Appoint Barney Frank as Interim Senator for Massachusetts.

There really isn't anyone else prepared to take on the Senate seat vacated by Senator Kerry for the 3 months until an election is held.

Massachusetts needs someone who already knows the issues, not someone who is a quick study of them.

Governor Patrick is a busy man. He is seeking to end abuse of any municipal unemployment in Massachusetts, while freezing unemployment insurance contribution rates by employers, he is seeking a dam safety bill, has just sworn in a new member of the LGBT Board and some of his most important focus is a Compounding Pharmacy Industry reform bill. 

But,in all his work, I sincerely hope he sees the Interim Senator in the serious light it should be viewed. Former House Representative Frank may have retired in time to serve the country this one more time in a vital absence created by John Kerry moving to the President's Cabinet.

There are many important votes coming up in the next three months. Considering we are all hoping Rep. Markey is elected to the USA Senate it is only best and correct to place someone in the Interim Senator seat who knows the issues at hand and agrees with the vote Representative Markey would make.

Rep. Markey would be a wonderful Senator and one Massachusetts could count on and be proud of. He today has sent recommendations to Vice President Biden regarding a federal bill on gun control.

There are many in Massachusetts and the country that would like Governor Patrick to place Retired Representative Frank to the Interim Senate seat. He sincerely is learned about the issues at hand and could vote tomorrow if necessary without doing any research or making in roads. If Barney looks bored, it is probably because there isn't much anyone can tell him about the issue at hand.

Thank you, Governor Patrick.

It is called corruption, not politics.

Florida List for Purge of Voters Proves Flawed (click here)

By FORD FESSENDEN

Published: July 10, 2004

Florida election officials used a flawed method to come up with a listing of people believed to be convicted felons, a list that they are recommending be used to purge voter registration rolls, state officials acknowledged yesterday. As a result, voters identifying themselves as Hispanic are almost completely absent from that list.

Of nearly 48,000 Florida residents on the felon list, only 61 are Hispanic. By contrast, more than 22,000 are African-American.

About 8 percent of Florida voters describe themselves as Hispanic, and about 11 percent as black.

In a presidential-election battleground state that decided the 2000 race by giving George W. Bush a margin of only 537 votes, the effect could be significant: black voters are overwhelmingly Democratic, while Hispanics in Florida tend to vote Republican.

Elections officials of Florida's Republican administration denied any partisan motive in use of the method they adopted, and noted that it had been approved as part of a settlement of a civil rights lawsuit.

Secretary of State Katherine Harris hired a firm to vet the rolls for felons, but that may have wrongly kept thousands, particularly blacks, from casting ballots. (click here)

BY GREGORY PALAST

...Early in the year, the company, ChoicePoint, gave Florida officials a list with the names of 8,000 ex-felons to “scrub” from their list of voters. But it turns out none on the list were guilty of felonies, only misdemeanors. The company acknowledged the error, and blamed it on the original source of the list — the state of Texas....

And whom was Governor of Texas before being president?

Bill Nelson compares Rick Scott's voter purge with a 2000 attempt (click here)

Bill Nelson on Tuesday, May 29th, 2012 in letter to Gov. Rick Scott
...He warned Scott about repeating the ordeal in a May 29, 2012, letter."In the 2000 Florida election, at least 1,100 eligible voters were wrongly dropped from voting rolls in an attempt to purge a list of felons," Nelson wrote. "Many of those who were dropped showed up to vote and were told they could not. And in a presidential election decided by 537 votes, that erroneous purge may have been a factor."...

Congratulations, Governor Christie.

I like the guy. He is honest. Governor Christie is a mover and a shaker, there is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes things needs someone to look at it differently and find a better path. I think that is what Christie has done and seeks to do.

