Thursday, August 30, 2012

Grain-Barge Logjam From Isaac Rains Compounding Drought ...

Bloomberg News

Grain-Barge Logjam From Isaac Rains Compounding Drought Slowdown

By Jeff Wilson on August 30, 2012

More from Businessweek

A logjam of grain barges is worsening on the Mississippi River after New Orleans terminal closures during Hurricane Issac compounded a slowdown in U.S. exports already delayed by low water levels during a drought.

The number of barges moving north on the Mississippi fell to 117 in the week ended Aug. 25, down 75 percent from five weeks earlier and 14 percent smaller than a year earlier, data from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers show. The U.S. is the world’s largest exporter of corn, soybeans and wheat.
“It will take the whole month of September to straighten out the logjam of empty barges stuck south of Memphis,” Troy Lust, a senior risk manager for commercial grain at INTL FCStone Inc., a commodity brokerage in West Des Moines, Iowa, said in a telephone interview. “We have starved the market for empty barges ahead of harvest. It’s a horrible combination that will increase demand for rail shipments that must compete with ethanol plants and soybean processors for reduced supplies.”
Soybean and corn futures rose to records in Chicago this month as the worst drought in at least 50 years reduced U.S. production for a third straight year. Farmers, who began harvesting this month, will produce 10.779 billion bushels of corn, 13 percent less than last year, even after farmers planted the most acres since 1937, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Aug. 10. The soybean crop may fall 12 percent to 2.692 billion bushels, the smallest in five years.
Barges on the Mississippi handle about 60 percent of U.S. grain exports. Cargill Inc. shut its Louisiana grain facilities at Reserve and WestWego, Mark Klein, a spokesman for the Minneapolis-based company, said Aug. 28. Archer Daniels Midland Co. has four grain elevators and port operations in New Orleans, all of which are currently shut.

Alternate Arrangements

“The impact on ADM will depend on the strength of the storm and where it hits,” Jackie Anderson, a spokeswoman for Decatur, Illinois-based ADM, said in an e-mail Aug. 27. “ADM has a vast transportation network and can make alternate shipping arrangements to meet customers’ needs in the event that port operations are reduced by the storm.”
Rail-car deliveries through Aug. 22 to export terminals in the U.S. are down 17 percent this year compared with the same period a year earlier, USDA data show. Shipments in the last four weeks are up 15 percent from the same period in 2011, as barge-freight costs rose 23 percent, the government said.
Isaac, which reached the Gulf of Mexico coast on the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, was downgraded to a tropical storm with top winds of 70 miles (113 kilometers) an hour as it moved northwest at 6 mph, the National Hurricane Center said at 4 p.m. local time. It was 60 miles west of New Orleans. The storm is still causing life-threatening storm surges and inland flooding, according to the center.

Carrying Less

The lack of rain across the Midwest caused the shipping channel in the Mississippi River to shrink, meaning less freight can be carried by barges on the nation’s largest waterway and its tributaries, including the Ohio and Illinois Rivers.
As much as 9 inches of rain may fall in central Illinois from remnants of Isaac, the government said.
“Heavy rains and winds will certainly threaten Midwest crops and further cut yield potential,” Richard Feltes, the vice president of research for R.J. O’Brien & Associates in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. “The rain will help to improve barge shipping, but the threat of additional crop losses will support higher prices,” said Feltes, who forecasts corn may rise to $9 a bushel and soybeans may top $20 a bushel.
Corn futures for December delivery rose 2.3 percent to close at $8.135 yesterday on the Chicago Board of Trade, while soybean futures for November delivery settled at $17.53, up 1.8 percent. Corn is the biggest U.S. crop, valued at $76.5 billion in 2011, followed by soybeans at $35.8 billion, government figures show.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Wilson in Chicago at jwilson29@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net

end quote:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-30/grain-barge-logjam-from-isaac-rains-compounding-drought-slowdown

Republicans Reverse Support For Campaign Finance Disclosure

Awash In Secret Donations, Republicans Reverse Support For Campaign Finance Disclosure

