Mood:  cheeky

15-Year-Old Outsmarts U.N. Climate Panel, Predicts End of Australia's Drought

By Noel Sheppard

Last week, NewsBusters readers were introduced to Portland, Maine’s fabulous fifteen-year-old, Kristen Byrnes, whose website “Ponder the Maunder” marvelously takes on anthropogenic global warming myths including those being advanced by soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore.

As will be revealed post haste, this newest – and likely youngest – member of the growing list of folks skeptical about man’s role in climate change actually walks the walk better than she talks the talk.

Yet, despite her youth and precocious scientific acumen, it seems quite unlikely that she’ll be sitting down with Matt Lauer or Diane Sawyer any time soon to discuss her research concerning one of the most popular subjects on the media’s front-burner. Why?

Because a prediction that she made last month concerning Australia's drought has marvelously borne fruit making the scientists employed by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change look a bit foolish.

To set this up, here’s what the IPCC Summary for Policymakers report released on April 7 predicted regarding Australia (emphasis added):

As a result of reduced precipitation and increased evaporation, water security problems are projected to intensify by 2030 in southern and eastern Australia and, in New Zealand, in Northland and some eastern regions. ** D [11.4]

[…]

Production from agriculture and forestry by 2030 is projected to decline over much of southern and eastern Australia, and over parts of eastern New Zealand, due to increased drought and fire.

About two weeks later, in an Internet discussion group which I belong to that deals exclusively with anthropogenic global warming issues, Byrnes wrote the following to an Australian participant (emphasis added, released with her permission and that of her parents):

I was just looking at my ENSO 3.4 chart when I was responding to Eduardo's email. It looks like the ENSO has been positive for 95% of the last 6 years. Since Austrailia [sic] experiences warm and dry conditions during positive ENSO, six years of drought would not surprise me. But it is headed negative very quickly now, so you might want to dust off your umbrella.

Well, just last week, there were signs from Australia that the six-year-old drought might be over. As reported by News.com.au on May 18 in an article deliciously titled “Drought Could Be Ending”:

THE El Nino weather system has run its course and the weather bureau says the worst drought in a century could be coming to an end, as heavy rain soaked parched southeastern Australia.

Inland NSW and north-east Victoria enjoyed heavy rainfall today, with reports from 20-30mm falling in some areas and as high as 53mm in country Victoria, Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) senior forecaster Phil King said.

[…]

Mr King said the rainfall reflected a shift in weather patterns back to a more normal situation following an end to the drought-making El Nino and signs emerging of its opposite, a La Nina, which brings rain.

"The El Nino is over,'' he said.

"The global patterns are indicating there are more neutral and natural conditions and with the rainfalls, there are signs we have returned to more normal patterns.''

Certainly great news for Australians, wouldn't you agee? And, the Canberra Times reported Wednesday (emphasis added):

Winter has arrived early on the Snowy Mountains in spectacular fashion.

A blanket of snow has covered much of the high ranges of the Kosciuszko National Park over the past two days and hopes are running high for the coming ski season.

After spending much of the summer season enduring the drought and feeling the threat of climate change, the residents of Jindabyne are alight with anticipation of a good season. The town, at the foot of the national park, almost triples in size during the snow season and relies heavily on the tourist dollar.

"Don't you worry, this season will be a good one, this is a big one. You'll see, we can feel it," one long-time resident said.

As for agriculture, The Age reported Thursday:

A good wet season in northern Australia has put Queensland-based cattle producer Australian Agricultural Co Ltd (AAco) on track for an improved performance this year.

AAco managing director Don Mackay said recent rain in some parts of southern states had also boosted prospects.

And, News.com.au reported the following on Thursday as well (emphasis added):

Recent storms over the northeast Top End put the icing on the cake for the Nothern [sic] Territory's rain totals, which have been more than 5 times the May average in some areas.

Places such as Batchelor Airport in the north, and Kulgera in the Alice Springs district have had more than 500% of their average monthly rainfall.

Lajamanu has done particularly well with more than 7 times their average monthly rain. Most of that was from a heavy downpour of 44mm. 20mm of that fell within 1 hour.

On Thursday storms crossing the eastern Top End drenched Nhulunbuy, with 41mm recorded from this event. Showers will continue on Friday in moist, unstable easterly winds, with falls heaviest in the east.

