ROBOCOP2012

Day of rage Its showing

2011-09-18T20:37:00.010-05:00

Hi

Timothy Brian Foley here well you have to point all the rage here the people are protesting against wall street I think you shall know the 2% of the wealthy who damaged wall street are not giving a little unless you are warren buffet or michael bloomberg or another generous millionaire or billionaire and they are plenty and they are some like david and charles koch refusing to give a little but keep their billionaire status keeping their conglomerate human, gun and drug trafficking rings going this is why people are angry and whoever Is still doing business, politics and family and faith based work through "koch Industries" "americans for prosperity" and "john birch society" let you know andrew brietbart using pimp and prostitution stunt blaming their vicious act on ACORN and planned parenthood he Is running the human trafficking ring here, rush limbaugh saying "I hope he (obama) fails" while high on oxycontin he wants to go to costa rica to join a drug cartel sinolia cartel to be specific, glenn beck saying "they will take away all of our guns" part of a gun trafficking ring "tea party patriots" to be exact and palin all of the above In fact joe mcginness author of new book "rogue" has more dirt In fact glen rice had sexual Intercourse with her and hit up cocaine

What's up next for Sarah Palin, the former Alaska Governor, regarding the 2012 presidential election?

Palin came into prominence when she was selected by John McCain to be his vice-presidential candidate in 2008. She has now associated herself with the Tea Party movement in the U.S.

The latest US business and financial news as well as issues and events Sample
She hasn't explicitly announced her candidacy for the 2012 presidential race so far, but has visited a number of primary states over recent months. But a new book about Sarah Palin makes shocking allegations that could jeopardize the Tea Party politician's political aspirations.

The book, titled "The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin," written by Joe McGinniss and due out later this month, seeks to get the true picture of Palin's past.

McGinnis, a journalist who has written biographies of Ted Kennedy and Richard Nixon, makes a number of allegations in the book, including one that Palin had an affair with ex-NBA player Glen Rice, according to a preview in the National Enquirer.

Rice, who led Michigan to a national championship in 1989, was in Alaska for a college basketball tournament and allegedly hooked up with Palin who was then a TV sports reporter. The book claims the tryst happened only nine months before Palin married her husband.

The book also claims that Palin was seen snorting cocaine off the top of a 55-gallon drum while snowmobiling with her husband and friends and that she smoked marijuana with a professor while at Mat-Su College in Alaska.

The book apparently quotes a Palin family friend as alleging that Palin's husband, Todd, also used cocaine and that he was "on the end of the straw plenty."

In addition, the book has made the claim that Palin was very public about having a "fetish" for African-American men during that time. The book goes on to claim that years later, Sarah had a six month affair with one of her husband's snowmobile dealership business partner, Brad Hanson. When poor Todd discovered the affair, he ended the business deal.

McGinniss initially went to Alaska to do a story on Palin for Portfolio magazine, but ended up netting a book deal about the controversial conservative.

Palin strongly opposed McGinniss moving next door to her and posted on her Facebook at the time, "Wonder what kind of material he'll gather while overlooking Piper's bedroom, my little garden, and the family's swimming hole?"

At this stage, we don't know if the claims are each specifically true, of course. But we do know at this point that Palin's political career -- considered by some to be nearing a run for the Republican presidential nomination -- has probably peaked, and is heading downward.

The claims made in journalist Joe McGinniss's highly-anticipated book could be devastating for Palin's political ambitions and her carefully constructed image as a model working mother and defender of homespun family values.

So where does this leave Sarah Palin's political career?

okay I hope this does seriously,

Mila Kunis nude photos lead to funny statement
September 18, 2011 11:50 PM EDT
Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake were involved in a nude photo scandal last week and while neither of them were exposed on the internet, they are making jokes about it nonetheless. This is probably because the two don't have anything to hide.

In an official statement released by the reps of both actors, it was made clear that there wasn't anything naughty exchanged by the Friends with Benefits co-stars. At the end, the seriousness took a back seat, and in typical fashion, the pair turned up the funny.

"In closing, Mr. Timberlake would like us to make it clear that while he might write songs about putting things in boxes, he never has and definitely doesn't make a habit of taking any photos of them and sending them. Ms. Kunis would like us to add that while she is a fan of the song, she does not have nor has ever had photos of any male parts in her possession," read the statement in part.

It's been a crazy week with Mila joining Scarlett Johansson on the list of hacked female celebrities, but Mila got lucky. She didn't have naked photos on her phone, and the other pictures didn't make it to the internet. People were just going on hear-say, and a report from TMZ. She and Justin handled it well—staying classy and funny!

Mila Kunis Hacked: Nude Photos Found?
September 14, 2011 04:50 PM EDT
Mila Kunis' phone has been hacked! Luckily there weren't any nude photos of her, so don't expect to find any on the internet. There were, allegedly, some interesting photos of Justin Timberlake and some questionable text messages.

According to TMZ, the hacker found a couple of pictures of Justin Timberlake—one of him in a bed with his shirt off (could have been from the Friends with Benefits set)—and a picture of an unidentified male that was "explicit." The big thing being questioned now are those text messages, which the hacker claims contain conversations between Mila and Justin.

While Timberlake was supposedly "broken up" from girlfriend Jessica Biel, many believed that he was involved with Kunis. The pair denied any romantic relationship (and if you remember, they groped each other on TV to prove it) and once things simmered down, JT and Biel got back together. And now this.

It's unknown if those text messages will ever be made public, but depending on what they say, it could be the end of Justin and Jessica.

FBI Closing In on Scarlett Johansson’s Leaked Photos Hacker

Scarlett Johansson's leaked photos case is heating up. Reportedly, the FBI knows the identity of the main hacker, and this same culprit is responsible for other such leaked photos, including Vanessa Hudgens. According to International Business Times, the FBI was already closing in on the person or persons responsible before Scarlett Johansson reported this, most recent crime.

The ongoing chain of incidents of leaked and stolen photos has been going on for months, and several Hollywood figures have been victims. On Wednesday, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller told The Los Angeles Times that the agency was looking into "a series of computer intrusions" by hackers, but would not identify any of the alleged victims. "I can confirm that the FBI is investigating a series of computer intrusions targeting high-profile figures," Eimiller said.

The Scarlett Johansson leaked photos story breaks in two ways. Hacking is illegal, and publishing stolen material is a crime. The perpetrators should be caught and punished. But it is a crime from which it is easy to protect yourself. Just resist the temptation to photograph yourself and your pals in private ways that are also connected to the internet. Make a choice: private or internet. You can't count on having both.

What about a good, "old-fashioned" digital camera which you handle yourself? No emailing. Wouldn't that be good enough? Your choice.

Okay In short we had two celebrities hacked by paparazzi mila kunis nude photos leaked not true but scarlett johansson true and the fBI Is currently looking Into the matter well their was also as hooting In carson city navada 3 men served In the united states army dead and 4 other wounded and done by a "crazy" a mentally Ill terrorist with gun cartels anti government militia please take a look:

Furlong said Sencion arrived at the IHOP on Tuesday morning in a minivan registered to his brother. He had a rifle and began shooting in and around the restaurant.

Authorities said Sencion wounded a total of seven people and killed a third person who was not a Guard member.

Furlong said the Sencion then shot himself in the head. He was transported to a Reno hospital, where he died.

Witnesses said the gunman pulled up in the minivan around 9 a.m. and shot a man on a motorcycle, then walked inside the restaurant and started shooting. He then walked outside and fired shots at a barbecue restaurant and an H&R Block in a strip mall, and a casino across the street.

The restaurant is about four miles from the Guard’s headquarters complex.

“I don’t know what’s happening to my city,” said Fran Hunter, who works at Sierra Le Bone, a pet shop just north of the IHOP. “This happens in L.A. or Las Vegas but not here.”

The state Capitol and Supreme Court buildings were locked down for about 40 minutes, and extra security measures were put in place at state and military buildings in northern Nevada, but the shooting appeared to be an isolated incident, Furlong said.

“There were concerns at the onset, so we took certain steps to ensure we had the capability to embrace an even larger circumstance,” Furlong said. “At this point in time, it appears to be isolated to this parking lot.”

Local and state police and FBI agents descended on the scene, and yellow police tape surrounded the parking lot at the restaurant, which is near a Kohl’s department store.

“As you know when you have people in uniform who are randomly targeted for whatever reason this may have been, it is a safety precaution we take very seriously,” said Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck Allen.

Renown Regional Medicare Center spokesman Dan Davis said four victims of the shooting were being treated at the hospital in Reno, but he said he could not discuss their condition or provide any other information.

Kurt Althof, public relations manager for Care Flight, said three victims had been taken to the hospital by helicopter and that two were in critical condition.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., released a statement expressing condolences to the victims’ families.

“I’m deeply saddened by this senseless act and extend my sympathies to those afflicted this morning,” Reid said. “I applaud the first responders for their professionalism, and my thoughts are with the victims and their families during this difficult time.”

Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., posted on Twitter that his heart and prayers go out to the victims’ friends and families. And state Sen. Ben Kieckhefer tweeted: “My God be with the families of those hurt and killed in the senseless violence today in Carson City.”

Details emerge of quiet, troubled IHOP gunman

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Eduardo Sencion appears to have had more problems than his family and friends realized.

The 32-year-old store worker who killed four people and wounded seven others at a capital city IHOP restaurant was being treated with medication for longtime mental problems, investigators said.

But to friends and family, he was shy, friendly and respectful of the men and women who make up the nation's military, some of the very people he killed.

That emerging portrait of a quiet, approachable man who worked at his family's market in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., did little to answer the questions surrounding Tuesday's bloodshed, terror and grief in this community on the edge of the Sierra Nevada range.

Why had Sencion, who did not have a criminal record, snap? How did he get the three guns found near his body Tuesday morning? And why did he shoot each of the uniformed National Guard members?

"It's almost as if he was a normal person who had a major psychological defect that was triggered by something," said Joe Laub, an attorney who has helped the Sencion family with legal concerns in the past.

Sencion provided no answers before he took his own life after gunning down 11 people along a bustling business district in Carson City Tuesday. The dead included three uniformed Nevada National Guard members and a civilian woman. Two other Guard members were among the seven people wounded.

Investigators are slowly sketching a thin outline of his life.

"We are concentrating on the details of his life, which will include his medical records," Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong told The Associated Press. "Right now we are building a profile around him. Who is he?"

Sencion was on medications for mental troubles, but did not have a criminal history and did not harbor a grudge against the military, Furlong said. At one point, he even considered enlisting.

"He's been on medication for a long period of his life. And he was considered to be doing fine," Furlong said.

Furlong didn't know if Sencion ever acted on his military ambitions but said Sencion's mental health history likely would have precluded his acceptance into the military of his adopted country. Sencion, the youngest of four brothers, was a legal U.S. resident and had a passport, authorities said.

He had at least one previous encounter with the law. He was taken into protective custody by South Lake Tahoe police during a mental health commitment in April 2000. He fought with officers during the incident but was not charged.

Records show Sencion attended South Tahoe High School, graduating in 1997. Though Sencion is listed as a student in yearbook indexes, there are no photos of him alone or with classmates, and school officials, contacted by the AP, said no current teachers remembered him.

Three members of the National Guard were killed when the shooting interrupted their breakfast meeting — 31-year-old Sgt. 1st Class Miranda McElhiney of Reno; 38-year-old Sgt. 1st Class Christian Riege of Carson City; and 35-year-old Major Heath Kelly of Reno. The Guard announced Thursday that Riege was posthumously promoted to the master sergeant.

Florence Donovan-Gunderson, a 67-year-old resident of South Lake Tahoe, was eating with her husband that morning and was sitting near the Guard members when she was shot. She later died at a hospital.

Her husband, Wally Gunderson, also was shot and remained hospitalized Thursday, family and friends said.

Kevin Carrick, a 52-year-old father of eight and a former Air Force paramedic, was in the restaurant when the shooting erupted and helped usher a woman and child out the back door.

"What the heck was going on? You just, you didn't know. But you didn't have time to process all that information," Kevin Carrick said. "All you had to do was try and see if you could do something that could make a difference. My training and my Air Force career 30 years ago probably kicked in."

Fred Ciccarelli, 60, of Gardnerville, was with Carrick and two other men inside the IHOP when Sencion's rampage began.

"He was out for a body count — not to pick on any one individual," Ciccarelli said.

But the shooter seemed to stop himself when he saw a family with a young daughter, even though he walked outside and started firing his gun at more people, Ciccarelli said.

"If he wanted to kill even more people, he could have done so with those three. But he chose not to shoot the mom or dad or the little girl," he said.

Officers and investigators, Furlong said, have been meeting with Sencion's family.

"We recognize that they are victims of this as well," he said. "We are doing everything in our power to make sure they understand that we do care about them."

The IHOP, on busy U.S. 395 on the south side of the city, was fenced off Thursday. A makeshift memorial of flowers, plants and stuffed animals had sprouted in the parking lot.

Well we haven't forgot day of rage on wall street this past weekend they protested and they know about the koch brothers trafficking rings of gun cartels, drug cartels and sex slavery let's see what happened:

Wall Street Protest Begins, With Demonstrators Blocked
By COLIN MOYNIHAN

For months the protesters had planned to descend on Wall Street on a Saturday and occupy parts of it as an expression of anger over a financial system that they say favors the rich and powerful at the expense of ordinary citizens.

As it turned out, the demonstrators found much of their target off limits on Saturday as the city shut down sections of Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall well before their arrival.

By 10 a.m., metal barricades manned by police officers ringed the blocks of Wall Street between Broadway and William Street to the east. (In a statement, Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman said, “A protest area was established on Broad Street at Exchange Street, next to the stock exchange, but protesters elected not to use it.”)

Organizers, promoters and supporters called the day, which had been widely discussed on Twitter and other social media sites, simply September 17. Some referred to it as the United States Day of Rage, an apparent reference to a series of disruptive protests against the Vietnam War held in Chicago in 1969.

The idea, according to some organizers, was to camp out for weeks or even months to replicate the kind, if not the scale, of protests that erupted earlier this year in places as varied as Egypt, Spain and Israel.

Bill Steyert, 68, who lives in Forest Hills, Queens, stood near the barricades at Wall Street and Broadway and shouted, “Shut down Wall Street, 12 noon, you’re all invited,” as tourists gazed quizzically at him.
Talking to a reporter, he elaborated, “You need a scorecard to keep track of all the things that corporations have done that are bad for this country.”

Nearby, Micah Chamberlain, 23, a line cook from Columbus, Ohio, held up a sign reading “End the Oligarchy” and said he had hitchhiked to New York. “There are millions of people in this county without jobs,” he said. “And 1 percent of the people have 99 percent of the money.”

Throughout the afternoon hundreds of demonstrators gathered in parks and plazas in Lower Manhattan. They held teach-ins, engaged in discussion and debate and waved signs with messages like “Democracy Not Corporatization” or “Revoke Corporate Personhood.”

Organizers said the rally was meant to be diverse, and not all of the participants were on the left. Followers of the right-wing figure Lyndon LaRouche formed a choir near Bowling Green and sang “The Star Spangled Banner” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Nearby, anarchists carried sleeping bags and tents.

At one point in the early afternoon, dozens of protesters marched around the famous bronze bull on lower Broadway. Among them was Dave Woessner, 31, a student at Harvard Divinity School.

“When you idealize financial markets as salvific you embrace the idea that profit is all that matters,” he said.

A few minutes later about 15 people briefly sat down on a sidewalk on Broadway, leaning against a metal barricade that blocked access to Wall Street. For a moment things grew tense as officers converged and a police chief shoved a newspaper photographer from behind.

After a police lieutenant used a megaphone to tell those sitting on the sidewalk that they were subject to arrest the protesters got up and marched south.

Mr. Browne said no permits had been sought for the demonstration but plans for it “were well known publicly.”

Mr. Browne said two people in bandanna masks were taken into custody for trying to enter a building at Broadway and Liberty Street that houses Bank of America offices. A third person fled.

As a chilly darkness descended, a few hundred people realized one of the day’s objectives by setting foot onto Wall Street after a quick march through winding streets, trailed by police scooters.

At William Street, they were blocked from proceeding toward the stock exchange, and the march ended in front of a Greek Revival building housing Cipriani Wall Street. Patrons on a second-floor balcony peered down.

As some of the patrons laughed and raised drinks, the protesters responded by pointing at them and chanting “pay your share.”

Maybe we need to learn the mexican drug cartels theirs a drug war they are losing we can give the needed Information here:

Mexican Drug War
Date December 11, 2006 (when the Operation Michoacan was commenced) – present

Location Mexican states of Baja California, Durango, Sonora, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Chihuahua, Michoacán, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí and Sinaloa.
Status Conflict ongoing

Belligerents
Mexico

Mexican Army
Mexican Navy
Mexican Air Force
Mexican Naval Infantry
Federal Police
Mexican state and municipal police forces
Rival drug cartels:

Sinaloa Cartel
Gulf Cartel
Juárez Cartel
Knights Templar Cartel
Tijuana Cartel
La Familia Cartel (extinct)
Los Zetas Cartel
Beltrán-Leyva Cartel (extinct)

Commanders and leaders
Felipe Calderón

Mariano Francisco Saynez Mendoza
Guillermo Galván Galván
Sergio Aponte Polito
Joaquín Guzmán Loera,

Ismael Zambada García,
Ignacio Coronel Villarreal †,
Antonio Cárdenas Guillén †,
Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez,
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes,
Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano,
Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano,
Edgar Valdez Villarreal
Arturo Beltrán Leyva †
Héctor Beltrán Leyva,
Nazario Moreno González †

Strength
50,000 soldiers
35,000 Federal Police 100,000 foot soldiers
Casualties and losses
1,000+ Police and prosecutors killed

138 Army soldiers killed
14 Marines killed
318 Federal Police killed
58 reporters killed
~1,000 children killed
121,199 cartel members detained but only 8,500 convicted
62 killed in 2006

2,837 killed in 2007
6,844 killed in 2008
9,635 killed in 2009
15,273 killed in 2010
Total killed: 39,392 (December 2006–December 2010)

Well that could be a new reality we could go to war to them If the drug cartels which rush limbaugh is part of with his oxycontin usage and dealings, along with glenn beck with him telling the mentally Ill to not let go of your guns they will be death camps and sarah palin don't retreat but reload she says she Is not advocating violence but she Is and breitbart blaming planned parenthood and acorn for their sex slavery for his vicious acts remember Its victimhood Its all In their heads In their sick minds they wanna retaliate In wrath to kill or lust over their sexy hot bodies and get high on drugs through sloth seriously the greed of the 2% of billionaires and millionaires like the koch brothers charles and david along with rick perry seceeding from the united states opening the border with mexico and the doors to modern day day slavery, child labor, sex slavery, gun cartels and drug cartels you seriously want him as your next president killing 236 prisoners In texas most then any governor anywhere and anytime In history, calling social security, medicare medicaid, food stamps ponzi schemes, calling obama treasonus most americans regardless of political party knows he is out of line with people and out of touch with reality Its really all In his head and I know what he Is really thinking like adolf hitler a world war well If texas leaves the union expect oklahoma, kansas, Iowa and wisconsin to follow because koch Industries, americans for prosperity, and john birch society are all have business, politics and cultural dealings In places like witchia kansas, appleton wisconsin, st. paul minnesota, austin texas, tulsa oklahoma and ft. dodge Iowa seriously Its so dangerous they are not with us they are with the terrorists all the pimping and prostitution rings are In back of grandma's quilting shop or grandpa's wood working shop or your crazy uncle's sporting good store on main street or with a truck driver shipping drugs and guns from laredo texas to kansas city and beyond corrupting our way of life they also have their wives staying at home watching children and grandchildren turning them Into something they are not they could be part of a huamn trafficking, drug and/or gun trafficking trades you don't really know these people they see they are your family and neighbors but they are terrorists wotking with people who killed dr. george tiller, shot gabrielle giffords, shot and killed police officers, military officers, with the US army, civilians, government employees, they are secretly working with the koch brothers the billionaire traffickers they could start a war with the united states of america you know why scarlett johnasson reported her leaked photos to the FBI they will go after them and be brought to justice now report anything bad to the FBI, CIA, ATF or homeland security even the white house obama will listen.

Furthermore If Its anything to do with the USO I support them because I also support the troops past, present and future SUPPORT THE TROOPS AND LET'S SUPPORT THE UNITED STATES OD AMERICA

THANK YOU

TIMOTHY BRAIN FOLEY

So This Is Labor Day Where Are the Jobs

2011-09-06T00:45:00.003-05:00

Happy Labor Day to all I was wondering why this whole time why are hating on the backbone of america these people I mean police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, teachers, chefs, factory workers, construction workers, mechanics, plumbers, pipefitters, electricians, even office workers and store owners, where their rights and their freedoms and their respect and why hasn't anyone anywhere placed the unemployed to work their name ain't sarah palin they can work and they have been looking hard and long for work I think employers need to Include the public and I mean good people like they are family, I would placed bad people Into prison, locked up and put away and the sick Into mental health centers but good people need to either be civilians get an union apprenticteship or a community college or private college training course, or enlist In the US army or another branch In the armed forces and serve our country I wouldn't give up or quit I would also suggest you stay away from all of the above the TEA party, anti government militias and/or advocacy groups, flash mobs, cynical far right talking heads, blind faith preachers who perform exorcisms to adults and children with autism and other related disabilities, people who works for private companies, greed mongers like the koch brothers and the Incivious enterprise, prostitution and other human, drug and gun trafficking rings, bad politicians like michele bachmann, rick perry and scott walker who give their money to terrorists from texas and saudi arabia BIG OIL where they are from and goofs like sarah palin rather run In a marathon then run for president she still can't decide we need to let her go Ignore them and pay no attention to them, listen to the good people around us the working class people even Its the elitists In washington, In the journalist news media, and In hollywood we the people must ask them they are the good hard working people they can be trusted the bad people on the far right need to be avoid and not get support better off locked up and put away and the ones who are bad need to have a sound mind and judgment If not then maybe they also need a psychiatric treatment either way good people need to be shown respect dignity and understanding to their hard work, the bad people need to be punished, locked away and not be given another chance since I know they have blown It If you ask myself I am more good and less bad even things out but In life we can be unpredictable but WE NEED OPPORTUNITY no more ISM's like favoritism, nepotism, elitism, capitalism, and terrorism we can do without socialism, communism, and marxism, we need more opportunism and humanism the most because people need jobs people need to work but In a sound minded safe, secure supportive place because we all deserve better let's hope obama can nail something with his jobs plan to come on thursday and plan to skip saints/packers game because of that and peyton manning will not start for the colts sunday vs texans I hope I am wrong but we shall see.

No New Jobs Created in August, Unemployment Rate Stuck at 9.1%

In yet another bit of bad summer economic news, the United States added no jobs overall in August and unemployment held steady at 9.1 percent, revealing a stalled labor market.

Economists predicted the Labor Department's monthly report would show a modest gain of about 75,000 jobs with the unemployment rate holding steady at 9.1 percent.

The report said that the number of new jobs roughly equaled the number of jobs lost. It takes about 125,000 new jobs per month to keep the unemployment rate steady. An increase of 200,000 jobs per month would bring the rate down a percentage point over a year.

The reports for June and July were also revised downward to 20,000 and 85,000, respectively, indicating that the labor market was weaker than previously thought.

In more gloomy news, the length of the average workweek fell by 0.1 hour to 34.2 hours, a sign that hiring is unlikely to pick up soon. Average hourly earnings also fell, which could damp down future consumer spending. The civilian labor force participation rate, which measures people who are working or are looking for work, was little changed from July's disappointing reading at 64.3 percent.

Friday's bad news contrasted with a sunnier White House report a day earlier that predicted unemployment would drop to 8.3 percent in 2012. That news came in a mid-session review of the budget. An "alternative forecast" in the same report, which takes into account the summer's volatility, is less optimistic, predicting that the rate will remain at 9 percent next year. Both forecasts expect the unemployment rate to reach 5.2 percent by 2018.

The Federal Reserve will look closely at August's jobs numbers as it heads into its next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 20-21. At its August meeting, the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee discussed--but did not commit to--a number of ways to boost the economy, including another round of asset purchases, shifting its bond holdings into longer-term securities, and reducing interest rates paid on excess reserve balances. Friday's disappointing report increases the likelihood the Fed will act.

President Obama will introduce job creation initiatives in a speech next Thursday. The address will include ideas Obama has supported before, such as an infrastructure bank and measures targeted at the long-term unemployed, in addition to new proposals.

"Today's unemployment numbers are a painful reminder that America still awaits economic leadership from President Obama," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. Preibus called the administration's regulatory policies "the biggest road block to job creation."

Stock futures were down before the report's release and fell further upon the release of the jobs data. This is the first time a jobs report has come in at zero since February 1945, according to CNBC.

Our View: Labor Day 2011 no occasion for celebration
The bad numbers are high and the good ones are low, with only a gleam of light on the horizon.

The news out of the Labor Department Friday that the nation added essentially no jobs whatsoever in August isn't quite as bad as it seems: striking Verizon workers were included in the unemployed sector and now that they have returned to work, September's total should be higher.

But that's all the good news there is. Labor statisticians had predicted a drop in unemployment from July's 9.1 percent and an increase in jobs by about 70,000 workers, but the new jobs didn't materialize and employment remained unchanged, with the nonfarm work force stuck at 131 million.

Everyone's eyes are on the economy this Labor Day. Despite the fact that many Americans are out today enjoying themselves (except for those still recovering from the depredations of Hurricane and then Tropical Storm Irene), there's not a lot to celebrate.

Even those who still had jobs were confronted with figures that showed the average workweek had dropped a notch to 34.2 hours, and average hourly wages fell 3 cents to $23.09.

There continue to be 14 million people unemployed, with 6 million of them, more than 40 percent of the total, out of work for six months or longer.

But those are just numbers. They mask considerable misery, as millions of Americans struggle to get by as they watch their homes being foreclosed, their savings dwindle or vanish altogether, and their attempts to find work prove fruitless.

That is why expectations are rising for President Obama's speech this Thursday, in which he says he will lay out a "jobs program" that will help address this situation. Early reports indicate he will offer tax breaks and subsidies to businesses that hire new workers, and will cut back on regulations -- including, controversially, new environmental controls on power plants and factories -- to keep expenses low and provide more funds for jobs.

In truth, though any president always takes the blame when jobs are scarce (and often claims the credit when they are plentiful), there is little Obama can do by himself to make things better. Unless circumstances change enough to make businesses want to hire, they won't.

Economic policies can spur that change, but no one has found the magic formula yet to end this downturn. Sooner would be better than later, however

Well they need to do something about that well while all are either playing politics and/or playing games guess what rick perry did and on labor day he did his job as governor of texas now I am a fond supporter of him but you know what I admire his work ethic and taking responbility with work and life what we need to do the elections can wait and If you wanna be taken seriously 6 words SHUT UP AND DO YOUR JOB thanks rick perry for doing yours.

Rick Perry pulls out of S.C. forum due to Texas wildfires

Republican presidential contender Rick Perry canceled plans to appear at a candidate forum in South Carolina on Monday, the Texas governor returning home to oversee the fast-moving wildfires that have ravaged the state. He still plans to travel to Simi Valley, Calif., later this week for Wednesday’s debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum, his spokesman said.

Firefighters are struggling to contain more than a dozen wildfires sweeping through Texas, which have led to the death of a 20-year-old woman and her 18-month-old daughter as well as the destruction of at least 38 homes. More than 20,000 acres have been burned by the blazes fueled by drought conditions and wind systems sparked by Hurricane Irene.

Perry canceled the rest of his South Carolina schedule and withdrew from Monday’s Palmetto Freedom Forum, sponsored by the American Principles Project. Participants in the forum, which was scheduled to be broadcast on CNN, will appear on stage one at a time for a question-and-answer session with South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, Rep. Steve King of Iowa and Robert George, the founder of the American Principles Project and a Princeton University professor.

“Gov. Perry’s first priority is to the people of Texas during this natural disaster,” Perry’s communications director, Ray Sullivan, said in a statement Monday. “The governor is in close communication with emergency operations officials regarding fires in Texas, including discussions with emergency management leaders over the weekend and this morning.”

Though Perry also canceled his California schedule on Tuesday, he is expected to join the other 2012 contenders for Wednesday night’s Reagan Centennial GOP Candidates Debate, which is being sponsored by NBC News, Politico and the Reagan Foundation. The forum is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. PDT, with video streamed live at MSNBC.com.

Now again for who didn't sarah palin who refuse to answer a simple YES or NO question on running for president she runs a marathon In Iowa you know something If that's her attitude then maybe she can GO TO HELL or GO HOME you would want her to run for president now seriously this Is stupid she Is more of a show off and less of a workhorse we don't show off that's worse obama, gingrich, romney and bachmann combined this Is why I pity her not envy her she attacks rick perry and obama and quits her job as governor of alaska, and Indecisive upon her run for president I consider her seriously useless In my opinion

Palin watch continues: No announcement in Iowa speech

Reporting from Indianola, Iowa— Sarah Palin did not announce a presidential candidacy Saturday in her speech to the Tea Party of America.

Instead, she hit the usual "tea party" high notes about the dangers of a second Obama term and the perilous financial situation the country faces.

But in addition to those familiar themes, she also unleashed a high spirited attack on “corporate crony capitalism” and the “permanent political class.”

It was not lost on the crowd of about 2,000 that a certain Texas governor has spent most of his career in office and has been accused of rewarding his financial backers. That man, Rick Perry, is widely considered the current frontrunner for the nomination.

Sounding very much like a candidate, she proposed her own plan for economic recovery, including repealing “Obamacare,” focusing on energy independence by developing America’s natural resources, and putting an end to the federal corporate income tax. “This” she said, “is how we create millions of high-paying jobs.”

To offset the loss of government revenue, she said, she would “eliminate corporate welfare—the loopholes and bailouts.”

“Barack Obama promised to cut the deficit in half. Instead he turned around and tripled it,” she said. “Barack Obama is adrift,” she said at another point. “He doesn’t make sense.”

“Who wants to win the future by investing in hare-brained ideas” like “solar panels and really fast trains?” These, she said, are “non-starters . . . . All aboard Obama’s bullet train to bankruptcy.”

During her 40-minute speech, delivered an hour or so after the crowd had braved torrential rains, she was repeatedly interrupted by chants of “Run, Sarah, run.”

She did not so much as allude to a White House run in her speech. But afterwards, as she shook hands and signed hats, books and T-shirts on the rope line, she said she had not yet made a decision. She also refused to say whether she was directing her barbs about crony capitalism at Perry, though at a Conservatives 4 Palin meet-up on Friday night near Des Moines, many in the crowd -- about half of whom had traveled from Texas -- repeatedly used that phrase to describe their state’s chief executive.

“We need to make sure all our GOP candidates are fighting corporate capitalism and aren’t participating in it,” she said on the rope line. “We have a great opportunity to finally knock it down.”

Though her onstage remarks sounded very much like a stump speech, Palin also gave an impression that she was passing some sort of torch to the tea party adherents who are her most ardent fans.

“Real hope,” she said, “will come from you.”

Sarah Palin runs half-marathon incognito in Iowa

Doug Adams, the former potato chip salesman who founded the Iowans4Palin website last year, was asleep Sunday morning at home in Storm Lake, Iowa, when his wife, Diane, woke him up with a panicky phone call.

“She was squealing,” Adams said Sunday night. “I was kinda scared.”

Diane told him to get down to the lake post-haste. Sarah and Todd Palin were there, and Sarah was about to run the half-marathon. Diane had risen early to walk the course.

Adams thought his wife was joking at first, since they had just returned the night before from Indianola, more than 150 miles from Storm Lake, where they’d trekked to watch Palin’s "tea party" speech Saturday afternoon. On Friday, they’d also attended a Conservatives4Palin meetup in Urbandale, where the Palins made a surprise visit. At both events, though, the Adamses were pretty disappointed that they’d been unable to get through the crowds to meet the former Alaska governor.

Adams hopped out of bed. “I went down there and standing off by himself, there was Todd Palin, waiting for her to come in from the race,” he said. “They had their visors down low, and the sunglasses on. People didn’t know who they were. Amazing they can get in and out of a place, incognito.”

Diane Adams told her husband that Palin started the race in the back of the pack, among the walkers, keeping a low profile for as long as possible. Then she ran around them, and took off.

After Palin finished – she’s a veteran runner and kept a speedy pace, finishing the 13.1-mile course around the lake in 1 hour 46 minutes and 10 seconds—she visited with the Adamses for while and took a picture with them.

“She is gracious and friendly as she could be,” said Adams. “The thing that amazes me is that they wandered off by themselves, and then I was talking with someone else and I felt a tap on my shoulder. She said, ‘I just wanted to thank you before leaving.’ It floored me.”

The Des Moines Register, which reported her time, said Palin had registered under her maiden name, Sarah Heath.

This afternoon, Palin tweeted “Thank you, Storm Lake, Iowa. You put on a great event & we loved meeting some great folks in your beautiful town today!”

On Monday afternoon, Palin is scheduled to address a tea party rally in Manchester, N.H.

Whether she will make any kind of news about that other race is anyone’s guess.

Okay you seriously wanna admire her when you know she doesn't really care about you or herself or her work If she wants to work which I don't see her doing so.

My point Is this labor day Is for people who are grateful for the jobs they do and not for the people who rather saying I wanna work Instead I am happy doing nothing but showing off leisure well I rather go to the movies or out to eat somewhere like for chicken wings and fries at a bar or restaurant or attend some fashion show or music concert at the park or visit a museum or art gallery then play some stupid video game or go out hiding and run In a marathon maybe enjoy the finer things In life maybe how about just go to work whatever you do do your job and If you don't have a job look for one or ask a neighbor or friend If they have work for you do or go volunteer somewhere or anywhere where you live I suggest they take a yoga class or sign up at a local YMCA or their community part district maybe get fit and be healthy and live a better life.
people need to work fun and relaxation Its for workers, not for bums or slobs If you don't have work even If you are on disability, a war veteran or a senior citizen maybe Its time you volunteer or at least contribute time or money for a cause USO United Service Organizations Inc Is to support our troops as a real american what not give your money to help the ones still In Iraq and afghanistan fighting the enemy and protect our freedoms that's organization but they are plenty I feel In time of war or peace you respect the men and women who served or you are serving or will be serving us the american people I rather save that for veterans day In november support VFW Veterans of Foreign Wars but I think as a blogger I care about my country I have war veterans In my own family this Is whats true to my heart I could serve but maybe I ain't fit enough but Its volunteer let's keep It that way and get our war veterans who have served working they will join the unemployed like us the men and women coming home deserve better we all do and let's make life better for all.

THANK YOU

TIMOTHY BRIAN FOLEY

Collapse of all things america

2011-08-22T01:11:00.006-05:00

Hi

I hope all are ready to go back to school and back to work seriously Its about time we can't explain everything well for starters at home or close by In Indiana last week at the state fair stage collapsed 5 dead and a freak storm panicked all that we're there let view one story at a time:

Stage Wreckage Examined for Clues
With Five Dead, Questions Arise About Whether Indiana Fair Should Have Scrubbed Music Show as High Winds Approached

INDIANAPOLIS—State officials are investigating the collapse of a towering outdoor stage Saturday night at the Indiana State Fair that killed five people and sent at least 40 to hospitals.

The stage came crashing down shortly after fair officials advised the crowd of 10,000 how to take shelter from an approaching storm.

Just after officials decided to order an evacuation, but before they could do so, a powerful gust toppled the structure. The National Weather Service estimated the gust exceeded 60 miles per hour.

The accident occurred at an intermission, with the country-music act Sugarland set to go on next. None of its members were hurt.

It wasn't immediately clear how many workers were on the stage when it crashed down in front of the audience members, most of whom were sitting at least 80 feet away in grandstands of the fair.

"It was terrible. You heard people crying and screaming," said Roger Smith Jr., a 28-year-old maintenance worker at the fair, who said he was standing near the side of the stage when it collapsed. "And you can't do a damn thing but watch it happen."

The fair closed Sunday as investigators examined the wreckage for clues. It's scheduled to reopen Monday, when a memorial service for the victims is to be held at the fairgrounds.

The engineering firms that design stages similar to the one at the fair use ballast systems to anchor the stage and rigging, and some set strict guidelines for lowering the roof when winds exceed safe speeds.

Andy Klotz, an Indiana State Fair spokesman, said Sunday that fair officials weren't aware of any instructions "to vacate concerts because of a certain wind speed."

The fair's executive director, Cynthia Hoye, said the structure was built by Mid-America Sound Corp., a company in Greenfield, Ind., that had done this sort of work at the fair for more than a decade.

"I have a great deal of confidence in them," she said.

Mid-America Sound didn't return calls seeking comment. The company has a picture on its website of a stage it built at the Indiana State Fair with 60-foot-high towers.

One issue for investigators likely will be how officials at the fairgrounds, which are located north of downtown Indianapolis, addressed whether to cancel the outdoor event as a severe thunderstorm bore down.

The National Weather Service had informed fair officials by 8 p.m. that a storm would arrive at about 9:15 p.m. packing 40-mile-per-hour winds and one- to two-inch hail.

At about 8:45 p.m., an announcer told fans how to find shelter from the approaching storm. Within the next four minutes, fair officials decided to order the crowd into nearby buildings, said Dave Bursten, an Indiana State Police spokesman.

But at 8:49 p.m., before any evacuation order, a wind gust whipped up a cloud of dust and toppled the stage's metal-and-fabric roof and backdrop. That gust was estimated at 60 mph to 70 mph, said Dan McCarthy, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Indianapolis.

The weather service was "right about the arrival of the storm. It came 15 to 20 minutes after the tragedy," Gov. Mitch Daniels said. "But no one knew and it's not clear to me at this stage how anyone could've foreseen a sudden, highly localized blast of wind in one place."

Four people died when the accident happened, and a fifth died overnight. The Marion County coroner's office identified the victims as Alina BigJohny, 23, of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Tammy Vandam, 42, of Wanatah, Ind.; Christina Santiago, 29, of Chicago; and Glenn Goodrich, 49, and Nathan Byrd, 51, both of Indianapolis. Mr. Byrd died overnight.

In Chicago, the Howard Brown Health Center issued a statement Sunday describing Ms. Santiago as the manager of programming at its Lesbian Community Care Project.

Ms. BigJohny was closing in on her goal of becoming a high-school teacher.

"She was a really great gal who was willing to put in extra work with students," said Denny Craft, a fifth grade teacher at Laketon Intermediate School in Laketon, Ind., where he supervised Ms. BigJohny as a student teacher in language arts early this year.

Mid-America Sound uses roof systems designed by James Thomas Engineering, a British firm that has its U.S. operations in Knoxville, Tenn. An official at James Thomas Engineering said Sunday that one of its U.S. engineers was heading to Indiana to investigate.

Several state agencies led by the Indiana State Police are investigating the accident.

How they are remembered Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels: Fair stage collapse defied preparations

INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mitch Daniels said Wednesday that state emergency management officials did everything they could to prepare for a situation like the weekend’s fatal stage collapse but that they “didn’t have this one figured out.”

It is still too early to discuss specifics about what caused the stage collapse Saturday that killed five people and injured more than four dozen, Daniels said. He said he is waiting on results of an internal investigation.

“It needs saying that these are people who think about safety first, they just didn’t have this one figured out,” Daniels said.

Indiana State Fair spokesman Andy Klotz told WISH-TV the fair did not follow its one-page severe weather emergency plan Saturday night.

Klotz said the fair should have told fans waiting to see Sugarland perform that the National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area.

Klotz did not return repeated messages left by The Associated Press.

State Fair Commission Chairman Andre Lacy announced Tuesday he would lead an investigation of the collapse. International engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti is conducting the investigation for the fair commission.

Myra Borshoff, a spokesman for Mid-America Sound, the owner of the stage, said their engineers had a meeting Wednesday morning with authorities on the scene who took all the engineers from the various investigating entities on a walk around the stage site.

The group planned to meet Wednesday afternoon to establish protocol for the different investigations to proceed, she said.

Daniels also elaborated on previous comments he made about the weather, saying that when he said “fluke” he meant the likelihood that a wind gust would hit only the racetrack and not surrounding areas like the fair’s Midway.

“I just thought, ‘Why there?’ ” he said. “That’s what I thought was freakish.”

Meteorologists nationwide have panned the Daniels administration for calling the severe wind gust that toppled the stage a “fluke.”

Latest the are taking this to court they are filing a lawsuit one thing here good:

First lawsuits filed over deadly Indiana fair collapse

Reuters) - The first wrongful death lawsuits have been filed as a result of the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis last week which killed six and injured more than 40 others, lawyers said on Saturday.

Suits were filed on behalf of Tammy VanDam of Wanatah, Indiana, 42, the mother of a 17-year-old daughter, and her partner Beth Urschel, 49.

VanDam was killed by the collapse of the stage after a high blast of wind whipped through the grandstand area just minutes before the country duo Sugarland was scheduled to perform. Urschel was severely injured.

Although Indiana law does not recognize the rights of same-sex couples, "this is an inequity we also intend to address in this lawsuit," Kenneth J. Allen, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement.

"Tammy's death is not only devastating for Beth, it also leaves her daughter without a mother's love and guidance during the most vulnerable stage of her life," Allen said.

Allen said Beth Urschel suffered "serious and painful crush injuries" and will have lifelong impairment. Defendants include Mid-America Sound Corp, Live Nation Worldwide and Lucas Entertainment Group.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has asked the Indiana Inspector General to assign several staffers to the State Fair Commission to assist in the fact finding and documentation procurement aspect of an investigation into the incident.

The fair commission has hired Thornton Tomasetti, a New York engineering company, to coordinate and conduct the structural portion of the investigation.

The Washington D.C.-based firm of Witt Associates will do an analysis of the fair's preparedness and response to the event.

"This was a terrible tragedy that could and should have been prevented; the responsible parties must be held to account," Allen said.

