30 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

• Q&A: ''Israeli Settlements Killing Two-Nation S ...
  
  
  JERUSALEM, Dec 30 (IPS) - In the absence of any progress towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians, leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) are adopting a reasonable approach as a way of building up international pressure on Israel to get it back to the negotiating table.
  
  
  
  
• MIDEAST: New Year Reopens Wounds of the Old
  
  
  GAZA CITY, Dec 30 (IPS) - For many survivors of the last Israeli war on Gaza, time has not healed their wounds, physical or emotional.
  
  
  
  
• DEVELOPMENT: Filipino Communities Turn Trash Int ...
  
  
  TAGUIG CITY, Philippines, Dec 30 (IPS/IFEJ) - Days after the New Year’s Eve revelry dies down, expect colorful lanterns or wreaths to remain hanging on the windows of many Filipino homes – part of a tradition in this South-east Asian country known to have the longest Yuletide celebration in t ...
  
  
  
  
• CLIMATE CHANGE: Carbon Prices Reflect an Uncerta ...
  
  
  WASHINGTON, Dec 29 (IPS) - As what was supposed to be a breakthrough year for action on climate change comes to a close, one indicator of the disappointment surrounding an anti-climactic outcome in Copenhagen and stalled U.S. Senate legislation can be seen on the European Climate Exchange.
  
  
  
  
• U.S.: Democrats Get a Push from the Left
  
  
  ATLANTA, Georgia, Dec 29 (IPS) - National progressive groups are gearing up for the 2010 Congressional elections by targeting centrist Democrats in the U.S. Congress and supporting their more left-leaning opponents.
  
  
  
  

Scoop - NZ

• Copenhagen - Historic failure that will live in in ...
  
  
  The most progressive US president in a generation comes to the most important international meeting since the Second World War and delivers a speech so devoid of substance that he might as well have made it on speaker-phone from a beach in Hawaii. His aides argue in private that he had no choice, su ...
  
  
  
  
• Artists and politicians gather to save Canterburya ...
  
  
  Canterbury's water management needs a serious overhaul, according to artists and activists who gathered for an art exhibition at Christchurch's COCA on Saturday.  »  PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews
  
  
  
  
• The smoking gun at Copenhagen
  
  
  This is big news. A confidential UN analysis obtained by the Guardian reveals that the emissions cuts offered so far at the Copenhagen climate change summit will lead to global temperatures rising by an average of 3C.  »  PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews
  
  
  
  
• 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 ...
  
  
  
  

Independent ( London )

• Timeline: the five Britons kidnapped in Baghdad
  
  
  These are the key developments since the five Britons were kidnapped in Baghdad.
  
  
  
  
• British hostage freed in Iraq
  
  
  A British man held hostage in Iraq for over two-and-a-half years has been freed, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said today.
  
  
  
  
• Dutch to use full body scanners for US flights
  
  
  The Netherlands will immediately begin using full body scanners for flights heading to the United States to prevent future terrorist attacks like the foiled Christmas Day attempt.
  
  
  
  
• Ireland's secret trade links with Libya revealed
  
  
  The Irish Government secretly forged trade links with Libya in the 1970s while privately acknowledging the north African state was arming the IRA, newly-released files revealed today.
  
  
  
  
• Wildfires destroy homes in Australia
  
  
  Wildfires possibly sparked by fallen power lines roared across a swath of western Australia today, razing almost 40 homes and sending hundreds of people fleeing for their lives, officials and witnesses said. At least three people were injured.
  
  
  
  

CASMII - Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran

• Don't attack Iran (response letters to NYT/IHT)
  
  
  Summary: Nuclear powers bear most of the responsibility for the failures of the international nonproliferation regime. They can hardly claim the high moral ground or the political legitimacy to use military means to prevent others from developing nuclear capabilities. There are several options b ...
  
  
  
  
• Iran sanctions: U.S. and allies may narrow their a ...
  
  
  Summary: The discussions are now aimed at making the sanctions "as narrow as they can be," said a senior State Department official who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the talks. He said he thought the new approach would rule out an international embargo on selling gasolin ...
  
  
  
  
• US Intelligence Found Iran Nuke Document Was Forge ...
  
  
  Summary: Philip Giraldi Philip Giraldi, who was a CIA counterterrorism official from 1976 to 1992, told IPS that intelligence sources say that the United States had nothing to do with forging the document, and that Israel is the primary suspect. The sources do not rule out a British role in the ...
  
  
  
  
• Israel says regular bomb cannot destroy Iran's nuc ...
  
  
  Summary: "The facility in Qom is in a bunker and therefore resistant to regular bombs," local daily Haaretz quoted Barak as speaking to the Knesset (Israeli parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The site in Qom has been under construction for years, he added.Iran confirmed in Septem ...
  
  
  
  
• Iran willing to swap nuclear material in Turkey
  
  
  Summary: Mottaki TEHRAN, Iran – Iran would be willing to swap nuclear material with the West in Turkey, the foreign minister said in the country's latest counteroffer to a U.N.-drafted deal aimed at thwarting Tehran's ability to produce atomic weapons. source: AP read more
  
  
  
  

The Daily Galaxy

• "Could Time Flow Backwards in Other Universes?" Ri ...
  
  
  A rising star in theoretical physics offers his awesome vision of our universe and beyond, all beginning with a simple question: Why does time move forward? In January, Caltech physicist Sean Carroll will release his much-anticipated debut book, From Eternity...
  
  
  
  
• Holiday Greetings
  
  
  We're posting several of our most popular pieces from the past few months for your enjoyment this Holiday Season. In a couple of week's we hope to go live as a new iPhone app. We'll announce to all once we're...
  
  
  
  
• Solar-System Signals from Distant Galaxies Observe ...
  
  
  With exoplanets apparently all around us (galactically speaking), a global team of researchers have kicked it up a notch. Signals shining across millions of light years, from other galaxies, indicate the birth of solar systems - and we can see...
  
  
  
  
• Does "Moore's Law" Apply to Cities? (A Holiday Cla ...
  
  
  Several thousand years ago the evolution of social organizations in the form of cities brought a new dynamic to the planet that seems to be uniquely human: People actually do walk on average faster in larger cities whereas heart rates...
  
  
  
  
• How Much Energy is Left in the Cosmic Fuel Tank?
  
  
  Everyone knows that everything ends, with the possible exception of Madonna's career, but only scientists can take omniversal extinction and put it into equation. Some scientists have summed up everything that ever was, is, or will be, and put a...
  
  
  
  

Natural News

• FDA approves Crestor for people who have no health ...
  
  
  (NaturalNews) Big Pharma has been trending this direction for a long time: marketing medicines to people who don't need them and who have nothing wrong with their health. It's all part of a ploy to position prescription drugs as nutrients -- things you need to take on a regular basis in order to pre ...
  
  
  
  
• Ritalin Linked With Sudden Death of Children
  
  
  (NaturalNews) Research from The National Institute of Mental Health has revealed that popular Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) drugs like Ritalin are responsible for causing sudden death in many children. Study numbers indicate a 500 percent increased risk in childhood death from taking such mental ...
  
  
  
  
• Vitamin K2 Helps Prevent Heart Disease and Osteopo ...
  
  
  (NaturalNews) There is very little publicity about Vitamin K. It is generally known as important for blood coagulation. However, it is essential for your health beyond that. It`s a nutrient that can help prevent serious health issues like heart disease, especially arteriosclerosis or hardening of th ...
  
  
  
  
• Pharmaceuticals are more dangerous to your health ...
  
  
  (NaturalNews) As all of North America now seems to be focused on the issue of one terrorist wearing a pair of exploding underwear, I might as well comment on this latest bit of security theater that seems to have transfixed the nation. Pictures of the exploding underwear "bomb" have now surfaced on ...
  
  
  
  
• Risk of suicide and heart attacks goes up when men ...
  
  
  (NaturalNews) Imagine you are a man who has just been told you have a disease that might kill you -- prostate cancer. And the treatment may involve surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and/or hormones that could rob you of your virility, wreck your sex life and even interfere with your ability to urinat ...
  

  IPS - Inter Press Services

  
  
  
• Q&A: ''Israeli Settlements Killing Two-Nation S ...
  
  
  JERUSALEM, Dec 30 (IPS) - In the absence of any progress towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians, leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) are adopting a reasonable approach as a way of building up international pressure on Israel to get it back to the negotiating table.
  
  
  
  
• MIDEAST: New Year Reopens Wounds of the Old
  
  
  GAZA CITY, Dec 30 (IPS) - For many survivors of the last Israeli war on Gaza, time has not healed their wounds, physical or emotional.
  
  
  
  
• DEVELOPMENT: Filipino Communities Turn Trash Int ...
  
  
  TAGUIG CITY, Philippines, Dec 30 (IPS/IFEJ) - Days after the New Year’s Eve revelry dies down, expect colorful lanterns or wreaths to remain hanging on the windows of many Filipino homes – part of a tradition in this South-east Asian country known to have the longest Yuletide celebration in t ...
  
  
  
  
• CLIMATE CHANGE: Carbon Prices Reflect an Uncerta ...
  
  
  WASHINGTON, Dec 29 (IPS) - As what was supposed to be a breakthrough year for action on climate change comes to a close, one indicator of the disappointment surrounding an anti-climactic outcome in Copenhagen and stalled U.S. Senate legislation can be seen on the European Climate Exchange.
  
  
  
  
• U.S.: Democrats Get a Push from the Left
  
  
  ATLANTA, Georgia, Dec 29 (IPS) - National progressive groups are gearing up for the 2010 Congressional elections by targeting centrist Democrats in the U.S. Congress and supporting their more left-leaning opponents.
  
  
  
  

Scoop - NZ

• Copenhagen - Historic failure that will live in in ...
  
  
  The most progressive US president in a generation comes to the most important international meeting since the Second World War and delivers a speech so devoid of substance that he might as well have made it on speaker-phone from a beach in Hawaii. His aides argue in private that he had no choice, su ...
  
  
  
  
• Artists and politicians gather to save Canterburya ...
  
  
  Canterbury's water management needs a serious overhaul, according to artists and activists who gathered for an art exhibition at Christchurch's COCA on Saturday.  »  PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews
  
  
  
  
• The smoking gun at Copenhagen
  
  
  This is big news. A confidential UN analysis obtained by the Guardian reveals that the emissions cuts offered so far at the Copenhagen climate change summit will lead to global temperatures rising by an average of 3C.  »  PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews
  
  
  
  
• 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 ...
  
  
  
  

Independent ( London )

• Timeline: the five Britons kidnapped in Baghdad
  
  
  These are the key developments since the five Britons were kidnapped in Baghdad.
  
  
  
  
• British hostage freed in Iraq
  
  
  A British man held hostage in Iraq for over two-and-a-half years has been freed, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said today.
  
  
  
  
• Dutch to use full body scanners for US flights
  
  
  The Netherlands will immediately begin using full body scanners for flights heading to the United States to prevent future terrorist attacks like the foiled Christmas Day attempt.
  
  
  
  
• Ireland's secret trade links with Libya revealed
  
  
  The Irish Government secretly forged trade links with Libya in the 1970s while privately acknowledging the north African state was arming the IRA, newly-released files revealed today.
  
  
  
  
• Wildfires destroy homes in Australia
  
  
  Wildfires possibly sparked by fallen power lines roared across a swath of western Australia today, razing almost 40 homes and sending hundreds of people fleeing for their lives, officials and witnesses said. At least three people were injured.
  
  
  
  

CASMII - Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran

• Don't attack Iran (response letters to NYT/IHT)
  
  
  Summary: Nuclear powers bear most of the responsibility for the failures of the international nonproliferation regime. They can hardly claim the high moral ground or the political legitimacy to use military means to prevent others from developing nuclear capabilities. There are several options b ...
  
  
  
  
• Iran sanctions: U.S. and allies may narrow their a ...
  
  
  Summary: The discussions are now aimed at making the sanctions "as narrow as they can be," said a senior State Department official who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the talks. He said he thought the new approach would rule out an international embargo on selling gasolin ...
  
  
  
  
• US Intelligence Found Iran Nuke Document Was Forge ...
  
  
  Summary: Philip Giraldi Philip Giraldi, who was a CIA counterterrorism official from 1976 to 1992, told IPS that intelligence sources say that the United States had nothing to do with forging the document, and that Israel is the primary suspect. The sources do not rule out a British role in the ...
  
  
  
  
• Israel says regular bomb cannot destroy Iran's nuc ...
  
  
  Summary: "The facility in Qom is in a bunker and therefore resistant to regular bombs," local daily Haaretz quoted Barak as speaking to the Knesset (Israeli parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The site in Qom has been under construction for years, he added.Iran confirmed in Septem ...
  
  
  
  
• Iran willing to swap nuclear material in Turkey
  
  
  Summary: Mottaki TEHRAN, Iran – Iran would be willing to swap nuclear material with the West in Turkey, the foreign minister said in the country's latest counteroffer to a U.N.-drafted deal aimed at thwarting Tehran's ability to produce atomic weapons. source: AP read more
  
  
  
  

The Daily Galaxy

• "Could Time Flow Backwards in Other Universes?" Ri ...
  
  
  A rising star in theoretical physics offers his awesome vision of our universe and beyond, all beginning with a simple question: Why does time move forward? In January, Caltech physicist Sean Carroll will release his much-anticipated debut book, From Eternity...
  
  
  
  
• Holiday Greetings
  
  
  We're posting several of our most popular pieces from the past few months for your enjoyment this Holiday Season. In a couple of week's we hope to go live as a new iPhone app. We'll announce to all once we're...
  
  
  
  
• Solar-System Signals from Distant Galaxies Observe ...
  
  
  With exoplanets apparently all around us (galactically speaking), a global team of researchers have kicked it up a notch. Signals shining across millions of light years, from other galaxies, indicate the birth of solar systems - and we can see...
  
  
  
  
• Does "Moore's Law" Apply to Cities? (A Holiday Cla ...
  
  
  Several thousand years ago the evolution of social organizations in the form of cities brought a new dynamic to the planet that seems to be uniquely human: People actually do walk on average faster in larger cities whereas heart rates...
  
  
  
  
• How Much Energy is Left in the Cosmic Fuel Tank?
  
  
  Everyone knows that everything ends, with the possible exception of Madonna's career, but only scientists can take omniversal extinction and put it into equation. Some scientists have summed up everything that ever was, is, or will be, and put a...
  
  
  
  

Natural News

• FDA approves Crestor for people who have no health ...
  
  
  (NaturalNews) Big Pharma has been trending this direction for a long time: marketing medicines to people who don't need them and who have nothing wrong with their health. It's all part of a ploy to position prescription drugs as nutrients -- things you need to take on a regular basis in order to pre ...
  
  
  
  
• Ritalin Linked With Sudden Death of Children
  
  
  (NaturalNews) Research from The National Institute of Mental Health has revealed that popular Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) drugs like Ritalin are responsible for causing sudden death in many children. Study numbers indicate a 500 percent increased risk in childhood death from taking such mental ...
  
  
  
  
• Vitamin K2 Helps Prevent Heart Disease and Osteopo ...
  
  
  (NaturalNews) There is very little publicity about Vitamin K. It is generally known as important for blood coagulation. However, it is essential for your health beyond that. It`s a nutrient that can help prevent serious health issues like heart disease, especially arteriosclerosis or hardening of th ...
  
  
  
  
• Pharmaceuticals are more dangerous to your health ...
  
  
  (NaturalNews) As all of North America now seems to be focused on the issue of one terrorist wearing a pair of exploding underwear, I might as well comment on this latest bit of security theater that seems to have transfixed the nation. Pictures of the exploding underwear "bomb" have now surfaced on ...
  
  
  
  
• Risk of suicide and heart attacks goes up when men ...
  
  
  (NaturalNews) Imagine you are a man who has just been told you have a disease that might kill you -- prostate cancer. And the treatment may involve surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and/or hormones that could rob you of your virility, wreck your sex life and even interfere with your ability to urinat ...
  

  TheGallopingBeaver

  
  
  
• If you read nothing else today...
  
  
  You will read Montreal Simon . You will be disgusted. I offer something in the way of an apology. Not for Simon. For forcing you to accept that the government you allowed to exist, under Steve Harper, is so blinkered by its own ideology. It will kill us as a nation. We used to be so strong. Peop ...
  
  
  
  
• Christmas at The Woodshed
  
  
  Looking for a way to get into the spirit of the season? Move on over to The Woodshed where, starting 4:00 pm PST (Midnight GMT) on the 23rd of December, our very own Rev. Paperboy kicks off a 3 holiday special on Radio Woodshed . Remember, in the past, The Rev has been willing to take himself host ...
  
  
  
  
• 1 in 10 408 947...
  
  
  ...are apparently the odds of being a victim of aerial terrorism in the past decade. Looking at the problem that way, it makes me wonder if those persons who are suddenly apoplectic at mention of the word "terrorism" or its derivatives might be suffering from something found here , and treated acc ...
  
  
  
  
• Oh no! The ukele playing left-wing fringe!
  
  
  Thanks, Antonia .
  
  
  
  
• Remember when he refused to go to Copenhagen?

Media Matters for America

• Quick Fact: On CNN, Matalin falsely claims "Bush ...
  
  
  On the December 27 edition of CNN's State of the Union, Mary Matalin falsely claimed that President George W. Bush "inherited a recession from President Clinton, and we inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation's history." In fact the 9-11 attacks occurred eight months int ...
  
  
  
  
• Conservative media revive "death panels" yet agai ...
  
  
  The conservative media are now labeling the Independent Medicare Advisory Board created by the Senate health care reform bill a "death panel," even though the board is explicitly prohibited from "modify[ing] eligibility," "restrict[ing] benefits," or "ration[ing] health care" and its recommenda ...
  
  
  
  
• Beck's Dec. '09 Fusion magazine: A rehash ...
  
  
  Glenn Beck's Fusion magazine claims to provide its subscribers with "the latest perspective on what is happening in our world, coupled with [Beck's] personal thoughts as 'work in progress' as well as cutting edge comedy and satire." But the December 2009 issue of Fusion simply rehashed many of the ...
  
  
  
  
• O Tannen-Mao? The right-wing's White House Christ ...
  
  
  Taking a cue from Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, several conservative media outlets have reported on three ornaments on the White House Christmas tree depicting President Obama's face superimposed on Mount Rushmore, Mao Zedong, and Hedda Lettuce. Despite the suggestion that those three C ...
  
  
  
  
• Morris falsely asserted Medicare Advisory Board i ...
  
  
  On Fox & Friends , Dick Morris falsely claimed that the "Medicare Advisory Board" in the revised Senate health care bill will "be saying no, you can't give this person a hip replacement, they are too old, and no, you can't treat this person with colon cancer with the best drug available." In fac ...
  
  
  
  

Global Research.ca

• Iran’s Growing Revolution vs. the Democrat’s Inter ...
  
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
  
  
  
• Observance of Law, or Global Kosovization
  
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
  
  
  
• U.S. – led World Community Fails, Palestinians on ...
  
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
  
  
  
• "Accountability For War Crimes is Imperative": An ...
  
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
  
  
  
• Escalating War in Afghanistan Apt to Hurt Fragile ...
  
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
  
  
  

TPM Cafe

• The Republican Theory of Government
  
  
  Block it. Crush it. Detonate it. You've probably read that the reason we don't have a chief Transportation Safety official in place today is that Obama's nominee, Erroll Southers, a former FBI special agent, Los Angeles World Airports Police Department... Police - Federal Bureau of Investigatio ...
  
  
  
  
• After Health Care Victory, Obama Turns To The Midd ...
  
  
  As Josh reminds us up front, foreign and domestic policy are two sides of the same coin which is why the Israeli right has been hoping President Obama's health reform bill would crash and burn. A weakened American President is... Middle East - Israel - United States - President of the United S ...
  
  
  
  
• In Boston Review forum -- on Afghanistan
  
  
  I have a contribution in this latest Boston Review forum on Afghanistan. The forum is built around a great piece of reporting by Nir Rosen. I wish I'd had more time to work on my contribution. But given the time... Afghanistan - Boston Review - Nir Rosen - Asia - Warfare and Conflict
  
  
  
  
• The Yemen Brief: Expanding Scope of US Military E ...
  
  
  Below the break follows the official statement from Yemen's Ministry of Foreign Affairs about would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Yemen is in a very complicated place when it comes to its efforts against al Qaeda, other rebel tribes, and managing... Osama bin Laden - Al-Qaeda - Yemen - M ...
  
  
  
  
• Google Monopoly
  
  
  I have come to the conclusion that Google has evolved into what economists call a "natural monopoly". When this situation occurs it is always cheaper for one large firm to supply the market than multiple smaller firms, In fact, absent... Google - Monopoly - Search - Search Engines - Market
  
  
  
  

TruthOut

• AIG Executives Failed to Repay Majority of Bonuses
  
  
  Despite previous promises, beleaguered insurance giant American International Group (AIG) has failed to return tens of millions of dollars in bonus payments the firm doled out to executives following the company’s spectacular unraveling and subsequent multibillion government bailout, according to a ...
  
  
  
  
• The Foreign Policy of Optimism
  
  
  Times are trying for American exceptionalism, that peculiar notion that the United States is unique in its attributes and qualitatively different from the rest of the international community. For many Americans, the Great Recession, set against the military quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan, has clo ...
  
  
  
  
• Bill Moyers | Washington for Sale?
  
  
  Interview with Robert Kuttner and Matt Tiabbi Amidst fading hopes for real reform on issues ranging from high finance to health care, economist Robert Kuttner and journalist Matt Taibbi join Bill Moyers to discuss Wall Street's power over the federal government. BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the JOURNAL. ...
  
  
  
  
• Anti-Mining Activists Killed in El Salvador
  
  
  For the second time in a week, a prominent anti-mining activist has been assassinated in El Salvador. On Saturday, thirty-two-year-old Dora “Alicia” Recinos Sorto was shot dead near her home. One of her children was also injured in the shooting. Sorto was an active member of the Cabañas Environment ...
  
  
  
  
• Tracking the Sound of Revolution
  
  
  The band Junkyard Empire does not differentiate among music, message and life. Political Affairs magazine said, "A jazz version of Rage Against the Machine, Minnesota-based Junkyard Empire blends jazz instrumentals, hip hop, and socially conscious lyrics to create a fresh sound ... this new Midwes ...
  
  
  
  

Planetsave

• Michigan Offshore Wind Proposal Stirs Waves
  
  
  A map prepared for Michigan’s Great  Lakes Offshore Wind Council shows areas of high wind power production potential in the state’s offshore waters. One of the first proposals for a major offshore wind project in America’s freshwater has surprised Michigan regulators and begun to stir oppositi ...
  
  
  
  
• Friendship between LION, TIGER and BEAR
  
  
  This post contains additional media. Click here to view the full post . . If we could all just get along like these three unusual friends, we would live in a much different world. In human society, people often do not like others simply because they are different. Humans kill over this matter. In ...
  
  
  
  
• Coalition Says MN Climate Solution Includes Nukes
  
  
  The Prairie Island nuclear plant at Red Wing, Minnesota, on the Mississippi River.  Nuclear power advocates want to repeal the state’s 15-year-old ban on new nuclear plants. The state that enacted one of the nation’s most farsighted clean energy laws in 2007 may be a battleground over nuclear p ...
  
  
  
  
• 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 ...
  
  
  
  

Water Quality - WordPress

• Pressure rises to stop antibiotics in agriculture
  
  
  [Source: Margie Mason and Martha Mendoza for the Associated Press, via  Business Week] FRANKENSTEIN,
  
  
  
  
• Thoughts on Sustainable Water Infrastructure
  
  
  Sustainability is big.  Water is even bigger.  Together, this pairing gets my vote for the peanut bu
  
  
  
  
• To the State Land Board, Re: Otter Creek Coal Lea ...
  
  
  (jhwygirl) Public comment for the proposed leasing of the state’s Otter Creek coal closes soon
  
  
  
  
• Water Quality Expert Appoints New Scottish Civil E ...
  
  
  Panton McLeod's new Civil Engineer Barclay Smart The UK’s leading water quality engineerin
  
  
  
  
• Cow Power Could Generate Electricity For Millions
  
  
  [Source: ScienceDaily.com] In the face of reports about the ills livestock generate for the climate,
  
  
  
  

Public Citizen in Texas

• Recap: Roll Beyond Coal Tour
  
  
  The November/December edition of Public Citizen News, a bi-monthly newsletter distributed to Public Citizen members, featured this article on our statewide “Roll Beyond Coal” Tour.  Since not all of you out there get the newsletter, I thought I’d share: ‘Roll Beyond Coal’ Tours Texas By Geena W ...
  
  
  
  
• Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round Up
  
  
  The Texas Progressive Alliance would like to thank everyone for reading all of the weekly blog roundups this year. This is the last roundup of 2009, and we are all looking forward to 2010. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants everyone to be afraid of drug cartels buying our politicians. We’ve al ...
  
  
  
  
• $18.2 Billion! Amores Nucleares: San Antonio Nucle ...
  
  
  The San Antonio Nuclear Expansion Soap Opera plot thickens.  Today’s update brings the shocking news that South Texas Project Reactors 3 & 4 could actually cost, not $13 Billion, not even $17 Billion… but $18.2 Billion! With all the trouble CPS has gotten into recently regarding transparency (a gen ...
  
  
  
  
• Green-up Your Life! Make change happen
  
  
  By Kirsten Bokenkamp During his campaign, President Obama said “change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.â€� As individuals, we need to internalize this, and act on it. This is the last blog in ...
  
  
  
  
• 60 Seconds to Save the Earth
  
  
  Sixty seconds doesn’t seem like a lot of time; however, there are lots of things that can be done in sixty seconds or less.  For instance, an average adult can type 38 to 40 words and blink between ten and 30 times every sixty seconds (sometimes simultaneously).  Furthermore, an elite distance runne ...
  
  
  
  

Press TV

• Tehran to exhibit Qajar, Pahlavi photos
  
  
  Tehran's Laleh gallery is set to mount an exhibition of photographs depicting the Iranian society during the Qajar and Pahlavi eras.
  
  
  
  
• In Iran, demonstrators condemn Ashura defiling
  
  
  Days after deadly anti-government protests on Ashura, tens of thousands of pro-government demonstrators gathered across Iran on Wednesday to condemn what they described as defiling the religious ceremony of Ashura.
  
