by Loren Adams, 7 February 2010
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
The clock ticks away toward the no-turning-back drop-dead-date. We may
have already passed the point of no return.
Obama’s hasty appearance at Copenhagen was complete buffoonery. (Who’s
his Chief of Staff? Rahm Emanuel?) A long-scheduled international conference as
important as this should have been planned far in advance. Instead, the
President was seen caught off-guard by overlapping events and mishaps. It was
embarrassing to say the least. The US did not have a viable, firm proposal to
combat climate change. Instead, US reps singled out China for its non-cooperation.
Who are they kidding?
This is the biggest fiasco of the Obama administration with its millions
of environmentalist supporters. It should have been a great success story.
Instead, the President was viewed as pleading for some kind of agreement to
take back home as proof he’d been there — nothing of quality but rather
empty, toothless pledges. All the while the planet dies, or rather, the human
race becomes extinct from its own self-inflicted wounds.
Either Obama is not the person his speeches represent or his staff is
sorely lacking qualities necessary to implement the “change” we were promised.
I believe much of his staff is from the old-guard Democratic establishment, the
same washed-out guys that brought us defeat after defeat — so long in
Washington, they suffer myopia like their Republican counterparts. But Obama
should have known better; the buck stops there.
2010 CLIMATE
This coming spring and early summer looks like another major destructive
tornado season. The higher snowpack on the Rockies, the more tornadoes on the
Plains. As Earth’s oceans increase in temperature, the clash between tropical
and Arctic air results in more tornadic activity. But if the snowpack is low,
tornadic opportunity decreases. Significant mountain snows thus far look
certain, and since we know the oceans are becoming warmer each year from
climate change, clashes of air masses will be more frequent and turbulent.
Warmer ocean waters also increase the likelihood of more Category 3-5
hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons. The US escaped Katrina-like storms since
2005, but 2010 could see the return.
At some point in the near future, Greenland’s glaciers will melt into the
Atlantic on a massive scale, resulting in diverting the Gulf Stream away from
Europe. This process happened before in Earth's distant past, scientists
explain.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,661192,00.html
http://www.ec.gc.ca/EnviroZine/images/Issue48/melt_e_l.gif
When cold waters from Greenland’s melting ice sheet collide with warm
waters flowing north from Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, the
current is diverted southward — leaving Europe exposed to very harsh
winters. A European mini-Ice Age ensues. England is nearly as far north as
Alaska; the only element modifying it to temperate zone is the Gulf Stream;
same for all Western Europe. In a nutshell, without a Gulf Steam, Europe
freezes.
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMILF638FE_planet_0.html
World scientists widely claim this will happen in the future and see
evidence of it taking place now as huge chunks of Greenland’s ice sheet breaks
off into the Atlantic. Same for Antarctica. Inhabited South Pacific islands are
disappearing as sea levels rise. (But who can persuade Palin, Beck and
Limbaugh?)
The climate, again, will be the lead story in years ahead. Naturally,
the deniers and detractors will be present to dispute science every step of the
way, same type that denied the earth was round 600 years ago and 100 years ago
— dinosaurs roamed the planet before man.
AFGHANISTAN
Obama's 30,000 surge may provide temporary relief to the Hamid Karzai
regime, but not to Afghanistan's long-term security.
Now that Obama is in charge and Afghans correctly perceive the 2009
election was rigged by Bush's friend, Hamid Karzai, it's only natural Afghans
would rebel by ceding power back to the Taliban.
Afghanistan is called "the Graveyard of Empires." Starting
with Alexander the Great, to Genghis Khan, continuing with the British Empire
and finally the Soviet Union, all have ended their empires on the mountains of
Afghanistan. Is American next?
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/57411/milton-bearden/afghanistan-graveyard-of-empires
The original pre-911 US threat to the Taliban still rings in my ears:
“Either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet
of bombs.” The US Government under Bush, representing the interests of oil
conglomerates, were negotiating with the Taliban over rights to build a
pipeline across Afghanistan.
http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/CK20Ag01.html
Thus, Afghans view their own government corrupt from its own
machinations and past-ties with a former discredited US president.
The original objective in 2001 was to catch Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, then
come home. Nine years later, we're still propping up the weak Karzai regime.
America has wasted TRILLIONS on Bush's war games, thousands of American
and millions of indigenous' lives – all to no avail. How long before the empire
falls under the weight of debt, a depleted military, and a collapsing dollar?
In this regard, Obama's campaign promises do not line up with his
present actions. Supporters used to believe he had more intelligence than the
43rd.
MID-TERM 2010
I now see the Democratic Party losing around 25 seats in the House and 2
in the Senate — not significant. However, the leadership, especially in
the Senate, is ineffectual. Therefore, any bill Obama wants Congress to pass
will be tedious — despite large majorities — because the leadership
lacks spine and places consensus over conviction.
The junior senator from Rhode Island, Sheldon Whitehouse, should take
the lead — but cannot because of Senate rules of seniority.
Al Franken is also an excellent new senator who isn’t afraid to speak
his mind. (What’s he got to lose? He can always go back to his day job.)
CONCLUSION: The year 2010 will be remembered as the continuance of
America’s Great Spiraling Down – not from Republican obstinacy, but
Democratic Party leaders’ weakness.