Saturday, July 11, 2009
Perhaps thousands
"After a mass killing of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Taliban prisoners of war by the forces of an American-backed warlord during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, Bush administration officials repeatedly discouraged efforts to investigate the episode, according to government officials and human rights organizations."
Peaceful Iranian protestors in Cyprus attacked and detained by Cypriot police!
Cypriot police on order by their government disperse and arrest a small peaceful protest by Iranian exiles against the terrorist Islamic Republic - economic ties with a murderous terrorist regime is worth more to the cypriot government than human life and they make it clear with this visible public action of theirs which they do not try to conceal. Iranians inside Iran are being attacked and tortured inside their own country now Cyprus has to add to the flames and attack us abroad as well?! Is there nowhere we can be free?! Shame on the government of Cyprus and the Cypriot police! If any cypriots reads this and have more insights to this particular action please share your comments.
Booking Around
Congratulations to recent Bowdoin College graduate Frances M. on the launch of her blog, Booking Around. Check it out. Clever insights abound...
Dubai miracle? Are you kidding me?
"These days, despite defiant protestations of resilience, no one seems to know when the sweet breeze will return. The UAE is still in the doldrums. For the first time since the seven Gulf statelets joined together as a union in 1971, people are beginning to mutter—rather quietly, for sure— whether there may be something amiss with the autocratic, opaque system that hitherto seemed to work so well behind closed doors. “Nobody really knows what any of the statistics are,” says a Western analyst. “We haven’t seen the half of it yet,” says a Western banker, referring to the debt and the possible defaults. It is notable that almost nobody in business or government is prepared to talk publicly. Cohorts of public-relations people surround the bigwigs and shield them from scrutiny."
Zionist Vandals
"Thousands of books drenched in cooking oil – that is the latest exploit of the Zionist fanatics who regularly attack property and people in Paris and get away with it." (thanks, I forgot who)
This is Zionism
"“In Jerusalem, you have a lot of nationalists who do not accept the very existence of Arabs,” said Sammy Smooha, an Israeli political sociologist at the University of Haifa. “Arabic signs give them the feeling of binationalism, that the Jews have no exclusive monopoly on the town.” Achituv and others on his team contend that Israeli authorities have been uninterested in dealing with the defacing of the Arabic signs." (thanks May)
King PlayStation G
"Prince Ali is a huge Ali G fan and apparently regards himself as “the real Ali G”. He defused the situation." (thanks Ala'a)
The Plot
"As more details emerged, however, the less the four defendants sounded like men with the skills to plan a sophisticated terror plot. They were small-time crooks, felons with long criminal records whose previous activities revolved around smoking marijuana and playing video games. One defendant, Laguerre Payen, was arrested in a crack house surrounded by bottles of his own urine; his lawyer describes him as "mildly retarded." It seemed fairly astounding that, for a full calendar year, such a group could remain interested in and plan anything more complex than a backyard barbecue, let alone a multipronged paramilitary assault, as the indictment against them alleged. But what the indictment didn't say, and what the initial news reports didn't fill in, was the extent to which the fifth man in the plot, an unnamed FBI informant, had provided the glue to hold the Newburgh 4 together." (thanks Molly)
Get out NOW
"The Israeli group –— the National Federation of Israel Journalists — was ousted June 7 in a unanimous vote of the international union’s executive committee. The vote immediately raised the specter of another effort by international unions to boycott Israel for political reasons; recently, a number of academic unions around the world have voted to boycott Israeli professors." (thanks Laleh)
Soy Puro Americano
The lads took me to Chimayo yesterday. That's a photo of El Santuario de Chimayo. In a room behind the altar is a pocito, a little well full of mud. Sacred mud. Miraculous mud. Curing mud.
So they say, anyway. I don't hold with mud, myself, but people come from all over the world to get a little jar of the damp earth. No, really.
There's a pole shed nearby packed with the artifacts of the saved and cured. Crutches and wheelchairs and walkers and braces and slings and every kind of medical mangle you can think of. All flotsam and jetsam jettisoned by the believers who came here and were cured or believe they were cured by the Black Christ, Our Lord of Esquipulas.
So, what the hell, you know? Couldn't hurt. The lads think I look a little peaked and don't see the difference between doctors pouring bags of chemicals into me or pilgrims smearing mud on me. They could have a point. Even though I don't believe in mud.
But it was good just to get out of the damned house. And its a beautiful drive. Through the Sangre de Cristos. Down el Camino Real.
And Chimayo is famous for its retablos; panels, sometimes screens, usually hammered out of tin, with images of the saints, the Madonna, scenes from the Scriptures, that sort of thing. I collect retablos as art so its fun to look around the marketplace to see what is on offer in the way of santos and pietas.
And there's some great dining and drinking between here and Chimayo. Every village has a cantina and in the high summer, the doors are propped open and the juke is blowing up.
Presently, I'm restricted to iced tea but I don't mind.
OK, that's bullshit. I do mind. Sipping from a jarful of steeped leaves while lounging in the placita is not my idea of the good life.
Still its life, within the meaning of the act. The sun is warm on my face. The rough legged hawk floats over the portero. Volcanic peaks rocket up from the shimmering desert. My friends are near and solicitous to the point of embarassment.
I bite the crusty sopapilla. Honey runs down my chin.
We are seated at a long trestle. A beautiful woman, the owner of the cantina, sits with us, mashing avocados and chopping chimayo chiles for our guacamole. She wipes my chin like I'm an old man.
She touches the bandana covering my unhaired head and tells me that her chiles will grow the hair back stiff and black. She tells me her chiles will stiffen anything.
I believe in her chiles.
Sovereignty...my potato
"An Iraqi truck driver who failed to stop when signaled on a main highway north of Baghdad was shot and killed early Friday by an American soldier, a spokesman for the United States military said." Wait. I thought that US soldiers had surrendered "sovereignty" to Iraqis THREE TIMES ALREADY. (thanks Olivia)
Sarah Palin says she resigned as governor "so that I could get out there and fight without the shackles..."
"... for our state and for our country, to fight for what is right, and to support the people who have more freedom than I do evidently to be able to cast those votes and administer the policies and the laws that we need to protect our Constitution... I’m going to be freer now to fight for what’s right."
Ha ha. That's why I like being an independent blogger, so I can identify. But I still think she's running for President... and talk about shackles!
Wait. I can't lie. I have to back off from that identification. I have no sense of fighting for what's right here. I'm just talking about things that interest me, expression for it's own sake. If the occasion to distinguish right from wrong arises in the natural course of things, it will be in the mix. But it's not a fight. It's a conversation.
Ha ha. That's why I like being an independent blogger, so I can identify. But I still think she's running for President... and talk about shackles!
Wait. I can't lie. I have to back off from that identification. I have no sense of fighting for what's right here. I'm just talking about things that interest me, expression for it's own sake. If the occasion to distinguish right from wrong arises in the natural course of things, it will be in the mix. But it's not a fight. It's a conversation.
La Vache is not laughing
Husni Mubarak's propaganda apparatus denies rumors that Mubarak is showing signs of aging. (Al-Quds Al-`Arabi)
March 14 intellectuals
"La censure au Liban est rare et elle est combattue par les intellectuels et les jeunes, qui rejettent toute forme d'obscurantisme, surtout quand il émane d'instances religieuses ou du Hezbollah, accusé de vouloir "iraniser" le pays. Récemment, quand on a voulu interdire le film Persépolis (de Marjane Satrapi), il y a eu un tollé et une intervention du ministre de la culture lui-même, ce qui a obligé la sûreté générale à revenir sur sa décision. Il fallait donc un événement pour bien montrer que Beyrouth est autre chose que la guerre." Notice that March 14 intellectuals only talk of one direction of censorship: those same intellectuals did not say one word when the Maronite Patriarchate (who has an impressive hat collection) issued a formal decree earlier this year threatening with the resort to "Great Excommunication" against any one who criticize the Patriarhate. Those intellectuals are not opposed to censorship when it is at the behest of the Saudi embassy in Lebanon or when the Maronite Patriarch (who has an impressive hat collection) banned the Da Vinci Code. Spare me the selective liberal poseurs of March 14. (thanks JB)
Don't Squander This Opportunity
I wanted to expand on something I said in my last post about the recent Inspector General's report so that nobody misses the point. Many people in the blogosphere and the mainstream press are now using the occasion of the release of the Inspector General's report to resume their pursuit of John Yoo and their denunciations of Dick Cheney. If that is all that comes out of this story it will have been a failure.
What should come out of this story is a recognition that Congress has legitimated a new set of intelligence practices that can affect American citizens as well as people overseas. Congress needs to beef up its oversight concerning how the Obama Administration is implementing the FISA Amendments Act of 2008.
The mere fact that Obama is now in the White House is not a justification for rejoicing or for thinking that we have dodged a bullet and forestalled a threat to our civil liberties. Presidents by their nature like to have power because they feel they need it to keep the country safe. Obama is no exception to this rule. The U.S. Congress, frightened and manipulated by George Bush, Dick Cheney and conservative demagogues, gave their blessing to lots of new surveillance powers with only vague limits. Whether those powers will be used well or badly will depend on Congressional oversight and executive branch implementation. That is where we should be focusing our attention now. If we do not use the release of this report to focus attention on these matters-- the implementation of this powerful and important new surveillance statute-- it will have been a lost opportunity.
The Obama Administration is continuing a long term bipartisan project of constructing our National Surveillance State. If we don't pay attention to how that state is being constructed, and what checks and balances are built into its contours, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
What should come out of this story is a recognition that Congress has legitimated a new set of intelligence practices that can affect American citizens as well as people overseas. Congress needs to beef up its oversight concerning how the Obama Administration is implementing the FISA Amendments Act of 2008.
The mere fact that Obama is now in the White House is not a justification for rejoicing or for thinking that we have dodged a bullet and forestalled a threat to our civil liberties. Presidents by their nature like to have power because they feel they need it to keep the country safe. Obama is no exception to this rule. The U.S. Congress, frightened and manipulated by George Bush, Dick Cheney and conservative demagogues, gave their blessing to lots of new surveillance powers with only vague limits. Whether those powers will be used well or badly will depend on Congressional oversight and executive branch implementation. That is where we should be focusing our attention now. If we do not use the release of this report to focus attention on these matters-- the implementation of this powerful and important new surveillance statute-- it will have been a lost opportunity.
The Obama Administration is continuing a long term bipartisan project of constructing our National Surveillance State. If we don't pay attention to how that state is being constructed, and what checks and balances are built into its contours, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
Paid Zionist propaganda
"The Foreign Ministry unveiled a new plan this week: Paying talkbackers to post pro-Israel responses on websites worldwide. A total of NIS 600,000 (roughly $150,000) will be earmarked to the establishment of an “Internet warfare” squad." (thanks Tarik)
There is colonial feminism: O, White Man. Save her.
Look at this woman writing about women in the newspaper of the Abu Dhabi's ruling family. Basically, it is along the lines of: O, White Man. Come and save me. O, White Man. Where are your armies to bomb me and save me? And notice that she is writing in English. If she really wants to make change, why would she be writing in the English language mouthpice of the House of Nahyan in UAE? And then she gets scientific: "Indeed women all over Asia and the Middle East are harassed constantly." Notice that she has no qualms in saying "women all over" the region of brown and black people and then adds a scientic statement that is based on empirical research: that women are "harassed constantly." What does constantly mean? Non-stop? Every hour? And she in this silly article clearly operates from an epistimological distinction between East and West: in the West--according to her--there are no such things are harassment, and just as Nawal Saadawi did in that lousy little book called The Hidden Face of Eve, she relates matters of sexism and harrassment to the peculiar conditions of the East. Of course, she manages to pay tribute to the UAE's ruling families: "The Emirates is the most female-friendly country in the Middle East." She then manages to sound racist and classist at the same time: she blames the poor Asian workers for harrassment because as is well known the White Man in the West does not harrass or abuse or murder women, although the rates of abuse and murder of women are much higher, say, in the US than in the countries she is talking about. "Many of the labourers in the Emirates have also had little exposure to the outside world because they are from small towns. When they move here, it is often their first contact with the rich and developed world. They have a natural curiosity about the way westerners live because they have snatched glimpses of it in films. European and North American expatriates have a lifestyle labourers can never hope to attain, and wandering around a mall on a hot Friday afternoon is an opportunity to experience that which embodies all the wealth, glamour and power of the West: the mobile phones, the high-definition televisions, men in clean, pressed suits, women in skimpy clothes."
