Ida Making Landfall Between Mobile and Panama City

A weakened Tropical Storm  Ida is barreling down on the Gulf Coast between Panama City,Fl and Mobile, AL Tuesday. The national weather service has issued tropical storm warning from Grand Isle, LA to Aucilla River,Fl. The warning including the city  and parish of New Orleans  and Parishes surrounding Lake PONTCHARTRAIN.

At 9P.M. CST Ida was moving north 13 mph; a decrease of speed. When Ida makes landfall near Mobile Ida will make a turn to the north-northeast; bringing heavy seas, high winds and heavy rains. Maximum sustained winds is 65 mph.

Tropical Storm force winds will be felt in a radius of  200 miles.

Ida is expected to bring between 3-6 inches of rain. Some isolated storm cells will dump up to 8 inches of rain across portions of the Southeast US and Mid-Atlantic states.

Schools, and government offices except first responder will be closed.

Storm surge will cause 3 to 5 feet above ground.

WKRG has a list of Shelters in the Mobile area.

WJHG-TV/HD “NewsChannel7″ has the list of  shelters in Panama City,FL area.

WKRG-TV/HD “News5″

WJHG-TV/HD

Eyes on Hurricane Ida for The Gulf Coast.

Hurricane Ida has left death and destruction in its wake. It is on a collision course with US Gulf Coast. Ida has killed 91 people in El Salvador. Sixty people were missing. The cause of the missing was mudslides and floods.

US oil refiners has evacuated oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday. Louisiana Offshore Oil plant. The facility that can handle larger supertankers have stop unloading ships  due to the storm.

A quarter of the US oil refining 15 percent of natural gas are produced in the  Gulf of Mexico. The  region produces 40% of the nations refining capacity.

The National Hurricane Center in Florida has issues a Hurricane watch from Grand Isle, LA to Mexico Beach,Fl.  New Orleans was not including.

Governor Bobby Jindal,  of Louisiana has proclaimed a state of Emergency on Sunday. This allows the government mobilized first responders.

The government in Mexico has called for mandatory evacuations for islands in the Caribbean Sea. However, the government will  not evacuate Cancun resorts.

Reuters

British Climate Leader Says Stop Eating Meat to Save the Planet

A leader in global climate change Lord Stern say one way to end climate change is to go vegan. Lord Stern of Brentford said: “Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better.”

Emissions from pigs and cows is a significant source of methane which a greenhouse gas. Methane is 23 times stronger that carbon dioxide as a gas.

Lord Stern author the 2006 Stern Review of the cost of global warming said that a good outcome of  the  upcoming Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen  would including higher food cost that raise the price of meat and other food the contributes to massive amounts of greenhouse gasses.

Stern believe that Copenhagen presents a unique opportunity to for the world break free from the world current course. He believes the world need to change the output of worldwide greenhouses from 50 gigatons to 25 gigatons by 2030.

He believes that peoples attitudes will change. “I think it’s important that people think about what they are doing and that includes what they are eating,” he said. “I am 61 now and attitudes towards drinking and driving have changed radically since I was a student. People change their notion of what is responsible. They will increasingly ask about the carbon content of their food.”

Lord Stern is calling for US President Barack Obama to attend the Copenhagen conference in December so an effective agreement with the U.S.in the lead will be reached. He said, was “desperately needed” to secure a deal.

Critics calls it  foolish. Jonathan Scurlock, of the National Farmers Union, said: “Going vegetarian is not a worldwide solution. It’s not a view shared by the NFU. Farmers in this country are interested in evidence-based policy making. We don’t have a methane-free cow or pig available to us.”

Times of London.

The Joys of Obamacare

From The Blogprof: Thousands line up to receive the H1N1 vaccines in the driving rain Friday in the Detroit suburb of Clarkston, MI in Oakland County. Some people arrived from Thursday evening around 10 P.M. to get their free shots.  The clinic started giving the shots to people around 9A.M.

He was told that the wait for the shot would be 5 -7 hours long.

Thousands line up for hours to get H1N1 vaccine in Clarkson,MI

The line snake around the Clarkston Jr. High gymnasium twice. Three hours later a lady walks up  and announces after receiving her shot  if your pre-registered for the vaccination there is a shorter second line. Sure enough there was a second line for those who preregistered. No other announcements were made. Poorly planned and  executed.