Well to the ones who lost their lives In this tragedy REST IN PEACE to the everyone Involved In the state fair everywhere go do what you have to do music life and fun will go on sorry for a bad outcome here.

Now let's see politics one story about everyone that matters or In this case don't

Michele Bachmann $2.00 a gallon gas WTF fantasy not reality:

Michele Bachmann’s Plan For $2.00 Gas: Another Great Recession?

Michele Bachmann made this boastful statement during a campaign appearance yesterday:

Americans will save at the pump if Michele Bachmann is elected president, the Minnesota Republican said Tuesday.

“The day that the president became president gasoline was $1.79 a gallon. Look at what it is today,” she said at an event in Greenville, S.C.. “Under President Bachmann, you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again. That will happen.”

The average price for a gallon of gasoline is currently $3.58 per gallon, according to AAA.

Bachmann didn’t detail how she would cut the price of gasoline, which is tied to the global price of oil.

She also didn’t really discuss the reason why gas prices had fallen under $2.00 per gallon in the late months of 2008, something which this chart of gas prices going back to 1979 makes dramatically clear:

As you can see quite clearly, gas prices where on a sharp upward tick from mid-2007 until mid-2008, and then they dropped precipitously until they reached a level unseen since a brief drop in 2003, and before that unseen since 2001. From 2003 onward, gasoline prices were on a clear upward trajectory, largely because the price of oil itself was also heading upward. Supply and exploration issues are certainly one factor in the price spike, as are tensions in the Middle East, but the largest factor that was driving oil (and gas) prices up during this time was increased demand from nations such as India and China.

What caused the 2008 collapse, then, a collapse so dramatic that it’s echoed when you adjust the price figures for inflation? Obviously, it was the 2008 worldwide financial collapse and recession, with its subsequent decreases in demand, that led gas prices to reach levels we haven’t seen in nearly ten years now. Once the crisis was over and the world economy started to recover, prices started going back up again as demand returned to normal, pre-crisis, levels.

So, that leads to the question of exactly how Michele Bachmann would bring about a world of $2.00 per gallon gas.

Bachmann’s solution, no doubt, involves some radical variation on the GOP’s “Drill Baby Drill” mantra, and while it would certainly be advisable for the Federal Government to remove many of the restrictions against off-shore driling and oil shale exploration, it’s fairly clear that expanding exploration drilling isn’t going to have much of an impact on energy prices, especially not in the short term. According to a 2010 report by a division of the Department of Energy, opening the entire outer continental shelf to offshore drilling would have very little impact on the price of gasoline. As the chart below shows, the study analyzed the difference between full offshore drilling (Reference Case) and restriction to offshore drilling (OCS limited case). In 2020, the report found that there would be virtually no impact on gasoline prices. In 2030, US gasoline prices would be three cents a gallon lower.

So if drilling is unlikely to bring about that $2.00/gallon gas that Bachmann is promising, what would? Well, as I noted back in April, there is one sure way to bring down worldwide energy prices:

Of course there is one thing that is virtually guaranteed to bring the price of oil and gas down. If the economy were to contract again, consumer and business demand for energy would fall, and world prices would decline at least to some extent. Of course, there are plenty of bad things about another recession, and no politician is going to tell the public that the best thing they could do to bring down gas prices is to crash the economy again.

Or at least that’s what I thought in April. Since nothing she’s proposing is likely to bring about the promise she has made, is Michele Bachmann saying that the solution to our energy problems is another Great Recession? Or is it just that she spouted off something without any real idea of how she’d accomplish the goal?

Whichever choice one makes, it doesn’t reflect very well on the candidate.

Boy does she need a reality check big time as for rick perry with his nonsense creationism and evolution are not the same

Rick Perry Accidentally Speaks Truth on Evolution Education
Governor Rick Perry caused a hulabaloo this week when he revealed to the campaign press what Texans have known for a decade: He's really not that into science. Evolution, he told a 9-year-old New Hampshire boy on Thursday, is just "a theory that's out there," which is why, "in Texas, we teach both creationism and evolution in our public schools." That came just one day after Perry revealed that the world's climatologist are engaged in a sweeping conspiracy to manipulate data to "keep the money rolling in."

But the GOP presidential candidate, who once appointed a creationist dentist (and fellow Aggie) to head the State Board of Education, has long been a public opponent of evolution, both in his policies and his rhetoric. As he explained last year, "I am a firm believer in intelligent design as a matter of faith and intellect, and I believe it should be presented in schools alongside the theories of evolution."

According to Supreme Court, public schools cannot teach creationism as science, and according to the state's most curriculum standards they're not supposed to either—which makes Perry's statement that Texas schools do teach creationism all the more noteworthy. Over at the Texas Observer, Forrest Wilder recounts the governor's history of appointing ... let's say "scientifically-disoriented" officials to scientifically-oriented agencies like the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and then offers some personal experience:

Regardless of what the official curriculum is, there are teachers in Texas who do teach creationism. I know, because I had a teacher that did so in my Central Texas high school. She proudly displayed a bumper sticker on her podium that read something like, "Big Bang Theory: God Said 'Bang' and There it Was." Her students picked up on her creationist catch-phrases—"Can't make a chain out of missing links"—and took pity on us in the AP biology class, where evolution was taught as the cornerstone of biology.

Maybe this is what Rick Perry meant when he said "we teach both creationism and evolution in our public schools." Creationism *is* taught occasionally; it's just that it's not supposed to be.

And then there's this, from PolitiFact:

Penn State University political scientist Eric Plutzer, who helped conduct a 2007 national survey of more than 950 science teachers in 49 states, including Texas, told us in an interview that in any state 10 percent to 20 percent of science teachers are "endorsing creationism in their classrooms, often devoting one to four class hours to creationism over the course of the year."

A synopsis of the survey, published in the Jan. 27, 2011, issue of Science magazine, says a "sizable number of teachers expose their students to all positions — scientific or not."

Plutzer told us: "One thing you can be certain of is that large numbers of public school science teachers in Texas are endorsing creationism."

Right. Chiding Perry on the facts in this case misses the point, because Perry wasn't revealing his ignorance; he was accidentally speaking the truth. Perry knows you can't put creationism in textbooks outright—Kitzmiller v. Dover took care of that—but the education agenda he supported was designed to achieve the same ends through a more roundabout process of enabling teachers to shoot holes in biology or making them so nervous about the subject that they avoid teaching evolution entirely.

Well he don't get It well why Is sarah palin still wanna run for president beat the heck out of me boarden the the field says GOP In my opinion she needs to make a decision soon or the GOP will be useless come 2012 If they know they be In her face and tell her to run don't talk Instead do your job

Calls Rise To Broaden GOP Field

After a week of intense campaign activity that was supposed to clarify the Republican presidential field, the clamor for new entrants has intensified, with fresh hints from Sarah Palin that she could jump in and pressure mounting on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan to join the race.

The activity suggests the extent to which dissatisfaction with the current field lingers—as well as the possibility that President Barack Obama's growing problems could entice others to seek the chance to unseat him.

"Do I think the field is complete yet? I would have thought so, but I've got to be honest. I think there could be a few more surprises," said New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Jack Kimball.

There are few firm signs either Mr. Christie or Mr. Ryan will take the leap, but aides acknowledge the pressure. In Aspen, Colo., a few days ago, former Reagan administration official William Bennett took Mr. Ryan on a long hike, urging him to consider a presidential bid, according to people knowledgeable about the discussion.

Mr. Ryan's deficit-reduction plan has been roundly criticized by Democrats, but Republican insiders see him as the candidate with the intellectual heft to beat Mr. Obama in debates.

Mr. Christie, too, has been on the receiving end of many recent calls to get into the race. But Christie advisers have put the word out to unaligned donors and party elites in recent days that he has no plans to run.

"The intensity of the recruitment efforts has certainly increased to a new level, but nothing has changed in terms of the governor's plans," said Christie adviser Mike Du Haime.

Despite the clamor, only former Alaska Gov. Palin is making moves suggestive of an actual presidential run. Her political-action committee released a video Friday focusing on her recent trip to Iowa that had all the earmarks of a campaign spot. She plans to return to Iowa over the Labor Day weekend.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's withdrawal from the campaign gave Texas Gov. Rick Perry more room to make waves with his entry this month. He rapidly became the leading alternative in the race to front-runner Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, at least in national polling.

But a few missteps by Mr. Perry reminded some in the GOP elite, including Republican donors, of underlying concerns that, strong as his appeal is to conservatives, it might not be broad enough to unseat an incumbent president.

Gov. Chris Christie
Earlier this year, when Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour opted not to run, Mr. Obama appeared difficult to beat. The economy was adding jobs and the unemployment rate dipped below 9%. But the economic turmoil that followed the Japanese tsunami, an intensifying European debt crisis and Standard & Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt has undermined Mr. Obama's case for re-election and driven his public approval of his handling of the economy down to 26% in last week's Gallup survey.

The ugly showdown with House Republicans over raising the nation's borrowing limit prompted bipartisan questions about the president's leadership. For Republicans, those issues make the nomination all the more worth having—and a temptation to draw in new entrants.

The burst of attention Rep. Michele Bachmann received after winning an Iowa straw poll just over a week ago faded quickly as focus shifted to Mr. Perry. Her comments in South Carolina last week that she would bring back $2-a-gallon gasoline were widely ridiculed.

While not openly opposing the current field, many Republicans fear Messrs. Romney and Perry and Ms. Bachmann all have vulnerabilities that could weaken them.

News that Mr. Romney has applied for permits to quadruple the size of his seafront mansion in La Jolla, Calif., also underscored concerns that he lacks a connection with ordinary voters. A campaign aide said Mr. Romney needs the extra space to accommodate his five married sons and 16 grandchildren.

An unease also persists among big fund-raisers. "A lot of major bundlers are just kind of sitting on the sidelines waiting to see how things play out," said Ray Washburne, a top Pawlenty fund-raiser who has yet to commit to another campaign.

The challenge lies in the fact that the ideal contender, even more than normal, has to check two contradictory boxes: He or she has to appeal to the GOP's energized tea-party and social-conservative wings, while also assuring the party's elites of the ability to reach out to more moderate swing voters who usually decide general elections.

Rep. Paul Ryan
"Most people in the center-right realize that Obama is eminently beatable. Yet they don't feel that they are hearing a compelling message of how the leading Republican candidates are going to dig the country out of the economic quagmire that it's in, and they are searching for that message," said Fred Malek, a GOP fund-raiser who remains unaligned with any candidate.

There are others still in the wings. Former New York Gov. George Pataki has put out feelers in recent days, but his entry as a moderate Republican has gotten little encouragement, senior Republicans said Sunday. Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.) said former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is still pondering a run and should decide within days.

Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor, is making waves of his own, ditching a low-key approach that produced little movement in the polls for a gamble on an all-out attack on other candidates. In an interview Sunday, he said he wouldn't trust any of his GOP competitors with control of the economy.

Some GOP operatives say that time may have already run out for anyone beyond Ms. Palin to enter the race. "To develop a national campaign, you have to have been in a serious planning mode for months by now," said Phil Musser, a Pawlenty adviser.

Okay they have to weigh In on their options If they don't obama will win In 2012 best they know what they are doing:

Now with jobs obama Is making this front and center despite what else I will admired his armored bus vehicle but will not talk about that If anyone plan to shot to him now you will fail and he will succeed and If you are rush limbaugh you will not be happy ha ha seriously people need a job and Its up to employers to do that:

Obama jobs ideas to target long-term unemployed

It looks like the Obama administration's new ideas for job growth will in part target those who have been out of work for an extended period.

As we reported Wednesday, President Obama will lay out new ideas to boost the economy in a major speech soon after Labor Day. He's mulling tax cuts for companies that hire workers, infrastructure spending on roads and construction, and other measures aimed at the long-term unemployed, administration officials told the Washington Post.

Congressional approval would be needed for those plans, and that's far from assured. But some of the other measures said to be under consideration, like mortgage relief for struggling homeowners, could be done through executive orders.

Nearly 14 million Americans are officially unemployed, though the figure would be much higher--around 25 million--if it included those who have given up looking for work. Around 45 percent of the official jobless have been out of work for six months or more, the technical definition of long-term unemployment. A Lookout project, conducted this summer, to compile personal stories from the long-term unemployed, generated an enormous outpouring of responses.

Obama will also propose a deficit reduction package worth more than $1.5 trillion--the amount the "super commission" created by Congress has been directed to cut.

"When Congress gets back in September, my basic argument to them is this: We should not have to choose between getting our fiscal house in order and jobs and growth," Obama told a crowd in Illinois Wednesday.

The new details emerge as a Gallup Poll finds that just 26 percent of respondents approve of Obama's handling of the economy.

Also Wednesday, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Cal.) slammed Obama for not visiting any African-American areas during this week's bus trip. Black unemployment is at 16 percent, far higher than the already-high 9.1 percent national rate.

"Our people are hurting," said Waters. "The unemployment is unconscionable. We don't know what the strategy is."

Okay well how about what she maxine waters said about the tea party you will this one sorry If obama disappointed the black community If that was me as president blacks, hispanics and real women would come first

On Saturday in Inglewood, Calif., Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters had some harsh words for the tea party.

“I’m not afraid of anybody,” the California congresswoman told constituents in footage that appeared on ABC affiliate KABC in Los Angeles, not backing down from comments made about President Obama earlier in the week. “This is a tough game. You can’t be intimidated. You can’t be frightened. And as far as I’m concerned — the tea party can go straight to hell.”

That proclamation was met with cheers from the audience, including attendees sporting purple SEIU T-shirts.

YES you see that's what I am talking someone out there listens one member of congress takes one members to maxine waters and other members of congress that are defending the black community and attacking the TEA party THANK YOU as for jobs they are not hiring

Unemployed Workers Face Discrimination

With the official unemployment rate at 9.1 percent, and the actual rate much higher, there is a huge pool of unemployed individuals who need a job. However, many employers are not looking to hire the unemployed, and some explicitly state that they will not. But Washington’s failure to focus on job creation has been as discriminatory as any action by potential employers.

The practice of excluding unemployed workers from open jobs puts many at a huge disadvantage as they try to improve their situation. Last week, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) along with cosponsors Sherrod Brown (D- OH) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced a bill that would make discrimination in hiring practices based on an individual’s status as unemployed illegal.

The bill would make it illegal to require that someone be employed to apply for a job, but the enforceability of such a bill is questionable. Yes, it would prevent employers from explicitly listing that requirement in the job description, but employers are still allowed to make their own hiring decisions, and an employed candidate is often going to appear more attractive than someone who has been unemployed for a long time.

It is no coincidence that this trend of discriminating against unemployed applicants has coincided with the economic downturn. It may not be that employers would not consider a well-qualified applicant who is unemployed, but with the sheer number of people that are currently unemployed, the number of applicants for most jobs is staggering. By eliminating the unemployed portion of the applicant field they are making it easier on themselves when it comes to sorting through job applications for good candidates.

If we had more companies hiring for open positions, employers would have no choice but to tap into the pool of unemployed workers. Instead, many corporations are sitting on vast sums of money that they could be using to create jobs. According to the Federal Reserve, U.S. non-financial companies currently have over $1.9 trillion in liquid assets that they could be using for investments that would create jobs.

A bill that prevents discrimination against unemployed workers may help some individuals who are desperately in need of that help, but it is merely a band-aid on the gaping wound that is the employment situation in this country. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 3.1 million job openings at the end of June. This amounts to only a small fraction of the total number of unemployed individuals in this country.

Additionally, this well intentioned bill may have zero impact on the employment situation overall; it will merely help turn over who is in the pool of unemployed workers. We need a plan that encourages employers not just to consider hiring unemployed workers, but also to create enough jobs that they must hire unemployed workers. Unfortunately, the political climate in Washington has tied the hands of legislators when it comes to ways the government could spur job creation, such as new stimulative infrastructure projects, or tax breaks for new jobs created. This focus on fiscal austerity in a time when jobs should be the focus has set our country back significantly.

Monster.com Allowing Discrimination In Hiring

The job search site Monster.com has been allowing potential employers to bar anyone who is currently unemployed from filing an application. This is part of an appalling national trend where those protected “job creators” are turning away anyone not currently employed.

Kelly Wiedemer, who has been unemployed since 2008, has started a petition drive to demand that Monster.com ban these ads as discriminatory. To join her protest, please go to Change.org for the link to Kelly’s petition.

It is grossly unfair that any company refuses to take applications from potentially well-qualified applicants who have been unemployed through no fault of their own. The unemployed should be the ones receiving preferential treatment instead of those who just want to change jobs. It doesn’t help the economy for people to just be shuffled around from job to job instead of opportunities being opened up for those who really need them. Please let Monster.com know how you feel about this.

CareerBuilder: Discrimination at work alive and well

A new report from CareerBuilder shows that discrimination at workplaces is alive and well in Arizona and across the nation.
Although women now account for half of the U.S. workforce and over the past several decades U.S. companies have become increasingly racially and ethnically diverse, disparities in pay, career advancement and feelings of discrimination continue to run rampant at U.S. firms, the report shows.

It found that women and Hispanic workers were twice as likely to hold an administrative or clerical entry-level job, as "non-diverse workers." And more than half of women, Hispanics and workers with disabilities reported earning less than $50,000 compared to three-in-ten non-diverse workers, according to the survey.

CareerBuilder’s report surveyed more than 1,300 diverse workers from six segments — African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, women, workers with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers — to get a read on how their workplace experiences are changing.

“The U.S. workplace has experienced fundamental shifts over the last two decades that have had a major impact on business, including economic downturns, the introduction of new technology and the strengthening of laws designed to promote equality,” said Dr. Sanja Licina, Senior Director, Talent Intelligence & Consulting at CareerBuilder, in a statement. “While companies have made strides in creating an inclusive workplace for all workers, there is still work to be done, especially in the areas of hiring, compensation, and career advancement.”

Still, certain diverse segments ranked higher than non-diverse workers in compensation, for instance, LGBT workers were more likely of all segments to earn six figures, per the report.

All diverse segments of the population reported feeling discriminated against at work, with African Americans feeling the most discriminated against, at 25 percent. They were followed by disabled workers, at 22 percent; Hispanic workers, at 21 percent, women at 19 percent and LGBT workers at 18 percent, according to the report.

Recession Depression: Unemployed Can’t Even Apply for Most Job Postings
Job postings show that companies are now discriminating against people on unemployment.

Unemployment has been ugly for people of all ages over the course of the past few years. The economic downturn has affected everyone in some way. College grads couldn’t find respectable jobs and opted to prostitute themselves on the Internet. High school kids can’t even land a gig driving the Good Humor truck. Even billionaires cut loose a yacht or sold their alternate summer compound in Fiji.

However those aren’t the age brackets still struggling. The post-college job market recovered. High school kids went back to mowing lawns and working at Shop Rite, and billionaires started buying Caribbean islands again.

Nevertheless the millions of Americans who lost their jobs during the recession are still struggling to find employment opportunities. According to the New York Times their luck won’t improve anytime soon.

Job postings on popular employment websites like Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, and Craigslist have specified that viable candidates must be either currently employed or have been recently let go. This is a problem for the millions of Americans living on unemployment and trying to reclaim their former lives.

Unfortunately, there is nothing currently illegal about making this stipulation in job postings. It doesn’t violate any discrimination laws like blatant racism or ageism. New Jersey is currently the only state that has outlawed these kinds of employment advertisements.

“Even if Congress passed a measure forbidding companies from making current employment a requirement for job applicants, companies could still simply decide not to hire people who are out of work. Discrimination would be difficult to prove.

After all, there are legitimate reasons that many long-term unemployed workers may not be desirable job candidates. In some cases they may have been let go early in the recession, not just because business had slowed, but because they were incompetent.

Idle workers’ skills may atrophy, particularly in dynamic industries like technology. They may lose touch with their network of contacts, which is important for people in sales. Beaten down by months of rejection and idleness, they may not interview well or easily return to a 9-to-5 schedule.”

Basically what the New York Times is trying to say is if you’re on unemployment you’re probably fucked. No one will hire you. Quit trying. Start doing a 50,000 piece jigsaw puzzles to pass the time until you die. Put all your hope in the Mega Millions.

The average American on unemployment is stuck in that financial limbo for nine months. During that period of rejection it’s easy to grow complacent and angry at your situation. However when you finally get a job or an interview I’d think most people who were on unemployment would work harder than their peers. After the rust is scraped off, common sense would think that their appreciation and diligence would make them ideal employees.

Of course businesses don’t see things the same way, and until they do the unemployed will continue to struggle and play this never-ending game of catch-22.

Okay president obama do one thing for us WE NEED JOBS AND GET US TO WORK

Military well they are not hiring and we have suggested to re Instate the draft

Pentagon Personnel Problems Further Undermine Insourcing Efforts
Over the past two years, the Obama Administration’s plans to improve the economy by taking contracts and jobs away from the private sector and insourcing them to government workers has suffered a number of setbacks. This has particularly been the case when the Pentagon went on an orgy of insourcing of support and sustainment work. First it became clear that the government lacked the management skills, understanding of supply chains, engineering experience and technical information to successfully perform much of the work. Then the customer for sustainment and maintenance work, the warfighters, began to complain about the impact of insourcing on platform and system availability. Most recently, it was revealed that analyses by the military services of the cost savings associated with insourcing were, in many instances, fundamentally flawed. The recently retired Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, was forced in 2010 to admit that the cost savings he had hoped to achieve through insourcing had not been realized.

Now we can add personnel woes to the lengthening list of reasons why the Pentagon’s campaign of insourcing is coming to a screeching halt. Successive budget cutting drills have savaged DoD plans to increase its civilian workforce. It is becoming clear that not only will the Pentagon not be able to increase its civilian workforce but that major cuts are looming. The Air Force, the service that has been most aggressive about insourcing, announced a ninety day hiring freeze on new civilian employees. This follows similar decisions by the Army and Marine Corps.

The personnel situation for the military is only going to grow worse. Efforts to reduce overhead expenses means shuttering facilities and firing people. The Air Force now plans to cut some 16,000 people from its current workforce in 2012 alone. Looking down the road, an Air Force spokesperson said that “future civilian funding across the Air Force will be a significant challenge due to budget reductions and the associated Department of Defense requirement to limit civilian funding to FY10 levels.” The same injunction applies to the other services and OSD. Even where the Pentagon continues to hire, the federal pay freeze will make it more difficult to entice the high quality, experienced professionals the government will need in order to perform some types of work it seeks to bring in house.

It appears that the only people who have not received the memo are some parts of the public defense industrial base: the depots, arsenals and logistics centers. Some of these centers hired prodigiously during the salad years of the defense buildup and now face the prospect of significant personnel cuts. One way to avoid having to make these cuts is to take work away from the private sector. Some of the depots are so desperate that they are attempting to rewrite partnering agreements with private sector firms. Or they are trying to take over the function of program integrators, breaking successful, structured contracts into multiple awards that they will try and manage. Even sillier are some efforts to convince Congress to change the definition of core workload in ways meant not to support the government’s legitimate needs but simply to increase depot work share.

Ultimately, the effort by some parts of the public defense industrial base to advantage themselves at the expense of their private sector partners will be self-destructive. They will lose access to the private sector’s constantly evolving knowledge base. Absent a partnership, the private sector will have no incentive to help the public sector improve performance and reduce costs. The private sector will rapidly lose interest in sharing additional work with the public sector. With another base closure round all but inevitable as DoD deals with deep budget cuts, the leadership of the public sector needs to consider the risks of breaking bad with private sector partners.

Who Is Responsible for America's Security?By Edwin Meese, III

The Declaration of Independence announced the sovereignty of the United States and, with it, the “full Power to levy War.” Accordingly, the Constitution’s Framers viewed the security of the nation to be the foremost responsibility of the federal government. That security, history showed, could neither be maintained by committee against pressing and agile threats, nor placed in a single hand. Their solution, as elsewhere, was careful checks and balances involving all three branches of government—but with just one at the fore. Who is responsible for ensuring America’s national security?

With the memory of the War for Independence still fresh and the fledging nation facing constant threat from foreign powers and Indian tribes, the Framers saw national security as the highest calling of the federal government that they would create. The Articles of Confederation had proved inadequate as they created a weak and ineffectual government. The world’s naval powers were fearsome but despotic, unworthy examples for this great experiment in freedom and democratic self-rule. So the Framers turned to the lessons of history and reason. The balance they struck remains, like our Constitution, unique.

The Constitution vests the President of the United States with the full “executive power” of the federal government. He is named the “commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States.” So does the Constitution place paramount authority for national security in a single executive.

The unbounded delegation of the full executive power stands in sharp relief to the limited and carefully enumerated powers accorded the Congress. In Article I of the Constitution, its reach is limited to the “legislative powers herein granted.” Among them are the powers “to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water”; “To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years”; “To provide and maintain a navy;” “To make rules for the … regulation of the land and naval forces”; and to call forth state militias in service of the nation.

In theory, these delegations give rise to a tension between the President and the Congress. The former has ultimate discretion over the deployment of soldiers and nearly all aspects of the conduct of war. The latter holds the power of the purse, by which it may stymie executive initiative. Yet in practice, rather than stand in opposition, the two branches’ respective powers over national security have proved complementary, and rare disputes have been settled in compromise, not duel.

That control of the greatest force ever known to mankind should be governed by compromise for over two centuries would be a miracle if it were not by design.

"The President is the sole organ of the nation in its external relations, and its sole representative with foreign nations."
- John Marshall
March 7, 1800

American Presidents have deployed military force several hundred times in the nation’s history. Yet, Congress has declared war only five times, first against the British in 1812 and most recently against the Axis powers in 1941. There is no inconsistency in this.

To “declare war,” as it was understood at the time of the framing of the Constitution and as it has been practiced, is to realign the legal rights and obligations of nations. A declaration of war renders subjects of the enemy power enemies of the United States, who may be forced to choose between departure or capture; it renders enemy property subject to confiscation or seizure; it provides a measure of damages to be paid in any post-war reparations; and it requires American citizens to treat the enemy as such in their affairs.

But to declare war is not to wage war. Placing that power in the legislative branch was an idea that the Framers soundly rejected.

Under the Articles of Confederation, the United States lacked a formal executive, and all war power was vested in the Congress, delegated in some respects to a Department of Foreign Affairs. This arrangement was unworkable. Lacking any unitary executive, America’s foreign policy and defense floundered, as the legislators squabbled and proved unable to reach agreement on equipping a federal army to protect U.S. outposts or to commit the nation to any diplomatic course.

The need for an executive was apparent by the time of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but the delegates clashed over the necessary powers of the office. James Madison, in particular, turned to the works of political philosophers John Locke and Montesquieu and jurist William Blackstone. All three had, for pragmatic reasons, placed the power to make war and peace, to enter into foreign alliances, and to conduct all other diplomacy, in a single executive. Alexander Hamilton looked to ancient history and the experiences of those states which had attempted to divide the executive power, usually with unfortunate results.

Madison’s and Hamilton’s views largely prevailed, with but little dissention. One late draft vested in Congress the power to “make war.” Madison feared the language too inflexible for the needs of a nation under constant threat of foreign attack to which Congress had proved itself unequal. At his insistence, Congress’s power was limited to declaring war; the remainder of the war power would reside in the executive.

This alteration proved contentious in several ratification debates. Patrick Henry accused the Constitution’s Framers of all but reinstating a monarchy in America through the centralization of war power in the presidency. George Nicholas, a supporter of the Constitution, explained the fallacy of Henry’s claim:

[N]o appropriation of money, to the use of raising or supporting an army, shall be for a longer term than two years. The President is to command. But the regulation of the army and navy is given to Congress. Our Representatives will be a powerful check here.

The President would be nothing less than the full commander in chief of the nation’s military, but would be tempered by Congress’s exercise of its own powers.

As far back as Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court recognized that questions of foreign affairs fall within the discretion of the President. Consequently, the only appropriate check on the president’s foreign affairs discretion is political and therefore questions of this sort are not to be resolved in the courts. Accordingly, for more than 200 years, the courts properly rebuffed all attempts to seek judgment on the use of force abroad and other overseas operations. In recent years, however, the Supreme Court has overstepped its constitutional bounds in a series of cases involving detainees in the war on terrorism. The Court’s decisions in these cases find support neither in precedent nor in the Constitution.

“That unity is conducive to energy will not be disputed,” Alexander Hamilton observed. “Decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch will generally characterize the proceedings of one man in a much more eminent degree than the proceedings of any greater number.”

What was true during the founding has proven true in the modern era. At the command of President Ronald Reagan, the first of 7,000 U.S. troops landed on the shores of Grenada on October 25, 1983, to put down a violent coup that threatened to put the country in the Communist bloc and give the Soviet Union a second forward base, after Cuba, in the American vicinity. The invasion was unexpected, and American victory was swift and decisive. It also likely prevented a humanitarian catastrophe, based on reports of mass killing by Communist forces.

"The Founders intended that the President have primary responsibility- along with the necessary power-to protect the national security and to conduct the Nation's foreign relations."
- Justice Clarence Thomas
June 28, 2004

Could a deliberative body have acted to protect the nation with similar decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch? The evidence suggests not. After allowing time for deliberations and debate, the United Nations General Assembly held a vote on the situation in Grenada on November 2, a full week after U.S. forces had landed and days after all resistance had been subdued. By an overwhelming majority, the U.N. expressed its disapproval of the U.S. invasion. Asked his opinion on the vote, President Reagan said, “It didn’t upset my breakfast at all.” The reasons for the President’s calm resolve were obvious. He acted, as he should have, in support of the United States’ interests and to enforce treaty obligations at the request of other party nations.

Though the Framers could never have imagined the events of September 11, 2001, or the terrorist forces that have made America their enemy, they built a republic that could endure and defeat all external threats and prosper. The war on terrorism, being fought against an enemy with few assets and dead aim on soft targets, has only increased the importance of swiftness and secrecy. The President has the power, and bears the responsibility, to make tough decisions at a moment’s notice—whether to trust fresh but uncertain intelligence, bomb an al-Qaeda safe house, target a terrorist for drone attack, or arrest a terror suspect. These decisions are not subject to legislative check or veto. Nor, in an age where a rogue state or stateless terrorist group may threaten the lives of million of Americans, could they be, if the safety of the nation is to be maintained.

National security comes first; without it, life and liberty are threatened and happiness is an impossibility. Therefore, as James Madison wrote: “Security against foreign danger is one of the primitive objects of civil society. It is an avowed and essential object of the American Union.”

Protecting the nation requires a unity of purpose and faculty, and it cannot be devolved to a committee or Congress. The Framers recognized as much, and their wisdom is our strength. The President, first and foremost, is responsible for ensuring America’s national security.

Well In my opinion we should reinstate the draft and If we ever do It will be because we care I would also Include women, lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals, transgenders and people with certain disabilities this ain't human trafficking this would be a call to serve If you don't wanna serve you don't have to can also Include a bailout from the draft so consider that they don't have to serve but If this country call tehm to serve they would have make the call not voluntary however this ain't a forced service call It something as a fact the country needs will you serve YES or NO just asking must be careful these are humans and this Is america find something In the middle:

IS REINSTATING THE DRAFT SUCH A BAD IDEA?

In his bid for the ... John Kerry ... a “secret plan” to ... ... service. The fact that New York Democrat and fellow leftist Charles Rangel had proposed this plan wasn’t men

In his bid for the presidency, John Kerry pronounced a “secret plan” to reinstate selective service. The fact that New York Democrat and fellow leftist Charles Rangel had proposed this plan wasn’t mentioned, so Kerry’s allegation created hysteria within the blue states. But there are several ways in which reinstating the draft could benefit our country.

FREEDOM IS EARNED
Too many people in the United States believe that the freedoms granted them under the Constitution are an entitlement program provided by the government. A general paucity of historical education, combined with a public education agenda derogatory to the Founding Fathers as well as God, contribute to this attitude. The fact is, the Founding Fathers understood that codifying our freedoms within a constitution was only part of the picture, but our freedoms are ultimately earned and protected through military preparedness and the judicious use of force, generation after generation. The reinstatement of selective service creates the opportunity for every citizen to participate in the protection of the freedoms they hold dear, and having thus participated, would contribute to a greater appreciation of and gratitude for those freedoms.

ECONOMIC BENEFITS
One reason that war has traditionally created a phenomenal decline in the unemployment rate is that during a war, a large section of the workforce is taken out of the labor market. By reinstating the draft, unemployed young people would in fact become employed, and would no longer be counted among the jobless.

Within that population, there are many with limited to no job experience or skill development. During peacetime, military service can help young people develop their skills and become more focused on “what they want to be when they grow up.” Military service is a more effective career development tool than is a series of low-paying, dead-end jobs.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY OBLIGATIONS
Unlike many conservatives, I firmly believe that women as well as men should have military obligations. If we women truly want to claim equality under the law, we have an obligation equal to that of men to protect and defend the Constitution which allows us to make that claim. Women in the United States have the right to vote, to own property, to receive an education, to work outside the home, to pray, and to speak our minds on social policy. Why should we be exempt from action when those rights are threatened? Feminists fought long and hard to allow women to serve in combat roles; including women in selective service call-ups is the logical result.

DEFENDING THE SECOND AMENDMENT
Gun control advocates use the excuse that the average citizen shouldn’t own guns, as the Constitution only guarantees the right to bear arms to those involved in a “well-regulated militia.” Having every citizen actually be a soldier eliminates this argument. Plus, having more law-abiding people actually trained in the effective use of firearms would certainly contribute to the safety and security of cities and towns across the country.

The United States is one of the only countries that does not mandate military service for its citizens. Our partner and ally, Israel, has always expected its citizens to be prepared, trained, and ready to defend itself against the burgeoning monster of terrorism. Since the events of 9/11, shouldn’t we begin to think along those same lines?

I am only saying time for americans to get a job, serve their country, mourn the dead, trust the people who can be trusted stay away from ones who can not good people will listen help and have your back, bad people will lie, deceit, manipulate and control you like a puppet they view humans as puppets on strings whom ever the bosses or the control freaks might be they are not the bosses of people, people are free to live their own lives you make the call with your life your kids are back to school, their parents need a job, black, brown, red, yellow dotted and white too we all need work and If you are a true american stand up and defend this country they are millions In our military whether they are serving to go to college or to further their careers or do this out of pride I suggest you support our troops for america's sake, as for human trafficking we must put an end to this abusive practice no selling men, women, or children for their body or their lives we don't need It and whoever promotes should be punished and locked away and whoever Is this way of life of modern day slavery need a home, needs a family, needs community support, needs government support can go to college or enlist In our armed forces, or choose how to live their lives the way they want again nobody I mean nobody controls a human beings life let them decide how they wanna live.

GO BACK TO SCHOOL AND GO BACK TO WORK BYE

Downgrade to Rioting

2011-08-11T22:56:00.005-05:00

Hi

Everyone listening or reading I have posted youtube upload earlier today about the riots In london and the downgrade the tea party caused thier politics screwed up wall street, main street, middle america and everyone else In our society getting obama to fret a little and rioters, looters, criminals, thugs damaged property burned buildings and made london and the rest of britian turned life Into hell and got on the bad side of david cameron now the american president and the british prime minister should be worried and should take matters seriously their nation has been seriously damaged and It will be hard to pay up for the mess people caused this will be difficult despite me this week celebrating my birthday, cleaning my apartment, cooking a spaghetti and meatball dinner, getting my landlords to Install new working smoke detectors, doing my laundry I have to do this blog otherwise I won't be take my word to the streets.

First though over the weekend their was a shooting at home In copley ohio near akron that bad 8 people died In a neighborhood shooting after my birthday or the day after

Michael Hance Goes on Shooting Rampage in Copley, Ohio, Killing 7

Michael Hance may have been a kook, but he was a kook with very good aim. Police say nearly all of his victims died quickly after being shot at close range in the head, according to the initial autopsy results. See update after the jump...

Michael Hance did his best to wipe out his girlfriend Rebecca Dieter's entire family
Police are still processing four different crime scenes in a bloody rampage that began yesterday morning in Copley Township, a suburb of Akron, Ohio. Police say the problem was sparked at 11 a.m. by a visit from an out-of-town guest. That's when an unnamed gunman lost it.

Police aren't releasing a motive -- nor are they saying what prompted the gunfire -- but the gunman decided to first shoot his girlfriend at one home.

He then ran to a second home and confronted his girlfriend's brother. That's when he shot the brother and four other witnesses.

He then began chasing bystanders through back yards, shooting one while two other people managed to seek refuge in a house. The gunman entered the home at shot at least one of the people hiding before leaving.

By that time he was confronted by a cop and a former police officers, which led to a shootout. The cop killed him.

Rumor has it that the shooting started over a home improvement project, but that's just speculation at this point.

Police haven't officially released the names of the dead, but neighbors say they include:

- Autumn Johnson, a 17-year-old high school student.
- Autumn's grandparents Russ and Gertie Johnson.
- Brian Johnson, believed to be Autumn's uncle
- Scotty Deiter, an 11-year-old boy from Kentucky who was visiting his aunt.

We'll keep you posted as more details become available. (Special thanks to reader Silas Wainwright for the tip.)

UPDATE: Police have ID'd the killer as Michael Hance.

76-year-old Gilbert Elie lives just two houses away from where the shooting began. He says he heard gunshots Sunday morning and a neighbor calling for help. He went outside to find a woman face down in a pool of blood in her driveway. Her husband was leaning against the garage, already dead.

Elie then noticed the windows of their car had been blown out. He looked inside to see the couple's teenage granddaughter shot to death. Another woman he didn't recognize was also dead.

A woman in the home next door then emerged from her house. Moments later Michael Hance emerged from behind her, shooting her multiple times.

That's when Elie decided to run for cover. He says Hance and Rebecca Dieter had been living in the neighborhood for at least two years.

Though details are still a little sketchy, it seems that after gunning down all those people, Hance began to chase four others through the backyards of neighbors' homes. He shot and killed at least one before chasing Rebecca's 11-year-old nephew Scott Dieter into a home and killing him.

When he emerged from that house, he was caught by a cop and a former cop. A running shootout commenced before the unnamed officer was able to gun down Hance.

At least one friend of the family says the shooting stemmed from an argument over the estate of Rebecca Dieter's parents. And that dispute was apparently sparked by a visit from Rebecca's brother, Craig Dieter, who along with wife Beth and son Scott were visiting from Kentucky.

Police have now confirmed the dead as Russell and Gudrun Johnson; Amber Johnson and her father Brian Johnson; Craig and Scott Dieter; and an unnamed 16-year-old girl whose name is being withheld until her family can be informed.

In fact, it seems the only one to survive is Rebecca Dieter. She's currently hospitalized and police are saying much about her condition, but it seems she's in bad shape, since detectives still haven't been able to interview her.

UPDATE II: Hance hunted down and executed 11-year-old Scotty.

Though police still aren't sure of everything, they seem to have a rough idea of what happened during the shooting.

They say Hance first shot girlfriend Rebecca Dieter at the home they shared. Then he went next door and shot five of her relatives: Russell and Gudrun Johnson, their son Craig, their granddaughter Autumn and a teen who has not been identified.

But Craig's wife Beth, who was for spared for some reason, believes Hance was targeting certain people for execution.

He then chased Rebecca's brother Bryan Johnson and 11-year-old Scotty Dieter through neighboring yards. Hance caught up with Bryan and gunned him down. Then he went looking for Scotty.

The boy had run to a neighbor's home, where a woman, her boyfriend, and children took him in and hid in the basement.

Hance broke into the home and found Scotty. He ordered the family out before executing the little boy.

But when he tried to make his escape, at least one officer and a former cop were on the scene. It's believed that the cop shot Hance when he refused to drop his weapon.

Hance is thought to have carried two handguns during the rampage. He has no previous arrest record, but police say there was a previous incident in another town that may indicate he had stability problems.

Neighbors believe the shooting stemmed from a dispute over the condition of a home left behind by Rebecca and Craig's deceased parents, but there's still no word about what the exact problem was. Craig, his wife and son had come to Copley from Kentucky in hopes of settling the problem.

Hance has also recently lost his job, and Rebecca was pressing him to find work again. But he'd apparently told others that he didn't need to work because he was an inventor.

UPDATE III: Did Michael Hance kill seven people over the pressures of being a lazy-ass?

Rebecca Dieter and Hance had been dating for roughly 20 years. They used to live in a home in nearby Akron, but that house was foreclosed on. So when Rebecca's mom died, they moved into her house in Copley Township.

Though Hance had lost his job at a printing company, he apparently wasn't big on finding new work or keeping up the property. Neighbors say the home had gone to junk and that Hance even had an old car on blocks in the yard -- the ubiquitous white trash conversation piece.

That prompted neighbors to complain to the couple. Nextdoor neighbor Gudrun "Gerdie" Johnson asked Hance to clean it up. She later told others that Hance was so mad he told her to get off his property and to never come back.

Others had reportedly complained to the township trustees about the state of the home.

So Craig Johnson drove up from Kentucky to settle the problem. He wanted the home sold, but Hance didn't seem to be going for that idea. That may be why he made such an effort to hunt down and kill Craig's 11-year-old son Scotty.

Meanwhile, police have identified the final victim. 16-year-old Amelia Shambaugh had spent the night before the murders having a sleepover with her friend Autumn Johnson (See her Facebook memorial page here). It seems her only sin was that she was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

UPDATE IV: Most of Hance's victims died quickly after being shot in the head.

The initial autopsy reports are in, and if Michael Hance was a loser in life, he seems to have been a skilled executioner just before his death.

Hance himself died from a single gunshot wound to the torso, believed to have been fired by officer Ben Campbell. Both Campbell and Keith Lavery, a former cop turned school teacher, opened fire on Hance when he refused to drop his weapon.

Autopsy results for Hance's victims:

Russell Johnson, 67, Hance's neighbor, shot in the head and chest.
Goodrun Johnson, 64, Russell' s wife, shot once in the head.

Bryan Richard Johnson, 44, the Johnson's son, multiple shots in the head.

