The Conservation Report

AGRICULTURE: Amazon Rain Forest’s Untapped Fruit Bounty

AIR POLLUTION: 35W sculptures aren’t just for looks: Cemstone became the first company in the nation to use a new form of concrete that removes carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and sulfur dioxide from the atmosphere.

CLIMATE CHANGE: A baaa-d idea? Aussie sheep made to wear gas masks so scientists can see how their breath can affect climate

CONSERVATION: Colorado tests high tech roadkill prevention system

CORAL REEFS: Florida Town Wants to Grow Coral Reefs with Electricity: As coral reefs around the world continue to disappear, one Florida town has taken the initiative by investing $60,000 to stimulate coral reef growth using electricity. While there is not yet peer-reviewed evidence to suggest that using a low powered electrical current works, scientists are not dismissing the idea. The company that has been hired to make the reefs claims that they have had many prior successes.

DINOSAURS: Site thought to be a watering hole discovered on Arizona-Utah border where dinosaurs ‘were happy’

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Texas Teen Builds His Own Electric Car on $10,000 Budget, Johnson Controls: electric cars will eventually win out, Berlin Announces Plans for World’s Largest Community Electric Car Infrastructure, Oreva Super Electric Car Going for $2000 in India

ENDANGERED SPECIES: Government May Weaken Endangered Species Act For Fish, IUCN Reveals That 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth Are Threatened with Extinction: The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List reveals world’s mammals in crisis

ENERGY: Can Electricity From Trees Power Gadgets?

ENVIRONMENTALISM: Do environmental messages do more harm than good?

EVOLUTION: Scientists Discover Fish in Act of Evolution in Africa’s Greatest Lake

FUEL SPILL: Hurricane Ike Spilled 12,000 Barrels of Oil: Is Offshore Oil Worth the Risk?

FUNDAMENTALS OF OUR ECONOMY: You Buy, You Break At Sarah’s Smash Shack

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Geothermal Sources Could Add Significant Power Generation Capacity

GLOBAL WARMING: Memos tell wildlife officials to ignore global-warming impact: New legal memos by top Bush administration officials say that the Endangered Species Act can’t be used to protect animals and their habitats from climate change by regulating specific sources of greenhouse gas emissions, the cause of global warming.

GREEN: How green is Apple now?

GREEN CONSTRUCTION: 15 Inspiring Glimpses into the Future of Green Housing

HABITAT DEGRADATION, LOSS, & FRAGMENTATION: Chimps 90 Percent Gone in a “Final Stronghold”

HOMOSEXUALITY IS NATURAL: How gay sex can produce offspring

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: 2010 Toyota Prius Adds Muscle at Expense of Fuel Efficiency: Toyota’s yet-to-be-unveiled 2010 Prius will have a bigger engine and a higher top speed, but improvements to CO2 emissions and fuel efficiency will take a backseat, Honda Takes on the Hybrid Motorcycle

HYDROGEN FUEL: Scientists Reach Hydrogen Storage Milestone

INVASIVE SPECIES: Aquatic alien ‘thugs’ set to meet

MARINE MAMMALS: Picture is Worth a Thousand…

NATURE: Planet’s loneliest bug revealed: A bug which lives entirely on its own and survives without oxygen in complete darkness underground has been discovered in South Africa, Deepest-Ever Fish Caught Alive on Camera

OBAMA: Racist Obama Billboard Causes Outrage, Man shot three times in street by racist gunman - for wearing Barack Obama T-shirt

OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION: Lockheed Martin to Develop Ocean Thermal Energy Prototype

OFFSHORE DRILLING: Making America Stupid

PLANET EARTH: Birth of an Ocean: The Evolution of Ethiopia’s Afar Depression: Formation of an ocean is a rare event, one few scientists have ever witnessed. Yet this geophysical nativity is unfolding today in one of the hottest and most inhospitable corners of the globe. Visit the site in safety through this extraordinary photographic essay

RECYCLING: Real Simple Recycling A to Z: A Comprehensive Primer on Recycling Nearly Everything, Often for a Good Cause, 7 Hurdles to Electronics Recycling

SARAH PALIN: Sarah Palin: Palling Around With Secessionists

SOCIAL ISSUES: Homeless numbers ‘alarming’

SOLAR: Solar Power Replaces Human Toil in New Rickshaws, Solar Wineries Taking Root and Coming into Bloom

TOXIC CHEMICALS: Adding the ‘Nasty Nine’ to the ‘Dirty Dozen’: The United Nations Considers Expanding Toxic Chemical Ban by 75%, Heavy Metal-Eating “Superworms” Unearthed in U.K.

