Musical Chair Derby to Audition for Transition

The White House is the scene of the best braggarts and brightest burblers competing to get one of the last seats before the dramatic Gothic music stops. The scramble is fierce. The players have the arrogance of elitists, use dumb seeking minions to sharpen their wits upon and find any means necessary to wipe out, trip or just outright legally slit the throats of their fellow professionals. Out of the mêlée comes sanguine victors who join the legions of cube rates across corporate America for a chance to sit and work in the Brady Briefing Room located in the West Wing. The latest journalistic perk is getting senior in front of the words White House reporter.

Confinement to little sections of the White House with special security passes and an itsy bitsy workspace with wifi was worth all of the professional rivalry, hidden hand backstabbing of a new administration and pontificating that goes on in millions of workplaces around the globe. But this is the White House. Barack Obama will be running the historic show. Hidden from public view is the transition to see which millionaire TV journalists and their less well paid print counterparts get to be assigned to stand outside the White House when the mosquitoes bite or the snow piles up around their ears to cover the most closely watched presidential transition in world history. Yet, because the White House during the Bush locusts and famine years was pretty much like a GOP convention - a surfeit of non-French vanilla with an arresting rare chocolate or butterscotch sprinkle for spice, more media enterprises feel a sudden need to diversify their reporting pool. Will the miracles that just the advent of a President-Elect Barack Obama can do never cease...

While The New York Times has yet to announce its White House team, sources tell Politico that it will include Liberian-born journalist Helene Cooper, previously a diplomatic correspondent. Cooper has something in common with the president-elect — her own highly acclaimed memoir delving into her familial ties in Africa, published earlier this
year.

But simply wanting to cover the White House isn't as easy as just showing up. Longtime correspondents tightly hold onto the best seats in the small work space in the basement. Coveted hard passes can take months to obtain through the Secret Service.

"I think people who haven't covered the White House will be surprised how rigid they are about rules," said Julie Mason, White House correspondent for the Washington Examiner, mentioning the assigned seating as a particular sticking point among veterans.

DC journalists notoriously protected privilege and access to their bottom line detriment. Many political bloggers, especially on the left, just moved into the wide open space left by many journalists. Scooter Libby's trial transcripts put the punctuation marks ^%#$(^ of how in the tank many top journalists were for republican agendas after their almost total meek acceptance of all things Bush led to the travesty, the Iraq War. So now people see an opening and the editors and producers have to decide who is going to get the crown jewel of a WH spot to cover this presidency. Do they keep the same people in place or shake things up? Obama decided in-house bloggers were going to get an official White House stamp of approval.

Also getting under way is a new team of official White House bloggers. One, prominent liberal blogger Michael Lux, joined the transition team this week.

He's expected to be joined by bloggers assigned to specific Obama initiatives, such as overhauling health care and conserving energy.

At the same time, McClatchy Newspapers has learned that Obama's Internet army, which is in the course of moving from his campaign communications Web site to his transition site, www.change.gov, may be asked to move again in January. (AFP)

Some media conglomerates are seeking to add more reporters to cover this White House. Just a whiff of drama is catnip to the reporters who strangely enough tell the news on Tv in virtually the same order night after night. Newspapers are hiring their own bloggers while former print magazines are folding shop and becoming web only operations. Newsrooms have a high degree of anxiety over what January 20, 2009 will bring. Media staffing decisions are fraught with peril because they have no control over how an Obama Administration plans to set up or upset current traditions the press deems dear.

Dishing the dirt and taking no guff from press or presidents is the Iron Lady of the Beltway. An eighty year plus feisty woman who famously gave JFK tough questions and every president since. Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Failed the Public, is her book outlining the press and its epic failures to fulfill their purpose of being the People's representative, not their corporations. Waves hi to the Mouse, a Lightbulb and assorted other corporate brands bringing the tarted up "news".

Part of the Transition Series.

