IMPEACH PRESIDENT OBAMA? Will the Republicans do it?

Is Impeachment a waste of time and money by the Republicans?  (I feel it is also a needless distraction.)

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/so-you-think-you-can-impeach-obama-heres

Ex Special Forces tells youth DO NOT join the military for the education benefits

This ex Special Forces fellow says you are sent to protect Trans-National Corporations and not the Constitution of the US when you fight for the US.

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2013/08/ex-special-forces-veteran-gives-some.html

Anderson Cooper interprets the crazy talk of Pat Robertson

Pat Robertson got himself a well deserved take down from CNN's Anderson Cooper this Wednesday evening over his ridiculous remarks about gay activists using special rings to spread AIDS.

COOPER: Time now for "The RidicuList." And tonight, we bring you a man who we usually avoid mentioning, because he's sort of like that elderly relative who you only see at Thanksgiving. He doesn't get out of bed much and he's sitting around the table and suddenly blurts out nonsensical sentences in between chewing on soft foods. I'm talking about televangelist Pat Robertson.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/anderson-cooper-takes-down-pat-robertson-o

The Ghost of Iraq: Why England said no to bombing Syria

The heavy propaganda for an Iraq War waged by the Bush administration and the Blair government in 2002-2003 came back to haunt the Anglo-American alliance on Thursday when the British parliament voted 285 to 272 not to authorize a military strike on Syria. While the government of Prime Minister David Cameron could theoretically have proceeded nevertheless, Cameron pledged that he would abide by the will of the British people as expressed through their elected legislature.

http://www.juancole.com/2013/08/british-parliament-defects.html

Boehner's Constituents: HANDS OFF OBAMACARE

Boehner went into a special meeting of invited guests while Pro-Obamacare folks made their ideas known outside

http://www.care2.com/causes/daily-cute-kellar-the-blind-dog-plays-fetch.html

Kellar the blind dog plays catch

The owner gives him voce commands so he knows he is close to the ball.

http://www.care2.com/causes/daily-cute-kellar-the-blind-dog-plays-fetch.html

George Zimmerman asks State of Florida to pay $300,000 of his legal expenses

Responses from people about his request for a crap load of money.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/george-zimmerman-asks-florida-to-pay-his-legal-cos,33663/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview:1:Default

Faceless Bank Reposesses WRONG HOUSE - not a crime

Homeowner Nikki Bailey's best friend Patty Fot: "Her life has been ripped out because there's no laws to protect these kind of situations. There's no law-no crime to charge these people with. They're getting away with it!"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/30/1234959/-It-keeps-happening-Faceless-Bank-s-Repo-Contractor-trashes-all-of-woman-s-possessions?detail=facebook

Republican States going all out to sabotage Obamacare

 “Several Republican-led states at the forefront of the campaign to undermine President Obama’s health-care law have come up with new ways to try and thwart it, refusing to enforce consumer protections, for example, and restricting federally funded workers hired to help people enroll in coverage. And in at least one state, Missouri, local officials have been barred from doing anything to help put the law into place.”

Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/08/30/republican-states-are-using-new-ways-to-stop-the-affordable-care-act/#ixzz2dSXaeGGp

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/08/30/republican-states-are-using-new-ways-to-stop-the-affordable-care-act/

American Empire: A Glass house built by stone throwers

Take, for example, Secretary of State John Kerry’s “pre-targeting” statement on Syria.
Without blushing, he referred to the “indiscriminate slaughter of civilians” as a “moral obscenity.” In an eerie echo of Dick Cheney, he expressed no doubt about claims the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against its own people. Apparently, Assad crossed the much-discussed “red line” in the sand drawn by President Obama. A deadly serious Secretary Kerry intoned with baritone forcefulness, “…there must be accountability for those who would use the world’s most heinous weapons against the world’s most vulnerable people.”
Yet, there is little accountability built into America’s barely-secret drone war against suspected militants in numerous countries. The heinous Hellfire missiles they launch “indiscriminately” kill civilians at an obscenely higher rate than piloted bombing missions. But those are not “technically” WMDs. Drones also purposely double back and kill “vulnerable” first responders after the initial attack. But those deaths are purely “conventional.”
Even though death by conventional weapons versus non-conventional weapons seems more and more like a distinction without a difference, the sad fact is that American hypocrisy runs deep on the issue of non-conventional warfare.


http://my.firedoglake.com/jpsottile/2013/08/28/american-empire-a-glass-house-built-by-stone-throwers/

GUN SHOW LOOPHOLE: Man buys up many assault weapons and they end up in Mexico

Talk of closing the so-called "gun show loophole," like talk of gun control in general, has died down in recent months. Partly, this is the inevitable ebb of the rage that followed Sandy Hook; partly, it's because it seems futile to talk about something Congress has made clear it has no interest in doing. The loophole, meanwhile, which basically allows anyone who's not a licensed firearm dealer to buy or sell guns without a waiting period or background check, remains as gaping as ever.

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/08/feds_a_texas_man_waltzed_throu.php

Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, in tights: Juanita Jean

The Washington Post wonders, “How smart is Ted Cruz?” and comes to the conclusion of … that depends.
The most interesting observation is this one.

Cruz is emblematic of a group of conservative hucksters peddling outrage and paranoia who contend that the strength of the political resistance they generate is equivalent to their own importance, and that one dramatic, losing standoff after another is the pinnacle of political success. Alas, they confuse their own fame with achievement and divisiveness with progress.

http://juanitajean.com/2013/08/28/ted-cruz-and-ted-cruz-are-sitting-in-a-tree-k-i-s-s-i-n-g/

Lawmaker insists on armed teachers accidentally shoots teacher

A Republican state senator from Arkansas who is leading a legislative committee on the subject of giving guns to school teachers accidentally shot a teacher during an "active shooter" drill earlier this year, the local paper of record has uncovered.

http://gawker.com/lawmaker-leading-call-for-arming-teachers-accidentally-1216609648

Bear Mauling survivor: I was complacent

I had a bear trying to break into my garbage yesterday evening.  He worked 10 minutes but did not get the top off but did get his hand into the can.  Bears are big, strong and if they decide to take on a person, the person has little chance.  I yelled at the bear in my garbage and he just looked at me and kept biting my can.

http://www.adn.com/2013/08/26/3044248/bear-mauling-survivor-i-got-complacent.html#emlnl=Morning_Newsletter

Glenn Beck is just crazy!!

Last week Beck delivered a sermonette in which he threatened his staff that they would be fired for purchasing compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). He went even further to forbid the purchase of recyclable spoons, cardboard, or pretty much any product that helps to protect the environment.

Is it ok with Beck for people to think for themselves?  I guess not.  So much for free speech and freedom of thought.

http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=10454

Yosemite Fire burns 134000 acres

I just read that this fire might burn until winter puts it out.

http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/yosemite-fire-burns-134000-acres#sthash.fstWtsQp.dpbs

Greg Palast: Larry Summers and the End Game Memo

hen a little birdie dropped the End Game memo through my window, its content was so explosive, so sick and plain evil, I just couldn’t believe it.
Greg Palast originally for Vice Magazine

The Memo confirmed every conspiracy freak’s fantasy:  that in the late 1990s, the top US Treasury officials secretly conspired with a small cabal of banker big-shots to rip apart financial regulation across the planet.  When you see 26.3% unemployment in Spain, desperation and hunger in Greece, riots in Indonesia and Detroit in bankruptcy, go back to this End Game memo, the genesis of the blood and tears. - See more at: http://www.themudflats.net/archives/39870#sthash.SUfPryvV.dpuf

Greg Palast is always great as an investigative Reporter.

http://www.themudflats.net/archives/39870

Jesus backs 3 Republicans in Texas, according to the Republicans: Juanita Jean

Sweet Jesus is the major endorser for any public office in Texas and since he tends to phone it in, it’s up to voters to believe which candidate is telling the truth about Jesus’ endorsement.
In the race for Texas Attorney General, three Republicans claim the coveted Jesus Endorsement.


