Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

terra infirma?

what's going on in your little corner of the earth today?

earth day events and things relevant thereto:

http://www.earthday.net/earthday2009

I really try to celebrate every day as earth day. I will soon find out how I am doing when my sister from Seattle gets here this weekend. You know those pacific NW people are so much more highly evolved than we are in the backward south.

We'll be driving hundreds of miles looking for somewhere to recycle all my refuge. At what point does it become counter productive if I have to waste several tanks of gas to properly dispose of a bag of garbage? I try to do my best with what I have to work with here.

Good clip fellows.

I had read about "Boner's" comments, but missed seeing the clip .
He did something interesting, notice that he introduced the claim that CO2 is a carcenogin. No one I ever read. or heard of has made that claim. If one introduces a straw man it would be nice if they weren't on fire when they appear on set.

My neither C-bob. It is usually what hangs out with CO2 that is carcenogenic.

craig, cbob's activities as "johnny cornseed" and all the tmrs planting his hopi blue from coast to coast would be a good earth day subject for commentary tomorrow....

Good Morning Trailmixers! Happy Earth Day!

bet that poker in his fireside set makes a pretty sound when craig pokes his gas logs.

But my sister was very impressed that I was involved with C-Bob's Hopi experiment. I sent her the website. I got one merit point for that. Thanks Bob. And my corn has grown a couple of more inches since the last pic. I am worried about whether rabbits like little corn plants. I couldn't find that on the web and I have a couple of rabbits that hang out in the area.

Thought for the day :
" The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our change. "

CT -
I'm pretty sure rabbits love new corn plants. Hence, the invention of inflatable owls.

If you want to have a good time, get an inflatable owl.

http://www.arbico-organics.com/1267001.html

I agree Pat with 6:46 post. C-Bob is trying to bring us back to one of our environmental roots here.

Shoot Bob, I might just scare off one of my real ones. How about that red hot chili pepper juice someone mentioned?

1649 The Toleration Act was passed by the Maryland Assembly. It protected Roman Catholics within the American colony against Protestant harassment, which had been rising as Oliver Cromwell's power in England increased.

" You know those pacific NW people are so much more highly evolved than we are in the backward south. "

Ain't it the truth, Carol!

PS -- C-Bob -- the Tennessee crows scoffed at the inflatable owls my son put up in his ill-fated corn field. It was his first and last foray into agriculture.

CT -
Good choice , ( home made pepper spray, or garlic spray ) . It might just help with deer control as well.

I will try it. There is never a shortage of hot sauce down here. That is one area where we cajuns are highly evolved. Now I haven't ever seen a deer in my yard but there is a herd of cows across the street but they have a fence.

If Bill Clinton is willing to sit down with George Bush for a conversation in Toronto, why is it wrong for Barack Obama to shake Hugo Chavez's hand?

oh good..... Earth Day.... a subject we can ALL get involved with.... and not just the chosen few.....

Craig..... what a lovely vase.....

Carol.... I'm a hick in the sticks while my sis lives in sophisticated NYC.....
it's funny.... she grew up in a small town like the rest of us..... but when she comes around... she's like a creature from a foreign country....

CBob... Boner had better worry about whatever he does that makes him so orange....... you know that's what has to be carcinogenic.....

Bethy...... your opinions are fluid..... IMO, that's a good thing....

Im hoping the critters will leave mine alone.....there's feral cats about and the corn's planted close to a house.....it should make it ok........although i do have a plastic owl and two wooden cut-out palmetto trees mounted above the hours of operation sign which reads
SHOP HOURS
Open most days about 9:00 or 10:00, occasionally as early as 7:00, but somedays as late as 12:00 or 1:00.

We close about 5:30 or 6:00, occasionally about 4:00 or 5:00, but sometimes as late as 11:00 or 12:00.

Somedays, or afternoons we aren't here at all; but lately we've been here just about all the time, except when we're someplace else, but we should be here then too.:

The L.A. Times just won a Pulitzer for this series :
Big Burn
The Times explores the growth and cost of wildfires.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fire-index%2C0%2C4857752.htmlstory

HI ho, hi ho.......off to work I go. Have a earthy day.

Prez Obama’s problem was not just his seemingly un-pro-Americanism (anti- is too strong of a qualifier) this week. Piled on top of his refusal to put his hand over his heart, wear a flag pin, say God bless America, and the unending apologies for America’s past actions, it is par for the course. Of course, the GOP secretly loves it; their disgust doesn’t fool anyone.

Having said that, I think Prez Obama’s actions/reactions were smart. After all, he who angers you, controls you. While I can’t know his motivation for his behavior, holding his tongue was a wise move. To do otherwise would look weak.

---Hey Craig, I have a baby dove big enough to fly. It was on my windowsill eating vomit out of it’s mamma’s craw...just like the folks who watch Beck & Hannity. Mmm.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/04/the-politics-of-earth-day.html#comment-221388

Hey Patsi -- I'm not sure what this was in reference to, but the Pacific NW has a long and fairly recent record for racial discrimination. Oregon is the only state that was admitted into the Union with an exclusion clause in its constitution. At one point in its history Oregon had a law that said no person of color should be allowed to stay in the territory for more than 24 hours, and past that time they could be whipped daily until they left. I would have to double check, but I think this was post-Civil War. Portland, Oregon was an officially segregated city -- much like the Jim Crow South. Black paperboys were not even allowed to deliver to routes in white neighborhoods. The KKK was a powerful presence. In the 1920s the Portland police chief was a Klan member.

I love Oregon -- but it's got an ugly past.

show me a place with humans and i'll show you a place with an ugly past.........it seems to me, at any rate...........

I can see jamie with an inflatable owl in her cornfield.

I finally planted in the mud on Sunday. We had a freak cold snap or pouring rain every weekend I wanted to plant.

There is a guy on PBS who has natural critter/bug cures. Dish soap, tobacco juice (too expensive with the new tax increase), etc.

"1649 The Toleration Act was passed by the Maryland Assembly. It protected Roman Catholics within the American colony against Protestant harassment"

cbob, wonder if obama sent a copy of this to notre dame

I wonder if Ebenezer Cooke wrote a poem about it..........

seed sowers running amok

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/04/21/earthday.asia/

or "a muck" in blue's case

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/us/21uninsured.html?th&emc=th

"With Son in Remission, Family Looks for Coverage"

“You realize how vulnerable you really are,” said Ms. Walker, who exhibits the maternal ferocity of a black bear. “You just — not give up — but you just feel that you’re at a loss, that you’re at your wits’ end. I ask myself, ‘Do I really have to lose my home to save my son’s life?’ ”

for those of us who are not as well-versed as sturge, here's more than you want to know about mr. cooke's poem

http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/sotweed.htm

the complete poem......The Sot-Weed Factor, or Voyage to Maryland.........by Ebenezer Cooke.......

(as opposed to the book The Sot Weed Factor by John Barth)

http://uoregon.edu/~rbear/sotweed.htm

great minds, sturge, great minds

lol

"It was on my windowsill eating vomit out of it’s mamma’s craw...just like the folks who watch Beck & Hannity. Mmm. "

ROFL, Blue!

BMW Art Cars

(Thought of CBob's efforts when I noticed these)

NYT article might be of interest. (There is a slide show
of BMW art cars along side of the article itself)

"These canvases need oil and a good driver"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/automobiles/collectibles/15artcars.html?ref=collectibles

"I'm not sure what this was in reference to, but the Pacific NW has a long and fairly recent record for racial discrimination"

It was in reference to Carol's post about her sister.

Good morning all
Oh Boy,Pat B is back to his old self!!!

http://buchanan.org/blog/pjb-the-apologists-1514

"PJB: The Apologists"

"For 50 minutes, Obama sat mute, as a Marxist thug from Nicaragua delivered his diatribe, charging America with a century of terrorist aggression in Central America.

After Daniel Ortega finished spitting in our face, accusing us of inhumanity toward Fidel Castro’s Cuba, Obama was asked his thoughts.

“I thought it was 50 minutes long. That’s what I thought.”

Hillary Clinton was asked to comment: “I thought the cultural performance was fascinating,” she cooed.

Pressed again on Ortega’s vitriol, Hillary replied: “To have those first-class Caribbean entertainers all on one stage and to see how much was done in such a small amount of space. I was overwhelmed.”

cooke's curse, the last lines in his sot weed poem:

I left this dreadful Curse behind.
May Canniballs transported o'er the Sea
Prey on these Slaves, as they have done on me:
May never Merchant's, trading Sails explore
This Cruel, this Inhospitable Shoar;
But left abandon'd by the World to starve,
May they sustain the Fate they well deserve:
May they turn Savage, or as Indians Wild,
From Trade, Converse, and Happiness exil'd:
Recreant to Heaven, may they adore the Sun,
And into pagan Superstitions run
For Vengeance ripe...
May Wrath Divine then lay those Regions wast
Where no Man's Faithful(41), nor a Woman Chast.

15 Januar, 1707 (8)

William Donohue vs Opie

William Donohue of the Catholic League is on a mission. Whether it is a "mission from God," as the Blues Brothers would say, only God knows, but the goal of his mission is clear: to paint me and the movie I directed, Angels & Demons, as anti-Catholic.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-howard/iangels-demonsi-its-a-thr_b_189053.html
---------------
I'm betting on Opie.

Carol was talking about environmental issues, Diva.

before the churches got smacked down a few times here and there and even written out of the picture in America they managed to kill, torture, burn, and mangle great numbers of people......if they were able to, they would probably resume the practise.......

I'm betting on Opie...... HA!