WATER CONSERVATION: Caroma Profile Smart Dual Flush Toilet: 2008 Breakthrough Product

WIND POWER: Taiwan students invent wind-powered bicycle headlights, Navy charters kite-powered cargo ship to deliver equipment, Huge Offshore Wind Farm Wins Approval

WTF?: Cheney: Wildlife Conservation Has Been A ‘High Priority’ Of Bush Administration

I love Rachel Maddow, she’s my hero.

On the Net: The Rachel Maddow Show

See Brian Skerry’s right whale images in National Geographic Magazine’s October issue or here and here.

On the Net: Brian Skerry - Underwater Photographer

Image Found Here

Calculate you carbon footprint here.

See more green graffiti

Except for those members of the Facebook group, “Thank You President Bush,” or members of the Facebook group, “Amend the constitution, Bush Cheney 08,” I believe taking the decisions, facts, and other evidence regarding the Bush Administration’s reckless and obtuse behavior, no reasonable or informed individual, honestly considering reality, can argue that the Bush Administration has been an instrument of positive change.

More at The Huffington Post and the NYTimes.com.

Personally, I believe we should be more sensible about where we build our homes.  Areas that are susceptible to extreme beach erosion, hurricanes, mudslides, sea-level rise, and wildfires should be left as natural landscape or wildlife refuges.  Large scale economic waste will render nugatory any efforts for America to become energy independent or build a more sustainable economy. From The Associated Press:

The reason: A 1959 law known as the Texas Open Beaches Act. Under the law, the strip of beach between the average high-tide line and the average low-tide line is considered public property, and it is illegal to build anything there.

Over the years, the state has repeatedly invoked the law to seize houses in cases where a storm eroded a beach so badly that a home was suddenly sitting on public property. The aftermath of Ike could see the biggest such use of the law in Texas history.

.       .       .

[T]he area’s homeowners should not be surprised.

“Every one of them was warned of that in their earnest money contract, in the deed they received, in the title policy they bought,” he said. “And whether you like it or not, neither the Constitution of the United States nor the state of Texas nor any law permits you to have a structure on state-owned property that’s subject to the flow of the tide.”

Galveston, Texas area before and after Hurricane Ike:

Bolivar Peninsula, Texas before and after Hurricane Ike:

Images courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). More images can be found at the USGS.

John McCain has voted against higher fuel efficient standards, does not support ending tax breaks for Big Oil, and has voted against renewable energy development.  As a result, John McCain is against genuine energy independence.

In a time when we need more regulation of financial markets, John McCain is a supporter of less regulation. Historically, just like President George W. Bush, McCain is a deregulator. However, deregulation has been disastrous in sectors like the housing market and airline industry, and Republicans want to deregulate environmental regulations such as the Endangered Species Act. Fortunately, the environmental movement is strong and has been a very effective watchdog against the Bush Administration’s efforts to repeal and weaken environmental regulation.

The answer isn’t market regulation or letting industry voluntarily regulate itself. We must regulate the necessary and deregulate the unnecessary. I am perplexed with the Republican’s (President George W. Bush and Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain) fetish for deregulation when they have ultimately created more government in areas we could do without.

Furthermore, what if President George W. Bush was allowed to privatize social security, and individuals were allowed to bet their social security against the stock market?

Folks blame the Democratic-controlled Congress as much as they blame George W. Bush. However, the Democratic-controlled Congress has been forced to compromise with Republicans on legislation that a true Democratic-controlled Congress would never pass. At some point, compromise will leave legislation ineffective.

Anyhow, here is a look at McCain’s support for less regulation in the past decade:

From CNN (Apr 26, 1999):

But ask him about the rest of his message, and McCain dutifully recites a list of issues he says “resonate” with voters: “lower taxes, smaller government, less regulation, Social Security [and] Medicare.” His heart just doesn’t seem in it.

From NewsHour (Oct 15, 1999):

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: Well, I would argue that I have 17 years of legislative experience with a clear voting record of a strong conservative. I believe in smaller governments, stronger defense, lower taxes, less regulation, encouragement of entrepreneurship, encouragement of legal immigration. I think that my fundamental philosophies and beliefs are very clear, and I have articulated them for years and years. And most importantly, I voted on them.

From Providence Journal (Oct 5, 2006):

Along the way, he addressed Whitehouse’s central theme – that a vote for Chafee is a vote to keep the national GOP in control in Washington. “If you believe in less government, less regulation, stronger military, better national security and a number of other principles of the Republican Party, then I think you would choose Lincoln Chafee,” McCain said.

