Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Human rights should be at the heart of any USA policy. Republicans don't even know the words "human rights."

I am not surprised Donald Trump didn't give a formal policy speech today. It would provide too much information to his opponents in the debate. Why be helpful to the opposition? 

See, most of America already knows the foreign policy of all the other candidates, it is called war. 

Ben Carson is a little different than anyone else, he focuses on Russia and Israel, not necessarily in that order.

Why even debate it? Most if not all candidates have identical positions in foreign policy.  

Tell me this isn't standard for every Republican candidate:
  • Cancel any nuclear deal Obama makes with Iran.
  • Putin is a bully; expand US troops in countries near Russia. 
  • Peace deal with Iran threatens America & menaces Israel.
  • US should shape events and build alliances of free people. 
  • Pressure Cuba to help Cuban prisoners. 
  • Strengthen the Cuban embargo instead of lifting it. 
  • The USA is a leader among equals in community of nations. (Ya, got to love that one. Lead among equals...??? equals ??? Equals need to be lead? Equals don't need to be lead, they need to agree and so does the USA. It should have a better record on AGREEMENT. Agreement would have prevented the war into Iraq. Maybe no one noticed but the USA's larger allies weren't in Iraq except for the UK. Tony Blair was too scared of Bush to leave him alone.)
  • Words matter: presidents should mean it when they say it. (That is related to the lack of attack to lead to war in Syria.)
  • Nourish our existing alliances: that means NATO & Israel.(I don't know what nourish means exactly. Nourish? What the heck does nourish mean about foreign relations? US AID? No, I don't think that is it. Strange word for foreign relations. Bribes maybe. Now that I would believe.)
  • Passivity hasn't worked on Russia and Ukraine. (Actually there is some movement toward cooperation lately.)
  • 2010: Ineptitude will bring down Chavez (like) regime in Venezuela. (Ineptitude? That's a policy? Wait for ineptitude to take it's toll? Really? That wont' work. The current opposition leader is in prison. Venezuela is not a threat to the USA, however, it currently has significant human rights issues. That is what should be addressed. The people need relief from the human rights abuses. Ineptitude. Amazing. Let me just state this. When a country like the USA simply waits for ? ineptitude ? to resolve problems it enforces a dictatorship. The USA when ignoring human rights abuses to allow a country to fall apart under ineptitude, it causes the current leader to dive into CONTROL and not resolve of the problems. When a leader has to control problems, there is always human rights abuses. The worse thing the USA can do is not engage a country's leadership struggling with control.)                                                                                            You know what is really interesting? The USA is always at the ready to go to war in the Middle East. But, when it comes to impoverished countries such as Venezuela the USA finds no reason to change a thing especially engagement in a near shore war. Think about it. Near shore wars are scary, aren't they? Imagine for one minute doing to Venezuela what the USA did with Iraq. Iraq was never a threat to the USA. Venezuela has oil. The Late Hugo Chavez even took pity on Americans for fuel oil in the winter. It is easy to be powerful when the war is half way around the planet from the legal limits of USA borders.
  • Neo-isolationism and American passivity both have dangers.
  • Supports economic cooperation between US and China.
  • Defend anti-Castro terrorist as patriot in exile.
  • Support Israel in its battle against terrorism. 
  • Role in the world: military strength and moral clarity.  

"Club for Growth" has it's detractors.

As a side issue, The Club for Growth began as a very small corporation. It grew rapidly.

If Donald Trump has a fund raiser for a small almost invisible veteran's organization it may be that he expects it to grow. If the fund raising today is indicative of the organization, it will grow and will be grateful to Donald Trump for the opportunity to make a difference for veterans. Donald Trump is not going to attract established veteran's groups. He found something that can be built into his vision of advocacy for veterans.

The Club for Growth had a similar trajectory, nearly invisible in 1999 and recognized by 2000. Republicans donate plenty of money to those that are willing to 'do the work' of conservative advocacy.

But this article in "Forbes", states "The Club" changed and alienated a member of it's leadership. The fact he was in the leadership of The Club speaks eons to the group losing it's legitimate purpose. This is an indication The Club is running on it's old steam and not valid economic policy embraced by conservatives. And that was embraced by conservatives. I mentioned it twice to make it clear conservatives have carried out USA economic 'schemes' for over forty years that was completely based in 'bubble and bust.'

