Holy Smokes, Bubba, the only thing the nation hasn't learned about is the dimple in your butt.

There is no way a political action committee could have paid for the national exposure of the New Jersey Governor today.

I don't know of any living person that has received this much attention.


AUG. 8, 2013, 5:46 PM
Josh Barro

...He's successfully (click here) executing one part of a strategy to do this: Convincing liberal commentators that he's an unreconstructed conservative given too much credit for moderation. When he draws their fire, he convinces conservatives that he's one of them.

For example, in the New York Magazine cover story on Christie this week, Benjamin Wallace-Wells wrote that Christie holds "conventionally conservative positions on many issues," such as being "opposed to government programs for the poor."...

The nation will know if you are stronger than this storm. According to Fox's Hume he has a 'man crush' on you.

Bob Jordan, Asbury Park Press, and Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY7:54 p.m. EST January 13, 2014

Federal auditors are investigating (click here) whether New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie improperly used $25 million in Superstorm Sandy relief funds for a tourism ad starring the governor and his family, according to U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J.

The marketing campaign and ads were rolled out as Christie was gearing up for his 2013 re-election bid....

There was no mention of his election campaign in the ad. It was promotion of a family based love of the New Jersey Shore. Sorry, but, it was. Christi was a very popular figure when that ad was made and it served to draw attention to the message. It is difficult to accuse him of any impropriety when it was approved by HUD.

I thought the accusations of 'abuse of power' was interesting. Maybe, but, if Bush and Cheney can get away with killing thousands of American troops in an immoral and illegal war, how is this called abuse of power?

The petroleum industry is given subsidies to burn up a planet and that isn't abuse of power either.

I am not so sure I appreciate the priorities of the press.

This is gossip for ratings compared to the sincere crimes of the previous DC administration.

January 2, 2014

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - The Securities and Exchange Commission (click here) said last Friday it would adopt amendments to remove references to credit ratings in calculating the regulatory capital financial firms need to put behind commercial paper, debt and preferred stock, pushing forward one of the major tenets of the 2010 Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The change appears targeted at mitigating some of the risks uncovered in the collapse of commodity trading firm MF Global in October 2011.

The amendments will remove references to credit ratings in the broker-dealer financial responsibility and confirmations of transactions rules. New regulations will also prohibit broker-dealers from using customer securities and cash to finance their own trading, and will force them to maintain more than a dollar of highly liquid assets for each dollar of liabilities....

Do you know what President came from New Jersey? 

The 28th, Woodrow Wilson.

It is a little disappointing Corzine hasn't shown up somewhere in the Democrat Party. I would think his experience would be valuable to the party.

The 'thing' about the bridge scandal is that it might work out to be just that, a scandal.

3 o'clock tomorrow, huh? I don't know of many State of the State addresses that have become this popular. I betcha Obama won't get the ratings Christi will get tomorrow.

Someone said the world stopped spinning today. It could be that time has stopped.

"Ground Hog Day"

Drone conducting friendly fire along Pakistan border. Troops Out Now!

Oops, wrong guy. When is 'oops' going to be enough to end this drone practice?

Waziristan is the mountainous region of Pakistan frequently referred to as "The Tribal Areas." At one time this region of Pakistan was a tourist mecca for the beauty found there. The people in this region are not all jihadists seeking to over throw governments and kill innocent people.

I might mention, The Tribal Areas were of great concern of the Late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She frequently believed the presence of 'hostiles' were causing hardship with the people.

The USA needs to leave and let the people solve their own problems

Published time: January 13, 2014 17:12 
Edited time: January 13, 2014 17:49

...However, (click here) it is only now that details have begun to emerge. The man in question has been identified as Patrick K., from Hesse, central Germany, according to the German paper, Süddeutsche Zeitung and the NDR broadcaster.

An entry at a jihadist forum, which also produced video evidence of his death, stated the man's full name was Patrick Klaus. Two separate German-language video messages (Part one; Part two) posted by German Islamists show Klaus smiling at the camera as he calls on his compatriots with the same beliefs to: "Follow me".