Autumn Johnson, 16, Bryan's daughter, shot in the chest, neck and limbs.
Amelia Shambaugh, 16, friend of Autumn, shot in the head and leg.
Craig Dieter, 51, brother of Hance's girlfriend, shot multiple times in the head.

Scott Dieter, 11, Craig's son, shot once in the head.

8th victim unknown but seems to be the killer himself michael hance sad to see the neighbors next door shot and killed by someone who Is really sick In the fucking head now with what happened at home sad and devastated to see this happen.

Now let's see the damage done In london over mark duggan's death the streets of london and elsewhere In england sparked a firestorm brewing let's see the damage:

The London riots of 2011

August 12, 2011AUG 12 — It has been a heady few days for those living in Britain, much more so those living in the suburbs of London, Manchester, Nottingham, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool and even Gloucester. Glued to television screens like one would while watching a live soap opera unfold, a myriad of emotions travel through those near and far from the scene of the various crimes: sadness, disbelief, anger, fear and even shame.

Concerned friends and relatives have been using various means of social networking trying to ascertain that I was indeed okay. Thankfully I live far enough from the hotbed of all the action, but the same couldn’t be said about many of my other Malaysian friends who live in the London suburbs badly hit by the rioting. Ealing, Enfield, Walthamstow, Clapham and even Croydon, a mostly non-descript town on the commuter belt towards Brighton, has seen the worst of the senseless criminal attacks in recent days.

I have yet to hear of any of my Malaysian friends being hurt or having had their property damaged in the rioting, but we have all by now heard about the young Malaysian student, 20-year-old Asyraf Haziq (quoted in some media as Asyraf Raziq), who was mugged as he sat dazed and bloodied after being attacked by rioters as he was travelling on his bike to meet friends for iftar. His ordeal was captured on video by a disbelieving bystander, and it was uploaded onto YouTube. It has since become one of the more iconic and disturbing images of the riots, and seen by hundreds of thousands, if not millions, worldwide.

At the time of writing Asyraf is in hospital recovering from an operation to fix his broken jaw, but his plight did not go unnoticed by kind Brits who were shocked and appalled at what they saw. Jamie Cowen set up a website almost immediately after the media managed to identify the victim, expressing his shame and distress at the images and urging members of the public to come up with ideas to do something nice for Asyraf.

Having spoken to various people, Jamie has since managed to set up a JustGiving donation page for those interested in contributing to the cause. Sony PlayStation have contributed a PlayStation Portable to replace the one stolen by the thugs as seen in the video, and Big Fish Bikes have offered him a folding bike to replace the one he was forced off at knifepoint by the mob. At last glance, there was also an offer from Spanish dental surgeons to provide him free dental treatment, and on the donation page funds are pouring in from not only in the UK, but also in Europe.

The kindness and collective shame felt by the British community expressed in their notes to Asyraf provides a welcome antidote to the ugliness during what has been a tumultuous few days for all around the country. “I hope this goes some way in restoring your faith in humanity (and Londoners)” said one note accompanying a donation. “Please don’t lose faith in the British people — we’re not all bad”, said another. It warms your cockles, it really does. You can even sense the collective shame when even certain newspapers known for taking a rather strong anti-immigrant stance are running front pages and headlines featuring non-white Britons as voices of sanity and sense in a time of turmoil.

The riots in London over last weekend, and across the country in the following days, have indeed shocked many. Coupled with it are some snide, sarcastic comments from Libya and Iran telling David Cameron how to run his country. It wasn’t long before I spotted comments in the Malaysian media about how the Bersih march would have escalated to this level of violence had it been allowed to proceed as initially planned. I find this quite distasteful on the one hand, because it equated those who marched on July 9 — be it for or against Bersih — to opportunistic, criminal looters seen on the streets of London, Manchester and Birmingham in recent days. Surely that is an insult to many, if not all, who were out and about on that day. On another level, I think there is a need to carefully delineate what constitutes a protest, a demonstration and a riot, and how they differ in both form and intention.

Collectively, they are all mass crowd gatherings and yes, when not well managed, there is a tendency for such gatherings to get violent, especially when emotions are highly charged. This is not unique to just protesters; I’ve seen enough fighting at football games to know. But there is a need to clearly differentiate protests and demonstrations with a set purpose or agenda, and mindless rioting with intent to cause criminal damage and commit theft and robbery. Because it is the latter, and not the former, that we have seen around London and the UK in recent days.

Yes, there was a small protest at the police shooting of 29-year-old Mark Duggan in Tottenham last week, but their agenda was clear: they were demanding dialogue and explanation for the shooting from the police. The ensuing violence may have been started by those on that initial protest, but the agenda that was brought forward was very quickly lost. Sky News and BBC News carried interviews yesterday with the looters and those in the streets milling about waiting for an opportunity to strike, and nowhere in their narratives were the death of Mark Duggan or police actions mentioned. Rather, they seemed to be railing against the lack of jobs, opportunities or structure for them, self-identifying themselves as a forgotten underclass.

But is it just poverty? One of the first looters being charged at the courts yesterday — caught driving away in a car with more than £5,000 (RM25,000) worth of stolen items — was a private-educated teenager, who lived in rather affluent surroundings. She, for one, cannot claim to be part of the “disenfranchised poor”. Others charged include an 11-year old boy, and a teaching assistant.

More and more it looks to me like most of the rioting in the days that followed the violence in Tottenham on Saturday was opportunistic and blatant theft. As one tweeter said, kids in the Middle East take to the streets for freedom, kids in Britain take to the streets to loot a 42-inch flat screen. There was no protest here — people were not carrying banners demanding justice for Mark Duggan. They were carrying Ugg boots and designer clothes they have just nicked from the shop they broke into.

And Britain is no stranger to protests. Only a few months ago we saw thousands take to the streets of London in protest of increased university fees, and in late June strikers showed their anger at pension cuts. The difference? While the student protest especially did escalate into violence, there was no looting of shops or mindless thuggery by the mobs.

Also clear is in how the public responded to these two events. The student protest against university fee increases divided opinion across the country and even in Parliament, some in support of the action and the cause, others against. The recent riots, however, have only resulted in widespread shame, disgust and anger.

As Britain regroups, answers are being sought as to what really caused the rioting and the looting. There is a need to sift through the symptoms and find the root cause. Is it anger at the government for recent cuts? Is it because teenagers really have nothing to do? Or is it something born out of a culture of consumerism, excess and self-inflated egos believing they are entitled to things without having to work for it? Is this an affliction of developed nations, and if so, what can we begin to learn as a developing country to make sure that when we, indeed, grow up, we won’t repeat their mistakes. Let’s not wait for society to be broken before we start to fix it.

I leave you with this as an afterthought, almost: many Malaysians have been warmed by the kind thoughts shown and donations made to one of our own, Asyraf, as he recovers from his injuries. The next time a guest of our country — be it a foreign student, or a foreign worker, especially from fellow Asian countries — meets with a strife, will we also be able to show equally strong character in helping them out?

Addendum: In addition to the JustGiving page, Malaysians in London and the UK are also collecting funds for students who have been affected by the riots. You can find out more from: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124270331001841. Also, if you know of other Malaysians affected by the recent riots, please ask them to contact the Malaysian Students Department or the Malaysian High Commission. They can’t help those they don’t know are affected.

Well how david cameron reacted here's what he has said today:

London riots: David Cameron's speech in 09 August 2011
This is a full text of Prime Minister David Cameron's Downing Street statement on the riots in London and other cities:
"Good morning. I've come straight from a meeting of the Government's Cobra committee for dealing with emergencies where we've been discussing the action that we will be taking to help the police to deal with the disorder on the streets of London and
elsewhere in our country.

"I've also met with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and the Home Secretary to discuss this further and people should be in no doubt that we will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain's streets and to make them safe for the law-abiding.

"Let me, first of all, completely condemn the scenes that we have seen on our television screens and people have witnessed in their communities.

"These are sickening scenes - scenes of people looting, vandalising, thieving, robbing, scenes of people attacking police officers and even attacking fire crews as they're trying to put out fires. This is criminality, pure and simple, and it has to be confronted and defeated.

"I feel huge sympathy for the families who've suffered, innocent people who've been burned out of their houses and to businesses who have seen their premises smashed, their products looted and their livelihoods potentially ruined.

"I also feel for all those who live in fear because of these appalling scenes that we've seen on the streets of our country. People should be in no doubt that we are on the side of the law- abiding - law-abiding people who are appalled by what has happened in their own communities.

"As ever, police officers have shown incredible bravery on our streets in confronting these thugs, but it's quite clear that we need more, much more police on our streets and we need even more robust police action and it's that that I've been discussing in Cobra this morning.

"The Metropolitan Police Commissioner has said that, compared with the 6,000 police on the streets last night in London, there will be some 16,000 officers tonight. All leave within the Metropolitan Police has been cancelled. There will be aid coming from police forces up and down the country and we will do everything necessary to strengthen and assist those police forces that are meeting this disorder.

"There have already been 450 people arrested. We will make sure that court procedures and processes are speeded up and people should expect to see more, many more arrests in the days to come.

"I am determined, the Government is determined that justice will be done and these people will see the consequences of their actions.

"And I have this very clear message to those people who are responsible for this wrongdoing and criminality: you will feel the full force of the law and if you are old enough to commit these crimes you are old enough to face the punishment.

"And to these people I would say this: you are not only wrecking the lives of others, you're not only wrecking your own communities - you are potentially wrecking your own life too.

"My office this morning has spoken to the Speaker of the House of Commons and he has agreed that Parliament will be recalled for a day on Thursday so I can make a statement to Parliament and we can hold a debate and we are all able to stand together in condemnation of these crimes and also to stand together in determination to rebuild these communities.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, there is important work to be done. Thank you."

This Is so bad social networking could be banned that bad:

David Cameron considers banning suspected rioters from social mediaPM says sites such as Twitter and Facebook 'can be used for ill' and that broadcasters should hand footage of riots to police

David Cameron has told parliament that in the wake of this week's riots the government is looking at banning people from using social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook if they are thought to be plotting criminal activity.

The prime minister said the government will review whether it is possible to stop suspected rioters spreading online messages, in his opening statement during a Commons debate on Thursday on the widespread civil disorder for which MPs were recalled from their summer recess.

Answering questions after his statement, Cameron said the home secretary, Theresa May, will hold meetings with Facebook, Twitter and Research In Motion within weeks to discuss their responsibilities in this area.

The prime minister also said that broadcasters – including the BBC and Sky News – have a responsibility to hand unused footage of the riots to police.

Past attempts to force broadcasters to hand over their footage have been met with fierce resistance. On Wednesday, the BBC's head of newsgathering, Fran Unsworth, said voluntarily giving unused footage to the police would damage broadcasters' editorial independence.

"Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck by how they were organised via social media. Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill," said Cameron.

"And when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them. So we are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.

"I have also asked the police if they need any other new powers."

"Police were facing a new circumstance where rioters were using the BlackBerry Messenger service, a closed network, to organise riots," he said. "We've got to examine that and work out how to get ahead of them."

The prime minister made the announcement as he vowed to do "whatever it takes" to restore order to the nation's streets after four nights of unprecedented civil unrest.

A move to disconnect potential rioters would mark a huge shift in Britain's internet policy, with free speech advocates likely to accuse the government of ushering in a new wave of online censorship.

Scotland Yard has made a string of arrests of people suspected of inciting the violence across England by using BlackBerry Messenger, Twitter and Facebook.

Cameron urged Twitter and Facebook to remove messages, images and videos that could incite more unrest across the country. "All of them should think about their responsibility and about taking down those images," he said.

"There was an awful lot of hoaxes and false trails made on Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger and the rest of it. We need a major piece of work to make sure that the police have all the technological capabilities they need to hunt down and beat the criminals."

Jim Killock, the executive director of online advocacy organisation Open Rights Group, said Cameron risked attacking the "fundamental" right of free speech.

"Events like the recent riots are frequently used to attack civil liberties. Policing should be targeted at actual offenders, with the proper protection of the courts," Killock added.

"How do people 'know' when someone is planning to riot? Who makes that judgment? The only realistic answer is the courts must judge. If court procedures are not used, then we will quickly see abuses by private companies and police. Companies like RIM must insist on court processes.

"Citizens also have the right to secure communications. Business, politics and free speech relies on security and privacy. David Cameron must be careful not to attack these fundamental needs because of concerns about the actions of a small minority."

Hampshire police on Wednesday arrested three people on suspicion of using Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger to incite violent disorder in Southampton. Those arrests are thought to be the first directly linked to the use of the popular BlackBerry instant messaging service. A number of arrests have been made of people suspected of inciting violence on Facebook.

David Lammy, the MP for riot-stricken Tottenham, on Tuesday appealed for the BlackBerry maker Research In Motion to shut off its BlackBerry Messenger service after claims that it played a key role in organising the unrest.

Research In Motion declined to comment.

Well what I can tell you things will calm down and get back to normal again we hope and I also hope all good people are okay and all bad people are In jail right now because this madness has to stop before this shit comes to america shield and armor yourselves but also be careful and take this matter seriously If this comes to america the world and the human race will lose let's not see anymore of this again.

Now TEA party downgrade they did damaged to everything In america like those rioters and looters did to britain now mercy at all here either the only difference we have peace In america not like britian they have a war zone same situation peopel are angry we just deal with it differently:

Axelrod: This was a 'tea party downgrade'

Top Obama strategist David Axelrod criticized Republicans over their handling of the debt-ceiling negotiations which he argued led to Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the nation’s credit rating Friday.

This was a “tea party downgrade,” said Axelrod on CBS News’ Face the Nation.

Axelrod said S&P’s decision was “largely a political analysis.” “And that's what we should focus on because what they were saying is they want to see the political system work. They want to see a sense of compromise. They want to see the kind of solution that the president has been fighting for, a large solution that will deal with the problem, that will be balanced, that will include revenues.”

Instead, said Axelrod, conservative, Tea Party-influenced Republicans “played brinksmanship with the full faith and credit of the United States. And this was the result of that.”

“It was the wrong thing to do to push the country to that point” he said. “And it's something that should never have happened. And that clearly is on the backs of those who were willing to see the country default, those very strident voices in the tea party.”

Kerry: ‘Tea Party Downgrade’

On Meet the Press this morning, Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) blamed Tea Party House members for the S & P’s downgrade.

“I believe this is, without question, the Tea Party downgrade,” Kerry said. “This is the Tea Party downgrade because a minority of people in the House of Representatives countered the will of even many Republicans in the United States senate who were prepared to do a bigger deal, to do $4.7 trillion dollars, $4 trillion dollars, have a mix of reductions and reforms in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, but also recognize that we needed to do some revenue.”

Kerry said the key issue was the long-term debt caused by Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

“What we need is a Washington that stops this bickering,” he continued. “Let’s get rid of these hard positions that I noticed even in Speaker Boehner’s comments about the downgrade, politicizing it in a sense, sort of blaming it on the Democrats and the lack of the decisions.”

“Barack Obama put a $4.7 trillion deal on the table,” Kerry said. “Three times he was refused that deal because there were some people in the Republican pary, and Mitch McConnell even admitted this, who wanted to default. He said there were some people in his party who were willing to shoot the hostage. In the end, they found out that the hostage was worth ransoming.”

He said that he believed some of his Senate colleagues, including John McCain, would be willing to “be serious” about coping with the debt crisis.

That's 2 close allies to obama david axelrod and john kerry telling the truth upon what Is really going the damage on wall street

The Tea Party Downgrade: Gambling America's Future on Wall Street

Securing our future means looking for real solutions to our economic woes, not looking to Wall Street.

0
inShareThe downgrading of the U.S. economy by Standard & Poor's exposes a grim reality: that the economic recovery from the 2008 Wall Street debacle was fiction. That fiction is becoming more evident every day as mothers and fathers try to feed their children while the economic crisis kicks them out of their homes. Millions of babies are born without real healthcare. Families are left homeless and thrown off of welfare.

The manipulation by S&P to downgrade the U.S. government’s credit rating not only demonstrates how dysfunctional our economy has become, it reflects S&P’s own mischievous behavior as a credit rating agency. The downgrade reflects nothing new about the creditworthiness of the U.S. government. And it’s a little too late. It is important to remember that S&P rated the toxic home mortgages of the 2007-2008 housing bubble as triple-A. So we should judge their ratings with a grain of salt.

Without considering the option of making the super rich and the large corporations pay their fair share in taxes, there seems to be no real relief in sight for the vulnerable, the unemployed, and those who have lost their homes. With the country facing deep austerity measures and cuts to essential programs, America’s future seems desolate. The lack of a new economic vision in government, and the resulting Wall Street dip, confirms that the United States, and especially its poor and working class, face long-lasting economic turmoil.

For many families in America, there is a constant struggle to make payments — working to make car payments, pay phone bills, make rent, or pay a mortgage, wondering where the day went. While corporate executives come home after a day at the office with wads of cash in their pockets, so many more are failing at raising a family on minimum wage. It is easy to see that there are two worlds in America — one of the well-to-do and the other of the struggling.

If there ever were an absence of economic security in this country it is seen in the grassroots movements in Wisconsin earlier this year, and in social movements like US Uncut, and Rebuild the Dream. It is seen in the civil disobedience that arises from a generation that feels, rightly so, that they have been deceived by those who have come before them, that they are at best tolerated in schools, ushered onto the streets, and almost inescapably fated for the hellholes of unemployment. They grew up feeling hungry, hated, and unloved, and this is the fire that spawns a seemingly-pervasive anger in America. Many feel very little hope that they can climb above the pit of poverty.

While a generation of young people arrives in a world without options, wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the few — and now the wealthy are scrambling to deal with the Tea Party Downgrade. Their very opulence and relative wealth makes them vulnerable. “The Debt Crisis” is a tea party phrase that is about as crazy as saying “military intelligence” or “the U.S. Department of Justice.” They’re just words and they have very little relationship to reality. Do you think cutting taxes and government budgets will make our economy secure? Do you feel economically secure? Do you think you will anytime soon?

This crisis could have been averted by eliminating our overall dependence on Wall Street. The solution to the current crisis requires not only a reorganizing of priorities, which puts the necessities of the most vulnerable before those of the powerful, but also economic democracy.

As we have witnessed, the U.S. government and our global economy are largely controlled by Wall Street. This sadistic relationship must end if there is to be any consequential restructuring of our economy — and change is possible, as demonstrated by a recent report from the New Economy Working Group entitled "How to Liberate America from Wall Street Rule."

We must lower our dependence on Wall Street, says the report. It proposes bold policies to support community banks which operate cooperatively and are controlled by nonprofit organizations, to greatly increase transparency in agencies that exercise great economic power such as the Federal Reserve, to create partnership banks in every state to fund local projects, and to institute stringent regulation on financial institutions, including the breaking up of big banks. These simple policy recommendations, if implemented, would unfetter America from Wall Street’s bondage and allow America to create a new economy.

As Wall Street ignores the suffering of a generation of Americans, we must all call for the changes needed to ensure a better future for our country. That means looking for real solutions to our economic woes, not looking to Wall Street.

Well you can state michele bachmann the one to blame for this mess "Queen Of Rage" yep whatever she touches turns Into fire,

Michele Bachmann Newsweek Magazine Cover Sparks Criticism

Michele Bachmann’s unflattering photo on the cover of the latest edition of Newsweek magazine led to a barrage of criticism being directed at Newsweek yesterday.

Conservative bloggers were immediately vocal that the magazine was showing a liberal media bias against the Tea Party-aligned congresswoman from Minnesota.

Others, meanwhile, accused Newsweek of sexism, reports The Slate.

The Newsweek cover features a close-up portrait of Bachmann with a slight smile and wide eyes, and the headline on the cover reads "Queen of Rage."

The accompanying article points to charges of hypocrisy against the congresswoman and Republican presidential candidate.

At the same time, it also lauds the "petite and prim" Minnesota representative for her "simple, black-and-white distillations of complex problems."

Right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin was one of the first to criticize the magazine for "bottom-of-the-barrel moonbat photo cliches about conservative female public figures."

Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women told the Daily Caller the Newsweek cover was sexist.

"Gloria Steinem has a very simple test: If this were done to a man or would it ever be done to a man - has it ever been done to a man? Surely this has never been done to a man," O'Neill argued.

What they are saying of a woman who is a serious contender for president of the United States of America...They are basically casting her as a nut job,” O’Neill said.

While NOW advocates the advancement of female politicians, the organization opposes Bachmann on just about every issue, CBS News reports.

The Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart, who also opposes Bachmann's policy stances, doesn't quite criticize Newsweek.

But he does say the cover will "cement" for some the characterization of Bachmann as "crazy."

As the magazine came under broader scrutiny, it was prompted to respond to the charges of bias.

Newsweek posted a photo gallery of "outtakes" of Bachmann on the Daily Beast website, claiming that in many of the photos taken of Bachmann, she had the same facial expression.

Newsweek editor-in-chief Tina Brown said in a statement, "Michele Bachmann's intensity is galvanizing voters in Iowa right now and Newsweek's cover captures that."

Bachmann, for her part, brushed off the magazine's unflattering portrayal of her. In Iowa yesterday, a voter asked Bachmann whether she had seen the cover, The Slate reports.

The voter described it to her, after Bachmann said she had not seen it. Bachmann dismissed the issue, saying, "Well, we'll have to take a look at that, won't we?"

She quickly turned back to wooing voters in the early-nominating state, telling them she is a seventh-generation Iowan, reports The Slate.

Okay how about GOP republican mitt romney "corporations are people my friend" really no wonder they are angry:

Mitt Romney Heckled, Presidential Candidate Says Corporations 'Are People, My Friend'
by Sam Stein and Elyse Siegel

WASHINGTON D.C. -- Speaking to an occasionally rowdy crowd two days before the Ames Straw poll, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made what seems likely to become a much-discussed flub, declaring to a group of Iowans that "corporations are people."

Pressed by an attendee at the Iowa State Fair on Thursday as to why he was focusing on entitlement reforms as a means of deficit reduction over asking corporations to share part of the burden, the GOP frontrunner shot back:

"Corporations are people, my friend... of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People's pockets. Human beings my friend."
The comment was immediately pounced on by Democrats, who saw it as another example of Romney being uncomfortable on the stump and in-artful in his attempts to come off as an every-day pol.

"This is what Mitt Romney is going to run on? Corporations are people? Really?" said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Brad Woodhouse. "There's a great message for people struggling to get by and trying to make ends meet. Don't complain -- corporations are people too!"

Speaking at the Des Moines Register soapbox, Romney was also interrupted by a heckler who asked if if he supported "scrapping the Social Security payroll cap so that rich people pay their fair share into the trust fund?"

Romney responded, "There was a time in this country where we didn't celebrate attacking people based on their success. We didn't go after people because they were successful. I've watched this president go across the country attacking people, and I... and I am... if you want to speak, you can speak. But right now it's my turn, so let me continue."

The presidential contender went on to underscore his bottom line. "If you don't like my answer, you can vote for someone else," he said.

The situation that unfolded comes ahead of Thursday night's Republican presidential primary debate in the Hawkeye State. It also comes two days before the Ames Straw Poll, a test of conservative strength and table-setter for next year's Iowa caucuses set to take place on Saturday. While Romney will appear on the ballot, he is not actively campaigning to lock up support ahead of the event.

"As you know I participated in a major way in a straw poll four years ago," Romney said in addressing his decision to forego the straw poll during an appearance on Fox News' "Hannity" on Wednesday night. "Some of the benefit I already was able to accrue based upon what happened last time around... I want to use my financial resources and my time this time to actually get delegates, not the straw polls -- they are nice but don't get you delegates -- I'm not going to participate in the straw polls anywhere in the country."

What an Idiot better man rick perry texas governor I hope he can repair the damage or barack obama I have this already figured out perry GOP candidate for 2012, and obama with the democrats of course,

Texas Gov. Rick Perry to run for president

Austin, Texas --

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is running for president, a spokesman confirmed Thursday, a move certain to shake up the race for the GOP nomination much to the delight of conservatives looking for a candidate to embrace.

Perry spokesman Mark Miner said the governor would make his intentions known Saturday while visiting South Carolina and New Hampshire just as most of his presidential rivals compete in a test vote in Iowa.

It wasn't much of a surprise. The longest-serving governor in Texas history has flirted with a presidential run since spring and has spent the past few months courting Republicans in early voting states and laying the groundwork for a campaign.

He met privately with potential donors from California to New York and gave rousing speeches to party faithful, casting himself as a fiscally responsible social conservative.

His intentions became even clearer over the past few days when officials disclosed that he would visit an important trio of states, a campaign-like schedule timed to overshadow the debate and the Iowa straw poll and, perhaps, wreak havoc on a field led by GOP front-runner Mitt Romney.

Unlike others in the race, Perry has credibility with the at-times warring camps of the GOP's primary electorate.

The pro-business tax-cutter who has presided over Texas' recent economic growth also is a devout social conservative with deep ties to some of the nation's evangelical leaders and Christians who dominate the pivotal Iowa caucuses.

But Perry also has never run a national campaign before, and it's unclear whether his Texas swagger and sometimes unorthodox policy positions will sit well with GOP primary voters outside his state.

Another open question is whether he can raise the money necessary to mount a strong campaign against those who have been in the race for months or more.

He may face fierce opposition from secular groups and progressives who argue that his religious rhetoric violates the separation of church and state and that his belief that some groups, such as the Boy Scouts of America, should be allowed to discriminate against gays is bigoted.

Obama: Something is wrong with country's politics that's the truth

Obama: Something is wrong with country's politics

NEW YORK (AP) Aligning himself with a public fed up with economic uncertainty and Washington gridlock, President Barack Obama declared Thursday: "There is nothing wrong with our country. There is something wrong with our politics."

His toughly worded message - he said there was frustration in his voice, in case anyone missed the point - came amid a series of polls showing that people are disgusted with political dysfunction and are dispensing blame all around, including on Obama.

Obama aired his frustration with the ways of Washington at an event in Michigan before pivoting to his re-election campaign and a pair of big-money fundraisers in New York City.

He delivered a condensed version of that message at a fundraiser at the lower Manhattan home of movie producer Harvey Weinstein, where celebrities Gwyneth Paltrow and Jimmy Fallon, were among the approximately 50 guests who paid $35,800 each to attend.

Obama said he told his Michigan audience that it deserves better than what it's been getting from Washington.

"They look at what's happening in Washington and they think these folks are really from outer space because they don't seem to understand how critical it is for us all to work together, Republicans, Democrats, independents, in order to move this country forward," Obama said.

He added that the country is realizing the need to get involved.

"We're going to have to get engaged and we're going to have to speak out," Obama said. "We're going to have to register the fact that we expect more and we expect better."

Obama's visit Thursday to Holland, Mich., and New York, was his first official trip outside Washington after spending more than a month in the nation's capital dealing with the debt debate. Obama said Americans were right to be worried about the country's 9.1 percent unemployment rate and fluctuations in the stock market. The contentious and partisan debt debate in Washington, he said, has done little to help.

"Unfortunately what we've seen in Washington in the last few months has been the worst kind of partisanship, the worst kind of gridlock, and that gridlock has undermined public confidence and impeded our efforts to take the steps we need for our economy," Obama said after touring a Michigan factory that makes advanced batteries for alternative-fuel vehicles.

A Washington Post poll released this week showed widespread and deep discontent with Washington. Nearly 80 percent said they were dissatisfied with the way the country's political system works, compared with 60 percent in November 2009. Seventy-one percent said the federal government is mostly focused on the wrong things, up from 55 percent in October 2010.

Both Obama and congressional Republicans were targets of unhappiness, with only 19 percent of people polled saying that Obama had made progress in solving the country's major problems, and just 10 percent saying that about Republicans. At the same time, 28 percent said Obama had made things worse, while 35 percent said congressional Republicans had done that.

Obama sought to channel the public's anger in order to avoid being sunk by it himself. He urged the public to tell Washington lawmakers they'd had enough with the bickering and stalemates.

"You've got to tell them you've had enough of the theatrics, you've had enough of the politics, stop sending out press releases. Start passing some bills that we all know will help the economy right now," he said. "That's what they need to do. They've got to hear from you."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, promptly responded with a news release, calling the president's remarks "political grandstanding" and urging him to deliver on promises to outline recommendations to rein in the nation's deficits.

The president has said he will send those recommendations in the coming weeks to a congressional supercommittee tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in savings. He also said on Thursday that he'd be offering new proposals "week by week" to create jobs, though he provided no details.

Despite Obama's calls for urgent action on the economy, Congress has left Washington for its August recess and Obama will soon follow for his annual summer vacation in Martha's Vineyard.

Obama urged lawmakers to get to work in September and pass a series of initiatives the White House says will spur job growth, including an extension of the payroll tax cut, three free-trade agreements and funding for road and bridge construction.

Obama has touted spending on clean-energy technologies as a job creator, and on advanced batteries such as those made at the Johnson Controls plant in Holland, Mich., as a way to boost U.S. auto companies.

Obama won Michigan in the 2008 presidential election and the economically battered state is crucial to his re-election hopes in 2012.

After the Michigan stop, Obama attended a pair of fundraisers in lower Manhattan that raised more than $2 million.

He attended a reception with about 15 people at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Battery Park that was thrown by Gary Hirshberg, chief executive of organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm, before heading to dinner at Weinstein's brick row house. Weinstein and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour were hosts.

Other notables seated at the round dinner tables were New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, singers Alicia Keys and Chris Martin, who is Paltrow's husband, Gayle King and designer Vera Wang. Obama's motorcade passed by ground zero on the way to the dinner.

The $35,800 admission price is the legal maximum donation per person. Obama's campaign keeps $5,000 and the Democratic National Committee pockets the remaining $30,800.

Associated Press writers Tim Martin in Holland, Mich., and Jeff Karoub in Detroit contributed to this report.

Well we do need to do better theirs something wrong with politics, culture, society well again like I have said earlier If our government falls, our private sector falls, If our economy falls, our culture falls, If our society falls the whole human race falls, remember our lives are endanger we need to seriously create jobs and we need to seriously also buy a baton, a police riot shield, a bulletproof vest and pepper spray In order to defend ourselves and fight back violence Is everywhere and real and It come to america let's hope that don't happen now with teh downgrade I also blame the tea party because they screwed up america and I do blame the criminals and thugs and punks you damaged britian people need to stand up and fight back If not then when It will be too late If you do nothing or simply allow bad behavior to happen and Its okay to do so I think that's wrong also whoever Is your friend ain't living In the real world whoever Is rage or whatever Is rage you need to control It and we do deserve better about the straw poll I suggested "go home you ain't welcomed here you don't wanna help out the working people or non working people In fact some of you don't even have a job" I meant was you get a job If you have a job then do so you don't sit on your asses, sounds like a republican, I will be supporting obama I deserve better this Is my country and I would rather enlist In the military then join a violent anti government militia or street gang or drug or sex lords and ringleaders on the street or the mentally Ill just remember we do have the police protecting people and doing their jobs also placing criminals from all walks of life of all types In jail or prison so be warned bad people and armor and shield yourselves good people of the world Its a war zone our politics, our economy, our society Including yours Is dangerous do whats right and do something seriously life Is too precious to lose not right now.

TIMOTHY BRAIN FOLEY

Debt Ceiling Raised So Is Our Rage

2011-08-02T19:17:00.010-05:00

Hi all I'm back from visiting family and friends In ohio, Indiana and michigan and I have learned something people are angry filled with rage not for a second or a day but Its all about politics the anger Is clearly about politics don't matter whose right or whose wrong that's just politics nothing personal I know that some on the far right here at home and a board wanna take away lives remember gabrielle giffords was shot buy she came back and vote for raising the debt ceiling most are not so fortunate

You one man out of norway anders breivik has name member of knights templar 2083 not a medieval warrior reenactment group but more like a far right christian extremist terrorist group of out europe seems like the dark ages alright but this is not like they are In shiny armor here carrying a sword wearing a shield not like that at all they have modern day weapons and guns and bulletproof vests In today's world that's how we should things or unless you are over 65 years of age, human on disability, or a war veteran who did served this country a warrior at one time not today however you will get you're money from the government I'm certain of that fact or the whole thing would shut down like our government, our economy, private sector, public and private, main street and wall street, whatever we take for granted we will lose It but that will not happen now but someday soon It will be aware and be careful.

Now before we say anything about the results you need to you detalis about this,

What's in the debt ceiling bill

Congressional leaders are making the final push for a deal to raise the debt-ceiling ahead of Treasury’s Tuesday deadline to avoid default.

The final package was posted by the House Rules Committee Sunday night, taking the form of a 74-page amendment that will serve as the “Budget Control Act of 2011."

RAISES THE DEBT CEILING

President Barack Obama has a fairly easy path to getting the debt ceiling raised between $2.1 trillion and $2.4 trillion. Initially, the debt limit is increased by $400 billion, when the president certifies that it is within $100 billion of being exceeded. An additional $500 billion cap room is created if Congress does not pass, with veto-proof majorities, a resolution disapproving of the increase sought by the president. The total up-front increase is $900 billion, assuming that there’s not enough support in Congress to stop it. Another $1.2 trillion hike occurs when the president seeks it — but that figure would rise to $1.5 trillion if a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution has been sent to the states for ratification or a level between $1.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion if a new deficit-reduction committee’s plan is enacted and its legislation exceeds $1.2 trillion savings. The $1.2 trillion increase could be halted if Congress approves a joint resolution of disapproval, which is unlikely.

DISCRETIONARY SPENDING CAPS

The deal puts in place the annual discretionary spending caps found in the bill the Republican-controlled House passed last week worth about $917 billion in cuts over 10 years. But those caps, from $1.043 trillion in fiscal 2012 to $1.234 trillion in fiscal 2021, are now split between “security” and “non-security” spending, enforceable by across-the-board cuts. The bill defines the “security category” as ‘discretionary appropriations associated with agency budgets for the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Nuclear Security Administration, the intelligence community management account, and all budget accounts under international affairs.

THE SUPERCOMMITTEE

The top leaders in each party in each chamber would appoint three members to a 12-person joint select committee that would be charged with coming up with $1.2 trillion or more in deficit reduction. The committee would report by Nov. 23, and the bill provides for expedited floor procedures for voting in each chamber by December 23. If the committee fails to report a bill by Nov. 23 — or either house fails to act within a month after that — the committee loses its special privileges.

THE HAMMER

If Congress doesn’t act on the supercommittee recommendations — or if the new law doesn’t meet the deficit-reduction goals — new cuts based on the difference between $1.2 trillion and whatever is enacted (perhaps nothing) would go into effect. The reductions would be divided equally between security and non-security programs.

MISCELLANY

Under the deal, Pell Grants get an extra $20 billion in funding over the next two years, and the bill cuts subsidized loans for graduate students.

How the house passed this Is surprising everyone except progressives and TEA party members approved of this measures now we know whose on the far left and the far right now

WASHINGTON By a 269-to-161 vote, the House of Representatives voted Monday to increase the debt ceiling and reduce projected budget deficits. The U.S. Senate will likely vote Tuesday, with strong expectations the bill will be approved in the upper chamber. President Barack Obama has said he'll sign the bill when presented to him. The Treasury Department has said the nation risks default if the debt ceiling isn't raised by Tuesday

Senate passes debt-ceiling expansion bill 74-26

WASHINGTON — The Senate approved an emergency bill to avert a first-ever government default with just hours to spare.

The strong bipartisan vote was 74-26. The measure now heads to President Barack Obama for his signature. The legislation makes a down payment on taming out-of-control budget deficits

"Finally Washington is taking responsibility for spending money it doesn't have," Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said at the start of debate.

The legislation easily passed the House on Monday. The White House promises that Obama will quickly sign the measure into law.

Obama signs debt bill but hardly happy with deal

President Barack Obama Obama signed emergency debt-limit legislation to avoid an unprecedented national default that he said would have devastated the U.S. economy, closing out months of rancorous debate that nearly paralyzed Washington.
Just hours before a midnight deadline, Obama Obama signed the bill that begins the process of curbing the country's spiraling debt and avoids a default by increasing America's $14.3 trillion cap on borrowing. Obama Obama signed the legislation into law shortly after the Senate passed it Tuesday. The House of Representatives approved the legislation Sunday night.

Administration officials warned of disastrous consequences for the struggling U.S. economy that exhibited new weakness Tuesday with reports that consumer spending fell to levels not seen in nearly two years. Some financial analysts fear the U.S. could fall back into recession.

Though the compromise deal passed, it deeply angered both conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats. Conservatives said it did to little to shrink government and slash spending. Liberals bemoaned cuts to programs they had fought to keep in place for years.

A stern-faced ObamaObama said at the White House that raising the debt limit was essential but more and different economic steps were badly needed.

"We've got to do everything in our power to grow this economy and put America back to work," the president said, arguing, as he has throughout the debt controversy, that fixing the economy requires increased tax revenues in tandem with spending cuts. He said that must happen in the upcoming November attempt to whittle still more out of the budget.

Wall Street crumpled Tuesday, dismayed by reports of new economic weakness and unimpressed by Congress' prescription. The Dow Jones industrial average sank by 2.2 percent, its eighth straight losing session. Standard & Poor's 500 lost 2.6 percent to finish at its lowest point of the year.

The White House and congressional leaders said the debt ceiling and spending cut legislation was important to reassure investors at home and abroad. Avoiding default was essential to preserving America's AAA credit rating. With the signing of the debt deal, Moody's Investors Service, one of the three main ratings agencies, said it would leave U.S. bonds with their triple-A rating but with a negative outlook to show there is still a risk of a downgrade.

The compromise deal to persuade Republican lawmakers to raise the federal debt limit will cut federal spending by $2.1 trillion or more over the next decade. But Obama">Obama immediately challenged Republicans to accept higher taxes on the wealthy in the November round of deficit cuts later this year. They adamantly refused to accept that idea during the past months' dispute, and there was little evidence of a change in position.

"The American people agreed with us on the nature of the problem. They know the government didn't accumulate $14.3 trillion in debt because it didn't tax enough," said the party's leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell.

While Democrats have complained about the concessions Obama">Obama accepted in the deal, McConnell conceded that Republicans got only part of what they wanted. He pointed to next year's elections with control of the White House and Congress at stake. The Republicans control the House, while Democrats hold power in the Senate and White House.

Polls showed that Congress and Obama Obama have taken a sharp hit in U.S. public opinion because of the prolonged battle over lifting the debt ceiling, something that past Congresses have done as a matter of course.

Obama">Obama placed his signature on bill less than two hours after a bipartisan 74-26 vote in the Senate. The House approved the measure Monday night on a 269-161 roll call that also reached across party lines and was sealed by a rap of the gavel by Speaker John Boehner.

This week's peace pact between Democrats and Republicans is unlikely to be long-lived.

The bill sets up a powerful 12-member committee of lawmakers with authority to recommend fresh deficit savings from every corner of the federal budget.

Politically sensitive benefit programs such as Social Security pensions and the Medicare program for the elderly will be on the table as the panel of six Republicans and six Democrats works against a November deadline. So, too, an overhaul of the tax code.

As an incentive for Congress to act, failure to do so would trigger $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts, incurring Defense Department cuts that Republicans oppose as well as cuts to domestic programs cherished by Democrats.

Even before the president signed the legislation, he and Republicans were maneuvering for political position on the next stage.

"We can't balance the budget on the backs of people who have borne the biggest brunt of this recession," the president said, renewing his call for higher taxes on the wealthy. "Everyone is going to have to chip in. It's only fair."

Out of all the work gabrielle giffords showed up on capitol hill the sense changed for the better:

Gabrielle Giffords 'disappointed' at US debt ceiling row after Congress returnShot politician says she could not take the chance that her absence from vote on debt ceiling bill 'could crash our economy'

Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona politician who was shot in the head in January, said she had been "deeply disappointed" by the party political wrangling that brought the US to the brink of an unprecedented default, after her return to Congress for a vote on the debt-ceiling bill.

To rapturous applause from both Republicans and Democrats, the convalescent congresswoman appeared in the House of Representatives with minutes left before the end of the vote, walking unsteadily and mouthing "thank you" to those who had leapt to their feet to welcome her back, including the Vice-President Joe Biden and the Tea Party favourite Michele Bachmann.

Such a show of unity had been rare in the weeks leading up to the vote, a fact Giffords, a Democrat, observed in a statement released afterwards.

"I have closely followed the debate over our debt ceiling and have been deeply disappointed at what's going on in Washington. I strongly believe that crossing the aisle for the good of the American people is more important than party politics," she said.

Giffords, who is still undergoing outpatient therapy, added: "I had to be here for this vote. I could not take the chance that my absence could crash our economy."

Her vote in favour of the bill was one of 269 that sent it through the House with a hefty majority. Hers was without doubt the most enthusiastically greeted.

"It was one of the most thrilling moments for all of us to see this real heroine return to the House and to do so at such a dramatic time," said the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, who welcomed Giffords back with what she called "girl hugs".

On the House floor, Pelosi paid tribute to a woman she called "the personification of courage, of sincerity, of admiration throughout the country".

She said: "There isn't a name that stirs more love, more admiration, more respect. Thank you, Gabby."

Leaning on an aide and with her once-blonde hair cropped and brown, Giffords appeared strikingly different from when she was sworn in as a third-term congresswoman in January. Days after that, she narrowly escaped death in a shooting spree during a "Congress on Your Corner" gathering in the car park of a Tucson supermarket. Six people were killed; Jared Lee Loughner has been charged with the attack. In May he was declared unfit for trial.

At the vote, Giffords was accompanied by her husband, Mark Kelly, an astronaut who announced his retirement from Nasa in June, citing his wife's medical needs.

Politicians of both parties paid tribute to Giffords's courage. "She is a model for the attitude that we should all have because she is tenacious and she is relentless in her love for America. You were missed and we're glad to have you back," said the Texas Republican Ted Poe.

Biden told the Associated Press after the vote: "She's remarkable. She's the embodiment of a strong, strong, strong woman. Think about what that woman's been through, and think about her determination."