CBob..... I didn't want to pay my hard earned money to see The DaVinci Code after I could barely make it through the book..... not well written, IMO.....

now I'm not only going to make sure I see Angels & Demons.... I'll take as many people as I can stuff in my car to go with me..... besides.... that book was a wee bit better..... again, IMO....

Last autumn when we planted our winter garden, I made a scarecrow. It was neatly dressed in one of my gardening shirts and wore one of my old straw hats.

During the entire winter not one single bird settled onto our garden. Not even after the scarecrow suffered from advanced decrepitude.

I'm at a loss to say why, but if I was forced to speculate, I'd say it was out of pity for me.

And maybe because I do a pretty good job with our feeders.

The History Channel has a wonderful series starting tonight: Life After People

I've seen parts of it On Demand, but tonight is the regular premier

http://www.history.com/minisites/life_after_people

"I can see jamie with an inflatable owl in her cornfield."

Blue,

Who told? We were trying to keep our relationship secret!

Long Beach the last 2 days -
( Note, the National Weather Service uses all caps on these reports, I'm not doing the shouting.)
Sun -
A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 97 DEGREES WAS SET AT LONG BEACH CALIFORNIA
TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 88 DEGREES SET IN 1986.
Mon -
A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 100 DEGREES WAS SET AT LONG BEACH
AIRPORT CA TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 93 SET IN 1986.

http://www.weather.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=lox

The heat-wave deaths were reported in Orissa state, where the district of Talchar recorded a temperature of 44.3 degrees Celsius (111.7 degrees Fahrenheit) Sunday, the Press Trust of India reported.

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/23_feared_killed_in_Indian_heat_wave_999.html

"Who told? We were trying to keep our relationship secret!"

LMAO@Jamie!!!

asia times comparing the cases of saberi, ling and lee:

"In Tehran, as in Pyongyang, the US relies on diplomats from other countries to visit US citizens in jail in the absence of diplomatic relations with either Iran or North Korea. Swiss diplomats have seen Saberi behind bars in Tehran, and a Swedish diplomat has visited Ling and Lee at the "guest house", as it's described, near Pyongyang.

Unlike Saberi, Ling and Lee are not believed to have had any other foreign visitors, certainly not their parents. North Korean authorities like to say they are following all the rules of diplomacy in dealing with criminal cases, but that single conversation that each of them has had with the Swede is the only chance they've had to get a message through to anyone on their side."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/KD21Dg01.html

The EPA is choking democracy
The agency's sweeping new power to battle global warming is another example of the weakening of democratic controls.
Jonah Goldberg
April 21, 2009

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/la-oe-goldberg21-2009apr21,1,875071.column

Angels & Demons----movie about to be released----and Dan Brown's long-awaited new novel---The Lost
Symbol---to scheduled to be published on September 15.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/fiction/article6134742.ece

In my possession are TWO original earth day buttons from 1970...talk about recycling. Back in the day (I was in high school), the term "ecology" was first widely used. In our present day sound bite society, we now use "eco." But, the day has survived...and in many ways, I feel like we are revisiting the 1970s.

Global warming is Mother Nature in menopause.

pogo, are you familiar with this guy? sounds like a good pick to me.

"U.S. President Barack Obama's nomination of Harold Hongju Koh, the dean of Yale Law School, for the position of legal advisor to the State Department spurred uproarious criticism. A number of media commentators argued that his espousal of a transnationalist legal perspective makes him a dangerous choice."

http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/

Jack -
" Wow. So Dem Rep Harman appears to have worked behind the scenes to dissuade publication of a blockbuster expose about Bush that could have put her own party’s nominee in the White House and changed the history of the last four years. And, according to Keller, she apparently did this at the request of Michael Hayden, Bush’s National Security Agency chief."

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/dem-rep-harman-did-urge-times-not-to-publish-wiretapping-expose/?ref=fp1

CBob

Has Jonah Goldberg held any gainful employment other than riding on his mother's coat tails following the Lewinsky scandal?

If he hadn't inherited her rapacious rabble, he would be flipping burgers if McDonald's would have him.

The Avenue of the Giants -

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/4578/treehugger.png

"Global warming is Mother Nature in menopause"

No wonder she's in a bad mood.

Jamie -

I like the irony of his op-ed in the L.A. Times , on the same day Long Beach sets a new high temp. record by 7 degrees in mid April.

One of "Mother Earth's Hot Flashes" -
The day this image was taken it was 114 degrees in Athens:

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/9213/ofiresp1.jpg

Good clip Craig. Good point. Here's hopin' this ones different.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/04/the-emanuelnetanyahu-smackdown.html#comment-221365 "Dodd may want to move to Massachusetts where he’s raised $90,000 so far. He’s pretty popular in Texas too, raising $81,000 down there. Or do some kind of a weird Maryland/New York combo-meal thing as residents have combined in those two states to give him more than $100,000."

Patsi, That report you linked on Dodd 'is' strange. I guess no one would have noticed it that much if he'd been doing well in his home state.

Bethy, Thanks for all the tips.... I'm going to check out that Fantastic Fiction site.

Cows...always getting the blame. I believe some of the stimulus money went to the new cow feed that takes care of that methane problem....industrial BEANO.

I love reality over fiction...imagine being elected with a last name like Boner and then acting like a Boner! His name is perfect! No one could have "invented" a better name!

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/04/the-politics-of-earth-day.html#comment-221429

patd

I'm not familiar with him, but if he is a "transnationalist", the right wing must be having kittens. They are already on the war path with Ginsburg because she dared to suggest that the legal findings of other countries could be cited in order to demonstrate the justice's thinking in the formulation of an opinion. (Not as precedent but as a train of legal thought).

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/04/the-politics-of-earth-day.html#comment-221384
I'm getting one of those inflatable owls CBob. Just hope my cats don't find a way to pop it.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/04/the-politics-of-earth-day.html#comment-221376
"We'll be driving hundreds of miles looking for somewhere to recycle all my refuge."

Carol, You've got me laughing again this morning.

Here is an op ed from the right about Ginsburg's positions on transnationalism and Harold Koh's nomination

http://phibetacons.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjM5YzAzZGY1NmE0YTAwYjM2ZWVjMGJjNTliMGQ2YTM=

Anyone in menopause or already paused knows that there are hot flashes and cold flashes. My earthly thermostat has gone awry.

Thanks for the update on "hot flashes," cbob.

a little grammar help?

"Differing or ineffective conflict resolution styles used by the couple [was/were] identified as a cause of divorce by every user interviewed."

was or were?

Add this to the list of financial problems that continue to affect the economy.

Student Loan default rates are expected to reach 6.9% for the fiscal year 2007. Up from 4.6% two years earlier & would be the highest rate since 1998.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124027600001437467.html

mornin'

OK, Craig, thanks for all the links - it strikes me that the answer is "All of the Above", primarily accomplished by replacing aging old, dirty technology with new, cleaner technology as the cost-benefit balance for the new approaches replacement cost-benefit balance of the old. The electric car link is instructive - all that's really between us and a traffic grid filled with electric cars is an affordable battery that will take a car more than 100 miles. Until the technology provides that, we'll be filling her up with some form of fuel. We have waited for electric cars, compressed hydrogen, LP and fuel cells for lo these many years, only to see only incremental inprovement in each of those technologies while Detroit fought cafe standards that were well within their reach technologically - and look where that got Detroit - now chasing China as the leader of the direction of the auto going forward. And we get to watch a thin blond tell us about American energy independence with fewer oil and natural gas platforms to gather the same amount of energy we currently have. Oh, and clean coal (as if there were such a thing).

Happy Earth day.

i'm figuring "styles were" but daughter is conflicted.......

definitely were

'course, I never worry about whether it's right or not, just how it sounds. :)

"If he hadn't inherited her rapacious rabble, he would be flipping burgers if McDonald's would have him."

Bingo!

Absolutely "were"

muchissima gracias......it definitely was "were"

... see, that makes a lot more sense than was 'were'.

I mean were 'was'.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/04/the-emanuelnetanyahu-smackdown.html#comment-221283

Not gonna reopen this, Max. I think Bob, Rez and Jack addressed your comments just fine, thank you very much. You have your beliefs, I have mine. You are trying to broaden the purpose of the trade sanctions using the benefit of retrospect to justify them as something other than a dismal failure. The corn flake that the Kennedy admin was choosing was the regime change from within one - it didn't work. All that you say about Castro may be true, but only time, age and infirmity drove him from power.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/04/the-politics-of-earth-day.html#comment-221450

Chloe,

One of the best ways to determine subject/verb agreement is to say the sentence out loud. The majority of the the time, the "correct" verb to use will "sound" right as well.

I couldnt get past "styles were" but she was hearing "was a cause"

anyway......thanks

and then I told her, "Daddy knows best" which got a chuckle....at least I think it was a chuckle.......

Thank Jamie. I agree with you on that. I was just sorta kidding, but I'm really not a very careful person, unless I have to be. It's always good to learn something new though.

... sorry for such long quotes, but it just seems important, in an optimistic sort of way.

Why bad times lead to great ideas.....
THE NEXT BIG THING
"...“creative destruction,” ... ...innovation tends to arrive in clumps: “discrete rushes which are separated from each other by spans of comparative quiet.” These bursts of creativity .... “periodically reshape the existing structure of industry by introducing new methods” of production, organization, and supply. As for the negative effects of depressions—unemployment, the loss of wealth, economic dislocation—they were just creative destruction at work.

Today, with the pillars of capitalism falling all around us, it might seem odd to wonder what world-changing shifts this Great Recession will help bring to life—what Next Big Thing is just around the corner. But moments of rupture such as these are precisely what true innovators seek to exploit, creating new paradigms and leaving a trail of winners and losers in their wake. Companies, technologies, and ideas that survive this latest tide of creative destruction will emerge sharper, stronger, and more resilient for it.

