Crash Pilot was Psychiatric Patient, Planned big Gesture: paper

(Reuters) - The co-pilot suspected of deliberately crashing an airliner, killing 150 people, had told his girlfriend he was planning a spectacular gesture so "everyone will know my name", a German daily said on Saturday.

The Bild newspaper published an interview with a woman who said she had a relationship in 2014 with Andreas Lubitz, the man French prosecutors believe locked himself alone in the cockpit of the Germanwings Airbus on Tuesday and steered it into the French Alps, killing all on board.
"When I heard about the crash, I remembered a sentence... he said: 'One day I'll do something that will change the system, and then everyone will know my name and remember it'," said the woman, a flight attendant the paper gave the pseudonym of Maria W.

"I didn't know what he meant by that at the time, but now it's obvious," she said. "He did it because he realized that, due to his health problems, his big dream of working at Lufthansa, of a having job as a pilot, and as a pilot on long-distance flights, was nearly impossible."

"He never talked much about his illness, only that he was in psychiatric treatment," she told the paper, adding they finally broke up because she was afraid of him.

"He would suddenly freak out in conversations and yell at me," she recalled. "At night he would wake up screaming 'we are crashing' because he had nightmares. He could be good at hiding what was really going on inside him."

The woman also told Bild: "We always talked a lot about work and then he became a different person. He became upset about the conditions we worked under: too little money, fear of losing the contract, too much pressure."

A Lufthansa spokesman declined to comment. The company and its low-cost subsidiary Germanwings took out full-page advertisements in major German and French newspapers on Saturday, expressing "deepest mourning".

Lufthansa and Germanwings offered condolences to the friends and families of the passengers and crew and thanked the thousands of people in France, Spain and Germany it said had helped since the crash.

German officials said there would be a ceremony on April 17 in Cologne Cathedral attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and senior officials from other countries including France and Spain.

Also on Saturday, relatives of the Germanwings captain whom Lubitz locked out of the cockpit before the crash visited a memorial to the victims in the French Alps, while a special mass was held at the small cathedral in nearby Digne-les-Bains.

"OVERSTRESS SYMPTOMS"
German authorities said on Friday they had found torn-up sick notes showing the co-pilot had been suffering from an illness that should have grounded him on the day of the tragedy. Germanwings, the budget airline of the flag carrier Lufthansa, has said he did not submit a sick note at the time.
German newspaper Welt am Sonntag quoted a senior investigator as saying the 27-year-old "was treated by several neurologists and psychiatrists", adding that a number of medications had been found in his Duesseldorf apartment.

Police also discovered personal notes that showed Lubitz suffered from "severe subjective overstress symptoms", he added.

The New York Times on Saturday quoted officials as saying Lubitz had also sought treatment for vision problems that may have jeopardized his ability to work as a pilot.
German state prosecutors and police spokesmen declined to comment on the media reports, adding there would be no official statements on the case before Monday.
Investigators have retrieved cockpit voice recordings from one of the plane's "black boxes", which they say show that Lubitz locked himself alone in the cockpit, as his fellow pilot desperately tried to break in, and caused the airliner to crash.

A chief French investigator said on Saturday it was too early to rule out other explanations for the crash.

"There is obviously a scenario that is well known to the media and which we are focusing on," French investigator General Jean-Pierre Michel told French media.
"But we have no right today to rule out other hypotheses, including the mechanical hypotheses, as long as we haven't proved that the plane had no (mechanical) problem," he added, pointing out that a second black box containing flight data had not been found yet.

Just a few  words :
Passengers must remove their shoes, carry-on no liquids, be subjected to intrusive 3-D screenings and pat downs, but psychological evaluations of the PILOTS can be performed by outside agencies and are subjected to privacy laws which are withheld from the airlines? WTF??????

Every year I have to update my address, history, employment, blah blah to my doctor...I'm sure they knew his profession....it's on every form in Americas medical clinics....I'm betting no different in Germany.

It appears that Lubitz's health and psychiatric history goes back quite a bit. Knowing that, its hard to believe that the airline didn't seem to be aware of it. But if they did, and still let him fly....? Oh boy!! Germanwings and Lufthansa are going to be nailed to a cross by lawyers of the families who lost people on that flight, and company executives might even be judged in the courts.

Just  my humble opinion

Torn-up Sick Notes Show Crash Pilot Should Have Been Grounded

(Reuters) - German authorities said on Friday they had found torn-up sick notes showing that the pilot who crashed a plane into the French Alps was suffering from an illness that should have grounded him on the day of the tragedy.

French prosecutors believe Andreas Lubitz, 27, locked himself alone in the cockpit of the Germanwings Airbus A320 on Tuesday and deliberately steered it into a mountain, killing all 150 people on board.

"Documents with medical contents were confiscated that point towards an existing illness and corresponding treatment by doctors," said the prosecutors' office in Duesseldorf, where the co-pilot lived and where the doomed flight from Barcelona was heading.

Torn-up doctor's notes found in his home would have excused Lubitz from work for medical reasons, for a period that included the day of the crash. That supported the view that Lubitz had "hidden his illness from his employer and his colleagues", the prosecutors said.

They found no suicide note or confession, "nor was there any evidence of a political or religious background to what happened", they added.
Germanwings said Lubitz had not submitted any sick note that would have grounded him on Tuesday, March 24, the day of the crash.

