October 19, 2007
0230z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of the north and west hemisphere

I happen to think the weather scientists are doing a great job at protecting their public. I hope there are no casualities, so far none reported. Amazing work. I knew you all were upto it. Thank you.


October 17, 2007
1830z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of the north and west hemisphere

The tornadoes across the country began here, with a huge blast of heavy cold air from the Artic Circle when it was displaced down to lower latitudes by heat transfers from the equator. You know hot air rises, cold air sinks. The turbulence of the day is caused as the cold air met with hot air from the Gulf of Mexico. The satellite reflecting the difference between the earlier satellite and the current is noted above.

PNJ: Surprise Tornado Spins Through Pensacola (click here)
PENSACOLA -- This town is used to having a name to curse at.
You know -- Erin, Opal or that dreaded Ivan. Hurricanes, all.
But what do you call what happened Thursday?
You call it an EF-1 tornado. And you pray that we never meet the nameless nightmare again.
A tornado 150 yards wide and spinning mean winds around 100 mph stormed through the heart of Pensacola Thursday, ripping homes apart, shredding a church and its nearby daycare center, blowing windows out of vehicles and causing mayhem across a twisted path from Pensacola Naval Air Station to Cordova Mall.
No one was killed or seriously injured by the tornado, though one man broke three ribs when a home collapsed on him near downtown Pensacola and three other people suffered minor injuries.
Even those who suffered the most structural loss marveled that there was no lives lost or serious injuries.
"Everything damaged is replaceable,'' said the Rev. Lonnie Wesley III, pastor of Greater Little Rock Baptist Church on A Street, which was ripped and shredded by Thursday's twister. "We had employees in our Christian education building and children and our daycare. No one was hurt. God is good.''
Still, there was plenty of damage at the 10-year-old church structure. It's steeple was punched and missing pieces. A door leading to the main lobby was blown open, exposing the church to the rain and elements. The green metal roof was peeled away, with one large piece of roof wrapped around a telephone pole nearly a half-mile away. Insulation was torn and tattered and covered the church grounds and most of the surrounding neighborhood, making nearby streets look as if they were paved with yellow cotton candy.
In all, four homes were destroyed in Escambia County, while 24 houses received major damage and another 58 received minor damage.
Meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Mobile said the tornado was an EF-1 tornado, which produces wind speeds from 86 to 110 miles per hour. All tornadoes receive an EF rating - known as the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The lowest-rated tornado is a category EF-1 tornado, which has winds from 65 to 85 miles per hour. At the other end of the scale, an EF-5 tornado has winds over 200 miles per hour.
Meteorologist John Purdy said the tornado formed near Pensacola Naval Air Station around 10:10 a.m., moving through Warrington before hitting downtown Pensacola around 10:18. The tornado then moved north near Ninth Avenue, causing damage at Cordova Mall, before receding around 10:25 a.m. near the Pensacola Regional Airport.
Purdy said there was only one confirmed tornado, but speculated that a water spout in the Gulf of Mexico might have made a stab at pushing onshore just after 8 a.m. at Pensacola Beach, causing some structural damage there.
Many people who witnessed the tornado said it caught them by surprise.
Mary Ponds, 58, owner of Tas-T-O Donuts & Sandwich Shop on E Street said she saw the tornado hanging from a ominous black cloud and head straight for her shop.
"I was looking out the window and it was coming right at me,'' she said, clutching her hand over her heart. "I could see debris flying in the air. I've seen tornadoes on TV, but never for real before. I just crawled under the counter on my knees and prayed.''
Just north of her shop, the tornado gnarled homes near Magee Field, and even ripped down a giant oak tree, sending its branches across a football goalpost that was bending toward the ground.
LaTosha and Percy Blackmon live just across the street from Magee Field and feared for their lives.
"We were sacred,'' said Percy Blackmon, 31. "There was trash blowing around. I never seen anything like that in my life.''
Nearby, there were downed powerlines and even parts of a garage blown into a road, as well as a destroyed satellite dish that sat off a side road near Martin Luther King Drive.
But the damage was everywhere the tornado had raced through just minutes earlier. A roof was damaged at Hallmark Elementary School, though all the school's students were moved to an interior location inside and no one was injured. At Cordova Mall, skylights were damaged, and the mall wing containing Belk's was closed because of roof damage. Over 20 cars in the parking lot at the nearby Target were damaged, while boats at marinas in Warrington were also destroyed.
"It sounded just like you've always heard - like a freight train,'' said Mark Walton, 32, who lives just off A Street near Little Rock Baptist Church. "It was just loud and sounded like the whole sky was caving in.''
Walton said his front porch received minor damage, but that a neighbor who had to rebuild a roof after Hurricane Ivan in 2004 had two busted windows and lost some roof shingles.
"Some of these people here are just now getting back on their feet,'' he said. "Some ain't back at all yet. We didn't need this.''
It wasn't just wind from the tornadoes that caused havoc Thursday.
Heavy rains pelted the Pensacola Bay Area, beginning before sunrise and lasting well into Thursday evening.
Most areas in Pensacola received about 6 inches of rain, Purdy said, while areas in Gulf Breeze received 8 to 10 inches. The storms knocked down powerlines across Pensacola, and early Thursday evening, about 2,700 Gulf Power customers were still without electricity. Three main feeder lines were knocked out by the storm, according to Gulf Power officials.
One transformer at Magee Field was on fire around noon time, as firefighters battled the small blaze in heavy rain.
For hurricane-tested weather warriors, Thursday's weather nightmare was an eye-opener.
"We're not used to tornadoes here,'' said Sonya Daniel, Escambia County spokesperson. "We're more prepared to handle hurricanes. For hurricanes, we always have plenty of time to start preparations. This, well, we had very little advance warning. We're very luck there were only four minor injuries.''

