Saturday, July 26, 2014

A ceasefire is not defeat. Not even close to a defeat.

Hamas has made the world take notice of the dedication the Palestinian people have to their homeland, to their past; now it needs to demonstrate it's dedication to their children's future. Hamas and the Palestinians are no longer alone, regarded as important to the world and the world seeks to bring the future, a bright future to the children of Palestine.
A ceasefire is a time to breath the air, clear the mind and take account of what has been won. Dignity. Dignity is not a small commodity to discard on an international scale. It is time for the Palestinian people to end the 'conflict at all costs' and allow the world to help heal their land. It is time for Palestinian leaders to plan for the future and bring safety to the people they love.

Palestine has taken the moral high ground. The world now knows Israel is wrong in persecuting the Palestinian people. There is much to be settled including permanent borders for Palestine and help in developing a strong economy. Helping Palestine become a nation separate from Israel while building a future for the Palestinian children is the only way the world knows how to apologize for the decades of suffering.
July 26, 2014
By Alexandra Zavis, Batsheva Sobelman
A brief lull in fighting (click here) Saturday sent Palestinians in the battered Gaza Strip flocking to shops and banks and surging into devastated neighborhoods to search for missing relatives and recover belongings.
Wails arose and the stench of death hung in the air as scores of bodies were pulled from under rubble where they had lain for days. Palestinian officials said the death toll in the 19-day offensive had risen above 1,000, mostly civilians, with the recovery of corpses from areas previously cut off by fighting.
On the Israeli side of the frontier, the break from volleys of rocket fire provided a psychological lift, at least temporarily easing the necessity of rushing for shelter whenever air raid sirens sounded.
At the request of the United Nations, Israel's Cabinet approved an additional 24-hour cessation in fighting to begin at midnight, government officials announced. But they cautioned that Israel would "respond to any violations."...

Israel's propagandist. He needs to be fired.

Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to the United States.CreditJoshua Roberts/Reuters

By Josh Horowitz
July 25, 2014


...Because (click here) of Mr. Dermer’s unabashed hawkishness and his role in organizing Mitt Romney’s 2012 visit to Israel, White House officials — including Denis McDonough, President Obama’s chief of staff — long resisted his appointment, according to people close to the administration. But in the renewed push last year for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, Secretary of State John Kerry, who attended Mr. Dermer’s Passover Seder this spring, thought having a Netanyahu confidant close at hand would present an opportunity to sway the prime minister.

That turned out to be a misreading. Nearly 10 months after Mr. Dermer became ambassador, it is clear in Washington that he is his boss’s ideological twin. “I can authoritatively speak for the prime minister here,” he said during a nearly two-hour interview on Thursday in the heavily fortified Israeli Embassy in Washington. “I think people understand that.”...

Who dumped Netanyahu's puppet at the doorstep of the USA State Department?

Evidently, the USA is suppose to follow his ? lead ? and abandon all conventions on the planet to satisfy an Israel government out of control and determined to destroy any hopes of a Palestinian homeland. His views are blind to any other outcome, except of that of Netanyahu. He is corrupt. He has to go. Can the USA State Department please get someone other than a puppet for the ambassadorship of Israel?  It would be refreshing. 

My god the money the Israel's PACTs are willing to spend to undermine peace is incredible. I tell you what, just let Israel pay Dermer's salary and the deal will be complete.

Secretary Kerry has been a champion for human rights for as long as he has been in office, regardless of what capacity. He should have smelled this one coming.

How many in North Carolina realize a large water source is polluted?

The quality of water (click here) for downstream communities like Fayetteville and Wilmington is at risk while Jordan Lake remains polluted. For example, researchers at UNC-Wilmington have found blue-green 
algae, or toxic cyanobacteria, more than 300 times the levels considered safe by the World Health Organization in the Cape Fear River, which flows downstream from Jordan Lake.

I mean McCrory just can't seem to stop toxic Duke Energy sludge and he can't seem to clean up Jordan Lake for consumers that rely on it for drinking water. I doubt the President of the NC Senate ever gave water quality a thought.

Then again with Jordan Lake connected to all these lands in NC, it really should be a worry for everyone. The federal agencies have done their job in assessing the poor water quality. It really is up to the state to 'get on board' with making things better. Somehow with the toxic sludge problem and the lack of stewardship of the state, it is understandable how Jordan Lake never gets attention.

