UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite 12 hour loop - click here

September 7, 2005. There is a circulation center that has manifested in the Gulf of Mexico. It has merit. The 'system' to all these 'eddies' starts as a single feeder flow off the equator. One can easily discern a group of clouds/moisture coming up over Central America and Mexico. When the air mass reaches the Yucatan Peninsula it divides. One branch is pulled to the east over the Atlantic by a vortex flow off the Arctic Ocean. The next peripheral flow allows that initial air mass off the equator to move across the central USA on the way to the Arctic Ocean over Canada. Now. The circulation mass over the Gulf is between the two air flows and is actually an 'eddy' of both.

UNISYS Infrared Satellite 12 hour loop - click here

September 7, 2005. Infrared Hemispheric satellite. Click on link.

The Rooster 

September 6, 2005. One person's trash is another's treasure. Amish stars and birdhouses. 

September 6, 2005. One Person's Trash is Another's Treasure. Mini-Buckets and Buddhas. 

September 5, 2005. One Person''s Trash is Another's Treasure. Antiques. Dolls and Doorknobs.

Morning Papers

Rooster "Crowing"

"Okeydoke"

History …

1848 Frederick Douglass is elected President of National Black Political Convention in Cleveland, OH. He is also elected President of the New England Anti-slavery Society. He was editor of the North Star, Frederick Douglass Paper, and the Douglass' Monthly.

1901, President McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. McKinley died eight days later; he was succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt.

1909, American explorer Robert Peary sent word that he had reached the North Pole five months earlier.

1932 "Bad Blood", a study originated with Dr. Taliaferro Clark to study the effects of "Untreated Syphilis" on the Negro Male in Tuskegee, Alabama begins and becomes a tragedy of race and medicine involving 399 syphilitic black males.

1939, South Africa declared war on Germany.

1941, Jews older than 6 in German-occupied areas were ordered to wear yellow Stars of David.

1960 7-Year old William Campbell becomes the first black to desegregate the All-White Public Schools in Raleigh, NC. William Campbell will become the Mayor of Atlanta, GA.

1966, South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd was stabbed to death by a deranged page during a parliamentary session in Cape Town.

1970, Palestinian guerrillas seized control of three jetliners which were later blown up in Jordan after the passengers and crews were evacuated.

1985, all 31 people aboard a Midwest Express Airlines DC-9 were killed when the Atlanta-bound jetliner crashed just after takeoff from Milwaukee's Mitchell Field.

1997, Britain bade farewell to Princess Diana with a funeral service at Westminster Abbey. Weeping masses gathered in Calcutta, India, to pay homage to Mother Teresa, who had died the day before at age 87.

Missing in Action

1966 BUNDY NORMAN L. MIAMI FL
1968 COSKEY KENNETH L. DETROIT MI 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1968 DEICHELMANN SAMUEL M. MONTGOMERY AL
1972 LINDLAND DONALD F. EUGENE OR STILL UNACCOUNTED FOR REMAINS RETURNED 06/03/83
1972 LERSETH ROGER G. SPOKANE WA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED ALIVE AND

The Cheney Observer

Halliburton Subsidiary to Do Gulf Coast Work
From Times Wire Reports
A Halliburton Co. subsidiary that has come under fire for its reconstruction work in Iraq has begun tapping a $500 million Navy contract to do emergency repairs at naval facilities on the Gulf Coast that were battered by Hurricane Katrina.
ADVERTISEMENT
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The subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root of Arlington, Va., was awarded the competitive bid contract last July to provide debris removal and other emergency work associated with natural disasters.
KBR will do work at Naval Air Station Pascagoula, Naval Station Gulfport and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and elsewhere.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-katbriefs5.1sep05,1,6966673.story?coll=la-headlines-nation


NIDC to replace Halliburton, Oriental Kish in SP projects
TEHRAN, Sept. 5 (MNA) – The National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) is finalizing negotiations with the Oil Ministry to implement drilling operations in phases 9 and 10 of the South Pars Gas Field as well as complete the drilling operations in Kish exploration gas field, Hamid Bavard, the NIDC project director said on Monday.
“Required by the Oil Ministry for NIDC’s participation in drilling operation of the South Pars phases 9 and 10, instead of Halliburton and Oriental Kish companies, we entered into dialogue with the ministry”, Bavard said. He added that presently the negotiations are being finalized for drilling 22 offshore wells in one of the SP giant phases.
He explained that the drilling operation in Kish exploration gas field was launched in December 2004, with the aim of evaluating the hydrocarbon layers in Chamran, Dashtak, Nar, and Dalan. So far, the drilling operation has been carried out at the depth of 4100m, and 300m remains for the final drilling, he added.

