The Death of an Army of One

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Tuesday April 15, 2014 · 2:42 AM PDT

2014/04/15 · 02:42

This is a diary written by a former U.S. GI and American expat living in Germany, who is writing about US military and veteran suicide.

Did you know "The Army of One" used to be a recruiting slogan?
This is a sober diary about the state of these United States in the year 2014, where yet once again active duty military personnel are threatening through sobering statistics.........wherein more service members have committed suicide than were killed in combat and that more or less in America everyday about 22 veterans commit suicide. That is nearly one an hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in a posture where death takes no holiday. Death never goes on strike. It simply soldier's on, taking our brothers and sisters. If we are human still, if we can shed a tear,(through stone cold eyes) if American society as yet has not filled you with a callous disregard for the value of human life, in where we regularly are socialized (as a final act of craven betrayal) to perfidiously step over homeless Americans, many of whom have served the nation honorably! Let me ask the hearts and unfeeling cold eyes made of stone, in the stillness of our own minds, why doesn't selfless sell in America?

Let us please understand this is historically a global problem, but nowhere in any other major industrialized country in the world is the problem as acute as it is in these United States, because we in America are the only major industrialized country on earth that doesn't have a universal medical access system as a human right that would care for everyone, veterans included.

THE RESCUE OF " AN ARMY OF ONE"!!
Watch an Amazing Timelapse Transformation of a Homeless Vet by the name of ..............................Jim Wolf United States Army Veteran.

Instead what we have is a grossly underfunded Veteran Administration's hospital system wherein too many veterans fall through the cracks. Concurrently we must also know that even large numbers of our active duty personnel find themselves ill served, wherein annually regularly more service members fall victim to suicide than are killed in combat. To that end, I invite you to watch the video below produced by the Dept of Defense which does not air on commercial television. Therefore it is unlikely you have ever seen this ad or others like in on this diary.

PLEASE NOTE: VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

(Suicide prevention ad from the American Armed Forces Network)

(This commercial is unavailable on commercial American network television, it is made for broadcast on the Armed Forces television network AFN) Please remember by selflessly saving others, the life you save may be your own.

AMERICA WHERE OH WHERE DID YOU LOSE YOUR WAY!
One day I woke up in America and found my boyhood home that I'd been raised in, that I'd played baseball in, (with the boys of summer) and heard the crack of the bat, (smelt the hotdogs in the air), gone! It had just disappeared.It turned into a plutocracy with a callous disregard for human life.When I finally discovered I couldn't even go back to that great American boyhood pastime which is the county fair,(as the fairgrounds on occasion had been turned into an open air makeshift dental treatment center for the medically and dental indigent with medieval overtones reminiscent of a third world nation). I was faced with the stark reality that the America I had been raised in was gone! Ergo I took the decision to return to my ancestral home in Europe,(which like the rest of the E.U. humanely has universal medical access) because it became too painful to stay and watch what had happened to the country in which I love and was raised in. Where did it go, how did we get here? Don't we know that America is the only major industrialized nation in the world that doesn't offer its citizens universal access to medicine as a human right. Don't we know what happens to people when they can't get access to mental health care, particularly in a vastly under-funded Veteran's Administration healthcare system. Of course we know, we all know, everyone of us know and we're all too well mannered to talk about it, instead we allow too many of our brothers and sisters simply to slip away quietly as gentlemen and ladies in the night through suicide, because after all we are such a polite society, killing people with our craven kindness.

The thing about suicide is of course that it is a completely 100% preventable cause of death, and the best way to prevent it is to care enough about the victims to at least remember or record their names,(they aren't just numbers, who can be allowed to disappear into nothing, as if they never existed). We should erect a permanent memorial today in the nation's capital and around the country, with their names inscribed on it to memorialize them as we owe them a debt of grateful remembrance for their service to the nation, and let their families know they are not invisible, that we note with great sadness their passing, and that we are part of them, and they are part of us. That we are all together as one, part of the same whole in this place called America, which I had always thought was the last, best hope for the rights of humankind, while I grew up there.

In that the nation all of us care enough to speak out and more importantly listen, when people ask for help to reach out to people and their families in crisis, and to never, ever again allow our nation to be lied in to another Iraq style war that is going to drag us into the bushes, where we are fighting people who had nothing at all to do with 9/11 simply because the American government for the most part has been bought by the rich chicken hawk Wall Street war profiteers and their lobbyist and associates with private capital, primarily financial capital in a depoliticized America, that is increasingly becoming a completely atomized society. Nowhere is this problem worse than in the GOP and in the morally bankrupt so called Christian right, all whom are traitors of the American working class dream, along with some prominent collaborators from the Democratic party.
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What can we as the public do about this issue?

(When asked if he had any suggestions on dealing with this issue, Hal Donahue who is a veteran and blogger at the Huffington Post said on his Facebook page, quote: "one case at a time and keep the publicity on the issue...is all I can suggest" (end of quote)

He is absolutely right, we need to keep the attention on this issue. So to that end, I would like to please ENLIST your help in keeping the attention on this issue to with exigence share this article and ones like it on social media just as often as your time may permit, even to the point of cramping your fingers, so we can continue to draw the attention of the public to this important (lifesaving) issue, and keep it there permanently!!!

(THE CURRENT MILITARY AND VETERAN SUICIDE RATE COMBINED AMOUNTS TO A TOTAL OF 23 MILITARY SUICIDES EVERYDAY IN AMERICA)

We are able to put a man on the moon, but we're not able to prevent military and veteran suicide in America in the year 2014? Simply put I don't buy it and neither should you because it's a damn lie. There are so many different studies out there that purport so many different things, that is why this diary relies on none of them, because their purpose is to create such a whirlwind of intentional statistical sophistry and confusion, so that the responsible parties are never fired, never disciplined, never held to account, and never miss a big bonus check. Everybody knows that until you start holding people and administrators accountable nothing changes. We have to have accountability. Harry Truman said the buck stops here! Are you listening President Obama, because if you are Sir please we need your help today. If you agree with this, then please call or write the White House today and ask President Obama to help us stop the absolutely 100% preventable tragedy of military and veteran suicide. Thank you.

Did you know that sexual assault in the US military has been identified as a factor in military suicide?

Huffington Post article "50 Facts About Sexual Assault in the US Military" (Nov. 15th 2013) "Military victims of violent assault or rape are 6 times more likely to attempt suicide than service members and veterans who have not experienced sexual assault and rape." Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

The video below provides our readers with important information as to the stressors relating to suicide for military reservists, wherein finances were correctly identified as being a contributor of stress to military families. Perhaps if Congress would finally raise military pay to the point where food stores on military bases would no longer have to accept food stamps. This would take substantial stressors possibly leading to suicide, and pressure off military families.

(Please note: The Army Reserve and National Guard units have called up hundreds of thousands of Reservists to obviate the need for a draft from being instituted, because we know from our history of the Vietnam War instituting a draft will create vociferous, national protests that will shut down the war, whereas mobilizing Reserve and National Guard service members (from all branches) hasn't ever historically had the same effect. (Repeat deployments are a problem, that help well heeled traitors to the American cause avoid the responsibility of service). Of course the active duty force is also substantially over stressed with repeat deployments. May I please ask doesn't this lead to the perception that while the American military is at war, well heeled America is at the mall. Isn't it strangely unfair that we ask the very Americans who have the least to do the most for the country. As such hasn't this become a descriptor of the very craven darkness that has started to surround the very soul of American well heeled society, who literally stridently step over the veterans with callous disregard, in what must be seen as a perfidious, final indeed craven act of betrayal by the well heeled traitors to the working class cause of all Americans.

Here's a Youtube video link of a report from Gordon Duff (senior editor of Veterans Today) that veteran suicide statistics are vastly under-reported in America today: http://www.youtube.com/...

Now, how big of a problem is military suicide in America, really? Well the truth is really nobody knows for sure. As is demonstrated in the Reuters piece this diary linked to earlier, the status of military suicide as reported on death certificates is only published in 21 STATES. What this means is that government statistics on this issue are incomplete and therefore most likely have to be viewed as a clear attempt to whitewash the government's failure in its management of military and veteran suicide in America which must be seen as a failure to hold senior administrators reasonably accountable. Therefore, please do not be misled by statistics which sole intent is to confuse with inconclusive sophistry, and downplay this completely preventable American tragedy. What we do know for sure from the statistics we have is that we have about 23 combined military and veteran suicides in every 24 hour period. Doubtlessly that is too much. If the other 29 States reported military and veteran suicide statistics, that number would only get bigger, as if this preventable tragedy wasn't big enough already.

The civilians in our society must be educated to understand that it isn't just those who are in combat but the stressors of non-combat military life in general are such that it must be identified plainly as an additional driver of military suicide. The simple truth is that most of these people would be alive today if it weren't for their military service.

Reuters February 1st 2013
"The VA did not provide raw data and acknowledged its national figures were still estimates. The new study was based on data collected from 21 states in which military status is reported on the death certificate. It said more data from more states were being processed." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Here is a link to a suicide prevention lifeline for anyone military, vet or just a plain good old American civilian. Please help anyone who you see may need help.
http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
Remember by selflessly saving others, the life you save may be your own. Please remember you are never alone! There is always hope :-) Can you imagine the indescribable pain and the deep, hollow, heartfelt sadness felt by a parent who has raised a child from a little baby and who has lost that child be it in combat or through military suicide. If we do not stand in solidarity with the families of our fallen brothers and sisters, it will diminish us all, in this place called America as the last, best hope for humankind will be gone!(To future historians this diary is about the struggle for survival in America in the year 2014. The purpose of this diary is to afflict the well heeled and comfortable, and to comfort the afflicted, because that's the only way America's needless tragedy will ever change, for both civilian and military/veteran suicides). So you see this is about more than just the death of an army of one!....... Let me end on this positive note, if we will stand together we will win!! Military suicide is an enemy we must all face together! Please join us in spreading the word on all social media! (End of diary).

