Oakland's shame.

Oakland's shame is the nation's folly.

** Oakland California might be the next big thing in American lawlessness . Finally there is a city that the criminal gangs had out gunned the Police , made the city Mayor look like a fool . Most of all 2 Police chiefs were driven out of office . There was even talk of calling in the National  Guard because of how dangerous the city had become. Oakland, Calif., has a long history of crime linked to drugs, gangs and poverty. But in the six weeks since the shooting in Newtown, Conn., the city has seen a large increase in gun violence. Crime blotters continue to report that this weekend , as 11 people were shot -- none fatally -- following Friday's carnage that left four dead in a period of six hours. The violence in Oakland is staggering to anyone you can ask. The cure for the murders in unclear. What seems to be clear though, is that it is easy to get a gun in “the city of dope.” Some folks in Oakland have lost their mind. Especially some of the under 30 year old fools. They are shooting into crowds, shooting in the daytime, and shooting at the night clubs. Anytime you go to a club, there will be fools there with guns or knives. Oakland now has to get realistic . It's so delusional . The Police are afraid to use their guns . They have legally hampered themselves into a corner because past misuse of authority . If an Oakland  police officer uses his gun , and shoots . It can be viewed by some as "excessive force" . If an Oakland officer shoots a African - American Male . Though defending himself  it's automatically viewed as "racial" lynching  . What Oakland's Police don't know is that the criminals love this . The Gangs like Bloods , and Crypts what ever name gang affiliations and call themselves, they use the Oakland Police departments weakness as a leverage to continue their crime sprees. 

Crime Fighter William Bratton . Will he succeed ?

With all the Gun spewing violence that Oakland has now been renowned for . There is a glimmer of hope  that has blistered in controversy .  Early Wednesday when it voted to hire William Bratton, the former police chief of New York City and Los Angeles, to consult on a plan to stem rising violent crime.The city council here bucked public protests. Opposition to appointing Mr. Bratton, who led the Los Angeles and New York departments during periods of sharp drops in crime, was sparked in part by his support in the past of so-called stop-and-frisk policies. Critics say the tactic, in which police stop and search people suspected of crimes, is aggressive and a threat to civil liberties.The possibility of stop and frisk being used in Oakland upset some community activists, including a group associated with the Occupy Oakland movement. More than 200 came to a Tuesday night city-council meeting to voice their opposition, said a spokesman for Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, pushing the vote back to about 2 a.m. Their main beef with Bratton is that he champions a policy allowing police to stop, question and, if necessary, frisk someone if there’s a suspicion that he’s engaged in or about to commit a crime. Commonly known as “stop-and-frisk,” the practice has allowed police in New York City, where Bratton pioneered the technique, to become proactive, deterring crime rather than simply responding after the fact. Some supporters say it really should be called “stop-question-and-frisk,” because questioning usually is enough. But some civil rights groups have criticized his reliance on "stop-and-frisk," in which officers detain individuals they deem to be suspicious and search them for guns, and which has been linked to racial profiling by critics. Some opponents of the consultancy also worry Bratton will push for anti-gang injunctions.

“Stop-and-frisk is not something that you can stop,” Bratton recently told the Wall Street Journal. “It is an absolutely basic tool of American policing. It would be like asking a doctor to give an examination to you without using his stethoscope.” And it’s been effective. There were more than 2,200 murders in New York City before Bratton took over as top cop in 1994. Two years later, murders had fallen by 39 percent, robbery 31 percent, burglary 25 percent and car theft 36 percent, according to the Journal. While Bratton may not be the silver bullet alone - a federal judge has yet to appoint a separate "compliance director" to oversee the Oakland Police Department - many are hopeful Bratton will make a difference."We don’t expect him to solve everything happening in Oakland," Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said at Thursday's news conference. "We’re on the right track. But when you are too close and you can't see the  forest through the trees, you need help."

NOTES AND COMMENTS:
**Oakland is the most dangerous large city in California and one of the most dangerous large cities in the nation. There were nearly 17 violent crimes per 1,000 Oakland residents in 2011, more than triple the rate in Los Angeles, according to the FBI. Violent crime increased 23 percent last year over 2011. Last year 126 people were murdered in Oakland compared to 103 murders in 2011, according to police. This year could be worse. Four people were shot to death in Oakland in the space of just six hours on Jan. 11.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly ...........

