Illegal immigration and climate change: A potpourri

Illegal immigration and climate change: Reality and confusion

By Special K

Disassociated Press

October 7, 2009

U.S. IMMIGRATION POLICY

Federal officials vow to continue immigration enforcement

Federal immigration officials are revamping the nation's immigrant detention system, but warn that

immigration law enforcement will continue (emphasis added …imagine that!).

BY ALFONSO CHARDY

achardy@MiamiHerald.com

Gonzaga wrote on 10/07/2009 09:44:22 AM:

The problem of "detention" wouldn't exist if illegal residents weren't allowed to be/stay here. Mandate that all illegal residents come forward to be registered, and issue them temporary worker permits for some finitely defined, limited period of continued legal residence; also make arrangements for new workers to come in to replace the current crop-- each successive cohort scheduled to go back home after a designated period of time. And, of course, current illegal residents who do not come forward for registration-- when ultimately apprehended through the coordinated efforts of law enforcement at national, state and local levels--will be deported forthwith.

"Crop rotation" is SOP in agricultural science, and should become so as a matter of policy in supplying successive cohorts of temporary, foreign workers under conditions both open and legal. In essence, we need to adopt the practice of “’worker-crop’ rotation” in all the fields of endeavor in which, for purposes of getting the job done”, it is deemed necessary to exploit the availability of willing foreign nationals on a continuing basis.

Addendum

From the late, unlamented presidential campaign:

By Michael D. Shear

washpost.com, January 6, 2008

Ref. Romney Puts Focus On Immigration
He Hopes to Sting McCain on Hot-Button Issue..<<
(emphasis added).

Gonzage wrote:

The issue is that of "illegal immigration",
Not orderly entry into this nation,
And Senator McCain
Has made it quite plain
Re: illegals he's for integration.

So a vote for him is a vote
For indiscriminate assimilation
Of folks who have come here illegally
Into the body politic of the nation.

A policy of doubtful merit.

1/7/2008 2:08:34 PM

Addendum 10/7/2009

Re the current national lineup, to use a football analogy

Obama is our somewhat uncertain starting quarterback,

And the designated backup is Shoot from the Lip Biden

Who can’t pass, run and/or hide; and should he be sidelined

Only Pelosi the House Speaker is left to take over--a prospect most ill-betiding.

***

Climate change adds to humanitarian risks - aid group
Reuters India
"The linkage between humanitarian impact and climate change is very much on
our doorstep here in Asia," Richard Rumsey, director of disaster risk reduction ...
<http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-42952020091006>

If Mr. Rumsey says it’s so

He’s entitled, himself, to believe it--

And that applies as well, of course, to anyone else

(A larger number, perhaps, that one would like to admit)

Climate Costs: Can The World Really Afford to Roll Back Carbon ...
Wall Street Journal (blog) By Keith Johnson

By and large, even in Oklahoma, the debate over how to tackle climate

change boils down to a simple question: How much is this going to cost...
<http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/10/06/climate-costs-can-the-world-really-afford-to-roll-back-carbon-emissions/>

Given the catastrophic predictions re: climate change effects

This emphasis on cost of prevention reminds one of Jack Benny

Who, when threatened by highwaymen with”It’s your money or your life”

Replied petulantly, “Give me time to think”--of his classic miserly ripostes, only one of many.

Panama Butterfly Migrations Linked To El Niño, Climate Change
Science Daily (press release)
Climate change has been linked to changes in the migration of butterflies
in North America and Europe but this is one of the first long-term studies of ...
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091005161126.htm>

Before we accept such a linkage

We must have unequivocal evidence of climate change;

To link a thing to something not yet in evidence

Is clearly conceptually strange.

Opinion: Climate change is already making us sick
San Jose Mercury News
The urgency is driven by evidence that the effects of climate change are
having immediate impacts on human health: The World Health Organization estimates ...
<http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_13499695>

No doubt here, however,

That climate change is already making us sick,

But it’s clearly labeled as “opinion”--a salutary practice--

So to seek physicians’ assistance, “Jack (shouldn’t necessarily) be quick …”

CIA Climate Center Irks Barrasso
New York Times
“I don't believe creating a center on climate change is going to prevent
terrorist attacks.” The agency announced late last month that it was
creating a ...
<http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/cia-climate-center-spurs-opposition/>

This reporter is inclined to agree with Barrasso

That creating a center on climate change won’t prevent terrorist attacks--

It isn’t at all clear what such a center would do, but it’s clear, indeed,

That it’s existence provides no excuse for us, our vigilance against terror, to relax.

Climate change: Will the U.S. be a leader or a laggard at ...
By Mark Svenvold
The upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, slated
for December, represents an opportunity for the U.S. to urge the world into
taking serious action on climate change -- and reclaim America's leadership role in ...
<http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/10/06/climate-change-will-the-u-s-be-a-leader-or-a-laggard-at-copenh/>

Reclaiming America’s leadership role

Would seem to be a lost cause--

And before taking any “serious action” to stop(sic) “climate change”

America and others (e.g. the UN) should take pause.

