Friday, April 18, 2014

There is no doubt Russia did the people of the USA a favor in providing safety for Mr. Snowden.

However, that does not equate to an invasion of a sovereign nation. There is also no doubt Russia does not have the vast debt accumulated by the previous administration of the USA in building huge storage facilities to house illegally gotten information of average Americans. Mr. Putin makes the mistake that the USA has more money to spend on such nonsense. The USA didn't pay for the facilities and antics, at least not yet.

The entire scheme was unconstitutional, regardless of what any conservative court might state. It has the fingerprints of Cheney written all over it. To that reality is the inquiry of Senator Feinstein as well. We already know The Robert's Court is delivering changes to our legal system in many instances are dangerous. Why would any court in the USA deny Americans basic health care only to have them die for the political dogma of the right wing. It is unthinkable, but, yet the Robert's court saw to it.

The NSA lied about creating danger to people around the world. It lied about it's activities to the people of the USA. There is nothing honorable about that. The only lack of failure is that it lied about every action, including allies and otherwise.

No one besides well paid bureaucrats in Washington, DC have ever condoned the torture of people at CIA black sites. This administration wanted to close Gitmo. There is a very small number of people in this world sitting in Washington, DC that won't roll back the human rights abuses of the USA. It is called a democracy and when really lousy people line the halls of the USA Capital building, seriously deranged things happen. Those people blocking improvements to USA human rights abuses are also bought and paid for by industries like Big Oil.

But, as to Mr. Snowden; the world owes a debt. He put his entire life on the line, his future, his happiness and his freedom on the line to bring forth a reality few could imagine. The debt owed Edward is also burdened by Russia and to the fact his message has been profoundly heard and embraced is to Russia's own security as well as their credit. 

Mr. Snowden has very little to do with the on going drama in Ukraine. It is a very different problem. While Edward's acts of bravery unlocked secrets best known than hidden, he did not seek to compromise a sovereign nation to be absorbed by a larger power. Ukraine was completely disarmed in being able to protect it's borders. I hardly call that a fair encounter. Russia's actions were completely unexpected and unjustified.

I hope the new agreement Foreign Minister Lavrov and Secretary Kerry have written renews the fact there is to be no interference in Ukraine's sovereign rights. 

It was good to know Edward was okay and doing well enough. It is also good to know Ukraine is now finding a way to reenforce it's right to exist without oppression. Russia was a liberator when it came to protecting a whistleblower, but, it cannot claim the same quality when ignoring a treaty of a post soviet nation. One act does not exonerate the other.

I hope Edward continues to enjoy his life in Russia. He looks well. I am sure his family still visits. There are few in the USA that don't care about his well being.

The decision was made by Lloyd D. George within the US District Court, District of Nevada.

This is from Wikipedia.
 
Lloyd D. George (born February 22, 1930) is a United States federal judge.
Born in Montpelier, Idaho, George was raised in Las Vegas, and was the class president of the 1948 class of Las Vegas High School. He received a B.S. from Brigham Young University in 1955 and, after serving in the U.S. Air Force from 1955 to 1958, received a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law in 1961. He was in private practice in Las Vegas, Nevada from 1961 to 1974, and was also a justice of the peace for Clark County, Nevada from 1962 to 1969. He was U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Nevada from 1974–1984, serving on the Ninth Circuit U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panels from 1980 to 1984.

George was a federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. George was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on April 18, 1984, to a seat vacated by Roger D. Foley. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 30, 1984, and received his commission on May 3, 1984. He served as chief judge from 1992-1997. He assumed senior status on December 1, 1997.

George is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as a missionary in Washington and Oregon for the Church. The Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse in Las Vegas, Nevada is named in his honor.

So, the judge making this decision has an extremely conservative background and yet the Bundy family has no respect for his decision after hearing all the evidence. I suppose Ronald Reagan was never President either.

...In an order dated November 3,1998,this court permanently enjoined Bundy from grazing his livestock within a different area,the Bunkerville Allotment,and ordered Bundyto remove his livestock from the Allotment before November 30,1998.U.S.v. Bundy,No.CV-S-98-531JBR(RJJ(D.Nev.Nov.4,1998).The court also ordered that the United States was entitled to trespass damages from Bundy for livestock left on the Bunkerville Allotment after such date....

This is about trespass. This is not about the ESA, except, they are occurring at the same time and only perhaps by coincidence. Degraded land can be worthless not only to cows, but, also wildlife that depends on it for habitat. The judge clearly stated this is about trespassing, not the ESA.