A bubble and bust economy is perfect for Republicans, it just sucks for everyone else. By the time Republicans and their bubble and bust economies got to the end of 2008, there were no reserves anywhere to prop up Wall Street Banks. Hello?

December 5, 2012
By Louis Woodhill

On November 29, (click here) I resigned from the Leadership Council of the Club for Growth....

...And, it was the Club for Growth that made Republican incumbents think twice before voting against the wishes of the people that elected them.  The Club has supported primary challenges to a number of RINOs (Republicans In Name Only), and has bagged a few
.
Unfortunately, in recent years, the Club for Growth has morphed into something very different than what it was when I joined it in 2000.  If you had to give it a name today, the following would be candidates:

The Club for Spending Cuts


The Club for Austerity

The Club for Futile Fiscal Gestures (suggested by the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal)

While there is nothing “wrong” with advocating spending cuts or austerity, this isn’t what I signed up for when I became an early member of the Club in the summer of 2000.  Right now, I feel that, to paraphrase what Ronald Reagan said regarding the Democratic Party, “I didn’t leave the Club for Growth, the Club for Growth left me.”...

This was on the "Weather Underground." It states it was uploaded yesterday by someone in California.

September 14, 2015

Sagging track, (click here) the flood came thru. Beneath the track you have a view. The rare but heavy desert rai 

It worth checking. A flood washed out the sandy soil under the railroad tracks. The track caused enough agitation of fast flowing water to cause erosion. Rain isn't suppose to occur in the desert, there is no way of knowing there is impact without inspections.

This is an all time low for the gun lobby.

Where else, but, Florida? It is creating greater danger for Americans abroad. The religious extremists are upset. This at a time when migrants are everywhere in Europe. Americans need to be aware of their surroundings. 

September 15, 2015

MIAMI (AFP) - An arms maker in Florida (click here) is engraving Christian symbols on its assault rifles, in a marketing ploy denounced by a Muslim group as fomenting "hatred, division and violence".
The "Cruzado" assault rifle is inscribed with the cross of the Knights Templar, a religious order that fought in the Crusades, and a psalm from the Bible - features that its maker, Spike's Tactical, says are intended to keep the weapons out of Muslim hands.
"We wanted to make sure we built a weapon that would never be able to be used by Muslim terrorists to kill innocent people or advance their radical agenda," said Ben Thomas, spokesman for the company, which is based in Apopka, Florida.
The Christian symbols would prevent the guns from being shipped to the Middle East, he said, claiming the rifles have been a hit with the company's customers. The arms maker's website hails it as "The Crusader Rifle" carrying a price tag of US$1,395 (S$1,955).

No one knows if it has been 'a hit' with customers. The seller is stating it, not the customers and what are the numbers of sales compared to others.

The advertisment says "Due to overwhelming media response - Crusader rifles are taking up to 2 weeks to ship"....

The federal government is going to have to consider this weapon as an expression of hate. I know it will rally the NRA members, but, this type of symbolism is about religion and it's enforcement. This is a really bad idea and it can be connected to hate. There has to be limits in allowing expressions of hate.

The marketing states the inscriptions are designed to 'keep the rifle out of the hands of Muslims.' The marketing is designed for hate.

This is not about First Amendment and freedom of religion or expression, if that were the case then the burning cross would be a benevolent expression of the KKK.

The warmer the oceans, the warmer the land.

The Weather Channel (click here)
US Temperature Map
September 15, 2015

13 September 2015
Warmer-than-normal ocean (click here) temperatures around Hawaii this year will likely lead to the worst coral bleaching the islands have ever seen, scientists said.
Many corals are only just recovering from last year’s bleaching, which occurs when warm waters prompt coral to expel the algae they rely on for food, said Ruth Gates, the director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. The phenomenon is called bleaching because coral lose their color when they push out algae.
The island chain experienced a mass bleaching event in 1996, and another one last year. This year, ocean temperatures around Hawaii are about 3F to 6F warmer than normal, said Chris Brenchley, meteorologist for the US National Weather Service (NWS) in Honolulu.
Bleaching makes coral more susceptible to disease and increases the risk they will die. This is a troubling for fish and other species that spawn and live in coral reefs. It is also a concern for Hawaii’s tourism-dependent economy....