Climate change - A national security challenge - The Hill's ...
By Operation Free- Rafael Noboa Rivera
You never have 100% certainty. If you wait till you have that, you'll fail.
<http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-a-environment/61835-climate-change-a-national-security-challenge>

This is not the first (or last) we’ll see

Of the notion that CC is a security threat--

But whether on a par with al Queda, the Taliban or Iran, for example,

Is not clearly discernible yet.

Traces of doubt…

1. Catastrophes Book “Equivocal” About Climate Change « The ...
By omnologos
A recently published (serious) book about future catastrophes appears to
confirm that there is nothing special about allegedly upcoming climate
change disasters: to the contrary, there are too many uncertainties to put
those on equal ...(emphasis added).
<http://omniclimate.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/catastrophes-book-equivocal-about-climate-change/>

2. Climate change nonsense « The Inquiring Mind
By adamsmith1922
The “problem” is the well-funded climate monopoly who pay to find a
crisis but don't pay to check the results. Billions have been spent on
global warming theories but auditing to test the integrity of the theories
is left to unpaid ...(emphasis added).
<http://adamsmith.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/climate-change-nonsense/>

But not here…

Addressing Climate Change - solutions in the desert - COP15 United ...
By HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan
Since the phrase 'climate change' became a regular feature in our
newspapers, on our televisions and in our conversations, there has been
much debate over its existence. But while the debate ensues, there is no
doubt that change is ...(emphasis added) or, perhaps, is not: shades of WJC.
<http://en.cop15.dk/blogs/view+blog?blogid=2284>

Why bother to check the results of a widely heralded crisis

When simply warning that it’s impending pays so well?

Billions have been spent on (the strength of) global warming theories

None of which has been validated, insofar as this reporter’s been able to tell.

Can We Solve Climate Change? Governors Climate Change Summit [1][1]...
By Jonathan Hoekstra
Cool Green Science: The Conservation Blog of The Nature Conservancy - A
blog on conservation, from migratory birds to coral reefs, from rainforests
to climate change to personal green technology.
<http://blog.nature.org/2009/10/can-we-solve-climate-change-governors-global-summit-jon-hoekstra/>

There they go again!!

Governors gather in a summit on global climate change

(To those who thought governors of states in the United States were involved

The actual composition of the summit will seem a bit strange).

BBC - PM: Captain Cook and Climate Change.
This is Dr Dennis Wheeler of the University of Sunderland, who's on the
programme tonight talking his involvement in a scheme to use historical
naval logbooks in research into climate change. The log books of Captain
Cook and others are ...(emphasis added).
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pm/2009/10/captain_cook_and_climate_chang.shtml>

Why stop at taking a look

At Captain Cook’s hoary log book?

Cast an inquisitive eye

On the records of Captain Bligh

Who all canons of decency forsook.

Scientist predicts resource wars as climate change takes its toll ...
By Cameron
Water scarcity as a result of climate change will create far-reaching
global security concerns, says Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, chair of the
intergovernmental panel on climate change, a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel
Peace Prize. (with Guess Who ???)[2][2] (emphasis added)
<http://www.sciencecodex.com/water_scarcity_will_create_global_security_concerns>

Dr. Pachauri undoubtedly knows his “stuff”

But that doesn’t include international relations

So his predictions about general and internecine warfare

Are admissible only with strong reservations.

And the “Guess Who”, noted above,

Turns out to have been Arnold Albert (Al) Gore Jr.

A Tennessee-born-and-bred CC troubadour

Who like his father before him once strode the Senate floor.

And was “opposed” to our struggle to stem the Red Tide

By defending South from North Vietnam

But nonetheless found it within himself to serve in the military--

Even while doubting the wisdom of Uncle Sam.

He, later on, was self-credited for inventing the internet

And, by many, with inventing climate change--

At least he touted it so well

As to make any doubt thereof seem decidedly strange.

---

---

[1][1] “. . Friday, governors from Wisconsin, the Indonesian state of Aceh and the Brazilian states of Para, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Acre spoke directly to the opportunities they see in making forest protection, restoration and management a win-win solution for stopping climate change and creating more sustainable economies for their people . . . .”

http://blog.nature.org/2009/10/can-we-solve-climate-change-governors-global-summit-jon-hoekstra/

[2][2] The Nobel Peace Prize for 2007

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge (sic)about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change (emphasis added).

Al Gore has for a long time been one of the world's leading environmentalist politicians. He became aware at an early stage of the climatic challenges the world is facing. His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change.

He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted.http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/press.html

News-spin, climate change, health care

Things that seem to warrant attention

By Special K

Disassociated Press

October 5, 2009

Based on, i.e., by inference from current weather climate reports (from the web)

District of Columbia 65°F Current: Partly Cloudy Wind: W at 8 mph Humidity: 39%, and

Washington, DC 62°F Current: Sunny Wind: W at 8 mph Humidity: 51%, respectively,

Don’t seem to be defined identically (weather- climate observation-wise)

Even though many tend to believe they are coterminous (share a common identity).

But by inference from the foregoing the U.S. Climate Department

In its wisdom has seen fit to define differently

Two entities that most folks, it’s believed, have thought of as coterminous geographical- and politically,

Namely, the District of Columbia and Washington, DC.

But that’s a comparatively minor matter

In the overall scheme of things--

Witness the weighty matters, outlined illustratively immediately below,

That for import, around mere climate considerations, run rings.

