The Heat Isn't Just the Southwest US

I think the news that it's hitting 120 degrees in Phoenix today and being so hot all over the Southwest US is getting around. That seems clear.

What isn't also clear is the heat on another continent.

Heatwave scorches Europe, 

from London to Siberia

Europe sizzled in a continent-wide heatwave on Wednesday, with London seeing Britain's hottest June day since 1976 as Portugal battled to stamp out deadly forest fires.

More than 1,000 firefighters were still fighting to control the flames that broke out in central Portugal at the weekend, killing 64 people.

Cooler weather was aiding their efforts, but thermometers were still hovering around 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit)—a level matched across oven-like swathes of Europe, including Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and even alpine Switzerland.

Two forest fires have also broken out since Sunday on Croatia's southern Adriatic coast, prompting the authorities to evacuate 800 tourists, though the blazes have now been brought under control.In Italy, forecasters say the current heatwave could turn out to be the most intense in 15 years, with temperatures around eight degrees above the seasonal average—39 C in Milan and up to 30 in the Alps at an altitude of 1,000 metres (3,300 feet).

Britain saw its first five-day stretch of temperatures over 30 degrees in June since 1995—and the thermometer hit 33.9 C in west London, a UK record for the month since 1976.

In Guildford, southwest of the capital, a road surface melted on Tuesday, with motorists likening it to a bar of chocolate left out in the hot sun.

In Russia, Siberia was also suffering a heatwave, with temperatures of up to 37 Celsius in the city of Krasnoyarsk, Channel One television reported.

It's gotten so clear there's global warming, apparently, even the extreme Right Wing website, Breitbart,  posted the same story.

Heatwave scorches Europe, 

from London to Siberia

So, yeah, it looks like 2017 is shaping up to be, again, the new hottest year in recorded history.

Maybe we need those Paris Climate Accords after all.

Signs of Hope, In Spite of This President and Congress

What so many of us need just now, hope. Hope of any and every real, tangible sort. So here you go, here we are:

Crowd Scientists Say Women’s March in Washington Had 3 Times as Many People as Trump’s Inauguration

Defiant Voices Flood U.S. Cities as Women 

Rally for Rights

Pictures From Women's Marches 

on Every Continent

The Radical Possibility of the Women’s March

‘Real America’ helped make Saturday’s protests the biggest in U.S. history

Even local signs of hope, literal and figurative.

Best part of KC Women’s Rally? The signs — and the passion to fight Trump

So let's not lose hope, folks. We have to keep working. We have to keep fighting. We have to stay positive. We can't let negativity or cynicism overtake us.

Additional links:

In Solidarity: Women's Marches Across the World - Video - NYTimes.com

Climate Talks In Paris: The Story That's Not Being Covered

So, sure, there are climate change talks going on between 150 nations and it's widely agreed we all need to come to conclusions and goals but.....   in the meantime, there is a rather huge story going on that is extremely pertinent but that isn't being reported much, if at all, by American media. It is this:

Northern China is suffering under a cloud of heavy pollution that is bigger than Spain

As the Paris climate change summit kicks off, China, the world’s leading carbon-emitting country, is choked in pollution. The Ministry of Environmental Protection said Sunday (Nov. 29) (link in Chinese) that heavy smog had covered China’s north, including Beijing, for three days in a row. The haze had reached 530,000 square kilometers ( 204,634 square miles) by Nov. 28.

That is even bigger than the total area of Spain, or California.

The air quality index (AQI) for the fine particulate matter known as PM 2.5 had reached “very unhealthy” or “hazardous” levels in 23 cities in the combined Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and surrounding regions on Nov. 28, the ministry said. At one time on Nov. 29, PM 2.5 in Beijing reached 429 micrograms per cubic meter, 17 times the recommended limit by the World Health Organization. The reading of Beijing’s AQI was still “hazardous” at 2pm Hong Kong time on Nov. 30, according toair quality monitors...

It goes on:

Pollution hit northern China earlier this month after coal-powered central heating kicked in. Beijing has issued an “orange” alert—the highest smog alert so far this year—and urged residents to stay indoor. Factories have to reduce production and construction sites and heavy vehicles are banned under the orange alert.

And then, if that isn't enough, if 23 cities across China having horrific pollution isn't enough to scare that nation into action and the rest of us as well, there's this from their next door neighbor:

Early morning fog delayed many trains in New Delhi.

Smog capitals: Alert in Beijing, business as usual in Delhi

NEW DELHI: As world leaders met in Paris on Monday to commit to a united fight against climate change, the capitals of India and China remained blanketed in heavy smog triggered by pollution. The difference was that Beijing sounded an alert for its citizens while in Delhi it was business as usual...