Posted: 08/30/2012 9:00 am Updated: 08/30/2012 12:05 pm

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Almost 90 percent of undisclosed money in this election has gone to help Mitt Romney and other Republicans. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON -- Outside of the Tampa Bay Times Forum, where the Republican convention is taking place, independent conservative groups huddle in strategy sessions and hold laudatory events for some of their mega-donors, at least those who are willing to disclose their names. But those not willing to be named are the real story. Secret donors and the groups that accept their money have become central to the Republican Party's plan to win the White House and take full control over Congress.
With GOP candidates relying on this flood of undisclosed money, something had to give: The party's longtime support for campaign finance disclosure laws has begun to erode.
The numbers are astounding: Groups that don't disclose their donors have spent more than $216 million in the 2012 election so far. (A previous Huffington Post report found that undisclosed cash, also known as "dark money," had reached $172 million by the end of July.) Almost 90 percent of this money has gone to help Republicans. The dark-money groups have helped to fill airtime over the summer while Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney built his war chest, have pummeled vulnerable Democratic senators with negative ads and will likely provide huge support for freshmen Republican legislators defending their seats between now and November.
As these groups, empowered by the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision and other court rulings, have become a vital weapon in the Republican Party's arsenal, the GOP has evolved its views on campaign finance disclosure.
On Tuesday, the party officially reversed course from previous party platforms and statements by enshrining its opposition to revealing secret donors in its 2012 platform. The party's guiding document opposes disclosure legislation "designed to vitiate the Supreme Court’s recent decisions protecting political speech in Wisconsin Right to Life v. Federal Election Commission and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission."
In addition, the platform calls for full repeal of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, which would not just reintroduce "soft money" to the political parties, but would also roll back rules mandating that independent groups make disclosures when they spend money attacking or supporting candidates through TV ads or phone banks.
The GOP platforms in 1996, 2000 and 2004 had urged greater disclosure, echoing the longtime position of Republican Party leaders that a proper campaign finance regulatory system should combine maximum disclosure with limited or no restrictions on contributing and spending. In 2008, the party nominated for president Arizona Sen. John McCain, co-author of McCain-Feingold and one of the nation's most prominent supporters of campaign finance reform.
"The current positions that the current Republican Party in Congress have taken vis-à-vis disclosure is a radical departure from the positions that they previously held -- not just in previous party platforms, but going back for decades," observed Adam Skaggs, senior counsel to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Those attitudes changed after court decisions opened the door to unlimited donations from corporations, unions and individuals to independent political groups. The ruling also fully freed nonprofits, which are not required to disclose their donors, to spend money on elections in ways and amounts they never could before.
"The Citizens United case has clearly changed the fundamentals of the amount of money that large entities, including wealthy individuals and corporations and unions, can contribute to candidates and parties," said former Republican congressman and Delaware governor Mike Castle, a longtime supporter of campaign finance laws.
But he also acknowledged, "The Republican Party has some advantage ... and, as a result, there is a greater reluctance to be supportive of greater disclosure where there's a political advantage."
That advantage is stark. The top two political nonprofits -- Americans for Prosperity, funded by the energy titan Koch brothers, and the Karl Rove-founded Crossroads GPS -- are both conservative; neither one discloses its donors; and they have spent more money on advertising than all super PACs combined.
Recent efforts to pass new disclosure rules for these electorally focused nonprofits, pushed by Democrats and a shrinking group of Republicans (who once included Castle), have been met with outright refusal from the majority of congressional Republicans, most of whom had supported disclosure for both candidates and outside groups in the past.
Leading the way is Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who has called the push to require nonprofits to disclose their donors "an effort by the government itself to expose its critics to harassment and intimidation." In votes held over the summer, the latest disclosure bill received the support of exactly one Republican lawmaker. Republican members of the FEC, who were handpicked by McConnell, routinely work to undermine disclosure laws. And Romney has become the first presidential candidate since 1996 to refuse to disclose the names of his campaign bundlers.
The GOP's position that disclosure will lead to harassment, intimidation and the silencing of donors' speech has helped assure that the 2012 election will be awash in secret money.
"Ads are being run and there's been very little disclosure about who is giving and even who the entities are, and I don't think that that's fair to the American populace," Castle said.
While the anti-disclosure stance aids Republicans now, it's not a position with long-term staying power, at least not if one reads the legal tea leaves.
In fact, the chief culprit in stymieing conservative efforts to rollback disclosure laws at both the state and federal levels is the Citizens United decision. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the Supreme Court majority, issued the court's strongest endorsement of campaign finance disclosure. "With the advent of the Internet, prompt disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters," he wrote.
Kennedy's statement has proved influential in subsequent court cases. Of particular note is Doe v. Reed, in which an organization opposing gay marriage in Washington state sought to keep secret the names of those who had signed petitions to put the issue on the ballot. The group argued that the signatories, if named, would be harassed, intimidated and generally suffer retribution for their views. The Supreme Court disagreed.
Several months after the Citizens United decision came down, the court ruled 8-1 supporting disclosure of the signature lists, with Justice Antonin Scalia blasting those fears of harassment and criticism. "Requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed," Scalia wrote. "For my part, I do not look forward to a society which, thanks to the Supreme Court, campaigns anonymously and even exercises the direct democracy of initiative and referendum hidden from public scrutiny and protected from the accountability of criticism."
A lower court ruling this spring has also moved the ball toward more disclosure by dark-money nonprofits. In Van Hollen v. FEC, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found that an FEC rule failed to require disclosure of all donors to groups running "electioneering" ads and therefore was not in keeping with the intent of Congress when it passed McCain-Feingold, the law that the rule interpreted. This has driven dark-money groups to run different types of ads, which may soon face a similar lawsuit from the same plaintiff, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
Before that happens though, Castle warned not to get one's hopes up about a real change in federal policy. "You're not going to see any changes anytime soon," he said. "Unless the public opinion on this becomes so strong that the parties have to capitulate on this."

end quote from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/campaign-finance-disclosure_n_1837841.html

The real problem here is neither Republican or Democratic but national and worldwide. So, the next president will be: "President of the Richest people from all over Earth" Bought and paid for. The U.S. Military will be bought and paid for by the richest people from all over earth, U.S. laws will be bought and paid for by the richest people from all over earth etc. This is something for all of us to think about and to try to create a democratic remedy to for the future of the U.S.

