News for today's 2018

SYRIAN MEDIA BLITZKRIEG

7:04 AM Tukiyooo 0

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8NqByj5o7kJgpeBA08yEKbKibGYEMzfItRTfLiHGbA2Ybax_yvbR9C5Ldj9rWoBbvtJZum2p0cCySg1IU0vTlwIYNO0oxOmMmMfDcgAHibD50ff-Fqi8TIAdI2q94PibXkia6smFT5QDQ/s1600/ilv4V6ZmBeEI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8NqByj5o7kJgpeBA08yEKbKibGYEMzfItRTfLiHGbA2Ybax_yvbR9C5Ldj9rWoBbvtJZum2p0cCySg1IU0vTlwIYNO0oxOmMmMfDcgAHibD50ff-Fqi8TIAdI2q94PibXkia6smFT5QDQ/s320/ilv4V6ZmBeEI.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">UN Chemical Weapons Inspection Team in Damascus</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 653px;"> <tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"> <td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 489.5pt;" width="653"><div class="MsoNormal"> WHO REALLY USED CHEMICAL WEAPONS, THAT IS THE QUESTION </div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">SYRIAN opposition figures based in Istanbul, TURKEY, have claimed that up to 1,400 people have been killed in chemical weapons attacks!!! <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Could it be that the BRITISH and FRENCH stance and eagerness of military action in SYRIA  is because that the two are former imperialist, colonialist powers in that region, thus resurrecting colonial ambitions and distant memories of the SYKES–PICOT AGREEMENT?  (See: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement</a>)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> Chemical Weapons False Flag Against Syria? <div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DbMdll58lis?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: left;"> This video clip was posted on YouTube April 2012 </div></div> The coincidence couldn't be more telling. No sooner than the UNITED NATIONS chemical weapons inspectors arrived in Damascus - within 72 hours, in fact - the SYRIAN opposition figures based in Istanbul, TURKEY, have claimed that up to 1,400 people have been killed in chemical weapons attacks by the government forces on the outskirts of the SYRIAN capital. The media blitzkrieg has been equally stunning - press conferences, video presentations by opposition activists, "expert opinion" from Western capitals and instantaneous reactions by western politicians. The UNITED STATES, BRITAIN, FRANCE, GERMANY, the EUROPEAN UNION and the ARAB LEAGUE are among those who have demanded for urgent action. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">The UN Security Council promptly held a closed-door meeting to consider the allegation against the SYRIAN government. Unsurprisingly, the SYRIAN government itself has strongly refuted the allegation calling it a "dirty" media war, which reflected the "hysteria, disorder and breakdown" of the rebels who have suffered a string of devastating military defeats in the recent days and weeks. SWEDISH WEAPON INSPECTOR SELLSTROM: IRAQ DÉJÀ VU? </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"> What is the game plan? One vital clue lies in the appointment of the SWEDISH expert Ake Sellstrom as the head of the UN team that landed in Damascus three days ago. Sellstrom served in the select band of UN weapon inspectors in IRAQ. Reuters quoted Sellstrom backing the demand that the alleged attacks in Damascus suburbs should be investigated and he even mooted a plan of action. Sellstrom suggested, </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">It [SYRIAN opposition claim] sounds like something that should be looked into. It will depend on whether any UN member state goes to the secretary general and says we should look at this event. We are in place.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1PiW4lZnbmBkmiv_Dz7D0L5t9AeFN_QE2B-EUKoIAqWdDqQHOAbwrsUsAmb1nj76ywxQXvN7BZVkO43ibmxfMgWD0a8QwzZREfJmIZZjRm8LBI2IOJn1WvP6uS2JDnCmZ6YQKcU-Vg7Og/s1600/iraq_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1PiW4lZnbmBkmiv_Dz7D0L5t9AeFN_QE2B-EUKoIAqWdDqQHOAbwrsUsAmb1nj76ywxQXvN7BZVkO43ibmxfMgWD0a8QwzZREfJmIZZjRm8LBI2IOJn1WvP6uS2JDnCmZ6YQKcU-Vg7Og/s320/iraq_b.jpg" width="320" /></a>BRITISH Foreign Secretary William Hague picked up Sellstrom's excellent idea and said, I call on the SYRIAN government to allow immediate access to the area for the UN team currently investigating previous allegations of chemical weapons use ... The UK will be raising this incident at the UN Security Council. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">France concurred within no time. President Francois Hollande too felt that the allegations "require verification and confirmation" and Paris would ask the UN to go to the site "to shed full light" on the allegations. GERMANY nodded in agreement. The TURKISH foreign ministry had a full-fledged statement ready, which said Ankara is "deeply concerned" and the team of UN inspectors already in SYRIA "must investigate the allegations in question and present its findings" to the security council.  <div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KKrkokQIx9g?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe> </div> Interestingly, the much-awaited statement by the White House in Washington turned out to be an endorsement of the EUROPEAN-TURKISH demand - stopping short of confirming the incident but adding it was working to gather additional information, while demanding, </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">There is today, as we speak, on the ground in SYRIA, a UNITED NATIONS team with a specialty in investigating the use of chemical weapons. So, let's give this team the opportunity to investigate what exactly occurred and get to the bottom of this so that we can hold accountable those who were responsible. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Indeed, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council has taken place in New York. The council did not explicitly demand a UN investigation but agreed that "clarity" was needed and welcomed UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon's calls for a prompt investigation by Sellstrom's team. In the words of Ambassador Cristina Perceval of ARGENTINA, currently president of the Security Council, there is "strong concern among the Council members" about the allegations, and "a general sense that there must be clarity on what happened" and that the situation has to be followed carefully''. Meanwhile, Ban's spokesman told journalists in New York that Sellstrom is already "in discussions with the SYRIAN Government on all issues pertaining to the alleged use of chemical weapons, including this most recent reported incident''. CAMEL IN BASHAR'S TENT</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> In sum, the UN inspection team which is mandated to be in SYRIA up to 14 days - as agreed between the SYRIAN government and the UN - "with a possible extension" to probe the use of alleged use of chemical weapons at Khan al-Assal and two other undisclosed cites may just be getting an enhanced mandate. If so, it becomes a diplomatic coup of sorts for the Western powers and their MIDDLE EASTERN allies who have been persistently seeking some form of UN intervention in SYRIA. In essence, Sellstrom may well be on an open-ended mission now since the SYRIAN opposition will endeavor to make fresh allegations in other places in SYRIA as well. Most important, Sellstrom may tiptoe at some stage toward the chemical weapon stockpiles of the Bashar Al-Assad regime. Clearly, the camel has entered Bashar's tent. Sellstrom will now begin filing reports to Ban, which the latter will be obliged to bring to the notice of the Security Council and that, in turn, could mean the opening of a SYRIAN file in New York, which the West all along wanted. What does it all add up to? Three things emerge. One, the momentum of stunning successes by the SYRIAN military over the rebels is almost certainly going to be punctuated. The SYRIAN regime will need to turn attention to the diplomatic battle that lies ahead. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">TURKEY HAS NOW REALIZED ITS STRATEGIC MISTAKE AND LEFT THE FRONT The government forces have won successes in key battlefields such as in the central and coastal regions of Homs and Latakia and the suburbs of Damascus. General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the influential military aide to IRAN'S Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, claimed in Tehran that the "[SYRIAN] terrorists have been almost defeated from the military perspective." Savafi added, </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">What is left is the Geneva 2 conference. On one side there will be the US, ISRAEL, FRANCE, ENGLAND, TURKEY and some ARAB states, which supported the opposition. As a result of its domestic issues, TURKEY has now realized its strategic mistake and left the front. SAUDI ARABIA is dealing with its EGYPT project. The rest of the front is present but defeated. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">RUSSIA’S REACTION? </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> But on the other side of this front, there reside RUSSIA, CHINA and IRAN, which aided SYRIA. Of course, IRAN and the LEBANESE Hezbollah aided SYRIA politically and internationally as they support restoration of peace, stability and tranquility to SYRIA.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Did Safavi speak one day too soon? Is Iran fully in the loop? Is its triumphalism warranted? The answers will unfold soon. Meanwhile, Moscow is maintaining deafening silence over the latest allegations on chemical weapons, presumably taken aback by the lightning speed with which the Western powers and their regional allies got the SYRIAN file into the agenda of the Security Council. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">TECTONIC PLATES IN THE GEOPOLITICS OF THE MIDDLE EAST SHOW SOME MOVEMENT RUSSIAN Foreign Minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov had a telephone conversation with the SAUDI spy chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud to "discuss the situation in EGYPT and SYRIA ... [and] the relations between the two countries''. Bandar is a delightful bag of tricks, and at any rate, by Wednesday evening, Riyadh sang a different tune, with Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal saying, </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">The UN Security Council should work out a clear resolution to put an end to the tragedy. We are shocked by the massacre in SYRIAN cities with the use of chemical weapons, which are prohibited under international law.