Warming-driven sea level rise makes storm surges more destructive. In fact, a recent study found “The sea level on a stretch of the US Atlantic coast that features the cities of New York, Norfolk and Boston is rising up to four times faster than the global average.”
“Owing to higher SSTs [sea surface temperatures] from human activities, the increased water vapor in the atmosphere leads to 5 to 10% more rainfall and increases the risk of flooding,” as Kevin Trenberth explained to me in a 2011 email about Hurricane Irene. He elaborates on that point for Sandy here and for all superstorms in this article.
“However, because water vapor and higher ocean temperatures help fuel the storm, it is likely to be more intense and bigger as well,” Trenberth added (see another of his articles here). Relatedly, warming also extends the range of warm SSTs, which can help sustain the strength of a hurricane as it steers on a northerly track into cooler water (much as apparently happened for Irene). September had the second highest global ocean temperatures on record and the Eastern seaboard was 5°F warmer than average (with global warming responsible for about 1°F of that).
The unusual path of the storm — into the heavily populated east coast rather than out to see — was caused by a very strong blocking high pressure system that recent studies have linked to warming. Meteorologist and former Hurricane Hunter Jeff Masters has an excellent analysis of this, “Why did Hurricane Sandy take such an unusual track into New Jersey?“
“These weather events are not simply an example of what climate change could bring. They are caused by climate change.” ––James Hansen, NASA Climate Scientist
Rising oceans, healing the planet are highly mockable ideas to Mitt Romney and his base:
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Here’s an example of the help Mitt will provide to American families:
And here’s what Obama said, in context, from June 2008 when he accepted the Democratic nomination for president:
If we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment – this was the time – when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals.
Mother Jones: With Hurricane Sandy set to make landfall in the Mid-Atlantic, Mitt Romney’s policies for federal emergency management seem as relevant as ever. And the candidate’s budget, as described below, isn’t the only indication Romney would slash funding: As the Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim noted, the presidential candidate suggested during a GOP primary debate that he would diminish [FEMA's] role and leave responsibility for helping imperiled Americans to the states.
Huffington Post: [Mitt Romney was asked by John King, the debate moderator] if FEMA should be shuttered so that states can individually take over responsibility for disaster response.
Mitt Romney: “Absolutely. Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better. Instead of thinking, in the federal budget, what we should cut, we should ask the opposite question, what should we keep?…”
John King: “Including disaster relief, though?”
Romney: “We cannot — we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off. It makes no sense at all.”
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Mother Jones (cont): “The Ryan budget makes no mention of FEMA or the Department of Homeland Security of which it’s a part. In fact it makes no mention of any specific cuts to non-entitlement programs. We can’t say for sure, in other words, the extent to which disaster funding would be scaled back. But the overall math suggests that it would be drastic. The Ryan budget proposes reducing total non-entitlement spending from 12 percent of GDP to 3.5 percent of GDP by 2050. As my colleague Kevin Drum put it:
Defense spending alone amounts to 4% of GDP, and it’s vanishingly unlikely that this will ever fall much below 2-3% of GDP. This means that all domestic spending will decline from about 8% of GDP to 1-2% of GDP by 2050. That’s prisons, border control, education, the FBI, courts, embassies, the IRS, FEMA, housing, student loans, roads, unemployment insurance, etc. etc. It’s everything. Whacked by about 80% or so.
“[...] the GOP ticket’s likely cuts to disaster management and weather forecasting budgets would come at a time in which, fueled by climate change, natural disasters are becoming increasingly more potent and expensive. There were 14 billion-dollar disasters in the United States in 2011—the most on record.“
It’s all part of the austerity measures that Mitt Romney / Paul Ryan would implement to pay for more tax cuts for the wealthy and greater military spending than is necessary. Those things, to Mitt Romney, are not an “immoral” debt — those debts makes sense to Mitt Romney.
Those are the Republican Party’s priorities — what are yours?
