Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.... 04/12/2015

DEAR FRIEND.....

Glacial Melting In Antarctica Makes Continent The 'Ground Zero Of Global Climat= Change'

In=this Jan. 22, 2015 photo, a zodiac carrying a team of international scientists heads to Chile's station Bernardo O'Higgins, Antarctica.

There is an =mportant difference between Climate Change and Weather, and although the Northeast of the United States has experienced the worse snow storms in a century our scientist are telling us that the last thirty years have been the warmest since records began. =Scientist are also telling us that Antarctica is ground zero as warming oceans are causing ice sheets to melt into the surrounding seas — 130 billion tons of ice (118 billion metric tons= per year for the past decade, according to NASA satellite calculations. That's t=e weight of more than 356,000 Empire State Buildings, enough ice melt to fill more than 1.3 million Olympic swimming pools. And the melting is accelerati=g. In the worst case scenario, Antarctica's melt could push sea levels up 10 feet (3 meters) worldwide in a century or two, recurving heavily populated coastlines. As the water warms from below, causing the ice to retreat on to land, and then the warmer air takes over. Temperatures rose 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) i= the last half century, much faster than Earth's average, said Ricardo Jana, a glaciologist for the Chilean Anta=ctic Institute.

Just last month, scientists noticed in satellite imag=s that a giant crack in an ice shelf on the peninsula called Larsen C had grown by a=out 12 miles (20 kilometers) in 2014. Ominously, the split broke through a type=of ice band that usually stops such cracks. If it keeps going, it could =ause the breaking off of a giant iceberg somewhere between the size of Rhode Island and Delaw=re, about 1,700 to 2,500 square miles (4,600 to 6,400 square kilometers), said British Antarctic Survey scientist Pa=l Holland. And there's a small chance it could cause the entire Scotland-sized Larsen C ice shelf to collapse like i=s sister shelf, Larsen B, did in a dramatic way in 2002. A few years ba=k, scientists figured Antarctica as a whole was in balance, neither gaining nor losing ice. =Experts worried more about Greenland; it was easier to get to and more noticeable, but once they got a better look at th= bottom of the world, the focus of their fears shifted. Now scientists in tw= different studies use the words "irreversible" and "unstoppable" to talk about the melting in West Antarctica. Ice is gaining in East Ant=rctica, where the air and water are cooler, but not nearly as much as it is melting to the we=t.

What's happening is simple physics. Warm wa=er eats away at the ice from underneath. Then more ice is exposed to the water, and it too melts. =inally, the ice above the water collapses into the water and melts. Climate change has shifted the wind pattern around the continent, pushing warmer water far=her north against and below the western ice sheet and the peninsula. The =arm, more northerly water replaces the cooler water that had been there. It's only a couple degrees Fahrenheit=warmer than the water that used to be there, but that makes a huge difference in melting, scientists said. "Before Antarctica was much of a wi=d card," said University of Washington ice scientist Ian Joughin.

At its current rate, the rise of the world's ocea=s from Antarctica's ice melt would be barely noticeable, about one-third of a millimeter a year. The oceans are that vast. But if all the West Antarctic ice sheet that's connected to water melts unstoppably, as several experts p=edict, there will not be time to prepare. Scientists estimate it will take a=ywhere from 200 to 1,000 years to melt enough ice to raise seas by 10 feet, maybe only =00 years in a worst case scenario. If that plays out, developed coastal cities such as New York and Guangzhou could fa=e up to $1 trillion a year in flood damage within a few decades and countless other population centers will be vulnerable. "Cha=ging the climate of the Earth or thinning glaciers is fine as long as you don L=;t do it too fast. And right now we are doing it as fast as we can. It's not good," said Rignot, of NA=A. "We have to stop it; or we have to slow it down as best as we can."

