8 Dec - RSS SnapShot!

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IPS - Inter Press Services

• CLIMATE CHANGE: Poor Vendors in Swaziland Worried ...
  MBABANE, Dec 8 (IPS) - 
For close to three decades, Jeremiah Mkhonta has earned a living by selling firewood by the roadside. It's not exactly lucrative: the father of 15 often goes for a fortnight without even selling a single four dollar bundle of firewood.
  
• CLIMATE CHANGE: Deal On Forests Likely, But...
  WINDHOEK, Dec 8 (IPS) - As debate ratchets up ahead of working out a climate change deal, a Dutch study says emissions from deforestation and land degradation are far lower than has been assumed. Will this have an impact on a deal to protect forests in Africa?
  
• OIL: A Market Psychology of Fear?
  VANCOUVER, Canada, Dec 8 (IPS/TerraViva) - With or without a binding deal at the climate talks in Copenhagen this month, it seems the world may have to cut its oil consumption, as emerging geological and economic trends limit the availability and affordability of petroleum.
  
• CORRUPTION-SIERRA LEONE: President Challenged on ...
  FREETOWN, Dec 8 (IPS) - The country’s president has failed to meet his electoral commitment of running a transparent and accountable government, free of tribalism and regionalism, opposition parties say.
  
• US-SRI LANKA: Senate Report Urges Warmer Ties
  WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (IPS) - Despite ongoing concern about the country’s human-rights situation, the United States should seek a more positive relationship with strife-torn Sri Lanka, primarily for geo-political reasons, according to a new report released here Monday by the Senate Foreign Rela ...
  

Scoop - NZ

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

Independent ( London )

• Scores killed as car bombs rock Baghdad
  At least 80 people were killed and 128 wounded when four or more large car bombs shook Baghdad on Tuesday, the latest high-profile blasts apparently aimed at sensitive Iraqi government buildings, police said.
  
• Doctors' massacre highlights medical crisis in Som ...
  Dr Maslah was still writing a message of congratulations to his best friend when news reached him of the bombing. The young surgeon was starting another gruelling shift at Galkayo hospital and was happy that a few hundred miles south in Mogadishu his friends at medical school were celebrating their ...
  
• 'Hawala King' is arrested after global hunt
  A man suspected of being one of the world's most prolific underground bankers has been arrested in India after a global manhunt involving British police.
  
• North Korea defends human rights record
  North Korean officials appeared before a UN human rights organisation yesterday amid accusations of widespread abuses such as forced labour, public executions and torture.
  
• 'Corrupt' Mayor of Kabul sentenced
  A court has sentenced the Afghan capital's Mayor, Mir Abdul Ahad Sahebi, above, to four years in jail for corruption and ordered him to return £9,800 of public money which it said he had "wasted" in awarding a contract without following proper procedures.
  

CASMII - Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran

• Five Good Reasons to Avoid a War with Iran
  Summary: Philip Giraldi As America's founding fathers clearly understood war is a serious business and should only be engaged in when there is a threat to vital national interests. The US Constitution stipulates that there must be a declaration of war from congress, a safeguard inserted in the d ...
  
• Erdogan resists US calls for Iran sanctions
  Summary: Erdogan WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama failed to win immediate new pledges of support from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday for U.S. goals toward Iran and Afghanistan. source: AP read more
  
• Spokesman: Iran to exchange nuclear fuel if trust ...
  Summary: Mehmanparast TEHRAN, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday Iran would accept a nuclear fuel exchange deal if conditions are built to earn Iran's trust in the Western countries. source: China View read more
  
• Iran Is No Existential Threat
  Summary: The best way to rescue Obama's failing diplomacy with the Islamic Republic is to stop letting Israel call the shots. source: Foreign Policy read more
  
• Malaysia recalls its UN envoy over Iran nuclear vo ...
  Summary: KUALA LUMPUR: The Foreign Ministry has recalled Malaysia's permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) in Vienna for consultations over the passing of a resolution on the Iran nuclear issue by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Austria las ...
  

The Daily Galaxy

• Discovery of Intelligent Life in the Milky Way: "I ...
  Time! In the search for life in the universe, time and the sheer scale of the cosmos are enemies of our all too brief human-life span. A few basic facts provide a startling and eye-opening perspective on both our mortality...
  
• Search for Earth's Twin Heats Up with Discovery of ...
  Astronomers at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy have discovered and directly imaged a faint celestial body that orbits the star GJ 758. Its mass is estimated to be between 10 and 40 Jupiter masses. Accordingly, it is either a...
  
• New Discovery Could Help Halt Alzheimer's
  The brain might be the most complicated object in existence, because it is, but we're working our way in one scientific step at a time. Scientists have scanned the structure of a vital neurological transmitter, blueprinting one more cog in...
  
• The Daily Flash -Eco, Space, Tech (12/07)
  The mystery of sun-like stars deepens "Astronomers are left in the dark, and for once, we do not enjoy it," says Christine Nicholls from Mount Stromlo Observatory, Australia, lead author of a paper reporting the study. "We have obtained the...
  
• "The 1st Human to Live to 1,000 is Alive Today" -A ...
  Cambridge University geneticist Aubrey de Grey has famously stated, “The first person to live to be 1,000 years old is certainly alive today …whether they realize it or not, barring accidents and suicide, most people now 40 years or younger...
  

Natural News

• EPA's "endangerment finding" allows Big Government ...
  (NaturalNews) Carbon dioxide is a threat to human life, says the EPA under the direction of the Obama Administration. With this declaration, the agency has bypassed Congress and can now begin to regulate CO2 as a toxic substance. The timing of this declaration was obviously planned to coincide with ...
  
• "BPA-free" foods found to contain BPA
  (NaturalNews) A recent analysis of canned foods revealed that, across the board, the cans contained measurable levels of bisphenol A, also known as BPA, a toxin known to cause hormonal problems, sexual dysfunction, cancer, and other abnormalities. Even among products labeled "BPA-free", tests reveal ...
  
• Many Types of Balsamic Vinegar Contain High Levels ...
  (NaturalNews) Findings from a November 9, 2009, Environmental Health News report have revealed that many varieties of balsamic vinegar contain trace amounts of lead that are contributing to neurological and other damage in both children and adults. Ingestion of a single tablespoon of vinegar with th ...
  
• The carbon trading fraud (comic)
  (NaturalNews) I was recently purchasing an airline ticket (there goes my carbon quota for the year, huh?) when I noticed that for an extra $12, I could buy an "offset" to the carbon emissions incurred for my flight. Really? For twelve bucks I can buy off my own guilt? Wow, sweet deal! The problem wi ...
  
• Missouri government plots undercover sting operati ...
  (NaturalNews) Imagine being watched by two undercover cops as you engage in an illicit deal in a deserted parking lot. The buyer hesitantly hands you some cash. You flash a look over your shoulder, just to make sure the coast is clear, then you hand over the contraband. Neither of you says a word. Y ...
  

TheGallopingBeaver

• Harper : My tar sands trumps your planet
  Harper Says Global Recovery Must Precede Environment "Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he will use Canada’s co-chairmanship of next year’s Group of 20 countries meeting to urge members to put economic recovery before efforts to protect the environment. "Without ...
  
• Dying to Look Sexy . . . .
  It's amazing to me how vanity can take over one's life - and death, apparently. Today's Toronto Star reports: Beauty queen dies for 'firmer behind' December 01, 2009 BUENOS AIRES, Argentina– A 38-year-old former Miss Argentina has died from complications after undergoing cosmetic surgery on he ...
  
• Did Christmas come early for the NDP?
  THE HST, AKA THE "HARPER SALES TAX" , appears to be a done deal for the folks who live in Ontario. Iggy and the Liberals have declared that they will support Stevie's odious tax-grab. The question is, if you are an Ontario voter, how do you feel about this? How will it affect your vote in the next F ...
  
• 900ft Jesus is back!
  'Just When I thought I Was Out...They Pull Me Back In' Dept. 900ft Jesus is back with new digs at "Of Gods & Other Monsters" so drop by and say hello. The trouble with quitting blogging is you've already amassed this wealth of research and every day you watch Steve and the mainstream Medea royally ...
  
• Protecting "Traditional" Marriage . . . .
  Let's put this whole gay marriage thing to bed (so to speak). "You're not dead yet." That oughta do it . . . . (Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver )
  

Media Matters for America

• Conservatives express outrage over Reid slavery r ...
  Conservative media figures have attacked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) remarks linking slavery to Republican opposition to health care reform legislation, but have routinely attacked progressives and the Obama administration for creating "slavery" and enslaving the public. Conser ...
  
• Fox Nation, Big Government advance smear that Jen ...
  Fox Nation and Big Government are trumpeting the latest smear on Department of Education official Kevin Jennings: that Jennings is, in the words of Fox Nation, "linked to shocking teen sex talk," referring to a recorded exchange that occurred during a "Queer Sex and Sexuality" workshop during ...
  
• NPR reporter Liasson to continue validating Fox's ...
  National Public Radio national political correspondent Mara Liasson has reportedly declined a request by NPR executives that she reconsider appearing regularly on Fox News because of "what they perceived as the network's political bias," according to Politico , which also reported that "Liasso ...
  
• Another disclosure problem: Fox lets former seni ...
  During the December 5 edition of Fox News Watch -- Fox News' media criticism show -- contributor James Pinkerton defended Fox News host and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's role in granting a commutation for Maurice Clemmons, who has been accused of killing four police officers in Lakewo ...
  
• Fox News falsely suggests Senate bill "allows fun ...
  During a discussion of Sen. Ben Nelson's (D-NE) proposed amendment to the Senate health care reform bill, Fox News on-screen text falsely suggested that the "current bill allows funding for abortion" beyond what is currently allowed under the Hyde Amendment, which forbids the use of federal ...
  

Global Research.ca

• Was David Kelly murdered on the orders of the Brit ...
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
• Leftist Win in Uruguay Elections
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
• Israel’s Bedouin denied right to elections
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
• Israeli Military Chief on First Visit to India
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
• Remembering Patrice Lumumba
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  

TPM Cafe

• ACORN "Not Guilty"
  ACORN is getting a bum rap -- in the news media, among politicians, and even by some foundations. That's the conclusion of an independent report released today, which acknowledged that ACORN needs to improve its management structure, but that it... Scott Harshbarger - Acorn - Republican - Unite ...
  
• Ha'aretz: To Work In US Government, You Need To Pa ...
  Thank God for the Israeli media because no article like this would ever appear in the mainstream media here. Ha'aretz' correspondent Natasha Muzkavaya reports that "every appointee to the American government must endure a thorough background check by the American... United States - Federal gov ...
  
• The Reason for 15 Million Unemployed: Poor Thinkin ...
  The United States has more than 15 million people unemployed. This is not their fault. It is the fault of really bad policy decisions by people who get paid more than almost all of the unemployed ever did or ever... United States - Work - Unemployment - Germany - Government
  
• Race Bait and Switch
  A Michigan university got quite a shock when they requested a speaker from an upstate anti-immigration group. Ferris State University was in the process of planning a debate on immigration policy scheduled for the spring of 2010. They'd already lined... Immigration policy - Ferris State Univers ...
  
• Climate Misinformation
  There has been so much misinformation about climate science dumped into the blogosphere in the last three weeks (what perfect timing for the climate change deniers), that a little perspective is in order. As Jared Diamond wrote yesterday, there... Climate change - Climatology - Environment - A ...
  

TruthOut

• Protests Again Rock Iran
  Photographer Maziar Pourbeheshti was shaken as he logged onto his Facebook account in the early evening from his Tehran apartment. At the Tehran University campus Monday, he had witnessed teargas and beatings throughout a day of high drama. And when members of the Basij hardline morality militia tri ...
  
• DOJ Watchdog Report on Yoo, Bybee Torture Memos to ...
  Last month, Attorney General Eric Holder told lawmakers in testimony before Congress that a long-awaited Justice Department watchdog report that is said to be highly critical of the legal work three attorneys who worked at the agency's powerful Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) conducted for the Bush ad ...
  
• Meanwhile . . .
  Ever since President Obama's speech last Tuesday, all media, political and public attention has been focused exclusively on the war in Afghanistan. The president mentioned Iraq a few times in the speech, mostly to blame that situation for the situation in Afghanistan. At one point, however, he seeme ...
  
• The Curious Case of Anthony McKinney
  On September 15, 1978, 64,000 people flooded the Superdome in New Orleans to see the heavyweight championship rematch between Muhammad Ali and Leon Spinks, who had taken the championship from Ali that February. read more
  
• Revitalizing the Antiwar Movement
  With Nobel laureate Barack Obama's announced escalation of the occupation of Afghanistan, even those who believed his rhetoric of hope and change, who supported and voted for him in the last election read more
  

Planetsave

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

Water Quality - WordPress

• Pebble could become a landslide
  The proposed, infamous Pebble Mine in the headwaters of Bristol Bay Alaska has been back in the news
  
• What should I do with unwanted prescription and ov ...
  Do not flush them down the toilet! Wastewater treatment plants are often not able to filter out the
  
• Do boat cleaning products contain phosphorus?
  Many boat cleaning products do contain phosphorus, a major contributor to algal blooms in the Lake.
  
• Why do blue-green algae deplete oxygen if they are ...
  First, to clarify, blue-green algae are actually a type of bacteria, they are classed in the phylum
  
• Why do Lake Champlain beaches close sometimes?
  Beaches in Missisquoi Bay and St. Albans Bay have been occasionally closed due to toxic blooms of bl
  

Public Citizen in Texas

• Copenhagen Negotiations begin today!
  The international climate negotiations in Copenhagen begin today, and will continue until December 18th. No time for a full reckoning now of what this means in the big picture, what’s at stake, and what to expect — but since others have done a great job already, at the moment there’s no need t ...
  
• Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round Up
  Once again it’s time for the Texas Progressive Alliance to bring you the highlights from the blogs. Xanthippas at Three Wise Men airs out some thoughts on the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, and some painful lessons learned blogging about the war in Iraq. Bay Area Houston claims The Race fo ...
  
• Don’t Let Texas Become the Nation’s Radioactiv ...
  Join us next Thursday, December 10th to help stop Texas from becoming the nation’s radioactive waste dump! Please Come: Texas Compact Commission Stakeholder Meeting Thursday, December 10th at 9am Texas Capitol, Extension Auditorium, E1.004 You are invited to attend the press conference as well, he ...
  
• No Nuclear! San Antonio Platica Tonight featuring ...
  Please join the Energia Mia Coalition including the Esperanza Center, Southwest Worker’s Union No Nuclear! Platica Tonight a discussion with local activists and visiting energy expert Arjun Makhijani FRIDAY, Dec. 4th – 7pm at the Esperanza Center (210)228-0201 922 San Pedro Ave, SA, TX 78212 Mar ...
  
• Green-up Your Life! Flushing trees down the toilet
  By Kirsten Bokenkamp From office paper, to toilet paper, paper towels, paper coffee cups, newspapers, paper bags, magazines and catalogs, notebooks, napkins, and packaging, we cannot escape our dependency on paper products. Check out some of these crazy facts related to paper manufacturing and use: ...
  

Press TV

• Iran says missing nuclear scientist in US custody
  An Iranian nuclear scientist who went missing in Saudi Arabia in June has been handed over to officials in Washington, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
  
• Iran arrests 204 in anti-government protests
  The head of Tehran police says 204 people were arrested during anti-government demonstrations on Monday, which marked Student Day in Iran.
  
• Afghans protest after civilian deaths in US-led ra ...
  Hundreds of Afghans have held anti-US and anti-government demonstrations against a recent US-led attack which reportedly claimed the lives of 15 non-combatants.
  
• US 'animosity' toward Iran should not be ignored
  Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Tuesday the US government has a lot of ground to cover if it wants to make up for the deep 'animosity' it has manifested toward Tehran.
  
• UN rights chief urges Libya to free Swiss national ...
  UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday urged Libya to release two Swiss nationals entangled in a diplomatic row, a week after Tripoli sentenced the pair to 16 months in jail.
  

Axis of Logic

• If capitalism is crap, what's the solution?
  
  
• Israel’s Impunity for War Crimes
  
  
• Manipulating the Honduran Election Results
  
  
• Letter from Manit@ Migrante to President Barack Ob ...
  
  
• Bogus Honduran Elections Today: Hypocrites Washing ...
  
  

They Gave Us a Republic

• The Nightowl Newswrap
  Yeah, this is a fight we definitely want a part of. "Two bomb blasts have ripped through a busy market in the centre of Pakistan's second largest city, Lahore, killing at least 36 people, police and medics say. The attack, which injured some 100 people, sparked a huge blaze at the city's Moon Market ...
  
• The Class Argument Against the War
  It's not a new argument, because it's not a new phenomenon.  But it seems every generation has to re-learn the lesson that anti-war protestors have been preaching since the War of 1812. Austin Cline at Jesus' General reminds us: Deploying Troops & Funds for the Ruling Class America's ruling class wa ...
  
• Phony (p)outrage of the day
  My goodness the Senate republicans are a delicate lot! The fragile wittle feewings of some of their members just can't take the rough-and-tumble that the cad Harry Reid has been dishing out . Quick! Someone fetch the fainting couch for Senator Coburn! (What's that? You say that a neighbor or a fami ...
  
• "A Gentleman's Agreement"?: "...a wonderful relati ...
  This is the thirty-seventh post in an ongoing series as we file Missouri Sunshine Law (RSMo 610) requests and investigate the non-renewal of the contract of University of Central Missouri President Aaron Podolefsky. Links to previous coverage are below the fold. BG and MB Univerity of Central Missou ...
  
• It should be. But it's not.
  I'm going to wade into the Afghanistan swamp this morning, a little ways, anyway, and follow up on Yellow Dog's post of yesterday, in which we were brought the wisdom of the inimitable and irreplaceable Bill Moyers, who posits quite sensibly that it ought to be harder to get into a war than out of o ...
  

Care 2

• Associate’s Degrees in Unconventional Subjects
  Associate’s Degrees can also cater to a specific class of students who want to gain certification in a particular field that does not typically offer Bachelor’s Degrees. Submitted by Nancy Bridget to Animals  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  
• Lizard Changes Its Diet to Avoid Predators
  A scientist from the University of Salamanca and another from Yale University have shown that the presence of predators affects the behaviour of Acanthodactylus beershebensis, a lizard species from the Negev Desert in Israel. Submitted by Nancy Bridget to Animals  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  
• 25 Oddest Objects Ever Eaten (by Humans)
  People do weird things. And that includes what they eat. Whether it’s accident, some strange craving or kids being kids, humans have eaten a lot of strange, non-food objects. In some cases, the objects pass through the body without causing harm. Submitted by Alisa Roberts to Offbeat  |   Note-it! ...
  
• Ventriloquist Birds Call to Warn Friends and Enemi ...
  irds' alarm calls serve both to alert other birds to danger and to warn off predators. And some birds can pull a ventriloquist's trick, singing from the side of their mouths, according to a UC Davis study. Submitted by Nancy Bridget to Animals  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  
• Virgin Galactic has unveiled the world's first eve ...
  The sleek black-and-white vessel represents a gamble with a sky-high price tag to create a commercial space and tourism industry. The company hopes the winged, minivan-sized SpaceShipTwo, will rocket space tourists into zero gravity within just... Submitted by Alisa Roberts to Science & Tech  |   N ...
  

GreenBiz

• Sodexo Sets New Goals for Carbon, Seafood, Waste a ...
  Sodexo has declared 14 new environment, community and health commitment. The food and facility services company plan to reduce its carbon and water footprints, increase its use of sustainable food and products, and reduce waste.
  
• 10 Best Practices for Building Green Teams
  GreenBiz.com and Green Impact have partnered to release a new report, "Green Teams: Engaging Employees in Sustainability," that includes 10 tips on how to support and guide Green Teams.
  
• A Dozen Tips for the Total Greening of Your Busine ...
  During the past several years, the word "green" has taken on new meaning and usage as it has quickly entered the business vernacular in its many forms. What does it mean to select, design and operate a business in the era of green?
  
• ICLEI USA Unveils Comprehensive Toolkit for Greeni ...
  ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability USA launches a comprehensive resource today to guide cities and countries, step by step, through the process of greening their communities.
  
• The Value of Building Commissioning
  Much of the attention in the green building world is focused on the most flashy techniques or the latest technology, but there's an old-fashioned yet very green building technique that's starting to recapture interest: Building commissioning.
  

