Russia-Canada Coop in Arctic Ocean Ready

The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Ice Chime) is amazingly frigid, but, considering there was an Arctic Blast that closed of an entire city in Canada, it's not a surprise:


Gustavus, Alaska

Elevation :: 33 ft / 10 m

Temperature :: 9 °F / -13 °C

Conditions :: Scattered Clouds

Humidity :: 79%

Dew Point :: 3 °F / -16 °C

Wind :: Calm

Pressure :: 30.23 in / 1024 hPa

Visibility :: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers

UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds:
Scattered Clouds 1200 ft / 365 m
(Above Ground Level)


Moscow, Dec 2 (Prensa Latina) Russia-Canada cooperation agreements signed this week to develop transport infrastructure and exploit other resources in the Arctic Glacial Ocean are of great importance, a well-known political scientist said in this capital on Sunday.
The director of the International Research Center of the US-Canada Studies Institute, Anatoli Utkin, considered that the economic impact of transport of freights between the Russian harbor of Murmansk and the Canadian Churchill will be positive.
Flight schedules agreed during the visit to Canada of Russian Prime Minister Víctor Zubkov will also contribute to the considerable increase of commercial exchange, emphasized Utkin.
The parties decided to boost investments in the gas field and jointly exploit natural resources, such as silver and uranium.

Australia steals show at Bali climate talks

A Greenpeace activist dressed in a polar bear costume hugs a globe in sweltering heat outside the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Nusa Dua, Bali island December 3, 2007. REUTERS/Supri




A view the opening ceremony of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Nusa Dua, Bali, December 3, 2007. REUTERS/Murdani Usman




An armed Indonesian policeman stands guard in front of a U.N. Climate Change Conference billboard in Nusa Dua, Bali island December 2, 2007. Delegates from about 190 nations gathered in Bali on Sunday to try to build on a fragile understanding that the fight against global warming needs to be expanded to all nations with a deal in 2009.Photograph by : Reuters


Heat on Rudd ahead of visit to Bali climate talks
Marian Wilkinson and Mark Forbes, Nusa Dua, Bali
December 6, 2007
Advertisement
The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, signalled his support for developed countries, including Australia, agreeing to making deep cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions in the next 12 years.
In a significant move last night the Australian delegation to the UN climate talks stated it "fully supports" the proposal that developed countries need to cut their greenhouse gas emission by 25 to 40% by 2020.
The public statement came after China and Indonesia demanded at the UN climate change talks in Bali yesterday that developed nations who have ratified the Kyoto Protocol stick to this understanding reached earlier this year.
Last night Australia publicly aligned itself with the nations under the Kyoto Protocol that have agreed to consider these cuts, distancing the new Rudd Government further from the US position. Saying Australia "fully supports" the position, the delegation said Australia was, "happy to proceed on this basis".

http://www.theage.com.au/news/climate-watch/heat-on-rudd-ahead-of-visit-to-bali-climate-talks/2007/12/05/1196812829394.html


Scientists issue declaration at Bali
International researchers put their names to a proposal for emissions cuts.
Narelle Towie
More than 200 international climate scientists issued a declaration today urging politicians at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali to agree on strong targets for tackling climate change.
Global greenhouse-gas emissions need to be reduced by at least 50% below 1990 levels by 2050, the declaration says. For comparison, the Kyoto Protocol aims for a reduction in developed nations of at least 5% below 1990 levels by 2012.
They declare that the goal "must be to limit global warming to no more than 2 ºC above the pre-industrial temperature". Many countries have already taken this limit as a benchmark figure for attempting to avoid dangerous levels of climate change, which would put millions of people around the world at risk from extreme-weather events.
Drawing on data from the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, they note that to achieve this, greenhouse-gas concentrations need to be stabilized at a level well below 450 parts per million of CO2 equivalents. This could mean peaking at 475 p.p.m. and then going down to 400 p.p.m. over the next 15 years, says co-signatory Matthew England of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
Even aiming for a stable level of 400 p.p.m. means that "we are only giving ourselves a three-quarter chance" of guaranteeing a less than 2 °C rise, says England.
These numbers have all been discussed before (see for example Dangerous climate change). There is still significant uncertainty when it comes to understanding what level of greenhouse-gas cuts would lead to what level of climate change, and scientists concede that there are no guarantees that the targets in this declaration will be sufficient to avoid dangerous consequences.
Some researchers have recently questioned the wisdom of setting firm targets for greenhouse-gas levels, saying it would be more useful to continually adjust targets as time passes and the consequences of our cuts become apparent (see Climate sensitivity inherently unpredictable).
Watch for ongoing news from the UN Climate Conference in Bali in our special .

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071206/full/news.2007.361.html



‘Climate refugees’ seek help in Bali
Inquirer
Last updated 03:10am (Mla time) 12/05/2007
BALI, INDONESIA -- As scientists warn of rising seas from global warming, more and more reports of flooding from unprecedented high tides are coming in from villages like the one on Papua New Guinea’s New Britain island. It’s happening not only to low-lying atolls, but to shorelines from Alaska to India.
This week, by boat, bus and jetliner, a handful of villagers are converging on Bali to seek help from the more than 180 nations gathered at the United Nations’ climate conference. The coastal dwellers’ plight -- once theoretical -- appears all too real in 2007, and is spreading and worsening.
Scientists project that seas expanding from warmth and from the runoff of melting land ice may displace millions of coastal inhabitants worldwide in this century if heat-trapping industrial emissions are not sharply curtailed.
A Europe-based research group, the Global Governance Project, will propose at the two-week Bali meeting that an international fund be established to resettle “climate refugees.”
Summarizing the plight of islanders from Papua New Guinea, Ursula Rakova said: “We don’t have vehicles, an airport. We’re merely victims of what is happening with the industrialized nations emitting ‘greenhouse gases.”’
The sands of Rakova’s islands, the Carteret atoll northeast of Bougainville island, have been giving way to the sea for 20 years. The saltwater has ruined the villagers’ taro gardens, a food staple, and has contaminated their wells and flooded homesteads. The remote islands now suffer from chronic hunger.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view_article.php?article_id=104930

Those are some wicked winds, especially experienced in Honolulu Hawaii

Makiko Kawamoto, right, struggled with a plastic covering, and friend Rie Tarkoro, looking at her camera, experienced the windy weather yesterday at the Pali Lookout.

