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It's Not Nice To Fool With Mother Nature: Beijing Storm Turns Day Into Night

Day turns to night as a ferocious storm sweeps across Beijing, China just before midday on June 16, 2009. (ABC News: Rob Hill)

I have heard mention here-and-there of reports of the Chinese Government fooling around with weather modification. (No, I'm not kidding. And, no, it wasn't a story in the National Enquirer.) Chinese officials have claimed to have had some actual success with attempts at cloud-seeding (Please see bottom of this Blog for more background on Cloud-Seeding.) in order to bring rain to some drought-stricken areas.

This past Tuesday, Ma Nature possibly gave them a not-so-subtle rap on the knuckles and a stern warning about not fooling around with those forces of hers.

It came in the form of a frightening and ferocious storm.

What have been described as 'thunder-clouds' rolled in ominously Tuesday morning... and by noon the clouds had all but obliterated entirely the light of the sun - plunging Bejing into a complete darkness that is usually reserved for the midnight hour.

Officials were forced to turn streetlights on, drivers had to engage their headlights and businesses flicked on their fluorescents.

Chatter on online social sites joked about The End Of Days and of weaponized weather.

The storm passed after an hour.

Unfortunately, The End did come for at least seven citizens, who were reportedly killed by lightning strikes.

Wouldn't it be ironic (and really weird) if any of the seven persons who were reportedly killed by the storm turned out to be employees of the Chinese Meteorological Bureau... specifically their cloud-seeding program?

The Moral Of This Story?...

"Just Because You Can Do Something... Doesn't Mean You Should."

Peace.
L.

>
(2007 file photo: An artillery operator stands next to one of the guns used to seed clouds to induce rain at a station of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau.)
Maybe Mother Nature doesn't like to take fire from these?

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

At midday in Beijing today the sky turned black as midnight, as one of the most spectacular storms in recent memory struck the Chinese capital.

Thunder clouds blocked the sun from 11am, forcing the authorities to turn on streetlamps, offices to blaze with fluorescent lights and cars to drive with their headlights on.

During the darkest period, around 11.20am, office cooler, classroom, Twitter and Facebook gossip turned apocalyptic with many half-jokingly prophesying the end of the world and new weather weapons, while others wondered publicly about a secret solar eclipse or the death of the sun.

The storm passed within an hour with little apparent damage. But for a small handful, the portents of doom came true. Local media reported seven people were fatally struck by lightning as the storms swept across north-east China.

Weather forecasters said it was extremely rare for such ferocious weather to hit the country at this time of year.

Speculation inevitably centred on the government's weather modification programme, which has been ramped up in recent years to offset droughts by seeding clouds. But Guardian efforts to contact the meteorological bureau have as yet been unanswered.

(From: findingdulcinea.com/.)

"Cloud Seeding is a means of modifying weather patterns by sending chemicals into the atmosphere that induce or suppress precipitation. China has been engaging in the practice for years, shooting shells with silver iodide into the atmosphere to encourage or prevent rainfall for farmers, fight fires and relieve drought.

Cloud seeding is a controversial practice and its benefits are often difficult to track. Scientists cannot definitively say how much rain would have fallen if seeding did not take place, and large storms are often unaffected by seeding attempts.

The United States, which experimented with cloud seeding at various points during the 20th century, has since moved away from the process.

Asia Times Online reported in 2007 that cloud seeding shells and rockets sometimes go astray, “damaging homes and injuring inhabitants.” (In 2005, a wayward cloud-seeding artillery shell killed a Chinese man and then blew up his corpse a few days later. Cloud-Seeding Collateral Damage, anyone?) The publication notes that, in 2006, a pedestrian in Chongqing was killed by part of a rain cannon after it misfired. In addition, some Chinese citizens have expressed concern over the environmental and health ramifications of cloud seeding.

An article on the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Research Program Web site suggests that “Cloud-seeding technology raises some concerns that adding chemicals to clouds would pollute the air, water or earth.”

Dick "F-U" Cheney Comes Out For Same-Sex Marriage.

Whoa...

I just heard some news that has me quite stunned...

News that has me uncharacteristically intrigued...

And wanting to know...