Obviously, Kristen’s April 20 suggestion that folks in Australia better dust off their umbrellas was rather prescient. Just imagine if this 15-year-old’s prediction supported the Global Warmingist-in-Chief Al Gore’s position on man’s role in climate change. Think she’d be Matt, Meredith, and Diane’s guest tomorrow?

Regardless of the answer, here’s what Kristen saw in the climate data that the global warming alarmists working for the U.N. either didn’t recognize or chose to ignore as shared with me by e-mail:

There are certain rules in climate. One of them is that when there is an El Nino, there is dry weather in Australia, especially during their summer. Here is a map of what I am talking about:.

and during their winter:

Australia has been in drought for about 6 years because there have been positive ENSO conditions for most of the past 6 years.

ENSO stands for El Niño/Southern Oscillation; more information on this indicator is available here and here. Kristen continued her explanation:

This is the NOAA Oceanic Nino Index. There are many different ENSO indexes. I use this one because it is updated all the time.

NOAA also publishes ENSO forecasts. They are usually pretty good a few months in advance but not perfect. Last month the La Nina was starting much faster but it has slowed down. This means that Australia will have normal rainfall for the planting season. The forecast for ENSO can be found here.

Kristen then addressed why so much of the alarmism is based on specious science:

The reason that computer climate models do not work is because they cannot predict volcanoes, ENSO and solar variance. They also do not understand how water vapor and clouds work.

Another rule in climate is that El Nino warms the average global temperature and La Nina is the opposite. During normal conditions the trade winds at the equator blow cool water off the coast of Peru to the east and cause warm water to pile up near Indonesia, the wind pressure actually causes sea water levels to be higher there. During La Nina, the winds blow even harder and pile the water up even more. During El Nino the winds slow down and the warm water flows back to Peru.

The result is, during La Nina (cool event) the cold water coming from the bottom of the ocean near Peru is blown across the surface to Indonesia. The Earth's normal circulation that takes heat from the equator towards the poles has less heat to move to the poles.

On the other hand, when there is an El Nino, the warm water spreads across the surface back to Peru. More warm water is in contact with the air above and the Earth's circulation takes that heat toward the poles.

From about 1944 to 1976 the ENSO was mostly negative and solar increased then decreased. Temperatures during this time cooled a little. Since 1976 the ENSO has been more positive. This along with increasing solar activity has combined to warm the globe. What is expected over the next few years is for the ENSO to move back to a negative phase and for solar activity to level off then go down. That is why the weather guy said that in 5 years global warming will be a joke.

Kristen was referring to a NewsBusters' article about New Zealand's favorite weatherman, Augie Auer, who was quoted last week as saying that over-hyped fears regarding climate change are "all going to be a joke in five years."

Kristen continued:

I am already seeing signs that the climate is cooling. Since 2001 the oceans have not warmed. 2005 was supposed to be the warmest year on record but ENSO went a little negative that year. That means the base temperature (the oceans) was as warm as it is going to get because 2006 was an El Nino year and it was the 6th warmest on record. Keep in mind that for the last 70 years there has been an 11,000 year solar high. It takes time for all that heat to build up in the oceans, but it seems that the oceans are as warm as they will get from this 11,000 year solar high. This year will be cooler than last year because it will be an ENSO negative year and the solar cycle still has not started yet.

Also keep in mind that just because there is no El Nino or La Nina, there is still heating or cooling. ENSO positive that does not get to the level of El Nino will still warm the climate, just a lot less. Same with ENSO negative that does not make the level of La Nina.

So, what does all this tell us?

Well, if the drought in Australia and New Zealand is indeed ending – and, certainly, early-season rains and snowstorms do not yet prove this – one must question the models being used by the IPCC to forecast climate change in the future.

After all, if a long-range forecast issued April 7 ends up being wrong five weeks later, why on earth would we trust these folks from the U.N. to be able to accurately predict what’s going to happen next year, or fifty to a hundred years from now?

Maybe more important, should we actually enact policy changes that could negatively impact the economy on the recommendations of a group that can’t accurately predict events beyond just a month and a half?

Of course, the other likely more pivotal side of this revelation is whether the scientists involved are just incompetent, or willfully malfeasant. As Kristen wrote in her e-mail message to me, “They were probably trying to scare the people of Australia into signing Kyoto.”

Well, if this is the case, then aren’t all involved participating in a shameful scam?