From FOXNews (Oct 11, 2006):

MCCAIN: I think we need to be serious about ethics and lobbying reform. I think we need to get back to our stewardship of tax dollars in a way that conservative Republicans will be proud of us. Less government, less regulation, et cetera. We’re going to have to do a better job.

But I’m proud of our economy. I’m proud of our low unemployment.

From Waukegan News Sun (Feb 17, 2007):

McCain said he would use “straight talk” to woo voters in the state’s primary, scheduled for March 18, 2008.

“I’m going to compete on issues that are important to the people of Illinois and the people of this country. Return to the principles of Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan — less government, less regulation, lower taxes, strong national security policy,” he said.

From John McCain’s March 4^th speech International Herald Tribune (Mar 5, 2008):

I will leave it to my opponent to claim that they can keep companies and jobs from going overseas by making it harder for them to do business here at home. We will campaign to strengthen job growth in America by helping businesses become more competitive with lower taxes and less regulation

As a deregulator, John McCain and his cronies have been enablers for current market failures. From the MotherJones Blog:

If McCain wants to hold someone accountable for the failure in transparency and accountability that led to the current calamity, he should turn to his good friend and adviser, Phil Gramm.

As Mother Jones reported in June, eight years ago, Gramm, then a Republican senator chairing the Senate banking committee, slipped a 262-page bill into a gargantuan, must-pass spending measure. Gramm’s legislation, written with the help of financial industry lobbyists, essentially removed newfangled financial products called swaps from any regulation. Credit default swaps are basically insurance policies that cover the losses on investments, and they have been at the heart of the subprime meltdown because they have enabled large financial institutions to turn risky loans into risky securities that could be packaged and sold to other institutions.

.       .       .

By the way, both McCain and Palin decried golden parachutes for CEOs. What might Carly Fiorina, a top McCain adviser and surrogate, think of that? She received a $21 million severance package when she was forced out as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, after her not-so-successful stint there–and the value of her golden parachute eventually reached $42 million.

From OpEdNews, PA:

Thomas’ beliefs on how to run a government are based entirely on his, and Palin’s, beliefs on how to run a government, which, as we can see, are repudiated by the financial collapse of the United States. This collapse can best be described as the unregulated financial institutions gambling with other people’s money, and losing. The conservative Republicans, including John McCain, have pushed for the unregulated, Libertarian style free market. And now that the whole thing has failed, McCain wants to start an investigation to find someone, anyone other than himself, to blame for it.

Now we’re seeing the results of that. The evidence of the failure of free market capitalism is right before our eyes. McCain has gotten exactly what he wanted, free market capitalism, with results that confound and contradict every belief he has ever had. McCain had better wish that he doesn’t get the investigation he says he wants (he may say he wants something else, tomorrow) into this mess. An investigation into this would reveal that at the bottom of the cause for it is: John McCain, himself.

The evidence is that the conservative Republican, belief/ideology driven way of running the country has failed. It has failed on all fronts, on the social, economic, commercial, foreign policy, military and financial fronts. The failure of the largest financial institutions is absolute proof of that. It cannot be denied, though it will be and guess who will be blamed for the failure by the Republicans? You got it, you and me, the victims. The Republicans and the Libertarians will say that we were fools for giving our money to unethical, grasping, greedy financial institutions to do with as they please. They’ll do this without pointing out the fact that under Republican, Libertarian economic and financial principles, there are no other kinds of financial institutions but the unethical, grasping and greedy, due to their being unregulated.

Sarah Palin misrepresents (or lies if you prefer) Alaska’s role in America’s domestic energy supply in a very rare interview with the press. From the transcript:

GIBSON: But this is not just reforming a government. This is also running a government on the huge international stage in a very dangerous world. When I asked John McCain about your national security credentials, he cited the fact that you have commanded the Alaskan National Guard and that Alaska is close to Russia. Are those sufficient credentials?

PALIN: But it is about reform of government and it’s about putting government back on the side of the people, and that has much to do with foreign policy and national security issues Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie, and that’s with the energy independence that I’ve been working on for these years as the governor of this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy, that I worked on as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, overseeing the oil and gas development in our state to produce more for the United States

FactCheck.org corrects Palin:

Palin claims Alaska “produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy.” That’s not true.

Alaska did produce 14 percent of all the oil from U.S. wells last year, but that’s a far cry from all the “energy” produced in the U.S.

