This footage shows glacier melt in Greenland. A large chunk of Greenland
has split off into a separate island.
** UPDATE: The Nunez endorsement of Clinton is confirmed by sources with the Clinton campaign.
** HILLARY CLINTON TO ANNOUNCE MAJOR CALIFORNIA ENDORSEMENT. Senator Hillary Clinton will hold a conference call tomorrow morning to unveil a major endorsement in the California presidential primary.
Word is that it will be Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.
This is not, however, confirmed by the speaker’s office or the Clinton campaign.
** EXPANDED CASINO TRIBE LOBBYING EFFORT. In addition to the multi-million dollar TV advertising campaign revealed on NWN to pass tribal gaming compacts negotiated by the Schwarzenegger Administration and swiftly approved by the state Senate, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians has a larger program underway to gain approval in the Assembly, where union interests seeking greater organizing opportunities in the casinos vow opposition. It includes targeted direct mail and robocalls into 22 Assembly districts, live phone banking into 12 Assembly districts, and precinct walking in 10 Assembly districts.
** SCHWARZENEGGER WATER PLAN VOTED DOWN BY STATE SENATE COMMITTEE. The California state Senate natural resources committee today voted down Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s water plan, which includes provisions for two dams to capture run-off from a more rapidly melting Sierra snowpack in the greenhouse era. Relations between Schwarzenegger and Senate leader Don Perata have been more strained since the late Phil Angelides for Governor campaign leaked purloined private tapes of Schwarzenegger’s conversations to the Los Angeles Times in which the governor described Perata, during a tense moment of negotiation last year on the big infrastructure bonds package, as “sick in the head.” The longstanding conventional environmentalist view, reflected in the career Senate staff structure, is anti-dam.
Said Schwarzenegger in a statement following the legislative committee defeat: “Our water infrastructure plan is critically-needed to address California’s growing water needs that include storage, conveyance and conservation. With shrinking snow packs from a changing climate, above-ground water storage will be a central part of California’s water future. It is early in the legislative process and water planning is one of the most difficult and complex issues facing California. My administration will continue to utilize all available means to push for a solution that includes surface storage, allowing California to implement a water plan to endure longer drought periods and higher flood peaks.”
The Schwarzenegger plan includes $5.9 billion in water bonds, including $4.5 billion for increased water storage, $1 billion for the Sacramento River Delta at the top of San Francisco Bay, and $450 million for conservation and restoration.
** YELTSIN FUNERAL TOMORROW. Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, architect, for better of for worse, of much of post-Soviet Russia, will have a fairly elaborate funeral ceremony tomorrow in Moscow. It comes at an intriguing moment, as an increasingly authoritarian Russia under Vladimir Putin attempts to reassert itself as a great power on the world stage. More coverage to follow. Yeltsin, unlike most recent former Russian heads of state, will be buried in a cemetery outside Moscow where Chekhov, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich are also buried.
** TILLMAN AND LYNCH TESTIFY TO WAR FAKERY. Former Army Ranger Kevin Lynch, brother of the late NFL star Pat Tillman, testified today before the House Government Oversight hearing chaired by LA Congressman Henry Waxman. He said that his brother, a native Californian who was killed in Afghanistan in a grotesque friendly fire incident, was used by the Army and the Bush Administration in death to distract from “the tortures at Abu Graib” prison in Iraq. For weeks, Pat Tillman’s death was falsely portrayed as the result of enemy action, and Tillman was posthumously awarded one of the highest decorations for valor, the Silver Star. Actually, he was shot to death by fellow Rangers as a result of ludicrous series of mistakes. Tillman, who really was a hero, had given up a big-money pro football contract after 9/11 to become a Ranger, part of America’s elite special operations forces, and served with distinction in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For her part, former Army soldier Jessica Lynch, who was captured during the invasion of Iraq, testified that heroic actions ascribed to her never took place, and that wounds said to have been inflicted by Iraqi soldiers were actually the result of an accident. The fictional version, which resulted in her being awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, resulted in much stirring media coverage and a movie-of-the-week.
** MCCAIN LEADS IN SOUTH CAROLINA POLL. A new Zogby telephone poll of South Carolina Republican voters finds John McCain holding a slender lead over Rudy Giuliani, 22% to 19%, with Fred Thompson at 11%, Mitt Romney at 10%, and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, a rumored favorite son candidate, at 8%. South Carolina is the fourth state in the presidential nomination race, following Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire.
Says Zogby: Overall, a majority of likely primary voters (69%) said they would be most likely to vote for a candidate who is generally more conservative, while one in four (26%) would prefer a more moderate candidate. Giuliani (20%), McCain (19%), Romney (11%) and Thompson (11%) lead among self-described conservatives, although a sizable percentage (27%) said they are unsure for whom they would vote. Among self-described very conservatives, Thompson (19%), McCain (18%) and Romney (15%) lead. Moderates prefer McCain at 32% support, with Giuliani at 27% and Thompson trailing in third place at 8% support.