  
  
  
• US troops kill civilians, says Afghanistan
  
  
  The Afghan government says foreign troops have dragged 10 civilians from their homes and shot them dead in the open over the weekend.
  
  
  
  
• Mofaz blasts Livni for vote-rigging, poor leadersh ...
  
  
  Kadima member Shaul Mofaz accuses Tzipi Livni of vote-rigging in the party's 2008 leadership primary, saying the former foreign minister lacks leadership.
  
  
  
  
• Ginkgo biloba ineffective in improving memory
  
  
  Despite the general belief, a new study voices doubt over the efficacy of herbal Ginkgo biloba supplements in slowing down the pace of cognitive impairments.
  
  
  
  

Axis of Logic

• Pakistan: Did Benazir Die For Democracy?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A Manifesto for Today
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• COP15 Copenhagen: A Road to Ecocide
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Kenneth Mosley now scheduled for execution on Janu ...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• From Us to You
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

They Gave Us a Republic

• The Nightowl Newswrap
  
  
  More stupidity from the soon-to-be-ex regime. "The nephew of Iran's opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was threatened days before he was killed in Sunday's protests, a prominent supporter says. Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a film-maker based in Paris, told the BBC that secret police called Seyed Ali Mousav ...
  
  
  
  
• One Court Makes Sense on Tasers
  
  
  From Digby, who has been pounding on the outrageous misuse of tasers longer than anyone, finally some good news: The 9th Circuit issued what may be a landmark ruling on tasers, and not a moment too soon: A federal appeals court on Monday issued one of the most comprehensive rulings yet limiting poli ...
  
  
  
  
• Stop Those Raw Eggs Before They Kill Again
  
  
  Blue Texan at Firedoglake: Since we still seem to be having a national freakout over some loser who got on a plane with a bomb in his underwear, which was apparently worthy of a presidential address, it might be a good idea to put the actual danger posed by terrorist attacks in some numerical perspe ...
  
  
  
  
• If For No Other Reason
  
  
  An icon of the abstinence-only movement makes the definitive case for teaching actual sexual techniques to teens - before they ruin it for themselves. Jesus' General has it: But, now Kevin Jonas needs to serve as a role model for marriage. His recent statement about his wedding night doesn't accompl ...
  
  
  
  
• Health Insurance Reform Calculator
  
  
  From Digby: For those of you who aren't covered by your employer for health insurance, here's a handy tool to figure out what you'd owe under health care reform under the two plans. (Be sure to put in your age in 2014.) Get more detail about what's really "affordable" from emptywheel here. I wanted ...
  
  
  
  

Care 2

• Japanese Develop See-Through Fish
  
  
  First came see-through frogs. Now Japanese researchers have succeeded in producing goldfish whose beating hearts can be seen through translucent scales and skin. Submitted by Katie Miller to Animals  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  
  
  
  
• Winter Weavers of Bamboo Mats
  
  
  At this time of the year, vehicles plying the Wangdhu-Trongsa highway may unknowingly lend a helping hand to the women of Sephu. The women lay rows of bamboo woven sheets on the highway which passing vehicles run over and soften so that they can be woven Submitted by Naoko I. to Offbeat  |   Note-i ...
  
  
  
  
• More Rewards for Convicted Felon, Dog Killer; Mich ...
  
  
  More evidence of insanity in this world when a waste of human life who abused, tortured and killed dogs, gambled and embezzled money, among other things, not only gets a multi-million dollar contract but also receives a Courage award. Submitted by Cher C. to Offbeat  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Commen ...
  
  
  
  
• A four-legged 'extra' for Ricky
  
  
  Ricky Gervais certainly had an 'extra' to help him when he visited our Birmingham Animal Centre - in the lively shape of Casper, a seven-year-old cross-breed dog currently in RSPCA care. Submitted by Cher C. to Offbeat  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  
  
  
  
• David Goldman: Sean hasn’t called me ‘Dad’ yet
  
  
  But New Jersey father says ‘we’ll heal’ after bitter five-year custody battle Submitted by Tonya B. to Offbeat  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  
  
  
  

GreenBiz

• What Are You Excited Most About in 2010?
  
  
  As the sun began to set on 2009, we asked some of our readers and partners to share their innovations, commitments, and passions for the coming year.
  
  
  
  
• What Are You Excited Most About in 2010?
  
  
  As the sun began to set on 2009, we asked some of our readers and partners to share their innovations, commitments, and passions for the coming year.
  
  
  
  
• The Advent of a New 'Oil War' after Copenhagen
  
  
  Critics of George Bush say he has led us into a quagmire in Iraq during the last decade from which we will never emerge. They say his way of doing business led to all the disagreements visible in the Copenhagen climate talks. They're wrong.
  
  
  
  
• Ford To Roll Out Plug-Ins, Battery Electric Vehicl ...
  
  
  From now until 2012, Ford will introduce a range of electric vehicles, from continuing its work with hybrids to releasing plug-in and battery electric vehicles.
  
  
  
  
• Coca-Coca, Carbon Reduction, Copenhagen -- and Pol ...
  
  
  That's Muhtar Kent, the CEO of Coca-Cola, on the right. On the left is a polar bear. I caught up with Muhtar Kent at COP15, where he was one of a few Fortune 500 CEOs to show up in an effort to influence the climate talks.
  
  
  
  

Reuters Global

• Interview with North Korea border crosser Robert P ...
  
  
  North Korea said on Tuesday it had detained a U.S. citizen who entered its territory, apparently confirming a report that an American activist crossed into the tate to raise awareness about Pyongyang's human rights abuses. Robert Park, 28, walked over the frozen Tumen river from China and into the ...
  
  
  
  
• Allah, Antarctica and Ancient Inca-The best reads ...
  
  
  A great read should tell readers something they don't already know, enlighten them about the world and its people, inform them about the human condition. Readers should be moved to laughter, tears, anger, action through superb writing and extraordinary reporting.
  
  
  
  
• Failed airline attack raises fresh questions about ...
  
  
  The failed Christmas Day attack on a flight to Detroit has renewed a debate on how best to tackle al Qaeda and its Islamist allies.
  
  
  
  
• Was Nigerian bomber a one-off?
  
  
  Although Nigeria is the world's sixth biggest Muslim country by population, there are reasons why it is not likely to produce a rash of bombers like the London-educated Nigerian who tried to blow up a plane.
  
  
  
  
• Lessons for coup makers?
  
  
  African coup makers may be better off holding quick elections than leaving confusion about what their plans are, but should the international community support any of them?
  
  
  
  

Paul Krugman

• Energy gaps
  
  
  There's a lot of evidence for cheap conservation, at least in the early stages.
  
  
  
  
• (Low) Rising Sun
  
  
  Is Tokyo really all that dense?
  
  
  
  
• Terrorism priorities
  
  
  Who really cares about fighting terrorism?
  
  
  
  
• Part D, revisited
  
  
  Can you say $9 trillion?
  
  
  
  
• Fannie, Freddie, and full faith
  
  
  Keeping Fannie and Freddie fully engaged in the mortgage-support business is one of the few tools available to prop up a still very weak economy.
  
  
  
  

No Quarter

• The So-Called Intelligence Failure
  
  
  The White House is having some success in pushing the nonsense that the failed Christmas Day airplane bombing by Umar Abdulmuttalab was a CIA intelligence failure. This is absurd on so many levels and is believable only to people who know nothing of the intelligence process. Let’s start with the as ...
  
  
  
  
• Notes on an “Extremist”
  
  
  Charles Krauthammer has no patience for Obama calling Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab an “extremist,” instead of a terrorist. I don’t know why Obama refuses to call him a terrorist except that it may be too incendiary a term for the dainty leftist law professor we have as an erstwhile president-when-not- ...
  
  
  
  
• Al Q Op
  
  
  Notes and perspectives from guests and discussion on my syndicated radio program, December 29, 2009:   Uninformed White House.   Janet Napolitano’s performance on the Sunday shows was frightful enough to require her to perform a do-over on the Monday morning shows where she reversed her “syst ...
  
  
  
  
• Obama Tries To Throw The CIA Under the Bus
  
  
  Boy, is the Obama White House stupid or what? They are busy circulating the story that the CIA failed to connect the dots on the failed bombing of the Delta/Northwest flight from Amsterdam on Christmas Day. President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the intelligence community had bits of information ...
  
  
  
  
• Larry Today on CNN, Interviewed by Kyra Phillips
  
  
  BELOW, the transcript from Kyra Phillips’ interview on CNN, December 29, 2009: KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We are pushing forward now on some of our top stories of the day. The Christmas day bomb suspect sitting in a federal prison in Michigan right now. Some lawmakers would prefer Guantanamo Bay. ...
  
  
  
  

Environmental Graffiti

• Moon Rising
• 5 Most Incredible Early Flying Attempts
• The Airplane Graveyard of St Augustine
• The Plastic Bag That Dissolves In Water
• Snowmobiles Are For Sissies

Foreign Policy in Focus

• Obama's Surge and Pakistan
  
  
  U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan is built on two coups, one in Kabul and the other in Islamabad.
  
  
  
  
• Honduran Elections a Parody of Democracy
  
  
  The recent elections are the latest act in the Honduran theater of the absurd, reports columnist Laura Carlsen.
  
  
  
  
• Crapshoot in Copenhagen
  
  
  FPIF's weekly update.
  
  
  
  
• The AfPak Train Wreck
  
  
  The president's goals in escalating the war in Afghanistan are deeply flawed. Just ask the Russians.
  
  
  
  
• Africa and the Economic Crisis
  
  
  While the world focuses on Afghanistan, Africa is addressing the global economic crisis in new ways.
  
  
  
  

Global Elite

• Fear, Intimidation & Media Disinformation: U.K Gov ...
  
  
  Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, August 20, 2009 An official UK government report –quoted extensively in Britain’s tabloid media– is warning the British public that there will be c ...
  
  
  
  
• President European Commission Advocated World Gove ...
  
  
  Jurriaan Maessen. Infowars. July 24th, 2009 On September 7, 1992, two term President of the European Commission Jacques Delors gave a speech to the Royal Institute of International Affa ...
  
  
  
  
• Billions of People Expected to Die Under Current C ...
  
  
  Barbara Minton, Natural News, July 21st, 2009 Your right to eat healthy food and use supplements of your choice is rapidly vanishing, but every effort has been made to keep you in the d ...
  
  
  
  
• Bioweapons, Dangerous Vaccines, and Threats of a G ...
  
  
  Stephen Lendman, Global Research, July 7th, 2009 Although international law prohibits the use of chemical and bacteriological weapons, America has had an active biological warfare progr ...
  
  
  
  
• Today we’re all prisoners in the USA
  
  
  Papers, Please! June 2, 2009 As of today, June 1, 2009, even U.S. citizens are officially prisoners in the USA, or exiles barred from entering our own country without the government’s p ...
  
  
  
  

Al Jazeera

• Iran holds pro-government rallies
  
  
  Demonstrations come as police chief vows to "crush" opposition protests.
  
  
  
  
• Activists reject Egypt's Gaza offer
  
  
  Protesters say allowing 100 of the 1,300 person march into Gaza not good enough.
  
  
  
  
• Israel holds nuclear whistleblower
  
  
  Former nuclear technician accused of breaking conditions of his release from jail.
  
  
  
  
• Deadly blasts hit western Iraq city
  
  
  Twenty-three people killed and dozens injured, including governor of Anbar province.
  
  
  
  
• Iran 'seeks Kazakh uranium'
  
  
  Purported intelligence report leaked as US and allies consider new sanctions.
  
  
  
  

Green Inc. - NYT

• Climate Talks, Protests and Danish Police
  
  
  Protesters say Danish police used unnecessarily heavy-handed tactics during two weeks of demonstrations earlier this month. The police say they successfully kept the peace.
  
  
  
  
• Hong Kong's Water Security
  
  
  A series of droughts in China has raised concerns about Hong Kong's water supply.
  
  
  
  
• Should Europe Intervene to Support the Price of Ca ...
  
  
  Despite tumbling prices, creating a so-called floor price for carbon could discredit the market for emissions trading in Europe.
  
  
  
  
• Harnessing the Sun to Store the Wind
  
  
  A Phoenix company, Solar Southwest Technology, wants to marry solar energy and a wind farm.
  
  
  
  
• Generating Solar Power After Dark
  
  
  Two solar farms planned in the West would use technology that allow utilities to generate electricity after the sun goes down.
  
  
  
  

Dot Earth News

• China's Take on How It Saved Climate Talks
  
  
  China's official account of the Copenhagen climate talks describes its leader's acumen and President Obama's awkwardness.
  
  
  
  
• From the Files: Christmas in Deadhorse and Beyond
  
  
  A holiday thank-you note to Dot Earth visitors and comment contributors.
  
  
  
  
• Views on China's Role in the Greenhouse
  
  
  China's dominance in climate talks reverberates.
  
  
  
  
• My Second Half
  
  
  Andy Revkin describes his shift to academia and focus on making the Web a tool fostering "one-planet living."
  
  
  
  
• Climate Talks Make Way for a Design Show
  
  
  In the wake of talks over a new climate treaty, an empty hall and enduring questions.
  
  
  
  

Doug Feith : Hong Pong

• ORBIES DOWN UNDER: Mysterious orbs or dust on the ...
  
  
  I got a message from YouTube user Stanley0306173 of Perth Australia , who has posted a ton of videos of what he claims are "orbies" or spirits or aliens or something, whizzing around his apartment. He has posted lots of these videos, and invited people to come check it out. Unlike other ghost hunt ...
  
  
  
  
• The Monckton climate battle rap; I want to specula ...
  
  
  What could possibly go wrong?! Analysis: Climate summit showcases new world order - thestar.com Tripod operations block coal train - tripods are super funny: Copenhagen failure sparks coal terminal blockade | Rising Tide Australia . Earlier: Indymedia Danmark - If you're in, you're in, if you're ...
  
  
  
  
• Gotta get Guinea goodies: Aluminum pursuit sparks ...
  
  
  A strange NBC series called E-Ring, which produced 22 episodes that aired in 2005, exalted narratives of American military adventurism and featured Dennis Hopper. I only saw episode #5, "Weekend Pass," in which as Wikipedia says, "Two US Marines are accused of raping a young local woman in Suriname ...
  
  
  
  
• 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 ...
  
  
  
  

Daily Censored

• ONTARIO ADVISOR FULLAN TEAMED WITH PASTOREK IN NEW ...
  
  
  Guest Blogged by George Thompson Premier McGuinty’s Special Advisor on education and the architect of Ontario’s reforms, was also a key advisor to the Louisiana superintendent, Paul Pastorek, in directing the post Hurricane Katrina reforms which led to America’s charter-dominated city. Katrina had p ...
  
  
  
  
• 2009 – The Year in Review
  
  
  In the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2009, a white transit cop in Oakland, California, shot and killed Oscar Grant, a young black man. Grant was lying face down on a train platform with his hands handcuffed behind his back at the time of the shooting. The cop claimed he thought Grant was going [... ...
  
  
  
  
• Detroit Public Schools: Canary in the Coal Mine of ...
  
  
  What was once a prospering manufacturing city has now been brought to its knees by the policies of neo-liberalism and late stage capitalism. In an article in Time Magazine, September 24, 2009 entitled “Detroit: The death – and possible life – of a great city”, the author, Daniel Okrent states the re ...
  
  
  
  
• Airline travel, now with even more security checks
  
  
  The pantsbomber, as some are calling him, has succeeded in ramping up security at airports around the world. The increase in security is being called necessary due to the pantsbomber, something reminiscent of the shoe bomber. Now, when flying, everything and everyone is going to end up with second ...
  
  
  
  
• Mining the soil: Biomass, the unsustainable energy ...
  
  
  Aletho News | December 26, 2009 The promotional material from Big Green Energy, aka Biomass Gas & Electric, presents biomass as “clean, renewable energy”, sustainable and green. The US Department of Energy uses the terms “clean and renewable” when introducing visitors at its website to the topic. Bu ...
  
  
  
  

AlterNet's Breaking News

• Obama slames intelligence flaws over foiled attack
• Obama slams intelligence flaws over foiled attack
• US consumers struggle to regain confidence
• Ron Paul suggests ‘agenda&acirc ...
• NBA Rockets take sting out of Hornets

Institute for Policy Studies

• Geneva Conventions Still Hold Up
• The Foreign Policy of Optimism
• Lessons from Sweden for the Immigration Debate
• The Kurdish Closing
• Review: 'Stripping Bare the Body: Politics, Violen ...

Pine River World News

• U.S. security agents "flood" northern Nigeria - lo ...
  
  
  Pine River World News / IntelTrends December 27, 2009 Nigeria media is delving into alleged al-Qaeda terrorist Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab's background since his arrest by U.S. authorities over a botched plane-bombing incident on Friday. According to the Nigerian Tribune, "... sources disclose ...
  
  
  
  
• 2010, The Saga Continues
  
  
  [ Blogmaster note :  Stanislav Mishin, whose column frequently appears in Russian newspaper Pravda, sets forth his predictions for 2010 in the below article.] The following column is reprinted with permission from Stanislav Mishin. 2010, The Saga Continues ©  Stanislav Mishin Source:   Mat Rodina ...
  
  
  
  
• America's New Crusade: Imperial U.S. vs Political ...
  
  
  The following commentary is reprinted with permission from Global Research. America's New Crusade:  Imperial U.S. vs Political Islam ©   Global Research By Rodrigue Tremblay December 25, 2009 "I am as intolerant of imperialistic designs on the part of other nations as I was of such designs on the ...
  
  
  
  
• The Economic Crisis Ends; the Political Crisis Beg ...
  
  
  The following commentary is reprinted with permission from Global Research. The Economic Crisis Ends;  the Political Crisis Begins ©   Global Research By Shamus Cooke December 24, 2009 First Iceland, then Ireland, now Greece. Much of Europe is mired in inescapable debt and bankrupt nations, the re ...
  
  
  
  
• The Nevada gambler, al-Qaida, the CIA and the moth ...
  
  
  The following article is from The Guardian, UK. The Nevada gambler, al-Qaida, the CIA and the mother of all cons ©   The Guardian By Chris McGreal December 23, 2009 Washington The intelligence reports fitted the suspicions of the time: al-Qaida sleeper agents were scattered across the U.S. awaiti ...
  

  PDA AMERICA

  
  
  
• Gaza Freedom March
  
  
  Slideshow pictures from the Gaza Freedom March from Fickr
  
  
  
  
• More ways the health-care bill will help create jo ...
  
  
  On Christmas, I wrote an article called “Health-care bill will stimulate economy and create tens of thousands of jobs“. Within hours it had gone semi-viral with over 3000 hits on the web. Progressive Democrats of America posted ...
  
  
  
  
• Featured Video: Noam Chompsky – Media
  
  
  By Karen Rybold-Chin | On the Earth Productions Noam Chomsky talks about Newspapers and Democracy.
  
  
  
  
• An AVATAR Awakening
  
  
  By David Swanson | AfterDowningStreet.org Let’s face it, if James Cameron had made a movie with the Iraqi resistance as the heroes and the U.S. military as the enemies, and had set it in Iraq or ...
  
  
  
  
• Kucinich Speaks on Afghanistan, Jobs, Generals, Co ...
  
  
  Congressman Dennis Kucinich recently addressed the major issues of Afghanistan, Jobs, Generals, and the U.S, Constitution. Please view Dennis’ comments concerning these important issues. Thank you. Sincerely. The Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich Committee
  
  
  
  

Marler Blog

• USA Today Continues its Critical Look at Food Safe ...
  
  
  Elizabeth Weiss and Peter Eisler of the USA Today continue on this month’s hard look at the school lunch program in this morning’s “Schools could learn lessons on food safety.” It is a good read. It is concerning, however, that the fast food industry is held up as a model of food safety for our kid’ ...
  
  
  
  
• Washington Post weighs in on the "mechanically ten ...
  
  
  I always feel a bit better when I know that the big national papers, like the Washington Post, are weighing in on something that I have been blogging about since Christmas Eve. Lyndsey Layton posted online an hour ago – “E. coli-tainted beef infects 21 people in 16 states.” Unfortunately, even bei ...
  
  
  
  
• FSIS figures out where 312 pounds of ham went - Wh ...
  
  
  Today the FSIS published the RETAIL CONSIGNEES FOR FSIS RECALL 068-2009 . This was the recall of 312 pounds of Canadian Ham by Associated Grocers of Maine. The recall consisted of 16-ounce packages of "SUPER TRIM, Shurfine, IMPORTED, COOKED HAM, WATER ADDED, 98% FAT FREE." Each package bears the e ...
  
  
  
  
• 19 Ill in 16 States due to Mechanically Tenderized ...
  
  
  According to State Health Department officials in six States, as of Monday there were reports of 1 illness each in Washington, Michigan, Iowa, Kansas and Colorado and 2 in South Dakota linked to the National State and Poultry E. coli O157:H7 beef recall linked to “mechanically-tenderized” steaks. T ...
  
  
  
  
• All I got for Christmas were two cans of Virginia ...
  
  
  Given my past Salmonella lawsuits against ConAgra in 2007 and Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) in 2009 for poisoning about 700 each - with PCA killing at least nine, it might come as somewhat of a surprise that I would receive today two cans of peanuts from Virginia.  Interestingly, the cans came ...
  
  
  
  

AutoblogGreen

• AutoblogGreen for 12.30.09
  
  
  The decade's top five green transportation predictions - and how they fared Nostradamus had it easy. Enterprising DIYer adds boat tail to Pontiac Firefly to boost mileage It loo ...
  
  
  
  
• AutoblogGreen for 12.29.09
  
  
  AutoblogGreen's Top Ten most popular stories of 2009 It starts with the World's Most Miserly VW Bus. VIDEO: Kia remains committed to fuel cells, check out Borrego FCEV The updates keep on com ...
  
  
  
  
• REPORT: 76% of "electric propulsion vehicle" paten ...
  
  
  Toyota is the undisputed world leader in hybrid vehicle sales, so it's no surprise the company dominates the charts when it comes to patents for "electric propulsion vehicles." A recent study conducted by the Japan Patent Office on global trends in the EV industry found that 76 percent of the 16 ...
  
  
  
  
• AutoblogGreen for 12.28.09
  
  
  10 signs your new car won't be electric, and 5 signs that it will Which list makes more sense to you? Fool's Outlook: Tesla IPO's bumpy road Money maker or bad idea? ...
  
  
  
  
• AutoblogGreen for 12.24.09
  
  
  Forget the Tata Nano, Oklahomans can get a new electric car for $865! Who wants one? No new U.S. coal plants in 2009; does this mean a cleaner future for electric cars? Good news, maybe. ...
  
  
  
  

Rafe's Radar

• Valley VC learns to embrace government
  
  
  Famous venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson avoided politics--as long as he could. Now dealing with the feds is a job skill.
  
  
  
  
• Reporters' Roundtable Podcast: Biggest tech storie ...
  
  
  This week on the Roundtable: The biggest tech stories of 2009! With my boss, CNET Editor in Chief Scott Ard , and Buzz Out Loud host (and my co-conspirator on Real Deal ) Tom Merritt . Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subsc ...
  
  
  
  
• Dear newspapers: I will pay for your content, once
  
  
  Asking subscribers to pay for the same content twice will not work.
  
  
  
  
• Blippy launches the Twitter of personal finance
  
  
  There's more to this service that sharing spending data with friends, thank goodness.
  
  
  
  
• Reporters' Roundtable Podcast: Google Chrome OS
  
  
  What's behind the Google Chrome OS, technologically and from a business perspective? This week on the Roundtable, I discuss the pending operating system with CNET writers Stephen Shankland ( Deep Tech ) and Gordon Haff ( Pervasive Data Center ). Listen now: Download today's podcast Subs ...
  
  
  
  

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!

• 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 ...
  
  
  
  
• Dennis Brutus (1924-2009): South African Poet and ...
  
  
  World-renowned South African poet and activist Dennis Brutus died in his sleep on December 26th in Cape Town. He was 85 years old. Read more
  
  
  
  
• TARIQ ALI: “Obama’s Afghan-Pak Syndrom ...
  
  
  Tariq Ali is author of more than 20 books, including history, politics, and fiction. His most recent books are Protocols of the Elders of Sodom (2009) and The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power (2008). He is a regular contributor to The Guardian, New Left Review, and the London Rev ...
  
  
  
  
• The Globe and Mail: Amy Goodman's border woes has ...
  
  
  The Globe and Mail: Canada Border Services Agency won’t comment on why the host of the widely syndicated radio and TV program Democracy Now had her speech checked at border Read more
  
  
  
  

Farming Pathogens

• We Are All Astronauts Now
  
  
  Five years ago I gave copies of this essay to a few friends and family as a year-end holiday gift. As a first stab I think it’s aged well, despite its ignorance of the work of Berger, Harvey, Reichenbach, among others. I offer it now to everyone else in a similar spirit–all in good fun, [...]
  
  
  
  
• 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’ ...
  
  
  
  

Digg Green

• Hungry Hungry Hippos
  
  
  *****
  
  
  
  
• Fears over Carbon-dioxide Curbs Unfounded
  
  
  A federal plan to limit carbon-dioxide emissions would cripple small business, subject Americans to "reckless taxes" and increase "wasteful Washington spending," contends House Minority Leader John Boehner. So far, it's costing families in pilot states maybe $1.50 a month more.
  
  
  
  
• Warming Heats Up Insect Breeding
  
  
  Extra generations of insects are turning up as temperatures increase. As if we needed another reason to hate global warming.
  
  
  
  
• Genetically Engineered Glowing Tadpoles Detect Pol ...
  
  
  Here's something cooler than a canary in a coal mine: Tadpoles genetically engineered to glow when they encounter water pollution. African clawed frog tadpoles modified with jellyfish genes show promise as a faster and less expensive way to detect pollution than traditional methods.
  
  
  
  
• Lasers, acid used in whaling clashes
  
  
  Japanese whalers and activists have clashed in the Antarctic Ocean over two days, with weapons including water cannon, blinding lasers and bottles of rancid acid. .The activists tried to blind the Japanese crew with lasers and "fired ball-like projectiles with a projectile-launching device" during a ...
  
  
  
  

Invisible Opportunity

• BOMBSHELL: Evidence Clearly Indicates Staged Attac ...
  
