PEOPLE AND PLACES

PEOPLE AND PLACES

Monday, December 30, 2013

COL. ROBERT BOWMAN CALLS FOR ARREST OF BUSH, 9/11 INVESTIGATION

 

 

COL. ROBERT BOWMAN CALLS FOR ARREST OF BUSH, 9/11 INVESTIGATION

 

COLONEL ROBERT BOWMAN: "ARREST BUSH..."

DEFINES PATRIOTISM AND DUTY FOR VETERANS, “TRUTH AND HONOR”

 

In the video below, Colonel Bowman, an Air Force combat pilot and Vietnam veteran cuts through “the bull.”  The video is 14 minutes.  At least 6 of them are gold.  Bowman tells us how the mess we have was planned, who did it and how to fix it.

Bowman talks facts.  Some people don’t like facts.  Some people don’t like truth.  Some people don’t have honor. Without courage, without facts, without truth and without action, anyone who believes themselves an American patriot is very much the opposite.

As Bush would say, either one, “you are with us or agin’ us.” Something you might want to do, write down the things that Bowman is saying, the things you believe in.  Then go to your own organization, the NRA or GOP or Democratic Party or American Legion.  Go the the folks at your lodge or country club. See what they think.  See if you, just maybe, have been with the wrong kind of people, the wrong kind of Americans, if you can call them that. Go to your church or synagogue or may be mosque and ask around.  See if the people there, your clerics or fellow worshipers are decent Americans.  Yes, I am using the word “decent.”  For folks who belong to that “special” group that supports the restoration of the constitution, but found the candidates they voted for now working for the Koch brothers and Wall Street, ask them what they plan to do about it.

See how many groups that love to talk “patriotism” not only do nothing about it but are going the wrong way 300 miles an hour. We lost America, our government was stolen from us.  This is no longer our country.  This is no longer our government.  Our police, our military and our courts, with all the courageous and honorable men and women who serve us, have become nothing but criminal organizations.  Our armies work for oil companies, banks and that “special” country that doesn’t get along with the rest of the world very well. Our police are little more than collection agents for the gangsters who run our economy. Our courts, we have always known, help the powerful keep their boot on our necks. Our government?  Every day we learn more, legislators bought and traded like baseball cards.  We recently learned that members of our government are receiving stem cell treatments, anti-aging, sexual enhancement and more from Israel. Bowman tells the truth.  If you don’t like it, you know what you can do. So much for my attempt at unbiased journalism for today.

By “Tommy”

Introduction/Challenge to ‘Debunkers’:

It’s time for ‘debunkers’ to showcase their years of hard work. I’m looking for a concise and agreed-upon explanation for each of the following items so that we might forever put to rest these ‘nonsense conspiracy theories’ about 9/11.

Ideally, I’m hoping for a 1-4 sentence long, simplified explanation for each of these listed circumstances, explaining how they fit into the widely-accepted narrative. If any of these conditions were not present as alleged, or if you find them to be irrelevant, just explain a more accurate interpretation of the corresponding data.

Choose any number or set of numbers from the following list. For each point, write what you believe to be the official stance relative to the mainstream “Arab terrorist” narrative. Consistency and consensus is what we’re looking for. The goal of this article is to have each of these points adequately addressed in order to demonstrate, for any future “truthers”, that there is a reasonable explanation for these circumstances that was simply overlooked by the 9/11 Truth movement.

Eventually, I would like to be able to construct a full outline of the ‘debunker’ consensus on these most-relevant aspects of 9/11.

Some of the points, below, may seem familiar.  Special thanks to Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth (VIDEO) and all of the honest institutions and individuals who have made this article possible.
Regarding WTC7:

1. Rapid onset of collapse
2. Sounds of explosions at ground floor reported immediately before the building’s destruction
3. Symmetrical “structural failure” – through the path of greatest resistance – at free-fall acceleration
4. Imploded, collapsing completely, and landed in its own footprint
5. Massive volume of expanding pyroclastic-like clouds
6. Expert corroboration from the top European controlled demolition professional (referring to the evidently bias-free testimony of the late Danny Jowenko)
7. Foreknowledge of “collapse” by media, NYPD, FDNY (particularly the numerous media announcements of the WTC7 collapse more than 20 minutes prior to its occurrence)
8. FEMA finds rapid oxidation and intergranular melting on structural steel samples
9. Several tons of molten metal reported by numerous highly qualified witnesses
10. Very few visible fire deformations prior to complete collapse of WTC7
11. No evidence of fire temperatures capable of softening steel
12. High-rise buildings with much larger, hotter, and longer lasting fires have never collapsed (One Meridian Plaza, First Interstate Bank)

