Monday, November 18, 2013

This is a map of the temperatures in the nation now.

Power Still Out for Thousands After Tornadoes Pound the Midwest (click here) 



Vance McAllister, Louisiana and not just the 5th District needs Medicaid.

So he is a moderate and a no nonsense member of the US Congress. About time.

By Bruce Alpert, NOLA.com | Times-Picayune 
November 18, 2013 at 9:47 AM

updated November 18, 2013 at 12:54 PM


WASHINGTON - Rep-elect Vance McAllister, R-Monroe, (click here) says his upset win Saturday in Louisiana's special 5th Congressional District race offers a message for the Republican Party on how to win elections.
"I believe there is a message," McAllister said Monday in an interview. "And it's that we intend to work together for the common purpose and that's to make government work. That's what we should be striving for."
The Monroe businessman handily beat Tea Party and GOP establishment backed State Sen.Neil Riser, R-Columbia in a special election Saturday to replace veteran Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-Quitman. Alexander gave up his House seat to become veterans' affairs secretary for Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration....

He knows as a businessman the trauma Louisiana has been through. It is one of the most impoverished state in the country. Katrina 2005 because the petroleum industry was allowed to ravage the wetlands. It is the truth and no one could talk to the Louisiana government for decades to stop the deterioration OR plan for the Big One. It was Mayor Ray Nagin that finally stated to the people of New Orleans, "Put an ax in the attic." They did. There were people alive because they hacked through their roofs and saved their own lives with a strategy the Mayor gave them.

Additionally, the federal government was responsible for cutting funds to the Army Corp responsible for New Orleans. That is the responsibility of a Congressman. They have to create a safety margin for their people.

But, the economy was devastated and still today New Orleans isn't exactly the same. And who can heal from that horror that existed afterwards. I realize he is not the Congressman for New Orleans, but, he was there and he knows Louisiana needs help.

Then Louisiana is bearly off the mat after Katrina and the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon spewed oil and gas for months. It isn't just the wetlands now, it is the fisheries. And the court cases aren't finished. They have a long way to go to see justice and continue to try to recuperate. What are these people going to do until Louisiana has an economy back, IF, Louisiana ever has an economy again. That oil spill has devastated the shoreline in many cases permanently. It is going to be at least 20 years. That is a fact. That is not an estimate. There have been a long history of oil spills to know how it devastates the land and water. 

There are going to be higher cancer rates in Louisiana due to these problems. The stress alone will cause heart disease. They are going to need medical treatment and medications. This is no joke. I hope the guy does great things for the people of his district, but, I also hope he brings his colleagues on board to understand how the extreme values of rhetoric is hurting people. How are people going to be well enough to even have a work force if this level of abuse continues?

And after decades of ignoring the request of the Army Corp and the people 1833 people die and the federal government finally got the message they should have acted sooner.

Y--SELA 7a - Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project (click here) - Harahan Pump to the River - North Discharge Tubes, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.

Solicitation Number: W912P8-13-B-0030

Agency: Department of the Army

Office: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Location: USACE District, New Orleans


Louisiana needs leadership. I hope Representative Elect can provide it. I 

hope he doesn't succumb to the corruption now in the US Congress that sells 

their souls to the petroleum industry for election funding.



The Army Corps of Engineers tests all 11 pumps at the 17th Street Canal near the lakefront Monday evening. 'We told you that we'd be here on the 17th Street Canal today pumping this much water, and here we are,' Col. Jeffrey Bedey said.


By Sheila Grissett 
Staff writer
It wasn't necessary (click here) to end the final round of pump testing with a whiz-bang water show on the 17th Street Canal Monday night, but that's just what Army Corps of Engineers' project leaders ordered up.
The choreographed display culminated with the canal's 11 newest and largest pumps running in tandem.
Together, the 11 direct-drive pumps can push a maximum of about 4,000 cubic feet of water per second, cfs, out of the canal and into Lake Pontchartrain.
At that capacity, the pumps can basically lower the water level in the canal, when floodgates are closed by about 1 foot every 12 or so minutes....

The number of dead are increasing.

8 dead in Midwest storms; Brookport, Ill., was 'a sitting duck' (click here)

Are those brick structures? Because if they are that is not unusual. Brick structures can survive EF4s and below. The width of that path is unbelievable.

Only foundations and flooring remain (click here) along a street in Washington, Ill. (Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune)

There are many pictures of people in the rain and even in the open at a stadium. I realize a crowd can't be so alarmed they stampede and cause unnecessary and preventable deaths, but, folks need to know this reality is not a time to put off their understanding that severe rain, high winds and dark clouds are to be worried about. People sometimes see weather as an annoyance rather than a warning. That wasn't always the case. Weather is a warning, not simply an inconvenience and a modern day society can be too dismissive of it.

