The North Pole Vortex

This satellite is a bit comical as The Weather Channel has added The North Pole, literally. But the discussions are the same of this OCEAN of ice whereas Antarctica is a CONTINENT of ice .

Example:

Currently there is a central vortex over the North Pole with peripheral circulation to the Equator. There are a minimum of five, possibly six on closer examination, peripheral 'fans' that reach to the equatorial areas from the center of this vortex. Closer look really is more confirming of six 'fans' or 'Heat Transfer Systems.'

The locations of the Heat Transfer Systems are at 12 o'clock, 2, 3:30, 4:30, 8 and 9 with one possibly at 10:30. That would actually make seven with 10:30 very questionably reaching all the way to the cap.

The Arctic Ocean Vortex dominates the weather patterns of this hemisphere of Earth. In the Northern Hemisphere it now causes the Jet Stream to be 'overrun' by the velocity and dynamics of the vortex winds. And the 'Trade Winds' have ceased. As a result, if this 'Climate Change Pattern' continues there will be no hurricanes moving into the East Coast of North America from Africa next season (2005) but only from the Gulf of Mexico. Then they come off the Gulf Coast the hurricanes will bemanifest quickly. The storms will high velocity and very little warning to the people living along the Gulf Coasts.

The above satellites are from today January 13, 2005 as noted at the bottom of the picture. It is noted the North Polar Cap (The Arctic Ocean) and extending from it the peripheral circulation of the vortex system. In this and the following

The weather in Los Angeles, California (Crystal Wind Chime):

49 °F / 9 °C Clear

Humidity:
59%

Dew Point:
35 °F / 2 °C

Wind:
Calm

Pressure:
30.23 in / 1024 hPa

Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers

UV:
0 out of 12

Clouds (AGL):
Clear -


The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Ice Chime) is:

12 °F / -11 °C Overcast

Windchill:
6 °F / -14 °C

Humidity:
85%

Dew Point:
9 °F / -13 °C

Wind:
4 mph / 6 km/h from the NNW

Pressure:
30.52 in / 1033 hPa

Visibility:
5.0 miles / 8.0 kilometers

UV:
0 out of 12

Clouds (AGL):
Overcast 3200 ft /

end

Where the Wrath of Earth is felt out of Neglect 

Where Civilization Never Thought It Would Happen 

Where Civilization is Unprepared 

Where Civilization Ends 

California's Land Avalanches from the Los Angeles Times today.

Some Concerns:

I think California needs to have geologists assess the stability of the rest of that hillside.

Also the torrential rains have brought high velocity rivers and streams. It appears the velocity of these rivers are a profound challenge to well trained Rescuers. Those techniques need to be evaluated and bolstered with better equipment or changed to accomodate these events. It is my estimation these issues will not go away but only get worse.

Morning Papers - It's Origins

Morning Papers

Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do."

The Los Angeles Times

SOUTHLAND'S RECORD RAINFALL
Skies Clear, but Storms' Toll MountsThe number of dead hits 15 -- six of them at La Conchita, where a dozen are still missing. Damage in L.A. County is pegged at nearly $30 million

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rain12jan12,0,3764222.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Bush's New Nominee Is a Surprise
Michael Chertoff would inherit a massive and relatively new agency struggling with multiple missions, high turnover and sagging morale.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-chertoff12jan12,0,5700793.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Rain Overwhelms Sewage System
Massive amounts of runoff cause wastewater to overflow from pipes and treatment plants, fouling Southland waterways and beaches.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sewage12jan12,0,5898174.story?coll=la-home-local

Social Security Debate Gets Personal
In talk-show-style chats and phone interviews, Bush and Democratic foes seek to win public support in the battle over a restructuring.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-social12jan12,0,7815231.story?coll=la-home-nation

THE MAJORITY OF the world's population does subsist on approximately $1.00 per day as this editorial points out. That has been true for a very long time. As a matter of fact this issue has been embraced by The Women's Movement in the USA for decades.

The Silent Disaster of World Poverty
By John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge
John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge work for the Economist. They are the co-authors of "The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America" (Penguin, 2004).
January 10, 2005
Could 2005 be the year in which mankind finally conquers extreme poverty?

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-micklethwait10jan10,0,3263485,print.story

The Jakarta Post

Majority of tsunami victims fishermen
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (Antara): Of the more than 105,000 people who perished in the Dec. 26 disaster in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, at least 90,500 are believed to have been fishermen and their families.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20050112154544&irec=0

Paris Club meets to discuss moratorium on debt of tsunami-hit nations
PARIS (AP): Officials from the world's top creditor nations met in Paris on Wednesday to discuss a proposed moratorium on debt repayments by countries hit by the Asian tsunami.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20050112125032&irec=4

The Wisdom of the United Nations shown through again as they guide the Relief Effort to command security for The Effort as well as the survivors.

UN says new Aceh rules not hampering aid work
UNITED NATIONS (AFP): A senior UN official on Tuesday downplayed new restrictions on tsunami relief workers imposed by the Indonesian military in the restive province of Aceh.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20050112125032&irec=5

Foreign aid workers must register: TNI
The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Jakarta
The government on Tuesday slapped tough restrictions on foreign aid workers currently in Aceh, citing security fears, and creating yet another setback in relief operations.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20050112.@01&irec=0

Survivors shaken by trauma
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
Since his arrival early last week at a social agency-sponsored shelter in Medan, North Sumatra, Sandi Chandra Putra, 15, a native of Banda Aceh, has frequently burst into tears or screamed for no particular reason.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20050112.@02&irec=1

Michael Moore Today

Appropriately Celebrating his Winning Film. First Cannes and now and not surprising The People's Choice.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Inauguration to Get Unprecedented Security
By Katherine Pfleger Shrader / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Security for President Bush's inauguration — the first swearing-in since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — will be unprecedented with some 6,000 law enforcement personnel, canine bomb teams and close monitoring of transportation.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=921