The West Wing Teaches Real Civics

In the late 1990's though 2006, one television show foreshadowed this historic election. President Matt Santos' race for the presidency is chronicled in the last two tense seasons of The West Wing. His character came into being after a real life electrifying speech given by a state senator from Illinois running for a US senate seat to be the third African American elected to the senate in the history of the nation. To understand Matt Santos requires understanding the towering intellect of Nobel Laureate Josiah "Jed" Bartlet as a president from the Live Free or Die state that made no concessions for the viewing public to get up to speed about a presidency or politics.
This year in politics is often accompanied by statements about how much The West Wing as a TV show lived in the real life quest of the presidency in the 2008 campaign. Rahm loved the show so much he actually has an on camera extra spot in the episode, The Wedding. While Rahm may have inspired the creation of the Josh character, the actual job he will take is the one Leo McGarry played to much acclaim on the show, knuckle brawling super-smart marine, former alcoholic and Cabinet Secretary divorcée, Leo Thomas McGarry. The McGarry & Bartlet families were long time friends as are the Obamas & the Emanuels.

Others say the take-no-prisoners partisan nicknamed Rahmbo is a perfect fit for the him if he is to push through the radical changes he seeks.

The inspiration for The West Wing’s fictional deputy chief-of-staff, Josh Lyman, the most unlikely moments in the character’s story are plucked straight out of Mr. Emanuel’s reality.

When Lyman reads a Washington Post profile of him which tells how he sent a congressman a rotting fish in the post, he asks his assistant, Donna, if she was the source. In fact, it was Mr Emanuel – who reportedly once sent a pollster he had fallen out with the same gift – as a warning never to cross him again.

A man who is a cross between a practical yet politically savvy George Washington and a hip, edgy to the max Chris Rock is going into the White House. But first, one has to prepare to be the head of state. Up until 1936, elections happened in November and ascendancies and transfers of power came about on March 4. In one of the rare historical facts The West Wing show ever got wrong is in a scene in the East Room with Jed and his wife Abbey as they say goodbye to such a grand old house the morning of his successor's inauguration, stating why elections and the date happened. The subsequent versions of The West Wing have that error edited out.

Staff work will make or break a presidency. Presidential transitions require minute attention to detail while drinking water from a thousand freely flowing water hoses all at once in public. Mistakes are magnified and have world wide implications. Secrets must be kept for the Common Good while remaining open to deserved criticisms. During chaotic transitions like Bill Clinton, the culture of DC seeped in to taint the cabinet picks. In the middle of his 1992 transition, President-elect Clinton and the future First Lady, held a two day US economic summit with a wide diversity of guests. President-Elect Obama will send emissaries to the global economic summit next weekend held by the current president in deference of the immutable fact that there is only one president at a time.

In West Wing episodes, the amount of staff and advance work to create the right presidential look and feel and the detailed policy positions is done by a security clearance staff, known since 1939 as the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP), knowing what is needed. So far Barack Obama has only three direct reports, a VP, a Chief of Staff and his campaign strategist turned Senior Adviser, David Axelrod, with over a thousand left to hire to cram into a small amount of space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. We are awaiting Michelle Obama's staff choices for the East Wing. The staff work on The West Wing delivers a great description of balancing multiple burning clouds of toilet paper in a public windstorm that has to be explained every day to the co-equal partners in Government - the Judicial branch, the Legislative branch and most of all the American people. Sausage making is much cuter.

The beneficiary of this year's election are regular people who believed they have a stake in the outcome. It was a Children's Crusade amped up 21st century style for a member of my generation, Generation Jones or Gen X, to become president by engaging the young. Without the young as partners, no major changes take place. But the young have to be determined, persistent and knowledgeable. It was not an accident that Boomer parents became introduced to the intensity of this election through their GenX or GenY children. What is a tremendous change is the amount of intellectual firepower the young packed in understanding the issues, the candidates, but most importantly the civic responsibility of service. It was noted by the entire world as a 180 change in direction from the eight year dictatorship of George W. Bush who plundered and pillaged America's Constitution because so many people had a lapsed understanding of the founding documents and principles of Democracy.

