Beardy Guy Musings

The Bulldog Manifesto has the best summary yet regarding Cheney’s most recent armed expedition:

We all know that Vice President Cheney shot an old man on a farm while trying to shoot pen-raised, slow moving birds with a 28-guage shotgun.

But what about the gun?

Cheney was using a Perazzi shotgun. Perazzi 28-guage shotguns are custom made shotguns that sell for over $20,000. Some of them go for as high as $41,000.00!!

$41,000 approaches the 75th percentile for annual wages for a male in our society. These bastards are so utterly out of touch with the average American worker, it’s not even funny.

We couldn’t have written a better metaphor if we tried.

They overspend on guns. They shoot at the wrong targets. They injure innocent people.

The perfect metaphor indeed.

So if you are keeping score at home. Our vice president shoots at slow moving pen-raised birds with a 28-guage shotgun costing over $20,000.00…..and misses, hitting a 78 year old man.

Poetic. Damn poetic

Still, I’d much rather have his violence confined to his wealthy friends in America rather than civilians in Iraq… or Iran.

Technorati Tags: Dick Cheney, Guns, Hunting, Quail

I’ve been working my way through the archives of Where We’re Bound for transfer here to the new blog and I’ve come across the first post of several that I will be posting again as a fresh entry. Back in 2003 Mark Anderson of the American Sentimentalist posted an excellent series of articles titled An Escape From Freedom: reflections on the development of an American dystopia. It turned into a four part series, here’s the first: It can’t happen here, can it?.

Mark does a great job of describing the current situation in America. His comments on current perceptions of the growth and definitions of fascism as well as the prospects for freedom are right on. He presents a useful description of the factors which allowed for the unfolding of previous fascistic movements as this relates to the current move in America ever to the right. In part three of the series he states that:

One of the primary characteristics of fascism is the perceived relationship between the individual and the state: through the elevated power of the nation, created by the iron-clad unity of the individuals who make up the non-disenfranchised groups within the society, fascism allows individuals themselves in turn to find power. This relationship, however, is symbiotic without being mutually-beneficial; inevitably, the state gains power over the individual, and not the other way around. However, despite the fact that the distribution of power in a fascist system flows one way and one way only, it is the perception and belief that matters most - the perception on behalf of the ruled that they are at the center of the state itself, and not the rulers, to whom they give their unquestioning support in return for this belief. This belief allows the purposes for which certain policies are carried out to be ultimately cast as for the good of the individual as a component of the wider society, and not as an effort to benefit any particular segment of that society, such as the governing elite.

Which brings us to the United States of America.

The laundry list of ways in which the U.S. is no longer a democracy is long and well-known among all but the most myopic of patriots: the expansion of corporate power replacing public power, the insertion of money into electoral politics, and the overlay of ideology on all but the most inconsequential moments of public and civic life. Much discussion and debate is currently taking place as to exactly how the United States expects to exist in the world for the coming millennium, and how it is to be run by its politicians and perceived by its own citizens. But what is often lost, however, are the ways in which the structural underpinnings of American society are wholesale being replaced, and the consequences such changes will have wrought. For, far from being a nascent society with a long future of increasing freedom ahead of it, America is instead a mature society in deep transition, and one that is in much more danger of diminishing freedom for its citizens than it is in securing them.

I think what Mark has stated here is spot on. These structural changes have been carefully orchestrated and are difficult to see. The move away from freedom and towards corporate control has been a gradual process designed to be invisible.

Mark paints a clear picture of the rigid class structure which has evolved in the U.S. and describes the dynamics of that class structure. Other important variables for the development of fascism are also discussed: September 11, U.S. military and superpower status, and racial scapegoating. He concludes the discussion of necessary conditions for fascism by addressing the near collapse of citizenship in the U.S. as well as the psycological results of this collapse.

It’s as though we have forgotten what it means to be a citizen. We’ve been slowly and carefully stripped of responsibility and the desire to participate. Freedom has become a catchphrase which is more likely to be used to sell a product than it is to be seriously considered as an idea fundamental to participatory democracy. A commitment to community, to a public life has vanished from our daily life. Even the idea of such commitment has vanished. Instead daily life has evolved into an orgie of anonymous consumerism and alienated work. We are inundated with propaganda in so many ways that we don’t even know it. You could call it friendly facism. It’s like eating candy. It’s “Friends” and “Survivor”. Wal-Mart and the mall.

