Thursday, December 31, 2009

Health: H1N1 Vaccine Weakness, Tanning Beds & Melanoma, Vit D, Autism increase 57% in 4 years, H1NI Vaccines

HEALTH

All of us often make the mistake that very smart people have good judgement too. Read "The Best and the Brightest" by David Halberstam. Very smart people also work for our CIA, NSA, and State Department. Think about how many mistakes they have made in the last quarter century!

Scientists are human and often do not want to admit they made a huge mistake in supporting the use of sunscreens and continually support using more all the time. I believe based on good more recent medical studies that many of our neurological brain diseases are caused by inadequate vitamin D for babies and their mothers. We shall soon seem whether this is correct.

Autism increased by 57% in the last four years and by coincidence, both 2007 and 2008, the levels were the same! Might be a coincidence, but more and more patients and doctors because aware of the benefits of vitamin D for neurological health even though it has been known for a very long time that vitamin D is required for brain development.

There is a strong correlation between a lack of sun and Autism in the northern verses the southern states in the USA!
About 15 or so years ago the French scientists developed a very good UVA sunscreen combined with an UVB block which worked very well. The Bush administration FDA stopped the approval of this sunscreen until late 2006, but still did not approve the UVA block so it could not be used by American sunscreen makers under license. Even with hundreds of sunscreens available in the USA, an ABC study showed only about three had effective UVA block and these are not among the favorite ones sold now. Consumer Reports later found about the same results.

The reason that melanoma mushroomed after UVB only sunscreens were introduced, especially in sunny Australia and in low sun Sweden where they monitored health effects more carefully. Both Australia and Sweden much earlier came to conclude the dangers of long sun exposure with sunscreens made then.

Many Europeans who migrated from Africa had to develop lighter skin likely by epigenetic shutting off or turning on of genes and reduced melanocytes in order to reduce melanin induced darker skin. This allowed our body to store vitamin D required by all cells of the body for overall health, and not just bones, something not appreciated until quite recently. So if they use tanning beds, they need to use them much more to get a tan exposing them to much higher levels of UVA. According to a recent ABC news report, tanning beds double or triple the UVA radiation used compared to the sun.

I realized in the 1980s due to reports out of Australia and Sweden that the sunscreens did not block UVA, the probable source for the mutation of DNA by UVA which can penetrate skin and clothing more easily than UVB, the Burning rays which does not penetrate as much because it reacts with the outside skin. Melanoma also occurs in areas not exposed to sunlight, but my previous statement about the likely penetration of UVA through clothing has not been considered as far as I know.

Carbon Dioxide Blanket Warming of our atmosphere has led to cooler upper stratosphere where ozone is produced. The chemical reaction needed to produce ozone from oxygen is slowed resulting in ozone depletion.Therefore we are subject more intensely to solar radiation, especially near the north and south poles.

Jim Kawakami, Jan 4, 2010 http://jimboguy.blogspot.com or google both ABC sunscreen evaluation.

Autism disorders increased by 57% in just four years, the CDC today reported.

By the end of 2006, one in 110 U.S. kids had an autism disorder diagnosed by age 8: one in 70 boys and one in 315 girls, reflecting a nearly fivefold higher risk for males.

The new CDC estimate of autism prevalence, obtained from analysis of child evaluation records in 11 states, is virtually identical to autism numbers reported for 2007 from a huge telephone survey reported last October. ...

"Two decades ago we were looking at a prevalence of one in 5,000 children. Now we're looking at one in 100. That really is a staggering increase," Geraldine Dawson, PhD, chief science officer of advocacy group Autism Speaks, tells WebMD. ... http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/news/20091218/autism-jumps-57percent-in-just-4-years Dec. 18, 2009 –

Vitamin D Increases Our Immune System: Peoples Pharmacy http://www.peoplesPharmacy.com ... Q. I used to catch lots of colds every year. When I was tested for vitamin D a few years ago, it was really low. I took a lot of vitamin D to get into the normal range.

Since then, I've had only two colds, each three days long. Vitamin D made a huge difference in my immune system.

A. Research shows vitamin D is extremely important for the immune system. It helps to regulate T cells, which are important immune actors. It also turns on the gene that produces cathelicidin, a natural antimicrobial compound that fights infection (Future Microbiology, November 2009).

