What the Republicans are saying - energy.

"Energy Independence in Ten Years"

The McCain plan is the same as the Cheney National Energy Policy. McCain continues with all the same fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal. McCain also believes in building more nuclear plants.

There is no difference between McCain's plan and that of Cheney's Energy Committee. There was call for alternatives in Cheney's plan as well, but, just as with McCain it is not the focus of change in the nation's energy strategy.

McCain's misguided carbon policy (click here)

Monday September 08 2008
John McCain's plan to cut carbon emissions will simply increase profits for America's biggest polluters

After eight years of inaction, carbon emissions policy may finally take a reality-based turn. Both Republican senator John McCain and Democratic senator Barack Obama have proposed "cap-and-trade" (CAT) plans. While McCain's running mate, Alaska governor Sarah Palin, recently declared she doesn't believe climate change is "man-made", I'll assume that McCain continues to support his plan....

Aerial Hunting compliments of Novice Governor Sarah Palin

..."Sarah Palin's positions against America's wildlife could put her to the right of even the Bush administration," said Schlickeisen. "She is a promoter of one of our nation's most ugly and cruel wildlife hunting programs and Americans deserve to know her views on such matters before they vote."

With the larger image, peripheral 'mini' vortices can be noted. Possibly tornadoes.

Ike slams Cuba, Haiti death toll passes 600
September 9, 2008 - 2:34AM


September 8, 2008
1930z
UNISYS Water Vapor hemisphere satellite (12 hour loop here)

Hurricane Ike assaulted Cuba on Monday with torrential rain and gale-force winds demolishing houses, crushing crops and threatening Havana after killing 61 people in Haiti, where a series of vicious storms has triggered a crisis.
Cuba carried out mass evacuations of residents and tourists before Ike -- the second hurricane to slam the island in just over a week -- made landfall Sunday night at Cabo Lucrecia in the east, pounding buildings along the coast with seven-meter (23-foot) waves and flooding coastal villages.
More than 1.5 million people were moved away from coastal areas in eastern and central Cuba and more than 9,000 foreign tourists were evacuated from the resort of Varadero east of Havana, officials said, as the storm tore a reckless path down to Cuba's southern coast before churning towards the capital.
Civil defense forces put Havana, a city of 2.2 million people where thousands of centuries-old building pose a hazard, on full hurricane alert ahead of an anticipated major hit on the city Tuesday.
Ike's devastation followed widespread destruction wrought by Hurricane Gustav which charged into western Cuba August 30 and destroyed or severely damaged 140,000 homes and buildings.
"In all of Cuba's history, we have never had two hurricanes this close together," lamented the head of Cuba's meteorological service, Jose Rubiera, on state television.
At 1500 GMT, the center of the storm was about 70 kilometers (45 miles) southwest of Camaguey and 465 kilometers (290 miles) southeast of Havana, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
With sustained winds near 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour, it was moving west at 22 kilometers (14 miles) per hour, with a turn northwest forecast later in the day.
Rubiera meanwhile reported that Ike's eye had moved out over the Caribbean Sea off the central province of Ciego de Avila, where it could regain force before making landfall again.
Hours earlier Ike sent huge waves spraying the tops of five-storey buildings in Baracoa, where hundreds of homes were destroyed.
"I have never seen anything like this," said one Baracoa resident of 57 years.
In Holguin, Ike washed away homes and power lines and trampled crops, according to local reports.
"It's raining heavily here and power has been cut since early at night," Alvaro Cruz, a resident of the city, told AFP by telephone.
With Ike weakening slightly as it made landfall, the NHC downgraded Ike to a category two storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale. But it threatened to ramp up again off Cuba's southern coast Monday.
It is then forecast to cross the island on a northwest track and into the Gulf of Mexico sometime Tuesday and train its sights on the US Gulf Coast, where much of the oil produced and consumed by the United States is refined.
The New York crude oil futures contract edged up 71 cents to 106.94 from the opening bell Monday, with an analyst attributing the gain to concern about the storm.
Ike plowed across the Turks and Caicos Saturday as a category four storm, causing injuries and extensive damage on the British territory and tourist haven.
It also raked the Bahamas island of Great Inagua, forcing many of its 1,000 people to seek emergency refuge and jeopardizing tens of thousands of West Indian flamingos.
Worst-affected is Haiti , where four storms in three weeks have killed more than 600 people and left hundreds of thousands in desperate need of food, clean water and shelter.
Officials continued aid operations in the flood-stricken town of Gonaives, where hundreds died in devastating floods from Tropical Storm Hanna.
Another 61 people perished in Haiti, including 57 in the village of Cabaret near Port-au-Prince, in flooding caused by Ike, officials said. Many of the victims were children younger than seven, they said.
"What has happened here is unimaginable," member of parliament Pierre-Gerome Valcine told AFP from Cabaret, 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of the capital.
Hundreds of bodies were found in Gonaives, a town of 350,000 in northwestern Haiti, after a five-meter (16-foot) wall of water and mud engulfed much of the town.
UN peacekeepers on Saturday evacuated several thousand residents from Gonaives, a local official said, but thousands more are still awaiting relief.
More stormy weather hampered relief efforts Sunday. Heavy rains brought down a key bridge which severed the only viable land route to Gonaives, forcing trucks loaded with emergency supplies to turn back.

