from ny times:

globe grows darker as sunshine diminishes 10to 37

may 13, 2004
by kenneth chang

in the second half of the 20th century, the world became, quite literally, a darker place.

defying expectation and easy explanation, hundreds of instruments around the world recorded a drop in sunshine reaching the surface of earth, as much as 10 percent from the late 1950’s to the early 90’s, or 2 percent to 3 percent a decade. in some regions like asia, the united states and europe, the drop was even steeper. in hong kong, sunlight decreased 37 percent.

no one is predicting that it may soon be night all day, and some scientists theorize that the skies have brightened in the last decade as the suspected cause of global dimming, air pollution, clears up in many parts of the world.

yet the dimming trend – noticed by a handful of scientists 20 years ago but dismissed then as unbelievable – is attracting wide attention. research on dimming and its implications for weather, water supplies and agriculture will be presented next week in montreal at a joint meeting of american and canadian geological groups.

“”there could be a big gorilla sitting on the dining table, and we didn’t know about it,”” said dr. veerabhadran ramanathan, a professor of climate and atmospheric sciences at the university of california, san diego. “”there are many, many issues that it raises.””

dr. james e. hansen, director of the nasa goddard institute for space studies in manhattan, said that scientists had long known that pollution particles reflected some sunlight, but that they were now realizing the magnitude of the effect.

“”it’s occurred over a long time period,”” dr. hansen said. “”so it’s not something that, perhaps, jumps out at you as a person in the street. but it’s a large effect.””

satellite measurements show that the sun remains as bright as ever, but that less and less sunlight has been making it through the atmosphere to the ground.

pollution dims sunlight in two ways, scientists theorize. some light bounces off soot particles in the air and goes back into outer space. the pollution also causes more water droplets to condense out of air, leading to thicker, darker clouds, which also block more light. for that reason, the dimming appears to be more pronounced on cloudy days than sunny ones. some less polluted regions have had little or no dimming.

the dynamics of global dimming are not completely understood. antarctica, which would be expected to have clean air, has also dimmed.

“”in general, we don’t really understand this thing that’s going on,”” said dr. shabtai cohen, a scientist in the israeli agriculture ministry who has studied dimming for a decade. “”and we don’t have the whole story.””

the measuring instrument, a radiometer, is simple, a black plate under a glass dome. like asphalt in summer, the black plate turns hot as it absorbs the sun’s energy. its temperature tells the amount of sunlight that has shone on it.

since the 50’s, hundreds of radiometers have been installed from the arctic to antarctica, dutifully recording sunshine. in the mid-80’s, dr. atsumu ohmura of the swiss federal institute of technology in zurich sifted through the data to compare levels in different regions. “”suddenly,”” dr. ohmura said, “”i realized it’s not easy to do that, because the radiation was changing over time.””

he recalled his reaction, saying, “”i thought it is rather unbelievable.””

after an analysis, he was convinced that the figures were reliable and presented his findings at a scientific conference.

asked about his colleagues’ reaction, dr. ohmura said: “”there’s no reaction. very disappointing.””

at that time, dr. gerald stanhill of the israeli agriculture ministry noticed similar darkening in israel.

“”i really didn’t believe it,”” dr. stanhill said. “”i thought there was some error in the apparatus.””

dr. stanhill, now retired and living in new york, also looked around and found dimming elsewhere. in the 90’s, he wrote pa

from todays ny times:

mr. moore said the film(fahrenheit 9-11) describes financial connections between the bush family and its associates and prominent saudi arabian families that go back three decades. he said it closely explores the bush administration’s role in the evacuation of relatives of mr. bin laden from the united states immediately after the 2001 attacks. the film includes comments from american soldiers on the ground in iraq expressing disillusionment with the war, he said.

from the new york times:

…after seeing her husband off as he went to iraq, mrs. drown took care of their four young children as the 101st led united states troops into baghdad.

but now, with the occupation dragging on and casualties mounting week by week, she says she feels her views shifting. and not just about the war, but about the president who sent her husband to iraq.

“”this has completely changed my view of the administration,”” said mrs. drown, wearing an american flag t-shirt and sunglasses. “”my husband is a soldier and his job is to fight for freedom. but after so many months and so many deaths, no one has shown us any weapons of mass destruction or given us an explanation.

“”so a lot of military wives are now asking: `why? why did we go to iraq?’ the administration talked a strong story, but a lot of us are kicking our butts about how we voted last time around. now we’re leaning the other way.””

she is not certain how she will vote in this year’s presidential contest, though right now she says she would not vote for mr. bush. “”i am watching very closely and waiting to see how things turn out.””

as the conflict in iraq deepens beyond some prior predictions, the military voting block could become a serious domestic casualty for the bush administration.

polls of the military are few and tend to be unreliable since pollsters have only limited access to military bases, and many military personnel are scattered overseas. a recent washington post/cbs poll found that military personnel were still 2-to-1 republican, but a cbs news survey found that 40 to 48 percent of people from “”military families”” would vote for senator john kerry, said peter feaver, a professor of political science at duke university who studies military-civilian relations.

various studies in the past have found that overall, military personnel and their families vote at least 2-to-1 republican; in some subsets, like elite officers, the ratio is as high as 9 to 1.

but that backbone of support can no longer be taken for granted, experts say. and the large number of military personnel in swing states like west virginia, florida and new mexico means that small shifts in military voting could prove decisive in the national election.

“”iraq has put great strain on the forces and looks a good deal more ambiguous than it did a year ago, and that has spawned a lot of disgruntled comments,”” professor feaver said. “”that is probably not enough to give kerry an edge outright, but it does eat into the republicans’ natural advantage.””

professor feaver said that discontent tended to be even greater among short-term recruits and even more among reservists, who never expected be called to war for such a long period.

“”the president is on probation with military voters,”” he said.

this ambivalence seems particularly startling to hear at fort campbell, a huge base that straddles the tennessee-kentucky border, where the ideas of god, country and service permeate the air like oxygen. flags, churches and soldiers in fatigues are more numerous than civilians on the main drag. nearly every store and billboard on fort campbell boulevard sports a sign paying homage to the troops or god or country, and there seems to be little difference among those concepts.

bush contributors verizon advertisement disingenuously proclaims: “”thank you 101st airborne, for allowing us all to speak freely.”” ….

from ny times:

when asked about critics who questioned senator kerry’s principles, senator kerry asked:

“”who are they?”” he demanded of his questioner. “”name them. are they the same legislators who vote for the death penalty, which is in contravention of catholic teaching?””

he added: “”i’m not a church spokesman. i’m a legislator running for president. my oath is to uphold the constitution of the united states in my public life. my oath privately between me and god was defined in the catholic church by pius xxiii and pope paul vi in the vatican ii, which allows for freedom of conscience for catholics with respect to these choices, and that is exactly where i am. and it is separate. our constitution separates church and state, and they should be reminded of that.””

from the ny times:

senator john kerry, in his address to the firefighters’ union, showed again that he was unwilling to be pre-empted by president bush on security issues. he said the times demanded “”truly dedicating ourselves to homeland security, not using it as a political prop.””

mr. kerry asserted that president bush and his aides had even demanded that the department of homeland security regularly set up “”photo opportunities”” to show mr. bush in flattering settings.

“”ladies and gentlemen, america doesn’t need leaders who play politics with 9/11 or see the war on terror as just another campaign issue,”” mr. kerry said a moment later. “”our nation’s safety is too important. and if i am president, we will work toward victory in the war on terror, knowing that those on the front lines of this battle are heroes, not political props.””