We can’t predict the future with any certainty. But we know it will be much different from today. Get ready for a world of change. Get ready for the Next Big Thing."
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4842

New book of previously unpublished Mark Twain essays

http://boingboing.hexten.net/2009/04/20/new-book-of-previous.html

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/04/the-politics-of-earth-day.html#comment-221426

Bob, I assume you disagree with Jonah? ;-)

jamie, you're the emoticon queen - what's a good one to indicate winking? I've been using this - ;-) - but you have too look a little too closely to figure it out.

Bob, I'd have to say that Goldberg is one of those apples that didn't fall far from the tree.

I was just stumbling around in the ambient section of iTunes' radio listings, and found a radio station that plays nothing but recorded birdsongs. I think its' pretty wonderful. birdsongradio.com, embedded above.
http://www.boingboing.net//2009/04/02/birdsong-radio.html

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/boehner-calling-carbon-dioxide-dangerous-is-almost-comical/?hp

Ok, that seals it. If Boner thinks the EPA ruling is wrong, it's right. George gets a gold star for his persistence in the face of Boner's evasiveness.

Pogo -
Goldberg is on a new tack with that one, as a result of the court ruling about CO2 .
We'll see a lot his argument in the coming months.
Something like this :

" Unless the EPA is a captive of the American Petroleum Inst. freedom is under attack. "

Bob, we have microphones outside that amplify the bird songs for us while we are stuck inside (the speakers are in the house). Their chatting adds immeasurably to our comfort.

Flatus -

What an idea ......... simply amazing.

GOP leader Scrooge Boehner disses weatherizing low-income homes and cutting the deficit

http://climateprogress.org/2009/01/18/house-minority-leader-john-boehner-scrooge-disses-low-income-home-weatherization/

The Dark Lord speaks AGAIN.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/21/us/politics/AP-US-Interrogations-Cheney.html?_r=1

This from an adiministration that made selective declassification for political gain an art form?? If it would have helped the repugs supporting torture and defending the WB practice when it was such a hot button issue and the memos documenting its effectiveness weren't declassified, I believe we're entitled to the negative inference.

Why in hell won't he just STFU? Oh, wait, he's writing a book. Silly me.

First as Tragedy, Then as Farce

TPM Reader DP:

If only Saddam Hussein had been smart enough to solicit a legal opinion from his government lawyers that gassing people was within the law, he could have been playing golf in Myrtle Beach right now.

--David Kurtz

Bob, I just looked up MORON in my trusty Merriam Webster. There was a picture of Boner inset beside it. Who could have guessed that?

" As Butch Cassidy might say, “Who are those guys?”

They’re the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a collection of 48 mining, rail, manufacturing, and power-generating companies with an annual budget of more than $45 million — almost three times larger than the coal industry’s old lobbying and public relations groups combined. ACCCE (pronounced “Ace”) is just celebrating its first birthday, but it has already become a juggernaut shaping the terms of the climate change debate on Capitol Hill — even while weathering a high-profile assault by critics who accuse it of peddling hot air.

ACCCE’s considerable impact will be on display this week at House Energy and Commerce Committee hearings on a new draft climate bill penned by panel chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat. Just a year ago, Waxman and Markey backed a moratorium on new coal-fired electricity plants. But their latest draft would allow new coal plants through 2015, if they are retrofitted to cut carbon dioxide output some 40 to 60 percent within another decade. The technology to do that does not yet exist, but not to worry: the new measure would set up a $1 billion-a-year clean coal research fund to help."

http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/climate_change/articles/entry/1280

Here's an interesting legal tidbit.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/21/us/politics/AP-US-Scotus-Vehicle-Searches.html

Aside from making sense and recognizing that there is a privacy concern related to your vehicle - this shows that on certain issues the court is particularly and peculiarly divided. It also points out that Alito may not be the legal genius he was held up as.

Contrast this from the majority opinion by Stevens:

"Justice John Paul Stevens said in the majority opinion that warrantless searches still may be conducted if a car's passenger compartment is within reach of a suspect who has been removed from the vehicle or there is reason to believe evidence of a crime will be found.

''When these justifications are absent, a search of an arrestee's vehicle will be unreasonable unless police obtain a warrant,'' Stevens said."

With this from the dissent.

"Justice Samuel Alito, in dissent, complained that the decision upsets police practice that has developed since the court first authorized warrantless searches immediately following an arrest.

''There are cases in which it is unclear whether an arrestee could retrieve a weapon or evidence,'' Alito said."

Uhhh, pardon me, but isn't that covered by the "within reach" and "When these justifications are ABSENT" language??? The emphasis is mine.

Bob, I suspect that ACCCE may have been behind the "Coal is Carbon Neutral" billboard I saw in Beckley, WV last week.

The ACCCE ads were developed by R&R Partners, the Las Vegas-based public relations agency known best for its wildly successful “What happens here, stays here” campaign for hometown tourism

Pogo -
I tried to find out once roughly how much coal has been mined and burnt since Watt perfected Newcombs engine .
I have never seen a number, like there is for oil , ........ It's a Trillion barrels .

Bob, that's a lot of CO2, NO2, SO2 ...

Hmmmm, I wonder why the planet is heting up?

grrrr - heating

Total Global Hard Coal Production

* 2007e 5543Mt
* 2006 5205Mt
* 1990 3489Mt

Total Global Brown Coal/Lignite Production

* 2007e 945Mt
* 2006 937Mt

Mt - million tonnes
Metric ton (t) = tonne = 1000 kilograms (= 2204.6 lb)
http://www.worldcoal.org/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=188

-------------------
* 2007e 5543Mt = 5,543,000,000 tonnes in just the latest year that has numbers, and this doesn't include the brown coal production.

The amount dug and burned since Watt must be staggering.

pogo, I am kinda slow today but isn't coal a form of carbon?

Craig

There has been earth saving ideas for over 75 years--and we are just now starting to pay attention to them,,,and mother earth,,,,Jimmy Carter had that right no?

Right now we need to use what is available to us,,use the innovations that are out there and improve on them,,,,specially on the energy conservation front with, Solar,,wind power,,,solar insulation,,etc,,new const, standards to meet high energy ..

But imo ,,,the scientist are the ones that should get access to large amounts of gov. funding,,,they will be the ones to come up with the ideas for the future that does not harm mother nature,,,but recycles its natural resources,,

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/energy-innovators

Termite Bellies and Biofuels
Scientist Falk Warnecke's research into termite digestion may hold solutions to our energy crisis

Pogo (~_ *)--Wink-- (~_*)-- wink-- = Lunch

(*_*) = Pats morning face= lets go you guy's day light is a wasting!!

($ _$) = Jax,,,laughs

hd, I think it is. We can diuscuss the disconnect after ...

... lunch

United Kingdom
1905 - 236,128,936 short tons

United States
1905 - 350,821,000 short tons.

Pogo

Don't look to me for emoticons. I just go to the official page and copy. :-)

TEASING, MISCHIEVOUS
;-) winking; just kidding
'-) winking; just kidding
;-> devilish wink
:*) clowning
:-T keeping a straight face

I'm not going to stop doing all the right green things, but shake me, bake me, and call me Malthus it just seems that with more and more people producing more and more garbage, it is a race against time and destruction that we as a species aren't likely to win.

Jamie....
I feel the same way you do..... Rick and I will continue to do our green things and add some as things become available...... but I don't think we'll win either....

last week I watched a program on the Discovery Channel about how much climate change is affecting Alaska..... it ended with stating that we could see the extinction of polar bears..... and I immediately had a funny feeling that that is exactly what will happen....

I also think we aren't concentrating enough on how to live with the fact of climate change..... such as not being able to live on coasts anymore.... not being able to build in deserts.... what will we do to change the way we grow food.... etc. etc.....

I think we can slow the process down..... but climate change is happening and will continue to happen..... let's learn to live with it.....

I like what Obama's said to a reporter,,,"I go to bed worrying about the economy,,,the bank crises,,,,,and I don't take the security of the American people lightly,,,I think that ---that is my highest responsibility as president",,,he is very good,,,,and getting better all of the time.,,,He was just on cnn.

Here's to jamie & her inflatable owl. May they have many (Y)ears together. (UR2FunE)

Thanks Ree!
I appreciate it.

thanks jamie '-) - but I WILL look to you to go to the official emoticon page and cut and paste since I'm too damn lazy to do it myself. And Solar, thanks for those - it's nice to see vertically oriented emoticons.

So, HD, here's the deal as I see it - carbon is a fine thing in its solid or liquid form - lying happily under the earth as coal, diamonds, crude oil, that sort of thing, but it tends to cause mischief with the atmosphere when it's burned and turned into CO2, SO2, H2SO4, NO2, fly ash, and all sorts of other noxious things in huge quantities that the earth can't readily convert back into those less noxious states. I don't know what the volume or mass of the offgasses of burning a ton of coal is, but it's got to be pretty impressive. Maybe Bob knows of a source that suppies that info.

The carbon neutral disconnect is this - coal or oil is indeed carbon neutral - no carbon is produced by burning coal, but it formed as coal over millenia but its release through burning is close to instantaneous - and the earth will take millenia to convert it from its gaseous state back into its solid (or liquid - crude) state, so it continues to accumulate in the atmosphere (CO2 at least) doing its greenhouse gas thing while the earth slowly makes more oil and coal; and the second disconnect is that the deleterious properties of carbon are nicely encapsulated when carbon is in its solid or liquid state, but not so when it's in its gaseous state.

