Evidently it takes a spotless soul to be a Democrat in office these days. Republicans are exempt.

Rarely do prestigeous people experience sincere relationships in such glib methods as the internet. 

It is always about money.  The latest were college photos.  How much did they pay for those?  And why?  There is no credibility in them.  Whatever.

The crowd at the press conference was verbally abusive trying to intimidate and embarass further.  The 'ideas' that came out from the hecklers were actually educational.  Some 'ideas' would have never occurred to me.  Wow.

Sorry to see Former US House Representative Weiner leave due to harassment of the Right Wing.  Yet another is unable to carry out the responsiblities he was elected into because of undisciplined and maligning media.

I believe Huma was correct in allowing her husband to take responsibility in announcing his resignation alone to his constituency and the Democratic Party. 

...After much speculation, (click title to entry - thank you) Huma Abedin did not appear at husband Anthony Weiner's side as he resigned from Congress on Thursday afternoon.

The outgoing N.Y. Democrat resigned nearly three weeks after the revelation that he had been sending a number of women lewd pictures of himself on the Internet.

Weiner apologized to Abedin during his resignation speech, and expressed the hope that "my wife and I can continue to heal from the damage I have caused."...

"Facing South" is a very interesting publication. It seeks to expose the underhanded and oppressive labor environment of the Southern USA. (click title to entry - thank you)

In an article not long ago they discussed the Jacksonville, Texas "Walmart" and how majority butchers taht voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.  It got ugly after the vote to organize was passed and Walmart was faced with having a unionized shop in their midst.

Walmart didn't handle it well.  See, union organizing is based within the US Constitution as a right to assemble, freedom of speech, contract law, etc., etc., etc.  So, if anyone states unionization is unconstitutional they are ignorant.  The rights of unions are strongly based within constitutional law and it is safe to venture a statement that destroying unions is a direct assault on the US Constitution.

Jacksonville, Texas: Why We Need Employee Free Choice (click here)

Posted on March 23, 2009 by webteam

If there was ever a example of why we need the Employee Free Choice Act, its the saga of Wal-Mart workers in Jacksonville, Texas.
In February 2000, workers at a Wal-Mart meat department in Jacksonville, TX voted to form a union by 7-3 margin. Instead of honoring the vote and opening negotiations with UFCW, Wal-Mart took the standard company option: it closed all in-store butcher departments in favor of pre-packaged meats. If Wal-Mart’s union-busting reputation was ever in question, this case erased any doubt years ago....

Walmart is vicious regarding union organizing.  They are not only vicious in the American Southland, they are vicious globally.  As a matter of fact, Walmart with its global reach and obvious ability to degrade local economies is nearly 'an instrument' of Wall Street is a very big way.

Examples:  South Africa in 2011.  Walmart purchased a 51% share of a retail store chain called "Massmart."  South Africa is very, very union centered.  The diamond mines alone are enough to give any self-respecting South African pause to realize the extreme working conditions employees undergo to simply earn a paycheck. 

Walmart Executive Vice President and board member opening called union members, "blood sucking parasites."  The contract with Massmart exists for another three years and Walmart is determined to destroy the union when negotitations open.  What has that done to their 'Wall Street' name and brand?  It provides a 'model' for success in union busting to Wall Street.  If a company has enough liquid capital and wants to destroy unions, which also means destroying their own market base, they can venture into those waters and attempt to destroy them along with a vital Middle Class.

It isn't just South Africa either.  In 2004, in Jonquiere, Quebec, the workers voted to join the UFCW (click here) a union focused on supporting labor in Canada and the USA.  After voting to join the union, the store was simply closed for business.  That is pure stupidity.  It provides a very bad public comment to the local economy.  When the store opens again, the unions will be there anyway.

The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union is responsible for the union organizing at the controversy surrounding a "Target" store in New York.  It is the first store to even consider unionizing within Target and it is being scrutinized by Wall Street.

..."Will the store close if the union gets in?"  (click here)
The company answer: "There are no guarantees."
The Valley Stream store performs in the middle of the pack companywide, making its closure unlikely. But it stands alone among the 1,754 Targets: On Friday, its 260 workers will decide whether to join the largest retail union in the country.
The outcome could have ramifications not just for the company but for the industry, organized labor and potentially consumers nationwide, giving organized labor a rare beachhead into big-box retail.
If the union wins, "that's big news," said Chris Tilly, the director of UCLA's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. "It shows [unions] have potential that people thought wasn't there."
The tenor of the company's flier was noteworthy to John Budd, a labor relations professor at the University of Minnesota. "It suggests Target is quite nervous," he said.
The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union says it intends to organize other Target stores in the New York area, and the company and the union are already accusing each other of resorting to unfair and illegal tactics...


If Target closes this store in retaliation of a passing vote to bring the union into its employees, the UFCW will be in a strong position to move against the company in court.  The tactics of Walmart in Canada can be presented as 'Wall Street Precedent' in violating the 'free will' of people when they want to protect themselves from poor wages and exploitive management practices.

In of all places, Bangledesh, labor supporters for employees of Walmart,  Babul Akhter, Kalpona Akter, and Aminul Islam were imprisoned and tortured.  They could face the execution for destroying property where are false charges.  Walmart Corporation could easily stop this hideous attrocity in a place where the struggle for human rights has gone on for decades.  But.  Walmart isn't making an effort because it acts as oppression to the "blood sucking parasites" that are employees to the company.

