Over the last couple weeks, climate scientists have been trying to get ice added back onto the map of Greenland in the latest version of the Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World. Glaciologists came out in force stating the publisher exaggerated the rate of glacial melt and that scientists were not consulted about the figures.
(Image: Daily Mail)
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Overestimating Global Warming? Scientists Say New Map of Greenland Needs More Ice
A Pasco, Washington family survived an avalanche that blew out the windshield and pushed their SUV across a mountain pass road and into a retaining wall, then left them looking for a man who left behind his coat when he stopped to help. Randall and Roxanna Parker and their two young daughters were driving home Wednesday on Interstate 90 from Seattle over Snoqualmie Pass when a snow slide slammed into their Nissan Pathfinder. It smashed the windshield, covered them in ice and glass, and pushed the vehicle about 50 yards into a retaining wall. The Tri-City Herald reports : Tears welled up in the eyes of a Pasco father Thursday as he recalled how a family spring break trip turned to a nightmare in an instant. Just 24 hours earlier, the Parkers were on their way home from Seattle when they got caught in an avalanche on Interstate 90′s Snoqualmie Pass. Snow slammed into their SUV, covering them with ice and glass. “We’re not religious people, but God must have just said, ‘It’s not your time to go,’ ” Randall “Kent” Parker said after his family was safely back home. “I don’t know how we survived it.” Kent suffered cuts on his face and head, and across the top of his hands as they clenched the steering wheel when the windshield and sunroof shattered. His daughters, Nicole, 7, and Arianna, 3, were strapped into their car seats and didn’t have a wound on them. His wife, Roxanna, who goes by Tana, got the worst of it, suffering deep bruises and cuts to her upper chest from the impact of the heavy snow. “We still have little bits of glass in our mouth and hair. I got all the pain on my chest from the snow (not the airbag). Thank goodness I didn’t have any broken ribs,” Tana said. “The pain — it hurts so bad. But that’s nothing for this terrible accident. We were so blessed.” Read their incredible story here . The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Harrowing Tale: Avalanche Destroys SUV…With Young Family In It
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has the story, ” Protesters deriding bill again fill Capitol Square .” And the video’s c/o Althouse, ” Outside the Capitol today — a march, snow, and Peter Yarrow “: 1:38 — “HITLER STALIN WALKER.” Yep. Watch the clip and see that sign. The enormity of evil, trivialized. RELATED : At Legal Insurrection, ” 50-State Union Protest Falls Far Short Of Predicted Turnout ” and ” FAIL… Dems Left Red-Faced; Protesters Fail to Materialize at National MoveOn Rallies ” (via Instapundit ). And Los Angeles Times blends it all together, ” Protesters out in force nationwide to oppose Wisconsin’s anti-union bill “: Nearly two weeks into a political standoff, tens of thousands rallied in Madison and in dozens of cities around the nation to oppose a bill that would severely limit collective bargaining rights for most Wisconsin public employees. Joel DeSpain, spokesman for the Madison Police Department, said the rally — in steadily falling snow — drew between 70,000 and 100,000 and may have been the largest protest in Madison since the Vietnam War. “I’ve been around Madison for 50 years, and I have not seen anything like it so far,” he said. A Republican-backed bill containing the anti-union provisions prompted 14 Democratic state senators to flee Wisconsin, denying the Republican majority a quorum to pass it. The Republican-dominated state Assembly passed a version of the bill early Friday, but the Senate remains stymied until Democrats return. Despite exhortations by Republican Gov. Scott Walker, the Wisconsin Democrats were still hiding in Illinois as supporters rallied across the nation. The liberal group MoveOn.org said it organized rallies in 66 cities, including every state capital. “From what we can tell, it was kind of an amazing wave of energy around the country,” said MoveOn.org Executive Director Justin Ruben. Look, I marched with 50,000 people last year in Phoenix. Seeing 100,000 in the snow in Madison is absolutely nothing to sneeze at. That said, I think the Times is gilding it a bit on the rest of the nation business. We’ll be seeing more protests when the budget axe starts to fall in other Statehouses. Today is Madison’s glory.
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100,000 March on Wisconsin Capitol
You might remember a story from last week where a car crashed and ended up standing vertical on the side of the highway. Today, we give you the human version: Here’s how it transpired: In the end, though, when you consider this happened because young college students were trying to jump off a railing and into the snow, this might have been less of a bad thing and more of a happy accident.