Letterman Extortion Case Raises Questions for CBS
By BILL CARTER and BRIAN STELTER
The network will have to consider whether David Letterman’s actions

constituted sexual harassment.

It seems likely that CBS,

A ratings booster like Dave Letterman, won’t press

To pass muster re: his admitted sexual predations (staff-related);

At least that would seem to be a good guess.

***

Ensign's Senate Prospects Grow Cloudy

Sen. Ensign's future grew more unsettled as Minority Leader McConnell declined

to offer support, following more fallout from Ensign's affair with a staffer.

Whereas similar transgressors elsewhere

Who for hitting sexually on staff have a gift

Are left to hang, twisting slowly, in the wind,

After having been given (very) short shrift.

***

Today's Columnists

Wall Street Journal, Saturday-Sunday, October 3-4, 2009

Noonan: Keeping America Safe From the Ranters

DECLARATIONS
As the Elders of the media die, who'll replace them?

While Ms Noonan and the public generally tend to understand clearly

“Where ‘ranters’ are coming from”-- and can thus properly assess what they’re saying--

Many remain quite unaware of the spin in “news shaped by purveyors’views”

That folks labeled “journalists” are purveying

It seems probable that the republic is in far less danger

(To engage in a bit of hy.per.bo.le)

From up-front ranters, than from “’spin wolves’ in ‘news-sheep’s’ clothing”

Whose views are advanced, in the cover of news, quite in.sid.i.ous.ly.

And when the spin-wolves in news-sheep’s clothing

Are clean and articulate, soft-spoken non-ranting gentlepersons a la Cronkhite[1]

Their influence will tend to be all the more insidious--

Especially so when they’re seen on “family TV” night after night.

So it would seem to be desirable to have the truth in labeling law

Extended to businesses that claim purport to purvey to be packaging “news”,

By a requirement that all packages of print/radio/TV/ “news” carry a disclaimer:

Please be advised that the contents in varying degrees reflect our views.

***

No Climate Change Bill This Year, Says Obama Adviser
By The Huffington Post News Editors
WASHINGTON (AP)- President Barack Obama's top energy adviser says there is
no way Congress will be able to pass a bill on climate change this year.
"That's not going to happen," the adviser, Carol Browner, said Friday.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/04/no-climate-change-bill-th_n_308885.html>

If Carol is correct, we (the general public) can rejoice

At the first hint of sober reflection during Obama’s tenure

That, to date, has been marked by acting in haste

Before judgment on issues has had time to mature.

Climate change hits poor in Africa, South Asia hardest: World Bank
By DPA
The World Bank estimates the world will suffer a one percent drop in
economic output because of climate change, with minimal effects for
advanced countries, compared to a drop of 4-5 percent for Africa and South
Asia. ...
<http://trak.in/news/climate-change-hits-poor-in-africa-south-asia-hardest-world-bank/10372/>

According to the World Bank, the world (overall)

Will suffer only a one percent drop in economic output due to CC,

Compared to a 4-5 percent drop for Africa and South Asia

But the Bank didn’t say exactly what other regional drops would be.

Every cloud, even climate change has a may have a silver lining….
Climate Change and the Arctic: Ice Breaking « Docuticker By Adrian

But what of hopes that climate change in the region may have a silver
lining by opening-up new commercial sea routes that would stretch along the
northern coasts of Canada and Russia, linking east and west? ...
<http://www.docuticker.com/?p=28254>

Based on what the World Bank had to say

Only Africa and South Asia will be by CC hard hit

So, by inference, the rest of the world

Will tend to escape the worst of it.

Why climate change should be selectively destructive

Is not at all easy to see--

Why should global warming effects, for example,

Occur, primarily (and quite selectively) regionally?

The answer, of course, is complex

Befitting the complexity of the question

And anyone who tries to make sense of either one

Will wind up with conceptual indigestion.

Never has so much been made of so little by so many[2]

(With apologies to Winston Churchill who expressed the view--

After the RAF had saved Britain from the Luftwaffe--

Never have so many owed so much to so few).

***\

Another source of “news” compounds CC-caused woes.

Climate change a major cause of child mortality:

By Ians
NEW DELHI - Climate change, besides other factors like poverty, is one of
the main causes of high child mortality in the world today, a study by an
international charity Save the Children said Monday. (emphasis added).
<http://blog.taragana.com/health/2009/10/05/climate-change-a-major-cause-of-child-mortality-study-12981/>

But fails to indicate precisely how that could be true

And/or whether the toll is consistent around the globe or tends to vary regionally.

Congress: Climate change msnbc.com

Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) linked climate change with health care legislation,
“arguing that it would result in higher taxes on Americans: 'First of
all, ...<http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/10/05/2089560.aspx>

Given the link between CC and child mortality (Ians, New Delhi, above)

Senator Kyle’s linkage of CC and health care legislation

Seems to reflect an emerging reality.

Still….

Hurdles Remain on Climate Change Goals
Washington Post
"The Kyoto Protocol is a very historic protocol," said Kenichi Kobayashi,
who directs the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs' climate change
division. ..(emphasis added)..
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/04/AR2009100401881.html?hpid=topnews>

What the Kyoto Protocol document constrained signatories to do

Has been left by them largely undone

So they’re off to Copenhagen, come December,

Hoping more nations will sign off (so as to be able to renege) on still another one.

