February 14, 2005
By conti2005 

The Revolt and the Revolting 
In God I Trust, Everyone Else I Monitor This is proof positive ...

Shiites Win (Americans grill top Shia Leaders) (click here)
By Hamza Hendawi

Baghdad, Iraq (AP) - With a Shiite coalition (click here) set to take power in Iraq, American officials have begun grilling top Iraqi Shiite politicians to try to gauge the extent of their relationship with neighboring Iran, a predominantly Shiite nation ruled by its clergy....

...In recent talks, U.S. diplomats have bluntly asked the leaders how a Shiite-dominated government would react if Iran came under attack by an outside power because of its suspected nuclear weapons program, according to a high-ranking member of one Shiite party.

The Iraqi Shiite leaders have reassured the Americans that they are mostly concerned about how any such attack would affect Iraq, and they have stressed their independence from Iran, said the Shiite party official, who is familiar with the U.S. talks but would speak only on condition of anonymity....

...The U.S. government hasn't openly threatened military action against Iran, but believes the country is using its nuclear energy program to conceal an effort to manufacture nuclear weapons. For the time being, the Bush administration is relying on France, Britain and Germany to negotiate with Iranian leaders to curb any such atomic bomb efforts, which Tehran denies....

Climate change and the Kyoto Protocol: A timeline

Climate Change. A photo from The New York Times.



Here is a timeline on the science of climate change and the UN's Kyoto Protocol on global warming, which takes effect on Wednesday:

1827: French scientist Jean-Baptiste Fourier is first to consider the "greenhouse effect," the phenomenon whereby atmospheric gases trap solar energy, stoking Earth's surface temperature, rather than let the heat radiate back into space.

1896: Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius blames the burning of fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) for producing carbon dioxide (CO2).

1958: US scientist Charles David Keeling detects yearly rise in atmospheric CO2 as use of fossil fuels surges in post-World War II boom.

1970s: European and US scientists identify other gases (chlorofluorocarbons, methane, nitrous oxide) as greenhouse gases.

1979: Landmark report by US National Academy of Sciences pins greenhouse effect to climate change and warns "a wait-and-see policy may mean waiting until it is too late".

1988: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is set up under UN auspices. Milestone in forging scientific consensus on how to measure and analyse global warming.
1992: UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), popularly called the Rio Summit, calls for voluntary cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions.

1997: UNFCCC countries sign the Kyoto Protocol, which requires industrialised countries to reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent by a target of 2008-2012 compared with their 1990 levels. The protocol is a "framework". Fleshing out its complex and legally-binding rulebook is left to further negotiations.

2001 (Jan-March): The IPCC issues three reports, declaring the evidence for global warming to be incontrovertible although the consequences for the climate are difficult to pin down.
(March): United States, the biggest single CO2 polluter, abandons Kyoto. President George W. Bush questions the scientific evidence for global warming and says Kyoto is unfair and too expensive for the US economy.

(November): Kyoto signatories, minus the US, agree on the treaty's rulebook.

2002 onwards: Flurry of scientific studies fuels concern that global warming is accelerating, with dangerous and irreversible effects on the climate. Poor tropical countries will be affected most.

(April); US pressure forces out IPCC chairman Robert Watson, a leading scientist warning about climate change.

2003 (December): Insurance giant Munich Re puts the cost of climate-related disasters in 2003 at 60 billion dollars.

2004 (November): After several years' hesitation, Russia ratifies Kyoto. Its approval is needed to turn the draft pact into an international treaty under the arithmetic of its ratification clauses.

(December) The International Energy Agency (IEA) says China is now the world's second-biggest carbon polluter, due to surging use of fossil fuels to power its fast-growing economy.

2005 (February): Major conference of scientists in Exeter, England, determines that the climate is already being affected by global warming and that the potential consequences are worse than was previously thought.

February 16: Kyoto Protocol takes effect.

(November): Scheduled start of talks to negotiate the follow-on to Kyoto after 2012.

Rafik Hariri and spouse Nazek

Rafik Hariri was a member of the generation of success in the Middle East. (Click on for his speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.)

Rafik Hariri did not come to Lebanese leadership by family reputation or privelege. Quite the contrary is was a poor Sunni Muslim from Sidon. As a young man he became a teacher. He eventually found his way into the construction business as a laborer. He learned the trade in Saudi Arabia eventually putting together his own company called, Saudi Oger. He eventually became the private contractor to Prince Fahd. It was this opportunity that allowed him to return to Lebanon now ready to 'literally' rebuild Beirut.

In 2000, he was believed to be worth approximately $2 billion including a vast media interest.

Rafik Hariri took an interest in Lebanese politics and became a frequent voice for the people of Lebanon criticizing the government for the poor status of the people there.