Someone once said that “Freedom is something you assume. Then someone tries to take it away from you. The degree to which you resist is the degree that you are free.” Will we fight back? Will we step up to the responsibility of defending Liberty? Can we each be an activist citizen every day?

Technorati Tags: Citizenship, Democracy, Fascism, Freedom, Politics

Just thinking about all this craziness regarding the protests of the cartoons of Mohammed. What I really want to know is why are Americans not protesting at a similar level of intensity an illegal war based upon a nasty soup of lies? Our passivity is equally fucked up.

It’s truly insane. Over the past 3-4 years I’ve struggled to keep up with the reasons for protest. Of course there is the illegal war against Iraq but there’s alot within that which should not be forgotten or passed over such as the use white phosporus and torture. NSA spying and the federal lack of response to Katrina… these are just some of the highlights. The list goes on.

What’s the response by the citizens of the US? More shopping. Yeah, something’s gone very wrong.

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Impeach Bush, NSA, Politics, Mohammed Cartoon, Spying, Terrorism, Torture, US Foreign Policy, War, War Crimes, White Phosphorus

Susan DeFreitas of E Magazine has an article covering an inspiring city-based permaculture project:

EcoHood, n: permaculture retrofit of a mid- to low-income neighborhood with a high potential for ecological sustainability.

What’s wrong with the 1960s vision of moving toward a more sustainable lifestyle by growing your own food and raising kids with a few (or a few hundred) of your closest friends? Only one thing, says Andrew Millison: “The idea that you have to leave society to do it.” A Prescott College instructor, landscape contractor, homeowner and self-described permaculture activist, Millison is helping to spearhead a community sustainability initiative in the Lincoln-Dameron Street district of Prescott, AZ (pop. 45,000) that’s become increasingly known as “the EcoHood.” Andrew Millison with a rainwater cistern and his rooster, Soft Crow.

Permaculture (a combination of the words “permanent” and “agriculture”) was first developed in Australia in the 1970s as a design system for local self-reliance based on patterns found in nature. Combining principles of homescale agriculture, environmental stewardship and community design, permaculture has captured the imaginations and energies of a new generation of environmentalists worldwide in the years since its inception.

Reminds me of our our efforts in Memphis. Let’s hope more more folks begin to show an interest in such projects so that they may be sustained and expanded.

Technorati Tags: Community Agriculture, Community Development, Conservation, Ecology, Energy Crisis, Energy Shortage, Peak Energy, Peak Oil, Permaculture, Sustainability, Sustainable Living

Oh hell, this made me cry:

The Battle For America.

Go watch it right now.

Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about right there. Fuck.

You can check the official site as well.

Technorati Tags: Activism, Battle for America, Cindy Sheehan, Democracy, Donald Rumsfeld, Freedom, George Bush, Impeach Bush, Impeachment, Iraq, Liberty, Politics, Terrorism, Torture, War, War Crimes

Stuart Staniford over at The Oil Drum has started a fantastic series of articles on The Carbon Economy. There are two thus far: Article one: The Carbon Economy and Article two: How fast should you boil a frog?.

These in-depth articles are well worth the time and mental effort. Each is followed by a lengthy comment-discussion. I am consistently impressed by the quality and quantity of articles at the Oil Drum… as well as the community of folks that participate in the discussion of each article. If you are interested in peak oil and climate change (you are, aren’t you???) you should check The Oil Drum regularly.

Formerly Where We’re Bound. A new home but the same questions, concerns, and outlook. The new name is really just the same name. It’s a question about our future and our potential.

This made me laugh… maybe even throw-up a little. Via Democracy Now!:

As Chavez was announcing the expulsion, two top US cabinet members were criticizing him in Washington. At a press luncheon, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said: “You’ve got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money. He’s a person who was elected legally just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally.” On Capitol Hill, US National Intelligence Director John Negroponte warned against Chavez’s reelection, and said the Venezuelan leader is “seeking closer economic, military and diplomatic ties with Iran and North Korea."

I’ve got another response to the above statement by Rumsfeld, a correction to his statement:

“You’ve got Bush in DC with a lot of oil money. He’s a person who was elected legally just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally."