______________

[1] Walter Cronkite dies at 92; longtime CBS anchorman -- latimes.com

Jul 18, 2009 ... Walter Cronkite, the television newsman whose steady baritone informed,

reassured and guided the nation during the tumultuous 1960s and '70s ... (emphasis added)
www.latimes.com/.../la-me-walter-cronkite18-2009jul18,0,4276121.story -

And gradually eroded the nation’s will to resist communist North Vietnam

By word and emphasis softly sowing doubt that we could lick (or should even be hostile to) Ho Chi Minh.

[2] And it seems likely that Osama bin Laden and his equally medieval-minded minions

In their wildest dreams could never have foreseen it being said of their depredations--

Involving mere handfuls of medieval minded predators and paltry resources--

Never have so few done so much lasting damage to decent people and institutions in so many nations.

Education for climate change

Notes on conceptually related themes: Ozone education and hybridization
By Special K
Disassociated Press
July 18, 2009

Ozone references
1. Ozone Secretariat Convenes Two Climate Change-Related Workshops
CLIMATE-L.ORG - New York,New York,USA
Both workshops were attended by ozone and climate change negotiators, as
well as UNFCCC and Ozone Secretariat staff, and provided an opportunity for open ...

2. Ozone is a gas that occurs both in the Earth's upper atmosphere and at ground level. Ozone can be "good" or "bad" for people's health and for the environment, depending on its location in the atmosphere.
For an overview of both ozone issues, see Good Up High, Bad Nearby.
http://www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps/gooduphigh/

Good up high, bad nearby, coined by epa.gov, encapsulates very well
The problem posed for the UN Ozone Secretariat
And, especially, ozone and climate change negotiators (OCCN’s),
In deciding whether up high or nearby there’s dearth or glut.

And like “’i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’” for spelling,
It’s a good mnemonic device
That can help OCCN’s remember
“Nearby” = “bad” and “up high” = “nice”.

If it’s gathered nearby,
That is, nearer the earth,
It’s associated with smog
(Of which, apparently, there’s no dearth).

If it’s properly distributed up high
(As to how high we can’t be exact)
According to some scientists
It blocks rays that (can) possibly may cause, inter al., cataracts.

OCCN’s are instructed to improve “ozonic” negotiations
And the UN Secretariat hopes the workshops will educate them
In the art of negotiating with ozone in either location-- amicably,
Even when the prospect of conflict resolution grows dim.

**
THOROUGHBRED is what came to mind
When this reporter saw “HYBRID” proudly (at least openly) displayed
By a vehicle parked beside his in a parking lot--
Only an American quarter horse[1] at this designation would not be dismayed.

Almost immediately he vowed to endeavor
To pursue the goal of design and ultimate display
Of a label for his non-hybrid Toyota
Boasting, in essence, (I’m) THOROUGHBRED (and ultimately will win running away)

Having designed the text of such a display (q.v., above),
He is now faced with the problem of display:
How to embed such text in a paper or plastic and paper medium
And attach it to the Toyota in a clearly visible, but not inappropriate way.

When the more complex display problem has been solved,
Readers will be informed as to how he came to do it--
And if there’s potential for patenting and commercialization
They can be sure he'll diligently pursue it..

Needless to say, if any reader has a (constructive) suggestion
Regarding any aspect of this project, even additions to the text, per se,
S/he is invited most cordially to provide them ASAP,
That is, without any except demonstrably unavoidable delay.

All readers may find it enlightening to ponder at length, and deeply,
The nature of the underlying relationship between workshops for ozone education
And an adventitious happening in a PPL (Princeton parking lot)--
Stifling all the while any tendency toward open display of aggravation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] American Quarter Horse (a proud hybrid)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Breed History
[edit] Colonial Era
In the 1600s, colonists on the eastern seaboard of what today is the United States began to cross imported English Thoroughbred horses with assorted "native" horses such as the Chickasaw horse (a breed developed by Native American people from horses descended from Spain, developed from Iberian, Arabian and Barb stock brought to what is now the Southeastern United States by the Conquistadors).[citation needed]

One of the most famous of these early imports was Janus, a Thoroughbred who was the grandson of the Godolphin Arabian. He was foaled in 1746, and imported to colonial Virginia in 1756. The influence of Thoroughbreds like Janus contributed genes crucial to the development of the colonial "Quarter Miler," or "Quarter Mile Horse." This was a speedy working man's racer, sometimes referred to as the "Celebrated American Quarter Running Horse." The resulting horse was small, hardy, and quick, and was used as a work horse during the week and a race horse on the weekends.[1]

As flat racing became popular with the colonists, the Quarter Miler gained even more popularity as a sprinter over courses that, by necessity, were shorter than the classic racecourses of England, and were often no more than a straight stretch of road or flat piece of open land. When matched against a Thoroughbred, local sprinters often won. As the Thoroughbred breed became established in America, many colonial Quarter Mile mares were included in the original American stud books, starting a long association between the Thoroughbred breed and what would later become officially known as the "Quarter Horse," named after the distance at which it excelled,[citation needed] with some individuals being clocked at up to 55 mph.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Quarter_Horse#Breed_History
Downloaded c 9:25 AM EDT, July 18, 2009

Further analysis of causal connections
By Special K
Disassociated Press
July 16, 2009

Reference:
The Nexus Between Climate Change and Conflict in the Horn of Africa
Gadaa.com Oduu - News - Hillsboro,USA
By Qeerransoo Biyyaa This article tries to generally explore the nexus
between conflict and climate change and vice versa in Africa. ...(emphasis added).


