May 2007 Southwest Climate Outlook
The May Southwest Climate Outlook is online. This month’s outlook provides recent drought conditions and the latest seasonal forecasts. The feature article is entitled “How tree rings can help reconstruct streamflow.”
This month’s cover photo was provided by Malcolm Comeaux.
To download a printer-friendly PDF file (2.47 MB) of the May 2007 Outlook, visit:
http://www.ispe.arizona.edu/climas/end/packets/maypacket2007.pdf
As always, you can view the latest Southwest Climate Outlook in html format at:
http://www.ispe.arizona.edu/climas/forecasts/swoutlook.html
Highlights from the May 2007 Outlook
Drought – Drought conditions continue to plague much of Arizona. West-central parts of the state are hardest-hit in the short term, while central southeastern Arizona faces the most severe conditions over the long term. Meanwhile, most of New Mexico remains drought-free.
Temperature – New Mexico’s temperatures have been running below-normal while Arizona’s temperatures have been registering above-normal. This pattern emerged during the water year that began October 1, and continued to be apparent over the past thirty days.
Precipitation – Precipitation patterns helped explain both the temperature and drought differences between Arizona and New Mexico. Sunny days warmed and dried Arizona, while clouds provided relief to New Mexico. Southern New Mexico received double or more the usual precipitation in the past month, while western Arizona lacked any measurable precipitation.
Climate Forecasts – Judging from temperature forecasts, Arizona remains vulnerable to continued drought. Predictions for above-average summer temperatures in the West center on Arizona and also include New Mexico. No forecasts covering the Southwest have been issued for precipitation, but drought conditions in Arizona are projected to improve slightly over the summer with the expected arrival of the annual monsoonal rains.
The Bottom Line – High temperatures and low precipitation have maintained drought conditions in much of Arizona, while the opposite conditions have helped most of New Mexico stay drought-free. Still, the southern portions of both states are projected to face above-normal fire risk through at least the end of May. The risk is greatest in lower and middle elevations where grasses can quickly dry into tinder.
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O’Reilly was Olbermann’s “Worst Person” runner-up for “talk show nuts” comment
On the May 22 edition of MSNBC’s Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Fox News host Bill O’Reilly the “runner-up” in his nightly “Worst Person in the World” segment for, as Media Matters for America documented, “comparing extremists on the immigration debate to the, quote, ‘talk show nuts who are telling you that they’re gonna nuke Tehran,’ ” despite having made similar assertions. Olbermann noted: “Last December 5th, Bill-O said, ‘[W]e may have to’ ‘level cities like Tehran, kill hundreds of thousands of people. A year ago, January, Bill-O said, ‘[I]t’s a matter of time before the United States of America and Great Britain will have to bomb the country of Iran.’ ”
Read more
http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705230003?src=other
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6 Navy Commanders Sacked in 6 Weeks
By Noah Shachtman
22 May 2007
For the sixth time in as many weeks, the lead officer of a Navy ship has been suddenly relieved of command, DANGER ROOM pal Andy Scutro reports for Navy Times.
At:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/05/for_the_third_t.html
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Claims of 9/11 conspiracy have suspect running scared –Former Denverite says 9/11 work has made him a target
23 May 2007
A former Federal Emergency Management Agency videographer [Kurt Sonnenfeld] accused of killing his wife [The charges against Sonnenfeld were dismissed just before trial in June 2002] in Denver is seeking political asylum in Argentina, claiming the U.S. government wants him silenced for what he saw in the smoldering ruins of the Twin Towers after 9/11… Sonnenfeld said he was arrested by Interpol agents on the new Denver charges a week after delivering a demo video of 9/11 footage to a TV producer in Argentina. Sonnenfeld is quoted as saying, “What I saw (at 9/11) leads me to the terrible conclusion that there was foreknowledge of what was going to happen – the precautions that were taken to save certain things that the authorities there considered irreplaceable or invaluable. “For example, certain things were missing that could only have been removed with a truck. Yet after the first plane hit one of the towers, everything in Manhattan collapsed and no one could have gotten near the towers to do that.”
At:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5550777,00.html
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Fed Up with Gas Prices? Blame the Bush Administration for Not Enforcing Anti-Trust Laws By Rep. John Conyers (D-MI)
23 May 2007
In recent weeks, prices at the pump have hit an all-time high… Paradoxically, this year, rising gas prices are not being driven by increases in the cost of oil. In fact, a barrel of oil is actually $7 cheaper than it was this time last year. How is it possible for gas prices to reach record highs while the price of oil remains relatively stable? We examined this and related questions during a House Judiciary Committee Antitrust Task Force hearing titled, “Prices at the Pump: Market Failure and the Oil Industry.”
At:
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/stateof/conyers523
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Energy Markets: Factors That Influence Gasoline Prices
by Thomas J. McCool, Director, Applied Research and Methods, before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
GAO-07-902T, May 22.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-902T
Highlights -
http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07902thigh.pdf
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HAS THE INTERNET CHANGED THE PROPAGANDA MODEL?
by Sheldon Rampton
In their groundbreaking 1988 book, Manufacturing Consent, professors Ed Herman and Noam Chomsky not only explained, but documented with extensive case studies, how mass media and public opinion are shaped in a democracy. Twenty years later, can their “propaganda model” still be used to explain modern media distortions? That was one of the main questions discussed last week at a conference in Windsor, Ontario, titled “20 Years of Propaganda?” Organized by Dr. Paul Boin, the conference drew hundreds of scholars and activists including myself, and more than 1,000 people attended a closing speech by Chomsky on May 17.
