New Question

2007-6-19 04:10:00

This will be a different question for the group as it concerns one of the problems of the day. Many often forget that solving group and individual problems is a very metaphysical enterprise for which one must call forth the maximum light available.

As you know, the country is being torn apart over the issue of border security and what to do with illegal aliens. The Senate, encouraged by Bush, attempted to pass a bill but it received such strong public opposition that it failed. Now they are back at the drawing board making additions hoping to make it palatable to the public.

Question:

What should we do to secure our borders and what should we do with the 12-20 million illegal aliens in the country? What would you do if you were in charge and had supreme power?

Do you see any illusion in circulation around this issue?

Global Warming Enlightenment:

Anthony Watts of Chico, Calif. a former TV meteorologist has set out to do what no politically correct climate modeler has done - physically quality-check each weather station to see if it's being operated properly.

To assure accuracy, stations (essentially older thermometers in little four-legged wooden sheds or digital thermometers mounted on poles) should be 100 feet from buildings, not placed on hot concrete, etc. But as photos on Watts' site show, the station in Forest Grove, Ore., stands 10 feet from an air-conditioning exhaust vent. In Roseburg, Ore., it's on a rooftop near an AC unit. In Tahoe, Calif., it's next to a drum where trash is burned.

Watts, who says he's a man of facts and science, isn't jumping to any rash conclusions based on the 40-some weather stations his volunteers have checked so far. But he said Tuesday that what he's finding raises doubts about NOAA's (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) past and current temperature reports.

"I believe we will be able to demonstrate that some of the global warming increase is not from CO₂ but from localized changes in the temperature-measurement environment."

Meanwhile, you probably missed the latest about 2006. As NOAA reported on May 1 - with minimum mainstream-media fanfare - 2006 actually was the second- warmest year ever recorded in America, not the first. At an annual average of 54.9 degrees F, it was a whopping 0.08 degrees cooler than 1998, still the hottest year.

NOAA explained that it had updated its 2006 report "to reflect revised statistics" and "better address uncertainties in the instrumental record." This tinkering is standard procedure. NOAA always scientifically tweaks temperature readings for various reasons -- weather stations are moved to different locations, modernized, affected by increased urbanization, etc.

NOAA didn't say whether it had adjusted for uncertainties caused by nearby burn barrels.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/steigerwald/s_\ 513013.html