WHY ANYONE WOULD TROLL A SUICIDE PREVENTION DIARY BEGGARS BELIEF!
Please support and share this suicide prevention diary and ones like it on all social media to help us curtail the totally preventable tragic suicide rate in America, both for civilian and military suicides. Finally please don't listen to Internet trolls. We cannot be allowed to reduce suicide victims in America and their bereaving families to mere statistics, so as rob them of their humanity, in a clear attempt to whitewash this completely preventable human tragedy.
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Why doesn't selfless sell in America?

Democrats Ramshield

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Saturday April 12, 2014 · 7:08 AM PDT

2014/04/12 · 07:08

(Please note this diary has been republished and edited. at the request of readers)

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union) As an MBA in marketing I have developed this eccentric habit of watching international ads and I have discovered something, the rest of the world sells things differently to their people than we do. I call them selfless ads which don't sell anything in America according to Madison Avenue. So it is I stumbled across a selfless ad in Thailand made by a life insurance company. Now doubtlessly some troll will say I am trying to hawk Thai life insurance at the Kos. In fact that could only be the case if you want to move to Asia, as that company doesn't even do business in the US. But dealing with trolls isn't the point in this diary. My question is why doesn't selfless sell in America? Why have we in America become so different that we have been conned into believing self before service and prostrating ourselves before the altar of Wall Streeters.

Why does this sell in Thailand but not America? Are we less human than the Thai. Do we care less about people, each other. Why is it we care so little about being liked so much in America. Why is it that the feelings that money can't buy aren't valued, aren't considered to be made in America goods. Do we really believe that he who dies with the most toys wins! Is this how we're able to tolerate being the only major industrialized nation in the world that doesn't have paid job protected maternity leave the law of the land. Is this how we tolerate being the only major industrialized country in the world that doesn't have universal access to medicine. How is this possible?

Is this how we're able to have the highest mass incarceration rate per 100,000 of any country on earth. Is this why we're able to spend essentially more on military than most of the world combined. Is this why we can live with 45 million people on food stamps. Is this why we're able to step over our homeless vets. Is this how we can tolerate our kids having to move home to live in their parents' underwater mortgaged homes basement, where Wall Street has drowned them in student debt. (Europe asks American Atlantis,with $1.2 TRILLION in underwater mortgages why don't you STOP paying?)

(Please note: With all of this military spending, on-base grocery stores in America accept food stamps which means too many military families are dependent on a poverty program to get enough food. What kind of America has this become?)

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Let's remember that one of the reasons many people join the U.S. military is because employers by law unlike every other highly industrialized country (in the western European Union) aren't required to provide paid sick leave by right of law. Is this why 60 million people have no paid sick leave in America? Is this why American employers can get away without offering any paid sick leave. Is it because Americans uniquely in the world pursuing a rugged cult of brainwashed individualists think they are an island onto themselves, that it doesn't take a village to raise children? How is it possible to deprogram human beings to such a retrograde callous state of unfeeling indifference to the human condition and suffering of others? Aren't we all part of the same one? Don't we all bleed red? Don't we have the same needs and fears? How can we allow others to dehumanize us? When this happens, doesn't it diminish us all? Who could ever be proud of such a thing by covering it in a blanket of rugged individualism, as if we're all living in the pioneer days of 1860 instead of the year 2014.

That libraries as the last, best fully socialized institutions in America are being rapidly de-funded, so we can all go buy ebooks, where 63% of all prison inmates are illiterate and 85% of juveniles who have contact with the criminal justice system are likewise functionally illiterate. That institutions like the library who support literacy are rapidly being de-funded nationally.

Here in Germany as is the case of most of rest of the European Union people get 30 days paid vacation by law, even if they are low wage fast food workers. They get complete medical and dental and get paid maternity leave, paid sick leave. They get a 13 months wage Christmas bonus for the most part. University and college education is so low priced that it is almost free. That is to say American students spend more on textbooks annually than do German students on tuition. They have unemployment insurance that when it runs out switches to unemployment insurance 2 Hartz IV that never runs out. Imagine that? Unemployed workers also get complete medical and dental to include a prescription plan for them and their families.

So the Germans ask how is it that America cannot afford any of these things for its workers, but the US government has plenty of money to fund US spying by the NSA on millions of German people to include the cell phone of Angela Merkel , who Forbes listed as being the most powerful woman in the world.Out of a German economy which is considered to be the world's number 2 exporter nation right behind China. As such has become the richest country in the EU with massive investment of billions of Euros in high speed rail networks, clipping along at over 300 kilometers an hour. Whereas American trains run on tracks that are designed to move at 1950's speeds with crumbling critical infrastructure, but the really important thing here is as we are all rugged individualists, who hate government because government is inept and wasteful and cannot therefore be trusted, which is really code talk for only the rich can be trusted to run America. So now let's go give the Koch brothers a big pat on the back. So it is that I will end on the question I started with, which is why doesn't selfless sell in America? How did we get conned into this rugged cult of individualism, when it is only in working collectively we can leverage economies of scale. So it is that the Germans pay 9% of GNP for medical, cover 100% of the population and live longer than we do in America, while paying less as in America we pay about 16% of GNP while at the same time don't cover medically 59 million people. Yes I know Obamacare will change this, but we are not there yet at covering all of the 59 million uninsured. Then of course there is the danger even if we ever got there, that the pendulum will swing to the right come next election and we will lose all the ground gained, as the Republicans are always threatening to repeal Obamacare, which seems not to fully address dental issues. (I knew I had to leave America when I was no longer able to go to the county fair.)

If there is anything we as Americans can depend on as working class people, it must be each other. For if we don't firmly stand together surely we will all fall apart.

After the Koch brothers have taken everything from you, the last thing they will try to take from you is your dignity, I say don't give it to them. You're too special for that. Keep smiling that special smile that is uniquely you. Don't let them push you into callous disregard for our fellow human beings at home and around the world. Stay who you are. Be proud of your humanity and everything that makes you a good person because in the end that will be the only thing valuable enough to remember us for!

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My review of Noah starring Russel Crowe as a non-religious movie that will make you want to believe

Democrats Ramshield

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Sunday April 06, 2014 · 5:12 AM PDT

2014/04/06 · 05:12

(Electronic America media group at the Daily Kos) The film Noah is the number one rated box office movie at $125 million dollars, which is banned in Qatar, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates, and expected to be banned in some other countries as well. It is a non-religious movie that was inspired by the biblical tale of how Noah was called upon by God to build the Ark in preparation for a global flood, the plot as such requires no further introduction.

This film however it is NOT a strict version at all of what some people believe is taken from the biblical tale. It does take some artistic license, because the intent is merely to provide an entertainment movie and make money while entertaining people. The leading character Noah is played by none other than...yes you guessed it, Russell Crowe who comes forth as the strong silent type. He played in the top rated film Gladiator which established Crowe's on-screen tough guy persona as being someone you don't want to mess with. Noah of course is a larger than life role that any actor must grow into. This includes Russel Crowe who must compete for viewer attention with mind numbing special effects which are seldomly seen on screen and in cinema with that authentic wow reaction that we all had the first time we saw Jurassic Park, but the wows keep coming as the film is given an authentic feeling of under the fingernail deeply embedded very coarse shades of gray, grit and grim throughout this action packed often with violent frenetic and occasionally romantic moments.

NOAH: http://www.imdb.com/...

Anthony Hopkins who plays as Methuselah(Noah's grandfather) brings a truly authentic quality to the screen unmatched, leaving the viewer completely defenseless. He makes you really believe you are seeing and listening to Methuselah who is believed to be the longest living human being on record, lives in what may only be described as fastidiously spartan circumstances in a natural cave, wherein a man who has seen everything and has had everything in his enormously long life, he finds refreshingly extraordinary pleasures in the simple things such as eating a berry and speaking to his great-grandchild Japheth (played by Leo McHugh Carroll) in his humble cave abode.. Hopkins speaks to the simplicity of truth and to the wisdom of honesty and loyalty to his creator, yet there are whimsical moments where we see that glean in the eye that is the authentic Anthony Hopkins, who invites us all to suspend reality and simply believe through the touch which is his gift alone both on-screen and off.

Noah's wife Naameh is played by none other then Jennifer Connelly, the soft feminine yet tough as nails lovely wife of Noah and mother to his 3 sons. She is in a fight throughout the film in a pushed to the wall struggle of survival for herself and her children in a world that is fastidiously coarse, gritty and gratuitously violent. She challenges us to aspire and hope and to never give up on life because in life there's always hope and love which is at the essence of her feminine touch. This comes across as so authentic, so as to leave us feeling touched. She is on a mission to persuade Noah to save humanity itself. So it is that she has to persuade Noah not to act on what he believes the message that he has received which is that God has selected humanity for extinction, in what is clearly a creator designed global extinction event, which Noah believes includes his family. She must in order to defend the survival of the human race prevent Noah from sacrificing his two adopted infant granddaughters who are the last best hope of human survival, and who are destined to become the mothers of all living human beings on the earth.

