LE MONDE, PARIS FRANCE
Gaza, des habitants racontent l'acharnement de l'armée israélienne sur des civils
LE MONDE 23.01.09 09h55 • Mis à jour le 23.01.09 20h30 http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2009/01/23/a-gaza-des-habitants-racontent-l-acharnement-de-l-armee-israelienne-sur-des-civils_1145435_3218.html
Le Monde reports by special envoy from Gaza this distressing story about the Samouni clan who live in Zeitoun, a small village in central Gaza (about 1.4 miles from the Israeli border) where 21 houses and a mosque were reduced to ruins. The IDF (Tsahal) has passed here.
Moussa Samouni, a 19 year old, recounts how on January 4th Israeli helicopters descended on Zeitoun, and soldiers dropped down onto the rooftops. "Everyone went down into the basements (to hide) where we remained during that night. There were about 120 of us. There was total panic, the children were crying. They were all cold. We opened the door to go and search for wood. I found my father in the road, he was dead. The soldiers ordered us back inside. Then there was a heavy bombardment and then a second one, in which the shells had fallen on our roof. Twenty-two people were killed. I have lost my father, my mother,my uncle and several cousins. There were people everywhere bleeding."
Moussa was not hurt. When he attempted to get away, he was arrested by the soldiers who tied his hands and covered his eyes. He found himself a prisoner with one of his uncles. That was a hard three days.
Three days of hard interrogation followed. "The soldiers have accused me of being a Hamas. They beat me on my back (so hard). I said to them kill me if you think I am Hamas! They put grenades in my uncle's pockets (held) behind me, and threaten to explode them. My uncle said he would prefer to die by being shot. They wanted to burn him by lighting (the cloth)of his (bed) covers Then (to extinguish the fire?) they jumped on his head."
On the morning of January 7, the two were finally released. The soldiers had privately ordered them not to say a word (about their treatment?) and had given them white flags. After the retreat of the Israelis on the 20th of January, the bodies of 22 victims were removed form the ruins and buried. On January 22 a big bereavement tent was raised over the area of the ruins for (services and) condolences. On a white canvas banner was written the names of the 22 dead, plus those of seven other victims, with this inscription: "The martyrs of the massacre of Gaza of the Samouni family". Masses of people pressed by under this decoration of apocalypse to make homage to the 29 missing members of the Samounis.
Near by, on one of the few standing buildings, the walls are covered with chalk graffit: "The place for the Arabs is under the ground," "If you are a true Givati (elite amphibious brigade akin to our marines) you must kill the Arabs", "Jerusalem is for Israel" Many stars of David and other "cris de guerre" war cry graffiti are seen. These and evidences that the soldiers established their fire positions on the roof are evidenced by scattered shell boxes and sacks of sand on the floor of the flat roof.
THIS WAS A GAME FOR THE SOLDIERS
There are the other dramas that unfold (as one speaks to survivors). One Fahed Saoumi recounts: "My father, Atiyeh has worked in Israel. He speaks Hebrew and (thought) he knew what to do. He left our door open. But they began by shooting everywhere. When they came in they demanded we raise our hands and they (pushed us ) to go out. There are eight or ten of them. Then they began to fire. My father was killed by the attack. He had thirty bullets in his body. He was killed right before my eyes! Everyone began to scream and weep. They then began to fire again. Several other members of the family were hit, as well as the child of my brother Ahmed, aged four years. He took two bullets in his chest and shrapnel in his head. Then they fired an incendiary piece. We could not see anything (from the bright light). We choked (on the fumes and smoke). After about ten minutes, we were authorized to leave and were directed across the main road. I had my (Ahmed) brother in my arms. The Israelis they spit on my back. (Outside in the street there was no help)The ambulances could not get through. We finally found refuge in a house. But my brother Ahmed died in my arms."
According to several other witnesses, they state: "Five other members of the Samouni family were killed by gun fire, among them was a young by of 17 years who had been hiding in a house. The obviously wounded stare blankly at their own blood. There is no help. A 75 year old grandfather was crushed by a wall, pushed over my an Israeli bulldozer."
Zahwa, the widow of Atiyeh, recounts in detail with tears in her eyes, what she had lived through. "This was just a game for the soldiers. They laughed", she said. There was Zeinab, who is 12 years old, she lost her father, her mother, two brothers and several cousins. Shiffa, 19 years has also buried her father, her mother, her aunt and her uncle. Almass, 13 years old, remembered how a soldier fired at Messaouda, who had her baby of six months in her arms, and who is now dead. All have lost several close relatives.
"Why why? repeats Nabayia, over again. "We made no resistance, we are not combatants we are not armed." What is our crime? What faults have we committed? What can the entire world respond to this question. We can never more have peace with Israel! My next son, he will be go to learn to be a mujaheddin, to wreak vengeance for all the lost children and all these deaths."
Questioned, by the press ,the agent of the Israeli army, Ms Avital Leibovitch, has assured (Le Monde) on Thursday, that "an inquiry is on course. But I want you to know that the Givati Brigade is not trained to kill women and children and that the (?) of mortars are the action of Zeitoun (Zeitoun is the village where this event took place and where Israelis of the Givati Brigade are thought to have committed war crimes). The the UN Bureau for Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) has initiated an investigation at Zeitoun for the most grave incidents of the Israeli offensive.
The Samouni family are farmers. Their fields and olive groves all around the village have been ravaged the the tanks and personnel carriers of the Israelis. Now at least three hundred of them are today homeless. "How would you want us to be friends of the Israelis?" screams Mouna. "They kill for pleasure and never say anything. Out blood is worth nothing (to them). This is the greatest massacre ever committed in Gaza! How long will it be, before they come to us (again) to terrorize and massacre again?"
Michel Bole-Richard
Translated from the French: rjk
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
OBAMA'S NEW FOREIGN POLICY?
IHT 2009/01/23
ISLAMABAD: Two missile attacks launched from unmanned American aircraft killed at least 15 people in western Pakistan on Friday, suggesting that the strategy of using drones to kill militants inside Pakistan's own borders would continue under President Barack Obama.
