Sea Lion Strandings Climb, Scientists Still Stumped

This year, an unusually high number of sea lion
pups have stranded on southern California's shores,
overwhelming marine mammal rehab centers.
CREDIT: Pacific Marine Mammal Center

Sea Lion Strandings Climb, Scientists Still Stumped
Apr 17, 2013 | Live Science | Megan Gannon

Scientists still don't know why nearly 1,300 sickly sea lions have beached themselves on the shores of southern California since the beginning of the year. However, they think some weird oceanic phenomenon may be blocking off the sea lion pups' source of food, scientists reported today (April 17).

The stranded sea lions — mostly pups born last summer — are typically turning up alive, but severely emaciated, some weighing less than 20 pounds (9 kg) when they should be well over 50 pounds (22 kg), marine officials say.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared an "unusual mortality event" last month in light of the spike in strandings. Since the beginning of the year, 1,293 sea lions have washed ashore from San Diego County to Santa Barbara County. That's more than five times higher than the region's historical average of 236, averaged from the same period of time (January through April) from 2008 to 2012, said Sarah Wilkin, NOAA's marine mammal stranding coordinator for California. [Marine Marvels: Spectacular Photos of Sea Creatures]

The problem is most pronounced in Los Angeles County, where 459 strandings have been reported this year as of April 14. During the same period last year, 60 strandings were reported.

California hasn't seen a spike in starving sea lions on this scale since El Niño warmed up Pacific waters in 1998. El Niño conditions can diminish the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water needed to support large populations of fish that are eaten by other animals like sea lions.

"In the words of some of the other biologists, if this was an El Niño year, it would still be overwhelming but it wouldn't be all that surprising," Wilkin said. But this isn't an El Niño year, so the mystery remains.

Wilkin told reporters today (April 17) that biologists think an unseen oceanographic or environmental phenomenon is likely cutting the sea lion pups' supply of food, much like El Niño would. While adult sea lions and other marine mammals may be able to adapt their feeding habits in the face of a shortage, pups are more limited in how far they can travel for food and what they can eat.

A localized anomaly like that happened in 2009, causing an above-average number of strandings.

"The prevailing onshore winds did not blow as strongly as they usually do and it resulted in a lack of upwelling, which created a foraging difficulty for California sea lions," Wilkin explained.

Toxic algae blooms and infectious disease outbreaks also can trigger mass pup strandings. Researchers don't have evidence that either of those factors are contributing to the problem this year, but scientists are still waiting to see if tests on blood and tissue samples turn up bacterial, viral and other infectious agents or radioactive traces.

In a good sign, there has been a slowdown in the number of stranded, starving sea lion pups being admitted to rehab facilities, Wilkin said. At the same time, other animals are washing up. Northern elephant seals have just entered their stranding season and biologists have found a few adult female sea lions suffering from seizures, suggesting they may have been poisoned by the neurotoxin domoic acid, which is produced by multiple species of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia, a type of algae.

Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

BP sold Texas oil refinery after making hundreds of people sick, victims claim

AFP Photo / Ben Stansall

BP sold Texas oil refinery after making hundreds of people sick, victims claim
Apr 16, 2013 | RT

After releasing toxic chemicals that left hundreds sick, BP sold its Texas City, Texas oil refinery for $2.4 billion. Now the oil and gas company is facing a $1 billion lawsuit for “violating the rights and endangering the health” of 474 plaintiffs.

The victims in the case claim that BP’s oil refinery released highly toxic chemicals for 15 consecutive days in November 2011 and inflicted permanent environmental and health damages upon the local community. BP allegedly knew about the potential harm these chemicals could do, but “failed to take proper action to stop or control the release,” the lawsuit states.

Additionally, years of unsafe practices at the refinery have polluted the city, most notably the series of explosions and fires that killed 15 workers and injured 1,000 in March 2005. And after polluting Texas City from 1998 until earlier this year, BP sold its refinery, reaping lucrative profits while abandoning the now-contaminated region.

“BP made a tremendous amount of money while doing business in Texas City, sold the refinery at a large profit and then left Texas City and the people of Galveston County holding the bag for its mess,” reads the complaint, filed by lead plaintiff Samuel Charles Boyd Jr. “To be sure, the mess is enormous - so large that Texas City and Galveston County may very well never recover from the harm done to the area environment."