Storm blasts through state (click here)
Powerful gusts and pounding surf force rescues, shut down ferry service and dim City LightsSTORY SUMMARY »
Hawaii residents and emergency officials held their breaths yesterday as strong winds, big waves and rains battered the islands.
From Kauai to the Big Island, the National Weather Service had Hawaii on high alert until today for high winds and surf and until tomorrow for rain.
Oahu lifeguards rescued three swimmers from waves, and a man was injured seriously when winds apparently knocked down a pole.
The weather yesterday prompted shutdowns of neighbor island parks, city ferry service and Honolulu City Lights.
The city set up emergency shelters mostly on Leeward Oahu.
Strong winds contributed to intermittent power outages and traffic signal failures on the Big Island.



High Winds, Heavy Rains Hit Islands
Forecasters Issue Flash Flood Watch For All Islands
POSTED: 4:10 am HST December 5, 2007
UPDATED: 4:52 pm HST December 5, 2007
HONOLULU -- Strong winds and heavy rains stormed through the islands overnight causing major power outages and fallen trees and utility poles.
The winds reached 78 mph at Schofield Barracks and 58 mph in Kaneohe early on Wednesday morning.
Power was cut to many areas, including the Leeward Oahu, Mililani, parts of Windward Oahu, the North Shore and Kula on Maui.
Officials said 15-20 utility poles fell on Farrington Highway along Oahu's Leeward Coast. Some fell onto businesses, including on two gas stations. Some poles also fell near to houses. One pole crashed through a fence and landed feet away from one home.

http://www.kitv.com/mostpopular/14778899/detail.html

Video:

http://www.kitv.com/video/14785509/index.html


December 6, 2007
1300z
Honolulu, Hawaii Infrared Satellite



NWS Honolulu, HI
Point Forecast: 14 Miles E Honaunau-Napoopoo HI
19.49N -155.62W (Elev. 12398 ft)
Last Update: 2:47 am HST Dec 6, 2007
Forecast Valid: 4am HST Dec 6, 2007-6pm HST Dec 12, 2007

Hazardous weather condition(s):

Blizzard Warning
Flash Flood Watch
Flood Statement
High Wind Warning

Overnight: Occasional snow showers. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 32. Very windy, with a southwest wind around 41 mph, with gusts as high as 75 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible.

Thursday: Occasional snow showers, mainly before noon. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 43. Very windy, with a south wind around 47 mph, with gusts as high as 55 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

Thursday Night: Scattered snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30. Windy, with a south wind around 38 mph, with gusts as high as 46 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

Friday: Snow showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 44. Breezy, with a southwest wind around 28 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Friday Night: Snow showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30. South wind around 18 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.

Saturday: Scattered snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 45. South wind around 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 29. South wind around 16 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?site=hfo&map.x=289&map.y=212



Hawaii Superferry Re-Launch Delayed to Dec. 13 Due to Kahului Harbor DamageHighly (click here)
Unusual Weather and Surge Conditions Damage Kahului Harbor’s Pier 2By Lori Abe, 12/4/2007 7:41:34 PM
HONOLULU, HI – Hawaii Superferry today announced it is delaying the re-launch of service between Maui and Oahu until the state Department of Transporation makes repairs to Kahului Harbor’s Pier 2 mooring bollards. Due to highly unusual weather and surge conditions in Kahului Harbor on Dec. 3, 2007, the state DOT’s barge damaged two mooring bollards on the pier. No structural damage occurred to the pier or barge.
Hawaii Superferry will resume service on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007. When repairs are completed, the Alakai will return to Kahului Harbor before the start of service to realign the vessel with the pier and barge.
All passengers who have booked travel between Dec. 6 and Dec. 12 are being contacted and offered a refund or re-accommodation....

Pond water

December 4, 2007
Chehalis, Washington
Photographer states :: The area I live in has been hit hard with flooding. Here's Chehalis Denny's - and this isn't the first time this restaurant flooded. They are saying it's worse than 1996!


