The commercial space industry can go it's own way, it doesn't need USA taxpayer money.

This level of blundering has happened before!

It occurred under Ronald Reagan when he attempted to turn the Space Shuttle into a profitable venture for the USA.

Now, in all the wisdom of a right wing President, his cronies got their wish and have a privatized space program. 

I want to know who exactly is going to run the investigation to find the "O Ring" disaster this time? Will there be conflict of interest? Will there be a citizen review panel? And how much is it going to cost and who exactly will be paying for it?

And if the private space industry doesn't like or want citizen oversight, then they need to take their rockets elsewhere and out of NASA's launch facilities. The USA will fly their own astronauts into space or seek passenger status otherwise. 

I have to say this at this point. Recently, Virgin Galactica came up with a program for their executives to vacation as long as they like once they have filled their jobs with a qualified substitute. I find that odd when a company is set on high ambitions and wealth. I would think taking a long vacation may lead to boredom and seeking temporary employment in the industry to learn as much as one can learn to bring back to their regular day job.

This is a launch from their private launch pad and there is no way our astronauts need to be involved in this folly. The USA should never give up it's sovereign space program.

He is worried and I am sure he is more worried for the country than one wants to admit.

President Obama has righted the ship, set it on a course and the country is stronger and better today than at any time in recent history. He is worried about any return of regressive policies that will not only cost people their hard earned dollars or SSI funds when paying for Medicare rather than INSURED of it's rock solid backing of it's recipients and might return their sons and daughters to war. 

He stated this to an audience because they have to carry his worries with them. He didn't state this to the Democratic conference in an election hall or a meeting of the Democrats already in Congress. He carried this message to the people that care about the country and it's accomplishments during his presidency. 

I am sure he doesn't expect every Democrat to march in lock step with his agenda. But, when Republicans state the Democrats are carrying the President's policies back to Washington through the magic of the election box they are incorrect. Every Democrat thinks for themselves, are sworn to take care of the people that elected them and every state in "...this United States..." is uniquely different from each other. In that there is no rubber stamp for any Democrat.

The Republicans can state they never voted with the President's policies and they mostly are not lying, but, then what Republican ever voted at all? Did they uphold their loyalty to the people of their state? Not really. They held loyalty at bay to be sure the elections would still bring in more money than the previous. The people were not to be benefited by a vote for moving the country forward, but, held in abeyance in fear they were losing their democracy to socialism. The ideology is intact.

Megan Kelly is a 'designer' infortainment anchor. I don't really think she qualifies as a news anchor actually.

She is suppose to bridge the gap for women while bringing in the FOX dogma of glamour and glitz. Everyone wants to be a Kellywannabe.  Differently said, she poses as a sex symbol to the right wing and invites all to consider her brevity to the truth. I suppose she is to have unquestionable character to her program's content.

There is little to no truth on FOX, but, the fair and balanced news is suppose to present itself as INFORMED as in 'info' in the infortainment. And FOX's news' folks are entertaining to any possibility the uninformed, now newly informed audience, wishes to express as their godly right to a sovereign nation that hates any idea FOX does not entertain.

Basically, FOX is god and god is FOX.

Dogma is a principle or set  of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true. It serves as part of the primary basis of an ideology or belief system, and it cannot be changed or discarded without affecting the very system's paradigm, or the ideology itself.

FOX presents dogma as entertainment. Megan Kelly is turning up a lot in talk media as having invalid facts and narrowed views of life in the USA. That is what FOX wants. It wants attention to it's entertainment and doesn't care how it achieves it. So, if Kelly irritates you, then FOX has viewers that are irritated, but, the methodology is always the same, therefore, dogma.

With such a narrow view of a woman's possibilities in the USA democracy, is there any wonder why women don't flock to FOX for information that meets their needs. There is no loyalty to democracy at FOX. There is no loyalty to women and what women value at FOX, except, in that very narrowed ideology.

Supposedly she has been groomed to be the female version of O'Reilly, except, she doesn't have an interest in killing Lincoln. More like baking the cookies for Booth.

Is evolution a miracle?

Kindly consider this: Without evolution wouldn't life on Earth be chaotic and bizarre? Would it exist at all? Within the constraints of evolution life sustains. Would a benevolent God place the ultimate protection on his creation to sustain? Isn't life on Earth sustained without evidence of chaos that destroys the idea of miracles only? Biology is consistent in it's laws. Physics is consistent in it's laws. That establishes scientific laws that is the basis of the life on Earth. 

