For my friends/relatives who said Christie scandal would not last a week

YIKES!   My prediction at the time: Christie was DONE nationally and would be lucky to retain the governor's seat. My prediction now: He is DONE nationally and will NOT retain the governor's seat. This offense was SO egregious as was the Hoboken shakedown. Either one could derail a politician but BOTH of these? As they say in NJ Soprano land: forgetaboutit!

Christie Knew About Lane Closings, Ex-Port Authority Official Says

By KATE ZERNIKEJAN. 31, 2014

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David Wildstein, right, with his lawyer, Alan Zegas, at a hearing in Trenton, New Jersey, in January. Ángel Franco/The New York Times

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The former Port Authority official who personally oversaw the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge in the scandal now swirling around Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Friday that “evidence exists” the governor knew about the lane closings when they were happening.

In a letter released by his lawyer, the former official, David Wildstein, a high school friend of Mr. Christie’s who was appointed with the governor’s blessing at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the bridge, described the order to close the lanes as “the Christie administration’s order” and said “evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference” three weeks ago.

“Mr. Wildstein contests the accuracy of various statements that the governor made about him, and he can prove the inaccuracy of some,” the letter added.

DOCUMENT

Letter Says Governor Christie Knew About Lane Closings

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey knew about the lane closings as they were happening, a letter released on Friday by the lawyer of David Wildstein said.

 OPE

N DOCUMENT

The letter does not specify what the evidence was. Nonetheless, it is the first signal that Mr. Christie may have been aware of the closings, something he repeatedly denied during the news conference.

The letter is part of a continuing battle between Mr. Wildstein and the Port Authority over the payment of his legal fees stemming from the scandal.

In early January, documents revealed that a deputy chief of staff to Mr. Christie, Bridget Anne Kelly, had sent an email to Mr. Wildstein saying, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” the town at the New Jersey end of the bridge, where Mr. Christie’s aides had pursued but failed to receive an endorsement from the mayor.

A spokesman for Mr. Christie did not immediately return a call seeking comment on Friday.

Mr. Christie has steadfastly denied that he knew before this month that anyone in his administration was responsible for the lane closings, and his administration has tried to portray the closures as the actions of a rogue staff member.

The governor fired Ms. Kelly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/nyregion/christie-bridge.html?_r=1

Grimm's fairy tale may have a happy ending for us! :)

Grimm's fairy tale could have a happy ending as he is on his way to lose his house seat he got by a Republican bamboozling the electorate to think he actually cared about his district.  He doesn't and has one hell of a nasty temper.  Look here or at the link below!

As the Daily Kos says "We MUST work to retake the House if we want our twice elected President to get anything done!"  

Onward!   

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/30/1273822/-Grimm-s-Fairy-Tale-Could-Have-a-Happy-Ending?detail=email#

Send a message: Tell Congressman Grimm to Resign for Physically Threatening a Reporter

Tell Congressman Grimm to Resign for Physically Threatening a Reporter

Tell Congressman Grimm to Resign for Physically Threatening Reporter (Click for video)  When Congressman Michael Grimm didn't like the question a reporter was asking, he didn't just walk away, he physically threatened the reporter, got in his face, and said he would "break him in half" and throw him over the balcony (Click here to watch video) This shocking behavior is absolutely unacceptable, and a wishy-washy faux apology is not enough. Tell Congressman Grimm: Resign now.  There is room for heated debate and even heated rhetoric in Congress. But there is no room for an unhinged thug who physically threatens a reporter for asking a simple question. Congressman Grimm needs to go, and if he won't leave voluntarily, he needs to be thrown out. Tell Michael Grimm to resign now. --> Click here to send a message --> Click here to share this on Facebook --> Click here to share this on Twitter  Thanks for your support, and for fighting back!  Sincerely, John Hlinko and the Left Action team http://LeftAction.com http://Facebook.com/LeftAction http://Twitter.com/LeftAction

A No Fault Presidency

Charles Blow is a brilliant editorialist for the New York Times and his article of January 30, 2014 entitled “The Incredible Shrinking Presidency” is no less so.  I paste his article here and below.

I went from volumes of hope in 2008 to a depression disorder in 2014 because of Republican insanity. What I wish journalists would mention -- no scream -- is that our state of national malaise, disappointment and division was handed to us by an intractable, obstructionist and malevolent Republican majority in the House who wanted nothing more than to see the president fail and said so many times.  He did not fail.  The greatness of his presidency, I believe, one day will be judged so because of the army of massive monied Republican forces aligned against him to defeat him which they could not and did not do.

