The year of the bi-coastal storm.

Mexico Satellite
August 19, 2012
1517 gmt

• AUGUST 18, 2012

• By Johnny Kelly

...Meanwhile, (click title to entry - thank you) NHC says Helene made landfall as a weak tropical storm with winds of 40 mph just south of Tampico, Mexico.

As of late Saturday afternoon, Helene had weakened to a tropical depression with only 30 mph winds, about 65 miles west northwest of Tampico. Helene is expected to dissipate over northeast Mexico Saturday night into Sunday.

A third potential system is also being monitored for tropical development in the far eastern Atlantic, located a couple hundred miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.

NHC says conditions appear conducive for gradual development during the next few days and this system has a medium chance (50 percent chance) of becoming a tropical depression or storm as it moves westward at 15 to 20 mph.

The Atlantic basin is in its most active period (Aug.15 to Sept.15) leading up to the peak of the hurricane season in mid-September....

Assad isn't being very prudent. No doubt the new UN Envoy isn't welcome.

Airstrike kills 8 in Syria town near Turkey border (click title to entry - thank you)

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press – 2 hours ago

BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian warplane on Saturday bombed a small town partially controlled by anti-regime fighters near the Turkish border, killing eight people and wounding at least 20, the latest escalation in the use of air power by President Bashar Assad's government in the Arab nation's civil war....

The afternoon airstrike, reported by activists in the area as well as the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, was one of at least two that took place on Saturday. The increased use of airstrikes by the regime is taking its toll on civilians, and, in the eyes of activists, is evidence of its insensitivity to civilian casualties as it battles for survival against the rebels....

Viviette Applewhite has obtained her Voter ID, however, it is a poll tax.

She presented her Medicare Card and proof of her residence. Easy enough, however, she had to take two public transit buses to get to the ID processing office.

Ms. Applewhite, age 93, has never had a problem voting before in her life and in the very year when an African American President is running for re-election she has to surmount a heroic effort to receive a voter ID. How ridiculous is this? Shen then had to take two public transit buses back home after she was successful. A 93 year old women was harassed into making a trip she could have failed at finishing in order to vote in the 2012 elections.

The people responsible for this should be ashamed of themselves. 

If Voter ID is a statement about the crime ridden society we live in, then it should have been phased in and not abruptly cast a shadow over elections where there is little to no voter fraud identity issues registered in the USA. This is an obvious poll tax and should be outlawed. It is an unreasonable burden to people least able to over come it. 

The ID may not do Ms. Applewhite any good at all if she relies on her church to take her to early voting on Sunday either.

Early voting is not a novel idea, most allies to the USA practice it including Canada to our north border.

Early voting in Florida began in 2004 and not without problems. The turnout exceeded one million in 2004, but, there were computer failures in Orange and Broward Counties, there where some ballots actually erased in Volusia County and Jacksonville lacked early voting sites at all.

Florida Dems applaud federal court decision expanding early voting (click title to entry - thank you)

By Mike Lillis - 08/18/12 10:38 AM ET

Florida Democrats are cheering a federal court's decision to roll back a state law slashing early voting hours.  

The year-old statute, championed by Republican Gov. Rick Scott, empowers counties to reduce in-person early voting from eight days before the election to four, while barring early voting on the Sunday before election day.

But a panel of federal judges this week invoked the 1965 Voting Rights Act to rule that the statute would discriminate against African American voters who are known to use early voting at a much higher rate than other populations....

Presidential Debate Question: Do States have the right to tamper with federal statues and precedent such as the 1965 Voting Rights Act? And does the 1965 Voting Rights Act need to be updated and modernized? Why or why not?

The Medicare Debate. Is anyone afraid of the truth? Not from where I stand.

I question the wisdom in making changes until there is a reasonable Congress to write legislation, though. We don't need extremism. 

The nation has to have a conversation about Medicare, but, I sincerely believe it has to come from the professionals at the center of the debate. If they don't chime in and propose an answer; one the USA can reasonably provide; they will be left out of the answer all together. That would be very sad, to the professionals in medicine and to the patients seeking medical care.

The lack of a sincere answer to the Medicare issue, would provide a higher number of uninsured that would hasten their death.

Besides being a medical issue facing our most vulnerable, it is also a family issue. The cost of taking care of the elderly will fall to families if this support network fails. Again, a failure of Medicare will cause an economic recession as families seek to find ways to provide for their loved ones. The market place will suffer if there is a failure of this program.