uanitajean.com/2013/08/27/using-sweet-jesus-as-your-own-personal-weapon/

Climate Change is making people sick - unhealthy sick.

 climate change is messing with our health:
Look at ports in Los Angeles — there’s a lot of carbon and particulates in the air. And the Central Valley, you get the same thing — you drive over the hill and you’re driving into this blanket of smog. As the temperatures go up, these pollutants get cooked by sunlight, and it creates more smog. I looked at what all this pollution is doing to people physically. I found very high rates of asthma, increased heart disease. These kids’ lungs are stunted by 20 percent — and they don’t get better.


http://grist.org/climate-energy/were-already-sick-of-climate-change-and-getting-sicker/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=update&utm_campaign=socialflow

Republican Political Hacks have and use power over the media

Once upon a time, groups like the League of Women Voters sponsored the debates, and all cameras were welcome to cover them.  But starting in 1988, the Democratic and Republican parties  wrested control of the process.  Since then, the general election debates have had an aura of patriotic respectability, but  in reality they’ve been run by  the same folks who’ve earned an eight percent approval rating for Congress.  The primary debates have become cash cows for the networks, interest groups and faux think tanks.  They’re spectacles that provide free media to candidates, attract eyeballs to sell to advertisers and offer co-branding opportunities to burnish the images of the evenings’ co-sponsors.  The right question isn’t whether NBC’s miniseries would put a finger on the scale.  It’s why the hell a political party should be permitted to use the money that can be milked from the democratic process as a bargaining chip.

http://www.alternet.org/media/jon-stewart-slayed-cnns-hack-filled-political-show-crossfire-and-now-its-coming-back-grave?akid=10851.294211.nWAKwv&rd=1&src=newsletter887898&t=5

The Republican Ayn Rand Coma will continue: Ruining our economy

Over the ensuing years the Republican Party abandoned the middle class and become the party of the wealthy -- the one percent. In the '80s, Republicans fell under the spell of Reaganomics. Conservative economists infused American political discourse with three malignant notions: helping the rich get richer would inevitably help everyone else; markets were inherently self correcting; and, "government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem." Reagan's ideology produced deregulation, tax cuts for the rich and powerful, and monopoly capitalism. It resulted in unprecedented income inequality. The American ethos changed from "we're in this together" ("I am my brother's keeper") to "you are on your own."

http://www.alternet.org/economy/ayn-rand-and-republicans?akid=10851.294211.nWAKwv&rd=1&src=newsletter887898&t=7

The growing blue state advantage

Interesting stuff

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/25/1233201/-The-growing-blue-state-advantage?detail=facebook#

Colin Powell this past Sunday on TV

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday warned fellow Republicans that voting restrictions designed to reduce the turnout of minorities, young people and seniors were "going to backfire" on the party.
Powell told CBS host Bob Schieffer that the Supreme Court's decision to overturn part of the Voting Rights Act had been followed by states "putting in place procedures and new legislation that in some ways makes it a little bit harder to vote, you need a photo ID."
"And they claim there is widespread abuse and voter fraud, but nothing documented, nothing substantiates that," he pointed out. "There isn't widespread abuse. And so these kinds of procedures that are being put in place to slow the process down and make it likely that fewer Hispanics and African-Americans might vote, I think, are going to backfire because these people are going to come out and do what they have to do in order to vote. And I encourage that."


http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/colin-powell-voting-restrictions-are-going-b

Republican Party: Defund Obamacare Disorder explained

In denial of political reality thanks to its Tea Party fringe, the GOP is revving up for a debt ceiling showdown it can only lose.

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/republican-partys-defund-obamacare-disorder?akid=10849.294211.tDsEqM&rd=1&src=newsletter887267&t=23

10 Things I have learned

Short, simple yet interesting.

http://field-negro.blogspot.com/2013/08/ten-things-i-have-learned.html#.UhtegcyjhFs

Former Justice Ginsberg talks about the Activist Roberts Supreme Court

In an interview with the New York Times’ Adam Liptak, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg offered a grim assessment of the Court where she so often finds herself leading a four justice dissent — the Roberts Court is “one of the most activist courts in history.”

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/08/26/2524041/justice-ginsburgs-terrifying-assessment-court/

STAND YOUR GROUND SHOOTING: Innocent Teenager killed by neighbor

If Murphy grants immunity to Scott it would be “be the first time any state in this Union” has granted immunity for killing an innocent bystander in a Stand Your Ground case, 5th Circuit Assistant Solicitor April Sampson told Murphy.
“If this law were to be applied the way (Scott) wants to apply it, he could shoot a 4-year-old playing in her front yard and still be immune from prosecution,” Sampson said.
“If you want to make it the Wild, Wild West .... (to) say you don’t have to act with care when you say you’re scared, that you can shoot someone who is not a threat to you,” Sampson told Murphy.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/08/16/2924473/is-shooting-a-bystander-in-south.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.thestate.com/2013/08/16/2924473/is-shooting-a-bystander-in-south.html

Mass Transit Fails - Historical

Elon Musk's Hyperloop announcement resulted in quite a bit of skepticism. We'd like to think that has less to do with the feasibility of Musk's concept and more to do with the massive mass transit failures of the past.
And there have been some doozies.
A few outlandish projects were so science fiction that they were doomed from the start, while other proposals were possible, but died an ignoble death due to financing or technical difficulties. Regardless, these public transit pipe dreams are cautionary tales for those who dream of a world that's easier to navigate.


http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/08/mass-transit-pipe-dreams/?viewall=true

The Foreclosure Crisis! Bad for Whites but much worse for Blacks.

African Americans had every reason to celebrate Barack Obama's election in 2008. History was made. Then reality set in. Economically speaking, the Obama era has been a five-year nightmare for Black America.
The unemployment rate for blacks now stands at 13.7%, almost twice the rate for all eligible workers. Under other circumstances, 13.7% unemployment would be a national crisis; it would dominate the headlines and the nightly news and the editorial pages; 13.7% unemployment would have any politician in office fearing for his or her career. In Washington, there would be blue-ribbon commissions, congressional hearings, and expert panels. But because we're talking about 13.7% of eligible black workers, there is no outrage. Except for the anger and pain felt within the black community, that jobless rate is a silent scandal.
The wealth of African Americans is in similarly dire straits. Many black families saw their personal wealth, significant amounts of it invested in their homes, evaporate in the economic collapse of 2007-2009, triggered by a housing meltdown in which African Americans were disproportionately targeted for shoddy subprime mortgage loans. As of 2010, the median net wealth of black families was $4,900; of white families, $97,000. A third of black households had zero or negative wealth. Gains made across generations were wiped out like that.


http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175731/tomgram%3A_laura_gottesdiener%2C_the_backyard_shock_doctrine/

George Zimmerman, smiling and checking out new guns to shoot people

George Zimmerman was on the hunt today -- for a shotgun ... TMZ has learned.

Zimmerman went to Kel-Tec in Cocoa, Florida ... a gun manufacturing company.  We're told he was asking questions about the legality of buying a shotgun -- specifically, the Kel-Tec KSG.

The gun in question is a tactical shotgun, often used for home defense.  It holds 12 rounds of 12 gauge shells.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2013/08/22/george-zimmerman-shotgun-kel-tec-trayvon-martin-shop-gun/#ixzz2d0pgZGmc
Visit Fishwrapper: http://www.fishwrapper.com

http://www.tmz.com/2013/08/22/george-zimmerman-shotgun-kel-tec-trayvon-martin-shop-gun/

13 GMO Lies being pushed and the truth

Like bad robots, they’re spitting out the same old, tired lies, designed to scare voters into voting against their own best interests. Here's the truth behind their lies.

Lie: GE crops aren’t harmful to the environment.

Truth: Besides polluting the environment with herbicides and pesticides, GE crops are leading to biodiversity loss and the emergence of “ super bugs” and  “ super weeds" that are threatening millions of acres of farmland, requiring the need for even more dangerous and toxic herbicides.

GE crops, and the toxic pesticides they are designed to withstand, are endangering numerous critical species, including the honey bee, frogs,birds, fish and the Monarch Butterfly. 

