Pandango: I've included a link to their website below. I hope you will have a look...
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Arctic Methane Emergency Group
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Easter Island:Canary in the Coal Mine?
Pandango: Overpopulation led to deforestation, which led to poor soil, which led to less food, which led to starvation, which led to political turmoil, which led to challenging the political and religious status quo, which led to fewer people, which led to a deserted island with big freakish looking statues being the only thing that remained.
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by Jared Diamonds/away.com/Sep 14, 2010
Easter Island Lessons
In just a few centuries, the people of Easter Island wiped out their forest, drove their plants and animals to extinction, and saw their complex society spiral into chaos and cannibalism. Are we about to follow their lead?
Among the most riveting mysteries of human history are those posed by vanished civilizations. Everyone who has seen the abandoned buildings of the Khmer, the Maya, or the Anasazi is immediately moved to ask the same question: Why did the societies that erected those structures disappear?
Among all such vanished civilizations, that of the former Polynesian society on Easter Island remains unsurpassed in mystery and isolation.
Read more about this story at away.com
--------------------------
by Jared Diamonds/away.com/Sep 14, 2010
Easter Island Lessons
In just a few centuries, the people of Easter Island wiped out their forest, drove their plants and animals to extinction, and saw their complex society spiral into chaos and cannibalism. Are we about to follow their lead?
Among the most riveting mysteries of human history are those posed by vanished civilizations. Everyone who has seen the abandoned buildings of the Khmer, the Maya, or the Anasazi is immediately moved to ask the same question: Why did the societies that erected those structures disappear?
Among all such vanished civilizations, that of the former Polynesian society on Easter Island remains unsurpassed in mystery and isolation.
Read more about this story at away.com
Understanding of Extreme Events: Hansen, Sato, and Ruedy
Pandango: This is John Nielsen-Gammon's take on the Hansen paper that was discussed by Joe Romm on Climate Progress today, and that I posted a short clip of on my blog. I think they both agree... the rest is just semantics.
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by John Nielsen-Gammon/Climate Progress/Nov 17, 2011
Taking the frameworks of the Rahmstorf-Coumou and Hansen-Sato-Ruedy papers together, it is plain that heat records should and are increasing, and hot episodes should and are becoming more extreme, as the climate warms. In the specific case of the Texas 2011 heat, natural factors appear to have been so strong that it would have set a record even in the absence of climate warming, but it would almost certainly not have been so intense as to be four sigmas above the long-term average without the contribution of climate warming.
In other words, nature made it a record. Climate change made it a phenomenal record.
----------------------------------
by John Nielsen-Gammon/Climate Progress/Nov 17, 2011
Taking the frameworks of the Rahmstorf-Coumou and Hansen-Sato-Ruedy papers together, it is plain that heat records should and are increasing, and hot episodes should and are becoming more extreme, as the climate warms. In the specific case of the Texas 2011 heat, natural factors appear to have been so strong that it would have set a record even in the absence of climate warming, but it would almost certainly not have been so intense as to be four sigmas above the long-term average without the contribution of climate warming.
In other words, nature made it a record. Climate change made it a phenomenal record.
Intimidation of Climate Scientists by the Conservative Right
by Peter Sinclair/ClimateCrocks.com/Jan 4, 2012
--------------------
The right wing campaign of fear, surveillance and intimidation against scientists and academics continues.
I’ve reported on the coordinated national campaign of right wing “think” tanks subverting the Freedom of Information act to surveil the correspondence and intimidate those engaged in what the tea party right considers dangerous and un-american practices – research, thought and speech.
A number of viewers were struck by the perfectly-gelled-and-almost-perfectly-tanned “think” tank flack and Fox News misinformer, Chris Horner, from this week’s video. Mr. Horner, working with the far right wing “American Traditions Institute”, is now seeking to bully climate scientist and evangelical Christian Katherine Hayhoe.
Read more about this story at Climate Crocks
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The right wing campaign of fear, surveillance and intimidation against scientists and academics continues.
I’ve reported on the coordinated national campaign of right wing “think” tanks subverting the Freedom of Information act to surveil the correspondence and intimidate those engaged in what the tea party right considers dangerous and un-american practices – research, thought and speech.
A number of viewers were struck by the perfectly-gelled-and-almost-perfectly-tanned “think” tank flack and Fox News misinformer, Chris Horner, from this week’s video. Mr. Horner, working with the far right wing “American Traditions Institute”, is now seeking to bully climate scientist and evangelical Christian Katherine Hayhoe.
Read more about this story at Climate Crocks
Driest January in U.S. Recorded History?
by Jeff Masters/Climate Progress via WunderBlog/Jan 6, 2011
-------------------------
Flowers are sprouting in January in New Hampshire, the Sierra Mountains in California are nearly snow-free, and lakes in much of Michigan still have not frozen.
It’s 2012, and the new year is ringing in another ridiculously wacky winter for the U.S. In Fargo, North Dakota [Thursday], the mercury soared to 55°F, breaking a 1908 record for warmest January day in recorded history. More than 99% of North Dakota had no snow on the ground this morning, and over 95% of the country that normally has snow at this time of year had below-average snow cover.
High temperatures in Nebraska yesterday were in the 60s, more than 30° above average. Storm activity has been almost nil over the past week over the entire U.S., with the jet stream bottled up far to the north in Canada. It has been remarkable to look at the radar display day after day and see virtually no echoes, and it is very likely that this has been the driest first week of January in U.S. recorded history.
Portions of northern New England, the Upper Midwest, and the mountains of the Western U.S. that are normally under a foot of more of snow by now have no snow, or just a dusting of less than an inch. Approximately half of the U.S. had temperatures at least 5°F above average during the month of December, with portions of North Dakota and Minnesota seeing temperatures 9°F above average. The strangely warm and dry start to winter is not limited to the U.S–all of continental Europe experienced well above-average temperatures during December.
Read more at Climate Progress
-------------------------
Flowers are sprouting in January in New Hampshire, the Sierra Mountains in California are nearly snow-free, and lakes in much of Michigan still have not frozen.
It’s 2012, and the new year is ringing in another ridiculously wacky winter for the U.S. In Fargo, North Dakota [Thursday], the mercury soared to 55°F, breaking a 1908 record for warmest January day in recorded history. More than 99% of North Dakota had no snow on the ground this morning, and over 95% of the country that normally has snow at this time of year had below-average snow cover.
High temperatures in Nebraska yesterday were in the 60s, more than 30° above average. Storm activity has been almost nil over the past week over the entire U.S., with the jet stream bottled up far to the north in Canada. It has been remarkable to look at the radar display day after day and see virtually no echoes, and it is very likely that this has been the driest first week of January in U.S. recorded history.
Portions of northern New England, the Upper Midwest, and the mountains of the Western U.S. that are normally under a foot of more of snow by now have no snow, or just a dusting of less than an inch. Approximately half of the U.S. had temperatures at least 5°F above average during the month of December, with portions of North Dakota and Minnesota seeing temperatures 9°F above average. The strangely warm and dry start to winter is not limited to the U.S–all of continental Europe experienced well above-average temperatures during December.
Read more at Climate Progress
The Rain in December Helped Texas, Right???
Pandango: Sorry to rain on everyone's optimism, but...
by John Nielsen-Gammon/Climate Abyss/Dec. 2011
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An Early Christmas Present: Texas Rain
Everybody seems to be asking me, “Is this the beginning of the end of the drought?” Let me put it this way: including December’s estimated total, Texas will set the record for:
Here are a few longer-term records to consider:
Read more about this story by John Nielsen-Gammon at Climate Abyss
by John Nielsen-Gammon/Climate Abyss/Dec. 2011
-----------------------
An Early Christmas Present: Texas Rain
Everybody seems to be asking me, “Is this the beginning of the end of the drought?” Let me put it this way: including December’s estimated total, Texas will set the record for:
- Driest April-December on record (by ½ inch)
- Driest March-December on record (by ¾ inch)
- Driest February-December on record (by 1 inch)
- Driest January-December (driest calendar year) on record (by ¼ inch)
- Driest fifteen consecutive months on record (by ¾ inch)
Here are a few longer-term records to consider:
- Driest 18 consecutive months since the 1950s
- Driest 24 consecutive months since the 1950s
- Driest 36 consecutive months since the 1960s
- Driest 48 consecutive months since the 1960s
- Driest 60 consecutive months since the 1960s
Read more about this story by John Nielsen-Gammon at Climate Abyss
Tanker collision triggers 5.6 metric tons of marine fuel off coast of Singapore
AP News/Jan 6, 2012
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SINGAPORE — Singapore’s port authority says two tankers collided off the city-state’s coast, trigging a small fuel oil spill.
The Maritime and Port Authority said in a statement Thursday that five metric tons of marine fuel oil spilled into the Singapore Strait from the Singapore-registered tanker Kota Tenaga after it crashed with the Malta-registered SEEB late Wednesday.
Read more about this oil spill at AP News
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SINGAPORE — Singapore’s port authority says two tankers collided off the city-state’s coast, trigging a small fuel oil spill.
The Maritime and Port Authority said in a statement Thursday that five metric tons of marine fuel oil spilled into the Singapore Strait from the Singapore-registered tanker Kota Tenaga after it crashed with the Malta-registered SEEB late Wednesday.
Read more about this oil spill at AP News
How chronic, low level oil pollution hurts marine life
by Ashley Ahearn/KLCC Public Radio/Jan 4, 2012
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Oil In The Northwest: Fish Health At Risk
Seattle - Every year more than 300 tons of petroleum end up in Puget Sound. It gets there in drips and drabs – from small spills or fuel leaks at the local marina to leaky tailpipes on city streets.As part of our series on Oil in the Northwest, Ashley Ahearn takes a look at how the oil that gets into coastal waters is affecting the creatures that live there.
Jim West is standing on the shoreline of Elliott Bay in Seattle. He’s a scientist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. To his left a huge ship is filling up at a grain terminal. To his right a cruise ship is docked at a nearby pier.
But he’s not here to look at boats. He’s here to look at mussels. So we clamber down the black slippery rocks to the water’s edge.
Jim West: “You can see on the underside of this rock are the black mussels and what we do is we come down here with sampling equipment and we’ll pick this off the rock, put about 150 in a bag, they get put on ice and sent to the lab. Right behind you Alan there’s some really nice ones.”
Alan Mearns is crouched down among the rocks, scraping off mussels. He’s a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration here in Seattle. He’s been studying how oil impacts nature for over 30 years.