Since many Americans don't get enough vitamin D because we stay out of the sun, recommendations for supplementary vitamin D may rise beyond the current RDA of 400 IU daily. Many experts believe vitamin D intake should be five to 10 times higher than that. ... http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2010642258_pharmacy03.html

Meta Study Indicates Overall that Vitamin D Supplements Improves Elderly Balance Medscape.com http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/709829?sssdmh=dm1.537483&src=nldne&uac=139471HK
... "Supplemental vitamin D in a dose of 700-1000 IU a day reduced the risk of falling among older individuals by 19% and to a similar degree as active forms of vitamin D," the study authors write. "Doses of supplemental vitamin D of less than 700 IU or serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations of less than 60 nmol/l may not reduce the risk of falling among older individuals."

Limitations of this study include potential publication bias and larger-than-expected variation between trials. "Doses of 700 IU to 1000 IU supplemental vitamin D a day could reduce falls by 19% or by up to 26% with vitamin D3," the study authors conclude. "This benefit may not depend on additional calcium supplementation, was significant within 2-5 months of treatment, and extended beyond 12 months of treatment....Active forms of vitamin D do not appear to be more effective than 700-1000 IU of supplemental vitamin D for fall prevention in older persons." ...

ScienceDaily.com Researchers at Rice and Baylor Found Weakness in Mutating H1N1 Flu Virus 300 Mutant H1N1 viruses examined

The researchers were looking in particular at hemagglutinin (HA), the protein "hook" that allows the virus to attach itself to and infect host cells. It's long been known that five regions of H1N1's HA serve as antigenic sites, the protein fragments that trigger the body's immune system. These antigenic sites, first mapped in 1981, shuffle their amino-acid sequences in the endless cat-and-mouse game that viruses play to survive. ...

For a virus to evade antibodies, all five antigenic sites would have to disguise themselves by mutating. The new finding led the researchers to believe the receptor-binding residues would also have to mutate, but not so much that the binding no longer works. "If the binding is abolished, the virus dies," said Ma, a Rice professor in bioengineering with a joint appointment at BCM.

Such dual-function residues are a likely bottleneck for the virus, he said, because they're under the tightest restrictions. Thus, they could be easier to track over time and may chart a path to predict future mutations that will aid in vaccine design. ... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091210111201.htm

Approved Fast Method for Preparing Flu Vaccine: Use Bioreactors Instead of Chicken Eggs

ScienceDaily http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091209193506.htm (Dec. 11, 2009) — A shortage of flu vaccines may soon become a problem of the past. Researcher Manon Cox has developed an alternative process for producing large quantities of safe and effective vaccines at twice to four times the usual speed. The process is based on using cells in bioreactors instead of fertilised chicken eggs, which have a limited availability. ...

The prompt availability of sufficient suitable vaccine is always a problem when facing the outbreak of a flu epidemic. At the moment, it takes three to six months to produce a vaccine to counter a new strain of flu virus using chicken's eggs. Moreover, there is no possibility of expanding production capacity in the event of a pandemic as the limited availability of fertilised chicken's eggs needed for production inevitably becomes an insurmountable problem.

Cox's new process demonstrates that it is possible to make a vaccine available in commercial quantities within 45 days. The new production method makes use of a baculovirus that multiplies only inside insect cells, and which cannot spread in vertebrates. The insect cells produce huge quantities of so-called HA proteins, which mobilise the immune system into fighting the flu virus.

The aspect that most slows down the production of vaccine according to the conventional method is the need for fertilised chicken eggs. Furthermore, this creates extra problems if the flu virus is also capable of infecting birds (as was the case in the Netherlands in 2003), as the egg production often grinds to a halt. In addition, the vaccines produced are not suitable for people with an egg allergy. The new production process using insect cells can be used on a large scale, at all times and simultaneously at various locations throughout the world. The process can easily be adapted to new influenza strains and enhance pandemic preparedness.

Meanwhile, the new production process has already been put through clinical trials involving three different strains of flu virus in 460 healthy people. None of the test subjects injected with the vaccine developed symptoms of flu, while 4.6% of those taking part in the control group contracted the disease naturally. Three follow-on studies involving approximately 3,000 people showed no striking or frequent side-effects. The vaccine also appears to protect people from influenza viruses that have undergone genetic changes and in more than 50% of cases, it results in better antibody production than the flu vaccines currently available.

