Lakes drop 4%

Wow. In the month of June 2011 alone, because of the nasty drought all across Texas, all of the lakes in this state dropped by an average of 4%. That's pretty freakin' serious. How long can they hold out?

Texas drought lowered lake levels by 4% in June

LUBBOCK, Texas — One of Texas' most popular lakes is sitting half-full, thanks to ongoing drought rivaling the state's worst on record, searing triple-digit temperatures and unusually windy conditions.

Those conditions are driving down more than just the water level of Lake Travis. Business is plummeting as well along the lake outside of Austin, where only two of 11 public boat ramps are available and many rely on strong summer business.

"It's the nature of doing business here," said Laura Mitchell, president of the Lake Travis Chamber of Commerce. "You're at Mother Nature's mercy. There's not much you can do."

The lake is among the 109 monitored across the state and the ongoing drought has taken a toll on lake levels statewide.

A June water report found levels in 109 lakes dropped by 4 percent, or more than 358 billion gallons, from late May to late June.

Three lakes — all in West Texas — are effectively empty. But all have been low for years.

Only one reservoir, Lake Livingston north of Houston, was full. That's six fewer than in May, according to the Texas Water Development Board report.

The 109 lakes are 73 percent full, down 13 percent from a year ago, the report indicates. Of the 109 lakes monitored for the report, just 41 were at 85 percent capacity or fuller.

Statewide, this past June was the hottest on record. The average temperature was 85.2 degrees, besting the 1953 record of 84.9 degrees.

Three states — Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas — recorded their driest first six months on record, according to officials with the National Weather Service.

La Nina conditions, a cooling of sea surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean — are being blamed for the current drought, which officials have objectively called the third worst since 1895. The influence of the La Nina pattern has diminished but indications show the likelihood of its re-emergence is increasing, weather officials said.

The water level at Lake Travis on Monday was 644.58 feet, about 30 feet above its all-time low of 614.2 feet in August 1951.

The historic high came in December 1991 at 710.4 feet.

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Hurricane Season?

So far this hurricane season, we've only had "Arlene" which brought some rain to South Texas and Mexico, but that's it. But that's pretty normal. The season kicks up in August, and Sept 10 is the absolute peak of the season. But with the crazy weather we've had this year, watch out!

It's probably going to take a hurricane (or two) to end this crushing drought we've been having in Texas. All the praying in the world for rain ain't gonna help at all, Governor!

Kristof on debt

Hey, back from our wonderfully awesome vacation, and still the stupid debt limit fight is raging. Geez.


It is rather amazing to me, although not that shocking or surprising, that the Republicans are willing to trash the good credit of the U.S. just to keep the tax rates of the super-wealthy low. And some want to lower them further!


Here we are mired in a ton of debt, and all the Republicans can think of is tax cuts, tax cuts, TAX CUTS!! They are willing to destroy the country to defeat Obama. That is dangerous and childish, two words that well describe today's Republican Party. It's quite revealing that the Republicans readily raised the debt limit FIVE TIMES when Dubya was President, but now, suddenly, with a Democratic President, it's NO NO NO!!! What a rancid pile of hypocrisy. Par for the course. And we wonder why people are

Some vacation pics to come soon, like the one at the top of the blog.

The Opposing Party
by Nicholas Kristof


Senator Mitch McConnell has a clever plan to resolve the federal debt impasse. Congressional Republicans would invite President Obama to raise the debt ceiling on his own, and then they would excoriate him for doing so.


Hm. Just a bit contradictory?

Meanwhile, the impasse arose because Congressional Republicans thunder against government red ink, yet refuse to raise revenue by ending tax breaks that help Warren Buffett pay a lower tax rate than his receptionist (which he agrees is preposterous).

Another contradiction? Of course.

Senator McConnell’s plan — a pragmatic way to avert a catastrophic default — may be torpedoed by more extremist House Republicans, like Michele Bachmann. They seem to fear that ending tax loopholes for billionaire fund managers would damage a fragile economy. Yet they seem to think that this invalid of an economy would be unperturbed by the risk of a default on our debts.

A contra- — yes, you got it!