Hurricane Sandy update: Storm track as of 9 a.m. Sunday: The storm has tracked up the East Coast and is currently about 260 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, NC., and 395 miles south of New York City. Maximum sustained winds were clocked in at 75 mph, with higher gusts, and the storm is churning northeast at a steady 10 mph, the National Weather Service says. The center of the hurricane will move parallel to the southeast coast of the United States today and tonight and start moving towards the coastal Mid-Atlantic states by Monday night. The leading edge of Sandy is forecast to hit the Garden State this afternoon, strengthening as it merges with a cold weather system to the west.
The worst of Sandy is forecast to converge between New York City to the Delmarva on the coast Monday into Tuesday with conditions deteriorating rapidly Sunday night. Problems ranging from travel delays and inconveniences to major damage and life-threatening conditions are to be expected with this storm. […] Salt water can spread over some rail yards and perhaps into subway stations. Some low-lying communities can take on feet of water. […]
Wind gusts in the neighborhood of 60 to 80 mph are a strong possibility in the New York area even if the center heads for Delaware or South Jersey. This can down trees, send loose items airborne. Funneling effect between the buildings can make walking extremely difficult. Windows could be dislodged from some skyscrapers, as the winds will be much stronger several hundred of feet above the ground.
7.7 magnitude quake hits Canada’s British Columbia: “A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 hit Canada’s Pacific coastal province of British Columbia late Saturday, setting off a small tsunami, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, officials said.”
Hawaii tsunami downgraded as threat recedes: “Neil Abercrombie said early on Sunday the island was lucky to avoid more severe surges after a powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Canada. But he said that beaches and harbours remained closed.”
Hurricane Sandy and the election: ”What I’m seeing a lot of right now is an assumption that Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath will hurt Obama more than Romney. This strikes me as a case of not thinking things all the way through. Yes, Sandy will hit a region where President Obama is mostly doing well and it’s sure to depress turnout. But keep in mind, we’re not extremely concerned with the popular vote. If, for example, only three people turn out in Massachusetts and two vote for Obama, the president wins twelve electoral college votes. Turnout is only a factor when compared to the other candidate’s turnout — and Romney voters will face similar challenges.”
Steven Benen remarks on the ignorance of Romney’s ‘jokey’ delivery and his audience’s laughter about the matter of rising sea levels and climate change:
Romney said, “President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family.”
That’s great news for those of us who don’t have families on this planet.
Now, as a factual matter, Romney’s promise is itself rather strange. How “you and your family” will benefit from less access to affordable health care, less access to education, and fewer investments in roads and infrastructure is something of a mystery.
But even putting that aside, the aspect of Romney’s comments that was simply astounding was the ignorance. The Republican treated rising sea levels as a punch-line, as if the very idea of addressing the climate crisis is ridiculous and those who take this seriously are fools worthy of mockery.
Indeed, the Republican audience took their cues, literally laughing at Obama’s efforts to address global warming.
Also notice that, in Romney’s mind, there’s a distinction — the nation can deal with the climate crisis or we can help families, as if the two have nothing to do with one another.
When people in the future look back at Romney’s contempt for the idea of “slowing the rise of the oceans,” and his party’s willingness to bury their hands in the sand, history will not be kind.
“The Greenland ice sheet melted at a faster rate this month than at any other time in recorded history, with virtually the entire ice sheet showing signs of thaw. The rapid melting over just four days was captured by three satellites. It has stunned and alarmed scientists, and deepened fears about the pace and future consequences of climate change. In a statement posted on Nasa’s website on Tuesday, scientists admitted the satellite data was so striking they thought at first there had to be a mistake. [...] It was the second unusual event in Greenland in a matter of days, after an iceberg the size of Manhattan broke off from the Petermann Glacier. But the rapid melt was viewed as more serious.”
The New York Times reports that “The drought that has settled over more than half of the continental United States this summer is the most widespread in more than half a century. And it is likely to grow worse.”
“The government has declared one-third of the nation’s counties — 1,297 of them across 29 states — federal disaster areas as a result of the drought, which will allow farmers to apply for low-interest loans to get them through the disappointing growing season… Fifty-five percent of the continental United States — from California to Arkansas, Texas to North Dakota — is under moderate to extreme drought, according to the government, the largest such area since December 1956. An analysis released on Thursday by the United States Drought Monitor showed that 88 percent of corn and 87 percent of soybean crops in the country were in drought-stricken regions, a 10 percent jump from a week before.”