My family did not have these issues and now we are being required to pay for the faux economy that floated Bush's Re-election.

Why is it, that the people in the USA that saw through the irresponsiblity of so many now have to be part of the solution?

This is outrageous!

...``This is a disaster for anyone who bought the stock,'' said Jack Ablin, who helps manage $65 billion as chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. ``Based on what we know so far it seems like the stock is worth virtually nothing.''...

Bush/Cheney/Paulson have just sunk the USA economy. With insoluable debt now and no job market to create 'good paying' jobs; how do you think the newly acquired National Debt is going to resolve?

It won't. That is the best part as far as Paulson is concerned. Because as soon as the USA is so stressed over the debt load left behind by Bush/Cheney, it will be forced to sell all the 'interests' including massive amounts of real estate of all varieties as cheap government surplus auctions.

Except for real estate with prestigue and good local schools, the value of houses will continue to deteriorate. There are too many houses and too few buyers. The exception are places like Boston where 'old money' continues to support a very healthy market place.

It is all a false sense of security, regardless of what Wall Street is doing. No jobs. No purchasing homes. This 'increase' in the stock market is no different than the other 'money grabs' Paulson and Berneke, Bernanke or what ever his name is, put together. They bounce the market for a short run, but, there is nothing sustainable about it.

TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN !!!

Dollar Rises to Highest Since October on Fannie, Freddie Plan (click here)
By Ye Xie and Agnes Lovasz
Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar rose to the highest level since October against the euro as the U.S. government's takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac boosted confidence in financial markets in the world's largest economy.
The U.S. currency also touched the strongest this year versus the Swiss franc after the government vowed to support the two agencies that account for almost half the country's $12 trillion home-loan market. South Korea's won surged the most in a decade on reduced concern that a global credit-market slump would make it difficult for Korean companies to pay their debts....

Cherry Picking the Facts. Shame on everyone. I mean really now. McCain wants to come across as honest. The Commander and Chief of all C&Cs.

Then lets speak the ENTIRE truth, shall we?

When McCain and Palin appeared at a rally whereby she stated Barak agreed with the surge, she took it completely out of context. But, hey, cut her a break, she only read what was handed her.

I never thought I'd hear O'Reilly actually ADMIT that al Qaeda showed up in Iraq after the illegal and immoral invasion into Iraq, but, he did. He qualified the question to Barak with the statement, "...the Al Qaeda came there after we invaded, as you know....". Do you believe that? Bill O'Reilly actually ADMITTED as a lead in to a question with Barak that al Qaeda did not exist in Iraq before the Bush/Cheney invasion.

Is that what Palin said? No. She structured her words as if Barak Obama were making a new revelation. That isn't what Barak did. He praised the 'work' of the USA soldiers in the field. He didn't agree that the surge was a good idea, but, he stated due to the good work of the soldiers under orders, there was a 'quieting' of the area.