One of Al Gore's laments was the number of minds that were blank blackboards on basic facts about how the machinery of the US government worked. Budget cuts and apathy accomplished the kneecapping of many US Government classes or a clogging of mental synapses as a result of wet noodle versions taught in some social studies classes. Gore expounded on the topic of the disengagement of detached parent and apathetic student alike, enumerating the dire consequences of such an illogical mindset in the opening pages of his excellent primer, The Assault on Reason. Elections have consequences. The most tremendous two year presidential campaign of all time is rendering a lack of civics knowledge obsolete with the events of 4 November, 2008. Barack Obama uses the term the Joshua generation for all those who are essentially a part of Generation Obama. A side benefit is the entire world that held America in eight years of disdain is now signing up for introductory classes via newscasts, newspapers and the internet right alongside enthusiastic Americans of all ages to understand the intricate plumbing of our Democracy. My love of history has to go back to a Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote the seminal two volume travelogue political theory books, Democracy in America or De la démocratie en Amérique (1835 & 1840) on a young American nation to find something remotely comparable.

Jonathan Alter, roving senior editor for Newsweek, wrote his book, The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, about the heralded first hundred days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency. That has been the measure the press obsesses about ever since to see if brand new presidencies can sparkle like FDR's. Barack Obama is planning on an accomplished first 100 days, but not one presidency has been successful without a planned focused transition. Mr. Obama sees this book as required reading.

This post is part of The Transition Series to the presidency of Barack Obama
(Please note, posts listed by date)

England Claims Giving Birth to Champagne

England & France have needed European marriage counseling since the Dark Ages. France famously touts its epicurean delights while thumbing their noses at the oxymoron of an Escoffier English chef. Bangers and mash or fish and chips versus haute cuisine croissants and flambéed Crêpes Suzette. The crux of the latest battle du jour is the birthplace of sparkling wine, champagne. Dom Pèrignon is effervescing in friarly indignation in his grave right now after being asked to come up with a way to make the wine bottles stop exploding in the abbey wine 'cellar'.

Champagne merits special stemware for events that warrant hors d'oeuvres as it is a regal drink of bubbly celebration or splashing the side of a newly launched cruiseliner. France has whole regions of the countryside named Champagne from the medieval period or large swaths of land dedicated to maintaining its pure-blood/wine grape lineage. The most famous names of Champagne began in the 18th century, Taittinger (1734), Moët et Chandon (1743) and Vueve Clicquot (1772). Out of a late summer rain cloud comes this cider-making English bloke from Somerset with a differing provenance of a 1632 Royal Society wine enthusiast who preceded Dom whose cuvée pedigree lasts. En garde.

Mr Crowden, from Chard in Somerset, researched Merret for his book on the history of cider called Ciderland.

He believes that the popularity of sparkling wines began when British cider-makers added sugar to acidic French white wine and then learnt how to control the resulting secondary fermentation. The sugar caused secondary fermentation in the bottle, which created sparkling wines.

Merrett also invented the thick green bottle strong enough to contain the pressure of secondary fermentation. French wine-makers had been plagued by the problem of unintended fermentation, which could cause whole cellars of their fragile bottles to explode. By learning to control it they were able to create sparkling wine by design rather than accident.

Heavens to murgatroy and exploding bottles and French minds everywhere. The plot thickens because the premise is based on a book release occurring with the week along with a presentation to today's English Royal Society citing the glass to contain the rowdy bubbly was also Merret's invention. This peer review could turn itself into another over the channel blood feud between the Saxons and the Normans. The French do not have a sense of humour about champagne - at all. There are laws and no, I am not kidding.

In 1941, the Comite Interprofessional du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) was founded to protect the champagne market. Yep, right in the middle of WWII, champagne interests superseded Panzer divisions breaking into the country. In 1891, the Treaty of Madrid, made it clear that only sparkling wine produced in certain areas meeting specific standards could use the name champagne. World War I participants affirmed that ruling in the Treaty of Versailles. these words were legend in France and not usable elsewhere: méthode champenoise or champagne method. That's why this new theory is going to come under a cultural assault or a walk of roses from vintners and other interested parties the world over. Switzerland had a town named Champagne and they agreed to lose the name in 2004. I'd say get your popcorn, but that is so plebian to wash down with champagne from Champagne.

The new enfant terrible of champagne books, Ciderland is from the Somerset chap, James Crowden. For those seeking a tour de fource in the sparkling beverage's royal lineage need look no further than the well researched 4000 Champagnes from neutral Swedish expert author , Richard Juhlin.

Enjoy your French bubbly, oui?

More Costly Pills, Less Time Talking

Talking it through, over it or around it is not the first option for more psychiatrists in the 21st century. Pills targeted towards specific areas of the brain, psychometric drugs are the new remedies favored by the shrinking class. Scary on multiple levels, but especially since all the pill residue ends up in the drinking water of innocents with other issues.