According to President Obama's recent inaugural statements he wants America to lead the world by example "As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." ..."And so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more."
"Recall that earlier generations... understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint."
Is this just rhetoric and nothing has changed?
Under President Bush ramped up attacks on Taliban near the end of his tenure, remotely piloted Predator drones operated by the Central Intelligence Agency have carried out more than 30 missile attacks since last summer against Al Qaeda members and other suspected terrorists deep in their redoubts on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan.
But the attacks have also killed civilians, enraging Pakistanis and making it more difficult for the country's shaky government to win support for its own military operations against Taliban guerrillas in the country's lawless border region.
But the attacks have also killed civilians, enraging Pakistanis and making it more difficult for the country's shaky government to win support for its own military operations against Taliban guerrillas in the country's lawless border region.
A most grievous mistake occurred in November (5) 2008 when a CIA drone hit a wedding party compound killing more than ninety Afghan civilians.
"The Tuesday wedding ceremony came under US-led forces’ aerial bombardment in Wocha Bakhta village some 80 km (50 miles) north of the southern city of Kandahar in Kandahar province. American sources (See my blog below) at first claimed there were 30 insurgetns killed. However it became clear that the American story was just that. There had been no return fire...in fact there were no evidences of allied forces on the ground. The drone fired at a wedding party...killing nearly one hundred civilians. The worst part of the story was that these individuals happened to be allies and their families who had worked for a near-by British camp. Few news reports of this story were made in the US papers.
Even as the CIA continues its strikes just inside Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, Obama and his top national security aides are likely to review in the coming days other counter terrorism measures put in place by the Bush administration, American officials said.
These include orders that President George W. Bush secretly approved in July that for the first time allowed American Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without the prior approval of the Pakistani government.
Is this the new way? Has President Obama and his vaunted foreign policy team thought this out clearly?
Is this the new way? Has President Obama and his vaunted foreign policy team thought this out clearly?
Both of Friday's missile attacks hit Waziristan, a remote and mountainous region completely controlled by the Taliban. It is part of Pakistan's semi autonomous federally administered tribal areas along the Afghan border.
The first struck a village known as Mir Ali in North Waziristan late in the afternoon. Pakistani government officials issued a statement saying the attack destroyed the house of a man identified as Khalil Dawar and killed eight people. The statement said that militants surrounded the area and retrieved the bodies. But a senior Pakistani security official said that four of those killed were Arabs. Pakistani intelligence officials often take the presence of foreign fighters as indications of Al Qaeda. But there were no formal identification of the men or their nationalities..if they indeed were foreigners.
In the second attack, missiles struck a house near the village of Wana in South Waziristan, killing seven people, according to local accounts and Pakistani news reports. The reports said three of the dead were children.
American officials believe the drone strikes have killed a number of suspected militants along the frontier since last year, including a senior Qaeda operative who was killed Jan. 1 and was believed to have been involved in the 1998 bombings of the United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania as well as the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad four months ago.
But the accompanying civilian toll has helped spur a fury among Pakistanis. One senior Pakistani official estimated that the attacks may have killed as many as 220 individuals many of them women and children.
But the accompanying civilian toll has helped spur a fury among Pakistanis. One senior Pakistani official estimated that the attacks may have killed as many as 220 individuals many of them women and children.
American and Pakistani officials are known to share some intelligence about militants, but it remains unclear whether Pakistani officials have in any way acquiesced to the drone strikes or helped provide any intelligence for them while maintaining opposition in public. Openly supporting the attacks would be untenable for a government already straining against the popular perception that it is too close to the American government.
The chief spokesman for the Pakistani military, Major General Athar Abbas, told CNN in an interview broadcast on Friday that the drone attacks were counterproductive and had made it harder for Pakistani troops to operate in regions where they are battling Taliban militants.
"We face much more difficulty as a result of drone strikes," Abbas said.
"We face much more difficulty as a result of drone strikes," Abbas said.
While the military is trying to "wean away the tribe at large from the militant component of the tribe," he said, the drone strikes "diminishes the line which divides the militant component and the tribe at large." Other sources indicate that Islamabad is facing angry demonstrations against the US for their violations of Pakistan sovereignty and which affects equally innocent civilians.
Since last August, the US has hit more than 30 sites in Pakistan, while in the most part they did not bother to identify the missile shots: at least 263 persons have been killed, for the most part these have been considered insurgents, but there has been little or no proof of this. On the other hand there are many witnesses who attest to the fact that many innocent civilians have been killed.
Since last August, the US has hit more than 30 sites in Pakistan, while in the most part they did not bother to identify the missile shots: at least 263 persons have been killed, for the most part these have been considered insurgents, but there has been little or no proof of this. On the other hand there are many witnesses who attest to the fact that many innocent civilians have been killed.
In a recent article entitled: "The Wrong man..", Scott Ritter(http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/24-0) quotes veteran British military experts who flatly state that there are no military solutions in Afghanistan-- only political ones. In the end, rather than killing Taliban as these drone attacks are designed for we will have to eventually begin a dialog with this group. The British experts add, the Taliban are part of a solution in Afghanistan.
At least 132 people have been killed in 38 suspected U.S. missile strikes inside Pakistan since August, all conducted by the CIA, in a ramped-up effort by the outgoing Bush administration.
It remained unclear yesterday whether Obama personally authorized the strike or was involved in its final planning, but military officials have previously said the White House is routinely briefed about such attacks in advance.
At least 132 people have been killed in 38 suspected U.S. missile strikes inside Pakistan since August, all conducted by the CIA, in a ramped-up effort by the outgoing Bush administration.
It remained unclear yesterday whether Obama personally authorized the strike or was involved in its final planning, but military officials have previously said the White House is routinely briefed about such attacks in advance.
Further facts on this story...as they became available.
A claim by US forces in Afghanistan that they killed 15 Taliban fighters in the eastern province of Laghman, in Wasiristan has been disputed by village elders.
A US statement said on Saturday that soldiers killed the fighters after coming under fire from opposition fighters. This is a common refrain from the CIA who does not field foot soldiers. In the Nov 5 2008 attack in Afghanistan which left more than 90 dead they also claimed that they were responding to an attack by the insurgents as they approached the compound...however their story fell apart when it was revealed that it was a marriage celebration.