Alaska’s share of domestic energy production was 3.5 percent, according to the official figures kept by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

And if by “supply” Palin meant all the energy consumed in the U.S., and not just produced here, then Alaska’s production accounted for only 2.4 percent.

Andrew Sullivan is keeping tabs with Palin’s lies or “relentless vetting” her at The Daily Dish:

1. The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin XI: Asking The Girls?
2. The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin X: The Teleprompter
3. The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin IX: Alaska’s Energy Contribution
4. The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin VIII: Habeas Corpus
5. The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin VII: Climate Change
6. The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin VI: Gays
7. The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin V: The Oil Pipeline
8. The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin IV: Endangered Species
9. The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin III: Firing Stambaugh
10. The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin II: The Bridge To Nowhere
11. The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin I: Firing Monegan

The passing of this bill by the House of Representatives was pure politics, since there was something for everybody in it. I understand we must compromise and should compromise, but at what point does compromise dilute or weaken legislation so much that it becomes ineffective? Certainly, the politicians and industry are winners, and the American people are losers.  I doubt this bill will pass the Senate, and certainly the president would veto it.

Some highlights of energy bill HR 6899: (1) passed by a 236-189 vote; (2) allows states to decide whether “to drill between 50 and 100 miles off their coasts while allowing the federal government to open areas beyond 100 miles”; however, (3) as an incentive to keep states from drilling within their coastal waters, the bill “wouldn’t share any royalties gained from increased offshore oil drilling with coastal states”; (4) the important fishing waters on Georges Bank were excluded from offshore drilling under this bill; (5) at the expense of the environment, oil shale exploration and production would be opened up under this bill; (6) “utilities would be required to produce 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020”; and (7) the bill would revoke “$18 billion in tax breaks” given to “oil companies — rechanneling that money to foster renewable energy efforts”.

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Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse my work or me and their image is protected under an attribution license.

A good look at Cape Wind and the potential of supplying our energy needs by building the offshore wind power infrastructure on the Western Atlantic can be found at the Foreign Policy Association’s Climate Change:

What a great yarn! A smart, successful, committed energy entrepreneur comes along with a solid project to provide enough zero-emission, renewable energy to supply, on a good day, all the stationary power needs of Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, and, if you had plug-in vehicles, a good bit of the surface transportation needs as well. Wind turbines are a proven technology and in Europe, offshore wind farms have been flourishing for years. The project would serve an area that is now subject to considerable air pollution from the ancient power plant that is in place. A devastating oil spill from a barge headed to that power plant occurred only a few years ago. The wind farm will eliminate three quarters of a million tons of GHG a year and provide a much-needed and reliable boost to the New England electrical grid. What’s not to love?!

What are some of the problems people have with offshore wind?

Competing power companies for one, wanting to stick with coal and gas-fired plants. Another stated problem is the “viewshed” issue. Bluewater, very smartly, used computerized graphics to show the folks in Delaware how tiny the “view” issue would be. What I don’t get – and I’ve said it here before – is how you can think of these windfarms as anything other than magnificent. In Europe, as you know, offshore wind is busting out all over. Bluewater’s principal, Peter Mandelstam, is quoted in the article to the effect that “The Europeans see offshore wind turbines as sentinels, protecting them from energy domination by foreign powers.”

AGRICULTURE: Birds Best Hope for Pest-Ridden Coffee Crops?

AMERICA: Making America Stupid

ARCTIC DRILLING: Drilling in the Arctic Refuge: The 2,000-Acre Footprint Myth: Oil development would stamp a spiderweb of industrial sprawl across the whole of the refuge’s 1.5-million-acre coastal plain.

ARCTIC MELTING: Arctic Sea Ice Drops to Record Levels

AUTO INDUSTRY: BMW leaps ahead on new car CO2 emissions, others still stalling, GM Takes Its Case to the People, The 65 mpg Ford the U.S. Can’t Have:Ford’s Fiesta ECOnetic gets an astonishing 65 mpg, but the carmaker can’t afford to sell it in the U.S.

BEES: Roadsides Helping Bees Thrive, Apples and pears at risk due to dramatic decline in the honeybee, experts warn

BICYCLE COMMUTERS: Real Estate Agents Cater To Bicycle Commuters

BIG OIL: Exclusive: More on the Interior Department’s Sex and Oil Scandal

BIOFUELS: Tequila endangered by switch to biofuels

CARBON SEQUESTERING: Green Cement is Carbon Neutral, Sequesters CO2 from Power Plants

CHINESE CONSUMPTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: Elephants Decimated in Congo Park; China Demand Blamed

CLIMATE CHANGE: Sponges Feel the Heat From Climate Change

COAL: It’s the Coal, Stupid, Scrubbing King Coal: How come energy companies are gaga over alternative fuels? First off, define “alternative.”