“The withering corn has increased feed prices and depleted available feeding land, putting stress on cattle farmers. A record 54 percent of pasture and rangeland — where cattle feed or where hay is harvested for feeding — was in poor or very poor condition, according to the Department of Agriculture. Many farmers have been forced to sell their animals. Because feed can account for nearly half of a cattle farmer’s costs, consumers could see a rise in the price of meat and dairy products, experts said. The high sustained heat has led the key components in milk, like fat and protein, to plummet more than usual”
Here’s something to think about:
“WE’RE now in the midst of the nation’s most widespread drought in 60 years, stretching across 29 states and threatening farmers, their crops and livestock. But there is another risk as water becomes more scarce. Power plants may be forced to shut down, and oil and gas production may be threatened. Our energy system depends on water. About half of the nation’s water withdrawals every day are just for cooling power plants. In addition, the oil and gas industries use tens of millions of gallons a day, injecting water into aging oil fields to improve production, and to free natural gas in shale formations through hydraulic fracturing. Those numbers are not large from a national perspective, but they can be significant locally.”
United States Drought Monitor as of 1 May 2012.: climate.gov
The gnarly partner to all this heat is drought. The US Drought Monitor (USDM) map above shows the state of drought in the lower 48 as of 1 May 2012. That’s a lot of dry territory.
The ethic of Capitalism: everything is a commodity to be exploited, including human beings and the natural world.
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Partial transcript of the beginning:
CH: Unfettered or unregulated capitalism is about societies that cannibalize themselves. When capitalism is the dominant ideology, and as Marx understood it’s a revolutionary ideology, it turns everything into a commodity, including human beings. And of course natural reasouces. And it exploits these commodities until they are exhausted and they are destroyed. And that’s precisely what has happened. We have allowed all of the restraints, which were never heavy enough, on the capitalist system to be lifted. And built into capitalism is a self-destructive quality, a form of self annihlation. And that’s what we are undergoing at this moment. It’s a form of collective suicide, in a way, because the ramifications of this economic collapse are going to be played out far beyond the economic sphere. It’s going to deeply disrupt the social, cultural, as well as the economic life of ordinary Americans.
MM: And yet they’re trying to fix the problem with capitalism.
CH: Yes, well of course that is what’s so tragic: they’re trying to sustain an unsustainable system.
David Brin shares some interesting and somewhat reassuring information about everyone in the world who is not an American Republican (tea)Party climate-change denier:
I regularly consult with various branches of our “protector caste”… from the military services and homeland security to several unnamed “agencies.” Naturally, I am encouraged by the fact that some of the most serious-minded men and women on the planet are very interested in well-grounded projections of diverse possible futures – not only mine, but those of several other “science & sci-fi guys.”
[...] Absolutely all of the top-elite officers of these services appear to be convinced, without a shadow of a doubt, about Human Generated Climate Change (HGCC). All of those I have met consider it to be both real and one of the greatest challenges of our time.
Ponder this:the US Navy is striving with great intensity to prepare for an Arctic Ocean that is nearly ice-free for large parts of the year. Canada is shifting most of its military budget northward.
The Russians have moved an entire division to the Siberian northern coast. And dig this. The Russian Navy’s top priority? Their pride-and-joy? SIX brand new, double-hulled, nuclear powered icebreakers they recently put in service. (The U.S. has one large, single-hulled, obsolete oil-powered breaker, soon to be retired. The U.S. Coast Guard operates three smaller, conventional ice breakers out of Seattle.)
A year or so ago, the Northwest passage opened so wide that a flood of cargo vessels raced through it from China to Europe. And prospectors are sifting for treasures on the sea floor, where Peary once spent a summer dragging sledges over ice-continents in search of the Pole.
What do all of these groups share in common? They cannot afford to let their view of reality be warped by willful delusion, just-so stories, Beckian rants and dogma, They don’t have the time for denialism.