Is it possible that I dozed off in my usual 'Reality'... And woke up in another Parallel Universe? A 'Reality' that is almost exactly like the 'usual' one... Almost... Except for one - maybe two - minor differences?

In my 'usual' Reality, I might not have thought it was even a possibility that former Vice President Dick "Old Scratch" Cheney could have undergone such a stunning Transformation... One which - if it happened in a movie - would likely be referred to as being 'Body Snatched'? (From the Horror Film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers.)

Not that I would be complaining if he was...

I just heard the news... And saw the video clip that confirms it.

Our Gee-Dubya-B Deputy, The Self-Proclaimed Water-Boarding Wunderkind... Darth Cheney...

Has 'come out' - on-the-record - To say that he personally feels that:

"... people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish."

The Very Same Dick who - as Vice President - Creatively Granted Himself Any and Every Imaginable and Unimaginable Freedom...

(These Included All "Known Freedoms" - Those Freedoms Which We All Know About... As well as An Unknown Number of "Unknown Freedoms"... The Latter Are In Reference To Previously Unidentified and Unspecified Freedoms That We Weren't Aware Of... And, That We Didn't Know We Weren't aware Of. :P *From Cheney's "Unknown Unknowns" Speech. )

To Do Whatever He Wanted...

Or - Depending Upon What Was Being Asked Of Him...

To Refuse To Do Anything He Didn't Want To Do.

The Dick Cheney Who May Be Seen In This Video Saying, "... I think that freedom means freedom for everyone...",,,

Is The Very Same Dick Who - Simultaneously - Didn't See Fit To Expand On His Own Passionate Personal Fight For Freedoms...

At Least, Not Enough To Protect and Defend Several Of America's Founding Freedoms When They Were Initially Threatened And Later - Crippled - For Countless Other Americans.

Ahh, The Bad Old Days...

But, I digress.

This is a Good Thing.

Dick is now... at this moment... at least on this one enormously important Civil Rights issue...

Progressively LEFT of President Obama!

Cheney supports Same-Sex Marriage?

What's Next?

'Down' Will Mean 'Up'?

The North and South Poles Will Suddenly Switch Places?

Jesus will return (again?)... Arriving in a flying saucer... And He will tell all of His Followers to "... Stop Doing Stupid Things In My Name. And, Get a Life, Already!"?

Cool!

Peace. L.

Cheney Offers Support For Gay Marriage (With VIDEO)

(From: www.huffingtonpost.com
Sam Stein

Dick Cheney rarely takes a position that places him at a more progressive tilt than President Obama. But on Monday, the former vice president did just that, saying that he supports gay marriage as long as it is deemed legal by state and not federal government.

Speaking at the National Press Club for the Gerald R. Ford Foundation journalism awards, Cheney was asked about recent rulings and legislative action in Iowa and elsewhere that allowed for gay couples to legally wed.

"I think that freedom means freedom for everyone," replied the former V.P. "As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don't support. I do believe that the historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. ... But I don't have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that."



Cheney has made similar arguments in support of gay marriage in the past, including during the run-up to the 2004 election. But his current comments come at a moment when the Republican Party and conservative movement is increasingly split on the issue. Bush recount lawyer Ted Olsen and John McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt have both argued in favor of gay marriage. The religious right, as expected, remains opposed.

Caught up in the debate is the Obama administration. The president has said he supports civil unions for gay couples but that he remains committed to marriage being between and man and woman. His press department has been completely quiet about the recent California Supreme Court case upholding a ban on gay marriage in the state -- something that, it seems, Cheney would object to in spirit if not law.

Food, Inc. If You Are What You Eat - Know Where Your Food Comes From!

I was trying very hard to stay away from My MySpace Blog and My "Forget Big Brother" Blog tonight (Friday).

I had made the decision to spend several hours working exclusively on my upcoming Vintage & Designer eBay Listings.

And, I was actually sticking to my plan for about an hour.

Until I heard about the story that this Blog addresses.

I was listening to PBS's NOW program, hosted by David Brancaccio. Tonight's guest: Robert Kenner, the man behind the upcoming film "Food, Inc".