The Management of Natural Coastal Carbon Sinks (click here)
Edited by Dan Laffoley and Gabriel Grimsditch
November 2009

...These coastal marine ecosystems are also vital for the food security of coastal communities in developing countries, providing nurseries and fishing grounds for artisanal fisheries. Furthermore, they provide natural coastal defences that mitigate erosion and storm action. Therefore, better protection of these ecosystems will not only make carbon sense, but the co-benefits from ecosystem goods and services are clear....

The new military defintion for the USA, is attack, get it over with. War reparations. Any other strategy is politics to serve the culture of fear.

There is no more US policy that states, "We broke it, we bought it." The USA causes greater problems than it solves.

"We broke it, we bought it," is a Wall Street campaign slogan, not an answer.

Short of WWII and the Cuban Missile Crisis there is every reason to believe the USA's militarization of the world is detrimental to peace and non-proliferation. 

The words "Axis of Evil" set off the destruction of dynamics that were respected in every country, including Iran and North Korea. "We broke it, we bought it," is justification of NATION BUILDING AND PROLONGED OCCUPATION. 

The real election slogan is "We won't break it in the first place."

"We broke it, we bought it," is the definition of 'oh, shit, now what.' 

"We broke it, we bought it," equates to the forever war. 

"We broke it, we bought it," is the equivalent to $1 million national debt for every soldier sent to enforce an occupation of unrealistic goals of nation building and corruption. ie: Afghanistan and the US military engagement of al Qaeda at Tora Bora. 

The Afghanistan war should have been over at Tora Bora. It was from Tora Bora when bin Laden took up residency at the military academy in Pakistan.  

"We broke it, we bought it," is license to kill innocent people while appearing to be a moral statement. Somehow, the USA disconnects morally to the deaths of innocent  people when it means billions $US will be pouring into that country. 

"We broke it, we bought it," is a Plutocratic statement. Money first, deaths of innocent people are irrespective to priorities. "...we bought it," is moronic morality. 

"...we bought it," is impetus to the world court. 

"...we bought it," is not reflected in the Geneva Conventions, war reparations are. 

"...we bought it," enforces occupation, nation building and the genocide of culture. 

There is no justification or morality that equates to occupation. USA occupation has resulted in documented proof of a methodology that the US destroys the country's culture. War reparations provides funds for the country attacked to rebuild any lost culture. War reparations is moral and is why it is part of the Geneva conventions. 

Insurance companies should have incentives that encourage 'the safe roof.' It will save lives as well as homes.

Tile, clay tile, concrete and slate shingles (click here) are thick noncombustible materials can be manufactured to look like wood shingles. They have a Class A rating and provide the best protection against fire.

The reason so many homes burn propagating the fire to continue is because the wind carries the EMBERS that land on a home's roof.

Insurance companies should lobby states with high fire threat to homes for installation of slate roofs. Lobby for funding to improve the roof on homes in these high risk zones.

The better performing roofs will actually help end the fire. Those roofs will be a stop break for the fire if the embers don't light up roofs and CONTINUE the spread of fire. 

Government needs to assess the promise of such roofs and remap any anticipated fire zones and treat them as rankings no differently than flood zones so insurance companies can charge more for lack pf protections.

If governments provide for funding for new roofs that are fire resistant such as slate, and then publish 'fire maps,' it will be viewed by voters as reasonable. The fire maps along with funding will help people protect their homes. The slate roof that acts as a 'fire break' will actually begin to lower the risk, hence, lower the home owner insurance. The better quality roof will ultimately provide safer communities in theses fire areas.

Please don't simply feed the insurance companies with higher costs to consumer for living in these fire zones. Government has to be a partner in these zones. It will create safer communities and save lives. That is good governance and not simply feeding Wall Street with higher profits.

Roof construction allowing for vents along the peak of the roof will also help reduce the need for air conditioning during times of high temperatures. The construction supporting 'efficient' roofing should accompany the funding to bring permanent financial relief to voters. Why save on home insurance if the cooling and heating of the home prove to be expensive. This is an opportunity for good governance that accomplishes benefits for voters. It is about saving lives and quality of life. This is a good thing. It takes adversity and changes it into opportunity. 

Utah

There are helicopters that can fly into the people cut off from travel. Helicopters should be handling any emergency. 

Has Governor Gary Herbert (click here) declared a state of emergency?

The color of the water shows strong evidence of soil erosion. There is no way of knowing what is destroyed by the flood waters. That won't be evident until the water subsides. 