Vaccines for the flu virus contain the HA protein (haemagglutinin) which, once in the bloodstream, puts the body in a state of high alert. The protein also stimulates the production of flu-specific antibodies. The same protein is found on the surface of a flu virus. When a vaccinated person encounters a flu virus , the antibodies produced attach to the proteins on the surface of the virus and inactivate the virus.

Mayo Clinic: UVA radiation and melanoma.

Tanning Beds Have Three Times More Melanoma Causing UVA, presumably to increase the rate of tanning, but not know if the time and intensity of time spent in tanning beds really cause melanoma over and above those who just spend a lot of time in sun with only UVB protective sunscreens. I am also not aware of the assumptions the researchers made to prove tanning beds do indeed cause more melanoma. They seem to often use an example of a redhead who can't get tans in the sun getting melanoma in a tanning bed. I recall that only 4,000 or so out of 50 million people who use tanning beds get melanoma! http://www.skincancerguide.ca/melanoma/what_causes_melanoma.html

Mayo Clinic on Melanoma ... Melanoma occurs when something goes awry in the melanin-producing cells (melanocytes) that give color to your skin. Normally, skin cells develop in a controlled and orderly way — healthy new cells push older cells toward your skin's surface, where they die and eventually are sloughed off. This process is controlled by DNA — the genetic material that contains the instructions for every chemical and biological process in your body. But when DNA is damaged, new cells may begin to grow out of control and can eventually form a mass of cancerous cells.

Just what damages DNA in skin cells and how this leads to melanoma is a matter of intense study. Cancer is a complex disease that often results from a combination of factors, including environmental and genetic factors, rather than from a single cause. Still, excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a leading factor in the development of melanoma, whether the radiation is from the sun or from tanning lamps and beds. ...

UV radiation is produced by the sun. UV light is divided into three wavelength bands — ultraviolet A (UVA), ultraviolet B (UVB) and ultraviolet C (UVC). Only UVA and UVB rays reach the earth — UVC radiation is completely absorbed by atmospheric ozone, a naturally occurring substance that filters UV radiation. Commercial tanning lamps and tanning beds also produce UV radiation.

UVB light causes harmful changes in skin cell DNA, including the activation of oncogenes — a type of gene that, when turned on, can change a normal cell into a cancerous one. But UVA light may be more likely to damage melanocytes, leading to melanoma. Tanning lamps and beds mainly produce UVA radiation. UV radiation is most intense at the equator and at high elevations, but no matter where you live, your skin absorbs UV radiation whenever you're outdoors unless you wear protective clothing and sunscreen.

Other causes of melanoma
UV light doesn't cause all melanomas, especially those that occur in places on your body that don't receive exposure to sunlight. This indicates that other factors may contribute to your risk of melanoma. ... http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/melanoma/DS00439/DSECTION=causes

Making Stronger Dose Seasonal Flu Vaccines for Weak Immunity Seniors Shows Common Sense Finally Reigns! Reuters Dec 23, 2009 The vaccine uses a higher dose to produce a stronger immune response and better protect the elderly against seasonal flu, the Food and Drug Administration said.

The vaccine will be available for immunizing people in the fall of 2010 ahead of the next flu season, said Sanofi Pasteur, the company's vaccine unit.

The FDA said "non-serious" events such as redness and injection-site swelling were more frequent with the high dose vaccine. The rate of serious problems was comparable with Sanofi's regular-dose Fluzone.

The new vaccine was approved based on studies showing a stronger immune response compared with the original Fluzone. The company must conduct further studies to verify the high dose version decreases seasonal flu after vaccination, the FDA added. (Reporting by Lisa Richwine; editing by Andre Grenon) http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2316757020091223

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Filibuster Proof Healthcare Bill: Limit Abortions Credits Small Business Multi-state Plan Tax Rich Medicaid Help

I Strongly recommend Bill Moyers conversation with Mike Taibbi of Rolling Stone and Robert Kuttner of American Prospect http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12182009/profile.html You can read the transcripts, a summary of what is discussed, and I especially recommend watching the 30 minute video. I favor Kuttner's view based on is judgement in the past. Mike Taibbi is much younger, but a superb reporter, but I trust Kuttner's judgement more on what to do. Vote for the bill no matter what.

