The FBI needs to investigate the Texas explosion for counter - terrorism.

I don't trust Texas with a potential terrorism threat. Besides that the entire reaction by the emergency services in the area was inappropriate. The chemical plant was a known danger to the area. There were absolutely no precautions in place. The fire was burning before the explosion, yet there were no sprinklers or fire extinguishing capacity within the complex of the chemicals. 

Many people died and it was due to negligence by the State of Texas to secure the chemical plant away from dangers to the people.

Yes, I think Texas can and will cover up a lot of the truth about this tragedy. I also believe there is such a heinous outcome to such negligence there is a conflict of interest and the State of Texas should not be conducting the investigation.

May 10, 2013
by Mark Memmott

Authorities in Texas (click here) announced Friday that they're launching a criminal investigation into the April 17 fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people and devastated the small community of West.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw directed the Texas Rangers to join McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara in the investigation.
Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed Friday that an individual from West has been arrested for possession of an explosive device. But, the wire service says, "it remained unclear whether there was a connection to last month's explosion at a fertilizer plant in the town."...

The entire fire, explosion, the aftermath and the emergency response including curiosity and concern by citizen in the area was completely wrong. Texas is simply washing their hands of it without instituting necessary measures to change the outcome of such tragedies in the future.

These tragedies have happened all too often in Texas and they are usually the worst disasters the country has ever witnessed.

McLennan County Sheriff and Texas Rangers to Launch Criminal Investigation into West Plant Explosion (click here)

Officials continue to assist community in recovery effort

AUSTIN – Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Steven McCraw today directed the Texas Rangers to join McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara in launching a criminal investigation into the fertilizer plant explosion that occurred in West, Texas, on April 17.

“This disaster has severely impacted the community of West, and we want to ensure that no stone goes unturned and that all the facts related to this incident are uncovered,” said Director McCraw.

“The citizens of McLennan County and Texas must have confidence that this incident has been looked at from every angle and professionally handled – they deserve nothing less,” said Sheriff McNamara....

According to the Heritage Foundation, Cruz has an IQ problem. Who knew?

by Jamelle Bouie

May 9, 2013

...In the push to understand(click here) why Heritage would make such assumptions, Dylan Matthews of The Washington Post discovered an important fact about one of the coauthors, Jason Richwine, a “senior policy analyst” at Heritage. Richwine earned his Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University in 2009, with a dissertation titled “IQ and Immigration Policy.”

His thesis is straightforward and clearly stated in the abstract: “The statistical construct known as IQ can reliably estimate general mental ability, or intelligence. The average IQ of immigrants in the United States is substantially lower than that of the white native population, and the difference is likely to persist over several generations.”

He then goes on to prove each point. On the question of IQ, he relies on a broad variety of research, from the American Psychological Association—to underscore the extent to which established measurements have found racial differences in intelligence—to the work of the late J. Philippe Rushton who argued that these differences were genetic in origin. He cites one article that deals with the differences of the “negroid brain.”...

The Heritage Foundation goes on to state Immigration Reform is going to add huge amounts of government spending over 50 years because our new citizens.

...Population-based services. (click here) Police, fire, highways, parks, and similar services, as the National Academy of Sciences determined in its study of the fiscal costs of immigration, generally have to expand as new immigrants enter a community; someone has to bear the cost of that expansion.

The cost of these governmental services is far larger than many people imagine. For example, in 2010, the average U.S. household received $31,584 in government benefits and services in these four categories....

I like to think of this as 'sculpted hatred,' because it is. I betcha no household in the USA knew they received the benefits of $31,854 in government SPENDING. This is one of the most atrocious uses of an advanced education.

This is one of the authors of Heritage Foundation papers.

Robert Rector, a leading authority on poverty, welfare programs and immigration in America for three decades, is The Heritage Foundation’s senior research fellow in domestic policy.

Dubbed the "intellectual godfather" of welfare reform (byNational Review Editor Rich Lowry), Rector concentrates on a range of related issues, including the collapse of the marriage culture, the breakdown of the family and other social ills. He is a vocal proponent of marriage education, especially in low-income communities.

