The 83rd Save Rain Forest Thread

What took them so long?

EPA Orders Emissions System Warnings

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 5, 2008; A09

The Environmental Protection Agency mandated yesterday that manufacturers of heavy diesel trucks and buses install dashboard lights by 2010, like those devised for cars more than a decade ago, to signal whether emissions control equipment is malfunctioning.

But more bad news here.

You can read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/us/05withdraw.html?_r=1&th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print


December 5, 2008
Interior Dept. Changes Rule to Remove Congress Veto
By FELICITY BARRINGER

In another regulatory action in the waning days of the Bush administration, the Interior Department on Thursday unveiled a new rule that challenges Congress’s authority to prevent mining planned on public lands.

Congress has emergency power to stop mineral development, and has used it six times in the last 32 years. The most recent was in June, when it put a three-year moratorium on uranium mining on one million acres near the Grand Canyon. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has ignored that Congressional directive, saying it was procedurally flawed.

The new rule issued by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management comes as environmental groups are suing the bureau in federal court for failing to obey Congress’s directive, which under a 1976 law can be invoked when “an emergency situation exists and extraordinary measures must be taken to preserve values that would otherwise be lost.”

The revision of the rule eliminates all references to Congressional authority. The revision moved through the often-cumbersome rule-making process with lightning speed; it was proposed in October, and the public was given just 15 days to comment.

The rule seems intended to speed a judicial confrontation on the constitutionality of the 1976 law, and to underscore the Interior Department’s determination to leave public land near Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona open for mineral development.

gwb wrapped Christmas packages for America's worst polluters



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http://rainforest.care2.com/i?p=583091674

aktbird57 and the WildClickers have supported 2,922,090.0 square feet!

Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 218,808.3 square feet.

American Prairie habitat supported: 68,518.9 square feet.

Rainforest habitat supported: 2,634,762.8 square feet.

~~~

Lucia Day, December 13, marks the beginning of Christmas in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. The tradition is dated back to the year 1764.

The Lucia has candles in her hair, a red ribbon around her waist and she wears a long, white dress.The tärn-girls have candles in their hands and glitter around the waist. The stjärngosse-boys have a tall, white paper cone with stars on their heads and a star on a stick in their hands.

Usually the Lucia brings a tray with cups of coffee, saffron rolls �lussekatter� and gingerbread cookies �pepparkakor�. There are
Lucia processions everywhere in homes and workplaces and every village elects its own Lucia.



~~~

My goodness, ehBeth. I don't know what happened to the Saffron buns. Possibly a little rascally person??

I have my great grandparents pie safe in our kitchen. I remember it being about twelve feet tall when I was a kid stealing bisquits out of it. Now, it's only about four and a half feet tall. Somehow, it shrunk in it's old age.

Great having two other guys on line....... Thanks...... Not that all you ladies aren't great company!!! It's just good to share the fun.!!!!

All clicked.

Saw Merry Andrew on an a2k thread yesterday.

More loss of habitat to farming. Not in Brazil, but here in the US prairies in fragile ecosystems.

Subsidies Spur Crops on Fragile Habitat

By Dan Morgan
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, December 7, 2008; A03

HIGHMORE, S.D. -- The ducks arrive in early April, zeroing in on thousands of shallow ponds fed by melting snow amid a vast prairie. As the pintails, mallards and blue-winged teal make nests in the grass and feed their young on abundant aquatic insects and freshwater shrimp, a 276,000-square-mile area reaching across five states and into Canada is transformed into one of the world's greatest habitats for migrating birds.

Now this swath, known as the Prairie Pothole Region because of the depressions formed long ago by retreating glaciers, is threatened by the steady advance of farming. Spurred by federal subsidies and two years of surging commodity prices, farmers increasingly are digging up the grass to plant crops, raising concerns among cattle ranchers, hunters and environmental groups about the future of land where Sioux hunters chased grazing buffalo a mere century and a half ago.

