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Category Archives: My Opinion

The Point is!


The turmoil in the near mid and far East is al bout power. The average person  who would philosophically (religion has nothing to do with it) align with the average American is essentially no different than us in that all they want is good government and the right to work, live and raise their children properly. The  media prominent factions are all about controlling those people based on religious ideologies which are archaic and demeaning. The cutting off of heads , raping of women and killing of anyone in an opposing position or with an opposite view is not the “modern” way. Consider that these radicals are in the business of destruction and chaos now matter what the cost in human lives and dignity. Then we have Russia, China and other outsiders using these pockets of imbalance to get in and take over or take what ever they can under the guise of assistance.  Tha allied Governments (NATO) have just now began to put forth the effort that Troops and aid are required to put down the marauders who operate under a “religious calling” but who are no more than bandits who have kidnapped their way to a position of wealth  allowing them to purchase sophisticated weapons to attack anyone. These other powers who have always been on the fringes are covertly supplying these “rebels” with the fire power they need while overtly espousing no interest or connection to these actions. The point is: No one member of Nato should  be on the frontlines alone in this issue and we (USA) can but should not  take the lead in this. We are already stretched too thin in man power to get solely involved in another skirmish with an enemy who hides in plain sight. The radicals are using the people we  want to protect as shields against retaliatory strikes and support by hiding their operating stations and material in the villages of the average people we are trying to help. My personal opinion is :Nato should be massing forces to deal with these insidious  bandits, if Russia and China are not willing to assist then their lessons will come later. Remember neither Russia or China want a war so they may rhetorically object, complain or object but when the smoke clears they want to be the “good guys”. No one wants any more wars yet these radicals have spent the millions they have garnered from kidnapping , piracy and outright theft to bolster their ability to continue to wage war on anyone they deem an enemy (including their own countrymen). It is  the purpose of the UN to unite in an effort to stop the spread of these madmen. This is no different than the Drug cartels. Against the will of many. there needs to be a reckoning day for these criminals.

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Take It the Whitehouse.


 

Senator John McCain has made statements to the press about how the support efforts in the middle east should be handled. He may be right but these statements should be made in closed chambers with the President and the  Joint Chiefs of Staff, This electioneering only serves to inflame the public with  misinformation, these “bullet” points do no more than create more dissatisfaction with the President for reasons of creating dissatisfaction with his party. I appreciate Mr. McCain’s knowledge of the situation but a real concerned citizen would and should be making these statements in the forum that will give the best results. The press and public cannot decide to send troops and material support to another country , only the president and Congress can. It is my hope that Mr. McCain being the solid citizen and former military hero that he is does not lower himself to the level of Sara Palin, Ann Coulter, Charles Krauthammer or one the well televised talking heads whose sole objective is to sell books and gain market share on television. Remember this is about spending our resources both in money and manpower.

 

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My Disappointment


My  disappointment is in out Government. Specifically, my issue is the quality of the people we have elected for so many years. Since about  the mid 60’s through the early 80’s we have been on a downhill run as far as the capable  legislators we rely on to run our government. Too many of us never realize that Newly minted legislators and Presidents can never get their projected agendas completed. Washington D.C. is an entity that absorbs and reconfigure people like a walk in model maker. The nature of the beast is it has people in place who actually decide for us (whether we want to believe it or not) what moves forward or dies in limbo. These  “deciders” are the lobbyists and former legislators who work for special interests and non special interests to create and enact laws that may or may not be in the best interest of the country and the populace (us). Think about the last 20 years of elections- the internet and instant media coverage have posted and covered any spoken words from any and all candidates in an instant. This instant coverage is sometime erroneous and not easily corrected. This instant coverage has allowed the worst of us (and our innate fears) to be  used against candidates for office. These campaigns are worse than any physical shooting wars as they are essentially character assassinations. Ones family should never be a subject of scrutiny in an election. The measure of a candidate should be what she or He can bring to the table in spite of the “DC” box they are going into. We as voters owe the candidate of our choice and their opposition the courtesy of listening to their message and deciding if they can do the job as well as they can in spite of Washington. My disappointment is that too many of us are too caught up in hype to seek the real truth of what candidates are about and who their big money backers are, along with the agendas of those wealthy backers.

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More???


