There was a time in this country (click here) when the word ecosystem was important above Wall Street profits. It is far less so today.

There are also words misused today when people dialogue about an ecosystem. 

An ecosystem is not a food web. A food web exists within an ecosystem. It is the ecosystem, it's diversity and complexity that must be understood and appreciated in order to protect Earth's biosphere. There are no substitutions. Scientists are not deliberately trying to be difficult or putting species before people. There are reasons for the biosphere and it is important we all appreciate what it is and why it is important.

As the Third World takes on the challenges of quality of life for it's people, there will be issues with environmental changes. It is important scientists are involved to minimize the impacts of a changing society and it's need for health and good food. 

There is a balance. I promise you that. It is important we reach a balance with Earth and it is not up for negotiations.

I'll address Articles 21 through 28 of Kyoto next week. Then what is left are the Annexes which is the week after.

Article 20 

1. Any Party may propose amendments to this Protocol. 

2. Amendments to this Protocol shall be adopted at an ordinary session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol. The text of any proposed amendment to this Protocol shall be communicated to the Parties by the secretariat at least six months before the meeting at which it is proposed for adoption. The secretariat shall also communicate the text of any proposed amendments to the Parties and signatories to the Convention and, for information, to the Depositary. 

The wording should be different. Amendments can be proposed for vote among the members.

3. The Parties shall make every effort to reach agreement on any proposed amendment to this Protocol by consensus. If all efforts at consensus have been exhausted, and no agreement reached, the amendment shall as a last resort be adopted by a three-fourths majority vote of the Parties present and voting at the meeting. The adopted amendment shall be communicated by the secretariat to the Depositary, who shall circulate it to all Parties for their acceptance. 

The amendment stuff sounds like this really big deal. There are going to be times when countries have particular issues that might need to be addressed. When restoring biotic content there is rarely a study that doesn't run into some kind of surprise. So, if there are amendments that take on unique properties, perhaps an appendex entry is more appropriate unless the unique becomes the common place. Environmental stress may show up in some places before others. Also the return of biotic content may find it an easy way back and take form sooner than expected. These unique discoveries are usually the leading edge of change regardless of it being a good indicator or a bad one.

I would also expect national colleges and/or universities to be involved with such isues as well.

4. Instruments of acceptance in respect of an amendment shall be deposited with the Depositary. An amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 3 above shall enter into force for those Parties having accepted it on the ninetieth day after the date of receipt by the Depositary of an instrument of acceptance by at least three fourths of the Parties to this Protocol. 

5. The amendment shall enter into force for any other Party on the ninetieth day after the date on which that Party deposits with the Depositary its instrument of acceptance of the said amendment.

A fixed date of record is a method of reliability of the process.

Worldwide Amphibians Declines: How big is the problem, what are the causes and what can be done.

II. Maps of Global Declines (click here)

Numbers of Critically Endangered and Vulnerable species have increased worldwide as quantified in this map colored by biogeographic biomes defined by Wallace and redefined by Holt et al (2012 in Science). 
The tallies of species are: 1) In red: Number of Extinct, Extinct in the wild or Critically Endangered species; 2)In orange, Number of Endangered or Vulnerable species; 3) In white, Total number of species for biome...

Article 16 

The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall, as soon as practicable, consider the application to this Protocol of, and modify as appropriate, the multilateral consultative process referred to in Article 13 of the Convention, in the light of any relevant decisions that may be taken by the Conference of the Parties. Any multilateral consultative process that may be applied to this Protocol shall operate without prejudice to the procedures and mechanisms established in accordance with Article 18. 

I hope there is an understanding in the new agreement of COP 21, there is a goal to be achieved with no exception to that goal. Some of the wording within Kyoto allows for corruption by entities such as the petroleum industry. 

In the USA we have witnessed all too often members of Goldman Sachs working within the government at varying degrees of authority. It hurt the USA to have power from outside of government to conduct the countries priorities. The COP 21 cannot be forced off track by capitalists or plutocrats feeling the pinch of sustainability. Sustainability has to go forward as the highest of priorities in human activity. Wall Street and greed cannot be allowed to thwart this priority. CANNOT NOT.

To allow such influence is corruption and must be eliminated at every opportunity.

Article 17 

The Conference of the Parties shall define the relevant principles, modalities, rules and guidelines, in particular for verification, reporting and accountability for emissions trading. The Parties included in Annex B may participate in emissions trading for the purposes of fulfilling their commitments under Article 3. Any such trading shall be supplemental to domestic actions for the purpose of meeting quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments under that Article. 

