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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

10 Dec - RSS SnapShot!

American Coot Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata...Image via Wikipedia
Feeds Update From Opit's LinkFest! at My Opera

IPS - Inter Press Services

  • Q&A: "We're Here to Insert Some Reality into an U ...
    COPENHAGEN, Dec 10 (IPS/TerraViva) - Bill McKibben is a U.S. writer, environmentalist and the founder of 350.org, an international climate campaign. His first book, "The End of Nature", was published in 1989 and is regarded as the first book written for a general audience about climate change.
  • POLITICS: Zimbabwe Blasted for Condoning "Sexual ...
    UNITED NATIONS, Dec 10 (IPS) - Zimbabwe’s ruling political party has been accused of launching a "widespread and systematic campaign of rape and sexual terror" aimed at intimidating opponents and voters in the troubled African nation, according to a new report released here.
  • CLIMATE CHANGE: "The G77 Is More United Than Ever ...
    COPENHAGEN, Dec 10 (IPS) - "If there's ever been a time in which the G77 has been more united than ever, that time is right now," was the categorical statement made by Venezuelan negotiator Claudia Salerno to TerraViva, after a tiny island nation in the south Pacific stirred things up at the CO ...
  • CLIMATE CHANGE: Willingly or Not, We Must Prepare ...
    COPENHAGEN, Dec 10 (IPS) - So what do we do if COP15 does not bring adequate emission reduction targets or if the targets are not implemented by countries? What if we are faced with an ecological crisis in the next 15-20 years?
  • RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Mugabe Orchestrated Rape - AI ...
    JOHANNESBURG, Dec 10 (IPS) - "When the tenth man finished raping me they said they were going to rape my daughter. I cried out but I could not even stand up at this time...they raped my daughter (while) I was there and I couldn’t do anything to stop them. My daughter was five years old..."

Scoop - NZ

  • Wellington Builder going to France
    Wellington builder Adrian has fought off stiff competition from tradesmen from all over New Zealand to be selected to restore a french villa. The job, posted on Builderscrack.co.nz by expat kiwi Pauline who lives in France generated huge interest, with over 100 applications in several days. Pauline ...
  • Dubai's financial crisis: Q&A
    Q. Where did Dubai go wrong? I thought it was in the "oil-rich Gulf"?A. Dubai is part of the United Arab Emirates, seven city-states which have separate ruling families, separate budgets, but security, immigration and foreign policies in common. Abu Dhabi has nearly all the UAE's oil. To keep up, Du ...
  • Bailed-Out AIG Forcing Poor to Choose Between Runn ...
    What are we getting in return for the bailout? So far, predatory credit card rates, exorbitant bank fees and obscene Wall Street bonuses. But we're being robbed in other, sneakier ways, too. It seems that taxpayers in the poorest, most vulnerable parts of the county are getting plundered by the same ...
  • A bit of inspiration as we head into Copenhagen
    We are the last generation that has a chance to make a difference on climate change and the task can seem daunting. But, as one of the original Greenpeace activists Bob Hunter once said,Big change looks impossible when you start and inevitable when you finish.50 years ago this week, the world agreed ...
  • A note to self from the year 2020
    Today almost 100,000 people around New Zealand received an email from a future self in 2020 ...  »  PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews

Independent ( London )

CASMII - Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran

  • Iran’s Fuel for Conflict: Washington-Tehran nucl ...
    Summary: Gareth Porter Barack Obama created the hope of a diplomatic breakthrough between the US and Iran after 30 years of enmity. Now talks between the West and Iran over nuclear issues have stalled and each side wants to claim a political victory rather than solve the problem source: Le Mon ...
  • Bomb, bomb McCain turns Boom Box!
    Summary: It is extraordinary that the presidential candidate who hoped to occupy the White House by showing no qualms about 'bomb, bomb, bombing Iran' is now singing a different tune. The man who wanted to bury the voices of men, women, and children under the debris of bombs, has decided that ...
  • Iran and the Problem of Tactical Myopia
    Summary: Iran is a proud country with a cultivated abhorrence of outside interference, especially when the interference is perceived as having imperial overtones. New U.S. and other sanctions can impose costs on Iran, but the loud and accusing character of the sanctions makes them as likely to i ...
  • US silent on missing Iranian case
    Summary: Mottaki After Iran said Washington and Riyadh are responsible for the abduction of an Iranian researcher in Saudi Arabia, the US State Department refuses to make any comment on the matter. source: Press TV read more
  • Five Good Reasons to Avoid a War with Iran
    Summary: Philip Giraldi As America's founding fathers clearly understood war is a serious business and should only be engaged in when there is a threat to vital national interests. The US Constitution stipulates that there must be a declaration of war from congress, a safeguard inserted in the d ...

The Daily Galaxy

  • Ultimate Sci-Fi Gadget: Robo Surveillance Swarms
    Throughout science-fiction mankind's main advantages against the machines have been a) how slow the strong siliconites are b) our ability to feel You'd better hope your emotions emit electronics-disrupting pulses, as Carnegie Mellon University (soon to be known as "Collaborative...
  • World's 1st Space-Based Solar Power
    The California Public Utilities Commission has approved a plan for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to buy space-based solar power from Solaren Corp -a first-of-its kind space-based solar project that uses orbiting satellites equipped with solar cells to convert the...
  • The "METI (Message Extra-Terrestrial Intelligences ...
    Efforts to Search for and Message Extra Terrestrial Intelligences (SETI and METI) have met with a lot of opposition. Some say that there's no life out there, possibly because they view the universe as only slightly larger than the Earth...
  • The Planets of Alpha Centauri: The Hunt for a Pan ...
    James Cameron’s new movie Avatar depicts a gas giant with a habitable moon, Pandora, around it. Could there be real habitable planets orbiting among the three stars of the Alpha Centauri system? What are the odds that a "Pandora," really...
  • Worldwide Change in Blue Whale's Song Baffles Sci ...
    The function of whale song, even the better-studied song of the humpback whale, has long baffled marine scientists. Songs of the blue whale, the planets largest living creature, can be divided into at least 10 types worldwide, each type retaining...

Natural News

  • Cancer profiteering? New chemo drug costs $30,000 ...
    (NaturalNews) Big Pharma's pill pushers and natural remedy skeptics are always trying to drill one idea into your brain: "Natural remedies are a ripoff!" they say. "And they aren't even proven to work!" In response to those skeptics, allow me to introduce a new cancer treatment drug called Folotyn , ...
  • After conventional breast cancer treatments, half ...
    (NaturalNews) A Danish study published in the November 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found that women who have undergone conventional breast cancer treatment experience pain long after completing treatments. Mastectomies, breast-conserving surgeries, radiation treatment ...
  • How to Host a Junk Food, Candy Free Party for Kids
    (NaturalNews) Many party hosts feel they are giving kids the ultimate treat by spreading a table laden with every imaginable kind of junk food. A typical party table is graced with a white flour, frosted cake in the center decorated with a sugary, colorant laden picture of Superman or Barbie. There ...
  • Jon Barron, Daniel Vitalis featured on NaturalNews ...
    (NaturalNews) The NaturalNews Talk Hour presents a very special holiday event with exclusive offers by two of the most celebrated nutritional companies recommended by NaturalNews. "Surthrival in the 21st Century" and "Cold and Flu Secrets Revealed" begins this Thursday evening at 6pm Pacific / 9pm E ...
  • How fragile we are: Why the complexity of modern c ...
    (NaturalNews) The fragility of our modern human civilization did not become clear to me until I began living full-time in South America. As a resident of Vilcabamba, Ecuador, I've grown accustomed to the idea of knowing where the things I consume come from .The water I drink, for example, comes from ...

    TheGallopingBeaver

  • Gunfight at the Rideau Corral (in the kiddies sect ...
    This , as Scott suggests, is going to get very interesting. Well, it's the last opposition day before the House breaks for the holidays, and it turns out that all they -- or at least, the Liberals -- want for Christmas is ... the full set of documents requested by the Afghanistan committee, "in the ...
  • We don't need another hero
    The Skipper has already chastized John Baird , who should never ever wear a turtleneck, for his objectionable conduct and general stupidity related to the Afghan prisoner denial-fest, but this part caught my eye too: From Macleans: "Mr. Baird was ready with a response. “Mr. Speaker, let us be ve ...
  • Believing in Change Yet ? ? ? ?
    Matt Taibbi on business as usual in DC and on Wall Street: Wall Street = 1, Main Street = 0 . . . . (Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver )
  • Tales from our Former 'Hood . . . .
    More vindication of our decision to vacate our former Florida locale for a somewhat more civilized Vancouver, BC, Canada: Police: Burglar showers, tells residents ‘Obama let him in' November 28, 2009 _________ - A man accused of breaking into a ________ home and taking a shower reportedly told ...
  • Wear it well, Baird. Someone just knocked over a d ...
    From the Maclean's : Rising for his second question, Mr. Ignatieff offered the obvious follow. “Field notes by Canadian soldiers make it clear that a detainee was beaten in Afghan custody after being transferred by Canadian troops, way back in June 2006. Our soldiers saw it firsthand. They took p ...

Media Matters for America

  • Fox Nation, right-wing blogs seize on heavily edi ...
    Right-wing blogs have seized on yet another heavily edited undercover video to attack a progressive organization, this time Planned Parenthood. However, the activists behind the video criticized Planned Parenthood employees for referring to a 10-week-old fetus as a "fetus" and for saying that ...
  • In anti-gay attack, AIM falsely asserts "pedophil ...
    In attacking the media for allegedly insufficient coverage of Obama administration official Kevin Jennings, a blogger for Accuracy in Media, which purports to "set the record straight on important issues that have received slanted coverage" -- and which has a record of antagonism toward gays -- ...
  • Quick Fact: Fox Nation falsely claims "EPA Scient ...
    Linking to an erroneous Human Events piece, The Fox Nation posted the false headline, "EPA scientist silenced in coverup," under a photo of Alan Carlin, who works as an economist -- not a scientist -- for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Moreover, Carlin was not "silenced," as some of ...
  • Quick Fact: On Beck, Gray falsely claims ...
    On Glenn Beck's radio show, Pat Gray falsely claimed that Al Gore "admitted the entire premise for An Inconvenient Truth wasn't really true" because Gore said during 2007 congressional testimony that it "[s]ometimes ... has been true in the past" that increases in global temperatures have pre ...
  • Quick Fact: Fox news show advances baseless clai ...
    Amy Kellogg baselessly reported on Fox News' America's Newsroom -- cited by Fox as a news show -- that recently hacked emails "suggested that these scientists who do believe that climate change is a man-made phenomenon were trying to manipulate the data." While Kellogg cited no email that suppo ...

Global Research.ca

TPM Cafe

  • The New Frugality
    David Rosenberg was Chief Economist for Merrill Lynch for many years, but I think their big corporate/institutional clients got tired of his consistently bearish warnings on the U.S. economy and so he left in the upheaval of 2009 for a... Merrill Lynch - United States - Business - Financial ser ...
  • Obama and the Contradictions of Oslo
    On one level I have to give him credit. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, President Obama confronted the world as it is -- and his policies as they are -- not as we wish they would be. That represented... Barack Obama - President of the United States - Nobel Prize - Oslo - Warfare and Confl ...
  • When Regulators Can't Do Math: Gas Pipeline Editi ...
    The Federal Regulatory Energy Commission (the FERC) is charged - amongst other things - with regulating the rate of return on interstate natural gas pipelines. Rates on these pipelines are by-and-large regulated so as to achieve a targeted return on... Business - Energy - Oil and Gas - FERC - ...
  • Israel Needs To Replace Its Utterly Inappropriate ...
    Check out the latest from Israel ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren. It in a fine piece by Josh Nathan-Kazis in the Forward. Nathan Kazis writes, "Breaking with his previous restraint, Israel's ambassador to the United States delivered an... Israel - Michael Oren - United States - J ...
  • Sacred And Secular, Again
    Israel's justice minister, Yaacov Neeman, caused a wave of criticism (with international ripples) this week, when he told a Jewish law convention in Jerusalem--and in the presence of many approving rabbis and rabbinical judges--that the Torah embodies "a complete solution... Israel - Middle Eas ...

TruthOut

  • Ellen Goodman | The "Human" Factor Missing in Cope ...
    London - Yes, there is something more foreign than being offered kippered herring for your breakfast. It's being offered PopOffsets for your conscience. After seven hours and 3,325 miles, I arrive here, open the paper and discover that a British think tank, Optimum Population Trust, is ready to m ...
  • Brief Look at Labor Unions in India
    Despite the economic gains India has made over the last 30 years, it's important to note that its story, while impressive, is no glittering fairy tale. Although the country has made extraordinary progress, the notion that India is anywhere close to establishing even a fledgling "middle-class" is wil ...
  • Arizona’s Prison Privatization Scheme Is a Comed ...
    You know you’re in trouble when "The Daily Show" sends a “fake correspondent” to your state capitol . Perhaps it was inevitable - who could resist the irony of a state literally selling its capitol to the highest bidder? read more
  • Tom Engelhardt | The Nine Surges of Obama’s War: ...
    In his Afghan “surge” speech at West Point last week, President Obama offered Americans some specifics to back up his new “way forward in Afghanistan.”  He spoke of the “additional 30,000 U.S. troops” he was sending into that country over the next six months. read more
  • Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill Means 'Targeted K ...
    Kampala - Uganda will be going back to the days of the Idi Amin regime if it passes a Bill which will arrest or kill people for being gay or lesbian and for repeatedly engaging in homosexual sex, say rights activists. Pro-gay activists compare the provisions in the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bil ...

Planetsave

  • Gender-Bending Chemicals in Minnesota Waters
    The discovery of malformed frogs in the Minnesota River watershed in the 1990s touched off field and lab research on endocrine disrupters that is continuing to yield findings. Minnesota, the state that made national headlines with the discovery of malformed frogs in the 1990s, has found endocrine ...
  • Big Fish in the Great Lakes
    The ancient lake sturgeon, a threatened species, is making a modest comeback in the Great Lakes after more than a century of overharvest and habitat destruction. Even as news spreads of the possible imminent invasion of giant Asian carp in the Great Lakes, there’s also good news — the mammoth ...
  • Reducing Greenhouse Pollutants will Save Millions ...
    New research out of the UK shows definitively that reducing greenhouse gases can save millions of lives around the world. The research makes use of case studies to demonstrate the co-benefits of tackling climate change in four sectors: electricity generation, household energy use, transportation, ...
  • Rare Butterfly Rediscovered in Maine
    The Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly species was identified in September by Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department biologists. 1934 was the last Maine sighting of the butterfly.  The recent finding was in the hardwood swamps of Berwick and Wells. Read more of this story »
  • Caveman Thanksgiving: Prehistoric Man Roasted Bird ...
    New findings, published in the October issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, indicate early Europeans enjoyed a much broader diet than first suspected. We have known for a long while that early man hunted big game such as mastodons, now prehistoric bone findings show that early man also ...

Water Quality - WordPress

Public Citizen in Texas

  • Copen-update
    Its already getting tough to keep tabs on everything happening in Copenhagen, so for now I’ll just share what I’ve been reading.  Here’s today’s Copen-digest: Grist, as always, is an invaluable resource (and amusing to boot). Keep an eye on there often-updated series, Grist in Copenhagen ...
  • TCEQ Gives Green Light to Another Texas Coal Plant
    The dramatic irony of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) decision this morning to grant the NRG Limestone Coal Plant an air permit (and therefore permission to begin construction on a third smokestack) is painful.  At the very moment that leaders from around the world are meeting ...
  • Obama going to Copenhagen with 17% reduction goal. ...
    As of today, all four of the largest greenhouse gas polluters (China, the US, the EU, and India — no, not Texas) have announced the greenhouse gas reduction goals they want to pursue at the Copenhagen climate talks (COP-15) this week in Denmark. Here’s the rundown: EU: 20% cut in emissions rela ...
  • Join Public Citizen at the Second Annual Austin Gr ...
    Join Public Citizen Texas December 15th at Barr Mansion (we just can’t get enough) for the Second Annual Austin Green Holiday Social! This event will be co-hosted by seven of Austin’s best and brightest green groups. Join us again at the beautiful Barr Mansion, the first certified organic events ...
  • Copenhagen Negotiations begin today!
    The international climate negotiations in Copenhagen begin today, and will continue until December 18th. No time for a full reckoning now of what this means in the big picture, what’s at stake, and what to expect — but since others have done a great job already, at the moment there’s no need t ...

Press TV

Axis of Logic

They Gave Us a Republic

  • Why was Jetton charged with Assault instead of Rap ...
    My friends at Fired Up! Missouri filed a request under RSMo 610, the Sunshine Law, for the police report filed by the woman who was (allegedly) assaulted by Rod Jetton. Read the police report below the fold. It sure as hell doesn't sound like a simple assault or a 'sex game gone too far' to me: ON ...
  • More of this, please
    We really, really, really love Alan Grayson, and want about 300 more just like him. Last night he was on Hardball and Chris Matthews asked him about Deferment Dick Cheney's most recent appearance on Hannity where he basically accused the President of Treason for following the rule of law. Grayson ha ...
  • It's Human Rights Day: Work for Non-Discrimination
    The theme of the 62nd Human Rights Day is Non-Discrimination. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: "Discrimination targets individuals and groups that are vulnerable to attack: the disabled, women and girls, the poor, migrants, minorities, and all those who are perceived as different. ... But these vic ...
  • The Nightowl Newswrap
    West Bank settlements are suicide for Israel, period.  But the fanatics would rather see the nation die than admit they are wrong. "Thousands of Jewish settlers and their supporters have staged a rally in Jerusalem in protest at a curb on settlement building in the West Bank. Demonstrators gathered ...
  • Oh Wow! They Scolded Him
    Y'all remember Mark Sanford, right?  The governor of S. Carolina who was going AWOL and long dickin' his wife across two continents while committing numerous acts of malfeasance in office that should have gotten his skinny ass fired and would have if politicians... especially Republican politicians. ...

Care 2

  • Wealthy nations urged to do more
    COPENHAGEN: A leading Chinese climate change official has criticized rich nations for attempting to wriggle out of their obligations to poorer nations in the fight against global war Submitted by Cal Mendelsohn to Environment  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  • Copenhagen climate summit in disarray after 'Danis ...
    Developing countries react furiously to leaked draft agreement that would hand more power to rich nations, sideline the UN's negotiating role and abandon the Kyoto protocol Submitted by Cal Mendelsohn to Environment  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  • Experts Respond to Undercover Frog-O-Sphere Invest ...
    Last month, a PETA investigator worked undercover inside Wild Creations—the supplier of frogs for Brookstone's Frog-O-Spheres—and documented unsanitary living conditions, rampant starvation, and gross mishandling of thousands of frogs. Frogs were left Submitted by Cher C. to Animals  |   Note-it! ...
  • One dead, one hospitalized after plow truck collid ...
    NORTHUMBERLAND, N.Y.-An 8,000-ton freight train moving at about 40mph hit a plow truck Wednesday morning, and right now, there are more questions than answers. Submitted by Dee C. to Society & Culture  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  • Woman found bound with duct tape at motel
    She was lured from her home by a job offer and found days later, tied up in a Cayuga County motel room. Sheriff's deputies say the 21-year-old woman from Washington County was injured and is now recovering. Submitted by Dee C. to Society & Culture  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment

GreenBiz

  • Scotland Quaker Oats Plant Sends Zero Waste to Lan ...
    A Quaker Oats production facility in Scotland has stopped sending waste to landfill, instead diverting all waste either to be recycled or become animal feed.
  • Dow, Serious Materials, Shaw Among 32 Firms in New ...
    Thirty-two firms -- including big names in building materials, equipment and automation, IT, telecom, forest products and chemistry -- have pledged to cut their industrial energy intensity by 25 percent over the next decade as part of a new U.S. Department of Energy program.
  • Harnessing the Power of IT to Drive Sustainability
    There's wide hope that world leaders can significantly advance a global commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and minimize changes to our climate. With such a commitment and the right technology tools, a clean and prosperous future can be well within our reach.
  • U.S. Puts Green Tech Patent Applications on the Fa ...
    The federal government wants to help companies bring green technologies to market quickly with a new pilot program designed to put green technology patent applications on a fast track, potentially shaving a year off the process.
  • Sodexo Sets New Goals for Carbon, Seafood, Waste a ...
    Sodexo has declared 14 new environment, community and health commitment. The food and facility services company plan to reduce its carbon and water footprints, increase its use of sustainable food and products, and reduce waste.