  
  Aaron Dykes Infowars December 29, 2009 Evidence is emerging that clearly indicates Abdulmutallab was more than just a Nigerian extremist carrying out his anger through an ill-conceived plot to ignite a powdery explosive substance on-board a flight to the United States. Eyewitness testimony pointing ...
  
  
  
  
• BBC Video: al Qaeda Does Not Exist
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Cutter Charges at Work in the North Tower of the W ...
  
  
  Small explosive ejections focused on a corner column of WTC1 (The North Tower of the World Trade Center) are evidence of cutter charges used to cut the corner columns. One of these occurs at the 98th floor at the onset of the demolition of the building. The other occurs lower in the building at the ...
  
  
  
  
• Bolivia: South America’s Retirement Paradise
  
  
  By Shannon Roxborough A beautiful and inexpensive place without a tourist in sight. Sound like a dream? It’s not. This slice of paradise does exist. Nestled high in the Andes mountains of South America, Bolivia is a little-known retreat exotically spiced with a unique Latin and Native American flavo ...
  
  
  
  
• Russian weather data cherry picked by UK climatolo ...
  
  
  Meanwhile, a new climate scandal is gaining momentum. The Moscow-based Institute for Economic Analysis (IEA) has accused the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research of the British Meteorology Office of only using statistics from weather stations in Russia that fitted its theory on global w ...
  
  
  
  

Cognitive Research - Sciences

• Trends in Cognitive Sciences

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

• AlterNet's Most Popular Sex and Drugs Stories of 2 ...
  
  
  From "Big Booty Beauty and the New Sexual Aesthetic" to "5 Things the Corporate Media Don't Want You to Know About Cannabis."
  
  
  
  
• The Search for an Endangered Mushroom That Could C ...
  
  
  Unlocking the secrets of this fungi may be one of the most important discoveries to the future of human health. But time is running short for the endangered mushroom.
  
  
  
  
• 10 Reasons the U.S. Military Should (Officially) U ...
  
  
  Medical marijuana may have a host of advantages over other treatments for traumatized vets, but the VA won't even study its efficacy.
  
  
  
  
• Mexican Drug War Dispatch: The Life and Death of K ...
  
  
  In Mexico, if you call someone "Don," it means you respect him to the extreme, and even fear him. Some people still don't believe he's dead.
  
  
  
  
• We Can't Let Politics Keep Trumping Science on Dru ...
  
  
  If Obama wants to promote public health -- over politics -- on substance abuse, there are many more bold steps his administration should take.
  
  
  
  

Twilight Earth

• Make a Video – Win $2,500.00: Reduce-ReUse-Recycle ...
  
  
  The U.S. EPA is sponsoring a video contest that challenges people to produce short, creative videos that highlight the “Three Rs� of individual consumption. Related posts: Do You Want to Do More Than Recycle? How to Precycle. Reuse-day Tuesday, 3 Ring Binders, Plastic-ware and Coffee Grounds ...
  
  
  
  
• Pope Benedicts 2010 Message to the World: Environm ...
  
  
  Pope Benedict's 2010 Environmental message: If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation. Related posts: Pope Says – Environmental Degradation Ends by Living Ethically What is Environmentalism? Full Copenhagen Speech Transcripts of 5 World Leaders
  
  
  
  
• Global Youth Video to World Leaders: Youre Not Don ...
  
  
  Check out this awesome video message to world leaders from the global youth climate movement: "You're Not Done Yet & Neither Are We." Related posts: Twilight Earth Exclusive Cop15 Video – China Youth in Copenhagen Full Copenhagen Speech Transcripts of 5 World Leaders One Question for the World ( ...
  
  
  
  
• New Years Message from Pope Benedict XVI – Protect ...
  
  
  Pope Benedict XVI has chosen an Environmental Message this year, to share will the people of the world. Related posts: Pope Says – Environmental Degradation Ends by Living Ethically Have People of Religion Forgotten the Lessons of “Creation?” TreeHugger Celebrates 5 Years. Congratulations!
  
  
  
  
• Full Copenhagen Speech Transcripts of 5 World Lead ...
  
  
  Speeches are just words, unless the people hold those that make them, responsible. Read the words. Understand the promises. Hold them accountable. Related posts: The World According to Monsanto – Full Documentary That was Then / This is Now – 30 Yr Old Energy Speech Eerily Relevant Social Media + ...
  
  
  
  

Inhabitat

• My New Year’s Resolution for 2010 – What’s Yours?
  
  
  Hi Inhabireaders! Since we’re getting to that time of year when everyone starts to think about the New Year and reflect upon the changes they would like to make in their lives, I’ll confess to you my New Year’s resolution. Despite being an avid greenie and nature lover, I spent WAY too [...]
  
  
  
  
• How Solyndra’s Solar Tubes Rocked Clean Power in 2 ...
  
  
  SOLYNDRA – a report from Earth2Tech There are hundreds of solar companies developing new materials, new business models, new installation techniques and new manufacturing processes in an effort to bring down the cost and up the efficiency of solar panels. But there’s only one company that has made p ...
  
  
  
  
• TOP 6 GREEN TRANSPORTATION STORIES OF 2009
  
  
  Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines! Inhabitat presents our Top 6 Transportation Stories from this past year in a tried-and-true package of trains, planes and automobiles. Keeping in mind common motifs of speed and alternative power, get ready… get set… GO VOTE on the “sustainamobility” stories ...
  
  
  
  
• Inhabitat Tours Manhattan’s LEED Platinum Cooper U ...
  
  
  The Cooper Union’s new Manhattan building opened this year to much acclaim, and Inhabitat recently had a chance to take a look inside NYC’s first LEED platinum certified school! Read on for our exclusive tour of this striking project, from the sweeping energy-efficient steel facade, to the atrium th ...
  
  
  
  
• Solar-Powered Eye Implant Gives Sight to the Blind
  
  
  Researchers at Stanford University recently announced that they have developed a new artificial retina implant that uses photovoltaic power and could help the blind see. The problem with previous implants was that there was no way send power to the chip in order to process light and data inside the ...
  
  
  
  

Pogue's Posts

• Verizon's New Motto: Why Not Be Evil?
  
  
  Verizon Wireless continues in its efforts to be the least-liked mobile carrier in America.
  
  
  
  
• Verizon Responds to Consumer Complaints
  
  
  The wireless carrier addresses two issues raised by consumers and this blog.
  
  
  
  
• Should e-Books Be Copy Protected?
  
  
  The issues involved with copy protection haven't changed. They're the same on e-books as they are with everything else.
  
  
  
  
• 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.
  
  
  
  

Open Your Eyes News

• Facebook hires team to lobby governments on privac ...
  
  
  Daily Telegraph – Facebook has hired a team of lobbyists to try to sway governments on its privacy regulations, it has emerged. Earlier this year Facebook spent $9.5m (£5.9m) settling a lawsuit over an intrusive advertising system launched in 2007. In 2009 the social networking site saw incredible ...
  
  
  
  
• Malawi Arrests First Homosexual Couple to Wed
  
  
  Daily Telegraph – Malawi police have arrested and charged two homosexual men with “gross indecency” after the couple wed in the country’s first same-sex public marriage ceremony over the weekend. Davie Chingwalu, a police spokesman, told AFP the two men would “appear in court soon to answer charges ...
  
  
  
  
• Gaza marchers on hunger strike in Egypt
  
  
  BBC – Protesters trying to march into Gaza a year after an Israeli offensive are on hunger strike after Egypt blocked them from crossing the border. Hundreds of people in Cairo have been prevented from getting close to the border with Gaza. A group who got as far as the Sinai port of El Arish [...]
  
  
  
  
• Chinese factory shut amid lead poisoning fears
  
  
  Daily Express – Chinese authorities have started administering health checks on all children living near a battery factory in the south of the country and closed the plant after more than 40 children were found with lead poisoning.The discovery of clusters of lead poisoning in recent months has spar ...
  
  
  
  
• Exposure to Tobacco Smoke in Childhood Home Associ ...
  
  
  ScienceDaily — Children regularly exposed to tobacco smoke at home were more likely to develop early emphysema in adulthood. This finding by researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health suggests that the lungs may not recover completely from the effects of early-life exposu ...
  
  
  
  

Monkey Smashes Heaven

• Amerikkkans reactionary as hell on the Iran issue
  
  
  Amerikkkans reactionary as hell on the Iran issue (monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com) A new poll confirms that Amerikans are still thirsty for Iranian blood.  A surprising 84 percent of the US population says that it has been following news reports about Iran’s nuclear program. Nearly half, 48 perc ...
  
  
  
  
• More Fuck the Troops
  
  
  from Politics Are Over Posted in ..Politics Are Over, Amerikkka, anti-fascism, Communism, Idiot Amerikkkans, Maoism, Maoism Third Worldism, Maoisme, Maoismo, North America
  
  
  
  
• Stalin, Mao, and Lin Biao born in December
  
  
  Stalin, Mao, and Lin Biao born in December (monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com) Three great revolutionaries were born in December. Stalin was born on December 21st, 1887. Stalin is remembered for his great accomplishment of leading the Soviet Union through socialist construction. He is also remember ...
  
  
  
  
• “Merry Christmas”, Published in New Ma ...
  
  
  “Merry Christmas”, Published in New Masses (Dec. 1930) by Langston Hughes From the gun-boats in the river, Ten-inch shells for Christmas gifts, And peace on earth forever. Merry Christmas, India, To Gandhi in his cell, From righteous Christian England, Ring out, bright Christmas bell! Ring Merry Ch ...
  
  
  
  
• RAIM-Seattle on the recent WTO 10 year anniversary
  
  
  RAIM-Seattle on the recent WTO 10 year anniversary (raims.wordpress.com) The imperialist media hype around the recent slayings of police (the enforcers of empire) in the Seattle and Lakewood, and the predictable show of support for the kkkops by the general cracker population, overlaps the ten year ...
  
  
  
  

PakAlert

• Full Disclosure: Gog & Magog, 2012 and the Signifi ...
  
  
  The following analysis lead us to the conclusion that a very big war is coming to Pakistan and this war is so deadly that first there will be an imposed civil war on Pakistan, munity in pak armed forces  and  US/NATO from the West and India preparing to attack simultaneously from the East, Pakistan ...
  
  
  
  
• Americans Are Now Restricted To Land Only In Islam ...
  
  
  In view of the irregular and suspicious activities of US citizens who have been allowed into the country on visas issued by Mr. Husain Haqqani for the vague purpose of ‘official business’ of the US government, Islamabad moves to restrict the activities of US intelligence and other departments which ...
  
  
  
  
• Video: Pyramid UFOs – One Of The Strangest Types
  
  
  Footage shows a pyramid-shaped object hovering above the Moscow skyline Large Pyramid UFO Kremlin, Russia, a short analysis of the giant rotating pyramid-shaped triangular UFO over Kremlin and the Red Square in Moscow, Russia December 9th 2009. Britain’s Telegraph newspaper confirms a giant p ...
  
  
  
  
• What did the Americans cook for China in mysteriou ...
  
  
  Chinese Premier Plays Key Role In Evolving Consensus For Global Climate Moot Success By Makhdoom Babar Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Mail of Pakistan ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—While the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao was making all out sincere efforts to come up with a strategy to resolve the global cli ...
  
  
  
  
• Drug Money Saved Global Banks in Economic Crisis, ...
  
  
  Drugs and crime chief says $352bn in criminal proceeds was effectively laundered by financial institutions Rajeev Syal | The Observer 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 Ob ...
  
  
  
  

ecogeek

• Will Dolphins Need Noise-Canceling Headphones? Ri ...
  
  
  Researchers at the University of Hawaii have discovered a strange and potentially damaging result of increased CO2 in the atmosphere:  louder oceans.  More CO2 in the atmosphere leads to more acidic seas and more acidic seas produce fewer sound-absorbing chemical reactions meaning noise will travel ...
  
  
  
  
• 10 Most Popular Stories of 2009
  
  
  2010 is quickly approaching and we can only hope that it holds even more innovations that will benefit the world we live in.  As we move forward, here's a look back at the stories you clicked on most during the past year.  From gadgets to urine fuel, these are the top ten. 10.  Power-Generating Sho ...
  
  
  
  
• Map of Countries' Emissions, Pledges
  
  
  The AP Climate Pool kept us well informed over the course of the COP15 negotiations.  Part of that great coverage is contained in this interactive map of the participating nations' current emissions and the reductions they've pledged to make. You can find plenty of articles analyzing what was accom ...
  
  
  
  
• NASA Unveils Amazing GHG Models
  
  
  NASA's Aqua spacecraft has been taking daily CO2 measurements with its Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument (AIRS) for the past seven years and now all that information gathering has led to beautiful and frightening maps and models of the concentration and movement of greenhouse gases in ou ...
  
  
  
  
• OK Residents Can Buy an Electric Car for Less than ...
  
  
  If you live in Oklahoma, you have until December 31, 2009 to buy an electric car for about $900.  Through a combination of federal and state tax credits, the Kandi Coco drops from its retail price of $10,600 to a cool $865.  The federal tax credit amounts to $4,435 while the state is offering a 50 ...
  
  
  
  

Times Online - Science

• Three killed as snow and ice descends on Britain
  
  
  Three men died in a motorway crash in snow-covered Yorkshire last night as ice and frozen conditions descended on Britain.
  
  
  
  
• Live snow blog: we bring the latest on travel and ...
  
  
  Snow and ice continue to cause travel chaos across the country. Whether you're home or away this Christmas, The Times UK snow blog will continue to bring you weather and travel updates from across the UK. Times Mobile users, please go to http://bit.ly/travelupdates
  
  
  
  
• Isolated Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan to get its fir ...
  
  
  The reclusive Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is to have its first railway after its newly crowned monarch finalised a plan with India to build an 11-mile (18km) link between the two countries.
  
  
  
  
• Heavy snow and rain brings travel woe
  
  
  Travellers endured a miserable post-Christmas return to work today with heavy snow in places and persistent rain elsewhere.
  
  
  
  
• Travel woes start early as Britain braces for snow
  
  
  Heavy snow is expected across much of Britain today as bad weather caused travel delays for thousands returning to work after the Christmas break.
  
  
  
  

Environment _ National Geographic

• VOLCANO PICTURES: Philippines' Mayon About to Blow ...
  
  
  Flowing lava and increasing gas levels, quakes, and ash explosions are among signs that a major eruption of Mayon Volcano could occur at any time, experts say.
  
  
  
  
• Africa-wide "Great Green Wall" to Halt Sahara's Sp ...
  
  
  A massive "wall" of trees spanning 11 countries may rise in Africa in a bid to save drought-stricken farmlands from a relentless invader: sand.
  
  
  
  
• PICTURES: "Night Shining" Clouds Getting Brighter
  
  
  Shimmering high in the atmosphere, night-shining clouds have long graced polar sunsets. But now the clouds are appearing more often and with more intensity at lower latitudespossibly due to climate change, scientists say.
  
  
  
  
• PICTURES: "Natural Treasure" Threatened by Industr ...
  
  
  Mountain lions, grizzly bears, and cutthroat trout are among the Rocky Mountain animals snapped during a recent photography expedition to the Flathead region, which conservationists say is threatened by mining, logging, and drilling.
  
  
  
  
• Rare Gorillas Spied Feasting on Figs
  
  
  See what could be the first professional footage of elusive Cross River gorillas, the most endangered subspecies of gorilla, filmed recently in Cameroon. Video.
  
  
  
  

drinking liberally in new milford ( with beersphere feeds )

• Do they know it's Christmas time?
  
  
  We grabbed a card off of one of those Christmas "Wish Trees" for a local homeless shelter when I took the boys out to get their hair cuts the other day. It was from a 10 year old girl living in the shelter. What was she asking for? "Home Essentials" Ya know: Tooth brush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo ...
  
  
  
  
• Who the heck is Barry Cafero?
  
  
  Via ctblogger : I know it's early to be making this call but I'm almost certain no one topping this comment today: It's ok that Larry Cafero doesn't know my name. Over the course of the next year, he'll quickly realize that Connecticut voters don't know his, either. -Connecticut Democratic Party C ...
  
  
  
  
• 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 ...
  
  
  
  

SPL Center

• Lew Rockwell’s Website Warns of Coming U.S. Civil ...
  
  
  You thought President Obama had his hands full sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan? That’s small potatoes compared to the other big military plan on his agenda: returning 200,000 troops from other countries to the U. S. Northern Command in preparation for an imminent civil war at home. At leas ...
  
  
  
  
• Judge Denies Scott Roeder’s “Necessity ...
  
  
  A Wichita, Kan., judge has denied Scott Roeder’s bid to use a “necessity defense” when he is tried for the murder of late-term abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller. Sedgwick County Judge Warren Wilbert pointed out Tuesday that the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in a previous case regarding blocking an e ...
  
  
  
  
• Pacifica Forum Speaker Celebrates National Sociali ...
  
  
  The speaker blamed “Jewish lies” for the Iraq War, praised the swastika as a symbol of white people, showed a neo-Nazi propaganda video, and led several audience members in an enthusiastic Nazi salute. No, this wasn’t an assembly of America’s largest neo-Nazi organization, the National Socialist Mov ...
  
  
  
  
• Potential Jurors Being Interviewed for the Bill Wh ...
  
  
  ROANOKE, VA. — After sitting through his own threat trial in Brooklyn, hate blogger Hal Turner may find himself back in a federal courtroom sooner than expected — this time as a witness in a similar case. Turner was on the list of dozens of potential witnesses that a government prosecutor read durin ...
  
  
  
  
• Uganda’s Harsh Anti-Gay Legislation Has Amer ...
  
  
  While activists around the world criticize pending legislation in Uganda they call the “kill the gays” bill, some Americans are being outed for their connections to those involved in the proposed statute. The latest is Richard Cohen, who claims he has successfully counseled thousands of gays to beco ...
  
  
  
  

change: org.

• Models Strike Against Death-Defying 10-Inch Stilet ...
  
  
  Last October, Alexander McQueen's spring collection took model Abbey Lee Kershaw's breath away -- literally. Her corset was squeezed so tight that she fainted immediately after walking the runway. The incident occurred just a few weeks after Kershaw took a tumble on Rodarte's runway while wearing s ...
  
  
  
  
• Karl Rove and the Sanctity of Marriage
  
  
  Karl Rove and Britney Spears now have something in common other than just being from the south. Both are divorced. Britney ended her marriage(s) years ago, while Rove just ended his this past week . After 24 years, Karl and Darby Rove parted ways. Kind of makes one wonder: If divorce is good enough ...
  
  
  
  
• Top 10 Dumb Statements from Healthcare Reform Oppo ...
  
  
  We all know there are legitimate reasons to oppose current healthcare reform efforts in Washington, D.C. Then there are those who are so far out in right field you wonder how they manage to dress themselves. As John Wooden said to his basketball players, “Gentlemen, today we’re going to learn to pu ...
  
  
  
  
• 5 Sustainable Food Trends to Watch in 2010: #5 Oba ...
  
  
  The final piece of my five-part series on the top sustainable food trends to watch in 2010 is Obama's development agenda, which focuses around global food security. Food security has become a major topic on the international scene, in part because President Obama wants it to be. He is concerned with ...
  
  
  
  
• Repealing the Death Penalty in 2010: Six States to ...
  
  
  The year ahead is likely to see continued momentum toward the abolition of capital punishment in the United States. Two states -- New Jersey and New Mexico -- have repealed the death penalty in the last two years. We have handed down fewer death sentences in 2009 than any year since the death penalt ...
  
  
  
  

Common Dreams -News

• Joe Lieberman: How About Another War?
  
  
  by John Nichols WASHINGTON - Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, who began openly and aggressively angling for a war with Iraq just weeks after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, is using the thwarted Christmas Day attack on a Northwest Airlines flight as an excuse ...
  
  
  
  
• US Intelligence Found Iran Nuke Document Was Forge ...
  
  
  by Gareth Porter WASHINGTON - U.S. intelligence has concluded that the document published recently by the Times of London, which purportedly describes an Iranian plan to do experiments on what the newspaper described as a "neutron initiator" for an atomic weapon, is a fabrication, according to a for ...
  
  
  
  
• Despite Disappointment, Climate Summit Marks High ...
  
  
  by Ben Block, Worldwatch Institute Staff Writer Media audiences across the world took notice as Copenhagen police arrested hundreds of activists at the peak of the United Nations climate conference that ended last Saturday. The variety of non-violent actions, from candlelight vigils to hunger str ...
  
  
  
  
• 'Afghan Civilians Killed' in US/Nato Military Oper ...
  
  
  KABUL – Ten civilians, mostly school children, have been killed during Western military operations in eastern Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai's office said Monday, citing "initial reports". Karzai condemned the killings, which his statement said took place in Kunar province, which borders ...
  
  
  
  
• Solar Could Generate 15% of Power by 2020, If US E ...
  
  
  by Stacy Feldman Solar power technologies could generate 15 percent of America's power in 10 years, but only if Washington levels the playing field on subsidies, a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) says. That means either rolling back fossil fuel subsidies, as President Obam ...
  
  
  
  

Lifehacker

• Gadget and Gear Deals of the Day [Dealhacker]
  
  
  Deeply discounted computers, HDTVs, and some free music and iPhone apps await you in today's Dealhacker roundup. Want to upgrade that lump of coal you got in your stocking? Now's the time. Computer Gear! 15.6" Gateway NV5820u LED Laptop for $560 + Free Shipping (Regular Price: $650) 13.4" Dell Ada ...
  
  
  
  
• Six Kitchen Skills You Can Pick Up This Weekend [ ...
  
  
  With a second three-day weekend coming up, you've probably got some real free time. If you're not on the road, might we recommend developing some new cooking chops? These relatively pain-free projects and how-tos are yours for the learning. Season a skillet and keep it stick-free The cast-ir ...
  
  
  
  
• From the Tips Box: Mega Mart Parking, Icy Windshi ...
  
  
  Readers offer their best tips for getting through mega marts quickly, preventing icy windshields, and getting snow off of delicate bushes. Don't like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page. About the Tips Box: Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, b ...
  
  
  
  
• Remains of the Day: Disappearing/Reappearing NYC ...
  
  
  AT&T makes different claims about a temporary halt on online iPhone sales to the New York metro area, the Kindle and its books dominate Christmas day shopping, and the most popular cellphone encryption scheme gets busted. AT&T dancing around mysterious New York iPhone issue Over the weekend, AT&T r ...
  
  
  
  
• Beef Label Decoder Clues You in on How Your Meat ...
  
  
  Labels on fresh supermarket beef have all sorts of stamps and and certifications on them, but it's hard to guess what they all might mean. Here's an interactive beef label decoder to help you figure it out. Whether you want to know where your beef's been for philosophical or health reasons, this web ...
  
  
  
  

Newshoggers - AfPak

• Revisiting Defensive Legalization
  
  
  By Dave Anderson: In August 2008, I argued that drug prohibition is counter-productive and stupid as well as expensive, especially as it applies to marijuana because it creates and sustains a massive black market. The black market has norm enforcement through violence instead of lawyers, and the fun ...
  
  
  
  
• Revisiting Defensive Legalization
  
  
  By Dave Anderson: In August 2008, I argued that drug prohibition is counter-productive and stupid as well as expensive, especially as it applies to marijuana because it creates and sustains a massive black market. The black market has norm enforcement through violence instead of lawyers, and the fun ...
  
  
  
  
• Yet Another Picture of the Week Plus A Rant
  
  
  Commentary By Ron Beasley Blue Monday - Click on Picture for larger image. My partner here at Hoggers, John Ballard, sent me this link to a piece by Robert Parry: Why Obama Is Failing. Faced with a dire financial crisis and two foreign wars – not to mention a host of long-festering problems like hea ...
  
  
  
  
• Clinton II
  
  
  Commentary By Ron Beasley With apologies to Pastor Niemöller: First they came for the banksters, and showered them with money and put them in the Administration in a way that was not change we could believe in. Then they came for the military industrial complex, and sent more and more of our childre ...
  
  
  
  
• 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 ...
  
  
  
  

Water Wars

• When Rivers Run Dry: Northeast Wrestles With Water ...
  
  
  When it comes to water shortages in the U.S., the Northeast probably isn't the first place that jumps to mind. California would be more like it. But there are water wars brewing in this region, too.
  
  
  
  
• Ga. urged to embrace 'no regret' water standards ( ...
  
  
  Georgia must embrace a series of "no regret" water conservation standards regardless of the outcome of a looming 2012 deadline that could leave Atlanta with a drastically reduced water supply, a key state water panel concluded Tuesday.
  
  
  
  
• Ga. urged to embrace 'no regret' water standards ( ...
  
  
  Georgia must embrace a series of "no regret" water conservation standards regardless of the outcome of a looming 2012 deadline that could leave Atlanta with a drastically reduced water supply, a key state water panel concluded Tuesday. The final report from... Georgia - Water supply - Atlanta - Wate ...
  
  
  
  
• Ga. urged to embrace 'no regret' water standards ( ...
  
  
  Georgia must embrace a series of "no regret" water conservation standards regardless of the outcome of a looming 2012 deadline that could leave Atlanta with a drastically reduced water supply, a key state water panel...
  
  
  
  
• Ga. urged to embrace 'no regret' water standards ( ...
  
  
  ATLANTA — Georgia must embrace a series of "no regret" water conservation standards regardless...
  
  
  
  

WordPress | Economics

• Perbankan : Sri Mulyani Siap Adu Argumentasi Tanga ...
  
  
  Rabu, 30/12/2009 19:15 WIB Sri Mulyani Siap Beradu Argumen 24 Jam Soal Penanganan Krisis Herdaru Pur
  
  
  
  
• Killing for coltan: thoughts on the resource curse
  
  
  This Christmas, I have been reading the latest report on the conflicts in Eastern DR Congo by Global
  
  
  
  
• Obama will lose in 2012
  
  
  Michael Williams of Fannie Mae, top, and Charles Haldeman of Freddie Mac will each receive up to $6
  
  
  
  
• The Novel Concept of a Public Good
  
  
  Is there any policy more backwards, inefficient, and at direct benefit to the few and rich at the ex
  
  
  
  
• The politics of apples and alfalfa
  
  
  Having grown up with my grandmother’s vegetable garden and having lived in the UK for several
  
  
  
  

Electronic Intifada

• Gaza's border must be opened NOW
  
  
  Too many months have gone by with no change in the crippling isolation of Gaza imposed by Israel and Egypt, and it was time to risk our privileged access to take our efforts to break the siege up a no ...
  