Think about it. If this is indeed about getting developed nations to agree to the Kyoto Protocol, isn’t the U.N. best served by predicting calamitous climate events regardless of their merit in order to scare the public into complacent support?

If there is evidence to suggest that this is indeed the case – for example, proof of errant predictions by the IPCC – shouldn’t the veracity and integrity of the information emanating from this organization be much more thoroughly scrutinized?

Sounds like questions good journalists should be asking, wouldn’t you agree?

So, why aren’t they?

Noel Sheppard's blog | login or register to post comments
Categories: Al Gore | An Inconvenient Truth | Environment | Global Warming | Weather

News Busters ~ Noel Sheppard ** 15-Year-Old Outsmarts U.N. Climate Panel, Predicts End of Australia's Drought
Related: 15 Year-old Student Challenges Al Gore’s Enviro-mental Alarmism

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:49 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 26 May 2007 3:11 AM EDT

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Iraqis Taking The Lead At Al Suleikh

Capt. James Peay was starting to feel like a third wheel.

Peay, a battery commander with the 82nd Airborne Division from Nashville, Tenn., was accompanying Iraqi police chief Lt. Col. Ahmed Abdullah on a combined engagement patrol through the east Baghdad neighborhood of Suleikh.

Whenever they stopped to speak with people on the street, Ahmed did most of the talking. Peay stood off to the side, listening as his interpreter translated. His comments were mostly limited to hellos, goodbyes, and thank-yous.

This was Ahmed's show, and Peay was more than happy to give him the spotlight. It's not that he is shy, Peay said later, it's that, ultimately, stability in Iraq depends on the Iraqi security forces - and people like Lt. Col. Ahmed - taking the lead.

Successfully negotiating that difficult transition has become one of the major focuses of the entire war effort, especially since the kick-off of the new security plan for Baghdad, which has placed thousands of additional U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad communities, often living together in the same compounds.

Peay commands one of those new shared bases - the Suleikh Joint Security Station. For more than three months, paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division have been living and working side-by-side with the Iraqi police and Iraqi army at the JSS to coordinate security efforts in Suleikh.

The paratroopers from Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, man the JSS 24 hours a day.

They have a cramped section of the building to themselves, stacked high with boxes of canned food, water and other supplies. The police stay on the other side of the same building, and the Iraqi soldiers stay in another part of the complex. At least once a day, liaisons from the three units meet in the conference room to discuss operations.

When the JSS was first established, the area was so dangerous that the police rarely left the station. Some days, they went out only to pick up one of the dead bodies regularly dumped in the neighborhood.

Three months later, things changed. The U.S. presence helped bring the level of violence down significantly. At the same time, it emboldened the ISF to raise their profile in the area - particularly the police.

"They know we're here to support them, but at the same time, they're getting to a point where they know security as a whole is in their hands," said 2nd Lt. Jesse Bowman, an Alpha Battery platoon leader from Reynoldsburg, Ohio.

The difficult part, now, will be to maintain the security while the U.S. forces step back and the ISF step up.

Peay's patrol with Ahmed, May 18, his first as the new battery commander, gave an encouraging glimpse of the future.

Before the patrol started, platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Nichols, of Lewisburgh, W.V., went over tactics and procedures with the Iraqis. When he was satisfied everyone was on the same page, the patrol moved out.

With a phalanx of police and paratroopers around them, Peay and Ahmed spent several hours walking a loop of the neighborhood around the JSS. They talked to people in their houses, outside washing their cars, on their way to work or anywhere else they found them.

Almost everyone complained about sewage or electricity, which, in the big scheme of things, Peay found promising.
"If they're complaining about the power, security must be pretty good," he said.

Sometimes people came right out of their gates to talk with Ahmed in the middle of the street, an act that newly-arrived platoon leader, 1st Lt. Larry Rubal, from Old Forge, Pa., found incredible. At his old unit, people were afraid to be seen talking to U.S. or Iraqi security forces.

"I was very surprised by how willing people here were to come out and talk to us in the middle of the road," he said. "They were just very open."

Peay rarely had to ask a question. Ahmed was running the show. At one point Rubal asked his interpreter to make sure a man they were talking to received a pamphlet with the number of a crime tip line. The man produced one from his pocket. Ahmed had already given it to him.

"You're too quick," Rubal said to Ahmed, laughing. Ahmed shrugged.

"He really took the lead and got out there," Peay said afterwards.