Read or listen to this story at KLCC 89.7 Radio
-------------------
Oil In The Northwest: Fish Health At Risk
Seattle - Every year more than 300 tons of petroleum end up in Puget Sound. It gets there in drips and drabs – from small spills or fuel leaks at the local marina to leaky tailpipes on city streets.As part of our series on Oil in the Northwest, Ashley Ahearn takes a look at how the oil that gets into coastal waters is affecting the creatures that live there.
Jim West is standing on the shoreline of Elliott Bay in Seattle. He’s a scientist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. To his left a huge ship is filling up at a grain terminal. To his right a cruise ship is docked at a nearby pier.
But he’s not here to look at boats. He’s here to look at mussels. So we clamber down the black slippery rocks to the water’s edge.
Jim West: “You can see on the underside of this rock are the black mussels and what we do is we come down here with sampling equipment and we’ll pick this off the rock, put about 150 in a bag, they get put on ice and sent to the lab. Right behind you Alan there’s some really nice ones.”
Alan Mearns is crouched down among the rocks, scraping off mussels. He’s a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration here in Seattle. He’s been studying how oil impacts nature for over 30 years.
Read or listen to this story at KLCC 89.7 Radio
Sky Truth: Estimated 68,000 gallon oil slick off the coast of Brazil
by Sky Truth/Jan 6, 2012
Oil Slicks off Brazil -- Dec 30, 2011
SkyTruth staff and volunteers have been looking pretty hard at the offshore oil producing areas along the coast of Brazil since Chevron's spill from the Frade field in the Campos Basin, caused when they lost control of a new well being drilled in deepwater back in November. That well had to be plugged and abandoned. But there is a lot going on in Brazil's waters, and there are other sources of oil pollution apparent on radar satellite images taken on November 25 and December 6.
Teri noticed that this NASA/MODIS image from December 30, 2011, shows a moderate-sized apparent oil slick (with a much smaller companion nearby) in deepwater about 225 kilometers offshore. It doesn't have the shape we usually associate with bilge-dumping from a passing vessel; this looks more like the slicks formed by leaks at depth, or from a stationary point source. The slicks cover about 260 square kilometers. We calculate they hold at least 68,000 gallons...
Read more at Sky Truth
Oil Slicks off Brazil -- Dec 30, 2011
SkyTruth staff and volunteers have been looking pretty hard at the offshore oil producing areas along the coast of Brazil since Chevron's spill from the Frade field in the Campos Basin, caused when they lost control of a new well being drilled in deepwater back in November. That well had to be plugged and abandoned. But there is a lot going on in Brazil's waters, and there are other sources of oil pollution apparent on radar satellite images taken on November 25 and December 6.
Teri noticed that this NASA/MODIS image from December 30, 2011, shows a moderate-sized apparent oil slick (with a much smaller companion nearby) in deepwater about 225 kilometers offshore. It doesn't have the shape we usually associate with bilge-dumping from a passing vessel; this looks more like the slicks formed by leaks at depth, or from a stationary point source. The slicks cover about 260 square kilometers. We calculate they hold at least 68,000 gallons...
Read more at Sky Truth
Sky Truth: Estimated 1,368 gallons of unkown "brightly colored sheen from an unknown source" in Gulf of Mexico
Sky Truth/Gulf Oil Spill Tracker
Report DetailsNRC Report ID: 999722
Incident Time: 2012-01-06 07:25:00
Nearest City: LA
Location: SOUTH PASS 62
Incident Type: UNKNOWN SHEEN
Material: UNKNOWN OIL
Medium Affected: WATER
Suspected Responsible Party:
SkyTruth Analysis
Lat/Long: 29.083333, -88.733333 (Explicit)
Reported Sheen Size: 1 miles by 2 miles (area 2 sq. miles)
Reported Spill Volume: 102 gallons
SkyTruth Minimum Estimate: 1368.4 gallons
Report Description
CALLER REPORTED A BRIGHTLY COLORED SHEEN FROM AN UNKNOWN SOURCE.
View Full Report
Report DetailsNRC Report ID: 999722
Incident Time: 2012-01-06 07:25:00
Nearest City: LA
Location: SOUTH PASS 62
Incident Type: UNKNOWN SHEEN
Material: UNKNOWN OIL
Medium Affected: WATER
Suspected Responsible Party:
SkyTruth Analysis
Lat/Long: 29.083333, -88.733333 (Explicit)
Reported Sheen Size: 1 miles by 2 miles (area 2 sq. miles)
Reported Spill Volume: 102 gallons
SkyTruth Minimum Estimate: 1368.4 gallons
Report Description
CALLER REPORTED A BRIGHTLY COLORED SHEEN FROM AN UNKNOWN SOURCE.
View Full Report
Hansen et al: "Extreme Heat Waves ... in Texas and Oklahoma in 2011 and Moscow in 2010 Were 'Caused' by Global Warming"
by Joe Romm/Climate Progress/Jan. 6, 2012
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The entire Hansen et al paper is a must-read. The authors explain why they focus on summer:
It is not uncommon for meteorologists to reject global warming as a cause of these extreme events, offering instead a meteorological explanation. For example, it is said that the Moscow heat wave was caused by an atmospheric “blocking” situation, or the Texas heat wave was caused by La Nina ocean temperature patterns. Certainly the locations of the extreme anomalies in any given case are related to specific weather patterns. However, blocking patterns and La Ninas have always been common, yet the large areas of extreme warming have come into existence only with large global warming. Today’s extreme anomalies occur because of simultaneous contributions of specific weather patterns and global warming.
Read more at Climate Progess
------------------------------
The entire Hansen et al paper is a must-read. The authors explain why they focus on summer:
Summer, when most biological productivity occurs, is the most important season for humanity and thus the season when climate change may have its biggest impact. Global warming causes spring warmth to come earlier and it causes cooler conditions that initiate fall to be delayed. Thus global warming not only increases summer warmth, it also protracts summer-like conditions, stealing from both spring and fall. Our study therefore places emphasis on study of how summer temperature anomalies have been changing.… Warming is larger in winter than in summer, but this tends to be more than offset by the much larger natural variability in winter (Fig. 2), which makes it harder for the public to notice climate change in winter. Another factor affecting the public’s perception of winter warming is the fact that snowfall amounts increase with global warming (in regions remaining cold enough for snow), and there is a tendency of the public to equate heavy snowfall and harsh winter conditions, even if temperatures are not extremely low.
It is not uncommon for meteorologists to reject global warming as a cause of these extreme events, offering instead a meteorological explanation. For example, it is said that the Moscow heat wave was caused by an atmospheric “blocking” situation, or the Texas heat wave was caused by La Nina ocean temperature patterns. Certainly the locations of the extreme anomalies in any given case are related to specific weather patterns. However, blocking patterns and La Ninas have always been common, yet the large areas of extreme warming have come into existence only with large global warming. Today’s extreme anomalies occur because of simultaneous contributions of specific weather patterns and global warming.
Read more at Climate Progess
Socialism More Popular Than Capitalism Among Millennials
by Jacob Sloan/Disinfo.com/Jan 6, 2012
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According to a new study conducted by the Pew Research Center, 49 percent of [people] age 18 to 29 view socialism in a favorable light, compared to 43 percent who view it unfavorably. What’s more, they like the sound of “socialism” slightly better than capitalism—46 percent have positive views of capitalism, and 47 percent have negative views. This is dramatically different from the country’s population overall: 60 percent say they have a negative view of socialism, versus just 31 percent who say they have a positive view. Young people are the only age group whose support for socialism outweighs that of capitalism.
Read more at Disinfo.com
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According to a new study conducted by the Pew Research Center, 49 percent of [people] age 18 to 29 view socialism in a favorable light, compared to 43 percent who view it unfavorably. What’s more, they like the sound of “socialism” slightly better than capitalism—46 percent have positive views of capitalism, and 47 percent have negative views. This is dramatically different from the country’s population overall: 60 percent say they have a negative view of socialism, versus just 31 percent who say they have a positive view. Young people are the only age group whose support for socialism outweighs that of capitalism.
Read more at Disinfo.com
Wikipedia Favorite: Smear Campaign
A smear campaign, smear tactic or simply smear is a metaphor for activity that can harm an individual or group's reputation by conflation with a stigmatized group. Sometimes smear is used more generally to include any reputation-damaging activity, including such colloquialisms as mud slinging.
Common targets are public officials, politicians, and political candidates. Smear campaigns are often based on information gleaned from opposition research conducted by paid political consultants. To a lesser degree, the term can refer to an attempt to damage a private person's reputation; for example, during a trial, the opposing counsel may attempt to cast doubt on the reliability of a witness.
The concept of the smear campaign is related to the concepts of propaganda, media bias, yellow journalism, and other falsehood-related terms such as libel and pejoration. In extreme cases, smear campaigns may lead to widespread persecution, such as in the case of the Dolchstoßlegende before WWII.
Read more at Wikipedia
Common targets are public officials, politicians, and political candidates. Smear campaigns are often based on information gleaned from opposition research conducted by paid political consultants. To a lesser degree, the term can refer to an attempt to damage a private person's reputation; for example, during a trial, the opposing counsel may attempt to cast doubt on the reliability of a witness.
The concept of the smear campaign is related to the concepts of propaganda, media bias, yellow journalism, and other falsehood-related terms such as libel and pejoration. In extreme cases, smear campaigns may lead to widespread persecution, such as in the case of the Dolchstoßlegende before WWII.
Read more at Wikipedia
Climate change models flawed, extinction rate likely higher than predicted
Wynne Parry, LiveScience senior writer/The Christian Science Monitor/Jan 6, 2012
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"We have really sophisticated meteorological models for predicting climate change," Urban said in a statement. "But in real life, animals move around, they compete, they parasitize each other and they eat each other. The majority of our predictions don't include these important interactions."
These are important because some species may not be able to move fast enough to survive, or they may have to compete with new species or species better able to adapt to the shifts during and after the move.
To test how competition and variation in dispersal ability would affect species' success at shifting to new habitats when faced with climate change, Urban and his colleagues created a mathematical model.
The researchers found that diversity decreased when they took these factors into account, and that new communities of organisms, which do not exist today, emerged.
Not surprisingly, the results favored organisms that could tolerate a wider range of habitats and were well equipped to move when necessary. Meanwhile, species with small ranges, specific needs and difficulty dispersing lost out.
Read more at The Christian Science Monitor
-------------------------------
"We have really sophisticated meteorological models for predicting climate change," Urban said in a statement. "But in real life, animals move around, they compete, they parasitize each other and they eat each other. The majority of our predictions don't include these important interactions."
These are important because some species may not be able to move fast enough to survive, or they may have to compete with new species or species better able to adapt to the shifts during and after the move.
To test how competition and variation in dispersal ability would affect species' success at shifting to new habitats when faced with climate change, Urban and his colleagues created a mathematical model.