That is what he said. As a side note, there were a lot of civilians killed in Iraq, so just because there was an increase in troops that resulted in lesser street violence, doesn't mean it was achieved in a way that benefited anyone except Bush/Cheney and the USA military in reducing casualities. That is for history to tell after the USA is deployed out of Iraq.

As a matter of fact The Surge was an abject failure when it is noted that the political circumstances of Iraq, which was supposed to blossom with The Surge, is still in shambles. Okay? As recently as a few days ago, the Iraqi military was chased out of Kurdistan. So The Surge is a failure in the goal it was supposed to obtain.

But that isn't what completely astounds me about this revelation.

...All right. Let's go to Iraq. I think history will show it's the wrong battlefield, OK? And I think that you were perspicacious in your original assessment of the battlefield.

OBAMA: I appreciate that.

O'REILLY: I think you were desperately wrong on the surge, and I think you should admit it to the nation that now we have defeated the terrorists in Iraq, and the Al Qaeda came there after we invaded, as you know. We defeated them.

OBAMA: Right.

O'REILLY: If we didn't, they would have used it as a staging ground. We've also inhibited Iran from controlling the southern part of Iraq by the surge, which you did not support. So why won't you say, "I was right in the beginning. I was wrong about that"?

OBAMA: If you listen to what I've said, and I'll repeat it right here on this show, I think that there's no doubt that the violence is down. I believe that that is a testimony to the troops that were sent and General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. I think that the surge has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated, by the way, including President Bush and the other supporters. It has gone very well, partly because of the Anbar situation and the Sunni awakening, partly because of the Shia military. Look...

O'REILLY: But if it were up to you, there wouldn't have been a surge....

What is completely obvious is that Reilly admitted the war into Iraq was wrong. Completely and without reservation, the war was wrong. How did he admit that? By stating the circumstances in Iraq worsened with the arrival of al Qaeda after Bush/Cheney invaded a country that was of no consequence to the national security of the USA.

Now, come on. If O'Reilly is willing to state al Qaeda manifested after the invasion, he is also admitting there was a lot wrong with that invasion, including anarchy, ethnic civil wars and we could go on and on. Reilly admitted Iraq's circumstances got worse.

What does that mean?

That means Barak Obama's vote against the invasion is profound. McCain voted to wage an unnecessary war that even O'Reilly admits worsened the circumstances of the Iraqis after the invasion.

Simply put.

Barah Obama has far more insight into foreign affairs and especially where it comes to war.

McCain and Palin owe Barak Obama an apology for victimizing him for his depth of insight in his vote to oppose the invasion.

The NEW Republican Celebrity - Palin for President

And why shouldn't she be.

She is a living SOAP Opera. Macho man, Todd. Illegitimate pregnancies and more to come. She can field dress a moose in the time it takes to boil water. Beats "Days of our Lives" hands down.

So, Ms. Celebrity Supermom didn't go back to Alaska to see her son off (click here).

The very sad thing is she can't seem to keep her facts straight.

She is deceptive.

As a matter of fact, she and McCain owe Barak Obama an apology.

There is a disparity in the media of coverage of Joe Biden. Why? Because the Repubs are scared of Joe !

The Repubs are scared of The Truth !!!

Triple Soaker. First Florida got all wet with Gustav, now comes Hanna, followed by Ike.

September 5, 2008
1730z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite

There was one newspaper headline that caught my attention this morning. From the Boston Globe.

What choice does he have? If McCain were ever to be elected he would face a House and Senate with clear Democratic majorities and then where would we be?

A pledge of bipartisanship (click title to entry)
McCain hits GOP lapses, vows end to old ways in Washington
ST. PAUL - Senator John McCain, returning to the themes that saved his once flailing presidential quest, last night accepted the Republican nomination with a promise to shake up Washington with a bipartisan strategy and patriotic flair, warning political stalwarts that "change is coming."...

Forces align against Republicans in Senate races (click here)
...Democrats have solid chances of winning five seats, according to strategists in both parties and public polls, and realistic shots at picking off another three to five Republican senators. Republicans have only one good opportunity for replacing a Democrat, in Louisiana....

And that article is from USA Today, a primarily conservative paper. Across the board, most polls show a change in Democratic leadership in the Senate by anywhere from 5 seats to as many as 9 seats.

