I’ve quoted from the Secrecy New email list in the past. Now he’s also publishing his article on a blog. Boy, don’t I wish that other email list publishers would get with it like he has.
So here is my first link to Steven Aftergood’s Secrecy New blog: The Thomas Butler Affair
Dr. Thomas C. Butler is one of the rather few people in the history of humanity of whom it can be truly said that he helped to save millions of lives. A specialist in the plague and other infectious diseases, his research helped lead to the adoption of oral hydration as a standard treatment for diarrhea in the Third World and elsewhere.
But in post-9/11 America, Dr. Butler is also a convicted criminal.
Because he apparently committed certain violations of the laws governing the transport of toxic materials used in his medical research, he was investigated and prosecuted as if he were a potential terrorist. In 2004, he was sentenced to a term of two years in prison, which he recently completed.
Check this site out. Yet another very cool google map application!
Did I not just ask this question? Real Climate weighs in with an ambivalent answer: How much future sea level rise? More evidence from models and ice sheet observations.
What does all this news mean in practice? Reading the editorials in Science, and quotations from various researchers in newspaper articles, one might be under the impression that we should now expect ‘catastrophic sea-level rise’ (as Science’s Richard Kerr writes). Of course, what is catastrophic to the eye of a geologist may be an event taking thousands of years. In the Otto-Bliesner et al. simulations, it takes 2000-3000 years for Greenland to melt back to its LIG minimum size. And while we don’t advocate sticking with the typical politician’s time frame of 4 or 5 years, the new results do not require us to revise projections of sea level rise over the next century or so. This is because even with Arctic temperature continuing to rise rapidly, there will still be significant delay before the process of ice sheet melting and thinning is complete. There is uncertainty in this delay time, but this is already taken into account in IPCC uncertainty estimates. It is also important to remember that the data showing accelerating mass loss in Antarctica and rapid glacier flow in Greenland only reflect a very few years of measurements — the GRACE satellite has only been in operation since 2002, so it provides only a snapshot of Antarctic mass changes. We don’t really know whether these observations reflect the long term trend.
On the other hand, none of the new evidence points in the direction of smaller rates of sea level rise in the future, and probably nudge us closer to the upper end of the IPCC predictions. Those who have already been ignoring or naysaying those predictions now have even less of a leg to stand on. Coastal managers, real estate developers, and insurance companies, at the least, would be wise to continue to take such predictions seriously.** As Don Kennedy and Brooks Hanson write in the lead Editorial, ‘accelerated glacial melting and larger changes in sea level should be looked at as probable events, not as hypothetical possibilities.’
Many years ago while arguing on-line with a bunch of global warming skeptics, I argued that one way to combat the “we just don’t know” argument would be to have actuaries study the global warming risks. More and more I hear people talk about similar approaches to the problem. As climate change looms upon us, maybe it is time to shift the political discussion to an economic one. Stop the empty political rhetoric and crank up the spreadsheets. It’s happening. Time to adapt.
Here’s something I posted to a TPM Cafe blog I got when I registered there:
Immigration Realism and Social Security | TPMCafe: “Immigration Realism and Social Security
By Bernal KC | bio
A very simple idea has been tossing around in my head for a long time now. I’m surprised it hasn’t been discussed by others:
We’re told, ad nauseam, that the aging baby boomers pose a demographic problem for the financial viability of Social Security. There supposedly won’t be enough workers paying taxes to pay for the benefits of retirees in the future.
Isn’t immigration reform a very simple way to solve this problem?
If we have the other ingredients needed to grow the economy and employ more workers, then why not invite more able bodied workers to immigrate legally and help this country continue to grow and prosper. No need to raise social security taxes. Just grow the economy and grow the labor force. What could be more American than to welcome a vital, prosperous, and industrious new generation of immigrants to our shores?”
Nice article from the History Network News site by Gary Hart and Joyce Appleby: The Founders Never Imagined a Bush Administration
‘The great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department,’ Madison wrote in Federalist 51, ‘consists in giving to those who administer each department, the necessary constitutional means, and personal motives, to resist encroachments of the others.’
Warming to his subject, Madison continued, ‘Ambition must be made to counteract ambition;’ the interest of the office holders must ‘be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.’
Recognizing that he was making an appeal to interest over ideals, he concluded that it ‘may be a reflection of human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government.’ ‘But what,’ Madison asked, ‘is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.’
When will the public awaken to the constitutional crisis we’re in?
New Scientist reports that change is coming rapidly to Greenland: Glacial earthquakes rock Greenland ice sheet
A rapid increase in “glacial earthquakes” – caused by sudden large movements of glaciers – over the past few years indicates that warmer temperatures will destroy the Greenland ice sheet faster than expected, a new study warns.
What I want to know is, if enough landlocked polar ice melts to raise the sea level — even a little bit — does that mean that ice shelves floating above ocean waters will calve immediately? And does that trigger yet more glacial movement and melting? All the news reports talk about the seas rising 20 feet in 100 years. I want to see some near term scenarios and some insights into the progression of these changes.
I Couldn’t agree more with Josh:
Yep, institutionalizing a ‘guest worker’ type program in the US would give us the worst of all worlds as immigration policy goes. Citizenship matters; and it should be the basis of any good immigration policy.
From The Loom, another new science blog found from the awards nominees:
You’re a Dim Bulb (And I mean that in the best possible way): “a computer as powerful as the human brain would require 1 gigawatt of power.”
Notice that it was a Brittish led operation, no shots fired, multinational effort, aided by local cooperation,… a success.
Holy F—ing Jesus!!! This can’t be real, can it? Think Progress » Bush’s IRS Wants to Make Your Tax Returns Public
The new proposal allows the tax preparers –- from your local accountant to giants such as H&R Block –- to get your signature and then give or sell the full tax return to data brokers, to your boss, to anyone. And there are absolutely no restrictions about what recipients do with the returns. The rule lets recipients post the full return to the Internet if they want.
I read about this PEN initiative in the PEN newsletter: Revitalizing High School Libraries
New York Life Revitalizing High School Libraries
An Initiative of the Public Education Network
funded by the New York Life Foundation
New York Life RHSL allowed PEN and its LEF members in three cities—Minneapolis, San Francisco and Tampa—to work closely with four high schools to create library media centers that are true centers of teaching and learning and foster a school culture that values and promotes high levels of adolescent literacy.
Does anyone know which San Francisco HS library is involved with this? Sounds interesting.
