It's Wednesday Night

Just to continue the 'link' to some of the most primitive treatment of our Black Community and those that keep it alive, the songs from Leadbelly and as revered by some of the most prestigious rock groups in the world.

The Gallows Pole by Led Zepplin as interpreted from Leadbelly

Hangman hangman hold it a little while
Think I see my friends coming
Riding a many mile.
Friends did you get some silver?
Did you get a little gold?
What did you bring me my dear friends
To keep me from the Gallows Pole?
What did you bring me to keep me from the Gallows Pole?
I couldn't get no silver I couldn't get no gold
You know that we're too damn poor
To keep you from the Gallows Pole.
Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while,
I think I see my brother coming,
Riding a many mile.
Brother, did you get me some silver?
Did you get a little gold?
What did you bring me, my brother,
To keep me from the Gallows Pole?
Brother, I brought you some silver,
I brought a little gold,
I brought a little of ev'ry thing
To keep you from the Gallows Pole.
Yes, I brought you to keep you from the Gallows Pole.
Hangman, hangman, turn your head awhile,
I think I see my sister coming,
Riding a many mile, mile, mile.
Sister, I implore you, take him by the hand,
Take him to some shady bower,
Save me from the wrath of this man,
Please take him,
Save me from the wrath of this man, man.
Hangman, hangman, upon your face a smile,
Pray tell me that I'm free to ride,
Ride for many mile, mile, mile.
Oh, yes, you got a fine sister,
She warmed my blood from cold,
Brought my blood to boiling hot
To keep you from the Gallows Pole,
Your brother brought me silver,
Your sister warmed my soul,
But now I laugh and pull so hard
And see you swinging on the Gallows Pole
Keep-a-swingin'!
Swingin' on the gallows pole

There is a "White Out" in Boston. Traffic at a stand still. I can't stay on line. Lightning, thunder, hail. Holy Smokes.

June 24, 2008
Newport, RI


June 24, 2008
Newport, RI


June 24, 2008
Newport, Rhode Island


June 24, 2008
Newport, RI


June 26, 2008

Newport, Rhode Island


June 24, 2008
Newport Rhode, Island


June 24, 2008
Newport, Rhode Island


June 24, 2008
Newport Rhode, Island

This is 'Day After Tomorrow' stuff folks. The high rise did a major 'creak' shift when the winds hit. Holy Shit !!

Later !

5:59 PM EST - It is a Meso-Tornadic storm that rolled through. Quite unexpected. The winds were substantial and came from the north. There was circulation in the cloud that was just above the building. Staniford Street, opposite the Court House. The view from the balcony went 'white.' I could not see anything and it wasn't a cloud. It was the rainfall/hail.
The traffic outside came to a standstill and only a few cars were 'on their horns.' It was primarily quite because drivers simply couldn't see. I could see the tail lights up and down the streets below. I am 19 floors up.
I have a breath taking view of Boston normally. I know I am fortunate while in Boston. I had an unobstructed veiw of the fireworks last night and with good weather same will be true for the Fouth of July.
Boston is a magnificent city. The mass transit primarily runs on time and the city does everything it can to keep things well maintained. I love it here. The 'Celtics' are a couple blocks away. The parade a couple days ago went right past my building. It was very exciting for everyone. Boston has become the City of Champions. The people are great here and the police, fire departments and emergency workers don't get any better.
That said, the storm was significant. It is only moving off the harbor completely now at 6:13 pm. It was heat induced. There was lightning from cloud to ground without thunder. Very unusal storm. The winds were significant. I have been here since December 18, 2007 and there have been some substantial storms that have rolled through and over the city, but, this time the winds were sudden and violent. I can't stay on line, even with the storm moving off the city there is significant ionization of the area and there has been a huge blast of lightning and thunder that followed this time.
6:47 PM EST The long and short of it all, is that Human Induced Global Warming is more than real and is a danger to people. If there were any fatalities that occurred during this storm then it was related to Human Induced Global Warming. Don't know if the Logan Airport slowed during the event, but, I would not be surprised if it did. These storms are intense, but, there duration is short. So, although they seem insignificant except for 'short lived' inconvenience, these are strong, power storms resulting from a very dry, hot troposphere.


June 24, 2008
2031z
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared Satellite of New England and MidAtlantic States of the USA

New Age Bigotry...

'The most difficult thing a person can do inside or outside the military is to think. Lieutenant Watada is causing Americans to think. His stand has forced Americans to think about this war. All Americas have a responsibility to think and to act.' Zoltan Grossman, Evergreen State College faculty member, speaking at the Citizen's Hearing on the Legality of US Actions in Iraq (click here).


Retired Army Colonel Ann Wright - "...We must ensure that members of the US military are not put in the position of being ordered to carry out crimes against humanity and illegal war. "

...the topic of tomorrow night's "It's Wednesday Night" is New Age Bigotry, a completely different discussion than entered here.

And for your 'casual' reading in the meantime, June 15, 2008 / Volume 42 / Issue 12 (click title to entry).

Thank you.

This JOURNAL is by the editors of Chemical Abstracts. It is the same JOURNAL that foretold the potential lack of Biologicals in Iraq in the year 2002. Nearly an entire year before the illegal and immoral invasion into Iraq. You might ask how Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld 'missed' that one? They didn't. The monies for the research were garnered from the USA Defense Department.

The article is immediately below. It looks fairly benign to any criticism of the Iraq invasion actually. It speaks to the issue of 'good news' in regard to the quick degradation of VX Gas/Liquid.

The 'other' message within the context of that scientific article is that 'Chemical/Biological Warfare Agents' EASILY degrade when in contact with concrete. Concrete is a carbon based mixture. Humans are carbon based. How does this 'relate' to the reality of Iraq and its possession of Chemical and Biological Weapons before the invasion?


Put on your 'critical thinking' hat/cap, whichever is your pleasure.

Ready?

This is a tribute to the USA "Brain Trust" and its future among young Americans.

The ludicrous nature of the Iraq Invasion is probably obvious to most anyone reading this right now, but, for those Ultra Conservatives that only see the world through Republican Colored Glasses, it has to be spelled out. So here we go.

A is for Apple, I suppose.

B is for Bargain Basement Government.

C is for Chemical Weapon Syndrome.

D is for Down Right Stupid.

The article came out in the November 15, 2002 edition of the American Chemical Society's journal, Environmental Science and Technology. That is just to begin with. It also appeared in December 2002 in the journal Nature, which reviews significant research and publishes it according to topic and subscriber interest.


The 'topic' is about detecting the traces 'on concrete' of the very toxic chemical agent called VX. The researchers utilized 'VX Liquid' and not VX Gas as they wanted to be able to place VX in a controlled situation and find the residual as it degraded to test their Ion Mass Spectometer.


The spectrometer worked without a hitch, what the researchers didn't expect was for the VX to degrade within hours of exposure to concrete. They were anticipating far longer degradation timelines, more like days and perhaps a week and why their 'recordings' were to take place every 12 hours rather than every hour, every minute or every second.

