Tuesday, September 30, 2014

I think Newsweek got it right. They even call it treason.

Congressman Doug Lamborn, (click here) a Republican from Colorado, is an un-American demagogue, willing to sabotage this country for his own grandstanding narcissism. If his words are to be believed, this brigadier blowhard is thoroughly unfit for public office and instead should be rotting in jail on charges of treason.
Or am I being too subtle?
Lamborn is the latest type of political muck America needs to scrape off the bottom of its national shoe: an officeholder so absorbed with his hatred of the opposing party that he is willing to do anything, no matter how much it damages our national security and the underpinnings of our democracy, if it will win him some applause and maybe a couple of votes.... 

Fort Carson is in this district in Colorado Springs. Some of the military from Fort Carson are going to Africa. The military presence in this district is the primary economy. After the military there are farmers and ranchers and tourism to Pike's Peak. The USA Air Force Academy is in Colorado Springs as well. This is all Air Force Territory,  Peterson Air Force BaseSchriever Air Force Base, and NORAD. I would think the US Representative for the district would have greater respect for the military. I have to wonder who from the military might have been sitting in the audience when he stated Generals should be resigning in protest.

Commanding (click here) General Maj. Gen. Paul J. LaCamera, 4th Infantry Division and Joint Task Force Carson, greets local Gold Star mothers at the Fallen Heroes Family Center prior to a luncheon held in their honor, Sept. 30, 2014. Gold Star mothers are moms who lost a son or daughter in military service to the nation. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Eric Glassey, 4th Inf. Div. PAO)

I don't believe these generals are interested in giving up their leadership commands. Doug Lamborn lied. He should apologize to all the people involved.
Mr. 47% is stumping for Tom Cotton. Wow. I'm surprised.

Here is why Romney is campaigning for Tom Cotton. Cotton backs the Ryan plan to privatize Medicare by offering vouchers. Ryan was Romney's Vice Presidential pick.  

Cotton supports Medicare "premium support" vouchers. (Feb 2014) (click here) 

Cotton is an extreme right wing candidate that defers to Wall Street all the time. With everything:

No so-called "earned path to citizenship". (Nov 2012)

Supports exiting US to apply for citizenship. (Sep 2012)

Voted YES on allowing compensatory time off for working overtime. (Apr 2013)

Audit federal agencies, to reform or eliminate them. (Jul 2010)

Support DOMA and traditional marriage. (Nov 2012)

Voted NO on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. (Feb 2013)

Opposes same-sex marriage. (Sep 2012)

Protect anti-same-sex marriage opinions as free speech. (Sep 2013)

For a young man of 37 years old he's got a lot of old ideas. Does he have any of his own?


I am surprised Congressman Steven King hasn't demanded an electrified fence around the White House. I am sure Herman Cain would endorse the idea.

I really do believe the reason Omar Gonzalez made his way across the lawn without being stopped had to do with the controversy of all the citizen killings by police. The Secret Service dearly didn't want to kill anyone they believed to be unarmed. 

Mr. Gonzalez had a knife, but, it wasn't brandishing it as weapon, it was on his person. He actually wanted to talk to the President and as former military I find that interesting. He wanted to speak to the Commander and Chief. He obviously has mental illness problems, but, they weren't manifesting as violent toward the President.

I think all the events need to be taken very seriously and every potential for any harm to anyone in the White House complex has to be defeated. We so rarely hear of these instances that seem to happen on a regular basis, the Secret Service does a commendable job in stopping the assault without causing death to a citizen. That is a tough job. 

I think the country and the Secret Service need to do better. The incident in 2011 could not be stopped. The best anyone could do is find the perpetrator. The fact the shootings took place IS also a very big concern and it is a concern for the country. The Secret Service does not read minds.

It's going to become global. The efforts by the USA in West Africa need to continue to contain the spread.

September 30, 2014
By Michaeleen Doucleff
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (click here) confirmed Tuesday that the first case of Ebola has appeared in the U.S.
A man in Dallas has tested positive for the virus, the agency says. The man flew to the U.S. from Liberia, arriving on Sept. 20, NPR has learned. He wasn't sick on the flight, and had no symptoms when he arrived.
He first developed symptoms on Wednesday, Sept. 24, according to the CDC, and first sought care on Friday. On Sunday, he was placed in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Health officials have already started searching for people who may have come into close contact with the man. Ebola isn't contagious until a person starts showing symptoms. And the virus is spread only through direct contact of bodily fluids...

There is always absentee ballots for those that cannot make it to the polls.

September 9, 2014
By Adam Liptak

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court (click here) on Monday blocked an appeals court ruling that would have restored seven days of early voting in Ohio....
Where are the whistle blowers when it was obvious there was compromise of not just the President's security and that of his family, but, the entire staff of the White House and the Secret Service themselves?

There is something very wrong here. Senior staff officers aren't willing to stand up for their own safety knowing the protocols were breached?

This doesn't make sense.

This is the Secret Service. They put their lives on the line for the President and his family everyday, yet security breaches existed. None of this sounds right.

