Governor Brown needs to hold town hall meetings and not simply hand out summons.

April 4, 2015
By Frank Shyong, Hailey Branson-Potts and Matt Stevens

There are few signs of California’s epic drought (click here) along a stretch of Maple Drive in Beverly Hills.
Deep green front lawns stretch out, dotted with healthy trees and sculpted foliage. The only brown lawn in sight was at a home under construction.
As California gears up for the first mandatory water restrictions in its history, a long-standing class divide about water use is becoming increasingly apparent....

Water is a big deal. It is a part of our lives in insidious ways. No one no matter what community they live in believes they would have to part with this vital component of this entitlement of life. 

Besides the communities, there are businesses that are going lose revenue because they won't have the same Spring Time and Summer Time market places. They can become inventive and invite ideas such as sand boxes for the children and patio furniture where dinner is served. 

But, water is something most people take for granted and I guarantee you no matter who it is this idea of sacrificing more and more is stressful. Imagine that. The lack of water in day to day life is stressful. Water is stressful when there is too much of it and now it is stressful when there is too little.

The folks in Beverly Hills have spoiled themselves into thinking they can have everything they want if only they pay the bill. They aren't so much belligerent as they are soiled. They don't know what it is to sacrifice. That seems obvious to me.

Governor Brown should hold town hall meetings across the state. He needs to hear what people think and offer them remedies to cope. I personally challenge him to bring back water to all of California in one year. This time next year California needs water flowing and crops blooming and Beverly Hills getting off their psychologist couch.

It is important Governor Brown has this relationship with the people. Everyone needs to be connected. Their sacrifice has to be realized and their suggestions and complaints noted. 

This is a very difficult time. Crime may escalate and jobs might be lost. The Governor has to bring about an understanding that he is aware of their burden his ambitions to bring an end to the water shortage.  It may even be wise to have an emergency plan ready with water trucked in should the drought this summer become unbearable. Citizens can have copies of emergency plans for reassurance.

The people living in Beverly Hills need to have a small greenhouse(s) on the property where rare and important plants can receive attention if they haven't made the jump to light speed yet. Water needs of special and precious plants can be better managed in a greenhouse where their own humidity can be contained. Those folks will need their gardeners all the more to control the climate in order for those plants to be maintained. 

Governor Brown is up to this. If there is still noncompliance after a town hall meeting then citations for breaking the law should be issued. I wish everyone good luck.   

Modern day nuclear arsenals define the brinkmanship that exists in our world today.

I read somewhere that Russia is unhappy with any interceptor missiles deployed in Europe.

Really?

If Russia's only protection were large number of tigers I would think the interceptors were nonsense and stupid, but, that isn't the case is it? 

Clue: Ukraine and the former treaty.

Think about it.

It is my estimation the interceptors will be the last missile system removed once all nations' nuclear arsenals are destroyed and that level of intimidation is gone from Earth. There will still be some conflict such as exists with Israel and Palestine whereby interceptors will carry brevity, but, most use of them will be mute after the nuclear weapons are ended.

Both the USA Democrats and leadership in Russia should recognize modern day use of such WMD as nuclear weapons. They define the brinkmanship that lead to the invasion into Iraq and same with Ukraine. China also uses them to intimidate to expand it's sovereign borders. 

The threat is very real. I believe President Putin was prepared to use them over Ukraine if tensions were not somewhat cooled. Now, today, Ukraine wishes it never gave up it's nuclear arsenal. They believe their country would have remained intact and sovereign if the nukes were ever present. That is a very scary reality for all people of this Earth. 

If there is one aspect of international governance that is a pariah it is nuclear weapons. It is so ridiculous to regard those weapons as necessary in the 21st century.

Unfortunately, there are examples in Japan of what exactly nukes can do to a country and society. The warning is just not heeded. Nukes leverage too much power and cause international conflict because of the nature of the weapon itself. If we only realized after WWII what a horror was unleashed in Japan and actively sought to remove such a threat from our children's futures the Middle East would not have the problems that exists today. 