[...] Perhaps no industry better understands the impact of global warming than the insurance industry whose job it is to analyze risk. See the video of the March 1st press conference. Marsh & McLennan, one of the world’s largest insurance brokers, called climate change “one of the most significant emerging risks facing the world today.” As Jules Boykoff put it in The Guardian, “Let’s be clear: insurance firms aren’t altruists; they’re capitalists. A rise in extreme weather means a fall in their profits. This is hardball economics based on risk analysis, not save-the-polar-bears stuff.”
[...] So, if all the men and women who must combine brains, education and professionalism with harsh practicality can see the desperate need to prepare, how do 40% of the citizens of a great nation enter denial so severe they’ll demean and ignore not only scientists and the insurance industry… but even the U.S. Navy? [...] there is a word for people who refuse to take reasonable precautions, or even negotiate in good faith the cheapest and most efficient just-in-case precautions, demanding instead (at the behest of a couple of coal-billionaire brothers) that climate theory be absolutely proved in all levels, in all ways, before we take prudent, moderate measures to protect ourselves.
Santorum denies calling Obama the n-word — Speaking to a group of voters in Janesville, Wisconsin on Wednesday, the candidate seemed to catch himself before using a word that sounds like “n*gger” to describe the president. (The original video of the speech is available here. The remarks in question take place at about 34:50.) “We know the candidate Barack Obama, what he was like – the anti-war government nig… America was a source for division around the world, that what we were doing was wrong,” Santorum said. “Oh, come on!” Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley told Raw Story when asked for comment. “Give me a break. That’s unbelievable. What does it say about those that are running with this story that that’s where their mind goes. You know, I’m not going to dignify that with [a response].” “That is absolutely ridiculous.”
Arizona law would criminalize being lewd or annoying on the Internet — As summarized by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, “The bill is sweepingly broad, and would make it a crime to communicate via electronic means speech that is intended to ‘annoy,’ ‘offend,’ ‘harass’ or ‘terrify,’ as well as certain sexual speech. Because the bill is not limited to one-to-one communications, H.B. 2549 would apply to the Internet as a whole, thus criminalizing all manner of writing, cartoons, and other protected material the state finds offensive or annoying.” The bill is currently awaiting Governor Jan Brewer’s signature, and the Media Coalition, which defends first amendment rights in the media, has sent her a letter outlining some of the problems with the legislation.
Arizona again. NATURALLY. And the Arizona GOP is now taking panty-snifffing to an entirely new level, demanding that “the gestational age of the fetus should be ‘calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman.’” So in order to get an abortion, you now have to provide a bunch of old perverts a calendar with your menstrual cycle highlighted. These people are sick and evil. We’re seriously one or two bills away before women will be required to go to the well of the Arizona Senate and tell these old white perverts their favorite sexual position and how old they were when they lost their virginity.
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3) THE GOP’S ONGOING INCOME REDISTRIBUTION SCHEME
Reality Check: Effective U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Much Lower Than Most Other Developed Nations — “The United States is a world leader in countless ways. ‘World’s Highest Taxes’ is a title we should give up as soon as possible,” wrote Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) in a Fox News op-ed. “This isn’t an April Fool’s Day joke; as of April 1, the United States of America will have reached the inauspicious position of having the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in a statement “I want America to be number one in many things, but having the highest corporate tax rate is definitely not one of them.” This is constant refrain from Republicans, who then blame the supposedly high U.S. corporate tax rate for discouraging job creation. But as we’ve noted time and time again, while the U.S. has a high statutory corporate tax rate (meaning the rate on paper), U.S. corporations actually pay incredibly low taxes due to the ever-proliferating loopholes, credits, and deductions in the tax code and the use of overseas tax havens.