(Oh, and would someone please inform Boner that the gas that cows emit when they fart is methane, which burns much more cleanly than coal or oil - assuming you could collect and burn it, and not CO2?)

An interesting article re: torture - with a very interesting and lively comment section following it.

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/linker/archive/2009/04/20/thinking-about-torture.aspx

pogo....
all that scientific jargon is great.... but what does it mean to your and my life...

as an example..... when taking classes on how to sell crafts..... it was pointed out that too many craftspeople concentrate on trying to tell potential customers the process of how their chosen craft is produced...... this usually leaves the customer glassy eyed and they still don't know why they should buy your particular product.... (if you've ever heard a potter go through the explanation their glazing process, you'd get it)..... you need to reach customers by making them picture having your product in their possession and what it will do to enhance their life....

I think the same thing needs to be done with climate change..... we need people to explain what making changes will do for our lives...... we need more salesmen and less scientific jargon....

my observations have been that people think all we need is to change all our light bulbs.... recycle our garbage.... put solar panels on our roofs.... all drive a Prius.... and we can continue to live the way we've always lived.....
I don't believe that..... we are now seeing the perfect storm of climate and economic collapse..... and I think it will dramatically change our future....
how it will change is what I'm more interested in at this point..... :0)

I think there needs to be a Nationwide Effort of Conservation led by President Obama.

There are all kinds of expensive long-term projects, e.g., solar power, electric cars, etc.

But it strikes me - that huges gains could be made if a significant majority of Americans:

1. Recycle
2. Turn off electricity when you are not using it

I think the Administration should put together a list - with these two - and maybe 1-3 other easy steps Americans can take to conserve.

And then have the President engage in a campaign to get the Country to follow these easy steps...

Keep it simple.

Renee, LOL- you've reduced it to the personal responsibility level. And you are exactly right - REDUCE is the key for now at least. All that scientific jargon is just there to explain to boneheads like Boner (which gives me the idea that a Boneheads for Boner club should be started - members would be Boner Boneheads) why the stuff we exhale is not the same as the stuff that we produce when we burn coal and oil in our cars and power plants and why we can't continue to do so without consequence - something he and the climate change deniers seem to ignore.

warren, I agree with what you wrote in its entirety.

Recycling is a boondoggle - at least here - at present. WMI takes the required recycling material - plastic, newsprint, and metal - and puts it in with the garbage that goes to the landfill - or at least so I'm told. We HAD a recycling facility next to the WMI office that I had to go look at a couple of years ago because of a report that hospital records that were supposed to have been shredded and recycled were there. They were. But more to the point - it was readily apparent that no active recycling was happening - no baling of crushed cans or plastic, no packaging of newsprint for shipment to paper plants. Now that could be because we are in the boonies and it costs more to deliver the stuff than the stuff is worth, or it could be that there is recycling going on at the landfills - but none that I have seen when I've made dump runs - but it was pretty disappointing.

Now I can say this, I've seen our water, gas and electric bills go down in the past year because of better attic insulation, replacement of light bulbs with fluorescents, replacement of washer with an energy star front loader and replacement of 2 ancient furnaces with 93% efficient furnaces - to say nothing of my harping on Little Pogo to turn off lights, TVs and computers when he gets done.

Nationwide Effort of Conservation

1. Recycle
2. Turn off electricity when you are not using it
3. Take stairs if you are going 4 floors or less
4. Get coffee mug for work instead of disposable cups
5. Unplug phone chargers when phone is not attached

Stimulus funds should be directed towards recycling efforts. I agree that often people don't recycle because the means are not in place.

Earth Day

I remember helping to organize the first Earth Day at Horace Mann. I look back on the situation more than thirty years ago and see both positive and negative signs today.

First, population growth was a huge fear and both predictions and sustainability projections were wrong. Partly because the world did some limiting and partly we underestimated the carrying capacity of earth. In 1976, most experts predicted global disaster after the 4 billion mark.

Second, lead, ozone killers, dioxin, and other toxic chemicals have been limited. Urban centers are a bit cleaner and recycling has had some impact, though particulate pollution is still under-appreciated.

Still, back then we did not know the causes ice ages, what role Van Allen Belts and earth's magnetic field play in climate and radiation protection, what role the sun plays in climate, what role human growth plays in the creation of pathogens or even the real point of sustainability. We did not have super computers to model weather. Today we still don't have the answers. Cloud formation, precipitation patterns, underwater activity, solar and magnetic effects have not been adequately incorporated into models to give “high confidence”. Some data goes against PC thinking.

We were then largely anxious about more nuclear plants and were also wildly off about the real quantity of available hydrocarbons for energy. Predictions in the mid seventies declared we would have already witnessed a production crash.

As far as politics, back then the Liberal Side was largely responsible for environmental awareness and I am proud of my small input to the cause. Even it was putting up flyers for earth day….LOL We have worked hard on protecting endangered species, habitats and water/air quality, but have far to go yet. Some zealots are stilling the thunder by focusing mostly on the PC mantra of the day.

The most disturbing trend is how politics have influenced science. Despite the largely unknown mechanisms that control climate, seismic activity and the spread of pathogens, the environment has been co-opted by Liberals and fashioned into the political climate debate. First, this pushes back mitigation we could do for oceans, soil, water, wildlife and forests. I think this is clear enough without fighting here. Second, the political mantra today impacts energy policy at a moment when the global economy is in crisis. I find it odd that many here see little problem with enrichment and reactors on fault lines for Iran, but rejection of nuclear energy for the US when designs have created terrorist and meltdown proof reactors. It is also strange that we don't tap shale, coal and oil when technology exists or is under experiment around the world. Norway sequesters carbon from gas extraction. The US and Canada have shown sequestering works here and despite comments to the contrary, systems exist that can create "clean coal", but are a bit expensive as is shale oil extraction. Perhaps some in Washington can’t chew gum and extract cleanly at the same time.

This whole politicizing is rather senseless. Canada has enough sandy tar oil to last the Americas for many decades. We have gas and some oil. We have thousands of nuclear warheads ready for reactors. An intelligent approach that takes the leading energy source "coal" and makes it cleaner is a no brainer. China fields a new coal plant every two weeks. Shale oil and tar oil will be affordable to extract in less than a decade without huge environmental impact. Cellulosic fuel has huge potential because so much organic waste can be turned into ethanol which can power filter battery or fuel cell chargers and run the new generation of electrical cars coming. I believe Obama is cutting money from DARPA’s urgent research on better fuel cells. Yep, that laser research has public benefits beyond air defense.

Check out the coming caddie. Pretty cool, but the tri wheelers will be even better. Conservation is always great.

Last, solar has a very promising future still some ways off in terms of cost. Wind is over sold and burns fuel because of what it takes to make wind generators v energy produced. Corn was a great example of acting before thinking.

To sum up; bravo the Democrats drummed environment into our heads. We have far to go and the threats are broad and increasing. It makes little sense however, to let politics lead and pressure scientific research into cause and effect. Science should push political platforms with solid evidence and engineering. The sea is rising due to soil erosion, not melting. The complex dynamics controlling ice ages and climate are not fully understood. In fact we are going through a period of cooling which is why many experts now call it "climate change". This political crap was not present on the first earth day. Science was a rebel and took no orders from anyone. We need such independent thinking now more than ever.

Scientists have used radiofrequency on seawater causing it to burn. We know that this is not electrolysis and numerous experts have confirmed more energy is released than is required to cause said reaction. It was a mistake to ever call this cold fusion. I guess we have solutions under our noses but sometimes politics won't let us sniff. Let science be free and funded, act when mitigation makes sense and is fully supported. Use common sense in dealing with pollution and waste. This is all part of the ecology of life. This is as true today as it was back years ago when concerned citizens petitioned our leaders to think and act.

Can't say that goes on much today as the dumbing down by various power agents have taken a bit of balance from our mindset. Like the promise of dams, not all things that look good on paper work as planned and many things undiscovered will be tomorrow's solution. That is as much a dream today as it was on the first Earth Day.

The 2009 Pulitzer Prize Winners:Investigative Reporting

"Awarded to David Barstow of The New York Times for his tenacious reporting that revealed how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended."

I don't recall much msm coverage on this issue.

http://tinyurl.com/d225v8

Pogo, CO2 from any source is the same. And plants love it. If there are other compounds, that is a different matter. It would take just a few eruptions above or below sealevel to have more impact on climate than a year's present carbon emissions. All the oil in Alaska burned at once would be a fraction of 1/10th a degree in mean global temperature.

If you are talking CO2 strictly, it is the same anywhere.

Yeah, the NYT won a story about the rather inconsequential generals story we concocted to counter Al Jazzera while they producing some of the worst reporting. How a paper could be so wrong in almost everything they speculated over and filtered is funny.

They won another award for breaking the Spitzer story. Gee that was earth shattering journalism. Forget they were silent on his plan over driver licenses or his tactics in dealing with the State Assembly.

If the NYT had great Asian and Middle East reporting (no they didn't) I wonder what bad reporting looks like.

Yesterday, by the way was the two year anniversary of Senator Reid declaring the War in Iraq was Lost. Obama fully agreed. The Times had little to say about that topic having supported such a view in their sterling reporting on the Middle East which included a proposal to start investing in Syria. This was just before the strike at al-Kibar and just after the Hariri assasinations. They tried as hard as they could to get Caroline a Senate seat. 5 awards was meant to shore up a sinking ship. Of course, the irony is that the NYT had to remortgage their Big Brother looking headquarters having failed to sound an alarm bell over the housing bubble. Dowd claimed her expense caps didn't apply to her. Maybe they can benefit from Obama's new plans and regulations.......

