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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.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

16 Dec - RSS SnapShot

Feeds Update From Opit's LinkFest!* at My Opera Community
*Blog/About/ Resource Index as well as live Personalized RSS Aggregator Working Demonstration

IPS - Inter Press Services

  • CLIMATE CHANGE: Future Energy Scenario Unfavourab ...
    COPENHAGEN, Dec 16 (IPS/TerraViva) - Much of the discussion in Copenhagen has revolved around targets and deadlines for cutting carbon emissions. But a weekend seminar in the idyllic Danish island of Samsoe, titled "Future Energy," helped journalists locate the problem in the context of the w ...
  • CLIMATE CHANGE: China Reels Under a Barrage of C ...
    BEIJING, Dec 16 (IPS/TerraViva) - China is not happy. This is how one of the Chinese state-sanctioned newspapers summed up Beijing’s feelings about the week spent negotiating on climate change in the Danish capital.
  • CULTURE-TURKEY: Kurdish Directors Make 'National' ...
    DIYARBAKIR, Dec 16 (IPS) - A ban on the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party in Turkey has not deterred Kurdish filmmakers from all over the globe gathering in this southeastern city to continue their struggle for recognition through cultural means.
  • NEPAL: Widows Break Tradition - Wear Red
    KATHMANDU, Dec 16 (IPS) - Bhagwati Adhikari was a teenager when she was married off to a village boy of the same caste. Just a few years later when she was in her early 20s, she became a widow. Her husband, who worked as a security guard in Kathmandu, was murdered. Adhikari was left alone to sup ...
  • SOUTH SUDAN: Making of a Nation still Holding ...
    TORIT, southern Sudan, Dec 16 (IPS) - The five children of Mary Muwombi have grown up in the war of south Sudan. It was a harsh existence - living on the brink of death and eating whatever they could find just to survive.

Scoop - NZ

  • Planet A +
    "If you will it, it is no dream" So said climate scientist and Jim Salinger to the 2,000 people gathered in Wellington's Civic Square, ready to march to Parliament in support of climate action. Meanwhile a crowd nearly twice that size had assembled in Auckland's Albert Park for a march up Queen Stre ...
  • A few emails vs global scientific consensus: guess ...
    Like a bad smell, the theft of emails from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) hangs around the Copenhagen conference and threatens to distract people from what really needs to be discussed. Suddenly, everyone seems to be a scientific expert ready to denounce a global conspiracy but you don't have to di ...
  • 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 ...

Independent ( London )

  • Climate conference: 'Make bankers pay for deal'
    Ethiopia, one of Africa's poorest countries, last night put forward a radical multibillion-dollar plan to break the continuing deadlock at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen – which was immediately taken up by Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy.
  • Israel furious at Livni arrest warrant
    Israel yesterday reacted furiously to the news that a warrant had been issued in Britain for the arrest of its former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, warning that the move by a London court threatened bilateral relations, and issuing a threat to end official visits to Britain unless there was a chang ...
  • Woman fights ban on becoming chief
    A woman in Sierra Leone barred from running for chief of her district because of her gender has appealed for a new election and a place on the ballot.
  • F-word propels Irish MP to fame
    An Irish backbencher has been propelled into political prominence after startling the Dublin parliament by using the F-word during a debate on the budget.
  • Triangle may beat Paris skyscraper ban
    The dainty pyramid outside the Louvre museum in Paris looks set to gain a giant sister. Towering at a height of 180m, the new pyramid, known as Projet Triangle, will be nine times the size of the edifice that greets visitors to the main courtyard of the Palais du Louvre.

CASMII - Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran

  • State Department letter to Kerry outlines "serious ...
    Summary: US Congress In a previously unreported development, the State Department sent a letter to Congress Friday, obtained by The Cable, asking lawmakers to hold off moving on Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd's Iran sanctions bill until the new year. "We are entering a critical period of intense di ...
  • Blair sold Iraq on WMD, but only regime change ad ...
    Summary: The PM seems to have deployed arguments as they suited him. Our weapons inspections were telling another story source: The Guardian read more
  • Ha'aretz says U.S. officials face 'pro-Israel' b ...
    Summary: There is an amazing story in Ha'aretz today on the "pro-Israel" litmus test that determines who is permitted to serve in the United States government. Here's the sort of lede you're not likely to read in the New York Times or Washington Post source: Foreign Policy read more
  • Blair's crime of hubris
    Summary: Steele Tony Blair's boast that he would have sought to remove Saddam Hussein even if he knew Iraq's president no longer had weapons of mass destruction brings fresh evidence that he probably committed a crime in going along with George Bush's invasion. source: The Guardian read more
  • White House Slams Iran Offer of Nuclear Swap
    Summary: Tehran Reactor White House spokesmen angrily condemned Iran’s counter-offer for a third party uranium enrichment swap today, declaring that it was inconsistent with the “fair and balanced” plan sought by the US. source: AntiWar.com read more

The Daily Galaxy

  • Earth's "Krypton" Atmosphere: What You're Breathin ...
    Some scientists say that there really is something Kryptonian among us, brought to Earth by impacting objects from outer space – only it's the noble gas, not a noble hero, because there's nothing more Kryptonian than Krypton itself. A new...
  • Mapping Mars' Moons: "The Movie"
    Earth forces have sent an expedition to the Martian moon of Phobos, but to the disappointment of Doom fans there's no hell-portal in sight. What there is (and it's significantly more spectacular than an ancient video game) is an awesome...
  • The Galapagos Islands & Destruction of the World's ...
    After being a highly successful life form for 250 million years, disruptions in the biological and communication systems of coral reefs have been found to be the underlying cause of the coral bleaching and collapse of reef ecosystems around the...
  • Octopus Join Dolphins on Planet's List of Smartest ...
    One of the planet's smartest creatures just got smarter in the human playbook. Veined octopuses observed off the coast of Indonesia carried coconut shell halves under their bodies, and assembled them as necessary into shelters — a totally new discovery...
  • Discovery of the Day: The "Dark Matter Halo"
    The Hubble Space Telescope image above indicates that a huge ring of dark matter surrounding the center of galaxy cluster CL0024+17 located in Pisces. The many spectacular galaxies are part of CL0024+17 itself, typically appearing tan in color along with...

Natural News

  • FDA dupes Interpol to achieve illegal kidnapping a ...
    (NaturalNews) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today stands accused of taking part in the kidnapping and illegal extradition of a permanent resident of Ecuador, in violation of both international law and Ecuadorian law. Greg Caton, owner and operator of Alpha Omega Labs (www.AltCancer.com), an ...
  • Journalists exaggerate claims of pharmaceuticals, ...
    (NaturalNwes) Doctors and researchers are beginning to question the outlandish claims being made by the media in response to alleged breakthroughs in cancer research. In an editorial published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), several doctors expressed concern that news pieces ...
  • Ancient herbal mint remedy is effective, safe pai ...
    (NaturalNews) Brazilian mint, known to botanists by its Latin name Hyptis crenata , has long been used by traditional healers in Brazil to treat pain and discomfort from a variety of ailments, including stomach aches, fevers, flu and headaches. In fact, researchers at Newcastle University in the Uni ...
  • Many of the tallest mountains in North and South A ...
    (NaturalNews) Researchers from the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research in Spain, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Germany, and the University of Concepcion in Chile have identified the presence of high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on mountain rang ...
  • Cancer researchers announce breakthroughs in natur ...
    (NaturalNews) Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's oldest and largest organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. So when its members (comprised of cancer researchers, oncologists and other health care professionals) meet for a national confere ...

TheGallopingBeaver

  • Bears and people
    ENGLISH RUSSIA has two articles about bears and people: here and here . And I get to post this marvellous picture:
  • A Harper Break
    AN OLDER, TIRED-LOOKING DOG wandered into my yard. I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of.   He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head; he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corne ...
  • Stevie in the DMZ
    ACCORDING TO AP/CP , Wary of provocations, Stephen Harper sets foot in North Korea during DMZ visit. Just so's ya know.
  • Harper : My tar sands trumps your planet
    Harper Says Global Recovery Must Precede Environment "Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he will use Canada’s co-chairmanship of next year’s Group of 20 countries meeting to urge members to put economic recovery before efforts to protect the environment. "Without the ...
  • Dear conservatives,
    After reading Dave's post today, I have something to say to you. The military played a critical role in some of the formative years of my early manhood. I thus harbour a significant degree of affection for the institution and the people within it that is at times inconsistant with some of my other ...

Media Matters for America

  • Fox Nation, Limbaugh's website falsely claimed " ...
    A headline that appeared on Fox Nation and RushLimbaugh.com falsely claimed that President Obama ripped the " 'triumphant' attitude of [the] U.S. Military"; but in the interview The Fox Nation cited, Obama was discussing Americans' detachment from the conflict in Afghanistan and explicitly ex ...
  • Quick Fact: Rove claims House health care reform ...
    Fox News contributor Karl Rove claimed that a provision in the House version of the health care reform bill is "sort of a status quo protection" which ensures "no taxpayer funding for abortion." In fact, The New York Times has stated that the provision "reached far beyond" the Hyde Amendment, ...
  • Quick Fact: Limbaugh repeats falsehood that the be ...
    Rush Limbaugh repeated the falsehood that the benefits of health care reform "will not start for four years." In fact, Senate Democrats have summarized numerous benefits of health care reform that will "be available in the first year after enactment." From the document put forth by Senate Democrat ...
  • Fox News, right-wing media promote anti-health car ...
    Fox News personalities and its website, The Fox Nation, continued the network's pattern of right-wing advocacy by promoting the December 15 anti-health care reform "Code Red" rally, which featured a speech by Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham. Other right-wing radio hosts joined Ingraham in boost ...
  • Right-wing blogs falsely claim decline in free ma ...
    Right-wing blogs Gateway Pundit and Say Anything recently seized on an Associated Press article which reported that 20 states facing budget strains have cut back on free cancer screenings, such as mammograms, to claim that the declines followed recommendations made by the US Preventive Services ...

Global Research.ca

TPM Cafe

  • Obama, Time To Go Medieval on Lieberman
    Mr. President, So Lieberman is again saying that he'll filibuster if he doesn't get his way. This is no surprise. Whether you understand it or not, your base understands that Lieberman is driven only by his hatred of you and... President of the United States - United States - History - Obama - ...
  • A Big Miracle
    (I hadn't thought to post this again this year, but since David Brooks has tried his hand at interpreting the meaning of Chanukah, and TPM Cafe's Jim Sleeper has offered his rejoinder, I offer these thoughts from Jerusalem, which needs... Hanukkah - Jim Sleeper - Christmas - Talking Points Memo ...
  • It's Neo-conukah!
    David Brooks has taken all the fun out of Hanukah, which was already distended enough by three generations of overweening parental and commercial effort to assuage American-Jewish kids' loneliness at Christmas. But now Brooks, looking for both depth and political... Jeffrey Goldberg - United St ...
  • War, Peace, and Pragmatism
    Looking at President Obama's Nobel acceptance speech, I'm afraid I disagree with Bill Hartung (certainly his 1st graf) and Matt Yglesias on the importance of affirming the aspirational goal of eliminating war. Starting with Bill, who sees a lamentable attitude... Barack Obama - President of th ...
  • `Too many Links` errors and new reader bloggers
    We are currently experiencing a server capacity issue that affects all new signups, effectively preventing them from being able to blog. This shouldn’t affect those with existing accounts (unless you signed up recently). If you encounter a too many links... Link - Directories - Server - Twitter ...

TruthOut

  • William J. Astore | “They’re Wasted”: The Price of ...
    When I was on active duty in the military, an Army friend used to remind me: “Any day you’re not being shot at is a good Army day.”  Today’s troops, especially if they’re “boots on the ground” in Iraq and Afghanistan, don’t have enough good Army days.  Many of them are on their fourth or fifth deplo ...
  • Torture in Afghanistan: UK Court Orders Release of ...
    Reprieve, the legal action charity, the lawyers of which represent dozens of prisoners still held at Guantánamo, won a court victory on Tuesday, in the case of the British resident Shaker Aamer, which appears to draw on the organization's success in securing a judicial review in the case of another of ...
  • Lieberman Was for a Medicare Buy-In Before He Was ...
    Sen. Joe Lieberman, (I-Connecticut), has threatened to derail passage of a  health care reform bill in the Senate if the legislation includes a measure to expand Medicare to individuals beginning at age 55, a proposal Lieberman says he has long opposed. [For background, please see Truthout's report ...
  • Unrepentant "Blond Angel" 18 Others From the ESMA ...
    Buenos Aires, Argentina - It is hard to describe the dimension of the horror at Argentina's Naval Mechanic's School, known by its Spanish acronym as the ESMA. Some compare it to Dante's inferno read more
  • Joe Lieberman and the Health Care Train Wreck
    When last we heard from Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, he was throwing sand into the gears of the Democratic push for health care reform by declaring he would filibuster any legislation containing the so-called public option. "I feel so strongly about the creation of another government health in ...

Planetsave

  • Curbside Vs. Deposit and GHG Reduction
    The beverage container industry continues to fight state and national container legislation despite evidence that such laws could contribute significantly to greenhouse gas reduction while providing energy, recycling and litter control benefits. The industry says community recycling programs, which ...
  • 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, na ...
  • 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 »

Water Quality - WordPress

Public Citizen in Texas

  • Jim Boston: Living in the West with Tenaska
    I’m very impressed with this op-ed from Jim Boston, which refers to the Tenaska coal plant proposed near Sweetwater, Texas.  It was originally published Monday, December 13th in the Abilene Reporter News. Why live in West Texas when it is somewhat a hostile environment? Faced with frequent droughts ...
  • Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round Up
    TXsharon @ Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS helps you follow the money to see why Governor Perry and others want Texans to keep breathing toxic air. BossKitty at TruthHugger is proud to give a Hat Tip to Houston – Annise Parker inherits a City of Progress. The Stonewall Democrats of Denton Count ...
  • 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: How føc ...
  • 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 t ...
  • 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 relative ...

Press TV

Axis of Logic

They Gave Us a Republic

  • Dean's Clever Move
    Yesterday, Traitor Joe implied that his real reason for rejecting the Medicare buy-in part of health care reform was the enthusiasm for the plan on the part of liberals like Rep. Anthony Weiner. This exposes and confirms two long-standing accusation from liberals: President Obama and Congressional D ...
  • The Nightowl Newswrap
    In his own back yard On Tuesday we woke up to the news that dozens of terrorism suspects who are currently being detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be moved to a little-used Illinois state prison. The prison will be acquired by the federal government and upgraded to a Supermax facility before an ...
  • Now This is Bipartisanship We Can Believe In
    Zandar succeeds in distracting us from health care deform: Newsweek is reporting that tomorrow, Sens. John McCain and Maria Cantwell will introduce a bill to reinstate Glass-Steagall. More than a year after the election, the Arizona Republican is looking to repair that reputation by joining up with ...
  • This Is Part Of What I've Been Trying To Say
    Poll: One Third Of Dems Less Likely To Vote In 2010 If Public Option Dies This is striking: A new national poll finds that fully one third of Democratic voters say that they're "less likely" to vote in 2010 if Congress doesn't pass a public option, underscoring the possibility that dropping the prov ...
  • New U.S. Tactic in Afghanistan: Bomb Civilians in ...
    What is it about fighting a land war in Asia that makes even the smartest of presidents make mind-numbingly stupid decisions? Robert Dreyfuss in The Nation: If Afghanistan is Vietnam, and the Taliban is the Viet Cong, then, according to the analogy, Pakistan is North Vietnam. The really odd thing ab ...

Care 2

  • Protect Animal Victims of Foreclosure ! TAKE ACTIO ...
    In early December 2009, an animal sanctuary in Rhode Island was foreclosed upon, the owner evicted, and the animals ignored for 24 hours while the financial institutions stuck to their protocol of not allowing anyone onto the site. You can read more Submitted by Cher C. to Animals  |   Note-it!  |  ...
  • Solar, Wind and Bicycle-Powered Christmas Tree in ...
    On Friday I wrote about how the Lima district of San Borja planned to light an eco-friendly Christmas Tree using LED lights, wind power, solar power, and bicycles. As promised, here are several photos of the beautiful tree Submitted by Daphna Yanez to Green Lifestyle  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Commen ...
  • Barack Obama awards himself a 'solid' B+ grade for ...
    Barack Obama has awarded himself 'a good solid B-plus' grade for his first year as President of the United States. Submitted by Alisa Roberts to US Politics & Gov't  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  • Obama Talks Tough With Wall Street Bankers
    President Barack Obama on Monday told assembled leaders to open their coffers to needy small businesses and accept tighter regulation or face a fight with the White House. Submitted by Alisa Roberts to US Politics & Gov't  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  • The Most Psychedelic Fish On Earth
    The Psychedelic Frogfish is not only funky looking (read: trippy) on the outside; its forward-facing eyes are extremely rare for fish, allowing it to have the same kind of depth perception that humans have. As well as this, its colourful, scaleless skin a Submitted by Daphna Yanez to Offbeat  |   N ...