Reuters Global

  • Thoughts on Obama’s Nobel Theology Prize spe ...
    If there were a Nobel Prize for Theology, large parts of President Barack Obama's Oslo speech could be cut and pasted into an acceptance speech for it.
  • Obama’s linguistic high wire act
    Obama's take on war and peace
  • Where schooling is sabotaged
    Late one evening, a group of guerrilla fighters entered the remote village of Dwarika in the Indian state of Jharkhand and detonated improvised bombs inside the village’s only school. Doors blew apart, desks and chairs splintered, and portions of the classroom walls crumbled. No longer suitable or ...
  • Does Obama fit the Nobel mould, asks exhibit?
    Some say U.S. President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace prize was at best premature, others say it should go to his speech writers and a number believe it’s groundless?
  • Nobel winner says Ceausescu’s spirit lives o ...
    Content Brutal dictator Nicolae Ceausescu has been dead for 20 years, but Romania remains dominated by his henchmen, the winner of this year's Nobel prize for literature says.

Ezra Klein

  • Armed and afraid
    It wouldn't really bother me if, say, Common Cause's membership was composed of the intensely paranoid. It's a bit more unsettling when it's the National Rifle Association: Gun owners continue to worry that President Obama "will attempt to ban the sales of guns in the United States at some point wh ...
  • The age of widget banking cometh
    And I, for one, welcome our new Yodlee overlords. Felix Salmon explains : Yodlee is the engine behind the online banking operations of most banks in America — and, for that matter, of mint.com. (I wrote about Yodlee and Mint back in September.) It’s built up an enormous dataset over the years â ...
  • Krugman: Recovery means adding 300,000 jobs a mont ...
    Paul Krugman builds a benchmark : I thought it might be useful to create a sort of benchmark for the level of job growth that would really count as good news. I start from the fact that we’ve lost about 8 million jobs since the recession began — that’s the official number plus the prelimina ...
  • Steny Hoyer explains how Newt Gingrich broke Congr ...
    On Monday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer delivered a startling speech on the obstructionism of minority Republicans and the dangers that poses to Congress and the country. It's not common for politicians to address structural problem directly, or at length. It's certainly not common for congre ...
  • Lunch break
    Obama's speech at Oslo today repeatedly mentioned the address Martin Luther King Jr. gave decades ago. So here it is:

Booman Tribune

  • Serious Question
    Is there a legitimate use for habeneros or are they just obnoxiously hot?
  • Liberal Image vs. Liberal Achievements
    Ezra Klein hits on something that I've been thinking about. The first year of the Obama presidency has been a long tutorial on the difference between liberal ends and liberal means. If I told you America has a president determined to pass large amounts of Keynesian stimulus spending (that's part ...
  • Stop Dithering
    Maybe it is just a fantasy but at some point I hope that the Democrats in the Senate might be motivated by shit like this to drop the hand-wringing and vote as a caucus to pass a health care bill. RNC Chairman Mike Steele, who has been calling for a delay in the health care bill process, told m ...
  • Casual Observation
    This is just a reminder to morons and prudes that women's breasts are designed to create and dispense milk to infants. Their function in arousing your prurient (or wholesome) interest is purely secondary.
  • Froggy Bottom Cafe
    Bird-dogging:

European Tribune

Futurismic

  • Cutting steel with electromagnetic fields
    The bodies of vehicles need to be strong, but manufacturers also need to cut holes in them, for cable routing. Working together with a number of partners including Volkswagen, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU in Chemnitz have come up with another w ...
  • Editing memories
    Yet again, the line between science fiction and real life gets thinner, and another of our stories gains a slightly prophetic edge.  Richard Kadrey’s Twitter stream alerted me to an article at The Guardian about a therapeutic process whereby traumatic memories can be rewritten or edited in orde ...
  • The Future is the Past: Assassin’s Creed II
    ### Sometimes, there is joy to be had in simplicity… in particular, simplified history.  I know full well that the realities of the past are complex and labyrinthine.  I understand that there’s as much truth to be had in examining the way in which pre-literary societies passed down kno ...
  • Edward Willett teaches (sf-nal) typing
    Just a quickie – Canadian readers may be interested to know that occasional Futurismic blogger and freelance writer Edward Willett will be teaching an evening course in genre fiction writing at the University of Regina in March and April of next year. I’m not sure of the exact exchange rate, but ...
  • Crowdsource your plot snags: Twitter as brainstorm ...
    I expect many of the writers in Futurismic’s readership are already using Twitter to communicate with colleagues and friends across the globe… but have you considered putting it to the more practical use of getting people to help you brainstorm your plot problems? PR maven Steve Rubel points to ...

Therapy News

  • Documentary on Mental Health Planned at New Jersey ...
    A GoodTherapy.org News Headline Breaking down social stigmas surrounding mental health clients and services is a monumental task, but there are many efforts to help contribute to the global cause. Among these, art can play a powerful role, and a documentary being produced at Montclair State Universi ...
  • Details of Australia Suicide Case Creates Calls fo ...
    A GoodTherapy.org News Summary Requirements for accrediting and licensure for the mental health professions is considerably strict in many parts of the world, but Australia is a country in which therapy and counseling are self-regulated industries. The lack of a central agency or set of standards to ...
  • Study Finds Links between Race, Quality of Mental ...
    A GoodTherapy.org News Headline Many factors may be involved in the quality of care with which mental health clients are served, but a principle aim within the mental health community is that race should not be a determinant. Unfortunately, race has been connected to the quality of care in a recent ...
  • The Spirituality of Forgiveness
    By Kalila Borghini, LCSW and Ordained Yoruba Priest, Spirituality Topic Expert Contributor Click here to contact Kalila and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile One of the unique features of my practice is my ability to assist patients who are comfortable using a range of religious and spiritual pract ...
  • Ways for Adult Survivors of Abuse to Cope during t ...
    By Joyce A. Thompson, MS, LMFT, Abuse Topic Expert Contributor Click here to contact Joyce and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile For many survivors of childhood abuse, the holidays can be a horrible time of year filled with anxiety and depression. This can occur for a variety of reasons. But the ...

Mountaintop Removal

  • New surface mining head has cautious approach - Th ...
    New surface mining head has cautious approach The Associated Press "I don't know that we're seeing anything that has garnered the public attention the way that mountaintop removal mining has," he said. ... New OSM director outlines cautious approach to regulating surfacing coal mining WHNT all 50 ...
  • Sen. Byrd on coal: Wasn't anybody paying attention ...
    Sen. Byrd on coal: Wasn't anybody paying attention? Charleston Gazette (blog) Though unsaid, the clear suggestion was that Byrd now sided with environmental groups who want to ban mountaintop removal altogether. ... Talkline Host Hoppy Kercheval West Virginia MetroNews As Copenhagen Kicks Off, a Go ...
  • Coal industry responds to Sen. Byrd diplomatically ...
    Examiner.com Coal industry responds to Sen. Byrd diplomatically The Associated Press Robert C. Byrd's attack on mountaintop removal mining. The National Mining Association said Friday it agrees with most of the West Virginia Democrat's ... Has Byrd Shifted Positions on Mountaintop Coal Mining? The ...
  • Mining protester says he's OK despite 10-day fast ...
    Mining protester says he's OK despite 10-day fast Daily Press An 81-year-old environmental activist fasting in protest of mountaintop removal mining says he's feeling fine after 10 days. Roland Micklem, who moved to ... Official says coal opportunities await Daily Mail - Charleston Mining Protester ...
  • New jobless claims rise more than expected to 474K ...
    The Associated Press New jobless claims rise more than expected to 474K The Associated Press Consol Energy said Tuesday that it will lay off nearly 500 workers and idle a mountaintop removal mining operation near Bickmore, W.Va. ... and more »

Memeorandum

  • Surprise! Palin likes Obama's Nobel speech (On Pol ...
    On Politics : Surprise!  Palin likes Obama's Nobel speech   —  Sarah Palin and President Obama don't agree on much, but last year's Republican vice presidential nominee just gave the president's defense of “just wars” a thumbs up in an interview with USA TODAY.  In fact, she said that th ...
  • Snowe: Medicare buy-in loses her vote (Carrie Budo ...
    Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico : Snowe: Medicare buy-in loses her vote   —  Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said Thursday that she does not support the Medicare buy-in because it would “aggravate an already-serious problem” with the program - the low reimbursement rates for hospitals and d ...
  • How liberal is Obama? - It's not every day that Ch ...
    Ezra Klein : How liberal is Obama?   —  It's not every day that Christian conservative Ross Douthat enthusiastically recommends people read social democrat Tony Judt: … The first year of the Obama presidency has been a long tutorial on the difference between liberal ends and liberal means.
  • Poll: GOP erases popularity gap in Congress (CNN)
    CNN : Poll: GOP erases popularity gap in Congress   —  Washington (CNN) — Eleven months before crucial midterm elections, a national poll indicates that the public is divided over whether the country would be better off with Democrats or Republicans controlling Congress.
  • 'Editor & Publisher' to Cease Publication After 12 ...
    Shawn Moynihan / Editor and Publisher : ‘Editor & Publisher’ to Cease Publication After 125 Years   —  NEW YORK Editor & Publisher, the bible of the newspaper industry and a journalism institution that traces its origins back to 1884, is ceasing publication.  —  An announcement, made b ...

Energy & Environment News

5+ quakes - 7 days

  • M 5.1, Cook Strait, New Zealand
    Tuesday, December 8, 2009 22:09:25 UTC Wednesday, December 9, 2009 11:09:25 AM at epicenter Depth : 46.10 km (28.65 mi)
  • M 5.0, south of the Fiji Islands
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 15:08:55 UTC Friday, December 11, 2009 03:08:55 AM at epicenter Depth : 676.90 km (420.61 mi)
  • M 5.3, Mindanao, Philippines
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 15:06:44 UTC Thursday, December 10, 2009 11:06:44 PM at epicenter Depth : 60.80 km (37.78 mi)
  • M 5.4, Carlsberg Ridge
    Thursday, December 3, 2009 23:06:48 UTC Friday, December 4, 2009 04:06:48 AM at epicenter Depth : 10.00 km (6.21 mi)
  • M 5.2, Molucca Sea
    Saturday, December 5, 2009 16:43:08 UTC Sunday, December 6, 2009 01:43:08 AM at epicenter Depth : 42.20 km (26.22 mi)

China Dialogue

  • How to cooperate on climate
    A deal between the American state of California and China's Jiangsu province provides a promising model of international partnership. Linden Ellis reports. On the perilous road to the conference in Copenhagen, which opened this week, the United States and China too often seemed to be playing a game ...
  • Young China’s long green march
    The work of the country’s largest youth environmental movement is only beginning, writes Huo Weiya. Students’ sense of not doing enough provides an impetus to keep going. “Back when I was in junior high school, the grass in my village would reach up to my chest,” recalls Liu Shitie, a studen ...
  • Under a cloud
    Carbon-trading schemes now function from Europe to California, but abundant deficiencies are evident. Any global market will look rather different, write Fiona Harvey and Ed Crooks. Rows of traders sit staring at their banks of computers, hand on mouse, eyes restlessly scanning the numbers that stut ...
  • Why Copenhagen matters
    Confused by countries’ climate commitments? Perplexed by paltry promises? Tan Copsey presents a beginner’s guide to the conference. After two years of protracted and complex negotiations, from sunny Bali in Indonesia through to frosty Poznan in Poland, the Copenhagen climate-change conference op ...
  • Copenhagen: what does China want?
    Some of the country's top climate officials and experts recently gathered in Beijing to discuss China's position at key negotiations on global warming. Cao Haili reports. What stance will China adopt at the climate-change talks in Copenhagen – and what do the country's climate experts think? To fi ...

AlterNet Top Stories

Threat Level

  • Court Rejects Request to Consolidate TJX Hacker Ca ...
    A federal judge in Massachusetts has rejected a request from U.S. attorneys to consolidate a New Jersey case against Albert Gonzalez, who has admitted hacking more than 120 million credit card numbers from Heartland Payment Systems, with two other cases against him in Massachusetts. Gonzalez, a for ...
  • Lawmakers Want to Bar Sites From Posting Sensitive ...
    Three Republican lawmakers have asked the Department of Homeland Security what can be done to bar or criminally penalize whistleblower sites that reposted a sensitive airport-screening manual that was published on the internet by a government worker. They also asked about enacting regulations that w ...
  • 5 TSA Workers Put on Leave Following Screening Man ...
    The Department of Homeland Security has placed five transportation security employees on leave following the inadvertent leak of a sensitive manual detailing security procedures for screening passengers at airports. The workers, all employees of the Transportation Security Administration, were put o ...
  • FBI: 19,000 Matches to Terrorist Screening List in ...
    United States law enforcement agents and partners reported “encounters” with suspected terrorists 55,000 times in the last year; a check against the terrorist watchlist found a match 19,000 times, according to testimony presented to the Senate on Wednesday. The statistics appeared in testimony b ...
  • VeriChip’s Merger With Credit Monitoring Firm Wo ...
    Remember VeriChip, the Florida company that once dreamed of injecting its human-implantable RFID microchips in everyone from immigrant guest workers to prison inmates? We haven’t heard much from the company since a dipping stock price nearly got it delisted from the NASDAQ in March. But it’s sti ...

Reuters - Most Popular Articles

  • Russian nuclear missile test fails, visible in Nor ...
    MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia admitted on Thursday another failed test of its much-touted Bulava intercontinental missile, after unusual lights were spotted in Norway across the border from the launch site.
  • Financier Soros sees $100 billion for climate talk ...
    COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Billionaire financier George Soros outlined a way to unlock $100 billion to help slow global warming on Thursday as talks on a new U.N. climate deal slowed over tough demands by the Pacific island state of Tuvalu.
  • Obama accepts peace prize, defends "just wars"
    OSLO (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, accepting the Nobel Prize for Peace, on Thursday defended the right of the United States to wage "just wars" like the one in Afghanistan.
  • Wall Street gains ground on data, UTX climbs
    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Thursday as data showed continuing claims for jobless benefits dropped and a separate report revealed the trade gap unexpectedly narrowed for October, a boost to economic growth.
  • New U.S. jobless claims rise
    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week, but a surprise narrowing in the trade gap in October suggested the economic recovery was becoming entrenched.

Pine River World News

  • [Full text] Barack Obama's speech upon accepting t ...
    [ Blogmaster note :  I haven't been this proud of our president since he announced the creation of 30,000 new U.S. jobs in Afghanistan!] Barack Obama's speech December 10, 2009 Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and c ...
  • Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan: Cobra's Anger Will ...
    [ Pine River World News republishes selected resistance statements so that readers can access different perspectives on current affairs, political and military issues. Additional items may be posted on IntelTrends , which is linked in the right column.] The following article is reprinted with permi ...
  • Ramzy Baroud: Al-Demoqratia, Indeed
    The following column is reprinted with permission from Ramzy Baroud. Al-Demoqratia, Indeed ©  Ramzy Baroud December 9, 2009 So this is how democracy works? In 2004 France banned headscarves and school principals chased after young 'defiant' Muslim girls who continued to cover their heads in schoo ...
  • Capturing Osama Bin Laden Is the Last Thing That A ...
    The following commentary is reprinted with permission from Pravda, Moscow. Capturing Osama Bin Laden Is the Last Thing That Americans Want ©   Pravda.ru By Sergey Balmasov December 8, 2009 Where is bad guy Osama bin Laden? This question still takes the minds of U.S. political and military elite. U ...
  • Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan: Obama, following B ...
    [ Pine River World News republishes selected resistance statements so that readers can access different perspectives on current affairs, political and military issues.] The following article is reprinted with permission. Obama, following Bush Steps Source:  Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Decembe ...

    PDA AMERICA

  • The Imperious Ms Bean Censors Financial Reform Adv ...
    By Bill Bianchi | Illinois Co-Chair & Chicago Chair of Progressive Democrats of America With Democrats like Bean, who needs Republicans? Melissa Bean, (IL-08), bluest of Illinois’ blue dog Democrats, recently served as the temporary chair ...
  • Tea Party Purge: A Cause Without a Rebel
    By L.K. Samuels | News Junkie Post he Tea Party movement has reconnected the cooperation between conservatives and libertarians that harks back to their mutual opposition to FDR’s big government days. But a host of these ...
  • A Smart and Simple Tax
    By William John Cox | PDA Blog Contributor The burden of taxation in the United States has been shifted from those who most benefit from our government to those who work the hardest and earn the ...
  • More Troops Are Wrong Answer in Afghanistan
    By Paulette Garin President Obama’s authorization to send another 30,000-plus troops to Afghanistan is clearly a move in the wrong direction. Our involvement in Afghanistan has been morally suspect and legally questionable from its inception. Who ...
  • Kucinich in the News on Afghanistan
    Congressman Kucinich is making a major impact in his challenge to the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. See the following: MSNBC, The Ed Show, December ...

Marler Blog

  • E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak Linked to Raw Milk in Cal ...
    On September 18, 2006, the California Department of Health Services (CDHS) opened an investigation of a possible outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections after receiving reports of two patients who had been hospitalized with HUS.  One was culture confirmed as infected with E. coli O157:H7. Interviews ...
  • Stewart Parnell, et al - Have You No Shame? Like ...
    Coming up on about a year ago the CDC announced that Peanut Corporation of America was responsible for sickening over 700 and killing at least nine.  In hearings before the United States House of Representatives, peanut butter with Salmonella positive test results where shown to be knowingly shipped ...
  • Have a Very Marler Christmas
    Only in a law firm that represents victims of food poisoning would there be a Christmas Tree with stuffed Salmonella and E. coli as ornaments. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy holiday season.
  • Does the Meat Industry and the USDA and FSIS Ever ...
    In 2008 we saw this shocking video of the use of "downer cows" in the food supply at a company that supplied the meat into the food supply broadly (143,000,000 pounds eventually recalled) and the school lunch program specifically. Now, more video today?  This time it is "dower pigs."  So, where ...
  • Bacillus cereus - Unilever Conducts Nationwide Vol ...
    Unilever United States, Inc., in cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is conducting a nationwide voluntary recall of all Slim-Fast® ready-to-drink (RTD) products in cans, due to the possibility of contamination with Bacillus cereus , a micro-organism, which may cause diarrh ...

AutoblogGreen

  • AutoblogGreen for 12.10.09
    COP15: Brazil says ethanol is "the only real alternative" to fossil fuels Should the rest of the world follow Brazil's lead? REPORT: Tesla goes from competitor to demonstrator in Automotive X Prize ...
  • AutoblogGreen for 12.09.09
    GM dealers tired of hearing about 2011 Chevrolet Volt? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? LA 2009: Ford Focus BEV update These might be the most in-demand Fords around. ...
  • AutoblogGreen for 12.08.09
    GM invests $336 million into Detroit plant to build Volt Step #5,453 of #7,503 to bring the car to market. EPA says green house gases endanger people, environment - and it's all our fault It' ...
  • AutoblogGreen for 12.07.09
    LA 2009: CMT-380 packs microturbine, li-ion battery into a matte black package It's one way to make a $20,000 kit car into a $375,000 project. Don't you dare: French parents criticize Renault for naming n ...
  • Et tu, Clarkson? Top Gear names Toyota Priu ...
    2010 Toyota Prius - Click above for high-res image gallery Jeremy Clarkson seems to hate anything that "greens up" or in any other way adds an "eco" label to his cars - and some environmentalists don't exactly appreciate the television host either - so it's with some amusement that we learn that ...

