish the Shi'ites pull out of the wetlands. If Saddam couldn't destroy them for decades, there is no way there is going to be any submission to Christianity.  It isn't going to happen. Christians live within the borders of these nations in minority status and they are tolerated, but, they will never rule these lands. 

Bush and buddies need to get over it and stop planning military cabals. The fact of the matter is Evangelicals don't respect other beliefs and their demands for conversion on a global scale is the policy and purpose of destroying cultures. A legal definition of genocide also includes when cultures are destroyed with intent by an outside force.

By Michael Luciano  11 hours ago

...Rob Eshman (click here) wrote in the Jewish Journal, "Bush … is helping to raise money for a group whose reason for being is to stop there being Jews. It sounds alarmist, but there it is. Success for the group Bush supports would mean no more Jews."...

To quote "W," "Fool me the first time shame on you, the second time shame on me." It won't happen again, so the intelligence agencies need to put their spy scopes away. These folks are going to have their land on their own terms. 

End of discussion. 

To irritate more fighting and violence endangers any peace settlement between Israel and Palestine and The West and Iran. There will be no Western intervention in Iraq again. There is no reason for it. Any reporting of al Qaeda is due to the fact the invasion happened in the first place and if they are in Iraq it is in support of rebels in Syria which is a completely different set of circumstances and why the Russia's point of view has brevity.

Any US funding to Iraq will be only humanitarian aid. John McCain and Lindsay Graham can take that to the bank. 

No guns. No munitions. No armored vehicles because it will find it's way into Syria and otherwise and only create more problems than it will ever solve as well as excuses to return to "The Forever War."

A "Means Test" for farm subsidies will return the Small Family Farm and a healthier food market in the USA.

The American people would love to have a return of the Family Farm. If Democrats ran in races where federal subsidies were "Mean Tested" while expanding those subsidies to the small farmer (They never receive subsidies. They were put out of business because of it.) they would win. There is not that large a voting base that supports corporate farms or their products.

March 1, 2011, 8:53 pm
By Mark Bittman

Agricultural subsidies (click here) have helped bring us high-fructose corn syrup, factory farming, fast food, a two-soda-a-day habit and its accompanying obesity, the near-demise of family farms, monoculture and a host of other ills.... 

...Farm subsidies were created in an attempt to ameliorate the effects of the Great Depression, which makes it ironic that in an era when more Americans are suffering financially than at any time since, these subsidies are mostly going to those who need them least....

This is what the American people want. And we want our Agriculture Yearbook back again !

We are a small family of first-generation farmers (click here) nourishing an old farm back to health again. Join us in our sixth season as a growing and sustainable CSA farm. Foster a relationship with your farmer and your community that nourishes everyone physically, spiritually and economically. Attend our on-farm events in the spring, summer and fall when we offer field and farm tours, potlucks and events such as pesto making and recipe sharing.

Unfortunately this is a first generation operation. The American Heritage at one time was one generation passing on the land, the plow and the livestock to the next generation and next generation. We want it back!

"We envision a future where Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is the backbone of a strong local food system; where all families have access to locally produced, organic food and have strong connections to their farms, food and community."

This is about the lost generation and finding their way back. This is the generation Wall Street forgot. They are happy being wholesome with hard work and dedication. It is important and can't be ignored by anyone. Many of these farms were developed by our Veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. It is important and they aren't getting any subsidies either. They are doing it the hard way and producing superior products.

Once you’ve decided what’s important to you, it’s time to start searching for YOUR farm. (click here)

Search for farms by share type. See the full list of FairShare’s farms.

The Pick-Up Locations Map is an awesome tool. Type in the address of your home, workplace,gym, school, etc., here, to see which farms deliver nearby. 
You can also search the map by farm location.
Contact the farms directly by phone, email, or website for their current CSA brochure, which typically includes share types and prices, and delivery sites. Also, look at the farm’s Facebook page to get an idea of how they interact with members and to see photos of their shares.

Tennessee Congressman kills the fatted calf.

This level of crony corruption is not unusual in DC. There are huge subsidies to oil companies as well. The Republicans state the crony oil subsidies is to keep small operators in business. If that is true, then the subsidies of any kind needs a "Means Test."

