It was my first time hosting for Big Eddie, after being a guest on his show at various times over many years. We had much fun today in the bargain! My thanks to him and his crew for so generously and helpfully welcoming me aboard. My thanks also to the folks at my radio home base, KPFK/Pacifica Radio in Los Angeles, for helping us pull it all off at very short notice.

I hope you'll have fun as well, listening to the show, if you missed it live today. The entire program is archived below (sans commercials!)

My guests included three great, independent, progressive journalists (four, if you include Desi Doyen, who also joined us, as usual):

• MARCY WHEELER , from EmptyWheel.net with the latest on today's House Intel Oversight hearing on Edward Snowden's NSA disclosures.
• ARI BERMAN from The Nation to discuss the this week's Supreme Court rulings on Voting Rights and Voter registration.
• DAVID DAYEN, formerly of Firedoglake.com on his new, disturbing article in the New Republic on how mortgage service providers are strong-arming the victims of the Moore, OK tornado (and other recent natural disasters).
• PLUS! A whole bunch of other stuff, a lot of calls, and plenty of thoughts (and occasional rants) on the surveillance state and the politics of it all. As one very generous emailer wrote me after the show: "You cut right through this unfortunate 'where does that leave the President?' talk." --- Well, good! That was my hope!

The audio archives of today's show follow below. Enjoy!

(Each "Hour" actually 38 mins, now that commercials are removed.)

HOUR 1: I introduce myself to Ed Schultz listeners who may not know me. Much ranting ensues. Then, Ari Berman joins us to discuss SCOTUS and their voting rights rulings, and we fit in a quick call from someone who disagrees with me, kinda, on the NSA matter...
Download MP3 or listen online below...
[See post to listen to audio]

HOUR 2: More NSA, as Marcy Wheeler checks in, followed by lots of phone calls for the rest of the hour!...
Download MP3 or listen online below...
[See post to listen to audio]

HOUR 3: We talk with David Dayen about his disturbing new article; Desi Doyen joins us for some Green News Report; and we shoot it out with more callers...
Download MP3 or listen online below...
[See post to listen to audio]

 

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Breaking: L.A. bans single use plastic bags; New study warns 2/3rds of fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground; Autism risk linked to air pollution - again; Keystone XL pipeline won't use state-of-the-art technology; Alaska hotter than Florida; PLUS: The world's 1st solar plane an antidote to cynicism? ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Syngenta's dirty tricks campaign to discredit scientists, protect profits; China launches major cap & trade program to cut CO2 emissions; Look out below: Antarctica melting from underneath; Singapore chokes on smoke from deforestation; Many US airports facing threat of sea level rise; Temps in 2300: 'Too hot to live'; Environmental groups delay lawsuit, wait for Obama; NASA: Arctic methane melt at "amazing levels" ... PLUS: VIDEO: Meet the CNBC talking heads dismiss climate science ... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED IN TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

• VIDEO: Moniz Explains To GOP Member How He Knows Humans Are Warming The Planet: ‘I Know How To Count’ (Climate Progress)
• L.A. Bans Single-Use Plastic Bans:
• VIDEO: L.A. City Council OKs ban on plastic grocery and carryout bags (LA Times):
  
  Los Angeles on Tuesday became the largest city in the nation to move toward a ban on plastic grocery bags, with the City Council barring them in supermarkets, convenience stores and any big retailer that sells groceries.
  ...
  Opponents of the ban referred to the paper bag fee as an unfair tax. And they argued that it will hurt business in the region, particularly the plastic-bag makers that operate in the southeast section of Los Angeles County.
• Celebrate A Plastic Bag Free L.A. County! (L.A. Dept. of Water & Power)
• All-Time Heat Records Broken in . . . Alaska?! (Climate Central):
  
  In fact, it was warmer in Talkeetna, which is about 110 miles north of Anchorage, than it was in Miami, based on data from the National Weather Service. In Valdez, which sits along the cool waters of Prince William Sound, the temperature reached a remarkable 90°F Monday.
• UNBURNED: 80% of Fossil Fuel 'Should Stay in the Ground":
• Read the Report: THE CRITICAL DECADE 2013 (Climate Commission, Australia)
• VIDEO: Climate Commission report says 80 per cent of fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground (Australia Broadcasting Company) [emphasis added]:
  