This morning on NBC’s Today Show, Chris Christie reacted to being on the brand new cover of TIME. (click here)

Jeb Bush cannot hold a candle to the guy. Jeb Bush is 'establishment.' Jeb Bush had a Secretary of State that threw an election in 2000 to benefit his brother. It is called corruption. Jeb Bush doesn't know the difference between an L-shaped recession and a V-shaped recession according to testimony before a Congressional Committee. Jeb's intention was to push President Obama out of office. He didn't care about honesty and he was under oath. Maybe he refused to take an oath is actually the case. Jeb Bush's educational programs were designed to destroy unions, not benefit students. They are separate subjects. Destroying unions does not equate to better education in the classroom. Changes within the tenure program for teachers with low performance rates when there is no logical explanation for it, is the change needed by unions; not their destruction. Why go on?

The Democratic Party has spent the better part of two years fighting for voter access to polls. They have fought voter ID and voter purges. What do they think happened in Florida in 2000? Somehow that is different?

The USA has a young, talented hispanic professor in Delaware I would love to have considered for the EPA

He is a fairly popular guy with his students so he may not be available. But, the research he has conducted and conducts with his grad students are vital to the future of the EPA.

His research has an affection for Zeolites. They can be made to serve high capacity solar collectors.

The Lobo group (click here) is part of the CCST at University of Delaware. The main research focus of the group is on the study of structure, synthesis and application of porous materials. In addition there is also research on catalysis and photocatalysis.


Small Pore Zeolites: (click here) Effective Catalysts for the Selective
Catalytic Reduction of NOx

Who needs water for hydroelectric power? Steam energy. The application for energy production is astounding and it doesn't pollute.

Zeolite is a mineral (click here) that can store up to four times more heat than water. And what’s better, unlike water which gradually cools off, zeolite retains a hundred percent of the heat for an unlimited amount of time.

Zeolite – which means ‘boiling stone’ in Greek- was named for its peculiar properties. Zeolite is extremely porous. So much so, that a gram of the stuff has a surface area of a 1000 square meters (10,764 sq ft). When water comes into contact with zeolite it is bound to its surface by means of a chemical reaction which generates heat. Reversely, when heat is applied the water is removed from the surface, generating large amounts of steam....

Curriculum Vitae of Raul F. Lobo (click here)

He is a very talented chemical engineer as  is the departing Secretary Jackson.

President Obama cannot forget Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm for his new cabinet.

Governor Granholm is more than qualified for an Obama Cabinet Position.

I realize President Obama is being criticized for his gender bias in the 2013 cabinet, but, he sometimes views appointments as reclaiming the expertise of the party.

Senator Kerry was more than qualified for the job of President in 2004, yet, due to vicious campaigns against him, he was denied that opportunity to lead. He now has his esteem returned to him as the new Secretary of State. 

I sincerely believe President Obama is seeking to set the record straight in many instances when he makes appointments and nominations.

Governor Granholm was once a prospect for the US Supreme Court. As long as President Obama is restoring status to qualified members of our country, he needs to consider the Former Governor for a position within his administration. 

She might refuse. She is a university professor and has a husband and private life she relishes, but, she should consider serving with President Obama for the next four years. 

Secretary Solis is leaving. I am sure she longs for her personal life, too. It has been a gruelling four years for the Cabinet. The hostility from extremists in the country has been an outrageous dynamic few could stand up to. I admire all those that served for this President Obama's first term.

The good Governor knows labor. She is familiar with the unions and knows how the Bush years failed Michigan. She should be considered for a position in the second term.

Australia's extreme heat required a new color on the charts.

There has been a very odd absence of water vapor at the Intertropical Convergence Zones at the Equator of Earth. It has been noted for about the past 16 hours. I believe the reason is the extreme heat over Australia. This is extremely hot for Australia. 52 degrees Celcius is the equivalent of 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Wildfires have been out of control, yet again.

This is what a normal Intertropical Convergence Zone looks like with water vapor evident.

Below is what the Intertropical Convergence Zone has looked like over the past 16 or so hours.

