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Wednesday, February 20, 2008
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Captain's Quarters: "Despite suffering a landslide loss in parliamentary elections, Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has no intention to resign from office. After the successful and fair elections produced a lopsided coalition between Benazir Bhutto's PPP and Nawaz Sharif's PML-N, Sharif called for Musharraf to leave office. Sharif could make it impossible for Musharraf to stay."
"2008 pres"
6:56:12 PM 
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The Cherry Creek News: "The eight warmest years on record have all occurred in the last decade."
"2008 pres"
6:06:43 PM
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Political Wire: "The latest Evans-Novak Political Report notes that 'the complex, murky art of delegate counting, this much is clear: Obama has a slim lead but will need super-delegate help to win the nomination.'"
TalkLeft: "ABC News has a pretty thorough analysis of the status of things in Texas, and which way different demographics are breaking. There's three problems for Hillary in Texas, and they don't sound small: 1/3 of the delegates will be awarded based on a caucus held at the conclusion of the primary; Delegates are apportioned partially by Democratic voter turnout in prior elections; The primary is open to Independents."
Captain's Quarters: "It didn't take long for the Democratic Party establishment to react to Hillary Clinton's stunning loss in Wisconsin yesterday. A new 527 will raise money for a messaging onslaught in Texas and Ohio, funded by political strategists and deep-pocket donors who have ridden to Hillary's rescue."
Gene Kinsey in praise of Hillary Clinton: "Hillary won't quit. She can no more surrender than can a Borg. She'll keep coming with all the grace of a Terminator. And just like in the movies, Barack would do well to remember that even when it seems the machine is finished - it's not."
Daily Kos: "Tightening Race in Ohio: SurveyUSA. 2/17-18 (2/10-11). 733 likely voters. MoE 3.7%, Clinton 52% (56), Obama 43% (39). More bad news for Clinton, with her lead in this must-win state being cut in half in the past week, with two weeks to go to the primary. Obama gained the most ground among men and voters 18-34."
Political Wire: Sen. Barack Obama has opened a big national lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race, according to a new Reuters/Zogby poll. 'Obama also leads Republican front-runner John McCain in a potential November election match-up while Clinton trails McCain, enhancing Obama's argument he is the Democrat with the best shot at capturing the White House.'"
"2008 pres"
5:48:46 PM
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Andy Borowitz: "Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama responded today to Sen. Hillary Clinton's charge that he plagiarized a speech, saying of the controversy, 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.'"
Thanks to NewMexiKen for the link.
"2008 pres"
7:29:32 AM
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The Moderate Voice "And so voters in yet another primary state that Hillary Clinton never took seriously enough in her march to inevitability have added more fuel to Barack Obama's improbable quest, putting her a step closer to possible electoral oblivion. Another chapter was writ large in the extraordinary saga of the firestorm versus the firewall last night as Obama beat Clinton by a 58 to 41 percent margin in Wisconsin for his ninth straight win. To put Clinton's loss in stark relief, there was nothing positive in her showing and she did almost as poorly as Mike Huckabee in his lopsided loss to John McCain in a state that she had been expected to win...But with every negative ad and negative comment from Clinton and her surrogates, every effort to rig the nominating process to give her an edge, every murky statement that the campaign will be clear about its intentions, she widens the perceptual gulf that Obama represents the fresh and new while she represents the tired and old."
"2008 pres"
7:13:42 AM
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Political Wire: "Sen. Barack Obama 'won a landslide victory in the state of his birth last night as an unprecedented turnout at the Hawaii Democratic caucus overwhelmed precinct volunteers and party officials,' the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports. Obama beat Sen. Hillary Clinton, 76% to 24%, for his tenth straight victory. 'The tally totaled more than 37,000 votes, showing that turnout far surpassed even the highest estimates of Democratic Party officials.' The last caucus in 2004 had nearly 4,000 voters which was considered a strong turnout."