4) MAYBE THERE’S STILL HOPE
Joe Scarborough Discovers ‘Disgusting’ Daily Caller Racism (VIDEO) — We wonder who Joe Scarborough is talking about here, when he calls out rightwing websites for being “beneath contempt” in their treatment of Trayvon Martin! (No we don’t. He is talking about Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller.) Noting that the Daily Caller had breathlessly presented Trayvon Martin’s Twitter feed as fodder for the poor oppressed whites of the world to note what a bad bad boy Trayvon Martin was, Scarborough practically throws up at the disingenuousness of presenting something so “innocuous … I can show you a lot of white kids, from suburban neighborhoods … come on.” Here, Tucker, here is just a tiny bit of what Joe Scarborough thinks of you now.“Some out there are marginalizing themselves, making fools of themselves. I guess it’s because the President actually said something to comfort the parents, and I guess they just can’t handle that. I guess in their warped, twisted, distorted, political worldview, that makes this dead 17-year-old boy [...] I guess that makes it okay?”
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GM pulls funding from climate-denying Heartland Institute — In a statement, GM said that it now runs its business “as if climate change is real and believe we have a role to play in developing new cars, trucks and technologies that can make a difference”. The funding cut – just $15,000 a year – is small beer for the institute, which has a multi-million dollar turnover, largely from a single anonymous donor. But it is a blow to the standing of the thinktank and to the leading role it plays as an advocate of climate change scepticism. The thinktank has long been an incubator of ideas casting doubt that the world is warming as a result of man-made pollution. In 2009 it held a conference in New York under the title “Global warming: was it ever really a crisis?” Kert Davies, head of research for Greenpeace US that tracks the Heartland Institute, lauded the GM move. “It is a further indication that the Heartland Institute’s misinformation about climate change is not something that corporations want to have anything to do with. It has become toxic.”
Obama urges Congress to pass ‘Buffett Rule’ for rich — Named for billionaire investor Warren Buffett — who pays a lower tax rate than his secretary — Obama said a minimum tax rate for the wealthy would insure that more Americans pay their “fair share” for the nation’s needs. “We don’t envy success in this country, we aspire to it. But we also believe that anyone who does well for themselves should do their fair share in return, so that more people have the opportunity to get ahead — not just a few.” Obama said every member of Congress should “go on record” when it comes to the Buffett rule. “And if they vote to keep giving tax breaks to people like me — tax breaks our country can’t afford — then they’re going to have to explain to you where that money comes from. Either it’s going to add to our deficit, or it’s going to come out of your pocket.”
1) Being in Congress loses its thrill for some lawmakers - For members of Congress, the thrill is gone. They don’t make national policy anymore. They can’t earmark money for communities back home. The public hates them. And perks little and big, from private jet travel to a little free nosh now and then, have been locked down by ethics rules. As they head for the exits this year, many leaving Congress say the prestigious job of being a congressman sucks now, and that’s why lawmakers young and old are trading in their member pins for a new life in the private sector.
2) What is Congress “doing” this week? - Afghanistan: Lawmakers expressed condolences and concern on the Sunday morning political talk shows in response to the news that a U.S. soldier allegedly opened fire on Afghan civilians inside homes before turning himself in. There are several Senate Armed Services and Appropriations committee hearings scheduled for this week that could serve as venues for senators to raise further concerns or skepticism about the war. [...] Fixing Congress: The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee plans to hold a hearing Wednesday to review several pieces of legislation that would change how Congress handles the budgetmaking process, including a proposal known as “No Budget, No Pay.” (GET THIS: from this same article, the Republicans say to expect three major endorsements for Romney. They consider that “doing something.” That’s “work” to them.)
Even mild global warming could completely melt Greenland’s ice cap - The Greenland icesheet is more sensitive to global warming than thought, for just a relatively small — but very long term — temperature rise would melt it completely, according to a study published on Sunday. [...] Greenland is second to Antarctica as the biggest source of locked-up water on land. If it melted completely, this would drive up sea levels by 7.2 metres (23.6 feet), swamping deltas and low-lying islands. [image: NASA]
Fourth Warmest Winter On Record For The U.S. - February is gone, and the non-winter of 2011 – 2012 is the history books as the fourth warmest in U.S. history, said NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center yesterday. The winter average temperature of 36.8°F was just 0.4°F cooler than the warmest winter on record, the winter of 1999 – 2000. If you lived in the Northern Plains, Midwest, Southeast and Northeast, it seemed like winter never really arrived this year–27 states in this region had top-ten warmest winters.