COMPOSTING: How to Create a Dirt Cheap Compost Bin with a Garbage Can

DEFORESTATION: MTV Cuts Down Rainforest for Reality TV Show

DESALINATION: Desalination Closer to Reality in California

DEVIL FACIAL TUMOUR DISEASE (DFTD): Tasmanian Devil Cancer Worse

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: BMW confirms electric city car

ENERGY: U.S. Could Cut Fuel Use 50% by 2035, Wiggling Plastic at River Bottom to Generate Electricity, Massive floating generators, or ‘eco-rigs’, to provide power and food to Japan, Hawaiian Coal-Fired Plant Being Converted to Burn Biomass, Google search finds seafaring solution, Paint it white: Cool roofs save cash and carbon, New experimental homes will heat themselves, Researchers Developing the “Internet for Energy”, CleanTech Group to build $227 million waste to fuel plant in Indiana, Chicken Manure to power 90,000 Homes in the Netherlands!

ETHANOL: Mechanics see ethanol damaging small engines: Fuel blend, already implicated in high food prices, linked to rise in repairs

FISHERIES: Alaskans Choose Mine Over Fish

FUEL ECONOMY: 84% of Brits rate fuel efficiency #1

FUEL PRICES: Waving Goodbye to the Bus: As fuel prices rise, some districts are updating an old method of getting children to school.

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: New Geothermal Technology Could Tap 120,000MW of Energy

GLOBAL WARMING: 5 Diseases that are Thriving Thanks to Global Warming, Earth Hotter Now Than in Past 2,000 Years, Study Says

GREEN: Both Conventions Touted as ‘Green’ Events, 10 Greenest Presidents in U.S. History: Which Leaders Fought to Protect the Environment?

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS: California’s 220 MPH High-Speed Train Will Be Emissions-Free

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Paris Preview: Officially Official, Honda’s new hybrid is the Insight!, Toyota Prius owners can double their mileage by ordering a kit that converts their vehicle into a plug-in hybrid, Consumer Reports says that some hybrids do pay off - quickly, For Gustav-Level Outages, Cities Tap Hybrid Buses for Power, Honda Reveals New “Insight” Prius Killer, NYC gets hit with lawsuit over “unsafe” hybrid taxis, Berlin Hearts Electric Smarts

LANDFILLS: GM plans to dump use of landfills

MARINE PROTECTED AREAS: “Pristine” Reefs Part of Planned Marine Reserve

NEW SPECIES: New Giant Clam Found; May Have Fed Early Humans, New Catfish Species Found

NUCLEAR POWER: Another “Incident” at French Nuclear Plant

PHEV: Toyota launches plug-in Prius hybrid in UK

POPULATION GROWTH: Scientists: Save the planet—have fewer kids: As rising populations strain a warming planet, a British journal suggests having smaller families

REDISCOVERED SPECIES: Tiny Frog, Believed Extinct, Found in Australia

SALMON: Snapping Salmon: A Biologist’s Underwater Passion

SMART CAR: NYC garages grant smart for two cheaper parking rates, Vegas HUMMER dealer switching to SMART

SOLAR: COULD SOLAR HIGHWAYS POWER OUR CITIES?, SOLAR TREE by Vivien Muller

TAILPIPE EMISSIONS: California Moves on Bill to Curb Sprawl and Emissions

TRUCKING INDUSTRY: Trucking industry pushes for cleaner fleet, improved funding for nation’s infrastructure

WATER AVAILABILITY: Sun Used to Purify Water

WETLANDS: Iraq’s ‘Garden of Eden’ May Get Global Protection

WHALING: 4,000+ Japan Whale Harvest Not Justified, Experts Say

WIND POWER: Groundbreaking Energy Ball Wind Turbine for Home Power, Offshore wind farms may line U.S. coast

WTF?: THINGS THAT EXIST: High Heels For Babies

ZOOLOGICAL CONSERVATION: Too Few Asian Vultures in Captivity to Save Species?

Sarah Palin promotes and supports the aerial hunting of wolves. However, having a bounty on animal parts is archaic, cruel, and completely wrong. Such policies highlight misconceptions of predators, and how they should be managed. The justification for Palin’s so called predator control policy is that wolves take too many elk and reindeer.