I will let Rafik Hariri speak for himself below. But, before I do that I would like to propose an idea. Rafik Hariri was a prominant Sunni Muslim. I believe this attack may have been engineered by those who would lead the area into believing this was an act of the Shia Crescent. I don't believe that is true. A Shia Cresent has never before manifested in violence. I personally would not be surprised if this was engineered by those that are ambitious in The West who want suspicions to fall on the new Shi'ite government leadership in Iraq. I beseach the world to be careful how they blame those responsible. These are militants or henchmen, but, either way it should not lead to direct 'indictment' of the new Iraqi government. The Grand Ayatollah al Sistani's coalition leadership had attempted murder attempts on them and in no way do I believe that coalition is capable of this level of violence. The Grand Ayatollah al Sistani has always been and continues to be a man of peace.

Thank you.

My deepest sympathies to the people of Lebanon.

His Excellency Rafik HaririPrime Minister of Lebanon

"On the Reconstruction of Lebanon: Achievements and Impediments"

Lebanon is a country deeply rooted in the principles of democracy, human rights, and free enterprise. The Constitution of Lebanon guarantees democratic and economic liberty for the Lebanese people. We are committed to national unity and an effective government, combining security and prosperity. The Lebanese people are living testimony to the fact that there can be no military solution to conflicts. Today, after the events of last April, this testimony has become obvious to all concerned. The solution can only be political, and one that the international community can support - and later on, reconstruction and modernization efforts. The Lebanese are committed to the peace process based on the principles of the Madrid Conference. We have every interest that a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace takes hold in the Middle East. Seventeen years of war and turmoil have had a major impact on the Lebanese economy and society. The impact on social conditions and human resources was equally grave. However, Lebanon throughout her history, and even during her darkest days, never wavered from her long tradition of a democratic political system and open exchange and trade regime.

Rafik Hariri is dead. 

This is the Mediterranean Sea as viewed from Italy. One cannot actually view this as a calm sea except there are no white caps. That wave in the foreground is a breaking wave. The Mediterranean Sea is interesting, especially at the Straits of Gilbralter. There is a huge 'ocean fall' (not water fall) that leaves the sea to mix with ocean water. The ocean fall at the straits is significant in that the velocity could literally (if tapped for energy) produce large amounts of electric (hydroelectric) power that would probably power every nation of Europe or North Africa or those of the Mediterranean Sea. That ocean fall at the straits is very, very interesting to me, as it leaves the straits and tumbles right to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean without being disrupted by ocean currents coming south along the continental margin.

February 14th seems turbulent through history.

February 14, ...

278 AD, Saint Valentine is beheaded, contributing in part to the origins of the Valentine's Day holiday.

1349, 2,000 Jews burned at the stake in Strasbourg France

1670, Roman Catholic emperor Leopold I chases Jews out of Vienna

1794. 1st US textile machinery patent granted, to James Davenport, Philadelphia PA

1817, Frederick Douglass African-American abolitionist/lecturer/editor

1838 Margaret Knight inventor, "the female Thomas Edison"

1847 Anna Howard Shaw US, suffragette

1864 Israel Zangwill England, Jewish author/Zionist (Children of Ghetto)

1872 1st state bird refuge authorized (Lake Merritt CA)

1883 1st state labor union legislation; New Jersey legalizes unions

1889, born, Philip A. Randolph, American labor leader, born in Crescent City, Florida. During his youth Randolph worked as a section hand on a railroad. Upon completion of high school, he moved to New York City and attended the College of the City of New York. During his student days, he organized a small union of elevator operators. Concerned over the treatment of black employees on railroads, Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925. It was the first union of predominantly black workers to be granted a charter by the American Federation of Labor. After more than ten years of struggle, his union won recognition as bargaining agent with the Pullman Company.

1894, born, Jack Benny, American comedian, who hosted long-running shows on both radio and television. He was born Benjamin Kubelsky in Chicago. Benny began a successful career in vaudeville at the age of 17 as a violinist, but he later became a monologuist, having discovered that he could convulse an audience with his deadpan stare and elegant style. His first film was Hollywood Review of 1929; other films in which he appeared are To Be or Not to Be (1942) and A Guide for the Married Man (1968). It was as a radio performer, however, that Benny achieved his greatest fame. His enormously popular program, “The Jack Benny Show,” was introduced in 1932; it was heard every week for 23 years thereafter. He first successfully transferred his well-loved characterization of the acerbic penny pincher to television in 1950. For the next 24 years he appeared frequently. “The Jack Benny Show” was seen on television from 1955 to 1964. Benny also appeared in theaters and nightclubs in the late 1950s and '60s, and after 1956 he appeared frequently as a comic violin soloist with major American symphony orchestras in fund-raising concerts.

1894 Venus is both a morning star & evening star

1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor was established. (It was divided into separate departments of Commerce and Labor in 1913.) AND IN 2000, Secretary Evans destroyed it.

1920, the League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago; its first president was Maude Wood Park.