  
  
  
• No justice, no peace: interview with activist Haid ...
  
  
  On 31 December 2009, one year after Israel's devastating attacks on the Gaza Strip, activists plan to converge for the Gaza Freedom March. An unprecedented effort, the march draws inspiration from Sou ...
  
  
  
  
• "I live today, but I am afraid of tomorrow"
  
  
  My name is Sema Onbus. I am 37 years old, from Tulkarem refugee camp. My story starts when my brother was killed, on 6 September 2001, when an Apache [attack helicopter] dropped a bomb on him and his ...
  
  
  
  
• From a tent to a mud house in Gaza
  
  
  Majid al-Athamna, 70, stands next to his new home in Gaza's Izbet Abed Rabbo neighborhood of Jabaliya. Since the Israeli attack one year ago, which destroyed his family's three-story building, he and ...
  
  
  
  
• Report: The impact of closure and attacks on the G ...
  
  
  The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has released a report highlighting the reality of life in the occupied Gaza Strip, and illustrating the dramatic deterioration in the human rights ...
  
  
  
  

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

• Governor Of Katrina-Ravaged Louisiana Tries To Blo ...
  
  
  Even as the Senate argues whether to pass clean-energy legislation, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finally moving to regulate global warming pollution. One of the leading opponents to the EPA’s proposed regulations, slated to go into effect in March, 2010, is Louisiana governor Bobby J ...
  
  
  
  
• Health Care Industry Coordinating Effort To Opt St ...
  
  
  As Congress prepares to pass the final health care reform legislation early next year, health care lobbyists are mobilizing legislatures in approximately 14 states to ratify constitutional amendments that would repeal all or parts of the new measure. “The states where the amendment has been introduc ...
  
  
  
  
• Dissident Ayatollah: ‘Tightening Of Sanction ...
  
  
  Always looking to score the cheap point, NRO’s Kathryn Jean Lopez cherry-picks a quote from an interview with Iranian dissident Ayatollah Mohsen Kadivar: Kadivar: Perhaps Western countries should stop treating Ahmadinejad’s government as the legitimate government of Iran. Lopez: I hope the White Ho ...
  
  
  
  
• Lieberman: Even Wronger On Yemen
  
  
  Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) has been taking heat for his comments on Fox News yesterday about how we need to “act preemptively” against extremist networks in Yemen. While it’s almost always safe to assume that Lieberman, like his comrade-in-tinny-bravado Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), is in favor of new war ...
  
  
  
  
• Gingrich: Republicans ‘Will Run On An Absolu ...
  
  
  Yesterday, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refused to acknowledge that Republicans would campaign in future elections on a platform of repealing health reform, but former House Speaker Newt Gingrich predicted that Republicans would exploit the bill’s late implementation date to “run on an abs ...
  
  
  
  

thwap's schoolyard

• Child Slaves in Haiti
  
  
  Say! Why don't we check in on " Haiti ... the core [of] our engagement in the Americas, as our largest program in the region ," Canada's second-biggest foreign initiative after the mega-success [please note: that's sarcasm] of Afghanistan? How are Canada and Haiti doing? After all, Canada (at the ...
  
  
  
  
• Democracy vs. Climate Change
  
  
  I'm not sure why anyone is so afraid of the economics of responding to the threat of global warming. 1. Create (in Canada) tens of thousands of jobs retro-fitting older homes with better windows, doors, insulation, alternative power sources. Build constantly improved public transit infrastructure ...
  
  
  
  
• If Parliament Can't Do It, WE WILL
  
  
  This prisoner torture in Afghanistan isn't the most important issue before us as a nation. It's damned serious, but I'd say Canada's ancient policy of cultural genocide against the First Nations is the biggest issue. But on this issue the harpercons have clearly crossed the line and violated inter ...
  
  
  
  
• Afghanistan, Patriotism and the Olympics
  
  
  I came in to Toronto on the daily turnip-truck from Hamilton a couple of days ago and I noticed all the subway station posters (sponsored at least in part by Coca-Cola) celebrating the Olympic torch and Canadian patriotism about same. The images are pretty inane, with a torch-bearer surrounded on e ...
  
  
  
  
• Rick Hillier and Second-Hand Information ...
  
  
  Private Mann:"General Hillier, 'Amnesty International' has a scathing report about Afghan prison conditions." Hillier: "Those detestable peacenicks and bleeding-hearts! Why should I care about such second-hand information!!" Private Mann: "The PMO just called. Prime Minister Harper wants us conf ...
  
  
  
  

Financial Sense Editorials

• Agri-Food Thoughts
  
  
  by Ned Schmidt. "Living in Florida, as this author does, often comes with minor problems. As one of the biggest batches of cold, snowy winter storms ravages North America, records of all kinds are being broken. Dallas, as an example, had a white Christmas for the first time in 80 years. But, the UK ...
  
  
  
  
• Gold & Silver: Market Wrap Week Ending December 25 ...
  
  
  by Doug Gnazzo. "The CCI index at the bottom of the chart has gone from overbought (+200) to 89. When an asset moves from being this overbought to back below 100, it often signals a consolidation/correction is likely."
  
  
  
  
• Leading the American Middle Class Through a Lost D ...
  
  
  by Chuck DiFalco. "As people prepare to pop champagne corks at midnight on New Year’s Eve, I see media hype about the years 2000-2009 being the "lost decade" in America. Those years overall were bad ones for Wall Street, but not for Main Street."
  
  
  
  
• Elvis Has Left The Building
  
  
  by Captain Hook. "In his most recent work, Martin Armstrong postulates that because of accelerating inflation, possibly leading to hyperinflation, a falling dollar ($), cycles associated with his Economic Confidence Model (ECM), and a move away from immovable assets by the investing public..."
  
  
  
  
• Holiday Gold, Oil and Index Trading
  
  
  by Chris Vermeulen. "Last week the market fell into its regular holiday tradition of light volume, as institutions and big traders enjoyed the holidays thus allowing prices to drift higher. We still have one more week of light trading volume before this year and holiday season is officially over." ...
  
  
  
  

on Government Oversight

• LANL Researchers Blow Up Building with Civil War-l ...
  
  
  Nope, that's not a headline from The Onion. POGO has just learned that researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory accidentally blew a building apart a few weeks ago with a massive gun that acts like a Civil War cannon....
  
  
  
  
• A Video Message from Danielle
  
  
  As Danielle says, it's been one heck of a year over here at POGO. We covered a lot of ground and are proud of our accomplishments, but we wouldn't have been able to make it without you. Thank you for...
  
  
  
  
• Morning Smoke: Obama Signs Defense Appropriations ...
  
  
  Spending Bill Becomes Law [Air Force Magazine] Classified Bomber Under Consideration [Aviation Week] Oshkosh FMTV Bid 'Unbelievable [DoD Buzz] New Executive Order Awaits Presidential Decision [Secrecy News] Washington to Reduce Funding for U.S. Contractors in Pakistan [ProPublica] Doctors' Spat Expo ...
  
  
  
  
• Morning Smoke: More Tales of Moneyed Military Ment ...
  
  
  Military mentors hired, fired in discreet fashion [Federal Times] Defense Bill Earmarks Total $4 Billion [The Wall Street Journal] Inadequate Oversight Cited in Weatherization Program [The New York Times] White House seeks input on federal research info sharing program [Federal...
  
  
  
  
• California Courts to Whistleblower: 'You're Out of ...
  
  
  Accountable California, a project of SEIU Local 721's Center for Public Accountability, has posted a story about Michael Paul, an employee of the California Administrative Office of the Courts. Paul thought he saw misconduct occurring on multimillion dollar contracts and...
  
  
  
  

Science Express

• Chronic infection now clearly tied to immune-syste ...
  
  
  A new study finds the cross-talk between 'killer T-cells' and 'helper T-cells' can only happen in the presence of interleukin-21, a powerful immune-system protein. UAB researchers say if interleukin-21 is missing, the immune system's anti-viral efforts fail. The study mice were treated for lymphocyt ...
  
  
  
  
• German 'science train': next stop Shanghai 2010?
  
  
  How will we feed nine billion people in the future? Can we ever have a disease-free world? Can robots play football?
  
  
  
  
• New mechanisms of action found for drugs used to t ...
  
  
  (PhysOrg.com) -- In the course of his or her life, every seventh German will develop an anxiety disorder that will require treatment. Standard anti-anxiety medications (anxiolytics) are based on the benzodiazepine class of drugs. These calm the patient and quickly diminish feelings of anxiety.
  
  
  
  
• Milky Way's super-efficient particle accelerators ...
  
  
  Thanks to a unique "ballistic study" that combines data from ESO's Very Large Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have now solved a long-standing mystery of the Milky Way's particle accelerators. They show in a paper published today on Science Express that cosmic rays from ou ...
  
  
  
  
• Physical reality of string theory demonstrated
  
  
  String theory has come under fire in recent years. Promises have been made that have not been lived up to. Leiden (The Netherlands) theoretical physicists have now for the first time used string theory to describe a physical phenomenon. Their discovery has been reported in Science Express.
  
  
  
  

TechDirt

• Is It Illegal To Commit Seppukoo On Your Facebook ...
  
  
  Facebook is known for not looking kindly (and for going legal ) on sites that attempt to do pass through logins to do something with a Facebook account. I can understand why they don't like these other services, but it's difficult to see what's illegal about them. The next potential legal battle a ...
  
  
  
  
• Thomas Jefferson Decided The Hemp Brake Was Too Im ...
  
  
  We've had plenty of discussions about Thomas Jefferson's views on the patent system. He is, clearly, the father of the patent system in the US. While he was incredibly skeptical of the idea of granting any monopolies originally, he did come around to accept patents in very limited circumstances, a ...
  
  
  
  
• Court Dismisses Defamation Claim Against Consumer ...
  
  
  It looks like Section 230 protections win out again. Some of the regular critics on this site like to make odd claims about Section 230 -- insisting the Section 230 is quite limited, leaving a site liable if it cannot prove who created the content, or that it simply does not apply, if the site in q ...
  
  
  
  
• Yet Another Attempt At Ad Supported Music
  
  
  Back in October, we wrote about plans for yet another "free, but ad supported" music download startup, but didn't see how the economics could work out. That site, FreeAllMusic, is apparently now getting set to launch , but it still doesn't make much sense to us. Basically, you can download music ( ...
  
  
  
  
• Musician Christopher Bryant 'Opens For Himself' To ...
  
  
  We're always interested in cool promotional and marketing ideas from content creators, and Hypebot alerts us to the news that musician Christopher Bryant is planning a neat concept for his solo shows: throughout 2010, he'll "open for himself" when playing live . Basically, he's playing two sets, bu ...
  
  
  
  

VacTruth

• Toxic metals may influence autism severity
  
  
  Children with higher levels of metals – such as lead and antimony – in their urine had more severe autism, suggesting that metal levels in their bodies may contribute to its seriousness.
  
  
  
  
• Medical sales reps work alongside doctors, even in ...
  
  
  A perfect example of how sales representatives are influencing medical professionals.
  
  
  
  
• EXPLOSIVE CONFLICT OF INTEREST: WHO PROFITS FROM T ...
  
  
  . . Source: www.insolutions.info S. By Jon Rappoport www.insolutions.info www.nomorefakenews.com DECEMBER 25, 2009. I have to begin by saying you need to know about Walter Burien.  http://CAFR1.com Walter curls people’s hair.  For many years, he has been investigating the investments made by gover ...
  
  
  
  
• Investigative Journalist Implicates Partnership fo ...
  
  
  Investigative journalist, Sherri Kane, implicates the Partnership for New York City, David Rockefeller, Rupert Murdoch, Goldman Sachs, Merck behind flu scam.
  
  
  
  
• Advisers on Vaccines Often Have Conflicts, Report ...
  
  
  GARDINER HARRIS New York Times December 18, 2009 WASHINGTON — A new report finds that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did a poor job of screening medical experts for financial conflicts when it hired them to advise the agency on vaccine safety, officials said Thursday. Most of the ex ...
  
  
  
  

BroadSnark

• Poor Man Can’t Eat, Rich Man Can’t Sle ...
  
  
  I used to shoplift as a kid.  When I was about fourteen, I was busted with a purse full of makeup and banned from Rite Aid for life. My father was unusually rational about the whole incident.  Clearly, all the crap I had in my room could not have been purchased with my babysitting money.  And [...]
  
  
  
  
• Times Are Tough
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Some Things You Might Have Missed
  
  
  Everyone wants to think that they are a good person.  But the truth is that all of us are capable of doing horrible things.  As a Nadder! points out in Milgram, Rape & Silence, “It is much safer to acknowledge your violent potential since then you’re better placed to watch out for signs things a ...
  
  
  
  
• Snowball War Update
  
  
  The agro cop that pulled out his gun at the snowball fight might actually be in a tiny bit of trouble here. Yesterday, when I wrote about this, there were only a few articles around.  Now there are so many that I can’t even begin to give you all the links.  It’s being covered everywhere from [...]
  
  
  
  
• Bad Cops, Lying Media, and Anarchist Scapegoats
  
  
  I’m having a really hard time deciding who are worse – police or media. As you may have already heard.  There was a giant snowball fight at the corner of U and 14th in Washington, DC.  I was there from about 2:30 to 3:00 and it was fun as hell.  Maybe 100 or 150 people were [...]
  
  
  
  

Executive Intelligence Review

• The LaRouche Show, December 26, 2009
  
  
  As the Ides of January Comes, the Dynamic Shifts to Recovery—Or Else!
  
  
  
  
• Why Do We Call Susan Rice a Racist?
  
  
  By Lawrence K. Freeman Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, December 25, 2009, Vol. 36, No. 50
  
  
  
  
• The Failed System Has Become Unmanageable
  
  
  By John Hoefle Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, December 25, 2009, Vol. 36, No. 50
  
  
  
  
• The Copenhagen Summit: Lies Have Short Legs, or, t ...
  
  
  By Helga Zepp-LaRouche Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, December 25, 2009, Vol. 36, No. 50
  
  
  
  
• Bernanke Exits Now!: National Banking
  
  
  By Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, December 25, 2009, Vol. 36, No. 50
  
  
  
  

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 صÙ�قات متعددة الوجوه مع القاعدة كتبت: جين نوÙ�اك – Ù�براير/ 2009 عبدالله عبدالوهاب ناجي- ترجمة خاصة بالمستقلة عقد الرئيس اليمني علي عبدا لله صالح مؤخرا صÙ�قة 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

• Twitter Updates for 2009-12-30
  
  
  My latest article, on how an #Atheist celebrates #Christmas http://bit.ly/5EebQR #Religion #Atheism #God #BertrandRussell #Video #Jesus # Read my latest article about how 2 create ur own #webproxy 2 avoid big bro on the #Internet http://bit.ly/53dtio download and off u go! #net # Want to av ...
  
  
  
  
• Pointing to the Obvious
  
  
  By Gary Howard In a move predicted by many, al-Qaeda has expanded its shop in Yemen as the U.S. floods Afghanistan with more troops – thereby guaranteeing an excuse for U.S. intervention in yet another country. From FoxNews.com: With a stepped up presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, intelli ...
  
  
  
  
• Ron Paul Says Agenda Behind Bombing Incident Is Mo ...
  
  
  Congressman: “I am concerned what they are going to do to the American people” Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Tuesday, December 29, 2009 Congressman Ron Paul fears that the agenda behind the Flight 253 bombing incident is to expand the war on terror into Yemen while stripping Americans of ...
  
  
  
  
• Dem Congresswoman Demands New Behavioral Surveilla ...
  
  
  KRIV Tuesday, Dec 29th, 2009 “The assessment of behavioral tendencies, that is not profiling, but it is the same misstep that we made in Fort Hood.” View the original article at Prison Planet
  
  
  
  
• Radio Interview: Witness Says Terrorist Suspect Ai ...
  
  
  The Dennis Miller Show Tuesday, Dec 29th, 2009 MLive.com: While [Umar Farouk Abdul] Mutallab was poorly dressed, his friend was dressed in an expensive suit, [passenger Kurt Haskell of Newport, Mich.] said. He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport. â ...
  
  
  
  

food and water watch

• Day 1 in Rome
  
  
  Hello from Roma, viva Roma. I am Dave Andrews, Senior Representative for Food & Water Watch. I am in Rome for the World Food Summit which is taking up the issue of one billion hungry people in the world, most of them farmers and most of them women. The solution of the US is high [...]
  
  
  
  
• Day 4 in Rome
  
  
  The official FAO meeting began on the 16th of November with the Pope followed by Libya’s Gaddafi, an interesting pairing! The Kings and Presidents (but not Obama) had the roads of Rome closed off for them, getting near the FAO was a big challenge so I waited until things calmed down later in the day ...
  
  
  
  
• Pangasius Pandemonium
  
  
  Last week, the state of Alabama instituted a stop sale order on imported catfish and pangasius, a catfish-like fish (pangasius is frequently mislabeled as catfish) after discovering that high numbers of the samples that had been inspected were contaminated with illegal antibiotics called flouroquino ...
  
  
  
  
• Day 3 in Rome
  
  
  Today, a group of us from Agribusiness Action Initiative and other NGOs went to the Civil Society Forum early in the morning and visited the farmers market that was set up there. We visited other NGO representatives from Via Campesina, International Federation of Agriculture Producers, Greenpeace, P ...
  
  
  
  
• Day 2 in Rome
  
  
  Today, we began the official Civil Society Forum on the Peoples’ Food Sovereignty. The morning started with an opening by the Mayor of Rome and by Jacques Diouf, the Secretary General of FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organization).  He encouraged us to insist on our rights and told of how he has wo ...
  
  
  
  

treehugger

• Imagine Recycled Content Surfboards That Break in ...
  
  
  Photo: Imagine Surfboards Imagine make surfboards from a 100% recycled, (and recyclable*) polystyrene foam they call, very informatively, B-XP3. Apparently this particular foam, besides being made as a waterproof extrusion, off-gasses 50% less volatile organic compounds (VOCs), during manufacture, ...
  
  
  
  
• Break Me in Two, Pleads Point 65's Tequila! Kayak ...
  
  
  Photo: Point 65 Roof racks decrease a car's fuel efficiency by anything from 5% , through 10% or more. And that's empty racks. Stick our favourite sports toy up on your cars roof and watch you fuel economy plummet by up to 27%, according to Ecomodder . Folding mountain bikes like the Montague Pa ...
  
  
  
  
• Last Crew Member on Kon-Tiki Expedition Dies
  
  
  Image from Yachtpals A great adventurer and wartime resistance fighter, Knut Haugland, has died. He was the last living crew member of the Kon Tiki: the man-made raft that set out from Peru in April, 1947 to prove that people from South America crossed the Pacific to get to Polynesia. Thor H ...
  
  
  
  
• Shipping Container Sandwich Shop Going Up With The ...
  
  
  Gothamist It is a long slow ride to get to the top of a 1776 foot high tower, and construction workers do not get long lunches. So at the Freedom Tower in the World Trade Center they are hauling a Subway franchise up with them as they go. A spokesperson for the Port Authority says in the Washingt ...
  
  
  
  
• Spring/Summer 2010: ROSEL
  
  
  Introducing Rosel knitwear, spring/summer 2010. Credit: Rosel Brooklyn transplant by way of Germany, Juliane Copmosano is launching eco-friendly knitwear line Rosel for spring/summer 2010, WWD reports. The edgy, modern, and sophisticated collection of shrugs, tanks, jumpsuits, and dresses--made wi ...
  
  
  
  

Biosingularity

• The Year in Biomedicine
  
  
  Advances in antiaging drugs, acoustic brain surgery, flu vaccines–and the secret to IQ. via Technology Review: The Year in Biomedicine.
  
  
  
  
• Ginkgo Does Not Slow Cognitive Decline of Aging
  
  
  For years, practitioners of alternative medicine have been touting the benefits of ginkgo, especially for maintaining brain health, but a new study finds that the centuries-old nostrum does little to slow the cognitive decline of aging. Researchers at six universities across the U.S., led by Dr. Ste ...
  
  
  
  
• Heart Risk of Obesity Greater Than Thought
  
  
  The link between obesity and death from heart disease may be even worse than previously thought, but health problems associated with being underweight  may have been exaggerated, a new study shows. Previous studies have shown that a higher than normal body mass index (BMI), a barometer of unhealthy ...
  
  
  
  
• Genes Linked to Aggressive Brain Cancer
  
  
  Two newly discovered genes may act as master control switches in the progression of the most aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma.Researchers say the two genes are active in about 60% of all glioblastoma patients and identifying these genes could help identify those with this type of aggres ...
  
  
  
  
• Artificial Platelets Catalyze Clotting
  
  
  Platelets can quickly stanch the bleeding from a cut in your finger, but the hemorrhaging caused by a car crash or a battlefield injury might overwhelm the blood-clotting abilities of these cell fragments. Now, researchers report that they have designed a potential helper for such situations, a synt ...
  
  
  
  

CFACT

• Bacteria, not Greenhouse Gases, are killing Coral
• Interview: Citizens for Property Rights
• Afghan wildlife request: give peace a chance
• New technology chokes EPA diesel study
• For chemical exposure, the kids are alright

Ria Novosti Online News

• Immigrants ensure Russia's population growth - min ...
  
  
  Despite Russia's natural population decline, immigrants ensure the country's overall growth, the health and social development minister said on Thursday.
  
  
  
  
• Medvedev sends Yushchenko New Year greetings
  
  
  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has wished his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko a Happy New Year, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. with some 29.8% of the voters expected to support his candidacy
  
  
  
  
• Suicide bombers kill 23 in western Iraq
  
  
  At least 23 people were killed and 57 injured, including a provincial governor, in two separate suicide bombings in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported.
  
  
  
  
• Medvedev hails stronger U.S. ties in New Year mess ...
  
  
  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sent New Year greetings to U.S. President Barack Obama, welcoming the improvement in relations with the United States over the past year, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
  
  
  
  
• Dollar up 39.51 kopeks, euro up 37.87 kopeks - Cen ...
  
  
  The official dollar rate set by the Russian Central Bank for December 31 is 30.2442 rubles, up 39.51 kopeks, the Central Bank said on Wednesday.
  
  
  
  

Ria Novosti - Science & Technology

• Roscosmos to consider Earth rescue project from de ...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Roscosmos to consider project to save Earth from a ...
  
  
  Roscosmos will soon consider a project to prevent a large asteroid from colliding with Earth after 2030, the head of Russia's space agency said on Wednesday.
  
  
  
  
• Russian Proton rocket delivers U.S. telecoms satel ...
  
  
  A Russian Proton-M carrier rocket has delivered into orbit the U.S. telecommunications satellite DirecTV-12, the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos said.
  
  
  
  
• RIA Novosti's choice: ten key events in environmen ...
  
  
  Below are top ten environmental and scientific events which RIA Novosti correspondents have chosen for producing the greatest impact in Russia.
  
  
  
  
• Russia launches Proton rocket with U.S. telecoms s ...
  
  
  Russia has made this year's last launch from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan, launching a Proton-M carrier rocket with the U.S. telecommunications satellite DirecTV-12, the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos said
  
  
  
  

Pruning Shears

• Through the Looking Glass With the DOJ
  
  
  No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post The case of Guatánamo detainee Abdul Hamid Al-Ghizzawi took a bizarre turn last week. He is represented by habeas lawyer H. Candace Gorman and is, as Andy Worthington pointed out , overwhelmingly likely to be innocent. He has neve ...
  
  
  
  
• This Week In Tyranny
  
  
  No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post David Obey Bluster Watch. On Afghanistan :“There ain’t going to be no money for nothing if we pour it all into Afghanistan,” House Appropriations Chairman David Obey told ABC News in an exclusive interview. “If they ask for an incre ...
  
  
  
  
• America's Metastasizing Intelligence Apparatus
  
  
  No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post Barack Obama’s reversal on the Patriot Act was in the news again this week courtesy of Elizabeth Gorman’s reporting ( via ). It is not cynical or misanthropic to say the reversal is not surprising. He ended up supporting the FISA A ...
  
  
  
  
• This Week In Tyranny
  
  
  No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post It looks like the January 2010 Vanity Fair has two, count ‘em, blockbuster reports: One on Goldman Sachs and one on Blackwater. Marcy has some analysis the latter. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about both in the coming months as f ...
  
  
  
  
• Thomas Hoenig For Fed Chairman
  
  
  No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post At Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s reconfirmation hearing last week he offered this stirring defense of his tenure: “We did not - certainly not do a perfect job by any means. But I don’t think we stand out as having done a wo ...
  
  
  
  

Natural Health News

• EPA Wants Farmers to Spread Toxic Coal Waste on Fi ...
  
  
  The U.S. government is encouraging farmers to spread a chalky waste from coal-fired power plants on their fields to loosen and fertilize soil. The material is produced by power plant "scrubbers" that remove acid-rain-causing sulfur dioxide from plant emissions.   The substance is a synthetic form ...
  
  
  
  
• 10 Small Ways to Make the World a Better Place
  
  
  Here are ten little gestures, all of them easily within your grasp, that can spread goodwill in your own community, and increase your sense of mindfulness about the people around you and your relationship to them. Tip generously: Leaving as large a tip as you can afford not only puts a little e ...
  
  
  
  
• Hospitals Seeing Rise in New Superbug
  
  
  Acinetobacter is a new and dangerous “superbug” which is increasingly appearing in U.S. hospitals. The bacteria is particularly threatening because few drugs can treat it. Acinetobacter is not as common as some other superbugs, but there are fewer ways to cure it. It t can live in patients’ lungs ...
  
  
  
  
• Herb Found to Protect Cancer Patients From Liver T ...
  
  
  A new study found that the herb milk thistle may help treat liver inflammation in cancer patients who receive chemotherapy. Chemotherapy drugs frequently cause inflammation in the liver. Clinical studies have investigated using milk thistle to treat liver damage from cirrhosis or toxins. Despite lim ...
  
  
  
  
• Exercises That Can Reduce Neck and Shoulder Pain
  
  
  Strength training exercises using dumbbells can reduce pain and improve function in your trapezius muscle, the large muscle which extends from the back of the head down the neck and into the upper back. Repetitive strain injury has become increasingly common. Many office workers report frequent neck ...
  

  Blacklisted News

  
  
  
• Blackwater ‘hired’ Pak’s intelligence, army office ...
  