Psychotherapy since father Freud has undergone profound evolution with the profession now in a pill revolution. In less than ten years since 1996, psychotherapy has gone from about half of the treatment options to less than 30% with the embrace of the pills. At some level of good or for ill (and of course, capitalistic profit motives), Big Pharma has offered a profuse array of colored pills to all manner of specialties in medicine. Mental problems, here's a pill, is something that has pernicious overtones as emergency practitioners may have no idea what mind altering drug someone is taking or what the effects of mixing certain compounds. But an uglier disturbing truth is its all about the money that the pill pushers make. Same economic truth works for Big Pharma as buying crack on the corner. The person that cuts the inefficiencies in the supply chain and controls distribution makes the most money.

"These trends highlight a gradual but important change in the content of outpatient psychiatric care in the United States and a continued shift toward medicalization of psychiatric practice," wrote Drs. Mojtabai and Olfson.

In an interview, Dr. Mojtabai said financial incentives are probably driving the change.

He said that under typical reimbursement rates, a psychiatrist who conducts one 45-minute psychotherapy session will receive 40% less than if he or she saw three patients for 15-minute medication management visits.

It leads to an awful discussion on medical records. If people know what kind of drug your taking, then its a small matter of inference and deduction as to what internal malady one may suffer from. There has been a huge publicity around medical professionals snooping inside medical records. Prescription Pills make that much easier because they go down so well with the TV marketing campaigns that brainwash so many viewers.

As talk therapy declined, TV ads contributed to an "aura of invincibility" around drugs for depression and anxiety, said Charles Barber, a lecturer in psychiatry at Yale University and author of "Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation."

"By contrast, there's almost no marketing for psychotherapy, which has comparable if not better outcomes," said Barber, who was not involved in the study.

Read the book, Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation, then really decide whether the latest pill shortcut is in your best interest. Charles Barber cites several studies and gives some astounding insights as author of this book. The particular title of that book seems to be very popular.

PS Ack! Blogger is freaking out and not letting images upload. will put them in later. I need a pill...

Plutoids: Dwarf Challenged Planets

There are only 8 planets in our Solar System. Pluto, the former planet, unceremoniously dumped by astronomers from the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as worthy, is now out there spinning spherically in the asteroid belt. Its public humiliation led to a new word: Plutoid. Not quite a planet, not quite an asteroid, an underdeveloped planetary tweener. In 2005, scientists began naming like minded spherical satellites, Dwarf Planets. Just last month, dwarf planets evolved as a classification with an announcement of the sub-class, Plutoid. The plutoid has to be really bright to get on the list. July 11, 2008, the IAU conferred plutoid status on Makemake due to its surpassing the absolute magnitude threshold.

Now space scientists says the pockmarked Putoids have friends. They are a team of three, almost a 1/3 of the number of "real" planets. From out in the Kuiper Belt, MakeMake, the latest discovery looks like a girl's mauve bowling ball with only one finger hole. It's named after a Polynesian Fertility being, so maybe more are on the way. Being scientists there is a distinct difference between being a dwarf planet and a Plutoid. There is a PhD in lost in space to be discovered in there somewhere.

The smallest of the plutoids, Makemake was discovered in March 2005 by a team of scientists led by Michael Brown, from the California
Institute of Technology, and it was first named 2005 FY9 (unofficially known as
Easterbunny). The name Makemake was chosen later on by Michael Brown himself,
after the god of fertility from the Island of Rapa Nui (or the Easter Island).

We consider the naming of objects in the Solar System carefully. Makemake's surface is covered with large amounts of almost pure methane ice, which is scientifically fascinating, but really not easily relatable to terrestrial mythology,” Brown explained. However, the Island Rapa Nui came to mind, and a brief search through mythology brought Makemake to light. Image credit: Ann Feild (Space Telescope Science Institute)

The last full planet stop in this solar system is Neptune. That Easter Island came to ruin is somewhat Ironic. Far off the coast of Peru and Chile, Rapa Nui or as the European called it Easter Island, is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to lore, MakeMake created humankind and was the chief god for the birders - before the island was denuded of trees resembling a plutoid. Don't think the Plutoids or Dwarf planets have a shot at the earthly UN designation. However it dows get to be a proud TNO or trans-Netunian Object that is brighter than bretheren like .

