Donnerstag, 30. November 2006

Rachel's News #882

http://www.omega-news.info/rachels_news_882.htm

EPA SCIENTISTS FILE MASS PETITION FOR ACTION ON GLOBAL WARMING

http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=789


Informant: NHNE

Alleged CIA Torture Victim Speaks Out

Khaled el-Masri, who claims the CIA kidnapped and tortured him, recounted his story on Capitol Hill on Wednesday and said he hoped he could help prevent others from suffering a similar fate. The Kuwaiti-born German citizen said he had brought his story to Washington to encourage greater oversight of CIA activities and force the US government to acknowledge what happened to him.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/113006F.shtml

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Watch El-Masri and his attorneys tell his story in video from events this week, and learn more about the case.

http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=yq8ULSBQIibDnoH5ImGHqg..



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Masri

ANALYSIS OF 2006 ELECTION FINDS PROBLEMS NATIONWIDE LACK OF POST- VOTE CONTROVERSY MASKS WIDESPREAD VOTING DIFFICULTIES

http://electionline.org/Portals/1/Publications/EB15.release.pdf


Informant: NHNE

Newt World Order

http://www.infowars.net/articles/november2006/301106Newt.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gingrich

US to build huge new embassies in Pakistan, Afghanistan

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/8669/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pakistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Saeed+Shah
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Warren+P.+Strobel

Next-up News n°134

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/next_up_news_n134.htm

Threats To Internet Freedom All Too Real

http://prisonplanet.com/articles/november2006/301106internetfreedom.htm

The EPA's stance on global warming emissions makes the headlines, but the fight for breathable air continues

The Other Climate Disaster
http://ga3.org/ct/5720pgF1pzUN/

There are positive signs that the Democratic Congress will break with the corporate globalization agenda

Slowing The Free-Trade Bulldozer
http://ga3.org/ct/5d20pgF1pzUM/

The Iraq Study Group is opening a way for Bush to swallow his pride and get the U.S. out of Iraq

Baker To Bush: Game Over
http://ga3.org/ct/vp20pgF1pzU_/

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Why the U.S. study group won't solve anything

The forthcoming report by James Baker's Iraq Study Group has enjoyed the biggest public buildup since the Segway. And it is likely to be just as big of a bust.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15957154/site/newsweek/



From Information Clearing House

Cubbington protesters lose phone mast battle

Campaigners have reacted with disbelief after learning they have lost their fight against a mobile phone mast being built next to a Cubbington pub.

Hundreds signed a petition earlier this year against the plan to install a 12m antenna next to the Rugby Tavern in Rugby Road, and felt victorious after Warwick District Council refused permission for the proposal.

But phone company O2 appealed against the council's decision - and this week overturned it after the Planning Inspectorate, based in Bristol, ruled that there were no valid reasons for refusing permission.

And the decision has infuriated those who battled hard to stop the mast being erected. Rugby Road resident Shirley Rush, who lives opposite the pub, said: "It seems unbelieveable. There's nothing else we can do now. We've tried everything. It shows that big business, with all its resources, will always win. It's very sad."

Local authorities are not allowed to use health fears to refuse phone mast applications, and there is no proven link between such masts and illness among people living near them. The district council instead turned down the plan because it felt the mast would harm the appearence of the area - and it was on these grounds that the Planning Inspectorate overruled the council.

Inspector Leslie Coop said: "There is already a considerable amount of street furniture along this part of Rugby Road, including 10m high street lighting columns on both sides of the road.

"I am satisfied the mast would blend into the street scene, particularly if the mast and cabinets were to be of an appropriate colour.

"The operator has an obligation to provide a network serving at least 80 per cent of the population by the end of 2007 and I consider this outweighs any minor visual impact that the proposed development would have."

The ruling comes just weeks after protesters in Old Milverton successfully stopped O2 building a mast in the village, which it had tried to do three times.

The Planning Inspectorate agreed in that case that the roadside mast would be a risk to traffic.

30 November 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.leamingtonspatoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=691&ArticleID=1907399

Church makes landmark ruling over mobile phone mast plans

By Jonathan Moyes

AN application to place a phone mast on a Chingford church spire has been rejected over fears that pornography will be distributed via the network.

The proposal to build a T-Mobile base station in the spire of SS Peter and Paul Church on The Green was rejected by the Chelmsford Diocese consistory court.