There is a very real way to rein in DC spending and it starts with the best Congress to do the job and it isn't about food stamps. 

By Aviva Shen
May 21, 2013 at 1:29 pm

...As the Environmental Working Group (click here) notes, crop insurance subsidies have no limits on their recipients’ income levels. Therefore, the bulk of the crop insurance is paid out in million-dollar installments to a small group of large farm businesses, while the bottom 80 percent of farmers receive roughly $5,000 a year. SNAP, on the other hand, limits aid to income below 130 percent of the federal poverty line, or $30,000 per year for a family of four....

There needs to be a "Means Test" for farm subsidies.

By Matthew Yglesias

...Here in Tennessee, (click here) Mr. Fincher embraces that view. “We have to remember there is not a big printing press in Washington that continually prints money over and over,” he said in May....

...Surrounded by corn and soybean farms—including one owned by the local Republican congressman, Representative Stephen Fincher—Dyersburg, about 75 miles north of Memphis, provides an eye-opening view into Washington’s food stamp debate. Mr. Fincher, who was elected in 2010 on a Tea Party wave and collected nearly $3.5 million in farm subsidies from the government from 1999 to 2012, recently voted for a farm bill that omitted food stamps.

“The role of citizens, of Christianity, of humanity, is to take care of each other, not for Washington to steal from those in the country and give to others in the country,” Mr. Fincher, whose office did not respond to interview requests, said after his vote in May. In response to a Democrat who invoked the Bible during the food stamp debate in Congress, Mr. Fincher cited his own biblical phrase. “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat,” he said....

While the President was talking to the American people today, Minority Leader Pelosi stated she has enough votes to pass ENDA and Immigration Reform.

What was the House Speaker doing at the same time? Asking to have "The Journal" accepted to the record. It was going well until a Tea Party Republicans noted there was not a quorum to do so.

Donna Leinwand Leger
USA TODAY  
10:35 a.m. EST November 14, 2013
 
WASHINGTON — When a decades-old law (click here) banning undetectable firearms expires less than a month from now, federal agents say a plastic weapon created on a 3-D printer could emerge as a national security threat.

The homemade plastic gun, known as the "Liberator .380" and made with a computer blueprint, a 3-D printer and plastic resin, could pass through security checkpoints without setting off metal detectors.

The gun uses only the smallest bits of metal for ammunition and a firing pin the size of a roofing nail.

The Undetectable Firearms Act, passed in 1988 and renewed in 1998 and 2003, expires at midnight Dec. 9. The law, which envisioned gun manufacturers using more plastic as technologies improved, requires guns to have enough steel to set off a metal detector....

Published time: November 14, 2013 21:22
RIA Novosti
 
The United Nations has nearly doubled the death toll from the devastating typhoon that struck the Philippines to over 4,400 people - a substantial rise from the 2,357 estimate released earlier in the day by the Filipino president.
Typhoon Haiyan has also displaced more than 900,000 people, with the city of Tacloban expected to run out of fuel within a few days. Almost 12 million people have been affected by the storm, which is thought to be one of the most powerful to ever strike land, Reuters reported citing UN. 
These numbers are in stark contrast to the death toll of 2,000 to 2,500 which was forecast by Filipino President Benigno Aquino earlier this week, but still less than the 10,000 deaths initially estimated by local authorities.

So far all the Senators complaining are Republicans. They are riding the elements of fear and not that of empowerment.

This map was developed by The Institute of Southern Studies. Their statement about the organization is here:

Since our founding in 1970 (click here) by veterans of the civil rights movement, the Institute for Southern Studies has established a national reputation as an essential resource for grassroots activists, community leaders, scholars, policy makers and others working to bring lasting social and economic change to the region....

Some of the most profound problems when it comes to poverty is within the high rates of the uninsured. They are poorer and more the victim of a poor economy. Within the USA is a reality few talk about. That is the fact our longevity is not equal throughout the country. There are higher death rates in some areas than others.

Below is a graph in Wiki about the poverty rate in the USA. This is not a joke.These are real issues of real Americans and just because they don't have six figure lobbyists in Washington, DC, does not mean this country is any less theirs.