If Republicans did not take the House majority in 2010 then we would not have the gridlock we do.  Many good and humane laws would have been passed easily. Our collective sadness and pessimism can be laid solely at Republicans' feet as they gleefully tried to shut the government down as well as not pay the nation's bills so the world could convulse and seize up.  We should never let the electorate forget it.

I hope and pray hard that America sees the error of its ways that put know nothing Republicans as majorities in the House. Those majorities are shameful. They are our nation's curse. The depressed state of our union is not the president's fault it is theirs.  

IT IS EXACTLY WHY NO LESS THAN AN ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC VICTORY MUST OCCUR IN 2014 ALL OVER THE NATION AND IN WASHINGTON.  WE MUST WORK FOR IT ANY WAY WE CAN.  WE MUST, AS OFTEN SAID, TURN THE HOUSE BLUE, KEEP THE SENATE AND SAVE A DEMOCRATIC 2016 PRESIDENCY FOR THE DEMOCRAT WHO WILL RUN (HOPING OF COURSE IT IS HILLARY!)  

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/30/opinion/blow-the-incredible-shrinking-presidency.html?_r=0

Desperately Seeking Christie

Great post by a blogger (Anthony C.) at Huffinton Post

Now I’m really confused, I don’t know whether to believe Christie when he admitted he was massively incompetent, totally clueless as to what was happening next to the tip of his nose, lacking the ability to hear what was said in his presence by people talking to him and around him, so detached that you could land air force 1 on the George Washington Bridge right in front of his eyes, even while he was holding a pair of binoculars non compus. Also Known As the guy he said he was in his last press conference.

Or is he the go getter micromanaging governor whose staff was so controlled that they needed permission to go to the toilet signed by him in triplicate and authorized by his chief of staff, right down to the amount of toilet tissue they were allowed to use which is the consensus opinion of Christie.

Something just ain’t right with young master Christie seeing his defense over the bridge lane closures and vendetta politics aimed at politicians that refused to pucker up and kiss his voluminous ring was only possible because he was too clueless to know what was being done in his name, by his closest advisors and aides working right out of his own office. Did they use the look squirrel distraction so he wouldn’t notice?

We’re not talking office temps here as the trail leads up to the outskirts of the suburb in Trenton called Christie population 1 area size small city block.

Half his staff could have perched their desks on him and there would have still been room for a lunch room.

So what are we being told to believe now and more importantly for how long are we to believe it until team Christie finds a more plausible excuse than he’s not too bright and can’t manage a small personal staff?

I smell self basting Christie during the multiple inquiries.

The Palestinian Plight

I respond to Mr. Hurwitz's January 19, 2014 letter to the Metro West Daily News entitled "Zionists misunderstood and maligned." I share much of his personal and familial history. Reality, however, must, in my opinion, dictate policy. I have over time softened my often hard line unequivocal support of the State of Israel. I still support the Jewish state but as historical conditions and context change I change. I have met Palestinian people who share their experiences with me and I change. Proximity to Palestinians breeds understanding empathy and I change. We, are all of us human and, as JFK said, we are all mortal and, so, I change.

Assuming all of Mr. Hurwitz's historical analysis in his letter is true, if the issue of Palestinian statehood is not addressed it will continue to be a blinding irritant in one's eye and a cancer that kills all it touches. For future generations and for the security of the Israeli state, let us address it now. The consequences of inaction mean only that the dispute will remain and more faucets of blood will flow on both sides of the issue. Turn the spigots of blood off.

It is my contention that inaction on Palestinian statehood is untenable and will have deleterious consequences to Palestinians and Israelis alike. It will, indeed, fester for Jews everywhere and even for the world entire.

As a humanitarian, too, sharing much of the Jewish history about which the writer iterated I am struck by the suffering, too, that exists for those Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere which they must, in humiliation, endure every day. As a Jew who has experienced the malevolent decadence of antisemitic hatred bringing life to the word ghetto I must be empathetic to all suffering while not unmindful of the sad and difficult history of my own Jewish people.

Standing intractable against Palestinians, will not bring security to the Jewish state. No, it will breed insecurity. If the issue is not addressed fairly it will simply stagnate and the cement of its discord will harden and breed a fatal myocardial infarction etched in hearts turned to stone.

No nation state has a corner on justice as each state is home to the just and the unjust alike. Therefore, I believe in a two state solution and I believe the settlements must cease. I, of course, also believe that the Jewish state must be recognized and the violence against it stopped. Violence must on both sides end. It is only then that peace, however illusive now, can have the remotest chance of fruition. It is in everyone's interest to seek a tenable solution, to be mindful of the interests of the Jewish state while not unmindful of the Palestinian plight.