Take Pity on me and Pluto. Purchase the book, When is a Planet Not A Planet: The Story of Pluto. Elaine Scott explains the dwarf planet nomenclature for the pint sized among us. Those large will find the full story on Pluto and the solar system quite interesting.

Happy 90th Birthday Nelson Mandela, Madiba

Lawyer, 1993 Nobel Peace Prize winner, African National Congress warrior, President of South Africa, prisoner, Madiba all are factual monikers of a fierce freedom fighter celebrating his 9oth year upon Earth. Twenty seven of his years were spent imprisoned in the harsh conditions of Robben Island, aka Mandela University, until his release in 1990. Nelson Mandela comes from a storied African royal line and waged a revolution on behalf of all. From fighting the oppressive racist colonial system of apartheid to convicted prisoner 46664 at the former leper colony to Truth And Reconciliation as president of South Africa is the arc of a tremendous story on behalf of humankind. Friend of Kings, Queens, Oprah & Noami, The Elders, soccer fans, Oliver Tambo & Walter Sisulu, Bill & Hillary Clinton, former archbishop Desmond Tutu, Winne Madikizela-Mandela his second wife and mother of his children plus a host of other people well known and those not.

FREE NELSON
MANDELA!!! was a battle cry in both the United States and in South Africa. Collegiate protests helped force mega multinational companies home based in the USA divest in South Africa. Before he died of AIDS, humanitarian and tennis star Arthur Ashe protested outside the South African embassy and was arrested at an anti apartheid rally in 1985 making a poignant plea on behalf of ridding South Africa of the evils of apartheid. As Africa suffers with stigmas orphans and a prodigious lack of resources to fight AIDS, Nelson Mandela's humanitarian foundation has taken up the cause even as he lost his own son to the disease early in 2005.

Born on July 18, 1918 the man of experiences has a Birthday Message to everyone. He along with his wife, Graça Machel, are celebrating in his home filled with exuberant grandchildren today in Qunu, South Africa. Nelson Mandela's presents include busts, books with amazing illustrations - the one I love and treasure is Mandela - and wall portraits from famous artists of him. All were tributes to him. No matter the year, Nelson Mandela sports the coolest patterned shirts on the planet! An artist for his statue in Parliament Square, famous for protests by the People, in London near Westminster Abbey and Big Ben has him wearing one of his iconic shirts. Ninety years young and still the height of hip.

"There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share those riches with those not so fortunate who have not been able to conquer poverty," Mandela said.

"I am sure for many people that is their wish," he said. "I also havethat wish that I spent more time (with my family). But I don't regret it."

"This is my property. When I am here, I feel I own something," he said.

In Johannesburg, children celebrated with birthday cake at the offices of the foundation Mandela founded after stepping down as president in 1999, and his African National Congress unfurled giant banners featuring his image at its downtown headquarters.

In 1994 as he was sworn in as South Africa's president Nelson Mandela was 77 years young. It is also his tenth wedding anniversary to Graça making it a joyous occasion on several accounts. She is married to a world icon who is beloved. Nelson Mandela has forgiven those who trespassed against him in a graceful and public way. Nelson Mandela's enormous legacy will burnish always, just for that heroic act alone.

Nelson Mandela's autobigraphical work of immense worth, tremendous insights and of literary note is the acclaimed
Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela by the wonder of the world himself. Nelson and my father make me proud! Madiba magic!

Belgium Bedlam Foams for Beer & Banks Too!

Red Alert, His Majesty, King Albert II of Belgium has a translation emergency as he speaks to ever again warring factions within his own government. Skip the kingly honor of being commemorated on the gold 100 euro coin as this crisis threatens Belgium. Prime Minister Yves Leterme left the King of the Belgians in a sudsy mess as he stalked off the job Monday four months after getting the PM role. Nothing to show for all the labor pains of managing entrenched positions towards compromise even after the nine months it took before his hiring to just form a government. The King is ignoring Mr. Leterme's resignation. The former, current, acting Prime Minister continues to scratch his head.

