Politicaldog101 completes its Second Year!

Yea….

It’s been 730 days since the Politiocaldog101 started as a WordPress Blog!

What a journey……

 

From putting together the basics to running this self-hosted site…

It has been and continues to be a blast!

It has taken me further on the net then I ever thought this place would go….

Over 660,000 hits and still counting…..

 

And I am grateful for the regulars who come here just about everyday and comment, argue, post and help me be better….

I want to also thank Sebastian for SRS, wherever he is, for the theme help….

 

I’ve also made friends a few other bloggers that I visit regularly and feature….

I look forward to the upcoming Primaries and Presidential Election which we will be covering extensively here at the Dog….

 

Finally….. I want thank the wife for being patient with her husband pounding away on down stairs on the computer everyday while listening with one floppy ear to her…..

 

Thank You….

From the bottom of my heart to to tip of my wet nose…..

Keep it coming!

The Dog….

Second terrorist attack in Norway….Youth Camp shooting leaves 80 dead….

The second action was a cooribnated attack by a lone gunman who shot up  a large amount of young people attending a youth confrence on Utoya Island, 25 miles from the Norwegian capitol….

This will be their 9/11…No Doubt

From the Washington Post……

A wounded woman is brought ashore. (Getty Images)

 The blast struck around 3:30 p.m. local time near the 17-story building that holds the prime minister’s office — he was not there at the time — blowing out almost every window and setting off a billowing fire at the nearby oil ministry.

Two hours later, a man dressed in a police uniform opened fire on Utoya Island, 25 miles northwest of the capital, where the ruling Labor Party was holding an annual conference for young people, police said.

“Ambulances and helicopters are flying nonstop,” Kvernen said. “The losses are quite huge.”

Police originally reported the death toll at the youth conference at 10, but early Saturday they said they had discovered many more victims.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was rushed to a secret location in the aftermath of the blast but spoke to reporters late Friday.

“I have a message to whoever attacked us. It’s a message from all of Norway,” he said. “You will not destroy us. You will not destroy our democracy.”

But many residents of Oslo said the attacks would probably have a deep impact. For years, the most fortified building in town has been the U.S. Embassy — the subject of eye-rolling from those who thought the security measures were unnecessary.

“This is one of those events that will change everything,” Christopher Wright, 35, of Oslo said by telephone. He was at a bakery a thousand feet from the government buildings when the explosion happened….

More….

From Politicaldog101...here and here…..

What do you do In The Country after you get rid of the bad guy Running the Country?

That seems to be a recurring theme for the US and NATO thru the years….

As this piece from the Atlantic by James Joyner points out…..

Mommar Gaddafi is gonna be out of Libya sooner or later….

When that occurs…..

What’s gonna happen?

As we see in several countries …

Replacing the bad guy running the show creates a vacuum…

That creates unrest…

Unrealistic  expectations by the masses…..

And of course an oppountity by an organized opposition that often finds itself as the ONLY organized body…

All this the country has to continue running itself with with same corrupt people stealing from its population even if the head of the bad guy is gone….

So as in Iraq and Egypt….

What will happen in Libya when the time comes?

“Getting Libya back on its feet will be an unwieldy, and probably fractious, process in which many scores are settled against those who once supported the Gaddafi regime. But the problem is, of course, that much like in the former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe, virtually everyone at one point or another had to deal with the regime to survive. Unless political authority can be restored quickly, the sorting out of claims will undoubtedly be a bloody affair in light of the pent-up frustration that is now being released.”

James Dorsey noted for Al Arabiya recently, “The immediate problems Libyans and the international community will have to address once Mr. Qaddafi departs are huge and so are the potential pitfalls. The problems include restoring and maintaining law and order; securing basic services such as food, water and energy; achieving international recognition of a post-Qaddafi government; resuming oil exports to ensure funding for the new government; and kick starting Libya’s stagnating economy.”