The telephone survey of 512 likely South Carolina Republican primary voters was conducted April 16-17, 2007, and carries a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percentage points.
Among evangelical Christians, McCain (22%) and Giuliani (16%) are out front, as Fred Thompson (10%) barely edges Romney and Sanford, who are tied at 9% support. One in four men (24%) support McCain, while 18% would vote for Giuliani, 13% for Thompson and 10% for Romney. Giuliani (20%) and McCain (19%) are the leading candidates among women, with Romney and Thompson tied for third at 10%.
Thompson enjoys the strongest intensity of support at 95%, with Giuliani at 91%, McCain at 87% and Romney trailing at 78%. Of the top four candidates, 84% of Romney supporters said it is likely they could change their minds about voting for him before the primary, compared to 81% who said the same about McCain and 74% who feel that way about Giuliani and Thompson.
While 81% said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who stands by what he or she believes in – regardless if they can win the general election – 13% said they would instead favor a candidate who can win the White House.
** SCHWARZENEGGER WEBCAST ON HEALTH CARE AT NOON. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks to the California Medical Association legislative luncheon today at noon. He will promote his comprehensive health care proposal, which has been lagging of late.
** “NO CONFIDENCE” IN GONZALES? Senate Democrats may stage a vote of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who turned in a disastrous performance at last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the firings of eights US attorneys.
** GREENHOUSE ISLAND. A big chunk of Greenland has split off from the whole, forming a new island. The glacier that held it to the mainland melted away. This is a dramatic development in the global pattern of increasingly melting glaciers, seen in the video above shot last year in Greenland.
Greenland, once green before an earlier ice age, is the second largest ice sheet in the world. That ice sheet is melting faster than anticipated in a 2000 report by global climate scientists. The new island, dubbed Warming Island, was discovered by Californian Dennis Schmitt who’s been going to Greenland for 40 years.
** CLINTON AND OBAMA IN SOUTH CAROLINA DEAD HEAT AS DEBATE LOOMS. With the first Democratic presidential debate coming up on Thursday in South Carolina, a new poll in that early primary state shows Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in a dead heat. It’s Clinton 24%, Obama 23%, and John Edwards 16%.
The Democratic presidential field gathers Thursday night at the University of South Carolina for their first debate, following two issue forums in Nevada, before coming West for the California Democratic Party convention this coming weekend in San Diego.
** Track global and national energy prices in near real time via Bloomberg. Crude oil prices have risen to the $65 to $67 per barrel range. There has been violence around oil fields in Ethiopia and Nigeria.
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Jonas Blane:Maybe we’ll all take a big swim.
Apr 24, 2007 - 9:05 am Jonas Blane:I was wondering where Obama was going to win early. Maybe South Carolina is it.
Apr 24, 2007 - 9:06 am Ann:That water looks COLD.
Apr 24, 2007 - 9:24 am Bill Bradley:Not as cold as when it was frozen.
Apr 24, 2007 - 9:28 am mitchell:Bill, thanks for your continuing coverage of the Global Warming crisis. Really scary.
Apr 24, 2007 - 10:16 am Bill Bradley:On the latest Rasmussen poll, why do you think they are tied? Hillary is starting to look a little, just a little, like McCain. Without the aura of the frontrunner, they both look a bit like the emperor with no clothes.
I still think Hillary pulls it out, but she will be forced to chuck her general election strategy, out the door. She’ll have to go left, which will hurt her for the general election.
As you know, I don’t generally credit Rasmussen, since it’s a robopoll.
Apr 24, 2007 - 10:30 am Wilbur:That island isn’t really there. It’s an Al Gore camera trick. Damn hippies!
Apr 24, 2007 - 10:51 am Wilbur:Pat Tillman’s brother gave very compelling testimony - “good TV” the nets will likely milk - before House Oversight this morning. Told it straight - these guys didn’t “misstate” or “misrecall,” they deliberately and outright lied, destroyed records and falsified records, dishonoring my brother just to create a cynical PR stunt to distract from their failures at Abu Ghraib.
Dems have another pony to ride. Come to think of it, that corral is pretty crowded….
Apr 24, 2007 - 11:00 am Ann:What’s so bad about global warming?
The islands in the Pacific that get submerged will be replaced by new islands in the Arctic. Cool.
Apr 24, 2007 - 11:33 am Bill Bradley:Ah, true.
Apr 24, 2007 - 11:55 am Wilbur:Berkeley Hills will make a lovely archipelago. Alas, at 141 feet I guess my house inland has little hope of a beachfront.
