Graham is taking the nation hostage to the military cuts

It has nothing to do with information. Graham is seeking a way to stop the cuts.

Benghazi is beating a dead horse. The drone strikes are history. This is about military cuts.

They will be instituted March 1st. We can wait. Give him a crying towel.

Graham on Defense, CIA Nominees: “No Confirmation Without Information” (click here)

By Daniel Politi

Posted Sunday Feb. 10, 2013, at 3:15 PM ET

...Graham defended his stance saying that then-Sen. Joe Biden also asked for more information before a 2005 vote to confirm a nominee. “No confirmation without information," Graham said on CBS News....

So, let's see, eight years ago when the USA was engaged in an illegal war in Iraq Senator Joe Biden asked for information. Ya think?

...Also appearing on CBS, Sen. Jack Reed called Graham’s threat “unprecedented and unwarranted.” The Democrat from Rhode Island said that while “it’s completely appropriate” to ask questions, it’s an “overreaction” to then “turn around and say I’m going to block two key members of the president’s cabinet....

Senator Reed doesn't recognize intimidation?

March 1st is coming and the mourning will be over.

Where did the name sequester come from? It is debt reduction.

These monies were not just an incentive as if it wasn't going to have real consequences. The Republicans have been demanding debt reduction. The President helped provide a path to debt reduction. He didn't ignore them.

The Supercommittee was unable and/or unwilling to change the original distribution of $1.2 Trillion in debt reduction. These monies are passed into law, what else is there to understand? The fact the Republicans are screaming in pain over military cuts? What else is new?

1) It is intended to make cuts to discretionary appropriations and mandatory spending that add up to $1.2 trillion (less assumed debt service savings) over ten years (although no cuts occur in 2012, the first year), or 2) It is intended to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion (less assumed debt service savings) over the ten-year budget window. While at first blush these may seem identical, the former interpretation would produce significantly less deficit reduction in the first decade.

There is no trading tax increases for Debt Reduction. Absolutely not. Part of the problem with the National Debt is its content. It is a mess of inappropriate and pork barrel spending. It needs to be gone! 

The tax increases are to support the National Budget, not the inappropriate spending of the war mongers in the country. What makes the Republicans believe this country consents to their priorities?

Paying down the National Debt means we finally rid the country of grossly misappropriated funds. There is no going BACK. 

This legislation is finished. The Republicans are continually mourn their war priorities.

Another thing. How is it, the action of drones in nations such as Yemen extends past 90 days? Spy drones without weapons are understandable, but, armed drones in a NEW KIND OF WAR, requires passage of legislation past the 90 day War Powers Act of the President.

There is no unlimited War on Terror. There is not and was never a war on terror. There was an appropriate war in Afghanistan to end the entrenchment of international criminals attacking the USA. By the way, it was after the fact they over threw a stable government there. But, who cares about that? 

There was the wrongful war into Iraq, but, there is no such thing as The War on Terror. It doesn't exist. So, where is the declaration of war on nations where armed drones are present beyond 90 days? Congress can't discern the need for such legislation? Seriously, all the military committees and national defense committees in either house can't discern what a war is and what a war is NOT.

Well, why not simply continue to waste money on military spending that results in hideous technology that can't even get off the ground and allow more pork barrel spending on a bloated military budget. Why not play politics with the USA Treasury under the 'evil empire' of the War on Terror. The Republicans need to continue to propagate an imaginary enemy to maintain their culture of fear?

The so called Sequester is LAW in the USA. The Republicans facilitated that law in hopes of manipulation in the future. I don't think so. They have until March 1, 2013 to come up with distributions of the reduction in the national debt so the USA economy does not have a hard landing. If they can't do that, then feel the pain.

Dorner had training with planes?

Private airplanes for rent and/or charter. La Palma is where he called home. Lessons or known rentals or something. At the very least the airplane community needs to be aware. Armed and dangerous. Shoot and ask questions later if they have positive identification. His picture is fairly unique. He isn't going to lose body weight any time soon. Not that fast. Someone might be able to ID him and pass on some of his habits.

Beef up small airport security with real police with real weapons.

I have a suspicion why he planted the weapons in the dumpster by the police station. It seems to me he was seeking to open up the idea others could be suspected. Is there someone in that police station he held a grudge against or had some kind of affiliation with even it was dysfunctional. Is there someone that might actually have a shadow over him/her if his guilt fell into doubt? Basically, he is trying to frame someone.

FBI List and a price on his head is a good idea. He is just to adept.

It takes awhile to find them sometimes. Remember that wacko who was shooting people from inside a car trunk? They got him eventually.

I wish I understood what goes on with some of these military guys. When they lose their parameters, they lose it big. He still should come in and surrender. He was just discharged from the Reserves on February 1st, right?

Martyrs don't kill! They talk to the press, they get their story out, but, they don't kill.


Words by: Noemi Torres

...The reality is that he got fired (click here) and used the law and the system to try to make things right. He wasn’t able to do so in spite of his many attempts. His frustration was withheld for a long time and he began planning. He is now a martyr in my eyes, a hero. He has decided to give up his life to protect others.

He has sacrificed himself to bring corruption to light. He figured he had nothing to lose for such a greater cause. His goal is to stop the racism, the police brutality and all the other injustices, which he witnessed, and the rest of us witness everyday, yet choose to do nothing. Christopher Jordan Dorner is doing something! I don’t agree that killing is the best recourse, but sometimes a point has to be made in such a dramatic way so that one is heard by the masses....

He had credentials. He had impressive credentials. No one wanted to hear his story? No one was willing to stand up for him? I find that hard to believe. He had options. A former LA Police officer, former military and there are tons of programs now for former military returning home. He didn't have to take this route.