Weekend storm melts snow at ski resorts (click here)
By JENNIFER LANGSTONP-I REPORTER
It was too much to hope that Monday's storm dumped epic amounts of snow on area ski resorts. Instead, it washed newly fallen powder down the mountains.
· Check the P-I snow sports page for the latest conditions on the slopes
At the Mt. Baker Ski Area, which closed Monday but plans to reopen Thursday, base snow levels went from 54 inches to 36 inches in a day.
"We opened last Thursday with absolutely spectacular conditions -- a gorgeously sunny day with beautiful light powder snow. And it seems like a year ago," said Gywn Howat, Mt. Baker's spokeswoman.
Stevens Pass ski area, which plans to open for the first time Thursday with at least some of its lifts, also lost 20 inches of snow after getting blanketed with 4 feet.
"We got a significant amount of snow over the weekend, and it's been melting and consolidating and whatnot since then," said spokesman Chris Rudolph, who said the base depth at Stevens Pass was now 34 inches. "But with the duration of this rain, it's incredible that there's as much snow as there is."
With freezing levels expected to drop Tuesday and Wednesday, ski areas are hoping to eke out an additional 4 to 8 inches of snow before the area dries out.
Efforts to reach Crystal Mountain ski area, which opened briefly over the weekend but closed Monday, were unsuccessful. But the resort's Web site, which listed rainy conditions with a base depth of 42 inches, said a tentative reopening is scheduled for Thursday.
The Summit at Snoqualmie, which decided not to open last weekend because of the imminent storm, plans to assess Wednesday how soon it can start operating.
It has a base depth of 30 inches at Alpental and 28 inches at Summit West, but those numbers don't mean much until they can investigate conditions on the hill, Summit spokesman Guy Lawrence said.
"We'll be going out with a groomer and playing around, really seeing how stable it is underneath and how much we can move around," he said. "Obviously, we'd like to get a weekend started here soon."
SKI REPORTS
For the latest on snow conditions and resort openings, check these Web sites:
Crystal Mountain: skicrystal.com
The Summit at Snoqualmie: summitatsnoqualmie.com/winter/conditions.asp
Stevens Pass: stevenspass.com/Stevens/snowreport.aspx
Mt. Baker Ski Area: mtbaker.us/snowreport/index
White Pass Ski Resort: skiwhitepass.com/conditions/index.html
Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center: nwac.us/forecasts.htm
P-I reporter Jennifer Langston can be reached at 206-448-8130 or jenniferlangston@seattlepi.com.



I-5 still closed; Wash. flood damage could top $1 billion (click title to entry, thank you)
By CHRIS McGANNP-I REPORTER
CENTRALIA -- For evacuees returning to homes still swamped by several feet of brown water, the personal toll from this week's floods was obvious, devastating and in some cases complete.
But the full extent of the losses remains an open question as state officials scramble to quantify and respond to the misery.
The devastation is so widespread that emergency management officials are unable to provide even rough estimates of how much damage has taken place.
"We are talking an unfathomable amount," said Kyle Herman, a spokesman for the state Emergency Management Division, which is collecting data from local officials throughout the flooded areas. "We won't know until the end of the week at the earliest."
With extensive damage in King, Lewis, Pacific, Mason, Kitsap, Thurston, Grays Harbor and Wahkiakum counties, Herman said the number of homes and businesses that have been destroyed or damaged will likely be measured in thousands rather than hundreds.
In terms of dollar value, Gov. Chris Gregoire would only hint at the magnitude of the problems....



At least 5 dead in storm; mudslides, avalanches follow deluge
Copters rescue more than 150 people from flooded areas
By CHRIS McGANN
P-I REPORTER
CENTRALIA -- South of here, just past the Skookumchuck River, Interstate 5 ends. In place of Western Washington's main freeway lies a vast expanse of muddy water.
"I've lived here 26 years, and I've never run a jet boat down I-5 before," said Adam Boehm, a volunteer who is helping get supplies to people who need them. "It's pretty unbelievable."
Trees, trash bins and shipping containers bobbed on the brown water as volunteers in boats helped ferry food and other items from a local Wal-Mart to people cut off by flooding.
Department of Transportation officials said the highway -- which is under as much as 10 feet of water along a three-mile stretch -- would not reopen until Thursday or Friday and only then if the road is not seriously damaged.
The lake that I-5 became is the most visible example of the mess that remains throughout Western Washington because of flooding from this week's storm.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342208_storm05.html


Climate change could mean more massive downpours
By LISA STIFFLER AND TOM PAULSON
P-I REPORTERS
That sump pump you rented to suck out the standing water in your basement? You might want to ask Santa to leave you one under the tree this year.
Record-setting storms like the one Sunday and Monday that flooded the Northwest could become more of the norm as climate change skews our region's rainfall patterns and leads to more of these massive deluges as compared to the typical drizzle.
It's not guaranteed, but scientists said that multiple computer climate models predict an increased likelihood of more rain -- and more episodes of heavier rainfall -- in fall and winter, less in the summer.
Monday Seattle logged nearly 5 inches of rain and scored the second rainiest day on record. First place still goes to a rainy day in October 2003.
"There is a risk under climate change of having more storms of this nature," said Eric Salathe, a research scientist with the University of Washington's Climate Impacts Group.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342268_stormwater05.html


Truckers wait out flooding on I-5 -- at a cost of $4 million a day
By ANDREA JAMES
P-I REPORTER
The storm that hit the Puget Sound area Monday is having a devastating effect on commerce after swamping Interstate 5, the main artery that connects Seattle to Portland, and burying in mud several rail connections north and south of Seattle.
The effect and closures could last for days and into the weekend, according to Washington's Department of Transportation.
Hundreds of trucks waited Tuesday on either side of a 20-mile stretch of I-5, between mileposts 68 and 89, while parts of the highway sat under 10 feet of water. The highway could be closed until at least Thursday -- longer if the roads and bridges are found damaged after the flooding recedes.
About 54,000 vehicles traverse that portion of the highway daily, and 10,000 of those are trucks. The I-5 delays alone are expected to cost businesses $4 million a day, the Transportation Department estimates.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342236_stormbiz05.html

Winter weather traps B.C. (British Columbia) town, storms hit East Coast

December 1, 2007
1830z
UNISYS Infrared Satellite of North and West Hemisphere

High winds create near blizzard conditions in some areas (click here)
Updated: 12/04/07 9:25 AM
The brunt of Monday's lake-enhanced snowstorm struck south and east of Buffalo, leaving about a dozen school districts closed today and dumping from 4 to 15 inches of snow on those outlying counties.
The severity of the current storm can't be measured just in the snowfall amounts, National Weather Service meteorologists said. Persistent wind gusts of more than 40 mph in some spots made even a moderate amount of snow treacherous.
"In this case, even 6 or 7 inches, along with the strong winds, produced near-blizzard conditions," National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Sage said at mid-morning. "It's still pretty brutal in parts of the Southern Tier."
The highest unofficial snowfall total was recorded in Warsaw, in Wyoming County, where about 15 inches of snow fell.