Reuters Global

• Pakistan and Afghanistan:how do al Qaeda and the T ...
  How will al Qaeda and the Taliban respond to the U.S. plans for Afghanistan and Pakistan? One possibility would be to provoke a crisis between India and Pakistan.
  
• On a dark Swedish afternoon, thoughts of eternal l ...
  It's not everyday one meets a Nobel laureate who is said to have offered a tantalising clue in the search for the fountain of youth.
  
• Darfur: Is the war over or is the world losing int ...
  It's more than six years since mostly non-Arab rebels in Sudan's western Darfur region revolted after accusing Khartoum of neglecting their remote corner of Africa's biggest country. Khartoum's U.N. Ambassador, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, declared in New York this week that the "war in Darfur is over. ...
  
• What to do while the world burns
  GlobalPost's Mort Rosenblum on how we're out of time on global warming and why Copenhagen needs to get some tangible laws.
  
• Other rumbles in the Iran nuclear storm
  In the sound and fury following the U.N. nuclear governors' censure of Iran last week for its cover-up of a second uranium enrichment site, and Tehran's rejection of a nuclear cooperation deal with world powers, a broader, festering issue was obscured.
  

Ezra Klein

• Beats building a shed
  When we last saw Neel Kashkari, he was building a shed out in the woods somewhere. But before that , he was managing the TARP program. And after this? Pimco! Felix Salmon comments : It looks like Neel Kashkari did manage to get that financial-services job by year-end after all: he’s moving to New ...
  
• Tab dump
  1) Corby Kummer's guide to shopping for foodies . I agree that ceramic knives are a waste of time. 2) Economists are worried about some of the backsliding in the cost-control elements of the Senate health bill. 3) Jay Rockefeller is tired of hearing about North Dakota's poor, underpaid hospitals. ...
  
• Freshmen senators spending too much time on issues ...
  Though there haven't been any impressive coalitions of Republicans and conservative Democrats coming together to improve the bill's cost savings, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) has rallied his fellow freshmen behind a set of common-sense improvements to the delivery system side of things. You can downlo ...
  
• Mark Pryor makes the health insurance exchanges a ...
  Backed by a 98 to 0 vote, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) just passed a small amendment that might make a big difference in insurance markets. Pryor's amendment directs "the Department of Health and Human Services [to] establish, gather and post online consumer feedback about the health care plans offere ...
  
• Department of bad graphs
  I try to be pretty careful with my charts and graphs, but I made a mistake this morning when I graphed Vanity Fair's poll showing that most people can't confidently explain the public option. Google Spreadsheet began the Y axis at 20 percent, and I didn't notice. As commenter Volpevi pointed out, th ...
  

Booman Tribune

• Howard Fineman's Ron Paul Fantasy
  Howard Fineman thinks the GOP can save themselves by channeling their inner Ron Paul. Never mind that Fineman thinks Rep. Paul is 'out there,' 'angry, and 'apocalyptic;' the important thing is that he believes in something. Because he believes in something, it doesn't matter that many of 'his ide ...
  
• Casual Observation
  I don't know how the people at Sadly, No! are able to mix with so much stupid on a daily basis without going utterly insane. Maybe it is by blogging. Got any other good wingnut parody sites?
  
• Poking Lieberman
  I guess at this point that I don't think Joe Lieberman is going to respond well to attacks from his left. I'm betting that the more he gets attacked from the left, the more comfortable he gets representing the right. I don't know if he plans on running for reelection in 2012, but I can't see him p ...
  
• Casual Observation
  I thought we elected Barack Obama and Joe Biden last November and that we kind of endorsed their platform. But it looks a lot like we actually elected Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson, and that we can't do a single thing that doesn't have their permission. If we want to overcome this obstacle, we're g ...
  
• Wanker of the Day: Sen. Roger Wicker
  Okay, I live only a few miles from Valley Forge National Historical Park so maybe I have some slight advantage, but I don't think Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi could pass his citizenship test. Doesn't every schoolboy and girl learn that George Washington and his weary Continental Army encamped a ...
  

European Tribune

• Osborne: City more important than Sovereignty
  In an interview with the FT, The Tory's shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, has stated that...
  
• European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 8 ...
   A Daily Review Of International Online Media Europeans on this date in history:1861 – Aristide Maillol,...
  
• Monday Open Thread
  Time to put in a word!...
  
• Don't cut public spending
  From the TUC website A dozen leading economists have urged the Chancellor not to undermine...
  
• European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 7 ...
   A Daily Review Of International Online Media Europeans on this date in history:1913 – Birth of...
  

Futurismic

• Low activity alert
  Just a quick note for regular readers – things will be a little quiet here at Futurismic for the next few days, as I’m moving house and won’t be able to spend any time blogging until it’s all done. [image by garethjmsaunders] However, I’ve set up a few posts to keep things ticking over in ...
  
• High above the Earth? Drug consumption on the ISS
  There may be little to no consumption of alcohol aboard, but there’s plenty of drugs on the International Space Station – albeit not for recreational purposes. The Discovery Space blog has a list of the contents of the ISS pharmaceutical kit-bag, of which this is just one [via SlashDot]: Tranqui ...
  
• The Adventures of Phil Wade
  [based on a true story, Sarah tells me - Ed.] 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 ...
  
• Cellphone app could help illegal immigrants
  This is going to be controversial: A UC San Diego professor said he has developed a cell phone tool that may help guide illegal immigrants safely across the border. Similar to the way hungry drivers can find a restaurant through the global positioning system devices in their cars and cell phones, il ...
  
• Wikipedia’s frontiers
  Here’s an interesting thinking-out-loud piece at The Guardian from Mark Graham, which responds to those suggestions from the other week that Wikipedia is losing editors because the crowdsourced encyclopedia is ‘complete’. Wikipedia still has much to do: the map above suggests there are still w ...
  

Therapy News

• Cost of Mental Health Neglect in Business Raises A ...
  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline Though many advocacy groups may attempt to influence public understanding and reception of mental health issues, direct influence and challenging consequences are often able to make the point with considerable power. This seems to be the case for modern business, as j ...
  
• NAMI of Massachusetts Reports Low Pharmaceutical C ...
  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline A rising concern among the mental health professions in the past few years has been the prevalence of psychiatric medications among those with mental health issues. From over-prescription to the suggestion that major pharmaceutical companies conduct questionable adver ...
  
• Apology Accepted—How to Accept an Apology Withou ...
  By Pamela Lipe, MS, LP, Relationships & Marriage Topic Expert Contributor Click here to contact Pam and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile You’ve been hurt; you’ve been wronged; you’ve been let down. And now your spouse stands with an apology. What goes on in your mind in this situation? Let†...
  
• Mindfulness Psychotherapy for Anxiety & Depression
  By Peter Strong, PhD, Mindfulness Based Approaches / Contemplative Approaches Topic Expert Contributor Click here to contact Peter and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile Mindfulness has attracted considerable attention throughout the healing professions and it has become a buzzword among therapists. ...
  
• Surrender Into Support
  By Jennifer Lehr, MA, MFT Click here to contact Jennifer and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile “The elders have sent me to you today to tell you that NOW is like a great rushing river. And this great rushing river will be experienced in many ways. There are many who try to hold on to the shore; t ...
  

Mountaintop Removal

• Kennedy calls mountaintop removal mining a crime - ...
  Kennedy calls mountaintop removal mining a crime MiamiHerald.com Mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia is a crime, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Monday that if the American people could see it, there would be a ...
  
• Byrd: Coal Industry Must Engage in Mountaintop Rem ...
  Examiner.com Byrd: Coal Industry Must Engage in Mountaintop Removal Mining Debate WTRF West Virginia's senior senator said the industry must take part in the debate about mountaintop removal mining. West Virginia's coal industry risks ... Coal industry responds to Sen. Byrd diplomatically The Assoc ...
  
• Kennedy calls mountaintop removal mining a crime - ...
  Kennedy calls mountaintop removal mining a crime San Francisco Chronicle Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Monday that mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia is a crime, and that if the American people could ...
  
• Mountain Top Removal debate heats up - Appalachian ...
  Mountain Top Removal debate heats up Appalachian Independent Editor's note: You can read more about mountaintop removal and watch a video at Opinion: Fossil Fools, The Environmental Dangers of Coal Mining by Sidni ... Copenhagen, USA: Don't Miss Dec 7th Showdown at Climate Change Ground Zero Huffin ...
  
• Eat, drink, and watch a film on mountaintop remova ...
  Eat, drink, and watch a film on mountaintop removal C-Ville Weekly You know how I feel about mountaintop removal already—namely, angry and sad. I'm looking forward to learning more. Anyone else planning to go?
  

Memeorandum

• The Smoking Gun At Darwin Zero (Watts Up With That ...
  Watts Up With That? : The Smoking Gun At Darwin Zero   —  by Willis Eschenbach  —  People keep saying “Yes, the Climategate scientists behaved badly.  But that doesn't mean the data is bad.  That doesn't mean the earth is not warming.”  —  Darwin Airport - by Dominic Perrin via P ...
  
• Public option deal takes shape (Carrie Budoff Brow ...
  Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico : Public option deal takes shape   —  A potential deal took shape Monday that could eliminate the public option from the Senate health reform bill, as Democrats weighed big expansions of both Medicare and Medicaid in a bid to break an impasse over the governm ...
  
• EPA: Greenhouse Gases Threaten Public Health and t ...
  yosemite.epa.gov : EPA: Greenhouse Gases Threaten Public Health and the Environment   —  Science overwhelmingly shows greenhouse gas concentrations at unprecedented levels due to human activity  —  WASHINGTON - After a thorough examination of the scientific evidence and careful consideratio ...
  
• Primary likely to serve as de facto special electi ...
  Aaron Blake / The Hill : Primary likely to serve as de facto special election for Kennedy's seat   —  Massachusetts voters will pick a Democratic nominee for the race to replace the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) on Tuesday, and that candidate is expected to have little trouble in next mont ...
  
• Gates: 'We're in this thing to win' (Glenn Kessler ...
  Glenn Kessler / Washington Post : Gates: 'We're in this thing to win'   —  In a surprise visit to Afghanistan, he aims to reassure troops, Karzai  —  KABUL — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in this war-torn country Tuesday morning on an unannounced visit, prepared to offer U.S. ...
  

Energy & Environment News

• Europe Praises U.S. Ruling on Greenhouse Gases
  The European Commission on Tuesday applauded the decision to pave the way for federal limits on emissions.
  
• Reporter’s Notebook: Under Banner of Urgenc ...
  Evocations of Judgment Day were an undercurrent in speeches and materials on opening day in Copenhagen.
  
• Millions in U.S. Drink Dirty Water, Records Show
  More than 20 percent of water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
  
• Dark Side of a Natural Gas Boom
  Some environmentalists are concerned that a technology called hydraulic fracturing used to produce natural gas could be leading to pollution.
  
• An Effort to Spread Green Power to Coasts
  A new company is planning a huge power hub in New Mexico to transfer green energy from the middle of the country to coastal population centers.
  

5+ quakes - 7 days

• M 5.0, Tonga
  Thursday, December 3, 2009 16:03:10 UTC Friday, December 4, 2009 06:03:10 AM at epicenter Depth : 82.30 km (51.14 mi)
  
• M 5.1, Tonga
  Wednesday, December 2, 2009 08:20:03 UTC Wednesday, December 2, 2009 10:20:03 PM at epicenter Depth : 36.50 km (22.68 mi)
  
• M 5.0, near the east coast of Honshu, Japan
  Wednesday, December 2, 2009 06:14:27 UTC Wednesday, December 2, 2009 03:14:27 PM at epicenter Depth : 42.00 km (26.10 mi)
  
• M 5.3, Rodrigues region, Mauritius
  Wednesday, December 2, 2009 04:20:37 UTC Wednesday, December 2, 2009 08:20:37 AM at epicenter Depth : 10.00 km (6.21 mi)
  
• M 5.2, Molucca Sea
  Tuesday, December 1, 2009 20:32:01 UTC Wednesday, December 2, 2009 04:32:01 AM at epicenter Depth : 8.30 km (5.16 mi)
  

China Dialogue

• Why Copenhagen matters
  Confused by countries’ climate commitments? Perplexed by paltry promises? Tan Copsey presents a beginner’s guide to the conference. After two years of protracted and complex negotiations, from sunny Bali in Indonesia through to frosty Poznan in Poland, the Copenhagen climate-change conference op ...
  
• Copenhagen: what does China want?
  Some of the country's top climate officials and experts recently gathered in Beijing to discuss China's position at key negotiations on global warming. Cao Haili reports. What stance will China adopt at the climate-change talks in Copenhagen – and what do the country's climate experts think? To fi ...
  
• A warming debate in India
  There is little consensus on climate policy in India, where growth-first advocates battle it out with global-warming cynics and beleaguered progressives. Navroz K Dubash reports. US climate politics loom large on the global stage. The twists and turns of senate deliberations are a favoured topic amo ...
  
• Two faces of China's coal industry
  A project in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, could eventually clean up the planet's fastest growing source of greenhouse gases. Jonathan Watts reports. The world's newest carbon citadel rises up between the blasted deserts of Inner Mongolia and the coal-black lands of Shaanxi province . Ordos is a city t ...
  
• When the ice melts (2)
  Greenlanders have been master survivors and have little to fear from global warming, writes Fiona Harvey. The real disruptions will be felt in sub-Saharan Africa, south-east Asia and southern Europe. Denmark has a special interest in climate change, in part because of its sense of responsibility – ...
  

AlterNet Top Stories

• New Report Probes Suspicious Guantanamo Suicides
  "Both the time and exact manner of the deaths remain uncertain, and the presence of rags stuffed in the detainees‘ throats is unexplained."
  
• The Real Reason Obama Is Escalating In Afghanistan
  The real purpose of these 30,000 soldiers is to make Obama look tough as he heads toward the next U.S. presidential election.
  
• Burn a Tree to Save the Planet? The Crazy Logic Be ...
  It might seem crazy that anyone would think the incineration of wood and its byproducts are a green substitute for toxic fuels such as coal. Think again.
  
• What the Frack? Poisoning our Water in the Name of ...
  An estimated 77 billion barrels of contaminated water were generated worldwide in 2000 by oil and gas operations. In recent years this volume has increased.
  
• Digital Dollars: Why the Marketing and Ad Industry ...
  The firms doing the spinning for some of the financial meltdown's biggest players have good reason to be worried. Their crimes, after all, went largely unnoticed.
  

Threat Level

• Parents of Dead Teen Sue School Over Sexting Image ...
  The parents of a teenage girl who committed suicide last year are suing the girl’s ex-boyfriend and several other former high school classmates who circulated a nude photo of her and harassed her about the image. The suit was filed in Ohio by Cynthia and Albert Logan who say that the students’ â ...
  
• Mistrial in Case of Hate Blogger Charged With Judg ...
  A federal judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case of a notorious New Jersey hate blogger charged in June with threatening to kill judges. According to court documents, after a three-judge panel of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals upheld a Chicago handgun ban in June, Hal Turner blo ...
  
• TSA Leaks Sensitive Airport Screening Manual
  Who needs anonymous sources when the government is perfectly capable of leaking its own secrets? Government workers preparing the release of a Transportation Security Administration manual that details airport screening procedures badly bungled their redaction of the .pdf file. Result: The full tex ...
  
• Napster Trial Celebrates Decade Anniversary
  I have a Monday story in Wired.com’s This Day in Tech blog reviewing the Napster litigation, 10-years-old today. “The Napster trial was about big money. Along the way, the case mutated into a cannibalizing feeding frenzy: The music industry was searching for deep financial pockets, and targeted ...
  
• Judge Finalizes $675,000 RIAA Piracy Verdict, Wonâ ...
  A federal judge on Monday finalized a $675,000 jury verdict against a defendant who went to trial after the Recording Industry Association of America sued him for file sharing. U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner presided over the Joel Tenenbaum case in summer 2009. Tenenbaum was only the nation’s ...
  

Reuters - Most Popular Articles

• Dollar falls as Fed curbs rate hike talk; yen gain ...
  TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar fell on Tuesday and the yen rose after senior Federal Reserve officials curbed speculation of a quick rise in U.S. rates that had sent the greenback smartly higher after a promising jobs report last week.
  
• Qaeda may try to provoke India-Pakistan conflict
  LONDON (Reuters) - When Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week al Qaeda and its allies might try to provoke a conflict between India and Pakistan, he articulated what many see as the biggest risk to U.S. plans for the region.
  
• Exclusive: Citi, U.S. disagree over capital for TA ...
  NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc and the U.S. government disagree over how much the bank should raise to repay taxpayers and talks may not finish for weeks or even months, people briefed on the matter said on Monday.
  
• UK Stocks -- Factors to watch on Dec 8
  LONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 is seen opening flat to slightly lower on Tuesday, according to financial bookmakers, with the session expected to be choppy after a mixed close on Wall Street overnight and weakness in Asian equities, and with a lack of much fresh for direction.
  
• Dollar dips on Bernanke comments, shares hover
  HONG KONG (Reuters) - The dollar dipped on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke dampened speculation of an early U.S. interest rate rise, while Asian shares steadied as investors took a breather after recent gains.
  

Pine River World News

• No more UFO reports please, says UK MoD
  The following article is from The Register. No more UFO reports please, says MoD 'No evidence aliens are any threat to Blighty' ©   The Register By Lewis Page December 7, 2009 The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has decided to close down its UFO reporting service, saying that it is an "inappropriate ...
  
• Blogmaster musings: Product Review - Prestone's Ic ...
  Pine River World News December 6, 2009 It's not too often I take the time to write a product review. In fact, I think this is the first time since I praised the lubricant qualities of Wholesome Farms 'Whipped Spread' - a 'butter substitute' - that I currently use to grease the hinges on my Chevy pi ...
  
• YEMEN: Houthis officially take on Saudi forces
  IntelTrends - The following article is from Press TV, Tehran. Houthis officially take on Saudi forces ©   Press TV December 5, 2009 Houthi fighters say they have opened a front against Saudi Arabia in northern Yemen, as the Saudi invaders reportedly step up their offensives against the Shia popul ...
  
• Paul Craig Roberts: Trickle-up Economics
  The following column is reprinted with permission from Paul Craig Roberts. Trickle-up Economics ©  Paul Craig Roberts December 4, 2009 Goldman Sachs senior executives are arming themselves with New York gun permits, according to Alice Schroeder on Bloomberg.com. The banksters "are now equipped to ...
  
• Pak editorial describes Obama's new Afghanistan p ...
  The following editorial is from The Frontier Post, Peshawar, Pakistan. A jigsaw puzzle ©   The Frontier Post December 4, 2009 It is hard to make out a clear sense of President Barack Obama's new Afghan policy. It is a jigsaw puzzle. In the same breath, he has spoken of escalating the war and the w ...
  

PDA AMERICA

• A Smart and Simple Tax
  By William John Cox | PDA Blog Contributor The burden of taxation in the United States has been shifted from those who most benefit from our government to those who work the hardest and earn the ...
  
• More Troops Are Wrong Answer in Afghanistan
  By Paulette Garin President Obama’s authorization to send another 30,000-plus troops to Afghanistan is clearly a move in the wrong direction. Our involvement in Afghanistan has been morally suspect and legally questionable from its inception. Who ...
  
• Kucinich in the News on Afghanistan
  Congressman Kucinich is making a major impact in his challenge to the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. See the following: MSNBC, The Ed Show, December ...
  
• Healthcare Not Warfare Field Call Dec
  On this call we had the Co-Chair of our Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign, Donna Smith, update us on the fast breaking news that the Sanders Amendment has been intouduced on the floor of the Senate. ...
  
• Tim Carpenter Interview with Richard Hill WPKN
  Host Richard Hill talks with Tim Carpenter, national director of Progressive Democrats of America, about strategies for promoting a progressive agenda in the light of recent political developments.
  

Marler Blog

• Bacillus cereus - Unilever Conducts Nationwide Vol ...
  Unilever United States, Inc., in cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is conducting a nationwide voluntary recall of all Slim-Fast® ready-to-drink (RTD) products in cans, due to the possibility of contamination with Bacillus cereus , a micro-organism, which may cause diarrh ...
  
• UPDATE - Safeway and Beef Packers, Inc.'s (Cargill ...
  Retail List - Safeway in cooperation with Beef Packers, Inc.’s (Cargill) recall of 22,000 pounds of fresh ground beef that may be linked to an outbreak of Salmonella, Safeway Inc. is recalling fresh ground beef products with "Sell By” dates of September 28 through October 11, 2009. The recall af ...
  
