OPINOINS BASED ON FACTS (OBOF)
THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (TYMHM)
YEAR ONE
YEAR TWO
YEAR THREE
YEAR FOUR
YEAR FIVE
OBOF
YEAR FIVE INDEX
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OBOF
TYMHM
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Jan.
07, 2015
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OBOF
TYMHM Vol 15 - No 1
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Jan.
19, 2015
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OBOF
TYMHM Vol 15 - No 2
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Feb. 03, 2015
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OBOF
TYMHM Vol 15 - No 3
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Feb. 23, 2015
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OBOF
TYMHM Vol 15 - No 4
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Mar. 02, 2015
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OBOF
TYMHM Vol 15 - No 5
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Mar. 06, 2015
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OBOF
TYMHM Vol 15 - No 6
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Mar. 13, 2015
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OBOF
TYMHM Vol 15 - No 7
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Mar. 23, 2015
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Agenda
1. Soap box by Floyd.
SS
benefits for Mexican immigrants
& Mexicans in Mexico
Trans Pacific Partnership.
2. Fast track for TPP bad idea.
3. Wind power to create jobs up to 2050.
4. For pet lovers - good samaritans
I have been getting a few
comments. If some of you want to send
some comments but been have trouble getting linked
on, use Google and I believe you will go right to the comment section.
ATTENTION
NATHIAN
MATHIAN,
MY FRIEND, PLEASE CALL - I have lost your tele number.
~
SOME SOAP BOXING OF MY
OWN.
FROM FLOYD
Trade agreement and Social
Security to illegal Mexican immigrants.
By
Floyd Bowman
Publisher
of "Opinions Based On Facts."
March
22, 2015
Things, and I will be more
specific, truly go from bad to worse. This
statement could apply to a number of things, I suspect, but right now, I want
to apply it to the Trans Pacific Partnership and Social Security payment to
illegal Mexicans and even to Mexicans in Mexico
Trans Pacific Partnership.
Most, if not all, of you
know that I have been a pretty strong supporter of President Obama. However, lately he is backing two things
that, for the life of me, I can't figure out why. Now maybe he has good reasons, but if he has,
he should be telling us those reasons and not be doing what he is doing. That is, his backing of the Trans Pacific
Partnership (TPP) to the point of asking Congress to "Fast Track" the
final bill through without the possibility of debate or anyone in Congress
knowing what is in the bill and no amendments.
Now, the real bad part, to
me, from what we do know, that has been leaked, is not so much the part about
trade, but all the rest of the bill.
Sometime ago I printed the total number of pages in the bill, but I
don't remember what that number was and it is just to time consuming to try and
find it, but I do know that it was something more than 1,000 and of that 1,000 only 36
pages refer to trade.
What does the rest of it
say? Well, to begin with we do know that
it makes possible for other countries and companies from other countries to sue
anyone person or company in USA in a universal court claiming, for example,
that we have deprived them of justified profits.
It is possible for other
countries to pre-empt our laws. In other
words, we loose our sovereignty.
This first article, that
follows, sets it out quite well. Better
than I can, but I wanted to get my 2 cents in.
This, without a doubt, is one of the worst trade bills you can imagine,
in my opinion, but I am certainly not alone.
~
Social Security Benefits
to illegal
Mexican Immigrants and Mexicans
Living in Mexico
This is the most, absolutely, craziest, proposal I have ever
heard of. Actually, it is even a little
more than a proposal. It is almost
policy.
"TOTALIZATION
AGREEMENT."
It is reported that, our
Social Security program be extended to all Mexican immigrants and even Mexicans living in Mexico
The Washington Washington
It is further reported
that the Social Security Administration has already signed an agreement with
the Mexican government to make these payments from the SS Trust Fund.
It is further reported that
the Sate Department is planning to build a new building in the embassy complex
in Mexico City
It is my understanding
that the agreement is at a stage waiting for President Obama to sign it and
then it goes over to Congress for approval or disapproval.
First of all, and contrary to
what so many think, there is NO MONEY IN THE TRUST FUND. You will hear
it said that that is not true. I know
that the SS Administration report indicates that there is a large sum in the
Trust Fund.
What is in the Trust Fund is a
stack of papers that are labeled "Special Government Bonds that have
replaced the money that has been taken out of the Trust Fund by our government
and used for such things as tax cuts for the wealthy and to finance two
wars.
Our government owes the SS Trust
Fund $2.7 trillion and that is included in our National Debt. These bonds have no financial value
whatsoever. They are not the kind of
Bonds that are provided to those who loan US
Our government, is even
having to put money from the General fund into the SS fund just to make the
present monthly payment. This is
ludicrous, absurd, and ridiculous. With
the many articles that are being written about the "New Word Order" I
just wonder if this is just a prelude to joining the United States with Mexico
with an entirely new name. Such a move,
in my opinion, would greatly benefit Mexico and be the end of our great country, the UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA
~~~
Do Corporations Really Need More Rights? Why Fast Track for the TPP Is a Bad Idea.
