Dirty Air Act (TRAIN) Passes the House?

MoonHowler

From Huffington Post:

The U.S. House of Representatives forwarded a bill on Friday that environmental leaders warn would undermine the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to curb air pollution and protect public health. Green groups are now urging the Senate and President Barack Obama to stand strong — and avoid a repeat of recent environmental health failures, such as the shelving of proposed ozone and greenhouse gas standards.

“The Tea Party House has passed, with ease, the most radical dirty-air legislation in the history of this country,” John Walke, the clean air director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told HuffPost. “It absolutely eviscerates the legal standards for adopting emissions limits under the Clean Air Act.”

Introduced by Rep. John Sullivan (R-Okla.), the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation (TRAIN) Act would create a special committee to oversee the EPA’s rules and regulations, and require the agency to consider economic impacts on polluters when it sets standards concerning how much air pollution is too much. For the last 41 years, since passage of the Clean Air Act, only scientific and medical considerations have been allowed in that analysis.

“This results in lying to the American people about whether the air is healthy or not,” said Walke.

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Something new to kill us

MoonHowler

If you survived the earthquake, Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, and all the flooding, there is another chance to defy the odds.  It seems that now a man-made satellite the size of a school bus will come crashing to earth.  Scientists are unsure of the exact location. 

According to the Washington Post:

It’s the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS — YOU-arz — and it’s currently tumbling in orbit and succumbing to Earth’s gravity. It will crash to the surface Friday.

Or maybe Thursday. Or Saturday.

Out-of-control crashing satellites don’t lend themselves to exact estimates even for the precision-minded folks at NASA. The uncertainty about the “when” makes the “where” all the trickier, because a small change in the timing of the reentry translates into thousands of miles of difference in the crash site.

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From Gerry Connolly: Snakes on a Plane in Congress

MoonHowler

 

 

 

From the Gerry Connolly website:

Release: Snakes on a Plane In Congress
Sep 14 2011
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has held 22 hearings attacking federal regulations, but not a single hearing on job creation, Congressman Gerry Connolly, a member of the committee, lamented today.

Connolly said Wednesday’s hearing bordered on theater of the absurd when the majority brought in a snake breeder who urged Congress to repeal regulations associated with the Lacey Act of 1900, a law that controls the importation of dangerous and invasive plant and animal species.

The majority’s witness, David Barker of the Association of Reptile Breeders, argued for the elimination of an Interior Department rule that would ban the transportation across state lines of giant Burmese pythons and eight other dangerous snakes. “These pythons are the same snakes that are breeding rapidly, overrunning the Everglades, eating every animal in sight including large alligators, and establishing a permanent habitat in South Florida, according to the National Park Service,” Connolly said.

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Damn those Grizzlies

MoonHowler

Yellowstone National Park, August 26, hiker  John Wallace, 59, was found dead along the Mary Mountain Trail. An autopsy confirmed he was killed by  a grizzly  the day before he was found, according to information the park released Friday.  Now Yellowstone authorities report that they have captured a 450 p0und 25 year old male grizzly as the suspect.  DNA testing will be done to determine if this grizzly is the killer.  If confirmed, the grizzly will be killed.

There have been 2 deaths by grizzly so far this year in Yellowstone.  Heretofore, there have been seven deaths attributed to grizzly bear since the inception of Yellowtone in 1872.  About 3 million people visit Yellowstone annually and there is an average of 1 bear injury per year.  However, three of the deaths have been in the past year. 

Why will the bear be killed?  Isn’t that what bears do?  They are wild animals.  Stories of the west all include our heroes getting into life or death conflicts with grizzly bears.  It appears that man is trespassing on grizzly bear turf, not the other way around. 

 

As one of those geeks who has driven up the mountain in Yellowstone to gawk at grizzlies, I can attest to the fact that people are fools.  People set up tripods and move far away from their cars.   I have never seen anyone allow a bear as close as in the video, however.  That is just suicidal.   There is always a raft of tourists out watching the bears eat.  Even though it appears that the bears are  a great distance from you, it is still a good idea to be able to get to safety immediately.  A bear can always approach from a different direction, undetected.  I have also seen fools go out and stick a camera in the face of a buffalo.  People forget that wild animals are…WILD and unpredictable. 

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Climate Change-the new wedge issue

MoonHowler

 

Melting Glacier in Glacier National Park: Before and After

The Washington Post:

“Climate change has become a wedge issue,” said Roger Pielke Jr., a University of Colorado professor who has written extensively on the climate debate. “It’s today’s flag-burning or today’s partial-birth-abortion issue.”

Historically, climate change has ranked near the bottom of issues that voters care about as they evaluate presidential candidates. It wasn’t a factor in 2008’s primary season or general election. The major parties’ nominees endorsed the scientific consensus and believed that the government should curb carbon emissions.