  Professor Lesley Hughes, who co-authored the report, says there will be catastrophic consequences for the environment if the world does not move away from fossil fuels. "In order to achieve that goal of stabilising the climate at 2 degrees or less, we simply have to leave about 80 per cent of the world's fossil fuel reserves in the ground. We cannot afford to burn them and still have a stable and safe climate," she said.
• 80% of Fossil Fuels 'Should Stay in the Ground' (Price of Oil Blog):
  
  Since the first report, Australia has experienced record temperatures... The number of record hot days has more than doubled in Australia in the last 50 years.
• AUS: Coal industry vital despite Climate Commission's warnings against fossil fuels (ABC)
• Air Pollution Linked to Autism Risk - AGAIN:
• Autism Tied to Air Pollution, Brain-Wiring Disconnection (Bloomberg) [emphasis added]:
  
  Researchers seeking the roots of autism have linked the disorder to chemicals in air pollution and, in a separate study, found that language difficulties of the disorder may be due to a disconnect in brain wiring.
• Autism, Air Pollution Link Confirmed By First National Study (Huffington Post Green):
  
  "Women who were exposed to the highest levels of diesel or mercury in the air were twice as likely to have a child with autism than women who lived in the cleanest parts of the sample," study author Andrea Roberts, a research associate with the Harvard School of Public Health.
• Illinois Gets First-Ever Fracking Regulations:
• Fracking Bill Triggers Rift Among Illinois Green Groups (Inside Climate News):
  
  Grassroots activists say they feel 'betrayed' by mainstream environmental organizations that helped write the state's new fracking regulations.
• Illinois Gas Drilling Rules: Governor Pat Quinn Signs New Fracking Regulations Into Law (AP)
• Governor Quinn Signs Illinois Fracking Bill
• KXL: TransCanada Won't Use Best Pipeline Spill Detection Technology:
• Keystone XL Pipeline Shuns High-Tech Oil Spill Detectors (BusinessWeek):
  
  Pipeline companies have been slow to adopt new leak detection technology, including infrared equipment on helicopters flying 80 miles an hour or acoustic sensors that can identify the sound of oil seeping from a pinhole-sized opening. Instead of tools that can find even the smallest leaks, TransCanada will search for spills using software-based methods and traditional flyovers and surveys.
• KXL's Outdated Oil Spill Technology (Price Of Oil)
• TransCanada in Damage Control Mode Over Flaws in Newly Laid Southern Leg of Keystone XL Pipeline (Public Citizen)
• This May Be the Antidote to Cynicism: Solar Impulse and Energy Sec. Ernie Moniz:
• Energy chief: Flying across US in high-tech solar plane to boost cleaner energy use on ground (Washington Post) [emphasis added]:
  
  It's not that the experimental European plane is going to change the way the rest of us fly, Moniz said. But it may change the way we drive and the buildings we live in sooner than we think. The high-flying lightweight technology will pay off on the ground far more readily than in the air. This project should lead to cleaner appliances, greener cars and more energy-efficient building.
• Why you should care about Solar Impulse and renewable energy's long, long journey (Washington Post):
  
  If you were asleep, and the news passed you by, stop for a second and take stock. There's a reason you should care - and care deeply - about the journey of Solar Impulse.
  ...
  Solar Impulse's flight across America could unlock the future potential of solar energy. There's a reason why the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum welcomed the arrival of Solar Impulse in Washington with open arms, and why Department of Energy chief Ernest Moniz said the journey highlighted "a cleaner energy future for the nation."
• VIDEO: Secretary Moniz Speaks at Solar Impulse Press Conference (Dept. of Energy Youtube Channel)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

• Fracking presents new strains on water supplies in some drought-stricken areas of the US (Washington Post) [emphasis added]:
  
  The latest domestic energy boom is sweeping through some of the nation's driest pockets, drawing millions of gallons of water to unlock oil and gas reserves from beneath the Earth's surface.... [T]he exploration method is increasing competition for the precious resource, driving up the price of water and burdening already depleted aquifers and rivers in certain drought-stricken stretches...."There is a new player for water, which is oil and gas," said Peppler, of Mead, Colo. "And certainly they are in a position to pay a whole lot more than we are."
• States, green groups delay lawsuit amid Obama climate rumors (The Hill's e2 Wire):
  