But in this case the elders say they swear on the Quran all those who died were civilians.
"The operation in Mehtar Lam District, approximately 60km northeast of Kabul City, targeted a Taliban commander believed to conduct terrorist activities throughout the Kabul, Laghman and Kapisa provinces," a US military statement said.
"The operation in Mehtar Lam District, approximately 60km northeast of Kabul City, targeted a Taliban commander believed to conduct terrorist activities throughout the Kabul, Laghman and Kapisa provinces," a US military statement said.
"As coalition forces approached the wanted militant's compound, several groups of armed militants exited their homes and began maneuvering on the force."
Nine fighters were killed by small-arms fire and four killed by "precision close-air support", the statement said, adding that two other fighters were killed during a subsequent search of the houses in the compound.
One of the attackers killed in the initial fight was later identified as female, the US military statement said. village witnesses claim there were several children and women killed.
But Abdul Rahmzai, head of the provincial council in Laghman, said village elders had told him in the hours after the raid that those killed were civilians.
But Abdul Rahmzai, head of the provincial council in Laghman, said village elders had told him in the hours after the raid that those killed were civilians.
For an update on this blog: See Sunday Jan 25 piece in Yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090125/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan
Thursday, January 22, 2009
FRENCH NEWS TODAY JANUARY 23, 2009
French news headlines: January 23, 2009
Le Monde, France
Main headlines:
Obama declares the closure of Guantanamo
Stock Market in Paris hits six year low
European countries search for the solution to save the banks
Guantanamo: A Tenuous promise
Israel hopes for the release of Gilad Shalit the young Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006.
The Israelis are ready to exchange more Palestinian prisoners for Shalit.
Le Monde, Foreign Affairs
Middle East: The US Role of Mediator in Question. Analyzing the influence and credibility of world diplomacy after the Gaza War.."The true question..he said..is to ask if the role of mediator of the US in the Middle East is really useful."
Gaza: the tunnels across the Egypt border are always in service. In spite of the recent Israeli bombings certain of these "re provisioning" tunnels near Rafah are already opened. Pictures published show how these well-constructed tunnels use flexible pipes to resupply fuel and water to the opposite side.
Israel Opens Inquiry Into Its Use of White Phosphorous during its recent attack in Gaza.
Ruins Tears and Mourning in Devastated Gaza. (Pictures)
Gaza in Rubble (Pictures)
New Demonstrations in Europe against the Massacre of Gaza
From: Le Figaro
Total (French Petroleum Group) ready to invest in French nuclear power.
Peking (China) is ready to improve bilateral relations with France
From: Paris Match
Obama promises a new era in America.
Obama takes the oath two times
The remarkable absence of the gay bishop (Gene Robinson chosen by Obama for the "We Are
One" Sunday. But the event was not shown by the HBO chain, which has troubled the homosexual community.
Then from Italy:
Corrierra della Sera (Milano)
Executive order of Obama to CIA: "No more torture in interrogations"
Le Monde, France
Main headlines:
Obama declares the closure of Guantanamo
Stock Market in Paris hits six year low
European countries search for the solution to save the banks
Guantanamo: A Tenuous promise
Israel hopes for the release of Gilad Shalit the young Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006.
The Israelis are ready to exchange more Palestinian prisoners for Shalit.
Le Monde, Foreign Affairs
Middle East: The US Role of Mediator in Question. Analyzing the influence and credibility of world diplomacy after the Gaza War.."The true question..he said..is to ask if the role of mediator of the US in the Middle East is really useful."
Gaza: the tunnels across the Egypt border are always in service. In spite of the recent Israeli bombings certain of these "re provisioning" tunnels near Rafah are already opened. Pictures published show how these well-constructed tunnels use flexible pipes to resupply fuel and water to the opposite side.
Israel Opens Inquiry Into Its Use of White Phosphorous during its recent attack in Gaza.
Ruins Tears and Mourning in Devastated Gaza. (Pictures)
Gaza in Rubble (Pictures)
New Demonstrations in Europe against the Massacre of Gaza
From: Le Figaro
Total (French Petroleum Group) ready to invest in French nuclear power.
Peking (China) is ready to improve bilateral relations with France
From: Paris Match
Obama promises a new era in America.
Obama takes the oath two times
The remarkable absence of the gay bishop (Gene Robinson chosen by Obama for the "We Are
One" Sunday. But the event was not shown by the HBO chain, which has troubled the homosexual community.
Then from Italy:
Corrierra della Sera (Milano)
Executive order of Obama to CIA: "No more torture in interrogations"
Thursday, January 15, 2009
COLD COUNTRY OBSERVATIONS SNOW-WELLS
We spent a part of the Christmas season in Bennington County, Vermont at our place in the Green Mountains. We arrived with the snow which was falling on a base that was well over a two feet. Big piles lay all around the house and roof avalanches kept our little dog Milo growling deep in his chest all night as big sheets of snow slid off the steep roof. In the morning, I noticed the trails of deer which meandered out of the woods and through our little meadow toward the house. They led to the place under our high, back-deck were little snow had accumulated and where patches of withered coltsfoot still struggled to stay alive in the damp soil there not far from the seep which drains off into the brook. Later that day, when I investigated, I found that the deer had eaten the partly frozen and curled up coltsfoot leaves and stems. The damp soil frose into crazy lifted soil of fractured lumps raised by the artic cold air that came down on us after the big snow fall. A few nights later, a lone coyote crossed the old deer tracks, its big dog-paws trended in a nearly straight line, not like a dog's, but more fox-like and disappeared into the woods on the far side heading down slope toward Flood Brook. That morning, I followed them a good way into the spruce and balsam woods with Milo struggling to keep up in the deep snow. Milo got tired and took refuge in a snow-well that formed around the base of the big maple tree on the edge of the meadow.