Climate change has a nexus[1] with conflict in the Horn
According to Qeerransoo Biyyaa--
And we’re assuming that Biyyaa’s assertion
Is not merely a journalistic faux pas.

Keeping in mind all the while that according to the teaser, above,
Qeerransoo only “tries” to explore that nexus
And doesn’t assert categorically that there is one--
An assertion that would most assuredly vex us.

So we will click on the link Google provided
To investigate Biyyaa’s rationale for his/her[2] assertion
That there’s a nexus between climate change and conflict in the Horn--
Assuming that won’t require too much exertion.

Now, having done so we find the following expansion of the teaser
plus citation of a statement from Potus Obama as the (analytical) “point of entry”…

“This article tries to generally explore the nexus between conflict and climate change and vice versa in Africa. In so doing, it uses US President Barrack Obama’s Accra speech as a point of entry. It cites concrete examples from some Horn of African countries and localities.
‘Africa gives off less greenhouse than any other part of the world, but it is the most threatened by climate change. A warming climate will spread disease, shrink water resources, and deplete crops, creating conditions that produce more famine and conflict’, stated Barack Obama in his first speech to the sub-Saharan Africa as the President of the United States of America from Ghana, Accra (emphasis added).

This elaboration of the teaser, alone,
re: the analysis, per se, should be a sufficient cautionary “appriser”,
Indicating, as it does, that Biyyaa cites as an authoritative source re: climate change in Africa
A fellow whose expertise on climate change, per se, stems largely from work as a community organizer.

Moreover, although it’s not clear exactly where this Potus hails “from”--
E.g., Illinois (his most recent home state) or Hawaii (his place of birth)--
It’s something of a stretch to say he’s “the (Potus) from Ghana, Accra” [3]
(Although of members of his extended paternal family residing there, there’s no dearth).

“ . . .In this political speech, President Obama deserves a great credit for generally stating the relationship between conflicts and climate change other than the obvious natural causes of climate change. Do major scale national and international conflicts in the Horn of Africa cause or significantly contribute to climate change? Investigating the correlation and/or causal relationship between conflicts and climate change is up to academic authorities in climate change, but it is my view that the chronic mega conflicts between government and rebels, governments and governments, factions and factions over scarce resources may have substantially contributed to the irreparable destruction of the natural environment thereby rapidly worsening climate crisis on the continent. The question of climate change for Africa is 'to live or not to live' -it is a fight to prevent continental self-annihilation in which the human factor is enormous”.

The interested reader is invited to examine the report in detail
But for present purposes the upshot would seem to be
That as the Horn warms, water resources will become scarcer, leading to conflict for access--
Hence the nexus between the former and the latter is arrived at analytically.

Of course, the writer also acknowledges
That conflict has been characteristic of life in the Horn--
True long before the issue of “climate change” (humankind-caused global warming) surfaced;
And before either Barack or Al Gore, the chief architect of plans to control the climate, was born.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Main Entry:nex·us
Pronunciation: \ˈnek-səs\
Function: noun Inflected Form(s):
plural nex·us·es \-sə-səz\ or nex·us \-səs, -ˌsüs\
Etymology: Latin, from nectere to bind
Date: 1663
1: connection, link ; also : a causal link
2: a connected group or series
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nexus

[2] At this juncture, given lack of familiarity with African names,
It is not feasible to speculate as to gender,
That is, as to whether “Qeerransoo” connotes one “rough and ready”
Or one of the genre “lissome and tender”.

Of course, this assumes that “Qeerransoo”
Is the writer’s given name and that “Biyyaa”
Is a surname, distinguishable clearly
From spiritual designations such as, e.g., “Kumbaya”.

Kumbaya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Kumbaya" (also spelled Kum Ba Yah) is a spiritual song from the 1930s.
It enjoyed newfound popularity during the folk revival of the 1960s and became a ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbaya - Cached - Similar -

[3] In the absence of a comma between “America” and “from”
It is not clear whether the writer was making reference
To the place from which Barack’s “first speech” originated (suggested in an earlier reference), or to Barack’s “origin”--
If the latter, then for judicious use of the comma, Biyyaa failed to demonstrate a preference.

Some nations seem to have their priorities right
By Special K
Disassociated Press
July 8, 2009

Reference: Developing Nations Rebuff G-8 on Curbing Pollutants
By PETER BAKER
Published: July 8, 2009
L’AQUILA, Italy — “The world’s major industrial nations and newly emerging powers failed to agree Wednesday on specific cuts in heat-trapping gases by 2050, undercutting an effort to build a global consensus to fight climate change, according to people following the talks . . ..” (emphasis added)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/world/europe/09prexy.html?_r=1&8au&emc=au

Considering the futility of humans “fight(ing against) climate change”
Building a consensus of any kind, global or local, to do so
Is, by any definition, a highly complex process
That could only be incredibly slow.