• CDC Warning - Princess, do not Kiss the Salmonella ...
  The CDC is investigating a multistate outbreak of human Salmonella serotype Typhimurium infections due to contact with water frogs including African Dwarf Frogs. Water frogs commonly live in aquariums or fish tanks. Amphibians such as frogs and reptiles such as turtles, are recognized as a source of ...
  
• It is against the law to have E. coli O157:H7 (a.k ...
  This morning’s papers across the United States are covered with paralyzed, former dancer, Stephanie Smith’s battle against food giant, Cargill. Cargill’s hamburger, sold at Wal-Mart, nearly killed Stephanie with Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome , and has left her, with brain damage, with failing kid ...
  
• Safeway and Beef Packers, Inc.'s (Cargill) Recall ...
  Safeway in cooperation with Beef Packers, Inc.’s (Cargill) recall of 22,000 pounds of fresh ground beef that may be linked to an outbreak of Salmonella, Safeway Inc. is recalling fresh ground beef products with "Sell By” dates of September 28 through October 11, 2009. The recall affects all stor ...
  

AutoblogGreen

• AutoblogGreen for 12.08.09
  GM invests $336 million into Detroit plant to build Volt Step #5,453 of #7,503 to bring the car to market. EPA says green house gases endanger people, environment - and it's all our fault It' ...
  
• AutoblogGreen for 12.07.09
  LA 2009: CMT-380 packs microturbine, li-ion battery into a matte black package It's one way to make a $20,000 kit car into a $375,000 project. Don't you dare: French parents criticize Renault for naming n ...
  
• Et tu, Clarkson? Top Gear names Toyota Priu ...
  2010 Toyota Prius - Click above for high-res image gallery Jeremy Clarkson seems to hate anything that "greens up" or in any other way adds an "eco" label to his cars - and some environmentalists don't exactly appreciate the television host either - so it's with some amusement that we learn that ...
  
• AutoblogGreen for 12.04.09
  LA 2009: Mitsubishi will bring an EV to U.S. in 2011, but it might not be the i-MiEV Really. Shoot. LA 2009: First Fisker Karmas now expected to hit showrooms in Sept. 2010 Delays were expect ...
  
• LA 2009: Audi A3 TDI named 2010 Green Car of the Y ...
  Filed under: LA Auto Show , Hatchback , Audi , Diesel Audi A3 TDI - Click above for high-res image gallery At the LA Auto Show this morning, the Audi A3 TDI was crowned the 2010 Green Car of the Year, wresting the title away from last year's winner, the Volkswagen Jetta TDI . Even though thre ...
  

Rafe's Radar

• Boxee Beta is cleaner, better, still closed
  Media-viewing app gets new interface in beta version, but you can't get it yet. The beta will open to all around the time of the Consumer Electronics Show.
  
• Hands-on with the JooJoo
  It's a great device, but far too expensive.
  
• CrunchPad reborn as JooJoo
  Chandra Rathakrishnan, the chief executive of former TechCrunch partner Fusion Garage, reveals plans to proceed with release of new Web-browsing tablet.
  
• Reporters' Roundtable Podcast: Air travel tech
  This week on the Roundtable: air travel and technology. As we all get ready to spend lots of time in airplanes, and quite likely more time in airports waiting for airplanes, I thought it'd be appropriate to bring in experts on the topic of modern air travel. And we have two great guests for this ...
  
• The yogurt makers of tech: Gadgets to avoid
  Don't buy these one-trick ponies--unless you like gizmos that gather dust.
  

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!

• Spanish Government Seeks to Force-Feed Western Sah ...
  Updated on Tuesday at 3:19 a.m. Last week Democracy Now! covered the story of thje Western Saharan human rights activist Aminatou Haidar . She has been on a hunger strike for three weeks since being deported against her will by Moroccan authorities occupying her homeland. Haidar, known as the “ ...
  
• TARIQ ALI: “Obama’s Afghan-Pak Syndrom ...
  Tariq Ali is author of more than 20 books, including history, politics, and fiction. His most recent books are Protocols of the Elders of Sodom (2009) and The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power (2008). He is a regular contributor to The Guardian, New Left Review, and the London Rev ...
  
• The Globe and Mail: Amy Goodman's border woes has ...
  The Globe and Mail: Canada Border Services Agency won’t comment on why the host of the widely syndicated radio and TV program Democracy Now had her speech checked at border Read more
  
• Watch What You Tweet
  A social worker from New York City was arrested last week while in Pittsburgh for the G-20 protests, then subjected to an FBI raid this week at home—all for using Twitter. Elliot Madison faces charges of hindering apprehension or prosecution, criminal use of a communication facility and possessio ...
  
• Breaking News: Morocco Blocks Human Rights Activis ...
  Updated on Saturday at 2:35 a.m. Earlier this week Democracy Now! covered the story of thje Western Saharan human rights activist Aminatou Haidar . She has been on a hunger strike for three weeks since being deported against her will by Moroccan authorities occupying her homeland. Haidar, known a ...
  

Farming Pathogens

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

Digg Green

• Deja Vu All Over Again with the 2011 Chevy Volt In ...
  "There's a lot of the same sense of, 'We're gonna change the world,' that we have this bright and shiny future just ahead," she mused. "Lots of unabashed enthusiasm, especially among the new people in the [electric car] movement," who she contrasted to "grizzled veterans" like herself who are more c ...
  
• Can a City Cut Its Energy Use by 2/3? - CBS Evenin ...
  Residents of Zurich Try to Live on 2,000 Watts a Second - the Global Average, but a Fraction of the Average in the West
  
• Geek Squad Goes Green with Mitsubishi Electric Ve ...
  Through the agreement, the companies hope to study real-life vehicle range and any issues that might arise in a hard-use fleet environment. The new arrangement would place quick chargers at some Best Buy stores, but Rick Rommel, Best Buy’s Senior VP, said that details about how they would provide ...
  
• Coffee-like ‘stains’ may create new touchscree ...
  Taking advantage of ink's natural tendency to create "coffee rings," a group of Israeli scientists has developed a type of ink jet dye that could one day create a range of power-hungry, and power-producing, devices at home.
  
• U.N. climate talks to seek deep CO2 cuts, aid
  The biggest climate meeting in history, with 15,000 participants from 192 nations, begins in Copenhagen on Monday seeking to agree curbs on greenhouse gas emissions and raise billions of...
  

Invisible Opportunity

• From Bondage to Rothschild to Freedom Within
  By Les Visible I realize the danger in saying the things I do. I’m not the only one who does this. The numbers of people saying similar things increases every day. Those prone to awakening are finding themselves more and more able to see with a greater clarity. The rest of us are falling deeper an ...
  
• Meteorologist suggests NOAA is manipulating data t ...
  By Marc Morano –  Climate Depot Below is a guest essay by Meteorologist Joe D’Aleo, the first Director of Meteorology at The Weather Channel and former chairman of the American Meteorological Society’s (AMS) Committee on Weather Analysis and Forecasting. D’Aleo publishes www.IceC ...
  
• CRU’s Source Code: Climategate Uncovered
  By Marc Sheppard As the evidence of fraud at the University of East Anglia’s prestigious Climatic Research Unit (CRU) continues to mount, those who’ve been caught green-handed continue to parry their due opprobrium and comeuppance, thanks primarily to a dead-silent mainstream media. But should t ...
  
• Climategate: it’s all unravelling now
  By James Delingpole So many new developments: which story do we pick? Maybe best to summarise, instead. After all, it’s not like you’re going to find much of this reported in the MSM. 1. Australia’s Senate rejects Emissions Trading Scheme for a second time. Or: so turkeys don’t vote Christma ...
  
• The Internet is All Over Climategate While the MSM ...
  By Rich Ord // The mainstream media has its head in the sand again while one of the largest conspiracies the world has ever seen is exposed via Internet media. As most readers have heard by now, years of emails and programming code have been uncovered from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the Un ...
  

  Insurgency Watch - Posts

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

AlterNet - DrugReporter

• DEA Forced to Scrub Misleading Info on the America ...
  Activists get the DEA to remove obsolete information from its website claiming that the American Medical Association (AMA) still opposes medical marijuana
  
• The Secret to Legal Marijuana? Women
  Why women have signed onto marijuana reform -- and why they could be the movement's game-changers.
  
• 10 Signs the Failed Drug War Is Finally Ending
  2009 will go down as the beginning of the end of America's longest running war. Here's 10 reasons why.
  
• A Smart Way to Battle Drug Addiction and Save Live ...
  Harm reduction is a public health approach that stresses pragmatic solutions to social ills like substance abuse.
  
• The Feds Are Addicted to Pot -- Even If You Aren't
  The government keeps pushing the BS that pot is addictive and has serious health consequences. And no wonder -- lying about pot is a lucrative business.
  

Twilight Earth

• The Beef Stops Here at Sacred Heart Hospital
  At Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, if you end up in one of the beds because your burger had some super-bacteria, you’re in for a treat. Related posts: Coleman “Natural” Beef recalls 1 Million Pounds of Hamburger Inspiration from Extraordinary People: Grains of Change White ...
  
• Cop15 Climate Express Dispatch – You Ain’t See ...
  Twilight Earth Cop15 Journalist Ann Danylkiw live reporting from The Climate Express. Related posts: Live Dispatch from the Climate Express : The IPCC is not the University of East Anglia Twilight Earth Exclusive: The Bigger Picture – Documenting Cop15 Cop15 Clip Real Video – Greening the E ...
  
• Twilight Earth Exclusive: The Bigger Picture – D ...
  Twilight Earth Cop15 Journalist Ann Danylkiw, reporting on The Bigger Picture, from The Climate Express. Related posts: Green Living Ideas and Twilight Earth Form New Major Environmental Network, Simple Earth Media Win a Copy Of Disney Natures EARTH DVD – Twilight Earth Giveaway Twilight Earth ...
  
• Live Dispatch from the Climate Express : The IPCC ...
  Twilight Earth is proud to bring you dispatches from Copenhagen by Ann Danylkiw. Ann is our exclusive Copenhagen Live Blogger. Related posts: White House: The Primary Cause of Climate Change is Carbon Dioxide Emissions International Day of Climate Action – October 24th Actions Technology Transfe ...
  
• Cop15 Clip Real Video – Greening the Empire Stat ...
  Twilight Earth has a series of Clip Reel Video’s that will be playing at the Copenhagen Climate Talks. Related posts: Cop15 Clip Reel Videos – Watch Them Here Before they Go to Copenhagen Do Right, Get Real (Video) Twilight Earth Visits The DC Solar Decathlon. Information, Photos and Video
  

Inhabitat

• Forget Tesla: The Maniwa Wooden Car is a Real Gree ...
  We come across plenty of slick green cars in our daily treks across the Internet, but the Maniwa wooden sports car takes the cake as the simplest. The vehicle, which was designed and handbuilt by wood craftsmen at Sada-Kenbi, is street-legal in Japan.The tiny supercar has space for a driver up front ...
  
• Digging Deeper: Design an Urban Agriculture Produc ...
  Digging Deeper: Building Blocks for Sustainable Design is an exciting competition that partners designers with the City of San Francisco to tackle real urban problems and find viable solutions. Launched in late September, the competition challenges designers from every field to design a physical or ...
  
• Project Bottlestop: A Solar-Powered, Bottle-Adorne ...
  We’ve seen plenty of innovative bus shelters before, but Project Bottlestop might just be the most beautiful. Designed by UK College of Design student Aaron Scales, the shelter uses recycled glass Ale-8-One soft drink bottles illuminated by LED lights to create a unique piece of street art. The wh ...
  
• COP15 Climate Change Conference Kicks off Today!
  ATTENTION ALL RESIDENTS OF PLANET EARTH The United Nations COP15 climate change conferences kicks off today in Copenhagen, and the fate of the planet hangs in the balance! The policies and agreements that are hammered out over the next two weeks by 20,000 delegates from 192 countries have the potent ...
  
• GREEN GIFT GUIDE: Eco Gifts for Tots!
  This holiday season why not introduce the little ones in your life to green using their favorite things in the world – presents! Whether you’re shopping for a little boy or girl, our eco-kid experts over at Inhabitots have put together a selection of green gifts that will dazzle and delight! Fro ...
  

Pogue's Posts

• What I Bought This Year
  People seem to be interested in what the consumer-tech columnist would buy for himself and his own family, so it seemed like a slam-dunk.
  
• Who Pays When an iPhone Is Stolen?
  Why AT&T is - surprisingly - not in the wrong when it comes to iPhone-replacement fees.
  
• Flight Track: My Personal Travel Assistant
  The travel app Flight Track is simple, useful and smarter than the airlines it keeps track of.
  
• A $25 Cellphone? That's Crazy Talk.
  This week, Palm released a follow up to the Pre, a cheaper, thinner, lesser phone called the Pixi. The official price is $100 with a two-year Sprint contract, but Amazon is selling the thing for - are you sitting down? - $25.
  
• Crowdsourcing Comedy on Amazon Reviews
  Some unexpected humor can be found in the reviews of the world's largest online retailer.
  

Open Your Eyes News

• Farmers hit out at calls for livestock cutback to ...
  Westmoreland Gazette – FARMERS in Cumbria have reacted with anger at a report calling for major cuts in livestock numbers to tackle climate change and health problems. Three senior cabinet members, including health secretary Andy Burnham, have supported the report, which says the number of farm an ...
  
• Simple Test ‘Can Spot Premature Birth False-alar ...
  BBC – A simple test can help reliably determine whether signs of an imminent premature delivery are likely to result in a false alarm, research suggests. Less than half of women showing these signs actually go on to give birth soon after, and they often have to undergo what turn out to be unnecess ...
  
• Dilbert on Global Warming
  
  
• Postpartum Depression Strikes Fathers, Too
  New York Times – The pregnancy was easy, the delivery a breeze. This was the couple’s first baby, and they were thrilled. But within two months, the bliss of new parenthood was shattered by postpartum depression. A sad, familiar story. But this one had a twist: The patient who came to me for ...
  
• The Fiction Of Climate Science – Why the climato ...
  Forbes – Many of you are too young to remember, but in 1975 our government pushed “the coming ice age.” Random House dutifully printed “THE WEATHER CONSPIRACY … coming of the New Ice Age.” This may be the only book ever written by 18 authors. All 18 lived just a short sled ride from W ...
  

Monkey Smashes Heaven

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

PakAlert

• The Antichrist Incorporated – A Must Read
  Let us dig down into history and find out how this system of antichrist emerged. What are the attributes of this system and how we can save ourselves and lives of others from this age of deception? I am sure that for most of you, the historical evidence revealed in the article will be shocking [...] ...
  
• 5 million Indians in Dubai face imminent deportati ...
  Out of an immigrant population of 5.5 million, most are of Indian origin. A sizable portion of the GDP of the state of Karela is based on remittances from Dubai. The dream is now fast becoming a nightmare. Dubai was being built on Indian labor. Abu Dhabi next door has millions of Pakistanis-unaffec ...
  
• Operation Gladio-style War Against Pakistan
  On December 7, 2009 four blasts rocked Peshawar, Lahore and Quetta. In the morning at 10 am a suicide bomber came on a rickshaw, killed at least ten people in Peshawar when he blew himself up near the courthouse located on Jail Road. Then, in the noon explosive laden taxi blasted near government off ...
  
• Swine flu deaths tripled in China
  Chinese health officials have announced that the number of swine flu-related deaths has tripled in the country over the past two weeks. Latest figures revealed that more than 90,000 individuals have contracted the new H1N1 flu in China, nearly 80 percent of whom have recovered. The Health Ministry o ...
  
• Illuminati Use “Magick” Against Us
  The Illuminati and their minions enjoy the certain knowledge that the spiritual realm not only exists and at all times interpenetrates our phenomenal world; they also know how to manipulate elements of these spiritual dimensions to make things occur at a given place and time according to their wishe ...
  

ecogeek

• Going Greener by Going Bigger: Does it Work?
  Busses are greener than cars, and apartment buildings are greener than houses. But is a 747 greener than a Cessna? Is an interstate greener than Route 66? Is a 55 inch flat screen greener than a 20 inch tube television? Is a cruise ship greener than a pontoon boat? There's been some focus on goin ...
  
• If You Could Ask the World Leaders Attending COP15 ...
  I'm putting a call out for your most pressing climate change questions.  CNN is broadcasting another YouTube debate, this time on climate change, live from the climate conference in Copenhagen.  CNN has asked all major environment blogs to submit a question to be asked of the leaders and activist ...
  
• Oregon Wave Project Under Way
  A project to build the country's first wave power station off the coast of Oregon is finally moving forward.  Wave power company Ocean Power Technologies just signed a contract with Oregon Iron Works to start building 10 buoys, with the first one to be deployed a year from now off the coast of Ree ...
  
• Mitsubishi Develops EV Charging System for Apartme ...
  Even as electric car technology hurtles forward, there are still challenges remaining as to how to integrate them into our society.  How to make battery charging readily available to urban and apartment-dwelling drivers has been one of those challenges, but Mitsubishi has designed a system that co ...
  
• IBM and Syracuse Complete Green Data Center
  IBM and Syracuse have completed construction of the Green Data Center on the university's campus.  The data center will demonstrate new technologies and ways of gaining efficiency for other companies and nations looking to build better data centers. The project, first announced back in May , will ...
  

Times Online - Science

• Richard Branson unveils Virgin Galactic's SpaceShi ...
  A ticket costs more than 200 times the price of a round-trip flight from London to Los Angeles.
  
• Ryanair scraps card perk
  Ryanair, the no-frills airline, will start charging customers who book flights using a Visa Electron card from January 1.
  
• The 10 best bits of travel gear
  1 Dr Dre’s headphones
  
• Confessions of a tourist: Brace, brace for a troll ...
  “Excuse me, but don’t I know you from somewhere?”
  
• Armed guards and travel chaos for 50,000 England f ...
  England fans who can afford it will be offered armed guards to escort them as they travel hundreds of miles between matches at the World Cup in South Africa next summer.
  

Environment _ National Geographic

• Lobsters to be Supersized by Climate Change?
  More acidic oceans may produce jumbo-size lobsters, crabs, and shrimp, according to a new study. But seafood lovers shouldn't start celebrating just yet.
  
• "Wired" Irish River Detects Pollution in Real Time
  Nature is going wireless, as scientists outfit rivers with sensors that detect spikes in pollution and can stream the information to data centers and cellphones.
  
• Copenhagen Climate Conference: What You Need to Kn ...
  World leaders will gather next week to hash out a new game plan for tackling climate change. Learn what they hope to accomplishand why experts are saying humankind has a "very narrow window of opportunity" to act.
  
• World's Smallest Orchid Discovered (By Accident)
  It's nearly see-through and only about as wide as a nickel is thick—no wonder it took an orchid expert months to notice the gem right under his nose.
  
• Shark Fins Traced to Home Waters Using DNA -- A Fi ...
  Many of the hammerhead sharks butchered to feed Asian demand for shark-fin soup come from endangered populations in American waters, a new forensic study shows.
  

drinking liberally in new milford ( with beersphere feeds )

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

SPL Center

• Oath Keepers Say They’re on Patrol in Iraq
  Oath Keepers, the militia/“Patriot” extremist group made up of law enforcement officers, military personnel and veterans, has posted a photo on its site showing (it says) “an active duty Oath Keeper in Mosul, Iraq” wearing two Velcro-attached “tabs” or patches, one saying “Oath Keeperâ ...
  
• Alleged Killer of Abortion Doctor Fights for Neces ...
  Scott Roeder, who has confessed to the fatal shooting of a Kansas abortion provider, is fighting prosecutors’ attempts to ban the so-called necessity defense at his trial. Roeders’ attorney filed a motion stating that Roeder should be allowed to argue that the killing was necessary to prevent T ...
  
• Turner Case Ends in Mistrial
  Hal Turner’s case ended in a mistrial today after a jury was unable to decide whether the hate blogger was guilty of threatening three federal judges. A new trial is set for March 1 in Brooklyn, according to The Associated Press. The jury voted 9-3 for acquittal, according to the only juror who sp ...
  
• Dobbs Courts Latino Support, Angers Nativists
  Think back to Jennifer Anniston’s distress when Brad Pitt dallied with Angelina Jolie; Debbie Reynolds’ angst when Eddie Fisher strayed with Elizabeth Taylor. Now meet the latest big-name heartbreaker: Lou Dobbs. No, he hasn’t left his wife. But some of his most ardent anti-immigratio ...
  