The lawsuit also alleges that because of BP’s violations of air pollution laws and guidelines, Galveston County now has the worst air quality in the US – a side-effect of the crude refinery that residents must now bear the consequences of.

BP sold its Texas City oil refinery to Marathon Petroleum Corporation for $2.4 billion on Feb. 1, the company announced on its website.

But although the lawsuit cites numerous instances in which BP’s refinery polluted the environment, killed workers or sickened residents, the complaint focuses on the impact of the 15-day period that released toxic chemicals into the air.

"From November 10, 2011 through possibly early December 2011, BP reportedly released Sulfur Dioxide, Methyl Carpaptan, Dimethyl Disulfide and other toxic chemicals into the atmosphere,” the complaint reads. “Despite that the leak had been reported, BP denied the dangerousness of the leak, or that any harm could be caused from it.”

While some refinery employees sought medical treatment, air monitors picked up on increased levels of toxins and residents described smelling an unpleasant odor, BP repeatedly denied that the chemicals were in any way harmful. The 474 plaintiffs named in the lawsuit now seek compensation for their repeated exposure to the dangerous chemicals produced by the refinery.

“Plaintiffs seek remedy for the repeated exposures that have occurred as a result of the release of chemicals from the refinery, and also to send a message to BP, its officers and its Board of Directors – that the wanton poisoning of an entire community is not an acceptable business practice,” the complaint reads. “In this effort, plaintiffs seek punitive damages against BP in excess of $1 billion.”

Meanwhile, BP is already defending itself in a trial over the environmental impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in history. With the latest lawsuit against BP, the oil and gas company could be facing even greater penalties for its calamitous effect on the environment.

Barack Obama – the 21st Century ‘Carpetbagger’ for the U.S. Power Elite

Barack Obama – the 21st Century ‘Carpetbagger’ for the U.S. Power Elite
Apr 15, 2013 | The People's Voice | Larry Pinkney

“Never be deceived that the rich will permit you to vote away their wealth.” –Lucy Parsons

“It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.” –Albert Camus

The indefinite detention – NDAA signing, drone man Barack Obama is singularly the most insidious and hideous U.S. politician thus far in this 21st century. There is nothing – absolutely nothing – that he will not say or do in willing service to his corporate / military masters of the U.S power elite, at the horrible expense of everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people.

Barack Obama – the consummate political pimp, has taken the outrages against ordinary people by his predecessor George W. Bush, to a level unmatched in the history of this nation or of humankind as a whole. He has (without Congressional approval) militarily attacked sovereign nations in Africa and the ‘Middle East.’ He has shredded the U.S. Constitution with his draconian (NDAA) indefinite detention law and his obscene ‘Kill List.’ He is now, in 2013, in the process of dismantling Social Security for senior citizens, the disabled, the needy, and the future; after having already wiped out (in his first presidential term) the non-mandatory single payer universal health care option on behalf of his corporate pharmaceutical benefactors.

To refer to Barack Obama, as a 21st century ‘carpetbagger’ on behalf of the Wall Street and military power elite is, quite frankly, an understatement. He is far, far worse. His incessant obfuscated and misleading rhetoric, combined with his brazenly opportunistic use of his slightly darker skin pigmentation, has horribly redefined, the already deplorable realities, of opportunism and exploitation.

This man, Barack Obama, has proven to be the perfect tool for his Wall Street corporate / military masters and the U.S. corporate-stream media. He has proven to be the bane of humanity – all in the fallacious name of ‘progress.’

White ‘Liberals’ and the Black Bourgeoisie

White ‘liberals,’ not to mention much of the leadership of so-called ‘progressives, and the opportunistic black bourgeoisie (and its aspirants) in this nation, have overwhelmingly demonstrated that when it comes to principles and integrity they are virtually no different from their supposed foes of the so-called right wing. They outright support, or are complicit in supporting, U.S. wars, military incursions, U.S. occupations of sovereign nations, and the economic emaciation of the poor (at home and abroad) as long as these actions are carried out by their perceived team – the Democrats. And the opportunistic and relatively small black bourgeoisie (adored by the U.S. corporate-stream media) is absolutely no different. They rationalize these abominations abroad and at home in the name of the allegedly sacred name of supporting a “black” head of the U.S. Empire. Massive hypocrisy notwithstanding, they have shown, in real terms, in the words of Albert Camus, that they are “on the side of the executioners.” Indeed, in the words of Malcolm X, they are on the side of “those who want to continue the system of exploitation.” They have joined the blood suckers of humankind at home and abroad. They too, are the ‘carpetbaggers’ of humanity and their betrayal is utterly repugnant and unacceptable.