The “propaganda model” that Herman and Chomsky put forward in Manufacturing Consent has made the book notable (some would say notorious) as the most influential book by serious academics to challenge the common dogma of media objectivity in the United States. When it first appeared, it was almost unheard-of to suggest that U.S. media such as the New York Times, Time and Newsweek magazines and CBS News were propaganda vehicles.
Today things are somewhat different. Across the political spectrum, there is a widespread belief that disinformation, deception and propaganda pervade the media.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6068
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Study Finds Gap Between What DHS Does and What it Says
Greetings. A new TRAC study, based on the analysis of millions of records from the Immigration Courts and the Justice Department, has found that the terrorism enforcement actions of the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) do not appear to match the claims made in the agency’s official statements.
The report, embargoed for Monday, May 28 (6:30 PM EDT May 27), found that while only a tiny fraction of all DHS actions — both administrative and criminal — involve terrorism, the speeches and
Congressional testimony of DHS officials repeatedly state that the department’s “priority mission” is to prevent “terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the U.S.” or to “target the people, money and
materials that support terrorists and criminal activities.” Despite these constant assertions, TRAC found that out of more than 800,000 individuals against whom DHS filed charges in the immigration courts
from FY 2004 to FY 2006, only 12 involved a terrorism charge.
The TRAC report, complete with graphs and tables, is the latest in a series of immigration enforcement studies prepared with the support of the JEHT Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Reporters desiring
immediate free access to the report before the end of the embargo should go to
http://trac.syr.edu/media for instructions.
David Burnham and Susan B. Long, co-directors
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
Syracuse University
488 Newhouse II
Syracuse, NY 13244-2100
315-443-3563
trac@syr.edu
http://trac.syr.edu
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#7 of the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007
# 7 US Operatives Torture Detainees to Death in Afghanistan and Iraq
Sources:
American Civil Liberties Website, October 24, 2005
Title: “US Operatives Killed Detainees During Interrogations in Afghanistan and Iraq”
Tom Dispatch.com, March 5, 2006
Title: “Tracing the Trail of Torture: Embedding Torture as Policy from Guantanamo to Iraq”
Author: Dahr Jamail
Faculty Evaluator: Rabi Michael Robinson
Student Researchers: Michael B Januleski Jr. and Jessica Rodas
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released documents of forty-four autopsies held in Afghanistan and Iraq October 25, 2005. Twenty-one of those deaths were listed as homicides. The documents show that detainees died during and after interrogations by Navy SEALs, Military Intelligence, and Other Government Agency (OGA). “These documents present irrefutable evidence that U.S. operatives tortured detainees to death during interrogation,” said Amrit Singh, an attorney with the ACLU. “The public has a right to know who authorized the use of torture techniques and why these deaths have been covered up.”
The Department of Defense released the autopsy reports in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense, and Veterans for Peace.
One of forty-four U.S. military autopsy reports reads as follows: “Final Autopsy Report: DOD 003164, (Detainee) Died as a result of asphyxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) due to strangulation as evidenced by the recently fractured hyoid bone in the neck and soft tissue hemorrhage extending downward to the level of the right thyroid cartilage. Autopsy revealed bone fracture, rib fractures, contusions in mid abdomen, back and buttocks extending to the left flank, abrasions, lateral buttocks. Contusions, back of legs and knees; abrasions on knees, left fingers and encircling to left wrist. Lacerations and superficial cuts, right 4th and 5th fingers. Also, blunt force injuries, predominately recent contusions (bruises) on the torso and lower extremities. Abrasions on left wrist are consistent with use of restraints. No evidence of defense injuries or natural disease. Manner of death is homicide. Whitehorse Detainment Facility, Nasiriyah, Iraq.”
Another report from the ACLU indicates: “a 27-year-old Iraqi male died while being interrogated by Navy Seals on April 5, 2004, in Mosul, Iraq. During his confinement he was hooded, flex-cuffed, sleep deprived and subjected to hot and cold environmental conditions, including the use of cold water on his body and head. The exact cause of death was ‘undetermined’ although the autopsy stated that hypothermia may have contributed to his death.”
An overwhelming majority of the so-called “natural deaths” covered in the autopsies were attributed to “arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease” (heart attack). Persons under extreme stress and pain may have heart attacks as a result of the circumstances of their detainments.
…
Complete statement at:
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In the Name of Patriotism (Who are the Patriots?)
HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS
Before the U.S. House of Representatives
May 22, 2007
In the Name of Patriotism (Who are the Patriots?)
For some, patriotism is “the last refuge of a scoundrel.” For others, it means dissent against a government’s abuse of the people’s rights.
I have never met a politician in Washington, or any American for that matter, who chose to be called “unpatriotic.” Nor have I met anyone who did not believe he wholeheartedly supported our troops wherever they may be.
What I have heard all too frequently from various individuals is sharp accusations that because their political opponents disagree with them on the need for foreign military entanglements, they were “unpatriotic, un-American, evil doers deserving contempt.”
The original American patriots were those individuals brave enough to resist with force the oppressive power of King George. I accept the definition of patriotism as that effort to resist oppressive state power. The true patriot is motivated by a sense of responsibility, and out of self interest — for himself, his family, and the future of his country — to resist government abuse of power. He rejects the notion that patriotism means obedience to the state.
…
Complete statement at:
http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2007/cr0522107.htm
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three thousand words
Jim Borgman: lincoln, lbj, dubya
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Jeff Danziger: Guiliani, 9-11, GOP Primaries
http://danzigercartoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/dancart3235.jpg
Minimum Security: Power outage
http://www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/sm052307.jpg