Rafe's Radar

Camera Obscura

  • Pathos and pathology: the cinema of Todd Haynes.
    http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-126935025/pathos-and-pathology-cinema.html September 1, 2004... Because infinity--for the eye--begins just a few meters away from the retina.... --Roger Caillois, "The Image" There are at least two shots in Todd Haynes's work that recur so frequ ...
  • The incredible shrinking star: Todd Haynes and the ...
    http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-126935026/incredible-shrinking-star-todd.html September 1, 2004... Critics have consistently characterized the films of Todd Haynes within the terms of what B. Ruby Rich described in 1992 as the "new queer cinema"--films whose style displayed traces of ...
  • Written on the screen: mediation and immersion in ...
    http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-126935031/written-screen-mediation-and.html September 1, 2004... Recently, while engaging in one of my favorite forms of procrastination--using my computer to search for mid-century modern bargains on eBay rather than using it to engage in more rigorous ...
  • Traumatic postmodern histories: Velvet Goldmine's ...
    http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-126935030/traumatic-postmodern-histories-velvet.html September 1, 2004... If modernity was characterized by and imagined itself in terms of a particular awareness of time and history--the unfolding of social, political, and technological projects of pro ...
  • Dangerous spaces: Safe.
    http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-126935029/dangerous-spaces-safe.html September 1, 2004... For me, the problem is always in content; we want to define the perspective of a film solely through its content, and not through its form. --Todd Haynes No matter how much we desire, wit ...

Democracy Now!

  • Take Me to Your Climate Leader
    COPENHAGEN—“Politicians talk, leaders act” read the sign outside the Bella Center in Copenhagen on the opening day of the United Nations climate summit. Inside the convention center, the official delegations from 192 countries, hundreds of NGOs (nongovernmental organizations)—an estimated 1 ...
  • Spanish Government Seeks to Force-Feed Western Sah ...
    Updated on Tuesday at 3:19 a.m. Last week Democracy Now! covered the story of thje Western Saharan human rights activist Aminatou Haidar . She has been on a hunger strike for three weeks since being deported against her will by Moroccan authorities occupying her homeland. Haidar, known as the “ ...
  • TARIQ ALI: “Obama’s Afghan-Pak Syndrom ...
    Tariq Ali is author of more than 20 books, including history, politics, and fiction. His most recent books are Protocols of the Elders of Sodom (2009) and The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power (2008). He is a regular contributor to The Guardian, New Left Review, and the London Rev ...
  • The Globe and Mail: Amy Goodman's border woes has ...
    The Globe and Mail: Canada Border Services Agency won’t comment on why the host of the widely syndicated radio and TV program Democracy Now had her speech checked at border Read more
  • Watch What You Tweet
    A social worker from New York City was arrested last week while in Pittsburgh for the G-20 protests, then subjected to an FBI raid this week at home—all for using Twitter. Elliot Madison faces charges of hindering apprehension or prosecution, criminal use of a communication facility and possessio ...

Farming Pathogens

  • Pigs Do Fly! Implications for Influenza
    The influenza genome is segmented. Eight pieces of single-stranded RNA encode for 11 proteins: PB2, PB1, PB1-F2, PA, HA, NP, NA, M1, M2, NS1, and NS2. The segmentation allows influenza of different subtypes infecting the same host to trade segments like card players on a Friday night. Most of the re ...
  • Breeding Influenza: The Political Virology of Offs ...
    What better way to medicate against a holiday’s genocidal origins and the hunger now swelling worldwide in the wake of a related banker-brought recession than with a bellyful of turkey, stuffing, yams, and pumpkin pie? Despite its rotten ambiguities Thanksgiving remains my favorite American holida ...
  • A Visitation of the Influenza
    In seeping through the world’s every nook and cranny, pandemics have a way of forcing themselves into our lives as a lurking presence. Even the most insular of functionaries, who typically makes his living solving problems by ignoring them, straightens up and takes notice.    As an epidemic ...
  • I Do Like Green Eggs and Ham
    Much of what we’ve addressed on this blog has focused on the epidemiological failures of industrial farming. But what of the alternatives? Can we farm in another way? Is another world possible?    It’s only since I’ve moved to the Midwest that I’ve learned that not only is that world p ...
  • Heart of Modeling
    Greed is often mistaken for humanity’s heart of darkness. Look instead to the rationalization that transforms the most rapacious pillaging into an act of benevolence. A one-ton bomb dropped on a peasant wedding party is dissembled into regret without responsibility or, baser yet, a tough love offe ...

Digg Green

Invisible Opportunity

  • The Tip of the Climategate Iceberg
    The opening days of the Copenhagen climate-change conference have been rife with denials and—dare we say it?—deniers. American delegate Jonathan Pershing said the emails and files leaked from East Anglia have helped make clear “the robustness of the science.” Talk about brazening it ou ...
  • Dumber than Dirt in a World of Hurt
    By Les Visible The world is about to turn upside down and sensitive souls are feeling this. Even the insensitive know that something is up but, for the moment, it’s not going to interfere with the NFL, tits and ass and conspicuous consumption; debt be hanged. I took a half a ton of olives in to [. ...
  • The Gore Effect strikes as the UN climate summit b ...
    By Tony Hake The United Nations Climate Change Conference  (COP15) begins today in Copenhagen, Denmark and brings together politicians and scientists from across the globe to address manmade climate change. As if on cue, the Gore Effect has struck much of the United States with record setting cold ...
  • Climategate: Gore falsifies the record
    Andrew Bolt Al Gore has studied the Climategate emails with his typically rigorous eye and dismissed them as mere piffle: Q: How damaging to your argument was the disclosure of e-mails from the Climate Research Unit at East Anglia University? A: To paraphrase Shakespeare, it’s sound and fury ...
  • ClimateGate: Global warming looking more like a ho ...
    By Nancy Pearce “The East Anglia Climatic Unit that supplies global warming data to the U.N., has been implicated in scientific fraud with: data manipulation, deletions and fabrication,” says Donald Reinhardt, a Scientific Inquiry feature writer. You can read all the unit’s hacked e-mails ...

    Insurgency Watch - Posts

  • InsurgencyWatch moving to True/Slant
    In the coming days, InsurgencyWatch will be moving to True/Slant, “an original content news network tailored to both the ‘Entrepreneurial Journalist’ and marketers who want a more effective way to engage with digital audiences.” (That’s what the official about page says.) It’s not a deci ...
  • Kerry-Lugar’s First Victim
    If true, this is total bullshit: After strong criticism on the Kerry-Lugar bill in Pakistan, the government has decided to replace Pakistan’s ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani and the announcement in this respect is expected within the next two days. There’s nothing in the bill reasonable Pa ...
  • Pakistan’s Civil War Heating Up
    In the aftermath of this weekend’s assault on the Pakistani General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the Taliban hit again in Alpuri, in the Shangla district east of Mingora in Swat. According to military sources who asked to remain anonymous because they weren’t authorized to talk to the press, a 1 ...
  • At Home with a Swat Lashkar
    I just finished up a few days in Swat and while I’m working on a story about it, I thought you might like to see a few pictures I took while there. Enjoy. Share/Save
  • FACTBOX: Uzbek militant leader killed in Pakistan ...
    Washington PostFACTBOX: Uzbek militant leader killed in PakistanReutersBy this time he is thought to have fled the region for the safe haven of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. * Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader ...Pakistan to Target Taliba...

AlterNet - DrugReporter

Twilight Earth

  • Climate Action Plan B: – An Ark on the National ...
    As the Copenhagen climate talks unfold, people will gather on the National Mall for Climate Plan B: The Ark. Related posts: International Day of Climate Action – October 24th Actions Solar Decathlon on the Mall in Washington DC Live Dispatch from the Climate Express : The IPCC is not the Univers ...
  • Cop15 – On The Streets – Day One Video
    Our friends Brandon and Steve, with America.Gov, are in Copenhagen at the COP15 Climate Talks. Check out their first On The Streets video. Related posts: Cop15 Clip Real Video – Greening the Empire State Building Cop15 Clip Reel Videos – Watch Them Here Before they Go to Copenhagen Twiligh ...
  • Twilight Earth Exclusive Cop15 Video – China You ...
    Cop15 China Youth came to Copenhagen with Chinese entrepreneur Wang Shi to show the world that they are the next generation of green-entrepreneurs. Related posts: Twilight Earth Exclusive: The Bigger Picture – Documenting Cop15 Cop15 Climate Express Dispatch – You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ ...
  • The Beef Stops Here at Sacred Heart Hospital
    At Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, if you end up in one of the beds because your burger had some super-bacteria, you’re in for a treat. Related posts: Coleman “Natural” Beef recalls 1 Million Pounds of Hamburger Inspiration from Extraordinary People: Grains of Change White ...
  • Cop15 Climate Express Dispatch – You Ain’t See ...
    Twilight Earth Cop15 Journalist Ann Danylkiw live reporting from The Climate Express. Related posts: Live Dispatch from the Climate Express : The IPCC is not the University of East Anglia Twilight Earth Exclusive: The Bigger Picture – Documenting Cop15 Cop15 Clip Real Video – Greening the E ...

Inhabitat

  • NYC Allows Bicycle Parking in Buildings While Cutt ...
    Since the beginning of December, riding your bike to work in New York City got a little easier, but riding through Brooklyn just got a little harder. On Monday, the NYC Department of Transportation and Department of Building announced that together, they would work to implement the Bicycle Access to ...
  • Live from COP15: Optimism, Hard Work and Bridging ...
    COPENHAGEN, A report from Earth2Tech — Four days deep into the Copenhagen climate negotiations a few things are clear: the glowing optimism of the opening ceremonies on Monday has faded, and now the reality of the hard work that is needed to bridge the gaping divide between developing and develope ...
  • GREEN GIFT GUIDE: Gifts That Give Back
    The holidays are a time for fun and family, but they’re also about the spirit of giving selflessly and charitably to those who are less fortunate. So this year, why not give a gift that is both meaningful and special to the recipient and gives back to a cause that is near to their heart? [...]
  • VIDEO: Inhabitat Editors Chat With You!
    WHAT’S NEXT IN GREEN TECH? WHY IS GREEN SO EXPENSIVE? WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR INHABITAT? These are the questions that you asked us back in October, as we harnessed the power of the interwebs to bring you our first live webcast where our editors discussed the future of sustainability! In case ...
  • NYC Passes Landmark Greener Greater Buildings Plan ...
    Just last night, the New York City Council voted overwhelmingly to pass the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan – a package of bills aiming to reduce New York City’s carbon emissions by almost 5%, create more than 17,000 jobs, and save New Yorkers $700 million dollars a year in energy costs (v ...

Pogue's Posts

  • Free Speech (Recognition)
    This week, I tried out Dragon Dictation, a new, free, very real app for the iPhone from Nuance.
  • What I Bought This Year
    People seem to be interested in what the consumer-tech columnist would buy for himself and his own family, so it seemed like a slam-dunk.
  • Who Pays When an iPhone Is Stolen?
    Why AT&T is - surprisingly - not in the wrong when it comes to iPhone-replacement fees.
  • Flight Track: My Personal Travel Assistant
    The travel app Flight Track is simple, useful and smarter than the airlines it keeps track of.
  • A $25 Cellphone? That's Crazy Talk.
    This week, Palm released a follow up to the Pre, a cheaper, thinner, lesser phone called the Pixi. The official price is $100 with a two-year Sprint contract, but Amazon is selling the thing for - are you sitting down? - $25.

Open Your Eyes News

  • Speak Your Mind – What Science Did and Should be ...
    The Scientist – You don’t like my ideas? Tell me to my face, please. [This is how science was done in the past. How it SHOULD be done.] I am frequently struck by the paradoxical behavior of biologists. Recently, I attended a conference on biofuel development that included a discussion of the ...
  • Australian police put ban on DNA evidence
    The Australian – POLICE forces across the country could have their DNA evidence thrown into doubt after Victoria Police discovered a systematic breakdown in how it interpreted DNA samples and warned that other jurisdictions would face the same problem. No DNA evidence will be used in criminal case ...
  • UN may curtail 400-year-old ‘freedom of the seas ...
    The Times – The 400-year-old freedom of the high seas would be lost under United Nations plans to limit environmental damage. Military forces of several nations are in discussions with conservationists over pooling surveillance resources to enforce the changes. The “freedom of the seas” ...
  • Fluoride Poisoning Implicated in Childrens Paralys ...
    Daily Times – A strange disease has spread in the coastal belt of Karachi paralysing the lower limbs and some times the arms and other body parts of the victims, the majority of whom are children. Earlier, there was an outbreak of a similar disease in Achhro Thar (White Desert) of district Sangha ...
  • New Mexico Dairy Pollution Sparks ‘Manure War’
    NPR – The picture on many milk cartons shows cows grazing on a pasture next to a country barn and a silo — but the reality is very different. More and more milk comes from confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), where large herds live in feedlots, awaiting their thrice-daily trip to the m ...

Monkey Smashes Heaven

  • Blacks, Latinos, Other Opressed Nations Are Born S ...
    Blacks, Latinos, Other Oppressed Nations are Born Stupid Say Imperialists by End Imperialism (monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com) It is widely accepted amongst scientists that “race” as a biological or genetic concept simply has no meaning; it does not exist in nature. (1) There is no single gen ...
  • 25th Anniversary of Union Carbide murders in Bhopa ...
    25th Anniversary of Union Carbide murders in Bhopal,India (monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com) Hundreds marched through the city of Bhopal, India to mark the 25th anniversary of the worst industrial accident on record. The marchers demand clean-up of their poisoned environment. In the face of the pu ...
  • Gringos should pay their eco-debt
    Gringos should pay their eco-debt (monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com) Recently, Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva or “Lula” commented on the First World and the current environmental crisis. Lula said that “gringos” should pay Amazonian countries to prevent defor ...
  • Polish reactionaries attack communist symbols
    Polish reactionaries attack communist symbols (monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com) Legislation to imprison and fine those who possess or buy communist symbols has been approved by Poland’s reactionary president Lech Kaczynski. Those who posses, purchase, or spread items or recordings containing co ...
  • Polish reactionaries attack communist symbols
    Polish reactionaries attack communist symbols (monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com) Legislation to imprison and fine those who possess or buy communist symbols has been approved by Poland’s reactionary president Lech Kaczynski. Those who posses, purchase, or spread items or recordings containing co ...

PakAlert

  • Controlling The Minds Of The Masses: How It Is Don ...
    By Giordano Bruno “Mind Control” is a loaded term, often associated with science fiction and the fantastical by people who are not aware of its very real history.  Images of Orwell’s “1984” or Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” are conjured; dystopic nightmare landscapes assumed on ...
  • Yahoo Sells All Its Users Private Email Contents t ...
    Something we have alleged since 10 years, has now come into the open with the proof of U.S. email companies spying on their users. From: Mathaba Yahoo isn’t happy that a detailed menu of the spying services it provides to “law enforcement” and spy agencies ha ...
  • The Antichrist Incorporated – A Must Read
    Let us dig down into history and find out how this system of antichrist emerged. What are the attributes of this system and how we can save ourselves and lives of others from this age of deception? I am sure that for most of you, the historical evidence revealed in the article will be shocking [...] ...
  • 5 million Indians in Dubai face imminent deportati ...
    Out of an immigrant population of 5.5 million, most are of Indian origin. A sizable portion of the GDP of the state of Karela is based on remittances from Dubai. The dream is now fast becoming a nightmare. Dubai was being built on Indian labor. Abu Dhabi next door has millions of Pakistanis-unaffec ...
  • Operation Gladio-style War Against Pakistan
    On December 7, 2009 four blasts rocked Peshawar, Lahore and Quetta. In the morning at 10 am a suicide bomber came on a rickshaw, killed at least ten people in Peshawar when he blew himself up near the courthouse located on Jail Road. Then, in the noon explosive laden taxi blasted near government off ...

ecogeek

  • Nanotech Breakthrough: Self-Cleaning Solar Panels
    Solar panels may have just become more low maintenance.  While conducting research on a cure forl Alzheimer's, scientists at Tel Aviv University ended up with a nanotech breakthrough that could mean no more worrying about keeping solar panels clean - they can clean themselves! The researchers were ...
  • Control the Climate at Your Desk, Save Energy
    Ever wish you could micromanage the heating and cooling of your workplace down to the area around your desk?  Turns out, not only would it make you more comfortable, but it would also save energy. If you've ever worked in a large office building, you know that the AC can pump so much that you're f ...
  • Going Greener by Going Bigger: Does it Work?
    Busses are greener than cars, and apartment buildings are greener than houses. But is a 747 greener than a Cessna? Is an interstate greener than Route 66? Is a 55 inch flat screen greener than a 20 inch tube television? Is a cruise ship greener than a pontoon boat? There's been some focus on goin ...
  • If You Could Ask the World Leaders Attending COP15 ...
    I'm putting a call out for your most pressing climate change questions.  CNN is broadcasting another YouTube debate, this time on climate change, live from the climate conference in Copenhagen.  CNN has asked all major environment blogs to submit a question to be asked of the leaders and activist ...
  • Oregon Wave Project Under Way
    A project to build the country's first wave power station off the coast of Oregon is finally moving forward.  Wave power company Ocean Power Technologies just signed a contract with Oregon Iron Works to start building 10 buoys, with the first one to be deployed a year from now off the coast of Ree ...

Times Online - Science

  • Google puts on its Goggles
    The days of standing in front of a landmark, wondering what it is and when it was built, or wanting to know more about a painting in a gallery than merely the artist’s name and when he or she died, are numbered.
  • How to get a flight upgrade
    From the December issue of The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
  • Christian hoteliers asked guest in hijab if she wa ...
    A pair of Christian hoteliers insulted a Muslim guest by calling her a terrorist and comparing the prophet Muhammad to a warlord, a court in Liverpool heard yesterday.
  • Giant waves draw thousands to Hawaii's beaches
    Thousands of surfers and surfing fans have converged on the beaches of Hawaii to witness some of the largest waves seen in the state in half a decade.
  • Santa special on track for New Forest
    The spirit of Christmas is descending on the New Forest with a wide range of activities at its famous and lesser-known attractions, making the national park a perfect place for festive fun — and gift shopping.

Environment _ National Geographic

drinking liberally in new milford ( with beersphere feeds )

  • Jon Stewart on Healthcare
    The Daily Show's Jon Stewart takes a look at the healthcare successes of the Democrats: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c Democratic Super Majority www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview (h/t GottaLaff :)
  • Score One For The Working Families Party in NYC
    Score two, actually... Via The Gotham Gazette, The Working Families Party , a political party that has made significant contributions to Connecticut's political landscape, has taken over New York city : Both Liu and de Blasio had the endorsement of the Working Families Party , yesterday and in th ...
  • That's Alright Obama
    A little northern humour on the bailouts in the key of "eh?" The banks may not all be solvent but the comment threads are. Deposit your thoughts below.
  • A Politician That Might Just Do What He Promises?
    A Middletown Township, Pennsylvania, politician telling you he has done nothing for the last 6 years: "Nobody does nothing better than Steve Young" H/T the Smirking Chimp and I have to wonder if this is even real? [update] Holy crap! It might just be for real and he is a Democratic candidate, a ...
  • Goin' Down The Memory Hole
    It's Tengrain Presents... So you know you should get over there and read it all!