I am not a proponent of emissions trading. Some countries find success in doing so, but, in the USA it will be nothing more than passing on the cost to the consumer. The USA has no regulations to prevent such exploitation of people and their household incomes. There is no incentive in emission trading in the USA. There is no reason to change from fossil fuels, the cost of the exchange is simply passed on as an expense to consumers. It won't work in the USA. The government has to enforce the imposed costs on the profit structure to facilitate change from fossil fuels. It will never happen under the current Congress. Anyone from this agreement is welcome to come to Washington, DC to lobby the legislature. I might be interesting for you.

Article 18 

The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall, at its first session, approve appropriate and effective procedures and mechanisms to determine and to address cases of non-compliance with the provisions of this Protocol, including through the development of an indicative list of consequences, taking into account the cause, type, degree and frequency of non-compliance. Any procedures and mechanisms under this Article entailing binding consequences shall be adopted by means of an amendment to this Protocol. 

If I had it my way, the company/utilities that bought carbon credits would have to prove the costs were not passed on to consumers or pay high fines. 

Article 19 

The provisions of Article 14 of the Convention on settlement of disputes shall apply mutatis mutandis to this Protocol. 

Visualizing AmphibiaWeb Data with Continuous Cartograms (click here)

by Michelle S. Koo, Vance T. Vredenberg, Joyce Gross, Carol L. Spencer, Tate Tunstall, David B. Wake

Introduction

Visualization is a powerful tool that conservation biologists must harness to not only better understand the patterns of decline themselves but to effectively convey the information. Applying AmphibiaWeb data and those of collaborators to density-equalizing cartograms sheds new light on global amphibian diversity and decline. These new perspectives will hopefully present the data in more intuitive and compelling fashion for scientists and the environmentally-aware public alike....

Amphibians are often the first sign of a healthy ecosystem. But, they are often the first indicators when something is wrong. They live between the land and water and what affects them is also effecting or going to effect others.

An extra appendage or growth of some kind is a fairly obvious indication there are problems besides birth defects.

The records of what should be found in an ecosystem are decades old if not centuries or millennia. We know what we are losing and the loss is faster than the adaptation.

Article 14 

1. The secretariat established by Article 8 of the Convention shall serve as the secretariat of this Protocol. 

2. Article 8, paragraph 2, of the Convention on the functions of the secretariat, and Article 8, paragraph 3, of the Convention on arrangements made for the functioning of the secretariat, shall apply mutatis mutandis to this Protocol. The secretariat shall, in addition, exercise the functions assigned to it under this Protocol. 

There are those silly words again:  "the necessary changes having been made" or "once the necessary changes have been made"

Article 15 

1. The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation established by Articles 9 and 10 of the Convention shall serve as, respectively, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation of this Protocol. The provisions relating to the functioning of these two bodies under the Convention shall apply mutatis mutandis to this Protocol. Sessions of the meetings of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation of this Protocol shall be held in conjunction with the meetings of, respectively, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation of the Convention. 

Housekeeping.

2. Parties to the Convention that are not Parties to this Protocol may participate as observers in the proceedings of any session of the subsidiary bodies. When the subsidiary bodies serve as the subsidiary bodies of this Protocol, decisions under this Protocol shall be taken only by those that are Parties to this Protocol. 

3. When the subsidiary bodies established by Articles 9 and 10 of the Convention exercise their functions with regard to matters concerning this Protocol, any member of the Bureaux (Bureau) of those subsidiary bodies representing a Party to the Convention but, at that time, not a party to this Protocol, shall be replaced by an additional member to be elected by and from amongst the Parties to this Protocol. 

No diluting the authority of all parties to the protocol.

And with the petroleum industry leaking oil into the seas and methane into the air, it just proves how much life on Earth is not respected.

Figure 3 — Declines since 1970 in marine, freshwater and terrestrial vertebrates. From Global Biodiversity Outlook 2, a publication of the of UNEP's Convention on Biological Diversity. "Based on published data from around the world, the Living Planet Index aggregates trends of some 3,000 wild populations of species. It shows a consistent decline in average species abundance of about 40% between 1970 and 2000; inland water species declined by 50%, while marine and terrestrial species both declined by around 30%"

Sometimes I think the Republicans and their cronies simply loved living in the 1950s.