No matter which way one looks at it, a Republican in the White House is a huge mistake. It would mean four more years of Bush policies no matter what. The current RNC is hoping they will maintain control of enough seats in both houses so there lacks a 60% concensus.

And don't tell me John McCain isn't another George Bush. He is playing 'the sympathy' vote of his warrior status in order to have people believe he is telling the truth about being a Maverick.

Did he pick an extremists from the Religious Right as a Vice President?

Yeah.

Did he reveal a side of himself no one knew existed?

Yeah.

Never in my wildest imagination would I expect John McCain to be so blantantly bias in his choices when exhibiting religious preference. And in 25 years, if he wanted a true Maverick status he could have achieved it.

The speakers at the RNC convention repeatedly called for the spread of a religious 'state' making it '...truly a nation under God.' Religion is a personal preference, not a national policy. Its out of the question.

This article was back in March. The Republicans gave up then in dreaming about returning their majority. Now, today, they are not only behind by two seats, but, slipping fast.

Senate Majority No Longer Republicans' Goal (click here)
With Democrats leading in polls and the national mood going against Republicans, Senator Ensign's goal has changed
By Katherine Skiba
Posted March 14, 2008
The battle cry of the Republican Party is "Two seats to capture the Senate." But Nevada Sen. John Ensign, who is leading the charge for the GOP, now concedes the party may not win the fight, particularly after two prospective candidates he had hoped to recruit—one in New Jersey, one in South Dakota— refused to sign up for the struggle. "Realistically, we have a very, very slim chance of getting back into the majority," says Ensign, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "That's not even our goal anymore. Our [numeric] goal is to hold as close to where we are as possible." Democrats control the chamber by a narrow majority, 51 to 49....

And this is a poll regarding the USA House elections from February 2008, which shows a 55% majority.

Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research (click here)
Democrats Lead in 2008 U.S. House Election
February 16, 2008
Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The Democratic Party holds the upper hand in the early stages of the United States House of Representatives ballot, according to a poll by Gallup released by USA Today. 55 per cent of respondents would vote for the Democratic candidate in their congressional district, while 41 per cent would back the Republican....

Americans want change. They are reaching for it everywhere one looks. There won't be change if there is a Republican Executive Branch and Democratic Legislature. And to realize the people McCain would place in his Cabinet and in top spots in appointments of the Executive Branch considering his Veep choice is simply a nightmare. We just can't risk any chance on McCain. He isn't a Maverick, he's unpredictable.

The USA can't afford any mistakes this election cycle. We need profound change and we need it now.

Obama is the only clear choice for improving the circumstances of the USA. With a clear majority in the House and Senate and a breath of fresh air in the White House, the country can initiate the sweeping changes it has longed for since 2006 !

From Bad to Worse: Unemployment Rate Hits Working Americans Across the Spectrum (click here)
Unemployed workers look for job opportunities at the California Employment Development Department Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008, in Los Angeles. The Labor Department reported today that August unemployment rate soared to a five-year high of 6.1 percent. Employers cut some 84,000 jobs, marking the eighth straight month of contraction in payrolls.

Enough !

Judge Credits Ex-Washington Power Broker for His Cooperation in Wide-Ranging Corruption Probe

The red circle in the picture is Jack Abramoff waiting to speak with Georgie. Does the entire country need to be reminded of the corruption of this administration ? The corruption of the Republicans? If you let one in the front door, there are a million others waiting at the back door.

Republicans in Congress are not about to 'give up' their corrupt social network. Ain't no way.

The investigations and indictments since being conducted now, are a result of the elections of 2006, NOT, the efforts of John McCain. The investigations into Abramoff's Network is only beginning.

People convicted in the Abramoff investigation (click here)
By The Associated Press – 12 minutes ago
Lawmakers, lobbyists, Bush administration officials, congressional staffers and businessmen caught up in the Jack Abramoff public corruption probe:
_Abramoff was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion. Since pleading guilty in 2006, the once-powerful lobbyist has cooperated with the federal investigation of influence-peddling in Washington. He is nearly two years into a six-year prison sentence in a criminal case out of Florida, where he pleaded guilty in January 2006 to charges of conspiracy, honest services fraud and tax evasion in the purchase of gambling cruise boats....