Williams' Conduct Raises Questions About Whole Cadre of Rightwing Pundits

Armstrong Williams: I Am Not Alone

By David Corn / The Nation
It was a rare moment of talk-show unanimity. On the set of the Fox News Washington bureau, host Tony Snow, fellow guest Linda Chavez (a conservative pundit), and I were slamming Armstrong Williams, a rightwing columnist and talk show host. USA Today had reported--as you probably know--that Williams had been paid nearly a quarter of a million dollars by the Bush administration to promote its No Child Left Behind education bill. And Williams, who supported the legislation in his column and as a cable news talking head, had not bothered to inform his audiences or the folks who book him at CNN, Fox, and MSNBC that he was a shill on the Bush payroll.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=918

Prime minister says it may not be safe to vote in some areas of Iraq
By Hamza Hendawi / Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Prime Minister Ayad Allawi publicly acknowledged for the first time Tuesday that parts of Iraq probably won't be safe enough for people to vote in the Jan. 30 elections, and he announced plans to boost the size of the country's army from 100,000 to 150,000 men by year's end.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=916

Schumer sours on nominee after answers
By Ken Fireman / Newsday
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Charles Schumer is now uncertain whether he can vote to confirm Alberto Gonzales as attorney general because of what Schumer calls Gonzales' "lack of candor" at his confirmation hearing.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=915

Ukraine Announces Pullout of Iraq Force; Statement Follows Blast That Killed 8
By Jackie Spinner / Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Jan. 10 -- The government of Ukraine, acting a day after an explosion killed eight of its soldiers in Iraq, announced Monday that it would withdraw its 1,650-member force by the middle of 2005.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=914

The Daily (Sri Lanka)

Germany will help rebuild Lanka: Fischer
Berlin is ready to promote tourism and push for debt relief and free access to European markets to help tsunami-battered Sri Lanka get back on its feet, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said yesterday.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/12/new01.html

US marines arrive on rescue mission
by Chandani Jayatillake
The Southern coastline near Koggala Airbase was a hive of activity on Monday evening as a group of US marines were bringing ashore a range of heavy engineering equipment from a US ship.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/12/new02.html

Uncle seeks niece aged four lost in tsunami, offers over Rs. 100,000 cash reward
A loving uncle is desperately searching for his four-year-old niece Sachini Vithana Seneviratne missing since the December 26 tsunami disaster.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/12/new03.html

Shell donates Rs. 50 m for disaster relief
The Shell Group has pledged Rs. 50 million disaster relief in Sri Lanka.
Country Chairman Hassan Madani who called on President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga on Monday handed over a cheque for Rs. 25 million as a preliminary donation for immediate relief which will be credited to the President's Disaster Relief Fund, the Office of the President said in a release yesterday.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/12/new12.html

Good attendance in schools not hit by tsunami
The first term for the new year commenced on Monday with a very good attendance in schools not affected by the tsunami, the Education Ministry said in a release yesterday.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/12/new11.html

Pakistan Naval ships arrive here with relief
Two Pakistan Naval ships carrying relief goods containing tents, medicines, rice and other dry ration arrived in Colombo, a Pakistan High Commission release said yesterday.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/12/new14.html

Clinton's visit New York Buddhist Viharaya
by Manjula Fernando

Former US President Bill Clinton and Wife Hillary at the New York Buddhist Temple where they appealed Americans to contribute tsunami victims of Sri Lanka to rebuild their lives. Chief Incumbent Ven.Kuranegoda Piyatissa Maha Nayaka thera is also in the picture.
Former American President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton visited the New York Buddhist Viharaya recently where a fund raising campaign has been initiated to look after the tsunami children of Sri Lanka.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/12/new16.html

Canadian response to Sri Lanka tsunami crisis
The Canadian High Commission today announced a number of measures to assist Sri Lanka following the tragic tsunami which struck South and South-East Asia on December 26, 2004.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/12/new15.html

Ramsay medicare for tsunami relief
by Panduka Senanayake
Australia's largest owner and operator of private hospitals, Ramsay Health Care has contributed to the tsunami relief effort by coordinating the donation of over A $ 100,000 in cash and medical supplies to Sri Lanka.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/12/new13.html

More Tsunami aid from Saudi Arabia
In a series of International efforts to assist affected people in countries hit by tidal waves after an earthquake shook the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has assigned US$ 30 million until now, to assist those countries and accordingly four aircraft have arrived carrying 300 tons of various relief supplies to Sri Lanka and two aircraft with 150 tons to the Maldives in addition to a large quantity of relief items delivered to other affected countries.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/12/new18.html

Over 600 children in South destitute in Tsunami aftermath - Survey
by Nadira Gunatilleke
Over 600 children in the Southern Province are destitute. They have lost one or both parents or dependents to the tsunami tidal wave according to a report based on a survey carried out in Welfare Centres of the South.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/01/12/new22.html

continued...

Morning Papers - continued...

California Mudslide Blouder


The Washington Post

'I Had to Run for My Life'
6 Bodies Found in California Town Hit by Mudslide; 13 People Missing

By Amy Argetsinger
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 12, 2005; Page A01
LA CONCHITA, Calif., Jan. 11 -- Brie Brazelton was dawdling at the neighborhood store near her home Monday when she heard the noise. It was a rumbling, "kind of like an earthquake," she said later.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2157-2005Jan11.html

Asbestos Talks Stalled on Fund, Mediator Says
Companies, Unions Differ Widely on Dollar Amount
By Albert B. Crenshaw
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 12, 2005; Page E04
Defendant companies and their insurers remain unable to agree with unions and trial lawyers on a funding level and a few other key issues in a proposed asbestos trust fund, so Congress may have to decide itself, a senior federal judge overseeing negotiations said yesterday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2359-2005Jan11.html

Search for Banned Arms In Iraq Ended Last Month
Critical September Report to Be Final Word
By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 12, 2005; Page A01
The hunt for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in Iraq has come to an end nearly two years after President Bush ordered U.S. troops to disarm Saddam Hussein. The top CIA weapons hunter is home, and analysts are back at Langley.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2129-2005Jan11.html

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. McGeevey had an Israeli as a security chief and we all know how that turned out."