January 8, 2013
1825 gmt
The Weather Channel Western Hemisphere Satellite

The Water Vapor is absent. Not only that but it is headed south toward Australia.

Think tropical rainforests and their loss of water vapor. They have very shallow root systems.

January 9, 2013
1222 gmt
The Weather Channel Western Hemisphere Satellite

It has become growingly worse and the loss of water vapor at the Intertropical Convergence Zone is global.


January 8, 2013
1834 gmt 
The Weather Channel Global Pacific Satellite 

The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ICZ) in the Pacific has no water vapor. Not only that, but, to the left side of this satellite it is noted the accumulation of water vapor not contained by the ICZ. This area of the globe is seeing cross Equatorial movement of air masses containing water vapor.

January 8, 2013
0133 pm est
The Weather Channel Africa - Europe Satellite.

Here again the ICZ is absent across Africa and into the Indian Ocean. There has been a chronic water vapor conduit between Africa and South America for about eight years now and it is persisting across the Atlantic Ocean.

January 9, 2013
1315 gmt 
The Weather Channel Australian Satellite

There is the water vapor and today Australia is reporting a break in the heat. The planetary water vapor is becoming sparse throughout the troposphere because of the increasing heat. This is all part of the negative feedback loop of high concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane due to human activity.

For as tragic as this is in Australia, it is a global event adding to the stress Earth's biotic systems experience due to Greenhouse Gas Emissions by human activity.

Last Updated : Wednesday, January 09, 2013 8:49 AM

SYDNEY — Bush fires raged out of control (click here) across Australia’s most populous state Tuesday, fanned by intense heat and high winds in “catastrophic” conditions that targeted homes and triggered evacuations.

More than 140 fires were burning across New South Wales state late in the day, around 40 of them uncontained, state Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters in Sydney.

“You don’t get conditions worse than this, we are at the catastrophic level,” he said.

Introduced after the 2009 Black Saturday firestorm in Victoria state, which claimed 173 lives, a “catastrophic” rating means fires will be uncontrollable, unpredictable and fast-moving, with evacuation the only safe option....

A charred vehicle sits near the remains of a home destroyed by a wildfire between Dunalley and Boomer Bay, east of the Tasmanian capital of Hobart, Australia.(Photo: Chris Kidd, AP)

7:09a.m. EST January 7, 2013

HOBART, Australia (AP) — Officials searched Monday (click here) for bodies among the charred ruins of more than 100 homes and other buildings destroyed by wildfires in the Australian island state of Tasmania. Around 100 residents remained unaccounted for, three days after the fires broke out.

As scores of fires raged across Australia's parched southeast, a volunteer firefighter suffered severe burns to his hands and face while fighting a grass fire near Gundaroo village, about 220 kilometers (138 miles) southwest of Sydney, the New South Wales state Rural Fire Service said in a statement. The firefighter was flown to a hospital in Sydney....

Was there ever a doubt he was valiant?

Little did he realize the American Children needed him.

Thank you. General McChrystal is a family man. He understands what our nation is all about when it comes to protecting the innocent and vulnerable. He is correct, there simply is no place for these guns in our society.

His voice is very important to this nation's dialogue. I appreciate his dedication to our country and his willingness to speak to it's domestic condition.

Wednesday, Jan 9, 2013

By Debra Pangestu

Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal (click here) hit the late-night talk show circuit on Tuesday with an appearance on “The Daily Show,” where he discussed gun control, his experiences serving in Afghanistan, and the “addictive” nature of the military.

Host Jon Stewart kicked off the interview by touching on a topic that has been under much scrutiny following the deadly shootings in Aurora, Colo., and more recently in Newtown, Conn. – gun control.

McChrystal, who has handled a veritable artillery of advanced weaponry on the battlefield during his military career, took a decidedly different tone when it came to guns landing in civilian hands.

“I don’t want them on our streets, I don’t want them in our schools,” McChrystal said firmly. “I don’t think that most people are prepared to carry them.”...