December 2, 2007
1830z
UNISYS Infrared Satellite of North and West Hemisphere


December 2, 2007
Manistique, Michigan
Photographer states :: The results of a blizzard at Indian Lake when a tree was blown down durding the storm at 12:15am (just past midnight) on Sunday. My poor Honda CRV.

Residents work to remove clear walkways and roads following the storm that's hitting Moncton, N.B. on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007.

Only a little scary. No lifeline. No medical evac. No heat.

Power returning to Atlantic region after storm (click here)
Updated Wed. Dec. 5 2007 2:55 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A reprieve from icy winds and blowing snow allowed power crews to begin restoring service to tens of thousands of Atlantic Canadians on Wednesday.
New Brunswick Power reports approximately 4,700 customers are still without power, down from a peak of 23,000...

The ripples, other than the concentric circles, are from wind. Mild wind.

Interesting picture. Not because it is a Semi in water over it's axels, but, because the water it is submerged in is STILL water. It's not moving. THe ripples in the water reveal concentric circles as if minor motion, like dropping a pebble in a lake. The water isn't going anywhere. It is not receding, except in minor ways. This is a LAKE, not a flood ! Saturation, lots of ground saturation over a period of time.

This is NOT a marina !


The Pacific Northwest has been hit by hurricane-force winds and torrential rain

How do you spell trauma? A few drops of inappropriately melting ice? Or deaths in Washington State, USA?

Water droplets fall from a glacier in Ecuador


A woman walks past a huge paper globe set up by Greenpeace at the venue of the UN conference in Bali


Rachmat Witoelar

Storms hit the Pacific Northwest killing fiveBy Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles (click here)
Last Updated: 7:09pm GMT 05/12/2007
Severe storms lashed the Pacific Northwest with hurricane-force winds and torrential rain, causing extensive flooding, power cuts, mass evacuations and killing at least five people.
The extreme weather system slammed into Oregon and Washington with 120 mph winds, dumping 13 inches of rain in 30 hours.
Trees were flattened and roads submerged, including a 20-mile stretch of the critical Interstate 5 highway linking Portland and Seattle, which was awash with more than 10 feet of muddy floodwater.
Hundreds of homes were submerged including one flooded Oregon town that was cut off by landslides.
The governors of the two states declared states of emergency after the two-day storm left tens of thousands without power and caused mudslides that halted train services between Portland and Vancouver, in British Columbia....

Bali climate talks throw focus on Kyoto offsets

Rudd calls on US to ratify Kyoto protocol (click here)
April 21, 2007 - 10:35AM

Labor leader Kevin Rudd has urged the United States to ratify the Kyoto protocol, arguing that both Australia and the US are unable to properly tackle climate change until they do.
Mr Rudd, who is on his first visit to the US since becoming opposition leader late last year, has told an American research institute that Australia, China and the US must work together to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change was the great moral, environmental and economic challenge facing the world, he told the Brookings Institution in Washington.
"On this question, our respective national positions are compromised by our refusal so far to ratify the Kyoto protocol," Mr Rudd said....

New Australian Government Ratifies Kyoto Protocol (click here)

5 de Diciembre del 2007

In a turnaround that leaves the United States as the only developed country refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions, Australia’s new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, signed the agreement on Monday only hours after taking office. "Australia's official declaration today that we will become a member of the Kyoto Protocol is a significant step forward in our country's efforts to fight climate change domestically and with the international community," said Rudd in his inaugural address before leaving for Bali to attend a UN climate change conference that began on Monday.The Kyoto Protocol dates back to 1997 and expires in 2012. It commits the member countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by five percent in the period between 2008 and 2012, in relation to their 1990 levels....

Washington told it's time to join the Kyoto party

TOTAL USA carbon emissions.

This gets real interesting to understand.


The shifting knowledge base.


See, one can play with the way USA Carbon Emissions is reported. With a growing population, now at over 300 million, the 'PER CAPITA' of carbon emissions in the USA looks less than the actual emissions noted above. Now mind you, these totals include the total emissions, including industry.





So, in an area with high carbon dioxide emissions from energy plants that burn some form of fossil fuel, IF, the population increases it would appear that the power plant is actually doing better 'PER CAPITA' on a local and regional level when in fact the carbon load is staying the same or increasing. I hate to say the obvious, but, with increased population there is increased energy demands AND exhaled carbon as well. Holding your breath does NOT decrease carbon dioxide emissions. Breath. Breath deep !






PER CAPITA Carbon Emissions.