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">This is the second thing. The tectonic plates in the geopolitics of the MIDDLE EAST were beginning to show some movement in recent weeks over developments in EGYPT. The disharmony amongst the erstwhile allies who were until recently collaborating over the SYRIA project was becoming too obvious to be papered over. TURKEY began openly criticizing the EGYPTIAN junta and its GULF Cooperation Council (GCC) supporters and taunting the WEST over its much-vaunted democracy project in the new MIDDLE EAST. QATAR vanished from the SYRIAN frontline. Washington still wouldn't call the EGYPTIAN coup by its real name, while the EUROPEAN UNION is dithering on imposing any embargo on EGYPT, with SAUDI ARABIA threatening to make up for any Western embargo on EGYPT. STALLING A RESET </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> But the most sensational part of the realignment is the nascent proximity between RUSSIA on the one hand and SAUDI ARABIA and its GCC allies (especially the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES) on the other hand in their shared antipathy toward Muslim Brotherhood. At the very least, the SYRIAN chemical weapon controversy puts a sudden break on the incipient moves of a "reset" in the political alignments in the MIDDLE EAST. The Western powers have circled the wagons and their restive ARAB allies - SAUDI ARABIA, in particular - are being told to stay put, with the signal that the SYRIAN project is work in progress. THE HEART OF THE MATTER IS THAT THE WEST SIMPLY CANNOT AFFORD A REGIONAL ASCENDANCE BY RUSSIA, CHINA AND IRAN. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Nor is the West comfortable with the increasingly maverick ways in which its regional allies are behaving. Paradoxically, the chemical weapons controversy provides a vital lifeline for TURKEY'S beleaguered Recep Erdogan to break out of acute isolation over EGYPT. Erdogan is at his wit's end in coping with the KURDISH problem, which has been surging lately as the leitmotif of the SYRIAN conflict.  <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HUgF79x9IK2GSysqWuZVW4d-qePrGbyz8H-M7tRIPluRofLNZwkVvRU0WUfppBV0eepV1-oRAxZqYFPeQcebkGYxduFEswc5a_8GaIRDGTzE4VOLYK43YRIMdMsQaikZXErSRnIYEvL0/s1600/734px-Kurdish-inhabited_area_by_CIA_%25281992%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HUgF79x9IK2GSysqWuZVW4d-qePrGbyz8H-M7tRIPluRofLNZwkVvRU0WUfppBV0eepV1-oRAxZqYFPeQcebkGYxduFEswc5a_8GaIRDGTzE4VOLYK43YRIMdMsQaikZXErSRnIYEvL0/s1600/734px-Kurdish-inhabited_area_by_CIA_%25281992%2529.jpg" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">Background Information: </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;">KURDISH EQUATION AND TURKEY </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/10/libya-syria.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/10/libya-syria.html</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;">THE KURDISH INDEPENDENCE GAMBLE WITH TURKEY </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/double-dealing-in-iraq-and-syria.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/double-dealing-in-iraq-and-syria.html</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;">TURKEY'S GAMBLE ON KURDISTAN OIL</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/turkeys-erratic-foreign-policies-all.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/turkeys-erratic-foreign-policies-all.html</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;">KURDISH MARCH TOWARD AUTONOMY GAINS MOMENTUM</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/turkeys-syrian-policies.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/turkeys-syrian-policies.html</a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">The SYRIAN KURDS have frontally challenged Ankara's covert nexus with the al-Qaeda affiliates operating in northeastern SYRIA bordering TURKEY, which puts Erdogan in a tight spot. A tantalizing question, however, arises. The EUROPEAN powers - BRITAIN and FRANCE in particular - and TURKEY are evidently spearheading the latest controversy over chemical weapons. But how far and how real is the Obama administration's involvement in it? </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Comment by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring: <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkUAgEj1qR7eRFvmz9yN5p28Q0-Zyb-MXgPrnpLl6hlSh3Mhhp05tCH1PPtdl9_BZ1X1fbcYB_j6-XA82mSXmalmpYj4p65i4Znn_8aOFz9b7A2rAQuNGFxEXKrizWwXckBXRXjIsvshVE/s1600/MPK1-426_Sykes_Picot_Agreement_Map_signed_8_May_1916.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkUAgEj1qR7eRFvmz9yN5p28Q0-Zyb-MXgPrnpLl6hlSh3Mhhp05tCH1PPtdl9_BZ1X1fbcYB_j6-XA82mSXmalmpYj4p65i4Znn_8aOFz9b7A2rAQuNGFxEXKrizWwXckBXRXjIsvshVE/s200/MPK1-426_Sykes_Picot_Agreement_Map_signed_8_May_1916.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SYKES–PICOT AGREEMENT</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Could it be that the BRITISH and FRENCH stance on SYRIA and use of Chemical Weapons is all about the resurrection of colonial ambitions and distant memories of the SYKES–PICOT AGREEMENT? (See: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement</a>)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">   The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, went on record that the Obama administration is opposed to even limited military intervention in SYRIA because it believes that the rebels fighting the Assad regime wouldn't support AMERICAN interests if they were to seize power right now. He wrote with brutal frankness in a formal letter addressed to US Congressman Eliot Engel (Democrat - New York), </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">SYRIA today is not about choosing between two sides but rather about choosing one among many sides. It is my belief that the side we choose must be ready to promote their interests and ours when the balance shifts in their favor. Today, they are not. It is a deeply rooted, long-term conflict among multiple factions, and violent struggles for power will continue after Assad's rule ends. We should evaluate the effectiveness of limited military options in this context. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Comment by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Worthwhile to mention is that the SYRIAN conflict will most probably continue for some time, similar to the civil war in LEBANON, which lasted 15 years.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> The use of US military force can change the military balance. But it cannot resolve the underlying and historic ethnic, religious and tribal issues that are fueling this conflict. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Dempsey concluded that the Obama administration is on course with its current policy of focusing on humanitarian assistance and bolstering the moderate opposition in SYRIA, since such an approach "represents the best framework for an effective US strategy toward SYRIA''. SYRIAN CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONTROVERSY OPENS AN EXIT DOOR OF SORTS FOR THE WESTERN POWERS (AND TURKEY) IN SYRIA </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">All in all, therefore, the chemical weapons controversy opens an exit door of sorts for the western powers (and TURKEY) in SYRIA. The western powers have been dodging the issue of arming the SYRIAN rebels after making verbal pledges while Assad's forces have been gradually gaining the upper hand militarily. The SYRIAN opposition is in a mess and EGYPT'S strongman General Abdel Fatteh el-Sisi told its leaders who were based in Cairo to get lost. On the other hand, the Brotherhood, which dominated the SYRIAN opposition, is under heavy SAUDI artillery fire all across the region. In sum, the compass of the "regime change" project in SYRIA has shifted in favor of the Salafists. Besides, these are still early days in Egypt and what happens on the Nile banks would ultimately rewrite Middle eastern politics. In the present situation, Assad will negotiate from a position of unassailable strength at the "Geneva 2" negotiating table, which is untenable. This is where the chemical weapons controversy and the opening of a SYRIAN file at the UN Security Council offers a breather to break the momentum of Assad's army and the swagger of the Hezbollah and IRAN and end the look of smug satisfaction on the RUSSIAN face. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">SELLSTROM DOES NOT EVEN HAVE A MANDATE TO NAME THE PARTY RESPONSIBLE. Is this a prelude to an IRAQ-like scenario? The chancelleries in Moscow, Tehran and Beijing will be assessing. No doubt, Sellstrom is tiptoeing dangerously close toward Bashar's WMD stockpiles, something, which the US (and ISRAEL) always wanted to fasten. The only task assigned to weapon inspector Sellstrom when he landed in Damascus three days ago with his team was to inspect three specific sites to determine whether chemical weapons were used in SYRIA. He didn't have a mandate even to name the party responsible. Now, all that is history. The plain truth is that Sellstrom's footfalls are beginning to echo in the memory. One could visualize Sellstrom going down the passage towards the door "we never opened into the rose-garden''. Maybe, as T. S. Eliot wrote, </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">"But to what purpose Disturbing the dust on a bowl of rose-leaves I do not know."</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">But we know that what was an abstraction until the dawn broke on Wednesday is becoming a perpetual possibility in today's world of speculation. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">By M K Bhadrakumar </div></td> </tr></tbody></table>

