I have had great difficulties with the Gather software. I have had difficulties posting comments and with the SAVE and SUBMIT functions. Sometimes when I click on SAVE, the Gather program seems to go lost in cyberspace. It chases its tail for a while, wasting my time. Then the data is lost. It fails to save the data. There is a similar problem with the SUBMIT function. I have made about 10 complainst about this to Gather support. They apologized but failed to fix the problem.

The pictures are just a distraction, scenes from a protest in Phoenix last month focused on the County Sheriff.

This Website is what this is actually about, but you may enjoy the pictures if you wish.  The URL http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?Reportid=88046 will link you to a specific article in Plus News from the IRIN agency, sponsored by the United Nations.  Over the years I have found it to be a great source of unbiased reporting on the humanitarian issues that effect all parts of the world in varying degrees.

The article will allow you to surf the site, and you may sign up for email alerts if you wish, and it is even possible to focus on specific regions.

Current View

I have an Ego, rather large;

It seems to think that

That I’m in charge.

My mind can make me quite small, too;

Depending on my current view.

My mind and Body

Aren’t the same;

That’s why God gave them

Different names.

I like to separate the two,

Then mix them with my current view.

Did God decide what

Words would say;

Or did Man jump in

And join the fray?

A passion of love or just

Apple to Zoo;

A curse or a blessing;

In whose current view?

I guess it’s up to me to think,

My Ego says it’s true;

So I decide what’s

Good or bad

Based on my current view.

Greg Wright

Recently Author and Doctor Atul Gawande was interviewed on the "Democracy Now" news show to talk about his new book. Gawande wrote two books that I have read.

• Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science.
• Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

Both books were among the best books I have ever read, and showed me how Gawande's mind thinks, and how has a knack for getting to the root of issues and informing those who are interested.

Gawande's new books is called "The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right". It is fitting that Gawande is a doctor because he diagnoses some of the systemic problems in multiple sectors of our country.  Simple problems with obvious human failings that we overlook in many different things that we do to run our country.

Gawande talks about his book in the following You-Tube embedded videos. In my opinion a small bit of time invested in hearing an intelligent man of integrity talk about his first hand experiences honestly is more informative andmorelikely to yield results than listening to politicans and talking heads on the mainstream media for years.

    The New York Times is said to be coming out with an exclusive expose on New York Governor David Paterson. According to sources , the details are so troubling that Governor Paterson will be dropping out of the race for Governor, if not also stepping aside as Governor.

Governor Paterson has denied that he is doing either. He also claims that that wild rumors swirling around any bombshell revelations that the New York Times may have or is rumored to have on him are scurrilous and untrue.

What those revelations in this New York Times, so-called expose are, is unknown but the blogosphere has been abuzz with suggestions ranging from heavy drug abuse while serving as Governor, involvement in a prostitution ring, or funneling state money to himself, to bribing Eliot Spitzer to take him on his Lt. Governor or taking a bribe to appoint Richard Ravitch Lt. Governor.

The only thing that is known for sure is that three Times reporters are collaborating on a news story that most likely deals with Governor Paterson’s character, or lack their of.

If while describing Paterson’s character, some sordid details arise, is not clear. For all we know Kirsten Gillibrand, the obscure Congresswoman he appointed to to the US Senate, has produced a blue dress of her own that contains the personal DNA samples of Paterson.  Which would help explain why Kirtsen Gillibrand is now Senator Gillibrand. Or it could be something as  innocuous as Paterson having not returned a neighborhood friends baseball cards back when he was a little boy in Manhattan.

I will say this though. If there is something explosive here, I would look to see if President Obama and his Chief of Staff, Rham Emanuel, have their fingerprints on the origins of the story. The President has made it clear that he and the Party do not want David Paterson running for Governor. They see his earth shattering unpopularity as a very high risk for Democrats in New York during the crucial midterm elections.  Instead, they want the son of former Governor Mario Cuomo, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to be at the top of the ticket in November, not Paterson.

But Paterson has not bowed down to President Obama’s wishes, and such an act of disrespect for the Democrat messiah is bound to have repercussions. Especially if the President’s right hand man, “Rhambo” Emanuel is involved.

Emanuel is ruthless. He has mailed dead fish to legislators who have opposed the side he is on and even been the key figure in stories told about a dinner during the Clinton campaign where Emanuel sat at the table and began repeatedly stabbing a knife into the table as he stated the names of people who were not on the side of the Clinton campaign and adding the word, “dead”, once their name was said.  ‘So -and-so, DEAD!’….. Thump. “So-and-so, DEAD,’ thump………

So digging up dirt on David Paterson and leaking it to the New York Times is not out of the realm of possibility for the President’s Chief of Staff and head “get-it-done” guy.

But all of the speculation about  the Times story is based upon innuendos and guesswork . Which when you think about it is all that the New York Times is really based on.  I mean, ever since Jayson Blair and Harold Raines, the New York Slimes has had the credibility of The National Enquirer, which by the way was the first periodical to brake the story about the John Edwards affair.

So who really knows what will be said about Paterson in the New York Slimes?  No one believes that rag anymore and no one likes David Paterson either.

Next scandal….I mean next story.

Photographs of nuclear missiles.

Does anyone really think there is any chance that this world can get rid of nuclear weapons?

Apparently Barack Obama in what I can only imagine is more of his continued attempt to maintain the brightness in the stars in the eyes of his supporters on the left is trotting out an old dream of being able to do something about the world's nuclear arsenal.  Maybe this is more to hope about, aimed at justifying the image of a President who has won an undeserved Nobel Peace prize, I don't know.

What I do think I know is that there is zero chance of getting rid of a significant number of nuclear weapons in our military or anyone else's.  The nukes that we have play an important role of creating uncertainty about any country's attack on any other country with nuclear weapons.  It is probably even a bad idea to mess with it, and certainly not an idea of action that is going to really be anything but symbolic.

