Friday, October 09, 2009

On the path to a sustainable nuclear free world.


President Obama addressing the United Nations.

There have been other USA Presidents that have won the Nobel Peace Prize, but, NONE with less than a year of time in office. Barak Obama is a remarkable man. A brave, truthful and sincere leader.

I could not be more proud of our country at this moment. He bravely stepped 'out of the box' and put it on the table. There will be peace and there will be non-proliferation. Isn't that what the USA is all about?

I also don't believe we can foresake the peace of the people of Afghanistan either. Peace sometimes comes with a price and it sometimes means securing the USA away from any future 'infrastructure' failures, while, building alliances that will perpetuate a future of our children and Earth.

From the New York Times:

In Surprise, Nobel Peace Prize to Obama for Diplomacy (click title to entry - thank you)
...The award cited in particular Mr. Obama’s effort to reduce the world’s nuclear arsenal. “He has created a new international climate,” the committee said....

From the Chicago Tribune:

Obama: Nobel Prize for Peace
Posted October 9, 2009 7:55 AM
by Mark Silva and updated
President Barack Obama, who has pledged to place diplomacy ahead of confrontation and reached out to a skeptical world with offers of mutual understanding, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for what the committee called "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."...


From the Washington Post:

Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize (click here)
By Debbi Wilgoren and Scott Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, October 9, 2009; 9:44 AM
President Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for his work to improve international diplomacy and rid the world of nuclear weapons -- a stunning decision to celebrate a figure virtually unknown in the world before he launched his campaign for the White House nearly three years ago....


From the Los Angeles Times:

President Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize (click here)
The Nobel committee notes 'his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.'
By Mark Silva Los Angeles Times
October 9, 2009 4:46 a.m.

Reporting from Washington — President Obama, who has pledged to place diplomacy ahead of confrontation and reached out to a skeptical world with offers of mutual understanding, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for what the committee called "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
Obama is only the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize -- President Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906, President Woodrow Wilson in 1919....

From the Houston Chronicle (It wasn't their lead story - click here. I mean what?):

President Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize (click here)
By KARL RITTER and MATT MOORE Associated Press
Oct. 9, 2009, 8:12AM
...Nobel observers were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in the Obama presidency, which began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama woke up to the news a little before 6 a.m. EDT. The White House had no immediate comment on the announcement, which took the administration by surprise.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee decided not to inform Obama before the announcement because it didn't want to wake him up, committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said.
"Waking up a president in the middle of the night, this isn't really something you do," Jagland said....


From the Miami Herald:

In a surprise, Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize (click here)
..."Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," Jagland said.
Obama's election and foreign policy moves caused a dramatic improvement in the image of the U.S. around the world. A 25-nation poll of 27,000 people released in July by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found double-digit boosts to the percentage of people viewing the U.S. favorably in countries around the world. That indicator had plunged across the world under President George W. Bush.
Still, the U.S. remains at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Congress has yet to pass a law reducing carbon emissions and there has been little significant reduction in global nuclear stockpiles since Obama took office.
"So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act," said former Polish President Lech Walesa, a 1983 Nobel Peace laureate....

I don't believe Walesa was ever nominated.

From the Boston Globe:

In a surprise, Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize (click here)
By Karl Ritter and Matt Moore
Associated Press Writers / October 9, 2009
...The award appeared to be a slap at Bush from a committee that harshly criticized Obama's predecessor for his largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The Nobel committee praised Obama's creation of "a new climate in international politics" and said he had returned multilateral diplomacy and institutions like the U.N. to the center of the world stage.
"You have to remember that the world has been in a pretty dangerous phase," Jagland said. "And anybody who can contribute to getting the world out of this situation deserves a Nobel Peace Prize."...


I am pleased to see the newspapers are covered by AP, but, there needs to be some legislation somewhere that helps revitalize the art of journalism. Freedom of Speech also includes having newspapers as our Fourth Arm of Government, but, if that 'speech' boils down to 'one voice' regardless of how correct and benign that voice is there is danger to our right under the First Amendment.

The USA is just about the most powerful nation in the world by military standards. When their leadership makes a clear stance for the pursuit of peace, when even 'the concept' hung in the balance of extinction before, that speaks loudly of the people of our nation as well as our 'incubator' for leadership.

