HAARP - A Brief Intro. Also... Is There A HAARP/Hurricane Katrina Connection? Hmm...

After SK8boarding in my Favorite SF weather (Blustery and Cool) yesterday (Saturday), I stopped to visit one of my wise and wordly friends.
He's a Collector of Some Very Fascinating Things.
We Share an Interest in Sharp and Blunt Objects, Artwork, Artifacts and Obscure But Important Information.

At one point, a thick stack of documents bound together with 2 metal rings caught my attention.
I started flipping through the pages and one five-letter acronym caught my eyes and instantly stopped my page-flipping...

HAARP

If you don't know what the heck HAARP is... it's a shame.

It's a Very Big, Very Expensive (Your Tax Dollars at ------(redacted)), Very Hush-Hush, High Tech Military Set-Up based upon Nicola Tesla's stolen ideas and plans (look him up... Edison had Nothing on Tesla. But, Tesla somehow doesn't make it into the history books.), Radio Waves, Monkeying with Our Ionosphere (= the ability to "shut down VHF radio, TV and radar signals at will"), Influence the 'auroral electrodynamic circuit' (a Natural source of up to 1 Million Megawatts), Weather Manipulation and Who Knows What.
Oh... it's faraway in Alaska... Outta Sight=Outta Mind? Not!
(Uncle Sam's not too forthcoming with info... Surprise! Surprise!)

Anyway, Google HAARP, if you are a Novice.

Or, just check out the following article for a brief, concise and accurate introduction.

* Oh, what caught my eyes in the afore-mentioned stack of documents...
They included an in-depth explanation of HAARP and some of the experiments done with it along with their expected and actual results. There were graphs and photos and diagrams...

And a fair amount of information that pointed to HAARP activities being the Cause of Hurricane Katrina's Phenomenal Ferocity!

In the words of Sarah Palin (Who?): "I kid you not."

The following article doesn't go into the HAARP Katrina Connection, but it's a good Starting Point/Introduction to the damn thing.

Peace.
L.

(From: http://blog.wired.com/)



New Document Reveals Military Mystery's Powers
By David Hambling December 10, 2007 | 1:35:00 PM

For years, no military program has sparked more fevered speculation from conspiracy theorists than the mysterious High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP. And for years, the Pentagon has been pooh-poohing speculation that the enormous collection of transmitters, radars, and magnetometers in Alaska was some sort of superweapon.

But, it turns out, the conspiracy theorists may not have been entirely off-base, after all.

Since its inception, there's been a huge range of opinion on what HAARP actually does: everything from a giant mind control facility to a space nuke countermeasure to a weather controller to an ionosphere-boiling mad science experiment to the mother of all pork projects has been suggested. But now that the program is actually up an running, military managers say the electronics array has much more benign use. "HAARP's main job is to produce radio waves to probe the ionosphere," an Air Force Research Laboratory officer said in October.

Which is true -- up to a point.

A drive by Clifford Stone on the X-Files-esque uber-site Above Top Secret to use the Freedom of Information Act to turn up UFO-related documents has led to the release of a fascinating report, HAARP: Research and Applications. It's from the Air Force Research Laboratory and Office of Naval Research, and it lays out the uses the military see for HAARP. Turns out the Pentagon wants some military bang for their buck from the program.

HAARP can actually perform a lot of militarily important functions, all involving the interactions of radio waves with the high atmosphere, magnetosphere and ionosphere.




The document points out that "on the higher frequency end (VHF/UHF) transionospheric propagation is a ubiquitous element of numerous civilian and military communication systems, surveillance and remote sensing systems." In other words, messing with the ionosphere means you can shut down VHF radio, TV and radar signals at will. As radio hams know, the reflection and refraction effects of the ionosphere make a huge difference to long-range radio reception, and HAARP provides the only means of influencing that.

Another interesting feature is how HAARP can influence the 'auroral electrodynamic circuit', a natural flow of electricity with ranges from 100,000 to 1 million megawatts ("equivalent to 10 to 100 large power plants"). Messing with the electrical properties of the ionosphere means some of this tremendous flow of power can be changed at the flick of a switch. In effect, the natural flow can be modulated to create a gigantic low-frequency radio transmitter.

Which is extremely interesting to military types. Extremely low frequency, or ELF, waves can be used for submarine communications and for probing the planet; because of the way they propagate, HAARP can cover "a significant fraction of the Earth." The document says that the waves can be used for "seabed exploration" and even locating mines underwater, not to mention "underground target detection."

HAARP can also "induce precipitation of energetic particles" in the ionosphere, which "could impact the operation and lifespan of satellites." While this is mainly about protecting satellites from particles from solar flares or nuclear explosions, the phrasing suggests that it might be able to have a subtle negative impact on satellites as well.

At the High Frequency range, HAARP also has some useful tricks, including being able to "enhance ground-to-ground and satellite-to-ground links that would otherwise be marginal or absent." Its ability to create a radio-reflective layer means it can create new over-the-horizon capabilities for radio and radar systems. It can even act as a HF radar emitter itself.

The third band is optical and near-optical: HAARP can make lights in the sky. While we have looked at the effect of creating high-altitude plasmas before (as possible anti-missile defence), the document notes that it can also produce "airglow with megawatt power…in the IR [infrared] region of the spectrum." This has "significant military implications for IR detection and countermeasures." The picture with this shows the IR glow below a satellite, suggesting that the system may be able to blank out the view of IR satellites selectively. Given that such satellites are the best way of detecting the launch of ICBMs, this is a significant capability.

All in all, it's a set-up that can do a lot more than just basic research. And while this may not seem much compared to weather modification, remember that these are just the capabilities they're willing to make public...

From the Depths of GWB to the Peaks of Obama...

Originally, I intended to send this as an email to Tamra of Lucidnation.
(Check out her Blog... if you Appreciate Timely, Honest, Intelligent, Biting and Hit-the-Nail-on-the-Head Social and Political Commentary.) She had penned another brilliant Blog regarding her perceptions, experiences and feelings from the excruciatingly heart-breaking GWB selection up to last night's Obama Victory.

But, as I was proofreading it, I decided I'd like to share it with all of you.

T:

I can relate.

The election results of 2000 left me utterly shocked and horrified.
("How could so many people be so dumb?")

And, when GWB pulled the smash-and-grab of 2004, I was teetering on suicidal.
("No... Not Again." The whole situation seemed pointless. Sadly, our gullible fellow Americans fell for the flim-flam. Our country was being manipulated by fear-mongers and diving towards disaster.)

"Hmm... If not suicide, then I'd figure out a way to... Well, never mind."

Thankfully, I've a couple of beloved people in my life that I couldn't do such a selfish thing to.

O.K... Nix removing myself. Nix tempting the Secret Service have a go at it.

How to Survive the next 4 years of Yee-Haw Hell?

I clung for dear Life to the only thing left... HOPE.

Yesterday - Hopeful as I was - I emailed my close friends and family to say that, depending upon Tuesday's election outcome...

I'd either be making a spectacle of myself - jumping up-and-down, deliriously happy, embracing total strangers on the street...

Or, I'd be tearfully reviewing one-way airline tickets to the U.K.

News of Barack's (and America's) Landslide Victory spontaneously erupted on the street via the sounds of jubilant screaming from seen and unseen people for blocks all around me... the whooping and hollering multiplied and spread out in all directions. Car horns began to honk in celebratory morse code and wail. ("Whew! Can't really afford that airline ticket right now, anyway.")

"Is it True?" "Did he Really Win?" It seemed to me it was too early to know for sure.

I couldn't deal with getting my Hopes up and having them dashed again. I quickly called my Mother to verify and when she quietly said, "He won." (I could feel and hear the smile radiating from her heart to her face through her voice), grateful tears of joy streamed from my eyes.

Are you going to celebrate with the Obama volunteers? (My Mother had joined the thousands of Obama offices across the country that made phone calls and went to important states to talk with people.)
"There are volunteers who are going to meet at the office, but I wanted to take this historic moment in in peace and quiet at home.", she said. "L., I remember each of the assasinations of John and Robert Kennedy and the assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...", she continued, "and the murders of students and the race riots... and I just want to be here by myself." I understood, as well as I could.

I can't know what it is like, exactly, for my Mother and for other Americans who lived during those tumultuous and tragedy-ridden times. I know the news of Barack's victory filled my own Heart with so much joy, it felt like it would burst. I grew up in the South. My first elementary school crush was on a school-mate who happened to not be white. As shy a child as I was in every other way, if I saw one child picking on another based solely upon the color of their skin, I would jump up and intervene on their behalf and berate the bully. I knew - even at that innocent age - the difference between right and wrong, and I knew racism was wrong. Of course, I'd learned about the heart-breaking events of the Civil Rights Movement. I'd seen film that depicted or was historical record of the kind of vile evil that one man can do to another for no other reason than ignorance-based hatred. I mourned for all who had suffered at those times. And, I felt anger at the racial inequalities and injustices that had managed to continue on since then.

Then Tuesday Night Happened. Barack's victory is a Ground-Breaking Moment of Historical Proportions. I know Everything that's wrong about racism or about our country won't change overnight. But, this victory is Change on a Global Scale. And, I Hope, it's Only the Beginning...

I'm thrilled with Obama's win for many reasons and on many levels.
My Best Wishes to Barack and Michelle (and the girls).