Aren't people capable of rejecting or embracing the sustainability of Earth's gift? In that is the ability to contest the laws of any science, yet they hold to the truth.

There is eons of room for religion to embrace science as the truth of life on Earth. The incorporation of the Big Bang by the Roman Catholic Church is the recognition any religion has to embrace the truth upon questioning.

Isn't religion that treats God as a patron of all life standing in contempt of the very creation they embrace? Embracing a lie can never be the basis of a doctrine. In embracing a doctrine that is dreamed by holy men unwilling to examine all truths is simply a fairy tale.

Religion is manmade. Faith in god is not manmade. That is why there are multitudes of religions. Not saying one is best over another. There is common ground in the majority of religions that a higher being exists. If a religion dismisses the truth in it's doctrine, it no longer is doctrine but dogma. To embrace god is not about being a selective member of the faith, it is about including all of nature as the reality of a faith.

If one wants to evaluate religions it is safe to say the Roman Catholic Faith is well established, bends to the truth and seeks only the pure knowledge of God's gifts.

Believing the Roman Catholic Church as it bears the greatest understanding of Gob because it includes the truth in it's doctrine does not exclude anyone from being an atheist. There is no reason for anyone to believe they are threatened in their personal voyage. Treating the Pope as some kind of iconic politician only concludes one has exclusive understanding of the truth beyond what is accumulated in human's current knowledge. I think that is arrogant and incomplete in it's judgement of self.

Were there little experimental animals in there?

Unmanned rocket blowing up over the launch complex at Wallops Island, Virginia. Photo: AP

October 29, 2014

...The cause (click here) of the accident was not immediately known, said NASA mission commentator Dan Huot....

I am serious, I want to know if living things died in that payload.

The cause? It blew up. The primary principle in rocketry is to get it aloft and keep going. In the case of NASA, they prefer to make it to the place in Earth's atmosphere where the heaviest equipment imaginable become weightless. It cuts down on the fuel.

I am not happy.

What is this with Pope Francis? He must be a political liberal, right?

No.

Pope Francis is NOT a populous leader. He leverages his influence and leadership with inclusion and facts. 

Since the elevation of the Roman Catholic Church and Pope Constantine that called Easter a holiday for pagan rituals, too, there has not been a Pope with the insight and resolve to set the religion back on it's feet.

Pope Francis is a doctrinal Pope, not a populous Pope. His drive to find resolve to Catholic Doctrine permanence brings those estranged from the Roman Catholic Church back home. He is brilliant. He loves the people and is determined to not only show them the way home, but, to demonstrate the strength of the faith. A populous figure can only smile for so long to hold the loyalties of many before they become estranged from the dogma that first attracted them. Pope Francis is speaking truth to the strength of the faith and it's promise to every one of the diaspora.

October 28, 2014
By Josephine McKenna

"God is not a divine being or a magician, (click here) but the Creator who brought everything to life," the pope said. "Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve."

Unlike much of evangelical Protestantism in the U.S., Catholic teaching traditionally has not been at odds with evolution. In 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed there was no opposition between evolution and Catholic doctrine. In 1996, St. John Paul II endorsed Pius' statement.

Some wondered if Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wanted to change that when he and some acolytes seemed to endorse the theory of intelligent design, the idea that the world is too complex to have evolved according to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection.

Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna, a close associate of Benedict, penned a widely noticed 2005 op-ed in The New York Times that said "Evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense — an unguided, unplanned process … is not."...

Evolution is not planned. It develops out of 'condition.' Diversity is the basis of evolution. Evolution does not disregard any religion, but, it does stand alone as a potential for a reality that dismisses 'chance.' 

In other words, is God watching over all that transpires on Earth as a guardian and protector? Or is God so wise and inconceivable in human thought that evolution is a protection for all species in the world created?

I take it the young dictator isn't interested in paying the price for his father and uncle's past policies.

October 28, 2014
By Anna Fifield

TOKYO — North Korea (click here) is embarking on a full-scale campaign to neutralize allegations of human rights atrocities, apparently alarmed that snowballing international pressure will lead its top officials — including Kim Jong Un — to be charged with crimes against humanity.

The campaign comes as a United Nations human rights officer is set to release a report Tuesday strongly urging the U.N. Security Council to refer the regime to the International Criminal Court.

Having long refused to even enter a room if human rights were on the agenda, North Korean diplomats and propagandists, with their trademark colorful language, are now actively engaging critics....

Ebola policy is evolving. Not an excuse, but, fact.