SPL Center

  • Opening Arguments Held in Bill White Trial
    ROANOKE, VA. — Did white supremacist Bill White threaten people with whom he disagreed? Or were his outrageous comments protected speech under the First Amendment? The jury appeared to listen closely as lawyers for both sides presented opening arguments this morning in White’s trial, which began ...
  • Turner Jury Reports Deadlock, But Sent Back to Rec ...
    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Jurors were told to continue working today after they said they were divided on whether hate blogger Hal Turner is guilty of threatening judges. “We are hopelessly deadlocked,” the jury wrote in a note around 3:30 p.m. after deliberating for less than three hours. “Time will ...
  • ALIPAC Dumps Dobbs
    Lou Dobbs and Americans for Legal Immigration – ALIPAC – are divorcing, and the parting isn’t amicable. ALIPAC President William Gheen has notified supporters that his organization has withdrawn its support of Dobbs and suspended two websites promoting the former CNN showman for president. In ...
  • String of Racially-Motivated Attacks Hits Denver, ...
    All but one of 35 suspects has been arrested by Denver police in connection with a string of racially motivated beatings and robberies in the Mile-High City. Those arrested are all black males, including some juveniles. Their alleged victims were white or Latino males. Most of the suspects told pol ...
  • ‘Tea Parties Against Amnesty’ Planned in 50 Ci ...
    In 1773, American colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor to protest taxation without representation under British rule. If they were around today, the colonists might be surprised by the array of perceived ills around which their modern-day counterparts have been rallying at symbolic “tea parties ...

Rio Times

  • Flamengo Champs for Dramatic 6th Title
    By Doug Gray, Senior Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO – On a day of high tension in Rio the city’s three teams completed their individual searches for glory on Sunday afternoon, sending thousands of football fans into the streets to commemorate a truly historic season finale. Champions Flamengo lifted th ...
  • RJ-SP Rail Line Bidding Planned
    By Jaylan Boyle, Senior Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO - The Brazilian government has announced that the bidding process for the construction and operation of a high-speed rail line that will link Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Campinas is to begin. Several public seminars will be held in January, giving ci ...
  • Moving to Brazil… Easy
    By Renato Vieira, London-Brazil Advertorial RIO DE JANEIRO - Moving to another country because of work is a daunting task. The thought of leaving behind all that is familiar for a life in a country that you are not used to and where the locals may have strange customs, or worse still not speak your ...
  • Blue and Yellow, Unidos Da Tijuca
    By Bruno De Nicola, Senior Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO - “It’s a secret”, and if you want to learn what the secret it, go to Santo Cristo neighborhood to shake with samba school Unidos da Tijuca, the blue and yellow ‘gremio’ with a very special Rainha da Bateria (Drum Session Queen), Adr ...
  • Waxy’s, a New Irish Pub in Ipanema
    By Felicity Clarke, Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO - There’s good news for those who find thimbles full of weak lager an unfulfilling way to drink beer. A new pump of hair-on-your-chest Guinness is arriving in town at the latest Ipanema addition, Waxy’s Irish bar. Across the road from last ...

Common Dreams-Progressive Newswire

  • FAMM Hails Historic NJ Vote to Roll Back Mandatory ...
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 10, 2009 Families Against Mandatory Minimums Sentencing reform advocates Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) hails the historic vote by the New Jersey Senate to roll back mandatory minimum sentences and provide courts discretion when applying the New Jersey drug ...
  • POGO’s Concerns About Insurance Companies Confir ...
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 10, 2009 Project On Government Oversight (POGO) A new audit released today by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) confirms concerns raised by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) about insurance companies gaining access t ...
  • GAO: Early Termination Fees Harming Consumers
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 10, 2009 Free Press High early termination fees are a major barrier to consumer choice in the mobile phone marketplace and are preventing millions of consumers who want a new carrier from making the switch, according to a new report released on Thursday by the Governme ...
  • Liberia: Support War Crimes Prosecutions
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 10, 2009 Human Rights Watch (HRW) The Liberian government should investigate and prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Liberia's brutal armed conflicts, Human Rights Watch said today. Key international partners - including the United Nations ...
  • Lending Industry Still Fighting Mortgage Modificat ...
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 10, 2009 Common Cause As the House debates the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 this week, the lending industry continues to fight a mortgage modification provision that would allow bankruptcy judges to adjust the terms of mortgages to help strugg ...

Common Dreams-Views

  • Climate Change Conspiracy Theorists Are Today’s ...
    by Dave Lindorff When I was back in eighth grade, my science teacher, Mr. Malone, a brittle old man with a shock of white hair and a stern classroom demeanor, but a sharp sense of humor, had made a banner that ran across the top of the blackboard. It read: "If you can't measure it, it doesn't exist. ...
  • Making an American 'Impenetrable Underground Wall' ...
    by Ann Wright No doubt at the instigation of the Israeli government, the Obama administration has authorized the United States Army Corps of Engineers to design a vertical underground wall under the border between Egypt and Gaza.  read more
  • The Movement of Movements: From Resistance to Clim ...
    by Anna White Last week marked the ten-year anniversary of the “Battle of Seattle”, when tens of thousands of protesters successfully shut down the World Trade Organisation’s ministerial meetings on its opening day. Taking negotiators and the media by surprise, the mass mobilisation of diverse ...
  • The Nine Surges of Obama’s War
    by Tom Engelhardt In his Afghan “surge” speech at West Point last week, President Obama offered Americans some specifics to back up his new “way forward in Afghanistan.”  He spoke of the “additional 30,000 U.S. troops” he was sending into that country over the next six months. read more
  • It's Time to Talk About Human Rights in the Climat ...
    by Steven Freeland It is clear that climate change is having an effect on the lives of many people. Even though there may still be areas of disagreement among states, the scientific community and some politicians as to these precise effects (and the mitigating action needed), all agree that some for ...

Karl Burkart

Water Privatization

Guardian

  • Obama accepts Nobel peace prize
    President says war in Afghanistan 'just and necessary' in face of international criticism that award is at odds with US conflict Barack Obama defended America's involvement in Afghanistan as a just war as he received the Nobel peace prize in Oslo. Addressing head-on the incongruity of receiving the ...
  • Five Americans 'in Pakistan for jihad'
    Men reported to have met members of group linked to al-Qaida, but been turned down for training Five young American Muslims arrested in Pakistan met representatives of a group linked to al-Qaida and asked for training, but were turned down because they lacked references from trusted militants, accor ...
  • Bob Dylan: Christmas in the Heart
    Bob Dylan and carols is a cocktail that really shouldn't work – especially not in Latin. But Richard Williams finds himself seduced by a punk-Dickensian Santa There used to be a civilised convention among reviewers – perhaps there still is, in some sectors of the arts – that performances given ...
  • Patient satisfaction to shape hospital funding
    Burnham unveils five-year plan that will see £10bn stripped out of NHS budget Patient satisfaction will become a significant factor in hospital funding, the health secretary announced today, as the NHS faces up to the task of stripping £10bn out of its budget. Unveiling a "preventative and people- ...
  • 'King of the paparazzi' jailed for blackmail
    Fabrizio Corona found guilty of blackmailing footballers A notorious Italian photographer has been jailed for three years and eight months after trying to extort thousands of euros from celebrities in return for not selling embarrassing photos of them to gossip magazines. "King of the paparazzi" Fab ...

Diigo | Green Community

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    Free classified Ads. buy and sell pets, computers, real estate, cars, business at beatyourprice.com Comments: Free classified Ads. buy and sell pets, computers, real estate, cars, business at beatyourprice.com - alexander hampp Tags: Best , Articles , green , environment , sustainability , organic , ...
  • Green Credit Cards Committed to Environment
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Electronic Intifada

CS Monitor - News

  • October 16, 2009
    The UN Human Rights Council votes to adopt the Goldstone Report on Israel's military incursion into Gaza.
  • October 19, 2009
    Saudi Arabia is wary of terrorists, especially from neighboring states.
  • October 20, 2009
    How some TV insiders view parents and children on reality television.
  • October 21, 2009
    How African Anglicans might respond to the Vatican's offer.
  • October 23, 2009
    US-China economic relations, Microsoft and Wall Street, and September home sales.

The Wonk Room

  • After Arguing Health Debate Would ‘Waste&#82 ...
    When the Senate voted to proceed with debate on the health care reform bill, Republicans urged their colleagues to oppose the motion. The minority argued that it did not have 60 votes to change the bill and urged Democrats to “scrap” the current bill and “start over,” framing an ‘aye’ vo ...
  • Report Exposes Two-Faced Anti-Worker Voting Record ...
    Last month, twelve U.S. Senators delivered a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano attacking the Obama administration for continuing to push an agenda that contains comprehensive immigration reform during “these troubled economic times.” Twenty more of their colle ...
  • Copenhagen, Day Four: Saving Forests As The Clock ...
    The Wonk Room is reporting on the scene from Copenhagen during the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Fighting Deforestation President Barack Obama “made his first public intervention in the Copenhagen climate summit” by supporting the Norway-Brazil plan to allow rich countries to fund t ...
  • GOP Claims Consumer Protection Agency Will Regulat ...
    Last night, after a dust-up between the New Democrats and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), the House of Representatives agreed on the rules for debate of H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009. The 253-177 vote (with all Republicans voting against ...
  • New Poll: Obama Has Net Positive Favorability Amon ...
    A new survey of Israelis by the New America Foundation reveals “a very different picture from the narrative that has taken hold regarding Israeli attitudes toward President Obama and American efforts to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.” Despite repeated media reports touting a “4 percent ...

thwap's schoolyard

  • Please Read
    I first posted this excerpt from this recent post . But I think it got lost in the shuffle of the reporting on General Natynczyk's about face on whether we'd actually detained and transferred that one suspect over to his Afghan abusers. The thing is, this account of CF actions in the field [dating ...
  • Online Petition For Public Inquiry Into Torture
    Pursuant to the goal of bringing accountability and the rule of law to Canada, and starting the process of getting the harpercons into the prison cells they're inevitably going to be thrown into, Alison at Creekside has a link to an online petition for a public inquiry into torture . Please sign it ...
  • Conservatives are Scum: Part 7,049
    Richard Colvin finally got to speak . The Constipated Party of Canada is going with: "If you didn't actually see it, then nothing happened, and you're making shit up because, well, we don't know." The malingering crowd of "conservative" internet activists are out in force trying to down-play war c ...
  • Harper Fucks It Up Again ...
    In the CBC report about General Natynczyk changing his story , stephen harper madly attempts to spin the significance of this incident into something completely irrelevant: But Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the facts confirm what the government has been saying, that when the Canadian Forces see ...
  • Removed "Canada-Afghanistan Blog" from blog-roll.
    I should have listend to myself . I'm glad I didn't waste my time reading right-wing blogs, or Canadian government websites , touting all the fantastic accomplishments we've made in Afghanistan.I'm busy enough as it is, so I tend to focus on the people who've almost always been right (and when wrong ...

Financial Sense Editorials

  • Climate Crisis: Choosing Policies for a New Future ...
    by Andrew McKillop. "On December 7, some 56 leading newspapers in 45 countries took the unprecedented step of publishing a common joint editorial. The reasons for this were described by these papers as due to humanity facing a profound emergency."
  • Beware the Hin-DEBT-burg
    by Christopher Galakoutis. "A blinding affliction can be seen with the gold bugs. Make reference to a strong dollar and falling gold, and you must be a supporter of the central banks, as well as the powerful families with cross-border tentacles that stand behind them. "
  • Natural Gas Outlook 2010
    by Hans Wagner. "The outlook for natural gas remains negative as the supply of the fuel outstrips demand. This situation will remain in place throughout the 2009-2010 heating season, unless the U.S. experiences an extremely cold winter. "
  • U.S. Dollar Rises as Traders Seek Safety Against R ...
    by Brewer Futures. "The stronger Dollar led stock market investors to pare positions as traders become more averse to risk. U.S. equity markets closed sharply lower following a sell-off which began in Asia and Europe overnight and spread to the U.S. throughout the day. "
  • Market Observation: A New Wrinkle for the "January ...
    by Robert McHugh, Ph.D. "Stocks are approaching a typically Bearish seasonal time, from the last few days of December through the end of January. This new wrinkle for the "January Effect" is reason for caution. Measureable declines, several of which were significant, have started the last week of De ...

on Government Oversight

  • Mega Laser Shoots Itself in the Foot
    How much the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) actually costs has always been a bit of a mystery. (We do know that its costs estimate was $700 million when the Department of Energy (DOE)...
  • Morning Smoke: Only Four Responses to State Dept. ...
    State Department Can’t Find Supervisors for Its Guns-for-Hire [Danger Room] Document dump: Concerns with contracting oversight in Afghanistan run deep [The Cable] Defense contracts raise eyebrows [Politico] Northrop Not Expected To Walk Away From KC-X [Aviation Week] U.S. House Debates...
  • Two Ideas for "High-Value Data Sets"
    One of the new requirements under yesterday's Open Government Directive is that executive branch agencies identify and publish at least three "high-value data sets" within 45 days. Here are two data sets we'd love to see made publicly available: the...
  • Preventing Conflicts of Interest Optimizes The Pen ...
    Yesterday the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) sent a letter to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics (AT&L), Dr. Ashton B. Carter, urging him to support the intent of the recently passed Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform...
  • How about "Serious Security Idiocy?"
    Robert MacLean, the former federal air marshal who blew the whistle on a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plan to cut costs by reducing air marshal protection on long distance flights during a suicide hijacking alert, has needed a big break...

    Digital Journal

  • Is India more unstable than Pakistan?
    With world attention focused on Pakistan's struggles against the insurgencies of the Taliban and Islamist extremists, India's instability may be a larger concern.
  • Ontario Drivers Face Stiffer Fees For Driving Offe ...
    Bad drivers beware in Ontario. Ticket fees are going up in a big way starting on New Year's Day, 2010. A fine that cost you $500 today will be upped to $2,000 and a possible two-year suspension of your license as the New year rolls in.
  • Bank of Canada draws concern of government, househ ...
    The Bank of Canada forewarned debt, both government and private, could derail the nation from recovering from the global economic downturn.
  • Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto launches Upo ...
    Upopolis, an online social network for young patients in hospital launched on Monday at Toronto's Sick Kids Hospital. The network was created by Kids’ Health Links Foundation (KHLF) and is powered by TELUS.
  • House 'flipping' makes a comeback
    Flipping homes has come back in fashion just four years after the collapse of the U.S. housing bubble. Now flippers are looking at foreclosures as a way to make fast, cold hard cash.

End Homelessness | Change.org

  • Shelter Bed Shortage in NYC
    With a soaring homeless population and freezing temperatures, shelter beds are becoming a hot commodity in New York City. In fact, shelters have become so over-crowded over the past three months that homeless men and women are having to sleep on floors, benches and kitchen tables. So what is the cit ...
  • Cold Weather Crisis: How You Can Help
    This week, winter storms are ripping across the United States. It shouldn't come as a shock: cold weather is deadly when your home is outdoors. Several cities have already reported street deaths while others are scrambling to find additional shelter space. You help is desperately needed to combat th ...
  • And You Thought Dorm Living Was Bad?
    It's the home stretch... finals season! For many students -- myself included -- this means all-nighters, bottomless cups of coffee, and mounds of stress. But think you have it tough? Try pulling an all-nighter in a crowded homeless shelter. Or sleeping with your book bag under your pillow so your te ...
  • Despite Challenging Past, Hope for a Better Future
    I met Steve in Detroit. He is going through the system waiting for his turn to get housing. He says it's a process and it takes time. Steve spent 16 years in prison. He came home and started to educate himself. He now has a real estate license and is going to college to get a law degree. Even people ...
  • Where Do the Homeless Go When It's Freezing at Nig ...
    Winter always seems more acute in the beginning of the season... along with our sympathies. When the first frigid nights arrive each winter, your mind wanders to the people you see sitting on the side of the road. We inevitably ask ourselves, "Where do the homeless go on a night like this?" The answ ...

Ceasefire.ca

  • Failed Russian missile test lights up Norway
    A failed Russian missile test lit up the sky over northern Norway early Wednesday morning. The third stage of a Bulava missile, Russia’s latest generation of submarine-launched ballistic missile, malfunctioned during the test flight, causing the missile to spin out of control and creating a huge, ...
  • Pentagon’s strategy in Afghanistan explained
    NBC News has the scoop on what the new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan is intended to accomplish (see diagram above). Any resemblance to the work of the late Mark Lombardi is presumably purely coincidental.
  • Federal environment spending dwarfed by rising def ...
    A new report shows that Canada’s rising National Defence spending is $21.185 billion in 2009-2010, making Canada’s rank 13th highest in the world, and 6th highest among NATO’s 28 members, dollar for dollar. Defence analyst and author Bill Robinson says the rise in defence spending is an indica ...
  • Natynczyk reversal adds to pressure for torture in ...
    Chief of Defence Staff General Walter Natynczyk dropped a bombshell in Ottawa on Wednesday, admitting that a prisoner taken by Canadian soldiers in 2006 had in fact been in Canadian custody prior to his transfer to and subsequent severe beating by Afghan authorities.  Earlier this week, Natynczyk ...
  • CIA to expand “secret” drone attacks in Pakist ...
    The New York Times reported last week that the CIA has been given the green light to expand its “secret” drone attacks against Al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan. Under the program, Hellfire missiles are fired at targets in Pakistan from Predator drones flown remotely by CIA operators in t ...

Kevin Trudeau Show

  • Millions Dying in Third World Due To Global Warmin ...
    December 10, 2009 PrisonPlanet by Paul Joseph Watson The implementation of policies arising out of fraudulent fear-mongering and biased studies on global warming is already devastating the third world, with a doubling in food prices causing mass starvation and death – a primary reason why the clim ...
  • New Health Care Benefits Come at a Price
    December 10, 2009 San Francisco Chronicles by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul — now looking like a real possibility — should give uninsured Americans options they’ve never had before. But it won’t be a free ride. As with the Medicare prescription ...
  • Climate Deal Likely to Bear Big Price Tag
    December 10, 2009 New York Times by John M. Broder If negotiators reach an accord at the climate talks in Copenhagen it will entail profound shifts in energy production, dislocations in how and where people live, sweeping changes in agriculture and forestry and the creation of complex new markets ...
  • Gore Lies to Defend Climate Change Agenda
    December 10, 2009 Infowars by Paul Joseph Watson Having been forced to cancel his speech at the Copenhagen summit, carbon billionaire Al Gore found the time to leave the comfort of his 20 bedroom power-guzzling mansion to address the Climategate scandal, before letting loose another deluge of lies a ...
  • Climate Change Propaganda Machine
    December 10, 2009 Infowars by Paul Murdock In the last several weeks we have learned several new facts about climate change research. First, climate scientists’ motives are biased. Second, scientists actively discussed how to achieve political ends through their research. Third, and more disturbin ...

Pambazuka News

  • Guadeloupe: Demand for support for the independenc ...
    Felix Alain Flémin, secretary general of the Guadeloupe Communist Party (GCP) has called for international solidarity in support of the struggle for independence and self-determination of the people of those Caribbean islands under French colonial do...
  • Katrina victims face eviction
    Following reports of federal government plans to repossess temporary housing from Katrina victims, the US Human Rights Network - http://www.ushrnetwork.org has called for the Obama administration to reverse this decision and provide those affected with substantive directive support.
  • Extradition threat for Black Liberation activist
    As the US opens up political channels with Cuba, Black Liberation Army - http://www.thetalkingdrum.com/freedomfighters.html activist Assata Shakur faces extradition from the country where she has lived under political asylum since 1984, writes Paul Scott. While the mainstream media portrays Shakur h ...
  • Stop senate renege on black farmer compensation
    ColorOfChange.org - http://www.colorofchange.org/farmers/?id=1842-429864 is campaigning to ensure that a US senate bill to compensate black farmers in the South for discrimination gives them the money they deserve, rather than capping the total amount available at $100 million, which would only cove ...
  • Ekiti must hold free, fair elections
    The North America-based Ekiti Focus Group has strongly condemned election violence and intimidation in Nigeria’s Ekiti State, describing reported cases of ‘arson, maiming, ballot stuffing, ballot hijacking, and shooting’ as ‘barbaric acts’. In a statement the group called for ‘the releas ...