Blaming predators and not humans for an out of whack nature is excessively anthropocentric and arrogant. Furthermore, blaming predators is turning a blind eye to the facts, and such policies display backwardness and ignorance.

Predators such as wolves help keep populations of caribou or reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) at equilibrium. Furthermore, there are several factors that can affect prey populations: climate change, disease, food availability, pipelines, poaching, and weather. Certainly, anthropogenic influence results in an unbalanced nature, which can result in too many or too few prey species, and predators are often blamed when there are too few prey to hunt. Furthermore, folks will complain that there aren’t enough predators when there are too many prey species. The equilibrium, which is easily disrupted by human influence, is described by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service – Alaska:

Wolf populations in caribou winter ranges can increase in response to higher levels of other prey such as moose. When caribou return to the winter range they are preyed on more heavily by the increased number of wolves. On the other hand, when arctic foxes reach a high in their population cycle, they sometimes spread rabies to neighboring wolves. This results in reduced wolf predation on caribou.

The Idaho Mountain Express discusses the claim that wolves decimate elk herds:

There is no evidence that wolves have decimated elk populations throughout Idaho, according to two scientists who have been studying the predator for several years.

“At this point there is very little evidence that the presence of wolves has caused a decline in elk numbers anywhere, especially in Central Idaho,” said Jim Peek, a retired professor of wildlife biology and a member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation board of directors.

Peek, who also helped write Idaho’s wolf management plan, said elk populations fluctuate naturally and that the impacts of 1996’s particularly harsh winter, which killed hordes of elk, are still being felt.

“When that happens, people like to blame the predators,” Peek said during a teleconference with regional wildlife experts Thursday.

Remember the attacks and hullabaloo over Obama not wearing a flag lapel pin? Bloggers, pundits, and several politicians questioned Obama’s nationalism for not displaying his patriotism. Personally, I believe it is bologna to question one’s patriotism for not wearing it on their lapel. Certainly, it’s a choice, but it is also dishonest and shallow to question a man like Barack Obama for being unpatriotic. He has probably done more for America as a community organizer than most Americans critical of him have done for America.

Anyhow, several bloggers observed on September 11, when Obama and McCain came together at Ground Zero, that Obama displayed a flag lapel pin, but McCain wasn’t wearing a flag lapel pin. However, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg displayed a flag lapel pin. As usual, the hypocrisy of republican and right wing attacks is off the chart, or maybe John McCain is beyond flag pins. Image: AP Photo/Shannon Stapleton, Pool.

Image Found Here

India’s Novel Use of Brain Scans in Courts Is Debated:

The technologies, generally regarded as promising but unproved, have yet to be widely accepted as evidence — except in India, where in recent years judges have begun to admit brain scans. But it was only in June, in a murder case in Pune, in Maharashtra State, that a judge explicitly cited a scan as proof that the suspect’s brain held “experiential knowledge” about the crime that only the killer could possess, sentencing her to life in prison.

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Methods of eliciting truth have long proved problematic. Truth drugs tend to make suspects babble as much falsehood as truth. Polygraph tests measure anxiety more than deception, and good liars may not feel anxious. In 1998, the United States Supreme Court said there was “simply no consensus that polygraph evidence is reliable.”

.       .       .

The Brain Electrical Oscillations Signature test, or BEOS, was developed by Champadi Raman Mukundan, a neuroscientist who formerly ran the clinical psychology department of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences in Bangalore. His system builds on methods developed at American universities by other scientists, including Emanuel Donchin, Lawrence A. Farwell and J. Peter Rosenfeld.

Despite the technology’s promise — some believe it could transform investigations as much as DNA evidence has — many experts in psychology and neuroscience were troubled that it was used to win a criminal conviction before being validated by any independent study and reported in a respected scientific journal. Publication of data from testing of the scans would allow other scientists to judge its merits — and the validity of the studies — during peer reviews.

Three-judge Sixth Circuit panel grapples over whether it’s a federal crime to commit murder in a national forest:

Late last month, a three-judge Tenth Circuit panel issued a lengthy ruling addressing and rejecting a federal death row inmate’s challenge to the exercise of federal jurisdiction over a double-murder committed at the Ouachita National Forest in Oklahoma. My earlier coverage of that ruling appears here.

Today, a three-judge Sixth Circuit panel splits 2-1 — with each judge on the panel writing separately — over whether a murder committed in the Manistee National Forest in Michigan can be prosecuted as a federal offense. The majority answers “yes” in a decision that you can access here.