In France, authorities said they had recovered between 400 and 600 body parts strewn across the Alpine crash site. No bodies were found intact and DNA testing would be the best way to identify the remains, Patrick Touron, deputy head of the criminal research division of France's Gendarmerie, told reporters at the site. Investigators would look for pieces of uniform to try to identify the crew including Lubitz.

Lubitz's mental health - and what Germanwings and parent company Lufthansa knew about it - could become central questions in any future legal case over the crash. Under German law, employees are required to inform their employers immediately if they are unable to work.

A hospital in Duesseldorf said Lubitz had visited to receive a diagnosis as recently as March 10. It would not give further details because of patient confidentiality rules but said media reports he was treated there for depression were inaccurate.
Reports in German media suggested Lubitz had suffered from depression in the past, and that Lufthansa would have been aware of at least some of that history.

Germany's Bild newspaper, citing internal documents forwarded by Lufthansa's Aero Medical Center to German authorities, reported that Lubitz had suffered a "serious depressive episode" around the time he suspended his pilot training in 2009. It said he subsequently spent over a year in psychiatric treatment.

Lufthansa and German prosecutors declined to comment on the report. The airline's CEO Carsten Spohr said on Thursday there was nothing in his past suggest Lubitz was a risk, and that after he resumed his training, he passed all tests with "flying colors".
An international agreement generally limits airline liability to around $157,400 for each passenger who dies in a crash, but if families can prove an airline was negligent they can pursue compensation for greater damages in lawsuits.

"I DON'T FEEL ANGER
Lawyers who have represented families in past airline disasters told Reuters that potential lawsuits could focus on whether Germanwings properly screened the co-pilot before and during his employment, and on whether the airline had adequate safety policies controlling access to its cockpits.

Within hours after French prosecutors disclosed their theory that the crash was deliberate, several airlines changed their rules to require two crew members in the cockpit at all times, a measure already mandatory in the United States but not in Europe.

Lufthansa announced on Friday that it too would change its rules to require a second crew member in the cockpit. On Thursday, Spohr had said he saw no need to do so, sparking a social media backlash.

Brussels announced it would recommend that rule change to all EU airlines. Such a recommendation can be implemented faster than changing European regulations to impose the requirement.
Robert Tansell Oliver, whose 37-year-old American son Robert Oliver Calvo was killed in the crash, said the family was not eager to sue. His son, a father of two small children, had been working for a fashion company in Barcelona.

"I don't feel anger. I'm really sorry for the parents of that young pilot. I can't imagine what they are going through right now," the father said outside a hotel near Barcelona airport where family members of victims have been staying.

"MAD SUICIDAL ACTION"
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the German airline had an obligation to share information about Lubitz.
"I am careful when there is a judicial inquiry, but everything points to a criminal, mad, suicidal action that we cannot comprehend," Valls told iTELE.

Lubitz was described by acquaintances in his hometown of Montabaur in western Germany as a friendly but quiet man who learned to fly gliders at a local club before advancing to commercial aviation as a co-pilot at Germanwings in 2013.
A friend who met Lubitz six years ago and flew with him in gliding school said he had become increasingly withdrawn over the past year.

Before Lubitz became a co-pilot in late 2013, the friend said the two had gone to movies and clubs together. But he noticed at two birthday parties they attended over the past year that he had retreated into a shell, speaking very little.
"Flying was his life," said the friend, who agreed to speak to Reuters about Lubitz's mental state on condition of anonymity. "He always used to be a quiet companion, but in the last year that got worse."

Would you like  to  trade  places  with me ,  the  pay  is  not  good  but  you  can  enjoy  getting  dizzy watching  the Genie  wiggle  her  butt  . 

Co-pilot Deliberately slams plane in Alps; Families ask why

 PARIS (AP) - Passengers with moments to live screamed in terror and the pilot frantically pounded on the locked cockpit door as a 27-year-old German co-pilot deliberately and wordlessly smashed an Airbus carrying 150 people into an Alpine mountainside.
The account Thursday of the final moments of Germanwings Flight 9525 prompted some airlines to immediately impose stricter cockpit rules - and raised haunting questions about the motive of the co-pilot, whose breathing never wavered as he destroyed the plane and the lives of those aboard.
"We have no idea of the reason," Marseille Prosecutor Brice Robin said, revealing the chilling conclusions investigators reached after reconstructing the final minutes of the flight from the plane's black box voice recorder. Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz's intention was "to destroy this plane."
*************************************************

Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz

French authorities have indicated they believe the co-pilot of the GermanWings Airbus A320 deliberately took over the aircraft on Tuesday,crashing the plane on purpose and killing all 158 passengers and crew. The planned flight, from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, took a path over the southern French Alps near Dignes where the wreckage of the plane was found. At first GermanWings authorities expressed surprise and dismay in social media with the French authorities conclusion adding they believed it was too early in the investigation. A Lufthansa press conference later on Thursday, held in Germany, by Chief Executive Carsten Spohr stated that it appeared the co-pilot had prevented the pilot from entering the cockpit after a bathroom break. It leaves us absolutely speechless, he said. I wouldnt not have been able to imagine that the situation would have got even worse. ----- This social media photo of Andreas Lubitz near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was found on his FaceBook Page.
*****************************************************
French, German and U.S. officials said there was no indication of terrorism. The prosecutor did not elaborate on why investigators do not suspect a political motive; instead they're focusing on the co-pilot's "personal, family and professional environment" to try to determine why he did it.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose nation lost 75 people on the flight, said the conclusions brought the tragedy to a "new, simply incomprehensible dimension." Devastated families of victims visited the crash scene Thursday, looking across a windy mountain meadow toward where their loved ones died.
The Airbus A320 was flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf on Tuesday when it lost radio contact with air traffic controllers and began plunging from its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet, before slamming into the mountainside eight minutes later.
The prosecutor laid out in horrifying detail the final sounds heard in the cockpit extracted from the mangled voice recorder.
Lubitz, courteous in the first part of the trip, became "curt" when the captain began the mid-flight briefing on the planned landing, Robin said.
The pilot, who has not been identified, left the cockpit for an apparent bathroom break, and Lubitz took control of the jet.
He suddenly started a manual descent, and the pilot started knocking on the door.
There was no response. "It was absolute silence in the cockpit," the prosecutor said - except for the steady breathing he said indicated Lubitz was not panicked, and acted in a calm, deliberate manner.
The A320 is designed with safeguards to allow emergency entry into the cockpit if a pilot inside is unresponsive. But the override code known to the crew does not go into effect if the person inside the cockpit specifically denies entry.
Instrument alarms went off, but no distress call ever went out from the cockpit, and the control tower's pleas for a response went unanswered.
Just before the plane hit the mountain, passengers' cries of terror could be heard.
"The victims realized just at the last moment," Robin said. "We can hear them screaming."
Their families "are having a hard time believing it," he said, after briefing some of them in Marseille.
Many victims' relatives visited an Alpine clearing Thursday where French authorities set up a viewing tent for family members to look toward the site of the crash, so steep and treacherous that it can only be reached by a long journey on foot or rappelling from a helicopter.
Lubitz's family was in France but was being kept separate from the other families, Robin said. German investigators searched his apartment and his parents' home in Montabaur, Germany, where the curtains were drawn.
The prosecutor's account prompted quick moves toward stricter cockpit rules - and calls for more.
Airlines in Europe are not required to have two people in the cockpit at all times, unlike the standard U.S. operating procedure, which was changed after the 9/11 attacks to require a flight attendant to take the spot of a briefly departing pilot.
Canada and Germany's biggest airlines, including Lufthansa and Air Berlin, as well as low-cost European carriers easyJet and Norwegian Air Shuttle announced new rules requiring two crew members to always be present.
Some experts said even two isn't enough, and called for rules to require three.
"The flight deck is capable of accommodating three pilots and there shouldn't ever be a situation where there is only one person in the cockpit," said James Hall, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, referring to the "jump seats" all airliners are equipped with.
Others questioned the wisdom of sealing off the cockpit at all.
"The kneejerk reaction to the events of 9/11 with the ill-thought reinforced cockpit door has had catastrophic consequences," said Philip Baum, London-based editor of the trade magazine Aviation Security International.
Neither the prosecutor nor Lufthansa - the parent company of low-cost carrier Germanwings - indicated there was anything the pilot could have done to avoid the crash.
Robin would not give details on the co-pilot's religion or his ethnic background. German authorities were taking charge of the investigation into Lubitz.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said that before Thursday's shocking revelations, the airline was already "appalled" by what had happened in its low-cost subsidiary.
"I could not have imagined that becoming even worse," he said in Cologne. "We choose our cockpit staff very, very carefully."
Lubitz joined Germanwings in September 2013, directly out of flight school, and had flown 630 hours. Spohr said the airline had no indication why he would have crashed the plane.
He underwent a regular security check on Jan. 27 and it found nothing untoward, and previous security checks in 2008 and 2010 also showed no issues, the local government in Duesseldorf said.
Lufthansa's chief said Lubitz started training in 2008 and there was a "several-month" gap in his training six years ago. Spohr said he couldn't say what the reason was, but after the break, "he not only passed all medical tests but also his flight training, all flying tests and checks."
Robin avoided describing the crash as a suicide.
"Usually, when someone commits suicide, he is alone," he said. "When you are responsible for 150 people at the back, I don't necessarily call that a suicide."
In the German town of Montabaur, acquaintances told The Associated Press that Lubitz appeared fine when they saw him last fall as he renewed his glider pilot's license.
"He was happy he had the job with Germanwings and he was doing well," said a member of the glider club, Peter Ruecker, who watched Lubitz learn to fly. "He gave off a good feeling."
Ruecker said he remembers Lubitz as "rather quiet but friendly" when he first showed up at the club as a 14- or 15-year-old saying he wanted to learn to fly.
Lubitz was accepted as a Lufthansa pilot trainee after finishing a tough German college preparatory school, Ruecker said.
Lubitz's Facebook page, deleted Tuesday, showed a smiling man in a dark brown jacket posing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It was restored as an "In Memory" site following the French prosecutor's news conference.
At the crash site, helicopters shuttled back and forth Thursday as investigators continue retrieving remains and pieces of the plane, shattered from the high-speed impact of the crash.
The principal of Joseph Koenig High School in Haltern, Germany, which lost 16 students and two teachers in the crash, said the state governor called him to tell him about the probe's conclusion.
"It is much, much worse than we had thought," principal Ulrich Wessel said

                                                                                                                                                        

Yes , still here   for  'The  Genie' , look at  that girl shake  her  HMmm  hips  or  should  I say  'BOOTY.'

Plane Disintegrated

A Germanwings plane carrying 150 people has crashed in the French Alps on its way from Barcelona to Duesseldorf. The Airbus A320 - flight 4U 9525 - went down between Digne and Barcelonnette. There are no survivors, officials say.

The "black box" flight recorder has been found, the French interior minister says. The cause of the crash is not known and the plane did not send a distress signal. The dead are believed to include 16 German schoolchildren.