Egypt leader slams Syrian regime during Iran visit

Published: August 30, 2012 11:23 AM
By The Associated Press NASSER KARIMI (Associated Press)

Photo credit: AP | This photo released by the official website of the Iranian supreme leader's office, shows opening session of the Nonaligned Movement, NAM, summit, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012. Egypt's new president described the Syrian regime as "oppressive" and called for it to transfer power to a democratic system during a visit to Syria's key regional ally Iran on Thursday. (AP Photo/Office of the Supreme Leader)

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TEHRAN, Iran - (AP) -- In a clear rebuke to Syria's key ally Iran, Egypt's new president said Thursday that Bashar Assad's "oppressive" regime has lost its legitimacy and told an international conference in Tehran that the world must stand behind the Syrian rebels.
The rallying call by Mohammed Morsi -- making the first visit to Iran by an Egyptian leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution -- showed the huge divide between Iran's stalwart support of Assad and the growing network of regional powers pushing for his downfall.
It also drove home the difficulties for Iran as host of a gathering of the 120-nation Nonaligned Movement, a Cold War-era group that Tehran seeks to transform into a powerful bloc to challenge Western influence.
Iran's leaders say the weeklong meeting, which wraps up Friday, displays the inability of the West's attempt to isolate the country over its nuclear program. But Iran has been forced to endure stinging criticism from its most high-level participant as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cited concerns about Iran's human rights record and said Iran's condemnations of Israel were unacceptable.
Morsi's address to the gathering further pushed Iran into a corner. In effect, he demanded Iran join the growing anti-Assad consensus or risk being further estranged from Egypt and other regional heavyweights such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Morsi has proposed that Iran take part in a four-nation contact group that would include Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to mediate an end to the Syrian crisis. The U.N. chief Ban also said Iran has a key role to play in finding a solution to end Syria's civil war, which activists say has claimed at least 20,000 lives.
But Iran has given no signals of breaking ties with Assad, and the Syrian rebels fighting the regime say they reject Iran's participation in any peace efforts.
"The bloodshed in Syria is the responsibility of all of us and will not stop until there is real intervention to stop it," Morsi said. "The Syrian crisis is bleeding our hearts."
Syrian delegates to the conference walked out during Morsi's speech.
"Morsi's comments violated the traditions of the summit and are considered interference in Syrian internal affairs," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, who was heading the Syrian delegation.
He also accused Morsi of "instigating bloodshed in Syria," according to quotes reported by the state-owned Al-Ikhbariya TV. He didn't elaborate.
In another possible dig at Iran, Morsi gave credit to the Arab Spring wave of uprisings that put him in power and touched off the civil war in Syria. Iran has endorsed many of the revolts -- describing them as a modern-day reflection of its Islamic Revolution more than three decades ago -- but denounces the Syrian uprising as orchestrated by "enemies" that include Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
At the United Nations, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is expected to urge the Security Council later Thursday to set up a safe zone in Syria to protect thousands of civilians fleeing the civil war. But the initiative is almost certain to meet resistance from Council members such as Russia, which has supported the Assad dynasty for decades.
Morsi's Sunni Muslim Brotherhood backers, Egypt's most powerful political group since the revolt, are opposed to Shiite Iran's staunch backing of the Syrian regime and its lethal crackdown on largely Sunni protesters. Assad is a follower of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
"We should all express our full support to the struggle of those who are demanding freedom and justice in Syria and translate our sympathies into a clear political vision that supports peaceful transfer (of power) to a democratic system," Morsi said in his opening statement.
Morsi slammed Assad's rule, saying that the world had a "moral duty" to stand with the Syrian people in their struggle "against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy."
He said having a democratic system in Syria "reflects the desire of the Syrian people for freedom, justice and equality and at the same time protects Syria from entering into a civil war or being divided by sectarian clashes."
Morsi also called for uniting the fractured Syrian opposition, which has not been able to agree on a clear transitional roadmap for governing the country if Assad should fall. The Egyptian president expressed Cairo's readiness to work with all parties to stop the bloodshed and "agree on a clear vision on which the new free Syria will be based."
He has, in the past, spoken out against international military intervention in Syria.
Egyptian officials had said they did not expect top-level bilateral meetings with their Iranian counterparts during Morsi's visit. However, semiofficial ISNA news agency said Morsi and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met later.
Morsi's visit represents a major step toward ending decades of friction between the two countries despite the still-cool rapport.
Tehran cut ties with Egypt following Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Under Morsi's predecessor who was ousted, Hosni Mubarak, Egypt sided with Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-dominated Arab states in trying to isolate Shiite-led Iran.
In an attempt at outreach with Iran, Morsi stressed that it is the right of countries to develop nuclear energy for peaceful as long as it adheres to international protocols. The West fears Iran's uranium enrichment could lead to atomic weapons, but Iran has insisted that it only seeks reactors for energy and medical purposes.
The U.N. chief called Iran's nuclear program "top concern" of international community and urged Tehran's "full cooperation" with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, which seeks greater access to Iranian sites for inspections.
He also urged all parties -- apparently including Israel -- to "stop provocative and inflammatory threats; a war of words can quickly spiral into war of violence."
But he added specific censure for Iranian condemnations of Israel. Earlier this month, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel will "disappear from the scene of geography." In his speech Thursday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Israel a "fake regime."
"I strongly reject threats by any member states to destroy another or outrageous attempt to deny historical facts such as the Holocaust, claiming that another state, Israel, does not have the right to exist or describing it in racist terms," Ban said.
Earlier, Khamenei repeated his claims that Iran has never pursued nuclear weapons -- calling use of atomic arms a "big and unforgivable sin" -- but also noted it will never give up its work on nuclear technology.
"I declare that the Islamic Republic of Iran has never been after nuclear weapons and it never will abandon its right for peaceful use of nuclear energy" he told the gathering.
___
Associated Press writers Aya Batrawy in Cairo and Brian Murphy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

end quote from:

http://www.newsday.com/news/world/egypt-leader-slams-syrian-regime-during-iran-visit-1.3938696

Allow for Miracles

My life has been a series of disasters and miracles. I have also met a lot of people like myself. And of course there are those whose life just goes on in uneventful ways. But what I have noticed is that the uneventful lives often suddenly end because they are not used to abrupt changes and often cannot find a way forward and don't make it when something serious actually happens to them.