The list goes on and on with a definate global 'attitude' by Wall Street to 'keep the peasants down' at any cost, even their lives.  Reading about this very much reminds me of the beginnings of unions in the USA.  It was very dangerous and people died to protect others and build the foundation of the modern union movement.  One of the big topics for unions in the beginning wasn't even wages, so much as working conditions.  Working conditions is a huge insult to workers globally and the reason alone for outsourcing. 

Macy's loves people. Their unions are important to them. Unions are not unreasonable.

(Reuters) - Macy's Inc (click title to entry - thank you) and the union representing 4,000 workers at four of its New York area stores, including its famed flagship, reached a tentative new labor agreement on Thursday, averting what would have been the department store's first strike since 1972....

...Macy's did not disclose any of the terms of the contract, but spokeswoman Elina Kazan said in an e-mailed statement that the deal "addresses the economic and business realities of the retailing industry, while keeping jobs at Macy's among the best in the department store industry."...

If anything, unions are far to willing to get along with their employers when the facts are on the table.  But, it has to be a two way street.  When I was a Union Representative we not only ran seminars and meetings to increase and maintain the expertise of our members, but, we also brought ideas for improvement for the business in the market place.  Management has to be receptive to the insight union expertise can bring, not only in supporting labor, but, in supporting the market place for their goods.

One other thing, by supporting our members with educational opportunities, was an expense their employer did not have to budget because these opportunities were open to all the employees, not just members.  We felt peers were just as important to a good outcome as much as our members.  It was a nice work envrionment.  The Middle Management had their own union, too.

Target used union actors for anti-union film

Oh, the irony! Target Corp., (click title to entry - thank you)  long locked in a battle with labor organizers, filmed a notorious internal anti-union video with union actors and under the jurisdiction of one of the biggest unions in the entertainment business....
This film simply shows there is a right to "Freedom of Speech" no matter how much of the content is deceptions and flat out lies.

The actors and actresses did a great job.  They didn't attempt sabotage regardless of their own status.  Congratulations.  It's work, right?

...and in New Jersey there is the same 'horse play' as in Wisconsin. No origiality by the Republican Governors.

Christie Continues To Catch Grief For Chopper Ride To Son’s Game (click here)

Everything is MONOTONE?  Really?  Yet, New Jersey is so very different from Wisconsin in its income and expenses, but, the attack on unions goes on.

Helicopter rides for the Executive Branch, but, no money for employee benefits.  I'll be darn.

...Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (click title to entry - thak you) said Tuesday it was important to get public debate under way, but she's not committed to putting the bill up for a full Assembly vote. It will be heard by the Budget Committee on Monday.

Oliver's announcement came the day after former Assembly majority leader Bonnie Watson Coleman urged colleagues in a strongly worded letter to stand up for core Democratic principles. Watson Coleman said her party should unite in opposition to Republican Gov. Chris Christie's policies, starting with a refusal to vote on any legislation that infringes on collective bargaining.

"It now pains me to see how we have been strategically and systematically manipulated to compromise the value of our majority in support of this governor's agenda," she wrote. "How are we allowing ourselves to be dragged down this governor's right-wing alley of pain and devastation that is targeting the middle class, frail, elderly and poor, and support an agenda that upholds and indeed lifts the wealthiest?"...

I really do believe in citizen participation in govenrment decision making.  It can be effectively done by allowing a "Public Comment Period" previous to any plan for a budget.  A Public Comment Period could last 60 to 90 days and precede the writing of any budget and certainly before any vote.  The Budget seems to be the favorite place for Republican Governors to hack away at bargaining rights and union benefits, so make the public a part of the process and legislate it in as part of the process to STABILIZE budget prioritizing and spending every year REGARDLESS of whom is the Governor. 

Let me see if I get this right. Christine Quinn is running a pep rally for New York City unions?

...City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (click title to entry - thank you) had asked Municipal Labor Committee Chairman Harry Nespoli to come to the table to discuss ways to prevent the layoffs. Talks centered on tapping into the Health Insurance Stabilization Fund, which is run jointly by the city and the unions.
But Mr. Nespoli released a terse, pessimistic statement this afternoon following the committee meeting, which he said lasted several hours.
“I can tell you that there is a lot of mistrust of City Hall based upon the way we have been treated in the last eight months or so,” the statement said. “That is all I am going to say right now.”
The reference appeared to be to the mayor's refusal to give ground on his layoff threat.
Not all of the committee's 90 unions are against the deal, but enough are resisting it to put its outcome in doubt.
The United Federation of Teachers, which stands to lose the most, is in favor of the deal, the details of which have yet to be ironed out between the mayor's office, the City Council and the unions. One labor insider said the deal “was neither blown up nor locked up.” The insider said that some unions wanted a no-layoff guarantee to be extended for a period of longer than one year....


It would seem as though New York City unions have been meeting with the New York City Council representatives to attempt to come up with a plan to BAILOUT New York City.  This would be at least the SECOND TIME in history New York City was bailed out of poor management in order to stay afloat.

The unions were willing to bailout the city to prevent layoffs by usings funds in their Health Care Stabilizaiton Fund, which is a really good idea by the way.  BUT.  That wasn't enough for the City Council, they will only commit to one year of layoff free STABILIZATION of its budget.  One year of no potential layoffs so New York City can come back and drain more monies from the city workers. 

