ASSORTED BAD NEWS

• The National Weather Service says Wednesday's high temperatures set records across Maine.  We had temps in the 50s all over the state.  Two days prior we had zero degrees weather.  A 50 degree shift in two days is unreal.  Tomorrow it will drop back down to 25 degrees.  The wind is blowing outside at 60 mph - power lines are down across the state.  The tarps on our wood piles are flapping like flags in the wind.  Our right-wing governor still denies that climate change is happening.  I bet though he won't step out onto the thin ice at any local ice fishing spot.
• I've been watching the confirmation hearings for former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel who was nominated as Obama's next Secretary of War.  He's pledging that "all options are on the table" which is Washington code for keeping nuclear attack on the agenda.  He also pledges full support for Israel.  He supports expansion of Cyber warfare and he is worried about cuts in the Pentagon budget.  In other words Hagel is in the mainstream of US military empire decision making.  So what confuses me is the amount of emails I've seen from peaceniks who are urging people to support Hagel's nomination.  Why?  There has been some right-wing push back against Hagel (for being a too tough on Israel) but I think it is all a good cop-bad cop show. When the pro-Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance sends around the following message of support for Hagel you know to watch out:  "We endorse the confirmation of Senator Chuck Hagel for the position of United States Secretary of Defense for his support of our nation's missile defense and growth of it with our allies."   
• Israel hit Syria today.   Peace Association of Turkey has issued the following statement.
  
  

  We strongly condemn Israeli assault against Syria. The air strike by Israel to Syria has no legal basis or excuse. The statement that Syria has been sending weapons to some forces in Lebanon and these are even chemical weapons is a totally unsubstantiated claim. The reality is; 2 were dead 5 were injured during the air strike!
  
  The reality is; Israel carried out this attack under the approval by USA!
  
  The reality is; Israel is trying to intervene in the Syria equation in its own way!
  
  The reality is; Syrian Islamist terrorist groups, Islamist AKP Government in Turkey, anti-Syria Islamist Arab regimes have taken position on the same side with Zionist Israel against the people of Syria!
  
  It is impossible to assume the fact that the strike is carried out at a time when for the first time the Syrian opposition has given the green light to the negotiation calls by Damascus is a coincidence. Israel is now coming to the stage once more as the main provocateur in a regional war.
  
  Peace Association condemns aggressive Israel in the strongest terms and conveys its solidarity feelings to the people of Syria, who have been exposed to the strike by the Israeli aircrafts, as if being under the threat of reactionist terror is not enough.