From the Kopenhagen Komedy Kabaret
The lead negotiator for the small island nation of Tuvalu, the bow-tie wearing Ian Fry, broke down as he begged delegates to take tough action. What's the deal with environmental men, tears and environmentalism? Do men's tears enable cheap hippie sex, or something?
"I woke up this morning crying, and that's not easy for a grown man to admit," Mr Fry said on Saturday, as his eyes welled with tears. But a breeze for Ian, eh?
"The fate of my country rests in your hands," he concluded, as the audience exploded with wild applause.
But the part-time PhD scholar at the Australian National University actually resides in Queanbeyan, NSW, where he's not likely to be troubled by rising sea levels because the closest beach at Batemans Bay is a two-hour, 144km drive away. Asked whether he had ever lived in Tuvalu, his wife told The Australian last night she would "rather not comment". The Missus is still trying to deal with Ian's crying spell this morning...
#3
Slightly drowned islands are fabulous fish nurseries and bases for coral reef. The technology for starting reefs is well understood: cut pieces of coral off living reefs and glue them to rocks at the appropriate depth in the new location or to ships sunk at the right depth off-shore. Add a luxury hotel or two on pylons and a really good scuba/snorkling dive company, move the native population to picturesque fishing boats, and voila! a tourist trap to match some of the best in the Caribbean, with a sentimental veneer none of the current places can match. If I might recommend, put in glass floors in the hotel lobbies, so the guests can look down at the gorgeous fish swimming by, and guided swimming tours of the drowned, picturesque ruins -- although that last might have to wait a millennium or two until the water is too deep for wading...
Of course they'd have to fight off the European and Japanese fishing fleets, but others have to pay that price, too.
#4
The biggest threat to Tuvalu isn't "glowbull warmening", but the flexing of the seabed. A process called "isostatic rebound", based on the movement of both ocean and land plates, alters the sea bottom. The majority of the rebound is from the last ice age, when the huge weight of trillions of tons of ice on land areas forced them down, and forced ocean areas up. Now that the ice isn't there any longer, the slow process of rebound - rising land areas and sinking sea floor - continues. The only thing that will prevent Tuvalu from eventually drowning is another ice age, which would be extremely inconvenient to the majority of the rest of us.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/20/2009 14:29 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The lead negotiator for the small island nation of Tuvalu
#7
Mizzou - it's not really that difficult.
The Earth's crust is not rigid, but elastic. If you push down on one part hard enough, it forces another part to rise. The glaciers of the last Ice Age pushed down on most of the land areas of the world, especially in the northern hemisphere. It took tens of thousands of years for that weight to cause the interior of most Northern Hemisphere continents to be pushed down (by as much as 60 feet. Greenland is still being pushed down.) As the land in the northern hemisphere was pushed down, other areas - especially the Pacific Ocean basin - rose. The weight's off the northern hemisphere, the land is rising (isostatic rebound), and the Pacific Ocean is settling. Islands are sinking.
Complicating the entire process is the fact that so much ice froze on land that sea levels dropped. In some instances, they dropped 600 feet. When the glaciers started to melt, the water drained back into the oceans and the levels rose. The weight of the water pressed down on the deepest basins and the amount of water increased, and pushed them down. That dragged the islands down with them.
Unless we ARE entering another Ice Age, Tuvalu is screwed, no matter what we do.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/20/2009 20:06 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Tuvalu is coral reef fringing a subsea volcano. Such volcanos settle over time and the reef sinks.
Imagine a pile of sand whose sloping sides are the steepest possible angle for the cohesion of the material, then periodically shake the pile as in earthquakes. The pile will over time settle, and its highest point become progressively lower (and its sides less steep).
That's what happens to volcanos, especially subsea volcanos.
At the same time (and over geological timescales) the coral reef grows upward compensating for the settling of the volcano.
However, the coral growth requires the atoll be submerged.
Periodic submerssion is a a necessary part of the natural growth of fringing coral reefs, which of course is lost on these bozos.