http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=226485


TOUGH DECISIONS ELUDE PRESIDENT
By Bill Gallagher
DETROIT -- "Keep the damn federal government off our backs and out of our lives!" That's been the battle cry of conservative Southern politicians for generations. The cry was usually code for their opposition to civil rights. In rural areas of the South, the federal government was despised for sending revenue agents to break up their beloved moonshine stills and forcing the locals to buy taxed booze.
They hate government, or so they claim, and that's certainly the public posture of President George W. Bush, a true son of the conservative South who has made a career of trying to expunge his WASP New England pedigree -- except, of course, for the inherited wealth and privilege it has provided him.

http://niagarafallsreporter.com/gallagher229.html


MOUNTAIN VIEWS: BUSH'S CAVALIER ATTITUDE CONTRIBUTED TO MAGNITUDE OF HURRICAN DISASTER
By John Hanchette
OLEAN -- Scientists might well start researching the question: Are questionable reactions to foreign crises, wars, hurricanes and the economy genetic?
The degree to which George W. Bush's presidency is mirroring his father's, and magnifying it, seems to indicate the answer is a ringing YES.
While Dubya's dad tended to respond a bit more rapidly when huge crises developed for the country -- and usually more prudently -- he sometimes displayed the same lack of focus, concentration and productive followup that his son is now getting torched for by citizens and media alike.
This writer was with Bush the Elder in the last week of August 1992, covering the current president's father in New England while he campaigned for re-election. When an aide informed him of the devastating effect of Hurricane Andrew, which had just hit south Florida, that president quickly canceled all political appearances and flew directly to the struggling state. But while he offered tsk-tsk bromides and isn't-this-awfuls, the father was roundly criticized for the delay that surrounded provision of meaningful federal aid to the 300 square miles of almost total devastation.

http://niagarafallsreporter.com/hanchette172.html


White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage
It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to the region, leading up to an extraordinary return visit by Mr. Bush planned for Monday, directed administration officials not to respond to attacks from Democrats on the relief efforts, and sought to move the blame for the slow response to Louisiana state officials, according to Republicans familiar with the White House plan.
The effort is being directed by Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and his communications director, Dan Bartlett. It began late last week after Congressional Republicans called White House officials to register alarm about what they saw as a feeble response by Mr. Bush to the hurricane, according to Republican Congressional aides.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05bush.html


Stop oil-price gougers -- and Bush, Cheney, too
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
from the Morning Sentinel
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I am applauding the independent and big-oil gas station dealerships who are taking a stand and closing their gas pumps in the face of these ridiculous prices.
It is absolutely painful to see some of the price disparities I've seen in recent days at gas stations in central Maine. Sometimes there's a whole dollar price difference, depending on where you go. And how about those dealerships jacking the prices up on the gas products still in the tanks at the station? Isn't the price supposed to be set upon the price the dealer paid to the wholesale delivery tanker and not what the dealer has already paid and set his price for? Can you say "price gouge"?

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/view/letters/1923136.shtml


1st Amendment alive and well
Robertson, Cheney prove that it works
The First Amendment gives people the right to make fools of themselves by saying incredibly stupid things.
Pat Robertson provided an example about a week ago, suggesting the United States assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. As stupid as the remark was - Robertson later apologized - the TV preacher had every right to make it.
Now we have Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who went on a verbal rampage against Vice President Dick Cheney a few days ago. Rangel, displaying some apparent medical knowledge and inside information, said Cheney was a sick man unfit to be a national leader.
"Sometimes I don't think Cheney is awake enough to know what's going on," Rangel said. "He's a sick man, you know. He's got heart disease, but the disease is not restricted to that part of his body. He grunts a lot so you never really know what he's thinking."

http://www.chronicle-tribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050830/OPINION01/508300329/1014/OPINION


Twenty Things We Now Know Four Years After 9/11
August 30, 2005
By Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers
In a few days, it will be four years since the awful events symbolized by the date "9/11." Time for our annual list of what we've learned from that tragedy and what followed from it.
Much new information has been revealed this year, with corroborating documents verifying aspects of the story we only surmised previously. So without further ado, below are the twenty things we now know four years after 9/11, based mainly on documented evidence found in the Bush-friendly mainstream media.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/crisis/05/026_bw.html


What is he talking with Bush for?