But wait we all know Bush was not legally elected.


I’m sure Chavez has his faults as does his government, but damn I love this guy.

Technorati Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, Hugo Chavez, Politics

Rolling Stone has an interesting article on Battlestar Galactica: Intergalactic Terror.

I’ve become a BG junkie. Truth is I guess I’ve jumped headfirst into a soup of sci-fi. BG is my favorite by far but also: Firefly (great) and Surface (okay) and The 4400 too. Of course I continue to watch X-Files reruns. I’ve seen some of them 10 times but I put them on anyway. Even if I’m not watching I enjoy Fox and Scully… just their voices. Yeah, I know.

But, back to Battlestar Galactica, damn. Damn.

Technorati Tags: Battlestar Galactica, Sci-fi

The Oil Drum series on The Carbon Economy

Stuart Staniford over at The Oil Drum has started a fantastic series of articles on The Carbon Economy. There are two thus far: Article on: The Carbon Economy and Article two: How fast should you boil a frog?.

These in-depth articles are well worth the time and mental effort. Each is followed by a lengthy comment-discussion. I am consistently impressed by the quality and quantity of articles at the Oil Drum… as well as the community of folks that participate in the discussion of each article. If you are interested in peak oil and climate change (you are, aren’t you???) you should check The Oil Drumregularly.

February 04, 2006

Battlestar Galactica

Rolling Stone has an interesting article on Battlestar Galactica: Intergalactic Terror.

I’ve become a BG junkie. Truth is I guess I’ve jumped headfirst into a soup of sci-fi. BG is my favorite by far but also: Firefly (great) and Surface (okay) and The 4400 too. Of course I continue to watch X-Files reruns. I’ve seen some of them 10 times but I put them on anyway. Even if I’m not watching I enjoy Fox and Scully… just their voices. Yeah, I know. 

But, back to Battlestar Galactica, damn. Damn. 

February 04, 2006

Rumsfeld Compares Chavez’s Election To Hitler’s

This made me laugh… maybe even throw-up a little. Via Democracy Now!:

As Chavez was announcing the expulsion, two top US cabinet members were criticizing him in Washington. At a press luncheon, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said: “You’ve got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money. He’s a person who was elected legally just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally.” On Capitol Hill, US National Intelligence Director John Negroponte warned against Chavez’s reelection, and said the Venezuelan leader is “seeking closer economic, military and diplomatic ties with Iran and North Korea."

I’ve got another response to the above statement by Rumsfeld, a correction to his statement:

“You’ve got Bush in DC with a lot of oil money. He’s a person who was elected legally just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally.”

But wait we all know Bush was not legally elected.

I’m sure Chavez has his faults as does his government, but damn I love this guy.

February 04, 2006

Seems to me that that a central theme of most studies and news coverage these days have the theme that global warming and the various problems/symptoms it causes are happening faster than previously thought. With each passing year the time frames for action grow shorter and the time frames in which we can expect to see catastrophic climate events grow shorter.

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post discusses the Debate on Climate Shifts to Issue of Irreparable Change:

Some Experts on Global Warming Foresee ‘Tipping Point’ When It Is Too Late to Act

Now that most scientists agree human activity is causing Earth to warm, the central debate has shifted to whether climate change is progressing so rapidly that, within decades, humans may be helpless to slow or reverse the trend.

This “tipping point” scenario has begun to consume many prominent researchers in the United States and abroad, because the answer could determine how drastically countries need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years. While scientists remain uncertain when such a point might occur, many say it is urgent that policymakers cut global carbon dioxide emissions in half over the next 50 years or risk the triggering of changes that would be irreversible.

There are three specific events that these scientists describe as especially worrisome and potentially imminent, although the time frames are a matter of dispute: widespread coral bleaching that could damage the world’s fisheries within three decades; dramatic sea level rise by the end of the century that would take tens of thousands of years to reverse; and, within 200 years, a shutdown of the ocean current that moderates temperatures in northern Europe.

The debate has been intensifying because Earth is warming much faster than some researchers had predicted. James E. Hansen, who directs NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies, last week confirmed that 2005 was the warmest year on record, surpassing 1998. Earth’s average temperature has risen nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past 30 years, he noted, and another increase of about 4 degrees over the next century would “imply changes that constitute practically a different planet."

