Archive for October 2010

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GOP plans attacks on the EPA and climate scientists


GOP plans attacks on the EPA and climate scientists






If Republicans win control of the House, they plan to go after the Obama administration's environmental policies and the researchers who have offered evidence on global warming, whom they accuse of manipulating data.

Michael Mann:  

"I don't think we can cower under the politically motivated attacks by the forces of anti-science, which includes prominent politicians who are in the pay of the fossil fuel industry," Mann said in a telephone interview about his approach to possible congressional investigations.

"One prepares for this by doing one's best to get the truth out because we have nothing to hide as climate scientists: We can stand proudly on our research," he said.


by Neela Banerjee, Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2010





Reporting from Washington — 
If the GOP wins control of the House next week, senior congressional Republicans plan to launch a blistering attack on the Obama administration's environmental policies, as well as on scientists who link air pollution to climate change.

The GOP's fire will be concentrated especially on the administration's efforts to use the Environmental Protection Agency's authority over air pollution to tighten emissions controls on coal, oil and other carbon fuels that scientists say contribute to global warming.

The attack, according to senior Republicans, will seek to portray the EPA as abusing its authority and damaging the economy with needless government regulations.

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In addition, GOP leaders say, they will focus on what they see as distortions of scientific evidence regarding climate change and on Obama administration efforts to achieve by executive rule-making what it failed to win from Congress.

Even if Republicans should win majorities in both the House and Senate, they would face difficulties putting their views into legislative form, since Senate Democrats could use the threat of filibuster to block bills just as the GOP did on climate and other issues during the past year.

Also, Obama could use his veto power.

But the GOP's plans for wide-ranging and sustained investigations by congressional committees could put the EPA and administration environmental policymakers on the defensive and create political pressures that could cause Obama to pull back on environmental issues as the 2012 presidential election draws closer.

In comments last week, White House officials said they are considering hiring more lawyers to the Office of Legal Counsel to gird for the possible battles ahead. Yet even with the White House running interference for the EPA and other agencies, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson conceded that a Republican anti-regulatory campaign could end up effectively hamstringing her agency's work.

The new rules EPA has issued over the last year on vehicle emissions and those expected soon for industry, Jackson said, "would be endangered by many, if not all, of the efforts we've seen to take away the agency's greenhouse gas authority."

Over the last two years, the Obama administration and the EPA have stepped up pressure on industry, utilities and states to curtail pollution. A 2007 Supreme Court ruling opened the door for the EPA to use its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in new rules for vehicle emissions and, starting early next year, regulations for emissions from utilities.

In contrast to the previous administration, the Obama White House has also embraced the broad consensus within the scientific community that human activity, mainly through the emitting of carbon dioxide, has led to global warming.

All that will be up for scrutiny in the event of a Republican takeover of the House, which political analysts are predicting. The Republican Party has hammered at the administration's environmental agenda during the campaign. And rejecting the work of climate scientists has become increasingly common among conservatives.

Several key Republican Congressmen — most notably Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), who could take over the chairmanship of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee — have said they plan to investigate climate scientists they contend manipulated data to prove the case that human activity is contributing to global warming.

Using control of congressional committees — and their investigative powers — to attack the opposition is not a new idea. After Democrats gained control of Congress in 2006, they held critical hearings on everything from an energy task force run by Vice President Dick Cheney to the Bush administration's support of abstinence-only sex education.

Similarly, during the Clinton administration, when Republicans took over they appointed independent counsels to investigate various aspects of the administration, leading to the Whitewater probe and the impeachment proceedings, among others.

In a recent op-ed article, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the ranking Republican on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, declared that the GOP is preparing to "declare war on the regulatory state."

A steady flow of letters, subpoenas and congressional hearings would prove "incredibly disruptive" to an agency's ability to work and promulgate rules, said Kate Gordon, of the energy policy project at the Center for American Progress, a liberal research and advocacy group in Washington.

Congressional inquiries also offer a platform for energizing the GOP's conservative base in the run-up to the 2012 elections.