Montiel meets with Jeb Bush in Florida
August 15, 2005
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The outgoing governor of the State of Mexico and current presidential hopeful, Arturo Montiel, flew to Miami on Sunday to talk with Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on issues affecting bilateral relations.
Montiel, who represents the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and is currently challenging the party's president, Roberto Madrazo, for the 2006 presidential ticket, spoke with Bush on issues ranging from border security and immigration to trade policies.

http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=11577&tabla=miami


Bush: The Downside
No Palestinian state until 2009. Censorship in Iraq. You call that a good start?
By

Firas Al-Atraqchi
GEORGE W. BUSH and his camp claim the president is a uniter, not a divider the platform on which he ran in 2000. In the wake of Bush’s win of a second term in office in last month’s American presidential election, some media outlets fell into line, explaining US voters were relieved that the vote count (or lack of recount) was brought to an end so quickly because they experienced “voter fatigue” in 2000 and couldn’t stomach a repeat.
That’s the kind of naïve reasoning best served chilled with a dash of peppermint.
No matter how ironclad the US administration’s message control is, not to mention its influence on American media, most Americans will tell you the country is more divided today than it has ever been, so much so that many felt it incumbent upon themselves to e-mail the rest of the world apologizing for failing to eject Bush and his gang from the White House.

http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=2970


Treasongate - Lies and Whispers
By Philip Toler
Aug 15, 2005, 19:02
It’s still early in the wait for definitive word on the early reports that Patrick Fitzgerald will nail Karl Rove and Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby for leaking of the name of covert agent Valerie Plame. She, as everyone knows by now, is the wife of Joseph Wilson, a veteran diplomat sent to Niger and who found the documents that surfaced in Rome indicating that Saddam Hussein was attempting to purchase ‘yellowcake’ uranium were crude forgeries. When the claim was included in the Bush SOTU speech eleven months later, Wilson went public refuting the now infamous ‘sixteen words’. When Robert Novak ran a column, citing ‘two Senior Administration sources’, that outed Ms. Plame, a federal crime, speculation ran that it was revenge for the actions of her husband. It now appears that the more crucial reason was that she and her covert operation might be getting close to bagging a syndicate that is trafficking in WMDs, a syndicate connected to the Bushes. This seems to be a classic case of two birds slain with one stone, using one as a cover for the other. Speculation is rampant that Rove and Libby did the dirty work using their propaganda conduit at the New York Times (NYT), Judith Miller, as an accessory.

Now it is being further reported by a source that is less than impeccable that the looming indictments of several members of the Bush Administration, not to mention Judith Miller and others, will be on charges including treason, perjury, and obstruction of justice surrounding not only the illegal attack on Iraq, but, even more ominously for those involved, 9/11. The source further describes a turf war scenario pitting cronies of the administration against career military and intelligence figures who have been (ab)used by the Bush people as scapegoats for inaccurate information leading to both the Iraq War and the 9/11 events that enabled it.

http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_19525.shtml


Crossfire War: Middle East; Irans War Cabinet in Step with Supreme Leader
By Willard Payne
Night Watch: TEHRAN - Iran’s new President has announced his new cabinet and by all accounts it seems to have been chosen by Iran’s Spiritual Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for the sole purpose of executing the war.
AP reports that the new Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has openly criticized Iran’s negotiations with the EU and advocates that Iran takes a more combative position in the nuclear negotiations. The new Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar served as a member of the Revolutionary Guards for 25 years and was in command of guard acitivity in the entire Middle East. I assume the Revoultionary Guards control the launching of Iran’s missiles.
This should be no shock. As Iran completes the development of its delivery systems, missiles, for their nuclear warheads, Tehran’s position and policies are to become more frank. While their preparations were still under way for all out war with the West, India and Russia, Tehran adopted a more moderate stance in order to give the false impression it was willing to work with the international community, up to a point.
That point has now been reached so Tehran wants to see a successful return on its investment in its massive war industry operating from facilities constructed by Bechtel Group employing Chinese technicians, consultants and Russian scientists. These missiles and satellites were not constructed to be paraded on some national holiday or for Khamenei’s birthday. They are intended to reduce the West’s influence in the Middle East and to assist Pakistan in its usual conflicts with New Delhi. Tehran also wants to see if further Russian moves to the south can be delayed.

http://newsblaze.com/story/20050815005045nnnn.nb/newsblaze/OPINIONS/Opinions.html