I held back for a while... Focus.... Focus... Damn It!... until I couldn't hold back any longer...

What I was hearing about America's Food Producers, Suppliers, and Retailers demanded my immediate attention.

eBay would just have to wait.

It was about the time that the host and Mr. Kenner were discussing the fact that a fast-food burger from, say McDonald's, has meat in it from 1000 (that's One Thousand) individual animals!

Ugh!... This little tidbit made me feel queasy... even though I've been a vegetarian for most of my life.

The filmmaker has made a film to be proud of. He truly wants to inform the American people. Particularly about how the food choices they make effect the choices that are available. He focuses on real people and real lives.
Don't worry... it isn't a film made in a slaughterhouse... he wants people to
actually watch it.

The Informative Website for: Food, Inc. - The Movie.. (Food, Inc. debuts in San Francisco on June 12, 2009. Among many things, the website lists dates for other cities/theatres where you can see it.)

Below is the trailer for Food, Inc..

Peace & Bon Appetit!

L.

(From: www.pbs.org/now.)

Food, Inc.

Behind the food we love—Secrets that giant food companies don't want you to know.

Americans have a longstanding love affair with food—the modern supermarket has, on average, 47,000 products. But do we really know what goes into making the products we so eagerly consume?

This week, David Brancaccio talks with filmmaker Robert Kenner, the director of "Food, Inc.," which takes a hard look at the secretive and surprising journey food takes on the way from processing plants to our dinner tables. The two discuss why contemporary food processing secrets are so closely guarded, their impact on our health, and another surprising fact: how consumers are actually empowered to make a difference.

Find out why you'll never look at dinner the same way.



About the Film...

"How much do we really know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families?

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of e coli--the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farm's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising -- and often shocking truths -- about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here. "

(From: ://www.youtube.com.)

Ex BART Cop Johannes Mehserle To Stand Trial For Murder Of Oscar Grant

A Very Good Sign that there will be Justice For Oscar Grant...
and that Johannes Mehserle, who shot and killed the unarmed Oscar, will be punished for his callous crime and subsequent cowardice.

After listening to seven days of witness testimony during former BART officer, Johannes Mehserle's, preliminary hearing in Oakland, Judge C. Don Clay concluded that, contrary to many of the witness statements made, Mehserle hadn't confused his stun gun and his service pistol when he shot Oscar Grant. "There's no doubt in my mind," Judge Clay declared, "that Mr. Mehserle intended to shoot Oscar Grant with a gun and not a Taser."

He then ordered Johannes Mehserle to stand trial for murder in the shooting death of the young father of one this past New Year's Eve.

I'd had my doubts, until now, that we'd reach this point.

Former BART Transit Officer, Johannes Mehserle, shot Oscar Grant in the back - as he lay face down and in handcuffs - at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland, California early New Year's Day - fatally wounding him.

Thankfully, the events leading up to the shooting, the shooting itself and the events immediately after the shooting - as well as the behavior and actions of all of those involved - all happened in clear view of numerous witnesses... and it was also recorded from different angles by several bystanders on the scene using their cell-phones.

The days that followed the shooting death of Oscar Grant by Officer Mehserle were utterly maddening...

The familiar faces of Official BART Spokespeople...
The ones who have always made immediate and repeated appearances on local news when anything goes wrong or badly that involves BART... were uncharacteristically absent.

The PR-savvy BART spokespeople; BART Transit Police spokespeople and Oakland Police Department spokespeople said... Absolutely Nothing. Not One Single Press Conference.
Only a deafening silence.

Simple common sense evaded those in positions of leadership in local government. No one at BART; none of the BART Transit Police officials; nor the Oakland Police Department brought Officer Mehserle in to make a formal report of the shooting or to make an official statement to any investigators.

(This is ridiculous. An unarmed, prone and handcuffed young man is shot to death and because the shooter is a BART cop... he goes about living his life like nothing happened? Being a BART cop isn't the same as being a Foreign Diplomat. No diplomatic immunity. He should have been detained & questioned immediately.)