Angry and defiant Mrs. Clinton . The Buck stops here.

 THE BAD ........It's obvious that for some people it is a good week and for others a bad week. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became visibly exasperated and got into a heated exchange with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who was grilling her over the administration’s role in formulating post-attack talking points. Remember Mrs. Clintion is President Obama "fall Girl" she is going to take the rap anyhow . The at times heated testimony before House and Senate committees, likely to be the outgoing secretary's last, elicited praise from Democrats and frustration from Republicans. Far from putting the issue to rest, the testimony further fueled a debate that has raged on Capitol Hill for four months. Hillary seems frustrated because she cannot blame the whole thing on George Bush.  She's looking for a way.Even when she is being contrite one can hear the venom in her voice. Like her master she has an air of "how dare anyone question me". Now that Hillary Clinton testified , or is giving a testimony .  Since she is a woman of some caliber . A woman in charge of our national security . Mrs . Clinton has made some errors over Benghazi. Sure enough I question the next big trend .  The next thing that made headlines was that now Women will soon be able to serve in combat, as things officially changed with the stroke of a pen today at the Pentagon.At a joint news conference, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Charman Gen. Martin Dempsey signed a memorandum rolling back a 1994 directive prohibiting women from doing so."They serve, they're wounded, and they die right next to each other," Panetta said of women and men in the military. "The time has come to recognize that reality."If they're willing to put their lives on the line, then we need to recognize that they deserve a chance," Panetta said, noting that he wants his own granddaughters and grandsons to have the same opportunities in their lives and careers.  Remember these a liberalizing trends choosing the women over the mission, taking outrageous risks to save one women,---well, that doesn't happen now in our military so why would it start? And to say you must exclude women because men are too stupid to stay focused on their mission is pretty lame. It's essentially the Taliban's reason that women must be stay covered- because men can't control themselves and they'll rape a women if they see her hair. Man's inability to control themselves is hardly a reason for anything other than teaching men to grow up and have some impulse control. Plenty of women die in the military all the time here. Women know full well when they enter they may die. It's pretty dangerous , sure enough there has been plenty of pep talk on this subject .  Its' also This is not an issue about equality or men vs women. When it comes to war the central issue is winning, and protecting a nation from being at the mercy of a possible conqueror. Men are better equipped to fight wars, and are most capable when not distracted by sex or given opportunities to be in trouble. Winning in war is easiest the simpler things are made. The more complicated war is made, the harder

it is to fight and win. Adding women into the equation is going to make things a lot more complicated for soldiers, and hurt good order and discipline.If we really want to debate men versus women in the military, maybe women should be forced to have long term birth control like implantation for the entirety of their enlistment. That would stop some women from dodging deployments and putting their unit understrength by becoming pregnant, or simply from accidents. Being in the military is more about mission and duty then personal desires or freedoms. At the same  time while woman have been given the right fight along side men at war . Its' the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that created a constitutional right to abortion in some circumstances. The demonstrators, carrying signs with messages such as "Defend Life" and "Defund Planned Parenthood," shouted chants including "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Roe v. Wade has got to go." They packed the National Mall and surrounding streets for the March of Life. Women have now have a opportunity which now is fully expressed with the words "equality" . They can abort life , and lose their lives fighting along side men at  theaters of war............

Gov. Jerry Brown fixed California's long decade of
Budget woes by taxation , and Biblical wisdom.

 THE GOOD ......Another strange twist I am going to write here is about California Governor Jerry Brown looked back at what he called a "remarkable" year and outlined his vision for California in 2013 Thursday morning during his annual State of the State address. It seems that California is now out of the "fiscal" brink that it has been since 2003 . Brown expressed that Finally the budget is balanced with projected surpluses . I kinda hold my breath here . The way I see it is . That it took California a decade ( that's 10 years ) since the ouster of Governor Gray Davis to get a balanced budget . We've  even had an " actor" Governor who tried it for 8 years fighting with the largely Democratic legislature. Of coarse  my friends I have wink at this effort , but it is hard for me to believe that the state's budget finally on the mends . We all just have to wait and see.Brown's budget plan projects $98.5 billion in revenues and transfers and plans spending of $97.7 billion, according to the proposal published on the state Department of Finance website.That would leave a surplus of $851 million, in addition to a projected $785 million surplus for the current fiscal year, which ends in June, allowing the state to put $1 billion toward a rainy day fund. As recently as November, the state budget watchdog, the Legislative Analyst's Office, projected a $1.9 billion gap. ** See NOTES & COMMENTS.

