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FOCUS:
Special
Reports
9-11
Meta Index September 11 2001
CLONING
NEWS
STEM
CELL NEWS
ENRON
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MICROSOFT
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WORLDCOM
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_A-Z.Gif's_
A-Z text
Top
|
  
  
 
"Rewriting
The Science." ... [NASA climate scientist Dr.James
E. Hansen] "... tells correspondent Scott Pelley that the
[Republican President] Bush administration is restricting who he can talk
to and editing what he can say. Politicians, he says, are rewriting the
science." ... "Hansen says his research shows that man has just 10 years
to reduce greenhouse gases before global warming reaches what he calls
a tipping point and becomes unstoppable. He says the White House is blocking
that message."" -60
Minutes -CBSNews
~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
WEATHER News:
20080605
 Mitch
McConnell -  James
Inhofe - Gas
- Emissions
-  Global
-Climate
- Environment
-  Nevada
-  Kentucky
-  Oklahoma
-  US
-  Law
"Republicans
stall climate change bill to punish Reid." ... "When
[Nevada Democratic Senator] Sen. Harry Reid rose to become the majority
leader in 2007, many believed he had met his match in the Republicans’
new Senate leader, [Kentucky Republican Senator] Mitch McConnell of Kentucky."
... "Shrewd parliamentarians both, they brought the prospect of each trying
to outsmart the other on the Senate floor, promising good viewing." ...
"Those skills were on display Wednesday when McConnell brought the Senate
to a standstill." ... "Just as the chamber was about to begin a feisty
debate on the most sweeping effort yet to address climate change, McConnell
shut down the Senate by forcing full reading of the 491-page bill." ...
"Rather than hearing a spirited battle over carbon emissions, gas prices
and new fees for polluters, one lonely clerk after another read page after
page of minutia to a nearly empty chamber." ... "In his own statement,
Reid said: “Republicans are yet again doing everything in their power to
slow, stop and stall. These petty, partisan tactics waste the American
people’s time, and ignoring the crisis of global warming endangers all
of us.”" ... "By early evening, with a few remaining tourists in the gallery
watching the nearly empty floor, Republican [Oklahoma Senator] Sen. James
Inhofe of Oklahoma, the chamber’s leading global warming skeptic, sat in
waiting, prepared to object should Democrats ask for the hours-long reading
to end." -LasVegasSun.com
20080603
 Brazil
-  Satellite
-  Photographs
- Global
-Climate
- Gases
-  Food
-  Animals
-  Farming
- Illegal
-  Business
"New
satellite photos show Amazon deforestation exploding."
... "New satellite photographs show that the destruction of Brazil's fragile
Amazon rainforest has exploded this year, fueling fears that the government's
efforts to stop deforestation have been fruitless." ... "Brazil's DETER
real-time monitoring system found that more than 430 square miles of forest,
an area a bit smaller than the city of Los Angeles, vanished in the month
of April, while about 2,300 square miles, larger than the state of Delaware,
were destroyed between last August and April." ... "That nine-month total
surpassed the entire acreage in the Amazon that was destroyed over the
previous 12 months, according to DETER data. What's worse, the satellites
couldn't see about half of the forest in April due to cloud cover, suggesting
that actual deforestation likely was much greater." ... "That's raised
red flags among environmentalists, who say that soybean farming, cattle
production and illegal logging are destroying the world's largest rainforest
despite the government's attempts to halt the deforestation." ... "Chopping
down and burning the rainforest releases tons of carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to global climate change.
Brazil is the world's fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, largely
because of deforestation, according to the U.S.-based World Resources Institute."
... "Worse is yet to come, environmentalists said." ... "The Amazon's dry
season, when farmers do most of their burning and clearing, starts this
month." -By Jack
Chang -McClatchyDC.com
20080523
-
Oceans
- Global
- Climate
- Science
- Environmental
- Atmospheric
- Industrial
-
 Factories
-  Cars
-  History
- Animals
- Seattle
-  Washington
-  California
-  Oregon
- US
-  Canada
-  Mexico
- "Acidified
seawater showing up along coast ahead of schedule."