However, those of us whose lives have always been a series of disasters and miracles have sort of gotten used to this amazing pattern and just accept it.

There is a true story about sailors when there were schooners before and since that is often true. When a ship sank or sinks the youngest men under 25 years of age are always the first to drown and die because they often would panic and not expect to survive or be rescued. But the men over 22 to 25 often would survive because they would think, "Well. I survived all the other crappy things that ever happened in my life. Maybe if I just stay calm and focused I can survive this too." Whereas the younger men not having been through enough real adversity often would wear themselves out struggling and drown. Also, the traditional bell bottomed sailor pants of the old days had a purpose to them. When wet the bells of the pants could be taken off and filled with air to form somewhat of a life preserver. This kept the men afloat as long as they continued to refill the bells on the pants with air as it slowly seeped out again. But if the water wasn't too cold one could stay afloat for quite some time just by refilling the bell bottoms with air and keeping afloat.

So, my point is: "You never know when an opportunity may arise for you to better survive your life. It can come from almost any direction so be prepared for it when it comes to accept this opportunity and stay alive and have a wonderful life!"

730,000 Still without power

Isaac moves on after slamming Gulf Coast

The slow-moving storm causes major damage, but nothing on the scale of Katrina. 730,000 still without power

Isaac moves north after drenching U.S. Gulf, New Orleans

By Ellen Wulfhorst and Scott Malone | Reuters – 1 hr 3 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The Isaac weather system is expected to weaken further as it heads north on Thursday, having caused significant damage to the U.S. Gulf Coast but nothing on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.

The former Category One hurricane is likely to become a tropical depression on Thursday, and move over southern Arkansas by early Friday, the National Hurricane Center said.

As Isaac ebbs, post-mortems should show that an elaborate flood containment plan developed for low-lying New Orleans survived its first major test, seven years to the day after Katrina laid waste to large parts of the iconic city and killed more than 1,800 people.
And as the focus shifts from the coast, many further north will hope that Isaac brings rains desperately needed to ease a drought in the center of the United States, where summer crops have been ravaged and many rivers and dams are critically low.
The mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu, said the $14.5 billion system built for New Orleans by the Army Corps of Engineers -- an array of walls, floodgates, levees and pumps -- had performed "exactly as it should."
Isaac was never close to packing the punch of Katrina, which was a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale when it smashed into New Orleans on August 29, 2005 - a day that still reverberates in the nation's psyche.
And early indications are that property damage from Isaac will not crack the top-10 list of worst U.S. hurricanes by inflation-adjusted losses.
But the storm still produced major headaches, especially the seemingly endless rain that caught many long-time residents by surprise, trapped some on rooftops, and caused significant flooding in low-lying coastal areas.
SLOW MOVING

Isaac's advance slowed to a crawl after it first grazed the southeast Louisiana coast on Tuesday. That slowdown allowed it to pick up strength and dump rain for many more hours than expected. Flooding and storm surges forced thousands from their homes in areas not far from New Orleans.

"There is no such thing as 'just' a tropical storm," Craig Fugate, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said after Isaac was downgraded from Hurricane strength on Wednesday.

Fugate's boss, U.S. President Barack Obama, declared the impact on Louisiana and Mississippi major disasters and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

The NHC estimated total rainfall amounts from Isaac of 7 to 14 inches, enough for widespread lowland flooding. Isolated maximum amounts over much of Louisiana and parts of Mississippi, Alabama and even Arkansas were expected to be as much as 25 inches.
Storm surges at high tide were also as high as 12 feet on the coast of Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana. Thousands were evacuated from St. John the Baptist Parish, north of New Orleans, after surges in Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas.
New Orleans was provided with a heavy security presence to prevent any repeat of the days-long crime wave and general chaos that followed Katrina.
Police and National Guard units, many armed with assault rifles, patrolled dark and nearly deserted streets in downtown New Orleans, usually a hotbed of tourism.
The city was still being lashed by rain and high winds on Wednesday night and about 60 percent of all homes and businesses were without power.
GHOST TOWN
"It's a ghost town," said Sgt. Joseph Jennings, a member of the Louisiana Army National Guard patrolling the streets in an armored humvee.
"Everybody saw the widespread looting during Katrina and nobody wants that to happen again."
The darkness of the Lower Ninth Ward was eerily reminiscent of Katrina, when a nearby levee failed and the largely poor and black neighborhood was inundated by deadly floodwaters.
In the nearby Seventh Ward, one of the city's poorest and most crime-ridden areas, residents could be seen in shadows on porches, standing outside their darkened homes.
Earlier, along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, Donalyn Lott watched a pumping station sucking water out of an overflowing drainage canal and into the lake.
"We're holding up pretty good … no flooding," Lott said.

About 3,000 residents were forced from their homes in St. John the Baptist Parish, upriver from New Orleans, by flooding caused by storm surges.

Evacuations were also needed in Plaquemines Parish, a major shrimping area southeast of New Orleans that bore the brunt of the northward-moving storm.
Dozens were plucked from the roofs of their houses by local boatmen after earlier deciding they could ride out what compared with Katrina seemed like a small storm.