“It’s not something you can adapt to,” Hansen said in an interview. “We can’t let it go on another 10 years like this. We’ve got to do something."

Ian Johnston, writing for Scotsman.com Nightmare vision of a world 200 years on:

ONE of Britain’s leading environmentalists will today sound a doomsday warning to the world: humanity’s very existence is under threat from climate change and, even if we survive, the population will crash to about a third of its current level.

Sir Crispin Tickell, the man who convinced former prime minister Margaret Thatcher that global warming was a real problem, predicts that, in 200 years, there could be as few as 2.3 billion people because rising sea levels and temperatures will make some areas uninhabitable and, coupled with social factors, depress birth rates.

But he also says our survival is “not guaranteed” and that the presence of humans on the planet could be “no more than a somewhat messy episode in the history of the Earth”.

…
“The human impact on the Earth has slowly and then rapidly increased, most of all in the last 250 years.

“The resulting transformation of the environment is unsustainable. The main factors are human population increase, degradation of land, consumption of resources, water pollution and supply, climate change, destruction of other species …

“Most of the solutions to the problems we have created, including the widening division between rich and poor, are well known but few want to confront them, singly or together. To do so we have to rethink our value system."

He pointed to recent droughts in Mediterranean countries and the increasing severity of hurricanes in the Caribbean - caused by a rise in sea temperature - as some of the signs that global warming is starting to get out of hand.

From the BBC we have Sea level rise ‘is accelerating’

Global sea levels could rise by about 30cm during this century if current trends continue, a study warns.

Australian researchers found that sea levels rose by 19.5cm between 1870 and 2004, with accelerated rates in the final 50 years of that period.

The research, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, used data from tide gauges around the world.

The findings fit within predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCC’s Third Assessment Report, published in 2001, projected that the global average sea level would rise by between 9 and 88cm between 1990 and 2100.

…

If the acceleration continues at the current rate, the scientists warn that sea levels could rise during this century by between 28 and 34cm.

Dr John Church, a scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation based in Tasmania and an author of the study, said that higher sea levels could have grave effects on some areas.

“It means there will be increased flooding of low-lying areas when there are storm surges,” he told the Associated Press.

“It means increased coastal erosion on sandy beaches; we’re going to see increased flooding on island nations."

Read more about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report.

Technorati Tags: Climate Change, Global Warming, Oil, Sustainability, Sustainable Living

Just a sampling of the many recent peak oil articles floating around.

The Sacramento News and Review sketches out what a city such as Sacramento might look like in our peak oil future. One of the better articles on Peak Oil that I’ve seen in a while in that it provokes contemplation of what we might expect: Sacramento on empty

The world is approaching the ‘peak’ of global oil production. Will communities like ours be able to stave off a dramatic shift in our way of life, or are we destined for a painful era of change?

Sacramento 2036: It’s a rare thing to see a car of any kind on J Street, and then it’s most likely to be an armored police vehicle. From time to time, a small convoy of these–three or four–will emerge, usually to protect against civil unrest at one of the food-distribution points. They used to be called “supermarkets,” but they didn’t look like armored warehouses then. They are fairly safe these days. Most people who don’t have money to buy food have signed on to work at a farm in exchange for food or have been court-ordered into indentured labor to pay off their debts.

Writing for the BBC Richard Black discusses the Energy gap: Crisis for humanity?

It is perhaps too early to talk of an energy “crisis”.

Fossil fuels have been the cheapest and most convenient so far

But take your pick from terms like “serious concern” and “major issue” and you will not be far from the positions which analysts are increasingly adopting.

The reason for their concern can be found in a set of factors which are pulling in glaringly different directions:

Demand for energy, in all its forms, is rising
Supplies of key fuels - notably oil and gas - show signs of decline
Mainstream climate science suggests that reducing greenhouse gas emissions within two decades would be a prudent thing to do.
Meanwhile the Earth’s population continues to rise, with the majority of its six billion people hankering after a richer lifestyle - which means a greater consumption of energy.

Underlying the growing concern is the relentless pursuit of economic growth, which historically has been tied to energy consumption as closely as a horse is tethered to its cart.

It is a vehicle which cannot continue to speed up indefinitely; it must at some point hit a barrier, of finite supply, unfeasibly high prices or abrupt climate change.