People make their way across North Michigan Avenue on Nov. 16. 
Adam Wolffbrandt
Chicago Tribune, Nov. 16, 2013

I also was surprised at the deaths. The north usually puts basements in their homes, but, evidently as noted in some photos there are homes built on slabs without basements. That is not a good idea. People survived this tornado outbreak in their basements. And not just crawl spaces, these were full basements with at least a foot of space over the heads, but, more likely a full elevation of a regular room.

People are making analogies to Hurricane Katrina and the PPACA? I don't think so.

Do you realize there is no collective memorial to the Katrina Victims by the government? Volunteers made a memorial. Talk about ignoring a tragedy, there was no compassion for the dead or their families.

This photo (click here) is of the newly constructed Hurricane Katrina Memorial at the Biloxi Town Green. The memorial was built as a project by the television show Extreme Makeovers Home Edition as one of several projects they have undertaken on the Coast. Work crews constructed the memorial in only five days and was completed 2/16/06. The memorial consists of a mosaic wave, symbolizing Katrina's storm surge, and a black wall with a glass case filled with personal art from Katrina victims. The project included re-landscaping and new sidewalks at the Town Green, which now sits like an oasis of green in the center of downtown at the beach highway. The granite on top of the black wall is the water height during Katrina.



St. Bernard parish's coroner has learned that at least one person listed on the Katrina memorial is still alive, and there may be more.

The Parishes built memorials. Now to add insult to injury the Right Wing is stating the website is President Obama's Katrina because rating numbers are similar. You've got to be joking.  There is no comparison. As a matter of fact the web is a place where electronic memorials can be found when there was never a sincere monument in memory of the victims or formal ceremonies carried out.

Gratefully, I had no family effected by the Climate Crisis storm. But, friends were effected, I lost none.


Work continues on the Hurricane Katrina memorial in New Orleans, on Thursday. The land was vacant just five weeks ago and workers were rushing to complete the memorial by the third anniversary of the hurricane, which is Friday.

updated 8/27/2008 7:30:48 AM ET


Six mausoleums (click here) for the unclaimed dead of Hurricane Katrina stand on what was vacant land just five weeks ago, as New Orleans — in what could be a testament to its determination — scrambles to complete a memorial by Friday's third anniversary of the storm.
Many believed the fatigued city would have no place to inter the 85 bodies. The city coroner, already grappling with one of the nation's worst murder rates, was placed in charge of the $1.2 million effort last year and progress was slow. The inactivity was seen as another example of the sluggish climate that has characterized the city's rebuilding from the 2005 storm that killed 1,600 people....
There was absolutely no comparison. George W. Bush cared little about the people of this nation unless they were affiliated with the military and even then very loosely.

He cared about money and plenty of it. He cared about politics and covert measures that justified creating a national security complex which is the greatest burden ever built by this country. Does anyone realize that The National Security State is not temporary while the USA was suppose to be fighting a war to eliminate the threat of terrorist networks? It sure doesn't seem to be going anywhere, about 12 years now. It was created along with the Cabinet level of Homelands Security. 

These infrastructure projects within the federal government was so Bush could claim an economy existed for his 2004 Election. It had very little to do with national security or the people of this nation. He and his Republican Congress spent money endlessly to avoid being accused of not understanding how an economy works. The people of the USA paid for their economy for eight long years and then came an economic collapse in 2008.

So the nation's security receives a huge nationwide complex and permanent budgeting in the national debt, but, no money for a collective memorial for Katrina victims. Shows the priorities of the Right Wing in the USA. Money first, even if it means an illegal and immoral war, so long as no one can accuse a sitting Republican President of not having a clue about the national economy.

People never came first with Bush and it shows. At every turn it shows.

President Obama always puts the people of this nation first and I defy anyone to say otherwise.
TWO EF-4 tornadoes in the outbreak.

TWO!

This area is very important to the USA economy and this is what happens when Right Wing Republicans have their way with their political rhetoric.

That is what happened here. For as long as I can remember Former Vice President Al Gore called the urgency of the Climate Crisis, but, the petroleum industry bought the Right Wing Republicans and now it is killing Americans.

Updated 25 minutes ago
Tornadoes that swept (click here) through the town of Washington, east of Peoria, and Washington County rated EF-4 with winds up to 190 mph, the National Weather Service said today. The death toll from Illinois' dozens of tornadoes Sunday stands at six.

80 tornadoes. 

80!

The problem with the political environment in the USA is that it is poisoned against THE TRUTH. The one man that suffered that poisoning was Vice President Gore who was the rightful President Elect in 2000.