With some bailout money, Obama might even be able to hire and fire op-ed editors. You think?

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/04/the-politics-of-earth-day.html#comment-221469

flatus, also great alert alarm in case of tresspassers who are non-tweeting and featherless.

http://www.physorg.com/news156663985.html

and this is just one of many we don't see. The activity under the sea raises sea level, produces gas and effects carrying capacity of oceans.

"live online discussion with CQ's Coral Davenport"

thought of any good questions for us to throw at coral tomorrow for earth day? maybe one of our more off-the-wall irrational irrelevancies? is there a word count limit or can we threaten a fillibuster? come on gang, make craig proud of us.

this sounds like something craig should go to and tell us about:

"It's off the record and limited to a certain group" -- a mixture of Washington, international, and Afghan and Pakistani experts and humanitarians. "We hope the ideas symbiotically go back and forth."

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/

ideas "symbiotically" go back and forth????

"Yesterday, by the way was the two year anniversary of Senator Reid declaring the War in Iraq was Lost. Obama fully agreed."

BS max!! Sometimes, you are as bad as Hannity in terms of spreading misinformation.

I searched and found nothing to support your lie that Obama "fully agreed" with Harry Reid's statement re: Iraq.

Cbob

Harman replys to the charges

And people accuse the Clintons of being good with the nondenial denial.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/04/21/1901604.aspx

maxtrue sed: "Yeah, the NYT won a story"

Pultz Org announcement reads like this:

"Awarded to David Barstow of The New York Times for his tenacious reporting.

What's that price of straw at now Jack?

Max, of course CO2 is CO2 - the issue is whether there is enough capacity to get it out of the atmosphere - mainly through plants and dissolution into water - fast enough to keep it at levels that don't create a greenhouse effect that raises the earth's (primarily the oceans') temp to the point that it screws with tthe weather and the ocean levels. btw, you got a source for that sea rising because of erosion factoid and Alaska 1/10 of a degree number? James Inhofe, perhaps?

Of course I could argue that the combustion of carbon in any form takes O2 (which people, among others, love) out of the air to combine it with C - fairly basic science - chemistry, I believe. And the trees did just fine before the industrial revolution thank you very much.

And we can't do anything about eruptions - can't cause 'em and can't prevent 'em - just have to try and survive 'em.

I'm sure Bob would take issue with almost every position you are taking on carbon based energy sources - I disagree but don't have the counter resources at hand or the time to go dig them up again. And predicting that they can be cleanly derived and used to produce energy in a decade is speculation. As you said, science and technology should be in the driver's seat (at least to the extent that it is consistent with the political direction the country wants to take), and in the end they always are. The science and technology for clean coal and clean oil is not here - after 100 or so years of using it apace. And if you think that coal can be cleanly extracted, try flying over southern WV or west-central AL - then think again. The environmental rap on oil sands and tar sands is much worse.

See, we're a political country, and a platform position on clean and renewable energy was part of the politics that put Obama into office. (Of course he talked about clean coal - one of the biggest myths in the energy debate - but that was to try and get Ohio and WV's votes). Political involvment in the movements of their youth from yesterday's kids is what you get when the kids grow up and get elected to office. Obama taking energy into the political arena was inevitable. He is trying to do what Carter tried to do - but was 30 years too early. PC - the sneer of the right at ideas that they don't like. Oh, and the first Earth Day was organized by Senator Gaylord Nelson.

"Senator Nelson, an environmental activist, took a leading role in organizing the celebration, hoping to demonstrate popular political support for an environmental agenda. He modeled it on the highly effective Vietnam War protests of the time. The concept of Earth Day was first proposed in a memo to JFK written by Fred Dutton."

So I wouldn't exactly agree that there wasn't that political crap with the first Earth Day. Maybe at Hoarace Mann, but that would not be typical.

And Wiki's description of the first Earth Day:

"April 22, 1970, Earth Day marks the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Approximately 20 million Americans participated, with a goal of a healthy, sustainable environment.

"Denis Hayes, the national coordinator, and his old staff organized massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values."

Sounds pretty political to me.

The problem with letting science and technology alone lead the way in the energy field is that if politics doesn't become involved, the science and technology gets driven by the energy companies, and they don't give a rat's ass about the environment or the atmosphere. I see their arguments every week in the WV State Journal, and their idea of clean and mine are two entirely diffeent things. They have legitimate points to make about jobs, profits, the usual things, but their points about regulations that would produce cleaner energy are - we don't want them and can't tolerate them while making the kinds of profits we are making now. Yep, let them drive the science and technology - you know where their priorities are.

Hey sturg, if you're about.

http://www.amazon.com/Townes-2CD-Deluxe-Steve-Earle/dp/B001ULAUDK/ref=br_nf_4_1?pf_rd_p=473303951&pf_rd_s=center-9&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=40&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1J9F2D930T5KN1DN3D95#moreAboutThisProduct

hey.... have you guys decided to collaborate and write a book...... ;0)

pogo.....
a Bonehead Boners Club...... I like that.... the t-shirt could have a picture of Boner in the front.... and the back could be a picture of the original Bonehead... you know.... that big goofy dumb guy from the Beach Blanket Bingo days..... he fell in love with a mermaid....

since I LOVE men in leather jackets..... I fell in love with Eric Von Zipper....

Ran by my house on the way to work to see if the rabbi, plural for rabbit, had tampered with my little corn plants. Not yet so, being in a hurry, I ran in and got some red pepper and gave them a good sprinkling. After leaving the house I thought oh no, what if they are cajun rabbi? They may prefer their little corn plants spicy.

?? for Greenthumbs

Due to climate conditions I started my corn plants in small peat pots (10 oz coffee cup size) :) I got about 8 live ones (1-4 inches) lol
Now, however, I just noticed that growth is coming out bottom of several pots.

1) Are these roots or plants growing sideways/downwards?

2) (most important) The temp will require them to be inside for another couple weeks hopefully. So should I set them in bigger peat pots for later planting or just plant them in bigger pots for transplanting later? I like the peat pots cause I can just set them in the ground, do they make big peat pots? lol

any advice is welcomed :-)

I'm all ears lol

I found some larger ones (7-10 "biodegradable) online. Hopefully the garden center has some or can make a referral.

Rez, I don't know much about gardening - but my thumb is greener than Mrs. P's. - but I know the leaves grow up and the roots grow down - get a bag of potting mix, cut open a square big enough to put th pots in a couple inches apart, kinda nestle the peat pots into it, keep it moist (not wet) - they should do fine for a few weeks.

You are a disgrace to your heritage, Rez! Asking for advice on corn growing from white eyes? Shame!

lol

Rez

As you have sprouted the corn and it is growing all you have to worry weather wise is a freeze.
Here the average last freeze is april 15 so here it should be safe to plant your growing corn.
It is also probably safe to plant the seeds as the soil temp. should be high enough but I'm going to wait a week.
Here is a map of the US

http://www.weather.com/maps/activity/garden/usnationalnormallastfreeze_large.html

Jack

nono Renee - Boner Boneheads.

Eric von Zipper - lol - that's one character I haven' thought about for years - now I'll see Harvey Lembeck in my mind's eye all night. What a hoot.

That's a damn good idea Pogo. . then I can bury (transplant) the whole bag and delicately pull the plastic away from it. I will check on bigger peats pots first but I need a big bag of potting soil anyway.

Patsi . . To hell with corn! We survive on bingo chips, slot tokens and smoke shops nowadays. Learned it all from the great white father.

Jack,

You're probably right about planting now , but like you, I think it's safer to wait a week or two. The weather here (like everywhere) has been all over the map. Hell it snowed a couple weeks back.

thx all for the tips. I got a plan or two now.

REz, I'm nothing if not lazy. Happy to oblige.

What - no firewater?

Well, LP is over at a friend's birthday party - eating wings and watching sports on about a dozen big screen tvs, so I'm gonnna mosey away and see if I can find him a best of AC/DC CD. See y'all later.

You want citations Pogo? MT is me in the following from some YEARS back. I'll start with the assertion about burning ALL the oil in Alaska based on present estimates of volume.....

"MT writes, "I suppose the added ppm is lower than most suppose."

Indeed. Let's review:

"The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed a new assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the central part of the Alaska North Slope and the adjacent offshore area. Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the USGS estimates that there are undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 4.0 billion barrels of oil, 37.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 478 million barrels of natural gas liquids."

If we assume the 478 million barrels of natural gas liquids is about equal to 478 million barrels of crude oil, the total crude oil under the North Slope is approximately 4.5 billion barrels of oil. So we have 4.5 billion barrels of oil, and 37.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Worldwide use of oil is about 80 million barrels per day, or 29.2 billion barrels of oil per year. Therefore, the oil under the North Slope is equal to about 4.5 billion/29.2 billion = 0.16 of the world's annual use.

World natural gas usage is approximately 95 trillion cubic feet per year. Therefore, the natural gas under the North Slope is equivalent to about 37.5/95 = 0.39 of the world's annual use.

In 2003, oil emissions were about 3 billion metric tons as carbon. So 0.16 of that is equal to 0.48 billion metric tons as carbon. In 2003, natural gas emissions were about 1.5 billion metric tons as carbon. So 0.39 of that is equal to 0.59 billion metric tons as carbon.

The total oil plus natural gas under the North Slope is therefore equal to 0.48 plus 0.59 = 1.07 billion metric tons as carbon. Total worldwide emissions in 2003 were about 6.7 billion metric tons as carbon. So the total oil plus natural gas is equal to 1.07/6.7 = 0.16 of the world's annual CO2 emissions. Over the 2000-2005 time frame, the world's annual CO2 emission raised the atmospheric CO2 concentration by about 2 ppm.

