The heat trapping gases of Earth. Carbon dioxide is the naturally abundant greenhouse gas.

Carbon dioxide a colorless, odorless and incombustable gas. It is a compound derived by two elements carbon and oxygen. 

The chemical symbol is:

There is only one molecule of carbon to two molecules of oxygen. The subscript number 2 indicates there are two molecules of oxygen. 

Carbon dioxide is a necessary gas for Earth as is every greenhouse gas. Carbon dioxide is extremely stable and does not dissipate for a very long time. 

That is a desirable quality for Earth as it supports a temperature on Earth that allows life to exist. The problem enters when there is an over abundance of CO2 and the heat trapping quality of CO2 grows with added CO2 to an atmosphere already warm and in support of the life on Earth. 

Kindly consider Earth was doing very well all by itself in supporting life on a comfortably warm planet. It didn't need any help. Earth for millions of years supplied it's own warmth in greenhouse gases that allowed evolution of plants and animals. Earth was an incubator to life just the way it existed. Perfect. 

It was the use of coal, coke, oil and natural gas beginning in the late 1800s during the Industrial Revolution that shifted the natural balance of Earth.

There are all kinds of weird things said about the natural world and carbon dioxide emissions and how there is more CO2 in the natural world than in any burning of fossil fuels. That is true by the way. Carbon dioxide emissions in the natural world are higher than burning fossil fuels, but, remember before the greenhouse gas imbalance began plants and animals, including people, supplied the need for global warming. One plant and one animal could not impose a warming layer of greenhouse gases. It took a population of flora and fauna to enjoy the balance of Earth's warmth. 

Greenhouse gases do break down over time, so if there were little symbiosis between life on Earth with the necessary gases to keep the planet warm, there would be no life on Earth. When one finally takes the time to realize what is happening with Earth as a planet full of life it gets to be very interesting. Very interesting. 

No one finds the idea that animals exhale carbon dioxide and plants primarily exhale oxygen an interesting thought?

Does the knowledge to the breakdown of greenhouse gases in the atmospheres worry anyone? No? 

Okay then.

Will Ted Cruz get through the Republican primaries without the electorate knows the truth about his sexual affairs and his citizen status?

March 28, 2016
By Melissa Cronin 

...Ted Cruz thought Donald Trump (click here) was the biggest roadblock on his journey to the White House, but RadarOnline.com has learned he’s now facing an even more terrifying threat: This afternoon, an individual purporting to be a representative of the hacker group Anonymous posted a disturbing Twitter video that threatens to expose ‘very dirty secrets’ including information about Cruz ‘visiting prostitutes!’
“Your lying during this presidential campaign has gotten out of control,” the chilling video begins.
A voice alleges, “You have committed voter fraud to steal votes that do not belong to you … The fraud you have committed against Mr. [Ben] Carson will not be tolerated.”
“Anonymous will not let this go without repercussions or consequences,” the video states. “We will not sit and watch the citizens of America fall for it any longer.”...

Donald Trump reveals the underbelly of the Republican agenda.

The right wing agenda of the extremists is already in play. Donald Trump knows his base. Women are jailed because of fetal protection laws. Give them an inch and they take a mile. Where is everyone? Pretending this doesn't exist and it's precedent is very dangerous.

Sentencing a pregnant woman to drug rehab and a parole officer is safer for the fetus. Prison is no place for a pregnant woman. 

April 22, 2016
By Janet Reitman

The anti-abortion movement (click here) is ramping up a new strategy: Sending pregnant mothers who have used drugs and alcohol to jail.

Tammy Loertscher had no idea that seeking a pregnancy test would ultimately put her in jail. That, though, is what happened last summer to the blond 29-year-old nursing aide from Medford, Wisconsin, who, after confirming her pregnancy at a local health clinic, admitted to her doctor that she'd recently stopped using methamphetamines and pot. According to a sworn statement she later filed in a civil suit, Loertscher had been struggling for more than a decade with a severe thyroid condition that, if untreated, left her lethargic and depressed. In February 2014, she quit her job during a bout of depression, which meant she could no longer afford the expensive blood tests doctors required to continue to prescribe her medication. To manage her worsening symptoms, she'd briefly self-medicated with meth and the occasional hit of weed to soothe her anxiety and give her some energy. It helped for a while, she says, "but ultimately the depression would take over and it just became a big cycle."...

I am quite certain a pregnant woman will lose the baby, once born and have a very difficult life with a jail sentence. That is what a woman gets for being honest with a concern for her baby in Wisconsin.

...Though she was not afforded legal representation, Loertscher's 14-week-old fetus was given a lawyer, known as a guardian ad litem. This court-appointed official represented the fetus's interests during two hearings that resulted in Loertscher being incarcerated for refusing to enter drug treatment. "It seemed so crazy — I was like, 'I'm not using anymore because I don't want to hurt my child!' " she recalls....

She stated she cleaned herself up and didn't need rehab. That statement needs to be reflected in a blood test. Where there is evidence there is still a drug testing positive the woman/girl needs to be in rehab until testing negative. But, to destroy her life is not a good idea.