Hat Tip:  Instapundit

A lone voice in the wilderness Mike O’Keefe of the Milwaukee area holds a sign of the times that reads “Welcome to Government Healthcare.”

Welcome to Government Health Care

He was protesting at makeshift clinic at Cedarburg High School in the Milwaukee area.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel special thanks to Jim Hoft at GatewayPundit

Obama says H1N1 a National Emergency

On Friday, President Barack Obama declared that the H1N1 virus(a/k/a swine flu) an national emergency. By the declaration it allows the health and human services secretary to move emergency rooms to rev up the pace of treatment and to protect the non-infected.

The White House announced on Saturday the declaration the Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius authority to bypass federal laws to allow hospitals open off site facilities to inoculate the public from Swine Flu. The  hospitals and clinics must ask permission to open off site clinics at places such as schools, community centers and senior centers.

46 states have been recorded as the flu as widespread. Only 11 million does have been made available to doctors, clinics, health departments. There is back log of the flu vaccine.

A few hospitals have open drive through clinics to screen and treat patients infected with H1N1 virus.

The process may also relieve hospitals and clinics for ask for extensive  background information of patients to speed up doctor and medical professional ability to treat people.

The declaration allows hospitals to seen reimbursement from Federal Government. Federal law state if a hospital set a temporary facility it must be no more than 300 feet from a hospital entrance or no reimbursement . With the declaration hospital will be paid for off site facilities.

MSNBC

AP Via Yahoo News

A Week of Wild Weather Conclude with Early Snowfall in the Northeast.

Frigid Temps and snow hitting the inter-mountain west including canceling  Game three  Between Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies National league game in Denver. Remnants of Tropical storm that slammed into Japan last week pushed into the West Coast of the US bring heavy rain and high winds and flooding into Northern California and Southern Oregon.

The system that hit Denver has damaged potatoes crops in Idaho and Montana. In Chicago temperatures  did not reach above 50 degrees  in fact the high on Tuesday was 47 degrees  a record for October 13th.  Now Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Ohio valley will have rain wind and show.

In the New York City area was hit with one of the earliest Nor’easter to hit the region in years. Parts of New York state, along with New Jersey and Connecticut  saw heavy snowfall.

WCBS-TV”CBS2 NEWS” reporter Megan Glaros was sent to Vernon, NJ  and some folk were none to please with the early snowfall.

“I hate it! This shouldn’t be happening now,” said Vernon resident Angela Warren. “I like it when it comes after Thanksgiving or right around Christmas, but it’s too early for this.”

Vernon is 500 feet above sea level and some folk are resigned to it.

“It’s a little early, it’s natural up here though,” said Vernon resident Jack Valenti. “It’s higher elevation up here. I talked to my brother back at home in Bergen County and it’s raining down there, so, yeah, it’s crazy.

Some viewers posted comments on CBS2 twitter feed reported snow throughout the area:  Chappaqua, New York (were President and Secretary of State have a home to Sparta in Sussex County, NJ; Danbury, CT and Fishkill, NY in Dutchess County in the Hudson Valley  north of New York.

@edsteves wrote: “It’s snowing in Newburgh NY! A little too early for my taste!”

@nycbklyngirl told @wcbstv it was snowing on I-80 and even took a picture of the thin blanket.

Even New York Jets kicker Jay Feely chimed in on the trending Twitter topic, writing on his Twitter account @jayfeely: “It is snowing here in Northern NJ right now!!! Mid October, way to early. [sic]“

WCBS-TV

Rockies and Philies Playoff Canceled Due to Snow

Happy Columbus Day:  Mother Nature has interfered with the playoff schedule as snow and cold temperatures has canceled Saturday night game between the Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies. Game three has been proposed till Sunday. Game four will be played on Monday.

ESPN

South Pacific Rocked:8.3 Earthquake hits Samoas Followed Massive Tsunami

Early Tuesday American Samoa and Western Samoa were shooked by a powerful 8.3 earthquake temblor which has 14 people in American Samoa and 5 people in Samoa. The tsunami that hit afterward destroyed whole villages on the various islands. There were unconfirmed sighting of waves as high as 15 feet.

Since then the tsunami warnings for Hawai’i  and the mainland US has been canceled. “As of right now, everybody is up in the high mountain ranges,” said Senetenari Malele, announcer for local radio station Showers of Blessings.