The researchers found that diversity decreased when they took these factors into account, and that new communities of organisms, which do not exist today, emerged.
Not surprisingly, the results favored organisms that could tolerate a wider range of habitats and were well equipped to move when necessary. Meanwhile, species with small ranges, specific needs and difficulty dispersing lost out.
Read more at The Christian Science Monitor
Friday, January 6, 2012
Mob Oil Threatens President over Keystone Pipeline Decision
by Common Dreams/Jan 5, 2012
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Complete with Threats and Astroturf, Big Oil Preps for Election Year Push
Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, issued a vailed
but unmistakable warning to President Obama on Wednesday during
remarks given at the oil and gas industry's State of American Energy
event in Washington.
"Clearly, the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest," Gerard
said during remarks. "A determination to decide anything less than that
I believe will have huge political consequences." Such statements made
observers at Greenpeace wonder if Gerard would prefer to be annointed
"the President of United States of Energy" and not just another oil lobbyist.
Read more at Common Dreams
--------------------------
Complete with Threats and Astroturf, Big Oil Preps for Election Year Push
Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, issued a vailed
but unmistakable warning to President Obama on Wednesday during
remarks given at the oil and gas industry's State of American Energy
event in Washington.
"Clearly, the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest," Gerard
said during remarks. "A determination to decide anything less than that
I believe will have huge political consequences." Such statements made
observers at Greenpeace wonder if Gerard would prefer to be annointed
"the President of United States of Energy" and not just another oil lobbyist.
Read more at Common Dreams
Northeast Winter Lovers Suffer Through Warmth
by Brian Mann/NCPR/Dec 27, 2011
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It's been another warm, rainy day in much of the Northeast, with temperatures in some areas topping 40 degrees. If you hate shoveling snow, or paying big heating bills, that's good news. But for people who love winter sports — and for thousands of businesses that rely on snow for winter tourism — this month's October-like weather has been painful.
Read or listen to this story at NPR
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It's been another warm, rainy day in much of the Northeast, with temperatures in some areas topping 40 degrees. If you hate shoveling snow, or paying big heating bills, that's good news. But for people who love winter sports — and for thousands of businesses that rely on snow for winter tourism — this month's October-like weather has been painful.
Read or listen to this story at NPR
Forget Stocks Or Bonds, Invest In A Lobbyist
Pandango: What's the payoff for having a lobbyist in Washington? According to researchers Raquel Alexander and Susan Scholz, about 22,000 percent.
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by Alex Blumberg/NPR/Jan. 6, 2012
Corporations don't lobby Congress for fun. They lobby because it helps their bottom line. Getting a regulation gutted or a tax loophole created means extra cash for the corporation. But getting laws changed can be very expensive. How much money does a corporation get back from investing in a good lobbyist?
It's a messy, secretive system so it was always hard to study. But in 2004, economists found a bill so simple, so lucrative, that they could finally track the return on lobbying investment.
The American Jobs Creation Act benefited hundreds of multinational corporations with a huge, one-time tax break.
Read or listen to this story at NPR
-----------------------------------
by Alex Blumberg/NPR/Jan. 6, 2012
Corporations don't lobby Congress for fun. They lobby because it helps their bottom line. Getting a regulation gutted or a tax loophole created means extra cash for the corporation. But getting laws changed can be very expensive. How much money does a corporation get back from investing in a good lobbyist?
It's a messy, secretive system so it was always hard to study. But in 2004, economists found a bill so simple, so lucrative, that they could finally track the return on lobbying investment.
The American Jobs Creation Act benefited hundreds of multinational corporations with a huge, one-time tax break.
Read or listen to this story at NPR
Sinking Island Nation Thinking of Moving to Australia
by Amanda Peterson Beadle/Think Progress/Jan 6, 2011
---------------------------------
If the tiny archipelago of the Maldives disappears below rising sea levels caused by global warming, the nation’s president is warning Australia to prepare for a wave of climate refugees. President Mohamed Nasheed said his government is considering Australia, as well as Sri Lanka and India, as possible new homes if sea levels rise so high that the nation’s islands are no longer inhabitable.
Read more at Think Progress
---------------------------------
If the tiny archipelago of the Maldives disappears below rising sea levels caused by global warming, the nation’s president is warning Australia to prepare for a wave of climate refugees. President Mohamed Nasheed said his government is considering Australia, as well as Sri Lanka and India, as possible new homes if sea levels rise so high that the nation’s islands are no longer inhabitable.
Read more at Think Progress
Methane: Ticking Time bomb
by Thilo Kunzemann/Knowledge.Allianz.com/Nov 27, 2010
-------------------------------------
Methane is number two among the man-made climate warmers worldwide. Its concentration in the atmosphere has increased threefold since the industrial revolution. But with more warming, the worst could still be to come.
Contribution to Human-Induced Climate Change: 23 percent
Global Warming Potency (100 years): 25 times stronger than CO2
Methane, the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and the primary component of natural gas, is virtually omnipresent. The odorless, colorless gas leaks from the Earth’s mantle through volcanoes, vents from the stomachs of millions of livestock, rises from wetlands, marshes, and coal mines, and bubbles up from all things decaying.
The bad news first: Methane’s warming effect over a period of 100 years is 25 times stronger than that of CO2. Fortunately, methane appears in lower concentrations and disappears faster from the atmosphere than CO2. After about seven years, half of all methane emissions have transformed into water and carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas in its own right.
Since 1750 methane levels have increased by about 150 percent, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This has been responsible for about a fifth of the enhanced greenhouse effect over the past 200 years.
For the last decade, however, methane emissions had somehow stabilized and even decreased slightly, while carbon dioxide levels increased rapidly. Scientists finally figured out that this was due to the fact that many wetlands were being drained for agricultural use, the increased capture of methane from landfills, and reduced emissions from the production of natural gas.
But methane emissions have started to rise again due to increased consumption of fossil fuels in Asia. And an even bigger time bomb is ticking.
Read more at Allianz
-------------------------------------
Methane is number two among the man-made climate warmers worldwide. Its concentration in the atmosphere has increased threefold since the industrial revolution. But with more warming, the worst could still be to come.
Contribution to Human-Induced Climate Change: 23 percent
Global Warming Potency (100 years): 25 times stronger than CO2
Methane, the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and the primary component of natural gas, is virtually omnipresent. The odorless, colorless gas leaks from the Earth’s mantle through volcanoes, vents from the stomachs of millions of livestock, rises from wetlands, marshes, and coal mines, and bubbles up from all things decaying.
The bad news first: Methane’s warming effect over a period of 100 years is 25 times stronger than that of CO2. Fortunately, methane appears in lower concentrations and disappears faster from the atmosphere than CO2. After about seven years, half of all methane emissions have transformed into water and carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas in its own right.
Since 1750 methane levels have increased by about 150 percent, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This has been responsible for about a fifth of the enhanced greenhouse effect over the past 200 years.
For the last decade, however, methane emissions had somehow stabilized and even decreased slightly, while carbon dioxide levels increased rapidly. Scientists finally figured out that this was due to the fact that many wetlands were being drained for agricultural use, the increased capture of methane from landfills, and reduced emissions from the production of natural gas.
But methane emissions have started to rise again due to increased consumption of fossil fuels in Asia. And an even bigger time bomb is ticking.
Read more at Allianz
(video) Ross Perot - You will hear the giant sucking sound of jobs leaving the U.S.
Pandango: Sometimes you have to revisit the past to understand the present. Ross Perot told the truth about what would happen to American jobs. We were lied to by corporations, presidents and those in congress, and now we are paying the price.
NAFTA - Ten Years of Broken Promises
Pandango: Sometimes it's necessary to revisit the past to understand what's happening in the present.
(videos) Bill Maher - Job Creators
Pandango: Check out the ball cap Bill Maher and Michael Moore are wearing in this video.
Wikipedia Favorite: Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group.
As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda, in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda is often biased, with facts selectively presented (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political, or other type of agenda. Propaganda can be used as a form of political warfare.
Bias, a highly researched area by psychologists, and our emotions considerably enhance our susceptibility. Fear, for example, either present or created by the propaganda, can be extremely important to our level of susceptibility.
Another important characteristic is that the processes of developing and maintaining false belief(s) presented by a system of propaganda are generally unconscious, at least in part. The less we understand about our susceptibility, the easier it may be to manipulate us.
While the term propaganda has acquired a strongly negative connotation by association with its most manipulative and jingoistic examples, propaganda in its original sense was neutral, and could refer to uses that were generally benign or innocuous, such as public health recommendations, signs encouraging citizens to participate in a census or election, or messages encouraging people to report crimes to the police, among others.
Read more about propaganda on Wikipedia
As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda, in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda is often biased, with facts selectively presented (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political, or other type of agenda. Propaganda can be used as a form of political warfare.
Bias, a highly researched area by psychologists, and our emotions considerably enhance our susceptibility. Fear, for example, either present or created by the propaganda, can be extremely important to our level of susceptibility.
Another important characteristic is that the processes of developing and maintaining false belief(s) presented by a system of propaganda are generally unconscious, at least in part. The less we understand about our susceptibility, the easier it may be to manipulate us.
While the term propaganda has acquired a strongly negative connotation by association with its most manipulative and jingoistic examples, propaganda in its original sense was neutral, and could refer to uses that were generally benign or innocuous, such as public health recommendations, signs encouraging citizens to participate in a census or election, or messages encouraging people to report crimes to the police, among others.
Read more about propaganda on Wikipedia
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Climate History: Maps, Graphs and Charts
Pandango: Scotese.com has some wonderful free resources for studying the Earth's climate history.
Click here to view the website
Click here to view the website
Wrong Facts Stick in Memory
by University of Western Austrailia/July 7, 2011
------------------------------------
Humans are taught from an early age to tell the truth so if we realise the facts have been misrepresented, we do our best to set the record straight. But a study from The University of Western Australia found even clear warnings to ignore misinformation can't erase the damage done.
The study by Assistant Professor Ullrich Ecker, Professor Stephan Lewandowsky and David Tang, from UWA's School of Psychology, was first published last year in Memory & Cognition journal and is featured this month in another journal Scientific American.
Professor Ecker said information that was initially thought to be correct, but later retracted or corrected, often continued to influence memory and reasoning.
"It occurs even if the retraction or correction is well remembered and is often referred to as ‘the continued influence effect of misinformation'," Professor Ecker said.
"Our study investigated whether the continued influence of misinformation can be reduced by explicitly warning people at the outset that they may be misled."
Read more at University of Western Austrailia
------------------------------------
Humans are taught from an early age to tell the truth so if we realise the facts have been misrepresented, we do our best to set the record straight. But a study from The University of Western Australia found even clear warnings to ignore misinformation can't erase the damage done.