This is the first time Ebola has found it's way outside of West Africa. This is the first time Ebola has spread like wildfire throughout West Africa. This strain of Ebola is a dangerous virus, but, not as dangerous as it could be. 

Previous to the exposure of the USA sovereign borders, Ebola research has been conducted as a problem, but, never as a potential to an epidemic. There are vastly different approaches in the USA than the approaches in West Africa. West Africa, even with the WHO, has limited ability to address the reality of Ebola. Sanitary and isolation facilities have at times escaped West Africa as a means of minimizing Ebola virus.

This will be a new paradigm for West Africa. From here forward West Africa will have to test for Ebola in any patient coming to their health facilities within the symptoms which is it's unique foot print. West Africa has to conduct it's health care differently and better. The interest of the success for West Africa is global. Ebola is finally receiving the attention by the global health care community and in a reasonable time there will be a vaccine.

West Africa has to be interested in sanitation and health for their citizens. This episode has proven Ebola can be conquered on a regular basis with people that are healthy in the first place. Emaciated, hungry and thirsty West Africans cannot be the standard for charities to raise money and provide relief. West Africans have to be consistently healthy.

The status quo of the past cannot stand. To that end gun violence cannot destabilize governments that have provided the best path for citizens. The United Nations Small Arms Treaties cannot be ignored and require global adherence to end the destabilization of nations of people. 

There also needs to be library information in the multitude of languages in Africa. It can be an audible library and/or one with written information or both. There is much to do and to that reality there is an abundance of economic development available to these countries. The leadership has to move forward out of Third World status. This episode has proven the global community has an interest in the best outcomes of any Third World country. In that lies the future of the health care industry as well as any product development serving Africa's new focus for economic growth.

Any Third World country developing a health care infrastructure will find an expanding economy without much prodding as workers receive paychecks and invest in comfort and convenience within their understandings of healthy standards for their society. 

I know this sounds melodramatic, but, in all sincerity Africa can renew it's understanding of leadership while building infrastructure for it's people. No longer can Africans rely on the character of personality only for their leadership, they need those that understand how to bring their nations to success and prosperity and strong sovereign borders. 

Every African country should be a melting pot of many languages and traditions with tolerance of religious difference. It is a hard road to master, but, it can be done. African nations need constitutions that prohibit treason and mass murder and honor the well being and quality of life of every individual within it's society. To achieve these goals their economies have to grow from within and not simply Western gifts for comfort to the wealthy.

The terror attacks of September 21, 2013 is an example of the vast differences in social status of people within Kenya. The opportunities for militants to destroy African stability in the name of a better life for all has to end. The militants feed on poverty and acceptance of poverty for anyone is a strong goal to bring a stronger government with the loyalty of people to defend it.

THE OPPORTUNITY for disease to spread will be evident if sovereign stability is chronically disrupted. It can't be tolerated anymore. There are investors in many countries that want to bring quality of life to African countries, but, to realize their investments can turn to dust in an attack by militants only prolongs Africa's suffering and danger to the world. The African people deserve a far better quality of life and health care to match.

To those who understand the governing capacity of religion, in a perverted sense, isn't it easy to understand how militants can see a better SURVIVAL within Sharia and other hyper-conservative religions? Then The West wonders why people follow militant regimes even after a brutal takeover costing the lives of many. African countries cannot fall from grace anymore, they have to work for all their people. Extremism works for the impoverished. Why should those engaged in that form of governance believe it would not work for all in the world? How sophisticated are they normally? That is why the addition of Westerners to the populous of the Islamic State is so attractive and tolerated.

I understand Qatar is back to funding wayward regimes again with military equipment to end aerial attacks. The State Department has to get to the bottom of this softness in resolve. What is it, fear or simply religious visions in dreams that drives this?

October 28, 2014

By Robert F. Bukaty

FORT KENT, Maine (AP) — A nurse (click here) who was confined against her will at a hospital in New Jersey after treating Ebola patients in West Africa is in Maine, where state officials said she's agreed to be quarantined, officials said Tuesday.

Nurse Kaci Hickox traveled in a private vehicle to Maine where her partner is a nursing student at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, after leaving a New Jersey hospital on Monday.

Her lawyer confirmed Tuesday that she'd arrived in Maine and said she was at an "undisclosed location." Her boyfriend's home in Fort Kent was quiet, with no sign of activity Tuesday morning.