The Medicare Program (click title to entry - thank you) is the second-largest social insurance program in the U.S., with 48.7 million beneficiaries and total expenditures of $549 billion in 2011. The Boards of Trustees for Medicare (also Boards) report annually to the Congress on the financial operations and actuarial status of the program. Beginning in 2002, there is one combined report discussing both the Hospital Insurance (Medicare Part A) and the Supplementary Medical Insurance program (Medicare Part B and Prescription Drug Coverage). The Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) prepares the report under the direction of the Boards.

The Boards of Trustees issued their most recent report on April 23, 2012....

If Ryan's speech in Florida is indicative of the focus of their race for the Executive Branch of the USA, they aren't serious. Ryan is trying to save his Congressional seat. They are more interested in the House and Senate.  Not to undermine their desire to be President and Vice President, but, they have a stump speech that isn't serious about the issue. We aren't going to get a serious debate. President Obama is has to have a Medicare Summit with the professions. The Summit will have to include the Simpsons - Bowles as a potential for solving the problem.

The nation cannot afford Medicare Advantage. It has spawned considerable waste and fraud. It also provides programs the nation cannot afford. Rather than seeking to lower the cost to the USA Treasury, Medicare Advantage adds programs for Seniors as if they can simply dole out monies with abandon. No. This is USA Treasury monies, it is not simply a grant for spending on every whim a commercial institution believes it can use for marketing.

11/22/2011
Posted by Ezra Klein

...For one thing, (click here) compromising with Obama is compromising with a Democratic president who’s at 44 percent in the polls and at 9 percent among Republicans. No Republican politician can survive that. Compromising on Simpson-Bowles is compromising with two men who have become synonymous with bipartisanship and tough choices and hard decisions and all sorts of other platitudes voters love. And it’s not as if members of Congress haven’t seen this graph:...

When Romney/Ryan gets serious about the real problems of the USA and accepts reassuring the American people means trusting them with the knowledge of their income tax returns, I'll be back.

Presidential Debate Question: "Explain the concerns with Medicare as you understand it. What is the best path forward?"

Have a better day.

If the Russian Orthodox Church can forgive Pussy Riot then the Kremlin needs to consider doing the same.

(AP) – 21 minutes ago 

MOSCOW (AP) — Two top clerics in the Russian Orthodox Church say it has forgiven the members of feminist punk band Pussy Riot who were convicted of hooliganism and sent to prison for briefly taking over a cathedral in a raucous prayer for deliverance from Vladimir Putin.

Tikhon Shevkunov, who heads Moscow's Sretensky Monastery and is widely believed to be Putin's spiritual counselor, said on state TV Saturday that his church forgave the singers right after their "punk prayer" in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.

Archpriest Maxim Kozlov agreed, but he also said on state TV that his church hopes the young women and their supporters "realize that their acts are awful."

Both clerics supported a court's decision to prosecute Pussy Riot, despite an international outcry that criticized it as unfair.

I admire the willingness of the Russia Orthodox Church to forgive a group of women seeking recognition for their art while making a political statement. I question they ever thought prison would be their consequence for their song.

I was seeking a similar punishment in the USA for a crime. The closest I came to hooliganism in the USA code, would be mayhem. In California, a person can be charged with minimally two years of prison for mayhem, but, there is a physical destruction component to the law. It requires body injury of another. There is an interesting side track in the California law which states the punishment for torture is life in prison. 

Hooliganism is a behavior issue, it is defined in Merriam-Webster as rowdy, violent or destructive behavior.

There is no doubt when people cause damage to property there has to be recognition of what costs others hardship of any kind, but, there is a danger to jailing for behavior that does not harm as opposed to behavior that does harm.   The USA is no example of what is equitable in law, though. Recently, a young gay man committed suicide after being caught on a camera and the person causing the distress to his roommate basically went without penalty. I suppose the stigma of being the person of causing another's death has some penalty itself, but, under the law he was basically exonerated. I saw it as a hate crime not one of mischief.

I believe President Putin did the right thing by speaking up before the verdict and no doubt the court considered his words in their decision. He is joined now by the Russian Orthodox Church. It would a good thing for the people of Russia, their government and their courts to examine the way power is leveraged when the Russian people are attempting to make a political statement. 