... "Climate models predicted it wouldn't happen until the end of the century."
... "So a team led by Seattle [Washington] researchers was stunned to discover
that vast swaths of acidified seawater already are showing up along the
Pacific Coast as greenhouse-gas emissions upset the oceans' chemical balance."
... "In surveys from Vancouver Island [British Columbia, Canada] to the
tip of Baja California [Mexico], reported Thursday in the online journal
Science Express, the scientists found the first evidence that large amounts
of corrosive water are reaching the continental shelf — the shallow sea
margin where most marine creatures live." ... "Off Northern California,
the acidified water was only four miles from shore." ... ""What we found
... was truly astonishing," said oceanographer Richard Feely, of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental
Laboratory in Seattle. "This means ocean acidification may be seriously
impacting marine life on the continental shelf right now."" ... "All along
the coast, the scientists found regions where the water was acidic enough
to dissolve the shells and skeletons of clams, corals and many of the tiny
creatures at the base of the marine food chain. Acidified water also can
kill fish eggs and a wide range of marine larvae." ... ""Entire marine
ecosystems are likely to be affected," said co-author Debby Ianson, an
oceanographer at Fisheries and Oceans Canada." ... "Though it hasn't received
as much attention as global warming, ocean acidification is a flip side
of the same phenomenon. The increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from
power plants, factories and cars that is raising temperatures worldwide
also is to blame for the increasing acidity of the world's oceans." ...
"Normally, seawater is slightly alkaline. When carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere dissolves into the water, it forms carbonic acid — the weak
acid that helps give soda pop its tang. The process also robs the water
of carbonate, a key ingredient in the formation of calcium carbonate shells."
... "Since the Industrial Revolution, when humans began pumping massive
amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, Feely estimates the oceans
have absorbed 525 billion tons of the man-made greenhouse gas — about one-third
of the total released during that period." ... "By keeping some of the
carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, the oceans have blunted the temperature
rise due to global warming. But they've suffered for that service, with
a more than 30-percent increase in acidity." ... "The acidified water upwelling
along the coast today was last exposed to the atmosphere about 50 years
ago, when carbon-dioxide levels were much lower than they are now. That
means the water that will rise from the depths over the coming decades
will have absorbed more carbon dioxide and will be even more acidic." -By
Sandi Doughton -SeattleTimes
20080511
-
 John
McCain - DCI
Group -  Burma
(Myanmar) -  Military
- Money
- Politics
-  People
- Human
Rights - Weather
- Disaster
-  Arizona
- US
- 2008
Election - "Two
McCain Aides With Ties to Burma Junta Resign." ...
"ABC News’ Jan Simmonds reports: Two of [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain' campaign aides resigned
this weekend after media reports brought to light their ties to a lobbying
group [DCI group] that once represented the military junta of Burma, which
the regime calls Myanmar." ... "The aides, Douglas Goodyear, who was tapped
as the GOP Convention Coordinator, and Doug Davenport, a regional manager
focusing on the mid-Atlantic states, both worked for DCI. The firm was
hired in 2002 to represent Burma’s military junta to try to begin a dialogue
of political reconciliation with the United States." ... "The Burmese government
has been strongly condemned by the State Department for its human rights
record and has in recent days aroused an international outcry for its handling
of the relief efforts in wake of a cyclone that according Oxfam [charity]
could eventually claim 1.5 million lives if food, clean water and medical
supplies are not rushed in to the devastated region. Relief agencies and
governments that have offered assistance, including the United States,
say the regime has frustrated their attempts to help the survivors of the
disaster, tying up visa applications for aide workers in bureaucratic red
tape and not allowing shipments of food and medical supplies into the country."
-ABCNEWS.com
20080507
-
Water
-
 Infrastructure
- Human
-  Health
-  Safety
-  Enforcement
- Environment
-  Underground
- Money
- History
- Weather
- Animals
-  Plants
- "Aging
systems releasing sewage into rivers, streams." ...