Rector played a major role in crafting the 1996 federal welfare reform legislation, which, for the first time, required recipients to work or get job training in exchange for benefits. Since its passage, he has continued to examine not only the mounting costs to the taxpayer (nearly $1 trillion a year) but the role of welfare spending in undermining families.

This is the other author. I am quite confident both are well paid for their writing whether or not it is valid.

Richwine, Heritage’s senior policy analyst in empirical studies, joined the Domestic Policy Studies department in January 2012. He previously was part of the think tank’s Center for Data Analysis, which provides the public policy community with state-of-the-art modeling, database products and quantitative research.

Richwine has published dozens of op-eds in major newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post. His essays also have appeared in political journals such as National Review and The Weekly Standard and in online venues such as The Atlantic and Huffington Post.

Richwine received his doctorate in public policy in 2009 from Harvard University. He holds bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and political science from American University. Before joining Heritage in 2010, he worked at the American Enterprise Institute on a dissertation fellowship.

The study's premise is based in wealth distribution.

...The governmental system is highly redistributive. Well-educated households tend to be net tax contributors: The taxes they pay exceed the direct and means-tested benefits, education, and population-based services they receive. For example, in 2010, in the whole U.S. population, households with college-educated heads, on average, received $24,839 in government benefits while paying $54,089 in taxes. The average college-educated household thus generated a fiscal surplus of $29,250 that government used to finance benefits for other households....

Basically, the well educated are an asset and the poor are not. The study doesn't look to the opportunity of the USA to grow their brain trust and provide upward movement in the USA. I can think of a million different ways of approaching this including the fact upward movement in the USA is becoming increasingly difficult. So, based in the idea that upward movement is no longer a matter of fact in the USA, the study has based their ASSUMPTIONS that the tax base of the USA is fixed, therefore, the new immigrant population will be an ADDITIONAL burden on the wealthy.

A premise can be CREATED any way they want and their paper leans strongly in the direction there will be no advantage to newly realized citizens through immigration reform.

...The high deficits of poorly educated households are important in the amnesty debate because the typical unlawful immigrant has only a 10th-grade education....

Then I have to consider Heritage Foundation is also saying people are genetically deficient in intelligence in comparison of white people. The logical premise of this paper continues, because, where education is a path to upward movement then the USA is really in a ditch with these folks.

Overall, the fiscal deficits or surpluses for lawful immigrant households are the same as or higher than those for U.S.-born households with the same education level. Poorly educated households, whether immigrant or U.S.-born, receive far more in government benefits than they pay in taxes.

Heritage is qualifying their reasoning in that their measures are not about the unlawful immigrants. I am really getting the feeling as though Heritage wants to continue unskilled job deportation to China and India and wants only to accept immigrants RECRUITED from the upper one percent of the global community.

This is one of the graphs within this study. The real problem with the study by Heritage is there is no realization of the CONTRIBUTIONS of our immigrants. There is no peripheral benefit from the immigrants. I don't know about you but there are huge economies in the USA based in the contributions of immigrants and we can start with food variety and work from there. There is a very good possibility the USA would not have an economy without it's immigrant communities.

The study focuses on DEPENDENCY of people with lower incomes. It is a paper about hatred. It is not tempered with personalizing the immigrant experience and how OVER GENERATIONS the USA has benefited in huge measure by those that have come to this country with more determination at times than natural born citizens. The USA immigrant, here legally or not, latch onto THE PROMISE of the USA and never let go. That is a fact. Every person here from another country will reflect those same exact values. Isn't that what we want of countrymen given a chance to be citizens?

The graph above is about hatred. It is stating there are going to be huge fiscal burdens to the USA, not only by immigrants but by the natural born poor. This graph enforces far more than the cost of "unlawful immigrants," it enforces the idea that all forms of social support to citizens has to stop regardless of citizen status. I mean, you have to know with people like Rubio and Obama in office this immigration legislation is going to happen. But, what doesn't have to happen is the god almighty expense of it.

So, it a warning to the Republicans. The warning is IF YOU VOTE for this immigration reform, you better have removed any fiscal liability it could carry with it including destruction of SSI, Medicare and Medicaid. Throw in Food Stamps, too.