KEVIN RUDD has called on the US to follow his example and ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
But Mr Rudd, who ratified the protocol this week in his first act as Prime Minister, sidestepped when asked if he would press the US President, George Bush, personally when he visits Washington next year.
Mr Rudd said the ratification of Kyoto, opposed for years by the Howard government, gave Australia a stronger position when helping to negotiate a post-Kyoto global agreement for greenhouse gas reduction.
"We need to see our friends in America as part and parcel of that process as well," he said.
The US Under-secretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, said in Canberra yesterday that the Bush Administration would not ratify Kyoto but this should not be regarded as a slight to Australia.
Mr Rudd yesterday defended his decision that questions in the lower house on climate change would be answered by the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, and not the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett.
He said climate change was primarily "a huge economic challenge".
Mr Swan and Treasury would be responsible for modelling the effects of a national emissions trading scheme, as well as any international agreement to which Australia would become a signatory, he said.
Phillip Coorey and Craig Skehan

The operative words are "....from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."... Pre-Emption will allow attack by 'fear mongers'

Natanz nuclear complex in Iran

The Law of Pre-emption needs to be repealed ! (click here) It has already proven to cause massive deaths, refugees and abject poverty in one sovereign country while allowing the enemy of the USA to flourish in the first and only war front necessary !

...Some participants stressed that the United States may be entering an era in which preemption can and should be contemplated to protect public goods – to combat, for example, massive violations of human rights and impending environmental disasters.

Discussants stressed the need to understand the advantages, risks, challenges, and constraints of preemption; and how it differs from, complements, and potentially conflicts with alternative strategies such as prevention, deterrence, and containment as well as how it affects the pursuit of national interests and the establishment of international law. Working from historical cases and drawing parallels with domestic and tort law, the group enunciated a well-established legal basis for preemption when employed in self-defense, requiring imminence and demonstrable exhaustion of peaceful alternatives....

The Law of Preemption is reeking havoc across all levels of our courts, impinging upon State legislation and court actions. It is a hostile legislative measure that crosses the boundary of historical American law and attacks constitutions, both state and federal at all levels. It is a dangerous legislative directive and needs to be repealed !

Reassessing the law of preemption (click entry to title)
Georgetown Law Journal, Jul 2000 by Dinh, Viet D

Notwithstanding its repeated claims to the contrary, the Supreme Court's numerous preemption cases follow no predictable jurisprudential or analytical pattern. Part of the explanation for such indeterminacy lies in the nature of preemption analysis. Because " '[t]he purpose of Congress is the ultimate touchstone' in every preemption case,"1 the Court's preemption decisions necessarily vary across the different statutory schemes at issue. But although individual judgments may vary, surely the basic analytical framework should not differ across cases presenting essentially the same question: whether and to what extent federal law has displaced state law. Problems arise, and accusations of judicial activism or results orientation fly, when the Court professes adherence to established analytical frameworks or jurisprudential principles and yet renders judgments seemingly inconsistent with those frameworks and principles-as it often appears to do in preemption cases. This article seeks to make sense of the preemption mess by going back to first principles: by defining preemption and supremacy within the constitutional structure; by critically assessing the validity and meaning of core assumptions and principles the Court professes to follow in preemption cases; and by explaining how preemption analysis, properly conceived, can rationalize seeming inconsistencies between what the Court says and what it does in these disparate cases.

Bush blames Iran for USA policy in Iraq, separates Iranian Revolutionary Guard as sovereign threat. Bush scapegoat for failure.

Had to serch far and wide to find this article today in the Huston Chronicle (click here). I believe their lead story promotes honey as cough syrup for children. That's just in case you haven't got a perscription drug program called SCHIP !

...The findings come at a time of escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, which President Bush has labeled part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and North Korea. At an Oct. 17 news conference, Bush said, "If you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."...

Oliver North used World War 3 as a promotion for his book on FOX News. According to FOX today, Iran is just too good at keeping secrets. Bogus NIE !!

Impeach George Walker Bush and Richard Cheney, the media is turning the issue into Pablum

Impeach George Walker Bush and Richard Cheney, the media is scared skinny to even approach it !

Four years. Four completely unnecessary years of killing. No WMD when UN inspectors already verified same. No Iranian nuclear threat.

Iraqi Children Pushed Into Work By War And Poverty

Photo by Wathiq Khuzaie

Post invasion Iraq. The deaths, refugees and abject poverty of nearly half the country of Iraq and the men that lead the illegal invasion are still in office with a continued misdirected war while Afghanistan teeters on the brink of the return of the Taliban and Pakistan is the REAL nuclear power to be worried will fall into terrorist possession.

It is long time past that impeachment should have taken place. The USA has been held hostage by fear and Neocons intent on war at any cost. This is simply outrageous. Bush/Cheney and their crony media have been 'puming up the public' for still a more expansive war and now the Middle East peace process is being trashed by Bush himself. This is more than an outrage, this is an atrocity needing remedy.

John McCann, "Bomb, bomb, bomb. Bomb, bomb Iran." No more Republicans. Neocons all and dangerous to life on Earth.

Shiite Muslims pray in the resting place of Imam Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet, seen in background, in holy city of Najaf on Satuday May, 3, 2003. The world's 120 million Shiites regard Najaf - a center of scientific, literary and theological studies - as their third-holiest site, behind Mecca and Medina.(AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)

Hadley's response is 'typical' politics and illustrates clearly the self-righteousness of the Neocons in assessing 'life and death' issues with the least brevity possible. They are obviously human rights violators.

The Neocons have degraded the importance of the IAEA as well as the EU in their attempts to levee sanctions. It will be interesting to see where the sanctions go now. Evidently, the TRUTH is there is no reason for them. Another victimization of the Shia, will it ever end?

I guess Russia wasn't lying either, huh? Jerks ! Cheney, in his 2005 inauguration speech thought it was the best thing to yell across an entire ocean and sea to Israel to prepare the bombs, it's okay with him. Is he still in office? WHY, Nancy, why ?