The study by Assistant Professor Ullrich Ecker, Professor Stephan Lewandowsky and David Tang, from UWA's School of Psychology, was first published last year in Memory & Cognition journal and is featured this month in another journal Scientific American.
Professor Ecker said information that was initially thought to be correct, but later retracted or corrected, often continued to influence memory and reasoning.
"It occurs even if the retraction or correction is well remembered and is often referred to as ‘the continued influence effect of misinformation'," Professor Ecker said.
"Our study investigated whether the continued influence of misinformation can be reduced by explicitly warning people at the outset that they may be misled."
Read more at University of Western Austrailia
Long Term Trend: Texas is Getting Wetter?
Pandango: According to John Nielsen-Gammon, precipitation is increasing across the United States and Texas. One caveat though: it's not enough rain to keep up with the drought.
----------------------------
by Marketing and News Archive/Texas A&M University/Post Tagged 'Nielsen-Gammon'/July 6, 2011
...But amazingly, despite the drought, the long-term trend is that Texas has been getting wetter, Nielsen-Gammon says. “Despite our current severe drought, the long-term precipitation trend is upward in Texas, by about 10 percent per century,” notes the Texas A&M professor. ”Recently, our drought years have been alternating with flood years.
”I was surprised to find that precipitation amounts are increasing across most of the United States. We hear a lot about long-term drought in the Southwest, but precipitation is mostly steady or increasing there too, according to our analysis.”
Nielsen-Gammon adds one note of dryness to the overall wet picture, though. ”With warmer temperatures nearly everywhere, we need more rainfall just to keep up with the evaporation. And when it’s both warm and dry, as it is now in Texas, the drought is that much worse.”
Read more here
----------------------------
by Marketing and News Archive/Texas A&M University/Post Tagged 'Nielsen-Gammon'/July 6, 2011
...But amazingly, despite the drought, the long-term trend is that Texas has been getting wetter, Nielsen-Gammon says. “Despite our current severe drought, the long-term precipitation trend is upward in Texas, by about 10 percent per century,” notes the Texas A&M professor. ”Recently, our drought years have been alternating with flood years.
”I was surprised to find that precipitation amounts are increasing across most of the United States. We hear a lot about long-term drought in the Southwest, but precipitation is mostly steady or increasing there too, according to our analysis.”
Read more here
1986: Lake Nyos in Africa Explodes from Methane, Killing 1,700 People
Pandango: An illustration of the destructive power from the release of methane.
------------------------------
wepage by Theresa Kayzar /geo.arizona.edu
Lake Nyos is an active crater lake that formed by an eruption about 5 centuries ago. Nyos and Lake Monoun, located 95km to the southeast of Nyos, are the only two volcanic lakes in the world other than Lake Kivu that contain large amounts of CO2 dissolved at depth (Holloway, 2000). Nyos and Monoun both released their gases in the month of August only two years apart from one another
Read more about the Lake Nyos Disaster at geo.arizona.edu
------------------------------
wepage by Theresa Kayzar /geo.arizona.edu
Lake Nyos is an active crater lake that formed by an eruption about 5 centuries ago. Nyos and Lake Monoun, located 95km to the southeast of Nyos, are the only two volcanic lakes in the world other than Lake Kivu that contain large amounts of CO2 dissolved at depth (Holloway, 2000). Nyos and Monoun both released their gases in the month of August only two years apart from one another
After many years of study the science community has come to an agreement that the origin of CO2 within Lake Nyos is due to CO2 that rises from volcanic activity. This CO2 is then dissolved into groundwaters and transferred to the lake resulting in the slow saturation of the hypolimnion (Kanari, 1989; Holloway, 2000; Kling, 1989). In most crater lakes, turnover of the stratified waters occurs periodically and harmless amounts of dissolved gases are released; however, the problem with Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun is that these two particular lakes do not periodically turn over (Holloway, 2000). Thus, dissolved gases are allowed to reach much higher concentrations. The setting of Lake Kivu is analogous to Lake Nyos. |
|
Troubling Trends and Increasing Costs of Inaction [on Climate Change]
Pandango: Outlook is not good... Video is included within the article on the Carnegie Endowment website. Not very exciting, but contains a lot of information on the consequences of inaction on climate change...
------------------------------------------
by Carnegie Endowment/carnegieendowment.org/Nov 28, 2011
Birol highlighted several worrying trends from the report:
------------------------------------------
by Carnegie Endowment/carnegieendowment.org/Nov 28, 2011
Troubling Trends and Increasing Costs of Inaction
The World Energy Outlook 2011 provides insight into global energy markets and trends for today and the next 24 years. The report lays out the urgent need to combat climate change and the dire consequences of its refusal, said Mathews. Economic concerns have diverted attention from energy policy and limited the means of intervention, added both van der Hoeven and Birol.Birol highlighted several worrying trends from the report:
- To ensure a low carbon future, there is still time to act, but the window of opportunity is closing.
- CO2 emissions rebounded to a record high in 2010.
- Energy efficiency of the global economy worsened for the second straight year.
- Spending on oil imports is near record highs.
Mother Nature is Just Getting Warmed Up
Pandango: As quoted in the below article "...Houston and Washington, DC could experience temperatures exceeding 98°F for some 60 days a year."
by Joe Romm/Climate Progress/Jan 3, 2012
---------------------------
Steve Scolnik at Capital Climate analyzed the data from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) and created the chart above.
So if you live on the East Coast and thought it was unusually warm the last few weeks, you were right. Although “unusual” isn’t what it used to be. As the figure makes clear, this was a very hot summer (see “Third Hottest Summer Globally, Second Warmest for U.S. With Stunning Weather Extremes, Texas Drought Worst in Centuries“).
I like the statistical aggregation across the country, since it gets us beyond the oft-repeated point that you can’t pin any one record temperature on global warming.
If you want to know how to judge whether the 2.8-to-1 ratio for the entire year is a big deal, here’s what a 2009 National Center for Atmospheric Research study found over the past six decades (see “Record high temperatures far outpace record lows across U.S.“):
Here’s a Stanford release for Climatic Change study (PDF here) I wrote about in June:
by Joe Romm/Climate Progress/Jan 3, 2012
---------------------------
Steve Scolnik at Capital Climate analyzed the data from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) and created the chart above.
So if you live on the East Coast and thought it was unusually warm the last few weeks, you were right. Although “unusual” isn’t what it used to be. As the figure makes clear, this was a very hot summer (see “Third Hottest Summer Globally, Second Warmest for U.S. With Stunning Weather Extremes, Texas Drought Worst in Centuries“).
I like the statistical aggregation across the country, since it gets us beyond the oft-repeated point that you can’t pin any one record temperature on global warming.
If you want to know how to judge whether the 2.8-to-1 ratio for the entire year is a big deal, here’s what a 2009 National Center for Atmospheric Research study found over the past six decades (see “Record high temperatures far outpace record lows across U.S.“):
Here’s a Stanford release for Climatic Change study (PDF here) I wrote about in June:
Read more of Joe Romm's article at Climate ProgressStanford climate scientists forecast permanently hotter summers
The tropics and much of the Northern Hemisphere are likely to experience an irreversible rise in summer temperatures within the next 20 to 60 years if atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations continue to increase, according to a new climate study by Stanford University scientists….
“According to our projections, large areas of the globe are likely to warm up so quickly that, by the middle of this century, even the coolest summers will be hotter than the hottest summers of the past 50 years,” said the study’s lead author, Noah Diffenbaugh, The study, based on observations and models, finds that most major countries, including the United States, are “likely to face unprecedented climate stresses even with the relatively moderate warming expected over the next half-century.”
How Fracking Caused an Ohio Earthquake
by Good German/disinfo.com/Jan. 5, 2012
----------------------
As many as 11 Ohio earthquakes, to be exact. Pete Spotts reports for the Christian Science Monitor:
Read more at Disinfo.com
----------------------
As many as 11 Ohio earthquakes, to be exact. Pete Spotts reports for the Christian Science Monitor:
The link between “fracking” and earthquakes was thrown into stark relief over the weekend when a magnitude 4.0 quake struck Youngstown, Ohio – typically not a hot bed of noticeable seismic activity. The quake triggered shaking reportedly felt as as far away as Buffalo, N.Y., and Toronto.
The temblor struck Dec. 31 and was the latest and strongest of 11 minor-to-light quakes that have hit the region since March. The epicenters are clustered around a wastewater injection well for a hydraulic fracturing operation.
Read more at Disinfo.com
Thousands Of Birds Fall Dead From Sky In Arkansas
by Jacob Sloan/Disinfo.com/Jan 3, 2012
-----------------------------------
In recent times, New Year’s seems to always bring with it mystifying mass animal deaths. What an appropriate way to ring in 2012! The New York Daily News writes:
-----------------------------------
In recent times, New Year’s seems to always bring with it mystifying mass animal deaths. What an appropriate way to ring in 2012! The New York Daily News writes:
Thousands of blackbirds dropped dead on New Year’s Eve in Arkansas in an incident eerily similar to one that occurred at the same time a year ago.Read more at Disinfo.com
The disturbing deaths in Beebe, a city northwest of Little Rock, were sparked after loud fireworks sent flocks of the small birds into a panic, scientists said. This caused them to collide with each other, as well as power lines, houses and cars.
A World In Denial
-----------------------------------------------------
Geoffrey Wheatcroft writes in the New York Times:
Could there be a single phrase that explains the woes of our time, this dismal age of political miscalculations and deceptions, of reckless and disastrous wars, of financial boom and bust and downright criminality? Maybe there is, and we owe it to Fintan O’Toole. That trenchant Irish commentator is a biographer and theater critic, and a critic also of his country’s crimes and follies, as in his gripping if horrifying book, Ship of Fools: How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger.Read more at Disinfo.com
He reminds us of the famous if gnomic saying by Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the United States secretary of defense, that “There are known knowns… there are known unknowns … there are also unknown unknowns.” But the Irish problem, says Mr. O’Toole, was none of the above. It was “unknown knowns.”
What he means is something different from denial, or evasion, irrational exuberance or excess optimism. Unknown knowns were things that were not at all inevitable, and were easily knowable, or indeed known, but which people chose to “unknow.”
