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Michael Moore Today

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

House rebukes the president on Iraq
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Seventeen Republicans joined Democrats on Friday in passing a two-sentence resolution denouncing President Bush's plan to boost troop levels in Iraq.
The resolution passed easily, 246-182.
Democratic leaders on Saturday will attempt to bring the same measure to the floor in the Senate.
Democrats hailed the victory, while outside the chamber, Republican congressional leadership blasted the resolution, calling it the first step toward de-funding the war.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said the passage of the non-binding resolution "should send a very clear and firm message to the president of the United States: that the American people spoke in November, that they wanted a new direction in Iraq. This resolution today sets the stage for that new direction," she said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9216



FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 99

(Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined)
H CON RES 63 YEA-AND-NAY 16-Feb-2007 3:22 PM
QUESTION: On Agreeing to the Resolution
BILL TITLE: Disapproving of the decision of the President announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq

http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.asp?year=2007&rollnumber=99



Senate preparing for weekend showdown on Iraq
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Setting up a new showdown over Iraq, Senate Democratic leaders are planning a key test vote Saturday on a resolution opposing President Bush's plan to send additional troops into combat.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said a Saturday session will take up a nonbinding measure now before the House of Representatives.
The Saturday vote will be a procedural vote on whether the Senate should move on to a final vote on a resolution that expresses opposition to Bush's plan to send an additional 21,500 combat troops to Iraq.
Senate Republicans succeeded last week in blocking a vote on a similar resolution. Reid urged Senate Republicans to drop their procedural moves.
"We demand an up-or-down vote on the resolution that the House is debating as we speak," Reid said. "The resolution says we support the troops and oppose the escalation of the presence in Iraq. We're determined to give our troops and the American people the debate they deserve."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9217



070215 - Iraq War Resolution Debate - Day 3 - Tim Ryan 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhi5XSdqjAQ



UCSB Students Strike in Protest of Iraq War
Nearly 1,000 students shut down Highway 217 in two-hour standoff with police
By Matt Cota / KSBY-6
UCSB students go on strike to protest the war in Iraq. Nearly a thousand refused to work, shop or go to class. And late this afternoon, the protesters shut down a major South Coast highway.
It started as a student strike -- the simple act of not going to class to protest the war in Iraq. But after an hour of speeches at an Isla Vista rally, the crowd grew restless.
The students -- nearly a thousand strong -- marched through campus and began walking on Highway 217, which is the main thoroughfare to the UCSB campus and to the Santa Barbara Airport. It was immediately shut down by the Highway Patrol. More than two dozen law enforcement officers, some dressed in riot gear, met the students on the highway.
Two arrests were made. Both were protesters who tried to make it through the police barrier to the other side.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9200



Students Rally for D.C. House Vote
By Connie Parham / The Hoya
WASHINGTON, DC -- Georgetown students and faculty joined hundreds of Washington, D.C. residents and public officials on Capitol Hill yesterday to demonstrate their support for full District voting rights in Congress.
Accompanied by Scott Fleming, assistant to the university president for federal relations, five members of the GU College Democrats listened to speeches from noted public officials including Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty.
The event, Congress Day 2007, was organized by the activist group DC Vote to build support for a bill introduced by Norton at the beginning of the year that would give the District a voting member of the House. The District currently sends one non-voting member to the House.
Norton opened the ceremony by thanking the 500 people present for “coming to get the vote that has been due … for two centuries.”

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9213



Sarah Lawrence students protest Iraq War
By Ernie Garcia / Journal News
YONKERS, NY - The fourth anniversary of worldwide protests against the U.S. invasion of Iraq prompted debate about the war at Sarah Lawrence College yesterday.
Students gathered for an evening assembly on the war and others watched an Iraq documentary as part of an effort to raise awareness of the anti-war movement. Teachers also included Iraq in their lessons this week, all part of an effort to mark protests in New York and around the world Feb. 15, 2003, prior to the invasion.
"What we're really trying to do is upgrade the level of activism," said student organizer Sarah Li Norum-Gross, 20, who is in favor of a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
The events at Sarah Lawrence were part of a nationwide campaign to commemorate resistance to the Iraq invasion organized by the political action group The World Can't Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime!

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9211



Students Across Bay Area Protest Over Iraq War
By Mike Sugerman / CBS 5
BERKELEY Anti-war demonstrations were held Thursday at college campuses across the country, including here in the Bay Area. The students were marking the fourth anniversary of the first campus demonstrations against "Operation Iraqi Freedom."
The protests at UC-Berkeley and San Francisco and Sonoma state universities drew hundreds of students.
"The war for me is just a very clear sign of oppression," said Hassan Owanati, a student at Berkeley.
Polls show two-thirds of Americans are against the war in Iraq. But with only about 200 people turning out at Cal's protest, organizers were disappointed.
"This frustrates a lot of us," said student and protestor Snehal Shingavi. "Both who are looking at the rally and hoping more people would have come out, but also trying to figure out how we're going to organize."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9203



Students protest fighting but honor fallen: 'They’re our age'
By Sharon Stello / Davis Enterprise
DAVIS, CA -- Every day this week, Max Mikalonis has spent his lunch hour standing at a podium on campus and reading aloud the names of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq.
The UC Davis sophomore started Monday and will read the last of the 3,132 names Tuesday. He read some of those names during an anti-war protest Thursday.
“You’ve heard the number. These are the people. They’re our age,” Mikalonis said.
July 3, 2005: Jeremy A. Brown, 26; Ryan J. Montgomery, 22.
July 5, 2005: Scottie L. Bright, 36; Lyle J. Cambridge, 23; Christopher W. Dickison, 26; Anthony M. Mazzarella, 22.
The protest — a peace rally and memorial for fallen soldiers — was one of many organized Thursday by college students from San Francisco to New York.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9214



Students ‘die-in’ to end the war
Participants in event held by UCLA’s pending SDS branch lay dead to protest U.S. role in Iraq
By Mai Hong / Daily Bruin
LOS ANGELES, CA -- The UCLA branch of Students for a Democratic Society held a demonstration in front of Kerckhoff Hall on Thursday afternoon to protest the war in Iraq.
More than two dozen participants were asked to spontaneously drop dead around noon and lay down with signs that said “U.S. Out Of Iraq” taped to their chests.
The event was also planned to coincide with other student anti-war protests being held at college campuses throughout the nation, including UC Berkeley and Columbia University. Not all protests were die-ins, though, said Eric Gardner, a member of the UCLA branch of SDS.
Babken DerGrigorian, cofounder of UCLA’s pending chapter of SDS, said the group is against the war because they believe it is morally wrong.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9212