Most Democrats are corporate democrats. Keep this in mind in Obama's assessment on what strategy to follow in getting a Healthcare bill passed. They decided to get the Healthcare and Financial Lobby on their side as much as possible. Rahm Emanuel stacked the House Finance Committee with 15 freshman conservatives to play favor to Wall Street and the Banks so the funding for the Democratic Party will remain intact and partially neutralize the opposition to regulations. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) who is chairman of the Finance Committee got a stronger bill than Barney Frank (D-MA), chairman of the House Finance Committee who is liberal, could muster.

Obama also made deals with Big Pharma before the legislation to give them a deal to prevent Medicare from going for the lowest price in Drugs. I am not sure how much of a discount the insurance companies get for their drugs to allow a somewhat lower payment of those insured.

There is a plus and a minus for mandatory enrollment, but due to provisions of subsidies for those, as I recall, up to $90,000 or so for each family, most will be able to pay for it. I am not sure whether this is still in the final bill in the Senate. This article came out about 39 minutes ago.

Remember that 80 percent of Americans did not want to go to War after Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, most news is not designed to allow a clear understanding of the issue or issues. Rachel Maddow http://rachel.msnbc.com and Keith Olbermann http://countdown.msnbc.com, Dylan Ratigan http://dylan.msnbc.com, and Joe Scarborough http://joe.msnbc.com explains what is happening more clearly. MSNBC has now overtaken CNN for 24 hours of news. Olbermann in a repeat now beats CNN's most favorite newscaster. Other shows I have seen The Ed Show 6 PM ET, 3 PM PT, and a number of others are better than CNN during the weekdays. I tape Meet the Press, 8 AM ET/PT (NBC) and Fareed Zakaria http://CNN/GPS at 1 PM ET Sunday and 10 AM PT.


One factor that really helped get this bill through Nelson is that he really likes President Obama a lot based on their friendship in the senate and his help in getting elected as senator in Nebraska. Reid also has fairly close ties because they are both conservative. Nelson met dozens of times with Reid and Obama.
Jim Kawakami, Dec 19, 2009, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

President Obama Hails Senate Health Care Bill as Ben Nelson Jumps on Board

With New Compromise, Democrats May Pass Bill By Christmas Deadline


Excerpts: ... The changes that would impact the budget the most, according to the nonpartisan CBO, would be expanding eligibility for a small business tax credit -- there will be a $12 billion increase in such credits, beginning in 2010. Cost cuts will also come from increasing penalties on certain uninsured people, taking out provisions that would increase payment rates for physicians under Medicare and increasing the payroll tax by 0.9 percent on individuals that make more than $200,000 per year and couples who make more than $250,000.

Senate Democratic leaders also took out one of the most controversial aspects of the health care bill, the option of a government-run insurance plan and replaced it with a "multi-states" plan that would be managed by the Office of Personnel Management. ...

Democratic leaders also struck a compromise with Nelson to limit the availability of abortions in insurances sold in the exchange to be implemented in the new program. At the same time, he would also get millions in Medicaid funds for Nebraska, which boasts a heavy insurance and anti-abortion lobby.

"The bill also includes provisions Nelson won in negotiations shielding Nebraska from an unfunded mandate and new national protections barring public funding of abortion," said a statement issued by Nelson's office.

End for Senate Health Care Bill in Sight?

As for the issue of abortion, current law prohibits federal funding from going to abortion but Nelson and several Republicans wanted to take the language further. Nelson's office today said the new provisions would ensure that no public funds go toward abortion services, mandate that every state provide an insurance plan that does not cover abortion and gives each state the right to pass a law barring insurance coverage for abortion within state borders. ...

"I know this is hard for some of my colleagues to accept and I appreciate their right to disagree," Nelson told reporters today. "But I would not have voted for this bill without these provisions."

The move upset some anti-abortion lawmakers such as Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., who this week told ABC News he will not vote for the final health care bill if it did not include his abortion language that is in the House health care bill. He also said there was enough momentum on the Senate front with his views. [Stupak is a member of the conservative Family (See Jeff Sharlet in his book "The Family," but bill actually written by Pike (R-PA).] ...