... Moreover,Bundy is incorrect in claiming that the Disclaimer Clause of the Nevada Constitution carries no legal force,see Gardner,107 F.3dat1320; that the Property Clause of the UnitedStates Constitution applies only to federal lands outside the borders of states,see id.at 1320; that the United States‘ exercise of owner shipover federal lands violates the Equal Footing Doctrine,see id.at 1319; that the United Statesis basing its authority to sanction Bundy for his unauthorized use of federal lands on the Endangered Species Act as opposed to trespass,see Compl.at ¶¶ 1,3,26-39; and that Nevada’s “Open Range” statute excuses Bundy’s trespass.See e.g., Gardner,107 F.3dat 1320(under Supremacy Clause state statute in conflict with federal law requiring permit to graze would be trumped).

There is even speculation the cattle aren't even Bundy's. What does that mean? Are they feral cattle and/or stolen. Is Bundy a liar? Are these not his cows? Who branded them if he claims they aren't his cows?

...Nor is there a legitimate dispute that Bundy has grazed his cattle on the New Trespass Lands without federal authorization.The United States has submitted Bundy’s deposition excerpts indicating that Bundy has grazed livestock on the New Trespass Lands and further evidence of the trespass of Bundy’s cattle in those areas. Not withstanding Bundy’s contentions that the observed cattle bearing his brand may not in fact be his own,such a denial does not controvert Nevada law regarding prima facie evidence of ownership of branded cattle. In sum,in this most recent effort to oppose the United States’ legal process,Bundy has produced no valid law or specific facts raising a genuine issue of fact regarding federal ownership or management of public lands in Nevada,or that his cattle have not trespassed on the New Trespass Lands....

If the unwitting public is injured by feral or wandering trespassing cattle who is responsible? Bundy? If someone decides they are going to take pity on the cattle for the bones showing on their bodies and attempts to remove them to a rescue or to an SPCA location, then what? Mad men with military style weapons will chase them down and accuse them of theft? Then what happens, vigilante justice?

The public interest is best served by having the federal lands managed without the presence of trespassing cattle on lands that are closed to grazing.The public interest is also best served by removal of trespassing cattle that cause harm to natural and cultural resources or pose a threat to the health and safety of members of the public who use the federal lands for recreation.The court finds that the public interest is negatively affected by Bundy’s continuing trespass.

The Bundy family can have their own opinions, but, not their own facts. The Bundy's opinion is proven not to be legal.

I am quite sure the people involved from all over the USA 'believes' the sky is falling. They are sadly deceived and used for propaganda by right wing political agendas they will never benefit from. The Murdoch Media Maniacs are million/billionaires. They care little about what occurs within the lives of those so willing to be a spectacle on Murdoch's massive political dogmatic media network.

The FCC is actually going to stand by while federal employees are threatened with their lives. The FCC is going to stand by while Rupert Murdoch reaps millions and billions as well as leveraged political preferences to insure those millions and billions at the expense of the safety of our federal employees. 

Murdoch is backing up anarchists advocating the deaths of federal employees. Where does this have to go the World Court?

Really? 

Now, considering the right wing indulgence of Bundy, what was that about taxes?

The Bottom 40% Don't Pay Taxes. Does that include Bundy? 

Romney, "The bottom 47% want stuff." Does that include federal land for grazing 900 head of cows?

Majority Leader Reid is correct.

What would anyone call people armed with military style weapons, strategies to kill federal employees, unwilling to even recognize the sovereign United States of America and demand special treatment FROM the law? There is another word than domestic terrorist? Fine, what is it then? Anarchists? That isn't a domestic terrorist?

This entire culture in "The West" reminds me of those that do not recognize the end to the Civil War. The war is over. The West was won. Homesteading ended. The Alamo no more. This is a corrupted culture that holds grudges and takes hostages. "Women and Children First." If this was Gaza, everyone would be screaming "Human Shields."

But, because this is the right wing extremists of the USA who vote for Republicans and inspire the NRA, they are called victims. This is ridiculous.

Please do not forget those unnecessarily dead in the USA this season.

Thank you.

Equal time for freedom during a religious season.

Why creationists hate Tiktaalik. So much for monkeys.

Roger Smith, left, and Neil Shubin examine a fossil.
By Chris Mooney

But the Darwin fish (click here) isn't merely a clever joke; in effect, it contains a testable scientific prediction. If evolution is true, and if life on Earth originated in water, then there must have once been fish species possessing primitive limbs, which enabled them to spend some part of their lives on land. And these species, in turn, must be the ancestors of four-limbed, land-living vertebrates like us. 