July 30, 2009 (click here)

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all
    —Emily Dickinson

Hope is a duty from which paleontologists are exempt.... If hope is the thing with feathers, as Emily Dickinson said, then it's good to remember that feathers don't generally fossilize well. In lieu of hope and despair, paleontologists have a highly developed sense of cyclicity. That's why I recently went to Chicago, with a handful of urgently grim questions, and called on a paleontologist named David Jablonski. I wanted answers unvarnished with obligatory hope.
    —David Quammen

Occasionally I am asked what I think the future will look like, not just in the next few years or in 10 years, but several decades from now. Frankly, it's hard not to cringe, because my honest appraisal is not likely to be met with much enthusiasm. Some people harangue me via e-mail, asking why I don't write about over-population and other great disasters. Well, I write for the association for the study of peak oil & natural gas, so I usually confine myself to energy supply & consumption, alternatives to fossil fuels, and economic or scientific issues that bear on these subjects....

The ending paragraphs of Article 13

5. The rules of procedure of the Conference of the Parties and financial procedures applied under the Convention shall be applied mutatis mutandis ("the necessary changes having been made" or "once the necessary changes have been made") under this Protocol, except as may be otherwise decided by consensus by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol.

This is a working document, not just words on a page. This Protocol was prescribed to bring about vast reductions of greenhouse gases. No one expected the USA to increase it's emissions working against the efforts of an entire international community.

As a working document there is going to be an ongoing process that will be recorded to share with all those involved.

6. The first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall be convened by the secretariat in conjunction with the first session of the Conference of the Parties that is scheduled after the date of the entry into force of this Protocol. Subsequent ordinary sessions of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall be held every year and in conjunction with ordinary sessions of the Conference of the Parties, unless otherwise decided by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol. 

COP - Conference of the Parties - COP 21 occurred December 2015 in Paris, France. (click here)

Real people committed to returning Earth's troposphere to function by restoring it's biotic content and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is not an empty document. It is real. The people are real. The commitment deeply felt.

7. Extraordinary sessions of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall be held at such other times as may be deemed necessary by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol, or at the written request of any Party, provided that, within six months of the request being communicated to the Parties by the secretariat, it is supported by at least one third of the Parties.

I dream of the day and extraordinary session is called in my lifetime to state the trends are slowing and reversing. That day has to come. 

8. The United Nations, its specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as any State member thereof or observers thereto not party to the Convention, may be represented at sessions of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol as observers. Any body or agency, whether national or international, governmental or non-governmental, which is qualified in matters covered by this Protocol and which has informed the secretariat of its wish to be represented at a session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol as an observer, may be so admitted unless at least one third of the Parties present object. The admission and participation of observers shall be subject to the rules of procedure, as referred to in paragraph 5 above.

The international community never assumes it will provide all necessary expertise and leaves open the possibility of more involvement that can and will make a difference to the reduction of greenhouse gases and progression of the return of biotic content to countries. 

The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution and protection.

1. SL Pimm , 
2. C. N. Jenkins, 
3. R. Abell, 
4. T. M. Brooks, 
5. J. L. Gittleman, 
6. L. N. Joppa,
7. 1. P. H. Raven, 
   2. C. M. Roberts, 
   3. J. O. Sexton

Science  30 May 2014:
Vol. 344, Issue 6187

DOI: 10.1126/science.1246752 

Structured Abstract (click here)

Background

A principal function of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is to “perform regular and timely assessments of knowledge on biodiversity.” In December 2013, its second plenary session approved a program to begin a global assessment in 2015. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and five other biodiversity-related conventions have adopted IPBES as their science-policy interface, so these assessments will be important in evaluating progress toward the CBD’s Aichi Targets of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020. As a contribution toward such assessment, we review the biodiversity of eukaryote species and their extinction rates, distributions, and protection. We document what we know, how it likely differs from what we do not, and how these differences affect biodiversity statistics. Interestingly, several targets explicitly mention “known species”—a strong, if implicit, statement of incomplete knowledge. We start by asking how many species are known and how many remain undescribed. We then consider by how much human actions inflate extinction rates. Much depends on where species are, because different biomes contain different numbers of species of different susceptibilities. Biomes also suffer different levels of damage and have unequal levels of protection. How extinction rates will change depends on how and where threats expand and whether greater protection counters them....