Friday, December 18, 2009

Orchard Children. Companies Ignore Removing Toxic Chemicals in Water NY Times Charles Duhigg

December 16, 2009, Toxic Water Articles http://projects.nytimes.com/toxic-waters

Dee, a friend from Canada, sent me a poem on Wine suggesting an alternative to drinking water. Unfortunately many bottled water are either from the tap or not purified to remove more recently determined levels of toxic chemicals now permitted in drinking water.

Eugene water is about the best tasting and pure in the USA because of the source and purification procedures. I now skip bottled water and drink from the tap, but some of Oregon's Water does have problems with deadly perchlorate.

Even though West Virginia's mountain top coal mining is increasing cancer from the drinking water to a large number of residents, they plan to continue the practice of contaminating the drinking well water supply.

The December issue of The Atlantic Magazine does explain why the radical Republican types now in Congress so ruthlessly ignore human needs and wants for profit. The article discusses Orchid Children who have the gene that prevents them from processing serotonin so they are much more susceptible to environment.

Serotonin is the happy chemical and when we do not get enough we get depressed. They also need to take elevated risk-taking to feel alive, express aggression more often which can be advantageous in challenging situations such as wars, social strife of many kinds, and migrations to new environments.

My comment: The Scot-Irish who migrated to our country tend to populate the South and the Republican Party tended to be part of the Lowland Scots who had to be aggressive and paranoid to survive the many wars and privation. Orchid Children remain in the gene pool in modern civilization because if they have a safe environment and parents who do not abuse them and give them lots of love such as spending lots of time with them, I feel that epigenetic effects of shutting down or activating genes makes these individuals very important to our society and are often our leaders and very accomplished individuals. The book on the Scot-Irish by Senator James Webb who is Scot-Irish is fun to read and very informative.

The authoritarian method of bringing raising children with punishment and tough love is not the way to develop good children. Allowing babies who cry are left unintended by Orchid families develop poorly. Perhaps the more recent increase in problem children resulted from this neglect when both father and mother were forced to work to survive thanks to the Reagan legacy which took away from the Middle Class to enrich the rich further.

Hillary Clinton and her two brothers were brought up in this manner where the father may not have resorted to physical violence, but continually criticized them. Only Hillary fought back at an early age which made her the favorite and he spent lots of time in the afternoon by coming home early from his business and taking her fishing and teaching her how to play baseball. Her mother also spent lots of time with her to train her about how life could be very tough based on her mother's experience and how to cope.

Her brothers were quite smart too, and one became a physician, but failed at that too. Even though the Clintons kicked the father out of the White House, Hillary spent 19 days and nights at the hospital attending to his father who finally died.

Obama's experience with his mother's nurturing and later with his grandmother and grandfather gave him the confidence to make use of his full potential. Obama spent a lot of time reading to his children including all of the Harry Potter books! Even though it does not look that way now, Obama will come through on healthcare and seems to be on his way to doing something about Global Warming.

If your friends are thinking about voting for Radical Republicans, I will be glad to give them the accurate history of the Republican Party, especially the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld Gang and rampant incompetence and corruption.

Jim Kawakami, December 16, 2009, Posted http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Bush, Jr, Administration Threatened to Fire EPA Scientists who Talk about Contaminates in Water

... But when E.P.A. scientists produced assessments indicating those chemicals were more toxic — the first step in setting a standard for perchlorate and tougher standards for the other two substances — businesses fought back by lobbying lawmakers and regulators and making public attacks.

Military contractors, for example, said that regulations on perchlorate, which has been associated with stunted central nervous system development, would cost them billions of dollars in cleanup costs. In 2003, an Air Force colonel, Daniel Rogers, called an E.P.A. assessment of the chemical “biased, unrealistic and scientifically imbalanced.” Military officials told E.P.A. scientists they were unpatriotic for suggesting that bases were contaminated, according to people who participated in those discussions.

Property owners who had rented space to dry cleaners lobbied lawmakers and top E.P.A. officials to remove government scientists from research on perc, which has been associated with some kinds of tumors, according to interviews with lobbyists. (Trichloroethylene has been associated with liver and kidney damage and cancer.)

Soon, Dr. Preuss was told by some superiors that he might be dismissed if he continued pushing for extensive assessments of certain chemicals, he said. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/us/17water.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=all

Excerpt NY Times Article Deadly Drinking Water
... Only 91 contaminants are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, yet more than 60,000 chemicals are used within the United States, according to Environmental Protection Agency estimates. Government and independent scientists have scrutinized thousands of those chemicals in recent decades, and identified hundreds associated with a risk of cancer and other diseases at small concentrations in drinking water, according to an analysis of government records by The New York Times.