DNC: Failed Bush-Cheney Leadership Leaves Idaho Workers and Veterans Behind
8/15/2005 6:39:00 PM
To: State Desk
Contact: Luis Miranda of the Democratic National Committee Press Office, 202-863-8148
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Less than two weeks after President Bush signed the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), Vice President Dick Cheney sweeps into Boise tonight for a fundraiser benefiting Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig. While the Bush Administration's failed leadership has slashed benefits for Idaho veterans and undercut the sugar beet industry in Idaho, Senator Craig is set to collect thousands of dollars from the Bush-Cheney fundraising machine.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean today issued the following statement:
"The Bush Administration's failed leadership may be having a devastating impact on Idaho's veterans and sugar beet producers, but that won't stop Vice President Cheney from flying in to raise some cash for Senator Craig. While he is in Boise, Vice President Cheney ought to to explain why the Bush Administration sold out the Idaho sugar industry. He could also use his trip to explain why Republicans in Washington have failed to fully fund health benefits for thousands of brave Idahoans who have fought on the front lines of the war on terrorism. These are not Democratic values, they are not Idaho values, and they are certainly not American values. Idaho may be a so-called 'red state,' but ordinary Idahoans must be red with anger over the Bush Administration's failed leadership."

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=51731


Senate probes N280bn Halliburton contract
By Emmanuel Aziken & Hector Igbikiowubo
Posted to the Web: Monday, August 15, 2005
Sorry, your browser does not support floating frames
*Crude oil prices top $67p/b
ABUJA —THE Senate has launched a probe into the $2 billion (about N280 billion) gas to liquid project awarded by the Chevron/NNPC joint venture to Halliburton, the American-based multinational service company that was recently accused of paying $180 million bribe to past Nigerian officials.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/august05/15082005/f415082005.html


Cindy Sheehan Confronts Judith Miller's War
by Ahmed Amr
(Sunday August 14 2005)
"Cindy has drawn a line in the sand for George Bush. In doing so, she has energized tens of thousands of peace activists and tens of millions of Americans. By now, it should be clear that Sheehan is speaking for the silent majority of Americans who want some straight answers from Bush instead of bumper sticker slogans."
This war can best be told by narrating the stories of two women. One woman played an instrumental role in launching the invasion of Iraq and the other is determined to end the occupation and bring the troops home. One woman wants to shed light on the lies that led to war and the other is willing to hide in jail to avoid telling the truth about her role in this catastrophe.
One lady is the mother of a fallen soldier who only demands a few rational answers as to why her son died. The second is a war mongering tramp and WMD huckster who refuses to divulge her role in outing Valerie Plame. One woman is an outsider demanding a single hour of the President’s attention. The other is a power broker from Sulzberger’s New York Times with ready access to Bush administration insiders like Karl Rove and Lewis Libby. One woman is invigorating the entire peace movement and the other is a bona fide neo-con operative of a War Party in retreat.
Cindy Sheehan wants to tell the very same tale that Judith Miller refuses to narrate. Miller was a one-woman propaganda squad on a mission to blast American minds with weapons of mass deception. She marketed the war that Cindy refused to buy. Even so, it was Cindy’s son who ended up paying the ultimate price at the age of 24.
Cindy has been compared favorably to Rosa Parks who ignited the civil rights struggle by refusing to move to the back of the bus. I think a more apt historical comparison is to a union electrician and a Polish patriot – Lech Walesa. Cindy and her band of supporters in Crawford are electrifying the nation with a crusade for the truth as to the reasons we went to war.

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/17749


State readies Big Dig takeover as closure nears
Project contract ends Dec. 31
By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff August 14, 2005
Two decades after Massachusetts signed Bechtel Corp. of San Francisco and Parsons Brinckerhoff of New York to design and manage the Big Dig, the consortium's contract is nearing an end.
To many critics of the $14.6 billion megaproject, the moment couldn't come soon enough. Under Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff's watch, the project has been hit with delays, cost overruns, hundreds of tunnel leaks, and now news that federal and state authorities are probing allegations that substandard concrete was used during construction.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/08/14/state_readies_big_dig_takeover_as_closure_nears/