Apr 24, 2007 - 12:03 pm Barbara:“War Fakery”…
neocon ideology is ALL corrupting…However, it appears opposition to neocons in the WH is well and alive (Thank You James Baker)…Rice is meeting with the PLA/Hamas government members …and will meet next week in Sharm el-Sheikh with Iranians and Syrians (lucky Condi I hope she takes a bathing suit …this place is paradise)
Meanwhile “Swoop” reports that Gates is openly competing with Cheney to determine not only our outcome in Iraq but FP in general. “During his current visit to the Middle East, we understand from Pentagon contacts, that Defense Secretary Bob Gates has time and again encountered a single question: “The region’s leaders want to know how we will manage defeat?” A senior Pentagon official commented to us that Gates treats this question pragmatically. “We need a continuing presence in the region, but we will scale back our ground forces. In the future, the US Navy will take much more responsibility for defending our regional interests and give us a lighter footprint.” (Swoop 4/23-30)
I hope the above quote is accurate
(i.e. “We need a continuing presence in the regio….)
Petraeus is scheduled to testify before Congress this Thurs April 26th. Someone should get him on the record saying just that….
Apr 24, 2007 - 12:18 pm carole w:You all will be banging on my front door, when the new super hurricanes hit LA. I will be the new Malibu:)
Apr 24, 2007 - 12:49 pm Bill Bradley:Kinda like “Marina del Lex” in the first Superman movie, where Lex Luthor buys beachfront property. In Nevada.
Apr 24, 2007 - 12:54 pm Capitol Boy:The Tillman/Lynch testimony is amazing.
Apr 24, 2007 - 1:11 pm carole w:My house will be for available for lease…$10 mil a month and I will move to Sundance Utah. Speaking of global warming…Is Maybauch offering an engine that runs on alternative fuel…I am not trying to make anyone feel guilty or anything?
Apr 24, 2007 - 1:17 pm Bill Bradley:I don’t know. And while I’m not up on the latest comings and goings in the Schwarzenegger household fleet of vehicles, I do know that he owned a Maybach.
A friend of mine’s son wanted him to buy a Maybach, which is essentially like a very well-appointed private jet on wheels, the German equivalent of a Rolls.
Apr 24, 2007 - 1:25 pm carole w:Did you see the news article
Apr 24, 2007 - 1:48 pm Anonymous:re:Discovering Kryptonite in Siberia?
…sorry Serbia:) not Siberia…
Apr 24, 2007 - 1:50 pm Jonas Blane:Kryptonite?
Apr 24, 2007 - 2:11 pm Jonathan Hemlock:I am not sure what is more alarming. The new island off Greenland? Or the incessant lying of this White House around Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch?
Apr 24, 2007 - 2:40 pm Sacramento Solon:For months I heard you folks yammer about “24″…you hooked me with your talk…and now you seldom speak of it. Was it a plot on your part to help destroy what was left of my feeble old mind? Or has the shown going so far south that event Rhett Butler wouldn’t enjoy it? What gives?
Apr 24, 2007 - 2:56 pm Bill Bradley:24 was great last season, swept the Emmys.
This season it’s gone down the tubes after a great start. The last few episodes have gotten somewhat better.
Apr 24, 2007 - 3:08 pm larry:C-SPAN is repeating the House testimony today about Tillman and Lynch. This, from their e-mail alert:
* House Hearing on Misleading Battlefield Information (11:20pm) C-SPAN 1.
That’s 8:20 PM for those of us in the Pacific time zone.
Apr 24, 2007 - 3:37 pm Brasky:What explains the lead in SC for McCain? Repressed guilt over 2000?
Apr 24, 2007 - 3:40 pm Vladimir Bierko:Solon, 24 is suffering from a poor season this year. It’s picked up a bit, as Bill says, but it’s a shadow of its former self.
The show has always been about Jack’s sacrifice and loss in the performance of his duties. This season, what did Jack have to lose? His daughter Kim has disowned him and he later learned Audrey was dead. Okay, she’s alive now, but for 18-odd episodes, Jack was running on loyalty fumes.
Jack is at his best when he has something personal to lose. This season lacked that and you see the results.
Apr 24, 2007 - 3:40 pm RM 'Auros' Harman:I think my part of Palo Alto is right around 10 meters elevation… I guess I’ll be a stone’s throw from the Bay. Not the ocean, of course, since there’s that big ridgline west of me — but the Bay will be a lot bigger…
Aha, here we go… Yeah, 10m sea level rise, and my little neighborhood by Stanford becomes beachfront.
Apr 24, 2007 - 3:43 pm Bill Bradley:Don’t be totally surprised if McCain is the nominee.
>Brasky :
Apr 24, 2007 - 3:45 pm Brasky:What explains the lead in SC for McCain? Repressed guilt over 2000?