But not one chemical has been added to the list of those regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act since 2000.

Other recent studies have found that even some chemicals regulated by that law pose risks at much smaller concentrations than previously known. However, many of the act’s standards for those chemicals have not been updated since the 1980s, and some remain essentially unchanged since the law was passed in 1974.

All told, more than 62 million Americans have been exposed since 2004 to drinking water that did not meet at least one commonly used government health guideline intended to help protect people from cancer or serious disease, according to an analysis by The Times of more than 19 million drinking-water test results from the District of Columbia and the 45 states that made data available. ...

In Millville, N.J., Pleasantville, N.J., and Edmond, Okla., drinking water has contained traces of uranium, which can cause kidney damage. Those concentrations also did not violate the law. (Contaminant records for each of the 47,500 water systems that provided data are at nytimes.com/contaminants.) ...

“If it doesn’t violate the law, I don’t really pay much attention to it,” said Stephen Sorrell, executive director of Emerald Coast Utilities Authority, which serves Pensacola, Fla. Data show that his system has delivered water containing multiple chemicals at concentrations that research indicates are associated with health risks. The system has not violated the Safe Drinking Water Act during the last half-decade. ...

Communities where the drinking water has contained chemicals that are associated with health risks include Scottsdale, Ariz.; El Paso, Tex., and Reno, Nev. Test results analyzed by The Times show their drinking water has contained arsenic at concentrations that have been associated with cancer. But that contamination did not violate the Safe Drinking Water Act. ...
Those two chemicals have been detected in drinking water in more than a dozen states, including California, Massachusetts, New York and Oregon. A study published last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found traces of perchlorate in every person examined by researchers.

A Department of Defense official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivities regarding perchlorate, said the military’s perspective on the chemical had changed since 2005, and it now deferred to the E.P.A.’s assessments. Colonel Rogers did not reply to e-mail messages and calls seeking comment.

“We need action,” said Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat and chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees the Safe Drinking Water Act. “E.P.A. has the authority to set new standards, but it wasn’t used over the last eight years. There are people at risk.” ... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/us/17water.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=all





A glass of wine ..........
To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine...
And those who don't and are always
seen with a bottle of water in their hand.
As Ben Franklin said:
In wine there is wisdom,
In beer there is freedom,
In water there is bacteria.
In a number of carefully controlled trials,
Scientists have demonstrated that if we drink
1 litre of water each day,
At the end of the year we would have absorbed
More than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. Coli) - bacteria
Found in feces.
In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop..
However,
We do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer
(or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor)
Because alcohol has to go through a purification process
Of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.
Remember:
Water = Poop,
Wine = Health.
Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid,
Than to drink water and be full of shit.
There is no need to thank me for this valuable information:
I'm doing it as a public service!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Hopefully, a Simple Guide to Explaining Global Warming

We all know that cloud covers at night results in higher temperatures. In Oregon where we get weather from Jet Streams from Southeast Asia and Alaska. The recent cold spell and snow resulted from Jet streams from Southeast Asia which went up to Alaska and down through Western Canada and into Oregon and Northern California and Nevada. Then the high pressure off Oregon dissipated allowing the moisture laden Southeast Asia Jet stream to come over Oregon to give us rain and night temperatures about over 35 degrees F warmer and those states east of us to suffer much lower temperatures and snow. Yes, warming near the equator which has a more direct line to the SUN does affect us too. The direction of the wind and ocean currents affect our weather enormously.

That is how we get hurricanes, droughts, and floods depending on the direction of the wind and currents. El Nino happens when the current which normally which goes from west to Asia reverses due to heating in the oceans in Southeast Asia. That is the reason that many of the high mountains in Asia, South America, and Africa have their glaciers melting for the first time over 2,000 years ago. The glaciers are normally replenished with snow, but if it rains due to warmer climates, it melts faster.

Bolivia is expected to suffer severely due increasing water shortages as are China, India, Africa, South America, USA, and many other countries. No country is absolutely safe because climate is produced from moving air and ocean currents. During El Nino, almost all the sea life off the shores of the Galapagos dies due to a lack of nutrients which comes from Antarctica with cold water which supports a critical food chain plankton.