And don’t forget our air and water. The island of Molokai in Hawaii has had its air and water quality destroyed by Monsanto’s almost-2000-acre test facility. The same is true worldwide, with many areas around GMO farms reporting horrific bloody skin rashes, an uptick in asthma and toxic pesticides that leach into the groundwater.

http://www.alternet.org/food/13-lies-gmo-labeling-opponents-are-pushing-keep-people-dark?src=newsletter887050

18 everyday products you have been using incorrectly

helpful information

http://www.buzzfeed.com/gabbynoone/18-everyday-products-youve-been-using-wrong

We would be better off if we acted like a society instead of propping up the wealthy few.

A society -- any society --- is defined as a set of mutual benefits and duties embodied most visibly in public institutions: public schools, public libraries, public transportation, public hospitals, public parks, public museums, public recreation, public universities,


Since the late 1970s, almost all the gains from growth have gone to the top. But as the upper-middle class and the rich began shifting to private institutions, they withdrew political support for public ones.
In consequence, their marginal tax rates dropped -- setting off a vicious cycle of diminishing revenues and deteriorating quality, spurring more flight from public institutions.


http://www.alternet.org/economy/public-goods-and-privatization

US Gun Culture is corrupting the world says Australian Politician

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Furious at the killing of an Australian college baseball player in Oklahoma, a senior figure in the victim's home country blamed the “gun culture” of United States for the death, saying it was “corrupting the world."
“The U.S. has chosen the pathway of illogical policy with regard to guns," Australia’s former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer said Friday. "They cannot expect not to have any criticism of it worldwide.”

"Anybody can tomorrow go to a gun show in Oklahoma or California and buy a gun without a simple background check. That is illogical.”
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/23/20131976-us-gun-culture-is-corrupting-the-world-australia-ex-deputy-pm-says-after-okla-slaying?lite

Business: What are the Teabaggers doing to our economy? (It is not what business wanted.)

National Journal's Jill Lawrence has a good piece in which she interviews some of the top officials at these organizations, and finds they are shocked and dismayed by what they have wrought....

... businesses ... don't like brinkmanship on budget and debt issues, or the more routine dysfunction that has stalled transportation and agriculture legislation important to both parties and much of the private sector.

... there is little to no business support for the latest tea-party-driven crusade to block any funding bill that includes money for the health care law, even if it means the government would shut down when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, calls that "not the politically astute thing to do."...

http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2013/08/support-of-crazy-nihilist-teabaggers-by.html

Dismantling the Empire - Interesting Reading

10 Steps Toward Liquidating the Empire
Dismantling the American empire would, of course, involve many steps. Here are ten key places to begin:
1. We need to put a halt to the serious environmental damage done by our bases planet-wide. We also need to stop writing SOFAs that exempt us from any responsibility for cleaning up after ourselves.
2. Liquidating the empire will end the burden of carrying our empire of bases and so of the "opportunity costs" that go with them -- the things we might otherwise do with our talents and resources but can't or won't.
3. As we already know (but often forget), imperialism breeds the use of torture. In the 1960s and 1970s we helped overthrow the elected governments in Brazil and Chile and underwrote regimes of torture that prefigured our own treatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. (See, for instance, A.J. Langguth, Hidden Terrors [Pantheon, 1979], on how the U.S. spread torture methods to Brazil and Uruguay.) Dismantling the empire would potentially mean a real end to the modern American record of using torture abroad.
4. We need to cut the ever-lengthening train of camp followers, dependents, civilian employees of the Department of Defense, and hucksters -- along with their expensive medical facilities, housing requirements, swimming pools, clubs, golf courses, and so forth -- that follow our military enclaves around the world.
5. We need to discredit the myth promoted by the military-industrial complex that our military establishment is valuable to us in terms of jobs, scientific research, and defense. These alleged advantages have long been discredited by serious economic research. Ending empire would make this happen.
6. As a self-respecting democratic nation, we need to stop being the world's largest exporter of arms and munitions and quit educating Third World militaries in the techniques of torture, military coups, and service as proxies for our imperialism. A prime candidate for immediate closure is the so-called School of the Americas, the U.S. Army's infamous military academy at Fort Benning, Georgia, for Latin American military officers. (See Chalmers Johnson, The Sorrows of Empire [Metropolitan Books, 2004], pp. 136-40.)
7. Given the growing constraints on the federal budget, we should abolish the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and other long-standing programs that promote militarism in our schools.
8. We need to restore discipline and accountability in our armed forces by radically scaling back our reliance on civilian contractors, private military companies, and agents working for the military outside the chain of command and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. (See Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater:The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army [Nation Books, 2007]). Ending empire would make this possible.
9. We need to reduce, not increase, the size of our standing army and deal much more effectively with the wounds our soldiers receive and combat stress they undergo.
10. To repeat the main message of this essay, we must give up our inappropriate reliance on military force as the chief means of attempting to achieve foreign policy objectives.
Unfortunately, few empires of the past voluntarily gave up their dominions in order to remain independent, self-governing polities. The two most important recent examples are the British and Soviet empires. If we do not learn from their examples, our decline and fall is foreordained.
Chalmers Johnson was the author of Blowback (2000), The Sorrows of Empire (2004), and Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (2006), and editor of Okinawa: Cold War Island (1999).  His final book was Dismantling the Empire: America's Last Best Hope (2010).

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175739/best_of_tomdispatch%3A_chalmers_johnson%2C_dismantling_the_empire/

Neo-Nazi is buying up property in North Dakota to set up a compound.

While the economy in North Dakota has boomed in recent years due to the discovery of oil in the miles of shale beneath the state, business in Leith has been in decline for the better part of a century. So when officials in April 2012 noticed that one man was quickly buying up abandoned properties in what had become close to a ghost town high on the Great Plains, it was strange. 

“I didn’t have a clue who the guy was until he showed up. All I know is he bought that house sight unseen, $5,000 cash, and had no idea what it looked like, where it was, other than he knew the directions to get to Leith,” Leith Mayor Ryan Schock, a farmer who has lived here all his life, told Hatewatch. 

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2013/08/neo-nazi-starts-buying-up-property-in.html

Juanita Jean introduces us to TED CRUZ

He likes paisley bath robes and is happy to show it to the gals.  Dang!!  Sounds Presidential to me.

http://juanitajean.com/2013/08/24/hello-ladies/

25 Black Folks were told to leave a Restaurant because a White person felt Threatened! Ridiculous.

This and the STAND YOUR GROUND Law are similar in my mind.  A white person can say, I am afraid of that Black Person! and the black person can be shot or told to leave the restaurant.  What a load of crap.  This is blatant discrimination as was the shooting of Treyvon Martin.  Wild Wing Cafe in north Charleston, South Carolina was the place of blatant racism.

http://progressivepopulist.org/2013/08/23/blacks-asked-to-leave-south-carolina-restaurant-because-white-customer-felt-threatened-video/

Update: Surgery went fine

My Nephew Mike 15 years ago had a blocked intestine and had emergency surgery during a Christmas Vacation.  They cut out a  section, sewed him together and he did fine.

Last week, the same thing happened.  The operated and looked fine.  The repair started leaking and they had to go back in.  Later in the week, they had to go in a 3rd time.  Today was the fourth operation.  He has not eaten in a week and each day he has been noticably weaker.

The operation went well and I have been told that his death is not near.  That is very relieving to me.

Have a good day.  You are alive, do something to make your day better.

A bit bummed! Week was good though.

Today will be a long day.  I have a nephew who is going through his 4th surgery on repairing leakage on his intestine this week.  He is getting weaker with each passing day.  It does not sound good.

This week was my first week back at school and teaching.  It was an amazing week, my students from last year made so much progress.   I am so glad that I came back to see the gains made by my students.