Bibi . Israel's leader wins election for a 3rd time
fearing that Israel is becoming a
dictatorship. 

THE UGLY..........While the Arab spring swept through the Middle -east overthrowing petty dictators . One nation alone has slipped into a dictatorship of it's own . Name Israel . In what will be the most predictable election in the history of Israel, on Tuesday Bibi Netanyahu will win a third term as prime minister.The comatose Israeli left has run on the high cost of living while ignoring the Isreali-Palestinian conflict. Meanwhile,the extreme and emboldened religious right led by Netanyahu and his partners have run on a platform of zero negotiation and zero interest in a political solution. As it was put by Israel’s Minister of Internal Affairs, the goal of Israel’s latest operation was “to bomb Gaza back to the Middle Ages.” And if anyone dares to criticize the government, they are invariably accused of being anti-Semitic. The prospect for a two-state solution has never looked worse. Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition has been accused of trying to turn Israel into a "dictatorship" after it introduced legislation to tame senior judges and human rights groups opposed to its settlement construction policies. Meanwhile things just get uglier .North Korea turned its anger on South Korea on Friday, warning the South Koreans they could suffer “physical countermeasures” for any enforcement of the tightened international sanctions meant to stop its ballistic missile and nuclear weapon activities. Bare in mind that North Korea has made threats like this before . Building long range missiles that could hit the west cost of the United States .  "Troubling and counterproductive" rhetoric from North Korea is inflaming tensions on the Korean peninsula, but ultimately, "we will judge North Korea by its actions, not its words," the U.S. envoy to North Korea said Friday.

NOTES AND COMMENTS: 
** California balanced it's budget after a decade of overspending , and Taxation . But, in late November 2012, after nearly five years of brutal economic decline, government retrenchment and a widespread loss of confidence in its future, California began showing the first signs of a rebound. There was evidence of job growth, economic stability, a resurgent housing market and rising spirits in a state that was among the worst hit by the recession. There is a MYSTERY here . Just where was all the money going ? 

Why Obama won......

Obama second term in office was won by a series of  radical  propaganda  that was created
in the minds eye of appealing to youth. This is the type of Cult of Personality 

On this Inauguration Day on the 21st of January 2013. Martin Luther King Day .As he takes the oath of office for the second time on the steps of the Capitol today, Barack Obama must hope that, despite the gloomy precedents, his second term will be more effective than the first. The glad, confident morning of his first inauguration, which brought the biggest crowd to Washington for any public event in the city’s history, is now a dim memory – and for some of the president’s disappointed supporters a bitter one. There is often a lingering question on my mind as to why Obama won a second term . Conservatives , and the GOP have been reduced to bumbling brooks by a man who is less savvy than former President Clinton . Barack Obama has not been in the political field like  most of his Democratic cadets. The Senator out of Illinois beat the odds back in 2008 as a challenger to the already Beauregard system   of Washington D.C. The Words 'Hope' and 'change' obviously were borrowed from the most radical left slogans . For the way that Obama has been marketed to the American public is erratically similar to Nelson Mandela as a liberator .Obama’s rise to the presidency represented a groundbreaking transformation of the nation’s psyche. It put an exclamation point on the racial strife she’d witnessed in the 1960s. I can see why radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh have plastered Obama as a Marxist , but clearly enough Obama may have been the first African -American President who is part of a mass production propaganda machine that swept him into the Oval Office with the chagrin of racism under the current Republican party . I can see why Mitt Romney lost the election . Mitt Romney appealed to the 'white' conservative old guard that had their hopes on a Ronald Reagan second coming . Romney is not a 'bad man' in any sense of the way . I wanted to write on 'why Mitt lost.....' just as much as I wanted to write as to why Obama won in the first place . Mitt Romney was a perfect GOP choice . He should have won , Obama was clearly failing at the polls , but it was not enough for a Mitt Romney win . What technically got Mitt more was sense that he was outa touch with the times, ** as a rich person in the eyes of the public there had been an anti- Wall Street movement during the last 3 years . Secondly his membership in the Mormon Church as a Bishop did not fair well with the public, there was a secular worry of how much the separation  of church and state would click . (Remember Michael Dale "Mike" Huckabee who ran also for President was largely defeated by women voters )  as much for the last few years the Mormon church has been forking up money to influence the political system  as this  case in point. Let alone this made Mitt Romney seem even more distant to the mostly degenerate liberal minded youth . Another  , Case in point again  Mitt Romney did not have a proper propaganda machine like Obama has .This week’s cover of Newsweek depicts President Obama as the “Second Coming” – a biblical reference to the return of Christ. It’s not the first time that Obama has been deified by his supporters.Actor Jamie Foxx called President Obama “our Lord and Savior” during a recent television appearance.Republicans thought he was Muslim...Or thought that was a clever political strategy. The truth is people like you are the best asset to Obama. Why would I want Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump, Fox News, the Tea Party and the brains behind that "grass roots" campaign like Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann to shut up? They are the best thing that ever could have happened to the Democratic Party because they are making Republicans looks stupid with baseless claims and borderline, if not blatant racism. You have the extremists, calling him a Kenyan terrorist and you have the moderates in the party scratching their heads wondering what the hell you guys are talking about. Thanks for helping get him re-elected guys, we owe you one! :-)