  "Due to public reports that the President will be announcing major action on climate change very soon, the Attorney General has decided to postpone a lawsuit on this matter for a short period of time," said Melissa Grace, spokeswoman for New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
• Environmental Rules Delayed As White House Slows Reviews (NY Times) [emphasis added]:
  
  The White House has blocked several Department of Energy regulations that would require appliances, lighting and buildings to use less energy and create less global-warming pollution, as part of a broader slowdown of new antipollution rules issued by the Obama administration.
• Documents: Syngenta's Secret Campaign to Protect Atrazine, Discredit Critics (Environmental Health News):
  
  To protect profits threatened by a lawsuit over its controversial herbicide atrazine, Syngenta Crop Protection launched an aggressive multi-million dollar campaign that included hiring a detective agency to investigate scientists on a federal advisory panel, looking into the personal life of a judge and commissioning a psychological profile of a leading scientist critical of atrazine.
• Chrysler Agrees to Repair SUVs on Fire Risk After Probe (Bloomberg)
• VIDEO: Meet The CNBC Figures Dismissing Climate Science (Media Matters)
• Singapore chokes on haze from deforestation fires (MongaBay):
  
  Singapore and Malaysian officials have asked Indonesia to take "urgent measures" to address forest fires in Sumatra that are sending choking haze northward, reports AFP.
• China Launches Major Cap & Trade Emissions Program (Scientific American):
  
  To control greenhouse gases the Chinese government is experimenting with pilot programs in seven cities and regions that use markets
• Look Out Below: Antarctic Melting From Underneath (Climate Central):
  
  Ice experts have long known that Antarctica is losing ice at the margins of its vast ice sheets, where the frozen continent meets the sea — presumably, they thought, from icebergs breaking off and floating away. According to a report published in Science, however, more than half the ice loss is coming from warming ocean waters, which are melting the ice from underneath.
• U.S. Airports Face Increasing Threat From Rising Seas (Climate Central)
• NASA Finds 'Amazing' Levels Of Arctic Methane And CO2, Asks 'Is a Sleeping Climate Giant Stirring in the Arctic?' (Climate Progress):
  
  A NASA science team has observed "amazing and potentially troubling" levels of methane and CO2 from the rapidly warming Arctic. Given the staggering amount of carbon trapped in the permafrost - and the fact that methane is a very potent heat-trapping gas - the space agency is now asking: "Is a Sleeping Climate Giant Stirring in the Arctic?"
• Too hot to live: grim long-term prediction (Sydney Morning Herald) [emphasis added]:
  
  HALF the Earth could become too hot for human habitation in less than 300 years, Australian scientists warn. New research by the University of NSW has forecast the effect of climate change over the next three centuries, a longer time scale than that considered in many similar studies. The research suggests that without action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, average temperatures could rise as much as 10 to 12 per cent by 2300.
• We Have Met the Unknown Unknowns and They are Us (Legal Planet):
  
  There are uncertainties about climate science such as tipping points and feedback effects. But these pale in comparison to the biggest source of uncertainties: people. Here are some of the major things we don't know and really can't know about future society.
• Warning: Even in the best-case scenario, climate change will kick our asses (Grist)

FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
]]> Brad Friedman http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10075 2013-06-18T00:13:11Z 2013-06-18T00:13:11Z (Uncategorized) NSA War On Terror National Security Whistleblowers Barack Obama Bush Legacy Edward Snowden

I'm prepping to guest host the Ed Schultz Radio Show tomorrow morning (9a-Noon PT, Noon-3p ET), so, for now, I'm gonna leave you with just the request that you go read some of the transcripts and/or videos available at USA Today.

Over the weekend, they published a conversation with three NSA whistleblowers (and one from DoJ) from during the Bush era. They all laud the latest NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden for coming forward with his leaks, and say that "he succeeded where we failed" in getting the attention of the public as to what, they say, is going on, and the concerns about secret data gathering operations that the public need to be aware of.

"They say the documents leaked by Edward Snowden ... proves their claims of sweeping government surveillance of millions of Americans not suspected of any wrongdoing," as USA Today describes the conversation. "They say those revelations only hint at the programs' reach."