• Dutch Lawmaker Brings His Anti-Muslim Spiel to U.S ...
  A Dutch lawmaker notorious for his Muslim-bashing is scheduled to speak tonight at Temple University in Philadelphia. Geert Wilders, who has repeatedly compared the Koran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf, was for months banned from Britain because of concerns that his anti-Islamic views would trigger violen ...
  

Rio Times

• Flamengo Champs for Dramatic 6th Title
  By Doug Gray, Senior Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO – On a day of high tension in Rio the city’s three teams completed their individual searches for glory on Sunday afternoon, sending thousands of football fans into the streets to commemorate a truly historic season finale. Champions Flamengo lifted th ...
  
• Lula Biopic: Tears and Controversy
  By Jaylan Boyle, Senior Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO - A film charting the rise of ‘the most popular politician on earth’ (according to Barack Obama), Brazilian president Luis Inacio ‘Lula’ da Silva, has been screened at a private gathering attended by many political luminaries, the President and ...
  
• Flamengo in First
  By Doug Gray, Senior Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO – They may have left it late, but their timing could not be better. Whilst first Palmeiras and now Sao Paulo appear to have faltered at the crucial minute, Flamengo finally seized the moment this weekend and surged to the top of the league with just one ...
  
• Rap Pioneer Fab 5 Freddy in Rio
  By Doug Gray, Senior Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO - A genuine legend of hip hop arrived in Rio last week for the tenth and final Hutuz Rap Festival. Since the late 1990s Hutuz has recognized and rewarded the biggest names in Brazilian rap, graffiti and break dancing but finally bows out this year, though ...
  
• Christmas in Gramado
  By Davi Baldussi, Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil is perhaps best known for it’s natural beauties, Rio, futbol (soccer), Carnival and a few more long said qualities. But there is a small city located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (Big River of the South) named Gramado (Grass Plot ...
  

Common Dreams-Progressive Newswire

• Stronger Estate Tax Urged by United for a Fair Eco ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 4, 2009 United for Fair Economy "More tax breaks for the super wealthy is one of the last things our economy needs right now," says Lee Farris, Estate Tax Policy Coordinator for United for a Fair Economy (UFE). "Back in 2001, the Bush Administration enacted a massive t ...
  
• ADA Calls Afghanistan a Quagmire Worse than Vietna ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 7, 2009 Americans for Democratic Action In response to President Obama's announcement that he will send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, Michael J. Wilson, national director of Americans for Democratic Action, issued the following statement: read more
  
• Exposing Comcast's Hollow 'Public Interest' Commit ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 4, 2009 Free Press Free Press, Consumers Union and Consumer Federation of America today released a new analysis of the "public interest commitments" offered by Comcast following the announcement of its merger with NBC Universal. The consumer groups show that Comcast†...
  
• Innocent Uighurs Still Detained at Guantánamo aft ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 4, 2009 Center for Constitutional Rights Today, attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow seven men who remain imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay despite being cleared for release to be released into the United States when there is no other remedy available. The men, Uighu ...
  
• Expiration of START Treaty Expected, No Reason to ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 4, 2009 Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Tomorrow's expiration of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which contains legally-binding verification measures, should be looked at in the broader context of negotiations with Russia on a soon-to-be ...
  

Common Dreams-Views

• The AfPak Train Wreck
  by Conn Hallinan When President Barack Obama laid out his plan for winning the war in Afghanistan, behind him stood an army of ghosts: Greeks, Mongols, Buddhists, British, and Russians, all whom had almost the same illusions as the current resident of the Oval Office about Central Asia. The first fo ...
  
• Obama and His (Virtual) Virtuous War
  by John Buell I expected to be disappointed by President Barack Obama's West Point address. During the campaign he constantly reminded us that this war had been thrust upon us. Like World War II, it would define us. Unfortunately, even after months of reflection Obama's speech added little more to h ...
  
• Jared Diamond’s Ecocidal NYT Op-Ed
  by Stephanie McMillan [Sunday's] NYT contains an outrageous op-ed piece by corporate cheerleader Jared Diamond, who states, “I’ve discovered that while some businesses are indeed as destructive as many suspect, others are among the world’s strongest positive forces for environmental sustainabi ...
  
• Cancer From the Kitchen?
  by Nicholas D. Kristof The battle over health care focuses on access to insurance, or tempests like the one that erupted over new mammogram guidelines. But what about broader public health challenges? What if breast cancer in the United States has less to do with insurance or mammograms and more ...
  
• War No Longer an Option for Our Nation
  by Dr. Matthew G. Masiello "In the counsels of Government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the Military Industrial Complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. We must never let the weigh ...
  

Karl Burkart

• Eniram outsmarts waves to reduce cargo emissions
  New report: 16 cargo ships emit more SO2 pollution than all the world’s cars put together.
  
• Copenhagen: Day 1
  The first in a daily briefing from the Copenhagen climate conference.
  
• Finnish cleantech, Oy
  Finland's cleantech sector traces innovative industry back to ancient roots.
  
• Scroogenomics: an answer to 'cyber monday'
  'Cyber Monday' results in 33% spending surge, but Scroogenomics author warns of billions in waste.
  
• World's fastest computer to investigate climate
  Oak Ridge, TN is now home to 'Jaguar,' the world's fastest computer.
  

Water Privatization

• Cole prepares to give State of City address (The S ...
  CARBONDALE - After a year of ups and downs for Carbondale, MayorBrad Cole said Friday the city continues to "move forward."
  
• Background Note: Botswana (Scoop.co.nz)
  Geography Area: 582,000 sq. km. (224,710 sq. mi.), about the size of Texas. Cities (2001 census): Capital --Gaborone (pronounced ha-bo-ro-neh), pop. 186,007. Other towns --Francistown (83,023), Selebi-Phikwe (49,849), Molepolole (54,561), Kanye ...
  
• Background Note: Malawi (Scoop.co.nz)
  Geography Area: 118,484 sq. km. (45,747 sq. mi.); land the size of Pennsylvania, with a lake the size of Vermont. Cities: Capital --Lilongwe. Other cities --Blantyre (the commercial capital), Zomba, Mzuzu. Terrain: Plateaus, highlands, and valleys. ...
  
• Israel is a Democracy - on Condition (Scoop.co.nz)
  JERUSALEM – December 3, 2009 – In its annual survey of the protection of human rights in Israel and the Occupied Territories, ACRI reveals an alarming trend: the conditioning of rights.
  
• City shouldn’t privatize more services (The Colu ...
  Just nine months after Chicago leased its parking meters to a private company in a quick deal, Mayor Richard M. Daley made a statement that any city service is up for sale given the right price, according to the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board. Chicago is still in financial trouble despite the $1.15 ...
  

Guardian

• More than 100 dead as explosions shake Baghdad
  Bombs go off in quick succession across Iraqi capital, wounding more than 190 people Iraq today suffered one of its worst days of violence this year when a series of bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing at least 112 people and injuring more than 197. The Iraqiya television channel reported that the bl ...
  
• Ainsworth sees Afghanistan progress
  Defence secretary, Bob Ainsworth, insists progress is being made in Afghanistan as UK loses 100th soldier there this year The defence secretary, Bob Ainsworth, today insisted progress was being made in Afghanistan as he flew into Helmand province the day after the British military death toll in the ...
  
• Taxi driver 'source of WMD claim'
  Tory MP and defence specialist Adam Holloway says MI6 got information from a taxi driver who had heard Iraqi military commanders talking about weapons An Iraqi taxi driver was the source of the discredited claim that Saddam Hussein could unleash weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, a Tory ...
  
• Branson hails 'sexiest spaceship ever'
  Craft unveiled in freezing Mojave desert in front of celebrity guests including Arnold Schwarzenegger If this was the start of the second space age – as Sir Richard Branson and a cohort of enthusiastic fans insisted – then someone forgot to inform the weatherman. As Britain's most visible showma ...
  
• Eight children killed in China school stampede
  Seven boys and a girl die and 26 others injured in crush after students rushed through stairwell at school in Hunan province A stampede at a school in central China last night killed eight pupils and injured 26 others, state media reported today. Seven boys and a girl, aged between 11 and 14, died i ...
  

Diigo | Green Community

• Best Green Articles from Leading Authors and Publi ...
  Best Green Articles from Leading Authors and Publications OFFERED from Edison New Jersey Essex @ Adpost.com Classifieds - Best Green Articles from Leading Authors and Publications OFFERED from Edison New Jersey Essex for over 1000+ cities, 500+ regions worldwide & across USA - free,classified ad,cla ...
  
• Best Green Articles from Leading Authors and Publi ...
  Best Green Articles from Leading Authors and Publications. services classified ads. small business ads classified ads." /> linklink
  
• Best Green Articles from Leading Authors and Publi ...
  Best Green Articles from Leading Authors and Publications, YatBo Atlantic City Classifieds - Local classifieds for Atlantic City - New Jersey, Posting a Classified Ad is FREE! - you can find almost everything on Yatbo.com Comments: Best Green Articles from Leading Authors and Publications, YatBo Atl ...
  
• Free classified Ads - beatyourprice.com
  Free classified Ads. buy and sell pets, computers, real estate, cars, business at beatyourprice.com Comments: Free classified Ads. buy and sell pets, computers, real estate, cars, business at beatyourprice.com - alexander hampp Tags: Best , Articles , green , environment , sustainability , organic , ...
  
• Green Credit Cards Committed to Environment
  Green Credit Cards Committed to Environment - Camden, New Jersey Comments: Green Credit Cards Committed to Environment - Camden, New Jersey - alexander hampp Tags: Green , Credit , Cards , Environment , sustainability , eco-friendly by: alexander hampp
  

Electronic Intifada

• Refocus the debate on the dispossession
  From my perspective as the head of the agency mandated to assist and protect Palestine refugees, it is particularly vexing that the prevailing approach fails -- or refuses -- to accord the refu ...
  
• Israel denies Bedouin right to elections
  Some 35,000 Bedouin residents of Israel's southern Negev have been denied the right to hold their first local council election after the Israeli parliament passed a law at the last minute to ca ...
  
• Bilin teenager: "They arrested my father to discou ...
  The end of November marked the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, a time to see family and friends and for people to eat together. But for many Palestinians, the Eid was not so festive. Rajaa Abu Rahmah, ...
  
• Human currency
  "We do not negotiate with terrorists" -- a long-cherished mantra of Western democracies. In reality all the major powers have at some stage been forced to discuss with militants, from Northern ...
  
• Propaganda disguised as academic inquiry at the Un ...
  Chancellor Richard Herman of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently resigned due to his cooperation with political influence-peddlers seeking to gain admission for less qualifi ...
  

CS Monitor - News

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

The Wonk Room

• The WonkLine: December 8, 2009
  Welcome to The WonkLine, a daily 10 a.m. roundup of the latest news about health care, the economy, national security, immigration and climate policy. This is what we’re reading. Tell us what you found in the comments section below, and subscribe to the RSS feed. You can now follow The Wonk Room o ...
  
• Sen. Boxer Challenges Men Who Support Nelson&#8217 ...
  This afternoon, as the Senate began debate on Sen. Ben Nelson’s (D-NE) amendment to prohibit federal funds from being used for abortions or for plans that include abortion services, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) drew a parallel to help the amendment’s male co-sponsors better understand its repercuss ...
  
• Dobbs Now Supports An Immigration Plan Similar To ...
  Since leaving CNN, former anchor Lou Dobbs has insisted that he’s always supported “humane immigration reform” and a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants “under certain conditions.” Last Friday, Dobbs provided more details regarding what a path to legalization should look like ...
  
• In Single Appearance, Cantor Can’t Come Up W ...
  Today, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) appeared at the Economist’s World in 2010 conference (attended by ThinkProgress), where he took exception to NBC’s David Gregory characterizing Republicans as “not really a party of ideas, because they don’t want to be.” Cantor claimed that itâ ...
  
• ‘Waiting Us Out’ In Afghanistan… ...
  While conservatives have generally been pleased with President Obama’s decision to send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, many have expressed disappointment at the president’s promulgating Summer 2011 as a goal for beginning the handover of security responsibilities to Afghans, suggesting ...
  

thwap's schoolyard

• Building On What Pogge Said:
  Here : I'm sure the Conservatives would love to see this whole issue of torture turn into a partisan free-for-all that the general public will then tune out as being simply more of the same nonsense that they've come to expect from the overgrown children in Ottawa. You're now helping them and making ...
  
• Is stephen harper a Snivelling Coward?
  Where was he while the intellectually unequipped Peter MacKay was casting apsersions at Richard Colvin's "third-hand information" from people MacKay knows are bad because he's read " third-hand information " about them? There he was. Taking a cheap photo-op with the National Men's Lacrosse Team. ...
  
• Peter MacKay: Imperialist Stooge for a Rapist Gove ...
  Here's the ever-moronic Peter MacKay: Under fire from all parties, MacKay dismissed testimony from Richard Colvin as second- and third-hand information from enemy sources. “What we’re talking about here is not only hearsay, we’re talking about basing much of his evidence on what the Taliban ...
  
• "Hearts and Minds" and Torturing Innocent Bystande ...
  There is a world where the scribblings of someone like Christie Belchforth Blatchford are meaningful. (It isn't my world. I haven't read her in like, forever. She's an idiot and a waste of my time.) That's probably the same world where sending Canadian soldiers to fight and die for a corrupt pup ...
  
• Me vs. Richard Dawkins
  (Wonder what kinda traffic that title will generate!) I don't have much of a beef with Atheist Richard Dawkins . I think most of religion is mumbo-jumbo. I have a rather positivist view of religion. First, humans needed religion to try to explain existence. Then they needed philosophy. Now, sc ...
  

Financial Sense Editorials

• Market Observation: Gold Correction, Courtesy of C ...
  by Ryan Puplava. "In November, gold investors were encouraged by the Federal Reserve's openness about its intention to keep the printing presses running at full capacity. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher went so far as to say that their current interest rate stance may be ...
  
• Is gold in a bubble?
  by Robert Blumen. "Gold has recently broken out to new highs, topping $1150/ounce. The financial media doesn’t trust this move. Widespread commentary has it that gold is in a bubble. Google reports numerous hits for a search on “gold bubble nov 2009”. "
  
• This Week: Grudge Trend
  by Peter Navarro, Ph.D. "Grudgingly, I must admit that the market's upward trend remains in place. However, this remains a very difficult market to make money in while the risk/reward still looks more like a gamble on the long side rather than a solid speculation."
  
• Th*nk*ng (Celebrity)
  by Fred Cederholm. "I’ve been thinking about celebrity. Actually I’ve been thinking about fame/ infamy, fifteen minutes, endorsements/ hawkings, shame/ successes/ scandals, and Hollywood/ Washington. Tis the season for celebrities - it is also the season about celebrities"
  
• Dollar Jump, Gold Decline
  by Paul Nolte. "On the anniversary of the “date that will live in infamy”, many are looking around and wondering whether the US has past our best days and is now slowly sliding into a sunset. Buoyed by a much better than expected jobs report, investors initially cheered and then rethought their ...
  

on Government Oversight

• New Orleans Mayor Thinks City Should Do Business W ...
  How easy should it be in “The Big Easy” for felons convicted of public corruption to win city contracts? Last week, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin created a stir with his statement on local television that he thinks the city...
  
• Morning Smoke: Despite New Rules, Lawmakers Contin ...
  New Rules for Congress Curb but Don’t End Paid Trips [The New York Times] Osprey begins its combat test Raleigh News & Observer] Millions' worth of gear left in Iraq [The Washington Post] High court to take up corruption law...
  
• Morning Smoke: Congress' Research Arm Applauds Oba ...
  President Obama's lobbying reforms praised by Congressional Research Service [Politico] Pentagon Eyes Consortium To Spur Rotorcraft [Aviation Week] How the Afghan Surge Was Sold [Danger Room] (or not us?) Will Obama Expand Afghan War Contractor Force? Gibbs Says He'll Look...
  
• Loophole in Derivatives Overhaul Legislation Under ...
  POGO just sent a letter to the House Agriculture Committee raising our concerns about an amendment offered by Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) that could potentially create a major loophole in the Committee’s bill to strengthen the regulation of over-the-counter (OTC)...
  
• Government Turns to Contractor for Support in Acqu ...
  This week, General Dynamics (GD) announced that it received a $15.6 million five-year contract to support the Department of Defense’s Defense Acquisition University’s (DAU) learning asset program. GD is also providing support for the Army’s combat training program. In response...
  

  Digital Journal

• The White Stuff Is Coming To Toronto Tuesday Night
  If November was titled Snowless in Toronto December may get the name of Stormy Weather. Starting Tuesday night the first true Toronto snow storm will begin for 2009.
  
• 12 B.C. girls fell victim to online sex for drugs, ...
  Kelowna RCMP have laid 33 charges against a 57-year-old man they allege lured middle school girls online with offers of cigarettes, booze and drugs. Police said 12 girls were taken advantage of and more may have been victimized.
  
• Increases in PTSD Rate Outpace Growth of Services
  Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not new. Ninety years ago it was known as 'shell shock'. Sixty years ago, 'Battle Exhaustion.' The rate that is surging amongst US military personnel today is.
  
• Toronto Goes To Court - Bryant and Kenk Trials Bot ...
  This week sees two high profile Toronto court cases come to light, both of interest to cyclists and citizens alike. Michael Bryant and Igor Kenk may both escape due justice.
  
• Death Gets Kids Together in North Bay
  Fifteen years after The Kids in the Hall aired on CBC Television, an eight-part TV series, Death Comes to Town, brought them together again in Northern Ontario.
  

End Homelessness | Change.org

• Where Do the Homeless Go When It's Freezing at Nig ...
  Winter always seems more acute in the beginning of the season... along with our sympathies. When the first frigid nights arrive each winter, your mind wanders to the people you see sitting on the side of the road. We inevitably ask ourselves, "Where do the homeless go on a night like this?" The answ ...
  
• Why Advocates Should Re-frame Homelessness as a Hu ...
  Homelessness is a violation of a person's inherent right to housing. If this concept sounds startling, that's probably because you haven't heard it before. The 'Housing as a Human Right' paradigm is the most powerful - and under-utilized - advocacy approach to combating homelessness. If we want to a ...
  
• White Collar Homelessness Proves No One is Immune
  When I started working with the homeless, I never expected to encounter how widely this social violence is distributed. Anyone can be homeless. I met a software technician who consulted for companies in France and South Korea, an environmental engineer once employed by the EPA, and a business wo ...
  
• Questions Surround Vancouver's Cold Weather Homele ...
  In Vancouver, B.C., an individual's right to sleep on the streets is directly correlated with the rise and fall of a thermometer's mercury. The permits local police to forcibly remove homeless individuals from the streets when temperatures become dangerously cold. Yet with temperatures already dip ...
  
• Homelessness This Week
  The ubiquitous police crackdown on street communities was this week's theme. But there was also a fiscal miracle in Massachusetts and a discouraging end to Thursday's story of a baby born homeless in Washington state. Planned Shelter Cuts Canceled It's a kind of V-Day for homeless advocates in Mas ...
  

Ceasefire.ca

• CIA to expand “secret” drone attacks in Pakist ...
  The New York Times reported last week that the CIA has been given the green light to expand its “secret” drone attacks against Al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan. Under the program, Hellfire missiles are fired at targets in Pakistan from Predator drones flown remotely by CIA operators in t ...
  
• Call for ICC investigation of Canadian military an ...
  UBC Professor Michael Byers and human rights expert Professor William A. Schabas of the National University of Ireland have called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to expand its preliminary examination of alleged war crimes by Canadian officials in and related to Afghanistan. In a letter wr ...
  
• Give peacekeeping a chance?
  Dr. Walter Dorn, Associate Professor of Defence Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada and the Canadian Forces College, suggests in a new op-ed article that a UN peacekeeping force is the best hope for building a more peaceful Afghanistan: There is already a small UN “good-offices” miss ...
  
• Roll up the Taliban to win?
  Canada’s area of military responsibility in Afghanistan is being reduced to maintaining a security perimeter—described by one Canadian soldier as a “doughnut of stability”—around Kandahar City and conducting anti-Taliban operations in Arghandab district just to the northwest of the c ...
  
• Obama escalates Afghan war, promises a way out
  U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday night that he is increasing the U.S. contingent in Afghanistan by 30,000 troops and asking NATO to increase its own troop presence by 5,000 to 10,000. He also stated that the U.S. would seek to speed up the transfer of responsibility for Afghan securi ...
  