Published: March 14, 2015 | Authors: David Korten | YES! Magazine | Op-Ed
The TPP won't expand U.S.
President Obama is currently pressing members
of Congress to pass Fast-Track authority for a trade and investment agreement
called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). If Fast Track passes, it means that Congress
must approve or deny the TPP with minimal debate and no amendments. Astonishingly, our lawmakers have not seen the
agreement they are being asked to expedite.
The
rulings of these tribunals pre-empt national laws and the decisions of national
courts.
The TPP is presented as an agreement to
increase U.S. United States as well as in the 11 other Pacific Rim countries that are parties to the TPP.
Given past agreements on which the TPP is
modeled, including the North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA), TPP provisions
will likely have significant implications for nearly every aspect of American
life—including intellectual property rights, labor and environmental
protections, consumer safety and product labeling, government procurement, and
national resource management. Given the
way these agreements are crafted, we can be quite certain that the implications
will favor corporate profits over human well-being. And once the agreement is
approved, its provisions will trump national and local laws, including the U.S. Constitution, and will not be subject to
review or revision by any national legislative or judicial body—including the U.S.
It is expected that the TPP will include an
Investor State Dispute Settlement provision that gives foreign corporations the
right to sue governments for lost profits due to laws—such as environmental
standards and safeguards for workers—they claim deprive them of revenue they
might otherwise have received. Such claims are settled in tribunals comprised
of trade lawyers whose identities are secret. The rulings of these tribunals pre-empt
national laws and the decisions of national courts and are not subject to
review by any national judicial or legislative body.
Also in the mold of NAFTA and similar
previous pacts, the TPP is being drafted in secret. The main players at the negotiating table are
trade officials from the party countries and representatives from the world’s
largest global corporations.
Since negotiations began in 2005, the public,
press, and members of Congress and their staff have been denied access to the
TPP meetings and to drafts of the agreement. In stark contrast, according to a 2014 report by The Washington Post,
566 advisory group members can view and comment on proposals. Of these
members, 480 represent industry groups or trade associations and dominate the
most important committees.
The secret gatherings of unelected government
officials and corporate representatives in which agreements like the TPP are
negotiated have become de facto transnational legislative bodies, drafting
international laws the democratically elected legislative bodies of signatory
countries then rubber stamp.
President Obama’s
assurance that this time will be different carries little credibility.
Because such sweeping provisions supersede
the U.S. Constitution, one
might expect that their approval by the U.S.
President Obama recently appeared on Seattle ’s KOMO TV news making the claim that the TPP will expand U.S. exports, thus creating jobs and
opportunities for small businesses. President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al
Gore, and President George W. Bush all made the same promises on similar
previous agreements.
But expanded trade not only means more exports;
it also means more import. Previous similar agreements have produced greater
growth in U.S. imports than
growth in U.S.
These agreements are written by global
corporations such as Wal-Mart, Monsanto, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, ExxonMobil,
British Petroleum, HSBC, and JPMorgan. These
companies are not in the business of creating jobs and benefiting small
businesses. They are in the business of
maximizing their own profits. In regard
to, small businesses, the agenda is to capture their markets, buy them out, or
squeeze them to the bone as captive suppliers and contractors.
Because these trade and investment agreements
are not in the public interest, their corporate and governmental sponsors go to
great lengths to keep the negotiations secret. If the TPP provisions were truly beneficial,
there presumably would be no need to press the members of Congress to expedite
approval under Fast Track rules before the public and members of Congress have
seen the text.
Members of Congress will surely receive
copies of the TPP documents before their final vote on the actual agreement. But these agreements are typically more than a
thousand pages of detailed legalese meaningful only to experienced trade
lawyers. If past experience is any
guide, our lawmakers will have little time to read the agreement, let alone do
a meaningful assessment of its implications or discuss it with constituents
before it is called to a vote.
The time has come to end the use of
international agreements to strengthen corporate rule. In the case of the TPP,
passing no agreement is better than passing one that undermines democracy,
economic justice, the environment, human health, and small business. We have no
need of stronger protections for corporate rights. Rejecting Fast Track will
create the opportunity for a long-overdue public conversation on a new
framework for international trade and investment agreements that strengthen
democracy, hold global corporations account able to the public interest, secure
worker rights, raise working conditions, and strengthen environmental
protections in every signatory country.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus has just
released a report called “Principles for Trade: A Model for Global Progress.”