There are some casualities in Missouri while in a trailer home. Those aren't safe:


2 dead in Missouri storm (click here)
Updated
(10/18/2007 12:25 PM)
11h 20m ago
From wire reports
PARIS, Mo. — Two residents of rural northeast Missouri were killed early Thursday when high winds — perhaps a tornado — struck their mobile home.
Kent Ensor, 44, and Kristy Secrease, 25, died when winds pummeled the home near Paris, Mo., a town of about 1,500 residents 55 miles northeast of Columbia. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the bodies were found 400 feet from where the mobile home was sitting.
National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Truett said there have been reports that the winds were from a tornado, but the weather service has not yet confirmed that....


Twisters, high winds hit Texas, Fla., Mo. (click here)
SPRINGFIELD, Mo., Oct. 18 (UPI) -- The National Weather Service on Thursday was assessing damage from tornadoes in Texas, Florida and Missouri, where two people died in the storms.The Missouri Highway Patrol said a possible twister killed two people in a mobile home on a hog farm in Laclede County in rural south central Missouri and winds snapped tree limbs and downed utility lines.At least three homes were damaged by tornadoes near Verona, Chesapeake, Ash Grove, Willard and Morrisville west and east of Springfield, Mo., the Springfield News-Herald reported. Severe weather hammered the U.S. south from Texas to Florida, and a twister touched down in Pensacola, Fla., Thursday, triggering a statewide weather alert, Several tornadoes in Escambia County, Fla., downed trees causing roof damage, the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal said. Winds flipped over a dozen cars in a Target parking lot.A funnel cloud spotted on the ground near Buna in East Texas caused no damage, the Houston Chronicle said.In Tulsa, Okla., 21 people attending an Oktoberfest were injured Wednesday when high winds clocked at 85 mph blew down beer tents and damaged mobile homes.
© Copyright United Press International.

You know they just don't know when to stop. The Republicans are the most reprehensible deficit spenders in the world, and I do mean the world; but when a couple of Democrats want to build a museum to a generation that stopped an exploitive war it's considered Pork. Just because Hillary Clinton's name is on it. I would like Kyl to pay back personally into the USA Treasury the monies he voted for as Pork for the last seven years. He needs to consider that next time he grandstands the Senate floor and spending time playing Republican politics.

They never stop their power playing. Republicans are 'hooked' on Big Oil and their own hot air besides. They don't know how to stop, their addicts to power, NOT GOVERNANCE.

If I recall, "Six Flags Over Lincoln" was one of the most expensive and superfluous 'state of the art' Pork Barrell projects on record.


Lincoln Museum: All About Abe (click here)
By Gary LeeWashington Post Staff WriterSunday, July 3, 2005; Page P01
The new Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Ill., allows visitors a fleeting moment of frivolity. Just inside the marble lobby, families can pose with reenactors of Abe -- scruffy beard, black top hat and all -- and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, in long gown and bonnet. Then the Disney Moment is over.
What follows at the $90.1 million complex is an emotional total immersion, augmented by a mix of jolting images and high-tech presentations, into the world of one of the most complex figures in American history....

And Anderson, you should have researched within CNN archives the fact the 'spending bill' for the library had a completion price of ????...


Fitzgerald suggested Ryan wants to use the library project, which has a price tag of $120 million, to reward political allies with lucrative contracts.

...and the New York State museum to the generation that stopped the Vietnam War by nearly impeaching Nixon cost a meer $1 million? One million doesn't buy much museum space or caretaking either...Senator Kyl should be ashamed of himself realizing his past is tainted with votes that cost the USA Treasury more than any S-Chip could cause. They didn't pass that now did they, but, in the year 2005 they spent $120 million on "Six Flags Over Lincoln." Hm.


