mightypeon
Active Member
Indeed, but its a conspiracy theory where a lot of effort went into 
From World War 3 To The Age of Peace (2006-2012)
- Thread starter NuclearWinter
- Start date
seth1492
Member
- Sep 15, 2008
- 102
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What the crap... This is the longest crappiest thread I have ever seen! It was like 100 pages of conspiracy garbage. This forum shouldn't have 100 pages of that crap. If nuclear winter wanted to tell us about that then they should have directed interested people to a website. That is outrageous. I hope they get banned!
Besides conspiracy theories are so bogus... "everyone is not always out to get you because to be honest, your really not that cool."
Besides conspiracy theories are so bogus... "everyone is not always out to get you because to be honest, your really not that cool."
eots
no fly list
see ...you people thought I was kidding about the new owner....No, but I usually see him on my birthday.
eots
no fly list
C
chloe
Guest
C
chloe
Guest
I clicked on the link NuclearWinter has at the end of every one of his posts and its a mesage board he is still posting at today....he he
Sunni Man
Diamond Member
I went there also. Did you notice he is a Mod on that board!!!I clicked on the link NuclearWinter has at the end of every one of his posts and its a mesage board he is still posting at today....he he
C
chloe
Guest
I went there also. Did you notice he is a Mod on that board!!!
I didnt look that deep, you are more thorough then me ....
, he could be fun to have around
dilloduck
Diamond Member
I didnt look that deep, you are more thorough then me ....
oh man---please go there to "enjoy" him !
C
chloe
Guest
no need to pray about it, Im sure if I feel inclined I will
NuclearWinter
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- Apr 13, 2006
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Storm cuts power to more than 1 million customers
By DAVID TIRRELL-WYSOCKI, Associated Press Writer
Writer 3 mins ago
CONCORD, N.H. An ice storm knocked out power Friday to 1.25 million homes and businesses from Maine to Pennsylvania, closing schools and tying up travel, and authorities say it could take days for all customers to get service back. "This is pathetic," said Bob Cott, in Portland, Maine, who lost power for the first time in 10 years. "I'm already sick of winter and we have nine days to go before it officially begins."
The storm brought rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow through Thursday night, and in some areas the miserable mix was continuing Friday. For New Hampshire, the power outages dwarfed those during the infamous Ice Storm of '98, when some residents spent more than a week in the dark.
The governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire declared states of emergency Friday morning, and schools were closed and travel disrupted across the region. New Hampshire's court system canceled most hearings and trials for the day.
"I urge all New Hampshire citizens to take sensible precautions and heed all warnings from public officials," Gov. John Lynch said.
Fire departments were responding to reports of transformer explosions, wires and utility poles down and trees falling on homes. Utility crews were so busy dealing with public safety hazards like live power lines that they weren't immediately able to begin restoration efforts.
Utilities reported 392,000 homes and businesses without power in New Hampshire, including 300,000 served by the state's largest, Public Service Company of New Hampshire. By contrast, the 1998 storm left 55,000 Public Service customers without power.
"This is the absolute, most significant power restoration effort we've ever had. There has not been a storm before that has affected more customers," Public Service spokesman Martin Murray said.
In Hampstead, N.H., Mark Cegelis, 36, said things were hectic at his neighborhood gas station, which was jammed with people trying to get gas for home generators.
"It's kind of lawless out there right now. There's a lot of people very frustrated, stacking up at the gas stations. It's pretty ugly."
He bought 21 gallons for himself and tried to deliver some to some friends in Derry but couldn't get there because of downed trees blocking roads. So his friends came to him instead, and were expected to hunker down until power was restored.
The ice storm extended to Pennsylvania, where about 4,700 customers, most of them in the Poconos, lost power, and Connecticut, where some 16,500 customers were without electricity at midday. In most areas in those states, though, the big storm system left its mark in the form of heavy rain or rain changing to snow.
Gov. Deval Patrick's emergency declaration in Massachusetts would enable the governor to take further steps, such as mobilizing the National Guard, if needed as the day wore on, officials said.
At a midmorning news conference, Patrick said 350,000 customers across the state were without power and the number had risen 150,000 homes in just an hour. He said it would be "ambitious" to think power would be restored by Monday.
"This is not going to be a couple of hours," Patrick said. "It's likely to be several days."
In eastern New York, particularly around Albany, the state capital, outages at National Grid and other utilities brought the total in the state to more than 255,000.
"Trees were down on all the roads," said Miguel Figueroa, 28, as he waited for coffee at a Starbucks in Colonie, N.Y. "... I couldn't even get on the Thruway today."
Central Maine Power Co. said more than 190,000 customers in the dark as of late Friday morning, mostly in southern and coastal areas. Bangor Hydro Electric Co. reported more than 11,000 outages.
Maine Gov. John Baldacci declared a limited emergency allowing utility crews to work longer hours.
In Vermont, 25,800 customers were without power Friday morning. Several inches of snow, caked with ice toppled trees onto roads and power lines.
At least 20 Massachusetts towns declared local states of emergency even before the governor made the statewide declaration.
"Stay home if you live in Holden; don't come to Holden if you work here," Holden, Mass., fire Chief Jack Chandler said. The entire town was without power and some senior citizens on oxygen were transported to a hospital or a shelter opened at the town's senior center.
___
Associated Press writers Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H.; Mark Pratt in Boston; Clarke Canfield in Portland, Maine; John Curran and Lisa Rathke in Montpelier, Vt.; and Mike Hill and Jessica M. Pasko in Albany, N.Y., contributed to this report.
By DAVID TIRRELL-WYSOCKI, Associated Press Writer
Writer 3 mins ago
CONCORD, N.H. An ice storm knocked out power Friday to 1.25 million homes and businesses from Maine to Pennsylvania, closing schools and tying up travel, and authorities say it could take days for all customers to get service back. "This is pathetic," said Bob Cott, in Portland, Maine, who lost power for the first time in 10 years. "I'm already sick of winter and we have nine days to go before it officially begins."
The storm brought rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow through Thursday night, and in some areas the miserable mix was continuing Friday. For New Hampshire, the power outages dwarfed those during the infamous Ice Storm of '98, when some residents spent more than a week in the dark.
The governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire declared states of emergency Friday morning, and schools were closed and travel disrupted across the region. New Hampshire's court system canceled most hearings and trials for the day.
"I urge all New Hampshire citizens to take sensible precautions and heed all warnings from public officials," Gov. John Lynch said.
Fire departments were responding to reports of transformer explosions, wires and utility poles down and trees falling on homes. Utility crews were so busy dealing with public safety hazards like live power lines that they weren't immediately able to begin restoration efforts.
Utilities reported 392,000 homes and businesses without power in New Hampshire, including 300,000 served by the state's largest, Public Service Company of New Hampshire. By contrast, the 1998 storm left 55,000 Public Service customers without power.