Witnessing grown men and women representing national entities
Spend much time and scarce resources to consider such folly
Can only engender in their respective constituencies
A most profound and enduring melancholy.

The process would be sufficiently complex
If the aim were simply “to reduce pollution”,
But if it’s to attain control over the climate
The process is one with no foreseeable resolution.

The developing nations appear to have their priorities right:
They wish to develop as have other nations, i.e., sans undue restriction
On the use of fossil fuels to power internal growth
Imposed to halt “man-made global warming” (a media-abetted fiction
That has been purveyed as “gospel”,
And by many naive folks accepted as such,
But by discerning observers of the media scene
Is recognized as being “just a little bit much”).

Let’s hope that the Senate of the United States
In considering the desirability of the Waxman-Markey (“cap and trade”) bill
Will stop short before approbation
And let sense, not so common there, work its will.

Making Madoff look like a piker
By Special K
Disassociated Press
July 6, 2009

Reference: Q and A on the Climate Bill
By David A. Fahrenthold and Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 5, 2009; 7:21 PM
“The climate bill approved by the House last month started out as an idea -- fight global warming -- and wound up looking like an unabridged dictionary. It runs to more than 1,400 pages, swollen with loopholes and giveaways meant to win over un-green industries and wary legislators . . ..
"Q. Would this bill stop climate change?
A. No. Even if it works exactly as planned -- delivering a 17 percent reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared with 2005 levels -- it might not slow down the rate of climate change by very much . . ..” (emphasis added).

If it were to alter climate change patterns at all,
That would be cause for surprise and astonishment
Since it isn't at all clear that what mankind does
Affects global climate patterns to any extent.

Messrs. Fahrenthold and Mufson of the Post, for example,
And Columnist-Economics Professor Paul Krugman of Princeton U,
May think they are being “factual” about what causes climate change (and how much)
But in actuality they haven’t a clue.

The foregoing applies equally well
To Representative Waxman (CA)
And--co-author with him of the “cap and trade” monstrosity--
Representative Markey who hails from MA.

Also to Al Gore, probably the best known agitator
For the notion of man-made climate change
And advocacy of the carbon-credit concept--
To reap profit from which, he had the good sense to arrange.

As well, of course, to Governor Corzine (NJ)
Who on 07-07-07 (almost exactly two years ago to the day)
Signed with great ceremony legislation designed to control climate
Effective, or so he implied, without further delay.

That newspaper reporters, perhaps inadvertently, convey the notion
(With “questions and answers”, by logical inference about matters of fact)
That mankind has the power to control “acts of nature”
Tends to suggest possession of information knowledge exact

Re: precisely what causes cyclical changes in world climate
(Of which there would seem to be some naturalistic evidence,
Such as the progressive desiccation of the Sahara, for example,
And the progression and retraction of ice over some continents).

To report as if factual that which is only speculative,
Is something that can aptly be called “disinforming”;
Something more nearly the rule than the exception since Al Gore scored big
By scaring h _ _ _ out of folks about global warming.*
___________

*Orson Welles scared the nation back in 1938 (Unintentionally? Quien sabe?)
With a Radio Theater, "War of the Worlds", episode
Suggesting that something strange had landed near Grover's Mill, NJ;
That would cause the whole world to explode.
7/6/2009 7:51:18 PM

Expectation vs. reality

Slips between header and content
By Special K
Disassociated Press
July 2, 2009

Reference….
Rasmussen Poll: Obama's Popularity Plunging
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 7:27 PM
By: Jim Meyers http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_rasmussen_poll/
2009/06/30/230686.html?s=al&promo_code=829C-1

This header suggests a precipitous drop in popularity
For the fellow who stars in the reality drama
That remains Numero Uno [1] on the national scene,
That is, the one in the role of Potus, namely, Barack H. Obama.

A click on the link, however,
No such precipitous drop will reveal--
Only a shift in balance between those strongly approving
In favor of those for whom he has absolutely no appeal.

The latter group, for the first time in the current run,
Has surpassed the former in size
In what Rasmussen calls the popularity index--
But that should come as no surprise

To close followers of the national scene--
As portrayed in the front-running TV drama
Aptly titled “Hell Bent for National Bankruptcy”
Starring Barack (Himself) Hussein Obama--

Who have begun to see more clearly
That he not only shoots primarily from the lip--
And is accordingly quick on the flaw
Which to non-Coolade followers isn’t ‘hip’--

But also has forced his principal supporting cast
(Members of the legislative branch)
To enact unread legislation so patently dysfunctional
As to make those who (inadvertently) tune in blanch.

Still there is no suggestion of massive disaffection
(Such as that suggested by the header referenced above)
Only, perhaps the beginning of a process of disillusion in those
Who have for him less than Jonestown-like love.[2]

“There’s many a slip, ‘twixt cup and lip”
Is certainly a time-tested saying,[3]
And the increase in slips between header and content
Of its general applicability is tacit evidence dismaying.
______________
[1] This particular expression of “Number 1” status
Is used in response to a request from Obama
Who wishes to reinforce his appeal to Hispanic viewers,
Increasingly involved in rating actors featured in reality drama.