Look, this is exactly what the problem is with the Republican rhetoric. The Republicans are stuck with people that promulgate hatred based in hideous interpretation of what they call facts. It isn't really cherry picking statistics, it is APPLYING a particular methodology to the statistics that dictate fear of the unknown outcomes of the legislation. These studies by Heritage beat the brow of the Republican to the point of hating government itself because it carries such power over the pocketbook.

The reality of immigration in the USA is nothing short of spectacular. Our entire food industry is dependent on the very people immigration reform is about. We owe them a great deal for the very hard work they do. We owe them respect and this study doesn't even approach the word respect.

Immigration has built this country. There are currently men and women in our armed forces waiting for their citizen rights. That is putting trust in a country with their lives. That not only demands reward, but, it demands dedication to improving their status.

Immigration reform is not about dollar and cents or yet another opportunity to assault EARNED BENEFITS in the USA. Immigration reform is about extending the rights to our brothers and sisters they have already earned by being in this country and working in the shadows.

If these costs will be the reality of the USA over the next 50 years, then I strongly suggest Heritage Foundation needs to study ways of improving the financial status of these folks or the 99% might actually become 99.9%. It would be far, far better if the paper authors at Heritage actually conducted valuable work rather than work that supports rhetoric. The question is does Heritage Foundation actually know what VALUABLE work is.

Boner has to be the worst Speaker of the House this country has ever had.

Pure politics. Speaker Boner is using the House Floor for politics.

No Cost Politics

A free and power forum for promoting his members. Those are ethical violations by the Speaker and the members requesting such a use of a governing body.

This is what gerrymandering has done for the USA. Legislators are using the House floor for politics. The members electorate are saying, "But you are not on the record. Blah, blah, blah. Get on the record." So, now Boner is using the House Floor to be sure members elected since the last health care vote are now in Congressional Record and published for the politics of their district elections. That is all this House does. Cantor and the rest of them are encouraging a completely dysfunctional government structure. They don't care what the country needs. No dinner invitation is going to fix this.

...Although nearly 40 votes (click here) have been held since the law was passed, Boehner, R-Ohio, said of the upcoming vote, scheduled for next week: "We've got 70 new members who have not had an opportunity to vote on the president's healthcare law. Obamacare is going to drive up the cost of healthcare. It is going to drive up the cost of health insurance and make it harder for small businesses to hire workers."...

The Democrats running against the Republicans in 2014 need to point to the lack of leadership in the House and the misuse and abuse of power to ignore the needs of a nation.

S. Amendment 711 - continued - legal guns

``Centerfire Rifles--Lever & Slide (continued)

``Uberti 1866 Sporting Rifle Uberti 1873 Sporting Rifle
``Uberti 1876 Rifle

``Uberti 1883 Burgess Lever Action Rifle/Carbine

``Uberti Henry Rifle

``Uberti Lightning Rifle/Carbine(below - 78 pieces - click here)


``Winchester Lever Actions, All Other Center Fire Models

``Winchester Model 94 Big Bore Side Eject
``Winchester Model 94 Ranger Side Eject Lever-Action Rifle
``Winchester Model 94 Side Eject Lever-Action Rifle
``Winchester Model 94 Trapper Side Eject
``Winchester Model 94 Wrangler Side Eject
``Winchester Model 1895 Safari Centennial(below-matched set - $2700.00 - click here)


``Centerfire Rifles--Bolt Action

``Accurate Arms Raptor & Backpack Bolt Action Rifles

``Alpine Bolt-Action Rifle

Vintage Gun Catalogs and more (click here)

There are only four Anschutz listed as legal and they are all centerfire, but, I thought this article about Anschutz would be of interest. There are populous aspects of guns and gun manufacturers that are marketed as a preference of one to another. Anschutz is considered a high end rifle. This article is about their rimfire variety. This is part of the gun culture. Brand Status.

The majority of rimfire rifles (click here) on the market today are priced well below $500, so we wondered if a rifle that costs three times that amount would be worth it. Here’s what we found.

There is also an interesting aspect to these rifles. Their gun stocks are not detachable and are made for the sturdiness of the gun. There is a difference in holding the gun as a one piece machine rather than assembled. I think this Anschutz gun stock is a clear illustration of the difference in safety with these weapons.