The unspoken threat. That is what nukes have become. 

Are they an equalizer in the balance of power between nations? I don't think so. There have been a deterioration of countries such as Pakistan in the face of ownership of such weapons. As a matter of fact, the nukes Pakistan has are the reason why the country has deteriorated and compromised the tribal areas with terrorists. The bad guys want them to use against whomever they perceive as an enemy.

Someday, leaders with such capacity will look at their people and realize they are innocent participants in a danger they abhor. The French today find nukes a huge immoral presence in their country. The French wanted and had plans to remove them from any military reality of their country, but, then came the issue of Ukraine. Ukraine and the broken treaty did a lot of damage to sanity and movement away from nukes.  

Someday, leaders will realize the imposition of these weapons on the stability of the world's powers, the brinkmanship they allow and will demand a higher moral standard for war as practiced in the Geneva Conventions. Someday. It might not be in my lifetime, but, it will happen and Earth will find peace and benevolence among people.

I hope that will come sooner than later, but, realistically I know there is a 'presence of threat' that has been renewed as of 2001 and the civil war of Ukraine. It feels pretty lousy to be one of the P5 and be responsible for the deaths in Japan. It really does.

"The Iran Deal"

The audacity of hope. You see the flag in that picture. Amazing.

President Obama is proving why the people placed trust in him, not once, but, twice. He is a magnificent president. His transparency makes politics difficult for some of the Democrats in Washington, DC as they head home, but, his peers should be proud of him. 

It is unfortunate the Supreme Leader is so negative about the deal, but, he is on the other side of any threat of war with this deal. For that he should be grateful. His people are excited about their choice of President and the fact President Rouhani has actually negotiated the country's historic diplomacy. 

Just listen to this tape. Magnificent. And to think the Supreme Leader is disgruntled over the agreement and the pledge by President Rouhani to have it survive the criticism. Incredible and makes quite a statement by the President of both Iran and the USA.

April 3, 2015
By Greg Botelho

Iran's President (click here for video) on Friday hailed the proposed international deal on his country's nuclear program, vowing that Iran will stick to its promises and -- assuming other countries live up to their end of the bargain -- become a more active, engaged player in world affairs.

"Some think that we should either fight ... or we should surrender to other powers," President Hassan Rouhani said. "However, we believe none of that. There is a third path. We can cooperate with the world."

Rouhani said his government kept its word to Iranians when negotiating the framework deal, which was agreed upon Thursday and sets parameters for talks that could lead to a comprehensive deal by a June 30 deadline. Chief among them is that Iran would keep at least some centrifuges and no longer face international sanctions.... 

Kindly remember, there were concessions made at the very first beginnings of these talks. The Iranian government has lived up to every one of those concessions. President Rouhani did not play politics or bargain with the lives of Iranians; he was steadfast in providing reason to the P5 that he was an honorable and truthful leader deserving of trust.

I still pinch myself to realize Secretary Kerry found a way forward and solidified that framework. It is a good deal. It is negotiated through international law that governs such dangerous weapons. Kerry and the President were nothing short of brilliant. I am so pleased the former Senator from Massachusetts was able to carry out such an incredible document. I am happy and I am happy for the Iranian people. 

I am more confident today that the future holds a time when nuclear weapons will become a complete affront to the global conscience. It is a verifiable treaty. It will stand. Do I fear Iran? No. I fear the nukes and that goes for any nuclear weapon capacity.

This is a victory for the Iranian political moderates. The people trusted them and they have prevailed in their promise to Iran. This is a very good thing for all of Iran.

I find that statement about RIFR by Jeb Bush very interesting.

He said, "I didn't expect the backlash...."

It shows he is not prepared to be the President of the USA. When he stated he didn't expect the backlash he was simply following the politics of his party. I guarantee you even today he hasn't familiarized himself to the law. 