King PlayStation can be pious: beware
King PlayStation and Queen Youtube are performing `Umrah (mini-Haj) with the new Crown Prince of Jordan. Is it me or the King seems to be one of those who steals his towels from hotels? If images of Arab rulers' piety do not make you all atheists, you need to look again. (AFP)
"Constitutional rule over Autocracy"-Obama
Excerpt from President Barack Obama's address to the Ghanaian Parliament: Time and again, Ghanaians have chosen Constitutional rule over autocracy, and shown a democratic spirit that allows the energy of your people to break through. We see that in leaders who accept defeat graciously, and victors who resist calls to wield power against the opposition. We see that spirit in courageous
I bought a bike.
Years ago, I used to bike to work regularly. But then I switched to walking — no bulky, stealable equipment to fuss with — and then to driving or walking. And then 20 years passed without my riding a bike at all. (Strange how many years can pass without your doing a particular thing when you are over 30... over 40... over 50....) But I'm in a new phase of my life now...
... so I got a bike. It's pretty fun to be at the level of mobility between walking and driving. You can get around rather quickly and still feel close to the things around you.
What kind of bike? A "comfort bike" was prescribed for me. I got one of these.
... so I got a bike. It's pretty fun to be at the level of mobility between walking and driving. You can get around rather quickly and still feel close to the things around you.
What kind of bike? A "comfort bike" was prescribed for me. I got one of these.
Gas analysis ...
...That Pledge.
On a lovelier note: Catalpa.
There used to a grand catalpa in our backyard in Germantown.The kids used to call it the popcorn tree.
On a lovelier note: Catalpa.
There used to a grand catalpa in our backyard in Germantown.The kids used to call it the popcorn tree.
Radio & Video: Tools for Agricultural Innovation
Africa News reports:“Farmers innovations are often shaped by capital limitations and mainly rely on locally available resources, of which knowledge is a key one,” said Paul Van Mele, a scientist at the Africa Rice Center. “Video proved a powerful, low-cost medium for farmer-to-farmer extension and to expose rural communities to new ideas and practices.”...Innovation levels of 72 percent were
Weekend News
Photo: Marion Curtis/StarpixPeople.com's introduction to the season six designers includes a quote from Tim Gunn about each contestant.
Carol Hannah Whitfield, 24: "She's young, just out of design school," says Gunn of the South Carolina native, who currently resides in Brooklyn, N.Y. But "people will be disarmed by what they see her achieve."
Ra'mon-Lawrence Coleman, 31: "He's someone who in my view thinks entirely too much," Gunn says of the Chicago resident, whose favorite designer is Marc Jacobs. "I was constantly surprised in the workroom – suddenly, there's a new design."
Johnny Sakalis, 30: A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, Runway's new West Coast home, "Johnny will be polarizing," Gunn says of the L.A. resident. "People will love him, or hate him."
Irina Shabayeva, 27: A native of the Republic of Georgia, she counts Cleopatra as a style icon. And Gunn admires the designer's sense of proportion and fit. "Her models look as if they've been in for a dozen fittings," he says, "and they haven't."
Malvin Vien, 24: "When you see this guy, you won't believe he's from Colorado," Gunn says of Vein. Talk about an eclectic fashion palette: His style inspirations include rural Chinese farmers, Japanese ghost stories and insect anatomy.
Althea Harper, 25: "Everyone [thinks] she's only on the show because she's a tall blond beauty," admits Gunn. "But she's extremely talented. She's going to blow people away."
Qristyl Frazier, 42: Hailing from St. Louis, Mo., her style icons include Halle Berry, Whitney Houston and Gwyneth Paltrow. "Qristyl is a hoot," says Gunn. "She likes a lot of color, and print. She's entertaining to watch."
Logan Neitzel, 25: "Logan's from Seattle, and you get a crunch-granola feeling in what he does," Gunn says of the self-described "guys' guy" who likes snowboarding and cars as much as he likes John Galliano and Tom Ford.
Mitchell Hall, 26: "Mitchell looks like he just stepped out of Gossip Girl and I think that's who he'd like to design for," Gunn says of the Savannah, Ga., resident, who is a creative director for a Vera Wang bridal salon.
Ari Fish, 26: "She's deeply conceptual," Gunn says of the self-taught Kansas City, Mo., native, who doesn't sketch or drape her designs, but sews fast. Her influences include geometry, ergonomics, nomadic tribal wear and athletic apparel.
Nicolas Putvinski, 27: Born in Moscow, he's had designs commissioned for W and Vogue – and may be a bit of a fashion snob. "If you have such a bad taste in your mouth about American fashion," Gunn has wondered about the F.I.T. grad. "Why are you here?"
Shirin Askari, 25: "She's young, she's pretty, she's articulate," Gunn says of the Garland, Texas, resident whose style icon is Katharine Hepburn. "I'm not sure what is distinctive about her, other than the fact that she's good."
Christopher Straub, 30: "Christopher is very sensitive, very emotional. He wears his emotions on his sleeve," Gunn says of the Shakopee, Minn., resident, who appreciates volume, eye-catching fabrics and Victoria Beckham.
Louise Black, 32: Gunn describes the native Texan as "thoughtful, contemplative, and never a hair out of place." A fan of Christian Lacroix, the first garment the former clinical lab technician ever made was her own wedding dress.
Gordana Gehlhausen, 45: The Yugoslavia-born designer now owns a boutique in San Diego. Expect a lot of "textile development," says Gunn. "It wouldn't be a case of going shopping and using the fabric she brought back. She'd do things to it."
Epperson, 50: "He is the most senior in terms of design career and reputation," Gunn says of this self-taught designer who grew up in Harlem, N.Y. "He has a distinguished career. He's elder-statesmanlike."
Click here to read about Season Six designers Ra'mon-Lawrence Coleman and Christopher Straub in the Minnesota Star-Tribune. Christopher is an underwear designer who tried for Project Runway four times. Katy Gerdes calls Ra'mon-Lawrence "dramatic" and "interesting."
Click here for more about Ari Fish from pitch.com.
Project Runway season three designer, Kayne Gillaspie will be at Austin Fashion Week. Click here for details. We'd love a field report! Thanks Frank.
Brassai
If you've not read Brassai's Henry Miller: The Paris Years, let me suggest that you do so! This is a fun book - and the perfect companion to his clever set of interviews with Miller, aptly titled Henry Miller: Happy Rock. While both works chart Miller's development as an author, they provide an exciting account of French history and culture as well. When Miller gets going, there's no one else like him - except, perhaps, Brassai himself!
"Bruno" disappointed me.
I'm a big fan of "Da Ali G Show," where Sacha Baron Cohen plays 3 characters in short scenes that wrap up in half an hour. But, having seen "Borat" and now "Bruno," I have to admit I don't want to watch one of the characters for 90 minutes, especially "Bruno." I'm not a fan of story arcs. I love disjointed little bits. I like Bruno as the Austrian fashion reporter with the microphone in his hand. People who want to get on TV and to appear trendy will tumble into agreement with praise for Hitler or take direction that makes them look gay. (Here's an example I find especially funny.) But in the movie "Bruno," Bruno is fired from that job and comes to America to try to get famous again. That's not much of a story. It's just a narrative thread to connect different scenes — possibly generated after many of the scenes were filmed.
But why am I complaining? Didn't I just say I liked disjointed little bits? Well, but now Bruno is kind of down and out, and much of it is Sacha Baron Cohen trying to show us what Americans are really like. Fortunately or unfortunately, Americans failed to give him the homophobia footage he seems to have hoped for. I'm sure a ton of unfunny footage was thrown out, and that what went into the film was the closest he could get to hilarious, but most of these Americans simply remained stone-faced and tried to preserve their professionalism and dignity in the face of a very clownish man. Cohen did what he could — for example, wielding multiple big dildoes at a martial arts instructor — to goad people into flipping out about the gay guy, but — other than getting Ron Paul to blurt out "queer" twice — it just wasn't happening.
And the struggling Bruno can't be so outrageously bitchy. He wants people to help him. He's needy. He's more like Borat. But he's not lovable. I don't want him lovable. The Bruno I like needs to believe he's wielding power so he is able to trick people into showing their desire to leverage their fame through him. We see that in the movie in the one scene where some parents are trying to get their little kids hired as models. They think Bruno has some showbiz power, and they grovel before it. One woman is ready to make her 30 pound daughter lose 10 pounds in one week and to submit to liposuction if she can't get all that weight off. Now, that was something! It would be daring as hell to have 90-minutes on that level of pain. But that wouldn't be too funny, and it wouldn't be a blockbuster.
But why am I complaining? Didn't I just say I liked disjointed little bits? Well, but now Bruno is kind of down and out, and much of it is Sacha Baron Cohen trying to show us what Americans are really like. Fortunately or unfortunately, Americans failed to give him the homophobia footage he seems to have hoped for. I'm sure a ton of unfunny footage was thrown out, and that what went into the film was the closest he could get to hilarious, but most of these Americans simply remained stone-faced and tried to preserve their professionalism and dignity in the face of a very clownish man. Cohen did what he could — for example, wielding multiple big dildoes at a martial arts instructor — to goad people into flipping out about the gay guy, but — other than getting Ron Paul to blurt out "queer" twice — it just wasn't happening.
And the struggling Bruno can't be so outrageously bitchy. He wants people to help him. He's needy. He's more like Borat. But he's not lovable. I don't want him lovable. The Bruno I like needs to believe he's wielding power so he is able to trick people into showing their desire to leverage their fame through him. We see that in the movie in the one scene where some parents are trying to get their little kids hired as models. They think Bruno has some showbiz power, and they grovel before it. One woman is ready to make her 30 pound daughter lose 10 pounds in one week and to submit to liposuction if she can't get all that weight off. Now, that was something! It would be daring as hell to have 90-minutes on that level of pain. But that wouldn't be too funny, and it wouldn't be a blockbuster.
The Inspector General's Report and The Horse That is Already Out of the Barn Door
The Inspector General's report on the Bush Administration's domestic warrantless wiretapping program has been published. The unclassified version is here. It contains many important revelations, ably summarized by Steve Benen and Marc Ambinder. The most important thing to draw from the report, however, is something that nobody else seems to have noticed.
Through the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, Congress has legitimated many of the same things people are now complaining about. The horse is already out of the barn door.
According to the report, the domestic surveillance program did little good and other legal methods were far more effective in obtaining valuable intelligence.
Nevertheless, the President, the Vice-President, and members of their party repeatedly demagogued the issue, arguing that the warrantless surveillance program was necessary to save American lives, that people who opposed it would have blood on their hands, and that therefore it was necessary to amend FISA in order to permit the President to do legally what he was prepared to do illegally.
