Exclusive: No ice at the North Pole

Exclusive: No ice at the North Pole
Polar scientists reveal dramatic new evidence of climate change
By Steve Connor, Science EditorFriday, 27 June 2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-no-ice-at-the-north-pole-855406.html

It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.
The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer.
"From the viewpoint of science, the North Pole is just another point on the globe, but symbolically it is hugely important. There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water," said Mark Serreze of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado.
If it happens, it raises the prospect of the Arctic nations being able to exploit the valuable oil and mineral deposits below these a bed which have until now been impossible to extract because of the thick sea ice above.
Seasoned polar scientists believe the chances of a totally ice-free North Pole this summer are greater than 50:50 because the normally thick ice formed over many years at the Pole has been blown away and replaced by huge swathes of thinner ice formed over a single year.
This one-year ice is highly vulnerable to melting during the summer months and satellite data coming in over recent weeks shows that the rate of melting is faster than last year, when there was an all-time record loss of summer sea ice at the Arctic.
"The issue is that, for the first time that I am aware of, the North Pole is covered with extensive first-year ice – ice that formed last autumn and winter. I'd say it's even-odds whether the North Pole melts out," said Dr Serreze.
Each summer the sea ice melts before reforming again during the long Arctic winter but the loss of sea ice last year was so extensive that much of the Arctic Ocean became open water, with the water-ice boundary coming just 700 miles away from the North Pole.


This meant that about 70 per cent of the sea ice present this spring was single-year ice formed over last winter. Scientists predict that at least 70 per cent of this single-year ice – and perhaps all of it – will melt completely this summer, Dr Serreze said.
"Indeed, for the Arctic as a whole, the melt season started with even more thin ice than in 2007, hence concerns that we may even beat last year's sea-ice minimum. We'll see what happens, a great deal depends on the weather patterns in July and August," he said.
Ron Lindsay, a polar scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, agreed that much now depends on what happens to the Arctic weather in terms of wind patterns and hours of sunshine. "There's a good chance that it will all melt away at the North Pole, it's certainly feasible, but it's not guaranteed," Dr Lindsay said.
The polar regions are experiencing the most dramatic increase in average temperatures due to global warming and scientists fear that as more sea ice is lost, the darker, open ocean will absorb more heat and raise local temperatures even further. Professor Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University, who was one of the first civilian scientists to sail underneath the Arctic sea ice in a Royal Navy submarine, said that the conditions are ripe for an unprecedented melting of the ice at the North Pole.
"Last year we saw huge areas of the ocean open up, which has never been experienced before. People are expecting this to continue this year and it is likely to extend over the North Pole. It is quite likely that the North Pole will be exposed this summer – it's not happened before," Professor Wadhams said.
There are other indications that the Arctic sea ice is showing signs of breaking up. Scientists at the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Centre said that the North Water 'polynya' – an expanse of open water surrounded on all sides by ice – that normally forms near Alaska and Banks Island off the Canadian coast, is much larger than normal. Polynyas absorb heat from the sun and eat away at the edge of the sea ice.
Inuit natives living near Baffin Bay between Canada and Greenland are also reporting that the sea ice there is starting to break up much earlier than normal and that they have seen wide cracks appearing in the ice where it normally remains stable. Satellite measurements collected over nearly 30 years show a significant decline in the extent of the Arctic sea ice, which has become more rapid in recent years.

Why your campaign work counts, continued

McClatchy: Easing of laws that led to detainee abuse hatched in secret

WASHINGTON — The framework under which detainees were imprisoned for years without charges at Guantanamo and in many cases abused in Afghanistan wasn't the product of American military policy or the fault of a few rogue soldiers.

It was largely the work of five White House, Pentagon and Justice Department lawyers who, following the orders of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, reinterpreted or tossed out the U.S. and international laws that govern the treatment of prisoners in wartime, according to former U.S. defense and Bush administration officials.

The Supreme Court now has struck down many of their legal interpretations. It ruled last Thursday that preventing detainees from challenging their detention in federal courts was unconstitutional.

The quintet of lawyers, who called themselves the “War Council," drafted legal opinions that circumvented the military's code of justice, the federal court system and America's international treaties in order to prevent anyone — from soldiers on the ground to the president — from being held accountable for activities that at other times have been considered war crimes.

