Odd. Bipartisan paid hackers. Hm?

...And the group has an even more eye-opening claim: It was hired to hack PBS.org.

"This is the guy that paid us to hack pbs.org," the Lulz Security group wrote on its Twitter feed, pointing to the account of another person who goes by the name Shadow DXS.

Branndon Pike, the Daytona Beach 21-year-old who goes by the name Shadow DXS online, was quick to deny any such pay-off.

Pike said he's broke. "My fiancee is paying all my bills right now," he told FoxNews.com. "If I had a dollar it would not be going to these clowns."...

Hackers: Coming Soon to a PC Near You  (click here)

The PBS attack and Tupac report may seem like fun and games, but the joke could be on hackers if the Pentagon has its way

By Robert X. Cringely

Infoworld  

Jun 2, 2011 6:48 pm

This just in: After 15 years, Tupac Shakur is still dead.

It seems reports of the rapper's resuscitation have been slightly exaggerated -- or, rather,completely fabricated by a hacking group calling itself Lulz Sec (and/or the Lulz Boat). That "group" took over the website of PBS NewsHour over the weekend and posted a story that Tupac, who was gunned down in internecine hip-hop combat on the streets of Las Vegas in 1996, is actually alive and well and living in New Zealand, raising sheep, no doubt, along with Biggie Smalls....

Would decriminalizing the drug trade while placing it in the hands of physicians and business actually stop the abuse and crime affiliated with it currently?

Two soldiers watch 134 tons of marijuana seized by the Mexican Army burn in the border town of Tijuana, Mexico, in October 2010. (click title to entry - thank you)

It isn't an easy question to answer, but, there is definately a way of determining a solid yes or no to those issues.

…"Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won," the report said.

The 19-member commission includes former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former U.S. official George P. Schultz, who held cabinet posts under U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. Others include former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, former presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, writers Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa, U.K. business mogul Richard Branson and the current prime minister of Greece….

…The commission is especially critical of the United States, which its members say must lead changing its anti-drug policies from being guided by anti-crime approaches to ones rooted in health care and human rights….

George Pratt Schultz is no one's fool.  He is a learned man that has mastered 'policy' from every venue there is for policy.  He has served the people of the USA in vital roles within its government and his assessments cannot be dismissed.

His partner is the Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan.  They were joined by distinguished citizens to come to a concensus on how best to defeat the growing problem of drug cartels and their impingement on nations (that is plural) sovereignty.  Currently, Mexico is hanging on but finding it difficult to improve quality of life for its' citizens while fighting a sincere war within its borders with international criminals.  Afghanistan has the USA military absolutely confounded to stop the production of opium and instill an economy as profitable as the illegal trade that now exists. 

Is it possible for a civilized world to produce currently illegal drugs, classify them, regulate and control them, incorporate them into an economy to serve the people and their economies at lower costs and better quality than the products today on illegal markets?  The answer probably is YES.

The next BEST step for the study group to take is a presentation to the General Assembly of the United Nations.  This issue cannot die in political propaganda.  Affiliated with the global illegal drug trade are illegal trades of weapons and the funding of extremist organizations and that is only two of the very profound problems facing the global community that involves these dynamics.

Drug Addictions COST nations billions if not trillions in economic viability.  The citizens fall into influences outside their governments and I might add 'alcoholism' can be a good comparision to begin a comparison.  Alcoholism can be treated and treated successfully, but, that would not occur IF prohibition was the law of the land and covert activity was the only means of finding treatment.  Imagine having 'back street' alcohol treatment facilities.  Nothing short of disasterous and completely deleterious to a society.

To begin, the use of these 'scheduled' drugs have to be looked at closely.  If they are to be legal, in order to be effective the drugs MIGHT have to be classified as medications and then there is the uproar about INSURANCE COVERAGE and what is covered and what is not.  If these drugs are to be legalized and administered by physicians with the goal of removing their victims from the addiction, there will always be the danger of an underground movement no different than that we see today with perscription drugs.  Either it is aggressively treated or the 'illegal drug market' will survive.

The determination of 'benefit' of legalizing this market vs maintaining it as criminal will be found in THE MARGIN of improvement that is gained by aggressive, physician based legalization that overcomes and GIVES ADVANTAGE to the governments around the world rather than the criminals.  The best outcome is the marginalization of the criminal element while the legal trade is attractive to citizens, sought out as the best alternative and elevated to a positive aspect to any society burdened with these problems. 

It could be done and it should be done.  A vigorous Untied Nations exploring the potential and the end of drug cartels should go forward.  No one nation can take this challenge on without global consent.  It has to be a global focus to stop the cartels.  I have confidence if this is approached in an international venue it will not only be successful, but, will provide greater legitimacy to understanding the use of the drugs and where they are to be applied in medicine and where they are not.