"This is the absolute, most significant power restoration effort we've ever had. There has not been a storm before that has affected more customers," Public Service spokesman Martin Murray said.
In Hampstead, N.H., Mark Cegelis, 36, said things were hectic at his neighborhood gas station, which was jammed with people trying to get gas for home generators.
"It's kind of lawless out there right now. There's a lot of people very frustrated, stacking up at the gas stations. It's pretty ugly."
He bought 21 gallons for himself and tried to deliver some to some friends in Derry but couldn't get there because of downed trees blocking roads. So his friends came to him instead, and were expected to hunker down until power was restored.
The ice storm extended to Pennsylvania, where about 4,700 customers, most of them in the Poconos, lost power, and Connecticut, where some 16,500 customers were without electricity at midday. In most areas in those states, though, the big storm system left its mark in the form of heavy rain or rain changing to snow.
Gov. Deval Patrick's emergency declaration in Massachusetts would enable the governor to take further steps, such as mobilizing the National Guard, if needed as the day wore on, officials said.
At a midmorning news conference, Patrick said 350,000 customers across the state were without power and the number had risen 150,000 homes in just an hour. He said it would be "ambitious" to think power would be restored by Monday.
"This is not going to be a couple of hours," Patrick said. "It's likely to be several days."
In eastern New York, particularly around Albany, the state capital, outages at National Grid and other utilities brought the total in the state to more than 255,000.
"Trees were down on all the roads," said Miguel Figueroa, 28, as he waited for coffee at a Starbucks in Colonie, N.Y. "... I couldn't even get on the Thruway today."
Central Maine Power Co. said more than 190,000 customers in the dark as of late Friday morning, mostly in southern and coastal areas. Bangor Hydro Electric Co. reported more than 11,000 outages.
Maine Gov. John Baldacci declared a limited emergency allowing utility crews to work longer hours.
In Vermont, 25,800 customers were without power Friday morning. Several inches of snow, caked with ice toppled trees onto roads and power lines.
At least 20 Massachusetts towns declared local states of emergency even before the governor made the statewide declaration.
"Stay home if you live in Holden; don't come to Holden if you work here," Holden, Mass., fire Chief Jack Chandler said. The entire town was without power and some senior citizens on oxygen were transported to a hospital or a shelter opened at the town's senior center.
___
Associated Press writers Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H.; Mark Pratt in Boston; Clarke Canfield in Portland, Maine; John Curran and Lisa Rathke in Montpelier, Vt.; and Mike Hill and Jessica M. Pasko in Albany, N.Y., contributed to this report.
NuclearWinter
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- Apr 13, 2006
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Rare snow covers south Louisiana, Miss.
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press Writer Thu Dec 11, 2008
NEW ORLEANS A rare snowfall blanketed south Louisiana and parts of Mississippi Thursday, closing schools, government offices and bridges, triggering crashes on major highways and leaving thousands of people without power.
Up to 8 inches of snow was reported in parts of Louisiana. Snow also covered a broad swath of Mississippi, including the Jackson area, and closed schools in more than a dozen districts.
A heavy band of snow coated windshields and grassy areas in New Orleans, where about an inch accumulated. A peak of 8 inches was reported in Amite, about 75 miles northwest of New Orleans, said meteorologist Danielle Manning of the National Weather Service in Slidell.
Office workers stepped out of high-rises to catch a snowflake, snap pictures with cell-phone cameras and swap snow stories.
At a park in New Orleans' Uptown neighborhood, Sara Echaniz, 41, took photos and dodged snowballs thrown by her son, 3-year-old Sam. "He didn't believe it was snow until it started sticking to the ground," said Ecahniz, a native of Rochester, N.Y., who was pregnant with the child the last time it snowed in New Orleans, in December 2004.
In Mississippi, up to 5 inches of snow fell on areas south of Jackson. The snow in Mississippi and Louisiana was clearing out Thursday afternoon, but forecasters warned that freezing temperatures could make for treacherous driving conditions overnight.
In Alabama, storms dumped more than 3 inches of rain across northern parts of the state ahead of a blast of cold air and added precipitation that forecasters said could turn into a wintry mix. Several of the state's school systems dismissed students early because of the possibility of flooding or snow.
Flood watches were issued through Thursday night for much of North Carolina ahead of the storm system. Colder air behind the front could produce snow late Thursday and early Friday in the mountains.
In Louisiana, roughly 10,0000 power outages were reported by Cleco Corp., one of the state's largest power providers. The company said it expected most of the outages to be restored by nightfall.
Some morning flights at Louis Armstrong International Airport outside New Orleans were delayed and canceled, but airport spokeswoman Michelle Wilcut said the facility was in "back-to-normal mode" by early Thursday afternoon.
In southeast Louisiana, temperatures were above freezing so accumulations were not expected to linger much beyond Thursday.
The wintry weather is rare in south Louisiana. The weather service said the previous earliest date for measurable snowfall in New Orleans was Dec. 22, 1989.
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press Writer Thu Dec 11, 2008
NEW ORLEANS A rare snowfall blanketed south Louisiana and parts of Mississippi Thursday, closing schools, government offices and bridges, triggering crashes on major highways and leaving thousands of people without power.
Up to 8 inches of snow was reported in parts of Louisiana. Snow also covered a broad swath of Mississippi, including the Jackson area, and closed schools in more than a dozen districts.
A heavy band of snow coated windshields and grassy areas in New Orleans, where about an inch accumulated. A peak of 8 inches was reported in Amite, about 75 miles northwest of New Orleans, said meteorologist Danielle Manning of the National Weather Service in Slidell.
Office workers stepped out of high-rises to catch a snowflake, snap pictures with cell-phone cameras and swap snow stories.
At a park in New Orleans' Uptown neighborhood, Sara Echaniz, 41, took photos and dodged snowballs thrown by her son, 3-year-old Sam. "He didn't believe it was snow until it started sticking to the ground," said Ecahniz, a native of Rochester, N.Y., who was pregnant with the child the last time it snowed in New Orleans, in December 2004.
In Mississippi, up to 5 inches of snow fell on areas south of Jackson. The snow in Mississippi and Louisiana was clearing out Thursday afternoon, but forecasters warned that freezing temperatures could make for treacherous driving conditions overnight.
In Alabama, storms dumped more than 3 inches of rain across northern parts of the state ahead of a blast of cold air and added precipitation that forecasters said could turn into a wintry mix. Several of the state's school systems dismissed students early because of the possibility of flooding or snow.
Flood watches were issued through Thursday night for much of North Carolina ahead of the storm system. Colder air behind the front could produce snow late Thursday and early Friday in the mountains.
In Louisiana, roughly 10,0000 power outages were reported by Cleco Corp., one of the state's largest power providers. The company said it expected most of the outages to be restored by nightfall.