Then he continued his endorsement of Governor Pence's RFIR law. He stated, "...when all the facts are established..."

That is a familiar Republican paradigm for lies and deceptions to the electorate. Rather than stating the law may not be necessary under our Constitution he postponed his decision waiting for the facts.

Do Republicans lie? Do they deceive? You betcha, one of the hallmarks of Republican governance is to manipulate the public to prevent backlash and when it happens no one is wrong in the first place and the public over reacted. The Public must be nothing more than basket cases and primarily women who listen to every word their spouses tell them.

I think one of the most famous and current reflections of the SOP Republican Lie belongs to Senator Bob Corker and the VW union vote. That man lied about every aspect of the presence of a union with VW. The company thought it was a good idea to have a union, because, their corporate structure requires representation of the labor force in management decisions. 

The lies didn't start with Senator Corker, they stated with partisan politics at the state level in Kentucky. 

February 11, 2014 

By Steven Greenhouse

...State Senator Bo Watson, (click here) who represents a suburb of Chattanooga, warned on Monday that if VW’s workers voted to embrace the U.A.W., the Republican-controlled Legislature might vote against approving future incentives to help the plant expand.

“The members of the Tennessee Senate will not view unionization as in the best interest of Tennessee,” Mr. Watson said at a news conference. He added that a pro-U.A.W. vote would make it “exponentially more challenging” for the legislature to approve future subsidies....

That level of interference with a PRIVATE COMPANY is incredibly invasive to a person's work place and is a threat to their future of holding down a job. Now I would expect if the company was practicing coercion in the work place by threatening employees with their jobs in a general statement, as in voting practices and/or religious expression, enforcing a 'desired culture;' it would be appropriate to ask local prosecutors and/or even the SBI to investigate or simply refer the employees to a US Attorney regarding labor laws in Kentucky.

February 20, 2014
By Stephen Crockett

Last week’s Volkswagen worker unionization vote (click here) in Tennessee was the dirtiest union election of the 21^st Century with all the dirty tactics coming from outside anti-union political forces.

Without the intimidation and lies of elected Tennessee Republicans along with billionaire financed national right-wing groups, the union would almost surely have won the union representation vote. (A slim majority of 53 percent of plant workers opposed unionization.)...

But, for a US Senator to back the threats made by state legislators and act completely unethically in his capacity there should have been ethics investigation of the US Senator with a referral to state investigators to close the loop with others involved in the lies to and manipulation of the public.

There is a level of privacy innate to any work place. Bathrooms, break time, phone calls to others within work break times, lunch and socializing or not with peers and the list goes on. The relationship with the company is extremely important and to realize state and federal legislators will put their thumb on the scale through abuse of power is outrageous. The legislators lied about everything and today the UAW has a union in the VW plant anyway. 

That is why Republicans count on their image and ability to manipulate the public. The will become a member of the dinner table without even knowing a family because that is the image they portray. 

The FIDUCIARY relationship between Republicans and there electorate is chronically unethical and invades a home's privacy.

Their favorite statement is "...when all the facts are in, things will be seen differently." They are calming the waters so THEIR interpretation of political atmospherics will prevail. Doesn't it usually? When Republicans step into a situation and state the facts will bear out, don't they usually? And normally those that challenged Republicans are to be meek and apologetic to all that is possible under that interpretation of events.

In regard to Pence? He has from the beginning been lying. He is still lying. He won't stop lying because rather than the truth he has hung his hat on a lie and now he has to make the lie the truth.

Good governance is not simply 'the best in political theater.' It is actually knowing and understanding what is occurring within the legislative process, judicial process and the actual power leveraged by legislation. A Republican will lie and simply pat any objector on the head and send them out to play in a world unfit for their daily lives. 