Sky Truth: Unknown Sheen Spotted in Shallow Mississippi Canyon
Sky Truth/Gulf Oil Spill Tracker
Report DetailsNRC Report ID: 999588
Incident Time: 2012-01-04 14:00:00
Nearest City: LA
Location: SHALLOW MISSISSIPPI CANYON
Incident Type: UNKNOWN SHEEN
Material: UNKNOWN OIL
Medium Affected: WATER
Suspected Responsible Party:
SkyTruth Analysis
Lat/Long: 28.936389, -88.969444 (Explicit)
Reported Sheen Size: 0.25 miles by 0.75 miles (area 120 acres)
SkyTruth Minimum Estimate: 128.29 gallons
Report Description
CALLER REPORTED A SHEEN THAT WAS DISCOVERED BY AN AIRCRAFT IN THE SHALLOW PORTION OF MISSISSIPPI CANYON. CALLER STATED THERE WAS A SUPPLY VESSEL THAT WAS CLOSE TO THE SHEEN, AND THE CLOSER TO THE VESSEL THE HEAVIER THE SHEENING AND THERE WAS WHAT APPEARED TO BE BILGE OIL IN THE WATER BUT IT WAS UNDETERMINED IF THE SOURCE WAS THE VESSEL. CALLER STATED THE SUPPLY VESSEL WAS NAMED ADRIATIC AND HAD A BLUE HULL AND WHITE WHEELHOUSE, 130-140 FEET IN LENGTH AND WAS MOORED TO A SEA BUOY.
View Full Report
Report DetailsNRC Report ID: 999588
Incident Time: 2012-01-04 14:00:00
Nearest City: LA
Location: SHALLOW MISSISSIPPI CANYON
Incident Type: UNKNOWN SHEEN
Material: UNKNOWN OIL
Medium Affected: WATER
Suspected Responsible Party:
SkyTruth Analysis
Lat/Long: 28.936389, -88.969444 (Explicit)
Reported Sheen Size: 0.25 miles by 0.75 miles (area 120 acres)
SkyTruth Minimum Estimate: 128.29 gallons
Report Description
CALLER REPORTED A SHEEN THAT WAS DISCOVERED BY AN AIRCRAFT IN THE SHALLOW PORTION OF MISSISSIPPI CANYON. CALLER STATED THERE WAS A SUPPLY VESSEL THAT WAS CLOSE TO THE SHEEN, AND THE CLOSER TO THE VESSEL THE HEAVIER THE SHEENING AND THERE WAS WHAT APPEARED TO BE BILGE OIL IN THE WATER BUT IT WAS UNDETERMINED IF THE SOURCE WAS THE VESSEL. CALLER STATED THE SUPPLY VESSEL WAS NAMED ADRIATIC AND HAD A BLUE HULL AND WHITE WHEELHOUSE, 130-140 FEET IN LENGTH AND WAS MOORED TO A SEA BUOY.
View Full Report
Sky Truth: Oil Sheen Spotted in Gulf of Mexico
Sky Truth/Gulf Oil Spill Tracker
Report DetailsNRC Report ID: 999559
Incident Time: 2012-01-04 09:10:00
Nearest City: LA
Location: MISSISSIPPI CANYON 20
Incident Type: PLATFORM
Material: OIL: CRUDE
Medium Affected: WATER
Suspected Responsible Party: TAYLOR ENERGY
SkyTruth Analysis
Lat/Long: 28.934302, -88.974961 (Approximated from BlockCentroid)
Reported Sheen Size: 0.28 miles by 2.9 miles (area 527.27 acres)
Reported Spill Volume: 9 gallons
SkyTruth Minimum Estimate: 563.69 gallons
Report Description
CALLER REPORTED SHEENING FROM A PLATFORM THAT WAS DESTROYED BY A HURRICANE.
View Full Report
Report DetailsNRC Report ID: 999559
Incident Time: 2012-01-04 09:10:00
Nearest City: LA
Location: MISSISSIPPI CANYON 20
Incident Type: PLATFORM
Material: OIL: CRUDE
Medium Affected: WATER
Suspected Responsible Party: TAYLOR ENERGY
SkyTruth Analysis
Lat/Long: 28.934302, -88.974961 (Approximated from BlockCentroid)
Reported Sheen Size: 0.28 miles by 2.9 miles (area 527.27 acres)
Reported Spill Volume: 9 gallons
SkyTruth Minimum Estimate: 563.69 gallons
Report Description
CALLER REPORTED SHEENING FROM A PLATFORM THAT WAS DESTROYED BY A HURRICANE.
View Full Report
Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney are both bad news for climate change fight
by Lisa Hymas/ for Grist/ part of the Guardian Environment Network/Jan. 4, 2012
---------------------------------
Wikipedia Favorite: Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos"
Pandango: Good time to post this since it is Republican caucus time.
"Operation Chaos" (An effort promoted by Limbaugh to cause chaos in the Democratic Party primaries by encouraging Republican voters to either cross over or change parties in order to vote for whichever candidate is trailing, thus prolonging the primary process);[27]
Read more about Rush's "jargon" at Wikipedia
"Operation Chaos" (An effort promoted by Limbaugh to cause chaos in the Democratic Party primaries by encouraging Republican voters to either cross over or change parties in order to vote for whichever candidate is trailing, thus prolonging the primary process);[27]
Read more about Rush's "jargon" at Wikipedia
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Wikipedia Favorite: Rush Limbaugh Takes Viagra
On October 3, 2003 the National Enquirer reported that Limbaugh was being investigated for illegally obtaining the prescription drugs oxycodone and hydrocodone. Other news outlets quickly confirmed the investigation.[94] He admitted to listeners on his radio show on October 10, 2003 that he was addicted to prescription painkillers and stated that he would enter inpatient treatment for 30 days, immediately after the broadcast.[95] Limbaugh stated his addiction to painkillers resulted from several years of severe back pain heightened by a botched surgery intended to correct those problems.
A subsequent investigation into whether Limbaugh had violated Florida's doctor shopping laws was launched by the Palm Beach State Attorney, which raised privacy issues when investigators seized Limbaugh's private medical records looking for evidence of crimes. On November 9, 2005, following two years of investigations, Assistant State Attorney James L. Martz requested the court to set aside Limbaugh's doctor–patient confidentiality rights and allow the state to question his physicians, stating it was necessary because "I have no idea if Mr. Limbaugh has completed the elements of any offense yet."[96] Limbaugh's attorney opposed the prosecutor's efforts to interview his doctors on the basis of patient privacy rights, and argued that the prosecutor had violated Limbaugh's Fourth Amendment rights by illegally seizing his medical records. The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement in agreement and filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Limbaugh.[97][98] On December 12, 2005, Judge David F. Crow delivered a ruling prohibiting the State of Florida from questioning Limbaugh's physicians about "the medical condition of the patient and any information disclosed to the health care practitioner by the patient in the course of the care and treatment of the patient."[99]
On April 28, 2006 a warrant was issued for his arrest on the charge of doctor shopping. According to Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for the Sheriff, during his arrest, Limbaugh was booked, photographed, and fingerprinted, but not handcuffed. He was then released after about an hour on $3,000 bail.[100][101][102] After his surrender, he filed a "not guilty" plea to the charge. Prosecutors agreed to drop the charge if Limbaugh paid $30,000 to defray the cost of the investigation and completed an 18-month therapy regimen with his physician.[103]
Limbaugh asserted that the state's settlement agreement resulted from a lack of evidence supporting the charge of doctor shopping. Under the terms of the agreement, Limbaugh may not own a firearm for eighteen months and must continue to submit to random drug testing, which he acknowledges having undergone since 2003.[104]
Before his addiction became known, Limbaugh had condemned illegal drug use on his television program, stating that "Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. ... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."[105][106]
Roy Black, one of Limbaugh's attorneys, stated that "Rush Limbaugh was singled out for prosecution because of who he is. We believe the state attorney's office is applying a double standard."[107]
In June 2006, Limbaugh was detained by drug enforcement agents at Palm Beach International Airport. Customs officials confiscated Viagra from Limbaugh's luggage as he was returning from the Dominican Republic. The prescription was not in Limbaugh's name.[108]
After he was released with no charges filed, Limbaugh joked about the incident on his radio show, claiming that he got the Viagra at the Clinton Library and was told they were blue M&M's. He also stated that "I had a great time in the Dominican Republic. Wish I could tell you about it."[108]
See Rush's mugshot and read more about his tragic fake life at Wikipedia
A subsequent investigation into whether Limbaugh had violated Florida's doctor shopping laws was launched by the Palm Beach State Attorney, which raised privacy issues when investigators seized Limbaugh's private medical records looking for evidence of crimes. On November 9, 2005, following two years of investigations, Assistant State Attorney James L. Martz requested the court to set aside Limbaugh's doctor–patient confidentiality rights and allow the state to question his physicians, stating it was necessary because "I have no idea if Mr. Limbaugh has completed the elements of any offense yet."[96] Limbaugh's attorney opposed the prosecutor's efforts to interview his doctors on the basis of patient privacy rights, and argued that the prosecutor had violated Limbaugh's Fourth Amendment rights by illegally seizing his medical records. The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement in agreement and filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Limbaugh.[97][98] On December 12, 2005, Judge David F. Crow delivered a ruling prohibiting the State of Florida from questioning Limbaugh's physicians about "the medical condition of the patient and any information disclosed to the health care practitioner by the patient in the course of the care and treatment of the patient."[99]
On April 28, 2006 a warrant was issued for his arrest on the charge of doctor shopping. According to Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for the Sheriff, during his arrest, Limbaugh was booked, photographed, and fingerprinted, but not handcuffed. He was then released after about an hour on $3,000 bail.[100][101][102] After his surrender, he filed a "not guilty" plea to the charge. Prosecutors agreed to drop the charge if Limbaugh paid $30,000 to defray the cost of the investigation and completed an 18-month therapy regimen with his physician.[103]
Limbaugh asserted that the state's settlement agreement resulted from a lack of evidence supporting the charge of doctor shopping. Under the terms of the agreement, Limbaugh may not own a firearm for eighteen months and must continue to submit to random drug testing, which he acknowledges having undergone since 2003.[104]
Before his addiction became known, Limbaugh had condemned illegal drug use on his television program, stating that "Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. ... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."[105][106]
Roy Black, one of Limbaugh's attorneys, stated that "Rush Limbaugh was singled out for prosecution because of who he is. We believe the state attorney's office is applying a double standard."[107]
In June 2006, Limbaugh was detained by drug enforcement agents at Palm Beach International Airport. Customs officials confiscated Viagra from Limbaugh's luggage as he was returning from the Dominican Republic. The prescription was not in Limbaugh's name.[108]
After he was released with no charges filed, Limbaugh joked about the incident on his radio show, claiming that he got the Viagra at the Clinton Library and was told they were blue M&M's. He also stated that "I had a great time in the Dominican Republic. Wish I could tell you about it."[108]
See Rush's mugshot and read more about his tragic fake life at Wikipedia
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Updated Drought Information Statement For Austin & San Antonio
by National Weather Service/Dec. 22, 2011
DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
155 PM CST THU DEC 22 2011
...ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...THE HILL COUNTRY AND RIO
GRANDE PLAINS REMAIN IN MODERATE TO EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT
STATUS...