Some morning flights at Louis Armstrong International Airport outside New Orleans were delayed and canceled, but airport spokeswoman Michelle Wilcut said the facility was in "back-to-normal mode" by early Thursday afternoon.
In southeast Louisiana, temperatures were above freezing so accumulations were not expected to linger much beyond Thursday.
The wintry weather is rare in south Louisiana. The weather service said the previous earliest date for measurable snowfall in New Orleans was Dec. 22, 1989.
NuclearWinter
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Las Vegas gets record snowfall, 3.6 inches
Thursday, December 18, 2008
A rare pre-winter storm brought Las Vegas its heaviest snowfall in nearly three decades, closing the airport and freeways as several inches coated marquees on the Las Vegas Strip and weighed down palm trees.
The storm Wednesday and early Thursday also dumped snow on rain on much of southern California and parts of Nevada outside Las Vegas.
The National Weather Service measured 3.6 inches of snow overnight at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport, and meteorologist Jerome Jacques said about 2 inches was left before dawn on the ground near the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign.
"Snow is not unknown in the Las Vegas valley. On average we get 1/2 inch of snow a year," Jacques said. "But this amount made it a significant storm. We haven't had this amount of snow since 1979."
The weather service recorded 7.5 inches of snow at McCarran on Jan. 30-31, 1979.
The snow Wednesday prompted the cancellation of all flights in and out of Vegas. Visitors parked and posed for pictures wearing hooded jackets.
Other parts of Nevada were forecast to receive as much as 8 inches of snow in the second winter storm this week to drop snow on the desert city. Snowfall is common in nearby mountains hills, but not on the Strip or surrounding neighborhoods.
Elsewhere, snow shut Interstate 15 over 4,190-foot Cajon Pass east of Los Angeles. By early Thursday, just a single lane on the southbound side was open, as officers escorted a small stream of drivers through the pass.
Interstate 5, a major trucking and travel route connecting Southern California with the Central Valley and Northern California was shut down over 4,144-foot Tejon Pass, and roads through the San Gabriel Mountains connecting metropolitan Los Angeles to the commuter suburbs of Palmdale and Lancaster in the high desert to the north also were closed.
An overflowing river on the U.S.-Mexico border Wednesday led to the evacuation of nearly two dozen people and rescues of about 50 horses.
Snow also fell across much of Washington state on Wednesday, with Spokane, in the northeast part of the state, declaring a snow emergency and vowing that its snowplows would be working nonstop until the streets were clear.
Most areas of Spokane had picked up 8 inches of snow by evening, with another 5-10 inches expected by daybreak Thursday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jeffrey Cote.
Massive backups developed below all the passes, which authorities hope to have reopened Thursday.
The storm dumped as much as 4 feet of snow at Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains, said James Oh, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in San Diego.
Schools were closed Thursday, many of them for the fourth straight day, in several high desert and mountain districts.
And soldiers at Fort Irwin near Barstow were unable to deploy to Iraq Wednesday as planned because of the snowy conditions.
Calen Weiss, 19, of Tarzana, his brother and two friends wanted to go snowboarding at Big Bear but instead got stuck on I-15 in Cajon Pass for an hour as visibility fell to about 40 yards.
"It looks like Whoville, all snowy, but with less joy and more extreme misery," he said by phone from the Summit Inn.
Heavy rain also fell in some parts of Southern California through the day.
Near the California-Mexico border, San Diego firefighters and lifeguards evacuated 21 people along the overflowing Tijuana River, said spokesman Maurice Luque. They included 12 to 15 people who were on high ground outside a home, surrounded by up to 4 feet of water.
Five people were taken out by helicopter, while others were escorted in Border Patrol all-terrain vehicles, Luque said. Three men were taken to a hospital for treatment of hypothermia.
About 50 horses also were evacuated, but three others drowned and one was euthanized after tripping on barbed wire, Luque said.
In the Santa Clarita area north of Los Angeles, a wind gust caused a helicopter to crash, killing an electrical worker on the ground and leaving the pilot with minor injuries, county fire Inspector Frank Garrido said.
Even Malibu got a dusting of snow, as the usually balmy city saw a half-inch in the afternoon.
"It's kind of cool if you think about it, said Craig Levy, director of a juvenile detention camp. "It's kind of unusual to see snow in Malibu."
___
Associated Press Writers Solvej Schou and Daisy Nguyen in Los Angeles and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.
Las Vegas gets record snowfall, 3.6 inches - Yahoo! News
Thursday, December 18, 2008
A rare pre-winter storm brought Las Vegas its heaviest snowfall in nearly three decades, closing the airport and freeways as several inches coated marquees on the Las Vegas Strip and weighed down palm trees.
The storm Wednesday and early Thursday also dumped snow on rain on much of southern California and parts of Nevada outside Las Vegas.
The National Weather Service measured 3.6 inches of snow overnight at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport, and meteorologist Jerome Jacques said about 2 inches was left before dawn on the ground near the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign.
"Snow is not unknown in the Las Vegas valley. On average we get 1/2 inch of snow a year," Jacques said. "But this amount made it a significant storm. We haven't had this amount of snow since 1979."
The weather service recorded 7.5 inches of snow at McCarran on Jan. 30-31, 1979.
The snow Wednesday prompted the cancellation of all flights in and out of Vegas. Visitors parked and posed for pictures wearing hooded jackets.
Other parts of Nevada were forecast to receive as much as 8 inches of snow in the second winter storm this week to drop snow on the desert city. Snowfall is common in nearby mountains hills, but not on the Strip or surrounding neighborhoods.
Elsewhere, snow shut Interstate 15 over 4,190-foot Cajon Pass east of Los Angeles. By early Thursday, just a single lane on the southbound side was open, as officers escorted a small stream of drivers through the pass.
Interstate 5, a major trucking and travel route connecting Southern California with the Central Valley and Northern California was shut down over 4,144-foot Tejon Pass, and roads through the San Gabriel Mountains connecting metropolitan Los Angeles to the commuter suburbs of Palmdale and Lancaster in the high desert to the north also were closed.
An overflowing river on the U.S.-Mexico border Wednesday led to the evacuation of nearly two dozen people and rescues of about 50 horses.
Snow also fell across much of Washington state on Wednesday, with Spokane, in the northeast part of the state, declaring a snow emergency and vowing that its snowplows would be working nonstop until the streets were clear.
Most areas of Spokane had picked up 8 inches of snow by evening, with another 5-10 inches expected by daybreak Thursday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jeffrey Cote.
Massive backups developed below all the passes, which authorities hope to have reopened Thursday.
The storm dumped as much as 4 feet of snow at Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains, said James Oh, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in San Diego.
Schools were closed Thursday, many of them for the fourth straight day, in several high desert and mountain districts.
And soldiers at Fort Irwin near Barstow were unable to deploy to Iraq Wednesday as planned because of the snowy conditions.