Perhaps, this is a chance for Russia to surpass the USA in leveraging justice in political speech. Pussy Riot being jailed can be a turning point for Russia. What I find incredibly interesting about the demonstration in a church, was the lack of maliciousness. There was no damage. There was no harm to others. It was a purely political act, but, well behaved in its demeanor. I think Russia has less to worry about when it comes to embarrassing behavior by its people than it imagines.

11:32 16/8/12

MOSCOW, August 16 (Dan Peleschuk, RIA Novosti)

AFP/Natalia Kolesnikova

...Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, (click here) 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30 – speculation over their fate has only grown. They have already spent five months in custody, and two of the women have small children with whom they have been deprived of contact since their incarceration....

What did we do right to increase Ryan's tax rate in 2011? He and Romney are in the same club.

Romney/Ryan pay less than most millionaires in the USA. We just don't know about Thompson.

Aug. 17, 2012 4:20 p.m.

Paul Ryan and his wife, Janna, paid an effective tax rate of 15.9% in 2010 and 20% in 2011, according to tax returns provided by the Romney-Ryan campaign to the Journal Sentinel on Friday.

In 2010, Ryan and his wife paid $34,233 in federal taxes on $215,417 of adjusted gross income.

In 2011, they paid $64,764 in federal taxes on $323,416 of adjusted gross income.

A little more than half of the Ryans' total income in that two-year period came from the congressman's congressional salary.

But the couple also earned significant outside income from dividends, capital, real estate and other sources.

For example, in 2010, the couple reported $39,013 in income from "rental real estate, royalties, partnerships, S corporations, trust, etc....

They don't care about transparency. Ryan simply mirrored the same standard as Romney. Now, Thompson is refusing to release any tax returns. That is the type of leadership Romney/Ryan propagate. The lead in opposition to the American people, that will not stop, it will only get worse and we will see more and more exploitation of our democracy if elected. 

John Kraus
press@tammybaldwin.com
414-939-8376

Facing calls to release his tax returns, (click here) Thompson desperately clings to discredited poll

Thompson Campaign Attempting to Distract From Thompson's Blow Up On The First Day of the General Election

MILWAUKEE – John Kraus, Tammy Baldwin For Senate Communications Director issued the following statement in response to the Thompson campaign's desperate attempt to discredited Republican poll to distract the media and voters from the fact that Tommy Thompson refuses to release his tax returns and supports cutting taxes for millionaires like himself while raising taxes on Wisconsin's middle class.

"In the face of calls to release his tax returns, and after a testy and rattled exchange with the Wisconsin press corps on the first day of the general elction, Tommy Thompson is trying to distract voters by clinging to a widely discredited pollster who used to work for George W. Bush," said Tammy Baldwin for Senate Communications Director John Kraus, "Thompson can try to dodge and distract all he wants but the people of Wisconsin want to know why Tommy won't release his tax returns at the same time he is calling for tax breaks for millionaires like himself and tax increases for the middle class."...

By Seth Hanlon | August 4, 2011

Republicans in the House (click here) of Representatives got their way this week: The final budget deal struck with President Barack Obama raises no additional revenues while cutting more than $2 trillion from public investments, defense, and government services that all Americans rely upon. That’s a better outcome than a Tea Party-caused default but it’s a bad deal for America’s middle class.

Meanwhile, America’s millionaires won’t be asked to contribute a single dime. That’s unfortunate because they certainly can afford it. Not only have their incomes been skyrocketing but data released this week by the Internal Revenue Service reveal that their tax rates have plunged over the last two decades. As a percentage of their incomes, millionaires are now paying about one-quarter less of their income to federal taxes than they did in the mid-1990s....

Vice President Biden is a regular Joe. He is an asset to the Middle Class, hence the American people.

Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Institute of Advanced Research and Learning in Danville, Va., Tuesday.

Steven Mantilla/The Register & Bee/AP

He is a great legislator. He has spent most of his life protecting the Middle Class in the USA. He understands loss at a very profound level. The Second Lady Biden is an educator. She understands and believes in Community Colleges. We don't have to worry about lobbyists living within the Executive Branch.

With a new 'super PAC' ad that mocks Joe Biden for all manner of verbal slips, it’s almost as if Republicans are mirroring the way Democrats attacked Sarah Palin in 2008. (click title to entry - thank you)

By Peter Grier, Staff writer / August 17, 2012

...Already this week, Team Romney has accused Mr. Biden of injecting race into the campaign, because he told a largely black audience that the GOP would “put y’all back in chains.” And on Friday, the "super PAC" American Crossroads is releasing an ad that mocks Biden for all manner of verbal slips, from the “chains” remark to his assertion that “jobs” is a three-letter word....