The screen version of the film Noah apparently harkens back to a time in human evolutionary history before our appendix went into atrophy when human beings could eat bloody raw uncooked meat. Once however we moved beyond that finger licking good event (yuck), we see the retrograde state that humanity has fallen to under the tutelage and influence of Satan wherein greed, unbridled avarice reminiscent of modern day Wall Streeters became the natural state of existence of humanity. A quality which was personified in the person of King Tubal-cain, who is an evil Lord under demonic influence (played by Ray Winstone) who attempts throughout the film to recruit Noah's young son Ham, (played by Logan Lerman) to turn to the dark side wherein he pronounces to Tubal-cain to Ham that a man must not be afraid to take what is rightfully his, so as to vengefully turn him against his father Noah throughout the movie. More precisely attempts to get Ham to listen to his own inner most demons, so as to turn to his most base instincts of his dark side in a movie which is full of supernatural events that often seem to defy the imagination, physics and logic but in doing so create an awesome cinematic event fit for the whole family, which includes a tasteful romantic interlude between Noah's eldest son Shem (played by Douglas Booth) and Noah's adopted daughter Ila (played by Emma Watson).

This lightens up the often dark coarse gray tones of a movie which subject matter seems vulgar or even psychotic at times, having witnessed the destruction of the planet earth by water. In what otherwise may only be described as a struggle of the state of human existence, where we must all confront the light and the dark sides within us. It is a struggle for personal identity, hope, resistance, love and survival. This cinematic masterpiece weaves and blends these elements in a way so as to create a new reality that allows the viewer to suspend disbelief, and for a few short hours to believe in Noah and his coarsely built ark. I give this movie a two strong thumbs up. Bring your friends and family. Heck bring the whole neighborhood. It's the non-religious film that will make you believe. If all you expect is a good entertainment box office movie that stays true to the human condition and that makes you think and feel surely you won't be disappointed by the movie, its acting or the special effects. I wasn't and I look forward to seeing it again. Who knows maybe I'll see you there. Smile!

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This movie review comes with not only a two thumbs up but my librarian's movie reviewer stamp of approval for the whole family. So go see it and remember to have fun!

PLEASE FEEL INVITED TO SHARE MY DIARY ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA. THANKS.

PS: Please note, this movie is said to have by it's director (Darren Aronofsky) a strong environmental message of renewal.
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(Democrats Ramshield diary, copyright © All rights reserved)
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Open Letter to BillO'Reily Egyptianization of Daily Kos is a catastrophy for this progressive writer

Democrats Ramshield

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Saturday April 05, 2014 · 2:39 AM PDT

2014/04/05 · 02:39

(This is a humor Diary!)

To Bill O'Reilly: As a good progressive American writer, I love cats as much as the next person, but I've noticed that cat diaries at the Daily Kos are on the rec list more than I am when a diary that I wrote yesterday about libraries fell off the recommended list here at Daily Kos early. (just kidding.) Hehe. Then it suddenly hit me, if you can't beat them (cat people @Daily Kos), join them!

Bill, I know you say Daily Kos is a burning hot bastion of liberalism but it's not true at all. It's the cats, Bill! It's the cats, it really is the cat's meow.

Psssst! These are just the cat diaries of the last 3 months but there's a lot more cat diaries than this at the Kos that got voted on the recommended list. (smile) :-).

(Seriously, please feel invited to bookmark this diary as the only one-stop shop resource if you have missed any cat diaries since January 18th 2014. Listed below is a complete resource for nearly the last quarter at Daily Kos of all cat diaries)

Fursdai Furries by triciawyse
152 Comments Thu Apr 03, 2014 with 85 Recommends

Toosdai Critters: April Powers by kishik
132 Comments on Tue Apr 01, 2014 with 73 Recommends

#sekritarmy nails it (pooties, woozles and other stuff) by whoknu
113 Comments on Sun Mar 30, 2014 with 103 Recommends

Happee Caturdai Pootie Diaree by triciawyse
109 Comments on Sat Mar 29, 2014 with 100 Recommends

Friedai Critters by triciawyse
128 Comments on Fri Mar 28, 2014 with 72 Recommends

Fursdai Furries by triciawyse
109 Comments on Thu Mar 27, 2014 with 77 Recommends

Are Ewe Lookin' For Moondai Furbutts? by The Marti
163 Comments on Mon Mar 31, 2014 with 80 Recommends

Toosdai Critters: Watsa Matta U by kishik
196 Comments on Tue Mar 25, 2014 with 73 Recommends
First Furbutts of Spring: Moondai 24 March by The Marti
155 Comments on Mon Mar 24, 2014 with 105 Recommends

#sekritarmy cool kidz wanna rock (pooties, woozles, critters) by whoknu
139 Comments on Sun Mar 23, 2014 with 115 Recommends

Happee Caturdai Pootie Diaree by triciawyse
135 Comments on Sat Mar 22, 2014 with 87 Recommends

Friedai Critters by KrazyKitten
111 Comments on Fri Mar 21, 2014 with 76 Recommends

Fursdai Furries by triciawyse
149 Comments on Thu Mar 20, 2014 with 69 Recommends

Toosdai Critters: Toosdai = Cute Day by kishik
153 Comments on Tue Mar 18, 2014 with 59 Recommends

Happee Caturdai Pootie Diaree by triciawyse
100 comments on Sat Mar 15, 2014 with 88 Recommends

Friedai Critters by triciawyse
122 comments on Fri Mar 14, 2014 with 84 Recommends

Fursdai Furries by triciawyse
127 comments on Thu Mar 13, 2014 with 84 Recommends

Toosdai Critters: Stuck on You by kishik
131 Comments on Tue Mar 11, 2014 with 68 Recommends

Toosdai Critters: Cheer Up by kishik
171 Comments on Tue Mar 04, 2014 with 74 Recommends

Songs with cat in the title or about cats by BFSkinner
91 comments on Mon Mar 03, 2014 at 09:23 PM CET with 18 Recommends

Moondai Furbutts by triciawyse
195 comments on Mon Mar 03, 2014 at 08:00 PM CET with 78 Recommends

#sekritarmy don't need no stinkin' rulz (pooties, woozles and stuff) by whoknu
64 comments on Sun Mar 02, 2014 at 09:01 PM CET with 104 Recommends

Happee Caturdai Pootie Diaree by triciawyse
190 comments on Sat Mar 01, 2014 at 08:00 PM CET with 88 Recommends

Friedai Critters by triciawyse
Comment Count 146 comments on Fri Feb 28, 2014 at 08:00 PM CET with 83 Recommends

Fursdai Furries by triciawyse
Comment Count 137 comments on Thu Feb 27, 2014 at 08:00 PM CET with 93 Recommends

Tail End Of February Moondai Furbutts 24 February by The Marti
Comment Count 200 comments on Mon Feb 24, 2014 at 08:15 PM CET with 95 Recommends

#sekritarmy fame (pooties, woozles and critters)
by whoknu
Comment Count 89 comments on Sun Feb 23, 2014 at 09:05 PM CET with 111 Recommends

Happee Caturdai Pootie Diaree by triciawyse
Comment Count 76 comments on Sat Feb 22, 2014 at 08:00 PM CET with 81 Recommends

Friedai Critters by triciawyse
Comment Count 77 comments on Fri Feb 21, 2014 at 08:00 PM CET with 62 Recommends

Big Sister: The Early Days, Part 1 by Old Sailor
Comment Count 12 comments on Fri Feb 21, 2014 at 03:18 AM CET with 15 Recommends

Fursdai Furries by triciawyse
124 comments on Thu Feb 20, 2014 at 08:00 PM CET with 76 Recommends

Tuesdai Critters: Mushu's Last Journey Home by kishik
139 comments on Tue Feb 18, 2014 at 08:15 PM CET with 179 Recommends

Tuesdai Critters: Confessions of a 'Nip Addict by kishik
139 comments on Tue Feb 25, 2014 at 08:15 PM CET with 84 Recommends

Moondai Furbutts 17 Feb-you-airy 2014 by The Marti
148 comments on Mon Feb 17, 2014 at 08:00 PM CET with 77 Recommends

#sekritarmy down the rabbit hole (pooties, woozles, critters) by whoknu
41 comments on Sun Feb 16, 2014 at 09:07 PM CET with 93 Recommends

Brother Kitty and His Baskets by Old Sailor
30 comments on Mon Feb 17, 2014 at 06:12 PM CET with 59 Recommends

Little Sister Comes To Live With Us, Part 2 by Old Sailor
Comment Count 23 comments on Sat Feb 15, 2014 at 03:33 PM CET with 18 Recommends

Happee Caturdai Pootie Diaree by triciawyse
Comment Count 105 comments on Sat Feb 15, 2014 at 08:00 PM CET with 87 Recommends

Fursdai Furries by triciawyse
Comment Count 137 comments on Thu Feb 13, 2014 at 08:00 PM CET with 89 Recommends

Toosdai Critters: Winter Snooze by kishik
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Street Prophets Coffee Hour: Cats That Paint by linkage
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Not that anyone should care, but my favorite movies are the Hunger Games trilogy and my favorite character is...yes you guess it... KATNISS!

"ARE SOCIETIES IN LIFE AND ART SOCIALLY ENGINEERED?