SYRIAN MEDIA BLITZKRIEG

UN Chemical Weapons Inspection Team in Damascus WHO REALLY USED CHEMICAL WEAPONS, THAT IS THE QUESTION SYRIAN opposition figures bas...

Port drivers rise up against employer abuse, plan protest

5:39 AM Tukiyooo 0

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNymgtyTl33OOhA1I_nUwZWH6SrOvcFWBIZ09MfrzWUeXt_AGratP-1Csa5tAgARcam_UhsaGgOP-vSKpK4cmy-KnY3kPMjprj_Q87YvFJHPf7vLtQ7ty76PayqX0DH9dQ4Orkv8nL6pTd/s1600/Port+truck+driver+rally.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNymgtyTl33OOhA1I_nUwZWH6SrOvcFWBIZ09MfrzWUeXt_AGratP-1Csa5tAgARcam_UhsaGgOP-vSKpK4cmy-KnY3kPMjprj_Q87YvFJHPf7vLtQ7ty76PayqX0DH9dQ4Orkv8nL6pTd/s320/Port+truck+driver+rally.png" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Port driver Jose Luis Alvarado invites you to a rally to demand respect on Tuesday.</td></tr></tbody></table>Truck drivers at the Port of L.A. are holding a large rally on Tuesday to demand respect from their abusive employer, Green Fleet Systems. One of the drivers, Jose Luis Alvarado, invites you to attend: <blockquote class="tr_bq">My name is Jose Luis Alvarado. I am a port truck driver working at Green Fleet Systems. I have been a port truck driver for 13 years serving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Although the work that is done by me and my coworkers is vital to the American economy, our work often goes unnoticed. Besides the times we might be driving next to you on the freeway, we are mostly invisible. On a daily basis, people buy TVs, toys, and clothes that we haul to warehouses and distribution centers for you and your family. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Almost no one is aware of the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/pictures/efkk45kifl/no-8-driversales-workers-and-truck-drivers-3/" rel="nofollow">working conditions</a> that we face on a day-to-day basis and how this affects us and our families. We work long hours for little pay. At the end of the day, it’s hard to make ends meet. As the father of 3 children, I am often stressed about being able to pay my bills and provide my children with the opportunities that I never had in Guatemala. Green Fleet Systems offers us a company medical insurance plan, but in order to get coverage for me and my family, I would have to pay $100 a week. There is no way that I can afford it. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">At work, my coworkers and I face constant disrespect from management. We are insulted and screamed at for any small mistake that is committed. No one deserves to be treated this way. We have earned the same rights and treatment that every hardworking American deserves. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">It is because of the harassment that we are facing as we try to form a union that we are taking action to demand justice at Green Fleet Systems. We demand that Green Fleet Systems management stop retaliating against us as we organize to form our union. We say stop the intimidation! Stop the union busting!</blockquote>The rally will be held on Tuesday at 3:30 pm in Carson, Calif., at Green Fleet Systems warehouse, 20500 S. Alameda St.  Read more <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1395542780671801/" rel="nofollow">here</a>. <div> </div>

port drivers protest union busting Port drivers rise up against employer abuse, plan protest

Port driver Jose Luis Alvarado invites you to a rally to demand respect on Tuesday. Truck drivers at the Port of L.A. are holding a large ra...