1700 FEATHERWEIGHT (click here)

The 1700 Featherweight is a very nice, small .22 sporter stock with a high roll-over Monte Carlo cheekpiece and a small schnabel forend. It was patterned after the Anschutz® factory Deluxe sporter stock and will only accommodate Anschutz® 1700 series and 64 series actions. Available in right hand only.

``Anschutz 1700D Bavarian Bolt-Action Rifle(above)

``Anschutz 1700D Classic Rifles

``Anschutz 1700D Custom Rifles

``Anschutz 1733D Mannlicher Rifle(below)

``Arnold Arms African Safari & Alaskan Trophy Rifles

``A-Square Caesar Bolt-Action Rifle

``A-Square Genghis Khan Bolt Action Rifle

``A-Square Hamilcar Bolt Action Rifle

``A-Square Hannibal Bolt-Action Rifle(below - $4450.00 - click here)

``Auguste Francotte Bolt-Action Rifles
``Bansners Ultimate Bolt Action Rifles
``Beeman/HW 60J Bolt-Action Rifle
``Benton & Brown Firearms, Inc. Model 93 Bolt Action Rifle
``Blackheart International BBG Hunter Bolt Action
``Blackheart International LLC BBG Light Sniper Bolt Action

Here is a sampling of BHI BBG Custom Bolt Rifles (click here) that we have made for our customers. We can customize a bolt rifle for you based on your specific needs, such as action, caliber, barrel, stock, trigger, sighting system, muzzle options and other specifications. We specialize in sniper, competition and long-range hunting rifles.

Call us today at (304) 457-1280 for more information.

Click on thumbnail to view larger image. (* indicates some parts are no longer available.)



``Blaser R8 Professional

``Blaser R84 Bolt-Action Rifle

``Blaser R93 Bolt Action Rifle

``BRNO 537 Sporter Bolt-Action Rifle

``BRNO ZKB 527 Fox Bolt-Action Rifle

``BRNO ZKK 600, 601, 602 Bolt-Action Rifles(below-click here)



``Brown Precision Company Bolt Action Sporter

``Browning A-Bolt Gold Medallion

``Browning A-Bolt Left Hand

``Browning A-Bolt Micro Medallion

``Browning A-Bolt Rifle

``Browning A-Bolt Short Action

``Browning A-Bolt Stainless Stalker

``Browning Euro-Bolt Rifle

``Browning High-Power Bolt Action Rifle(below - $1300 to $1900 - click here)



``Browning X-Bolt Bolt Action Rifle

``Carbon One Bolt Action Rifle

``Carl Gustaf 2000 Bolt-Action Rifle Century

``Centurion 14 Sporter

``Century Enfield Sporter #4

``Century M70 Sporter

``Century Mauser 98 Sporter

``Century Swedish Sporter #38

``Cheytac M-200 (sniper rifle)



10 Bad A** Sniper Rifles (click here)



This is the same gun as above with add-on. Okay, elephant gun I suppose.

Weight: 31 lbs withou8t scope

Cartridge: .408 Cheytac or .357 CheyTac

Effective Range: 2000+ m – M-200

2000+ m – M-200 Carbine

1500+ m – M-200 CIV (Civilian)

1800+ m – M-310 SS (Single Shot) )

1800+ m – M-310 R (Repeater)

Feed System: 4 or 7 rd detachable box magazine
``Cheytac M70 Sporter
       ``Cooper Model 21 Bolt Action Rifle
       ``Cooper Model 22 Bolt Action Rifle


``Cooper Model 38 Centerfire Sporter(below - click here)


       ``Cooper Model 56 Bolt Action Rifle
       ``CZ 527 Bolt Action Rifles
       ``CZ 550 Bolt Action Rifles
       ``CZ 750 Sniper Rifle
       ``Dakota 22 Sporter Bolt-Action Rifle
       ``Dakota 76 Classic Bolt-Action Rifle
       ``Dakota 76 Safari Bolt-Action Rifle
       ``Dakota 76 Short Action Rifles
       ``Dakota 97 Bolt Action Rifle
       ``Dakota 416 Rigby African



The controlled-round feed of Dakota’s Model 76 is appreciated on dangerous-game hunts. (click here)

By John Zent, Editorial Director 


       ``Dakota Predator Rifle
       ``DSA DS-MP1 Bolt Action Rifle
       ``E.A.A./Sabatti Rover 870 Bolt-Action Rifle
       ``EAA/Zastava M-93 Black Arrow Rifle
       ``Ed Brown Hunting and Model 704 Bolt Action Rifles
       ``Heym Bolt Action Rifles
       ``Heym Magnum Express Series Rifle (Either Bring Your Heym Rifle or Use One Provided by the Factory - click here)


More tomorrow. 