"This storm has delivered more of a punch than people thought," said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser.

More than 730,000 Louisiana and Mississippi customers of Entergy Corp and other local utilities were without power as of late Wednesday.

City officials also said Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, which closed late Monday, would remain shut on Thursday as the lines that supply it with power were knocked out by the storm.

Benchmark crude oil prices slipped on Wednesday on expectations that damage to oil facilities, offshore and along the coast, would be limited. Major oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil Corp, began making plans to assess or restart operations.

(Additional reporting by Ben Gruber and Kathy Finn in New Orleans, Emily Le Coz in Tupelo, Mississippi, Chris Baltimore in Houston, Ben Berkowitz in Boston and Jane Sutton and David Adams in Miami; Writing by Ros Krasny; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

end quote from:

. 730,000 still without power

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Movie: Hit and Run

The onscreen couple are also an off screen couple which really makes the movie both fun and funny at the same time. Also, the male lead actually wrote and this movie. My wife was laughing hysterically throughout the movie at the dialog between the male and female lead because we have a similar dynamic in a lot of ways as a couple too between us. I'm sort of where the rubber meets the road intuitive be in the moment kind of person and she is the valedictorian with 3 college degrees who has traveled all over the world both before and after we met. So, this movie was hysterically funny to her. And I must admit I laughed a lot through it too. It is a unique and independent movie about a guy in the witness protection program. His love of one year: Kristen Bell gets a job as a College Professor in Los Angeles and he decides to join her even though it might get dangerous for him. Tom Arnold has a very funny role as a Gay Marshall looking out for the lead charactor in the witness protection program.

Here is the lineup of charactors:

Kristen Bell

...

Annie Bean

Dax Shepard

...

Yul Perrkins a.k.a. Charles Bronson

Tom Arnold

...

Randy Anderson

Kristin Chenoweth

...

Debbie Kreeger

Michael Rosenbaum

...

Gil Rathbinn

Jess Rowland

...

Terry Rathbinn

Carly Hatter

...

Angella Roth

Steve Agee

...

Dude #1

Bradley Cooper

...

Alex Dmitri

Joy Bryant

...

Neve Tatum

Kal Bennett

...

Cashier Mary Ann

John Duff

...

Body Builder Catalyst

David Koechner

...

Sanders

Ryan Hansen

...

Allen

Beau Bridges

end quote from:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2097307/

parish Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish hit hard by Hurricane Isaac

parish

Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish hit hard by Hurricane Isaac

Though this button will take you to a video I have been watching on CNN what has actually happened there so far. It seems the parish got hit with up to 106 mph wind gusts and storm surge which over topped the ocean side levees. This basically made most of Plaquemines parish a swimming pool. Since all roads in this area were now underwater any people still there (most because of their pets) had to be rescued by boats from off their roofs and attics with some breaking through to the attics to their roofs any way they could to survive. They are thinking of breaking or blowing up another levee towards the Mississippi River in order to let the water out of this residential area. All Facts quoted from CNN TV.

Silicon Valley's Boom Creates Shortage of $1 Million Homes

Silicon Valley's Boom Creates Shortage of $1 Million Homes

Silicon Valley's Boom Creates Shortage of $1 Million Homes

Published: Wednesday, 29 Aug 2012 | 10:22 AM ET

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By: Robert Frank
CNBC Reporter & Editor

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Noah Berger | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The home of venture capitalist Kelly Porter in Los Altos.

The capital of high tech is now the capital of high-priced real estate.

Silicon Valley currently leads the nation in the number of homes sold for $1 million or more, according to Realtytrac. Sales of $1 million-plus have more than doubled in many communities in the Valley this year, toppling longtime luxury real-estate leaders like Beverly Hills or Miami.

Topping the list is Saratoga, Calif., in Santa Clara County, which had 225 homes sold for $1 million or more. That marked a 162 percent increase over last year.

Ranked second was Burlingame, Calif., which had 211 sales of at least $1 million, more than double last year’s rate. Cupertino and Los Altos ranked third and fourth in the nation, with 175 homes and 170 homes respectively.

“Silicon Valley is one of those hyper-local markets that are just very strong right now,” said Daren Blumquist of Realtytrac. (Read more:For Luxury Real Estate, the 'Year of Capitulation')

Brokers say tech growth is the main driver of demand in Silicon Valley. But they say it’s not coming from the new crop of high-profile social-media tycoons. Instead, it’s coming from executives at Apple, Google and other more established companies.

“Everyone was waiting for the big Facebook effect,” said Bill Lewis, a vice president in the Los Altos office of Alain Pinel, the Silicon Valley Realtor.

Robert FrankCNBC Reporter
& Editor

Another big force behind demand is China. Realtors say waves of wealthy Chinese buyers are pouring into the Valley and buying up multi-million-dollar properties. They say the buyers are increasingly nervous about the Chinese government and economy and are looking for a safe haven.

While some Chinese investors are buying properties to rent, many are buying homes for their families and children, brokers say. Almost all of the deals are cash, they say.

Robert Gerlach of Alain Pinel’s Palo Alto office, said he recently sold a home that was priced at $1.495 million. The house attracted eight bidders – seven of whom were Chinese. He said the home sold for more than $1.7 million.