War in Context

  • How America won the Nobel Peace Prize
    How America won the Nobel Peace Prize By Paul Woodward, War in Context, December 10, 2009 Having been nominated for the peace prize after only ten days in office; having spent the previous three weeks as a president-elect who silently monitored the slaughter in Gaza; and having just assumed the role ...
  • The US cash behind extremist settlers
    The US cash behind extremist settlers By Andrew Kadi and Aaron Levitt, The Guardian, December 8, 2009 Last month, a Brooklyn-based non-profit organisation called the Hebron Fund, which supports Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied city of Hebron, held a fundraiser at the New York Mets’ stadium, ...
  • Iran accuses U.S. and Saudis of kidnapping a nucle ...
    Iran accuses U.S. and Saudis of kidnapping a nuclear scientist By Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times, December 9, 2009 Iran’s top diplomat accused the United States and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday of kidnapping one of its nuclear scientists. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters that Shah ...
  • Baghdad bombs kill 127 as Iraq vote is set
    Baghdad bombs kill 127 as Iraq vote is set By Ned Parker, Raheem Salman and Usama Redha, Los Angeles Times, December 9, 2009 As Iraqi officials prepared to announce a date for delayed national elections, car bombs detonated Tuesday at government buildings and in crowded Baghdad streets, killing at l ...
  • Hundreds of women lead protest in Afghanistan
    Hundreds of women lead protest in Afghanistan By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times, December 10, 2009 Several hundred women, many holding aloft pictures of relatives killed by drug lords or Taliban militants, held a loud but nonviolent street protest today, demanding that President Hamid Karzai purge fr ...

Watts Up With That?

  • Spencer on solar geomagnetic to earth climate conn ...
    Geomagnetic Forcing of Earth’s Cloud Cover During 2000-2008? Guest post  by Roy W. Spencer, Ph. D. I’ll admit to being a skeptic when it comes to other skeptics’ opinions on the potential effects of sunspot activity on climate. Oh, it’s all very possible I suppose, but I’ve always said Iâ ...
  • The Met Office: making a list – tries to pro ...
    Next time some irrationalist complains about a skeptic sponsored list, that includes scientists that are not climatologists, saying such lists are irrelevant, show them this. Show them also the unspoken pressure that some signers have worried about. From The Times (emphasis mine): Top scientists ral ...
  • John Coleman on the “six legged monster&#822 ...
    Guest post by John Coleman – KUSI-TV, Weather Channel Founder December 7, 2009 David and Goliath The 21st century Goliath is Global Warming. It is a powerful six-legged monster. In no order of strength, those legs are: (1) The big money climate change scientists and their powerful institutions ...
  • Send a greeting to Copenhagen Conference
    Russ Steele writes: During the UN Climate Change Conference 2009 (COP15), the Danish government invites the entire world to send their greetings to the conference. Greetings are submitted through www.greetings.cop15.dk and are composed of 150 characters of text. Here is the greeting I sent: “Ple ...
  • December 7th, 2009…a day that will live in h ...
    It will be remembered as the day the greens bombed Copenhagen with limousines. Picture updated at 12:30PM – Anthony From the Telegraph, the tale of elitist excess begins: On a normal day, Majken Friss Jorgensen, managing director of Copenhagen’s biggest limousine company, says her firm has twel ...

Mathaba - Environment

The Intelligence Daily

My AntiWar

  • Indigenous Activists March on US Embassy in Copenh ...
    Shortly before President Obama received his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, a coalition of North American indigenous groups marched to the US embassy in Copenhagen calling on Obama to stop what they described as the war on native peoples and lands waged by the US energy industry. Speakers at the protest ...
  • Citing Its Survival, Pacific Island of Tuvalu Inte ...
    The Pacific island nation of Tuvalu has taken a firm stand at the climate talks here in Copenhagen, citing its very survival as being at stake. Tuvalu is among the world’s most vulnerable to rising sea levels due to climate change. On Wednesday, Tuvalu tried to get the full conference to consider ...
  • President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize: ?The Instr ...
    President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize today in Oslo, Norway, less than two weeks after he ordered 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. In a possible attempt to avoid questions about the Afghan war, the White House has canceled the traditional press conference held by Nobel Peace Prize winners ...
  • Kumi Naidoo of Greenpeace on Obama’s Peace P ...
    Longtime South African activist Kumi Naidoo was recently appointed the new executive director of Greenpeace International. In 1986 Naidoo was forced to go underground after he was arrested for violating the apartheid government’s state of emergency regulations. He later became one of the founders ...
  • Headlines for December 10, 2009
    Obama Receives Nobel Peace Prize, Top General Predicts Rise in Afghan Violence, Rep. Kucinich Unveils Measure for AfPak Withdrawal, Obama Continues Bush-Era Rejection of Biological Weapons Inspections, US “Categorically Rejects” Climate Reparations, Island Nation Halts Copenhagen Session, Danish ...

    Rogue Government.com

  • Indiana: City Threatens $2500 Fines for Challengi ...
    Lawyer sues traffic and parking courts in Indianapolis, Indiana over threatened $2500 penalty for contesting a ticket in court.
  • Phony Populist Glenn Beck Promotes The Idea Of A ...

  • Fast-food standards for meat top those for school ...
    In the past three years, the government has provided the nation's schools with millions of pounds of beef and chicken that wouldn't meet the quality or safety standards of many fast-food restaurants, from Jack in the Box and other burger places to chicken chains such as KFC , a USA TODAY investigat ...
  • Scientists find way to block fearful memories
    U.S. researchers have found a drug-free way to block fearful memories, opening up the possibility of new treatment approaches for problems such as post traumatic stress disorder, they reported on Wednesday.
  • House panel passes college football playoff bill
    The world is going to total shit and these clowns want to get involved in the inner workings of College Football.  This is laughable.

Innovation Canada

  • i2eye with Andrew Weaver
    As a child growing up in Victoria, if Andrew Weaver had to choose between watching a hockey game or a Jacques Cousteau program, the ocean explorer won out every time. Now a professor and Canada Research Chair in Climate Modelling and Analysis at the University of Victoria, Weaver has joined a crew o ...
  • Extreme exposure
    It’s about 5°C in the chamber, and Geoff Hartley, wearing a burlap tunic and sandals, is trying with numb fingers to put small pegs in small holes. It’s just another day of chillin’ out at the Brock University lab of Stephen Cheung, a world-renowned scientist who studies the impacts of extrem ...
  • Green Growers
    Deborah Henderson likes to think about the Cuban capital of Havana when she goes in to work. Not the music or the beaches, per se, but the vegetables and the gardens. “Over 75 percent or more of the vegetables consumed in Havana are produced within the city,” claims Henderson. As the director of ...
  • Building better bridges
    (Reprinted with permission from ResearchLife, Summer 2009 issue, University of Manitoba, umanitoba.ca/research) It was 1952 when Aftab Mufti, a 12-year-old boy living in Karachi, Pakistan, began building bridges. His mother planted a vegetable garden that summer and to help her water it Aftab and hi ...
  • Viral control
    Depending on whom you ask, the H1N1 flu virus that is making its way around the globe could be anything from a particularly virulent form of influenza to the next worldwide pandemic. As virologists scramble to understand the virus and develop vaccines against it, a Halifax facility is already on the ...

Signs of the times

  • BEST OF WEB: Obama's Rejection Speech
    That was not a peace prize acceptance speech. That was an infomercial for war. President Obama took the peace prize home with him, but left behind in Oslo his praise for war, his claims for war, and his view of an alternative and more peaceful approach to the world consisting of murderous economic s ...
  • BEST OF WEB: Walled in by Myth and Deceit
    Ben Gurion "...realized that the holy book could be made into a secular national text, serve as a central repository of ancient collective imagery, help forge the hundreds of thousands of new immigrants into a unified people, and tie the younger generation to the land." - Shlomo Sand, ...
  • BEST OF WEB: Video report: Joining the tunnel digg ...
    Tania Krämer of Deutsche Welle joins the tunnel diggers in the Gaza Strip.
  • BEST OF WEB: Shocking truth about AIDS exposed on ...
    When Brent Leung started showcasing his groundbreaking new documentary film about AIDS, House of Numbers, he had no way to comprehend the wave of defamatory attacks that would be unleashed against him. Promoters of conventional AIDS theories (with all their vaccines and pharmaceuticals) have gone on ...
  • SOTT FOCUS: Connecting the Dots: Global Warming Ga ...
    The First Global Revolution, A Report by the Council of the Club of Rome (King, Schneider 1991): "The need for enemies seems to be a common historical factor. Some states have striven to overcome domestic failure and internal contradictions by blaming external enemies. The ploy of finding a scape ...

Threat Level

  • Court Rejects Request to Consolidate TJX Hacker Ca ...
    A federal judge in Massachusetts has rejected a request from U.S. attorneys to consolidate a New Jersey case against Albert Gonzalez, who has admitted hacking more than 120 million credit card numbers from Heartland Payment Systems, with two other cases against him in Massachusetts. Gonzalez, a for ...
  • Lawmakers Want to Bar Sites From Posting Sensitive ...
    Three Republican lawmakers have asked the Department of Homeland Security what can be done to bar or criminally penalize whistleblower sites that reposted a sensitive airport-screening manual that was published on the internet by a government worker. They also asked about enacting regulations that w ...
  • 5 TSA Workers Put on Leave Following Screening Man ...
    The Department of Homeland Security has placed five transportation security employees on leave following the inadvertent leak of a sensitive manual detailing security procedures for screening passengers at airports. The workers, all employees of the Transportation Security Administration, were put o ...
  • FBI: 19,000 Matches to Terrorist Screening List in ...
    United States law enforcement agents and partners reported “encounters” with suspected terrorists 55,000 times in the last year; a check against the terrorist watchlist found a match 19,000 times, according to testimony presented to the Senate on Wednesday. The statistics appeared in testimony b ...
  • VeriChip’s Merger With Credit Monitoring Firm Wo ...
    Remember VeriChip, the Florida company that once dreamed of injecting its human-implantable RFID microchips in everyone from immigrant guest workers to prison inmates? We haven’t heard much from the company since a dipping stock price nearly got it delisted from the NASDAQ in March. But it’s sti ...

PERRspectives : Blog

  • Obama Hopes to Fulfill Bush's Broken Promise on CO ...
    As the world's nations meet at the international climate summit in Copenhagen, it is worth remembering the President's promise to curb greenhouse gas emissions including carbon dioxide: "As we promote electricity and renewable energy, we will work to make our...
  • In Which Sarah Palin Learns About War Taxes
    Among the qualities that uniquely define Sarah Palin is that she doesn't know what she doesn't know. But as her confusion about the First Amendment or Alaska's energy production showed, Palin's ignorance of a subject is no barrier to her...
  • Orrin Hatch: New GOP Majority the Solution to Repu ...
    From 2001 through 2008, what Thomas Frank deemed the Republican "wrecking crew" essentially demolished U.S. prosperity and the American dream. For the eight years George W. Bush presided in the White House and the six that the GOP controlled Congress,...
  • Republicans Warn of Health Care Gulags and Ghettoe ...
    For the Republican Party, the only thing worse than lower income Americans not having access to health insurance is having it. That's the conclusion of Texas GOP Senator John Cornyn, who on Sunday deemed the popular Medicaid program that serves...
  • Michael Moore's Afghanistan Letter Rewrites Histor ...
    Promoting his latest film earlier this year, Michael Moore ignored the achievements of the Progressive movement and the New Deal when he declared, "capitalism is evil and you can't regulate evil." Now on the eve of President Obama's address to...

Blackspot News Feed

  • Links for 2009-12-09
    Open the Future: A Cold War Over Warming"What happens if global efforts to set and abide by strong carbon emissions cuts fail? The standard answer to a question like this is that "we all suffer." While that's probably true, it misses the point — we may all suffer, but we don't all suffer equally." ...
  • Comcast-NBC Behemoth: What Will Obama Do About Med ...
    The question -- as it always is -- will be which side is the administration on: its corporate donors or its campaign promises?
  • The Ministry Of Space
    Well, probably not that Ministry Of Space. But: Britain is to get its own space agency more than 40 years after the Apollo project landed the first astronauts on the moon. The agency will come into being next year and replaces the existing British National Space Centre as a single co-ordinating orga ...
  • Transforming the Rust-Belt into a Green Belt
    How do you rebuild Allentown for the 21st Century?
  • Nelson Proposes War Bonds to Fund Wars
    Working to help fund ongoing wars without sharp tax increases or increased foreign borrowing has led Nebraska's Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) to introduce a new measure Tuesday: the US War Bonds Act of 2009. The legislation would authorize the Treasury to issue and market War Bonds to the American pe ...

Consortium News

  • Why Journalist Gary Webb Died
    On the fifth anniversary of journalist Gary Webb's suicide, his death sheds light on how the U.S. media failed, says Robert Parry. December 9, 2009
  • Pinochet's Mad Scientist
    From the Archive: Chile's Pinochet dictatorship stands accused of killing a rival with poisons, a mystery with deep roots. By Samuel Blixen.
  • Gates Dissembles on Afghan History
    Defense Secretary Robert Gates misled reporters on what happened after the Soviets left Afghanistan in 1989, says Robert Parry. December 8, 2009
  • Ray McGovern's Letter to Bob Parry
    Ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern gives journalist Robert Parry some advice about life's lessons on discouragement vs. disgust. December 7, 2009
  • The Afghan Ambush
    By escalating the Afghan War, President Obama is marching into both a military and political ambush, warns Michael Winship. December 5, 2009

CounterPunch

Institute for Middle East Understanding

Water - AlterNet

TruthHugger

  • Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round Up Dec 7, ...
    Once again it’s time for the Texas Progressive Alliance to bring you the highlights from the blogs. Power to the People! Head over to Texas Vox to learn more about the Fair Elections Now Act. Xanthippas at Three Wise Men airs out some thoughts on the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, and some ...
  • I’m Sick Of War
    As I listen to Obama’s speech to increase troops in Afghanistan, all I can think of is, the US has been in some kind of war my entire life. Just so you know, I was born between the Korean War and the Vietnam War.  Afghanistan and Iraq are similar; expensive, causing unnecessary loss of life [... ...
  • furlough programs, commutations and pardons BACKLA ...
    Maurice Clemmons was a mentally unstable felon. Where was his follow up? Where was his parole officer? Where was the mental health infrastructure that could have defused this violent explosion?
  • Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round Up Nov 30, ...
    The Texas Progressive Alliance welcomes everyone back from the Thanksgiving Holiday with these highlights from the blogs. TXsharon has arranged by area 60 TCEQ fugitive emission videos obtained via the Texas Public Information Act. The videos were taken throughout the Barnett Shale area using a GasF ...
  • How Serious is Road Rage Anyway?
    The psychological meltdown in America is becoming epidemic. Man Gets 120 Days for Shooting Cyclist in the Head   related articles: 6 Ways to Reduce Your Chances of Getting Doored CORONA, Calif.—Police say road rage may have led to a fatal shooting near a freeway in Corona.

Dandelion Salad - Featured Writers' Posts

Unexplained Mysteries

Grassroots

  • The Casualties of Development
    MarianoAbarcaChicomuselo.jpg As one of the articles today in the German newspaper In Spiegel points out, the conference in Copenhagen around climate change is largely defined by wish-washy intentions and the introduction (or redefinition) new ...
  • Changes in farm policies needed to reduce climate ...
    how_many_species.gif I have had the privilege of being the point person for Grassroots International on our U.S-based advocacy work on food and farm policy issues. A large part of this work is done in conjunction with our allies in the US Work ...
  • A militarized regime in Honduras continues, Via Ca ...
    amp-soldados-hondurenos-atacan-manifestacion-2009-06-28-13976.jpg Paraphrasing Lisa Sullivan, School of the Americas Watch Latin America coordinator, the Honduran election last Sunday is another case of political ‘whitewash’ in the America ...
  • Insights - Fall 2009
    Cooling the Earth with Food Sovereignty Agriculture ... will likely be a pivotal issue when the world’s leaders meet in Copenhagen this December to finish negotiating a global climate treaty. Grassroots International and our partners and allies are working hard to show that sustainable agriculture ...
  • Cooling the Earth with Food Sovereignty
    Agriculture ... will likely be a pivotal issue when the world’s leaders meet in Copenhagen this December to finish negotiating a global climate treaty. Grassroots International and our partners and allies are working hard to show that sustainable agriculture can play a big role in stopping climate ...

Climate

  • December 10, 2009
    US: No Climate ‘Reparations’ (Reuters) President Barack Obama's top aides firmly stated the United States does not owe the world "reparations" for centuries of carbon pollution. Chief negotiator Todd Stern also made clear that China would not be getting any money from Washington. Cracks A ...
  • December 9, 2009
    4 Nations to Propose Green Fund to Break Talks' Deadlock (Reuters) Britain, Australia, Mexico and Norway plan to propose a "green fund" today to try to break deadlock on ways to raise and manage billions of dollars for developing countries' adaptation and mitigation to climate change, delegates ...
  • December 8, 2009
    EU Raises Stakes on Emissions Reductions (Financial Times) The European Union withdrew an offer to increase its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target on Monday because it said similar offers made by many nations in the past month were inadequate to prevent significant climate change. UN: 20 ...
  • December 7, 2009
    Climate Conference Opens in Copenhagen (AP) The largest and most important U.N. climate change conference in history opened today, with organizers warning diplomats from 192 nations that this could be the best, last chance for a deal to protect the world from calamitous global warming. India ...
  • December 5-6, 2009
    EPA Poised to Declare CO2 a Public Danger (Wall Street Journal) The EPA will early this week, possibly as soon as Monday, officially declare CO2 a public danger, a move that could give the U.S. negotiating leverage in Copenhagen. Renewables to Supply One-Third China's Energy by 2050 (Reuters) ...

TomDispatch

  • Tomgram: 'This Administration Ended, Rather Than ...
    [ Note for TomDispatch Readers: On Friday evening, TomDispatch will be switching to an updated version of this site. It's possible that you might not be able to reach TD for some hours. If so, we expect to be back up on Saturday morning. Tom ] The Afghan Speech Obama Should Give (But Won't) ...
  • Tomgram: Pratap Chatterjee, Afghanistan as a Patr ...
    It's now a commonplace of the Afghan War. Western leaders in London , Berlin, Amsterdam , and Washington , as well as on flying visits to Kabul or even Kandahar , excoriate Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the "corruption" of his government. In return for their ongoing support, they repeatedly ...
  • Tomgram: Max Blumenthal, How Palin Became a Rogue
    It can't get better than this, can it? A first printing of 1.5 million copies sent out into an otherwise dead book market. Possibly as much as $7 million dollars going to the author, who already has interviews lined up with Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters. A bus tour of the "real America" tha ...
  • Tomgram: Alfred McCoy, Surveillance State, U.S.A.
    Wars come home in strange, unnerving ways -- as Americans have just discovered at Fort Hood. Even before Major Nidal Malik Hasan went on his killing spree, that base, a major military embarkation point for our war zones, was already experiencing the after-effects of eight years of war and repeate ...
  • Tomgram: Droning On
    [ Note for TomDispatch Readers : A number of you have recently written in for clarification on contributing to this site through your purchases at Amazon.com. Here's my best shot at a useful explanation: If you click on any book image at this site -- like the book-cover image of The End of Vict ...