Regarding the Twin Towers:

13. Destruction proceeds through the path of greatest resistance at nearly free-fall acceleration
14. Improbable symmetry of debris distribution
15. Extremely rapid onset of destruction
16. Over 100 first responders reported explosions and flashes offset from actual collapse
17. Multi-ton steel sections ejected laterally
18. Mid-air pulverization of 90,000 tons of concrete & metal decking
19. Massive volume of expanding pyroclastic-like clouds
20. 1200-foot-diameter debris field: no “pancaked” floors found
21. Isolated explosive ejections 20–40 stories below demolition front
22. Total building destruction: dismemberment of steel frame
23. Several tons of molten metal found under both high-rises
24. Evidence of explosives found in steel and dust samples
25. Prominent figures including the head structural engineer for the WTC stated that the Twin Towers were over-engineered and more than capable of withstanding the resulting fires and impact of a large jetliner

Regarding Flight 77:

26. Hundreds of highly-trained pilots have contended that Hani Hanjour’s training as a pilot would have made him essentially incapable of his alleged flight path into the Pentagon
27. According to the FAA memo of May 21, 2003 and other statements from relevant authorities, the US military had plenty of time and resources to have defended an incoming attack on the Pentagon

Regarding Flight 93:

28. According to several eyewitnesses, human remains were virtually non-existent at the crash site – private investigators were not permitted and no independent source has identified the remains of any passenger
29. Cell-phones were purported to have been in-use on Flight 93 with altitudes and conditions that would have made this nearly impossible

Regarding legitimacy of the 9/11 Truth movement:

30. At least 220 senior military, intelligence, law enforcement, and government officials (link) have been willing to compromise their reputation to demand a new investigation
31. Hundreds of retired or active military in the United States have signed a petition for the truth movement; at least thousands more are keeping silent
32. The expertise of nearly 2,000 qualified architects and engineers (
link) have led them to express serious doubts about the official narrative surrounding WTC collapses; they are now demanding a new investigation after reviewing the compelling evidence for controlled-demolition
33. Professional pilots with a combined flight experience of more than 200,000 hours, as well as thousands of medical professionals, scientists, firefighters, lawyers, political leaders, scholars, and family members of victims are among those demanding another investigation
34. Approximately 30% of Americans, overall, have expressed doubts of the official Arab-terrorist conspiracy theory after being introduced to evidence presented by advocates of the 9/11 Truth movement
35. Support for 9/11 Truth has been increasing steadily over the years which suggests that propagated media themes and confirmation bias are being gradually overcome by grassroots campaigns for an honest approach
36. Trends in the recent rise of genuine skepticism and secular thought throughout Western society are similar to 9/11 Truth in that both are oppressed by authoritarian entities and social dogma

Bush planned, executed 9/11’

A woman takes a moment to mourn lost relatives at the memorial site of the now destroyed World Trade Center, New York, the US, September 11, 2013.

A woman takes a moment to mourn lost relatives at the memorial site of the now destroyed World Trade Center, New York, the US, September 11, 2013.

By Gordon Duff and Press TV

Related Interviews:

Recent revelations published on the Press TV website, the New York Post and Veterans Today have changed history.

The story was simple, two American congressional representatives were allowed to read the Congressional 9/11 Investigation Report, this time including the areas President Bush had ordered removed. Both congressmen clearly state that the redacted pages of the report place full responsibility for the planning and execution of 9/11 on one or more foreign intelligence agencies, not “terrorists.”

What is also clear is that President Bush’s personal role in covering this up protected the real perpetrators of 9/11 and pushed the US into, not just two insane wars but draconian moves against America’s government.

The NSA and the Bush 9/11 coup

Nine eleven was a coup against the constitution. Additional reports released this week make clear some of the reasons Bush lied to the American people, to congress, our military and our allies, “Obama’s Director for National Intelligence, James Clapper, has declassified new documents that reveal how the NSA was first given the green light to start collecting bulk communication data in the hunt for Al-Qaeda terrorists after 9/11.