1921 Hugh Downs Akron OH, TV journalist (20/20, Concentration)

1925 State of emergency crisis in Bayern ends, NSDAP re-allowed

1929, disguised as Chicago police officers and detectives, Al Capone's mobsters take out six of George "Bugs" Moran's gang in a warehouse. The infamous event will become known as the Saint Valentine's Day massacre.

1936, more than 800 delegates representing over 500 organizations elect Asa Philip Randolph, of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, as president of the newly formed National Negro Congress in Chicago.

1944, Anti-Japanese revolt on Java

1945, Perú, Paraguay, Chile & Ecuador join the United Nations

1945, 8th Air Force bombs Dresden

1949, 1st session of Knesset opens in Jerusalem

1960, Beverly Hanson wins LPGA St Petersburg Golf Open

1960, Marshal Ayub Khan elected President of Pakistan

1961, Element 103, Lawrencium, 1st produced in Berkeley CA

1961, Louise Suggs wins LPGA Royal Poinciana Golf Invitational

1962, 1st lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducts White House tour on TV

1963 US launches communications satellite Syncom 1

1964, Bill Bradley, playing for the Ivy League Princeton basketball team, scores a record high 58 points.

1966 Wilt Chamberlain breaks NBA career scoring record at 20,884 points

1967 Aretha Franklin records "Respect"

1967 Latin American nuclear free zone proposal drawn up

1968 Pennsylvania Railroad/NYC Central merge into Pennsylvania Central

1975, Jennifer Michelle Roberts Greensboro NC, Miss North Carolina-America (1996)

1979, Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists and killed in a shootout between his abductors and police. GEE WHIZ. THIS kinda stuff has been going on a long time. Does anyone believe this is going to stop just because Bush is in Iraq? NO !

1984, 6-year-old Stormie Jones became the world's first heart-liver transplant recipient at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (she lived until November 1990).

1984 Singer Elton John marries Renate Blauel in Sydney Australia

1985 Hostage CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is released in Beirut

1985, Cable News Network reporter Jeremy Levin, who was being held hostage by extremists in Lebanon, was freed.
The Associated Press

1988, Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Sarasota Golf Classic

1989, Robin Givens is granted a divorce from Mike Tyson in Dominican Republic

1989, Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million damages for Bhopol disaster

1989, African National Congress (ANC) opens office in Amsterdam

1989, Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers $1 million-$3 million bounty on Salman Rushdie's death due to his novel, "Satanic Verses"

1989, World's 1st satellite Skyphone opens

1990, Space probe Voyager 1 takes photograph of entire solar system

1991, Air raid shelter at Baghdad bombed killing 300

1992, Cease fire in Somalia begins

1993, Fire in Linxi department store in Tangshan China, kills 79

1994, Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia (51) weds Deborah Koons

Missing in Action

1966 HILLS JOHN R. SOUTH BEND IN

1967 MARVIN ROBERT C. DEXTER MI

1968 DUNN JOSEPH P. HULL MA

1968 ELLIOT ROBERT M. SPRINGFIELD MA SEVERAL OBS INDICATE CAPTURE REMAINS RETURNED 12/27/99

1968 MC MAHAN ROBERT C. JACKSONVILLE IL REMAINS RETURNED 9/90 11/28/90 I.D.

1969 CLARK STANLEY S. MODESTO CA

1969 STEVENS LARRY J. CANOGA PARK CA

Some time ago after the manifestation of the vortexes on October 4, 2002 a resident 'heat conduit' existed between Africa and the mouth of the Amazon River. You can see it here on February 6, 2005. There is also a lot of other 'stuff' going on over Madagascar but I won't go into that here. The clouds reaching across the Atlantic between Africa and South America would indicate an exchange of air at the equator with air masses moving from Africa to South America.  

The next day on February 7th there is an obvious movement of clouds from west Africa eastward toward Madagascar. Along with that movemnt is the mostly missing 'heat conduit' over the Atlantic Ocean. The point here is that a massive change in air circulation occurred 'against' the normal geophysics of Earth. It was a clear indication to me Earth was losing the cooling battle in a way that was leading to greater Climate Change rather than a return to normalcy.

This is today's satellite. It is a very big reach to be happy about what I am seeing but regardless the increased cloud cover and turbulence there is still signs there is a slowing to the dynamics that caused the snows of Australia. The 'heat conduit' is back. It is more grossly apparent in it's assent to teh Northern latitudes and it easily discerned it is traveling directly to the North Polar Cap. But if one considers this along with the diminished heat movement from the equator to the South Polar Ice Continent and the minimally manifesting Jet Stream over the resident North Atlantic Vortex I believe I am seeing at very least an oscillation minimum but more a 'settling' of dynamics that remotely might indicate we are starting to do this thing right.

WAR IS OUT OF THE QUESTION !!

It would behoove everyone to behave themselves and keep breathing !