French and German leaders have expressed shock.

"This is the hour in which we all feel deep sorrow," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters, adding that she was planning to travel to the crash site.

At least one rescue helicopter has reached the site, in a remote mountain area.

Gilbert Sauvan, a local council official, told Les Echos newspaper that the plane had "disintegrated".

"The largest piece of debris is about the size of a car," he said.

We know the aircraft went from a normal cruising height of 38,000 feet to crashing in the mountains in just eight minutes. One pilot said that is twice the normal descent rate, but he also said that the aircraft is capable of coming down even more quickly and still being okay.

In an emergency, the pilots' first priority is to fly the plane, but as soon as they have some control they are trained to make an emergency call. That didn't appear to happen in this case, which suggests the pilots were coping with something so catastrophic they never had time to radio in a mayday, or turn to find the nearest runway.
It's still too early to know anything for certain, but that might point to both engines failing, a fuel problem or something critical breaking off the aircraft.



The Germanwings airliner, similar to this one, had been flying to Duesseldorf in Germany                    



Germanwings flight crashes in French Alps; 150 feared dead

An helicopter takes off at Seyne les Alpes, French Alps, March 24, 2015. A Germanwings passenger jet carrying at least 150 people crashed in a remote section of the French Alps, sounding like an avalanche as it scattered pulverized debris across the mountain. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

Here is what we know about the crash so far:

• GERMANWINGS AIRBUS A320 CRASHES IN SOUTHERN FRENCH ALPS
• 144 PASSENGERS AND SIX CREW ON BOARD — ALL FEARED DEAD
• PASSENGER JET HAD BEEN TRAVELING FROM BARCELONA TO DUSSELDORF
• GERMANWINGS CEO: PLANE DESCENDED 31,000FT IN 8 MINUTES BEFORE CRASH
• DEBRIS HAS BEEN LOCATED ON THE ALPS AT AN ALTITUDE OF ABOUT 6,500 FT 
• 16 GERMAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS BELIEVED TO BE ON BOARD
• DEADLIEST CRASH ON FRENCH SOIL SINCE 2000
• WEATHER WAS REPORTEDLY CALM AT TIME OF CRASH
• CAPTAIN HAD MORE THAN 10 YEARS OF FLIGHT EXPERIENCE AND MORE THAN 6,000 FLIGHT HOURS
• FRENCH OFFICIALS SAY ONE OF THE PLANE'S BLACK BOXES HAS BEEN LOCATED

What are you drinking ?

To all my friends who enjoy a glass of wine
And to those who don't...but always
carry a bottle of water in their hand.

As Ben Franklin said:
In wine there is wisdom,
In beer there is freedom,
In water there is bacteria.

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 litre of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. Coli) - bacteria...found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poo!

However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine and beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.

Remember:
Water = Poo
Wine = Health

Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid,
Than to drink water and be full of shit.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information: I'm doing it as a public service!

Geraldo Reveals Scott Peterson's Cushy Life on Death Row

It's been 10 years since Scott Peterson was sentenced to death for the murder of his eight-months-pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn child.

Last night in a special one-hour report, Geraldo Rivera took an in-depth look at the riveting case and Peterson's surprisingly privileged life on death row in San Quentin prison.

Nancy Mulane, author of "Life After Murder: Five Men in Search of Redemption," is one of the few outsiders to see Peterson's life inside San Quentin. She told Geraldo that the convicted killer has a single cell inside an exclusive part of the prison, the best accommodations he could hope to have.

Mulane explained that Peterson has access to outdoor facilities, including a protective roof, and even a basketball court.

"I saw this quite, I would have to say, buff-looking young man with his shirt off," Mulane said. "And he was playing basketball. He looked like you were watching some college athletes out on a neighborhood court play basketball."

"You've been around a lot of prisons," Geraldo said. "It sounds to me like what you describe is the cushiest environment that you've seen."

Mulane revealed that there are some death row prisoners in California who are in their cells 23 or 24 hours a day without getting out and without having contact with other prisoners.

"They are not having the life Scott Peterson is having. Scott Peterson has an exclusive life inside San Quentin," Mulane said.



Judge dismisses murder case against U.S. woman who spent 22 years on death row in son's death

The Canadian Press - Debra Milke, left, sits in court with her attorney, Lori Voepel during a hearing, Monday, March 23, 2015, in Marcopa County Superior Court in Phoenix.

A woman who spent more than two decades on death row for her 4-year-old son's killing saw her murder charge dismissed Monday, bringing an end to a controversial case that relied almost entirely on the work of a detective with a long history of misconduct.

Debra Milke hugged her supporters and sobbed as she left the courtroom, where a judge formally dismissed the case, saying it cannot be tried again. The decision came less than a week after prosecutors lost their final appeal. In a brief hearing, Judge Rosa Mroz also allowed Milke, who has been free on bond since 2013, to have her electronic-monitoring ankle bracelet removed.

Milke emerged from a conference room a short time later without the device.

"It feels good," Milke said, pulling up one pant leg to show her unencumbered ankle.

Milke was convicted of murder in 1990 in the death of her son, Christopher. Authorities say Milke dressed him in his favourite outfit and told him he was going to see Santa Claus at a mall in December 1989. He was then taken to the desert near Phoenix by two men, one of whom was Milke's roommate, and shot in the back of the head.