He was right. 

He was right.

He was worried and continues to worry about this nation and no one has a right to state otherwise.

He was so correct about his view of the world that an entire party and sector of the financial markets plotted his defeat. Dare any politician be as truthful as him again.

President Obama is suffering faux scandals because his administration is painfully transparent. However, he was re-elected because of it.

So, here we are now. 2013 and the disasters scientists have warned about for 50 years is coming home to roost and no one feels the pain of it's reality more than Former Vice President Gore.

Governor Quinn, "...the deadliest tornadoes we have ever had in month of November in Illinois history...."

The Democrats are going to have to take a strong stand with the health care insurance companies.

Sebelius is not able to take a hard line with the insurance industry. It is not in her DNA. She doesn't have what it takes. 

Look, if the insurance industries wanted this it would already been done. They are bastards. If they are willing to commit human rights abuses in allowing people to die for their profits, they'll do anything.

I just noted the Uptick to MSNBC to cover the storms in Illinois. Thank you. It is important. These folks have never been faced with anything like this and it isn't going to get easier.

There is hidden profits in ALLOWING THE BELIEF the government is causing laps in coverage.

This is premediated. Absolutely and I am fairly confident there should be an investigation in the Office of HHS and the allowance of the insurance industry in the rollout of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The companies have been in plans to defeat this for three years now. I am very confident they have their fingerprints in HHS.

The companies will continue to deny claims and enrollment claiming the law is so unclear they can't sincerely honor it. I don't buy it that the insurance industry is panicked about anything. They have control. The State Insurance Commissions have to take control of their exchanges and set down the standards and policies controlling WITHIN the standards set by the PPACA. We know this industry in the USA too well, they kill people and think nothing of it. The law has to regulate and enforce the law. That focus of enforcement has to be made clear to every CEO in the insurance industry and consumers will have to appeal any decision until the standards are well known to the consumers and their rights important.

This is not a smooth transition, but, it isn't being made any easier by the industry. This will be a fight until the law is fully implemented and even then there will be shenanigans. The Republicans don't have the answer, they'll destroy the law if given even a remote influence. 

Now that the law is becoming real, there will be prosecutions at the State levels, no different than with the tobacco industry, for defrauding consumers and causing hardships. There will be civil suits and if the industry doesn't wise up, they'll find civil suits will put them out of business and the government will take over because of their inability to be an asset to the people of the USA.

Consumers have to remember, these premium costs are preliminary and if they are exploited by the industry, they will receive refunds at the end of the fiscal year. Consumers have to be resolute to their needs.

To those that believe they have been left out of the system that is not the case. They will receive better benefits that will provide better health. As this rolls out, there will be fixes to their needs. No one is left out and everyone is important. Their well being is more important than they want to believe right now.

Well, a CLEARER definition of ABRUPT climate change can be realized.

Wintry outlook for the UK this week (click here)

The northern and southern hemispheres are having an abrupt transition into winter and summer. From here on count on spending significant amounts of money to improve and rebuild infrastructure. Welcome to the new climate; dangerous and devastating. Everyone was told, the cost of the Climate Crisis would be staggering.

Nations will be budgeting their expenditures differently. They will have to include an annual expenditure for emergency services, citizen survival and chronic infrastructure projects.

The UK is expecting severe freezing temperatures starting Tuesday. There is a lot of turbulence over the Artic Ocean.

The temperature distribution across Europe is very abrupt. Approximately 47 degrees north latitude is where there is a transition from cold to warm temperatures. When the Arctic air mass arrives I would expect the countries along the Mediterranean to be impacted with much colder temperatures. It would effect the growing season and potential harvests.

There isn't enough lower troposphere water vapor to allow for a 'normal' transition between the seasons, so the available water vapor at the Equator is being pulled into colder denser air to transition the heat distribution with solar migration south.

The vortex off the West Coast is bring significant weather. There is a lot of water vapor over Greenland. The reports out of Greenland have been that melting is significant.




This is not Illinois, this is Australia.

Storm damage at Hornsby after what may have been a tornado went through the area. Photo: Ben Rushton
A Sydney Trains spokesman (click here) said six people had been working in the demountable at Hornsby train station when it flipped over. Five of them suffered cuts and bruises, including bruised ribs.

Across the suburb, 12 people were taken to hospital with  minor injuries after the storm cell, described as a mini-tornado, upturned cars and  smashed glass ceilings.


Trains on the north shore suffered major delays after the North Shore and Northern line and the Central Coast and Newcastle line were closed earlier in the afternoon.

The red spots are lightning storms. Basically thunderstorms.