When citizens 'act up' in opposition to something said or legislated, what is going on there? Sometimes it's politics, but, Americans have an inherent knowledge of their lives and their idea of good governance. When people strongly oppose government in the USA it is because the 'status quo' in their lives has been rattled. People know 'when something is wrong.' They know when their lives have been affected by an act of government. That 'knowing' is important because within it is 'the lie' facing the Republican politicians and THEIR BACKLASH against the public. 

It is not up to the public to take time out of their daily lives to fight for their rights. Their elected officials are suppose to know the rights afforded the people under the constitution and act accordingly. People should not be upset because a politician is voting or acting in opposition to their understanding of the laws within the life they lead. 

Legislation is not suppose to remove rights from people or penalize them unfairly enforcing poverty or poor health that can kill them. Legislation is to address new ideas that will enhance the electorates' quality of life or solve problems, which might be the same thing. The legislative process is not suppose to come out of the woodwork like cockroaches. It isn't suppose to be Citigroup handing a politician an amendment TO DEEPLY IMPORTANT legislation like the US Budget. 

Those elected are suppose to live up to the moral obligations of providing for THE PUBLIC GOOD and protection. Now compare that to what happened in Kentucky over VW. Reflect now on the completely inappropriate RFRA laws and know they assault not only human rights, but, legal standing of an entire class of people in the USA. 

Indiana's RFRA law is unconstitutional and we know it. It allows discrimination and we know it. We know Pence is lying to appease his so called "base" and bring about discrimination and hatred of the LGBT community. Hate? Yes, because all this will be interpreted by some of the electorate or public (which is not the same thing, but, should be) as permission to grow hatred and to influence the outcomes of elections at the cost of human quality of life or life itself. Do I have to give examples?  

What is more important is the Republicans not only lie, but, they know they are lying. When they state, "...when all the facts are known..." they are looking for wiggle room to make the lie the truth. That is very passive aggressive. It just is. The lie that becomes the truth mostly is to appease and provide services to the cronies that elected them. It is not about the people. It is for that reason Republicans are mostly untrustworthy of the votes and power they are provided. 

The Indiana RFRA law should have never made it the Governor's Desk, yet alone the legislative agenda. But, governance by Republicans means acting in the best interest of their 'base electorate,' which is not the public because Republicans practice voter oppression as in the 2000 Dade County purging of the African American electorate.

So, for those that look at this entry and state, THOSE simple words caused all this? I say, it sure did, so stop lying.

Oh, one more thing. 

Harry Reid. 

He didn't lie, he just wasn't as quick on his feet as he should have been. I am quite confident when he stated as Senate Majority Leader, "Romney didn't pay taxes," it was to provide an impetus to disclosure that the public was clamoring for. I doubt Senator Reid knew whether or not Romeny paid taxes, but, it sure appeared to be the case. Senator Reid could not rifle through IRS forms to LEAK a definitive statement, he simply came to conclusions most of the electorate was coming to.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid knew he should find a way and there was a lot going on to bring about a disclosure of which at least the 47% wanted from Romney. The statement by Harry was somewhat proven a lie as well when Romney at the very least disclosed two tax returns. 

I have to laugh when pundits today state, "Hillary must have something to hide because she didn't turn over the server (which doesn't belong to her, but, her spouse that happens to be the Former President of the USA) and erased private emails. It is one thing to be a strong Democratic candidate and have their reputation played with and it is quite another to be a wealthy Republican candidate and be proud of the fact he didn't want to disclose his tax returns. 

There were many issues with Romney. He had absolutely no foreign affairs experience, he coveted his income tax filings and he pandered to wealthy donors by mocking 47% of the population when the economy had dumped so many at the doorstep of poverty or worse in 2008. He had no empathy, which is strongly Republican. Romney's credentials is counter culture to the majority of the people of the USA. He annihilated companies that provided work for Americans and called it moral at his garage sales. It wasn't Harry Reid that caused the defeat of Mitt Romney, it was Romney himself.