None of us is Perfect (though, the thought of Palin in the White House was - in a word - Terrifying.), but I feel that besides being Brilliant, Barack Obama is a Genuine and Compassionate Human Being. And - in spite of the many pitfalls of politics - he has managed to maintain his Integrity.

So, I'm Grateful. So Very Grateful. I Am - Simultaneously - Jubilant and Humble.

Having sworn off organized religion eons ago, I won't say the oft-repeated:

"God Bless (The United States of... ) America."

But, I will say:
"Thank You To... " and "I Love The United States Of America."

The Truest and Greatest Ideals of Our Amazing America are Alive, Well and Kicking A**... Right Here and Right Now and (Hopefully) Forever.

Thank You!
Peace.
L.

In Honor of NASA and the ISS... Today's Word - "Keraunothnetophobia"

Greetings!

Today, Sunday, is a Special Day.
(And not in the 'Sunday Church'-sort of way.)

And a Special Day deserves a Special Word.

So, The Word for Today is...

"Keraunothnetophobia"

It's quite a mouthful, I know.

I chose this word because of a thankfully rare event that is happening Today (Sunday).

It's taken a little over a year - from the inaugural action that made today's event possible - for us to finally reach this momentous occasion (If it hasn't already happened, that is.)

Anticipation has been building... and so has a fair amount of Anxiety.

What - exactly - does "Keraunothnetophobia" mean?

And... What does it have to do with Today?

First, let's begin with the Definition:

Keraunothnetophobia: A Fear Of Falling Man-Made Satellites.

What does it have to do with Today?

Well... Today is the day that the massive, 1400-pound, commercial refrigerator-sized tank of toxic ammonia that was heaved from the International Space Station by astronaut Clayton Anderson - on July 23, 2007 - is expected to re-enter our atmosphere.

(NASA officials have said that they don't expect any of the dangerous debris to actually hit anyone... but their estimate is based on knowing that about 2/3 of the Earth is covered by ocean... basically - it's just a guess and fervent hopeful thinking.)

Hmm... If either You or a Loved one is tragically killed by a scrap of mangled machinery that has has fallen from the sky - which is known to be official property of NASA... Could the deceased's survivors successfully pursue a wrongful death suit against the federal space agency for damages?

A Good Question... I haven't heard it posed or answered elsewhere... yet.

Apparently, neither the United Nations nor any other international body has had the foresight to set into Law some necessary and common sense-based International Anti-Dumping Laws for Human Excursions into Outer Space. Desperately needed are laws prohibiting anyone/any country from dumping toxic and/or radioactive materials.

I find this omission rather odd. It's illegal here (signs are posted around San Francisco) to dump garbage - toxic or non-toxic - on any sidewalk, street, corner, park, etc.. Any perpetrator caught polluting will face paying hefty fines.

But, hey... If happen to find yourself orbiting the Earth whilst doing Spring Cleaning... and you want to get rid of a huge tank of poisonous ammonia... knowing that it will not be completely incinerated in the Earth's atmosphere and that it will - at some point and in some form - crash onto the surface in parts unknown... It could fall into the ocean, but... it could also slam into yours or anyone's home, car or head...

Well, that's perfectly acceptable and even cheered (I recall baseball pitching references being made when Clayton heaved it away.).

Gd, I just hope that any extra-terrestrial beings that - on the off chance - might be observing humanity's actions and weighing its potential/penchant for Doing Good or Doing Harm... possibly to help them to decide whether or not they will introduce themselves or perform a pre-emptive strike on the species... I just hope that they also see plenty of actions that prove that some members of our species are sentient, compassionate and worthy of our Priceless, One and Only, Big Blue Marble called Earth.

I definitely also hope that none of the jettisoned space junk - that's hurtling towards the surface at about 100mph - manages to kill anyone.

Well... there are a few people that we would all be better off without... but, nah.... it's not my department.

Peace... and For your own safety: Take those damn earbuds out of your ears and look up once in a while!
L.


The EAS, or Early Ammonia Servicer... on its way home.

(From: www.space.com/)

Space Station Trash Plunging to Earth

By Tariq Malik
Senior Editor
31 October 2008
6:30 pm ET

A piece of space station trash the size of a refrigerator is poised to plunge through the Earth's atmosphere late Sunday, more than a year after an astronaut tossed it overboard.

NASA and the U.S. Space Surveillance Network are tracking the object - a 1,400-pound (635-kg) tank of toxic ammonia coolant thrown from the International Space Station - to make sure it does not endanger people on Earth. Exactly where the tank will inevitably fall is currently unknown, though it is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere Sunday afternoon or later that evening, NASA officials said.

"This has got a very low likelihood that anybody will be impacted by it," said Mike Suffredini, NASA's space station program manager, in an interview. "But still, it is a large object and pieces will enter and we just need to be cautious."

NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson threw the ammonia tank from the tip of the space station's Canadian-built robotic arm during a July 23, 2007 spacewalk. He also tossed away an unneeded video camera stand overboard as well, but that 212-pound (96-kilogram) item burned up harmlessly in the atmosphere early this year, Suffredini said.

NASA expects up to 15 pieces of the tank to survive the searing hot temperatures of re-entry, ranging in size from about 1.4 ounces (40 grams) to nearly 40 pounds (17.5 kg).

If they reach all the way to land, the largest pieces could slam into the Earth's surface at about 100 mph (161 kph). But a splashdown at sea is also possible, as the planet is two-thirds ocean.

"If anybody found a piece of anything on the ground Monday morning, I would hope they wouldn't get too close to it," Suffredini said.

Known as the Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS), the coolant tank is the largest piece of orbital trash ever tossed overboard by hand from the space station. Larger unmanned Russian and European cargo ships are routinely destroyed in the Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean after their space station deliveries, but those disposals are controlled and preplanned.

The recent destruction of the European Space Agency's Jules Verne cargo ship was eagerly observed by scientists hoping to glean new information on how objects behave as they enter Earth's atmosphere. Observers aboard two chase planes caught photographs and video of the double-decker bus-sized spacecraft's demise, but no such campaign is possible with the returning ammonia tank.

The last object to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere with prior notice was a small asteroid the size of a kitchen table that exploded in midair as it flew over Africa on Oct. 7.

It's taken more than year for the ammonia tank to slowly slip down toward Earth due to atmospheric drag. During its time aboard the station, the tank served as a coolant reservoir to boost the outpost's cooling system in the event of leaks. Upgrades to the station last year made the tank obsolete, and engineers were concerned that its structural integrity would not withstand a ride back to Earth aboard a NASA space shuttle.

Instead, they tossed it overboard, or "jettisoned" it in NASA parlance.

Suffredini said that while astronauts have accidentally lost a tool or two during spacewalks, the planned jettison of larger items is done with the utmost care to ensure the trash doesn't hit the station or any other spacecraft as it circles the Earth. Engineers also make sure the risk to people on Earth is low, as well.

"As a matter of course, we don't throw things overboard haphazardly," Suffredini said. "We have a policy that has certain criteria we have to meet before you can throw something overboard."

In the event the tank re-enters over land, NASA advised members of the public to contact their local authorities, or the U.S. Department of State via diplomatic channels if outside the U.S., if they believe they've found its remains.

Sarah Palin vs The Fruit Fly... I'm Cheering For The Fruit Fly

After reading the following quote by Sarah Palin and watching the clip from a speech given in Pittsburgh last Friday...

Two words came to my mind:
(In the voice of a character called Gomer Pyle from an old B/W TV show.)

"Well, Gawwwwlllyy!"

Actually...

Ignorance isn't bliss...

Unless you are ignorant...

But, for the rest of us...

The (thankfully) well-read, educated, independently-thinking people...

To observe the ill-informed actions of and the impasssioned words of the ignorant is...

In two words:

Utterly Excruciating!

Here is Sarah Palin...
(In her choreographed "good 'ol girl" delivery)

attacking the funding of fruit fly research... this time done in the evil empire of Paris, France...

even though the very same sort of fruit fly research which she claims in her speech, with incredulity, makes no sense and doesn't serve 'the public good'...

has only greatly increased the medical community's understanding of the routes from gene to disease...

and which places the little critter on the same page as the more familiar mouse as one of the premier "model organisms for the field of genetics".

In the same speech, Palin - whose youngest son has special needs - says that "early identification of a cognitive or other disorder, especially autism, can make a life-changing difference".

Yes... But, even better than early identification or detection...

How about Prevention? or, dare we hope... Cure?

And... How might we accomplish this tremendously beneficial advance for the public good?

Enter the lowly, maligned, ridiculed fruit fly...

In one study - "... published just one day before Palin's speech— about the genetic cues that steer nerve fibres around during the growth of the fruit fly" — the results suggest that the paper will "have implications for the pathogenesis of Down's syndrome"."

"I kid you not."

Peace.
L.

(From: www.guardian.co.uk/)

Palin and the Fruit Fly:
How the Vice-Presidential Candidate Became a Laughing-Stock Among Scientists"
Adam Rutherford
Monday October 27 2008 21.00 GMT

"Although science hasn't featured prominently in the US election, Sarah Palin may have alienated herself from the entire basic research community. In her first policy speech last Friday, she called for the federal government to fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and focused on alerting people to the misspent money of Congress. Here's what she said:

"You've heard about some of these pet projects, they really don't make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not."