What does it say about our society when even art can't imitate real life in America. By way of a comment in levity, I point out that even in the Hunger Games film they had nationwide hi-speed rail system in their fictionalized view of a future dystopian America,but in the real America there is no nationwide hi-speed rail system for art to imitate. Now how strange is that."

So it is that this diary has come to its natural end. I as a stone mason wielding my hammer and chisel have but one wish in printing my final hieroglyphs on this wall, that with the pleasure of the Pharaoh my name be allowed to appear in the Egyptian book of the dead for my unpaid labor of love on this wall. So I may rise again, so as to serve the cat gods, both now and forever, not as a slave but as a freeman having earned my place with tireless love and devotion in the service of cats everywhere.

What? You say there's not enough cat pictures! POST YOUR OWN BELOW. (I hope this humor diary has brighten up your day)

PS: Note to self, remind Bill he can't possibly hate a place that's full of cute cats! :-)

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PLEASE SHARE THIS DIARY ON FACEBOOK AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA. YOU LIKING THIS DIARY IS MY ONLY FORM OF PAY (smile) THANK YOU!

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When more libraries are closed what will happen to intellectual freedom & prejudice in America?

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Thursday April 03, 2014 · 8:22 AM PDT

2014/04/03 · 08:22

Update pending!!

Amazing photos show us why the American transportation network has fallen off the rails!

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Sunday March 16, 2014 · 2:23 AM PDT

2014/03/16 · 02:23

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)

"Forget the space race. The new arms race is over high-speed trains. China is in negotiations to build a high-speed rail network to India and Europe that would make a trip from London to Beijing last just two days".
Read more: http://www.smartplanet.com/...

The network would begin in London and extend to India, Pakistan and Beijing. It could eventually carry passengers from on to Singapore, a trip that would last three days, according to project consultant Wang Mengshu, as reported in the Telegraph (UK). A second line would extend from Beijing northward, through Russia to Germany, linking with the European railway system.
Read more: http://www.smartplanet.com/...

Most Americans have no experience with hi-speed rail from a passengers perspective. Therefore this diary tries to give some background as to what your experience maybe on hi-speed rail.

(Photo on the left is the Belgium Thalys hi-speed train which offers a service from Koln, Germany to Paris, France in 3 hours.)

As an American expat living in the European Union I was recently able to travel in a German hi-speed rail train, clipping along at excess of over 300 kilometers an hour from Frankfurt to Cologne. It was a very smooth ride, much smoother than any airplane I've ever been on. It was also much quieter than any plane I've ever been on, and of course there were more bathrooms than any plane I'd ever been on. I kept my tray during my trip in the upright position, except when I was using my laptop, which I was able to plug in under my seat. Instead of being served that really tacky tasting airline food, I was able to go to the dining cart and pick out from a full menu of tasty dishes. During the ride I was able to use my cell phone as well as wireless internet, and of course there could be no luggage lost, because I was able to keep a hold of my luggage, not just a carry on. Then let me state the obvious there was no pre-flight check in, no pat downs, no scanners. When you buy your ticket, you don't even have to go to a ticket counter, you can buy it from a vending machine. If you miss your train it is never a problem, because there will be another train usually within the hour. Watching the German countryside whisk by at a speed of over 300 kilometers an hour was breathtaking, as well as beautiful. It beats looking out your window at clouds that's for sure.

Stewards came by with a cart at regular intervals filled with refreshments, for those who did not want to get up and stretch their legs and go for a bit of a walk. Oh by the way did I mention they had more toilets than any flight I've ever been on. Hmm oh yes, I guess I did. How about this, the bathrooms were larger than any airline toilet I've ever seen. The food was better than any airline food I've ever tried. I grant you there was no in flight movie, but with the breathtaking scenery going by of castles, rivers and charming countryside who has time to watch yet another cheesy Hollywood production. There were a lot of radio stations you could jack in to through your headset. I especially like the ones that play classical music. You could go with reserve seating for about 3 Euros (just under $5), or do the al La Carte thing and change seats if you felt like it. Try doing that on an airliner sitting next to someone that doesn't stop snoring!

(This is a picture of a French hi-speed rail train)

Well is there more, yes there is more. The seating was comfortable in first class as well as coach. I've traveled both. The seats reclined. They had footrests, and for any one who is traveling by air, the trains get this, stop right at the airports in multiple German cities to include Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich. Of course this scenario is repeated through the entirety of Europe in London, Paris and Rome to name but a few. Of course within the European Union there is no customs or border controls, so traveling is convenient and easy, as well as comfortable and convenient. It should also be said that main German railway stations as is the case throughout the European Union usually connect to subways and other local transportation networks directly.

German rail stations in major cities are spacious. There are a large number of restaurants, something for everyone's palate and budget ranging from Subways to McDonalds to Starbucks or original German restaurants, grocery stores, bookstores, newsstands, any shop you can find at an airport, you'll find three of those (smile) at a rail station and vicinity. For first class passengers there is always a first class lounge for waiting travelers in Germany. Unlike most of the airports, the train stations in Europe are usually centrally located, such as Kings Cross or Victoria station in London. It is convenient because believe it or not you can get from London to Paris by train quicker than you can by air now that the Channel tunnel is in operation. The train journey takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes, when we take the 1 hour time zone difference between Paris and London into account.Here is a typical timetable for schedules.

(For anyone interested in experiencing up close and personal the golden age of steam powered European locomotives, here's a one minute YouTube video I made.)

This diary is about rekindling America's lost love affair with rail travel.

Now to be clear this is an action diary and not a rail travel guide through the European Union. This action diary asks you to please share this diary with your friends on social media and write to your member of Congress today and tell them to get on board with hi-speed rail. While much has been written about America's love affair with the automobile, with rising gasoline prices and long driving times, the American traveling public has also had a long time love affair with air travel. Now with America's airports and interstate highway system in a state of perpetual gridlock, especially at peak travel times, isn't hi-speed rail quick as air travel an idea whose time has come. Or do we perpetually want to invest in operating the only antiquated railway system of this size and scope of any major industrialized nation in the world, that operates at speeds that have been in existence since the 1950's. Therefore the word hi-speed rail for Americans has become science fiction instead of science and engineering fact. This is directly attributable to the fact that America's plutocracies economic interests in the automotive and airline industry have prevented the investment of hi-speed rail which they see as an economic rival which provides a badly needed upgraded in America's critical transportation infrastructure network.

(The above picture is a hi-speed German rail ICE train which is capable of traveling at 186 mph)

"The new arms race: China planning high-speed rail network to Russia, India, Europe"

This diary is about rekindling America's lost love affair with trains.

Creating a hi-speed rail critical infrastructure would involve laying a lot of hi-speed rail track. That's one more way that hi-speed rail would create a lot of new GREEN JOBS for Americans that cannot be outsourced! This is one more reason to get on board hi-speed rail. Do you agree?

We can do better than this and that's not off the rails either. Please call your member of Congress and please tell them to get on track with hi-speed rail. It's a green technology, as quick as air on many routes, it creates GREEN JOBS that can't be outsourced , and it can serve the American traveling public as an alternative to air travel on many routes. While concurrently providing a socially leveling and generally affordable critical infrastructure for a public option in transportation which is America's future. If we ignore this reality in America then we're certain to continue on the path of a superpower in decline....

The Economist: New York high-speed rail: A bleak futureFeb 7th 2014, 20:22 by N.B. | Washington, D.C.
THREE DAYS after he took office in 2010, Andrew Cuomo, New York's Democratic governor, wrote a letter to Ray LaHood, who was at the time Barack Obama's secretary of transportation. In it, Mr Cuomo asked that New York be given the federal high-speed rail money that other, Republican-led states had rejected. "High speed rail is critical to building the foundation for future economic growth, especially Upstate," Mr Cuomo wrote.

"In the end, New York was allocated around $300m to help reduce delays in and out of Penn Station,... but nothing to further its high-speed rail ambitions. And since then, Mr Cuomo's campaign promise to make such trains a priority has been largely FORGOTTEN".
http://www.economist.com/...

When will America finally get on-board with hi-speed rail?
If the world can use high-speed trains so can we.

This is about rekindling America's lost love affair with trains.

The truth is that the physics contrary to what some may believe, and economics of high speed rail work profitably and economically everywhere else in the world, where concurrently they have thriving aviation and automotive industries. The idea that this could never happen in the US is to blaspheme the physics that allow it to work just fine everywhere else in the world.

This can be done most efficaciously in the good ole US of A only because people have been brainwashed into believing a campaign of misinformation, lies and deception, because Americans have little or no personal experience with true hi-speed rail. And are tricked into believing that hi-speed rail isn't an economically viable choice. In fact it is, and the building of a hi-speed rail network would introduce a large number of good paying jobs that are green jobs that cannot be outsourced abroad. This would have the effect of stimulating the tax base as well as the economy.

The best US rail network is purported to be from Washington DC to Boston in the Acela, where a pretty train for the most part has to run on an antiquated rail network. As a matter of fact Noam Chomsky took that train and told me that he could see along the highway that the train was being overtaken by cars, whereas in Europe true hi-speed rail trains move in excess of 200 mph or faster. That is what America needs commitment to a true hi-speed rail network that is national, and not just in the Washington DC to Boston corridor. But to get there we are going to need your help.

ARE SOCIETIES IN LIFE AND ART SOCIALLY ENGINEERED?