The slow degradation of VX Liquid didn't occur. What did occur was a complete breakdown of this chemical agent as soon as it was exposed to concrete. Concrete is a carbon based substance. Concrete is made of sand. Sand is found EVERYWHERE in Iraq. Sand and concrete are especially found in the area where the United Nations had authorized 'seals' to store all the weapons agents of the Saddam Hussein government.


At this point in the reasoning is where it is difficult for Republicans to move past their own political prejudices as they have so many. Those political prejudices are more like a religion than the actual Christianity they claim to cling to, but, for a Republican to actually 'critically think,' is like sacrilege.

Republicans like to ridicule Democrats by stating when people actually critique Republican reasoning it is simply "Magical Thinking (click here)." Magical thinking has its place, but, mostly in novels like J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (click here) or the policies that lead the USA into war in Iraq by screaming about WMD (click here), hence this response. Most if not ALL of the Bush/Cheney policies are indeed Magical Thinking empowered by enforced Propaganda of the FCC. The Bush/Cheney/Rove FCC isn't interested in 'Quality Control' so much as 'Control' over the media. But to contextualize the Republican Magical Thinking, the Neocon War Chant is similar to that of the Captain of the Star Ship Enterprise, "Make it so."

But, to move past that as it is another discussion, and back to the article below, at the time of the publication of this article there was hot debate at the United Nations regarding Bush's assertion about WMD and the Iraq Inventories and Saddam's inability to produce accurate records.

To begin, Iraq is a third world nation. It was in March of 2003 and it continues to be. There is going to be inaccurate record keeping and the 'idea' that any WMD inventories were accurate at all by the government there was indeed Magical Thinking.

The United Nations had been involved in Iraq for more than a decade then and it was they that had the correct inventories and NOT Saddam's dictatorial government. Sending UN Inspectors back to Iraq was a huge step for the United Nations and it was for the purpose to dispel Bush's Magical Thinking and provide complete inventories of any violation of UN Resolutions. Well, that in Republican mandates, was never supposed to 'end the discussion' regarding an invasion into Iraq, is was supposed to be a catalyst to it when the Republican Spin Machine went to work on it, hence the Rove Dynasty of Nasty Image Making. Political Gossip if you will.

The article below evidenced the 'doubt' that most people opposing the invasion believed. It wasn't Magical Thinking that lead to the making of Fahrenheit 911, it was sound and solid speculation based in facts that manifested from evidence like this.

The article clearly indicates a 'surprise' finding by the scientists involved. It occurred long before the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld invasion into Iraq and the results of scientific investigation like this was known to the USA Defense Department long before its publication and in excess of this one article. If this article was published there is much more in the 'classified' section of the military that was never published and still yet to be known to the public.

The article clearly indicates as soon as VX Liquid was exposed to a 'carbon surface' such as concrete it literally disintegrated in a matter of hours. Realizing that brings to the surface of any argument regarding WMD, the viability of it as a weapon at all, as well the 'stability' of these substances outside the laboratory to even exist. We know these biologicals are stable enough for the time needed in any attack evidenced by use during WW I and II and returning GIs with issues such as noted with Mustard Gas exposure and domestic terrorist attacks such as the Subway Sarin Incident (click here), but, to actually claim a war should be started on 'doubtful' inventories of a third world nation is hideous and down right stupid.

But, the Republican Political Gossip Machine to support vast government spending to favor cronies that support these 'enablers' of Magical Thinking, was working and exerting irrational fears about a country already disarmed.

The attacks of September 11, 2001 allowed a lot of irrational fears among the American people. Included in those fears were that of WMD as a weapon to kill those that were least able to defend themselves.

Where this mess began was the spread of anthrax in the daily delivaries of the US Mail Service and successful contamination of Postal Workers (click here). I might point out the investigation into those 'exposures' never provided any results to 'solve the crime' so much as to prevent it from happening again. The perpetrators, even today, are in question, while quite possibly 'classified,' considering the last of the anthrax samples resulted to be a very sophisticated form of 'weapon grade' anthrax. That reality leads to a lot of questions regarding 'protection' of research stocks of the USA government and whom indeed might have access under this administration. But, that is still another discussion.

Where the Republican Political Gossip Machine is successful is in a 'Cult-ure of Fear' where people seek to do silly things, like wrapping their homes in plastic to prevent attacks of WMD by unknown terrorists. To illustrate the use of Magical Thinking by the Bush/Cheney administration, their Homeland Security Secretary, Tom Ridge, was RECOMMENDING to the American Public to 'Duct Tape' their homes.

Talk about stupid and the chance these same people could be back in the same capacity under a 'repeat' Republican administration is out of the question.

The 'real' potentials of Homeland Security, by the way, has yet to be realized. The only Secretaries that have existed are Republican cronies to spending, ather than people actually able to make a difference in the nation's internal defense structures. THE EXAMPLE illustrating same is the denial of monies to major cities of budget funds, instead, 'spreading the wealth' among cronies in distant and small cities where most of the recruits for the Iraq War are obtained. By spending Homeland Security monies in these towns it bolstered the reason to send more recruits regardless of the lack of reason to do so. It continued to validate the reasons for people of those towns to remain patriotic in the face of evidence elsewhere. Nationalism at its worse. When it comes to spending Homeland Security monies for the purpose of National Defense it is best done through a 'legislated formula' based in sound LOGIC so those funds can no longer be politically spent.

But, this article was touted by me at the time of its publication as a reason to cause 'pause' to the irrational language and provisions of the Bush/Cheney/Powell rants to war. It provided a solid reason for Saddam to say there were no more inventories of chemical or biological weapons even if his 'administrative' records didn't indicate it. This article provided PROOF that indeed in a third world country, where storage of such weapons would be primiative, there was plenty of reason for the United Nations Security Council to reject Bush's demands for invasion. And indeed the UN Security Council never got a chance to make their votes in rejection of Bush's War. George Walker Bush moved his military against the established Saddam government a full day before the final vote of the UN Security Council which would have recommended the UN Inspectors continue their work. There was approximately three more weeks needed by the WMD weapons inspectors at that time and about six more months needed by the nuclear weapons experts. Bush and Cheney had their own 'timeline for cronies' and the UN wasn't cooperating so they decided to autonomously and against 'US Rule of Law' to launch the destabilizing, illegal and immoral event of The Iraq Invasion.

So, to simply end this venture into 'rationality' and why this article is recognized for evidence to dispute the Bush/Cheney/Rove Culture of Fear to the lead up of the invasion, there is a lot remaining to be 'known' to the American people within the disasterous administration of the past eight years. That is still another prime reason to stop the Republican domination of the USA government which has existed now for over three decades. We need a change in DC and one with enough 'guts' to take on the task of revealing the unthinkable, re-establishing trust in government without the fear of believing we are safe as a nation and among friends again internationally.

