Left Turn did not take a pro-Obama position, by the way. Rather, it ran a few insightful commentaries about the way the radical anti-capitalist Left may attempt to relate to the broad population of everyday folk who supported Obama enthusiastically. Left Turn considered the value of building alliances with people who supported Obama, particularly young folk of color new to political engagement.

I found this line of inquiry to be refreshing and full of radical potential, unlike the sea of cynicism I regularly witness on the Left, which verges on utter contempt for the masses of everyday people inspired by the Obama campaign.

Sea level rise could be worse than anticipated
February 5th, 2009 in Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

A digital image of what Antarctica would look like if it consisted only of land actually above sea level.
If global warming some day causes the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to collapse, as many experts believe it could, the resulting sea level rise in much of the United States and other parts of the world would be significantly higher than is currently projected, a new study concludes.
The catastrophic increase in sea level, already projected to average between 16 and 17 feet around the world, would be almost 21 feet in such places as Washington, D.C., scientists say, putting it largely underwater. Many coastal areas would be devastated. Much of Southern Florida would disappear.
The report will be published Friday in the journal Science, by researchers from Oregon State University and the University of Toronto. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and other agencies from the U.S. and Canada.
“We aren’t suggesting that a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is imminent,” said Peter Clark, a professor of geosciences at Oregon State University. “But these findings do suggest that if you are planning for sea level rise, you had better plan a little higher.”
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated that a collapse of this ice sheet would raise sea levels around the world by about 16.5 feet, on average, and that figure is still widely used. However, that theoretical average does not consider several key forces, such as gravity, changes in the Earth’s rotation or a rebound of the land on which the massive glacier now rests, scientists say in the new study.

Right now, this ice sheet has a huge mass, towering more than 6,000 feet above sea level over a large section of Antarctica. This mass is sufficient to exert a substantial gravitational attraction, researchers say, pulling water toward it – much as the gravitational forces of the sun and moon cause the constant movement of water on Earth commonly known as tides.
“A study was done more than 30 years ago pointing out this gravitational effect, but for some reason it became virtually ignored,” Clark said. “People forgot about it when developing their sea level projections for the future.”
And aside from incorporating the gravitational effect, the new study adds further wrinkles to the calculation – the weight of the ice forcing down the land mass on which it sits, and also affecting the orientation of the Earth’s spin. When the ice is removed, it appears the underlying land would rebound, and the Earth’s axis of rotation defined by the North and South Pole would actually shift about one-third of a mile, also affecting the sea level at various points.
When these forces are all taken into calculation, the sea level anywhere near Antarctica would actually fall, the report concludes, while many other areas, mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, would go up.
If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet completely melted, the East Coast of North America would experience sea levels more than four feet higher than had been previously predicted – almost 21 feet – and the West Coast, as well as Miami, Fla., would be about a foot higher than that. Most of Europe would have seas about 18 feet higher.
“If this did happen, there would also be many other impacts that go far beyond sea level increase, including much higher rates of coastal erosion, greater damage from major storm events, problems with ground water salinization, and other issues,” Clark said. “And there could be correlated impacts on other glaciers and ice sheets in coastal areas that could tend to destabilize them as well.”
It’s still unclear, Clark said, when or if a breakup of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet might occur, or how fast it could happen. It may not happen for hundreds of years, he said, and even then it may not melt in its entirety. Research should continue to better understand the forces at work, he said.
“However, these same effects apply to any amount of melting that may occur from West Antarctica,” Clark said. “So many coastal areas need to plan for greater sea level rise than they may have expected.”
A significant part of the concern is that much of the base of this huge ice mass actually sits below sea level, forced down to the bedrock by the sheer weight of the ice above it. Its edges flow out into floating ice shelves, including the huge Ross Ice Shelf and Ronne Ice Shelf. This topography makes it “inherently unstable,” Clark said.
“There is widespread concern that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is characterized by extensive marine-based sectors, may be prone to collapse in a warming world,” the researchers wrote in their report.
Source: Oregon State University

The so called elite’s are the biggest slaves of all. That feeling of power that is nothing more than an optical delusion of conciseness is the most powerful drug of all. They will do anything to get it keep it. Well what’s coming that delusion is over and we all get to go down together. Boring it will not be. A nice quiet cup of coffee anyone.

So what’s coming? It’s not so much of what’s coming but what is already here. In the last 100 years we have been burning things in a rather big way. In the last 50 years or so we have been putting CO 2 into the atmosphere at 10,000 times the natural rate and let’s just go back 600,000 years for the natural rate part that should be enough for us human’s. 120,000 years ago the amount of CO 2 in the atmosphere was about 285 ppm and the temperature was about the same as today. Well guess what the ocean level was 19.5 feet higher because most of Greenland was ice free with those conditions. Then the CO 2 dropped over about 100,000 years to about 200ppm and stayed that way for about a thousand years. Now in just the last 100 years we human’s have been very busy. The line on a chart goes up and in a rather big way. We went from about 290ppm to 386ppm in just 100 years. Here’s where you have to use your mind a little. If the oceans were 19.5 feet higher 120,000 years ago and Greenland was for the most part ice free at 285ppm why now are not the oceans much higher and Greenland ice free? Because we put CO 2 so fast into the atmosphere it hasn’t had time to catch-up but it will. The ice in the North right ice is melting fast and the temperatures are on the rise. We are in big trouble people and yet certain people are still trying to figure out if it is a problem. Among the people that know this climate breakdown is moving much faster than first thought and in many way’s to late to slow some real fun stuff. So what is the biggest obstacle to try and slow this breakdown for future generations? A very big part is these so called elite’s who are the biggest slaves of all to the very system that got us here. For me to watch these so called elite’s weather it be policy makers or people on TV use fifth grade level thinking to back up there truths is fascinating in some way’s and very sad in others. There are a few trying to get the truth out on this and it could be to late but maybe not we must try. One thing for sure we are not going to slow this down with the same thinking that got us here. We need more than a few trying and again think of this as kind of a war. Tuff times ahead either way. That optical delusion of conciseness there is something very very wrong with that I think it’s called stupidity. The few that are trying to slow this down are not hopelessly addicted to the system and the one’s that are for the most part are still in control and that fifth grade thinking seems like such a shame to have to go that way. Yes the biggest slaves of all.

and Thursday

http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2009/03/iraq-snapshot_26.html

Point, some of the people online don’t write long whining columns, they get off their butts and do something, actual reporting. And they do it regularly. Not just when it’s time to hit people up for money.