In fact, John McCain, back in 2007  clearly said to voters,

“I do agree with the majority of scientific opinion, that climate change is taking place and it’s a result of human activity, which generates greenhouse gases.” He made global warming a key element of every New Hampshire stump speech.

So what has changed?  It appears that some Republican candidates are trying to  out-conservative each other.  Others have stuck with scientific thought.  Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman have both indicated  that they  agree with the majority of scientific opinion, that climate change is taking place.   It’s a result of human activity and that green house gases are a by product of this human activity:

The nominal GOP front-runner, Mitt Romney, drew sharp fire from conservatives when he said in June that he accepts the scientific view that the planet is getting warmer and that humans are part of the reason. Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr. (R) on Thursday tweeted: “To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.”

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Kiss the NNSA good bye

MoonHowler

 

 

From Wikipedia:

The United States National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is part of the United States Department of Energy. It works to improve national security through the military application of nuclear energy. The NNSA also maintains and improves the safety, reliability, and performance of the United States nuclear weapons stockpile, including the ability to design, produce, and test, in order to meet national security requirements.

Basically these are the guys that go in to countries and obtain the most dangerous material in the world. The Peace SEALS, as it were.

The National Nuclear Security Administrations was created by Congressional action in 1999,[2] in the wake of the Wen Ho Lee spy scandal and other allegations that lax administration by the Department of Energy had resulted in the loss of U.S. nuclear secrets to China.[3] Originally proposed to be an independent agency, NNSA gained the reluctant support of the Clinton Administration only after it was instead chartered as a sub-agency within the Department of Energy, to be headed by an Administrator reporting to the Secretary of Energy.[4] The first NNSA Administrator appointed was Air Force General (and CIA Deputy Directory) John A. Gordon.[5]

NNSA has four missions with regard to National Security:

  • To manage the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.
  • To reduce global danger from weapons of mass destruction and to promote international nuclear safety and nonproliferation.
  • To provide the United States Navy with safe, militarily effective nuclear propulsion plants and to ensure the safe and reliable operation of those plants.
  • To support United States leadership in science and technology

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Amoeba infection caused boy’s death

MoonHowler

A nine year old boy has died of  an infection caused by amoebas    according to the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Her [Dr. Keri Hall]  department received results from an autopsy Friday that confirmed the cause of death as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, which is caused by Naegleria fowleri. She said the amoebas, which swim up the nose and enter the brain, live in freshwater bodies around the world.

Hall’s department has not tested area lakes, ponds and rivers where Christian spent time with a fishing camp the week before his death. Her department will “probably” do testing at various ponds and lakes in the region, but she said she doesn’t know when the tests will be conducted and doesn’t expect the sampling to be “particularly helpful.”

The amoebas are particularly prevalent in shallow, still water during warm weather. But since Christian died, temperatures have dropped, and the amoeba population likely has fallen off as a result, Hall said.

The parents said that the child had attended a fishing camp for children.  The Virginia Health Department might not ever learn where the child picked up the fatal amoeba.  The department advises against swimming in ponds and lakes or anywhere the water is not moving. 

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Teenager killed by Mexican vampire bat

MoonHowler

  • WARNING:  Video is very graphic.

    Huffingtonpost.com:

    U.S. health authorities have announced the first death by a vampire bat in the United States.

    According to the AFP, on July 15, 2010, a 19-year-old man was bitten by a vampire bat in Michoacan, Mexico. Ten days later, the migrant farm worker left for the U.S. to pick sugar cane at a Louisiana plantation. He fell sick, presenting symptoms of fatigue, shoulder pain, numbness in his left hand and a drooping left eye.

    Tests later confirmed that the teenager had rabies.  There is no cure for rabies and the youth died within days after his family took him off life support.  The only time rabies can be stopped is before the onset of symptos.  This is the first human death from vampire bat rabies in the United States.  To date, no vampire bats exist in the United States. According to the CDC:

     “Although vampire bats currently are found only in Latin America, research suggests that the range of these bats might be expanding as a result of changes in climate. Expansion of vampire bats into the United States likely would lead to increased bat exposures to both humans and animals (including domestic livestock and wildlife species) and substantially alter rabies virus dynamics and ecology in the southern United States.”

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    • The Lunar Landing 42 years ago

    MoonHowler

    A day late…but July 20, 1969 was the Lunar Landing, the day man first landed on the surface of the moon in a little space capsule named Apollo 11.  It is hard to imagine how little we knew back then and how rudimentary our tools were.  Much of the landing was done with computers but not the computers you and I know today.  It all seems so long ago and looking back, so very impossible.  I can remember our hearts being in our throats the entire time.  Would they make it back alive?