What Next for the Everyday People?

Everyday ordinary people in the United States and throughout Mother Earth must understand that they – and only they – are the ones who can best and most effectively and collectively protect their own interests and human rights. This national and global corporate system of thieves, liars, and blood suckers will never do such a thing no matter what their obfuscated rhetoric implies. Their rhetoric is nothing more than a distraction and a trap for the undiscerning.

In this 21st century, we- the people – have the opportunity and obligation to relentlessly and collectively pursue what is in our own best political, economic, and social interests. At stake is literally everything – the very existence of Mother Earth, and of we, her stewards.

In the words of Lucy Parsons, “Never be deceived that the rich will permit you to vote away their wealth.” That “wealth” was, and continues to be, stolen and ill gotten wealth. Mother Earth belongs collectively to all the everyday ordinary women and men who are her stewards – NOT to the blood suckers of humanity and their corporate-owned, war mongering political pawns.

-###-

Each one, reach one. Each one, teach one. Onward then, my sisters and brothers. Onward…!

Published in Issue 512 of The Black Commentator http://www.blackcommentator.com/512/512_kir_obama_carpetbagger_share.html
http://www.blackactivistwg.org/blog/embrace-the-everyday-peoples-stories-reject-the-top-down-narrative-of-history/

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member and Columnist, Larry Pinkney is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil / political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities, Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil / Lehrer News Hour. Pinkney is a former university instructor of political science and international relations, and his writings have been published in various places, including The Boston Globe, the San Francisco BayView newspaper, the Black Commentator, Global Research (Canada), LINKE ZEITUNG (Germany), and Mayihlome News (Azania/South Africa). For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here to read excerpts from the book.)

Giant, rat-sized snails devouring South Florida - can grow to 8 inches long, eat through plaster, and puncture your car tire

Giant, rat-sized snails devouring South Florida - can grow to 8 inches long, eat through plaster, and puncture your car tire
Apr 13, 2013 | SOTT | ThisWeek.com

South Florida is under attack, and the non-native species threatening to wreak havoc seems innocent enough: It's not the giant Burmese pythons that made a home in the Everglades in 2000, nor a ravenous, land-walking fish like the Asian carp that have been eating through waterways farther up north.

No, this foreign invader is a snail.



But what a snail it is. The giant African land snail "can grow as big as a rat and gnaw through stucco and plaster," says Reuters' Barbara Liston. Since the monstrous mollusks were first noticed in the Miami-Dade County area in September 2011, researchers and vigilant homeowners have caught at least 117,000 of them, or about 1,000 a week. And "residents will soon likely begin encountering them more often, crunching them underfoot as the snails emerge from underground hibernation at the start of the state's rainy season in just seven weeks."

Just how big and bad are these slow-moving menaces? "The largest stretch 8 inches," says Zack Peterson in the Ocala StarBanner. "The oldest live nine years. The busiest lay up to 1,200 eggs" a year. They eat at least 500 species of plants, plus the stucco and plaster that provide calcium for their shells. And if that's not disturbing enough, the snails "even carry a parasitic nematode that can lead to meningitis in humans" - though no cases of the pathogen, rat lungworm, have been found among humans in the U.S. yet. (Watch raw footage of the snails below.)

They sound like "monsters from hell sent to punish us," or at least Florida, says Michael Ballaban at Jalopnik. But "perhaps the worst part of the invading monster snails is that if you hit one on the highway their shells are hard enough to cause a blowout." They can also turn deadly when a lawnmower hits one, flinging the shell out at high velocity. And then there's the slime trails they leave everywhere. "It becomes a slick mess," Denise Feiber, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, tells Reuters.

This isn't Florida's first battle with the giant African land snail. The Sunshine State won the last war - in the 1960s, after a boy brought three snails home from Hawaii - but it wasn't cheap or easy. Those three snails turned to 17,000 in seven years, and beating them took 10 years and $1 million. "Feiber said she doesn't want this eradication project to last that long," reports the StarBanner's Peterson. So last week, her department held a strategy roundtable with experts from across the U.S. and Canada.