What does it say about our society when even art can't imitate real life in America. By way of a comment in levity, I point out that even in the Hunger Games film they had nationwide hi-speed rail system in their fictionalized view of a future dystopian America, but in the real America there is no nationwide hi-speed rail system for art to imitate. Now how strange is that.

Is it really true that the only way to get hi speed rail in America is to out source the job to China? (humor) :-)

This is about rekindling America's lost love affair with rail travel.
The fact is that hi-speed rail is just an idea whose time has come in socially re-engineering America to benefit working class people. So please consider calling or writing to your member of Congress today and tell them to get on board with America's future in hi-speed rail, (to that end please share this diary in social media) . But this diary is about something else as well. It's about rekindling America's lost love affair with trains and reconnecting with the good old grid iron, that from sea to shining sea built a nation called America, which could be discovered a whistle stop away one community at a time. It is this type of no-nonsense practical American value that we understand, this is an idea and a positive American vision that's worth sharing, because rail travel is the idea that made America great. It did so then it can do so today. All we have to do is to care enough to get involved and make it happen and we can do it for ourselves, our communities and for America's future! (Warm smile) Yes it really is true....if we build it they will come. (End of diary).
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As a special treat for trail buffs here is a short 1min. video of a almost 100 year old German steam locomotive. Of course German trains are much faster. (Enjoy the short video) :-)

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I follow:
Virginians for High Speed Rail on Facebook
Midwest High Speed Rail Association on Facebook
and also entertainment ComicBookGirl19's Youtube channel.

The library is the last, best socialized institution in America today and you're about to lose it

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Saturday March 08, 2014 · 9:09 AM PST

2014/03/08 · 09:09

(This diary is written by an American expat living in the European Union who is a male business librarian who holds a graduate library degree (MLS) and a Master's degree in business administration in marketing).

As an American librarian I am glad to be living in the European Union where library funding isn't under attack to the extent that it is back home in the United States, because readership, literacy and an open based knowledge system that is publicly funded is still valued. In America, library budgets have become low hanging fruit for conservative local and state politicians.Louisiana is the worse case in point where Gov. Bobby Jindal has eliminated state library funding all together. Not only does it beg the question will your state be next but it asks the question what will you do when they come for your library and your kid's summer reading program? Do you really know how many books it's really going to take to make that special child or grandchild in your life a lifelong reader. Do you think you have anywhere near those numbers of books in your private collection?

Please let's remember the voluminous studies that have been done year after year, decade after decade that show us that prison inmates for the most part are functionally illiterate and that teen pregnancy is directly linked to literacy rates.

Christian Science Monitor: November 18, 2013
Louisiana residents choose libraries over jail to receive funds Residents of Lafourche Parish in Louisiana recently voted down a proposal that would have used money currently going to local libraries to build a new prison.
http://www.csmonitor.com/...

Literacy statistics and juvenile court
85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate.

More than 60 percent of all prison inmates are functionally illiterate.

Penal institution records show that inmates have a 16% chance of returning to prison if they receive literacy help, as opposed to 70% who receive no help. This equates to taxpayer costs of $25,000 per year per inmate and nearly double that amount for juvenile offenders.

Illiteracy and crime are closely related. The Department of Justice states, "The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure." Over 70% of inmates in America's prisons cannot read above a fourth grade level.
http://www.begintoread.com/...

According to UNICEF: "Nearly a billion people will enter the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names and two thirds of them are women."

People who don't grow up as lifelong readers grow up in an America living under a form of de facto censorship and what it means is that the censor, by withholding library funding, limits access to reading materials to children from a young age. So they don't get to see the other side of the coin and wind up developing a one-sided point of view which has been historically associated with sexism, homophobia, racial bigotry and other forms of intolerance and hate. If we don't support libraries, we support going backwards in a type of devolution of the past which is exactly what the Tea Party types mean when they say they want their country back.

My question to you Mr or Mrs Progressive America, just how far back in time will you let the haters take us? Will you let them take us back to a point in time when women didn't have the right to choose, a time before the civil rights movement would let anyone who chose to sit at the lunch counter, or when a time at the back of the bus was reserved, a time when people were hated for who they are or for who they loved or for what God they believed in, that is their America. But it's not our America, it's not the progressive America that we've come to love and aspire to, because that America is supported by your neighborhood library as an open knowledge learning center, where everyone is treated the same. It doesn't matter if it's the mayor or a homeless person, you can expect to receive the same level of service. You can expect to have access to a collective repository of everyone whose ever thought and everyone whose ever written, that's why I became a librarian and a reader and a listener and someone who you can count on to resist censorship in all of its guises. That includes false arguments related to library funding.

Source: From the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute of Literacy - U.S. Illiteracy Statistics (as of 2013)
Percent of U.S. adults who can’t read: 14 %
Number of U.S. adults who can’t read: 32 Million
Percent of U.S. adults who read below a 5th grade level: 21 %
Percent of prison inmates who can’t read: 63 %
Percent of high school graduates who can’t read: 19 %
http://www.statisticbrain.com/...

The library is a public good. It belongs to everyone but only for as long as you're willing to defend it. Public libraries due to budget cuts are cutting their operating hours, their services and yes too many are shutting their doors. Therefore this action diary asks you in support of your local library to write a letter to the editor today and to do it for yourself and do it for the special children in your life. Do it for your community and tell them that you support full community library funding today, tomorrow and forever.
-------------------------------------------
Updated information regarding the functioning of the library as an adult education center, made at the request of a reader.

The library as a children & adult learning center
One of the best parts about being a librarian is the information sharing. So I am pleased to have the opportunity to share with you my experience of working in the library as a children's and adult education center. You always hear these wonderful stories about adults who have come into the library, people of great skill and are essentially completely self educated. Though many librarians hold multiple graduate degrees and often PhDs as well, particularly in academic libraries. I can honestly say some of the most educated people I have encountered were self-educated lawyers. I am from Washington State back when I was living in the U.S. and Washington is one of those states that allows you to be a lawyer without having to go to law school. So I worked with a number of lawyers who were basically self-educated people who served under an apprenticeship under another lawyer who helped them. So they came to the law library with their learning contracts and we worked with them. I have to tell you this was one of the most fulfilling experiences in my working life. So you see libraries really do work. They really are great adult learning centers.

I will end on this positive note which is basically if we build it they will come, not only now but for generations to come, in terms of the best library system the world has ever seen. We can definitely do this work together. A library's job is information sharing, but its survival comes down to you sharing our message at home with family, friends and your community, which is libraries are a real American success story. They always have been and we can't possibly afford to lose it. Please in support your community libraries by pasting this diary to your friend on social media today. We need your help! Thank you. :-)

PS: Here's the link to another library diary I wrote that deserves your attention on a similar subject matter.
When more libraries are closed what will happen to intellectual freedom & prejudice in America?
http://www.dailykos.com/...

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US warships in & headed to Russia's Black Sea Naval HQ's in Sevastopel

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Saturday March 08, 2014 · 3:37 AM PST

2014/03/08 · 03:37

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)

Did you know that the headquarters of Russia's warm water fleet in the Black Sea is located at Sevastopel (with various other Russian naval facilities located elsewhere in the Black Sea area) in the Ukraine. Are you aware of the strategic and economic importance that this warm water port has to Russia? Are you aware of what the loss of this port would mean for Russia and why. Additionally you may not be aware of what a warm water port is, which essentially means a port that has year round access to water without being ice locked, in a clear case where most of Russia's ports are in fact ice locked a fact that is especially exacerbated by winter. Therefore it becomes axiomatically clear that the loss of this port would have devastating effects for Russia militarily and economically. (Interestingly enough Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of geography). Additionally are you aware, in terms of the sea lanes how the Russian Black Sea Fleet connects to the Mediterranean and beyond, and that American warships now are in the Black Sea area. If these facts are of interest to you then please feel invited to read on....

The Pentagon announced the deployment of United States warships in the Black Sea which borders on the Crimea where Russia’s warships are assigned to Crimea at Sevastopel. The American military community newspaper the European edition of the Stars and Stripes (based in Darmstadt, Germany) reports these are scheduled navy exercises. Axiomatically speaking it becomes clear that if Russia loses its warm water ports in Crimea, which offer year around maritime access (which means essentially they are never ice-locked). It becomes clear that in the future if Ukraine joins the European Union and quite possibly thereafter NATO, Russia’s warm water naval access to its bases in Crimea may well come into doubt .

This substantially under-reported fact must be seen with some concern, as our plutocrat owned media seems to be shying away from giving the voters access to information that makes the very exercise of democracy possible.
In doing so, we see the Pentagon has announced the insertion of two United States warships into the Black Sea area which connects directly to the Mediterranean and beyond. There’s the USS Truxtun with a crew compliment of 300 sailors, this type of warship is an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer. The USS Truxtun will be joining the USS Taylor which is a guided-missile frigate presently moored in the Black Sea port in Samsun, Turkey.
The USS Taylor recently ran aground and its present operational status hasn’t been reported further in reliable sources.

Ivan Watson reporting for CNN on the Bosphorus Strait, Turkey,
8th March 2014
"Russia's traditional claim for more than a century as a vital and strategic warm water port with a country where much of its coastline is frozen in by ice especially during the winter months. Part of why it's so valuable to Russia to have the Crimea Peninsula as a place where its Navy can move in and out of."
http://edition.cnn.com/...