IN CAPS -- HANGING IN THE BALANCE

THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION. WHY DEMOCRATS MUST UNSEAT REPUBLICAN SATURATED STATES AND WHY DEMOCRATS MUST IN CONGRESS KEEP THE SENATE, TAKE THE HOUSE AND IN 2016 SUPPORT (HOPEFULLY HILLARY) A DEMOCRAT FOR PRESIDENT!

YES, MY OPINION IS IN CAPS. WHY? BECAUSE IT'S IMPORTANT (SEE THE ARTICLE PASTED BELOW)
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CATASTROPHIC ISSUE TO HIT MAN EVER. IT HAPPENS IN WINTER AS IT DOES IN SUMMER. GLOBAL WARMING DOES NOT MEAN IN WINTER THAT IT IS WARM. IT MEANS EXTREMES OF CLIMATE NO MATTER THE SEASON WILL OCCUR AND THEY WILL OCCUR GLOBALLY.

IN WINTER THERE ARE NOW HURRICANE-LIKE BLIZZARDS, CONTINUOUS SNOW, ICE AND EXTREME, EXTENDED PARALYZING SUB ZERO COLD. ALL OF IT IS DIRECTLY CAUSALLY LINKED TO FOSSIL FUEL OVER CONSUMPTION CREATING A PLANETARY NIGHTMARE OF EPIC PROPORTIONS. THERE IS PLENTY ON THE WEB TO TELL YOU WHY AND HOW IT DOES.


DO NOT LET "CONSERVATIVE" ANTI-SCIENCE IDIOTS FOOL YOU. FOR THE WEST IT IS NOW EXTREME DROUGHT AND FIRES, TOO, AS THERE WILL EVENTUALLY BE NO WATER AND FOR THE MIDWEST, NORTH AND NORTHEAST IT IS BRUTAL KILLING COLD. LET'S NOT FORGET THE PLETHORA OF TORNADOES AS WELL.

THE PHILIPPINES AND SOUTH EAST ASIA SUFFERED THE WORST TYPHOON EVER (THEIR WORD FOR HURRICANE) NAMED HAIYAN -- MORE DENSELY PACKED THAN KATRINA IT PACKED IMMENSE STRENGTH AS IT HIT THE MAINLAND WITH THE STRONGEST WINDS EVER RECORDED BY MAN. IT HAS KILLED THOUSANDS WITH BODIES STILL BEING RETRIEVED. IF THAT TYPHOON HAPPENED AS A HURRICANE IN FLORIDA HALF OR MORE OF THE STATE WOULD BE UNDER WATER. SOME SCIENTISTS THINK ONE LIKE THAT WILL EVENTUALLY OCCUR HERE.

END OUR FOSSIL FUEL NIGHTMARE BY CRUSHING THE KOCH BROTHERS AND THEIR WEALTH FUNNELED MURDEROUS CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN CAPTURE OF GOVERNMENT WITH ALL THE MALIGNANCY OF OIL ENERGY POLICY THEY CREATE.

FOSSIL FUEL COAL IS KILLING TOO AS WEST VIRGINIA CAN ATTEST BY THE LEAKING OF POISONOUS CHEMICALS USED IN COAL PRODUCTION THAT CONTAMINATED 300,000 PLUS PEOPLE'S DRINKING WATER AND WORKED ITS WAY DOWNSTREAM TO EVEN OHIO -- "SPEAKER" BOEHNER'S STATE. THAT CHEMICAL PLANT HAD NOT BEEN INSPECTED SINCE 1991! WHO EVEN KNOWS THE LONG TERM EFFECTS OF THIS LEAK BUT THE SHORT TERM EFFECTS HAVE BEEN DAMAGING TO HUMANS. THE REPUBLICAN "SPEAKER" BOEHNER SAYS HE WILL NEVER RUN FOR PRESIDENT BECAUSE HE LIKES TO PLAY GOLF AND SMOKE CIGARETTES TOO MUCH DONCHA KNOW. THANK GOD FOR SMALL FAVORS.

WHAT REPUBLICANS AND "CONSERVATIVES" SEEM NOT TO REALIZE IS THAT IT IS THEIR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN, TOO, WHO WILL SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE AS CITIES BECOME SUBMERGED IN WATER, AS THE POLAR ICE CAPS MELT, OUR INFRASTRUCTURE CRUMBLES, AND WATER IS EITHER NON EXISTENT OR POISONED.
OUR NATION HAS NO WAY TO PAY FOR ALL THE DEVASTATION ESPECIALLY IF ETERNAL WAR PREVAILS AND WALL STREET HOARDING OF MONEY CREATES NO JOBS. IF LEFT UNCHECKED OUR PLANET WILL BECOME UNINHABITABLE. NYC, BOSTON AND CITIES LIKE THEM WILL BE UNDERWATER.

