Trees cocooned in spiders webs, an unexpected side effect of the flooding in Sindh, Pakistan

SAY WHAT YOU WANT, THERE IS SOME PRETTY WEIRD STUFF HAPPENING EVERYWHERE

An unexpected side-effect of the flooding in parts of Pakistan has been that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising flood waters.

Because of the scale of the flooding and the fact that the water has taken so long to recede, many trees have become cocooned in spiders webs. People in this part of Sindh have never seen this phenomenon before - but they also report that there are now less mosquitoes than they would expect, given the amount of stagnant, standing water that is around.

It is thought that the mosquitoes are getting caught in the spiders web thus reducing the risk of malaria, which would be one blessing for the people of Sindh, facing so many other hardships after the floods.

Of course, the trees don’t like it much and will die from light deprivation. So where does that leave the spiders? ….Dead, that is where they will be; then there will be more mosquitoes and more malaria.

Sure, you climate change deniers are going to say: “That is just an isolated incident” but dozens, hundreds, thousands, millions of isolated incidents make up the body of very convincing evidence.

Then climate change deniers will say: "Look at all the snow falling...it is not getting warmer...it is getting colder...we have never had this much snow before"

Spider webs are incredible! Spider web material is about one-tenth the diameter of a human hair, but it has incredible strength. In fact it is ten times stronger than a steel strand of the same weight.

The dragline silk which makes up the spokes of the spider’s web is an amazing chemical design. Two proteins are used in these strands. Each protein contains three regions with distinct properties. The first takes a form that is called amorphous. An amorphous material is a plastic material like bubble gum that is stretchable. This is what gives the spider’s web its huge elasticity so when the spider’s prey hits the web, it stretches and does not break. Embedded in the amorphous material are two kinds of crystalline material. These crystalline materials toughen the web. They are tightly pleated and resist stretching, but only one of them is truly rigid. The pleats of the less rigid material anchor the rigid crystals to the matrix producing massive strength.

And yet, it is said that some of the webs on the trees have clumps of web with mosquitoes on them fall to the ground. Such is the amount of accumulation of those insects that it overwhelms even the web filaments themselves; and those are pretty strong it would be the equivalent of pulling a 20,000 locomotive with dental floss. And do you know how many mosquitoes it takes to make one pound?

It takes 400,000 mosquitoes to weigh a pound!

SOURCE: http://hrtbps.com/

http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2009/0902/climate_change_0218.jpg

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lawandenvironment.com/uploads/image/_41435182_drought416.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lawandenvironment.com/articles/climate-change/&usg=__

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.envirohub.net/images/climate-change.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.geog.mcgill.ca/climatechange/index_files/image003.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.geog.mcgill.ca/climatechange/&usg

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=3850

http://www.dandydesigns.org/id41.html

http://www.chacha.com/question/how-many-mosquito%27s-are-in-one-pound

And you want the Local, State and Federal Government to put their seal of approval on your erroneous interpretation of the Scriptures?

I just want to know if I got this right…you actually want to legalize your agenda to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation? You really think that people who don’t insert their penises into vaginas are inferior, second class, immoral and deviates? You also think that they should be punished their pursuit of happiness denied and their sex lives criminalized because you have some absurd concept of passages from the Scriptures…most of which you reject or ignore and only cling on to the ones you like?

Well, I have news for you. We live in a secular nation; the Founding Fathers were very specific and insistent on establishing the concept of the SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. Contrary to what you think, this is not a Christian nation…albeit the majority living in it is of the Christian faith we still have FREEDOM OF RELIGION and FREEDOM FROM RELIGION. Basic human rights are not subject to popularity in the polls, to be put to a vote or denied just because it is a minority that is affected…America has a very robust concept that yes, majority rules but minorities have rights.

Marriage is not a heterosexual privilege and neither are human rights. There is no such thing as some rights granted and some denied on the basis of what you are and who you are. You either have full rights or you don’t. Perhaps you would be happier to live in a theocratic society like that of Iran…that would suit you just fine; after all, your religious fanaticism is no different than theirs...except your preacher hasn't asked you to strip a bomb on to your body and blow yourself up in a crowded subway or to fly a plane into a building...but give him time and he will have you doing that and also drinking arsenic laden Koolaid.

Now attacks on

Social Security are

coming from

all sides of

the aisle.