Senator filibusters spending bill over Lincoln library (click here)
October 4, 2000Web posted at: 9:29 PM EDT (0129 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Senate vote on an $18.8 billion spending bill was held up Wednesday by an Illinois Republican over a provision that sets aside $10 million for an Abraham Lincoln presidential library in Springfield, Illinois.
Sen. Peter Fitzgerald began a filibuster because the public lands bill does not require that construction contracts adhere to federal competitive bidding rules.
"There could be no worse or uglier irony than to have a monument to Honest Abe ... in which a bunch of political insiders wind up lining their pockets with taxpayer money," Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald's stall tactics, which included reading newspaper articles on the Senate floor, threatened to delay a vote on the bill until next week.
The legislation has broad support, largely because it would set aside $1.6 billion this year and up to $12 billion over the next six years for buying federal, state and local park lands, maintaining existing parks, wildlife protection and other initiatives.
Fitzgerald is targeting only the money that would go for the Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library. He claims Illinois state law has loopholes giving state officials too much discretion in awarding contracts that could benefit political insiders.
The state, in letters to Illinois' congressional delegation, says only the low bidder can win project contracts.
In a floor speech, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, said it is "clear to me that there is going to be open and competitive bidding on this project."
Fitzgerald has angered fellow Republicans with critical statements about GOP Illinois Gov. George Ryan and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois.
Fitzgerald suggested Ryan wants to use the library project, which has a price tag of $120 million, to reward political allies with lucrative contracts.
Hastert put the library funds in the bill without Fitzgerald's competitive bidding language, a move Fitzgerald called "morally and ethically wrong."
Ryan said Fitzgerald's criticism was a "cheap shot," while Hastert accused Fitzgerald of "outrageous" political grandstanding.
About four hours into the filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, moved to cut off debate. But under Senate rules, a vote to silence Fitzgerald cannot come until Friday morning at the earliest.
Fitzgerald spokesman's, Mike Cys, said the senator has not decided how long to continue, but concedes that opponents have the required 60 votes to end the filibuster.


Cooper will talk about and defame Presidential Hopeful Hillary Clinton, but, what DOESN'T he talk about:

This says it pretty nicely and illustrates the 'priorities' of the Republican Anti-Human Agenda:

Posted on Thu, Oct. 18, 2007
Pa. lawmakers on the failure to reverse child health veto (click here)
The Associated Press
Comments from Pennsylvania's congressional delegation Thursday on the House's failure to override President Bush's veto of a measure to expand a popular government health insurance program to cover 10 million children.
,,,
"I'm appalled that Republicans in Congress have no objection to spending $120 billion a year in Iraq but refuse to provide an additional $7 billion a year to provide the poorest children in our country with health care. It is both immoral and wrong for the richest country in the world to ignore the health care needs of 10 million of our children." ,U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.
,,,
"The House rejected plan that would have opened SCHIP to illegal aliens, a move that would have cost taxpayers $6 billion dollars. It would have increased eligibility for families in some states whose incomes are substantially above the poverty level. And it would have set the stage for a massive tax increase to fill the funding gap for SCHIP that a hike in tobacco taxes could never fill alone." ,U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa.
,,,

Ya see, voting against ILLEGAL aliens by denying them their health while in the USA and defaming a Presidential Democratic Hopeful is far more important than owing up to the fact Republicans rather kill in war, a war that should have never been fought, including children; then save the lives of children in the USA, including those born here illegally. The hideous statement above by Bill Shuster of the House makes it sound as though S-Chip would have cost $6 billion for the cost of illegal aliens. They are manipulative power hungry loud mouths that don't know how to place priorities to protect people, but, simply kill them to billions of military contract dollars to cronies.

Isn't that right, Anderson?

Here is a question for your "Planet in Peril" program; "How much carbon dioxide does the USA miltiary in Iraq emit daily while destroying all the biotic life in Iraq along with it's religion?' Just curious. What would your experts say to that?

She's back. That's all there is to say. If the Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto can lead with the fervor she did before, the country may very well find a more stabilizing foothold. I wish her the best, she survived the first day in Pakistan. That. Is a good thing.

Former premier Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan after eight-year exile (click here)

KARACHI, Pakistan - Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned Thursday to Pakistan, ending eight years of exile and launching what she hopes will be a stunning political comeback, as tens of thousands of supporters gathered to greet her amid massive security.
Bhutto was in tears as she descended the steps of a commercial flight that brought her from Dubai to Karachi, where tens of thousands of flag-waving supporters were waiting to give her a rousing welcome....

So, quite a lot of news, but, little on AC360. I hope the series regarding the planet lives upto THE TRUTH and the experts are correct. I guess we'll see. In the meantime, the NEOCON fluff and pandering continues while America's children are still waiting for health insurance their parents can afford or government provided when they can't afford it. I don't know about anyone else, but, it sounds like Republicans are playing God with the health of children for the sake of politics. What was it the member from the House said today? Oh, yeah, Speaker Pelosi should be playing footsie with the President...Oh, I mean...should be negotitating with the President to resolve the issue rather than taking this vote. Really? Sounds like the House Republicans didn't intend for the bill to succeed in the first place because an override would have indictaed they did !

enough