Nominee Criticized Over Post-9/11 Policies
By John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 12, 2005; Page A10
Michael Chertoff, President Bush's nominee to be secretary of homeland security, is widely hailed for his intellectual heft and tireless work habits as a federal prosecutor and judge. But he also faces criticism as an architect of some of the most controversial elements of the Bush administration's domestic war on terrorism that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2102-2005Jan11.html

(MAS) Muslim American Society

Bush Nominates Federal Judge to Head Homeland Security
Date Posted: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

President Bush nominated U.S. Appeals Court Judge Michael Chertoff to head the Department of Homeland Security.
WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (MASNET & News Agencies) - President George W. Bush nominated U.S. Appeals Court Judge Michael Chertoff to head the huge agency tasked with preventing terrorist strikes on the United States.

http://www.masnet.org/news.asp?id=2059

BWXT gets $25 million for managing nuclear weapons plant

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. The Department of Energy has given a top rating and nearly 25 (M) million dollars in performance fees for 2004 to its managing contractor at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant.
B-W-X-T, a partnership of B-W-X Technologies and Bechtel National, was graded "excellent" in its management of the Y-12 complex.
The contractor was cited for improvements in security, safety, project management and environmental activities.
The plant produces parts for every warhead in the country's nuclear arsenal and is the nation's major storehouse for bomb-grade uranium.

http://www.whnt19.com/Global/story.asp?S=2770166

Halliburton Pays Dearly but Finally Escapes Cheney's Asbestos Mess
By Allan Sloan
Tuesday, January 11, 2005; Page E03
It's time for yet another Halliburton story -- but not the one you may be expecting. This isn't about the endlessly scrutinized Iraq contracting business of the big energy services company that Dick Cheney ran before he became vice president. And it's not about Halliburton's profit-boosting accounting change during Cheney's regime, or the scandals and problems currently affecting some of the firm's far-flung projects.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64535-2005Jan10.html

Privatizing the Public Good
01/11/2005 @ 11:39am
E-mail this Post
Honest economists will tell you that the financial solvency of Social Security can be guaranteed well into the next century. So why does the President insist on adding private retirement accounts into the reform mix? Because their purpose is not to save Social Security but, like a Trojan horse, to destroy it. Personal accounts are part and parcel of Bush's domestic policy agenda: an assault on the very concept of The Public--its goods, services and trust.

http://www.thenation.com/edcut/index.mhtml?bid=7&pid=2118

Washington, DC, preparing for Pres. Bush's 2nd inauguration

(Washington, DC-NBC) Jan. 11, 2005 - Inauguration day for President Bush is January 20th, and workers are busy at the Capitol and along the parade route getting everything ready.
This will be the first presidential inauguration since the attacks on September 11th, 2001, and security will be the tightest in history.

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2793773

Qatar starts work on new airport

In January 2004, Qatar signed a contract with US engineering giant Bechtel for the first of three stages for the New Doha International Airport which would be completed by late 2008 at a cost of $2.5bn.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=101152&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=27298

Businesses to take over environmental cleanup in Piketon

Bechtel-Jacobs spokesman Jack Williams said his company expects to begin working on transition immediately, since its contract expires March 31.

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/news/stories/20050111/localnews/1853187.html

White House distributes Bush op-ed to newspapers around the world to showcase U-S tsunami relief effort

WHITE HOUSE President Bush is trumpeting U-S efforts to help South Asia tsunami victims.
Bush has written a newspaper opinion piece that has been offered worldwide. So far it has been published in Asia and Europe.

http://www.kwqc.com/Global/story.asp?S=2797174

Bush taps Chertoff for homeland security post
By Philip Dine
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(KRT) - WASHINGTON - The face and even the functioning of the Homeland Security Department are likely to change as a result of President George W. Bush's choice Tuesday of Michael Chertoff to replace outgoing Secretary Tom Ridge.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10621057.htm?1c

Bush names Allan Hubbard as top economic advisor:
[World News]: Washington, Jan 11 : US President George W Bush has named businessman and political fund-raiser Allan B Hubbard as his top economic advisor.

http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=58919

What Would Martin Luther King Have Made of Condoleezza Rice?
BY Jonathan Tilove
c.2005 Newhouse News Service
In September 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the eulogy for three of the four girls killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. What King could not know was that, within earshot of the blast, just blocks away at her father's church, was another little black girl, a friend of the youngest victim, who 42 years later would be on the verge of becoming America's foremost diplomat.

http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/tilove011105.html

I don't want to hear how Iran is an Axis of Evil country when USA cronies of Bush are doing business with them.