Therefore, if ALL the oil and natural gas were taken out of the ground and burned next year--WITHOUT displacing other burned oil or gas--the atmospheric CO2 concentration would rise by about 0.16 time 2 = 0.32 ppm!(!!)

How much would that increase the world temperature? Well, the IPCC AR4 "best estimate" for climate sensitivity is 3.0 deg C for a doubling of CO2 concentration (i.e., an increase of 380 ppm). Therefore, 0.32 ppm is about one-thousandth of that amount. So the increase in world temperature could be estimated at about 0.003 deg C.

In contrast, the total revenue from 4.5 billion barrels of oil would be about $225 billion, at $50 a barrel. And the natural gas at about $3 per 1000 cubic feet would be worth another $100+ billion.

Kevin Vranes is therefore recommending that the State of Alaska and the United States simply leave over $300 billion of oil and natural gas under the North Slope in order to avoid an increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration of 0.32 ppm, and a temperature increase of approximately 0.003 deg C. (And that's IF the oil and natural gas was burned in ADDITION to other oil and gas...not displacing other oil and gas.)

Is it any wonder Alaska's Senator Stevens doesn't think that's a good idea?

Mark Bahner (environmental engineer)

P.S. Here are websites from which I got the information. My calculations could be wrong...but I don't think so. (To borrow from Randy Newman, about Adrian Monk.)

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/oil.html

http://carto.eu.org/article2490.html"

Hey pogo, that for special occasions only . It's better than white lighting I'm told :-)

Nice to see so many people making personal commitments to being environmentally conscious.

"Patsi . . To hell with corn! We survive on bingo chips, slot tokens and smoke shops nowadays. Learned it all from the great white father."

And you learned well, grasshopper.

How close are you to Tulsa?

The Eustatic ocean level level shows little or no increase and here is more about Eustatic changes

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VF0-4J3WGFT-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3ccb53775be7d1a197d108841290e7be

“Long-term causes Range of effect Vertical effect (on ocean levels)

Change in volume of ocean basins
Plate tectonics and seafloor spreading (plate divergence/convergence) and change in seafloor elevation (mid-ocean volcanism) Eustatic 0.01 mm/yr
Marine sedimentation Eustatic < 0.01 mm/yr

Change in mass of ocean water
Melting or accumulation of continental ice Eustatic 10 mm/yr
• Climate changes during the 20th century
•• Antarctica (the results of increasing precipitation) Eustatic -0.2 to 0.0 mm/yr
•• Greenland (from changes in both precipitation and runoff) Eustatic 0.0 to 0.1 mm/yr
• Long-term adjustment to the end of the last ice age
•• Greenland and Antarctica contribution over 20th century Eustatic 0.0 to 0.5 mm/yr
Release of water from earth's interior Eustatic
Release or accumulation of continental hydrologic reservoirs Eustatic
Uplift or subsidence of Earth's surface (Isostasy)
Thermal-isostasy (temperature/density changes in earth's interior) Local effect
Glacio-isostasy (loading or unloading of ice) Local effect 10 mm/yr
Hydro-isostasy (loading or unloading of water) Local effect
Volcano-isostasy (magmatic extrusions) Local effect
Sediment-isostasy (deposition and erosion of sediments) Local effect < 4 mm/yr
Tectonic uplift/subsidence
Vertical and horizontal motions of crust (in response to fault motions) Local effect 1-3 mm/yr
Sediment compaction
Sediment compression into denser matrix (particularly significant in and near river deltas) Local effect
Loss of interstitial fluids (withdrawal of groundwater or oil) Local effect ≤ 55 mm/yr
Earthquake-induced vibration Local effect
Departure from geoid
Shifts in hydrosphere, aesthenosphere, core-mantle interface Local effect
Shifts in earth's rotation, axis of spin, and precession of equinox Eustatic
External gravitational changes Eustatic
Evaporation and precipitation (if due to a long-term pattern) Local effect” from Wiki

Note: local effects v eustatic (which concern the real global sea level)

Eustatic level is presently stable and slight movement upward is attributed to the factors I claimed while “rising due to warming” is rather a local effect and not attributable to melting ice which can only raise sea level if ice was resting on land. Antartic interior levels are colder than normal.

The erosion from run off, shelf slides (from undersea earthquakes, plate growth and magma eruption along the ocean ridges, undersea volcanism, particulate deposition including extra terrestrial material coming down in many hundreds of tons each year all
contribute presently to rising ocean levels. Much of the suspected and known effects I mentioned are not even presently estimated to any high degree of accuracy. Can you see why these area are suffering under the obsession with thermal effects as being the main culprit? In fact, soil disposition comes up on Goggle as something primarily caused by warming induced rising oceans without much discussion of farming run off or drinking water sequestering or even unusual undersea activity of recent period. And these effects dwarf human induced C02 over longer periods of time.

I have several citations regarding estimates of the effect of sea level changes to basins and deposition. My original post talked about how science has been politically driven and I think the lack of basic data above in regards to other factors beyond warming shows this effect as well as the cursive dismissal of magnetic fields, solar activities and the deforestation that greatly contributes to soil run off. At the least, we are presented an incomplete picture.

A shade over a week ago we had ice, then rain, then frost and today we have heat, tulips and buds on trees appearing from nowhere. Corn is going in ground this weekend if I have to chop up ice cubes.

The Brits are already using technology to build this. As I said, Norway is quite experienced with carbon sequestration which also forces up the trapped oil and gas from old wells. http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=12243

They are working with several countries with experience in carbon sequestration. There is no way we will stop India or China from using coal. We should invest to perfect shale oil extraction, tar oil extraction and clean coal. This will provide more than enough fuel to reach the point where solar, hydrogen and cellulosic are cost effective.

http://www.americanenergyindependence.com/hydrocarbons.aspx

I believe Obama is on board with this approach as is Hillary. Presently, nuclear reactors or coal plants are the best to create hydrogen and drinking water from sea water.

Cars: http://www.greencarcongress.com/

I can’t list all the links to the breakthroughs being made with cellulosic fuel, conversion of CO2, shale oil extraction, failure proof reactor vessels, tar oil extraction, fuel cells etc., but we are not far away. We must make conventional energy clean so the world can prosper with present investments and green technology which is the future. The notion of a windmill world or rolling out solar cells now will hardly spur growth.

Well, at least that’s where I see it today more than thirty years after the first Earth Day. And I am not blasting Obama on energy, but Pelosi’s plan to sue OPEC is quite funny.
I do note Obama’s fib regarding more drilling. Yes, I do have some strong differences, but Obama presently is not far out of line with mainstream.

Got to run as my bandwidth expires........Sorry LB, I didn't mean to hog.

Jamie, I have an idea, You could get that black stuff you roll out over a garden area to keep out the weeds from growing. Water can go thru it. Roll it over you garden area a couple of days before planting to warm up the soil. Then make some holes in it and plant your seed. Just a thought. Do you have Wally World in your area? If not then you can get it anywhere they carry garden supplies,.

I like reality, too, and prefer it in my environment, which is why I don't do any drugs. At one time I took some pain med for cramps and they made me dizzy and I hated it - I also don't like feeling drunk either. (HA! not that some would believe it.) As I've said, I am NOT a fun person. It's a personal thing with me, not a judgement.

However, for escape and entertainment, I prefer fiction. I really don't like fictionalized versions of a real person's life - conversations between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn - give me a break. If they are side-line characters, okay, but it's a waste of time to read anything but a true biography.

I enjoy some of the speculation in the news and here, but when it goes beyond speculation, it bores me. We can't know.

For instance, I wouldn't be surprised if some repubs set Monica into Bill's office. It was a brilliant idea if that's true - I just wonder if it is true, and suspect we'll never know for sure. They were having a hell of a time against Bill, it seemed, so they might have had to go to the heavy stuff. It really didn't work, but that's because of Bill's acumen.

Now it seems as if Obama is giving them the same fits since so far their gripes don't appear to have much weight. I'm wondering if all of what I just posited is true, what will they have to drag out? I hope Obama doesn't give them anything to make another mountain out of.

That's the kind of speculation I can enjoy, but a lot of talk amounts to a cloaked fiction.

Look at it this way, if you thought you had a lump, what do you expect from your doc? "Oh, I don't think it's anything" or "Let's wait and see" or "Let's check this out now - I can't tell anything yet."

What do you want your doc to believe and advise? Me, I want to find out more before a diagnosis is made.
Speculation is fun and interesting but accusations are boring unless backed up with more than speculation.

Sorry, more rant.

" I really don't like fictionalized versions of a real person's life - conversations between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn - give me a break. If they are side-line characters, okay, but it's a waste of time to read anything but a true biography. I enjoy some of the speculation in the news and here, but when it goes beyond speculation, it bores me. We can't know."

Well said, Bethy! I don't mind a "conversation" if it comes from an account where you know it's very close to what happened and what was said...but too often that's not the case. And iI really hate those op/ed pieces that offer pretend conversation.

boo:

How bout you let us decide whether you are fun or not. . . .

And I think the GOP is less about cold calculation of devious schemes - as much as they are about ruthless opportunistic pouncing onto Democratic missteps. Missteps that are real or Hannitized out of thin air....

Max.....it's ok if you post long ones as long as it's ok I skip the hell thru them.........lol

Bethy, I always thought that Monica was a set up. Bill came across to me as someone who was going to do what he wanted to do no matter what. It was almost a dare ya thing. Everyone knew he had that weakness. Why would the woman save the "dress". After it was all over she got a short show on Fox. Remember?

bethy....by the way....when i get to the "by-line" and see it's you, I go back and read it..................