It's difficult to know where to start with this breathtakingly stupid comment. It is possible that she is referring to a specific research project about fruit flies that are a pestilence on olive trees, but bear in mind her folksy smug delivery, which says to me: "Look how ridiculous basic research is." Richard Wolffe, the senior White House correspondent for Newsweek, commented on this, with a generous prefix:

"I'm going to be as restrained and measured as I possibly can about this. But this is the most mindless, ignorant, uninformed comment that we have seen from Governor Palin so far, and there's been a lot of competition for that prize."

I concur. It is genuinely impossible to comprehend the importance of the humble black-bellied sugar lover to humankind. With only four chromosomes but having a version of something like 75% of disease-causing human genes, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is arguably on a par with the mouse as the founding model organism for the field of genetics.

Why do we study this particular irritating fly for humankind's benefit? Well, because we can. Many of the pathways from gene to disease in humans can be easily reproduced in flies, or are similar enough to be incredibly useful models for understanding how diseases evolve. That's how we learn to treat them. Practically, the fruit fly has a lifespan of around four weeks, meaning that we can examine and generate thousands of specimens in a research heartbeat. We can and do experiment on humans, but with great practical difficulty, even in the rare occasions when ethical concerns permit such experiments.

Here's a couple of examples. Palin said in the same speech that "early identification of a cognitive or other disorder, especially autism, can make a life-changing difference". Very true. Autism is an enormously complex spectrum of disorders that we are only just beginning to understand. A team of fruit fly researchers from the University of North Carolina last year showed that a protein called neurexin is a key component in making synapses — the connections between brain cells. They issued a response to Palin's idiotic statement, saying:

"The discovery, made in Drosophila fruit flies, may lead to advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders, as recently, human neurexins have been identified as a genetic risk factor for autism."

So, we don't know what neurexin does in people with autism, but we do know that they are connected genetically. And, thanks to the fly, we now know how neurexin works.

One might have thought that Sarah Palin would take a more active interest in one aspect of scientific research. Palin's youngest son has Down's syndrome, a genetic disorder caused by the presence of an extra chromosome 21. Although a geneticist by training, I am certainly no expert on the pathogenesis of this condition, nor the significance of Drosophila research into Down's syndrome. So, I typed "drosophila trisomy 21" into PubMed, the scholarly biomedical equivalent of Google. There were 109 results, the most recent published just the day before Palin's gaffe. The concluding sentence of that study — about the genetic cues that steer nerve fibres around during the growth of the fruit fly — suggests that the paper will "have implications for the pathogenesis of Down's syndrome".

These two are drops in the ocean of fruit fly research that have clinical relevance. Down's syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, autism, diabetes, ageing research, cancers of all types: that's a minuscule range of diseases that have been and continue to be utterly dependent on the fruit fly. Eight seconds' worth of Googling would have revealed that to Palin. Maybe it's not obvious to the general public how basic research translates into clinically relevant knowledge. But so much of the information we have about the workings of genes and proteins and therefore diseases comes from studying these little critters.

Sarah Palin's comments display an attitude that is blatantly anti-science. Worse, it's lazy, ignorant and gleefully so. Somewhere along the line, the Republicans have endorsed a candidate who is so short-sighted and glib that she inadvertently mocks an indescribably important field of which she might have a personal knowledge. Whatever happens on November 4, the fruit fly's contribution to the public good will always far outweigh that of Sarah Palin, and she would do well to show some respect. I kid you not."

*******************************

And from Christopher Hitchens - A great piece on the subject of Sarah at Slate.com:
"This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just "people of faith" but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity."

(From: www.slate.com/Sarah Palin's War on Science:
The GOP ticket's appalling contempt for knowledge and learning.
Posted Monday, Oct. 27, 2008)

Urgent Action Needed for Devastated Haiti In Aftermath of Four Stoms

I just caught a report on that aired on the Jim Lehrer News Hour (on PBS) about the conditions in Haiti - after it was ravaged three hurricanes.

Haiti is considered one of the poorest countries in the world, with a huge percent of the population living in absolute poverty. According to one source, 80% of the population are unemployed subsistence farmers and with no source of natural energy, most of the 8 million people living in Haiti resort to cutting down trees to make charcoal for cooking. This, along with the selling off of and harvesting of Haiti's trees for lumber exported to other countries, resulted in 95% of the country being deforested. (From: www.haitioutreach.org/)

Between September 1st and 7th of 2008, Haiti was devastated by several major storms: Just 14 days after Tropical Storm Gustav made landfall, Haiti was hit by Tropical Storm Hanna, followed by Hurricane Ike. Each of these storms brought heavy rainfall to the deforested and now unstable land. The floods unleashed by the torrential rains gushed, unimpeded, through the deforested hills. In the aftermath, rivers had overflowed their banks, lakes appeard where there previously were none, roads and bridges were washed away along with homes, crops, farm animals and people.

The struggle for survival was difficult and ongoing for many Haitians before these storms and now it is utterly desperate. Some towns and villages are, today, still flooded by hazardous and contaminated water or mud - that makes vehicle travel impossible and travel by foot dangerous. At least one village was discovered to have been been cut-off from aid for two weeks due to the road being washed away.

Do you remeber the devastation of Hurricane Katrina? Well imagine that kind of death and destruction times three. The storm-battered and struggling people of Haiti need the continued attention and assistance of the world.

Peace.
L.

(From: www.un.org/)


Despite the significant presence of international organizations - with plenty of experts and publications to show for it - the people of Gonaïves have yet to see much benefit. MSF urges international organizations and the Haitian government to immediately re-examine their emergency aid response, and to prioritize housing and nutritional support for the youngest of the flood victims.
view text
Photo Credit: Klavs Christensen (www.doctorswithoutborders.org/)

Appeal For Hurricane Relief in Haiti Badly Under-Funded, UN Aid Chief Says
27 October 2008

- Urgent action is required to respond to the "worst disaster in the last 100 years" to strike Haiti, the United Nations relief chief reported today, warning that aid agencies remain far short of the millions they need to help the country recover after four deadly hurricanes this year left 800 people dead and affected another 1 million.

Only 40 per cent of the $107 million flash appeal aimed at assisting the emergency relief effort has been pledged, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told reporters in New York as he urged donors to contribute more humanitarian aid.

"Even that 40 per cent is nowhere near enough of what we're going to need for the next six months or so for people in Gonaïves, and Gonaïves is not the only place affected by any stretch of the imagination," Mr. Holmes said on his return from a two-day visit to Haiti, which was hammered by four successive storms in as many weeks from mid-August to mid-September.

"We will be putting out a revised appeal in the next couple of weeks to include more early recovery elements and not just the immediate humanitarian elements."

The Under-Secretary-General stressed that further funds will be needed to help Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere even before these storms, transition from relief to reconstruction and development and prevent the tragedy from repeating itself in the future.

Gonaïves, the hardest-hit city, is still a "dramatic and grim site" even six weeks after the last hurricane hit, said Mr. Holmes. Some 30,000 people are still taking refuge in city shelters, which are very often ill-equipped schools, and some of those who have gone back to their homes are camping on roofs and in courtyards.

There is a large new lake just outside Gonaïves, which did not exist before and now covers the bridge and roads leading to the city, and living conditions have been made even more difficult by huge amounts of mud and stagnant water.

"If urgent action is not taken on the disaster risk reduction front, then we're simply going to see more tragedies in the future," warned Mr. Holmes.

He said that this disaster will happen again if immediate work is not done on improving the ability to channel water from the surrounding hills, such as repairing and reinforcing river banks, reforestation of the affected areas so that the water does not flash flood and mudslide, and relocating the residents of the vulnerable districts of Gonaïves.

Mr. Holmes, who is also the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that an additional allocation from the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) would be released on top of the $4.3 million allocated over a month ago, bringing CERF funding to $10 million.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also announced an agreement today to provide Haiti with a $10 million package to help boost the country's agricultural sector, whose harvest was decimated by the recent hurricanes.

Haiti is facing the double challenge of recovering from the series of hurricanes, which left an estimated $500 million in losses, and feeding its people who were already facing food shortages before the latest natural disasters hit the country, according to an FAO press release issued today.

An average 18 per cent annual increase in food prices over each of the past four years – affecting staples such as rice, maize, beans and oil – has resulted in widespread hunger, economic crises, as well as social and political unrest.

FAO has agreed on a rescue package with the Government to boost farming output in the current and upcoming agricultural season by supporting hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers – 80 per cent of the agricultural workforce – many of whom are severely under-nourished.

More than 240,000 farmers will receive an agricultural parcel consisting of vegetable seeds, cereal seeds, manioc, sweet potato and banana plants among other planting inputs.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a UN agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries, is funding the $10.2 million agreement as part of FAO's recently established Initiative on Soaring Food Prices (ISFP).

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Navi Pillay will also make a four-day visit to Haiti next week, when she plans to meet with President René Préval and other representatives of Government and civil society to discuss judicial reforms, and the extent to which economic and social rights are subject to legal jurisdiction.

Join the SFPD: Great Job Security. Get Paid to Assault Civilians.

How's Friday Treating You?
However it's been, it's surely been a Cake Walk compared to the Friday experienced by a young SF musician who goes by the name "Ashtray".