SYNOPSIS...
DROUGHT CONTINUES TO PLAGUE ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...BUT SMALL
IMPROVEMENTS HAVE BEEN SEEN. DECEMBER HAS SEEN SEVERAL SIGNIFICANT
RAINFALL EVENTS AND RAINFALL AMOUNTS FOR THE MONTH RANGE FROM NEAR
ONE INCH ACROSS THE RIO GRANDE PLAINS TO NEAR FOUR INCHES ACROSS
THE EASTERN SECTIONS OF THE HILL COUNTRY AND ADJACENT PORTIONS OF
SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. THIS RAINFALL HAS BEEN EXTREMELY BENEFICIAL
FOR THE ENTIRE REGION. FOR US TO SEE MORE SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE LONG TERM DROUGHT IMPACTS SUCH AS FILLING LAKES AND
RESERVOIRS...MORE FREQUENT AND WIDESPREAD RAINFALL EVENTS OVER
SEVERAL MONTHS WILL BE NECESSARY.
THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER (CPC) IS FORECASTING THE LA NINA
PATTERN TO CONTINUE ACROSS THE EQUATORIAL PACIFIC THROUGH THE
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE WINTER (DEC...JAN AND FEB). THIS USUALLY
MEANS BELOW AVERAGE RAINFALL AND WARMER THAN AVERAGE TEMPERATURES
DURING THE WINTER ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. THIS DOES NOT MEAN
THAT WE WILL NOT SEE RAINFALL EVENTS AND THAT COLD OUTBREAKS
WILL NOT OCCUR.
THE US DROUGHT MONITOR (USDM) VALID DECEMBER 20TH AND ISSUED ON
DECEMBER 22ND...SHOWED ALL OF THE HILL COUNTRY AND SOUTH CENTRAL
TEXAS IN MODERATE (D1) TO EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT (D4) CONDITIONS.
MOST OF THE STATE IS CURRENTLY IN MODERATE DROUGHT (D1) TO
EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT (D4). SIXTY-NINE PERCENT OF THE STATE IS
CURRENTLY IN EXTREME (D3) TO EXCEPTIONAL (D4) DROUGHT STATUS
AND THIRTY-NINE PERCENT OF THE STATE IS IN EXCEPTIONAL (D4)
DROUGHT STATUS. THESE NUMBERS WILL CONTINUE TO DECREASE AS
ADDITIONAL RAINFALL IS OBSERVED ACROSS THE STATE
FIRE DANGER IMPACTS...
FIRE DANGER IS CURRENTLY LOW DUE TO THE RECENT RAINFALL AND
COOLER TEMPERATURES. AS OF DECEMBER 22ND...BURN BANS WERE
IN EFFECT FOR 15 COUNTIES IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS.
THE DECEMBER 22ND KEETCH-BYRAM DROUGHT INDEX (KBDI) SHOWED
KBDI VALUES RANGED FROM 200 TO 400 ACROSS THE NORTHERN AND
EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE HILL COUNTRY AND ALONG I-35.
THE REMAINDER OF THE AREA HAD KBDI VALUES OF 400 TO 600.
THE TEXAS FOREST SERVICE USES THE KBDI AS A MEANS FOR RELATING
CURRENT AND RECENT WEATHER CONDITIONS TO POTENTIAL OR EXPECTED
FIRE BEHAVIOR.
THE INDEX RANGES FROM ZERO TO 800...
WITH ZERO REPRESENTING A SATURATED SOIL AND 800 A COMPLETELY
DRY SOIL. REMEMBER...THAT FIRE DANGER CAN CHANGE QUICKLY FROM
ONE DAY TO ANOTHER AS WINDS AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY VARY.
CLIMATE SUMMARY...
MOST LOCATIONS HAVE SEEN ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL FOR THE MONTH OF
DECEMBER.
THIS RAINFALL HAS HELPED TO CHIP AWAY AT THE RAINFALL
DEFICITS THAT HAVE GROWN VERY LARGE OVER THE PAST YEAR.
RAINFALL DEFICITS ARE 15 TO 20 INCHES OVER THE EASTERN PORTIONS
OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. LOCATIONS OVER THE RIO GRANDE PLAINS
CURRENTLY HAVE RAINFALL DEFICITS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES.
[SAN ANTONIO IS CURRENTLY AT A DEFICIT OF -14.53 INCHES FOR END OF YEAR 2011. THIS IS 54% OF THE TOTAL RAINFALL THAT WE NORMALLY SEE IN A YEAR.]
THE LONGER RANGE OUTLOOK FOR JANUARY 2012 THROUGH MARCH
2012...CREATED ON DECEMBER 15TH IS CALLING FOR GREATER CHANCES
FOR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND GREATER CHANCES FOR BELOW
NORMAL RAINFALL.
HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK...
DUE TO THE LACK OF SOIL MOISTURE MANY LAKES AND RESERVOIRS HAVE
SEEN LITTLE OR NO INCREASE DESPITE THE ABOVE NORMAL DECEMBER
RAINFALL.
MOST OF THE RIVERS...CREEKS AND STREAMS REMAIN DRY OR
HAVE VERY LOW FLOWS AND THE WATER IS NOT RUNNING OFF TO HELP
REPLENISH THE LEVELS IN THE LAKES AND RESERVOIRS.
THE MAIN DROUGHT CONCERNS ARE CURRENTLY LONG TERM HYDROLOGIC
IMPACTS ACROSS THE REGION. MANY STOCK TANKS REMAIN EXTREMELY
LOW OR DRY.
RESTRICTIONS...
THE SAN ANTONIO WATER SYSTEM (SAWS) REMAINS IN STAGE 2 WATER
RESTRICTIONS. THE MANDATORY RESTRICTIONS AND THE MORE FREQUENT
RAIN EVENTS HAVE HELPED TO KEEP THE EDWARDS AQUIFER LEVEL RISING
SLOWLY.
THE EDWARDS AQUIFER IS CURRENTLY READING 652.9 FEET AS OF
DECEMBER 22ND. THIS IS 16.2 FEET BELOW THE HISTORICAL MONTHLY
AVERAGE FOR DECEMBER WHICH IS 669.1 FEET. THE AQUIFER LEVEL
IS 17.3 FEET BELOW THE LEVEL OBSERVED ON THIS DATE IN
DECEMBER 2010.
AUSTIN REMAINS IN STAGE 2 WATER RESTRICTIONS...SAN MARCOS
REMAINS IN STAGE 2 WATER RESTRICTIONS AND THE CITY OF
KERRVILLE REMAINS IN STAGE 4 WATER RESTRICTIONS.
NEXT ISSUANCE DATE...
THIS STATEMENT WILL BE UPDATED AROUND JANUARY 6, 2012 OR
SOONER IF NECESSARY.
DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
155 PM CST THU DEC 22 2011
...ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...THE HILL COUNTRY AND RIO
GRANDE PLAINS REMAIN IN MODERATE TO EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT
STATUS...
SYNOPSIS...
DROUGHT CONTINUES TO PLAGUE ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...BUT SMALL
IMPROVEMENTS HAVE BEEN SEEN. DECEMBER HAS SEEN SEVERAL SIGNIFICANT
RAINFALL EVENTS AND RAINFALL AMOUNTS FOR THE MONTH RANGE FROM NEAR
ONE INCH ACROSS THE RIO GRANDE PLAINS TO NEAR FOUR INCHES ACROSS
THE EASTERN SECTIONS OF THE HILL COUNTRY AND ADJACENT PORTIONS OF
SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. THIS RAINFALL HAS BEEN EXTREMELY BENEFICIAL
FOR THE ENTIRE REGION. FOR US TO SEE MORE SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE LONG TERM DROUGHT IMPACTS SUCH AS FILLING LAKES AND
RESERVOIRS...MORE FREQUENT AND WIDESPREAD RAINFALL EVENTS OVER
SEVERAL MONTHS WILL BE NECESSARY.
THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER (CPC) IS FORECASTING THE LA NINA
PATTERN TO CONTINUE ACROSS THE EQUATORIAL PACIFIC THROUGH THE
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE WINTER (DEC...JAN AND FEB). THIS USUALLY
MEANS BELOW AVERAGE RAINFALL AND WARMER THAN AVERAGE TEMPERATURES
DURING THE WINTER ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. THIS DOES NOT MEAN
THAT WE WILL NOT SEE RAINFALL EVENTS AND THAT COLD OUTBREAKS
WILL NOT OCCUR.
THE US DROUGHT MONITOR (USDM) VALID DECEMBER 20TH AND ISSUED ON
DECEMBER 22ND...SHOWED ALL OF THE HILL COUNTRY AND SOUTH CENTRAL
TEXAS IN MODERATE (D1) TO EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT (D4) CONDITIONS.
MOST OF THE STATE IS CURRENTLY IN MODERATE DROUGHT (D1) TO
EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT (D4). SIXTY-NINE PERCENT OF THE STATE IS
CURRENTLY IN EXTREME (D3) TO EXCEPTIONAL (D4) DROUGHT STATUS
AND THIRTY-NINE PERCENT OF THE STATE IS IN EXCEPTIONAL (D4)
DROUGHT STATUS. THESE NUMBERS WILL CONTINUE TO DECREASE AS
ADDITIONAL RAINFALL IS OBSERVED ACROSS THE STATE
FIRE DANGER IMPACTS...
FIRE DANGER IS CURRENTLY LOW DUE TO THE RECENT RAINFALL AND
COOLER TEMPERATURES. AS OF DECEMBER 22ND...BURN BANS WERE
IN EFFECT FOR 15 COUNTIES IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS.
THE DECEMBER 22ND KEETCH-BYRAM DROUGHT INDEX (KBDI) SHOWED
KBDI VALUES RANGED FROM 200 TO 400 ACROSS THE NORTHERN AND
EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE HILL COUNTRY AND ALONG I-35.
THE REMAINDER OF THE AREA HAD KBDI VALUES OF 400 TO 600.
THE TEXAS FOREST SERVICE USES THE KBDI AS A MEANS FOR RELATING
CURRENT AND RECENT WEATHER CONDITIONS TO POTENTIAL OR EXPECTED
FIRE BEHAVIOR.
THE INDEX RANGES FROM ZERO TO 800...