"America's aging sewer systems continue to dump human waste into rivers
and streams, despite years of fines and penalties targeting publicly owned
agencies responsible for sewage overflows, a Gannett News Service analysis
shows." ... "The analysis of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data
found that since 2003, hundreds of municipal sewer authorities have been
fined for violations, including spills that make people sick, threaten
local drinking water and kill aquatic animals and plants." ... "DATABASE:
Sewer
treatment plant reports by state[.]" ... "Local governments across
the USA plan to spend billions modernizing failing wastewater systems —
some of which are more than 100 years old — over the next 10 to 20 years,
EPA, state and local sewer authority officials said." ... "Those improvement
efforts face a huge challenge mitigating problems in what the EPA estimates
to be 1.2 million miles of sewers snaking underground across the USA."
... "Waste gurgles from manholes and gushes down streams and rivers somewhere
in the USA almost every day, the EPA estimates." ... "Gannett News Service
analyzed enforcement and compliance records compiled by the EPA and state
regulators from January 2003 to February 2008." ... "The analysis found
that at least one-third of the nation's large, publicly owned sewage treatment
systems were the subject of formal enforcement actions by the EPA or state
regulators for sewage spills or other violations. Those enforcement actions
included fines as well as orders to fix problems or expand treatment capacity.
Fines totaling $35 million were assessed against 494 of the nation's 4,200
municipal facilities that treat at least 1 million gallons of sewage daily,
the analysis shows." ... "An EPA 2004 report to Congress estimated that
850 billion gallons of storm water mixed with raw sewage pour into U.S.
waters every year from older, combined sewer systems that were designed
to overflow in wet weather. These combined systems, built by cities in
the 19th and early 20th centuries, are now considered antiquated and a
threat to public health and the environment, according to the EPA and environmental
groups." ... "The EPA's 2002 Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure
Gap Analysis reported the nation's municipal sewer authorities' capital
needs to meet clean water requirements from 2000 to 2019 ranged from $331
billion to $450 billion. Based on that data, the National Association of
Clean Water Agencies now puts that range at $350 billion to $500 billion
for the next 20 years, association spokeswoman Susan Bruninga said." -By
Larry Wheeler and Grant Smith with contributions by Robert Benincasa and
Dan Klepal -USATODAY
20080423
-
Noteworthy
- Government
- EPA
- Opinion
- Science
- Politics
- Food
-
 Drug
- Oceanic
- Atmospheric
- Climate
- Health
- California
- Investigation
- "Hundreds
of EPA Scientists Report Political Interference Over Last Five Years:
UCS [Union of Concerned Scientists] calls for strengthened protections
for federal scientists." ... "An investigation of the Environmental Protection
Agency released today found that 889 of nearly 1,600 staff scientists reported
that they experienced political interference in their work over the last
five years. The study, by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), follows
previous UCS investigations of the Food and Drug Administration, Fish and
Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and
climate scientists at seven federal agencies, which also found significant
administration manipulation of federal science." ... ""Our investigation
found an agency in crisis," said Francesca Grifo, director of UCS's Scientific
Integrity Program. "Nearly 900 EPA scientists reported political interference
in their scientific work. That's 900 too many. Distorting science to accommodate
a narrow political agenda threatens our environment, our health, and our
democracy itself."" ... "The UCS report comes amidst a flurry of controversial
activity swirling around the EPA. Congress is currently investigating administration
interference in a new chemical toxicity review process as well as California's
request to regulate tailpipe emissions. And in early May, the House Oversight
and Government Reform Committee is expected to hold a hearing on political
interference in the new EPA ground-level ozone pollution standard." ...
"UCS's investigation revealed political interference is most pronounced
in offices where scientists write regulations and at the National Center
for Environmental Assessment, where scientists conduct risk assessments
that could lead to strengthened regulations." ... ""The investigation shows
researchers are generally continuing to do their work," said Dr. Grifo.