These depressions are interesting features of the snow country. Up here the locals either don't know what they are, or can give you a long list of theories of how and why they form. Milo didn't care what they were or how they got there, all he knew was that his big under-belly danglers were taking a beating in the cold crusty snow and they found welcome relief in the snow-well where he sat in the sun with his back to the base of the tree and his pink tongue lolling as he recovered from his exertions. He had to be strongly encouraged to leave his refuge.
These features which might be characterized as radiation tree wells, develop as depressions around the base of trees after the snow cover has been in place for a few days. They are generally deeper and wider on the south-side of the tree. They are apparently the result of the fact that as the dark tree bark absorbs solar radiation it re-radiates it outward toward the surrounding snow. Snow is an excellent reflector of sun's rays, as anyone knows who has been skiing on a sunny day, but on the other hand snow does absorb the long wave (heat) radiation from warmed bodies like rocks and trees. This heat causes the snow to sublimate (change from a solid to a gas) away and slowly retreat like an expanding collar from the base of the tree, while the surrounding areas exposed only to the sun's rays (which they reflect) remain unaffected.
In addition to the solar effect, there may be another source of heat which can cause radiation tree wells. That heat is derived from the earth itself. The trunk and roots of a tree-may conduct earthheat through its roots to warm its trunk and this heat may radiate out to sublimate surrounding snow. The tree roots are buried in the ground well below the surface where the earth is warmer can conduct heat upward. Ground temperatures increase from the surface downward, where at some two meters or so the subsurface may reach temperatures which average of about 45 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit in our latitudes. That is why the groundwater which seeps up and keeps that coltsfoot alive even late into winter under our back deck--its warm. Relatively speaking, this may be quite warm, perhaps 50 degrees above that of the air temperature during the depth of winter. That heat being conducted up through the root into the tree trunkcould well cause some of the observed snow-well effects around trees during periods when there is little sun to warm the tree base. In addition this would explain why trees develop well defined hollows around their bases but similarly exposed rocks and erratic boulders do not exhibit the same effect.
I am planning a test of this earth radiaton hypothesis here in the Greens by measuring the tree wells around the bases of deeply rooted vs shallow rooted trees. The hypothesis would be suppported if the more deeply rooted trees were found to have larger deeper tree wells. So far, snow and observation conditions have not enabled me to gather sufficient data, but work is in progress.
In among the evergreen forest on the upper slopes of Stratton, Magic and Bromley here in the Green Mountains very heavy snows sometimes produce enormous deep tree-wells in ungroomed areas around the base of tall, spire-shaped balsam firs or black spruces or other similar shaped coniferous trees. These deep wells may be dangerous to off trail skiers and snowboarders particularly during and after major snow storms. These large tree-wells, some in or western mountains have been reported at 20 feet or more, fall into a class I will term "snow void" tree wells to distinguish them from the small radiaition wells described above.
"In December 2007, a snowboarder at Mount Hood Meadows in Oregon suffocated fifteen minutes after falling head first into a tree well, despite efforts by three of his companions to free him. On December 22, 2007, at the grand opening of the Revelstoke Mountain Resort, an Edmonton ski instructor disappeared on the mountain's Jalapeno run. His body was found in a tree well three days later. During winter 2008, two skiers at Steamboat Ski Resort in Colorado fell into tree wells and did not survive. One was a man in his mid-60s and the other was a man in his mid-20s. The younger man was unable to escape despite assistance from two friends." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_well These fatalities have been termed "fatal non-avalanche snow-immersion deaths". The risks of such non-avalanche snow immersion fatalities are increased when the size of the tree well is very deep and probably more importantly when the skier disturbs the snow accumulated on the tree and is buried deeper by this latent fall of disturbed snow.
Deep snow-void tree wells typically form around the base of evergreen conifers such as balsam firs and black spruce during major snow events when fine snow falls for long periods in light wind (or in shletered areas) permitting the dense evergreen branches of these spire-like trees to catch and accumulate the white stuff on their close-set branches rather than permitting it to accumulate around the base of the tree. In effect, the snow that would have accumulated on the ground is visible on the branches of the tree. The skier can roughly visualize how big of a snow-well maight be found within the lower circle of branches of the tree by siZing up the amount of snow trapped on the branches. Trees that appear to be small and to have the outter perimeter of their branches touching the snow may be more dangerous. These "small" appearing trees may actually be average sized trees which are buried deeply by snowpack and they may thus have a deep snow well around their base. Another factor to consider is that the tree-well is often deeper on the down hill side of the tree since gravity tends to cause snow to creep down-hill and partially fill the upslope portion of the well.
Milo and I headed back to the house, retracing the way we had come. Milo closely followed the trail the coyote broke through the deep snow. As we walked back, I thought of how beautiful the snow is--- and how dangerous it could be. I determined to get out again and make some good photographs of radiation tree-wells. Then thinking of the dangerous snow void type of tree wells I formulated a mental promise to warn the skiers in my family about sking too close to trees in deep snow-pack up on Bromley and Stratton. Just one wrong turn, cutting an edge too close to a beautiful white-blanketed balsam fir and you could fall in head-first into a deep snow void to find yourself gasping for air, as you grapple at loose snow which falls away and collapses under you, while you breath in fine, white powder rather than air. Ugh! I shivered at the thought, as I finally reached the warm house and gladly stompped off the white stuff off still clinging to my boots.
These depressions are interesting features of the snow country. Up here the locals either don't know what they are, or can give you a long list of theories of how and why they form. Milo didn't care what they were or how they got there, all he knew was that his big under-belly danglers were taking a beating in the cold crusty snow and they found welcome relief in the snow-well where he sat in the sun with his back to the base of the tree and his pink tongue lolling as he recovered from his exertions. He had to be strongly encouraged to leave his refuge.
These features which might be characterized as radiation tree wells, develop as depressions around the base of trees after the snow cover has been in place for a few days. They are generally deeper and wider on the south-side of the tree. They are apparently the result of the fact that as the dark tree bark absorbs solar radiation it re-radiates it outward toward the surrounding snow. Snow is an excellent reflector of sun's rays, as anyone knows who has been skiing on a sunny day, but on the other hand snow does absorb the long wave (heat) radiation from warmed bodies like rocks and trees. This heat causes the snow to sublimate (change from a solid to a gas) away and slowly retreat like an expanding collar from the base of the tree, while the surrounding areas exposed only to the sun's rays (which they reflect) remain unaffected.