To say the medical community of the USA will support these initiatives is an understatement.  When my Father at the age of 80, was battling cancer his oncologist stated to him in the presence of his family that if he decided to find comfort in marijuana as a relief to the symptoms he was going to experience in order to survive the treatment regime he would consent to the activity even though he could not legally say so.  My son in complete distress and in his 30s was willing to try to find comfort for his Grandfather.  Mind, we were all in the same room.  My son does not participate in this activity and I know that for a fact, but, in wanting to save his Grandfather's life he would do anything.  My Father stringently objected to my son's involvement and thanked his oncologist for being open minded.  I am confident the oncologist finds use of these substances within his practice everyday and finds it better to know what his patients are taking into their bodies rather than hide it.  There is danger in IGNORING the benefits of substances currently criminalized when people are fighting for their lives and desperate.  Something my son said to me after his Grandfather's death was, "If Grandpa had received some relief and appetitite enhancement with marijuana as a treatment, he might still be with us now."  No one should ignore those words, because somewhere in this country honest and decent citizens are doing exactly that and might not be telling their physicians about it.  Would my Father's oncologist have perscribed marijuana if he felt it would have saved his life?  You betcha.

The Study Group needs to go forward with their finding and not let it be shelved as inconsequential to a better world.

Battle Creek, Michigan was hit as well. (click here for video - thank you)

James McBryde of Mt. Pleasant heads from the Morning Sun Meet of Champions to take cover inside Mt. Pleasant High School Tuesday after the track meet was postposed due to threatening weather and lightning. Sun photograph by LISA YANICK-JONAITIS (click here)

Speaking of Massachusetts

Tornado Strikes Springfield, Mass. (click here for video)

An apparent tornado struck the downtown of one of Massachusetts' largest cities Wednesday afternoon, scattering debris, toppling trees, and frightening...

It started over the river.  There was plenty of fuel there for that monster.  Moisture.  Heat.  And it was done.  A big one, too.  It doesn't have much color because tornadoes don't have color until they carry debris.

There is damage to URBAN areas by TORNADOES today.  Heat Sinks.  Familiar with that term?  They are urban areas otherwise known as concrete jungles that when conditions are right can spawn their own tornadoes from the heat coming off the buildings and streets.  An evaluation will have to determine that in this instance, but, it is very possible. 

Apparent tornado hits Mass. city, injuries cited (click title to entry - thank you)

By STEPHEN SINGER

Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- A possible tornado has touched down in one of the biggest cities in Massachusetts, and a spokesman for the mayor says there has been damage and reports of injuries.

Other communities in western Massachusetts also may have sustained damage from the storm that hit Springfield on Wednesday. Tornado warnings are in effect. Residents have been told to stay indoors....

Baystate Medical Center spokeswoman Jane Albert says the Springfield hospital is treating numerous injured people. She says some have serious force trauma injuries.

Mayor Domenic Sarno's spokesman Thomas Walsh says there are no reports of deaths.

Walsh says he saw a spinning cloud of debris from a window at City Hall when the apparent tornado hit. He later saw uprooted trees downtown….

continued...

Buoy, it is not easy being a housekeeper these days, huh? Let's see if the USA prosecutors due better with international bankers than NBA superstars.

Twice in one week.  Perhaps International Bankers need to 'HIRE' their legal prostitutes before they come to the USA.  It wasn't like this when Bush was in office, huh?

..."It just blows our mind that this happened again (click title to entry - thank you)," said Joe McInerney, CEO of American Hotel & Lodging Association, the industry's biggest trade group.

New York police arrested Egyptian banker Mahmoud Abdel Salam Omar, 74, on a charge of sexually assaulting a housekeeper at The Pierre, a luxury hotel on New York's Upper East Side.

When she delivered tissues he'd requested Sunday, he locked her in his room and touched her inappropriately, police said.

Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested May 14, accused of a sexual attack on a housekeeper at Manhattan's Sofitel hotel. Hotel managers and employee unions say such incidents are rare, but after the first report, chains reviewed their security procedures. "You can't have employees being scared," McInerney said....

This is where it really gets interesting, though.  I do believe hotel workers need a UNION !  See indeed.

Hyatt offers 98 cleaners new jobs  (click here)

Boston Financial News – Several Hyatt Boston Hotels are Embarrassed by Thoughtless Firing

By Katie Johnston Chase and Megan Woolhouse Globe Staff

Article Courtesy of:  The Boston Globe

Hyatt Hotels Corp., responding to public outcry, political pressure, and threatened boycotts, yesterday offered the 98 housekeepers it fired last month new jobs at their old wages, a move that was met with mixed reaction by those who protested the firings.

Hyatt said it is offering the housekeepers at the three Boston-area Hyatts, who had been abruptly replaced by lower-wage workers, full-time positions with United Service Cos., a Chicago-based staffing organization that the hotel chain uses for contract labor. Hyatt said those who accept the positions will be paid at their full Hyatt wage rate through the end of next year….

 It is EASY TO BE THOUGHTLESS, when the people that work for an international hotel chain seem so much the peon and easily replaced.  Must keep the cusotmers happy, happy, happy.  Except, of course, when those customers can also be employees.

We Should All Be Ashamed of Ourselves  (click here)

By The Editors

May 31, 2011 | 8:14 p.m

It's the last week in May and the weather is finally warm, the Hamptons commute is seasonally torturous, and our aging international businessmen are doing what has become increasingly commonplace this time of year: lecherously pursuing the housekeeping staff through the halls and in the well-appointed rooms of our fine luxury hotels. And by "increasingly commonplace" we mean "twice in two weeks."  Which is far more commonplace than we'd like. Once in two weeks is pushing it.  Twice is just ... embarrassing....