The next closest pseudo-warm water port is located in excess of over 2,000 miles away in the Baltic Sea HQ's at St. Petersburg; Kaliningrad and various other area ports. It becomes therein axiomatically clear to see that the loss of the warm water port for Russia will have substantial economic and military consequences, both now and in the long term future, in a clear case where these matters have been essentially under-reported in commercial US media sources for whatever reasons. Interestingly enough the Budapest Memorandum's validity under UK law has been under-reported in US media sources, so as to constitute a de facto form of censorship at a time when concurrently the US media accuses Russia of media censorship.

Additionally the European US military community's Stars and Stripes reports on substantial naval maneuvers which have been previously scheduled taking place in the Mediterranean, which includes movements of a Marine expeditionary unit. The clear advantage in troop movements on the high seas in international waters is that under maritime law permission generally must not be secured from any nation state on a one off basis or pursuant to any status of forces agreement (SOFA). The free movement of troops in this area therefore must be seen to fall under international law, save military movements through the Bosphorus Strait, which by treaty must be approved by Turkey for non-Black Sea nations. This is a thought which certainly must give Russia further cause for contemplation, as to its future position. In aggregate the position is a complicated one and I therefore ask and urge readers as voters in the democratic exercise to keep themselves well informed.

U.S. Military community news paper
Stars and Stripes March 7 2014
Destroyer USS Truxtun heads for Black Sea amid heightened tensions over Crimea
“ NAPLES, Italy — A U.S. guided-missile destroyer is bound for the Black Sea in what the Navy calls a routine visit unrelated to events in Ukraine………The spokesman, Lt. Shawn Eklund, said the visit is unrelated to Russia’s recent incursion into Ukraine. “Truxtun’s operations in the Black Sea were scheduled well in advance of her departure from the U.S.,” he said. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is at the center of the country’s operations in Ukraine, where Russian soldiers continue to surround Ukrainian military bases. Other U.S. warships remain in the region on scheduled deployments. A group of amphibious ships with an embarked Marine expeditionary unit also recently entered European waters. The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, which counts roughly 4,000 sailors and Marines, is training with regional navies before continuing to the Middle East.”
http://www.stripes.com/...

What is the truth here? As ordinary citizens we don't really know, but what we do know is that there are so many continuously regularly scheduled military maneuvers at various ports of call throughout the world, as well as on the high seas, that any time a crisis forms anywhere in the world, it can be pretty much relied on that a claim may be made that current presence of military or naval forces are not due to any developing crisis, but rather are merely a part of previously scheduled and approved military maneuvers. The fact that these maneuvers however are allowed to continue even at a time of crisis, has traditionally been referred to as saber rattling or gunboat diplomacy, so as to give added weight and bargaining chips at the negotiating table. There is however a traditional danger associated with gunboat diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions, is the risk of escalation, which if history is a guide, in the past this led to war. In a clear case where those who can't learn from history seem to be doomed to repeat it.

Facebook quote:

After the NSA affair, the German government is steering towards a serious confrontation with the US

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Thursday February 20, 2014 · 5:03 AM PST

2014/02/20 · 05:03

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)

German magazine Der Spiegel reports,"Nine months after the NSA affair, the German government is steering towards a serious confrontation with the US"

In the wake of the Snowden affair, whistler blower Edward Snowden revealed that Angela Merkel's telephone had been spied on by the NSA. Please let's understand according to Forbes magazine Angela Merkel as the Chancellor of Germany which has become the richest and most powerful country in the European Union (the number 2 exporting nation in the world) has according to Forbes magazine rated Angela Merkel as the most powerful woman in the world. So as you can well imagine, to reiterate the Snowden revelation that Angela Merkel's phone had allegedly been spied on by the NSA sent shock waves through the capitals of the great social democracies of Western Europe and sent shock waves through the German capital, that if the chancellor's private cell phone had been illegally wiretapped, then no one was safe from an illegal alleged NSA wiretap. The very real anger and humiliation this produced throughout the European Union, which as a population of 500 million people is larger than the population of the US, and whose economy is likewise larger than the US and of course the Euro rivals the US dollar in power. So it is that Europe has taken a very dim view of the NSA alleged spying matter on millions of its citizens, to include the head of the European Union's most powerful country, German chancellor Angela Merkel.

So it is that in the recently published Spiegel article which this diary attempts to review, we see that Germany appears to be on the road to declaring a defacto sort of counter-espionage war against the United States on German soil. This turn of events has alarmed diplomats, scholars and statesmen/statespersons around the world. As such I invite you to give a very careful reading of the review of the Spiegel article whereupon I invite you to read in full for yourself the Spiegel article being reviewed entitled "Striking Back: Germany Considers Counterespionage Against US".

"Unsatisfied with the lack of answers provided by Washington in the NSA spying scandal, officials in Berlin are considering a new approach. Germany might begin counterespionage measures aimed at allies."......."In other words: Germany intends to defend itself against all spying efforts in the future,"...."While the minister's words may have sounded innocuous, they marked nothing less than the start of a political about-face. Away from the public eye, the German government is moving toward implementing plans to turn its own spies against partner countries like the United States, putting allies on the same level as the Chinese, Russians and North Koreans".

To reiterate, diplomats, scholars and Statespersons the world over are alarmed and indeed dismayed at this turn of events. Whereupon we should ask how did it ever come to this and why has this been allowed to happen? Whereupon this diary asks you to write to your member of Congress today to ask them these very questions so as to provide their leadership for a diplomatic solution before matters in this sad, retrograde state of affairs are allowed to progress any further.

"When whistleblower Edward Snowden first went public with his revelations about the NSA's efforts to spy on Europe and other parts of the world. In response to the allegations surrounding the documents he leaked,.....after months of waiting, no satisfactory answers have been provided".

Aren't we as American voters legitimately allowed to ask our members of Congress why it is that the NSA to date has not provided the German government and other allied governments with the answers that they reasonably seek in the matter of the whistler blower Edward Snowden's disclosure. Shouldn't we be allowed to ask our members of Congress this question before the US is dragged into an expensive counterespionage new Cold War. Shouldn't we as American voters hold our members of Congress responsible for providing the public with this information in a transparent democracy, wherein government is held accountable to the people who have voted them into office.

Humiliating Revelations from the Wild West!
"The stubbornness of the Americans, who have answered few relevant questions from Germany during the National Security Agency spying scandal...Now, pressure is growing for Germany to find its own answers to the questions Washington has been ignoring."........... "They're like cowboys who only understand the language of the
Wild West," sources in Merkel's party say, referring to the Americans' intractability. Two government agencies are at the center of the strategy to restore respect that has been lost over months of humiliating revelations that the US has been spying on Germany: the Office for the Protection" of the Constitution and the Federal Prosecutor's Office."

Honestly as American voters, shouldn't we be alarmed at the NSA's conduct in humiliating our allies into declaring a counterespionage war against the United States, but more to the point shouldn't we as American voters be allowed to ask our members of Congress, whose taxes do they intend to raise in order to pay for the NSA's declared new cold espionage war. Or perhaps we should hold a national referendum asking for tax payers to volunteer to pay for this latest NSA undertaking produced in our name.

In America today, we have 59 million people who don't have medical insurance, 133 million people who don't have dental insurance, over 45 million people who are on food stamps, 60 million Americans get no paid sick leave. The United States is the only major industrialized nation in the world that by law doesn't provide job protected paid maternity leave by right of law. As such, please excuse us for asking just who the hell is going to pay for the NSA's self-declared new counterespionage cold war? And exactly whose taxes do you intend to raise (and whose benefits do you intend to cut) in order to pay for it, now that the Europeans have been humiliated into defending themselves, their people and their leaders through counterespionage defensive measures. Because in the mind of this reviewer, this Spiegel article seems to be telling us along with other European press sources that the Europeans have undertaken exhaustive diplomatic measures to resolve the matter and the US government has simply ignored them. Aren't these questions something that we should reasonably ask our members of Congress who we voted into office?

Diplomats Leave Washington Empty-Handed
"A number of high-level German delegations have traveled to Washington on fact-finding missions, but they have also returned empty-handed for the most part". .........."And no progress whatsoever has been made on a "no-spy agreement."Last week, US President Barack Obama himself rejected any form of a "no-spy agreement". "There's no country where we have a no-spy agreement," Obama said in a press conference during a visit by French President François Hollande.The French leader, who had expressed similar wishes to those of the Germany, was forced to travel back to Paris empty-handed".

I must say having voted for President Obama twice, I really find his statement in this regard to be a real disappointment as it relates to an unwillingness for a diplomatic solution in the matter.

Teaching the US a Lesson
"The changes mean that, nine months after the NSA affair, the German government is steering towards a serious confrontation with the US. ...... "Increased monitoring of allies could trigger unforeseen consequences and potentially cause damage to existing intelligence partnerships".

The trading relationship that we have established with the European Union is vital to the American economy, vital to a strong American dollar, vital to the future of America's children. I therefore ask and urge you today to take the time to write to and call your member of Congress on this important issue. To stand up and be counted and tell them how you feel and most importantly ask them exactly how much they intend to raise your taxes to pay for a counter intelligence espionage cold war that will only benefit NSA bureaucrats and contractors.