...Mark Zachares, former aide to Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, pleaded guilty to conspiracy. He acknowledged accepting tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts and a golf trip to Scotland from Abramoff's team in exchange for official acts on the lobbyist's behalf....

...Meantime, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) was trying to hang on to the chance to defeat his seat in the fall. However, with 70.5 percent of precincts reporting, he trailed Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell by 232 votes....(click here)

Palin's Lobbyist Has Abramoff Ties (click here)
By Kate Klonick and Zachary Roth - September 2, 2008, 1:01PM
It looks like Sarah Palin's claim to represent a cleaner brand of politics could be about to take a bruising.
The Washington Post reports today that, while Mayor of Wasilla, Palin oversaw the hiring of a lobbyist, Steven Silver -- a former chief of staff to now-indicted GOP senator Ted Stevens -- to help win federal earmarks for the city....

Palin's Small Alaska Town Secured Big Federal Funds (click here)
By Paul Kane

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, September 2, 2008; Page A01
ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 1 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog group.

There was $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for a rail project -- all intended to benefit Palin's town, Wasilla, located about 45 miles north of Anchorage....

Listed as one of McCain's most sought after opinions, rather than the Joint Chiefs...

...which more or less explains the vast number of Retired Generals during the Bush/Cheney Administration that McCain threw in with. I mean why stay on as a General with significant rank only to be kicked around by field Commanders?


This is an Iraqi police/infantryman. So, what is the issue already? More deserters ?

Petraeus: No Major Iraq Troop Drawdown in '08 (click at title to entry)
General to Recommend Reduction of Only 1,500 Marines for Now
By JONATHAN KARLSept. 4, 2008
Gen. David Petraeus has recommended against any significant reduction of U.S. forces in Iraq before the end of the year, ABC News has learned.
The only drawdown Petraeus has called for, according to a senior military official familiar with his recommendation, is a modest reduction of two Marine battalions, or about 1,500 Marines, a tiny fraction of the 146,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq.
Under Petraeus's plan, the number of combat brigades -- which now stands at 15 -- would remain unchanged until next January at the earliest....




Now, why, if "The Surge" worked would it be necessary to continue to OCCUPY, Iraq?





We don't belong in Iraq.





We never did !

It is difficult at times to realize what 'Surge' McCain and Palin are discussing. The one that killed thousands more Iraqis...

... without a political solution.

Or.

The surge that killed so many Americans.

Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a victim to his own government's neglect. (click here for video)

The Repentant Dick Cheney. He couldn't send in the Marines, so he decided to make amends through economic improvements in Georgia.

Now.

If Condi Rice can manage to find her way to Russia and negotiate a peace with an understanding of respect for Russian borders, rather than missile shield threats, this entire mess might actually turn out to be a worthwhile venture into Democratic Principles for this administration and Georgia.

Could it be possible for Cheney to actually be a viable Peace Prize candidate rather than a Neocon?

More incredible things have happened.

Palin called everyone other than her supporters a religious bigot and stated her mayorship was more worthy than her governorship.

...I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening....

I guess God knew what he was doing when he decided Moses needed to jot down the ten commandments.

"Thou shalt not kill."

Except of course when your country enters an illegal and immoral war for oil and then its okay.

The speech was on the heels of the Giuliani rant. It was to 'bring to light' the importance of Mayors and why Ms. Palin had such valuable 'experience' that brings her to a national office as if she is actually competent to hold the Vice Presidency.

Sorry, but, being mayor, even of New York City where 'radios failed' and 'caused deaths' is very different than being a Vice President prepared for leadership in the Executive Branch of the USA. Let's face it. Giuliani lost his bid, okay?

Putting up cameras all over Alaska was a 'jobs issue' not a Homeland Security issue and it exploited the needs of a nation to prepare itself for other potential attacks from terrorists actually seeking 'WEAKNESSES' in the USA infrastructure to exploit. Does ANYONE actually think having Ms. Palin in the Vice Presidency isn't a national 'weakness?'