Incidentally Charles Darwin was the first to figure out the origin of these fringing coral reefs.
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has apparently issued an ultimatum to four bishops embroiled in the Irish Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal to either quit or be fired by the Vatican.
Martin also has a new and potent ally: In a dramatic move, Prime Minister Brian Cowen has backed Martin, saying it was "a time for leadership and accountability" from the Catholic Church.
The four bishops were implicated in the escalating scandal by the Murphy Report, which probed the period in which they served in the Dublin Archdiocese. They are Bishop Raymond Field, Bishop Eamon Walsh, Bishop Martin Drennan and Bishop Jim Moriarty.
One bishop, Donal Murray of Limerick, has already been forced out, and Martin is believed to have told the others that their days are numbered.
If the four bishops don't quit, Martin will reportedly petition the Congregation of Bishops in Rome to remove them.
For his part, Cowen stated: "The resignation of Bishop Murray is a welcome indication that those who are in positions of leadership and responsibility in the Church are facing up to their responsibility in the light of the very clear findings of the Murphy Commission."
Martin appears to have a clear mandate from the Vatican to sort out the Church sex abuse issue once and for all, and is moving very aggressively to have those who were in any way implicated in it to be removed.
The Dublin Council of Priests has also admitted that resignations are inevitable. Their chairman, Fr. Joe Mullen. said: "If they don't resign ... then maybe we'll all be retiring, if not resigning."
Martin has also gained support from the organization that represents grade-school principals, which called yesterday for the bishops to be removed.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Colombia has announced that it plans to build a new military base near its border with Venezuela.
That sounds like a wise idea, and of course will help the local economy -- always a good thing in these difficult times.
Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said on Friday that the base, which is to be located on the Guajira peninsula near the city of Nazaret, will have up to 1,000 troops.
Two air battalions will also be activated in other border areas, he stated. "It is a strategic point from a defense point of view," Silva noted.
The $1.5 million facility, paid for with Colombian tax funds, would also have a care facility for indigenous Wayuu people who live in the area, he added.
How nice: ready-made informers!
Always a good idea to keep the locals on your side ...
Meanwhile, Colombian Army Commander General Oscar Gonzalez announced on Saturday that six air battalions are being activated, including two on the border with Venezuela.
The long-simmering tension between Venezuela and Colombia rose to a boil last August after the US signed a deal with Bogota allowing US forces to run anti-drug operations from Colombian bases. Iranians and leftists Pundits say Colombia's decision to build the new military base will further strain its tense ties with Venezuela.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/20/2009 12:44 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Yeah - tell another country what they're supposed to do with their money in their country.
No, no arrogance here....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/20/2009 13:07 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Anyone who has ever spent more than 30 minutes in Japan understand how difficult it is to sell US autos there, even when there's a market. The Japanese still drive "left", their city streets are narrow and crowded, and parking spaces are at such a premium they can be "inherited". Lot of ballyhoo and no common sense - typical of the political class in this nation.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/20/2009 14:37 Comments ||
Top||
#4
They also believe that their snow is different and non-Japanese skis don't work properly on Japanese snow. Rationalizing or truly gullible, you decide.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The chief editor of a local newspaper in the northwestern Turkish city of Bandirma has been shot dead after death threats were made against him over his coverage of a corruption scandal.
The 53-year-old editor-in-chief of the daily Life in Southern Marmara, Cihan Hayirsevener, was walking to the newspaper's office shortly after 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Friday when he was shot in the leg three times by an unidentified assailant, the Anatolia news agency reported.
The gunman escaped in a car and his whereabouts are unknown.
One of the bullets ruptured a vital artery in Hayirsevener's leg, causing him to lose an excessive amount of blood. His heart stopped several times in the ambulance to Bandirma State Hospital, but emergency medical staff were able to revive him.
He was later moved to the Uludag University Medical Faculty in Bursa, where doctors struggled but ultimately failed to save his life.
The police have launched an investigation to apprehend the murderer.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Arabiya Latest] Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Saturday criticized as unacceptable remarks by the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians that he feels "crucified" and "second class" living in Turkey.