Jerome a Paris of The European Tribune has an excellent article regarding the decline of the 4 biggest oil fields in the world.

Technorati Tags: Energy Crisis, Oil, Peak Energy, Peak Oil

My new favorite blog: Peak Oil Anarchy. Go forth and read.

Technorati Tags: Anarchism, Peak Oil

Discussion of communication in the context of activism, citizenship, and democracy. Thoughts on America and its claims about itself as a republic or representative democracy. A few thoughts on blogging and podcasts in relation to social change, activism and the sharing of information. General thoughts on citizenship, responsibility, and being engaged with the world around us. I close with a reference to Noam Chomsky’s recent book Imperial Ambitions.

More via the Podcast which is also available as a direct m4a download runtime: 19'47, 9.6 MB.

Technorati Tags: Activism, Anarchism, Citizenship, Democracy, Podcast, Politics

Been awhile since I put out a podcast. With the recent release of Apple’s new version of GarageBand in iLife 06 I was curious and thought I’d try it out. The file is a bit bigger than previous podcasts but includes photos. Kinda neat I suppose. Up for discussion: climate change and peak oil. Nothing new really but I thought I’d share my ongoing obsessions.

More via the Podcast which is also available as a direct m4a download runtime: 19'43, 9.6 MB.

Technorati Tags:Climate Change, Peak Energy, Peak Oil, Global Warming, Podcast, GarageBand

Technorati Tags: Climate Change, GarageBand, Global Warming, Peak Energy, Peak Oil, Podcast

Iraq looks worse everyday. Bombings, kidnappings, and torture continue as a part of everyday life. US soldiers continue to die at a steady rate: 2003: 486, 2004: 848, 2005: 846. Iraqi casualties? 40,000? 80,000? 100,000 or more?

Juan Cole has posted an update on the ever continuing decline of conditions in Iraq:

Under Iraqi law, the new parliament must meet to choose a president within 15 days of the certification of the election results, e.g. around Feb. 18. The parliamentarians are, however, putting aside this provision of the law and are making no promises as to when they will be able to form a government.

Iraqi guerrilla groups attacked US and other targets 34,000 times in 2005, up 30% from the year before. The number of roadside bombs deployed nearly doubled to over 10,000, and the number of casualties was up. Any way you measure it, these statistics indicate that the US has failed miserably in counter-insurgency efforts in Iraq.

Iraqi professionals are fleeing the country, which makes the prospect of rebuilding even dimmer.

A preliminary inspector general report on the US reconstruction effort in Iraq finds it plagued by poor planning and poor implementation, according to the NYT.

US contractors are pulling out of Iraq, as the funds for reconstruction dry up.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Oil, Terrorism, War

As I said in the comments in the previous post, I really appreciate all those that stopped by and commented. I’ve not posted since then and had not posted for many days before that post. I’ve been thinking a lot about why I have a blog and I’m just feeling kind of stuck. I suppose it mirror’s my life at the moment. I’m not really feeling stuck just somewhat sad and content at the same time.

Sad and content is a strange combination. Of course that’s a bit simplistic and there are layers of other emotions within that. I’m not just sad but seething with anger and frustration as well. I’m content in the sense that I find happiness in a very simple life. I’ve withdrawn from life… dropped out to use a phrase from the 60s. I guess in many ways I’ve given up hope that we humans will figure it out. To be exact I’ve given up hope that the U.S. will figure it out.

So I’m content in the sense that I have spent the past two years getting to know my family again and am participating in their lives in a more meaningful way. I’m content in knowing that I’m not driving and not consuming much of anything at all. I’m happy to be gardening and reintroducing (at least a wee little bit) the native plants of this particular Missouri hillside. This life that I’m now living is very different from the 15 years I spent in Memphis and it is that difference that I’m trying to work through.

My life in Memphis was centered on the role of activist. My time there reads like the scrolling credits of a movie… one project after another. Generally they were not “successful” but the point is that they were attempts and I usually learned something from them. I wish I had tried harder. Looking back I see certain mistakes that seem obvious today. I would do it all again but I’m not sure why. That brings me back to my previous post in which I mentioned my dissatisfaction with the number of visitors to my blog and questions about why I blog.