The investigations are expected to target questions about EPA's preparedness for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Already, House Republicans have written letters to the Interior Department questioning the moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling that the administration invoked after the explosion onBP's Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers and spilled nearly 5 million barrels of oil.

But the primary focus will be on the EPA's determination last year that carbon dioxide and other emissions endanger public welfare by contributing to climate change. Armed with this finding, the EPA has moved to reduce greenhouse gases by mandating emissions reductions in vehicles and will soon move to regulate stationary sources like power plants and factories.

House Republicans like Issa and James F. Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming have criticized the EPA for basing its endangerment finding on what they consider flawed research. Republicans assert that the science on climate change is not yet "settled," despite the vast global scientific consensus about its human causes.

Specifically, Issa has said he wants to investigate the "Climategate" scandal that broke late last year, when hackers illegally obtained and released thousands of emails of climate scientists working with a leading British laboratory.

Climate skeptics, among them House Republicans like Issa, contend that the sniping and harshness in some emails prove that climate scientists suppressed dissenting studies and that science showing the link between greenhouse gases and climate change is biased and tainted.

Several independent panels abroad and in the U.S. that reviewed the emails cleared the scientists of wrongdoing and found their research to be reliable. The EPA has also said that "nothing in the emails undermines the science upon which" the endangerment findings are based.

Like officials within the administration, scientists around the country who expect to be investigated by Issa and others are getting legal advice on how to best protect themselves. Among them is Michael E. Mann, professor of meteorology at Penn State University and one of the researchers who developed the "hockey stick" graph that shows a recent spike in global temperatures.

Issa named Mann in a letter to the EPA as a scientist whose work was not "unbiased, accurate or reliable."

"I don't think we can cower under the politically motivated attacks by the forces of anti-science, which includes prominent politicians who are in the pay of the fossil fuel industry," Mann said in a telephone interview about his approach to possible congressional investigations.

"One prepares for this by doing one's best to get the truth out because we have nothing to hide as climate scientists: We can stand proudly on our research," he said.


Link:  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-epa-battle-ahead-20101030,0,6040861.story

Written by fatih al-farahat in ,


Coward, national traitor, job-killer Charles Koch refuse to debate California Marine Corps veteran Joel PowerVote.CA Francis


Student leader and Marine Corps veteran, Joel Francis, challenges Koch to debate Prop 23



by Joseph Romm, Climate Progress, October 30, 2010

This week Joel Francis, a senior at Cal State Los Angeles and a Marine Corps veteran, flew to the Wichita, Kansas, headquarters of Koch Industries.  His mission was to knock on Charles Koch’s door and demand he defend his involvement in Prop 23.  CAP’s Jorge Madrid has the story.
“If you are going to try to hurt the economy of a state you don’t even live in, then you ought to have the courage to explain yourself in person,” said Francis.
Koch is one of the primary financial backers of a California ballot initiative, Prop 23, which aims to effectively repeal the states landmark climate and clean energy law.

Francis, a former student body president and member of the university’s debate team made public his intentions to travel to Koch Industries last week, in a video statement in which he challenged Koch to a public debate – “anytime, anywhere.”
The video has since gone viral on the web, and Francis garnered over 1,200 supporters in just a few days.

Silence and Security Guards
Not surprisingly, Koch has remained silent about his support for Prop 23, issuing only a “no comment” statement through 4 security guards posted at the building’s entrance when Francis and his coalition arrived.  The security guards then ordered the group to leave the premises.
“Unfortunately, though he prepared for our visit today, he didn’t prepare a statement or anything else in return. I find that to be a slap on the face to millions of young Californians,” Joel said.
While it was expected that Koch would not answer debate challenge, Francis and the opponents of Prop 23 can still claim a strong victory for mobilizing the voice of California’s university students.

The group organizing with Francis, PowerVote.CA, is a project of the California Student Sustainability Coalition, a network of thousands of university students in chapters that reach many of the state’s college campuses.  The group has been operating since 2001.