Peay said he'd like to build on the day's success by conducting more joint patrols and joint operations. And whenever possible, he'll continue to keep the U.S. in the background.
"I'd rather our guys just stand outside and have (the ISF) do everything," he said.

In the meantime, Peay has another patrol scheduled with Lt. Col. Ahmed. And as the ISF continue to make gains in securing the streets of Baghdad, it looks like Peay will have to get used to being the third wheel.

Source: Multi-National Force-Iraq
NewsBlaze, Daily News ** Iraqis Taking The Lead At Al Suleikh

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:09 AM EDT

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Clintax, Obama Vote Against Funding...

Clinton, Obama vote 'no' on Iraq bill

WASHINGTON -- Courting the anti-war constituency, Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) both voted against legislation that pays for the Iraq war but lacks a timeline for troop withdrawal.

"Enough is enough," Obama, an Illinois senator, declared, adding that President Bush should not get "a blank check to continue down this same, disastrous path."

Their votes Thursday night continued a shift in position for the two presidential hopefuls, both of whom began the year shunning a deadline for a troop withdrawal.

On a vote of 80-14, the Senate cleared the measure and sent it to Bush.

Both Clinton and Obama have faced intense pressure from the party's liberal wing and Democratic presidential challengers who urged opposition to the measure because it doesn't include a timeline to pull forces out of Iraq.

Sen. Christopher Dodd (news, bio, voting record) of Connecticut, who also voted against the legislation, was among the Democratic candidates calling for rejection of it, along with former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

Of the four Democratic hopefuls in the Senate, only Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware supported the bill. He said he did so reluctantly because he viewed the measure as flawed. But he added: "As long as we have troops on the front lines, it is our shared responsibility to give them the equipment and protection they need."

With their "no" votes, Clinton, Obama and Dodd earned praise from the party's left flank, which has been pushing for a quick end to the war and is an important part of the Democratic base in the primaries.

"This bold stand by three of the four presidential candidates in the Senate won't soon be forgotten," promised Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org's political action committee.

Although they appeased the Democratic base, Clinton, Obama and Dodd did open themselves up to criticism from Republicans that they were denying 165,000 troops the resources they need — an argument that could be damaging in a general election.

Both Clinton and Obama had remained publicly uncommitted in the hours before the vote. Neither were on the Senate floor as voting began. Halfway through, Obama walked into the chamber and cast his "no" vote. Clinton did the same a few minutes later.

Obama framed the vote as a choice between "validating the same failed policy" and "demanding a new one."

"I am demanding a new one," he said. "We must fund our troops. But we owe them something more," Obama said, calling for "a clear, prudent plan to relieve them of the burden of policing someone else's civil war."

Clinton put the blame on Bush, saying that he should have "followed the will of the people" and signed an earlier bill that would have both funded the war and started a troop withdrawal.

"But the president vetoed Congress's new strategy and so Congress must reject the president's failed policies," she said, adding that Bush should begin a phased withdrawal and "abandon this escalation."

Clinton voted to authorize the invasion in 2002. She has since become a constant critic of the Bush administration's handling of it but has refused to call her initial vote a mistake. She had adamantly opposed setting a hard deadline for troop withdrawals, but a week ago she voted to advance a bill that would cut off money to force a troop withdrawal by March 2008.

Obama wasn't in the Senate in 2002. But he, like Clinton, prominently shunned earlier proposals to set a fixed timetable for an end to the war only to vote to advance last week's bill that included a date to bring home troops.

The voting went as expected in the GOP field.

Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), a staunch supporter of the troop increase and the war itself but a longtime critic of the way Bush waged it, is the only top-tier Republican candidate in Congress, and he voted for the measure. A lesser-known GOP hopeful, Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record) of Kansas, did not vote.

In the House, long-shot Reps. Duncan Hunter (news, bio, voting record), R-Calif., and Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., supported the bill, while Rep. Ron Paul (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, opposed it.

Yahoo News ~ Associated Press - Liz Sidoti ** Clinton, Obama vote 'no' on Iraq bill

Posted by yaahoo_ at 1:00 PM EDT

Updated: Friday, 25 May 2007 1:05 PM EDT

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Al-Qaeda in Iraq Is in Retreat in Anbar Province

Some 30 tribes in Al Anbar formed an alliance, the "Anbar Awakening," in September and pledged to fight Al Qaeda militants in the insurgency-plagued province by forming their own paramilitary units and sending recruits to the local police force.