GreenBiz

Reuters Global

  • Reporter’s Notebook — Memories of the ...
    When you report on traumatic events, some images stay with you for ever. Like this Indonesian child, badly hurt in the earthquake that triggered a massive tsunami off Indonesia's Aceh province five years ago.
  • On the rickety, smokey track to Sarajevo
    Just after 8 a.m. on Sunday, I was one of two dozen journalists at Belgrade's central station to board the first train to Sarajevo for 18 years, since the wars in Bosnia and Croatia slashed through the fabric of what used to be my country.
  • X-factor strikes surreal note in Taliban heartland
    In a dusty lounge at Kandahar airbase, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Afghan President Hamid Karzai were in the middle of a sombre news conference on how to turn around the situation in Afghanistan, where British forces face mounting casualties in their fight against Taliban insurgents.
  • Russia’s security proposals – about mu ...
    President Dmitry Medvedev's proposals for a new European security architecture are about far more than security.
  • How did the tsunami affect you?
    It’s been almost five years since the tsunami tore across the Indian Ocean, killing 226,000 people in 13 countries and sparking an unprecedented outpouring of global giving. Share your story here.

Ezra Klein

  • Starting over
    Kevin Drum is baffled by the progressive demand to "start over" on health care: If you don't like the Senate bill, fine. Don't support it. But in what universe will healthcare reform get revived anytime soon if it dies this year? 2010? With the legislative plate already jammed, healthcare refor ...
  • Tab dump
    1) Nate Silver thinks progressives are crazy to oppose the Senate bill. 2) A primer on reconciliation. 3) John Cassidy's interview with the late, great Paul Samuelson. 4) Adam Green lays out the hard-line strategy progressives would have liked to see on health care . 5) Ben Nelson still has conc ...
  • The heroes of health-care reform
    Right on the heels of Joe Lieberman trying to kill the bill because it had a Medicare buy-in proposal, Howard Dean is exhorting Democrats to kill the bill because it doesn't have a Medicare buy-in proposal. Sigh. So let this serve as an encomium to Ron Wyden, Tom Harkin, Chuck Schumer, Sherrod Br ...
  • Sitting at the table (by satellite)
    I'll be on Charlie Rose tonight, I think towards the beginning of the program. Check local listings, etc.
  • Can conference reports be filibustered?
    This question was making the rounds on Twitter today, so may as well answer it here, too. The conference report -- that is to say, the consensus bill that emerges after the House and Senate conduct their negotiations -- is subject to the filibuster. It is, however, not subject to amendments. You can ...

Booman Tribune

  • A Bird's Eye View
    Setting aside the merits of the Senate health care reform bill for a moment, I think it's almost funny to watch the people who fought so hard to see that Harry Reid include an opt-out public option in the base bill prior to the Conference Committee are now left to argue that the Senate should reject ...
  • Spiteful Joe
    I don't think it is betraying any confidences to divulge that I received an email from Atrios about ten days ago or so where he suggested that we really ought not to show any enthusiasm for the Medicare Buy-In plan lest Joe Lieberman decide that he's against it. I laughed at the idea because it had ...
  • Serious Question
    We have to be nice to Lieberman because he's working with the sane people on the climate bill, he's leading the investigation into the Ft. Hood shootings, and he has a bill that would extend domestic partnership benefits to all federal employees. Seriously. I call bullshit. If the Obama agenda is ...
  • Note to Jihadists
    All future jihad activity is to be conducted precisely 150 miles west of Chicago, in Rep. Donald Manzullo's congressional district. This will teach the Americans a lesson they will never forget.
  • Froggy Bottom Cafe
    Thousands attend global warming protest: (thanks, keres!)

European Tribune

Futurismic

  • The real history of science fiction
    Just in case you missed it, this little gem from webcomic Hark, a Vagrant was doing the rounds on Twitter the other day. Click through for the whole thing, then feel free to argue about the need for hard scientific veracity in speculative fiction in the comments. Project Wonderful - Your ad here ...
  • Fake blood
    No, not the Halloween dress-like-a-zombie fake blood – we’re talking entirely artificial polymer replacements for red blood cells, which could potentially be used for transfusions in the absence of donated blood [image by Andrew Mason]: They start out as spherical cells which then collapse into matu ...
  • Merry Christmas; I got you a panopticon
    Two quick links; I’ll leave you to do the math yourself. First up - ’smart’ CCTV system learns to spot suspicious behaviour with a little help from its human operators: … a next-generation CCTV system, called Samurai, which is capable of identifying and tracking individuals that act suspiciously in ...
  • Permaculture as an MMO?
    Taking a brief break from grim predictions of hyperlocal terrorism and the decline of the nation-state, John Robb hypothesises about a way to solve the looming problem of localised food production: why not make permaculture into a sort of MMO game? Riffing on the popularity of Farmville (which I sus ...
  • The web =/= the mob?
    Seeing as how I ended up with a whole bunch of related links, I thought they might as well all fit in one post. So, your overarching thematic question is: the power of the web and social media is pretty much a given, but does it empower us in ways that are beneficial or detrimental?* [...] Project W ...

Therapy News

  • Study to Help Kids Improve Reading Suggests Intens ...
    A GoodTherapy.org News Headline Among children who experience difficulty reading, challenging issues in school and in the world at large may interfere with quality of life. Aiming to improve reading skills, a six month program was developed at Carnegie Mellon University which exposed students to an ...
  • Self-Esteem: How Much is Too Much?
    By Tina Gilbertson, MA, Self-Esteem Topic Expert Contributor Click here to contact Tina and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile The notion that there’s such a thing as “too much” self-esteem is based on a case of mistaken identity. Arrogance, egotism, selfishness, superiority, over-confidence: Th ...
  • Mental Health Cuts Concern Minnesota Public Servic ...
    A GoodTherapy.org News Headline Severe cuts to funding for mental health programs are often made in times of economic distress, and recent turmoil on the financial markets have made for many difficult decisions for lawmakers. In Minnesota, lawmakers have proposed a cut to funding of a medical insura ...
  • Survey Finds Half of Children with Mental Health C ...
    A GoodTherapy.org News Summary Locating and securing mental health treatment services that are not only capable of improving one’s mental well being but which exhibit a high potential to affect great emotional and mental good can be challenging, but children and adolescents are most often faced with ...
  • Anger Arises in an Editorial over Ability of Menta ...
    A GoodTherapy.org News Headline Referencing a man experiencing significant mental health concern who shot and killed several of his family members this Thanksgiving, an angry cry over the ability of people facing such concerns has been published recently in an editorial, calling for a return to revi ...

Mountaintop Removal

  • Manchin continues to challenge Byrd on MTR - Charl ...
    Charleston Gazette (blog) Manchin continues to challenge Byrd on MTR Charleston Gazette (blog) Va., to “clarify” his recent statements about coal and mountaintop removal . That call from Manchin came in a bit of a rant on Hoppy Kercheval's statewide ...
  • Fight against mountaintop removal making headway - ...
    Washington Post Fight against mountaintop removal making headway Facing South (blog) An Associated Press story from yesterday gives props to the grassroots movement against mountaintop removal , a particularly destructive form of mining that ... Hundreds Rally at W.Va. Department of Environmental P ...
  • Rob Perks: Friends of Coal vs. Friends of Wood - A ...
    Rob Perks: Friends of Coal vs. Friends of Wood AlterNet On the other side are environmentalists -- like me -- and coalfield residents who are fed up with reckless mountaintop removal coal mining, ...
  • Copenhagen Notes: Will leading nations ante up? - ...
    Times Online Copenhagen Notes: Will leading nations ante up? Green Right Now (blog) ... review of the herbicide atrazine, which is polluting water supplies in the Midwest; suspension of mountaintop removal coal mining operations pending ... We Hold The Key To Copenhagen CounterCurrents.org all 1,0 ...
  • Artists unite on CD to fight mountaintop removal - ...
    West Virginia Public Broadcasting Artists unite on CD to fight mountaintop removal West Virginia Public Broadcasting Sales of the CD will benefit the Alliance for Appalachia, an organization working to end mountaintop removal coal mining. Coal Country Music brings together ... Rob Perks: Interior D ...

Memeorandum

  • Conservatives grab for tea party cash (Kenneth P. ...
    Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico : Conservatives grab for tea party cash   —  “It's time for the tea party movement to start flexing its muscle in the electoral process,” Odom said in announcing the launch of Liberty First, which he said collected $11,500 in its first week of fundraising, and has a ...
  • Sen. Reid bows to centrists, will drop Medicare bu ...
    The Hill : Sen. Reid bows to centrists, will drop Medicare buy-in provision to pass bill   —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is prepared to give in to demands from centrists in order to pass the healthcare legislation before Christmas, senators say.  —  Reid indicated at a closed-door … ...
  • Lieberman Gets Ex-Party to Shift on Health Plan (N ...
    New York Times : Lieberman Gets Ex-Party to Shift on Health Plan   —  WASHINGTON — Just the thought of Joseph I. Lieberman makes some Democrats want to spit nails these days.  But Mr. Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, is not the least troubled by his status as Capitol Hill's master infuriato ...
  • U.S. gave up billions in tax money in deal for Cit ...
    Binyamin Appelbaum / Washington Post : U.S. gave up billions in tax money in deal for Citigroup's bailout repayment   —  Deal made to recover bailout Firms exempted from rule when U.S. sells its stake  —  The federal government quietly agreed to forgo billions of dollars in potential tax payments ...
  • Court Keeps Campaigns in Suspense (Adam Liptak/The ...
    Adam Liptak / The Caucus : Court Keeps Campaigns in Suspense   —  The Supreme Court closed up shop for the year on Monday without ruling in a major campaign finance case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.  —  After the court heard a second argument in the case at a special summer in S ...

Energy & Environment News

5+ quakes - 7 days

  • M 5.3, Xinjiang-Gansu border region, China
    Sunday, December 13, 2009 16:03:59 UTC Monday, December 14, 2009 12:03:59 AM at epicenter Depth : 3.10 km (1.93 mi)
  • M 5.2, Bangladesh
    Sunday, December 13, 2009 14:41:58 UTC Sunday, December 13, 2009 08:41:58 PM at epicenter Depth : 31.30 km (19.45 mi)
  • M 5.7, South Sandwich Islands region
    Wednesday, December 16, 2009 03:40:27 UTC Wednesday, December 16, 2009 01:40:27 AM at epicenter Depth : 31.90 km (19.82 mi)
  • M 5.1, Kuril Islands
    Wednesday, December 9, 2009 23:25:38 UTC Thursday, December 10, 2009 10:25:38 AM at epicenter Depth : 49.50 km (30.76 mi)
  • M 6.0, Simeulue, Indonesia
    Wednesday, December 9, 2009 21:29:03 UTC Thursday, December 10, 2009 04:29:03 AM at epicenter Depth : 19.00 km (11.81 mi)

China Dialogue

  • Is China ready for cap-and-trade?
    Can countries without national curbs on greenhouse gases adopt emissions trading schemes? It’s a debate that splits China’s environmental entrepreneurs. Cao Haili reports. China’s policymakers are beginning to accept the use of market mechanisms to achieve goals on addressing climate change and redu ...
  • Balancing the carbon budget
    As the talks heat up in Copenhagen, Pan Jiahua, Chen Ying and Li Chenxi argue that formulating emissions targets will require an overhaul of the current climate regime. United Nations climate-change talks are underway in Copenhagen , but significant differences remain between participants – and cont ...
  • Sowing seeds in the sand
    A staggeringly ambitious plan to mitigate the effects of climate change would see the Sahara and Australia’s outback planted with forest – and cost US$2 trillion. David Adam looks at a US researchers’ scheme. Some talk of hoisting mirrors into space to reflect sunlight, while others want to cloud th ...
  • 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 student at Inn ...

AlterNet Top Stories

Threat Level

  • Document Details Help TJX Hacker Gave Prosecutors
    Admitted TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez has identified two Russian accomplices who helped him hack into numerous companies and steal more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers. Gonzalez told prosecutors that the hackers breached at least four card processing companies, as well as a series of f ...
  • Obama Sides With Blind in Copyright-Treaty Debate
    The Obama administration announced Tuesday it supports loosening international copyright protections to enable cross-border distribution of special-format reading materials for the blind, a move that puts it at odds with nearly all of U.S. industry. The government announced its support for the under ...
  • Move to National ID Cards Delayed
    The United States’ quest for a national identification database associated with driver’s licenses won’t be finished by year’s end. The deadline was Dec. 31 for the states to create what would be the largest identification database of its kind under the auspices of the Real ID program. The law also m ...
  • Cyberthief Seeks Hit Man to Kill Informant
    A convicted credit card thief and bank fraudster has pleaded guilty to solicitation of murder. He attempted to put out a contract on a federal informant. Pavel Igorevich Valkovich, 28, admitted last week that he discussed hiring a hit man to kill the unidentified informant in a drive-by shooting. He ...
  • 22 Million E-Mails Missing From Bush White House F ...
    White House computer technicians have found 22 million e-mails that were believed to have been lost during President George W. Bush’s administration, according to the Associated Press. The discovery was announced Monday by the National Security Archive and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in ...

Reuters - Most Popular Articles

  • Fewer Americans worried by climate change: survey
    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Al Gore's pitch for saving the planet from global warming appears to be falling on increasingly deaf ears, a Zogby Interactive survey shows.
  • Iconix breaking off talks with Playboy: report
    (Reuters) - Iconix Brand Group Inc is breaking off talks with Playboy Enterprises due to difficulties surrounding the separation of the Playboy brand and the company's other assets, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter.
  • Boeing Dreamliner completes first flight
    SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co completed the long-delayed first test flight of its new 787 Dreamliner on Tuesday, heralding a new era of plastics-based aircraft that promise to save airlines millions of dollars in fuel costs.
  • HK, China shares slip; property, banks extend fall ...
    * China dips 0.1 pct; China Shipbuilding makes lukewarm debut (Updates to midday)
  • Rajaratnam, Chiesi indicted in hedge fund probe
    NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. grand jury on Tuesday indicted Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam and co-defendant Danielle Chiesi on charges of securities fraud and conspiracy in an insider trading case involving employees of some of America's best-known companies.

Pine River World News

  • The vaccine against influenza A H1N1 contains toxi ...
    The following article is from Ennahar Online, Algiers. The vaccine against influenza A H1N1 contains toxic chemicals ©   Ennahar December 16, 2009 · Canadian laboratory GSK, manufacturer of the vaccine does not have marketing approval in Canada · The results of analysis of the vaccine have reporte ...
  • Ramzy Baroud: The Lobby Within
    The following column is reprinted with permission from Ramzy Baroud. The Lobby Within ©  Ramzy Baroud December 15, 2009 A just and peaceful solution to the protracted Palestinian-Israeli conflict is only possible when the U.S. ceases to block every attempt made towards it. This assertion might r ...
  • Pak editorial: A treachery going uncontested
    The following editorial is from The Frontier Post, Peshawar, Pakistan. A treachery going uncontested ©   The Frontier Post December 15, 2009 As he is flapping his wings to descend on Islamabad, U.S. Central Command chief General David Petraeus is chirping the song now on every powerful or influent ...
  • U.S. House passes pro-Wall Street banking bill
    The following commentary is reprinted with permission from World Socialist Web Site. U.S. House passes pro-Wall Street banking bill ©   World Socialist Web Site By Barry Grey December 14, 2009 The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill, backed by the Obama administration, to revise ...
  • U.S. firms lose out in bidding for Iraq oil fields
    The following commentary is reprinted with permission from World Socialist Web Site. U.S. firms lose out in bidding for Iraq oil fields ©   World Socialist Web Site By Patrick Martin December 14, 2009 In a clear signal of the declining influence of American capitalism, even in a country conquered ...

PDA AMERICA

  • “End-The-Wars,” A Rally at the White H ...
    Sights and scenes, in 25 photos, from the “End-the-Wars” rally of Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009. The spirited event was held in Lafayette Park, opposite the White House. See, for background: http://www.enduswars.org/
  • INVICTUS Kicks Off New Campaign For Universal Decl ...
    By Linda Milazzo | PDA Blog Contributor Los Angeles gets a bad rap. It’s assailed for being shallow and rarely acknowledged for its good heart. But Los Angeles has a huge heart – at ...
  • Tim Carpenter on the Nick & Paul Show
    Tim Carpenter was recently interviewed on the Nick and Paul Show, from December 10th 2004.
  • Healthcare Not Warfare Field Leadership Call Dec
    Call Date: Date — 12/10/09 Our healthcare NOT Warfare co-chair, Donna Smith, updated us on the very leatest news on healthcare reform in the Senate. Chuck Pennacchio updated us on the PA single payer hearings ...
  • IOT: End the Occupation Decmeber Call
    December’s End War and Occupations, Redirect Funding conference call had guests Gael Murphy and Rusti Eisenberg of United for Peace and Justice updating the group on the legislation to require President Obama to set an ...