Legend:

   <6%

   6%-7.5%

   7.5%-9%

   9%-10.5%

   10.5%-12%

   12%-13.5%

   13.5%-15%

   15%-16.5%

   >16.5%

There is a direct relationship between wellness and longevity, between income and longevity and between employment and longevity. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act took all of the problems of  the nation and set down a law to fix it. Young people are able to stay on their parent's policies longer, there are no lifetime maximums, no disqualifying conditions for insurances, INCLUDING BEING FEMALE AND FERTILE and there are subsidies for those that are employed but uninsured. 

States Rights does not apply to the incidence of disease or the cure or treatment. States Rights does not apply when there are large numbers of uninsured and it puts a drag on the USA economy and tax base.

These figures and statements come from the US Census. 

Section 1: Prevalence of Disability Among Working-age People (click here)

1.5. How do the states differ in the numbers of people with a work disability?

With the exception of Maine and Oregon, the states with the highest percentage of people with a work disability are in the southern United States. The eight states with the highest percentage of working age persons with disabilities are ranked as follows:

State	Percentage of working age persons with disabilties
West Virginia	12.6%
Kentucky	11.4%
Arkansas	11.2%
Mississippi	11.0%
Louisiana	10.3%
Maine	10.2%
Oklahoma	10.2%
Oregon	10.0%

I really don't want to hear how Congressional representatives in these states are complaining about The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Their states are among the worst performing states in the nation when it comes to taking care of their citizens. If they had done a good job before the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed they might have a reason to complain, but, they sure as hell don't now!

The southern states are the worst performers in the country when it comes to safe work environments and quality of life. There is more dependence on federal tax monies there than anywhere else in the country. Now, they haven't been able to stop the decline of the health of their citizens, so the rest of the country set a limit on the early deaths of Americans in those states. These areas are some of the most extremist political dogmas still attached to post slavery American and it will STOP !

Morality?

In the South?

WHERE?

Rather than over reacting to changes of individual health care policies find out your facts.

Kaiser (click here) has a Health Care Subsidy Calculator. This is the type of input required to realize the subsidy received for the individuals market through the exchanges.

They ask about tobacco use.

People will complain anyway, but, the subsidy in this case is a family of four with no smokers with an income of $50,000 per year. 

The payments for the policy for this particular family is 40% of the actual cost. It is about $280 plus change per month. That is not a lot of money for four people in a family.  Americans receiving health insurance from their employers sometimes pay more than that for the same exact coverage. Few Americans receive free health care coverage from their employers and have to subscribe through their Personnel Office. It is not unusual at all for a twice month subscription fee to be taken out of paychecks at or exceeding $100 or more for employer policies. And $100 per month for a family of four is a exceptional deal, it is usually more like $150 or more. So stop the bellyaching and sign up for a quality policy.

Very little of the media actually does research to back up Right Wing rants; they simply seek the attention and ratings along with them.

...By law, (click here) the first year’s open enrollment period for Part D ran until May 15, 2006.  DHHS reported numbers that included everyone who signed up by that date.  As the graph shows, enrollment grew at a steady pace across the six months of the first open enrollment period....

I found ONE reference on the net discussing the way health care enrollment actually happens in the USA. 

This is the rate of enrollment to Medicare Part D in 2006. The complaints are ridiculous. The federal website has problems and may be mishandled by those hired to build it, but, the enrollment rate has very little to do with the website, if anything the Right Wing rants have brought more attention to the enrollment period. 

American don't really pay attention to deadlines until it is upon them. That is the case with tax returns as well. The beginning of the year sees those entitled to refunds, while those owing taxes are more present at the end of the reporting period. The entire lack of interest in enrollment has very little to do with the federal website, there are plenty of other options to enroll outside the federal website. 

This FACT only goes to prove "The squeaky wheel gets the grease."  

The US Constitution is not written into the US Constitution, it is the Tenth Amendment

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The perverted definition of States Rights was the excuse for the Civil War, so any Republican or Democrat that see States Rights as the dominate laws in the USA are pandering to extremists, not the US Constitution.

The political extremists refer to "The Federalists" as still the problem in the USA. They also count on the US Supreme Court to dissolve the authority of the USA in regard to issues that satisfy the rich guys funding the extremists. Those that would see the federal authority dissolve are anti-constitutionalists. They are treasonists, that includes their politiicans.