Authorities in Beijing have issued an 'orange' pollution alert, the second highest of four levels, wherein outdoor activities in schools and construction work is suspended and residents warned to stay indoors, agencies reported.

Delhi, meanwhile, witnessed one of its worst smog of the season, with visibility remaining less than 800 metres through Monday. PM 2.5 levels were in the 'severe' category in many parts of the city, with the most polluted spot, Anand Vihar, showing levels up to 530 mcg/cubic m between 2.30pm and 8pm.

Despite being labelled by WHO as the world's most polluted city, there's no protocol in Delhi for warning residents when pollution levels spike in the city. PM 2.5 levels at individual air monitoring stations have in the past few days crossed the 600 mark.

So while it's bad in China and across much of that nation, it's as bad or worse in India, in Delhi. And unlike China, the Indian government doesn't even do anything about it. There are, as the article states, no warnings to the citizens of just how bad the pollution is or what it could mean for the people's health.

With this, it seems a few conclusions absolutely have to be arrived at.

The first is that, yes, we absolutely have to do things about global warming but that we rather have to "go back" to the 60's or 70's American problem, so to speak, about the pollution in these 2 countries. The governments and people of those 2 nations have got to work on these currently life-threatening problems. With India being so desperately poor and trying to industrialize, this will be extremely difficult, without doubt.

The second thing that needs to be pointed out is that we, here in the US, need to lose, once and for all, the silly, irresponsible idea that we don't need the Environmental Protection Agency or that it should be weak.

These 2 countries situations, let alone our own history, should prove that we certainly, absolutely, unquestionably need to commit to clean air, water and soil and that any person or group of people---like the Republicans or Right Wing---who say otherwise are being absurdly, irresponsibly short-sighted and foolish.

Finally, we need, as a nation, as a world, to commit to and accept the idea that we must work, all of us, together, to keep that same air, water and soil clean and that we must accept global warming as described and defined and accepted by the scientists as fact for us all. Then we must work, all of us, the world over, to decrease the ways in which we add to these problems and this issue.

It will not be easy.

Links: China and India Cities Have Worst Air Pollution in the World

Cities in India Among the Most Polluted, W.H.O. Says

Top 20 most polluted cities in the world

x

Beijing Leaders Talk Climate in Paris While Residents Sit in Record Smog

Mind your carbon footprints, give us space to grow: PM Modi to rich nations 

The Latest: Obama says India can cut emissions and poverty

Entertainment Overnight -- A Tribute

Celine Dion's tribute to Paris and the French -- her version of Edith Piaf's "Hymne à L'Amour" from last night's American Music Awards.

Quote of the Day -- On Any "War On Terrorism"

What far too many don't know or realize. Or accept.

"You can't have a war on terrorism because that's not a actual enemy, it's an abstract. It's like having a war on dandruff. That war will be eternal and pointless. It's idiotic.

That's not a war, it's a slogan. it's a lie. It's advertising, which is the only art form we ever invented in America. And we use it to sell soap, wars and presidential candidates in the same fashion."

--Gore Vidal.

Another local link in The New York Times Sunday

I love looking in The NY Times on Sunday for, well, anything and everything, really, because you just never know what you'll find.  It's like life on a hallucinogenic, that paper.  It's great.  Mind-blowing, even.  What a fantastic way to end and start a week.

And I love checking out the "Vows" section each week, even, because, unlike all the rest of the parochial, condemning newspapers across the country, the Times can and does show marriages, however few, between same-sex couples.

So there one was this week and it had a local connection, too:

Jack O’Kelley III, John Haskins

Jack O’Kelley III and John Alan Haskins were married Saturday evening at Meridian House in Washington. Judge Barrington D. Parker Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit officiated.

Mr. O’Kelley (left), 43, is a partner in New York for Heidrick & Struggles, an executive recruiting and consulting firm. He advises boards and companies on succession planning for chief executives. He graduated summa cum laude from Hampton University and received a law degree from Yale.

He is the son of the late Maxine H. O’Kelley and the late Mr. O’Kelley Jr., who lived in Burlington, N.C. His mother was an assistant superintendent of the Burlington City school system. She was a member of the board of governors of the University of North Carolina System and a founding director of MidCarolina Bank in Burlington. His father was the chairman of the Alamance County Commission and also a member of the board of governors of the University of North Carolina System.

Mr. Haskins, 48, is an associate managing editor of The International Herald Tribune in Paris, which is published by The New York Times. He graduated from the University of Missouri.