I have one student who had not been in a regular class before last year.  I was able to get him into a class for an hour a day by the end of last year.  We had many issues to get him settled down.  For the class field trip last year, it was a ferry trip to Sitka.  We debated whether to send him but we did with a para and his Grandmother went as well.  He made the whole trip and learned a lot about SE Alaska, his classmates and about himself too.  This year, that same student spent the entire week in a regular ed class and did the work of the regular ed students.  It is very rare to see that type of transition take place. I screwed up on his paperwork last spring and he started school without a bus picking him up.  I called about transportation and was told I did not put transportation on his IEP.   That meant I had to take him home in my car, which I did.  It turned out great because I was able to tell his mom and stepdad about the first day of being in the class all day and doing regular ed work.  they were elated as was I.

If I have to leave here to deal with situations I actually can this year because my year is starting off so well.  Last year, I was unable to visit my dying sister or attend her funeral because my year was so crazy at the start.  This year is like a regular year and it is starting off in such a reasonable way that I am pleased and amazed.

I am hoping that my nephew makes it through this surgery and I will be able to see him and help him recuperate in a couple of weeks.  I am hoping beyond all hope that I do not have to attend a funeral instead.

If we are born, we will die - that is life.  Live your life so that at the end you are satisfied with the choices you made.  I know Mike lived a very satisfied life.  We have been planning a winter trip to the desert to camp out and explore.  I am hoping we will make that trip this winter.  I will also add that I have shed tears about this one.  He is almost like my son (I have a couple of others in this area as well.)
so I spent last night regretting I did not fly out this past Tuesday or Wednesday to spend time with him. I will also add that it was impossible to have flown out because of my job and the need for me to be around the first week.  I had some critical things happen with kids and family this past week which needed my attention or they would have created problems for the entire year.  The surgery went well and he should be ok.I am very reiieved.

A pop bottle is used to light up houses in 3rd world countries

This is an amazing video.

http://www.upworthy.com/when-he-shows-how-much-light-he-can-produce-from-a-plastic-bottle-yeah-i-didnt-believe-it-either-2?c=cp2

Polarization is caused by Caustic Talk Shows like FOX and Rush

Research published in the September issue of Political Research Quarterly has found pundits on political opinion shows influence attitudes toward presidential candidates — and in a way that is entirely negative.
“An increasing number of Americans engage in selective exposure to ideologically consistent news sources. This fact has caused some scholars and pundits to worry that partisan news sources such as Fox News are making their audiences more polarized,” Glen Smith of the University of North Georgia and Kathleen Searles of Augusta State University wrote in their study.
The researchers found Fox News viewers became more favorable of McCain and less favorable of Obama over the course of the 2008 presidential election. Both Fox’s news programs and opinion shows made viewers more favorable of McCain and less favorable of Obama, but the effect was stronger for those who watched the opinion shows. The study also found MSNBC’s opinion shows had the converse effect, viewers became more favorable of Obama and less favorable of McCain.


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/22/vitriolic-coverage-study-examines-why-fox-news-viewers-hate-obama/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

US Citizens far unhealthier than most people in other developed countries! Why is a surprise.

“Even if we are rich, college-educated, white-skinned, and practice all the right health behaviors,” he notes, “similar people in other rich nations will live longer.”

To really understand America’s poor health standing globally, epidemiologists like Bezruchka posit, we need to look at those social and economic realities that define our daily lives, what scientists call “the social determinants of health.”
And none of these determinants matter more, these researchers contend, than economic inequality, the divide between the affluent and everyone else.  Over 170 studies worldwide have so far linked income inequality to health outcomes. The more unequal a modern society, the studies show, the more unhealthy most everyone in it — and not the poor alone.

http://www.alternet.org/surprising-reason-americans-are-far-less-healthy-others-developed-nations?page=0%2C1&akid=10840.294211.cVRsfR&rd=1&src=newsletter886340&t=7

5 Absurd Gripes from the Religious Right

Painting themselves as victims creates cover to actually victimize other people, usually by imposing their fanatical religious views.

http://www.alternet.org/belief/5-most-absurd-self-pitying-gripes-christian-right?page=0%2C0&akid=10840.294211.cVRsfR&rd=1&src=newsletter886340&t=9

Assault Weapon in a school and NOBODY IS KILLED? The Hero used words to disarm.

When 20-year-old Michael Brandon Hill entered a Georgia elementary school yesterday, he was prepared to die and take others down with him. He wasn’t prepared, however, for school clerk Antoinette Tuff, who talked him out of the whole thing. Upon seeing the gunman sneak past security, Tuff immediately engaged him in  an hour-long conversation that, by its conclusion, ended with discarded weapons, safely evacuated children, and a nonviolent arrest of the would-be shooter.  

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/unarmed-woman-prevents-school-shooting-words-not-bullets?akid=10840.294211.cVRsfR&rd=1&src=newsletter886340&t=15

Juanita Jean: Texas Republican David Dewhurst insists his relative be let out of jail.

Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst called the Allen police department to get the woman out of jail, saying such delightfully loaded things such as, “Sergeant, you don’t know me, but every year I’m the No. 1 pick of all the law enforcement agencies in Texas. I’m the No. 1 pick, and I want you to do whatever is the proper thing,”

Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst personally called police and asked to talk to the highest-ranking officer about getting a relative out of jail, Allen police said.

http://juanitajean.com/2013/08/22/oh-dewhurst-next-time-just-take-out-an-ad-in-the-new-york-times/

Lighting strikes worker at creationist museum! Is God trying to tell us something?

WLWT:    

A staff member was injured Wednesday while clearing guests from a zip line at the Creation Museum. Staffers had cleared the lines before 1:20 p.m. as storms moved into Boone County. 

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2013/08/lightning-strikes-worker-at-creationist.html

Junk Food Companies advice: Exercise More - irony

Exercise is a great idea, but it’s not diet advice. Yet this is a frequent tactic of many of the corporations that rake in profits by selling us junk.
Take Coca-Cola’s shameless  new fitness campaign. “Are you sitting on a solution?” asks a photo on the company’s website, depicting two people cuddled up, sitting on a beach. The thing is, they’re drinking the problem: Coca-Cola.


http://www.alternet.org/food/companies-profit-unhealthy-food-say-keep-eating-junk-just-exercise-more?akid=10838.294211.-tUt25&rd=1&src=newsletter885835&t=13

Shot and killed in the USA: Australian baseball player: We were bored so we wanted to kill someone.

The senselessness of this murder has stunned and outraged Australians, and former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer, who led Australia's gun control reforms alongside former prime minister John Howard in 1996, has called on Australians to boycott the United States. "Tourists thinking of going to the USA should think twice," Mr Fischer said. "This is the bitter harvest and legacy of the policies of the NRA that even blocked background checks for people buying guns at gunshows. I am deeply angry about this because of the callous attitude of the three teenagers - it's a sign of the proliferation of guns on the ground in the USA. There is a gun for almost every American."
Mr Fischer has suggested that Australians turning their backs on America would send a stern message about the need for tighter gun control, and help build pressure on the US Congress to finally act.


http://crooksandliars.com/nonny-mouse/we-were-bored-so-we-decided-kill-someb

Republican Drunk Driving: Gay Marriage caused the drunk driving! Juanita Jean

Congressdrunk Don Dwyer, a Republican from Maryland has a bit of a oopsy problem.  He drinks.  A little while back he pled guilty to operating a boat while drunk. And not operating it very well because he crashed it and injured seven people.  The boat was named “The Legislator,” so we should have expected nothing less than a crashing and injuring event.
October 25th is his court hearing on the drunk while boating.  but then there was the drunk driving - the story goes on.


http://juanitajean.com/2013/08/21/gay-marriage-leads-to-drunk-driving/

Trevon Martin Ad: Anti Stand Your Ground Ad

It is scary but I feel it is needed.  We have scary laws which need to be shown for what the laws cause.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUKzDANF6QU

Shooting in school: Georgia, 20 year old shoots assault weapon

DECATUR, Ga. — A man with an assault rifle and other weapons exchanged gunfire with officers Tuesday at an Atlanta-area elementary school before surrendering, a police chief said, with dramatic overhead television footage capturing the young students racing out of the building, being escorted by teachers and police to safety. No one was injured.