Marler Blog

  • Whole Foods and Town Farm Dairy Raw Milk E. coli O ...
    On July 16, 2008, the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CDPH) was investigating two cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome HUS as part of its routine surveillance. Interviews conducted in these investigations revealed that both children had consumed raw milk in the week before the onset of thei ...
  • Bye Bye Bites? No Way - Let's NOT Lose this Food ...
    Folks, don’t know if you all where aware that Doug Powell (father of the food safety internet) has canned Bites . I find this unacceptable. Although Doug is a bit prickly, Bites and his multiple emails a day of food safety, is a useful tool for all those interested in Food Safety. Doug’s reasonin ...
  • Hello, My Name is _________ and I Stopped Selling ...
    I just got the below email tonight.  I deleted identifying information to protect the dairyman's identification. I've been following your blog ever since our unfortunate involvement in the raw milk business in 2006. I've found it to be an excellent information source. We've talked in the past, as ...
  • USA vs Organic Pastures and Mark McAfee - More Raw ...
    In perhaps what seems a bit like trying to pound a square peg into a round hole (or would that be a round peg into a square hole if Mark were the peg) with a sledge hammer, the US Government in a Civil Action against Organic Pastures and Mark McAfee has asked for a permanent injunction stopping all ...
  • USDA/FSIS - I am not going away - Time to respond
    Several weeks ago I served on the USDA/FSIS Petition Number 09-03: Petition for an Interpretive Rule Declaring all enterohemorrhagic Shiga Toxin-producing Serotypes of Escherichia coli (E. coli), including Non-O157 Serotypes, to be Adulterants Within the Meaning of 21 U.S.C. § 601(m)(1).  To date, ...

AutoblogGreen

  • AutoblogGreen for 12.16.09
    What does the Prius PHEV mileage really mean on the JC08 cycle? Here's why you won't get 76.7 mpg in one of these. From Hummer to the Volt, one engineer's tale How the Volt saved one man's jo ...
  • AutoblogGreen for 12.15.09
    It's worse than we thought: GM commissions Chevy Volt dance to go with song O.M.G. Toyota officially launches plug-in Prius program, retail sales in 2011 600 units coming in the next six mont ...
  • AutoblogGreen for 12.14.09
    Tesla employees going on 2,700-mile road trip from LA to Detroit Yes, there will be many stops along the way. Automaker Advice: How to relieve long-range anxiety and gain market share Two ...
  • AutoblogGreen for 12.11.09
    Greenlings: PHEV? DSG? VMT? A guide to common green vehicle acronyms A chance to sort it all out. Spy Shots: Aptera prototype spotted wearing peculiar modifications What's all this then? ...
  • 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 ...

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!

  • Mail Tribune of Southern Oregon news story on Amy ...
    The Mail Tribune newspaper of Southern Oregon published a story on Amy Goodman’s tour stop in Ashland, Oregon. Reporter Paris Achen wrote, "Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! , told a crowd of about 300 people at Ashland’s Southern Oregon University Sunday night that print and TV media have ...
  • Hungering for a True Thanksgiving
    “In the next 60 seconds, 10 children will die of hunger,” says a United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) online video. It continues, “For the first time in humanity, over 1 billion people are chronically hungry.” The WFP launched the Billion for a Billion campaign this week, urging the 1 billion ...
  • Lou Dobbs Resigns From CNN
    The controversial TV anchor has resigned from CNN amid a campaign to force him off the air due to his reporting on Latinos and immigrants. Past Democracy Now! Coverage of Lou Dobbs: Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez’s 2007 interview with Lou Dobbs Amy Goodman’s column ‘The Dubious Mr. Dobbs ...
  • The Man Who Put the Rainbow in 'The Wizard of Oz'
    Thanksgiving is around the corner, and families will be gathering to share a meal and, perhaps, enjoy another annual telecast of “The Wizard of Oz.” The 70-year-old film classic bears close watching this year, perhaps more than in any other, for the message woven into the lyrics, written during the ...
  • "First as Tragedy, Then As Farce": Philosopher and ...
    Dubbed by the National Review as “the most dangerous political philosopher in the West” and the New York Times as “the Elvis of cultural theory,” Slovenian philosopher and public intellectual Slavoj Žižek has written over fifty books on philosophy, psychoanalysis, theology, history and political th ...

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 holiday. ...
  • 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 wave a ...
  • 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 possible, it’ ...
  • 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 offere ...

Digg Green

  • Thousands evacuated as Mayon volcano threatens Phi ...
    One of the world’s most perfectly formed volcanoes oozed lava and ash overnight, threatening to explode over a picturesque tourist town in the Philippines.
  • Snap! Saltwater Crocodile Lunges at Camera (PIC)
    This stunning shot captures a saltwater crocodile as it lunges for the camera. This photo was taken just before its jaws closed on the lens shade; the blurred outline of the jaws demonstrates the lightning-fast nature of its lunge. Click to enlarge... (Photo: Yeang Chng)
  • Koalas in Australia dying from AIDS, habitat loss
    On the operating table lies a sick koala. He's just been brought in by a driver who found the animal sitting in the middle of a busy road. Veterinarian Claude Lacasse determines the koala has not been hit by a car but she immediately detects one serious problem facing many of the marsupials: Chlamyd ...
  • 10 Most Magnificent Trees in the World. [PICS]
    There are probably hundreds of majestic and magnificent trees in the world – of these, some are particularly special.
  • Climategate: Gore Falsifies the Record
    Al Gore has studied the Climategate emails with his typically rigorous eye and dismissed them as mere piffle... The emails which have Tom Wigley seeming to choke on the deceit are all from this year. How closely did Gore read these emails?

Invisible Opportunity

  • To Know the End from the Beginning
    By Les Visible What happened to Berlusconi yesterday is a watershed moment. This won’t be the general impression. In most minds this will come across as an anomaly and one of the things that happen now and then to those who are in the public eye and whose public actions have a certain amount of cont ...
  • Video – Silvio Berlusconi hospitalised in at ...
    It looks like at least somebody in Italy has had enough of the status quo…
  • Climategate Emails – CRU head Phil Jones adm ...
    During 7 years of the “all global warming, all the time” campaign, the head of the Climate Research Unit the the University of East Anglia knows that the earth is not warming. There is no hockey stick. These folks have been lying through their teeth all along… From: Phil Jones To: John Christy Sub ...
  • Video – Mark Morano vs. Mark Maslin on Sky N ...

  • ClimateGate in Perspective: The Road Ahead
    By Center for Individual Freedom staff The global fallout resulting from the scandalous revelations of ClimateGate cannot be overestimated or overstated.  Some of the most prominent scientists promoting climate alarmism are, as evidenced by their own email missives, guilty of unethical, unscientific ...

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 decision I’ve ma ...
  • 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 Pakist ...
  • 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 13- or ...
  • 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

  • Spains Exhibit in Copenhagen Invites Citizens to R ...
    The Re-Acciona exhibit in Copenhagen invites citizens to record their message about climate change, and then projects that message for the world to see. Related posts: Climate Protest in Copenhagen – Video Social Media + Copenhagen = Hopenhagen Photo Sunday Special Edition – The Week in Copenhage ...
  • Algae to Oil – Cop15 Interview with Solazyme CEO J ...
    Solazyme CEO Jonathan Wolfson talks to Ann Danylkiw at the BrightGreen convention in Copenhagen about how they are bringing new green jobs to the Midwest. Related posts: Twilight Earth Exclusive: The Bigger Picture – Documenting Cop15 Twilight Earth Exclusive Cop15 Video – China Youth in Copenhage ...
  • The Blue Box Solution to a Changing Climate
    The Blue Box company specializes in water purification for rural areas in developing countries and disaster relief. Related posts: 2009 Global Climate Change Impact Report Released Cop15 Climate Express Dispatch – You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet Technology Transfer and Climate Change (Video)
  • Follow Nathan From Sea to Shining Sea
    Nathan Winters rode his bike across America this summer to raise money for The Nature Conservancy and raise awareness for climate change and sustainable ag. Related posts: White House Follow-up on Global Climate Change Impacts Keep Keeping America Beautiful The Beef Stops Here at Sacred Heart Hosp ...
  • Climate Protest in Copenhagen – Video
    On December 12th, a group of 100,000 people marched through the streets of Copenhagen to speak out for climate justice. Related posts: Photo Sunday Special Edition – The Week in Copenhagen Cop15 Clip Reel Videos – Watch Them Here Before they Go to Copenhagen Cop15 – On The Streets – Day One Vide ...

Inhabitat

  • Stacked Shipping Container Pavilion Rises at COP15
    As COP15 delegations continue in Copenhagen, Danish architects MAPT have erected a striking pavilion composed of a set of old shipping containers stacked up like building blocks. The recycled pavilion will host an interactive exhibit focusing on urban sustainability, and the interior of the structur ...
  • GREEN GIFT GUIDE: Handcrafted Eco Gifts
    If you like the idea of giving something truly unique this holiday season, then why not choose a handcrafted present made or re-made by the hands of an individual. Etsy and other similar sites like Coriandr and Dawanda in the UK offer an incredible variety of beautifully handcrafted gifts that are s ...
  • San Francisco Launches Sustainable Financing For G ...
    from the Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom… This week in Copenhagen, representatives from nations around the world are debating the best measures to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change. The success of the Copenhagen talks is important as a measure of our collective co ...
  • New York Gets Its First Solar Electric Vehicle Cha ...
    We have great news for green-eyed New Yorkers who have been coveting San Francisco’s sophisticated electric vehicle charging systems. Beautiful Earth Group, a New York-based sustainable energy company, just unveiled its solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging station in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The ...
  • GREEN GIFT GUIDE: Heirloom Gifts
    With all of the innovative new green products out there now, you may think that a gift needs to be “recycled,” “biodegradable” or “made of bamboo” in order to be good for the Earth — but that’s not always the case. There’s a whole world of heirloom gifts out there that don’t have any of [...]

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

  • House votes to expand sanctions on Iran
    Associated Press – The House voted Tuesday to impose new economic sanctions on Iran as lawmakers cast doubt on Iran’s willingness to respond to diplomatic efforts to curtail its purported nuclear arms program. The legislation, approved 412-12, would end access to U.S. markets for foreign companies s ...
  • Climategate: with business interests like these ar ...
    Daily Telegraph – After the Climategate scandal erupted, few were quicker to dismiss the significance of the leaked emails than Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In no way, he insisted, just two days after the story broke, had the integrity of th ...
  • Bernanke says weak US economy not at risk of infla ...
    Reuters – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in a response to a lawmaker’s questions made public on Tuesday, said the U.S. economy is operating so far beneath its potential that inflation is unlikely to become a problem. Asked about market gyrations, Bernanke argued in the letter that the recent ...
  • D.C. Council approves same-sex marriage bill
    Washington Post – The District was on the verge Tuesday of becoming the sixth place in the country to legalize same-sex marriage after the council gave final approval to its bill allowing the unions. Although a final signature on the bill by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) could come by the end of the wee ...
  • US and Russia close in on nuclear treaty
    Guardian – Obama and Medvedev could sign agreement on nuclear arms reduction on margins of Copenhagen summit this week. The United States and Russia are close to a breakthrough on a new treaty to cut their arsenals of nuclear weapons and the missiles, submarines and bombers that would be used to lau ...

Monkey Smashes Heaven

  • West puts more pressure on Iran and allies as Amer ...
    West puts more pressure on Iran and allies as Amerikans, First Worldist “left,” and lackeys cheer (monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com) Recently, the US and its allies are turing up the pressure on Iran. Imperialists, Zionists, Iranian comprador forces, First Worldist and social-imperialist “leftists ...
  • PAO: Self-Defense, it makes sense
    from Politics Are Over Posted in ..Politics Are Over, Black Nation, Communism, Maoism, Maoism Third Worldism, Maoisme, Maoismo, North America, Occupied Mexico aka Aztlán
  • 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 gene un ...
  • 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 deforestation. “I d ...

PakAlert

  • Imran Hosein: OBAMA’S AFGHAN SURGE, PAKISTAN’S MOM ...
    The world is now likely to witness a continuous increase of troops in Afghanistan – British, French, Canadian, German, Italian, Australian, Japanese, etc. – and with India preparing to attack simultaneously from the East, Pakistan will be surrounded from both sides. I anticipate that Israel would li ...
  • Imran Hosein: OBAMA’S AFGHAN SURGE, PAKISTAN’S MOM ...
    The world is now likely to witness a continuous increase of troops in Afghanistan – British, French, Canadian, German, Italian, Australian, Japanese, etc. – and with India preparing to attack simultaneously from the East, Pakistan will be surrounded from both sides. I anticipate that Israel would li ...
  • The Final Showdown: Obama Declares War On Pakistan
    By Webster G. Tarpley WASHINGTON, DC — Obama’s West Point speech of December 1 represents far more than the obvious brutal escalation in Afghanistan — it is nothing less than a declaration of all-out war by the United States against Pakistan . This is a brand-new war, a much wider war now targeting ...
  • Satanic Sacrifices? A Million In US To Go Missing ...
    by Richard Evans Here is a list of Satanic sacrificial days, which is accurate. Statistics on missing persons in the Unites States are difficult to find, but are appalling.  The following missing persons estimates are from the Kyle Fleischman Foundation: 2,300 American people are reported missi ...
  • Pakistan Arrests 3 US Embassy Employees
    Pakistani security forces have arrested another three US citizens working at the American Consulate for filming sensitive installations in the eastern city of Lahore. Police arrested three American nationals including a woman in the Sherpao bridge area of Lahore as they were filming sensitive govern ...

ecogeek

  • EcoGeek Q&A: Graciela Chichilnisky
    Graciela Chichilnisky was extensively involved in the creation of the Kyoto Protocol, designing the global carbon market that became international law in 2005.  She has been a lead author of the IPCC and is a professor of economics and mathematical statistics at Columbia University. She's written a ...
  • 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 fr ...
  • 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 activists ...

Times Online - Science

  • British Airways and Unite to talk as lawyers battl ...
    Union leaders will meet the boss of British Airways this afternoon in an attempt to head off a cabin crew strike which threatens to disrupt travel for almost a million people over the Christmas holiday period.
  • Roast in Turkey this Christmas
    Turkey is an essential element of the festivities in many households but Mosaic Holidays offers a variant on the theme: the country rather than the bird. The tour operator has a choice of packages in five-star hotels in Antalya, facing the Mediterranean in the far south of the country, with fli ...
  • Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner finally takes off
    Boeing’s hope for a more profitable future took off yesterday with the maiden flight of its much-delayed 787 Dreamliner, the company’s first new aircraft in 15 years.
  • 'Worried' Brown calls for end to BA strike
    Gordon Brown today called on British Airways and its workers to re-start talks to resolve a row over pay and conditions as the airline prepared to launch legal action in a last-ditch attempt to halt a planned 12-day strike.
  • Rivals hire bigger planes as BA turns to the law
    British Airways will seek an emergency injunction at the High Court today to avert a 12-day strike that threatens to ruin the travel plans of almost a million people over Christmas.

Environment _ National Geographic

  • Elusive Tree Kangaroos Fitted With Video Cameras
    These hard-to-reach "plush toys" on Papua New Guineau have been outfitted with "Crittercams" for the first time. The breathtaking treetop footage is already solving tree kangaroo mysteries, researchers say. Video.
  • Under Yellowstone, Magma Pocket 20% Larger Than Th ...
    The massive column of molten rock that feeds the park's volcano dives deeper and fills a magma chamber bigger than previous estimates, according to the most detailed model yet of the region's plumbing.
  • PHOTOS: Ten Environmental Losses of 2009
    The environmentand the environmental movementsuffered significant setbacks in 2009, experts say. Among the lowlights: Lemurs became food, a lot of ice became water, and in the Caribbean some sharks became nonexistent.
  • PICTURES: Ten Climate Change "Icons" Announced
    What do quiver trees, clownfish, and koalas have in common? They're among ten "flagship" species likely to suffer huge loses due to a diverse array of global warming impacts, according to a new report.
  • PHOTOS: Ten U.S. Species Feeling Global Warming's ...
    Climate change is turning up the heat on some of the U.S.'s already threatened species, including ten highlighted by a new Endangered Species Coalition report.

drinking liberally in new milford ( with beersphere feeds )

  • Monday Morning Peak
    Image Taken From National Geographic Forget about Wednesday being hump day this week. The peak was already hit this morning, if you are among today's sleepy heads that stayed up to watch the Gemenids meteor showers : Coming fast on the heels of its more famous cousin the Leonid meteor shower —which ...
  • 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 ...

