An unarmed Palestinian man received a sentence today by an Israeli sniper.

Because he was Palestinian he was sentenced to death. No other reason. 

July 22, 2014
By Chris Hughes, Martin Bagot

A young Palestinian (click here) has allegedly been killed by an Israeli sniper as he searched through rubble for his family after heavy shelling.

The man had been rescuing casualties and was hunting for his own relatives when he was shot twice in Gaza City, according to a TV crew from activists the pro-Palestine International Solidarity Movement.

Member Muhammad Abdellah said: “Israeli soldier sniper hit him in his hip, so he laid down. And I started to ask him ‘can you move?’ But he said ‘no, I cannot move, my blood is going everywhere’.’’

Moments later, with the activists unable to reach him for fear of being shot themselves, the man was seen taking a second bullet.

Mr Abdellah said: “I guess it was in his heart or almost there, because he was dying in front of our eyes.”

The unverified footage was taken in the Shijaiyah neighbourhood which Israel claims has been the source of rocket attacks.

The deadliest conflict in five years between Israel and the Palestinians has now killed more than 600 Palestinians, many of them civilians, including 120 children....

Who needs it? If El Al wants to take enemy fire, more power to 'em.

July 22, 2014
By Patrick McCarron, Stephen Rex Brown

Major American airlines (click here) were banned Tuesday from flying to Israel for 24 hours after a Hamas rocket landed near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. 

The Federal Aviation Administration order that halts Delta, U.S. Airways and United Airlines flights into Israel’s main international airport went into effect at 12:15 p.m. 

“Due to the potentially hazardous situation created by the armed conflict in Israel and Gaza, all flight operations to/from Ben-Gurion International Airport by U.S. operators are prohibited until further advised,” the FAA said. 

The rocket landed about one mile from the airport.

November 29, 2002

Lod Air Force Base, Israel (Reuters) (click here)
Secret on-board defenses, not pure luck, may have saved an Israeli airliner from being shot down over Kenya by two missiles, intelligence and arms experts said Friday....

As for me? No, thank you.

January 20, 2014

By Stephen Trimble

Passengers on a possibly (click here) imminent flight by a particular El Al Boeing 737-800 – with registration 4X-EKA – may not realise it, but they will be flying onboard arguably the safest commercial aircraft in the skies.

That’s because in addition to the airworthiness criteria observed by all commercial aircraft, this particular 737-800 could be the first commercial aircraft protected by a directional infrared countermeasure (DIRCM) system in the El Al fleet. For the first time, a commercial aircraft will be both airworthy and missile-safe.

The Elbit Systems C-MUSIC pod was shown installed on 4X-EKA last June, but the DIRCM system still had not been activated in commercial service as of mid-December.

“We are very close,” says Mike Yanoov, director of business development and marketing for Elop, the division of Elbit producing DIRCM systems.

The first flight with a working C-MUSIC pod will not be announced for obvious reasons. “I’m sure the security will not allow it,” Yanoov says....

See, El Al is the one sure way anyone in Israel can come and go from within it's borders. I am sure they have taken great pains to be sure El Al fleet is quite safe.

The current North Dakota government is destroying lives and land.

...With a legislature that meets only every two years, (click here) North Dakota has given an unusual amount of power to the agriculture commissioner and two other members of the state's Industrial Commission, charging the triumvirate with oversight of permitting and other issues critical to the oil industry, which hopes to drill 35,000 new wells within 15 years.

North Dakota produces 1 million barrels of oil each day - more than any state except Texas and even some OPEC members - affording Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring, a Republican, outsized influence over energy development thanks to his seat on the commission alongside the governor and attorney general.

Now, Goehring, armed with donations from executives and political action committees at Continental Resources Inc, Whiting Petroleum Corp, Marathon Oil Corp and other companies active in the state's Bakken shale oil formation, is in the fight of his political life.

His opponent in the November election, Ryan Taylor, is a rancher and former Democratic state senator who threatens to impose stiffer regulations on an industry used to operating with little intervention in what is typically a conservative state....