He noted, “Anticipating the need to maintain security, avoid violent revenge and retribution and ensure that a post-Qaddafi government gets off to a good start, some US commanders, including Admiral Samuel Locklear, NATO’s joint operations chief in Naples, and General Carter Ham, who runs the US military’s Africa Command, have suggested that United Nations or African Union peacekeepers would have to be inserted into Libya once Mr. Qaddafi has been removed from power.”

The parallels with Iraq are eerie. In his seminal work on that conflict, Fiasco, Thomas Ricks quotes Major Isaiah Wilson, the official Army historian of the spring 2003 invasion and later strategic planner in Iraq saying that there was “no single plan as of 1 May 2004 that described an executable approach to achieving the stated strategic endstate for war.” Joint Staff officer Gregory Gardner explained why: “Politically, we’d made a decision that we’d turn it over to the Iraqis in June” 2003. Additionally, an Army War College study found, what little planning there was for post-conflict stabilization was predicated on the unfounded assumption that “the international community would pick up the slack.”

More ….

From Politicaldog101.Com….

NFL owners approve deal with players union for 10 years…Play Football!

Not a bad deal on missing training camp, eh?

The Players get to vote on the agreement shortly…

Owners, meeting in Atlanta, in a 31-0 vote agreed to end the current lockout. Team facilities could be open by Saturday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, if players approve the deal.

Player representatives scheduled an 8 p.m. conference call in which they were expected to discuss the proposal and the recertification of the NFL Players Association, which dissolved after the lockout began in March.

The proposed collective-bargaining agreement would last through the 2020 season.

The proposed agreement includes a new rookie compensation system, a salary cap of $142.4 million per club in 2011 and additional retirement benefits, according to the NFL.

“I do feel good” about the prospects of resolving the situation, Falcons player representative Coy Wire told CNN.

The first preseason game — the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, between the Chicago Bears and St. Louis Rams — has been canceled because of the delay in opening camps, Goodell said. It had been scheduled for August 7.

The regular season is set to open on September 8……

More….. from CNN….

From Politicaldog101.Com….

Why is the Unemployment number going up?

Because private business and state and local government are laying people off…

That’s why….

And it’s due to low demand for services from businesses and cost cutting while state and local governments are cutting THEIR costs also…

The increase in layoffs is a key reason why the U.S. recorded an average of only 21,500 new jobs over the past two months, far below the level needed to bring down unemployment, which now stands at 9.2%.

The cuts also reflect the shifting outlook of employers, many of whom had expected the economy to gain speed as the year progressed. Instead, growth has faltered. If the pace continues to disappoint, more companies will feel pressure to pull back. “Layoffs have played a big role [in weak job growth] over the last few months,” said Mike Montgomery, an economist at IHS Global Insight. “The soft patch is more layoffs and nothing else to pick up the slack.”

More….

From Politicaldog101.Com….

The last touchdown for an American Space Shuttle……

The Atlantis Space Shuttle closes the door on American manned space travel for next few years in its return from space early this morning…..

An era ends as Atlantis touches down

From the Associated Press

Atlantis and four astronauts returned from the International Space Station in triumph, bringing an end to NASA’s 30-year shuttle journey.

From Politicaldog101.Com….

To tell Ya truth….I don’t even know if the Republican’s know WTF is going on…..

As I begin to read in for the Dog a little while ago something strikes me….

The theatre in the round that titled the ‘Debt Ceiling/Budget Talks’ is all over the place…..

First there’s this from Politicalwire…….

Three Tracks Towards a Debt Limit Deal

First Read: “With the clock ticking until the Aug. 2 deadline, there are essentially three tracks to resolve the debt-ceiling standoff. One track is McConnell-Reid, the ongoing negotiations between the Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader to pass a ‘failsafe’ debt ceiling increase without majorities of Congress having to approve it, and it’s losing a lot of steam (right now). The second track is the talks between President Obama and House Republicans John Boehner and Eric Cantor, as they try to revive a ‘grand bargain’ — and it’s a track that is a LOT more active than folks realize. And the third track is a second grand-bargain-style deal — this one by the Gang of Six in the Senate.”