Halliburton wins Iran gas contract
TEHRAN: Iran said that US oil giant Halliburton had won a major contract to drill for gas, despite US sanctions against foreign investment in the country's energy industry.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=101026&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=27297

Cheney's Focus May Change in 2nd Term
EILEEN PUTMAN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Like the man behind the curtain working the levers in the "Wizard of Oz," Dick Cheney has been called the real power in President Bush's administration, perhaps the strongest vice president in U.S. history.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10607671.htm

Tasers pose potentially lethal danger to heart, doctor warns
By SABIN RUSSELL
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
When 50,000 volts of electricity from a Taser surge across the body, it can instantly incapacitate a person -- more safely than a blow from a police baton or a blast of pepper spray, its manufacturer contends.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/207168_tasers10.html

CNN

10 perish in Australian wildfires
By Journalist Emily Smith for CNN
Tuesday, January 11, 2005 Posted: 7:51 PM EST (0051 GMT)

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Ten people have been killed and more are feared dead after wildfires swept through the state of South Australia.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/01/11/australia.wildfires/

Bloomberg

Australia's Deadliest Wildfires in 21 Years Kill Eight People
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Eight people are dead and seven more missing in Australia's deadliest wildfires in 21 years.
The fires, fanned by 41 degree Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) temperatures and 70-kilometer (44-mile) an hour winds, yesterday swept across the Eyre Peninsula, about 250 kilometers west of the state capital Adelaide, the Australian newspaper said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000081&sid=asDGzGiltFFk&refer=australia

The Australian

Southeast swelters
Brendan O'Keefe and Andrew Fraser
January 12, 2005
HOT northerly winds that brought fires, death and destruction to South Australia yesterday were felt across the southeast of the country.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11917211%5E2702,00.html

Firestorm destroys farm towns
Tom Richardson and Michelle Wiese Bockmann
January 12, 2005
AT least eight people were killed, dozens injured and seven reported missing as bushfires swept through South Australia yesterday, destroying properties and farmland across a large part of the lower Eyre Peninsula.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11917327%255E601,00.html

Three driven to their death under a blanket of smoke
Richard Sproull, Poonindie
January 12, 2005
AMID the embers and spot fires lining the Port Lincoln highway was a sign of the fire's furious path.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11917329%5E2702,00.html

'Save me' cry as inferno rips peninsula apart
Tom Richardson and Sophie Tedmanson
January 12, 2005
PORT Lincoln resident Felicity Johncock was caught in the middle of the Eyre Peninsula inferno and was one of the lucky ones to survive.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11917217%5E2702,00.html

Shark tees up Bush for charity
January 12, 2005
FORMER US presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton hope to join Australian golfer Greg Norman for a tsunami charity golf day in the US.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11923649%255E1702,00.html

'Grave concerns' figure drops to 18
January 12, 2005
THE number of Australians feared missing in the wake of the Asian tsunami has almost halved, with the Government saying grave fears are now held for 18 not 31 people.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11923516%255E1702,00.html

Storm-tossed trawler crew safe
From correspondents in London
January 12, 2005

A SPANISH fishing boat that went missing in a brutal storm off northwest Scotland has been located, and its crew of 19 appears to be safe.
The Cibeles, which sent out a satellite distress signal before midnight yesterday (1100 AEDT), was found by a rescue plane drifting in rough seas without power, Michael Mulford of RAF Kinross air base told BBC radio.

Three people were killed on land when a powerful storm packing gusts as high as 215km/h slammed Scotland, the north of England and Northern Ireland.

Thai jailed for fake tsunami claim
From correspondents in Bangkok
January 12, 2005
A THAI man has been sentenced to three months in jail for falsely claiming that he had suffered damages during the tsunami in a bid to win Government assistance.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11922103%255E1702,00.html

Pakistan sends troops to gasfield
From correspondents in Quetta
January 12, 2005
PAKISTAN has deployed paramilitary forces at the country's biggest gasfield and closed its main plant there after a series of rocket attacks by tribal rebels killed eight people.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11922025%255E1702,00.html

Three dead in fierce UK storms
From correspondents in London
January 12, 2005
A FIERCE storm packing winds of up to 201km/h has battered Scotland and Northern Ireland, killing three people and leaving tens of thousands without electricity, police and emergency services said today.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11921693%255E1702,00.html

Habib walks out of Guantanamo without charge
Martin Chulov and Trudy Harris
January 12, 2005
ACCUSED Australian terrorist Mamdouh Habib will be released from Guantanamo Bay detention centre within days and return to Australia a free man after being held for three years without being charged.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11917323%255E601,00.html

Smokers fuming as Italy kicks the habit
Natasha Bita in Florence
January 12, 2005
CINZIA Chiarusi was angry yesterday as Italy began to stub out smoking with some of the world's toughest cigarette sanctions.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11915340%255E2703,00.html

A boost to Aceh's stocks and spirits
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Banda Aceh
January 12, 2005
THE massive rebuilding effort already under way in Banda Aceh receives a significant boost tomorrow with the arrival of HMAS Kanimbla, carrying medical facilities, engineers, a huge amount of heavy plant and fuel, two landing boats and two Sea King helicopters.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11917024%255E2703,00.html

The Boston Globe

Kwan hopes to carve a historic figure-eight

By John Powers, Globe Staff January 12, 2005

PORTLAND, Ore. -- It didn't matter that she skipped the Grand Prix season again, that she has competed only in a couple of no-stress invitationals since last March. If it's January, Michelle Kwan will be lacing up at the US Figure Skating Championships and she'll be favored to win. That hasn't changed in a decade.

http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/articles/2005/01/12/kwan_hopes_to_carve_a_historic_figure_eight/

Preacher dies after saying 'And when I go to heaven...'
January 11, 2005
OVIEDO, Fla. (AP) A Presbyterian minister collapsed and died at the pulpit after saying ''And when I go to heaven...,'' his colleague said.

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2005/01/11/preacher_dies_after_saying_and_when_i_go_to_heaven/

Starting over in Indonesia
Amid rubble, help takes root in tent cities
By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff January 12, 2005
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- This is a tale of two cities: the old city that was struck down and the new one that is rising in its place as fast as the tent stakes can be hammered into the ground.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2005/01/12/starting_over_in_indonesia/

UN seeks to ensure nations meet pledges
By Alexander G. Higgins, Associated Press January 12, 2005
GENEVA -- The record generosity toward tsunami victims -- now at more than $4 billion pledged -- should set the standard for caring for the world's most desperate people, the UN humanitarian chief said yesterday. But aid group Oxfam said it fears the money might simply be rerouted from existing funds for Africa.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2005/01/12/un_seeks_to_ensure_nations_meet_pledges/

N.E. pushes to find takers for flu shots
Remaining vaccine could go to waste
By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff January 12, 2005
Three months after the emergence of an unprecedented national shortage of flu vaccine, public health departments across New England are struggling to find takers for remaining doses, raising the prospect that surplus shots will be thrown away at the end of the flu season.