Environ. Sci. Technol., 36 (22), 4790 -4794, 2002. 10.1021/es025754n S0013-936X(02)05754-1 Web Release Date: September 27, 2002 Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society
Hydrolysis of VX on Concrete: Rate of Degradation by Direct Surface Interrogation Using an Ion Trap Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (click here)
Gary S. Groenewold,* John M. Williams, Anthony D. Appelhans, Garold L. Gresham, John E. Olson, Mark T. Jeffery, and Brad Rowland
Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho 83415-2208, Battelle Dugway Operations, West Desert Test Center, Dugway Proving Ground, Dugway, Utah 84022, and West Desert Test Center, Dugway Proving Ground, Dugway, Utah 84022
Received for review April 26, 2002
Revised manuscript received July 29, 2002
Accepted August 28, 2002
Abstract:
The nerve agent VX (O-ethyl S-2-diisopropylaminoethyl methylphosphonothiolate) is lethal at very low levels of exposure, which can occur by dermal contact with contaminated surfaces. Hence, behavior of VX in contact with common urban or industrial surfaces is a subject of acute interest. In the present study, VX was found to undergo complete degradation when in contact with concrete surfaces. The degradation was directly interrogated at submonolayer concentrations by periodically performing secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) analyses after exposure of the concrete to VX. The abundance of the [VX + H]+ ion in the SIMS spectra was observed to decrease in an exponential fashion, consistent with first-order or pseudo-first-order behavior. This phenomenon enabled the rate constant to be determined at 0.005 min-1 at 25 C, which corresponds to a half-life of about 3 h on the concrete surface. The decrease in [VX + H]+ was accompanied by an increase in the abundance of the principal degradation product diisopropylaminoethanethiol (DESH), which arises by cleavage of the P-S bond. Degradation to form DESH is accompanied by the formation of ethyl methylphosphonic acid, which is observable only in the negative ion spectrum. A second degradation product was also implicated, which corresponded to a diisopropylvinylamine isomer (perhaps N,N-diisopropyl aziridinium) that arose via cleavage of the S-C bond. No evidence was observed for the formation of the toxic S-2-diisopropylaminoethyl methylphosphonothioic acid. The degradation rate constants were measured at four different temperatures (24-50 C), which resulted in a linear Arrhenius relationship and an activation energy of 52 kJ mol-1. This value agrees with previous values observed for VX hydrolysis in alkaline solutions, which suggests that the degradation of submonolayer VX is dominated by alkaline hydrolysis within the adventitious water film on the concrete surface.

Hello?



Environ. Sci. Technol., 36 (10), 2122 -2129, 2002. 10.1021/es010963d S0013-936X(01)00963-4 Web Release Date: April 9, 2002 Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society
High-Value Renewable Energy from Prairie Grasses (click here)
S. B. McLaughlin,* D. G. de la Torre Ugarte, C. T. Garten, Jr., L. R. Lynd, M. A. Sanderson, V. R. Tolbert, and D. D. Wolf
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USDA-ARS, Curtin Road, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
Received for review May 9, 2001
Revised manuscript received February 18, 2002
Accepted February 26, 2002
Abstract:
Projected economic benefits of renewable energy derived from a native prairie grass, switchgrass, include nonmarket values that can reduce net fuel costs to near zero. At a farm gate price of $44.00/dry Mg, an agricultural sector model predicts higher profits for switchgrass than conventional crops on 16.9 million hectares (ha). Benefits would include an annual increase of $6 billion in net farm returns, a $1.86 billion reduction in government subsidies, and displacement of 44-159 Tg/year (1 Tg = 1012 g) of greenhouse gas emissions. Incorporating these values into the pricing structure for switchgrass bioenergy could accelerate commercialization and provide net benefits to the U.S. economy.


Environ. Sci. Technol., 36 (10), 2130 -2137, 2002. 10.1021/es011272k S0013-936X(01)01272-X Web Release Date: April 5, 2002 Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society
Promoting Pollution Prevention through Community-Industry Dialogues: The Good Neighbor Model in Minnesota (click here)
Barbara Scott Murdock and Ken Sexton*
Center for Environment and Health Policy, Division of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, MMC 807 UMHC, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Received for review September 10, 2001
Revised manuscript received February 19, 2002
Accepted February 21, 2002
Abstract:
This article examines five attempts by communities to promote pollution prevention through direct negotiations with local manufacturing plants. These projects were Good Neighbor Dialogues spearheaded by Citizens for a Better Environment-Minnesota, an environmental advocacy organization. Three community-company partnerships (a container plant, a foundry, and a cabinet manufacturer) were successful and two (a munitions plant and a petroleum refinery) were not. Successful dialogues all shared certain characteristics: the company was open to negotiating with the community; there was an effective "champion" within the company; a skilled, independent facilitator served as moderator; community participants received independent technical assistance; and both the company and community understood the value of cooperative environmental decision making. Results suggest that Good Neighbor Dialogues can, under the right settings and circumstances, be an effective mechanism for building social capital by fostering greater understanding and trust between companies and communities. They offer the prospect of community-company partnerships that promote pollution prevention and other environmental improvements, while at the same time reinforcing and amplifying traditional pollution control strategies.

The article below shows a comprehensive look at the impacts of oil extraction of Alaska North Shore crude. Extraction, run off and spills don't occur in a vacuum, they occur in full appreciation of sunlight and UV exposure. This article exposes the lethal effects on the ocean environments where fisheries exist, of the combination of sunlight (UV) and oil. Each element ALONE shows little impact, however, together they are fatal to the very bottom of the food chain in Alaskan waters.

It is easy for the oil industry to 'hide their tracks' in relation to oil extraction and the environmental contamination and degradation that occurs, especially with high deterioration rates in 'extreme climates' of oil infrastructure, IF allowed to only provide proof of oil contamination in a 'vacuum' rather than the 'reality' of its impacts in the presence of sunlight. No one can stop the sun from rising and setting, nor would that be a good idea.

Environ. Sci. Technol., 36 (18), 3953 -3959, 2002. 10.1021/es020685y S0013-936X(02)00685-5 Web Release Date: August 17, 2002 Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society
Photoenhanced Toxicity of Weathered Alaska North Slope Crude Oil to the Calanoid Copepods Calanus marshallae and Metridia okhotensis (click here)
Switgard Duesterloh
Juneau Center, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 11120 Glacier Highway, Juneau, Alaska 99801
Jeffrey W. Short*
National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Auke Bay Laboratory, 11305 Glacier Highway, Juneau, Alaska 99801-8626
Mace G. Barron
P.E.A.K. Research, 1134 Avon Lane, Longmont, Colorado 80501
Received for review April 10, 2002
Revised manuscript received July 10, 2002
Accepted July 11, 2002
Abstract:
This study investigated the synergistic toxicity of aqueous polyaromatic compounds (PAC) dissolved from crude oil and ultraviolet radiation (UV) in natural sunlight to the calanoid copepods Calanus marshallae and Metridia okhotensis. These copepods were first exposed to low doses (~2 g of total PAC/L) of the water-soluble fraction of weathered Alaska North Slope crude oil for 24 h and subsequently to low or high levels of natural sunlight. Responses included mortality, impairment of swimming ability, and discoloration of lipid sacs. There was 80-100% mortality and morbidity of C. marshallae exposed to UV and oil as compared to less than 10% effect in oil-only or UV-only treatments. In M. okhotensis, 100% mortality occurred in the UV and oil treatment, 43% mortality and 27% morbidity in the UV-only treatment, and less than 5% effect in the oil-only treatment. Bioaccumulation factors were ~8000 for C. marshallae and ~2000 for M. okhotensis. The interaction of the effect of PAC and UV radiation was highly significant (P <>.