As a result of this repeated demagougery, Congress passed the Protect America Act in 2007 and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The former bill, the Protect America Act, was a terrible dismantling of the protections built into FISA. Allegedly designed only to permit surveillance of foreign to foreign communications, it essentially redefined electronic surveillance in order to escape FISA's warrant requirements. The latter bill, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, effectively gives the President-- now President Obama-- the authority to run surveillance programs similar in effect to the warrantless surveillance program that is the subject of the Inspector General's report. That is because New FISA no longer requires individualized targets in all surveillance programs. Some programs may be "vaccum cleaner" programs that listen to a great many different calls (and read a great many e-mails) with any requirement of a warrant directed at a particular person as long as no U.S. person is directly targeted as the object of the program.
It is true that under the new FISA, the government cannot do exactly what the Bush program did-- it cannot directly target an American who has received phone calls from someone suspected of being an Al Qaeda agent. But a program like this may no longer be necessary. New FISA authorizes the creation of surveillance programs directed against foreign persons (or rather, against persons believed to be outside the United States)-- which require no individualized suspicion of anyone being a terrorist, or engaging in any criminal activity. These programs may inevitably include many phone calls involving Americans, who may have absolutely no connection to terrorism or to Al Qaeda. Now all of the work of excluding phone calls involving innocent Americans is done in the back end, in minimization. The new system is only as good as its minimization requirements. And those minimization requirements are largely out of the public's view, just as the original surveillance program was. New FISA may use minimization to protect the interests of innocent Americans from abuse. Or it may not. It all depends on how the system is implemented, in ways that are currently subject to only limited oversight.
In sum: the Bush Administration used an illegal program that wasn't effective, and when the public found out, it repeatedly used this ineffective program to scare Congress into passing laws that legitimated many of its illegal practices and gave the intelligence agencies greater leeway with less oversight.
Nice move, eh?
The lesson of this story is not that the Bush Administration used to do very bad things and thankfully we don't do them anymore. The lesson of this story is that Congress needs to require the Executive Branch to implement New FISA in ways that are accountable both to Congress and to a set of ombudsmen in the executive branch that Congress should now create. Congress needs to require audits of the kinds of surveillance programs the executive branch is now running. It needs to create a set of new checks and balances within the executive branch in order to prevent the sloppiness and the end-runs around consultation and checks on abuse we saw in the Bush Administration. Thanks to a successful strategy of repeated and shameless demagoguery, President Bush has handed enormous new powers of surveillance off to his successor, and to every President thereafter, regardless of party. The question now is what, if anything, Congress plans to do to prevent future abuses.
Through the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, Congress has legitimated many of the same things people are now complaining about. The horse is already out of the barn door.
According to the report, the domestic surveillance program did little good and other legal methods were far more effective in obtaining valuable intelligence.
Nevertheless, the President, the Vice-President, and members of their party repeatedly demagogued the issue, arguing that the warrantless surveillance program was necessary to save American lives, that people who opposed it would have blood on their hands, and that therefore it was necessary to amend FISA in order to permit the President to do legally what he was prepared to do illegally.
As a result of this repeated demagougery, Congress passed the Protect America Act in 2007 and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The former bill, the Protect America Act, was a terrible dismantling of the protections built into FISA. Allegedly designed only to permit surveillance of foreign to foreign communications, it essentially redefined electronic surveillance in order to escape FISA's warrant requirements. The latter bill, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, effectively gives the President-- now President Obama-- the authority to run surveillance programs similar in effect to the warrantless surveillance program that is the subject of the Inspector General's report. That is because New FISA no longer requires individualized targets in all surveillance programs. Some programs may be "vaccum cleaner" programs that listen to a great many different calls (and read a great many e-mails) with any requirement of a warrant directed at a particular person as long as no U.S. person is directly targeted as the object of the program.
It is true that under the new FISA, the government cannot do exactly what the Bush program did-- it cannot directly target an American who has received phone calls from someone suspected of being an Al Qaeda agent. But a program like this may no longer be necessary. New FISA authorizes the creation of surveillance programs directed against foreign persons (or rather, against persons believed to be outside the United States)-- which require no individualized suspicion of anyone being a terrorist, or engaging in any criminal activity. These programs may inevitably include many phone calls involving Americans, who may have absolutely no connection to terrorism or to Al Qaeda. Now all of the work of excluding phone calls involving innocent Americans is done in the back end, in minimization. The new system is only as good as its minimization requirements. And those minimization requirements are largely out of the public's view, just as the original surveillance program was. New FISA may use minimization to protect the interests of innocent Americans from abuse. Or it may not. It all depends on how the system is implemented, in ways that are currently subject to only limited oversight.
In sum: the Bush Administration used an illegal program that wasn't effective, and when the public found out, it repeatedly used this ineffective program to scare Congress into passing laws that legitimated many of its illegal practices and gave the intelligence agencies greater leeway with less oversight.
Nice move, eh?
The lesson of this story is not that the Bush Administration used to do very bad things and thankfully we don't do them anymore. The lesson of this story is that Congress needs to require the Executive Branch to implement New FISA in ways that are accountable both to Congress and to a set of ombudsmen in the executive branch that Congress should now create. Congress needs to require audits of the kinds of surveillance programs the executive branch is now running. It needs to create a set of new checks and balances within the executive branch in order to prevent the sloppiness and the end-runs around consultation and checks on abuse we saw in the Bush Administration. Thanks to a successful strategy of repeated and shameless demagoguery, President Bush has handed enormous new powers of surveillance off to his successor, and to every President thereafter, regardless of party. The question now is what, if anything, Congress plans to do to prevent future abuses.
CHRIS WHITLEY: 2002 Long Way Around: An Anthology 1991-2001 (Columbia/Legacy Records 86082)
Chris Whitley was a true artist. A true bluesman. A true vagabond. A true musician. All of his records need to be listened to from start to finish to really appreciate his talent. Even more so, seeing him live on stage was like a religious experience.However, he did have some stand-out songs and was able to garner some radio play and mild commercial success during his career. Columbia & Legacy Records did a great job culling numerous tracks from numerous albums and numerous record labels over the first decade of his career, '91-'01. This record has sixteen tracks in all. You've got demos. You've got remixes. You've got edit versions. You've got unreleased songs. And you've got one hidden track. Everything you could possibly want for an overview of Whitley's career is right here. Fantastic liner notes and a brilliant photo collage on the inside of the disc add to the beauty of the record. You won't be disappointed. As always, more information on the man's life and career can be found at www.chriswhitley.com. (FULL SCANS INCLUDED)
Personnel: Alan Gevaert Bass Andy Rosen Mellotron Bill Dillion Guitar, Guitorgan, Pedal Steel Brady Blade, Jr. Drum Loop Brian Blade Drums Chris Whitley Synth Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Foot Stomping, Guitar, Producer, Foot Percussion, Bass, Vocals Daniel Lanois Soloist, Mixing, Guitar DJ Logic Turntables Dougie Bowne Drums Melvin Gibbs Bass Ronald Jones Drums
Stephen Barber Piano, Keyboards Steve Almaas Bass Steve Melton Mixing Tony Mangurian Mixing, Guitar, Producer, Bass, Drums
Stephen Barber Piano, Keyboards Steve Almaas Bass Steve Melton Mixing Tony Mangurian Mixing, Guitar, Producer, Bass, Drums
Tracks:
1.Home Is Where You Get Across [#][Demo Version]
2.Make the Dirt Stick
3.Big Sky Country
4.Weightless [Daniel Lanois Single Remix][#]
5.Bordertown
6.Bliss to Breakdown [#][Demo Version]
7.Aerial [Edit]
8.WPL (Wild Pagan Love) [Alternate Mix][#]
9.Narcotic Prayer [Alternate Mix][#]
10.A Pint of Lotion [#][Demo Version]
11.Guns and Dolls
12.Can't Get Off
13.Cool Wooden Crosses
14.The Wild Country
15.Accordingly
16.Say Goodbye/Long Way Around [#][Demo Version]
2.Make the Dirt Stick
3.Big Sky Country
4.Weightless [Daniel Lanois Single Remix][#]
5.Bordertown
6.Bliss to Breakdown [#][Demo Version]
7.Aerial [Edit]
8.WPL (Wild Pagan Love) [Alternate Mix][#]
9.Narcotic Prayer [Alternate Mix][#]
10.A Pint of Lotion [#][Demo Version]
11.Guns and Dolls
12.Can't Get Off
13.Cool Wooden Crosses
14.The Wild Country
15.Accordingly
16.Say Goodbye/Long Way Around [#][Demo Version]
Details
.. Year: 2002
.. Label: Columbia/Legacy Records 86082
.. Bitrate: 320kbps
.. Home-Page: http://www.chriswhitley.com/
.. Last fm: www.last.fm/music/Chris+Whitley ..
.. Buy: http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/7370769/a/Long+Way+Around:+An+Anthology+1991-2001.htm
.. Year: 2002
.. Label: Columbia/Legacy Records 86082
.. Bitrate: 320kbps
.. Home-Page: http://www.chriswhitley.com/
.. Last fm: www.last.fm/music/Chris+Whitley ..
.. Buy: http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/7370769/a/Long+Way+Around:+An+Anthology+1991-2001.htm
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'Dirty Cowboy' sexual foreplay led to shooting
A woman accused of shooting her common-law husband to death told investigators it happened during a game of sexual foreplay they called "dirty cowboy."
Deborah Yvette Parker, 38, is charged with manslaughter in the June 30th shooting death of 58-year-old Broderick Craig Crachian.
Neighbours told police the couple had a heated argument a few hours before the shooting in the 2700 block of Lorraine.
But Parker said she didn't mean to shoot him.
"She describes it as playing 'dirty cowboy,'" Prosecutor Marcy McCorvey said. "She did admit to being in possession of the handgun and using it as a toy during foreplay with the victim's acquiescence and request for it to be used in that manner."
Parker's court-appointed attorney said she is "extremely distraught" about the "terrible accident." Parker is also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. She has previous convictions for misdemeanor assault, drugs and prostitution.
Deborah Yvette Parker, 38, is charged with manslaughter in the June 30th shooting death of 58-year-old Broderick Craig Crachian.
Neighbours told police the couple had a heated argument a few hours before the shooting in the 2700 block of Lorraine.
But Parker said she didn't mean to shoot him.
"She describes it as playing 'dirty cowboy,'" Prosecutor Marcy McCorvey said. "She did admit to being in possession of the handgun and using it as a toy during foreplay with the victim's acquiescence and request for it to be used in that manner."
Parker's court-appointed attorney said she is "extremely distraught" about the "terrible accident." Parker is also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. She has previous convictions for misdemeanor assault, drugs and prostitution.
Pablo Escobar’s hippopotamus gunned down in Colombia
Drug lord Pablo Escobar's hippo died the same way he did, hunted down and shot by the authorities for posing a danger to the public. The hippopotamus that escaped three years ago from a ranch once owned by Escobar was killed on orders of the government.
Cocaine king Escobar, who was gunned down by police on a Medellin rooftop in 1993, was so flush with cash that he flew in hundreds of exotic animals, including kangaroos, flamingos, elephants, rhinos and nine hippos.
Many were given away to zoos after his death and collapse of his drug empire. But two dozen hippos continued to live and mate on his former estate in northern Colombia.
A male and a female escaped in 2006, freely roamed the wetlands near the Magdalena River and even reproduced in the wild. They were rarely seen and became something of a local legend until two journalists found them grazing 100 kilometers (65 miles) away from the ranch last month. Colombia's environmental agency ordered the animals killed, saying they were carriers of disease and posed a risk to local communities.
Colombians were shocked by television images broadcast on Friday of the carcass of the male hippopotamus surrounded by hunters and soldiers. Animal rights groups denounced the killing. "They could have been captured and kept in a safe place until a permanent refuge was found for them," said Marcela Ramirez of a local group called Animal Protection Network.