"We regard the use of the crucifixion simile as extremely unfortunate.... I would like to see this as an undesired slip of the tongue," Davutoglu told reporters here when asked about Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I's comments in an interview with US television network CBS.
" We regard the use of the crucifixion simile as extremely unfortunate.... I would like to see this as an undesired slip of the tongue "
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
"We cannot accept comparisons that we do not deserve," the minister added.
He rejected criticism that the Islamist-rooted government in Turkey was discriminating between its citizens on religious grounds.
"If Patriarch Bartholomew I has complaints on this issue, he can convey them to relevant authorities who will do whatever is necessary," he said.
In an excerpt from the interview, which will be broadcast in full on CBS on Sunday, Bartholomew I says that the tiny Greek minority in Turkey is not treated equally.
" This is the continuation of Jerusalem and for us it is equally holy and sacred land. We prefer to stay here, even crucified sometimes "
Patriarch Bartholomew
"We are treated... as citizens of second class. We don't feel that we enjoy our full rights as Turkish citizens," says the patriarch, who represents the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians.
He ruled out the option of leaving Turkey. "This is the continuation of Jerusalem and for us it is equally holy and sacred land. We prefer to stay here, even crucified sometimes," the patriarch adds.
The CBS website quotes Bartholomew I as saying that the Turkish government "would be happy to see the Patriarchate extinguished or moving abroad, but our belief is that it will never happen."
The Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul dates from the Greek Orthodox Byzantine Empire, which collapsed in 1453 when the city fell to the Ottoman Turks.
Though Ankara does not interfere with the patriarchate's religious functions, it withholds recognition of Bartholomew's ecumenical title, treating him only as the spiritual leader of some 2,000 Orthodox Greeks still living in the country.
Turkish authorities also keep closed a theological school on an island off Istanbul, depriving the church of a means to train clergy.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Iran's president says it is hard for powers to make changes in the battle against climate change, because the global economic structure revolves around profit.
"Because the economic and political structures that some have made up are based on maximum profit and cheap energy, it is difficult for them to make changes," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Press TV's correspondent in Copenhagen on Friday.
"They will have to give up their interests to make those changes or they will have to make new investments," he added.
In an indirect reference to the US, its Western allies and the military campaigns they have waged in the region, Ahmadinejad said "those who start wars for their interests" can not easily reach deals in one meeting.
However, he said that the climate summit could not be called unsuccessful because it was a "step forward."
Ahmadinejad, who was in the Danish capital to take part in the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, also expressed hope that all countries would eventually make a contribution.
After years of apparent attempts to reach a deal on combating global warming, representatives from various countries around the world finally managed to seal an agreement on Friday.
Analysts believe that the agreement is not sufficient to combat the threat of climate change, as it is not-binding and countries have serious reservations about some part of the package.
Third world countries present at the Copenhagen summit have also spoken out against the deal, calling the process 'fairly undemocratic.'
Lumumba Stanislas Dia-Ping of Sudan, who heads the G-77 group representing 130 countries in the Copenhagen summit, said the deal put forth by Washington is the worst of its kind as it will lock developing countries and poor people into a cycle of poverty forever.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#3
Humans contribute to climate change by exhaling Carbon Dioxide; the sooner Ahmadinejad aka Dinner Jacket stops contributing to the process, the better for mankind.
#7
Geologically, the Earth is 4.5 billion years old. There has NEVER been a prolonged period during that time when climate HASN'T changed. All the crap about "man-made" climate change is just that - crap. Mankind contributes 4% of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is 4% of all greenhouse gasses. Four percent of four percent is 0.0016% - well within the margin for error of any capability of measurement we currently have. The whole "manmade CO2 will destroy the planet" idea is hoax, and has been from the beginning.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/20/2009 14:48 Comments ||
Top||
Iran's president says he will soon write to the UN Secretary-General asking for his country to be compensated for World War II damages.