Anyone heard from Sea? Ed, what did you do with her??

Bethy

What Sturge says. Always!

And the last couple of days the rants have been exceptional. It is rare to see a blog comment that makes me pause and think about what was said.
You have done 2 this week for me.

I usually read through comments to pick holes in it.;-)

Thanks

Jack

17 horse have now been named. There are 20 slots, but it's unknown if there will be entries. Here is what we have so far with less than two weeks before Derby

Solar Crete Chocolate Candy
Desert Party
Dunkirk
Friesan Fire
Patd General Quarters
Hold Me Back
Rezdog I Want Revenge
Mr. Hot Stuff
Musket Man
Papa Clem
Jamie Pioneer of the Nile
Quality Road
Regal Ransom
Square Eddie
Summer Bird
West Side Bernie
Win Willy

I got 8 shoots of blue corn now......I check 'em every 3 or 4 hours to see if they've grown any.....

Jax......got the gobbler? Good deal......good eaterings.......bon appletight...........

Jamie, I am still studying the past performances of the horses. I usually don't like to make my final pick until I watch them saddle up in the paddocks. When a horse has to run a long race I want to see one that is relaxed and doesn't run his race in the paddocks.

One of my short moonlighting jobs while teaching at the university was working as the racetrack nurse on the weekends. Of course I found that with all my research and trying to use a scientific method for picking the winner, the method of, that one looks pretty, worked about as well.

HA! What nice comments - here I thouoght I was beating a dead horse. I rely on you guys to ignore me when I do.

I want to ask some questions which have been ricocheting around in my brain box for awhile.

Whatever happened to revenue sharing? I thought it was working and then reagan killed it in another of his smooth moves.

Also, I never seem to hear the words 'ozone layer' any more. How's that old hole doing? Why do we want to keep the hole small but don't like ozone down here?

Whether we're making global warning or not, it can't hurt to stop pollution, huh? just like taking chicken soup.

Congress appears to be getting uppity! Way to go!

God, it's hot.

"trying to use a scientific method "

Try the scientific method I always try to use
"The Introduction of Chaos Into Orderly Systems"

it mostly involves a quart of whiskey, a blind fold and a dart.

Works as good as any other system I've used on the ponies.
Mostly I love to go down by the rail and feel the thunder of the hooves as they run by.

Jamie put me down for Friesian Fire

Jack

I bet that is a good method Jack. As good as any. Is Jamie making us pick before we watch them saddle up?

and after a quart of whiskey does it really matter which one wins?

"Up on Cripple Creek" by The Band

"When I get off of this mountain,
you know where I want to go?
Straight down the Mississippi river,
to the Gulf of Mexico
To Lake Charles, Louisiana,
little Bessie, girl that I once knew
She told me just to come on by,
if there's anything she could do"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4LD-7enIMs

How close are you to Tulsa?

Patsi-. . senior moment or did you break open some T-bird ? :-)

I was born in T-town but we live live here 40 miles south of Jamie in Olympia.

Carol
You aren't one of those players who bet on a horse because they took a dump on the way are you?

Jack

One night I used my nursing skills to pick a winning horse. If a jockey wanted to pull off a horse in an earlier race he had to pull off all the other horses he was to ride later that night.

A jockey came in and was terrible sick. You could hear his wheezing from across the room. It was cold and raining. He wanted to pull off a race but still ride in the 10th race. I said nope. It was all or nothing. He decided to ride. Ah hah. That did it for me. He had to be riding a winner to risk riding in his condition. I sent my money, we weren't suppose to bet, with a security guard. I bet $5 across the board.

The horse came flying in 10 lengths ahead of all the others. My assessment skills paid off. One little problem, the security guard came back and told me he bet on the wrong horse. The morale of that story is... you can't trust a security guard to make a bet you aren't suppose to be making.

"was born in T-town but we live live here 40 miles south of Jamie in Olympia."

Well, dang! That bit of info must have been zinging right over me. You've talked about OK a lot so I figured you were still there! Go Sooners! :)

Well, Jack - your posts have me looking in the mirror with disgust at my laziness. So there.

Okay, Jamie - I just have to pick Hold Me Back - Walter Mitty moment.

Nope Jack, that wasn't included in the criteria I used for selecting a winner.

lol@patsi

Rez - I had no idea you were in the northwest either.
Howd' youo do that ?

ct,

Re: Sea

I tried to bring her home and keep her in my attic, but I couldn't find a ladder, so it was what my fisherman friends call "catch and release."

Actually, she's spending a few days with her folks and has no, or limited, access to the Internet. She should be back at Martha's Vineyard soon and she'll be able to give you her version of how our breakfast and the rest of her trip went.

"Whether we're making global warming or not, it can't hurt to stop pollution, huh? just like taking chicken soup."

Absolutely bethy!! These pols need to quit all the hemming and hawing and start cleaning up the planet.

Or at least decrease the speed at which we are trashing it...

(as I watch Frontline re: the polluting of the Chesapeake...)

Oh good Ed. You just can't be too careful these days. Ya know that cute young Doc student turning out to be a killer.

and we are on .....somewhat of a Craig's list.

[repost]

I think there needs to be a Nationwide Effort of Conservation led by President Obama.

There are all kinds of expensive long-term projects, e.g., solar power, electric cars, etc.

But it strikes me - that huges gains could be made if a significant majority of Americans:

1. Recycle
2. Turn off electricity when you are not using it
3. Take stairs if you are going 4 floors or less
4. Get a coffee mug for work instead of disposable cups
5. Unplug phone chargers when phone is not attached

The President should distribute a list like this (via email) and engage in a campaign to get the Country to follow these easy steps...

Keep it simple.

Warren - I absolutely agree. I use the stairs because there is not choice, but I do refuse very nicely offers of help simply because I know I can do it and hate to have others do my work. Does that count?

As for the others - they're so easy I can't for the life of me understand what's not to do.

That counts!!

Of course they are easy - I am a lazy man and would not put together a list that would be too difficult.

But I bet we would all be shocked if we could see the small percentage of Americans that usually follow that list. And after we get over the shock - we should immediately think about all the potential conservation that can be so easily accomplished....

ct,

Interesting that you'd mention that medical student/accused killer. He did his undergrad at Sea's alma mater, SUNY Albany, which of course is sort of in my neck of the woods.

John Kerry turns on Obama....who'd a thunk it?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-04-21-kerry_N.htm

Don't everyone leave at once, but it looks like scientists have found a planet in just about the right place and it may have water

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g004fh_K-6Q4ebEceKWMDqEAiCagD97N3HMO0

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/04/the-politics-of-earth-day.html#comment-221571

Carol, That's as good as my "any grey in post position five" method. :-)

Don't kid yourself my friends. Energy use is so much bigger than what we do in our homes. I am the most energy conscientious person I know. Almost never have lights on in most of the rooms in my house, wash clothes only in cold water, almost never run the dishwasher....yada, yada, yada....and yet because the TVA screwed up I recently paid over $400 for a month's electricity bill...the NES said it was because of the TVA mess.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/04/the-politics-of-earth-day.html#comment-221598

Patsi,

Anyone who had been shoved out of his way because he is important and in a hurry. Mr. Kerry has a somewhat inflated idea of his own worth.

For all you guys who want to analyze work out times, jockeys, and the phase of the moon as an influence on saddle slippage ... here is the official web site for Kentucky Derby number 135

http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2009/

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/04/the-politics-of-earth-day.html#comment-221569

Jamie --

What the heck, I'll put my TrailBucks on Friesan Fire...

"If the army's going to take the risk of going in there, for God's sake you have the civil component coming in, so you win something for it," Kerry said.

From the article Patsi linked.

WTF, does Kerry think these military operations get put together over night?
Obama has been president for 3 freakin months. His policy in the area is just being brought together.

lol the maroon is blaming Obama for Bush planning.

Jack

I have everyone's entry. You can change your mind right up to the post position draw (certain post positions are an advantage). I'll let you know.

You don't have mine yet Jamie.

Kerry was a war hero, unless you believe those Swiftboaters.

I think Kerry has got a point in one respect. America needs an Afghanistan strategy, a Pakistan strategy and an Af-pac strategy to deal with the militants in Waziristan that are engaging in terror missions in both countries.

Carol,

No rush. There's all next week. Whenever you are ready.

Corey, I know he was a war hero, but even they can be rude in bagel stores.

Patsi is right and when it comes to real voltage we can't suddenly get off those steam turbines and energy plants. Electric cars need a plug too. Manufacturing, transportation etc.

What we need most of all is a sense of ecology, both personally and environmentally. Life is both competitive and cooperative. Earth Day reminds me many Liberals were the first to bring environmentalism into politics. Mother Jones usd to rant about pollution.

Scientific method leads us as a first instrument, but our sense of connectedness, our empathy with nature is what senses the best direction to take. I didn't mean to suggest that science or reason is all that informs our judgment. It is rather disgust when I see deformed fish, sewage seeping into river and the piles of uncovered garbage. No science in that.

I still can't endorse someone who belives in the end of time and the destruction of the entire living universe as a steward over our ecology. Republicans had best work on not putting that foot forward.

Senator Kerry appears to be miffed that he was passed over for Secretary of State.

I'm very pleased that the likes of Kerry, Daschle, and Richardson didn't benefit from the payoffs they anticipated.

Hah! OD - ya still got some resentment from the way those 3 treated your girl HRC...

I admire your loyalty.