IF A BODY FALLS IN A FEDERAL FOREST . . .:

Do federal courts have general jurisdiction over murder and other crimes that occur within National Forests? Not being much of a crimlaw guy, I would have assumed the answer was “yes.” In United States v. Gabrion, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit confirms my intuition, holding that a murder on federal property in a national forest did occur within federal territorial jurisdiction, but also shows this is a more complicated question than I would have assumed. The three judge panel produced three opinions. Judge Batchelder delivered the opinion of the court, Judge Moore concurred in the judgment, and Judge Merritt dissented.

We flush it and flush it and flush it — until we can’t see any more pills

Obviously, we’re flushing them — which is not ideal

History has shown that the out of sight and out of mind philosophy of dealing with anthropogenic waste, in that nature will make certain our waste will disappear, was an ignorant belief that cost countless of lives. The out of sign and out of mind philosophy did not disappear in the 1950s or 60s, since it still exists today.

An ongoing Associated Press investigation reveals that pharmaceutical waste passed through the human body isn’t the only significant source of pharmaceutical pollution. The investigation highlights that (1) the health care industry and correctional facilities are flushing millions of pounds of pharmaceutical waste down the drain, (2) records of pharmaceutical waste are not being kept, (3) pharmaceutical drug waste is producing “virulent antibiotic-resistant germs and genetic mutations that may promote cancers,” (4) drug makers should be more proactive at retrieving pharmaceuticals to prevent the industry’s waste from being dumped into the water supply, (5) water samples show an ability to “mutate genes,” (6) landfills aren’t a permanent solution because waste can reach waterways as leachate, and (7) regulators want pharmaceutical companies to assist in paying for disposing pharmaceutical drugs, but the industry claims no proof of environmental harm exists. From The Associated Press:

These discarded medications are expired, spoiled, over-prescribed or unneeded. Some are simply unused because patients refuse to take them, can’t tolerate them or die with nearly full 90-day supplies of multiple prescriptions on their nightstands.

.       .       .

Researchers are finding evidence that even extremely diluted concentrations of pharmaceutical residues harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species in the wild. Also, researchers report that human cells fail to grow normally in the laboratory when exposed to trace concentrations of certain drugs.

.       .       .

And while most pharmaceutical waste is unmetabolized medicine that is flushed into sewers and waterways through human excretion, the AP examined institutional drug disposal and its dangers because unused drugs add another substantial dimension to the problem.

“Obviously, we’re flushing them — which is not ideal,” acknowledges Mary Ludlow at White Oak Pharmacy, a Spartanburg, S.C., firm that serves 15 nursing homes and assisted-living residences in the Carolinas.

Such facilities, along with hospitals and hospices, pose distinct challenges because they handle large quantities of powerful and toxic drugs — often more powerful and more toxic than the medications people use at home. Tests of sewage from several hospitals in Paris and Oslo uncovered hormones, antibiotics, heart and skin medicines and pain relievers.

.       .       .

In tests of wastewater retrieved near other European hospitals and one in Davis County, Utah, scientists were able to link drug dumping to virulent antibiotic-resistant germs and genetic mutations that may promote cancers, according to scientific studies reviewed by the AP.

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So far, regulators have done little more than politely ask the medical care industry to stop pouring drugs into the wastewater system. “Treating the toilet as a trash can isn’t a good option,” says Grumbles.

.       .       .

An agency staffer wrote in a memo last year: “EPA recognizes that residuals in the leachate could contaminate groundwater supplies and ultimately reach water treatment plants, but disposal into the trash is currently considered a BMP” — or best management practice.

Image Found Here

The armoured mistfrog was rediscovered in remote tropical locations of northern Australia. The species was presumed extinct since 1991, because the amphibian chytrid fungus had decimated the species.

Images: (AP Photo/James Cook University, Robert Puschendorf, HO). From The Associated Press:

But two months ago, a doctoral student at James Cook University in Townsville conducting research on another frog species in Queensland stumbled across what appeared to be several Armoured Mistfrogs in a creek, said professor Ross Alford, head of a research team on threatened frogs at the university.

.       .       .

The chytrid fungus was blamed for decimating frog populations worldwide, including seven species in Queensland’s tropics between the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Armoured Mistfrogs had been classified as critically endangered rather than extinct, but most researchers believed they had died out from the disease, Alford said.

Certainly, bottled water is a scam. First, the advertisement is misleading and second, resources are unnecessarily wasted to tap, bottle, deliver, and dispose of the trash made by bottled water. As a result, the carbon footprint of bottled water is very significant. However, one bottled water company seems to be employing honest advertising and providing a local product to a very large market—New York City.