An Uncertain Future for College Grads
Joel Francis, like many college seniors, is nervous about his future job prospects after graduation.  He believes Prop 23 passing will make his prospects even worse.
“The job market is tough, and all graduating seniors are having to open the scope of the jobs they look at. We have to look as far and wide as possible, not just at the traditional jobs in our field…A million dollar donation [by Koch] is threatening the job opportunities out there for graduates like me.”
He has reason for concern. Numerous studies have indicated that Prop 23 threatens half a million jobs in California. This loss does not include the 100,000 new clean energy jobs California can expect to create in the next 10 years, and billions of dollars in private investmentthe state could unlock if its environmental and clean energy policies are upheld (and Proposition 23 is voted down).

Francis thinks of himself as “just one college student,” but he knows he can make his voice, and the voice of his generation, be heard on this critical issue.  He will continue his fight until Election Day – you can support Joel’s efforts here.

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Jellyfish 'may benefit from ecosystem instability': Regional seas of the northeast Atlantic have been warming for the past 15 years at a rate not experienced in recent centuries

Jellyfish 'may benefit from ecosystem instability'

by Mark Kinver, science & environment reporter, BBC News, October 29, 2010 
 
Moon jellyfish (Image: Michelle Cronin/Coastal & Marine Resources Centre)  
The causes behind jellyfish blooms are difficult to disentangle, say the authors
 
A team of researchers have been trying to identify how jellyfish may benefit from marine ecosystems destabilised by climate change and overfishing.
There is concern that a rise in jellyfish numbers could prevent depleted commercially important fish stocks recovering to historical levels.

However, a study by European scientists says more data is needed to understand what is happening beneath the waves.

The findings are set to be published in the journal Global Change Biology.

Researchers from the UK and Ireland said samples collected from the Irish Sea since 1970 have recorded an increase in material from cnidarians (the division of the animal kingdom that includes jellyfish and coral), "with a period of frequent outbreaks between 1982 and 1991."

"There does appear to have been an increase in abundance since 1994 for the Irish Sea," said co-author Christopher Lynam, a researcher at the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas).

The team added that previous studies had recorded changes to marine ecosystems as a result of various factors, such as the removal of top predators, and changes to the distribution and characteristics of plankton.

'Jellyfish joyride'
These changes have led to a growing concern that the oceans may become increasingly dominated by jellyfish because "many gelatinous zooplankton species are able to increase in abundance rapidly and adapt to new conditions."

Jellyfish bloom (Image: PA) 
Vast blooms of certain jellyfish can cause havoc in affected areas

In recent years, there have been a number of examples of sudden blooms of jellyfish in European waters -- including the Irish, Mediterranean and Black seas -- which have killed fish and closed beaches.

In 2007, an invasion of mauve stingers (Pelagia noctiluca) wiped out Northern Ireland's only salmon farm, killing more than 100,000 fish.

However, Dr Lynam was keen to point out that the team's study was dominated by the common moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita), which was not responsible for wiping out the salmon.

The main concern, the team wrote, was the establishment of a "never-ending jellyfish joyride" in which the creatures become so established that it makes it almost impossible for commercial fish stocks to return to historical levels.

But Dr Lynam told BBC News: "I don't think that the hypothesis that jellyfish will come into an area and dominate, not allowing anything to come back again, is really supported.

"Such a nightmare scenario does not seem to be the case, when you consider the data and studies that have been carried out."

Complicated picture
He explained that the team looked at whether factors such as changes to the climate and overfishing were responsible for the increase in jellyfish abundance.

"It is quite a complicated set of possible linkages that need to be drawn, which we really only have a vague insight at the moment.

"For the recent period where we have good data, it appears as if sea surface temperature is the most important variable.

"This does not necessarily prove it of course, but it does appear to be benefiting jellyfish."

The team, using data provided by the UK Met Office, commented: "The regional seas of the northeast Atlantic have been warming for the past 15 years at a rate not experienced in recent centuries."

Overfishing has also been linked to the rise of jellyfish populations. Research suggests that commercial fishing during the 20th Century had resulted in a change in the Irish Sea's ecosystem.

The researchers wrote: "The overexploitation of herring during the late 1970s was followed by a period of ecosystem instability in the 1980s in which the frequency of occurrence of cnidarian material... rose to high levels, indicating outbreaks of jellyfish."