The German national apparently switched to Islam at the age of 14, reports Die Welt. In 2011, he moved to Waziristan, a mountainous region near Afghanistan’s border back in 2011 to live with his wife, who is thought to be a Pakistani national.

The reports state that at the time of the strike Patrick K. had been travelling in a pick-up truck alongside several Uzbek fighters. They were heading in the direction of South Waziristan when a MQ-1 Predator drone missile hit the vehicle. Nine others died alongside Patrick K., and the vehicle itself was left completely burnt out....

South Pacific Typhoons started 2014 with a Category 4 storm.

Tonga's Ha'apai island group, home to 8000 people, was severely damaged by Cyclone Ian on Saturday. Photo / AP

By AP
5:30 AM Tuesday Jan 14, 2014

As many as 400 families (click here) had their homes severely damaged or destroyed in a powerful storm which struck Tonga, but officials are relieved the death toll hasn't risen beyond one.

Director of Emergencies Leveni Aho said it was "almost unbelievable" there weren't more fatalities in the devastation caused by Cyclone Ian, which pummeled the South Pacific archipelago with gusts up to 287km/h on Saturday.

Worst hit was the Ha'apai island group, home to 8000 people. Authorities said one elderly woman on Lifuka Island was killed. Mr Aho said several people suffered moderate injuries but none were life-threatening....

Published: Jan 12, 2014, 8:14 AM EST
Associated Press

NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga -- Authorities (click here) were searching Tonga's remote islands for cyclone victims Sunday after a powerful storm cut a swath of destruction through this South Pacific archipelago, killing one person and destroying most of the homes in some areas.

Relief efforts following Saturday's cyclone were concentrating on the Ha'apai islands - one of Tonga's three island groups between the main island of Tongatapu in the south and the Vava'u islands to the north, Tonga's Director of Emergencies Leveni Aho said.

Cyclone Ian hit Tonga with gusts of up to 178 miles per hour. The storm was later downgraded from Category 5 - the most destructive level - to Category 4, with gusts of up to 155 mph. On Sunday, the cyclone was tracking southeast away from Tonga....

January 14, 2014
Peter Hannum

Sydney (click here) will be the envy of much of south-eastern Australia this week as a heatwave sends temperatures soaring elsewhere in the region.

Sea breezes will keep temperatures in a daily range between 21C (69.8 F) and 29C (84.2 F) until Saturday, when the tail end of the heat pushes maximums in the CBD up to 31C (87.8 F).

In western Sydney, temperatures are expected reach 34C (93.2 F) on Tuesday and between 36C (96.8 F) and 39C (102.2 F) until Saturday, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Victoria, southern NSW and South Australia can expect even more scorching conditions. The prolonged hot spell will be the most intense since conditions in the days leading up to the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria in 2009, forecasters say.

Advertisement

The second day of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park should coincide with the first of four days of temperatures reaching about 40C (104 F) , possibly 43C (109.4 F) on Tuesday.

Adelaide, where the mercury shot up to 42.1C (107.8 F) on Monday, is forecast to have four more similar days in a row. Each could reach 42C (107.6 F) or higher, making it the longest such run for the city, Weatherzone meteorologist Rob Sharpe said....

Heat in Australia equates to fire.

By Greg Ansley

January 14, 2014

Health and high fire danger alerts (click here) are coming into force as the heatwave that scorched Perth and ignited huge fires close to the city moves up the east coast from South Australia. The toll from the weekend's Western Australia fires yesterday rose to 44 homes destroyed, large areas of bush incinerated, one man dead and two others taken to hospital.

Temperatures soared into the 40s in South Australia and Victoria is now braced for the most severe conditions it has faced since the 2009 heatwave that sparked the Black Saturday fires....