Maine health officials announced that she'll be quarantined at home for 21 days after the last possible exposure to the disease under the state's health protocols. But one of Hickox's lawyers, Steve Hyman, said he expected her to remain in seclusion for the "next day or so" while he works with Maine health officials....

Being a child in the USA should not be a trick or treat, it should be fulfillment of a promise of mire birthright.

National Youth Justice Awareness Month 2014 (click here)

October is National Youth Justice Awareness Month – a time when the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Campaign for Youth Justice and our allies host community events that expose the devastating consequences of children being sent to adult courts, jails and prisons.

Even though the research is clear that children in the adult system are more likely to reoffend than if they are held in the juvenile justice system, thousands of children are sent into the adult system every year in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. We must stop this destructive practice. Steps also must be taken to ensure children in the juvenile justice system have every opportunity to get their lives back on track.

To begin young people should not be nameless and faceless in a juvenile justice system. They need to recapture their innocence and way forward into the promise of this country. Every child is someone with potential. Young people should never be abandoned to a system that creates a void for their personality and value.

Welcome. (click here) The Juvenile Justice Resource Hub is a comprehensive source of information on cutting-edge juvenile justice issues and reform trends. The content of this website is being developed in phases, so check back regularly for new material.

While Faith Based assistance can provide a means of finding a young person's spirituality, it should never be the only aspect of their life that provides the reward of social interaction. Every young person should have a focused Case Manager to move them from dysfunction to being proud and autonomous and drug/alcohol free. Juvenile detainment can be the opportunity the USA has to reclaim their lost before they enter into a life of self-destruction. Society needs wholesome young people that can even be mentors to those needing to find their way home. No young person leaving juvenile detention centers needs to have a clear understanding of the dangers of substance abuse and gun violence. They need to value their individuality and realize relationships are best when each in the relationship are anchored in their own sense of self and purpose.

When and if young people return to their families the juvenile system needs to be sure they are entering into a life renewed by their experience with sufficient food and monetary resources to carry them into the promise of education. Where families are not shored up to provide that level of stability the family becomes part of the rehab program to improve the home environment these young people return. 

Juvenile justice is the country's 'chance' to make changes in their lives and in their community to move not just the individual to hope, but, within a community that can provide that stability and future.

The drug economies in any state have to end. We are moving as a country into accepting some level of the drug economy into legitimacy. When the USA accepts the fact drug legitimacy creates financial resources, there is then a responsibility by the industry for addressing abuse and rehabilitation. As the country accepts the cannabis industry there is every reason they will conduct their own research with public service commercials to stem abuse and risk. Young people should never be a focus of potential profits as the tobacco industry has in 

The cannabis industry should never become the focus of social ills, political rhetoric and potential lawsuits as the tobacco industry has been so willing to participate. The cannabis industry needs to exhibit social responsibility with real benefits and uses of their product.

The age of permission should be the same as alcohol. The industry has an opportunity to be smart and adult about this new economy within the USA. The industry has the opportunity to stem substance abuse and find a healthy use of it's product, both medicinal and recreational. No outside interest should seek to exploit this new industry causing it's reputation insult and rejection by the American people. I would suspect there will be international interest in viable industry and to that end it needs to have policies and goals for the industry. 

Young people are important to the USA and they should never be targets of anything except their promise of a future and how to achieve the rewards of a democracy.

Games Five, Sunday, October 26: Royals 0 Giants 5

Boats fill McCovey Cove as the Kansas City Royals take batting practice before Game 5 of baseball’s World Series against the San Francisco Giants Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

October 26, 2014

Fifteen runs (click here) in Game 4, 11 by the Giants as they evened the World Series at two games apiece, looks like an offensive explosion at first glance.

But it hardly felt like it. Neither team hit a home run. There were only five doubles between Kansas City and San Francisco. So how did the Giants pull it out?

They drew six walks. While they only had three extra-base hits, they collected 16 total hits. Between that many hits and those walks, that’s a whole lot of base runners. And while the back end of the Kansas City bullpen has been so highly touted–Herrera, Davis and Holland–San Francisco broke through against the pitchers that are supposed to lead up to them. The Royals led 4-1 before the Giants knocked around starter Jason Vargas, reliever Jason Frasor, and most notably lefty Brandon Finnegan....

Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it.....take your base.

The way to political success in Colorado is not about 'the weed' it is to resolve the banking problem.

That is what the bankers want, too. They simply don't know how to get the money into deposits without someone breaking the law.