Dr Lynam added: "If you take out a lot of the plankton feeders, there could be more food for jellyfish so they might become more abundant. There may be feedback mechanisms that we are not aware of, so there does need to be further study."

But he cited examples in the North Sea and Black Sea where fish species had declined, leading to an increase in jellyfish abundance, but the introduction of measures such as limits on catches had resulted in a recovery of fish stocks.
The team urged for the monitoring of jellyfish to continue, and concluded: "The move to ecosystem-based fisheries management requires extensive ecological knowledge and an understanding of the risks posed by any indirect effects... of our utilisation of the sea's resources."

Link:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11644500

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Top NASA Astronaut Confirms UFO Encounter




Anyone who has taken the trouble to wade through the better ufo reports is soon convinced of the reality of the phenomena.  However, any given report can be challenged by the simple expedient of casting doubt on the witness.

In this case we have a class one report and a class one witness.   As would be expected the lack of reference frames makes for a poor understanding of the objects dimensionality.  What is unexpected is that the object is vectoring and that shows unexplained control.

I have posted in the past a couple of other class one reports whose detail is so confounding as to have a creditability all their own.

Of course, I have also posted in the past that it is likely that a large population is residing in space habitats and has been for millennia.  A variety of space adapted creatures have been observed, curiously, who all might have been plausibly been derived from terran stock. 

Others argue that we are partially derived from alien stock grafted onto primate DNA.  Both conjectures assert that we are able to do this and it appears with the first interpretation of the Starchild DNA, that this is not far fetched at all.  These are questions that science is now beginning to answer.


Confirmed: Top NASA astronaut discloses shuttle encounter with disc UFO

by Terrence Aym

http://www.helium.com/items/1996350-nasa-astronaut-discloses-shuttle-encounter-with-disc-ufo

In a bombshell story, a former SCO of NASA's space shuttle fleet announced that he and NASA know that ETs are real.

Clark C. McClelland, a senior member of MUFON from 1958 to 1992, has revealed in the Canadian press that secret details of an amazing incident occurred during the STS-80 mission aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Top space officials rushed to hush it up.


According to internal reports—confirmed by Dr. Story Musgrave, a Payload Specialist crew member aboard the STS-80 Mission—a disc-shaped object much larger than the orbiting American spacecraft suddenly appeared beneath the shuttle. At the time the Columbia was maintaining an altitude 190 nautical miles above Earth.

Musgrave admitted that, although he got a good look at it, he wasn't able to identify the object. "I don't know what it is. Whether it's a washer, debris, ice particles, I don't know. But it's characteristic of the thousands of things which I've seen. What is not so characteristic is it appears to [have] come from nowhere. You would think that if it's facing the dark side or facing a side towards you which is not reflecting the sun, you would think that you would see something there. It's really impressive."

After the shuttle returned to Earth, Musgrave was interviewed about the unworldly encounter. According to the report, the scientist reviewed a video recording of the encounter between Columbia and the UFO as the orbiter flew above Denver, Colorado. The disc-shaped object suddenly appeared, seemed to be intelligently controlled, changed its flight vector and—most unnerving of all—seemed to track the Columbia and her crew through space.

After the mission, the space scientist retired from NASA. Convinced that alien intelligence not only exists, but is indeed here, the NASA astronaut has embarked on his own personal mission of disclosure.

On a recent speaking tour, he gave a presentation about astronomy. At the end of his lecture, he projected a slide upon a large screen depicting an artist's conception of the infamous "Grey" aliens that have become a part of modern day culture. His final words shocked many in the audience when he proclaimed: "These guys are real…I guarantee it!"

Recently former USAF officers revealed at a press conference in Washington, DC that UFOs are real and cited several incidents at two air force bases where UFOs 'took control' of nuclear missiles and changed their launch codes.

Historical archives concerning military and intelligence information regarding UFOs has been released by the UK, France, Spain, Brazil and South Africa.