...(f) Make recommendations on any matters necessary for the implementation of this Protocol; 

(g) Seek to mobilize additional financial resources in accordance with Article 11, paragraph 2; 

(h) Establish such subsidiary bodies as are deemed necessary for the implementation of this Protocol;

Subsidiary bodies can be comprised of any kind of facilitator such as scientists and those they work with such as contractors to make it all happen. Sometimes the scientists due the work that is necessary and sometimes they simply design the final outcomes and it is turned over to the country and/or their contractors.

(i) Seek and utilize, where appropriate, the services and cooperation of, and information provided by, competent international organizations and intergovernmental and non-governmental bodies; and 

Exactly. Communication. Knowledge. Working to a common end that is a sustainable Earth returning biotic content and function wherever possible.

 (j) Exercise such other functions as may be required for the implementation of this Protocol, and consider any assignment resulting from a decision by the Conference of the Parties. 

This is corruption.

February 21, 2016

By Aliki Moncrief

Recently I watched Florida Senate leaders crush (click here) an amendment to the budget bill that would have allowed the state to buy critical conservation lands.

The amendment would have increased money for Florida Forever, allowing greater protection for rivers, lakes, forests and beaches before they are destroyed to make way for more strip malls and sprawling subdivisions.

Florida voters want conservation, as most recently evidenced by the Water and Land Conservation Amendment which passed by 75 percent in 2014. If the entire state budget were a dollar, voters directed lawmakers to spend one penny to buy conservation lands for the benefit of future generations....

If I have to say it over and over, then I'll say it over and over. Corruption is nothing the people of the state expect or should reward by re-electing those that carry it out. Those dismissing the will of those that elected them should not return to their assemblies again.

Make is an election issue and educate the public about the actions against their will. Tell the public they are important when they cast votes and when those votes are not honored it is corruption. Use the words "...votes are made by people that expect to have their will honored..."

Article 13 of Kyoto Protocol

Article 13

1. The Conference of the Parties, the supreme body of the Convention, shall serve as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol. 

It seems like words that are nonsense, but, the purpose of the Conference is exactly the same as the protocol itself. A statement like this is housekeeping to clear up confusion when parties meet. The members are important people, like President Obama and his appointed staff, that have more than one function in their lives. So, for the sake of simplicity, these type of statements are common and intended to provide a contracted nomenclature.

2. Parties to the Convention that are not Parties to this Protocol may participate as observers (without a vote or authority) in the proceedings of any session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol. When the Conference of the Parties serves as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol, decisions under this Protocol shall be taken only by those that are Parties to this Protocol. 

3. When the Conference of the Parties serves as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol, any member of the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties (COP) representing a Party to the Convention but, at that time, not a Party to this Protocol, shall be replaced by an additional member to be elected by and from amongst the Parties to this Protocol.

What is the Bureau of the COP? (click here)

4. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall keep under regular review the implementation of this Protocol and shall make, within its mandate, the decisions necessary to promote its effective implementation. It shall perform the functions assigned to it by this Protocol and shall:

The new agreement is about pledges countries have made around the globe to bring about a sustainable Earth. That is a very big difference between the Kyoto Protocol and the new agreement in December 2015. There is only progression to success. There is no missing the mark or failing to achieve the goals of the Protocol. It is a positive step that has no limits to success.

(a) Assess, on the basis of all information made available to it in accordance with the provisions of this Protocol, the implementation of this Protocol by the Parties, the overall effects of the measures taken pursuant to this Protocol, in particular environmental, economic and social effects as well as their cumulative impacts and the extent to which progress towards the objective of the Convention is being achieved;

We have witnessed significant changes in energy sources in the USA with President Obama. That is a specific example of the sustainable economy that exists under the new values of sustainable both economic and environmental.  

 (b) Periodically examine the obligations of the Parties under this Protocol, giving due consideration to any reviews required by Article 4, paragraph 2 (d), and Article 7, paragraph 2, of the Convention, in the light of the objective of the Convention, the experience gained in its implementation and the evolution of scientific and technological knowledge, and in this respect consider and adopt regular reports on the implementation of this Protocol; 

Obligations were too restrictive in Kyoto. Countries know how and why they can carry out successful pledges to a sustainable environment.

 (c) Promote and facilitate the exchange of information on measures adopted by the Parties to address climate change and its effects, taking into account the differing circumstances, responsibilities and capabilities of the Parties and their respective commitments under this Protocol;

(d) Facilitate, at the request of two or more Parties, the coordination of measures adopted by them to address climate change and its effects, taking into account the differing circumstances, responsibilities and capabilities of the Parties and their respective commitments under this Protocol; 

Negotiations between countries can provide continuity in their outcomes. Air is fluid. Water is fluid. We know in the USA though The Clean Air Act recognizes 'sources' of pollution. It is the sources that have to be the focus. Conferencing between countries is allowed, if not expected.