At the same time the Arctic Sea ic= this year is the smallest in winter since satellite records began in 1979, in a new sign of long-term climate change, U.S. data showed on March 19, 2015. The ice floating =n the Arctic Ocean around the North Pole reached its maximum annual extent of just 14.54 million squa=e km (5.61 million sq. miles) on Feb. 25 - slightly bigger than Canada 40=93 and is now expected to shrink with a spring thaw. "This year's maximum ice extent was the lowest in the satellite record, with below-average ice conditions everywhere except in the Labrador Sea and Davis Strait,"

Video of shooting and press coverage Web Link: https://youtu.be/1sy3iYpErSU https://youtu.be/1sy=iYpErSU

If you=are Black you already know it. If you are liberal or progressive=you probably feel that it might happen. And for all of you who still believe that the killings of Tamir Rice, Mic=ael Brown, Kajieme Powell, Trayvon Martin, Ezell Ford, Aiyana Jones and=others were somehow justified because the police officers feared for their lives lets g= to the video tape as they say in sports. This week a video surfaced that showed as police officer Michael Slager shooting an unarmed Black man in the back in South Carolina. What is =ifferent with this story is that the police officer was arrested and charged with murder Tuesday after video sho=ed him fatally shooting a fleeing, unarmed black man in the back.

Above are some of the faces of unarmed people of colo= who were killed by police. Included are seven year old Aiyana Jones, Tamir Rice, 12, Andy Lopez, 1=, DeAunta Farrow, 12 and Rumain Brisbon, 34, an unarmed black father of four who was shot=to death in when a police officer apparently mistook his bottle of pills for a gun. =/span>

This latest confrontati=n was last Saturday when 33 year-old Officer Michael T. Slager reportedly pulled over 50 year-old Walter Scott because o= a broken taillight. It escalated into a foot chase as Scott allegedly fled because there were family court-issued warrants for his arrest. Slage= pursued Scott into a grassy lot and claimed that he fired his Taser to subdue him. Moments later, Slager reported on his radio, "Shots fired and th= subject is down. He took my Taser." Earlier this week, an attorney for Slager said the cop felt threatened after Scott tried to overpower him and take his Taser. But images in the video ar= of Stager shooting at Scott as he runs away from him. The video also shows Slager dropping a Taser near Scott after he was gunned dow=. Obviously Officer Slager lied. Thank God there was a passerb= videoing the incident, otherwise most people would have taken Slager's word. Officer=was arrested on Tuesday, April 7, 2015. By the way: Based on the=latest estimates by the U.S. Justice Department, you are SO times likely t= be killed by a police officer than a terrorist in the United States. And for African Americans that number grows exponentially. Something is =/span>defini=ely wrong

No You Didn’t Governor Scott?

Florida Gov. =ick Scott (R) is a climate change skeptic.

=span style="font-size:l2pt;line-height:107%">When I recently read this h=adline while trolling Huffington Post which is part of my daily ritual I had to stop — Florida Offic=als Were Barred From Using The Term 'Climate Change' Once Rick Scott Took Power 41=93 because I was sure that I misread the headline until I actually read Amanda Terkel's a=ticle. I don't know whether it is stubbornness or stupidness or both, but there has to be something in the water =n Florida if the voters and media in the state don't realize that this is a problem. =ecause there is a universal agreement among the style="font-size:l6px;line-height:17.1200008392334px">man-made international Governor =ick scientific Scott? community that there release is climate of carbon change emissions and that has the made =span this worse. So what is up with

So why were the officials responsible for making sure Florida is pr=pared to respond to the earth's changing climate are barred from using the terms=i> "global warming" and "climate change" in=official communications, emails and reports, according to new findings from the Flor=da Center for Investigative Reporting? "We were told that we wer= not allowed to discuss anything that was not a true fact," said Kristina Trott=, a former Florida Department of Environmental Protection employee. Another for=er employee added, "We were dealing with the effects and economic impact of climate change, and yet we can'= reference it."