"2008 pres"
7:11:59 AM
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Here's a recap of a panel on ocean health this week's annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, from The Environment News Service. Read the whole article. Here are a few excerpts:
Climate change is transforming the world's oceans by increasing the temperature and acidity of seawater, and altering atmospheric and oceanic circulation, reported a panel of scientists this week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS, annual meeting in Boston. "The vastness of our oceans may have engendered a sense of complacency about potential impacts from global climate change," said Dr. Jane Lubchenco, a marine biologist at Oregon State University, who moderated the panel. "The world's oceans are undergoing profound physical, chemical and biological changes whose impacts are just beginning to be felt." Panelist Gretchen Hofmann, a molecular physiologist at the University of California-Santa Barbara, describes the situation as "multiple jeopardy." "Ocean ecosystems are facing new stresses and new combinations of stress," Hofmann said. "The water is warmer, circulation patterns are changing in unpredictable ways, and oceans are becoming acidic."[...}
Panelist Gretchen Hofmann, a molecular physiologist at the University of California-Santa Barbara, describes the situation as "multiple jeopardy." "Ocean ecosystems are facing new stresses and new combinations of stress," Hofmann said. "The water is warmer, circulation patterns are changing in unpredictable ways, and oceans are becoming acidic." Michael Behrenfeld, an oceanographer from Oregon State University, is studying relationships between climate and the global activity of ocean plants called phytoplankton. "Phytoplankton are of tremendous human importance because their photosynthesis yields oxygen for us to breathe and they are the base of the ocean food webs that support our global fisheries," Behrenfeld explained. Despite their microscopic size, ocean phytoplankton are responsible for about half of the photosynthesis on Earth, a process that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converts it into organic carbon to fuel nearly every ocean ecosystem. Using NASA satellites, Behrenfeld and other scientists are tracking changes in phytoplankton on a global basis and finding that warming ocean temperatures are linked to decreasing photosynthesis. Satellites aid understanding of the link between climate and ocean biology because they provide measurements of the whole planet on a daily basis, yet now the Behrenfeld worries that "we are facing the end of NASA ocean biology satellites because of budget cutbacks or new priorities." "Instead of facing the end of these critical missions and becoming blind to the changes occurring in our oceans," Behrenfeld said, "we should be building even better ones to see more clearly than we have in the past, and to gauge the potential consequences of climate change on ocean productivity."[...]
Rising greenhouse gas emissions are warming the world's oceans and providing a new threat to coral reefs, which already are among the most threatened of all marine ecosystems, the panelists say. Even modest warming of a degree or two above normal maximum temperatures can cause a breakdown in the relationship between corals and their symbiotic algae, zooxanthellae, said Nancy Knowlton, a marine biologist with the Smithsonian Institution. Without zooxanthellae, corals appear white, or "bleached," and grow more slowly. They also are more susceptible to disease and may not reproduce. In 1998 there were worldwide mass bleaching events, Knowlton pointed out, affecting 80 percent of the corals in the Indian Ocean, 20 percent of which died. In 2005, severe bleaching occurred over much of the Caribbean as a result of overly warm water temperatures. "We have already lost some 80 percent of the reef corals in the Caribbean over the last three decades, and losses in the Pacific Ocean also are widespread and severe," Knowlton said. "Reefs are like cities, with some parts growing and some parts being destroyed, and only when net growth is positive can reefs persist. These reefs already are under threat to overfishing and local pollution and unless drastic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is taken soon," she said, "these reefs will cease to exist as we know them."
These same greenhouse gas emissions also are creating dramatic buildup of atmospheric carbon dioxide, CO2, which is making the world's oceans more acidic, said panelist Scott Doney of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Current CO2 levels of 380 parts per million already are 30 percent higher than pre-industrial values and many scientific models predict that those rates will triple by the end of the century under "business as usual" scenarios. While much of the scientific attention on ocean acidification has looked at the impact of coral reefs, the potential danger to other marine ecosystems is equally severe, Doney said. "Ocean acidification harms plants and animals that form shells from calcium carbonate," he said. "Calcifying organisms include not just corals, but many plankton, pteropods [marine snails], clams and oysters, and lobsters. Many of these organisms provide critical food sources or habitats for other organisms and the impact of acidification on food webs and higher trophic levels is not well understood." "Newly emerging evidence suggests that larval and juvenile fish may also be susceptible to changes in ocean pH levels," Doney added. "Ocean acidification is rapidly becoming a real problem."
Two scientists at Los Alamos Laboratory are proposing a method for turning CO2 into fuel, according to The New York Times. From the article:
If two scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory are correct, people will still be driving gasoline-powered cars 50 years from now, churning out heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere -- and yet that carbon dioxide will not contribute to global warming. In a proposal by two scientists, vehicle emissions would no longer contribute to global warming. The scientists, F. Jeffrey Martin and William L. Kubic Jr., are proposing a concept, which they have patriotically named Green Freedom [pdf], for removing carbon dioxide from the air and turning it back into gasoline. The idea is simple. Air would be blown over a liquid solution of potassium carbonate, which would absorb the carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide would then be extracted and subjected to chemical reactions that would turn it into fuel: methanol, gasoline or jet fuel. This process could transform carbon dioxide from an unwanted, climate-changing pollutant into a vast resource for renewable fuels. The closed cycle -- equal amounts of carbon dioxide emitted and removed -- would mean that cars, trucks and airplanes using the synthetic fuels would no longer be contributing to global warming. Although they have not yet built a synthetic fuel factory, or even a small prototype, the scientists say it is all based on existing technology.