 (e) Promote and guide, in accordance with the objective of the Convention and the provisions of this Protocol, and taking fully into account the relevant decisions by the Conference of the Parties, the development and periodic refinement of comparable methodologies for the effective implementation of this Protocol, to be agreed on by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol;...

It's Sunday Night and peace in the street would be nice.


February 21, 2016
By Ian Simpson

...Authorities (click here) could not confirm that the 45-year-old suspect was working for Uber during the nearly five-hour shooting spree on Saturday evening. He was arrested early on Sunday.

An Uber representative confirmed that Dalton was a company driver and that he had passed background checks. The representative referred questions about whether Dalton was working at the time of the shootings to police.

The victims "appear to be chosen at random, because they were available," Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Getting said at a news conference. "They were shot multiple times, multiple - nine, 10, 11 shell casings at each of these scenes."

The carnage in Kalamazoo, a city of about 75,000 people, was the latest in a series of mass shootings that have elevated gun control as a campaign issue in the November U.S. presidential election.

WOOD-TV, a Grand Rapids station, quoted police as saying that they were investigating reports that Dalton dropped off Uber fares at a Fairfield Inn hotel and then killed four women and wounded a 14-year-old girl at the nearby Cracker Barrel. The teenager was in critical condition, Michigan State Police said.

In an emailed statement, Uber's chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, said the company was in contact with police to help with the investigation....

"Wave of Sorrow" by U2 (click here for official website) 

Heat haze rising on Hell's own hill
To wake up this morning was an act of will
You walked through the night to get to today
To bring your children to give them away

Oh, oh this cruel sun
Its daylight never done
Cruelty just begun
To make a shadow of everyone

And if the rain came
And if the rain came now

Souls bent over without a breeze
Blankets on burning trees
I'm sick without disease
Nobility on its knees

And if the rain came
And if the rain came now

Would it wash us all away
On a wave of sorrow
A wave of sorrow

Where now the holy cities
Where all the ancient holy scrolls
Where now the Emperor Menelik
And the Queen of Sheba's gold
You, my bride, wear her crown
On your finger a precious stone
Has every good thing now been sold

Oh son of the shepherd boy now king
What wisdom can you bring
What lyric could you sing
Where is the music of the seraphim

And if the rain came
And if the rain came now
Would it wash us all away
On a wave of sorrow
A wave, a wave of sorrow

Blessed are the meek who scratch in the dirt
For they shall inherit what's left of the earth
Blessed are the kings who have left their thrones
They are blessed in this valley of dry bones
Blessed are you with an empty heart
For you have nothing from which you cannot part
Blessed is the ego if it's all we've got this hour
Blessed is the voice that speaks truth to power
Blessed is the sex worker's body sold tonight
She works with what she's got to save her children's life
Blessed are the deaf who cannot hear her scream
Blessed are the stupid who can dream
Blessed are the tin can cardboard slums
And blessed is the spirit that overcomes

The Iraq War was a lie. No one validated "Curveball" statements.

15 February 2011

The defector (click here) who convinced the White House that Iraq had a secret biological weapons programme has admitted for the first time that he lied about his story, then watched in shock as it was used to justify the war.

Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed Curveball by German and American intelligence officials who dealt with his claims, has told the Guardian that he fabricated tales of mobile bioweapons trucks and clandestine factories in an attempt to bring down the Saddam Hussein regime, from which he had fled in 1995....

Everything Powell took to the United Nations was based in lies by a defector worried about his own life. Basically, he took the most powerful military in the world and set it on killing Saddam so he had no more problems with anyone hunting for him.

31 March 2012
By Jonathan Owen

...US officials "sexed up" Mr Janabi's drawings (click here) of mobile biological weapons labs to make them more presentable, admits Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, General Powell's former chief of staff. "I brought the White House team in to do the graphics," he says, adding how "intelligence was being worked to fit around the policy"...

The "W" Administration altered evidence to sell it to Congress and the UN. There is no doubt Bush lied. He absolutely did lie. There is no doubt about it.

The reason the war in Iraq lasted for so long was because the Republican Party was dependent on the Presidency in order to MAINTAIN PLAUSIBLE DENIAL. The Iraq War was a propagandist war. The USA was caught up in nationalism. While the country was blinded from the truth through fear based nationalism, there was all kinds of stupid stuff going on, including the stenography of Judith Miller.