Gill slits, right? 

Sure enough, in 2004, scientists found one of those transitional species: Tiktaalik roseae, a 375-million-year-old Devonian period specimen discovered in the Canadian Arctic by paleontologist Neil Shubin and his colleagues. Tiktaalik, explains Shubin on the latest episode of the Inquiring Minds podcast, is an "anatomical mix between fish and a land-living animal."...

Did anyone know urine is sterile?



...We get the fact that Beervana prides (click here) itself on its water supply. The water bureau has a Facebook page, a YouTube presence and a Flickr site. You can follow it on Twitter (@portlandwater). It even has a bumper sticker: “I only drink tap water.”...
 
April 17, 2014

By Mark Berman

...As a result, (click here) the bureau closed the reservoir (which can hold 50 million gallons of water) to test the water for any contamination. While test samples of the water came back clean  Thursday, the bureau will still dump 38 million gallons of drinking water.

“Our customers have an expectation that their water is not deliberately contaminated,” David Shaff, administrator of the bureau, said in a statement. “We have the ability to meet that expectation while minimizing public health concerns.”

Portland’s water system delivers drinking water to about 935,000 people. There are five uncovered drinking water reservoirs in Portland, three of them at Mount Tabor Park. This particular reservoir is going to be disconnected at the end of 2015 due to an Environmental Protection Agency rule saying that drinking water had to be kept in covered reservoirs. All of Portland’s uncovered reservoirs will be discontinued by the end of 2020....

Don't stop any education at the eight grade. It pays to do otherwise.

At those salaries and the level of danger of some of those professions, why wouldn't they be the worst jobs on Earth?

There is nothing like having a job where, "Honey, I'm home," is a victory on a day to day basis.

Come to think of it, does "Dirty Jobs" (click here) ever discuss pay rates or profits? I am not a die hard fan, but, I don't remember any of that being part of the star quality of the featured job. Nor do I remember any exposure of violations of OSHA laws. I am sure that is all frivolous information anyway. There is nothing like loving one's job with happiness at the center of a citizen's universe. Absolutely.

By Kyle Kensing

For a mathematician (click here) like Jessika Sobanski of San Diego, numbers unlock a world of career possibilities.

“There’s a huge, huge range of opportunities for mathematicians,” says Sobanski. “Some can go the education route, but there's much more.” Hiring demand also is very high among corporations, government agencies and the non-profit world, she says.

In fact, the field’s versatility is a primary reason it outscored the competition and ranks No. 1 in our 2014 Jobs Rated report....

Something tells me balancing your check book might be important, but, the best paying jobs not only require secondary school, but, advanced education at the university.

A graduate degree in mathematics (click here) can help students hone their skills in a specialty area, from algebra and number theory to discrete mathematics and combinatorics. These are the best graduate-level math programs....

No surprise here, the Number 1 university for mathematical degrees is MIT.  

Red states are finding minimum wage enforcement unwelcome.

The controversial law bans cities from setting a minimum wage higher than the state's. (click here)

Posted: Friday, April 18, 2014 12:00 am 
Updated: 7:17 am, Fri Apr 18, 2014.
By BARBARA HOBEROCK 
World Capitol Bureau

OKLAHOMA CITY — Criticism is mounting regarding Gov. Mary Fallin's decision to sign a bill that prohibits cities and towns from increasing the minimum wage to an amount higher than that of the state.
The state has adopted the federal rate of $7.25.
Fallin on Monday signed Senate Bill 1023 that prevents the increase. It appears to have shuttered efforts to circulate an initiative petition in Oklahoma City to increase the rate.
President Barack Obama has advocated for increasing the rate to $10.10 an hour.
Fallin on Wednesday issued a statement saying Obama's plan ignores economic reality.
"President Obama and the Democratic Party are advocating for an increase in the minimum wage from $7.75 (sic) to $10.10," Fallin said. "They believe that on this issue, like on so many others, the government can just mandate prosperity and growth with no consideration of economic reality. Now they are taking that fight to Oklahoma, urging their liberal allies to push for mandatory wage increases.

"President Obama and his Oklahoma surrogates say they want to raise the minimum wage to reduce poverty. They are ignoring the fact that most minimum wage workers are young, single people working part time or entry level jobs. Many are high school or college students living with their parents in middle class families." 
Mandating an increase would result in lost jobs, she said.... 