It was a beautiful day here in San Francisco, today.
A little on the Excessively Bright and Sunny-Side for myself... but, I know most people enjoy that sort of thing much more than I.

I worked on my eBay listings and then gathered Jessie the Dog and headed towards the Panhandle Park. When we were leaving, I found a handwritten note - in all caps - that said, "THE COPS BEAT UP MY BROTHER HERE". Curious, but not surprising. I didn't think too much of it at the time and we continued towards the Park. Thankfully, we found plenty of shade under the trees. There were people who were laying out in the sun, others playing with their dogs, joggers, cyclists, a few older and several young people who live outdoors... one of these young men was playing guitar and singing pleasantly.

One of the street kids who knows me approached... "Did you hear what happened?", he asked. "Oh, Gd.", I thought. After living in the Haight-Ashbury for several years and doing a lot of homeless youth outreach work from my own resources, I've come to hate that innocent question and every variation thereof. It has all too often been followed up with the announcement of the sudden, unexpected, tragic and sometimes violent death of a young homeless boy or girl whom I'd known and developed a friendship with. A familiar, yet unwelcome, feeling of dread started to well up inside my chest. "You know Ashtray, right?", the young man continued. I started to scan the faces of the kids I know in my mind. My expression must have told him I wasn't sure. He continued, "He's got dreads and plays the guitar. He usually has a Grateful Dead shirt on. He often sits in front of your house and plays the guitar." "Shit!", I thought. Now I was really feeling bad about not being able to place the name and a face. I don't have the best memory for such things... I blame that getting-thrown-off-a-horse-and-hitting-the-ground-head-first incident that I've mentioned before.

The sweet young man continued, "Well, Ashtray was sitting in the front of Golden Gate Park playing his guitar and this cop came up to him and told him to "Get out of the Park!"." "Ashtray stopped playing and said "No, sir. I don't have to go anywhere. I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just playing my guitar."" Ashtray was probably frustrated at what was only the latest in a long and endless line of quality-of-life profiling and police harassment. "Suddenly the cop pulls out his night stick, swings and cracks Ashtray hard across the front of his face. Then, when Ashtray was down on the pavement, the cops began stomping him and kicking him really hard. (Apparently, a second cop was present and before long a lot of them showed up.) There's still a pool of Ashtray's blood on the sidewalk.". I was now concerned that Ashtray was dead. "Jeez! This happened in broad daylight?", I was incredulous. The young man nodded and said, "Yeah." "Is Ashtray OK?", I asked. "I don't know. They took him to the hospital. We're going to go see him right now.", and he motioned in the direction of St. Mary's Hospital on Stanyan Street - the closest. I then realized that several other homeless kids had gathered and were joining him. "I hope he's alright.", I said. "Give him my best.".



After this conversation, I no longer wanted to stay in the Park and play with the Dog. I dropped Jessie off at home and grabbed my digital camera. I had already decided to try to find out the name of the dkhead thug officer and to find the pool of Ashtray's blood and photograph it for this Blog.

I didn't find it on the first trip. There's a fair amount of ground to cover in the front of the Park and I hadn't gotten an exact location of where the incident took place.

As I ran a few errands in the neighborhood, I noticed something different. Carefully placed at various points along the sidewalks, taped to the sides of trucks parked along Haight Street and posted to blank sections of walls and storefronts were more and more of the handwritten signs on white paper - like I had found earlier. They said things like: "WHERE IN THE WORLD IS ASHTRAY?" and "WHEN ARE THE COPS GOING TO WAKE UP" with a Peace Sign on top. There was a huge sign on the sidewalk - propped up against the wall - in front of The Red Vic Movie Theater, written in black capital letters, on a piece of cardboard that was at least 3ft. long! It cried out for Justice and an end to Police Brutality. It mentioned starting a Revolution.

Wow... Something unusual is going on here. I mean, this certainly isn't the first case of SFPD brutality... and definitely not the first case of SFPD brutality against an unarmed homeless civilian who was doing nothing more than playing guitar in the Park when he was assaulted by a sociopathic cop.

What's different today is the response of the public. Lots of people are talking about it... Witnesses, residents, tourists... lots of them... and they are all horrified at what happened.

As awful as this assault must have been to Ashtray, at least the dickhead cop who beat him down and then kicked him repeatedly chose to commit this vicious crime in BROAD DAYLIGHT and IN FRONT OF MANY WITNESSES... several of whom VIDEOTAPED THE ATTACK.



Oh, as you can see above, I did go back and I found Ashtray's pool of blood. Several homeless kids were gathered around as if they were standing vigil. Someone had written "HEY YOU!" above the pool with an arrow pointing at it. Other writing encircled the bloodstain. Two SFPD officers - each on a bicycle - rode up to the scene, stopped and just stared for a minute. Someone asked about what happened and one of the kids standing there motioned towards the officers and said, "Why don't you go ask them." I began taking photographs with a flash. I would have taken the officers' photographs - I had a feeling they were trying to intimidate the people standing vigil - but, at this point they quickly left the scene.

I did find out the offensive and offending officer's name: It's OFFICER KELLY (sp?). He's out of Park Station. Caucasian. Average build. The Captain of Park Station is Teresa Bennett.

I can only hope that the witnesses come forward and file formal complaints.

If you witnessed this assault - or any assault by a Police Officer - Please File A Complaint!

I have done this a few times. At the very least, the incident/complaint will be noted in the officer's permanent file. We must document these assaults and identify these brutal rogue cops and press the Police Commission and the Mayor to FIRE THESE VIOLENT THUGS... and hopefully send them to PRISON... where violent thugs belong.

The SFPD should not tolerate cops who brutalize civilians nor allow them to remain in their ranks.

To do so only does damage to the reputation of the SFPD and damages its relationship with the public.

It also damages San Francisco and it's reputation around the world. Residents and tourists witnessed this assault and will undoubtedly return home and tell friends and family about it.

Oh...
What happened to the victim of this violent attack?
Ashtray is now in jail.
Is that fucked up or what?

Officer Kelly, consider yourself persona non gratia... We do.

As for me, I'm carrying my camera with me Everywhere... and I can't wait to catch you and/or your fellow gang members committing acts of brutality and then contact the local (and national) news with the story and photos, you pieces of shit.

Peace... to Everyone but them.
L.

San Francisco Irony: A Brutal Thug Promotes Red Cross Volunteering

Last night I was working my room...
It's an ongoing project of mine...
One that's been going on for several years...
I had my TV on, but I wasn't paying it any attention since unconvincing commercials were occupying the airwaves.

Suddenly, a male voice slithers through the speakers - identifying himself by a name that I instantly recognized and will not forget any time soon - completely shattering the peace and quiet of my environment and my mind.

I stopped what I was doing and sharply caught my breath as a flood of images of an unlawful and violent act I had witnessed flashed across my mind's eye. An act of extreme brutality that was committed by the very same crude creep who was now strolling through the streets of San Francisco in a commercial on my TV screen.

The less-than-human being's name: "Gabriel (Gabreal?) Gallreade".

To my complete surprise and growing disgust, 'Officer Gabriel' - as he was known in the neighborhood where he sadistically served - was appearing in and speaking through the commercial.

I was horrified.

I am horrified.

In the ad, as he's seen strolling around various sunny streets as his conversational voice-over describes his being a resident of The City. He describes the beauty of The City. He offers that, "... we need to work together" to keep our City this way. He then claims to be a long-time volunteer for The Red Cross. He then adds, "Who am I? I'm an officer with the SFPD in Ingleside.".

I fight the urge to hurl something heavy at the brute... I don't want to break my TV.

Obviously, the organization who sponsored the ad doesn't know.

Apparently, 'Officer Gabriel' didn't tell them... I'm not surprised.

It's unbelieveably ironic in fact that...

Here was Gabriel Gallreade, the same brutal, pea-brained and large-fisted p.o.s. whom I had witnessed (a few years ago) with my own eyes start cocking his arm back and punching - with a closed fist - the face of a disabled, intoxicated, homeless kid... whose hands were already 'cuffed behind his back and who was not resisting arrest in the slightest... a kid who had committed the unforgiveable terrorist act of burning a ticket that Officer Gabriel had given him a few minutes earlier.

I left my perch to search for my camera to document this vicious crime. By the time I returned, the police van had arrived and blocked my view... Keeping me from seeing the worst of this brutal beating. When I saw photos that were taken of the kid's face shortly after the event, I was speechless. Apparently, Ofc. Gabriel, making full use of the resources at hand, had beaten the corner (metal and concrete) garbage can to death with the kid's face.

If I can remove myself from the images and memories of the event which are seared into my brain... I can almost find some humor in the horror here...

A long-time SFPD Police Officer whom I had witnessed commit a vicious and brutal physical assault on a non-threatening and handcuffed young man (sadly, he's not the first nor the last to do so) is currently the 'poster boy' campaigning for volunteers for The Red Cross.

Yeah, I'm sure he's a long-time contributor to The Red Cross.

I'm also quite sure that he's sent a fair number of homeless people to the hospital over the years.

There was this other time that I observed him one night as he drove the SFPD Van up onto the sidewalk and - as he snarled out commands over the PA system to "Move on! Get out of there!" - he literally chased another homeless man - who was wheelchair-bound - from under the covered shelter of a closed Goodwill store doorway and out into a driving rainstorm.