President Barack Obama’s administration has for the first time publicly confirmed ‘the existence of collection activities authorized by President George W. Bush,’ such as bulk amounts of Internet and phone metadata, as part of the ‘Terrorist Surveillance Program’ (TSP). The disclosures are part of Washington’s campaign to justify the NSA’s surveillance activities, following massive leaks to the media about the classified programs by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Clapper explained on Saturday that President George W. Bush first authorized the spying in October 2001, just weeks after the September 11 attacks.”

We can prove Bush was fully criminally culpable in covering the tracks of those responsible for 9/11.

AIPAC through Bandar and bush “under a bus”

More frighteningly, the articles published this week in Rupert Murdoch’s New York Daily News, written by Hoover Institute fellow and AIPAC member, Paul Sperry, now not only blame Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia as the 9/11 mastermind but tie Bush (43) in as well.

In fact, the entire AIPAC apparatus, the largest lobbying organization in Washington, is currently engaged in a “full court press,” to stop congress from pushing for the release of the real report. Is this because the real report accuses Israel, not Saudi Arabia, and AIPAC wants the Murdoch/Sperry story to stand?

Bin Laden myth “crashes down”

The real report, called “shocking” by the legislators, who have called for President Obama to declassify the entire report, proves that there was no al-Qaeda involvement, no reason to invade Afghanistan or Iraq and no reason to hunt CIA operative, Colonel Tim Osman, also known as “Osama bin Laden.”

In fact, Ambassador Lee Wanta, a former White House Intelligence Chief and Inspector General of the Department of Defense under Reagan, has cited meetings between key government officials and “bin Laden” that he attended, meetings held in both Los Angeles and Washington DC while the US was supposedly hunting him.

From Wanta, who was present during these meetings,

“In early 1990, bin Laden, suffering from advanced kidney disease, was flown to an American facility in the Persian Gulf. From there, bin Laden flew to Los Angeles, landing in the Ontario airport, met by Albert Hakim, representing President Bush (41), Ollie North (free on appeal bond), Admiral William Dickie, attorney Glenn Peglau and General Jack Singlaub, one of the founders of the CIA. Hakim was the personal representative of President Bush and in overall charge of the project. ‘Bud’ McFarlane, an Iran-Contra figure pardoned by President Bush in 1992, was also a part of the group.

Bin Laden then left Los Angeles for Washington DC. There he stayed in the Mayflower Hotel. Meetings were held at the Metropolitan Club in Washington. Attorney Glenn Peglau stayed at the Metropolitan. While there, Peglau’s room was broken into and “items” removed. At no point is there record, classified or public, that this ‘working group’ was ever dissolved nor is there any record that Osama bin Laden’s status as a security operative working for the US government ever ended. In 2001, Osama bin Laden’s last public statement denied any involvement in the 9/11 attacks. There are no classified documents tying bin Laden to 9/11 or citing him to be a ‘rogue CIA operative.’”

Which 9/11 is real?

In 2007, the FBI flew a team to Bangkok to interview former Soviet nuclear intelligence specialist Dimitri Khalezov. Khalezov told the FBI that, in the morning of September 12, 2001, he attended a breakfast gathering with Mossad Operations Chief Mike Harari and his son along with other Israeli operatives.

Khalezov reported to the FBI that this gathering was to celebrate the 9/11 attacks, not as Netanyahu had said, as a “fortunate happenstance for Israel” but as a Mossad attack on the United States. At that meeting, Harari also claimed credit for a role in the Oklahoma City bombing. According to Khalezov, Harari was courting him to join their group for an upcoming operation, a bombing attack on Bali, scheduled for 2002.

On October 12, 2002, a huge explosive device devastated nearly a square mile killing 202 people. An Islamic group was blamed, just as with not just 9/11 but, initially, Oklahoma City as well.

Khalezov told FBI agents that Harari claimed nuclear weapons were used to bring down the twin towers on 9/11. Harari also said he got a “cruise type” missile, a Soviet “Granit” for the Pentagon attack, purchased through Victor Bout, the “Lord of War” played by Nicholas Cage in the film of the same name.