YOUR CHILDREN AND THEIRS WILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH ALL OF IT AS MAN'S EXTINCTION HANGS IN THE BALANCE!

SEE THE LATEST WEATHER ONSLAUGHT BELOW.


Next Polar Plunge Could Be Winter's Coldest
Much of the country should prepare to battle against frostbite, frozen pipes and hypothermia

BY ACCUWEATHER
Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014

This recent image of Central Park in Manhattan shows its lakes partially frozen. This coming arctic blast will mean more ice for the park. (Cem Ozdel/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

The next blast of brutal cold will grip most of the eastern two-thirds of the United States in the upcoming days and could yield the lowest temperatures so far this winter in many communities.


While harsh cold is returning to the Midwest and Northeast this weekend, it will pale in comparison to what will follow for Monday through Wednesday.

The impending polar plunge will rival the frigid days from earlier this January for the coldest daytime highs and nighttime lows so far this winter. That is especially true away from the Gulf Coast.

The arctic air will first plunge into the Upper Midwest, northern Plains and northern Rockies on Sunday, then continue pressing to the south and east through Tuesday.



The magnitude of this cold blast will be enough to produce a far-reaching threat of frostbite, hypothermia, frozen pipes and water main breaks.

Care should also be taken to ensure that livestock and other animals housed outdoors have adequate shelter.

Especially across the Midwest and Northeast, officials may decide to cancel or delay school due to the extreme cold. Some vehicles may struggle or fail to start for motorists.

RELATED:
Forecast Temperature MapsAlaska to Florida: Topsy-Turvy Weather to PersistCold- and Snow-Related Watches, Warnings and Advisories

While highs will be held to the 30s southward to the I-20 corridor, the Midwest and Northeast are bracing for the harshest conditions.

Minneapolis, Chicago and other communities in the Upper Midwest will endure two consecutive days of subzero highs Monday through Tuesday. Overnight lows will drop to 20 below zero or lower from North Dakota to the western suburbs of Chicago.

Grand Forks, N.D., will bottom out at around 30 below zero.

Across most of the Northeast, highs will be held to the single digits and teens Tuesday and Wednesday.



Biting winds will usher in the frigid air, creating dramatically colder AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures. Where snow is covering the ground, the winds will worsen the situation for motorists by blowing and drifting the snow around.

RealFeel® temperatures will be extremely dangerous across eastern North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Upper Michigan Sunday night, ranging from 50 below zero to 60 below zero.

Frostbite can develop in a matter of minutes on exposed skin during such intense cold.

Along the leading edge of the invading cold will be an Alberta Clipper, set to spread a few inches of snow from the northern Plains to the Great Lakes and northern New England through Monday.

While Detroit already set a January snow record, the clipper may cause other Midwestern cities to follow suit. Once the cold takes up residence, the lake-effect snow machine will be cranked up across the Great Lakes.

Snow will also drop along the Front Range of the Rockies, including Denver, as the cold presses southward.

AccuWeather.com meteorologists are also monitoring the possibility of the cold setting the stage for snow to develop not only along the Northeast's coast at midweek, but also across the South.
RELATED ON SKYE: Epic Storm Photos from the Twittersphere


More details on this snow potential will be given in the upcoming days.

An expert analysis on the winter weather is given in the above AccuWeather.com video.

Your money--a blogger's analysis

I thought this blogger expressed my sentiments well or better than I ever could as economics is not my strong suit.  Over two days the market has tanked and nervousness sets in as most of the middle and working classes are gun shy from the Great Recession perpetrated by the banksters and fraudsters of Wall Street greed.  The question he does not answer is what the middle and working classes can do about it to secure their positions.  Here is his blog below.

A Reuters article published Friday under the headline “Rout in emerging markets may only be in Phase One” stated: “The flight of investors from the once-booming emerging markets they previously favored with $7 trillion worth of inflows may have only just begun.”

These developments highlight the degree to which the world economy is dominated by the most parasitical and quasi-criminal forms of financial speculation. While the real economy continues to stagnate or decline, the capitalist system is kept afloat by massive infusions of virtually free cash into the financial markets. Central banks have pumped an estimated $10 trillion into the markets since the Wall Street crash of September 2008.