The Weiners, it is more than dignity, it is personal peril at the 'operative end' of a fool-hearty prank.

Congressman Anthony Weiner and his wife.

The young LADY involved does not want her name smeared from one end of the internet to the other either.  But, for Congressman Weiner he could face ethic charges or worse.  He is doing the right thing to pursue this with 'independent' investigation before the waters get really muddy and all kinds of insinuations can be propagated.

He is protecting his marriage as well as his reputation and the interests of constituents.

If the 'prank' wasn't so obviously silly, it might even carrry brevity in the real world.

Female college student backs Congressman Weiner's 'hacking' story after VERY risqué picture is tweeted from his account (click title to entry - thank you)

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:13 PM on 1st June 2011

A lifeline for embarrassed U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner seems to have been extended by the woman at the centre of a scandal after a saucy picture was sent to her from the politician's Twitter account.

The married New York Congressman was left red-faced on Friday night, after someone published a crude picture of a man in underpants on his official Twitter account.

The picture, a close-up of a bulge in a pair of man's grey boxer briefs, was sent to one Twitter user - a 21-year-old college student from Seattle called Gennette Cordova - but was on view to all 45,000 of his followers....

We have seen this type of SOCIAL ENGINEERING before.  He is absolutely correct to take control and find out what the heck is going on here.  I wish him the best as the personality doesn't fit the picture UNLESS it was his wife that was playing with allure and enticement. 

"Medicare Advantage" (The PRIVATE Medicare) is running scared. (Link to 'Regular' Medicare - click at this title)

To begin, IS PRESIDENT OBAMA LYING about waste, fraud and abuse in private health insurance?

NO !!!!!!!  BY their own admission they know they are guilty.

That is just to begin.

Medicare Advantage Compliance Symposium

July 11, 2011 - July 12, 2011 | Arlington, VA

Health care fraud costs an estimated 68 billion dollars annually, (click here) and in many cases health plans are left to pick up the tab. Health plans must bolster their arsenal of strategies to avoid investigation and battle corruption. Join leaders from health plans, provider groups, regulatory bodies and law firms at this as they discuss such key topics as: the development of Fraud Waste and Abuse offices and programming, insight on Utilization Management and Encounter Data, ICD-10, Audit and Investigation Response, and case studies on topics ranging from Trends in Fraud, to management of Special Investigations, to comprehensive Compliance Planning.

EXAMPLE:

Wellcare (From their own website - click here).  They ask at this website, "Looking for a BETTER MEDICARE plan?  If consumers actually looked at the prosecutions by the Security and Exchange Commision and the USA Attorney General's Office at the bottom of that website, they would see this.

...in connection with the purchase or sale of any security:  (click here)

(a) to employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud;

(b) to make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; or

(c) to engage in any act, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person....

Why would anyone WANT to be affiliated with this health care organization?

If I may?

Wellcare is an huge organization that can easily be characterized as "Too Big Too Fail."  It conspired through former officers and employees of the organization to 'take the consumer' for OVER $40 Billion starting in 2002.

The year the fraud began was 2002 (click here for document). 

That means for seven long years, NO ONE bothered to prosecute this WALL STREET COMPANY.  No one until President Obama came in to office and began to LOOK FOR  and find waste, fraud and abuse.  Now, if Republicans want to say funding "Medicare Advantage" is a good thing when they don't even bother to police it, then they need to come up with a better strategy because this OUTRAGEOUS.

"Wellcare" is a corporate entity.  "Medicare Advantage" is a corporate entity.  Neither of these ? organizations ? (more like racketeers) are government in any way shape or form, EXCEPT, they receive government monies from the American Taxpayer through the USA Treasury. 

Got that?  Wall Street firms EXISTING to defraud the USA Treasury.

Okay?

Now, what if Medicare, the REGULAR Medicare administered by the USA government, were to completely end.  Instead people would be provided a voucher to purchase PRIVATE health care from these scoundrels?  What would happen?  Now, realize, the monies these 'entities' are receiving is still coming from the USA Treasury.  What would happen?  Too big to fail, but, not too big for fraud.  What would happen?

Yes, they would receive a bailout JUST LIKE WALL STREET did in 2008, but, there is something far worse than that.  What is it?  Because it happened in 2008 with Paulson and his cohorts.  What happened other than the bailout and the abandonment of the USA's economy?  There was something more, far more important, that happened that was more important to realize than that?  What was it?

THE IMPUGNING OF THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Paulson and his cohorts impunged the laws of the USA and called into question its sovereignty in favor of corporate domination of all that transpired in regard to their industry.

"Wellcare" and abusive practices of "Medicare Advantage" are now under the control of 'the law' to a certain extent, but, not to the extent they need to be.  It is why the Financial Reforms by the Obama Administration and the Consumer Protection Agency have become NECESSARY and VITAL.  They PRESERVE the sovereignty of the USA over and above the 'Too Big Too Fail" domination of Wall Street and Corporate America.  The USA in the case with "Wellcare" STILL has the ability to prosecute law breakers and send them to prision and levy fines.  When that changes and Medicare is completely privatized that will end and all that will be available to Americans is FUNDING the bailouts to the companies they pledge allegence and THIS TIME for their health care.