Climate change is a major problem for Florida. Las= year, the National Climate Assessment named Miami as one of the cities in the United States most vulnerable to damage from rising sea levels. A Southeast =lorida Regional Climate Compact paper has also warned that water in the area could rise by as much as 2 fee= by the year 2060. But the state's governor, Republican Rick Scott, has frustrated scientists by downplaying the problem= Last year, a reporter asked Scott whether man-made climate change "is significantly affecting the weather, the climate." Sco=t tried to change the subject and replied, "Well, I'm not a scientist." When asked by the Tampa Bay Times in 2010 whether he believed in climate change, Scott simply replied, "No."

In August, five climate scientists met wit= Scott and told him he needs to do more to protect the state from rising sea levels. Acco=ding to the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, the policy against mentioning global warming went =nto effect after Scott took office in 2011 and appointed Herschel Vinyard Jr. a= the agency's director.

class="MsoNormal">Christopher Byrd, a counsel with the state Department 4 Environmental Protection, said he first heard about the policy at a staff meeting in 2011. "Deputy General Counsel Larry Morgan was giv=ng us a briefing on what to expect with the new secretary," Byrd recalled, saying he g=ve them "a warning to beware of the words global warming, climate change and sea-level rise, and advised us not=to use those words in particular." "I did infer from this meeting that this was a new policy, that these words we=e to be prohibited for use from official DEP policy-making with our clients," he added. The agency's press secretary told the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting that "DEP does not have a policy on this." The governor's office similarly said, "There I-=;5 no policy on this."

This is no longer a debate, whether Mitch McConne=l, John Boehner, Joni Ernst, Michele Bachmann, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Bobby Arida'. Dan Benishek and Rick Scott disagrees. And although Rep. Dan Benishek from Mich=gan claims to be a scientist and endorses peer review, we then have to ask why =s he still a climate change denier. But again whether or not they agree or not isn't the issue. The i=sue I have is that Governor Rick Scott is so partisan that he instituted a policy that Florida government official= could not even mention the terms "Climate Change" an= "Global Warming." I ask Governor Scott and other government deniers one question.....=i>What if you are wrong.....

MSNBC's Chris Matthews Accuses GOP Of Keeping Jim Crow Alive In 21st Century=/p>

Web Link: http:=/www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/13/chris-matthews-gop-jim-crow-alive-21st-
=entury_n_6863328.html <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/13/chris-matth-ws-gop-jim-crow-alive-21st-
century_n_6863328.html>

The thought of C=ris Matthews railing against Republicans isn't anything new. But during the final segment of "Hardball&q=ot; on March 12, 2015, the MSNBC host seemed particularly riled=up, accusing the GOP of ushering in a new era of Jim Crow with their treatment of the country's=first black president.

Matthews said he believes Americans will see Barack O=ama's time in the White House in "sharper contrast" in years to come, taking into account the antics he&#=9;s had to endure from his conservative foes since taking office. According to Matthew=, the GOP's primary goal has been to make sure the president "accomp=ishes nothing" and "gets booted from office as quickly as possible.=E244

The host pointed to numerous examples of Republican t=mper tantrums, listing Sen. Tom Cotton's (R-Ark.) recent letter to Iran, sub=erting Obama's ongoing nuclear negotiations, and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shou=ing "You lie," during the president's 2009 health care speech, among the most egregious.

"They will read all this and wonder, '=hat was it that made this Republican opposition so all out contemptuous of an American president?' Matthews said. =E244'What made it treat him as below respect, below the dignity historically accorded his office?'

The answer, Matthews suggested (and it's been sug=ested before), stems from President Obama's race.

"They will then look at a picture of this president, a picture of this man," Matth=ws said, "and perhaps get the idea that the age of Jim Crow managed to find a new habitat in the early 21st century Republican Party.”

In what was supposed to be a post-racial society in t=is new millennium we have to ask ourselves why there is so much hatred against Blacks and Hispanics in White America even when they played by the rules, doing everyt=ing asked of them and reach the office of the President of the United States.