Authorities say Milke's motive was that she didn't want the child anymore and didn't want him to live with his father. Milke has maintained her innocence and denied that she confessed to the killing. The two men who led her child to his death were convicted of murder but refused to testify against Milke.

An appeals court overturned Milke's conviction in 2013, ruling that prosecutors failed to disclose a detective's history of misconduct. Her conviction was based entirely on a confession Milke gave to the now-discredited detective, Armando Saldate.

Multiple court rulings in other cases said the now-retired officer either lied under oath or violated suspects' rights during interrogations.

In a scathing 2013 opinion, a federal appeals court levelled harsh criticism over the case.

"No civilized system of justice should have to depend on such flimsy evidence," the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said.

Michael Kimerer, one of Milke's attorneys, said Monday that he was still in disbelief that "a long, long journey with so many ups and downs" ended with his client's freedom.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery last week called the decision not to let the case be retried "a dark day for Arizona's criminal justice system."

Milke filed a lawsuit earlier this month against the city of Phoenix, Maricopa County and numerous individuals. She alleges authorities violated her civil rights. She also contends she was denied a fair trial and was a victim of malicious prosecution.

“And the Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.” 

― Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Complete Poems

DAFFODIL

The woodlands sigh, the cool winds sing, the sun's benevolence welcomes spring.

And though the buds sprout in the meadows, winter lingers among the shadows.

Golden head still bowed from slumber, she spreads her mantel in the sun,

And feels the heartbeat of the earth, as winter's hold becomes undone.

Anew, as she pays homage to the splendor of rebirth,

The daffodil awakens, for spring has truly come.

-- The Genie,  from the heart

Ask Maxy

Dear Maxy ,
I have been married to "Ralph" for 30 years . Recently , I discovered that he has been speaking with an ex-girlfriend on his cellphone . These conversations have been going on for 10 years . They both say they are only friends , but I don't believe it .
This woman is married and lives out of state . Can two married people secretly talk to each other for 10 years behind their spouses' backs and it just be innocent conversation ? By the way this isn't an ordinary ex-girlfriend . Ralph planned to marry her after high school, but she chose college and he had to let her go .
When I confronted Ralph, he said, "this has nothing to do with you. My feelings for you have never changed and I never treated you any differently." But I feel as if I have been cheated out of ten years of my marriage because the ex-girlfriend was taking part of him away from me and I didn't know . 
Ralph is a phenomenal father and has been a great husband . He wants me to let this go so we can move on . But how can I trust him again ?
Feeling Betrayed
Dear Feeling Betrayed,
Sharing conversation is not the problem . The fact that you were unaware of it for 10 years and this woman was romantically important to your husband is what's bothering you. Has Ralph been sharing inimate thoughts with her ? Has he confided about his marriage to her ? Has he expressed an interest in getting together with her ? And does he intend to continue the relationship with her, regardless of how you feel about it ? You need to know.
Ralph may feel that if there is no physical affair, he did nothing wrong . But he kept an on-going friendship with someone of the opposite sex a secret from you and that is destructive to a relationship. Anything that betrays your trust damages your marriage. Trust is the hardest thing to re-build.
 Please ask Ralph to come with you for a few sessions with a marriage counselor, who could help him understand why this matters and help both of you fix it . This is how you "let it go" so you can move on .
Maxy

Dear Maxy ,

I have been married for 22 years . I started working when I was 14 and didn't stop until I started having medical issues two years ago .

The problem is my family . My husband doesn't think it is important that our two kids, 20 and 21, have jobs . I have tried repeatedly to help them find employment because they won't bother to try on their own . But they'll stay at a job for a month or two and then they leave . My husband doesn't think there is a problem . When I bring it up, my son yells at me and my husband doesn't care . He says at least our son attends night classes twice a week . Our daughter's self esteem is very low and I am worried about her .
I am sick of the arguments about the kids not doing more around the house and not finding work . I have moved out of the house and in with a friend . Was I wrong to do this ? How do I make my husband see that the kids should have jobs .
Expect Better 
Dear Expect Better,
This is a relatively new, but widespread problem: adult children who won’t leave home and remain dependent on their parents like permanent adolescents.
If you are no longer in the house, the situation will never improve. It is not easy to help an adult child transition to adulthood. To jump-start their independence will take a concerted effort with your husband.
The problem lies with the generation of parents who shielded children from problems and made sacrifices to give them better lives. Consequently, many young people graduate from high school expecting life to be easy and free of hardships. They are not prepared to handle adversity and setbacks, nor ready to push themselves to get ahead.
Parents have also been more permissive with your kids' generation than any other. Experts encouraged them not to "boss" their children and preached that good parents just couldn’t do enough for them. Some of these young people now have an exaggerated sense of self-worth and entitlement and don't respect authority. Theories on child rearing change with every generation and we have to deal with the results.
Kids of this era were not expected to help much around the home, deliver newspapers, mow lawns or help in the community and consequently, a lot of children never developed a work ethic.
So, first of all , stop playing the parent versus child game and speak to them like adults. You and your husband must back each other up if you want this to work. Explain to the kids that you can no longer take care of them because you have to think about your own future and retirement.
Present a plan to them ... For example :
1. "I will provide you with room and board for the next year to give you a chance to find yourself and a career.
2. "In three months, I will stop giving you money so you will need to find a way to take care of your expenses for clothes and entertainment."
3. "I will pay your tuition for courses you pass. Failed courses that need to be repeated will be at your expense. I will also buy your textbooks."
4. "I will pay for six months of counseling if over the next few months you decide you need help in getting a career and living on your own."
5. "Six months from today, I will stop paying for your car insurance, car payments and gas. You can either take those expenses over yourself in your name or I will sell the car. Lots of people can’t afford a car and rely on public transportation, a bike or rides with friends."
6. "As of today, your laundry will be your responsibility."
 7. "If you let me know in advance when you will be home for dinner, you can join me for dinner but all other meals will be your responsibility."
You can customize this list in any way to suit your own situation. You and your husband need to speak to a counselor together for further advice and to get hubby on board with the plan. Even if your husband won't go, counseling could help you work out better ways of negotiating, so that you have other choices besides frustration and walking out .
Maxy