During the American Revolution, (click here) the founding fathers were forced to compromise with the states to ensure ratification of the Constitution and the establishment of a united country. In fact, the original Constitution banned slavery,...

The dynamics of extremism are exactly the dynamics at the time of the Civil War, there were equal North and South states that disagreed about slavery. And, of course, slavery is all about wealth!

The extremists that cause so many obstructions to good governance are well studied in exactly this same dynamic, stoking hatred, self-righteousness and dissolving the federal authority of the USA Constitution. Their financial backers are exactly the same greed merchants as existed in the south. They seek to pay for their right to play on their own terms by putting treasonists within the federal government. So, when the religious extremists, such as the Koch brothers, back extremists with faux facts about the US Constitution they are paying to play on their own terms. It is far worse a definition than the 'pay to play' often assigned to Democrats by the Republicans and their media hate mongers. 

The Right Wing's 'pay to play' is not to 'work with the US constitution for high salaried positions,' but, to destroy it. They like to point fingers at others to take the focus off themselves.

This is the best new thing in the world today.

At Janssen Biotech, Inc., (click here) we dedicate our hearts and minds to improving the health of individuals living with serious conditions.

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) (click here) is a rare, B-cell NHL that most often affects men over the age of 60. The disease may be aggressive (fast growing) but it can also behave in a more indolent (slow growing) fashion in some patients. MCL comprises about five percent of all NHLs. The disease is called "mantle cell lymphoma" because the tumor cells originally come from the "mantle zone" of the lymph node. MCL is usually diagnosed as a late-stage disease that has typically spread to the gastrointestinal tract and bone marrow.

Not since zidovudine/Retrovir/AZT has the FDA approved a drug so swiftly. The USA is finding wonder drugs and they have every reason to be proud of these accomplishments. 

Single-agent oral therapy (click here) is one of the first medications to be approved via the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Breakthrough Therapy Designation Pathway

PR Newswire

HORSHAM, Pa., Nov. 13, 2013

HORSHAM, Pa., Nov. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire

Janssen Biotech, Inc. ["Janssen"] (click here) today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved IMBRUVICA™ (ibrutinib) capsules for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who have received at least one prior therapy.¹ This indication is based on overall response rate (ORR). An improvement in survival or disease-related symptoms has not been established....

Press Release (click here)

Janssen is a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson. It is a incredible break through for older men that are diagnosed with a nearly undetectable and rapid growing cancer. This gives great hope to those Americans and others around the world. 

The FDA worked quickly to release this drug for current sufferers. They did a great job with Fast Track. 

Let's put it this way, the Right Wing was successful in stating Faith Based NGOs could receive federal monies for their missions. Then those NGOs went to Africa. They preached "No Condoms" to nations without adults because they died of HIV. To cover up the lousy deal the Africans received by these NGOs; Bush came out with a HIV Program.

The religious extremists, the Evangelicals, are the nut cases that throw tons of money at candidates to win favor so they can get the world ready for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. 

So, "W" is in his element.

Charm Offensive in the face of 'Bad Boy Alliance' with Messianic organization.

This relationship isn't new. These guys were receiving a lot of attention during the Bush administration. They were running special dinners and all sorts of things to bring the Jewish into their fold, especially where their was a mixed marriage. These are Bush's buddies. Heck, the Christians were playing music to Indian Hindus and blatantly to Muslims to rock them into a new religion. This isn't new. This is Bush, it has always been Bush. 

The leanings of Christianity as a national religion was all over that administration. There were references to statues in the Dome of the Capital building and all sorts of demands for a national religion based in the words on money and all that mess. I am sure it is all over this blog. I mean the media was a disaster, even more than today.
 

By Tom Benning
tbenning@dallasnews.com
4:46 pm on November 12, 2013
Former President George W. Bush (click here) will appear next week on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”
A Bush spokesman confirmed on Tuesday an Associated Press report that the former president will visit the late-night talk show on November 19. Bush is planning to be in Los Angeles that day and decided to stop by Leno’s show “one last time,” the spokesman said.
“He is looking forward to congratulating Jay on his 20-plus-year run hosting ‘The Tonight Show’,” Freddy Ford, the Bush spokesman, said in a statement.
The appearance will be Bush’s fourth on the show, according to the Associated Press. He first chatted with Leno in March 2000, when Bush was just a Texas governor and presidential candidate.