"But their scientific findings are tossed aside when it comes time to write
regulations."" ... "Nearly 100 scientists identified the [Republican President
Bush's] White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as the primary
culprit." -UCSUSA.org
-
Government
- Environmental
- Science
- Politics
- Human
- Health
- Law
- Air
- Ground
- Water
-
 Homes
-  Workplace
- Industry- US
- Global
- Climate
- Free
Speech - Censorship
- "Interference
at the EPA: Science and Politics at the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency." ... "The U.S. [United States] Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has the simple yet profound charge "to protect human health
and the environment." EPA scientists apply their expertise to protect
the public from air and water pollution, clean up hazardous waste, and
study emerging threats such as global warming. Because each year brings
new and potentially toxic chemicals into our homes and workplaces, because
air pollution still threatens our public health, and because environmental
challenges are becoming more complex and global, a strong and capable EPA
is more important than ever." ... "Yet challenges from industry lobbyists
and some political leaders to the agency's decisions have too often led
to the suppression and distortion of the scientific findings underlying
those decisions—to the detriment of both science and the health of our
nation. While every regulatory agency must balance scientific findings
with other considerations, policy makers need access to the highest-quality
scientific information to make fully informed decisions." ... "Concern
over this problem led the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) to investigate
political interference in science at the EPA. The investigation combines
dozens of interviews with current and former EPA staff, analysis of government
documents, more than 1,600 responses to a survey sent to current EPA scientists,
and written comments from EPA scientists." ... "The results of these investigations
show an agency under siege from political pressures. On numerous issues—ranging
from mercury pollution to groundwater contamination to climate change—political
appointees have edited scientific documents, manipulated scientific assessments,
and generally sought to undermine the science behind dozens of EPA regulations."
... "These findings highlight the need for strong reforms to protect EPA
scientists, make agency decision making more transparent, and reduce politicization
of the regulatory process. Congress, the next president, and the next EPA
Administrator must restore independence and scientific integrity to the
EPA by:"
-
"
* Protecting EPA Scientists: Scientists should be free to report the distortion,
manipulation, and suppression of their work without fear of retribution.
Congress should pass a whistleblower law that includes protection for scientists.
The EPA should adopt a communications policy that lets scientists speak
freely to the press about their findings."
-
"
* Making the EPA More Transparent: Too many decisions are made behind closed
doors with little accountability. The EPA’s scientific findings should
be freely available to the public. The EPA should open up its decision-making
process to congressional and public scrutiny to help reveal misuses of
science[.]"
-
"
* Reforming the Regulatory Process: The White House should not change scientific
findings in order to weaken, delay, or prevent new public protections."
-
"
* Ensuring Robust Scientific Input to EPA's Decision Making: The EPA should
review and strengthen how it uses the scientific expertise of its staff
and external advisory committees to create policies—especially when scientific
input is critical or required by law."
-
"
* Depoliticizing Funding, Monitoring, and Enforcement: Problems with funding,
monitoring and enforcement also need to be addressed by Congress and the
next President to ensure that the EPA is the robust environmental agency
that our country needs."
-UCSUSA.org/scientific_integrity/interference
-
 Mary
Peters - Covert
- Language
- Law
- Politics
- Greenhouse
Gases - Clean
Air Act - Environmental
- Transportation
- Auto
- Makers
- Fuel
- Economy
- San
Francisco - California
-  Massachusetts
-  US
- Global
- Climate
- "Bush
fuel economy rules swipe at California." ... "When
the [Republican President] Bush administration announced proposed regulations
Tuesday to raise fuel economy standards for cars and trucks to 31.6 miles
per gallon by 2015, even some environmentalists applauded. But then they
read the fine print." ... "Tucked deep into a 417-page "Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking" was language by the Transportation Department stating that
more stringent limits on tailpipe emissions embraced by California and
17 other states are "an obstacle to the accomplishment" of the new federal
standards and are "expressly and impliedly preempted" by federal law."