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2005/01/12/ne_pushes_to_find_takers_for_flu_shots/

'Desperate Housewives' star named worst dressed
By Arthur Spiegelman, Reuters January 11, 2005
LOS ANGELES -- "Desperate Housewives" star Nicolette Sheridan, known for short skirts, tight pants and a famously dropped towel in a television ad, was named the worst-dressed woman of 2004 Tuesday by fashion designer Mr. Blackwell.

http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2005/01/11/desperate_housewives_star_named_worst_dressed/

The Times - London

Worst storm for years kills three drivers
By Times Online and agencies
Winds of up to 124mph lashed parts of the country over the past 24 hours in one of the worst storms seen for years, killing three drivers and leaving thousands without power.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1436888,00.html

Floods and gales return to batter the North
By Steven Ramsey
FLOOD-STRICKEN areas of northern England and Scotland are likely to be hit again today by severe gales and driving rains.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1434749,00.html

Scientists predict just 70 more deaths from vCJD
By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent
ONLY 70 more people are likely to die from the human form of mad cow disease from infected beef, according to the most comprehensive study of the condition to date.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1435630,00.html

The Sydney Morning Herald

Deadly flight from fire: toll now nine
January 12, 2005 - 8:41PM

Four children were among the nine people confirmed killed in South Australia's devastating Eyre Peninsula bushfire.
The children, aged between two and 13, and their relatives perished in cars as they tried to escape the deadly flames.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Bushfire-toll-rises-to-10/2005/01/12/1105423517028.html

NSW bushfire danger mounting, warns Carr
January 12, 2005 - 12:19PM

NSW fire and emergency services were on standby as the risk of bushfire increased across the state, NSW Premier Bob Carr said today.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/NSW-bushfire-danger-mounting-warns-Carr/2005/01/12/1105423529790.html

continued...

From CNN - Australian Wildfires 1.12.05 - Eight people believed to be dead so far. Reported as the worst wildfires in 21 years.

continued...

Morning Papers - continued...

From The Sydney Morning Herald - Charred Car believed to have caused the death of a woman and two children caught in the wildfires.


The Chicago Tribune

From the Los Angeles Times
SOUTHLAND'S RECORD RAINFALL
Skies Clear, but Storms' Toll Mounts
The number of dead hits 15 -- six of them at La Conchita, where a dozen are still missing. Damage in L.A. County is pegged at nearly $30 million.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-me-rain12jan12,1,7025188.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Gay rights legislation sails through House
Dozen from GOP join majority
By Christi Parsons
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 12, 2005
SPRINGFIELD -- As gay rights activists prayed and held hands in the chamber's balcony, the Illinois House Tuesday approved a bill banning discrimination against gays and lesbians, prompting the legislature's sole openly gay lawmaker to tearfully proclaim his colleagues had chosen to be on "the right side of history."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0501120219jan12,1,5988778.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=3&cset=true

"I take it these aircraft still require CO2 producing fuel? High speed magnet rail doesn't."

Boeing bets big on a plastic plane
7E7 must soar for company to challenge Europeans' supremacy
By Michael Oneal and David Greising
Tribune staff reporters
Published January 12, 2005
SEATTLE -- Boeing Co. doesn't often let the public into its secured development center here. But on Tuesday, after months of bad news about defense scandals, trade wars and lost sales, the Chicago-based company finally had something to crow about.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/chi-0501120278jan12,1,310259.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true

From Newsday

Major Internet attack seen
BY RICHARD J. DALTON JR.
STAFF WRITER
Published January 11, 2005, 4:53 PM CST
A devastating attack will hit the Internet or electrical grid in the next decade, a majority of experts predicted in new report.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/ny-bznet0112,1,2592618.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Increase in women doctors changing the face of medicine
Physicians are more patient friendly, but salaries are dropping and the MD shortage is getting worse
By Ronald Kotulak
Tribune science reporter
Published January 12, 2005

With women becoming doctors in ever-increasing numbers, medicine is generally becoming more patient friendly, treatment is improving and malpractice suits may become less common, experts say.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0501120279jan12,1,4042416.story?coll=chi-business-hed

Don't dial -- delete!
By Meredith Goldstein
The Boston Globe
Published January 12, 2005
Blake Conney, 22, got drunk with friends a few weeks ago and did what people are known to do when they are feeling emotional, are not sober and are holding their cell phones late at night.
She dialed the number of someone she shouldn't be calling.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0501120035jan12,1,3569734.story?coll=chi-technology-hed

Haaretz

Roadside blast in Gaza kills one Israeli, wounds four
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent and The Associated Press
One Israeli was killed and four Israel Defense Forces troops were wounded Wednesday morning when an explosive device went off along a patrol route near the settlement of Morag in the southern Gaza Strip.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/526308.html

PM wins war of wills with Likud rebels on 2005 State Budget bill
By Mazal Mualem and Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondents
The Knesset on Wednesday approved the first reading of the 2005 State Budget bill after the Likud rebels decided to support it.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/525960.html

I UNDERSTAND now why John Kerry was in Syria. Where was Bush, encouraging the sale and closing the deal?