4) LOL Rick Santorum: ‘I’d like everybody to get out’ of race - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has a foolproof plan to win the GOP nomination: He wants everybody else to just quit. On Sunday, NBC host David Gregory asked the candidate if he would like to see former House Speaker Newt Gingrich drop out if he loses upcoming primaries in Alabama and Mississippi. “I’d like everybody to get out,” Santorum admitted. “That’d be great if they could just clear the field.” “Congressman Gingrich can stay in, the Speaker can stay in as long as he wants, but I think the better opportunity to make sure we nominate a conservative is to give us an opportunity to go head to head with Gov. [Mitt] Romney at some point. Hopefully that will occur sooner rather than later.” [image: thatslayerchick]
5) Chris Matthews: The GOP is ‘treating women like they’re not really voters’ - Chris Matthews displayed Sunday morning his bemusement for the Republican Party’s comments and behavior towards women so far during the 2012 presidential campaign. “One of the time warps these days is watching Republicans ignore the simple fact that women vote and are the majority voters,” he said on his weekly show. “I do think it’s odd the way we’re talking about contraception — by the way, as if that’s only a women’s issue, it’s a male female issue, obviously — and treating women like they’re not really voters.”
Centrist Women Tell of Disenchantment With Republicans- Deborah R. Stevens, a self-described “dyed in the wool” Republican, said she felt hopeless. “I’m looking for a candidate that will be honest, that will come out and say, ‘Yes, I support women, I want you advanced and not trampled upon,’ ” said Ms. Stevens, 63, who lives near Myrtle Beach, S.C. “I want answers desperately. I want candidates to tell me, ‘I’m not overturning Roe v. Wade.’ It’s there. Leave it there.” Ms. Russell, who changed her political views at the baby shower, said she was impressed with how Mr. Obama handled his administration’s compromise over the much-debated birth control policy, saying, “I think he’s more of a women’s candidate.” Mr. Romney’s reaction to Mr. Limbaugh’s statements about the Georgetown student cemented a negative view of him. “I expected him to have the guts to stand up and say what Rush did was wrong,” she said. “Wrong, wrong, wrong in every sense of the word wrong.” A rally for women’s rights in San Diego on Thursday drew Jessica Lopez, 27, a registered independent who said she voted for President George W. Bush in 2004. Ms. Lopez said her choice this year became clear amid the Republican debate on contraception and abortion. “This has really energized me, that I need to get more involved with the Obama campaign,” she said. Ms. Lopez added: “The G.O.P. has never been so clear about their agenda for women. I’m afraid if we get a Republican president, my health will be up to their personal discretion.”
Hysterical Womenfolk All On The Rag Despite Gallantries of The GOP - You would think the women of America — particularly “right-leaning” women who voted for George W. Bush and John McCain — would understand when the great big strong menfolk tell them not to worry their pretty little heads about things like “their bodies” and “not being filthy whores.” But in a shocking twist that nobody could have predicted, it seems “women,” if there even is such a thing, are catching themselves a little case of the sulks! Ladies are now stealthily congregating at baby showers and beauty parlors and, we don’t know, shoe stores? and morphing into Obama-voting communists, just because the Republican party patiently explained to them that a man’s place is at the head of the household, and a woman’s place is in A Handmaid’s Tale. [...] In happier news for the GOP, recent polling suggests that fully one-third of women still want the Republicans to control Congress. They will get a special treat tonight. Maybe a new vacuum.
6) GOOSE / GANDER / FAIRPLAY TURNABOUT AND WHAT NOT:Before getting a prescription for Viagra or other erectile dysfunction drugs, men would have to see a sex therapist, receive a cardiac stress test and get a notarized affidavit signed by a sexual partner affirming impotency, if state Sen. Nina Turner has her way. The Cleveland Democrat introduced Senate Bill 307 this week. A critic of efforts to restrict abortion and contraception for women, Turner says she is concerned about men’s reproductive health… Turner said if state policymakers want to legislate women’s health choices through measures such as House Bill 125, known as the ‘Heartbeat bill,’ they should also be able to legislate men’s reproductive health.