The current North Dakota government has given free reign to any drilling company. That means the toxic remnants of the industry are unregulated and expose the public to many dangers including radioactive waste.

Bakken Health: (click here)
...Living in the center of the industrial mess, I see many health hazards from buckets and barrels of toxic chemicals laying along side the road unattended to extreme high readings of toxic gases and chemicals released into the air that we breath.  All of this comes with a price to pay, the workers seem to think the money is worth the risk, the people, livestock and wildlife that are forced into exposure with no choice are just "unfortunate"....

No lie.

...Radioactive wastes (click here) from oil and gas drilling take the form of produced water, drilling mud, sludge, slimes, or evaporation ponds and pits. It can also concentrate in the mineral scales that form in pipes (pipe scale), storage tanks, or other extraction equipment. Radionuclides in these wastes are primarily radium-226, radium-228, and radon gas. The radon is released to the atmosphere, while the produced water and mud containing radium are placed in ponds or pits for evaporation, re-use, or recovery.

The people most likely to be exposed to this source of radiation are workers at the site. They may inhale radon gas which is released during drilling and produced by the decay of radium, raising their risk of lung cancer. In addition, they are exposed to alpha and gamma radiation released during the decay of radium-226 and the low-energy gamma radiation and beta particles released by the decay of radium-228. (Gamma radiation can also penetrate the skin and raise the risk of cancer.) Workers following safety guidance will reduce their total on-site radiation exposure....

It is very easy to see how erionite pulverized and airborne is a carcinogen no different than asbestos.

January 21, 2014

Since the oil boom in western North Dakota (click here) began several years ago, the roads in this sparsely-populated corner of the state have been taking a beating. A typical shale oil well requires 2,300 truck trips in its lifetime, driven mostly over gravel roads. With nearly 6,800 wells currently operating in the Bakken oil field, that’s a lot of heavy traffic. County road commissioners are struggling to keep up with all the maintenance, and dust has become a major nuisance. Now there’s concern that the dust clouds could have negative health effects: in certain areas, the road dust contains a carcinogenic mineral called erionite....

Where are the erionite deposits found in western North Dakota? (click here)
Gravel deposits that contain erionite are located in or near the Arikaree, Brule and Chadron geologic formations, which correspond to the Chalky Buttes, Little Badlands and Killdeer Mountain areas in Slope, Stark and Dunn counties. These geologic formations are also present in other high buttes in western North Dakota, but testing has not been done to see if erionite is present there, as well. 

The map (click here) to the right outlines the enormous numbers of wells in North Dakota and where it involves erionite in the three counties currently of concern.

...Goehring has raised about $87,000 more in campaign contributions than Taylor, according to state records. Continental, the state's largest oil producer, called Goehring "a staunch advocate for agriculture and oil and gas."

Marathon declined to comment. Other producers did not return calls seeking comment.

Goehring has received contributions from at least ten oil companies or their executives. Taylor has received none; his prominent supporters include U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp and Sarah Vogel, the state's agriculture commissioner from 1989 to 1997, according to state records....

It is time for the citizens in North Dakota to stand up to Big Oil and demand the election of a man proven to be 'of the people' and interested in the health of North Dakotans. Ryan Taylor is the people's candidate. He needs support from local political organizations to knock on doors and hand out flyers. If money can't compete then it is a race of 'miles walked' to overcome this unfair advantage. The health of North Dakota relies on it.

If there is any way the righties can disrupt sanity in the USA, they'll do it.

...The majority opinion concluded that the law, as written, "unambiguously" restricts subsides to consumers in exchanges established by a state. That would invalidate an Internal Revenue Service regulation that tried to sort out confusing wording in the law by concluding that Congress intended for consumers in all 50 states to have subsidized coverage....

...The inaction stems in many instances from opposition by Republican governors to the Affordable Care Act....

The words in contention are taken out of context.

 ..."established by the state."...