Bout, residing in Bangkok with Harari and Khalezov, was extradited to the United States based on a highly classified indictment accusing him of supplying the guided missile used to attack the Pentagon on 9/11. Bout was arrested in Bangkok in 2008, not long after the FBI visit. He was officially convicted of supplying arms to rebels in Colombia, an activity Bout had long been engaged in on behalf of the CIA, his arms dealing partners for many years.

Leaks

Thus far, the initial report to congress on the Bush falsification does not qualify as a leak. Only Bush stands accused, the 9/11 perpetrators are still safe, their identities still protected by security protocols maintained by President Obama, despite congressional demands.

“Claimed” leaks reported by Sperry in the Washington Post blame Bandar and Saudi Intelligence for 9/11. Sperry cites the CIA as a source but, quite suspiciously, seems to be attempting to deflect the possible fallout against Israel when or if then real report is made public. The Sperry story, coordinated with AIPAC’s moves to quell congress’s demand to declassify the report may well be an indication that Israeli intelligence, as Khalezov indicates, worked with Bush to plan and execute 9/11.

From the Press TV article:

“This week, Congressional representatives Stephen Lynch (D-MA) and Walter Jones (R-NC) have officially requested a congressional resolution demanding President Obama declassify the heavily redacted Congressional Investigative Report on 9/11. The two representatives had just been given authority under penalty of ‘national security secrecy’ to read the censored 28 pages of the 800-page report that had not been seen. What has been made clear is that President Bush was fully aware that neither Afghanistan nor Iraq were involved in 9/11 and that military action against those two nations was done to cover involvement of his administration in 9/11, involvement that included support from foreign intelligence agencies.

The representatives, while reviewing the report, came to the portion titled ‘Specific Sources of Foreign Support.’

A 28-page section here had been ‘butchered’ by the White House on the personal orders of President Bush. On the original report given to Congress, an estimated 5-10,000 words were omitted from this section with page after page of dotted lines replacing text.”

This is only the most recent of revelations that AIPAC has managed to suppress through pressuring congress and its powerful assets in the press. What is increasingly clear is that many of AIPAC’s allies in Washington had access to the non-redacted report. An entire administration, leaders in congress and the Pentagon, the CIA, NSA and a dozen other organizations, all knew what was in the congressional report. They all lied to the 9/11 Commission. They all ordered measures to suppress freedom at home and to butcher hundreds of thousands around the world, kidnap and torture thousand more, all based on lies.

Countries were virtually wiped off the map on a whim. Often we hear it asked, “How could thousands be involved in a conspiracy so heinous?” We now stand ready to answer. The time has come to ask.

CIA officer John Kiriakou imprisoned to protect 9/11 cover-up

Former CIA Case Officer John Kiriakou is being railroaded to protect a National Security Secret: Who really did 9/11 and why

by  Kevin Barrett

Former CIA Case Officer John C. Kiriakou is facing 30 months in the federal pen. According to the New York Times, Kiriakou’s crime was passing the identity of an undercover CIA officer to a journalist.

But a quick peek behind the scenes reveals the real reason Kiriakou is being crucified: He revealed information about CIA officials involved in torturing innocent 9/11 patsy Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) into endorsing a pre-scripted false confession.

Kiriakou is being railroaded to send a message to the intelligence community: Don’t mess with 9/11 torture, the framing of patsies, and the forced confessions!

As VT readers know, the intelligence community leaks “classified” information like a proverbial sieve. (As it should – almost all “classified” information ought to be made public.) Of the tens of thousands of leaks that occur each year, only a tiny fraction are ever punished, legally or extra-legally.

So when a former CIA Case Officer is sent to prison for a relatively innocuous leak, we must ask why was this  guy singled out?

Kiriakou’s “leak” was about as innocuous as it gets. Scott Shane, a New York Times journalist working on CIA torture stories, asked for names of those who knew something about the waterboarding of KSM and Abu Zubaydah, the mentally retarded “al-Qaeda kingpin” who was tortured into naming KSM.

Kiriakou, like all honest intelligence community folks, was presumably dismayed that those who tortured the false confessions out of KSM later destroyed all of the tapes and notes detailing the torture sessions, and then lied through their teeth about what had happened.

So he gave Shane the business card of Deuce Martinez, a former undercover CIA agent who was involved in the frame-up of al-Qaeda’s Retard-in-Chief Abu Zubaydah and innocent 9/11 patsy KSM.