White House Reaction to Iran Report (click here)
Here is the text of a statement issued today by Stephen Hadley, President Bush’s national security adviser, concerning the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The intelligence estimate says that, contrary to previous assessments, Iran halted the program in 2003 in response to international pressure and has probably not restarted it since then, though it has the capacity to do so.

Published: December 3, 2007
Here is the text of a statement issued today by Stephen Hadley, President Bush’s national security adviser, concerning the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The intelligence estimate says that, contrary to previous assessments, Iran halted the program in 2003 in response to international pressure and has probably not restarted it since then, though it has the capacity to do so.
Today’s National Intelligence Estimate offers some positive news. It confirms that we were right to be worried about Iran seeking to develop nuclear weapons. It tells us that we have made progress in trying to ensure that this does not happen.
But the intelligence also tells us that the risk of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon remains a very serious problem. The estimate offers grounds for hope that the problem can be solved diplomatically — without the use of force — as the Administration has been trying to do. And it suggests that the President has the right strategy: intensified international pressure along with a willingness to negotiate a solution that serves Iranian interests while ensuring that the world will never have to face a nuclear armed Iran.
The bottom line is this: for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran — with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions, and with other financial pressure — and Iran has to decide it wants to negotiate a solution.

McCann's cohorts (click here). Genocidal idiots all !

It seems obvious to me the USA has no intentions of backing any peace process. The Bush White House longs for a confrontation with Russia and China. The USA Senate and House need to act to limit the President's ability to 'create' war.

The Middle East has to solve it's own problems. I believe they are capable of it.

Iraq needs to find stability in which ever methodology that applies. If forming decentralized governments in the provinces provides for a more trusted central authority, then it should be accomplished as soon as possible.

The region needs to be stabilized outside the potential for further destabilization by exploitation. A diligent agenda from every member country should be pursued, anything short will derail any potential, leading to greater war and any possibly of peace will be lost.

The lies by the Bush/Cheney White House can be measured easily by the lies they tell their own people. One of these articles are propaganda, perhaps it is easy to tell. Homeland Security has never proved a greater security to the USA and while the Middle East newspaper likes to embellish the 'greatness' of the USA, under this administration it can't even protect those once the focus of attack.


Defense Department role seen differently
Published: November 30, 2007
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- A top U.S. Defense Department official says the homeland defense office has learned valuable lessons and increased its mission since its inception in 2002.
Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and America's security affairs, says the Defense Department central role is in achieving security for the U.S. homeland, but he sees an evolving and increasingly important capability in providing assistance during natural or man-made disasters, the American Forces Press Service reported.
As the first person to hold the assistant secretary for homeland defense position, McHale says he has looked at the traditional role of the military and says part of his office's mission is to encourage the expansion of its support role for civil authorities.
McHale says as part of his office's continued emphasis on homeland defense missions, more than 60 members of his staff are embedded with various agencies at the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to better understand challenges.
"The American people cannot allow the capabilities inherent in civilian agencies to deteriorate. We fall into a trap if we allow our civilian capabilities to atrophy due to excessive reliance on military competencies," McHale said. "We need a partnership, and that partnership should be built on shared professionalism within and between the civilian and military organization of our government.
"Our founders realized that excessive reliance upon the military may achieve an operational success but ultimately will damage the civilian character of our country and our government. We hold as one of our bedrock principles the concept of civilian supremacy, and that concept is very much respected and adhered to in the Department of Defense."
© 2007 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.

http://www.metimes.com/Security/2007/11/30/defense_department_role_seen_differently/0735/

Plan to Cut Antiterror Spending Is Criticized by State’s Leaders
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 2, 2007
A White House plan to slash antiterror grant programs by more than half would threaten the safety of American cities, New York politicians charged yesterday.
The latest news and reader discussions from around the five boroughs and the region.
Go to City Room »
Senator Charles E. Schumer blasted the Bush administration’s plan to eliminate some port and rail security programs and cut security grants for states and cities to $1.4 billion in 2009 from $3.4 billion in the 2007 fiscal year.
“To say, no port security, no transit security, when we know that our ports and transit lines are targets for terrorists makes no sense if you want to protect America,” Mr. Schumer said.
Other officials said the cuts would penalize a city attacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001, and in 1993.
“It’s stunning that the federal government would consider cutting New York City’s homeland security funds from the already inadequate level that currently exists,” said John Gallagher, a spokesman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
The federal government has given $23 billion in antiterror grants to states and municipalities since the Sept. 11 attacks, but some have criticized the programs as pork-barrel spending.
According to budget documents obtained by The Associated Press, the Bush administration is not convinced that the money has been well spent and thinks the nation’s highest-risk cities have largely satisfied their emergency need to improve security.
Officials with the White House Office of Management and Budget said the president’s budget proposals had yet to be completed. Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said Friday that the White House would strongly support any needed antiterror programs.
Still, Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s spokeswoman, Christine Anderson, likened the White House proposal to a “‘bean counter’ approach to protecting our homeland when sound policy is what’s required.”
Mr. Schumer estimated that if the cuts were accepted by Congress, New York City’s share of the aid might drop to $70 million or $80 million from $134 million.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/nyregion/02security.html?ref=nyregion

Good Night

And will the process after Annapolis end with faux promise and actual hatred?