The hunt was still on for the surviving adult hippo.
There's a news video here.
Cocaine king Escobar, who was gunned down by police on a Medellin rooftop in 1993, was so flush with cash that he flew in hundreds of exotic animals, including kangaroos, flamingos, elephants, rhinos and nine hippos.
Many were given away to zoos after his death and collapse of his drug empire. But two dozen hippos continued to live and mate on his former estate in northern Colombia.
A male and a female escaped in 2006, freely roamed the wetlands near the Magdalena River and even reproduced in the wild. They were rarely seen and became something of a local legend until two journalists found them grazing 100 kilometers (65 miles) away from the ranch last month. Colombia's environmental agency ordered the animals killed, saying they were carriers of disease and posed a risk to local communities.
Colombians were shocked by television images broadcast on Friday of the carcass of the male hippopotamus surrounded by hunters and soldiers. Animal rights groups denounced the killing. "They could have been captured and kept in a safe place until a permanent refuge was found for them," said Marcela Ramirez of a local group called Animal Protection Network.
The hunt was still on for the surviving adult hippo.
There's a news video here.
Dresden zoo forced to rename primate named 'Obama'
Facing accusations of racial insensitivity, the Dresden Zoo has been forced to rename a baby primate called ‘Obama.’ This spring the zoo in the eastern German city named a newborn mandrill “Obama” after freshly inaugurated US President Barack Obama. But an advocacy group for black Germans demanded that the primate be renamed this week, calling the zoo’s choice racist.
“It’s a catastrophe,” director of the Initiative for Black Germans (ISD) Tahir Della said. “Black people continue to be confronted by associations with the animal kingdom and primitivity.”
The baby mandrill, which belongs to a species closely related to the baboon, was born on March 23, Manuela Collmar, zookeeper at the zoo’s “Afrika Haus,” said. Each year the zoo names all newborn animals beginning with the same letter.
“This year they all begin with ‘O,’ and one of the zookeepers chose ‘Obama’ – it was meant to be positive and an honour in light of his visit to Dresden in June,” Collmar said, adding that neither she nor her colleagues were aware of the history of using monkeys to caricature and ethnically stereotype black people.
In an email response to ISD director Della’s complaint about the mandrill’s name on Thursday, zoo director Karl-Heinz Ukena echoed her sentiments.
“The possible associations of this name choice were not considered, and the racist charicterisation – particularly with the background that the US president recently visited Dresden – was far off,” Ukena wrote, adding that the zoo had meant to express its “esteem” for Obama. Ukena went on to apologise for any “irritation” the name had caused.
“It’s a catastrophe,” director of the Initiative for Black Germans (ISD) Tahir Della said. “Black people continue to be confronted by associations with the animal kingdom and primitivity.”
The baby mandrill, which belongs to a species closely related to the baboon, was born on March 23, Manuela Collmar, zookeeper at the zoo’s “Afrika Haus,” said. Each year the zoo names all newborn animals beginning with the same letter.
“This year they all begin with ‘O,’ and one of the zookeepers chose ‘Obama’ – it was meant to be positive and an honour in light of his visit to Dresden in June,” Collmar said, adding that neither she nor her colleagues were aware of the history of using monkeys to caricature and ethnically stereotype black people.
In an email response to ISD director Della’s complaint about the mandrill’s name on Thursday, zoo director Karl-Heinz Ukena echoed her sentiments.
“The possible associations of this name choice were not considered, and the racist charicterisation – particularly with the background that the US president recently visited Dresden – was far off,” Ukena wrote, adding that the zoo had meant to express its “esteem” for Obama. Ukena went on to apologise for any “irritation” the name had caused.
Unsuspecting guests, employees swept up in wave of hotel pranks
Lisa Kantorski took the call from the person who claimed to be a front-desk clerk about a gas leak in their hotel room near Orlando International Airport. She frantically relayed the information to her husband Mark, an Indian River County sheriff’s deputy. He followed the caller’s instructions ... and smashed out the window of his room with a toilet tank. "When I broke the window, I got suspicious," Mark said. "It didn’t seem right, but she (Lisa) was panicking, so I continued."
Just before 7 a.m. on Monday, the Kantorskis had no idea they were latest victims of a prankster — or pranksters — whose tricks are sweeping the US. The unknown pranksters dupe otherwise rational people into doing outrageous things, including driving trucks through storefronts and breaking hotel windows to test fire alarms.
With Lisa clutching their three kids, Mark listened to the caller as he barked out more instructions: Break the mirror on the wall. Check. Use the lamp to bash in the wall to get to the trapped man on the other side. OK. Throw the mattress out the window and jump for safety. Out the mattress went.
Room 204 of the Hilton Garden Inn was a shambles. "I’m not one to argue much with her," Mark said. "When you slow down everything, the situation was kind of odd." The Kantorskis never got the chance to jump. Hilton Garden Inn Manager Samir Patel appeared at the door to address a noise complaint, an Orlando Police report states. Patel broke the news to the Kantorskis: There was no gas leak, reports said.
When police officers arrived, Patel said he recently received a memo from his corporate office warning about "dangerous pranks" pulled at hotels in other states. Police don’t know who called the Kantorskis, who were not arrested "because he was responding to what he believed to be an emergency," police spokeswoman Sgt. Barbara Jones said.
The Monday incident follows others from around the country. (Two page article.)
Just before 7 a.m. on Monday, the Kantorskis had no idea they were latest victims of a prankster — or pranksters — whose tricks are sweeping the US. The unknown pranksters dupe otherwise rational people into doing outrageous things, including driving trucks through storefronts and breaking hotel windows to test fire alarms.
With Lisa clutching their three kids, Mark listened to the caller as he barked out more instructions: Break the mirror on the wall. Check. Use the lamp to bash in the wall to get to the trapped man on the other side. OK. Throw the mattress out the window and jump for safety. Out the mattress went.
Room 204 of the Hilton Garden Inn was a shambles. "I’m not one to argue much with her," Mark said. "When you slow down everything, the situation was kind of odd." The Kantorskis never got the chance to jump. Hilton Garden Inn Manager Samir Patel appeared at the door to address a noise complaint, an Orlando Police report states. Patel broke the news to the Kantorskis: There was no gas leak, reports said.
When police officers arrived, Patel said he recently received a memo from his corporate office warning about "dangerous pranks" pulled at hotels in other states. Police don’t know who called the Kantorskis, who were not arrested "because he was responding to what he believed to be an emergency," police spokeswoman Sgt. Barbara Jones said.
The Monday incident follows others from around the country. (Two page article.)
Furious man shoots dead girlfriend after discovering she had once been a man
A Russian man murdered his girlfriend after discovering she had once been a man. The killer, identified as Vladimir F by police, shot Camila several times, deliberately targeting the parts of her body altered during a sex change operation.
He had only found out about her previous identity after she turned down his offer of marriage. The 33-year-old believed she had a secret lover and, in a jealous rage, checked her post.
It was at this point he discovered letters from old friends addressing his girlfriend of two years, who he had met in St Petersburg, as 'Dear Cyril.'
He confronted her and she confessed she had undergone a sex change operation in Australia, but had not told him.
'Vladimir grabbed a gun and shot Camilla, targeting the parts of her body that had been altered by the Australian doctors, a police report said.
He then dumped her body in a railway station close to Volgograd in southern Russia he attempted suicide by slitting his wrists. The man faces psychological tests before a decision is taken on whether to prosecute him.
He had only found out about her previous identity after she turned down his offer of marriage. The 33-year-old believed she had a secret lover and, in a jealous rage, checked her post.
It was at this point he discovered letters from old friends addressing his girlfriend of two years, who he had met in St Petersburg, as 'Dear Cyril.'
He confronted her and she confessed she had undergone a sex change operation in Australia, but had not told him.
'Vladimir grabbed a gun and shot Camilla, targeting the parts of her body that had been altered by the Australian doctors, a police report said.
He then dumped her body in a railway station close to Volgograd in southern Russia he attempted suicide by slitting his wrists. The man faces psychological tests before a decision is taken on whether to prosecute him.
Murdered couple's photo apology
A US company has apologised after featuring a Welsh couple murdered on their Caribbean honeymoon as "happy customers" - a year after their deaths. Friends of Ben and Catherine Mullany, both 31 were shocked to see a photo of them being used with false names to advertise internet company MyDishBiz. The couple, from Pontardawe, near Swansea, were shot dead at their holiday bungalow on Antigua last July.
The company has removed the photo and apologised to both families. The picture used on the site was taken in the run-up to the couple's wedding near their south Wales home a year ago this weekend. Next to the picture of the smiling couple was a false testimonial from "Frank and Mary from New York".
The photo was downloaded from an internet tribute to the couple murdered two weeks after their wedding a year ago then used alongside the bogus testimonial. The testimonial said: "We have made $1,080 alone with your MyDishBiz internet business opportunity. "We are very happy with this program. This is the best opportunity we've ever seen on line. Thanks again."
Internet company MyDishBiz based in Wintersville, Ohio, has removed the photograph and apologised. A spokesman said: "We are trying to track down who sent the testimonial and picture for inclusion on our website. It may have been a disgruntled affiliate or someone who has a very warped sense of humour. Deepest apologies are extended to the families of the victims. Our company did not knowingly include the picture of the deceased on our website."
The company has removed the photo and apologised to both families. The picture used on the site was taken in the run-up to the couple's wedding near their south Wales home a year ago this weekend. Next to the picture of the smiling couple was a false testimonial from "Frank and Mary from New York".
The photo was downloaded from an internet tribute to the couple murdered two weeks after their wedding a year ago then used alongside the bogus testimonial. The testimonial said: "We have made $1,080 alone with your MyDishBiz internet business opportunity. "We are very happy with this program. This is the best opportunity we've ever seen on line. Thanks again."
Internet company MyDishBiz based in Wintersville, Ohio, has removed the photograph and apologised. A spokesman said: "We are trying to track down who sent the testimonial and picture for inclusion on our website. It may have been a disgruntled affiliate or someone who has a very warped sense of humour. Deepest apologies are extended to the families of the victims. Our company did not knowingly include the picture of the deceased on our website."
Letting agency launch scheme to shame rent dodgers
A letting agency in Dundee is taking radical measures to name and shame tenants who are running up rent arrears. Lease2Keys are installing “for sale”-style signs outside properties with "Rent Dodger Lives Here", emblazoned on them.
The housing charity Shelter says it is outraged by the shock tactics. The company is unrepentant.
Landlord Elaine Stenson said: “We put the signs up purely to raise awareness. The general issue is non-payment of rent and Lease2Keys is an organisation that operates a zero-tolerance attitude to that issue”. The company says the problem has arisen through changes in legislation that mean housing benefit is now paid directly to tenants as opposed to the landlord.
Ms Stenson added: “The public should be concerned that money they pay that goes towards housing benefits is not going towards the intended source. It goes into the tenants’ pockets instead of the landlords”.
Gordon MacRae of the homeless charity Shelter is outraged by the letting agents’ actions. He said: “We thought tarring and feathering went out with the middle ages. People who find themselves in rent arrears usually have multiple reasons for being in debt.
“We’re quite shocked by the actions of these letting agents. We think it’s a bit of a PR stunt for them to try and make a name for themselves. Like every landlord in the country, they’ve had to pass a fit and proper person test – we would ask the question of Dundee City Council as to whether this type of behaviour is consistent with that standard”.
With news video.
The housing charity Shelter says it is outraged by the shock tactics. The company is unrepentant.
Landlord Elaine Stenson said: “We put the signs up purely to raise awareness. The general issue is non-payment of rent and Lease2Keys is an organisation that operates a zero-tolerance attitude to that issue”. The company says the problem has arisen through changes in legislation that mean housing benefit is now paid directly to tenants as opposed to the landlord.