And the zealotry of promoting 'guns and religion' in the same sentence is a little scary.

These guys are religious zealots that seek to define the USA as the world's guardians. We aren't, nor was our government ever conceived in that light.

When the Declaration of Independence stated ... "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another,..."; it wasn't referring to people outside the boundaries of the USA. At the time, there were 13 colonies and they were happy to be free of British domination, okay?

Where in all the struggles of the founding members of our society was there ever an implication that we would in turn invade Britain to free them of unreasonable sovereignty by a monarch? Where did the concept of being the world's liberator come from? It doesn't exist and people like Palin, Cheney and all the others that seek to impose that value on the USA, in the name of National Security are zealots of the worse kind. They have a faux face to the reality of global stability and the right of other people to cling to what they consider precious.

Palin's 'Red Meat' speech was nothing but political rhetoric laced with 'love me tender' values. It was full of hoaxes and inaccuracies and the very nonsense that facilitated the illegal and immoral invasion into Iraq leaving Afghanistan at risk that has since proved fatal to the allies we left behind.

I find her appaulingly brash without reason to believe she is competent. She is nothing but another Richard Cheney in sheep's clothing, proud of the fact that clothing doesn't come from NYC Fifth Avenue. She believes in unending right to gun use, oil at any cost and wars without sound judgement. If that 'ain't' Cheney, then I don't know what is !

Dillingham AK, Homeland Security

Homeland Security in Alaska? (click here)
Surveillance-camera installation in small fishing town causes clash between police, residents.
Date published: 3/13/2006
By ALEX deMARBAN
ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS
DILLINGHAM, Alaska--If Osama bin Laden ever makes a sneak attack on Dillingham, he might be in big trouble.
That's because the quaint fishing community in southwest Alaska, population 2,400, recently installed about 80 surveillance cameras at the port and around town, courtesy of a $202,000 Homeland Security grant.
Anchorage has fewer than 40 cameras to protect its port.
Dillingham Police Chief Richard Thompson, who came up with the idea of applying for the grant, said the cameras could stop terrorism in Southwest Alaska someday. More to the point, they also may put an end to the drinking, deaths and drug deals that go down at the port every summer when the town fills up with commercial fishermen.
If the system prevents even one death, Thompson said, "I don't care what's said about me."
But some townsfolk are outraged. The only thing being captured by the cameras, they said, are their civil liberties. The white, plastic devices, clustered atop poles at the port or perched on four city buildings, feel like the glaring eyes of Big Brother. Some, with dual lenses for different lighting conditions, even resemble storm trooper helmets from "Star Wars."...


Security for the Homeland, Made in Alaska (click here)
By LESLIE WAYNE
Published: August 12, 2004
As the Pentagon shipped thousands of military police to Iraq over the last year, it had to move quickly to replace guards at important installations around the country, including Fort Bragg, N.C., and West Point. So it turned to the private sector and quietly awarded multimillion-dollar contracts without putting out competitive bids.
The winners hailed from Alaskan corporations representing native tribal groups that are uniquely eligible to win Pentagon contracts in unlimited amounts without having to compete against other companies. But perhaps the main beneficiaries were their minority partners, two big security firms, Wackenhut Services and Vance International.
The Pentagon has made no public announcements of the contracts, in which the joint ventures are being paid $194 million to protect 40 properties. If options to extend them are exercised, the contracts' value could reach $500 million,...


Security Grants Still Streaming to Rural States (click here)
By DEAN E. MURPHY
Published: October 12, 2004
ANCHORAGE, Oct. 10 - In the nationwide scramble for domestic security dollars, officials in Alaska are in a predicament that would be the envy of most other states. They must figure out how to spend $2 million in federal money.
The Department of Homeland Security rejected a proposal by Alaska to use the money to buy a jet, but indicated it would be "happy to entertain" further proposals for the $2 million. Officials are now obliging.
One of the nation's least populous states, Alaska is flush with domestic security grants, on a per-resident basis second only to Wyoming and about three times the amount allocated to New York over the past two years.
Money is so readily available that the Northwest Arctic Borough, a desolate area of 7,300 people that straddles the Arctic Circle, recently stocked up on $233,000 worth of emergency radio equipment, decontamination tents, headlamps, night vision goggles, bullhorns - even rubber boots.
Alaska's good fortune highlights what many critics say is a serious failing in the way that America is fighting the battle against terrorism at home. While there is consensus that the threat of an attack should supersede politics as usual, the billions of federal dollars for terrorism preparedness are being doled out to states in much the same way as money for schools, bridges and other routine federal projects....