Recent developments in Europe, Eastern Europe and the Middle East has held everyone’s attention. These developments while newsworthy have taken the focus off of the inept representatives here at home. The Congress of the United States is a broken and potentially corrupt group (both sides). These bozo’s have spent more time trying to stay in office and gain control than doing any real work. They have routinely assailed the President when he moved unilaterally to get work done, they have assailed him when he did nothing (as quick as they wanted) and yet they want to come across as the grown ups in the issue. When you have people like Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove as spokes persons, one has to wonder about their agenda. This is not to say that the other party is any better but they have avoided putting their fate in the hands of radical and possibly racist headliners. I have watched as the Speaker announced a lawsuit against the President for doing “their” job, this means we will pay for yet another round of expensive legal battles which may or may not resolve or result in anything worth mentioning. What more could we ask for as a reason to vote for someone else when we have a legislature so obsessed with the pursuit of money and power that they do nothing of merit for the people who elected them (often)?

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Here is another Crock!!


Here we are again a talk show host who wants more listeners and reader to support his pseudo-conservative views, He has jumped on the bandwagon which has viable leaders to further his reader and listening gathering efforts which serve only his interests. This personality has no more credibility than Hitler.

 

Limbaugh: Cantor Lost Because ‘His Constituency Became Barack Obama And House Leadership’

The Daily Caller

 Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his primary Tuesday night because “his constituency became Barack Obama and the House leadership.”

Limbaugh claimed the Virginia Republican congressman — who had been widely expected to defeat tea party challenger Dave Brat by double digits — “forgot who his constituents are.” While Cantor and President Obama often butted heads, the Majority Leader was more sympathetic to immigration reform than many of his colleagues and may have been the White House’s best chance to push a bill through Congress.

“His constituents ceased to be the people that live in his district,” the radio host explained. “Eric Cantor became a creation of Washington, and his constituency became Barack Obama and the House leadership. That’s why he was doing what he was doing, that’s for whom he was doing what he was doing, and the people of his district finally figured it out, I think.”

“You don’t take pictures of yourself arm-in-arm with Barack Obama when the subject is immigration and expect there to be no kickback, or pushback, on that,” Limbaugh continued. “But the tone-deafness, and, I think, the willing disregard of public opinion on any number of issues, is unlike anything I’ve seen.”

The radio jock noted that it wasn’t always this way — at least with the Republican Party. “The Republicans have always been . . . distant, or not tied to that elitist, establishment existence,” Limbaugh said. “And I think that’s changed.”

“I think the pressures of that town is such — you know, the libs run it,” he noted. “They run it politically, they run it socially — which is crucial — they run it media-wise.”

“All these guys are caught up in this notion that they can’t be confrontational,” Limbaugh concluded. “That that’s going to kill them, it’s going to wipe them out. They’ve got to be agreeable, they’ve got to be bipartisan. Well look where it’s getting them!”

The onslaught of suppositions and innuendo has begun with no end to ignorance disguised as fact.

 

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Prisoner Release- More Electioneering.


The recent release of Sgt. Bergdahl for 5 prisoners to the government of Qatar has raised  a rash of statements from many elected officials and the Congress has initiated yet another investigation (as if we did not enough diversions). The Taliban has used the release as a means to get into the news by stating we will capture more Americans for trade. The underlying truth is that the Taliban is not as welcome in the middle east as they would like the world to believe. Many Middle East countries would just as soon not have them. Bear in mind that the negotiations to release Sgt. Bergdahl were done quietly and efficiently by rational people with no political agenda (imagine if it were up to our Congress). The Middle Eastern countries have the responsibility for these former prisoners and it is in their interest to perform this responsibility well. Many of us fail to realize that the punishments in these countries are direct and concise with little debate.  Our Congress is in total election mode at this time and every opportunity will be used to that end rather than doing the work they have been elected to do.

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Assigning Tasks


 

I receive  these missives from the Whitehouse on subjects in the news, most are interesting enough alone but this one gave me a thought about some of the rhetoric that has been put forth for several years. The Dupublicans (especially the representatives of “Coal country” have stated that Mr. Obama will kill jobs in coal country with new standards on carbon pollution. It is possible that carbon pollution control may affect jobs and by extension living conditions and after reading this statement I realized that Coal producers have been eliminating jobs by closing mines and the job itself (mining) has taken many lives due to “Black Lung” disease, cave ins and the explosions that have occurred. It is understood that mining is the lifeblood of many communities but the ability to survive a life of mining and after is sometimes not much of a  life at all. There are programs to retrain mine workers but the Congressional representatives are not making any efforts create alternative means of earning for their constituents. The letter below talks about the EPA position on Carbon pollution.

 

Hi, everyone —

This past Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed national limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants for the first time.