Tap’dNY, a New York City bottled water company is taking advantage of an ugly truth: bottled water isn’t anything special. Tap’dNY takes tap water and use reverse osmosis, which purifies water so well that I use water filtered by reverse osmosis in my coral reef tank. Basically, reverse osmosis strips natural and unnatural impurities from water and leaves the H₂O. Tap’dNY works “with NYC’s public water system to source the world’s best tasting tap water, purify it through reverse osmosis and bottle it locally, leaving out ludicrous transportation miles.” Furthermore, the company is offering reusable water bottles that can be refilled at refilling stations.

Some extraordinary images from both the democratic and republican national conventions can be found at Fear and Loathing | 2008 National Conventions. Certainly, these images deserve recognition.  Some of my favorite images:

The okapi (Okapia johnstoni), a rarely glimpsed relative of the giraffe was recently caught on camera trap in Virunga National Park of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The okapi, although a next of kin of the giraffe, prefers dense rainforest, and it has a more vulnerable range than the giraffe. Deforestation, poaching for bushmeat, and war threaten the okapi’s habitat.

Historically, the okapi has been somewhat of a mythical animal, and it was often referred to as the African unicorn. Today, little is known of the okapi due to its secretive behavior, and the lush habitat it prefers makes observation difficult. For conservation reasons, it is important to know as much as possible about an animal such as the okapi, because it may well be a critically endangered species. Images © ZSL. From the Zoological Society of London:

Thierry Lusenge, a key member of ZSL’s DRC survey team, added: ‘The photographs clearly show the stripes on their rear, which act like unique fingerprints. We have already identified three individuals, and further survey work will enable us to estimate population numbers and distribution in and around the Park, which is a critical first step in targeting conservation efforts.’

The exact status of this secretive species is unknown as access to the forests of DRC is limited by civil conflict and poor infrastructure, making survey work difficult. Okapi are only known to inhabit three protected areas, of which Virunga National Park is one.

However even Virunga’s newly-discovered and still largely unknown population is under threat from poaching. Okapi meat, reportedly from the Park, is now regularly on sale in the nearby town of Beni. The ZSL survey team has warned that if hunting continues at this rate, okapi could become extinct in the Park within a few years.

More camera trap images of the okapi can be found here. Donate to the okapi project here.

On the Net: WWF - Camera Traps

1. Gas prices soar from Texas to Michigan
2. Ike made landfall as a category 2 storm around 3 am near Galveston
3. Still a category 1 hurricane at 11am
4. “Experts say Hurricane Ike’s storm surges are less severe than originally predicted and the worst is probably over“
5. Estimated 140,000 people ignored mandatory evacuation
6. Almost 3 million people without power
7. Debate over global warming’s link to increased hurricane activity awakened
8. Flights at Houston airports canceled
9. Forecast detail
10. Track
11. Satellite
12. Radar

What a mess.

You reap what you sow.

More clips from John McCain’s interview from The View can be found on YouTube.

Track Hurricane Ike here. Could flood 100,000 homes, might be “catastrophe” for Texas, huge storm with relentless tidal surge, and effects felt in Louisiana, Mississippi.

Why should we bail out the American auto industry, since the industry has clearly made wrong choices? The auto industry wants corporate welfare, because the industry claims it needs low interest rate loans from the American government to retool manufacturing plants to produce smaller cars. Haven’t environmentalists been arguing for smaller and more alternative/fuel efficient cars for a long time? These companies shouldn’t be bailed out. In this case, nature should be allowed to run its course. There are several new progressive car companies, which are starting to offer smaller fuel efficient and electric cars. These companies are early adopters, and these new automakers should be rewarded for taking advantage of markets that companies like GM have denied existing for some time. Furthermore, we can be using this money for education and environmental initiatives. From the Washington Post, United States:

General Motors chief executive G. Richard Wagoner Jr. has been selling cars for a long time, but his pitch today in Washington will be one of his most urgent. He will try to convince lawmakers that the country’s homegrown automakers deserve help from the government as they prepare to build more hybrids and other fuel-efficient cars for a radically different market.

Wagoner is scheduled to address a Senate energy summit today. In addition to the loans, he is expected to ask lawmakers to approve new drilling, streamline emissions regulations and subsidize alternative-fuel development, according to those familiar with Wagoner’s remarks.

He and other Detroit executives wrap up a week of lobbying Washington at a time when the landscape of the U.S. auto industry is far different from three decades ago and even a few years ago.