“Where do you keep your piles of money?” (click here)

Keber laughed but quickly turned serious. “We actually have strong banking relationships,” he said. “We don’t talk about them. Asking someone about their banking is like asking them what they wear to bed at night. It’s an intensely personal question, even within the industry.” You can begin to understand why banking is such a touchy subject for the newly legal canna businesses in Colorado and Washington (as well as growers and dispensaries in the 21 states that allow medical but not recreational use of marijuana) if you consider the federal laws a financial institution violates when it does business with a state-licensed company like Keber’s....

The most viable solution to circumvent the current laws is not much different than prohibition. Get a prescription.

..."The second one was medicinal liquor. (click here) I have a bottle on my shelf at home — an empty bottle — that says Jim Beam, for medicinal purposes only. In 1917, the American Medical Association — supporting Prohibition — said there was no reason at all to use alcohol as a therapeutic remedy of any kind. Then they realized with this loophole that there was an opportunity to make some money. And capitalism abhors a vacuum. Within two or three years, you could go into virtually any city in the country and buy a prescription for $3 from your local physician and then take it to your local pharmacy and go home with a pint of liquor every 10 days. And this is really how many of the large distilleries in Kentucky and the middle of the country stayed in business throughout the Prohibition years....

Currently, the Justice Department and the Treasury Department is to bring this out into the open. The cannabis industry has already proven it can conduct business in a safe and open environment. It is time to bring potential for any state to open their doors to it's sale and bring home the illegal drug trade, prevent crime and deaths. Then the states have additional revenue as well as the federal debt.

It is silly to prolong the prohibition of cannabis. The crime rate will come down, the use will not be covert, driving still has to be safe, cartels will lose clout and maybe a legal cannabis trade will actually stem the use of illegal drugs. It is time to get it done. No state has to participate, but, can if their electorate wants it. It is just the federal government that has to get out of the way.

Pre-meditated murder. Familicide.

October 27, 2014

By Matt Pearce and Lauren Raab

Before opening fire (click here) on them and then killing himself, the shooter at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Washington state had texted his five victims asking them to join him at lunch, officials said Monday. 

They were all at the same cafeteria table when freshman Jaylen Fryberg, 15, began firing a .40-caliber Beretta, Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary told reporters Monday afternoon. The gun was bought legally and registered by a family member, he said, adding that investigators were still trying to determine how Fryberg got the weapon....

Wow. He was planning this. Two of his cousins still in the hospital, another young lady he was taken by and two others I assume were friends. They never turned him down for the meeting at lunch. They never saw any danger or threat or reason to reject him. Wow.

I don't want to speculate as to being correct, but, it may be this killing fits the personality type. Young and out of control.

...“The most common type of killer (click here) was a possessively jealous type, and I found that many of the men who … commit murder-suicide, as well as those who kill their children, also seem to fit that profile,”...

He didn't handle rejection well or at all. Did he ever have to face it before?

Young men and guns has been a problem for a long time in the USA. But the 1870s were the 1870s, this is about 2014 and the value this country places on it's children.

The issue of students carrying guns to school was a topic of discussion dating to the mid-1870s, as noted in this 1874 Los Angeles Herald article:

"Boys and Pistols Yesterday at noon a boy sixteen years of age shot himself, or was shot by his brother. It matters not who fired the fatal shot. No criminal act was intended or committed, and the boy is dead. He was a member of the High School of this city and was, we are told, something over the average good boy of Los Angeles. This boy lost his life through the too common habit among boys of carrying deadly weapons. We do not know that this habit can be broken up. We do not know that school teachers have the right, or would exercise it if they had, of searching the pockets of their pupils, but it seems almost a necessity that some such rule be enforced. The hills west of town are not safe for pedestrians after school hours. Nearly every school-boy carries a pistol, and the power of these pistols range from the harmless six-bit auction concern to the deadly Colt's six-shooter..."

From the tone of the article teachers were powerful and respected. Today it would be possible and has been possible for them to be another victim. 

Burlington Weekly Free Press.(Burlington, VT.), July 30, 1880

July 25, 1880: Baton Rouge, Louisiana, At Sunday School, a young couple Morris Behrues and his newly secretly married girl had carried a shotgun with, because Charles Behrues, Morris' cousin was in love with the girl, and was out to get them. Charles was seen coming towards the building with a shooting iron, when the school's superintendent went out to ward him away. Charles opened fire and killed the superintendent, and shot Morris, and three others.