Time changed the title of the article... when it was origionally posted, it said "There's good news from Iraq"... Anybody wanna guess why Time changed the headline?!?!

Is al-Qaeda on the Run in Iraq?

By Joe Klein

There is good news from Iraq, believe it or not. It comes from the most unlikely place: Anbar province, home of the Sunni insurgency. The level of violence has plummeted in recent weeks. An alliance of U.S. troops and local tribes has been very effective in moving against the al-Qaeda foreign fighters. A senior U.S. military official told me—confirming reports from several other sources—that there have been "a couple of days recently during which there were zero effective attacks and less than 10 attacks overall in the province (keep in mind that an attack can be as little as one round fired). This is a result of sheiks stepping up and opposing AQI [al-Qaeda in Iraq] and volunteering their young men to serve in the police and army units there." The success in Anbar has led sheiks in at least two other Sunni-dominated provinces, Nineveh and Salahaddin, to ask for similar alliances against the foreign fighters. And, as TIME's Bobby Ghosh has reported, an influential leader of the Sunni insurgency, Harith al-Dari, has turned against al-Qaeda as well. It is possible that al-Qaeda is being rejected like a mismatched liver transplant by the body of the Iraqi insurgency.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 4:53 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 24 May 2007 5:53 AM EDT

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Apple v Ann Summers in iGasm spat

Ann Summers attract's Apple's ire for iGasm sex toy advertising

High street adult retailer Ann Summers has landed itself in a heap of trouble with Apple.

The retail chain has been promoting a £30 sex toy called the iGasm, a device which connects to any music player and offers users an erotic vibrating treat in time to the beat.

A News of the World report claims Apple is furious about Ann Summer's promotion of the device, and is demanding all posters for the gadget be taken down, under threat of court action.

The neon-pink posters depict an underwear-clad female silhouette holding an oval white device with two cables - one connected to a pair of white headphones, the other heading down toward the female's knickers.

The sales pitch urges music fans to: "Go at it hard and fast with a pounding drum 'n' bass track or chill with an ambient classic."

Apple is claiming the ad to be an abuse of the silhouette-based images it uses in its own advertising.

Ann Summers hasn't bowed to Apple's threats, the report explains.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 9:49 PM EDT

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Paperwork Late

Posted by yaahoo_ at 10:16 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 22 May 2007 10:44 PM EDT

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Pelosi’s Syrian Visit Prompted "Crackdown Against Freedom"

Efforts Damaged

Syrian dissidents and pro-Democracy advocates say their efforts were critically damaged by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Damascus last month.

Activists tell The New York Observer that the Assad government has cracked down hard on dissent because it feels the pressure is off.

"Pelosi's visit made the regime feel that Americans were divided on how to deal with Syria," said one women's rights activist.

Dissidents point to a five-year prison sentence for Syria's best-known human rights lawyer -- and other harsh punishments for pro-Democracy activists since Pelosi came.

And hundreds of people were arrested in one town for protesting rigged parliamentary elections.

Fox News ~ Brit Hume - Political Grapevine ** Efforts Damaged

Of course the lamestream media is completely silent on this story, yet if it was a Republican there would be grand standing demanding resignations, investigations, hearings etc. Since it's a Demented-crat -- there's complete silence.

Yeah, good job there, Nancy. Way to wave that ugly, wrinkly, plastic-injected, skanky, bitter, foul-faced piece of meat in front of the lions...

Pro-Reform Syrians Angry About Speaker Pelosi’s Visit Last Month

By Noel Sheppard

As America’s media largely gushed over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-California) visit to Syria last month, it would only be fair of them to gauge reaction of the citizens most-largely impacted – the Syrians themselves.

In a rather stunning article published May 15, The New York Observer has gone where few press outlets dare (h/t LGF, emphasis added throughout):

Many Syrian dissidents and pro-democracy activists have privately expressed dismay at Ms. Pelosi’s message of friendship to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. They say that Ms. Pelosi’s visit, no matter how well-intentioned, has effectively pulled the rug out from under them, critically damaging their efforts to create momentum for reform from within.

Think you’ll be hearing Charlie, Katie, or Brian utter such words any time soon? Regardless, that was only the beginning of this marvelous exposé:

“Pelosi’s visit made the regime feel that Americans were divided on how to deal with Syria,” said a Damascus-based women’s-rights activist who, like five other activists interviewed for this article, asked that his name be withheld because he feared punishment. “This sends a message to the regime that the pressure is off, that it can do what it likes.”