Back in 1997 I started my first website which was a site for Free Radio Memphis. I became an internet junkie and started building other websites. Somehow that evolved into a general computer geekness and ultimately a role as tech support for a small segment of my particular community in Memphis. Tech work became a part of my activism. I bring this up because these days, as mentioned above, I’ve dropped out. My only activism, if it can be called that at all, is this blog. This is my only little voice to the world. I suppose this post is a post about blogs as citizen media. I don’t blog for personal reasons. I certainly don’t mind sharing many personal things in my blog but I don’t view it as my online journal. My primary interest in blogs is their potential as a medium for citizens to communicate about the problems we as citizens need to deal with.

I suppose I’m dealing with certain contradictions within my life. I’m no longer participating, no longer active as a citizen in a community and yet on a certain level I still desire that participation. As an anarchist I’ve long thought such participation a fundamental responsibility of freedom. What kind of anarchist stops participating in times like these? So I tell myself that it is enough to read and write… that it is only a temporary stay of activism. I tell myself that I am contributing via this blog which sets up a certain expectation. See where I’m heading with this? I see the numbers which I view to be (at some level) an indicator of effectiveness and I realize that the blog is not enough. Of course I know the blog is not enough and yet I fail to move on to any further action.

Which brings me me back to the question of life… living… life and how to live it. Where is the movement? Have we all quit? Have I quit? Collectively… we’ve screwed up in so many different ways… it is overwhelming. I look at what little I have done and I’m not happy with it. I’m not sure I know where to go from here, not sure where we go from here. How do we change course, is it an impossible task? I tell myself I’m just one little person and that I can be content with what I’ve done. I tell myself that it’s okay to just live like squirrel: eat, sleep, poop, and every now and then goof a little. I may not be contributing to the building of a movement but at least I have minimized the damage I do. But it’s not enough… or maybe it is… I end up where I started.




Technorati Tags: Consumerism, Working Less, Blogging, Anarchism, Activism

Technorati Tags: Activism, Anarchism, Blogging, Consumerism, Working Less

Or uninspired… or something. I’m thinking for the first time that perhaps I’ll close this blog down. It’s funny… I get 1,000 hits a day on an old post about iPod problems I was having but the rest of my blog? Not so much. I think my most current posts typically draw in 20 - 30 hits a day, perhaps less. I’m not sure I want to pay $80/year for that. I started this blog in February 2003 so it’s been 3 years. I switched to Typepad in July 2003 and for most of the past 3 years I’ve posted fairly consistently. I’d hoped that in time readership might grow a bit but that does not seem to be happening.

I’m not certain on this… just thinking at this point but i think it is a very real possibility. So, to my 10 readers, don’t be too surprised if WWB disappears soon. I’d likely post one last time to say goodbye.

That is all…

The studies regarding climate change just keep coming. I’ve been amazed at the number of studies released this year. Seems to have become a weekly occurrence. Everyday is, for me, a fluctuation between extreme anger and sadness at our lack of reaction regarding climate change. The studies pile up. Real life observations seem to back it up… today I saw a frog in our little garden pond. I see green plants everywhere that have yet to die off because, like the two previous winters, we’ve had only brief cold spells. Everyday I wonder, how much evidence do people need before they will show real concern? My own family seem to be fairly representative of the mainstream and to put it simply they don’t seem to care. Not even a little.

I don’t want to live in this world. I don’t want to participate in a culture… in a society of people like this. It sickens me. We have become monsters concerned only with our entertainment and our next purchase at the mall or Walmart.

CNN reports on a study by the journal Geophysical Research Letters released 12/17:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Climate change could thaw the top 11 feet of permafrost in most areas of the Northern Hemisphere by 2100, altering ecosystems across Alaska, Canada and Russia, according to a federal study.

Using supercomputers in the United States and Japan, the study calculated how frozen soil would interact with air temperatures, snow, sea ice changes and other processes.

The most extreme scenario involved the melting of the top 11 feet (3.35 meters) of permafrost, or earth that remains frozen year-round.

“If that much near-surface permafrost thaws, it could release considerable amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and that could amplify global warming,” said lead author David Lawrence, with the National Center for Atmospheric Research. “We could be underestimating the rate of global temperature increase."