Today's Teamster News 08.24.13

4:55 AM Tukiyooo 0

<a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/ups-teamsters-not-impacted-company-decision-eliminate-spousal-coverage" rel="nofollow">UPS Teamsters Not Impacted By Company Decision To Eliminate Spousal Coverage</a>  IBT   ...UPS announced a change in its health care coverage for spouses of nonunion employees. Going forward, UPS will not cover spouses of nonunion employees who are eligible for employer coverage at their workplace. This decision does not impact the health care coverage of Teamsters at UPS... <a href="http://mtstandard.com/news/local/administrators-ratify-hike-in-contract/article_06d732e6-0baa-11e3-976a-001a4bcf887a.html" rel="nofollow">Teamster school administrators ratify 3.1% hike in contract</a>  The Montana Standard   ...The Butte school district’s 15 administrators, who are members of Teamsters Local 2, ratified a contract offer that provides a 3.1 percent wage hike in 2013-14, and a 1.5 percent increase in 2014-15... <a href="http://www.teamster.org/sites/teamster.org/files/8613OfficeManagersTLA2013.pdf" rel="nofollow">Organizational Skills for Office Managers Scheduled for November 6-8</a>  IBT   ...The IBT Training and Development Department will conduct a TLA for Teamster office managers and key administrative staff, November 6-8, 2013, at the International Headquarters in Washington, D.C... <a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/allied-bankruptcy-hearing-postponed-court-september-10" rel="nofollow">Allied Bankruptcy Hearing Postponed By the Court to September 10 </a>  IBT   ...A hearing before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Allied Systems’ bankruptcy case that was scheduled for Thursday, August 22, has been postponed by the court to noon Tuesday, September 10... <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/24/us/march-on-washington/" rel="nofollow">March on Washington: Throngs to attend events, mark 'I Have a Dream' anniversary</a>  CNN   ...Saturday's event begins with speeches before a march past the King Memorial, where an image of the slain civil rights leader now stands immortalized in granite... <a href="http://www.theglobaldispatch.com/massachusetts-senator-elizabeth-warren-targets-doj-settlements-with-banks-over-forged-documents-and-illegal-practices-83773/" rel="nofollow">Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren targets DOJ settlements with banks over forged documents and illegal practices</a>  Global Dispatch   ...Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) calls the latest deal “settling cheap” in her letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, questioning whether a major government settlement with the nation’s largest mortgage companies is a “timid enforcement strategy.”... <a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/walmarts-latest-scheme-replace-middle-class-underclass-forced-buy-its-shoddy-goods" rel="nofollow">Walmart's Latest Scheme to Replace the Middle Class With an Underclass Forced to Buy its Shoddy Goods</a>  AlterNet    ...Almost 30 years ago, as the U.S. was bleeding jobs, Walmart launched a "Buy America" program and started hanging "Made in America" signs in its 750 stores. It was a marketing success, cementing the retailer's popularity in the country's struggling, blue-collar heartland. A few years later, NBC's Dateline <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/24/business/wal-mart-disputes-report-on-labor.html" rel="nofollow">revealed the program to be a sham</a>... <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/175875/fired-walmart-workers-arrested-rally-announcing-labor-day-deadline#axzz2coqFj7Sx" rel="nofollow">Fired Walmart Workers Arrested at Rally Announcing Labor Day Deadline</a>  The Nation   ...Nine fired workers and a current employee were arrested around 2:30 pm Thursday after locking arms and sitting in front of the entrance to a Washington, D.C. Walmart office... <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bank-layoffs-20130823,0,961124.story" rel="nofollow">Banks shed thousands of jobs as housing market improves</a>  Los Angeles Times   ...Six years after the mortgage meltdown, delinquencies and foreclosures are way down. That's great for borrowers and bank balance sheets, but bad for bank workers — who are now being laid off by the thousands... <a href="http://wepartypatriots.com/wp/2013/08/23/boeings-wage-slashing-move-to-sc-backfires-as-company-cant-meet-787-production-demand/" rel="nofollow">Boeing’s Wage-Slashing Move to SC Backfires as Company Can’t Meet 787 Production Demand</a>  We Party Patriots   ...When Boeing left Washington for South Carolina in order to suppress the wages of its workers, it also left behind the quality work that had been provided by a highly skilled, union workforce. Now, that <a href="http://www.eoionline.org/blog/union-busting-doesnt-pay-off-for-boeing/">union-busting is backfiring</a> as productivity has dropped immensely and Boeing is unable to meet their 787 Dreamliner production goals... <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/175865/keeping-massive-trade-deal-out-fast-lane#" rel="nofollow">Keeping a Massive Trade Deal Out of the Fast Lane</a>  The Nation   ...Congress itself hasn’t heard much about the TPP; the negotiating process has been characterized by extreme secrecy and the Obama administration has denied repeated calls from legislators to make the process more transparent, while pressing to finalize the agreement this year... <a href="http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/La-man-sentenced-in-Afghanistan-kickback-scheme-4752288.php" rel="nofollow">Louisiana businessman sentenced in Afghanistan kickback scheme</a>  Associated Press   ...<a href="http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/La-man-sentenced-in-Afghanistan-kickback-scheme-4752288.php" rel="nofollow">He kidnapped an Indian businessman in South Sudan</a>, but got off. Now he’s been found guilty of demanding $60,000 in kickbacks for approving a $3.2m award to an American company for construction in Afghanistan. His sentence? 10 months in the federal slammer... <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/15498/fight_against_right_to_work_not_over_in_michigan/" rel="nofollow">Fight Against ‘Right-to-Work’ Not Over in Michigan</a>  In These Times   ...Last December, Gov. Rick Snyder outraged unions and progressives when he abruptly <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/14285/big_surprise_michigan_house_passes_right_to_work_bill/" rel="nofollow">signed two bills</a> into law making Michigan the 24th so-called "right-to-work" state. The laws allow workers to get union benefits without paying mandatory union membership dues. Organized labor has widely decried right-to-work laws as dangerous to unions and ultimately detrimental to all workers... <a href="http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/sen-jon-erpenbach-goes-to-bat-for-capitol-protesters/article_35e6eae1-c200-5a16-a304-2105b78281e5.html#ixzz2cjNkuo7O" rel="nofollow">Sen. Jon Erpenbach goes to bat for Capitol protesters</a>  The Cap Times   ..."I would suggest that you abandon the current permit policy, and stop the arrests of noon-time singers," Erpenbach writes. "Because if the goal was eliminating the singing — your policy is producing the direct opposite..." <a href="http://progressillinois.com/news/content/2013/08/22/midway-privatization-deal-could-negatively-affect-workers-nearby-residents" rel="nofollow">Chicago Midway Airport Privatization Deal Could Negatively Affect Workers, residents</a>  Progress Illinois   ...Privatization plans for Chicago Midway Airport could negatively affect both nearby residents as well as airport workers, according to Alderman Michael Zalewski (23rd), who is concerned about allegations that one of the two contenders for the privatization contract has a history of "union busting and black-listing."... <a href="http://qctimes.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/quinn-looking-to-boost-minimum-wage/article_cce66e70-7bdf-53c3-9fb9-81dff464180b.html" rel="nofollow">Quinn looking to boost minimum wage</a>  Quad-City Times   ...Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's signing of the first of a series of increases in Illinois' minimum wage. And now, his former running mate and successor, Gov. Pat Quinn, says he wants to push the state's $8.25 per hour minimum wage higher... <a href="http://rockrivertimes.com/2013/08/22/illinois-receives-more-than-2-billion-in-relief-from-national-foreclosure-settlement/" rel="nofollow">Illinois receives more than $2 billion in relief from national foreclosure settlement</a>  Rock River Times   ...Illinois Attorney General Madigan (D) reported that Illinois homeowners and assistance organizations have received more than $2 billion in total relief under the national foreclosure settlement... <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-rt-us-usa-voting-states-20130821,0,4055323.story" rel="nofollow">Arizona and Kansas sue U.S. over voter registration law</a>  Reuters   ...Kansas and Arizona filed a lawsuit against the U.S. federal government on Wednesday, seeking court approval for states to require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote... <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/21/3576943/maine-group-touts-new-plan-to.html" rel="nofollow">Maine group touts new plan to eliminate income tax</a>  Associated Press   ...A conservative think tank in Maine is rolling out a new proposal to gradually phase out the state's income tax, one of the top priorities for Gov. Paul LePage's administration...

