If Kucinich Was Dictator

Congressman Dennis Kucinich was asked the question as to what he would do if he was Dictator of the United States. You can imagine the answer you would have gotten from Dick Cheney, John "Emperor of Evil" Boehner, Sarah Palin, or a huge number of politicians.

Instead, Kucinich gives his usual thoughtful response. It is a shame that this man will not become President.






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Obama Delivers 2010 State of the Union Address

President Obama speaks about restoring security for middle class families after a lost decade of declining wages, eroding retirement security and escalating health care and tuition costs. January 27, 2010






Copyright @ 1998-2010
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Kirchner is about to Dance with Wolves

I first met Don Kirchner in Sedona, AZ in 1995.  No, not the music promoter, the ex-combat helicopter pilot in Vietnam whose involvement with the Mob and a huge drug smuggling operation led to his spearheading a DC-6 landing in the Florida Everglades carrying a load of high grade pot.  His eventual arrest, being on the run for five years, and his eventual capture and imprisonment make a great story and his book is outstanding.  I recommend it.

After serving 2 1/2 years of a potential 25 year sentence, and with the backing of Senator Goldwater and eventually John McCain, he was released and established the Society for Return to Honor. 

With over 2,600,000 men, women and adolescents in jails, prisons and detention centers in the United States, and an astonishing 70-80% of all inmates released from incarceration returning to jail or prison within the first year after their release, it is clear that communities and individuals are not taking the extra meaningful steps toward understanding the true nature of criminal behavior, and addressing its causes rather than reacting to its effects. 

Most determined and highly-motivated former offenders fight a nearly impossible battle for acceptance and respectability in returning to their communities.  The simplest things most people take for granted are often formidable obstacles for the newly-released prisoner; a place to sleep, food to eat, clothes to wear, a job, transportation, and even deposits required for a place to live.  Often lacking the self-confidence, required social skills and personal resources, released prisoners face nearly impossible odds in their attempts at re-entry into society.  

Don has struggled trying to assist ex-offenders for fifteen years and now his day may have come.  Hollywood took much longer than the Feds to catch up with Don in the person of Academy Award winner, Michael Blake, who is best known for his screenplay and novel, "Dances with Wolves".  Blake has completed the first draft for the screenplay for Don's outstanding story, "A Matter of Time".  He will also direct.  This should make a blockbuster of a movie.  I can't wait.

Congrats, old friend.

 Copyright @ 1998-2010
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Kucinich Plan to Create 1 Million New Jobs

One of the last remaining honest politicians in America, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, (D-OH) has an idea he thinks will create 1 million new jobs, fast.  His piecemeal solution to the employment crisis: get the old people to retire and bring in some "new blood."  His piecemeal solution to the employment crisis: get the old people to retire and bring in some "new blood."

By providing government incentives for workers to retire at the age of 60 instead of 65, Kucinich believes all the newly open positions would create a surge of fresh employment.

"Nearly 70 percent of workers elect to take early retirement under current rules, which allow eligible individuals to begin receiving a reduced Social Security benefit starting at age 62," a media advisory from the Congressman's office claimed. "The Kucinich Plan would reduce the eligibility age to 60 for the first million workers who want to take advantage of an earlier retirement date."

With some 4.2 million U.S. workers between ages 60-65, Kucinich believes at least 1 million will take advantage of early retirement, even though the Social Security payout would be at a reduced rate. Additionally, instead of Medicare, Kucinich proposes early retirees received health coverage through the COBRA program.

source:  RAW STORY

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A Salute to Roy P. Benevidez

I hate war, but most of all I hate the so-called Leaders who send our young into battle while they sit back safe from the fray. I have always maintained that if we sent the children of the rich to war there would be no war.

Today, I am making an exception and will honor Roy P. Benevidez. The short video tells a tale of courage that goes far beyond the imagination. The most amazing thing of all is that he had been so gravely wounded, by stepping on a landmine, on his first tour that he was drummed out of the Army after returning. Roy built his body back up and returned to the service after proving himself fit and joined the elite Green Berets. He went back to Vietnam for a second tour for which he received the Medal of Honor. This is his story:








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Banks Make the Mob Look Tame

It's amazing how matter of fact the criminals who created this system are about their handwork.

I wouldn't call them "smirking" but they seem to find the situation of people being destroyed by deliberately deceptive credit practices amusing.

The antics of the banking industry make the Mafia look tame and consumers look like helpless victims.