Thank you for your interest.

I am grateful to still have Martin's family. It is less of a nation without him.

May 9, 2013 Statement from the Richard Family (click here)

I really think the House and Senate have Republicans with profound ethical dilemmas.

By Rebekah Metzler
May 9, 2013

...The absence of all eight (click here) Republican committee members left the panel without a quorum, though had all Democrats been present, they would have been able to proceed. Boxer, however, dismissed that approach – at least for now.

"Today we are asking the Republicans to come back, we will schedule another mark-up," she said, adding it was never her intention to push the confirmation today without Republicans present.

But the Democrats present at the hearing each took their turn bashing their conservative colleagues over the walkout, extolling McCarthy's experience and willingness to answer what they called an unprecedented number of questions.

"They may not like the answers, but she's given them the answers," said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. "I'm an old governor, I believe that elections have consequences."...

All the geniuses of the Senate are in boycott because they don't think their questions were answered. Dah.

David Vitter - Voted YES on Hurricane Sandy Relief
James M. Inhofe - Voted NO on Hurricane Sandy Relief
John Barrasso - Voted NO on Hurricane Sandy Relief
Jeff Sessions - Voted NO on Hurricane Sandy Relief
Mike Crapo - Voted NO on Hurricanse Sandy Relief
Roger F. Wicker - Voted YES on Hurricane Sandy Relief
John Boozman - Voted NO on Hurricase Sandy Relief
Deb Fischer - Voted NO on Hurricane Sandy Relief

Hurricane Sandy was a Climate Crisis storm. There are at least two Republican members of the Senate EPW Committee that realized this was not a usual storm that could be addressed through usual emergency channels.

Sandy was only a Category One storm, yet, the storm surge and the winds throughout the entire size of this storm leveled cities and caused diminished capacity of emergency responders to stop fires. Sandy was a Climate Crisis storm. Unprecedented.

The EPA nominee recognizes the increased level of CO2 in our troposphere which is now bumping up to 400 ppm. She is a person with unguessable qualifications during a very difficult time in our nation. Now is not the time for boycotts when our nation faces these terrible realities. 

by Glenn Trush
May 8, 2013

David Vitter seems to have set a new record. (click here)

Sen. Vitter, a Louisiana Republican with close ties to the gas and oil industries, has already sent a whopping 653 questions to President Obama's nominee to take over the Environmental Protection Agency on a wide range of regulatory topics (and her use of government email accounts) ahead of her Thursday confirmation hearings, according to a Democratic staffer directly involved in the confirmation process....

Vitter isn't fit to sit on this Senate Committee. If he has to ask 653 questions of a nominee then he does not have the 'basic' understanding of the responsibilities of the committee or the EPA Secretary. No nominee is responsible for EDUCATING Republicans about the reality of the world we live in so much as stating how she can help. This is ridiculous.

The members of the Senate EPW Committee that puts personal beliefs before the well being of our nation should resign their positions to those that at least understands that science is real. This Senate Committee is dense in scientific understanding, so those unable to understand science due to lack of knowledge and/or religious preferences need to get out of the way of those that can handle the demands of this committee.

The Long War Journal was reporting the day of the Benghazi attacks...

...that Ansar al-Sharia "didn't participate as a sole entity," and that the attack "was a spontaneous popular uprising" to an anti-Islam film. That was on the day of the attacks in Benghazi.


Muhammad Jamal al Kashef, a main suspect in the Benghazi consulate assault, from a video posted by the Al Marsad News Network. Courtesy of SITE Intelligence Group.

Egypt arrests al Qaeda-linked Benghazi suspect (click here) 
by Thomas Joscelyn

December 8, 2012

The Egyptian government has arrested Muhammad Jamal al Kashef (a.k.a. Abu Ahmed), a senior terrorist tied to the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, according to The Wall Street Journal. Kashef has direct, longstanding connections to al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri.