Help!

BY MICHAEL WRIGHT, CALGARY HERALD 
NOVEMBER 12, 2013

Calgary Zoo is calling on penguin experts worldwide for help with a respiratory disease that claimed another of its birds over the weekend.

Houdini, a 14-year-old male Gentoo penguin, was euthanized Sunday after he did not respond to intensive treatment for aspergillosis — a fungal infection that affects a bird's respiratory system.

He is the third penguin at the zoo to succumb to the disease this year.

Zoo head of veterinary services Sandie Black said Calgary was talking to zoos overseas about what they had done to combat aspergillosis, which is a common cause of death among captive penguins.

"We're asking other institutions what disinfectants are you using? What is your cleaning regimen? Is there any clue here to why we're seeing more [cases] in spite of all the steps we've taken over the last few months?"

Seven other penguins showing possible symptoms of aspergillosis had been isolated and will soon start another antifungal treatment program.

The birds were not responding to drug treatment as hoped, Black said, and may have a drug-resistant strain of the disease.

The American people are usually aware of these pending deaths and it was nowhere in the media.

Protesters(click here) against the death penalty demonstrate in front of the Florida State Prison near Starke Tuesday. Darius Mark Kimbrough convicted in the 1991 sexual assault and murder of an aspiring artist in Orlando was executed at the prison Tuesday.
AP Photo

Published time: November 13, 2013 17:03

Two convicted murderers (click here) were executed by Florida and Texas on Tuesday, one of whom was killed using a controversial drug that some claim leaves the recipient in excruciating pain
.
The 40-year-old Darius Kimbrough – convicted of sexually assaulting and killing a Florida woman named Denise Collins in 1991– was executed and pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. EST, roughly 18 minutes after his lethal injection was administered. In Texas, Jamie McCoskey, 49, was also killed via lethal injection. He was convicted of kidnapping a couple in Houston, raping the woman and stabbing her fiancé to death in 1991....

President Obama needs to consider calling the testimony being given in the House hearings as Executive Privilege. That is not going to be popular or politically savvy, but, it is the right thing to do.

The House Committees are harassing the civilians that show up to give testimony. These civilians are asking to be able to defend the truth over and above the Republicans attempts to extract political talking points that are either half truths or lies.

I am serious. Mr. Chao stated, "I am not defensive, I am trying to protect the truth." Minutes ago. The civilians can't deal with the Spanish Inquisition and are being treated as a punching bag. They can't bounce back from the Republicans interrogation techniques.

I do believe these folks belong at their jobs doing their work and not being used for political fodder by the Republicans. The Republicans are inhibiting the work that needs to be done. Issa doesn't even know what end is up. He wants to submit some memo to evidence, but, he needs to know from one of the witnesses if any of the information is classified and/or confidential and has to be redacted. The response from Mr. Chao was, "I have to review it." Issa states, "...by the end of this meeting." This is ridiculous.

At one point Mr. Chao stated the information the questions were coming from as an aspect of the website that hasn't been written yet because the first payments are not due to begin until the beginning of January. It was that aspect of the incomplete programming that was confusing the entire questioning. In other words, the Republicans found a partial code and were seeking to make a case of incompetency because of it. One of the Congressman had to come to the defense of Mr. Chao as the Republicans had no right to attempt to ruin his reputation.

This is a waste of everyone's time and is only used to satisfy some bizarre media agenda for politics. The Republicans are on a witch hunt.

Reactionary politics is using rhetoric to seek to destroy the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as a campaign slogan.

Wendell Potter is a long time advocate for good quality health care for Americans. He was once involved with the health care industry until he found his own life empty of morality in the way his subscribers needed insurance. He wrote a book, "Deadly Spin" and everyone should read it.

November 12th, 2013 4:43 PM
By Wendell Potter

My heart sank (click here) when I got an email late last month from my friend Robert, who has been battling multiple sclerosis for the past decade. He wrote to tell me that he was among the many Americans who in recent weeks received letters from their insurance companies saying that their policies won’t be available next year.