The law clearly states the Premium assistance credit amount is established by the federal government as per it's definition. The State has an insurance commissioner that offers the individual market place. "...established by the state..." refers to the market place within the state itself. It will receive an assistance credit in the amount of.....as prescribed by the federal law. Yes, the ACA overrides any hideous idea a state might have in limiting the ability of a family, even if that family is only one person, to receive AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE INSURANCE. That is what the law is for. Standing one phrase on it's head doesn't change the content of the law.

(b) Premium assistance credit amount (click here)

For purposes of this section—

(1) In general

The term “premium assistance credit amount” means, with respect to any taxable year, the sum of the premium assistance amounts determined under paragraph (2) with respect to all coverage months of the taxpayer occurring during the taxable year.

(2) Premium assistance amount

The premium assistance amount determined under this subsection with respect to any coverage month is the amount equal to the lesser of—

(A) the monthly premiums for such month for 1 or more qualified health plans offered in the individual market within a State which cover the taxpayer, the taxpayer’s spouse, or any dependent (as defined in section 152) of the taxpayer and which were enrolled in through an Exchange established by the State under 1311  [1]of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or

(B) the excess (if any) of—

(i) the adjusted monthly premium for such month for the applicable second lowest cost silver plan with respect to the taxpayer, over

(ii) an amount equal to 1/12 of the product of the applicable percentage and the taxpayer’s household income for the taxable year.

What do we know about righties? They stand in offense to any word or group of words to their own means of their meaning. This is not new and it what happens when right wing judges make it to a bench of influence. Have we not seen the same idiocy by those of the Supreme Court with the same self-righteousness to redefine words better than Merriam Webster? The same Supreme Court that states money is more a citizen than a human being? 

One would fully expect citizens of the USA to understand when the right wing political party runs for office, they talk a pretty picture, but, their reality is some of the saddest interpretation of words that ever existed. One might say the RNC is the party of the illiterate. Words are not defined within the RNC, they are 'toys of confusion and influence.' Their appointed judges are the same way.

The law does not transfer power to the states, it overrides the power of the state to exclude Americans from Affordable Health Care. The state in this instance is simply the commissioner that regulates health insurance sold in the state.

The entire law federalizes health care. Why? Because the states did a really lousy job with it. Why would a law written to bring about equity to all Americans in receiving health care hand over federal authority to a state that blew it in the first place. It's ridiculous, but, that what right wing judges conduct in court, confusion.

How many definitions does the word "the" have?

According to Merriam-Webster, many (click here).

Laws are NOT written one word at a time, they are written with CONTENT and CONTEXT. No one ever accused a right wing judge of practicing law either.

President Obama's policies are having an impact.

22 July 2014

Russian oligarchs (click here) have lost more than $14 billion since the start of the year as Russia's richest men brace for new sanctions following the fatal crash of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 in eastern Ukraine

Later today, Britain will urge the EU to extend travel bans, asset freezes and economic sanctions on any individual deemed to be "influencing or supporting" the Putin administration.

Yesterday, Russia’s Micex index slumped to its lowest point since mid-May, falling below 1,400 points in Moscow trading, while the rouble lost ground against the dollar for the sixth day in a row as investors waited for further developments ahead of today's Brussels summit.

Russia's 19 billionaires have already lost more than $14 billion since January, data compiled by the Bloomberg Billionaire Index shows, with steel tycoon Vladimir Lisin losing $2.8 billion year-to-date followed by Alisher Usmanov, Russia's richest man. The iron magnate has lost $2.5 billion so far this year, or the equivalent of a 14 per cent drop in his net worth....

The insanity of capitalism and wayward government policy.

If today's populous is so frantic about a warming planet as it should be why then is everyone still mining and drilling for carbon?

Does anyone believe Earth can be a complete depository for burned carbon? If the idea is to bury the carbon burned when does that stop?