...In Melbourne, which will endure a series of days in the high 40s, on-court temperatures at the Australian Tennis Open could reach as high as 50C (122 F) ....

Morning Papers - It's Origins (click here - thank you)

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

There is an election in South Carolina for Lieutenant Governor (click here)

BY ANDREW SHAIN

January 12, 2014

Sellers, a 29-year-old Democratic state representative from Denmark, said he was worried only about his own campaign, not McConnell’s plans....

...Sellers said that if elected, he wants to improve schools, roads and preventative health care.

McKinney, however, holds a 6-1 edge in cash on hand – helped by a $245,000 loan that he has made to his campaign....

...The race is also a curio for voters.

This November will be the last time a lieutenant governor will run alone in the state. Starting in 2018, candidates for governor will choose their lieutenant governor-running mates, and voters will cast ballots on a combined governor-lieutenant governor ticket, just as they do now with president and vice president.

“There’s not a lot of love for the lieutenant governor,” Buchanan said....

...Dream with eyes open

Sellers spoke last week to seniors at Irmo High School at the request of students who had heard the son of S.C. civil-rights icon Cleveland Sellers speak at Boy’s and Girl’s State last year.

The Denmark attorney suggested to about 150 seniors in the cafeteria that they “dream with their eyes open.”

“That’s my favorite saying in the entire world,” he said. “[Y]ou’ll be able to have moments where you can sit back and say, ‘Look, I took one step along this journey and maybe at the end of this journey, I can change the world.’ ”

Sellers dropped a few pop-culture names in his speech to the high-schoolers. He talked about his first phone call with then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama before the 2008 election and when he met singer Usher, actress Kerry Washington and actor Chris Tucker at an Obama rally.

He also said he turned down an appointment to become an advisor to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture after Obama was elected.

Sellers, a state representative since 2007, said he ran for political office to give people a chance at better lives. “I can’t make you succeed, but I can, at least, give you the opportunity.”

He also gave many of the seniors a glimpse of their future, saying he has $106,000 in college debt.

After his speech, Sellers said he hopes his appeal to younger audiences will help create a new voting base for him. But he understands most South Carolinians are worried about jobs, which he said he has worked to win.

“For me it’s not just saying, ‘I’m a businessman, and I create businesses,’ ” he said. “For me, it’s about toiling.”...

The question for any election is, "Who carries the vision of tomorrow in a meaningful way?" 

"Good Night, Moon"

The greatest gift of the Apollo Space Program was the realization that Earth is small, blue and unique planet in a void of space that is hostile and foreign. The least we as citizens of the USA can do is appreciate the reality our space program brought to us. Astronauts sacrificed their lives to bring us home again.

We are a nation, not a corporation of states.

The United States of America has some incredible symbols. A strong nation. An inclusive nation. It is all there in the Bald Eagle and the flag with thirteen original colonies in the red and white stripes and the blue field of 50 states.

They are symbols of pride and loyalty.

When one considers the hostility of the Republican Party against the federal government, one has to wonder why they bothered in the first place, but, then there was a Civil War wasn't there?

The Union won that war and it was settled. Destroying the federal government won't reverse history, it will compromise the nation's security.

States Rights are allowed and to speak to that are fifty separate state flags and emblems of their identity and history. The federal government works best in areas of common ground between states with uniform definition of purpose. There is only one human physiology when it comes to health and human services and there is only one type of air breathed as protected by the Clean Air Act of the EPA's jurisdiction. 

There is one federal treasury to consolidate a brain trust to solve the nation's problems. The federal government as realized by the Executive Branch's Cabinet relieves the burden on states to solve the same problem fifty times. When it comes to the energy the country requires for it's economy there is one Department of Energy to set standards and explore resources and solutions. Consolidation of assets to solve problems and bring equitable standing to every state is a benevolent function of the federal government.

Consolidated assets can bring equity to all children in every state when distribution for education and health is necessary. Demands by the federal government to meet educational standards is further assurance of equitable educational opportunity and building life skills. 