Today, signs of change are clearly visible. Emerald fields of ripening crops stand out against a sea of tawny grass in which a single square yard can hold 100 plant species. Rock piles tell the tale of fields cleared to make way for corn, soybeans, sunflowers or wheat.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/06/AR2008120601801_pf.html

http://rainforest.care2.com/i?p=583091674


Beth, shazam!!!
http://img.recipezaar.com/img/recipes/43/78/4/small/43784.jpg

Golden Saffron Buns: recipe and step by step guide {does not explain how to keep lil toddler critters from gleepin' when ggmom isn't looking though} grin

http://muffintop.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/golden-saffron-buns/

Dan, I will follow your electrician guide to the letter and rewire the house after work today. {giggling}

sue, Prez Obama's DOI and Energy dept picks will soon be announced.

"Transition officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said research portfolios for the Energy Secretary, Interior Secretary and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator designates had to be finalized by this Sunday. The Obama team is also still deliberating on who to appoint as head of the President's Council on Environmental Quality and whether that person should act as a special energy/climate change czar to oversee and coordinate Obama's policies between the different departments, or if a special position should be created."

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200812051756DOWJONESDJONLINE000967_FORTUNE5.htm

The WildClickers have supported 2,922,186.2 square feet!

Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 218,845.3 square feet.

American Prairie habitat supported: 68,518.9 square feet.

Rainforest habitat supported: 2,634,822.0 square feet.

Checking in. Clicking in. Wishing everyone a nice day.

Nice day to you also, Alex. Stick around and have some fun.

Stradee, if you aren't careful - you could fry yourself with electricity. However, I've - in some older homes - taken the short, so to speak, way to fix some electrical problems by climbing upon a wooden step ladder and touching the positive "live" wire to fix problems. If you are not "grounded" and don't touch the "return" or "negative" wire the electricity will not touch you.

((Don't try this at home - unless you know what you are doing.......!!!!!!))))

Treat ALL electrical wires as dangerous and call an electrical repairman to help with problems.

All Clicked.

Good advise, Dan. Not to worry. Whenever i'm working with switches, etc. the first thing thats turned off is the power to house via the circuit breaker.

Then if everything works when the powers back on? Then i'm not a crispy critter and everyones happy. {grin}

no electrical work for me. All clicked.

Word is that Obama is not taking the safe route with environmental and energy positions, also education, but will appoint hardline liberals with reform attitudes. If so, it would bode well for Interior, which has been raped beyond belief.

Obama will do well appointing more than a few good envornmentalists - at the DOI, BLM, FDA, EPA, etc. choosing good science leaders.

We've had enough of industries 'speculation' from nothing more than crony employees of the oil companies setting policy from the wh.

http://rainforest.care2.com/i?p=583091674

Yes, Stradee, I too am confident that President Obama will be considered one of the best in future history. Actually, it's more than apparent that he is NOW the President of the USA. Bush has already left the scene - which, as Martha would say, "It's a good thing."

Morning all. Wouldn't let me click this morning. Tried it two different ways. Will try again later.

Hi all, all cleaked.

My Patti, this morning, said that on the phone she pronounced a Southern Redneck word to someone she was speaking with. Later, it shocked her. Then, I reminded her of the time about twelve years ago - when we had just moved to NE TX - that she had gone to WalMart in galoshes not once but twice and didn't get noticed by anyone!!! She was so shocked at the difference between here and Seattle, WA that she didn't think of what was on her feet. That's funny.

sumac, don't worry - try it again later. These compies are finicky.

The WildClickers You and your 300 friends have supported 2,922,401.0 square feet!

Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 218,897.2 square feet.

American Prairie habitat supported: 68,518.9 square feet.

Rainforest habitat supported: 2,634,984.9 square feet.

gd'evenin' all ~

Dan, very funny story.

Recall driving to work, then having to turn around and go home cause i was still wearing me Bear Paw slippers. One of my more 'zoned' mornings.

Hope everyone had a good day.

Clicking


http://rainforest.care2.com/i?p=583091674

I have gone out in my slippers and with sweaters on inside out. Non compus mensa. No correct spelling I am sure.

Clicked and expecting some good rain later and tomorrow. Southwest weather warms up the joint.

sue, must be planetary.

Deciding what to wear, then making sure the clothes are all together so i don't forget what the hell i chose the day before!

Remitted a payment for something and forgot to send the check. Not certain if my error was just freudian or not though. {grin}

Good weather news, sue.

Dan, please ask the tribe to gather for a rain dance! No rain for weeks.

Howdy Beth, Alex and Teeny!

Hope everyone has a marvelous day



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