Syria missile deal said at heart of Israeli-Russia crisis
By Haaretz Service
A recent mystery crisis in Israeli-Russia relations - the subject of wide speculation with its details remaining classified - was sparked by Moscow's plans to sell Syria missiles capable of striking at nearly any target within Israel, the Moscow daily Kommersant reported Wednesday.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/526031.html

A cold wind is blowing
By Amir Oren
Russian President Vladimir Putin is a personal friend of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. At least that's what Sharon was seduced into believing, reckoning that he had persuaded Putin two years ago to give up selling advanced anti-tank weapons and planes to Syria.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/526003.html

Global Warming

Not all these articles are from today but they are all relevant and won't be repeated here.

The polar melt in Antarctica
Glaciers are melting in the Alps at an unprecedented rate. The polar ice caps are rapidly disappearing. Worst-case scenarios from scientists predict a dramatic increase in temperatures across much of the globe. For parts of the Northern Hemisphere, however, some scientists warn that ocean-current changes could produce radical cooling. Our world, so go such arguments, is about to change radically for the worse.

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,331153,00.html

Climate Change as a Human Rights Issue for Subsistence-Based Societies
Tibet Justice Center[Friday, January 07, 2005 14:51]
TRIN-GYI-PHO-NYA: TIBET'S ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT DIGEST
Vol. 2, No. 6
By Julia Klein
In December 2004, a meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in anticipation of the upcoming entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol. At the same time, the Inuit -- 155,000 seal-hunting peoples scattered around the Arctic -- announced they were preparing a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights stating that the United States, by contributing substantially to global warming, is threatening their existence.

http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=8748&article=Climate+Change+as+a+Human+Rights+Issue+for+Subsistence-Based+Societies

Global warming thawing Qinghai Plateau
www.chinaview.cn 2005-01-10 11:25:09
XINING, Jan. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Affected by global warming, the frozen earth on the Qinghai Plateau has been thawing, according to scientists with the northwest China's Qinghai Province.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/10/content_2439600.htm

Rocky Mountain glaciers showing effects of climate change
Last Updated Tue, 11 Jan 2005 19:43:28 EST
CBC News
CANMORE, ALTA. - Glaciers in Canada's Rocky Mountains are melting fast, scientists say, making them a barometer for climate change in Canada.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2005/01/11/climate-glacier050111.html

NEW THAMES FLOOD BARRIER A STARK REMINDER OF CLIMATE CHANGE THREAT - BAKER
10/01/2005
Responding to plans to erect a new 10-mile flood barrier across the Thames, the Liberal Democrats reveal Government figures that predict the threat of flooding to be so severe that the current barrier may have to be raised up to 325 times a year by 2100.

http://www.libdems.org.uk/index.cfm/page.homepage/section.home/article.8048

Drought's Growing Reach: Global Warming as Key Factor

Newswise — The percentage of Earth's land area stricken by serious drought more than doubled from the 1970s to the early 2000s, according to a new analysis by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Widespread drying occurred over much of Europe and Asia, Canada, western and southern Africa, and eastern Australia. Rising global temperatures appear to be a major factor, says NCAR's Aiguo Dai, lead author of the study.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/509166/

State to reduce global warming
General Assembly plans to study host of options
By Robert Miller
THE NEWS-TIMES
Gina McCarthy used to drive a family van which got 20 miles to the gallon.
The state's new head of the Department of Environmental Protection now drives a Toyota Prius, one of the new hybrid gas-electric cars. It gets 45 mpg.

http://news.newstimes.com/story.php?id=68090&channel=Local

Climate change and Energy: 2004 round up (published on 7-Jan-2005)
The Kyoto Protocol and preparations for the European Emissions Trading System dominated the agenda for all climate change debates this year, with commentators drawn between wondering whether Kyoto goes far enough, or whether the proposed measures will cripple European industry.

http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=9374&channel=0

Slowing global warming
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Stronger vehicle emission standards would do something to limit the amount of greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere. Cleaner, more efficient vehicle engines would also improve the quality of air around the Puget Sound region.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/202409_cared.html

Climate Change Plan Submitted To Connecticut Legislature
POSTED: 9:58 am EST January 7, 2005
HARTFORD, Conn. -- The Governor's Steering Committee on Climate Change has recommended 55 ways that Connecticut can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

http://www.nbc30.com/politics/4060990/detail.html

NZ bids for global warming study fund

07.12.04
By SIMON COLLINS

New Zealand and Chile are seeking US$10 million ($13.8 million) in United Nations funding to conduct the first comprehensive study of the effects of global warming on Southern Hemisphere glaciers.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=9002005

From Global Warming to Volcanoes
With a greenhouse gas meeting starting in Buenos Aires on Monday, it's time to brush up on global warming. Locusts continue to plague Africa and parts of Europe. And keep up to date on natural disasters on planet Earth.

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,331219,00.html

Large numbers of Desert Locust swarms continue to move north from West Africa to Northwest Africa. Smaller movements are underway in the Sahel towards the west, in the northern Red Sea, and a few swarms have arrived in the Canary Islands and southern Portugal.

http://www.fao.org/news/global/locusts/locuhome.html

US Says No Plans to Sign New Climate Change Pacts
Thu Dec 2, 2004 03:21 PM

By Jeff Mason
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States, considered an environmental laggard by its critics, is unlikely to sign any new pacts on climate change at a key environmental meeting this month, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=6982058

PBR: Climate change addressed
AccountancyAge.com, Accountancy Age 02 Dec 2004
Gordon Brown addressed climate change by 'accepting responsibility' before Britain's presidency of the G8 next year.

Some £20m has been provided to the Carbon Trust to increase the 'technology and policy' that can be used to help in the innovation of environmentally friendly fuel.
Road duties have been frozen, however, due to the high costs of oil.