Ms Stenson added: “The public should be concerned that money they pay that goes towards housing benefits is not going towards the intended source. It goes into the tenants’ pockets instead of the landlords”.
Gordon MacRae of the homeless charity Shelter is outraged by the letting agents’ actions. He said: “We thought tarring and feathering went out with the middle ages. People who find themselves in rent arrears usually have multiple reasons for being in debt.
“We’re quite shocked by the actions of these letting agents. We think it’s a bit of a PR stunt for them to try and make a name for themselves. Like every landlord in the country, they’ve had to pass a fit and proper person test – we would ask the question of Dundee City Council as to whether this type of behaviour is consistent with that standard”.
With news video.
Bailiffs ransack wrong home
Bailifs 'repossessed' the wrong home, changing the locks and disconnecting the gas, water and electricity. Leanne Faulkner, 30, returned to her Wythenshawe apartment and discovered some of her belongings packed into cases and her firdge and freezer had been emptied.
The former air stewardess also found a large notice on the door saying that she had seven days to remove her possessions. Leanne admitted she had been in arrears with her mortgage but said a deal had been struck with GE which would see her sell the apartment.
She added: "I was struggling financially due to number of reasons but I'd sorted that out with GE long before this happened." It is understood that there had been a repossession order on the flat, but that it should have been withdrawn and the bailiffs called off.
Her mortgage company GE Money has now admitted that they sent the bailiffs in by mistake and blamed it on an 'administrative error'. Leanne said: "When I eventually got in I couldn't believe it. There was a big sign on my door saying my home had been repossessed and I had seven days to get all my possessions out.
"My post box had been taped up and so had my taps. The electricity and water had also been turned off." Leanne added: "They'd even taken food out of the fridge and freezer. They'd changed the locks on the windows and just left them open so anyone could get in. There were muddy footprints everywhere. I was stunned. It was as if the place had been ransacked."
Leanne was left to fork out over £300 to get her utilities back in working order and to change the locks back again. A spokesman from GE Money said: "Bailiffs were regretfully instructed to take possession of an incorrect property, resulting in significant inconvenience to Miss Faulkner."
The former air stewardess also found a large notice on the door saying that she had seven days to remove her possessions. Leanne admitted she had been in arrears with her mortgage but said a deal had been struck with GE which would see her sell the apartment.
She added: "I was struggling financially due to number of reasons but I'd sorted that out with GE long before this happened." It is understood that there had been a repossession order on the flat, but that it should have been withdrawn and the bailiffs called off.
Her mortgage company GE Money has now admitted that they sent the bailiffs in by mistake and blamed it on an 'administrative error'. Leanne said: "When I eventually got in I couldn't believe it. There was a big sign on my door saying my home had been repossessed and I had seven days to get all my possessions out.
"My post box had been taped up and so had my taps. The electricity and water had also been turned off." Leanne added: "They'd even taken food out of the fridge and freezer. They'd changed the locks on the windows and just left them open so anyone could get in. There were muddy footprints everywhere. I was stunned. It was as if the place had been ransacked."
Leanne was left to fork out over £300 to get her utilities back in working order and to change the locks back again. A spokesman from GE Money said: "Bailiffs were regretfully instructed to take possession of an incorrect property, resulting in significant inconvenience to Miss Faulkner."
Billy Connolly's wife to get honour for achievements in human sexuality
Dr Pamela Stephenson-Connolly, the wife of Scottish comedian Billy, is to receive an honorary degree for achievements in human sexuality.
She is being honoured by Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University for her "marked, sustained and international contribution" to the field.
RGU said the award also recognised Dr Stephenson-Connolly's career in TV, film, and literature.
Her husband will also attend the ceremony on Wednesday 15 July.
Dr Stephenson-Connolly teaches in advanced human sexuality and sex therapy.
She will receive an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from RGU.
She is being honoured by Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University for her "marked, sustained and international contribution" to the field.
RGU said the award also recognised Dr Stephenson-Connolly's career in TV, film, and literature.
Her husband will also attend the ceremony on Wednesday 15 July.
Dr Stephenson-Connolly teaches in advanced human sexuality and sex therapy.
She will receive an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from RGU.
Police sneak into homes to warn about burglaries
Police have been criticised for sneaking into homes to scare people into locking up safely. Officers have been entering properties and confronting shocked home owners to demonstrate just how easy it is for thieves to take advantage of unlocked doors and windows.
The bizarre crime-fighting initiative was condemned by residents who told of their horror at suddenly coming face to face with a police officer.
Two Police Community Support Officers at Hove, East Sussex, sneaked into the homes in a bid to halt a spate of burglaries.
Home owners claimed they entered through open doors and poked their heads through open windows, confronting alarmed owners in kitchens and living rooms.
If the home owner was out, the PCSOs closed the windows and doors and left a note and a crime prevention pack telling them to make sure their property was secure before leaving.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This is ridiculous. The police should be out catching criminals, not breaking into homes. If they want to distribute advice about home security, then that’s fine. But breaking in is invasive, unnecessary and terrifying for victims. People have enough fear of burglars without the police getting in on the act, too.” Hove has been hit by a wave of burglaries in the past fortnight as people left windows and doors open during the recent heatwave.
The bizarre crime-fighting initiative was condemned by residents who told of their horror at suddenly coming face to face with a police officer.
Two Police Community Support Officers at Hove, East Sussex, sneaked into the homes in a bid to halt a spate of burglaries.
Home owners claimed they entered through open doors and poked their heads through open windows, confronting alarmed owners in kitchens and living rooms.
If the home owner was out, the PCSOs closed the windows and doors and left a note and a crime prevention pack telling them to make sure their property was secure before leaving.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This is ridiculous. The police should be out catching criminals, not breaking into homes. If they want to distribute advice about home security, then that’s fine. But breaking in is invasive, unnecessary and terrifying for victims. People have enough fear of burglars without the police getting in on the act, too.” Hove has been hit by a wave of burglaries in the past fortnight as people left windows and doors open during the recent heatwave.
Sly children use pet dogs to trick pedometer study
Children taking part in a study to measure how much exercise they do fooled researchers by attaching their pedometers to their pet dogs.
About 200 children in east London were given pedometers to automatically count how many steps they walked and ran.
Mile End Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine was surprised by the activity levels recorded in some obese children.
Professor Nicola Maffulli said: "Then we realised they were attaching the pedometers to their dogs' collars."
The pilot study in Whitechapel required 11 and 12-year-olds to clip a pedometer to their waists, with researchers at the centre collecting the readings by satellite.
"But after a week we found there were some kids who were extremely active but still obese," said Professor Maffulli. It was "not unheard of" for participants in previous studies to manipulate the readings of pedometers, he added.
About 200 children in east London were given pedometers to automatically count how many steps they walked and ran.
Mile End Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine was surprised by the activity levels recorded in some obese children.
Professor Nicola Maffulli said: "Then we realised they were attaching the pedometers to their dogs' collars."
The pilot study in Whitechapel required 11 and 12-year-olds to clip a pedometer to their waists, with researchers at the centre collecting the readings by satellite.
"But after a week we found there were some kids who were extremely active but still obese," said Professor Maffulli. It was "not unheard of" for participants in previous studies to manipulate the readings of pedometers, he added.
Gunman offered money for sex and smelled camper's pants
An IT worker has been convicted of offering money to have sex with a young camper and sniffing a pair of her pants while in possession of a fake gun.
Self-confessed computer geek Karim Bourouba, 29, was said to have slipped into a "world of fantasy" after drinking two bottles of champagne.
He took the imitation handgun with him to Edinburgh's Calton Hill where he met Liam Harrison, 20, and his 16-year-old girlfriend after tripping over their tent during the night of 23 May last year.
Photo from here.
He offered Mr Harrison money to have sex with his girlfriend, who cannot be identified, then sniffed her underpants, causing fear and alarm to the couple.
Bourouba was yesterday found guilty of breach of the peace and a firearms offence by a jury after a seven-day trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
The jury found charges alleging he had assaulted and robbed the couple of the underpants "not proven". He will be sentenced next month after background reports and a risk assessment, and could be placed on the sex offenders' register.
Self-confessed computer geek Karim Bourouba, 29, was said to have slipped into a "world of fantasy" after drinking two bottles of champagne.
He took the imitation handgun with him to Edinburgh's Calton Hill where he met Liam Harrison, 20, and his 16-year-old girlfriend after tripping over their tent during the night of 23 May last year.
Photo from here.
He offered Mr Harrison money to have sex with his girlfriend, who cannot be identified, then sniffed her underpants, causing fear and alarm to the couple.
Bourouba was yesterday found guilty of breach of the peace and a firearms offence by a jury after a seven-day trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
The jury found charges alleging he had assaulted and robbed the couple of the underpants "not proven". He will be sentenced next month after background reports and a risk assessment, and could be placed on the sex offenders' register.
Global Effort Puts Oldest Known Bible Online - from All Things Considered
This undated picture made available by the British Library shows a reader examining a page from the earliest known Bible. The British Library says the surviving pages of the world's oldest Bible have been reunited digitally.
All Things Considered, July 6, 2009 · The surviving pieces of the world's oldest known Christian Bible have been put back together for the first time in 150 years — on the Internet.
The Codex Sinaiticus, or Sinai Book, was at the Monastery of St. Catherine in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula until 1859, when the book was divided. Part of it remained there, while other parts were taken to Britain, Germany and Russia.
Now, scholars from those four countries have virtually reassembled the 1,600-year-old work and made it available to anyone who wants to look at it for free.
"The whole project rests on an agreement between the four institutions. Each one committed themselves to ... the greater good of the whole to present this virtual codex," Scot McKendrick, chairman of the multinational group that worked on the project, tells Robert Siegel.
McKendrick, the British Library's head of Western manuscripts, says the codex offers an insight into what was happening in the fourth century.
"This is the point at which Christianity is becoming authorized, accepted by authority, and this book very much reflects that," he says. "It also reflects a point where there is still a discussion going on about which texts are in the Bible and which order they should be presented in."
The Codex Sinaiticus Web site is a veritable treasure trove for researchers and others. The site grants access not only to images of the pages, but also to the new transcription of the text, McKendrick says, which allows scholars to search for word patterns, among other uses. The digitized version offers breathtaking detail of the codex, which is written by hand in Greek on animal skin.
"The Web site is wonderful in that it allows you to see that physicality, see a thumbprint of a 1,600-year-old scribe, an insect that bit the animal that the page has come from," he says. "It's like a window in that ... critical era."
All Things Considered, July 6, 2009 · The surviving pieces of the world's oldest known Christian Bible have been put back together for the first time in 150 years — on the Internet.
The Codex Sinaiticus, or Sinai Book, was at the Monastery of St. Catherine in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula until 1859, when the book was divided. Part of it remained there, while other parts were taken to Britain, Germany and Russia.
Now, scholars from those four countries have virtually reassembled the 1,600-year-old work and made it available to anyone who wants to look at it for free.
"The whole project rests on an agreement between the four institutions. Each one committed themselves to ... the greater good of the whole to present this virtual codex," Scot McKendrick, chairman of the multinational group that worked on the project, tells Robert Siegel.
McKendrick, the British Library's head of Western manuscripts, says the codex offers an insight into what was happening in the fourth century.
"This is the point at which Christianity is becoming authorized, accepted by authority, and this book very much reflects that," he says. "It also reflects a point where there is still a discussion going on about which texts are in the Bible and which order they should be presented in."
The Codex Sinaiticus Web site is a veritable treasure trove for researchers and others. The site grants access not only to images of the pages, but also to the new transcription of the text, McKendrick says, which allows scholars to search for word patterns, among other uses. The digitized version offers breathtaking detail of the codex, which is written by hand in Greek on animal skin.