The principles it outlines provide an
excellent starting point for such a conversation:
·
Protect the authority of
national legislative bodies to set trade policy
·
·
Restore balanced
trade
·
·
Put workers first
·
·
Stop currency
manipulation
·
·
Secure each nation’s
right to give preference to national
procurement
·
·
Protect the
environment for future generations
·
·
Prioritize consumers
above profits
·
·
Assure the right of
national judicial systems to settle
legal disputes with investors.
·
·
Secure affordable
access to essential medicines and
services
·
·
Respect human rights
·
·
Provide a safety net
for vulnerable workers
As the vote on Fast Track approaches, this is a good time for
citizens to call for a national and global public conversation about economic
policies that put the interests of living people, living communities, and
living Earth ahead of corporate profits.
It is also the right time for each of us to
let our members of Congress know where we stand on Fast Track and the TPP and
that we are paying close attention to how they vote.
We can have democracy and a prosperous, just,
and sustainable human future. Or we can have corporate rule. We cannot have
both.
David Korten is co-founder and board chair of YES! Magazine,
co-chair of the New Economy Working Group, president of the
Living
Economies Forum, an associate fellow of the Institute for Policy
Studies, and a member of the Club of Rome. His books include the
international best-seller When Corporations Rule the World, which
will be released in an updated 20th anniversary edition in June 2015.
~~~
Wind Power to Create Ripple of Jobs Thru 2050: Energy Report
By Arleen Richards,
Epoch Times |
March 13, 2015
Last Updated: March 13, 2015 11:26 pm
The estimate is based on several national studies including
a 2012 study of 1,009 counties across 12 states, which showed that personal
income for people working on wind power production increased by approximately
$11,000 between 2000 and 2008—the period when wind power installations
occurred.
Another
study, conducted in Iowa
In addition to highlighting expected environmental benefits, the report emphasized economic benefits. It estimated more than 600,000 jobs by 2050 in the wind energy industry, pulling workers from a number of sectors, including engineers, construction workers, truck drivers, factory workers, utility operators, maintenance technicians, and electricians.
“This report documents how wind energy already provides
major economic and environmental benefits to America, including protecting
consumers against energy price spikes, and making deep cuts in pollution and
water use, commented John Kostyack, Executive Director of the Wind Energy Foundation,
in the AWEA press release.
This report documents how wind
energy already provides major economic and environmental benefits to America
The estimate is based on several national studies including
a 2012 study of 1,009 counties across 12 states, which showed that personal
income for people working on wind power production increased by approximately
$11,000 between 2000 and 2008—the period when wind power installations
occurred.
Another study, conducted in Iowa
MORE:
An analysis of the compilation of studies revealed the
rapid expansion of wind power in the United States
By 2013, technical colleges and universities in the country
started offering wind technician courses and wind-power programs. The
technician training programs at community colleges grew from six in 2008 to 100
in 2012.
Some other key projections discussed in the report included
the goal to install 11 GW per year through 2050; invest $70 billion per year
through 2050 in the wind manufacturing sector; and an anticipated consumer
savings of $280 billion by 2050.
~~~
On an early January evening, while cooking dinner, one of
my dogs started barking like crazy at our front door. I went to see why she was barking, and saw a
black & white dog in the driveway across the street. I immediately went out
and tried to call her, but she just looked at me, went up the driveway and was
gone. I rang my neighbor’s doorbell and
told them about her. They informed me
that they had been seeing her for a couple of weeks. I called Animal Control because I thought it
might be someone’s dog from our neighborhood. When the Animal Control officer arrived they
did a “drive-by”, didn’t see her, and left. I checked Lost Dogs Illinois
A couple of days went by without a sighting. That
Saturday we decided to walk around the neighborhood to see if we could spot
her, and we did! We called Animal Control again. When the officer arrived I gave him a
description of the dog. He informed me that they had been looking for the same
dog for 6-8 weeks. I went back on the
Lost Dogs Illinois Carpentersville . I wasn’t sure if that was really the dog I
was seeing because we live in Elgin
At first we were unsure if we should contact the person
who posted her to LDI’s page. We weren’t positive it was Pebbles, because she
wouldn’t let us get close enough to get a good look, but the similarities were
uncanny. Our thought was “some hope is
better than no hope” so we got in contact with Rayann, Pebbles’ foster mom. She informed us that Pebbles had gotten out
while on a trial adoption with a family in Carpentersville .
Rayann and another woman came out the next night to help
us search for her. We had no luck that
night, but told Rayann we would not stop trying and would text her if we
spotted Pebbles again. Steve spent
countless hours tracking and searching the neighborhood. He was out there in a blizzard, and on many
below-zero nights, hoping to find signs of where she was sheltering. He had a few leads, but never truly found her
it. Pebbles did lead him on a couple of
nice long walks around the neighborhood as she darted in between houses and
through yards.
