The tragedies of the last 24 hours is enough to reflect on. I am really tired of American living lives too dangerous to continue. Senseless comes to mind. Good night.

Britain names world's largest marine reserve 

JULIET EILPERIN

April 3, 2010

The British government has announced the creation of the world's largest marine reserve, designating a group of 55 islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean off-limits to industrial fishing and other extractive activities.

The Chagos Islands are home to about half of the Indian Ocean's healthy coral reefs, along with several imperilled sea turtle species and 175,000 pairs of breeding seabirds.

The new preserve covers about 544,000 square kilometres - more than twice the size of Britain - and will shelter at least 76 species classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Just two-tenths of 1 per cent of the world's oceans are protected, compared with 6 to 11 per cent of the world's land mass; the Chagos Islands addition will increase it to about three-tenths of 1 per cent.

The new protected area will surpass the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the waters of the north-western Hawaiian Islands, set aside by then US president George Bush in 2006, as the biggest marine reserve.

''Its establishment will double the global coverage of the world's oceans under protection,'' Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, said. ''This measure is a further demonstration of how the UK takes its international environmental responsibilities seriously.''

Jay Nelson, who directs the Pew Environment Group's global ocean legacy initiative, called the decision ''a historic victory for global ocean conservation''.

He noted that because the corals lived at greater depths in the area they were less vulnerable to bleaching, and that the large-scale fishing prohibition should protect both tuna and the 60,000 sharks caught each year accidentally by tuna fishermen.

''It should give the tuna some breathing room,'' Mr Nelson said. ''And it's good news for sharks, too.'' 

The Chagos Conservation Trust (click here)

His work in Anti-Trust Law earned him the reputation as a liberal. He is actually a centrist judge. Click title for US vs. Ross.

A member of the U.S. Supreme Court since 1975, John Paul Stevens has developed a reputation as a judicial centrist on the High Court, although many of his more well-known opinions are marked by a liberal bent.

Born on April 20, 1920, Stevens descended from Nicholas Stevens, who emigrated to America in 1659 after serving as a brigadier general in Oliver Cromwell's army. Stevens's father was a businessman and lawyer; he designed Chicago's Stevens Hotel and was its original managing director.

A political moderate during his college days at the University of Chicago, Stevens graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1941. During World War II he served with the U.S. Navy and was awarded the Bronze Star. After the war he studied law at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, graduating first in his class in 1947.

Stevens began his legal career as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice WILEY B. RUTLEDGE. In 1948 he joined the Chicago firm of Poppenhausen, Johnston, Thompson, and Raymond, specializing in litigation and Antitrust Law.  In 1951 he served as associate counsel on a study of monopoly  power for a subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. Upon returning to Chicago in 1952, Stevens founded the firm of Rothschild, Stevens, Barry, and Meyers. Along with his private practice, he taught antitrust law at the Northwestern University and the University of Chicago law schools throughout much of the 1950s. He also served for a time as a member of the U.S. attorney general's National Committee to Study Antitrust Laws.

In 1970 President RICHARD M. NIXON appointed Stevens as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He became known for his scholarly abilities and his carefully written, clear, and succinct opinions. His first opinion on the court of appeals was a dissent in a challenge to the summary incarceration of an antiwar activist who had disrupted a legislative session (Groppi v. Leslie, 436 F.2d 331 [1971]). Stevens viewed the incarceration as unconstitutional, and the following year his minority view was vindicated by a unanimous Supreme Court (404 U.S. 496, 92 S. Ct. 582, 30 L. Ed. 2d 632).

The liberal Supreme Court justice WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS retired in 1975, providing President GERALD R. FORD his only opportunity to make a Supreme Court appointment. Stevens received high praise and active support from Ford's attorney general, EDWARD LEVI, and unqualified support from the American Bar Associaiton. During the Senate confirmation hearing, Stevens remarked that he believed that litigants should know how judges viewed the arguments and that it was important to make a record to note diverse views for reference in later cases.