The State Department seeks to build good will, while the Defense Department protects the country's sovereignty.

Do I actually have to go on about this?

Secession has been a political strategy for eons in the USA. Does it have to continue? Some of the old world USA is simply stupid and this secession mess is one of those stupid traditions that does cause actual divisiveness.

The future won't be built on secession, it will be built on function. No state stands alone in its function. Heck, if Louisiana actually left the union, it would go bankrupt the next day. And forget about Mississippi, there would be refugees in Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas within minutes.

The Republican Brand is bizarre and carries no real brevity in the future of this country. The extremist zealots are outdated and unworkable.

There should be a law whereby the federal government is required to have a vision statement for the next generation of Americans as they come of age. That would be about 20 years worth of vision. It would direct the path of the country into favoring generational growth and return the idea that every generation of Americans does better than the one before it.

I find the politics of the USA hideous and ridiculous. It is not based in reality and promotes misdirection of the country. The most remarkable example today is the new Chinese Ambassador that was once a Senator and the corruption affiliated with that and the Trans Pacific Partnership. It expands on the 2005 Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement. The economic interests of the USA lie with the domestic development of it's economy and not the outsourcing of it. We have an entire generation waiting to work and become a part of this country and it's future. What does the federal government think it is achieving with this misdirected policy change?

Like I said, "Bizarre."

Adopting a State is not a simple process.

The process of becoming a state of the United States of America actually begins with the a territory and the desire of its people for Statehood. It requires adopting the laws of the USA before it becomes a state. So, the state legislature is the governing body in this process.

The federal government is the last legislative body to become a part of the process in accepting the territory's desire for Statehood. The federal legislature requires a convention of the proposed state to elect their representatives. That convention has occurred as quickly as ten days and as many as 60 days.

There have been few exceptions to that process. California was created as a state without any recognition of territories. West Virginia objected to the slave trade and was admitted by the federal government as a state separate from the confederate Virginia. Vermont was actually an autonomous republic before proposing statehood.

So, if any changes were to be proposed regarding the creation or annexation of states, it has to begin with the people and the legislature.

Secession is unconstitutional. The case before the Supreme Court was "Texas v. White" (click here).

The only method of separating from the United States of America is through a civil war or the consent of the other states.

Republicans want to destroy what already exists without recognition of equal representation of all the people. They confuse religion and state. They seek to make a homogeneous society rather than diverse as if one answer is the only answer for the entire of 300 million people. Efficiency of government is based in a corporate structure rather than a social one.

Democrats want to build on what already exists seeking justice be it economic or social. They are willing to see a problem for what it is and seek solutions. Diversity trumps all view. They see us as a nation and not just a bunch of states.

????????????? I couldn't find the words that sums this up. ????????????

California 2011 Redistricting (click here)

I have my own opinion of the entire concept, but, arbitrarily dividing California into Republican districts to optimize their electoral college is not the way to do it.

I have sincerely not studied this idea and really have no idea whether this would be good or bad, but, still, it's easy to identify at least one of the major points of debate within Draper's plan, which is turning Silicon Valley into it's own state, stretching from the Sierra Mountains to the shores of the Bay Area. That is simply bizarre. It isolates an economy that took a severe downturn during the 'dot.com bubble.' With a state this diverse the impact was handled and the people of that region were able to recover with help. 

Jefferson, (George Washington has a state and the nation's capital named for him, I like President Jefferson but what about all the Presidents. Besides the choice of Jefferson makes me wonder what really is in mind of "Six Californias.")

In 1801 Jefferson negotiated with a moderate Federalist representative from Delaware, James Asheton Bayard II,  and with Maryland representative, Samuel Smith, to secure Bayard's support in breaking the electoral college deadlock.

On February 17, 1801, after thirty-six ballots, the House elected Jefferson President and Burr Vice President. Jefferson owed his election victory to the South's inflated number of Electors, which counted slaves under the three-fifths compromise.