I don't like nuclear weapons any more than anyone else, but in a world where we have uncertainty, violence, scarcity, fear, war, ... in short on a plant with technological humans on it having the biggest weapon possible is something a country cannot afford to be without.  I like the idea of stopping and decreasing nuclear proliferation.  After all after the major powers got nuclear weapons what good has having nuclear weapons done anyone else?  I do have to concede here that if Israel did not have nuclear weapons they probably would not exist currently.  Certain Israel will not relinquish their nuclear weapons until there is a break in the way radical Islamic countries behave in the world.

We are not going to get rid of nuclear missles no matter what happens, and we are not going to reduce them more than symbolically.  So why did Barack Obama mention ridding the world of nuclear weapons in his speeches.  Is this to appeal to ultra-optimists, or clueless pacifists?  Is this supposed to make people take him more seriously now that he has made every bad move in the book in his first year.  I think it makes him look stupid, manipulative, and pandering and I would much rather that he did something on health care, even a spectacular heroic failure would be helpful because that might finally get people talking about our real options instead of this crawling back to the status quo that we have done like a bunch of cowards.  This country is scared to death of the future, unless we can trivialize it and make it seem very very very far off.  We are not leaders anymore, but we cannot afford the luxury to relax, or the cost of another big mistake like wasting time on nuclear disarmament as a high priority.

Perhaps Barack Obama has ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, and cannot think or concentrate on a single subject for more than a week at a time.  Are these actions putting Barack Obama in focus now, or are these poltical and PR image ploys actually fooling anyone?  Obama needs to lead, and then succeed or fail, or he needs to resign.  We do not need a caretaker or a janitor in the White House.  Obama seemed to have what looked like we need to move in the right direction, but he either can not or will not take what he said, and who he is seriously as President.  If he cannot stand the heat, get out of the fire.

Earn a bonus Swagbuck

Uncle in this spring

You, uncle; a simple and simple

and of course a simple person to

trust with a simple problem as if

life is complex just by adding those....

You, uncle; this spring red petals of

a flower's day to day life are picked

by me just as I am used to while

talking to someone and entrusting...

you, uncle should come back as a tree

and I shall sit under you as if I

have not been sitting in such a way

since we began coming in this park.

©2010, Kushal Poddar(reprinting is absolutely prohibited, without permission)

Love follows logic

(To Sharon P)

Love that kills has killed the love long back;

long back is a time, love began like

another spring of desperation.

Love that kills is hate. Father once said.

He leaves the cornice; wings grow; he flies

over celebrations of present.

Time is losing its desperation.

A kite reigns the sky; any one kite;

beneath its clawed clouds lies the town.

The town where love began like a need;

it is needless to say, now he can

discern love from needs. Father once said,

“Someday you would know love but too late.”

©2010, Kushal Poddar(reprinting is absolutely prohibited, without permission)

 At age 77, long serving Congressman John Murtha has died.

John Murtha was a Marine and he was the first Vietnam veteran elected to Congress where he served with as much vim and vigor as any individual fighting on the battlefield of any war.

In 1974, after the incumbent Congressman, John Saylor, died in office, Murtha won a special election to fill the vacancy and held that seat until his own death in office.

As a rabid liberal that loved to poke and prod conservatives Murtha saw himself as a true defender of middle class Americans and veterans and was always a reliable liberal vote on all issues from taxes, abortion and defense spending to education, welfare and hate crimes legislation.

During his 36 years or 18 terms of representation of the people from Pennsylvania’s 12^th district, Murtha saw his share of controversy. One of the most devastating was his entanglements in the Abscam scandal that had undercover investigators catching political figures taking bribes for favors. After Murtha was caught telling these undercover agents how they could legally invest their money, Murtha was captured on tape saying:

"I'm not interested... at this point. [If] we do business for a while, maybe I'll be interested, maybe I won't".

In the end, after Murtha cooperated with the FBI and testified against two Congressman who were caught taking the cash from operatives, he was never prosecuted but a crowd of doubt hung over him forever more.

In another 'whoops' moment, during the 2008 Presidential race, Murtha was caught calling the voters of his district rednecks and racists because he felt many would not be voting for Barack Obama for President because of his color.

Meanwhile, in the life goes category, the race replace John Murtha will begin before Murtha is buried. Democrats will soon be scuffling among themselves to find a surefire successor, someone whom they hope will also hold the seat for the rest of their lives.

As for Republicans, such antics are not likely.

The gentleman who ran against Murtha in 2008, Lt. Col. William Russell, (ret.),  released the following statement and posted it on his website:

“On behalf of Kasia and our entire family, I want to express our deepest sympathy on the passing of Congressman John Murtha. Today’s news will be met with profound sadness by the hundreds of thousands of constituents he served in Johnstown and throughout the 12th Congressional District.

To Joyce, their children and grandchildren, we extend our heartfelt respect as you honor Mr. Murtha’s memory and reflect on his legacy in the upcoming days and months.”

A retired career Army man, Russell ran one of the strongest challenges to Murtha and is likely to end up being Congressman Murtha’s successor, especially in the current environment that liberals are facing. Murtha’s district is heavily Democrat, but if Russell’s 2008 election returns are a sign of anything, it will be that he has the ability to appeal to rational Democrats as well as common sense Republicans.

By law, seats vacated during a term are filled through special elections, unless the vacancy occurs closer to the next general election date than a pre-established deadline. Seeing as how the next general election is but eight months away, there is not likely to be a special election.

If by chance there is a special election called for, I would hazard to guess that Russell would be the odds on favorite to win. Between that and the Democrats recent success with “special elections”, don’t look for this seat to be filled until after the November general elections.