Please go to the page and read some of the transcripts and/or watch the video conversation, which I don't have time to highlight at the moment: "3 NSA veterans speak out on whistle-blower: We told you so".

Here is just the very beginning of the conversation...

Q: Did Edward Snowden do the right thing in going public?

William Binney: We tried to stay for the better part of seven years inside the government trying to get the government to recognize the unconstitutional, illegal activity that they were doing and openly admit that and devise certain ways that would be constitutionally and legally acceptable to achieve the ends they were really after. And that just failed totally because no one in Congress or — we couldn't get anybody in the courts, and certainly the Department of Justice and inspector general's office didn't pay any attention to it. And all of the efforts we made just produced no change whatsoever. All it did was continue to get worse and expand.

Q: So Snowden did the right thing?

Binney: Yes, I think he did.

Q: You three wouldn't criticize him for going public from the start?

J. Kirk Wiebe: Correct.

Binney: In fact, I think he saw and read about what our experience was, and that was part of his decision-making.

Wiebe: We failed, yes.

Jesselyn Radack: Not only did they go through multiple and all the proper internal channels and they failed, but more than that, it was turned against them. ... The inspector general was the one who gave their names to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act. And they were all targets of a federal criminal investigation, and Tom ended up being prosecuted — and it was for blowing the whistle.

Also related and of note, from Thomas Drake, one of the whistleblowers included in the USA Today conversation above --- his column from last week: "Snowden saw what I saw: surveillance criminally subverting the constitution."

]]>

The court rejected provisions of Proposition 200, a ballot measure approved by AZ voters in 2004, which mandated that state election officials reject all applications to register to vote that did not include documentary proof of citizenship. Those documents, however, are not currently required by the Federal Form for voter registration, as approved by the Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) pursuant to provisions of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).

Today's ruling in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona [PDF], is grounded upon the plenary power given to Congress by the Elections Clause (Art. I §4 of the U.S. Constitution) empowering Congress to preempt state regulations governing the "Times, Places and Manner" of holding federal elections. The court found that the NVRA mandate that states "accept and use" the Federal Form for voter registration takes precedence, and that Prop 200 is invalid because it conflicts with the Congressional intent that the NVRA help ease the ability of citizens to register to vote.

Writing for the majority, Justice Scalia observed that if a state could "demand of Federal Form applicants every additional piece of information the State requires…the Federal Form ceases to perform any meaningful function, and would be a feeble means of 'increas[ing] the number of eligible citizens who register to vote in elections for Federal office.'"

This does not close the door on the issue altogether, however. Justice Scalia noted that, pursuant to the NVRA, any state can ask that "the EAC alter the Federal Form to include information the State deems necessary to determine eligibility." If the EAC then rejects such a request, the state "may challenge the EAC's rejection of that request [in court]"...

As AP's Jesse Holland reported, although Louisiana followed such a course by obtaining EAC approval of that state's requirements for additional documentation to be attached to the Federal Form, the availability of that option has been complicated by the fact that, currently, there are no EAC Commissioners --- apparently, as observed by U.C. Irvine Law Prof. Rick Hasen, because "influential Republicans" are of "the view that the EAC is a failed experiment and nothing should be done to revive it."

In fact, while the President put forward nominations for the two Democratic slots on the four person commission, Republicans have failed to either nominate their own two candidates, or allow for confirmation hearings on the Democratic nominees. This stalemate has persisted, at this point, for years.

As can be expected, there have been competing reactions to this new decision.

At one end of the spectrum is, as noted in the above-cited AP report, Chapman Univ. Law Professor, Tom Caso, who complained that the Court's decision has "opened the door" to non-citizen voting --- this, despite Justice Scalia's assurance that the NVRA (and, therefore, this Supreme Court decision) "does not preclude States from 'deny[ing] registration based on information in their possession establishing the applicant's ineligibility.'"

At the other end, one finds the statement of Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, proclaiming that the Court's decision in this case "protects the more than 30,000 individuals whose registration applications were rejected following the passage of Proposition 200, nearly 17 percent of whom were Latinos."