Presiding judge, George Pulman QC, Chelmsford Diocese Chancellor, said: "It is wrong in law for the church to facilitate transmission of pornography, even in a slight or modest way.

"It is equally wrong for the church to gain financial advantage, even in a slight or modest way, from the transmission of pornography.

"Until there is clear evidence that antennae in church towers in this diocese cannot transmit pornography, it is unlikely that a faculty will be granted to allow church towers to be used for 3G transmissions.

"It causes me some surprise that local authorities granting planning permission for antennae may wish to adopt a different view. The dangers to children from internet pornography are well known to local authority social services departments.

"It is their social workers who give evidence before the High Court in respect of the dangers of child pornography, the effect of child pornography on adults and on children and the resultant dangers to others."

The Bishop of Chelmsford's chaplain, Chris Newlands, said: "This is a landmark ruling. The church is not supportive of anything that de-humanises or abases humanity. We can see the point the judge has been making about how the phone mast can help mobile phone users to send 3G images which could be images of pornography."

Chingford MP Iain Duncan Smith said: "I have not seen the ruling, but if it is true this is great news and a landmark victory for common sense.

"As everyone is aware, I remain concerned over the health implications of this technology and here in Chingford we will be under constant pressure from mobile phone companies for two reasons.

"The first is we are within easy reach of the M25, A406 and M11. Secondly, the mobile phone companies have to recoup the vast amounts of money the Government made them pay for their licences."

Resident Trevor Calver, Larkshall Road, Highams Park, said: "I am absolutely delighted the chancellor saw sense and kicked the mast out.

"The 3G masts are way for people to send images and to pick up things from television and computers and there is certainly a danger to children."

The Guardian contacted T-Mobile but the phone company had not resonded at the time of going to press.

© Copyright 2001-2006 Newsquest Media Group

http://tinyurl.com/sp9xa

Please Sign These Petitions

http://www.omega-news.info/new_petions.htm

Iraq Study Group to Call for Troop "Pullback"

The Iraq Study Group, which wrapped up eight months of deliberations yesterday, has reached a consensus and will call for a major withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, shifting the US role from combat to support and advising, according to a source familiar with the deliberations.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/113006Z.shtml

Horse Rescue of America

http://www.horserescueofamerica.org/horserescue/video.php?speed=med


A message from Gwen



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=horse

Petition for dolphins and whales

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

A message from Pam

Petition for dolphins and whales, please sign and forward!

Original Message

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

http://www.walschutzaktionen.de/44552.html

Vorname - first name
Nachname - last name
PLZ - postal code
Wohnort - city/town
Land - country
and your E-mail address won't appear in the list
you can leave comments, if you want, max. 100 characters.

Thank you so much for your support.

Miwa

--------

Defend the Whales
http://whales.greenpeace.org/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=whale

E-Mail-Aktion: Bleibt sauber – Finger weg vom Atomgeschäft!

Profumo hat sich in Italien das Image eines guten, gesellschaftlich verantwortungsvollen Bankers erarbeitet. Als vergangene Woche unsere italienischen Freunde eine Protestwelle per E-Mail starteten, reagierte er bereits nervös. Jetzt wollen wir die nächste Welle starten! Partner in weiteren europäischen Ländern wollen folgen.

Schicken Sie dem Unicredit-Chef Profumo eine Protest-Mail: http://www.campact.de/atom2/ml1/mailer

Dezember 2006: Aktionskonferenz der Sozialen Bewegungen

Der aktuelle Flyer (mit Ablaufplan und sonstigen Infos) (pdf) http://www.protest2006.de/Einladung_Aktionskonferenz.pdf

Infos zur Anmeldung, Anreise & Übernachtung in Frankfurt http://www.protest2006.de/aktionskonferenz/aktionskonferenzinfos/infos_zur_anmeldung_und_ubernachtung_der_aktionskonferenz.html

»Es gibt den Vorschlag, die Börse lahmzulegen«

Auf Aktionskonferenz in Frankfurt/Main soll über weiteren Widerstand gegen Sozialabbau diskutiert werden. Gespräch mit Martin Behrsing, Erwerbslosenforum Deutschland, von Wolfgang Pomrehn in junge Welt vom 30.11.06 http://www.jungewelt.de/2006/11-30/053.php