Smirking Chimp

  • Cheney for President?
    A Washington-based lawyer and former political director for the Log Cabin Republicans named Christopher Barron filed papers last week to launch a group called "Draft Cheney 2012." The group now has a web site where you can sign on to try and convince the former vice president to jump into the presid ...
  • Obama Sends Predator Drone to Pick Up Nobel Peace ...
    OSLO, NORWAY (The Borowitz Report) - Responding to criticism about his receiving this year's Nobel Peace Prize, President Barack Obama today sent an unmanned predator drone to Norway to pick up the prize for him. Mr. Obama's decision to have an unmanned bomber plane accept the Peace Prize raised eye ...
  • Climate Change Conspiracy Theorists are Today's Fl ...
    When I was back in eighth grade, my science teacher, Mr. Malone, a brittle old man with a shock of white hair and a stern classroom demeanor, but a sharp sense of humor, had made a banner that ran across the top of the blackboard. It read: "If you can't measure it, it doesn't exist." I used to ponde ...
  • The Demoralized Democratic Base
    The Associated Press is insisting that Americans don't give a shit about President Obama's Afghanistan War escalation. An outlier poll from CNN goes even father, asserting that Americans actually love the idea of intensifying the war. So maybe it's true -- maybe President Obama and Democrats won't f ...
  • How to Escalate in Afghanistan: The Nine Surges of ...
    — from TomDispatch In his Afghan “surge” speech at West Point last week, President Obama offered Americans some specifics to back up his new “way forward in Afghanistan.”  He spoke of the “additional 30,000 U.S. troops” he was sending into that country over the next six months.  He br ...

Ten Percent

  • The True Face Of Change
    While some satirical situationist happening goes on in Norway that affirms War Is Peace I present to you (ht2 Otto) the true face of change- Bolivian President Evo Morales’ 10 commandments to save the planet, life and humanity: 1-Acabar con el sistema capitalista 1-Stopping the capitalist syste ...
  • Amnesty Int. On Post-Election Iran
    Human rights violations in Iran are now as bad as at any time in the past 20 years, Amnesty International said today (10 December) in a new report six months on from June’s presidential election. Amnesty’s report describes patterns of abuse before, during and, particularly, after the June elect ...
  • Nobel Prize For Comedy Maybe
    (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will frame the war in Afghanistan as part of a wider pursuit for peace when he accepts the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Thursday, a U.S. official said.
  • Obama Fail
    Healthcare
  • Survival Of The Kindest
    (ht2 Naj) ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2009) — Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are challenging long-held beliefs that human beings are wired to be selfish. In a wide range of studies, social scientists are amassing a growing body of evidence to show we are evolving to become more c ...

Paul Krugman

No Quarter

  • Harry’s Imaginary Friends & His Dangerously Flaw ...
    Have you ever seen a group of politicians as frenzied as majority leader Harry Reid and his minions in the U.S. Senate? Why, Harry Reid is so desperate that he is touting imagined unanimity among his brethren despite the actual serious reservations held by many wary Democrats. Have you ever witness ...
  • Bubbles’ Troubles
    Too Big To Fail. POTUS’s routine, meandering, too-big-to-fail speech to Brookings this news cycle is like an exhibition game to a home-court audience during a break in the long season, and he contributed no more than a video moment to the well-known facts that the jobless number is at 10% an ...
  • Human Rights Day, December 10th
    Today is Human Rights Day. What better time to listen to one of the Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century, Hillary Clinton’s powerful, moving speech on Human Rights in China: Yes, indeed this incredible speech definitely is in the Top 100. Amazing – Hillary Clinton is simply amazing. I still ...
  • An Evening With Kathleen Battle *Open Thread*
    Some of you may recall how I ruined my partner’s Solstice present for me, one she had planned for some time, back in September. I had gotten a flyer from the Charleston Concert Series in the mail, and behold, my favorite opera singer, Kathleen Battle was coming to Charleston. Turns out, my partn ...
  • Barack Obama, General Disaster?
    This is mind boggling. This defines a level of incompetence that is genuinely frightening. What is “this?” News from earlier this week that on 8 October, while General McChrystal was briefing Barack Obama, Joe Biden and National Security Advisor Jim Jones on the “CONOPS” (i.e., the Concep ...

Environmental Graffiti

Foreign Policy in Focus

Global Elite

Al Jazeera

Green Inc. - NYT

  • Judge Halts Wind Farm Over Bats
    A federal judge's ruling that stopped construction of a West Virginia wind farm to protect an endangered bat underscores the growing conflicts between green energy and imperiled wildlife.
  • Europol: $7.4 Billion Lost from Carbon Trading Fra ...
    The European Union's law enforcement arm against organized crime announced on Wednesday that four member countries have changed their tax codes to protect against emissions trading fraud.
  • $1.4 Billion Oregon Wind Deal Announced
    General Electric will supply wind turbines to what it says will be the nation's wind farm, in a deal announced on Tuesday.
  • How Generous Is the European Union's Offer?
    Environmental group WWF warns Europe that its current ambitions are not much different than those of the United States.
  • Tallying Copenhagen's Carbon Footprint
    Despite efforts by organizers to green the conference by relying on items like bicycles and tap water, the Danish government has estimated the conference will generate about 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Dot Earth News

Doug Feith : Hong Pong

  • Inline doc help via wiki? Usability & design unity ...
    I had a half inspired idear for something phrased in all seriousness as "wikified micro-documentation" . Credits due mainly to thinking about the nice work people in Drupal usability group & #D7UX. (If I could somehow turn this into a flame war about the function of UNIX Man pages=a win). Also the ...
  • Titanium nanoparticle pollution cancer link; Morge ...
    It was just another day in Switzerland during Late Capitalism. The beloved World Trade Organization, having already helped bring about a huge collapse in global trade, decided they should have a meeting somewhere widely thought of as really rich and white. It's been ten years since wily bad kids an ...
  • New for HongPong.com: Drupal 6 a win?
    It's been a long time in coming, but now we've got Drupal 6 running on hongpong.com . The database patching and everything else went perfectly. I've installed the 'Fusion' theme and have just started tweaking it up (please be patient for more tweaks... ) I whipped up a silly new banner featuring And ...
  • Drupal 6 a win?
    Andrew Jackson vs teh octopus is ok Still a mess At least it's not Wordpress Still Confusing :-P FTW!! Voting is implied consent - boo
  • PETA sucks, but Lady Gaga and Rihanna are pawns fo ...
    PETA is a deeply bad organization which attempts to vanguard around some edgy cultural iconography and save some animals, which all basically translates to trashy soft-core porn style imagery. Because what we all need is a certain "Girls Gone Wild" edge to social progress. This is a very good analys ...

Daily Censored

  • “War or Peace President?”
    In President Obama’s acceptance of his Nobel Peace Prize, he defended the use of military force on humanitarian grounds, to preserve peace. He spoke of a “just war.” I remember a “just war.”  It was to stop Hitler and his genocidal takeover of Europe.  This is nothing li ...
  • The Struggle for Public Education
    Recently, Scott Lay, President and Chief Executive Officer Orange Coast College ‘94, a community college in California, spoke with the Academic Senate President Jane Patton about governance in these difficult times to trustees, administrators, faculty, staff and students at Delta College in Stockt ...
  • The Celebration Went Unnoticed – Big Leftist Win ...
    Michael Collins Uruguay’s left wing political coalition, the Broad Front party (Frente Amplio), retained control of the presidency in the November elections.  This wasn’t just any election.  The winner, flower farmer Jose “Pepe” Mujica, was the victim of imprisonment and torture durin ...
  • Can Obama Succeed in Afghanistan?
    In a major foreign policy speech on Tuesday, US President Obama announced the sending of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. The fact that he gave the speech at West Point military academy, the single most prestigious US military academy, was significant. As the chief arbiter and representative ...
  • State [of] Affairs
    I have been reading this crap about Desiree Rogers.  This is wrong.   What I am reading.  Then I realized I shouldn’t be reading this stuff about her.  No one should.  She is the Social Secretary for the White House.  I believe it is her job to plan social events.  I believe it is her [...]

AlterNet's Breaking News

Institute for Policy Studies

Godspace

  • Second Thursday of Advent – Finding The Chri ...
    Tom and I are heading out to Anacortes this morning for our annual Advent retreat time when we reflect and refocus our lives.  I hope to get another post up later in the day but that may not be possible. This morning’s post comes from James Prescott from Epsom, south west of central London. Jam ...
  • Second Wednesday of Advent – Advent Waiting ...
    This second reflection for today comes from Andrew Wade who lives in Hood river Oregon.  It was originally written for St Nicholas Day but makes a beautiful contribution to our What Are We Waiting for This Advent series Advent eyes straining to see dim light, dark glass, confusion God’s future ...
  • Second Wednesday of Advent – More Great Reso ...
    One of my challenges during the Advent season is which devotional to use and which scripture series to follow.  This year I have had so many options that I have tended to go from one to another.  Which is probably not good as this is the season that sets the pattern for the coming year. To [...]
  • Second Wednesday of Advent – What Does Copen ...
    There is much that I want to share this morning as we race through the second week of Advent.  There are so many resources I want to make you aware of and so many Advent reflections I want to post that I hope you will forgive me if this is a day of many posts. First [...]
  • An Australian Christmas Carol
    Posting about Advent Down Under this morning made me think of this wonderful Christmas carol – in case you have ever wondered about how Santa Claus copes when he makes it down to Australia

Equality Trust

  • Levelling the bankers' bonuses
    Read a letter by Malcolm Clark, Director of the One Society Campaign in today's Guardian, about the positives for bankers of losing their bonuses. Peter Preston (The rewards of banking, 7 December) has a point: bankers are human too. Most of them want exactly the same as us: a decent quality of life ...
  • Dr Lynne Friedli on the impact of inequality on me ...
    Dr Lynne Friedli talks about the impact of inequality on mental health, in a discussion with John Humphrys on the Today Programme - scroll down to 07.33 Listen to the discussion
  • Plans to force banks to reveal millionaire staff
    Banks will be forced to reveal how many of their staff earn more than one million pounds a year, under recommended reforms of the financial sector to be released today. Read more
  • To tackle child poverty we must also address inequ ...
    Kate Green, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group , writes for the TUC's Touchstone blog that "if we are to take seriously the issues of child poverty and child wellbeing then we need to tackle the high levels of inequality in this country." Read the rest of Kate's article
  • We need tax reform, not tax and spend
    Over the last year we have watched as a bank-induced credit crunch morphed into debate on public services cuts. While the public have bailed out the bankers, whose flawed system led us into this mess, it is those least able to afford it who are facing the reality of having their pay and benefits fro ...

IntelNews

  • Suspects arrested for 1981 poisoning of Chilean ex ...
    A Chilean judge this week charged several people connected with the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, of complicity in the 1981 murder by poisoning of former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalva.
  • News you may have missed #0213
    Pakistan militants target spy agency (again). Thailand angry after Cambodia jails alleged spy.
  • Controversial Israel-Russia drone deal includes se ...
    I have written before on this blog about a controversial $53 million agreement between Russia and Israel to provide Moscow with Israeli-made intelligence-gathering drones. The agreement, revealed last April, marked Israel's first-ever sale of military systems to Russia, as well as Moscow’s first k ...
  • News you may have missed #0212
    Government investigator gets US passports using fake names. Documents on Argentina's Operation MEXICO declassified. Mistrial declared in the trial of FBI informant Hal Turner.
  • Former MI6 head testifies in UK Iraq War commissio ...
    Sir John Scarlett, who until recently headed MI6, Britain’s foremost external spy agency, chaired the country’s Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) in the run-up to the Iraq War. He was therefore in charge of an influential government report, produced in September 2002, which argued that Iraq’s ...

After Downing Street.org

  • Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone Reports on Obama's Ec ...
    read more
  • Mr. President, War Is Not Peace
    Mr. President, War Is Not Peace By Norman Solomon Eloquence in Oslo cannot change the realities of war. As President Obama neared the close of his Nobel address, he called for “the continued expansion of our moral imagination.” Yet his speech was tightly circumscribed by the policies ...
  • Deceptive Progressive Call for Support of Obama's ...
    Deceptive Progressive Call for Support of Obama's War By Bruce Gagnon | Organizing Notes | December 2, 2009 This morning I got an email from a friend who tipped me off to a conference call for "progressives" to discuss Obama's Afghanistan speech last night. The call announcement included this: "The ...
  • Obama: Peace Requires Responsibility

  • A Fearful Price
    A Fearful Price By Bob Herbert | NY Times | Submitted by Michael Munk | www.MichaelMunk.com The reason it is so easy for the U.S. to declare wars, and to continue fighting year after year after year, is because so few Americans feel the actual pain of those wars. We’ve been fighting in Iraq and ...

Grist - News

  • Soros pitches idea of $100 billion climate fund
    by Agence France-Presse George SorosPhoto: New America FoundationCOPENHAGEN -- Financier George Soros unveiled a plan Thursday at the United Nations climate talks to free up to $100 billion for poor countries to combat climate change and cope with its impacts. The funds could be made available imme ...
  • Battle over treaty texts looms at U.N. climate tal ...
    by Agence France-Presse COPENHAGEN -- Blocs of countries pitched competing visions for a deal at the U.N. climate talks on Thursday as the early arrival of environment ministers stoked pressure for an outcome. But more problems marred the marathon negotiations, as efforts to chisel out consensus wa ...
  • British experts defend climate data after email le ...
    by Agence France-Presse LONDON - More than 1,700 British scientists have signed a petition insisting that global warming is human-made, a spokesman said Thursday after leaked emails sparked a row over the science behind climate change. The emails, intercepted from scientists at Britain's University ...
  • No climate action, no peace, says Obama in Nobel s ...
    by Russ Walker President Obama delivers his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. Photo: Nobelprize.org In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo today, President Obama touched briefly on the issue of climate change, lumping it in with a laundry list of "soft" issues like economic security, food se ...
  • Cracks show in developing bloc on third day of cli ...
    by Agence France-Presse COPENHAGEN -- The first cracks appeared among developing countries at the U.N. climate talks on Wednesday, revealing divisions between emerging giants and nations most exposed to the ravages of global warming. Tensions surfaced despite efforts to restore calm to the 12 day n ...

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Time - Top Stories

Washington Independent

  • ‘Some Of Us Will Pretend to Die From Our Unt ...
    Here, via Jim Newell, is a striking example of the Tea Party movement grabbing and appropriating a tactic of the anti-war movement: On Tuesday, December 15 at 8:45 AM thousands of us will meet in Washington, DC at the fountain in Upper Senate Park. From there we will march to the Senate offices, go ...
  • A Nobel Clue to How Obama Will Deal With Iran Next ...
    Time is almost up for the Obama administration’s “dual-tracked” approach to Iran. As the Islamic Republic keeps rejecting the administration’s diplomatic outreach and moving forward with its nuclear program, the administration is primed to turn to the U.N. Security Council early next year to ...
  • Court Holds DOJ in Contempt for Failing to Videota ...
    In an unusual move by a federal district court, Judge Gladys Kessler of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., today issued an order (PDF) holding the government in contempt of court for failing to videotape the testimony of a Guantanamo detainee last summer. Mohammed Al-Adahi testified in Jun ...
  • Clinton Feared Running Against Cheney
    A fascinating tidbit from Taylor Branch’s history of the 42nd president’s term in office, “The Clinton Tapes,” drawn out in this review by Matthew Cooper: Who did Bill Clinton think would be the strongest Republican candidate against him in 1996? The surprising answer: Dick Cheney. Branch do ...
  • Tripartisan Climate Bill Begins to Take Form
    Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) just held a press conference to outline the broad strokes of the climate bill they will soon introduce. Details were scarce, but the renewed statement of commitment by the three senators represents serious progress over ...

CowBoss' Brain Food

  • Tax those carbon gluttons
    LEMME TELL YOU about a carbon tax you’re gonna love. Two such taxes, actually. I tell you, kid, Stephane Dion had the right idea, but the wrong sales pitch. The fun starts with the government giving you maybe $2,000 as a carbon dividend. Submitted by cowboss Left CareII to Society & Culture  |  ...
  • Why do we hate? Academics seek answer in new field
    Hate is everywhere, but the fundamental question of why one person can hate another has never been adequately studied, contends Jim Mohr of Gonzaga University, who is developing a new academic field of hate studies. Submitted by cowboss Left CareII to Society & Culture  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comm ...
  • 'Fat for cosmetics' murder suspects arrested in Pe ...
    Four people have been arrested in Peru on suspicion of killing dozens of people in order to sell their fat and tissue for cosmetic uses in Europe. Submitted by cowboss Left CareII to Society & Culture  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  • 6 Ways Agriculture Impacts Global Warming
    Sure, agriculture provides us with the food we all eat every day. But do you know how those agricultural practices impact global warming? Turns out there's some pretty big impacts, on both the sustainable and industrial sides of the equation; employing su Submitted by cowboss Left CareII to Society ...
  • We love Butchers
    Former chef Josh Applestone and his wife, Jessica Applestone, are typical of the new butcher breed. He was a vegan, she was a one-time vegetarian when they founded Fleisher’s Grass-fed and Organic Meats in Kingston, N.Y., in 2004 Submitted by cowboss Left CareII to Society & Culture  |   Note-it! ...

Suzie-Q

  • Do Republicans Hate Medicare?
    If it wasn’t for the fact that the Washington media establishment is gamed in favor of Republicans, it’s very likely that they would have long since been relegated to nothing more than a LaRouche-style crackpot cult, handing out mimeographed pamphlets outside the post office. How else, other tha ...
  • Is Sarah Palin Stupid??
    The Irrefutable Stupidity of Sarah Palin Cenk Uygur Host of The Young Turks Huff Post- Posted: December 7, 2009 03:48 AM From time to time, I’ll get into a debate with a right-winger about whether Sarah Palin is actually stupid or if liberals are just hopelessly biased against her. They claim thi ...
  • White House Wants Torture Suit against Yoo Dismiss ...
    by Bob Egelko, The San Francisco Chronicle, Dec 8, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO – The Obama administration has asked an appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit accusing former Bush administration attorney John Yoo of authorizing the torture of a terrorism suspect, saying federal law does not allow damage claim ...
  • Climate Change Around The Globe
    Global Boiling: An Alphabet Of Nations The Wonk Room-  By Brad Johnson on Dec 8th, 2009 at 6:30 pm It’s day two of the Wonk Room’s on-the-scene coverage of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The skies are briefly blue, a reprieve from the darkness that engulfs this no ...
  • A Crucial Moment For Climate Change
    We Are Now in a Crucial Moment — It’s Time to Make a Decision Al Gore HuffPo- Posted: December 7, 2009 03:49 PM Editor’s note: This guest post was written by former Vice President Al Gore for the Hopenhagen movement. The world has arrived at a moment of decision. As long as we continue ...