Then again, anger and hate erase any reasoning or logic at anytime in our history. It is different today. There are methods of preventing guns from passing through school doors. It would help, but, not solve every school house shooting. Metal detectors wouldn't have stopped Sandy Hook. But, they would help. "Safety Detectors"

Why are there so many authorities scattered in every direction possible?

The Surgeon General reports to the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH), who may be a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service, Commissioned Corps (PHSCC), and who serves as the principal adviser to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on public health and scientific issues.


Duties of the US Surgeon General (click here)

Immediate Office of the Surgeon General

Chief of Staff Captain Robert DeMartino

The office provides advice and support to the Surgeon General on issues relating to public health and represents the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary of Health on topics addressing public health practice. In addition, the Immediate Office of the Surgeon General supervises Public Health Service Commissioned Corps activities and advises the Assistant Secretary of Health on policies required for efficient management of the Commissioned Corps and on matters pertaining to military and veterans affairs.

Division of Science and Communications

Division of Commissioned Corps Personnel & Readiness

Division of the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps

Division of Systems Integration

Hum?      

As with its parent division, the PHS (US Public Health Service), the PHSCC (US Public Health Commission Corp) is under the direction of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The PHSCC is led by the Surgeon General who holds grade of vice admiral. The Surgeon General reports directly to the Assistant Secretary for Health who may hold the rank of admiral if he or she is a serving member of the PHSCC.

It is difficult to run a war without a general.

This is not a joke. I am not laughing or hurling political snobbish remarks. This is serious and the USA doesn't have anyone in the Cabinet Office of US Surgeon General and it shows.

Another Republican wanted an EB-5 program? And there is an investigation?

This helplessness in growing an economy is typical of Republicans. Republicans CAN'T, that was CANNOT, grow an economy when there is little reserves in the state treasury. As a matter of fact the less in the state treasury the better for Republicans. 

This seems to be the common thread for Republican governors this year. It is like ALEC. Everyone does the same silly thing, because they don't know how to do it any differently. If the South Dakota treasury needed to be increased for any reason taxes are out of the question. 

Get it? The Republicans are CONFLICTED between a strong economy with a strong Middle Class because it would cost their cronies money. A strong Middle Class requires good wages and Republican cronies, while raking in millions and billions simply won't pay even a living wage to workers. They put their employees on welfare and then seek foreign investment to increase opportunity AT MINIMUM WAGE or less and the people need to be grateful for it. No health insurance, probably part time labor, no vacation and no worker rights. They probably don't even have a reliable time clock.

October 22, 2014
By David Montgomery

A year and a half (click here) after state officials first became aware of an FBI investigation into South Dakota's EB-5 program, the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday confirmed that the investigation remains "active.""We have an active investigation involving the, I believe it's the South Dakota Regional Center," said Kyle Loven, chief division counsel for the FBI's Minneapolis division.

...U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson, a Democrat, and his superiors at the Justice Department declined an invitation to discuss the investigation with a legislative committee, and Johnson has consistently refused to comment on the investigation's existence -- even when other sources have disclosed it....

Let's get something straight, US Attorneys (at least under Obama) are not political animals. This investigation won't be discussed until all the facts are in. Look how long the NJ State investigation of Bridgegate took and the US Attorney announced there were no charges of Governor Christi BEFORE the 2014 election. So anyone in South Dakota, including the Argus Leader, that wants to imply this is all political in regard to EB5 is lying. The truth is the investigation is not complete and if Rounds makes it to the Senate he may not be there long.

EB5 is being pursued by South Carolina, Michigan and evidently South Dakota.

...Now, according (click here) to bankruptcy documents obtained by the Journal last week, some answers have come to light. 

Records show the third and final round of foreign financiers for the Northern Beef plant were 50 Chinese nationals who invested $500,000 each in the plant. In addition, each immigration program applicant shelled out $45,000 more that was split among the state-sanctioned private corporation and lawyers.

Most of those investors, however, have not gotten their visas, according to an attorney involved in the proceedings, and they appear unlikely to get back their investments. Right now, it's unclear where all that money went....

I can understand why the US Attorney is involved, this is serious. It is on the precipice of fraud. Not only that a Visa is federal. Worse than that the monies were suppose to produce jobs. That was the purpose of the EB5 and nothing has happened to benefit the investors or the prospective employees. South Dakota is on the hook for billions of dollars and it still has an unemployment problem. 