Kevin Trudeau Show

• Climate Regulatory Scheme Operated By Bureaucrats ...
  December 7, 2009 InfoWars By Adam Murdock, M.D. This week, President Obama and the leaders of the world are to meet to determine the fate of humanity. This meeting, to be held in Copenhagen, has as its’ mission to bind the nations of the world under a climatocracy, or rather a climate regulatory s ...
  
• The Hypocritical Road to Copenhagen
  December 7, 2009 Charlotte Front and Center No matter the level of foolishness we tolerate from our leaders, politicians, and celebrities as Americans, one action we don’t accept among public figures is hypocrisy.  As the Copenhagen summit gets underway, American plebeians have suffered the adm ...
  
• The Copenhagen Cult, Green Religion, and Money Gra ...
  December 7, 2009 Culture Watch By Bill Muehlenberg In 1982 Professor Robert Nisbet wrote a book called Prejudices: A Philosophical Dictionary. In his section on “Environmentalism” he said this: “Environmentalism is now well on its way to becoming the third great wave of the redemptive struggle ...
  
• Former Labor Secretary Says Destruction of Jobs in ...
  December 7, 2009 Washington’s Blog By Robert Reich The basic assumption that jobs will eventually return when the economy recovers is probably wrong. Some jobs will come back, of course. But the reality that no one wants to talk about is a structural change in the economy that’s been going on fo ...
  
• Why Don’t More Politicians Talk About Climat ...
  December 7, 2009 Reason By David Harsanyi Americans honor the courageous informant, the gutsy citizen who stands against the savagery of the profit-mongering conglomerate. Well, sometimes. It appears, believe it or not, that there are those who aren’t religiously tethered to this sacred obligation ...
  

Pambazuka News

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

War in Context

• The third Viva Palestina Gaza convoy leaves London
  “What Viva Palestina have achieved on their previous convoys has been incredible. Not only did they break the siege on Gaza, but they brought much needed aid, and solidarity on a massive international scale. The efforts of everyone from right across the world who took part in the previous convoyâ ...
  
• Obama wanted a surge, he’s getting a surge, and ...
  Obama wanted a surge, he’s getting a surge, and it feels good By Paul Woodward, War in Context, December 6, 2009 Mine might not be a headline the New York Times would choose, but that’s the story they tell under their flatly descriptive: “How Obama Came to Plan for ‘Surge’ in Afghanistan. ...
  
• Separatists, Islamists and Islamabad struggle for ...
  Separatists, Islamists and Islamabad struggle for control of Pakistani Balochistan By Chris Zambelis, Jamestown Foundation, December 3, 2009 To say that the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in October 2001 shook Pakistan to its core would be an understatement. Since then, the war in ...
  
• Jones: Bin Laden still spends time in Afghanistan
  Jones: Bin Laden still spends time in Afghanistan AP, December 6, 2009 National security adviser James Jones said Sunday that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden still spends some time inside Afghanistan. Most recent U.S. estimates have placed bin Laden inside Pakistan. But Jones, a retired general, sai ...
  
• Obama’s ideal partner: Turkey
  Obama’s ideal partner: Turkey By Joshua W Walker, Today’s Zaman, December 6, 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama laid out his new Afghanistan strategy on Tuesday night by ordering an additional 30,000 US forces to the country. While the majority of the analysis and discussion in Washington has c ...
  

  Blacklisted News

• Jobless Professionals Learn How to Ask: Paper or P ...
  Mara Proctor used to design limestone hearths and columns for luxury homes near Kansas City, drawing on her college education and six years of training.
  
• Was Democrats’ Health Care Strategy Written In F ...
• Business Fumes Over Carbon Dioxide Rule
  Officials gather in Copenhagen this week for an international climate summit, but business leaders are focusing even more on Washington, where the Obama administration is expected as early as Monday to formally declare carbon dioxide a dangerous pollutant.
  
• Air Force Reveals Identity of Mysterious Skunkwork ...
  A mysterious, unidentified drone that has been spotted in multiple photos from Afghanistan resembling previous stealth aircraft has finally been officially revealed. The U.S. Air Force confirmed the new craft, designated the RQ-170 Sentinel, to Aviation Week last Friday, after photos circulating onl ...
  
• A new report questions "suicides" at Guantanamo
  On the night of June 10, 2006, three Guantanamo detainees were found dead in their individual cells. Without any autopsy or investigation, U.S. military officials proclaimed "suicide by hanging" as the cause of each death, and immediately sought to exploit the episode as proof of the evil of the det ...
  

The Intelligence Daily

• Dubai’s collapse puts the job of 250,000 Filipin ...
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
• Mass cannibalism evidence found in Germany
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
• US sees 130 bank failures in '09; six go belly up ...
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
• Unemployment Duration Still on the Rise
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
• Russia opposes monitoring of missile plants under ...
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  

My AntiWar

• Noam Chomsky on the forthcoming Howard Zinn docume ...
• Kunduz: Did German Defense Minister Know More Than ...
• Merkel on the Defensive in Afghanistan
• Pentagon Orders 16,000 Troops to Start Surge
• North Korea Grilled at UN Rights Council

  Rogue Government.com

• Tupac Song Selected For Vatican Playlist
  Music from late rapper Tupac Shakur has been included as part of the Vatican's official MySpace Music playlist.
  
• Judge Declares Mistrial In Hal Turner Case
  
  
• "Police Youth Corps" Confronted at Para ...
  
  
• Rethinking Artificial Intelligence
  The field of artificial-intelligence research (AI), founded more than 50 years ago, seems to many researchers to have spent much of that time wandering in the wilderness, swapping hugely ambitious goals for a relatively modest set of actual accomplishments.
  
• Carbon Capitalists Warming to Climate Market Usin ...
  
  

Innovation Canada

• Extreme exposure
  It’s about 5°C in the chamber, and Geoff Hartley, wearing a burlap tunic and sandals, is trying with numb fingers to put small pegs in small holes. It’s just another day of chillin’ out at the Brock University lab of Stephen Cheung, a world-renowned scientist who studies the impacts of extrem ...
  
• Green Growers
  Deborah Henderson likes to think about the Cuban capital of Havana when she goes in to work. Not the music or the beaches, per se, but the vegetables and the gardens. “Over 75 percent or more of the vegetables consumed in Havana are produced within the city,” claims Henderson. As the director of ...
  
• Building better bridges
  (Reprinted with permission from ResearchLife, Summer 2009 issue, University of Manitoba, umanitoba.ca/research) It was 1952 when Aftab Mufti, a 12-year-old boy living in Karachi, Pakistan, began building bridges. His mother planted a vegetable garden that summer and to help her water it Aftab and hi ...
  
• Viral control
  Depending on whom you ask, the H1N1 flu virus that is making its way around the globe could be anything from a particularly virulent form of influenza to the next worldwide pandemic. As virologists scramble to understand the virus and develop vaccines against it, a Halifax facility is already on the ...
  
• Fear factor
  Let’s say you’re wandering through a deserted alley late one foggy October night. You turn a corner, and lo and behold, you’re surrounded by a crowd of brain-thirsty zombies. Your pulse quickens, your amygdala fires, your respiration is off the charts. You try to run, but you trip and fall. As ...
  

Signs of the times

• Creating facts on the ground: Israeli settlers ram ...
  Nazi-minded Jewish settlers continued to rampage throughout the West Bank, terrorizing unprotected Palestinian citizens and vandalizing their property. Settler leaders, mostly rabbis erudite in Jewish law or Halacha, had ruled that it was permissible to attack Palestinians and their property in ord ...
  
• Study: Parents' Sex Talks With Kids Happening Too ...
  The sex talk is never easy. It's not comfortable for anyone involved - parents are afraid of it, children are mortified by it - which is probably why the "Talk" so often comes after the fact. In the latest study on parent-child talks about sex and sexuality, researchers found that more than 40% of a ...
  
• Web searches for religious topics on the rise
  Religion is not just for churches, synagogues or mosques anymore -- it's a topic that is being actively searched for online, according to researchers at Penn State. The researchers examined how people use search engines to locate religious information online. They analyzed more than 5.5 million sea ...
  
• America Without a Middle Class -- It's Not Far Awa ...
  America today has plenty of rich and super-rich. But it has far more families who did all the right things, but who still have no real security. Can you imagine an America without a strong middle class? If you can, would it still be America as we know it? Today, one in five Americans is unemployed ...
  
• One world media, one world government? Copenhagen ...
  This editorial calling for action from world leaders on climate change is published today by 56 newspapers around the world in 20 languages Today 56 newspapers in 45 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profou ...
  

Threat Level

• Parents of Dead Teen Sue School Over Sexting Image ...
  The parents of a teenage girl who committed suicide last year are suing the girl’s ex-boyfriend and several other former high school classmates who circulated a nude photo of her and harassed her about the image. The suit was filed in Ohio by Cynthia and Albert Logan who say that the students’ â ...
  
• Mistrial in Case of Hate Blogger Charged With Judg ...
  A federal judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case of a notorious New Jersey hate blogger charged in June with threatening to kill judges. According to court documents, after a three-judge panel of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals upheld a Chicago handgun ban in June, Hal Turner blo ...
  
• TSA Leaks Sensitive Airport Screening Manual
  Who needs anonymous sources when the government is perfectly capable of leaking its own secrets? Government workers preparing the release of a Transportation Security Administration manual that details airport screening procedures badly bungled their redaction of the .pdf file. Result: The full tex ...
  
• Napster Trial Celebrates Decade Anniversary
  I have a Monday story in Wired.com’s This Day in Tech blog reviewing the Napster litigation, 10-years-old today. “The Napster trial was about big money. Along the way, the case mutated into a cannibalizing feeding frenzy: The music industry was searching for deep financial pockets, and targeted ...
  
• Judge Finalizes $675,000 RIAA Piracy Verdict, Wonâ ...
  A federal judge on Monday finalized a $675,000 jury verdict against a defendant who went to trial after the Recording Industry Association of America sued him for file sharing. U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner presided over the Joel Tenenbaum case in summer 2009. Tenenbaum was only the nation’s ...
  

PERRspectives : Blog

• Republicans Warn of Health Care Gulags and Ghettoe ...
  For the Republican Party, the only thing worse than lower income Americans not having access to health insurance is having it. That's the conclusion of Texas GOP Senator John Cornyn, who on Sunday deemed the popular Medicaid program that serves...
  
• Michael Moore's Afghanistan Letter Rewrites Histor ...
  Promoting his latest film earlier this year, Michael Moore ignored the achievements of the Progressive movement and the New Deal when he declared, "capitalism is evil and you can't regulate evil." Now on the eve of President Obama's address to...
  
• Faith, Friends and Family: The Mike Huckabee Pardo ...
  As it turns out, Mike Huckabee yesterday chose the right day to declare that "it's less likely than more likely" that he'll run for President in 2012. The horrific news that Maurice Clemmons, the repeat felon granted clemency by then...
  
• Notorious Hothead McCain Now "Madder Than I've Eve ...
  Facing a surprisingly strong primary challenge from Tea Party darling J.D. Hayworth, Arizona Senator John McCain is now appealing to frothing-at-the-mouth Tea Baggers in the only language they understand: anger. But when McCain told Don Imus Friday that "I'm madder...
  
• Birther Palin Now Declares Her Family Fair Game
  During the 2008 campaign, then Senator Barack Obama rushed to Sarah Palin's defense in reaction to the media frenzy over her 17 year old daughter's pregnancy. "Let me be as clear as possible," Obama said, adding: "I think people's families...
  

Blackspot News Feed

• Why Fake Optimism Is the Worst Way to Deal with Li ...
  Looking at crap and calling it candy has become a growth industry. But experts say there are better ways to deal with crisis.
  
• Meet Stewart Resnick, Corporate Farming Billionair ...
  Thanks to his generous relationship with Dianne Feinstein, a corporate farmer is successfully crusading against environmental preservation in California.
  
• Digital Dollars: Why the Marketing and Ad Industry ...
  The firms doing the spinning for some of the financial meltdown's biggest players have good reason to be worried. Their crimes, after all, went largely unnoticed.
  
• 11 Dangerous Ingredients You Should Avoid at All C ...
  Headaches, birth defects, allergies and even cancer can be caused by ingredients in common cosmetics. You don't need that junk to look good.
  
• How the Religious Right Stole Christmas
  Every holiday season, Christian conservatives moan about a "war on Christmas." Not surprisingly, this is tied to massive fundraising campaigns.
  

Consortium News

• Obama Pleases the Neocons
  Washington's neocons gloat at their success in goading President Obama into an Afghan War escalation, reports Robert Parry. December 3, 2009
  
• US 'No-Fly' List Keeps Growing
  A frustrating holdover from the Bush administration's "war on terror" is the ever-growing "no-fly" list, notes Ivan Eland. December 3, 2009
  
• Afghanistan: Roach Motel for Empires
  By escalating the Afghan War, the United States falls deeper into a trap laid by Osama bin Laden, writes Zoltan Grossman. December 2, 2009
  
• Obama with Blood on His Hands
  President Obama's Afghan War decision guarantees more civilian deaths and more war violations, says Nicolas J S Davies. December 2, 2009
  
• Colin Powell's My Lai Connection
  From the Archive: The Afghan War escalation recalls Colin Powell's tie to an earlier war and its war crimes. By Robert Parry and Norman Solomon.
  

CounterPunch

• Ishmael Reed : The Selling of "Precious": Hollywoo ...
• Paul Craig Roberts : The Twin Frauds of Obama
• Vijay Prashad : Children Afraid of the Night: the ...
• Muhammad Idrees Ahmad : Pakistan Creates Its Own E ...
• Eamonn McCann : The Rape of Irish Children

Institute for Middle East Understanding

• Inside Story - The battle for Jerusalem (Inside S ...
• The Goldstone Report on the Israeli incursion into ...
  Israel claims self-defense, but Gaza incursion was a war crime. Palm Beach County Democratic officials ignored overwhelming evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza by disinviting Rep. Dennis Kucinich as their ...
  
• West Bank settlers block freeze-order officials ( ...
  Hundreds of settlers yesterday blocked the entrances to two settlements in the occupied West Bank to prevent Israeli government inspectors from serving construction freeze orders in line with a government or ...
  
• EU rowing back on Palestinian stance (Arthur Bees ...
  EU Foreign ministers are poised to drop an explicit endorsement of East Jerusalem as capital of a new Palestinian state in a statement today on the stalemate in the Middle East peace process. Welcomed by Pal ...
  
• Expatriate Palestinians irate over revoked residen ...
  In 1954, Mahmmoud Hujaij was born in a small East Jerusalem house. Half a century later, he is fighting for the right to continue living there. On a 2006 trip to visit his sister and ailing mother, Israeli a ...
  

Water - AlterNet

• What the Frack? Poisoning our Water in the Name of ...
  An estimated 77 billion barrels of contaminated water were generated worldwide in 2000 by oil and gas operations. In recent years this volume has increased.
  
• Meet Stewart Resnick, Corporate Farming Billionair ...
  Thanks to his generous relationship with Dianne Feinstein, a corporate farmer is successfully crusading against environmental preservation in California.
  
• Melting Himalayan Glaciers Threaten 1.3 Billion As ...
  Glaciers in the Himalayas provide headwaters for Asia's nine largest rivers, lifelines for the 1.3 billion people who live downstream.
  
• Good Cod Almighty, We've Got a Global Fishing Cris ...
  Cos is providing the most evidence for the unsustainable manner in which civilized humans are pillaging the oceans in search of cheap and plentiful protein.
  
• No Future Act of 2010: Oil Industry Comes Up With ...
  Not surprisingly, the industry's bill requires expedited oil drilling everywhere -- Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain, fish-rich Bristol Bay, and on the Florida Gulf Coast and Panhandle.
  

TruthHugger

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

Dandelion Salad - Featured Writers' Posts

• The Jeff Farias Show: Sasha Abramsky + Andy Worthi ...
  Interview with Andy Worthington Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Posted with permission from Jeff Far
  
• 116 Guantánamo Prisoners Cleared For Release; 171 ...
  by Andy Worthington Featured Writer Dandelion Salad www.andyworthington.co.uk 7 December 2009 In the
  
• We'd Better Answer This One by Daniel N. White
  by Daniel N. White Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Dec. 7, 2009 This one being the night question th
  
• Let’s Talk about VUI: Voting Under the Influence ...
  by Sibel Edmonds Featured Writer Dandelion Salad originally published by Boiling Frogs Post 7 Decemb
  
• Guantánamo Lawyer Calls Off Talk In Illinois Afte ...
  by Andy Worthington Featured Writer Dandelion Salad www.andyworthington.co.uk 7 December 2009 In a d
  

Unexplained Mysteries

• People can type with only their thoughts
  Scientists have revealed that by implanting electrodes in a human brain that person is able to type on a computer using only their mind, a breakth...
  
• Was Russia behind Climategate ?
  Speculation is growing that the Russian secret service was behind the hacking incident that leaked controversial emails about global warming in th...
  
• How did Uranus get its tilt ?
  Theories as to how the planet Uranus ended up rotating on its side range from a gradual wobble to a cataclysmic collision, but astronomers now thi...
  
• Mythical white stag photographed
  A photographer has succeeded in taking a picture of a rare white stag, an animal that has long been associated with mythology and featured in stor...
  
• Police consulted warlock over horse plaiting
  Police in Dorset have consulted with a warlock in an effort to unravel the mystery of horses having their manes plaited, it is believed that this ...
  

Grassroots

• A militarized regime in Honduras continues, Via Ca ...
  amp-soldados-hondurenos-atacan-manifestacion-2009-06-28-13976.jpg Paraphrasing Lisa Sullivan, School of the Americas Watch Latin America coordinator, the Honduran election last Sunday is another case of political ‘whitewash’ in the America ...
  
• Insights - Fall 2009
  Cooling the Earth with Food Sovereignty Agriculture ... will likely be a pivotal issue when the world’s leaders meet in Copenhagen this December to finish negotiating a global climate treaty. Grassroots International and our partners and allies are working hard to show that sustainable agriculture ...
  
• Cooling the Earth with Food Sovereignty
  Agriculture ... will likely be a pivotal issue when the world’s leaders meet in Copenhagen this December to finish negotiating a global climate treaty. Grassroots International and our partners and allies are working hard to show that sustainable agriculture can play a big role in stopping climate ...
  
• Why Food Sovereignty Is the New Food Security
  IMG_2759.JPG   read more
  
• Resource Rights and the Right to Food at the World ...
  wfs-pic09.jpg In 1996 the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) organized the first World Food Summit in Rome to, in their own words, “renew global commitment to the fight against hunger. The FAO called the Summit in respons ...
  

Climate

• December 7, 2009
  Climate Conference Opens in Copenhagen (AP) The largest and most important U.N. climate change conference in history opened today, with organizers warning diplomats from 192 nations that this could be the best, last chance for a deal to protect the world from calamitous global warming. India ...
  
• December 5-6, 2009
  EPA Poised to Declare CO2 a Public Danger (Wall Street Journal) The EPA will early this week, possibly as soon as Monday, officially declare CO2 a public danger, a move that could give the U.S. negotiating leverage in Copenhagen. Renewables to Supply One-Third China's Energy by 2050 (Reuters) ...
  
• December 4, 2009
  India’s Climate Target Mirrors China’s (Reuters) India set a goal today for slowing growth of its greenhouse gas emissions, an announcement that contrasted with a harder line a day earlier when diplomats said India, China, Brazil and South Africa opposed the a goal of halving world emission ...
  
• December 3, 2009
  Saudi Arabia: Hacked E-Mails Will Have ‘Huge Impact' on Copenhagen (BBC) Saudi Arabia’s lead negotiator says the hacked e-mails and resulting controversy stirred by skeptics and conspiracy theorists will have “a huge impact" on next week's UN climate summit. That's a boon for the world's le ...
  
• December 2, 2009
  British Scientist Steps Down During Probe of Hacked E-Mails (Washington Post) Phil Jones, a central figures in the uproar over hacked e-mails from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit, announced he is stepping down as the unit's director while the university investigates. Aus ...
  

TomDispatch

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

Smirking Chimp

• The Irrefutable Stupidity of Sarah Palin
  From time to time, I'll get into a debate with a right-winger about whether Sarah Palin is actually stupid or if liberals are just hopelessly biased against her. They claim this bias comes from the fact that liberals are scared of her electability, her charm, her looks, her femininity, her Christian ...
  