Public have say on climate change

Ross Finnie is launching a public consultation into climate change
The Scottish Executive is launching a consultation on whether new measures are needed to tackle climate change.
Environment Minister Ross Finnie said he wants to hear the public's views on whether more needs to be done to reduce greenhouse gases in Scotland.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4060483.stm

Mandelson attacks US climate change policy

Washington’s stance on Iran and climate change continues to divide the EU and US, Europe’s new trade chief Peter Mandelson has told a Brussels audience.

http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200412/934d17c2-dc17-4635-8c29-6bdba528d791.htm

National program holds workshop
Experts talk about climate change
Ismail Al-Ghabiri

The workshop aimed at identifying the importance of all relevant stakeholders in environmental protection.

The General Authority for Environment Protection has organized its first workshop on the National Program to adapt to climate changes on Nov. 29.
The main objectives of the workshop were:
• To present the theme and main objectives of NAPA;
• To clarify the NAPA process and the role of all relevant stakeholders;
• To present and discuss the work plans of national teams;
• To enhance public awareness activities on climate change related issues.
A word was delivered by the Chairman of the General Authority for Environment Protection, Eng. Mahmood Shidiwah. He emphasized the importance of the climate change phenomenon that enables this international phenomenon to be connected to different essential sectors.

http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=795&p=community&a=1

Heatwave Study May Fuel Global Warming Lawsuits
Thu Dec 2, 2004 02:38 PM GMT

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO (Reuters) - A study of a 2003 heatwave in Europe may give Pacific islanders and environmentalists new ammunition for legal cases blaming the United States for global warming, advocates said on Thursday.
Claims linked to climate change could dwarf billion-dollar awards against tobacco companies if U.N. forecasts to 2100 of rising temperatures, higher sea levels, catastrophic storms and droughts turn out to be true, they said.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=6978952&section=news

Better global warming forecasting method found:
[Technology India]: London, Dec 2 : A Northeastern University researcher has claimed to have found a method to better the forecasting of global warming by unravelling that the soil below oak trees exposed to elevated levels of carbon dioxide had significantly higher carbon levels than those exposed to ambient carbon levels.

http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=45609

Winter blows through
By TONY SPILDE, Bismarck Tribune
Hey, guess what?
Winter begins today.
In a hurried bit of last-minute decorating, Mother Nature really laid into Bismarck on Monday. She turned the brown city white in about half an hour. For those complaining of a want of winter wonderland, well, you got what you wanted.

http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2004/12/21/news/local/nws01.txt

Warming of Lake Tahoe fits in with global trend
By Lisa M. Krieger
Mercury News
The frigid waters of Lake Tahoe are warming -- a trend so subtle it's unlikely to be felt by swimmers but substantial enough to worry scientists.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/10465958.htm

Joint efforts against global warming obstructed by US refusal to cooperate
By MARY MILLIKEN
Global warming is set to continue and bring with it an increase in extreme weather such as hurricanes and droughts, scientists from the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organisation warned last week.

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2004/12/21/features/9685030&sec=features

Pakistan asks for global approach to combat climate-change
Pakistan Times National News Desk
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan called upon industrialized countries to adopt a global approach for combating climate change.

http://pakistantimes.net/2004/12/20/national3.htm

Targets and Performance
Targets are being and have been reviewed for all sectors with Climate Change Agreements in the light of government policy and performance to date, bearing in mind that each sector which gets a CCL discount is expected to make reasonable efforts within its capability.

http://www.thepigsite.com/LatestNews/Default.asp?AREA=LatestNews&Display=8647

Africa Lagging in Climate Change Studies
The East African (Nairobi)
December 20, 2004
Posted to the web December 21, 2004
Paul Redfern, Special Correspondent
Nairobi
FAR TOO little is currently known about the impact of climate change on development and poverty in Africa, a new report released last week says.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200412210671.html

Climate change: Projections show EU on track to meet Kyoto Protocol emissions targets

http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/04/1522&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

PM’s Committee on climate change formed
ISLAMABAD , Dec 21 : Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has formed a committee, Prime Minister’s Committee on climate change to address the issue of global climate change and its impact on Pakistan .

http://www.pakistanlink.com/Headlines/Dec04/21/16.htm

Arctic snap chills the East
Monday, December 20, 2004 Posted: 7:33 AM EST (1233 GMT)

Satellite image of the United States taken Monday at 6:32 a.m. ET.

(AP) -- Residents across parts of the East will wake up to chilly temperatures and snowy conditions early Monday as a coastal low pressure system lingers in the region.
New England can expect accumulations between 3 to 6 inches with a few additional inches likely throughout the day.
Scattered snow showers were forecast in the Great Lakes and parts of the Plains. Heavy lake effect snowfall was expected in Wisconsin and Michigan.
Much of the West could be under partly cloudy skies for the day, while scattered snow will dust northern Idaho, western Montana and northwestern Wyoming.
Temperatures on Monday were expected in the 20s to 30s in New England, the Southeast, Great Lakes, northern Rockies and Ohio and Tennessee valleys; 40s and 50s in the Gulf Coast states, Pacific Northwest, Great Basin, Mississippi Valley and central Plains; 60s and 70s in Texas, the southern Plains, California and the desert Southwest.
Around the Lower 48 states, temperatures Sunday ranged from a morning low of 31 degrees below zero in Crane Lake, Minnesota, to a high of 88 in Santee, California.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WEATHER/12/20/weatherpage.am.ap/index.html

THE ONLY THING about an article like this is that people who oppose the idea of changing the way societies obtain energy will try to exploit the insight of the science and try to explain away an issue that should not be explained away. There are over 6 billion people on Earth as never before. Global Warming is real. It kills. What we are experiencing on Earth is Human Induced Global Warming because of over population of the planet, consumerism of civilization accompanied by neglect of the knowledge of scientists for decades. Governments have not taken care of their populous. NO ONE LISTENS. There is no controversy. Scientists for as brilliant as they are don't always say things as the public expects to hear it. Governments however should and DID know better! The United Nations through 'Sustainable Yield' and "Kyoto Protocol" has tried to avert these disasters without avail. People MUST expect their governments to protect them.