We all know Joe does not necessarily have the best manners every minute of every day. But, Joe is Joe and he demands a great deal of respect for his work in the Senate for so long.

I think President Obama said it the best, "...it wasn't the best choice of words."

It is what it is. We can trust inarticulate Vice President Biden. All the CIA agents are still intact, right? 

Go, get 'em, Joe!

I am beginning to feel like one of the Romney boys. "Mitt says no and no is no." I don't want to be talked down to.

President Obama has come to us as a resource to assist with important measures to rebuild our country after the global economic collapse. The USA people are the backbone of this country. We can rebuild our own country, we don't need Mitt Romney's help. We don't need it at all. 

The Family Research Council is afraid of the truth. They do promulgate intolerance and hatred.

Flags fly above the entrance to the Family Research Council headquarters after a security guard was shot in the arm on Wednesday.

The Family Research Council is welcome to fly the flag of the USA over it's headquarters, no different than any other peaceful organization in the USA, but, they do not embrace all Americans.

Aug. 17, 2012 10:25 am
Jesse Walker
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins (click title to entry - thank you) on Thursday said the shooting at the conservative Christian organization's Washington, D.C., headquarters was an act of terrorism and he accused the Southern Poverty Law Center of fostering the climate that allowed the crime to occur...

The Family Research Council is a Political Right Wing activism group. It should be prepared for people that feel the oppression of their policies and views. 

The Family Research Council was Michael Powell's best friend during the Bush/Cheney years. They worked to elect and re-elect Right Wing political figures to effect laws that would ostracize members of the USA as being unworthy of recognition of wholesomeness, feelings of love and the ability to sustain marriage relationships.

Violence is never to be rewarded, but, if guns didn't flow MORE THAN water in the USA, there would not be as much LICENSE to commit violence against innocent people. After all, the FRC and the NRA are practically poured from the same political mold.

Below is a reporting from FRC Action, The Legislative Affiliate of Family Research Council. Not exactly what I would call a peaceful demeanor for a family based organization, now is it? 

NRA UNLOADS ON KING & SPALDING (CLICK HERE)

"Coward for Hire" isn't exactly a slogan that attracts business--or, in King & Spalding's case, keeps it. Barely two weeks into the drama over the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the law firm that quit the suit has lost--not one, but two--high-profile clients. Yesterday, the National Rifle Association (NRA) joined the state of Virginia in firing K&S for walking out on its contract with the U.S. House of Representatives. The NRA's decision will rock the legal community, since King & Spalding had represented the gun lobby in last year's Supreme Court case, McDonald v. Chicago. Sources say the two sides had been negotiating a bigger role for the firm after it won the Second Amendment suit. But, like Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the NRA has new doubts about the firm's credibility....

If one didn't know better, the DEMEANOR of The Family Research Council is down right militant. So, if the Family Research Council insists on activism that acts to limit the freedom of Americans while escalating the number of guns on the street and insisting judges in the USA, across the spectrum represent their values and only their values; they need to be prepared for what threatens other Americans into action in protection of their own understanding of the world.

The Family Research Council exudes intolerance while insisting on legislative dominance over the populous of the USA. If that isn't threatening, then I don't know what is. 

Actually.

The gunman has the argument, as far as I am concerned, that his impetus was aggravated by the very entity he choose as a point of violence. It isn't as though the Family Research Council can declare innocence to their desire of oppression of innocent Americans, now can they?

I believe one person was injured during the rampage. Lucky. They are very lucky no one else found the violence ONE gun can bring to a peaceful scene in the USA.

They certainly are paying the price for their art. When is their probationary period?

Gee, whiz, it isn't as though they were caught dealing drugs or something.

Moscow needs to provide an incentive for good behavior, so they need to know when they can receive probation for good behavior.

I don't think they did any damage to the church, did they?

They could do public service at the church for their probation, too. I hate to say this about Russia, but, I get the feeling feminism is a real issue there. I don't recall a Punk Rock guy band going to these extremes to be recognized.

MOSCOW, August 17 (RIA Novosti)

18:35 17/08/2012

Three members of the feminist punk collective Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years prison on Friday after being convicted of hooliganism and inciting religious hatred by a Moscow district court.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, were convicted for staging an anti-Kremlin “punk prayer” in a central Moscow cathedral in February.

