Day: June 29, 2008

An Ice Free North Pole?

The potential landmark thaw – the first time in human history the pole would be ice-free – is a stark sign of global warming, according to an article Friday on the web site of the The Independent, a London newspaper.

There is no land at the North Pole, but as long as anyone has looked, it has remained a giant block of ice year-round. Scientists have been watching Arctic sea ice melt more and more each year. But each summer in recent years, the amount of ice has gotten thinner and thinner. Each winter’s freeze, therefore, results in a thinner pack that, this summer, could melt altogether.

Several studies in recent years have predicted that the North Pole could be ice-free within a few decades. Alarm has ratcheted up every summer as the ice gets thinner and thinner. In a study released June 10, scientist said the rapid meltoff in the Arctic could threaten permafrost in continental soil elsewhere above the Arctic circle in a warm version of the snowball effect.

Last summer saw a record melt of Arctic sea ice, which shrank to more than 30 percent below its average. Around the peak of the melt, in September, air temperatures over land in the western Arctic from August to October were more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above the 1978-2006 average.

That is right, just keep giving lip service to the problem and then your decision will be made for you. Politicians are such lousy, stinking cowards! That is right! I SAID IT! I MEANT IT!

The US And New Middle East Talks

HA! HA! HA!  Bush and the Boyz are scrambling around trying to find some form of legacy for this lame duck president.  Now they seem to think that they can find this elusive positive legacy, somewhere in the Middle east.

The US has proposed new talks in a push to reach a deal on the Palestinian statehood before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurie said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had invited the Israelis and Palestinians to a series of trilateral discussions in New York and Washington.


At a US-sponsored peace conference in Annapolis in November that was attended by the Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, the two leaders agreed to calls to halt violence against Palestinians and freeze settlement construction.

However, Israeli officials said this month that they had approved a plan to build 40,000 new homes in al-Quds over the next 10 years, including the annexed Arab eastern sector of the city. Israel also stepped up military operations against the Palestinians in recent months, which has resulted in many deaths and injuries among civilians.

May I suggest that the admin just look elsewhere for some of positive news or better yet let the Egyptians handle the talks, they were instrumental in the Gaza Deal.  They seem to have a much better batting average than the present administration.

Why Cannot Vets Get Any Justice?

The federal government is subjecting veterans to long delays in obtaining mental health care and medical benefits, but the power to change the system rests with officials and Congress, not the courts, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Wednesday in dismissing a lawsuit by veterans’ advocates.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti said veterans’ groups had failed to show a “systemwide crisis” in mental health care that would justify the courts intervening in the workings of the Department of Veterans Affairs. And he said courts lack authority to order the sweeping changes the plaintiffs seek, such as forcing the VA to make quick decisions on whether veterans are eligible for care and ordering the agency to promptly improve suicide prevention programs and mental health care.

You may fly your flag and you may thump your chest proudly, but until we give the veterans the attention they deserve–NO one is patriotic.  This country sent these people into harms way and then turn our backs on them–IT IS PATHETIC AND SICKENING!

Supreme Court Ruling

No I am not talking about the gun one, that has everyone jerking off in the corner and also I am not talking about the child rape death penalty thingy.  I am talking about the one that was basically swept under the closest rug.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday slashed the $2.5 billion punitive damages award in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster to $500 million.

The court ruled that victims of the worst oil spill in U.S. history may collect punitive damages from Exxon Mobil Corp., but not as much as a federal appeals court determined.

Justice David Souter wrote for the court that punitive damages may not exceed what the company already paid to compensate victims for economic losses, about $500 million compensation.

The Supreme Court divided on its decision, 5-3, with Justice Samuel Alito taking no part in the case because he owns Exxon stock.

Exxon has fought vigorously to reduce or erase the punitive damages verdict by a jury in Alaska four years ago for the accident that dumped 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound. The environmental disaster led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of seabirds and marine animals.

Nearly 33,000 Alaskans are in line to share in the award, about $15,000 a person. They would have collected $75,000 each under the $2.5 billion judgment.

The commercial fishermen, Native Alaskans, landowners, businesses and local governments involved in the lawsuit have each received about $15,000 so far “for having their lives and livelihood destroyed and haven’t received a dime of emotional-distress damages,” their Supreme Court lawyer, Jeffrey Fisher, said when the court heard arguments in February.

Yes, would not want the company that destroyed an eco-systems and has made more money than God can imagine to be held responsible for their actions.  For all they are is a corporation and we know that they are never responsible for their actions.  (BTW, sarcasm is intended).

Automaker And Obama Meet

Presidential candidate Barak Obama recently met with the boss of GM and they talked about ways to save the auto industry from total collapse.  Here are the ways to save the industry according to a report.

• Provide more support for basic research into new technologies, along with tax credits or other incentives for consumers to buy them once they are available.

• Assist manufacturers in converting factories.

Building new technologies “takes a lot of capital,” Wagoner said. “One of the biggest issues the U.S. industry faces is we have relatively weak balance sheets due to a lot of things … so support in improving the manufacturing base is important.”

Let me see if I have this about right–the government will basically be bailing the industry out for their bad decisions in the pursuit of profit?  Sorry, but they should be held responsible for their bad decisions, as I am held responsible for mine.

I would say that help from the government should be there, but only after they have illustrated that they are truly concerned with the way the industry is going.  That means they come up with a plan and start down the road and then , only then shopuld the government be involved.

But unfortunately, that is not gonna happen, the industry will get massive amounts of cash shoved up their butts by Washington and will go back to making the decisions that have put them in the dire straights they are in now.

What Is McCain Doing?

People are losing their homes, cannot afford to eat, or drive to work, but yet McCain spends all his time worrying about and talking about foreign policy.  What is McCain doing?  Will the struggling voter actually care about what happens in the Phillipines?

The same question is being asked by the LA Times.

This week, when Barack Obama campaigns in Ohio and Colorado, John McCain will be visiting Colombia and Mexico. It’s an unusual path for McCain to follow. But even more, it’s a risky strategy for his presidential campaign.

For starters, and most obviously, there are no electoral votes to be had in Latin America or Canada, another country McCain recently visited. Even more puzzling to observers is McCain’s emphasis on national security and foreign affairs — Saturday he met with the leaders of Iraq and the Philippines — at a time when domestic matters have surged to the fore of voter concerns.
So when McCain sits down with foreign leaders to talk about terrorism, the thinking goes, it helps voters envision him as commander in chief. When he travels to Colombia and Mexico, it highlights his record as a free trader and his moderation on immigration and, perhaps, garners favorable publicity in the Latino community back home.

But that strategy has provoked consternation and confusion among some fellow Republicans. There is, after all, the cautionary lesson of 1992, when President George H.W. Bush lost his reelection bid. One big reason was that voters believed Bush — who was partial to foreign policy — was less attuned to their pocketbook pain than was his more domestic-minded opponent, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.

McCain’s greatest political strength has always been his reputation as someone willing to go his own way when principle demands. He started running for president in 2007 as a conventional candidate, and failed miserably. He reverted to a more freewheeling form and, against a weak field, rallied to win the GOP nomination.

For good or ill, McCain is clearly determined to wage a different sort of general-election campaign, even if it leads him far from the well-trod path or away from the issues voters say they care most about. It may be unconventional. But given voters’ contempt for Washington, the Republican Party and the incumbent president, it might be McCain’s best chance of winning.