OH, no, no, no, no.  I don't think so.

The ONLY place private industry should be allowed to practive is in offering Medicare Supplemental insurance for a monthly fee.  In no way, should private industry ever control 'the care' Americans receive to the quality or the quantity that will impact the longevity of an entire country.  Placing the well being of Americans in the hands of Wall Street has caused deaths across this nation when it never should have happened.  It has to stop.  When we allow people to be 'a commodity' rather than a citizen we lose our integrity as a nation and a people. 

The Republicans are going to have to come up with something BETTER than they have got now which is ALL RHETORICAL and IRRELIVANT.

I want us to take our country back from WALL STREET and corrupted and corruptable politicians.  Let's do that in 2010. 

"Oh, yes we can."

The Bush Tax Cuts. How many of the people in this picture are still in office?

President Bush signing the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 in the White House East Room in June 7, 2001




















The question is NOT how much of the USA public spending is a percentage of the GDP !

The REAL question is WHOM is funding the percentage of the USA GDP represented by public spending?



The public sector of the USA economy, along with the entitlements of SSI and Medicare, are a vital part of the USA GDP.  The 'idea' that measuring public spending against the entire GDP of the USA is very, very deceiving.  When there are contractures in the USA economy because the business sector of the USA economy has been irreverent and/or negligent and/or greedy, the percentage of the GDP of the USA that is the public sector spending will definately GO UP.

Why?

Because the business sector of the USA GDP is losing its PERCENTAGE of the total.  So, while in 2000 after the surplus of the Clinton Administration, the USA seemed to be cruising without a lot of concern to the increasing percentage of the public spending of the USA, at the end of 2008 when the entire USA economy was in jeopardy and heading south, the percentage of the USA public spending grew.

It makes more sense to realize that 'economic growth' needs to be the focus of any economic policy and asking the government to 'down size' is not realistic a solution to the CONCERNS of the average citizen or the lousy financial experts around the globe.

The real solution to 'growth' of the USA economy is to increase local and SINCERELY small business owners to 'saturate' their local economies to the extent they can and then and only then seek foreign markets to make up the difference.  In other words, put everyone back to work in local economies to increase the tax revenues and then seek outside ? competition ? or better yet, business opportunists that are not competitive to bring new products to existing HOME GROWN American products.

One aspect to politics that I can usually count on is that when 'rational' by political pundits and candidates seems backwards' it most definately is. 

I asked myself, would I rather higher taxes on the wealthy and healthy to fund the USA's vital public sector economy or would I rather yield precious needed tax dollars to wealthy citizens and corporations to spend in Germany on orgies?

The way the USA economy works now with outsourced jobs, marginal incomes to the USA Middle Class with profits from Wal-Mart going to China, is that when we 'run short' of revenues we turn around and BORROW the profits China is reaping from OUR starved economy.

Hello?  Do I detect a vicious cycle that will further starve the USA of vital tax revenue through vital and good paying jobs while asking the profiteers in China to pay for their own purchase power in the USA by increasing our debt without investment to our growth?  I do believe so.

What India and China do not realize or at least appear not to realize is that when USA dollars, in the way of profits, leave the country, they are actually destroying their own markets.  Have we seen this before?  Yes.  When?  When USA automakers moved their production plants out of the USA for higher dividends to their stockholders while putting American workers out of work so they had no more income to actually purchase automobiles.

Something has to give here and it HAS TO BE WALL STREET and the Super Rich.  The USA Middle Class has given all it can give and it needs to stop.

But, Americans can get that 'feel goof feeling' by DONATING to invaluable NGO's that do the work of angels.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Campaign seeks to raise awareness of domestic minor sex trafficking  (click title to entry - thank you)

Billboards such as this one at Stewart Street and Minor Avenue have been placed by Shared Hope International. It's part of a national campaign to raise awareness about sex trafficking of American girls....

...The campaign, called "Do you know Lacy?" is being spearheaded by Shared Hope International, an anti-trafficking organization based in Vancouver, Wash., that was founded by former U.S. Rep. Linda Smith in 1998. Lacy, a pseudonym Smith gave to one young victim in her book, "Renting Lacy," is now an every girl of sorts, representing every American girl lured into the sex trade....

There are the exceptions though. It would seem these exceptions are among those exceptions that exist along the Arizona Mexican border.

3 Ariz. officers accused of drug, human smuggling

BOB CHRISTIE, Associated Press

Updated 07:43 a.m., Wednesday, May 25, 2011

PHOENIX (AP) — (click title to entry - thank you) Three employees of America's self-proclaimed toughest sheriff have been arrested in a drug and human trafficking case, authorities said Tuesday.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said a deputy and two female detention officers at the sheriff's largest jail facility were among 12 people taken into custody and accused of being in a Phoenix-based international drug smuggling ring....

The underpaid and endangered public employee that is "The American Police Officer" is hard at work especially in Nashville.

Chief Steve Anderson announces the distribution of new flood badges during a news conference at the North Precinct.  (click here)


There was a crime sweep in Nashville through six precints. 