(so says the

Washington Post)

Never mind that the Social Security Program is solvent and will be so until the year 2038. It makes absolutely no difference to lawmakers either Republican-Teahadists or DINO’s. The Social Security hatch job is in their crosshairs.

As reported in the ultra-conservative WaPo's by Lori Montgomery This time over Social Security, where a vocal and powerful Senate leadership is saying "hands off" against those who have swallowed the austerity Kool-Aid; led by Harry Reid.

This asshat, poor excuse for a journalist writes: “Meanwhile, Third Way, the centrist Democratic think tank, plans to release a memo Friday arguing that the deficit has emerged as an uncommonly powerful political issue and that 2012 voters will reward the party that takes bold action to restrain government spending — including overhauling Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

“In our view, Republicans are winning this fight,” the memo says, according to an advance copy provided to The Washington Post. “They are winning by taking on an issue that voters believe is serious; they are winning on candor; and they are winning by being on the side of reform. Democrats — who ran on change — are quickly becoming the status quo party on the budget.”

This appears to be the case, since the Post argues that Social Security benefits should be cut, that made no reference to the the trust fund. The article tells readers:

"Social Security is the single largest federal program, dispensing about $700 billion last year to nearly 60 million people, the vast majority of them retirees. Since the program’s creation in 1935, the cost of Social Security benefits has been entirely covered by payroll taxes paid by current workers. This year, however, payroll tax revenues are projected to fall $45 billion short of covering benefits, and the problem is projected to grow as the number of retirees balloons compared with the number of working adults."

The Post is now describing the repayment of the bonds held by the Social Security trust fund as a "problem," implying that it wants to default on these bonds. This is a strong position for a newspaper to take, especially in a news story.

It is worth noting that the interest and principle on the bonds held by the trust fund come primarily from the individual and corporate income tax. These taxes are progressive. This means that defaulting on the bonds, which are owed to the country's workers, would be a massive upward redistribution of income, since the wealthy could then pay less in taxes.

The Post has a long history of supporting policies that lead to an upward redistribution of income such as the TARP bank bailout, trade agreements like NAFTA that put downward pressure on the wages of ordinary workers, and stronger patent monopolies for drug companies. The policy of defaulting on the bonds held by the Social Security trust fund is consistent with this policy of redistributing income to nation's wealthy.*

Social Security Coalition Seeks Signatures on Pledge to Protect Retirement Program
By: David Dayen Monday August 9, 2010 12:53 pm

The coalition mobilizing to defeat any benefit cuts or privatization of Social Security has created a pledge that they will try to get members of Congress to sign during the August recess. Here is the pledge, in full:

Social Security belongs to the people who have worked hard all their lives and contributed to it. Social Security is a promise that must not be broken. If you pay in, then you earn the right to benefits for yourself, your spouse and your dependent children when you retire, experience a severe disability, or die.

We need to strengthen Social Security, not cut it. That is why I oppose any cuts to Social Security benefits, including increasing the retirement age. I also oppose any effort to privatize Social Security, in whole or in part.

The pledge, a sort of left-leaning answer to the Grover Norquist anti-tax pledge, will be presented to members of Congress at town hall events across the country.

The Strengthen Social Security coalition includes over 20 progressive groups, including the nation’s biggest labor unions, MoveOn.org Political Action, Democracy for America, the Campaign for America’s Future, the NAACP, the National Organization for Women, the Economic Policy Institute, and more.

MoveOn, which has been among the most active in the Social Security fight in recent weeks, blasted out an email to their members asking them to sign the pledge, so they could put pressure on Democrats in Congress to do so. Last week, MoveOn started running ads against Steny Hoyer for his comments on raising the retirement age, and sent around a fact sheet about the myths surrounding Social Security.

To stop the cuts, we need to send a crystal-clear message to members of Congress: Americans reject benefit cuts, and we expect them to do the same. Can you sign our promise to oppose cuts to Social Security? We’ll use your signature to pressure them to sign a pledge protecting Social Security while they’re home for recess. But we need a strong response to make our point.

MoveOn’s shorter petition says, “I oppose any cuts to Social Security benefits, including raising the retirement age.”

PLEASE GO TO THE LINK AND SIGN THE PETITION IF YOU HAVEN’T DONE SO ALREADY.

· http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-washington-post-has-not-heard-of-the-social-security-trust-fund

· http://www.dailykos.com/

· http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/08/09/social-security-coalition-seeks-signatures-on-pledge-to-protect-retirement-program/

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