How did this invasion start? "One possibility being examined is a Miami Santeria group, a religion with West African and Caribbean roots, which was found in 2010 to be using the large snails in its rituals," says Retuers' Liston. Or somebody could have brought them in as pets, like in 1966. Or it could have just been an accident, like this decidedly unsavory possibility:

"If you got a ham sandwich in Jamaica or the Dominican Republic, or an orange, and you didn't eat it all and you bring it back into the States and then you discard it, at some point, things can emerge from those products," Feiber said. [Reuters]

Miami-Dade is ground zero, but "unfortunately, the invasion is not limited to Florida," says Josh Mogerman in the Chicagoist. These "ticking environmental time bombs" have been found in upper Midwestern schools, pet shops, and even one private breeder's operation. And it would only take one escaped or released snail to spark a new infestation, Feiber tells Reuters:

They're huge, they move around, they look like they're looking at you... communicating with you, and people enjoy them for that.... But they don't realize the devastation they can create if they are released into the environment where they don't have any natural enemies and they thrive. [Reuters]

t

Children Explain Atmospheric Geoengineering to Adults

Children Explain Atmospheric Geoengineering to Adults
Apr 15, 2013 | ChemCloudKid

Jet Aircraft anomalies, metals in rainwater and patents all reveal that geoengineering our atmosphere has been deployed by the powers that be. This is literally an experiment with Life itself.

Mysterious Planet: April Arctic Sea Ice Area Increasing

April Arctic Sea Ice Area Increasing
Apr 14, 2013 | Real Science | Steven Goddard

Over the past decade, April Arctic sea ice area has been increasing – with four of the five highest years occurring after 2008.

arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/timeseries.anom.1979-2008

Actual data is not important to some climate scientists, who claim that the unprecedented cold weather in April 2013 is due to “rapidly melting Arctic Ice.”

10-Day Temperature Outlook for the Conterminous U.S.

US policy is being set by people who are either grossly incompetent, grossly dishonest – or both.

Feds Will Take Their Sweet Time Evaluating Pesticide Linked to Bee Deaths

BrunoSINNAH /a>/Shutterstock

Feds Will Take Their Sweet Time Evaluating Pesticide Linked to Bee Deaths
Apr 12, 2013 | Mother Jones | Tom Philpott

Back in 2010, when I first started writing about the possible link between a ubiquitous class of pesticides called neonicotinoids and declining honeybee health, major media organizations largely ignored the story. Since then, evidence of the link has piled up in peer-reviewed studies—and now the bug killers, marketed by European chemical giants Syngenta and Bayer, are under suspicion for killing birds, too. Finally, big media are taking note. In recent weeks, The New York Times editorial page, NPR's generally agribiz-friendly Dan Charles, and CBS News have all weighed in with reports on the suspect pesticides and their effects on honeybees. Meanwhile, the annual bee die-offs that have come to be known as "colony-collapse disorder" appear to be accelerating.

Here's that recent CBS report:



Where is the Environmental Protection Agency in all of this? Neonics took a famously dodgy path through the agency's registration process—and a Bayer-funded study purporting to show that the pesticides are harmless to bees, which the EPA had required as a condition for registration, ended up being rejected as bad science by the EPA's own scientists. Stung, so to speak, by the uproar, the EPA announced in 2011 that it would review the registration of one prominent neonic, Bayer's clothianidin, "given the concern about clothianidin and other neonicotinoid pesticides and the EPA’s dedication to pollinator protection."

Well, given the weight of evidence that has accumulated since 2011 on the pesticides' harm, can we expect the EPA to ban or at least restrict them anytime soon? No. The agency is sticking to its guns—not in defense of honeybees, but rather in defense of the chemicals that appear to be killing them. Last week, CBS News "checked in" with EPA about its review. The agency's response: it "should be completed in five years." Which means at least another half-decade of vast swaths of lands planted with neonic-treated crops.

How much land? Sadly, neither the EPA nor the USDA keeps tabs on pesticide use, so I asked Christian Krupke, an agricultural entomologist at Purdue who has published research implicating neonics in declining bee health, to estimate. His response, via email:

Virtually 100% of corn seed is treated with neonics—that is nearly 100 million acres, add in conservatively 65% of soybeans, all canola, most cotton, most wheat, many smaller acreage crops, and I generally come to a number in the 150-200 million acre range altogether. But it is admittedly not an exact number. In any case, it's an awful lot of land.

