For my regular visitors, if you find that this blog hasn't been updating much lately, chances are pretty good I've been spending my writing energy on my companion blog. Feel free to pop over to Home is Where the Central Cardio-pulmonary Organ Is, and see what else has been going on.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Did they have permission?

Just an aside from my usual topic.

In the movie, AIT, Gore briefly touched on how he'd gone in a US nuclear submarine to the North Pole. He elaborated on it even more in the book. He made a big deal about how the US navy has spent years going back and forth under the Arctic ice cap, taking diligent measurements of the ice thickness so they'd know where they could safely surface. It bought up a question that has nothing to do with AGW.

While Gore was on board that US naval submarine, did they get permission from Canada (or Russia, or Denmark) to sail in their waters?

Of course, I know the answer to that one. It would be a resounding NO. The US military tends to infringe on the sovereignty of other countries on a fairly regular basis, but in respect to the Arctic, the US claims these are international waters. Well, they may say it, but the reality is that, unlike the Antarctic, the Arctic is within the international boundaries of at least three nations - this doesn't include the US, because Alaska isn't close enough to the Arctic Circle to fall within international coastal limits.

Based on the geography, it's pretty much a given that the submarine Al Gore was in was, at the very least, in Canadian waters. Probably Russian as well.

So what do you think? Do you think Al Gore insisted that the captain of the submarine he was on get permission from these countries before sailing in their waters?


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9 comments:

  1. Small radio station is interested in your point of view...

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  2. I appreciate your interest. I'm not sure how I can help you, though.

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  3. How can you help WCRX-LP???...

    WCRX-LP is a community radio station...

    We are small (really a speck) and share the time clock with some other nonprofit organizations...

    We are a speck, but we are in a large radio market, perhaps 700,000....

    All of the nonprofits involved, including WCRX-LP, pretty much toe leftish lines...and most of us are Pacifica Foundation affiliates...if that helps you understand the points of view that we bring to the table...

    WCRX-LP has volunteer "culture correspondents" in Alaska, Colorado and West Virginia who contract to call-in reports from their communities and inform our audience about their local matters that they think will be interesting to the WCRX-LP listeners... (It is pure coincidence that Alaska, Colorado and West Virginia are all mining or natural resource states...and you cover Montana Rosario)

    Usually the topics discussed by our culture correspondents are local government problems, political scandals, local arts events, and new restaurant openings.

    Sometimes the on-air conversations will drift to national and international matters like AGW.

    Although the culture correspondents are volunteers, they contract to call-in once a month with a three to five minutes report...(Our insurance policy requires that call-ins be under contract with the station so we can't broadcast call-ins from strangers...)

    Usually, the three to five minutes of the culture correspondents expand to fifteen to twenty minutes through conversation with a program host or the host and another guest...The call-ins are unscripted but the correspondents prepare for their reports... (We call the reports "dispatches" and "post cards")..sometimes the preparation is nothng more than that morning local newspaper and a cup of coffee...

    What your blog offers is a pretty calm, intelligent discussion of interesting, important news and events. And we would like that point of view on our station...

    Your point of view will offer anodyne to our other programming for WCRX-LP listeners.

    You write enough in your blog that you could easily be a twice a month guest just telling the listeners what is new on your blog...

    The community that we target with our radio programming is Bexley, Ohio and some surrounding areas of Columbus, OH...the other nonprofits target wider audiences including areas near Ohio State University...

    What WCRX-LP can offer you, is the chance that your reports will drive traffic to your blog...and it doesn't hurt generally, having a broadcast outlet for your work either...One of the local Bexley community newspapers did a feature story on WCRX-LP earlier this month...I'll post the web address for the story separately.

    I hope WCRX-LP can get your work. Your writing is really interesting.

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  4. Try this for a description of WCRX-LP

    www.columbusmessenger.com/NC/0/500.html pages

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  5. I greatly appreciate your interest. I'm quite flattered, really - I'm just a SAHM that reads too much, after all. *L*

    I'll have to say no, though. I'm already spread to thing and, tempted though I am, it wouldn't be a good idea for me to add something else to my plate.

    Thank you for the offer, though.

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  6. er... spread to "thin," not "thing."

    LOL

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  7. Rats...and disappointment...

    Your point of view is valuable, fresh, dangerous...

    Our Alaska correspondent does her dispatch at the breakfast table with the newspaper, a cup of coffee and her telephone...

    Properly done, what we offer is an opportunty for refreshment... for the correspondent and the audience...but we won't press...you're spread too thin...

    If you change your mind (viz: come to your senses) please let us know...

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  8. I HOPE I DON'T WEAR OUT MY WELCOME...BUT THIS CAME FROM PACIFICA TODAY...AND THE PHRASE ABOUT GOVERNMENTS NOT RUSHING IN TO SAVE MELTING ICE JUST LEAPS OUT AS A REALLY STUPID COMMENT...

    "Pacifica Announce" From: "aries keck" Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 10:32:05 -0400
    Subject: [pacificaannounce] Gearing up for the bogus Bush climate meeting

    "This is an issue of intergenerational justice."
    - youth activist Richard Graves, the "It's Getting Hot in Here" blog, Earthbeat 091807

    On this week's edition of Earthbeat -- activists get ready for the Bush climate meeting next week (Sept. 27th & 28th).

    Stations: Please feel free to excerpt portions of this show -- just do keep us updated as to what you air, and when. Thank you!

    We begin with an update on dramatic loss of ice at the North Pole, which nearly melted away this summer. The world's governments have rushed in - ironically not to save the ice, but to exploit the oil beneath the formerly frozen sea.

    Host Mike Tidwell speaks to Mark Serreze of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

    What's also on ice is any constructive action by the Bush Administration on climate change. The President will hold a two-day climate meeting in Washington, DC in the coming weeks, but authorities and activists say this meeting is nothing but bunk. Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists discusses the administration's policy moves, while youth activist Richard Graves highlights the on-the-ground action planned during the meeting. Graves is the with the website, It's Getting Hot in Here.

    It's been a summer of records, from melting arctic ice, to droughts, to flooding. With a climate news roundup is Joe Romm, the author of the book Hell and High Water and with the climate blog, Climate Progress.

    To download this edition of Earthbeat -- go to Audioport and look in weekly programs -- or visit our website at www.earhtbeatradio. org.

    WHAT IMAGE COMES TO MIND WHEN GOVERNMENTS RUSH IN TO SAVE ICE??? SOLDIERS CARRYING REFRIGERATORS???...SHOVELING ICE INTO ICE CHESTS???...PORTABLE FANS???...

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  9. LOL Nice imagery.

    Thanks for the article. Timely for me, too, as I'm reading Meltdown (among way too many other books on the subject right now), and just happened to reach the chapter on glaciers/pole ice.

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