Arctic Ice Shelves Crumbling Rapidly

September 3, 2008—Canada's polar scientists have had little time for summer vacation this year.
That's because they've been closely monitoring the country's Arctic ice shelves, which have crumbled at an alarming pace over the past few months.
Nearly 23 percent of the total area—more than three times the size of Manhattan—has disappeared since 2007, satellite images show (above).
In July the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf broke apart, followed by the surprise collapse in August of the Markham Ice Shelf, which is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean.
And the recently named Serson Ice Shelf has shrunk by 60 percent—an "incredible" loss, said Derek Mueller, the Roberta Bondar Fellow in Northern and Polar Studies at Trent University in Ontario.
Large swaths of open water surrounding the shelves near the northern coast of Ellesmere Island have allowed breathing room for the ice to disintegrate, Mueller told National Geographic News. (See map.) ...

This is quite an event. Four tropical systems spinning all at once.

Gustav still has a central pressure of 997 millibars and it is still a Tropical Depression this far inland. Interesting. Once these storms establish a water content they'll continue to have vorticity until the water vapor content drops from rainfall. There are still opportunities for tornadoes with this storm.


September 3, 2008
1830z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite

Hanna just can't get enough water vapor off the equator can it. WOW. Talk about thirsty.

I believe I stated when Gustav made landfall, Hanna would accelerate. To that conclusion I want to point to some facts that are rather interesting.

Gustav made landfall as a Cat 2 Hurricane on September 1, 2008 at 10:30 AM EST over Cocodrie, Louisiana. It is pushing a 12 foot (3.6 meter) storm surge. The central pressure of the storm was 955 millibars.

At the very same time, Hanna was building strength into hurricane status. The central pressure of Hanna was 994 millibars and falling. Within 30 minutes Hanna would have a central pressure of 985 millibars and rank as a Cat 1 hurricane, while Gustav was attaining the central pressure of 957 millibars as a low Cat 2 storm and would continue to rise, hence reducing its status to a Cat 1 storm.

This is where it really gets interesting though. Expecting Hanna to accelerate far faster into a greater storm, there was a building turbulence in the storm now known as Ike. Ike manifested into a Tropical Depression at the very time Gustav made landfall, hence blunting the acceleration of Hanna. At the time Gustav made landfall, Ike formed a centeral pressure of 1005 millibars.

Ike maintained a Tropical Depression status until Hanna obtained a central pressure of 983 millibars. At that point Ike became a Tropical Storm with a central pressure of 1000 millibars and Gustav was still decelerating with a central pressure of 966 millibars.

Basically, Earth's troposphere is so hot that even with some cooling occuring with these storms by exchanging heated air for heated water, the elevated warming component of Earth is never really reduced to the place where it was even in the days of Katrina. The year 2005 was a record number of storm, but, none of the storms were as frequent in manifestation as Tropical Depressions and Storms as this season. Earth's cooling capacity is lost and as a result the storms that are appearing in sequence are proof of the chronic heating of Earth's troposphere that is NOT relieved of that heat by these storms as in the past.

Earth's thermostat is broken along with the disappearance of the Arctic Ocean ice as a result of Climate Change due to Human Induced Global Warming.

But to continue, on September 2, 2008 at 0900 gmt, Gustav is increasing its central pressure to 985 and moving from Tropical Strom status to Tropical Depression status, Hanna is now at a central pressure of 978 and within the next thirty minutes will move from a Cat 1 storm to a Tropical Storm status and Ike is maintaining its Tropical Storm status but briefly rises to 1005 central pressure from 1000 millibars. Why is this significant? Because at that very moment, when Gustav, Hanna and Ike were all decelerating another storm would manifest into a Tropical Depression and that is now know as Josephine with a central pressure of 1007.