... Not exactly the personality or quality of character that you'd think The Red Cross would want to be associated with.

Like I said... they must not know.

I think I'll do my civic duty and enlighten them.

From what I observed and was told over the years, Officer Gabriel seemed to get some perverse enjoyment from harassing and abusing the homeless... kids in particular. People who live outdoors are extremely vulnerable. No doors to lock. No family or good neighboors to look out for them. And in a courtroom... who do you really think a judge or jury is likely to side with... a tattooed homeless youth with profanity written on their hand-sewn clothing, who may be in need of a shower and who has a plethora of unpaid 'Unlawful Camping' Tickets? Or a veteran SFPD police officer who volunteers for The Red Cross? Officer Gabriel is a textbook school-yard bully... only now he's been given a nightstick, a handgun and carte blanche.

Shame on You, Officer Gabriel.

I don't know why you consistently treat homeless people like mud on your boots and I don't care.

I saw what you did.

I know what you are.

And I'll take a lie detector test to prove it.

Shame on the SFPD for not kicking you and other brutal nutjobs off of the force.

You're not a role model. Not for The Red Cross. Not for SFPD cadets.

I can see you as a guard at Gitmo though...


Peace.
L.

Extreme Make-Over: Sarah Palin Edition

As news reports announce Senator Barack Obama opening a double-digit lead over Senator John McCain - two weeks before the November 4th Election - the 'Joe Six-Pack' public persona of Sarah Palin - expertly-crafted by the McCain image machine (formerly of the G.W. Bush machine) - has been caught with toilet paper trailing from her high-end heels.

Breaking News:
It's been discovered that the Republican Party has invested more than $150,000 on clothes, cosmetics, hair and accessories for Sarah Palin and family since she was named as the vice-presidential candidate in August. According to financial records obtained by Politico.com, the high-style spending spree started in September.

$150,000... In One Month?!

Hmmm... It kinda flies in the face of her claim of being an "... average hockey mom" who is the candidate of the "Joe six-packs."

Not only that, questions are arising over the legality of Palin's wardrobe being paid for with McCain campaign donations.

Campaign finance experts cite the Federal Election Commission's opposition to campaign money being used to buy items for personal use.

In response, a campaign spokesperson weakly offered that the clothes would eventually be donated to charity. (That's all well and good, but it still doesn't answer the legality question.)

And, if you haven't noticed the change from August until now (I didn't... but I try not to actively pay any attention to her.)... that's probably because her look hasn't changed as much as the names on the labels and their prices.

After initially refusing to comment on the expensive wardrobe make-over, the McCain/Palin campaign turned to its recurring red herring: the media.

The news of this startling shopping spree comes out even as the Republicans have the gall to attack Senator Obama as a tax-and-spend Democrat.

In Other Good News (the kind that restores my belief that human beings can and will avoid causing their own self-destruction)...

According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll (of 1,159 registered voters, conducted from Friday to Monday with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points), "... the popularity of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has fallen. Voters are less likely to see the Republican vice presidential nominee in a positive light, and much more likely to report negative feelings, the Wall Street Journal said.

Forty-seven percent view Palin negatively, compared with 38 percent who see her in a positive light.

Fifty-five percent of voters say Palin is not qualified to be president, up from 50 percent two weeks ago."
(From: www.reuters.com/)

Whew!

Why do I have such an aversion to Sarah Palin?

Well, it's nothing personal... it can't be... I've never met her.

For me (and, thankfully, more than enough voting people) the Glaring Issue here isn't wardrobe or any other superficial item.

It is that - for still unidentified and utterly unimagineable reasons - Senator John McCain chose a completely unqualified person for Republican VP nominee.

And, I figure that, once the choice of Palin was announced to the media and the public and the cat was out of the proverbial bag... No matter what - if any - serious concerns or relevant questions that might come up regarding Palin, her qualifications, her past... the Republicans were stuck with her. It would be virtually impossible for McCain to announce (even if he really wanted to) -say at the RN Convention, "Oops! Heh... heh. My bad! Scratch that. How 'bout this one instead?". Though, at that time, I wished he would.

What makes her unqualified?
Where do I begin?

First and Foremost:
The simple fact is that she has no idea of what is required of/the duties expected of the person holding the position of Vice President of these United States?

This wouldn't be a problem for me... if she weren't aiming to try to occupy that position.

In more than one interview, when asked what the Vice President does or what she would do if she were to become Vice President, her responses have consistently made this fact excruciatingly obvious.

Examples:
1.) In an interview on KUSA, an NBC affiliate in Colorado:
Third grader Brandon Garcia wanted to know, "What does the Vice President do?"

Palin's response didn't just overflow with insincere rhetoric... it was patently false:
"[T]hey're in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom."

2.) In an appearance on Hardball with Chris Matthews:
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: "A vice president has a really great job because not only are they there to support the president's agenda, they're like the team member, the teammate to that president, but also they're in charge of the United States Senate. So if they want to, they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better."

"As Colin Powell said on Sunday's "Meet the Press," the job of the vice president is to stand ready under the Constitution in the tragic circumstances to replace the president. Now, that's one role. The other role is to have only a tie-breaking role as presiding officer of the U.S. Senate. That's it. The Constitution specifically prescribes that. In fact, it says that's all that a person has the right to do."

"She believes somehow that the vice president of the United States has a commanding policy development role... and can lead the U.S. Senate. Where'd she get this from? You've got a candidate who doesn't know the job description."
(From:hardblogger.msnbc.msn.com/)

As Matthews put it succintly in a follow-up interview with McCain campaign spokeswoman, Nancy Pfotenhauer:

Matthews: "Somehow, in all these trips to Washington — through Neiman's, and through Saks, and through everywhere else she stopped off, she never picked up a copy of the Constitution. It is a problem. It is a problem, Nancy, and you know it."

Hello? America? This is a Serious Problem.

Whenever I've been job-hunting, I've researched the duties of the position I was seeking. I would Never interview for a job without knowing what the requirements/duties were. Would you?

The person who is the Vice President is a hair's-breadth away from the Presidency.

And, in the 2008 Race, in John McCain, we have a respectable candidate for President who made a singularly poor choice for a VP running mate.

Sarah Palin not only is unqualified and unprepared to be our Vice President...

She is - without question - unqualified and unprepared to be our President.

It isn't at all Personal.

It is a Simple Fact.

Since the McCain campaign is run by those who ran the G.W. Bush campaign, I can see where the rigid refusal to admit mistakes comes from... they raised it to a satirical art form.

But, a mistake was made. They refused to admit it. They refused to correct it. They named Sarah Palin and - after the announcement - for perpetuity... they saw no other option but to 'stay the course'... relying heavily on damage control teams, red herrings, name-calling and media-bashing along the way.

It's unfortunate, but it is what is.

Maybe they'll learn things from this experience...
Things like Humility... and the value of being able to admit making a mistake and the pride that comes with being Honest and the empowerment felt when you correct a mistake...

... Yeah, I know... But, I can Dream can't I?

Peace.
L.

Ding Dong the CERN LHC is DEAD... for now anyway.

Ding Dong The CERN LHC is DEAD!
Yippee!
Yahoo!

Till next year anyway...
Oh well, a little Joy is better than no Joy.

To those who may not have heard of it, the CERN LHC "is the world's most powerful particle accelerator. It is buried inside a 17-mile (27-kilometer) tunnel below the earth. It fires beams of "hadrons" — such as protons or neutrons from the nucleus of an atom — through two tubes the size of fire hoses. The inside of the tubes are kept in a virtually complete vacuum, at a temperature colder than outer space."

The well-oiled people behind its creation think their mechanical monstrosity may reveal what happened at the moment of The Big Bang and answer some of their questions about the creation of the universe (or universes, as it may be).

"The project was conceived in 1984 by scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN. The organization's 20 member nations along with observer countries like the United States, Japan, Canada, Russia and India have spent US$10 billion on it."
(From: ap.google.com/)

Not everyone is thrilled with their fiddling with physics, though. Some critics of the project have expressed serious concerns that the expensive experiment may just create a black hole... which might then destroy the entire planet.

CERN supporters have waved such criticism away, saying in effect, "That's so silly... the existence of black holes hasn't been proven... they are only a theory." To this I reply, "Well, in that case, the Big Bang is unproven and only a theory, too." So why try to recreate it?

The project has been cursed with one failure after another.

The most recent problem occurred last weekend, when a failure, known as a 'quench', resulted in about 100 of the LHC's 1200 super-cooled magnets to heat up by as much as 100 degrees.

Firefighters were called out after a ton of liquid helium poured into the tunnel, which bridgles the French-Swiss border. (The helium is used to cool the magnets to a temperature colder than deep space - 1.9 kelvin (-456F) - making them "superconducting" magnets.

Cern claims to have systems in place to deal with failures like quenches before they damage equipment but, for some reason, in this instance, a quench in the machine got out of control.

"It does seem that all the systems that are supposed to protect the machine in cases like this worked as far as we can tell."

"But obviously something went wrong," said James Gillies, Cern's director of communications.

Is it just me, or do those two statements by Mr. Gillies contradict each other?

Sounds like he's saying:
"All the safety systems worked exactly as they were supposed to."
and
"But, something didn't work."

Hmmm.... Makes me feel better about the whole $10 billion spent and the 'theoretical' black hole thing...