Calen Weiss, 19, of Tarzana, his brother and two friends wanted to go snowboarding at Big Bear but instead got stuck on I-15 in Cajon Pass for an hour as visibility fell to about 40 yards.
"It looks like Whoville, all snowy, but with less joy and more extreme misery," he said by phone from the Summit Inn.
Heavy rain also fell in some parts of Southern California through the day.
Near the California-Mexico border, San Diego firefighters and lifeguards evacuated 21 people along the overflowing Tijuana River, said spokesman Maurice Luque. They included 12 to 15 people who were on high ground outside a home, surrounded by up to 4 feet of water.
Five people were taken out by helicopter, while others were escorted in Border Patrol all-terrain vehicles, Luque said. Three men were taken to a hospital for treatment of hypothermia.
About 50 horses also were evacuated, but three others drowned and one was euthanized after tripping on barbed wire, Luque said.
In the Santa Clarita area north of Los Angeles, a wind gust caused a helicopter to crash, killing an electrical worker on the ground and leaving the pilot with minor injuries, county fire Inspector Frank Garrido said.
Even Malibu got a dusting of snow, as the usually balmy city saw a half-inch in the afternoon.
"It's kind of cool if you think about it, said Craig Levy, director of a juvenile detention camp. "It's kind of unusual to see snow in Malibu."
___
Associated Press Writers Solvej Schou and Daisy Nguyen in Los Angeles and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.
Las Vegas gets record snowfall, 3.6 inches - Yahoo! News
NuclearWinter
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- Apr 13, 2006
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Frigid Storm Closes California Freeways, Drops Snow in Malibu
Thursday, December 18, 2008
LOS ANGELES Snow snarled major mountain highways and even dusted Malibu on Wednesday as a cold storm hit parts of California. One person was killed by a wind-related helicopter crash, and an overflowing river on the U.S.-Mexico border led to the evacuation of nearly two dozen people, rescues of about 50 horses and the deaths of four others.
Styming thousands of commuters and travelers, snow shut Interstate 15 over 4,190-foot Cajon Pass east of Los Angeles and roads through the San Gabriel Mountains connecting metropolitan Los Angeles to the commuter suburbs of Palmdale and Lancaster in the high desert to the north.
Interstate 5, a major trucking and travel route connecting Southern California with the Central Valley and Northern California, stayed open over 4,144-foot Tejon Pass most of the day, with on-and-off Highway Patrol escorts, then finally was shut down in the afternoon as conditions deteriorated. Massive backups developed below all the passes.
Calen Weiss, 19, of Tarzana, his brother and two friends wanted to go snowboarding at Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains but instead got stuck on I-15 in Cajon Pass for an hour as visibility fell to about 40 yards.
"It looks like Whoville, all snowy, but with less joy and more extreme misery," he said by phone from the Summit Inn.
Heavy rain also fell in some parts of Southern California through the day.
Near the California-Mexico border, San Diego firefighters and lifeguards evacuated 21 people along the overflowing Tijuana River, said spokesman Maurice Luque. They included 12 to 15 people who were on high ground outside a home, surrounded by up to 4 feet of water.
Five people were taken out by helicopter, while others were escorted in Border Patrol all-terrain vehicles, Luque said. Three men were taken to a hospital for treatment of hypothermia.
About 50 horses also were evacuated, but three others drowned and one was euthanized after tripping on barbed wire, Luque said.
To the east, several vehicles collided and slid into ditches on Interstate 8's mountainous grades as heavy snow fell at the San Diego-Imperial County line. Other vehicles were stuck on the steep upgrade, their wheels spinning on the snow-packed surface, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Blowing snow, slush and ice prompted the Antelope Valley Transit Authority to cancel all its local buses, along with 18 commuter runs that usually carry some 650 people from the Palmdale-Lancaster area down to Los Angeles and back home.
The regional Metrolink rail system agreed to carry bus commuters who had already reached Los Angeles back home, spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said.
However, trains were ordered to proceed slowly because of the snow. Two trains also were delayed around 45 minutes at midday because engineers could not see the red, green and yellow track signals.
It was the first time in his 15 years with Metrolink that snow had caused such problems, Oaxaca said.
Transit agencies in the East have special equipment to clear tracks and otherwise handle snow but "we're not equipped for this kind of weather on a consistent basis in this part of the world," Oaxaca said.
In the Santa Clarita area north of Los Angeles, a wind gust caused a helicopter to crash, killing an electrical worker on the ground and leaving the pilot with minor injuries, county fire Inspector Frank Garrido said.
The helicopter was hired by Southern California Edison to string electrical lines between power poles in the Bouquet Canyon area.
"It was hovering above the ground. A gust of wind made the helicopter spiral," Garrido said.
Garrido said the accident report stated that the dead man was an Edison employee, but utility spokesman Steve Conroy said the victim was employed by the company operating the helicopter.
Late in the afternoon snow fell in the Malibu area.
"It's a combination of snow and rain, so none of the snow is sticking on the ground," said Craig Levy, director of a juvenile detention camp near Mulholland Highway. "It's kind of cool if you think about it. It's kind of unusual to see snow in Malibu."
More severe cold was on the way, the National Weather Service said.
Freeze warnings were issued for late Wednesday through Thursday morning for the Sacramento Valley, the northern San Joaquin Valley and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta region, among others.
"A freeze warning means subfreezing temperatures are imminent or highly likely. These conditions will kill crops and other sensitive vegetation," the NWS said.
Freeze warnings were also issued for north San Francisco Bay area valleys, and a combination of frost advisories and freeze warnings were issued for parts of southwestern California.
FOXNews.com - Frigid Storm Closes California Freeways, Drops Snow in Malibu - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News
Thursday, December 18, 2008
LOS ANGELES Snow snarled major mountain highways and even dusted Malibu on Wednesday as a cold storm hit parts of California. One person was killed by a wind-related helicopter crash, and an overflowing river on the U.S.-Mexico border led to the evacuation of nearly two dozen people, rescues of about 50 horses and the deaths of four others.
Styming thousands of commuters and travelers, snow shut Interstate 15 over 4,190-foot Cajon Pass east of Los Angeles and roads through the San Gabriel Mountains connecting metropolitan Los Angeles to the commuter suburbs of Palmdale and Lancaster in the high desert to the north.
Interstate 5, a major trucking and travel route connecting Southern California with the Central Valley and Northern California, stayed open over 4,144-foot Tejon Pass most of the day, with on-and-off Highway Patrol escorts, then finally was shut down in the afternoon as conditions deteriorated. Massive backups developed below all the passes.
Calen Weiss, 19, of Tarzana, his brother and two friends wanted to go snowboarding at Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains but instead got stuck on I-15 in Cajon Pass for an hour as visibility fell to about 40 yards.
"It looks like Whoville, all snowy, but with less joy and more extreme misery," he said by phone from the Summit Inn.
Heavy rain also fell in some parts of Southern California through the day.