In addition to the solar effect, there may be another source of heat which can cause radiation tree wells. That heat is derived from the earth itself. The trunk and roots of a tree-may conduct earthheat through its roots to warm its trunk and this heat may radiate out to sublimate surrounding snow. The tree roots are buried in the ground well below the surface where the earth is warmer can conduct heat upward. Ground temperatures increase from the surface downward, where at some two meters or so the subsurface may reach temperatures which average of about 45 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit in our latitudes. That is why the groundwater which seeps up and keeps that coltsfoot alive even late into winter under our back deck--its warm. Relatively speaking, this may be quite warm, perhaps 50 degrees above that of the air temperature during the depth of winter. That heat being conducted up through the root into the tree trunkcould well cause some of the observed snow-well effects around trees during periods when there is little sun to warm the tree base. In addition this would explain why trees develop well defined hollows around their bases but similarly exposed rocks and erratic boulders do not exhibit the same effect.
I am planning a test of this earth radiaton hypothesis here in the Greens by measuring the tree wells around the bases of deeply rooted vs shallow rooted trees. The hypothesis would be suppported if the more deeply rooted trees were found to have larger deeper tree wells. So far, snow and observation conditions have not enabled me to gather sufficient data, but work is in progress.
In among the evergreen forest on the upper slopes of Stratton, Magic and Bromley here in the Green Mountains very heavy snows sometimes produce enormous deep tree-wells in ungroomed areas around the base of tall, spire-shaped balsam firs or black spruces or other similar shaped coniferous trees. These deep wells may be dangerous to off trail skiers and snowboarders particularly during and after major snow storms. These large tree-wells, some in or western mountains have been reported at 20 feet or more, fall into a class I will term "snow void" tree wells to distinguish them from the small radiaition wells described above.
"In December 2007, a snowboarder at Mount Hood Meadows in Oregon suffocated fifteen minutes after falling head first into a tree well, despite efforts by three of his companions to free him. On December 22, 2007, at the grand opening of the Revelstoke Mountain Resort, an Edmonton ski instructor disappeared on the mountain's Jalapeno run. His body was found in a tree well three days later. During winter 2008, two skiers at Steamboat Ski Resort in Colorado fell into tree wells and did not survive. One was a man in his mid-60s and the other was a man in his mid-20s. The younger man was unable to escape despite assistance from two friends." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_well These fatalities have been termed "fatal non-avalanche snow-immersion deaths". The risks of such non-avalanche snow immersion fatalities are increased when the size of the tree well is very deep and probably more importantly when the skier disturbs the snow accumulated on the tree and is buried deeper by this latent fall of disturbed snow.
Deep snow-void tree wells typically form around the base of evergreen conifers such as balsam firs and black spruce during major snow events when fine snow falls for long periods in light wind (or in shletered areas) permitting the dense evergreen branches of these spire-like trees to catch and accumulate the white stuff on their close-set branches rather than permitting it to accumulate around the base of the tree. In effect, the snow that would have accumulated on the ground is visible on the branches of the tree. The skier can roughly visualize how big of a snow-well maight be found within the lower circle of branches of the tree by siZing up the amount of snow trapped on the branches. Trees that appear to be small and to have the outter perimeter of their branches touching the snow may be more dangerous. These "small" appearing trees may actually be average sized trees which are buried deeply by snowpack and they may thus have a deep snow well around their base. Another factor to consider is that the tree-well is often deeper on the down hill side of the tree since gravity tends to cause snow to creep down-hill and partially fill the upslope portion of the well.
Milo and I headed back to the house, retracing the way we had come. Milo closely followed the trail the coyote broke through the deep snow. As we walked back, I thought of how beautiful the snow is--- and how dangerous it could be. I determined to get out again and make some good photographs of radiation tree-wells. Then thinking of the dangerous snow void type of tree wells I formulated a mental promise to warn the skiers in my family about sking too close to trees in deep snow-pack up on Bromley and Stratton. Just one wrong turn, cutting an edge too close to a beautiful white-blanketed balsam fir and you could fall in head-first into a deep snow void to find yourself gasping for air, as you grapple at loose snow which falls away and collapses under you, while you breath in fine, white powder rather than air. Ugh! I shivered at the thought, as I finally reached the warm house and gladly stompped off the white stuff off still clinging to my boots.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
REX NUTTING'S VIEW OF BUSH YEARS
The following piece by Rex Nutting, Market Watch, Washington Bureau Chief is so "on the mark" I re-post it here in its entirety.
It's a must read and a welcome alternative to Mr. Bush's own views about his tenure broadcast so widely on the TV lately. Bush is lying and fantasizing, Rex has it right.
"Seven most horrible things about Bush presidency"
Commentary: An alternative to commander-in-chief's view of his time in office
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
Last update: 11:37 a.m. EST Jan. 14, 2009
Comments: 627
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The remarkable thing about President George W. Bush wasn't that he was a horrible chief executive; it's that he was horrible in so many ways.
Contrary to the president's own assessment of his tenure earlier this week, it was an astonishing eight years - and not in a good way. The country suffered two recessions, and two shooting wars. The government botched its response to a brazen attack by terrorists on two cities, and then four years later utterly failed to react when another city was consumed by a natural disaster.
The president took on tyranny by embracing torture. He fought a war for freedom by trampling human rights. He enriched the already rich, excused their excesses, and then bailed them out of trouble and handed us the bill.
He politicized everything, promoted incompetents, and -- whenever things got tight -- appealed to our basest instincts of fear, greed, ignorance and hate.
Bush had all the luck of Jimmy Carter, the attention to detail of Ronald Reagan, the adaptability of Lyndon Johnson, the abiding respect for the Constitution of Richard Nixon, the humility of Teddy Roosevelt, the rhetorical skills of Calvin Coolidge, the fiscal restraint of Franklin Roosevelt, the cronyism of Warren Harding, and the overreaching idealism of Woodrow Wilson.