[2] Jonestown
We designed this Web page to emphasize the relationship between
the Jonestown cult and the culture out of which it grew.
www.owlnet.rice.edu/~reli291/Jonestown/Jonestown.html

[3] There's many a slip twixt cup and lip. (literary)
something that you say in order to warn someone not to be too confident about the result of a plan, because many things can go wrong before it is completed We still might finish in time for the deadline, but there's many a slip twixt cup and lip.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/There's+many+a+slip+twixt+cup+and+lip

As a matter of fact, who can be believed?
By Special K
Disassociated Press
June 30, 2009

Reference:
Betraying the Planet
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: June 28, 2009
The New York Times

So the House passed the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill. In political terms, it was a remarkable achievement.
But 212 representatives voted no. A handful of these no votes came from representatives who considered the bill too weak, but most rejected the bill because they rejected the whole notion that we have to do something about greenhouse gases.
And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet
Do you remember the days when Bush administration officials claimed that terrorism posed an “existential threat” to America, a threat in whose face normal rules no longer applied? That was hyperbole — but the existential threat from climate change is all too real.
Yet the deniers are choosing, willfully, to ignore that threat, placing future generations of Americans in grave danger, simply because it’s in their political interest to pretend that there’s nothing to worry about. If that’s not betrayal, I don’t know what is. (emphasis added).

That more than 212 representatives voted “aye”
Is sufficient in and of itself to indicate
A deficiency in congressional reasoning capacity
That is becoming increasingly great.

Closer to home:
The greater number included three from New Jersey,
Namely, Messrs. LoBiondo, Smith and Lance
Who--like Specter, Collins and Snowe recently in the Senate--voted “aye”
And thus toward local and national interest took a negative stance.

And as for doing something about greenhouse gases
It’s been said in cattle country that no self-respecting bull
Would ever risk being seen making passes at cows--
Of whatever visual acuity and conformation--passing greenhouse gases.

Moreover, the idea that mere humans can control the climate
Seems more than a little presumptuous,
Especially coming from folks who claim to be certain
That Mother Nature left regulation of climate change up to us.

Recall that right here in the great State of New Jersey, on 07-07-07,
Our governor signed a bill designed for climate control
But given the unseasonably cool and wet weather in the interim
It seems to have failed in its purpose, by and large, on the whole.

It must be said, too, that terrorists and terrorism,
Qualify very clearly as threats quite existential
As compared to which threats to climate that are amenable to human control,
Are by any theoretical or empirical standard in.con.se.quential.

It’s particularly interesting that columnists
With absolutely no expertise in the climatology sphere
Hold forth on climate as though they knew what they were talking about--
And to their dire warnings apparently expect others to give ear.

Of course, it matters little what columnists choose to say
Or whether to their admonitions ordinary citizens give ear:
The actions of folks like LoBiondo, Lance and Smith (all NJ),
Obama, Specter, Collins and Snowe are what this country has real cause to fear.

By this reporter’s count we’re now 169 days
Into the putative Era of Responsi.bil.i.ty
So by this time some evidence thereof should have emerged
In the vicinity of Washington, D. C.

So the rest of the nation now waits with breath bated
To learn what Senators in their wisdom will do
When the “thing” that the House has passed (barely)
Comes within their official purview.

Editor’s note.
Readers may well ask how Special K speaks with such confidence
On matters regarding which he, like Professor Krugman, lacks expertise?
Well . . . when it comes to commenting on topics they know little about
Both are equally able to do it with consummate ease.

If a thing 'ain’t broke' ….
June 27, 2009

Reference. News Alert
05:28 PM EDT Friday, June 26, 2009

White House Drafts Executive Order to Hold Detainees Indefinitely
Fearing battle with Congress that could stall Guantanamo closure, administration drafts order that would embrace Bush claims that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under laws of war.
. . . On the day Obama took office, 242 men were imprisoned at Guantanamo. In his May speech, the president outlined five strategies the administration would use to deal with them: criminal trials, revamped military tribunals, transfers to other countries, releases and continued detention. (emphasis added). Since the inauguration, 11 detainees have been released or transferred, one prisoner committed suicide[1] and one was moved to New York to face terrorism charges in federal court. (emphasis added). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/26/AR2009062603361.html

It seems clear that Obama
Would have been better off leaving well enough alone,
Rather than speaking in haste about intentions
Whose realization was not a conclusion foregone.

But he has been hubristic from the outset
Apparently believing that his words are the gospel--
That, for example, when he says “jump” folks everywhere
Themselves through the air should promptly propel.

How he came to be hubristic is simple enough:
Winning a presidential election with his resume,
He had to conclude, necessarily reflects innate superiority,
Leading naturally to his behaving in a hubristic way.

However, sooner or later he’ll likely discover
That many folks (still) have minds of their own;
And come to realize that jumps at his every command
Can’t be thought of as a conclusion foregone.

And re: Guantamo’s closing he failed to heed
An adage that his effort to do so seems clearly to fit--
One that is timeless in its applicability--
Namely, If a thing ‘ain’t broke’, don’t try to fix it.

______

[1] It has been reported on good authority that this poor fellow
Heard only about the options of being variously tried, released or transferred
And had no inkling of the option of continued detention--
Something it was said he most likely would have preferred.