OD

You may have a point there, sour grapes

Warren
I think that the problem so far is we have been treating them both as a seperate problem. What Pakistan does politically is their problem but what happens in the part of tyhe country they can't control is all of our problems.
Jack

Warren

That what I have been telling Max,,,we need a strategy in the area,,or else we will go down with Afghanistan,,,,and what I almost told Max to do in a smart ass way,,,is that we should bomb China,,,,kidding,,,,but they are going to be a very big player in that area,,,,they are lending all of those country's a lot of $,,,,,they invested a lot of stimulus money in their own country,,,and from what I have been reading,,,they weren't as bad off as others,,,what if they recover their economy way before we do,,,,they will have a big edge over us,,,and can call all of the shots

Right now the dollar is the best currency in the world,,,but it won't be if the world leaders take their money out of our banks,,,,,,they right now get about 6 % on our bonds,,,I think,,,if they take it out,,,then the dollar won't be the worlds top currency,,,the beginning of the end for us??? I know that im rambling here a little,,or a lot,,,but I will refine my thoughts on this,,,but I hope that you get the pic,,,,Kerry is right,on this one,and he is a hero,,,just a little ,dumb sometimes,,he should have hired some ruthless guy like Axelrod,,,,he would have been president,,,Al gore,,,the same,,,,,,they both brought a knife in a gun fight,,,and lost,,

Civilians entering Afghanistan in numbers without security will become the beheaded. It happened early on in Iraq. You bring in lots of civilians when you have a better grip on security. You notice, Obama has never called for such a policy in Iraq. AQ and the Taliban can't wait for all those civilians.

Kerry has said so many things it is hard to take his speeches seriously. He was quite adament about Iran with a bomb. What did he get with stroking Assad a few weeks ago? There are few Democrats with gravitas and right now I can't think of one. But then, I can't think of a Republican right now either.

Note that Harman's is fuming and those two lobbyists might get a lighter scrutiny which humorously AP is reporting HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE NSA LEAK AND WIRETAPPING OF HARMAN.

This little Obama move (yes, it had to be approved at top levels) will not go away so fast. As I posted already, the CIA has responded with the claim that many lives in LA were saved by playing hard with AQ at Gitmo. Tell me the truth. Would you play nice with that bastard or save hundreds of lives in LA?

Jack:

From the article - it just sounded like some petty "hurt feelings" over there that can be cleared up pretty easily with a clarification along the lines of my post.

Unfortunately, it sounds like the word on the street is what Pakistan does politically could also become all of our problems.

I suspect rumours of Pakistan's collapse are overstated - but it is by no means stable. And those crazy militants in the mountains are going to do everything in their power to try and push it over the edge.

(Ironically - it seems minor terror attacks serve this goal - while major attacks tend to unite people against the terrorists...)

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/04/the-politics-of-earth-day.html#comment-221608

Thanks, Jamie. This is always fun.

Solar:

The Chinese do not want to call all the shots. They are isolationist by nature.

And I would stop worrying about the "end of us." Geopolitically, militarily, economically, socially, and politically - the US is going to be a superpower as long as there are "superpowers" to speak of.

In Pakistan,,,the Military does not listen to the Gov,,,,and the Gov,,does not listen to the Military,,,,,there are two diff country's there in one,,,and the civilians are on the insurgent's side most of the time,,,,,not an easy situation at all. we aggravated the situation by killing over 500 civilian's with the un maned drones.

"A recent initiative to extend opium production for medicinal purposes called Poppy for Medicine was launched by The Senlis Council which proposes that Afghanistan could produce medicinal opium under a scheme similar to that operating in Turkey and India (see the Council's recent report "Poppy for Medicine" [8]). The Council proposes licensing poppy production in Afghanistan, within an integrated control system supported by the Afghan government and its international allies, in order to promote economic growth in the country, create vital drugs and combat poverty and the diversion of illegal opium to drug traffickers and terrorist elements. Interestingly, Senlis is on record advocating reintroduction of poppy into areas of Afghanistan, specifically Kunduz, which has been poppy free for some time." Wiki

Solar, I have a plan. We explore the medicinal use of poppy and buy more from Afghanistan than Turkey.

"According to the U.S. Geological Survey and the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Industry, Afghanistan may be possessing up to 36 trillion cubic feet (1,000 km3) of natural gas, 3.6 billion barrels (570,000,000 m3) of petroleum and up to 1,325 million barrels (2.107E+8 m3) of natural gas liquids. This could mark the turning point in Afghanistan’s reconstruction efforts. Energy exports could generate the revenue that Afghan officials need to modernize the country’s infrastructure and expand economic opportunities for the beleaguered and fractious population.[27] Other reports show that the country has huge amounts of gold, copper, coal, iron ore and other minerals.[24][28][88] The government of Afghanistan is in the process of extracting and exporting its copper reserves, which will be earning $1.2 billion US dollars in royalties and taxes every year for the next 30 years" Wiki

We develope their natural resources and start with Kabul to develope educational opportunities and more Liberal values aimed at modernizing Afghanistan culture.

We rebuild trust with friendly tribal leaders while countering Sharia with better human assistance programs and counterinsurgency operations like those in Iraq.

And there is the plan to draw China and Russia into the solution, but that is another night.....

Max:

Sounds promising - as long as you can make sure that the US is not portrayed as imperialists...

Some very early birds might want to get up tomorrow morning to see a rare astronomical event... "the thin waning crescent moon will cover up Venus for most of North America" ...best views are west coast, it says...

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/090417-ns-moon-venus.html

Then solar you reject the kissenger/Obama school of diplomacy? Obama has increased drone strikes and Musharraf wasn't as bad as the present government.

Ah, Pakistan. China is planning a huge port there. It amazes me how little they give as militants from Western China prepare for terror operations from Pakistan. Russia calls Pakistan the most dangerous country and also gives very little.

Too bad Cheney's hit squad never took out Meshud or Omar. While I can empathize with Obama's plight, his hawkish end run around Hillary has cornered him now. The worst thing is that Russia, China, EU and America could unite and stabilize the region.

Unfortunately this guy might be right.........

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mesh/2009/04/after-the-charm-offensive-what-next/

or this guy:

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mesh/files/2009/04/freedman_israel_iran.pdf

Another reason to wait a week to plant my corn. Plant only root vegtables with a waning moon. Right now is only good for killing weeds.
But plant when the moon is waxing and stand back as the crop shoots up.

When I first went to college I had trouble with psychology. I later discovered that talking psychology with the professors was just like talking moon signs with the old timers.
It kinda put it all in its place.
politics and econmics are a little that way too.

Jack

Exactly right and Obama can use his particular appeal to do this. Russia, China and the US gave the Taliban an ultimatum during the Clinton era to allow for a pipeline and energy production or face retribution. They declined. Had they yielded, Afghanistan would be mmuch different now.

very interesting Jack, really...

Solar , Warren both have some good points

Pakistan is a bit like Iran , in that it is hard to tell who is in charge. And the one with the "in charge" title some times has little power.
One thing that is a certanty imo is that the Paki spy folks are a power unto themselves, as is the military.
Either one could start a nuclear war and not lose a bit of sleep.

Jack

That is an interesting point on limiting press conferences. It does seem like so much time and energy is wasted on explaining away or attacking - every minor misstatement (or handshake) made on the public stage.

No, maybe Obama should limit his time with foreign leaders.....LOL

Right Jack, though it is clear that a small group of nutcases control Iran. The situation in Pakistan is that a limited number of people in government along with their supporters are fighting both tribal insurection and a shakey military complicated by historic conflict with India. Still, your point is valid......

I didn't know Kris was ever this young. But I guess we all were back then.

Kris Kristofferson - Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSouYwAg78M

Jack

"it is clear that a small group of nutcases control Iran"

Clear to whom?
And just who do you believe the nut cases to be?

Jack

Jack,,,thats why to me its not a very good thing that we are there,,,,all alone,,,if it wasn't for the F n Cheney/Bush crowd,,,we would be asking for help from other country's,,,,but they gave all that they want to spend on our bs,,,,out of loyalty,,now its time for them to take care of themselves,,,where is Brittan when you need them,,,,,we are left holding the bag,,,we better get it right,,we push the Taliban to the west into Pakistan,,,what do we do,,,we push them to the east into Afghanistan what do we do,,,we don't have the man power imo,,,just saying,,,,but will take the time tomorrow to do a better job(explaining ) of the $ angle over there,,China is lending Kazakhstan 10 Bill

Jack:

It is either deeply troubling or incredibily liberating to think that psychology, politics and economics are more akin to astrology than they are to mathematics - but I tend to agree.

Facts are often marshalled together in post hoc justifications.

Successful theories are based more on what is pleasing to the ear - as opposed to any objective standard of truth or "correctness."

But maybe I am going a bit of the deep end on this one...

"For those living along the Atlantic Seaboard, generally to the east of the Appalachians, the moon will narrowly miss Venus, the brilliant planet just skirting beneath the moon's lower cusp"

Venus is going to kiss the moon, obviously a time for love making by morning light.

Damn, just my luck.
the wife is out of town

Jack

Solar:

We were often left holding the bag before Bush/Cheney.

To a certain degree, the only thing Bush did was give those countries an effective talking point to justify actions they probably would have taken anyways...

Night all

jack

Warren

Here is a new way of thinking,,,,,,we are the worlds largest land owners,,,,,over 750 military bases I think,,,,,how much does it take to maintain all of that,,man wise,,,and $ wise??? are we too spread out,,,,fn aye we are imo,,,and Im not worried ,,,just like to know things,,,and not get too many of our guys killed in the meantime,,,thanks

NEW THREAD

Long day -
Thread too big, eyes too small.
I like all you people, even the ones I fuss with.

Colorado Bob