Dear Maxy,
My boyfriend just came back from Iraq . Last night, we got into and argument and before I knew it, I found myself on the ground with a bruise on my neck and a sprained ankle . I never thought my boyfriend would hurt me . Meanwhile, my roommates freaked out and called an ambulance and after a long plea, I persuaded them not to call the cops . I know domestic violence is serious, but I never expected to be a victim of this foolery . I love my boyfriend . There's a first time for everything and I know our hearts are in sync . I think his behavior has something to do with his deployment for six months . Where should we go to get help ?
Sara
Dear Sara,
You are right to be concerned, and are being very understanding 
by not just walking away from the situation.
Many veterans experience 'post-tramatic stress disorder' after being on the battlefield . PTSD is a difficult and often dangerous mental condition for patients and those around them, especially their spouses. PTSD happens when someone comes back from a truly horrible, violent or near-death experience. Something in the brain snaps; gets rewired and the person with PTSD has no choice but to keep reliving those traumatizing moments physically, mentally and emotionally. They can also have flashbacks, awake or sleeping.
When undiagnosed or untreated, this condition worsens and the violent outbursts increase in severity. You become a victim, trying to cope with your partmer's bouts of depression, aggression and dramatic mood swings. You cannot fix this.
The good news is that help exists for veterans who need to process what happened in their lives and need to learn how to manage the variety of physical, emotional and spiritual challenges that they may face in the wake of their experiences .
Talk to your boyfriend and ask him to get help so that he can get better . Urge him to get support . To find help , visit the VA website at (ptsd.ve.gov )
Maxy

Dear Maxy ,
I recently relocated to Orlando area as a single 32-year-old man with no kids or previous marriages . However, I eventually want to settle down . Lately, I've been entertaining this "young Thang"--- 24 years old, to be exact --- and I have to admit she has me sprung . She's spunky and energetic, with a fresh perspective on life . She's family-oriented and believes in God, but she parties too much for my liking . Every time I ask her to spend time with me, she mentions going out to a bar or club when all I want to do is enjoy a flick at home with just her and me . Am I asking too much ? Should I continue this relationship knowing that she's not ready to settle down . 
Orlando
Dear Orlando ,
Everyone (man or woman) is entitled to enjoy the wonderous years of their youth and have fun ... before deciding to enter a committed relationship. You have had eight more years of life, experience and sowing your wild oats than she has, so do not expect her to be at the same place in her life as you.
What do you want ? You say that "eventually" you want to settle down, but it sounds as if you are ready to settle down now. You are asking too much. She needs to be who she is right now and she will decide for herself when she is ready to settle down. The things you like about her... her spunk, energy and fresh perspective on life are due to the fact that she is young, carefree and enjoying every minute of her life.
I think a talk with the young lady is in order, to see if she feels the same about you, as you do about her, or if she has intentions of committing to a relationship with you at some point. If so, you must come to a compromise...go out on certain, set nights of the week and stay in on others. If she doesn't wish to settle down right now, and you have no desire to wait until she is ready, then you should end the relationship and move on because it will not end well.
Maxy

The Roving Reporter : What Really Motivates Obama Haters ...By Jerry Harkness

      

Obama haters claim it is Obama’s “bad policy” and not race that fuels their hatred for the president. That’s about as believable as the Easter Bunny. If it wasn’t for bad policy the last white president George W. Bush would have had virtually no policy at all and I have never heard Obama’s critics question Bush’s record. All that is needed to debunk their “bad policy” claim against Obama is the truth and a contrast between the records of Bush and Obama.

When Bush took office America had a $235 billion budget surplus. Instead of continuing President Clinton’s successful policies Bush rolled out the Republican Party’s poisonous “trickle down” scheme and as usual the result was disaster. Bush squandered the Clinton surplus, gave big tax cuts to the wealthy, waged the Iraq war on the credit card and refused to provide government oversight in the mortgage-backed securities market which precipitated an economic crisis.

Bush’s legacy is the worst recession since the Great Depression. The auto industry floundered and the housing industry virtually collapsed. According to Market Watch the S&P 500 dropped 40 percent, the Dow Jones dropped 25 percent and the NASDAQ dropped 48 percent. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the country had a net increase of only 1.3 million private sector jobs during Bush’s entire eight years and the unemployment rate rose to 7.8 percent. Moreover the Bush administration sent almost 5,000 young Americans to die in Iraq in an unfunded war based on deception about weapons of mass destruction. And all the while Osama bin Laden, the real perpetrator of 9/11, walked free. Instead of leaving a budget surplus for Obama, Bush left a $1.2 trillion deficit.

Contrast that with Obama’s record. According to the Congressional Budget Office the Bush rate of deficit spending has been cut in half from 10 percent of GDP under Bush to about 4 percent of GDP under Obama. Over 10 million private sector jobs have been created during 59 straight months of job growth and the unemployment rate has fallen to 5.7 percent.