Late on Monday, a message was posted on Giffords's Twitter feed. "The Capitol looks beautiful," it read. "And I am honored to be at work tonight."

That's what you call success and triumph of the human spirit she was lucky I have to admit to be alive after someone on the hard far right tried to kill her after 6 other this passed january In tucson In one unbeliveable story and she made It back to washington when americans we're about to lose their minds once more now In norway a different story anders behring breivik killed 85 norweigans the same way jared lee loughner did so In arizona why because this matters and this Is what exactly what gabrielle giffords faced violence deadly violence from christian fundamentalists on the extreme far right now nobody Important survived but a lot we're very terrified by that terrorist again let me remind you knights of templar 2083 Is no joke and must be taken seriously,

Norway police say 85 killed in island youth camp attack

At least 85 people died when a gunman opened fire at an island youth camp in Norway, hours after a bombing in the capital Oslo killed seven, police say.

Police have charged a 32-year-old Norwegian man over both attacks.

The man dressed as a police officer was arrested on tiny Utoeya island after an hour-long shooting spree.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said many people were still looking for their children and had not so far been able to locate them.

He was speaking after meeting victims and relatives with Norway's King Harald, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon in the town of Sundvollen near the island.

He first shot people on the island - afterward he started shooting people in the water”

Mr Stoltenberg said he was "deeply touched" by the meetings. "We will do whatever we can to give them as much support as possible," he said.

Earlier he said that he was due to have been on Utoeya - "a youth paradise turned into a hell" - a few hours after the attack took place.

The suspect is reported by local media to have had links with right-wing extremists. He has been named as Anders Behring Breivik. Police searched his Oslo apartment overnight and are questioning him.

The BBC's Richard Galpin, near the island which is currently cordoned off by police, says that Norway has had problems with neo-Nazi groups in the past but the assumption was that such groups had been largely eliminated and did not pose a significant threat.

Police say they are investigating whether the attacks were the work of one man or whether others helped.

"At Utoeya, the water is still being searched for more victims," deputy police chief Roger Andresen told reporters.

"We have no more information than... what has been found on [his] own websites, which is that it goes towards the right and that it is, so to speak, Christian fundamentalist."

A farm supply firm has confirmed selling six tonnes of fertiliser to Mr Breivik who is reported to have run a farming company. Speculation has been rife that fertiliser could have been used in the Oslo bomb.

'Posed as policeman'

The number killed in the island shooting spree, which is among the world's most deadly, had been put at 10 on Friday - but soared overnight. Hundreds of young people had been attending the summer camp organised by the governing Labour Party on Utoeya island.

Eyewitnesses described how a tall, blond man dressed as a policeman opened fire indiscriminately, prompting camp attendees to jump into the water to try to escape the hail of bullets.

Some of the teenagers were shot at as they tried to swim to safety.

Armed police were deployed to the island but details of the operation to capture the suspect remain unclear. After his arrest he was charged with committing acts of terrorism.

Police say they discovered many more victims after searching the area around the island. They have warned the death toll may rise further as rescue teams continue to scour the waters around the island.

The gunman is reported to have been armed with a handgun, an automatic weapon and a shotgun.

"He travelled on the ferry boat from the mainland over to that little inland island posing as a police officer, saying he was there to do research in connection with the bomb blasts," NRK journalist Ole Torp told the BBC.

"He asked people to gather round and then he started shooting, so these young people fled into the bushes and woods and some even swam off the island to get to safety."

One 15-year-old eyewitness described how she saw what she thought was a police officer open fire.

"He first shot people on the island. Afterward he started shooting people in the water," youth camp delegate Elise told Associated Press

'Despicable violence'

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II spoke of her shock and sadness in a letter to King Harald.

In Oslo, government officials urged people to stay at home and avoid central areas of the city.

Shards of twisted metal, rubble and glass littered the streets of central Oslo left devastated by Friday's enormous explosion.

Windows in the buildings of the government quarter were shattered and witnesses described how smoke filled the atmosphere around the blast site.

The BBC's John Sopel in Oslo says there is a heavy military presence, with checkpoints around the quarter.

Mr Stoltenberg said civil servants were among the dead in Oslo and he knew some of those killed.

There are also concerns that more victims may still be inside buildings hit by the initial massive explosion

Norway shootings: Gunman fired for 90 minutes before surrendering

OSLO, Norway — A gunman who opened fire on an island teeming with young people kept shooting for 1.5 hours before surrendering to a SWAT team, which arrived 40 minutes after they were called, police said Saturday.

Survivors of the shooting spree have described hiding and fleeing into the water to escape the gunman, but a police briefing Saturday detailed for the first time how long the terror lasted — and how long victims waited for help.

When the SWAT team did arrive, the gunman, who had two firearms, surrendered, said Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim.

"There were problems with transport to Utoya," where the youth-wing of Norway's left-leaning Labor Party was holding a retreat, Sponheim said. "It was difficult to get a hold of boats, but that problem was solved when the SWAT team arrived."

At least 85 people were killed on the island, but police said four or five people were still missing. Divers have been searching the surrounding waters. Police earlier said there was still an unexploded device on the island, but it later turned out to be fake.

The attack followed a car bomb outside a government building in Oslo, where another seven people were killed. Police are still digging through rubble there, and Sponheim said there are still body parts in the building.

Police have not identified the suspect, but Norwegian national broadcaster NRK say he is 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik.

Authorities have not given a motive for the attacks, but both were in areas connected to the Labor Party, which leads a coalition government.

Officials have said the suspect visited Christian fundamentalist websites and had links to a rightist party. Mazyar Keshvari, a spokesman for Norway's Progress Party — which is conservative but within the political mainstream — said that the suspect was a paying member of the party's youth wing from 1999 to 2004.

Police said

he is talking to them and has admitted to firing weapons on the island. It was not clear if he had confessed to anything else he is accused of. Police said he retained a lawyer, but the attorney did not want to be named.

"He has had a dialogue with the police the whole time, but he's a very demanding suspect," Sponheim said.

Earlier in the day, a farm supply store said they had alerted police that he bought six tons of fertilizer, which is highly explosive and can be used in homemade bombs.

In all, 92 people have been killed in what Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said was peacetime Norway's deadliest day. The Oslo University hospital said it has so far received 11 wounded from the bombing and 19 people from the camp shooting.

"This is beyond comprehension. It's a nightmare. It's a nightmare for those who have been killed, for their mothers and fathers, family and friends," Stoltenberg told reporters Saturday.

Gun violence is rare in Norway, where the average policeman patrolling in the streets doesn't carry a firearm. Reports that the assailant was motivated by political ideology were shocking to many Norwegians, who pride themselves on the openness of their society. Indeed, Norway is almost synonymous with the kind of free expression being exercised by the youth at the political retreat.

Stoltenberg vowed that the attack would not change those fundamental values.

"It's a society where young people can ... have controversial opinions without being afraid," he told reporters.

Norway's royal family and prime minister led the nation in mourning, visiting grieving relatives of the scores of youth gunned down. Buildings around the capital lowered their flags to half-staff. People streamed to Oslo Cathedral to light candles and lay flowers; outside, mourners began building a makeshift altar from dug-up cobblestones. The Army patrolled the streets of the capital, a highly unusual sight for this normally placid country.

The city center was a sea of roadblocks Saturday, with groups of people peering over the barricades wherever they sprang up, as the shell-shocked Nordic nation was gripped by reports that the gunman may not have acted alone. Police have not confirmed a second assailant but said they are investigating witness reports.

The queen and the prime minister hugged when they arrived at the hotel where families are waiting to identify the bodies. Both king and queen shook hands with mourners, while the prime minister, his voice trembling, told reporters of the harrowing stories survivors had recounted to him.

On the island of Utoya, panicked teens attending a Labour Party youth wing summer camp plunged into the water or played dead to avoid the assailant in the assault. A picture sent out on Twitter showed a blurry figure in dark clothing pointing a gun into the water, with bodies all around him.

The carnage began Friday afternoon in Oslo, when a bomb rocked the heart of Norway. About two hours later, the shootings began at the youth retreat, according to a police official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because that information had not been officially released by Norway's police.

The blast in Oslo, Norway's capital and the city where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, left a square covered in twisted metal, shattered glass and documents expelled from surrounding buildings.

The dust-clogged scene after the blast reminded one visitor from New York of Sept. 11. People were "just covered in rubble," walking through "a fog of debris," said Ian Dutton, who was in a nearby hotel.

Asked whether all victims at Utoya died from gunshot wounds or if some had drowned, Stoere, the foreign minister, said "you will likely see a combination."

A 15-year-old camper named Elise who was on Utoya said she heard gunshots, but then saw a police officer and thought she was safe. Then he started shooting people right before her eyes.

"I saw many dead people," said Elise, whose father, Vidar Myhre, didn't want her to disclose her last name. "He first shot people on the island. Afterward he started shooting people in the water."

Elise said she hid behind the same rock that the killer was standing on. "I could hear his breathing from the top of the rock," she said.

She said it was impossible to say how many minutes passed while she was waiting for him to stop.

At a hotel in the village of Sundvollen, where survivors of the shooting were taken, 21-year-old Dana Berzingi wore pants stained with blood. He said the fake police officer ordered people to come closer, then pulled weapons and ammunition from a bag and started shooting.

Several victims "had pretended they were dead to survive," Berzingi said. But after shooting the victims with one gun, the gunman shot them again in the head with a shotgun, he said.

"I lost several friends," said Berzingi, who used the cell phone of one of those friends to call police.

An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the attack "is probably more Norway's Oklahoma City than it is Norway's World Trade Center." Domestic terrorists carried out the 1995 attack on a federal building in Oklahoma City, while foreign terrorists were responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Aerial images broadcast by Norway's TV2 showed members of a SWAT team dressed in black arriving at the island in boats and running up the dock. People who had stripped down to their underwear moved in the opposite direction, swimming away from the island toward the mainland, some using flotation devices.

The United States, European Union, NATO and the U.K., all quickly condemned the bombing, which Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague called "horrific" and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen deemed a "heinous act."

"It's a reminder that the entire international community has a stake in preventing this kind of terror from occurring," President Barack Obama said.

Obama extended his condolences to Norway's people and offered U.S. assistance with the investigation. He said he remembered how warmly Norwegians treated him in Oslo when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II wrote to Norway's King Harald to offer her condolences and express her shock and sadness at the shooting attacks in his country.

A U.S. counterterrorism official said the United States knew of no links to terrorist groups and early indications were the attack was domestic. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was being handled by Norway.

Anders Breivik and the Knights Templar: '2083' Manifesto

Knights Templar: Was Anders Behring Breivik Acting Alone?

Anders Behring Breivik, arrested following the mass shooting on Utoya on July 22, has admitted to both the shooting and the Oslo bombing that took place just hours before.

Breivik kept a detailed diary during the runup to the attacks. Several times he mentions a group called the Knights Templar, which he describes as “international Christian military order" that fights against "Islamic suppression[sic]". The Norway terror attacks left at least 93 people dead. (Firsthand account of the Utoya massacre, via Reddit)

Anders Breivik claimed that there 80 more "knights" like him throughout Europe.

Anders Breivik's Manifesto

Breivik wrote a manifesto titled "2083: A European Declaration of Independence" , which warns of "cultural Marxism" and the Islamification of Europe. It is written under the English version of Breivik's name, Andrew Berwick. The manifesto is marked with a red cross on a white field, the symbol of the Knights Templar.

Who Are the Knights Templar?

The Knights Templar were a Christian military order founded to protect pilgrims traveling to and from Jerusalem. Endorsed by the Pope, the Knights Templar fell out of favor when Europe lost control of Jerusalem. The Knights Templar also made enemies of other groups of European knights

The order was disbanded and its members arrested and tortured by King Philip IV of France, who took advantage of their fall from grace as a way to avoid paying his debts to the order. The Knights Templar were shrouded in secrecy, which eventually bred mistrust from outside their ranks. They claimed to hold several religious relics, including the Shroud of Turin and a piece of the cross on which Jesus of Nazareth was crucified.

Breivik says the Christian military order was refounded in 2002 in London under the name PCCTS as an armed “anti-Jihad crusader-organization.”
Source: washingtonpost.com

According to his manifesto, arrest was part of Breivik's plan, though he has yet to get the platform for propaganda that makes up the next stage of his plan: his arraignment was held behind closed doors. It has not been confirmed that Breivik had any accomplices.

That's something to think about where here at home we can do the same and look at ourselves hating on muslims only makes matters worse remember far right extremist christians want muslims dead can't say that's the TEA party but we might as well think so,

Anti-Muslim rhetoric leaves mark

There surely is no real comprehending or explaining the gluttonous violence that left scores of innocents dead in Norway, yet it would be foolhardy to ignore the roadmap provided by the accused killer, Anders Behring Breivik. His 1,500-word manifesto is a tour of a twisted mind and at once a testament to the dangerous reach of a U.S. export -- virulent, far-right, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Norwegian authorities still are sifting through the facts surrounding the slaughter on two fronts: a bomb blast in Oslo that shredded lives and tore open building fronts and a 90-minute shooting spree at a Labor Party camp on the island of Utoya. The Norwegian Breivik has been blamed for the attacks; his manifesto, however, finds considerable inspiration from U.S.-based bloggers and Western writers whose stock in trade is Islamophobia.

An accounting in The New York Times attributes 64 quotations in the Breivik manifesto to American Robert Spencer, purveyor of the website jihad watch.org, which is a running primer on "violent jihad," "Islamic terror" and "Islamic imperialism." For his part, Spencer draws inspiration from New York; his website links to the Spencer-featured documentary "The Ground Zero Mosque: The Second Wave of the 9/11 Attacks," which addresses the "planned Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero." The blurb at Amazon.com, quoting one of the film's collaborators, states it is "perfect for showing your skeptical friends and family what we're really up against, and explaining to them how and why we must fight back."

Prominently displayed on the Spencer site is another item referencing a "911 FREEDOM RALLY at GROUND ZERO" and advising "YES TO FREEDOM NO TO STEALTH JIHAD."

An accompanying commentary by Spencer, posted July 14, touts a Sept. 11 rally at Park Place and West Broadway in lower Manhattan, sponsored by the group American Freedom Defense Initiative, led by executive director Pamela Geller, a leading foe of the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero.

"It is crucial to stand for freedom on this tenth anniversary of the heinous 9/11 jihad attacks," Geller states in the Spencer blog post. "We must show the jihadists we are unbowed in the defense of freedom."

Breivik certainly believed he was doing his part, if his manifesto is to believed. Posted on the Internet, the writing is a hate-filled screed aimed at Muslims, immigrants and those who have championed multiculturalism over Norway's "indigenous" culture.

According to an English translation of Norway royal court papers, as reported by The Associated Press: "The operation was not to kill as many people as possible but to give a strong signal that could not be misunderstood that as long as the Labor Party keeps driving its ideological lie and keeps deconstructing Norwegian culture and mass importing Muslims then they must assume responsibility for this treason."

He blames his nation's politicians for not doing more to stem the cultural influences of Islam. He said the the attacks were intended to start a revolution to inspire Norwegians to reclaim their nation from Muslims and other immigrants. He writes approvingly of Geller and Spencer and borrows generously from other U.S.-based writers, including a killer, Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber.

As with so many such attacks, only the perpetrator can fairly be held responsible for the carnage in Norway. Indeed, as "jihadwatch" noted in a posting Monday, "Robert Spencer has never supported a terrorist act." The Christian Science Monitor quoted Geller stating much the same; she said the accused "is responsible for his actions. If anyone incited him to violence, it was Islamic supremacists."

Nonetheless, it would be foolhardy to consider the strident views that helped shape Breivik's virulent take on the world and summarily conclude that such rhetoric doesn't leave a grievous and indelible mark.

-- The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

In short you know what violence does to you to people kills them alright everywhere you go their sin deadly sin serious deadly sin real serious deadly sin you can not afford to Ignore gluttony, envy, lust, wrath, sloth, pride and greed whatever has happen gotten people fatter, more hateful, more obsessed, more lazy, more selfish, more Ignorant and more furious and filled with rage these times for better or for worse we should be grateful just to be living no more going over board and not going after things we do not get and buying stuff we do not need remember Its consumerism and politics driving us mad nowadays movies have cowboys with aliens seen that movie over smurfs or for that matter next year snow white and the huntsman over the grimm brothers snow white something I personally look forward the first one she Is In armor you see even disney princesses have to fight back last alice In wonderland film In 2010 another example too besides the movies maybe today men and women are humans marriage Is one thing gender equality Is another I support both causes but to let you life Is Important to defend and fight back the enemy wants you dead and people who know could be killing someone Important let that not be obama or anyone In politics or anyone anywhere else they are dangerous people out there enough with raging enough with advocating because america goes Into default and shut Its government, private sector, economy on wall street and main street which they have lost profits because of a threat next thing they should do Is declare martial law before a civil war happens here at home and half of the nation Is on the far right conservatives more then liberals, progressives, centerists, libertarians and Independents If Its one against all that would be bad so bad you can not begin to think let's hope no more violence or defaults or shut downs happen ever again I mean ever also allow people to do what they want and not what they are told let them be free not be controlled you forget this Is america and the american dream could be dead someday just not today and thankfully Its not for now.

BE STRONG AND DEFEND YOUR LIFE

TIM FOLEY

More Lockouts, More Shutdowns, More Clowning Around

2011-07-02T01:44:00.015-05:00

Well they are more shutdowns, more lockouts and more clowns in politics, minnesota like Indiana, ohio and wisconsin are shutting down government, the NBA like the NFL locking out newt gingrich, michele bachmann and sarah palin claims to be undefeated and know john wayne but Instead are proving only to the world they are haters, clowns and killers I wish the world has not came to this before the 4th of july holiday weekend the fireworks here means no celebrations but more like more greed, more envy and more anger Instead you think you can trust some of them I have learned you can't either they lie, trick, deceit or all of the above the anger upon previous blogs this year only gotten worse not better and spread to more places and gotten to more people happy about thing glenn beck off the air on fox news and he and his family faced with a hostile crowd well we will at least see less of him and I'm grateful people got Into his face In new york we don't need to talk about him we won we defeated him our focus now Is on the koch brothers, some GOP candidates who don't listen, elected officials In minnesota, and anyone who has a lack of understanding to john wayne the duke not to confuse with john wayne gacy the clown killer also again stop the hate may I add this time out stop the lies too because some don't know what they are even talking about let's use this blog to straighten the madness and seek some truth.

I want start things off In minnesota another government shut down and their governor Is not tim pawlenty a republican and presidental candidate but a democrat mark dayton well let's hear It loud and clear:

Broken deals, bitter words and a state shuts down

Dayton renewed his call to tax the rich; GOP pointed to harm of long-term debt. The governor and legislative leaders worked into the evening in a last-ditch bid for resolution.

Talks imploded Thursday between DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders in the final hours before a midnight deadline, and Minnesota began a historic government shutdown.

"This is a night of deep sorrow for me," Dayton said in an address at 10 p.m. that was punctuated by jeers and hisses from Republicans, including some lawmakers.

The governor said his last offer would have raised income taxes only on those earning more than $1 million a year -- an estimated 7,700 Minnesotans, or 0.3 percent of all taxpayers, according to the Revenue Department.

Republicans rejected the proposal, Dayton said, because they "prefer to protect the richest handful of Minnesotans at the expense of everyone else."

Republican leaders made their own statement, saying Dayton's proposal for dealing with the projected $5 billion deficit would cause irreparable harm to the state's economy for generations.

"We will not saddle our children and grandchildren with mounds of debts, with promises for funding levels that will not be there in the future," said House Speaker Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove. "This is debt that they can't afford. It's debt that we can't afford right now."

Earlier, as it became clear there would be no deal, Republicans staged a sit-in in the legislative chambers, demanding Dayton call a special session to keep the state running.

"Our guys, obviously, are very comfortable with where we are," Zellers said, standing in the Minnesota House chamber at 8:30 p.m.

The political fight that has dominated the Capitol since January now will play out in public, as both sides try to win over Minnesotans in the hope that public sentiment will force the other side to a deal.

Dayton struck a combative stance, saying the July 4th holiday "reminds us that there are causes and principles worth struggling for" and worth "suffering temporary hardship to achieve."

The union-backed Alliance for a Better Minnesota, a key factor in Dayton's campaign last year, will run radio ads over the weekend in Bemidji, Brainerd and Duluth, focusing on reaching Minnesotans vacationing at the lakes. The group also created the website www.shutdownshame.com to highlight the effects of the Republican budget.

Soon after talks broke down, both sides lifted their self-imposed news blackout and began releasing details of their final budget offers.

The GOP proposed delaying another $700 million in payments owed to schools, which would add to the more than $1 billion the state already owes K-12 schools.

Republicans also offered to issue "tobacco bonds" of an unspecified amount to cover any remaining budget gap. Sources said Dayton considered the offer, but he criticized it as unwise borrowing late Thursday.

Policy as a bargaining chip

Talks may have also broken down because an earlier GOP offer asked Dayton to accept controversial policy positions the Republicans pushed for this year, including photo ID requirements at the polls and abortion restrictions. An offer sheet provided to the Star Tribune said the policy adoptions were in exchange for "new revenue in a compromise offer."

That deal also would have required tuition caps to be put in place at the University of Minnesota and MnSCU as well as a 15 percent reduction in the number of state workers by 2015. Tendered Wednesday night, the offer would have required a special session Thursday.

Throughout a long day of negotiations Thursday, anxiety was palpable across the Capitol.

Legislators coming to the building were greeted by hundreds of union protesters, urging the two sides to break the deadlock.

Gathering on the Capitol steps, some protesters held signs saying "I am a Proud Public Worker" and "Government Shutdown -- Harming Countless Minnesotans Is Not OK." Some held babies and others umbrellas to protect them from the burning summer sun. They chanted and held other signs like "Great wealth = Great responsibility."

Earlier in the day, Dayton was spotted through his office window at the head of the table, flanked by Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, R-Buffalo. They sipped Diet Coke and bottled water as they occasionally passed pieces of paper and computer printouts to one another, nodding and smiling slightly as one of the participants made a point.

As the afternoon wore on, legislators admitted it was tough to keep their calm as the state careened toward a political meltdown that could cost them re-election.

Early in the morning, Rep. Pat Garofalo, a Republican who chairs the House Education Finance Committee, posted on his Twitter account: "You can't spell FAILED without DFL!"

It was a blistering attack at a time when most legislators had dialed down the partisan bickering. An aide to Garofalo said he wouldn't comment on the posting.

Ideological rift

Dayton and Republican legislators have been stalemated since January over how to balance the budget and close out the projected deficit. Dayton largely won election on a promise to preserve cherished state services by increasing taxes on the richest 2 percent of Minnesotans. But Republicans won control of the Legislature for the first time in decades with a pledge not to raise taxes. The deep rift ignited a political fistfight that spilled past the regular legislative session in late May and dragged the state to the current precipice.

As the negotiators toiled over the details, more than 23,000 workers prepared for life without paychecks and the state began shooing people from state campgrounds and closing rest areas. Even before the shutdown, Minnesotans got an early peek at the inconvenience from the mothballing of many state services. Minnesotans could no longer check if their optometrists, barbers or veterinarians had valid licenses to practice. Licensing board offices and various other state agencies pulled the plug on their agency websites hours before the scheduled shutdown.

State worker Lori Sobczak tried to remain optimistic.

"There's frustration," said Sobczak, a two-year Minnesota Department of Transportation employee.

The fear is "the unknown, you know," she said. "Rumors are flying around; [a shutdown] could be, you know, 45-60 days. ... That's scary."

Adding to the ominous drumbeat, transportation workers were told to turn in their employee badges and take with them any plants that might die without water.

"They forget about the little guy that's working," grumbled Paul Eaton, another MnDOT employee in the permit division.

Eaton also said that, should there be a shutdown, there might not be much political pressure initially to resolve the situation.

"They go back to their, 'We're not going to give in, until you give this,'" Eaton said. "It could then be a big, long ordeal ... then that's really going to hurt."

The pressure from the looming shutdown stripped away months of polished rhetoric from both sides.

Republicans continued their almost evangelical crusade against higher taxes, but some warmed to the idea of more revenue from other sources, like an expansion of gambling, health care surcharges and other fees.

"I'm kind of interested in the revenue raisers," said Sen. Mike Jungbauer, R-East Bethel. "There's some that I would be interested in. Gambling. I hate gambling. But if you put it in the right place, I'd be OK with it."

Jungbauer said the remaining divide between Dayton and Republicans shouldn't be enough to close down government.

"We've seen the general sketch of the landscape of what's going on, what stuff is under negotiation," Jungbauer said. "And I think we're so dang close, if we shut it down I'm going to be really pissed."

As the afternoon crept toward the dinner hour, Capitol visitors got a screeching reminder of the unprecedented moment in Minnesota history.

At 5 p.m., a voice blared through a little-used intercom: "The Capitol is now closed, please make your way to the nearest exit."

People are worried :

As pols point fingers, vulnerable residents feel Minn. government shutdown; no talks in sight

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The blind are losing reading services. A help line for the elderly has gone silent. And poor families are scrambling after the state stopped child care subsidies.

Hours after a political impasse forced a widespread government shutdown, Minnesota's most vulnerable residents and about 22,000 laid-off state employees began feeling the effects on Friday. With no immediate end in sight to a dispute over taxes and spending, political leaders spent the day blaming each other for their failure to pass a budget that solves the state's $5 billion deficit.

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP legislative leaders said they had no plans to talk over the holiday weekend, guaranteeing the shutdown will linger at least well into next week. Dayton said he thought lawmakers should spend time in their districts talking to constituents.

In the absence of talks, the shutdown was rippling into the lives of people like Sonya Mills, a 39-year-old mother of eight facing the loss of about $3,600 a month in state child care subsidies. Until the government closure, Mills had been focused on recovering from a May 22 tornado that displaced her from a rented home in Minneapolis. Now she's adding a new problem to her list.

"It just starts to have a snowball effect. It's like you are still in the wind of the tornado," said Mills, who works at a temp agency and was allowed to take time off as she gets back on her feet — but after the shutdown also has to care for her six youngest children, ages 3 through 14, because she lost state funding for their daycare and other programs.

Minnesota is the only state to have its government shut down this year, even though nearly all states have severe budget problems and some have divided governments. Dayton was determined to raise taxes on the top earners to help erase a $5 billion deficit, while the Republican Legislature refused to go along with that — or any new spending above the amount the state is projected to collect.

Here, as in 21 other states, there's no way to keep government operating past the end of a budget period without legislative action. Even so, only four other states — Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Tennessee — have had shutdowns in the past decade, some lasting mere hours.

The shutdown halted non-emergency road construction and closed the state zoo and Capitol. More than 40 state boards and agencies went dark, though critical functions such as state troopers, prison guards, the courts and disaster responses will continue.

On Friday, former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz started the court-appointed job of sifting through appeals from groups arguing in favor of continued government funding for particular programs.

Nonprofit groups helping the state's poor have already been hit hard. Some closed their doors immediately, while others continued services, at least for now. Some were looking at layoffs, said Sarah Caruso, president and CEO of Greater Twin Cities United Way, which funds 400 programs serving poor people. She said the impact will depend on how long the shutdown lasts.

"If we go well beyond that two-week window, I think then we will start seeing much more significant closure of programs to support the vulnerable, and the long-term financial viability of some of these agencies will really be called into question," she said.

So far, 30 agencies had accepted United Way's offer of advances on their grants, seeking cash to stay up and running.

The stoppage suspended some programs for the blind and visually impaired, including a radio reading service run by volunteers and training for blind people who are learning to walk with a cane. Bonnie Elsey, director of the state's Workforce Development Division, said a vocational rehabilitation program that places people with disabilities in jobs or school was halted.

Minnesota food pantries scurried to make sure they would still get 700,000 pounds of food — about 30 percent of their total volume — in the next two months through a federal program. Nearly a million pounds already in warehouses were also put on hold by the shutdown. Colleen Moriarty, executive director of Hunger Solutions Minnesota, said the federal program's operation depended on a single state employee working in a data management system. Later Friday, Moriarty said the employee had been called back to work.

The shutdown also idled a state hotline set up to help seniors and their caregivers find services, housing options, help with Medicaid and Medicare insurance and more. A call to the 800 number Friday got a recording saying callers could leave a message.

The political stalemate meant instant layoffs for 22,000 state workers, including Paul Bissen, a road and bridge inspector for more than 26 years. Bissen said he cut back on spending last month. He figured he could go a couple of months without worrying, but on the first day of the shutdown, he said it looked like his washing machine had died — adding another expense.

"I want to work. I've got road construction projects to build, to try to make them safe and make them smooth so people can get back to forth to their work," Bissen said.

Fearful of voter anger, both parties blasted each other for Minnesota's second shutdown in six years.

GOP Chairman Tony Sutton called Dayton a "piece of work" and accused him of inflicting "maximum pain" for political reasons.

Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin laid the blame on Republicans, saying they drove the state to a shutdown to protect millionaires from tax increases sought by Dayton.

The Alliance for a Better Minnesota, a left-leaning group supportive of Dayton, plans to run weekend radio ads in three popular vacation areas blaming Republicans for the impact of the shutdown, including closed state parks. The group also debuted a "shutdown shame" website.

The shutdown has been a slow-motion disaster, with a new Democratic governor and new Republican legislative majorities at odds for months over how to eliminate the state budget deficit. Dayton has been determined to raise taxes on high-earners to close the deficit, while Republicans insisted that it be closed only by cuts to state spending.

Even after the shutdown looked like a certainty, Dayton and Republicans did not soften their conflicting principles. Dayton said he campaigned and was elected on a promise not to make spending cuts to a level he called "draconian."

This has the 4th of july weekend stopped pretty much not fair for them mud fucks:

No holiday from the impasse

Minnesotans look ahead with worry, disgust as lawmakers break for the weekend. After the acrimony of an unraveled accord, legislators "hit the refresh button."

There won't be any holiday weekend resolution to Minnesota's government shutdown.
State leaders spent Friday cooling off from the drama and bitter words with which they ended days of negotiations Thursday without an agreement for tackling Minnesota's projected $5 billion budget deficit. And Republican legislative leaders and DFL Gov. Mark Dayton had no plans to talk again until after Independence Day, giving both sides time to regroup and reassess. "It will be good for everyone to hit the refresh button," said state Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen.

The two sides appeared to be inching toward a compromise earlier this week. Dayton had backed off his call for a tax increase on the wealthy and Republicans appeared at least open to considering some increased revenue that didn't raise general taxes. As details of their last offers to each other were made available Friday, it became clear that while about $1.4 billion still separated them, they had agreed on such politically touchy issues as delaying another $700 million due to K-12 schools.

But with an agreement seemingly within reach, the closed-door talks began to unravel midweek. And by Thursday night, they were over -- with both sides feeling that the other had resurrected deal-breaker ideas.

The unwinding began Wednesday night, when Republican negotiators brought back a list of proposed policy changes that Dayton and Democrats had spent months opposing -- including new abortion restrictions, curtailed collective bargaining rights, photo ID voting requirements, a 15 percent reduction in the state workforce, and a ban on embryonic stem cell research.

"It set up some major barriers to reaching an agreement," Dayton said in an interview Friday. The governor added that he was taken by surprise since the two sides had been focusing on financial details. "These policy issues are pushing us farther apart," he said.

The next day, it was the Republicans who found themselves caught off-guard.

Overnight, Dayton had cooled to their proposal to fill the budget gap by borrowing money and paying it back with tobacco settlement revenue. Thursday, he countered by bringing back his idea of raising income taxes on the rich -- specifically, on the state's 7,700 millionaires.

Republicans quickly rejected that idea, saying they could never find the votes for an income tax increase.

State Sen. Dick Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, said the policy demands showed that Republicans were not serious about negotiations and "just wanted to proceed with their right-wing, crazy agenda."

Republicans said the policy proposals were part of the back-and-forth of negotiations and that many of the items were aimed at education and government reform and have wide appeal. The list was a mix of options "to begin negotiations," said House Speaker Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove.

Republicans noted that they later dropped all the policy measures in their efforts to avert a shutdown. Their last offer to Dayton on Thursday stuck to fiscal items, centering on tobacco bonds and the greater shift of money away from K-12 schools to achieve a balanced budget while hewing to their campaign pledge against raising taxes.

"We felt very, very optimistic yesterday morning that we were there, that we had a deal," Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, R-Buffalo, said Friday.

Some legislators who were not part of the negotiations blamed the breakdown on Dayton for his late-innings addition of the millionaires tax. They say Dayton continually changed his mind.

"This man is erratic," state Republican Sen. Mike Parry said on a radio show Friday morning. "He does not want to negotiate. One morning he is Mr. Happy, let's get it done. And by the afternoon he is a totally different man."

Rays of hope

Despite the partisan bickering, both sides are using the word compromise more now than ever. Dayton and Republicans say they have a better understanding of the kind of revenue-raising options available without raising taxes. Dayton said the talks at one point turned to expanded gambling -- both racinos and a downtown Minneapolis casino -- but there was a clear sense that Republicans lacked the votes to pass it.

"We know at the end of the day we are going to have to have bills that the governor can agree to," said House Majority Leader Matt Dean, R-Dellwood. "There's enough disappointment to spread around and we've made it very clear to our members that they are not going to be 100 percent happy."

Sitting in his office of the shuttered Capitol, Dayton acknowledged that a final deal, whenever it comes, will be painful for him, too.

"I am willing to stretch to do this," he said.

What's open, what's closed: your guide to the state shutdown

COURTS
Will remain open at all levels.

DRIVER'S LICENSES
People will be able to renew licenses at driver's license agent offices. Driver tests will not be available. City, county and privately owned offices can distribute tabs and license plates. To find one, go to mndep.com.

EDUCATION
State funding for K-12 schools will continue, but the state Education Department will largely be closed.

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES
Medical Assistance, MinnesotaCare, food stamps, welfare benefits, child support payments, county child protection services, refugee assistance, supplemental aid and some services for disabled people will continue. Child-care assistance, services for the deaf, Senior and Disability linkage lines, criminal background checks will stop. Food shelves remain open, but state is not distributing federal food commodities to food banks Licensing for food, beverages, lodging and swimming pools could be interrupted. For details, go to the state’s BeReady website at bereadymn.com.

HIGHWAY REST STOPS
Will close. Three waysides, partners with other entities, will stay open: Brainerd Lakes Welcome Center, Park Rapids Area Welcome Center, Floodwood rest area in St. Louis County.

HISTORICAL SITES
Minnesota Historical Society's 26 sites and museums will close, including the History Center, Mill City Museum, Historic Fort Snelling and Split Rock Lighthouse.

HUNTING, FISHING LICENSES
Will not be issued. DNR officers will continue enforcement.

LICENSE PLATES
State Driver and Vehicle Services Division will be closed, but deputy registrars could renew license plates.

MARRIAGE LICENSES
Can be obtained at county service centers.

MILITARY/VETERANS
Veterans homes will stay open, along with critical assistance programs. Tuition reimbursement claims will stop, and veterans' outreach claims offices will close.

MINNESOTA ZOO
Will close to the public. Zoo staff will care for the animals and maintain security. IMAX and zoo concerts will stay open. For updates, go to www.mnzoo.com.

PUBLIC SAFETY
State Patrol will stay on. The state's prison system will keep 3,600 of its 4,200 employees, including most of those who deal directly with offenders. Local police will likely be unaffected, since the state will still send local government aid.

RACETRACKS
Canterbury Park and Running Aces will close. Canterbury officials are looking for ways to keep at least part of the business open.

STATE COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES
Will remain open.

STATE LOTTERY
Will close. You won't be able to buy tickets or redeem winning lottery tickets. Drawings for Powerball, Mega Millions and Hot Lotto will continue, but no luck buying tickets in Minnesota. For more info, go to www.mnlottery.com.

STATE PARKS
Will close. For more information, go to www.dnr.state.mn.us.

STILLWATER LIFT BRIDGE
Will remain open.

TAXES
Taxes will be collected, but no refund checks will go out. Tax Court will be closed.

TRANSPORTATION
Most state-funded road construction projects will stop, except for emergency repairs. Twin Cities buses and rail lines will continue operating. South-metro bus lines will keep operating. Solo motorists will no longer be able to pay to use carpool lanes during rush hours on Interstates 394 and 35W.

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
Will be paid.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Will remain open.

Also useful Information NEED MORE INFO? Call 211 for local information about food, housing, employment, childcare, transportation, health services, senior services and other needs. Available 24 hours a day. For online info, go to www.bereadymn.com.

Well good luck minnesota we are pulling for you to get a deal done like with the roof collapsing at the metrodome the vikings and the NFL lockout and no new stadium happening well with the timberwolves looking the old and not the new too renovation of target center arena where the timberwolves may not happen either lockout has hit the NBA too by the way the draft picks and free agents for the t-wolves alone are a joke so here me out here:

NBA lockout could again damage David Stern's league as players and owners face huge labor divide

While announcing Thursday that his owners had decided to lock out the players, David Stern managed to come up with one piece of good news on an otherwise brutal day for his NBA.

Stern will not resort to going without a shave as long as the two sides can't agree on a new collective bargaining agreement. Pro basketball fans might not remember, but when the commissioner and his owners locked the players out in 1998, he didn't pick up his razor during the 204-day work stoppage.

"I won't be doing that again," he said. "Sorry, it was really ugly."

Aside from having problems with his appearance, Stern has good reason not to start growing a "lockout" beard. The way this one is shaping up, he could be looking like Rip Van Winkle by the time his owners and players reach an agreement.

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE NBA LOCKOUT STICKING POINTS

"We have a huge philosophical divide," Stern said.

Do they ever.

Owners say the current economic system is broken. All it does is assure them of red ink on their books, and they're tired of losing their shirts.

Players counter that the current system is fine, but they think that owners throw away millions with bad signings, as Isiah Thomas made a career doing when he ran the Knicks.

A plague on both their mansions!

But this is why we're in Day 1 of an NBA lockout, why Stern was talking about all the negative fallout that is coming his way.

"I'm not scared," he said. "I'm resigned to the potential damage it can cause to our league."

There was damage in 1999, with the league needing a good two years to rebuild its goodwill with millions of fans. That's where the two sides are headed again, because they haven't found a way to divide $4.2 billion.

"Our differences are mammoth," said Billy Hunter, executive director of the Players Association.

Here's what is particularly troubling, but not surprising: Everybody has known about the great philosophical divide ever since owners and players decided to start negotiating in 2009. Yet, they have done nothing in all this time to get on the same page.

As Stern admitted Thursday, maybe they need to chuck everything they've done so far and just start over when talks resume in perhaps another two weeks.

In case you really thought the two sides were speaking the same language, the players' last offer Thursday put that to rest. This is where Stern got the players, got them good.

Hunter and his guys had already left the building when Stern revealed that their last offer, made in the three-hour negotiating session leading up to the midnight expiration of the CBA, actually would have increased the average salary from $5 million this season to $7 million.

How do you think that will that play in America today?

Do you think that will help the players, who already are considered overpaid and greedy?

Both sides are going to catch hell for this. Not now, when basketball fans can live without the NBA for a few months. There won't be summer leagues now and free agency is getting delayed, but so what?

But fall will eventually roll around, and fans will start wondering how LeBron James is going to recover from his colossal Finals flop. They're going to begin to ponder if Mike Brown is going to be a good fit with Kobe Bryant. Knicks fans will be consumed with whether Mike D'Antoni can teach defense, and whether Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire will try to play that end of the court.

And when those issues begin to be raised when camps would be starting, at the beginning of October, and there's still no agreement, then the players will get the backlash. They always do.

But as for now, it won't hurt the players. That was evident during a surreal scene Thursday in the lobby of a midtown hotel, when Hunter and player president Derek Fisher were met by a mob of reporters, minutes after they left the last, futile negotiating session.

For a few minutes, reporters and fans mixed and that's never a good combination, especially when there's breaking news. Fisher had just said that owners were still insisting on a hard cap and was about to make another point when a fan walked right into the discussion and rudely interrupted.

"Big fan, Derek!" the fan said. "Can I get a picture?"

Fisher, of course, complied. Because he gets it.

Friday, Saturday and next week, the fan will treasure the shot.

But by the start of next season, if there's still no deal, you can bet he'll be using it for a dart board.

Damn we have 2 leagues locked out this Involves minnesota too:

Timberwolves GM wanted to lure Duke's Mike Krzyzewski to Minnesota to coach Ricky Rubio project
The coaching carousel in Minnesota took an unlikely turn as Kurt Rambis was being thrown off and Bernie Bickerstaff was preparing to jump on.

The ride operator, Timberwolves GM David Kahn, made a run at Mike Krzyzewski.

Talk about a waste of time. Coach K once turned down a chance to go to the Lakers and coach Kobe Bryant in his prime. Did Kahn really think that he could get Krzyzewski to leave his Duke kingdom? He did.

"He tried to get him," said one Kahn confidante.

Kahn was looking for a miracle or two. The other miracle is turning Ricky Rubio into a first-rate NBA point guard. As he showed over the last two seasons in Spain, the T-Wolves' No. 1 draft pick of 2009 can't shoot consistently or beat people off the dribble. That was versus inferior competition in Europe. Now he's supposed to be able to do those things against the top players in the world?

No wonder Krzyzewski isn't running to the Twin Cities anytime soon.

"It's unfortunate that Ricky Rubio is now going to be the face of that franchise, because he just isn't good enough as a player," said one NBA head coach. "They're doing that kid a great disservice."

Kahn wants Rubio to help change the T-Wolves into a team that plays small, pushes the ball and goes with an entirely new, up-tempo look. While contemplating Rambis' replacement, he gave Mike D'Antoni serious thought, based on what he did with Steve Nash in Phoenix. But it never got to the point where he asked the Knicks for permission to talk to their head coach.

Too bad for D'Antoni.