... "California Attorney General Jerry Brown called it a covert assault
on California's rules. Environmentalists said the language will be used
by automakers in their legal challenges to two recent federal court rulings
that sided with the states." ... "The language showed that beneath the
bipartisan veneer of support for new fuel economy standards - approved
by [the Democratic controlled] Congress and signed by [Republican] President
Bush in December - the conflict is still raging between the White House
and the states over who will set the nation's first limits on greenhouse
gases." ... "Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, who announced the proposed
rules Tuesday, acknowledged that the preemption language was included in
the document." ... "The Supreme Court ruled in the Massachusetts vs. EPA
case last year that the Transportation Department's authority to set fuel
economy standards should not impede other efforts under the Clean Air Act
to reduce greenhouse gases." ... "[California Democratic Representative
and] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D[Democratic]-San Francisco [California],
responded: "The administration is continuing to block climate change progress
by asserting that California doesn't have the right to move forward with
its own global warming regulations. That is completely unjustified."" -By
Zachary Coile -SFGate.com
20080418
-
 Barack
Obama - United
States -  Social
Security - Health
Care - Housing
- Markets
-  Public
Schools - Poverty
- Race
- Global
- Climate
- Law
- Politics
- 2008
Election - "[Robert
Reich:] Obama for President." ... "I believe that
Barack Obama should be elected President of the United States." ... "Although
Hillary Clinton has offered solid and sensible policy proposals, Obama's
strike me as even more so. His plans for reforming Social Security and
health care have a better chance of succeeding. His approaches to the housing
crisis and the failures of our financial markets are sounder than hers.
His ideas for improving our public schools and confronting the problems
of poverty and inequality are more coherent and compelling. He has put
forward the more enlightened foreign policy and the more thoughtful plan
for controlling global warming." ... "He also presents the best chance
of creating a new politics in which citizens become active participants
rather than cynical spectators. He has energized many who had given up
on politics. He has engaged young people to an extent not seen in decades.
He has spoken about the most difficult problems our society faces, such
as race, without spinning or simplifying. He has rightly identified the
armies of lawyers and lobbyists that have commandeered our democracy, and
pointed the way toward taking it back." ... "Finally, he offers the best
hope of transcending the boundaries of class, race, and nationality that
have divided us. His life history exemplifies this, as do his writings
and his record of public service. For these same reasons, he offers the
best possibility of restoring America's moral authority in the world."
-By
Robert
Reich
20080416
-
Global
- Climate
- Coal
- Plant
- Greenhouse
Gas - Science
- Politics
- "Bush
Announces Greenhouse Gas Strategy -- Surprise! It's Bad."
... "[Republican] President Bush delivered a speech today in which he outlined
a new strategy to "effectively combat climate change." Unfortunately, on
my initial read of excerpts
from his speech, it seems deeply, deeply flawed." ... "Bush is finally
publicly admitting that emissions should be curbed because they affect
the climate. That's fine, but his proposed response doesn't logically follow
from that statement of fact. If you think the greenhouse gas emissions
are a problem, then you should craft a solution that reduces them. But
Bush, instead, is suggesting that no mandatory caps be put in place, that
no specific targets be fixed in the near term, and that no moratorium be
called on coal plant production." ... "Essentially, he just says, let's
wait ten years and then do something." -By Alexis
Madrigal -Wired
20080403
-
Global
- Climate
- Atmosphere
- Science
- Antarctic
- Ice
- History
-
 UN
- San
Diego - California
-  Iowa
- US
- "Dust
plays huge role in climate change: Tiny particles
heat up the atmosphere faster than scientist once believed. The good news
is this dust can be cleaned up fairly quickly." ... "Scientists know that
dust affects climate. Tiny particles create veils that reflect sunlight
and cool the atmosphere. Dark particles absorb sunshine and warm things
up. But as scientists look deeper into the dust-climate connection, they
find that they have underestimated its importance." ... "Research published
April 3 in Nature reveals the tight linkage between atmospheric dust flows
and Antarctic temperatures during ice ages over the past 800,000 years.