Scott Shane

Shane is baffled by the government’s contention that mentioning Martinez’s name constituted a security breach:

Mr. Martinez, an analyst by training, was retired and had never served under cover; that is, he had never posed as a diplomat or a businessman while overseas. He had placed his home address, his personal e-mail address, his job as an intelligence officer and other personal details on a public Web site for the use of students at his alma mater. Abu Zubaydah had been captured six years earlier, Mr. Mohammed five years earlier; their stories were far from secret.

The government claims that despite Martinez’s CIA role being public knowledge, Kiriakou’s “crime” was revealing that Martinez had been involved in the Abu Zubayda and KSM frame-ups.

THAT was classified. Anyone who helps the American public understand what really happened during the torture sessions that elicited false confessions from Abu Zubaydah and KSM is a threat to National Security.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – Before his Capture

Kiriakou apparently also gave another journalist another name of a CIA officer involved in the “let’s frame Abu Zubaydah and KSM” torture sessions.

So the government railroaded Kiriakou to send a message: Open your mouth about the torture sessions that framed the innocent 9/11 patsies, offer any names or information that could lead to the truth coming out, and you’ll be sent up the river.

This information is still extremely sensitive. The ludicrous “19 hijackers” story breathlessly recounted in the 9/11 Commission Report is sourced almost entirely to non-verifiable, anonymous second-hand accounts of what KSM allegedly said while he was being subjected to long-term, excruciating torture.

The Commissioners were offered no access to KSM, nor were they given any recordings or transcripts of the torture sessions and alleged confessions. The entire 9/11 Commission Report, pre-written in outline form by 9/11-scriptwriter suspect Philip Zelikow before the Commission had even convened, is supposedly based on these anonymous, second-hand reports of what KSM said under long-term torture.

The most likely explanation: Zelikow wrote the 9/11 script, and KSM was tortured into reciting lines written by Zelikow – lines that support the fantasy “19 hijackers” narrative. As I recently explained to 9/11 cover-up criminal Daniel Pipes on Press TV, the upshot of all this is that the US has become a dictatorship. Anyone who threatens to undermine the foundation of that dictatorship, by exposing 9/11 in a way that could stand up in court, will be made an example of.

911truth4peace“Mainstream peace groups are wary of 9/11 truth.”

by Kevin Barrett

That’s the conventional wisdom, anyway. But an enthusiastic crowd of truth-seekers at theVeterans for Peace national convention in Madison, Wisconsin begs to differ.

A standing-room-only crowd turned out at 8:30 a.m. today to listen to 9/11 whistleblower Kevin Ryan and activist Klayt Morfoot cast aspersions on the official version of 9/11. Ryan, who was fired by Underwriters Labs for exposing UL’s lies about the steel used in the World Trade Center skyscrapers, recently published Another 19, which argues that the 9/11 Commission may have blamed the wrong nineteen guys. Morfoot, a veteran who has served repeatedly in Iraq and Afghanistan, has sparked controversy at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire by starting a student 9/11 truth group.

Ryan and Mofoot teamed up on a terrific “9/11 truth for newbies” presentation. Beginning with a clip of heartbroken and angry victims’ family members from 9/11: Press for Truth, they covered the obvious demolition of Building 7, the only slightly less-obvious demolitions of the Twin Towers, and Norman Mineta’s famous testimony to the 9/11 Commission that Dick Cheney ordered a stand-down and that those orders “still stand.”

The jam-packed room that greeted Ryan and Morfoot – at an ungodly hour no less – testified eloquently that the 9/11 issue isn’t going away – as much as the foundations that fund the mainstream left wish it would.

After the talk, I traded Kevin Ryan two thin books (my Questioning the War on Terror and Sander Hicks’ The Big Wedding) for one thick one (his).

So I haven’t had time to read all of Ryan’s book yet. But I notice that his list of 9/11 suspects – like the airline passenger lists of 9/11 – contains no Arab names.

I do recognize some of the 19 names. One is Richard Clarke, the “terror czar” for the Clinton and Bush Jr. administrations. I helped break the story that Gwenyth Todd, who served beside Clarke on the National Security Council, considers Clarke the likely mastermind of the 9/11 false-flag operation. Clarke, Todd explains, was busted for spying for Israel – but instead of being sent to prison, he was promoted to the National Security Council and later made Terror Czar.