WITH ZERO REPRESENTING A SATURATED SOIL AND 800 A COMPLETELY
DRY SOIL. REMEMBER...THAT FIRE DANGER CAN CHANGE QUICKLY FROM
ONE DAY TO ANOTHER AS WINDS AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY VARY.
CLIMATE SUMMARY...
MOST LOCATIONS HAVE SEEN ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL FOR THE MONTH OF
DECEMBER.
THIS RAINFALL HAS HELPED TO CHIP AWAY AT THE RAINFALL
DEFICITS THAT HAVE GROWN VERY LARGE OVER THE PAST YEAR.
RAINFALL DEFICITS ARE 15 TO 20 INCHES OVER THE EASTERN PORTIONS
OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. LOCATIONS OVER THE RIO GRANDE PLAINS
CURRENTLY HAVE RAINFALL DEFICITS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES.
[SAN ANTONIO IS CURRENTLY AT A DEFICIT OF -14.53 INCHES FOR END OF YEAR 2011. THIS IS 54% OF THE TOTAL RAINFALL THAT WE NORMALLY SEE IN A YEAR.]
THE LONGER RANGE OUTLOOK FOR JANUARY 2012 THROUGH MARCH
2012...CREATED ON DECEMBER 15TH IS CALLING FOR GREATER CHANCES
FOR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND GREATER CHANCES FOR BELOW
NORMAL RAINFALL.
HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK...
DUE TO THE LACK OF SOIL MOISTURE MANY LAKES AND RESERVOIRS HAVE
SEEN LITTLE OR NO INCREASE DESPITE THE ABOVE NORMAL DECEMBER
RAINFALL.
MOST OF THE RIVERS...CREEKS AND STREAMS REMAIN DRY OR
HAVE VERY LOW FLOWS AND THE WATER IS NOT RUNNING OFF TO HELP
REPLENISH THE LEVELS IN THE LAKES AND RESERVOIRS.
THE MAIN DROUGHT CONCERNS ARE CURRENTLY LONG TERM HYDROLOGIC
IMPACTS ACROSS THE REGION. MANY STOCK TANKS REMAIN EXTREMELY
LOW OR DRY.
RESTRICTIONS...
THE SAN ANTONIO WATER SYSTEM (SAWS) REMAINS IN STAGE 2 WATER
RESTRICTIONS. THE MANDATORY RESTRICTIONS AND THE MORE FREQUENT
RAIN EVENTS HAVE HELPED TO KEEP THE EDWARDS AQUIFER LEVEL RISING
SLOWLY.
THE EDWARDS AQUIFER IS CURRENTLY READING 652.9 FEET AS OF
DECEMBER 22ND. THIS IS 16.2 FEET BELOW THE HISTORICAL MONTHLY
AVERAGE FOR DECEMBER WHICH IS 669.1 FEET. THE AQUIFER LEVEL
IS 17.3 FEET BELOW THE LEVEL OBSERVED ON THIS DATE IN
DECEMBER 2010.
AUSTIN REMAINS IN STAGE 2 WATER RESTRICTIONS...SAN MARCOS
REMAINS IN STAGE 2 WATER RESTRICTIONS AND THE CITY OF
KERRVILLE REMAINS IN STAGE 4 WATER RESTRICTIONS.
NEXT ISSUANCE DATE...
THIS STATEMENT WILL BE UPDATED AROUND JANUARY 6, 2012 OR
SOONER IF NECESSARY.
7 Year Old Girl ‘Sacrificed To Ensure Better Harvest’ in India
Posted by Jacob Sloan/Disinfo.com/Jan. 3, 2012
by Times of India
--------------------------------------
The Times of India reports on a horrifying Wicker Man-esque murder in central India:
by Times of India
--------------------------------------
The Times of India reports on a horrifying Wicker Man-esque murder in central India:
Two men have been arrested in for allegedly killing a 7-year-old girl and cutting out her liver in a ritual sacrifice to ensure a better harvest, police said Monday.Read more at Disinfo.com
Lalita Tati disappeared in October and her dismembered remains were found a week later, Rajendra Narayan Das, a senior police officer, told The Associated Press. Tati was walking home after watching television at a neighbor’s house when she was kidnapped.
Frost Bank of Texas to Raise Fees on Customers in 2012. Being Kept Quiet.
Frost "friendly banking" is going to become a lot more unfriendly for it's customers in March of 2012.
All checking accounts will become "Regular Checking Accounts" and include unusual fees that would be free at most other banks. They call it "Relationship Pricing" and I've included the details below...
If you've been with Frost for 0-5 years and keep a balance of $0 - $10,000 then you will incur a $5 monthly maintenance fee. You can purchase Add-On Features for $2 per feature or pay a $0.75 fee per use. I will explain Add-On Features in a little bit.
If you've been with Frost for 6-14 years and keep a balance of $10,000-$25,000 then you will incur a $3 monthly maintenance fee. You can purchase Add-On Features for $1 per feature or pay a $0.75 fee per use.
If you've been with Frost for 15+ years and OR keep a combined $25,000 + average daily deposit balance or $50,000+ combined loan balance then they will be so kind as to wave all fees and, in addition, all Add-On Features are free. I seriously doubt that most of their customers are in this group, which is why they offer the "no fees" status to these customers.
Add-On Features that most customers will have to pay for include:
*Up to a $15 refund of antoher bank's ATM fees.
*Waived fee for traveler's checks, cashier's checks, gift cards and money orders.
*Unlimited online and mobile transfers to other financial institutions.
*Unlimited online and mobile bill pay.
*Mailed paper statements.
This is being kept quiet. Even some Frost employees do not know that these fees are upcoming. Unless customers specifically asks, they will not know about the pending fees unitl 60 days prior to Frost implementing them on their customers.
If you have a Frost account or know of somebody who does, please pass along this information, call or visit them to express your concerns. You can call Frost at 1-800-513-7678.
All checking accounts will become "Regular Checking Accounts" and include unusual fees that would be free at most other banks. They call it "Relationship Pricing" and I've included the details below...
If you've been with Frost for 0-5 years and keep a balance of $0 - $10,000 then you will incur a $5 monthly maintenance fee. You can purchase Add-On Features for $2 per feature or pay a $0.75 fee per use. I will explain Add-On Features in a little bit.
If you've been with Frost for 6-14 years and keep a balance of $10,000-$25,000 then you will incur a $3 monthly maintenance fee. You can purchase Add-On Features for $1 per feature or pay a $0.75 fee per use.
If you've been with Frost for 15+ years and OR keep a combined $25,000 + average daily deposit balance or $50,000+ combined loan balance then they will be so kind as to wave all fees and, in addition, all Add-On Features are free. I seriously doubt that most of their customers are in this group, which is why they offer the "no fees" status to these customers.
Add-On Features that most customers will have to pay for include:
*Up to a $15 refund of antoher bank's ATM fees.
*Waived fee for traveler's checks, cashier's checks, gift cards and money orders.
*Unlimited online and mobile transfers to other financial institutions.
*Unlimited online and mobile bill pay.
*Mailed paper statements.
This is being kept quiet. Even some Frost employees do not know that these fees are upcoming. Unless customers specifically asks, they will not know about the pending fees unitl 60 days prior to Frost implementing them on their customers.
If you have a Frost account or know of somebody who does, please pass along this information, call or visit them to express your concerns. You can call Frost at 1-800-513-7678.
Iowa Caucus Republicans Set to Vote Today: How the Process Works
How The Iowa Caucus Voting Works: A Quick Primer
by Talking Points Memo/Jan 3, 2012
---------------------------------------
With Iowa Republicans set to vote tonight in the state Republican caucuses, thus kicking off the national GOP’s presidential nominating process, some readers might be wondering: How exactly do the caucuses work?
As with most elections, the results will come in over a rolling period of two to three hours — but for a very different reason than we usually see. Normally, polling places close at the same time, and then take different amounts of time to conduct their counts. In this case, caucus meetings all start at the same time, but take different lengths of time to conduct their business.
Thus, the meetings will begin at 7 p.m. CT (8 p.m. ET), and then results will start to come in over the next two hours. Which then brings us to process itself, and how caucus attendees will be voting — and what exactly they are voting for.
Readers might recall that in the 2008 Democratic caucus Iowa between Barack Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton (and in the successive caucuses between Obama and Clinton), supporters of each candidate would stand in crowds, with a 15% viability threshold, and the option for supporters of lesser candidates to switch to a viable second choice.
However, Republican caucuses do not use any such process. Instead, they use the simple process of the secret ballot, with voters casting a ballot for one and only one candidate, and the votes then tabulated from around the state and announced to the media.
Also keep in mind that turnout will probably not be very high. In the 2008 Republican caucuses, only just under 119,000 people voted. As such, tonight’s much-awaited result is likely to only represent a small number of voters, who will likely winnow out some of the weaker candidates, and give a big victory to another — in order to launch a potentially longer nomination process for the other states.
Before the vote, each campaign is able to have an official representative deliver a short speech on behalf of the candidate (usually a local supporter, volunteering for the task).
The votes are in fact all write-in votes — caucus attendees are each given a blank piece of paper, onto which they write the name of the candidate of their choice. Afterwards, the local precinct will count up the votes, with campaign representatives allowed to observe the process. (The state GOP tells TPM that close misspellings will be counted.) The results are then announced to the local caucus, and in turn communicated upward to the state GOP headquarters.
Read more at Talking Points Memo
by Talking Points Memo/Jan 3, 2012
---------------------------------------
With Iowa Republicans set to vote tonight in the state Republican caucuses, thus kicking off the national GOP’s presidential nominating process, some readers might be wondering: How exactly do the caucuses work?
As with most elections, the results will come in over a rolling period of two to three hours — but for a very different reason than we usually see. Normally, polling places close at the same time, and then take different amounts of time to conduct their counts. In this case, caucus meetings all start at the same time, but take different lengths of time to conduct their business.
Thus, the meetings will begin at 7 p.m. CT (8 p.m. ET), and then results will start to come in over the next two hours. Which then brings us to process itself, and how caucus attendees will be voting — and what exactly they are voting for.
Readers might recall that in the 2008 Democratic caucus Iowa between Barack Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton (and in the successive caucuses between Obama and Clinton), supporters of each candidate would stand in crowds, with a 15% viability threshold, and the option for supporters of lesser candidates to switch to a viable second choice.
However, Republican caucuses do not use any such process. Instead, they use the simple process of the secret ballot, with voters casting a ballot for one and only one candidate, and the votes then tabulated from around the state and announced to the media.
Also keep in mind that turnout will probably not be very high. In the 2008 Republican caucuses, only just under 119,000 people voted. As such, tonight’s much-awaited result is likely to only represent a small number of voters, who will likely winnow out some of the weaker candidates, and give a big victory to another — in order to launch a potentially longer nomination process for the other states.