None is so blind…

Ref: Confidence in Stimulus Plan Ebbs, Poll Finds
Barely half of Americans are now confident that President Obama's $787 billion stimulus measure will boost the economy, and the rapid rise in optimism about the state of the nation that followed the 2008 election has abated, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
"One factor that continues to work for Obama, however, is that
most Americans still see him as a new type of Democrat, one
"who will be careful with the public's money," rather than an
old-style, "tax-and-spend Democrat" . . . (emphasis added).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/22/AR2009062202000.html

Having already put the country in debt
In an amount that boggles the mind,
The basis for judging him as "careful with the public's money"
Surely will be quite hard to find.

It's nothing short of interesting
That public attitudes toward Obama
Suggest that they approve of his starring performance
In our national reality drama.

And re: his media reinforced omnipresence,
Time will tell whether or not he's exempt
From provisions of the time-tested adage:
Familiarity breeds contempt.

(The Supreme Court is aware of the latter,
Refusing to allow TV coverage of its daily routine;
Perhaps there's a viable "exclusion clause"
For one Veep-labeled as "articulate and clean").

What Karzai is up against…
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/28518-new-hope-afghanistan.html
June 20, 2009
Corruption Crusader Aims for Afghan Presidency
By ADAM B. ELLICK
KABUL, Afghanistan

RAMAZAN BASHARDOST’S election campaign seems better suited for a student government race than a drive for the presidency of Afghanistan. Each day, dozens of volunteers visit his headquarters, a dust-blown tent on a dirt road, eager to hear his anticorruption platform . . .
THE campaign runs on $20,000, mostly donations from diaspora Afghans. All contributors are listed on Mr. Bashardost’s Web site.
Critics cast him as more of a moralist than a leader with ideas of his own. Commentators refer to him as genuine but slightly insane, as evidenced by his rants that end far removed from where they began. As a result, his policy prescriptions are murky . . .. (emphasis added).

Unlike the one (who) when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and saint, and heard great argument,
But evermore
Came out by the same door as in (he) went.
Omar Khayyam
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/o/omarkhayya153456.html

Moreover, Bashrdost’s murky policy prescriptions
Defy all who’ve attempted clarifying descriptions;
Just where in his rants he’s going
There’s absolutely no way of knowing
And those who want to know are having conniptions.

But here’s some advice before they yield to despair
And for defeat, in abject resignation, prepare:
Though his policy goals aren’t clear,
In lack of specificity there’s naught to fear,
For if he doesn’t know where he’s going, any road will get him there.

Still, it’s likely in the circumstances that Karzai will win;
Also that Mr. Bashrdost’s supporters will create a din
Not over the kind of race Karzai ran
But the widespread corruption in Afghanistan
And his failure to stamp out that form of venial sin.

Speak no evil

Thursday, June 18, 2009

1. In Poll, Obama Is Seen as Ineffective on the Economy
By JEFF ZELENY and DALIA SUSSMAN
The latest New York Times/CBS News poll found a distinct gulf between President Obama’s overall standing and how some of his key initiatives, including health care reform, are viewed.

2. Obama Poll Sees Doubt on Budget and Health Care
By JEFF ZELENY and DALIA SUSSMAN
The latest New York Times/CBS News poll found a distinct gulf between President Obama’s overall standing and how some of his key initiative are viewed.

The first item, above, was filed earlier than the second
And between the first and the second we see
A change in header emphasis designed, it appears, to downplay
“Obama (being) seen as ineffective
on the e.con.o.my” (emphasis added).

Reinforcing the oft-stated position
That “the media are ’in the tank’ for Obama”
And can’t find it within themselves to be critical
Of the leading actor in our national drama.

Some things are hard to believe

From months ago, but still a topic that boggles the mind:
December 14, 2007:

Your Mike Bloomberg Alert for Environment & Sustainability
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg Addresses Delegates
At United Nations Framework Convention For Climate Change Conference

. If we are to stabilize the world’s climate, science says we must cut carbon emissions by some 60% to 80% worldwide by mid-century.

The notion of reducing pollution, per se,
Is really not too hard to take,
But that doing so will “stabilize the world’s climate” (no less),
Is a bit far out--might as well say it would stop an earthquake!

On dealing with inconvenient standards

N.J.'s alternative test to pass high school is subject of intensive study

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/new_jersey_may_change_states_a.html

"Policymakers seek to fine-tune paths to meaningful diplomas (via testing)"

If students the first time around don't "pass"

Let them re-test using an alternate, somewhat easier exam

That they can pass, and thus qualify to graduate with their class.

Standards, after all, are set primarily to be ignored if they prove to be inconvenient.

As the late Sen. Dirksen reportedly said:

I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times.
Everett Dirksen

Other utterances--off this particular topic--are very apt in other current arenas:

I have said, with respect to authorization bills, that I do not want the Congress or the country to commit fiscal suicide on the installment plan.
Everett Dirksen

The mind is no match with the heart in persuasion; constitutionality is no match with compassion.

This one fits to a "T" the problem posed for constitutionality

(should she be confirmed by the Senate)

by Obama's choice as Supreme Court nominee.

• http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/everett_dirksen.html