Undercover arrests pick up drug, prostitution cases  (click title to entry - thank you)

2:12 PM, May. 28, 2011

Undercover detectives in Metro Police's six precincts charged 108 persons this week with mostly drug and prostitution offenses.

…They seized 30.3 grams of cocaine, 100.2 grams of marijuana, 161 pills, two guns, one vehicle and $220 cash….

…168 grams of cocaine and 2.5 grams of marijuana….

…seized 19.7 grams of cocaine, 59.7 grams of marijuana, one gun, one vehicle and $465 cash.…

…seized 1.5 grams of cocaine, 4.6 grams of marijuana, one gun and $1,858 cash….

…150 Lortab pills, 59.2 grams of cocaine and 148 grams of marijuana….

…Anyone suspecting drug activity in their neighborhood is urged to call the police department’s 244-DOPE hotline. Callers to the hotline can remain anonymous.

And why EXACTLY  do these PUBLIC EMPLOYEES even bother?  Because children are more safe if they do.

What the heck? LEGAL Corporate Orgies in Germany to insure loyalty to corruption? Really?

The trip was Mr. Kaiser's troops (click title to entry - thank you)  in the historic Gellert thermal baths of Budapest. What happened to the townsfolk in the 13th Century are relaxed, now known as "water Nights"takes place..

..Brothel visits at trade fairs and sex parties are seen as ways of providing (exclusively male) employees with an incentive that goes beyond the  normal pay raise or bonus. A representative from a German sex worker association posits that the red light reward trend may also be popular precisely because it would be embarrassing if made public.

“Rewards bind the interested parties and are therefore often the little connection to corruption,” she says. “If a reward in the form of prostitution is taken, then a much easier potential for personal blackmail emerges.” But the person who arranges and pays for the sexual encounter is also at risk of blackmail. {Der Spiegel}

Well, that’s one way to ensure loyalty.

We can only hope that the legality of  the events themselves help to ensure that everyone involved is a willing participant. Victims of human trafficking can often be forced into sex work, and in a field no one wants to admit they’re involved with that makes it all too easy for traffickers to continue what can be very shady, terrible treatment of women....

Just in case one was pondering the words, "The Kaiser's Troops," this might help.  The Kaiser is a very old concept of a powerful man with many underlingings.

From a little acorn, a great friendship grows (click here)

12:01AM GMT 14 Nov 2004

Ninety years after he was conscripted, Germany's only surviving veteran of the Great War talks to Tony Paterson in Alsace

Charles Kuentz holds up a sepia photograph of himself taken in 1916. It shows a youth of 19 wearing the Prussian spiked helmet, a heavy, grey field coat and sword that make up the full military dress uniform of the Kaiser's Imperial Army. Now, at 107, Mr Kuentz is the last soldier alive who fought for the Germans during the Great War.

His other photos show frightened-looking young men in ragged battle dress staring at a landscape turned into a sea of mud by shell fire. "We thought it would be a war to end all wars and I fought it in the belief that it would never happen again, but sadly it always does," Mr Kuentz told The Telegraph, from his home in Colmar, in eastern France, yesterday. "I will die hoping that mankind will one day see sense and we will stop killing each other."...

Republicans suggest more corruption to health care as a solution to bi-partisanship

...Representative Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, said he would "absolutely" be willing to negotiate with Democrats, who have hammered his plan to scale back government-run health plans for the poor and the elderly.

With Ryan's plan headed for likely defeat in the Democratic-controlled Senate, that chamber's top Republican said it was time for "an adult conversation" on ways to keep healthcare costs under control.

"Let's just stipulate that nobody is trying to throw Grandma off the cliff," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on "Fox News Sunday."

Health reform is a top sticking point as the two sides try to hash out a budget deal that would give lawmakers political cover to back an increase in the country's borrowing authority.

And as the 2012 election season gets underway, it is shaping up to be a top campaign issue as well.

Ryan's proposal to partially privatize the Medicare health plan for the elderly has already imperiled the presidential hopes of one Republican, Newt Gingrich, who faced a fierce conservative backlash last week after he described it as "right-wing social engineering."

Polls show that Ryan's proposed changes are unpopular with voters, and McConnell said he is not urging his fellow Republicans to support it when it comes up for a vote in the Senate this week.

"We have other budgets that Republicans are pushing," McConnell said. "We're not going to be able to coalesce behind just one."...

Afghan's Heroin Economy is speading HIV / AIDS. It is a public health issue no different than any other nation in the world.

Why are we still in Afghanistan, to fight their drug lords and wars?  I don't think so.

Iran has no problem with sentencing their drug traffikers to to death.  They, however, don't seem to bother with their most dangerous component, the 'high level' drug lords that promote the problem.  Iran is afraid of their own people when they are serving an illegal economy.

Global use of heroin has to stop and stop spreading HIV!!!!

Three hundred drug traffickers (click here) are on death row in Iran, the judiciary said, reflecting Tehran's hard line on narcotics which has added to international concerns over its extensive use of capital punishment, Reuters reported.