A research review published March 23 in Nature Geoscience online shows
that black carbon particles in the atmosphere have a more powerful global-warming
effect than any of the greenhouse gases except carbon dioxide. And these
particles are 60 percent as effective as CO2 itself. That's far more powerful
than the estimate in last year's report of the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)." ... "The good news is that black carbon
particles such as diesel soot or wood-stove smoke only stay airborne for
weeks. (It takes a century to get rid of today's CO2 emissions.) This fact
offers an opportunity for instant payback, say study authors V. Ramanathan
at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego [California] and Gregory
Carmichael at the University of Iowa in Iowa City [Iowa]. In an announcement
from Scripps, the authors note that commercially available technologies
exist to cut back soot emissions substantially. Using them would rapidly
reduce black-carbon warming. " -By Robert C. Cowen
-CSMonitor
20080331
-
Oil
- Politics
- Government
- US
- Calif
- Global
- Climate
- Environmental
- Emissions
- Memorial
Day - Driving
- "Gas
prices put oil executives on the hot seat." ... "Oil
executives return to the hot seat Tuesday as a House panel examines rising
gasoline prices and the industry’s opposition to efforts to repeal $18
billion in tax breaks. The new money would be used to pay for the development
of renewable energy." ... "For the industry’s critics, the House Select
Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing Tuesday is
another indication of the industry’s waning clout on Capitol Hill, as was
the House vote earlier this year that repealed tax breaks the industry
now receives." ... "But the army of lobbyists who represent the oil and
gas industry has so far successfully fought back in the Senate, which has
yet to pass a similar tax bill, forcing renewable energy advocates to lower
their own expectations." ... "Executives from ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron
and ConocoPhillips were expected to testify before the House panel, which
was created by [California Democratic Representative] Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.[Democratic-California]) to highlight her caucus’s efforts to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the nation’s dependence on foreign
oil." ... "Some oil lobbyists worried the hearing could turn raucous since
prices at the pump have reached a new record — weeks before the traditional
start of driving season on Memorial Day." ... "By coincidence or not, the
hearing is being held the same day as “Fossil Fools’ Day,” a campaign by
some environmental groups. They question the wisdom of continuing to use
fossil fuels, which emit carbon dioxide when burned, as the mainstay for
energy production when global temperatures are rising because of increasing
greenhouse gas emissions." -By Jim Snyder
-TheHill.com
-
Food
- Crisis
- World
- People
- Farmers
- Land
- Fuel
- Money
- Politics
- History
- Weather
- Drought
-
 China
- UN
- "Tensions
rise as world faces short rations." ... "Food prices
are soaring, a wealthier Asia is demanding better food and farmers can't
keep up. In short, the world faces a food crisis and in some places it's
already boiling over." ... "Around the globe, people are protesting and
governments are responding with often counterproductive controls on prices
and exports -- a new politics of scarcity in which ensuring food supplies
is becoming a major challenge for the 21st century." ... "Plundered by
severe weather in producing countries and by a boom in demand from fast-developing
nations, the world's wheat stocks are at 30-year lows. Grain prices have
been on the rise for five years, ending decades of cheap food." ... "Drought,
a declining dollar, a shift of investment money into commodities and use
of farm land to grow fuel have all contributed to food woes. But population
growth and the growing wealth of China and other emerging countries are
likely to be more enduring factors." ... "World population is set to hit
9 billion by 2050, and most of the extra 2.5 billion people will live in
the developing world. It is in these countries that the population is demanding
dairy and meat, which require more land to produce." ... "In 2007 alone,
according to the U.N. [United Nations] Food and Agriculture Organization's
world food index, dairy prices rose nearly 80 percent and grain 42 percent."
