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Happy 90th Birthday to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

Cross-posted on THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

 A recent study has concluded that NF3 (nitrogen trifluoride), which is used in the manufacture of computers, cell phones, TVs and solar panels, can be identified as the "missing greenhouse gas."  The study warns that NF3 may "cause more global warming than coal-fired power plants" because NF3 is 17,000 times "more potent than carbon dioxide."  NF3 remains in our atmosphere for 550 years but it is not regulated by Kyoto or other agreements yet production of NF3 is significantly increasing.  

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• EPA devalues life to weaken pollution rules so that it is cheaper to kill more people with pollution:  The EPA decided that the "value of a statistical life" is $6.9 million, which is nearly $1 million cheaper than the value of a life 5 years ago.  The practical import is the cost benefit analysis the government does when writing regulations: The less the value of a life, the less the need for government regulations, such as restrictions on pollution.

  When drawing up regulations, government agencies put a value on human life and then weigh the costs versus the lifesaving benefits of a proposed rule. The less a life is worth to the government, the less the need for a regulation, such as tighter restrictions on pollution. Consider, for example, a hypothetical regulation that costs $18 billion to enforce but will prevent 2,500 deaths. At $7.8 million per person (the old figure), the lifesaving benefits outweigh the costs. But at $6.9 million per person, the rule costs more than the lives it saves, so it may not be adopted.

If this FISA bill is passed in the Senate, then Bush & the telecoms may reap a trifecta of retroactive or prospective immunities: civil, criminal and administrative.  In addition to a telecom's retroactive civil immunity, this bill may also provide Bush with a colorable argument of civil and criminal immunity.  

A colorable argument means that if a criminal prosecution or Congressional investigation is commenced, then Bush may present the appearance of a valid legal argument sufficient to prevent dismissal as wholly insubstantial or frivolous claims lacking merit on the facts or legal foundation. The colorable argument does not mean ultimate success, but would afford Bush the delay he needs to string out litigation for years to prevent accountability.

An amendment which strikes out 6 words may eliminate this colorable argument.

NCrissieB tries to make the case that the telecom immunity is no biggy because:

this bill provides an affirmative, threshhold defense of "acting in good faith under color of law."  An affirmative defense must be raised and proved by the defendant telecom, and it's up to the trial judge to determine whether the telecom did in fact "act in good faith under color of law."  If the trial judge determines that it did, the suit is dismissed.  If the trial judge determines that it didn't, the suit goes forward.

If this were true, I would feel a lot better because someone would have to prove to the court that Bush was authorized to conduct domestic spying contrary to FISA requirements and that a court made the determination that the spying program was lawful.  But, this is not required by the telecom bill.

In April 2008, Attywood asked Senator Obama if he as President would hold former Bush administration officials accountable by seeking prosecution for crimes committed.  Obama promised that he would review the information to determine whether an investigation was required; and, if officials knowingly violated existing laws, Obama indicated that he would pursue prosecution.  

Based upon Obama's standard, there should be an investigation and potential criminal prosecution of Bush and other officials for knowingly violating FISA. Bush has admitted publicly that he did not comply with FISA, which is a criminal offense.  

However, the FISA bill pending before the Senate may take this putative prosecution off the table by providing immunity to Bush while codifying his unitary executive theory.  In order for President Obama to keep his word that he would hold Bush officials accountable for clear, knowing criminal violations, Senator Obama needs to stop this FISA bill, or at least provide amendments which clearly eliminate any colorable argument of immunity for Bush.

Top Story: Blogging & Megamedia News

AP Files 7 DMCA Takedowns Against Drudge Retort, claiming the news aggregator site is violating copyright law and committing "hot news" misappropriation under NY state law. An AP lawyer "filed six Digital Millenium Copyright Act takedown requests this week demanding the removal of blog entries and another for a user comment."

This issue could ripen into one affecting all bloggers, not just news aggregators, because each diary that links to megamedia articles is using similar hyperlinking. It may be that the AP strategy is to grab the smaller sites first to establish precedent before filing against larger sites.