Greenland

SAN FRANCISCO Dec 7, 2005 — Two of Greenland’s largest glaciers are retreating at an alarming pace, most likely because of climate warming, scientists said Wednesday.

One of the glaciers, Kangerdlugssuaq, is currently moving about 9 miles a year compared to 3 miles a year in 2001, said Gordon Hamilton of the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute.

The other glacier, Helheim, is retreating at about 7 miles a year up from 4 miles a year during the same period.

“It’s quite a staggering rate of increase,” Hamilton said at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting.

Alaska

Alaska’s rapidly disintegrating Columbia Glacier, which has shrunk in length by 9 miles since 1980, has reached the mid-point of its projected retreat, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study.

Tad Pfeffer, associate director of CU-Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, said the glacier is now discharging nearly 2 cubic miles of ice annually into the Prince William Sound, the equivalent of 100,000 ships packed with ice, each 500 feet long. The tidewater glacier – which has its terminus, or end, in the waters of the Prince William Sound – is expected to retreat an additional 9 miles in the next 15 years to 20 years before reaching an equilibrium point in shallow water near sea level, he said.

Kazakhstan

The political stability of a key central Asian state could be imperilled by climate change, researchers say.

They say glaciers are melting so fast in parts of Kazakhstan that the livelihoods of millions of people will be affected.

They found the area’s glaciers were losing almost two cubic kilometres of ice annually during the later 20th Century.

South America:

The Patagonia Icefields of Chile and Argentina, the largest non-Antarctic ice masses in the Southern Hemisphere, are thinning at an accelerating pace and now account for nearly 10 percent of global sea-level change from mountain glaciers, according to a new study by NASA and Chile’s Centro de Estudios Cientificos.

CO2 ‘highest for 650,000 years’
By Richard Black
Environment Correspondent, BBC News website
Current levels of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere are higher now than at any time in the past 650,000 years.

That is the conclusion of new European studies looking at ice taken from 3km below the surface of Antarctica.

The scientists say their research shows present day warming to be exceptional.

Technorati Tags: Climate Change, Peak Energy, Consumerism, Conservation, Global Warming

Technorati Tags: Climate Change, Conservation, Consumerism, Global Warming, Peak Energy

Senator Robert C. Byrd from the Senate Floor:

“No President is Above the Law”

December 19, 2005

Americans have been stunned at the recent news of the abuses of power by an overzealous President. It has become apparent that this Administration has engaged in a consistent and unrelenting pattern of abuse against our Country’s law-abiding citizens, and against our Constitution.

We have been stunned to hear reports about the Pentagon gathering information and creating databases to spy on ordinary Americans whose only sin is choose to exercise their First Amendment right to peaceably assemble. Those Americans who choose to question the Administration’s flawed policy in Iraq are labeled by this Administration as domestic terrorists.”

We now know that the F.B.I.’s use of National Security Letters on American citizens has increased one hundred fold, requiring tens of thousands of individuals to turn over personal information and records. These letters are issued without prior judicial review, and provide no real means for an individual to challenge a permanent gag order.

Through news reports, we have been shocked to learn of the CIA’s practice of rendition, and the so-called “black sites,” secret locations in foreign countries, where abuse and interrogation have been exported, to escape the reach of U.S. laws protecting against human rights abuses.

We know that Vice President Dick Cheney has asked for exemptions for the CIA from the language contained in the McCain torture amendment banning cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment. Thank God his pleas have been rejected by this Congress.

Now comes the stomach-churning revelation through an executive order, that President Bush has circumvented both the Congress and the courts. He has usurped the Third Branch of government – the branch charged with protecting the civil liberties of our people – by directing the National Security Agency to intercept and eavesdrop on the phone conversations and e-mails of American citizens without a warrant, which is a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment. He has stiff-armed the People’s Branch of government. He has rationalized the use of domestic, civilian surveillance with a flimsy claim that he has such authority because we are at war. The executive order, which has been acknowledged by the President, is an end-run around the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which makes it unlawful for any official to monitor the communications of an individual on American soil without the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

What is the President thinking? Congress has provided for the very situations which the President is blatantly exploiting. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, housed in the Department of Justice, reviews requests for warrants for domestic surveillance. The Court can review these requests expeditiously and in times of great emergency. In extreme cases, where time is of the essence and national security is at stake, surveillance can be conducted before the warrant is even applied for.