Six arrested in anti-war protest
News & Observer
CHAPEL HILL, NC - Chapel Hill police arrested six anti-war protesters this afternoon at the local office of U.S. Rep. David Price.
Six of the protesters, who want Price to vote to cut off funding for the war in Iraq, staged a sit-in inside the office at 88 Vilcom Circle, refusing to leave until they spoke to the congressman by phone.
After refusing requests to leave, they were carried out of the office by Chapel Hill police officers. Each was charged with one count of trespassing.
Five of those arrested were UNC-Chapel Hill students. They were: Sara Schiffman Joseph, 22, of 230 Green St.; Alisan Fathalizadeh, 21, of123 Schultz St.; Laura Michelle Bickford, 18, of 555 Paul Harding Drive, Apt. 126; Tamara Luree Tal, 26, of 105 Fidelity St, Apt. A-50 in Carrboro and Benjamin Nathaniel Carroll, 18, of 3212 Brennan Drive in Raleigh.
An N.C. State student, Dante Strobino, 25, of 1101 Hillsborough St., Apt. G-3 in Raleigh, was also among those arrested.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9215



Must have demonstration

http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-820613.cfm



Vandy Students Protest War
News Channel 5
NASHVILLE, TN -- Dozens of students at Vanderbilt University gathered Thursday for a peaceful protest against the war.
Vanderbilt is one of more than a dozen universities across the country to hold rallies on campus today.
Thursday was the four years anniversary of a world-wide protest of the president's war plans that drew millions.
A small group of students at Vanderbilt showed their support for the war and our soldiers.
During a speech Thursday morning, President Bush talked about sending more soldiers overseas.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9204


More demonstration

http://www.wbbm780.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=364974



IT MIGHT HELP IF GEORGIE WROTE BACK TO MIKE !

Wednesday, January 10th, 2007
Dear Mr. President: Send Even MORE Troops (and you go, too!) ...from Michael Moore
Dear Mr. President,
Thanks for your address to the nation. It's good to know you still want to talk to us after how we behaved in November.
Listen, can I be frank? Sending in 20,000 more troops just ain't gonna do the job. That will only bring the troop level back up to what it was last year. And we were losing the war last year! We've already had over a million troops serve some time in Iraq since 2003. Another few thousand is simply not enough to find those weapons of mass destruction! Er, I mean... bringing those responsible for 9/11 to justice! Um, scratch that. Try this -- BRING DEMOCRACY TO THE MIDDLE EAST! YES!!!
You've got to show some courage, dude! You've got to win this one! C'mon, you got Saddam! You hung 'im high! I loved watching the video of that -- just like the old wild west! The bad guy wore black! The hangmen were as crazy as the hangee! Lynch mobs rule!!!
Look, I have to admit I feel very sorry for the predicament you're in. As Ricky Bobby said, "If you're not first, you're last." And you being humiliated in front of the whole world does NONE of us Americans any good.
Sir, listen to me. You have to send in MILLIONS of troops to Iraq, not thousands! The only way to lick this thing now is to flood Iraq with millions of us! I know that you're out of combat-ready soldiers -- so you have to look elsewhere! The only way you are going to beat a nation of 27 million -- Iraq -- is to send in at least 28 million! Here's how it would work:
The first 27 million Americans go in and kill one Iraqi each. That will quickly take care of any insurgency. The other one million of us will stay and rebuild the country. Simple.
Now, I know you're saying, where will I find 28 million Americans to go to Iraq? Here are some suggestions:
1. More than 62,000,000 Americans voted for you in the last election (the one that took place a year and half into a war we already knew we were losing). I am confident that at least a third of them would want to put their body where their vote was and sign up to volunteer. I know many of these people and, while we may disagree politically, I know that they don't believe someone else should have to go and fight their fight for them -- while they hide here in America.
2. Start a "Kill an Iraqi" Meet-Up group in cities across the country. I know this idea is so early-21st century, but I once went to a Lou Dobbs Meet-Up and, I swear, some of the best ideas happen after the third mojito. I'm sure you'll get another five million or so enlistees from this effort.
3. Send over all members of the mainstream media. After all, they were your collaborators in bringing us this war -- and many of them are already trained from having been "embedded!" If that doesn't bring the total to 28 million, then draft all viewers of the FOX News channel.
Mr. Bush, do not give up! Now is not the time to pull your punch! Don't be a weenie by sending in a few over-tired troops. Get your people behind you and YOU lead them in like a true commander in chief! Leave no conservative behind! Full speed ahead!
We promise to write. Go get 'em W!
Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=204



Auditors: Billions of U.S. tax dollars wasted in Iraq
WASHINGTON (AP) -- About $10 billion has been squandered by the U.S. government on Iraq reconstruction aid because of contractor overcharges and unsupported expenses, and federal investigators warned Thursday that significantly more taxpayer money is at risk.
The three top auditors overseeing work in Iraq told a House committee their review of $57 billion in Iraq contracts found that Defense and State department officials condoned or allowed repeated work delays, bloated expenses and payments for shoddy work or work never done.
More than one in six dollars charged by U.S. contractors were questionable or unsupported, nearly triple the amount of waste the Government Accountability Office estimated last fall.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9218



Ex-aide says Rice misled U.S. Congress on Iran
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice misled the U.S. Congress when she said last week that she had not seen a 2003 Iranian proposal for talks with the United States, a former senior government official said on Wednesday.
Flynt Leverett, who worked on the National Security Council when it was headed by Rice, likened the proposal to the 1972 U.S. opening to China. He said he was confident it was seen by Rice and then-Secretary of State Colin Powell but "the administration rejected the overture."
Speaking at a conference on Capitol Hill, Leverett said "this was a serious proposal, a serious effort" by Iran to lay out a comprehensive agenda for U.S.-Iranian rapprochement.
"The Bush administration up to and including Secretary Rice is misleading Congress and the American public about the Iran proposal," he said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9206



'Delusional' Iraq plans envisaged only 5,000 troops by now, group says
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some of the planning by Gen. Tommy Franks and other top military officials before the 2003 invasion of Iraq envisioned that as few as 5,000 U.S. troops would remain in Iraq by December 2006, according to documents obtained by a private research organization.
Slides obtained by the National Security Archive under the Freedom of Information Act contain a PowerPoint presentation of what planners projected to be a stable, pro-American and democratic Iraq after the ouster of Saddam Hussein.
"Completely unrealistic assumptions about a post-Saddam Iraq permeate these war plans," said National Security Archive Executive Director Thomas Blanton in a statement posted on the organization's Web site along with copies of some charts used in the PowerPoint presentation.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9207