Near the California-Mexico border, San Diego firefighters and lifeguards evacuated 21 people along the overflowing Tijuana River, said spokesman Maurice Luque. They included 12 to 15 people who were on high ground outside a home, surrounded by up to 4 feet of water.
Five people were taken out by helicopter, while others were escorted in Border Patrol all-terrain vehicles, Luque said. Three men were taken to a hospital for treatment of hypothermia.
About 50 horses also were evacuated, but three others drowned and one was euthanized after tripping on barbed wire, Luque said.
To the east, several vehicles collided and slid into ditches on Interstate 8's mountainous grades as heavy snow fell at the San Diego-Imperial County line. Other vehicles were stuck on the steep upgrade, their wheels spinning on the snow-packed surface, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Blowing snow, slush and ice prompted the Antelope Valley Transit Authority to cancel all its local buses, along with 18 commuter runs that usually carry some 650 people from the Palmdale-Lancaster area down to Los Angeles and back home.
The regional Metrolink rail system agreed to carry bus commuters who had already reached Los Angeles back home, spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said.
However, trains were ordered to proceed slowly because of the snow. Two trains also were delayed around 45 minutes at midday because engineers could not see the red, green and yellow track signals.
It was the first time in his 15 years with Metrolink that snow had caused such problems, Oaxaca said.
Transit agencies in the East have special equipment to clear tracks and otherwise handle snow but "we're not equipped for this kind of weather on a consistent basis in this part of the world," Oaxaca said.
In the Santa Clarita area north of Los Angeles, a wind gust caused a helicopter to crash, killing an electrical worker on the ground and leaving the pilot with minor injuries, county fire Inspector Frank Garrido said.
The helicopter was hired by Southern California Edison to string electrical lines between power poles in the Bouquet Canyon area.
"It was hovering above the ground. A gust of wind made the helicopter spiral," Garrido said.
Garrido said the accident report stated that the dead man was an Edison employee, but utility spokesman Steve Conroy said the victim was employed by the company operating the helicopter.
Late in the afternoon snow fell in the Malibu area.
"It's a combination of snow and rain, so none of the snow is sticking on the ground," said Craig Levy, director of a juvenile detention camp near Mulholland Highway. "It's kind of cool if you think about it. It's kind of unusual to see snow in Malibu."
More severe cold was on the way, the National Weather Service said.
Freeze warnings were issued for late Wednesday through Thursday morning for the Sacramento Valley, the northern San Joaquin Valley and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta region, among others.
"A freeze warning means subfreezing temperatures are imminent or highly likely. These conditions will kill crops and other sensitive vegetation," the NWS said.
Freeze warnings were also issued for north San Francisco Bay area valleys, and a combination of frost advisories and freeze warnings were issued for parts of southwestern California.
FOXNews.com - Frigid Storm Closes California Freeways, Drops Snow in Malibu - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News
irie
Member
nuclear winter has WAYYYYY to much time on his/her hands.
NuclearWinter
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Dec. 16, 2008:
NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to "load up" the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics.
A Giant Breach in Earth's Magnetic Field
12.16.2008
Dec. 16, 2008: NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to "load up" the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics.
"At first I didn't believe it," says THEMIS project scientist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "This finding fundamentally alters our understanding of the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction."
The magnetosphere is a bubble of magnetism that surrounds Earth and protects us from solar wind. Exploring the bubble is a key goal of the THEMIS mission, launched in February 2007. The big discovery came on June 3, 2007, when the five probes serendipitously flew through the breach just as it was opening. Onboard sensors recorded a torrent of solar wind particles streaming into the magnetosphere, signaling an event of unexpected size and importance.
"The opening was hugefour times wider than Earth itself," says Wenhui Li, a space physicist at the University of New Hampshire who has been analyzing the data. Li's colleague Jimmy Raeder, also of New Hampshire, says "1027 particles per second were flowing into the magnetospherethat's a 1 followed by 27 zeros. This kind of influx is an order of magnitude greater than what we thought was possible."
The event began with little warning when a gentle gust of solar wind delivered a bundle of magnetic fields from the Sun to Earth. Like an octopus wrapping its tentacles around a big clam, solar magnetic fields draped themselves around the magnetosphere and cracked it open. The cracking was accomplished by means of a process called "magnetic reconnection." High above Earth's poles, solar and terrestrial magnetic fields linked up (reconnected) to form conduits for solar wind. Conduits over the Arctic and Antarctic quickly expanded; within minutes they overlapped over Earth's equator to create the biggest magnetic breach ever recorded by Earth-orbiting spacecraft.
The size of the breach took researchers by surprise. "We've seen things like this before," says Raeder, "but never on such a large scale. The entire day-side of the magnetosphere was open to the solar wind."
The circumstances were even more surprising. Space physicists have long believed that holes in Earth's magnetosphere open only in response to solar magnetic fields that point south. The great breach of June 2007, however, opened in response to a solar magnetic field that pointed north.
"To the lay person, this may sound like a quibble, but to a space physicist, it is almost seismic," says Sibeck. "When I tell my colleagues, most react with skepticism, as if I'm trying to convince them that the sun rises in the west."
Here is why they can't believe their ears: The solar wind presses against Earth's magnetosphere almost directly above the equator where our planet's magnetic field points north. Suppose a bundle of solar magnetism comes along, and it points north, too. The two fields should reinforce one another, strengthening Earth's magnetic defenses and slamming the door shut on the solar wind. In the language of space physics, a north-pointing solar magnetic field is called a "northern IMF" and it is synonymous with shields up!
"So, you can imagine our surprise when a northern IMF came along and shields went down instead," says Sibeck. "This completely overturns our understanding of things."
Northern IMF events don't actually trigger geomagnetic storms, notes Raeder, but they do set the stage for storms by loading the magnetosphere with plasma. A loaded magnetosphere is primed for auroras, power outages, and other disturbances that can result when, say, a CME (coronal mass ejection) hits.
The years ahead could be especially lively. Raeder explains: "We're entering Solar Cycle 24. For reasons not fully understood, CMEs in even-numbered solar cycles (like 24) tend to hit Earth with a leading edge that is magnetized north. Such a CME should open a breach and load the magnetosphere with plasma just before the storm gets underway. It's the perfect sequence for a really big event."
Sibeck agrees. "This could result in stronger geomagnetic storms than we have seen in many years."
NASA - A Giant Breach in Earth's Magnetic Field
NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to "load up" the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics.
A Giant Breach in Earth's Magnetic Field
12.16.2008
Dec. 16, 2008: NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to "load up" the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics.
"At first I didn't believe it," says THEMIS project scientist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "This finding fundamentally alters our understanding of the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction."