Hm.

I don't think so, because, when I looked at the city's budget for Fiscal Year 2011 it is balanced WITHOUT any monies coming from the unions.  I am not an expert at reading all this, but, at first glance it looks as though the city revenues on page 18 of report Number 3 of the city budget is $868,000,000 US.   Report number 1 on page 5 of the city 2011 Fiscal Budget shows the budget balance . (click here)  Why can't the city do the same think for Fiscal Year 2012?

Because according to the mayor himself the entire Fiscal Year of 2012 for New York City, is seeing a revenue increase of $2.7 billion US.  Is the City Council and Mayor actually saying that the State cuts are MORE than $2.7 billion to NYC?  Really?

Because according to the 2012 Budget Summary, on page 3, (click here) the City is boasting how it is making up the 20% state and federal cuts by injecting $2 billion into education, which is exactly where the City wants to ? layoff ? more workers.  On that same page, page 3, the City also boasts how it does so much more with so many less employees.  I can't help believe 'the poor mouth' New York City Council is crying to the unions is simply 'jazz' and manipulation to 'break the backs' of their unions.  It sure looks that way. 

What is this Republican Union Busting?  Any excuse will do?  Looks like the NLRB has its work cut out for it this year.
 
Will the unions please do their homework on this?  Please?  It seems as though there are a lot of meetings and a lot of talking but not much REALITY ORIENTATION to management.   I am getting the feeling this is all gamsmanship on the part of the City and not realtiy.  Or Bloomberg is blowing smoke of New York City residents' skirts.

The 2012 Executive Expense Budget is $65.7 billion. This is the thirty-second consecutive budget which is balanced under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), except for the application of Statement No. 49 of the Government Accounting Standards Board (“GASB 49”) which prescribes the accounting treatment of pollution remediation costs.

Major highlights of the Executive Budget and Financial Plan are:

• Forecast revenues have increased between fiscal years 2011 and 2012 by $2.2 billion. Baseline tax revenue

is projected to increase by $2.1 billion.

• Controllable Agency Expenses increase by $778 million or 3.7% from fiscal years 2011 to 2012 after

implementation of an agency expense program.

• The agency program totals $633 million and $1.2 billion in fiscal years 2011 and 2012, respectively.

• Debt Service increases by $562 million or 11.7% between fiscal years 2011 and 2012 while Non-Controllable Expenses increase by $3.7 billion or 19.7% over this period. The increase in Non-Controllable Expenses includes $1.8 billion for Pensions and Fringe Benefits, and $509 million for Medicaid.

• The above actions leave the City with a forecast Operating Deficit of $3.2 billion in fiscal year 2012 that

is balanced using $3.2 billion of surplus funds accumulated in prior years. The forecast gaps for fiscal years 2013 through 2015 are $4.8 billion, $5.1 billion, and $5.3 billion, respectively....

BUDGET AND FINANCIAL PLAN OVERVIEW (click here)

While the Right Wing has found 'the fire in the belly' to demonize unions, I found this article. It is interesting.

Arthur B. Shostak
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104

...Organized Labor, down now to only 13 percent of the American work force from 35 percent in the 1950s, confronts at least three major threats to its existence: The first, its loss of jobs sent overseas, is obvious.  The second, a recent rise in well-being of certain members, poses an ironic risk.  And the third, confusion about using computer power, while a threat least well-recognized in and outside of Labor, is arguably the most critical hazard of all....

It is an article by labor about labor.  I think it is well done.  One of the 'myths' circulating in the Right Wing Media today is how President Obama wants to slash technology to increase job growth.  I think they said, the President wants to take away automation to increase the cost of making stuff, but, employing more people. 

The Right Wing Media really plays people for fools.  There is no other way to look at it.  Unions, in the year 2011, represent highly technical fields such as nursing, teaching, engineering (both public and private), machinists, aerospace workers, Longshore workers, letter carriers, theater and stage workers, newspaper workers, glazers. iron workers, flight dispaters, meterologists and operation specialists, Flight Attendants, Pilots, food and commercail workers, university professors and staff, hospital workers, electrical workers, elevator workers, dry wall tapers, plumbers, linoleum and soft tile workers, communication workers, carpeters, brick layers, construction and building trade workers, boiler workers, heat and frost and insulation workers, Municipal, State and Federal employees, steel workers, actors and actresses, writers and film industry workers, sheetmetal workers, the maritime industry workers, seafarers, sailors, painters, police officers, paramedics and plasterers and cement masons.

Tell me one job there that does NOT use technology in the year 2011.  How is it that President Obama is anti-technology in order to 'dummy down' the nation to create more jobs?  It is hideous. 

The article noted in this entry examines THE REAL CAUSES of union membership decline.  I found it to be a welcome understanding to a greater dynamic that creates 'disinterest' in workers and their ability to secure good pay and benefits.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

I especially like this paragraph:

...Many well-off workers may think unionization unnecessary, at least as long as they continue to "feel" financially comfortable (a social-psychological effect known since the 1960s as the "embourgeoisification of the proletariat").  This can take the form of workers - newly indifferent to Labor - employing what is known to academics as the Exit Strategy (quitting one job to take a better one) in preference to choosing the Voice Strategy ( sticking with the union and fighting for gains).  Especially in a culture like that of America, where class membership is lightly and unevenly held, where it is somehow odd to seeing oneself as a beneficiary of collective representation, unions have long been buffeted by this sort of conscious drift away from collective bonds toward "Me, first!" individualism....
Ah, reasons beyond what one might think.