Well, my, my; South Dakota doesn't have an unemployment rate and it looks as though it never did. South Dakota's unemployment rate at the very worst was 5.3% in 2010 and 6.2% in Sioux Falls. You mean to tell me no one could solve the unemployment rate in Sioux Falls without EB5? That is a government out of control and costing Americans PLENTY. It not only cost Americans the Visas, it cost it's reputation internationally and South Dakota residents are probably going to have to pay the investors back out of the treasury. I don't know if South Dakota is going to have to pay back the $45,000. That sounds like personal lawsuits against the company and lawyers.

The reason this is like water off a duck's back is because the investigation is not complete and the people of South Dakota can't ever say Rounds will be indicted. 

I wouldn't even worry about it if I were running for US Senate. I'll say this much though; the fact South Dakota didn't have an unemployment rate (yes 5.3% is not an unemployment rate to worry about - unless of course the leadership in South Dakota is this inept) is fraud right from the beginning. So, I don't know why there should be a question in anyone's mind about this case. If Rounds is involved then he dirty somewhere, even if he decided South Dakota actually needed an unemployment program. There are a lot of questions with this mess.

South Dakota is doing remarkably well, primarily because of agriculture and a reprieve from drought in 2012. 

June 11, 2014

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota’s economy (click here) continues to grow at a faster rate than the national economy, according to the most recent gross domestic product (GDP) numbers released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.

South Dakota’s GDP grew 6.8 percent from 2012 to 2013 compared to a 3.47 percent growth nationally. South Dakota’s percentage increase was the fourth highest in the nation, trailing only North Dakota, Wyoming and Idaho.

“For the fourth year in a row, South Dakota’s GDP has increased,” said Gov. Dennis Daugaard. “During the last five years, our state’s economy has grown by 25 percent compared to the national growth rate of 14 percent.”

South Dakota’s economic growth was led by the agricultural sector which rebounded from a drought year in 2012 and then posted a 34 percent increase this year. The state also saw strong growth in the banking, wholesale and health care industries.

GDP statistics are released by the Bureau as a measure of comprehensive economic activity. GDP numbers are preliminary, and South Dakota’s ranking could fluctuate as the figures are adjusted and refined.

Really? Now that is interesting. As of the reporting of this GDP report South Dakota did not accept Medicaid Expansion although the governor stated he wants to see how it is working for the rest of the country before denying it. Health care companies whether they are in the 26 states that accepted the Medicaid expansion or not will benefit even indirectly through increased sales.

And there is a controversy. It would seem as though some citizens in South Dakota want to increase out of network providers. It sounds like a good idea.

July 28, 2014
By Reid Wilson
A ballot measure (click here) that would require health insurers to cover out-of-network doctor visits is dividing two sides of the medical industry in South Dakota, sparking a costly campaign and a debate over health care led by two groups with big financial stakes.

The proposal, Initiated Measure 17, would require insurance companies to allow qualified health-care professionals onto their approved list of providers, so long as the providers agree to accept the rates those insurance companies set. The measure is similar to several other states that have laws known as “Any Willing Provider” on the books....

It seems as though South Dakota has found the answer to Americans' prayers. 

...But bigger hospitals and the insurance companies themselves oppose the measure, which they say would drive up costs. The current system, insurers say, allows insurance companies to keep costs low. Opening plans to new providers will add layers of bureaucracy that only increase patient costs....

That is nonsense. At the very most it would require more providers in their computer network, but, the clerical work isn't going to increase. It is just a matter of having the physicians and/or hospitals submit the proper paper for approval and it's done. The people opposing this see profits going out the window. That is why it is opposed.

This is simply math. Either pay the in network doctor or pay the out of network doctor the same amount and there is no problem FOR ANYONE.

Rick Wieland needs to take a stand to support those that want the bill passed and promise to work in the US Senate to bring it to a national agenda to improve physician choice. I think it is the best idea I've heard yet.

South Dakota is more Democratic than they want to admit. They are Conservative Democrats. I guess in this day and age they are called Blue Dog Democrats. South Dakota has a relatively small population compared to the rest of the country. According to the 2013 estimate there are over 844,000 people. Now that means there are even less voters. So, attracting them isn't going to be easy. The people of South Dakota, because many are independent farms (at least I hope there are small family farms left in SD) any candidate has to make them feel comfortable with him or her. As a matter of fact the 2013 estimate also states there are about 370,000 with a per capita income of about $24,000 and a household median income of a little over $49,000. 

Non-farm employment is less than half of the entire population of SD. 336, 246 to be exact according to 2012 records. Those folks are employed by 25,773 non-farm employers. 