  
  Controversial US private security firm Blackwater, accused of carrying out secret operations in Pakistan, has hired services of army officers and former employees of intelligence agencies of this country for “handsome” salaries, a retired ISI official has claimed.
  
  
  
  
• “EcoSnoop” iPhone App Designed for Ratting Out Nei ...
  
  
  Listen up, all you eco-warriors: Your days of griping in vain about neighborhood energy waste may be coming to an end. Finally, there’s a tool that we normal folks can use to report environmentally negligent behavior. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to EcoSnoop .
  
  
  
  
• Video of Cop Brandishing Gun at Snowball Fight
• Tiny nano-electromagnets turn a cloak of invisibil ...
  
  
  This breakthrough is of major importance in the quest for magnetic 'meta-materials' with which light rays can be deflected in every possible direction. This could make it possible to produce perfect lenses and, in the fullness of time, even 'invisibility cloaks'.
  
  
  
  
• Top scientists share their future predictions
  
  
  “By 2020, genetics and brain simulation will be giving us personalised prescriptions for marriage, lifestyle and healthcare.” This is Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain project in Switzerland, an attempt to reverse engineer the brain by building one from the ground up inside a supercomputer.
  
  
  
  

The Intelligence Daily

• Just another coincidence: Italy convicts 23 CIA me ...
  
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
  
  
  
• End Of The Year: U.S. Recruits Worldwide For Afgha ...
  
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
  
  
  
• The Political Ecology of Collapse, Part Three: The ...
  
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
  
  
  
• What Happened This Decade: Middle East
  
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
  
  
  
• Pentagon now spending more for war than all 50 Sta ...
  
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
  
  
  

My AntiWar

• Recent transcript of 2008 Boston University talk
• Don’t attack Iran (response letters to NYT/I ...
  
  
  Summary: Nuclear powers bear most of the responsibility for the failures of the international nonproliferation regime. They can hardly claim the high moral ground or the political legitimacy to use military means to prevent others from developing nuclear capabilities. There are several options betw ...
  
  
  
  
• Iran sanctions: U.S. and allies may narrow their a ...
  
  
  Summary: The discussions are now aimed at making the sanctions “as narrow as they can be,” said a senior State Department official who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the talks. He said he thought the new approach would rule out an international embargo on selling gasoline t ...
  
  
  
  
• Cuba Gives US Diplomat Access to Arrested American
• US Congressmen Press Afghanistan to Delay Election

Rogue Government.com

• Cyber-Security Chief Resigns in Protest
  
  
  The official in charge of coordinating the US government’s cyber-security operations has quit, saying the expanding control of the National Security Agency over the nation’s computer security efforts poses “threats to our democratic processes.”
  
  
  
  
• Web posts suggest lonely, depressed terror suspec ...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Calls for Full-Body Screening Devices Grow After ...
  
  
  A suspected terrorist’s attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner may override privacy concerns and intensify a push for full-body scanning equipment at airports.
  
  
  
  
• Video: Ben Stein Accuses Ron Paul Of Anti-Semitis ...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Top scientists share their future predictions
  
  
  These days, “just another decade” always means 10 years of future shock. Science, technology and the contemporary mania for change combine to stun the imagination. It is the way we live now, in a condition of permanent technological revolution.
  
  
  
  

Innovation Canada

• i2eye with James Hesser
  
  
  Two years ago, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2009 the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, people around the globe have been marking the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo Galilei. Laypeople, especially children ...
  
  
  
  
• Model scientists
  
  
  When hurricane season officially blew to a close in the Atlantic basin at the end of November, two Quebec researchers did not exhale in relief. That’s because René Laprise and Louis-philippe Caron were still looking for hurricane data from the past to help create a tool to predict future storm patte ...
  
  
  
  
• 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 ...
  
  
  
  

Signs of the times

• Fidel Castro Blames the US for Copenhagen Collapse
  
  
  Climate change is already causing enormous damage and hundreds of millions of poor people are enduring the consequences. The most advanced research centers have claimed that there is little time to avoid an irreversible catastrophe. James Hansen, from the NASA Goddard Institute, has said that a pro ...
  
  
  
  
• 'China is to Blame for Copenhagen Collapse'
  
  
  As recriminations fly post-Copenhagen, one writer offers a fly-on-the-wall account of how talks failed Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations. The truth is this: China w ...
  
  
  
  
• A Colonoscopy at Every Airport?
  
  
  The Underpants Bomber may very well have opened up a whole new chapter in airport security. For example, how long will it be before rectums become the hiding places of choice? What do we do to detect this? The conglomeration of odors may very well either confuse or repel the sniff dogs. In fact, the ...
  
  
  
  
• Ontario to ban smoking in condos, apartments
  
  
  At today's General Committee Meeting for the regional municipality of Peel, public health officials will present councillors with a report urging government to barge into the bedrooms (and kitchens and bathrooms and foyers) of residents of condo and apartment buildings. In the document, Peel's commi ...
  
  
  
  
• FDA Approves Crestor for People Who Have No Health ...
  
  
  Big Pharma has been trending this direction for a long time: marketing medicines to people who don't need them and who have nothing wrong with their health. It's all part of a ploy to position prescription drugs as nutrients -- things you need to take on a regular basis in order to prevent disease. ...
  
  
  
  

Threat Level

• Albert Gonzalez Pleads Guilty in Heartland, 7-11 B ...
  
  
  Florida computer hacker Albert Gonzalez pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges Tuesday for intrusions into Heartland Payment Systems, Hannaford Brothers supermarket chain, 7-Eleven and two unidentified companies — marking his third and final guilty plea in what prosecutors have called the largest iden ...
  
  
  
  
• Albert Gonzalez Pleads Guilty in Heartland, 7-11 B ...
  
  
  Florida computer hacker Albert Gonzalez pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges Tuesday for intrusions into Heartland Payment Systems, Hannaford Brothers, 7-Eleven and two unidentified companies — marking his third and final guilty plea in what prosecutors have called the largest identity theft scheme ...
  
  
  
  
• Walmart Sued Over Surveillance Camera in Bathroom
  
  
  Seven former and current Walmart employees are suing the retail giant after one of its Pennsylvania stores installed a surveillance camera in a unisex bathroom used by employees and customers, according to ABC News. The camera was allegedly installed by two employees in the company’s loss-preventio ...
  
  
  
  
• Report: Programmer Conned CIA, Pentagon Into Buyin ...
  
  
  A programmer who claims he produced software that detected hidden terrorist messages in Al Jazeera broadcasts was apparently responsible for a false alert in 2003 that grounded international flights. The 2003 incident raised the government’s security level, according to a remarkable story published ...
  
  
  
  
• Torrent Search Engines Unlawful, U.S. Judge Says
  
  
  The operator of a popular BitTorrent search site said Monday he will likely challenge last week’s landmark decision by a U.S. judge declaring such sites unlawful and no different from conventional peer-to-peer piracy services. “We do think from our preliminary review there are a number of issues ...
  
  
  
  

PERRspectives : Blog

• GOP Gives Wealthy One Year Estate Tax Windfall
  
  
  For a handful of the very richest Americans, 2010 will be an excellent year to die. Thanks to Republican obstructionism on their behalf, the estate tax, which in 2009 will impact only 1 in 500 estates while generating tens of...
  
  
  
  
• Alan Greenspan, Born-Again Deficit Hawk
  
  
  In October 2008, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan famously admitted during testimony before Congress that he was wrong about regulation of the U.S. financial system. Asked by Henry Waxman (D-CA) if "your ideology was not right, it was not...
  
  
  
  
• Blue States Balk at Funding Red State Health Care
  
  
  The civil war over health care reform is rapidly becoming a war between the states. To great fanfare, seven state attorneys general - all of them Republicans - have promised legal action to block the Senate health care bill's Medicaid...
  
  
  
  
• For GOP, Short Memories on Terror Plots and Presid ...
  
  
  That Republicans would try to politicize the failed Christmas terror attack was about as predictable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. Even less surprising is the utter falsehood and sheer hypocrisy of their ham-handed...
  
  
  
  
• Perino Forgets Bush Called His War Rhetoric a Mist ...
  
  
  As she makes clear with alarming frequency, former Bush press secretary Dana Perino knows very little and seems to remember even less. In 2007, Perino admitted her ignorance of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Then three weeks ago, she swept the...
  
  
  
  

Blackspot News Feed

• Thanks to Dems' Pussyfooting, Health Industry Stoc ...
  
  
  The bump does not appear to be indicative of broader economic improvement.
  
  
  
  
• How to Trap a President in a Losing War: Petraeus, ...
  
  
  Excuse the gloom in the holiday season, but I feel like we’re all locked inside a malign version of the movie Groundhog Day.  You remember, the one in which the characters are forced to relive the same 24 hours endlessly.  Put more personally, TomDispatch started in November 2001 as an email to frie ...
  
  
  
  
• Reid Schedules Final Vote on Health Care Bill for ...
  
  
  The Hill reported this afternoon that a final vote on the Senate health care bill will take place at 8 am Christmas Eve, about 11 hours earlier than originally expected. read more
  
  
  
  
• House Blue Dog Switches Party, Stiffing Democrats ...
  
  
  Rep. Parker Griffith enjoyed campaign support of $1 million from the Democratic Party. But that was a year ago, and this is now.
  
  
  
  
• Touchdowns and Lockdowns: Transcending Racial Poli ...
  
  
  I spent a decade organizing sports leagues amongst those who failed in their struggle against violence and oppression: in prison.
  
  
  
  

Consortium News

• Are Presidents Afraid of the CIA/
  
  
  A document from Harry Truman's library sheds light on tensions between the White House and CIA, writes Ray McGovern. December 29, 2009
  
  
  
  
• Obama's Unheralded Nuke Progress
  
  
  With little fanfare, President Obama is closing in on a new reduction in the U.S.-Russian nuclear arsenals, notes Ivan Eland. December 29, 2009
  
  
  
  
• What the New Year Demands
  
  
  The political battle lines for 2010 already are clear -- and they suggest a comeback for the Right, writes Robert Parry. December 28, 2009
  
  
  
  
• The Jesus Genealogy Myths
  
  
  The New Testament's conflicting genealogies for Jesus reflect contrasting interests of the gospel writers, says Howard Bess. December 28, 2009
  
  
  
  
• 'Avatar': A Metaphor for the 'Long War'
  
  
  "Avatar" evokes U.S. cheers even as a thinly disguised metaphor critical of U.S. wars in Iraq and elsewhere, says David Swanson. December 28, 2009
  
  
  
  

CounterPunch

• Gareth Porter : The Iranian Nuke Forgeries
• Patrick Cockburn : Yemen Next
• Steven Higgs: Growing Up Toxic: Defeating Autism, ...
• Susan Albulhawa / Ramzy Baroud : Share the Land
• Emily Ratner : Winding Our Way to Gaza

Institute for Middle East Understanding

• Egypt to allow 100 Gaza Freedom Marchers into Gaza ...
  
  
  Egypt has offered to allow only 100 out of about 1,300 Gaza Freedom march delegates into the blockaded Gaza Strip after they staged demonstrations and a hunger strike. "It's a partial victory," said Medea Be ...
  
  
  
  
• US congressmen fighting for Gaza (Al Jazeera)
• Many Israelis believe the Gaza attack was justifie ...
  
  
  Few Israelis today have qualms about the high death toll inflicted by their country's assault on the Gaza Strip last year. But even though many Israelis still believe the 22-day onslaught, which ended on Jan ...
  
  
  
  
• Rights group: Israel covers up torture (Ma'an New ...
  
  
  Israel systematically prevents accountability over allegations of torture against its Shit Bet security force, a new report by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) charges. The group said t ...
  
  
  
  
• This is not humane. We need dignity (Sami Abdel-S ...
  
  
  On my way to visit a friend in the Abed Rabbo district, north of the Gaza Strip, the taxi driver handed me a small pack of biscuits for change. There are nearly no copper coins left here so cab drivers barte ...
  
  
  
  

Water - AlterNet

• New York City Calls for Drilling Ban in Watershed, ...
  
  
  New York City officials have called for a ban on natural gas drilling within the city’s 2,000-square-mile upstate watershed.
  
  
  
  
• Ric O'Barry: The Man Behind the Crusade to Save Do ...
  
  
  Ric O'Barry would love to be at home watering his bamboo and playing with his five-year-old daughter. Instead, he spends most of his time with people who hate him.
  
  
  
  
• The Toilet Than Can Help Solve Our Water and Energ ...
  
  
  There is a 'toilet revolution' taking shape -- and it may be coming just in time.
  
  
  
  
• Cheap Great Lakes Water Offered In Exchange For Jo ...
  
  
  Although superficially, this may seem quite sensible, there is a high risk of unintended and unwanted consequences if a cheap water incentive were offered to all comers.
  
  
  
  
• NASA Report Highlights Need to Retire Drainage Imp ...
  
  
  The retirement of drainage impaired land on the San Joaquin's west side should be a priority if we want to preserve California's limited water supply and fisheries.
  
  
  
  

TruthHugger

• Try To Remember America
  
  
  Well, few public schools, and few private schools, will fill in the gaps between America the fantasy and America the reality.  The name of America has been invoked with reverence when describing its history of righteous endeavors.  What is seldom included in these filtered history lessons, is some o ...
  
  
  
  
• 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 ...
  
  
  
  

Dandelion Salad - Featured Writers' Posts

• Howard Zinn: On The Stupidity Of War (2007)
  
  
  with Howard Zinn Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Dec. 30, 2009 seldomseen68 May 05, 2007 Can a war b
  
  
  
  
• The Chilcot ‘Inquiry’: a theatre of the absurd By ...
  
  
  By William Bowles Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Creative-i 29 December 2009 Crossposted at Strateg
  
  
  
  
• U.S. Citizens attacked by Egyptian Riot Police in ...
  
  
  by Cindy Sheehan Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbo
  
  
  
  
• Fatah warns of intifada against Mahmoud Abbas
  
  
  compiled by Cem Ertür Featured Writer Dandelion Salad 29 December 2009 1) Fatah warns of intifada ag
  
  
  
  
• In Search of Mexico: Latin America’s Enigma by Gai ...
  
  
  by Gaither Stewart Featured Writer Dandelion Salad 28 December 2009 Who are these Mexicans who distu
  
  
  
  

Unexplained Mysteries

• Pluto spacecraft crosses halfway mark
  
  
  NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is the fastest manmade object ever built, taking only a year to move beyond Jupiter following its launch. Almost fo...
  
  
  
  
• Mystic makes 2010 predictions with asparagus
  
  
  In a peculiar take on fortune telling mystic Jemima Packington has forecasted the future and made predictions about the coming year using one of t...
  
  
  
  
• Legendary ruler Cao Cao's tomb found
  
  
  Archaeologists believe they have discovered the tomb of the legendary Chinese ruler Cao Cao, a cruel tyrant who ruled the Kingdom of Wei some 1800...
  
  
  
  
• The search for alien life is growing
  
  
  As we continue to scour the skies for signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life and as the number of extrasolar planets being discovered steadily...
  
  
  
  
• 280-million-year-old reptile's last meal
  
  
  Scientists have discovered the remains of insect parts stuck between the teeth of prehistoric reptiles, the find suggests that pre-dinosaur era li...
  
  
  
  

Grassroots

• Gaza Freedom Marchers await entry, keep vigil
  
  
  Hedy-sign.jpg   Starting on New Year’s Eve, the Gaza Freedom March (sponsored by Grassroots International and scores of other organizations) was set up to be an amazing international show of solidarity for the Palestinian people trapped in thi ...
  
  
  
  
• Remembering Dennis Brutus
  
  
  dennisbrutus.jpg South African poet, anti-apartheid and human rights activist, climate change warrior, and Grassroots International founder, Dennis Brutus passed away in Cape Town, South Africa on Saturday, December 26, 2009. He was 85. Accord ...
  
  
  
  
• Money’s Coming to Cool the Planet
  
  
  Subheadline:  What’s the Winning Spending Plan? Outside Author:  Daniel Moss Previous publication:  Foreign Policy in Focus ...
  
  
  
  
• Cooling the Earth with Food Sovereignty
  
  
  Outside Author:  Loie Hayes Previous publication:  Insights, Vol. 23 #2 (Fall 2009) brazil200907-332.jpg   read mor ...
  
  
  
  
• We can’t change the climate, but we can change the ...
  
  
  logoforblog.png   read more
  
  
  
  

Climate

• December 29, 2009
  
  
  Brazil Keeps Emissions Target Despite Summit Failure (Reuters) Brazil will make its 2020 greenhouse gas emissions targets, roughly 20 percent below 2005 levels, legally binding even though global climate talks failed this month, the country's environment minister says. Katrina Who? Louisiana ...
  
  
  
  
• December 28, 2009
  
  
  Mercury Emissions Rise in Illinois, Michigan, Texas (Chicago Tribune) New federal data shows the amount of mercury blown into the air by Illinois coal plants jumped 7% last year, while emissions declined in 27 other states, including several reliant on coal. Some Democrats Urging White House ...
  
  
  
  
• December 26-27, 2009
  
  
  Obama Faces Tough Senate Fight to Deliver on Climate Pledges Made Overseas (Washington Post) By brokering a climate deal in Copenhagen, Pres. Obama committed himself to a more daunting task: pushing for climate legislation in the Senate in 2010. China Adopts Law to Boost Renewable Energy Indus ...
  
  
  
  
• December 25, 2009
  
  
  Mexico Calls for Binding Climate Accord at 2010 Summit (AP) Mexico, host of next year’s COP16, seeks to accomplish what the Copenhagen conference failed to do: Secure an agreement between developed and poorer nations to cut emissions 50 percent by 2050. It would use 2000 as the base point. Ch ...
  
  
  
  
• December 24, 2009
  
  
  France to Reboost Climate Momentum (COP15) President Nicolas Sarkozy intends to invite countries that signed the Copenhagen Accord to a meeting next spring. One purpose will be to reinstall the goal to halve global emissions by 2050. How China Wrecked the Copenhagen Deal (Guardian) As rec ...
  
  
  
  

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

• You Have The Right To Be An Airline Prisoner
  
  
  Just last week the Department of Transportation s eemed to deliver a huge Christmas gift . They ruled that, among other things, airlines can no longer keep us waiting on tarmacs for more than three hours with no food, water or bathroom access. This was a long time coming for many of us who had spent ...
  
  
  
  
• Obama, the Fallen Messiah
  
  
  During a time of economic decline, persistent cultural strife, deepening American involvement in far-off military conflicts, and rapid environmental deterioration, is there any wonder that so many Americans believe in salvation fantasies promising them both a transcendent, everlasting future and vio ...
  
  
  
  
• New Year's Resolution: Don't Apologize for Democra ...
  
  
  For the new year, let's resolve: Don't defend Democrats when they don't deserve defending. And that certainly includes President Obama. Let's further resolve: Put principles above party and never lose our voice on human rights and social justice. When we mute ourselves as a Democratic president p ...
  
  
  
  
• White Supremacists Crash Anti-Obama Tea Party
  
  
  OAKLAND, California, 22 Dec (IPS) - It began with Apr. 15 Tax Day protests as thousands rallied in a number of cities across the country. It continued on into the summer with raucous town hall meetings and gun-toting anti-Barack Obama demonstrators, and appeared to reach its apex with a Sep. 12 marc ...
  
  
  
  
• What the New Year Demands
  
  
  The U.S. political battle lines for 2010 are already clear. Despite having caused many of the severe problems the country faces, the Republicans and the Right are again in the ascendancy, having shifted the blame for most of the troubles onto President Barack Obama and the Democrats. But actions ...
  
  
  
  

Ten Percent

• Global Peace Index
  
  
  And the figures are in for ‘09! Possibly only as meaningful as the top 40 but, notice the bottom four are nations with US support/involvement/intervention while the US is at 83 sandwiched between the Ukraine and Kazakhstan, hey Mr ONobel give peace a chance eh?
  
  
  
  
• Gaza, Not A Difference A Year Makes
  
  
  A year ago- Israel Defense Forces will try to “send Gaza decades into the past” in terms of weapon capabilities while achieving “the maximum number of enemy casualties and keeping Israel Defense Forces casualties at a minimum,” GOC Southern Command Yoav Galant said. “What happened in the Dahiya quar ...
  
  
  
  
• Friday! Sergei Prokofiev- Troika from Lt. Kije
  
  
  And there’s always The Waitresses
  
  
  
  
• Happy Holydays
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Viva Palestina Allowed, Freedom March?
  
  
  gazafreedommarch.org twitter.com/gazafreedom gazafreedommarch.wordpress.com Contact the Egyptian government for the Gaza Freedom March Find your local consulate here and appeal to them on behalf of the Gaza Freedom Marchers Gaza Freedom March congratulates the Government of Egypt on its change of po ...
  
  
  
  

Booman Tribune

• Test Your Skills
  
  
  SAT Test Analogy Questions 1.) FDL : Riverdaughter :: (A) dog : doghouse (B) tree : tree (C) beaver : dam (D) cat : litter box (E) book : library
  
  
  
  
• Open Thread
  
  
  It's ass-cold here today and the temperature is dropping. The news is filled with the Palin custody battle, Rovian divorce, a lot of stuff about Iran and Yemen and terrorism, and generally nothing that is of much interest to me at the moment. So, what do you want to discuss? There must be somethi ...
  
  
  
  
• Stop Lying
  
  
  I'd be more tolerant of Blue Dogs (especially those in blood red districts) if they didn't lie in order to justify voting with the Republicans. The health care bills are both scored by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and they both reduce the budget deficit (Senate version: $132 ...
  
  
  
  
• Froggy Bottom Cafe
  
  
  Memories of a warmer day:
  
  
  
  
• So, What Does This Bill Do?
  
  
  Jen Cannistra from the White House Office of Health reform has a post up at the White House Blog that takes an interesting approach to assessing the current health care reform effort. She reminds us of something the Obama Team did during the transition. ...in December 2008, we invited Americans ...
  
  
  
  

European Tribune

• Bridge Blogging
  
  
  by PeWi, unless indicated otherwise:...
  
  
  
  
• European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 30 ...
  
  
   A Daily Review Of International Online Media Europeans on this date in history:1906 – Birth of...
  
  
  
  
• Tuesday Open Thread
  
  
  So, who's around this week?...
  
  
  
  
• European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 29 ...
  
  
   A Daily Review Of International Online Media Europeans on this date in history:1843 – Birth of...
  
  
  
  
• Monday Open Thread
  
  
  xkcd says: happy travels......
  
  
  
  

Futurismic

• Everybody else is doing a top twenty posts list, s ...
  
  
  There’s no reason at all, as it happens. And believe it or not, I don’t actually look at the site stats for Futurismic very often, as I prefer to judge the material we publish by the feedback it receives. But as the title suggests, everyone’s doing retrospectives of the year at the moment, and it [. ...
  
  
  
  
• Homeopapes: journalism by machine
  
  
  Here’s an interesting piece at Wired UK that picks up the “OMG journalism is dying” ball and runs with it in the direction of automated machine-to-machine and machine-to-person news aggregation: NewsScope is a machine-readable news service designed for financial institutions that make their money fr ...
  
  
  
  
• New year, old genre: is it time for science fictio ...
  
  
  While the rest of us were stuffing ourselves with food and alcohol, editor Jetse de Vries was bashing out an essay* re-examining a refrain that’s been heard a few times in the last year or so: is written science fiction dying, is that a good thing, and if not, what should (or could) be done [...] Pr ...
  
  
  
  
• Fighting back against the advertising overload
  
  
  So, welcome back! Did you have a good holiday? I did… though the season comes with its share of annoyances, and if you’re anything like me you’ll be a happy human if you never see a perfume or aftershave advert again for as long as you live. But pity the Los Anglelinos for a moment, because [...] Pr ...
  
  
  
  
• Happy Holidays
  
  
  Does Not Equal is a webcomic by Sarah Ennals – check out the pre-Futurismic archives, and the strips that have been published here previously. [ Be sure to check out the Does Not Equal Cafepress store for webcomic merchandise featuring Canadians with geometrically-shaped heads! ] Project Wonderful ...
  
  
  
  

Therapy News

• Ecotherapy: More Than Just a Walk in the Woods
  
  
  By Laurel Vogel, M.A., Ecotherapy / Nature Therapy Topic Expert Contributor Click here to contact Laurel and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile Many hear the term “nature therapy” or “ecotherapy” and think, isn’t that just about spending time outside enjoying nature? How is nature therapy different ...
  
  
  
  
• Mental Health Privacy Questioned for Gubernatorial ...
  
  
  A GoodTherapy.org News Summary One of the most sacred and foundational tenets within the mental health professions, whether psychotherapy, counseling, or any other discipline, is often cited as the right to client privacy. The basic concept of confidentiality has driven both public and private pract ...
  
  
  
  
• Missing Mental Health Patient in London Found by P ...
  
  
  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline Knowing the potential for trauma involved, London’s counselors and psychotherapy specialists expressed concern recently when a man considered to be potentially dangerous due to his state of mental health went missing after an outing with his clinical group at a shoppi ...
  
  
  
  
• Listening to Understand
  
  
  By Sarah Chana Radcliffe, M.Ed., C. Psych. Assoc., Parenting Topic Expert Contributor Click here to contact Sarah and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile Importance of Understanding When someone understands us, we really appreciate it. It makes us feel positively toward our listener, even close. It g ...
  
  
  
  
• 30 Days to a Better Relationship
  
  
  By Mona Barbera, Ph.D., Internal Family Systems Therapy Topic Expert Contributor Click here to contact Mona and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile You have a mate you love, you want it to be the best relationship it can be – but things keep getting in the way. Here’s the golden key to keeping your ...
  
  
  
  

Mountaintop Removal

• Byrd Asks EPA for Clarity - West Virginia MetroNew ...
  
  
  Byrd Asks EPA for Clarity West Virginia MetroNews ... was surprised by Byrd's comments and called for the Senator to clarify his position on mountaintop removal during an appearance on MetroNews Talkline. ... W.Va. Sen. Byrd meets with EPA to discuss mining The Associated Press all 79 news article ...
  
  
  
  
• Four Anti-Mountaintop Removal Activists Arrested a ...
  
  
  Four Anti- Mountaintop Removal Activists Arrested at Home It's Getting Hot In Here (blog) We've spent 2009 escalating the fight to end mountaintop removal . The coal industry spent 2009 escalating their rhetoric (example above) to cast us as ... Steven Allen Adams: West Virginia is ground zero in c ...
  