The magnetosphere is a bubble of magnetism that surrounds Earth and protects us from solar wind. Exploring the bubble is a key goal of the THEMIS mission, launched in February 2007. The big discovery came on June 3, 2007, when the five probes serendipitously flew through the breach just as it was opening. Onboard sensors recorded a torrent of solar wind particles streaming into the magnetosphere, signaling an event of unexpected size and importance.
"The opening was hugefour times wider than Earth itself," says Wenhui Li, a space physicist at the University of New Hampshire who has been analyzing the data. Li's colleague Jimmy Raeder, also of New Hampshire, says "1027 particles per second were flowing into the magnetospherethat's a 1 followed by 27 zeros. This kind of influx is an order of magnitude greater than what we thought was possible."
The event began with little warning when a gentle gust of solar wind delivered a bundle of magnetic fields from the Sun to Earth. Like an octopus wrapping its tentacles around a big clam, solar magnetic fields draped themselves around the magnetosphere and cracked it open. The cracking was accomplished by means of a process called "magnetic reconnection." High above Earth's poles, solar and terrestrial magnetic fields linked up (reconnected) to form conduits for solar wind. Conduits over the Arctic and Antarctic quickly expanded; within minutes they overlapped over Earth's equator to create the biggest magnetic breach ever recorded by Earth-orbiting spacecraft.
The size of the breach took researchers by surprise. "We've seen things like this before," says Raeder, "but never on such a large scale. The entire day-side of the magnetosphere was open to the solar wind."
The circumstances were even more surprising. Space physicists have long believed that holes in Earth's magnetosphere open only in response to solar magnetic fields that point south. The great breach of June 2007, however, opened in response to a solar magnetic field that pointed north.
"To the lay person, this may sound like a quibble, but to a space physicist, it is almost seismic," says Sibeck. "When I tell my colleagues, most react with skepticism, as if I'm trying to convince them that the sun rises in the west."
Here is why they can't believe their ears: The solar wind presses against Earth's magnetosphere almost directly above the equator where our planet's magnetic field points north. Suppose a bundle of solar magnetism comes along, and it points north, too. The two fields should reinforce one another, strengthening Earth's magnetic defenses and slamming the door shut on the solar wind. In the language of space physics, a north-pointing solar magnetic field is called a "northern IMF" and it is synonymous with shields up!
"So, you can imagine our surprise when a northern IMF came along and shields went down instead," says Sibeck. "This completely overturns our understanding of things."
Northern IMF events don't actually trigger geomagnetic storms, notes Raeder, but they do set the stage for storms by loading the magnetosphere with plasma. A loaded magnetosphere is primed for auroras, power outages, and other disturbances that can result when, say, a CME (coronal mass ejection) hits.
The years ahead could be especially lively. Raeder explains: "We're entering Solar Cycle 24. For reasons not fully understood, CMEs in even-numbered solar cycles (like 24) tend to hit Earth with a leading edge that is magnetized north. Such a CME should open a breach and load the magnetosphere with plasma just before the storm gets underway. It's the perfect sequence for a really big event."
Sibeck agrees. "This could result in stronger geomagnetic storms than we have seen in many years."
NASA - A Giant Breach in Earth's Magnetic Field
C
chloe
Guest
Welcome Back NW, yeah I posted aobut the weather warfare going on.
NuclearWinter
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Thanks Chloe. And thanks for keeping us up to date. =)
C
chloe
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NuclearWinter
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Well folks, I hate to be the bearer of bad news (for those who didn't already know this), but the South American Union has already been created. Now I've known this for months, and have been waiting to see if anyone else on the board mentioned it, but apparently, not that many people even know that it had been created. Yet alone that it was created fairly recently, without any news broadcasts that I remember covering it AT ALL. So yes, this means that the New World Order is one step closer to becoming a reality. And guess who is next on the Agenda? Can you say...the United States of America! Thats right. They are purposely trying to crush our economy so that we will be forced to form a North American Union as well. It's no joke folks. It's happening.
UNASUR
The Union of South American Nations (Spanish: Unión de Naciones Suramericanas - UNASUR, Portuguese: União de Nações Sul-Americanas - UNASUL, Dutch: Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties - UZAN) is an intergovernmental union integrating two existing customs unions: Mercosur and the Andean Community, as part of a continuing process of South American integration. It is modelled on the European Union.
The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty was signed on May 23, 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in Brasília, Brazil. According to the Constitutive Treaty, the Union's headquarters will be located in Quito, Ecuador. The South American Parliament will be located in Cochabamba, Bolivia, while its bank, the Bank of the South (Dutch: Bank van het Zuiden, Portuguese: Banco do Sul, Spanish: Banco del Sur), will be located in Caracas, Venezuela. The Union's former designation, the South American Community of Nations (Dutch: Zuid-Amerikaanse Statengemeenschap, Portuguese: Comunidade Sul-Americana de Nações, and Spanish: Comunidad de Naciones Sudamericanas), abbreviated as CSN, was dropped at the First South American Energy Summit on April 16, 2007.
At the Third South American Summit on 8 December 2004, presidents or representatives from twelve South American nations signed the Cuzco Declaration, a two-page statement of intent announcing the foundation of the South American Community. Panama and Mexico attended the signing ceremony as observers.
The leaders announced their intention to model the new community after the European Union including a common currency, parliament, and passport. According to Allan Wagner Tizón, former Secretary General of the Andean Community, a complete union like that of the EU should be possible by 2019.
The mechanics of the new entity came out of the First South American Community of Nations Heads of State Summit, which was held in Brasília on 29 September–30 September 2005. An important operating condition of UNASUR is that no new institutions will be created in the first phase, so as not to increase bureaucracy, and the community will use the existing institutions belonging to the previous trade blocs.
At the moment, the provisional structure of the UNASUR is as follows:
The presidents of each member nation will have an annual meeting, which will be the superior political mandate. The first meeting was in Brasília (Brazil) on September 29 and September 30, 2005. The second meeting was in Cochabamba (Bolivia) on December 8 and December 9, 2006. The third meeting was held in Brasília on May 23, 2008.
The ministers of foreign affairs of each country will meet once every six months. They will formulate concrete proposals of action and of executive decision. The President of the Mercosur's permanent representatives committee and the director of the Mercosur's department, the Andean Community's general secretary, ALADI's general secretary and the permanent secretaries of any institution for regional cooperation and integration, Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization among others, will also be present at these meetings.
A Secretary General would be elected, to establish a permanent secretariat in Quito, Ecuador.
Sectorial Ministers' meeting will be called upon by the presidents. The meetings will be developed according to Mercosur's and CAN's mechanisms.
The temporary Presidency will be held for a year and will rotate among the member countries between each UNASUR meeting. According to Decisions Reached in the Political Dialogue (Dutch: Besluiten Bereikt in de Politieke Dialoog, Portuguese: Decisões Tomadas no Diálogo Político, Spanish: Decisiones Alcanzadas en el Diálogo Político), which was signed during the I South American Energy Summit, a general permanent office will be created and this will be hosted in Quito, Ecuador.