Writing for The Nation and citing a brief by the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) [PDF] last March, Ari Berman reports that "The law has needlessly prevented eligible voters from registering and has made voter registration work more difficult. 'The proportion of all voter registrations in [Phoenix's] Maricopa County attributable to community-based drives decreased from 24% in 2004 to 7% in 2005, 5% in 2006 and 6% in 2007,' found MALDEF."

Hailing today's ruling, the NAACP not only pointed to the fact that the case was originally filed by "Jesus Gonzalez, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was rejected for registration under Arizona Proposition 200," but noted that the state failed "to identify a single instance" in which a non-citizen voted.

This is in line with The BRAD BLOG's previous investigations with respect to a recent attempted voter purge of suspected "non-citizen" voters from Florida's eligible voter rolls. As a result of a months long investigation, The BRAD BLOG was able to verify only nine (9) non-citizens on the rolls out of some 182,000 voters who had been the targets of a reckless and dishonest purge that had been concocted by the Sunshine state's Republican Governor, Rick Scott, and by his hand-picked, Republican Secretary of State Scott Detzner.

As with polling place Photo ID laws, regulations like those contained in the now invalidated Arizona Proposition 200 are far more likely to prevent perfectly legal citizens from exercising their right to vote than to prevent illicit votes from non-eligible voters.

AP also notes, today's "decision on voter registration has broader implications because other states have similar requirements, such as Alabama, Georgia, Kansas and Tennessee, and still others are contemplating such legislation."

Voting Rights advocates and SCOTUS watchers are still awaiting the court's ruling, which could come as early as this Thursday, on a case with even farther reaching aspects. The court may strike down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in that upcoming decision. That Section of the long-standing federal law requires that certain jurisdictions with a long history of racial discrimination receive preclearance from the federal government before instituting new election-related laws. Section 5 was invoked this year to block discriminatory polling place Photo ID restrictions laws in states such as South Carolina and Texas. Without Section 5, voting rights advocates fear, it will be much more difficult to block voter suppression efforts until after the damage from such laws has already been done.

Ironically, because of its past history of discrimination, Arizona became a "covered jurisdiction" under the VRA in 1975. In 2005, the same AZ Proposition 200, which the Supreme Court struck down today, was pre-cleared under Section 5 by the George W. Bush/Alberto Gonzales Justice Department

Additionally, and in flagrant disregard for the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, King had earlier disgraced himself by calling for the arrest of journalist Greenwald, who originally broke the news on a number of the disclosures made by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. (The additional irony here, of course, is that King himself actually is an avowed supporter of terrorism.)

Cooper and Greenwald then discussed the claim that American national security has been harmed by the disclosures made by Snowden, and why both citizens and journalists should never merely accept, at face value, such claims from public officials...

King's blatant lies about Greenwald ought to underscore his point that such officials are not to be merely trusted.

Video of Anderson Cooper's 6/12/2013 interview of Glenn Greenwald follows below...

• On Monday: Obama (2007) v. Obama (2013)
• On Wednesday: Hannity (Bush Era) v. Hannity (Obama Era)

And now we have this...

Ed seems to be somewhat conflicted on what to make of the Edward Snowden issue. I tried to help unconflict him a bit...

Download MP3 or listen online below [Appx 12 mins]...
[See post to listen to audio]

 

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: CO wildfire now most destructive in state history; Another chemical plant explodes, this time in LA; Supreme Court rules on TX v. OK water war; New oil spills in Brazil and Canada; PLUS: Mayor Bloomberg's $20B Sandy recovery and climate change plan for NYC ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Methane leaks could negate climate benefits of nat gas boom; Too hot to live: grim long-term prediction; Will coastal cities follow NYC's climate lead?; 1970s pollution led to African drought; Tea Party takes on utility over lack of solar energy; 'Understory' fires burning in drier Amazon rainforest; White House delays environmental, energy rules... PLUS: NASA Finds ‘Amazing’ Levels Of Arctic Methane And CO2, Asks ‘Is a Sleeping Climate Giant Stirring in the Arctic?’ ... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED IN TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

• Black Forest Fire: Most Destructive In CO History:
• AGU VIDEO: Big Meadows Fire: Connecting the dots between warming winters and wildfires while at AGU Chapman Conference in Colorado (American Geophysical Union)
• Climate Change To Spawn More Wildfires (Discovery.com):
  