SPL Center

  • Alleged Killer of Abortion Doctor Fights for Neces ...
    Scott Roeder, who has confessed to the fatal shooting of a Kansas abortion provider, is fighting prosecutors’ attempts to ban the so-called necessity defense at his trial. Roeders’ attorney filed a motion stating that Roeder should be allowed to argue that the killing was necessary to prevent Tille ...
  • Anti-Black Hate Crimes Rise, Data Remains Flawed
    The FBI yesterday released its 2008 Hate Crime Statistics report. Overall, the numbers were up slightly, by 2 percent. One of the biggest jumps was in the number of anti-black hate crimes, which went up from 2,658 in 2007 to 2,876 in 2008. That constitutes a rise of nearly 8 percent. The jump in an ...
  • Target of Neo-Nazi Threatmaker Bill White Tells of ...
    ROANOKE, Va. — A Citibank employee told jurors this afternoon that she couldn’t concentrate at work but was too frightened to go home after receiving an E-mail with her personal information from white supremacist Bill White. “I was very scared, not only for myself but for my family,” said Jennifer ...
  • Hal Turner Trial Set to Begin Tomorrow
    The federal trial for white supremacist Hal Turner is scheduled to begin tomorrow morning. Turner, a neo-Nazi blogger and Internet radio host, is charged with threatening to assault and murder three federal judges in Chicago. Turner wrote on his blog that they “deserve to be killed” and posted their ...
  • Canadian Neo Nazi Wanted in Connection with Calgar ...
    A prominent member of a Canadian neo-Nazi group is wanted for attempted murder in connection with two bombings in Calgary. Police announced Monday that they’re looking for 24-year-old Kyle Robert McKee, along with a 17-year-old who cannot be publicly identified under Canadian law because he’s consid ...

Rio Times

  • An Early Holiday Party with AmSoc
    By Marília Sarkis, Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO - Santa Claus, Christmas tree, bells, balls, Christmas Carols, and a bit of that Holiday cheer, ’tis the season. At The American Society’s Holiday party, you could find almost all the charm and spirit of this special time of year, the most n ...
  • Beauty is Bonito
    By Davi Baldussi, Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO - There’s a place located in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, close to Paraguay, named Bonito (beautiful) that is know for the unbelievably blue colors of its water. Almost 900 miles from Rio, this small city of 17,000 residents is surrounded by ...
  • Brazilian Growth Overestimated
    By Jaylan Boyle, Senior Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO - After months of bullish forecasts from analysts in Brazil and around the world, the economic recovery has proven to have progressed at a significantly slower rate than has been anticipated over the last financial quarter. This is expected to leave th ...
  • International School of Macaé
    By Doug Gray, Senior Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO - Macaé, some 180km north up the coast from Rio de Janeiro, is Brazil’s fastest growing city, largely as a result of the region’s oil discoveries. Naturally, with the advancing petroleum industry has appeared a large expat community in Macaé.  At its hea ...
  • The Musical Streets of Salvador
    By Joshua Rapp Learn, Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO - “Taxi?” The man stood nearly two meters tall in a plaid shirt, knee high cowboy boots and bleached blond hair tied back into a ponytail. We were exasperated with an entire line of taxi drivers goading us from the windows of their cars out ...

Common Dreams-Progressive Newswire

  • USA Wins First Place Fossil For Weak Target, No Ca ...
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 14, 2009 Climate Action Network (CAN) As the UN climate talks in Copenhagen enter their second week, NGOs from around the world voted to present their mock "Fossil of the Day Award"--given to the country or countries doing the most to obstruct progress in the global cl ...
  • Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Suit Seeking Account ...
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 14, 2009 Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Today, the United States Supreme Court refused to review a lower court's dismissal of a case brought by four British former detainees against Donald Rumsfeld and senior military officers for ordering torture and religious ...
  • Planned Parenthood Applauds Congress for Prioritiz ...
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 14, 2009 Planned Parenthood Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) today praised Congress for the passage of the 2010 Appropriations Bill, which provides funding for important programs that provide women and families with access to preventive care worldwide. T ...
  • CEOs Who Steered Economy Off a Cliff Received $28. ...
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 14, 2009 Public Citizen The CEOs of 10 Wall Street firms that either failed or received taxpayer bailouts were paid an average of $28.9 million per year in the years leading up to the Wall Street meltdown, according to a Public Citizen report released today. Their aver ...
  • Inadequate Aid as Violence Escalates in South Suda ...
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 14, 2009 Doctors Without Borders (MSF) The people of Southern Sudan are trapped in a worsening crisis following the most violent year since the 2005 peace agreement that ended more than two decades of civil war with the North. However, the response to the escalating em ...

Common Dreams-Views

  • As War Bleeds Central Africa, Obama Denounces Rape ...
    by Danny Schechter GOMA, KIVU, EASTERN CONGO -  After a week in Kinshasa talking about war in Congo, it was time to see it, or at least visit its epicenter in the East. This is where rape is used as a weapon of war, where rebel groups challenge government forces militarily and occupy territory. ...
  • Chevron and Cultural Genocide in Ecuador
    by Kerry Kennedy LAGO AGRIO, Ecuador - Traces of paradise are still visible. From the air, the rainforest region in northern Ecuador – known as the Oriente – appears as silvery mist and swaths of verdant green. But beneath the cloud cover and canopy, the jungle is a tangle of oil slicks, festering s ...
  • Protesters in Seattle Warned Us What Was Coming, b ...
    by Madeleine Bunting Ten years ago, protesters gathered in a port city; politicians arrived for intense backroom negotiations; the city's hotels were booked out by representatives of thousands of NGOs from all over the world. In 1999 Seattle , like Copenhagen this week, was a big international meeti ...
  • Financial 'Reform' Preserves Too Big Banks, Too Mu ...
    by John Nichols The U.S. House has voted for legislation that is described as "financial services reform." But most of the "reforms" are so mild that the savviest of the nation's big bankers will be breathing sighs of relief, rather than worrying about being regulated into good behavior. read more
  • Disaster and Denial
    by Paul Krugman When I first began writing for The Times, I was naïve about many things. But my biggest misconception was this: I actually believed that influential people could be moved by evidence, that they would change their views if events completely refuted their beliefs. And to be fair, it do ...

Karl Burkart

Water Privatization

Guardian

  • Last-ditch talks aim to prevent BA strike
    • PM 'very worried' at prospect of strike • BA to ask high court to rule on strike's legality • Vote: who's to blame ?British Airways will meet union leaders at 3pm today to hold last-ditch talks to avoid a crippling strike over the Christmas period. Both sides in the dispute said today that they we ...
  • Kidnapped Guardian team released
    Award-winning foreign correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad and two other journalists were held hostage for six days The Guardian's award-winning foreign correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad was released along with two other journalists last night after being held hostage for six days in a remote region of Afg ...
  • Protests at Copenhagen talks – LIVE
    • More than 100 climate activists have been arrested for trying to break into the talks • Police have fired teargas at protesters • Inside the talks remain deadlocked as the chair of conference Connie Hedegaard resigns. Follow live updates 2.07pm: A dwindling protest march is moving slowly through ...
  • Man held outside Berlusconi hospital
    • Intruder claims he wanted to talk to Italian prime minister • Barack Obama phones premier to wish him a 'speedy recovery' A 26-year-old man has been arrested while trying to get into the Turin hospital room where the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is recovering from an attack that left ...
  • When George met Boris...
    Environmental columnist George Monbiot challenges the London mayor in Copenhagen George Monbiot Shehani Fernando Cameron Robertson

Diigo | Green Community

  • Best Green Articles from Leading Authors and Publi ...
    Best Green Articles from Leading Authors and Publications OFFERED from Edison New Jersey Essex @ Adpost.com Classifieds - Best Green Articles from Leading Authors and Publications OFFERED from Edison New Jersey Essex for over 1000+ cities, 500+ regions worldwide & across USA - free,classified ad,cla ...
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  • Free classified Ads - beatyourprice.com
    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
    Green Credit Cards Committed to Environment - Camden, New Jersey Comments: Green Credit Cards Committed to Environment - Camden, New Jersey - alexander hampp Tags: Green , Credit , Cards , Environment , sustainability , eco-friendly by: alexander hampp

Electronic Intifada

CS Monitor - News

  • podcast091204
    Fewer US jobs lost in November and impact on economy.
  • 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.

The Wonk Room

  • Al Gore Exhorts Leaders To Preserve The ‘Glo ...
    The Wonk Room is blogging and tweeting live from Copenhagen. In an address to the conference just before high-level talks began in Copenhagen yesterday, former Vice President Al Gore said the outcome of the United Nations Climate Change Conference will answer a fundamental moral question — who we ar ...
  • The President Of The Maldives Meets With Governor ...
    The Wonk Room is blogging and tweeting live from Copenhagen. President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, the first head of state to come to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, is here to save his nation of low-lying islands. Last month, Nasheed held a Cabinet meeting literally ...
  • Holland Leads, Time For United States To ‘St ...
    The Wonk Room is blogging and tweeting live from Copenhagen. Last night, the Netherlands became one of the first European nations to commit to an extension of the Kyoto Protocol, the central issue for developing nations, especially the most vulnerable to climate change. Linda Ijmker of Friends of th ...
  • Romney’s Got It Wrong: Public Sector Employe ...
    Our guest bloggers are Lawrence Korb, Senior Fellow, and Jacob Stokes, a national security intern, at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Last Sunday on Meet the Press, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney blamed American economic woes on what he sees as excessive salaries and benefit ...
  • Neocons Beating War Drums On Iran
    Just as the House is preparing to pass extremely counterproductive legislation on sanctions, neoconservative outlets, while supporting these measures, are now vocal in saying that if enacted they won’t work. In a rash of action in the op-ed pages today, neoconservatives were busy deploring the Irani ...

thwap's schoolyard

  • A Coalition Could Get Us a Public Inquiry on Tortu ...
    There are countries that pretty blatantly torture people and there are countries that at least make the effort to say that they do not torture people. And then, of course, there are countries that don't torture people period. Canada, thanks to the harpercons, is now in the first of those categories. ...
  • Eric Margolis on Afghanistan's Torturers
    Eric Margolis isn't my cup of tea. There's a reason why he's carried by fecal-brained Toronto Sun. He was a strident anti-communist and was quick to condemn the Soviet Union or People's Republic of China for their violations of human rights, but also seemed to give the United States the benefit of t ...
  • Cheryl Gallant: A Profile in Wingnuttery
    Check out this bit of crunchy badnesss: That smiling Stepford Wife is Cheryl Gallant of the "Convicted of Complicity in Torture and Going to Prison Party of Canada." Ms. Gallant is obviously trying to be Canada's version of the USA's own female wingnut member of a dying "conservative" movement (t ...
  • Seeing Malalai Joya
    I went into Toronto a few nights ago for Malalai Joya's stop on her book tour for A Woman Among the Warlords . Because of the crowd I had to sit in the upper-level of the beautiful Trinity-St. Paul's Anglican Church. Unfortunately, the acoustics upstairs aren't as good as they are downstairs appar ...
  • The harpercon Response to the Torture Scandal Thus ...
    harpercon Government: "There's nothing in Richard Colvin's memos that indicates anything wrong. The fact that Colvin says otherwise shows he doesn't remember what he, himself wrote." Committee on Afghanistan: "Can we see the memos?" harpercon Government: "No." Three generals, including the imbe ...

Financial Sense Editorials

  • Market Observation: To Our (Dis)Credit
    by Richard A. Eckert, CFA. "Prologue... Last month, in Stimulus Junkies? (Market Observation, 11/17/2009 and 11/24/2009), I documented that the Fed has, more or less, applied stimulus continuously over the last 20 – 25 years. And that any time stimulus was withdrawn, asset deflation (stock prices in ...
  • What Likely Lurks Around the Corner
    by Jeff Clark. "Over the next two years, the so-called Alt-A and Option ARM loans face massive resets. Even with today’s low mortgage interest rates, most of these home loans, currently enjoying ultra-low teaser rates or pick-your-own-monthly-payment schemes, will see their monthly payments adjust h ...
  • Agri-Food Thoughts
    by Ned Schmidt. "The Global Warming Scam may finally be on its way to well-deserved oblivion. Take your pick of discrediting events, the snow storms that hit the Midwestern U.S., snow at the start of the Australian Summer, -40 degree temps in Western Canada, or Climategate. "
  • The Not-So-Orthodox Broadening Top
    by Tony Cherniawski. "A few of you have been asking me whether I am still following the broadening top formation. The answer is, Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes. "
  • Is Buy and Hold Dead?
    by Paul Mladjenovic. "I am sure that you have read or heard similar remarks. Certainly, as you have read my essays you would know that I have written much about the “sea change” in recent years for our economy and the financial markets."

on Government Oversight

  • Contract with Traffic.com Leaves Taxpayers in a Ja ...
    In case you missed it, earlier this week in our press room we highlighted another instance in which the politics of contracting has worked against taxpayers' interest. In 1998, the Federal Highway Administration entered into a contract with Traffic.com to...
  • Contractor Performance Data for NNSA Will No Longe ...
    Amid the roar of excitement surrounding last week's release of the Open Government Directive, the Obama Administration's promising new step towards transparency, news quietly trickled out that an agency in the Department of Energy (DOE) recently tiptoed back in the...
  • Morning Smoke: Spending Cuts Recommended by Pentag ...
    Defense Spending Bill Ignores Budget Cuts Pushed By Pentagon [The Hill] No Cuts But Adjustments For Costly F-35 [Reuters] Army Goofed On FMTV Award [DoD Buzz] White House Agrees to Restore Lost E-mails [Blog of the Legal Times] Even Bigger...
  • Morning Smoke: Citi Agrees to Repay $20 Billion in ...
    Citi Reaches Agreement With Government to Pay Back TARP [The Wall Street Journal] Are we being shortchanged by TARP repayments? [Los Angeles Times] Goldman Fueled AIG Gambles [The Wall Street Journal] Blackwater’s Participation in CIA Raids Raises Critical Questions [The...
  • Friday Bailout Roundup
    It’s been a busy week for the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Here are some of the stories we’ve been tracking: Geithner Extends TARP Through October 2010 On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sent a letter to Congress...

    Digital Journal

  • Oregon girl named as likely 49th victim of Green R ...
    Her remains were found in 1985. Authorities misplaced her bones. Now, 24 years later, they have found them and given the remains a name. Angela Girdner, who could have been identified in 1985, is thought to be the 49th victim of the Green River killer.
  • Alberta boy dies from Swine Flu after 43 days in a ...
    As Mike Gorbous, 16, lay in a coma, his parents went public urging Canadians to get vaccinated against Swine Flu. Mike died early Tuesday morning. His grandmother tells Digital Journal doctors tried their best to save the life of the grade-11 student.
  • Boeing 787 Dreamliner comes through with flying co ...
    The world's first commercial aircraft made from composites rather than metals, made a successful three-hour flight which took the Boeing 787 to an altitude of 15,000 feet and maximum speed of 207 m.p.h.
  • Canadian Doctor Under Investigation for PED
    Anthony Galea a Canadian doctor was stopped with Actovegin in his bag at the U.S.-Canada border in late September, according to The New York Times.
  • Canadian Tamils hit the polls on Dec. 19
    In major cities across the country, the Coalition for Tamil Elections Canada announced that Canadian Tamils will vote to test the Vaddukkoddai Resolution.

End Homelessness | Change.org

  • "Welcome to Obama-ville" Sign at Colorado Tent Cit ...
    Last week, a mysterious sign appeared outside a Colorado tent city. It read, "Welcome to Obama-ville: Colorado's Fastest Growing Community." This simple sign prompted investigative news reports and a flurry of response from Colorado residents, wondering who created and paid for the sign. Funny how a ...
  • ‘Tis the Season to Get Dirty and Help Fight Homele ...
    Almost 12 months ago Danny Brown had an idea. The idea was simple: for 12 months pick one charity each month and raise $12,000 (or more) for that charity. And thus, the 12for12k Challenge was born. I believe 12for12K Challenge is one of 2009's most brilliant ideas. But this month, instead of just gi ...
  • Olympics to Shelter, Homeless Models, and the Righ ...
    Mixed bag this time around. I promised myself that this week I'd look for good news. I'd make like a bee to the flowers of positivity on all various and sundry related to homelessness advocacy, etc. But as we know, things aren't always so rosy. There's a couple things in the news to be grateful ...
  • From One System (Prison) to Another (Shelters)
    You'd assume that the end of a prison sentence would bring relief to a former inmate. But many inmates leave prison reluctantly, since they have nowhere to go but the streets upon their release. Our failure to overhaul prisoner re-entry policies have all but guaranteed that former inmates will simpl ...
  • The Emerging Face of Homelessness
    As Detroit is wrecked by recession and economic difficulty, a new face of homelessness is emerging. You likely wouldn't identify Tami as being homeless should you pass her on the street, but her story says otherwise. Luckily, her experience in a homeless shelter has been an unlikely one as well. She ...