And, her visit had immediate negative consequences the media here certainly will not report:

It has certainly seemed that way in the weeks since Ms. Pelosi’s departure, during which time the government has imprisoned Kurdish opposition figures while maintaining travel and work bans on political activists.

In the eastern Syrian town of Raqqa, hundreds of people were arrested for protesting rigged parliamentary elections. And over the last month, the Syrian courts have embarked on a veritable spree of sentencing, handing down harsh prison sentences to some of Syria’s most prominent pro-democracy activists.

Last week, the physician and dissident Kamal Labwani was sentenced to 12 years in prison for having met with American officials during a 2005 trip to Washington. This past weekend, the activists Michel Kilo and Mahmoud Issa were sentenced to three years each for having signed the so-called Damascus Declaration, a document petitioning Syria’s government to normalize relations with neighboring Lebanon.

As a result, reform activity has come to a screeching halt:

The few Syrian activists who are not presently behind bars say they have all but ceased working.

“Most of us are just sitting and waiting,” said the women’s-rights activist. “It’s too dangerous to try any political activities right now. The regime is making a point, and there’s no telling when the current crackdown will end.”

[…]

“Pelosi’s visit was well-meant, but it’s been bad for everyone, and especially devastating for some of our closest friends in Syria,” an American researcher on Syria said.

How marvelous. Unfortunately, a media enthralled by the female speaker won’t dare point to her obvious lack of apparel.

Color me unsurprised.

Noel Sheppard's blog | login or register to post comments
Categories: 2006 Congressional | Foreign Policy | Middle East | Nancy Pelosi

News Busters ~ Noel Sheppard ** Pro-Reform Syrians Angry About Speaker Pelosi’s Visit Last Month

Posted by yaahoo_ at 9:58 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 22 May 2007 10:46 PM EDT

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AP Photo: Spc. Brian Baldwin, 32, from York, Pa. of Delta Company, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division patrols nine days after a May 12 attack that left four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi soldier dead and three comrades missing in Quarghuli village, near Youssifiyah, 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq Monday, May 21, 2007.

Dems set war bill without Iraq timeline

WASHINGTON -- In grudging concessions to President Bush, Democrats intend to draft an Iraq war-funding bill without a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and shorn of at least some of the billions they want for domestic programs, officials said Monday.

The legislation would include the first federal minimum wage increase in more than a decade, a top priority for the Democrats who took control of Congress in January, the officials added.

While details remain subject to change, the measure is designed to close the books by Friday on a bruising struggle between Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress over the war. It would provide funds for military operations in Iraq through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Democrats in both houses are expected to seek other opportunities later this year to challenge Bush's handling of the unpopular conflict.

Bush vetoed one Iraq measure this spring, citing a troop withdrawal timeline and additional spending that Democrats included. The rejected legislation included $21 billion more than the president requested, and while some of it was targeted for the military, most of it was for domestic programs.

Democratic officials stressed that key issues surrounding the funding measure remained unsettled, and an evening meeting of rank and file House members was postponed.

One major uncertainty involved the spending that Democrats in both houses hope to include for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, farmers hit by natural disaster, low-income children's health and other programs. While determined to avoid a second veto, they are also hoping that an appetite for spending among GOP lawmakers will prod the administration to accept more than it would like.

Another matter yet to be decided by House leaders was whether to split the legislation into two bills, one containing the war funding and the minimum wage, and the other reserved for the domestic spending.

The officials who spoke did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss developments before they were presented to the rank and file.

Democrats in Congress have insisted for months they would not give Bush a blank check for his war policies, and officials said the legislation is expected to include political and military goals for the Iraqi government to meet toward establishment of a more democratic society.

Failure to make progress toward the goals could cost the Iraqis some of the reconstruction aid the United States has promised, although it was not clear whether Democrats intended to give Bush power to order the aid to be spent regardless of progress.

Either way, Democratic leaders have said they hope to clear a war spending bill through both houses of Congress and send it to Bush's desk by week's end. They added the intention was to avoid a veto.

Bush vetoed one bill this spring after Democrats included a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq, and Republicans in the House upheld his rejection of the measure.

The House then passed legislation to provide war funds in two 60-day installments. Bush threatened a veto, and the measure was sidetracked in the Senate in favor of a non-controversial bill that merely pledged to give the troops the resources they need.