We then set up a feeding station at our house, handed out
flyers, and knocked on peoples’ doors to generate sightings. It turned out that a lot of people had seen
Pebbles. We installed video cameras at
our house so we could watch and record when the dog was coming to eat. The first time we got her on video, I sent it
to Rayann, and she confirmed it was in fact Pebbles!
At that point, we weren’t sure how we were going to catch
her. That’s when I saw a post on LDI’s
Facebook page about a dog that had been missing for a year and was recently caught. I commented on the post saying how it
gave us hope about catching Pebbles. Susan
Taney and Katie Campbell replied to my comment and from there we started
messaging on Facebook.
Susan informed me that she had a trap we could borrow. The next night, Susan drove out to our house
and showed us how to set the trap and explained how to lure Pebbles into it. We spent two weeks slowly moving the feeding
station into the trap. Then, at 3:59am
on February 22nd Pebbles worked up the nerve to go all the way into
the trap. She set off the trap but,
unfortunately, the trap door bounced and she was able to get out. Our hearts were broken. The
next day we started the process of slowly moving the feeding station into the
trap again. Pebbles was now so leery of
the trap that she wouldn’t go anywhere near it. It was time to devise a new plan.
After consulting with Susan and Katie, we decided it
would be best to try and get her into our backyard. My husband, Steve, is very
handy and extremely talented when it comes to thinking outside the box and
putting those ideas into motion. He
thought that if we could get her into our backyard and figure out a way to get
the gate to close behind her, we could catch her. He rigged up a whole pulley system with ropes
and bungee cords tied to our gate, with the other end of the rope tied to a
frozen hot dog. Pebbles had a history of
taking the food we left out for her and running off with it to eat somewhere
else. If she tried to take the hot dog and run she would set off the
trap, and the gate door would close behind her before she could get out. Once again, Pebbles outsmarted us. She came
into our back yard several times, but each time decided to lie down and enjoy
her hot dogs in peace. Again, it was
time to figure out a new plan.
Steve made some adjustments to his design, and decided
that he was going to attach a rope to the gate and bring it up to the front
porch of our house. We were hopeful that
when we saw her on the camera in the backyard, we could go out front and pull
the rope to close the gate. We tried
this every night for about a week, but Pebbles would never come when we were
awake. She somehow knew exactly when we
went to bed and would show up about 10 minutes later. We nicknamed her “Santa” because she “knew
when we were sleeping and when we were awake." She would then wander around our yard and
peacefully eat her hot dogs.
Finally, on March 17th , Steve decided he was
going to stay up late to see if she would come. It was around midnight when he saw her on the
camera. Her head popped through the open
gate and she looked around. She then came all the way into the yard and started
sniffing around. Steve immediately went
out our front door and pulled the rope with all his might to shut the gate. The
gate was closed and she was now in our back yard! I was awakened when he said “I got her…she’s
in the back yard!” I instantly called
Rayann to tell her the news. She was so excited that she got dressed and headed
out our way. Now we had to try to get
the slip lead on her, and it wasn’t going to be easy. Pebbles is extremely
fearful of people…even those whom she had been seeing and smelling, and who
were feeding her daily.
I messaged Katie and Susan for advice. Katie suggested one of us go out there with
food, sit down, and slowly scooch our way toward Pebbles. I armed myself with a bowl of cut up hot dogs
and headed to the backyard. I sat down
and had Pebbles in my sight, never making direct eye contact with her. I
used yawning and lip licking as calming signals, while pretending to eat the
hot dog pieces and gently tossing some to her. Every couple of minutes I would scooch a
little closer and she would move away a little more. After about an hour and a half I was able to
get her in the corner behind our garage and shed. She let me get close enough
that I could softly pet her and tell her it was going to be ok. I pulled the slip lead out of my pocket and
gently slid it over her head. She never resisted. She knew her ordeal was over and she was safe.
I called Steve to let him know that he
and Rayann could come outside. Rayann
was so happy to see Pebbles, and Pebbles was happy to see her too! We were all
in tears.
Pebbles
and Amy
On March 18th at 2:00am, after three months,
several failed attempts, a blizzard, below zero temperatures, accidentally
trapping a raccoon, and overwhelming concern for her safety, Pebbles was
finally safe! Pebbles is now in her forever home with Rayann (who is going to
adopt her!) and all of her doggie siblings. She got a bath, a new collar and
tags, and is proudly strutting around showing everyone. A very happy ending to a long adventure for
everyone!
Pebbles and Rayann — Home At Last!
Thank you Amy for sharing your story! You and
Steve rock as Good Samaritans!
This entry was posted in Feeding Station, Reunions, Trapping and tagged feeding stations, lost
dogs, reunion stories, shy and timid dogs, shy
dogs, Trapping on March 21, 2015.
~~~
If the good Lord is willing and the creek
don't rise, I'll talk with you again this week, hopefully Friday.
God Bless You All
&
God Bless the United States of America
Floyd
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