Mr. Gonzalez is not the problem, the fact that a person receiving treatment for PTSD was allowed to own and operate multiple weapons including assassin rifles and scopes is the problem. The fact the doors to the north portico were unlocked and the alarms off is the problem. The newspaper reports are not the problem, the fact the reports by an officer to the Washington Post and the official record do not match is the problem. The incident of seven bullets hitting the White House without proper investigation is the problem. The fact the investigation to the shots heard was interrupted with excuses is the problem. 

There are plenty of problems here including the fact guns are in our society in the hands of people determined to cause harm to others and those that are receiving treatment for mental instabilities. 

Some of the problems belong to the Secret Service, but, there are problems here that belong to the American people and the insistence freedom and liberty means owning and operating dangerous weapons. 

The case against a free flow of guns in this country is getting greater and greater including recently a nine year old girl, a rancher in violation of federal leases and his ability to garner a militia of 5000 gun operators, some with military training and the willingness to kill federal officers DOING THEIR JOB and now direct threats to the President, his family and the staff and officers of the White House. When is Liberty going to be defined as being able to live without the fear of inappropriate use of guns in the USA?

The Secret Service showed restraint in protecting the lives of an unarmed man. It would be real interesting to have the life Mr. Gonzalez jeopardized in White House grounds.

The Secret Service is sensitive to issues the public reacts to. They have to because they are dealing with the lives of political figures all the time. If a death of an unarmed man was realized on White House grounds, how that play to the nation?

At some point in time the judgement of the Secret Service has to be respected. Mr. Gonzalez was not equipped with a suicide vest. There were those in the guard that day who determined shooting an unarmed man was imprudent. They were right. Obviously, they are seasoned at protecting the perimeter in a meaningful way.

The morale of the Secret Service was down according to reports. I can understand that. As a matter of fact considering the liberal gun laws in the USA it is a sure bet that police around the country and their morale are effected. There are a lot of reasons for poor morale. I suggest the Congress get it right and fix it. Pay cuts? Time off? Shortage of staffing?

The country leaves too much to chance under this Congress and it shows.

Earnst, a moderate? Her definition of protecting Social Security is radical.




The Republicans aren't trustworthy.

July 25, 2014

...Ernst is on the record (click here) that she would be “willing” to look at Social Security as a personal savings account for some workers, whether in an interest-bearing account or one that is tied to the (stock) market. Our finding on this claim in the ad is one that requires a leap to logic to go from Ernst considering making younger workers eligible to manage their own accounts to an overarching claim of “gambling our savings in the stock market”. 

Here is Ernst’s quote from that May 9 interview with the Register, in full context of the exchange:

 “We need to keep those promises to seniors and those that are entering that age bracket but I do think we need to look at younger workers and those entering the workforce and we need to find a solution here and something that I am willing to look at is a personal savings account. It would be one that whether it’s interest-bearing, whether it is tied to the market, I would need to look at the details but I do think that is something we would need to consider. With those personal savings accounts, it needs to be something that is hands off and something that, as legislators, we would not be able to raid.”...

Social Security is getting a new data center and it came in under budget;.

September 30, 2014
A slew of data (click here) is coming to Frederick County, and it's headed for the new Social Security Administration National Support Center in Urbana. 
The new 300,000-square-foot facility will maintain the demographic, wage and benefit information of almost every American, according to a news release from SSA. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Monday, and about 80 federal employees will be working in the center by August 2016.

The building was needed because SSA's 30-year-old support center was not constructed as a data center, said Bill Zielinski, chief information officer for SSA. The Woodlawn facility is not up to par with changing technology and electricity requirements. A feasibility study indicated that a new data center was the best way to go, he said....

USA Troops support President Obama's strategy to build the Middle East coalition.

September 29, 2014

By Andrew Tilghman with Gina Harkins, David Larter, Stephen Losey, Hope Hodge Seck, Michelle Tan and Jeff Schogol

Poll: 70% of troops say no more boots on the ground in Iraq (click here)

...The reader survey asked more than 2,200 active-duty troops this question: “In your opinion, do you think the U.S. military should send a substantial number of combat troops to Iraq to support the Iraqi security forces?” Slightly more than 70 percent responded: “No.”
“It’s their country, it’s their business. I don’t think major ‘boots on the ground’ is the right answer,” said one Army infantry officer and prior-enlisted soldier who deployed to Iraq three times. He responded to the survey and an interview request but, like several other service members in this story, asked not to be named because he is not authorized to discuss high-level military policy....

The USA did this once before. Why repeat the mistake? A new kind of Fairy Dust I guess.

I find the glibness of the media is absolutely disgusting and the enthusiasm for a ground war by the right wing antiquated. "Every once in awhile you just have to mow the lawn." These are lives, not blades of grass and not robo soldier either. The first invasion into Iraq was illegal and immoral and somehow the threat from the Islamic State makes it a moral war worth our soldiers lives. 

The Islamic State invasion of Iraq's northern border was due to the fact the leadership of the USA never had it right in the first place, now all of a sudden this is suppose to be different. Why?

The region was out of balance because the weak Iraq border allowed the militants to capture war machines. The heavy military equipment provided by the USA has to be destroyed and the revenue source of selling Syria's stolen oil has to end as well. But, the people in Iraq are still the same people. 

The lives of our troops are important and they aren't disposable because Bush conducted an illegal war in the first place. Wrong is wrong and two wrongs don't make it right.