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Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica, which started Feb. 28. It was the edge of the Wilkins ice shelf and has been there for hundreds, maybe 1,500 years. This is the result of global warming, said British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan. Because scientists noticed satellite images within hours, they diverted satellite cameras and even flew an airplane over the ongoing collapse for rare pictures and video. "It's an event we don't get to see very often," said Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo....

A vast ice shelf hanging on by a thin strip looks to be the next chunk to break off from the Antarctic Peninsula, the latest sign of global warming's impact on Earth's southernmost continent. Scientists are shocked by the rapid change of events. Glaciologist Ted Scambos of the University of Colorado was monitoring satellite images of the Wilkins Ice Shelf and spotted a huge iceberg measuring 25 miles by 1.5 miles (41 kilometers by 2.5 kilometers - about 10 times the area of Manhattan) that appeared to have broken away from the shelf. Scambos alerted colleagues at the British Antarctic...

U.S. ambassador a Canuck-at-heart TORONTO SUN Sunday, May 28, 2006 By MICHELE MANDEL OTTAWA -- After a year as U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins can now hum a few bars of O Canada and even tell you where maple syrup comes from. "That was a set-up," he protests, a sheepish note creeping into a South Carolina drawl as thick as the Canadian syrup. "It comes from a maple tree." Not only that, this transplanted southerner has adopted our national passion ("I was pulling very hard for the Senators to win"), loves Beavertails, has sampled poutine ("I like the...

U.S. is 'walking the walk' when it comes to environmental issues, David Wilkins says OTTAWA — The Bush administration issued a sharp, public rebuke today to Prime Minister Paul Martin for dragging the Canadian-U.S. relationship into the federal election campaign. Ambassador David Wilkins said Canada risks damaging one of the world’s best relationships by focusing on short-term political gain. “It may be smart election-year politics to thump your chest and criticize your friend and your No. 1 trading partner constantly,” Wilkins said in a speech to the Canadian Club at the historic Chateau Laurier Hotel, next door to Parliament Hill....

The U.S. ambassador to Canada has rebuked Prime Minister Paul Martin, saying he risks damaging relations between the countries by dragging the United States into the federal election campaign. Wilkins didn't name Martin directly but left no doubt that he was talking about the prime minister when he warned against scoring cheap political points against Washington. "It may be smart election-year politics to thump your chest and criticize your friend and your No. 1 trading partner constantly," Ambassador David Wilkins said in a speech to the Canadian Club in Ottawa on Tuesday. "But it is a slippery slope, and all...

Thought y'all might get a hoot out of this one. It's a true story about the time Gen Wes Clarks armoured car was stolen. I was a Staff Sgt assigned to Allied Forces Northern Command Europe (AFNORTH) in Brunssum, Holland, from 96 to 2000. One day one of the sgt's I worked with brought in a pice of paper telling us to be on the lookout for Gen Wes Clarks armoured car. I thought it was just a bad joke until I read about it in the Stars and Stripes a day or two later. I can't remember all the...

In June, Pacifica Radio's Los Angeles station, KPFK-FM, hosted a thirty-hour marathon of Dr. Kwaku Person-Lynn's anti-Semitic "Afrikan Mental Liberation Weekend."  It was the first time this once-annual program appeared for almost a decade. It had been banned by station management in 1993, after a long, hard-fought pressure campaign to remove it.  Afrikan Mental Liberation Weekend typically includes claims that the Jews disproportionately participated in the slave trade and persecuted blacks; in the past, he responded to criticism by calling the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League a "psychotic, idiotic, European Jew."   He has regularly played tapes by Nation of...

Wilkins resigns from House Chuck Lionberger / WSLS Jul 16, 2002 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just weeks after resigning as Speaker of the House, Amherst county delegate Vance Wilkins says he'll leave the General Assembly completely. Delegate Wilkins says he has mailed his resignation letter to the Clerk of the House of Delegates about his decision to retire, effective August 15th. Wilkins says he selected this date so Governor Mark Warner can set a special election to fill his seat for the remainder of his term. It would coincide with the November general elections, and Wilkins says it will save taxpayers money. Wilkins...