According to Market Watch major stock indexes have averaged gains of more than 142 percent during Obama’s presidency. Under Obama the Bush recession has ended and the auto industry is strong and employing millions of workers directly and in supplier companies. The housing industry is recovering and corporate profits and stocks are at record highs. Gas prices are now about half as high as they were under Bush. Obama ended Bush’s unfunded $7 trillion war in Iraq and eliminated 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. More terrorists have been killed or captured under Obama than in Bush’s entire eight years.

So if it is bad policy and not race that has the Obama haters’ socks in a knot why don’t they hate the white president with the bad record instead of the black president with the good record? Obama is not perfect. No president is perfect and there’s nothing wrong with honest opposition. But the disgraceful Obama haters on the radical right who lie about his record and question his religion, his citizenship and his love of country are not honest opponents. They are petty bigots and they don’t have the courage to stand up and admit it.



 
Jerry Harkness lives in Shreveport.
Thanx         Jerry 
The  Roving  Reporter 

So, Where was Putin ?

Looks pretty good for a dead man

The media spent a whole weekend following the Putin ‘story’ and then discovered it wasn’t news at all. And some say journalism is dead?
Did he have a lost weekend ? Most of us have had them. Arrive at the pub Friday after work and before you know it, it’s Monday morning. Sometimes, your wallet could be missing, or a tooth. Maybe you met the – temporary – love of your life Saturday night and lost her by Sunday.
 Past the age of 30, it’s more lost hopes than lost weekends that bother one. By 60, loss of memory is a more likely affliction, allowing you to experience lost weekends without even leaving home.
At 62, it’s fair to say that Vladimir Putin is hardly in the first flush of youth. While a very fit man for his age, one doubts that three-day long benders are his forte. However, in the increasingly nutty world of Western Media ‘Kremlinologists'... the Russian President apparently had a weekend that’d make the cast of  'Hangover' blush. Other international journalists speculated he died, became a father, was removed forcibly, a victim of a conspiracy or was sick.
So, we now know: Putin died on Thursday. Following the shock of his sudden death, he then fathered a child on Friday, in Switzerland. Surely overjoyed at fatherhood and recovering from his death, his weekend took a turn for the worse on Saturday when he was overthrown in a military coup – on top of having had a fit of aggressive flu.
No wonder so many people were surprised by how well he looked on Monday morning, considering what he had been through.
Of course, neocons have instigated similar fantasies before. In 2009, false rumors that Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran was dead spread like wildfire around the web.
So where was Putin? I have no idea. Also, given the peculiarities of Russian politics and the traditions of the country, speculation is futile. Russia is not America. Politicians don't share their medical histories or personal lives with the media in the manner that has become almost compulsory in other countries. Anyway, if he really was sick, why the surprise? A 62-year-old man picking up the flu is hardly unusual. Especially at a time of year when the harsh Russian winter transforms into spring. It remains a mystery and proves more than ever you can't believe what you read in the papers, hear on TV or see on Twtter.
 

Israel elections: Netanyahu claims 'great victory' after last minute surge in support

 Israeli Likud Party supporters react to the exit polls while they wait for the announcement of the first official results of Israel’s parliamentary elections. 

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu made a  recovery from low numbers ahead of elections but polling day highlighted deep divisions among citizens.

He scored an emphatic victory in a bitterly fought Israeli election with official counting showing his Likud party winning most seats and setting the combative prime minister up for a third successive term in office.
Netanyahu had been trailing in polls in the days leading up to the election but a last-minute bout of campaigning succeeded in cannibalizing the vote of rival rightwing parties, enabling him to resist the challenge of his main rival, the Zionist Union and its leader, Isaac Herzog.

Likud leads Zionist Union with more than 90% of votes counted, as prime minister appeals to right wing by rejecting Palestinian statehood

             

Reports based on official counting said that with 99.5% of votes in, Likud was in the lead with 30 Knesset seats, while the Zionist Union trailed with 24. Two exit polls released after voting closed had initially shown the parties deadlocked with 27 seats each, and a third gave Likud a slight lead of 28-27. Based on those exit polls alone, Netanyahu claimed a “great victory” for his Likud party, which he said was a “major victory for the people of Israel”. He foreshadowed a coalition-building exercise involving other rightwing leaders. In a speech to his supporters, Netanyahu declared: “Reality does not take a break.”

Herzog had also initially claimed victory based on the exit polls, telling supporters that he had also spoken to potential coalition allies about building a “socially minded” government. “This result allows us to return to power,” he said, adding that “everything is open”.
Who becomes Israel’s next prime minister will ultimately depend on the exact breakdown of the official results – due out by Thursday – and on which of the two leaders can put together the most convincing coalition to ultimately command a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.

Despite the apparent victory for Netanyahu and Likud, polling day highlighted divisions in Israeli society over a range of matters including security, peace with the Palestinians, and socio-economic issues.  But Likud’s recovery, apparently against the odds, enhanced Netanyahu’s reputation as “the magician” – a wily electoral operator with a sharp sense of how to push the buttons of the Israeli right wing.
He went into the election trailing Herzog by up to four seats amid evidence that some Likud party voters were abandoning Netanyahu for Kulanu, the new centrist party of Moshe Kahlon, a former Likud minister running mainly on an economic platform.