Major Climate Change Occurred 5,200 Years Ago: Evidence Suggests That History Could Repeat Itself
December 16, 2004
Glaciologist Lonnie Thompson worries that he may have found clues that show history repeating itself, and if he is right, the result could have important implications to modern society.
Thompson has spent his career trekking to the far corners of the world to find remote ice fields and then bring back cores drilled from their centers. Within those cores are the records of ancient climate from across the globe.

http://www.news-about-space.org/story/2409.html

Wildfire advisory committee says more money, collaboration needed

UNDATED Three years after Western governors and the Bush administration agreed on a plan to reduce wildfire danger, money is still lacking and the partnership between the federal government and state and local agencies isn't working well.

http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=2706028

Bush forms Cabinet committee to preserve oceans, coasts
BY WILLIAM E. GIBSON
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - While approving a new Ocean Action Plan, President Bush signed an executive order on Friday to create a Cabinet committee that will coordinate government efforts to curb water pollution, prevent over-fishing and protect fragile coastlines.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10443820.htm

Satellites later.

concluding...

The Problem with California Starts Here.

Western Hemisphere Satellite 1.12.05

The North Polar Vortex is hard at work creating all kinds of vortex winds that are acting to cool Earth reaching all the way to the Equator. If one will notice the peripheral vortex winds that reach down in latitude from the pole is covering most of the northern continent of North America making it very cold. Where this is different is in the North Pacific.

In history January 12...

... 1773, the first public museum in America was established, in Charleston, S.C.

... 1915, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a proposal to give women the right to vote.

... 1932, Hattie W. Caraway becomes the first woman elected to United States Senate.

... 1942, President Roosevelt created the National War Labor Board.

... 1944, born, Joe Frazier, boxer.

... 1948, the Supreme Court ruled that states could not discriminate against law-school applicants because of race.

... 1964, leftist rebels in Zanzibar began their successful revolt against the government.

... 1966, President Johnson said in his State of the Union address that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there was ended.

... 1971, the long-running comedy All in the Family premieres on CBS.

... 1986, the shuttle Columbia blasted off with a crew that included the first Hispanic-American in space, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz.

... 1991, USA Congress authorizes force against Iraq after the invasion into Kuwait.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/cron/

... 1997, Stanley Kubrik’s HAL, the computer in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, informs the crew that he was built on this day. ... 1998, Carlos Santana is the first Hispanic inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The New Zealand Herald

Families flee as bushfire rages

Families took refuge in the sea or barricaded themselves in their homes as Australia's worst bushfires in 20 years swept through South Australia's Eyre Peninsula.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10006391

WHEN IS SOMEONE going to hold Bush responsible for Iraq? What’s the matter Mr. Bush you aren’t getting the dividends out of The Asian Tsunami Aid that you were hoping for? How can this accomplish anything but more estrangement of the USA from the International Community?

Mr. Annan is not responsible for an issue that is still under investigation. I am fairly confident he, like Rumsfeld, can’t predict what the ‘SINK’ will do. The "Oil for Food Program" unlike the invasion into Iraq was successful. The matter is still under investigation. I think this is appauling and further demonstrates the 'counter-agenda' that is never expected by Bush.

US turns on Annan over aid

WASHINGTON - The Bush Administration, which earlier backed Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the United Nations oil-for-food scandal, yesterday demanded he be held accountable for mismanagement in the programme.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10006377

The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:

Scott Base

Snow

-1.0 degrees C

Updated Thursday 13 Jan 3:59AM

The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Ice Chime) during the ‘short daylight) winter is:


-15 °F / -26 °C Clear

Humidity:
58%

Dew Point:
-26 °F / -32 °C

Wind:
Calm

Pressure:
30.35 in / 1028 hPa

Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers

UV:
0 out of 12

Clouds (AGL):
Clear

continued...

Global Pacific Satellite 1.12.05

The peripheral vortex circulation is noted to extend further to the Equator than it does on the East Coast of the continent. What does that do? It brings with it less freezing temperature but a great deal more moisture. Hence, the repeatedly difficult weather conditions in California. The central area of North America is getting snow and ice from the system noted in the previous entry.

Color Enhanced North Pacific Satellite 1.12.05

The system affecting California. Noted California, Alaska and Russia.

The Problem in California. GOES West Visual Satellite 1.12.05

This shows the system at work from the viewpoint of reality rather than color enhanced. This is Global Warming. This is not yet Climate Change.

end

Childern in the World's Arms of Compassion and Security. 

The beginnings of a Global Tragedy. 

This was a time of year known at The Winter Solistice. People were celebrating life in some of the most beautiful places Earth had to offer.  

The ships were left in the dry mud until the arriving wave would take control of the terms to the lives of so many on December 26, 2004. 

It is difficult to show these pictures without first having respect for the dead. I offer in respect and in hopes the troubled hearts of the world find some solice in a single paragraph Psalms. This is not to single out one belief system for the answer for the world's pain, but, only to answer a single understanding to find rest for our grief.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;

These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.

For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.

They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths:

their soul is melted because of trouble.

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.

Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

Psalms, 107:23-30, KJV

May every victim of this tragedy find peace in an ocean of peace and every survivor find a way to live life again realizing they are victorious to the devastation only nature can so unpredictably can and should manifest. The guilt the living feel is not to exist. They hold the dead and missing in their hearts with an obligation to make that matter. We live in a time when Earth reminds who we are on this planet that provides life. It is time the world come to terms with Earth and find a reverence for it. In the name of those no longer with us I demand we find a way to live on Earth in peace with each other and with the life giving world given for to live it.

There is a person alive in the boat on the right side of this picture. They literally rode the tsunami wave into shore. That is how the following photo of The Indian Ocean Tsunami Wave was captured.