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Snow Dive Goes Horribly Wrong
A hodge-podge of globull warming silliness this Friday morning, starting with Malcolm Bowman, an oceanography professor from Stony Brook University in Long Island, recently stood at the snow-covered edge of the Williamsburg waterfront and pointed toward the Midtown skyline. “Looking at the city, with the setting sun behind the Williamsburg Bridge, it’s a sea of tranquility,”
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Friday Stupid: NY As Venice, Malaria In Europe
CHAMPLIN, Minn. (AP) — Two lesbian high school students who fought for the right to walk together as part of a royalty court made their entrances Monday to the cheers of hundreds of classmates. Sarah Lindstrom and Desiree Shelton wore matching black suits with pink ties and held hands as they entered the Snow Days Pep Fest at Champlin Park High School in Minneapolis’ northwest suburbs. The reaction came as a relief to the couple and school administrators. The district has been stung by criticism of its policies toward homosexuality and the alleged bullying of a gay student who killed himself. “It felt amazing,” said Shelton, adding that she was too nervous to notice dozens rise to give her a standing ovation as she walked in with Lindstrom. “I think we were too focused on getting to the stage.” If there were any boos, they were drowned about by supporters. “I feel so much better,” Lindstrom said while surrounded by friends after the rally. Sarah’s mother, Shannon Lindstrom, camera in hand, joined the other mothers of children in the royalty court after the rally. “They had a lot of courage,” she said Shelton and her daughter. “Look how far we’ve come.” Students voted onto the royalty court traditionally enter the assembly in boy-girl pairs. After Lindstrom and Shelton, both 18, were elected, school officials last week announced a change in procedure: court members would walk in individually or accompanied by a parent or favorite teacher. School officials said they merely wanted to prevent the two from being teased. But on Friday, two human rights groups sued on their behalf. On Saturday, in federally mediated talks, school officials relented. The two sides agreed that members of the royalty court would be escorted by anyone meaningful to them, regardless of gender or age. “This is a new chapter for the district,” said Sam Wolfe, a lawyer with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which filed the lawsuit along with the National Center for Lesbian Rights and local assistance from the Minneapolis law firm of Faegre and Benson. Young women in evening gowns and young men in dark suits walked through a makeshift arch and to the stage during the Monday afternoon pep rally complete with cheerleaders, dance teams and the school band. So did two young women in suits, and the crowd cheered for each one. “They did great,” said Principal Mike George. “I’m proud of our students.” Several of the students in the crowd didn’t understand what all the fuss over the lesbian couple. “Some people are against it, but they don’t care if they walk down a stupid runway,” said Maggie Hesaliman, 14. Melissa Biellefe, 16, said, “We’re a pretty respectful school. Our rule is just let people be who they are.” Champlin Park is part of the Anoka-Hennepin school district, Minnesota’s largest, which has been in the spotlight in the past year for its handling of issues involving gay and lesbian students. It has been in the crossfire for its policy of “neutrality” in classroom discussions of homosexuality. It was reached in 2009 as a way to balance the demands of liberal and conservative families, but neither side has been completely happy with it. The issues flared again last year after a gay student, Justin Aaberg, killed himself. His mother has said she heard too late from Justin’s friends that he had been harassed. Aaberg was one of six students who committed suicide in the district since the beginning of the 2009-10 school year, and advocacy groups have linked some of the other deaths to the bullying of gay students. However, the district said last month its own investigation did not find evidence that bullying contributed to the students’ deaths.
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Two Lesbian High School Students Sue to Accompany Each Other to Dance
Huffington Post : FREEHOLD, N.J. — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was criticized for vacationing in Florida as a blizzard pummeled the East Coast, defended his trip and praised his state for its response to the storm, which dumped nearly three feet of snow in some parts. Speaking Friday at his first news conference since returning home, Christie said all major decisions on the state’s response he made in consultation with state Senate President Stephen Sweeney. Sweeney, a Democrat, had been serving as acting governor after Christie, a Republican, left the state Sunday morning hours before the snow started to fall in earnest. “We did not have any significant loss of life,” Christie said, calling it an “extraordinary accomplishment.”