The Presidential Bush Twins - One attempted to placate the American Voter with the Hydrogen Car and Now McCain wants to do what?

Electric cars are already a reality. They were never marketed because of the political pressures of Big Oil. McCain has it all "W"rong.

The electric car isn't the issue...

...THE INFRASTRUCTURE IS !!!!!!!!!!!

DEMS: $300 MILLION OFFER A 'GIMMICK' (click here)

Multimillion-dollar prizes have been offered to send a rover to the moon, speed up human genome sequencing, cure childhood diseases. Now, John McCain wants to offer $300 million in taxpayer money to the inventor of a more efficient car battery to power hybrid and electric vehicles....

Bush's Hydrogen Car is Fossil Fuel Dependant ! (click here for article from 2003)

...According to the administration's National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap, drafted last year in concert with the energy industry, up to 90 percent of all hydrogen will be refined from oil, natural gas, and other fossil fuels -- in a process using energy generated by burning oil, coal, and natural gas. The remaining 10 percent will be cracked from water using nuclear energy....

From the US Department of Energy (click here)

... Coal Gasification (with and without carbon sequestration - click here) ...

REPUBLICANS don't care about 'Energy Independence' that eliminates carbon dioxide pollution which is why the laws of the USA need to 'target' Carbon Dioxide under the provisions of The Clean Air Act and treat it as a toxic gas when it 'defines' an induced Global Warming of Earth.

The Republican 'definition' of ALTERNATIVE FUELS does not lead to independence from 'FOSSIL FUELs (click here).' Quite the contrary, the Republicans 'define' alternatives as ANYTHING but imported oil. That INCLUDES fossil fuels manipulated from SHALE. Shale is just a synonym for COAL.

Shale Coal Technology has been tried before and failed. It continues to be an excuse for NOT changing the infrastruture of Big Oil in the USA.

Why?

Because once the USA changes direction and begins down a path of 'Vast Alternative Energies' like Wind, Solar and driving freedom again like The Electric Car there is NO GOING BACK.

The 'wealth managers' of the Republican Elite are heavily invested in 'existing' infrastruture. They stand to loss BIG TIME when the USA converts its 'consumer economy' away from OIL DEPENDENCE. It's all about money where the Republicans hold the monopoly.

And that's all its about.

Once the USA is 'free' from its old and dilapidated' Fossil Fuel Infrastruture there will be no more assault on the environment either and the Polar Bear will return to its 'sea ice' without any further threat.

We can do this. "Oh, yes we can." We can save the future for our children IN OUR LIFETIMES. "OH, YES WE CAN !"

Stop this hideous and desperate use of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) lands. Democrats MUST win in 2008. If we are to protect the future there is only one clear choice and that is to keep RESPONSIBLE Democrats in the majority and in the White House to take back our country. There is no choice, the Republicans are far too corrupt and corrupted ! This is a moral issue. We are the stewards of the future. A future that belongs to us and the rest of the populous of Earth. We cannot fail. Not this time !

BLM is moving forward to lease public lands for shale-oil development, despite still-evolving technology and objections over the environmental costs (click here).

...Even so, BLM is still considering leasing about 1.9 million acres for shale-oil development—an action that would displace activities such as recreation, mining, oil and gas drilling, and livestock grazing and that would also result in the loss of thousands of existing jobs. In addition, the new industry would consume unknown quantities of water (water? what water? - click here - the only places without drought conditions are places like Iowa where floods have destroyed farmland); degrade wildlife habitats, streams, and air quality; and catalyze a huge expansion of infrastructure to support industrial operations and services for thousands of new workers....

..."Despite all the attempts to develop a shale-oil industry in the U.S. over the past 100 years, the fact remains that no proven method exists for efficiently removing the oil from the rock," says Bob Loucks, a former shale-oil project manager. Efforts to jump-start western shale-oil production during the 1970s propelled the region through a boom-and-bust economy that ended when Congress abolished the $8 billion Synthetic Liquid Fuels Program in 1985....

USA 2008 Wheat Harvest - Reports began June 22, 2008

This picture is from the wheat harvest in Israel, 2008 (click here).

A combine harvester pours wheat kernels into a truck as the lucrative crop is harvested April 28, 2008 in the fields near Kibbutz Be?eri in southern Israel. Local farmers are looking to expand the area under wheat cultivation after prices reached record levels in 2008.
(Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images Europe)

In regard to the USA

Rain promotes 'head scab' outbreak in Kansas wheat (click here)

Posted :: (6/19/2008 6:03 AM) ;4d 9h ago

Wheat stand ready for harvest in a field near Hazelton, Kan., Wednesday, June 18, 2008.

(AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

By Roxana Hegeman, Associated Press Writer
WICHITA, Kan. — Untimely rainfall has led to an epidemic of a toxic fungal disease in some fields of winter wheat, reducing yields and quality just as harvest gets under way in the nation's breadbasket, industry experts say.
Low levels of Fusarium head blight, also known as "head scab," are not uncommon in grain crops. But this season the disease appears to be widespread, particularly in Kansas where rain fell this spring when winter wheat was flowering.
Some scab also has been reported in Missouri and north-central Oklahoma. The extent of infestation in northern wheat-producing states may not be known until those crops reach maturity.
"Based on past yield loss estimates, this is going to represent a total loss to Kansas wheat production of 1 or 2 percent," said Erick DeWolf, a plant pathologist at Kansas State University. "It is not trivial, but it is not the end of the world, either."
That represents a potential yield loss worth $50 million for Kansas farmers, based on a forecast of production and current wheat prices, said Mike Woolverton, a grain marketing economist at Kansas State.

The 'idea' of USA Farmers becoming the next OPEC has everyone in a panic.

It would seem as though the USA harvest according to early reports are seeing returns in the high 50s and low 60s, with protein content 'averaging' about 10%.