How 'bout You?

Peace.
L.

Collider Halted Until Next Year
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News
(From: news.bbc.co.uk/)

The Large Hadron Collider near Geneva will be shut off until spring 2009 while engineers probe a magnet failure.

The incident on 19 September caused a tonne of liquid helium to leak out into the experiment's 27km-long tunnel.

Officials said the time required to fully investigate the problem precluded a re-start before the lab's winter maintenance period.

The collider is built to smash protons together at huge speeds, recreating conditions moments after the Big Bang.

Scientists hope it will shed light on fundamental questions in physics.

"Coming immediately after the very successful start of LHC operation on 10 September, this is undoubtedly a psychological blow," said Robert Aymar, director-general of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern), in a statement.

But he praised the skill and preparation of the teams involved in building the particle accelerator.

High priority

A spokesman for Cern told BBC News it was unclear at this stage when the collider could re-start operations after the lab's regular winter shut-down - which is partly done to save money on electricity during this period of peak demand.

A number of factors could affect when the lab re-opened, including prolonged cold weather.


The LHC has been in construction for some 13 years


What happened in the machine?

"It's usually around late March or early April that we start re-commissioning the whole accelerator chain. The LHC being at the end of that chain," said James Gillies, Cern's director of communications.

"It will take us a while to get beams injected into the LHC, but I think it's fair to say this will be the priority for next year's start-up."

The accelerator chain prepares the beams of protons to be fired through the machine to make possible the collisions that physicists will use to study the make-up of our Universe.

The problem occurred last weekend, when a failure, known as a quench, caused around 100 of the LHC's super-cooled magnets to heat up by as much as 100 degrees.

The fire brigade were called out after a tonne of liquid helium leaked into the tunnel, which straddles the French-Swiss border.

Helium spill

The machine has more than 1,200 "dipole" magnets arranged end-to-end in the 27km-long, ring-shaped tunnel that houses the LHC.

These magnets carry and steer beams of protons which will whizz around the machine at close to the speed of light.

At allotted points around the "ring", these beams cross paths, smashing together near four massive "detectors" that monitor the collisions for interesting events.

Cern said the most likely cause of the equipment failure was a faulty electrical connection between two of the accelerator's magnets.

This connection melted during testing of the machine and caused a huge leak of super-cool helium.

This helium is used to chill the magnets to a temperature of 1.9 kelvin (-271C; -456F) - which is colder than deep space.

This makes the magnets "superconducting", allowing them to generate the large magnetic fields required to steer the beams while at the same time consuming relatively little power.

A quench occurs when part of a superconducting magnet heats up and causes superconducting properties to be lost.

Hot spot

Cern has procedures in place to deal with quenches before they damage equipment, but in this instance a hot spot in the machine got out of control.

"It does seem that all the systems that are supposed to protect the machine in cases like this worked as far as we can tell. But obviously something went wrong," said Mr Gillies.

"The engineers have decided that in order to find out what really happened, they are going to have to go into the machine."

One of the LHC's eight sectors will now have to be warmed up so an inspection can be carried out.

Mr Gillies told BBC News that this was likely to take a week, and that engineers would then have a much better idea of how to fix the fault.

Each particle accelerator is a unique machine, so Cern says that teething troubles were to be expected with such a complex machine at the cutting edge of technology.

"Events occur from time to time that temporarily stop operations, for shorter or longer periods, especially during the early phases," said Cern physicist Peter Limon.

What Are The Duties of the Vice President? & A Test of VP Worthiness.

Growing concerns about Sarah Palin's qualifications (or lack thereof) for possibly taking on the position of Vice President have inspired me to post several Blogs.

After reading that John McCain told ABC's Charlie Gibson that he considered Governor Palin's overseeing of the Alaska National Guard and Alaska's proximity to Russia to be 'credentials' for National Security experience...

Well, I didn't know whether to laugh or scream.

So, I did neither.

Instead, I went online and looked up:

What EXACTLY are the Duties and Responsibilities of the US Vice President?

(From: encarta.msn.com)

* "The vice president's most important role is to replace the president if the president dies or becomes unable to manage the country's affairs."

* "The vice president attends Cabinet meetings and sessions of the National Security Council, the president's chief advisory panel for formulating and implementing policies related to the military, foreign relations, and other national security issues."

* "The president also relies on the vice president to lead important presidential committees and panels, which study issues such as environmental protection, urban renewal, and reducing the size of the government bureaucracy. In addition, the vice president often travels to other countries to represent the president at international conferences, the funerals of foreign dignitaries, and other important events."

* "The vice president serves as president of the Senate, formally presiding over Senate deliberations."

* "The vice president also presides over a joint session of Congress when it formally counts electoral votes for presidential elections."

Hmmm....

That first one's REALLY scary when you look at one of the VP candidates.

So...

How can any of us get a better idea of which candidate is better suited for the job?

EUREKA!

I've got it!!



Here's A Perfect Means By Which to Tell Which Vice Presidential Candidate REALLY has the Skill Set Required of a Vice President of these United States of America.

A Test On LIVE Television...

On Stage Left: Senator Joseph Biden.

On Stage Right: Governor Sarah Palin.

Each candidate is provided with a chair, a desk and two Number 2 pencils.

To begin, each candidate is given a copy of a World Map with all countries outlined but unidentified.

Each candidate then has 30 minutes to correctly identify as many countries as possible with Extra Credit for correctly identifying their capitals and/or their current leaders/heads of state.

Now, That's What I Call A REALITY Show.

I think I'll email Charlie Gibson... Whaddya Think?

Peace.
L.

As American as... er, British as Baseball? Egads!

Hmmm...

Baseball invented in... Britain?

Bollocks!

Well, you know what The Late Late Show's host, Craig Ferguson, says, "If you read it/it's on the internet, it must be true."

Watch out... Next they'll claim to be the inventors of hot dogs!

Then again...

Hot dogs - in my humble opinion - are... well... gross.
And it isn't breaking news that Great Britain is not on the A-List of destination spots for gourmet travelers.

Anyway, I'll continue to accept America as the true birthplace of baseball until I see the alleged diaries proving otherwise and their veracity is authenticated by several independent document experts.

Not that it's a big deal either way...

Peace.
L.




(From: www.ananova.com/)

Baseball 'invented in Britain'?
Baseball, America's treasured national sport, was first played in Britain, according to new evidence.

Local historians in Surrey have confirmed that baseball was played in the UK more than 20 years before American independence.

A diary that documents a game being played in Guildford in 1755 has been verified by Surrey History Centre.

William Bray, a Surrey diarist and historian from Shere, wrote about the game when he was still a teenager.

Julian Pooley, Surrey History Centre manager and William Bray expert, said the diary showed the game was a well-established sport in the 18th Century and was played by men and women.

Mr Pooley said: "He kept lots and lots of diaries that we have in the Surrey History Centre but last year a new one was discovered in a garden shed and it contains his diary from 1754 to 1755.

"It contains a reference to him playing baseball. What intrigued me is he is playing it with a load of young ladies."

The diary states they had tea after the game on Easter Monday and also played cricket.

Kevin Sullivan, the Washington Post's London correspondent and an avid Boston Red Sox fan, said: "It's a great American tradition to take things from other places and improve them. We've always known that baseball evolved - it wasn't invented like basketball.".

Yeah, She's Ready: Palin Links Iraq to 9/11 at Deployment Ceremony

My jaw dropped when I saw this article and video.

Yesterday, at a deployment ceremony for an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son, sophomore Alaska Governor and McCain Vice-Presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, made statements linking fighting in Iraq to fighting those behind the 9/11 terror attacks.

My Gd... Even the Incompetent-In-Chief himself, George W. Bush finally acknowledged that Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with the planning of or carrying out of the horrific attacks on September 11, 2001.

Someone should ask Palin if she's even aware of what country the majority of the hijackers came from... and if she can find that country on a map.

(Psst... Don't tell her... 15 of the 19 received their Visas in Saudi Arabia.)

Yeah, she's ready to be Vice President...
... Like I'm ready to be a brain surgeon!

Peace.
L.

From: thinkprogress.org/At Son's Troop Deployment Ceremony, McCain VP Candidate Palin Links 9/11 To Iraq.

On the seventh anniversary of the terror attacks, Alaska Governor and McCain vice-presidential running mate Sarah Palin linked the Iraq war to the attacks of September 11, 2001, "telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would 'defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.'" "America can never go back to that false sense of security that came before September 11, 2001," said Palin at the deployment ceremony.

As the Washington Post's Anne Kornblut points out, "The idea that Iraq shared responsibility with al-Qaeda for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, once promoted by Bush administration officials, has since been rejected even by the president himself."

Watch it:

Funeral For A Friend and Police Mobilization

I'm posting this article to share the info with other friends of Mark Papa Guardado, who was murdered in San Francisco on September 2nd.

Rest In Peace, Papa.
We will never forget you.

Peace.
L.

(From: sfgate.com)
Police Mobilize For Hells Angels Funeral
Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, September 12, 2008

DALY CITY -- Police throughout the Bay Area are bracing for the biggest show of motorcycle club members since Marlon Brando hit town in "The Wild One."

No one knows exactly how many two-wheeled mourners in leather jackets are going to attend services Sunday and Monday for the slain president of the Hells Angels' San Francisco chapter, Mark "Papa" Guardado.