I was on the New York Times message boards posting an article from a American Chemical Society environmental journal PROVING VX liquid dissolved into inert elements on concrete within a short period of time. It was work being conducted to find out how long VX would last on city infrastructure in the USA. The VX liquid dissolved far more quickly than anticipated because it was on a concrete slab exposed to the sun. Concrete is sand mixed with water and other stone to create a stable rock substance.

However, sand is Silica and Oxygen. Silicone dioxide. The WMD in Iraq was stored in Quonset huts exposed to wind and drifting sand. Sand would have entered the environment of the WMD that was documented by the UN. Saddam Hussein was stating there were no more stores of WMD and the UN inspectors were saying the same thing. Bush was demanding paperwork or invasion. There was no paperwork, because, the biological and chemical weapons were degraded by Iraq's environment.

No one, including David Kay, found any WMD or paperwork because the biological and chemical agents were gone through natural processes with the environment. There was no release of the chemicals and there was no release of the VX liquid on concrete exposed to sunlight either.

The article was published in a ACS environmental journal in March of 2002. It appeared in "Nature" journal in September 2002 and that is where I read it. The campaign to lie Bush's way into Iraq began in October 2002. (click here)

The truth will live on. It isn't going anywhere. There are too many people and I am just one. I posted the article because I knew people checked the message boards for information they might be able to use elsewhere. I posted multiple times. I know people saw it because there was conversation engaged when I posted it. I thought it would shake loose the idea of war if people realized they were being deceived. I was nobody and Bush was determined to invade Iraq.

WMD works because of biological processes. Silica and Oxygen are biological chemicals. The WMD would have reacted to the presence of them.

Silica in Plants: Biological, Biochemical and Chemical Studies (click here)

Texas Absentee Ballot

Important Deadlines (click here)

• Voter Registration Form: Postmarked 30 days before the election
• Absentee Ballot Application: Received by the close of business on the 9th day before the election (however, it must be a weekday, so it will actually be the 2nd Friday before an election for most elections)
• Voted Absentee Ballot: Received by 7:00 pm on Election Day...

...Make sure you're eligible to vote by absentee ballot

You may vote absentee in Texas if you are:

• going to be away from your county on election day and during early voting;
• sick or disabled;
• 65 years of age or older on election day; or
• confined in jail, but eligible to vote.... Oh?

Do I need to provide ID when I vote by absentee ballot in Texas?

You do not need to provide ID if you have already voted at least once in Texas.  If you are a first time voter and you did not put your drivers license number or Social Security number on your voter registration form then you must include a copy of one of the following forms of Photo ID with your absentee ballot application:

• Texas Driver License issued by Texas DPS
• Texas Election Identification Certificate (EIC) issued by DPS
• Texas Personal Identification Card issued by DPS
• Texas Concealed Handgun License issued by DPS
• U.S. Military ID card containing your photograph
• U.S. Citizenship Certificate containing your photograph
• U.S. Passport

(All documents except the U.S. citizenship certificate must be current or no more than 60 days expired.)

NOTE: If you are disabled, in the military, or living overseas, you are NOT required to include a copy of your identification. However, you must complete and return a special form to that effect, which your Texas County Elections Office should mail to you.

Excuse me, but, if absentee ballots don't need a Voter ID after voting one time, what is this all about? The voter ID is unconstitutional because it is not enforced in all cases.

No one class of people can have more rights than another. Voter IDs are a burden to most people. But, the person filing an absentee ballot doesn't have that burden. That cannot be. If the State of Texas demanded a photocopy of a SELECTIVE ID with every absentee ballot, the ID becomes more of a burden because it takes money to purchase a photocopy of a photo ID and/or money uncured when making a photo ID at work to avoid personal cost. If an employer has 'no personal use' of photo copy machine a voter is placing their employment in peril to comply with state law for an absentee ballot. The demands are unequal. That is unconstitutional. 

AND, if sending in an photo copy of an ID on an absentee ballot for the first time, how do they know it is you? Most of the IDs above have a copy within DPS. But, IDs can be tampered with. 

It is time to order your absentee ballot and forget about the lines!

VOTE ABSENTEE, start now! No ID required!

Let's do this thing!

20 February 2016
By Oliver Melman

For just a few days each year, (click here) the water of Horsetail fall in Yosemite national park appears like lava, drawing crowds of onlookers and photographers...