Entering the final season on his contract, he hasn't been able to get a one-year extension from Jim Dolan. If the T-Wolves had called, D'Antoni might have gotten his year. Or quite possibly, he might have gotten his freedom. With Donnie Walsh out of the picture, D'Antoni has very few allies in the Garden these days.

"Mike asked for a year and the Knicks haven't told him anything," said a team source this past week.

Meanwhile, Kahn is going ahead with his plan to bring in Bickerstaff, the veteran NBA coach and executive, and father of J.B. Bickerstaff, a highly regarded Timberwolves' assistant. The plan is for Bernie to hand the job off to his son in a year or two.

But friends of J.B. have been urging him this past week to leave the franchise, because it's never going to get better with Kahn in charge. That's hard to argue, looking at his body of work since assuming GM duties in 2009.

The Rambis hire was a disaster from day one. Drafting Rubio and Jonny Flynn with back-to-back picks was absurd. Paying Darko Milicic $20 million last summer was baffling. We'll stop there. You get the picture.

Kahn didn't do badly on draft night. He took Arizona forward Derrick Williams with the second pick. Some GMs felt that Cleveland should have made him its top pick and then used its No. 4 pick to select a point guard. Those executives are in the camp that doesn't believe that Kyrie Irving will develop into an elite playmaker, or help Dan Gilbert make good on his vow to lead the Cavs to a title before LeBron James does.

Others feel that Irving will do what everyone wants their point guard to do - make others better - and in the next few seasons become one of the elite playmakers in the game.

As for what happens out in Minnesota, with Kahn running the show, there are no guarantees.

PIP-SWAWKING
Michael Jordan wound up with Congo forward Bismack Biyombo, a potential Ben Wallace clone, and UConn's undersized point guard Kemba Walker in the first round, giving Scottie Pippen more ammo to unload on his old teammate. Pippen doesn't think much of Jordan's ability to evaluate talent and makes no secret about it. After this latest draft, Pippen told pals, "He doesn't have a clue." . . . Three players being shopped and likely to get moved before the start of next season, whenever that is: Lamar Odom, Andre Iguodala and Josh Smith. . . . With Jimmer Fredette's addition to a backcourt featuring Tyreke Evans, Sacramento doesn't have a playmaker, but the answer might come in free agency, whenever that is. The Kings plan on making a pitch for the Suns' Aaron Brooks, who is restricted. Phoenix made him a qualifying offer on Thursday.

PARKER BACKS IT DOWN
Tony Parker might be right. The Spurs' last chance to win a title in the Tim Duncan era might have come this past season when they won the West and flamed out in the first round against Memphis. But as he learned, he is not supposed to tell reporters back home in France, "(the Spurs) can no longer say we're playing for a championship." Here was the Spurs' reaction: Oh, really? OK, Tony, how'd you like to go play in Sacramento? Or, how does Portland sound?

Scared to death of being banished to the ends of the earth, Parker backed off his comments. Satisfied that their point guard was back with the program, the Spurs then turned around on draft night and traded his backup, George Hill, to the Pacers. You would have thought that they had moved Duncan in his prime. General manager R.C. Buford called it "one of the most difficult nights in Spurs history since we've been here." In fact, it wasn't. As much as they liked Hill's work ethic, they had no intention of meeting his salary demands. So for the first time in the Gregg Popovich era, they traded up in a draft, obtaining San Diego State's Kawhi Leonard. He fell to No. 15 because he can't shoot, but he's exactly the kind of athlete the Spurs have been lacking. . . . Pacers president Larry Bird tried to trade for Hill, an Indianapolis native and IUPUI grad, last summer before he acquired Darren Collison from the Hornets. Now Hill and Collison will be in competition for the starting point guard spot.

Well minnesota you blew It with the vikings state and local government and now the timberwolves and because this government shuts down, NO new stadium no NFL saeson, NO remodeled target center no NBA season, all you got are the twins In baseball at target field and the NHL draft at the wild's arena xcel energy center way to go minnesota you screwed up government, football, basketball and politics stupid mud fucks.

Well maybe the neighboring cheesy dickheads from wisconsin can teach their mud fucks neighbors from minnesota a lesson or 2 the enemy Is the KOCH BROTHERS you see 12 governors all republicans we're In vail colorado an angry mob of protesters protested In front their mansion I'm grtaeful for this day list of governors florida's rick scott, texas' rick perry he might be running for president In 2012 we'll see, and wisconsin's scott walker who we love to hate and won a court case for his anti-union, and anti-worker law In wisconsin chessy dickhead sumbitch got his way at least rick scott of florida Is honest about this meeting not like walker thank you florida for telling the people the truth next time Invite mark dayton of minnesota despite being a democrat he Is a greedy rich snob he would fit In the koch brothers world of gluottny, greed, sloth, lust, envy, pride and anger this Is a protest against sin I think one republican governor gets It one democrat doesn't get It you know who I mean damn It:

Koch brothers to host conference near Vail, Colo.

An invitation-only conference of wealthy conservative activists organized by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch will convene just outside Vail, Colo., this weekend.

Common Cause -- a group that describes itself as nonpartisan and headed by a former Democratic congressman -- and ProgressNow Colorado have organized a protest outside the Ritz Carlton at Bachelor Gulch, where they believe the conference will be held.

The groups have urged their followers to arrive with signs that read, "UnVail the Kochs," "Corporations are not people," and "Stop the War on the Middle Class."

This is the second Koch-organized conference this year. The previous event, held in late January in Palm Springs, drew about 800 to 1,000 protesters who rallied against the Kochs' libertarian agenda. About 25 protesters were arrested for trespassing.

The Kochs have been a target of liberal activists for their funding of research institutions and other groups that push a limited-government agenda. They control Koch Industries, an energy conglomerate that is the nation's second-largest privately held company. They are credited with helping to organize the "tea party" and allied groups that spent millions to defeat Democrats in last year's midterm elections.

"We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars," said Kjersten Forseth, executive director at ProgressNow Colorado. "They're getting direct corporate profits that they're able to use for funding these organizations."

A Koch spokesman would not comment about the Vail event and would not say who would be attending. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell will attend.

In the past, attendees have included GOP leaders and commentator Glenn Beck. House Republican leader Eric Cantor of Virginia attended the Palm Springs event in January.

Koch spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer, in an interview in Palm Springs in January, said the event, "brings together some of America’s greatest philanthropists and job creators…who share a common belief that the current level of government spending in our nation is simply unsustainable.”

GOV. RICK SCOTT
Gov. Scott attended private weekend retreat hosted by influential Koch brothers

Gov. Rick Scott acknowledged that he attended a private weekend retreat hosted by the billionaire Koch brothers, who are influential among conservatives.

WASHINGTON -- Gov. Rick Scott acknowledged Tuesday what his staff had refused to disclose: He flew to Colorado over the weekend to attend a secretive policy retreat hosted by powerful conservative donors Charles and David Koch.

“It was very interesting,” Scott said. “They wanted basically to know what am I doing in Florida.”

Scott said he gave an overview of his agenda since taking office in January: education and Medicaid reform, tax breaks for businesses, drug-testing welfare recipients and overhauling the public employee pension system.

The billionaire Koch brothers are widely influential in national politics and helped spur the tea party movement through groups like Americans for Prosperity.

Also attending the retreat near Vail were Republican Govs. Rick Perry of Texas and Bob McDonnell of Virginia. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli also attended.

A spokesman for Koch Industries, one of the nation’s largest private companies, told the Denver Post on Friday that the purpose of the conference “is to develop support for the kind of free-market policies and initiatives that can get our country back on the path to economic prosperity and sustained job creation.”

Scott’s schedule over the weekend listed no events, unusual because he has worked most weekends. Times/Herald reporters asked if he had anything going on and were met with silence or vague answers from several members of his staff.

The Koch summit was noticed because McDonnell put it on his schedule last week.

“I told anybody who asked me,” said Scott, who was in Washington on Tuesday to host a breakfast at a biotech industry convention.

Scott said he found the sessions useful.

“In this job, you’ve got to constantly listen to what other people are thinking. Part of what you do in business is you say, ‘Gosh, they are doing something, well, I’m going to see if I can do it better.’ The same with this ... OK, what are people doing that is working in their states?"

The Koch brothers draw fire from Democrats given their clout over conservative policies, and some liberals were staging a protest in Colorado.

Scott uses his own plane, even when doing official state business, but his weekend trip still drew complaints from Democrats in Florida. Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff used Twitter on Monday to question the governor’s whereabouts.

With confirmation Tuesday, Jotkoff blasted Scott for flying off to “kiss the Koch Brothers’ ring” while wildfires were spreading across the state

Virginia and texas governors less honest then scott but more honest tehn walker you see It business causal:
Perry, McDonnell at latest Koch summit

Two prominent Republican governors - Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Rick Perry of Texas -mingled with other GOP notables and some of the wealthiest conservative donors in the country at the annual summer retreat organized by the Koch brothers that began Sunday near Vail, Colo.

The conference, one in a series of semi-annual gatherings sponsored by the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, drew relatively little scrutiny, with only a few dozen liberal activists gathering to protest outside the Bachelor Gulch, Colo., luxury hotel that hosted the three-day conference, which runs through Tuesday.

That's quite a contrast to the Kochs' January donor summit held in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The invitation for that summit leaked to the press, allowing liberal groups to organize a panel and occasionally raucous protest outside the host resort, where hundreds of demonstrators accused the Kochs of hijacking American democracy with millions of dollars in undisclosed donations to conservative political groups.

This time, the retreat almost slipped by unnoticed until McDonnell last Wednesday released his schedule for the week, which included a Sunday trip to Colorado to attend the conference.

It marked at least the eighth time McDonnell has attended one of the Koch conferences, which typically bring together about 200 conservative business titans and dignitaries hand-picked by the Koch brothers and their operatives to discuss free-enterprise conservative causes and raise millions of dollars in contributions to political groups such as Americans for Prosperity, and other non-profits favored by the Kochs.

The January California retreat raised a reported $49 million in pledged donations to such groups from the participants. The brothers reportedly hope to raise millions more in the run-up to the 2012 election.

That marks them as a major financial force in conservative politics, and sets them up as something of a more ideological counterweight to the network of non-profit groups conceived by Karl Rove and other GOP operatives who are regarded as more pragmatic in their approach.

Perry attended the retreat partly in his capacity as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. And the head of the RGA's major donor fundraising program, Fred Malek, is also a participant.

In a Sunday speech, Perry "discussed the need to elect more Republican Governor's around the country" and also talked about his job-creation record, said his spokesman Mark Miner, who said the trip was unrelated to Perry's consideration of a bid for the GOP presidential nomination.

"This was no different than other speeches the governor gives talking about job creation and the economy in Texas," said Miner, who said Perry "flew on a private plane and no taxpayer dollars were used."

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli also attended the conference - his second such Koch summit, according to his spokesman Noah Wall, who said the trip was funded entirely with campaign funds.

Cuccinelli's legal challenge to the healthcare overhaul signed into law last year by President Barack Obama has made him a star in tea party circles, and Wall said his boss delivered a Monday breakfast speech about federalism that touched on that suit, and one his office has brought against the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Earlier this year, McDonnell told POLITICO that the "main goal of the seminars" is "education on the challenges that face the American system of free enterprise and democracy, and what people can do about them."

And he cast the conferences as playing an important role in the political process, saying "groups on the right, left and in the middle get together all over this great country to exercise their first amendment rights to talk about these issues - some of them are public. Some of them are closed meetings." he said. "So, to the degree that some on the left may be trying to attack these Koch seminars is really ridiculous."

Indeed, the liberal big donor group Democracy Alliance has held similar closed door meetings twice a year since 2005.

The Koch conferences are organized and paid for by the Koch brothers' oil and chemical company, Koch Industries, and have taken place twice a year since 2003, with the winter meetings typically in the Palm Springs area, and the summer meetings in Colorado - so selected for their proximity to homes owned by the Koch brothers.

Those who attend are warned not to mention the meetings publicly, and - until January's meeting in California - every previous meeting had gone off without a word in the press.

In the past, the meetings have drawn an A list of participants - politicians like Sens. John Cornyn (Tex.) and Jim DeMint (S.C.) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.), as well as leading free-market thinkers including American Enterprise Institute president Arthur Brooks, talkers Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and even Supreme Court justices to mingle with wealthy donors who make up the bulk of the invite list.

Cornyn, DeMint and Cantor did not attend this week's conference, according to their offices, nor did major GOP presidential candidates, such as former Govs. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota or Jon Huntsman of Utah or Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Well we know the players now let see the victims you the damn motherfucking worker the middle class well your social security, medicare, medicaid, food stamps are being under attacks because of these billionaire frauds damn It Its time for an Investigation this should be up to congress but the justice department these are corrupted politicans like rod blagojevich who will going to prison with 17 counts upon selling obama's senate seat this criminal enterprises koch Industries and americans for prosperity need to be looked at more americans are being conservative socialists well maybe they will be more then 17 counts and prison time longer then blago's will be these are criminals not conservatives let's get one fact straight:

Overturning the Republican Lie Machine

The facts about austerity are incontrovertible. There is every good reason to generate more income and not cut entitlement programs. Do NOT let the Right Wing media,which is most television media, persuade you to give in to cutting social services.

Ronald Reagan put people onto the streets. There were days in the 1980s that you could not walk into the vestibule entering Grand Central Station in the morning without tripping over half a dozen people who had nowhere else to go to stay warm. This is what the Fascists want now. Sixteen million children are homeless now….up two million from a year ago. Children. Homeless. In the United States of America…send us your tired, your poor….wretched refuse. How much more wretchedness will the Republicans create?

Those are cold, hard facts. The average health care CEO makes $14 million a year, while 47 million people go without health care at all.

You need the facts. But, once you have them, you need to write them down and pass them on to others, spread the word, because the opposition…the Fascists, Neocons, Conservatives, Right Wing…have engineered a huge propaganda machine against the truth.

We need a quick primer on Fascism, so bear with us on this. A Fascist is someone who believes that a government should be a collusion of the military, the central government, huge industrial corporations and a dedicated, isolated group at the top. They make the decisions. They decide…not for you…but for them. Does that sound like anyone you know? A group that will not tax the rich, only give them tax breaks? A group that will not cut subsidies for giant food corporations and giant oil companies… but will gladly charge you $4.20 a gallon for gasoline? A group that will not even remotely consider cutting the military budget, larger than all of the other countries in the world…all of them…combined? They don’t hate the Jews or the Blacks as much as they just want money…more money!

We have that group, these Fascists, in this country right now. We have huge global corporations, including oil companies, tied to government so tightly that they have enormous benefits, tax breaks, and pay no taxes on billions of dollars. We have other international corporations who have been given a law by the Bush Administration, which President Obama was not able to overturn because of the rules of the Senate that allows them to simply technically locate in the Bahamas and pay no U.S. taxes. We have a huge military-industrial complex that spends $700 billion each year. Every year, generals leave the military and become top executives in these companies, going back to Washington, to the Pentagon to lobby their former colleagues for more weapons systems.

Since Ronald Reagan, the Republican governments have spent $14 trillion more than they took in. Why? Because the richest Americans, instead of paying their taxes, went from one recorded billionaire in 1980 to 412 billionaires in 2011. They went from a few hundred thousand earning a million dollars a year to over a million people a year earning a million dollars a year!

Nothing wrong with someone making a million dollars a year, or even more. But it is wrong to leave 47 million people without health care and 16 million children homeless while paying almost no taxes on those billions and millions. It is a disaster of major proportions.

We have the media tied in knots by a handful of billionaires who own them. We have advertising taking up 40% of all television broadcasting and on some channels more than that, so that no message of any kind can be longer than about 1 minute. In fact, according to a survey of TV journalists by TVWEEK, the average news story is now 45 seconds!

And here’s how they get the “news.” About ten percent of news, for example, is about health. Where does that come from? It comes from what are called independent news sources, “single source” news items. Do you know what that means? It means that these short items come from a p.r. company like Ivanhoe or Medstar, or some other health organization’s p.r. firm.

You get “news” from p.r. firms whose job it is to direct your attention to what they want you to know. That’s how the 60% of the news air time that is not paid commercials, the part that you think is “news,” is being prepared. P.R. firms give you the news, with some local station or national channel stooge or bimbo reading it off a teleprompter.

So that’s where we are. Lobbyists and outright Party propagandists control the message. A large number of dedicated Fascists, motivated by money–purely money–control the Republican political agenda…everything from Congressmen and their thought-controlled aides to lobbyists with their average $300,000-a-year salaries to people like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh with their $20 million and $40 million annual salaries respectively.

Oh yes, there are also the former Congressmen and Senators and the scientists and economists who work for the paid Right Wing “think tanks” whose job it is to decry global warming for the oil companies or how the EPA is over-regulating for the chemical companies or the anti-Interior Department economists who tell us that without logging every log or drilling every square inch of the National Parks we will go jobless.

People like William Mellon Scaife spend millions to earn billions from their investments in drilling and mining by creating organizations like the Mountain States Legal Defense Fund. It uses people who only care about money, like Gale Norton, who should have been indicted while Interior Secretary under Bush, and who gave away large tracts of your land to developers, stole it basically from the People.

Or others like the now infamous Koch Brothers, founders of the Tea Party movement, who earlier organized the Cato Institute to simply take the opposite view from anything that sounded like it would benefit the Middle Class. The Koch Brothers, you see, do not want a Middle Class. They want an oligarchy of which they will be a key part.

Now here are the facts. Raising the income to a much higher level for the contribution to Social Security will solve that problem for 75 years. By that time, all those who would start tomorrow on a contributory-type plan, which might be combined with a small insurance component, would solve the Social Security problem without hurting any…any… of those people who have contributed one dollar to Social Security. We do not need to cut Social Security.

We can solve the health care problem very simply. We can simply cut military spending by an amount equivalent to the Medicare shortfall….until Obamacare kicks in. The fact is that private health insurance, as we know it, will simply cease to exist, and Americans will pay far, far less for health care than we do now. Everything you hear about health care…and the reason you hear the words “repeal” constantly, instead of “amend” or “modify” or “adjust” is that health insurance companies know that over the long haul they are doomed.

Private, for-profit health care insurance does not work. It is not a good business model. That was proved 40 years ago by Dr. Kenneth Arrow, but the insurance industry…making huge profits….and helping doctors, hospitals, clinics, drug companies…everyone to share in the looting of Americans….have snuffed out any remnants of that argument until now. They have been able to hide their scam. Until now.

They have successfully persuaded many Americans, using the same hundreds of millions of dollars that they used to fight Obamacare, that every other country where people live better than we do is wrong. They have succeeded in persuading many Americans that our health care system, where you can be denied care, dropped at any time, charged an additional 15% on average every year and does not cover 47 million Americans is actually somehow good.

What they have done is two things. First, they have sold the jingoistic idea that our health care is the best in the world. And they neglect to mention that those of us who are lucky enough to have it, pay twice as much as the rest of the world. So is it twice as good as anywhere in the world? Well, first of all, it is about 36th best in the world, even without the fact that our ratings drop because we have 47 million uncovered and because Medicaid stinks compared to coverage of poor in other countries (they are treated as well as the wealthy.)

So, we are not the best, and we pay more. So, the second thing they have done is to persuade us that we are getting what we pay for. We do get good treatment if we have health insurance. The problem is that there is so much waste in the private system, so much counter-productivity, and so much greed among all the players, that the system is costing us about double what we should pay to get the exact same health care services. That is the problem. And the government has to pay the same amount as the private insurers pay…but the private insurers simply raise rates. They don’t try to make things more efficient. They do it by denying more expensive procedures wherever they can.

So, we will bring health care costs down when we get Obamacare’s competitive regional insurance pools. The health industry knows this and they are fighting to keep anything from happening because they know that some people will be more competitive and rates and profits will go down and some companies will actually go out of business. But your health care costs will be lower and Medicare, which is a big, big government cost will suddenly start to take a big, big drop in costs. The bigger the increase, the bigger the decrease. It ain’t complicated, though they are doing everything they can to make you think it is.

Do we need to make some cuts in government? Are you kidding? Have you seen some of the things we spend money on? I love watching rockets go up, although I don’t care much for fireworks. How much more valuable would NASA have been if we had been working on alternative fuels and on electric-battery powered cars and on improved techniques of getting natural gas out of the ground and converting it to fuel for transportation?

By comparison to what we have done on energy alternatives, it would have been massive…massive. We would be driving around right now in cars that get 45 miles to the gallon at a minimum. Our economy would benefit from not spending at least $250 billion a year in the Middle East and turning terrorists into beggars and street performers. We would have that money strengthening our economy here at home with those new energy alternatives that would have created new industries…not merely some idiotic space travel novelty acts for multi-millionaires who want to see what zero gravity feels like.

We need to return to common sense. Not Conservative-sponsored, billionaire-funded Tea Party “common sense” where you cut out everything that we have worked for since the Revolutionary War. We need to return to the era of our greatest President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who won election 4 times because the people loved him and supported him. He loved the people. He, like his Republican cousin, Teddy Roosevelt, loved the American ideal of a good life for all Americans, according to their talents and their industry.

Today, Republicans do not believe in the American People.They pander to the old segregationists in the South. They trick suburbanites by telling them that there is a terrorist under every bed and a job at the end of every tax cut. But they lie. Their real constituents are the billionaires and the millionaires. The last tax cuts for the rich…made by blackmailing the President with a threat of starving millions of unemployed Americans…should have made that very clear.

Anyone who would vote for a Republican any longer is a fool. Not merely the unemployed. Not merely those in unions, or teachers, or those who need health care or equal rights. Even a millionaire does not agree with the greediest among us and the huge international corporations should vote against these Fascists.

That millionaire, if he or she were thinking clearly, would go out and shout as loudly as possible that they voted against the Fascists, so that, one day, if the Fascists continue to succeed, the average Americans would know their names. One day, it could be very important, especially for millionaires, not to be identified with the Fascists. Sooner or later, the Fascists always lose. And there is always a terrible, horrible retribution.

Well we will get them they will not get away with this damn criminal socialists not obama but david and charles koch we are protesting because we demand justice they are commiting crimes against humanity and they must be stopped before more damage Is done to the backbone of america:

Well let's get to 3 candidates for president next blog will be on the straw poll In Iowa and the candidates In full but until then It will be about newt not stopping the hate, bachmann lying and goofing up on john wayne and palin thinks she Is a pundit In washington but she is celebrity In hollywood:

NEWT

IOWA

"You're an embarrassment to our party"

How many more days of this can Newt Gingrich handle:

IOWA REPUBLICAN: What you just did to Paul Ryan is unforgivable.

GINGRICH: I didn't do anything to Paul Ryan.

IOWA REPUBLICAN: Yes, you did. You undercut him ... you're an embarrassment to our party.

GINGRICH: I'm sorry you feel that way.

IOWA REPUBLICAN: Why don't you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself?

The reference is to Gingrich's intense criticism on Sunday of Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to phase out Medicare. Gingrich tried to walk back that criticism on Monday, but the damage is basically done.

Here's GOP rising star Nikki Haley, governor of South Carolina, declaring herself "terribly disappointed" with Gingrich.

And here's heavyweight columnist Charles Krauthammer declaring Gingrich's not-a-week-old candidacy over:

Krauthammer makes a fairly compelling case ...

MINNESOTA

Gingrich glitter bombed

Let's recount the unfortunate events that have befallen Newt Gingrich in the early days of his campaign: he's criticized Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan, then apologized; a man told him he was an embarrassment in a confrontation at a campaign stop; and refused to answer questions about an unpaid $500,000 jewelry bill at Tiffany's.

But at least the former House speaker was invited to "Feel the rainbow!" in Minnesota. At a family values event, Gingrich was covered in glitter confetti by a gay rights protester, who was swiftly and aggressively escorted away.

Also STOP THE HATE what our gay rights friend In minnesota said too and FOOD STAMPS he hates too:

Newt Gingrich and "the food stamp president"

Newt Gingrich doubled down on his clever new slur against President Obama as "the food stamp president." He tried the line in a Friday speech to the Georgia Republican convention, and he used it again on "Meet the Press Sunday." It's a short hop from Gingrich's slur to Ronald Reagan's attacks on "strapping young bucks" buying "T-bone steaks" with food stamps. Blaming our first black president for the sharp rise in food-stamp reliance (which resulted from the economic crash that happened on the watch of our most recent white president) is just the latest version of Rush Limbaugh suggesting that Obama's social policy amounts to "reparations" for black people.

But when host David Gregory suggested the term had racial overtones, Gingrich replied "That's bizarre," and added, "I have never said anything about President Obama which is racist." That's not quite as extreme or silly as Donald Trump declaring "I am the least racist person there is," but it's up there. He also told Georgia Republicans Friday that 2012 will be the most momentous election "since 1860," which happens to be the year we elected the anti-slavery Abraham Lincoln president, and he suggested the U.S. bring back a "voting standard" that requires voters to prove they know American history -- which sounds a lot like the "poll tests" outlawed by the Voting Rights Act.

Just last week Gingrich said Obama "knows how to get the whole country to resemble Detroit," which just happens to be home to many black people. And last year Gingrich accused Obama of "Kenyan anti-colonialist behavior" that made him "outside our comprehension" as Americans, spreading Dinesh D'Souza's idiocy that Obama inherited angry African anti-colonialism from the Kenyan father he never knew. “This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president,” Gingrich told the National Review Online last year.

Continue reading
All this from the guy who's supposed to be the "smart" candidate for the GOP nomination?

Republicans have done well with their quest to stigmatize social welfare programs as handouts to the undeserving, and to pretend that most of the undeserving are black people. But it may not be working as well today. Paul Ryan's class-war budget is going down in flames, largely because seniors are up in arms over Ryan's attacks on Medicare. Ryan and his GOP allies tried to be clever, making sure his plans to phase out Medicare wouldn't apply to today's seniors, who happen to be disproportionately white and disproportionately Republican. But seniors are seeing through the ruse, telling Ryan and the GOP that they want to protect Medicare for their children, too. Even Gingrich is now backing away from the Ryan budget, telling Gregory it's too "radical" and "too big a jump." A jump off a political cliff for Republicans, that is.

Let's hope Gingrich's attacks on our "food stamp president" backfire, too. I learned about the ex-GOP speaker's latest use of the term from the group Catholic Democrats, which Tweeted Sunday morning that the twice-divorced Catholic convert ought to have a look at Catholic social teaching if he's going to call himself a Catholic. The American bishops have lately been trying to remind Americans (and themselves, perhaps) that Catholic social teaching is about more than abortion. The church has long been a force on behalf of the poor and powerless, going back to Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Labor) at the height of the Gilded Age in 1891, which put the church on the side of labor organizing, through Pope Benedict's "Caritas in Veritate" (Charity in Truth) of 2009, which restated the church's commitment to support for workers and the poor worldwide, in the wake of the greed-driven financial crisis of 2008.

House Speaker John Boehner got a taste of the rising Catholic concern for social justice when 83 Catholic scholars wrote to Boehner protesting his attacks on programs for the poor, after Boehner was chosen as Catholic University's commencement speaker. They didn't call on the university to cancel Boehner's address, unlike Catholic conservatives who protested Obama's commencement address at Notre Dame in 2009). They wrote:

Your voting record is at variance from one of the church's most ancient moral teachings. From the apostles to the present, the Magisterium of the Church has insisted that those in power are morally obliged to preference the needs of the poor. Your record in support of legislation to address the desperate needs of the poor is among the worst in Congress. This fundamental concern should have great urgency for Catholic policymakers. Yet, even now, you work in opposition to it.

The scholars also noted that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called Boehner-promoted Ryan budget as "anti-life" for its cuts to programs for pregnant women and children. Boehner's commencement address went on Saturday with a quiet protest from students who wore green placards reading "Where's the compassion, Speaker Boehner?" over their graduation gowns. Of course the Catholic Boehner didn't address the controversy; instead he shed tears remembering how his high school football coach called him the morning he became speaker to tell him "you can do it," which he considered an answer to his prayers.

Boehner may have been crying about what his support of the Ryan budget is doing to House GOP re-election chances. Gingrich could find that his racially coded attacks on Obama backfire as well. Both the poverty rate and the unemployment rate for white Americans have doubled since the start of this recession. Maybe Republican policies will succeed in uniting Americans across racial lines for a change, as more people see them as favoring one minority -- the super-rich -- over the rest of us.

Well his staff quit on him he fucking deserves too what an envious man newt has proved to be:

Gingrich campaign finance team quits

The top fundraisers for Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign have abandoned his struggling bid amid anemic fundraising and heavy spending.

Campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond is confirming to The Associated Press that fundraising director Jody Thomas and fundraising consultant Mary Heitman have left the team.

The former House speaker's campaign has been on life support since earlier this month when 16 top aides and advisers resigned en masse over disagreements with the Republican candidate.

People familiar with Gingrich's campaign spending say his fundraising has been weak since he launched his bid and that he has racked up large travel bills. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk openly about campaign inner workings.

Gingrich has insisted that he will stay in the race

But for how long we see what he has done to Iowa, Minnesota, middle class republicans, gay rights activists, his team and himself he has no fucking shame:

Now with clown killer queen michele bachmann from st. cloud, minnesota via waterloo, Iowa she Is leading In the polls do they take her seriously she ain't taking her self seriously god damn these people are stupid:

Michele Bachmann Shares Lead in Iowa with Mitt Romney

You’ve probably heard the news that Michele Bachmann is in a statistical dead heat with Mitt Romney in the Iowa Register’s GOP presidential poll.

The Des Moines Register’s poll is the first measure of likely GOP caucus-goers.

So far, Mitt Romney is leading the pack with 23 percent. But Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is just one point behind him with 22 percent.

Hermain Cain finished a distant third with 10 percent. Then its former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, both with 7 percent.

Minnesota’s former Governor Tim Pawlenty, who’s focused so much of his campaigning in Iowa, finished sixth with 6 percent.

Rick Santorum finished with 4 percent and Jon Huntsman is the top choice for 2 percent of the potential caucusgoers.

Nate Silver argues that Pawlenty still has a chance:

…the horse race numbers need to be interpreted cautiously. Instead, I’d pay just as much attention to the impression that voters have of each candidate.

You have to dig down to find those numbers, but they are much better for Mr. Pawlenty: some 58 pecent of voters view him favorably, versus 13 percent unfavorably. The figures for Mr. Romney, by contrast, are 52 percent favorable but 38 percent unfavorable.

Put simply, there is considerable upside in Mr. Pawlenty’s numbers — and some downside for Mr. Romney, who is effectively competing for the votes of perhaps only 50 or 60 percent of the voters in the state because of his relatively moderate positions.

Unfortunately, Pawlenty’s real problem is that he booooorrrrring. Besides, he’s a right-wing “Christian” too.

So basically, unless Sarah Palin jumps into the race, Romney and Bachmann are the only viable candidates for the Republican nomination. I think Bachmann will beat Romney in the Iowa Caucuses for three reasons:

1) Bachmann’s far right evangelical “Christianity” trumps Romney’s Mormonism.

2) Bachmann is a compulsively hard worker and true believer; Romney doesn’t know the meaning of hard work, and he has no moral values or ideology.

3) Michele Bachmann was born in Iowa.

The good news is that Bachmann probably can’t beat Romney in New Hampshire, but you never know.

In an interview today Bachmann explained that

her bid to unseat President Barack Obama shouldn’t be viewed as “anything personal” against the Democrat but says he’s “just wrong” on his policies for America….
[T]he Minnesota congresswoman also said she doesn’t foresee problems moving from frequent naysayer to the country’s proposer-in-chief. She says voters can expect her to propose an economic agenda that includes cuts to corporate taxes and phase-outs of taxes on inheritances and investment earnings.

Bachmann’s nothing-personal message departs from her 2008 comments questioning whether Obama had “anti-American” views. She has said she wishes she framed her criticism differently.

Well, that’s darn sporting of her. I guess Obama can breathe a sigh of relief now.

She should know john wayne Is from winterset and john wayne gacy Is from waterloo Iowa her own hometown wtach this goofy edit.

Michele Bachmann and John Wayne Gacy, a Tale of Two Iowans

Rep. Michele Bachmann kicked off her presidential campaign on Monday in Waterloo, Iowa, and in one interview surrounding the official event she promised to mimic the spirit of Waterloo's own John Wayne.

The only problem, as one eagle-eyed reader notes: Waterloo's John Wayne was not the beloved movie star, but rather John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer.

Mrs. Bachmann grew up in Waterloo, and used the town as the backdrop for her campaign announcement, where she told Fox News: "Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too."

While not from Waterloo, Gacy lived and committed crimes there as a young man. John Wayne the actor is from Winterset, three hours from Waterloo.

UPDATE: Alexander Burns of POLITICO quotes an autobiography of Wayne (the actor) which says that Clyde, Wayne's father, lived briefly in Waterloo with John Wayne's mother; hated being so far away from family; and therefore moved to Winterset, where Wayne was born.

John Wayne's Waterloo connection

Michele Bachmann misstated Iowa (and Hollywood) history when she said John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa, but she may have been thinking of Wayne's parents, who had at least a brief connection to the town. From the biography, "John Wayne: American":

Clyde [Wayne's father] was twenty and Molly [his mother] was nineteen when they met. She fell in love with him because he was kind, handsome and well educated. He would, she thought, be easy to live with and a good provider. They had not dated long and did not know each other very well, but Clyde was about to take a job at a pharmacy in Waterloo, Iowa, and they decided to get married. Rather than bother with a church wedding, they eloped, traveling to Knoxville, in Marion County, where Justice of the Peace I.H. Garrison married them on September 29, 1905. They made their first home in Waterloo …

The instability that stalked them for the rest of their time together appeared early. They both wanted to leave Waterloo and get closer to their parents. Molly was emotionally tied to her mother and father, as was Clyde to his family. Waterloo was more than 115 miles from Des Moines and 150 miles from Indianola … Winterset, the county seat of Madison County, was about 35 miles from Des Moines and only 20 miles from Indianola, perfect for both of them. They rented a small frame house on South Second Street in Winterset and started a new life there.

That doesn't change the fact that Wayne's birthplace was in Winterset, but it does take some of the air out of the more comical explanation for Bachmann's gaffe: that she was thinking of Waterloo native and serial killer John Wayne Gacy when she made the comment. We report; you decide.

Here's something she should know about her fellow waterloo, Iowa friend clown killer not the duke of Iowa here's who he killed he was an artist and worked at KFC do something fucking research:

Identified victims (age in parentheses)Only twenty-five of Gacy's victims were ever identified. By the time of Gacy's trial, twenty-two victims had been identified. In March 1980, Dr. Robert Stein was able to identify two further bodies unearthed from Gacy's crawl space as those of Kenneth Parker and Michael Marino; two teenage friends who were reported missing on October 25, 1976; the day after they had disappeared. In 1986, one further unidentified victim was eventually identified as Timothy McCoy, Gacy's first victim.

Timothy McCoy (15) January 3, 1972
John Butkovitch (17) July 29, 1975
Darrell Sampson (18) April 6, 1976
Randall Reffett (15) May 14, 1976
Samuel Stapleton (14) May 14, 1976
Michael Bonnin (17) June 3, 1976
William Carroll (16) June 13, 1976
Rick Johnston (17) August 6, 1976
Kenneth Parker (16) October 24, 1976
Michael Marino (14) October 24, 1976
Gregory Godzik (17) December 12, 1976
John Szyc (19) January 20, 1977
Jon Prestidge (20) March 15, 1977
Matthew Bowman (19) July 5, 1977
Robert Gilroy (18) September 15, 1977
John Mowery (19) September 25, 1977
Russell Nelson (21) October 17, 1977
Robert Winch (16) November 10, 1977
Tommy Boling (20) November 18, 1977
David Talsma (19) December 9, 1977
William Kindred (19) February 16, 1978
Timothy O' Rourke (20) June 16–23, 1978
Frank Landingin (19) November 4, 1978
James Mazzara (21) November 24, 1978
Robert Piest (15) December 11, 1978

Unidentified victimsEight victims remain unidentified: seven from Gacy's crawl space and one from beneath his barbecue pit. Experts used the skulls of the unidentified victims to create facial reconstructions. Based upon Gacy's confession, where the victims were buried in his crawl space relative to Gacy's identified victims, and forensic analysis, police were able to determine the most likely dates when his unidentified victims were killed.

January, 1974. Body 28. Barbecue pit. Male aged 18–20.
July 29, 1975 – May 1976. Body 10. Crawl space. Male aged 15–17.
June 13 – August 6, 1976. Body 21. Crawl space. Male aged 20–24.
June–December, 1976. Body 13. Crawl space. Male aged c. 17
August–December 1976. Body 26. Crawl space. Male aged 19–21.
August–December 1976. Body 24. Crawl space. Male aged 22–28.
January 20 – March 15, 1977. Body 5. Crawl space. Male aged c. 25.
July–September, 1977. Body 19. Crawl space. Male aged 18–20.

Okay my hometown happens to be chicago, Illinois I know more about john wayne gacy then michele bachmann In a damn news Interview a flake, a zombie, how about a complete Idiot, I grew up around this directly the victims most If not all with homosexual males this Is why I for one support gay rights despite me being a straight male because I feel sorry for them I want gay men to be stronger not weaker and for two I live In the real world I know john wayne Is from I have watched his films most of them world war 2 films he sevred this country during world war 2 winterset, Iowa not waterloo Iowa Is where he Is from and I don't watch fox news listen to talk raido or support the TEA party she wake up she will lose support they will not vote for a fucking goofball like her a good christian but bad politician last but not least UNDEFEATED now If palin thinks she can screw washington, hollywood, arizona, alaska and now Iowa well john wayne the duke was first plain needs to not run In 2012 In fact palin herself needs to GO HOME like wasilla, alaska where she Is from not coming to pella, Iowa that's ain't home town what business or right does she have being there movie premiere In Iowa either she runs for president or doesn't also she should have the premiere In hollywood california like normal celebrities or be In Washington DC like normal Politicians or at home In alaska or with her daughter bristol In phoenix, arizona another Idiot In Iowa:

Her premiere In pella, Iowa WTF moment as In WHAT THE FUCK

Sarah Palin’s Iowa Debut
Tuesday’s “Undefeated” premiere in Iowa and barbecue after-party will feature the former governor, handpicked locals, and Palin pals, not state GOP bigwigs—but it just might turn into a political event.
It’s Sarah Palin the movie star, not the presidential candidate, who will head to Iowa on Tuesday, but despite the quick visit, politics and the state’s presidential importance are sure to play a bigger part of the visit than she may be intending.

Palin will be in the crucial first caucus state for the first time this year not to meet with operatives ahead of a presidential run but to screen the documentary about her life, The Undefeated, at the opera house in the scenic town of Pella. Although the Iowa trip is sure to ramp up speculation yet again that she will enter the 2012 race, all signs point to a flying visit to the Hawkeye State completely focused on the film’s premiere.

Director Stephen K. Bannon said he is “ecstatic” and “elated” about the film’s premiere, but as in The Undefeated—Palin facilitated the interviews for the film but was not directly involved in its making—she will just be a guest at the screening.

“One of the reasons Gov. Palin wanted to come is because of the venue, the historic opera house in the little town of Pella. She can come see the movie and see it in a historic setting,” Bannon told The Daily Beast. “It’s not about Sarah Palin. It’s about the values she represents and that are in the film: tenacity, fortitude, and grit.”

When news broke Saturday that the former Alaska governor was planning to attend the screening in Pella, speculation was rife that she was going to kick off the second leg of her “One Nation” bus tour. The first leg ended in the first primary state of New Hampshire, and Palin insiders with knowledge of the tour had always stressed that the second leg would include Iowa, while the third would likely hit South Carolina, the first presidential primary state in the South. But on Wednesday she’ll be at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota—without her bus—for a mother-daughter book signing at Barnes & Noble. Eldest daughter Bristol’s memoir, Not Afraid of Life, was released last week and this will be her first book event. Sarah Palin’s second book, America By Heart, was released last year.

“
“I never talked to SarahPAC about the premiere. No one in the PAC was invited. I invited Gov. Palin,” Bannon said. “The barbecue is for the people of Pella.”

”
Although she is sure to be swarmed both by media and supporters in Pella—after the screening, Bannon and his team are throwing an invitation-only barbecue for local residents—she doesn’t have meetings lined up with the GOP stalwarts traditional candidates meet with ahead of a campaign. Due to demand, seating was increased at the historic opera house to more than 300, and about 1,000 people are expected at the cookout. One staffer organizing the event described the setting as straight out of a “Norman Rockwell painting.”

The former governor told reporters on her bus tour that any Palin presidential campaign would be “unconventional and untraditional,” but Craig Robinson, former political director of the Republican Party of Iowa, said it may not matter that she’s doing things differently. Tuesday’s barbecue will look much like a campaign event, he said, comparing it to Rep. Michele Bachmann’s pre-campaign announcement event Sunday night in Waterloo.

“Is [Palin] going to sit down and meet with the people you would go through if you were going to launch a presidential campaign? No, but I think she will interact with very conservative people, very active Republicans,” Robinson said, noting that Pella is in a conservative part of the state. “She will be mingling with caucus-goers.”

Robinson, who said he plans to remain unaffiliated to any candidate, stressed that Palin’s high name recognition means she doesn’t need to meet with state operatives and political dignitaries, as other hopefuls do.

“In Iowa, in a caucus state, big-name operatives and consultants are overrated,” he said. “You need your county GOP chair and people willing to make phone calls and organize your neighbors. That’s what caucuses are about. Those are the most important people she can meet, the people that are really Sarah Palin fans, not a potential campaign manager or potential caucus director. The people she will be mingling with are quite important.”

Palin will attend the premiere with husband Todd and longtime friend Kristan Cole, who also stars in the movie. The advance staffers rehired for the bus tour, Jason Recher and Doug McMarlin, will not be in attendance. Bannon said he believes Palin will not be traveling with staff.

“I never talked to SarahPAC about the premiere. No one in the PAC was invited. I invited Gov. Palin,” Bannon said. “The barbecue is for the people of Pella.”