The Unions are finally in the best venue to defend themselves.

Several unions (click title to entry - thank you)  filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday to block a law that limits collective bargaining rights for public workers in the state. A day earlier, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reinstated the law, overruling a lower court’s decision to halt it because it had been passed improperly. The unions, which represent teachers and state and city workers, say provisions of the law violate the Constitution by singling out only some public workers and not others.

It would have been best if the Supreme Court of Wisconsin simply upheld the "Open Meeting Rule" rather than making excuses for the court's lax attitude.  "There was an opportunity to attend." is not a proper decision.  It is definately a corrupt opinion and I don't care if there was a majority to back it up.  The Open Meeting Rule not only demands the opportunity to attend, it demands a CERTAIN attendance by important members of the State legislature be present.  The Open Meeting Rule states that for a reason and it isn't to make sure the chairs in the room are filled.  It is to insure there is NO HORSE PLAY with the purpose of the meeting.  The Court that ruled, "There was an opportunity to attend." completely discarded the entire rule out of practice.  The Court's ruling needs to be appealed AGAIN. 

But, that aside the venue now for the unions is a court of law where they can clearly illustrate the underhanded and corrupt nature of the Walker Budget with unequal burden to children in classrooms.  It might be teachers that are effected, but, the ultimate victim to that budget are the children, the futures and ability to compete in the real world.  The Budget is highly discriminatory and victimizes the youngest members of our society. 

No only that, but, it discriminates along the lines of campaign donations and favors.  Shame on them.

The Pakistan ISI is at the heart of the regional turbulence and has been involved in destabilizing the Pakistan government for a long time.

Let's get rid of the confusion about Pakistan's PRIORITIES.

...Pakistan’s detention (click title to entry - tahnk you) of five C.I.A. informants, including a Pakistani Army major who officials said copied the license plates of cars visiting Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in the weeks before the raid, is the latest evidence of the fractured relationship between the United States and Pakistan. It comes at a time when the Obama administration is seeking Pakistan’s support in brokering an endgame in the war in neighboring Afghanistan....

Pakistan's ISI places importance on Kashmir above any other priority under their gaze.  They want Kashmir as a possession and they won't settle for anything else.  The attacks on Mumbai mau not have received direct action by the Pakistan ISI, but, a nod was given for it, by ignoring the terrorists that carried out.

Got it?  Kashmir IS the first priority of the Pakistani ISI.  They DO NOT and I cannot say it enough DO NOT want the USA involved or the United Nations because the global community would not see it there way and we would settle things differently than Pakistan would consent to.  No one will ever say this, but, it is THE WAY IT IS.

The Taliban were FORMED and TRAINED by the Pakistani ISI to CREATE an added burden with India and cause more stress on the Indian forces to keep Kashmir within the rhelm of 'unstable.'  Musharraf and bin Laden were practically brothers.  That is why I stated on many occassion, "Where is bin laden, Georgie, in the basement of Mushy's palace?" 

Osama bin Laden was ALLOWED to be where he was and no one will change my mind.

The Pakistani ISI is an autonomous entity within that country and pledges no allegience to anyone or anything EXCEPT the power struggle to retain Kashmir for their own.  They don't care if the struggle goes on forever, they don't care if people die, they believe in their holy war in Kashmir and that is all 'the ISI foot soldiers' will be loyal to.  The quality of life of the people of Kashmir have been insulted and degraded for a very long time and that is NOT a priority with the ISI so much as inflicting as much damage to India as they could in the region.

The Pakistan ISI hates the USA.  That will never change until Pakistan is purged of their OWN extremists and extremist agenda within the government.  I am not surprised the ISI rounded up informants to the USA.  I am only wondering which informant gets the $25 million reward for bin Laden's head?

If the USA and the United Nations want to 'end it' in the region they have to address the war in Kashmir to a FINAL ENDING before any peace will go forward.  To the Pakistan ISI, Kashmir is their Palestine.  Nothing else matters.

Address root cause to change Pakistan’s India focus: Former ISI chief (click here)

Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Posted by Rama Jayam

A former Pakistani spymaster credited with helping create the Afghan Taliban says Pakistan’s India focus would not change unless what he called the “root cause” of “Indian state terrorism in Kashmir” was addressed....

I demand the USA offer 'sanctuary' in it's embassy to all those arrested !

The Supreme Court was sharply divided on the decision regarding "The Open Meeting Law" which prohibits unions from collective bargaining.

It all sounds corrupt to me, either the legislature abides by their own rules or they don't.  This decision is turning legislative process in Wisconsin into a free for all.  I can't imagine this won't be appealed and I am sure the NLRB will review the oppression of public worker's rights in Wisconsin.  The recalls of the Wisconsin State Senate has to go forward.  The Democratic Committee should use the model for Lisa Murkowski who sent post cards to voters to tell them how to vote for the candidates that actually uphold their rights rather than a 'faux' Republican in Democrat clothing.