That set the stage for the current House-Senate negotiations on a measure to send to Bush.

The Democrats' attempt to draft war funding legislation occurred after an inconclusive meeting on Friday involving White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and the Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress.

Democrats criticized the administration for rejecting calls for a troop withdrawal timetable even if Bush has the power to waive it.

For his part, Bolten criticized Democrats for persisting with an approach that had already sparked one veto. He noted the president had already said he was willing to consider legislation that included so-called benchmarks for the Iraqi government.

Both the House and Senate have approved legislation raising the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour in three separate 70-cent increases over 26 months. The measures both included modest tax breaks, mainly aimed at helping businesses that hire low-skilled or handicapped workers.

White House officials have said Bush is amenable to accepting an increase in the minimum wage, although they and key GOP lawmakers favor larger tax cuts to accompany the measure.

Yahoo News ~ Associated Press - David Espo ** Dems set war bill without Iraq timeline

So the Dems are going to surrender to the President. Hopefully they'll keep their word, since they have no idea what integrity is. The fesitivities surrounding the extreme anti-war crowd should be quite amusing after the spending bill is approved.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:39 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 22 May 2007 2:50 AM EDT

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Hubble Reveals Ghostly Ring of Dark Matter

Hubble Reveals Ghostly Ring of Dark Matter

Astronomers have discovered an enormous, ghostly ring of dark matter 5 billion light-years away--the most blatant evidence to date for the existence of a mysterious substance hidden throughout the universe.

Dark matter makes up a vast majority of gravity-exerting mass in the universe, while only about 10 percent is matter we can see and touch. If dark matter didn't exist, scientists say, galaxies like the Milky Way would have already flown apart from a severe lack of gravitational "glue."

Researchers pointed the aging but powerful Hubble Space Telescope toward a cluster of galaxies known as cluster ZwCl0024+1652. At first glance, the then-unknown ring looked like a ripple in a pond over the twinkling galactic cluster.

"I was annoyed when I saw the ring because I thought it was an artifact," said Myungkook James Jee of Johns Hopkins University.

But it wasn't a glitch, astronomers announced at a NASA press conference today.

The more Jee and others tried to remove the ring by tweaking the data, the more the ring-like anomaly stuck out like a sore thumb. "It took more than a year to convince myself that the ring was real," Jee said. "I've looked at a number of clusters and I haven't seen anything like this."

Because so much dark matter resides in the ring, astronomers said, it bends the light around it to create the ripple effect--dark matter's calling card. The complete findings will be detailed in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

The ring, 2.6-million light-years wide, formed when two huge clusters of galaxies slammed together in a head-on collision 6 to 7 billion years ago, puffing the mysterious matter outward, the astronomers figure. If the galactic hit-and-run had occurred outside of Earth's line-of-sight, the result might look more like the "Bullet cluster"--another cosmic impact site that astronomers view as strong evidence for dark matter.

Richard Massey, a Caltech astronomer not connected to the study, said that the finding is extremely important, especially combined with the Bullet cluster evidence. But he warned that the discovery still faces skepticism from other astronomers. "A lot of things can go wrong in producing an image," he said, explaining the shape could be produced within Hubble's camera itself.

Also, he said, the failure of Hubble's most powerful camera four months ago doesn't help. "Just as we were getting to the point to learn how to find dark matter, it breaks," Massey said.

Richard White, an astronomer with Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland, said he also was initially skeptical about the ring of dark matter. "But it shows up in another Hubble camera's data as well," he said. "It's not as clear, but it's still there. We argue the ring has been seen twice now."

Unlike other dark matter discoveries, the ring is the first collection of dark matter that differs greatly from the distribution of ordinary matter.

In addition to using gravity to visualize the dark matter itself, the team also created computer simulations showing what happens when galaxy clusters collide. When the two clusters smashed together, they think, dark matter fell to the center and then sloshed outward. As it did so, gravity eventually slowed it down and condensed it into a large ring detected by astronomers.

"By studying this collision, we are seeing how dark matter responds to gravity," said Holland Ford, another Johns Hopkins astronomer on the team. "Nature is doing an experiment for us that we can't do in a lab, and it agrees with our theoretical models."

Finding dark matter is not easy because it doesn't shine or reflect light. So astronomers rely on gravity, which can bend the light of distant stars when enough mass is present, much like a lens distorts an image behind it. Thanks to the laws of physics, knowing how much light is bent tells astronomers how much mass is there. By mapping the gravity's "footprint," astronomers were able to create a picture of how the dark matter ring is distributed in the cluster.