Two Weeks after shooting Oscar Grant to death, Johannes Mehserle resigned from the BART Transit Police Department. Mehserle's calculated resignation meant that now - since he was no longer employed by BART - he could not be forced to talk to BART police internal affairs investigators. The news of his resignation outraged not only the good people of the City of Oakland, but countless people in communities throughout the Bay Area and the nation.

It might or might not come as a surprise to you that at no point did Mr. Mehserle ever volunteer to meet with investigators, either.

It was disheartening to think this would be another officer-involved shooting of an unarmed civilian that wasn't going to result in a trial for the killer-cop and that there might be no Justice for Oscar Grant and his family.

I understand why many people began to suspect a cover-up.

And, I understand their anger and outrage at the injustice and inaction.

The complete absence of leadership from anyone in charge of the various departments and the complete lack of an immediate investigation into Oscar Grant's murder and immediate questioning of Johannes Mehserle is inexcusable.

That said... the acts of vandalism against and the pointless destruction of personal property, cars and locally-owned businesses in the community that were carried out (not by "anarchists" - the term many uneducated TV news reporters commonly use to refer to vandals and idiots) by simple criminals who infiltrated the peaceful rallies for Justice For Oscar which were organized... are also inexcusable.
(TV News People: Emma Goldman was an Anarchist... Look her up.)

I watched several videos of the shooting. In one video, Oscar Grant can be seen initially looking relaxed and even laughing with his friends after they had been detained by the BART Police. Immediately afterward, Oscar was ordered to lie - face down - on the floor. He also appeared to be handcuffed with his hands behind his back.

An over-reaction by the handgun and Tazer-carrying BART Officers to - alleged - verbal jabs made by the young men to the officers for being transit cops.

Officer Mehserle can be seen looming above his back. Mehserle's mentor and friend, Officer Pirone can be seen in the foreground, at Oscar's head. (It was Pirone who detained Grant and decided to arrest him for allegedly obstructing police.) One of Pirone's knees is pinning Oscar down by his neck. One of Oscar's fellow detainee friends is sitting with his back against the wall where he had sat with Oscar was only moments before. His legs are straight out in front of him - inches away from and almost touching Oscar's. He appears worried and is looking directly at Mehserle's face and talking to him... animatedly. He appears to be pleading with the officer. Both of the friend's arms are extended in front of him, palms out - as when signaling for someone to "Stop" - and is waving them in an arc - from left to right - repeatedly. Mehserle suddenly rises up and with his right hand, draws his gun and fires it, shooting Oscar in the back.
(I empathize with the friend who witnessed Oscar's violent and unjustified death - at the hands of a police officer - from inches away. I know very well, from personal experience, what it feels like to witness, point-blank, something terribly violent done to someone right in front of you... and to then immediately go through the harrowing, utterly helpless and doomed feelings that you could be next.)

The gunshot seems to have caught Pirone off-guard and he gets to his feet. In a few moments, he reaches down and grabs Oscar roughly by the back of the neck/hair/collar... and then jerks Oscar's head up and down like a rag-doll. (Did he think Oscar was unhurt or feigning injury?)

In testimony Pirone gave during the preliminary hearing, he told the judge of his actions during Oscar Grant's last moments. Apparently, Pirone's got quite an imagination. He made himself sound utterly heroic.

But (surprise! surprise!), contrary to his own testimony, the videos clearly show that not a single one of Officer Pirone's actions at that time in any way supports Pirone's claims of "... holding Oscar's hand" in his own; of telling Oscar to "... squeeze my (Pirone's) hand"; and of encouraging Oscar to "... stay with me'." (Unbelievably, BART officer witness testimony even dredged up the laughable, "I saw him going for a gun." claim... Laughable and a disgusting lie because Oscar was prone - face down - with his hands cuffed behind him.)

Seeing is Believing. There's no doubt about what happened.

It's a fact that the all of the officers involved and the defense team have had access to the videos (Hell... Anyone can see them... just look on YouTube.).

So, it's irrational and stupid for the officers who testified as witnesses to consciously choose to make up lies and give false testimony that is contradictory to the video evidence of the shooting.

Unless, perhaps, they are looking ahead and hoping to make an appeal based upon Incompetent Legal Representation. (Don't bother... It won't work.)

You may read the San Francisco Chronicle article on the judge's ruling HERE.