Comeback of the Hitler Youth haircut worries Jewish and progressive groups fearing intolerance

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Tuesday February 18, 2014 · 6:25 AM PST

2014/02/18 · 06:25

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)

The truth is though Adolf Hitler has been dead for a good long time, it seems he will haunt Europe forever. I understand the Daily Kos is a serious online community where important progressive issues of the day are discussed. So why am I writing a diary about (yes you guessed it!) hairstyles! Well, quietly some would say insidiously a Nazi haircut known as the Hitler Youth haircut has made a comeback (with 74,000 hits in Google) according to urban legend from German speaking rural Switzerland to becoming a global presence. This has alarmed Jewish groups around the world to the point where they have began voicing concern at the rise of intolerance and anti-semitism that is coming back to haunt Europe in this 100th anniversary year of world war 1, which is 75 years from the end of world war 2. Now recently just last week these fears were realized by the populist Swiss SVP party in an anti-European immigration referendum passed by a majority of Swiss voters. I wrote a diary on that very issue (not that anyone actually read it) entitled "Switzerland far right party of hate declares war on European immigration".
Link:http://www.dailykos.com/...

When fashion is allowed to favorably reflect on the Nazi period in terms that put that history in a favorable light then something has happened in Europe and around the world that we need to take notice of. As the old saying would have it, all that needs to happen for evil to triumph is for good people to sit by and do nothing. This last century saw not one, but two world wars come and go, with a warning, which is for those of us who aren't prepared to learn from history are therefore doomed to repeat it. Clearly the history of World War one and two is something that America can ill afford not to learn the lessons of.

What is in a haircut any way? It's just a fashion statement isn't it? The Hitler Youth haircut.Well, sure it's just a haircut but more to the point it's an idea that people want to look like that again. It's a look associated with historical intolerance. It's a look that was associated with the Holocaust, the destruction of Europe and the pain and suffering of millions, that now is being celebrated in making a comeback as a fashion statement in our neighborhoods and schools and on the fashion pages and even on the silver screen. The Hitler Youth haircut is back in the limelight and it's coming to a shopping mall near you!

It comes out of a time when the government failed the people, when jobs were lost, too many of them being shipped abroad, people were losing their homes, people were afraid and people were insecure. People were looking for a new look, new ideas, a new day of hope. Some people think the Hitler Youth Aryan look is in and it's cool. Well let's be honest it wasn't just worn by Germany's Hitler Youth, it was worn by Adolf Hitler himself as well as most German front line troops, but too many people think it doesn't mean anything. It's just a hair style after all? There's no political message attached to it? It's just a lot of silliness. That is what they said about the brown shirts in Nazi Germany in the beginning, they said it wasn't a military uniform, it was a political party uniform (manufactured by fashion designer Hugo Boss that is."It was Hugo Boss who made uniforms for the Nazis.").but then the S.A. got to be 3 million strong. Three times the size of the German army that changed Germany and in turn changed the world. Also please let's remember that at the time this was simply viewed as the fashion business. Ergo by way of a corollary we must conclude that the Nazi fashion business has a dark side and so does the fashion history of the Hitler Youth haircut. Given that history may we simply write the whole thing off as nothing more than a lucrative fashion tread and nothing more in the matter of the Hitler Youth haircut's strong global comeback.

Jewish World By David Lev
"Some Jewish community officials have expressed concern over the
latest style in haircuts - the “Jugend,” or “Hitler Youth” hairdo".
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/...

(There should be some sort of a movement brought about to disassociate the hair style from the name of Adolf Hitler). A further danger is that anyone, especially young people Googling the name "the Hitler Youth haircut" will be exposed to voluminous Nazi materials, which is an insidious way of this type of (old and new) propaganda material to find readers. As such this is one more reason why an effort should be brought about to change the name of this hair style.

So when we look back at the 100th year anniversary of World War I and we look back at World War II that ended 75 years ago, perhaps we should also remember the slogan "Never Again". For it is said all that needs to happen for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. Perhaps we should therefore this time all do something. To that end I invite you to post your thoughts below and speak out and you will be heard.
Also it is worth noting that this comes at a time, here in Germany as the copyright for Mein Kampf has now expired. it can now legally be sold here legally again.

The truth is though Adolf Hitler has been dead for a good long time, it seems he will haunt Europe forever...

Switzerland far right party of hate declares war on European immigration UPDATED

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Tuesday February 11, 2014 · 9:47 AM PST

2014/02/11 · 09:47

Editor's note: At the request of readers, this diary has been updated and republished from earlier today. Thank you for your support.

Written by an American expat living in the E.U.

The alpine nation of Switzerland has declared WAR on the European Union's freedom of movement treaty, along with open borders negotiated throughout the European Union which the Swiss originally over a decade ago through years of negotiations voluntarily joined (though technically not as an EU member state). This new law has just passed on Sunday and was done through a referendum vote sponsored by a far right political party the so called SVP (people's party) which is a party built largely on a class based anti-foreigner xenophobic platform which seeks to promulgate hatred, intolerance and the expulsion of foreigners and the closing off of Switzerland to the outside world as an island fortress with migration quotas. As such, this promulgates new laws of intolerance that are a huge step backwards in the heart of the progressive minded European Union.

Having regard to the poster depicting foreign hands grabbing Swiss passports, it should be said that immigrant couples must fulfill a 12 year waiting period of residence before being able to even apply for Swiss citizenship. Which is the longest waiting period for citizenship anywhere in Europe. Also it should be noted that 23% of the Swiss population being foreign is exaggerated by the fact that approximately a quarter of these people were actually born in Switzerland and have lived there for their whole lives but were unable to obtain citizenship due to strict naturalization laws and are therefore considered to be foreigners. (This is something that is inconceivable to Americans as being born on U.S. soil confers citizenship automatically on all native born populations without having regard to who their parents are. Therefore the Swiss claim of being overrun by foreigners seems clearly exaggerated, so as to profit from such exaggeration by beating anti-immigrant drums, so as to stoke a class based xenophobia directed against the European Union's working class masses).
This isn't an old story about greedy Swiss bankers enriching themselves by hording Nazi gold stolen from Holocaust survivors and this isn't the same old story about Switzerland promulgating laws to deport poor foreigners who are cheating on unemployment or welfare benefits. This is instead a story of Switzerland's new class based xenophobia, directed not at rich foreigners but at working class foreign immigration to Switzerland which is promulgated by the populous far right SVP People's Party. As such this has frighten the day lights out of progressive EU politicians from across the entire EU block (which is over 500 million strong), of the rise again of far right wing populism, hatred and class based xenophobia taking hold in Europe once again, leading us back to the disastrous history that plagued Europe in the last century and broke out two world wars. This is from a tiny alpine nation of 8 million people punching far above its weight (as it is less than the population size of London, England). It is sad as well as a frightening spectacle to behold because it marks the rise in Europe to the old ghosts of hatred and class based xenophobia.

From the German mainstream magazine DER SPIEGEL
Quote: A Land of Money and Fear: The Swiss Vote Against 'Mass Migration'
A Contradictory Self-Image

How is this possible? One important reason is the contradictory self-image of the Swiss. Switzerland views itself as a nation forged by the will of the people -- a community that decided to come together and create a state. The truth is precisely the opposite -- the Swiss state wasn't forged by will. Switzerland's regions haven't come together because it is their inner-most wish to do so. The reasoning is more profane. The German-language areas don't want to belong to Germany, the Suisse romande don't want to be a part of France and the Ticinesi don't want to become part of Italy. Instead, they are Swiss.

But an identity built on the rejection of an alternative has its weaknesses. Ever since the charisma associated with William Tell and the Old Swiss Confederacy faded, the mythological underpinnings of oft-evoked Swiss exceptionalism have vanished. The only thing remaining to substitute for a national identify is prosperity. Being richer than those surrounding you -- it's still something. But there's a flipside: Those who have a lot also have a lot to lose. And the prospect of having to share the francs that have piled up with immigrants can quickly spiral into existential angst. To exaggerate just a little: There wouldn't be much left in being Swiss if the country's standard of living were to regress to that of the Germans or, God forbid, the French or the Italians.

http://www.spiegel.de/...

As the EU in order to avoid a Swiss originated avalanche of similar referendum being held in European Union member countries, it is quite conceivable that the EU will have to consider strong sanctions against Switzerland, so as to make an example of them. Under the pressure of such even threatened EU sanctions, it is quite conceivable that the French Swiss Romande may well themselves have to threaten to leave the Swiss Confederation in the matter of the anti-immigration vote, that they did not support.

It must be asked how much longer can the French Swiss Romande allow the German Swiss rural rube descendants of William Tell to take pot shots and attempts to shoot the apples off the Romande children's heads, so as to keep the apples from falling into the hands of cartoon EU vermin before someone concludes that the assumption of risk of the next generation of French Swiss Romande have become untenably high, to the point when someone says it's in the interests of the French Romande to go their own way and leave the Swiss Confederation.

In fact as Switzerland is only a nation of 8 million souls, 6 million of whom are Swiss citizens, it isn't inconceivable at all that this population substantially less than the population of the city of London could well vote to disband the present Swiss Confederation. Switzerland itself as a country as we presently know it will no longer exist. While we may speculate on this point and others, one thing is absolutely clear no one knows exactly what the future will hold. No one knows what will happen to the Swiss aviation industry if landing rights from the EU are restricted by quota in concert with the Swiss immigration quota. No one will know what will happen to the Swiss pharmaceutical industry whose majority export is the European Union. Precisely the same can be said of the Swiss manufacturing industry etc.