This secret court was established so that sensitive surveillance could be conducted, and information could be gathered without compromising the security of the investigation. The purpose of the FISA Court is to balance the government’s role in fighting the war on terror with the Fourth Amendment rights afforded to each and every American.

The American public is given vague and empty assurances by the President that amount to little more than “trust me.” But, we are a nation of laws and not of men. Where is the source of that authority he claims? I defy the Administration to show me where in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or the U.S. Constitution, they are allowed to steal into the lives of innocent America citizens and spy.

When asked yesterday what the source of this authority was, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had no answer. Secretary Rice seemed to insinuate that eavesdropping on Americans was acceptable because FISA was an outdated law, and could not address the needs of the government in combating the new war on terror. This is a patent falsehood. The USA Patriot Act expanded FISA significantly, equipping the government with the tools it needed to fight terrorism. Further amendments to FISA were granted under the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2002 and the Homeland Security Act of 2002. In fact, in its final report, the 9/11 Commission noted that the removal of the pre-9/11 “wall” between intelligence officials and law enforcement was significant in that it “opened up new opportunities for cooperative action.”

The President claims that these powers are within his role as Commander in Chief. Make no mistake, the powers granted to the Commander in Chief are specifically those as head of the Armed Forces. These warrantless searches are conducted not against a foreign power, but against unsuspecting and unknowing American citizens. They are conducted against individuals living on American soil, not in Iraq or Afghanistan. There is nothing within the powers granted in the Commander in Chief clause that grants the President the ability to conduct clandestine surveillance of American civilians. We must not allow such groundless, foolish claims to stand.

The President claims a boundless authority through the resolution that authorized the war on those who perpetrated the September 11th attacks. But that resolution does not give the President unchecked power to spy on our own people. That resolution does not give the Administration the power to create covert prisons for secret prisoners. That resolution does not authorize the torture of prisoners to extract information from them. That resolution does not authorize running black-hole secret prisons in foreign countries to get around U.S. law. That resolution does not give the President the powers reserved only for kings and potentates.

I continue to be shocked and astounded by the breadth with which the Administration undermines the constitutional protections afforded to the people, and the arrogance with which it rebukes the powers held by the Legislative and Judicial Branches. The President has cast off federal law, enacted by Congress, often bearing his own signature, as mere formality. He has rebuffed the rule of law, and he has trivialized and trampled upon the prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizures guaranteed to Americans by the United States Constitution.

We are supposed to accept these dirty little secrets. We are told that it is irresponsible to draw attention to President Bush’s gross abuse of power and Constitutional violations. But what is truly irresponsible is to neglect to uphold the rule of law. We listened to the President speak last night on the potential for democracy in Iraq. He claims to want to instill in the Iraqi people a tangible freedom and a working democracy, at the same time he violates our own U.S. laws and checks and balances? President Bush called the recent Iraqi election “a landmark day in the history of liberty.” I dare say in this country we may have reached our own sort of landmark. Never have the promises and protections of Liberty seemed so illusory. Never have the freedoms we cherish seemed so imperiled.

These renegade assaults on the Constitution and our system of laws strike at the very core of our values, and foster a sense of mistrust and apprehension about the reach of government.

I am reminded of Thomas Payne’s famous words, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

These astounding revelations about the bending and contorting of the Constitution to justify a grasping, irresponsible Administration under the banner of “national security” are an outrage. Congress can no longer sit on the sidelines. It is time to ask hard questions of the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of the CIA. The White House should not be allowed to exempt itself from answering the same questions simply because it might assert some kind of “executive privilege” in order to avoid further embarrassment.

The practice of domestic spying on citizens should halt immediately. Oversight hearings need to be conducted. Judicial action may be in order. We need to finally be given answers to our questions: where is the constitutional and statutory authority for spying on American citizens, what is the content of these classified legal opinions asserting there is a legality in this criminal usurpation of rights, who is responsible for this dangerous and unconstitutional policy, and how many American citizens lives’ have been unknowingly affected?

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Impeachment,War, Privacy, Robert Byrd, NSA, Spying, CIA,
FBI

Technorati Tags: CIA, FBI, George Bush, Impeachment, NSA, Privacy, Robert Byrd, Spying, War