Solari

  • Gifting to the Children We Love - Part I
    There is no better way to build real wealth than to find ways of raising up the children in our lives. Whether it’s the young people in our families—children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, cousins—or those in our personal networks, such as godchildren, or children in our faith—an ...
  • Money & Markets ~ Charts 12.10.09
    View this week’s chart comparisons of gold against fiat currencies, oil and the Dow. Stay tuned for our next Money & Markets segment of The Solari Report tonight, Thursday, December 10, 2009. Click here to view all charts as a pdf file. Previous Money & Markets Charts blog posts: Dec 2009 (1) / N ...
  • Community Call to Prayer
    “Don’t speak just to describe your situation; speak in order to change it.” ~Joel Osteen “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” ~Proverbs 18:21 (King James Version) Heartfelt thanks from Catherine and many blessings to all who have been praying with us. Everyone is welcome to jo ...
  • Arctic Roll
    If you know the answer, pop it on a postcard and send it to the people of Norway, where this mysterious light display baffled residents yesterday. Continue reading Anyone For Some Arctic Roll? Mystery As Spiral Blue Light Display Hovers Above Norway
  • Warren Buffett’s Favorite Chart
    By Vincent Fernando and Kamelia Angelova The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) is an economic indicator for the U.S. manufacturing sector, in blue below. It tends to be a leading indicator for future railroad shipments. This relationship makes sense since product orders generally lead to transportatio ...

Global Insights

  • Less Than a Week Away
    We encourage you to register for Awake and Aware. George Green will be a featured speaker. September 19th & 20th • Burbank, CA Click here for Tickets & Reservations  
  • The Georgia Guidestones
    On one of the highest hilltops in Elbert County, Georgia stands a huge granite monument. Engraved in eight different languages on the four giant stones that support the common capstone are 10 Guides, or commandments. That monument is alternately referred to as The Georgia Guidestones, or the Ame ...
  • The Creation
    THE CREATION (A recent message given to George Green from the "guys upstairs") We are pleased to bring understanding and clarification on what is the Creation. This is a challenge because your language of communication has not the words for describing this conception of Creation. So as not to put an ...
  • The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catas ...
    In his previous books, James Kunstler focused on the shortsighted vision of suburban planning; now he expands that view to the country's urban growth challenges and the need to drastically change our current course of auto and oil dependency. The Long Emergency is filled with history plus eye-openin ...
  • About George Green
    Dear Friends, Thank you for your interest in our catalog of unusual and informative materials. The knowledge gained will give you choices in the days ahead and lessons of discernment as the chaos increases. It is necessary for those of you who are now in the "know" so to speak, to begin to focus ...

Insurgency Watch - Newswire

  • Obama, us leaders should contemplate future of Afg ...
    BBC News Obama, us leaders should contemplate future of Afghan women Chicago Tribune Would nuclear-armed Pakistan become even more vulnerable to its own Taliban insurgency ? Will a defeat embolden America's enemies? That line of thinking must ... Vietnam syndrome has begun in Afghanistan Sri Lanka ...
  • Officials: Campus blasts perplexing - United Press ...
    Officials: Campus blasts perplexing United Press International ISLAMABAD, Pakistan , Oct. 21 (UPI) -- The International Islamic University, where bomb blasts killed at least six people, is a unique Pakistani institution ... and more »
  • Schools closed in Pakistan after bombing - GMA new ...
    Schools closed in Pakistan after bombing GMA news.tv An Associated Press reporter met three Taliban fighters Tuesday traveling in a car with darkened windows at Shaktoi, a town close to the border between ... and more »
  • An Evolving Afghan Policy - American Chronicle
    An Evolving Afghan Policy American Chronicle ... triumph for the forces of Islamic extremism, al-Qaeda would once again gain a foothold, and the return of the Taliban would likely destabilize Pakistan . ...
  • Schools close in Pakistan following university bom ...
    Schools close in Pakistan following university bombings Emirates Business 24/7 ... in Pakistan after suspected militants bombed a university close to the capital, sowing fear across the country as the army presses a major anti- Taliban ... and more »

AlterNet - Rights and Liberties

Sideways News

  • Love your leftovers
    ADVERTISING PROMOTION Christmas meals can involve a lot of thought and planning – and a lot of leftovers. We all have our time-honoured traditions for Christmas leftovers – typically the spread of cold cuts and pickles associated with Boxing Day. But there are always new ways of making spare f ...
  • Unwanted gifts cause Christmas waste
    Brits are being urged to cut back on waste, and save themselves some cash, by not buying people useless and unnecessary Christmas gifts. Research by environmental charity Green Thing highlights that £1.7 billion was spent on presents that were unopened or unwanted last Christmas, with 96% of people ...
  • Amnesty calls for action in Iran
    Human rights violations in Iran are currently as poor as at any time in the past 20 years, a new report from Amnesty International has said. The report details "patterns of abuse" by Basij militia and Revolutionary Guards before and after the disputed presidential elections which took place in June. ...
  • Cullum wows Covent Garden shoppers
    Singer Jamie Cullum offered musical relief for Christmas shoppers in Covent Garden last night with an impromptu performance in aid of homelessness charity Crisis . The jazz pianist gave a spirited performance to fans who were treated to a medley of jazz standards, Jimmy Hendrix covers and tracks fro ...
  • First dark matter particle found?
    Nobody is sure what it looks like, and even the evidence of its existence remains highly controversial. But if rumours doing the rounds on various physics blogs are to be believed, the first ever particle of dark matter - thought to make up 90% of the universe's mass - has finally been found.

Fabius Maximus

  • FM newswire for 10 December, hot articles for your ...
    This is what I found interesting, so it’s today’s broadsheet from the FM website pressroom, with several sections of hot news.  Lot’s happening in the world today, mostly either overlooked or misinterpreted by the mainstream media.  Links to interesting news and analysis Upd ...
  • Can we defeat our almost imaginary enemies?
    George Friedman describes the jihadist threat, omitting any reference to their strength or numbers, their military or financial resources.  Nor does he cite any evidence for his speculation. Next week:  an analysis of the dragon and orc threats. (While Jihadists obviously exist, unlike dragons ...
  • Stand by for the Obama implosion
    How long can President Obama administration ignore its political base? Failure to reform health care, esp after first pandering to the drug and insurance companies. Expanding the war in Afghanistan. No investigations into torture during the Bush administration. Delay in closing Guantanamo. No ef ...
  • FM newswire for 9 December, hot articles for your ...
    Today’s broadsheet from the FM website pressroom, with 7 sections of hot news.  Lot’s happening in the world today, mostly either overlooked or misinterpreted by the mainstream media.  Links to interesting news and analysis Update on the disintigration of the European Monetary ...
  • New Books, with insights about our changing world
    Here reviews of two books, each revealing much about the national defense machinery of western nations.  I recommend reading both in full. “Other People’s Mail“, Bernard Porter, London Review of Books, 19 November 2009 — Review of The Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of ...

sibeledmonds - tweets

WIRED Magazine | Science

  • New NASA Sky Mapper to Hunt Stars, Galaxies, Near- ...
    Veteran astronomer Ned Wright is already considered pretty smart. But soon he’ll be getting wise. That’s WISE as in Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the NASA spacecraft set for launch on December 11 that will provide the most comprehensive examination of the sky ever recorded in infrared ra ...
  • Mediterranean Is Scary Laboratory of Ocean Futures
    Warmed, overfished and polluted, the small Mediterranean Sea is giving scientists a look at what the future may hold for the rest of Earth’s oceans — and it’s not pretty. Beneath its surface, a transformation is taking place. Food webs are shrinking, with rich ecosystems that supported val ...
  • Saturn’s Hexagon May Be Solar System’s Coolest ...
    The Cassini spacecraft has returned the best images yet of the strange hexagonal jet stream that flows around the northern pole of Saturn. First discovered by the Voyager spacecraft in the early 1980s, the hexagon remains a beautiful mystery to astronomers, and one they’ve been waiting for anothe ...
  • Geeky Math Equation Creates Beautiful 3-D World
    > The quest by a group of math geeks to create a three-dimensional analogue for the mesmerizing Mandelbrot fractal has ended in success. They call it the Mandelbulb. The 3-D renderings were generated by applying an iterative algorithm to a sphere. The same calculation is a ...
  • Wireless Brain-to-Computer Connection Synthesizes ...
    A system that turns brain waves into FM radio signals and decodes them as sound is the first totally wireless brain-computer interface. For now, 26-year-old Erik Ramsey, left almost entirely paralyzed by a horrific car accident 10 years ago, can only express vowel sounds with the system. That’s l ...

The Progressive Realist

  • Leading Indicators: Off the Radar News Roundup
    - For the Kremlinologists out there, China's Vice Premier Xi Jingping, considered the heir apparent to President Hu Jintao, will pay official visits to Japan and South Korea next week. Xi will be the highest-ranking official to visit Tokyo since the newly elected DJP government took office. - Turkey ...
  • It’s Time for Mitchell 2.0 and the American Plan
    With much fanfare, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has unilaterally declared that Israel will temporarily freeze Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, but notably, not in East Jerusalem, for 10 months.  This gesture reminds me of the temporary truces that groups like Hamas make wh ...
  • The Conservative Strawman of Liberal Pacifism
    Via Matt Duss , Bill Kristol rubs his hands together over at the Washington Post and chuckles at the "similarities" between President Obama 's Nobel acceptance speech and the State of The Union speech Bush gave in 2002. The implication is that Obama has somehow adopted the "conservative" value that ...
  • Obama on Just War Theory
    Two interesting passages in today's Nobel acceptance speech.  First, Obama seems to endorse a right of humanitarian intervention: This becomes particularly important when the purpose of military action extends beyond self defense or the defense of one nation against an aggressor. More and more, we ...
  • Russian Soft Power
    The bad news is that Russia's latest test-launch of the Bulava sub-based nuclear-capable missile failed. It's the seventh failure out of 12 tries for the next-gen missile that's central to Russia's efforts to modernize its strike capability. The good news is that the missile, which failed in the thi ...

TAPPED - The American Prospect

  • CAIR Tipped Off The FBI.
    The Council on American-Islamic Relations has long been a bogeyman of the right . Most recently several Republican members of Congress manufactured a controversy by accusing members of CAIR who worked as interns on Capitol Hill of being part of some terrorist conspiracy, accusations that were entire ...
  • ACLU: Obama Administration Didn't Mean "Beyond Sup ...
    A small but significant tidbit from that ACLU conference call from before. Earlier this week, an anonymous administration official was quoted in the Washington Post as saying that the facility in Thompson, Illinois where detainees from Guantanamo are to be sent would be "beyond supermax." I noted ...
  • Keeping Quiet on Latin America.
    In recent Latin American conflicts, the Unites States has looked on, detached, only to weigh in at the last minute when all is said and done. Rising tensions between Venezuela and Colombia in recent months have been largely portrayed as a neighborly spat: Hugo Chavez , per usual, the main agitator, ...
  • Hard Times Revisited.
    Jackson Lears reviews two books on Dorothea Lange , Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits and Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression : In contemporary American public life, the mere mention of poverty is considered bad form. Consider some recent attempts to bring up the subje ...
  • Making Enemies in Pakistan.
    Back in July, Gen. Stanley McChrystal mandated a switch to a population-centric counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan. In practice, this means that unmanned drone attacks have all but ceased in Afghanistan and ground troops are no longer protected by air cover. As a result, unintended civilian c ...

Andy Worthington

  • Chaos and Confusion: The Return of the Military Co ...
    For anyone who has studied Guantánamo’s Military Commissions closely over the last eight years, it was obvious that their revival last week, in a supposedly new and improved form, was bound to be a disaster. First dragged out of obscurity in November 2001 by Dick Cheney and his close advisors, sp ...
  • Juan Cole On Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize: Five Thi ...
    I don’t have time to dissect how cleverly Obama’s speechwriters tried to spin a wartime President into a bearer of peace, or to explore how a promise to close Guantánamo and to ban torture doesn’t equate with holding prisoners without rights in Bagram. So here, instead, are five excellent pro ...
  • Calling Time On The Use Of Secret Evidence In The ...
    On December 1, two High Court judges, Lord Justice Laws and Mr. Justice Owen, dealt what looked like the final blows to the British government’s policies of imprisoning terror suspects without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence — or otherwise depriving them of their liberty under ...
  • Please Support My Guantánamo Work: A Fundraising ...
    Please support my work! It’s that time of the year again — three months since my last quarterly fundraising appeal. For some readers, this may be a terrible time of year to put out a request for financial assistance, but if you can help out at all it would be much appreciated. US reade ...
  • Andy Worthington Discusses Guantánamo And The Oba ...
    On Monday, I was delighted to talk again with the progressive radio show host Jeff Farias, who has been very supportive of my work, and always appears to be genuinely and almost viscerally appalled by the crimes of the Bush administration, and the difficulties in awakening the American people (even ...

Buzzflash

  • BuzzFlash Mailbag for December 10, 2009
    BUZZFLASH MAILBAG Want to join the conversation? Share your thoughts with other Mailbag readers by clicking here . You also may comment below; post articles yourself at BuzzFlash.net ; or send urls for BuzzFlash to post to: www.buzzflash.com/contact/newstip.html . Subject: "Moral Imagination"? Mr. P ...
  • Obama's 'Just War': Martin Luther King Jr. Did Not ...
    BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS by Meg White By far the favorite phrase of commentators remarking upon President Barack Obama's acceptance speech before the Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway today is the notion of a "just war." Though he did not attempt to portray the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as "just war ...
  • Dave Lindorff: Climate Change Conspiracy Theorists ...
    When I was back in eighth grade, my science teacher, Mr. Malone, a brittle old man with a shock of white hair and a stern classroom demeanor, but a sharp sense of humor, had made a banner that ran across the top of the blackboard. It read: "If you can't measure it, it doesn't exist." I used to ponde ...
  • Diane Savino Spoke with Inspiration, Honesty, and ...
    WINGS OF JUSTICE Diane Savino Gay marriage legislation passed in the New York State Assembly. Despite the passioned speech of New York State Senator Diane Savino, the legislation failed in the Senate. But Savino's speech lives on as a dynamic example of what is at stake in this fight. Too much of th ...
  • Reid Says Agreement Among Dems on HCR Has Been Rea ...
    BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT December 8th Evening News Release from the Office of Senator Harry Reid: “This has been a long journey.  We have confronted many hurdles, and tonight I believe we have overcome yet another one.   “I asked Senators Schumer and Pryor to work with some of the most moderate and ...

Glenn Greenwald - Salon

  • Supporting the ACLU
    As The New York Times reported yesterday , the ACLU this year, largely without warning, lost its single largest source of funding as a result of the financial crisis.  The loss of that individual donor, who had been contributing $20 million per year, was a major blow to the organization, "punching ...
  • Rachel Maddow's well-deserved demolition of her gu ...
    Rachel Maddow today is receiving well-deserved praise for a devastating interview she conducted last night with Richard Cohen, an "ex-homosexual" therapist who is head of the "International Healing Foundation," which purportedly helps gay people become straight.  Cohen's rancid slander against gay ...
  • Tony Blair's taxi-derived "45-minute" WMD claim
    The British are conducting an actual public investigation into the litany of false claims made by their government to justify the attack on Iraq.  Even for those who have long known it, the disclosures are underscoring just how truly criminal this deceit was : An Iraqi taxi driver may have been ...
  • My friend the president
    Over the past couple of days, Andrew Sullivan has linked to and published protests from various individuals who are quite angry that people "on the left" are being so mean to President Obama, and several of them are so upset that they have decided they are "leaving the left," whatever that might me ...
  • A new report questions "suicides" at Guantanamo
    (updated below) On the night of June 10, 2006, three Guantanamo detainees were found dead in their individual cells .  Without any autopsy or investigation, U.S. military officials proclaimed "suicide by hanging" as the cause of each death, and immediately sought to exploit the episode as pr ...

The BiPartisan Report

Sciencebase

  • Thinking about electric vehicles
    Electric vehicles reduce noise and local air pollution, such as nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and ground-level ozone, but do they simply relocate the carbon tire-tracks to fossil-fired power stations or are there benefits on the global scale? Fundamentally, an electric engine can achieve 85 t ...
  • SEVI and HIV
    Kicking off my SpectroscopyNOW ezine updates this week with an item on how NMR may have unravelled why some people are more susceptible to catching HIV than others. Then there is the MRI work that shows that for obese people BMI (body mass index) is a very poor indicator of heart disease risk based ...
  • Party tricks for scientists
    Any one of these tricks from Richard Wiseman is sure to get you dozens of swooning fans at a solstice-event party, as long as you don’t burn down the house while doing the tricks with lit matches. Classic tricks including balancing forks on a matchstick, relighting a candle without touching it, ...
  • Sciencebase blogging schedule
    This is the Sciencebase blogging schedule for the remainder of 2009: Sciencebase.com Dec 8 – Science news round-up with a spectral twist Sciencebase.com Dec 9 Electric vehicles better than hybrids? ImagingStorm.co.uk – Dec 10 Science of sepia-toned photography Sciencetext.com Dec 15 Cathartic ...
  • Swine Flu Watch
    Somehow got my family enlisted on the UK’s FluWatch program. The scheme, which has members of the public monitoring their colds, sore throats, and flu symptoms is being run by University College London with various eminent medical organisations as partners. Having been invited to join by our fami ...

change: org.

  • Congress Agrees to Fund All $50m of Social Innovat ...
    In a move sure to excite social entrepreneurs around the country, a House-Senate conference committee has agreed to fund the entire requested $50 million dollars for the first ever US Social Innovation Fund. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported about the full proceedings yesterday on their Governm ...
  • Ending Discrimination in 2010
    Today is Human Rights Day , in which the United Nations and human rights activists worldwide take a moment to recognize our on-going struggle for equal human rights. It is also a day for reflection and renewal as we continue to pursue full equality for the poor, vulnerable, displaced, abused, margin ...
  • Berkeley Mails Coat Hangers to Congress
    Oh, Berkeley. You've still got it. I admit, I doubted. Sure, you're a revolutionary in delicious crunchy food and the wearing of comfortable Birkenstocks. And there have been some choice anti-war protests . But where was the spark of your radical 60s heyday? In eight years of George Bush, I expected ...
  • Is the Church of Scientology Guilty of Human Traff ...
    Recently, increasing national attention has centered around allegations that the Church of Scientology has abused and exploited workers to the point of making them slaves. A lawsuit filed against the Church and its leader last month, claiming that the Church is guilty of human trafficking, is only t ...
  • Pastor Rick Warren Denounces Uganda's Anti-Homosex ...
    Faced with a bill in Uganda that would execute certain members of the country's LGBT population, sentence many others to lifetime jail terms, and imprison straight advocates for LGBT rights, Pastor Rick Warren has finally spoken up with a loud and clear message : Uganda, don't pass the Anti-Homosexu ...

Common Dreams -News

  • US Negotiator Rejects Climate Reparation
    COPENHAGEN, Denmark - The top U.S. envoy to climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, has rejected arguments that the United States owes reparations for contributing to global warming. The negotiator, Todd Stern, had rejected the notion before but this time his words centered on the difference between t ...
  • UK Issues New Guidance on Labelling of Food from I ...
    by Ian Black, Middle East editor, and Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem The British government has for the first time called on all supermarkets to inform customers clearly when they are buying food produced by Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The new guidance on food labelling significantly ...
  • Former Bailout Czar Signs On With Firm That Helped ...
    by Zachary Roth What a difference a day makes. read more
  • Kucinich Plans to Force Vote on US Withdrawal from ...
    by Daniel Tencer For Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Afghan President Hamid Karzai's announcement Tuesday that his country would need the US's military support for another 10 or 15 years seems to have been the last straw. The outspoken House representative says it was Karzai's statement that pro ...
  • That Unpopular Bank Bailout? Geithner Wants to Ext ...
    by Kevin G. Hall WASHINGTON - A day ahead of testimony in which he's sure to be grilled about the controversial taxpayer-funded bank bailout program, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced Wednesday that he wants to extend it into late 2010. "History suggests that exiting prematurely from p ...