Siehe dazu auch den Frankfurter Appell, der bei der Konferenz überarbeitet werden soll (pdf) http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/aktionen/frankfurterappell.pdf


Aus: LabourNet, 30. November 2006

Raue Realität versus schöner Schein

#Die Linkspartei.PDS: Pressemitteilungen

30. November 2006

Zur Entwicklung auf dem Arbeitsmarkt im Monat November erklärt der Bundesgeschäftsführer Dietmar Bartsch:

Die Konjunktur zieht weiter an, die Lage scheint gut und die Arbeitslosenzahlen sinken von Monat zu Monat toll, könnte man meinen. Die politische Realität und die jüngsten Beschlüsse des Bundeskabinetts jedoch machen den schönen Schein zunichte. Beispielsweise schickt der gestern vom Kabinett gebilligte Gesetzentwurf zur Anhebung des Rentenalters auf 67 Jahre ältere Arbeitnehmer in Vorruhestands- und Altersarmut. Und wenn Franz Müntefering sagt, um diese Politik zu verstehen reiche "Volksschule Sauerland", dann sage ich: Das mag ja stimmen. Aber um eine sozial gerechte Politik zu entwickeln, reicht "Volksschule Sauerland" offensichtlich nicht. Natürlich freuen wir uns über jeden Menschen, der eine Arbeit gefunden hat, besonders, wenn es sich um eine sozialversicherungspflichtige Arbeit handelt. Man darf jedoch die Augen nicht davor verschließen, dass nach wie vor 3,995 Millionen arbeitslos sind. Nach wie vor ist die Arbeitslosigkeit im Osten doppelt so hoch wie im Westen. Hier muss aktive Arbeitsmarktpolitik ansetzen. Hier kann Franz Müntefering die Effizienz der "Volksschule Sauerland" unter Beweis stellen. Geld ist vorhanden, erst gestern hatte die Bundesagentur für Arbeit einen elf Milliarden Überschuss angekündigt. Dieses Geld auf dem Kapitalmarkt anzulegen, bringt den heute Betroffenen gar nichts. Die Linke fordert, dass ein Großteil des Geldes für eine verstärkte Investition in öffentliche Beschäftigung genutzt wird, um auch Langzeitarbeitslosen und älteren Arbeitslosen wieder eine Chance auf dem ersten Arbeitsmarkt zu verschaffen. Nur wer sich für Arbeit einsetzt, von der man menschenwürdig leben kann, hat das Recht, sich über Verbesserungen bei der Arbeitslosigkeitsstatistik zu freuen. Alles andere ist unglaubwürdig. Wer sich aber, wie die Regierungsparteien, für einen ausgedehnten Niedriglohnsektor und gegen gesetzlichen Mindestlohn von mindestens 8 Euro wendet und ältere Arbeitnehmer durch die Rente mit 67 in Altersarmut schickt, der freut sich nur über den schönen Schein der Statistik.

http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=34667

No justification for a military draft

Hawaii Reporter
by Tim Kane

11/29/06

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), soon to chair the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, has announced his intention to reinstate the draft. He has offered three different justifications for the reversion to conscription after 33 years of an all-volunteer force: social justice, peace, and better troops. Rep. Rangel claims that poor people with few opportunities enlist, often driven to military service because of structural unemployment. 'If a young fellow has an option of having a decent career, or joining the Army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq,' he said on FOX News Sunday (11/26/2006). This serious charge -- that the most vulnerable citizens are being hauled away to fight in corporate America's wars of choice while the elite are snow-skiing -- is untrue...

http://tinyurl.com/ydzykj


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rangel
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=draft

If Operation Iraqi Freedom had not been such an unqualified catastrophe, how long would the public have assented to the programs that accompanied the 'war on terror?

http://www.slate.com/id/2154567


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

How the foreign policy consensus protects itself

The Power of Narrative
by Arthur Silber

11/29/06

The most likely candidate for a near-term, even more catastrophic identical error is, of course, Iran. The terms in which virtually everyone discusses the possible threat that Iran might represent reveal that none of this framework has been altered to any significant degree. I regret to note that this judgment applies to far too many liberal and progressive bloggers, as well as to the foreign policy establishment. That basic framework is entirely false. It led to the disastrous U.S. involvement in World War I, to the debacle of Vietnam, and to the catastrophe of Iraq. It has already led to almost a century of worldwide devastation -- and it threatens to lead to still another century of death and chaos reaching around the globe. If the framework is not rejected at its foundation, the scale of devastation and death may finally overwhelm our ability to grasp and comprehend it at all...