Before the vote, each campaign is able to have an official representative deliver a short speech on behalf of the candidate (usually a local supporter, volunteering for the task).
The votes are in fact all write-in votes — caucus attendees are each given a blank piece of paper, onto which they write the name of the candidate of their choice. Afterwards, the local precinct will count up the votes, with campaign representatives allowed to observe the process. (The state GOP tells TPM that close misspellings will be counted.) The results are then announced to the local caucus, and in turn communicated upward to the state GOP headquarters.
Read more at Talking Points Memo
Oil-Drilling Wastewater Seen Causing Earthquake [Fracking Implicated]
by Associated Press/January 2, 2012
---------------------------
A northeast Ohio well used to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas drilling almost certainly caused a series of 11 minor earthquakes in the Youngstown area since last spring, a seismologist investigating the quakes said Monday.
Research is continuing on seismic activity near the now-shuttered injection well at Youngstown, Ohio, but it might take a year for the wastewater-related rumblings in the earth to dissipate, said John Armbruster of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y.
Brine wastewater dumped into wells comes from drilling operations, including the so-called fracking process to extract gas from underground shale, which has been a source of concern among environmental groups and some property owners. Injection wells have also been suspected of helping to cause earthquakes in Arkansas, Colorado and Oklahoma, Armbruster said.
Thousands of gallons of brine were injected daily into the Youngstown well that opened in 2010, until its owner, Northstar Disposal Services LLC, agreed Friday to stop injecting the waste into the earth as a precaution while authorities assessed any potential links to the quakes.
After the latest and largest quake Saturday, at a 4.0 magnitude, state officials announced their belief that injecting wastewater near a fault line had created enough pressure to cause seismic activity. They said four inactive wells within a five-mile radius of the Youngstown well would remain closed. But they also stressed that injection wells are different from drilling wells that employ fracking.
Read more at NPR
---------------------------
A northeast Ohio well used to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas drilling almost certainly caused a series of 11 minor earthquakes in the Youngstown area since last spring, a seismologist investigating the quakes said Monday.
Research is continuing on seismic activity near the now-shuttered injection well at Youngstown, Ohio, but it might take a year for the wastewater-related rumblings in the earth to dissipate, said John Armbruster of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y.
Brine wastewater dumped into wells comes from drilling operations, including the so-called fracking process to extract gas from underground shale, which has been a source of concern among environmental groups and some property owners. Injection wells have also been suspected of helping to cause earthquakes in Arkansas, Colorado and Oklahoma, Armbruster said.
Thousands of gallons of brine were injected daily into the Youngstown well that opened in 2010, until its owner, Northstar Disposal Services LLC, agreed Friday to stop injecting the waste into the earth as a precaution while authorities assessed any potential links to the quakes.
After the latest and largest quake Saturday, at a 4.0 magnitude, state officials announced their belief that injecting wastewater near a fault line had created enough pressure to cause seismic activity. They said four inactive wells within a five-mile radius of the Youngstown well would remain closed. But they also stressed that injection wells are different from drilling wells that employ fracking.
Read more at NPR
Wikipedia Favorite: Glossary of Climate Change Terms 0-9/A-Z
This article serves as a glossary of climate change terms. It lists terms that are related to global warming.
0-9
0-9
- 100,000-year problem - a discrepancy between the climate response and the forcing from the amount of incoming solar radiation.
[edit] A
- Adaptation - in the climate change context, adaptation implies an adjustment in natural or human systems in response to a changing/changed climate.
- Additionality - in the context of a project funded by carbon offsets, the additionality is the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that is in addition to what would have resulted in the absence of the carbon offset funding.
- Albedo - An index of the "reflectiveness" - a way of quantifying how much radiation is reflected back, as opposed to that absorbed. Low albedo ~0 absorb most of the radiation and high ~1 reflect it.
- Anoxic event - a period when the Earth's oceans are free of oxygen below the surface layer.
- Antarctic oscillation (AAO) - a low-frequency mode of atmospheric variability of the southern hemisphere.
- Anthropogenic - literally, man-made.
- Anthropogenic climate change - climate change with the presumption of human influence, usually warming.
- Anthropogenic global warming (AGW) – global warming with the presumption of human influence.
- Anti-greenhouse effect - the cooling effect an atmosphere has on the ambient temperature of the planet.
- Arctic amplification - The effect of sea ice melting replace high albedo ice with low albedo sea that absorb the radiation from the sun get warmer and melt more ice.
- Arctic oscillation (AO) - the dominant pattern of non-seasonal sea-level pressure (SLP) variations north of 20 degrees N, and it is characterized by SLP anomalies of one sign in the Arctic and anomalies of opposite sign centered about 37-45 degrees N. See also NAO.
- Arctic shrinkage - the marked decrease in Arctic sea ice and the observed melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet in recent years.
- Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) - a hypothesised mode of natural variability occurring in the North Atlantic Ocean and which has its principle expression in the sea surface temperature (SST) field.
- Atmospheric sciences - an umbrella term for the study of the atmosphere, its processes, the effects other systems have on the atmosphere, and the effects of the atmosphere on these other systems.
Court blocks EPA rule in last-minute order
Pandango: A law that has been in the works for 25 years to regulate air pollution by coal-fired power plants is once again blocked by the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Houston. According to Reuters, "Texas challenged the EPA rule because the state was included in the final version without having an opportunity to provide input on its impact in Texas."
---------------------------------
(Reuters) Dec. 30, 2011- Efforts by U.S. regulators to cut air pollution from coal-fired power plants faced a setback on Friday when a federal appeals court issued a last-minute order delaying their January 1 implementation.
The U.S. District Court of Appeals granted a request to stay the Environmental Protection Agency's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) pending further court review.
The EPA finalized the rule in July, setting much stricter limits on sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants in 27 states to protect the health of residents in states downwind from the emissions.
"The underlying rule was the subject of hasty process, poor technical support, unequal application, and substantial threat to jobs, power bills and reliability," said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council.
Power generators said the January 1 implementation date was too soon to allow the design and installation of pollution control equipment to meet the rule, forcing a number of units to shut or to run only part of the time.
"Stays are granted when there is a strong chance of success on the merits and when parties can be injured without preliminary relief," Segal said.
The Cross-State rule is among several EPA initiatives which have divided the power industry between companies, such as Exelon and NextEra that produce power from less polluting sources like nuclear and natural gas, and others, like American Electric Power Co and Southern Co that rely on coal to generate electricity.
Read more at Reuters
---------------------------------
(Reuters) Dec. 30, 2011- Efforts by U.S. regulators to cut air pollution from coal-fired power plants faced a setback on Friday when a federal appeals court issued a last-minute order delaying their January 1 implementation.
The U.S. District Court of Appeals granted a request to stay the Environmental Protection Agency's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) pending further court review.
The EPA finalized the rule in July, setting much stricter limits on sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants in 27 states to protect the health of residents in states downwind from the emissions.
"The underlying rule was the subject of hasty process, poor technical support, unequal application, and substantial threat to jobs, power bills and reliability," said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council.
Power generators said the January 1 implementation date was too soon to allow the design and installation of pollution control equipment to meet the rule, forcing a number of units to shut or to run only part of the time.
"Stays are granted when there is a strong chance of success on the merits and when parties can be injured without preliminary relief," Segal said.
The Cross-State rule is among several EPA initiatives which have divided the power industry between companies, such as Exelon and NextEra that produce power from less polluting sources like nuclear and natural gas, and others, like American Electric Power Co and Southern Co that rely on coal to generate electricity.
Read more at Reuters
Feds Link Gas Fracking to Drinking Water Pollution for the First Time
found on InsideClimate News
crosspost by Abrahm Lustgarten and Nick Kusnetz/ProPublica/Dec 9, 2011
--------------------------
In a first, federal environment officials Thursday scientifically linked underground water pollution with hydraulic fracturing, concluding that contaminants found in central Wyoming were likely caused by the gas drilling process.
The findings by the Environmental Protection Agency come partway through a separate national study by the agency to determine whether fracking presents a risk to water resources.
In the 121-page draft report released Thursday, EPA officials said that the contamination near the town of Pavillion, Wyo., had most likely seeped up from gas wells and contained at least 10 compounds known to be used in frack fluids.
"The presence of synthetic compounds such as glycol ethers ... and the assortment of other organic components is explained as the result of direct mixing of hydraulic fracturing fluids with ground water in the Pavillion gas field," the draft report states. "Alternative explanations were carefully considered."
The agency's findings could be a turning point in the heated national debate about whether contamination from fracking is happening, and are likely to shape how the country regulates and develops natural gas resources in the Marcellus Shale and across the Eastern Appalachian states.
Some of the findings in the report also directly contradict longstanding arguments by the drilling industry for why the fracking process is safe: that hydrologic pressure would naturally force fluids down, not up; that deep geologic layers provide a watertight barrier preventing the movement of chemicals towards the surface; and that the problems with the cement and steel barriers around gas wells aren’t connected to fracking.
Environmental advocates greeted today’s report with a sense of vindication and seized the opportunity to argue for stronger federal regulation of fracking.
Read more at InsideClimate News
crosspost by Abrahm Lustgarten and Nick Kusnetz/ProPublica/Dec 9, 2011
--------------------------
In a first, federal environment officials Thursday scientifically linked underground water pollution with hydraulic fracturing, concluding that contaminants found in central Wyoming were likely caused by the gas drilling process.
The findings by the Environmental Protection Agency come partway through a separate national study by the agency to determine whether fracking presents a risk to water resources.
In the 121-page draft report released Thursday, EPA officials said that the contamination near the town of Pavillion, Wyo., had most likely seeped up from gas wells and contained at least 10 compounds known to be used in frack fluids.
"The presence of synthetic compounds such as glycol ethers ... and the assortment of other organic components is explained as the result of direct mixing of hydraulic fracturing fluids with ground water in the Pavillion gas field," the draft report states. "Alternative explanations were carefully considered."
The agency's findings could be a turning point in the heated national debate about whether contamination from fracking is happening, and are likely to shape how the country regulates and develops natural gas resources in the Marcellus Shale and across the Eastern Appalachian states.
Some of the findings in the report also directly contradict longstanding arguments by the drilling industry for why the fracking process is safe: that hydrologic pressure would naturally force fluids down, not up; that deep geologic layers provide a watertight barrier preventing the movement of chemicals towards the surface; and that the problems with the cement and steel barriers around gas wells aren’t connected to fracking.
Environmental advocates greeted today’s report with a sense of vindication and seized the opportunity to argue for stronger federal regulation of fracking.
Read more at InsideClimate News
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