That median income doesn't really surprise me because farmers have large overhead and while they have a great cash flow, they have far smaller incomes than most realize. If I were candidate for US Senate and I wanted to do something to improve the lives of the people of South Dakota, I'd want to examine the wage structure for the non-farm laborers, along with their health insurance and vacation pay. Some of the non-farm income is also going to be small businesses. So, there is a lot there in common with Democrats considering it was President Obama that brought the Small Business Administration online after the global economic collapse.

But, I'd also like to see more profit for the farmers. I am sure there are some with fairly good profits and of course a farmer's greatest asset is the land and livestock. But, I am not talking about loans, so much as lowering overhead through cooperatives, especially the fuel sector. I'd want to meet with cooperatives and ask how things could be better. I'd like to see dedicated small family farms clearing at least $75,000 a year to make life a little more comfortable.

If I were a US Senator, I'd have everyone on my Rolodex, basically. I want to know that they are doing well and improving all the time. It would be fun to be a US Senator for South Dakota. A lot of fun. 

A truth telling in North Carolina.

I ran across a young man who has own business, but, like any new business man his income is tight. He has three children and a wife.

I seems as though when winter came and the Polar Vortex rocked off it's circulation around the Arctic Ocean North Carolina got really cold. The home they live in is supplied power by Duke Energy. Now, if that isn't enough realize there was no answer for him and his family when the power went down. The state didn't open up any shelter beds or warming stations. He tried to find temporary housing in motels and hotels but could not find one. He was forced to take his family home and endure the cold house. He only hoped his pipes wouldn't freeze. 

Now, that doesn't sound like the North Carolina I knew. I am not surprised there is a Moral Monday's Movement to bring attention to the ruthless practices with the state government now.

There are the heroes in the USA. The Millenials. They are unique and a wonderful generation.

People embraced at a church in Marysville, Wash.,on Sunday, two days after a school shooting.

October 26, 2014
by Kirk Johnson

MARYSVILLE, Wash. — As this community (click here) continued to look for answers to why a popular 14-year-old would turn on classmates with lethal malice, and struggled to imagine how it might have been averted, details began to emerge about the attack, and especially the role of a young teacher many students are calling a hero.

The teacher, Megan Silberberger, was only about six weeks into her first job out of college — as a social studies teacher at Marysville-Pilchuck High School — when she came into the cafeteria on Friday morning and saw students on the floor and another student firing a gun....

Here is an example of a Millenium. She is typical of the strong hearted people growing up in our country where community is as much a part of their identity. 

Megan Silberberger, a first year teacher that looks as though she was part of the school population. Incredible. 

If there has to be an argument over anything political, then argue over this!

October 26, 2014

By Paul Krugman

...But nowadays (click here) we simply won’t invest, even when the need is obvious and the timing couldn’t be better. And don’t tell me that the problem is “political dysfunction” or some other weasel phrase that diffuses the blame. Our inability to invest doesn’t reflect something wrong with “Washington”; it reflects the destructive ideology that has taken over the Republican Party.Some background: More than seven years have passed since the housing bubble burst, and ever since, America has been awash in savings — or more accurately, desired savings — with nowhere to go. Borrowing to buy homes has recovered a bit, but remains low. Corporations are earning huge profits, but are reluctant to invest in the face of weak consumer demand, so they’re accumulating cash or buying back their own stock. Banks are holding almost $2.7 trillion in excess reserves — funds they could lend out, but choose instead to leave idle....          

There needs to be some funding established for hospitals in West Africa and the USA to conduct fomite culture swabs and culture dish growth.

A 5-year-old boy (click here) is under observation at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital this morning after experiencing a 103-degree fever after returning home from Guinea Saturday, prompting Ebolaconcerns, officials told ABC News.

The boy is in isolation, but has not been tested for Ebola and is not under quarantine, the city’s health department said.

Especially important in West Africa and our military personnel. There needs to be a dedicated research team testing fomite in all the infected areas. It is best to start where the disease is first being treated. The beds, the floors, the side tables, the rest rooms, all of it. There needs to be culture swabs conducted, marked with date, time and location and sent to be cultured on appropriate culture media to find out how these folks are transmitting the virus. But, most importantly, if they are having the virus transmitted on fomite. This child was not a care giver and children are more busy with their hands because they are learning about their world. Show me a mother or father that isn't always saying, "Don't touch that." Well, here we are now with a non-caregiver perhaps contracting the virus.

It is time there was profound leadership on Ebola and all the other issues the USA is struggling with in regard to health care. Nothing better happen to this child.