Oklahama Democrat Adds ‘Every Sperm Is Sacred’ Amendment to Personhood Bill- Oklahoma state senator Constance Johnson has a great sense of humor. To poke fun at the sheer absurdity of the Personhood Amendment which would give zygotes the same rights as extra-utero-American citizens, Senator Johnson added the following language as an amendment to the bill: However, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.
The Rectal Probe amendment- To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Reston) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication.
A bill that would ban Georgia males from seeking vasectomies - From the press release: “Thousands of children are deprived of birth in this state every year because of the lack of state regulation over vasectomies,” said Rep. Yasmin Neal, author of the bill. “It is patently unfair that men can avoid unwanted fatherhood by presuming that their judgment over such matters is more valid than the judgment of the General Assembly, while women’s ability to decide is constantly up for debate throughout the United States.”
An apparent tornado destroyed most of the Henryville elementary, middle and high school during a severe weather outbreak in Henryville, Ind. on March 2. [Garry Jones / AP]
A school bus is crushed into a business in Henryville, Ind. on March 2. [C.e. Branham / AP]
Greg Cook hugs his dog Coco after finding her inside his destroyed home in East Limestone, Ala., on March 2. [Gary Cosby Jr. / The Decatur Daily via AP]
03/03/2012: Twisters’ death toll likely to rise - (CBS News) Henryville, Ind. – A string of deadly tornadoes in the Midwest and South has left at least 35 people dead in four states. Seventeen deaths were confirmed in Kentucky. The latest death toll figures from local authorities also include 14 dead in Indiana, 3 in Ohio and 1 in Alabama. State police here say it has been a painstaking process, searching for the missing, and they say the death toll is likely to rise.
03/03/2012: BBC News – Clear-up after tornadoes wreak havoc across US Midwest - The states of Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Alabama were all affected by the intense winds which flattened homes, lifted rooftops and downed powerlines. An unknown number of people are missing after communication lines were damaged. A total of 90 tornadoes and 700 severe weather events were reported on Friday. Correspondents say it will be impossible to make an immediate assessment of the full extent of the damage.
Two separate studies in 2007 reported that global warming could bring a dramatic increase in the frequency of weather conditions that feed severe thunderstorms and tornadoes by the end of the 21st century.
One study, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that locations could see as much as a 100% increase in the number of days that favor severe thunderstorms.
“The densely populated regions of the South and East, including New York City and Atlanta, could be especially hard-hit,” reported study lead author Jeff Trapp of Purdue University.
[...] In the other study, lead author Tony Del Genio, a NASA research scientist, said the basic ingredients for whopper U.S. inland storms are likely to be more plentiful in a warmer, moister world.
“The strongest thunderstorms, the strongest severe storms and tornadoes are likely to happen more often and be stronger,” Del Genio said when the study was published.
Santorum denies calling Obama the n-word
Arizona law would criminalize being lewd or annoying on the Internet
Arizona again. NATURALLY.
Reality Check: Effective U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Much Lower Than Most Other Developed Nations
Joe Scarborough Discovers ‘Disgusting’ Daily Caller Racism (VIDEO)
GM pulls funding from climate-denying Heartland Institute
Obama urges Congress to pass ‘Buffett Rule’ for rich
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2) 
3) 
Even mild global warming could completely melt Greenland’s ice cap
Fourth Warmest Winter On Record For The U.S.
4) 
5) 
Centrist Women Tell of Disenchantment With Republicans
6) 
Oklahama Democrat Adds ‘Every Sperm Is Sacred’ Amendment to Personhood Bill
The Rectal Probe amendment 
A bill that would ban Georgia males from seeking vasectomies
An apparent tornado destroyed most of the Henryville elementary, middle and high school during a severe weather outbreak in Henryville, Ind. on March 2. [Garry Jones / AP]
Greg Cook hugs his dog Coco after finding her inside his destroyed home in East Limestone, Ala., on March 2. [Gary Cosby Jr. / The Decatur Daily via AP]