Dr. Musgrave is not alone in his assertion that UFOs and RTs are a reality. In past years other NASA personnel have struggled to get the word out. Such space-faring luminaries as Gordon Cooper, Donald Slayton, Gene Cernan, Frank Borman (former chairman of Eastern airlines as well), Neil Armstrong and Scott Carpenter…all insist UFOs are real and alien intelligences exist.

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Top NASA Astronaut Confirms UFO Encounter




Anyone who has taken the trouble to wade through the better ufo reports is soon convinced of the reality of the phenomena.  However, any given report can be challenged by the simple expedient of casting doubt on the witness.

In this case we have a class one report and a class one witness.   As would be expected the lack of reference frames makes for a poor understanding of the objects dimensionality.  What is unexpected is that the object is vectoring and that shows unexplained control.

I have posted in the past a couple of other class one reports whose detail is so confounding as to have a creditability all their own.

Of course, I have also posted in the past that it is likely that a large population is residing in space habitats and has been for millennia.  A variety of space adapted creatures have been observed, curiously, who all might have been plausibly been derived from terran stock. 

Others argue that we are partially derived from alien stock grafted onto primate DNA.  Both conjectures assert that we are able to do this and it appears with the first interpretation of the Starchild DNA, that this is not far fetched at all.  These are questions that science is now beginning to answer.


Confirmed: Top NASA astronaut discloses shuttle encounter with disc UFO

by Terrence Aym

http://www.helium.com/items/1996350-nasa-astronaut-discloses-shuttle-encounter-with-disc-ufo

In a bombshell story, a former SCO of NASA's space shuttle fleet announced that he and NASA know that ETs are real.

Clark C. McClelland, a senior member of MUFON from 1958 to 1992, has revealed in the Canadian press that secret details of an amazing incident occurred during the STS-80 mission aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Top space officials rushed to hush it up.


According to internal reports—confirmed by Dr. Story Musgrave, a Payload Specialist crew member aboard the STS-80 Mission—a disc-shaped object much larger than the orbiting American spacecraft suddenly appeared beneath the shuttle. At the time the Columbia was maintaining an altitude 190 nautical miles above Earth.

Musgrave admitted that, although he got a good look at it, he wasn't able to identify the object. "I don't know what it is. Whether it's a washer, debris, ice particles, I don't know. But it's characteristic of the thousands of things which I've seen. What is not so characteristic is it appears to [have] come from nowhere. You would think that if it's facing the dark side or facing a side towards you which is not reflecting the sun, you would think that you would see something there. It's really impressive."

After the shuttle returned to Earth, Musgrave was interviewed about the unworldly encounter. According to the report, the scientist reviewed a video recording of the encounter between Columbia and the UFO as the orbiter flew above Denver, Colorado. The disc-shaped object suddenly appeared, seemed to be intelligently controlled, changed its flight vector and—most unnerving of all—seemed to track the Columbia and her crew through space.

After the mission, the space scientist retired from NASA. Convinced that alien intelligence not only exists, but is indeed here, the NASA astronaut has embarked on his own personal mission of disclosure.

On a recent speaking tour, he gave a presentation about astronomy. At the end of his lecture, he projected a slide upon a large screen depicting an artist's conception of the infamous "Grey" aliens that have become a part of modern day culture. His final words shocked many in the audience when he proclaimed: "These guys are real…I guarantee it!"

Recently former USAF officers revealed at a press conference in Washington, DC that UFOs are real and cited several incidents at two air force bases where UFOs 'took control' of nuclear missiles and changed their launch codes.

Historical archives concerning military and intelligence information regarding UFOs has been released by the UK, France, Spain, Brazil and South Africa.

Dr. Musgrave is not alone in his assertion that UFOs and RTs are a reality. In past years other NASA personnel have struggled to get the word out. Such space-faring luminaries as Gordon Cooper, Donald Slayton, Gene Cernan, Frank Borman (former chairman of Eastern airlines as well), Neil Armstrong and Scott Carpenter…all insist UFOs are real and alien intelligences exist.

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Top NASA Astronaut Confirms UFO Encounter




Anyone who has taken the trouble to wade through the better ufo reports is soon convinced of the reality of the phenomena.  However, any given report can be challenged by the simple expedient of casting doubt on the witness.