Some say there could be 1,000 Hells Angels, some say more.

"However many there are, we're going to be ready," said Officer Shawn Chase, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

Guardado, 46, was shot Sept. 2 outside a bar at 24th Street and Treat Avenue after what police described as a "wrestling match" with the gunman, who fled on a motorcycle. Christopher Ablett, 37, of Modesto, a member of the rival Mongols Motorcycle Club, is wanted on suspicion of murder.

Little is known about how the Hells Angels plan to mourn their leader. There will be a vigil Sunday at 7 p.m. and a funeral Monday at 10 a.m. at Duggan's Serra Mortuary at 500 Westlake Ave. in Daly City, with interment to follow at Cypress Lawn cemetery in Colma. The two-wheeled funeral procession could be the largest in Bay Area history.

The undertakers are expecting more people than the chapel can hold and plan to install loudspeakers in the parking lot to accommodate the overflow crowd, authorities said. Hells Angels members from around the country are expected to attend.

Daly City police will be on duty at the mortuary, and Colma police will be on duty at the cemetery. San Francisco police will be on duty if the funeral procession passes through San Francisco or stops at the Hells Angels clubhouse on Tennessee Street, where Guardado lived.

Highway Patrol officers will be everyplace.

"We will have as many officers as we need," Chase said. "We could have a couple of hundred ready. It's a fluid situation. We don't want to see any conflicts, especially with other motorcycle groups. Things can get out of hand fast."

Daly City police Capt. Mike Edwards said a commander had a "cordial meeting" with club members at the funeral home earlier in the week but did not learn exactly what the Angels were planning to do. Hells Angels members at the clubhouse declined to comment on funeral plans and asked reporters and photographers to leave.

"It's difficult to judge how to prepare," Edwards said. "They said they want to take care of their own. That's OK. We're here to help. We're not here to tell anyone what to do."

If Hells Angels turn out in the number that some are predicting, Edwards said it could be the largest funeral procession in Daly City history, certainly the largest one on motorcycles.

"They're not telling us the route of the procession," Edwards said. "We're going to keep things as orderly as possible."

Fact Check: Sarah Palin's ABC Interview

Recently, Sarah Palin (or her handlers/spin doctors) dug up and invoked Honest Abe Lincoln, when back-pedaling to try to explain her statement to an audience that the Iraq War was "...God's Will"... Even though she never mentioned good ol' Abe in that speech.

Now, when finding herself on the spot in a recent interview with ABC's Charles Gibson, she casts a long line into a fictional wishing well and tries to tell us - among other things - that, if we look back in history not just she, but other Vice Presidents had no experience with meeting foreign heads of state before they took office.

Go Fish!

That is utterly untrue, going back in history at least 30 years.

Then, when questioned about her glaring lack of diplomatic experience or even traveling to other continents on her resume, she offered that her inexperience translates to serving our country's desire for change in D.C.... that having such experience is the old Washington way of doing things.

Uh, Hello? Sarah? Yes, our country has a deep and justified desire for Change... But, that Does Not mean we want to replace the Incompetent-in-Chief with the Unqualified.

Peace.
L.

(From: abclocal.go.com/kgo)
Fact Check: Sarah Palin's ABC News Interview
Friday September 12, 2008 | 7:01 PM

By Mark Matthews

FAIRBANKS, AK (KGO) -- Charlie Gibson interviews Sarah Palin on domestic issues on Friday night. His questions to the Republican vice presidential candidate on Thursday night focused on foreign policy.

Here is a Fact Check of some the answers she gave.

Sarah Palin just applied for a passport two years ago, and has not travelled extensively outside of the country. Charlie Gibson asked her about her readiness to lead the country.

"Did you ever travel outside the country prior to your trip to Kuwait and Germany last year?," asked ABC News Charlie Gibson.

"Canada, Mexico and then yeah that trip that was a trip of a lifetime to visit our troops in Kuwait and stop and visit our injured soldiers in Germany. That was a trip of a lifetime and it changed my life," said Gov. Sarah Palin/(R) Vice Presidential Nominee.

"Have you ever met a foreign head of state?" asked Gibson.

"I have not, and I think if you go back in history and if you ask that question of many vice presidents they may have the same answer that I just gave you," said Palin.

Fact Check:
No they wouldn't, at least not going back the past 30 years.
Dick Cheney was secretary of defense before he was vice president.
Al Gore was a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and was a part of many congressional delegations to foreign countries. It was the same for Dan Qualyle, who lacked Gore's credentials but also sat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Before Quayle, George H.W. Bush was an envoy to China and the head of the CIA, and Walter Mondale was a senator for 16 years before becoming vice president, and was Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Palin went on to say what the country wants now is someone without the big resume.
"
We got to remember what the desire is in this nation at this time. It is for no more politics as usual and somebody's big fat resume maybe that shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment, where yeah they've had opportunities to meet heads of state," said Palin.

Gibson challenged Palin for flip flopping on global warming; taking on John McCain's position that global warming does have man-made causes.

"Call me a cynic, but I hear a little bit of change in your policy there when you say yes now your beginning to say it is man-made," said Gibson.

"I think you are a cynic, I have not said that. I believe in science and have such great respect for what they are telling us. I'm not going to disagree with the point that they make that mans activities can be attributed to changes," said Palin.

Fact Check:
That's false.
Just two weeks ago, Palin is told a conservative online news service: "A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location." Adding that: "She isn't one though who would attribute it to being man-made."

Last year, she told the Fairbanks Daily that "She is not an Al Gore doom and gloom environmentalist blaming changes in our climate on human activity."

Why Tackle Issues When There's Lipstick, Pigs and Spin?

I hereby award a Generous Thump on the Head To:
Senator John McCain, his campaign handlers, spin dorks and everyone who took false and flaming umbrage at Senator Barack Obama's statement that "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.".

Not only is there videotape of John McCain using that same exact phrase Three Times over the last year or so...
McCain used the "Lipstick on a pig" phrase when referring to Senator Hillary Clinton's Health Plan.
Did the Democrats get all apoplectic and offended?
No.

Even evil Darth Cheney used the exact phrase not that long ago.

So... What's all the Hubub About?

Well, apparently, McCain and the GOP have noticed that when Actual Issues That Affect Americans and What Needs To Be Done To Get Our Country Back on Track are being discussed in the various media, across the Blogosphere and across the United States of America...
Senator Barack Obama and his strategies for positive change fare much better than the plans of John McCain (if he has any).

So?

So...
The Republicans - when faced with the fact that, as far as The Issues go, they don't have a leg to stand on - fall back on the 'swift-boating' style of attack used against Senator John Kerry and many others before him.

Their aim becomes one of trying to create as many diversions as they can to distract the American people's attention away from the fact that, the issues that are affecting the majority of us: the Iraq War; the Afganistan War; the heart-and-record-breaking deficit; the price of gas; the economy; Global Warming; the sub-prime mortgage racket and subsequent taxpayer bail-outs of banks and Fannie & Freddie (businesses that knew better but did it anyway and that won't learn any lessons if they get bailed out); rising food prices, skyrocketing healthcare costs, callous incompetence following natural disasters... (I could go on, but it's getting late) are the 7-going-on-8yr. legacy of Republican President and John McCain good buddy, George W. Bush and that John McCain and the GOP have no intention to change anything... Why would they? They're rich old white men who have lots of money, homes, job offers (lobbying?) and state-of-the-art health care.

Lacking substance, strategy and any reason to change their status quo...
What's a GOP candidate to do to try to convince the American people to vote for him?

The Republican Razzle Dazzle:

They attack their opponents character like a herd of rabid and foaming chihuahuas.
They pick through their opponent's speeches with tweezers and a microscope, find actionable words and take them completely out of context and then combine them with much harrumphing, "How dare you's" and fabricated fake offense (they're really good at the fabricating stuff - see Iraq War Build-Up/WMDs).

In this instance, the spin dorks excised that one innocuous sentence with the precision of a surgeon, added Sarah Palin and injected some artificial insult, chewed it up, swallowed it and regurgitated it like a projectile... in some cases they followed it with a demand for an apology from Senator Obama.

An apology? For What Exactly?
What Senator Obama was commenting on is this:
As an analogy, let's say that the Bush Administration, its policies and practices are a pig.
Here comes John McCain and the rest of the Bushies saying "Rah! Rah! Change is coming." (This is The LIPSTICK.)
In other words...
The more things McCain... The more they stay McSame.

No apology necessary on Senator Obama's part...

But, if the GOP wants to apologize for instantly assuming that any mention of a pig refers to Palin...
Don't hold your breath...
The Republicans don't do apologies or admit any wrongdoing - even when everyone knows they're wrong... Not Ever. (Just ask 'the Decider'.)

Peace.
L.
(From: slate.com)

Who First Put "Lipstick on a Pig"?
The origins of the porcine proverb.

By Ben Zimmer
Posted Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008, at 5:37 PM ET

When Barack Obama told a crowd at a campaign event on Tuesday, "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," the McCain campaign swiftly took offense, claiming the analogy was directed at vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki countered the accusation, saying, "That expression is older than my grandfather's grandfather and it means that you can dress something up but it doesn't change what it is." Is the expression really that old?