Ceasefire.ca

  • ICNND urges nuclear disarmament progress
    The International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament released its report “Eliminating Nuclear Threats: A Practical Agenda for Global Policymakers” today. Declaring that “maintaining the status quo is not an option,” the commissioners argue that the opportunity exists “to hal ...
  • 30 years ago today…
    On 12 December 1979 the Soviet Politburo took the decision to send Soviet troops into Afghanistan. The invasion began on 27 December 1979, and the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan just over nine years later, on 15 February 1989.
  • Churches call for peace mission in Afghanistan
    The Canadian Council of Churches is calling on the Canadian government to mount a new peace mission in Afghanistan focusing on two priorities: 1) supporting Afghans in implementing participatory reconciliation programs and responsive governance at district and local levels; and 2) convincing the int ...
  • 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, pi ...
  • 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.

Kevin Trudeau Show

  • The Kevin Trudeau Show: 12-15-09
    Today, Kevin explains why the government is taking away the spirit of Christmas and how your freedoms are taken away. Also, find out why our standard of living is declining at rapid speeds and the top 3 things you can do to survive it. Get the headlines you aren’t hearing from the mainstream media: ...
  • Former ‘Law & Order’ Star Rips Show fo ...
    December 15, 2009 Big Hollywood News By Michael Moriarty Well, I think I’ve been fairly calm and forgiving of Law and Order for about fifteen years. Living outside of the U.S. has certainly helped in more ways than one. Out of sight, out of mind. Law and Order has, for years, been just a press of th ...
  • Increase In Nearsightedness Due to Texting Fad
    December 15, 2009 Bloomberg.com By Ellen Gibson The rate of nearsightedness in the U.S. increased 66 percent since the 1970s, according to a study that researchers say suggests parents should limit the hours kids spend texting and Web-surfing. The prevalence of myopia rose to 41 percent in a survey ...
  • Herb May Treat Chemotherapy Liver Damage
    December 15, 2009 U.S. News By Steven Reinberg Chemo drugs often cause liver inflammation, making it necessary to lower the dose or suspend treatment until the inflammation subsides. These interruptions in therapy can make treatment less effective, the researchers said. “We found that milk thistle, ...
  • BPA May Be Bad for Intestines
    December 15, 2009 Fox News.com A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy Sciences Journal says that Bisphenol A, a chemical used in plastic containers and drink cans, can negatively affect the intestines’ functioning, Agence France-Presse reported. French researchers looked at the ...

Pambazuka News

  • USA: Black coalition to protest expanding U.S. war ...
    A newly-formed Black coalition has announced a rally and march on the White House to take place November 7, 2009 beginning in Washington, D.C.’s historic Malcolm X Park. The rally and march are to protest the expanding U.S. wars and other policy ini...
  • Brazil: Bloggers on why there is still racism in t ...
    Two weeks ago, Global Voices Online reported the story of Januário Alves de Santana, a black man who had been beaten and punched by security guards of one of the largest international retailers in Brazil. He was waiting for his family in the car park...
  • Global: It takes a Villager
    Owino Odhiambo left his tiny Kenyan village less than a decade ago to immerse himself completely in American culture. Equipped with American citizenship, two degrees, and five years experience working as a dedicated graphic designer in New York City,...
  • Honduras: Implications of coup for Afro-descendant ...
    Currently, the country of Honduras in Central America is experiencing its worst political crisis in decades. In the aftermath of the military coup that forcibly removed President Manuel Zelaya Rosales, there have been various developments that have r...
  • Haiti: Petition for safe return of Lovinsky Pierre ...
    Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine has been missing since the night of the 12th August 2007. It is believed that his kidnapping was politically motivated and someone in the Haitian government and or the UN forces in Haiti led by Brazil must know what happened...

War in Context

  • British court issued Gaza arrest warrant for forme ...
    British court issued Gaza arrest warrant for former Israeli minister Tzipi Livni By Ian Black and Ian Cobain, The Guardian, December 14, 2009 A British court issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s former foreign minister over war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza this year – only to withdraw it wh ...
  • Obama refuses to rule out drone attacks in Quetta
    Obama refuses to rule out drone attacks in Quetta By Anwar Iqbal, Dawn, December 15, 2009 President Barack Obama has warned that the United States would launch strikes inside Pakistan if it had actionable intelligence about the presence of top Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in a particular area. His s ...
  • Evidence of Iran’s nuclear arms expertise mounts
    Evidence of Iran’s nuclear arms expertise mounts By Joby Warrick, Washington Post, December 15, 2009 Long denied access to foreign technology because of sanctions, Iran has nevertheless learned how to make virtually every bolt and switch in a nuclear weapon, according to assessments by U.N. nuclear ...
  • Are crippling droughts the next great threat to Ir ...
    The dust bowl of Babylon By Martin Chulov, TomDispatch, December 14, 2009 From his mud brick home on the edge of the Garden of Eden, Awda Khasaf has twice seen his country’s lifeblood seep away. The waters that once spread from his doorstep across a 20% slab of Iraq known as the Marshlands first dis ...
  • Relations with Turkey kindle hopes in Syria
    Relations with Turkey kindle hopes in Syria By Robert F Worth, New York Times, December 15, 2009 Ever since Syria and Turkey lifted their visa restrictions in September, Turkish visitors have poured into this picturesque northern city. Hawkers in Aleppo’s ancient souk now call out to shoppers in Tur ...

Watts Up With That?

  • Another Al Gore Reality Check: “Rising tree mortal ...
    Guest post by Indur M. Goklany In this Reuters story (15 December 2009) they report: “Describing a ‘runaway melt’ of the Earth’s ice, rising tree mortality and prospects of severe water scarcities, Gore told a UN audience: ‘In the face of effects like these, clear evidence that only reckless ...
  • News on the new Non Scientist
    Jo Nova has launched a new publication, inspired today by their latest article. Read on. You might think journalists at a popular science magazine would be able to investigate and reason. In DenierGate, watch New Scientist closely, as they do the unthinkable and try to defend gross scientific malp ...
  • AP’s Seth Borenstein left out in the cold at ...
    I try to remind people that the U.N. has not succeeded at much of anything during its history. Mostly it just makes pronouncements and consumes cash. When it comes to doing any real work, they fall down on the job, because most of the people that make up the U.N. have never had to do [...]
  • Soot having a big impact on Himalyan temperature & ...
    From NASA News: New Study Turns Up the Heat on Soot’s Role in Himalayan Warming A new modeling study from NASA confirms that when tiny air pollution particles we commonly call soot – also known as black carbon – travel along wind currents from densely populated south Asian cities and accumulat ...
  • “…anything short of the absolute pursu ...
    While Dr. Mann has made statements in the press during the last week to the effect of “I welcome this investigation” I wonder if he’s seen some of the correspondence being sent to PSU regarding him. Here’ s one from Pennsylvania State Senator Jeff Piccola that has some very pointed language. PDF of ...

Dandelion Salad

  • American fascism: by political definition the US i ...
    Dandelion Salad By Carl Herman ICH – December 15, 2009 Examiner – December 14, 2009 Look in any textbook or encyclopedia and compare US policy (not rhetoric) to the definitions of fascism and constitutional republic. I’ll explain it here, but check my work. If at the end of your consideration, ...
  • Loretta Napoleoni: The intricate economics of terr ...
    Dandelion Salad TEDtalksDirector December 14, 2009 http://www.ted.com Loretta Napoleoni details her rare opportunity to talk to the secretive Italian Red Brigades — an experience that sparked a lifelong interest in terrorism. She gives a behind-the-scenes look at its complex economics, revealing a ...
  • Using Controversial Law, Danish Police Preemptivel ...
    Dandelion Salad Democracy Now! Dec. 14, 2009 Indigenous Leaders at the Front Line of Climate Change, at the Front of the Historic Climate March in Copenhagen On Saturday, over 100,000 people marched in Copenhagen calling on world leaders to agree to a just climate policy. Leading the march was a d ...
  • Secret reports, Secret budgets, Secret operations, ...
    by Sibel Edmonds Featured Writer Dandelion Salad originally published by Boiling Frogs Post 14 December 2009 The Makings of a Police State – Part IV Secret reports, Secret budgets, Secret operations, Secret courts … A Secret Government! The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, s ...
  • Cap & Trade: A Critical Look at Carbon Trading
    Dandelion Salad Democracy Now! Dec. 15, 2009 Cap & Trade: A Critical Look at Carbon Trading Will the expansion of carbon emissions trading help stop global warming or just create a new market for Wall Street to make billions? We air excerpts of Annie Leonard’s The Story of Cap and Trade and speak w ...

Your New Reality

  • No title
    The Lamborghini Ankonian : Only a concept car, unfortunately. It wouldn't look out of place in the next Christopher Nolan Batman movie. More pics here
  • No title
    In this propaganda poster campaign , humans are recast as the horror movie monsters : The explanation, and other posters, are at io9 .
  • No title
    From the 1936 first edition of the extraordinary pictorial magazine Life, now Google archived here , comes this marvelously atmospheric painting of a Kansas tornado by John Stewart Curry : And this photo of a young girl drinking in a Montana bar at the height of the Great Depression : You coul ...
  • http://yournewreality.blogspot.com/2009/11/scientific-american-there-is-in-fact.html
    Scientific American : There is, in fact, a climate conspiracy . It just happens to be one launched by the fossil fuel industry to obscure the truth about climate change and delay any action. Note the massive ad from Shell dominating the ready-to-print page as screencapped below (click to enlarge) : ...
  • http://yournewreality.blogspot.com/2009/12/recruiting-vid-for-air-force-office-of.html
    A recruiting vid for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations :

    Blacklisted News

  • U.S. Government Workers Owe Government $3 Billion ...
    At a time when the White House is projecting the largest deficit in the nation's history, Uncle Sam is trying to recover billions of dollars in unpaid taxes from its own employees.
  • Citigroup gains massive tax break in deal with IRS
    The federal government quietly agreed to forgo billions of dollars in potential tax payments from Citigroup as part of the deal announced this week to wean the company from the massive taxpayer bailout that helped it survive the financial crisis.
  • 2010: "The year of severe economic contraction"
    The upbeat reports in the financial media, belie the effects of the ongoing credit contraction. Massive injections of central bank liquidity have prevented the collapse of financial markets, but have done nothing to ease the deleveraging of households or stimulate activity the broader economy.
  • When Did “Special Ops” Become Kidnapping, Drug Dea ...
  • Iraqi Oil Auction: Asian, European Countries Snap ...
    Once again, China has snapped up — as part of a consortium with minority partner Total — one of two development contracts awarded by the Iraq Oil Ministry. In short, China’s hunger and desire to develop Iraqi oil fields has been unmatched by any other Western oil company.

The Intelligence Daily

My AntiWar

  • Cap & Trade: A Critical Look at Carbon Trading
    Will the expansion of carbon emissions trading help stop global warming or just create a new market for Wall Street to make billions? We air excerpts of Annie Leonard’s The Story of Cap and Trade and speak with Larry Lohmann and Frank Ackerman. [includes rush transcript]
  • Indigenous Peoples of Canada March on Canadian Emb ...
    Canada is the largest supplier of oil to the United States, and most of it comes from the Alberta tar sands. Described as the world’s biggest single industrial source of carbon emissions, the tar sands have drawn widespread protest and civil disobedience from environmentalists. On Tuesday, as climat ...
  • The Climate Divide: Dispute Between Rich and Poor ...
    Negotiations are back on track at the UN climate summit after a walkout yesterday by developing countries highlighted the growing divide between rich and poor nations. African delegates led the walkout, accusing the UN chair of the conference of trying to “kill” the Kyoto Protocol. Meanwhile, outsid ...
  • Headlines for December 15, 2009
    COP15 Talks Resume Following Kyoto Walkout, Danish Police Raid Climate Justice Gathering, Lieberman “Encouraged” Dems Will Drop Medicare Expansion, Obama Urges Bank Execs to Free Up Loans, Bailed-Out Execs’ Salaries Averaged $28.9M Before Meltdown, Housing Activists Protest JPMorgan Chase, Report: U ...
  • US trade unionists: boycott, divest from apartheid ...
    rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIn the following open letter from Labor for Palestine to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, trade unions call for the immediate and complete divestment from State of Israel Bonds, the support of workers’ refusal to handle Israeli cargo, the breaking of ties with the ...

    Rogue Government.com

  • FDIC Boosts 2010 Budget, Staff as Bank Failures R ...
    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., overseeing the dissolution of failed banks at the fastest pace in 17 years, today boosted its 2010 budget 56 percent to $4 billion to manage further shutdowns.
  • Kids' Swine Flu Shots Recalled Due To Lack Of Str ...
    Hundreds of thousands of swine flu shots for children have been recalled because tests indicate the vaccine doses lost some strength, government health officials said Tuesday.
  • Super-Earths found orbiting sun-like stars

  • Tough sanctions against Iran are needed urgently, ...
    Revelations that Iran has been working secretly on a trigger for a nuclear bomb urgently underscore the case for tough new sanctions against Tehran, the Obama Administration said.
  • British court issued Gaza arrest warrant for form ...
    A British court issued an arrest warrant for Israel 's former foreign minister over war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza this year – only to withdraw it when it was discovered that she was not in the UK, it emerged today.

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 extreme tempe ...
  • 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 the ...
  • 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

  • Britain's 'Open Inquiry' Into Iraq War Censored
    The Chilcot Inquiry, Britain's long sought public inquiry into the start of the Iraq War, has had its share of interesting testimony, but today the testimony got a little too interesting when Sir Jeremy Greenstock took the stand. Sir John Chilcot Sir Jeremy was discussing US failures in the wa ...
  • US to Simulate 'Iranian Attack'
    US officials are looking forward to trumpeting the illusory threat posed by the Iranian military once again next month when the Pentagon launches a "mock-Iranian missile" for the military to practice shooting down. The $150 million test will involve shooting a fake missile from the Marshall Island ...
  • 'Predatory' female abuser jailed
    A woman labelled a "predatory paedophile" by police has been given an indeterminate prison sentence after she admitted sexually abusing children. Carol Clarke, 46, assaulted children she followed into toilets in Grimsby and other places in Lincolnshire. Grimsby Crown Court heard that Clarke, of Cr ...
  • Cops need warrant to search phones, say Ohio Supre ...
    Police officers must obtain a search warrant before snooping through the contents of a suspect's cell phone, Ohio's supreme court ruled on Tuesday. The issue of whether mobile phones fall under US Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures appears never to have been weighed ...
  • Keeping Uncle Sam from spying on citizens
    During the first Gulf War, Greg Nojeim went to Washington National Airport to observe Arab Americans being pulled out of lines and put through security checks that weren't required of other passengers. The evidence he gathered was used by his employer, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee ...

Threat Level

  • Document Details Help TJX Hacker Gave Prosecutors
    Admitted TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez has identified two Russian accomplices who helped him hack into numerous companies and steal more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers. Gonzalez told prosecutors that the hackers breached at least four card processing companies, as well as a series of f ...
  • Obama Sides With Blind in Copyright-Treaty Debate
    The Obama administration announced Tuesday it supports loosening international copyright protections to enable cross-border distribution of special-format reading materials for the blind, a move that puts it at odds with nearly all of U.S. industry. The government announced its support for the under ...
  • Move to National ID Cards Delayed
    The United States’ quest for a national identification database associated with driver’s licenses won’t be finished by year’s end. The deadline was Dec. 31 for the states to create what would be the largest identification database of its kind under the auspices of the Real ID program. The law also m ...
  • Cyberthief Seeks Hit Man to Kill Informant
    A convicted credit card thief and bank fraudster has pleaded guilty to solicitation of murder. He attempted to put out a contract on a federal informant. Pavel Igorevich Valkovich, 28, admitted last week that he discussed hiring a hit man to kill the unidentified informant in a drive-by shooting. He ...
  • 22 Million E-Mails Missing From Bush White House F ...
    White House computer technicians have found 22 million e-mails that were believed to have been lost during President George W. Bush’s administration, according to the Associated Press. The discovery was announced Monday by the National Security Archive and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in ...

PERRspectives : Blog

  • Sheep, Unicorns, Kamikazes and Joe Lieberman
    When Vermont Republican Senator Jim Jeffords balked at supporting President Bush's wildly irresponsible tax cuts in 2001, the retribution from the White House and its GOP allies in Congress was swift and severe. Ostracized and humiliated, Jeffords became an independent,...
  • Tea Baggers Ignore U.S. Health Care's Daily "Die-I ...
    On Tuesday, frothing at the mouth Tea Party faithful will protest health care reform legislation by descending on the Senate to holding a "die-in." But while the Tea Baggers will feign dropping dead to dramatize their opposition to health care...
  • Grading on the Obama Curve
    Right about now, college students across America must be wishing they had taken all their classes with Professor Barack Obama. After all, if the President is giving himself a B+ for his first year office, those kids would probably all...
  • Alberto Gonzales: Bush DOJ Was Not Political Enoug ...
    For most people, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is a national embarrassment, a pimple on the ass of American history. But to hear him tell it, the man George W. Bush called "Fredo" is a victim of partisan warfare. And...
  • The Gitmo Memo and the GOP Love Affair with Leaks
    Once upon a time (a time coincident with George W. Bush's tenure in the White House), Republicans decried the leaking of classified national security information. After the New York Times revealed his program of illegal domestic surveillance by the NSA,...