The Boston Globe

Cape Cod's Camp Edwards prepares for influx of Katrina refugees
By Michael Kunzelman, Associated Press Writer September 6, 2005
BOURNE, Mass. --Thousands of Hurricane Katrina refugees headed toward Massachusetts on Tuesday as the National Guard readied their temporary home on Cape Cod and lawmakers pledged $25 million to help pay for the relocation.
About 2,500 refugees were expected to begin arriving early Tuesday afternoon at Camp Edwards, part of the sprawling Massachusetts Military Reservation on the upper Cape.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/09/06/cape_cods_camp_edwards_prepares_for_influx_of_katrina_refugees/


State reports two deaths linked to EEE virus
September 6, 2005
BOSTON --State public health officials said Tuesday that two residents of southeastern Massachusetts have died from the mosquito-borne virus eastern equine encephalitis.
The patients were from Kingston and Halifax, said Donna Rheaume, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Health. Officials planned an afternoon news conference to discuss details of the cases.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/09/06/state_reports_two_deaths_linked_to_eee_virus/


One man's trash, another man's treasure
Three times a year, more than 5,000 antique dealers haul their collections to the Brimfield Antiques Show.
An otherwise sleepy Western Massachusetts town, Brimfield's population swells from 3,000 to 30,000 during the show.
Like many of the items at the show, these miniature buckets are displayed without a price tag.

http://www.boston.com/travel/newengland/specials/gallery/Brimfield2005/


Thousands assess damage; 10,000 urged to leave city
Search for survivors, bodies continues; toll still unknown
Kevin Smith waded through water as he tried to reach his house in Jefferson Parish, La., yesterday. Most of his possessions were ruined or waterlogged. (Globe Staff Photo / Dina Rudick)
By Kevin Cullen and Keith O'Brien, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent September 6, 2005
METAIRIE, La. -- As thousands streamed back into the city's suburbs to assess the damage to their homes, authorities pleaded with the estimated 10,000 remaining in flooded areas of New Orleans to get out of a city that was, in the words of the deputy police chief, destroyed by ''the greatest catastrophe on American soil."
As police in boats conducted a building-to-building search for survivors and bodies, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin said he thought the death toll could rise as high as 10,000. Governor Kathleen Blanco said ''several thousand" could be dead. But with the official body count at 71, authorities said it would be weeks before an accurate death toll could be established.

http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2005/09/06/thousands_assess_damage_10000_urged_to_leave_city/


Missouri lake goes down the drain again
September 6, 2005
WILDWOOD, Mo. --Did someone pull the plug again? Little more than a year after it practically disappeared overnight, Lake Chesterfield is dwindling again.
"Deja vu, all over again," said Bruce Colella, chair of the homeowners' association board of trustees.
The 23-acre artificial lake in this affluent St. Louis suburb drained last year like a bathtub after the plug was pulled. A geologist determined that water had eroded layers of limestone, creating gaps in the bedrock.
Residents of the subdivision voted to contribute about $1,000 per home for repairs, spending a total of about $650,000.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/06/missouri_lake_goes_down_the_drain_again/


Fox's NY affiliate refuses Bush 'no clothes' ad
By Claudia Parsons September 6, 2005
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A local affiliate of broadcaster Fox News has rejected a campaign advertisement for a Democratic politician that lampoons President George W. Bush by superimposing his head on a naked torso.
The ad, produced by Brian Ellner, an openly gay candidate for Manhattan Borough president, opens with a close-up of Bush's face and zooms out to show the torso from the hips up, with a voice-over saying, "New Yorkers know the emperor has no clothes."
Ellner also introduces his male partner during the 30-second commercial.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/06/foxs_ny_affiliate_refuses_bush_no_clothes_ad/


EU3 initiative with Iran at an end - EU diplomat
By Paul Taylor September 6, 2005
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A European Union initiative to offer Iran incentives to abandon sensitive nuclear work that could give it the bomb is at an end unless Tehran halts uranium conversion, a senior EU diplomat said on Tuesday.
The diplomat told reporters the logical next step was for the International Atomic Energy Agency to report Iran's nuclear program to the U.N. Security Council, although it was a long way from discussing sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
"With the Iranian rejection of the European proposal and the restarting of the conversion plant in Isfahan, it did seem to us that the Paris process had ended," he said.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/09/06/eu3_initiative_with_iran_at_an_end___eu_diplomat/


Iraq charter update fails as U.S. fights in north
By Mariam Karouny September 6, 2005
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's main Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim sects abandoned efforts to amend a draft constitution on Tuesday and a version rejected by many Sunnis will be printed.
"The talks have ended. We did not reach any agreement on making changes to the draft. It will be printed in the form it was read to the National Assembly last week," Bahaa al-Araji, a member of the parliamentary drafting committee, told Reuters.
"No changes will be made," he said, adding that five million copies will be printed, starting on Thursday.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/09/06/us_fights_in_northern_iraq_as_charter_readied/