Lifehacker

  • Before and After: The Wire Loom Workspace [Featur ...
    A tangle of wires under a glass desk is an eyesore times two. Since you can't escape it when you're sitting at the desk by pretending its not there, you've got to do something about it. Today's featured workspace belongs to Lifehacker reader tehdik. He was pretty happy with this workspace, save for ...
  • SimpleFit Helps You Get in Shape Without Draining ...
    Getting fit is hard enough without having to buy fancy in-home exercise equipment. Health and nutrition web site SimpleFit is loaded with info on how to eat right, lose weight, and get strong without spending a dime. This free community-based web site focuses on helping readers build muscle and get ...
  • The Key to Success: Do Stuff [Quotables]
    It goes without saying that you can't be successful if you don't do anything, but blogger Charlie Hoehn down how important failing and trying new things—even if it doesn't fit any set path—is to success. Photo by Nima Badiey . I've failed more times than I can remember. I've tried starting up s ...
  • Would You Use iTunes on the Web? [Reader Poll]
    Apple's acquired online music streaming service Lala , and "people familiar the matter" are confirming that Apple is planning on bringing a web interface to iTunes—we want to know: would you use it? Currently, Lala allows for 89-cent MP3 downloads and 10-cent stream-forever purchases (per song, th ...
  • Gadget and Gear Deals of the Day [Dealhacker]
    The word of the day is most definitely deals. We've got marked down laptops, HDTVs, portable media players, and more. Got your credit cards on ice and your money under the mattress? We've got free music, magazines, and food. Computer Gear! 17" Apple MacBook Pro (newest model MC226LL/A) for $2,199 ...

Newshoggers - AfPak

  • "Flooding The Zone" - How McChrystal Bulldozed Oba ...
    By Steve Hynd The best piece you're likley to read on how the Obama administration came to the decision to surge 40,000 extra US and allied troops in Afghanistan is by Mark Perry, writing for the Asia Times (h/t Russ Wellen). Unlike the stenographed versions in the Washington Post or New York Times, ...
  • Great Losers
    By Dave Anderson: The Security Crank points out claims that a significant portion of the entire Chechan population is supposedly in Warizistan: At some point, this kind of thing moves beyond parody. According to the reports Haji Akbar Ali Mehsud, a 55-year-old resident of Zinda village in District S ...
  • Holbrooke Blames The Allies For Afghan Mess
    By Steve Hynd In an interview with the German press (Google translation here) which isn't going to help the Obama administration win friends and influence people at NATO, Richard Holbrooke is blaming the allies to push the "we're starting from scratch, not in the ninth year" BS the White House seems ...
  • C.A.P.'s Larry Korb Goes All Out On "Wal-Mart &War ...
    By Steve Hynd Lawrence Korb, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, is scathing about the lack of investment America is apparently willing to make for its foreign adventures. Korb notes the awful cost to U.S. servicemen: 5,000 dead, 50,000 wounded, 400,000 with mental problems and a wide ...
  • Narrative vs. reality in Afghanistan
    By Gregg Carlstrom I started writing a post this morning about the incoherent military operations in Afghanistan that have followed Obama's surge announcement. I left it unfinished because I had to run to Capitol Hill for an interview about Lebanon; I came back to this tweet from Matt Yglesias, whic ...

Water Wars

WordPress | Economics

McClatchey

  • Real debate or just hot air? A primer on 'climateg ...
    WASHINGTON — People who argue that global warming is bogus say that the controversy over leaked e-mails by climate scientists proves that they're right. Their argument boils down to a claim that the 2007 international review of climate science is a fraud.
  • House financial-revamp bill hit with dozens of ame ...
    WASHINGTON — Roughly 15 months after the global financial system teetered on the brink of a cataclysmic implosion, the House of Representatives on Thursday began debating the most sweeping rewrite of financial regulation since the Great Depression.
  • Commentary: More war, more marble markers at West ...
    WEST POINT, N.Y. — Wet snow blankets the Military Academy Cemetery deep enough to discourage my usual trooping of the long, sorrowful line of headstones of those graduates who died in Vietnam.
  • Under fire, Goldman Sachs scraps cash bonuses for ...
    WASHINGTON — Bowing to intense public pressure, Goldman Sachs on Thursday scaled back plans to distribute at least $16 billion in year-end bonuses, stripping cash awards from members of its 30-person management committee in favor of restricted stock.
  • Real debate or just hot air? A primer on 'climateg ...
    WASHINGTON — People who argue that global warming is bogus say that the controversy over leaked e-mails by climate scientists proves that they're right. Their argument boils down to a claim that the 2007 international review of climate science is a fraud.

BBC - Richard Black's Earth Watch

  • COP15 Copenhagen climate summit: Day 4
    1427 CET: The rift that emerged yesterday within the developing countries bloc here grows more intriguing. A document has fallen into the BBC's hands that comes from the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) group , which brings together 49 countries with per-capita national incomes below $750 per year. ...
  • COP15 Copenhagen climate summit: Day 3
    1439 CET: So as I mentioned yesterday, I wanted to try and give you a quick look at how theUN climate conferences work - or how they don't. I'll have to do it in bite-sized chunks, otherwise I risk your sanity as well as mine. The official negotiations proceed along two "parallel tracks" that - in ...
  • COP15 Copenhagen climate summit: Day 2
    1516 CET: As the seriously obscure parts of the UN climate conference got down to business this morning, attention turned to some of the science being presented - notably, the analyses from the World Meteorological Organization and the UK Met Office that pegged the "Noughties" - the decade since 200 ...
  • COP15 Copenhagen climate summit: Day 1
    1517 CET : Despite some seductive mood music this morning, sombre notes were also sounded in the opening bars of this two-week conference. Host cities always try to give delegates a sense of their history and culture. Mercifully (I say this having sat through many), Denmark's choice was a short ...
  • Climate visions: a widening divide?
    At the UN climate summit in Copenhagen It's been two years minus just over a week since 192 governments agreed to formulate a new deal on climate change. There are now just under two weeks left before they're due to conclude it. As anyone who's employed builders will know, overruns and unantici ...

Afghanistan Sun

  • No 'Precipitous Drawdown' of US Forces i ...
    President Barack Obama sits in front of framed photos of previous Nobel Peace Prize winners during a Signing Ceremony at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, 10 Dec 2009
  • European Commission, European Union and UNICEF rea ...
    Signatories to the Declaration (from left): Dr. Hansjörg Kretschmer, Head of the European Commission Delegation to Afghanistan; Ettore Francesco Sequi, European Union Special Representative for A...
  • Obama Promises Conditions-based Afghanistan Transi ...
    By Gerry J. GilmoreAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – Any changes in U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan when security responsibility starts to transfer to the Afghans in J...
  • Army, Marines Adjust 'Reset' for Afghan ...
    By Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. CardenAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – As the U.S. military answers President Barack Obama’s order to reinforce efforts in Afghanista...
  • 16,000 troops have orders to Afghan war
    The Pentagon's top military officer says 16,000 troops have received their orders for Afghanistan since President Barack Obama announced his new war strategy.

Futurismic

  • Cutting steel with electromagnetic fields
    The bodies of vehicles need to be strong, but manufacturers also need to cut holes in them, for cable routing. Working together with a number of partners including Volkswagen, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU in Chemnitz have come up with another w ...
  • Editing memories
    Yet again, the line between science fiction and real life gets thinner, and another of our stories gains a slightly prophetic edge.  Richard Kadrey’s Twitter stream alerted me to an article at The Guardian about a therapeutic process whereby traumatic memories can be rewritten or edited in orde ...
  • The Future is the Past: Assassin’s Creed II
    ### Sometimes, there is joy to be had in simplicity… in particular, simplified history.  I know full well that the realities of the past are complex and labyrinthine.  I understand that there’s as much truth to be had in examining the way in which pre-literary societies passed down kno ...
  • Edward Willett teaches (sf-nal) typing
    Just a quickie – Canadian readers may be interested to know that occasional Futurismic blogger and freelance writer Edward Willett will be teaching an evening course in genre fiction writing at the University of Regina in March and April of next year. I’m not sure of the exact exchange rate, but ...
  • Crowdsource your plot snags: Twitter as brainstorm ...
    I expect many of the writers in Futurismic’s readership are already using Twitter to communicate with colleagues and friends across the globe… but have you considered putting it to the more practical use of getting people to help you brainstorm your plot problems? PR maven Steve Rubel points to ...

geopolitics | geoeconomics

Whistleblowers Protection Blog

  • Whistleblowing: A Get-Rich-Quick Scheme?
    I have received calls and emails asking why the NWC supports UBS whistleblower Brad Birkenfeld.  This article published on Forbes.com helps answer that question.  Mr. Birkenfeld, like countless other employees, blew the whistle because he believed it was the right thing to do.  When Mr. Birkenfel ...
  • Upcoming Training Seminar to Focus on National Sec ...
    The National Whistleblowers Legal Defense & Education Fund will host a conference call training seminar covering a number of innovative and alternative ways to successfully represent national security employees. The three presenters, Mark S. Zaid , Stephen M. Kohn , and David K. Colapinto , all seas ...
  • Indonesian activists suffer police investigation
    My counterpart in Indonesia, Emerson Yuntho, has been swept up in a flurry of police activity associated with the Third Conference of State Parties (CoSP) of the United Nation Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).  I just met Emerson last month when he visited our offices at the National Whistlebl ...
  • International Whistleblower News (November 23, 200 ...
    [Canada] MacCharles, Tonda, Richard Colvin: Portrait of a whistleblower, theStar.com , November 21, 2009. Talk to people who know Richard Colvin and a few key traits emerge. Driven, committed to Canada's mission in Afghanistan. Knows his stuff. Takes copious notes. Sociable, yet discreet. Above all, ...
  • International Whistleblower News (November 16, 200 ...
    [UK] Develin, Kate, “NHS whistleblower ‘sacked for revealing dumped x-ray scans’,” Telegraph.co.uk, November 14, 2009. Dr Otto Chan, a consultant radiologist, believes that he was labelled a troublemaker after the revelations about the Royal London. He claims that hospital bosses decided to ...

Defense and the National Interest

  • On War #323: Milestone
    William S. Lind 23 November 2009 One of the ongoing themes of this column has been gangs and the role they play in a Fourth Generation world. Here in the United States they already serve as an alternative primary loyalty (alternative to the state) for many urban young men. Gangs will likely be a m ...
  • DNI to close — update
    23 November 2009 Many thanks to everyone who wrote in.  My wife and I are deeply touched. We’ll try to find someone to at least take over the site as it is and keep the links intact.  Several people have contacted me with ideas.  In the meantime, I’ll leave everything up unless we start ...
  • DNI to close
    Probably on Monday, November 23, depending on how my travels work out. Please go ahead and download any thing you’d like to keep — I’d particularly recommend Boyd’s briefings and the 4GW manuals. I have great faith in the growing number of bloggers and commentators who cover many of the s ...
  • On War #322: What Is “Political Correctness?”
    William S. Lind 18 November 2009 In response to the killing of 13 American soldiers at Ft. Hood by an Islamic U. S. Army major, a number of senior officials have expressed their fear, not of Islam, but of a possible threat to “diversity.” “Diversity” is one of the many false gods of “Poli ...
  • What should we do with terrorists?
    Security guru Bruce Schneier has the right idea: We should treat terrorists like common criminals and give them all the benefits of true and open justice — not merely because it demonstrates our indomitability, but because it makes us all safer. Once a society starts circumventing its own laws, th ...

Science Express

  • Milky Way's super-efficient particle accelerators ...
    Thanks to a unique "ballistic study" that combines data from ESO's Very Large Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have now solved a long-standing mystery of the Milky Way's particle accelerators. They show in a paper published today on Science Express that cosmic rays from ou ...
  • Physical reality of string theory demonstrated
    String theory has come under fire in recent years. Promises have been made that have not been lived up to. Leiden (The Netherlands) theoretical physicists have now for the first time used string theory to describe a physical phenomenon. Their discovery has been reported in Science Express.
  • Research may hold key to maintaining embryonic ste ...
    In a new study that could transform embryonic stem cell (ES cell) research, scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered why mouse ES cells can be easily grown in a laboratory while other mammalian ES cells are difficult, if not impossible, to maintain.
  • Scientists discover gene mutation responsible for ...
    University of Utah researchers and their colleagues have identified the gene that is mutated in a hereditary form of a rare neuroendocrine tumor called paraganglioma (PGL). The gene, called hSDH5, is required for activation of an enzyme complex that plays a critical role in the chemical reactions th ...
  • Bcl6 gene sculpts helper T cell to boost antibody ...
    Expression of a single gene programs an immune system helper T cell that fuels rapid growth and diversification of antibodies in a cellular structure implicated in autoimmune diseases and development of B cell lymphoma, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reported toda ...

TechDirt

  • Average American Consumes 34 Gigs Of Data Per Day; ...
    This post is part of the IT Innovation series, sponsored by Sun & Intel. Read more at ITInnovation.com . Of course, the content of this post consists entirely of the thoughts and opinions of the author. There's a new study that's making the rounds, noting that the average American cons ...
  • Dilbert Explains Why Just Copying Others Is A Dumb ...
    One of the common claims that is brought up by patent system defenders when we discuss the idea of a greatly limited or eliminated patent system is that it doesn't make sense for anyone to innovate, because others will just copy them. Of course, historically we have plenty of evidence that this isn ...
  • Google And Microsoft Sued For Linking, Indirectly, ...
    Well, people have asked in the past how Google and Microsoft's search engines are really all that different from some of the file sharing search engines, and now we've finally got a lawsuit to at least explore some of that. It's not a major label, but a small indie blues label called Blues Destiny ...
  • Corey Smith Details His Experience In Becoming A M ...
    About a year ago, we wrote about the massive success of musician Corey Smith , creating not just a sustainable living as an independent musician, but a multi-million dollar operation -- built on a combination of closely connecting with his fans, using free music, touring relentlessly, working hard t ...
  • Director Of New Moon Says Jailing Of Girl For Snip ...
    While he has no official say in the matter, it is still worth noting that Chris Weitz, the director of the movie New Moon has said that he thinks it's "terribly unfair" that a 22-year-old girl was jailed and now faces felony charges because her attempt to film some of her sister's birthday celebrati ...

VacTruth

  • Dr Tenpenny Speaks on the Swine Flu Vaccine

  • Parents Continue to Support Doctor Andrew Wakefiel ...
    posted on AutismTodayOnline.com Tension mounts in the UK, as Dr Andrew Wakefield’s case, has continued behind the closed doors of the the General Medical Council, or as it is sometimes referred to,  the ‘lions den‘ for over three years.  Parents have raged, protesting openly outside the gat ...
  • What if Dr. Andrew Moulden is Right?
    . . Source: Grandinite.com All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer Some recent research on MS might prove a Canadian “quack” doctor right about one thing: That many diseases ...
  • UK Doctors Demand More Cash To Inject Under Fives ...
    . . Swine flu vaccine programme in disarray By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor Telegraph Published: 7:30AM GMT 09 Dec 2009 Children aged between six months and five years were supposed to be offered the vaccine from the middle of December. However, that is now in doubt after negotiations between ...
  • World Health Organisation ‘Mr Swine Flu’ Under ...
    By: F_William_Engdahl The Market Oracle Dec 08, 2009 – 02:08 PM The man with the nickname “Dr Flu”, Professor Albert Osterhaus, of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam Holland has been named by Dutch media researchers as the person at the center of the worldwide Swine Flu H1N1 Influenza ...

BroadSnark

  • Things You Might Have Missed
    Every once in a while somebody breaks out of the cycle of malevolence, retribution and spite that characterize our usual response to crime.  It seems a New York store owner’s compassion to his would be robber was warranted. Others are a bit more hard headed.  Police respond to their own hara ...
  • Speaking out on Israel
    Renee at Womanist Musings recently posted a blog about a repugnant incident of antisemitism at a Florida middle school.  In her post, she said: to deny the right of a Jewish home state, is certainly a desire to reduce the possibility of any form of power and or security I took issue with that stat ...
  • Liberals and Conservatives Fuel Conflict
    An incident happened at my friend’s job the other day that perfectly demonstrates why liberals and conservatives are ultimately doomed to fail in their efforts to resolve conflicts. One of the employees is a very young woman.  She’s not particularly mature.  It’s her first job.  She w ...
  • Some Things You Might Have Missed
    Db0 has a new post up on how he ended up calling himself an Anarchist.  He’s also started a meme.  I’m really looking forward to reading other stories.  Noor posted a link to her story in the comments.  You should definitely read them both. Thanks to @solidadrocks for tweeting this a ...
  • Ignoring Elites is so Elitist
    Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen at Politico wrote a story about how Obama’s White House is “working systematically to marginalize the most powerful forces behind the Republican Party.” The Heritage Foundation quoted that story and then did a fascinating little maneuver where they tried to turn “ ...

Executive Intelligence Review

Armies of Liberation

  • US Sanctions Iran Based al Qaeda, Zawahiri Promise ...
    The US Treasury Department placed financial sanctions on Saad bin Laden, thought to be in Pakistan, and three alleged al Qaeda operatives in Iran including a Yemeni. The terrorist designation Friday froze their assets within US jurisdictions and prohibits Americans from financial dealings with the ...
  • Arabian Peninsula al Qaeda groups merge
    In the face of Saudi Arabia’s success against the al Qaeda organization, many Saudi operatives have fled to the more hospitable climate in Yemen, joining others who recently arrived from Iraq, Somalia, and Pakistan. Al Qaeda in Yemen announced its merger with Saudi Arabia’s al Qaeda organization ...
  • Yemen strikes multi-faceted deals with al Qaeda
    Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh recently struck a deal with Ayman Zawahiri, and Yemen is in the process of emptying its jails of known jihadists. The Yemeni government is recruiting these established jihadists to attack its domestic enemies as it refrains from serious counter-terror measures aga ...
  • Yemen’s Multi Faceted Deals with Al Qaeda (A ...
    اليمن تعقد صفقات متعددة الوجوه مع القاعدة كتبت: جين نوفاك – فبراير/ 2009 عبدالله عبدالوهاب ...
  • Yemen’s three terror fronts
    By Jane Novak March 28, 2009 3:18 PM Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula took credit in an internet statement Friday for a pair of suicide attacks that targeted South Koreans in Yemen. A teen-aged suicide bomber killed four South Korean tourists in Shibam, Hadramout on March 15. A second terror att ...

Dark Politricks

  • Britain angers poor nations with plan to switch ca ...
    Ben Webster London Times Thursday, December 10, 2009 RELATED: Third World Under Attack From Genocidal Climate Change Policy National aid budgets dedicated to reducing global poverty would be raided to establish a “climate fund” to help developing countries to adapt to climate change, ...
  • U.S. Government Funding Research Into “Malintent ...
    Cryptogon Thursday, December 10, 2009 Future Attribute Screening Technologies: Magic 8 Ball Arts and Crafts, taken to the nth degree of absurdity and rolled up in a police state shit sandwich. Now with 25% more Grant Swindle! Enjoy your flight. Via: Alternet: This past February, the Department of ...
  • Ocean Absorption Of CO2 Not Shrinking
    Doug L. Hoffman The Resiliant Earth Thursday, December 10, 2009 Recent claims by climate change alarmists have raised the possibility that terrestrial ecosystems and particularly the oceans have started loosing part of their ability to absorb a large proportion of man-made CO2 emissions. This is ...
  • The Met Office: making a list – tries to prop up ...
    Watts Up With That Thursday, December 10, 2009 Next time some irrationalist complains about a skeptic sponsored list, that includes scientists that are not climatologists, saying such lists are irrelevant, show them this. Show them also the unspoken pressure that some signers have worried about. ...
  • Climate Depot’s Morano on Fox News talking Clima ...
    Morano warns of ‘a new form of colonialism’: ‘The white wealthy western world is telling 1.6 billion people in developing world — predominantly of color — that they have to have their economies managed, their energy managed all because of climate fears’ Marc Morano Climate Depot Thursday ...

Mathaba - Highlights

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