Today's Teamster News 08.24.13

UPS Teamsters Not Impacted By Company Decision To Eliminate Spousal Coverage IBT ...UPS announced a change in its health care coverage ...

March on Washington: It's still about jobs

4:38 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">Next week is the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  Marchers, including Teamsters from across the country, gathered in Washington, D.C., to call attention to civil rights issues, especially the need for good jobs for all people.  This series focuses on how well (or not) our society has met the 50-year-old demands of the marchers. So far, we’ve discussed <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/minimum-wage-lower-today.html">the decline of the minimum wages</a> and <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/port-drivers-regressed-since-1963.html">the gaps in labor law protections</a>.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"> </div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: start; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">In 1963, America was in the middle of an economic crisis.  Although the national unemployment rate was only 5.6 percent that summer, <a href="http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p60-214.pdf">almost one in five Americans lived in poverty</a>. For black Americans, the situation was much more dire.  <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/07/11/poverty-in-the-50-years-since-the-other-america-in-five-charts/">About half of African-Americans were in poverty</a> – and were unemployed at over twice the rate of white Americans – something still true today.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: start; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> </div>None of the employment figures include people who had given up looking for a job or who work only a few hours a week while looking for a better job. Last month, the U6 unemployment rate -- the unemployed, the discouraged and the underemployed -- <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/catch-22-hiring-2013-165856551.html" rel="nofollow">is 14 percent.</a> <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/catch-22-hiring-2013-165856551.html" rel="nofollow">Organizers of the March on Washington believed that getting people good jobs was key to helping their communities.</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._Philip_Randolph" rel="nofollow">A. Philip Randolph,</a> president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and one of the main organizers, <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/unfinished-march-overview/">said at the march</a>: <blockquote class="tr_bq">We have no future in a society in which 6 million black and white people are unemployed and millions more live in poverty. Nor is the goal of our civil rights revolution merely the passage of civil rights legislation. Yes, we want all public accommodations open to all citizens, but those accommodations will mean little to those who cannot afford to use them. Yes, we want a Fair Employment Practice Act, but what good will it do if profit-geared automation destroys the jobs of millions of workers black and white?</blockquote>Today, Teamsters International Vice President Al Mixon echoed Randolph as he prepared to join tomorrow's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/us/a-time-to-return-to-and-reflect-on-the-march-on-washington.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: inherit;">March on Washington 50 years later</a>. <blockquote class="tr_bq">I look at how far we've come and how far we have to go. It was about jobs then, it's about jobs now. </blockquote><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: start; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Participants at the 1963 march demanded “a massive federal program to train and place all unemployed workers — Negro and white — on meaningful and dignified jobs at decent wages.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: start; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> </div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 13.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: start; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">At that point, the only active job training program, the Manpower Development and Training Act, had been around for less than a year.  Only 200,000 people enrolled in the program.  Today, <a href="http://www.gao.gov/assets/320/314551.pdf" style="font-family: inherit;">47 different federal programs that focus on job training are run through seven different departments</a>. Most focus on a specific subset of the population: Farmworkers, Native Americans, veterans and youth all have multiple programs that offer basic employment help. Funding for all of the programs in 2009 totaled $18 billion, half of one percent of the total federal budget.  That represented a dramatic increase in funding over six years, and the current administration increased funding by a third since 2009. The Department of Labor estimates that about 26 million people have worked with their programs that offer job training in the past year.  In January of this year alone, 22.7 million people were classified as truly unemployed - <a href="http://www.rpc.senate.gov/policy-papers/january-2013-unemployment-report" style="font-family: inherit;">people who are unemployed (12.3 million), want work but have stopped searching for a job (2.4 million), or work part time because they can’t find full time employment (8.0 million)</a>. Fifty years later, we still have plenty of marching to do. </div>

job training Jobs March on Washington unemployment March on Washington: It's still about jobs

Next week is the 50 th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Marchers, including Teamsters from across the ...

You're Going To Need A Bigger Boat

4:17 AM Tukiyooo 0

You're Going To Need A Bigger Boat

LA Times - Online doctor visits offer convenience and often lower costs

3:51 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div>Victoria Barzilai opened her mouth wide so the doctor could look at her sore throat. Not exactly a remarkable event, except that Barzilai was at home and the doctor was hundreds of miles away.Feeling too sick to drag herself to the school health center, the third-year UC Davis student had opted for a cyber-doctor visit, the 21st century version of a house call.A number of websites offer face-to-face consultations of the virtual kind to anyone with a credit card and access to a webcam-equipped computer. The services are intended for patients with relatively minor problems that don't require hands-on diagnoses or treatments, not for people who need stitches, MRIs or casts on broken limbs.But an estimated 50 million times a year, patients go to their doctors for just the sorts of problems these sites are meant to handle, says Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, an associate professor at Harvard. "They're filling a niche."ConvenienceOne presumed strong suit of e-visits like these is convenience. That counted with Barzilai. And with Richard Simons of Los Feliz, when he had a case of the flu. "My doctor is at least an hour away," he says, "and besides, I didn't know when I could get in to see him."Barzilai and Simons both used <a href="http://MedCareLive.com">MedCareLive.com</a>, which offers California residents no-wait consultations with healthcare professionals from 9 a.m. to midnight every day. Other sites, such as Teladoc and MeMD, offer consultations 24/7.CostSome e-visit sites charge per-consultation fees: <a href="http://MedCareLive.com">MedCareLive.com</a>, $45; MeMD, $44.95; Teladoc, $35. Others charge different rates for different services: At Online USA Doctors, single consults start at 99 cents. As for insurance, some plans cover e-visits at some sites, but not all.Although <a href="http://MedCareLive.com">MedCareLive.com</a> does not contract with any insurance companies, co-founders Dr. David Tashman and nurse practitioner Sigi Marmorstein set out to make their service a good deal — for people who have insurance and people who don't. "We set our price point at $45 for a reason," Tashman says. "Most co-pays run from $30 to $50.""We want to help people stay away from the ER and urgent care," Marmorstein adds. "We want to save people money."So far, hard data on e-visits are limited. Mehrotra and colleagues have looked at convenience and cost, though the e-visits they considered were not offered through public sites. Patients in their studies interacted with their own doctors or doctors in the same practice, and for the most part the interactions were not in real time and did not use webcams. Patients described their condition on a questionnaire, and a doctor responded about two hours later on average.In an article published in July in the journal Telemedicine and e-Health, the researchers found that the greater the convenience of e-visits compared with office visits, the more likely patients were to use them. Patients with urinary tract infections who lived farther than 10 miles away from their doctors were more than three times as likely to use the e-visit option as those who lived five miles or less away. And sinusitis sufferers who lived more than 10 miles away were more than six times as likely to use the e-option as those who lived five miles or less away.In another paper published in January in JAMA Internal Medicine, the same researchers found evidence that, on a per-visit basis, e-visits generally are cheaper than office visits, let alone trips to the ER. "For anyone with no insurance or with a high deductible, e-visits may be particularly attractive," Mehrotra says. In the big picture, though, the economics become more complicated. Because of the added convenience and lower price of e-visits, "people might use them who otherwise would have stayed at home and not gone for care at all." Such increased healthcare use could be a good thing, he observes, "but it could increase total costs."And how good is the care? Again, data are sparse. In its January study, Mehrota's team found welcome evidence that diagnosis and treatment were equally successful in e-visits and office visits for patients with sinusitis and urinary tract infections. On the other hand, doctors prescribed more antibiotics in e-visits, which could represent an unfortunate trend.In another potential drawback, Mehrotra says, primary care doctors are encouraged to offer preventive care — e.g., pap smears, cholesterol tests — to their patients at every visit. But in the January study, Mehrotra's team found that doctors were less likely to do so during e-visits than during office visits. .Overall, more research would seem to be in order, but the January study found that e-visitors are generally happy with the service. Simons and Barzilai are two enthusiastic examples."I would definitely do it again," Simons says.In Barzilai's words, "It was really awesome."And e-usage is growing. "Patients are voting with their feet," Mehrotra says, "or make that their mouse pads." <a href="http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-edocs-20130824,0,2379647.story">http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-edocs-20130824,0,2379647.story</a> </div>