This map illustrates the actual, legal counties of California. The colors indicate the different economic sectors of the state. The regions are somewhat specialized and creates a state with diversity, but, structured. If these districts were to break up into states, they would be very vulnerable to economic ruin rather than survival.

As a rule, the wealthier coastal communities contribute a great deal to the state's treasury. California operates well as a single state. The geography somewhat dictates the economy, so basically California needs to be left alone.

In 'The Six Californias' the state name is very arbitrary and quite frankly boring. Let me see if I can remember the complex names, North California, South California, East California and West California (I wonder if that means there is the return of the gold rush?).

Give me a break. This 'idea' is about dissolving any Democratic influence with all those people living within one state's boundaries. This is nothing about the people, their needs, their best interest or the opportunity for ten more Senators in the USA federal government.

So, let me see if I get this right. Ten new Senators will show up in the US Senate only to dissolve the federal government anyway.

Right. 

Buoy, buoy, buoy.

The 2009 settlement with 150 tribes in the USA helps define land use, but, will the reverence for natural preservation continue?

Navajo activist Klee Benally chains himself to an excavator on the San Francisco Peaks, which he and 13 tribes consider sacred.

The Paris auction (click here) of 27 sacred American-Indian items earlier this month marks just the latest in a series of conflicts between what tribes consider sacred and what western cultures think is fair game in the marketplace.

Earlier this year, Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, director of the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, said "To see the art market driving this kind of behavior, it's not just distressful to the Hopi people, it's a hurt that I don't believe people can really understand."

The auction wasn't the first such sale and probably won't be the last. The Hopi Tribe with the help of a Survival International attorney have tried to stop the last two Paris auctions. But so far they haven't been successful....

The reason this occurred was because the tribal land had not been purchased yet for 'fractional interests' of specific tribes named in the fund distribution by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The settlement reached in 2009 was:

ELOUISE PEPION COBELL, et al.,Plaintiffs

vs.

KEN SALAZAR, Secretary of the Interior, et al., Defendants

Case No. 1:96CV01285-JR

Class Action Settlement Agreement

...1. Accounting/Trust Administration Fund. “Accounting/Trust Administration Fund” shall mean the $1,412,000,000.00 that Defendants shall pay into a Settlement Account held in the trust department of a Qualified Bank (as hereinafter defined) selected by Plaintiffs and approved by the Court, as well as any interest or investment income earned before distribution. The $1,412,000,000.00 payment represents the maximum total amount that Defendants are required to pay to settle Historical Accounting Claims, Funds Administration Claims, and Land Administration Claims....

The actual settlement can be read at the words "Cobell Settlement Agreement" at the link below. So, if your wondering why the National Debt has gotten out of control quickly, it is because settlements like these have been achieved. These settlements were delayed by previous administrations that didn't want to take responsibility for an increasing debt that would effect political dogma.

The Secretary of the Interior (click here) established the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program) to implement the land consolidation provisions of the Cobell Settlement Agreement. The Settlement provided for a $1.9 billion Trust Land Consolidation Fund (Fund) to consolidate fractional land interests across Indian Country....

...There are approximately 150 unique reservations that have fractional interests. Tribal leadership, participation, and facilitation are crucial to the success of the Program. The Department of the Interior looks forward to working cooperatively with tribal leaders and individual landowners to reduce the number of fractional interests through voluntary land sales.

This settlement should not add to the 'interest' on the debt, because, the payments are structured over time through the general fund. 

There is no reducing this settlement and there is every indication, at this point, the monies will be used well; unless; sacred ground is a theme and not a sincere respect for it's history and continuation of the culture.

By: 

Gale Courey Toensing

4/2/13

The struggle (click here) to save the Muscogee Creek Nation’s sacred Hickory Ground in Alabama has crossed the country, gaining support from indigenous activists in the Southwest who are also struggling to preserve their holy places.