  
  
  
• Sen. Byrd on coal: Wasn't anybody paying attention ...
  
  
  Sen. Byrd on coal: Wasn't anybody paying attention? Charleston Gazette (blog) Though unsaid, the clear suggestion was that Byrd now sided with environmental groups who want to ban mountaintop removal altogether. ... Does He Support Or Oppose Mountaintop Mining? West Virginia MetroNews Could Sen. By ...
  
  
  
  
• Steven Allen Adams: West Virginia is ground zero i ...
  
  
  Steven Allen Adams: West Virginia is ground zero in climate change battle Washington Examiner On the same day, Robert Kennedy Jr. led a protest against mountaintop removal at the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, and that evening ...
  
  
  
  
• Green dating services help love blossom - Mother N ...
  
  
  Mother Nature Network Green dating services help love blossom Mother Nature Network ... senior thesis on mountaintop removal coal mining, a cross-country biodiesel bus tour they took with other Udall Scholarship alumni and, most recently, ...
  
  
  
  

Memeorandum

• Obama takes the heat Bush did not (Josh Gerstein/T ...
  
  
  Josh Gerstein / The Politico : Obama takes the heat Bush did not   —  Eight years ago, a terrorist bomber's attempt to blow up a transatlantic airliner was thwarted by a group of passengers, an incident that revealed some gaping holes in airline security just a few months after the attacks of Sept ...
  
  
  
  
• Sen. Feinstein: Halt transfers to Yemen (Susan Cra ...
  
  
  Susan Crabtree / The Hill : Sen. Feinstein: Halt transfers to Yemen   —  The senior Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee wants no more Guantanamo Bay detainees released to Yemen in the wake of a Christmas day terrorist attack hatched in that country.  —  “Guantanamo detainees should not be ...
  
  
  
  
• The Cash Committee: How Wall Street Wins On The Hi ...
  
  
  The Huffington Post : The Cash Committee: How Wall Street Wins On The Hill   —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  The question was simple: Should the lending practices of auto dealers be regulated?  —  It was already October and the 42 Democrats and 29 Republicans on the House Committee on Financial Servi ...
  
  
  
  
• U.S. Intel Lapses Helped Abdulmutallab (Armen Kete ...
  
  
  Armen Keteyian / CBS News : U.S. Intel Lapses Helped Abdulmutallab   —  CBS News Exclusive: CIA Had Info on Person of Interest Dubbed “The Nigerian” in August But Officials Failed to Connect Dots  —  (CBS) CBS News has learned that as early as August of 2009 the Central Intelligence Agency was pick ...
  
  
  
  
• Move Your Money: A New Year's Resolution (Arianna ...
  
  
  Arianna Huffington / The Huffington Post : Move Your Money: A New Year's Resolution   —  Last week, over a pre-Christmas dinner, the two of us, along with political strategist Alexis McGill, filmmaker/author Eugene Jarecki, and Nick Penniman of the HuffPost Investigative Fund, began talking about ...
  
  
  
  

Energy & Environment News

• Panel Rejects French Carbon Tax
  
  
  The Constitutional Council said the carbon-tax bill, supported by President Nicolas Sarkozy, contained too many exemptions for polluters and and threatened to make tax collection unfair.
  
  
  
  
• China, Willing to Spend, Wins a Trove of Afghan Co ...
  
  
  A Chinese company is undertaking the largest foreign investment project in war-torn Afghanistan, extracting copper from one of the richest untapped deposits on earth.
  
  
  
  
• Desert Vistas vs. Solar Power
  
  
  Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to protect a million acres of the Mojave Desert in California by scuttling planned solar plants and wind farms.
  
  
  
  
• Chinese Withdraw Offer for Nevada Gold Concern
  
  
  Federal officials had raised “serious, significant and consequential national security” concerns about the purchase of Firstgold, a small Nevada mine.
  
  
  
  
• By Degrees: Turning Emissions Disclosure Into a Bu ...
  
  
  The Carbon Disclosure Project tracks the carbon dioxide emissions generated by industry and persuades some companies to change policies before governments step in.
  
  
  
  

5+ quakes - 7 days

• M 5.5, Mindanao, Philippines
  
  
  Wednesday, December 30, 2009 11:17:51 UTC Wednesday, December 30, 2009 07:17:51 PM at epicenter Depth : 50.30 km (31.25 mi)
  
  
  
  
• M 5.0, Antofagasta, Chile
  
  
  Wednesday, December 30, 2009 08:12:57 UTC Wednesday, December 30, 2009 05:12:57 AM at epicenter Depth : 44.20 km (27.46 mi)
  
  
  
  
• M 5.4, Leyte, Philippines
  
  
  Wednesday, December 30, 2009 07:48:57 UTC Wednesday, December 30, 2009 03:48:57 PM at epicenter Depth : 151.70 km (94.26 mi)
  
  
  
  
• M 5.1, Kuril Islands
  
  
  Monday, December 28, 2009 08:05:43 UTC Monday, December 28, 2009 07:05:43 PM at epicenter Depth : 120.50 km (74.88 mi)
  
  
  
  
• M 5.2, Antofagasta, Chile
  
  
  Monday, December 28, 2009 00:57:17 UTC Sunday, December 27, 2009 09:57:17 PM at epicenter Depth : 30.70 km (19.08 mi)
  
  
  
  

China Dialogue

• Madagascar feels the heat
  
  
  Deforestation, drought and political instability have ravaged a nation rich in wildlife but poor in infrastructure. And, reports David Smith, climate change is blamed for playing havoc with harvests and the seasons. Remanonjona Feroce founded the village of Anjamahavelo – meaning At the Lucky Baobab ...
  
  
  
  
• Briefing: the Copenhagen Accord
  
  
  What happened at the COP15 climate talks? Tan Copsey explains the new agreement. After two chaotic weeks, 188 countries reached a limited agreement in Copenhagen to continue global efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in order to address climate change.  The talks were quite unlike the ...
  
  
  
  
• Slideshow: eye on Mozambique (1)
  
  
  In the first section of a two-part slideshow about environmental concerns in the southeast African nation, Daniel Ribeiro introduces deforestation, water and energy issues. NEXT: Sorting the rubbish in Mozambique
  
  
  
  
• Solving the incinerator uproar
  
  
  China faces difficult decisions over waste disposal, as local residents vent their opposition to garbage-burning plants. Ma Jun suggests a way forward. China has seen fierce debate over the building of garbage incinerators in recent months. City authorities believe increasing quantities of urban was ...
  
  
  
  
• Down to the wire
  
  
  chinadialogue follows the climate talks as they reach their conclusion. Read the full text of the Chinese premier’s speech, breaking news, blogs and analysis. chinadialogue is blogging the climate talks from Copenhagen on "the daily planet". Click here to read the full text of the Chinese premier’s ...
  
  
  
  

AlterNet Top Stories

• Ninth Circuit Court Delivers Landmark Taser Ruling
  
  
  The next stop could be the Supreme Court.
  
  
  
  
• Tucker Carlson Vows to Start Right-Wing Web Site t ...
  
  
  The be-bowtied renegade strikes! And by "strikes," we mean "begs the Heritage Foundation for money."
  
  
  
  
• America the Traumatized: How 13 Events of the Deca ...
  
  
  The Millennial Decade screwed with our heads and destroyed our national identity. Are we in for a cataclysmic century?
  
  
  
  
• 10 Most Defining Feminist Moments of 2009
  
  
  A look back on the times in 2009 when feminists asserted ourselves and our belief in equality, often in the face of powerful opposition.
  
  
  
  
• AlterNet's Most Popular Sex and Drugs Stories of 2 ...
  
  
  From "Big Booty Beauty and the New Sexual Aesthetic" to "5 Things the Corporate Media Don't Want You to Know About Cannabis."
  
  
  
  

Threat Level

• Albert Gonzalez Pleads Guilty in Heartland, 7-11 B ...
  
  
  Florida computer hacker Albert Gonzalez pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges Tuesday for intrusions into Heartland Payment Systems, Hannaford Brothers supermarket chain, 7-Eleven and two unidentified companies — marking his third and final guilty plea in what prosecutors have called the largest iden ...
  
  
  
  
• Albert Gonzalez Pleads Guilty in Heartland, 7-11 B ...
  
  
  Florida computer hacker Albert Gonzalez pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges Tuesday for intrusions into Heartland Payment Systems, Hannaford Brothers, 7-Eleven and two unidentified companies — marking his third and final guilty plea in what prosecutors have called the largest identity theft scheme ...
  
  
  
  
• Walmart Sued Over Surveillance Camera in Bathroom
  
  
  Seven former and current Walmart employees are suing the retail giant after one of its Pennsylvania stores installed a surveillance camera in a unisex bathroom used by employees and customers, according to ABC News. The camera was allegedly installed by two employees in the company’s loss-preventio ...
  
  
  
  
• Report: Programmer Conned CIA, Pentagon Into Buyin ...
  
  
  A programmer who claims he produced software that detected hidden terrorist messages in Al Jazeera broadcasts was apparently responsible for a false alert in 2003 that grounded international flights. The 2003 incident raised the government’s security level, according to a remarkable story published ...
  
  
  
  
• Torrent Search Engines Unlawful, U.S. Judge Says
  
  
  The operator of a popular BitTorrent search site said Monday he will likely challenge last week’s landmark decision by a U.S. judge declaring such sites unlawful and no different from conventional peer-to-peer piracy services. “We do think from our preliminary review there are a number of issues ...
  
  
  
  

Reuters - Most Popular Articles

• "Army Wives" re-enlisted for Season 4
  
  
  LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Lifetime has renewed its signature drama "Army Wives" for a fourth season.
  
  
  
  
• Indonesia's wart-stricken "tree man" seeks help
  
  
  TANJUNG JAYA, Indonesia (Reuters Life!) - Sacked from his job, deserted by his wife, shunned by neighbors -- "tree man" Dede has been treated as a freak for most of his life because of the gnarled growths sprouting from his hands and feet.
  
  
  
  
• Man shot 34 times in head with nail gun
  
  
  CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian police released Friday a shocking x-ray photo showing the skull of a murdered Chinese immigrant shot 34 times in the head and neck with a high-power nail gun.
  
  
  
  
• Engrossing "Cat Dancers" stranger than fiction
  
  
  LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - This seems to be the season for documentaries that chronicle mind-boggling true romances.
  
  
  
  
• Older white women join Kenya's sex tourists
  
  
  MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Bethan, 56, lives in southern England on the same street as best friend Allie, 64.
  
  
  
  

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

• Secret UK envoy convinced Iran Shah to stay away i ...
  
  
  The British government sent a former diplomat, disguised as an old friend of the Iranian Shah, to convince the deposed monarch to stay away from the UK, after he was forced to abandon Iran in 1979.
  
  
  
  
• More on unfolding Turkish-Greek espionage affair
  
  
  Further information has been made available on an unfolding espionage affair in Turkey, centering on three Turkish citizens charged with collaborating with Greek intelligence services.
  
  
  
  
• News you may have missed #0235
  
  
  How the CIA was conned by a compulsive gambler.Obama names intel advisory board members. Turkey arrests three on espionage charges.
  
  
  
  
• News you may have missed #0234
  
  
  CIA insider speaks about US "war on terrorism". CIA operative says US should have shielded her in Italy kidnap case.
  
  
  
  
• US to stop funding scandal-prone Colombian spy age ...
  
  
  The US Congress has voted to stop subsidizing Colombia’s soon-to-be dismantled Administrative Department of Security (DAS) intelligence agency.
  
  
  
  

After Downing Street.org

• Egypt Cracks Down On Foreign Protesters Heading To ...
  
  
  Egypt cracks down on foreign protesters heading to Gaza Strip By Liam Stack | CS Monitor Getting in to the Gaza Strip is no easy feat, but driving across Egypt should not be this hard. On Sunday, more than 1,000 international activists from 42 countries around the world descended on Cairo to kick ...
  
  
  
  
• Kucinich Questions Treasury’s Assistance to Fanni ...
  
  
  Kucinich Questions Treasury’s Assistance to Fannie and Freddie | Press Release Is lifting the cap on assistance a back door TARP? Washington DC, December 29--Dennis Kucinich, Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, announced today his Sub ...
  
  
  
  
• Winograd, Harman Race Heats Up Again
  
  
  Winograd, Harman Race Heats Up Again By Ernest A. Canning | BradBlog A little more than seven months after launching her second attempt to unseat California's powerful eight-term Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Jane Harman, the PDA -backed Marcy Winograd recently sent out a fundraising email in whi ...
  
  
  
  
• The Problem with the Revolving Door - It Brought U ...
  
  
  The Problem with the Revolving Door - It Brought Us Too-Big-To-Fail By Tiffiniy Cheng | Bankster USA Bailouts and political connections go hand in hand according to a just released academic study. The study, which was conducted by the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan researche ...
  
  
  
  
• No, We're Not a Broken People
  
  
  By David Swanson In 2004 I began speaking at rallies and forums around the country on issues of peace and justice, something I've done off-and-on ever since. Up through 2008, it was extremely unusual for questions from the audience to consist of pure defeatism. In 2009, it was rare to get through ...
  
  
  
  

Grist - News

• On the move: Species face race against climate cha ...
  
  
  by Agence France-Presse PARIS -- Land ecosystems will have to move hundreds of meters each year in order to cope with global warming, according to a letter published on Thursday in Nature, the British-based science journal. On average, ecosystems will need to shift 420 meters (about a quarter of a ...
  
  
  
  
• Global warming hike may be steeper
  
  
  by Agence France-Presse PARIS -- Global temperatures could rise substantially more because of increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than previously thought, according to a new study by U.S. and Chinese scientists released Sunday. The researchers used a long-term model for assessing climate ...
  
  
  
  
• Brown blames China for ‘farcical’ clim ...
  
  
  by Agence France-Presse LONDON -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday accused countries of holding the U.N. climate summit to ransom as bitter recriminations swirled over the outcome of the negotiations. British Prime Minister Gordan Brown. While China's Premier Wen Jiabao insisted his go ...
  
  
  
  
• Copenhagen outcome: a real climate catastrophe
  
  
  by David Roberts President Barack Obama negotiating with, from left, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller, and Israeli President Shimon Peres, at the Copenhagen climate conference.Photo: White House/Pete Souza This piece appeared first in The Daily Beast .Sa ...
  
  
  
  
• Climate scientists underwhelmed by Copenhagen Acco ...
  
  
  by Agence France-Presse COPENHAGEN -- Top climate scientists said Saturday that the 11th-hour political deal hammered out at U.N. talks in Copenhagen falls perilously short of what is needed to stave off catastrophic global warming. What many had hoped would be a planet-saving treaty locking major ...
  
  
  
  

Popular Bookmarks on Del.icio.us

• Lost in the Meritocracy - The Atlantic (January/Fe ...
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Technorati - What's Hot in Blogs

• India to Play More Test Matches - Captain Dhoni
  
  
  India will work to preserve their top ranking with more test matches next year
  
  
  
  
• Supreme Court Returns Rights to Secured Creditors
  
  
  The Supreme Court rules the Chrysler bankruptcy to be like all other bankruptcies before it, returning rights to secured creditors
  
  
  
  
• Blog Focus on Scheduled Google Phone Announcement
  
  
  The Google Phone is still coming! And as early as January 5th, if the news today holds portent
  
  
  
  
• Furniture Industry Outlook in 2010: Environmental ...
  
  
  Environmental issues factor heavily into the furniture industry outlook for 2010.
  
  
  
  
• Brett Dennen at Fox Theatre on New Year's Eve With ...
  
  
  Brett Dennen uses 2010 technology to let fans enjoy a live feed of his New Year's Eve show even if they can't attend.
  
  
  
  

Time - Top Stories

• Airline Terrorism: What Can We Learn From Flight 2 ...
  
  
  Missed signs, cumbersome lists and spotty screening permitted a terrorist to take a makeshift bomb on a Christmas flight to Detroit. What the U.S. should learn from a near calamity
  
  
  
  
• The Palestinian Woman in the Way of a Gilad Shalit ...
  
  
  Sentenced to life for a crime that shocked Israel, Amneh Muna is high on the list of prisoners Hamas wants released in exchange for the soldier Gilad Shalit
  
  
  
  
• Lula Movie: Brazil's President as a Cinema Superhe ...
  
  
  An all-too-lovingly hagiographic movie about Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is about to open in his home country, causing his opposition much consternation
  
  
  
  
• Bloggers Left and Right Agree to Hate Health Care ...
  
  
  The left is attacking health care reform as a sellout -- and helping right-wing populists in the process
  
  
  
  
• Is China Reducing Use of the Death Penalty?
  
  
  Despite the controversial execution of a British man accused of drug trafficking, Chinese courts may be sentencing fewer prisoners to death
  
  
  
  

Washington Independent

• McCain, Graham and Lieberman Twist Facts for Polit ...
  
  
  It’s not exactly surprising that some Republicans would be using the failed Christmas terror plot to grandstand and try to thwart President Obama’s plans to close the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, but there’s something particularly disconcerting when leading senators such as John McCain ...
  
  
  
  
• Obama Aide: Failed Underpants Bomber Won’t S ...
  
  
  Add insult to the self-inflicted injury of Sens. McCain, Lieberman and Graham, who yesterday urged President Obama not to repatriate Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay who had already been repatriated. In a background briefing with reporters shortly after Obama’s remarks in Hawaii about would-be Nor ...
  
  
  
  
• Competing Health Care Bills Face Difficult Merger
  
  
  Before President Obama can sign health reform legislation, lawmakers will need to tackle such thorny issues as the public option, abortion coverage and funding mechanisms.
  
  
  
  
• Do Graham, McCain and Lieberman Want Obama to Take ...
  
  
  Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) sent a letter to President Obama today asking him to halt the transfer of six Guantanamo detainees to Yemen. The request, they say, is in light of the danger they’ve apparently just now realized Yemen poses, because Nig ...
  
  
  
  
• A Fundraising Letter Too Far
  
  
  Rep. Pete Hoekstra’s (R-Mich.) ill-advised decision to send out a fundraising letter promoting his criticism of the Obama administration’s handling of last week’s botched terrorist plot is getting the full Democratic National Committee-brushback treatment. Via Ben Smith, here’s the full statement, b ...
  
  
  
  

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

• One Day We’ll All Be Terrorists
  
  
  Chris Hedges | Truthdig | Dec 28, 2009 Syed Fahad Hashmi can tell you about the dark heart of America. He knows that our First Amendment rights have become a joke, that habeas corpus no longer exists and that we torture, not only in black sites such as those at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan or [... ...
  
  
  
  
• Two al Qaeda Leaders Behind Northwest Flight 253 T ...
  
  
  Two al Qaeda Leaders Behind Northwest Flight 253 Terror Plot Were Released by U.S. Former Guantanamo Prisoners Believed Behind Northwest Airlines Bomb Plot; Sent to Saudi Arabia in 2007 ABC News- By BRIAN ROSS, ANNA SCHECTER and JOSEPH RHEE Dec. 28, 2009 Two of the four leaders allegedly behind ...
  
  
  
  
• Obama: U.S. Will Hunt Abdulmutallab’s Backer ...
  
  
  Obama says U.S. to hunt failed plane attack’s backers REUTERS (Reporting by Jeff Mason, editing by Patricia Zengerle and Will Dunham) KAILUA, Hawaii Mon Dec 28, 2009 5:31pm EST “We will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable,” Obama said, interrupting his yea ...
  
  
  
  
• A Kept Man
  
  
  Paul Craig Roberts | Takimag.com | December 02, 2009 It didn’t take the Israel lobby very long to bring President Obama to heel regarding his prohibition against further illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Obama discovered that a mere American president is powerless when confr ...
  
  
  
  
• Kucinich: Obama should fire generals who spoke out ...
  
  
  Daniel Tencer | Raw Story | Sunday, Dec 27th, 2009 Obama ‘giving his generals a little too much leeway’ Congressman Dennis Kucinich says President Barack Obama ought to fire the generals who publicly aired their views on the war in Afghanistan during this fall’s deliberations on a troop surge. The O ...
  
  
  
  

Solari

• Federal Contractors
  
  
  By Walter Pincus The aim was also to save money, but last year Congress reported that contract employees were each costing the government an average of $250,000 annually, an amount far in excess of what federal employees or military personnel were paid. A recent Congressional Research Service study ...
  
  
  
  
• Socialnomics09
  
  
  Continue reading Social Media ROI: Socialnomics
  
  
  
  
• Conference Address Israel Global Challenges
  
  
  Israel’s ambassadors and consuls generals from all over the world have been summoned to attend a conference to be held over global challenges facing Israel. The meeting to be attended in Jerusalem Al-Quds on December 27-31 is hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Deputy Prime Ministe ...
  
  
  
  
• Investment Performance of the Decade
  
  
  (Chart By Tyler Durden) By John Glover Investors who bought gold or commodities at the beginning of the decade should have tripled their money by the time the ball drops in New York’s Times Square on Dec. 31. Stock holders will be poorer. Continue reading Gold Beats All in Decade of ‘Fear and Greed ...
  
  
  
  
• Bankruptcy Strands Truckers
  
  
  Related articles: Stranded Chesterfield County Trucker Works to Get Home After Company Closes Arrow Trucking Bankruptcy: Tulsa Staff Sent US Trucking Operators YRC And Arrow Struggle In Difficult Times Bankruptcy Strands Truckers Arrow Trucking Frozen Because Of Bankruptcy?
  
  
  
  

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

• Stepping up - University at Buffalo The Spectrum
  
  
  Stepping up University at Buffalo The Spectrum The president of Pakistan , Asif Ali Zardari, recognized the direness of the situation and began to mobilize military forces to combat the Taliban . ... and more »
  
  
  
  
• 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 . ...
  
  
  
  

AlterNet - Rights and Liberties

• One Day We'll All Be Terrorists
  
  
  Our descent is the familiar disease of decaying empires. Dissent is starting to become defined as an act of terrorism.
  
  
  
  
• 10 Reasons the U.S. Military Should (Officially) U ...
  
  
  Medical marijuana may have a host of advantages over other treatments for traumatized vets, but the VA won't even study its efficacy.
  
  
  
  
• Nigerian Man Attempted to Blow Up US Airliner
  
  
  A young Nigerian man with reported links to Al-Qaeda was under arrest Saturday after trying to blow up a US airlinerv headed for Detroit.
  
  
  
  
• Israel Declares War on NGOs and Human Rights Group ...
  
  
  One year after its devastating siege of Gaza, Israel's efforts to discredit peace groups have intensified, while settlement activity has expanded.
  
  
  
  
• Have Americans Traded Freedom For Security?
  
  
  According to polls, Americans support torture and don't mind that their government spies on them without obtaining warrants from a court.
  
  
  
  

Sideways News

• Island caretaker stung by jellyfish
  
  
  Ben Southall, who won a "Best Job in the World" competition to become caretaker of the tropical Hamilton Island, has been stung by a tiny yet potentially deadly jellyfish. The Briton wrote on his blog that he was lucky to be alive after touching the toxic Irukandji jellyfish while getting off a Jet ...
  
  
  
  
• Child prodigy the next Picasso?
  
  
  A new artist has emerged on the scene, selling paintings for upwards of £900 and embarking on his second exhibition as accolades pour in. Kieron Williamson is rapidly attracting interest, but there is something unusual about his talent - he is only seven years old.
  
  
  
  
• Hero of the month: Yves Rocher
  
  
  Yves Rocher, pioneer of the natural cosmetics industry, died on Boxing Day 2009 in Paris, aged 79. Rocher has been described as the baron of eco-beauty, founding his cosmetics empire on the principle of “beauty through plants". In 1959, Rocher sold a haemerroid ointment, supplied by a traditional he ...
  
  
  
  
• The climate change debate in 2010
  
  
  Addressing climate change is about collective security in a fragile and increasingly interdependent world. The human and financial cost, as well as access to valuable resources, are set to become key variables in economic development, as well as civil and national aggression during the 21st century. ...
  
  
  
  
• 10:10 gets practical in 2010
  
  
  The long-awaited Copenhagen conference is over, leaving many underwhelmed by the outcome. Yet, Franny Armstrong and others involved with the 10:10 campaign are planning to storm into the New Year - promising to put pledges into action.
  
  
  
  

Fabius Maximus

• The SecDef gives the definitive analysis of the si ...
  
  
  A must-read except from a press conference by our Secretary of Defense: I don’t want to comment in detail on the situation in Afghanistan because it is a complex one. I think the Ambassador said there were 43 wars there. It’s a very complicated situation involving political, economic, and military ...
  
  
  
  
• A look at our government’s debt – risi ...
  
  
  One of the great similarities of our economic downcycle and Japan’s two decade long journey to oblivion:  both are periods of economic stress caused by private sector deleveraging – in which the government mitigates the resulting pain by borrowing and spending.  Japan’s government has run up ...
  
  
  
  
• A look at the gradual decay of our armed forces
  
  
  These reports are disturbing, but more so are the disturbing comments of the war’s advocates to the posts about these things.  Beyond denial, they attack those concerned about our troops.  They love the war, but not our troops.  Much like Senator McCain, who votes in favor of any war — but agains ...
  
  
  
  
• Government economic stimulus is financial heroin
  
  
  Summary:  A powerful metaphor, widely used, about this recession — the worst since the 1930’s — providing important insights. Excerpt from “Financial Heroin”, Don Coxe, Coxe Advisors, 16 December 2009: … my father was a doctor in the Canadian Army in WWII, and served in the Italian campaign. He bec ...
  
  
  
  
• We collect our winnings in Iraq
  
  
  What did we win in Iraq?   At vast cost in blood and money we’ve turned a weak secular state into a potentially strong Islamic ally of Iran.   Women and religious minorities have paid a high price for our victory.  Despite 5 years of pressure on the Iraq government, they refused to pass the ...
  