"We will seek compensation for World War II damages. I have assigned a team to calculate the costs," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at a Friday press conference in the Danish capital.
"I will write a letter to the UN Secretary-General [Ban Ki-moon] asking for Iran to be compensated for the damages," he added, pointing out that such a move is necessary to ensure that justice was served.
Ahmadinejad told the reporters that the countries that won the Second World War had inflicted a lot of damage on Iran by invading the country and using its resources.
The president added that while the former Soviet Union, the United States and Britain received compensation after the conflict, Iran had been given nothing to make up for the suffering its people had endured.
"During this period, the Iranian people were subjected to a great deal of pressure and the country suffered a great deal of damages but Iran was not paid any compensation," Ahmadinejad explained.
At the start of World War II, Iran declared its neutrality, but the country was soon invaded by both Britain and the Soviet Union on August 26, 1941 in Operation Countenance.
Iran's refusal to give into Allied demands and expel all German nationals from the country was the excuse they needed to occupy the country. Within months of the invasion Iran became known as "The Bridge of Victory" to the Allies.
When invading the Soviet Union in 1941, the Allies urgently needed to transport war materiel across Iran to the Soviet Union.
The effects of the war, however, were very catastrophic for Iran. Food and other essential items were scarce and severe inflation imposed great hardship on the lower and middle classes as the needs of foreign troops were prioritized.
"Not only was Iran deprived of any compensation for World War II, but 10 years later, the Americans even went as far as arranging a coup to reverse a popular uprising that had led to the nationalization of oil," said Ahmadinejad.
In 1953, Washington orchestrated a coup against the popular and democratically-elected Iranian prime minister of the time, Mohammad Mosaddeq, whose efforts led to the nationalization of the country's oil industry.
Almost half a century later, former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright acknowledged the pivotal role that the US played in the coup, coming closer than any other American diplomat to apologizing for the intervention.
"The Eisenhower administration believed its actions were justified for strategic reasons... But the coup was clearly a setback for Iran's political development. And it is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America," she said in March 2000.
Ahmadinejad who had travelled to Copenhagen to take part in the Climate Change Summit, returned to Iran on Saturday morning.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
This rabid dog Ammadinjehead needs to be 'put down'
The sooner the better.
Regime change now!
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
12/20/2009 0:16 Comments ||
Top||
#2
parts of Iran were occupied during 1942-1946 by the Brits and the Russians
the occupation was ended by treaty
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/20/2009 0:30 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The president added that while the former Soviet Union, the United States and Britain received compensation after the conflict
The US USSR and UK received compensation? From whom?
The Russian occupation of the northern third was ended under threat of nuclear attack by the USA if the Ruskies didn't leave. The Russians didn't have the bomb at the time. The US and the Brits left voluntarily.
#6
It's a smoke screen for their nuclear program, and a time-sink to keep UN resources from being expended no the problem by complicating the simple issue, which the UN is already paralyzed over.
#7
I believe we should indeed compensate him, since the Shah of that time was a NAZI sympathizer. A half-dozen very large nukes on his largest cities should do nicely.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/20/2009 14:50 Comments ||
Top||
#8
we built some BIG airbases there during the war. employed a lot of camel jockeys. maybe we should take them back.
A decision to ordain actively gay clergy has caused deep fissures in the nation's largest Lutheran church group, with some traditional Lutherans saying they have been subjected to threats and retaliation as they consider breaking away.
Several disaffected members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) say the decision made at the church's national convention in Minneapolis in August could prompt a major exodus from one of America's biggest Protestant denominations.
"I wouldn't even begin to tell you how many thousands [of calls] I've gotten," said Paull Spring, chairman of Lutheran Coalition for Renewal, or CORE, a national coalition based on traditional values. His group said last month that it cannot remain inside the 4.7-million-member ELCA and will form a new synod.
He is not alone.
"I am receiving every single week dozens of phone calls, e-mails, from pastors of the largest Lutheran churches in ELCA," said the Rev. Walter Kallestad, senior pastor of Community Church of Joy in Glendale, Ariz., who left the synod after having been "rostered" as a minister with the ELCA for 31 years. "I've answered hundreds ... from congregations looking to transition out of the ELCA."