Blackspot News Feed

Consortium News

  • How Banks Fleece the Unemployed
    As states pay unemployment benefits with bank debit cards, the jobless are finding the fees adding up, says Barbara Koeppel. December 16, 2009
  • Opportunity Lost: Obama in Oslo
    President Obama's misused "just war theory" to justify his own resort to excessive violence, writes ethicist Daniel C. Maguire. December 16, 2009
  • Getting Realistic about Afghanistan
    Washington's foreign policy elite hopes it can turn Afghanistan around by replicating the Iraq surge, warns Ivan Eland. December 15, 2009
  • Is Joe Lieberman Protecting Israel?
    Sen. Joe Lieberman's latest threat against health reform is raising questions about his motives, reports Robert Parry. December 15, 2009
  • Vanunu and Israel's Undeclared Nukes
    The plight of Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu underscores the hypocrisy on secret nukes, Eileen Fleming observes. December 14, 2009

CounterPunch

Institute for Middle East Understanding

Water - AlterNet

TruthHugger

  • Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round Up Dec 14, ...
    TXsharon at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS helps you follow the money to see why Governor Perry and others want Texans to keep breathing toxic air. BossKitty at TruthHugger is proud to give a Hat Tip to Houston – Annise Parker inherits a City of Progress. The Stonewall Democrats of Denton Coun ...
  • Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Coney Islands of the Mind: ...
    Christ Climbed Down Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Ferlinghetti, famous for running the City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, wrote this poem in the 1950s and published it in his book: A Coney Island of the Mind, Poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, A New Directions Book, Copyright 1958 by Lawrence Fer ...
  • Hat Tip to Houston – Annise Parker inherits a City ...
    Houston, Texas has become an island of hope in a sea of doom and gloom.  Progress is measured with attention paid to the real issues facing any population, as opposed to a narrowly defined image of “normalcy”.  In a state where normal is defined vigorously as anything outside the envelope, as long ...
  • 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 pa ...
  • 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 [...]

Dandelion Salad - Featured Writers' Posts

Unexplained Mysteries

  • 4,000-year-old flowers found at grave site
    Proof has been found for the first time ever that pre-historic people would have placed flowers at the graves of their deceased. A bronze age dig ...
  • Bank robber hypnotized tellers
    In a bizarre series of robberies in southern Russia a women has been reportedly hypnotizing bank tellers in to handing over large quantities of mo...
  • Nick Redfern on alien big cats
    For years there have been sightings around the British isles of large predatory cats such as panthers, animals that should not be living in the co...
  • Father Christmas 'buried in Ireland'
    Historians believe that the remains of the man who inspired Father Christmas, St Nicholas, are buried in Ireland. He lived during the 4th century ...
  • Full moon brings out inner werewolf
    Australian scientists have conducted a study suggesting that people exhibit more violent tendancies during a full moon and that those admitted to ...

Grassroots

  • The Story of Cap and Trade
    As the Climate Summit in Copenhagen plods onward, various so-called solutions to global warming are being tossed around: Alternative energy, Cap and Trade, adaptation and mitigation, and many more. It can be hard to make sense of them, and even more difficult to unpack the myths from the realities. ...
  • Why We Left Our Farms to Come to Copenhagen
    Henry_Saragih-un-org.jpg As dignitaries and politicians meet in Copenhagen to discuss ways to curtail climate change, some of the people most affected by the crisis are also present, including the Via Campesina. One of Grassroots International ...
  • 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 American co ...

Climate

  • December 16, 2009
    Key Decisions Still Unresolved at Climate Talks (Washington Post) It's unclear how to fund a deal that could involve the transfer of billions of dollars from industrialized countries to the developing world; delegates remain at loggerheads over which mechanisms should be employed to reduce emis ...
  • December 15, 2009
    Canada Weighs Weaker Emissions Targets for Oil, Gas industries (CBC) The new proposals raises questions about how the Tories could cut overall greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 — a target they insist they can reach — while weakening the targets in the oil and gas sector. Copenhag ...
  • December 14, 2009
    Africa Protest Suspends Main Sessions of Climate Talks (Reuters) The main sessions of Copenhagen climate talks were temporarily suspended today amid a protest led by African nations accusing rich countries of trying to wreck the existing Kyoto Protocol. China Signals Shift on Climate Funds (Fin ...
  • December 12-13, 2009
    US Looks for Side Deals at Climate Summit (Politico) The U.S. is attempting to cut secretive deals at the international climate talks in hopes of shaping any final agreement that could come out of the United Nation-sponsored conference. AP Analysis of E-Mails: Science Not Faked, But Not Prett ...
  • December 11, 2009
    Key Copenhagen Group Releases Draft Climate Plan (Washington Post) The ad-hoc group charged with charting a new path forward released a draft text this morning outlining the critical questions that need to be resolved before the talks end Dec. 18. Small Island nations released their own plan a ...

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

  • The War Trap
    Today, twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and nineteen years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the military budget of the United States is larger than at any time during the Cold War and roughly equal to the total of all other military budgets throughout the world. Why, in the m ...
  • Your Corporate Masters Are In Control
    A new poll reveals what you already knew: the economy is fucking depressing . You can't help but wonder how many people have committed suicide over losing a job or a house, or how many relationships have been strained to the breaking point by a lack of money. It's proof that we live in Bizarro worl ...
  • The Self-Destruction of Barack Obama
    By Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers President Obama has lost his 2012 bid for re-election. He has made key decisions in three areas that, unless he alters his approach (not likely), could well guarantee a Republican victory: an embarrassingly rolled-out, badly-compromised health-care reform bill; h ...
  • Unbearable Lightness of Obama: The Audacity of Ret ...
    Riddle of the week, month, or past year. Policy overlaps aside, how does a well-versed, savvy campaigner who glories in knowledge merge increasingly into his most uncurious, uninformed predecessor, who gloried what he didn't know? How did this high-risk candidate, taking on his entire party establ ...
  • According to its ethics code, NPR still has a Fox ...
    Smart newsrooms develop an ethics code to help journalists do their jobs well, and to create clear lines of demarcation for when inevitable conflicts arise. To its credit, National Public Radio operates under a wide-ranging ethics code that leaves little doubt about how its journalists should conduc ...

Ten Percent

  • Bullshit!
    So City of London Police say they are right to stop photography because they caught some terrorists who were doing it, except…none were ever charged or convicted of terrorism- The police said the CPS had decided there was sufficient evidence to bring terrorism charges, but it was not in the public i ...
  • Hollywood Blacklist
    No, not that one. This one- ‘Hollywood’s most liked unproduced screenplays published on the second Friday of December each year‘ Now apart from showing short synopses are not a fair way to judge a script (yet nevertheless, oh Jeebus no, corporate Hollywood why do you hate cinema so?) I noticed this ...
  • That Newsnight Piece Trafigura Want Memory Holed
    (Trafigura dumps toxic waste, people suffer & die on the Ivory Coast, Trafigura uses Carter Ruck to silence reporting with our draconian libel laws etc. I was mid real world stuff so missed out on the first round of this with the commons question stuff) From Don’t Get Fooled Again Via D-Notice (and ...
  • Criminals See NHS As ‘easy target’
    The NHS has launched an investigation into thefts, amid reports criminals see the service as an “easy target”. So far the police have yet to question this man- The British Medical Association has called for continued investment in the National Health Service and has warned against the dangers of a ...
  • Atlanticists Eyeing The Blogoshpere
    NATO hosts first ever briefing for bloggers organised by the Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom which is NATO’s PR arm- The Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom is an independent non-governmental organisation based in London. Its mission is to explain and promote the benefits the UK enjoys fro ...

Paul Krugman

No Quarter

  • Obama Gives Himself a B+; U.S. Says C-
    As you may know by now, Obama gave himself a B+ as president. If you haven’t read Bronwyn’s Harbor’s piece with the video clip, you might do so before eating. If you choose to watch after, I won’t answer for any sudden illness. But what does the country think Obama deserves? CNN did [...]
  • Roll Away the Stone – Updated by PigPen
    * Bumped Up * Rolling Stone Magazine Finally Eats Crow. **UPDATED by PigPen below the fold, to add more confusion. Read this and weep, grapefruit partizan kooks. “Some parts of the new reforms border on INSANITY..” Duh! I told you so. I just read the RS (Rolling Stone) article by Matt Taibbi title ...
  • Wascally Bankers
    “Is it a coincidence that the aggressive Rasmussen poll shows POTUS approval falling to a new low of 44% at the same time the White House messaging unit discovers class warfare palaver?”   No Vigor. POTUS remarks (right) to the media after his meeting at the White House with twelve ...
  • Obamamania Is But a Dying Ember
    Andy sent me this clip tonight from TalkLeft, whose foremost spokesperson was a rabid Obamabot during the primaries and election cycles and went so far as to censor any comments that expressed negative statements about Obama. Now her second-in-charge posts this video with the CLINCHER statement for ...
  • Our Emerging Chameleon Government
    * Bumped Up * I CAN see you, but just barely…. It’s getting more and more difficult to tell who is for and against what—well at least for more than a few days at a time. Between our President and the two Houses of Congress, just when you think you have the players identified, they change [... ...

Environmental Graffiti

Foreign Policy in Focus

Global Elite

Al Jazeera

Green Inc. - NYT

  • Study: No Health Impact From Turbines
    But the 85-page industry study is unlikely to settle the persistent question of whether those who live near turbines are indeed susceptible to so-called "wind turbine syndrome."
  • On Our Radar: Copenhagen
    Al Gore stirs controversy, and other news from the Copenhagen climate conference.
  • Obama Promotes Insulation as 'Sexy'
    President Obama told a business audience at a Home Depot in northern Virginia that energy efficiency was a "win-win" because it would save energy, help the environment and create jobs.
  • Mexican Wind Farm Gets Key Loan
    A wind farm described as the largest in Latin America reached a financing milestone this week, with the Inter-American Development Bank's approval of a $50 million loan.
  • At Copenhagen, Native Alaskans Urge Action
    Alaska's indigenous people are seeing erosion, rising waters and melting permafrost - and they have sent representatives to Copenhagen to raise the alarm.

Dot Earth News

Doug Feith : Hong Pong

  • UN crime chief Costa says it again: banks bailed o ...
    There was a quip about this a while ago, now it is more established. Posted in full cause it's a big deal.... via Agonist . These people are criminals! Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor Drugs and crime chief says $352bn in criminal proceeds was effectively laundered by f ...
  • The Great Climate Clusterf**k: Good times in Copen ...
    All you ever wanted to know about Copenhagen but didn't care to ask! The only good news so far is that the Yes Men pranked Coke for their voracious consumption of limited water around the world. Soon all of us can live in a utopia of robotic flying machines and carbon-free giant underground fac ...
  • Mike Connell's mysterious plane crash via 'jackals ...
    Damn straight - those are the chips they are gonna track you with. CHIPS CARRIED BY BIG FRICKIN ANTS. Via the too-speculative ATS thread RFID Microchips In The Swine Flu Vaccine? It's time to push out some links and see if they lead somewhere....This weekend I've been building up a sweet new InfoSp ...
  • 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 ...

Daily Censored

  • Why is Democracy Now shielding “war for oil” again ...
    By M. Idrees – 12/15/09 In its headlines for December 14, Democracy Now followed the report on Blair’s confession about his committment to regime change in Iraq regardless of the absence of WMDs, with this: Iraq Signs Oil Deals with 10 Foreign Companies Blair’s comments come just as Iraq has si ...
  • Teacher’s Unions and Charter Schools: Taking Race ...
    Since charters control their own employee pay and hiring decisions, opposition from teachers unions or pre-existing collective bargaining agreements are less likely to be an issue for them. A considerable amount of money could be at stake. The state plans to apply for $300 million, which would be sp ...
  • National Call for March 4 Strike and Day of Action ...
    We call on all students, workers, teachers, parents, and their organizations and communities across the country to massively mobilize for a Strike and Day of Action in Defense of Public Education on March 4, 2010. Education cuts are attacks against all of us, particularly in working-class communitie ...
  • Congress Reviews the Issue of Judicial Recusal
    The issue of recusal now being reviewed by the House Committee on the Judiciary, is but a subpart of greater issue which Congress must investigate based on  the evidence of a conspiracy of government attorneys and judges declaring themselves absolutely immune from suit for tortious and/or criminal o ...
  • NRA-Drunk With Power?
    This rant is based primarily on two articles I read in the last two days. One comes from the the AP, written by Erik Shelzig– “Tennessee Demonstrates Trend of Looser Guns Laws.”  The other is entitled “Members,  NRA not in Accord” and it comes from the Scranton Tribune. The Tribune article is abou ...

AlterNet's Breaking News

Institute for Policy Studies

Godspace

  • Advent: We Don’t Know What We Are Waiting Fo ...
    This morning’s reflection comes from Ed Cyzewski the author of Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life. He blogs on theology at www.inamirrordimly.com and on writing at www.edcyz.com. During December Ed’s book Coffeehouse Theology will be available from NavPress.com at 35% off ( ...
  • Is This The Car of the Future
    We are currently working on the first MSA Seed Sampler for 2010 – Looking At The future and I came across this wonderfully funny video on The Car of the Future – what do you think
  • America Without a Middle Class – Is It Close ...
    This very sobering article from Alternet suggests that it might be Today, one in five Americans is unemployed, underemployed or just plain out of work. One in nine families can’t make the minimum payment on their credit cards. One in eight mortgages is in default or foreclosure. One in eight Amer ...
  • Third Monday of Advent – A Journey of Longin ...
    Welcome to the third week of Advent which began yesterday with the lighting of the third Advent candle.  As we moving into this week our anticipation and longing grows and we yearn with deepening expectation for Christmas Day and the coming of the Christ child. First for those that are just joining ...
  • End of the Second Week of Advent – What Are ...
    As the second week of Advent draws to a close all of us continue to wait in anticipation and expectation for the coming of Christ.  Some of us wait with deep yearning in our hearts for a better world in which all things are made new.  Others wait with joyful hearts for the coming of [...]

Equality Trust

  • Call for fundamental rethink of the value of work
    Hospital cleaners are worth more to society than city bankers, according to a new method of calculating the value of different jobs published today. The new economics foundation (nef) called for a "fundamental rethink" of how the value of work was recognised and rewarded. The think tank said its s ...
  • The Spirit Level - New Statesman book of the decad ...
    Wilkinson and Pickett's study gave scientific weight to a long-held claim of the left: that people are happier and healthier when they live in societies where wealth is distributed more equally. But the book's influence stretches across party lines and its findings are likely to shape political deba ...
  • 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

IntelNews

After Downing Street.org

  • Government Accused Over Binyam Mohamed Torture Cla ...
    Government accused over Binyam Mohamed torture claims | BBC A QC told the court CIA admissions over his treatment would expose the government to "criminal liability for an international war crime".... But on the second day of the hearing, Dinah Rose QC, appearing for Mr Mohamed, argued: "Admissions ...
  • Reform Fails to Halt Unfair Practices
    read more
  • Dr. Howard Dean: "Kill the Bill"
    read more
  • Don't Act Now, It's Not Too Late Yet
    By David Swanson The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote today, Wednesday, December 16th, on a war funding bill that will pay for the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. Nobody will tell you that. They'll tell you it's a "defense" bill, and that a small part of it -- a mere $130 b ...
  • U.S. Silent About Taliban Guarantee Offer on al Qa ...
    U.S. Silent About Taliban Guarantee Offer on al Qaeda Analysis by Gareth Porter | IPS WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (IPS) - The Barack Obama administration is refusing to acknowledge an offer by the leadership of the Taliban in early December to give "legal guarantees" that it will not allow Afghanistan to be ...

Grist - News

  • U.S. offers plan to aid poor nations develop clean ...
    by Agence France-Presse COPENHAGEN -- The United States on Monday unveiled a $350 million global effort to help provide clean energy technology to developing countries and invited top officials to a green summit next year. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Photo courtesy Science News. U.S. Energy Secret ...
  • Copenhagen talks are a four-corner fight
    by Agence France-Presse COPENHAGEN -- The U.N. climate talks that will wrap on Dec. 18 now rest essentially on brokering a consensus between four key players. They have staked out rival positions on a trio of core issues -- curbs on carbon emissions; funding for poor countries badly exposed to clim ...
  • Walkout heightens fear of failure for climate mara ...
    by Agence France-Presse COPENHAGEN -- The U.N. climate summit hit major turbulence Monday when developing nations staged a five-hour walkout and China accused the West of trickery, as the specter of failure loomed heavily over Copenhagen. As campaigners warned negotiators had five days to avert cli ...
  • Canada—or practical jokers?—announces ...
    by Jonathan Hiskes If only it were true. This has all the makings of a Yes Men project, which is too bad, because it would be wonderful news if it were true: Canada Announces New Agenda For Climate and World Development COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- In a major development coming three days before the fina ...
  • China might decline climate funding from U.S., oth ...
    by Agence France-Presse Your dollars not en route to China?BEIJING -- China has said it might not take a share of any funding for emerging nations to fight climate change, the Financial Times reported Monday, in an apparent concession at fraught talks in Copenhagen. "Financial resources for the eff ...

