Sunday, May 13, 2012

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.


The First Lady and Dr. Biden Celebrate Mother's Day (click here for video)

Military Mom's and their children celebrate Mother's Day at the White House, where kids were able to prepare gifts to surprise their moms. Also, at the Naval Observatory volunteers gathered to put together care packages for military mothers.


That is very special. First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden actually spent their Mother's Day making our military families special and celebrated. Wow. Yes, indeed, some mothers are soldiers. 

The Taliban should be outraged at the assassination of a man

Former Taliban minister Arsala Rahmani, a member of the High Peace Council, speaks during an interview in Kabul, January 26, 2012


The Taliban should be seeking the murderers, apprehending them and trying them for the murder of one of their most honorable citizens. The Taliban need to stop the killing and uphold the integrity of a central government and strive for peace. The Afghan government and the Taliban have to stop the violence within their culture. They cannot move into a benevolent society whereby the future holds promise for their children if this the violence continues.


Afghan officials say gunmen (click here) have shot and killed a senior member of the Afghan peace council, dealing the latest blow to peace negotiations.

Authorities say an unidentified gunman in a car opened fire on Arsala Rahmani Sunday morning in Kabul as he was on his way to work.

Rahmani was a former Taliban official who became a top member of the Afghan peace council set up by President Hamid Karzai to negotiate a peaceful end to more than 10 years of war in Afghanistan. Rahmani served as deputy minister of higher education during the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan....

I am tired of Washington DC Republican Ideologues dragging their feet about infrastructure spending.

State of California's Current GO Credit Ratings (click here)

Fitch Ratings: A-
Moody's Investors Service: A1
Standard & Poor's: A-

I mean it, the US Transportation Bill is a prime example. Drop the Keystone Pipeline, it is an issue for the State Department and pass the 5 year Transportation Bill. The Republicans are stalling and it is having a heavy impact on the economy. They are such a joke. They can't even commit to construction for out of work construction workers.

By Chris Megerian and Anthony York, Los Angeles Times
May 12, 20128:46 p.m.
SACRAMENTO — California'sprojected budget deficit (click here) has ballooned to $16 billion, much larger than the $9.2 billion estimated in January, Gov. Jerry Brown said, and he warned of more painful spending cuts.
"We will have to go much further, and make cuts far greater, than I asked for at the beginning of the year," Brown said in a video posted Saturday on You Tube.  He plans to detail his revised spending plan in the Capitol on Monday.
It's a significant setback for Brown, who began his return engagement in Sacramento by promising to get the budget back under control. Advocates expect the state's financial problems to take an even greater toll on welfare and healthcare for the poor; state workers are also bracing for cuts….


The Keystone Pipeline already exists. The NEW Keystone XL (EXTENSION) Pipeline is a pork barrel project. Get rid of it and pass the BILL! The Keystone XL Pipeline is a political tool and nothing else. There is no reason for IT. KNOCK IT OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Due to the lack of backbone by Republicans to stand up to the petroleum industry and say "NO!" the Transportation Spending Bill,. which is usually a five year bill, was passed for three months. Not only that, but, to defend their aquifer, Nebraska authorized spending of $2 billion on an environmental study to take about two years, BECAUSE, The Ogallala Aquifer spans eight states, provides drinking water for two million people, and supports $20 billion in agriculture.


This is ridiculous. The State of Nebraska should not have to defend its water supply because of a bunch of idiot ideologues in Washington, DC!


Every state in the union needs the revenue, they need the employment and they need the better infrastructure, THEY DON'T NEED ANOTHER G.D. PIPELINE!




Friday, May. 11, 2012
McClatchy-Tribune News Service


A congressional conference committee this week started trying to reconcile radically different provisions of two different transportation bills passed by the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.
Passing a viable transportation bill is crucially important for the still-sluggish American economy. Usually, except for fighting over who gets what share of the public works money, political parties cooperate on such bills. They authorize highways, bridges and public transit systems, among other things, projects that create jobs and improved infrastructure that benefits consumers and businesses alike.
But this year the House chose a silly approach: a three-month extension of current authorizations larded down with election-year ideology and nonsense....

...The Senate's more serious two-year bill keeps the focus on current and future transportation needs. What a concept.
The silliest House provision would grant approval to a Canadian company's controversial application to add about 1,600 miles to an existing 2,100-mile oil pipeline system. TransCanada's Keystone pipeline already runs from northern Alberta to Cushing, Okla., with a spur running across Missouri to refinery and storage facilities at Roxana and Patoka, Ill.
The new Keystone XL proposal adds another pipeline along a different route from Canada to Cushing and then on to Texas refineries in Houston and Port Arthur on the Gulf coast.
As we have noted before, the Keystone XL proposal is a hustle being sold on phony promises of tens of thousands of jobs and environmental safety. This latest Republican-led attempt (with the support of some Democrats and labor unions) to bypass procedural safeguards and force the proposal down America's throat is no more acceptable than the previous failed attempt in January….


Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/2012/05/11/2172602/new-transportation-bill-must-be.html#storylink=cpy