In this case we have a class one report and a class one witness.   As would be expected the lack of reference frames makes for a poor understanding of the objects dimensionality.  What is unexpected is that the object is vectoring and that shows unexplained control.

I have posted in the past a couple of other class one reports whose detail is so confounding as to have a creditability all their own.

Of course, I have also posted in the past that it is likely that a large population is residing in space habitats and has been for millennia.  A variety of space adapted creatures have been observed, curiously, who all might have been plausibly been derived from terran stock. 

Others argue that we are partially derived from alien stock grafted onto primate DNA.  Both conjectures assert that we are able to do this and it appears with the first interpretation of the Starchild DNA, that this is not far fetched at all.  These are questions that science is now beginning to answer.


Confirmed: Top NASA astronaut discloses shuttle encounter with disc UFO

by Terrence Aym

http://www.helium.com/items/1996350-nasa-astronaut-discloses-shuttle-encounter-with-disc-ufo

In a bombshell story, a former SCO of NASA's space shuttle fleet announced that he and NASA know that ETs are real.

Clark C. McClelland, a senior member of MUFON from 1958 to 1992, has revealed in the Canadian press that secret details of an amazing incident occurred during the STS-80 mission aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Top space officials rushed to hush it up.


According to internal reports—confirmed by Dr. Story Musgrave, a Payload Specialist crew member aboard the STS-80 Mission—a disc-shaped object much larger than the orbiting American spacecraft suddenly appeared beneath the shuttle. At the time the Columbia was maintaining an altitude 190 nautical miles above Earth.

Musgrave admitted that, although he got a good look at it, he wasn't able to identify the object. "I don't know what it is. Whether it's a washer, debris, ice particles, I don't know. But it's characteristic of the thousands of things which I've seen. What is not so characteristic is it appears to [have] come from nowhere. You would think that if it's facing the dark side or facing a side towards you which is not reflecting the sun, you would think that you would see something there. It's really impressive."

After the shuttle returned to Earth, Musgrave was interviewed about the unworldly encounter. According to the report, the scientist reviewed a video recording of the encounter between Columbia and the UFO as the orbiter flew above Denver, Colorado. The disc-shaped object suddenly appeared, seemed to be intelligently controlled, changed its flight vector and—most unnerving of all—seemed to track the Columbia and her crew through space.

After the mission, the space scientist retired from NASA. Convinced that alien intelligence not only exists, but is indeed here, the NASA astronaut has embarked on his own personal mission of disclosure.

On a recent speaking tour, he gave a presentation about astronomy. At the end of his lecture, he projected a slide upon a large screen depicting an artist's conception of the infamous "Grey" aliens that have become a part of modern day culture. His final words shocked many in the audience when he proclaimed: "These guys are real…I guarantee it!"

Recently former USAF officers revealed at a press conference in Washington, DC that UFOs are real and cited several incidents at two air force bases where UFOs 'took control' of nuclear missiles and changed their launch codes.

Historical archives concerning military and intelligence information regarding UFOs has been released by the UK, France, Spain, Brazil and South Africa.

Dr. Musgrave is not alone in his assertion that UFOs and RTs are a reality. In past years other NASA personnel have struggled to get the word out. Such space-faring luminaries as Gordon Cooper, Donald Slayton, Gene Cernan, Frank Borman (former chairman of Eastern airlines as well), Neil Armstrong and Scott Carpenter…all insist UFOs are real and alien intelligences exist.

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Top NASA Astronaut Confirms UFO Encounter




Anyone who has taken the trouble to wade through the better ufo reports is soon convinced of the reality of the phenomena.  However, any given report can be challenged by the simple expedient of casting doubt on the witness.

In this case we have a class one report and a class one witness.   As would be expected the lack of reference frames makes for a poor understanding of the objects dimensionality.  What is unexpected is that the object is vectoring and that shows unexplained control.

I have posted in the past a couple of other class one reports whose detail is so confounding as to have a creditability all their own.

Of course, I have also posted in the past that it is likely that a large population is residing in space habitats and has been for millennia.  A variety of space adapted creatures have been observed, curiously, who all might have been plausibly been derived from terran stock. 