Common courtesy flew the coop leaving Flemish speakers and French Speakers duking it out royally with the Prime Minister tired of negotiating each factions stake in their legendary long time brawl. Call in a UN negotiator or somebody with a Nobel Peace Prize as the Belgium government just went poof. Not sure in which language this time with the kingdom is a member of the European Union to boot. More ironic is the coat of arms and its motto is Unity Makes Strength. Scarcity of resources seems to be the sticking point in the long battle for unification for a country that was born of strife in 1830 and sees disparity arising from sharing.

The king on Tuesday talked with the prime ministers of Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels and leaders of the German-speaking community government, and met with party leaders of the resigned government as well as the opposition the next day.

Parties from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking community in northern Belgium, are demanding greater autonomy, while their counterparts from the French-speaking Wallonia in the south disagreed with the reason that more autonomy would further dismantle the federal state.

The francophones fear more autonomy for Flanders may reduce the budget allocated to the poor Walloon region and the bilingual capital, Brussels. The two sides also disagreed on the splitting of a constituency in Brussels.

Belgium is the nexus of many world events in politics, business and civil strife from merging cultures. The King should just grab a beer, oops, maybe not just yet. Faithful to the looming American bank disaster, Belgium's own Fortis is dangerously close to going beer belly up after trying to take on more than it could pay for in a takeover. That left the way clear to sacking the CEO Jean-Paul Vortron - has possibilities as a great name for an action figure. On the corporate raider side, InBev purchased the right for $52 billion greenbacks or (£25.93bn) to become the King of Beers or Ales or Breweries. Royal decrees are on hold while the Dutch & the Walloons reengage in a battle fought many times in the past over whether the more economically advantaged Flemish will lord it over their more down heeled, less numerous French counterparts to the south.

“The fact that the king has invited regional politicians to discuss the constitutional issue is really significant,” said Bernard Bulcke, an editor of the newspaper De Standaard. “It changes the logic from that of a top-down process to a bottom-up one.”

The prime minister’s possible departure leaves a political vacuum as Belgium faces a worsening economic outlook.

“I think we can talk of a crisis, that’s obvious,” said Didier Reynders,
the finance minister and a possible replacement prime minister. “When the prime minister resigns, even if it is suspended, then there is a crisis,” he told RTBF, the French-language Belgian broadcaster.

An interesting item is all parties are essentially minority parties of varying strength. Getting a majority rule is more difficult with the current set up devolving to more regional control. Every single Belgian of voting age under law must vote without fail. Belgian politicians are at an impasse - again. Dutch speakers among six million in Flanders stick to their northern region while many Francophones or French speakers pretend the Dutch don't exist in the more southern Wallonia area. Others, more radical are screaming for a Flanders secession with possession of Brussels, which is a kind of neutral European Botswana surrounded by the Flemish Community.

It is the Mason Dixon line, Hatfields and the McCoys and earnest demanding talk of secession European version by golly, done up in Flanders Flemish Françoise courtly bad manners. Belgium's divide runs along a north south axis. Geert Bourgeois extended the hand of friendship in a speech that was ignored by the Jefferson Davis actor in this farce. The Flemish Lion is roaring as the constitutional monarchy attempts to restore order. Discussing everything over Belgian Waffles might be a trifle too much, go for the tasty liège waffle.

One of the worst Kings on the planet was Belgian. The son of the first king after the Belgian revolution was King Leopold II avaricious beyond measure and determined to make himself a peer alongside other colonizing empires. Leopold II chose the Congo to conquer, hence the Belgian Congo. Next week, King Leopold I anniversay of his coronation is scheduled. An entitled king with no redeeming values proceeded to make possible, bankroll and excuse his part in one of the worst genocides ever perpetrated on Earth.

In one of the most heartbreaking and most worthy books I have ever read comes the story of what really happened under Belgium's worst King Leopold II and the Grace that followed as some tried to right the wrongs. King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. takes true courage to read. Award winner Adam Hochschild ensures each reader understands what was happening in Belgium and why it happened. Ramifications from it exist today.