Michele Bachmann, petroengineer

Star Tribune Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:19:53 GMT
Bachmann has a plan to slash gas prices

Her DFL opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, said the energy legislation offers simple political solutions but lacks a comprehensive, environmentally sound strategy. ... Bachmann said her plan would lead to immediate relief at the gas pumps, because the market deals in futures. Tinklenberg disagreed, saying that conservative estimates indicate that increased oil supplies wouldn't significantly lower prices for several years and would leave the country's larger energy problems unsolved.

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I'm voting Republican (not)

Funny, and truthy. This video is worth watching just for the credits, which include "no Republicans were harmed in the making of this film"




h/t thereisnospoon on DailyKos

Why your work counts

Obama And Dean Team Up To Recast The Political Map

These might seem like ad-hoc measures. But if Sen. John Kerry had received ten additional votes per precinct in 2004, he would have won Iowa, Ohio, New Mexico, and, subsequently, the White House.

It's Obama

Star Tribune Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:54:51 GMT
Obama declares victory at raucous Xcel Energy Center rally

Barack Obama declared victory Tuesday night at a raucous rally at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul. "Tonight, after fifty-four hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end," he told thousands of supporters who had jammed the arena to witness an historic moment as Obama became the first black candidate in the nation's history to become a major party presidential nominee. The crowd of 17,000 exploded in an ear-splitting roar. "Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States," he said, setting off another roar even louder and longer. An additional 15,000 supporters watched the speech on a big screen outside the arena, according to fire officials. In prepared remarks, Obama praised his vanquished rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and took direct aim at John McCain, the Republican he will face in November.

Matthew Yglesias has something to say about the Audacity of Hope:

It's a fundamentally bold, hopeful brand of politics. And I think it's no coincidence that that theme's been at the center of his campaign. Relative to Clinton, you see two people with similar policy agendas. But Clinton comes from a school of politics that says liberalism can't really win on the questions of war and peace, identity and authenticity, crime and punishment. It says that we live in a fundamentally conservative nation, and that the savvy progressive politician kind of burrows in and tries to make the best of a bad situation. It's an attitude very much borne of the brutally difficult experience of organizing for McGovern in Texas and running for governor in Arkansas at the height of Reaganism. Relative to McCain, Obama thinks it's possible to accomplish things in the world. He thinks the United States faces a lot of serious international challenges, but doesn't see them as primarily driven by menacing and implacable foes. Obama thinks that a combination of visionary leadership and shrewd bargaining can greatly improve our ability to tackle key priorities without any great expenditure of our resources.

All in all, the pessimist in me sees it as an approach to politics designed to set us up for a hard fall when it fails. But in a deeper sense I find it incredibly appealing. To me, it's incredibly frustrating to hear that ideas "can't be done" not because they won't work, but because people know -- just know -- that they're not politically possible, even though they're things that have never been tried. I think almost every worthwhile accomplishment of progressive governance -- from the UN and NATO and the NPT to Medicare and Medicaid and Title I school aid to the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act to the ongoing feminist revolution that's completely transformed American society in a generation and a half with no sign of slowing down -- is the kind of thing that before it happened, a lot of people would have said that it couldn't happen. And of course sometimes the pessimists are right, but unless you sometimes assume they're wrong then nothing's ever going to happen.

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NEMP(N.E. Metro Progressives): May Meeting Notes

To: NEMP

MEETING NOTES (5/22/08)

*THE PROGRESSIVE MAJORITY: Gia Vitali, organizer for The Progressive Majority provided a report on her organization. They are a national group promoting and assisting local and state candidates with progressive ideals. Locally for example, they helped John Nephew win his seat on the Maplewood City Council to tip the balance in Maplewood government toward progressive thought and away from autocratic, right-wing dominance. Gia explained how they worked with John Nephew, a non-politician, to shape his campaign.

Progressive Majority is focused not just on the next election, but on building a progressive political movement that will elect an enduring majority for years to come. They now operate in six states, but they hope to add new candidates until the power shifts in the top 24 battleground states. They have to date recruited and elected more than 200 candidates, winning in 56% of the elections where they have been active.

We failed to ask Gia if they have considered joining Kate Christopher in her effort to unseat Matt Dean (ultra-right) in District 52-B, which includes Mahtomedi. Matt Dean now represents some of our NEMP members and perhaps they could follow up with Gia. Her phone number is 612-332-9553. Their web-site is

www.progressivemajority.org.

*ANTI-WAR PROTESTORS: Rick Gilman made an appeal for help in housing anti-war protesters who are in town for the Republican convention.