The three have already spent more than five months in pretrial detention, which, according to Russian legislation, equals ten months in prison....

continued...

"I told you so."

Besides the tragedy upon us with global warming, I stated years ago the troops should be home by 2012. It is on the blog.

If Karzai wants to embrace the Taliban and bring them on into his military to be trained, that is his headache. We are not starting this mess all over again. 

We need to be out of there, now! There isn't anything NATO can do to improve the dynamics in the region.

Karzai sabotaged his own country. We are not refighting this war.

When it comes to the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, I want to know the plans for Afghanistan and our distressed soldiers?

This is the force used against tribes in Africa when natural resources are mined or drilled. Nigeria had the same problem over oil some time ago.

\\

They were going to kill them all if necessary. Government forces did exactly that in Nigeria when tribes objected to the pollution they were exposed to due to drilling.

The miners need more pay from the largest platinum mine in the world. Just that simple. None of this would have happened if they had been given the pay they were promised.

Tanks? Tanks? Over a pay dispute? This is outrageous. I would have asked for a lot more than money, like better working conditions and quality of life for my family, insurance policies for my family when I die in the mines for mining platinum.

16 AUGUST 2012
PRESS RELEASE

..."We are shocked and dismayed (click here) at this senseless violence. We believe there is enough space in our democratic order for any dispute to be resolved through dialogue without any breaches of the law or violence.

We call upon the labour movement and business to work with government to arrest the situation before it deteriorates any further. I have instructed law enforcement agencies to do everything possible to bring the situation under control and to bring the perpetrators of violence to book. We extend our deepest condolences to the families of all who have lost their lives since the beginning of this violent action," said President Zuma....

Military hubris that believes they have a right to ridicule the President reminds me of another time when it proved to end a distinguished officer's career.

There are Veterans having a different view of the world and with a suicide rate of 26 last month, I really believe it is completely irresponsible to go down this road.

posted Aug 3, 2012 5:25pm EDT

An election year battle (click title to entry - thank you) between liberal and conservative veteran groups over President Barack Obama's national security record has taken a nasty turn, with a prominent pro-Obama group VetPAC raising questions about the service record of Ryan Zinke, a former Navy SEAL who is chairman of an anti-Obama group.

“It’s Swift Boat Veterans all over again,” retired colonel Dick Klass, vice-president of VetPAC, told BuzzFeed. “It’s some guys being used, they are trolling for money among the Boone Pickens and Koch Brothers.”...

George W. Bush was never able to kill the man who killed so many in the USA. The USA went to war in retaliation for an attack on our civilians and our economy. President Obama carries the responsibility for the outcome of the raid. It is just that simple. Leaks did not kill Osama bin Laden. Think about that for awhile. And when it comes to leaks the Bush White House championed one that ended the career of a valuable CIA agent seeking to impact the trade of nuclear materials, so when people talk about leaks they need to get their act together. President Obama does not tolerate leaks and has ordered investigations. I wish people would grow up, the military really is about life and death; not just of soldiers either.

Army had 26 suicides in July, its highest monthly total on record and double the June total (click here)

By Associated Press,

WASHINGTON — Suicides among active-duty soldiers in July more than doubled from June, accelerating a trend throughout the military this year that has prompted Pentagon leaders to redouble efforts to solve a puzzling problem.

The Army, which is the only branch of the military that issues monthly press statements on suicides, said 26 active-duty soldiers killed themselves in July, compared with 12 in June. The July total was the highest for any month since the Army began reporting suicides by month in 2009, according to Lt. Col. Lisa Garcia, an Army spokeswoman....

Ramadan is suppose to be a time of peace and reconciliation, that doesn't seem to be the case in Afghanistan.

Eid al-Fitr is practiced at the end of Ramadan. It might prove to be an assault on foreign troops. NATO really doesn't belong there anymore. The training mission now appears to be training the Taliban. The mission needs to end.

Another Afghan police attack kills 2 US troops

By By KAY JOHNSON and AMIR SHAH, Associated Press – 18 minutes ago  

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A newly recruited Afghan village policeman opened fire on his American allies on Friday, killing two U.S. service members minutes after they handed him his official weapon in an inauguration ceremony. It was the latest in a disturbing string of attacks by Afghan security forces on the international troops training them.

Later Friday, an Afghan soldier turned his gun on foreign troops in another part of the country and wounded two of them, a spokesman for the NATO coalition said.