Since then, folks across the country — on editorial boards, in classrooms, on front porches — have been weighing in on why this is so important. And with that in mind, here’s something I want to make clear:

We’re already experiencing the effects of climate change today — but don’t just think about this proposed rule in terms of the country we’re living in right now. Think about the one we and our children are going to be living in by 2030.

Thanks to these limits, that country will have a 30 percent reduction in carbon pollution from the power sector. It will also have 25 percent less smog and soot, meaning children will have an estimated 150,000 fewer asthma attacks each year — and they’ll miss an estimated 180,000 fewer days of school. Americans across the board will have up to 3,300 fewer heart attacks a year.

And now that the rule has been proposed, you can participate in the process.

Right now, we’re accepting comments from the public about the proposed power plant rule.

So if you’ve got something to say, you can submit a public comment here.

And if you want to get some more details about why this is good for the environment and public health — or spread the word about why it’s a big deal — you can take a look at this infographic, and then pass it on.

Right now, we’re in the process of developing the policies that will keep our planet clean and our kids healthy for years to come.

You can participate in that process right now. So if you’ve got a comment, you can make it here.

Thanks,

Administrator Gina McCarthy
Environmental Protection Agency

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The Reason Politicians Stay in office


I received this email and I am posting it because of the claim of factual claims, see my reply at the end.
This is all factually (and historically) correct – and verifiable if one would decide to do some research toward that end……
if you even go back further…..
in 732 AD the Muslim Army which was moving on Paris was defeated and turned back at Tours, France, by Charles Martell.
                   
…in 1571 AD the Muslim Army/ Navy was defeated by the Italians and Austrians as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to attack southern Europe in the Battle of Lapanto.                  
 
…in 1683 AD the Turkish Muslim Army, attacking Eastern Europe, was finally defeated in the Battle of Vienna by German and Polish Christian Armies.                        
 
…this crap has been going on for 1,400 years and half of these  politicians don’t even know it !!!
…if these battles had not been won we might be speaking Arabic and Christianity could be non – existent;
        
Judaism certainly would be… And let us not forget that Hitler was an admirer of Islam and that the Mufti of Jerusalem was Hitler’s guest in Berlin and raised Bosnian Muslim SS Divisions: the 13th and 21st Waffen SS Divisions who killed Jews, Russians, Gypsies, and any other “subhumans”.
       
Reflecting 
A lot of Americans have become so insulated from reality that they imagine that America can suffer defeat without any inconvenience to themselves. 
                
Pause a moment, reflect back. These events are actual events from history. They really happened!!!
Do you remember?
 1. In 1968, Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by a Muslim male.    
   2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by Muslim males.
  3. In 1972 a Pan Am 747 was hijacked and eventually diverted to Cairo where a fuse was lit on final approach, it was blown up shortly after landing by Muslim males.
  4. In 1973 a Pan Am 707 was destroyed in Rome, with 33 people killed, when it was attacked with grenades by Muslim males.
   5. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by Muslim males.
   6. During the 1980’s a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by Muslim males.
   7. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by Muslim males.
   8. In 1985, the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by Muslim males.
   9. In 1985, TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens , and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by Muslim males.
   10. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by Muslim males.
   11. In 1993 , the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by Muslim males.
   12. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by Muslim males.
   13. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take down the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by Muslim males.
   14. In 2002, the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against Muslim males.
   15. In 2002, reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded by—you guessed it was a— Muslim male.
   16. In 2013, Boston Marathon Bombing 4 Innocent people including a child killed, 264 injured by Muslim males.           
           

        
As the writer of the award winning story ‘Forrest Gump’ so aptly put it, ‘Stupid Is As Stupid Does’. 
         

Today at 10:44 AM
Given that the information you sent me is factually correct, the context is not. True that Muslims have been fighting wars for centuries, they have all been led by extreme Muslims who murdered as many moderate Muslims as they have Christians. If the  facts given were pursued to their total conclusion you will find that there were as many Christian, pagan and other lesser known religious wars and uprisings as we now have the ability to know about due to mass communication. These “wars” are 90% the result of economic conditions exacerbated  and aggravated by charismatic extremist leaders who for lack of ordinary human kindness want unlimited power to advance their own personal agendas much like Charles Manson, our Current Congress, Hitler and the NRA. The ability to take snippets of information and extrapolate them into a theme is the same as those before us, with us and will come after us to capitalize on the misfortunes of others and use that to create the dissention and hate that abounds now. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to express this information-is this a great country or what?
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__._,_.___