July 21, 2014
Henry Fountain

...But as with even the most modern coal plants, (click here) its smokestacks still emit enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, the invisible heat-trapping gas that is the main contributor to global warming. So this fall, a gleaming new maze of pipes and tanks — topped with what looks like the Tin Man’s hat — will suck up 90 percent of the carbon dioxide from one of the boilers so it can be shipped out for burial, deep underground.

If there is any hope of staving off the worst effects of climate change, many scientists say, this must be part of it — capturing the carbon that spews from power plants and locking it away, permanently. For now, they contend, the world is too dependent on fossil fuels to do anything less....

The problem with a warming planet is not people, but, their economy dictated by Wall Street and Big Oil. That is the problem. That has always been the problem. It is truly unfortunate Wall Street economies still dictate the burning of carbon as a profit motive, now isn't it? 

What is Tesla stock doing these days?

No one actually believes 'things can stay as they are' and expect to survive this? Sincerely.

The summer 'frigid air cool down' isn't simply an oddity of Earth that occurs once in a Blue Moon. It is heat exchange between the planet's ice regions to the much hotter lower latitudes. It is physics. 

What happens when an arctic region of Earth is NORMALLY -60 F and then heat exchange occurs? What happens? Will the -60 F normality remain normal or will it shift to a far warmer troposphere?

Does anyone with a brain and thinks believe that 'heat exchange' across a planetary dynamic will lead to a benevolent Earth or a very hot one?

What happens to ice when it comes in contact with hot air and hot seas? 

I mean no one actually thinks arctic air migration is normal, right? How diluted is the reality the world lives with?

Earth doesn't have enough storage space for all the carbon that can be produced by Old World Values.

12 September 2012
U. Komer, G.R. Sonnemann
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (1984–2012)

A global three-dimensional model (click here) of the dynamics (0–150 km) and chemistry (30–150 km) of the middle atmosphere has been developed and applied to the problem of the water vapor distribution of the mesosphere-mesopause region. The mesopause region is one of the most intricate domains of the atmosphere and requires an extraordinarily careful modeling. In order to interpret the specific feature of the water vapor distribution, particular attention was paid to the problem of the effective characteristic chemical time and the comparison of this time with the characteristic transport time. The results confirm measurements which show highest concentrations during the summer months and lowest concentrations in the winter in the middle and high latitudes of the mesosphere because of the seasonal variation of the vertical wind system and change in the altitudes of levels of constant pressure as a result of a mean cooling or warming below the respective heights. The equator region is marked by a semiannual variation with maxima around the equinoxes. By way of contrast, the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) measurements show maxima around solstices, however, with some exceptions for which a maximum also occurs during the equinox. This points to a dynamically sensitive equatorial region. At high latitudes the extremely low temperatures within the mesopause region in summer and the relatively high water vapor concentrations cause a supersaturation of water vapor which is the condition for the formation of noctilucent clouds (NLCs). The calculated seasonal and latitudinal border of the domain of supersaturation corresponds quite well with the mean areas of the occurrence of NLCs; however, it is impossible to model specific events on the basis of such a coarse model as the occurrence of NLCs at middle latitudes. There is no direct hemispheric transport from the summer to the winter hemisphere within the mesosphere-lower thermosphere, but the meridional transport occurs in a more complicated manner.

Wake up boys and girls, you have already changed the atmospheric layers of Earth. If that doesn't worry you, it should.

No one is still waiting to see what will happen with Human Induced Global Warming, are they? For real now. There are permanent changes to Earth's air masses already. That is REAL, NOT IMAGINARY. This is not a horror picture starring Freddy Krueger. It is the horror reality Wall Street has subscribed to.

When I first set out on the venture to bring a message to the world a very dear friend said, "People will go by way of the Dodo. It is in their nature to ignore warnings that are not immediately registering on their survival centers." I told him I had to try. He has children, too.

Happy Birthday, George.

Congratulations to William and Kate for being devoted parents, it shows. He is truly engaged in his world and unafraid. Everyone knows George is sincerely loved and treasured by his parents.