"For 300 drug-related convicts, including those who were in possession of at least 30 grams of heroin, execution verdicts have been issued," Sharq daily quoted Tehran prosecutor-general Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying on Monday.

Although the list was long it did not contain any big-time traffickers or ringleaders, he said. All the convicts face death by hanging.

Amnesty International says Iran is second only to China for the number of executions, with at least 252 people put to death last year.

As well as drug trafficking, murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery and apostasy are all punishable by death under Sharia law practised since the 1979 Islamic revolution....
Drug addition spurs demand, shortages of heroin from Afghanistan causes increased costs and in turn twarts the USA efforts to stop the heroin growers to change their crop choice.  It is a vicious cycle no one will stop until it is a global effort.  This initiative has to be an intricate part of "World AIDS Day" (click here) as well as awareness and testing days.  Addition is not a life, it is a surrender.

Afghanistan | 30.05.2011

Growing Afghan intravenous heroin use spurs HIV epidemic (click title to entry - thank you)

Afghanistan's poppy fields are the source of more than 90 percent of the world's opium. The global trade is worth an estimated $65 billion annually, and is a tricky component of the war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

But now the human toll of addiction is becoming visible in the form of an HIV epidemic in war-torn Afghanistan. At only a few dollars per gram on the country's streets, opiates like heroin, provide cheap relief from poverty and distress for a growing number of Afghans.

Between 2005 and 2009, the number of opiate drug users in Afghanistan grew by 53 percent to 230,000, according to UN figures. Of those, some 6 percent are injecting heroin.
Naqi Bullah, a 24-year-old Afghan, has found himself living amid the trash and discarded needles after having become a heroin addict....

Bring the troops home !

The "W"rong "W"ar at the "W"rong time left 4772 USA military dead with countless civilians.

This is not the failure of American policy.  Where a culture of jihad exists there will always be turbulence and death.

It is time for the USA troops to come home.

We will never forget.

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, May 29 (click title to entry - thank you)

29 May 2011 19:38

Source: reuters // Reuters

May 29 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq as of 1940 GMT on Sunday.

* Denotes new or updated item.


* BAGHDAD - A political analyst and university lecturer was seriously wounded by a bomb attached to his car in a western district of Baghdad, according to an interior ministry source.

* BAGHDAD - A police lieutenant was wounded when a bomb attached to a car went off in a southeastern part of the capital, according to a security source.

* MASHAHIDAH - Armed men killed an off-duty policeman in Mashahidah, 20 km (12 miles), north of Baghdad , an interior ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - Two bombs that exploded in quick succession near a liquor shop killed one civil defence worker and wounded six other people, including four Iraqi soldiers in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad, police said. The second bomb went off after army and civil defence personnel had gathered in response to the first blast.

MOSUL - A sticky bomb attached to a car carrying army Major General Khalid al-Ubaidi, a previous nominee for the position of defence minister, wounded the officer and his security guard in the north of Mosul city, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a local security official said.

Ubaidi had been one of the names initially proposed by the Sunni-backed Iraqiya party in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition government for the post of defence minister, but his name was later withdrawn.
(Compiled by Baghdad newsroom)

Remarkable patriots are everywhere this weekend, but, none so wonderful as Max Cleland.

He was returned to us from Vietnam during Operation Homecoming.  He has never stopped his service to the USA as a Geogia Senator and now with the Kennedy Presidential Libary in an effort by Patrick Kennedy to tackle brain science to improve the quality of life of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

My gratitude to him and all those that serves and served the USA.  Thank you.

Kennedy challenges experts to launch ‘new era of brain science’  (click title to entry - thank you)

07:54 AM EDT on Wednesday, May 25, 2011

...Other conference headliners included Max Cleland, disabled Vietnam veteran and former Georgia senator; Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the Army’s vice chief of staff; and former Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, chairman of the Council for American Medical Innovation. Cleland, who lost an arm and both legs in battle, spoke Monday....

Former Senator Cleland's book is above called "Heart of a Patriot."  (click here)   He has authored other books as well.   "Heart of a Patriot" can be purchased on Amazon for as little as $11.70.

I don't believe the "Gordian Knot" of Pakistan is insolvable. It is profound corruption enforced by violence.

The U.S. should speed its withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan but must remain engaged in Pakistan.

I believe Secretary of State Clinton was brave in entering Pakistan after the operation to remove Osama bin Laden.  I am confident, given the current climate between the USA and Pakistan, the Pakistani government was extremely concerned for her safety.  But, Fearless Hillary wasn't going to be intimidated into staying out of the country.  She is committed in every sense to resolution of tensions between the USA and Pakistan.  I am confident she sees this as an opportunity to focus on the corruption within Pakistan and help resolve it.

..."Our counterparts (click here) in the government were very forthcoming in saying that somebody somewhere was providing some kind of support, and they are carrying out an investigation," she said....

I don't see the USA operations in Pakistan to extract bin Laden and weaken al Qaeda as a blatant disregard of Pakistani sovereignty at all, actually.  It was obvious Pakistan either didn't have the will to rid the world of bin Laden and al Qaeda or simply couldn't.  Either way the 'precision' EXERCISE was carried out without engaging Pakistan troops or police officers and with complete secrecy to insure the safety of USA military experts. 

...Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (click here) visited Islamabad on Friday in a bid to ease the mistrust deepened by the secret May 2 raid that killed the al-Qaida chief.

Pakistani leaders see the raid as a blatant violation of their country's sovereignty, and Washington's decision to not inform Islamabad in advance as an example of a glaring lack of trust....

It is time for Pakistan to rid themselves of the corruption that allows such violence within their country, especially considering the assassination of Former Prime Minister Bhutto.  She was very interested in the tribal areas and the security of the people there.  She knew it was a haven for the 'untouchables' within the country.  The comfortable existence of bin Laden within the military complex of Pakistan is simply a reality no major power in the world should accept as 'normal' or an intelligence oversight.  This is an extremely dangerous posture for Pakistan in a Middle East under change at every turn and now Iran is sending troops to Syria to enforce the current government infrastructure.  Pakistan is too vulnerable to internal conflict to allow this covert extremist network to operate within their borders.  They should be commending the USA forces that assisted them in removing one of the most wanted international criminals on the planet.

The work of the USA State Department must go on uninterrupted, but, then so should the intelligence agencies to insure Pakistan is secure enough to conduct a vital investigation the protection of this heinous crimnial and his associaites throughout the country.

Public employees attacked again. Florida's Scott vetoes essential monies to provide added space for training essential personnel.

...Included in the governor's cuts was $750,000 (click title to entry - thank you) for an expansion of Santa Fe's Kirkpatrick Center.

The center holds classes for law enforcement and corrections officers, emergency medical technicians and paramedics. College officials say it is so cramped students must be turned away....

This is the contorted logic of the Republican Party these days.  Scott figures if Florida expands the training facility to accommodate more students for police and emergency workers, the public works of any city or state agency will hire them.  If the employees can't be hired, the public doesn't have to pay them and they can find other ways of fill a community needs or NOT.

Currently, the Florida State Police have ongoing hiring processes.  The attack on public employees by Governor Scott should be met with recall elections. 

The inability to be trained for a profession and enter the work force is a direct assault on the USA economic recovery.  Basically Governor Scott is undermining Florida's recovery by not empowering new public employees from taking their place to protect tourists in an essential role.  Businesses throughout Florida, with an area of 58,560 Square Miles, will have to rely more and more on private emergency and police services if they were counting on public employees to fill that need.  With the assault on the public training facilities it is doubtful even private employees will be sufficient in numbers to hire.  If the idea is to have private education academies, they probably already exist and if they don’t that is more delay in providing essential services.  This is crazy.  A Governor should never just stop increasing the education potential of so many for the jobs of police and emergency workers. 

How happy are Americans with President Obama and the majority Democrats of 2008? Very happy.

When they looked at the Ryan Plan that literally demolished Medicare as it is today and realized the alternative to funding the wealthy and war; they ran in droves the other way.

Today, in Paul Krugman's Op-Ed an interesting statisitic is revealed.

...Tuesday’s special election in New York’s 26th Congressional District.  (click title to entry - thank you) It’s a very conservative district, so much so that last year the Republican candidate took 76 percent of the vote....

New York 26 not only abandoned the Republican Ideology but did it in a wave that is unmatched in Republican politics.  Even if the Republican candidate received the Tea Party 9%, which is never going to happen, she still would have lost constituents.  How many constituents?  Nearly a full quater of all voters in that district.  That is not a loss, that is a stampede.

To begin New York 26 is not exactly ONLY a Republcian stronghold, so the voters there are conservative and like conservative values, but, they ARE NOT rhetorical Republicans SET IN STONE no matter the subject.

They remind me of an electorate opened minded enough to BE AFRAID.  Michael Moore frequently has stated in his political perspective, "Be afraid, be very afraid." and that is exactly want happened in NY 26.

If I may?

Outside the federal House election, and not speaking to the State of New York House and Senate, NY 26 has not damaged the Democratic Candidates running for federal office.  The Huffington Post did a very good analysis and I have posted in below, Gillibrand and Schumer faired very well.

New York 26 Special Election: What To Watch For  (click here)

According to the Huffington Post both Gillibrand and Schumer saw over 50% of the vote.

As to why Republicans will never ABSORB the Tea Party Vote is because they aren't Republicans.  They are a singular party entrenched in regressive analysis of the country and they will NEVER, and I do mean never re-enter the Republican Party.  They don't believe in Republican methods and the attack on Ryan and House Speaker Boner is an important example of that.  The Tea Party is trying to 'get it right,' but, lack the ability to move outside their own ideologies to achieve good goverance and good policies  for the USA.  They will never step aside to a Republican; they are to invested both in philosophy and finances to ever make that jump.  If the Republicans are waiting for The Tea Party to apologize and come home it will never happen.

I have said it before and I will say it again, the Tea Party is an autonomous party and simply finds it convenient to use Republican monies after they win their primaries.  There are actually three parties in the federal House of Representatives, the Republicans, the Tea Party Republicans and the DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY.  Allowing the RNC to actually claim the Tea Party as their own has caused nothing but battles for power within the House between the two autonomous entities and a lot of lousy governance with defeats of completely bizarre concepts in the way of House Legislation. 