On December 9, 2005 a special commission was established in charge of advancing the process of South American Integration (Dutch: Commissie ter Stimulering van het Proces van de Zuid-Amerikaanse Integratie, Portuguese: Comissão Estratégica de Reflexão sobre o Processo de Integração Sul-americana, Spanish: La Comisión Estratégica de Reflexión a cargo de formular propuestas con miras a impulsar el proceso de integración sudamericano en todos sus aspectos). It consists of 12 members, whose function is to elaborate proposals that will help the process of integration between the South American nations.
Executive Commission, which was created by the II CSN meeting, was transformed in the Political Commission or Delegates Council, according to Decisions Reached in the Political Dialogue (Dutch: Besluiten Bereikt in de Politieke Dialoog, Portuguese: Decisões Tomadas no Diálogo Político, Spanish: Decisiones Alcanzadas en el Diálogo Político).
Current work in progress
Presidents and other members of UNASUR at the First Brasília Summit on September 29, 2005.
Presidents of UNASUR member states at the Second Brasília Summit on May 23, 2008. At the present time the union exists only on paper. The signing of the treaty was delayed from March until late May due to a Colombian raid on a FARC camp in Ecuador, and disputes regarding the conflict and broader trade issues continue to pose an obstacle. Michael Shifter of the Washington D.C. Inter-American Dialogue called UNASUR a "pipe dream for now", while saying that "economic conditions in the region have never been riper for this sort of integration".
Single market
One of the initiatives of UNASUR is the creation of a single market, beginning with the elimination of tariffs for non-sensitive products by 2014 and sensitive products by 2019.
Infrastructure cooperation
There is an Initiative for Infrastructure Integration of South America (IIRSA) underway, which has received the support of the Inter-American Development Bank and the Andean Development Corporation.
UNASUR started plans of integration through infrastructure cooperation with the construction of the Interoceanic Highway, a road that intends to more firmly link the Pacific Coast countries, especially Chile and Peru with Brazil and Argentina by extending highways through the continent, allowing better connections to ports to Bolivia and the inner parts of Argentina, Peru and Brazil. The first corridor, between Peru and Brazil, began construction in September 2005, financed 60% by Brazil and 40% by Peru, is expected to be ready by the end of 2009.
The South American Energy Ring (Dutch: Zuid-Amerikaanse Energiekring, Portuguese: Anel Energético Sul-Americano, Spanish: Anillo Energético Sudamericano) is intended to interconnect Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay with natural gas from several sources, such as the Camisea Gas Project in Peru and Tarija Gas Deposits in Bolivia. Though this proposal has been signed and ratified, economic and political difficulties in Argentina and Bolivia have delayed this initiative, and to date, this agreement remains more like a protocol than an actual project, since Chile and Brazil are already building LNG terminals to import gas from overseas suppliers.
Free movement of people
Visits by South American citizens to any South American country (except French Guiana) of up to 90 days require only the presentation of an identity card issued by the respective authority of the travellers' country of origin. On 24 November 2006, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela waived visa requirements for tourism travel between nationals of said countries.
Economic development
Presidents of the seven founding countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay) officially launched the South American Bank in Buenos Aires in December 2007. The heads of all the founding countries were at the ceremony, with the exception of President Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay. The capital will be US$7b, with Venezuela responsible for US$3b and Brazil US$2b. The headquarters will be located in Caracas with offices in Buenos Aires and La Paz.
The Bank of the South will finance economic development projects to improve local competitiveness and to promote the scientific and technological development of the member states. Chile and Colombia participated on initial meeting, but they decided not to join the project.
The founding chart affirms that the Bank will promote projects in "stable and equal" manner and priorities will be pointed to reinforce South American integration, to reduce asymmetries, and to promote egalitarian distribution of investments.
The Brazilian Minister, Guido Mantega, stated that the bank is not similar to the International Monetary Fund; it will be a credit institution similar to the World Bank or the BIRD.
Defense policy
Venezuela and Brazil have put forward a plan for a South American Defense Council which would draft defense policy and serve as a mechanism for regional security. The proposal is currently under discussion by the member states. Colombia was the only country not to join, as a result of the strong military ties it has with the US through the Plan Colombia. However after reviewing the proposal they decided to join in July 20, 2008.
Participating nation states
Members of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN):
Bolivia
Colombia
Ecuador
Peru
Members of Mercosur:
Argentina
Brazil
Paraguay
Uruguay
Other countries:
Guyana
Suriname
Chile
Venezuela
Proposed name change
On 28 December 2005, Chilean former foreign minister Ignacio Walker proposed that the name of the community be changed to South American Union (Dutch: Zuid-Amerikaanse Unie, Portuguese: União Sul-Americana, Spanish: Unión Sudamericana); nevertheless, many members stated to him that that proposal had already been rejected to prevent confusion related to its acronym (U.S.A. in comparison to the United States of America).
The name was finally changed on April 16, 2007 to "Union of South American Nations" (Dutch: Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties, Portuguese: União de Nações Sul-Americanas, Spanish: Unión de Naciones Suramericanas), abbreviated "UNASUR" in Spanish and "UNASUL" in Portuguese. The new name was jointly agreed by all member states during the first day of meeting at the South American Energy Summit held at Isla Margarita, Venezuela.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_South_American_Nations
UNASUR
The Union of South American Nations (Spanish: Unión de Naciones Suramericanas - UNASUR, Portuguese: União de Nações Sul-Americanas - UNASUL, Dutch: Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties - UZAN) is an intergovernmental union integrating two existing customs unions: Mercosur and the Andean Community, as part of a continuing process of South American integration. It is modelled on the European Union.
The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty was signed on May 23, 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in Brasília, Brazil. According to the Constitutive Treaty, the Union's headquarters will be located in Quito, Ecuador. The South American Parliament will be located in Cochabamba, Bolivia, while its bank, the Bank of the South (Dutch: Bank van het Zuiden, Portuguese: Banco do Sul, Spanish: Banco del Sur), will be located in Caracas, Venezuela. The Union's former designation, the South American Community of Nations (Dutch: Zuid-Amerikaanse Statengemeenschap, Portuguese: Comunidade Sul-Americana de Nações, and Spanish: Comunidad de Naciones Sudamericanas), abbreviated as CSN, was dropped at the First South American Energy Summit on April 16, 2007.
At the Third South American Summit on 8 December 2004, presidents or representatives from twelve South American nations signed the Cuzco Declaration, a two-page statement of intent announcing the foundation of the South American Community. Panama and Mexico attended the signing ceremony as observers.
The leaders announced their intention to model the new community after the European Union including a common currency, parliament, and passport. According to Allan Wagner Tizón, former Secretary General of the Andean Community, a complete union like that of the EU should be possible by 2019.