Wheat fields are finally beginning to dry out in much of the southern half of Kansas, allowing many farmers to begin wheat harvest over the weekend. Harvest has reached as far north as Salina in central Kansas, yet progress has languished in the eastern and western portions of the state.
In Pratt County, harvest is in full swing, according to Lisa, at the Kanza Co-op Association Pratt location. Test weights have been as high as 63 pounds, although the average is about 59 pounds. Yields are hard to gauge, as cutting is still spotty. Wheat is being taken at all the cooperative’s locations.
At the Fowler Equity Exchange, Fowler, harvest has swung into high gear, reports Jason. Before rain showers suspended harvest last week, test weights averaged about 61 pounds per bushel. Now, they average about 58 pounds; yields are averaging between 30 and 50 bushels per acre. As of Sunday, harvest is about 15% complete.
Chris at Farmers Co-op Grain Association, Conway Springs, says harvest has just started, with farmers dodging mudholes to cut wheat on hillsides and sandy soils. Test weights are averaging about 57 pounds per bushel, with yields averaging between 30- and 50-bushels per acre. Some farmers are having 60-plus bushel per acre yields. In the Conway Springs area, harvest is about 10% complete.
At the Right Co-op, Wright, Brenda says about 250,000 bushels has been taken in thus far, with harvest beginning in earnest on Saturday. Test weights are consistently around 60 pounds per bushel, with protein ranging from 8.3-14.5%.
Bart George at Cargill AgHorizons, Salina, reports about 150,000 bushels of wheat were taken in over the weekend. Harvesting is spotty due to last week’s rain showers, but George says farmers north of Salina are cutting. Test weights are in the upper 50s and low 60s, with protein ranging from 9-10%.
Kansas Wheat Commissioner Ron Suppes, Dighton, says he will begin harvesting in Finney County on Monday. There is no harvest going on in Scott and Lane counties, Suppes says, although sporadic harvest is occurring near Garden City.
Kansas Association of Wheat Growers vice president Paul Penner began cutting for a neighbor Saturday. He reports 60-plus bushel yields, with test weights averaging more than 61 pounds per bushel. A hail storm last week has reduced yield potential somewhat. With harvest just getting underway, Penner believes yields in Marion County could be above average.
The 2008 Harvest Salute to Producers is brought to you by Kansas Wheat in conjunction with sponsors Kansas City Board of Trade, DeBruce Grain and the Kansas Grain and Feed Association.

Conventional crops should NOT compete for biofuel production, they are NOT the best source ! The very best source of biofuel is from Prairie Grass in the USA. Its production will compete for acreage of 'investment' in relation to 'food and feed crop' production, but, shouldn't.

HOWEVER and especially.

The 'type' of land needed for Prairie Grass Production doesn't even have to compete with the lands needed for conventional crop production. There is absolutely NO REASON for biofuels to disaffect food production or food prices ! These are NOT genetically altered or 'designer crops' either !

Back to the future: Prairie grasses emerge as rich energy source (click here)
Mixtures of grasses make best source of biofuel

...The beauty of mixed prairie grasses, say the researchers, is that, unlike corn, they can grow in old farmland or in marginal, degraded lands with little or no application of water or fertilizers. The challenge is finding enough such land....

THESE GRASSES are able to thrive in drought conditions.

Biofuels from Switchgrass: Greener Energy Pastures (click here)

-Test plots of switchgrass at Auburn University have produced up to 15 tons of dry biomass per acre, and five- year yields average 11.5 tons—enough to make 1,150 gallons of ethanol per acre each year.

-Many farmers are already experienced at raising switchgrass for forage or to protect soil from erosion. Besides showing great promise for energy production, switchgrass also restores vital organic nutrients to farmed-out soils.

-Switchgrass can be cut and baled with standard farming equipment.

-Switchgrass offers excellent habitat for a wide variety of birds and small mammals.

Erosion control can be realized by INVESTING in Priarie Grass as a harvestable crop along with regular crops. Grasses protect from erosion far better than simple farmland. A change in the way farmers view 'land use' has to be realized. This is not a new concept, simply an under-utalized one. Harvesting 'protective' grass embankments can be an applied technology which would allow for reducing sediment in these areas as well.

Cross breeding, not genetic engineering, some of these grasses will allow a 'high yield 'Prairie/Switchgrass' production in areas now underutilized or even 'thought about' as crop production or as a NEW farm income. Research needs to be conducted and monies need to be appropriated by a newly elected President that BELIEVES change in the way America applies knowledge can lead our nation back to greatness.

Flood recovery turns to erosion; Some farmers' grass waterways crucial in saving their crops (click here)
By Lyn Jerde, Daily Register
No one has to sell Cambria-area farmer Carl Stiemsma on the benefits of grass waterways in crop fields.
"I've got a lot of them," he said, "and I think I might get some more."
The recent Columbia County deluges were a textbook example of what some people colloquially call a "gully-washer."
But, if Stiemsma had planted his waterways in crops, instead of in soil-saving grasses, those crops and the soil in which they were planted would have been swept away onto roadways or neighboring fields. And, the yield in his fields — corn, soybeans, green beans, wheat and other crops — would have been drastically reduced.
Stiemsma has utilized grass waterways since the 1970s, but he's considering placing a call to the Columbia County Land and Water Conservation Department to help build news ones and replace old ones that, encrusted with several years' accumulation of sediment, have become less effective.
Kurt Calkins, director of the land and water conservation department, said landowners are now being strongly encouraged to get in touch with his department, which is offering help for farmers wishing to implement erosion-control practices....

2007 Kansas wheat harvest shattered

August 9, 2007
Shelby, Montana
Photographer states :: Montana wheat harvest


By Roxana Hegeman, Associated Press Writer
WICHITA, Kan. — Sodden wheat lies flat in fields across southern Kansas. Insurance companies are writing off acreage as total losses. Test weights for the few truckloads of grain straggling into area elevators are awful. And it is still sprinkling.
The start of the 2007 Kansas wheat harvest will long be remembered for its shattered prospects. After seven years of drought, the wet winter and even wetter spring had nourished a crop that once promised a bin-busting harvest.
But that was before the Easter weekend freeze, before the disease pressure, before the insect infestations and the heavy rains. Before the floods.
"Everything combined has really challenged this year's crop -- especially in southern Kansas," said Dusti Fritz, chief executive officer for Kansas Wheat, a venture of the Kansas Wheat Commission and the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers.
The government's outlook is equally grim. Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that 37 percent of the wheat crop was in poor to very poor condition. About 29 percent was rated in fair condition, 25 percent was in good condition and only 9 percent rated as excellent.