In the image of the cluster, Jee said, "the background galaxies behind the ring show coherent changes in their shapes due to the presence of the dense ring. It's like looking at the pebbles on the bottom of a pond with ripples on the surface."

• See the Video: Dark Matter Ring
• Tiny Galaxies Hide Dark Secret
• The Top 10 Strangest Things in Space

• Original Story: Hubble Reveals Ghostly Ring of Dark Matter

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Yahoo News ~ Space.com - Dave Mosher ** Hubble Reveals Ghostly Ring of Dark Matter

Posted by yaahoo_ at 4:38 PM EDT

Updated: Monday, 21 May 2007 4:47 PM EDT

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AP Photo: Ray 'Bubba' Sorensen talks about the murals he paints of the sacrifices of America's servicemen and women on a 56-ton boulder each year, Thursday, May 3, 2007, near Menlo, Iowa. For nine years, he has painted on the boulder, dubbed 'Freedom Rock.' It has made him a celebrity in this swath of central Iowa farm country and has become a Memorial Day tradition that draws thousands of people. ↓

Rock mural draws Memorial Day visitors

MENLO, Iowa -- Ray "Bubba" Sorensen wanted to quit years ago, but there he was turning up again and again at a 56-ton boulder to paint murals of the sacrifices of America's servicemen and women.

For nine years, he has painted on the boulder, dubbed "Freedom Rock." It has made him a celebrity in this swath of central Iowa farm country and has become a Memorial Day tradition that draws thousands of people.

"I'm thanking these guys who signed up to do a job no one else wants to do," said the 27-year-old graphic artist from Ames, Iowa, whose idea began with a spurt of patriotism after watching the movie "Saving Private Ryan."

Before Sorensen began painting murals each May, the boulder about 40 miles west of Des Moines on an empty stretch of Highway 25 was covered with graffiti.

But only once has the rock been defaced since he began painting scenes of soldiers, whether they're crossing the Delaware with Gen. George Washington or flying in a helicopter over Vietnam.

A 58-year-old Vietnam veteran became so angry at the one bit of graffiti that he beat up the young vandal, earning himself a citation and a $90 fine that other vets helped him pay.

"I got very upset," John Porter said. "The rock is a pretty sacred thing to our community."

It takes Sorensen about three weeks to sketch out and paint scenes on the rock. Using floodlights, he sometimes works past midnight.

On a recent May morning, Sorensen knelt on gravel, his sweatshirt hood pulled over his head against a gusting wind. He methodically painted an image on the rock of Marines carrying a stretcher.

Sorensen tipped his brush to passing motorists, but he rarely took his eyes off the painting.

Every year, 54-year-old Marilee Kajewski of northeast Iowa stops to see the rock.

"I think it is an amazing tribute to the armed forces," said Kajewski, whose father fought in World War II. "It kind of brings home the commitment, the sacrifice that they've made to keep the United States free."

Local business people encourage visits to the rock, arranging tour bus trips and erecting a welcome kiosk with a plastic mailbin that reads: "Leave a Note for Bubba."

"I've got notebooks full of people leaving messages from all over the world," he said. "We got like Sweden, we got the Virgin Islands and China."

The site is especially popular with Vietnam veterans.

Last year, a group of California veterans riding motorcycles to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., stopped at the mural before its completion. They planned to sprinkle the ashes of deceased friends around the rock, but Sorensen offered to mix the ashes into the paint.

"Eight different Vietnam vets ended up in the paint," he said. "It kind of made it a living memorial."

Sorensen sells T-shirts and prints emblazoned with images from the mural, but the money covers little more than the cost of his supplies. He planned to stop painting the boulder in 2003 but reconsidered after taking a call from an American Legion post in Colorado.

"I had to talk to every legion member. I was probably on the phone for three hours," he said. "They were all giving reasons why I shouldn't quit."

Sorensen emphasizes that his murals are in support of veterans, not blind backing of war.

"I'm not pro-war or pro-anybody's policy. It's just one big thank you card," he said.

Yahoo News ~ Associated Press - Nafeesa Syeed ** Rock mural draws Memorial Day visitors

Posted by yaahoo_ at 3:41 PM EDT

Updated: Monday, 21 May 2007 3:49 PM EDT

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