Insurance companies are sending those letters primarily because the policies they will no longer offer don’t provide enough coverage — or have deductibles that are too high — to comply with the Affordable Care Act. In many cases, however, the policyholders getting those letters are simply victims of a business practice insurers have engaged in for years: discontinuing policies because they’re no longer sufficiently profitable....

...Considering his very serious and costly preexisting condition — his medications alone cost more than $5,000 a month — Robert was nervous as he started looking for a replacement policy. How much more would he have to pay to stay insured?...

...He could barely believe what he heard: he could get better coverage than the policy being discontinued — and pay less — thanks to Obamacare.
“The overall cost of the plans I’m considering is cheaper than the plan I am currently paying for,” he wrote me this week. “My total cost for coverage now, including premiums and out of pocket costs, is about $9,800. Two of the plans I’m seriously considering for next year have total costs of $8,400. I’m shocked, but in a good way.” 

So not only did Robert not experience the sticker shock he had been expecting, he will save $1,400 next year on health insurance.
The plan he is leaning toward — a top-of-the line “platinum” plan — will have a higher monthly premium, but he will still save on average about $117 a month because of the way his out-of-pocket costs will be calculated....

Mr. Potter's friend is an American that can run up against a one million dollar lifetime maximum in the previous health care industry. Now, that has been eliminated. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is proving to own up to it's name for most if not all Americans. The initial reaction is always one of worry and surprise, but, the worry and surprise is never going to match what was occurring in the USA without this law.

Thank you, Wendell. There are people with a conscience that care about this country.

The deniers have been disproved. The burgeoning Category Six storm.

8 November 2013  
Last updated at 10:11 ET 
Super Typhoon Haiyan (click here) is the 25th tropical storm to enter Philippine territory this year and reports suggest there have been sustained winds of some 320 km/h (199mph) with gusts of up to 378 km/h (235mph)...

November 13, 2013 - 8:48PM
Tom Arup Environment Editor
...The meteorological organisation's secretary-general, (click here) Michel Jarraud, said all the warmest years across the planet had occurred since 1998, and 2013 once again continued the underlying long-term trend of warming.
"The coldest years now are warmer than the hottest years before 1998," he said. "Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases reached new highs in 2012, and we expect them to reach unprecedented levels yet again in 2013. This means that we are committed to a warmer future."
Global land and ocean temperatures are recorded by the organisation as about 0.48 degrees higher in January to September than the 1961-1990 average. The temperatures so far this year are the same as the average for 2001-10, the warmest decade on record.
In other areas the extent of Arctic sea ice recovered slightly from record rates of melting last year, but 2013 was still one of the lowest years on record. Conversely in Antarctica, sea ice extent reached a record high in September. The organisation says Antarctica differs from the Arctic because it is land surrounded by open water, whereas the Arctic is comprised of water surrounded by land.
Tropical cyclones numbers for 2013 are nearing the 1981-2010 average of 89 storms, with 86 so far this year.

It is over. It has been over. The deniers need to be regarded as insignificant. It is too dangerous not to. 

Vol 455

4 September 2008

doi:10.1038

nature07234
James B. Elsner

James P. Kossin

& Thomas H. Jagger

The increasing intensity of the strongest tropical

cyclones  (click here)

...Here we shed new light on this topic by using globally consistent satellite-derived tropical cyclone windspeeds and by focusing on the lifetime-maximum wind speeds of the strongest tropical cyclones each year....

The sea surface temperatures in hte Atlantic are higher consistently across the ocean surface.

This NOAA technology (click here).

The stranded Philippine survivors might be best served by dropping packages of supplies by helicopter and/or plane.

 Philippine police guard a truck carrying relief supplies in Tacloban, the hardest-hit major city in the path of Typhoon Haiyan. (Dennis M. Sabangan / European Pressphoto Agency / November 12, 2013)

By Sunshine de Leon and Barbara Demick

November 12, 2013, 5:33 p.m.

MANILA — Drenched by rain (click here) and increasingly desperate, typhoon-stricken Filipinos rushed fences and pleaded with guards Tuesday at the battered airport serving as a tenuous lifeline to an international aid effort confronted at every turn by transport and logistics bottlenecks....