Getting the picture? It's called oscillation. These storms form and literally react to each other along a continum of heat and tropospheric available water vapor.

What is even more incredible is the 'reach' of these storms to maintain their status and maintain their ability to drive heat into the ocean. In the image above, Hanna is literally pulling 'sparse' tropospheric water vapor from every available source north of the Equator to sustain its presence. Hanna is getting assistance in that dynamic from the vortex over the North Atantic west of the Mid-Atlantic and New England states.

If one doesn't look at the entire dynamics of these system, global systems, it is easy to say "we are having a light hurricane season,' as if nothing is wrong. But, it isn't until the entire global dynamics of Climate Change is taken into consideration that observations relevant to that perspective can be supported.

We are observing a very dangerous and dry troposphere.

Traffic snarls into New Orleans

Traffic comes to stop on the Interstate 10 freeway over Lake Pontchartain between New Orleans and in Slidell, La., Wednesday Sept.. 3, 2008, as residents of New Orleans return home after Hurricane Gustav swept through the city.

(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

The traffic leaving New Orleans was accommodated by open lanes out of the area without allowing traffic to come in. The traffic returning is going to be considerably slower because the access to the city is halfed by the fact that the lanes are again flowing in both directions.

There needs to be a change in the access rate to the city otherwise the problems will compound until everyone is back in their driveways. Then there are the issues of access to driveways and city steets depending on any damage sustained.

My concern is that with other storm potential in the near future, delays and inconvenience will change the willingness of people to leave the city in the first place.

All checkpoints lifted, city reopens

What's going on with trash and debris cleanup (clean up)
by The Times-Picayune
Wednesday September 03, 2008, 2:17 PM
FRENCH QUARTER
-- Public works departments and private garbage haulers across New Orleans are already clearing streets littered with tree limbs, marquees, light poles and power lines.
-- Trucks with wood chippers caravaned along Interstate 610.
-- SDT waste trucks were out cleaning up debris and sweeping streets in the French Quarter Tuesday morning.
-- Outside of Harrah's Casino, workers trimmed back palm trees.

Unexpected consequence of Hurricane Gustav

Sick baby dies in Texas after family fled Gustav (click here)
By ANGELA K. BROWN – 11 hours ago
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — A couple who fled the New Orleans area in advance of Hurricane Gustav will have to return home without their 7-month-old daughter, who died of a rare genetic disorder after becoming stricken at an amusement park.
Kaitlynn Foret suddenly stopped breathing at Six Flags Over Texas on Monday and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was later pronounced dead....
... Vidal said she does not regret evacuating their Harvey, La., home. Her daughter's death, while an unexpected tragedy, could have happened anywhere, she said.
"Right now, I just can't believe it," said Jason Foret, Vidal's fiance and the baby's father. "One minute she was here — the next minute, she was gone."

Anyone ever notice the skeptics are primarily Oil Folks. "Palin questions global warming science"

Sarah Palin with one of her daughters posing with a caribou she shot in Alaska.

Picture: AP

...Last month, the state of Alaska under Palin's guidance sued Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in an attempt to reverse his decision to list polar bears as a threatened species. Palin said that scientists' predictions that global warming would eliminate the ice where the bears live in summer were unreliable.

Arctic sea ice shrank to a record low by the end of last summer, and satellites now show that the ice has been reduced to a level very close to last year's with some days remaining before a new winter season begins.

The Anchorage Daily News reported in May that the head of the marine mammals program for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and two other marine mammal biologists on his staff agreed with nine studies the Federal Government cited to justify listing polar bears as a threatened species....

This is the way McCain chooses a Vice President?

Is McCain taking this nomination seriously? I mean for real. He has said odd things such as, "We are just having fun" and now this mess. Did he ever expect to be a serious candidate after Bush/Cheney ravaged the nation and its assets?

...A Republican with ties to the McCain campaign said the team of a dozen communications operatives and lawyers assigned to vet Palin in Alaska had not arrived there until last Friday - a day before presidential nominee Senator John McCain announced her as his running mate.
McCain had his first interview with her on the Friday and "offered her the job moments later", the newspaper said....