“The Chinese buyers are telling me that this is a safe place to put their money and a good place for their kids, given the quality of the schools,” he said. (Read more: The Mass Migration of the Super-Rich)

The surge in demand has drained much of the inventory in Silicon Valley. Communities like Palo Alto and Los Altos have only a few weeks of inventory. Brokers say that the total supply of homes for sale has fallen by half over the past year.

All that demand and lack of inventory means that $1 million doesn’t buy much luxury in Silicon Valley. A 1,700-square-foot home in Los Altos, with dated fixtures and “lots of upside potential,” is priced at $1.3 million, according to one listing.

In Saratoga, $1.1 million gets you 1.2 acres of land – but no house.

Rob Godar of Intero Real Estate Services in Los Gatos said he doesn't have any listings at between $1 million and $2 million. "They just sell too quickly," he said.

end quote from:

Silicon Valley's Boom Creates Shortage of $1 Million Homes

This is just one of the many many paradoxes of California. Though the state is having trouble paying it's bills because of having billions stolen from it by companies like Enron who manipulated energy laws to charge unbelievable rates for electricity in the early 2000s, California still is one of the few boom places in this country. Silicon Valley and a few places with new oil or oil shale and a few others are the real boom places in the U.S. now.

repeat partial quote from above:"---But they say it's not coming from the new crop of high-profile social media tycoons. Instead, it's coming from executives at Apple, Google and other more established companies." end quote.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Iran has declared War on the Sunni Muslims in Syria

Iranian general admits 'fighting every aspect of a war' in defending Syria's Assad

Fox News - ‎4 hours ago‎

“Today, we are involved in fighting every aspect of a war, a military -- one in Syria, and a cultural one as well,” Gen.

To read full news article click on "Iranian general-----" Above.

Basically Iran has declared war on the Sunni Muslims in Syria and by doing so has declared war on all Sunni Muslims everywhere. This is not a good thing for oil prices and the world in general because how long will it be before Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and other Sunni Muslim nations send their armies into Syria too?

For those of you who might not know this, Iran is Shia Muslim and Assad is Alawite Shia Muslim but Syria is majority Sunni Muslim just like Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and several other countries. The only countries that are Shia Muslim majority are Iran, Iraq and Syria. So, as you can see this could get much more serious than it already has. And Lebanon is now being torn apart by this because I believe Lebanon is both Sunni and Shia and I'm not sure if there is a majority of either or if so by how much. Also, there are many Christians and other religious minorities in Lebanon as well. So, what is happening in Syria is spilling over into Lebanon right now.

Grand Isle, Louisiana Under Water

I am presently watching Ed Lavendera of CNN on a house with stilts on Grand Isle, Louisiana. As he looks down below him it looks like about 3 to 4 feet of water has come over the Isle and covered most of the Island with water. The problem when I look at this is: "If this surge gets higher than the house he is in does he have a boat that he could tie off to the roof?" The reason I'm thinking this is that the worst of the storm won't get there for 14 or more hours. So, if it is this bad now is he going to be okay?

Later: 9.5 feet of ocean surge experienced in New Orleans and higher surge expected. Now storm surges of 10.3 feet have been recorded. And the Mississippi River has been running backwards for hours now sending seawater way upstream. Also, Baton Rouge is expected to be hit by the storm just like New Orleans and the eye will pass over there too. 106 mph gusts recorded. You cannot stand up or stay standing up in a 106 mph gust unless you are holding onto something like a traffic light pole or something like that. High tide they said was around 7 am and the surge will still be there. So, tomorrow morning we will see the full effect of the surge at high tide throughout the gulf coast. Also, the pumps they said won't be able to pump all of the water that falls out of the sky from rain for a few days. So there will be flooding in New Orleans even if all the levees and floodgates hold. 275,000 people without power at present. Up to 27 inches of rain now forecast for Southeastern Louisiana. People who did not heed mandatory evacuation in parishes might drown at this point sometime between now and 48 hours from now. The last I saw of Ed Lavendera was when the bottom floor above the stilts flooded. But since he is on the 2nd floor hopefully he and his camera crew will come through this okay. All facts quoted from CNN TV

Later Still: It is now reported that because Hurricane Isaac is now stationary that New Orleans will experience several feet of rain. This is not good news but it comes from a good source. After staying stationary spinning in place for over 2 hours the storm started to move again. Until it did it sort of scared meteorologists and everyone else who realized feet of rain could come down in New Orleans if it kept stationary too long. As it is there will be some flooding in New Orleans because of the excess rain even if none of the levees or seawalls are breached because the rain is coming down faster than the pumps can pump it out of New Orleans. CNN TV

The Next day: Ed Lavendera is still okay. The water now has filled the garage and the first floor has at least 3 to 4 feet of water washing through it. They are trying to get the furniture up high enough so it all won't be ruined. But the camera crew is still up on the 2nd floor and okay even though water is completely covering the island with all the buildings sticking up out of the water on Grand Isle.

Organic Pineapple Lemon Juice

I really like Lemons because I ate my first one whole (including peel) in 1950 when I had whooping cough and the live vitamin C (I didn't bat an eye at age 2) because likely my instincts told me to eat it at this age to help save my then little life and body so I could grow up and live an amazing life.

I have been experimenting a lot lately with my Breville mostly Stainless steel 1000 watt juicer. I have found that by peeling my organic lemons with a pairing knife and then cutting a large (1 inch thick round slice off a whole organic pineapple from Whole Foods Market I can cut the prickles and skin from the round slice and then drop in one by one the peeled lemons into the juicer and wind up with a very strong concoction of organic live pineapple and organic lemon juice. It is so very alive that it wakes me up a lot like coffee does other people but doesn't have the coffee crash that comes from robbing your body of vitality like Caffeine does. As long as you body can take the acidity of lemons and pineapple together and you are not allergic to either you should be fine.