What about this one? Republicans have historically been more focused on national security threats than Democrats. Yet what would do more damage to America’s national security than a possible default that might halt paychecks for American military families?

This game of “spot the contradiction” is just too easy with extremist Republicans; it’s like spotting snowflakes in a blizzard. Congressional Republicans have taken a sensible and important concern — alarm about long-term debt levels, a genuine problem — and turned it into a brittle and urgent ideology.

Politicians in both parties have historically been irresponsible with money, but President Bill Clinton changed that. He imposed a stunning fiscal discipline and set the United States on a course of budget surpluses, job growth and diminishing federal debt — until the Republicans took over in 2001.

In the Bush years, Republicans proved themselves reckless both on the spending side (unfunded wars and a prescription drug benefit) and on the revenue side (the Bush tax cuts). Their view then was, as former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill quoted Vice President Dick Cheney as saying, “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.”

It may seem odd that Republicans were so blithe about debt in the Bush years, yet now insist on addressing the problem in the middle of a downturn — even though basic economics dictates that a downturn is the one time when red ink is advisable. Well, just another of those contradictions.

Then there’s the rise of health care costs, a huge burden on our economy. The Congressional Budget Office foresees a rise in federal spending on health care from 5.5 percent of gross domestic product today to more than 12 percent in 2050 (at which point it will be double the share of spending on Social Security).

“The United States’ standing in the world depends on its success in constraining this health care cost explosion,” Peter Orszag, the former budget director, observes in Foreign Affairs. So how do we contain health care costs?

It’s pretty clear what doesn’t work — the existing, dysfunctional system. A forthcoming book on health care by Paul Starr, “Remedy and Reaction,” notes that in 1970 the United States spent a smaller fraction of income on health care than Denmark and the same share as Canada. Today, in dollar terms, we spend two and a half times the average per capita of other rich countries.

When Congressional Republicans do talk about health care, they have one useful suggestion — tort reform — and it was foolish for Democrats (in bed with trial lawyers) to stiff them on it. But research suggests that curbing malpractice suits, while helpful, would reduce health costs only modestly.

Beyond that, the serious Republican idea is to dismantle Medicare in its present form. That would indeed reduce government spending, but would increase private spending by even more, according to the C.B.O.

The Obama health care plan could have done better on cost control, but it does promote evidence-based medicine, so that less money is squandered on expensive procedures that don’t work. And a panel of medical experts, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, will recommend steps to curb excess spending in Medicare. These initiatives will help hold down health care costs, even if it’s difficult to know how much — and they are the only game in town.

Yet Congressional Republicans are trying to kill the Obama health plan. Yes, of course: another contradiction.

A final puzzle concerns not just the Republican Party but us as a nation. For all their flaws, Congressional Republicans have been stunningly successful in framing the national debate.

Instead of discussing a jobs program to deal with the worst downturn in 70 years, we’re debating spending cuts — and most voters say in polls that they’re against raising the debt ceiling. I fear that instead of banishing contradictions, we as a nation may be embracing them.


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July Stargazing

Keep looking up.

Stargazing Summary

The nights of July may be short, but they are packed with skywatching treats. All five naked-eye planets are visible at some point during the month, with Venus packing up after its long run as the morning star. It is barely visible in early twilight at July's start, then disappears by the middle of the month.

More Stargazing information: http://stardate.org/nightsky

July 4-10: Rings and more rings. One of the most beautiful features in all the solar system is the rings of Saturn, and we'll talk about their recent history. We'll also talk about one of Saturn's moons that might have had rings of its own.

July 11-17: The time of Dawn. A spacecraft like no other will reach the first of its two destinations this week -- the asteroid Vesta. We'll have details on its mission, its journey, and its destination. Join us for this and more.

July 18-24: Ice cubes and whales. To catch the ghostly particles known as neutrinos, astronomers are placing detectors in the ice at the south pole, and at the bottom of the ocean. They haven't caught any particles yet, but they have caught some whales.

July 25-31: Rock varnish. In the heart of the dryest desert on Earth, microbes survive by living in the rocks -- in a thin coating known as varnish. And it's possible that rocks on Mars could provide that same home for life.