*LOBBYISTS, MONEY, &, TRANSPARENCY: Stan Hilliard provided a video of Bill Moyer's interview with investigative reporter, David Heath. We examined the influence of money on politicians through large campaign donations and lobbying. David Heath tracked and linked relationships between political contributions and earmarks that benefited the contributors. Much of this money comes from defense industries and other big corporate interests. Here are a few of the many examples: 1) A night vision device was considered unusable junk by the military but purchased anyway with money earmarked by a Representative after receiving donation from the manufacturer. 2) A large boat, of no use to the Navy, was purchased anyway with money earmarked by a representative after receiving donation from the manufacturer. The boat is now used by the local sheriff's office. 3) A type of polyester T-shirt was banned by the military for use in Iraq because IED's can cause them to melt into a soldier's skin. But these t-shirts were re-ordered anyway with money earmarked by a Representative after receiving donations from the manufacturer.

The reporters only tracked earmarks involving a few representatives from their own state of Washington. Projecting these abuses to all 435 congress- persons suggests a system of massive money-influence and abuse of power. It was obvious the both Democrats and Republicans are engaged in this process. Senator Patty Murray of Washington was featured in the some of this video.

Hidden from public view, specific abuses involved extensive work to identify because the earmarks do not appear in the federal budget. An investigative team had to do massive data analysis correlating unsigned earmarks from conference reports to the congress-person through statements on their websites, and relate that to campaign contributions. It was obvious that a transparent process would have these reports linked together into one database and available to the public via the internet, rather than hiding them in arcane records.

It is clear that the military-industrial-congressional complex is alive and well, beyond our worst dreams. In an interesting observation, Rick Gilman reminded us that Eisenhower's speech writers deleted the word congressional from his initially written draft. 'Why We Fight' is a documentary all should view.

It was also noted that public financing of election campaigns would help eliminate much of the above.

*LOBBYING IN MINNESOTA: Bob Schmitz presented data and observations regarding the pervasive and perverse influence of lobbyist at out state capitol, gained as an advocate for Green Party issues during the last two sessions. Some numbers speak for themselves:

- Over 60 million was spent in the 2007 session by registered lobbying groups, up from the 53 million of 2006. - This amount equals about $300,000 per legislator. - There are 7 registered lobbyists in our legislative halls per each legislator. - 50 former legislators are now lobbyists, including Roger Moe who represents 3-M. Some were lobbyists before entering the legislature, such as Senator Kathy Saltzman of Woodbury. The system is seamless. - Minnesota is the #1 state in per capita spending by lobbyists.

A modest reform attempt which would have prohibited lobbying for one year after leaving the legislature could not pass last year. The house bill sponsored by Karla Bigham of Cottage Grove was not allowed to reach the floor by Gene Pelowski of Winona, who chairs the Government Operations Committee. He was dismissive and arrogant to the Greens when they attempted to discuss this bill with him. Senator Marty's bill did reach the Senate floor and failed on a tie vote of 33-33. We should note that Senator Wiger and Rep Slawik supported these bills. 90% of our citizens would support this limitation on seamless lobbying, but our esteemed legislators did not. Why? Why does the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce spend 1.6 million per year to lobby our legislature? Why did 'Minnesotans Against Fraud and Higher Insurance Costs' spend 1 million late in the 2006-2007 session to fight a bill which required insurance companies to pay legitimate claims by their policy holders? This lobby was formed late in the session by a coalition of insurance companies?

When our Green group of three met in the Transportation Dept Cafeteria in the a.m. to plan the day, it was revealing to observe large gatherings of vested interests going over strategy with their hired guns.

To learn more go the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board's website, cfboard.state.mn.us. Other sources include the Center for Public Integrity at

www.public integrity.org/hiredguns. Professor David Schultz (651-523-2858) of Hamline University has also researched the issue.
*Constitution: Paul Cocoanto briefly discussed the Declaration of Independence and the preamble as they relate to the views of so-called luminaries, Pastor John Hagge &, James Dobson et al.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Next Meeting: 6/19/08 10AM Ramsey Co Library Southlawn W. of Mplwd Mall

Agenda: Janet O'Connell on asbestosis, mesothelium and the taconite industry. Should we allow taconite tailings in our road beds? The role of Elwin Tinklenberg's public relations firm as a lobbyists for mining interests and road builders. Tinklenberg (DFL endorsed) is running against Bachmann in the 6th District. Should we apply the lesser of two evils approach at election time? Recent legislation on this subject: Good, Bad or OK?

Should we sponsor a public showing of "WHY WE FIGHT" in the library community room?

Facilitator: Paul Cocoanto