Future of Lafayette crosses unclear -- even to organizers
By Katherine Tam / Contra Costa Times
The crosses that once formed a small cluster on a Lafayette hillside have multiplied into a mini-forest. Rows upon rows blanket the hill from top to bottom, and more are on the way.
A red neon sign stating the number of U.S. forces killed in Iraq went up, then came down. Names of soldiers began appearing on crosses, but organizers are shelving the idea of putting names on all of them.
The three-month-old display continues to grow and evolve, but even organizers aren't sure how it will change -- or even what it will ultimately become.
"It is hard to say," said Jeff Heaton, chief organizer, adding, "The memorial will continue to evolve and change in ways we do not presently imagine."
The site has drawn unprecedented attention to this suburb. It has become a gathering spot for war opponents, with last month's candlelight vigil attracting at least 300 people. Heaton said he wouldn't be surprised if the site becomes a backdrop for political hopefuls on the campaign trail.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9202



'Money Trumps Peace...Sometimes' ...by Cindy Sheehan
It is always painful to watch George stumble his way through press conferences. He can't get through a sentence without at least two-three "uhs," his eye lids flutter up and down in what my daughter, Carly, calls the "liar's blink" and just because it is painful that a human like that is ostensibly the leader of the free world. There is always a plethora of things that he says, does, or screws up on to write about but this time what caught my attention happened during the Q & A. George was asked if he thought the economic sanctions on Iran would work because so many European nations trade with that country.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=828

This is the IQ of the White House Press Secretary? No, this is manipulation. Let Tony Snow be reassured that A LOT went "W"rong in Iraq. To begin let's begin with the beginning. Weapons of Mass Destruction, Mr. Snow?????

Tony Snow: 'I'm Not Sure Anything Went Wrong' In Iraq
By E&P Staff / Editor & Publisher
NEW YORK Surely, at this stage, the White House would be willing to admit that conditions in Iraq following the 2003 invasion haven't gone exactly according to plan? White House Press Secretary Tony Snow was asked about this today at the daily briefing, following the release of military documents from 2002 that revealed that the U.S. expected that by now a token American force of 5,000 would be able to keep things under control in Iraq -- and the occupation would require only a two or three month "stabilization" period.
"What went wrong?" the reporter reasonably asked.
Snow replied: "I'm not sure anything went wrong."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9210



'The American People Realize This War Has Been a Failure' ... Statement by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN)
Debate on Iraq War Resolution to Stop the Escalation
U.S. House of Representatives
Rep. Steve Cohen: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, you like I am a freshman in this body and today we will begin the debate on one of the most important topics that this Congress has debated and that is America's involvement in the Middle East and Iraq and eventually in Afghanistan in dealing with the whole terrorist situation.
I have been in this House, Mr. Speaker, and listened to the Republicans and listened to the Democrats and the Democrats, of which I am a member, have talked about protecting the troops and opposing the President's surge, which is really an escalation, and the Republicans have come in here today and said that we need to in essence stay the course, we need to put in more troops and we're doing wrong by opposing the President's escalation or surge.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=827


Treehugger.com

Wanted: Inspired, Pragmatic videos to help get us out of this mess. All entries must be received by February 28, 2007.

http://www.truths.treehugger.com/


UFPJ Calls for Local Actions on 4th Anniversary of the War in Iraq
March 19th will mark the 4th anniversary of the U.S. military assault on Iraq and the beginning of what has turned into one of this nation's longest military engagements. Four years of war and occupation; four years of death and destruction; four years of a war that never should have happened.
United for Peace and Justice is calling for a massive outpouring of opposition to the war in locally based, decentralized actions throughout the U.S. from Saturday, March 17th, through Monday, March 19th.

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/



Be It Resolved: You Can Impeach the President
Official State Impeachment Text
Impeachment Text for Cities & Towns
Impeachment Text for County Democratic Committees
Impeachment Text for State Assemblies and/or Legislatures
Jefferson's Manual, Section LIII, 603
You Can Impeach the President

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=622



The Occupation Project

Voices for Creative Nonviolence is organizing the Occupation Project, a campaign of sustained nonviolent civil disobedience aimed at ending the U.S. war in and occupation of Iraq. The campaign will begin the first week of February 2007 with occupations at the offices of Representatives and Senators who refuse to pledge to vote against additional war funding.

http://www.vcnv.org/project/the-occupation-project



A walk to end the wars
By Chris Dabovich / San Pedro Valley News-Sun
Fed up with war in Iraq and in Afghanistan, a former United Methodist pastor and Vietnam-era veteran is doing something about it. He is walking the walk, cross-country, trying to rally public support to help end the conflicts.
Armed with a petition and a burning desire to finish what he's started, Bill McDannell began "The walk to end the wars," on Nov. 4 in Lakeside, Calif., near San Diego, en route to Washington, D.C. He stayed in Willcox Thursday and Friday nights as he took Friday off to rest and update his web site.
"It's time to end the wars," said McDannell, 57. "I felt I needed to do something and I'm just doing what I figure I have to do." McDannell, father of five and grandfather of four, said he served in the military from 1968 to 1972. He got the idea for the walk while working as a chauffer for a limousine company in San Diego.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8924


January 30: I've come to the conclusion that El Paso weather forecasts are directly linked to the local traffic light system - they change with approximately the same frequency. As of a couple of days ago the weather was forecast to be sunny and in the high fifties for at least the next week and a half. But some time after that the forecast was changed to cold and nasty for today. So Anne and I stuck our heads out of the door this morning, determined that the cold and nasty was probably going to be accurate, and I opted for a day off. That was fine, since I recently noticed that my one and only white shirt was developing a few little holes and I wanted to stop by a local thrift shop to get a replacement. Sure enough, no sooner had we got into the car than the rain started coming down and it grew colder and more miserable through the day. Now they're saying it might be that way until at least Friday, after which it's supposed to get sunny and into the mid sixties. Hah. Oh well, I did get a nice new shirt that only has as many holes as it's supposed to have.

http://www.wtetw.com/page6.html

continued ...

America's Best Future lies in the hands of people like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

A Divided House Denounces Plan for More Troops (click on title)

Although the news media would like to diminish the importance of the vote regarding Iraq, a vote of 246 - 182 is NOT a sharply divided vote.