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/08/20/3033746/official-suspect-in-custody-at.html#emlnl=Afternoon_Newsletter#storylink=cpy

http://www.adn.com/2013/08/20/3033746/official-suspect-in-custody-at.html#emlnl=Afternoon_Newsletter

Texas: Police raid organic farm, find no drugs

What I find ironic is that Monsanto is protected legally from prosecution while producing crops which are making people sick but Organic Farmers are having the police scrutinize their every move and product.

Using a bogus claim of "marijuana growing", thugs from the Arlington, Texas police department under the direction of the mayor's office raided and trashed a small farmstead destroying food crops including 20 producing blackberry bushes and a field of sunflowers and carted away essential farm equipment.

Did they find any evidence of marihuana growing?

No they did not.

But they did find "code violations" and while conducting the search and destroy raid, police kept eight adults in handcuffs, one reportedly for several hours. - See more at: http://www.therealfoodchannel.com/videos/farming-1/police-raid-and-trash-farmstead.html#sthash.v3I7DLPJ.dpuf

They were looking for drugs and code violations.  8 people were handcuffed for hours.

http://www.therealfoodchannel.com/videos/farming-1/police-raid-and-trash-farmstead.html

10 simple things which increase happiness

Science has proven these things will make you happier.

http://blog.bufferapp.com/10-scientifically-proven-ways-to-make-yourself-happier

Americas 50 worst charities.

Tampa Bay Times compiled a list of the Top 50 worst charities. I am listing the top 10 here. Many names of the worst charities are very similar to legitimate charities. For instance, the number one worst charity, Kids Wish Network, sounds much too similar to, Make A Wish Foundation a legitimate respected organization, where donations go to helping very sick children see one of their dreams come true. With the Kids Wish Network, only 2.5% the $127.8 million they raised, went to direct cash aid. So where did the other millions go? $109 million of it went to paying solicitors to raise the money.


Here are some reputable charity online navigators: (Check out a charity you have concerns about here)
Charity Navigator
CharityWatch
GiveWell


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/20/1216963/-America-s-50-Worst-Charities?detail=facebook

IRS Noise: Republican Darrell Issa lied - The full report shows it.

The unredacted IRS treasury report was released today and it turns out we’ve all been lied to in a huge way. Progressive groups were singled out for scrutiny just like conservative groups. But worse than that, the IRS Inspector General misled Congress about this fact during testimony and in letters, and the progressive terms were “redacted” in the original report.

http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/20/definitive-proof-republicans-irs-lied-congress-public-irs-scandal.html

Son and Father Die from Assault Weapon firing causing lots of ammo to explode, killing them

Dad was showing the gun to visitors and it went off - Where was the good guy with the gun?
Officials in Tennessee say that a father and his 12-year-old son died over the weekend after an AR-15 assault-style rifle accidentally discharged, causing a fire and then a series of explosions in a room full of ammunition.
WBBJ-TV reported on Monday that Tennessee State Bomb and Arson Investigators, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Henderson County Sheriff's Department were all looking into the Sunday deaths 48-year-old Terry York and his son, Luke.


http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/tennessee-father-and-son-dead-after-ar-15-go

John Galt lives in Texas - Maddow

Texas has become a John Galt paradise, thanks to Rick Perry and his merry gang of teabaggers. Texas may be representative of that utopian state where government is small and budgets smaller, but there's a problem with their roads.
Texas Tribune:

The sharp increase in heavy traffic from a historic oil boom has damaged many farm-to-market roads in South and East Texas. The damage related to energy development has become so extensive that state and local authorities lack the funding to make all the repairs. Last month, the Texas Department of Transportation announced plans to convert more than 80 miles of paved roads to gravel.

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/john-galt-lives-texas

Gov. Chris Christie: Empathy Scandal forces him out of GOP

Andy Borowitz

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/08/christie-forced-out-of-gop-race-by-empathy-scandal.html?mbid=nl_Borowitz%20%28159%29

Taxpayer paid brainwashing happening in 34 states. Interesting article.

I guess religious freedom requires taxpayers to fund lies now:

Well over half of the states in the country are directly funding “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs), right-wing groups that pose as nonpartisan health clinics while advocating for an anti-abortion agenda. According to NARAL Pro-Choice America, 34 states currently have policies that funnel money toward CPCs.

when women visit those centers, they encounter misinformation about the abortion procedure — typically, false information about abortion’s link to breast cancer and depression. The staff at Virginia’s CPCs was also documented employing emotional manipulation, like writing “Hi, Dad” on the image of an ultrasound before handing it back to a patient.


http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/08/taxpayer-paid-brainwashing-in-34-states.html

Four year old shoots himself in the head

NRA says:  "Guns Don't Kill People"  4 year olds do?  Where was the Good Guy with a gun to shoot the gun out of the 4 year olds hand?  (I think the gun was probably more at fault than the little boy.)

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2013/08/four-year-old-shoots-himself-in-head.html

Underfunding Philiadelphia Schools - destroying them.

You don't want to miss today's Salon article about Tom Corbett's systematic dismantling of the Philadelphia Public School system.

Want to see a public school system in its death throes? Look no further than Philadelphia. There, the school district is facing end times, with teachers, parents and students staring into the abyss created by a state intent on destroying public education.

Philadelphia and Detroit are the victims of a manufactured crisis, created in order to serve billionaires' desires to privatize and profitize public education. As the author points out in this article, public education is a constitutionally guaranteed right that Corbett is intentionally removing from those without resources to fight back.


http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/philly-public-schools-blueprint-destruction

Bernie Sanders humiliates Climate Change deniers

This is great!!  Bernie is the best.

http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/senator-bernie-sanders-humiliates-clim#sthash.EyuAYBUT.dpbs

2012 A year of broken climate records

2012 was the eighth or ninth warmest year on record, depending on which dataset you look at, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's annual State of the Climate report, released today. That is just one of many extreme statistics identified in the survey, which pulls together the most recent information from hundreds of researchers worldwide on everything from temperature to sea level to Arctic ice. Taken together, the report's authors say, the data paint an unmistakable picture of a warming planet.

Carbon emissions for the year were also their highest ever:

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/08/2012-8th-warmest-year-climate

Cities with 10 highest Flood Costs by 2050

As climate change intensifies, one of the most surefire threats we're bound to face is increased flooding of coastal cities brought on by sea level rise. Taxpayers worldwide will be faced with more whopping bills—like the estimated $60 billion cost of Superstorm Sandy—to clean up damage in the wake of these events. But just how much money are we talking about here? According to a study out today in Nature, it's a freakishly large number: A dangerous combination of rising seas, sinking land, and growing coastal development could push global flood damages to well over $1 trillion every year by 2050.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/08/map-top-cities-billion-dollar-floods

Rand Paul - Take a deep breath before talking race.

Well spoken comments for Rand Paul, Republican.

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/08/17/rand-paul-take-a-deep-breath-before-talking-race-again/

Climate Change is manmade! A new report coming soon.

Drafts seen by Reuters of the study by the UN panel of experts, due to be published next month, say it is at least 95 percent likely that human activities – chiefly the burning of fossil fuels – are the main cause of warming since the 1950s.
That is up from at least 90 percent in the last report in 2007, 66 percent in 2001, and just over 50 in 1995, steadily squeezing out the arguments by a small minority of scientists that natural variations in the climate might be to blame.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/18/2484711/ipcc-report-more-certain-global-warming-is-caused-by-humans-impacts-speeding-up/

Ancient Buildings that will amaze you

These ancient buildings were far beyond their times, it is truly amazing the brilliance of the people who built these.

http://www.cracked.com/article_20206_5-shockingly-advanced-ancient-buildings-that-shouldnt-exist.html/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=new+article&wa_ibsrc=fanpage

Deep Space

Videos from when the Hubble Telescope was pointed into a totally blank and presumed empty part of space.

http://www.upworthy.com/its-ok-to-not-understand-these-pictures-our-brains-werent-built-to-handle-them-2?g=2&c=ufb1

Neil deGrasse Tyson, "I think for mysellf" Very Good

Neil deGrasse Tyson is a great thinker, educator and scientist.  I just like his ideas and like the way he can get people to think rationally and reason out that which is our world.