At the Anthony Farmers Co-op, manager Dan Cashier said most wheat around Anthony has been abandoned, and custom cutters have moved on in search of other work. "I wish I could give you a happier scenario, but it is not there," Cashier said.
He blamed disease and freeze for the crop's problems in his area this year. Wheat samples brought in to the Anthony elevator have been averaging about 50 pounds per bushel -- far below the 60 pounds per bushel needed for No. 1 graded wheat. And yields have been running anywhere from zero to 20 bushels per acre.
He expected harvest to resume in a couple of days, if it ever stops raining.
"We probably got in 5 percent of the crop, but it might be all we get in if it keeps raining," Cashier said.
On Monday, the Statistics Service reported just 2 percent of wheat fields in Kansas have been harvested. By this time last year, about 48 percent had been cut, while the average for this late into harvest is about 19 percent.
Kansas is not alone in its late harvest start.
In Oklahoma, about 41 percent of the crop has been harvested -- far short of the 92 percent that would have been normal for this date. In Texas, about 31 percent has been harvested, compared with the 63 percent that was in the bin by this time last season, the National Agricultural Statistics Service said Monday.
But there is a bright side for farmers.
While the untimely rains at harvest time have wreaked havoc on the Kansas wheat crop, the moisture has helped spring-planted crops like corn, soybeans and sorghum thrive.








July 4, 2007
Buhler, Kansas
Photographer states :: Thunderstorm arrives.

Hazy conditions to persist

June 22, 2008
Blacksburg, Virginia
Photographer states :: This hail storm ripped through our town shortly before 9pm Sunday evening shredding plants and knocking birds out of trees. The dime-sized hail was more than 2" thick on the ground in some places.


June 22, 2008
Blacksburg, Virginia
Photographer states :: This hail storm ripped through our town shortly before 9pm Sunday evening shredding plants and knocking birds out of trees. The dime-sized hail was more than 2

Noted in the picture below, the ball of hail at the right upper corner of the USA dollar has a flat bottom. That indicates the force with which the hail had landed. A solidly frozen ice ball that large was falling with the force of gravity. It could have done damage if it hit any 'living' thing on Earth.


June 23, 2008
Galena, Kansas
Photographer states :: This hail is from a storm that hit at 1:20am 6/23/2008


June 12, 2008
Columbus, MI
Photographer states :: First Day of Summer Haboob Southern Luna County, NM

By Jason Gibbs Sun-News reporter
Article Launched: 06/21/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT
LAS CRUCES — The lazy days of summer are off to a hazy start.
Smoke and dust that moved Friday into the Mesilla Valley likely will linger throughout today — the first official day of summer.
The brown cloud, which also blanketed El Paso, was ushered into the area early Friday morning after a weak storm front pushed down from the Great Plains, said Dave Novlan, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Santa Teresa.
"It's dust and smoke," Novlan said. "The dust is due to a weak (storm) front and, as it comes down the Great Plains and east of the (Sacramento Mountains), it picks up some dust and it picked up some smoke from the Rocky Fire."
The Rocky Fire is burning roughly 35 miles west of Carlsbad and was started by a lightning strike June 17. It has grown to 20,000 acres, according to the New Mexico Fire Information Web site.
An increasing chance of rain today, combined with normal wind patterns, should blow the bulk of smoke out by Sunday morning.
"We'll stay hazy through (Saturday) because we will have east winds," Novlan said.
He said no air quality alerts had been issued as of Friday afternoon.
"I think it's light to moderate impact," he said. "People who are sensitive or with asthma

Heads Up ! (click for 12 hour loop).

June 21, 2008
1630z
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared Satellite

THERE HAS BEEN A change in the weather patterns within the last five hours. More turbulence over central North American Continent and a building potential of a hurrican in the Mid-Tropical-Atlantic. The 'lull' was destined to end.


June 21, 2008
2130z
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared Satellite of the North and West Hemisphere.

Who cares about "Right to Privacy" there is a Telecommunication Industry with more rights than American Citizens after all !!!

The point is that under the 'insistance' of a Republican Dominated administration that screamed 'National Security' since September 11, 2001, industries that exploit American's Rights have been developed. Those industries are reliant on changing the 'Rights of Americans' and exploit the very nature of 'Freedom.' Unless we remain aware of the dangers that 'exploitive' Executive Branchs of the USA Constitution bring to our lives, more and more of our Civil Rights will continue to be violated to insure corporate profits.

It is a form of corruption that the USA has to rid itself of. The Telecommunication companies that cooperated under the demands of Bush and Cheney, against the existing laws of the USA, need to be penalized for their role in destoying the Right to Privacy guaranteed to Americans.

The technology currently being marketed as 'state of the art' of Homeland Security will continue to compromise the lives of Americans and exploit the very meaning of our Democracy. This Sunnyvale Company is an example of protectionism by of these laws. I am quite confident, Bush and Cheney point regularly to the 'opportunities' of such companies IF rules are bent and even broken.

Enough already. Even the health considerations of these technologies are not known. We don't need our privacy monitored by invasive and potentially dangerous technologies for the benefit of convenience. Wire taps on even conventional methods of communication, now that Homeland Security has microwaves, have the potential to alter human wellness. We still don't know the dangers 'cell phone' technology has brought our society and won't for many years. The 'idea' that technology and products should be allowed to cause health risks with the 'potential' advent of improvements in 'treatments of the infirmed' is simply outrageous.

In a country without adequate access to health care, what will we be facing in a country with compromised wellness when the capacity of consumer protections are reduced for the sake of an economy. Americans have never had so few 'rights' to safety in the history of this country since Child Labor Laws began. We need a return to competency in government before laws such as this mess are considered into longevity !

These issues are huge and none are minor, they require the return of the capacity of our government agencies such as the FDA, FCC and adequate protections of a vigorous Justice Department. We have witnessed none of this under this Executive Branch but continually witness the exploitive nature of our laws while chasing innocent people with Rendition, Detention and Torture. Those are the focus of a Neocon Executive Branch and not the interest of consumer protection. We witnessed Homeless Men in Florida carted off to prison while it was touted as a victory for Homeland Security at the cost of American's Civil Rights.

We need a government that reflects 'reasonable' provisions for investigations and not those conducted and politically exploited at any cost. "The Culture of Fear" developed within our society has to be irradicated before our Civil Rights are meaningless and disposed of for profit for the lack of a 'real economy' of innovation !

Endwave's Experienced Management Team Includes (click here):
Edward A. Keible, Jr. Chief Executive Officer and President
John J. Mikulsky Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President
Brett W. Wallace Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President
David M. Hall Senior Vice President and General Manager, Defense and Security Products Division
Steven F. Layton Senior Vice President and General Manager, Telecom Products Division
Daniel P. Teuthorn Senior Vice President, Technology
Arthur A. Arrington Vice President of Manufacturing
James R. Crossen Vice President and General Counsel
Mark A. Hebeisen Vice President of Marketing and Business Development
Curt P. Sacks Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller


Wireless point to multi-point communication apparatus and method (click here)
United States Patent 7006794
Assignee:Endwave Corporation (Sunnyvale, CA, US)

A wireless communication system that provides energy efficient, high bandwidth and low cost wireless communication. In one embodiment, the communication system utilizes a fan out, pencil beam arrangement in which electro-magnetic energy is transmitted from a hub to customer premises equipment (CPE) with a fan or similar antenna and from the CPEs to the hub via pencil beam antennas. The pencil beam antennas provided higher link margin. The hub may include a shared aperture antenna device for receiving pencil beam transmissions from the CPEs. A shared aperture antenna device may also be used for transmission from the hub to the CPEs....