...essentially a 4-3 decision, the high court overturned a lower court, (click title to entry - thank you) which had ruled Republican lawmakers violated the state's open meetings law when they passed the measure in March.
"Access was not denied," the Supreme Court declared in Tuesday's decision. "There is no constitutional requirement that the legislature provide access to as many members of the public as wish to attend meetings of the legislature or meetings of legislative committees."
But Tuesday' 68-page decision was a thicket of concurrences and dissents, reflecting the sharp divide the measure has created in the state itself....

But, there is a larger picture if one can believe that and I would like to paint it here. 

Many people believe all this extremism is an anomoly in the USA because of the "Great Recession."  That is a factor, but, the events of 2010 were far more pre-meditated than that. 

I am going back to 1990 thorugh 1992 in a meeting at Johnson & Johnson in Raritan, New Jersey of employees and a Vice President by the name of Mr. Cincotta (that spelling may not be exactly correct, but, more phonetically - SIN-COAT-TA). 

The option of enrolling in the new 401K was being introduced to the employees in several meetings whereby departments were assembled in an auditorium on site.

The Vice President in his presentation stated, "I strongly encourage all our employees to join J&J in this opportunity to build a retirement fund.  In twenty years, the Medicare Program we all know today will no longer exist and will be replaced with a 'voucher program' that will only contribute to your retirement health insurance.  Additional monies by employees will be needed to assist in carrying that burden.

This is a true story.  What has that got to with Wisconsin?  This is Medicare and not union rights.

That true story illustrates clearly how Wall Street has an agenda for the activities within the USA's populous that provides for their profit margins.  I guarantee you, somewhere in someone's files there exists information regarding the wide spread activities of Representative Governors and legislatures in the year 2010.  This radicalism only seems radical because somewhere along the way it was derailed and those conversations with the American people never took place.  What occurred was enlightenment to the agenda of Wall Street in dominating the American reality and how easily 'the peasants' could be controlled and kep in abeyance.

I don't lie about these things.  There is far too much as stake and it involves the country, its citizens, our children's futures and the well being of our democracy.  This stuff is real.  It is not going away unless we all make it go away.  Wall Street is not the government and the government is not Wall Street.  Wall Street is a private entity and needs to be monitored and regulated to control 'the fallout' to the citizens of the USA.  For over a decade the Republicans have deregulated and deregulated and pushed the economic structure into failure, this is just the next step in an agenda that began a long time ago. 

Why would a J&J Vice President tell an entire community of employees signing up for the first time to their 401Ks that Medicare would become a voucher program in twenty years unless it was being excecuted as he spoke.  Think about it.  Why would Wall Street reach out to average citizens to enroll in building a retirement fund through risky investments unless they had plans.  The monies people were saving or investing in their homes are all 'money reserves' and they can be expoited if 'people buy in to them.' 

The attack on public sector unions is 'just the next step' for the Right Wing Republicans.  They have an agenda.  It is real. 

We are the ones that have to stop this and there is no looking back.  I promise you that.

Rick Perry is boasting about Texas job growth as if there is something to boast about and elect him President. Please !

If one looks at the graph at the link to this entry, it is easily noted that the Texas unemployment rates bounces around from decade to decade like a rubber ball.  That is endemic to Texas, Perry has nothing to do with it.

June of 1992 the Texas Unemployment rate was 8.4%.  while the national rate was 8%.  YES, that right, in June of 1992 the USA unemployment rate was 8% under President George H. W. Bush.

The Texas Unemployment Rate zig-zagged like the carbon dioxide hockey stick of Mauna Loa Laboratories until December 2000 when the rate was 3.7% under President William Clinton while the national average was 3.7%, too.

Then under the illustrious leadership of George W. Bush the unemployment rate rose in Texas in June of 2003 to 7.5% while the national average was 6.5%.

In April of 2007 the Texas unemployment rate fell once more to 4.0% while the national average was 4.4%.  I suppose all those ill gotten gains from Halliburton's Iraq venue meant something.  The federal treasury during the first term of Bush/Cheney subsidized the Texas economy.  It was not time that the Texas unemployment rate was skyrocketing again as the global economic collapse became real. 

In April 2008 it was maintaining at 4%, by December of 2008 it was 5.7% and by July 2009 it was 8.2%.  The all time high came in January 2010 at 8.6% and it has jumped up and down since then for a Texas Unemployment rate of 7.7% as of April 2011. 

Texas is the largest state geographically in the lower 48 with extensive natural resources that Repbulicans rely on in order to be wealthy.  It has the second largest population of all the states, California being the first, so the 'TEND' in unemployment will naturally show up there first.  It is the first state to actually realize the changes taking place in the nation because it is the highest number of people with changing employment.

The USA National unemployment rate is 8.4% currently.  If Rick Perry were boasting the unemployment rate of Texas had fallen dramatically to something like 5% or even 6% I'd say he'd have something there.  But for Texas unemployment rate to be only .7% less than the national average, it ain't anything to brag about. 

Besides falsely claiming he has made the most strides in employment in the nation, he is attempting to conduct oppression of the Texas vote. 

Voter ID Is a Texas Emergency, Rick Perry Declares  (click here)

By Richard Connelly, Thu., Jan. 20 2011 at 12:16 PM

Categories: Political Animals

Remember that vast tsunami of voter fraud that swept across Texas, coming close to throwing into chaos the very concept of democracy?

Neither do we.