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Gov. Christie Defends Trip to Disney During Blizzard
Photo credit: CBS 2 Big Labor’s Snowmageddon snit fit by Michelle Malkin Creators Syndicate Copyright 2010 Diligent English farmers of old once shared a motto about the blessings of work: “Industry produces wealth, God speed the plow.” Indolent New York City union officials who oversee snow removal apparently live by a different creed: Sloth enhances political power, Da Boss slow the plow. Come rain or shine, wind, sleet or blizzard, Big Labor leaders always demonstrate perfect power-grabby timing when it comes to shafting taxpayers. Public-sector unions are all-weather vultures ready, willing and able to put special interest politics above the citizenry’s health, wealth and safety. Confirming rumors that have fired up the frozen metropolis, the New York Post reported Thursday that government sanitation and transportation workers were ordered by union supervisors to oversee a deliberate slowdown of its cleanup program — and to boost their overtime paychecks. Why such vindictiveness? It’s a cold-blooded temper tantrum against the city’s long-overdue efforts to trim layers of union fat and move toward a more efficient, cost-effective privatized workforce. Welcome to the Great Snowmageddon Snit Fit of 2010. New York City Councilman Dan Halloran, R-Queens, told the Post that several brave whistleblowers confessed to him that they “were told (by supervisors) to take off routes (and) not do the plowing of some of the major arteries in a timely manner. They were told to make the mayor pay for the layoffs, the reductions in rank for the supervisors, shrinking the rolls of the rank-and-file.” Denials and recriminations are flying like snowballs. But even as they scoff at reports of this outrageous organized job action, the city sanitation managers’ unions openly acknowledge their grievances and “resentment” over job cuts. Stunningly, sanitation workers spilled the beans on how city plowers raised blades “unusually high” (which requires extra passes to get their work done) and refused to plow anything other than assigned streets (even if it meant leaving behind clogged routes to get to their blocks). When they weren’t sitting on their backsides, city plowers were caught on videotape maniacally destroying parked vehicles in a futile display of Kabuki Emergency Theater. It would be laugh-out-loud comedy if not for the death of at least one newborn whose parents waited for an ambulance that never came because of snowed-in streets. This isn’t a triumphant victory for social justice and workers’ dignity. This is terrifying criminal negligence. And it isn’t the first time New York City sanitation workers have endangered residents’ well-being. In the 1960s, a Teamsters-affiliated sanitation workers’ strike led to trash fires, typhoid warnings and rat infestations, as 100,000 tons of rotting garbage piled up. Three decades later, a coordinated job action by city building-service workers and sanitation workers caused another public trash nuisance declared “dangerous to life and health” in the Big Apple. New Yorkers could learn a thing or two from those of us who call Colorado Springs, Colo., home. We have no fear of being held hostage to a politically driven sanitation department — because we have no sanitation department. We have no sanitation department because enlightened advocates of limited government in our town realized that competitive bidders in the private sector could provide better service at lower cost. And we’re not alone. As the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan reported: “The largest study ever conducted on outsourced garbage collection, conducted by the federal government in the 1970s, reported 29 to 37 percent savings in cities with populations over 50,000. A 1994 study by the Reason Foundation discovered that the city of Los Angeles was paying about 30 percent more for garbage collection than its surrounding suburbs, in which private waste haulers were employed. A 1982 study of city garbage collection in Canada discovered an astonishing 50 percent average savings as a result of privatization.” Completely privatized trash collection means city residents don’t get socked with the bill for fraudulently engineered overtime pay, inflated pensions and gold-plated health benefits in perpetuity — not to mention the capital and operating costs of vehicles and equipment. The Colorado Springs model, as city councilman Sean Paige calls it, is a blueprint for how every city can cope with budget adversity while freeing itself from thuggish union threats when contracts expire or cuts are made. Those who dawdled on privatization efforts in better times are suffering dire, deadly consequences now. Let the snow-choked streets of New York be a lesson for the rest of the nation: It’s time to put the Big Chill on Big Labor-run municipal services. *** The latest on Big Nanny Bloomberg’s winter woes: Criticism of mayor mounts. . The NYPost now reports that sanitation workers targeted specific neighborhoods for retribution.
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Slow the plow: Big Labor’s death grip
**Written by Doug Powers Today, New York City Mayor Bloomberg delivered a message in Spanish concerning the blizzard that has crippled much of the eastern US. Click the pic to hear the announcement: If you don’t speak Spanish, here’s a translation of the Mayor’s update: ***** My fellow Spanish-speaking New Yorkers. You may have noticed a large amount of a white substance that has been accumulating outside for some time now. I want to reassure anybody who might fear for his or her safety that the substance is not salt . I repeat, it is not salt. I’ve also heard claims that the substance might be sugar. Thankfully, this is not true. Our Health Department has tested the substance and assures me that it is indeed snow. Now, the bad news. It’s a fact that global warming is making snowstorms worse. And, as I’ve said before , global warming is comparable to terrorism. Ergo, our city has suffered a terrorist attack of sorts. But at least it’s not salt. Additionally, the Health Department has asked me to remind everyone of the proper technique for shoveling snow — 1) Don’t smoke; 2) lift with your legs; 3) seriously, don’t even think about smoking 4) recognize and understand that, yes, the snow is all white and in no way a fair representation of our great city, but it is only snow. Definitely not salt! Thank you for your attention. As-Salamu Alaykum. ***** Update: The speaking Spanish thing doesn’t seem to be working . New Yorkers are starting to ask themselves how effectively Team Bloomie would respond to a real crisis if they’re getting their asses kicked by a snowstorm. **Written by Doug Powers Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
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Mayor Bloomberg’s Spanish Snow Address Translated for Our English Speaking Audience
Blogging will be light today, as earlier today I taped an appearance for the Tom Sullivan Show on Fox Business Network, and tonight I will be on Sean Hannity’s Great American Panel on Fox News Channel . . . Despite the snow steadily falling on Washington, I'm scheduled to take the train up to New York City this afternoon. Sitting in Union Station and watching a safety video, I've already learned the counterintuitive rule that if an evacuation announcement occurs while you're on an Amtrak train platform, you are to remain where you are. Jim Geraghty
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Joining Sean Hannity Tonight . . .