The attacks in the country's far west and south brought to seven the number of times that a member of the Afghan security forces — or someone wearing their uniform — has opened fire on international forces in the past two weeks.

Such assaults by allies, virtually unheard of just a few years ago, have recently escalated, killing at least 36 foreign troops so far this year. They also raise questions about the strategy to train Afghan national police and soldiers to take over security and fight insurgents after most foreign troops leave the country by the end of 2014....

Tell me this is not happening. Can Glen Beck be far behind? Romney cannot be this desperate.

This is Greer, South Carolina. I would be insulted if I were in that audience.

Unbecoming of a President. Really? Well, he has already been to Israel. 

Romney lies about everything and this is just another time. 

He doesn't really expect people to believe if Medicare is not changed, there will be solvency in the future. He is expecting everyone to consent to the idea the current Seniors are not going to be sabotaged, but, only the Seniors of the future will.

He loves these gimmicks. It was the flashing red numbers about the national debt. Then he fudged the numbers about unemployed women after 2008. Now this. Romney loves deception, half truths and lies.

...”Our plan is, (click title to entry - thank you) for people 55 years of age and older, there’s no change. The only change I’d mention for 55 or older is we’d restore the $817 billion President Obama took out of the Medicare trust fund,” Romney told WBAY — apparently erroneously adding almost $100 billion to the amount of money he typically accuses Obama of taking from Medicare....

When do the grown ups arrive?

Romney wants to restore Medicare Advantage. He won't be able to expand on it, because, the vouchers won't pay for the entire cost of subscribing. And if there are vouchers, I guarantee there won't be any Silver Sneakers Programs either.

If there were ever standards for a voucher, it would have to be met with a cost of living raise at the same rate as SSI. Is Romney/Ryan really ready to discuss that and solvency? I am sure they are not at all ready to reasonably discuss numbers.

The USA medical system is out of control when it comes to cost. Cost containment is the most important issue. It needs to come into alignment with standards setting excellent care, but, removing all the duplicity of exams, tests, etc. The only traumatic topic people in a hospitals should be worried about is the illness or injury they face, not the blatant reality of affording the care without health care insurance.

That is the America I understand. Nothing unreasonable standing in the way of care. A health care system that responds to the disease or the injury and not the billing office. Nixon and managed care really did a number on this nation. It made a mess no one can clean up today. Managed care under Nixon was about profits, not people.

Unless we address the cost of care, we won't get the cost under control. If that occurs there is no change to the Medicare system or health care insurance industry that will end the expense, year after year. 

The health care industry has been exempt from ridicule in their cost, that is not the case in other industries. Costs to consumers matter and the profession needs to seek to streamline and reduce their costs as a method to access. It is unethical for the profession to simply look the other way while costs skyrocket. The profession needs to accurately and dispassionately look to their costs in relation to access by the people they care for. No American believes paying for health care is wrong, however, they have to be able to afford it.

If corporate health care insurance systems are not the best venue for the American people, than what is? I am sure the professions have their own opinions. I can't believe any professional wants to turn away Medicare patients. Their professional organizations need to work on programs that work for the people of the USA and their physicians.

Everyone knows vouchers are the worst idea that exists and it drops the Seniors at the curb to fend for themselves. It won't be a matter of accessibility if they can't pay for the unpaid balance of their health care insurance costs.

The entire pool of Seniors are necessary to obtain the best costs for the elderly. There can't be smaller pools of sicker people. It won't work.

The USA has a lot health problems, part of lowering health care costs is having a healthier America. There is no quick fix for the country. 

Having the federal government dump all the responsibility assigned them with the development of the Medicare program is not remotely responsible. Vouchers do nothing but dump that responsibility. It is the easy way out. 

The cost curve has to be bent down and that will take place in time, not overnight. I'll tell you one thing, with the Affordable Care Act a part of the USA, there won't be promotion of unhealthy eating habits as before, there won't be ignoring obesity as a health care crisis.

So while Sununu continues to make a fool of himself seeking leverage on meaningless rhetoric, the real problems of solving the nation's health is before us. Real responsibility with real solutions are needed, not calling the Medicare problem solvent by dumping the responsibility of Seniors currently 55 or younger by the curbs of hospitals.

There is no voucher program that can predict the future costs of health care, it is not remotely responsible to take this approach.

Brewer is a bully. Absolutely. She finds more ways to waste the taxpayer money by spawning lawsuits.