This has been paid for through the destruction of jobs, wages and social welfare programs upon which hundreds of millions of working people depend.

The banks and corporations have not used the handouts from governments and central banks for productive investment—to rebuild crumbling infrastructures or expand the productive forces. The Financial Timesreported Friday that US capital spending is expected to grow this year at its slowest pace in four years. And it is estimated that American non-financial companies are currently sitting on a cash hoard of $1.5 trillion.

Instead, the massive subsidies have been used to drive up the stock market and underwrite a speculative frenzy that has increased the wealth of the richest 1 percent at the expense of the overwhelming majority of the world’s people. The S&P 500 index has risen by 170 percent from a twelve-year low in March of 2009, soaring 30 percent in 2013 alone.

The result is a staggering growth of personal wealth among a minuscule layer of society. This week, as the world’s bankers and CEOs gathered at the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos, the charity Oxfam released a report showing that the richest 85 individuals have more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of the world’s population—3.5 billion people.

The domination of the globe by a new financial aristocracy driven by greed and immersed in criminality was symbolized Friday by the announcement that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, currently being feted at Davos, was awarded a 74 percent pay raise for 2013.

Dimon’s bank had to pay $20 billion in fines in 2013 to settle charges of mortgage fraud, concealing losses by lying to regulators and fixing the books, complicity in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme and other crimes. This crook, who by rights should be serving time in prison, saw his compensation jump from $11.5 million for 2012 to $20 million for 2013.

Such is the historically unprecedented scale of parasitism at the very heart of the world economic system.

Why

Why Hillary must gain all of our support: I am a pragmatist. I have come to the age where the idealism of youth is seen for what it is .... idealism. Nothing and no one is planet perfection. Perfection can and never will never be achieved, therefore, we must politically support the best of what is possible in an imperfect world.

Even in countries, as Geroge Orwell the dystopian realist saw, where revolutions have occurred soon human frailty becomes reality and the people often can observe what they had before, as bad as it may have been, was better than what they have in the present. The French Revolution of 1789 and the Russian Revolution of 1917 are prime examples. Moreover, in our modern era revolutions in the Middle East are stuck in religious extremism, fanaticism, civil war and/or military dictatorship.

This is why Hillary is the realistic choice for what we, as humanitarians, can achieve now. She is politically possible and is infinitely better than anything the Republican Party in our time would hand us. The composition of the Republican Party is a right wing often tyrannical party made up of many who are simply ignorant of what that party will do, the 1% richest who dupe the extremist base, religious anti-science anti-intellectual bigots and/or violent purveyors of hate, and gun loving racists -- the worst of what composes the right.

If someone waxes negative against Hillary and tells you she is bad for this or that reason reject what they say. She is good for so many reasons. She is politically savvy, humanitarian in her heart, experienced beyond words and laser smart.

We must never let the Republican Party gain power. The Republican Party is now the party of the extreme unquestioning uber religious, a party of the richest 1%, a party of little critical intellect, anti science, anti women despite their ridiculous spin, a party of war, of bullies, a party of the NRA, a party viciously against LGBT persons and a party of much more that is crushing to the human spirit and crushing to the largess of what makes humans smartly evolve and improve.

The Democratic Party is the ONLY all inclusive Party of intellect, critical thinking and a humanitarian base. Hillary, if she runs and at this moment, can win. Let's help her!

We must overturn the Republican Party both nationally and state by state if we want the middle class, the working class, the poor and the nation itself to survive.

Onward -- Hope for Hillary in 2016

One Word

HILLARY!  

Okay three words:  I HOPE!

Chris Christie: End Game by Robert Kutner

This is, as I see it, the best opinion yet as to why I have been saying all along that this blowhard, Chris Christie, will never be president and may never complete his gubernatorial term.  I could be wrong as in the past I sometimes am but on this one I do not think so unless, as Mr. Kutner says,  American democracy is more damaged than we think!  

This is an example of how Republican politics works.  Yes, Democrats do bad things too but Republicans take the cake and worse they are so downright mean.  It is yet again why Democrats MUST be elected across national and state levels!

Chris Christie: The End Game

Posted: 01/20/2014 8:13 pm

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Chris Christie, Governor Chris Christie, Chris Christie Bridge, Chris Christie Bridge Scandal, Politics News

Let me go out on a limb here. Chris Christie will not run for president, and he is very likely not to serve out his term as governor of New Jersey.

The reason is very simple. Given everything we know about Christie's style of governing, it is inconceivable that he did not know what his underlings were up to.