Newsweek may not be the respectable publication it once was in many people’s eyes, but its shameless fawning over this elected man is simply ridiculous.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

** Obama actually outspent and outraised Romney during the election. So please spare me the whole "evil Mitt Romney tried to buy the election for his rich buddies" hyperbole. 

Let's focus on facts. Obama has done nothing to indicate that he plans to rule for the majority or from the middle.Or refusing to offer any real spending cuts going forward despite the fact that most people realize we are headed towards financial disaster if we continue on this path?) 

Obama takes "action".

Mr. Obama takes actions on gun control . Will the GOP stand in his way? 

Finally we are presuming that Pres. Obama is taking action against "guns" . Remember that President Obama is reacting to the demands of most of the people of this country who are fed up with Gun violence . Can we presume that what  ** Obama is doing is infringing on the 2nd Amendment? . NO .President Barack Obama proposed background checks on all gun sales and bans on military style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines as part of a package of steps to reduce gun violence in the wake of the Newtown school massacre last month.With relatives of some of the 20 children killed in the Connecticut rampage looking on, Obama signed 23 executive actions -- which don't require congressional approval -- to strengthen existing gun laws and take related steps on mental health and school safety. He also called on Congress to reinstate an assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, to restrict ammunition magazines to no more than 10 rounds, and to expand background checks to anyone buying a gun, whether at a store or in a private sale at an auction or convention. For me it seems like a long start , but it's a good one . The NRA which represents many gun owners almost like a "union" of sorts has for the most part lost it's credibly with many Americans The LONG run here is that the NRA is out of touch with reality almost as much as those that support Abortion . Gun's do kill . Yes . Legal guns Kill , that most of the problem . There has not been a gun in a mass shooting in the United States that was caused by an illegal weapon . I not advocating  any suspension  of the "right to bear arms" , or such to change the 2nd Amendment . Because certain persons like the NRA would cry afoul . There has to some sense and responsibly on the government to curb violence , and lawlessness because of the availability  of weapons . American society is hooked on violence , and some of the "fictional" violence from the media has in part been made real by sick and deranged persons . Most of all a sure sign of it  here is the #  City of Oakland in California . It's a virtual city that is full of gang warfare , and daily reports of shootings . In that city alone the Police Department is outgunned by the criminals who run rampant as if in a town in the old west.  Referring to the young students killed in the Newtown shootings on December 14 and other victims of gun violence, Obama said the nation must do a better job of protecting its children, especially when they are in schools, shopping malls, movie theaters and other public places.While some of the steps he proposed are given little chance of winning congressional approval in the face of the nation's powerful gun lobby, Obama said all efforts must be made to reduce chronic gun violence in the country.Read the full plan (.PDF)

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

** The NRA should be worried more about Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York who signed a more oppressive  law that has all the signs of violating the 2nd  Amendment . Gov . Cuomo is overreacting  with the idea that a tough law would stop gun violence .The law took effect immediately — before President Obama could announce his own sweeping proposal for action on the federal level to curb gun violence.  THE NRA issued this statement recently which I blogged down :

"Throughout its history, the National Rifle Association has led efforts to promote safety and responsible gun ownership. Keeping our children and society safe remains our top priority. The NRA will continue to focus on keeping our children safe and securing our schools, fixing our broken mental health system, and prosecuting violent criminals to the fullest extent of the law. We look forward to working with Congress on a bi-partisan basis to find real solutions to

protecting America's most valuable asset – our children.

"Attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation. Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy."

 # NOW if you believe this statistic that  Over the last 20 years, the firearm crime rate has dropped, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, from 6 victims per 1,000 residents in 1994 to 1.4 victims per 1,000 residents in 2009.  The 1.4/1000 is the same rate as in 2004, the last year in which the “assault weapons” ban was in place.  Part of this is from an overall decline in violent crime over the same period, but that doesn’t account for all of the improvement.  Firearm crimes accounted for 11% of all violent crime in 1993 and 1994, but was 8% of all such crime in 2009. Recent fears of gun control has also caused a mass hysteria in the American populace to rush to buy arms “It has been great for business, but we can’t get anymore stock. Everything is out,” said Ted Oven, owner of the Northeast Trading Company in North Attleborough. “People are trying to buy accessories, magazines and ammunition.  They are just afraid. They are buying everything they can right now. Ammunition is becoming scarce.”

Outrageous bits!

At 16 trillion in debt . Our  nation is held hostage .

Our nation is being held hostage again by failing elected leaders  again! This is the outrageous twist to the debt ceiling .  ** Who is going to get PAID first.  1st. Paying China . 2nd. Social Security recipients. 3rd. Withholding Tax refunds. The White House flatly rejected Saturday the proposal for President Obama to bypass Congress in raising the nation’s borrowing limit, a day after the Senate’s top Democrats urged Mr. Obama to take that step.“There are only two options to deal with the debt limit: Congress can pay its bills, or it can fail to act and put the nation into default,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement. “Congress needs to do its job.” The debt ceiling was introduced back in World War I as a convenience. The constitution, that fusty bedrock of American politics, gives Congress the right to tax and spend. So the debt represents the accumulated difference between those two things. We incur national debt because Congress, in its infinite wisdom, decided at some point in the past to spend money it wasn’t raising through taxes. Rather than have Congress run around and authorize borrowing regularly the debt ceiling was a way of handing the Treasury Department a kind ofcredit card. It could keep up with Congressional spending without having to seek authorization for new debt, and Congress could spend away happily without having to worry about actually raising the cash it needed for those programs.  Some Democrats are reprising their call for President Obama to resolve the looming standoff on the debt ceiling all by himself by invoking an obscure provision in the U.S. Constitution.

Read more here: http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/washington/2013/01/white-house-pans-raising-the-debt-ceiling-itself-.html#storylink=cpy

We were all in this situation back in 2011, it's  a repeat of the same old same old gridlock congress.The US has to borrow money to meet it's obligations. They always have and always will. They had to raise the debt limit EIGHTEEN times during the Reagan years, yes to pay the bills.Nothing has worked (please, let's not get into Bush vs. Obama deficits, etc). The President claims he has "cut a trillion dollars" in 2011, yet spending has increased above the rate of inflation in the 2011 and 2012 budgets.The debt ceiling was raised seven times during the George W. Bush administration, with no great battles and no threats of economic chaos. But now that we have a Democratic president, the Republicans have chosen to exploit the debt ceiling as a means of blackmailing the American people in order to impose their extreme and regressive agenda. 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, and other Democratic lawmakers wrote to Mr. Obama Friday urging that the president perform an end-run around Congress on the debt ceiling . If the Debt Ceiling negotiations fail, the U.S. will run out of ways to pay its creditors and Social Security recipients by mid-February.One of the first casualties of the government not being able to pay its bills is likely to be income-tax refund checks, which would be delayed as Washington pays essential bills first and until warring political factions settle their differences.The debt limit, or ceiling, is the total amount of money that the United States government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds, and other payments.Without a new debt ceiling, the government lacks the ability to borrow in order to pay the debt it already has incurred and owes. It could be forced to decide an order on who gets paid first, China or the elderly, in the event no deal is reached.In a renewed attempt to force President Barack Obama's hand on the debt limit, Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul is pushing legislation that would ban federal spending on anything but interest payments on the national debt, Social Security checks, and military salaries. But wait… there is a clever way to avoid this crisis: the U.S. Mint could mint a single platinum coin, with a face value of one trillion dollars. I kid you not. The idea has been floated by business commentators and several legislators. Then, at a recent press conference (9 Jan 2013), Whitehouse spokesperson Jay Carney was asked about the idea. Most observers expected him to rule out the idea. He did not. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