Others argue that we are partially derived from alien stock grafted onto primate DNA.  Both conjectures assert that we are able to do this and it appears with the first interpretation of the Starchild DNA, that this is not far fetched at all.  These are questions that science is now beginning to answer.


Confirmed: Top NASA astronaut discloses shuttle encounter with disc UFO

by Terrence Aym

http://www.helium.com/items/1996350-nasa-astronaut-discloses-shuttle-encounter-with-disc-ufo

In a bombshell story, a former SCO of NASA's space shuttle fleet announced that he and NASA know that ETs are real.

Clark C. McClelland, a senior member of MUFON from 1958 to 1992, has revealed in the Canadian press that secret details of an amazing incident occurred during the STS-80 mission aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Top space officials rushed to hush it up.


According to internal reports—confirmed by Dr. Story Musgrave, a Payload Specialist crew member aboard the STS-80 Mission—a disc-shaped object much larger than the orbiting American spacecraft suddenly appeared beneath the shuttle. At the time the Columbia was maintaining an altitude 190 nautical miles above Earth.

Musgrave admitted that, although he got a good look at it, he wasn't able to identify the object. "I don't know what it is. Whether it's a washer, debris, ice particles, I don't know. But it's characteristic of the thousands of things which I've seen. What is not so characteristic is it appears to [have] come from nowhere. You would think that if it's facing the dark side or facing a side towards you which is not reflecting the sun, you would think that you would see something there. It's really impressive."

After the shuttle returned to Earth, Musgrave was interviewed about the unworldly encounter. According to the report, the scientist reviewed a video recording of the encounter between Columbia and the UFO as the orbiter flew above Denver, Colorado. The disc-shaped object suddenly appeared, seemed to be intelligently controlled, changed its flight vector and—most unnerving of all—seemed to track the Columbia and her crew through space.

After the mission, the space scientist retired from NASA. Convinced that alien intelligence not only exists, but is indeed here, the NASA astronaut has embarked on his own personal mission of disclosure.

On a recent speaking tour, he gave a presentation about astronomy. At the end of his lecture, he projected a slide upon a large screen depicting an artist's conception of the infamous "Grey" aliens that have become a part of modern day culture. His final words shocked many in the audience when he proclaimed: "These guys are real…I guarantee it!"

Recently former USAF officers revealed at a press conference in Washington, DC that UFOs are real and cited several incidents at two air force bases where UFOs 'took control' of nuclear missiles and changed their launch codes.

Historical archives concerning military and intelligence information regarding UFOs has been released by the UK, France, Spain, Brazil and South Africa.

Dr. Musgrave is not alone in his assertion that UFOs and RTs are a reality. In past years other NASA personnel have struggled to get the word out. Such space-faring luminaries as Gordon Cooper, Donald Slayton, Gene Cernan, Frank Borman (former chairman of Eastern airlines as well), Neil Armstrong and Scott Carpenter…all insist UFOs are real and alien intelligences exist.

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Horn Removal Saves Rhinos






This is of course the only way to stop the slaughter.  Pretty obviously, a helicopter team can locate animals quickly and remove the horn.  There are simply very few animals so a team that simply nails one per day will soon make the whole trade impossible.  A year’s work might be sufficient.

Three or four years of this may even succeed in ending the trade

With rhinos, it can be done easily as shown here.

Now the real trick is to remove elephant tusks.  Of course, that is not a viable option although there may be good reason to shorten the tusk back down to near the pulp then bind it and protect the result.  This is unlikely to stop poaching since most of the tusk will remain.

Better would be to sell ownership and management rights and allow an operator to optimize the economic model in a sustainable manner.  It still may not be possible but if it worked the managed herds would come under protection.

In the meantime, it seems that the method works for rhinos.


Disfigured but alive: Zimbabwe cuts horns to save rhinos

by Staff Writers
Chipinge National Park, Zimbabwe (AFP) Oct 28, 2010


http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Disfigured_but_alive_Zimbabwe_cuts_horns_to_save_rhinos_999.html
The roaring chainsaw sends fingernail-like shards flying into the baking Zimbabwean bush as it slices through the slumped black rhino's foot-long horn.