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2013/08/i-think-for-myself.html

The US allows untested products to be sold and people die.

The United States allows corporations to send whatever products they want into the marketplace, regardless of how dangerous those products are.  The theory is that once people notice how deadly something is, they will stop buying it and the "free-market" will magically correct itself.

Nations that use the regulated European way, however, force manufacturers to prove that products are safe to use before they’re available for purchase. This is called the “precautionary principle” and it requires manufacturers to prove to government, and thus to society, us that the new product is safe before it’s let it in the marketplace.

Scientists and health  experts knew as far back as one hundred years ago that asbestos caused a god-awful form of lung cancer called mesothelioma, but because America doesn’t use the precautionary principle, toxic asbestos was used in homes, workplaces, and even schools, well into the 1970s.

Now we have GMOs.  Will Genetically Modified Organisms be the next cause of death after 20 of 30 years of using US citizens as guinea pigs?

http://www.alternet.org/environment/libertarian-style-capitalism-killed-my-best-friends?page=0%2C0&akid=10819.294211.6rzYYF&rd=1&src=newsletter884025&t=3

Obamacare Quiz: How much do you know about the Affordable Care Act? Kaiser

I got 9 out of 10 correct.  This plan makes total sense to me.

Aside from the obvious problems with the notion that elected officials should govern by public opinion polls, opposition to the Affordable Care Act isn't as overwhelming as it may seem. Roughly half of Americans in a recent CNN poll favored repeal, and this number included people who opposed the bill because it doesn't go far enough.  

Which leaves 40-45% who think the bill goes too far. When one drills down into the Kaiser quiz, it becomes obvious just how much of this opposition is built on a Great Wall of Lies, a translation of surreal right-wing talking points into hardened - and laughably inaccurate - opinions.

http://kff.org/quiz/health-reform-quiz/

ALEC: A Democrat goes to the ALEC conference and reports back.

Buying up legislators and policies in states and nationally by Big Corporations is real and dangerous.  This lady did a good thing for going to this conference and reporting back about what she saw.

http://billmoyers.com/2013/08/15/a-dem-adrift-in-alec-land/

Republican Voter Suppression - A good discussion

We should not be trying to fix a problem which was never a real problem.  The Republicans are simply trying to stop people from voting.  (It is interesting that the people who are denied the vote will generally vote for Democrats.)  I also find it interesting that the cases of voter fraud which have actually been proven are Republicans voting multiple times or actively working to suppress Democrats from Registering or registering Democrats as Republicans which they did not want.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/hardballs-smerconish-calls-bs-former-gingr

Poor Republican: People call bullsh*t on a Florida Congressman re: Repealing Obamacare.

I think the Republicans are going to find out that 40 votes to repeal Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) will bite them in the butt with future elections.  People need and want health care for themselves and their families.

http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/crowd-calls-bull-sht-gop-congressmans-#sthash.8eBtnR2h.dpbs

Take the Monsanto Challenge - Interesting

Very Interesting Challenge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PULwrUq_irA#at=94

A Republican Woman laments her party's descending into madness

The Republican WAR ON WOMEN continues and this Republican woman realizes that it is hurting the Republican Party.

http://mariopiperni.com/republican-madness/a-republican-laments-on-her-partys-decline-into-madness.php

2011 Tsumani in Japan - Stunning Video

The last 10 minutes shows the Fukishima Nuclear Power Plant exploding and burning.

http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/stunning-new-footage-japans-2011-tsuna#sthash.Kr3n2x0X.dpbs

Rep Stockman of Texas invites Missouri Rodeo Clown to perform in his state

Rep Stockman defending the actions of the rodeo clown is just wrong.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/wingnut-rep-stockman-invites-obama-rodeo-c

Alaska: A little video of Alaska

I am back in Alaska.  Here is a little video that shows Alaska and its beauty.

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2013/08/for-those-who-expressed-jealousy-over.html

Back to Alaska/ summer is over

I am at SeaTac and will be loading onto the plane for Alaska in an hour.  This summer shot by.  The last two weeks were particularly hectic.  I did a lot of scrambling to get things (unplanned) done which needed to be done.  I got a lot of work on the house done and feel it is ready for winter.

What a relaxed but busy at times.   I feel very fortunate to be able to roam around for a couple of months during the summer.  I have set my alarm for tomorrow so summer is officially over.

Gun Safety class: Student gets shot by instructor

Oh the irony. An Ohio man was shot in the arm. At a gun safety class.
Michael Piemonte was attending a concealed-carry class with his wife Alison in central Ohio's Fairfield County over the weekend. Such classes are required for anyone wanting carry a concealed weapon in the state.
There were 29 students in the lecture-type class, Piemonte said. He was sitting in the front row.
While the instructor was demonstrating a self-defense techniques, the gun went off.

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/gun-safety-instruction-shoots-student

WARNING!! IF YOU TAKE PICTURES WITH YOUR SMART PHONE! Change the settings - NOW!

Presently, if you take a picture and post it online - ANYONE CAN SEE PRECISELY WHERE THE PICTURE WAS TAKEN AND WHEN.  You can go into settings, privacy and location and switch off the camera location feature on the IPhone.  Please do it now.

This video explains it well.  It is quite scary.  I have grandkids and to think any crazy person can see exactly where a photo is taken is scary.

GET THE MESSAGE OUT TO ALL THAT YOU KNOW.

http://kyeos.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/warning-if-you-take-photos-with-your-cell-phone/

This Rodeo Clown should be banned for life

The Missouri State Fair has banned a rodeo clown who this past weekend donned a President Obama mask, and asked a crowd if they wanted to see "Obama run down by a bull."
Officials said the clown will never perform at the fair again, the Associated Press reported.
Organizers are also reviewing whether to take any actions against the contractor responsible for Saturday's rodeo.
There has been bipartisan criticism of the gag


http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/what-does-it-take-rodeo-clown-get-banned-m

Jon Stewart on Rand Paul

Jon Stewart is so very good.  Rand Paul is just nutty.

http://www.salon.com/2013/04/12/must_see_morning_clip_jon_stewart_eviscerates_rand_pauls_speech/

Soot and BlacK Carbon and the impact on Global Warming

Reducing soot reduces Global Warming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBzmfPZ5Pxo

Dr. Gupta is now FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA!! A positive change.

Dr. Gupta found no one has died from marijuana and people die many times during the day from big Pharma pain pills.  Medical Marijuana also relieves pain and upset better than a lot of the medicines which hurt people.

Only 6% of the US studies on medical marijuana look at its benefits.

The other 94% look at its potential harm.

The reality: Big Pharma painkillers kill thousands every year and disable many thousands more. Marijuana has never killed anyone through overdose.

The US has made it impossible for serious study of this 4,000+ old medicinal plant.

Who is studying medical marijuana? Small countries that are outside of the US orbit.

Note: Smoked marijuana is not good for you. Cooking it destroys most of the benefits. The right way to consume it is in the form or raw juice or extract, the way it was prescribed in the US for 200 years before the insane ban. - See more at: http://www.therealfoodchannel.com/videos/the-medical-industrial-complex/i-was-wrong-about-marijuana.html#sthash.qAx4HjjE.dpuf

Only 6% of the US studies on medical marijuana look at its benefits.

The other 94% look at its potential harm.

The reality: Big Pharma painkillers kill thousands every year and disable many thousands more. Marijuana has never killed anyone through overdose.

The US has made it impossible for serious study of this 4,000+ old medicinal plant.

Who is studying medical marijuana? Small countries that are outside of the US orbit.