I'll comment on this further but I'll let the Republicans make complete fools out of themselves in the Senate as well before I do.

To begin with the 'new' security plan is on the heels of more than three days of debate regarding Iraq in the House of Representatives.

There are couple of reservations regarding the 'quiet' before the potential storm in Baghdad.

To begin, it ain't the whole country. The most volatile area in Iraq and has been the entire time is An Albar. This is the news from there today.:

I don’t agree with the civilian death numbers of this accounting. There is estimated by more than one reliable source to be AT LEAST nearly a quarter of a million Iraqi citizens, including the elderly, men, women and children, dead since the invasion and most are above what would be 'normal' mortality for Iraq otherwise.

FACTBOX-Military and civilian deaths in Iraq
Feb 17 (Reuters) - Insurgents killed a U.S. marine in Iraq's western Anbar province on Friday, the U.S. military said on Saturday.
Following are the latest figures for military deaths in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003:
U.S.-LED COALITION FORCES:

United States 3,133

Britain 132

Other nations 124

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1726446.htm


The deaths of USA Military has occurred all this week. And where there is USA deaths there are civilian deaths which occur in ratio of at least 75 Iraqi civilian deaths to one American death.

U.S. deaths in Iraq

As of Thursday, at least 3,133 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The latest identifications reported by the military:

Army Pfc. Nickolas Tanton, 24, San Antonio; died Tuesday in Kirkuk from noncombat-related injuries; assigned to the 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Morris, 19, Crimora, Va.; died Wednesday in Anbar province; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Army Sgt. First Class Allen Mosteiro, 42, Fort Worth, Texas; died Wednesday in Baghdad of wounds suffered from small-arms fire during combat operations Tuesday in Taji; assigned to the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1171629132155380.xml&coll=2

The fact of the matter might be that the quiet that is being coined as 'The Security Plan of Baghdad' just might be in response to the fact the American people through their vote in putting Democrats in office this year in majority in the House has proven a new FAITH in the Iraqi people.

Up to now the people of Iraq have known a loud mouth, talking Texan that has done nothing but threatened to kill all those that opposed him. That was never taken well. By the pure admission by Bush during the 2006 elections, it was stated by minimally Tony Snow that the people of Iraq watch the elections in the USA to decide on violence. (I personally don't believe that. I believe there is a rebellion against the USA presence because Bush has not only crippled the country of Iraq, but has tied up the oil reserves that are the assets of Iraq to ownership of the USA and have oppressed the freely elected Unity Government to insure the oil in Iraq reaches the USA for a long time, hence imposing American will rather than Iraqi will.) But, if Bush is willing to say that the Iraqi people watch the elections as a form as strategy against the government then they must be watching what the current majority in the House is doing to remove the 'threat' of a greater war from that country.

What has occurred in the House this week might very well be a clear demonstration of the willingness of Americans to leave Iraq to Iraqis, including the currently developing provinces within the federalized nation called Iraq.

I'll go as so far to say that if the House and Senate remove all the oppressing 'deals' bartered by Bush with Iraq from any influence the rebellion would stop completely. In other words, leaving Iraq means leaving Iraq and not just partially. Turning over the Iraqi government entirely to the Iraqi people including their national assets WITHOUT designs on them would be the gift of freedom they might be looking for.

Baghdad is an large percentage of the Iraqi people, the current capital of the Unity Government. There is no doubt the people of Baghdad are deciding about how they feel about the presence of the USA when connected to media. It might be the first place we see a more peaceful Iraq in areas of previous violence due to the 'reduction' of influence of American forces is Baghdad.

Now, to put this into other perspective that seems more realistic. Let's say the new 'Security Initiative' is allowed to be in the streets of Baghdad with sudden obedience, realizing the borders of Iraq are closed. I don't know that Iraqi borders could ever be closed, but, for the sake of argument we'll say Mr. Maliki really does have the cooperation of all the surrounding countries and there is not only a decision of Iraq to close it's borders but also cooperation with neighboring nations. The truth might be that 'testing of the waters' is more prudent to the rebels than any other strategy right now.

To put it plainly, the Iraqi rebels, no matter the Sunni or Shi'ite are gathering intelligence about this initiative. Now, mind you this isn't completely new. There have been show of strength before in Baghdad with the same result for a day or so.

It is common, for Islamic fighters to 'lay low' or 'move aside' or as in Fallujah completely leave an area while the American forces 'do their thing.' Then when they have decided about what the next strategy is they move back into the so called conquered area with more force and will power than previously noted. They find solutions through applied intelligence gathering to strategies that work against the West's forces. That might very well be what is occurring in Baghdad while the war still continues in An Albar and other areas of Iraq.

Now, people will also point to the movement of the Cleric al Sadr and his support team out of the area as the reason for the quiet. I don't really buy that. The Cleric has mostly moved away from the 'street fighting' while moving toward a more political position to insure the Shi'ites and their 'interests' in the Unity Government are included and respected. So, to say that the Cleric is no longer giving orders to the street fighters and hence no more trouble is a very big stretch. He has not been doing that for some time and in my opinion he never left his role as spiritual leader to be a military commander. I don't think he would ever do that either. So, the Bush assessment of Cleric al Sadr is completely bizarre. Additionally, there is nothing preventing the rebels from being anything but rebels. So to assume there is someone pulling their strings as puppets is completely bizarre and an attempt to scapegoat a simple understanding of a complex issue.


It is common, for Islamic fighters to 'lay low' or 'move aside' or as in Fallujah completely leave an area while the American forces 'do their thing.' Then when they have decided about what the next strategy is they move back into the so called conquered area with more force and will power than previously noted. They find solutions through applied intelligence gathering to strategies that work against the West's forces. That might very well be what is occurring in Baghdad while the war still continues in An Albar and other areas of Iraq.

Now, people will also point to the movement of the Cleric al Sadr and his support team out of the area as the reason for the quiet. I don't really buy that. The Cleric has mostly moved away from the 'street fighting' while moving toward a more political position to insure the Shi'ites and their 'interests' in the Unity Government are included and respected. So, to say that the Cleric is no longer giving orders to the street fighters and hence no more trouble is a very big stretch. He has not been doing that for some time and in my opinion he never left his role as spiritual leader to be a military commander. I don't think he would ever do that either. So, the assessment of Cleric al Sadr is completely bizarre. Additionally, there is nothing preventing the rebels from being anything but rebels. So to assume there is someone pulling their strings as puppets is completely bizarre and an attempt to scapegoat a simple understanding of a complex issue.