http://tinyurl.com/ycervj


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The great property rights revival

Cato Institute
by Timothy Sandefur

11/30/06

In a powerful response to last year's Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London, voters approved nine state-ballot initiatives prohibiting the seizure of homes and businesses for private development. These initiatives -- in Florida, New Hampshire, Arizona, and Michigan -- won in a landslide, with a nationwide average of some 75 percent in favor. Louisiana passed a similar initiative in October. Only two eminent-domain initiatives -- in California and Idaho -- failed. California's came within a few percentage points of succeeding, despite the powerful opposition of government and wealthy interest groups. Add these to new laws enacted by the legislatures of some 25 states and recent anti-eminent-domain decisions by the supreme courts of Ohio, Oklahoma, and Michigan, and the message is clear: Americans are fed up with eminent-domain abuse...

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6791


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kelo

Bush, Webb in testy exchange

Raw Story

11/29/06

President Bush and U.S. Senator-elect Jim Webb got into a testy exchange over the status of Webb's soldier son, who is serving in Iraq, The Hill is reporting. Emily Heil writes that at a White House private dinner just after the election featuring 'newly elected lawmakers,' Bush asked Webb 'how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.' According to a person who was present at the dinner, Webb replied to the President that he 'really wanted to see his son brought back home.' 'I didn't ask you that, I asked how he's doing,' Bush replied, according to The Hill's source. 'Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn't,' writes Heil. 'It's safe to say, however, that Bush and Webb won't be taking any overseas trips together anytime soon'...

http://tinyurl.com/yxzxun


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Seven million in US "justice" system

Miami Herald

11/29/06

A record 7 million people -- or one in every 32 American adults -- were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, according to the Justice Department. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year, according to a report released Wednesday. More than 4.1 million people were on probation and 784,208 were on parole at the end of 2005. Prison releases are increasing, but admissions are increasing more...

http://tinyurl.com/y4eeqd


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Violent Video Games Assault Self-Control

Young people who play violent video games show increased activity in areas of the brain linked to emotional arousal and decreased responses in regions that govern self-control, a new study has found.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/112906HA.shtml

Massive Ice Shelf 'May Collapse without Warning'

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1201-01.htm

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Scientists Fear Results of Collapsed Ice Shelf

A New Zealand-led drilling team in Antarctica has recovered three million years of climate history, but the news is not good for the future. Initial analysis of seafloor cores near Scott Base suggest the Ross Ice Shelf had collapsed in the past - and had probably done so suddenly.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/112906EC.shtml

Climate Lawsuits May Surge If Humans Blamed

A 2007 UN report with stronger evidence that humans are causing global warming is likely to spur more lawsuits around the world such as a case to be heard by the US Supreme Court on Wednesday. "We're going to get more and more of these cases," said Peter Roderick, director of the Climate Justice Programme, which is linked to the environmental group Friends of the Earth. "The stronger the evidence of human influence gets, the more relevant the question will be for courts."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/112906EB.shtml

Struggling U.S. dollar triggers currency concerns

The sudden weakness of the U.S. dollar began late last week, soon after Chinese officials suggested that holding a lot of dollars might be a losing investment strategy. Investors read that as a signal that the massive trade and financial imbalances between Asia and the U.S. may be about to unwind.

http://tinyurl.com/ueto7



US setbacks see dollar plunge to near 15-year low

An 8.3pc crash in US industrial orders and an admission by the Federal Reserve chairman that Washington does not know how bad housing really is set off another day of wild gyrations on the currency markets.

http://tinyurl.com/y7ur7w



Dollar woes poised to carry over into next year

Greenback is down about 50% vs. euro in past five years; down 6% vs. yen.
http://tinyurl.com/y8gko3




From Information Clearing House

How Bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets and the FBI

New details have emerged about how an al Qaeda spy named Ali Mohamed penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets and the FBI before the 9/11 attacks. We speak with investigative journalist Peter Lance about his new book, "Triple Cross."