And his election had all the legitimacy of Rutherford Hayes'.
None of the disasters of the past eight years can be entirely blamed on Bush, of course. No president is all powerful, and Bush was handed some raw deals, especially in that first year with the recession and then the nightmare of 9/11. But other presidents - Lincoln, Roosevelt, and the incoming Obama come to mind -- have had to deal with worse. The test of greatness is what you do when faced with the impossible.
Here's my list of the seven worst things Bush did during his time in the White House.
7. Bush politicized parts of the government that should be nonpartisan. From NASA to the Justice Department, professionals were forced out or silenced if they departed from the true Republican way. What was good for the Republican Party trumped what was good policy for the nation. Every administration is political to some extent, but the Bush administration took it too far. When Paul O'Neill was forced out at Treasury, it was clear that every major decision would be determined by Karl Rove's calculus.
6. Bush squandered the budget surplus. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Bush had a near-religious faith in the ability of tax cuts to deliver prosperity. Tax cuts were the panacea that would cure all ills. Economy too strong? Cut taxes. Economy too weak? Cut taxes. Stock market falling? Cut dividend taxes. Investment weak? Cut capital gains taxes. But tax cuts didn't make the economy stronger; they merely blew a big hole in the budget. Now, when we could really use that surplus to pay for the bailouts and the stimulus, it's gone.
5. Bush comforted the comfortable and afflicted the afflicted. The Bush years were the ultimate test of trickle-down economics, the theory that says the government should favor the rich because the benefits will flow down to the rest of us. The results of that experiment are clear: We've had the weakest job growth since the 1930s. We've had the biggest increase in debt ever. We've had the highest share of national income going to profits since the 1920s. Income inequality has soared while our public and private investment has slowed to a trickle. Instead of building a fundamentally sound economy, Bush nurtured a Ponzi economy based on get-rich-quick schemes.
4. Bush rewarded incompetence. Because politics and personal loyalty were all that counted, Bush appointed incompetent people to vital jobs. He hired interns to run Iraq. He hired a horse expert to run the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He wanted to hire Harriett Miers to be a Supreme Court justice. Top jobs were reserved for sycophants, toadies and failures.
3. Bush lied us into war. Every argument for war against Iraq was a delusion, and hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost as a result.Saddam Hussein was not responsible for 9/11 in any way. He was not a danger to the United States. The Bush administration ignored or dismissed mountains of evidence that showed that Saddam was not building an arsenal of chemical or nuclear weapons. Bush rushed to war without giving diplomacy or weapons inspectors a chance. Later, administration officials blew the cover of a CIA employee whose husband told the truth, and then lied about their involvement.
2. Bush has exposed himself to war crime charges. By his own admission, Bush authorized interrogation practices that are illegal under U.S. and international law. His administration at best looked the other way and at worst ordered prisoners at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib to be tortured. Not only is torture an immoral and heinous crime against humanity, it is ineffective in the fight against terrorism. Nothing has given Osama bin Laden more support than Bush's immorality. And our nation's reputation has been tarnished, possibly forever.
1. Bush weakened our democracy. Bush has embraced a theory of dictatorship. Bush, under Vice President Dick Cheney's guidance, encouraged an imperial presidency answerable to no one. Working with a complacent Congress, Bush gutted the constitutional checks and balances that are supposed to keep any part of the government from growing too powerful or too corrupt. In the name of an endless war against an amorphous enemy, he canceled our most fundamental rights of habeas corpus and the right to be free from unreasonable government spying.
One final note: Bush had the opportunity to be a great president. After 9/11, the nation was as united as it had been since Pearl Harbor, and Bush rode a wave of popularity that he could have used to turn around the nation's politics, security and economy.
Instead of uniting us as he promised, he divided us instead.
Rex Nutting is Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch.
It's a must read and a welcome alternative to Mr. Bush's own views about his tenure broadcast so widely on the TV lately. Bush is lying and fantasizing, Rex has it right.
"Seven most horrible things about Bush presidency"
Commentary: An alternative to commander-in-chief's view of his time in office
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
Last update: 11:37 a.m. EST Jan. 14, 2009
Comments: 627
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The remarkable thing about President George W. Bush wasn't that he was a horrible chief executive; it's that he was horrible in so many ways.
Contrary to the president's own assessment of his tenure earlier this week, it was an astonishing eight years - and not in a good way. The country suffered two recessions, and two shooting wars. The government botched its response to a brazen attack by terrorists on two cities, and then four years later utterly failed to react when another city was consumed by a natural disaster.
The president took on tyranny by embracing torture. He fought a war for freedom by trampling human rights. He enriched the already rich, excused their excesses, and then bailed them out of trouble and handed us the bill.
He politicized everything, promoted incompetents, and -- whenever things got tight -- appealed to our basest instincts of fear, greed, ignorance and hate.
Bush had all the luck of Jimmy Carter, the attention to detail of Ronald Reagan, the adaptability of Lyndon Johnson, the abiding respect for the Constitution of Richard Nixon, the humility of Teddy Roosevelt, the rhetorical skills of Calvin Coolidge, the fiscal restraint of Franklin Roosevelt, the cronyism of Warren Harding, and the overreaching idealism of Woodrow Wilson.
And his election had all the legitimacy of Rutherford Hayes'.
None of the disasters of the past eight years can be entirely blamed on Bush, of course. No president is all powerful, and Bush was handed some raw deals, especially in that first year with the recession and then the nightmare of 9/11. But other presidents - Lincoln, Roosevelt, and the incoming Obama come to mind -- have had to deal with worse. The test of greatness is what you do when faced with the impossible.
Here's my list of the seven worst things Bush did during his time in the White House.
7. Bush politicized parts of the government that should be nonpartisan. From NASA to the Justice Department, professionals were forced out or silenced if they departed from the true Republican way. What was good for the Republican Party trumped what was good policy for the nation. Every administration is political to some extent, but the Bush administration took it too far. When Paul O'Neill was forced out at Treasury, it was clear that every major decision would be determined by Karl Rove's calculus.