September 15, 2015
By Shamar Walters and Richie Duchon
 
Flash flooding triggered by a strong thunderstorm (click here) killed at least eight people in southern Utah, authorities said. Five others remained missing early Tuesday.
"This hit with a vengeance we haven't seen for some time," said Kevin Barlow, the assistant fire chief in Hildale, a town on the Utah-Arizona border. Several children and mothers were among the dead or missing, he added.
Barlow said that an SUV and a van carrying a total of 16 people had been swept away by the flooding. They were "hit by a large wall of water and debris," Washington County Emergency Services said in a statement.
The women and children were thought to be coming back from a park in the area when the flash flood hit, according to Barlow.
Three people were rescued during the ordeal, which occurred around 4:40 p.m. local time (6:40 p.m. ET). 

Utah needs to elevate their bridges above the 1000 year storm.

continued...
This is an example of how completely US Republicans have estranged the truth. On MSNBC Richard Engel states, "...only one third of those migrating into Europe are actually from Syria...."

Nicole Wallace, "...isn't it true that when the red lines regarding Syria were crossed, that caused the migration?"

Really?

Let's see. The red lines are about Syria's chemical weapons, the USA threatened action into Syria and the chemical weapons were removed. That was over a year ago. But, today the migration into Europe is caused from Syrian chemical weapons. 

Right. 

When one third of the migrants are from Syria it has very little to do with the Syrian issue.

ONE THIRD, NICOLE. ONE THIRD. Look somewhere else for your boogeyman.

The migrants are not about strife and war, it is about quality of life.

It is amazing how the right wing media attempts to spin the truth into a lie and then believe their ? cleverness ?. When the right wing spin is founded in lies and deceptions the ACTUAL PROBLEM is lost. The problems Republicans represent and run their elections on never supply solutions, but, only HATE. 

When emigrants from who knows where state their destination is Denmark there is nothing in that destination that is even welcoming migrants. Denmark has stated it will supply funding to maintain migrants near the Syrian border because the country is worried about their citizens' safety. The migration is being viewed as a national security issue in Denmark.

September 7, 2015
By Charles Duxbury

The Danish government (click here) has taken out advertisements in the Lebanese press conveying a blunt message: Refugees are not welcome in the small Nordic nation....

Denmark is absolutely correct. There are people within the migration having expectations based in hate and not survival. 

At the core of the migration is a larger issue, it is about "the ideation of a caliphate." The migration into Europe when Turkey started defending it's border. Does anyone know why Turkey was moved to defend it's border? Huh? Huh?

THIS INFORMATION IS FROM THE MUCH COVETED REPUBLICAN NEWS RAG, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL!

July 20, 2015
By Emre Parker 

Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 31 in Turkish Border Town (click here) 

AND the Syrian border with Jordan is now closed.

Why are these dates significant? Because the migration crisis began the first week of September 2015. 

August 1, 2015 
By Suleman al-Kalidi 

Jordan shuts border crossing with Syria after fighting (click here) 

There is no truth in Republican right wing politics. The infinite battle in the Congress is nothing more than partisan politics of the Republicans. The Republicans are not interested in solving the USA's problems or their allies for that matter. Republicans choke on the truth. What do Republicans need Heimlich maneuver seminars? 

Idiots. Absolute idiots. Their hearing needs to be checked. 

They lead the USA right into wars that give their egos a perky presentation as if they actually can and do protect the USA. THAT IS POPULISM and the demand for THE TRUTH. 

Vietnam cause to war was a lie enforced by a Democratic president; "Gulf of Tonkin Incident." The US Congress never questioned the reason to war. I suppose the REAL reason for Vietnam was bad intelligence. 

This article by Capt. Carl Otis Schuster, (click here) U.S. Navy (ret.) originally appeared in the June 2008 issue of Vietnam magazine. A National Security Agency report released in 2007 reveals unequivocally that the alleged Aug. 4, 1964, attack by North Vietnam on U.S. destroyers never actually happened. 

We all know the war in Iraq was based on a lie. But, alas it was because of bad intelligence.

Now today the lack of intelligence starts with the hopeful Nicole Wallace that earns her dollars attempting to find the spin that actually sticks to the wall. Nicole Wallace no different than every other Republican media is 'the spin machine.' They are PAID to lie and then legally call it entertainment. 

I've got to hand it to the Republicans. Their spin machine provides the political dialogue and they simply say how high to jump and legislate 'the air.' 

If Richard Engel reported on the migrant crisis from the moon, the Republicans might actually appreciate it more.