  Severe wildfires are becoming common in the northern Rockies, as a result of climate change. By the end of the century, large fires are likely to strike 10 times more often.
• 360-plus homes destroyed in Colo. Springs wildfire (AP)
• LIVE UPDATES: Parts of Colorado Springs now under mandatory evac. for Black Forest Fire (KDVR-TV Denver)
• Black Forest Fire Now Most Destructive in Colorado History, 360 Homes Lost And No Containment (Climate Progress):
  
  As Mother Jones explains, climate change is intensifying the extreme heat, drought, and other conditions that fuel devastating wildfires. As forests become hotter and drier, and milder winters lead to an increase in infestations such as the pine bark beetle, a recent report authored by U.S. Forest Service scientists predicts that the acreage burned by wildfires will double by 2050 to about 20 million acres annually.
• How Climate Change Makes Wildfires Worse: In Colorado, extreme weather is fueling fierce fires. Again. (Mother Jones)
• Louisiana: Another Chemical Plant Explosion:
• UPDATE: 1 Dead, 73 Injured in Louisiana Chemical Plant Explosion (Huffington Post Green)
• Dozens hurt in explosion, fire at Louisiana chemical plant (CBS News)
• LIVE Coverage: 33 injured in plant explosion (WAFB-TV Baton Rouge)
• Supreme Court Rules in TX v. OK Water War:
• Supreme Court Backs Oklahoma Over Texas Water District (Texas Tribune)
• Details: Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann (SCOTUSBlog) [emphasis added]:
  
  The Court held that the Red River Compact, which allocates water rights within the Red River basin among the states of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, does not pre-empt the Oklahoma water statutes. The case is significant for the pace of economic development in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, and for the right of Oklahoma to control the use of water in rivers that traverse the state.
• Texas Allocates $5 Million for New Mexico Water Lawsuit (Texas Tribune)
• New Spills, Now in Brazil and Canada:
• Toxic Waste Spill in Alberta Biggest of Recent Disasters in North America (Toronto Globe & Mail):
  
  The substance is the inky black colour of oil, and the treetops are brown. Across a broad expanse of northern Alberta muskeg, the landscape is dead. It has been poisoned by a huge spill of 9.5 million litres of toxic waste from an oil and gas operation in northern Alberta, the third major leak in a region whose residents are now questioning whether enough is being done to maintain aging energy infrastructure.
• National Energy Board Responds to Crude Oil Release west of Merritt, BC (Nat'l Energy Board, Canada)
• Brazil 'on alert' over an oil spill from Ecuador (BBC):
  
  Brazil is "on alert" over an oil spill that originated in Ecuador and is travelling downstream towards the Brazilian Amazon.
• TransCanada prepped local police for prosecuting pipeline foes (E & E News)
• How Can We Cope with the Dirty Water from Fracking? (Scientific American): Advanced membranes, unusual solvents and new drilling processes could clean and recycle a growing flood of contaminated water
• Pipeline Whistleblower Reveals Dangerous "Culture of Noncompliance": Former TransCanada employee testifies on pervasive "coercion" with grave risks for public safety (Common Dreams)
• NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's $20B Post-Sandy Recovery Plan:
• New York lays out $20 billion plan to adapt to climate change (Reuters):
  
  Sandy killed more than 100 people in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, knocked out power to millions and cost New York City an estimated $19 billion in damages and lost economic activity. Bloomberg said a storm of Sandy's strength would cost nearly five times that amount if it hit the city in the middle of this century because of rising sea levels.
  ...
  In addition to new walls, dune systems and tidal barriers, the plan envisaged $1.2 billion in loans and grants to help owners make buildings more resilient to floods and proposed changes to the building code.
• Bloomberg Outlines $20 Billion Storm Protection Plan (NY Times)
• Bloomberg unveils ambitious plan to protect NYC from climate change (Grist)
• Bloomberg Braces Big Apple for Mounting Costs of Climate Change (NRDC)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

• NASA Finds ‘Amazing’ Levels Of Arctic Methane And CO2, Asks ‘Is a Sleeping Climate Giant Stirring in the Arctic?’ (Climate Progress):
  
  A NASA science team has observed “amazing and potentially troubling” levels of methane and CO2 from the rapidly warming Arctic. Given the staggering amount of carbon trapped in the permafrost — and the fact that methane is a very potent heat-trapping gas — the space agency is now asking: “Is a Sleeping Climate Giant Stirring in the Arctic?”
• Methane leaks could negate climate benefits of US natural gas boom: report: Reduction in carbon emissions triggered by America's shift from coal to gas is being offset by a sharp rise in methane (Guardian UK)
• Too hot to live: grim long-term prediction (Sydney Morning Herald) [emphasis added]:
  
  HALF the Earth could become too hot for human habitation in less than 300 years, Australian scientists warn.
  