Popular Bookmarks on Del.icio.us

Technorati - What's Hot in Blogs

Time - Top Stories

Washington Independent

  • Holbrooke Calls for More Aide to Pakistan
    "My own personal view is we ought to increase the aid to Pakistan," Holbrooke said, including to the Pakistani military.
  • Senate Dems Protect Big Pharma
    In a big win for the pharmaceutical industry, the Senate on Tuesday killed legislation that would have made it easier for Americans to buy their prescription drugs from abroad, where prices are generally much cheaper. The count was 51 to 48, nine shy of the supporters needed to overcome a filibuster ...
  • Nervous About Health Care, Tea Partiers Look to 20 ...
    "I call him the Empty Yarmukle," said Frederick Peterson, a Connecticut activist.
  • Berman Sanctions Bill Overwhelmingly Passes the Ho ...
    A bill sponsored by Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, to authorize new energy-sector sanctions on Iran overwhelmingly passed the House just now. The vote: 412 members in favor to only 12 opposed, with four voting “present.” Berman’s bill had stron ...
  • Photos From the ‘Code Red’ Rally
    Here are more photos (see round one here) from the “Code Red” rally against health care reform that shook the upper Senate Park this afternoon.

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

  • 4 presidential candidates join Afghan war protest
    This is indeed a sad situation folks. Has anyone noticed that there are any protests toward the escalation of the war in Afghanistan? Not in the main stream media, but there would have been been if it was promoted by the corporate government. These candidates, who really do speak for the people, ar ...
  • International Law: The First Casualty of the U.S. ...
    A comprehensive legal analysis of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan by Max  Kantar, Uruknet.com, Dec 14, 2009 ABSTRACT. This report utilizes well-established principles of both treaty and customary international law as a measuring stick for attempting to determine the legal and moral legitimacy of th ...
  • White House: Illinois Prison To Be New Home For Gu ...
    Thomson Correctional Center To House Some Guantanamo Detainees: White House HENRY C. JACKSON | 12/14/09 11:49 PM | WASHINGTON — Taking an important step on the thorny path to closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, the White House plans to announce Tuesday that [...]
  • Afternoon Jukebox- Little Saint Nick
    The Beach Boys- Little Saint Nick
  • Delecia Holt: GOP Candidate Accused Of Stealing Fr ...
    Serial GOP candidate accused of stealing from comedians, hotel, movie theater, phone company, welfare and Mercedes dealer Raw Story- By John Byrne Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 — 9:29 am The 48-year-old Delecia Holt sounded like a refreshing change in a race to replace a disgraced Republican congres ...

Solari

  • Food Stamps Go to a Record 37.2 Million, USDA Says
    By Alan Bjerga A record 37.2 million people, or about one out of every eight Americans, received food stamps in September, as the recession drove a surging jobless rate, according to a government report. Recipients of the subsidy for retail-food purchases climbed 18 percent from a year earlier, ac ...
  • Community Call to Prayer
    Rich is the person who has a praying friend. ~Janice Hughes Heartfelt thanks from Catherine and many blessings to all who have been praying with us. Everyone is welcome to join this weekly fifteen-minute Thursday gathering, live on the conference line or from wherever you are. With the divine assis ...
  • GMO Contamination
    Bayer has admitted it has been unable to control the spread of its genetically-engineered organisms despite ‘the best practices [to stop contamination]‘(1). It shows that all outdoors field trials or commercial growing of GE crops must be stopped before our crops are irreversibly contaminated. $2 m ...
  • Saved By Drug Money
    By Rajeev Syal Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the United Nations’ drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer. Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of org ...
  • Greece - Crisis Turns Deadly Serious
    By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard While premier George Papandreou offered pro forma assurances at Friday’s EU summit that Greece would not default on its €298bn (£268bn) debt, his words to reporters afterwards had a different flavour. “Salaried workers will not pay for this situation: we will not procee ...

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

  • Ooffoo seeks inspirational letters
    The Ooffoo Laureate 2010 Competition , which aims to find inspirational letter writers, is to be judged by renowned author and physician Deepak Chopra .
  • Entrepreneurs willing Woolies to survive
    Almost a year after Woolworths went bust , marking the closure of more than 800 stores around the UK, savvy entrepreneurs are cashing in on public nostalgia by setting up their own versions of the iconic high street favourite.
  • Copenhagen: a diary of findings
    After what seems like an eternity of reports and debates ahead of the conference, Copenhagen (COP15) has finally arrived. Sideways News has teamed up with Patrick Chalmers (formerly at Reuters and a reporter at Kyoto) and persuaded him to blog his way through the mayhem of activists and events, whil ...
  • Television link to obesity crisis
    An electronic "lock-out" device which cuts television viewing times by half has been used by researchers in the US studying the link between excessive television viewing and obesity levels. A team from the University of Vermont fitted the device to the television sets of 20 overweight individuals wh ...
  • Home-swapping sites on the rise
    A new trend is emerging in the housing market and it has little to do with the colour of the bathroom suite. In response to an increasingly entrenched property market, a number of "house-swapping sites" have sprung up in the last year, aimed at helping people exchange their homes rather than sell t ...

Fabius Maximus

  • Today’s source of blindingly great insights ...
    Posting will be erratic for the next 3 weeks, but the FM website team will endeavor to bring you rare and valuable new perspectives.  Today we present the following selection, wells of insight. Also — you can now subscribe, receiving posts by email — see the box on the upper right.   (1)  The South ...
  • Endemic terrorism – but few wars and epidemi ...
    Summary:  The changes of the past two centuries have made the world a far better place.  This post discuss a grim but beneficial trade-off:  fewer wars and plagues, more terrorism. The world changes, and so do its dangers.  Throughout human history humanity suffered the scourges of war and disease.  ...
  • Are islamic extremists like the anarchists?
    Summary:  Today’s violence from islamic extremists has many similarities to the anarchists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Using standard police and intelligence methods, Western governmens defeated the anarchists without massive restrictions on civil liberties and military operations ...
  • Update about China: a new center of the world
    Events in China will affect the world — including America — like few or no other nations.  As these articles show, we can only guess at what will happen. Powerful insights about China A note about China currency, the RMB Update: China’s ugly demographics For more information, and an Afterword (1) ...
  • Stratfor looks at Mexico: The War with the Cartels ...
    There are few if any foreign policy issues more serious for America than our relations to Mexico, and few foreign threats over which we have so little influence. “Mexico:  The War with the Cartels in 2009“, Scott Stewart and Alex Posey, Stratfor, 9 December 2009 — Reposted with permission.  Links ...

sibeledmonds - tweets

WIRED Magazine | Science

  • Video: Scientific Drones Take Flight at Earth’s Ic ...
    SAN FRANCISCO — Space is not the only place where special craft can boldly go where no man has gone before. The earth’s polar regions are incredibly difficult places for human beings to do science, so researchers are increasingly turning to unmanned aerial vehicles to make the observations they nee ...
  • Hole in Ionosphere Reveals Clues About North Korea ...
    SAN FRANCISCO — North Korean missile tests may sometimes flop, but their program continues to make strides in building bigger, more powerful projectiles, according to new research presented at the American Geophysical Union meeting Tuesday. In April of this year, the country launched a Taepodong-2 ...
  • Scientists Still Waiting to Hear From Journalists ...
    Around 650 climate scientists have signed up to assist journalists covering the Copenhagen climate talks through an on-call email service. For three different shifts, day and night every day from Dec. 7 to Dec. 18, between three and six experts are available to the media to answer science questions ...
  • First Global Map of Mercury
    SAN FRANCISCO — The first ever global map of Mercury was released here Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union meeting. The map combines new observations from the Messenger spacecraft with earlier images captured by Mariner 10 in the 1970s. Messenger completed the last of its three flybys of the ...
  • Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Radioactive Longer Than E ...
    SAN FRANCISCO — Chernobyl, the worst nuclear disaster in the human history, created an accidental laboratory to study the impacts of radiation — and more than twenty years later, the site still holds surprises. Reinhabiting the large dead zone around the accident site may have to wait longer than ...

The Progressive Realist

  • Neocons Beating War Drums On Iran
    Just as the House is preparing to pass extremely counterproductive legislation on sanctions, neoconservative outlets, while supporting these measures, are now vocal in saying that if enacted they won’t work. In a rash of action in the op-ed pages today, neoconservatives were busy deploring the Irani ...
  • Actions, Not Words, Will Clarify Obama’s Foreign P ...
    David Brooks’ piece on Barack Obama’s “Christian Realism” is pretty good, but it mostly reminded me that I think one of the worst habits of American journalism is to look at foreign policy through a lens of high-order abstractions. “Realism” has a really clear meaning in an academic context, and the ...
  • Leading Indicators: Off the Radar News Roundup
    - Although coverage of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Central Asia was dominated by a recently completed gas pipeline that went online, it also paved the way for an upcoming uranium deal with Kazakhstan to help supply Beijing's ambitious nuclear energy plans. - Bilateral relations between Ch ...
  • Tony Blair Goes Beyond the Already Strained Preven ...
    It is understandable, if often regrettable, that politicians are reluctant to admit mistakes while in office.  Such admissions can and would be used against the politician in question in subsequent campaigns, and could lower overall approval numbers and, thus, weaken that politician for the rem ...
  • Crimes in the Dem. Rep. of the Congo
    Human Rights Watch released a chilling report about alleged abuses committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by both rebel militias and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC). The report alleges that at least 1,400 people were killed, some in very brutal fashion, i ...

TAPPED - The American Prospect

  • Lightning Round: Health Care Watershed Edition.
    Now that the public option, triggers, opt-outs and buy-ins have been felled by a Senate without 60 votes and a White House eager to sign the bill and move on, the question is whether what remains of health-care reform is any good. On the activist side of the debate, I'd say the consensus is that pa ...
  • Dissecting Lieberman.
    As Sen. Joe Lieberman continually moves the goal posts for reform, contradicting his own stated beliefs of what he would prefer in a health-care package and straight up lying about what the legislation does, everyone is trying to understand his logic. Bloggers are scouring Lieberman's past statement ...
  • Will Health-Care Reform Increase Access to Abortio ...
    Here's an interesting argument from Double X: Assuming that a Stupak -style amendment isn't included in the final health-care reform bill, it could end up increasing access to abortion for low-income women across the country. It works out that when the bill's Medicaid expansions go into effect, th ...
  • Marriage Equality Wins in D.C., For Now.
    Forces on both sides of the marriage equality debate spent several hours huddled in close proximity to one another today, as they waited for Washington, D.C.'s City Council to handle its more mundane business before voting on whether to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. Bishop Harry Jackso ...
  • Don't Blame the Billionaires.
    Dalton Conley weighs in on the inequality debate: When I was growing up, my mother used to sing me the old adage, "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer," before hastening to add, "And it's all Ronald Reagan 's fault." Because I had campaigned for Jimmy Carter as a wide-eyed 11-year-old, this ...

Andy Worthington

  • “Model Prisoner” at Guantánamo, Tortured in the “D ...
    On Monday, District Court Judge Thomas F. Hogan handed the government its ninth victory (against 31 losses to date) in the habeas corpus petitions of the prisoners held at Guantánamo, ruling that the government had established, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Musa’ab al-Madhwani, a 28-year ...
  • What Does It Take To Get Out Of Obama’s Guantánamo ...
    On August 21, District Court Judge Gladys Kessler granted the habeas corpus petition of Mohammed al-Adahi, a Yemeni prisoner in Guantánamo who was 39 years old when he was seized on a bus in Pakistan. I described the broad outline of al-Adahi’s story in my book The Guantánamo Files as follows: Marri ...
  • Will The Maldives Take Three Guantánamo Prisoners?
    From the Maldives, via a blogger named Firas, I found out that President Mohamed Nasheed (commonly known as Anni), the former Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience whose election in October 2008 finally brought to an end the 30-year dictatorship of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, has mentioned, in a ra ...
  • Innocent Guantánamo Torture Victim Fouad al-Rabiah ...
    The long ordeal of Fouad al-Rabiah, an innocent man and a 50-year old father of four, who had been in US custody for almost exactly eight years, finally came to an end on Wednesday, when he was flown back to his homeland of Kuwait from Guantánamo, where he had spent the majority of those lost [...]
  • 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, speci ...

Buzzflash

  • In Desperation for Funds, The Nation Slanders Buzz ...
    A BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG BY Mark Karlin It's a disastrous by-product of corporate consolidation and control of the mainstream media by wealthy corporations (Murdoch, GE (Soon Comcast), Viacom, Clear Channel, etc.) that progressive publications, radio and television programming (what there is of it) ...
  • The troubled belly of the populist beast
    Body If you've been hoping and waiting for President Obama to surrender his cool demeanor and instead pick up the brute cudgel of populist fury, your waiting, I suspect, is about over. Less than one year in and his patience is wearing thin. But more to the point, his political antennae a ...
  • Fraudcasting Run Wild: Talking 9/11 Trials, Hannit ...
    BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT by Jeffrey Joseph Since Jon Stewart so famously caught Sean Hannity in his propagandist lies, Hannity has taken a different tack for promoting his agenda-- putting himself before a friendly audience that can do it for him . Hannity recently hosted a Terror on Trial special with ...
  • BuzzFlash Mailbag for December 14, 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: GOP Reindeer Song THE GOP ...
  • Dave Lindorff: Protest? What Protest? American Cor ...
    Last week, I mentioned a line from an old science teacher : "If you can't measure it, it doesn't exist." In what passes for corporate journalism in America, this concept has taken the form of, "If we don't report on it, it didn't happen." That certainly was the case for the emergency protest organiz ...

Glenn Greenwald - Salon

  • White House as helpless victim on health care
    Of all the posts I wrote this year, the one that produced the most vociferious email backlash -- easily -- was this one from August , which examined substantial evidence showing that, contrary to Obama's occasional public statements in support of a public option, the White House clearly intended fr ...
  • Welcome to GITMO North
    The Obama administration announced today that it will create a new "supermax" facility in Thompson, Illinois, and will transfer many of the detainees currently held at Guantanamo.  Critically, none of those moved to Thompson will receive a trial in a real American court, and some will not be charge ...
  • Salon Radio: Critical state secrets hearing today
    The case of Mohamed v. Jeppesen -- brought by five victims of Bush's torture/rendition program against the Boeing subsidiary that shipped them to be tortured -- was the Obama DOJ's first test of its commitment to restore basic accountability and the rule of law.  Back in February, it res ...
  • Secret war purposes and justifications
    In a post yesterday about public opinion and war, I noted that Joe Klein justified the war in Afghanistan by claiming it was necessary to prevent war between Pakistan and India -- a justification and purpose never cited by the U.S. Government.  To justify the fighting of a war for reasons different ...
  • The allegedly growing domestic Muslim threat
    There is clearly a concerted effort by the Government to claim loudly that the threat posed by radicalized American Muslims is increasing.  Last week, The Los Angeles Times published a lengthy, scary story under the headline "U.S. sees homegrown Muslim extremism as rising threat," claiming that "An ...

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, sn ...
  • 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 emai ...
  • 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 family ...

change: org.

  • CIRASAP Introduced; LGBT Families Thrown Under the ...
    Ho-Ho-Ho! Representative Luis Gutierrez (IL-4) donned the hat of Santa Claus nine days before Christmas and delivered a somewhat liberal immigration reform bill today in the form of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act (CIRASAP) of 2009, that is being hailed ...
  • Choice Hotels Responds to Change.org, Taking Child ...
    Today, Choice Hotels took an important and courageous first step towards the protection of children. In response to over 2500 letters from Change.org community members asking the company to sign the ECPAT Code of Conduct to prevent child prostitution, they have agreed to enter into talks with ECPAT ...
  • James Chartrand, Woman Blogger: So What?
    When my parents were deliberating over baby names, Alexandra and Samantha emerged as the top two contenders. It wasn't just about how they sounded, or their meaning according to the baby book. It was about the nicknames: Alex and Sam. Notice something in common? Like the fact that both are gender-n ...
  • Some Rare Video Footage of Matthew Shepard
    Every so often you stumble upen something in the interwebs and think, "How the hell didn't I see this before?" Such is the case with this interview with Matthew Shepard, which comes from the 1998 documentary Dear Jesse . At the time Shepard was a student at Catawba College, in North Carolina, before ...
  • Deja Vu: Comparing Ugandan Homophobia with Nazi Rh ...
    Genocide begins with words. The process of identifying and dehumanizing the "other" involves the dissemination of a hateful ideology of difference long before physical killing -- it is this ideology that lays the groundwork for the genocide itself. It is for this reason that malicious language canno ...