Kashef served as an Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) terrorist in the 1990s and was imprisoned for years. The EIJ was headed by Zawahiri, who merged the group with Osama bin Laden's operation.

After his release from prison in 2011, Kashef established training camps in Egypt and Libya. Some of Kashef's trainees took part in the Benghazi attack, according to multiple published accounts.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Kashef "petitioned al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri to establish a new Qaeda affiliate he called al Qaeda in Egypt" and also received financing from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Al Hayat, a London-based Arabic newspaper, previously reported that Zawahiri gave Jamal the go-ahead to launch terrorist attacks in Egypt, Libya, and elsewhere....

Video reportedly shows key suspect from Benghazi attack (click here)

by Thomas Joscelyn 

October 31, 2012

One of the main suspects in the Sept. 11 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi appeared in a recent video posted online by an Egyptian media organization, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

Muhammad Jamal al Kashef (a.k.a. Abu Ahmed) is suspected of training some of the terrorists responsible for the consulate assault, during which Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

On Oct. 28, the Al Marsad News Network posted a short interview with Jamal on YouTube.

It is not clear where or when the interview was filmed, but Jamal says he "always came to this place inside a State Security vehicle, and this is the first time" he did not. Jamal does not add much more.

The interviewer concludes by congratulating him, according to SITE's translation. "A thousand congratulations, Sheikh Abu Ahmed, a thousand congratulations, Muhammad Jamal Abu al Kashef. Peace be upon you O Sheikh!"...

Hicks was responsible for the security in Libya, he should have been fired and not just reassigned to a desk! By becoming a sympathetic figure through all the GOP nonsense for political gain, Hicks is attempting to secure at least his desk job before he finds himself on the other side of the front door. 

He is insubordinate. It is just that simple when the USA national security is involved. I was astounded by the lack of respect for the country's security at the Issa hearing. It was complete incompetency.

Hicks is playing the game and he should not be. Just that simple.

The USA intelligence was not complete in regard to Benghazi when the attacks occurred and the agencies were reliant on news reports from the area to make determinations. There were media reports about Benghazi stating the attacks were originally demonstrations following the video. One of the reports was in The Long War Journal. I know these media reports existed because I read them. They were there. The timing was correct as well. The attacks in Benghazi followed the activity in Cairo. It all made sense, but, details were elusive. Ambassador Rice was correct in contextualizing the agency reporting in a way that was digestible by the public until more facts were known. Why escalate the issue to the public when the agencies didn't have those facts before them.

No one bothers to talk about the damage that could have been done if the decision to deploy the military from Tripoli into Benghazi was up to Hicks. He did not have the authority, nor should he, to override the DOD. The decisions made on September 11, 2012 were the correct decisions, they weren't the heroic decisions, but they were correct. We didn't want any more dead than already was possible because the intelligence was bad.

No one in the DOD is allowed to throw away the rule book and send American personnel into a situation where they don't know what they are facing. I realize the military personnel, especially any Special Forces are heroic people, but, we can't afford to lose them. The DOD has to act for the greatest good and can't simply send specially trained personnel into a dangerous situation on a whim. That was done all to often during the Bush years. It is disrespect for the people that line the halls of our military. Their lives are not disposable because it would be better to be heroic than alive.

Assad Opponents Shun U.S.-Russia Call for Settlement Talks (click here)

Indira A.R. Lakshmanan and Donna Abu-Nasr

Published 3:47 am, Thursday, May 9, 2013

...Seeking to assuage such concerns, Secretary of State John Kerry said today that Assad won’t be part of any transitional government. Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed May 7 to press for an international conference seeking a negotiated settlement to the conflict, which the United Nations says has claimed more than 70,000 lives since March 2011.

Kerry, speaking today during a visit to Rome, said that conversations yesterday with the opposition and other nations to prepare the ground for the U.S.-Russian initiative have been productive. The U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, arrived in Istanbul yesterday to meet with opposition leaders in a bid to persuade them to participate....

...The U.S.-Russia initiative “is the first hopeful news concerning that unhappy country in a very long time,” Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN special envoy for Syria, said in a statement.