The critically endangered female loses her spikes in just seconds, after being darted from a helicopter.
A few minutes later, she leaps up and escapes -- disfigured but alive -- in a dramatic attempt to deter the poachers who have unleashed a bloodbath on southern Africa's rhinos.

"De-horning reduces the reward for the poacher," said Raoul du Toit of the Lowveld Rhino Trust which operates in Zimbabwe's arid southeast.

"Poaching is a balance between reward and risk. It may tip the economic equation in the situation to one where it's not worth the poacher operating."

Rhino poaching reached an all-time high in Africa last year, according to the International Rhino Foundation.

In Zimbabwe, where just 700 rhinos remain, anti-poaching units face military-like armed gangs who ruthlessly shoot the animals to hack off the distinctive horns for the Asian traditional medicine market.

"These poachers in this part of the world here will shoot on sight. They operate in very aggressive units," Du Toit told AFP.

"They adopt patrol formations when they are after rhinos to detect any anti-poaching units that are deployed against them and they will open fire without hesitation.

"So there've been many gunfights -- a number of poachers killed, not so many on law enforcement side but that's mainly through luck."

Asian demand for rhino horn, believed to treat anything from headaches to sexual woes, has lured highly organised criminal syndicates.

Zimbabwe's black rhino were poached to a low of 300 in 1995 but recovered and levelled off to nearly double this before plummeting again to reach around 400 last year, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

"It was at this time, 2006-2007, when we actually saw the steep escalation in poaching which is related to syndicate kind of poaching orchestrated out of South Africa," said WWF's African rhino manager Joseph Okari.

"It is what makes a big difference between the poaching of today... and the poaching of the '80s and the early '90s," he said.

"That was not highly organised and well co-ordinated like what we are seeing today."

South Africa and Zimbabwe are rhino poaching hotspots, accounting for nearly all of the 470 rhinos killed in Africa between 2006 and 2009. Half of those killed were in Zimbabwe.

The slaughter this year has intensified in South Africa, where rhino poaching has doubled. Okari puts the shift down to the slashed population in Zimbabwe, particularly in state parks, and hardline controls that include poachers being shot dead.

The result is that the Lowveld region which lost 60 animals last year is now seeing more rhinos born than killed.

"If it was to continue at this level, we could see our population increase in time," said Lowveld Rhino Trust operations co-ordinator Lovemore Mungwashu.

In addition to de-horning, conservationists in Zimbabwe are fitting rhinos with microchips or transmitters to track them, while mounting foot patrols armed in some areas with AK-47 assault rifles. They're also conducting intelligence work to infiltrate the gangs.

The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority -- which has a five-tonne store of severed rhino horns in Harare -- estimates the country now has 400 critically endangered black and 300 less threatened white rhinos.

"At peak, we had close to 3,000 rhinos -- that was in the early '80s," said national rhino coordinator Geoffreys Matipano who estimates the horns can fetch up to 20,000 dollars per kilogramme (2.2 pounds).

"If you compare it with the past few years, we have managed to contain rhino poaching in the country."

The painless de-horning is seen as a deterrent but is short-term, expensive, time-consuming and risky with the notoriously unpredictable animals having to be supported with oxygen and sprayed with cooling water.

The trade is so lucrative that poachers will kill a rhino for two inches of horn, which grows back like a fingernail.

"De-horning is not a stand alone strategy. It has got to work with other strategies," said Matipano.
For privately run reserves, the fight to protect Zimbabwe's wildlife is relentless.

"We've got guys out 24/7 and monitoring things all the time," said Colin Wendham of the Malilangwe reserve near Chiredzi, shortly before a furious rhino mother tried to attack his vehicle.
"It's the only way that we're keeping on top of things."

While saying state parks still face continual declines, Du Toit believes agressive law enforcement alongside good monitoring can win the fight against the poachers.

"We're dealing with very aggressive criminals," he said as the team ear-notched a young female.

"These are not just impoverished local people out to just make a little money -- these are focused professional criminals."