We may finally be on the right track. At least it would seem that way for many reasons including the fact that if Iraqis have to defend themselves, they will.

Morning papers - continued ...

The Dutch Post

http://www.netherlandspost.com/


Bird flu strikes Egyptian woman
Scientific American By Cynthia Johnston CAIRO (Reuters) - A 37-year-old Egyptian woman tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus and European officials on Wednesday debated whether they needed to take more action after an outbreak of the virus in British turkeys. The World Health Organization confirmed the woman had tested positive for the avian influenza virus, making her the 21st case in Egypt. She was being treated in a hospital. Egypt has the highest-known cluster of human cases outside Asia, with 12 deaths out of the 21 infected cases since the virus first surfaced in Egyptian poultry a year ago. (article continues below) The woman, who kept birds in her...

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/02/15/Bird_flu_strikes_Egyptian_woman/


Bird flu strikes Egyptian woman

By Cynthia Johnston
CAIRO (Reuters) - A 37-year-old Egyptian woman tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus and European officials on Wednesday debated whether they needed to take more action after an outbreak of the virus in British turkeys.
The World Health Organization confirmed the woman had tested positive for the avian influenza virus, making her the 21st case in Egypt. She was being treated in a hospital.
Egypt has the highest-known cluster of human cases outside Asia, with 12 deaths out of the 21 infected cases since the virus first surfaced in Egyptian poultry a year ago.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa011&articleID=204E8EC7BC7ABC1FF3934D44157FD691



Egyptians arrest 75 from Muslim Brotherhood

CAIRO, Egypt // Police arrested 75 members of the Muslim Brotherhood yesterday in what appeared to be a pre-emptive strike against Egypt's strongest opposition group ahead of parliamentary elections and a key debate. A Brotherhood official said the detentions risked provoking violence - not from the group itself, but from those who would infer the state was leaving no room for peaceful Islamic political activity. The arrests bring the total of Brotherhood members in custody to just under 300, according to figures provided by the group and the New York-based Human Rights Watch. The Bush administration has recently eased its public calls for reform by President Hosni Mubarak, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.world16feb16,0,5993902.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines



People: Courteney Cox says no tongue, no big deal in kiss with friend Aniston

Sun Sentinel NEW YORK -- Expecting to see a passionate lip-lock between Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston on the season finale of FX's "Dirt"? It's not going to happen, Cox says. "There is no tongue and it is really not a big deal to kiss," the 42-year-old actress tells syndicated TV entertainment show "Access Hollywood" in an interview set to air Wednesday. "I am not saying, `Don't tune in to watch Jennifer on the show,' because she is fantastic and you get to see us together again," Cox says. "But if you think it is just about a major make-out session, you will be disappointed." Cox and Aniston co-starred on the...

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/02/15/People_Courteney_Cox_says_no_tongue_no_big_deal_in_kiss_with/



$197 million settles Ivory Coast dispute: Nation & World: The Seattle Times
Seattle Times Amsterdam, The Netherlands A Dutch-based oil-trading company paid $197 million to secure the release of three executives from an Ivory Coast prison and settle claims that it dumped toxic waste that killed at least 10 people in the West African nation in August. Trafigura, accused of illegally dumping the waste in the Ivory Coast port city of Abidjan, has denied wrongdoing, saying it properly contracted with a local company to dispose of the waste. Trafigura's director, Claude Dauphin, and its West African...

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/02/15/197_million_settles_Ivory_Coast_dispute_Nation_World_The_Sea/



Why are Dutch children so happy?
BBC News The Netherlands has come top of a league table for child well-being across 21 industrialised countries. The study by the UN children's organisation, Unicef, looked at relative poverty, educational and health standards, sexual behaviour and the children's relationship with friends and parents. "The Netherlands has always been a very child-centred society," says Paul Vangeert, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Groningen. "In particular, there is a lot of focus on young children." He says he is not surprised by the report. "On the one hand you have objective indicators in the report like, health, income and education. The Netherlands is a very rich country. On the other hand, and perhaps more importantly, are the...

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/02/14/Why_are_Dutch_children_so_happy/


Dutch allow poultry outdoors after bird flu scare
Reuters AMSTERDAM, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The Netherlands is lifting an order to keep poultry indoors that was imposed to prevent a possible spread of avian flu after the deadly H5N1 strain was found in Britain earlier this month. Its agricultural...

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/02/14/Dutch_allow_poultry_outdoors_after_bird_flu_scare/


Buy African flowers - UK minister
BBC News Romantics in the UK should woo their loved ones with flowers imported from Africa rather than those grown in Europe, a minister is expected to say. International Development Secretary Hilary Benn will ask consumers to aid "social justice" on Valentine's Day. Importing African flowers is better for the environment as they are not grown in heated greenhouses, he will add. The European Federation of Professional Florist Associations called Mr Benn's argument "very strange". 'Do their bit' The minister will...

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/02/13/Buy_African_flowers_UK_minister/


Tulips an alternative to roses
The Enquirer Not every florist is pushing roses for Valentine’s Day. Of course Robin Wood of Robin...

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/02/12/Tulips_an_alternative_to_roses/


Europe fights to save its fish stocks
Siliconvalley online ADRA, Spain - The catch of the day brings up a squirming pandemonium of creatures from the deep: sea bream and red snapper, miniature lobsters, an electric ray packing 150 volts, a baby octopus watching with one unblinking eye. But skipper Mariano Lopez, gazing at this mound of exuberance on his trawler's deck, is disappointed. Like many patches of the Mediterranean, this overworked fishing ground is not yielding the bounty it once did. "There should be twice as much," Lopez says, shaking his head. Fishermen were long seen as Europe's last true hunters, but the romance that comes with the struggle against nature has dwindled as fast as the once-bountiful fish. The European Union has desperately implemented fishing curbs and other...

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/02/11/Europe_fights_to_save_its_fish_stocks_5/


How the thirst for strawberries is draining Spain's precious water
By Elizabeth Nash in Lucena del Puerto, Spain
Published: 14 February 2007
The morning is cold and damp and the mist has barely risen from the Doñana marshes. But, at Vicente Gonzalez's strawberry farm in a pine forest bordering Europe's most important protected wetlands, they've been picking strawberries since daybreak. In the coming days Mr Gonzalez will take on another 25 pickers, from Romania, Poland or Morocco, who will work until June, after which the fruit turns to mush and the price plummets.
"I rent this land from the local council and they grant me permission to use three wells to irrigate my strawberries," Mr Gonzalez, 37, says as he watches workers bring piles of plywood boxes each laden with 2kg of fruit and pass them up to José who stows them in the company lorry.
"Those are going to England," says Mr Gonzalez´s wife, Francisca, pointing to wide black plastic trays where the boxes are laid. When the day's crop is loaded, the lorry will head for the producer's co-operative at Lucena del Puerto and the trays of strawberries will be driven to Britain. Within two days of being picked, they'll be in a supermarket near you.