Between her and the crackpot sheriff one has to wonder who really is in charge in Arizona and why the drug cartels aren't running the place? Arizona has spawned some of the strangest political people in the country. The only person half way reasonable is John McCann and even he has his moments. Kyl is always bizarre, always the extremist.

Go eat scorpions, Brewer, you'll feel better in the morning. Selling books today, Jan dear?

At any rate, the Dreamers need to go forward with their registration under the President's Executive Order. Brewer is going to be asking for money from the Federal Government, just like she does for everything. She can't raise taxes and stay in the Governorship, so she confabulates some outrageous nonsense. She is looking for money to pay for the services the Hispanics will cost the state over the next two years if there is no Dream Act AGAIN after 2012.

by EYDER PERALTA

Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer is throwing more punches (click title to entry - thank you) in her contentious relationship with the federal government.

Today, she issued an executive order that says young people granted a deportation deferral under President Obama's new policy will still be considered undocumented and won't be granted public benefits....

I don't know if anyone can call them punches, but, she is certainly throwing DC a "Curveball." See ya in court, Jan.

Congressman Paul Ryan is lying.

The context the Republican hopeful is putting the CHANGES to Medicare under the Affordable Care Act has nothing to do with providing the services it was designed to provide.

Those that offer "Medicare Advantage" have hyped the coverage by adding fluff to the enrollment. One of the perks is The Silver Sneakers Program. It isn't as though it is a harmful program for Seniors at least that we know of, but, the idea the nation is going to pay for gym classes for Seniors when we don't even have the same classes for our children is outrageous. The Seniors that never use the program still have it attached to their coverage when they should receive a credit for not using the program.

We should know as well if any program attached to Medicare enrollment is actually beneficial for Seniors and not harmful. For all we know this is causing problems for Seniors that actually raise the costs to their Medicare coverage, ie: injury.

The FACT is the Romney/Ryan programs would FUNDAMENTALLY change the Medicare Health Insurance Program as we know it. The Affordable Care Act seeks to improve the costs to the Medicare Program, not cause a greater burden on our Seniors.

The Romney Campaign cannot deny their plans to 'SAVE' Medicare is nothing more than giving up on change to the Medicare Program. They have arbitrarily carved out a dollar figure $7000 for premium support. That is giving up. They do not seek to improve the costs to the Medicare Program which would include making prescriptions less expensive. 

The American Senior can count on paying far more for their health care, including medications, if Romney/Ryan have their way. They will have to fill in the gap to their premiums in their budget and the return of the 'donut hole' to the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.

There is a fundamental problem with any premium support plan by the USA government. If it were instituted today and a person aqe 55 had a disabling injury what would be THEIR options? Premium Support? It is hideous. Medicare is the most comprehensive coverage a nation can offer its citizens. It covers citizens when anything happens that removes them from the work force, be it age or disability. This is a ridiculous discussion.

People should be able to make online reservations as they wait in line for "Deferred Action." They won't lose their place, but, have an appointment instead.

President Obama's Executive Order was the right thing to do with a deadlocked Congress, but, the outcome to the elections in 2012 has to be to engage the Dream Act within the next two years. There is only one way to do that, put Democrats back in majority of the House and Senate. The Democrats should be running on this issue to remind their Hispanic communities there is a timeline running to insure The Dream Act is passed in the next Congress.

Representative Gutierrez can be a strong ally for making the concerns known. He could be a good spokesperson for the movement to encourage voting for those that will pass The Dream Act next time.

By Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) (click title to entry - thank you)

Tomorow from 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. at the Grand Ballroom at Navy Pier in Chicago, Rep. Gutierrez and others will host DREAM Relief Day.

Tomorrow, the first of perhaps a million or more people who qualify for the DREAM Act will begin stepping forward to apply and pay fees for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a form of temporary deportation relief for undocumented immigrants who meet certain criteria. Each case will be evaluated individually, but I am encouraging those who meet the basic criteria to consider applying for DACA or at least get all the information they can about whether it is the right thing for them.

Thousands will join me and Senator Dick Durbin, the author of the DREAM Act, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel in Chicago at the Navy Pier for a workshop on the new program conducted by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and numerous local groups....

More Libor.

Published: 16 August, 2012, 12:08

Seven major world banks (click title to entry - thank you) are to be questioned in the US over the possible manipulation of the Libor interest rate .

The Attorneys General in New York and Connecticut have sent summons to British banks Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC Holdings. US lenders Citigroup and JPMorgan, Swiss bank UBS and Germany’s Deutsche banks have also received subpoenas.