• U.S. Not Prepared for Casualties from Troop Buildu ...
  As the Obama administration busily creates more foreign casualties in Afghanistan, early signals are that our troops look to suffer as well in a replay of the Bush administration's premeditated denial of veterans' care. Even as the Obama administration signals on one hand a new and improved approach ...
  
• Obama's Wars, Obama's Casualties, Obama's Responsi ...
  On Veterans Day 2009, President Barack Obama walked through the headstones in Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, DC. He was deliberating his impending decision to escalate and then terminate the Afghanistan War. On December 1, Obama announced his temporary escalation of the Afghanistan ...
  
• Tomgram: Bill McKibben, Why Copenhagen May Be a Di ...
  — from TomDispatch Let me be blunt about what amazes me when it comes to global warming.  In the U.S., it’s largely an issue for Democrats, “progressives,” liberals, the left, and I simply don’t get that.  Never have.  If the word “conservative” means anything, the key to it must be ...
  
• Tiger's Mistresses March on Washington
  WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - In one of the largest mass demonstrations in recent history, over one million women claiming to have had sexual liaisons with Tiger Woods marched on Washington today. Determined to show that they are a political force to be reckoned with, the coalition of nightclub ...
  

Ten Percent

• So, Murder Then
  Gitmo ’suicides’, gosh those turrists are cunning (and at the time the US govt said the ’suicides’ were acts of asymmetrical warfare, to damage the reputation of the noble Empire, also the NCIS report acted as part of the cover up)… As the report [Seton Hall study] describes, for the th ...
  
• Banks Get Free Insurance
  Richard Murphy:- I have been arguing since 2007 that UK banks should pay 10% more in tax than other companies. I argued at that time that this was the fee they owed for the state taking the risk of guaranteeing the deposits on which all banks (without exception) depend. That guarantee is still in pl ...
  
• Evo Wins
  Otto further documents the English speaking media atrocities. It’s amazing, he has won by an overwhelming majority far greater than any mandate a UK or US politician could manage yet because he is pursuing a different path to promote the wellbeing of his people (ie a path to wellbeing as opposed t ...
  
• Viva Palestina Convoy Leaves For Gaza
  VivaPalestina.org
  
• Business As Usual
  (IPS/TerraViva) - China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, has stolen a march over the rest of Asia in unilaterally declaring its carbon intensity cuts a day after President Barack Obama did late last month for the U.S. The U.S. has proposed a 17 percent cut below 2005 levels by 20 ...
  

Paul Krugman

• Unhelpful Hansen
  It's just destructive to denounce the program we can actually get -- a program that can be made increasingly effective over time -- in favor of something that can't possibly happen in time to avoid disaster.
  
• Protocols of the elders of finance
  A report from inside the conspiracy.
  
• Bernanke does a bad, bad thing
  Unhelpful remarks on fiscal policy.
  
• Just the usual disaster
  But shouldn't we be doing better?
  
• Good news is bad news
  Good news is bad news, because this month's not-too-bad number deflates the sense of urgency.
  

No Quarter

• Are Democrats Finally Getting A Clue?
  ~ Bumped Up ~ Yes, and no. They realize they need to change how the primaries are conducted, yet don’t see any real problems with how the last one went. I have written about the rampant Caucus fraud ad nauseum, but apparently, the DNC missed it. Even though the Clinton Campaign told them [...]
  
• The Church Of Obama Is Losing Members
  ^ ^ ^ Bumped up ^ ^ ^ This is perfect Sunday fare, and rich coming from someone who routinely appeared with Keith Olbermann on Countdown (until they broke up back in August last year). That would be Dana Milbank. Oh, yes, this is priceless: Obama The Mortal Some parishioners in the Church of Obama ...
  
• A Very Special Christmas Tree
  This is a drawing of my 2004 Christmas tree. It was short–only 31 inches. It was cheap– $19.95 plus tax. So, what’s so very, very special about this stubby little guy? Well, two weeks later it was not a dried out brown skeleton, shrunken and shedding its needles while being dragged to the ...
  
• In 15 Minutes: NoQuarter Radio’s Sins of Omissio ...
  Join Sins of Omission tonight, November 23rd at 9:00 p.m. ET as host Paulie Abeles talks to investigative reporter Dr. Charles Bergman. Bergman has traveled extensively in Latin America researching this issue and his article “Wildlife Trafficking” is the cover of this month’s issue of Smith ...
  
• More Observations on Egypt
  Tourism is alive and well in Egypt, in part because it is not terribly expensive once you get there. For example, my tour cost $675 for a week of activity, which included visiting the Pyramids in Giza, touring the National Museum and taking a four day cruise down the Nile on a upscale river [...]
  

Environmental Graffiti

• Giant Jellyfish!!!
• Giant Bell Structures Looming Over the Indonesian ...
• Polo Like You’ve Never Seen It Before
• Gazing into the Center of the Milky Way
• 10 Most Incredible Natural Arches On Earth

Foreign Policy in Focus

• 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.
  
• President Obama's Afghanistan Election Speech
  An assessment of what Obama said -- and what he didn't say.
  
• Poets for Peace
  As the United States escalates the war in Afghanistan, poets speak out.
  
• A Tale of Two Human Rights Awardees
  Washington supports those who protest against regimes it opposes and ignores the human rights activists of allied countries.
  

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 wil ...
  
• 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 ...
  

Al Jazeera

• Earth in 'hottest decade on record'
  UN weather agency makes warning as leaders gather in Copenhagen for climate summit.
  
• Scores dead in Iraq bomb blasts
  Serial car bomb blasts hit capital Baghdad.
  
• Deadly blast rocks Pakistani city
  At least nine people killed in Multan as bomb targets intelligence agency office.
  
• EU to debate East Jerusalem status
  Brussels meeting to discuss move to recognise East Jerusalem as Palestinian capital.
  
• Indonesia army 'killed Balibo Five'
  Retired officer says reporters were shot deliberately during East Timor invasion.
  

Green Inc. - NYT

• 'People's Summit' Sets Alternate Agenda
  As the formal U.N. climate talks got underway, a coalition of groups were busy preparing the finishing touches for their own 12-day conference.
  
• On Our Radar: Copenhagen
  An animated journey through the Earth's climate history, and other news pertaining to the Copenhagen climate conference.
  
• Comparing Carbon Emissions
  Many countries have announced targets for reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases. But in doing so, they have used different baselines against which to measure their reductions.
  
• Lessons From Kyoto
  An interactive chart explains why some countries are on track to meet their emissions targets in the Kyoto Protocol‚ or not‚ and examine the protocol's impact on global emissions.
  
• E.P.A. Sets Carbon Crackdown
  The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday will issue a final finding that greenhouse gases pose a danger to human health and the environment, paving the way for regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, power plants, factories refineries and other major sources.
  

Dot Earth News

• 'Copenhagen 101′
  Laying out some basic issues with the help of passersby.
  
• U.S. Climate Envoy Defends CO2 Plan as Talks Open
  The United States lays out its case at the climate talks.
  
• Climate Talks Aim to Move from Pledges to Action
  As climate talks commence in Copenhagen, old rifts persist.
  
• Book Report: 'Blessed Unrest'
  A determined environmental activist explores a book proposing that community action can overpower elites.
  
• Climate Panel Defends its Findings and Members
  The leaders of the last review of climate science by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defend their findings and the scientists exposed in the email disclosure.
  

Doug Feith : Hong Pong

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

Daily Censored

• The Celebration Went Unnoticed – Big Leftist Win ...
  Michael Collins Uruguay’s left wing political coalition, the Broad Front party (Frente Amplio), retained control of the presidency in the November elections.  This wasn’t just any election.  The winner, flower farmer Jose “Pepe” Mujica, was the victim of imprisonment and torture durin ...
  
• Can Obama Succeed in Afghanistan?
  In a major foreign policy speech on Tuesday, US President Obama announced the sending of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. The fact that he gave the speech at West Point military academy, the single most prestigious US military academy, was significant. As the chief arbiter and representative ...
  
• State [of] Affairs
  I have been reading this crap about Desiree Rogers.  This is wrong.   What I am reading.  Then I realized I shouldn’t be reading this stuff about her.  No one should.  She is the Social Secretary for the White House.  I believe it is her job to plan social events.  I believe it is her [...]
  
• Book bannings – The News Story
  By Saul Ortega and Nelson Gassett “[I]t is critical to listen to as many diverse voices as possible. When it comes to Cuba, we do exactly that.” –President Barack Obama, responding to questions from blogger Yoani Sanchez, November 19, 2009 On November 15, the U.S. Supreme Court decided ...
  
• Medical breaches rarely make national headlines
  Medical breaches often get a mention in a local or state paper, but rarely do they make national headlines.  Over the past two months, there have been numerous breaches, barely getting a mention, but, when taken as a whole, reveal just how at risk our personal information really is. In October, a n ...
  

AlterNet's Breaking News

• Nuggets spoil Iverson's return to NBA 76ers
• Packers rip Ravens to boost playoff chances
• When the Nobel Peace Prize creates a stir
• Google announces camera-based Web search
• Liberal coalition posts $200,000 bounty on Chamber ...

Institute for Policy Studies

• Jobs Crisis Needs Drastic Action
  Nine months into the stimulus, with double-digit unemployment, we need a full-scale emergency relief plan.
  
• Africa and the Economic Crisis
  While the world focuses on Afghanistan, Africa is addressing the global economic crisis in new ways.
  
• 'The Story of Cap and Trade': This Moment Demands ...
  We can't keep turning to the market for answers to our environmental problems.
  
• Why Welfare Reform Fails its Recession Test
  Our 'social safety net' isn't holding up at a time when we need it most.
  
• U.S.-China Bilateral Investment Treaty Negotiation ...
  Expedited talks with China may shine a brighter spotlight on these controversial agreements.
  

Godspace

• Second Monday of Advent – Waiting Disagreeab ...
  This second reflection for Monday of the second week of Advent comes from Gil George a Christ-centered Quaker, full-time stay-at-home dad, who attends George Fox Evangelical Seminary part-time. He has an extraordinarily cute 18 month old daughter Amy and an awesome wife Melody, and wonders if he sou ...
  
• Second Monday of Advent – My Violin Advent b ...
  We are now into the second week of Advent.  The traditional focus for this week is hope.  So many of the things we hope for in our lives fade into oblivion but the wonder of the hope we have at this season is that it shines brighter every day.  We step up the longing for [...]
  
• End of the First Week of Advent – What are W ...
  This first week of Advent has been a wonderful opportunity to explore different aspects of our Christian journey as all of us wait for the coming of Christ.  Some of us wait in joyful expectation, others wait in the midst of heartache and pain,  all of us wait with hope and anticipation for the pr ...
  
• First Saturday of Advent: Holy Waiting: A Reflecti ...
  Today’s post comes from Liz Dyer who describes herself as a follower of Jesus Christ who lives in Texas (Dallas/Fort Worth area). She is married with two sons.  She enjoys reading, blogging, listening to music, going to movies, the emergent conversation and hanging out with friends and family. ...
  
• Let Our Eyes Be Opened – Advent Reflection b ...
  This afternoon’s Advent reflection was written by Kimberlee Conway Ireton.  Kimberlee is the author of The Circle of Seasons: Meeting God in the Church Year. You can visit her online at http://kimberleeconwayireton.net. Let Our Eyes Be Opened Jesus stood still and called them, saying, †...
  

Equality Trust

• Dr Lynne Friedli on the impact of inequality on me ...
  Dr Lynne Friedli talks about the impact of inequality on mental health, in a discussion with John Humphrys on the Today Programme - scroll down to 07.33 Listen to the discussion
  
• Plans to force banks to reveal millionaire staff
  Banks will be forced to reveal how many of their staff earn more than one million pounds a year, under recommended reforms of the financial sector to be released today. Read more
  
• To tackle child poverty we must also address inequ ...
  Kate Green, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group , writes for the TUC's Touchstone blog that "if we are to take seriously the issues of child poverty and child wellbeing then we need to tackle the high levels of inequality in this country." Read the rest of Kate's article
  
• We need tax reform, not tax and spend
  Over the last year we have watched as a bank-induced credit crunch morphed into debate on public services cuts. While the public have bailed out the bankers, whose flawed system led us into this mess, it is those least able to afford it who are facing the reality of having their pay and benefits fro ...
  
• Public sector incomes: what we pay them
  Six million people work for the state in Britain, in hundreds of professions. Find out how their incomes compare, from the top to the bottom. From the Guardian, Tuesday 17 November
  

IntelNews

• EU foreign minister’s husband shunned KGB approa ...
  The husband of the recently appointed European Union minister for foreign affairs has acknowledged that the KGB tried to cultivate a relationship with him in the 1980s. Peter Kellner, who now presides over influential British polling company YouGov, is married to Baroness Ashton of Upholland (born C ...
  
• News you may have missed #0209
  Court documents strengthen case of alleged FBI informant. Britain's ITV to air documentary on MI5.
  
• Comment: Did Russian Intelligence Hack Climate-Cha ...
  For over a fortnight, the world’s news services have focused on the so-called ‘Climategate’, the hundreds of University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit emails that were hacked from the university’s server and leaked onto the Internet. The stolen emails, some of which date back to 1 ...
  
• Writings by CIA defector Edward Lee Howard publish ...
  An extensive article on spy tradecraft, written by CIA case officer Edward Lee Howard, after he defected to the Soviet Union in 1985, has been published for the first time.
  
• News you may have missed #0208
  Georgia denies entry to Russian 'spies'. US monitors China's hiring of foreign journalists. Audio interview with NSA's information assurance director.
  

After Downing Street.org

• Grijalva Pushes to Block War Funding
  Road Map: Defense Bill Allows Obama to Start Troop Surge By Steven T. Dennis, Roll Call , Dec. 8, 2009 Congress is poised to quickly clear tens of billions of dollars in war funding for Afghanistan that President Barack Obama intends to use to start his controversial surge — a fact that is largel ...
  
• "What Ya Got?" Seeking Tips On Chamber of Commerce ...
  Yeah, we know the old poster said $100,000, but it just doubled! Doubled to $200,000! or Click here . read more
  
• NObel for Obama
  When on October 9, 2009, Barack Obama became the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the world's most prestigious human affairs honor, it was viewed both by giver and recipient as an act of faith that would be justified by future actions. President Obama himself said it was m ...
  
• Colleen Rowley: New Warnings to New War President
  New Warnings to New War President By Colleen Rowley, Former FBI Special Agent Today marked another day of protests in Minneapolis in opposition to Obama's decision to escalate the war on Afghanistan/Pakistan. Instead of the "taking to the streets" in downtown Minneapolis the night after the Pr ...
  
• Was Iraqi Cabbie the Source of the Dodgy Dossier? ...
  Was Iraqi cabbie the source of the dodgy dossier? MP's report claims 'intelligence' on Saddam's WMDs came from back of a taxi By Tim Shipman | Times Online Gossip from an Iraqi taxi driver was a key source for Tony Blair's 'dodgy dossier'. A report by a respected MP claims that the unlikely secre ...
  

Grist - News

• Historic climate conference opens to dire warnings
  by Agence France-Presse COPENHAGEN -- A landmark conference on tackling climate change opened in Copenhagen on Monday to warnings of apocalyptic danger for humankind if world leaders failed to seize the moment. The impact on humanity of human-made drought, flood, storms, and rising seas were spelle ...
  
• EPA declares greenhouse gases a threat, paves way ...
  by Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday declared carbon blamed for global warming a public health threat, paving the way to regulate the emissions for the first time. Administrator Lisa Jackson said that the agency was "now authorized and obligated to mak ...
  
• As Copenhagen kicks off, a Good News roundup
  by David Roberts The fashionable narrative about climate politics in American media is deflationist: nobody cares about climate any more because of some emails, the Senate clean energy bill is doomed because of the economy, and the Copenhagen climate talks will end in failure because of intractable ...
  
• In a frenzied Copenhagen, crucial climate talks be ...
  by Jonathan Hiskes COPENHAGEN--There was no calm before the storm. At least not over the last few days, not in Copenhagen. The climate change conference begins for real this Monday morning, but the deluge—of information, of people, of noise of all sorts—swept into the city days ago. Downtown, t ...
  
• Top Obama admin. officials tout clean energy in Se ...
  by Robert McClure SEATTLE -- You could tell by the way Obama administration officials pep-talked a roomful of clean-energy businesspeople today that the White House realizes it hasn't convinced Americans that "tackling climate change = ending the recession." Again and again EPA Administrator Lisa J ...
  

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Technorati - What's Hot in Blogs

• Should There Be a Panic Button on Social Networkin ...
  Should more be done to improve online safety for users?
  
• Danica Patrick Enters NASCAR
  IndyCar star Danica Patrick will make the move to NASCAR.
  
• Etsy Delivers The (Handmade) Goods
  Christmas Shopping just got easier with Etsy. In this economy, what better way to stimulate the economy than allowing the buyer buy directly from the maker?
  
• CNN/YouTube Sponsor Live Climate Change Debate
  CNN and YouTube are teaming up to present a live climate change debate in honor of the COP15 conference in Copenhagen this month.
  
• Bernanke Forecasts "Modest Economic Growth" in 201 ...
  A cautiously optimistic Bernanke told the Economic Club of Washington on Monday that he expects "modest economic growth" in the coming year.
  

Time - Top Stories

• Looking Again at the Health Reform Abortion Wars
  What is it about those Nebraska governors-turned-senators? Did they not get enough attention as children?
  
• U.S. Talks with North Korea to Focus on Nuclear Is ...
  To jump-start stalled talks over the North's nuclear weapons, Washington sends a special envoy to Pyongyang. But the Obama Administration is not expecting a breakthrough
  
• Making Jobs: Can the Government Really Boost Emplo ...
  President Obama wants to help America's 15 million unemployed. But short-term job creation is not the Government's best game
  
• A Chicago Arrest: Are Pakistani Jihadis Going Glob ...
  Allegations tying a Chicago man to Lashkar-e-Taiba raise concerns that the Pakistan-based terror group responsible for the Mumbai massacre may be broadening its horizons
  
• Can Liberal Senators Cash In Their Public Option C ...
  The scuttle around Capitol Hill today is that public option devotees in the Senate are considering giving up the fight - in exchange for some rather hefty parting gifts
  

Washington Independent

• Huckabee’s Apology Tour
  It continues with an op-ed in The Washington Post on “Why I commuted Maurice Clemmons’s sentence.” On this issue, the problem conservatives have with Huckabee, who as governor of Arkansas freed the suspect in last month’s murder of four Washington State police officers, is his refusal to acc ...
  
• These Are Not the Petraeus Hearings
  While this post serves, I think, as a good introduction to the next two days’ worth of Capitol Hill testimony on Afghanistan from Gen. Stanley McChrystal and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, let’s take it a step further. The comparison with Gen. David Petraeus’ dramatic September 2007 Iraq hearings ...
  
• Study: Millions to Prematurely Lose Unemployment B ...
  Because of the tiered nature of the various extensions -- and because beneficiaries must exhaust one tier before applying for the next -- the year-end deadline would prevent many eligible families from filing for the next level of benefits.
  
• Gitmo Suicide Report Complicates DOJ Lawsuit Stanc ...
  The latest revelations about the deaths of three men at Guantanamo are consistent with a broader trend in how the U.S. government has tried to conceal the circumstances of deaths in U.S. custody and shield U.S. officials from liability.
  
• That Dastardly Mohammed Karzai
  Foreign policy sage Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has returned from a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan and has a few thoughts he’d like to share on the House floor. MediaMatters notices a certain oddity: Hamid Karzai, you might recall, is the president of Afghanistan. Whatever; they’re all called so ...
  

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

• Tale of Two Obamas
  Robert Kuttner | HuffPo | December 6, 2009 I was pleasantly surprised to be invited to the White House jobs summit last Thursday, where I got to watch President Obama engage with about 130 people off the cuff. And I was reminded, first hand, what drew so many of us to the promise of this remarkab ...
  
• Report Asks: How & Why Did Guantanamo Bay ‘S ...
  Gitmo ’suicide’ trio had rags stuffed down throats: report Raw Story- By Daniel Tencer Monday, December 7th, 2009 — 1:55 pm The US military has long maintained that the deaths of three detainees at Guantanamo Bay in one night in 2006 were suicides, but to the authors of an exhaustive ...
  