The concept is an old one, but the phrasing used by Obama is rather new. Many porcine proverbs describe vain attempts at converting something from ugly to pretty, or from useless to useful. The famous maxim that "You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear" dates back at least to the mid-16th century. Other old sayings play on the ludicrousness of a pig getting dressed up. "A hog in armour is still but a hog" was recorded in 1732 by British physician Thomas Fuller. As Francis Grose later explained in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1796), a "hog in armour" alludes to "an awkward or mean looking man or woman, finely dressed." Charles H. Spurgeon noted another variation in his 1887 compendium of proverbs, The Salt-Cellars: "A hog in a silk waistcoat is still a hog," meaning, "Circumstances do not alter a man's nature, nor even his manners."

The "lipstick" variation is relatively novel—not surprising, since the word lipstick itself dates only to 1880. The incongruity of pigs and cosmetics was expressed as early as 1926 by the colorful editor Charles F. Lummis, writing in the Los Angeles Times: "Most of us know as much of history as a pig does of lipsticks." But the exact wording of "putting lipstick on a pig (or hog)" doesn't show up until much later. In 1985, the Washington Post quoted a San Francisco radio host on plans for renovating Candlestick Park (instead of building a new downtown stadium for the Giants): "That would be like putting lipstick on a pig."

Ann Richards did much to boost the saying's political popularity when she used a number of variations while governor of Texas in the early '90s. In 1991, in her first budget-writing session, she said, "This is not another one of those deals where you put lipstick on a hog and call it a princess." The next year, at a Democratic barbecue in South Dakota, she criticized the George H.W. Bush administration for using warships to protect oil tankers in the Middle East, which she considered a hidden subsidy for foreign oil. "You can put lipstick on a hog and call it Monique, but it is still a pig," she said. Richards returned to the theme in her failed 1994 gubernatorial race against the younger Bush, using the "call it Monique" line to disparage her opponent's negative ads.

Since then, "lipstick on a pig" has spiced up the political verbiage of everyone from Charlie Rangel to Dick Cheney. John McCain himself used it last year to describe Hillary Clinton's health care proposal. And even though the folksy expression is one that sounds old (and connects back to genuinely old proverbs), it's not quite the vintage of anyone's grandfather's grandfather.

Poll Madness: Gallup-ing To The Right... Again.

"McCain pulls ahead of Obama in National Poll."?

Ouch.

Hearing those words from the news anchor's lips induced a slight twinge in the center of my chest.

"That can't be right", I quickly reassured myself, "There's no freaking way those ridiculous results can be scientific or accurate."

After all, McCain had just introduced Sarah Palin as his nominee for VP. Regardless of the outwardly boisterous - if not internally bewildered - support shown for McCain's choice... I mean Come On... Are You Serious?

After hearing all of the cries from both Senator Clinton's camp and the Republicans about Senator Obama being too inexperienced... McCain chooses an unknown Governor from a sparsely-populated state... who hasn't even finished her second term as Governor... who has never been a member of Congress... who can be seen in a video on YouTube to be declaring the Iraq War to be God's Plan... who also invoked God's will when encouraging another audience to pray for a a $30 billion national gas pipeline project to be built in Alaska... who reduced the aid given to pregnant teenagers in Alaska (luckily for her own pregnant teenage daughter, the Palins do O.K.) to lead the U.S. Senate and possibly be in line for the Presidency?

Then, there's the whole pitiful act of desperation shown by McCain's campaign people when they suddenly pulled out their "New" motto "Change is Coming.".
(The Original Rallying Cry - "Change You Can Believe In" - is from Senator Barack Obama's campaign - going back about a year.):

To say McCain's campaign is painfully lacking in originality and in new or good ideas is an understatement.
But, Hey... He is Right about One Thing...
Change is Coming... It's Just Not Coming By Way of John McCain and Sarah Palin.

He's a Bushie.

'Nuff said.

Back to those goofy poll result claims...

My first question would be...

Who owns/pays the salaries of those who allegedly did the polling?

Rupert Murdoch? Nah... News Corp. is another behemoth entirely.

Well, I did some searching...

The questionable poll results came from Gallup, USA Today and CBS News polls.

I checked into Gallup's practices regarding whom they choose to poll...
Apparently, Gallup doesn't adjust its "pool" of voters to add or subtract Republicans or Democrats in an effort to mirror those parties' estimated make-ups in a population.
Something they did often enough in 2004 - skewering things so as to make it appear as though the Republicans were further ahead "in the Polls" than they actually were (or could - be based upon exit poll numbers.) - that MoveOn.org placed a full-page ad in the New York Times with this headline:
"Gallup-ing to the Right. Why does America's top pollster keep getting it wrong?".

Maybe instead of Gallup, we should start getting our poll information from Zogby International, an independent polling firm that does adjust its pool so as to reflect a given population.

Who owns USA Today?
Gannett.
What does Gannett own?
Among other things... Gannett owns 100 daily newspapers in the USA; the Army Times, Navy Times, Navy Times Marine Corps, Air Force Times, Federal Times, Defense Times, and Military Market.

Who owns CBS?
Well, both CBS and Viacom are owned by multi-billionaire Sumner Redstone. Mr. Redstone is also Viacom's founder. Viacom was was split-off from CBS Corporation in 2005.

Check the current article below and see for yourself just what might explain the the alleged McCain "jump in the polls".

Oh...
In case you were unaware...
"In 2007, Viacom filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Google and YouTube for copyright infringement and recently a federal judge granted Viacom's request for data of all YouTube users. The blogosphere has since called for a boycott of all Viacom properties - so that means no MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon or - gasp - Comedy Central for you!" (From: neatorama.com)

My final thought:
"Hey, Gallup... Poll This."

Peace.
L.


From: huffingtonpost.com

Poll Madness: McCain Takes Lead Even As Democrats Out-Register Republicans?

This week's mainstream coverage of the presidential horse-race has been dominated by a series of polls showing the McCain-Palin ticket with its first stable lead over Obama and Biden. Gallup's tracking poll, USA Today and CBS News all show the Republicans with some kind of lead over the Democratic ticket. But, interestingly, all three polls were also conducted using a higher sampling of Republican voters than in July, raising a question of methodology.

In a year in which Democrats have a lead of 11 million registered voters over Republicans, and have been adding to that advantage through a robust field operation, are pollsters over-sampling Republicans?

Despite a raft of advantages in the electorate for Democrats, in September's first Gallup tracking poll, an equal number of Republicans and Democrats were surveyed (including "leaners") from Sept. 3-5, compared to a 10-point Democratic identification advantage two weeks ago. That partisan makeup of the polling pool resulted in a 5-point lead for McCain in Sept. 5 tracking poll. Meanwhile, the new CBS poll features a 6-point swing in partisan composition toward Republicans, which plays some role in the poll's two-point lead for McCain. Finally, the latest USA Today poll, which claims a four-point edge for McCain, was arrived at after a 10-point swing in partisan makeup toward GOP respondents.

Some polling experts say the changing state of party affiliation in the field is slow to be reflected in polls themselves. Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg told the Huffington Post that "when it comes to registration and turnout, the polls often do a very bad job of taking those [factors] into account," because newly registered voters aren't in the voter files used by firms that survey public opinion. "You could make the argument they are under-representing new registrants," she said, which would mean that the Democrats new edge would not be taken into account.

Monday's USA Today poll had a 48-47 split between Democrats and Republicans surveyed. That represents a nearly 10 point shift in party identification toward Republicans since USA Today's July polling. When asked for comment, USA Today polling editor Jim Norman wrote that "it's possible" that their latest sample includes too many Republicans. Though he added, "it's also possible that we have too many Democrats," because "there's always the chance of an over- or under-representation" in polls.

Still, Norman admitted that the GOP identification in the latest survey has spiked. "The party ID in our most recent poll does show a shift away from what Gallup has been getting in earlier polls, going all the way back to 2005," Norman said. "But previous conventions -- the Republican one in 1988, the Democratic one in 1992, the Democratic one in 2000 -- have also shown shifts in party ID toward the party that had the convention, and those shifts seemed to last, to greater or lesser degrees, though the election. Further, I've been told by Gallup that their tracking poll has shown a similar shift in party ID since the Republican convention. ... I guarantee you we will be watching closely in all of our polls between now and election day to see whether there are further shifts in party ID in either direction."

And it's true. Gallup's own GOP identification (including leaners) has swung six points in the last month, from 42 percent of voters to 48, according to tables provided to the Huffington Post. Meanwhile, solid and leaning Democrats have fallen from 52 to 48 percent of those polled. For political scientists who believe that partisanship is largely stable over time -- and who take note of the advantage in voter registration being experienced by Democrats during the same period -- the newly GOP-heavy poll samples can raise eyebrows.

Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz is highly skeptical of the new Gallup, USA Today and CBS polls. About the latter, which showed a statistically insignificant two point lead for McCain, Abramowitz said: "One reason for the dramatic difference between the two recent CBS polls is that the two samples differed fairly dramatically in terms of partisan composition. The first sample was 35.2% Democratic, 26.2 percent Republicans, and 38.6 percent independent. The second sample was 34.9% Democratic, 31.1% Republican, and 34.0% independent. That's a change from a 9 point Democratic advantage to a 3.8 point Democratic advantage. That alone would probably explain about half of the difference in candidate preferences between the two [CBS] polls."