Wayland Gray, Mike Harjo and Mike Deo, Muscogee Creek Nation citizens from Oklahoma, drove for 16 hours to reach to Phoenix, Arizona, where they held a rally to stop the Poarch Band of Creek Indians from continuing to construct a $246 million casino expansion on Hickory Ground in Wetumpka, Alabama. The Poarch Band has already excavated 57 setsof Muscogee Creek ancestors’ remains as part of the casino expansion project....

2004 Congressional Districts of California. Is it divide and conquer?

By Jarrett Bellini, CNN

updated 4:11 PM EST

Sun December 22, 2013 

...His major argument (click here) is that, currently, California isn't represented properly in Washington -- that two senators simply cannot speak for the massive population of the entire state....

The dye is already cast. Social change and diversity will be a national reality.

This is all just a matter of time. The Republicans are wrong and are being left behind even if Google finds the "Longevity Fix." An open and free society has a larger economy and better opportunity without exclusion of segments of our citizens. The more people engaged in earning and spending the more sustainable the economy. The less people see difference between each other, the more peaceful the nature of our populous. It will happen, even if it only population density stress; it will happen.

By Andrew R. McIlvaine

Monday, October 8, 2012

...Thirty-two percent of the 37 large companies polled (click here) by the National Business Group on Health in 2010 offered transgender health benefits, says Helen Darling, the organization's CEO -- up from 27 percent in a similar survey conducted in 2007, she adds. Of the companies that offered the benefits in 2010, 14 percent included coverage for sex-reassignment surgery and 5 percent said they planned to cover it in the following year, she says.

Companies that offer transgender benefits include American Express, Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.

Financial-services firms and technology companies based on the East and West Coasts are pioneers in this area, says Darling, just as they were when domestic partner benefits were still a new concept.

"Coverages that are kind of unusual tend to start out in places like California and New York City and then spread out from there," says Darling.

What's driving this trend? Darling says it's a combination of society's growing awareness and acceptance of transgendered people coupled with employee affinity groups that are petitioning their companies to offer these benefits. Outside groups such as the HRC are also drawing attention to the issue, she says.

However, the trend does face roadblocks -- one of them being cost, says Darling....

As of 2012, California carries 37.3 percent of the USA economy.

By Mark Glover
mglover@sacbee.com

Published: Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014 - 10:18 am

Some segments (click here) of California’s economic recovery have been characterized as tenuous, but export trade has been blasting along like a runaway train in recent months.

California businesses shipped merchandise valued at $15.22 billion in November, a robust 14.2 percent surge over $13.33 billion in November 2012, according to an analysis of Tuesday’s U.S. Commerce Department figures by Beacon Economics, a consulting firm with offices in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. By comparison, U.S. merchandise exports rose by 5.9 percent over the same period.

The state’s November 2012 figures were slightly depressed by a labor action at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach – the International Longshore and Warehouse Union strike shut down 10 of 14 container terminals at the two ports for four days....

The PLANS the Republican Party have are not about democracy, although they expect to achieve them through democratic principles.

We witnessed the tampering with the vote. That tampering was even condoned by the corruption in the Supreme Court. So, we have a problem. We are losing our democracy through very anticipated plans of assault.

When Democrats think about government, they think about equality and sustainability.

When Republicans think about government, it is about control for profits, extreme capitalism and destruction of the social fabric woven by time as the country grows.

There are two alternatives and each party represents each one. The USA becomes more difficult to live in and autonomy is the law of the land, hence, arms laws that are too liberal. All that is about reducing government and literally turning the USA back into the Wild West with a Techno tilt.

Or.

The USA comes together as a people and seek common ground when necessary to build a sustainable democracy with limits on dangers, including weapons. The definition of sustainable has to include environmental laws. There has to be a sincere separation of government and the private sector as we have witnessed the unregulated access of companies like Carlyle that have completely compromised the national security of the USA. There has to be a return to public and private. I don't see computers being the answer to that divide either. As far as I am concerned, government needs to return to paper pushers and real hands on files. It is actually the deconstruction of the 'techno government' structure. The internet is about social and business ventures, government doesn't belong there anymore, except, for consumer issues and educational directives.