EDITORIAL: EU out of Mideast peace deal?
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 30, 2007
EDITORIAL: One important but little-noticed feature of the Annapolis talks was that the Quartet of the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations no longer seems to have much of a role. The Americans have taken over.
"The United States will monitor and judge the fulfillment of the commitment of both sides of the road map," says the joint Israeli-Palestinian document committing them to pursue a peace deal by the end of next year. Note that potent word, "judge."”And note also that while excluding the Russians may be difficult, and excluding the U.N. may be foolish, excluding the EU could carry serious financial consequences.
The EU has long been the main financial supporter for the Palestinians. In 2007, the EU and its 27 member nations gave almost $1.5 billion in mostly humanitarian aid. To help make the Annapolis process work, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the EU should be prepared to raise another $500 million for job-creation projects. But will it?
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's external relations commissioner and Javier Solana, the EU security affairs chief suggest that future EU aid could also be made available for the Palestinian police force and to reform the Palestinians' health, education, and judicial systems. But there are no guarantees.
The EU'’s money is essential. Former British premier Tony Blair, who represented the Quartet at Annapolis, stressed at a press briefing in Jerusalem: "Without hope of prosperity, rising living standards, and an economic stake in the future for ordinary Palestinians, the politics will never succeed."
The effective sidelining of the Europeans has been noticed. Leila Shahid, the Palestinians' representative in Europe, expressed regret Wednesday that the EU had "dropped out" of the Middle East process "at a time when the Americans are coming back."
There are ominous signs that a kind of compassion fatigue is developing in the EU, after paying so much for so long for so little, and seeing Israeli bombs or Israeli border delays undermine the development it has tried to fund.
"The only role the EU seems to be able to play is that of a milking cow and a builder of projects,"” notes Barah Mikail of the Institute for International and Strategic Relations in Paris. "When the EU builds these projects and Israel destroys them, the EU never takes a firm stance condemning the destruction, so it does not win any respect," he said.
Moreover, the EU has other concerns beyond the Middle East. Between now and Christmas, EU troops could be facing violence in Kosovo (where it has 15,000 soldiers) and in Lebanon (where 8,000 EU troops are the core of the U.N. peace force). It is also poised to send another 4,000 troops to Chad to support the U.N. mission in the neighboring Darfur province of Sudan. Will it have the cash and political will to keep paying the bills in the Middle East, when it has no role in the policy?

http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2007/11/30/editorial_eu_out_of_mideast_peace_deal/1599/


Abbas says Annapolis conference achieved its goal
Published: December 01, 2007
CAIRO (AFP) Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Saturday that this week's Middle East peace conference in the United States met its goal of jumpstarting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
"The main goal of the Annapolis conference was to launch negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis and this is in fact what happened," Abbas told reporters in Cairo after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
"Some had been under the illusion that the negotiations would actually start in (Annapolis) or that a deal would be struck," he said.
At the meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert formally restarted negotiations after a seven-year freeze in the peace process, aiming to conclude a comprehensive agreement by the end of 2008.
Abbas said a steering committee would be set up that would begin negotiations on December 12 including on the core issues such as the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state and the fate of Palestinian refugees.
Former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei will head the Palestinian negotiating team, Abbas said.

http://www.metimes.com/Politics/2007/12/01/abbas_says_annapolis_conference_achieved_its_goal/afp/


Mideast peace conference follow-up meetings in Moscow and Paris: Abbas
The Associated Press
Published: December 1, 2007
CAIRO, Egypt: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that there will be meetings in Moscow and Paris to follow up on the Mideast peace conference in Annapolis.
Abbas gave his comments after meeting with President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo. He also said that a special negotiating team led by former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, will handle negotiations with Israelis, which is due to launch Dec. 12.
"There was this myth that there were talks or a deal," in the U.S.-brokered Mideast summit in Annapolis, Abbas said. "The purpose of Annapolis meeting was to launch talks without going into details."
"There will be two stations after Annapolis: one in Paris and the second in Moscow where there will be another conference to review what the negotiations have achieved," he added, without elaborating.
Abbas did not say whether the Moscow meeting would focus on the Syrian-Israeli track as has been widely speculated.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/01/africa/ME-GEN-Mideast-Palestinians.php



US anger as Russia pulls out of arms treaty
By Stephen Fidler and James Blitz in London
Published: December 1 2007 02:00 Last updated: December 1 2007 02:00
President Vladimir Putin signed a law yesterday suspending Russia's participation in a key post-cold war arms treaty, triggering an angry reaction from the US, which declared the move a "mistake".
In a significant new indication of the worsening diplomatic relationship between Moscow and Washington, Mr Putin personally ratified a law that means Moscow will suspend the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty (CFE) in a little under two weeks.
Western military experts believe the CFE, first signed in 1990, is a significant treaty that limits the number of battle tanks, heavy artillery, combat aircraft and attack helicopters deployed and stored between the Atlantic and Russia's Ural mountains.
It also contains a significant array of confidence-building measures, requiring all signatories to give other states advance notice of troop movements and missile launches.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3eb8ce68-9fb3-11dc-8031-0000779fd2ac.html



Bhutto warns of foreign intervention if militancy not curbed
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 9:13AM Monday December 03, 2007
By Riaz Khan
PESHAWAR - Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday she would use economic as well as military means to defuse Pakistan's pro-Taleban insurgency, and warned that "foreign forces" could invade unless the government curbs spreading militancy.
Bhutto was speaking to journalists in Pakistan's troubled northwest, where she launched her campaign this weekend for January 8 parliamentary elections. She planned key talks Monday with another opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, who is urging a boycott of the vote.
Bhutto also raised the spectre of militants moving on the capital, Islamabad, and gaining control of a crucial nuclear installation - widely seen as an unlikely scenario.