"The Web site is wonderful in that it allows you to see that physicality, see a thumbprint of a 1,600-year-old scribe, an insect that bit the animal that the page has come from," he says. "It's like a window in that ... critical era."
David Croom (dwiggle) wrote:
It's refreshing to have news outlets like NPR. Great report, hopefully some more background info on this Codex will be reported in the future. It is also refreshing that NPR has readers who can tie their own shoes. I'm tired of reading about Wembeldon or MJ, and SOMEONE posts a comment blaming Obama for something. Keep it up, NPR, I'm going to enjoy looking into this further
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
C Early (FSMdisciple) wrote:
Uh, no, the pages are not made of cotton infused with "drying oil". They're parchment, which by definition is animal (prob sheep or goat) skin. I'm glad to see more early religious documents get into the public domain because they will feed the questioning, and more people will wonder why there are large and small discrepancies between all the versions of their god's supposedly true word. As for myself, I'll spend my hours living my life, not pining for a fantasy.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Mye Flatley (P_U_Wallpaper) wrote:
When I learned to write with a quill. I used cast off duck quills 6" to 8" long. The ink was soot, carbon black, disolved in drying oil. Once the letter is on the page, the black stays in place, but the oil spreads thru the paper. The whole page becomes infused with the oil and the page turns into parchment as the oil dries. Plain cotton makes the paper. By itself the cotton paper will not endure at all. But once infused with the dried oil it will last as long as an oil painting. The page images I looked at of the codex, look to have been made in this manner. The paper maker did an excellent job of controlling the paper thickness. The paper is just thick enough that the writing on the back side barely shows thru.Making a quill is easy. Use a long needle and run it thru the small hole in the tip of the quill. I use duck quills, not all quills work. Use cast off quills the duck drops. Use the length of the needle to rip up the septums inside so that the whole inside of the quill is one chamber. Squeeze the quill and draw the oil-soot mixture up thru the pin hole in the tip. Write.
Brian Castleberry (abtex) wrote:
I am thrilled with this resource becoming public. I am anxiously awaiting the English translations of Barnabas and the Shepherd. Congratulations to these wonderful institutions in working together for the good of all. We could all learn a lesson from this!
Monday, July 06, 2009
the abundance of life...Thoreau's Journal: 11-Jul-1852
What is called genius is the abundance of life or health, so that whatever addresses the senses, as the flavor of these berries, or the lowing of that cow, which sounds as if it echoed along a cool mountain-side just before night, where odiferous dews perfume the air and there is everlasting vigor, serenity, and expectation of perpetual untarnished morning,—each sight and sound and scent and
Friday, July 10, 2009
AMORAL SPIV OR TRUE TORY?
Arthur English as his 'Spiv' character
Is your country's leader a saint or a CIA asset?
Is your leader working for God or organised crime?
David Cameron could be the next leader of the UK.
Is he a bit of a fake, like, allegedly, Bush, Blair, Obama and many others?
David Cameron
PETER OBORNE in the Daily Mail, 11 July 2009, writes: Amoral spiv or true traditional Tory? Will the REAL Cameron please stand up
Among the points made:
1. Cameron is a bit of a spiv.
2. Osborne writes: "This is someone who is at ease with the more louche elements of London's media world and who, before entering Parliament, worked in corporate affairs for the controversial media mogul Michael Green."
(Reportedly, Green is Jewish and has East European origins)
3. Cameron privately boasts that he is the 'heir to Blair'.
(Allegedly, Blair is a war criminal)
4. Cameron's press secretary is Andy Coulson.
Coulson's previous job was as editor Rupert Murdoch's News of the World.
When Coulson was editor, "some of his subordinates were operating in a criminal manner".
(There has been some wild speculation, perhaps totally untrue, about Murdoch and Israel. "Interesting to note ... is the role played in the vast Israeli criminal network by the Australian media oligarch Rupert Murdoch, who ... reports say has used his vast media holdings in the United States and Britain to collect personal data on 'high government officials' which was then used by Dr. Arad’s ISA network to blackmail these officials... - Sorcha Faal: Russia Reports Massive $18 Trillion Theft Of US Funds By Israeli Backed Network)
There have been allegations that the News of the World worked with private investigators to access 'two or three thousand' private mobile phones belonging to celebrities and public figures 
Samantha Cameron, wife of David Cameron.
His wife is Samantha Gwendoline Sheffield, who is thought to be related to Nell Gwyn, mistress of King Charles II.
(Samantha Cameron - Wikipedia / BBC NEWS Samantha Cameron /Samantha Cameron The Guardian )
Samantha is the eldest daughter of Sir Reginald Adrian Berkeley Sheffield, 8th Baronet, a landowner and three times a descendant from King Charles II of England.
SamanthaSamantha's parents split up after five years of marriage and her mother married again, to William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor, a minister in John Major's government.
Samantha is now the Viscountess Astor.
Samantha took her A levels at a private school called Marlborough College.
Samantha's sister Emily was expelled from Marlborough College in 1991 after drugs were found in her dormitory.
David Cameron reportedly has taken drugs in the past. (Cameron DID smoke cannabis Mail Online )
Samantha studied fine art at Bristol Polytechnic
During her days at university, she was friends with hip hop star "Tricky".
TrickySamantha's ankle is adorned with a dolphin tattoo.
David and Samantha Cameron had a son Ivan in 2002. Ivan had cerebral palsy and died in February 2009.
Samantha is creative director of luxury stationers Smythson.
~~
Cupcakes in Vegas
I was in Las Vegas over the Fourth of July and received the sweetest surprise!
Cupcakes!!! And lots of them.
They were from Kari and Brian of Retro Bakery. I "met" Kari through flickr when she was documenting her adventures in opening a bakery and I've been keeping up with her on Twitter, knowing that the next time I visited Las Vegas, I wanted to rent a car and surprise her at the bakery.
Fun! Fun! Fun! I've only been to a few cupcake bakeries. Sprinkles Cupcakes in Dallas and The Atlanta Cupcake Factory in Georgia. I know. There's something enormously wrong with that picture. So I was really excited to see Retro and check out their cupcakes.
Big problem. Right before I left, she announced they were going to be closed on the day I could come visit. On vacation of all things. Just my luck. Needless to say, I was bummed.
But, Kari did the sweetest thing. She sent some to the hotel for me the last day they were open. The Fourth of July. I couldn't believe it. I mean I've certainly never had cupcakes delivered to my room before. The bellman brought them up and for a minute I thought I was going to have to fight the guy for them. Even after I tipped him, he kept going on about them. I guess he wanted me to give him one. Well, that didn't happen. Sorry Mr. Bellman. These were all staying with me!
Can you blame me. I mean look at them. They tasted just as good as they look. And really moist too.
In the back is Pink Lemonade (Lemon cake topped with pink lemonade buttercream and hot pink glitter sugar). In the front: Hop Scotch (Vanilla cake topped with vanilla buttercream dipped in butterscotch ganache) This was one of my favorites!
Here we have Cinnamon Toast (Vanilla cake topped with cinnamon buttercream dusted with cinnamon and sugar). YUM!
And here… Milk & Cookies (Chocolate-chip cake topped with vanilla buttercream and a freshly baked mini chocolate chip cookie.) This is all wrong and all right, all at the same time. Another fave!
Left: Apple Cider (Cinnamon swirl cake topped with apple cider buttercream dusted with cinnamon and sugar) Front: Mint Chocolate Chip (Chocolate cake topped with green mint buttercream and mini chocolate chips) Right: Red, White & Blueberry (Blueberry cake topped with strawberry buttercream) This might have been my most fave. But it's a toss up with the Hopscotch.
Oh and, sorry about the lighting on some of these pics. The room didn't have the best angle for natural light.
But who cares about lighting when you have this much chocolate to look at. Left: Chocolate Fountain (Chocolate cake topped with chocolate buttercream and dipped in chocolate ganache). Right: Chocolate Covered Banana (Chocolate cake topped with banana buttercream dipped in chocolate ganache and sprinkled with walnuts) Back: Peanut Butter Cup (Chocolate cake topped with peanut butter buttercream and dark chocolate shavings) Who am I kidding… these were all faves.
But I didn't actually eat them then.
I left them all alone in the room while we went to get dinner. It was difficult, but I knew if I tasted even one, it would be all over. By the way, if you've been to Vegas, you can probably guess where I stayed by now.
And, later when we returned.
Let's just say there was a little cupcake carnage during the taste testing. I won't give you all the messy details, but I'm glad there wasn't a camera filming me.
And the best thing about these cupcakes, was having the rest of them again for breakfast.
Thanks so much for the Retro cupcakes, Kari & Brian. I hope to really meet you guys next time.
Do you have a cupcake bakery in your area that you want to try? One that you love or one that you've just heard of? I would love to hear your recommendations.
Fraud Exposed: Electric Cars
A government report says reliance on electric cars will do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and may merely shift our dependence on foreign sources from one set of dictators to another.
It's a beautiful theory highways full of electric cars emitting no greenhouse gases or pollutants after being plugged into an outlet in our garages overnight. The problem, according to a new Government Accountability Office report, is that the effort may only shift the problem somewhere else. "If you are using coal-fired power plants, and half the country's electricity comes from coal-powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?" asks Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report. The report itself notes: "Reductions in CO2 emissions depend on generating electricity used to charge the vehicles from lower-emission sources of energy."
The GAO report says a plug-in compact car, if recharged at an outlet drawing its power from coal, provides a carbon dioxide savings of only 4% to 5%. If the feeling of saving the environment from driving an electric car causes people to drive more, that small amount of savings vanishes entirely.
It's much the same effect we saw when the Corporate Fuel Economy Standards were passed in the '70s. Aside from forcing us into less-safe downsized vehicles that increased highway fatalities, the promise of more miles per gallon caused people to drive more miles. The promised energy independence never materialized as we imported more foreign oil than ever before.
Okay, so how about a zero-emission source of electricity nuclear power? The administration has done little to promote it beyond lip service. The administration recently killed the safest place on the planet to store what is erroneously called nuclear waste at the nuclear repository that was being built at Yucca Mountain, Nev. This "waste" is in the form of spent fuel rods the French and others have safely stored and reprocessed. These rods still contain most of their original energy and reprocessing them makes nuclear power renewable as well as pollution-free. The French get 80% of their electricity from nukes, and nobody in Paris glows in the dark.
They will have a place to plug in their electric cars, but right now we don't. The government is promoting solar and wind, which is fine if the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. Both have their own environmental drawbacks. Both require huge amounts of land. Wind turbines tend to slice and dice birds, including endangered species. Solar panels of the size that might be competitive require huge amounts of water to clean. Water is a rare commodity in the areas the sun shines most the arid land of the West and Southwest.
There are the hazards of the cars themselves. We don't yet fully comprehend the hazards to drivers, passengers and first responders after, say, a collision between an electric clown car and an 18-wheeler. Then there's a whole new problem of disposing of a new generation of batteries using lithium.
As for the lithium, Bolivia, under the thumb of its leftist leader Evo Morales, has about half the world's proven reserves. "The United States has supplies of lithium, but if demand for lithium exceeded domestic supplies," warns the GAO, "the U.S. could substitute reliance on one foreign source (oil) for another (lithium)."
Then there are environmental consequences. Just as coal and oil must be extracted from the earth, so must lithium. "Extracting lithium from locations where it is abundant, such as South America, could pose environmental challenges that would damage the ecosystem in this area."
While advertised as "zero emission," electric cars have their own set of issues. As physicist Amory Lovins once put it, "Zero-emission vehicles are actually 'elsewhere-emission' vehicles."