  New research by the University of NSW has forecast the effect of climate change over the next three centuries, a longer time scale than that considered in many similar studies. The research suggests that without action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, average temperatures could rise as much as 10 to 12 per cent by 2300.
• Environmental Rules Delayed As White House Slows Reviews (NY Times) [emphasis added]:
  
  The White House has blocked several Department of Energy regulations that would require appliances, lighting and buildings to use less energy and create less global-warming pollution, as part of a broader slowdown of new antipollution rules issued by the Obama administration.
• New York's Sea-Level Plan: Will It Play in Miami? (National Geographic) [emphasis added]:
  
  Rising seas threaten other cities more than New York.
  First, as the time when we could prevent dangerous climate change slips away, the time for costly investments to protect ourselves has arrived. Second, for some cities, less well situated or less wealthy than New York, protection is going to be extremely challenging—and in some cases perhaps impossible.
• Study: Pollution Led to African Drought (Voice of America)
• Fires have burned 3 percent of Amazon rainforest in 12 years, NASA says (CS Monitor):
  
  Scientists find that hard-to-track fires in forest ‘understory’ have done even greater damage to rainforest than traditional deforestation
• Tea Party Takes on Utility Over Lack of Solar Energy (The Energy Collective):
  
  The fight to bring cheaper, clean energy to Georgia is uniting some unlikely allies. Renewable energy advocates and leaders of the Atlanta Tea Party are taking on utility giant Southern Co., and its subsidiary Georgia Power, over resisting the call to expand its development of solar energy.
• Republican Congressman Demands Obama Apologize To Oklahoma For Investing In Climate Change Research (Climate Progress)
• Fish Nets Found to Kill Large Numbers of Birds (NY Times):
  
  Fishing vessels that deploy gill nets snare and drown at least 400,000 seabirds every year, and the actual figure could be considerably higher, according to research published in the June edition of an academic journal devoted to conservation.
• Sunrun CEO: Why Utilities Are Attacking Net Metering (GreenTech Media):
  
  “They have a profit opportunity when they own solar, but not with net-metered solar.”
• US coal sold too low, taxpayers lose millions -government watchdog (Reuters) [emphasis added]:
  
  U.S. officials who administer a federal coal program have undervalued the fuel, costing taxpayers $62 million in some recent mining leases alone, said a government report released on Tuesday. About 40 percent of the coal sold in the United States is drawn from federal land and the program is administered by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, which is required to seek a fair price on behalf of taxpayers.
• Carbon dioxide emissions rose 1.4 percent in 2012, IEA report says (Washington Post) [emphasis added]:
  
  The agency said continuing that pace could mean a temperature increase over pre-industrial times of as much as 5.3 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit), which IEA chief economist Fatih Birol warned "would be a disaster for all countries."
• VIDEO: Water in the Anthropocene (CSIRO): Water in the Anthropocene is a 3-minute film charting the global impact of humans on the water cycle. Evidence is growing that our global footprint is now so significant we have driven Earth into a new geological epoch - the Anthropocene. Human activities such as damming and agriculture are changing the global water cycle in significant ways.
• We Have Met the Unknown Unknowns and They are Us (Legal Planet):
  
  There are uncertainties about climate science such as tipping points and feedback effects. But these pale in comparison to the biggest source of uncertainties: people. Here are some of the major things we don't know and really can't know about future society.
• Warning: Even in the best-case scenario, climate change will kick our asses (Grist)

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]]> Brad Friedman http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10067 2013-06-13T18:34:04Z 2013-06-13T18:34:04Z BRAD BLOG NSA BRAD BLOG Media Appearance Whistleblowers Rights And Freedoms U.S. Constitution Journalist Intimidation Mainstream Media Failure Accountability Barack Obama Patriot Act Daniel Ellsberg Richard Nixon Bush Legacy KPFK Edward Snowden

In his column over the weekend, lauding the "conscience and patriotism" of NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden, legendary "Pentagon Papers" whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg cited a 1975 warning about the NSA from Sen. Frank Church (D-ID), chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee tasked with investigating unlawful intelligence gathering by the NSA, CIA and FBI following the Watergate scandal.