Not this oil
September 6, 2005
NATURE'S DESTRUCTION of the Gulf Coast should not lead to human destruction of Alaska's Arctic Coast, but that could be one result of Hurricane Katrina when Congress returns from its summer recess this week.
The challenge that defenders of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge have faced to protect it from oil drilling will likely become even more difficult when drilling advocates point to the damage the petroleum industry has suffered around New Orleans, pushing gasoline prices to $3 a gallon. Never mind that it will take at least 10 years for any oil to flow from ANWR, or that much greater amounts of oil could be saved sooner simply by requiring the auto industry to use available technology to improve fuel efficiency.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2005/09/06/not_this_oil/


Katrina's real name
By Ross Gelbspan August 30, 2005

THE HURRICANE that struck Louisiana yesterday was nicknamed Katrina by the National Weather Service. Its real name is global warming.

When the year began with a two-foot snowfall in Los Angeles, the cause was global warming.

When 124-mile-an-hour winds shut down nuclear plants in Scandinavia and cut power to hundreds of thousands of people in Ireland and the United Kingdom, the driver was global warming.

When a severe drought in the Midwest dropped water levels in the Missouri River to their lowest on record earlier this summer, the reason was global warming.

In July, when the worst drought on record triggered wildfires in Spain and Portugal and left water levels in France at their lowest in 30 years, the explanation was global warming.

When a lethal heat wave in Arizona kept temperatures above 110 degrees and killed more than 20 people in one week, the culprit was global warming.

And when the Indian city of Bombay (Mumbai) received 37 inches of rain in one day -- killing 1,000 people and disrupting the lives of 20 million others -- the villain was global warming.

As the atmosphere warms, it generates longer droughts, more-intense downpours, more-frequent heat waves, and more-severe storms.
Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida, it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.

The consequences are as heartbreaking as they are terrifying.

Unfortunately, very few people in America know the real name of Hurricane Katrina because the coal and oil industries have spent millions of dollars to keep the public in doubt about the issue.

The reason is simple: To allow the climate to stabilize requires humanity to cut its use of coal and oil by 70 percent. That, of course, threatens the survival of one of the largest commercial enterprises in history.

In 1995, public utility hearings in Minnesota found that the coal industry had paid more than $1 million to four scientists who were public dissenters on global warming. And ExxonMobil has spent more than $13 million since 1998 on an anti-global warming public relations and lobbying campaign.
In 2000, big oil and big coal scored their biggest electoral victory yet when President George W. Bush was elected president -- and subsequently took suggestions from the industry for his climate and energy policies.

As the pace of climate change accelerates, many researchers fear we have already entered a period of irreversible runaway climate change.
Against this background, the ignorance of the American public about global warming stands out as an indictment of the US media.

When the US press has bothered to cover the subject of global warming, it has focused almost exclusively on its political and diplomatic aspects and not on what the warming is doing to our agriculture, water supplies, plant and animal life, public health, and weather.

For years, the fossil fuel industry has lobbied the media to accord the same weight to a handful of global warming skeptics that it accords the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- more than 2,000 scientists from 100 countries reporting to the United Nations.
Today, with the science having become even more robust -- and the impacts as visible as the megastorm that covered much of the Gulf of Mexico -- the press bears a share of the guilt for our self-induced destruction with the oil and coal industries.

As a Bostonian, I am afraid that the coming winter will -- like last winter -- be unusually short and devastatingly severe. At the beginning of 2005, a deadly ice storm knocked out power to thousands of people in New England and dropped a record-setting 42.2 inches of snow on Boston.
The conventional name of the month was January. Its real name is global warming.

Ross Gelbspan is author of ''The Heat Is On" and ''Boiling Point."

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/08/30/katrinas_real_name/

continued …

September 6, 2005. The Former President looks tired. He has made a life of late handling loss for the UN and now the USA. I think he needs a vacation. Caption :: Former U.S. president Bill Clinton (L) visits with Hurricane Katrina evacuees inside Reliant Hall adjacent to the Astrodome in Houston, Texas September 5, 2005. Former U.S. presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton established a new fund on Monday to assist the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by hurricane Katrina's destructive impact on the U.S. Gulf Coast.  

Sr. 

Jr. 

Morning Papers - continued

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