The director said local politicians will be in attendance, but despite the film’s goal—trying to reframe Palin’s image as a bipartisan problem solver ahead of a possible run—big-name operatives weren’t invited.

“The chief theme of the film is populism, Tea Party populism. I did not invite bigwigs in the Republican Party throughout the state. The film is not about that, it’s about a simpler populist message. There will be no red carpet. The red carpet will be the red bricks that pave the front of the opera house,” Bannon said.

Unlike her bus tour, which had reporters chasing the bus and working sources to find out the next stop, Tuesday’s premiere of the pro-Palin documentary will be highly produced by Bannon’s team. One unknown element is how many Palin supporters from outside the state will swarm the opera house hoping to get a glance at Palin, although tickets for both the screening and the cookout are no longer available.

Pro-Palin websites like Conservatives4Palin were giving conflicting information over the past few days about whether supporters should show up at the event. Originally the site, which is constantly updated and followed by Palin’s passionate fan base, implored supporters to flood Pella with the goal of convincing Palin to run for the presidency. That quickly changed Monday, when it became clear that only limited tickets were being distributed for the event and that most would go to locals. Many supporters are planning on coming anyway, but Bannon said he is not worried about the possible crush of supporters.

Although the frenzy over the will-she won’t-she is sure to intensify, even with this brief visit, Palin insiders still stress that she has yet to make up her mind and staff may not know much before she decides to announce her intentions. They add that a decision most likely will not be made before the fall.

Will she run for president gingrich, bachmann YES, daniels, trump NO, palin, perry MAYBE

If she wants to be a movie star and not a politician then maybe fuck the rest of the story maybe comapre apples to oranges guessing john wayne APPLES and sarah palin ORANGES also GOOD among the ones who said NO BAD among all who said YES and Indifferent to all say I DON'T KNOW and I DON'T CARE but wanna rent or buy this UNDEFEATED go to amazon.com otherwise shut up

JOHN WAYNE'S UNDEFEATED

The Undefeated (1969) the Civil War, ex-Union Colonel John Henry Thomas and ex-Confederate Colonel James Langdon are leading two disparate groups of people through strife-torn Mexico. John Henry and company are bringing horses to the unpopular Mexican government for $35 a head while Langdon is leading a contingent of displaced southerners, who are looking for a new life in Mexico after losing their property to carpetbaggers. The two men are eventually forced to mend their differences in order to fight off both bandits and revolutionaries, as they try to lead their friends and kin to safety.

At the end of the US Civil War, Confederate Colonel James Langdon leads a group of his men and their families to Mexico where the Emperor Maximillian has promised them land and the opportunity to start a new life. Along the way, they encounter John Henry Thomas, a former Union cavalry officer. While suspicious of their new acquaintances, the Confederates slowly develop an admiration for Thomas and his men. When Colonel Langdon finds himself in the middle of the Mexican revolution, it's Thomas and his men who come to their rescue.

Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Writers: James Lee Barrett (screenplay), Stanley Hough (story), and 1 more credit »
Stars:John Wayne, Rock Hudson and Antonio Aguilar

SARAH PALIN UNDEFEATED

The Undefeated (2011)
Documentary | Biography - 15 July 2011 (USA)

A documentary on politician Sarah Palin.

Director: Stephen K. Bannon
Writers: Stephen K. Bannon, Sarah Palin (inspired by the book "Going Rogue: An American Life")

Credited cast:
Andrew Breitbart ... Himself
Tammy Bruce ... Herself
Con Bunde ... Himself
Kristan Cole ... Herself
Kurt Gibson ... Himself
Rick Halford ... Himself
Tom Irwin ... Himself
Sonnie Johnson ... Herself
Mark Levin ... Himself
Kate Obenshain ... Herself
Sarah Palin ... Herself
Judy Patrick ... Herself
Jamie Radtke ... Herself
Marty Rutherford ... Herself
Meghan Stapleton ... Herself

If you want to see her film go ahead I mean she afterall her and brietbitch are In holywood make that pella, Iowa declaring themselves not to run for president In 2012 like barack obama, mitt romney, tim pawlenty, rick santorum, gary johnson, herman cain, randall terry, ron paul, john huntsman, and of course newt gingrich and michele bachmann and just maybe rick perry, george pataki and rudy guiliani palin like haley barbour, paul ryan, bobby jindal, mike huckabee, mitch daniels and donald trump they ain't running don't worry about them or anything else palin best off joining the crowd who said NO to 2012 and not join the crowd that said YES she will be better off and she and others we rather not see again 2 words to say to them GO HOME.

In short minnesota another state hurt by bad budgets, koch brothers are surrounded by protesters now and FBI agents later, NBA like the NFL dissing chicago dissing fans dissing the unions and getting greedy like the koch brothers and other republicans and newt gingrich, michele bachmann and sarah palin don't know and don't care If they are In Iowa or anywhere In this nation to me they are the three stooges In modern american life NEWT=MOE MICHELE=LARRY AND SARAH=CURLY SHEMP=TRUMP Wait until obama see's that and the TEA party heck all americans from all walks of life this Is a celebration about your country fourth of july weekend whatever you do at home at a park public, private, state, national, have a picnic or barbeque light fireworks and be proud to be an american this Is our country's holiday let's all be grateful Instead of proud, Instead of gluttony eat a balanced or healthy diet, Instead of greed give back to your community and volunteer, Instead of sloth take a walk or a bike ride, Instead of envy Ignore people Its bliss to go about your business bad people are not worth your time, Instead of lust just be friends that's not romance or love marriage Its a piece of paper you'll end up having children getting screwed and regret It and finally anger how about take a deep breathe relax and do some damn yoga or seek a therapist and get help got wrath get to anger management guessing why this Is a christian nation most of us sin I'm an atheist I can control them all I am In control.

CELEBRATE YOUR COUNTRY AMERICA HAPPY 4TH OF JULY WEEKEND BY BACK IN AUGUST FOR MY OWN BIRTHDAY

CITIZEN TIMOTHY BRAIN FOLEY

NBA And NHL Winners Losers And The Future To Come

2011-06-26T02:44:00.009-05:00

Well the NBA and NHL seasons are over 1 team In each league champions the rest are not and the draft Is setting up the future players of both league focusing solely on the winners, losers and the future of both games, next blog will be about the GOP race for 2012 until then Its all about basketball and hockey blogging about them this week off season ahead for the dallas mavericks and the boston bruins and same sex couples In new york time to celebrate as champions

NBA

Dallas Mavericks are champions; Nowitzki is MVP

(AP) MIAMI - The Dallas Mavericks and German star Dirk Nowitzki won their long-awaited first NBA title on Sunday, taking revenge on the Miami Heat by beating them 105-95 on their home court in Game 6 of the NBA finals.

Jason Terry scored 27 points and Nowitzki added 21 for the Mavericks, who won four of the series' last five games, a turnabout that could not have been sweeter after seeing the Heat win their first title in Dallas in Game 6 of the 2006 finals.

"Tonight," Terry said, "we got vindication."

LeBron James scored 21 for Miami, although was largely quiet after the opening minutes. Chris Bosh had 19, Mario Chalmers 18 and Dwyane Wade 17 for the Heat.

James, who will have to wait another year for a chance at his first NBA title, shook a few hands after the game and departed before most of the Mavs had put on their championship hats and T-shirts.

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle joined a highly elite group - those with NBA titles as both a player and a head coach.

Only 10 other men are on that list, including Lakers coach Phil Jackson and Heat President Pat Riley - who led Miami past Dallas in 2006 and was the mastermind of what the Heat did last summer by getting James, Wade and Bosh on the same team with an eye on becoming a dynasty.

But after 72 wins this season, including playoffs, the Heat lost their last game. And that means this year was a disappointment - except to just about everyone else in the NBA, or so it would seem.

Hating the Heat became the NBA's craze this season, and the team knew it had no shortage of critics, everyone from Cleveland (where "Cavs for Mavs" shirts were popular during these finals) to Chicago (the city James and Wade both flirted with last summer) and just about every place in between lining up to take shots at Miami.

Dallas took control in the second half of Sunday's game after some wild momentum shifts in the opening two quarters. Miami took its last lead of the game just 64 seconds into the second half, lost it 16 seconds later and chased the Mavericks the rest of the way.

Nowitzki sealed the win with 2:27 left, hitting a jumper near the Miami bench to put Dallas up 99-89. Nowitzki walked to the Mavs' side slowly, right fist clenched above his head.

Dirk Nowitzki has been named Most Valuable Player of the NBA finals for his huge role in leading the Dallas Mavericks to their first championship.

Although the German star struggled in the Mavericks' Game 6 victory on Sunday, he certainly put them in position to win it all, overcoming injury and illness to power fourth-quarter comebacks from deficits of 12, nine and four points in Dallas' previous wins.

Nowitzki won Game 2 with a left-handed layup despite having torn a tendon in his left middle finger in Game 1.

He scored 10 of his 21 points in the final period of Game 4 despite playing with a fever because of a sinus infection.

And in Game 5, his driving dunk in the final minutes put Dallas ahead for good

Enough said lebron wasn't to pleased

Losing Finals Could Finally Change LeBron

Losing the 2011 NBA Finals may end up being the best thing for LeBron James. Now, before you jump off the plane, give me a chance to land it.

James has been called “King,” but he’s also been called “petulant,” “immature,” “self-absorbed,” and any other pejorative term Skip Bayless or Adrian Wojnarowski feel like hurling his way.

They’re all true.

LeBron James is, without question, the most talented player in the NBA today and yes Scottie, does have a chance to be as good as the NBA’s gold standard, Michael Jeffrey Jordan.

But.

When we talk about LeBron there’s always a ‘but.’

“He won the MVP, but his team couldn’t win in the playoffs.”

“I don’t care he left Cleveland, but I hate the way he did it.”

“He’s a great player, but he doesn’t have a killer instinct.”

Ok, maybe you’re right, but now that can all change.

LeBron James ran the Cavaliers. Don’t blame Danny Ferry or Dan Gilbert or Mike Brown. They did their best.

James was the reason those guys got paid, because without James, the hometown hero, Cleveland would be just another NBA also-ran and their torture as the laughing stock of the sporting landscape would have continued.

He was defiant with coaches and administrators, immature as a player on and off the court and hit as many game winners as I did.

But just coming to Miami suggested a subtle change in LeBron James.

By going to “Wade” County, James was acquiescing to his best friend Dwyane Wade. LeBron was never going to try and take Wade’s team, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t still be the best player on the court.

He showed maturity in understanding he couldn’t do it alone, and further more, that he didn’t need to. He understood winning was the top goal.

When James left Cleveland in that awkward playoff malaise against Boston, the two-time MVP looked disengaged, sleep-walking through his final game in a Cavs uniform and yet still finished with a pretty spectacular stat line.

LeBron didn’t look disengaged in the Finals, he looked unsure. The most talented basketball player in the world was lacking confidence, seemingly lost and bewildered.

The honesty of his play in this Finals was breathtaking, as he was unable to hide the fact that the big stage along with Dallas’ defense had genuinely flustered the best player on the planet.

Watching him in the huddle late in the fourth of the deciding Game 6, he looked at coach Erik Spoelstra like a sophomore might look at his college coach, with genuine question, hoping his coach had the answer he’d been unable to provide.

See, LeBron James has relied solely on his own talent for so long, he was under the impression he got it, that he knew the game well enough that he didn’t have to listen.

He regularly broke from the called plays in favor of an isolation or pull-up jumper and because he made a great play so often, it was overlooked.

Great players do this all the time. Kobe does it. D-Wade does it. Rose does it.

To a man, teammates and coaches will say LeBron works hard in practice, is a vocal leader, and is as smart a player on the court as you’ll find. To a certain point, he does get it.

Watching James in the huddle next to Dwyane Wade was startling. Wade, having laid his body on the line every play, blocking shots and rebounding the way no player of his size ever has, served as a reminder Wade was, and always has been, maximizing his abilities as much as any player in the NBA.

James isn’t.

If LeBron James can learn from Wade, and Spoelstra and even Chris Bosh – who had perhaps the most under-appreciated playoff run of any play this year – he can erase the ‘buts’ and any other conjunction you can think of.

LeBron James, early in the season, didn’t want to play power forward. Then, after prodding from his coach, James accepted the responsibility and the Heat went on that December tear. James’ ability to rebound with guys like Boozer and Noah eventually changed the Chicago series.

Then there were the minutes he played, the King complaining he was playing too many minutes. James played the whole second half for most of the Bulls and Celtics series and the Heat were a combined 10-2 in those series.

LeBron James’ game won him two trophy’s for his case but no rings for his fingers.

If James played with Dwyane Wade’s energy, or Chris Bosh’ efficiency he would have both.

If LeBron developed a post game, he’d be utterly unguardable, and if he played hard on defense like he did in the Chicago series, he’d the the Defensive Player of the Year every season.

That’s not hyperbole and that’s why James’ failures are frustrating to fans who love sports. James truly could be the best ever if he cared about working hard enough to do it.

But Game 6 of the Finals, the Heat’s loss, can be a seminal moment in LeBron James’ life if he chooses to realize his personal failings were the reason the Heat lost – rarely can you blame a series on a single player, but if James gives them anything in this series, it would have been over in four games.

LeBron James has been called many things, but rarely do you hear the word “accountable.” He told his teammates after a regular season loss to Chicago that he wouldn’t continue to fail them late in games.

He was right, until he wasn’t and he wasn’t the only time it truly mattered: with the Championship on the line.

For LeBron James to be an all-timer, to quiet the doubters and remove the ‘buts’ from the conversation, he has to be accountable.

The Miami Heat won three playoff series with stiffing defense, in part because LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were seemingly everywhere on the court.

Against Dallas, Wade was his normal active self, but not only was James not ‘everywhere,’ he was seemingly no where.

That’s on LeBron, not sportswriters, angry fans, so-called haters, or the Dallas Mavericks.

If he can accept his shortcomings and learn from them, pushing him to work harder and with more focus than ever before, then perhaps his pre-season bravado over winning multiple championships will be more prophetic than braggadocio.

The Miami Heat didn’t lose the championship because of what LeBron James did, but they didn’t win the Finals because of what LeBron James failed to do.

If he can learn the difference, there will championships instead of conjunctions.

Well someone told lebron staright dan gilbert cavaliers owner and lebron's former boss

No Shortcuts None

Minutes after the Dallas Mavericks clinched the NBA championship last week, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert sent this congratulatory tweet to Mavericks owner Mark Cuban: “Old Lesson for All: There are NO SHORTCUTS. NONE.”

Like sports teams and athletes, too many companies neglect the long view. Rather than stick to proven strategies, they seek shortcuts and quick fixes. Like profit-driven sports teams that trade players and offer ever-higher salaries, companies abandon sound business practices and disregard customer value in favor of maximizing shareholder wealth. It’s a short-term strategy that has been disastrous for many.

There are no shortcuts in sports and there are no shortcuts in the business world. Just as with athletes, business success requires talent, discipline and a commitment to mastering the fundamentals. The Mavericks went three decades without winning a title, and a look at their roster of veterans reflects years of practice and hard work. The majority of the team has 9 or more years in the NBA; point guard Jason Kidd is two years shy of 40. The Mavericks know what it means to suffer heartbreak, and they came out stronger for it.

To bear fruit, individuals and organizations must exercise discipline.

Organizations must discipline themselves to deliver clear direction, goals, plans, processes and talent, to which individuals can align and commit with confidence, trusting that the desired outcomes will be achieved.
Individuals must discipline themselves to continually strive to be better, training body and mind to believe in what can be accomplished and cooperating with team members to maximize the strengths of each. Perhaps most importantly, individuals need discipline in adhering, through thick and thin, to their personal and organizational beliefs and values.
THE EXPERIMENT

Think about organizations that have lost their way. What are the fundamentals they’ve neglected in favor of maximizing profits, shareholder wealth, etc.?

How about your organization? Is it maintaining its core?

If not, what can you do to get back to the basics and focus on long-term sustainable approaches that deliver success?

Congratulations to dallas mavericks and dirk nowitzki and mark cuban pity on lebron james and miami heat as for cleveland cavaliers and dan gilbert a new beginning they have the number 1 and 4 picks In the NBA draft let's see how they faired.

1 1 Kyrie Irving PG United Statesa[›] Cleveland Cavaliers (from L.A. Clippers)[a] Duke (Fr.)
1 2 Derrick Williams SF United States Minnesota Timberwolves Arizona (So.)
1 3 Enes Kanter C/PF Turkey Utah Jazz (from New Jersey)[b] Kentucky (Fr.)
1 4 Tristan Thompson PF/SF Canada Cleveland Cavaliers Texas (Fr.)
1 5 Jonas Valančiūnas C Lithuania Toronto Raptors Lietuvos Rytas (Lithuania)
1 6 Jan Veselý SF Czech Republic Washington Wizards Partizan (Serbia)
1 7 Bismack Biyombo PF Democratic Republic of the Congo Sacramento Kings (traded to Charlotte Bobcats)[i] Fuenlabrada (Spain)
1 8 Brandon Knight PG United States Detroit Pistons Kentucky (Fr.)
1 9 Kemba Walker PG/SG United States Charlotte Bobcats Connecticut (Jr.)
1 10 Jimmer Fredette SG United States Milwaukee Bucks (traded to Sacramento Kings)[i] BYU (Sr.)
1 11 Klay Thompson SG/SF United States Golden State Warriors Washington State (Jr.)
1 12 Alec Burks SG/PG United States Utah Jazz Colorado (So.)
1 13 Markieff Morris PF United States Phoenix Suns Kansas (Jr.)
1 14 Marcus Morris PF United States Houston Rockets Kansas (Jr.)
1 15 Kawhi Leonard SF United States Indiana Pacers (traded to San Antonio Spurs)[j] San Diego State (So.)
1 16 Nikola Vučević PF Montenegro Philadelphia 76ers USC (Jr.)
1 17 Iman Shumpert PG United States New York Knicks Georgia Tech (Jr.)
1 18 Chris Singleton PF United States Washington Wizards (from Atlanta)[c] Florida State (Jr.)
1 19 Tobias Harris PF United States Charlotte Bobcats (from New Orleans via Portland; traded to Milwaukee Bucks)[d][i] Tennessee (Fr.)
1 20 Donatas Motiejūnas PF Lithuania Minnesota Timberwolves (from Memphis via Utah; traded to Houston Rockets)[e][k] Benetton Treviso (Italy)
1 21 Nolan Smith PG United States Portland Trail Blazers Duke (Sr.)
1 22 Kenneth Faried PF United States Denver Nuggets Morehead State (Sr.)
1 23 Nikola Mirotić PF Montenegro
Spainb[›] Houston Rockets (from Orlando Magic via Phoenix Suns; traded to Chicago Bulls via Minnesota)[f][k][l] Real Madrid (Spain)
1 24 Reggie Jackson PG United States Oklahoma City Thunder Boston College (Jr.)
1 25 Marshon Brooks SG United States Boston Celtics (traded to New Jersey Nets) [m] Providence (Sr.)
1 26 Jordan Hamilton SF/SG United States Dallas Mavericks (traded to Denver Nuggets via Portland Trailblazers)[n] Texas (So.)
1 27 JaJuan Johnson PF United States New Jersey Nets (from L.A. Lakers; traded to Boston Celtics)[g][m] Purdue (Sr.)
1 28 Norris Cole PG United States Chicago Bulls (from Miami Heat via Toronto Raptors; traded to Miami Heat via Minnesota)[h][l][o] Cleveland State (Sr.)
1 29 Cory Joseph PG Canada San Antonio Spurs Texas (Fr.)
1 30 Jimmy Butler SF United States Chicago Bulls Marquette (Sr.)
2 31 Bojan Bogdanović SF Croatia Miami Heat (traded to New Jersey Nets via Minnesota Timberwolves)[o][p] Fenerbahçe Ülker (Turkey)
2 32 Justin Harper PF United States Cleveland Cavaliers (traded to Orlando Magic)[q] Richmond (Sr.)
2 33 Kyle Singler SF United States Detroit Pistons (from Toronto Raptors) Duke (Sr.)
2 34 Shelvin Mack PG/SG United States Washington Wizards Butler (Jr.)
2 35 Tyler Honeycutt SF United States Sacramento Kings UCLA (So.)
2 36 Jordan Williams PF/C United States New Jersey Nets Maryland (So.)
2 37 Trey Thompkins PF United States Los Angeles Clippers (from Detroit Pistons) Georgia (Jr.)
2 38 Chandler Parsons SF United States Houston Rockets (from L.A. Clippers) Florida (Sr.)
2 39 Jeremy Tyler PF/C United States Charlotte Bobcats (traded to Golden State Warriors) Tokyo Apache (Japan)
2 40 Jon Leuer PF United States Milwaukee Bucks Wisconsin (Sr.)
2 41 Darius Morris PG United States Los Angeles Lakers (from Golden State Warriors via New Jersey Nets) Michigan (So.)
2 42 Dāvis Bertāns SF Latvia Indiana Pacers (traded to San Antonio Spurs)[j] Union Olimpija (Slovenia)
2 43 Malcolm Lee PG United States Chicago Bulls (from Utah; traded to Minnesota Timberwolves)[l] UCLA (Jr.)
2 44 Charles Jenkins SG/PG United States Golden State Warriors (from Phoenix Suns via Chicago Bulls) Hofstra (Sr.)
2 45 Josh Harrellson C United States New Orleans Hornets (from Philadelphia; traded to New York Knicks) Kentucky (Sr.)
2 46 Andrew Goudelock SG United States Los Angeles Lakers (from New York Knicks) Charleston (Sr.)
2 47 Travis Leslie SG United States Los Angeles Clippers (from Houston Rockets) Georgia (Jr.)
2 48 Keith Benson C United States Atlanta Hawks Oakland (Sr.)
2 49 Josh Selby PG United States Memphis Grizzlies Kansas (Fr.)
2 50 Lavoy Allen PF United States Philadelphia 76ers (from New Orleans Hornets) Temple (Sr.)
2 51 Jon Diebler SG United States Portland Trail Blazers Ohio State (Sr.)
2 52 Vernon Macklin PF United States Detroit Pistons (from Denver Nuggets via Portland Trail Blazers) Florida (Sr.)
2 53 DeAndre Liggins SG United States Orlando Magic Kentucky (Jr.)
2 54 Milan Mačvan PF Serbia Cleveland Cavaliers (from Oklahoma City Thunder via Miami Heat) Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
2 55 E'Twaun Moore SG United States Boston Celtics Purdue (Sr.)
2 56 Chukwudiebere Maduabum SF Nigeria Los Angeles Lakers (traded to Denver Nuggets) Bakersfield Jam (D-League)
2 57 Tanguy Ngombo SF Qatar[56] Dallas Mavericks (traded to Portland Trail Blazers)[n] Al Rayyan (Qatar)
2 58 Ater Majok C Australia Los Angeles Lakers (from Miami Heat) Gold Coast Blaze (Australia)
2 59 Ádám Hanga SF Hungary San Antonio Spurs Albacomp (Hungary)
2 60 Isaiah Thomas PG United States Sacramento Kings (from Chicago Bulls via Milwaukee Bucks) Washington (Jr.)

Who we're the winners and losers here to that don't matter but I will just stay close to home with this:

Cleveland Cavaliers

Additions: Kyrie Irving (No.1), Tristan Thompson (No.4), Milan Macvan (No.54)

As one commenter put it, the Cavaliers had four picks and blew three of them. The team found its franchise player of the future and a steady hand at the point in Duke's Kyrie Irving, the No.1 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. On the other hand, Cleveland reached at No.4 for Texas' Tristan Thompson, sold a player that could have helped them next season in Justin Harper and took an unknown international talent, Milan Macvan. All this happened despite the fact that Ben Hansbrough, Isaiah Thomas, Greg Smith and Scotty Hopson were still on the board.

Injury questions aside, Irving has the makeup to be an elite guard and gives Cleveland an excellent point guard and a character player to build around. Thompson has a long reach and wingspan, but his offensive game is light years away from being NBA-ready and he is somewhat short for a power forward at just 6-toot-8. Trading the No.32 pick and a player likely to be a contributor in Harper, who is an excellent shooter with a first round grade, for two future (most likely low) second-round picks made even less sense. Furthermore, the jury will be out for a long, long time on Macvan.

The Cavaliers' draft is definitely one those that may look great down the road; however, as of right now, it really seems as though, following Irving's selection at No.1, the team may have missed the mark a bit.

Grade: C

Milwaukee Bucks

Additions: Tobias Harris (No.19), Jon Leuer (No.40), Stephen Jackson (via trade), Shaun Livingston (via trade), Beno Udrih (via trade)

Milwaukee was a participant in the draft's biggest deal, a three-way trade that involved five players and three 2011 draft choices exchanging hands between the Bucks, Charlotte Bobcats and Sacramento Kings.

When the trade dust settled, the Bucks came away with a pretty nice haul, sacrificing John Salmons, Corey Maggette and the 10th overall pick and receiving the 19th pick, talented swingman Stephen Jackson and point guards Shaun Livingston and Beno Udrih.

The 19th pick was used on Tennessee's Tobias Harris, an underrated SF-PF who had as good a freshman season as any during the 2010-11 college basketball season. While a bit of a tweener, Harris sports a great range with his shot, does not shy away from physical contact in the post and has the type of body that can easily pack on muscle. In all likelihood he will develop nicely over time.

Picking up Wisconsin Badgers forward Jon Leuer was also a nice get for the Bucks and will give the team depth at the power forward spot and a good shooting complement to center Andrew Bogut.

Grade: A

Indiana Pacers

Additions: George Hill (via trade)

Given the presence of Danny Granger and Paul George on the Indiana roster, many expected San Diego State's Kawhi Leonard to be dealt when the forward fell to the Pacers at No.15. The team did just that and picked up one of game's most promising guards in George Hill from the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Leonard, the rights to Davis Bertans (No.42) and the draft rights to Ezram Lorbek, a player drafted 46th overall in 2005.

Hill is a great combo-guard talent and will give Indiana not only a complement, but also a backup, to starting point guard Darren Collison. The big question mark here is whether giving up the second round pick, Bertans, will come back to haunt the Pacers down the line.

Indiana could be kicking itself if Bertans, a long 6-foot-10 shooter who has drawn comparisons to Dirk Nowitzki, becomes just a poor man's version of the reigning NBA Finals MVP.

Grade: B-

Chicago Bulls

Additions: Nikola Mirotic (No.23), Jimmy Butler (No.30)

Needing depth at the wing positions, the Chicago Bulls picked up a player for now in Marquette's Jimmy Butler and one for later in Montenegro's Nikola Mirotic.

The deal for Mirotic involved the Bulls obtaining his draft rights in exchange the 28th pick and the 43rd pick. That was a small sum to play for a player that was destined to be a lottery pick if not for the fact that his contract with Real Madrid will keep him overseas for at least two more seasons. At the end of the day, Mirotic has stud-in-the-making written all over him and he will be an instant contributor and possible star when he finally joins the club.

Butler gives the team an above-average defender for both the small and power forward positions, and a serviceable backup to Luol Deng. A true 'blue collar' type of forward, it will not be long before Butler is making hustle plays and endearing himself to the Bulls' faithful.

Grade: A

In closing here I will say the next NBA champions likely by the bulls not the lakers, celtics, heat or mavericks or cavaliers some of those teams have some work to be done or they are getting old and their time as passed bucks and pacers playoffs I can see that and cavaliers will get better too but the bulls are getting closer to another NBA championship of thier afterall they made It to the eastern conference finals lesson learned If dallas can get back at miami this year next season If no lockout the bulls with derrick rose will do the same so watch out this likely be the next NBA champions dallas, miami, boston, los angeles and cleveland and the rest of the NBA take the bulls more seriously they are about to win a championship If you ain't careful

NHL

Stanley Cup 2011: Boston Bruins defeat Vancouver Canucks in Game 7

The Boston Bruins have taken home the coveted Stanley Cup for a sixth time, beating the Vancouver Canucks in their own barn for the seventh game of the 2011 series.

Boston took the lead early with Patrice Bergeron scoring the premiere goal of the game in the first period. He went on to score one more time in the second period, with teammate Brad Marchand also putting two in the net throughout the game. Goalie Tim Thomas earned himself a shutout.

The final score of Wednesday's game (June 15) was 4-0, bringing to an end the extremely physical competition. Game seven alone racked up a total of 76 hits compared to only 58 shots on net.

Team captain Zdeno Chara was the first to lift the trophy in celebration, albeit in front of a disappointed Vancouver crowd.

Congratulations to the the Bruins and the entire city of Boston, whose residents -- we imagine -- will be lifting a celebratory Sam Adams (or several) this evening.

They happy In boston well not so In vancouver short and sweet for our friends and family In massachusetts enjoy winners celebrate and not gathering attention but losers do look at vancouver boston I love you guys and girls you have earned the cup sorry about vancouver:

Vancouver Canucks fans riot after losing Stanley Cup final

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Angry, drunken fans ran wild Wednesday night after the Vancouver Canuks' 4-0 loss to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, setting cars and garbage cans on fire, smashing windows, showering giant TV screens with beer bottles and dancing atop overturned vehicles.

Vancouver riots after Canucks lose Stanley Cup final

"We have a small number of hooligans on the streets of Vancouver causing problems," Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said in a statement. "It's absolutely disgraceful and shameful and by no means represents the city of Vancouver...We have had an extraordinary run in the playoff, great celebration. What's happened tonight is despicable."

Police said they had reports of four stabbings, though a spokeswoman for the city would not confirm them.

BCTV reported that at least 58 people were injured. CBC reported that at least 10 remain hospitalized Thursday morning and some may face surgery, reports CBS affiliate KIRO.

Officers from around the region flooded into downtown. It took about four hours before downtown was quiet again.

At the Bay store, a high-end department store, looters were seen grabbing T-shirts and young women were seen leaving the store with MAC cosmetics. The landmark building was filling with smoke as people continued to take anything else they could get their hands on.

The violence started when fans set fire to a stuffed bear decorated to symbolize the Boston Bruins.

Police started using flash-bangs - grenades, which are made to distract and disorient, rather than injure - to break up the mobs.

While some members of the crowd expressed dismay that the police didn't take a more aggressive apparoach to the early vandalism, others said officers were heavy-handed.

"There's people who've been coming through the crowds suffering from tear gas," said 26-year-old Amy Zevick. "I'm seriously disappointed in the city of Vancouver and the country of Canada because it makes me feel the insecurity I read about in other parts of the world. I don't thinks it's OK to loot, but I also don't think its OK to over-police and assume that every person is guilty."

The chaos was reminiscent of a similar scene that erupted in the city in 1994 following the Canucks' Game 7 loss to the New York Rangers, reports the station.

Well this team the vancouver canucks lost to the chicago blackhawks 2 of the last postseasons the fans riots then hawks nearly beat them In the first round canucks managed to beat them In 7 games and game 7 went to overtime Imagined they lost that game and fans rioted because of the hawks beat the canucks again again chicago fans do so have class vancouver fans sure doesn't they would be livid at chicago If they ever lost to them again however theirs one happy thing to this heel raising story

Vancouver kiss couple 'were knocked down by riot police'
Couple whose photo has been shared around the world may not have been in a passionate embrace, say witnesses

At first glance the picture, snapped during Vancouver's hockey riots, seemed to show a young couple lying on the road and kissing, oblivious to the chaos around them. Now it appears that the real force behind the arresting image was not romance, but a charge by riot police who knocked Scott Jones and his girlfriend, Alex Thomas, to the ground.

The picture taken by Canadian photographer Richard Lam became a global sensation – appearing in the media, shared on Facebook and tweeted around the world – and looked set to take its place as one of the world's most iconic kiss photographs.

"How's that for making love, not war," astonished dad Brett Jones declared on his Facebook page, announcing that his son, Scott, was the Romeo depicted in the picture.

But others wondered if it was a fake, and the photographer himself had doubts about what the picture really showed. A second shot emerged showing more people around the couple and adding to the mystery.

A witness, identifying himself as William, wrote to the Vancouver Sun to give his take. He said he was on top of a carpark looking down on the place where the picture was taken. "What happened was the police line rushed the crowd and this couple trying to stay together couldn't react in time and were run over my two riot police officers.

"The girl who was knocked over landed head first on the pavement with her boyfriend landing partially on top of her. She was in visible pain, crying, but the two officers gave them a parting shove and moved on. Bystanders went to go make sure she was OK. I understand that the frontline police have to control the crowd but it is a bit ridiculous that they couldn't have other officers or paramedics behind the line to help anyone who is hurt."

Australian media have widely identified the man in the picture as Scott Jones, a 29-year-old from Melbourne who has been living in Vancouver for six months. The woman is said to be his girlfriend Alex Thomas, a Canadian.

His mother, Megan Jones, told NineMSN: "I knew it was him because he doesn't have a lot of clothes with him and he always puts on the same thing."

Before the full story emerged, she said she was shocked to spot her son lying in the middle of the street but not surprised. "It is something he would do, that's our boy. He has always lived in his own world, he's special like that. He doesn't always connect with what going on around him. I'd have to have my house flooded to get on the news, but he just has to kiss a beautiful girl."

Scott's sister Hannah said people had been posting on Scott's Facebook page. "You keep getting played on the news. You're famous!" one wrote. Jones replied: "Classic! This was shortly after the riot police run over the top of us and naturally Alex needed some comforting."

Lam took the photograph while covering the riots that followed the Vancouver Canucks' 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup.

The photographer was being buffeted by rioters and riot police when he spotted the couple. "I was about 20 or 30 yards away," he said. "There were these two people on the ground in this empty street. Initially I thought one of them was hurt." He took a few shots and then the moment was lost.

"It was complete chaos. Rioters set two cars on fire and then I saw looters break the window at a neighbouring department store," he said.

"At that point the riot police charged right towards us. After I stopped running I noticed in the space behind the line of police that two people were lying in the street with the riot police and a raging fire just beyond them.

"I knew I had captured a moment when I snapped the still forms against the backdrop of such chaos but it wasn't until later when I returned to the rink to file my photos that my editor pointed out that the two people were not hurt, but kissing," Lam said before the real story behind the photo came out.

Officials in Vancouver said almost 150 people required hospital treatment and almost 100 were arrested during the riot.

A spokeswoman for the local health authority said three stabbing victims had been admitted and one man was in a critical condition with head injuries after a fall from a viaduct.

Rioting and looting left cars burned, stores in shambles and windows shattered over a roughly 10-block radius of the city's main shopping district.

The police chief, Jim Chu, said nine officers were injured, including one who required 14 stitches after being hit with a thrown brick. Chu said some officers suffered bite marks. He said 15 cars were burned, including two police cars.

He called those who incited the riot "criminals and anarchists" and said officers identified some in the crowd as the same people who smashed windows and caused trouble through the same streets the day after the 2010 Winter Olympics opened.

"These were people who came equipped with masks, goggles and gasoline," he said. "They had a plan."

Chu said those who stood by and filmed and cheered also bore responsibility.

The assistant fire chief, Wade Pierlot, said people were rescued from rooftops and bathrooms where they had hidden for safety. He said some people moved burning dumpsters away from buildings to prevent further damage.

Nice really nice something positive out all things negative now with their draft focus on the teams that matter one player here Is one to talk about.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Selected by: Edmonton Oilers

They like NFL the NHL has 7 rounds so like with the NFL the NHL we will go by Individual teams like the canucks, blackhawks, blue jackets and the new winnipeg jets,

2011 NHL Draft: With Pick No. 29, Vancouver Canucks select Nicklas Jensen, Oshawa (OHL), LW/RW

Nicklas Jensen just finished his debut campaign in the Ontario Hockey League, notching 58 points in 61 games. He’s a good prospect out of Denmark, and has been very impressive after an initial learning curve for Oshawa.

He was particularly hot in the playoffs this season, scoring a team-leading seven goals and tallying four assists in just two rounds.

He’s also represented Denmark at the World Junior Championships, and in 2009-10 won rookie of the year in the Danish league.

Grade: B. The Canucks needed some defensive talent, but picking up a winger like Jensen isn’t a terrible thing. Though he could definitely work on his athleticism, he’s certainly a prospect on the rise, and has shown good adaptability at each level at which he’s played.

Others below

St. Paul, MN. – Vancouver Canucks President & General Manager announced today that the Canucks have selected forward Nicklas Jensen, goaltender David Honzik, right wing Alexandre Grenier, centre Joseph Labate, defenceman Nicklas Blomstrand, defenceman Frank Corrado, centre Pathrik Westerholm and Henrik Tommernas in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Jensen, 18, was selected 29th overall in the 2011 Entry Draft. He spent the 2010-11 season with the Oshawa Generals, collecting 58 points (29-29-58) points in 61 games played. In his first year in the OHL, he ranked fourth on the team in scoring and fifth in the OHL among rookies. Jensen tied for the team lead in goals (7) during the 2011 playoffs.

Honzik, 17, was picked in the third round, 71st overall in the 2011 Entry Draft. The Tabor, Czech Republic native spent the 2010-11 season with Victoriaville in the QMJHL. He posted a goals against average of 3.54 and record of 17-12-0-1.

Grenier, 19, was selected in the third round, 90th overall. The Laval, Quebec native appeared in 31 games for the Quebec Remparts in 2010-11, collecting 24 points (9-15-24). He also recorded 16 points (8-8-16) in 15 playoff games.

Labate, 18, was picked in the fourth round, 101st overall. In 2010-11, the Burnsville, Minnesota native collected 49 points (27-22-49) in 25 games for the Holy Angels and was a finalist for Minnesota’s Mr. Hockey Award. He has committed to the University of Wisconsin for the fall of 2011.

Blomstrand, 18, was selected in the fourth round, 120th overall. The Uppsala, Sweden native registered seven points (3-4-7) in 35 points for Djurgarden Jr. in 2010-11.

Corrado, 18, was picked 150th overall in the fifth round. The Toronto, Ontario native played for Sudbury of the OHL in 2010-11, recording 30 points (4-26-30) in 67 games.

Westerholm, 19, was selected 180th overall in the sixth round. The Karlskrona, Sweden native spent the 2010-11 season with Malmo Redhawks, collecting 21 points (8-13-21) in 34 games.

Tommernas, 20, appeared in 47 games, collecting 20 (3-17-20) for Frolunda in 2010-11. He was selected in the seventh round, 210th overall.

The Vancouver Canucks also acquired the 71st and 101st overall picks from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for the 60th overall pick.

Blackhawks

2011 BLACKHAWKS DRAFT PICKSTRACKER
Rd Pk SELECTION TEAM (LG.) HT. / WT.
1 18 C Mark McNeill prince Albert (WHL) 6'2" / 201
26 C Phillip Danault Victoriaville (QMJHL)6'0" / 170
2 36 D Adam Clendening Boston Univ. (H-East)5'11" / 190
43 LW Brandon Saad Saginaw (OHL) 6'1" / 208
3 70 D Michael Paliotta U.S. NTDP U-18 6'3" / 198
79 D Klas Dahlbeck Linkoping (SWE) 6'2" / 194
4 109 RW Maxim Shalunov Chelyabins (RUS-JR.)6'3" / 185
5 139 C Andrew Shaw Owen Sound (OHL) 5'11" / 180

Also about their pick mark mcneill and phillip danault

Ask someone to name the best power forwards in the NHL right now, and names on the list likely would include Rick Nash, Ryan Getzlaf and Mike Richards.

Prince Albert Raiders center Mark McNeill might be added to that list in the coming years. Ranked 22nd by NHL Central Scouting in its mid-term rating of North American skaters, McNeill has been wowing scouts across North America with his impressive ability to make plays and power his way to the net. The 6-foot-1, 204-pound center leads his team with 30 assists and is second with 50 points in 45 games.

"He's one of those kids that has the ability to do so many different things," Raiders coach/GM Bruno Campese told NHL.com. "He's got so much upside to him. ... He's a powerful skater and has great hockey sense. He's got very good basic skills and he's got the ability to be a real tough person to play against. He's got the mental capabilities to understand the game as well."

One thing I like about him is that he's a right-handed center, which is good to have," said NHL Central Scouting's B.J. MacDonald. "He's really composed and has a real pro-style game. He has a nice touch, can dish, and has nice, soft passes. His on-ice awareness is very good and he's paid attention to detail at both ends of the rink. He has good defensive-zone coverage as well as being offensive at the other end."

The outward exuberance exhibited by Victoriaville Tigres center and new Blackhawks prospect Phillip Danault is ridiculously infectious.

There's something downright genuine about Danault, who also happens to be from the city of Victoriaville. Maybe it's his broken English, or his perpetual smile.

Whatever it is, once Danault begins describing his game and how incredibly fortunate he is to be captain of the Tigres of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, nothing else really matters.

On the ice, he's known for possessing a tremendous drive, great playmaking ability and intelligence. It's a combination too good to ignore and likely won't be when the 2011 NHL Entry Draft is held June 24-25 in St. Paul, Minn.

"Personally, I think he's a late first-round guy, maybe top of the second round, but we'll see," NHL Central Scouting's Chris Bordeleau told NHL.com. "It's still early and things could change in April."

Bordeleau is referring to Central Scouting's final meeting in April that will rank the top players eligible for the draft. In the Jan. 10 mid-term release, Danault was rated No. 23 among North American skaters -- the fourth-highest for a QMJHL player.

I'm a finisher … I finish everything, even my checks," Danault told NHL.com. "I bring energy and emotion to every shift and I can play both ends of the ice."

Danault was a member of Team Cherry in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game on Jan. 19 in Toronto, and was named Player of the Game against Russia in the 2010 Subway Super Series in November after notching 2 assists for Team QMJHL in a 5-4 loss.

In January, Danault was presented a new challenge when Victoriaville general manager Jerome Mesonero named him team captain after the previous captain, Philip-Michael Devos, was traded to Gatineau.

