US Pulls Out of Iraq, BP Heads In

The US began pulling troops out of Iraq yesterday. Today Iraq held its first oil and gas field auction. The field up for grabs was for the biggest field al-Rumaila, which presently produces 950,000 barrels per day and has 17.8 billion barrels in crude reserves. The giant UK company BP won the auction and will increase its output production to 2,850,000 barrels per day.

Saddam Hussein's removal was supposed to open the flood gates for Iraq's oil potential, and that potential was finally realized today.

The fact that the oil fields were opened for auction one day after the US began its troop pull-out further solidifies my belief that the war in Iraq was for oil. Period.

Cap and Trade Vote Today in US House of Representatives

There is still debating going on to decide if a cap and trade system will benefit the environment at the cost to the economy. Soon, though, debates will be finalized with a vote by the US House of Representatives to either accept or reject the bill, which was endorsed by President Barack Obama.

Lawmakers are expected to vote on the bill between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. EST today, and the Democratic party needs at least 218 from the 435 seats in Congress. The bill proposes, for the first time in the U.S., to set national limits on emissions of greenhouse gases from power plants, refineries and factories.

The cap-and-trade system will be set up as an incentive program for companies to find less polluting ways of generating power. The government will give companies permits to pollute but they will have a capped limit. When a company exceeds the permit amount it has the option to buy additional permits from other companies or would be forced to find ways to reduce its pollution.

A better system for controlling pollution and green house gasses has been a top priority for the Obama Administration, which cites increased national security as a major factor - alternative energies reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

The Ark of the Covenant to be Revealed in Ethiopia

There have been movies and books dedicated to the topic of, and quest for, the Ark of the Covenant. Although theologians have never been able to agree on the Ark’s fate, many believe Menelik I, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and first Jewish emperor of Ethiopia, brought it to Ethiopia.

The Ark of the Covenant is a sacred container that was written about in the Old Testament of the Bible. It is said to contain the original Ten Commandments tablets, as well as some manna, the mythical food that the Israelites ate while wandering through the desert. It is said to be made of wood, but covered in pure gold. Two cherubim face each other, their wings outspread to forming the “throne of God” on top of the Ark.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia, Abuna Pauolos, announced that the Ark of the Covenant will be revealed to the world tomorrow. He made the announcement while visiting Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican, confirming its presence in Ethiopia: “Soon the world will be able to admire the Ark of the Covenant described in the Bible as the container of the tablets of the law that God delivered to Moses and the center of searches and studies for centuries.”

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church says that the Ark sits under lock and key in the Chapel of the Tablet, near the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion. “The Ark of the Covenant is in Ethiopia for many centuries. As a patriarch I have seen it with my own eyes and only few highly qualified persons could do the same, until now," said Pauolos.

The Ark is considered the greatest of all hidden treasures and many argue that its discovery would provide indisputable truth that the Old Testament is hard fact.

The 2010 Census - Now Open to Gay Marriages

We don't know where the order came from within the White House, but the order has in fact been made to include gay marriages in the 2010 US Census, which is conducted every 10 years. This is the first time gay marriages will be included in the census count.

In my opinion, this is a great move on the part of the Obama administration. It gives the gay community some much needed acknowledgment from the federal government and it will give Obama a better understanding of just how many gay couples there are in the US, which I'm sure will figure into his run for re-election in 2012. Also the numbers that come out of the census will justify programs, illustrate the need for certain bills, and give a sense of size for a particular voting bloc. The census will also help counter a general tendency toward simply ignoring the existence of gays.

Today the gay community has a reason to celebrate - they will no longer be invisible. And hopefully this small step by the federal government will lead to more progress for equal rights for all Americans.

Tape Reveals Nixon's Abortion Views

A tape was released today that was recorded in the Oval Office by President Nixon after the Supreme Court's 1973 decision legalizing abortion. The tape details his private reaction to the decision. In it he stated that he believed some abortions were necessary, as in cases of rape or interracial mating.

The tape was released 36 years after it was made and it really shows you how the times have changed - abortion should only be ok for interracial mating, what is that?

Solano and San Diego County Joining Medical Marijuana Card Club

Welcome friends! Solano and San Diego Counties will soon be joining the majority of California counties by adopting a medical marijuana card system after years of hold-out.

In 1996 Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, passed in California allowing seriously ill people access to medical marijuana. In 2005 medical marijuana cards started to be issued throughout the state but in 2006 Solano and San Diego counties challenged the law, claiming federal law superseded state law. Since this court action ten other counties have held out on issuing ID cards while they waited for the ruiling to come back.

Solano and San Diego counties lost the appeal in the California courts, and in May 2009 the case was thrown out of the Supreme Court. This means that there is now a statewide minimum guideline of 6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND up to 8 ounces of processed cannabis flowers. Cities and counties have been given the power to set guidelines that are greater than those amounts, but not less.

Check out city & country specific medical marijuana guidelines.

5.4 and 4.0 Earthquake Strike Alaska

Monday has been quite a wild ride for the folks over in Alaska where there have been a series of earthquakes since this afternoon. The first earthquake was at 11:28 a.m local time 88km outside of Anchorage.

"This event was felt widely in the Anchorage area and as far away as Fairbanks," the Alaska Earthquake Information Center said in a statement.

Several aftershocks followed the main 5.4 quake, including a 4.0 magnitude one near the epicenter of the first earthquake.

The Alaska Earthquake Information Center also said that another earthquake occurred at11:55 a.m. with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6. This earthquake took place in the state's Andrean of Islands region.

For more information and maps check out the US Geologica Survey's (USGS) page on Alaska.

Extremely Odd Weather in Botswana

This time of the year in Botswana it is very dry, but something extremely rare happened - a June thunderstorm.

This time of the year (which has opposite seasons from the Northern hemisphere) Botswana goes through a long winter drought until the summer life-giving rains arrive.

This week, however, the weather went a bit crazy as clouds appeared and mounted into thunderstorms, drenching the dry Botswana which lies mainly in the Kalahari Desert.

By Wednesday, rainfall nearby 4 inches at the capital, Gabarone. Even more rain, 5.3 inches of it, washed over Orapa, well north of Gabarone. Every area of the nation reported over at least 1 inch of rain, with the hardest-hit spots getting about 8 inches of rain since the start of the week. This is compared to normal rainfall throughout Botswana that ranges from virtually unknown to about 0.25 of an inch.

Rare June rain also hit a few areas of northern South Africa, western Zimbabwe, western Zambia, eastern Namibia and southeastern Angola.