President Obama has reaffirmed the USA as a benevolent nation and one centered on justice and peace. He has taken the question of our ability to govern with peaceful intent out of question. He is a great man that looked into the future and saw a world of colleagues and not enemies. It is possible, very possible for the world's leaders to rid this planet of any malice, either through sovereignty, sustainability and environmental. It is possible.

President Obama took on the challenges he faced when entering the White House with determination and energy. He has brought the hopes and dreams of the International Community to life and within the realm of possibility. He has many years in his ambitions to accomplish some of the greatest tasks any USA President has adopted to his administration. Let there be no doubt, it will happen.

I can't say it enough, Barak Obama pursued a path to greatness and never before in history has a man of this caliper graduated as President of Harvard Law Review, shrugged off the opportunities to wealth and embarked on venues of change working with the grassroots of our society. He is an incredible individual with unmistakable vision and commitment. I am proud of him, his journey to date and the future he is promising.

Thank you, Barak.

Goldman, Intel Give Profits ‘Pulse’ After Record Drop (Update1)

Have you seen the movie, then go see the movie (click here).

It's content is more along the lines of "Bowling For Columbine."


By Adam Satariano and Beth Jinks
Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) --
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Intel Corp. may lead companies worldwide to the first profit increases in more than two years this quarter, ending the longest earnings recession on record.
Buoyed by finance and semiconductors, profits at the world’s biggest companies are projected to grow 63 percent in the final three months of 2009, snapping nine straight quarterly declines....

At least JP Morgan Chase knows how to say 'thank you.'

The FDIC is still busy. I thought Bush and Paulson were conducting a Bank Bailout. Why didn't these banks get bailed out?

October 5th, 2009
A Century of Failures: 3 more Banks Fail as number nears 100 (click here)

2009 certainly has not been a good year for banking. The FDIC closed 3 more banks this weekend bringing the total number of bank failures to 98 this year. FDIC projections put the number of failures to reach the 100 mark within a couple of weeks. Continuing bank failures have mirrored the poor health of the country’s financial institutions.
Three more banks joined the list of recent bank failures. The FDIC announced this Friday that it has included Southern Colorado National Bank of Pueblo, Colorado; Jennings State Bank of Spring Grove, Minnesota and Warren Bank of Warren, Michigan in its list of bank closures.

Costs of Failures
The FDIC has estimated that the recent bank failures will be putting a dent in their funds of at least $850 million. This will put an increased strain on the dwindling funds which previous bank failures have cost. The FDIC projects that over the next 5 years losses could reach $70 billion.
In more troubling news, figures also show that problem banks rose to 416 from 305 the previous quarter. Analysts predict that the total bank failures this year could reach 150. This is a turnaround from 2005 – 2006 figures which posted no bank failures....

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke

At the Federal Reserve Board Conference on Key Developments in Monetary Policy, Washington, D.C.

October 8, 2009

The Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet: An Update (click here)

...Conclusion

By using our balance sheet, the Federal Reserve has been able to overcome, at least partially, the constraints on policy posed by dysfunctional credit markets and by the zero lower bound on the federal funds rate target. By improving credit market functioning and adding liquidity to the system, our programs have provided critical support to the financial system and the economy. Moreover, we have carried out these programs responsibly, with minimal credit risk and with close attention to the exit strategy. Our activities have resulted in substantial changes to the size and composition of our balance sheet. When the economic outlook has improved sufficiently, we will be prepared to tighten the stance of monetary policy and eventually return our balance sheet to a more normal configuration.

A Dust Storm in Washington State, USA? A Dust Storm. Really.

It was a major wind event.

Climate - The climate of Washington varies within each region. (click here) The Cascades split the state and alter the weather patterns. The terrain east of the mountains, which includes Moses Lake State Park, receives approximately 12 inches of rainfall per year (rainfall map, click here), generally much less than west of the mountains. Since the area east of the mountains is landlocked, temperatures in this region are lower during the winter months. Frequent winds coming down from the mountains also contribute to the low temperatures of eastern Washington.