 ** Here is another outrageous bit . The Rich are getting richer after all. Would be Meg Whitman could get more than $15 million for her first year as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, according to company filings.It's a bigpayday even by the lofty standards of big-time CEOs. The chief executives of major public companies made a median of $9.6 million in 2011, the most recent year available, according to executive pay research firm Equilar.

Jan 21st inaugurated.

 Besides Obama 2nd inauguration , Congress record number of women in Congress, is too important to pass up.Do you also enjoy the fact the picture was photo shopped? Four of the women were not in the real picture. Pelosi OK'd.

Obama's planed inauguration for his second term .The White House Correspondents Association is strongly urging the Obama administration to allow press access to the president’s official swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20, following indications from inauguration committee officials that the event could potentially be closed to the press. Might well welcomed , but for the start of his second term the President still faced the same obstructionists that he faced in the last four years .The thrill is back for many Americans as President Obama’s second inauguration approaches — though maybe a bit less intense.This inauguration’s celebration will be shorter, and almost certainly smaller and less expensive, than the gala that drew nearly 2 million people to witness the first time an African American president took the oath of office. One political observer says the Jan. 21 ceremony doesn't automatically command people's attention because it amounts to more of the same. And in Obama's case, how does someone trump the history he's already made?Will he get anything done? There is a lot on his plate to consider . He has to push buttons with Congress on guns , he has to shake up the issue with immigration . Next of all the Debt ceiling .“In a couple of months, the president will ask us to raise the nation’s debt limit,” Mr. McConnell said. “We cannot agree to increase that borrowing limit without agreeing to reforms that lower the avalanche of spending that’s creating this debt in the first place.”  With this we have a new Congress that will be made up of persons with diverse backgrounds as far as ethnic and gender . You might look at this way. It's the most 'Liberal ' Congress you'll ever see . It's made up of both parties , Republicans and Democrats . Hold on here . Did I say 'Most Liberal'? On both party lines. Yes. What made John Boehner cry as he looked at the new Congress? Relief, weariness, affection, or hurt, or the sense that he wasn’t in a safe place? He had just been reëlected speaker, although there were a dozen votes against him—a high number, as these votes go. Maybe they were tears of resentment at the fun that Joe Biden seemed to be having swearing in senators. The new 113th Congress, which was sworn in Thursday (January 3), includes several religious firsts. Democrat Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii is the first Hindu member of Congress. Mazie Hirono, also of Hawaii, is the first Buddhist senator, although she describes herself as non-practicing, and Kyrsten Sinema, a Democratic representative from Arizona, is the first member of Congress to publicly describe her religion as “none.”  The bar has never been lower for the nearly 100 freshmen of the 113th Congress who were sworn-in on Thursday. After all, it won't take much to exceed the abysmal approval rating of the previous Congress The new Congress faces many of the same stubborn issues that make bipartisanship in a politically divided country difficult to achieve.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

The House has 233 Republicans and 200 Democrats. Each party should pick up one more seat when two vacancies are filled. Going into the election, the GOP edge was 242-193. Senate Democrats will have a caucus of 55, including two independents, Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Republicans have 45. That’s a pickup of two seats for Democrats. The House will have 79 women, including 60 Democrats. At the end of the last session, there were 50 Democratic women and 24 Republican women. The new Senate will have 20 women members, an increase of three. That consists of 16 Democrats and four Republicans. The last Senate had 12 Democratic women and five Republicans. With two vacancies to be filled, the House has 82 freshmen; 47 Democrats and 35 Republicans. As of the end of the last session, 87 of 103 freshmen were Republicans. The Senate will include 14 new faces, with nine Democrats and the independent King. Five are women. New senators include Brian Schatz, who was sworn in on Dec. 27 to fill the seat of the late Hawaii Democrat Daniel Inouye. The House will have 40 African-Americans, all Democrats. The number of Democrats is unchanged, although two Republicans will be gone: Allen West, R-Fla., lost his re-election bid, and Tim Scott, R-S.C., was appointed to fill the Senate seat of Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who is retiring. Scott will be the first black lawmaker in the Senate since Roland Burris, who retired in 2010 after filling the Illinois Senate seat of Barack Obama for almost two years. The new House will have 33 Hispanics, with 25 Democrats and eight Republicans. That’s up slightly from last year. The Senate will have three Hispanics: Democrat Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Republican Marco Rubio of Florida and Republican freshman Ted Cruz of Texas. The new House will have nine Asian Americans, all Democrats. There are two American Indians: Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Ben Lujan, D-N.M. 