The internet has become too dangerous, that includes weapon systems and military communications. Reducing the government need for 'the web' means greater opportunity for private sector business.

The extreme dire of the plans of the Republicans are to scary to ignore.

Taking the Battle to the States (click here)

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE 

JAN. 11, 2014

He had a plan: (click here) an 88-page playbook for the 2010 campaign, with detailed, district-by-district budgets and precise voter turnout targets. He had candidates: doctors, lawyers and small-business owners, most of them political novices recruited with an eye toward the anti-establishment fervor roiling the country. 

What Mr. Hubbard did not have was enough money. Alabama law barred corporations, deep-pocketed natural allies for state Republicans, from giving more than $500 to candidates and parties — a limit that did not apply to the state’s unions.

So began a nationwide quest for cash that would take Mr. Hubbard, plan in hand, to the Republican Parties in states like Florida and Ohio, to a wealthy Texan who was one of the country’s biggest Republican givers and to a Washington organization that would provide checks from dozens of out-of-state corporations, among them Exxon Mobil, Google, Facebook and Altria.

Exploiting a loophole in the state law and a network of political action committees in Alabama and Washington, Mr. Hubbard shuffled hundreds of thousands of out-of-state dollars into the Republican organization in Alabama, vastly outraising the state Democratic Party. On Election Day, Republicans won majorities in both the State Senate and House of Representatives for the first time since Reconstruction — and Alabama joined the rapidly growing fraternity of states where government is controlled by a single political party, now the largest it has been in more than half a century...

In a changing world that has no time to waste, will annexation of boarder states be appropriate?

As of 2012:

Virginia was established in 1788.

Virginia's GDP is 2.95 of the national economy.

West Virginia is one of two American states formed during the American Civil War (1861–1865), along with Nevada, and is the only state to form by seceding from a Confederate state.

West Virginia was established in 1863.

West Virginia's GDP is 0.46 of the national economy.

COAL MINING IN CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, VIRGINIA (click here)

Nearly 300 years ago, French Huguenots wishing to escape religious persecution made their homes on an 8 million year old coalfield that would help shape not only the history of Chesterfield County, but also that of the New World.

The first commercially mined coal in this country came from Midlothian, where the fossil fuel is believed to have been discovered near the Huguenot settlement on the James River about 1701. It was dug for local and domestic use for several years before it was first commercially mined in the 1730s. William Byrd II, who purchased 344 acres of land over the coalfield noted in a 1709 diary entry that "the coaler found the coal mine very good and sufficient to furnish several generations."

By the end of the Revolutionary War, coal mined in Chesterfield was being shipped to Philadelphia, New York and Boston. Thomas Jefferson noted the mines in operation in his "Notes on Virginia" and said the coal produced there was of excellent quality. He also ordered coal from the Black Heath Mine in Midlothian for use in the White House....

Fundamental differences that have existed through time.

Republicans and Democrats have fundamental differences. It is a chronic problem that will resolve whether one party or the other wants it. 

Why?

Because as population grows, providing we survive the Climate Crisis, there will be more need for cities to develop plans for their citizens that work to provide services and not simply dump government responsibility of any citizen's well being on churches. This country is a democracy, not a plutocracy or a theocracy.

While moderates were a part of the real face of his country, today the Republican agenda has become so extreme that it is not a feasible solution for the country. What works in states, does not work for the federal government. The answer by Republicans has been to destroy the sovereign federal government, basically treason, and return powers to the states.

Democrats seek to solve problems for the citizens rather than dumping those problems in the laps of individuals to either perish or thrive. As the population of the USA grows, the demand for solving problems will become more intense. The issue of land use alone will require a demand for federal authority to preserve forests and farmland. 

Either we are a country or we are not.