Pasted from <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10479756>



EDITORIAL: Pakistan's autocracy challenged
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 30, 2007
EDITORIAL: As Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf abandons his military façade yet maintains military rule, international critics accuse him of strategically stalling the Pakistani democratic process. With a tumultuous history that encompasses six generations of military misrule, repeated suspension of constitutional rights and internal instability, Pakistan seems an unlikely candidate for a flourishing civil society.
But recent events have proven otherwise. As Musharraf struggles to retain control over a fragmented state, the increasing number of Pakistanis protesting unconstitutional rule is a hopeful indication of the sort of political participation central to democracy.
Instead of accepting cooperation with the largely illegitimate military regime, prominent members of the judicial system, including chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, have been dismissed, arrested or imprisoned by Musharraf. By doing so, the president demonstrated not only a continued disregard for the Pakistani constitution, but also a growing fear of a multitude of opposition groups.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's second return to the country – in defiance of exile imposed once again by Musharraf – indicate the tenacity of the opposition to military rule and contributes to a veritable foundation of grassroots democracy in Pakistan.
Although martial law has been imposed before, tolerance of such flagrant disregard for public opinion is now at its nadir.
Chaudhry's repeated dismissal and Bhutto's return highlight not only the inconsistencies of Musharraf's policies but also that the fear so necessary to run an illegitimate state is no longer present among the people or his political rivals.
Now that Musharraf has become a general without an army, both literally and figuratively, the state is set for opposition groups to re-rout power to the people in an attempt to establish the representative government that Pakistan has long deserved.

http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2007/11/30/editorial_pakistans_autocracy_challenged/5565/

And who could contribute more to the peace talks than Turkey?

Erdogan: ‘considering new ways and means’

Turkey warns Iraq over Kurd rebels
Turkish PM says Ankara’s patience with government in Baghdad ran out as Turkish soldier killed.
ANKARA - Turkey on Tuesday told Iraq to crack down on Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq or face the consequences, as Baghdad called for urgent talks over Ankara's threat of a military incursion.
With Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi in Turkey for a visit and the Turkish parliament preparing to vote on a motion allowing for cross-border raids, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear that Ankara's patience with Baghdad had run out.
"The central government in Iraq and the regional government in northern Iraq must put a thick wall between themselves and the terrorist organization," said Erdogan, referring to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=22688

The reason they Turks are 'warning' Iraq about any inkling of relations with PKK, is the Turks will then feel vindicated in attacking within Iraq without restraint. It must be wonderful to be an Iraqi these days. No sovereignty. No peace. No military.

Turkey has right to act inside Iraq: Gul
PKK leader acknowledges Turkey strike

ANKARA: Turkish President Abdullah Gul reaffirmed on Sunday Turkey’s readiness and right to intervene in northern Iraq one day after the Turkish army carried out an operation inside Iraq against Kurdish rebels. “The army was granted a mandate. This mandate is being used when the army deems it necessary,” Gul told reporters before flying to Pakistan for an official visit. A military official said around 100 special forces were sent into northern Iraq to hit PKK rebels on Saturday. The army also sent between four and six helicopters to bomb a camp used by the PKK.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C12%5C03%5Cstory_3-12-2007_pg4_1

EDITORIAL: Pakistan's autocracy challenged
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 30, 2007
EDITORIAL: As Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf abandons his military façade yet maintains military rule, international critics accuse him of strategically stalling the Pakistani democratic process. With a tumultuous history that encompasses six generations of military misrule, repeated suspension of constitutional rights and internal instability, Pakistan seems an unlikely candidate for a flourishing civil society.
But recent events have proven otherwise. As Musharraf struggles to retain control over a fragmented state, the increasing number of Pakistanis protesting unconstitutional rule is a hopeful indication of the sort of political participation central to democracy.
Instead of accepting cooperation with the largely illegitimate military regime, prominent members of the judicial system, including chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, have been dismissed, arrested or imprisoned by Musharraf. By doing so, the president demonstrated not only a continued disregard for the Pakistani constitution, but also a growing fear of a multitude of opposition groups.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's second return to the country – in defiance of exile imposed once again by Musharraf – indicate the tenacity of the opposition to military rule and contributes to a veritable foundation of grassroots democracy in Pakistan.
Although martial law has been imposed before, tolerance of such flagrant disregard for public opinion is now at its nadir.
Chaudhry's repeated dismissal and Bhutto's return highlight not only the inconsistencies of Musharraf's policies but also that the fear so necessary to run an illegitimate state is no longer present among the people or his political rivals.
Now that Musharraf has become a general without an army, both literally and figuratively, the state is set for opposition groups to re-rout power to the people in an attempt to establish the representative government that Pakistan has long deserved.

http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2007/11/30/editorial_pakistans_autocracy_challenged/5565/

Bhutto warns of foreign intervention if militancy not curbed
9:13AM Monday December 03, 2007

By Riaz Khan
Benazir Bhutto at yesterday's press conference in northwest Pakistan. Photo / AP
PESHAWAR - Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday she would use economic as well as military means to defuse Pakistan's pro-Taleban insurgency, and warned that "foreign forces" could invade unless the government curbs spreading militancy.
Bhutto was speaking to journalists in Pakistan's troubled northwest, where she launched her campaign this weekend for January 8 parliamentary elections. She planned key talks Monday with another opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, who is urging a boycott of the vote.
Bhutto also raised the spectre of militants moving on the capital, Islamabad, and gaining control of a crucial nuclear installation - widely seen as an unlikely scenario.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10479756