  
  
  

sibeledmonds - tweets

• sibeledmonds: Boiling Frogs Post on The Erosion & ...
  
  
  sibeledmonds: Boiling Frogs Post on The Erosion & Rotting of a Nation’s Foundation: Political System Termites (PST) & Hastert: http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
  
  
  
• sibeledmonds: Dennis Hastert: A Portrait of a Poli ...
  
  
  sibeledmonds: Dennis Hastert: A Portrait of a Political System Termite. Read the article @ Boiling Frogs Post: http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
  
  
  
• sibeledmonds: Happy Holidays From The Boiling Frog ...
  
  
  sibeledmonds: Happy Holidays From The Boiling Frogs Post Team:-) http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
  
  
  
• sibeledmonds: Charlie Wilson’s War: the chil ...
  
  
  sibeledmonds: Charlie Wilson’s War: the child-like fantasy that has been resurrected over & over again. By Gould & Fitzgerald http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
  
  
  
• sibeledmonds: Charlie Wilson’s War:The Rally ...
  
  
  sibeledmonds: Charlie Wilson’s War:The Rallying Cry for an Arms Buildup & to End Public Debate about American Foreign Policy http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
  
  
  

WIRED Magazine | Science

• How Algal Biofuels Lost a Decade in the Race to Re ...
  
  
  For nearly 20 years, a government laboratory built a living, respiring library of carefully collected organisms in search of something that could grow quickly while producing something precious: oil. But now that collection has largely been lost. National Renewable Energy Laboratory scientists foun ...
  
  
  
  
• Space Probe Gets Halfway to Pluto in Record Time
  
  
  The fastest man-made object ever built, the Pluto-bound New Horizons probe, is now closer to the former planet than Earth, just a little under four years after its launch. It’s currently traveling at about 31,000 miles an hour and is located about 1.527 billion miles from Earth. “Today, 29 Dec 2009 ...
  
  
  
  
• Sublime Sand: Desert Dunes Seen From Space
  
  
  > Deserts are known for being desolate and lifeless, but they are also quite striking and beautiful, especially when seen from above. Different types of sand, topography, wind and climate combine to form a tremendous variety of landscapes. Shifting dunes are carved int ...
  
  
  
  
• Collar Tech Tracks Wolf’s North Pole Treks
  
  
  During the 24-hour darkness of an arctic winter, a wolf pack’s tough life continues. Battling temperatures that reach 70 degrees below zero, a pack travels hundreds of miles across the landscape. A collar affixed to a wolf named Brutus beams back their coordinates to U.S. Geological Survey research ...
  
  
  
  
• Famous San Francisco Sea Lions Abandon Their Pier ...
  
  
  The blubbery sea lions at Pier 39, one of San Francisco’s smelliest and most famous tourist attractions, are gone. They left the wooden docks on which they’ve spent the last 20 years and no one knows if they’ll be coming back. “We have no idea where they moved on to or why,” said Shelbi Stoudt, who ...
  
  
  
  

The Progressive Realist

• The End of Counterinsurgency
  
  
  This final paragraph from Andrew Exum’s brief Boston Review note about Afghanistan seems pretty baffling to me: The one lesson we have all—military officer, politician, and journalist alike—learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, though, is that it is best to avoid such conflicts in the first place . ...
  
  
  
  
• The Counter-Productivity of War Rhetoric when Resp ...
  
  
  The overwhelming consensus amongst counterterrorism scholars, experts and practitioners is that intelligence and law enforcement are the most effective tools available in terms of implementing effective counterterrorism policy, and, thus, these options should be relied on primarily. Not only does t ...
  
  
  
  
• Context for Revolution in Iran
  
  
  SamInMpls tweets “@mattyglesias I have this weird expectation that you’ll write something on the events in Iran within the historical context of revolutions.” I’m not sure how well I can do on that score, but I have read Theda Skocpol’s 1979 study States and Social Revolutions which I’m sure is out ...
  
  
  
  
• Pirates Strike Again, Again and Again Off Somalia
  
  
  Pirates operating from Somalia have captured three ships in the last 24 hours according to several sources . Two of the ships, the UK-flagged chemical tanker St James Park and the Yemeni freighter Al-Mahmoudia2 were hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, the first two ships to be hijacked in the Gulf of Aden ...
  
  
  
  
• Dissident Ayatollah: ‘Tightening Of Sanctions Is N ...
  
  
  Always looking to score the cheap point, NRO’s Kathryn Jean Lopez cherry-picks a quote from an interview with Iranian dissident Ayatollah Mohsen Kadivar : Kadivar: Perhaps Western countries should stop treating Ahmadinejad’s government as the legitimate government of Iran. Lopez: I hope the White H ...
  
  
  
  

TAPPED - The American Prospect

• The Year In: Economy.
  
  
  As the "Great Recession" dragged on, the unemployment rate climbed. Here are the top five articles explaining how we got into this situation and how we can get out of it: Through the debate over the bailouts, it seemed that every financial institution was "too big to fail." But when it comes to b ...
  
  
  
  
• The Year In: Afghanistan.
  
  
  During the 2008 presidential campaign, we argued that Barack Obama offered, "the most sweeping liberal foreign-policy critique we've heard from a serious presidential contender in decades." This first year was his chance to show how it would affect the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here are ...
  
  
  
  
• The Year In: Books and Culture.
  
  
  You come to TAP for health care, Afghanistan, and, well, pure policy wonkery. We get that. But sometimes, even the most devoted political observers need to take a break to catch a movie. This past year we dived into: Was Susan Sontag a bad mother because she walked away from family to chase her in ...
  
  
  
  
• The Year In: Health Care.
  
  
  Barack Obama entered office wanting to fix our long-ignored and mostly broken health-care system. Now, after countless compromises and roadblocks, the Senate has passed its health-care reform bill. Here are our top articles explaining the stakes: Health-care reform was never really about tacking ye ...
  
  
  
  
• Until the New Year.
  
  
  The TAP team will be taking time off for the holidays. There may be some intermittent posting next week, but we won't be back in full swing until Monday, Jan. 4. Thanks, all, for reading us, and see you all in the new year! -- The Editors
  
  
  
  

Andy Worthington

• Video: Q&A with Moazzam Begg, Omar Deghayes, Andy ...
  
  
  On October 21, at the launch of the new documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington) at the Cochrane Theatre in London, Spectacle, the production company, filmed the Q&A session following the screening, in which Moazzam Begg, Omar Deghaye ...
  
  
  
  
• An Interview With Andy Worthington About Guantánam ...
  
  
  Recently, Amelia King, an independent journalist and community activist based in Brighton, asked me for an interview by phone. Amelia recently created her own website and is beginning to publish online as a way of exploring her interest in human rights issues and sharing ideas through interviews and ...
  
  
  
  
• At Christmas, Ex-Guantánamo Prisoner Is Reunited W ...
  
  
  On December 21, the following article, written by Kevin Cullen, was published by the Boston Globe. It brings up to date the story of Oybek Jabbarov, an innocent man from Uzbekistan, held in Guantánamo for nearly eight years, who was finally freed in September and given a new home in Ireland. As I re ...
  
  
  
  
• Who Are The Four Afghans Released From Guantánamo?
  
  
  Over the weekend, 12 prisoners were released from Guantánamo, as the Justice Department announced in a press release on December 20. I have previously reported the stories of the two Somalis who were released — emphasizing how nothing about their cases demonstrated that they were “the worst of th ...
  
  
  
  
• “Hell on Earth”: Released Somali Speaks about Guan ...
  
  
  AFP secured an interview on Monday with Mohamed Saleban Bare (known to the Pentagon as Mohammed Sulaymon Barre), the Somali refugee, released from Guantánamo at the weekend with eleven other men (including another Somali, Ismail Mahmoud Muhammad), who ran a money transfer operation for the Somali di ...
  
  
  
  

Buzzflash

• Aggressively outing the owners of "fear and divisi ...
  
  
  Body Well, here we go again with Republicans' Olympic contemptibility, kicking off their predatory election year of 2010. For the last 10 months they've howled about federal intrusiveness; for the next 10 months they'll decry its absence. Pick a card, any hysteria card, and Republicans c ...
  
  
  
  
• Louise Slaughter Uses Powerful Position to Fight f ...
  
  
  WINGS OF JUSTICE Louise Slaughter Finding someone who says "Start over on the health care bill" is pretty easy to find. But the stance is a little braver when one of those people is the Chair of the House Rules Committee. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) has stood up, asked for the current health care r ...
  
  
  
  
• Jacqueline Marcus: $360 Billion More For Military ...
  
  
  BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY by Jacqueline Marcus On December 27, Lesley Stahl on CBS' "60 Minutes" reported on California's severe drought crisis and how money for new water distribution planning is an absolute necessity for agriculture and cities. "Water is in short supply. You don't have to go to A ...
  
  
  
  
• Dave Lindorff: Paul Krugman's Health Care Sell-Out ...
  
  
  Paul Krugman, one of the few liberal columnists writing for The New York Times, claims that at some point in the hoary past when he "began writing a lot about health care," he was in favor of a Canadian-style single-payer health care system. He adds that even today if he thought there was "any chanc ...
  
  
  
  
• Martha Rosenberg: New Year's Resolutions for the D ...
  
  
  BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY by Martha Rosenberg There was only one thing worse than being unemployed in 2009: working for the drug sector. Not only did the two biggest drug settlements in U.S. history occur in 2009 -- Eli Lilly's $1.42 billion for mismarketing Zyprexa and Pfizer's $2.3 billion for Be ...
  
  
  
  

Glenn Greenwald - Salon

• Karl Rove's belief in "traditional marriage" laws
  
  
  (updated below) Karl Rove is an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage, citing "5,000 years of understanding the institution of marriage" as his justification.  He also famously engineered multiple referenda to incorporate a ban on same-sex marriage into various states' constitutions in 2004 ...
  
  
  
  
• Distortions in the health care debate
  
  
  As I've documented before , the "debate" over the President's health care reform bill has come to resemble most political debates in the U.S.:  dominated by ludicrous, obvious strawmen and bullying, manipulative tactics in lieu of substantive debate.  Proponents of the bill have continuously claime ...
  
  
  
  
• Cause and effect in the "Terror War"
  
  
  "In all their alleged allegedness, this Administration has an allergy to the concept of war, and thus to the tools of war, including strategy and war aims" -- Supreme Tough Guy Warrior Mark Steyn, National Review , yesterday . "The White House has authorized an expansion of the C.I.A.'s drone pr ...
  
  
  
  
• The Joys of Airstrikes and Anonymity
  
  
  Each time the U.S. bombs a new location in the Muslim world, the same pattern emerges.  First, officials from the U.S. or allied governments run to their favorite media outlet to claim -- anonymously -- that some big, bad, notorious, "top" Al Qaeda leader "may have been" or "likely was" killed in t ...
  
  
  
  
• Salon Radio Transcript: Gregory Johnsen
  
  
  To listen to this interview, go here and click on the recorder at the bottom, or for an MP3 file, go here : GG : My guest today on Salon Radio is Gregory Johnsen, who is an expert on Yemen; he's a Ph.D. candidate in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University and has advised the U.S. and British g ...
  
  
  
  

The BiPartisan Report

• Sheldon Whitehouse brings truth to the Senate floo ...
• Pesky facts spoil GOP’s mammogram arguments
• Those holier than thou Conservatives
• Dennis Kucinich: Enemy of the good, pursuer of the ...
• Betsy’s Bullshit, Round 2

Sciencebase

• Intute hot topics in physical science
  
  
  Over on the Intute site in the physical sciences section you will find the December science news round up from yours truly: What’s the buzz at the LHC? – After a frustrating false start, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) finally got it up and running in its underground home at CERN on the Swiss-Frenc ...
  
  
  
  
• Five-step plan for green design
  
  
  I recently saw a research paper discussing the lack of tools for designers hoping to make their products greener, more environmentally benign, sustainable even. The paper focused more on the likes of coming up with a green espresso machine and offered a five-step scheme for getting the green creden ...
  
  
  
  
• Happy Solstice Event
  
  
  Wishing all readers, commenters, contacts, fellow tweeps and scientwists, Facebook fans, and friends everywhere a happy mid-seasonal, solstice feast event from sciencebase.com… …I couldn’t just say Happy Christmas could I? It’s not as if it’s scientifically possible to reconcile a belief in any arc ...
  
  
  
  
• Religious science and other science books
  
  
  Having posted about atheism recently on the SciScoop science forum, it seems quite apt to have received for review a couple of books with a religious theme at this time of year. The first is The Faith Instinct by Nicholas Wade. Wade is a well-known New York Times writer who presents the case for an ...
  
  
  
  
• Myrrh, bones, and medical waste
  
  
  Hepatic epiphany for myrrh – A statistical analysis of experimental data on laboratory animals shows that the resin of the middle-eastern tree Commiphora, better known as “myrrh” can act as a protective antioxidant against liver damage caused by organic lead compounds. Myrrh is a rust-coloured resi ...
  
  
  
  

Common Dreams-Progressive Newswire

• China: Forcibly Returned Uighur Asylum Seekers at ...
  
  
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 22, 2009 Human Rights Watch (HRW) The Chinese government should immediately allow access to the 20 Uighur asylum seekers who were forcibly deported to China on December 19, 2009, in what was a breach by the Cambodian government of its obligations under international la ...
  
  
  
  
• Alaska Native, Tourism, and Conservation Groups Se ...
  
  
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 22, 2009 Conservation Groups A diverse coalition of Alaska Native, tourism industry, and environmental organizations took action today to protect some of  the last pristine old-growth areas in the Tongass National Forest. These areas are important to Southeast Alaskans ...
  
  
  
  
• National Lawyers Guild Calls On President Obama to ...
  
  
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 22, 2009 Center for Constitutional Rights The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) calls on President Obama to withdraw the nomination of Sharon Browne to the board of directors of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). On December 17, Obama announced his intention to nominate ...
  
  
  
  
• CREW Unveils Its List of Top Ten Ethics Scandals o ...
  
  
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 22, 2009 CREW Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) unveiled its choices for the Top Ten Ethics Scandals of 2009. As was true of last year's Top Ten list, this year's list features ethical lapses in both the legislative and executive branch ...
  
  
  
  
• European Court: Landmark Ruling on Racial and Reli ...
  
  
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 22, 2009 Human Rights Watch (HRW) The ruling today by the European Court of Human Rights, that the exclusion of Jews and Roma from Bosnia's highest state offices is unlawful discrimination, is a major step toward ending racial and religious exclusion in Europe, the Ben ...
  
  
  
  

Common Dreams-Views

• My New Decade’s Resolution
  
  
  by Lucinda Marshall Most years, my New Year's resolutions are the usual mundane fantasy items -- lose weight, spend less money, improve my love life, yada yada.  The other day, however, I received a lovely little notepad that says, "I am fairly certain that given a cape and a nice tiara, I could sav ...
  
  
  
  
• Democracy's Baseline Need for Transparency
  
  
  by David Sirota This month, a British government report admitted that one of the major rationales for invading Iraq — the claim that Saddam could deploy WMDs in 45 minutes — probably came from a cabdriver. Had the public originally been told about this sketchy sourcing, there may have been a more, a ...
  
  
  
  
• Sick of Corporate Control Over Your Food?
  
  
  by Jill Richardson Have you ever played Monopoly? You know how it goes. It’s pretty fun for a while, until one player puts hotels and Boardwalk and Park Place and then amasses crazy amounts of money while the other play goes broke. Often in our house this would end with one player walking away from ...
  
  
  
  
• 'Israel Resembles a Failed State'
  
  
  by Ali Abunimah One year has passed since the savage Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, but for the people there time might as well have stood still. Since Palestinians in Gaza buried their loved ones -- more than 1,400 people, almost 400 of them children -- there has been little healing and virtuall ...
  
  
  
  
• The Big Zero
  
  
  by Paul Krugman Maybe we knew, at some unconscious, instinctive level, that it would be an era best forgotten. Whatever the reason, we got through the first decade of the new millennium without ever agreeing on what to call it. The aughts? The naughties? Whatever. (Yes, I know that strictly speaking ...
  
  
  
  

Karl Burkart

• EcoSnoop on polluters via iPhone
  
  
  EcoSnoop starts a new class of vigilante green apps for the iPhone.
  
  
  
  
• Shop for good karma
  
  
  New iPhone app lets you check into nearby stores, and check out with a stash of 'karma points.'
  
  
  
  
• Highlights from Copenhagen
  
  
  Video clips from the great Copenhagen march for the climate.
  
  
  
  
• Monbiot takes on the 'Climate Denial Industry'
  
  
  A hilarious accounting of 'Climategate' and why universities need professional PR help.
  
  
  
  
• Helsinki Cathedral to house hi-tech source of ener ...
  
  
  WWII bomb shelter becomes a chapel for energy efficient servers while heating hundreds of homes.
  
  
  
  

Water Privatization

• Water woes (Albany Times Union)
  
  
  For several years I've known that one of the planet's biggest problems is a coming shortage of fresh drinking water, perhaps sooner than we know.
  
  
  
  
• Rebecca Gomez announces candidacy for Cameron Coun ...
  
  
  Self-employed businesswoman Rebecca Gomez, of Brownsville, has announced her candidacy for Cameron County judge. Gomez, 56, who describes herself as a community activist and strong advocate for human rights, is seeking the Democratic Party nomination in the March 2010 primary election.
  
  
  
  
• Tamaqua overrides mayor's tax veto (Times News)
  
  
  Tamaqua Borough Council overrode Mayor Christian Morrison's veto of the proposed 2010 tax ordinance at last night's special meeting without any changes to it passed on Dec. 15. Resident Dan Miorelli questioned whether cuts had been made, based on the mayor's veto. "The mayor's proposal does not give ...
  
  
  
  
• State bond lets firms profit from water (San Franc ...
  
  
  Private companies could own, operate and profit from reservoirs and other water-storage projects built with billions in taxpayer dollars under a little-noticed provision of the $11.1 billion water bond that was approved by the Legislature and goes before...
  
  
  
  
• Loose Lips Daily: Barras Rounds It Up - City Desk ...
  
  
  As much local politics as humanly possible. Send your tips, releases, stories, events, etc. to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com. And get LL Daily sent straight to your inbox every morning!
  
  
  
  

Guardian

• British hostage in Iraq Peter Moore is released
  
  
  IT consultant from Lincoln had been held since May 2007 militant raid on finance ministry in Baghdad Peter Moore, the only known survivor among five British hostages in Iraq, has been released and handed to British authorities in Baghdad. The computer programmer was captured in the Iraqi capital in ...
  
  
  
  
• Cold weather leads to road deaths
  
  
  Three men killed in Yorkshire car crash as Met Office issues severe weather warnings for start of the new year Three men have died on a motorway hit by fresh snow as the Meteorological Office warned of a freezing New Year for most of Britain. The men were killed after their car slid into barriers la ...
  
  
  
  
• Mother shot along with daughter dies
  
  
  The mother of Maisie Copland, the four-year-old girl shot dead by her father in Aldershot yesterday, has died in hospital The mother of Maisie Copland, the four-year-old girl shot dead by her estranged father during a confrontation at the former family home in Aldershot yesterday, has also now died, ...
  
  
  
  
• White powder triggers anthrax scare
  
  
  Communities minister Shahid Malik was target of suspect package caught by security and found to be harmless An envelope containing suspicious white powder was sent to the communities minister Shahid Malik at the House of Commons, triggering an anti-terrorist investigation, the Guardian has learned. ...
  
  
  
  
• Megson sacked as manager of Bolton
  
  
  • Assistant Chris Evans and coach Steve Wigley take charge • Megson's last game was 2-2 draw with Hull yesterday Gary Megson has been relieved of his duties as Bolton manager with immediate effect, the club has confirmed. Bolton, who drew 2-2 at home to fellow strugglers Hull yesterday, are currentl ...
  
  
  
  

McClatchey

• Likely casualty of air plot: Obama's Guantanamo pl ...
  
  
  The foiled Christmas Day plot to blow up a jetliner over Detroit has thrown up a major roadblock to President Barack Obama's pledge to close the prison camps at Guantanamo.
  
  
  
  
• Coordinated bombings seriously wound Anbar governo ...
  
  
  BAGHDAD — Bombers struck western Anbar province today in an apparent ambush of local leaders, killing at least 24 people and wounding 58 others, including the provincial governor whose goal was an economic renaissance in territory once controlled by insurgents.
  
  
  
  
• Rail crossing horror: Trapped by traffic, mom back ...
  
  
  RALIEGH, N.C. — Hemmed in by cars on both sides of the railroad tracks, Deborah Bingham backed into the path of the speeding Amtrak train that killed her sleeping sons at an East Durham rail crossing, according to a police report released Tuesday.
  
  
  
  
• Obama: 'Intelligence community' blew air bomber ti ...
  
  
  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday blamed "systemic failure" in the nation's national security and anti-terror system for allowing a Nigerian man to board a Detroit-bound airliner with explosives, even after his father had warned the government of his extremist views.
  
  
  
  
• Texas Tech football coach Leach takes suspension t ...
  
  
  A hearing will be held in Lubbock at 8:30 this morning in the 99th District Court to determine whether Texas Tech coach Mike Leach will be allowed to coach in Saturday's Alamo Bowl against Michigan State.
  
  
  
  

BBC - Richard Black's Earth Watch

• Best wishes from a white land
  
  
  Just a quick note, today, to say "best wishes" to everyone about to celebrate Christmas or some other winter festival. Here in London, it's been refreshing (in more ways than one!) to see snow on the ground and kids out playing in it - a reminder of childhood days. For me, it's time to put the lap ...
  
  
  
  
• COP15: (No) Hopenhagen?
  
  
  Everywhere you go in Copenhagen, you're met with two kinds of advertising poster. One sells lingerie, the morning walk to the railway station bringing a sequence of scarcely clad models smiling unfeasibly in the freezing morning air. The other sells hope. "Hopenhagen" has been the city's alterna ...
  
  
  
  
• COP15: Deal or no deal?
  
  
  0043 CET Saturday: Now, we are totally - totally - into uncharted territory. A US president has reached an climate change agreement with leaders of just four countries - although a few more clearly had a inkling of what was going on. The White House announced the deal - this is supposed to be a UN ...
  
  
  
  
• A tale of two superpowers
  
  
  1926 CET: It's supposed to be about two degrees. It appears to have come down to two men. As I write, US President Barack Obama and China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao are locked in a room somewhere around this conference centre - a meeting that could answer the question of whether ther's a deal here ...
  
  
  
  
• COP15: Saving the planet or saving face?
  
  
  1641 CET: We're into a strange dark limbo-land here. The draft political agreement that leaders are supposed to sign today has gone through more changes than Eva Longoria at an awards ceremony. The latest version, we're told, sheds many of the frills. It's a jeans and t-shirt job compared with the ...
  
  
  
  

Afghanistan Sun

• Pak, Afghanistan and NATO military chiefs review s ...
  
  
  Kabul, Dec. 30 : Senior military representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO forces held a tripartite meeting in Kabul on Tuesday to review the security situation on the Pak-Afghan border.
  
  
  
  
• Afghan probe says NATO fighting killed children
  
  
  People chant anti-American slogans and burn an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama in Jalalabad, south Afghanistan, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009., during a protest against the recent killings of 10 civi...
  
  
  
  
• Children killed by troops
  
  
  By Amir Shah and Rahim Faiez ASSOCIATED PRESS KABUL (AP) -- The head of a presidential delegation investigating the deaths of 10 people in eastern Afghanistan concluded Wednesday that civilians -- in...
  
  
  
  
• Foreign Troops Killed School Children
  
  
  del.icio.us Afghanistan says an investigation has concluded that foreign troops killed 10 civilians - including school children - during an operation in a remote, eastern part of the country. Asadu...
  
  
  
  
• Afghan civilians 'shot dead' by foreign ...
  
  
  KABUL (AFP) - Afghan government investigators on Wednesday accused foreign troops of dragging 10 people, including eight children, from their homes and shooting them dead.Anti-US protests erupted in a...
  
  
  
  

Futurismic

• Everybody else is doing a top twenty posts list, s ...
  
  
  There’s no reason at all, as it happens. And believe it or not, I don’t actually look at the site stats for Futurismic very often, as I prefer to judge the material we publish by the feedback it receives. But as the title suggests, everyone’s doing retrospectives of the year at the moment, and it [. ...
  
  
  
  
• Homeopapes: journalism by machine
  
  
  Here’s an interesting piece at Wired UK that picks up the “OMG journalism is dying” ball and runs with it in the direction of automated machine-to-machine and machine-to-person news aggregation: NewsScope is a machine-readable news service designed for financial institutions that make their money fr ...
  
  
  
  
• New year, old genre: is it time for science fictio ...
  
  
  While the rest of us were stuffing ourselves with food and alcohol, editor Jetse de Vries was bashing out an essay* re-examining a refrain that’s been heard a few times in the last year or so: is written science fiction dying, is that a good thing, and if not, what should (or could) be done [...] Pr ...
  
  
  
  
• Fighting back against the advertising overload
  
  
  So, welcome back! Did you have a good holiday? I did… though the season comes with its share of annoyances, and if you’re anything like me you’ll be a happy human if you never see a perfume or aftershave advert again for as long as you live. But pity the Los Anglelinos for a moment, because [...] Pr ...
  
  
  
  
• Happy Holidays
  
  
  Does Not Equal is a webcomic by Sarah Ennals – check out the pre-Futurismic archives, and the strips that have been published here previously. [ Be sure to check out the Does Not Equal Cafepress store for webcomic merchandise featuring Canadians with geometrically-shaped heads! ] Project Wonderful ...
  
  
  
  

geopolitics | geoeconomics

• Geithner's Dirty Little Secret
• Swine Flu
• Putin and the Geopolitics of the New Cold War: Or ...
• The Fake Oil Crisis of 1973
• Fossiles Erdöl
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Whistleblowers Protection Blog

• Remembering Dennis Brutus (1924-2009)
  
  
  Dennis Brutus , died December 26th in Cape Town, South Africa, at the age 85. Dennis was one of the National Whistleblowers Center's founding board members. He is a world-renowned poet and a voice of the downtrodden and dispossessed. Dennis Brutus was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, of Sout ...
  
  
  
  
• Another Hidden Victim Freed In FBI Lab Scandal
  
  
  A D.C. Superior Court judge recently released Donald E. Gates, who spent 28 years in prison for a murder and rape he did not commit. The court also expunged Mr. Gates' conviction after it was determined that the government's expert, FBI crime lab examiner Michael P. Malone, lied about the hair and ...
  
  
  
  
• Birkenfeld asks Justice Department to reconsider p ...
  
  
  Attorneys for UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld have written to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking that he reconsider the Justice Department's prior recommendation that Birkenfeld be sentenced to prison.  The attorneys have asked specifically that the Justice Department investigate the vera ...
  