Even Karl Rove, using every bit of the federal government he could get his hands on, couldn't find the widespread fraud right-wingers insist takes place among what coincidentally happen to be minority voters.

But rampant voter fraud exists, dammit, because GOPers keep saying so. And not only does it exist, it exists to such a massive extent that Rick Perry has introduced emergency legislation dealing with it….

In all honesty.  The Republican Party is in such disrepair that it can hardly call itself a party anymore.

This is the Missouri River Basin according to the Army Corp. of Engineers

Iowa town to 'make our stand' against flooding (click title to entry for video - thank you)

...Army Corps of Engineers contractors are racing to add earth to a secondary levee system ringing Hamburg after the main levee, partially breached last week, punched open a 300-foot hole by Monday evening.

"We're just making preparations to make our stand. We're still dry and hoping it'll stay that way," Hamburg Fire Chief Dan Sturm said...

From NASA, American assets as work.  It is a shame the legislature of the USA doesn't believe what it sees.  Amazing.

Lewis and Clark Lake in the upper right corner.  The Missouri River empties into that lake.  This NASA photograph was May of 2005.

This is all very vital farmland.  No one seems get their mind around it, ya know?

This is Lewis and Clark Lake in the upper right corner.  The Missouri River empties into it.  This satellite image was taken on June 11, 2011.

By early June 2011, the Missouri River (click here) had risen enough to submerge normally dry land, including some agricultural land, west of Lewis and Clark Lake. Acquired the by Thematic Mapper on the Landsat 5 satellite, these images show part of the Missouri River along the South Dakota-Nebraska border. The top image, from June 5, 2011, shows flooded conditions. The bottom image, from May 19, 2005, shows more typical conditions....

There photos are important.  They record the nation when it is normal and when it receiving extreme climate conditions.  But, the photos are also important to the farmers.  When their production falls because of these severe climate conditions they can apply FOR LOANS.  Not subsidies, but, low interest loans so they can survive until next growing season.

(Reuters) - An elderly woman has drowned (click here) and two others were missing amid flooding in Montana that prompted the governor on Monday to declare a state of emergency.
Heavy rains and melting of record snowpacks in the mountains have caused rivers and streams across Montana to overflow, inundating a number of communities and closing sections of federal and state roadways.
"There is no area of the state that is really in a safe spot," said Monique Lay, spokeswoman for Montana's Disaster and Emergency Services Division....

Death Toll from China Floods Rises to 94

A panda sticks his tongue (click here) out while climbing a tree at an ecological park in Xiuning, Anhui province, June 13, 2011. Heavy rains battered Xiuning from June 9 to June 11, causing floods in the region. The three pandas at the ecological park were well protected from the rain. [Photo/Asianewsphoto] ...The Xinhua news agency reports (click title to entry - thank you)  that the meteorological administration issued a level-three emergency alert Sunday for areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.  It quotes officials as saying these areas will be swamped by torrential rains Monday, raising the risk of flash floods and landslides in areas that were recently hit by droughts.  Under the alert, local authorities will monitor weather changes 24 hours a day and give warnings in case of possible natural disasters....

Asutralia has already finished with its hurricane season. It had eight named storms and three were a Cat 4.

This is Sydney this morning.  The temperature map at the title to this entry is in celsius.  If one looks at Sydney it is discernable that there is significan cloudiness as the land from the satellite view is dark.  Satelllites don't necessarily pick up 'cloud shadows.'  So, this IS a very high tropospheric system resulting from the Climate Crisis and anthropogenic carbon dioxide.

 

 

Storms break rainfall records on north coast  (click here)

Leesha Mckenny

June 15, 2011

SYDNEY'S wet weather woes will continue today but areas to the north will again face the brunt extreme conditions battering NSW.
The State Emergency Service evacuated about 400 people from Smithtown, Jerseyville and Kinchela, on the Macleay River south of Nambucca Heads, and in parts of Gladstone, which were at risk of being cut off by floods by midnight.
Another 400 people were moved from Kempsey's town centre after the Macleay River was predicted to reach 6.4 metres at the bridge by 3am.
The SES had received 815 requests for help between Monday and last night, with most of the damage caused by leaking roofs, fallen trees or the threat of flood....
...A Weatherzone meteorologist, Brett Dutschke, said Woolgoolga had received its biggest fall in 26 years, recording 400 millimetres of rain in three days. ''The Yamba total of 250 millimetres is a 12-year high,'' he said....

Four hundred millimeters is nearly 16 inches of rainfall in three days.  To put that into perspective, about a year ago Oklahoma received between 12 to 16 inches of rain depending on where you were in elevation.  Hurricane Flyod delivered anywhere from 12 to 20 inches of rain killing twenty people.  Anthropogenic carbon dioxide at high levels in the troposphere is a dangerous and toxic gas to human life.

This is the new fire map for the USA on June 14, 2011. A lot of acreage is burning today. (click title to entry - thank you)

...The Wallow Fire has burned more than 733 square miles since Memorial Day weekend. Fire spokesman John Helmich said Tuesday morning it's not yet certain whether the acreage that has burned in Arizona makes it larger than the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski fire, which burned 732 square miles, destroyed 491 buildings and cost about $400 million to fight....

I mentioned the other day that the air mass of the southern USA was dry even though it was tropical/sub-tropical in its orgins.