LA Times - Online doctor visits offer convenience and often lower costs

Victoria Barzilai opened her mouth wide so the doctor could look at her sore throat. Not exactly a remarkable event, except that Barzilai wa...

I Have To Agree

3:14 AM Tukiyooo 0

I Have To Agree

Grade A Choice.

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 08/24/2013

2:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

<ul class="diigo-linkroll"> <li> <a href="https://support.google.com/plus/answer/2553119?hl=en">Get started with Hangouts On Air - Google+ Help</a> If you want to record your Google hangouts and post to your YouTube channel, you need to get started with "Hangouts on Air." HEre's the page to get you started. Note that Google plus isn't available for Apps for education so you'll need to use your personal or another gmail account with a Google plus profile if you want to record and share your class hangouts. tags: <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/google">google</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/youtube">youtube</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/flatclass">flatclass</a> </li> </ul>Posted from <a href='https://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 08/24/2013

Get started with Hangouts On Air - Google+ Help If you want to record your Google hangouts and post ...

Nothing Has Changed

1:35 AM Tukiyooo 0

As old as this tune is now it doesn't surprise me one fucking bit that it's still relevant right this minute. Holy Wars,The Punishment Due off the album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_in_Peace">Rust In Peace</a>,released in September of 1990. For those who may have never heard of it because you ain't into Heavy Metal, I am going to put the lyrics below the video so you can see exactly what I mean. For those who have, crank this fucker to the point of distortion as it was meant to be. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9ZROqlpLgIE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> MEGADETH Holy Wars lyrics Brother will kill brother spilling blood across the land Killing for religion something I don't understand And fools like me, who cross the sea and come to foreign lands Ask the sheep, for their beliefs do you kill on God's command? A country that's divided surely will not stand My past erased, no more disgrace foolish naive stand The end is near, it's crystal clear part of the master plan Don't look now to Israel it might be your homelands Holy wars Upon my podium, as the know it all scholar Down in my seat of judgment Gavel's bang, uphold the law Up on my soapbox, a leader out to change the world Down in my pulpit as the holier than-thou-could-be-messenger of God Wage the war on organized crime Sneak attacks, repel down the rocks behind the lines Some people risk to employ me some people live to destroy me Either way they die, they die They killed my wife and my baby, with hopes to enslave me First mistake last mistake paid by the alliance, to slay all the giants Next mistake no more mistakes Fill the cracks in, with judicial granite Because I don't say it, don't mean I ain't thinkin' it Next thing you know, they'll take my thoughts away I know what I said, now I must scream of the overdose And the lack of mercy killings, mercy killings, mercy killings Killings killings killings Next thing you know, they'll take my thoughts away, yeah Lyrics from <a href="http://www.elyrics.net">eLyrics.net</a>

Nothing Has Changed

As old as this tune is now it doesn't surprise me one fucking bit that it's still relevant right this minute. Holy Wars,The Punis...

Matt Said Jay Said 3

9:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFBpaJ9YzSiBqRwgwrbAuDaJYDbM039Ysq0XpxVvU4E-Hv5lB3qjNfPmTxp_ADQcrTkQ4t-DfmtWxytUR7CkMvfELo8T2-x4ysAFtfsaLzOtjRQcC7szcalpbGwOVpF9YDz8IxC56ducj/s1600/Hot+Chick+Drinking+Champagne+Naked.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFBpaJ9YzSiBqRwgwrbAuDaJYDbM039Ysq0XpxVvU4E-Hv5lB3qjNfPmTxp_ADQcrTkQ4t-DfmtWxytUR7CkMvfELo8T2-x4ysAFtfsaLzOtjRQcC7szcalpbGwOVpF9YDz8IxC56ducj/s320/Hot+Chick+Drinking+Champagne+Naked.jpg" width="320" /></a>Matt pops a cork…Jay taps a keg…You celebrate with us. Matt:  Hiya Chuckles!! Jay:  What’s up? Matt:  I’m getting excited about our big <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/08/25/season-3-finale" target="_blank">3rd Year Anniversary Show</a> this Sunday from Noon-2 PM ET. Jay:  IKR?  This show is gonna be bigger and hotter than the flames coming out of your ass after eating a can of Beefaroni!! Matt:  I just had a flashback thank you very much, but you’re right. Jay:  Man, can you believe it?  Three years of non-stop laughs and top notch journalism. Matt:  IKR?  It’s like we’re the FOX News of Blog Talk Radio, only we have top notch journalism. Jay:  True…They could learn a thing or two from us…like being Matt:  Like what?  FOX News being fair and balanced?  That’s crazy talk!! Jay:  A man can dream, can’t he? Matt: I suppose, but let’s try to stay in a relative realm of reality. Jay:  Word.  So, <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/08/25/season-3-finale" target="_blank">this anniversary show</a>…the accolades having been pouring into us from many celebs. Matt:  Oh I know…I received one today from San Diego Mayor Bob Filner. Jay:  Wow…I have already received congrats from Rick Perry, Roseanne, and Ted Cruz. Matt:  Freaking awesome.  Dig this Jayman; John McCain sent us THREE statements of kind words!! Jay:  That’s so cute, but guess what? Matt:  What? Jay:  President Obama just now sent us one as well!! Matt:  Get outta here. Jay:  If I’m lyin’, I’m dyin’!! Matt:  This is HUGE!! <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9MGZrbHw-OS4id_EsZ0Eph5FI9FkxUth_PlAoNfATgClD1v61V4o86_jSHrgIk6meTwwSX_AVlHQzoRWH-xzKVpUMcDAwE3rxiFVOJIBUwcFtMq2ong8VBVSOcFlMV8LCzHcV1pDC4Wbc/s1600/IWS+Nuclear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9MGZrbHw-OS4id_EsZ0Eph5FI9FkxUth_PlAoNfATgClD1v61V4o86_jSHrgIk6meTwwSX_AVlHQzoRWH-xzKVpUMcDAwE3rxiFVOJIBUwcFtMq2ong8VBVSOcFlMV8LCzHcV1pDC4Wbc/s320/IWS+Nuclear.jpg" width="320" /></a>Jay:  We need to play these and the warm words from others in power, for our loyal audience. Matt:  We sure as hell will, along with playing our fave files and moments from Season 3. Jay:  Nothing wrong with a Sunday stroll down Memory Lane. Matt:  I’m sure Guy Ahnyurdyck, Slyder Balzcock, and maybe even Kim Fragile will chime in. Jay:  And Joshua, Rev. Moneymaker, Bobby Kraft are probably mixing and mincing up some words. Matt:  And of course Jayman, you know who truly needs to be involved and celebrated… Jay:  Damn Right!!  The listeners…who without fail, make us the Number One Comedy show nearly every week. Matt:  We will have shout out and tributes galore to those fine folks Jay:  As it should be, and we can touch on what is in store for Season Four. Matt:  Poetically said Jayman. Jay:  Rhyming is my Bitch. Matt:  Word. Jay:  So let’s get ready to party tomorrow, Sunday August 25th on Blog Talk Radio… Matt:  As IWS Radio presents its <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/08/25/season-3-finale" target="_blank">Season 3 Finale</a> LIVE from Noon-2 PM ET. Jay:  Listen LIVE, hit the Chat Room, and of course Matt-Man… Matt:  Call-In LIVE at 661.244.9852 Jay:  How do they get to the party, my good man? Matt:  They can get there by clicking <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/08/25/season-3-finale" target="_blank">HERE</a>. Jay and Matt:  Holaaaaaa and Cheeeeeers!! <div></div></div>