"I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America," Church said, "and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return."

On Wednesday, during a fascinating interview on The BradCast on KPFK/Pacifica Radio, Ellsberg said directly, in the wake of Snowden's disclosures: "We're in the abyss. What he feared has come to pass."

The Guardian has asserted that former NSA contractor Edward Snowden "will go down in history as one of America's most consequential whistleblowers alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning," do it seemed the perfect time to chat with Ellsberg about all of this.

He offered a number of thoughts about Snowden himself, from one of the few people in the world who may have real insight into what the 29-year old leaker must be thinking and dealing with right about now, and why he may have chosen to both leave the country and then come out publicly. He describes Snowden as "a patriotic American, and to call him a traitor reveals a real misunderstanding of our founding documents."

"What he has revealed, of course, is documentary evidence of a broadly, blatantly unconstitutional program here which negates the Fourth Amendment," Ellsberg said. "And if it continues in this way, I think it makes democracy essentially impossible or meaningless."

As usual, Ellsberg pulled no punches in his comments on the dangers of our privatized surveillance state; the failure of our Congressional intelligence oversight committees (which he describes as "fraudulent" and "totally broken"); and on those who have been critical of Snowden and of Glenn Greenwald, the journalist from The Guardian who has broken most of the scoops on Snowden's leaked documents.

He said that folks like attorney Jeffrey Toobin at the New Yorker and author Thomas Friedman at New York Times and Senator Dianne Feinstein "are being very strongly discredited," by their attacks on Snowden. "The criticisms they're making, I think, are very discreditable to them in their profession," he says.

And, while answering to my request for a response to Josh Marshall's recent piece at TPM, in which Marshall weights his own conscience on this matter and frankly revealing his natural tendency to support the government over whistleblowers in cases like this, Ellsberg was particularly pointed. "Marshall has a lot to be said for him as a blogger," he said, before adding: "I think what he said there is stupid and mistaken and does not do him credit." He went on to describe some of Marshall's comments as "slander" against Snowden.

One other point that merits highlight here for now, before I let ya listen below. The difference between Ellsberg's circumstances and those in play today.

Ellsberg noted that after leaking top secret Defense Department documents to the New York Times in 1971, detailing how the Johnson Administration had lied the nation into the Vietnam War, President Nixon, at the time, ordered a break-in of his psychiatrist's office and discussed having Ellsberg "eliminated".

"All the things that were done to me then," he noted chillingly, "including a CIA profile on me, a burglary of my former psychiatrist's office in order to get information to blackmail me with, all of those things were illegal, as one might think that they ought to be."

"They're legal now, since 9/11, with the PATRIOT Act, which on that very basis alone should be repealed. In other words, this is a case right now with Snowden that shows very dramatically the dangers of that PATRIOT Act, used as it is. So the fact is, that all these things are legal. And even the one of possibly eliminating him"...

"We're In the abyss," indeed...

Download MP3 or listen online below...
[See post to listen to audio]

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UPDATE: Complete text transcript of interview now here. [Courtesy Emily Levy]

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And now, since we're nothing if not "fair and balanced", here is a short video of Sean Hannity of Fox "News" repeatedly lauding massive NSA surveillance programs during the George W. Bush Administration...and then decrying the very same programs as "tyranny" and a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution now that Obama is doing it.

With all due respect to Hannity --- and I have none --- his over the top hypocrisy then versus now trumps even Obama's, hands down. Not to mention the small detail that the programs, as carried out under Bush were, at the time, illegal, while under Obama they have been made "legal". (Or so we are told. There is so much secrecy around them, of course, it is virtually impossible for the public to know either way.) Enjoy!...

Also recently related: "Republicans Suddenly Decide to Care About Big Government Overreach"