New York AG Eric Schneiderman and Connecticut AG George Jepsen are conducting a joint investigation into alleged Libor rigging by global banks between 2005 and 2009. Meanwhile Florida AG Pam Bondi is “actively reviewing the Libor matter” and has issued subpoenas, spokeswoman Jenn Meale said. Libor is an international interest rate which affects transactions worth trillions of dollars, as well as mortgages and bank-to-bank loans.

The Libor case came into limelight after Barclays paid $452 million to British and US regulators to settle the probe over its involvement in alleged rate fixing. Barclays’ chief executive Bob Diamond, chairman Marcus Agius, and chief operating officer, Jerry del Missier resigned under huge public pressure....

LIBOR has ceased to be a reliable benchmark for commercial and residential loans. The corruption has complicated every issue regarding the banks and consumers.

Keller Rohrbacki, L.L.P. Investigates Manipulation of the London Interbank Offering Rage (L.I.B.O.R.) (click here)

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

SEATTLE, Aug. 15, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Keller Rohrback L.L.P. is investigating potential claims against member banks of the British Bankers Association ("BBA") for manipulating the London Interbank Offering Rate ("LIBOR"). This investigation follows inquiries by the United States Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodities Futures Exchange Commission, and several European governmental agencies into such conduct.

LIBOR is the primary benchmark for short term interest rates globally and is used as the basis for settlement of interest rate contracts on many of the world's major futures and options exchanges, including those in the United States. LIBOR is calculated based on submissions by member banks, which have included: UBS, Bank of America, Citibank, Deutsche Bank AG, Credit Suisse Group AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., HSBC Holdings PLC, Barclays Bank PLC, Lloyds Banking Group PLC, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, WestLB AG, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Group, Inc., Rabobank Group, Royal Bank of Canada, Societe Generale, and the Norinchukin Bank....

The last thing the housing market in any part of the world needs is more turbulence with LIBOR in question to its impact globally. However, realizing there are investigations taking place should stabilize the prices of housing. There is help coming if investigations prove to have caused hardship.

California Housing Market post gains in July (click here)
By Alejandro Lazo

August 15, 2012, 2:25 p.m.

The median home price in California rose to near a four-year high in July as more expensive homes sold and fewer foreclosures were purchased in the key Southern California and San Francisco Bay Area markets.

The Golden State’s median home price increased  2.6% fromJune and 11.5% from July 2011 to $281,000, real estate firm DataQuick reported. It was the fifth consecutive month that the median has risen year over year and the highest point for the measure for any month since September 2008.

Sales fell 3.7% from June, part of a normal seasonal decline. Sales were up 13.9% from the same month last year, as 39,507 newly built houses and condominiums sold statewide last month.

Sales of so-called distressed homes – foreclosures and short sales, in which the lender allows a property to be sold for less than what is owed – accounted for 41.0% of the market last month, down from 43% in June in 2011....

This is a good thing, the housing market is starting to show recovery. If the number of houses sold slows for awhile it is not tragic, it shows the purchasers are not simply investors with hopes of grabbing cash from state settlements with the banks (which does nothing to build neighborhoods). This may be the point when neighborhoods are actually finding recovery as families purchase into the market again.

If more individuals enter the market, the recovery of value will return. It is not an artificial value either. As real people return to communities the value within that community will increase. Local economies will become more important, schools will receive more attention locally and real estate taxes will return to the local governments. The government structures across the country have been deflating due to lack of revenue. A real turn around in housing values will return stability to the State and local governments.

One of the favorite attacks these days is against Public Employee Unions. The reason this seemed like a reasonable attack to the average citizen is because wages, pensions and benefits appeared to be too high compared to revenues of their governments, basically unaffordable. Those wages and benefits including pensions were established during a time when they were reasonable solutions for everyone, it is not the fault of the unions the banks failed and sent local governments into turmoil. Actually, the unions usually have credit unions for their members and the Credit Unions were uneffected during that time. The homeowners through Credit Unions weren't in stressed homes unless of course they lost employment.

When value returns to housing, people return to their communities, the requirements for the services of public employees will be greater with better functioning of the local governments with better income from taxes. Hopefully, as communities return to function, the Public Employees will be recalled to work again. It would not only help the unemployment rate, but, it would increase the local economies increasing the demand for good and services.

This may be the turning point, let's hope so.