  
  
  
• EEOC announces proposed federal sector rules and i ...
  
  
  The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued proposed amendments to its rules for handling complaints by federal employees.  The EEOC's press release identifies changes that will allow federal agencies to implement pilot programs, and that would require agencies to follow EE ...
  
  
  
  
• Liberian president issues executive order to prote ...
  
  
  The African Press Agency reports that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has issued an Executive Order to protect anyone who discloses information about actions of impropriety against the public interest that is occurring, has occurred, or will occur in any public or private institution.  It is known a ...
  
  
  
  

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 ...
  
  
  
  

Digital Journal

• England's Participation in 2010 Commonwealth Games ...
  
  
  The possibility of its athletes being targeted by terrorists may lead to England withdrawing its team from the 2010 Commonwealth Games due to be held in Delhi, India in October.
  
  
  
  
• Keynesianism is never the answer
  
  
  Austrian theory is the economic answer to our woes. A lot of economists, pundits, politicians and the average Joe do not comprehend the simplicity and beauty of the Austrian School of Economics; if they did...well, they would protest for it.
  
  
  
  
• MLB: New York Mets sign Jason Bay to four-year, $6 ...
  
  
  After weeks of speculation, Canadian outfielder Jason Bay has made his decision and signed with the New York Mets in a four-year deal worth $66 million.
  
  
  
  
• 'Heroes' by Seventeen & Change Honours Canadians K ...
  
  
  The band Seventeen & Change have released the song "Heroes" in honour of those who take the Highway of Heroes on their final ride home.
  
  
  
  
• WHO: H1N1 swine flu pandemic will stick around for ...
  
  
  The World Health Organization warned government health authorities to remain vigilant on the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, saying the virus could mutate before vaccines can help it dissipate.
  
  
  
  

End Homelessness | Change.org

• Top 5 Ridiculous Homelessness Stories in 2009
  
  
  When it comes to homelessness, there are plenty of stories to make you sad, get you angry, or make you think. But this list is all about the ridiculous. The year 2009 was chock full of ridiculous homelessness moments. Whether it was thwarted attempts to "raise awareness", couture homelessness fashio ...
  
  
  
  
• Knitting Group Knocks Down Stereotypes
  
  
  A recent story in the Boston Globe intended to be a saccharine human interest gloss on homelessness might actually, and quite indirectly, do something more than warm hearts. Reporter Milton Valencia covered the experiences of the homeless members of a  knitting group at a medical respite shelter in ...
  
  
  
  
• Waiting for Section 8
  
  
  Karen is waiting for a Section 8 inspection to move into a new residence. Unfortunately, in the mean time, she's staying on the streets. And it's been three weeks so far. She's feeling the pain and frustration of living amongst drug-users and drug-dealers as she tries to enter into a new phase of he ...
  
  
  
  
• The Story of American Heartbreak
  
  
  From $90,000 a year to the streets, James is a story of American heartbreak. Working in the auto industry and as an electrician, he seemed on top of the world. He accepted an early buyout, took the chance to go back to college, and graduated to find no opportunities. Shelters and abandoned buildings ...
  
  
  
  
• 10 Places People Slept in 2009
  
  
  Living without a home of your own is a devastating experience. But sleeping without a home is downright difficult. Today, we're looking back at 10 places homeless people slept in 2009. Some of these places received media attention this year; others did not. But all of these overnight accommodations ...
  
  
  
  

Ceasefire.ca

• Moens warns of “existentialist” threat
  
  
  Simon Fraser University professor Alexander Moens warns in a new paper published by the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute that Canada and its NATO allies face an “existentialist threat”. But, no, the problem apparently is not that Jean-Paul Sartre or one of the other existentialists has ...
  
  
  
  
• Military spending “cuts” underway?
  
  
  David Pugliese reports that “the Canadian military is looking for savings of more than $190 million by March to help pay for the Harper government’s defence strategy.” The Army is reportedly looking at an $80-million cutback, while the Navy is facing a $52-million cut and the Air Force is facing a $ ...
  
  
  
  
• Treatment of prisoners not Roman problem: Pilate
  
  
  Perhaps inspired by the Christmas season, Prime Minister Harper has reached back into biblical history for a new answer to the torture allegations dogging his government. Channelling the infamous Roman governor of Judea, the Prime Minister argued earlier this week that if Canadians hand detainees ov ...
  
  
  
  
• Decal offer from Bill and Rhyl Stollery
  
  
  Dear Ceasefire.ca supporters, You might be interested in this offer from Bill and Rhyl Stollery in Edmonton. Magnetic decals 3 1/2 ” x 8″ to display on rear of vehicles $2.00 each or 10 for $15.00, plus mailing To order and receive details to promote campaign: e-mail rstoller@shaw.ca or hready@shaw ...
  
  
  
  
• World leaders agree on climate change
  
  
  World leaders and their representatives attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen failed to achieve a binding agreement to cap and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the close of the conference on Friday, in effect agreeing instead to continue their collective experiment i ...
  
  
  
  

Kevin Trudeau Show

• Was China Behind Leaked Climategate E-Mails?
  
  
  December 27, 2009 Daily Mail Online By Jason Lewis and Simon Parry The investigation into the so-called Warmergate emails - the leaked data from the University of East Anglia’s climate change department - took a new twist last night when The Mail on Sunday tracked the stolen messages to a suspect co ...
  
  
  
  
• Two Al-Qaeda Leaders Behind Plot to Blow Up Detroi ...
  
  
  December 28, 2009 ABC News By Brian Ross, Joseph Rhee and Rehab El-Buri Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November 2007, according to American officials and Dep ...
  
  
  
  
• Hundreds of Al-Qaeda Planning Terror Attacks
  
  
  December 29, 2009 Times Online By Joanna Sugden Hundreds of al-Qaeda militants are planning terror attacks from Yemen, the country’s Foreign Minister said today. Abu Bakr al-Qirbi appealed for more help from the international community to help to train and equip counter-terrorist forces. His plea ca ...
  
  
  
  
• Evidence Indicates Staged Attack on Detroit Flight
  
  
  December 29, 2009 InfoWars By Aaron Dykes Evidence is emerging that clearly indicates Abdulmutallab was more than just a Nigerian extremist carrying out his anger through an ill-conceived plot to ignite a powdery explosive substance on-board a flight to the United States. Eyewitness testimony pointi ...
  
  
  
  
• Homeland Security Boss Acknowledges Security Syste ...
  
  
  December 28, 2009 InfoWars By Kurt Nimmo Homeland Security boss Janet Napolitano has backtracked from statements over the weekend that all is well with the police state grid at airports, a control matrix supposedly set-up to protect us from the CIA and its demented and brainwashed Islamic minions. “ ...
  
  
  
  

Pambazuka News

• Katrina victims face eviction
  
  
  Following reports of federal government plans to repossess temporary housing from Katrina victims, the US Human Rights Network - http://www.ushrnetwork.org has called for the Obama administration to reverse this decision and provide those affected with substantive directive support.
  
  
  
  
• Extradition threat for Black Liberation activist
  
  
  As the US opens up political channels with Cuba, Black Liberation Army - http://www.thetalkingdrum.com/freedomfighters.html activist Assata Shakur faces extradition from the country where she has lived under political asylum since 1984, writes Paul Scott. While the mainstream media portrays Shakur h ...
  
  
  
  
• Stop senate renege on black farmer compensation
  
  
  ColorOfChange.org - http://www.colorofchange.org/farmers/?id=1842-429864 is campaigning to ensure that a US senate bill to compensate black farmers in the South for discrimination gives them the money they deserve, rather than capping the total amount available at $100 million, which would only cove ...
  
  
  
  
• Ekiti must hold free, fair elections
  
  
  The North America-based Ekiti Focus Group has strongly condemned election violence and intimidation in Nigeria’s Ekiti State, describing reported cases of ‘arson, maiming, ballot stuffing, ballot hijacking, and shooting’ as ‘barbaric acts’. In a statement the group called for ‘the release of true an ...
  
  
  
  
• Global: Why Haiti can't forget its past
  
  
  Thank you for the attention you have brought to the country of Haiti. In response to your New York Times op ed piece I wanted to widen your perspective a bit. I don't pretend to represent anyone. I've been living in Haiti since 1985. I grew up in New...
  
  
  
  

War in Context

• YEAR IN REVIEW: Goldstone: My mission - and motiva ...
  
  
  YEAR IN REVIEW: Goldstone: My mission - and motivation By Richard Goldstone, Jerusalem Post, October 18, 2009 Israel and its courts have always recognized that they are bound by norms of international law that it has formally ratified or that have become binding as customary international law upon a ...
  
  
  
  
• YEAR IN REVIEW: Israel’s never-ending war
  
  
  YEAR IN REVIEW: Israel’s never-ending war By Paul Woodward, War in Context, September 22, 2009 As Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, meet at the United Nations today, “both sides have made clear that they’ll essentially be humoring Obama, ...
  
  
  
  
• YEAR IN REVIEW: Israel’s war against human rights
  
  
  YEAR IN REVIEW: UN: Evidence Israeli ‘war crimes’ and ‘crimes against humanity’ a ‘result of deliberate planning and policy decisions’ By Sharon Otterman, New York Times, September 15, 2009 A United Nations fact-finding mission investigating the three-week war in Gaza issued a lengthy, scathing rep ...
  
  
  
  
• YEAR IN REVIEW: September 9, 2001: The shot that w ...
  
  
  YEAR IN REVIEW: September 9: The shot that was not heard round the world By Paul Woodward, War in Context, September 9, 2009 As the war in Afghanistan enters its ninth year, in the minds of most Americans the attacks of September 11, 2001 remain the signal event that shaped everything that has follo ...
  
  
  
  
• YEAR IN REVIEW: Obama is not delivering the goods
  
  
  YEAR IN REVIEW: Obama’s America is not delivering the goods By Gideon Levy, Haaretz, August 14, 2009 With great sorrow and deep consternation, we hereby declare the death of the latest hope. Perhaps rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated, to paraphrase the famous quote by Mark Twain, but the fe ...
  
  
  
  

Watts Up With That?

• Major northern hemisphere cold snap coming
  
  
  Cold event setups in atmospheric circulation patterns are aligning. Two days ago I brought to your attention that there was a strong downspike in the Arctic Oscillation Index and that the North Atlantic Oscillation Index was also negative. See The Arctic Oscillation Index goes strongly negative Yest ...
  
  
  
  
• French Revolution! Carbon tax ruled unconstitution ...
  
  
  This new French carbon tax was scheduled to go into law on Jan1, 2010. The tax was steep: 14 euros per ton of carbon dioxide (USD $20).  In a stunning move, and surely a blow to warmists everywhere, the tax has been found unconstitutional and thrown out. Originally found here (Google Translation). L ...
  
  
  
  
• G. P. Bear goes to Washington: part 5
  
  
  By Bill Steigerwald “Voyage of the Polar Bears” Of all the animals the Inuit traditionally hunted, Nanuk, the polar bear, was the most prized. Native hunters considered Nanuk to be wise, powerful, and “almost a man.” Some called the bear “the great lonely roamer.” Many tribes told legends of strang ...
  
  
  
  
• Climategate on Finnish TV – with English sub ...
  
  
  You may recall that Finnish TV interviewed Steve McIntyre last month. They did a superb job with that. Now they have a new 3 part YouTube series out on Climategate, with English subtitles. It is well worth the watching. A part that particularly struck me was: “They reveal an aggressive atmosphere, w ...
  
  
  
  
• USGS: Arctic sea too warm for sea ice 3 million ye ...
  
  
  This is a paleoclimatology finding, with current spin added. I guess they haven’t seen the latest on the NAO and AO. USGS Press Release: Arctic Could Face Warmer and Ice-Free Conditions Released: 12/29/2009 6:20:34 AM There is increased evidence that the Arctic could face seasonally ice-free condit ...
  
  
  
  

Dandelion Salad

• Obama answers failed airline bombing with threat o ...
  
  
  http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ By Bill Van Auken www.wsws.org 30 December 2009 Three days after the failed attempt by a 23-year-old Nigerian student to trigger an explosion on a Northwest Airlines passenger jet, President Barack Obama threatened to unleash US military power in Yemen and acro ...
  
  
  
  
• Israel Rules By Paul Craig Roberts
  
  
  http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ By Paul Craig Roberts December 29, 2009 “Information Clearing House“ On Christmas eve when Christians were celebrating the Prince of Peace, the New York Times delivered forth a call for war. “There’s only one way to stop Iran,â€� declared Alan J. Kuperman, ...
  
  
  
  
• Richard Engel: New Pentagon Report + Afghan soldie ...
  
  
  http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ Richard Engel guest on the Rachel Maddow Show MoxNewsDotCom December 29, 2009 more about “What Are America’s Chances Of Winning…“, posted with vodpod *** Afghan soldier opens fire, kills US trooper www.presstv.ir Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:31:13 GMT An Afghan army s ...
  
  
  
  
• Ray McGovern: Obama, Afghanistan and Iraq
  
  
  http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ talkingsticktv December 27, 2009 Interview with Ray McGovern, 27-year veteran of the CIA and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) about the Obama Administration, Afghanistan and Iraq. Recorded November 14, 2009 in Seattle more ab ...
  
  
  
  
• March in Solidarity with the People of Gaza in New ...
  
  
  http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ buddhagem December 27, 2009 One year after the massacre in Gaza. This was filmed today, December 27, 2009 in New York City. Stay tuned for more. more about “March in Solidarity with the People o…“, posted with vodpod *** Haniyeh urges Egypt to end Gaza siege ...
  
  
  
  

Your New Reality

• No title
  
  
  "We Shoot Anybody Who Tries To Help" The video quality is rough as guts, but the material is absolutely killer : Sam Kinison, 1986 : You notice anybody who ever tries to help, we shoot 'em? You notice that? They get shot. We knock them off. "Oh, he's trying to make the world a better place to l ...
  
  
  
  
• No title
  
  
  All the details below are taken from official White House media-distributed photography. DeNiro, Springsteen, Obama : No-one can accuse Obama of blowing money on new phones for the White House. Look at this ancient beast of a thing sitting on his Oval Office desk. Obama flag pin worn on ...
  
  
  
  
• No title
  
  
  Iran, December 27, 2009 :
  
  
  
  
• No title
  
  
  Indoctrination of children that I completely agree with : .
  
  
  
  
• No title
  
  
  Kill The Bloggers Another mainstream media story, this time from the New York Times , pushing the new reality where news consumers will supposedly have to soon start paying digital cash to read stories, columns and watch news video online. I've been reading about this for getting onto two years, an ...
  
  
  
  

Wired - Science

• How Algal Biofuels Lost a Decade in the Race to Re ...
  
  
  For nearly 20 years, a government laboratory built a living, respiring library of carefully collected organisms in search of something that could grow quickly while producing something precious: oil. But now that collection has largely been lost. National Renewable Energy Laboratory scientists foun ...
  
  
  
  
• Space Probe Gets Halfway to Pluto in Record Time
  
  
  The fastest man-made object ever built, the Pluto-bound New Horizons probe, is now closer to the former planet than Earth, just a little under four years after its launch. It’s currently traveling at about 31,000 miles an hour and is located about 1.527 billion miles from Earth. “Today, 29 Dec 2009 ...
  
  
  
  
• Sublime Sand: Desert Dunes Seen From Space
  
  
  > Deserts are known for being desolate and lifeless, but they are also quite striking and beautiful, especially when seen from above. Different types of sand, topography, wind and climate combine to form a tremendous variety of landscapes. Shifting dunes are carved int ...
  
  
  
  
• Collar Tech Tracks Wolf’s North Pole Treks
  
  
  During the 24-hour darkness of an arctic winter, a wolf pack’s tough life continues. Battling temperatures that reach 70 degrees below zero, a pack travels hundreds of miles across the landscape. A collar affixed to a wolf named Brutus beams back their coordinates to U.S. Geological Survey research ...
  
  
  
  
• Famous San Francisco Sea Lions Abandon Their Pier ...
  
  
  The blubbery sea lions at Pier 39, one of San Francisco’s smelliest and most famous tourist attractions, are gone. They left the wooden docks on which they’ve spent the last 20 years and no one knows if they’ll be coming back. “We have no idea where they moved on to or why,” said Shelbi Stoudt, who ...
  
  
  
  

Israeli Occupation Archive

• Munjed Ahmad: Israel’s offensive, blockade strangl ...
  
  
  The siege prohibits the export of Palestinian goods and severely limits the import of humanitarian supplies, such as food, medicine and reconstruction materials. The United Nations reports that... The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, now i ...
  
  
  
  
• Akiva Eldar: Why Netanyahu really wants Livni in h ...
  
  
  Netanyahu is not trying to enlarge his government because a new war is threatening Israel's citizens. Rather, he is scared the peace process will threaten the wholeness of his government. The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, now in its fif ...
  
  
  
  
• Why Aren’t the NYT and WaPost Covering the Interna ...
  
  
  Would you email the editors at the New York Times and the Washington Post and ask them why they are not covering these incredibly important events? The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, now in its fifth decade. Go to the IOA website for muc ...
  
  
  
  
• North Texans head to Middle East in hopes of joini ...
  
  
  "I’ll be with people from all over the world who want to show humanity and show Palestinians that we haven’t forgotten them." The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, now in its fifth decade. Go to the IOA website for much more...
  
  
  
  
• Dozens in downtown Syracuse protest Israeli action ...
  
  
  Magda Bayoumi, of Syracuse, said Israeli forces block shipments of food and medicine, and keep people from going to hospitals. Children have died as a result. The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, now in its fifth decade. Go to the IOA webs ...
  
  
  
  

Ria Novosti - Military

• Russia's Nerpa sub passes final trials
  
  
  Russia's Nerpa nuclear attack submarine, damaged in a fatal accident during tests in November last year, has successfully passed final trials.
  
  
  
  
• Russia eyes new arms markets in Asia-Pacific regio ...
  
  
  Russia is planning to strengthen its positions as a key supplier of weaponry in the Asia-Pacific region by seeking new customers at a major arms show in Malaysia, state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has said.
  
  
  
  
• Iran's nuclear program
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Russian missile cruiser arrives in Vladivostok
  
  
  A task force from the Russian Pacific Fleet led by the missile cruiser Varyag has returned to Russia's Far Eastern port of Vladivostok after a visit to Singapore.
  
  
  
  
• Vietnam could become key importer of Russian weapo ...
  
  
  Vietnam could become a key importer of Russian weaponry if several contracts on the purchase of diesel submarines and aircraft are signed in the near future, a Russian newspaper said.
  
  
  
  

NewsWise

• 1st Molars Provide Insight Into Evolution of Great ...
  
  
  The timing of molar emergence and its relation to growth and reproduction in apes is being reported by scientists at Arizona State University's Institute of Human Origins. "We can use the same techniques to calculate ages at first molar emergence from the fossils of early hominids that just happened ...
  
  
  
  
• Loyola Researcher Honored by North American Spine ...
  
  
  A leading expert on the biomechanics of the human spine has won a top honor from the North American Spine Society.
  
  
  
  
• Scientists Discover a Controller of Brain Circuitr ...
  
  
  By combining a research technique that dates back 136 years with modern molecular genetics, a Johns Hopkins neuroscientist has been able to see how a mammal's brain shrewdly revisits and reuses the same molecular cues to control the complex design of its circuits.
  
  
  
  
• 30 Minutes to Better Health in 2010
  
  
  Adding 30 minutes of daily physical activity should top your list of New Year's resolutions for a healthier 2010, says Peter Brubaker, professor of health and exercise science at Wake Forest University. Regular daily exercise is the most important step toward a healthier lifestyle, Brubaker says.
  
  
  
  
• Small Molecules Found to Protect Cells in Multiple ...
  
  
  Several similar small molecules appear capable of protecting cells from alpha-synuclein toxicity, a hallmark of Parkinson's disease. There is currently no cure for the disease, and current Parkinson's therapies only address disease symptoms, not the disease's cellular cause.
  
  
  
  

Intel Trends

• Sana Aijazi: RAW involved in terrorism inside Paki ...
  
  
  The following commentary is reprinted with permission from Sana Aijazi. RAW involved in terrorism inside Pakistan ©   Sana Aijazi December 28, 2009 ISLAMABAD – Pakistani authorities have garnered the most sought-after evidence regarding the involvement of India's notorious intelligence agency RAW i ...
  
  
  
  
• The Mujajideen Command reported the elimination of ...
  
  
  The following article is reprinted with permission from Kavkaz Center, Caucasus mujahideen news agency. The Mujajideen Command reported the elimination of Daniil Sysoyev, an outspoken enemy of Allah Source:   Kavkaz Center , citing Hunafa.com Publication time:  December 28, 2009   15:34 Djokhar tim ...
  
  
  
  
• Is Gadaffi after Uganda’s oil?
  
  
  The following article is from The Sunday Vision, Kampala. Is Gadaffi after Uganda’s oil? ©   The Sunday Vision By Vision Reporters December 20, 2009 Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gadaffi plans to buy up to 10% shares in Eni, the Italian company that on Friday signed a deal with Heritage to take over ...
  
  
  
  
• IntelTrends 21-DEC-2009
  
  
  ISRAEL: IDF, U.S. National Guard to share defense ideas J'Post, 21 Dec In face of the growing missile threat against Israel, the IDF Home Front Command and the U.S. National Guard have decided to exchange liaisons to enable a steady exchange of information on civil defense, The Jerusalem Post has l ...
  
  
  
  
• N. Korea Navy Sets up Firing Zone on Demarcation L ...
  
  
  The following article is reprinted with permission from Korea News Service (KNS), Tokyo, quoting North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang. KPA Navy Sets up Firing Zone on MDL ©   KCNA December 21, 2009 Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Navy Command of the Korean ...
  
  
  
  

Organic Consumers.org

• Real Healthcare Reform Was Killed by Morally Dish ...
  
  
  Plenty of countries have created excellent health care systems largely through regulation-so why can't we do the same? The French and Japanese health care systems, for example, do not exclude private industry. They are not socialist in any sense of the word, and even retain a role for private insura ...
  
  
  
  
• EPA Announces Plan to Require Disclosure of Secret ...
  
  
  Reversing a decade-old decision, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it plans to require pesticide manufacturers to disclose to the public the inert ingredients in their products. Click here to read this article
  
  
  
  
• Documentary Examines Geoengineering and the Checke ...
  
  
  Geoengineering, the manipulation of nature as an answer to climate problems, is again a subject for discussion. Earlier this year, White House science adviser John Holdren disclosed to reporters that he had discussed it with President Obama and now a new documentary called Owning the Weather, which ...
  
  
  
  
• Targeting Factory Farms in Indiana
  
  
  Lawyers have filed multiple lawsuits on behalf of neighbors of factory farms in Randolph County to challenge the industrial or factory model of producing milk and pork in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)in Indiana promoted by Gov. Mitch Daniels' agriculture department. Click here to re ...
  
  
  
  
• Federal Regulators Considering Pharmaceuticals in ...
  
  
  Federal regulators under President Barack Obama have sharply shifted course on long-standing policy toward pharmaceutical residues in the nation's drinking water, taking a critical first step toward regulating some of the contaminants while acknowledging they could threaten human health. Click here ...
  
  
  
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  renewable recycling conservation

  California's renewable pipeline hits nearly 70 GW

  Reuters

  - Dec 29, 2009

  - 14 hours ago

  LOS ANGELES, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Renewable energy projects proposed in California total nearly 70 gigawatts, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Tuesday, ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Four Winds Renewable Energy Offers Grid-Tie Solar Electric Systems

  AZoCleantech

  - Dec 30, 2009

  - 2 hours ago

  Four Winds Renewable Energy offers and installs renewable energy products. The company installs off-grid and grid connected solar, and wind electric systems ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Officials tout renewable energy standard

  KTIV

  - Dec 30, 2009

  - 36 minutes ago

  AP - December 30, 2009 10:35 AM ET SIOUX FALLS, SD (AP) - Officials associated with wind energy want Congress to establish a national renewable energy ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  The Quest for Renewable Biomass Electricity

  Biomass Magazine

  - Dec 29, 2009

  - 22 hours ago

  Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have enacted renewable portfolio standards (RPS), which require a certain percentage of renewable energy ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

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  Human Habitat

  ecology water energy

  MacKay CEO to sit on Ecology committee

  Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce (subscription)

  - Dec 30, 2009

  - 8 hours ago

  Al Schauer, chief executive officer at MacKay & Sposito, will serve on a Department of Ecology committee that aims to develop definitions and standards for ...

  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Counties approves Yakima basin water plan

  Seattle Times

  - Dec 29, 2009

  - 21 hours ago

  So the state Department of Ecology and the US Bureau of Reclamation plan to announce later this week details of the next year of work. ...

  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Groups question legal fee payments of Plum Creek

  Bangor Daily News

  - Dec 29, 2009

  - 14 hours ago

  In an open letter to Attorney General Janet Mills released Tuesday, the Native Forest Network and the Forest Ecology Network requested an independent ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Wash. Governor Wants to Lessen Carbon Footprint

  ABC News

  - Dec 24, 2009

  - Dec 24, 2009

  Chris Gregoire wants state government to be carbon-neutral by 2020, and announced the Department of Ecology would be the first agency to start enacting ...

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  Water Power

  water floods pollution

  Phone to point border crossers to water

  Austin American-Statesman

  - Dec 29, 2009

  - 14 hours ago

  "It's about giving water to somebody who's dying in the desert of dehydration," said Micha Cardenas, 32, a UC-San Diego lecturer. ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Water main break on upper West Side slows down commuters, leaves many without ...

  New York Daily News

  - Dec 30, 2009

  - 58 minutes ago

  BY Sarah Armaghan and Michael Saul Workers repair a water main break along Central Park West during the early morning hours Wednesday. A water main break on ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Missouri Governor Announces Clean Water Proposal to Improve Water Quality at ...

  Kansas City infoZine

  - Dec 30, 2009

  - 1 hour ago

  Jay Nixon announced a legislative proposal that would give the Missouri Clean Water Commission and Department of Natural Resources authority to prevent new ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Water Rate Increases on Tap Tonight for Council

  WNED

  - Dec 30, 2009

  - 16 minutes ago

  BUFFALO (wned) - Buffalo's Water Board is expected to propose major price increases for water service tonight, perhaps 25 percent over the next 3 years. ...

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