She also needed medication for a thyroid disorder. Lacking appropriate hormones also effects the pregnancy. She needed support not prison. Single women are among the populations frequently found in poverty. There should have been referrals to social work as well as a parole officer that could follow her blood work until she was clear of all drug levels. Drugs don't necessarily clear out of the body simply because it was stopped.

She couldn't afford a lawyer, but, the fetus was assigned one. Amazing. This law acts in one direction and that is to treat the pregnant woman as incompetent and the baby as a harvest.

...Nonetheless, she spent 18 days in jail — including 24 hours in solitary confinement, according to her sworn statement. She says she was given no prenatal care. At one point, she alleges, a guard even threatened to taser her after she refused to submit to a urine test. Finally, she found a public defender who negotiated her release....

If she didn't want an abortion before her jailing, she'll want one while she is there. 

May 14, 2012
By Adam Liptak 

Washington— There have been many hundreds of varied rulings (click here) in the lower courts on when the use of Taser stun guns by the police amounts to excessive force, and sooner or later the Supreme Court will have to bring order to this area of the law. Next week, the justices are scheduled to decide whether to hear an appeal from three Seattle police officers who say they are worried about the future of what they call “a useful pain technique.”

The case involves Malaika Brooks, who was seven months pregnant and driving her 11-year-old son to school in Seattle when she was pulled over for speeding. The police say she was going 32 miles per hour in a school zone; the speed limit was 20....

Keep police away from confrontation when there is a simple traffic infraction. Why would a cop want a woman to step out of her car with her nine year old in it? The entire situation with the police is a disaster.

There are too much interaction written into the law. A person has a right to refuse to sign a citation if they believe they are not guilty. The cops and people should be interacting less over traffic infractions. 

The average American is not a lawyer and cannot be expected to understand what comprises guilt and innocence. The average American dreads being stopped by police. That has been true for a long time, but, with the extremes that occur in the past few years, there is a fear of bodily harm or worse. They don't want to go to jail and should not be exposed to a police officer with the potential to escalate an interaction. 

Americans have rights and it is called Due Process. In 2016 there are few Americans that do not fear police. There is something wrong and legislatures in states and federal government need to redirect to use technology to record a license plate and description and filling it with the police department without contact with the driver. If it is a stolen car the license will show up. If there is a different driver than the owner, I am sure the owner won't want to pay the ticket or have points on their license and will provide the person driving the vehicle at the time.

Technology is the undisputed facts in these cases and no one can say they weren't violating the law with the evidence it provides. There are too many problems between police and citizens to put them together in the same space over a simple traffic violation.

...In the months that followed, Ms. Brooks gave birth to a healthy baby girl; was convicted of refusing to sign the ticket, a misdemeanor, but not of resisting arrest; and sued the officers who three times caused her intense pain and left her with permanent scars....

The infant was healthy at the time of birth, that doesn't mean the child was not effected by the three applications of a stun gun. This is an absolute outrage.

 

...The officers won a split decision in October from a 10-member panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco. The majority said the officers had used excessive force but nonetheless could not be sued because the law on the question was not clear in 2004, when the incident took place. While the ruling left the three officers in the clear, it did put them and their colleagues on notice that some future uses of Tasers would cross a constitutional line and amount to excessive force.... 

...Michael F. Williams, a lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis, which represents Ms. Brooks, said the criminal justice system would endure even if the police were barred from delivering thousands of volts of electricity into the body of a pregnant woman who refused to sign a piece of paper.

“The officers are trying to defend inexcusable conduct,” he said. “They inflicted enormous pain on a woman who was especially vulnerable over what was essentially a traffic violation.”

Demands to sign a piece of paper is unconstitutional and can be interpreted as a sign of guilt. 

The Great Barrier Reef is experiencing exceptional stress due to the climate crisis. It needs the protections of UNESCO.

March 30, 2016
By Brad Plummer

The scientists (click here) who study the Great Barrier Reef are shocked and horrified by what they're seeing right now.
Unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Pacific Ocean — driven by global warming and a powerful El Niño — have fueled the worst coral bleaching event ever seen along the northern third of Australia's famous reef. Researchers who have recently ventured into this region say the once-vibrant ecosystem is now a ghastly tableau, filled with pale-white corals that are at risk of dying off:
Coral reefs are often called he rain forests of the ocean - they cover just 0.01 percent of the world's sea floor, but they're home to 25 percent of marine fish species. They're popular spots for divers and tourists, but they also sustain food for half a billion people and protect shorelines from storms. And they're just plain lovely...

The Great Barrier Reef has served Earth as a carbon sink and now it is stressed to maintain that status. It needs the protections of UNESCO (click here).

Aerial surveys of more than 500 coral reefs (click here) from Cairns to Papua New Guinea reveal that the most pristine section of the Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing the worst, mass bleaching event in its history, with the overwhelming majority of reefs being ranked in the most severe bleaching category.

“This has been the saddest research trip of my life,” says Prof. Terry Hughes, convenor of the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce. “Almost without exception, every reef we flew across showed consistently high levels of bleaching, from the reef slope right up onto the top of the reef. We flew for 4000km in the most pristine parts of the Great Barrier Reef and saw only four reefs that had no bleaching. The severity is much greater than in earlier bleaching events in 2002 or 1998.”...