One huge problem: “There is currently no plan out there that could get through the House. And that’s raised chatter on Capitol Hill that the only way to convince enough House Republicans to support ANY track is for the Dow Jones to collapse, a la what happened with TARP in 2008.”

Then there is this from CNN….

 

Debt crisis: Lots of talk, little action

President Obama met with party leaders. House Speaker Boehner had talks over pizza with tea party conservatives. House leaders also met. But there still is no plan to keep the U.S. from defaulting on its debt. FULL STORY

 

Of course the Money people over at Wall Street are smart enough to know that it looks like the August 2nd deadline isn’t gonna be much of a deadline (Obama is not gonna what I think he should do which is STOP writting Federal checks ) so they have set in motion this action mentioned in the New York Times….

Wall Street Makes Fallback Plans in Event of U.S. Default

By LOUISE STORY and JULIE CRESWELL

Lawmakers in Washington are racing to reach a deal to save the country from defaulting on its debt, but financial players are devising doomsday plans in case the clock runs out……

Like I said in the tittle to this post….

Things are fluid…

So fluid that NOBODY seems to saying what the final outcome will be….

Certainly not the Speaker of the House John Boehner who seems to be a ally fight with his Majority Leader…

Cantor and his ‘no negotiating group’ is either amenable to something…..

Or…

Nothing that doesn’t cut the balls out of  the budget right now and sticks it to the Democrats and hurts Obama….

Quit frankly only the inside players know the score…

The media is just guessing ….

From Politicaldog101.Com….

Casey Anthony verdict….The media didn’t get it right…

My wife’s been following this case down in Orlando….

I haven’t until a few days ago….

Casey Anthony is a young mother who didn’t call authorities about here missing child for about 30 days…

The child’s body was found in bad shape…

The death was a mystery…

In fact to this day NO ONE know quite how the child died….

Oh, little Cayle Anthony was duct taped and drowned it’s reported….

Here’s the weird thing….

The child’s mother during this period went out a partied….

And then there is even more…

The grand parents of the child  (Casey mother and father)where looked at as possible ‘persons of interest’…

Her Dad is a ex-Homicide Detective…

There is also an old bot friend angle and more….

That’s a little background….

My wife and I discussed the case after it was sent to the jury over the July 4th weekend….

I watched two different talking heads yesterday….

So Defense lawyer on Fox who thought the case was a slam dunk for the Prosecution and 

Jane Velez Mitchell from CNN’s Court Channel…

The media outlets….

Virtually ALL of them where reporting that Casey Anthony was a done deal for a conviction on most …if not all of charges and was on trial for her life….

Somebody forgot to tell the jury that….

Hours ago the came back with NOT GUILTIES for….

Murder….

Manslaughter….

Felony Child Abuse…..

Valez Mitchell had been right….

The case presented by prosecutors didn’t sway the jury which came back with a verdict convicting Casey Anthony of lying to the cops….

That all….

Those are misdemeanors….

Which means with time served …..(Anthony has been in jail since her arrest. 3 years ago)..

She’ll be out of jail shortly….

I watched with amusement all the talking heads on several channel try to play off the fact that they just about ALL got this wrong….

Very wrong….

Listen from what I read and what my wife has told me….

Casey Anthony wasn’t the best mother in the world….

After the verdict her parents left the courtroom without saying a word….

A beautiful kid is gone in a horrible way….

And like it or not…

Casey Anthony DID time and was scared in the courtroom today…

Something bad happened to that child…

But….

The media clearly missed the train on this one….

There seemed to be so much circumstantial evidence and almost no direct evidence that Casey Anthony ….Or for that matter ANYONE hurt the child….

The media pushed for a conviction….

The jury had the last word….

More….Here…..Here…..

From the Politicaldog101…..