                                                        Drainage areas 
Location                                                 (square miles)

      Haw River at US 64 near Pittsboro, NC --------------------  1,296 (click here)     

      Haw River at B. Everett Jordan Dam -----------------------  1,690      

      Deep River at Moncure, NC --------------------------------  1,434       

      Deep River at mouth near Haywood, NC ---------------------  1,441       

      Cape Fear River at Lillington, NC ------------------------  3,464       

      Cape Fear River at Fayetteville, NC ----------------------  4,395       

      Cape Fear River at William O. Huske Lock and Dam No. 3----  4,852       
       
      Cape Fear River at Lock and Dam No. 2 --------------------  5,017       

      Cape Fear River at Lock and Dam No. 1 --------------------  5,255       

      Cape Fear River at Brunswick River at Wilmington, NC -----  8,760       
          
      Cape Fear River at Mouth ---------------------------------  9,140 

Child refugees coming to the USA.

There are many, many reasons these children are FORCED to abandon their country and their families. None of which are even within the understanding of the average American, but, let me try to explain.

The obvious reasons they are leaving their homelands to travel a very dangerous and perilous route is due to drug wars. They are situated in a vitally important area of the 'drug universe' where transportation of drugs occurs. These 'gangs' are not necessarily at all tied to the major drug cartels some are freelancing their incomes. So, even if the large cartels are dismantled there is no guarantee the wars within these countries will end. There is no 'head of the snake' in many instances.

To better illustrate I think of Nigeria. The oil in Nigeria is pumped out of the ground by Big Oil and the government receives some of the monies for it, however, the monies OR jobs never make it to the citizens whom remain impoverished. In the past the citizens of Nigeria would rise up against Big Oil and seek to kill them as their food and water sources were polluted and they were dying, no differently than Ecuador. In Ecuador the people accepted their fate and allowed anti-oil and pro-citizen groups to fight the good fight in the courts. The citizens are winning although the struggle continues.

But, to return to Nigeria. The citizens surrendered. They found they were being massacred by their own government and even when the courts ordered payment to the country for the peril of the citizens, the government was corrupt and those monies never made it to the citizens. When they gave up they still needed an income to live. Men pride themselves in raising their family and providing clear water, air and food was still a priority. So, the men of Nigeria decided they would seek their own oil (As Boka Haram has coveted gold in the north of the country.) and develop their own primitive processing. They harvested the oil in crude and dangerous ways accepting the fact they could die doing it and if not then sometime in the future as their exposure would cause cancers. But, they do it anyway as a means of supporting their families with hopes of finding a better life for their children. This atrocity is happening now.

The same dynamic holds true in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and to a lesser extent in Belize. Belize at least is propagating a healthy tourist trade along it's coast so the impoverishment and violence is along the border with Guatemala as it spills over.

So, that is the plight of the globally impoverished. They accept adversity in their lives in order to find a way of life. That is their quality of life. It is a depraved method of quality of life, but, is reality.

So why don't countries such as Guatemala and Honduras or Nigeria simply round up these criminal networks and keep them forever in prison? The USA does it. Three strikes and your in for life. Why not everyone else? 

August 13, 2013 
By Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas

...The average inmate (click here) in minimum security federal prison costs $21,000 each year. The average inmate in maximum - security prisons costs $33,000 each year....

Why are prisons aboard used in rendition? Why are pirsons abroad considered torture? Why do other countries with such prisons accepting payment from the USA to house those the USA believes dangerous? Why, indeed. The 'way of life' of those in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador is considered illegal in the USA, but, it is a way of life and the USA does consume the drugs these 'gangs' bring to the USA.

So, like it or not the USA is directly responsible for the children now refugees to our southern border. Make no mistake these children are coming to the USA southern border because they want to live while the rest of the USA accepts the drug sales as recreation. AND. Drug sales in the USA is also a 'way of life' for those that sell them.

As far as diseases these children refugees carry (OH, yeah. Changing the definitions of refugee in DC DOES NOT change the reality.); there is nothing they are afflicted with the USA can't handle. Eboli is spreading in western Africa, but, is still contained. And here is a thought. If Eboli ever did make it to The West, the disease might actually be defeated.

The Republicans thrive on fear and to that end they are always scaredy cats, refuse to face any reality of the situation and are convinced if DC 'words everything correctly' and turns the USA into a police state, they will have heaven at their doorstep. Republicans don't live with reality, they live everyday of their lives in a dreamscape. That is not a good place to be. It causes more problems than it solves. But, whoever accused Republicans of solving problems.

The bottom line is these small countries can't solve the problems of the refugees. Having children become refugees IS THE ANSWER. Solve that and the problems take care of themselves.

The man without the answer rather play games with congressional proceedings for distraction, political momentum to the polls by the base and amusement (including racism and bigotry). Elect them again and the USA will continue to have the same problems.

One other thing, when I thought it through I was happy about the National Guard was at the southern border; at least USA Wackos won't be shooting anyone as they cross the Rio Grande.