Posted by: John Holladay <johnholladay@outlook.com>

Information


In these miraculous times of mass and fast communications, the opportunity for the dissemination of correct and incorrect information abounds. Once misinformation was considered gossip as the original data  was usually was quite different from what was eventually wide spread. There was (?) a time when news sources took liberties with the facts as it suited them, now not so much however misinformation once  out is difficult to correct for instance we have two majority political parties who have specialists in finding, altering and spreading misinformation. Much of this exaggerated outpouring is designed to get votes for their side regardless of the ill effects it has on their followers. Wouldn’t you think these information mongers would want an informed base? We have seen in the past ten years endless streams of nonsense, lies and huge amounts of innuendo but little real fact that would allow reasonable people to make reasonable decisions. Of course we will always have naysayers yet the truth once told is soon forgotten but the myths and madeups last forever. History will always out the truth but long after the damage has been done!

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Coal and Its Demise-Blamed on President Obama


This article talks about Coal Country and its problems. Notably one miner Blames President Obama for the loss of jobs (probably a Dupublican). The real issue is spelled out in the article below.

My issue with the opinion of the miner is that he is one of the many who believe someone or something else is responsible for their loss of jobs and many times their health issues (black Lung). One of the issues is health care but apparently many still engage in professions (without using proper safety gear)  where their health is at risk or just smoke even though the cost to smoke has risen  from .20 per pack to $7 per pack and the well documented effects of first and second hand smoke.Our ignorance in what is really happening and the underlying causes is still a hurdle to get over and hopefully we will. We should remember that politics has a lot to do with the fight to continue using coal as a fuel regardless of the health issues (Obamacare?)

by Sarah Gardner

McKinley Sumner, 79, views surface coal mining operations near his home in the Appalachian Mountains on April 18, 2012 in Montgomery Creek, Kentucky.

An official with the Federal Reserve recently made this rosy prediction: the jobless rate could dip below six percent this year. But there are still pockets of double-digit unemployment around the country. Take eastern Kentucky, where layoffs in the coal industry have helped push the jobless rate to 16 percent in some places.

Some point the finger at what they call President Obama’s “War on Coal.” “I blame him for trying to regulate coal fired power plants,” says 30-year-old Ryan Trent, a laid-off underground miner from Busy, Kentucky. “Because if it weren’t for that, we’d still have jobs.”

Certainly, the EPA’s crackdown on power plant emissions and mountaintop removal means fewer coal jobs in eastern Kentucky. The area has lost 40 percent of its coal-related jobs in just the last two years, acccording to Jason Bailey, director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy.

Yet Appalachian coal would still be at a disadvantage, according to Michael Dudas, managing director at Sterne, Agee in New York. “The cost to mine the coal in Wyoming is $10 a ton,” he says. “The cost to mine that coal in eastern Kentucky can range from the low to mid-40s to upwards of $70 a ton.”

One reason it costs more to mine in eastern Kentucky is that coal companies have mined the mountains there for well over a century. They’ve already exhausted the easy coal. What’s left takes more work to get at.

“I don’t hardly see how there can be any more coal in these mountains,” says Lee Sexton, 86, a legendary banjo player who retired from mining decades ago because of black lung. “There been so much of it took out, y’know.”

East Kentucky coal is also now competing against higher-sulfur coal from the Illinois Basin. That cheaper coal was a problem for utilities trying to meet federal clean air standards, but once many power plants invested in expensive scrubbers to “clean” the sulfur out,  it gained a foothold in the marketplace.

Greg Pauley, president and COO of Kentucky Power, says his company will be burning less coal in the future, wherever it comes from. “As the cost of using coal continues to rise, we go away from that,” he says. “And what do we go away to? Right now we go to gas.”

The EPA’s upcoming carbon pollution standards mean burning coal will cost more. Bill Bissett, president of the Kentucky Coal Association,  believes eastern Kentucky coal will “continued to be mined for generations to come,” but the industry will play a smaller role in the region’s economy.

“Chances are,” he says, “companies will be more privately owned,  less multinational in footprint, and they’ll likely be taking more advantage of the spot markets than long term contracts, which can create uncertainty but I think at the same time it still provides livelihoods and puts food on people’s tables.”

Dee Davis, founder of the Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg, Kentucky,  says it’s now up to east Kentuckians to figure out an economy beyond coal. “Coal is our history.  Coal is our heritage. It’s been one pathway into the middle class for a lot of families. It’s been a friend, but it’s not our future.”

Featured in: Marketplace Morning Report for Tuesday April 8, 2014

About the author

Sarah Gardner is a reporter on the Marketplace sustainability desk covering sustainability news spots and features.
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