The entire state of California occupies 100 million acres, so we're talking about a a land mass equivalent to as much as twice the size of the Golden State.

Tom Philpott is the food and ag blogger for Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here. To follow him on Twitter, click here. RSS | Twitter

Venus' Mysterious South Polar Cyclone

Venus' Mysterious South Polar Cyclone
Apr 13, 2013 | ThunderboltsProject

Thornhill article discussed in this piece: http://www.holoscience.com/wp/saturns...

Summary of successful Thornhilll predictions: http://www.thunderbolts.info/thunderb...

Ex-Military Bio-Environmental Engineer Blows Whistle on Chemtrails in the Air Force

Ex-Military Bio-Environmental Engineer Blows Whistle on Chemtrails in the Air Force
Apr 13, 2013 | TruckersForTruthcom

Report: Many urban tap water systems loaded with SSRI antidepressant drugs

© N/A

Report: Many urban tap water systems loaded with SSRI antidepressant drugs
Apr 12, 2013 | Natural News | Jonathan Benson

As you may recall, the Associated Press (AP) released the results of a groundbreaking investigation it conducted back in 2008 concerning the presence of pharmaceutical drugs in the water supply. In this report, it was revealed that at least 41 million Americans are exposed daily to tap water containing trace amounts of antibiotics, sleeping pills, and even sex hormones. Now, a new report by TheFix.com brings to light the presence of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, in the water supply, and the genetic havoc they may potentially be wreaking on human health.

If you are an avid NaturalNews reader, you have probably already seen some of our many reports on the dangers of SSRIs. Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, under his pseudonym Amethios, actually released a music video back in 2012 entitled "S.S.R.Lies" that tackles the issue of SSRIs, and how these potent drugs can severely alter mood and even induce suicidal or homicidal tendencies in those that take them. You can view the music video in the link below this article.

But it now appears that many Americans do not even have a choice whether or not to willingly take SSRIs anymore, as the toxic chemicals are being quietly piped through water taps unseen. Though they are in far lower doses than what comes from the pharmacy, and in heavier dilution, these trace amounts of SSRIs can add up, especially when consumed perpetually over long periods of time. And since they are also accompanied by many other types of pharmaceutical drugs, their effects on the environment and humans are largely unknown.

"There's a good chance that if you live in an urban area, your tap water is laced with tiny amounts of antidepressants (mostly SSRIs like Prozac and Effexor), benzodiazepines (like Klonopin, used to reduce symptoms of substance withdrawal) and anti-convulsants (like Topomax, used to treat addiction to alcohol, nicotine, food and even cocaine and crystal meth)," writes Matt Harvey. "Whether or not this psychoactive waste has any effect on the human nervous system remains unclear, but when such pharmaceuticals are introduced into the ecosystem, the fallout for other species is demonstrable -- and potentially dire."

Exposure to SSRIs found to damage DNA, induce neurological damage

A 1999 paper published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives revealed that a steady stream of pharmaceuticals continuously makes its way back into water supplies due to inadequate filtration techniques. Pharmaceutical substances are often smaller than the filtration devices used at municipal water treatment plants to carry out solid waste, which means unknown levels of such substances make it right back into your water glass if you drink tap water.

Beyond this, Harvey cites the fact that studies have linked SSRI exposure to genetic defects and other health problems. Minnows subjected to tap water spiked with a combination of SSRIs and anti-convulsants at the University of Idaho, for instance, exhibited 324 genetic alterations associated with neurological disorders like autism -- and these small fish were only exposed to the tainted water for a mere 18 days!

"Studies have shown that regular doses of SSRIs can sometimes damage human DNA, most notably in sperm," adds Harvey. "The minnows offer evidence that even trace amounts of SSRIs can infiltrate DNA."

So what can we all do to avoid this unwelcome pharmaceutical exposure? The first thing would be to install a whole-house water filtration system capable of capturing and removing drug particulates, especially if you live in an area served by a municipal water source. You can also contact your local water treatment facility and request information about its filtration methods, and whether or not they capture drug traces.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.thefix.com

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com

http://researchmagazine.uga.edu/summer2005/printprozac.htm

http://www.naturalnews.com/035735_SSRIs_music_video_Amethios.html