Common Dreams -News

  • Copenhagen Chaos: Developing Countries Insist Kyot ...
    by Terna Gyuse COPENHAGEN  - The U.N. Climate Change Conference enters its final week under a cloud of uncertainty as the Africa Group led a protest of the developing world against a perceived attempt to abandon the Kyoto Protocol. Monday found long lines of delegates and observers waiting to clear ...
  • Senate to Take up Bernie Sanders Single-Payer Heal ...
    WASHINGTON, December 15 - The Senate on Wednesday will debate for the first time in American history a proposal to create a single-payer, Medicare-for-all health care system. "In my view, the single-payer approach is the only way we will ever have a cost-effective, comprehensive he ...
  • Pakistan Rebuffs US on Taliban Crackdown
    by Jane Perlez ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Demands by the United States for Pakistan to crack down on the strongest Taliban warrior in Afghanistan, Siraj Haqqani, whose fighters pose the biggest threat to American forces, have been rebuffed by the Pakistani military, according to Pakistani military offici ...
  • Don't Worry, Scientists Suggest, New Earth Just 'F ...
    by Jeanna Bryner Four newfound planets orbiting two nearby stars add weight to the promise of detecting habitable worlds within the next few years, researchers said today. Two of the extrasolar planets are considered super-Earths, more massive than Earth but less massive than Uranus and Neptune. Spo ...
  • Alan Grayson: Afghan War 'Futile'
    by Meredith Shiner Florida Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson said Tuesday that the war in Afghanistan is "futile" and vowed to vote against the Pentagon's appropriations bill to protest President Barack Obama's decision to send more U.S. troops there. read more

Lifehacker

  • Evernote Makes Its Official Debut in the Android ...
    Android: After a few months of beta releases , the all-inclusive note-taking service Evernote has launched a release version of its app for Android phones, making it very easy to snap pictures, jot notes, or record audio notes for yourself. The app's smoothed out its kinks, bugs, and looks over mult ...
  • Google Contacts Can Kill Duplicates in Bulk [Anno ...
    If you sync your Google contacts between multiple devices or pull from multiple email accounts, you've probably got quite a few duplicate entires. Now your Google and Gmail contacts let you kill those dupes en masse with a single button. Hit up your contacts from Gmail, or head to google.com/contact ...
  • Save Cool Cash by Cleaning Your Refrigerator Coil ...
    The purpose of refrigerator coils is to dissipate heat, not suck up electricity—or cash—out of your wallet. But that's what happens if you don't clean off those bad boys once in a while. Here's how. Photo by M0les . Some fridge coils are located underneath the appliance, others are on the back of it ...
  • Keep Food from Sticking to Your Skillet with a Si ...
    One of the biggest downers of cooking meat on a skillet is scraping off the aftermath. Cooking weblog Houseboat Eats highlights a simple water trick that helps you find the ideal temperature for cooking without sticking using the power of science. Watch the video above for the full overview. In sho ...
  • VirusTotal Uploader 2.0 Instantly Scans Files for ...
    Windows only: Previously mentioned VirusTotal Uploader automatically uploads any file to online virus scanner VirusTotal, scanning it for viruses with 41 different popular antivirus applications—and now it's even better and faster, with instant hash checking, letting you skip uploads altogether. Onc ...

Newshoggers - AfPak

  • Contemplation of Drone Strikes in Quetta Belies Ob ...
    By Derrick Crowe Once again, the United States is rattling a saber about killing people in Quetta, despite all the inevitable civilian death and mass outrage. Such a move would show the shallowness of the "just war" talk in President Obama's disgraceful Nobel paean to Mars. Quetta is a city of 850,0 ...
  • "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 ...

Water Wars

WordPress | Economics

McClatchey

  • Texas secessionist drops out of race for governor
    AUSTIN — The Republican primary battle for governor shrank Tuesday with the exit of secessionist candidate Larry Kilgore of Mansfield, while wealthy Houston businessman Farouk Shami celebrated his 67th birthday by officially jumping into the Democratic gubernatorial contest.
  • Measure to censure S.C. Gov. Sanford is likely tod ...
    House lawmakers today will likely approve a measure that will censure Gov. Mark Sanford for his five-day June disappearance and for allegedly using state resources to facilitate an extramarital affair.
  • Victims on human trafficking are often deported
    GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala — In a dingy reception center across from the new terminal at La Aurora International Airport, Guatemalan immigration agents don surgical masks and brace for another day of controlled chaos.
  • California's plan to curb mammograms for lower inc ...
    Many of California's lowest-income women in their 40s no longer will be eligible for free breast cancer screenings by the state beginning New Year's Day.
  • Immigration reform bill filed in House but passage ...
    Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., on Tuesday filed the first comprehensive immigration reform bill in the current Congress, giving renewed hope to millions of undocumented immigrants in South Florida and around the country.

BBC - Richard Black's Earth Watch

  • COP15: Climate 'scepticism' and questions about se ...
    Why are virtually all climate "sceptics" men? The question first came to mind on the plane to Copenhagen last week while scanning The Guardian's feature on movers and shakers in the "sceptical" field. So we go down their list... Bjorn Lomborg, Viscount Monckton, former TV presenter David Bellamy, ...
  • COP15: Lockouts and walk-outs
    Inside, it was said to be a walk-out but wasn't. Outside, it wasn't supposed to be a lock-out, but was. A confusing time for all inside and outside Copenhagen's Bella Center on the second Monday of UN climate talks here. From the perspective of creature comforts, inside had to be the choice. Insi ...
  • COP15: Still squabbling over form
    The second week of this conference is opening much as the first week ended - with disagreements on some pretty fundamental issues, and lots of squabbling about things that appear to be petty details but in fact mask big underlying concerns. This morning, for example, the Danish hosts have scheduled ...
  • COP15 Copenhagen climate summit: Day 5
    OK, they're a long way short of constituting a final deal... but two draft texts , drawn up by conference chairmen and released to delegates today, demonstrate where compromises may have to be made if this fortnight is to result in the deal that so many governments say they want. The chairmen of th ...
  • 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. ...

Afghanistan Sun

  • More police killed in Afghanistan
    A roadside bomb has killed at least four Afghan policemen in the western part of the country.
  • Bombs disrupt Kabul diplomatic quarter
    A large explosion rocked Kabul’s main diplomatic and government residential district on Tuesday morning, only hours before President Hamid Karzai was scheduled to attend an anti-corruption conference.
  • ICRC visits detainees in Taliban custody
    Geneva, Dec 16 (IANS) The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has visited three members of Afghan security forces detained by the Taliban, the ICRC said Wednesday.
  • advocate backtracks, says Taliban the real threat, ...
    Islamabad, Dec. 16 : In a latest flip-flop, the Pakistan government's advocate, Kamal Afzal has backtracked from his earlier statement, saying that the Taliban pose the actual threat to democracy in the country.
  • Three bomb attacks kill 15 in Afghanistan
    Kabul, Dec 15 (DPA) Two suicide attackers killed 10 people Tuesday while another bomb in eastern Afghanistan killed four local workers and one Nepali man, officials said.

Futurismic

  • The real history of science fiction
    Just in case you missed it, this little gem from webcomic Hark, a Vagrant was doing the rounds on Twitter the other day. Click through for the whole thing, then feel free to argue about the need for hard scientific veracity in speculative fiction in the comments. Project Wonderful - Your ad here ...
  • Fake blood
    No, not the Halloween dress-like-a-zombie fake blood – we’re talking entirely artificial polymer replacements for red blood cells, which could potentially be used for transfusions in the absence of donated blood [image by Andrew Mason]: They start out as spherical cells which then collapse into matu ...
  • Merry Christmas; I got you a panopticon
    Two quick links; I’ll leave you to do the math yourself. First up - ’smart’ CCTV system learns to spot suspicious behaviour with a little help from its human operators: … a next-generation CCTV system, called Samurai, which is capable of identifying and tracking individuals that act suspiciously in ...
  • Permaculture as an MMO?
    Taking a brief break from grim predictions of hyperlocal terrorism and the decline of the nation-state, John Robb hypothesises about a way to solve the looming problem of localised food production: why not make permaculture into a sort of MMO game? Riffing on the popularity of Farmville (which I sus ...
  • The web =/= the mob?
    Seeing as how I ended up with a whole bunch of related links, I thought they might as well all fit in one post. So, your overarching thematic question is: the power of the web and social media is pretty much a given, but does it empower us in ways that are beneficial or detrimental?* [...] Project W ...

geopolitics | geoeconomics

Whistleblowers Protection Blog

  • National Security Teleconference Underway
    The National Whistleblowers Legal Defense & Education Fund's teleconference on National Security Whistleblowers is underway.  Shown here are Sibel Edmonds of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition , Stephen M. Kohn, Executive Director of the National Whistleblowers Center , David Colapinto, ...
  • 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. Birkenfeld’s ...
  • 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 Whistleblo ...
  • 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, ...

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 having mo ...
  • 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 same subjec ...
  • 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 “Political Corr ...
  • 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, the ...

Science Express

  • Researchers identify itch-specific neurons in mice ...
    Historically, many scientists have regarded itching as just a less intense version of pain. They have spent decades searching for itch-specific nerve cells to explain how the brain perceives itch differently from pain, but none have been found.
  • Colon cancer may yield to cellular sugar starvatio ...
    Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have discovered how two cancer-promoting genes enhance a tumor's capacity to grow and survive under conditions where normal cells die. The knowledge, they say, may offer new treatments that starve cancer cells of a key nutrient - sugar. However, ...
  • Dark Matter May be Easier to Detect than Previousl ...
    (PhysOrg.com) -- The Milky Way, like many other galaxies, is thought to be embedded in massive, lumpy amounts of dark matter that release gamma rays and other emissions. Although at first these emissions seem too faint to detect, recent observations have shown that they may be stronger than previous ...
  • Scientists develope optimal flu vaccine priorities ...
    (PhysOrg.com) -- Optimal control of the spread of the seasonal flu and H1N1 is achieved by prioritizing vaccinations for schoolchildren and for adults aged 30 to 39 in the United States. Those are the findings of a new study by Clemson University and Yale University School of Medicine mathematicians ...
  • Researchers Clone and Engineer Bacterial Genomes i ...
    Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit genomic research organization, published results today describing new methods in which the entire bacterial genome from Mycoplasma mycoides was cloned in a yeast cell by adding yeast centromeric plasmid sequence to the bacterial c ...

TechDirt

  • New Zealand Brings Back Three Strikes... With Some ...
    Last year, you may recall that New Zealand tried to sneak through a "three strikes" type law that relied solely on accusations and would kick people off the internet. After first resisting, the government realized that public outrage over the plan was too strong and scrapped the plan, but admitted ...
  • No, Sending Spam Text Messages Is Not The Same As ...
    There's just something about the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act -- the "anti-hacking" law in the US -- that seems to leave it open for abuse in lawsuits. This is the law that was used to convict Lori Drew. Even though the judge eventually tossed the ruling, it showed how the broadly-worded law could ...
  • Another Battle: Can Teachers Sell Lesson Plans?
    I missed this last month, but a friend sent over a NY Times article looking at the growing practice of teachers making additional money by selling lesson plans . Marketplaces are emerging, and teachers who have crafted smart and useful lesson plans are able to earn extra cash, while other teachers ...
  • UK Aggregator NewsNow Dumps Newspapers After They ...
    Back in October, we wrote about how various newspapers, under the auspices of the "Newspaper Licensing Agency" were threatning NewsNow, a UK news aggregator that is (in my experience) one of the more comprehensive aggregators out there, but which only shows headlines and links to full stories. It's ...
  • Always Sunny In Giving People A Reason To Buy: Sit ...
    Earlier this year, we wrote about the sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia , which has a bit of a cult-like following among fans of the show. As we wrote, the show was doing a cool thing to connect with fans, by doing a live tour and screening a new episode in theaters around the country. It w ...

VacTruth

  • CDC messages to minorities wary of vaccinations
    . . . By Eric T. Campbell Michigan Citizen Newspaper (vactruth.com editor’s note: Trying to vaccinate low-income populations is nothing new. Please see how Sanofi Pasteur hired RAND corporation to do skirt laws to vaccinate low income children here.) 12/13/2009 – DETROIT — The Center for Disease ...
  • Communities reject vaccines in Yobe
    Men actually threatened to send their wives packing if they dared present any of their children for the immunisation exercise.
  • Mercury in Flu Vaccine is 250 Times Higher than Cl ...
    Do you know what happens to unused flu vaccine in Wisconsin? It needs to be treated at a hazardous waste collection site due to the huge amount of mercury it contains.
  • Historic Data Shows Vaccines Not Key in Declines i ...
    . . . Roman Bystrianyk Health Sentinel Monday, 14 December 2009 02:04 Many of us have a picture of the 1800s that has been colored by a myriad of filters that have led us to a nostalgic and romantic view of that era. We picture a time where gentleman callers came to call upon a well-dressed lady in ...
  • Swine flu vaccines appear to be causing more ill h ...
    . . . Christina England American Chronicle December 14th, 2009 The panic buttons have been pressed and the public have panicked but instead of this enormous pandemic, killing hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, we have seen very few deaths from the giant ‘pig’ of a disease that we were thre ...

BroadSnark

  • White America’s Existential Crisis
    People have, apparently, lost their minds.  There seems to be a panic that we have lost the fabric of our society and I’m having trouble getting a handle on what has happened that is so drastic that people would think its tyranny or fascism or hitleresque or stalinesque (Jon Stewart) That quote is ...
  • Humbug!
    It’s time for my annual holiday season bitching post.  Feel free to skip this if you are not in the mood for a rant. I get it.  Like 76% of people in the United States consider themselves Christian and you all think Christmas is a big f’ing deal.  I’ve written before about the violence and discri ...
  • 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 harassment ...
  • 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 state ...
  • 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 was getting u ...

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 to ...
  • 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 ناجي- ترجمة خاصة بالمستقلة عقد الرئيس اليمني علي عبدا لله صالح مؤخرا صفقة مع ...
  • 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

  • Bringing Guantanamo Home
    By Anthony Gregory The Obama administration is bringing Guantanamo detainees to Illinois, where they will be tried by military commissions or detained indefinitely without charge. The president might be closing Guantanamo, but he is simply bringing the same lawless detention policy here at h ...
  • Ron Paul Interview
    By Matt Hawes On Wednesday, Dr. Paul will be interviewed on MSNBC’s Morning Joe at 7:45 am eastern.  Tune in and check it out! View the original article at Washingtons Blog
  • Congressman Paul Speaks Out Against Iran Sanctions
    By tshoes4liberty Dr. Paul takes a principled stance against sanctions by correctly pointing out that sanctions are a failure of diplomacy.  The potential blowback from sanctions could pose much more of a threat to our national security than we currently face. Part II – A rebuttal – A California Co ...
  • Keeping Taliban Out of the Schools
    By Phil Giraldi The Washington Post has featured an article describing how an Arlington Virginia middle school had canceled a mock UN discussion in which one team would represent the Taliban point of view.  At least one parent had objected, saying it was an “abuse of the academic freedom that we all ...
  • Behind the scenes of the Ron Paul 2008 Campaign
    By Andrew Ward From our friend Bill Dumas comes the The Ron Paul Video Diary, an online video series that gives a behind the scenes look at the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential campaign.  Supporters and former campaign staffers can even share their own stories, perspectives, photos and videos on the websi ...

food and water watch

  • Corporate Water Neutrality, Anything But
    According to the India Resource Center, on November 30, 2009, over 2000 villagers marched in protest of a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Mehdiganj, demanding its closure following the company’s decision to continue extracting groundwater during a drought. One week later at a corporate water conference ...
  • Choosing the Best and Safest Seafood: Yes, It&#821 ...
    An article printed Monday in the Boston Globe aptly describes the difficulty of determining which fish are best to eat. The contemporary politics of seafood consumption are intricate and frequently controversial, often pulling consumers in different directions. Some experts, like Dr. Lichenstein of ...
  • Women, Land Grabs and Biotechnology
    The issue of women’s land rights and land ownership in Africa is a serious one. The FAO says that women contribute 60 to 80 percent of the labor used to produce food for household consumption and for sale in developing countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa. In a recent meeting of the Commission o ...
  • Swine flu and you: problems with fish and pig CAFO ...
    I recently read a claim that was so absurd that it made me do a double-take. According to a prominent seafood industry website, salmon farms have “raised the standard for human medicine” and helped treat swine flu as a result. I’m sorry, but salmon farms? Do they mean those jam-packed ocean cages ...
  • Certifying the unknown: an Antarctic toothfish? &# ...
    Word has come out that the Ross Sea toothfish fishery was recently recommended to be certified under the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standards. This happened despite that very little is known about the ecosystem in the Ross Sea region, which is in the Southern Ocean below New Zealand along the ...

treehugger




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