Note: Smoked marijuana is not good for you. Cooking it destroys most of the benefits. The right way to consume it is in the form or raw juice or extract, the way it was prescribed in the US for 200 years before the insane ban. - See more at: http://www.therealfoodchannel.com/videos/the-medical-industrial-complex/i-was-wrong-about-marijuana.html#sthash.qAx4HjjE.dpuf

http://www.therealfoodchannel.com/videos/the-medical-industrial-complex/i-was-wrong-about-marijuana.html

NO WATER! Texas is drying up and Fracking is taking the water

Three years of drought, decades of overuse and now the oil industry's outsize demands on water for fracking are running down reservoirs and underground aquifers. And climate change is making things worse.
In Texas alone, about 30 communities could run out of water by the end of the year, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Nearly 15 million people are living under some form of water rationing, barred from freely sprinkling their lawns or refilling their swimming pools. In Barnhart's case, the well appears to have run dry because the water was being extracted for shale gas fracking.

http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/texas-fracking-leaves-bone-dry-farms-d

Northern Alaska has night again! The midnight sun is gone.

August 2 was when night started to return to Northern Alaska.

http://www.logbookwasilla.com/logbookwasilla/2013/8/12/the-midnight-sun-is-gone.html

5 Reasons Congress should be ashamed about JOBS, JOBS, JOBS and their stopping job development.

How can we explain the job-defeating behavior of congressional Republicans? I suggested earlier that they're either ignorant of middle-class life or victims of free-market delusion. Perhaps it's more insidious.  Thom Hartmann reports on a dinner meeting the night of Jan. 20, 2009, when "Republican conspirators vowed to bring Congress to a standstill, regardless of how badly congressional inaction would hurt the already hurting American economy and people." In short, they don't want President Obama to look good. If that's true, it goes beyond shame. It's a disgrace.

http://www.alternet.org/hard-times-usa/5-reasons-congress-should-be-deeply-ashamed-about-jobs?akid=10788.294211.LLo9yL&rd=1&src=newsletter881277&t=13

Man Shoots Child and then himself at YMCA during a visitation

Authorities in New Hampshire were investigating on Sunday after a man reportedly gunned down an 8-year-old boy in a Manchester YWCA before turning the gun on himself.
According to WMUR, the Manchester Police Department and emergency crews responded at around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday morning to reports that shots had been fired inside the YWCA located in downtown Manchester.
Video captured by the station showed officers and SWAT team members entering the building with their guns drawn.


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/11/man-fatally-shoots-child-and-then-himself-inside-manchester-ywca/

Norm Ornstein accuses Republicans of blackmail President Obama

But to do everything possible to undercut and destroy its implementation—which in this case means finding ways to deny coverage to many who lack any health insurance; to keep millions who might be able to get better and cheaper coverage in the dark about their new options; to create disruption for the health providers who are trying to implement the law, including insurers, hospitals, and physicians; to threaten the even greater disruption via a government shutdown or breach of the debt limit in order to blackmail the president into abandoning the law; and to hope to benefit politically from all the resulting turmoil—is simply unacceptable, even contemptible.”
For Republicans to make as their sole goal the destruction of American law is notable in and of itself. Instead of coming up with an alternative, Republicans are all about destruction. They’ve become the party of lawless, nihilist activists– and we’re talking party leaders here, not a few Bachmann crazies.

http://www.politicususa.com/2013/07/25/norm-ornstein-accuses-republicans-blackmail-obama.html

GOP Hispanic Strategist smacks down Republican Steve King of Iowa about Immigration reform.

Hispanic Republican strategist Ana Navarro blasted Rep. Steve King (R-IA) on Sunday and suggested that he might want to "get some therapy for his melon fixation" after the congressman said that many undocumented immigrants had "calves the size of cantaloupes" because they were drug runners.
During a panel segment on Meet the Press, NBC's David Gregory told King that his assertion that many immigrations had "calves the size of cantaloupes because they’ve been hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert" had been debunked.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/hispanic-gop-strategist-smacks-down-steve-ki

DANGERS OF FRACKING - Suppressed by Big Business and Government!

“Rather than taking responsible steps to address community concerns about the inherent risks of fracking,” says DeMelle, “the industry is taking an adversarial approach, treating concerned citizens as an ‘insurgency’ and using military warfare tactics and personnel to intimidate U.S. citizens in their own backyards.
“It’s unethical, despicable behavior, and Congress should investigate whether the oil industry is in violation of federal law,” he added in a statement given to IPS.
Other cases of the industry suppressing government studies of fracking effects include one which took place in a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas. There, an emergency order was issued by the EPA after a man complained of his water supply bubbling, only to be rescinded a year later after the oil company involved threatened the agency.
In the end, no government action was taken, and the man who complained was left to pay a thousand dollars per month to have access to clean water.


http://www.nationofchange.org/energy-industry-accused-suppressing-fracking-dangers-1376234635

WinCo: Lower Prices and better wages than WalMart! Shop WinCo

WinCo, a small, employee-owned grocery store chain based in Boise, Idaho, is able to beat Walmart’s prices on goods while providing its employees with good benefits.

http://www.nationofchange.org/company-lower-prices-and-better-benefits-walmart-1376229055

Unregulated Capitalism is harming the health of RICH AND POOR

Of Course, the Poor have worse problems but the Rich have a lot of Mercury in their bodies so the wealthy are not totally immune by shopping at Whole Foods.


The bottom line here is that toxins hurt everyone, rich or poor. While poorer Americans may be at a higher risk of dying from cadmium – caused heart disease, rich Americans have to worry about the salmon they have for Sunday dinner.
The gig is up.
The unregulated, earth-destroying capitalism that keeps the one-percent on top is killing everyone, whether they live on the Upper East Side or in the Mississippi Delta.
The fact is that we’re all – rich and poor – being poisoned by deregulated capitalism.



http://www.nationofchange.org/we-re-all-being-poisoned-deregulated-capitalism-1376234335

4 Guys row across the ocean

I just found this story to be interesting.  It really happened.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/magazine/what-happens-when-four-guys-try-to-cross-the-atlantic-in-a-rowboat/

Voter Fraud: Republican goes to jail

With the Republicans pushing ACORN and insisting on ID's to stop voter fraud, it is ironic that A REPUBLICAN GETS ARRESTED AND CONVICTED for election fraud.  He was messing with 200 votes, which is way more than ACORN or illegal votes in all these United States.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10186

Texas GOP moving fast to protect political power of White Conservatives

After the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, Republican majorities and politicians in many Southern states quickly went to work to revive segregationist  Jim Crow voting laws.

And then there’s Texas, where Republican Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Gregg Abbott, is leading the most brazenly racist  effort of all.

But his latest legal filing asserts the Texas GOP’s rights to keep their state as a bastion of white Republican power.

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/how-texas-gop-moving-swiftly-protect-political-power-white-conservatives?src=newsletter880905

Privatization and the pain and suffering it has caused

Some of America's leading news analysts are beginning to recognize the fallacy of the "free market." Said  Ted Koppel, "We are privatizing ourselves into one disaster after another."  Fareed Zakaria admitted, "I am a big fan of the free market...But precisely because it is so powerful, in places where it doesn't work well, it can cause huge distortions." They're right.


http://www.alternet.org/hard-times-usa/8-ways-privatization-has-brought-pain-and-misery-american-life?akid=10763.265957.ewwkdz&rd=1&src=newsletter878187&t=5

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster just keeps getting worse. (Japan)

Just when it seemed things might be under control at Fukushima, we find they are worse than ever.  Immeasurably worse.
Massive quantities of radioactive liquids are now flowing through the shattered reactor site into the Pacific Ocean.  And their make-up is far more lethal than the “mere” tritium that has dominated the headlines to date.


Reports now indicate the outflow at Fukushima also includes substantial quantities of radioactive iodine, cesium and strontium.  That, in turn, indicates there is probably more we haven’t yet heard about.
This is very bad news.



http://my.firedoglake.com/solartopia/2013/08/09/the-disaster-at-fukushima-gets-even-worse/

Texas Women are being abused by Politicians and Police.

According to a bill supported by Rick Perry, before a woman may have an abortion she must endure having the ultrasound probe inserted into her vagina, listen to the fetal heartbeat, watch the fetus on the ultrasound machine, listen to the doctor identify the body parts, sign a document saying that she understands all of the things presented to her, have the form become part of her permanent medical file, and then wait 24 hours for the abortion procedure. I have been married 29 years, had three children, but never had an abortion. Once I had a trans-vaginal sonogram to assist in the diagnosis of a medical problem. It was invasive, uncomfortable and humiliating to have such a device inserted into my body. To require such a procedure for a woman seeking an abortion is punitive and harassing. Even if the goal was to ensure the woman knew what the fetus looked like, an abdominal sonogram would accomplish the same goal, without the personal embarrassment of humiliation of vaginal penetration.