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2268097.ece



Olmert aide suspended over bribery
Al Jazeera A top aide to the Israeli prime minister is being suspended from her job for six months while police investigate whether she was involved in a...

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/02/10/Olmert_aide_suspended_over_bribery/



Merkel: Global warming battle means sacrifice
Washington - Nations must be ready to make economic sacrifices to fight global warming, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday.Evidence of climate change is "now unequivocal" and even business leaders, including in the United States, are recognising it as a "real challenge for humanity", Merkel told a 13-nation meeting in Washington of lawmakers concerned about global warming."If we act now and prevent the worst consequences, we will give up just one percent of our prosperity," she said.If nations fail to act, the loss could be "five percent worldwide or even to 20 percent", she told the conference by video link.Merkel did not elaborate on how the numbers were calculated.Innovation in environmentally friendly technologies will create new business opportunities, Merkel said.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=iol117148749492B224&set_id=


Doubts over Kelly death says poll
More than a fifth of people believe government weapons inspector Dr David Kelly did not commit suicide, a BBC poll suggests.
Some 22.7% of 1,000 adults questioned for BBC Two series The Conspiracy Files said they thought the scientist had not killed himself.
Dr Kelly's body was found on Harrowdown Hill, Oxfordshire, in July 2003.
This followed his being named as the possible source of a BBC story on the government's Iraq dossier.
Hutton Inquiry
Dr Kelly had been a leading expert on biological weapons and a key UN Inspector in the hunt for Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6366159.stm


Trading genocide for independence
It is a sacrifice for the greater good, apparently, as the West deals with Serbia to lay off the hunt for war criminals responsible for genocide in Bosnia in return for Kosovo's independence.
A year of patience, denial and evasion on the part of Serbian authorities regarding the international community's demand that they turn over indicted war criminal Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic has finally paid off. After more than decade of sanctions, accusations and threats of stalled EU integration, Serbian leaders now hold the ace.
It is quite possible that the Serbs will trade Kosovo for the resumption of pre-membership talks with the EU, while the international community will in turn drop its demand to see Mladic at the UN's war crimes court in The Hague.
On Monday, the EU gave its clearest signal yet that it is ready to restart integration talks with Serbia, despite the fact that Belgrade has not made good on demands to hand over Mladic and other fugitives wanted by the international community.

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=17258


S. Korean companies win patent suit against Royal Philips
Yonhap News SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- A court on Monday ruled that LG Electronics Co. and two other South Korean electronic companies did not violate a patent of Royal Philips of the...

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/02/12/S_Korean_companies_win_patent_suit_against_Royal_Philips/


Croatian war crimes suspect allowed home despite partying and ski trip
THE HAGUE, Netherlands: A Croatian war crimes suspect's partying and trip to a ski race put him on a slippery slope back to a Hague cell, but U.N. judges said Thursday he could return home despite his disregard for court orders.
Gen. Ivan Cermak was indicted by the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal along with two other Croat generals in 2004 for his alleged role in a 1995 scorched earth campaign that drove thousands of Serbs out of southern Croatia's Krajina region.
He turned himself in and pleaded not guilty days after his indictment was publicized, and was allowed to return to Croatia in December 2004 to await trial.
Under the conditions of his release, he was ordered to stay at home and was allowed to leave only to go to work in the capital, Zagreb.
But late last year and early in January, Cermak, a former assistant defense minister, was spotted at a birthday party at a Zagreb restaurant, a New Year's Eve party at a swanky hotel in the city and then a women's ski race, tribunal judges said in a ruling issued Thursday.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/15/europe/EU-GEN-War-Crimes-Croatia.php


Dutch Trafigura settles toxic waste case
TOBY STERLING
Associated Press
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A Dutch-based oil trading company paid $197 million to secure the release of three executives from an Ivory Coast prison and settle claims that it dumped toxic waste that killed at least 10 people in the West African nation.
The three executives from Trafigura Beheer BV were released Wednesday, a spokesman for the firm told The Associated Press.
Trafigura, accused of illegally dumping the waste in the Ivory Coast port city of Abidjan, has denied wrongdoing, saying it properly contracted with a local company to dispose of the waste. It said the material it offloaded from the ship, the Probo Koala, in August 2006 was not toxic.
A U.N. report, however, found that the material contained chemicals lethal in high concentrations.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/16701466.htm

continued ...

The UK and the USA so willing to go to war, leaving the best interest of their children behind

Bush, Blair and Howard are absentee landlords. This simply goes to prove when a country has it's goals based in a war economy, the precious assets to improve it's society, no matter the wealth of the nation deprives that country of it's high standards and the resources to carry them out !

By Astrid Zweynert and Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is the worst country in the industrialized world in which to be a child, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday.
The charity looked at 40 indicators to gauge the lives of children in 21 economically advanced nations -- the first study of its kind -- and found Britain's children were among the poorest and most neglected.
Children's charities and opposition politicians described the findings as "shameful" and accused Prime Minister Tony Blair's government of failing a generation of children.
Britain lagged behind on key measures of poverty and deprivation, happiness, relationships, and risky or bad behavior, the study showed.
It scored a little better for education but languished in the bottom third for all other measures, giving it the lowest overall placing, along with the United States.
Children's happiness was rated highest in northern Europe, with the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark leading the list.
"All countries have weaknesses that need to be addressed and no country features in the top third of the rankings for all six dimensions," said David Bull, UNICEF UK's executive director.
The study found there was no consistent relationship between a country's wealth, as measured in gross domestic product per capita, and a child's quality of life.
The Czech Republic, for example, achieved a higher overall ranking than economically wealthier France.
'SHAMEFUL'
Colette Marshall, UK director of charity Save the Children, said the report was a "shameful" verdict on Britain.
"Despite the UK's wealth, we are failing to give children the best possible start in life," she said in a statement.
She said "drastic action", including an injection of 4.5 billion pounds, was needed to meet a government target of halving the number of children in poverty by 2010.
A government spokeswoman said the data in the report -- mainly taken from 2000 to 2003 -- was not up to date and that reforms introduced through the "Every Child Matters" initiative had improved child welfare.
There were 700,000 fewer children living in relative poverty than in 1998/99, and the overall number living in absolute poverty had been halved, she said.
But the Child Poverty Action Group said the report was "an important reminder that we need to go further, faster" and the chief executive of the Children's Society, Bob Reitemeier, described it as "very worrying" for Britain.
George Osborne, Treasury spokesman for the opposition Conservative Party, said the report was a damning indictment of the policies of Blair and his finance minister and likely successor Gordon Brown.
"After ten years of his welfare and education policies, our children today have the lowest well-being in the developed world," he said. Brown had "failed this generation of children and will fail the next if he's given a chance," Osborne said.