The mechanics of the new entity came out of the First South American Community of Nations Heads of State Summit, which was held in Brasília on 29 September–30 September 2005. An important operating condition of UNASUR is that no new institutions will be created in the first phase, so as not to increase bureaucracy, and the community will use the existing institutions belonging to the previous trade blocs.
At the moment, the provisional structure of the UNASUR is as follows:
The presidents of each member nation will have an annual meeting, which will be the superior political mandate. The first meeting was in Brasília (Brazil) on September 29 and September 30, 2005. The second meeting was in Cochabamba (Bolivia) on December 8 and December 9, 2006. The third meeting was held in Brasília on May 23, 2008.
The ministers of foreign affairs of each country will meet once every six months. They will formulate concrete proposals of action and of executive decision. The President of the Mercosur's permanent representatives committee and the director of the Mercosur's department, the Andean Community's general secretary, ALADI's general secretary and the permanent secretaries of any institution for regional cooperation and integration, Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization among others, will also be present at these meetings.
A Secretary General would be elected, to establish a permanent secretariat in Quito, Ecuador.
Sectorial Ministers' meeting will be called upon by the presidents. The meetings will be developed according to Mercosur's and CAN's mechanisms.
The temporary Presidency will be held for a year and will rotate among the member countries between each UNASUR meeting. According to Decisions Reached in the Political Dialogue (Dutch: Besluiten Bereikt in de Politieke Dialoog, Portuguese: Decisões Tomadas no Diálogo Político, Spanish: Decisiones Alcanzadas en el Diálogo Político), which was signed during the I South American Energy Summit, a general permanent office will be created and this will be hosted in Quito, Ecuador.
On December 9, 2005 a special commission was established in charge of advancing the process of South American Integration (Dutch: Commissie ter Stimulering van het Proces van de Zuid-Amerikaanse Integratie, Portuguese: Comissão Estratégica de Reflexão sobre o Processo de Integração Sul-americana, Spanish: La Comisión Estratégica de Reflexión a cargo de formular propuestas con miras a impulsar el proceso de integración sudamericano en todos sus aspectos). It consists of 12 members, whose function is to elaborate proposals that will help the process of integration between the South American nations.
Executive Commission, which was created by the II CSN meeting, was transformed in the Political Commission or Delegates Council, according to Decisions Reached in the Political Dialogue (Dutch: Besluiten Bereikt in de Politieke Dialoog, Portuguese: Decisões Tomadas no Diálogo Político, Spanish: Decisiones Alcanzadas en el Diálogo Político).
Current work in progress
Presidents and other members of UNASUR at the First Brasília Summit on September 29, 2005.
Presidents of UNASUR member states at the Second Brasília Summit on May 23, 2008. At the present time the union exists only on paper. The signing of the treaty was delayed from March until late May due to a Colombian raid on a FARC camp in Ecuador, and disputes regarding the conflict and broader trade issues continue to pose an obstacle. Michael Shifter of the Washington D.C. Inter-American Dialogue called UNASUR a "pipe dream for now", while saying that "economic conditions in the region have never been riper for this sort of integration".
Single market
One of the initiatives of UNASUR is the creation of a single market, beginning with the elimination of tariffs for non-sensitive products by 2014 and sensitive products by 2019.
Infrastructure cooperation
There is an Initiative for Infrastructure Integration of South America (IIRSA) underway, which has received the support of the Inter-American Development Bank and the Andean Development Corporation.
UNASUR started plans of integration through infrastructure cooperation with the construction of the Interoceanic Highway, a road that intends to more firmly link the Pacific Coast countries, especially Chile and Peru with Brazil and Argentina by extending highways through the continent, allowing better connections to ports to Bolivia and the inner parts of Argentina, Peru and Brazil. The first corridor, between Peru and Brazil, began construction in September 2005, financed 60% by Brazil and 40% by Peru, is expected to be ready by the end of 2009.
The South American Energy Ring (Dutch: Zuid-Amerikaanse Energiekring, Portuguese: Anel Energético Sul-Americano, Spanish: Anillo Energético Sudamericano) is intended to interconnect Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay with natural gas from several sources, such as the Camisea Gas Project in Peru and Tarija Gas Deposits in Bolivia. Though this proposal has been signed and ratified, economic and political difficulties in Argentina and Bolivia have delayed this initiative, and to date, this agreement remains more like a protocol than an actual project, since Chile and Brazil are already building LNG terminals to import gas from overseas suppliers.
Free movement of people
Visits by South American citizens to any South American country (except French Guiana) of up to 90 days require only the presentation of an identity card issued by the respective authority of the travellers' country of origin. On 24 November 2006, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela waived visa requirements for tourism travel between nationals of said countries.
Economic development
Presidents of the seven founding countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay) officially launched the South American Bank in Buenos Aires in December 2007. The heads of all the founding countries were at the ceremony, with the exception of President Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay. The capital will be US$7b, with Venezuela responsible for US$3b and Brazil US$2b. The headquarters will be located in Caracas with offices in Buenos Aires and La Paz.
The Bank of the South will finance economic development projects to improve local competitiveness and to promote the scientific and technological development of the member states. Chile and Colombia participated on initial meeting, but they decided not to join the project.
The founding chart affirms that the Bank will promote projects in "stable and equal" manner and priorities will be pointed to reinforce South American integration, to reduce asymmetries, and to promote egalitarian distribution of investments.
The Brazilian Minister, Guido Mantega, stated that the bank is not similar to the International Monetary Fund; it will be a credit institution similar to the World Bank or the BIRD.
Defense policy
Venezuela and Brazil have put forward a plan for a South American Defense Council which would draft defense policy and serve as a mechanism for regional security. The proposal is currently under discussion by the member states. Colombia was the only country not to join, as a result of the strong military ties it has with the US through the Plan Colombia. However after reviewing the proposal they decided to join in July 20, 2008.
Participating nation states
Members of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN):
Bolivia
Colombia
Ecuador
Peru
Members of Mercosur:
Argentina
Brazil
Paraguay
Uruguay
Other countries:
Guyana
Suriname
Chile
Venezuela
Proposed name change
On 28 December 2005, Chilean former foreign minister Ignacio Walker proposed that the name of the community be changed to South American Union (Dutch: Zuid-Amerikaanse Unie, Portuguese: União Sul-Americana, Spanish: Unión Sudamericana); nevertheless, many members stated to him that that proposal had already been rejected to prevent confusion related to its acronym (U.S.A. in comparison to the United States of America).
The name was finally changed on April 16, 2007 to "Union of South American Nations" (Dutch: Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties, Portuguese: União de Nações Sul-Americanas, Spanish: Unión de Naciones Suramericanas), abbreviated "UNASUR" in Spanish and "UNASUL" in Portuguese. The new name was jointly agreed by all member states during the first day of meeting at the South American Energy Summit held at Isla Margarita, Venezuela.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_South_American_Nations
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