Copyright @ 1998-2010
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HUGE Storms to Hit California, Arizona

"It never rains in California, but girl, don't they warn ya?It POURS, Man it POURS"
The words from an old song drift through my head as I read the latest report from the emergency response community: 
Currently, the strong El Nino is reaching its peak in the Eastern Pacific, and now finally appears to be exerting an influence on our weather.  The strong jet has been apparent for quite some time out over the open water, but the persistent block had prevented it from reaching the coast.  Now that the block has dissolved completely, a 200+ kt jet is barreling towards us.  Multiple large and powerful storm systems are expected to slam into CA from the west and northwest over the coming two weeks, all riding this extremely powerful jet stream directly into the state. 
The jet will itself provide tremendous dynamic lift, in addition to directing numerous disturbances right at the state and supplying them with an ample oceanic moisture source.  The jet will be at quite a low latitude over much of the Pacific, so these storms will be quite cold, at least initially.  Very heavy rainfall and strong to potentially very strong winds will impact the lower elevations beginning late Sunday and continuing through at least the following Sunday.  This will be the case for the entire state, from (and south of) the Mexican border all the way up to Oregon. 
Above 3000-4000 feet, precipitation will be all snow, and since temperatures will be unusually cold for a precipitation event of this magnitude, a truly prodigious amount of snowfall is likely to occur in the mountains, possibly measured in the tens of feet in the Sierra after it's all said and done.  But there's a big and rather threatening caveat to that (discussed below). Individual storm events are going to be hard to time for at least a few more days, since this jet is just about as powerful as they come (on this planet, anyway).  
Between this Sunday and the following Sunday, I expect categorical statewide rainfall totals in excess of 3-4 inches.  That is likely to be a huge underestimate for most areas.  Much of NorCal is likely to see 5-10 inches in the lowlands, with 10-20 inches in orographically-favored areas. Most of SoCal will see 3-6 inches at lower elevations, with perhaps triple that amount in favored areas.

This is where things get even more interesting, though.  The models are virtually unanimous in "reloading" the powerful jet stream and forming an additional persistent kink 2000-3000 miles to our southwest after next Sunday.  This is a truly ominous pattern, because it implies the potential for a strong Pineapple-type connection to develop.  Indeed, the 12z GFS now shows copious warm rains falling between days 12 and 16 across the entire state.  Normally, such as scenario out beyond day seven would be dubious at best. 

Since the models are in such truly remarkable agreement, however, and because of the extremely high potential impact of such an event, it's worth mentioning now.  Since there will be a massive volume of freshly-fallen snow (even at relatively low elevations between 3000-5000 feet), even a moderately warm storm event would cause very serious flooding.  This situation will have to monitored closely.  Even if the tropical connection does not develop, expected rains in the coming 7-10 days will likely be sufficient to cause flooding in and of themselves (even in spite of dry antecedent conditions).

In addition to very heavy precipitation, powerful winds may result from very steep pressure gradients associated with the large and deep low pressure centers expect ed to begin approaching the coast by early next week.  Though it's not clear at the moment just how powerful these winds may be, there is certainly the potential for a widespread damaging wind event at some point, and the high Sierra peaks are likely to see gusts in the 100-200 mph range (since the 200kt jet at 200-300 mb will essentially run directly into the mountains at some point).  The details of this will have to be hashed out as the event(s) draw closer.

In short, the next 2-3 weeks (at least) are likely to be more active across California than any other 2-3 week period in recent memory.  The potential exists for a dangerous flood scenario to arise at some point during this interval, especially with the possibility of a heavy rain-on-snow event during late week 2.  In some parts of Southern California, a whole season's worth of rain could fall over the course of 5-10 days.  This is likely to be a rather memorable event.  Stay tuned...

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Paper or Plastic?

It looks like too many chose plastic. Hungry Beast reports on the Pacific Ocean garbage dump - with help of photographer Chris Jordon. Northeast of Hawaii human debris from around the Pacific gathers in the ocean and on the shores of midway atoll. The affects of this pollution is devastating to the bird and marine population. Is anybody in charge?






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What Is the Real and Noble Purpose of Business?

From the blog of a friend...

There are two types of business models...

#1) Those who want to profit off of you by offering you a product that is worth less than the dollars you parted with in order to purchase it and

#2) Those who want YOU to profit off of them by offering you a product that YOU believe is worth the dollars you parted with in order to purchase it. In so doing, they profit.

Google is the world master at the latter -- search, mail, YouTube, analytics, all free (well, it could be argued that the "price" is the data you give them, but that's a price I don't mind).  They earn their income through unobtrusive, relevant ads.  And yet, there are people, gurus even, who say "Google is just a business so beware".

This worries me, but only for that person.  It reflects a subconscious rejection of the second business model, an "us vs. them" mentality that replaces the second model with a hazy, vague anti-business mentality that somehow suspects all business and objects to a company making a profit,  no matter how great its product is.

Let's continue to examine #2...

CLICK HERE









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Revolutionary New 197 MPH Motorcycle Invented

We have come a long way since the days of Captain America and Billy. Check out the new EcoMobile!







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