Before the vote a string of polls showed that Israelis were most concerned by social issues, such as housing and the cost of living, but in recent days, Netanyahu had relied heavily on a strategy of fear-mongering.
He warned in vague terms of a conspiracy by the left and foreign governments to remove him from office and on election day, posted an inflammatory Facebook video in which he accused pro-Herzog activists of bussing in Israeli-Arab voters.
“The rule of the right wing is in danger. Arab voters are going to the polls in droves!” Netanyahu warned. “Go to the polling stations! Vote Likud!”
The day before the election, he had also vowed to continue building in occupied east Jerusalem while promising that no Palestinian state would be established if he were re-elected.
Such statements may have helped Netanyahu regain ground in the polls, but they are bound to exacerbate tensions with then Obama administration in Washington and the European Union and further isolate Israel in the international community.
In a clear sign of the potential for conflict ahead, the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said on Tuesday night: “It is clear that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will form the next government, so we say clearly that we will go to the international criminal court in the Hague and we will speed up, pursue and intensify.”
Although counting appeared to give Netanyahu the advantage in forming a coalition, the Israeli president, Reuven Rivlin, had earlier indicated he would seek a national unity government.
Rivlin, whose constitutional role is to invite the leader most likely to form a stable coalition, said: “I am convinced that only a unity government can prevent the rapid disintegration of Israel’s democracy and new elections in the near future.”
The Likud minister Silvan Shalom said, “The results were a very clear yes to Prime Minister Netanyahu and Likud to carry on leading. His results were very strong and beyond all the polls taken in the last few weeks. I know very many Israelis came out to vote Likud to keep the national camp and right wing in power and not allow the left wing to take power”.
For his part Herzog had promised to revive peace efforts with the Palestinians, repair ties with the US and reduce the growing gaps between rich and poor.
“Whoever wants to follow [Netanyahu’s] path of despair and disappointment will vote for him,”
Herzog said after casting his vote. “But whoever wants change, hope, and really a better future for Israel, will vote the Zionist Union led by me.”


Thanx to the Guardian

I Forget Where We Were...Ben Howard



The Niqab, Traditional ....or Religious ??

When Federal Court Judge Keith Boswell ruled last month that a woman could wear a niqab while taking her oath of Canadian citizenship, supporters may have thought the decision was another victory for Canadian charter rights.

During the controversy over the niqab ban, the charter was certainly cited, in particular regarding religious freedom and freedom of expression rights.

But in his ruling, Boswell avoided any charter issues, focusing not on whether the woman's rights had been violated, but rather the legality of the ban.

The case itself involves ZuneraIshaq, a Pakistani woman and devout Sunni Muslim who is seeking Canadian citizenship. Based on her religious beliefs, Ishaq wears a niqab, or veil, to cover most of her face when out in public.

In 2011, then immigration minister Jason Kenney issued a new policy manual stating that candidates for citizenship must remove any kind of face covering when taking the public citizenship oath.

'Must be taken freely and openly'

It's a "public declaration that you are joining the Canadian family and it must be taken freely and openly," Kenney told CBC News at the time.

While applying for citizenship in 2013, Ishaq had agreed to unveil herself to an official before taking the citizenship test. But she objected to removing her niqab at the public swearing-in ceremony.

Ishaq, a permanent resident, later sued the government, arguing, in part, that the ban against her wearing the niqab during the ceremony was an infringement of her charter rights.

Boswell, however, in rendering his decision, thought it "imprudent to decide the charter issues that arose” in this case, instead saying the "evidentiary record was adequate to decide the matter."

"A court will look at whether a law violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as a kind of last resort," said Audrey Macklin, a professor and chair of human rights law at the University of Toronto. "Courts don’t tend to go to the charter first, they tend to go to the charter last."

So Boswell focused on whether the government had violated its own law — the Citizenship Act — by imposing such a ban.

Under the section "Ceremonial Procedures of Citizenship Judges," the act states that a citizenship judge shall “administer the oath of citizenship with dignity and solemnity, allowing the greatest possible freedom in the religious solemnization" of taking the oath.

In his ruling, Boswell said that Kenney's policy manual that banned the wearing of the niqab while taking the oath contradicted the act. A judge couldn't comply with both the policy manual, which said one thing, and the Citizenship Act, which said another, Boswell suggested.

"How can a citizenship judge afford the greatest possible freedom in respect of the religious solemnization or solemn affirmation in taking the oath if the policy manual requires candidates to violate or renounce a basic tenet of their religion?" Boswell asked.

Government lawyers had argued there was no contradiction between the Citizenship Act and minister's policy manual. They said the manual did not attempt to trump the act, because the policy of banning veils was not mandatory — instead more of a suggestion or guideline — that could be disregarded by citizenship judges.

However Boswell, in his ruling, said the policy manual makes it perfectly clear that the veil ban is not a suggestion or optional, and that it clearly states that candidates "are required" to remove their face coverings for the oath-taking portion of the ceremony. If they do not, the manual says that the certificate "is NOT to be presented."

Taking all that into consideration, Boswell ruled that the ban on wearing a niqab was unlawful.

* While covering the body modestly with a cloak...is mentioned in the Qur'an...the veiling of the face is based on tradition and is mostly law in Muslim countries.  Therefore many people, myself included, feel these women are better served if they adapt to Canadian law, (if not tradition) if they wish to adopt this country as their own and become citizens. Removal of the veil to take an oath is not interfering with their religious freedom. That's just how I see it......The Genie.

For Robert Who Appreciates my Humor

Sometimes a foot in the wrong place tells a whole other story

Books that will never become best sellers

 Finally!! A wine glass that makes sense!!!