His story that he was somehow like the piano player in the whorehouse just does not stand up. Even in New Jersey.

This is a man who is an obsessive micro-manager, as well as a vindictive bully. Does any serious person think that he would tolerate senior people who would pull a caper like blockading the George Washington Bridge without keeping the boss informed? Such a person would never have been hired.

Does any serious person believe that his staff did would keep the governor in the dark about any ploy involving big-time political retribution and public-relations risks? Does any serious person think that Christie's attitude after the bridge blockade made headline news was indifference, except for the purpose of what was known in the Nixon era as "plausible deniability?"

Because there is no proof of his hands-on involvement -- yet -- much of the press and nearly all of the Republican Party has been content to play along with Christie's game of The Staff Did It. The criticism has been directed at his failure to keep tabs on rogue employees.

Based on Christie's entire prior pattern of conduct, if we assume that he either instigated the lane closures himself or was kept fully informed of the scheme, then Christie doubled down with an even bigger risk when he solemnly denied knowledge or involvement. If he knew all along, Christie compounded a major blunder with an outright lie.

It's a high-stakes game. But if Christie went to great pains to keep his fingerprints off the entire affair, why do we think that his cover story won't stick?

Mainly because there is no honor among thieves. If you assume that this is one big cover-up, then several people who lost well paying jobs and who have been willing to take the fall for their boss must have been given big incentives to stick to the story. Some friend of a friend of a friend, after a decent interval, must have committed to a well-compensated job or consulting gig, or something else to purchase their silence.

The only problem is that several civil and criminal investigations are underway, armed with subpoena power. It's hard to believe that a cover-up with benefits would not unravel. Prosecutors can squeeze small fry with all manner of threats. In a scheme such as this one, the odds are overwhelming that sooner or later investigators will find some underling who decides that he'd rather rat out the boss than go to jail.

Of course, it's still possible that Christie will survive, and that everyone will stick to the story that the governor knew nothing and was not even curious after the fact. It's possible that Christie will go on to win the Republican nomination for president.

It's also possible that the missing traffic study will turn up and that global climate change is God's revenge against homosexuals.

If Christie survives this -- if he is not impeached, or forced to resign, or otherwise disgraced -- then American democracy is even more damaged than it appears.

Truth before Midnight – Science Denial, Tobacco, and Climate Change

Why Democrats MUST take the House back, keep the Senate and win in the states:

I link here and paste below the story entitled: “War on smoking: More diseases linked to cigarettes.”

In 1964 when the first Surgeon General report emerged that smoking was directly related to lung cancer, the for-profit-only tobacco titans tried to sow the seeds of connective doubt that it was. There is more than enough evidence accumulated now, unless people of first-world nations have been under a rock for the last 50 years, that if humans do smoke they will, most probably, die before their time, from a host of diseases not the least of which is lung cancer and heart disease. Adding other diseases to the list of suffering that inhaling tobacco smoke brings is, to me, no big surprise.

The unethical corporate many of tobacco land before 1964 closed their eyes to the smoking and health link, paid equally unethical scientists well to deny the link after it was known, sold the seeds of doubt to the populous and stuffed billions into their bank accounts as they peddled their poison killing millions.

The percentage who smoke should be reduced to zero but that will, of course, never happen. It will continue to cost the individual who smokes, their families and the tax payers huge medical costs many cannot afford to pay not to mention the emotional toll it exacts. The lesson to all of us should be, naturally, do not smoke – ever – or stop if you are smoking now.

The only ethical edict money possesses is that which humans attach to it and unethical humans plentifully exist, as they always have, to deny the obvious for the accumulation of great wealth. This was true over decades for the tobacco industry and it is no less true for the petroleum and fossil fuel industries as they feed the denial of human fossil fuel consumption and its existentially destructive-to-the-planet influence on climate change. They pawn the denial off on those who either lack the intelligence to see the truth or have a vested interest in not admitting to it even though ad infinitum weather catastrophes can be seen and experienced everywhere just as one could sense decades ago, even before the surgeon general’s report, some curious connection between smoking and cancer.

The issue of the relationship of human disease and tobacco is well known and it is the prism through which one can now view the relationship between the human over consumption of fossil fuels and its responsibility for the annihilative forces of climate change on the planet. Know-nothings and the unethical wealth hoarders who take advantage of them will not admit the truths of science if their lives depended upon it and all of our lives, in fact, do.