Stop lying about increasing the minimum wage. Job growth occurs with each raise.
 
The Massachusetts minimum wage (click here) has increased six times since 1995, and during this time employment growth in industry sectors with high concentrations of minimum wage workers has been more positive than total employment growth, and markedly higher than growth in sectors with low concentrations of minimum wage workers.

For many years the Massachusetts minimum wage was the same as, or close to, the federal minimum wage level. Legislation passed in 1995 increased the state's hourly minimum wage from $4.25 to $4.75 starting in January, 1996 and to $5.25 in January, 1997, slightly ahead of increases in the federal minimum wage. Two sets of subsequent increases followed during the next decade—to $6.00 and $6.75 in 2000 and 2001, and to $7.50 and $8.00 in 2007 and 2008. Figure 1 shows the change in employment levels for all industry sectors and for sectors with high and low concentrations of minimum wage workers from January 1995 to January 2012. During the first part of this period, in the 1990s, all sectors—including those with a high concentration of minimum wage workers—experienced roughly similar growth levels, despite implementation of a higher minimum wage.

The minimum wage increases that went into effect in 2000-01 were followed by a slight dip in employment levels for sectors with higher concentrations of minimum wage workers, and a deeper dip followed the phase-in of the 2007-08 increase. However, sectors with low concentrations of minimum wage workers experienced much deeper declines during these periods. The declines in both sets of sectors were at least partly the result of recessions that began in March of 2001 and December of 2007, but by January, 2012 the low wage job sector had recovered the jobs lost during the recession, in contrast to other sectors. This experience suggests that the six increases in the minimum wage have not impeded growth in jobs for minimum wage workers. In fact, a recent analysis of the effects of a potential increase in the national minimum wage to $9.80 suggests that such an increase could help stimulate the local economy....

Increasing the Minimum Wage increases circulating capital in the USA economy.

If government doesn't care about the people, they won't care about the minimum wage. Those that don't want to increase job growth and economic viability will always see Wall Street profits as more important than any Middle Class or Impoverished citizen. 

I mean. Let's face it. If people can't pull themselves up by the boot straps to succeed in this democracy, they are less than human, right? 

Republicans are dependent on Wall Street for their campaign funds. Why act to decrease any perceived threat to those profits and campaign donations. It is far better for the GOP to lie about the 'mechanism' that actually provides job growth than actually pursue it.

To Republicans, the 'common man' only needs to understand what appears to be 'intuitive knowledge.' If employers have to pay more for workers, regardless of obscene profit margins, then they will go out of business, right? Sure. Whatever they say. No questions, simply rhetoric that has attracted simpletons to the ballot box for generations.  

So, sorry. Simpleton wasn't a good choice; 'the faithful' is far better a description. Lord knows, the faithful are far more sophisticated and complex than anyone can understand. After all, does anyone really understand god? Of course not. No one needs secondary schools once they know how to write their name and can balance a check book, not even the Ukrainians in Russia.

Let there be no doubt, the US Attorney General's administration is about protecting life and not ending it unjustly.

Posted:  
Updated:


WASHINGTON -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (click here) called on police and fire departments Wednesday to equip their employees with a lifesaving drug that can reverse heroin overdoses, adding his voice to a growing chorus advocating expanded naloxone access.

"Today, I'm calling on all first responders -- including state and local law enforcement agencies -- to train and equip their men and women on the front lines to use the overdose-reversal drug known as naloxone," Holder said in remarks prepared for a speech in front of the Police Executive Research Forum.

Seventeen states in places as varied as North Carolina and New York have passed legislation expanding naloxone access. But in other places, the drug has met with strong opposition, with critics arguing that it could give addicts a false sense of security, and that it could be dangerous in the hands of non-medical professionals. Medical research, however, shows that naloxone leads to little risk compensation behavior among addicts, and that so-called lay administration has proved highly successful....

Naloxone (Narcan) returns normal breathing to overdoes victims. It is not about substituting one drug for another or altering the mind of an overdose victim. This is called an Opioid Antagonist.

Once administered the victim will feel any pain they normally can't control. That doesn't mean the officers or responders should seek to alleviate the pain so much as transport as quickly as possible. 

Narcan (naloxone) does wear off and if there is still lethal levels of the overdose drug in the victim's blood stream or otherwise they could require a second dose of Narcan. It is important to quickly transport overdose victims to an emergency room. They might have to have the drugs removed from their stomachs or require a respirator. Narcan is an important drug, but, isn't necessarily the end of the overdose danger. 