Video and transcript.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15775.htm

US to pay high price for any anti-Iran action

Majlis Second Vice Speaker Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi Fard in a meeting with the Swedish MP and Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Urban Ahlin here Wednesday said that any irrational measure and decision against Iran will make the US pay a high price.

http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-22/0611290186175314.htm


From Information Clearing House

Obama would consider missile strikes on Iran and Pakistan

U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama suggested Friday that the United States one day might have to launch surgical missile strikes into Iran and Pakistan to keep extremists from getting control of nuclear bombs.

http://tinyurl.com/yawtm2


From Information Clearing House

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Senator in a fog

CounterPunch
by Glen Ford

11/29/06

Barack Obama is a windblown politician. The junior Illinois senator avoids anchoring himself to any principle, lest his political sails fail to catch the slightest breeze blowing from the left or the right. His political direction is always tentative, although his ultimate destination is never in doubt: he will be a formidable national presence -- maybe even president. But Barack Obama -- who has never claimed to be a Black leader -- is in fact not a leader at all. Nowhere is this more evident than in the most critical issue facing Americans and the world at this dangerous juncture in history: the war in Iraq...

http://www.counterpunch.org/ford11292006.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Citizenship for sale: Immigrant soldiers serve the U.S.

They come from Mexico, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Colombia, Cambodia and a hundred other countries across the globe to find the promise of America. Increasingly they enlist to fight, and sometimes die, in America's wars.

http://tinyurl.com/y3qke8


From Information Clearing House

The Genocidal Fury of Thomas Friedman

The only thing America did wrong in its "effort to bring progressive politics or democracy to this region" was not coming down hard enough on this darky riff-raff.

http://tinyurl.com/y4urfr


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Chris+Floyd

Powell: Iraq Is In A Civil War And Bush Should Stop Denying It

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Iraq’s violence meets the standard of a civil war and thinks President Bush needs to acknowledge that.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/29/powell-civil-war


From Information Clearing House

Shi'ites, Sunnis amass arms

Rival Shi'ite and Sunni groups are massing their militias in expectation of major confrontations, Iraqis say.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20061128-115226-2217r.htm


From Information Clearing House

Bush visit to Amman angers Jordanians

"This is a very sad day. Bush has become a symbol of bigotry and injustice towards Arabs and Muslims," the 32-year-old engineer said just hours before Bush was due to arrive in Amman on Wednesday.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28318405.htm


From Information Clearing House

American military concedes daily toll of civilians likely to rise far above 100

Violence against Iraqi civilians, which is already taking between 60 and 100 lives a day, is likely to rise still further, Major General William Caldwell, the US military spokesman in Baghdad, conceded yesterday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1959496,00.html


From Information Clearing House

MEPs condemn Britain's role in 'torture flights'

By Richard Norton-Taylor and Nicholas Watt in Brussels

Britain's role in CIA "torture flights" was roundly condemned yesterday by the European parliament in a scathing report which for the first time named the site of a suspected secret US detention centre in the EU - at Stare Kiejkuty in Poland.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15772.htm



We Are All Tortures Now!

This video provides some evidence of the type of torture engaged in by by our allies. As citizens of the U.S. each of us is responsible for the actions of our government. We are complicit in the torture, distance from the tools used to inflict pain in no way reduces our part in these disgusting acts of barbarity.

- Warning -

This video contains graphic images and audio of torture and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15740.htm



The Torture Society

By Ted Rall

The United States is trying to burnish its nasty image as one of the world's leading torture states--not by eliminating torture, but by silencing its victims. In a remarkable bit of legal sang-froid, the Bush Administration has filed a brief in its case against Majid Khan asking a federal court to seal its torture of him as "top secret."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15778.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture+flights
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture

War Resisters: Support the Troops Who Refuse to Fight

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3456


Informant: Martin Greenhut



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Redress
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Watada

Help us move the global tobacco treaty!