For reasons of church structure - Lutheran congregations retain their property as long as they are affiliated with a Lutheran synod - the fallout from the ELCA's decision isn't likely to lead to the kind of court fights that followed the U.S. Episcopal Church's 2003 ordination of an openly gay bishop.
But the splits within the ELCA, which is more than twice the Episcopal Church's size, are getting ugly in their own way. Pastors taking their churches out of the ELCA are making charges of "unethical, immoral and in some cases, illegal" acts by bishops and other officials, Mr. Kallestad said.
"I'm talking to some pastors and leaders from many states around the nation, whose [ELCA] bishops are becoming very hostile," Mr. Kallestad said.
The Rev. Mark Gehrke, of Faith Lutheran Church in Moline, Ill., said that "if you do not agree with the direction of the ELCA, you are ... bullied or ostracized or threatened. The threat has been to even remove me and suspend me from ministry," he said.
In early September, he said, he was leading meetings and seeking ways to leave the ELCA. His bishop heard of this and sent a three-man team to address the problem.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sounds like union tactics.
And is anyone else getting the "you have commented 1 times on Rantburg" thing? This has been going on for days.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/20/2009 4:46 Comments ||
Top||
#2
According to my dad (the retired rev) there are only 2<->3 male gays waiting to serve but a huge boatload of Lesbians.
#4
so, plaid flannel robes, walletchains, and comfortable shoes will be the new holy attire?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/20/2009 11:49 Comments ||
Top||
#5
#1 Sounds like union tactics.
And is anyone else getting the "you have commented 1 times on Rantburg" thing? This has been going on for days.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2009-12-20 04:46
Time for SEIU to step in and work their magic.
Whiskey Mike, I've seen the "comment header" for some time also. I figured the Mods were trying to weed out the more odious trolls.
#6
I've ben coming here for years now, it's been here all along, you just now noticed it is all.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/20/2009 12:47 Comments ||
Top||
#7
""you have commented 1 times on Rantburg" thing?"
One time, WM?
You're a piker. ;-p
I'm up to 10,765.
Of course, that's because I've got a motor mouth keyboard - your mileage may vary. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/20/2009 12:58 Comments ||
Top||
#8
mine says:
"you have commented 34395 times on Rantburg. 272 were funny. 87 were intelligent."
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/20/2009 13:47 Comments ||
Top||
#9
This kind of crap is why I won't belong to any "organized" faith. It doesn't take more than a few years before the "organized" part overcomes the faith-based part. Jesus said "wherever two or three shall gather in my name, there I will be also". He never said anything about the Second Orthodox Holy-Roller Ecumenical Church of Whatever being a part of it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/20/2009 14:44 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Frank, that's Fred's super neat code in action LOL
#11
Whiskey Mike, are you on a new computer, or did you perhaps clear your cookies? That might have reset your comment counter, maybe, perhaps. (I don't actually have a clue how Fred's code works -- my own moderator handbook kept to the basics: how to dump trolls, how to send naughty posters to the sinktrap, that kind of thing.) Because I know you've been commenting, however sparingly, for years, my dear.
#12
Whiskey Mike - I've been getting that for the past few days as well and I've been commenting here for years. Right now the counter is at '3' and has been for days. I haven't cleared by cookies or anything. I do, however, post from a number of different computers.
I also get the 'We're sorry, but only human beings are allowed to comment on Rantburg. If you're a human being, please take this simple test to prove it. If you're not, get lost.' Comment Panel. (however it will post if I don't select a picture description.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The chief editor of a local newspaper in the northwestern Turkish city of Bandirma has been shot dead after death threats were made against him over his coverage of a corruption scandal. 
A decision to ordain actively gay clergy has caused deep fissures in the nation's largest Lutheran church group, with some traditional Lutherans saying they have been subjected to threats and retaliation as they consider breaking away. 