• Afternoon Jukebox- Put Your Lights On
  Santana & Everlast – Put Your Lights On
  
• Prof. Watson calls Morano an ‘asshole’ ...
  Marc Morano Climate Depot Sunday, Dec 6th, 2009 A professor who is accusing global warming skeptics of engaging in “tabloid-style character assassination” of scientists, called an American climate skeptic “an assh*le” on the December 4, 2009 live broadcast of BBC’s Newsnight prog ...
  
• SNL: Party Crashing Couple- 12/5/09 (VIDEO)
  SNL Salahi Skit Spoofs Party Crashing Couple, Secret Service (VIDEO) Huffington Post First Posted: 12- 5-09 06:47 PM   |   Updated: 12- 6-09 03:32 AM UPDATE: The Salahis did not appear on SNL’s opening scene. But the show did begin with a clip lampooning the party crashers and a ...
  

Solari

• Renewing Relations: Russia & Vatican
  Pope Benedict XVI and visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed Thursday to upgrade Vatican-Kremlin relations to full diplomatic ties, the Vatican said. The step forward on the diplomatic front comes at the same time as a warming in previously tense relations between the Russian Orthodox Ch ...
  
• Money Trap Complexity: Traditional IRA vs. Roth
  By Anne Tergesen Starting Jan. 1, Uncle Sam will permanently eliminate both the income and filing-status restrictions on transferring money from a traditional IRA to a Roth — a procedure known as converting. So, anyone willing to pay the income taxes due upon making such a move will be able to fu ...
  
• Spitzer: Geithner, Bernanke Should Go
  Continue reading Geithner, Bernanke “Complicit” in Financial Crisis and Should Go
  
• Seattle Gentrification ala IRS
  By Danny Westneat Rachel Porcaro knows she’s hardly rich. When you’re a single mom making 10 bucks an hour, you don’t need government experts to tell you how broke you are. But that’s what happened. The government not only told Porcaro she was poor. They said she was too poor to make it in ...
  
• Growing Power
  Continue viewing YouTube
  

Global Insights

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

Insurgency Watch - Newswire

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

AlterNet - Rights and Liberties

• Four Men Leave Guantanamo; Two Face Ill-Defined Tr ...
  Last week, the Obama administration announced that it had transferred four prisoners from Gitmo: one to France, one to Hungary, and two to Italy.
  
• We're Doing a Heckuva Job Helping Those Devastated ...
  Like the levees in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the safety net is failing Americans battered by the 'Great Recession' of 2008-2009.
  
• Purple Hearts On Death Row: War Damaged Vets Shoul ...
  Soldiers are coming home traumatized by the carnage they've seen. As veterans, we believe those who commit crimes due to severe mental problems should be treated, not killed.
  
• Prop. 8 Challenge Puts Homosexuality on Trial
  Much more than marriage is at stake in the federal legal challenge to Prop. 8. Like Brown v. Board of Education,it can change American life. But it can also go very wrong.
  
• What the FBI's Murder of a Black Panther Can Teach ...
  The legacy of Fred Hampton, who was assassinated under COINTELPRO in 1969, should be our demand that U.S. officials be held accountable when they break the law.
  

Sideways News

• Bionic fingers hailed as 'world first'
  Artificial fingers that can bend, touch, pick things up, grasp and point have been unveiled by Scottish company Touch Bionics in what they claim is a world first. ProDigits can replace all five fingers on a hand that are missing either from birth or as the result of an accident. Says marketing dir ...
  
• Survival Academy supports climate action
  The Survival Academy in Copenhagen is giving people the opportunity to learn about the changes they and their community need to make in order to adapt to climate change.
  
• Copenhagen: a diary of findings
  After what seems like an eternity of reports and debates ahead of the conference, Copenhagen (COP15) has finally arrived. Sideways News has teamed up with Patrick Chalmers (formerly at Reuters and a reporter at Kyoto) and persuaded him to blog his way through the mayhem of activists and events, whil ...
  
• Branson's space flight plan unveiled
  Commercial space travel came one step closer to being realised today when Sir Richard Branson unveiled Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (SS2) on a barren airstrip tucked into the edge of the Mojave desert. The carbon-composite craft is about the size of a Gulfstream jet and aims to enable anyone with ...
  
• Hero of the month: Muhammad Ali
  The boxing legend Muhammad Ali , born Cassius Clay, of Kentucky in 1942 has fought Parkinson’s Disease, both for himself and others. In 1954, Cassius Clay’s bicycle was stolen from outside Columbia auditorium. Clay approached a Louisville policeman, Joe Martin, telling him he would "whup" whoev ...
  

Fabius Maximus

• New Books, with insights about our changing world
  Here reviews of two books, each revealing much about the national defense machinery of western nations.  I recommend reading both in full. “Other People’s Mail“, Bernard Porter, London Review of Books, 19 November 2009 — Review of The Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of ...
  
• The facts about the 1970’s Global Cooling sc ...
  The propaganda campaign to create hysteria about global warming required altering the public memory about both science and history.   Both have been successful, disturbingly so. For the former, putting the well-developed science about the Little Ice Age down the memory hole.  Th ...
  
• The first step to reforming America (the final ver ...
  Much of the discussion on the FM website concerns how to reform America, putting ourselves back on track – not just for survival, but also prosperity.  The fiercest debate concerns the most important step.  The first step.  This post gives what is the definitive answer. Contents ...
  
• Dark origins of the new COIN manual, FM 3-24
  Obama has cast us into another expansion of our wars, assuming COIN theory shows the path to victory.  But the basics of COIN have received astonishingly little analysis.  Note for example the paucity of critical review of Kilcullen’s works.  Here are one of the posts from ...
  
• FM newswire for 4 December, hot articles for your ...
  Today’s broadsheet from the FM website pressroom, with 7 sections of hot news.  Lot’s happening in the world today, mostly either overlooked or misinterpreted by the mainstream media. Links to interesting news and analysis Another disproof to climate doomsterism A sitrep about fr ...
  

sibeledmonds - tweets

• sibeledmonds: Our two-party but one-establishment ...
  sibeledmonds: Our two-party but one-establishment system of politics made a rare appearance again with Obama’s speech… http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
• sibeledmonds: Let’s Talk about VUI: Voting U ...
  sibeledmonds: Let’s Talk about VUI: Voting Under the Influence- Revisiting ‘The Lesser of Two Evils’ Mentality. Read it here: http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
• sibeledmonds: Boiling Frogs Weekly Round Up: Boili ...
  sibeledmonds: Boiling Frogs Weekly Round Up: Boiling Frogs’ New Team Members, Chalabi Cozying up to Obama, Blackwater & more http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
• sibeledmonds: Boiling Frogs Updates: Pepe Escobar ...
  sibeledmonds: Boiling Frogs Updates: Pepe Escobar & John Stanton join Boiling Frogs, Antiwar Rally, Chalabi & Obama & more http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
• sibeledmonds: Boiling Frogs Show Presents Mizgin Y ...
  sibeledmonds: Boiling Frogs Show Presents Mizgin Yilmaz:Turkey, Deep State, Gladio, Kurdish Issues,Heroin Trafficking& More http://boilingfrogspost.com
  

WIRED Magazine | Science

• Printable, Moldable Batteries Made From Paper and ...
  Those who are quick to dismiss paper as old-fashioned should hold off on the trash talk. Scientists have made batteries and supercapacitors with little more than ordinary office paper and some carbon and silver nanomaterials. The research, published online December 7 in Proceedings of the National ...
  
• 3 Bets the DOE Is Placing on Science to Break the ...
  The Advanced Research Projects Agency for energy put out its second call for new ideas, and this time, the agency has narrowed its focused to three research fields. The new arm of the Department of Energy, which is dedicated to high-risk, high-reward innovations, is betting $100 million on batterie ...
  
• Rudiments of Language Discovered in Monkeys
  Campbell’s monkeys appear to combine the same calls in different ways using rules of grammar that turn sound into language. Whether their rudimentary syntax echoes the speech of humanity’s evolutionary ancestors, or represents an emergence of language unrelated to our own, is unclear. Either wa ...
  
• A Poster Boy’s Retro Space Out
  The International Year of Astronomy coincides with the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s revolutionary telescope this year. So what better way to celebrate history than with a retro look at the cosmos? With today’s artists’ renderings of space becoming increasingly detailed, realistic and fla ...
  
• 7-Foot NBA Center Wins eBay Auction to Name Shrimp ...
  A shrimp that lives on southwest coast of Australia has a new name, thanks to an Australian graduate student, eBay and former NBA basketball player Luc Longley. It all started when Anna McCallum, now a doctoral student at the University of Melbourne, discovered a previously unknown shrimp while wor ...
  

The Progressive Realist

• Leading Indicators: Off the Radar News Roundup
  - China's economic braintrust, meeting today, was expected to maintain economic stimulus spending , while adjusting its emphasis toward promoting consumer spending and private investment. With that news out of the way, the People's Daily then takes the opportunity to once again outline the fundament ...
  
• ‘Waiting Us Out’ In Afghanistan…Would Be Gre ...
  While conservatives have generally been pleased with President Obama’s decision to send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, many have expressed disappointment at the president’s promulgating Summer 2011 as a goal for beginning the handover of security responsibilities to Afghans, suggesting ...
  
• A Bad Omen as Sudan Cracks Down on Opposition
  The Sudanese government has detained top politicians from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, a group comprised of southern Sudanese ex-rebels who signed a 2005 peace accord with the central government.  Why is this significant? Well, according to the agreement Sudan is meant to have its first ...
  
• Turkey Turns East While West Dithers
  “Will Turkey join the European Union?  That’s up to the Europeans.  All we see is that when we go to Europe they treat us like we are nothing – whereas in the Middle East they look up to us.”  Such were the words of a Turkish diplomat I spoke to in Washington recently. As Turkish Prime ...
  
• In Praise of Manmohan Singh
  Steve Coll makes the case that Manmohan Singh, prime minister of India and formerly minister of finance, is one of the great underrated statesmen of our time . It’s a very convincing case. Singh brought economic growth to India, has fought—and won—against destructive Hindu nationalism, ...
  

TAPPED - The American Prospect

• Lightning Round: 100 Veto Points of Light.
  It's not surprising to see that a big chunk of opposition to health-care reform is coming from the left, given that a portion of the activist left has all but given up on Barack Obama and Democrats as agents of progressive reform. Yet there is nothing to be gained for progressives in the defeat of ...
  
• Bob Kuttner at the Jobs Summit.
  Last week, Prospect editor and founder Robert Kuttner attended Obama 's Jobs Summit. Here, he discusses the effect of short-term spending on both the deficit and the economy. -- The Editors
  
• (Sort Of) Against TARP Funds for a Jobs Bill.
  Like Matt Yglesias , I'm pleased but not entirely unsurprised that the cost of the TARP program has once again been revised downward . And I'm certainly inclined to think we need to bolster the labor market and improve job creation, although savvy Democratic political operatives have convinced me th ...
  
• Fixing Medicaid's Inconsistencies.
  The latest from a really helpful ProPublica project that breaks down how health-care reform would affect specific groups illustrates how the bill seeks to standardize state participation in Medicaid programs. The piece profiles a young single woman unable to work because of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ...
  
• The Little Picture: The Montreal Massacre.
  "I realized many years later that in my life and actions, of course I was a feminist. I was a woman studying engineering and I held my head up." --Nathalie Provost, one of the women who survived an attack on students at L'École Polytechnique in Montreal. In 1989, Marc Lepine opened fire on a cla ...
  

Andy Worthington

• Former Guantánamo Prosecutor Loses Job For Critic ...
  So much for the First Amendment. Morris Davis, the retired Air Force Colonel who served as the Chief Prosecutor of the Military Commissions at Guantánamo from September 2005 until his resignation in October 2007, has just lost his job at the Congressional Research Service (a branch of the Library o ...
  
• 116 Guantánamo Prisoners Cleared For Release; 171 ...
  In the first detailed announcement about prisoners cleared for release from Guantánamo since September 28, when a military spokesman announced that a list of 78 cleared prisoners had been posted in the prison, defense secretary Robert Gates told a Senate hearing last Thursday that officials were †...
  
• Guantánamo Lawyer Calls Off Talk In Illinois Afte ...
  In a disgraceful example of bullying and intimidation, Marc Falkoff, a law professor at Northern Illinois University College of Law, who has been a lawyer for 16 Guantánamo prisoners since 2004, was forced to call off a talk about Guantánamo at a college in Illinois last week after receiving threa ...
  
• Living With A Terror Suspect: Detainee U’s Landl ...
  The man identified in legal proceedings in the UK as Detainee U is a 46-year old Algerian, who, as two High Court judges explained on December 1, “has been continuously in custody since March 2001,” held without charge or trial, on the basis of secret evidence, “save for a period from July 200 ...
  
• Four Men Leave Guantánamo; Two Face Ill-Defined T ...
  On Monday, the Obama administration announced that it had transferred four prisoners from Guantánamo: Sabir Lahmar, an Algerian, was transferred to France; an unidentified Palestinian was transferred to Hungary; and two Tunisians, Adel Ben Mabrouk bin Hamida Boughanmi and Mohammed Tahir Riyadh Nass ...
  

Buzzflash

• In Afghanistan policy, we get muddled clarificatio ...
  Body After yesterday's whirlwinds of inscrutable developments on the health-care front -- by last night, on "Hardball," for instance, Sheldon Whitehouse persisted in conflating the newly proposed private-insurance exchange with a public option, while his colleague, Bernie Sanders, valian ...
  
• Barbara's Daily BuzzFlash Minute for December 4, 2 ...
  BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZFLASH MINUTE Ever wondered about Hamid Karzai and all that corruption, ever wonder how he got the interim appointment ? From 2002, an article by Wayne Madsen, "Hamid Karzai, the interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan, was a top adviser to the El Segundo, California-based UNOCAL Co ...
  
• I Love The Smell Of Irony In The Morning -- Verse- ...
  The Salahis have refused to testify; by now They should have been indicted The fun part is that this D.C. occasion is one Where they actually were invited. VERSE CASE SCENARIO Tony Peyser provides daily poems and weekly cartoons for BuzzFlash and also writes the BuzzFlash column, " Blue State Jukebo ...
  
• Joe Uehlein: Labor's Road to Copenhagen
  BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY by Joe Uehlein While world leaders play the "blame game" for their failure to negotiate a binding climate agreement in Copenhagen, trade unions from around the world, almost unnoticed, have forged their own common approach to climate protection. Unions in different countri ...
  
• Historical Rewrites at the Ready
  Body How are we to deal with people in our political vortex who claim devotion to God and country but operate at the margins of truth and honor? Is putting one’s hand over one’s heart and reciting the pledge or quoting the Bible cover enough for those who would lead us into the tempt ...
  

Glenn Greenwald - Salon

• A new report questions "suicides" at Guantanamo
  (updated below) On the night of June 10, 2006, three Guantanamo detainees were found dead in their individual cells .  Without any autopsy or investigation, U.S. military officials proclaimed "suicide by hanging" as the cause of each death, and immediately sought to exploit the episode as pr ...
  
• Do Obama officials know what his Afghanistan plan ...
  On the vital question of whether Obama is committed to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in July, 2011 -- or whether that's just an aspirational target subject to being moved -- the statements from key administration officials aren't merely in tension with one another, but are exact opposit ...
  
• America's regression
  Ronald Reagan, May 20, 1988, transmitting the Convention Against Torture to the Senate for ratification : The United States participated actively and effectively in the negotiation of the Convention. . . . Ratification of the Convention by the United States will clearly express United States opp ...
  
• The commendably missing element from Obama's speec ...
  (updated below) Comparing video clips of George Bush's 2002 West Point speech on Afghanistan with the one Barack Obama delivered last night, Rachel Maddow argues that Obama has now embraced the fundamentals of the dreaded "Bush Doctrine":  namely, we will fight wars even in countries that are ...
  
• Obama's exceedingly familiar justifications for es ...
  (updated below) In order to prepare Americans for Obama's Afghanistan escalation speech tonight at West Point (at least he's not wearing a fighter pilot costume), White House officials have been dispatched to speak to the media (anonymously, of course) to preview all of the new and exciting a ...
  

The BiPartisan Report

• 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
• The difference between politics and governing

Sciencebase

• Party tricks for scientists
  Any one of these tricks from Richard Wiseman is sure to get you dozens of swooning fans at a solstice-event party, as long as you don’t burn down the house while doing the tricks with lit matches. Classic tricks including balancing forks on a matchstick, relighting a candle without touching it, ...
  
• Sciencebase blogging schedule
  This is the Sciencebase blogging schedule for the remainder of 2009: Sciencebase.com Dec 8 – Science news round-up with a spectral twist Sciencebase.com Dec 9 Electric vehicles better than hybrids? ImagingStorm.co.uk – Dec 10 Science of sepia-toned photography Sciencetext.com Dec 15 Cathartic ...
  
• Swine Flu Watch
  Somehow got my family enlisted on the UK’s FluWatch program. The scheme, which has members of the public monitoring their colds, sore throats, and flu symptoms is being run by University College London with various eminent medical organisations as partners. Having been invited to join by our fami ...
  
• Twitter, Facebook and Sciencebase
  Regular readers will hopefully have spotted I’ve cleaned up the site a little recently and added a couple of new widgets to the Sciencebase sidebar menu just below the About section link to my Research Blogging posts. The first widget heralds the relaunch of the sciencebase.com Facebook fan page ...
  
• Absolute chemical headlines
  A wide range of stories again in this week’s Alchemist column on ChemWeb.com Absolute configurations reveal themselves through NMR spectroscopy using residual dipolar couplings in small molecules, according to an international team who have put it to work on an anticancer compound. Discussed also ...
  

change: org.

• Where Do the Homeless Go When It's Freezing at Nig ...
  Winter always seems more acute in the beginning of the season... along with our sympathies. When the first frigid nights arrive each winter, your mind wanders to the people you see sitting on the side of the road. We inevitably ask ourselves, "Where do the homeless go on a night like this?" The answ ...
  
• How to Fix Education — the Greatest National Sec ...
  "The greatest national security crisis in the United States is the crisis in education," those are the words of Bob Herbert in the New York Times . He's right on with his call for exactly the sort of leadership that is currently lacking in education: a cross section of skills — not principals that ...
  
• Passing Health Reform One Hurdle at a Time
  We should thank our lucky stars John McCain didn’t become President. He has shown his stripes in the health care debate as the pit bull of the Republican party, ready at the attack and willing to tear the entire process to shreds. With him at the helm, we’d still be praying for a chance to refor ...
  
• Lethal Injection in Ohio: And Then There Was One
  Tomorrow's scheduled execution of Kenneth Biros may be a first in U.S. history. Biros, convicted of killing and dismembering a woman in 1991, has been delivered to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville where he awaits lethal injection by a single drug. No one has ever been executed b ...
  
• Unrest in Sudan: Another Iran in the Making?
  I knew that as soon as I committed to a week of related thematic posts, something big would happen somewhere in the world to derail my plans, akin to the luck I had with Obama's Sudan policy review release while I was on my only vacation of the year. So it goes. Interesting developments in Sudan tod ...
  

Common Dreams -News

• President Obama Told Me to Stop ‘Demeaning’ Hi ...
  by Molly H. Hooper President Barack Obama recently called Rep. John Conyers Jr. to express his frustrations with the Judiciary Committee chairman's criticism. In an interview with The Hill, Conyers said his opinions of Obama's policies on healthcare reform and the war in Afghanistan have not sat wel ...
  
• Naomi Klein Kick-Starts the Activism at Copenhagen ...
  The Copenhagen deal may turn into the worst kind of disaster capitalism, Naomi Klein said last night. In her speech to Klimaforum09 , the "people's summit" she told the thousand or so campaigners and activists that this was a chance to carry on building the new convergence, the movement of movements ...
  
• Italians Say 'No Berlusconi'
  by Elisabetta Povoledo ROME - Tens of thousands of protesters gathered Saturday in Rome to express their exasperation with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is on trial on corruption charges and who was politically bruised this year by scandals involving younger women. Many of those who gathered ...
  
• New Website Helps Shoppers Avoid GMO Foods
  Shopping for products that aren't genetically modified (GM) can be challenging, particularly in the United States where there are as yet no laws governing the labeling of products with GM ingredients. To make it a little easier on concerned shoppers, the US advocacy group Institute for Responsib ...
  