Excuses, excuses. Are not all children created equal in the Free World?

Australia fares badly in UN report on children (click on)

AUSTRALIAN children grow up in poorer households, are more likely to die in their first year of life and suffer more fatal injuries than children in many of the world's other rich nations.
A comprehensive UNICEF report on children in more than 20 "economically advanced" countries shows that nearly 10 per cent of young Australians live in households where no adult is employed — the highest rate of all OECD countries except Hungary.
On a combined measure of infant mortality rates, immunisation and accidental deaths, Australian children were 14th out of 25 nations. Though infant mortality rates have fallen, the report shows that for every 1000 live births in Australia nearly five babies will die before their first birthday — placing Australia 16th on the list.
Australian Medical Association president Dr Mukesh Haikerwal said the appalling standard of health among indigenous Australian children overshadowed the high standards set in other areas of infant care.

February 13, 2007

Westwego, Louisiana

Tornado hits New Orleans area, kills 1, injures 29

February 13, 2007

Westwego, Louisiana

Story continues. Click on entry title above.

By MARY FOSTER The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The cruel twister punished Stella Chambers for her patience and perserverance.
The 85-year-old woman was almost out of her government-issued trailer. Only one utility hookup remained before she could once again live in her modest red brick home that had taken a year-and-a-half to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.
But the tornado — apparently one of two that tore a long, wide swath of destruction across the New Orleans area early Tuesday — flattened her rebuilt house in the city's Gentilly neighborhood and her trailer, killing her.

Seven Deaths Blamed On Severe Cold Weather

February 12, 2007

Blue Hill, Maine

Photographer states :: Frozen torrent

From the link above

February 6, 2007 10:27 a.m. EST
Mary K. Brunskill - All Headline News Staff Writer
Milwaukee, WI (AHN) - The cold wave stretching from the northern Plains states through New England has resulted in at least seven deaths. Authorities reported that the cold contributed to two deaths in Kentucky, two in Michigan, one each in Ohio and Illinois and one in Maryland.
AP reports that Lt. Eric Burnett, a Montgomery County police spokesman, said Annie Mae Anderson, 81, of Silver Spring, Md., was found dead Monday in a wooded area behind the house she shared with her brother.
Anderson, who suffered from dementia, was found about 12 hours after she was reported missing. She was not wearing a coat and appeared to have died from exposure to the cold.
About 90,000 children in Milwaukee did not have to go to school on Tuesday, and many schools in New York, including the 34,000-student Rochester district, remained closed.
The National Weather Service reported rises in some of the most severely affected areas of country, including Grand Forks, ND, which was 5 below at 7 am Tuesday. On Monday it hit a record low of 31 below zero.
The northern Minnesota town of Hallock, which hit 38 below zero Monday, reported a reading of 9 below Tuesday morning.
However, some regions of the U.S. are still reporting extreme temperatures, such as International Falls, MN, where it was 29 below Tuesday morning.

Click on for 12 hour loop

February 14, 2007

1430z

The GOES East Satellite by UNISYS. Thank you, UNISYS.

How is the air movement facilitated from the Arctic Circle to the lower latitudes of Earth? By the North Atlantic Vortex. That's how. This is called Human Induced Global Warming and it is killing people.

Click on for animation

February 14, 2007

1219 gmt

The Atlantic Ocean

The 'air masse' displacement is obvious and come off the Arctic Circle, across northeast North America.

The temperatures currently over Canada.

This is stated to be the current temperature map from "The Weather Network"

That would make the date February 14, 2007 @ 1004 EDT

The obvious realization is that I am correct about the 'heat transfer' from the western Pacific. The temperatures approaching British Columbia are temperate and well above zero in the northwest USA. The temperatures going north are still not impressive realizing the very north of Canada is -30 defrees Centigrade.

In realizing that then where is the cold blast coming from over eastern North America?

NORTH - Canada's North on the front line of incredible climatic change: Temperatures in the Western Arctic are among the fastest rising on Earth