6. Bush squandered the budget surplus. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Bush had a near-religious faith in the ability of tax cuts to deliver prosperity. Tax cuts were the panacea that would cure all ills. Economy too strong? Cut taxes. Economy too weak? Cut taxes. Stock market falling? Cut dividend taxes. Investment weak? Cut capital gains taxes. But tax cuts didn't make the economy stronger; they merely blew a big hole in the budget. Now, when we could really use that surplus to pay for the bailouts and the stimulus, it's gone.
5. Bush comforted the comfortable and afflicted the afflicted. The Bush years were the ultimate test of trickle-down economics, the theory that says the government should favor the rich because the benefits will flow down to the rest of us. The results of that experiment are clear: We've had the weakest job growth since the 1930s. We've had the biggest increase in debt ever. We've had the highest share of national income going to profits since the 1920s. Income inequality has soared while our public and private investment has slowed to a trickle. Instead of building a fundamentally sound economy, Bush nurtured a Ponzi economy based on get-rich-quick schemes.
4. Bush rewarded incompetence. Because politics and personal loyalty were all that counted, Bush appointed incompetent people to vital jobs. He hired interns to run Iraq. He hired a horse expert to run the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He wanted to hire Harriett Miers to be a Supreme Court justice. Top jobs were reserved for sycophants, toadies and failures.
3. Bush lied us into war. Every argument for war against Iraq was a delusion, and hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost as a result.Saddam Hussein was not responsible for 9/11 in any way. He was not a danger to the United States. The Bush administration ignored or dismissed mountains of evidence that showed that Saddam was not building an arsenal of chemical or nuclear weapons. Bush rushed to war without giving diplomacy or weapons inspectors a chance. Later, administration officials blew the cover of a CIA employee whose husband told the truth, and then lied about their involvement.
2. Bush has exposed himself to war crime charges. By his own admission, Bush authorized interrogation practices that are illegal under U.S. and international law. His administration at best looked the other way and at worst ordered prisoners at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib to be tortured. Not only is torture an immoral and heinous crime against humanity, it is ineffective in the fight against terrorism. Nothing has given Osama bin Laden more support than Bush's immorality. And our nation's reputation has been tarnished, possibly forever.
1. Bush weakened our democracy. Bush has embraced a theory of dictatorship. Bush, under Vice President Dick Cheney's guidance, encouraged an imperial presidency answerable to no one. Working with a complacent Congress, Bush gutted the constitutional checks and balances that are supposed to keep any part of the government from growing too powerful or too corrupt. In the name of an endless war against an amorphous enemy, he canceled our most fundamental rights of habeas corpus and the right to be free from unreasonable government spying.
One final note: Bush had the opportunity to be a great president. After 9/11, the nation was as united as it had been since Pearl Harbor, and Bush rode a wave of popularity that he could have used to turn around the nation's politics, security and economy.
Instead of uniting us as he promised, he divided us instead.
Rex Nutting is Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch.
CAROLINE KENNEDY FOR THE SENATE
I'm not one who supports an oligarchy. The concept of the scion of some prominent family, using their name recognition to gain and retain political power is, I believe incompatible with our concept of "democracy". One has only to look to our out-going occupant of the White House to see the pitfalls our nation faces when we "misunderestimate" a father for a son. However, the practice of a political "family seat" is all too common in our local government. Even in our own town here in NY, a certain family--I'll name no names--has been in control of a certain government seat here for decades..it having been handed down from a long-serving relative to his close kin and with persistent and active attempts by the present seat-warmer for it to go on into the next generation. I object to the practice. Over those long years there were thousands of more qualified candidates who could have served, but did not have the chance because of this "inheritance" practice.
On this score, I take umbrage too, at the long-serving Senator Joe Biden..a typical pol. He has apparently been grooming his son for his own Senate seat for a long time. Apparently he was caught unprepared when he was chosen as VP by President-elect Obama, while his son was set to be posted off to Iraq. Now as he perpares to take on his capacity as VP, he has arranged for a "seat holder" to be appointed to his Delaware Senate seat, with the collusion of the state's politicians while his son is unavailable. What should the Delaware voters be thinking? Don't they have a say? When the young Biden returns from service, we can expect the people of Delaware--whatever their real wishes-- to face a near fait accompli...a new younger Biden in that seat. From my point of view such practices do not serve our democracy well. If Thomas Jefferson could have seen how his fledgelings democracy evolved over a few centuries into one with an inherited class of near-permanent politicians and as well, a professional army, Jefferson a student of the Roman Empire, would recognize the dangerous parallels and would spin in his grave.
Then there is the case of the present vacant seat in New York. The present occupant now the Secretary of State nominee had no first-hand political experience. Her only claim to fame was that she was the (abused and embarrassed) wife of the President, who as the tiular head of Democratic party could grease the skids for her. When a seat became available in New York the way was cleared, other candidates shunted aside, the money raised, the doors opened. She had to only sign on the dotted line to gain the nomination and in New York she was practically guaranteed election.
This takes us to the case of Ms Caroline Kennedy as a potential replacement for the seat of Senator Hillary Clinton. Though she bears the famous Kennedy name, this situation is not of the Biden or Clinton class, where a sitting relative cleared the path, opened the doors, brushed away the obstacles, raised the money and paid off the opponets for his kin-replacement. Ms Kennedy, though supported by her prominent family, has acted on her own. Aside from her sex Thomas Jefferson himserlf might have considered her a typical candidate. She is a well-educated (Harvard, MA, Columbia LLD) author/editor, lawyer, near native New Yorker, long-time activist in community affairs, progressive, affluent ($100 million plus), fifty-one-year-old private citizen who has a warm relationship with our new President and who happens to be the famous daughter of one of our most revered former presidents. To claim as some have that she is not qualified, is to state that no one in the Senate is. Certainly this woman is as well qualified--perhaps more so--than the previous occupant. As an actual New York resident she knows has pulse of the City and the State where she has lived most of her life. Just that fact would be a welcome change from the past occupant who had only visited the city as a tourist before becoming a Senatorial candidate..we used to call them carpetbaggers. In addition, Ms Kennedy actually seeks to serve her State..and seems to be not so possesed by a massive ambition (which diverted much of her effort) as was the case with the past occupant. She would be a breath of fresh air in the Senate where too often the long-time seat-warmers are hardened pols with their eyes focused only on the next election and a handout from powerful, well-monied interests. Ms Kennedy seems to me motivated by the simple urge to serve her State and her nation. I like that. Governor Patterson would be wise to nominate Ms Kennedy. I urge him to do so.