• Battle Over Mountaintop Mining Slowly Gains Ground
  by Vicki Smith MORGANTOWN, W.Va - Environmental activists gained more momentum this year than in the past decade against the destructive, uniquely Appalachian form of strip mining known as mountaintop removal, though they have yet to mobilize the millions of supporters they want. The activists have ...
  

Lifehacker

• The Google Wave Invitation Donation Thread Is Ope ...
  We're pretty into Google Wave, and we want to give our readers get a crack at playing around with the invite-only preview, so we're back with our weekly Google Wave invitation donation thread. Note: Read the entire post carefully before commenting. (Apologies that we forgot our invitation thread las ...
  
• Networks Lights Turns Your Keyboard LEDs Into Act ...
  Windows only: You squeeze every bit of customization and productivity out of your computer, why let those lazy keyboard LEDs sit idle? Put them to work as network activity indicators. Network Lights is a tiny application that turns the NumLock and ScrollLock keyboard indicators into incoming and out ...
  
• The Complete Guide to Avoiding Online Scams (for ...
  Our readers are a savvy bunch who aren't likely to be taken in by an online scam—but we've all got those friends and relatives we worry about. Here's our definitive guide to helping them stay safe online. Photo from Futurama . When training your loved ones how to keep themselves safe online, you s ...
  
• How to Know When Your DNS Servers Are Failing [DN ...
  Now that both Google Public DNS and OpenDNS offer alternative, public DNS services anyone can use instead of their service provider's DNS servers, the question is: How do you know if your DNS service isn't working properly and if you should switch? Smarterware reader Nicholas has the answer . He say ...
  
• Fix a Loose Battery Cover on Your Droid [Repair]
  Verizon's Droid is a very capable smartphone, but a loose battery cover makes mobile life with some models less than ideal. A small screwdriver tweak, however, appears to repair the problem. As demonstrated in the video above, the fix shouldn't take more than a minute, or a few minutes, if you're ...
  

Newshoggers - AfPak

• Success....
  By Dave Anderson: Voice of America reports on a large series of attacks in Baghdad: Iraqi police say a series of car bombings across the capital, Baghdad, has killed at least 112 people and wounded nearly 200 others.... Tuesday's attacks were the worst in the Iraqi capital since late October when tw ...
  
• Legitimacy and local recruitment
  By Dave Anderson: The key to the Obama strategy is for the Afghan national security forces to stand up so that the US and ISAF can stand down. Let's embark upon an interesting little counterfactual from the last time there was significant civil strife in the United States to see where there might be ...
  
• The Diminished Expectations of Nation Building
  By Steve Hynd Not Denmark, nor Switzerland in the Hindu Kush - more like Kosovo, Mosul or Columbia. Afghanistan could look like Iraq, the Balkans or Central America if NATO succeeds in its mission there, the alliance's top commander said on Monday. "It will be a world in which there is a central gov ...
  
• I See Friedman's "Yikes" and Raise
  By Steve Hynd Tom Friedman, when he shucks his schtick that every brown person is just a child who needs American leadership, can actually state the bleeding obvious pretty well. The president’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said flatly: “This can’t be nation-building.” And the president told a c ...
  
• Would You Buy A Used War From David Cameron?
  By Steve Hynd David Cameron promises a civilian surge from the Ministry of Silly Walks. I wish British conservative leader David Cameron would make his blessed mind up. Does he want to kowtow to the neoconservative wing of his party and their Bushite buddies or does he want to win the election? With ...
  

Water Wars

• 'Cautious' optimism for water solution (Appen News ...
  December 07, 2009 CUMMING - The clock is ticking in the latest round of the state water wars.
  
• Top Scoops (Scoop.co.nz)
  Stop! Water thief!
  
• State Governors To Meet Over Water Wars (WXIA-TV A ...
  The governors of Georgia, Florida and Alabama have agreed to meet Dec. 15 in a fresh effort to resolve their long-standing feud over water rights.
  
• Three governors to meet on water wars (The News He ...
  ATLANTA — The governors of Georgia, Florida and Alabama have agreed to meet Dec. 15 in a fresh effort to resolve their long-standing feud over water rights. The meeting in Montgomery, Ala., will be the first face-to-face water talks between the...
  
• Latest Georgia news, sports, business and entertai ...
  Here's the latest Georgia news from the Associated press.
  

WordPress | Economics

• D Scene - Dunedin foodbanks need your help!
  ### D Scene 9-12-09 Helping Hand (page 1) As the festive season approaches, Dunedin’s foodbank
  
• Really?: The Claim: High Blood Pressure Will Incre ...
  THE FACTS Hypertension has been linked to heart disease, diabetes and early mortality. But hair loss
  
• Less downsizing is not the same as job growth
  James Pethokoukis echoes my concerns over last week’s November jobs report via a quote from Da
  
• Congress urged to extend emergency jobless b ...
  By David Goldstein | McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON — State labor officials on Monday urged Congres
  
• Featured EXPERT Louise McKenzie in Coogee Beach, A ...

McClatchey

• Soft toilet paper becomes target of environmentali ...
  "They'll take my Ultra Soft Charmin only when they pry it from my cold, dead, aloe-smelling hands."
  
• String of bombings in Baghdad leaves over 100 dead
  BAGHDAD — Five car bombs exploded in Baghdad early Tuesday, killing more than 100 people in what appeared to be coordinated attacks by militants in response to the Iraqi government's approval earlier this week of national elections.
  
• On job creation, Obama faces competing ideas
  Responding to estimates that it could take more than a decade to restore jobs lost in the recession, President Barack Obama will outline his job-creation priorities today.
  
• Missouri's ex-Speaker of the House Jetton charged ...
  Rod Jetton, one of the most influential figures in Missouri politics, was charged Monday with felony assault against a woman in Sikeston, Mo., last month.
  
• Alaska AG takes aim at Palin era ethics issues
  Alaska Attorney General Dan Sullivan is moving to change the state's ethics rules in the wake of the battles waged by former Gov. Sarah Palin.
  

BBC - Richard Black's Earth Watch

• COP15 Copenhagen climate summit: Day 2
  1516 CET: As the seriously obscure parts of the UN climate conference got down to business this morning, attention turned to some of the science being presented - notably, the analyses from the World Meteorological Organization and the UK Met Office that pegged the "Noughties" - the decade since 200 ...
  
• COP15 Copenhagen climate summit: Day 1
  1517 CET : Despite some seductive mood music this morning, sombre notes were also sounded in the opening bars of this two-week conference. Host cities always try to give delegates a sense of their history and culture. Mercifully (I say this having sat through many), Denmark's choice was a short ...
  
• Climate visions: a widening divide?
  At the UN climate summit in Copenhagen It's been two years minus just over a week since 192 governments agreed to formulate a new deal on climate change. There are now just under two weeks left before they're due to conclude it. As anyone who's employed builders will know, overruns and unantici ...
  
• Copenhagen Countdown: 2 days
  When activists and journalists can't get hold of government documents, you know things have turned serious. OK, I'm exaggerating a bit. But it is a trend that you notice as a reporter; the more things actually matter - the closer events move to what governments really hold to be important, rather t ...
  
• Copenhagen Countdown: 10 days
  This was the week that saw the heavyweights come to town. The EU had said it, UN climate convention chief Yvo de Boer had said it: without something firm on the table from China and US, together responsible for about 40% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, it would be very difficult to reach a ...
  

Afghanistan Sun

• Gates says US withdrawal from Afghanistan will tak ...
  Kabul, Dec 8 (DPA) US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan would take 'several years' as Afghan forces needed to be strengthened by recruiting more soldiers and police to take charge of the country's security.
  
• Afghan war, Obama get opinion poll boost
  Public support for the Afghan war and for US President Barack Obama have jumped nearly 10 points since his decision last week to send 30,000 additional troops to the war-torn country, a new poll has f...
  
• US warns Pak to get tougher with Taliban
  The Obama administration is turning up the pressure on Pakistan to fight the Taliban inside its borders, warning that if it does not act more aggressively, the United States will use considerably more...
  
• Afghan gov't says NATO attack killed 6 civili ...
  By AMIR SHAH and RAHIM FAIEZAssociated Press Writers KABUL (AP) - The Afghan government said NATO forces killed six civilians during a pre-dawn operation Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan. NATO disputed...
  
• Civilians killed, displaced by clashes in Helmand ...
  ') } if (window.addEventListener) window.addEventListener("load", startscroll, false) else if (window.attachEvent) window.attachEvent("onload", startscroll) else if (ie||dom) window.onload=star...
  

Futurismic

• Low activity alert
  Just a quick note for regular readers – things will be a little quiet here at Futurismic for the next few days, as I’m moving house and won’t be able to spend any time blogging until it’s all done. [image by garethjmsaunders] However, I’ve set up a few posts to keep things ticking over in ...
  
• High above the Earth? Drug consumption on the ISS
  There may be little to no consumption of alcohol aboard, but there’s plenty of drugs on the International Space Station – albeit not for recreational purposes. The Discovery Space blog has a list of the contents of the ISS pharmaceutical kit-bag, of which this is just one [via SlashDot]: Tranqui ...
  
• The Adventures of Phil Wade
  [based on a true story, Sarah tells me - Ed.] 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 ...
  
• Cellphone app could help illegal immigrants
  This is going to be controversial: A UC San Diego professor said he has developed a cell phone tool that may help guide illegal immigrants safely across the border. Similar to the way hungry drivers can find a restaurant through the global positioning system devices in their cars and cell phones, il ...
  
• Wikipedia’s frontiers
  Here’s an interesting thinking-out-loud piece at The Guardian from Mark Graham, which responds to those suggestions from the other week that Wikipedia is losing editors because the crowdsourced encyclopedia is ‘complete’. Wikipedia still has much to do: the map above suggests there are still w ...
  

geopolitics | geoeconomics

• Putin and the Geopolitics of the New Cold War: Or ...
• The Fake Oil Crisis of 1973
• Fossiles Erdöl
  
  
• Confessions of an “ex” Peak Oil Believer
  
  
• Oil & First World War
  
  

Whistleblowers Protection Blog

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

Defense and the National Interest

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

Science Express

• Study: Vaccination of 70 percent of US population ...
  An aggressive vaccination program that first targets children and ultimately reaches 70 percent of the U.S. population would mitigate pandemic influenza H1N1 that is expected this fall, according to computer modeling and analysis of observational studies conducted by researchers at the Vaccine and I ...
  
• RNA interference found in budding yeasts
  Some budding yeast species have the ability to silence genes using RNA interference (RNAi). Until now, most researchers thought that no budding yeasts possess the RNAi pathway because Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the protoypical model budding yeast does not.
  
• Sleep loss linked to increase in Alzheimer's plaqu ...
  Chronic sleep deprivation in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease makes Alzheimer's brain plaques appear earlier and more often, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report online this week in Science Express.
  
• Heart of a galaxy emits gamma rays
  (PhysOrg.com) -- Quite a few distant galaxies turn out to be cosmic delivery rooms. Large numbers of massive stars are born in the hearts of these starburst galaxies, and later explode as supernovae. In the remnants they leave behind, particles are accelerated to very high energies. Astrophysicists ...
  
• Physicists Demonstrate Three-Color Entanglement
  (PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, physicists have demonstrated the quantum entanglement of three light beams, all of different wavelengths. Entanglement of two light beams of different wavelengths has already been demonstrated, but the researchers explain that going beyond two beams is important ...
  

TechDirt

• DigiProtect Now Handing Pre-Settlement Threat Amou ...
  We've covered how various companies in Europe have built up an extremely profitable business by purposely seeding content they have the rights to on file sharing networks, and then sending "pre-settlement" letters demanding money from the holder of any IP address that connects to them, even if the I ...
  
• US Laws Don't Apply In Case Involving Yahoo's Chin ...
  You may recall a few years ago all the negative publicity Yahoo got after it came out that its Chinese operations handed over information on certain users that resulted in some Chinese dissidents being arrested. This resulted in some lawsuits filed in the US. However, in one such case, the court h ...
  
• Accidental Download Leading To Prison Sentence?
  No one denies that child pornography is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. However, it often seems like the laws related to child pornography are targeted at the wrong thing. That's why we get laws requiring filters, rather than the shut down of whoever is producing the content, and law ...
  
• Vancouver Olympics Silences Indie Rock Acts With C ...
  We've covered how the Olympics has time and time again abused intellectual property law to try to silence all sorts of reasonable activity, and the upcoming Vancouver Olympics have been no exception . In the latest move, sent in by drewmo (though he forgot the link, and made us go searching...) is ...
  
• The Telegraph And Natural Monopolies In Communicat ...
  A bunch of folks have sent in Matthew Lasar's excellent look back at some of the early days of the telegraph system and how it parallels some questions that we face today over things like net neutrality. The basic story is that Western Union worked out a way to gain a monopoly on the telegraph, and ...
  

VacTruth

• Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptoc ...
  Strep may contribute to neurological disorder.
  
• Mercury Spill causes scare at local H1N1 clinic
  A thermometer accidentally broke Friday afternoon spilling mercury onto the floor of the gym at the Greenbush School in West Warwick.
  
• BIG PHARMA’S CRIME SPREE
  Across the U.S., pharmaceutical companies have been pleading guilty to criminal charges or paying penalties in civil cases...
  
• Patent Application Suggests Influenza Vaccines Lik ...
  The inventor has realised that the conditions used for influenza culture can increase the risk that pathogens.
  
• Three students show side effects after flu shots
  “The vaccine is not the issue, some kids do pass out.”
  

BroadSnark

• Speaking out on Israel
  Renee at Womanist Musings recently posted a blog about a repugnant incident of antisemitism at a Florida middle school.  In her post, she said: to deny the right of a Jewish home state, is certainly a desire to reduce the possibility of any form of power and or security I took issue with that stat ...
  
• Liberals and Conservatives Fuel Conflict
  An incident happened at my friend’s job the other day that perfectly demonstrates why liberals and conservatives are ultimately doomed to fail in their efforts to resolve conflicts. One of the employees is a very young woman.  She’s not particularly mature.  It’s her first job.  She w ...
  
• Some Things You Might Have Missed
  Db0 has a new post up on how he ended up calling himself an Anarchist.  He’s also started a meme.  I’m really looking forward to reading other stories.  Noor posted a link to her story in the comments.  You should definitely read them both. Thanks to @solidadrocks for tweeting this a ...
  
• Ignoring Elites is so Elitist
  Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen at Politico wrote a story about how Obama’s White House is “working systematically to marginalize the most powerful forces behind the Republican Party.” The Heritage Foundation quoted that story and then did a fascinating little maneuver where they tried to turn “ ...
  
• Rewriting the Drug War News
  Ever read a news story and want to bang your head on the wall because of all the underlying assumptions written into it?  Me too. Stop the Drug War has a new project called the Drug Policy News Writing Demonstration Project. The Drug Policy News Demonstration Project seeks to raise awareness of the ...
  

Executive Intelligence Review

• Zepp-LaRouche Takes On EC Dictatorship
  EIR News Service press release.
  
• For Mideast Peace: Defeat Parvus Doctrine
  EIR Editorial Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, November 13, 2009, Vol. 36, No. 44
  
• Helga Zepp-LaRouche Webcast: `A New Credit System ...
  By Helga Zepp-LaRouche Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, November 13, 2009, Vol. 36, No. 44
  
• LaRouche Address: World Recovery Possible Only Wit ...
  By Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, November 13, 2009, Vol. 36, No. 44
  
• How To Survive Without Derivatives
  By John Hoefle Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, November 13, 2009, Vol. 36, No. 44
  

Armies of Liberation

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

Dark Politricks

• Woman Who Invented Credit Default Swaps is One of ...
  As I have previously shown, speculative derivatives (especially credit default swaps) are a primary cause of the economic crisis. And I have pointed out that (1) the giant banks will make a killing on carbon trading, (2) while the leading scientist crusading against global warming says it wonâ ...
  
• Craig Murray on the reasons for the war in Afghani ...
  As you should know if you read my blog one of my hot topics is Afghanistan and the "war on terror", a war which was started supposedly to capture Usama Bin Laden the supposed mastermind behind the September 11th attacks. Forget the fact that there is no evidence that Bin Laden was involved in the ...
  
• Twitter Updates for 2009-12-08
  Remember when your searching #google 2mrw at work use Scroogle and don't get spied on by your boss https://ssl.scroogle.org/ #privacy #web # And if your going to surf anonymously on Chinese/Russian proxies disable all scripts & flash and don't send sensitive info. #internet #proxy # Offer your twee ...
  
• The Alex Jones Show – L I V E – December 7th W ...
  Alex talks with John Young, an independent scholar, architect, and webmaster of Cryptome, a website that functions as a repository for information about freedom of speech, cryptography, spying, and surveillance. Young’s site came under fire last week from Yahoo’s lawyers when it post ...
  
• US Mint Runs Out Of Tenth-Ounce Gold Coin Inventor ...
  Tyler Durden Zero Hedge Monday, December 7, 2009 The sad state of affairs in gold land: the premium for the 1 ounce Gold Eagle coins has expanded from $59 to $99, Krugerrands are not available for sale in most places, and this most recent development just out of the US Mint: the one-tenth ounce Am ...
  
  
  
  
  
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  To Do

  renewable recycling conservation

  We must respond to climate change today

  The COP15 Post

  - Dec 08, 2009

  - 5 hours ago

  Shifting to a new paradigm of energy generation and use, based on renewable sources and energy efficiency, would allow us to avoid many of the problems of a ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Enbridge and First Solar Agree on 60 MW Renewable Energy Expansion at Sarnia

  CNNMoney.com (press release)

  - Dec 08, 2009

  - 1 hour ago

  Mr. Daniel noted that solar energy is a key component of Enbridge's environmental performance strategy to invest in renewable and alternative energy sources ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Brazil Won't Cut Renewable Energy Production Mix, Envoy Says

  Bloomberg

  - Dec 08, 2009

  - 2 hours ago

  8 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil, which powers millions of cars using domestic sugar cane, won't cut production of renewable energy even as the country's oil output ...

  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Neah Power Fuel Cell Chargers Deliver Renewable Back-Up Power for All Battery ...

  CNNMoney.com (press release)

  - Dec 08, 2009

  - 2 hours ago

  8, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Neah Power Systems, Inc., ('Neah') (OTCBB:NPWZ) www.neahpower.com, the Company developing fuel cells-based renewable energy ...

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  Human Habitat

  ecology water energy

  Jefferson County approves shoreline program; next stop is state Ecology Department

  Peninsula Daily

  - Dec 08, 2009

  - 7 hours ago

  The Department of Ecology must review and approve the plan before the new shoreline provisions would take effect, anticipated no sooner than the coming ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Ecology Center: 1 in 3 toys contain lead, cadmium, arsenic or mercury

  Midland Daily News

  - Dec 07, 2009

  - 20 hours ago

  The Ecology Center, a Michigan-based nonprofit organization, this week released the 3rd Annual Consumer Guide to Toxic Chemicals in Toys at www. ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Comment: People power can drive change

  CNN International

  - Dec 08, 2009

  - 2 hours ago

  Editor's Note: David de Rothschild is the founder of Adventure Ecology -- an organization which promotes environmental causes. He is currently preparing to ...

  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Ecology Center study: One-third of children's toys contain toxic substances

  TopNews United States

  - Dec 03, 2009

  - Dec 03, 2009

  According to a Wednesday study released by the researchers for the health-advocacy group Ecology Center, at least one-third of the children's toys in the US ...

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  Water Power

  water floods pollution

  EPA to unveil new policies on water at schools

  Seattle Post Intelligencer

  - Dec 08, 2009

  - 1 hour ago

  The new policies will bring new attention to school systems that have repeatedly violated safe drinking water requirements. The changes come as a Senate ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Funding challenges still loom for California's landmark water compromise

  San Jose Mercury News

  - Dec 07, 2009

  - 10 hours ago

  By Denis C. Theriault SACRAMENTO — When lawmakers celebrated the end of California's water squabbles last month, they left unanswered an issue certain to ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  Texas group to sue over whooping crane deaths

  Houston Chronicle

  - Dec 08, 2009

  - 4 hours ago

  The commission has allowed too many water permits for the booming areas along the Guadalupe and San Antonio rivers, resulting in high salinity in marshlands ...

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  clipped from Google - 12/2009

  EPA will review claims of leniency on water polluters

  Baltimore Sun

  - Dec 08, 2009

  - 7 hours ago

  Federal officials said Monday that they plan to review claims by a coalition of Maryland environmental groups that the state is going easy on water ...

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