The fact that Florida has so many wildfires addressed the conditions of 'wetlands' in the USA. 

 

State of emergency due to fire danger (click here)

...In issuing the executive order the governor noted that there are approximately 310 active wildfires burning approximately 115,583 acres throughout the state....

Every government in the world and every state in the union was told by scientists for five decades what was going to happen if carbon dioxide emissions were to continue at the rate they were occuring in the 1960s.  Having a vicious Republican Party as a legitimate political party in the USA has done a great deal of damage.  They haven't and won't take credit for the damage and they insist today they are the answer to all the economic troubles in the country when they caused them in the first place.  The USA electorate should fear the Republican Party.  They nothing to offer. 

...Eighty-four percent of Florida's gross state product (click here)  is derived from the service industry and over 40 million people come to relish those services annually. The largest segment of society to visit Florida is the senior population.
Sandy soils, rich swamplands, huge limestone beds and thick cypress forests are home to some of America's most spectacular birdlife, plant life, and wildlife. Floridian's have capitalized on this extraordinary feature creating scenic drives, observation platforms, and boardwalks easily accessible to all ages and abilities....

There are wetlands in Alaska as well as the Permafrost which have been deterioriating due to higher than normal temperatures.  Dust.  Alaskan dust.  Well.  That's a new one.

 

Crews Gain Ground on Hastings Fire (click here)

June 13, 2011

By Rebecca Palsha

Channel 2 News

·                                                          ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Rain this past weekend helped fire crews as gain ground on the

·                                                         Hastings fire, northwest of Fairbanks, but officials aren't in control of the blaze just yet....

..."With the dust that we have, that covers all the ground out there, that is that organic mat," Kurth said, "it can be 12 to 18 inches thick out there and that harbors a fire very well. It can smolder out there even when you get rain."

Cooling weather slows spread of Interior Alaska wildfires (click here)

Wildfire crews in Alaska are getting a break, thanks to cloudy, cool weather. The favorable weather helped crews clamp down on two Interior wildfires over the weekend.

The Associated Press

Published: 06/14/1110:08 am | Updated: 06/14/1110:08 am

FAIRBANKS -- Wildfire crews in Alaska are getting a break, thanks to cloudy, cool weather.

The favorable weather helped crews clamp down on two Interior wildfires over the weekend.

Both the Hastings fire in the Chatanika area and the East Volkmar fire outside Delta Junction have stopped their quick growth, which is letting firefighters focus on the most vulnerable areas.

"This has been a productive weekend for the crews on the fire," Hastings fire spokesman Jim Schwarber said. "We're able to make progress on our containment effort and not have it run away from us."...

Rep. Peter King Denounces Gingrich's "Nazi" Comparison

Jun 14, 2011

GOP debate served up Muslim fears and pizza picks  (click here)

Asked to account for his past claim that he wouldn't appoint any Muslims to his White House cabinet out of fears they would impose Sharia law, Herman Cain said he only was worried about some Muslims. And much like Kurt Russell in The Thing, Cain said he was merely searching for the right test to discover which ones are infiltrators trying to kill us....

Kurt Russell in "The Thing?"  Are these folks operating in reality at all?  You know, I don't know why there aren't tribunals in other countries for the atrocities the Neocons have committed.  Iraq was a completely illegal and unnecessary war and an instrument of Wall Street, and yet there is no accounting for it in any court anywhere.  I find that strange.

...continued below...

John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) - Part 1

There are no wolves in Antarctica.  No Polar Bears.  Nothing to hunt.  The original film was far more interesting.  I think there is a trailer for it, too.

The Thing Trailer

Kain was trying to be 'trendy' and very, very Palin by shooting at anything that moved.

I didn't have to watch the Repuglican Debates to know they were a joke.  I couldn't be more sincere.

NY groups gather to oppose King's Muslim hearing  (click here)

By FRANK ELTMAN , 06.14.11, 12:41 PM EDT

…"This is a real concern; this is a real issue," the lawmaker from New York's Long Island said in a telephone interview following a news conference by a group called Long island Neighbors for American Values. The group is a coalition of religious leaders and civic groups who contend King's hearings are fostering negative stereotypes….

There isn't anything that can be done or should be done by committee in the US House.  I can't believe a New York House of Representative member is actually spending taxpayer dollars on hearing to benefit hate mongering and fear. 

This entire Sharia Law mess is so ridiculous.  The laws of the USA are based in 'principle' by upholding values transcended from our Founders.  Those principles were according to many aspects of living.  One can look at the laws of the USA and easily pick and chose to find all kinds of religious dogma within them, including "Thou shalt not kill."  Moses didn't have a sheriff. 

The 'idea' that a state or any other level of government can outlaw a religious 'idea' and/or 'practice' and vicitimize people that enjoy "Freedom of Religion" is more than strange.  The states that have placed outlawing Sharia Law on their ballots are attempting to modify the First Amendment.  I never in my wildest imagination thought the USA would ever be so blantantly ignorant.

This is what occurs when Republicans 'get government off the backs off private sector business.' I don't want the nightmare back.

It took over 25 years from the date of my sisters brain tumor diagnosis AND a compete President Obama with an equally competent Executive Administration to FINALLY warn and limit the dangers of formaldehyde.

...Government scientists listed formaldehyde as a carcinogen, and said it is found in worrisome quantities in plywood, particle board, mortuaries and hair salons....