...According to local news, (click title to entry - thank you) the storm brought strong winds gusting to 43 miles per hour in places that propelled the dust across the southeast corner of the state. After numerous multi-vehicle accidents, sections of Interstate 90 near the town of Moses Lake and several local roads had to be closed for several hours.
A thick, rippling plume of dust runs northeast to southwest through the center of the image. Dust stretches as far south as the cities of Pasco and Kennewick, which sit on opposite banks of the Columbia River. In the north, the dust seems to rise primarily from the pale golden squares of fields farmed using dryland agriculture (That is a lot of lost top soil.), a common practice in arid eastern Washington. The dryland fields are larger and less colorful than the bright green and gold fields of irrigated agriculture near the Columbia and Snake Rivers in the center of the image.
Dryland farmers rely entirely on rainfall to sustain their crops, and as a result, do many things to preserve moisture in the soil. Some of these practices—leaving a field fallow after harvest to allow water to build in the soil for a year or covering the field with dry soil to prevent underlying moisture from evaporating—make dryland agriculture very prone to dust storms. These fields are likely either fallow or newly planted, probably with winter wheat, a common dryland crop in eastern Washington.
The dust storm persisted for several hours...




I-90 in E. Washington reopened after dust storm closure (click here)
01:57 PM PDT on Monday, October 5, 2009
By NWCN.com and Associated Press
MOSES LAKE, Wash. - Authorities reopened Interstate 90 between Moses Lake and Ritzville at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday, 19 hours after it was closed due to blowing dust....


Pacific Ocean 'dead zone' in Northwest may be irreversible (click here)
Oxygen depletion that is killing sea life off Oregon and Washington is probably caused by evolving wind conditions from climate change, rather than pollution, one oceanographer warns.

By Kim Murphy
October 9, 2009

...But the dead zone off the Northwest is one of the few in the world -- and possibly the only one in North America -- that could be impossible to reverse. That is because evolving wind conditions likely brought on by a changing climate, rather than pollution, are responsible, said Jack Barth, professor of physical oceanography at OSU."I really think we're in a new pattern, a new rhythm, offshore now. And I would expect [the low-oxygen zone] to show up every year now," Barth said at a news conference.Thursday's briefing coincided with the release of a National Science Foundation multimedia report that said the number of dead zones worldwide was doubling every decade.In the Pacific Northwest, the report said, the areas of hypoxic, or low-oxygen, water that long have existed far offshore began to appear closer to land in 2002, a phenomenon that may mean they are even deadlier to sea life that exists near the ocean floor....

Here is something the NRA can be proud of..."Live by the gun, die by the gun." What does the little girl do now?

Suicides rates in Police Officers are higher for the same reason many suicides occur, it is an act of opportunity. They have the guns, they are distraught and they kill.

Guns are the problem.

Officers should not carry weapons home with them. If they own their own personal weapons there is little that can be done to stop a person that is determined to kill.

Suicide is a killing, not just a desperate act of passion or dispair. Stop the ability to kill and stop the suicide. The 'opportunity' is just as much a part of this as the act itself.

If guns didn't 'free flow' through this society, there would be less suicides and murders. Just that simple. The NRA will use statistics to validate their greed, but, the truth of the matter is guns kill.

Someone killed someone else here as well as themselves. The gun was the weapon.

The warning signs that police officer Steve Martin was a suicide risk (click here) were clear enough in hindsight: erratic behavior, disgust with his job, heavy drinking, a strained marriage. But the lack of foresight is what leaves his wife, Debbie, angry more than a year later....
...Suicide rates for police — at least 18 per 100,000 — are higher than for the general population, according to Audrey Honig, chief psychologist for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department....


LEBANON, Pa., Oct. 8, 2009
Gun-Toting Soccer Mom, Husband Found Dead
Meleanie Hain, Who Became Voice of Gun-Rights Movement, Part of Apparent Murder-Suicide

A suburban mother who became a voice of the gun-rights movement when she openly carried a loaded pistol to her daughter's soccer game was fatally shot Wednesday along with her parole-officer husband in an apparent murder-suicide at their home in Pennsylvania Dutch country, authorities said.
Police released scant details about the deaths of Meleanie Hain, 31, and Scott Hain, 33, but said more information would be released Friday after their autopsies.
"I'm devastated. I lost my daughter. I lost my best friend. The children lost their parents," Jenny Stanley, Meleanie Hain's mother, told WGAL-TV. Stanley added that the three children, ages 2, 6 and 10, are "hanging in there."
The children were at a neighbor's house by the time police arrived to answer 911 calls from neighbors, said Lebanon City Police Chief Daniel Wright.
"What they did or did not see as part of this is not something we're going to release," Wright said. Neighbors said the children ran outside and said their father had shot their mother, but Wright declined to disclose what investigators have concluded about how the deaths occurred....