"For me, it's an honor to represent my town because I live there and I have a lot to prove," said Danault, who turns 18 on Feb. 24. "It was pressure, but coach (Yanick Jean) told me not to do too much and I just do my job and try to lead my team at the same time. I'm not the type of captain who yells because I make mistakes, too. Nobody yells unless it's the coach. I'm also young and learning."

This isn't the first time Danault has been a captain. In a Quebec International Peewee Tournament with Bois-Francs in 2004 and '05, he captained his teams in Novice A, Atom BB, Peewee AA and Bantam AA.

"It was tough the first couple of weeks (after earning the Victoriaville captaincy), since it's a feeling-out process and he was filling in for a guy who was captain for three years," Jean told NHL.com. "But we're helping him become an even better captain.

"The thing about Danault is he's a tremendous worker. He's dedicated to the game, but now he's taking more and more leadership and it's contagious. He has the admiration of every single one of his teammates just on how hard he works."

The desire to bring out the best in his teammates is something that fuels Danault.

As a youngster, he regularly tagged along with his father, Alain, to just about every Victoriaville home game at the Colisée Desjardins. Alain was the team's public address announcer. It was around that same time that Danault began to dream that one day he'd be donning the Tigers' yellow and black and playing a big role for the team.

"I just wanted to play one day for the Tigres and it's my dream," he said. "At the end of games that my father announced, I'd go down to the (locker) room … and waited at the door where the players enter. When they go out, I said 'Hello' to everybody. Now, I'm a Tigre."

Danault never will forget his father's reaction when he was selected by Victoriaville with the ninth pick of the 2009 QMJHL draft.

"He looked at me and said, 'Phillip, welcome home,'" he said.

Actually, it's almost as if the Colisée Desjardins in Victoriaville has become a second home for the entire Danault family. Phillip's sister, Ann-Andrée, works for the team in the marketing and administrative department.

"It's impossible to describe how proud we are of Phillip," she said. "He's a good person and knows how to keep his feet on the ground and stay focused. Hockey is his life; he's passionate about it."

In 53 games this season, his second in the league, the 6-foot, 178-pound Danault has 20 goals and 37 assists. He also sports a plus-18 rating and has scored 4 power-play goals. He led Victoriaville rookies in goals (10) and was tied for points (28) last season.

"He's very versatile and can play in all situations, including wing and center," Bordeleau said. "I think his main weakness is his lack of strength, but he'll work that out in the gym."

Danault patterns his game after Dallas Stars captain Brenden Morrow and the Pittsburgh Penguins' Maxime Talbot because "they like to work hard."

Jean is confident that whichever team drafts Danault will reap the benefits.

"He'll bring work ethic, dedication and leadership," Jean said. "His passion for the game is unique because he's the most passionate kid I've ever coached. He plays with pride; he's not the type of kid who thinks he's better than the next guy, but he challenges himself to be as good if not better."

These 2 first round picks need to help the hawks out with brouwer going to washington and campbell going to florida to win another stanley cup they need to be at their best and fast.

Blue Jackets no first round picks nothing Important but they are out of ohio will mention them:

Blue Jackets Draft Picks...
1st Round - No Pick
2nd Round - No. 37 - Boone Jenner (Oshawa Generals)
3rd Round - No. 66 - T.J. Tynan (Notre Dame) pick acquired in trade with Ottawa
4th Round - No. 98 - Mike Reilly (Shattuck St. Mary's)
5th Round - No. 128 - Seth Ambroz (Omaha Lancers)
6th Round - No. 158 - Lukas Sedlak (Czech Republic)
7th Round - No. 188 - Anton Forsberg (Modo Jr. - Sweden)

And the new team the winnipeg jets formerally

This I think Is the winnipeg jets

1 7 C - Mark scheifele amateur club: barrie colts
3 67 LW - Adam Lowry amateur club: swift current broncos
3 78 D - Brennan serville amateur club: stouffville spirit
4 97 traded to mtl
4 108 From mtl, traded back to mtl
4 119 D - zachary yuen amateur club: tri-city americans
5 133 traded to sj
5 149 RW - Austen brassard amateur club: belleville bulls
6 157 G - jason kasdorf amateur club: portage terriers
7 187 D - Aaron harstad amateur club: green bay gamblers
7 194 from cgy, traded to sj

More about this true north sports and entertainment ltd. out of winnipeg MB, canada made a promise and kept It get a NHL team back to winnipeg the first jets left for arizona In 1996 and they got the atlanta thrashers and they will be called the new winnipeg jets told they would call It them and bring back a team good job:

True North Announces Team Name is "Winnipeg Jets" Friday, 24.06.2011 / 8:23 PM / Winnipeg NHL - News Articles True North Sports & Entertainment Limited today announced the name of the new NHL franchise in Winnipeg will be called the “Winnipeg Jets”. The Jets name has a long history in Winnipeg dating back to the World Hockey Association (1972-1979) and the National Hockey League (1979-1996) professional franchises.

“We are thrilled to be using a name that has so much history in our city and means so much to our fans” said Mark Chipman, Chairman of the Board, True North Sports & Entertainment. “Our fans clearly indicated to us the passion they hold for the name since we acquired the franchise.”

Logos and jerseys are still in the process of being developed and will be unveiled at a later date.

True North also announced that, effective immediately, fans can use their new website url www.winnipegjets.com for a direct link to their already-launched NHL website.

One last team edmonton oilers seems like the wild and minnesota refuse to cooperate and Inform us lets start with number one,

Edmonton Oilers

1st overall - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
19th overall - Oscar Klefbom
31st overall - David Musil
62nd overall - Samu Perhonen
74th overall - Travis Ewanyk
92nd overall - Dillon Simpson
114th overall - Tobias Rieder
122nd overall - Martin Gernat
182nd overall - Frans Tuohimaa

Edmonton drafts Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins took center stage when the Edmonton Oilers made him the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft.

It was quite fitting. Center was clearly the coveted position as player after player came off the board.

The Edmonton Oilers selected 18-year-old Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft.
Nugent-Hopkins was the first to go Friday night, starting a run of pivots with six of the first eight selections. Then came the defensemen, with six being chosen in the top 14. After that came a couple of eyebrow-raising trades.

Nugent-Hopkins, the first Western Hockey League player to be drafted first since 1996, has been raising eyebrows at the junior level for a while. The Oilers, slotted first overall for the second straight year, selected the slick passer from the Red Deer Rebels. The 18-year-old center led the WHL last season with 75 assists, and maybe, just maybe, he'll be the next great player for the Oilers.

Edmonton took left wing Taylor Hall No. 1 in 2010, and Nugent-Hopkins could eventually find himself on a line with him. The first British Columbian to be taken first overall in the NHL draft, Nugent-Hopkins has already spoken with Hall.

"He was so great to talk to. Everything looks good right now," Nugent-Hopkins said. "He just said, 'Enjoy this whole experience. You're going to be nervous and stuff, but try to enjoy it as much as you can.'"

As for their chemistry?

"I guess we'll never know until we get on the ice together, but hopefully we do. I can see it working," Nugent-Hopkins said.

To get there, Nugent-Hopkins has to bulk up. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 164 pounds, he said this week he's added 10 pounds to that total since the end of his junior season and plans to pack on five more.

"Steak and potatoes, mostly," he said when asked about his diet. "Just trying to put some weight on."

Nugent-Hopkins said he's heard general manager Steve Tambellini is in "no rush" to bring him to Edmonton.

"If I do go back to junior, I won't be disappointed at all," Nugent-Hopkins said. "It'll be a great opportunity for us as Red Deer as a team to hopefully get to the Memorial Cup. Personally, it'll be a good development year for me, too. But my goal right now is to make the Oilers."

The remaining rounds, two through seven, will take place on Saturday.

The home fans will return happy, after the Minnesota Wild drew roars from the crowd following the announcement of their big deal with the San Jose Sharks. The Wild sent All-Star defenseman Brent Burns and their 2012 second-round pick to the Sharks, and they received a pair of forwards Devin Setoguchi, a former 30-goal scorer, and Charlie Coyle, a first-round pick last year; plus another first-round pick this year, 28th overall.

Setoguchi had just agreed to a three-year, $9 million-deal on Thursday.

Chicago then dealt right wing Troy Brouwer to the Washington Capitals for the 26th overall selection, giving the Blackhawks a pair of first-rounders.

Left wing Gabriel Landeskog of Sweden went second overall to the Colorado Avalanche. He had 36 goals in 53 games last season for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League.

Jonathan Huberdeau, a center from Quebec, was taken third by the Florida Panthers, who were also in the same slot for the second year in a row. Huberdeau was the MVP of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs after getting three goals and three assists in four games for the Saint John's Sea Dogs.

Huberdeau attended an English-speaking high school to help ease his transition to the NHL, and he spoke this week about finishing his exams, another reminder of just how young these players are under the spotlight on the stage with the whole hockey world watching.

2011 NHL Lottery Picks
The Oilers selected center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with the No. 1 overall pick in Friday's NHL entry draft.

Pk Tm Player Position/League
1 EDM Ryan Nugent-Hopkins C, Red Deer (WHL)
2 COL Gabriel Landeskog LW, Kitchener (OHL)
3 FLA Jonathan Huberdeau C, Saint John (QMJHL)
4 NJ Adam Larsson D, Skelleftea (Sweden)
5 NYI Ryan Stromer C, Niagara (OHL)
6 OTT Mika Zibanejad C, Djurgarden (Sweden-Jr.)
7 WIN Mark Scheifele C, Barrie Colts (OHL)
8 PHI Sean Couturier C, Drummondville (QMJHL)
9 BOS Dougie Hamilton D, Niagara (OHL)
10 MIN Jonas Brodin D, Farjestad (Sweden)
11 COL Duncan Siemens D, Saskatoon (WHL)
12 CAR Ryan Murphy D, Kitchener, (OHL)
13 CAL Sven Bartschi LW, Portland (WHL)
14 DAL Jamie Oleksiak D, Northeastern (NCAA)
Draft tracker

Landeskog spoke of the "surreal" experience, hearing his name called while sitting in the seats with his family.

"I was just telling my dad, 'I can't believe this is really happening,'" Landeskog said.

Adam Larsson, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound defenseman from Sweden, was selected fourth by the New Jersey Devils. He played two full seasons for Skelleftea and was the third blue-liner to make his debut in the Swedish Elite League at age 16.

Then the New York Islanders chose center Ryan Strome of the Niagara IceDogs of the OHL. Strome was third in the league with 106 points in 65 games. Islanders right wing Kyle Okposo, a native of Minnesota, introduced Strome. The Islanders, too, were picking fifth for the second straight year.

After that, the Ottawa Senators chose center Mika Zibanejad from Djurgarden of the Swedish Elite League with the first of their three first-round picks. His mother is Finnish, and his father is Iranian, but he was born in Stockholm.

Then came the big announcement by Winnipeg: The team will be called the Jets. Formerly the Atlanta Thrashers, the franchise waited until the seconds before choosing center Mark Schiefele with the seventh selection to announce the new -- er, old -- nickname.

Team chairman Mark Chipman turned to general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff to make the pick "on behalf of the Winnipeg Jets." That drew cheers and "Go Jets go!" chants from the dozens of fans wearing white T-shirts with the old red-and-blue Jets logo.

The Philadelphia Flyers, using the eighth pick they obtained in one of Thursday's stunning trades, the one that sent leading scorer Jeff Carter to the Columbus Blue Jackets, took center Sean Couturier of the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the QMJHL.

Defenseman Dougie Hamilton was drafted ninth overall by the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins. The son of an Olympic rower (dad) and basketball player (mom), Hamilton had 58 points in 67 games last season for Niagara in the OHL.

Then came more cheers from the crowd, with defenseman Jonas Brodin from Farjestad of the Swedish Elite League drawing a roar from the Wild fans in attendance at Xcel Energy Center.

The Avalanche were the first team to pick twice. They took defenseman Duncan Siemens at No. 11, a selection obtained earlier this year in a trade with the St. Louis Blues headlined by defenseman Erik Johnson, himself a former No. 1 overall pick. Siemens was plus-40 for the Saskatoon Blades in the WHL last season.

The run of defenseman continued when Ryan Murphy went at No. 12 to the Carolina Hurricanes. He led OHL blue-liners with 26 goals last season for Kitchener. Then at No. 13, the Calgary Flames picked left wing Sven Baertschi of the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL. The native of Switzerland had 34 goals and 51 assists in 66 games last season.

The first American selection -- and first college player -- was defenseman Jamieson Oleksiak of Northeastern University by the Dallas Stars at No. 14. Another American, center Jonathan Miller, went 15th to the New York Rangers. Miller, headed for the University of North Dakota in the fall, was part of the U.S. national team development program. He had 37 points in 48 games last season in the United States Hockey League.

Four Americans, three from the U.S. program, went in the first round.

Ottawa took right wing Stefan Noeson from Plymouth of the OHL with the No. 21 pick that they got from the Nashville Predators and the Senators then nabbed forward Matt Puempel from Peterborough of the OHL at No. 24, a selection they picked up from Detroit during the draft.

Okay this what will happen In hockey will all the hell In vancouver and heaven In winnipeg and happiness on earth elsewhere hockey will be fine they will be no lockout one more thing they approved same sex marriage In new york city and new york state that's for sabres, rangers, knicks, nets and Islanders fans and all same sex couple there and everywhere you can get married In new york celebrate:

New York Allows Same-Sex Marriage, Becoming Largest State to Pass Law

ALBANY — Lawmakers voted late Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, making New York the largest state where gay and lesbian couples will be able to wed and giving the national gay-rights movement new momentum from the state where it was born.

The marriage bill, whose fate was uncertain until moments before the vote, was approved 33 to 29 in a packed but hushed Senate chamber. Four members of the Republican majority joined all but one Democrat in the Senate in supporting the measure after an intense and emotional campaign aimed at the handful of lawmakers wrestling with a decision that divided their friends, their constituents and sometimes their own homes.

With his position still undeclared, Senator Mark J. Grisanti, a Republican from Buffalo who had sought office promising to oppose same-sex marriage, told his colleagues he had agonized for months before concluding he had been wrong.

“I apologize for those who feel offended,” Mr. Grisanti said, adding, “I cannot deny a person, a human being, a taxpayer, a worker, the people of my district and across this state, the State of New York, and those people who make this the great state that it is the same rights that I have with my wife.”

Senate approval was the final hurdle for the same-sex marriage legislation, which was approved last week by the Assembly. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the measure at 11:55 p.m., and the law will go into effect in 30 days, meaning that same-sex couples could begin marrying in New York by late July.

Passage of same-sex marriage here followed a daunting run of defeats in other states where voters barred same-sex marriage by legislative action, constitutional amendment or referendum. Just five states currently permit same-sex marriage: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia.

At around 10:30 p.m., moments after the vote was announced, Mr. Cuomo strode onto the Senate floor to wave at cheering supporters who had crowded into the galleries to watch. Trailed by two of his daughters, the governor greeted lawmakers, and paused to single out those Republicans who had defied the majority of their party to support the marriage bill.

“How do you feel?” he asked Senator James S. Alesi, a suburban Rochester Republican who voted against the measure in 2009 and was the first to break party ranks this year. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”

The approval of same-sex marriage represented a reversal of fortune for gay-rights advocates, who just two years ago suffered a humiliating defeat when a same-sex marriage bill was easily rejected by the Senate, which was then controlled by Democrats. This year, with the Senate controlled by Republicans, the odds against passage of same-sex marriage appeared long.

But the unexpected victory had a clear champion: Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who pledged last year to support same-sex marriage but whose early months in office were dominated by intense battles with lawmakers and some labor unions over spending cuts.

Mr. Cuomo made same-sex marriage one of his top priorities for the year and deployed his top aide to coordinate the efforts of a half-dozen local gay-rights organizations whose feuding and disorganization had in part been blamed for the defeat two years ago.

The new coalition of same-sex marriage supporters brought in one of Mr. Cuomo’s trusted campaign operatives to supervise a $3 million television and radio campaign aimed at persuading several Republican and Democratic senators to drop their opposition.

For Senate Republicans, even bringing the measure to the floor was a freighted decision. Most of the Republicans firmly oppose same-sex marriage on moral grounds, and many of them also had political concerns, fearing that allowing same-sex marriage to pass on their watch would embitter conservative voters and cost the Republicans their one-seat majority in the Senate.

Leaders of the state’s Conservative Party, whose support many Republican lawmakers depend on to win election, warned that they would oppose in legislative elections next year any Republican senator who voted for same-sex marriage.

But after days of contentious discussion capped by a marathon nine-hour closed-door debate on Friday, Republicans came to a fateful decision: The full Senate would be allowed to vote on the bill, the majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, said Friday afternoon, and each member would be left to vote according to his or her conscience.

"The days of just bottling up things, and using these as excuses not to have votes — as far as I’m concerned as leader, it’s over with,” said Mr. Skelos, a Long Island Republican who voted against the bill.

Just before the marriage vote, lawmakers in the Senate and Assembly approved a broad package of major legislation that constituted the remainder of their agenda for the year. The bills included a cap on local property tax increases and a strengthening of New York’s rent regulation laws, as well as a five-year tuition increase at the State University of New York and the City University of New York.

But Republican lawmakers spent much of the week negotiating changes to the marriage bill to protect religious institutions, especially those that oppose same-sex weddings. On Friday, the Assembly and the Senate approved those changes. But they were not enough to satisfy the measure’s staunchest opponents. In a joint statement, New York’s Catholic bishops assailed the vote.

“The passage by the Legislature of a bill to alter radically and forever humanity’s historic understanding of marriage leaves us deeply disappointed and troubled,” the bishops said.

Besides Mr. Alesi and Mr. Grisanti, the four Republicans who voted for the measure included Senators Stephen M. Saland from the Hudson Valley area and Roy J. McDonald of the capital region.

Just one lawmaker rose to speak against the bill: Rubén Díaz Sr. of the Bronx, the only Democratic senator to cast a no vote. Mr. Díaz, saying he was offended by the two-minute restrictions set on speeches, repeatedly interrupted the presiding officer who tried to limit the senator’s remarks, shouting, “You don’t want to hear me.”

“God, not Albany, has settled the definition of marriage, a long time ago,” Mr. Díaz said.

The legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States is a relatively recent goal of the gay-rights movement, but over the last few years, gay-rights organizers have placed it at the center of their agenda, steering money and muscle into dozens of state capitals in an often uphill effort to persuade lawmakers.

In New York, passage of the bill reflects rapidly evolving sentiment about same-sex unions. In 2004, according to a Quinnipiac poll, 37 percent of the state’s residents supported allowing same-sex couples to wed. This year, 58 percent of them did. Advocates moved aggressively this year to capitalize on that shift, flooding the district offices of wavering lawmakers with phone calls, e-mails and signed postcards from constituents who favored same-sex marriage, sometimes in bundles that numbered in the thousands.

Dozens more states have laws or constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. Many of them were approved in the past few years, as same-sex marriage moved to the front line of the culture war and politicians deployed the issue as a tool for energizing their base.

But New York could be a shift: It is now by far the largest state to grant legal recognition to same-sex weddings, and one that is home to a large, visible and politically influential gay community. Supporters of the measure described the victory in New York as especially symbolic — and poignant — because of its rich place in the history of gay rights: the movement’s foundational moment, in June 1969, was a riot against police at the Stonewall Inn, a bar in the West Village.

In Albany, there was elation after the vote. But leading up to it, there were moments of tension and frustration. At one point, Senator Kevin S. Parker, a Brooklyn Democrat, erupted when he and other supporters learned they would not be allowed to make a floor speech.

“This is not right,” he yelled, before storming from the chamber.

During a brief recess during the voting, Senator Shirley L. Huntley, a Queens Democrat who had only recently come out in support of same sex marriage, strode from her seat to the back of the Senate chamber to congratulate Daniel J. O’Donnell, an openly gay Manhattan lawmaker who sponsored the legislation in the Assembly.

They hugged, and Assemblyman O’Donnell, standing with his longtime partner, began to tear up.

“We’re going to invite you to our wedding,” Mr. O’Donnell said. “Now we have to figure out how to pay for one.”

And like all others the critics are angry traditional christian fundamentalists these are hate STOP THE HATE before they spray you with confetti

Passage of same-sex marriage law represents a blow to public morality, opponents say

Conservatives and some clergy condemned the New York state Legislature’s vote to legalize same-sex marriages as a move that will harm society and denigrate the institution of marriage.

The passage of the bill that will “alter radically and forever humanity’s historic understanding of marriage leaves us deeply disappointed and troubled,” read a statement from the state’s Catholic bishops.

“We worry that both marriage and the family will be undermined by this tragic presumption of government in passing this legislation that attempts to redefine these cornerstones of civilization.”

Opponents decried the vote as a blow to public morality.

“I think it represents a low point in the decay of our culture,” said Rick Guy, a former city councilman and a Republican candidate last year for Assembly. “The fact that so many legislators were unable to see the unique dignity of marriage between one man and one woman is very discouraging and disheartening.”

The man who defeated Guy, Democratic Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli, voted in favor of the same-sex marriage bill earlier this month.

Austin Olmsted, chairman of the Onondaga County Conservative Committee, said the statewide organization will not endorse any legislator who voted for the law.

“I’m sure our committee will comply with that,” he said.

Olmsted said he is disappointed.

“It is a troubling indicator of where the values and morals of where our community are going,” he said. “Seeing social mores change like that is going to affect future generations.”

“It’s tragic. Totally tragic,” Olmsted said.

New York’s vote has attracted the attention of national organizations opposed to same-sex marriage. The National Organization for Marriage said in a statement it has committed $2 million to trying to unseat the four Republicans who voted for the bill.

“Politicians who campaign one way on marriage, and then vote the other, need to understand: Betraying and misleading voters has consequences,” the statement said. “We will continue to fight to protect marriage in New York, as we are actively doing in New Hampshire and Iowa.”

New York is the fifth, and by far the largest, state to approve same-sex marriage. The District of Columbia also approved a same-sex marriage law.

Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka engaged!
Neil Patrick Harris is engaged to David Burtka! The happy couple announced their engagement after news broke that New York approved gay marriage.

After New York passed the gay marriage bill, Twitter and Facebook lit up with the marriage equality news excitement!

Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka took to Twitter to announce that they are engaged and will be married now that same-sex marriage has been legalized in New York.

No doubt there were plenty of proposals and engagement news last night, but Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka and their gorgeous twins, Gideon and Harper are always one of our favorites.

Neil Patrick Harris tweeted before the vote: “I’d sure love to get married. Please, NY Senate, vote in favor of marriage equality today. My family would really appreciate it.”

Then, following the vote: “It PASSED! Marriage equality in NY!! Yes!! Progress!! Thank you everyone who worked so hard on this!! A historic night!”

Burtka tweeted the happy engagement news, writing: “I’ve already purposed, he said yes! Thank god!” adding, “he proposed to me as well. I said yes! Thank god!”

Seems the engagement news wasn’t all that new, as Harris shared on Twitter this morning: “David and I did propose to each other, but over five years ago! We’ve been wearing engagement rings for ages, waiting for an available date.”

Well congratulations to them some say yes we will get married after all and others we are happy but they we're too Impatient
This is such fabulous news for their family – David and Neil have been together five years and are parents to twins, Gideon Scott and Harper Grace, who were born via surrogate in October 2010.

Does this change anything about the way they parent their twins? Does it make them more of a family? Of course not – they already seem like adorable, loving and doting dads to Harper and Gideon. But making their union legal has to be hugely exciting for the couple.

Marriage has been on NPH’s mind for awhile, as he shared in a 2008 interview: “I’m a big proponent of monogamous relationships regardless of sexuality, and I’m proud of how the nation is steering toward that.”

The New York same-marriage news does offer up changes for couples in terms of income taxes, health insurance, inheritance rights and more. The New York Times has a great rundown of same-sex marriage rights and benefits.

Congratulations to Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka!

Well I'm happy for them and the others we decided to get married who we're patient love Is patient If you are Impatient you will not find love or leave the state to get married for myself personally I'm happy for same sex couples for selfless athletes not named lebron james and kobe bryant, and calm, relaxed fans not In philadelphia, los angeles or vancouver let just say edmonton, winnipeg and cleveland will have a better brighter future with what they have now the NBA NHL season and the marriage between a man and a woman as an order Is all over STOP THE HATE AND MAKE LOVE AND ENJOY YOUR SUMMER.

Well actually see next weekend on the fourth of july

PLEASE CELEBRATE WE SAID SO TIMOTHY FOLEY AND FRIENDS BE FUCKING HAPPY AND BE GAY SERIOUSLY BYE

Tornadoes Floods and Wildfires

2011-06-11T00:34:00.016-05:00

Hi

I hope everyone Is safe yep this happens to be tornado season and wildfire season and flood season mother nature is acting wild If you are out of school well good luck If you have encountered tornadoes well you go to the safe part of the home as possible If you are around heavy rains and floods be on high ground as for wild fires just leave town In short mother nature Is acting up global warming NO don't be silly nature can act wild the last few months, tornadoes hit tuscaloosa alabama, joplin missouri, springfield massacusetts, wildfires are happening now In arizona and the missouri river Is flooding In Iowa and nebraska even In the chicagoland region of Illinois last night watching the thunderstorms and heavy rains had me thinking thank goodness I'm on high ground some ain't so lucky or around a heavy forest that's dry out west but If you live In any small town or big city any place a tornado can happen or a hurricane If you live In a coastal and tropical area let's say miami or tampa or new orleans look at katrina that's storm alone ruined that city but the people got back up when they we're down grateful for them then as I am today hurricane season Is about to start and they will have lots of storms to come let's hope everyone Is prepared for It all I mean any weather event well tornadoes come first here they are shorter quicker and more unpredictable then other natural disasters then we go current on the midwest floods and the west wildfires either way tornado victims In missouri, alabama and massachusetts learn form the ones who survive katrina be strong and take back what's yours.

Alabama Tornado 04/27/2011: Scores Die in Storms Across South; Tornado Ravages City

Devastating storms swept through the South on Wednesday, killing at least 60 people and spawning a tornado that tore through downtown Tuscaloosa, Ala. The evening twister flattened homes and buildings and brought further damage and death to a region already battered by storms.

Across Alabama, at least 50 people were killed by storms on Wednesday alone, according to officials. The Associated Press reported an additional 11 deaths in Mississippi, two in Georgia and one in Tennessee.

The tornado, one of several that struck the state, ripped through Tuscaloosa about 5 p.m. on a northwest path.

It veered past a major medical center, a high school and the campus of the University of Alabama. The extent of the damage was unclear Wednesday evening, but officials said many people were still trapped in homes and buildings. They feared the death toll could rise in the coming days.

Many parts of the state had been on a tornado watch throughout the day, prompting schools, government offices and businesses to shut their doors early or remain closed, Mayor Walter Maddox of Tuscaloosa said in an interview Wednesday evening.

“I believe at the end of the day that will have saved many lives,” he said of the emergency measures. “We have so many reports of damage across the city. We do believe it to be significant.”

Mark Kelly, a spokesman for the Jefferson County Emergency Management Office, said the storm had picked up speed as it barreled out of Tuscaloosa and headed for the western part of the county, passing north of downtown Birmingham, which was battered by another storm early Wednesday morning.

Mr. Kelly said that he had gotten reports of roofs torn from homes, people trapped in buildings, and power lines strewn across interstate roads, but that crews were just beginning to respond. At least 11 people were killed in Jefferson County on Wednesday, “but we expect that number will go up as search and rescue efforts go on through the night and into tomorrow,” he said.

The damage from the tornados was made worse by earlier storms, which left the ground so soaked that instead of the winds just snapping trees and branches, they uprooted entire trees and tossed them onto power lines, said Michael Sznajderman, a spokesman for the Alabama Power Company. He said at least 335,000 customers were without power, and with more storms on the way, “the number of outages could be as high as what we saw with Hurricane Ivan or Hurricane Katrina.”

“It has already surpassed Hurricanes Dennis and Frederick,” he said. “We have line crews on the way from as far away as Illinois to assist in the recovery.”

Power losses were widespread across the University of Alabama, where many students were holed up after the tornado swept just south of the campus.

Emily Crawford, a third-year student at the law school, said she had been preparing for an end-of-semester exam when the tornado swirled by. By nightfall she was still at the law school, which had become a refuge for scores of students, many of whom spoke of devastation in their neighborhoods worse than they had seen reported from Hurricane Katrina.

“It is surreal,” Ms. Crawford said. “People are coming up to the law school because they don’t have anywhere else to go. The school is sending buses into town to pick up students and bring them back to campus so they have somewhere safe to stay.”

The tornado was only the latest in a series that have struck the southern United States this week, causing heavy rains and flooding in an area stretching from Texas to Georgia, officials said Wednesday.

By Wednesday, the storms, which started Monday evening, had also left more than 50,000 people without power from East Texas to Memphis and destroyed scores of homes as the system moved east into Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. The storms were expected to weaken before moving into the Carolinas and up the Eastern Seaboard on Thursday and Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

“Folks in the South should be getting some relief,” said Tom Bradshaw, a meteorologist with the service.

By Wednesday afternoon, Arkansas and Alabama had declared states of emergency after scores of buildings suffered significant damage, including many that had their roofs sheared off.

Wind speeds have reached 135 miles per hour, and mobile homes have been tossed about like toys, Mr. Bradshaw said. Accompanying rains and flash flooding have hit northern Arkansas especially hard, killing at least six people since Monday. Some parts of northern Arkansas have received 20 inches of rain during the past four days.

On Wednesday, a levee on the Black River in northeastern Arkansas failed, flooding local highways but causing no fatalities, officials said.

One of the victims killed this week was a Louisiana police officer who died Tuesday night in Mississippi on a camping trip after he was struck by a tree limb ripped off by high winds, emergency officials in Mississippi said. The officer’s name has not yet been released.

Progress Report Thousands of Alabama tornado victims not claiming FEMA money:

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Thousands of Alabama tornado victims, many deterred by the bureaucratic process, may be leaving millions of dollars in federal grants unclaimed.

Nearly one-third of the 80,000 applications for Federal Emergency Management Agency grants have initially been declared ineligible to receive money.

But FEMA officials acknowledge that many of those 25,000 applicants might be eligible for a grant -- worth up to $30,200 each -- if the applicant provided more information.

Or, as FEMA spokeswoman Renee Bafalis put it: "An ineligibility letter doesn't mean you are ineligible."

It means FEMA needs more information, and so the applicant is strongly urged to appeal those initial decisions. To appeal, the applicant needs to send FEMA a letter explaining why the initial decision was wrong and documentation to support it.

But so far, few are doing that -- less than 1 percent of those declared ineligible have appealed.

"It's frustration," said Lynda Lowe, a FEMA deputy branch director for individual assistance. "Applicants are frustrated trying to get through the process. They are also negotiating with insurance companies and that's not settled yet."

That frustration came out Thursday night at a town hall meeting at Union Hill Baptist Church in Bessemer Thursday night.

Much of the frustration is being blamed on those initial denial letters from FEMA, which declared the applicant ineligible to begin with.

Many received letters declaring them ineligible because they disclosed that they had insurance -- even when they didn't yet know what their insurance would cover. FEMA cannot duplicate insurance coverage, but it will provide money to fill in the gap between what insurance pays and what house repairs cost.

Others received letters declaring them ineligible due to "insufficient damage" even when their houses were seriously damaged.

After Gov. Robert Bentley complained last month about the letters, FEMA appointed a task force which is reviewing all FEMA correspondence to the public, Lowe said.

"We acknowledge that the letters are not the most user-friendly and are addressing the problem," Lowe said.

Bafalis said the agency is stepping up public relations efforts with town hall meetings and door-to-door visits to urge people not to give up on the process.

"We are trying to get the message out that the letters are the first step in the process," she said. "Once you receive the letter, that's the first step, then you go on and appeal. It's a process you have to go through. "

Bafalis said the most sure-fire way to appeal is to go to the nearest Disaster Recovery Center and someone can work with you one-on-one to get it done. You can also call 1-800-621-FEMA.

FEMA has made grants to more than 13,000 individuals and households totaling more than $50 million for housing and other assistance.

The top five reasons for being declared ineligible are findings of: insufficient damage, applicants still living in damaged building; applicants ineligible due to insurance; applicants didn't provide proper identification; and someone else in household also applied, Lowe said.

In other storm news Thursday:

• FEMA announced it is hiring Alabama residents to help with recovery.

The agency has hired 67 new employees in disaster recovery operations. The positions are temporary jobs working in a variety of positions with the recovery operation. Jobs range from forklift operator to data entry clerk to sign language interpreter.

Applicants may apply online at www.joblink.alabama.gov.

• Bill Mullins, the director of inspection services for Jefferson County, cautioned that people wanting to get power restored to storm-damaged home need to have an inspection first.

Mullins said the county has had problems with people getting electric service restored in damaged homes that have not yet been inspected for safety.

Damaged homes should have the wiring examined before getting power restored to make sure the wiring is intact. "If it is not done that way, you can have a tragedy," he said.

Help them out here's what happened to joplin missouri 05/23/2011 A Rush to Protect Patients, Then Bloody Chaos:

JOPLIN, Mo. — When the warning — “Execute Condition Gray!” — blared through the halls of St. John’s Regional Medical Center, nurses began rolling patients’ beds into the hallways, as they had been trained to do time and again in this tornado-prone region.

But just as workers were completing the precautionary steps Sunday night, the entire nine-story building was pummeled by a tornado. Glass shards exploded from every window, doors blew open, and even patients’ IV-lines were ripped from their arms.

By the time the three-quarter-mile-wide tornado — among the deadliest in the nation’s history — moved on, the hospital was a scene of stunned chaos. Nearly every patient was splashed or covered with blood from all the glass, and people in the emergency room on the first floor were sucked out of windows into the parking lot. Even a backup generator failed, leaving ventilators and other medical equipment without power in dark rooms.

One panicked nurse, who had been in the intensive care unit, pleaded for help when machines stopped pumping air into the lungs of critically ill patients. “I’ve got patients dying up there!” Robert Kuhn, a hospital worker, recalled the nurse calling out. The doctors told him to go back and pump the air manually.

“You were on your own,” Mr. Kuhn explained.

At least 116 people were killed and hundreds more injured, city officials said Monday, as hundreds of emergency workers searched for others beneath the rubble that blanketed this southwest Missouri city. Leaders said they expected the death count to continue to rise.

The tornado, which struck around dinner time, crushed nearly a third of the city. It pounded about 2,000 buildings, knocked out power and cellphone service for many, and damaged water treatment and sewage plants. The tangled remains of cars and trucks were overturned and thrown against buildings and trees. Some blocks were jagged mounds of debris, while others were stripped to utter emptiness: just foundations of homes and tree trunks — no leaves, no branches, no bark.

The tornado did catastrophic damage to a Wal-Mart, a high school and a nursing home apartment building, and ripped through the places that exist to respond to emergencies, like a fire station, where a brick wall was crumbled over a fire truck, and the hospital, whose sign was reported to have been spotted miles from Joplin.

It was the deadliest single tornado in more than half a century, and it adds to a season of particularly deadly tornadoes. Storms in the Midwest and South have killed hundreds of people in the last two months, and left millions of dollars of damage behind.

The latest tornado was part of a weather system in which cold and warm fronts crashed together throughout the middle of the country, creating conditions that can spawn “supercell” thunderstorms like the one here.

From a state trip to Europe, President Obama issued condolences, saying the families of Joplin were in his thoughts and prayers, and sent emergency management officials to Missouri to assist.

“At my direction, FEMA is working with the affected areas’ state and local officials to support response and recovery efforts, and the federal government stands ready to help our fellow Americans as needed,” a statement from the White House said.

In Joplin, along with the hundreds of state and federal workers, ordinary people, exhausted and ragged from their own struggles overnight and armed with tools from their own garages, spent much of the day Monday searching for friends, relatives, even strangers. About 49,000 people live here, and few lives were untouched.

Cheyanna Padilla, 19, said she had lived through the storm by clinging to a urinal inside the Wal-Mart store. She prayed, she said, as the roof crumpled on top of her, then she climbed out wondering how many might be dead beneath her.

The search, which continued into Monday evening, was complicated by bouts of pounding rain, thunderstorms and bursts of hail, along with constant worries that another twister would sweep up what was left of the community.

Gov. Jay Nixon said rescuers had found at least five families still alive under the rubble.

But many had far grimmer tales. Mark Stepp, whose house was destroyed, spent the day digging out homes. Beneath one, he said, he found the body of a young girl — a discovery that left him vomiting at the street’s edge. “I found a little girl,” he said, pacing and frantically puffing on a cigarette. “I’m so freaked out.”

Of the 183 patients at St. John’s on Sunday night, five died as a result of the tornado, a hospital official said. All had been in critical condition before the storm, he said

The rest — some of them injured in the storm, adding to the problems that put them in the hospital in the first place — were sent to other hospitals in three states. In the confusion of the day, some patients’ family members found themselves driving from hospital to hospital, looking and worrying.

“Do they have a list? Do they have a list?” Kimberly Cain called out, as she and her son arrived at an emergency command post. She was searching for her husband, who had been on the fifth floor of St. John’s when she last heard from him. There were no lists, she was told, or at least none that anyone knew of. There had not been time.

A tornado warning was issued in Joplin a relatively lengthy 24 minutes before the tornado struck, officials say, though workers at St. John’s said the warning system in their building had given far less time. From the moment that alarm went off, though, they worked through the procedures designed to protect patients and themselves. But they were quickly overwhelmed by the force of the tornado.

“We practice and practice this stuff, but this hit us so hard and so fast it was just gut reaction,” said Gary Pulsipher, the president and chief executive of the hospital, which is a level-two trauma center.

Even as the nurses and doctors were finishing moving furniture, closing blinds and bringing patients into the hallways, the tornado struck. Tracy Merrill, a hospital worker, said he had dived onto an elderly cancer patient to protect her as glass flew through the hallway and walls began to cave in.

Tim Randolph, 48, was in the emergency room for treatment of a broken rib when the ceiling started shaking, the windows shattered, and the tornado raced inside. “It sucked the wind out of me,” said Mr. Randolph, who would later learn that he had three broken ribs, not just the one.

“The whole building was shaking,” said Misty Hicks, a nurse, who felt pressure in her ears, the roar of the tornado, and then saw a patient flipped over and pinned by the hospital bed against a wall. “That’s the scariest thing I’ve ever had to endure,” she said.

Suddenly, the rooms went dark. Staff members and patients were scattered across the floor, and IV tubes, medicine and glass shards were everywhere. “Everyone was bloody,” Ms. Hicks said, remembering walking patient to patient with her flashlight.

Cellphones did not work, nor did land lines, and the hospital’s radios were down. People carried patients outside; those who could walk did, sometimes in bare feet over glass. Someone with a broken hip gave up his wheelchair to transport sicker patients.

Out in the parking lot, as night fell, hospital workers used any method they could to get patients care. Some worked despite bloody cuts and gashes of their own; others stepped away in shock. A city school bus and the beds of some pickup trucks were used to rush patients to other hospitals.

“It was mass chaos trying to get patients out,” said Sgt. Rodney Rodebush, a National Guard soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and found himself outside St. John’s.

Sergeant Rodebush said he had carried about 25 patients out. He also found a dead woman dressed in her pajamas outside the hospital entrance.

On Monday morning, the hospital temporarily became a shelter again, this time for rescuers concerned that another tornado was approaching. In the middle of the lobby under an atrium, they found a few survivors: fish in an unbroken tank, swimming through the water.

Latest here 134 Now Confirmed Dead After Joplin, Missouri, Tornado:

All who were reported missing since the recent massive tornado in Joplin, Mo. has been accounted for, and at least 134 people have been confirmed killed, state officials said.

The Missouri Department of Public Safety said the confirmed death toll of 134 includes 124 people who had been on the unaccounted-for list, seven people who were taken immediately to funeral homes after the storm, and three people who have since died in the hospital from their injuries.

More than 8,000 homes and apartments, and more than 500 commercial properties, were damaged or destroyed in the tornado.

Officials said the final 10 people on the list were tracked down by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, which has led the effort to find the 268 people listed as unaccounted for after the May 22 tornado.

“Our troopers worked 24/7 to locate these individuals and to bring relief to the families of the living and closure to the families of those who died,” Gov. Jay Nixon said. “This was a critical mission that our Missouri State Highway Patrol performed exceptionally well.”

The state said the Jasper County coroner has authorized the release of bodies that had been at a temporary morgue to their families so they may be laid to rest. By the afternoon of June 1, 119 victims had been released from the morgue, the state said in a news release.

The state now believes the 134 deaths is the up-to-date death toll but cautioned there could be more from people currently hospitalized with severe injuries.

“It is our belief that, pending further deaths from those injured, the count is 134,” said Seth Bundy, a spokesman for the state. “We do have some folks critically injured in hospitals, and we’re hoping and praying that they will pull through.”

Bundy said he did not know how many people are critically injured.

The announcement came as crews began the long task of removing millions of cubic yards of debris from the damage zone. City and federal officials warned that people should take precautions to avoid dust and other airborne particulates that could contain hazardous material.

The Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Missouri National Guard and other agencies are working together on debris removal that will raise potentially hazardous dust as bulldozers move piles of rubble and streets are swept.

The Environmental Protection Agency has provided masks and safety instructions to search and rescue crews, contractors, volunteers and residents.

“If it’s dusty enough that you can visibly see dust coming at you, you should wear the masks that have been provided as a precaution,” said Eric Nold, an on-scene coordinator for the EPA.

The EPA has been monitoring air quality in Joplin at six ground-level sites in the debris field since Saturday, checking for asbestos and other potentially harmful particulates that could be floating in the air from the devastating tornado that ripped through more than six miles of town.

So far, tests show particulate levels are normal, city officials said. No asbestos has been found in testing.

The city said temporary, roving testing stations will be installed where debris collection is occurring. While dust and particulate testing shows immediate results, testing for asbestos takes about two days to process.

“We have no reason to believe that dust or particulates are a health hazard at this point, but we simply want people to be aware and take precautions as they go about their work,” said Sam Anselm, Joplin’s assistant city manager.