So, for a single serving (or two if neither want very much) use
3 organic lemons

1 large slice or 2 1inch thick from a whole organic pineapple

Like I said this only gives one serving out the other side of your juicer
So, if you add the above again for each person you want to make this for then you should have enough. Also, you can add spring water or reverse osmosis water and Maple syrup or another sweetener if you like on a hot day.

Another thought that I had was you likely could do this with a blender too. Then you could have a pulpy drink or strain it to wind up with what I was talking about above. Have fun with live food!

I personally feel about 40 years younger than my 64 years if I eat and/or drink enough organic fruit and vegetables every day. I try and do 1 to 3 meals a day this way to feel still like I'm in my 20s.

I try to eat some berries like Blueberries and raspberries for mental acuity and brain health. I try to make some form of organic juice with organic carrots in it for eye health. And I try to add some kale or chard or comfrey in for overall health in my juicing.

Here is my favorite all over juice that my 38 year old song came up with. I'm always experimenting with new variables to see how this make me feel. I'm looking for food that keeps me young and alive and healthy. This is something new since June and very amazing because this is what my Dad always told me growing up. So, eating like this I feel like I'm honoring my Dad's wisdom because he has now been gone since 1985.

Here is Beet Power:

Beet Power with Rainbow Chard

Front of House Mostly Painted

Our House is a single story house with very high ceilings, a two car garage, with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. So, when my daughter's boyfriend started painting the front because of his disposition I knew he would do a really great job like he has. So now the front of the house is mostly painted except for the front porch and covered entryway into the foyer. My wife wants to use a different color on the door because there are stain glass panes on the front two entryway doors and stain glass above the doors as well. So, since she has two art degrees and a Master's in Business Administration she has particular views about the artistic nature of our entryway. And as a good husband though I agreed upon the color of the house I find it is best to sort of stay out of her way in regard to the details. I'm mostly pleased at this point that there is a "plastic coat of paint" surrounding the house and protecting it. Because when Exterior Semi-Gloss dries it is basically colored plastic that protects your siding and home from the weather.

We were very surprised yesterday to find out that the siding is redwood and it appears most of the main beams in the living room were also built out of redwood which means all those places are completely impervious to termites which is really important on the (Foggy high and low cloud place of summers and some winters (June, July and most of August) where this summer the air was around 77% humidity because the warm air inland across the nation sucked more moisture than usual off the ocean and kept flowers in the forest blooming straight through the spring and summer and now into the fall which is very unusual along with moisture still in local streams and rivulets. Usually by now only large rivers still have water in them at this point during the year but this year is a complete exception on the amount of water and moisture still available.

But building with Redwood now has become completely cost prohibitive so this construction on our house was likely done in the 1980s or 1970s. I think it started as a beach house in the 1920s and 1930s and slowly became the 2500 plus square foot (floor square footage) house it now has become. When I climbed under the house the earliest cement foundation sort of led me to believe this.

However, what I noticed as a builder when I was younger was how incredibly well built this house was from every point of view. When you are looking at a house in California you want something that can withstand (at the very least an 8.0 earthquake) (The largest I have been in is a 7.1 and then I thought I was going to die in 1971:

1971 San Fernando earthquake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So, looking to make sure the house is bolted to the foundation is the first thing to look for. During the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake literally thousands of homes and business structures were thrown off their foundations throughout Northern Calfiornia, especially in the San Francisco Bay area on down as far as Santa Cruz and Watsonville and as far north as places like Santa Rosa. So, if you are thinking about buying a home in northern or southern California be sure to make sure it is extremely well built. You can find this out from your Building inspector that you hire when you buy the home. Just ask him or her if the house is Earthquake safe?

It is also important to know what is under the house. The worst thing is sand which will amplify the earthquake and the best is bedrock or Granite. If your home is not built on a fault like the San Andreas or other fault and is on Granite or Bedrock that is the best location to have to keep your home unharmed during a big earthquake. But if there is any earthquake above 8.0 likely all structures near the epicenter will be gone and flattened. If this happens this is what we call "The Big One" and this hasn't happened in several hundred years at present I believe.

Here is the Loma Prieta site at Wikipedia:

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hookworm and Allergies

A friend of mine just told me something about Hookworm. At first a researcher wanted to know why people in the south were sort of slow moving and lethargic. So, he did research on their diet etc. He found that their diet was normal but he also asked them about where they went to the bathroom and a lot of people said, "We just do it in the bushes." But he also noticed through his research that absolutely none of these people had any allergies at all. The researcher had terrible allergies and wondered about that. So, he found out that the lethargy and slowness came from hookworm. So, he found out that when someone has hookworm they may be slower moving and lethargic but they NEVER have any allergies. So, the researcher went to Africa where there were many more hookworm cases and went barefoot and got hookworm. Now, he has gotten rid of all his allergies but has become more slow moving and lethargic. But his allergies were so awful this was an incredible improvement in his life so he is very happy.

This is a part of the story. Hookworm cannot move more than 6 feet from its location. So, this is why when people dig privies (outhouses) they always dig down 6 feet to prevent hookworm from getting out and infecting people through their barefeet. But, if people are doing it in the bushes and go barefoot they can then get hookworm. So, if you are barefoot where people don't have outhouses around the world and your allergies suddenly go away you know you just got hookworm but your allergies are gone likely for good.