Buried on page A-29 of today's New York Times was the news item with other short summaries with the neutral title "Weather Device Also Tracks Greenhouse Gas" a boring title not read by most readers of the Times. I saw the implication immediately. I was shocked this device was not put up decades earlier.

Because our oceans are huge and provide lots of water evaporation at only a small increase in temperatures, the water vapor in the air due to warming has an equal effect as carbon dioxide in warming the earth. So as the temperature increases on earth, water will become a greater influence on warming.

The thin air in the Arctic and Antarctica and Greenland with ozone depletion and warming has resulted in a huge melting and breakup of glaciers and sea ice.

I still cannot believe that the Climate scientists are using average temperatures to tell people about global warming! Because of how our weather is strongly influence by what happens in the equatorial oceans and Arctic/Antarctica where water temperatures have gone up five degrees or more and air temperatures by comparable amounts. What is not in the "official" climate reports is that politicians have a strong influence on what goes into the report. They left out the data on glaciers melting and breaking up at a much greater extent than predicted only a few years ago.

One good result of the climate talks is the agreement that we would compensate countries that decrease their rate of depleting their forests for farming and lumber. If the Amazon Rain Forest is gone, we are done too!

China and India have an extremely great stake in reducing global climate change because they have essentially depleted their aquifers and the Himalaya Mountain glaciers would not provide drinking and agriculture water anymore. China is doing more than any other country except the European Union in finding alternatives to petroleum based fuel. But they are using coal to a large extent as the Bush/Cheney did in our country. They doubled the yearly increase in carbon dioxide release!

Jim Kawakami, December 16, 2009, posted at http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Increased Rate of Ocean Evaporation and Resulting Increased Water Vapor Evaporation from Ocean Combined with Carbon Dioxide Increase Powerful Climate Warming Combination

Published: December 15, 2009

A satellite instrument designed to improve weather forecasts has provided a wealth of data on the flow of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, scientists said Tuesday.

The data also verified a mechanism in which rising temperatures increase the rate of ocean evaporation, and the increased water vapor, also a potent greenhouse gas, raises the earth’s temperatures further.

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder — called AIRS for short — aboard NASA’s orbiting Aqua spacecraft measures temperature and cloud cover by recording infrared emissions across the entire globe twice a day. The data helps meteorologists predict major storms.

More careful analysis of the data, collected since the satellite’s launching in 2002, has also revealed levels of carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and other gases in the midtroposphere — the atmosphere between 3 and 7 miles above the earth’s surface.

“In essence, we’re videotaping the atmosphere and its constituents,” Thomas Pagano, the instrument’s project manager, said at a news conference in San Francisco during a meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

Carbon dioxide does not mix evenly in the troposphere, the scientists said. This allows them to track movement of the gas to see where it ends up, and predict whether oceans can continue to absorb much of it.

Carbon dioxide from factories, car travel and other human activity is believed by most scientists to be driving the warming of the planet. Levels of carbon dioxide in the air are currently approaching 390 parts per million, up from roughly 280 in the preindustrial age.

But the carbon dioxide itself only accounts for about a third of the increased trapping of heat on earth.

Using the AIRS data, Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University, looked at the El NiƱo cycle of warming and cooling waters in the tropical Pacific.

As expected, water vapor increased when waters were warm and fell when temperatures cooled, and the measurements fit closely with climate models previously developed by scientists.

Thus, warming from rising carbon dioxide should also lead to increased water vapor and additional warming, doubling the warming effect of the carbon dioxide.

“Water vapor is really not much of an uncertainty anymore,” Dr. Dessler said.

Other heat-trapping gases like methane and ozone, also measured by AIRS, are known to contribute to global warming as well. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/science/space/16carbon.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Weather%20Device&st=cse

* Climate Crackdown: UN Bars Friends of the Earth and Other Environmental Groups from Climate Talks *

The crackdown around the UN climate talks in Copenhagen is intensifying. Earlier today the United Nations suspended several mainstream environmental groups and barred members from re-entering the conference. Organizations targeted include Friends of the Earth, Tck Tck Tck, Avaaz, World Vision and Via Campesina. Democracy Now! caught up with Nnimmo Bassey, the
prominent Nigerian environmentalist, just as he was being removed by security from the conference.

Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/16/climate_crackdown_un_bars_friends_of