SOURCE
The "Greenest" wheels yet
Designed in Germany but made in China. Hint! Read the license plate
This is not a toy, not a concept car. It is a newly developed single seat car in highly aerodynamic tear-shape road-proven real car. It is ready to be launched as a single-seater for sale in Shanghai in 2010 for a mere RMB 4,000 (US$600)!
Interested? Wait till you learn that it will cruise at 100-120 Km/Hr with an unbelievable 0..99litre/100Km (258 miles/gallon)!!
Impressed? Totally, after you have read all the details below about the hi-tech and space-age material input into this car !!! The Most Economic Car in the World will be on sale next year
More HERE (This story has been around for a while and Snopes.com has not yet pissed on it so maybe it is for real)
G-8 a bust for climate accord
As I predicted yesterday, the G-8 meeting finally reached a climate-control accord, but one with almost no meaning at all, as the developing nations laughed off suggestions that they hamstring their growing economies. Instead of agreeing to cap carbon emissions or commit to industrial limits on energy use, the Western nations instead opted to pledge not to make the Earth warmer:
The world’s leading industrial nations tentatively agreed Wednesday to try to prevent global temperatures from rising above a fixed level, after a more far-reaching proposal to slash production of greenhouse gases fizzled, according to U.S. and European negotiators.
Leaders meeting here for the Group of Eight summit said they would pledge to keep temperatures from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above average levels of more than a century ago, before large-scale industrial pollution occurred.
Temperatures have already risen by nearly half that amount, leaving little wiggle room. It was unclear what mechanisms, if any, would be adopted to enforce the target. Some environmental groups saw the announcement as a weak nod at the obvious.
What does this mean? Absolutely nothing. It allows the leaders of the G-8 nations to brag about reaching an agreement that literally binds them to do nothing at all. With temperatures decreasing since 1998’s peak even by the earlier, flawed NASA study, the issue could just as easily be moot.
The environmental groups that had hoped for the imposition of draconian limits on industry struggled to respond to the non-event. Greenpeace didn’t bother to hide its scorn, expressing its disappointment in the “limited” result. The Sierra Club lauded the “symbolic” nature of the agreement. No one pretended that this changed anything at all.
In fact, the G-8 showered disappointment in all directions. The leaders of the free nations made sure to express its “impatience” with Iran over its nuclear program, and to scold the mullahs for the crackdown on protesters following its rigged presidential election. However, they couldn’t quite bring themselves to expand the sanctions on Iran for either of those two issues.
Talk, talk, talk. Blather, blather, blather. They could have reduced the temperature in L’Aquila, Italy, by avoiding the emissions of the empty gas of their rhetoric.
SOURCE
Senate punts 'cap and trade' until after recess
The Senate pushed back consideration of a sweeping climate change bill until after the August recess in Congress.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) announced that she'd pushed back her self-imposed deadline to pass cap-and-trade legislation that squeaked through the House in late June.
Boxer said senators would take up the legislation "as soon as we get back" from the August recess, according to Reuters. She said she's "not a bit" worried the Senate will be able to complete and vote on a bill this year, however.
Boxer also acknowledged that the intense focus in the Senate on healthcare has detracted from her ability to craft a climate change bill to complement the House bill. "A lot of our colleagues are on the health committee," she said. "It's been difficult."
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking Republican on the committee and a noted global warming skeptic, suggested that it was political opposition, not timing, that spurred the delay. "There is no question that the American public flatly rejected the House ramming through legislation that would have devastating impacts on American consumers," Inhofe said in a statement. "So with this delay, the public should expect more arm-twisting and backroom deals — or, in other words, more business as usual in Washington."
SOURCE
Overcoming the Next Ice Age
The most interesting application for climate geo-engineering might be to overcome the next ice age. Milankovich astronomical theory and also the experience of the last 2 million years suggest that the current interglacial period (Holocene) will soon come to an end and that the earth will soon enter into another glaciation. Alarms of an imminent ice age have been raised from time to time, for example in the 1970s after a prolonged period of climate cooling, and even more recently as the climate cooled slightly in the past few years. One needs to distinguish, however, between a Little Ice Age that may be part of a more-or-less regular 1,500-year cycle (and likely related to solar activity) and a true ice age that relates to a change in solar irradiance brought about by changes in earth’s orbit, axis inclination and precession.
Not everyone agrees that such a Milankovich glaciation is imminent. For example, Andre Berger et al believe it might be as much as 40,000 years away. In any case, everyone agrees that a glaciation would bring about unprecedented hardship to the world, including crop failures, starvation – and wipe out much of the earth’s human population.
The accepted mechanism for the initiation for a glaciation is the survival of a snow field at high northern latitudes during the summer, with feedback (due to increased albedo and cooling) enlarging the snow and ice area gradually over the years to cover much of the Northern Hemisphere. This effect may be the ‘Achilles heel’ of glaciation. Can it be stopped before it spreads?
The geo-engineering task would consist of three phases: (1) a more detailed studied of the Milankovich glaciation mechanism; (2) setting up a protocol for satellite search for surviving snowfields; (3) field experiments with soot dispersal to decrease the albedo and cause the disappearance of snowfields so they absorb solar radiation instead of reflecting it.
1. A search of climate literature suggests that the sensitive region for initiation of an ice age is in the vicinity of 56 deg North latitude, which would place it into Canada, Scandinavia, or Siberia. The coldest areas in these regions are likely to be at the higher altitudes, which narrows the search to particular locations. Since the initiation mechanism depends on the survival of high-albedo snowfields throughout the whole summer, one can search existing data sources for such locations and define others where the duration of a high-albedo snowfield might extend well into the summer before melting. It may turn out that the initiation mechanism is more complicated and depends on being “kicked-off” by a century or even a decades-long period (like a Little Ice Age) -- or perhaps even by a major volcanic eruption like the one that led to the very cold summer of 1816 – that promotes the survival of the initiating snowfield.
2. Once the likely locations are defined, one can set up a protocol whereby weather satellites can routinely observe and track the albedo in these regions, locate snow fields that survive during the summer and expand from year to year -- and alert decision makers on the possibility of an ice-age initiation. This task seems fairly routine and could be initiated with existing resources.
3. Finally one would like to demonstrate the feasibility of artificially melting and removing a snowfield. This task would investigate the technical resources needed and define the details and costs of such an operation. One possibility that comes to mind will be to use “crop-duster” planes to distribute soot material over the snow field and observe the rate of melting, comparing it to what would be expected from theory. Such field experiments could be usefully conducted while the other parts of the project are proceeding.
The end result would be to demonstrate a reliable means of overcoming the initiation of a future ice age. The geo-engineering operation of removing the high-albedo snow fields might have to be done year after year until the astronomical conditions change sufficiently so that the sun itself could operate to remove the possibility of an ice age.
SOURCE (SEPP Science Editorial #21-2009)
Gallup survey found global warming ranked dead last in the U.S. among ENVIRONMENTAL issues
The folks behind World Water Day -- a largely U.N.-sponsored effort to focus attention on freshwater resource management, observed this past Sunday -- may be on to something. Pollution of drinking water is Americans' No. 1 environmental concern, with 59% saying they worry "a great deal" about the issue. That exceeds the 45% worried about air pollution, the 42% worried about the loss of tropical rain forests, and lower levels worried about extinction of species and global warming.
All eight issues tested in the 2009 Gallup Environment survey, conducted March 5-8, appear to be important to Americans, evidenced by the finding that a majority of Americans say they worry at least a fair amount about each one. However, on the basis of substantial concern -- that is, the percentage worrying "a great deal" about each -- there are important distinctions among them.
The four water-related issues on the poll fill the top four spots in this year's ranking. In addition to worrying about pollution of drinking water, roughly half of Americans also express a high degree of worry about pollution of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs (52% worry a great deal about this), and water and soil contamination from toxic waste (52%). About half worry about the maintenance of the nation's supply of fresh water for household needs (49%).
Air pollution places fifth among the environmental problems rated this year; 45% are worried a great deal about it. That issue is closely followed by the loss of tropical rain forests, with 42% -- although significantly more Americans say they worry little or not at all about rain forests than say this about air pollution (32% vs. 24%).
Extinction of plant and animal species and global warming are of great concern to just over a third of Americans. However, since more Americans express little to no worry about global warming than say this about extinction, global warming is clearly the environmental issue of least concern to them. In fact, global warming is the only issue for which more Americans say they have little to no concern than say they have a great deal of concern.
More HERE
Another Meteorlogist Dissents: 'Does carbon dioxide drive the climate? The answer is no!'
Chief Meteorologist David Paul, a holder of the AMS (American Meteorological Society) Seal of Approval and the upgraded AMS CBM (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) holds a degree in meteorology and is currently at Louisiana’s KLFY TV10, dissented from man-made global warming fears in July 2009.
“Is there a climate crisis? I say, absolutely not!” Paul wrote in a July 8, 2009 article on KLFY TV 10’s website. “Does carbon dioxide drive the climate? The answer is no! Natural cycles play a much bigger role with the sun at the top of the list,” Paul explained. “There's much more driving the climate than carbon dioxide. There are so many variables at work, known and unknown, that not a single person, or computer model, can predict the future climate for sure,” Paul wrote.
“Then there's El Nino Southern Oscillation, the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation, the Arctic Oscillation, the Pacific-North American Teleconnection, Milankovitch forcing, ocean variations, and so on and so forth. Is there any way to model all these variables? Again, the answer is no! The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, has tried and failed!” Paul added.
Just know this; climate change has occurred in the past, is occurring now, and will occur in the future. Trying to pinpoint that change on carbon emissions and human activities...is really a stretch.
“Since before the industrial revolution the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been rising, up to around 385 parts per million by volume today. That amounts to a miniscule 0.0385% of the atmosphere. Increased CO2 levels are beneficial to plants since they require carbon dioxide to grow. In this experiment, plants exposed to CO2 levels of 1,090 parts per million by volume by far exhibited the most growth,” Paul wrote.
“As a forecaster I'll tell you this. Forecasting in the short-term is fairly accurate compared to forecasting long-term. So if these climate models are so far off already, there's really little chance of them being right further out.
SOURCE
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For more postings from me, see DISSECTING LEFTISM, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here. For readers in China or for times when blogger.com is playing up, there is a mirror of this site here.
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A government report says reliance on electric cars will do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and may merely shift our dependence on foreign sources from one set of dictators to another.
It's a beautiful theory highways full of electric cars emitting no greenhouse gases or pollutants after being plugged into an outlet in our garages overnight. The problem, according to a new Government Accountability Office report, is that the effort may only shift the problem somewhere else. "If you are using coal-fired power plants, and half the country's electricity comes from coal-powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?" asks Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report. The report itself notes: "Reductions in CO2 emissions depend on generating electricity used to charge the vehicles from lower-emission sources of energy."
The GAO report says a plug-in compact car, if recharged at an outlet drawing its power from coal, provides a carbon dioxide savings of only 4% to 5%. If the feeling of saving the environment from driving an electric car causes people to drive more, that small amount of savings vanishes entirely.
It's much the same effect we saw when the Corporate Fuel Economy Standards were passed in the '70s. Aside from forcing us into less-safe downsized vehicles that increased highway fatalities, the promise of more miles per gallon caused people to drive more miles. The promised energy independence never materialized as we imported more foreign oil than ever before.
Okay, so how about a zero-emission source of electricity nuclear power? The administration has done little to promote it beyond lip service. The administration recently killed the safest place on the planet to store what is erroneously called nuclear waste at the nuclear repository that was being built at Yucca Mountain, Nev. This "waste" is in the form of spent fuel rods the French and others have safely stored and reprocessed. These rods still contain most of their original energy and reprocessing them makes nuclear power renewable as well as pollution-free. The French get 80% of their electricity from nukes, and nobody in Paris glows in the dark.