He is the son of Joyce Lee Johannsen of Manchester, Mo., and the late John Lee Haskins, who lived in Des Moines. His mother retired as a public affairs specialist for the Army Reserve Personnel Center in St. Louis. His father owned Gold Coast, a tavern in Des Moines.

My real reason for posting this--besides the fact that he's a local boy--is to point out that, if Mr. Haskins stayed in the area, he wouldn't have this option, unless he drove up to Iowa, got married and came back.

And even then, the Star couldn't and wouldn't show it in the Sunday paper.

Here's hoping for an open-minded, accepting and equal future for us all one day.

And the sooner, the better.

Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/fashion/weddings/08OKELLEY.html?ref=weddings

Will the US cooperate with France's desire for "global nuclear reform"?

First, what seems to be great news for the Japanese--this is the first day I can remember that there isn't some new, huge revelation concerning their nuclear power plants and radiation additionally going who-knows-where.

Let's hope it holds, for their and everyone's sake.

So here's the subject for today:  France has proposed

France -- the most nuclear-dependent country in the world -- called for new global nuclear rules and proposed a global conference in France for May as President Nicolas Sarkozy made a quick visit to Tokyo Thursday to show support.

France is a global leader in the nuclear industry, and Paris has flown in experts from state-owned nuclear reactor maker Areva to work with Japanese engineers.

As stubborn as we Americans are and have increasingly become, it seems, especially since our cowboy Texas president, George W. Bush, and since the Libertarians and Tea Party have formed and increased in number, do you think there will be any American will to go along with the rest of the world and both set and follow nuclear rules and standards for safety?

We did not/would not go along with the rest of the world's Kyoto Protocol on climate change.  Remember that?

Have we become so entrenched with the thought and assumption that we have to prevail over all that we're no longer capable of "cooperating with others"?

It will be interesting to see.

Link:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110401/ts_nm/us_japan_quake_338

Them's some great headlines

Back to back this morning on Yahoo! News:

• Lindsay Lohan's dad arrested in West Hollywood
• Paris Hilton prosecutor arrested for buying cocaine

That said, try not to laugh too hard at other people's foibles.

Have a great day, y'all and GO VOTE!

Friday morning chutzpah

Two things stick out, to me, in the news this morning of such chutzpah and nerve, I had to mention them.

The first is the CEO of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship's, testimony in Washington yesterday on the Upper Big Branch mine disaster earlier this year.

Instead of coming off contrite, as many would expect, since last month's explosion was the worst in 40 years in the US, Mr. Blankenship actually came out blazing and blamed the government for the disaster.

It's Massey's mine, Don Blankenship's responsibility, as CEO, but, lo and behold, it's the government's fault for the disaster, not his.

That's a beauty, Don, we have to hand it to you. Chutzpah of the first order.

He says the government made them change the ventilation in the mines, even shutting them down for two days to do it, and that's why the miners were killed.

I suppose it could be true but I'm fairly certain that if and when this is examined, we'll all find out it's nothing of the sort.

Good try, though, Don. That's a first-rate snow job.

The 2nd Friday morning chutzpah goes either to the burglar/thief who snapped a lock, broke a window and stole five paintings in France at the Paris Museum of Modern Art worth far over $100 million OR it goes to the museum management who knew their alarm was broken back in March but didn't fix it.

Sure, you have nearly priceless Matisee, Picasso and who knows what all paintings in your building but you don't have the alarm fixed.

Wait. I have this figured out--the chutzpah goes to the burglar.

Not fixing the alarm system was just stupid.


Have a great weekend, everyone.

President Obama better put an end to this

President Obama stayed in his hotel room last evening in Moscow, instead of having a ceremonial dinner with his hosts in thr Soviet governmnet.

Oops.

First, in Washington here at home, the President and his wife went to New York for dinner and a play.

I think people were surprised and there was some grumbling--particularly by Conservatives, Republicans and the Far Right, of course--but I think the American people gave them a pass. After all, they're human and it's a difficult job, right? I think most people figured they'd earned it.

Then, last month, the President and his wife went out on the town in Paris when they were visiting.

Again, the opinion, overall, was one of mostly acceptance.

But this time? I don't know.

The President and his family stayed in their hotel, instead, for dinner and entertainment.

Uh-oh.

"The first family enjoyed a relaxed evening at the O2 Lounge, the super-chic, super-pricey rooftop club at the new Ritz-Carlton..."

I think the President and First Lady better tone this stuff down, when it comes to the sacrifice of international relations, at minimum.

Mr. Obama's oponents are only too happy to paint a picture of him as someone who spends too much money, puts himself first and ignores the needs of his nation.

I can see it coming now.

And it ain't pretty, Mr. President.


Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/world/europe/08moscow.html?_r=1&th&emc=th