This Blog is created to stress the importance of Peace as an environmental directive. “I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” – Harry Truman
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I wouldn't want to be in the Middle of the Atlantic right now.The cold ridge in the center of the USA is still descending but starting to move more east than south. A Mid-latitude vortex is noted to be forming over South Dakota.
January 6, 2010 Dover, Florida -They should be getting relief tonight. Photographer states :: This was taken this morning, at one of our local Strawberry farms close to Tampa Florida. They have to put an ice layer over the strawberries to keep the damage away.
January 6, 2010 2115 gmt USA temperature map
Warming is coming up from the south as well. The residual heat never lasts that long. It converts real quick. The frigid temperatures remain dangerous where they exist.
Australia endures hottest decade on record (click title to entry - thank you)
BRIDIE SMITH
January 6, 2010
EXTREME bushfires and dust-storms with rainfall that was too much in some parts of the country and not enough in others characterised 2009 - Australia's second-warmest year on record.
And as the first decade of the 21st century came to a close, authorities reached for the record books to confirm the 10 years to 2009 as Australia's warmest decade on record.
The annual climate statement, released by the Bureau of Meteorology yesterday, is consistent with global warming trends and shows records also fell in Victoria, with new maximum temperatures recorded.
Overnight temperatures were above normal by about 0.5 to 1 degree in most parts of the state.
Daytime temperatures were up to 3 degrees above normal throughout the year for Victoria, which got off to a hot start with a heatwave producing Melbourne's maximum temperature record of 46.4 degrees on February 7. On the same day, the state recorded its highest temperature of 48.8 degrees in Hopetoun.
In winter, the country remained unusually warm due to a heatwave that warmed up large parts of inland Australia and resulted in the country's hottest August on record....
Janaury 6, 2010 1324 gmt Antarctica Satellite
January 6, 2010 0900 AM Antarctica Temperature Image
The coldest reporting stations in Antarctica aren't very cold.
And I don't need C-Span in every corner of my government. The Democrats dedicated a meeting room to exactly the privacy they needed to accomplish a comprehensive health care bill. I don't want the Democrats to sink as low as the Republicans in securing covert meeting places where illicit affairs take place.
The Sanford and Ensign Scandals Open a Door On Previously Secretive 'C Street' Spiritual Haven
...Although Sanford visited the house, there is no indication that he was ever a resident; when he was in Congress from 1995 to 2000, the parsimonious lawmaker was famous for forgoing his housing allowance and bunking in his Capitol Hill office. But it is not uncommon for residents to invite fellow congressmen to the home for spiritual bonding. There, Sanford enjoyed a kind of alumnus status. Richard Carver, president of the Fellowship Foundation, said, "I don't think it's intended to have someone from South Carolina get counseling there." But he posited that Sanford turned to C Street "because he built a relationship with people who live in the house."
People familiar with the house say the downstairs is generally used for meals and prayer meetings. Volunteers help facilitate prayer meetings, they said. Residents include Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), Ensign and Coburn. None of the congressmen agreed to be interviewed for this article. But associates of some of Ensign's housemates privately worried that the other residents would be tarred by the scandals...
It is where corruption occurs. The Democrats need to cleanser their souls at their places of worship.
...The house, which is assessed at $1.84 million, is registered to a little-known organization called Youth With a Mission of Washington DC. Carver, who said his Fellowship group is affiliated with the house, said that he has never heard of Youth With a Mission of Washington DC and that he did not have a phone number for it. Later, he said, he spoke with someone who "at one time was involved with the house" and had "heard secondhand" that the organization that runs the house is "subscribing to the no-comment."... One might note, Senators Dodd and Dorgan had most likely made up their minds to retire from office before they voted on the health care reform legislation. It is uncorrupted from most angles best I can tell. Honest Democrats with long time interest in its outcome and absolutely no Republican corruption. It will be interesting reading.
There was a disservice done to the measure during its visit to the Senate. It was bandied around as if it were a minor measure of legislation. It was not. It won't be viewed as same either. This was a major act of legislation and touches the very right of every American to have their health attended to by a high quality health care system. There should be clear understanding this will improve the American Health Care industry and limit impacts to citizens that result in deaths and poor health.
I am confident it will be a drastic improvement over the previous atrocity of an insurance network in the USA and it needs to be monitored. I am also confident the Health Care Insurance companies will seek to exploit every word and every meaning, so it is appropriate we all understand its words, spirit and definitions.
Vicious politics was never their forte. They always enjoyed bi-partisanship and that doesn't exist anymore. And it doesn't exist as a political strategy, not because it wasn't appropriate. That hurts to some people. It is a loss of dignity and purpose to the office. It is unfortunate.
They are retiring at the height of their careers and handing it off to those seeking a chance at leading their nation.
I thank them for all their service.
They have a place in history beyond just their political longevity. They made a difference to the Middle Class.
Senator Byron Dorgan
latimes.com
Democratic Sens. Christopher Dodd and Byron Dorgan to retire (click title to entry - thank you)
Associated Press
January 6, 2010
Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, a five-term Democrat whose political stock began falling after the financial meltdown and his failed 2008 presidential bid, has decided not to seek reelection in November, Democratic officials said early today.
Word of Dodd's retirement came hours after North Dakota Democrat Byron L. Dorgan, 67, announced he would not run for reelection. Republicans stand a good chance of taking Dorgan's seat, but Dodd's could stay with the Democrats. Although Dodd was personally unpopular, President Obama won Connecticut handily in 2008....