Russia, whose ties with the Assad dynasty date back to the Soviet era, has vetoed three European-drafted UN Security Council resolutions condemning the Syrian government’s crackdown and threatening to impose economic sanctions against regime. Russia has defended its actions, saying the opposition was equally to blame for the violence and that Western powers were seeking a Libya-style regime change....

It is time Russia draw up it's own resolution to end the Syrian siege. 

8 May 2013 Last updated at 12:42 ET

The UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, (click here) Lakhdar Brahimi, has hailed a US-Russia commitment to work together to end the conflict in the country.

He said it was "the first hopeful news" on Syria for a long time, but cautioned that it was "only a first step".

On Tuesday, the US and Russia agreed to convene an international conference to find a political solution on Syria.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said they would encourage both Damascus and the opposition to negotiate.

The deal came after Mr Kerry's talks in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov....

...Speaking to the BBC shortly afterwards, Mr Brahimi said he hoped the Moscow announcements would be a wake-up call for all concerned, and that they would now think only of the Syrian people and how Syria could be saved.

More than 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.

Mr Brahimi also stressed that the US-Russian accord meant that the UN Security Council would now be able to function again....

I think every nation involved is worried about an even further deterioration of the wrong entities are to take over Syria. So, the prudent Russia have the correct focus. There needs to be accountable leadership for Syria which the people accept, but, there has to be caution in any potential for extremists to take over the new government. 

I think the Russians are correct in some of their point of view. It is all to easy to put troops in harms way as a overt sign of 'exerting control,' but, it doesn't accomplish anything except a grand display of military prowess. A lot of people die when the USA deploys military assets. Far more than 70,000 civilians died in Iraq.

The family home of one of the victims, Gina DeJesus, who went missing aged 14, has been festooned to celebrate her return.

I think the city of Cleveland has a lot of explaining to do about the successful imprisonment of three women in the same house for ten years. That is bizarre.

I wonder if Ms. Berry knew her mother had died. I can't imagine she didn't knowing the cruelty of her jailer. I also find it more than a coincidence Ms. Berry's child is six years old. She would have conceived the child about the time her mother died. I think that is odd considering the graphic brutality surrounding other pregnancies.

05:00 PM - May 8, 2013

Needless to say, (click here) the kidnapping case in Cleveland has garnered a ton of media attention now that the three women — Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michele Knight — have been recovered from the house in which they were kept prisoner for a decade. But before it became a national story, Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Regina Brett was on the case. Brett, a columnist since 1994 who’s been at the Plain Dealer since 2000, spoke with Berry’s mother, Louwana Miller, several times in the years between Berry’s April 2003 disappearance and Miller’s 2006 death. She tells CJR what covering the case for the past decade has been like and how she feels now that it’s solved — years too late for Miller....

...It wasn’t your typical weepy, sad mom. She wanted to kill somebody for her daughter being missing. And I think the media didn’t know what to do with somebody like Louwana because she didn’t fit the stereotype. And so I think, in some ways, Amanda didn’t show up on the radar screen for people right away....

There is a reason why these missing women were neglected by Cleveland. There is a discriminating judgement of the community. It took a female journalist dedicated to finding a missing women to at least attempt to bring an effort. Amanda was missing, there was no evidence she was dead. Everything pointed to an abducted woman. It just seems to so obvious to me that three missing women from the same area were among boarded up houses. In some ways, this case is a no-brainer.

Castro succeeded because the system failed. The first thing Ms. Berry said was, "I am Amanda Berry, they have been looking for me, I am free now, here I am." She knew. She knew that for three years while her mother was alive there was attention to her plight. She fully expected the 911 operator to realize who she was. She had a clear understanding she had an important place in a larger social picture of her plight. Her mother was responsible for that importance. I just think Cleveland could not move outside their own 'legal prejudice' to think outside the box. And if detectives and police did think outside the box, why and what stopped them?

Ms. Berry's mother knew by having a female journalist continue to bring focus to her daughter would bring about discovery. She was correct. Louwana Miller was correct. Gina's family stated, "We knew it." Cleveland didn't try hard enough to move past 'the stuff' that prevented their discovery in a community that knew the women were alive.