Apr 24, 2007 03:40 PM
“Senate Democrats may stage a vote of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.”
Idiots. These guys need to learn metered response and the art of escalation.
Senate Democrats: why must you be the screen door on my submarine?
Apr 24, 2007 - 3:45 pm RM 'Auros' Harman:Whoa… As well, that 10m rise turns everything from Sacramento down to Stockton into an inland sea.
Apr 24, 2007 - 3:45 pm Brasky:“Don’t be totally surprised if McCain is the nominee.”
In SC or nationally?
I find the scramble among conservatives to be entertaining. McCain might have a shot if another candidate doesn’t galvanize conservatives against him.
Apr 24, 2007 - 3:49 pm Bill Bradley:There’s only one nomination.
All the “conservatives” are flawed.
Apr 24, 2007 - 3:53 pm Wilbur:Cool map, Auros. Looks like I’d still be 20 min. from the beach, and not very good surf at that.
Maybe I’d like things to stay where they are after all.
Apr 24, 2007 - 3:57 pm Ann:“24″ is just another TV show now.
Apr 24, 2007 - 4:19 pm Sacramento Solon:Mr. Bradley,
If you truly think the last two episodes of “24″ have been better, would you please share with the the stuff you be smoking. Must be damn fine…damn fine!
Valdimir,
Thanks. Nice to know that Bill does share!
Apr 24, 2007 - 4:39 pm Bill Bradley:Thanks both for your feedback…
Last night was mediocre, the few before were pretty good after a several lousy eps.
Apr 24, 2007 - 5:09 pm Sacramento Solon:Gotta get some of that stuff, Bill. Gotta. Please…please share. Please!
Apr 24, 2007 - 5:11 pm Capitol Boy:Nunez for Clinton, huh? That’s interesting.
Apr 24, 2007 - 5:35 pm Ann:Alright, Mr. Speak-uh, go with the girrrl power!
Apr 24, 2007 - 6:08 pm Brasky:“Word is that it will be Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.”
Will Perata call a snap press conference 5 minutes before Fabian to announce HIS endorsement?
Apr 24, 2007 - 6:37 pm Bill Bradley:No, he will not.
Apr 24, 2007 - 6:42 pm Bill Bradley:Incidentally, the right wing is attacking the Tillman family.
It’s disgusting reading so much of the hyperpartisan crap expelled by the assholes of the far left and far right.
Apr 24, 2007 - 6:51 pm Bill Bradley:My post on the “Powerline” blog. (Powerline is a popular blog by some conservative lawyers.)
Posted: 24 April 2007 09:59 PM [ Ignore ] [ # 5 ]
Voter
Total Posts: 1
Joined 2007-04-24
So you are attacking Pat Tillman’s brother, a decorated Army Ranger, for correctly pointing out the multiple official lies told about the circumstances of Pat Tillman’s death.
You got some pair of balls on you, sport.
Which branch of the military were you in?
Apr 24, 2007 - 7:03 pm Ann:Those Pajamas right wingnuts are disgusting.
Apr 24, 2007 - 7:35 pm Capitol Boy:Nunez is the first big endorsement in the Democratic primary. Good for him.
Apr 24, 2007 - 8:05 pm carole w:I agree with Ann:)
Apr 24, 2007 - 8:11 pm carole w:Yeah for Hilliary!
Apr 24, 2007 - 8:14 pm Wilbur:I just watched that simpering prick Issa try to cross-examine Tillman’s brother about what evidence he has for the contention pols and top brass were involved in the concoction of the story. After taking pains to point out he served in ROTC at Kent State in the 70s (so he’s one of “us.”
I don’t think this bozo understands that a great many vets who otherwise might still buy the war policy b.s. are deeply offended by this episode and instinctively suspect the motives and acts of pols and top brass.
Apr 24, 2007 - 9:59 pm Hap Hazard:Pajamasmedia is a new media outlet that uses various blogs to report news and commentary. I don’t think it is accurate to characterize everyone who is a network blogger for them as a right wing screwball. (After all, Bill is featured prominently by them!) They have contributors from the right for sure, but also from the left, including David Corn, Marc Cooper, etc.
The principal editor and founder is a relatively liberal democrat, and interesting fellow, Roger Simon.
They do have a good share of contributors from the right (and from libertarians), which is I suppose a reason why they may seem to be right wingers all, because the mainstream media tends to be monolithic and left leaning in its narrative. There are exceptions to that rule, Fox News in particular, but most daily newspapers and broadcast news tend to play the same music. One does get information at PJM that might not be reported anywhere else, and they seem to have a sense of humor some of the time, which is nice.
Apr 24, 2007 - 11:32 pm Jonas Blane:Pajamas seems like it has gotten more right wing. That’s weird.
Apr 25, 2007 - 5:16 am