July Program Schedule: http://stardate.org/radio/calendars
Find an Affiliate: http://stardate.org/radio/affiliates

This Month in StarDate Magazine

In our July/August issue, StarDate editor Rebecca Johnson introduces you to Donald Olson, a physicist who uses scientific methods to investigate mysteries in the arts, literature, and history. And astronomer Bradford Behr returns to explain how to identify sky objects on sight, without the use of maps or guidebooks.

Subscribe online: http://stardate.org/store/subscribe

New Light on the Darkness

Fact sheets on four black holes have been added to the StarDate Black Hole Encyclopedia. All are stellar-mass black holes, which means they are remnants of exploded stars and are a few times heavier than the Sun. The new black holes are GRS 1009-45, GRS 1915+105, IC 10 X-1, and IGR J17497-2821.

Find out more: http://blackholes.stardate.org

News From the Observatory

Video: A New Window on the Universe
In a new seven-minute video, astronomers from The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University talk about why they are excited to be a part of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). Both universities are founding partners of the GMT project, which should be operational by 2019. The telescope will be built at a superb southern-hemisphere site in Chile and offer opportunities to probe the mysteries of cosmos deeper than ever before.

Watch: http://youtu.be/s4uJ8RCVxqE

Get Social with us

Keep up with all the news and video from McDonald Observatory on all your favorite social media platforms. "Like" us on Facebook, "follow" us on Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/McDonaldObservatory
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/McDonaldObs
Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/mcdonaldobservatory

on vacation

I suppose that I could still create posts on the blog while we are on vacation ... maybe I will ... maybe I won't ... if I don't, it's just because I'm on vacation.

Obama shuns Dems

Uh, tell me again why I should vote for Obama? What party is he affiliated with? Obama probably thinks this move will endear him to the GOP.

Obama Ignores Democratic Choices for Texas U.S. Attorneys; Chooses 4 GOP Favorites
By Andrew Ramonas
June 29, 2011

President Barack Obama snubbed Texas Democrats on Tuesday and nominated Republican picks for leaders of all four U.S. Attorneys' offices in Texas.

Obama tapped John Malcolm Bales for the Easter District of Texas, Kenneth Magidson for Southern District of Texas, Robert Pitmanfor the Western District of Texas and Sarah Saldana for the Northern District of Texas. Texas Republican Senators John Cornyn and KayBailey Hutchison recommended the nominees for Obama in October 2009.

But the nominess were not on the list the Texas House Democrats led by Rep. Lloyd Doggett sent to the President in October 2009. And Doggett is not pleased.

Full story here.

I wonder if Al Gore is ready to run again? At least I know he's a Democrat.

Hell's Barbie

There is no chance that Michele Bachmann can be elected President of the US. But then again, I thought the same thing about George W. Bush. Surely, this country can't get any dumber than Bush ... can it?


Michele Bachmann, hell's Barbie

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, June 29, 2011



Meanwhile, while you were sleeping, while you were allowing your attention to wander to issues more pressing, heartwarming and good, such as gay New Yorkers in love and goofy dogs running marathons, easily the most insane and wide-eyed squirrelmonkey pseudo-politician in your lifetime announced that she is hereby running for president of the United States.

And by "running" she does not mean putting on those supercute little silver jogging shoes with the funny blinky LED lights in the heels that she saw at DSW that one time, because that would be silly and not make any sense at all, and she wants people to understand she is very serious about this campaign thing and is definitely not as totally loopy bats--t crazy as your demented Aunt Sylvia with the twitchy eye, 23 parakeets and the addiction to little tubes of Oscar Meyer bologna wrapped around a fistful of oxycodone.

Except, of course, that she totally is.

Yes, Michele Bachmann is running for president. Michele Bachmann, fundamentalist Christian zealot, paranoid isolationist, lowbrow conspiracy theorist, heavily shellacked automaton, anti-choice anti-gay anti-everything neo-Stepford throwback and easily the flat-out nuttiest female ever to raise a hugely depressing $13 million for her clumsy campaign launch, Michele wants to lead us all to salvation.

Well OK, not all of us exactly, mostly the whites and the rich and people who collect colorful black-light posters featuring sweaty, bare-chested Jesus riding a T-Rex into the Castro to smite the gays. But you know, that's nitpicking.