There has been devastation in Samoa with houses  destroyed “I can confirm there is damage, I can confirm there are deaths and I can confirm there are casualties,” a Western Samoa police spokeswoman said. “I cannot say any more at the moment.”

A journalist to AFP that the hardest hit region is the south and west coast of Samoa. Residents of the  Samoan capitol of Apia was evacuated to mountains nearby for their safety.

In American Samoa, cars was washed away. There are possibly thousands left homeless in both Samoa and American Samoa.

Samoan journalist Jona Tuiletufuga told  AFP “We are getting reports of missing people in areas were damage is extensive on the south and southeast coasts,” he told AFP.

“Entire villages have been wiped out.”  There are 70 villages in with residential populations between 300-800 people.

Reuters

Yahoo News

US Energy Secretary Says Americans are like Teen Agers

When it comes to Climate Change US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the American People are like teens, and the Obama Administration as the grown-ups that need to teach the children on how to behave.

Chu said at a smart energy grid conference in Washington,D.C. “The American public…just like your teenage kids, aren’t acting in a way that they should act,” Dr. Chu said. “The American public has to really understand in their core how important this issue is.”

Chu thought the average  American did not have knowledge or the will to change their behavior regarding the environment and climate change.

So the EPA is going to school. This fall the EPA will traveling to 6000 schools with the PTO Parent Teacher Organization to tech and engage kids energy efficiency and climate change.

“We’re showing people across the country how energy efficiency can be part of what they do every day,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. “Confronting climate change, saving money on our utility bills, and reducing our use of heavily-polluting energy can be as easy as making a few small changes.”

Asked about a town hall styled rebellion where the public is showed up in droves protesting Government’s Public-Option across the country this summer. Chu did not think so.

“I don’t think so…maybe I’m optimistic, but there’s very little debate” that a new green energy economy will bring economic prosperity,Chu  told a group  of reporters.

Later a spokesperson from the Energy Department Dan Leistkow said,

“Secretary Chu was not comparing the public to teenagers. He was saying that we need to educate teenagers about ways to save energy. He also recognized the need to educate the broader public about how important clean energy industries are to our competitive position in the global economy. He believes public officials do have an obligation to make their case to the American people on major legislation, and that’s what he’s doing.”

Wall Street Journal

Land of Lost: Scientists Discovers Life in a Extinct Volcano in Paupa New Guinea

Scientists have a brave new world in a volcano in Paupa New Guinea recently to their surprise and delight. Giant rats, Fanged Frogs and other creatures were found  in an extinct volcano by a team of scientists from The United States and Great Britain made the discovery.  Mt. Bosvai a remote extinct volcano in Papua New Guinea that has not erupted in 200,000 years; Discovered new 40 species  of wildlife.

The scientist that climb down a one kilometer crater to find 16 new species of frog, 3 new type of fish,a new kind of rat and a new specie of rat the largest in the world.

The discovery has scientist excited but caution for the need to protect the rain forest.

The Bosavi woolly rat had no fear of humans when it was discovered. Photograph: Jonny Keeling/BBC

A lost world populated by fanged frogs, grunting fish and tiny bear-like creatures has been discovered in a remote volcanic crater on the Pacific island of Papua New Guinea.

‘A giant woolly rat never before seen by science’ Link to this audio

A team of scientists from Britain, the United States and Papua New Guinea found more than 40 previously unidentified species when they climbed into the kilometre-deep crater of Mount Bosavi and explored a pristine jungle habitat teeming with life that has evolved in isolation since the volcano last erupted 200,000 years ago. In a remarkably rich haul from just five weeks of exploration, the biologists discovered 16 frogs which have never before been recorded by science, at least three new fish, a new bat and a giant rat, which may turn out to be the biggest in the world.

The discoveries are being seen as fresh evidence of the richness of the world’s rainforests and the explorers hope their finds will add weight to calls for international action to prevent the demise of similar ecosystems. They said Papua New Guinea’s rainforest is currently being destroyed at the rate of 3.5% a year.

“It was mind-blowing to be there and it is clearly time we pulled our finger out and decided these habitats are worth us saving,” said Dr George McGavin who headed the expedition.

“These discoveries are really significant,” said Steve Backshall, a climber and naturalist who became so friendly with the never-before seen Bosavi silky cuscus, a marsupial that lives up trees and feeds on fruits and leaves, that it sat on his shoulder.

“The world is getting an awful lot smaller and it is getting very hard to find places that are so far off the beaten track.”

The Guardian