Warming in the western mountains

Decline in Snowpack Is Blamed On Warming:
Water Supplies In West Affected

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 1, 2008; Page A01

The persistent and dramatic decline in the snowpack of many mountains in the West is caused primarily by human-induced global warming and is not the result of natural variability in weather patterns, researchers reported yesterday.

Read the rest here.

My note: We need to look hard at how changing precipitation patterns may affect water in North Carolina. If we continute to assume that future growth can depend on past water conditions we may be in for some very rude surprises. I note that electric utilities announced recently that if the current drought continues, nuclear power plants in the southeast will be forced to cut back or shut down completely.

How the war affects us all

Radio interview podcast/stream

Nadia Shamsedin interviewed me on MLK Day on her Republic Broadcasting show, Escape from Freedom. We discussed my recent book, The Prince of War: Billy Graham’s Crusade for a Wholly Christian Empire. Because of the holiday, there was particular attention on Graham’s adversarial relationship with Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (essentially addressed to Graham), Graham’s disparaging remarks following “I Have a Dream” and so forth.

You can download a podcast or stream it here.

(You’ll need to scroll down to January 21, and if you find this post after January, you may need to first select the month.)

Sibel Edmonds versus the monster*

More than five years ago, Sibel Edmonds blew the whistle on U.S. officials involved in selling nuclear secrets to Turkey, thence to Pakistan and beyond. Edmonds had been a translator for the FBI and had reviewed hundreds of communications. She has testified in closed congressional committee sessions, she has delivered her evidence to Rep. Henry Waxman. At the time, Waxman said a Republican majority in the House prevented him from holding hearings. What is he waiting for now? Call Waxman. Demand full public hearings. We need to know.

And why is the U.S. main stream media ignoring this story? The Times is all over it.

Read a timeline on the Edmonds case on the ACLU Web site.

Go to Sibel Edmonds’ Web site.

Phone Rep. Henry Waxman, demand public hearings. (202) 225-3976

Contact Sen. Patrick Leahy here.

Contact the House Judiciary Committee, here.

*as used here, “monster” represents a tip of the hat to 60s rockers, Steppenwolf.

“America, where are you now, don’t you care about your sons and daughters?

Don’t you know, we need you now, we can’t fight alone against the monster.”

New lawyer for Medford

Former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford was sporting a new beard when he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis Howell today for appointment of his new legal counsel. The reddish growth looked to be a week old or thereabouts.

Howell had previously ruled that attorney Bob Long would face a conflict of interest in representing both Jackie Shepherd and Medford. Shepherd faces trial on gambling charges which might easily overlap Medford’s case. Today he assigned Asheville attorney Stephen Lindsay to the case. Howell had also ruled that Medford qualified for partial financial assistance with his defense. Based on the ex-sheriff’s reported $5,200 per month income and his expenses, Howell ruled that he must pay $750 per month toward his defense.

While Howell had previously ruled that Long could continue to represent Medford in his detention appeal, but today it was announced that Lindsay would also act as counsel in that case. Judge Thomas Selby Ellis III will hear that appeal Jan. 15. Ellis, of the Eastern Virginia District Federal Court will also preside over the trials of Shepherd, Medford and several co-defendants, beginning in March.

Ellis, a senior judge, is best known for his involvement in sentencing of the so-called “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh, and for his rejection of a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Khalid Al Masri, a German citizen who was abducted, tortured and held in a “black” CIA prison for several months before it was discovered that it was a case of mistaken identity. Masri was seeking restititution from the U.S. for his abuse, but Ellis ruled that the likelihood of exposure of CIA secrets posed a security threat to the U.S. and so blocked the case from going forward.

How heavy is your footprint?

American Radio Works has a fun little game on their Web site that lets you calculate how many planets would be necessary to support the world’s population if everyone lived like you. This one is fun and informative, though just a tad slow to load. Click here.

(I couldn’t make the “play” arrow work on this blog, so click up there, or click here.)

A new year video worth watching

Apparently YouTube has removed this video more than once because it was “flagged” by some religionists who are offended by history, archaeology, astronomy and other sinful sciences. The current version is only permitted to be posted with several seconds deleted. You decide. I think the religionists who have flagged this one are a threat to our children, given that they prefer hiding truth to studying it. We dare not let them get their hands on the curriculum.

But judge this for yourself. I gave it FIVE STARS.

The woman who knew too much?

Bhutto’s comment in passing in this November interview with David Frost is fascinating. She refers to the man who murdered Osama bin Laden.

I wonder if they also got the man who plays bin Laden in the CIA tapes?

Hitchens knocks one over the fence

I finally got around to reading Christopher Hitchens latest, God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Twelve Books, 2007). Whew! I find it difficult to believe that any religionist can offer cogent counterarguments to his condemnation of the fundamental immorality and ethical failure of all major organized religions. He explains how religions have actually and repeatedly harmed public health efforts, endorsed genocide, approved of slavery, and aided every other sort of evil while amassing power and wealth. Relegating religion to our species’ childhood, he suggests that it is long past time to abandon myth and embrace science and reason. I couldn’t agree more. Good stuff.

Olbermann on waterboarding