...An industry spokesman (click title to entry - thank you) said the action will hurt small businesses.
“It will unfairly scare workers, plant neighbors and could have a chilling effect on the development of new products,” said Tom Dobbins of the American Composites Manufacturers Association. “And our companies are primarily small businesses, and this could hurt jobs and local economies.”

Cal Dooley, president and chief executive of the American Chemistry Council, a trade association that represents companies that make and use polystyrene and formaldehyde, rejected the report’s conclusions. “We are extremely concerned that politics may have hijacked the scientific process,” he said.

Some in the industry have promised to continue fighting the report, and will appeal elements of its findings. But some manufacturers already have begun using alternatives to formaldehyde in their products....

I didn't watch the Republicans debate, that is an oxymoron, I didn't have to.  There hasn't been anythnig new in the way of policy from the Republicans for the past seven decades.  The last real innovator that was a Republican was Lincoln.  Interestingly, his war was within the boundaries of the USA.  He tried to save the country from itself.  Interesting guy.

But, about my sister.  To begin, there needs to be some very good lawyers out there to start a class action suit regarding these chemicals and they can consult with The Cleveleand Clinic for clients because Dr. Janet Bay stated, "...there is a brain tumor epidemic...".  She stated that to my family as we listened to the description of my sister's brain tumor.  My sister was one of nine women in her graduating class (that we know of) with very specific activities that resulted in brain tumors.  A biochemist and very dear friend stated, the brain tumors were primarily caused by formaldehyde in the buildnig products of a new junior high school building of which she was the first eventual graduating class to attend there.

She is still alive, still cognizant of her life, is able to attend to her daily habits and needs and still likes to be the fashon bug and an avid shopper.  What she no longer is, is married due to her guilt over not having children due to 30 days of radiation, a brain pressure balance that requires 'at times' finiky 'shunts' and she is not an accountant at AT&T International in Morristown, New Jersey.  She still has her stock, though.  I supervise her 'special' finances as she is unable to control her spending and realize that people take advantage of her beautifully naive personality.  She always believes the best in everything and that the sun will come out everyday if you wait long enough through the storm.

Dr. Janet Bay is a magnificent surgeon and her then spouse would not settle for anything but the best.  It is he we can thank for her remarkable survival and reasonably intact life.  We are all still very good friends; family even.  But, the Cleveland Clinic saved her life when no one else could and this family will always be very grateful to professionals that 'saw the women' in the patient and longed to leave her there.

Formaldehyde and many other chemicals used by the private sector in products with abandon is an ORGANIC MOLECULE.  It is comprised of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen.  Human beings are ORGANIC chemical entities and thrive on those elements in the periodic table.  The shape of formaldehyde ADDS to its HIGHLY REACTIVE 'PROPERTIES.'  The symmetry of a 'planar' molecule with highly reactive hydrogens in the arrangment here is the same as water.  If the double bonds of the oxygen molecule were removed , the carbon and hydrogen would have the same molecular arrangement as H-O-H.  So it is very reactive in ORGANIC environments, including the internal chemistry of the human body.  The double bonded oxygen adds to its reactivity and I am not going to expand on that FACT on this blog.  Look it up.

Formaldehyde is the simplest member of a class of organic compounds called aldehydes. These compounds have the structural component of the carbon double bond oxygen and at least one hydrogen atom and are always in the trigonal planar format geometry.
Formaldehyde or methanal is a water soluble gas. A 37% solution is water, known as formalin, is a biological preservative and in used in embalming fluids.

Now, I ask you, does anyone interested in living actually want a chemical used in embalming fluid in the air they breath?  Hello?

Republicans don't see the dangers in mixing TOXINS with employment in any venue, be it workers safety or consumer exposure.  Why would I care what they have to say?  Over twenty-five years and I never petitioned the govenrment so much as simply modified the behavior of my family to avoid this disaster again.  Over twenty-five years and it took a President Obama to FINALLY value the life of Americans over Private Sector profits.  What good is a job if you die working it?

This is not a 'one time' phenomena.  Across this country there are Republican Governors and majority legislatures rolling back all kinds of laws that expose the consumer and workers to OLD dangers all over again.

Sippy Cups vs. Jobs - A False Choice  (click here)

Submitted by Sharon Treat on February 17, 2011 - 8:29am

While many Mainers were enjoying a romantic and chocolate-laden Valentine's Day, hundreds of their neighbors spent the day at the State House, where the Regulatory Fairness & Reform Committee met from 9 am until nearly 7 pm taking testimony on LD 1 and the Governor's Phase 1 regulatory reform plan, including a 48-page amendment that was handed to the Committee during the public hearing. The testimony was overwhelmingly in oppositiom to the Governor's plan, echoing what we heard at 7 regional hearings over the past 3 weeks - watch the videos here.
On Monday, the Committee heard from the Governor's legal counsel, Dan Billings, who made it clear that while several of the most controversial rollbacks in in Phase 1 were left out of the amendment (for example, the Kids-Safe Products Act, banning Bis-A from sippy cups, clean air protections, eliminating LURC and zoning 3 million acres for development), Governor LePage has NOT backed away from these rollbacks and will be supporting legislation to implement them as we go forward....

Put Republicans back into office? 

NO! 

My life and the life of American children depends on it !