Matt Said Jay Said 3

Matt pops a cork…Jay taps a keg…You celebrate with us. Matt: Hiya Chuckles!! Jay: What’s up? Matt: I’m getting excited about our big 3rd ...

Surgeon struggles to save boy's life in L.A.'s shooting season - latimes.com

7:30 PM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:">From the entry wound — the size of a nickel — Dr. Brant Putnam guesses that the bullet is a .45, but it's what he can't see that worries him most. The boy, a teenager most likely, lies naked on Bed 2 in a trauma bay at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. His brown skin, slick with sweat, is ashen. "What's your name?" a resident asks as half a dozen doctors and nurses circle him. The boy can't answer. "Ohhh," he moans. "How old are you, sir?" "Awww." The boy's hipbones delicately protrude from his narrow waist. He has a woman's name tattooed down his right arm from elbow to wrist and the bullet hole is to the right of his navel. Putnam, chief of trauma, stands back and watches and listens. He is puzzled that the wound is hardly bleeding. "Sit up for me." "Ohhh." There is no sign of an exit wound. "Hey. Wake up." A resident slaps the boy. They need him conscious. Putnam knows the surge of adrenaline that brought the boy this far is nearly spent. If his blood pressurecrashes, his heart will stop. Putnam wonders if it is too late. "Let's go to the OR," he says, loud enough to get everyone's attention. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNburRjpBg9hQ8o2wISAhBH7Ri_2NKCsi0kFiUz7cO3mdasOGgsqQwoINGclNLpn-2McyNPxDiVwnVrVoWowE3TvfFE7zY0KNc0AgJCppBftUSaIkEQl49Jqq5fuTuvNeGHMNz4z4MVhE/s1600/prettything-765577.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5915507704896073314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNburRjpBg9hQ8o2wISAhBH7Ri_2NKCsi0kFiUz7cO3mdasOGgsqQwoINGclNLpn-2McyNPxDiVwnVrVoWowE3TvfFE7zY0KNc0AgJCppBftUSaIkEQl49Jqq5fuTuvNeGHMNz4z4MVhE/s320/prettything-765577.png" /></a> The season of shootings has begun on time. Last year, from July through September, this Torrance hospital treated 107 gunshot victims, the highest number in the county. This year, four GSWs — medical shorthand for gunshot wounds — arrived on the first day of summer. One was a suicide and three were assaults. Three died and one would probably be discharged in a few days. Now, on June 23, two more have come in, both teenagers, both assaults. They walked through the front door at 2:25 a.m., no EMTs, no police. The hospital staff calls it the homeboy ambulance service: patients brought in with injuries often from gang shootings. Putnam can see that one of the boys will be OK. He has a clean wound through the shoulder. The boy with the nickel-sized bullet hole is far worse, and they know nothing about him. No name, no age, no family. For now, they call him Zinc, one of the pseudonyms the hospital uses for its John Does. Emergency departments in hospitals throughout America have physicians like Putnam, doctors who specialize in saving the lives of shooting victims. Other traumas, like concussions and automobile accidents, can be subtle and require imaging to see what's hidden. Gun injuries don't hide their tracks, but they are just as much a mystery, a puzzle put together by the surgeon as seconds race by. No matter the clarity of the injury, the damage can extend like concentric rings beyond the trajectory of the bullet. There is the blast effect, the sometimes fatal bruising that can occur to organs in the vicinity of a wound. There is the so-called triad of death, the interplay between body temperature, blood acidity and coagulation. There is ancillary debris — shards of glass, pieces of clothing, even upholstery if the bullet has passed through furniture — and there are always infections from bacteria carried into the wound. Putnam, 44, estimates that he has treated about 5,000 GSWs and consulted on nearly 2,000 more over the last 20 years, 10 of them at Harbor-UCLA. The victims he remembers the most are the children and women, the bystanders hit by stray fire, the wounded who spoke to him in the ER but died in the operating room. Whenever he loses a patient, he hears his mother asking him what he could have done differently. And whenever he saves a life, he knows that success is often just a matter of luck. Medicine and technology have come far in recent years in balancing the odds, but when it comes to gun violence, the numbers are overwhelming. "Why guns?" Putnam asks. "Why so many guns? It once was fistfights. It once was stabbings. Now it's a whole new world out there, and with guns, it's just too much." <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNburRjpBg9hQ8o2wISAhBH7Ri_2NKCsi0kFiUz7cO3mdasOGgsqQwoINGclNLpn-2McyNPxDiVwnVrVoWowE3TvfFE7zY0KNc0AgJCppBftUSaIkEQl49Jqq5fuTuvNeGHMNz4z4MVhE/s1600/prettything-765577.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5915507704896073314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNburRjpBg9hQ8o2wISAhBH7Ri_2NKCsi0kFiUz7cO3mdasOGgsqQwoINGclNLpn-2McyNPxDiVwnVrVoWowE3TvfFE7zY0KNc0AgJCppBftUSaIkEQl49Jqq5fuTuvNeGHMNz4z4MVhE/s320/prettything-765577.png" /></a> The emergency room team washes the boy with an antiseptic. He has been intubated and anesthetized. Blood transfusions have begun. "Sticky blues," Putnam calls out. No time to wait for the antiseptic to dry. Nurses drape blue cloths around the boy until he disappears, with only a torso remaining. Putnam, dressed in surgical scrubs, gloves, cap and headlamp, makes the initial incision from sternum to pubic bone, bowing around the navel. Chief resident Carrie Luu follows the scalpel with a "Bovie," a pen-shaped tool that cauterizes the open blood vessels with electrical current. The air smells of singed flesh; tendrils of smoke rise into the lights. Putnam sets a clock running in his mind. Two hours is optimum. Three is the limit. Anything longer compounds the trauma with a phenomena known as physiologic exhaustion, when the body has worn itself out trying to compensate for the injury. Putnam and Luu begin by separating the small intestine and colon from their ligaments. They notice a few holes in the bowel, but those repairs can come later. Lifting the intestine out of the torso, they find a pool of blood the size of a football flooding the back of the abdomen. This explains why the entry wound was dry. The boy is losing more blood than they can give him. Putnam wonders again if they are too late. He orders more transfusions. A resident begins suctioning the abdomen. "Minus 8," a nurse calls out. It's a measure of the blood's acidity, a reminder of the triad of death. A normal reading — zero — means blood clots can form naturally. As patients lose blood, lactic acid accumulates in the cells, and the enzyme that helps coagulation doesn't function. The more acid, the more bleeding, and patients' temperatures drop until there's no stopping the loss. Trauma teams try to interrupt this cycle. Transfusions and warming blankets help. The OR's thermostat is set as high as it will go: 85 degrees. The boy lies on a pad that's heated to 100 degrees, but still his temperature has fallen to 93. Unable to see beyond the blood collecting in the abdomen, Putnam reaches in, and his fingers find the inferior vena cava — a vein nearly an inch in diameter — that channels blood from the lower half of the body back into the heart. He pushes down on it, and the bleeding slows. When he eases up, he can hear a whoosh. The vena cava has been punctured. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNburRjpBg9hQ8o2wISAhBH7Ri_2NKCsi0kFiUz7cO3mdasOGgsqQwoINGclNLpn-2McyNPxDiVwnVrVoWowE3TvfFE7zY0KNc0AgJCppBftUSaIkEQl49Jqq5fuTuvNeGHMNz4z4MVhE/s1600/prettything-765577.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5915507704896073314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNburRjpBg9hQ8o2wISAhBH7Ri_2NKCsi0kFiUz7cO3mdasOGgsqQwoINGclNLpn-2McyNPxDiVwnVrVoWowE3TvfFE7zY0KNc0AgJCppBftUSaIkEQl49Jqq5fuTuvNeGHMNz4z4MVhE/s320/prettything-765577.png" /></a> Fired from a handgun, a .45-caliber bullet averages 900 feet per second, and unless it hits a bone, it usually follows a straight line. This bullet's journey passed through the skin and the colon, the intestine and then the vena cava. It stopped just behind the pancreas, with its point boring nearly two inches into the spine at an angle, just missing the spinal cord. Putnam probes the vertebra. He feels sharp fragments of bone and a hole in the L-3 vertebra no larger than his little finger. If the bullet posed a risk for pain or infection, he would remove it, but experience tells him it is safe to leave behind. With the blood drained, he can see the damage to the vena cava: two holes in the vein, most of the tissue shredded. There will be no repairing it. Each end will have to be tied off permanently, and the other veins will have to adjust by carrying blood back to the heart. But ligating the vena cava is tricky. Unlike arteries with their thick muscular walls, veins are as fragile as tissue paper. Putnam puts a clamp with long pincers on the vein, which swells like a garden hose. Even in the best of circumstances, fewer than half of patients with similar injuries survive. The boy jerks, a sudden reflex. "Can you paralyze him so he'll stop bucking?" Putnam asks. More paralytics are added to the cocktail of intravenous drugs. Putnam guides Luu, the chief resident, as she starts to tie off the vein. The stitch reverses direction with each pass and looks like the threads on a baseball. "Minus 11," a nurse calls out. They have been working for almost 90 minutes. "Come on," Putnam says, encouraging Luu. "This is where all these things really matter." She is having trouble. Sideways torque in the needle tears out the suture. Luu is still learning — and Harbor-UCLA is a teaching hospital — but now Putnam has to take over. "Big pledgets," he calls out, asking for the felt-like material, nearly a inch in diameter, that will act like gaskets to support each suture against the tissue. "Hurry, please." His hands rise and fall quickly, deftly, with the grace of a pianist. His stitches, though, aren't perfect. He learned long ago that there was no call for elegance in surgeries like this. A perfect stitch could mean a dead patient. With a little more than 12 passes, the lower portion of the vein is closed. They are almost two hours in. Putnam is sweating and splattered with blood. The room is stifling. "Watch your eyes," Putnam announces as he removes the clamps and tests the sutures. Given the pressure in the vein, blood could spray across the room if the sutures don't hold. They hold. "Still very oozy," he says. The body's normal coagulants haven't begun to stop the other sources of bleeding. He and Luu staple the top portion of the vena cava and turn to the intestine. They draw the long, serpentine tube through their hands inch by inch, stapling and stitching any tear. A cloth is tossed on the floor to mop the blood at Putnam's feet. By now, almost 80% of the boy's blood has been replaced. Loosely positioning the intestine inside the abdomen, Putnam begins bandaging. He won't close the incision because he plans to open the boy again in two days to reassess the work and to see how the body is healing. "OK, we're moving," the scrub tech announces as soon as Putnam steps back and begins to strip out of his surgical gown. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNburRjpBg9hQ8o2wISAhBH7Ri_2NKCsi0kFiUz7cO3mdasOGgsqQwoINGclNLpn-2McyNPxDiVwnVrVoWowE3TvfFE7zY0KNc0AgJCppBftUSaIkEQl49Jqq5fuTuvNeGHMNz4z4MVhE/s1600/prettything-765577.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5915507704896073314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNburRjpBg9hQ8o2wISAhBH7Ri_2NKCsi0kFiUz7cO3mdasOGgsqQwoINGclNLpn-2McyNPxDiVwnVrVoWowE3TvfFE7zY0KNc0AgJCppBftUSaIkEQl49Jqq5fuTuvNeGHMNz4z4MVhE/s320/prettything-765577.png" /></a> Putnam remembers all the bad news he's ever delivered. He won't have to remember this one. At 5:25 a.m., three hours after arrival, he pronounces the boy in critical condition, expected to live. A little before 6 a.m., Putnam goes looking for the family. He still doesn't have any information about the boy. Sleeping families fill the waiting rooms, and in the ER, Putnam speaks with the other victim, who says he doesn't know his friend's name. Then a call comes in. A woman is asking if the hospital has seen a young man with the name Connie tattooed on the underside of his right arm. Within an hour, Connie Greene and her husband meet Putnam in the ICU. She is the boy's mother, and his name is Leandrus Benton. He is 16. "He's OK," Putnam tells the parents. "He lost a lot of blood, and we almost lost him." Connie starts to cry. In the last five years, two of her nephews have been killed in street shootings. Leandrus — or Lee, as he's known to his family and friends — had been walking home from a party in Wilmington that night. As he would later explain, he and his friend thought it would be safer to take the alley than the street. Lee had heard the gun but didn't see the shooter. The bullet, he said, burned through his gut. Putnam walks the couple into the ICU, and as they wash their hands, he pulls out gowns, gloves and masks for them. He then takes them to Lee, waits a minute and draws the curtain around them so they can be alone with their son. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gunshot-surgeon-20130818-dto,0,1798386.htmlstory?">http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gunshot-surgeon-20130818-dto,0,1798386.htmlstory?</a>

Surgeon struggles to save boy's life in L.A.'s shooting season - latimes.com

From the entry wound — the size of a nickel — Dr. Brant Putnam guesses that the bullet is a .45, but it's what he can't see that wor...