Endwave Corporation (click here)
...Item 1. Business
Introduction
We design, manufacture and market radio frequency, or RF, modules that enable the transmission, reception and processing of high frequency signals in telecommunication networks, defense electronics, homeland security and other systems....



Telecommunication Stocks (click here)
Updated as of: Jun 20, 2008 @ 11:02 pm ET
Sym.
Company Name
Last
Change
%Chg
High
Low
Vol.

AIT
Ameritech Corp
26.62
-0.03
-0.1
26.77
26.07
455K

AT
Alltel Corp
71.46
+0.26
+0.4
71.48
71.17
0

ATNI
Atlantic Tele Network
29.74
-0.59
-1.9
30.38
29.34
85.2K

BCE
B C E Inc
34.10
+0.20
+0.6
34.32
33.85
6.90M

BEL
Bell Atlantic Corp
0.66
-0.04
-5.7
0.70
0.66
0

BLS
Bellsouth Corp
47.11
+0.31
+0.7
47.82
47.00
0
CSN

Cincinnati Bell Inc
0.08
+0.01
+14.3
0.09
0.0785
0

CTEX
C Tec Corp
0.0005
+0.0002
+66.7
0.0005
0.0003
39.0M

CTL
Century Tele Enterprises
31.04
-0.97
-3.0
31.85
30.86
1.40M

DIS
Walt Disney Co.
31.94
-0.95
-2.9
32.73
31.94
21.3M

GTE
G T E Corp
7.45
-0.30
-3.9
7.90
7.01
3.69M

LTEC
Lincoln Telecomm
4.60
-0.08
-1.7
5.04
4.1201
4.10K

PAC
Pacific Telesis Group
33.46
-0.24
-0.7
33.79
32.57
339K

PHI
Philippine Long Dist Tel
54.85
-0.52
-0.9
55.66
54.82
109K

SNG
Southern New Engl Telcm
4.33
+0.01
+0.2
4.40
4.30
418K

TAR
Telefonica De Argentia
11.32
-0.32
-2.7
12.00
11.32
5.40K

TDS
Telephone & Data Sys
48.85
-1.60
-3.2
50.45
48.84
575K

TEF
Telefonica De Espana Adr
79.08
-1.31
-1.6
79.76
78.68
383K

TFONY
Telefonos De Mexico Sa
22.77
-0.15
-0.7
23.50
22.77
1.30K

TMX
Telefonos De Mexico Cl L
22.91
-0.44
-1.9
23.31
22.89
1.21M

TWX
Time Warner Inc.
14.60
-0.34
-2.3
14.89
14.35
29.2M
Updated as of: Jun 20, 2008 @ 11:02 pm ET
continued...

THE 'USA' MINIMALIST REALITY - It's only about 20 levee breaks that have cost people life and limb to improve the potential flooding 'downstream.'

White House invokes executive privilege in EPA inquiry (click here)
The Bush administration refuses to turn over subpoenaed documents related to the agency's decision to prevent California from enacting stricter emissions standards than the federal government.
By Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
7:26 PM PDT, June 20, 2008
...The administration's claim of executive privilege is the latest twist in the escalating legal and political battle over California's efforts to implement its own law combating global warming. Critics of the EPA decision contend that it was based on politics, not science or the law....


Towboat Senior Deckhand Al Davis, right, and Junior Deck Hand Randy Howard, left, work on securing barges they anchored earlier on Mississippi River the near Quincy, Ill., Monday, June 16, 2008. The barges which contain soybeans and corn will be anchored in the river until the flood waters recede. The Mississippi River is closed to barge traffic due to flood conditions that have destroyed homes and thousands of acres of corn and soybeans. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

After all, the dead of this country, whether it is in Iraq or domestically serve a purpose to their loss. The DEAD FOLKS in the Midwest have suffered the consequences so those 'DOWNSTREAM' have a better outcome after all !

It must be God's Plan after all. I mean George Walker Bush and John McCain would know best about that, right?

How ludicrous does this have to get? What will it take finally for Bush and McCain to pull the plug on oil exploration and begin to retool the nation's infrastructure to stop this travesty called GOVERNMENT !

I tell you what, rather than 'deal with the issue' of Human Induced Global Warming, let's just blame this mess on The Army Corp of Engineers that don't have the RIGHT to do what's necessary because the USA has a Government under Republican Domination for Decades that have denied the issue of Carbon Dioxide Pollution right up to the last 'go round' in the Senate recently. So, let's make the Army Corp the SCAPEGOAT to this Republican travesty and forget about those dead. I mean Bush and Cheney can ignore over 4000 American soldiers in an illegal war in Iraq they can certainly ignore trivial domestic losses due to Human Induced Global Warming. Oh, I forgot. There is no such thing as Global Warming and Carbon Dixoide could never be a toxic gas !

Neocons are simply amazing people. They believe that 'control' of the media and the 'political spin' will stop any reality handed them. Well, it would seem THIS ACT OF GOD has its own idea of reality and a nation now faced with potential food short falls and escalating food costs have a lot to answer for when in fact, IT AIN'T OVER !

13 Dead In Midwest Floods; Hundreds Flee (click here)
Flash Flood Warnings Posted From Texas To Pennsylvania; At Least 3 People Missing
(CBS/AP) Residents of low-lying towns stacked sandbags or grabbed belongings and evacuated Wednesday after a foot of rain pushed rivers and creeks out of their banks in the nation's midsection. At least 13 deaths had been linked to the weather, and three people were missing. Record or near-record flood crests were forecast at several towns in Missouri. Flooding was reported in large areas of Arkansas and parts of southern Illinois, southern Indiana and southwestern Ohio, and schools were closed in parts of western Kentucky because of flooded roads. "We've got water rising everywhere," said Jeff Korb, president of the Vanderbugh County, Ind., commissioners. The National Weather Service posted flood and flash flood warnings from Texas to Pennsylvania....


Battle to save farmland at fever pitch (click here)
By Jeffrey Meitrodt and Tim Jones, Tribune correspondents
6:18 PM PDT, June 18, 2008
URSA, Ill. -- Despite a history of heart problems, Larry Ippensen lifted shovel after shovel of sand Wednesday afternoon with scraped and sunburned hands in a desperate sandbagging effort to save his 160-acre family farm from a nearby faltering levee."If the levee goes, my crop is gone," said Ippensen, 62, who spent more than five hours filling bags with his two adult children and a 12-year-old grandson.
For miles around Ippensen's corn and soybean farm, the Mississippi River – raging at all-time flood highs or near them – devoured thousands of acres of prime farmland. At least nine levees were overrun Wednesday alone and more than 20 in recent days....