President Obama has been magnificent through all this in an economy that is finely balanced and continues to recover.  President Obama has reached out a hand to every Republican in the House and Senate as they represent Americans seeking solutions and he has been remarkably transparent in his methods of doing so.  All any patritoic American has to ask themselves is "Are we better off today than we were in 2008?" and the answer will be yes with a President that never ignores his responsibility or the demands of the American people and was dealt a really lousy hand coming into his presidency.  I admire President Obama and he has acted more than admirably through one of the most difficult times in this country.

A patriotic American's worst option in politics is to engage in the rhetorical rant of the Republican Party Primary.

They have nothing factual to say.  I do mean nothing.  It is more of the same ole, same ole denial to propagate populous lies to factiliate a victory in the 2012 in states across the USA.  The campaign for President by the GOP is nothing more than 'more of the same' to try to repeat the worst ideas any American every voted for in 2010.

On Medicare, the Ryan Plan is a dreamscape for the private insurance industry, more military, more taz breaks for the wealthy and more burden on the people of our country that are unable to sustain their lives without a compassionate and empower country.

Since taking office President Obama has extended the Medicare plan by twelve years.  END OF DISCUSSION.  One President, one act of Congress, and one signature after a year of vigorous debate has extended the solvency of the Medicare Plan of the USA for twelve long years.  If he can repeat that again after his re-election of 2012 he will have saved Medicare for an entire generation of Americans.  Everything else is simply horse play by the greedy to reverse the progress President Obama and the majority legislature of Democrats have made in one full year of debate.

Since taking office in January of 2009, President Obama has kept his promises to the American people on many venues, including removing troops from Iraq, re-engaging Afghanistan to effectively remove the 'figure head' of al Qaeda.  He has brought a dialogue of openness and freedom to the Middle East.  We are witnessing for the first time in history the fact ordinary people in Middle East countries are finding their 'voice' stronger than weapons while rejecting 'jihad' as an answer to misery.  None of that is bad.  Paradigm shifts are never easy to understand as to what the final outcome will be and it requires someone who can navigate the 'straits' of that transition to insure the outcomes are beneficial and 'peaceworthy.'  President Obama has proven himself to be that vital person to the outcome of peaceful processes in international venues.  We cannot do it without him and I have never felt more strongly about that statement in my life.  The Republican idea of paradigm change in the Middle East is more war and more killing.  That is not a solution.  It never was.

President Obama promised to move the USA forward on energy needs of the Americna people.  Within the American Recovery and REINVESTMENT Act he empowered the Alternative Energy Industry to make a lasting footprint on the energy needs of Americans.  That industry now has a voice at the table, a vital voice that keeps growing and proving to be worthy of that voice.  President Obama has taken the Climate Crisis seriouslly and sees a path to reducing carbon dioxide contributions by the USA by empowering the EPA.  The EPA has never before been so empowered to make rulings on these sciences that will bring about CO2 reductions Earth needs.  There is not one, not one Republican willing to permit the EPA to back up the science, instead, they want to role back that authority and allow windfall profits at the cost of LIVING AMERICANS in the path of record breaking storms and heat.  We need more from the EPA and the Interior Department to stem the GROWTH of fossil fuels, not less.  They have to empower the Alternative Energy Industry as it GROWS into an Americna Dream when it comes to energy use.

The Interior Department of the USA has to be empowered to continue to protect the Wildlands of the USA.  It has done a remarkable job of protecting our nation's forests while setting aside vital links for wildlife and birds that pass through the USA in internatinoal migrations.  The Interior Department has taken on the challenge of returning endangered and threatened species in recoverable initiatives and that has to continue.

On the wellness front, the First Lady has been pounding the pavement to bring enlightment to good nutrition and return activity to the lives our nation's children.  At a time in our history when childhood obesity and diabetes has never been so prevalent and 20% of our young people are suffering from hypertension they are allowoing themselves to be entertained by 'screens' rather than 'streams' and they need to return to healthful activity in the outdoors where they can engage nature.  Our First Lady has also found service to military familes as a vital capacity to our nation's national defense.  We are longing for and finding military commitments that provide for the heroes of Seal Team Six.  Their families and that commitment means a great deal to our cournty adn our First Lady along with our Second Lady makes it a priority to know where their lives can be unburdened from dedicated service to the USA.

I could go on and on with the changes that have occurred under the Obama Administration and his eager willingness to serve the best interests of the American people.  He has passed essential legislation during only two years of his Presidency that was never enjoyed by this nation of any Republican President.  The current lack of motivation found with controlling speculation is 'excused' by the powers that be in victiminizing the Middle Class all the more and stating their retirement funds and mutual funds are vitally linked to high fuel costs.  That has to change.  No one wants to see mutual funds deteriorate, but, when the Middle Class and Poor are asked to pay for their retirement in ways that are incideously going to cost the American economy progess and jobs that is no longer a vital role for the energy sector.  The energy sector based in fossil fuels has become draconian and not beneficial as a method of providing a retirement benefit for Americans.  We need this paradyme change and we need it now, not the next time a Repbulican Senator, House or Governor obstructs more vital legislation to make the lives of Americans better while fulfilling dreams of generations.

Thank you.