Kevin Ryan agrees that Richard Clarke is a key 9/11 suspect: “Clarke’s personal history suggests that he protected terrorist suspects and may have been in league with a terrorist network” (Another Nineteen, p.87). Ryan traces Clarke’s dubious history (minus the Israeli spy angle) and notes that Clarke personally activated the COG shadow government during 9/11 – and that the same shadow government apparently is still ruling the US today, since that order has never been rescinded. Ryan notes that “in October, 1998, Clarke predicted that America’s enemies ‘will go after our Achilles heel’ which is ‘in Washington. It is in New York.’ That is quite a prediction.”

Ryan notes that Clarke “was personally behind the failure of two attempts to kill or capture Bin Laden in 1999,” and that Clarke preposterously asserts in his book that mentally retarded patsy Abu Zubaydah was “one of al-Qaeda’s top operational managers.”

Ryan meticulously documents Clarke’s involvement in protecting various Arab 9/11 patsies during the run-up to 9/11. Unfortunately, the section on Clarke (the only one I have yet read) focuses so unrelentingly on Arab patsies that a naive reader might imagine that Arabs actually carried out the 9/11 attacks, with a little help from the likes of Clarke. Ryan neglects to mention the massive Israeli connections to Clarke himself – an Israeli spy, according to Gwenyth Todd – as well as to uber-Zionist Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Cohen, Bernard Kerik (Ryan ties him to Saudi Arabia, not Israel), Morton Abramowitz, and Marc Grossman.

Ryan’s neglect of Israel’s role running Richard Clarke (and 9/11) is also evidenced in a misleading passage from his Clarke chapter:

“It was reported that, on August 23, 2001, the Israeli Mossad gave U.S. officials an urgent warning in the form of a list of terrorists known to be living in the U.S. and planning to carry out an attack in the near future. The list included the names of Al-Hazmi, Al-Midhar, Al-Shehhi and Atta.”

Ryan’s footnote leads to the following passage from the Complete 9/11 Timeline:

At some point between these dates (Aug. 8-15 2001, Israel warns the US that an al-Qaeda attack is imminent. [Fox News, 5/17/2002] Reportedly, two high-ranking agents from the Mossad come to Washington and warn the FBI and CIA that from 50 to 200 terrorists have slipped into the US and are planning “a major assault on the United States.” They say indications point to a “large scale target,” and that Americans would be “very vulnerable.” They add there could be Iraqi connections to the al-Qaeda attack. [Daily Telegraph, 9/16/2001; Ottawa Citizen, 9/17/2001; Los Angeles Times, 9/20/2001]The Los Angeles Times later retracts its story after a CIA spokesperson says, “There was no such warning. Allegations that there was are complete and utter nonsense.” [Los Angeles Times, 9/21/2001]Other newspapers do not retract it.

This is interesting information. The problem is that a reader who has not read Bollyn’s Solving 9/11 might take the “Israeli warning” at face value, rather than as the “cover-our-kosher-ass” propaganda leak it almost certainly was.

Population Rise and North Dakota's Oil Boom

 

 

North Dakota's Oil Boom

 

Underlying northwestern North Dakota is a massive rock formation, referred to as the Bakken shale, which holds an estimated 18 billion barrels of crude oil. When this resource was first discovered in 1951, recovering it was financially unfeasible because the oil was embedded in the stone. Then, around 2008, everything changed, and North Dakota boomed. New drilling technology called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," became widespread, and oil production took off. As of 2013, there are more than 200 active oil rigs in North Dakota, producing about 20 million barrels of oil every month -- nearly 60 percent of it shipped by rail, rather than pipeline. The rigs and support systems have resculpted the landscape, millions of dollars are being spent on infrastructure upgrades across the area, and thousands of oil field workers have arrived, living in new or temporary housing. Gathered below is a collection of images of this recent boom, spread across North Dakota's wide open plains.