    How terribly sad that our Manned space program is all but ending.  Ironic that the last space shuttle is almost ready to return to earth, never to slip into the wild blue yonder again.   Wallops Island is no Kennedy Space Center.  That is a downgrade I don’t even want to consider. 

    Have we become so complacent or so full of our own knowledge that we can just quit?  I think America deserves better.  We are better than this. 

    Mother Nature is a Bitch

    MoonHowler

    Once again, Iceland shows us the fire and ice.  There seems to be an awful lot of geothermal activity lately.  New Zealand, Japan, and Indonesia all seem to been very active the past year or so.  Does all of this mean something?

    Perhaps Iceland is just having a soil-renewal event.  Grimsvotn volcano errupted for the first time since 2004.  The plume goes 12 miles into the atmosphere. 

     

    Four planets align in this week’s early morning skies

    MoonHowler

    Grab that coffee early and head outside. You will be in for a real treat this week.
    Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus will be putting on quite a display for us earthlings.

    [yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__RLPmenKeo’]

    The best time to look is about 45 minutes before dawn, or around 5:30 a.m., according to astronomy magazine www.skypub.com.

    Look to the eastern horizon and find a brightly-glowing planet to begin the show. Mars will be the dimmest of the quartet, so a pair of binoculars wouldn’t hurt, NASA says.

     

     

    High school senior leads Louisiana fight against anti-evolution law

    MoonHowler

    Senior Zack Kopplin, age 17, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is leading the charge against a law that allows creationism to have equal time with evolution in Louisiana high schools.  Kopplin attends Baton Rouge Magnet High School,  and has been leading a campaign against the state’s Science Education Act since last summer.  He has organized students, faculties, clergy, and business leaders to support the repeal of the law and has the support of at least 40 Nobel laureates.

    According to Washington Post:

    The single most important reason why I took on this repeal was jobs,” Kopplin told me. “This law makes it harder for Louisiana students to get cutting-edge science-based jobs after we graduate, because companies like Baton Rouge’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center are not going to trust our science education with this law on the books.”

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    The Vanishing of the Bees

    MoonHowler

    Albert Einstein warned  of two approaching apocalypses: nuclear annihilation and the disappearance of  bees. He said:

    “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left.”

    Vanishing of the Bees – Trailer from Bee The Change on Vimeo.

    For about the past 5 years there has been an occasional alarm raised about the disappearance of what is commonly known as the honey bee. This reduction in the bee populations has sent an alarm through the scientific community that something is wrong. The condition of the vanishing bees is known as Colony Collapse Disorder.

    At least 1/3rd of every bite that goes into our mouths is made possible by bees because of pollination. This simply isn’t something we can do for ourselves.

    What is causing CCD? Pesticides? Emissions? Just a normal bee cycle?
    Do we just blow this off as liberal BS? Is it worth the risk? Many people worry about what debt will do to their children and grandchildren. What will no food do to them?

    Just something to think about.

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    Will March 19 ‘Supermoon’ Trigger Natural Disasters?

    MoonHowler

    An article was published March 10, 2011 about astrologers thinking that the super large moon on March 19 would trigger natural disasters.  March 10th was the day before the horrible 9.1 earthquake that set of the chain of events that has crippled the nation of Japan. 

    According to Yahoo. com:

    On March 19, the moon will swing around Earth more closely than it has in the past 18 years, lighting up the night sky from just 221,567 miles (356,577 kilometers) away. On top of that, it will be full. And one astrologer believes it could inflict massive damage on the planet.

    Richard Nolle, a noted astrologer who runs the website astropro.com, has famously termed the upcoming full moon at lunar perigee (the closest approach during its orbit) an “extreme supermoon.”

    When the moon goes super-extreme, Nolle says, chaos will ensue: Huge storms, earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters can be expected to wreak havoc on Earth. (It should be noted that astrology is not a real science, but merely makes connections between astronomical and mystical events.)

    But do we really need to start stocking survival shelters in preparation for the supermoon?

    Judging from the past week, the answer must be YES.  We have had  earthquakes, tsunamis,  nuclear disasters, and volcanic eruptions. Read More

    8.9 Earthquake Hits Japan

    MoonHowler

    An 8.9 earthquake hit Japan near Tokyo during the night.   It was around 2 in the afternoon in Japan when the earthquake hit.  The epicenter was right off the coast.  Tsunamis have hit Japan.  Hawaii and the entire Pacific Basin are under tsunami warning meaning imminent danger.  Our entire west coast line, Canada and Alaska are under this warning. 

    Pictures coming in of the tsunamis already hitting Japan have been in TV all night.  This earthquake is the largest in Japan since such data has been recorded. 

    We will use this thread for updates.