They will have a place to plug in their electric cars, but right now we don't. The government is promoting solar and wind, which is fine if the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. Both have their own environmental drawbacks. Both require huge amounts of land. Wind turbines tend to slice and dice birds, including endangered species. Solar panels of the size that might be competitive require huge amounts of water to clean. Water is a rare commodity in the areas the sun shines most the arid land of the West and Southwest.
There are the hazards of the cars themselves. We don't yet fully comprehend the hazards to drivers, passengers and first responders after, say, a collision between an electric clown car and an 18-wheeler. Then there's a whole new problem of disposing of a new generation of batteries using lithium.
As for the lithium, Bolivia, under the thumb of its leftist leader Evo Morales, has about half the world's proven reserves. "The United States has supplies of lithium, but if demand for lithium exceeded domestic supplies," warns the GAO, "the U.S. could substitute reliance on one foreign source (oil) for another (lithium)."
Then there are environmental consequences. Just as coal and oil must be extracted from the earth, so must lithium. "Extracting lithium from locations where it is abundant, such as South America, could pose environmental challenges that would damage the ecosystem in this area."
While advertised as "zero emission," electric cars have their own set of issues. As physicist Amory Lovins once put it, "Zero-emission vehicles are actually 'elsewhere-emission' vehicles."
SOURCE
The "Greenest" wheels yet
Designed in Germany but made in China. Hint! Read the license plate
This is not a toy, not a concept car. It is a newly developed single seat car in highly aerodynamic tear-shape road-proven real car. It is ready to be launched as a single-seater for sale in Shanghai in 2010 for a mere RMB 4,000 (US$600)!
Interested? Wait till you learn that it will cruise at 100-120 Km/Hr with an unbelievable 0..99litre/100Km (258 miles/gallon)!!
Impressed? Totally, after you have read all the details below about the hi-tech and space-age material input into this car !!! The Most Economic Car in the World will be on sale next year
More HERE (This story has been around for a while and Snopes.com has not yet pissed on it so maybe it is for real)
G-8 a bust for climate accord
As I predicted yesterday, the G-8 meeting finally reached a climate-control accord, but one with almost no meaning at all, as the developing nations laughed off suggestions that they hamstring their growing economies. Instead of agreeing to cap carbon emissions or commit to industrial limits on energy use, the Western nations instead opted to pledge not to make the Earth warmer:
The world’s leading industrial nations tentatively agreed Wednesday to try to prevent global temperatures from rising above a fixed level, after a more far-reaching proposal to slash production of greenhouse gases fizzled, according to U.S. and European negotiators.
Leaders meeting here for the Group of Eight summit said they would pledge to keep temperatures from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above average levels of more than a century ago, before large-scale industrial pollution occurred.
Temperatures have already risen by nearly half that amount, leaving little wiggle room. It was unclear what mechanisms, if any, would be adopted to enforce the target. Some environmental groups saw the announcement as a weak nod at the obvious.
What does this mean? Absolutely nothing. It allows the leaders of the G-8 nations to brag about reaching an agreement that literally binds them to do nothing at all. With temperatures decreasing since 1998’s peak even by the earlier, flawed NASA study, the issue could just as easily be moot.
The environmental groups that had hoped for the imposition of draconian limits on industry struggled to respond to the non-event. Greenpeace didn’t bother to hide its scorn, expressing its disappointment in the “limited” result. The Sierra Club lauded the “symbolic” nature of the agreement. No one pretended that this changed anything at all.
In fact, the G-8 showered disappointment in all directions. The leaders of the free nations made sure to express its “impatience” with Iran over its nuclear program, and to scold the mullahs for the crackdown on protesters following its rigged presidential election. However, they couldn’t quite bring themselves to expand the sanctions on Iran for either of those two issues.
Talk, talk, talk. Blather, blather, blather. They could have reduced the temperature in L’Aquila, Italy, by avoiding the emissions of the empty gas of their rhetoric.
SOURCE
Senate punts 'cap and trade' until after recess
The Senate pushed back consideration of a sweeping climate change bill until after the August recess in Congress.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) announced that she'd pushed back her self-imposed deadline to pass cap-and-trade legislation that squeaked through the House in late June.
Boxer said senators would take up the legislation "as soon as we get back" from the August recess, according to Reuters. She said she's "not a bit" worried the Senate will be able to complete and vote on a bill this year, however.
Boxer also acknowledged that the intense focus in the Senate on healthcare has detracted from her ability to craft a climate change bill to complement the House bill. "A lot of our colleagues are on the health committee," she said. "It's been difficult."
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking Republican on the committee and a noted global warming skeptic, suggested that it was political opposition, not timing, that spurred the delay. "There is no question that the American public flatly rejected the House ramming through legislation that would have devastating impacts on American consumers," Inhofe said in a statement. "So with this delay, the public should expect more arm-twisting and backroom deals — or, in other words, more business as usual in Washington."
SOURCE
Overcoming the Next Ice Age
The most interesting application for climate geo-engineering might be to overcome the next ice age. Milankovich astronomical theory and also the experience of the last 2 million years suggest that the current interglacial period (Holocene) will soon come to an end and that the earth will soon enter into another glaciation. Alarms of an imminent ice age have been raised from time to time, for example in the 1970s after a prolonged period of climate cooling, and even more recently as the climate cooled slightly in the past few years. One needs to distinguish, however, between a Little Ice Age that may be part of a more-or-less regular 1,500-year cycle (and likely related to solar activity) and a true ice age that relates to a change in solar irradiance brought about by changes in earth’s orbit, axis inclination and precession.
Not everyone agrees that such a Milankovich glaciation is imminent. For example, Andre Berger et al believe it might be as much as 40,000 years away. In any case, everyone agrees that a glaciation would bring about unprecedented hardship to the world, including crop failures, starvation – and wipe out much of the earth’s human population.
The accepted mechanism for the initiation for a glaciation is the survival of a snow field at high northern latitudes during the summer, with feedback (due to increased albedo and cooling) enlarging the snow and ice area gradually over the years to cover much of the Northern Hemisphere. This effect may be the ‘Achilles heel’ of glaciation. Can it be stopped before it spreads?
The geo-engineering task would consist of three phases: (1) a more detailed studied of the Milankovich glaciation mechanism; (2) setting up a protocol for satellite search for surviving snowfields; (3) field experiments with soot dispersal to decrease the albedo and cause the disappearance of snowfields so they absorb solar radiation instead of reflecting it.
1. A search of climate literature suggests that the sensitive region for initiation of an ice age is in the vicinity of 56 deg North latitude, which would place it into Canada, Scandinavia, or Siberia. The coldest areas in these regions are likely to be at the higher altitudes, which narrows the search to particular locations. Since the initiation mechanism depends on the survival of high-albedo snowfields throughout the whole summer, one can search existing data sources for such locations and define others where the duration of a high-albedo snowfield might extend well into the summer before melting. It may turn out that the initiation mechanism is more complicated and depends on being “kicked-off” by a century or even a decades-long period (like a Little Ice Age) -- or perhaps even by a major volcanic eruption like the one that led to the very cold summer of 1816 – that promotes the survival of the initiating snowfield.
2. Once the likely locations are defined, one can set up a protocol whereby weather satellites can routinely observe and track the albedo in these regions, locate snow fields that survive during the summer and expand from year to year -- and alert decision makers on the possibility of an ice-age initiation. This task seems fairly routine and could be initiated with existing resources.
3. Finally one would like to demonstrate the feasibility of artificially melting and removing a snowfield. This task would investigate the technical resources needed and define the details and costs of such an operation. One possibility that comes to mind will be to use “crop-duster” planes to distribute soot material over the snow field and observe the rate of melting, comparing it to what would be expected from theory. Such field experiments could be usefully conducted while the other parts of the project are proceeding.
The end result would be to demonstrate a reliable means of overcoming the initiation of a future ice age. The geo-engineering operation of removing the high-albedo snow fields might have to be done year after year until the astronomical conditions change sufficiently so that the sun itself could operate to remove the possibility of an ice age.
SOURCE (SEPP Science Editorial #21-2009)
Gallup survey found global warming ranked dead last in the U.S. among ENVIRONMENTAL issues
The folks behind World Water Day -- a largely U.N.-sponsored effort to focus attention on freshwater resource management, observed this past Sunday -- may be on to something. Pollution of drinking water is Americans' No. 1 environmental concern, with 59% saying they worry "a great deal" about the issue. That exceeds the 45% worried about air pollution, the 42% worried about the loss of tropical rain forests, and lower levels worried about extinction of species and global warming.
All eight issues tested in the 2009 Gallup Environment survey, conducted March 5-8, appear to be important to Americans, evidenced by the finding that a majority of Americans say they worry at least a fair amount about each one. However, on the basis of substantial concern -- that is, the percentage worrying "a great deal" about each -- there are important distinctions among them.
The four water-related issues on the poll fill the top four spots in this year's ranking. In addition to worrying about pollution of drinking water, roughly half of Americans also express a high degree of worry about pollution of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs (52% worry a great deal about this), and water and soil contamination from toxic waste (52%). About half worry about the maintenance of the nation's supply of fresh water for household needs (49%).
Air pollution places fifth among the environmental problems rated this year; 45% are worried a great deal about it. That issue is closely followed by the loss of tropical rain forests, with 42% -- although significantly more Americans say they worry little or not at all about rain forests than say this about air pollution (32% vs. 24%).
Extinction of plant and animal species and global warming are of great concern to just over a third of Americans. However, since more Americans express little to no worry about global warming than say this about extinction, global warming is clearly the environmental issue of least concern to them. In fact, global warming is the only issue for which more Americans say they have little to no concern than say they have a great deal of concern.
More HERE
Another Meteorlogist Dissents: 'Does carbon dioxide drive the climate? The answer is no!'
Chief Meteorologist David Paul, a holder of the AMS (American Meteorological Society) Seal of Approval and the upgraded AMS CBM (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) holds a degree in meteorology and is currently at Louisiana’s KLFY TV10, dissented from man-made global warming fears in July 2009.
“Is there a climate crisis? I say, absolutely not!” Paul wrote in a July 8, 2009 article on KLFY TV 10’s website. “Does carbon dioxide drive the climate? The answer is no! Natural cycles play a much bigger role with the sun at the top of the list,” Paul explained. “There's much more driving the climate than carbon dioxide. There are so many variables at work, known and unknown, that not a single person, or computer model, can predict the future climate for sure,” Paul wrote.
“Then there's El Nino Southern Oscillation, the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation, the Arctic Oscillation, the Pacific-North American Teleconnection, Milankovitch forcing, ocean variations, and so on and so forth. Is there any way to model all these variables? Again, the answer is no! The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, has tried and failed!” Paul added.
Just know this; climate change has occurred in the past, is occurring now, and will occur in the future. Trying to pinpoint that change on carbon emissions and human activities...is really a stretch.
“Since before the industrial revolution the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been rising, up to around 385 parts per million by volume today. That amounts to a miniscule 0.0385% of the atmosphere. Increased CO2 levels are beneficial to plants since they require carbon dioxide to grow. In this experiment, plants exposed to CO2 levels of 1,090 parts per million by volume by far exhibited the most growth,” Paul wrote.
“As a forecaster I'll tell you this. Forecasting in the short-term is fairly accurate compared to forecasting long-term. So if these climate models are so far off already, there's really little chance of them being right further out.
SOURCE
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For more postings from me, see DISSECTING LEFTISM, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here. For readers in China or for times when blogger.com is playing up, there is a mirror of this site here.
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