Gore sells out.

Former President Al Gore sells Current TV .

The new  year swings in with a major Media shock . Al Gore sold his Current TV to Al-Jazeera. It's the oddest and most Un- American move ever made by a rich American . Gore reaped a good  100 million dollars , by  the lowest market  standards Gore undersold Current TV's value . I would have been more happier had he sold Current TV to CNN , or CNBC . etc. Nope he chose to sell to a Saudi Arabian TV media source  that has been known for it's seemingly Pro-Terrorist , and anti- American stance .Current is really the only consistent source of documentary style programming in regards to the issue of the War on Drugs. Will the new ownership continue the direction that Current TV has taken in regards to that issue? There are countless Americans who have become educated on the issues, and are finally seeing the harm that our current prohibition has produced. It would be a shame to see that end. Before Al-Jazeera bought Current TV,  ** TheBlaze looked into buying it but we were rejected by progressive owners. Note: We would have put #TheBlazeTV in millions of homes across the country, not the existing line up.Well, how could Al Gore possibly refuse such an appealing offer?  After all, people who watch Bill Press and Stephanie Miller will happily give them up for a chance to watch Blaze TV.Atlantic Wire’s report  confirms that Beck did indeed approach Current TV a year ago. The big question, perhaps, is what Al Jazeera plans to do with its new reach into America. "They could pitch it squarely at the Left as some sort of foreign-policy-heavy adjunct to MSNBC, or they could emphasize kinda sorta straight news reporting on the Arab Spring and Middle East as an alternative to CNN," Hot Air's Allahpundit suggests. Whatever path it takes, "the acquisition is a coming of age moment" for  # Al Jazeera, says Brian Stelter at The New York Times. The globally successful and well-regarded Arab network has convinced "Gore and the other owners of Current that it has the journalistic muscle and the money to compete head-to-head with CNN and other news channels in the United States." Now it just has to convince Americans to tune in. “By acquiring Current TV, Al Jazeera will significantly expand our existing distribution footprint in the U.S., as well as increase our news gathering and reporting efforts in America,” Al Jazeera Director General Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani said in a news release. “We look forward to working together with our new cable and satellite partners to serve our new audiences across the U.S.”The new channel, which will provide domestic and international news for a U.S. audience, will be based in New York, with plans to open up new bureaus across the United States and double the network’s staff there to more than 300 employees, the network said.

NOTES AND COMMENTS :

 **Glenn Beck and his fans apparently missed the fact that his old home of Fox News is owned by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal (with a 7% stake, the largest shareholder after the Murdochs’ News Corp), whom one of their own (Farah of World Net Daily) accused of blaming America for 9/11.  Time Warner Cable pulled the plug on Current TV just hours after news of the cable channel's sale to Al Jazeera became official.

"This channel is no longer available on Time Warner Cable," read an on-screen message where Current TV used to be found. # Al-Jazeera has been dubbed “the most powerful voice of the Muslim Brotherhood.” And Pamela Geller has noted that “Al Jazeera is the leading terrorist propaganda organization in the world. Jihad murder mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki has praised Al Jazeera, and several years ago one of its most prominent reporters was arrested on terror charges. Al Jazeera also has for years been the recipient of numerous Al Qaeda videos featuring bin Laden, Zawahiri, and American traitor Adam Gadahn. Yet they never seem to be able to trace where these videos are coming from. They have repeatedly been set up at the point of attack right before a bomb went off, so that they could take the picture of the slaughtered, dismembered bodies.”