John Paul Stevens

 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Stevens was unanimously confirmed on December 17, 1975, and took his oath of office two days later.

Until Stevens became a justice, new justices were typically seen but not heard. Instead, they usually joined dissents or concurrences without offering their own opinions. Stevens did not fit that pattern. During the 1976–77 term, Stevens had seventeen separate majority concurrences and twenty-seven separate dissents, far more than any other justice.

"IT IS NOT OUR JOB TO APPLY LAWS THAT HAVE NOT YET BEEN WRITTEN."
—JOHN PAUL STEVENS

It would seem the Russian have a bit of a mess on their hands. I can only imagine what NATO will rant on about over this.

Poland's President, Bank Governor Die in Plane Crash (Update4)  (click here)

Friday, April 9, 2010

By David McQuaid and Piotr Skolimowski

April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Polish President Lech Kaczynski and central bank Governor Slawomir Skrzypek were killed today along with several key members of the country's political elite when their plane crashed in western Russia, where they were to mark the 70th anniversary of a massacre of Polish officers.

The 60 year-old president's wife, Maria, and leaders of the country's main opposition parties and military, including the Army Chief of Staff Franciszek Gagor, also died in the crash, which happened as the aircraft was on approach for landing in Smolensk, Foreign Ministry spokesman Piotr Paszkowski said in a phone interview. The crash killed all 96 on board, including 88 passengers and 8 crew, according to Russia's Emergency Ministry....

And of all things the BANK GOVERNOR was on the flight.  There goes Wall Street down the tubes.  Get out the crying towel for Paulson.  


And below is some brilliant insight from The Christian Science Monitor.  


Should we all thank God now or later for the Nuclear Treaty Obama and Medvedev just signed?  If Poland had its way, it would be 'Bombs Away' rather than seeking to improve their pilot schools.  Any reason will do, you know?  

I guess Hillary isn't having a good day.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski plane crash death could strain Poland-Russia ties  (click title to entry - thank you)

The commemoration of the Katyn massacre was meant to be a key 'forgive and forget' moment for Poland and Russia. It may now be overshadowed by the tragic death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, riding in a Russian-built aircraft....

Twenty-nine West Virginians are dead from one mine explosion. Did the last four ever have a chance?

To be completely honest, I don't want this on my conscience anymore.  We need to remove coal mining as a prospect for energy.  I don't care if coal miners think this is just a part of life.  It isn't a part of most Americans' lives.  Their oppression to 'serve the beast' is more than any First World country should tolerate.

April 9, 2010

The Department of Energy wants 20 percent of America's power (click title to entry - thank you)  to come from wind by the year 2030. What role will the Plains states play? Ira Flatow and guests look at wind power development in Oklahoma and the region, and the plans for transmitting that power to the coasts.

The study below shows a marked increase in Child Lung Disease when they attend school near a coal plant.

Follow Up of Schoolchildren in the Vacinity of a Coal - Powered Plant in Israel  (click here)

Follow-Up of Schoolchildren in the Vicinity of a Coal-Fired Power Plant in Israel

Ayana I. Goren, John R. Goldsmith, Sarah Hellmann and Shmuel Brenner 

Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 94, (Aug., 1991), pp. 101-105 

(article consists of 5 pages)

Published by: Brogan & Partners 

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3431300

The Joy of Massey and its employment just never ends.

Breaking news: Court OKs Massey silo near school  (click here)

June 9, 2009 by Ken Ward Jr.
Massey Energy got one coal silo near Marsh Fork Elementary School built before activists and the press noticed the silo site wasn’t within the permit boundary shown in company maps. Photo by Britney Williams, courtesy Coal River Mountain Watch.
The West Virginia Supreme Court just issued a long-awaiting opinion that, in effect, says that Massey Energy’s plans for another coal silo adjacent to Marsh Fork Elementary School in Raleigh County is OK.
Justices unanimously affirmed an earlier ruling by Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom, who previously upheld a decision by the state Department of Environmental Protection to authorize the silo construction.