And why? Why on earth is she running? Because apparently certain key GOP advisers were partially sober just long enough to tell her, well, not that she actually has a shot, not that she can possibly make it past the second round of debates without imploding, but that she could, you know, "change the conversation."

That's just an educated guess, by the way, because "you can change the conversation" is basically shorthand for "score big points with your rabid constituents," "make national headlines you'd never make otherwise," "suck in piles of money from the freaky old Koch brothers," and "maybe, just maybe become the next Sarah Palin, who herself isn't really Sarah Palin anymore, given how numb the country has become to her endless malapropisms and embarrassing public moments, thus leaving a huge opening for someone even more dangerously bizarre to step in and mortify the human race." Thanks, Minnesota!

That Bachmann can now reference God and Jesus more times than Sarah Palin can reference mama grizzlies and Paul Revere? That she could half-heartedly represent the Tea Party in all its ragged, nonsensical, Coors Light-filled, garage band glory? That she can now espouse any one of her laundry list of bizarro claims, including (but far from limited to) the idea that AmeriCorps is a government brainwashing program, that Michelle Obama wants to force all women to breast feed, Sharia law is coming to middle America, Creationism is fact, global warming is a hoax, the Treasury has a secret plan to create a "one world" currency, health care reform will send kids on "abortion field trips," and that Obama might use new census data to round up Americans and put them in camps? Baby, that's just for starters.

But let this not solely be a column detailing the well-documented and -- let's just admit it -- hugely entertaining insanity of Michele Bachmann. I don't nearly have the space, and Matt Taibbi's fantastic Rolling Stone piece, combined with Mother Jones' disturbing three-page list of assorted Bachmann bombs, does a far better job of cataloguing her big box of crazy than I ever could.

Let us instead pause for a moment as we offer wayward and sidelong thanks to ... Hillary Clinton.
You read that right. For without Hillary, there would be no Michele. Without Hillary to pave the way for all shapes and IQs of women to follow her lead, well, Bachmann would still be cruising the wealthy suburbs of Minnesota, hurling Bibles at terrified children from the trunk of her pink Lexus.

Let us briefly recall all those lifetimes ago -- going on four years now -- when Hillary was in top form as presidential candidate, when all the talk surrounded whether or not America was possibly ready for a female president and everyone was all aflutter over the notion that an enormously intelligent, capable woman was finally about to shatter the last political glass ceiling.

Well, Hillary did it. She might not have won, but she certainly made it far enough that no one is batting an eye that Bachmann is (well, questionably) female. No one is flinching at the idea that a woman could run a successful campaign, be a serious candidate, possibly win the big prize.

In fact, so successful was Hillary in cementing this truism in the American consciousness, it's essentially negating the collective, agonized scream of all former Hillary supporters, all the feminists, pro-choicers, intelligent and empowered humans everywhere who are right now looking at Bachmann -- the monstrous, reverso-world embodiment of everything Hillary is not -- and going, "Oh sweet Jesus no, this is not what we meant at all."

Regardless, perhaps it is time for celebration. I know plenty of liberals -- myself included -- who were completely delighted to hear Bachmann declare her candidacy. Despite the dour alarmist bells sounded by a few pundits who think there's a very slim chance Bachmann could actually be a threat, her announcement pretty much guarantees the GOP race will be nothing short of a hilarious madcap clown car slugfest, with Jesus.

And if Newt Gingrich manages to stay afloat and Ron Paul and perhaps even Palin herself gets in there, and someone asks if Jesus is gay, gold should be the only valid currency or whether or not God can take Allah in a Wrestlemania grudge match? Let's just say, history will be made.

What's more, if all goes well, if the Bachmann Express does what it's expected to do and makes easy mockery of the last iotas of human intelligence the GOP has left, her campaign -- already off to a cringing start when she confused John Wayne the actor with John Wayne Gacy the serial killer -- could easily spell the end of the Tea Party once and for all. Bonus.

No matter how you slice it, it's guaranteed to be a stretch of political theater so wonderfully absurd and surreal, so brazenly insulting to history, grammar, science, logic, sexuality, common sense, gender and fundamental human progress itself, well, you'd have to be crazy not to watch it.

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