But before you go and try to get hookworm to prevent your allergies around the world I suggest you do more research and talk with your doctor about this at the very least.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Isaac threat to Gulf Coast well beyond New Orleans

By KEVIN McGill, Associated Press – 31 minutes ago

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With its massive size and ponderous movement, Tropical Storm Isaac was gaining strength Monday as it headed toward the Gulf Coast. The next 24 hours would determine whether it brought the usual punishing rains and winds — or something even more destructive harkening back to the devastation wrought seven years ago by Hurricane Katrina.
The focus has been on New Orleans as Isaac takes dead aim at the city, but the impact will be felt well beyond the city limits. The storm's winds could be felt more than 200 miles from the storm's center.
The Gulf Coast region has been saturated thanks to a wet summer, and some officials have worried more rain could make it easy for trees and power lines to fall over in the wet ground. Too much water also could flood crops, and wind could topple plants such as corn and cotton.
"A large, slow-moving system is going to pose a lot of problems: winds, flooding, storm surge and even potentially down the road river flooding," said Richard Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "That could happen for days after the event."
The storm's potential for destruction was not lost on Alabama farmer Bert Driskell, who raises peanuts, cotton, wheat, cattle and sod on several thousand acres near Grand Bay, in Mobile County.
"We don't need a lot of water this close to harvest," Driskell said.
However, Isaac could bring some relief to places farther inland where farmers have struggled with drought. It also may help replenish a Mississippi River that has at times been so low that barge traffic is halted so engineers can scrape the bottom to deepen it.
Forecasters predicted Isaac would intensify into a Category 2 hurricane, with winds of about 100 mph, by early Wednesday around the time it's expected to make landfall. The current forecast track has the storm aimed at New Orleans, but hurricane warnings extended across 280 miles from Morgan City, La., to the Florida-Alabama state line. It could become the first hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast since 2008.
At 2 a.m. EDT Tuesday, the large, lumbering storm was centered about 145 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Isaac's top sustained winds remained at about 70 mph and it was moving northwest across the Gulf at 12 mph.
The hurricane center said Isaac was expected to become a hurricane on Tuesday and continue gaining strength before it roars ashore.
Evacuations were ordered for some low-lying areas and across the region, people boarded up homes, stocked up on supplies and got ready for the storm. Schools, universities and businesses closed in many places.
Still, all the preparation may not matter if flooding becomes the greatest threat. In Pascagoula, Miss., Nannette Clark was supervising a work crew installing wood coverings over windows of her more than 130-year-old home. But she said all that won't matter if a storm surge reaches her home, as it did after Katrina in 2005.
"The water was up to the first landing of the stairs," she said. "So I get very nervous about it."
Isaac's approach on the eve of the Katrina anniversary invited obvious comparisons, but Isaac is nowhere near as powerful as the Katrina was when it struck on Aug. 29, 2005. Katrina at one point reached Category 5 status with winds of over 157 mph. It made landfall as a Category 3 storm and created a huge storm surge.
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said the updated levees around New Orleans are equipped to handle storms stronger than Isaac. Levee failures led to the catastrophic flooding in the area after Katrina.
"It's a much more robust system than what it was when Katrina came ashore," said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate in a conference call with reporters.
In New Orleans, officials had no plans to order evacuations and instead told residents to hunker down and make do with the supplies they had.
"It's going to be all right," said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
Isaac could pack a watery double punch for the Gulf Coast. If it hits during high tide, Isaac could push floodwaters as deep as 12 feet onto shore in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and up to 6 feet in the Florida Panhandle, while dumping up to 18 inches of rain over the region, the National Weather Service warned.
The storm's center was forecast to move over the central Gulf of Mexico early Tuesday and approach the coast of southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi on Tuesday afternoon or Tuesday night, the Hurricane Center said.
On the Alabama coast, Billy Cannon, 72, was preparing to evacuate with several cars packed with family and four Chihuahuas from a home on a peninsula in Gulf Shores. Cannon, who has lived on the coast for 30 years, said he thinks the order to evacuate Monday was premature.
"If it comes in, it's just going to be a big rain storm. I think they overreacted, but I understand where they're coming from. It's safety," he said.
The storm left 24 dead in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, but left little damage in the Florida Keys as it blew past. It promised a soaking but little more for Tampa, where the planned Monday start of the Republican National Convention was pushed back because of the storm.
Only a fraction of an expected 5,000 demonstrators turned out in Tampa to protest GOP economic and social policies outside the convention. Organizers blamed Isaac and a massive police presence for their weak showing.
The storm had lingering effects for much of Florida, including heavy rains and isolated flooding in Miami and points north. Gov. Rick Scott said that as of Monday evening, about 80,000 customers were without power in Florida as a result of the storm.
Scott, a Republican, was returning from the convention in Tampa to Tallahassee to monitor Isaac. Fellow Gulf Coast Republican Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Robert Bentley of Alabama said they would not attend the convention at all. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant delayed his travel through Wednesday, leaving open the possibility he could attend the final day of the event.
States of emergency were in effect in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
Associated Press writers Jay Reeves in Orange Beach, Ala., Jessica Gresko and Melissa Nelson in Pensacola, Fla., and Curt Anderson and Kelli Kennedy in Miami contributed to this report.

end quote from:

Intuitive fred888

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Thursday, August 30, 2012