If the corporate interests do not even care about their own children how can we think they will care about us? Those who know, love science and desperately want to protect the only earth that sustains our lives will pay the price of the fossil fuel industry’s greed as our planet crumbles before our very eyes because of it. The arctic ice melt, intense heat, the massive droughts and fires they spawn, the plentiful extreme category hurricanes, floods, typhoons, tornadoes, and blizzards as well as the extreme temperatures of cold and ice are the layman’s sentient proof of that which science screams and 98% of climate scientists reinforce.

The blue marble, earth, seen majestically from space, is in trouble and the obviousness of that truth is in front of our eyes. One individual can save his/her life if they stop smoking but the reversal of climate change can only be stopped through a partnership between the captains of industry and the government power of many nation states. Our job as individuals is to demand that they look to see the truth before the midnight hour strikes and it is too late for any of us to do a thing about it!



http://www.nbcnews.com/health/war-smoking-more-diseases-linked-cigarettes-2D11944421

"Democracy Now": Shock Doctrine in Japan: the Rightward Shift to Militarism, Secrecy in Fukushima’s Wake

The right wing nationalists in Japan (which begat WWII) and the right wing extremists in this nation through the Republican Party and their Teabag side car are both hazardous to one's health.  Wingnut nationalists advocate for a war mongering militaristic strategy and its resultant nationalistic hegemony.  It is dressed up in faux patriotic verbiage including an undercurrent of racist ideology.  It will be responsible for the extinction of not only our nation but the extinction of man through the brutality of war and the ever present nuclear threat.

I copy Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now" here or below.  "Democracy Now" is the only journalistic enterprise that gives one the whole truth with no glitz, glamour or gloss.  She delivers news with a progressive view and with no care to or financed by corporate interests that pollute the playing field. 

Today she broadcasts from Japan on a series of programming that touches on everything from the new militarism in Japan to the Fukishima nuclear disaster.  The three year memorial of the Fukishima catastrophe is coming up in March.

We are all connected.  The leaks in Fukishima, Amy reminds us, are still happening.  It will, if it has not already, be coming to a shore near you.

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/15/shock_doctrine_in_japan_shinzo_abes

THE TIME WILL DRAW CLOSE AND WE WILL CHOOSE.  WILL OUR NATION LIVE BY PROGRESSIVE HUMANITARIAN BELIEF OR WILL IT DIE AT THE HANDS OF RIGHT WING EXTREMISTS AND RACIST TYRANTS? WE HAVE A CHOICE AND THE CHOICE WILL BE MADE.  UNTIL THEN ALL OF US MUST WORK FOR THE ONLY PARTY, DESPITE ITS SHORTCOMINGS, THAT CAN USHER IN AN AGE OF PROGRESSIVEISM SO IN THE RICHEST NATION ON EARTH NO ONE GOES HUNGRY, NO ONE GOES WITHOUT A HOME, NO ONE GOES WITHOUT A JOB, NO ONE GOES WITHOUT CLOTHING, WITHOUT HEALTH CARE AND WITHOUT ALL THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE.  WE MUST RIP THE REIGNS OF POWER OUT OF THE HANDS OF THE MERCILESS RICHEST 2% AMONG US.  

IN 2014 THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY MUST TAKE BACK THE HOUSE, KEEP THE SENATE AND FREE US FROM INSUFFERABLE REPUBLICAN RACIST OBSTRUCTIONISM THAT REFUSES TO GIVE US A MINIMUM WAGE, REFUSES TO EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS EVEN THOUGH THE WALL STREET THEY REPRESENT WERE THE ONES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GREATEST RECESSION SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION.  KNOW WELL WHAT WE THE MANY HAVE SUFFERED AT THE HANDS OF THE FEW AND WHO REAPED WHAT WE SOWED ONLY TO GIVE US DUST AND THE BACK OF THEIR HAND IN RETURN.  COMPROMISE WITH THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS IMPOSSIBLE.  YOUR VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS THE ONLY THING THAT CAN SET US FREE OF THIS REPUBLICAN ALBATROSS!

 

Golden Glob

I loathe awards ceremony but I watch them anyway. The glitz, the glamour, the drunkenness, the profanity, the incoherence, the slanderous insults, the near nudity, the feeble inane comedy and yes, the talent too, never cease to amaze me.

There are so many Golden Globe awards for a plethora of categories few can remember all the winners. So I give kudos to two. Thank God, DiCaprio won the best actor in a comedy ("Wolf of Wall Street" was a comedy?) as he has been passed over so many times. He was extraordinary in the "Wolf of Wall Street" even though I have seen only short snaps of it. I will see it within 24 hours!