FEMA and The Farmer's Home Administration AIN'T GOT ENOUGH MONEY to reconstruct the Agricultural Infrastructure of the USA, yet alone rebuild levees. Do you have the remotest idea of the monies needed to supply 'loans' to farmers that have lost crops? Plenty. Do you know the monies approved for the illegal war in Iraq by the House today? Outrageous. Where are the priorities to a nation abandoned by it's Executive Branch to the ravages of corporate profits and dealings? The 'sink hole' called the USA Treasury keeps getting deeper and deeper and deeper and we haven't seen any substantial impeachment hearings yet. Amazing. And Wall Street thought all they had to do was restructure mortgages.

What.

A.

Joke !

And of course all this flooding was a complete surprise to the Executive Branch.

EXCEPT.

FOR THE COMPLETE SURPRISE LAST YEAR !

Central U.S. staggers from storm punches (click here)
updated 10:25 p.m. ET
Tues., Aug. 21, 2007
Ohio latest area to see new flooding; death toll reaches 22
RUSHFORD, Minn. - Water-weary residents across the Midwest began counting their losses Tuesday as damage estimates from this weekend’s deadly flash floods climbed into the tens of millions.
The rain moved into Ohio, where roads flooded, schools canceled classes and residents were rescued from flooded homes by boats.
The death toll from the two storm systems — one in the Upper Midwest and the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin in Texas and Oklahoma — climbed to 22 when searchers found the body of a man tangled in a tree about four miles from his wrecked, upside-down car near a creek south of Lewiston, Minn....

Regardless of the 'insurance' Bush has given to their Red State Agricultural Community, that isn't going to return the crop losses or a reasonable food policy for the people of the USA ! Anyone hungry or losing their homes due to food prices ?

You know its a darn shame that the USA's farmers will end up 'with relief' money when the cost of agricultural products, especially biofuel products, are going through the roof. Amazing. The 'very product' that would serve to bring farmers OUT OF LONG STANDING DEBT, is being washed away along with the soil. Darn shame.

Agricultural Assistance Act of 2007 (click here)

On May 25, 2007, President Bush signed into law the "U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007" (2007 Act).

The 2007 Act provides approximately $3 billion in agricultural disaster aid for America's farmers and ranchers. The aid will cover crop losses, livestock and feed losses, emergency conservation practices and dairy losses. The Act also extends the Emergency Forestry Conservation Reserve Program (EFCRP) and the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program.

This page serves as a clearinghouse for information about the farm programs addressed in the 2007 Act....

No, they can't !

Mistakes ? Mistakes ? That is what they call it when they expose a CIA agent for political purposes? A Mistake?

"W"rong !

A mistake is something one takes care of with "White Out." This is NOT a mistake !

Loyalty...In heart I am a public servant...the mistakes this White House made...I do not know if there was a crime committed...nor do I know if there was an attempt…to engage in a cover up during the investigation…I do know it was wrong to reveal her identity because it compromised the identity of a covert official for political reasons. I regret I played a role, however unintentionally in relaying false information to the public about it…

I made my donation today. What about you? The man is living history. We can change the face of this nation. "Yes We Can."

Republicans have had their way for far too long. The DNC has been suffering from the battle for the nomination and our future President made the right decision. He cannot rely on 'the system' and RISK the future of our country.

We are taking back our country our own way !

Denver short $11.6M in raising funds for DNC (click here)

Denver Business Journal - by Noelle Leavitt

The Denver 2008 Host Committee revealed Monday that it's short $11.6 million in its fund-raising efforts for the Democratic National Convention that's slated to hit Denver in roughly 10 weeks.
The host committee is under contract with the Democratic National Party to raise $40.6 million by June 16. The committee said that it currently has $29 million in the bank.
"We don't want to make excuses," said Chris Lopez, spokesman for the host committee. "We have another couple of months to finish our fund-raising efforts."
Lopez said that Colorado congressmen, senators, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and various organizations are pulling together -- now more than ever -- to raise the $11.6 million that's needed to meet the fund-raising benchmark before the convention in August.
"I don't know that we see it as a shortfall," Lopez said, adding that when the fund-raising deadlines were set, no one could have predicted a hot primary race. The slumping economy also doesn't help, he said.
"We are asking leaders across Denver in securing donations of $52.80," Lopez said.

Obama says no to public financing; McCain throws hissy fit (click here)

Given Barack Obama's astronomical fundraising numbers, it was only a matter of time before he decided to eschew public funds to finance his campaign. From today's Times:
Democrat Barack Obama today rejected public financing for his presidential campaign, changing an earlier stand and becoming the first major party candidate to drop out of the system since it began after the Watergate scandal....Early in the primary season, Obama had said he would use public financing if his Republican opponent did. But that was before the presumptive Democratic nominee harnessed the Internet and became a fund-raising powerhouse.
This move not only makes Obama the first major candidate in more than 30 years to reject public funding (which forbids candidates from raising private funds), but also goes back on his very public indications he would agree to public funding....

The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is cold, but, not nearly as cold as it should be. Not in complete darkness.

The shortest day of the year in Antarctica occurs tonight at 7:59 PM EDT. From here out for another year the days get longer in the Southern Hemisphere and light will return to the Ice Continent.


Climate change threat to whales: study (click here)
June 19, 2008 - 4:51PM
The effect of climate change on the ecology of krill and whales in the Southern Ocean urgently needs monitoring, a group of Australian scientists warn.
The Australian Antarctic Division scientists say the effects of climate change on the sea ice that breeds krill which feeds whales can no longer be ignored.
"It is a matter of urgency that long-term studies are initiated to examine variability and change at all trophic levels in the Southern Ocean ecosystem to reduce uncertainty and to improve predictive power," Stephen Nicol, Anthony Worby and Rebecca Leaper say in their paper published on Thursday in the journal Marine and Freshwater Research.
Dr Worby on Thursday told AAP that, basically, less sea ice means less krill and less krill could also mean fewer whales.
The massive declines in Arctic sea ice has not been repeated in Antarctica but the Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming areas on the globe, he said.
"The concern is that if we have a significant decline in the amount of sea ice around Antarctica what does that mean for the krill habitat and what does that mean for whale populations," he said.
The study was particularly concerned with the ecological effects of climate change on baleen whales and the reproduction of krill, the Southern Ocean staple which feeds and breeds under the sea ice.
Sea ice is projected to shrink in the Arctic and Antarctic under all future emissions scenarios, the study says.
If the sea ice environment changes and if this is associated with changes in oceanic circulation, then it will undoubtedly affect the ecosystems on which predators such as baleen whales depend, the study says.
There is now unequivocal evidence of long-term changes in the physical environment of the Antarctic region that are thought to have a dominant effect on biological productivity in the sea ice zone, it says.
"Understanding the changes occurring in Southern Ocean ecosystems will require concerted integrated studies in the future, and not a little ingenuity," it says.