Update January 25, 2009
Well I was disappointed that Kennedy a smart, civic oriented, citizen didn't get Patterson's nod. I add here a comment piece by Maureen Dowd NYT today. It is very good. See:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/opinion/25dowd.html
On this score, I take umbrage too, at the long-serving Senator Joe Biden..a typical pol. He has apparently been grooming his son for his own Senate seat for a long time. Apparently he was caught unprepared when he was chosen as VP by President-elect Obama, while his son was set to be posted off to Iraq. Now as he perpares to take on his capacity as VP, he has arranged for a "seat holder" to be appointed to his Delaware Senate seat, with the collusion of the state's politicians while his son is unavailable. What should the Delaware voters be thinking? Don't they have a say? When the young Biden returns from service, we can expect the people of Delaware--whatever their real wishes-- to face a near fait accompli...a new younger Biden in that seat. From my point of view such practices do not serve our democracy well. If Thomas Jefferson could have seen how his fledgelings democracy evolved over a few centuries into one with an inherited class of near-permanent politicians and as well, a professional army, Jefferson a student of the Roman Empire, would recognize the dangerous parallels and would spin in his grave.
Then there is the case of the present vacant seat in New York. The present occupant now the Secretary of State nominee had no first-hand political experience. Her only claim to fame was that she was the (abused and embarrassed) wife of the President, who as the tiular head of Democratic party could grease the skids for her. When a seat became available in New York the way was cleared, other candidates shunted aside, the money raised, the doors opened. She had to only sign on the dotted line to gain the nomination and in New York she was practically guaranteed election.
This takes us to the case of Ms Caroline Kennedy as a potential replacement for the seat of Senator Hillary Clinton. Though she bears the famous Kennedy name, this situation is not of the Biden or Clinton class, where a sitting relative cleared the path, opened the doors, brushed away the obstacles, raised the money and paid off the opponets for his kin-replacement. Ms Kennedy, though supported by her prominent family, has acted on her own. Aside from her sex Thomas Jefferson himserlf might have considered her a typical candidate. She is a well-educated (Harvard, MA, Columbia LLD) author/editor, lawyer, near native New Yorker, long-time activist in community affairs, progressive, affluent ($100 million plus), fifty-one-year-old private citizen who has a warm relationship with our new President and who happens to be the famous daughter of one of our most revered former presidents. To claim as some have that she is not qualified, is to state that no one in the Senate is. Certainly this woman is as well qualified--perhaps more so--than the previous occupant. As an actual New York resident she knows has pulse of the City and the State where she has lived most of her life. Just that fact would be a welcome change from the past occupant who had only visited the city as a tourist before becoming a Senatorial candidate..we used to call them carpetbaggers. In addition, Ms Kennedy actually seeks to serve her State..and seems to be not so possesed by a massive ambition (which diverted much of her effort) as was the case with the past occupant. She would be a breath of fresh air in the Senate where too often the long-time seat-warmers are hardened pols with their eyes focused only on the next election and a handout from powerful, well-monied interests. Ms Kennedy seems to me motivated by the simple urge to serve her State and her nation. I like that. Governor Patterson would be wise to nominate Ms Kennedy. I urge him to do so.
Update January 25, 2009
Well I was disappointed that Kennedy a smart, civic oriented, citizen didn't get Patterson's nod. I add here a comment piece by Maureen Dowd NYT today. It is very good. See:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/opinion/25dowd.html
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
BUY ONE GET ONE FREE?--BY CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
In a piece entitled "More than good feeling", in Slate, January 12, 2009, Chris Hitchens, writing with his usual wit and insight, asks "why so many oligarchs, royal families, and special interest groups are giving money to the Clinton Foundation?" He doesn't require you to think too hard on that one. It's pretty obvious...blatant mega influence peddling. Hitchens raises another question we all have thought about, what influence will Bill have on Hillary--our Secretary of State designate? His answer comes from a 1992 Clinton election slogan with a slight Hitchens variation: "buy one, get one free".
Now well primed for his last question, Hitchens finally asks:
"Why is Sen. Clinton, the spouse of the great influence-peddler, being nominated in the first place? In exchange for giving the painful impression that our State Department will be an attractive destination for lobbyists and donors, what exactly are we getting? George Marshall? Dean Acheson? Even Madeleine Albright? No, we are getting a notoriously ambitious woman who made a fool of herself over Bosnia, at the time and during the recent campaign, and who otherwise has no command of foreign affairs except what she's picked up second-hand from an impeached ex-president, a disbarred lawyer, and a renter of the Lincoln Bedroom. If the Senate waves this through, it will have reinforced its recent image as the rubber-stamp chamber of a bankrupt banana republic. Not an especially good start to the brave new era."
That's Hitchens at his best! Read the whole piece at: http://www.slate.com/id/2208425/?GT1=38001
Now well primed for his last question, Hitchens finally asks:
"Why is Sen. Clinton, the spouse of the great influence-peddler, being nominated in the first place? In exchange for giving the painful impression that our State Department will be an attractive destination for lobbyists and donors, what exactly are we getting? George Marshall? Dean Acheson? Even Madeleine Albright? No, we are getting a notoriously ambitious woman who made a fool of herself over Bosnia, at the time and during the recent campaign, and who otherwise has no command of foreign affairs except what she's picked up second-hand from an impeached ex-president, a disbarred lawyer, and a renter of the Lincoln Bedroom. If the Senate waves this through, it will have reinforced its recent image as the rubber-stamp chamber of a bankrupt banana republic. Not an especially good start to the brave new era."
That's Hitchens at his best! Read the whole piece at: http://www.slate.com/id/2208425/?GT1=38001
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