The northwest wind has picked up, sending waves crashing on to the gravel spit that helps protect this remote community on the edge of the Arctic Ocean.
By early evening, the water is rolling right over the spit, and a little more of Jackie Jacobson's townsite is swallowed by the sea.
"We need to get some rock to protect that point, otherwise I'm going to have three-or four-foot rollers coming into town," says Jacobson, the mayor of Tuktoyaktuk, the most northern community on the Canadian mainland.
Tuk, as it's commonly known, has the distinction of being one of the Canadian communities most threatened by the climate change already transforming Canada's North. It is eating away at the region's buildings, roads and runways, and damaging the fundamentals of entire communities and ecosystems.
Temperatures in Canada's Western Arctic are among the fastest rising on Earth. The impact is being measured in everything from thinning polar ice to increasing use of gravel and de-icer at northern airports -- 10 times more to cope with freezing rain that used to fall as snow in Inuvik, according to one report.
Schools and houses are heaving as the ground melts, as are wastes that were supposed to stay locked in the frozen ground. Ice roads, critical supply lines in much of the North, are turning to mush weeks earlier than in the past, throwing a wrench into multimillion-dollar industrial and government projects and interrupting travel and delivery to isolated towns.
Northerners pride themselves on being adaptable. But many echo John Keogak, an Inuvialuit hunter from Banks Island, N.W.T., when he says the change is happening "too fast."
"Our children have nothing to depend on," says Keogak, who has raised six children in the tiny village of Sachs Harbour, where musk oxen meat and Arctic char are staples on the dinner table. The local people's lifestyle, he says, is literally melting away.
Scientists now predict the Arctic could be ice-free in the summer months by 2050, give or take 30 years. When it happens, it will be the first ice-free summer in a million years.
Some scoff at the scientists and their ominous predictions.
"I don't believe them, I think they are talking too fast," says 22-year-old Warren Esau, who accompanied Keogak from Sachs Harbour to Tuktoyaktuk for a recent conference that tried to bridge the gaps between scientists studying climate change, policy-makers and northerners.
Charting climate change is a major industry, attracting hundreds of researchers and graduate students to the North each year. They come to examine how carbon migrates through ice, how shrubs are growing on the tundra, and what it all means to the "global carbon budget."
It's largely a southern agenda, says Andrew Applejohn, director of the Aurora Research Institute in Inuvik, which issues research licences and helps visiting researchers with logistics. And he would like northerners to have a lot more say in the kind of research done.
More emphasis should be placed on tangibles such as roads, buildings and energy alternatives that could be critical to the survival of Arctic communities on the front line of climate change, says Applejohn, who is angry with the federal government for refusing to fund his institute's wind project in remote Arctic communities.
"If there is any part of Canada where wind energy would pay for itself, it's the North," says Applejohn, noting it can cost $1.50 a litre for the diesel fuel used to generate electricity here.
Communities also need help dealing with the social and ecological change barrelling toward them.
"It's all talk, no action," says Jacobson, rolling his eyes when asked about the federal government's long-promised northern adaptation strategy, which is expected this fall.
Jacobson says he doesn't need more reports and consultation; what he needs is to hold back the rising sea.
Tuktoyaktuk sits on the edge of the sprawling Mackenzie Delta, on land that is little more than an enormous dirty ice cube -- permafrost hundreds of metres thick composed of frozen water, sand and mud.
The icy ground comes in handy -- the town has a remarkable "ice house" 10 metres underground that has 19 rooms to keep fish, whale and caribou frozen until people need it. But it is no match for the Beaufort Sea, which is fast eroding the spits and islands protecting Tuktoyaktuk and its harbour.
Jacobson is not exaggerating about the threat of four-foot waves rolling into town. Much of Tuktoyaktuk already floods in severe storms.
"In high water, our pool becomes part of the Beaufort," he says. Storm surges can raise sea level here more than two metres in a matter of hours, flooding the community pool, the dump and low-lying roads and fields.
Rising temperatures and sea level are expected to make the situation much worse. Gavin Manson and Steve Solomon of the Geological Survey of Canada predict the sea will rise 31 centimetres by 2050 (and 76 cm by 2100) if global warming unfolds as predicted, enough to cause much more extensive flooding during severe storms.
"My house will be underwater," Jacobson says. So will key stretches of the access road to the airport.
While relocation has been raised as an option for Tuktoyaktuk, people in the close-knit community of 1,000 say they are not interested in moving.
"This is our home," says Jacobson, a father of five who runs a shipping business and also serves as an Arctic Ranger who helps patrol the North.
One of his top priorities this summer was to get a load of rock barged in to shore up the fast-eroding north spit.
He is also looking for $15 million from the federal and territorial governments for a 22-kilometre road to higher ground.
"It would give us a back door," says Jacobson.
There is plenty of competition for those dollars as the changing climate plays havoc with the region's infrastructure.
"Roads and airstrips across the Western Arctic are sagging, cracking and deteriorating as the changing regional climate slowly melts the underlying permafrost," says a recent Environment Canada report. Roadbeds have sunk by as much as a metre and some shoulders have washed away. Stretches of the road from Yellowknife to Fort Providence were so bad they were rerouted over more stable permafrost.
Airstrips are not easily moved, and repairs are elaborate and costly. One sagging stretch of runway in Yellowknife was dug up, and the four-metre hole in the permafrost was reinforced with foam, sand, special liners and crushed rock. When ice roads fail, air delivery is often the only option.
The Diavik Diamond Mine came up with the most novel and costly work-around to date. In May, the company hired the world's largest helicopter, an enormous Russian Mi26, to airlift its stranded heavy equipment to its mine 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife when the ice road failed to freeze thick enough last winter.
The weather has changed so much Koegak and other hunters report they are losing their ability to read the sea ice they have safely navigated for decades. They also worry about changes in animals' behaviour and numbers.
Herds of barren land caribou have crashed by as much as 80 per cent since the late 1980s, and beavers, deer, grizzlies and red foxes are moving north.
Musk oxen skeletons still litter Banks Island, a reminder of freak storms two years ago that coated much of the island in ice. It made it impossible for the animals to get at the lichens they needed to survive the winter; biologists estimate close to 20,000 musk oxen died, almost a third of the island's herd.
The prognosis for the Arctic's top predator is not good. Polar bears, which live on and hunt from the now-thinning sea ice, will have trouble surviving in an ice-free Arctic. But viruses, bacteria and parasites may thrive.
Ole Nielsen, a federal marine mammal specialist, worries dolphins and pilot whales may show up in northern waters carrying distemper viruses. Arctic creatures like belugas and narwhales have no natural immunity to such viruses, says Neilson. He likens the threat to the way Europeans spread smallpox around the globe in the 1800s.
Contaminants and heavy metals such as the neurotoxin mercury are another concern. Mercury levels in Western
Arctic belugas have climbed since 1990, and federal scientist Gary Stern suspects the mercury is washing out of melting permafrost.
Waste dumps in the vast Mackenzie Delta, which is rich in both wildlife and fossil fuels, are also leaking.
Close to 150 "sumps," some almost as big as football fields, have been carved out of the permafrost by oil and gas companies to store drill waste that can contain high concentrations of potassium chloride salt. Many sumps from the 1970s have collapsed, or started to fail, releasing potassium chloride into the environment, says federal environmental scientist Steven Kokelj.
He is also documenting with his colleagues how permafrost is warming and the treeline is moving north in response to the record-breaking weather.
"I've been working up here 10 years and this was the first August in the field that we haven't had any snow," says Kokelj.
Source: CanWest News Service - Margaret Munro

Click for 12 hour loop

February 14, 2007

1430 Z

Water Vapor Satellite

The hot west Pacific tropical air is pushed, by the vortex, literally over top of British Columubia, Canada on it's way to resolution over the Arctic Ocean.

Click on to animate

February 14, 2007

1418 gmt

The North Pacific

There it is. There is the vortex. The supercell as some would say. It's carrying the heat from the western equatorial Pacific to the Arctic Circle.

I don't lie.

Click on to animate

February 14, 2007

1418 gmt

West Pacific Ocean

What difference does this make to the severe cold weather in the USA? This 'heat' that is primarily equatorial as the sun migrates north is being directed over the Arctic Circle and sending the cold air down around the planet to lower latitudes.