The AP is reporting that the US has photographic evidence of torture of a Guantanamo prisoner in which a doctor's scalpel was used to slash the prisoner's genitals when the prisoner was rendered to Morocco.  Apparently, Mr. Bush believes that torture under even his convoluted definition does not occur if it happens off US soil.

Lucky was an orange bobtail cat which was abandoned by his human "family" around 15 years ago when he was just a few years old. He died today at vets' guesstimate of 17-19 years old. We knew and loved him for 3 ½ years.

Lucky's original "family" lived a block or so from us. When they moved from the neighborhood, they just abandoned Lucky. It was not accidental. They just intentionally left this sweet cat to fend for himself.

McCain is working hard to separate himself from Bush, who the public views as a political liability. There are honorable ways for McCain to disengage from Bush, but McCain has chosen to use the ongoing pain and suffering endured in NOLA as a Hollywood backdrop for his politically contrived horse-and-pony show to prove that he is indeed a "kinder, gentler Republican."

Last April, McShame declared in his "forgotten places of America tour" that Bush's handling of the Katrina disaster was "terrible and disgraceful," pledging that it would never happen with President McShame. Given that natural disasters or terrorism could create another crisis, how would a President McShame prepare for this crisis in order to protect us and how would he manage the crisis?  We don't have to speculate. We have a public record of how McShame prepped for Katrina, responded to a flooded city with dead bodies, and addressed the recovery in the aftermath. Let's take a peek.

Please read this excellent diary by srkp23 on how FBI Ordered to Shut Down GTMO "War Crimes" File.

We now have two major departments of our government silenced about unlawful and/or illegal activities:  The Justice Dept. US Attorney probe and now the FBI. This war crimes file was created in the context of torture and thus involves human rights.  It is also now analogous to the US Attorney probe. When the FBI orders a halt to an informal "probe" to document what law enforcement officials believe is war crimes, the FBI mission is politicized to cover-up illegal acts just like with the US Attorney probe where the Justice Dept. was used as a political tool to charge crimes against Democrats or to stop probes of goppies.  Two major agencies corrupted by politicization.  

Source: Please click here to see full-sized picture  Alaska Coalition

A few years ago, Bush changed the law to legalize the dumping of waste into our streams and lakes.  For years, federal agencies unlawfully issued permits to allow the dumping of MTR mining waste into Appalachian streams.  After environmental groups obtained injunctions to stop this practice, Bush changed the rules to create a new standard for a new permit to authorize the use of our waterways as waste sites.

As shown in the picture, Bush has moved from Appalachian streams to a lake in one of our national forests on the West Coast. In one of the first cases to adjudicate Bush's new rule, the court held that even if the mining waste appears to qualify for one of Bush's new easy permits, if the EPA has issued certain water quality standards that govern the waste, then the mining company must obtain one of those stricter permits that Bush tried to circumvent with his new rule.  

McCain & Megamedia, Inc. claim he's not getting a pass on the story of the extremist pastors endorsing him.  Rather, the megamedia have simply coincidentally focused on the McCain meme of distinguishing relationships that each candidate had with a pastor(s).

By focusing on the minutiae, the public is distracted from two key issues that voters may actually care about. One, politicians generally seek endorsements from persons who share their political ideology. The megamedia should ask McCain specifically whether he supports the political policies and religious doctrines advocated by these pastors for each issue not unequivocally rejected by McCain. Two, McCain denounced candidate pandering to "agents of intolerance" as a campaign strategy in 2000 but then embraced this strategy in 2006, the same year McCain started prepping for his 2008 campaign, which is an issue of his credibility, integrity and leadership as a potential US president.  

Cross-posted on THE ENVIRONMENTALIST and Reuters

At least 36 states will face water shortages in the next 5 years as supplies decrease due to drought, rising temperatures, population and inefficient management.  Tensions created by mandatory conservation restrictions have turned neighbors against each other by reporting to the water police suspected illegal watering based on a lawn that was simply too green.  

For a change, there is some good environmental news. Companies and individuals have developed technologies to capture water vapors in our air to create drinking water... or, as in this picture, a water maker that collects dew.