LA has problems and the country knows that, but, adding to the problems is not going to accomplish anything. He killed an innocent girl. She never did anything wrong. She had no power in the situation, except, to be a victim. That is no hero I understand.

Innocent people (collateral damage) happen as a consequence in pursuit for a greater cause.

Absolutely not. That entire mind set about allowing innocent people to pay the price of perceived injustice empowers the drug economy in the USA. It treats crime as a virtue. It is just wrong. No matter how jaded a person might become because they believe they are 'up against the machine' there is no reason for this to result. It is just wrong and there is no reward for accumulating collateral damage as a means to settle anger.

This is the United States of America, this is the age of digital crowds. What proof did he have to back his claims? That would be not taken seriously these days? That is nonsense.

Violence solves nothing and only causes more violence. The accumulation of spilled blood only increases the cost of stopping the violence. Gangs are wrong. They accomplish nothing worthwhile. If the average gang member reaches the age of 35 years old, it is considered old. There is no quality of life there. Why would anyone promote it or follow that path?

I realize the police are stating this was still yet another random killing, but, I have doubts.

All too often the drug economies of the USA carry out retribution killings and it would be wrong not to raise that possibility.

By Alexandria Fisher

Saturday, Feb 9, 2013

Updated 5:04 PM CST

Hadiya Pendleton (click here) was remembered by many today as a smiling young girl full of laughter and love.

First Lady Michelle Obama and hundreds of supporters attended a funeral for the slain teen Saturday morning at the Greater Harvest Baptist Church.

The service began shortly after 11 a.m. to a packed room.

"Hadiya was too young to leave us but not too young to make a mark," Pendleton's pastor Courtney Maxwell said at the start of the service....

...Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Rev. Jesse Jackson were also in attendance.

Pendleton was killed last Tuesday at Kenwood Park on the city's South Side days after she performed at some of President Barack Obama's recent inauguration festivities. She was shot to death blocks from her school and about a mile from the president's and first lady's Chicago home....

I believe this vicious killing was part of a violent culture in the USA enhanced by the lack of gun control laws. I don't want to hear how Chicago has strict gun laws, that does not keep them from finding a market in the city from outside the city. There are not road blocks into Chicago, nor sniffing dogs to find them on rail cars.

The United States needs to assess the illegal drug market to find controls and it needs comprehensive gun laws that provide continuity in control. No interstate recognition of concealed carry and no interstate commerce of guns or ammunition. There needs to be control at the state and local level to end this.

One of the overwhelming problems facing prosecutors who seek to end the violent culture in the USA, are the retribution killings of organized crime. The drug culture in the USA is organized crime that extends far beyond our cities. I think this killing was more an assassination of a high school activist who was recognized for her contribution to society and her brilliant future. The location and the person seems less chaotic than the possibility of organized crime to make an impact on freedom and justice.

Spend the money and save jobs. The USA isn't Yemen.

KALAMAZOO (WKZO) -- Congressman Fred Upton (click here) told the Trifecta that he doesn’t see the need for Drones in the U.S.

The issue is heating up because of a presidential memo that spells out when drones can be used to take out U.S. Citizens working for al-Qaida.

Over 80 police agencies, university researchers and other organizations have filed for permits to use drones in the U.S.

Apparently the U.S. Customs Service has been using drones to gaurd the southern border with Mexico for the last 7 years. 

Police agencies say they can be used to trail escaping criminals or equipped with infra-red to find lost children or Alzheimer’s patients, and do it a lot less expensively than a manned aircraft....

People always find a way. Barriers never stop people. People are living, thinking entities on this Earth and just because these people are from Mexican origins doesn't make them less human, less thinkers or less a person with an idea to achieve their goal of being with family.

This "border friendship park" (click here) is a place where families from both sides of the border meet their relatives to talk and hold hands in between the steel columns that separate Mexico and the United States.

Javier Manzano / For The Washington Post

Drones will not stop the will of people determined to be together with a sustainable living regardless of the poverty they accept into their lives in the USA. The USA poverty is better than the abandoned state of being in Mexico. 

The only things that will stop people from coming to the USA is a sustainable economy in Mexico while defeating the cartels to stop the flow of guns and drugs into and out of both countries.

If the drones are proven to save the lives of Border Agents then they have merit, but, to expect drones to actually stop immigration across the USA border is not only unrealistic, it is Un-American. We are compassionate people who reward people for their work. We are not people that send Mexicans back to a place where they will die rather than survive.

The North Face Dark Star -40 Degree Sleeping Bag (click here)

The subzero technology is expensive. Not every home can own enough for a family of four without planning for the expense. Currently, neither UPS or FedEx would be able to deliver the packages to the Northeast neighborhoods either. The post service might. I've witnessed them deliver letters and packages in some very adverse weather.

There is an Army Surplus alternative for about $60.00 each (click here).

The subzero sleeping bags work by trapping air around the body inside the bag to be warmed by body heat. It is not a substitution for electricity, but, it is an emergency measure until the heater is turned back on. And / Or, invest in a roof rack and clean off the solar panels depending on the storage system in the house to maintain heat. It is better than waiting for the infrastructure to actually function again.

Martin LaMonica

 February 6, 2009 4:00 AM

...On Wednesday morning, (click here) I was prepared. A week earlier, I had bought a snow rake. (These are hot items this year given all the snow and problems with ice dams.) A snow rake--the one I bought was about $75--is just a flat aluminum plate with a long handle. Run it down your roof and the snow comes off.

When I mentioned what the rake was for, the guy at the hardware store cleverly recommended I attach a squeegee-like strip on the bottom so I didn't risk damaging the expensive panels....

In the Northeast, a roof rack is a requirement anyway.