Russian Scientists in Space & on Thin Ice

Russian cosmonauts, tethered and floating above the ISS in the final frontier have taken two spacewalks in the past week. Sergei Volkov the commander and flight engineer, Oleg Kononenko, were brave space virgins on walking outside their 17,000 mph Earth orbiting metallic space condo. July 1oth was a high risk affair, yet necessary walk on the wild side due to an explosive space bolt that was the suspected culprit causing returning Earthbound Russian Federal Space Agency's Soyuz capsules to land beyond the intended targets. The last two times those capsules carted humans and put real fear into them. On a scheduled the rockets park or dock at the International Space Station ferrying up necessities, mail and tools. Fresh water is exceedingly heavy and beginning the installation of a water purification system that takes essentially urine and cleanses and purifying water will be of great import for the ISS's continued expansion.

Dressed in their Sunday best Orlan space suits the preparation begins for installing the new lab module due to arrive in 2009. A docking station and removal of a prior biological experiment that collected results of solar radiation with Zero gravity on microbes and other small organisms are on tap for the cosmonauts second fling outside the space lock. There is a lot riding on the Russians in space as they install one of their own experiment, Vsplesk, expected to yield data on the seismic effects of high energy particles. Sort of like a micro mini space collider in space.

Many forget that the first person in space was Russian, Yuri Gargarin in 1961. In 1963, the first woman blasted into space was Valentina Tereshkova. Those space firsts, accredited to the USSR, fanned the flames of the space race to command the starry heavens and load them up with Russian, Chinese, American, Nigerian, Japanese - among others - space junk, science experiments and super secret spy satellites as well. Now, in theory, its all about international space cooperation and the need to rely on other nations to build in the capacity to do intricate space walks and set their own experiments to add to the body of science.

Both spacewalks have required the cosmonauts to exit from
the Pirs docking compartment, which also represents the only passage between the space station and the Soyuz spacecraft that serves as an emergency lifeboat. U.S. astronaut Greg Chamitoff will once again spend the entire spacewalk sitting inside of the Soyuz, so that he does not get cut off in the unlikely event of a crisis.

Kononenko will install the docking target by riding the long arm of the Strela hand-powered crane to the Zvezda module. Volkov will operate the hand-powered crane and move his fellow astronaut to the target location.

Next, the cosmonauts will use a spacewalker's ladder and move to a different part of Zvezda to inspect some bolt holes. The holes will serve as the location for a future antenna adapter that will serve the Kurs automated docking system.

Meanwhile, the advent of global warming put other Russian scientists at risk of sinking beneath the frigid waters as their lab sits atop unstable melting polar ice. Those land bound scientists put out an Ice May Day call and await an early rescue as sloshing and mush and breakaway ice is occurring at an accelerated pace. Global warming is causing the early evacuation of North Pole-35 station where two mutts live in huts with 21 researchers and scientists scurrying to pack up specimens and other tools. To the rescue is a nuclear powered ice breaking ship, Artika, which will cut a path for another ship, Mikhail Somov that will take them back to the critical Russian port city of Murmansk. Polar politics is en vogue and heating up this season along with the Earth.

Russians were studying the flora and fauna that survive and thrive in those geological conditions while making a point to the US primarily about who owns what is still contentious. Unfortunately they started with 3 square miles of ice to explore, build a winterized camp with room for the dogs and their acreage has melted down to a wee bit under 3/4 of a mile.

North Pole-35 is the 35th time Russian scientists have floated across the Arctic since 1937. On previous missions, they’ve helped define Russia's claims to Arctic territory, including the rich oil deposits believed to lie beneath the northernmost ocean. The current expedition started in September 2007, and most last at least a year.

The early rescue is yet another sign that the Arctic sea ice is rapidly disappearing. It worries climate scientists because the impacts of the North Pole melting are unknown. They could include changes in the amount of rainfall and snow across the northern hemisphere. Still, it is of a piece with U.S. ice experts’ predictions that the Arctic could be ice-free as early as September of this year— a situation unknown in recorded human history—thanks to an early start to the melting season and a record retreat last year that left weaker ice in its wake. Russian scientists’ ability to go with the floe in future may be in doubt.

In space and on ice, Russian scientists and explores seem to be having a thrilling time in the name of science.


After the stunning world debut of Sputnik, author Brian Harvey looks at historical and current trends in the Russian space program. His book with a long winded titled, but chock full of arresting information is The Rebirth of the Russian Space Program: 50 Years After Sputnik, New Frontiers is a pretty expensive paperback worth the time and effort.