The primary target market of Swiss rural rube voters in German speaking Switzerland who voted for the immigration quota system may find themselves isolated and discover they may have bitten off more than they can chew, because they've succeeded in unleashing Europe wide anger against Switzerland, who has been resented for generations for being too rich and in your face xenophobic. This is a carefully nurtured multi-generational bias against the Swiss that these Germanic rural Swiss voters have now succeeded in waking. In the clear case where they have woken that sleeping dog, it becomes impossible to predict the consequences that this may now unleash in a Europe which has been weary for generations of Swiss xenophobia.

LET THE HATE FLOW This important story has absolutely dominated headlines in the European Union, Asia and around the world, yet it seems to be under-reported in the plutocrat owned US media, which is always reticent to impose Wall Street jitters. This Sunday by what is described as the narrowest of margins 50.3% amounting to a little more than a few thousand votes, a Swiss far right party SVP (The people party) led a successful rebellion against the European Union freedom of movement, and therein declared figurative war on Brussels' right to dictate freedom of movement policies within the European Union and EEC states in association with the E.U. Where immigration quotas over the next 36 months will be phased in, therein restricting primarily the EU nationals of Germany, France and Italy, most of whom are highly qualified professionals from living and working in Switzerland.

The wound from the first World War is alive and well!!

Bloomberg News
EU’s Anti-Immigrant Parties Take Heart in Swiss Vote for Curbs
By James G. Neuger February 10, 2014
"Anti-immigration politicians including France’s Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders of the Netherlands said that while Switzerland is outside the EU, yesterday’s Swiss vote against open borders will resonate inside it."

“You can decide who comes into your apartment,” Le Pen said on Europe 1 radio today. “The country is our house. We the people have the right to decide who comes in.”

It seems the populous haters in the European Union have been woken up by the Swiss vote. Therefore this is now in danger of changing the European Union and believe it or not has also endangered America from populous hatred, racism and intolerance, because they too will point to the victory of the Swiss populous haters from the far right SVP party, this should also be our goal in America. As such this sets a dangerous precedent that we must all resist as progressives who value justice and tolerance.

LET THE HATE FLOW
Why should we as Americans care you might ask. The reason is simple the American economy is tied substantially to the economy of the European Union, and any Swiss led rebellion in what amounts to a political declaration of war, so as to assert Swiss sovereignty will create financial earthquakes on Wall Street effecting everything from your pension fund to the dollar exchange rate to the interest you pay. So how is it one might ask that Switzerland a nation of 8 million people, that is to say less than the population of London, England could have such influence. The answer is simple, populous parties in the European Union, most notably France, the Netherlands, Austria and elsewhere all have platforms that want to prevent migration of Eastern European EU states to their respective countries. It therefore sets a populous far right wing agenda in the news that other such far right wing parties who promulgate racism, xenophobia, discrimination and hatred want to grab a hold of. It is therefore ironic in the extreme that the Swiss are visiting upon them the very type of discrimination that they would visit upon other financially weaker EU states in Eastern Europe. They will tell you that they are not racists, that they are not haters, that they are not xenophobic. What they are is scared to death about being run over by foreigners, who will suppress their wages and overrun their social safety nets. That immigration must be restricted as a very article of survival itself, and that what is at stake here is nothing short of their sovereignty, the maintenance of their language and culture and their very economic survival.

Swiss vote on curbing EU immigration LET THE HATE FLOW

By Jonathan Fowler February 8, 2014 9:47 PM
Geneva (AFP) - Swiss voters will on Sunday decide whether to curb immigration by European Union citizens, in a referendum that risks igniting a row with Brussels.
Related Stories
Swiss voters back limit on immigration Associated Press
By razor-thin margin, Swiss voters back tighter curbs on immigration Christian Science Monitor Neutral Switzerland is not in the EU but is ringed by countries that are members and does most of its trade with the 28-nation bloc. Since 2007, the EU's 500 million residents have enjoyed an equal footing with locals on the job market of Switzerland, a country of eight million.

That is part of a raft of deals signed with the EU in 1999 after five years of talks, approved by Swiss voters in a 2000 referendum and then phased in.

But a referendum coalition helmed by the right-wing populist Swiss People's Party -- the largest in Switzerland's parliament -- says that opening the door fully to EU citizens was a huge mistake."

So what comes into being is a complex picture, a picture which upon first glance to most Americans seems confusing, as the residence of all these nations are primarily Caucasian, and in terms of appearance cannot be distinguished, and often as in the case of Switzerland even speak the same language, that is to say French, German and Italian. So it is distinctly foreign to the American mentality that such deep seated ill will,hatred and xenophobia in Europe today are still alive and well. A Europe that now commemorates in numerous memorials and newspaper and journal articles the history which led to the outbreak of what was once called the Great War that is to say WW1, which at the conclusion led to the Versaille Treaty said to be responsible for the outbreak of WW2.

Europe feels Switzerland has wiped its feet on their good attitude of egalitarian inclusion for bringing the Swiss into having many of the benefits ordinarily only accorded to EU states, only to find the Swiss vote has wiped its feet on what might only be expressed as the good attitude of inclusion that Europe has shown them.

The Guardian, Febr 10th, 2014
"Freedom of movement is one of the four keystones of the single market. Switzerland's access to the market – the EU takes 60% of Swiss exports – is based on seven bilateral agreements from 1999, including the free movement pact. The package of seven agreements are interlinked, including guillotine clauses, which means that if one agreement is ditched, the whole package collapses.

For Brussels, said a European commission spokeswoman, free movement is a "sacred liberty. The ball is in the Swiss court. They have to decide what consequences to draw."
http://www.theguardian.com/...

To be perfectly clear, rich foreigners and their money will of course continue to be welcomed in Switzerland, instead the class based xenophobia and hatred is after all only focusing on working class foreigners. That is say people whose primary income is derived from work rather than from capital. It is said that all that has to happen for evil to prevail is for good people to sit back and say and do nothing. Therefore this is your opportunity to stand up and speak out and be heard. To that end, I invite you to please consider posting your thoughts below. Thank you for your support of this important issue...

UPDATE: Please note the mainstream German magazine, Der Spiegel in interviewing SVP's founder the Swiss billionaire Mr. Christoph Blocher published the interview and this may be read in full at the link below.
http://www.spiegel.de/...

Breaking News 3 dead, 5 injured in Maryland mall shooting

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Saturday January 25, 2014 · 1:21 PM PST

2014/01/25 · 13:21

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)

There's been another tragic mall shooting in America today which has left 3 people dead and 5 people injured. This has occurred a little over 2 hours ago. As such this is a developing story.

This breaking news story is making headlines across the nation and around the world. It highlights what is yet once again the nation's gun laws, the need for emergency planning and preparedness, for people to have an evacuation plan or a plan to shelter in place while there is a known active shooter at large. At this time CNN reports that none of the victims have been identified and there is no known motive for the shooting according to Chief Bill Mcmahon, Howard County chief of police. What is known is this lone active shooter had a large amount of ammunition.

In the United States we have an average of about 11,000 fire arms deaths registered annually. No other major industrialized country in the world has anything close to these types of tragic statistics. The Columbia Maryland shooting today illustrates that we in America have an on-going problem with gun violence in our nation that authorities do not seem to be able to adequately address.

This important breaking news story deserves your attention. Please see a blockquote from the BBC below in the developing story.

BBC News: Mall shooting in Columbia, Maryland, leaves three dead
The shooting took place at a popular weekend shopping destination, not far from Washington DC
Three people have been killed in a shooting at a shopping centre in Maryland in the US, police say.

The incident was reported at 11:15 (16:15 GMT), after which Howard County Police urged people inside the suburban Columbia Mall "to stay in place".

They said one of the dead was "located near gun and ammunition" - he was suspected to be the gunman.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...

The BBC reports the single active shooter is believed to be among the dead on the mall's second floor.

On CNN Ken Ulman (Howard County Executive on the Maryland Mall shooting) has reported that local officials have matters well in hand, safety has been restored to the mall and local area officials have trained extensively to deal with this type of emergency. Therefore the public should remain calm.

Various CNN reports tell us that the single active shooter is believed to have committed suicide and SWAT teams are presently going through the mall contacting people who have sheltered in place and are evacuating them. CNN reported that witnesses are presently being brought by police to a movie theater in the mall complex to give evidence, as well as witness statements in the incident.

Since there was a change in consciousness in America after the New Town shooting tragedy; reporting on shooting tragedies from mainstream media sources seems more intense. The tragedies however seem to unabated in their continuation.

(From British newspaper the Mirror)
It is now believed that one of the three dead people is the suspected gunman.
As reported by CNN, there have been reports of multiple casualties. Reports suggest workers inside the mall and customers have been hiding in storerooms from the gunman.

There are about 200 shops inside the shopping centre, which is about 30 miles north of Washington.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/...

Whatever side of the gun debate that you're on, one thing is clear we in America can, should and must do better than this to protect the American people. To that end, this article invites you to write to your member of Congress today and tell him or her how you feel about this issue because democracy is not a spectator sport. It can only work if you care enough to get involved.

Here is one final tragic statistic, America leads the world in deaths caused by gun violence with approximately 11,000 deaths annually. This gives new meaning to the words "only in America" where despite having arguable the most militarized police forces anywhere in the world, the American public cannot be kept safe from random acts of gun violence. As such this is a clear failure on law enforcement. Perhaps if we in America would finally invest in a universal medical system like every other major industrialized nation in the world , people would have regular access to mental health care just like they do in Europe, Canada, Australia and every other major industrialized county in the world, where the incidents of these types of tragedies are far lower. In fact, comparatively almost non-existent.

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