[see also: Agflation]
(1, 2,
3,
4,
5)
-By Russell Blinch and Brian Love with contributions
by Ayesha Rascoe, Missy Ryan, Alistair Thomson, Ho Binh Minh and Eddie
Evans -Reuters
20080326
-
Antarctic
- Ice
- History
- Global
- Climate
- Science
- Space
- Cameras
- "Chunk
of Antarctic ice shelf collapses, putting larger area at risk:
Rapid melting on Wilkins Shelf is attributed to global warming." ... "A
chunk of Antarctic ice about seven times the size of Manhattan [island
borough of New York City, New York] has collapsed, scientists said Tuesday,
putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk." ... "Satellite
images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western
Antarctica that started Feb. 28. It was the edge of the Wilkins Ice Shelf
and had been there for perhaps 1,500 years." ... "British
Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan attributed the melting to
rising sea temperature due to global warming." ... "Because scientists
noticed satellite images of the event within hours of its start, they diverted
satellite cameras and flew an airplane over the ongoing collapse to capture
rare
photos and video." -AP
via -LAtimes
20080318
-
Barack
Obama
- Christian
- American
- Race
- Politics
- History
- 2008
Election -
 Israel
- Military
-  Terrorism
- Economy
- Health-Care
- Climate
- Housing
- Poor
- People
- Scholarships
-  Family
- "A
More Perfect Union." ... [Partial text of Barack
Obama's speech "A More Perfect Union". Read full
text of speech or  Watch
speech.] "[Barack Obama:] I have already condemned, in unequivocal
terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy.
For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally
fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I
ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while
I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political
views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from
your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed." ...
"But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply
controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak
out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted
view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that
elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with
America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily
in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from
the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam." ... "As such, Reverend
Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time
when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together
to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a
falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating
climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian,
but rather problems that confront us all." ... "Given my background, my
politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those
for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself
with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another
church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the
snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television
and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures
being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react
in much the same way[.]" ... "But the truth is, that isn't all that I know
of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped
introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations
to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a
man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured
at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who
for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's
work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy,
providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and
reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS." ... "In my first book,
Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at
Trinity:" ... ""People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap
and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the
rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at
the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city,
I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories
of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den,
Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom,
and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our
blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day,
seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations
and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique
and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the
stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need
to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish
- and with which we could start to rebuild."" ... "That has been my experience
at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country,
Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the
welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black
churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes
bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting
that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full
the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance,
the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias
that make up the black experience in America." ... "And this helps explain,
perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be,
he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my
wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him
have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat
whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect.
He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the
community that he has served diligently for so many years." -By
BarackObama.com
-read full
text of Barack Obama's speech "A More Perfect Union" via
HavenWorks.com
20080214
-
Peoples
- Housing
- Safety
- Emergency
- Politics
- Government
- Science
- Investigators
- Censorship
- Hurricane
Katrina - Hurricane
Rita - Weather
- "CDC
Confirms Health Risks to Occupants of Trailers."
... "Federal health officials have confirmed that high levels of formaldehyde
gas pose health risks to hurricane victims housed in 38,000 government
trailers on the Gulf Coast, and will recommend that occupants be moved
before temperatures rise this spring and summer, [Republican President]
Bush administration officials disclosed yesterday." ... "The findings cap
nearly two years of internal government deliberation over the housing of
hurricane Katrina and Rita survivors in the trailers, and come 23 months
after FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency ] first received reports
of health problems and test results showing formaldehyde levels at 75 times
the U.S.[United States]-recommended workplace safety threshold." ... "[Mississippi
Democratic Representative] Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of
the House Homeland Security Committee, criticized what he depicted as the
[Repblican President] Bush administration's tardy response." ... "FEMA
announced plans in July to test the occupied trailers after congressional
investigators accused it of suppressing internal warnings about the problem.
Testing finally began in late December." -By Spencer
S. Hsu -WashingtonPost
20080213
-
Food
- Agriculture
- History
-
 Illinois
-  Minnesota
- US
- World
- Droughts/Water
- Weather
- United
Nations - "In
Price and Supply, Wheat Is the Unstable Staple."
... "With demand soaring abroad and droughts crimping supply, the world’s
wheat stockpiles have fallen to their lowest level in 30 years, and stocks
in the United States have dropped to levels unseen since 1948." ... "On
Tuesday, prices for a sought-after variety, spring wheat, jumped to $16.73
a bushel on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange [Minneapolis, Minnesota], the
latest of several records." ... "Though this week’s prices were nominal
records, the |
