Sunday and I Should Be in the Park

Genuine pushback from David Axelrod the Obama admin on republican lies about the economy.



Six US soldiers get killed in Afghanistan.

The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, taking corporate donations for her teaparty activities. Does that smell corrupt to you? Sure looks like influence peddling to me.

Some good news from the MSM - well, in reality the evidence was in a long time ago but you take good news where you get it - the New York Times acknowledges "climategate" was not a scandal after all.

In another bit of good environmental news, water and life are returning to Iraq's 'Garden of Eden.' Saddam Hussein's draining of the Mesopotamian marshes of Iraq – recorded as the Garden of Eden in the Bible - was one of the most infamous outrages of his regime, leaving a vast area of once-teeming river delta a dry, salt-encrusted desert, emptied of insects, birds and the people who lived on them.



But nearly two decades later the area is buzzing and twittering with life again after local people and a new breed of Iraqi conservationists have restored much of what was once the world's third largest wetland to some of its former glory.

Sadly, that mass of plastic garbage floating in the Pacific Ocean is still there - David de Rothschild set out on an ocean crossing aboard his recycled yacht to highlight pollution of Earth's waters and is shocked by what he found. In the Gulf of Mexico, grappling with a different and very real problem - dead zones.

Word that the Obama administration hasn't been as friendly to scientists as first hoped.

A look back at the legacy of the Rainbow Warrior - and some of Greenpeace's finer moments.

PZ Meyers over at Pharyngula is my new favourite blogger - go have a read of his take on the brain of the Christian conservative.

Lazy Saturday Blogging

Will try to post a couple of things as the day goes along - have to get a bike ride in or go mad. Wanted to have something new and brilliant for passers-by to look at. This is not new but it's brilliant! I found it at one of my new favourite blogs Pharyngula. So listen to Carl Sagan and enjoy a breath of sanity and perspective.

The Oceans and Climate Science

On this morning's radio show the focus was climate change and the current state of our oceans and their general health. Starting with a story from Science Daily about a newly published report in the latest issue of the journal Science that evaluates the total impact of  climate change, carbon dioxide, pollution and other human-related phenomena on the world's oceans. Scott C. Doney's paper represents a meticulous compilation of the work of others as well as his own research in this area, which includes ocean acidification, climate change, and the global carbon cycle. An important read if you are trying to understand all the factors in play.

Another study published in Science magazine on Friday concurs saying, the world's oceans are virtually choking on rising greenhouse gases, destroying marine ecosystems and breaking down the food chain... The changes could have dire consequences for hundreds of millions of people around the globe who rely on oceans for their livelihoods. The oceans are interconnected of course and included in that study is information about how the temperatures of polar oceans are connected to temperatures in the tropics. Essentially what the study states is that a continued rise in global temperatures could lead to a permanent state of 'El Niño' which would lead to yet more warming, and by the way, the likelihood of increased episodes of extreme weather. The consequences of these changes are too numerous to list but even MSM wankers Time Magazine, have noted some of them - cute penguin alert.

Lastly for your perusal, a diary from Dailykos with news on actions Obama has taken to stem the tide of Mountain Top Removal (MTR) permits issued in the US that is the beginning of the end to the sleazy days of the Bush/Cheney admin allowing polluting corporations to ignore the rule of law. There's also a host of assorted green related news stories.