Roughneck Brian Waldner, covered in mud and oil on a True Company oil drilling rig outside Watford, North Dakota, on October 20, 2012. Thousands of people have flooded into North Dakota to work in state's oil drilling boom. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart)

2

Natural gas flares near a pair of pumpjacks outside of Williston, North Dakota, on March 11, 2013. The gas, coming to the surface as a byproduct of the oil pumping, is not easily recovered, and is burned off as waste.(Reuters/Shannon Stapleton) #

3

An oil drilling rig operates near homes, farm fields and the Missouri River outside Williston, North Dakota, on October 19, 2012. See this same spot in Google Maps, from one year before. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

4

Roughnecks wrestle pipe on a True Company oil drilling rig outside Watford, North Dakota, on October 20, 2012.(Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

5

Horses graze in a field near an oil pump site outside of Williston, on March 11, 2013. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton) #

6

An oil drilling rig operates outside Williston, on October 19, 2012. See this same spot in Google Maps, from 2011.(Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

7

Northwestern North Dakota, one of the least-densely populated parts of the United States appears to glow at night due to gas and oil production. Most of the lights are associated with drilling equipment and temporary housing near drilling sites, and a few are evidence of gas flaring. Image taken by instruments aboard NASA's Suomi NPP satellite, on November 12, 2012. (NASA/Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership) #

8

A trailer park for oil field workers outside Williston, on October 19, 2012. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

9

Drilling supplies in a yard in Williston, from a 2011 aerial photograph. The rectangular objects are stacks of 50-foot steel drill pipes. See this yard on Google Maps. (© Google, Inc.) #

10

A man camp for oil field workers outside Williston, on October 19, 2012. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

11

Residential developments being constructed in Williston, on October 19, 2012. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

12

Oil industry worker Bobby Freestone enjoys a day off at a so-called "man camp" outside Watford, North Dakota, on October 20, 2012. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

13

Oil industry worker Chris Skinner stands in front of his accommodations at a "man camp" outside Watford, on October 20, 2012. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

14

A oil drilling rig operates outside Williston, on October 19, 2012. Gas flares visible in a pit at lower right.(Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

15

Roughneck Brian Waldner prepares pipe on a True Company oil drilling rig outside Watford, on October 20, 2012.(Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

16

A mixture of oil, diesel fuel, water and mud sprays as roughnecks wrestle pipe on a True Company oil drilling rig outside Watford, on October 20, 2012. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

17

Roughneck Brian Waldner, covered in mud and oil while wrestling pipe on a drilling rig outside Watford, on October 20, 2012. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

18

Cattle graze near an oil drilling rig outside Watford, on October 20, 2012. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

19

An aerial view of farmland dotted with oil rigs and pumps, near Ray, North Dakota, in 2009. The image is 11 miles across (north is to the left), and the contrast has been boosted to distinguish oil rig pads from farmhouses and natural features. See this region on Google Maps. (© Google, Inc.) #

20

Pumpjacks west of Williston, North Dakota. See this on Google Maps. (© Google, Inc.) #

21

A man climbs down an oil derrick on a rig of an oil drilling pump site in McKenzie County, North Dakota, on March 12, 2013.(Reuters/Shannon Stapleton) #

22

An oil derrick at a fracking site for extracting oil outside of Williston, on March 11, 2013. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton) #

23

The Bakken Oil Express unit train load-up facility, in 2012. West of Dickinson, North Dakota (Google map), this facility now allows up to four unit trains (on unit trains, all cars carry the same load, have same destination) of 100 cars each to be loaded with oil simultaneously. The mile-long trains come off the railroad (running diagonally from left to right), loop around huge tracks, and load up to 8 rail cars at a time. You can see a second track under construction on the left. The oil is brought to the facility by hundreds of tanker trucks from surrounding wells. Right now, more oil is shipped by rail than by pipeline, and the region is producing about 700,000 barrels of oil per day. (© Google, Inc.) #

24

Roughneck Mike Lynch works on a True Company oil drilling rig outside Watford, on October 20, 2012.(Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

25

Tools, on a rig of an oil drilling pump site in McKenzie County outside of Williston, on March 12, 2013.(Reuters/Shannon Stapleton) #

26

A man works at an oil fracking pump site in McKenzie County, on March 12, 2013. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton) #

27

An oil drilling rig, outside Watford, on October 20, 2012. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #

28

A pipeline network in a field outside of Williston, on March 11, 2013. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton) #

29

A warning sign for a natural gas pipeline, in front of natural gas flares at an oil pump site outside of Williston, on March 11, 2013. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton) #

30

Natural gas flares at an oil pump site in McKenzie County, North Dakota, on March 12, 2013.(Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Florida population poised to overtake New York's...pushing the Empire State down into fourth place

It will be a blow to the famously large ego of New York but official figures from the U.S. Census Bureau predict that Florida will overtake the population of the Empire State in 2014 - fueled by a rise in the number of retired baby boomers moving south.