FEMA said more than 7,000 Joplin-area residents have registered for assistance since the EF-5 tornado that packed winds of more than 200 mph.

Nixon also announced creation of the Missouri Disaster Recovery Jobs program, which will use $5.8 million from the federal Workforce Investment Act to create 400 temporary jobs for Joplin workers who lost their jobs because of the tornado.

The workers will assist with clean-up and humanitarian efforts in Jasper and Newton counties.

Now fungus Infection hits the site Deadly fungus strikes Joplin survivors:

JOPLIN, Mo., June 11 — A rare fungal infection caused by an organism living in soil has been found in at least eight survivors of the Joplin tornado, Missouri health officials say.

Three of the victims have died, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. Their deaths bring the official total for the tornado to 151.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and U.S. Centers for Disease Control warned some survivors might not realize they are infected with murcomycosis.

“People who have wounds that are not improving should seek medical attention immediately,” said Dr. Benjamin Park, a medical officer in the CDC’s mycotic disease branch.

Experts say the infection is usually acquired by inhaling spores. It is most common in people with weakened immune systems.

In Joplin, the 200 mph winds are likely to have carried spores that either landed on open wounds or penetrated the skin.

Well they need your help as you can see washington, hollywood and missouri's governor jay nixon is doing whatever they can to help they need It.

Springfield Massachusetts 06/01/2011
Tornadoes Touch Down in South-Central Massachusetts, Killing Four People:

Tornadoes touched down across south- central Massachusetts late yesterday afternoon, killing at least four people, injuring others and damaging buildings, cars and trees.

Scott MacLeod, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said there were four fatalities. Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency and called up 1,000 National Guard troops to assist in rescue efforts.

Two people were killed in Westfield, one in Brimfield and one in West Springfield, said MacLeod, who had no further details on the deaths. The three towns are within 10 miles of the Connecticut state border, where the worst tornado activity was centered.

“The severity of these tornadoes is something we haven’t seen in a very long time in Massachusetts,” MacLeod said in a telephone interview from the agency’s emergency headquarters in Framingham, Massachusetts. “It won’t be until sun-up when we can get better information on the extent of the damage.”

Possible tornado sightings were reported in 20 separate towns, though the National Weather Service had confirmed only the two in the Springfield area as of last night, said MacLeod. Analysts should be able to get a better sense of how many tornadoes there were and where they struck tomorrow, he said.

David Graves, a spokesman for National Grid Plc, said the storms cut power to about 33,500 of the utility’s customers in Massachusetts, mostly in areas east of Springfield and south of Worcester. Graves said portions of both the transmission and distribution systems were “very heavily damaged.”

Collapsed Buildings
“We’re looking at a multi-day event” in restoring power to customers, he said. The utility provides electricity to New York and New England.

One of the tornadoes overturned a car in West Springfield, killing one person, the governor said. In downtown Springfield, a second twister was reported.

“We have buildings collapsed,” said Jack Baker, an official with the West Springfield Fire Department, in a telephone interview. “It went right through town.”

Brian Freeman, a Westfield police officer, said another tornado touched down there just before 5 p.m. local time. He reported trees and power lines down.

Amtrak said service to Springfield from New Haven, Connecticut, was disrupted due to weather-related problems.

The New York City area and parts of the Northeast from Pennsylvania to Maine were under a tornado watch until 8 p.m. local time yesterday, according to the National Weather Service.

Tornadoes have killed more than 500 people across the U.S. this year, including at least 134 in Joplin, Missouri, on May 22 in one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history. The tornadoes have destroyed at least $3 billion to $6.5 billion of insured property, said Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute in New York.

Well the red cross is here to help and it was a catergory 3 tornado LI Red Cross Volunteers Help Mass. Tornado Victims:

Two Red Cross volunteers from Long Island were deployed to Massachusetts on Thursday to assist in disaster relief efforts after a tornado struck the city of Springfield last week.

“They’re in need of tons of thing,” said volunteer Robert DeJesus, of Coram, after three tornadoes blew through the area on June 1, killing four.

They need “food, clothing, shelter; and sometimes they just need another ear for someone to listen to them,” he added.

With the Nassau County chapter already without several volunteers—15 of whom are in five different states assisting in other recovery efforts—the two Suffolk County chapter members decided to volunteer for the two-week relief mission.

The Springfield twister was categorized as an EF3 tornado, according to a National Weather Service spokesperson. It traveled 39 miles, damaging several homes in the process.

The “destruction covered a very large area,” said Sam Kille, a Red Cross spokesperson who visited Springfield the night of the tornado.

“There were a lot of people, who of course, were feeling a lot of anxiety,” he added. “Of course this was something they’re not used to in New England.”

Riding alongside DeJesus on Thursday’s trip to Springfield, was 62-year-old Bill Shepherd of Holtsville, who has been with the Red Cross for over 25 years, and assisted in relief efforts after Hurricane Gustav in 2008.

“Hopefully we can get them back on their feet,” he said.

The two volunteers left Mineola for their 141-mile drive in an Emergency Response Vehicle, which will be filled up with food and supplies once they arrive in Springfield.

Both men were notified of their deployment on Wednesday, giving them only a day to tell their families, and to prepare for the relief effort.

“That’s the great thing about the Red Cross,” Kille said, “you have volunteers who are willing to put their lives on hold to help their neighbors in need.”

DeJesus, 40, who has two sons, said his 10-year-old reminded him that he was going to miss his elementary school graduation on June 17.

“I was big time disappointed,” he said. “I owe him big time.”

Although it was tough for him to leave, he said his son loves what he does and even asked him if he can ride along on their trip to Springfield.

To see the destruction a tornado causes can be hard to take in, said Kille, so he offered this advice for the two volunteers:

“It’s not the bottle of water that you give them, its not a place to stay,” he said. “For them knowing that someone is there to listen to them, and be there for them is a very powerful thing.”

As for the Red Cross, it has been a busy year for their volunteers, with over 1,300 tornadoes confirmed across the country, and more than 500 people dead due to the destruction the twisters have caused.

Training and sending volunteers to another state costs a lot of money, Kille said. He said people can donate by calling 1-800-Red-Cross or text 90999 to make a $10 donation to the red cross.

Although it can be emotional to see people who lost their homes, and talk to relatives who lost loved ones, volunteering can also be rewarding, Kille said.

“It always makes you feel good as a Red Crosser to be able to stand there and listen to them, [and] to hear there stories.”

Okay for disaster that have already happen and clear to make room for help text 90999 to american red cross donate or volunteer they can use your help now with the wildfires and floods they are ongoing who knows when they will end or how they started all I know we can be as current about It as possible with too much rainfall you get floods too little rainfall you get wildfires and lightning strikes more then a lit cigarette but you may ever know let's just focus on right now and the rest will follow here rain or no rain one thing here for certain not going to look back here:

Catastrophic Wildfires? Thank the Greenies and Forest Service: Arizona is burning and the Forest Service, pressured by green environmental groups are to blame for their massive, uncontrollable devastation. The Wallow fire, raging in eastern Arizona near Alpine, Nutrioso and Springerville has burned 408,887 acres, over 600 square miles and is the second largest fire the state has ever seen. The largest in Arizona history was the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski fire, which burned 468,638 acres or 732 square miles of Ponderosa Pine forest. The Wallow fire is only 6 percent contained with high winds on the way and easily could pass the Rodeo-Chediski fire in size.

Gary Kiehne is a 5th generation cattle rancher and business owner in Springerville, Ariz. His ranch, located near Reserve, New Mexico, sits 20 short miles away from the Wallow forest fire.

“The Wallow fire is a result of the U.S. Forest Service mismanagement,” Kiehne says to Townhall.

His father, who will turn 90 in March of 2012, saw a fire like the Wallow coming for years based on observations of the green movement’s influence on how the U.S. National Forest Service (USFS) has managed, or rather grossly mismanaged, the forests for years.

“I predicted years ago that when the weather conditions were right, the Gila Wilderness, a waste of natural resources and the Gila National Forest would go up in flames. Much to my sorrow that day has gone,” Emil Kiehne wrote in a letter to his son. “All of this is a result of overprotection of our natural resources, timber and grass that has grown into a dog hair thicket that cannot be contained. The USFS must go back to allowing multiple use of forest lands to prevent forest fires.”

Under the disguise of non-profit organizations and saviors of the environment and endangered species, groups like the Sierra Club, Friends of the Forest Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity have been strong advocates against logging, the burning of small natural fires, and grazing on federally held forest land. Excessive Forest Service regulation, Endangered Species Act regulations, clean water regulations and more, prevent the salvaging of dead trees and cleanup of excess dead vegetation. This has resulted in a dangerous and large build up of extremely dry dead trees, excess brush and thick vegetation undergrowth. A ticking time bomb waiting for a single lightening strike to set it off.

“We can’t go in and do anything now because essentially the greens control the USFS,” R.J. Smith, director of the Center for Private Conservation at the Competitive Enterprise Institute tells Townhall. “The environmental regulations and the philosophy prevents them from doing anything to restore the forests to a healthy condition. You literally can’t go in anymore.”

Before the U.S. Forest Service was founded in 1905, with a purpose of managing public lands in national forests and grasslands, smaller, natural fires would clear out excess fuels on a regular basis from the forest floor. Private industry practices such as logging and cattle grazing also kept excess fire fuel to a minimum. However, due to the influence of green environmental groups in the past 30 years, logging and cattle grazing have been essentially outlawed on public lands, resulting in the overcrowding of trees. In some areas of our forests, Ponderosa Pine trees grow at a rate of 300 to 700 trees per acre. The natural amount of trees per acre in Ponderosa Pine forests is between 20 and 50 trees per acre and with an overcrowding of trees, comes more competition for water, prolonging western droughts beyond normal time periods, resulting in more dead trees and more excess fire fuel.

In the 1940’s when Emil Kiehne, a former Marine, came home from WWII, there were over 40,000 head of sheep, 20,000 head of cattle and 30-50 sawmills operating in Catron Country New Mexico.

“Today there are no sheep, very little cattle and only two sawmills that work part time, but there are hundreds of government employees doing little or nothing waiting for a vacation or retirement,” Emil Kiehne said in a letter.

On top of that, according to Smith, the majority of the people employed by the Forest Service aren’t foresters at all and instead focus on biology, zoology, among other specialties not related to the health and maintenance of forests.

In October 2003, President George W. Bush signed the Healthy Forest Initiative, which set aside funds for the Forest Service to go in and begin to treat unhealthy National Forests through mechanical thinning, cutting down trees, salvaging of dead and dying trees and through prescribed burns. However, these efforts have been put on hold because the Forest Service is constantly being dragged into court, using taxpayer dollars by environmentalist groups through the Equal Access to Justice Act, to prevent any management of the forests through the Healthy Forest Initiative, citing violations of the Endangered Species Act or other regulations, for trying to manage the forests properly, which would prevent massive forest fires like the Wallow. The Forest Service has moved away from multiple use, meaning private industry, on public lands to policies focused strictly on recreational use dictated by green environmentalist special interest groups.

“Every time these fires break out, because each passing year you get more and more accumulation of fuels in the forests and so when the fires inevitably come, they’re catastrophic. And the greens say, ‘Well you know we can’t get into the forests, can’t to do this, can’t do that because there is all this habitat we can’t disturb and there’s endangered Spotted Owls in there’ and so on. But what happens when fires of this level come through, they essentially destroy everything. They burn down the whole forest and if they don’t kill the endangered species and wildlife or threatened species that are in there, they do destroy their habitat,” says Smith. “It’s having a devastating effect on those species.”

We always hear about environmental groups protesting and screaming about protecting the animals and plants in the forest, yet when there is a massive forest fire, those same green activists aren’t the ones on the front lines trying to put out the fire.

“What’s amazing is that none of them are here trying to fight the fire,” Gary Kiehne says. “I haven’t seen Greenpeace, I haven’t seen Friends of Forest Guardians. I haven’t seen the Center for Biological Diversity. None of them.”

And big fires mean big government solutions and bigger bills being sent to the taxpayer. The knee-jerk reaction to monster fires is to give firefighters more resources and money to fight them, rather than taking a proactive approach to preventing forest fires through the clearing of excess fuels. In addition, the USFS will ask and get more money, taxpayer dollars, to remove remaining livestock from forest lands and to implement even more regulation to “protect” the remaining trees that didn’t get burned.

“Instead of wasting the money on future appropriations of out tax dollars to fight future fires, these funds should be appropriated in the form of grants for low interest loans to ranchers and logging companies for the purpose of constructing saw mills and purchasing livestock and rebuilding the infrastructure including fences, water and roads so that the private sector can harvest the timber and grass off of our Forests. The lack of harvesting over the last 40 years is the real cause of this fire and it could have easily been avoided had proper management of the forests been allowed by the USFS,” Gary Kiehne wrote in a letter to Congressional Legislators.

These massive fires have major impacts on local community economies in addition to the environment.

“The short term impact to these communities first off, when a fire like this happens like the Rodeo-Chediski fire for example, we had a temporary boom because firefighters and are staying in our hotels and restaurants but then, as soon as they got the fire out, the Forest Service put a ban on anybody coming up here,” Gary Kiehne says. “Our communities are effectively going to die on the vine because of this fire.”

The area where the Wallow fire is burning could be turned into a successful recreational for hunters, fishers and ranchers if natural resources weren’t controlled by the green movement and the USFS.

Ironically, the slogan of the Forest Services’ Smokey the Bear is “only you can prevent forest fires,” yet the green movement in partnership with the USFS are doing exactly the opposite. Natural resources are going to waste, economies are being stalled, homes are burning and the environment is being destroyed thanks to the incompetence, as usual, of the greenies and the USFS. The very thing environmentalists claim they want to protect is being completely destroyed and devastated thanks to their own big government, anti-private industry, nonsensical policies. Environmentalists have fought for control of land in America and now that they have it, they have trashed it, leaving to burn in an inferno nearly impossible to contain which will leave the once beautiful land charred, black and the eco-system changed for a very very long time.

“All public lands should become private lands because what belongs to everyone belongs to no one.” -Emil Kiehne.

Okay blame liberals wrong blame lightning the far right are just as bad here as they are with anthony weiner he didn't deserve the hate bringing on to him now why should property and land owners In arizona or new mexico get real and don't play politics.

Wind, lightning may hinder efforts to fight Arizona blaze: Scrambling to battle one of Arizona’s biggest-ever wildfires, firefighters were hoping windy conditions and dry lightning would not hamper their efforts on Sunday.

Earlier, hundreds of people in a resort town in northeastern Arizona and its neighboring communities were told to pack their belongings and be ready to leave Sunday. The wildfire, dubbed the Wallow Fire, has forced some 2,200 people from their homes.

The pre-evacuation order for Greer was issued by emergency management officials after the fire came within five miles of the town, said Brad Pitassi, a spokesman for the Southwest Area Incident Management Team that is overseeing firefighting efforts.

“We’ve had successful burnout operations that have been occurring during the night, and we’re hopefully getting the containments up in the next few days,” Pitassi said Sunday.

Crews were making a stand early Sunday between the fire and the Apache County town, creating buffer areas and lighting backfires to try to keep the fire at bay.

Hundreds more firefighters took up position at the nearby mountain hamlet of Alpine to battle spot fires started by burning embers, he said.

“The head of the fire is knocking on Alpine’s door,” Pitassi told CNN by telephone. “We have spot fires in Alpine. The crews have been able to stop those fires from growing.”

The town of Alpine was evacuated, along with the town of Nutrioso, officials said.

More than 1,300 firefighters were battling the week-old blaze, fueled by dry brush and pushed by strong winds, which had destroyed more than 144,000 acres by late Saturday, according to the fire’s incident commander.

Additional fire crews and air tankers from around the country were expected to begin arriving Sunday, Pitassi said.

“We have 0% containment,” he said.

But Pitassi said crews were working to get an upper hand on the fire overnight after the weather calmed down following days of wind gusts that helped propel the fire to a 30-mile front.

Weather reports for Sunday, though, were grim, with forecasters predicting high humidity and dry lightning strikes by late afternoon.

“We may be just at the beginning of a very nasty fight,” Pitassi said.

The cause of the fire, which began May 29, 2011, is under investigation by the Apache County sheriff’s department.

The fire has bedeviled fire crews with its unpredictable path, thanks to wind gusts that have carried burning embers up to three miles.

“It’s a very significant fire,” Pitassi said, with “a lot of growth potential.”

The U.S. Forest Service said the fire is the fourth largest in Arizona’s history, but Pitassi said it is the third largest.

Most of Greer’s residents voluntarily evacuated after they were warned Friday, joining thousands from neighboring communities who were forced to leave their homes in recent days.

Many evacuees were waiting out the fire in Springerville, about 20 miles from the fires frontline, where daily meetings are held at a local high school to update residents.

Bob and Jan Bullard said they had five minutes to evacuate their home in Nutrioso when the fire made a run at the small resort town near Greer.

“I’d like to hear that we can go home,” Bob Bullard told Phoenix-based CNN affiliate KNXV.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who was briefed Saturday by fire officials, said she would consider seeking state or federal help for the county, if the situation grew worse.

Heavy smoke generated by the fire could be seen as far away as Albuquerque, New Mexico, where city officials warned residents to avoid outdoor activities and close windows and doors.

Light ash has been reported coating the ground in several areas of the city, according to Albuquerque-based CNN affiliate KOAT.

A number of fires burning in Arizona in recent days, including the “Wallow fire,” had destroyed more than 250,000 acres.

Among those fires was a wildfire in southeast Arizona that had burned more than 90,000 acres, fire officials said late Saturday. That fire was about 50% contained, officials said.

Ignore what the rest of katie pavlich's reporting on townhall.com she don't know what she Is saying get the news from people there or from yes the elite media also don't be far left or far right be you not them good luck to all fighting that fire help will be coming, let's get back to the midwest floods Missouri River flood levee breaches expected:

Iowa National Guard troops have dumped thousand-pound sandbags from a helicopter to delay a full breach of a Missouri River levee long enough to build a secondary wall to protect a town, officials said on Monday.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers warned that the partial break of the levee near the Iowa and Missouri border could not be repaired and local emergency management officials have ordered a mandatory evacuation of the town of Hamburg, Iowa.

"What we have had is the Iowa National Guard come in and drop thousands of pounds of sandbags to help fill that breach, but that is just going to delay the full breach," Corps spokeswoman Monique Farmer said on Monday.

It will take about a week to raise a secondary flood protection for Hamburg by five feet to reduce the risk to the town, Farmer said.

The National Guard dropped 22 sandbags weighing a thousand pounds each on the levee Sunday to patch the breach about 5-1/2 miles south of Hamburg, said John Benson, a spokesman for the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management division.

The Corps plans an arc-shaped barrier to protect Hamburg's south side and several hundred residents have been ordered to evacuate from that area, Benson said.

The evacuation covers about one-quarter of the town's roughly 1,200 residents.

A small fracture, a "sand boil," discovered Sunday on another levee has been repaired, Farmer said.

More levee breaches on the lower Missouri River downstream from the last reservoir in South Dakota are "definitely likely," said Kevin Grode, a reservoir regulation team leader for the Corps' Missouri Basin office.

Nearly a year's worth of rain fell on the Upper Missouri basin in the past few weeks, coupling with a heavy melting snow pack to swell reservoirs from Montana through South Dakota to their limits, forcing the Corps to release record flows to relieve the pressure.

Lynn Maximuk, central region director for the National Weather Service, said the rain and heavy snows were typical of a La Nina year weather pattern.

THOUSANDS EVACUATE

Thousands of residents have voluntarily evacuated the North Dakota capital Bismarck and nearby Mandan and the South Dakota capital Pierre and nearby Fort Pierre as well as the affluent Dakota Dunes near the Iowa border as the river threatens to overwhelm flood protections.

Levees in North Dakota and South Dakota were holding on Monday. South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard reported more progress on levees in flood-threatened towns as workers fought through temperatures into the 90s amid humid conditions.

The Corps plans to step up water releases to a maximum 150,000 cubic feet per second at the Oahe Dam above Pierre on Tuesday and at other reservoirs by mid June. Flows could stay at those levels at least into mid August.

"It is possible that we could go higher than that ... if we get higher than normal precipitation throughout June and July," Grode said.

Iowa emergency officials are watching for maximum flows planned at the Gavins Point reservoir above Dakota Dunes on June 14 because it is the final control over river levels that will affect the levees near Hamburg.

Iowa is bracing for the Missouri to spill up to two miles into the state during the flooding and Fremont County has set up an emergency shelter in nearby Sidney for Hamburg residents who might need it. No one used the shelter overnight.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad said on Monday he believed the flooding would be the worst he's ever seen and that low-lying areas of Interstate 29 that runs parallel to the river likely would eventually be closed.

The U.S. Coast Guard has closed a more than 180-mile (290-kilometer) stretch of the river from near Sioux City, Iowa, south due to high water.

The river is projected to reach up to seven feet above flood stage at Sioux City, Omaha and Kansas City when the maximum release rate is reached.

The Missouri River basin forms the northwest portion of the massive Mississippi River basin that stretches from Montana to western New York and funnels water down through Louisiana into the Gulf of Mexico.

Well the latest no 2nd guessing kansas city Is where the floodwaters will be heading soon Transportation officials make plans as high Missouri River moves toward area:

You could always hope that what happens in Iowa stays in Iowa.

But that might be in vain.

Ever so surely, flooding continues to creep down the Missouri River toward the Kansas City area as transportation officials brace for a major blow to our highway network.

“It’s coming, that’s for sure,” warned Dena Gray-Fisher, spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Transportation.

The Missouri River is higher than it was during the 1993 flood in much of Nebraska and Iowa, and the water is still rising. It’s already over flood stages by about 6 feet in parts of northwest Missouri.

Iowa officials have been busy closing highways, plotting detours and trying to protect pavement and bridges from prolonged exposure to high water.

Overnight Thursday, Iowa closed Interstate 29 from Council Bluffs north to Loveland. Rising waters also forced the closure of Interstate 680 near the Iowa-Nebraska line, including the Mormon Bridge across the Missouri River.

“It’s very challenging,” Gray-Fisher said. “There’s just a lot of activity going on.”

Late Friday, Iowa officials said flooding was affecting an increasing number of roadways in western Iowa and announced that more segments of I-29 were being considered for closure.

Engineers in Kansas and Missouri will closely watch water levels this weekend along their shared border, ready to start closing roads on a moment’s notice.

“We’re still assessing how bad Mother Nature’s going to be treating us this summer,” said Jesse Skinner, interstate corridor engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation in Kansas City.

Upstream flooding already has disrupted interstate rail passenger service in eight states, including Amtrak service from Denver to Chicago.

Amtrak has added an extra car to the Southwest Chief, which passes through Kansas City, to help passengers detour the closed rail route. Amtrak said it’s too early to know if flooding will affect service from Kansas City to St. Louis.

Meanwhile, local highway engineers are working with surveyors and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to plot how roads will be affected when floodwaters arrive.

The general sense is that roads closer to the Iowa state line will be more severely affected than those near the Kansas City area. Engineers are keeping an eye on Iowa.

“We’re watching closely to see what’s happening with them because obviously it’s going to flow downhill,” said Elaine Justus, spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Transportation in St. Joseph.

Justus said it’s likely that roads between the river and I-29 will flood in the northwest part of the state, including Missouri 111, Missouri 118 and U.S. 159 near Big Lake State Park.

There are three major river crossings in northwest Missouri, including one at St. Joseph into Kansas and others at U.S. 159 and U.S. 136 into Nebraska.

The bridges will probably be safe, but access to them might be cut off, Justus said. “That’s going to be a huge issue for people trying to go west.”

But whether flooding reaches the highway depends on a number of variables, she said, including whether we get more rain or whether levees are topped or fail.

“Until we know what (the variables) end up being, we can’t know what areas are specifically going to go under.”

In Kansas City, officials were more optimistic that flooding won’t severely affect too many highways. They said that most of the highways that flooded in 1993 did so after levees broke.

“We don’t believe Kansas City will be as impacted as Iowa,” Skinner said.

However, Skinner warned that some low-lying roads, such as Missouri 9 in Parkville or Missouri 224 in Lafayette County, could be flooded.

In northeast Kansas, flooding has already put Kansas 7 out of commission from north of White Cloud to the Nebraska line. Flooding closed the road on May 31.

Closer to home, some highways in Leavenworth County are vulnerable to flooding, including Kansas 5 from Eisenhower Road to I-435/Wolcott Drive in Wyandotte County.

Interstate 635 at Kansas 5 in Wyandotte County would have to close if the Missouri side floods, officials said.

Railroad companies that run trains along the Missouri River in Kansas and Missouri are also preparing for flooding.

Union Pacific, which runs about 30 trains a day on the Kansas side of the river, believes its access to St. Joseph will be severed by the middle of next week.

Union Pacific has stopped inbound shipments to St. Joseph and nearby Elwood, Kan. Rail service for outbound shipments will stay in place until flooding affects its operations.

What roads might flood
•Areas in northwest Missouri between the Missouri River and Interstate 29.

•Interstate 29 north of St. Joseph.

•Missouri 9 in Parkville and Missouri 224 in Lafayette County.

•Access could be restricted to bridges at St. Joseph, U.S. 159 near Big Lake State Park and U.S. 136 near Rock Port.

•Kansas 5 from Eisenhower Road in Leavenworth County to I-435/Wolcott Drive.

•Interstate 635 at Kansas 5 could close if the Missouri side of the river floods.

•Kansas 7 from White Cloud to Kansas/Nebraska state has been closed since May 31.

INSIDE
Engineers are worried about the stability of a floodwall in Kansas City, Kan.

I'm not forgetting Iowa here they are cleaning up I think they need help too Some Iowa residents dig in for Missouri River flooding:

Iowa residents were evacuating flood-prone areas near the Missouri River on Friday and state transportation officials accelerated plans to close part of Interstate 29 due to fast-rising waters.

In Missouri Valley, Iowa, north of Council Bluffs, that meant that David Wilson, his wife Jan Wilson and their dog were left alone among homes evacuated for a three-block area, waiting for the river to reach them on the west side of town.

"All those people are gone," the gray-haired David Wilson said, pointing out vacant homes a mile from the Missouri River. "They're gone. They're gone. And they're gone."

Residents have been shoring up levees along the Missouri River from Montana through Missouri as federal officials reach toward record planned water releases to relieve pressure on six major reservoirs swollen by heavy rains and melting snow.

Six dams from Fort Peck in Montana to Gavins Point on the South Dakota-Nebraska border are at peak releases now, or are planned to reach them by mid June, and hold them to at least mid August.

The river runs freely below Gavins Point for more than 800 miles to the Mississippi River, making those maximum releases planned to start Tuesday a focus for residents along the Lower Missouri, including those in Missouri Valley.

"I'm going to stay here as long as I can," Wilson said. "If the water comes up to the door, I'll put my waders on and get in my boat, which will be parked out front."

Wilson said he was pouring $1,000 into a barricade of concrete, wood and dirt to keep the basement of the house he bought in 1993 from flooding. He has sump pumps, and a generator if power is cut off.

Iowa transportation officials closed a 10-mile section of Interstate 29 north of Council Bluffs late Thursday, earlier than expected because of faster rising floodwaters.

HAMBURG LEVEE WORK CONTINUES

Flooding has disrupted Amtrak rail service on the Empire Builder through North Dakota and the California Zephyr that runs through Omaha. The U.S. Coast Guard has closed about 260 miles of the Missouri to boaters from Gavins Point south to where the borders of Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri meet.

In southwest Iowa, contractors were racing Friday to finish a secondary levee to protect Hamburg from an expected failure of a Missouri River levee that has had three partial breaches.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has little confidence the levee will withstand the full weight of the Missouri. About 300 of Hamburg's 1,200 residents are under mandatory evacuation.

"The Corps is still working hard to get the extra protection of the city dike around Hamburg finished because it is just a matter of time ... before it goes," said Mike Crecelius, emergency management director for Fremont County where Hamburg is located.

"It's not if it goes, it is when it goes."

Corps officials have warned more breaches are likely given the varying strengths of the flood protections and the height, speed and duration of planned water releases.

Heavy Montana rains this week have sharply increased flows into the Fort Peck reservoir, forcing the Corps to increase releases to 60,000 cubic feet per second on Friday, from previous plans for a rate of 50,000.

The Corps has said the Garrison Dam reservoir above Bismarck can handle the additional releases from Fort Peck and has left intact its planned maximum releases at 150,000 cubic feet per second from the other five dams.

Montana officials on Friday reported scores of impassable roads and bridges and worsening flooding in the Missouri River valley, as well as in the Columbia River basin on the other side of the Continental Divide.

Dozens of families evacuated Sun River west of Great Falls when water up to 3 feet deep spilled over from the Sun River, and Roundup in central Montana was accessible only by boat or helicopter due to flooding on the Musselshell River.

On Thursday, a levee breach prompted evacuation warnings for residents near the confluence of the Clark Fork River and Rock Creek east of Missoula in the Columbia River basin.

West of Missoula, the Corps raced to build levees along the Clark Fork after overflows flooded some basements.

Okay things are bad there how about here In chicago I mean they have been power out and flooding and damage here too let's not forget where poeple like you me and like-minded folks call home:
Heavy overnight rain leaves 63,000 ComEd customers without power

More than 63,000 ComEd customers are without power following overnight storms that dropped as much of five inches of rain and continue to delay area transit Thursday morning.

A flash flood warning that was in place for much of the Chicago area has expired, though six viaducts on the Far South Side have flooded and manhole covers have burst, according to authorities.

As of 11 a.m., systemwide, there are 63,753 customers without electricity, according to ComEd spokeswoman Arlana Johnson. The bulk, 35,229 are in the south suburbs, while 14,321 are in the city, 4,785 are in the north and the west has 9,418 without power, according to Johnson.

More than 300 crews are working “as quickly as possible” on storm-restoration efforts, Johnson said.

As of 9:45 am. a viaduct on 95th Street and Stony Island Avenue is flooded.

It’s been a “problem viaduct” for several years, according to a Morgan Park District police officer.

“Every time it rains that viaduct floods,” the officer said.

Another viaduct at 95th and Cottage Grove is also flooded.

In the same general area, Fire Media Affairs spokesman Will Knight said that firefighters responded twice about 9 a.m. to help rescue motorists stranded because of flooding viaducts. Crews first responded to 95th Street and Dorchester Avenue and then to 95th and Stony, according to Knight. No one was hospitalized.

No flooded viaducts were reported in the north and central areas but there were six on the South Side, according to City Water Dept. spokesman Tom LaPorte

In the city’s Beverly neighborhood on the Far South Side, there is heavy flooding on Longwood Drive from 95th to 103rd streets.

LaPorte said as of 11 a.m. City crews have responded to 363 “water in the basement” calls on the South Side. There were only 7 calls for basement flooding in the north and 6 in the central areas, he said.

There were 129 calls of water in the street, which is often actually a good thing because it means it’s not in basements, on the South Side, according to LaPorte. In the north and central areas, there were 19 and 15, respectively.

“The South Side was particularly hard hit,” said LaPorte.

Police are also reporting flooding in the following Far South Side areas:

The 10500 block of South Springfield Avenue; the 10400 block of South Central Park Avenue; 103rd to 108th streets on Carpenter; Talman Avenue from 103rd to 108th streets; the 10600 block of South Albany Avenue; 108th Street and Maplewood, and Walden Parkway between 102 to 104th streets, police said.

Sewer covers have blown off in several areas as well. One cover at 105th and Springfield Avenue blew “15 feet up into the air and impacted itself into the grass,” according to the Morgan Park District officer. No one was injured. Another cap blew off at 107th and Pulaski Road.

Meanwhile, in Kendall County, motorists are being warned after heavy flooding.

According to a release from the Kendall County Sheriff’s department, there are areas of standing water in many roads, leaving some secondary roads impassable. Police are blocking the roads.

Motorists are being advised to not drive through water they cannot see through, and not to drive over downed power lines, the release said.

A 54-year-old motorist was injured when the vehicle he was driving collided into a large tree that fell in front it as he was driving east on Griswold Springs Road near Sandwich, according to a release from the sheriff’s office.

The motorist, Lloyd Elliot Vermeland, was taken to Valley West Community Hospital in Sandwich and was being treated for injuries to his neck and back.

Slow-moving thunderstorms will continue across the area this morning, and runoff from excessive rainfall may cause local flooding, the weather service said.

As of 10:40 a.m., some airlines at O¹Hare International Airport are reporting delays of between 1 to 2 hours for flights in and out of the airport because of the weather, according to the city¹s Department of Aviation.

At Midway, some airlines are reporting delays to to 90 minutes, according to the department of aviation.

Earlier this morning, State Police reported that standing water on I-57 near Halsted on the South Side is snarling traffic, as is a weather-related crash on I-57 near Route 30, an Illinois State Police District Chicago trooper said. High water has also reportedly slowed the Dan Ryan Expy. In the area of 95th Street.

The rollover crash, which is thought to be weather-related, happened about 6:10 a.m. near south suburban Matteson and injured an unknown number of people, the trooper said. Further details were not immediately known.

Minor flooding is already occurring at the Kankakee River at Shelby, which at nearly 10 feet deep is one foot above flood stage, according to the weather service. A flood warning there, affected Lake and Newton counties in northwest Indiana, is in effect until Saturday night. The minor flooding is forecast to impact some county and local roads.

Three to six foot tall waves and northeast winds of 15 to 25 miles per hour could also create a moderate risk of rip currents Thursday morning through Friday morning along the Lake Michigan coastline, according to the weather service, which urged beach-goers are urged to obey lifeguards and posted signs.

However, Thursday’s temperatures will bring some much-needed relief from this week’s near-record heat. The high will reach just 63 degrees and there will be a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms. The low will dip to 54 with a 69 percent chance of storms, the weather service said.

“You’ll probably head to work with it being in the 60s and by the time you leave on Thursday, we’ll reach the upper 50s, especially downtown and warmer inland,” National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Bardou said.

Those storms may be severe with damaging winds and large hail possible Thursday afternoon, just south of I-80. There’s also a chance of severe thunderstorms Friday afternoon and evening.

The weekend should be sunny, with a high of 74 degrees on Saturday and 70 degrees on Sunday.

Okay the sun will come out this weekend I wasn't going to leave anyone behind I think we will be fine In Illinois like with winter blizzard 4 months In february after with spring floods, tornadoes and fires In june yes this what happens when we lose In sports In january with the bears and and may with the bulls we get punched by mother nature too deja vu you think or you know well look at the corps along the missouri river not good CBOT soy outlook: Seen down; less threatening supply outlooks:

CHICAGO (Dow Jones) - U.S. soybean futures are poised for a lower start Friday, continuing to correct from recent highs on government data showing less threatening year-end supplies and broader based commodity weakness.

CBOT soybeans are called to open 7 cents to 9 cents lower.

In overnight trading, Chicago Board of Trade July soybeans were down 0.6% at $13.85 3/4 a bushel, and new crop November futures were down 0.6% at $13.79.

"Soybeans should see follow through selling on the open this morning after both old and new crop futures closed lower after failing to hold moves above $14," said Bryce Knorr, analyst with Farm Futures, a agricultural publication.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's more optimistic view on soybean supplies in the current marketing year and next left the market a bit overpriced above $14 a bushel, analysts said.

The uncertainty of 2011 production and acreage continues to limit losses, but with slower export demand amid increased competition from South America, the market continues to struggle to hold prices near the $14 level.

The agency on Thursday made modest increases in estimated end-of-season inventories, with federal forecasters projecting U.S. soybean supplies at 180 million bushels at the end of the marketing year Aug. 31.

USDA tweaked export figures, as U.S. soybean export demand has softened in the past few months as foreign buyers turned to South America because of lower prices there.

The report encouraged traders to trim premium from the market after previously rallying prices on thoughts of lower supplies.

Traders are also expected to look beyond the soybean market to the outside markets for guidance, with a higher U.S. dollar index adding further pressure. A higher U.S. dollar is negative for commodities as most raw materials are dollar-denominated, making it more expensive for foreign buyers to import.

Broader based weakness is seen across the commodity sector, with lower corn, crude oil and gold futures expected to encourage investors to reduce risk exposure ahead of the weekend.

Yet, soybeans remain underpinned by supportive fundamentals, with end of year supplies still projected below the comfortable 200 million bushel level, and uncertainty still surrounding acreage in the eastern Midwest due to flooding.

The market will also draw support from concerns about the potential for lost acres in the western Midwest due to flooding issues around the Missouri River.

Strength in cash soymeal prices is expected to add further support to limit declines in soybeans.

Floods on the Missouri River and the potential for grain transportation interruptions support cash soymeal basis levels. Livestock feed producers in the western Midwest are aggressively pursuing cash feed supplies on the threat of reduced grain movement by rail and the potential for some soy crushing plants to shut down due to flooding, analysts said.

Unrelated the corps damaged along the ohio and mississippi river going from cairo, Illinois to the louisiana coast that will hurt corn and soybean corps too the floods there happened last month

CHICAGO—Widespread flooding along the Mississippi River will delay early grain harvests in the U.S., further stoking supply fears amid dwindling stockpiles of corn and soybeans.

Many farmers in states such as Missouri and Mississippi will have to replant crops after the floods washed away seeds and sprouting plants, as well as nutrients in the soil.

Farms in the southern Midwest and Mississippi Delta are typically the first in the U.S. to harvest corn and soybeans, making fresh supplies available to ethanol producers, animal-feed processors and exporters.

The timing of the fall harvest is particularly critical this year as corn inventories are forecast to slip to a 15-year low by the end of August. The U.S. is the world's largest grower and exporter of corn.

As the damage wreaked by the flooding has become apparent, grain prices have surged. Corn futures are up 12% over the past week and ended Friday near one-month highs, up 1.5% on the day at $7.595 a bushel. Wheat and soybean prices have also posted big gains this week on the Chicago Board of Trade.

On top of the impact to the local economies, the flooding is likely to pressure food costs higher both at home and abroad.

The high water levels "challenge the availability of early harvested supplies," leaving big corn buyers in the lurch until the Midwest crop comes in, said Dan Basse, president of AgResource Co. in Chicago.

Floodwaters have swallowed up corn, cotton, rice and soybean fields across areas along the Mississippi River, a side effect of efforts to divert water from populated areas.

More than 1,500 square miles of farmland in Arkansas have been flooded over the past few weeks. In Missouri, where a levee was intentionally blown open to ease the threat to the town of Cairo, Ill., more than 200 square miles of croplands were submerged, and more than 2,100 square miles were estimated under water in Mississippi.

Agronomists say that, in some place, it could take many weeks before farmers can return to fields once water levels go down.

But there are signs that water along the river is receding. Commercial traffic has reopened on parts of the Mississippi River that were closed by the Coast Guard earlier in the week.

CME Group Inc. said Friday that most of the wheat-shipping stations used as delivery points for the CBOT futures contract on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers had resumed operations after experiencing flood-related disruptions earlier in the month.

Corn harvested in places like Missouri and Kentucky provide a bridge between last year's crop and corn grown in the U.S. cornbelt that isn't harvested until October. Soybean supplies, while also facing tight domestic inventories, have been buoyed by a record South American harvest, which is helping to meet global demand. Still, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates, the amount of corn and soybeans left over at the end of the current marketing year will cover less than one month of demand.

Some areas along the river have been flooded for weeks, increasing the odds that as much as 10% of the land underwater won't be planted this year or that plantings will be delayed for up to a month, said Jeremy Ross, a crop expert at the University of Arkansas.

When the fields do dry out, farmers may no longer seed corn, rice and cotton, instead switching to soybeans, which has a shorter growing cycle and can mature before fall frosts put an end to the growing season, Mr. Ross said.

Farmers also may not plant at all. Many will weigh the option of taking payments from their crop insurance and leaving the acreage idle. The insurance payment may be a profitable alternative to planting since the shorter development period for the crop will curb yields, Mr. Basse said.

He estimated the Southeast could lose one million to two million acres of corn. The USDA projects that 92.2 million acres in the U.S. will be planted with corn this year, up 5% from 2010.

In response to the flooding, buyers in the main foreign markets for U.S. corn are moving to lock up supplies now to avoid getting caught short or paying even higher prices. Already, the market has seen a pickup in sales, with South Korea recently buying corn for delivery before September even though corn to be delivered later is cheaper, said Mike Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics & Consulting.

Okay well this will mean 1 more win for dallas mavericks to win a NBA title or vancouver canucks to win the stanley cup or 1 more blow for newt gingrich campaign for president or one more blow for anthony weiner to deal with his wife being pregnant and colleagues asking for his re-signation that can all wait for another day I'm focused on people everyday people need to build their home after tornadoes, leaving to higher ground during a flood, or leaving from tree free ground to getting away from fire they will have one more day and one more night away from home and somewhere safe they are shelters where ever the red cross can set It up best to text 90999 (Flood), (Fire), (Hurricane) or (Tornado) or redcross.org, all In washington obama administration, congress, homeland security, FEMA, a private Insurance company like AETNA, state farm, farmers, celebrities In hollywood, brokers working for chicago board of exchange or wall street In new york city just plain folks In small towns suburban communities and big cities everywhere In america north, south, east, west, coast to coast and In the middle west you have to start helping people out In times of disasters money, time, work, food, clothing, shelter, we the people that's what needs to be america hurricane season will be starting western wildfire season Is underway, tornado season will be going on for another month or so, floods same but generally they are not a factor come july hotter and warmer and drier weather then, for all no exceptions, no exclusions, no leaving people behind you see my blog showing disasters doing happen here at home and throughout america and the world you can't escape best to seek higher or safer ground or stay somewhere safe disasters are different treat them different but they are a way of life best deal with them and help people when they need It that's what humanity Is all about.

HELPING PEOPLE WELL STAY SAFE AND TAKE IT EASY

TIM FOLEY HEALTHY HUMAN BEING