Take action:
http://www.stopcorporateabusenow.org/campaign/global_tobacco_treaty

Pentagon Is Developing Alternative To Iraq Study Group "To Give The President An Out"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/11/26/reporter-pentagon-is-dev_n_34923.html


Informant: ranger116

CNN Exposes Iraq Civil war and Biggest Theft Ever

http://www.corvuswire.com/civilwar.htm
http://www.corvuswire.com/michaelware.htm


Informant: ranger116

You Can Impeach the President

http://tinyurl.com/ycfgj9


Informant: ranger116



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=impeach

Conservationists Can Use Economic Studies to Promote Land Conservation Instead of Sprawl

http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/1129-10.htm

New Report Questions the Future of American Water

http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/1129-01.htm

Our Sinful Economy

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1129-23.htm

Lessons From an Immoral War

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1129-29.htm

Fitting ICBMs with Conventional Weapons Risks Catastrophe

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1129-22.htm

Take Control of YOUR Airwaves

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1129-28.htm

Somalia: US-Backed UN Resolution Risks Wider War

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1129-02.htm

Rural America Suffering Higher Death Toll in Iraq, Afghanistan

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1129-01.htm

Bush Faces Legal Action over Global Warming

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1129-04.htm

LIBERTY AND BUILDING PERMITS

http://www.newswithviews.com/Bill/sizemore49.htm

Supporting Death and Destruction

http://www.lewrockwell.com/gaddy/gaddy29.html

Climate change sceptics lose vital argument

The New Scientist
November 29, 2006

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19225804.300-climate-change-sceptics-lose-vital-argument.html

By Zeeya Merali

The "hockey stick" graph, which shows a rapid rise in world temperatures over recent decades, has been both poster child for the dangers of human- induced global warming and prime target for climate change sceptics. They cite an anomaly in the graph - it does not record a dip in temperature between 1200 and 1850 - as reason to ditch the whole thing. Now new data may help explain why the graph does not record the "little ice age".

Ocean currents in the North Atlantic, dominated by the Gulf Stream, usually keep winter temperatures in western Europe mild by carrying warm water north from the tropics towards Europe and heating the westerly winds travelling from North America. Climate scientists have suspected that a weak Gulf Stream may have caused the little ice age, but until now there has been no direct evidence for this theory.

Jean Lynch-Stieglitz at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and her colleagues calculated the strength of the Gulf Stream during the little ice age by looking at marine fossils in sediment cores taken from the Straits of Florida. Ocean circulation is driven by variations in water density caused by differences in temperature and salinity. These variations also affect the ratio of oxygen isotopes in marine fossil shells. By measuring these isotope ratios, the team calculated that the Gulf Stream was 10 per cent weaker during the little ice age (Nature, vol 444, p 601).

Moreover, the cooling that resulted was confined mainly to the northern hemisphere, says Lynch-Stieglitz - which indicates it was a regional effect. Michael Mann at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, who constructed the hockey stick graph, has always argued that if this were so, the little ice age would not show up on a global temperature record (New Scientist, 18 March, p 40).

"We're seeing a rearrangement of heat around the globe - so globally overall it's not colder," says Lynch-Stieglitz.

Last month, climate scientists played down the possibility of a mini ice age in the near future (New Scientist, 7 November, p 13). "We usually look for a much more dramatic weakening - an almost total shutdown of the circulation - when considering the impact on future climate," says Meric Srokosz at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK. By contrast, the 10 per cent weakening found by the Georgia team is surprisingly small, says Lynch-Stieglitz. She says that climate scientists have to incorporate this finding into their models to better understand how such a small change brought about the little ice age.


Tim Hermach
Native Forest Council
PO Box 2190 Eugene, OR 97402 541.688.2600 541.461.2156 fax web page: http://www.forestcouncil.org DEFENDING NATURE


Informant: Scott Munson

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rudkla - 22. Jun, 05:09
The Republican Party...
https://truthout.org/artic les/the-republican-party-i s-still-doing-donald-trump s-bidding/?eType=EmailBlas tContent&eId=804d4873-50dd -4c1b-82a5-f465ac3742ce
rudkla - 26. Apr, 05:36
January 6 Committee Says...
https://truthout.org/artic les/jan-6-committee-says-t rump-engaged-in-criminal-c onspiracy-to-undo-election /?eType=EmailBlastContent& eId=552e5725-9297-4a7c-a21 4-53c8c51615a3
rudkla - 4. Mär, 05:38
Georgia Republicans Are...
https://www.commondreams.o rg/views/2022/02/14/georgi a-republicans-are-delibera tely-attacking-voting-righ ts
rudkla - 15. Feb, 05:03
Now Every Day Is January...
https://www.commondreams.o rg/views/2022/02/07/now-ev ery-day-january-6-trump-ta rgets-vote-counters
rudkla - 8. Feb, 05:41

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