Second bow is to "12 Years a Slave" which I did see and recommend the Duck Dynasty intellectual midgets see it too. It will give Papa Duck a new slant on what he thinks is the contentment of former slaves whose progeny he met working in the fields. Of course, he knows from that experience that slavery could not have been that bad because they were, as he observed, so happy and spoke not a word about their hard life or the slavery that brought that life to them. Well, it was that bad and more. Everyone in this nation should see this film that shows that it was and KNOW about that which your nation is. Yes, it has an impact, and a big one, on all of us. 

In my opinion this film is the best yet on the history, tenor and utter insufferable brutality of the slave in this nation. See it and know!

Why?

The huge GW Bridge closure scandal takes yet another twist. MSNBC's commentator the brilliant Steve Kornacki floats what could be the more plausible major impetus for Christie and/or his administration's closing down the lanes of the GW bridge without informing most especially those who would be impacted by the mammoth traffic jam. Isn't it always follow the money. Leave it to Steve Kornacki to be even more brilliant than anyone has a right to be! Who knew about this huge multi-billion buck project in Ft. Lee? Steve Kornacki knows another major possible reason surrounding the scandal--as if we needed one more! I paste the link to Kornacki's explanation here or below.

The bottom line is no matter what the reason, the massive traffic jam impeding even emergency vehicles and impacting thousands of innocent's lives not to mention national security is the major fallout. So add a question to the metaphoric traffic mess: What did Christie know, when did he know it and the biggest question all is why was it done!

2014 DEMOCRATIC VICTORY IN EVERY VILLAGE, HAMLET AND CITY; IN WASHINGTON DC AND IN THE STATES. LET'S DO IT FOR OUR COUNTRY BEFORE WE DO NOT HAVE A COUNTRY TO DO IT FOR!

HTTP://WWW.HUFFINGTONPOST.COM/2014/01/12/STEVE-KORNACKI-CHRIS-CHRISTIE-BRIDGE-SCANDAL_N_4585830.HTML

Jailhouse Rock

I have been saying for days exactly what Joan Walsh wrote in her January 9, 2014 article for Salon entitled “Forget 2016, Chris Christie may not even be governor much longer.”  I link her article here and below.

Chris Christie not only is never going to get within a foot of the White House steps but he will be darn lucky if he continues to make the daily walk to his office in Trenton. This scandal is, in my opinion, nearly worse than Richard Nixon's illegal plumbers unit break in at the DNC in 1972 as bad as that surely was.  Christie’s staff’s scandalous behavior involved thousands upon thousands of innocent people stuck in traffic jams on the busiest bridge in the nation.  It made conducting their daily lives Torquemada torture.  Christie’s and/or his henchmen’s manufactured traffic jam on the GW Bridge held up the search for a 4 year old missing child and interfered with countless other emergency situations. We now know a 91 year old woman died as emergency vehicles were delayed coming to her assistance.  Some were merely trying to get to work and one reported he was late for his first day of work after being unemployed for a year!

Compounding these consequential consequences is the fact that the George Washington Bridge is on the nation's terrorist watch list as a prime target for Al Qaeda or groups like them to attack our national treasure potentially killing hundreds if not thousands.  In my opinion, the fact that the GW Bridge is of national security importance should ABSOLUTELY mean it is of national relevance for the US attorney to look into the criminal implications of the governor, all of his staff and any others who may a part of this monstrous act.  One might also think this dastardly occurrence involves interstate commerce between at least New York and New Jersey which should be a clear constitutionally mandated federal oversight obligation.  Filing federal charges and indictments over this, one would think, should be easy.

During 9/11 hundreds upon hundreds walked that bridge to remove themselves from the harm’s way horror of the Trade Tower attacks which ultimately cost 3000 lives.  What if a horrific act like that happened again and the GW Bridge was filled with Christie and/or his henchmen’s manufactured traffic gridlock? One does NOT want to ponder that thought but it should have been thought of by those who unconscionably and incredulously perpetrated one of the most egregious acts of political revenge in our nation’s history.

It matters not if this fiasco was perpetrated by a Democrat or, in this case, a Republican potential presidential star.  I predict, again, it will and has now already cost Chris Christie his run for the presidency.  I predict, too, it will also cost him the NJ governor's office he so decidedly won against the infinitely better, smarter, classier and more mature gubernatorial candidate, Barbara Buono.  

Christie, if involved, and his staff, who we already know were involved, will be oh so lucky if they avoid the jailhouse steps.

YET AGAIN, AS IF WE NEEDED MORE REASONS, TO ELECT DEMOCRATS EVERYWHERE WE CAN!

 

http://www.salon.com/2014/01/09/chris_christie_roadkill/