Infrared image courtesy of the Japan Meteorological Agency. Blue Marble surface image courtesy of NASA.

Satellite Notes for the 1200UTC chart on 18 November 2013 (click here)


Issued at 11:00 pm EDT Monday on 18 November 2013

...A low is weakening off the NSW mid north coast but some thunderstorm activity remains in its vicinity. A trough extending from this low is resulting in the storm activity off the southern Queensland coast. Southeastern Australia is mostly clear due to a ridge of high pressure over the area.
The Today Show had a very compelling interview from "Scott" in Illinois. The people are devastated. It is known to be an EF4 tornado.

When is enough going to be enough to stop this disasterous trend globally? Dear god people are dying.

Who give a flyin' fuck about Rob Ford. The American media is disgusting.

Weather Channel Current Temperatures 
November 18, 2013
1145 GMT

Below is a video from the Philippines. It is hard to believe people survived to tell the tale. If anyone was in those buildings they won't necessary be found. The storm surge could have carried them to sea.

There are power outages all over the region up to the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The power is expected to be completed by Wednesday, but, 911 Services are affected in the UP. The problem with the power outages is expected fall in temperatures with snow. The flooding can cause icing problems.

People are using the same hopeful message as one would hear in Oklahoma, "We will rebuild."


November 18, 2013
1130:18z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of north and west hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

The northern ICZ is repopulating it's water vapor albeit sparsely. There is a lot of turbulence in the northern hemisphere.

There was a tropical weather system that even hit Somalia killing 100 people on November 11, 2013.

Even as the devastating impact (click here) of Typhoon Haiyan began to emerge in the Philippines, Somalia too experienced one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in its history. Tropical Cyclone 3A moved over Puntland, Somalia, on November 10–11, 2013, causing flash floods that left more than 100 dead. The storm destroyed hundreds of homes and thousands of livestock, according to news reports....
ASSOCIATED PRESSPacked flight Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan sit on a U.S. military C-17 plane yesterday as they are evacuated from Tacloban, Philippines. The country is still reeling after Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms on record, hit its eastern seaboard Nov. 8.


CHICAGO (click here) - Intense thunderstorms and tornadoes swept across the Midwest yesterday, causing extensive damage in several central Illinois communities, killing at least two people and even prompting officials at Chicago's Soldier Field to evacuate the stands and delay the Bears game.

Mark Styninger, the coroner of Washington County in southern Illinois, said an elderly man and his sister were killed about noon when a tornado hit their home in the rural community of New Minden.

In central Illinois, the town of Washington appeared particularly hard-hit, with one resident saying his neighborhood was wiped out in a matter of seconds by a tornado....

From Getty Images
The tornadoes caused 
deaths, but, the 
thunderstorms were intense.

It is bad news. Where the tornadoes didn't touch, there were storms with high wind and flooding.

Firemen rest after searching through the remains of homes along Devonshire Road in Washington, Ill. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)

A string of tornadoes (click here) and severe storms left a trail of damage and flooding through Illinois on Sunday, killing at least six people, leveling parts of a town near Peoria, knocking down buildings in Grundy County and forcing fans to scatter for cover at the Bears-Ravens game at Soldier Field that was suspended for two hours....

It looks like Oklahoma in Illinois. It was a tornado outbreak throughout the Midwest.

Uploaded by: mactoot — Sunday November 17, 2013 — HopeMI (Current Weather Conditions)
I knew it wasn't a tornado but I didn't realize the impact that a small mesoscale cell could have. It really rocked my truck. For a fast motion video revealing rotation see http://youtu.be/TQXygry0rU8

Monday, Nov 18, 2013  |  Updated 3:11 AM CST

At least six people were killed (click here) and 54 others were hurt as a series of tornadoes battered Illinois Sunday.
Severe weather and tornadoes ravaged through much of central Illinois Sunday. According to the National Weather Service, at least 10 tornadoes touched down in Illinois.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency reported six fatalities in the storms. Two fatalities were reported in Massac County, two more in Washington County and another in Washington, Ill., in Tazewell County, according to IEMA spokeswoman Patti Thompson. A sixth fatality was confirmed but it was not immediately clear where it occurred.
The Washington County Coroner also confirmed two fatalities. An 80-year-old man and his 78-year-old sister, who lived in a farm house near New Minden, Ill., were pronounced dead following the tornadoes, according to coroner Mark Styninger.
At least 50 patients in the emergency room at St. Francis Medical Center near Washington, Ill., were reported to be tornado-related, eight of them were trauma cases, according to Amy Paul, a spokeswoman for the hospital.
A news release by the National Guard follows reports that people were trapped in buildings after Sunday's severe weather....