Demographers predict with near-certainty that the Sunshine State will become the nation's third-most populus state when figures are released on Monday - with implications for the economic and political power of New York.

'If it doesn't happen this year -- it probably will -- but if not, probably next year,' said Thomas Boswell, a University of Miami geography professor who studies population in an interview with CNN.

On the way: This graph from the U.S. Census Bureau shows how Florida has risen exponentially over the past 50 years to be in a position where it will take over New York in the next year

On the way: This graph from the U.S. Census Bureau shows how Florida has risen exponentially over the past 50 years to be in a position where it will take over New York in the next year

'It doesn't surprise demographers,' Boswell said, 'we have seen it coming for a long time.'

While New York is in fact still growing at a rate of 1 percent, from April 2010 to July 2012, Florida's population expanded by 2.7 percent. The estimates for 2012 had the states almost neck and neck - with New York's population at 19.6 million and Florida's at 19.3 million.

'The really, really simple thing is that Florida and New York are growing, but Florida is growing faster,' said Andrew Beveridge, a sociology professor at Queens College in New York to CNN.

Power: The population of New York which includes New York City is posed to be overtaken by Florida and pushed down into fourth place nationally

Power: The population of New York which includes New York City is posed to be overtaken by Florida and pushed down into fourth place nationally

It is when the numbers are examined that the rise of Florida against the overall malaise of New York is realized.

Historic economic powerhouses such as Syracuse and Rochester in New York have seen population stagnations or in the case of Buffalo, a decrease of 10 percent in its population since 2000.

Compare this with huge surges in cities like Orlando which grew at an annual rate of 4.7 percent in 2012 alone, while Miami-Dade boosted itself by 3.8 percent.

But why? While the favorable climate and steadily increasing stream of retirees accounts for a large part of the growth in population, genuine economic growth should not be counted out.

Lifestyle and retirement: The constant warm temperatures of South Beach have long been attractive to retirees and now many young people are moving south

Lifestyle and retirement: The constant warm temperatures of South Beach have long been attractive to retirees and now many young people are moving south

Lifestyle and retirement: The constant warm temperatures of South Beach have long been attractive to retirees and now many young people are moving south

Rochester in New York is suffering a population stagnation while Florida is seeing a population boom due to economic breaks and the climate

Rochester in New York is suffering a population stagnation while Florida is seeing a population boom due to economic breaks and the climate

Buffalo: The large city in the north of New York State has seen a population drop of ten-percent in time period of a decade

Buffalo: The large city in the north of New York State has seen a population drop of ten-percent in time period of a decade

'Florida has added a lot of jobs over the years, which have certainly attracted people,' said Stan Smith, director of the Population Program in the University of Florida’s Bureau of of Economic and Business Research in an interview with the Miami Herald.

'There have also been a lot of retirees moving to Florida. They are attracted by the climate, as well as the recreational opportunities and the relatively low tax rates.'

So while the manufacturing in the north has floundered, Florida has seen a huge boost in tourism, real estate purchases, construction, pharmaceuticals and finance.

Ironically, it is the number of New Yorkers moving to Florida which is also causing a shift in the positions.

Real estate is another reason for the booming population and economy in Florida as entrepreneurs are attracted by low tax rates

Real estate is another reason for the booming population and economy in Florida as entrepreneurs are attracted by low tax rates

'The Jewish baby boomers are starting to retire,' said Ira Sheskin, who studies the demographics of the American Jewish community at the University of Miami.

'There will still be as many, if not more, Jews coming to South Florida than in the past.'

And politically, the changing patterns in population will also eventually have political ramifications.

If Florida goes past New York in population, it will gain more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Already in 2010, after the release of new census data, New York lost two seats and Florida gained two to leave them both with 27 House members.

California, with a population of around 38 million in 2012, and Texas eith 26 million are the nation's two first and second largest states in terms of population.