There is so much more in Texas which is meant to punish women for being women.
1. Body Cavity Searches on women is now normal by police.

http://malialitman.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/texas-women-raped-by-law-enforcement-officers/

FUN WITH GUNS - Groin edition - Juanita Jean

It happened in Norfolk, VA (not Texas).  I wonder if he went to Starbucks yesterday to show off his big gun?

http://juanitajean.com/2013/08/09/fun-with-guns-groin-edition/

Seniors (FINALLY) turning against the Republican Party!

With the Republicans wanting Chained CPI, cuts in Social Security and Medicare, Seniors are now moving away from the Republicans.  The Truth is waking up our seniors, they were taken advantage of by the Republicans for too long.

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2013/08/it-finally-happened-seniors-are.html

ALEC being sued for Tax Fraud - FINALLY

Lisa Graves: ALEC is running a secretive, multi-million dollar slush fund for state lawmakers, looking to influence legislation on 'right-to-work', 'stand your ground' laws, and voter ID laws

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj67UZw4NdI

Tom Harkin - RAISE SOCIAL SECURITY - Don't Cut it with CPI

Chained CPI will make Social Security Checks Smaller each year.  Tom Harkin is proposing Social Security be raised and this is a story of a woman on Social Security and what the cut will mean to her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doOUi020Pak

CLIMATE CHANGE: 16 Changes we can look forward to with Climate Change

When people talk about “climate impacts,” the images that usually come to mind are broiling heat waves, drought-parched creek beds, dangerous storm surges, the slowly-but-surely rising sea. These things can seem distant and unlikely to affect most people’s day-to-day lives, but there is growing evidence that the reality of climate change will strike close to home.
Below is a list of things of things that will be negatively affected by climate change that may not immediately come to mind when someone says “the greenhouse effect”


http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/09/1900191/climate-change-ruins-everything/

LIBERAL MEDIA BIAS: 15 Things people would know if this really were true!

If you know anyone who still believes in a "liberal media," here's 15 things everyone would know if there really were a "liberal media" (inspired by Jeff Bezos' purchase of The Washington Post):

1. Where the jobs went.
Outsourcing (or offshoring) is a bigger contributor to unemployment in the U.S. than laziness.
Since 2000, U.S. multinationals have cut 2.9 million jobs here while increasing employment overseas by 2.4 million. This is likely just the tip of the iceberg as multinational corporations account for only about 20% of the labor force.
When was the last time you saw a front-page headline about outsourcing?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/07/1229087/-15-things-everyone-would-know-if-there-were-a-liberal-media?detail=email

Electric Car that runs on SOLAR!

This little electric car is available in Europe.  Interesting.

http://www.earthtechling.com/2013/08/european-electric-micro-car-can-drive-on-solar-alone/

Dead Firefighter's family denied survivor benefits in AZ

It takes a lot of gall to deny benefits to the widow of a man that died saving lives, yet that’s exactly what officials in Prescott, Arizona have done. Andrew Ashcraft, 29, was one of the 19 firefighters killed in the horrific and costly Yarnell, Arizona fire, which was the deadliest American wildfire in the past 80 years. In a move eerily reminiscent of the way America treats her war veterans, the city has now denied benefits to Juliann Ashcraft, his widow, and their four children. Their reasoning? He wasn’t a full-time employee. Those benefits include salary and a health plan.
This isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last, that disaster relief responders have had benefit denial attempts. The same thing happened with FEMA workers in November, as many cities will arbitrarily designate such jobs as wildland firefighting as “part-time” or seasonal, despite hours worked.

Ashcraft isn’t the only one being denied benefits. Thirteen of the 19 killed in the blaze have been told they will not be receiving benefits from the city. Of the 13, Andrew Ashcraft was the only one working 40 hours a week for the entire year of 2013.


http://occupydemocrats.com/arizona-city-denies-benefits-to-firefighters-family-after-death-claims-40-hours-isnt-full-time/

10 Things Congress Left UNDONE before taking a 5 week break.

You may have noticed there are pressing issues going on in our country at the moment. The economy is reportedly improving, though people still can’t find jobs. If they do find a job, often they are underemployed and still not making what they need.  There have been record storms, bridges are collapsing, and there are millions of immigrants who would like to stop living in fear.
The current Congress has taken doing nothing to the extreme. While a little more than 5,000 bills have been introduced, the majority were referred to committee and never even discussed. Those that made it out of committee often couldn’t past procedural hurdles to get a final vote. Thus far only 22 bills have made it to the President’s desk for signature.
This Congress is not very good at passing laws.
What they are good at is discourse, divisiveness and delay.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/10-things-congress-left-undone-before-their-break.html#ixzz2bNAuK8Ss

http://www.care2.com/causes/10-things-congress-left-undone-before-their-break.html

Republican Fight: Get Out the Popcorn! Could be good

The Republican Crazies insist on shutting down the government.  Only 13 have signed on but they are out making their noise.  Curious to see how it plays out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEbhTXTZQ8k

Deficit! Rachel Maddow destroys the Republican Deficit Noise in 3 minutes

The deficit has shrunk by 800 Billion Dollars since President Obama took office.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEbhTXTZQ8k

Texas: You can shoot and kill women and be found innocent if you shoot at night.

This lady was shot and killed for 150.00 and the shooter was found innocent.
Ms. Frago died. Mr. Gilbert was charged with murder. A jury in Texas recently determined that Mr. Gilbert was able to rely on a law in Texas that allowed him to use deadly force if something had been stolen from him during the night.In other words, the law in Texas supports a finding that if a prostitute doesn’t perform sex as promised, it’s permissible to shoot her as long as it’s at night.

http://malialitman.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/texas-is-the-sanctuary-for-pimps-and-johns/

2012: A Year of BROKEN CLIMATE RECORDS!! Climate Change is real!

2012 was the eighth or ninth warmest year on record, depending on which data set you look at, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual State of the Climate report, released Tuesday. That is just one of many extreme statistics identified in the survey, which pulls together the most recent information from hundreds of researchers worldwide on everything from temperature to sea level to Arctic ice. Taken together, the report’s authors say, the data paint an unmistakable picture of a warming planet.

http://grist.org/climate-energy/2012-a-year-of-broken-climate-records/?utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&sub_email=r.brisco@gmail.com

Working next week.

I have had 2 months of working on a house, hanging out with kids and grandkids and taking some small trips around Oregon and Washington.  I have done some camping as well as staying in motels.
I have painted a house, drove for Meals on Wheels too, but it is coming to an end.  I will be back in Alaska teaching in a week.  I now have the worries of the working man and mentally planning my school year out.  A definite change in thought is taking place.  The leisure of vacation is almost over.  I am kind of looking forward to teaching but also wish I were really retired.  I will teach this year and then I am done - I think.

What people in Texas vote for Louis Gohmert: Juanita Jean

I have to tell them that people like this do.

http://juanitajean.com/2013/08/07/people-often-ask-me-who-the-fool-tarnation-votes-for-louie-gohmert/

Ziimmerman Trial: It was thrown away by law enforcement: 10 Reasons

 The striking conclusion after listening to these lawyers is that even with all the state’s policing and courtroom errors, there was enough to obtain a conviction.    
“It takes no partisan slant to see the procedural injustice in this case,” Ingber said. “It is not hard to make the case that the evidence supported a manslaughter verdict beyond a reasonable doubt. This was another O.J. [Simpson]  case, except this was not a case of jury nullification. It is to the Emmett Till case what modern-day voter suppression is to the poll tax. You need to drill down to see it for what it is.”


http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/10-reasons-lawyers-say-floridas-law-enforcement-threw-ryan-zimmermans-case-away?page=0%2C1