Narcan is vitally important, especially these days with such high level of heroine being found in our society.

Naloxone (also known as Narcan®) (click here) is a medication called an “opioid antagonist” used to counter the effects of opioid overdose, for example morphine and heroin overdose. Specifically, naloxone is used in opioid overdoses to counteract life-threatening depression of the central nervous system and respiratory system, allowing an overdose victim to breathe normally.... 



Absolutely inspired. Magnificent.

by John Burnett
A new religious statue (click here) in the town of Davidson, N.C., is unlike anything you might see in church.

The statue depicts Jesus as a vagrant sleeping on a park bench. St. Alban's Episcopal Church installed the homeless Jesus statue on its property in the middle of an upscale neighborhood filled with well-kept townhomes.

Jesus is huddled under a blanket with his face and hands obscured; only the crucifixion wounds on his uncovered feet give him away.

The reaction was immediate. Some loved it; some didn't.

"One woman from the neighborhood actually called police the first time she drove by," says David Boraks, editor of DavidsonNews.net. "She thought it was an actual homeless person."...

Oklahoma is avoiding their constitutional responsibilities by running the clock.

Posted: Friday, April 18, 2014 12:00 am 
Updated: 7:16 am, Fri Apr 18, 2014.
By ZIVA BRANSTETTER 
World Enterprise Editor

...Attorneys Susanna Gattoni and Seth Day, (click here) who represent the men, said in an email Thursday: "It is absolutely essential that the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals stay these executions so that the issues can be fully adjudicated before it's too late."

"If we are going to have the death penalty in Oklahoma, then we must have disclosure about how executions will be carried out. Transparency is the only way to be sure that lethal injection is performed in accordance with state and federal laws and the Constitution."

Lockett and Warner are not challenging their underlying convictions. Instead they filed suit in March challenging the state's execution-secrecy law....

The attorneys are trying to protect everyone's rights. There have been far too many wrongful deaths of innocent people on death row. These folks are fighting the 'good fight.'

March 26 2014 4:53 PM
by Kelly Tunney and Josh Voorhees
Associated Press: 

Oklahoma's Death Penalty: (click here)
"An Oklahoma judge ruled the state's execution law unconstitutional Wednesday because its privacy provision is so strict that it that prevents inmates from finding out the source of drugs used in executions, even through the courts. After condemned inmates gasped or complained they were 'burning' during executions in January, inmates Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner asked Oklahoma prison officials who was making the drugs that would kill them and whether the material was pure. However, under state law, no one is allowed to disclose the source of drugs used in a lethal injection — even if an inmate sues and seeks the information as part of the discovery process. Oklahoma County District Judge Patricia Parrish said that prevents the inmates from exercising rights under the Constitution."...

Australia gets serious about their Hot Cross Buns.

South Koreans are in dire danger of self balme and loathing.

South Koreans normally enjoy good quality of life. They aren't at all used to this level of tragedy. I am worried about the country.

The South Korean's President needs to lead the grieving. And I don't completely understand why there were arrests made unless the cause of the tragedy was fully understood to be the fault of the captain and officers. If there is evidence to that fact the government needs to be transparent. I don't know how the forensics to blame these people have been established since the ship can't be secured yet. 

2.33 pm: Vice principal (click here) saved from Korea ferry found hanged Police say a high school vice principal who had been rescued from a sinking South Korean ferry has been found hanging from a tree. The news of the death came Friday as rescuers scrambled to find hundreds of people still missing from the ferry and feared dead. The passengers included 325 second-year students from Danwon High School heading to a southern island on a four-day trip. A police officer says the vice principal, identified only by his surname Kang, was found dead on the island of Jindo where rescued passengers have taken shelter. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity citing department rules. He didn't elaborate.
2.33 pm: Vice principal saved from Korea ferry found hanged Police say a high school vice principal who had been rescued from a sinking South Korean ferry has been found hanging from a tree. The news of the death came Friday as rescuers scrambled to find hundreds of people still missing from the ferry and feared dead. The passengers included 325 second-year students from Danwon High School heading to a southern island on a four-day trip. A police officer says the vice principal, identified only by his surname Kang, was found dead on the island of Jindo where rescued passengers have taken shelter. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity citing department rules. He didn't elaborate.

Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/world/s-korea-ferry-live-prosecutors-seek-arrest-warrant-against-captain-1482749.html?utm_source=ref_article