There is, however, a major caveat that explains why no one has built a carbon-dioxide-to-gasoline factory: it requires a great deal of energy. To deal with that problem, the Los Alamos scientists say they have developed a number of innovations, including a new electrochemical process for detaching the carbon dioxide after it has been absorbed into the potassium carbonate solution. The process has been tested in Dr. Kubic's garage, in a simple apparatus that looks like mutant Tupperware. Even with those improvements, providing the energy to produce gasoline on a commercial scale -- say, 750,000 gallons a day -- would require a dedicated power plant, preferably a nuclear one, the scientists say. According to their analysis, their concept, which would cost about $5 billion to build, could produce gasoline at an operating cost of $1.40 a gallon and would turn economically viable when the price at the pump hits $4.60 a gallon, taking into account construction costs and other expenses in getting the gas to the consumer. With some additional technological advances, the break-even price would drop to $3.40 a gallon, they said. A nuclear reactor is not required technologically. The same chemical processes could also be powered by solar panels, for instance, but the economics become far less favorable.
"2008 pres"
6:52:33 AM
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Here's an update on Powertech's proposed uranium mining operation in Weld County and the opposition from Fort Collins Now. From the article:
Though it's still months before any permit applications will be filed to conduct uranium mining in Northern Colorado, local government leaders and activists continue ramping up research and organizing efforts.
Last week, a board appointed by the Larimer County Commissioners wasn't ready to take a stand for or against the proposed mining operation, which is in neighboring Weld County but close to the county line. The Larimer County Environmental Advisory Board noted that "a number of risks are identified with (in-situ) operations," including threats to soil, air and water, but said the probability of those risks is still unknown...
Larimer County does not have permitting authority over the project, but other civic leaders have already announced formal opposition, most notably the Fort Collins City Council. County commissioners scheduled a public hearing on the matter for next week, which will include presentations by Powertech Uranium Corp., which wants to conduct the mining, and the main opponents' group, Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction.
Meanwhile, a new umbrella fundraising group that aims to help CARD is asking for small donations from as many residents as possible. Groups United Against Resource Destruction, GUARD, came about after opponents realized the need for fundraising to help support their Web site, www.nunnglow.com, and other projects. Founder John Schreck said GUARD would stick around regardless of the uranium mining project, in an effort to consolidate fundraising for other environmental advocacy groups. On Friday, he was finishing the tax paperwork to ask for classification as a non-profit group. "With Powertech being our mainstay adversary at this point, they are in the position of having millions of dollars to spend," he said. "I understand it is going to take a lot more than $10,000 or $20,000 to get this fight done." To that end, GUARD is hoping 100,000 residents will donate $5 each to help stop the mining operation. Schreck said the funds would be used to help CARD. "They will be hiring attorneys, a geologist, people in the scientific community, and a media contact, newspaper ads, radio ads, to bring all of Northern Colorado to a point of awareness," he said...
An immediate focus for GUARD, CARD and their members are two legislative proposals directly related to Powertech's planned mine. One of two mining-related bills is up again Wednesday, Feb. 20, before a Colorado House committee, which has already heard hours of testimony from mining opponents and industry experts. After an initial hearing that lasted well past dinnertime, officials from the mining industry met with bill sponsors Reps. John Kefalas and Randy Fischer, both Fort Collins Democrats, to hammer out some details. A second meeting took place last Friday and some amendments might be the result of those talks when the bill comes before the committee Wednesday. Testimony was closed at the previous hearing, so it's possible the bill could move forward Wednesday afternoon or meet its end in the committee. Some Republicans on the committee, including Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, have expressed skepticism in previous hearings. Fischer said last week that some committee members suggested tackling the issue in more depth in an interim committee over the summer. "There was a move to take this to a protracted interim committee, but we feel this needs to be done this session, this year," he said. "We think there's really some urgency around this issue, and we need to act in good faith for all the concerns that people up in Fort Collins and northern Larimer and Weld counties really have." Jeff Parsons, an attorney with the Western Mining Action Project, who works pro bono for the mining opponents, said delaying the bill until next year would render it ineffective. Powertech plans to apply for its dozens of permits in December, so legislative action in January 2009 might be too late. "Once that inertia builds, that's part of their strategy, I think, to make it seem like it's inevitable," he said. "And it's not."
Public Hearing: The Larimer County Commissioners are holding a public hearing on a proposal to mine for uranium in western Weld County, 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25, County Courthouse, 200 W. Oak St.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here, here, here and here.
"2008 pres"
6:08:20 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 2:08:59 PM.
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