15 Jan - RSS SnapShot!

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IPS - Inter Press Services

• UKRAINE: Facing Hard Choices Again
  
  BUDAPEST, Jan 15 (IPS) - Neither the voters nor the West hold great illusions about genuine change in crisis-ridden Ukraine through the elections this weekend.
  
  
  
• DEVELOPMENT: Integration Key to Easing Migrati ...
  
  TOKYO, Jan 15 (IPS) - Greater interaction and integration are crucial to easing social tensions in countries that are host to a growing number of migrants, experts say.
  
  
  
• SRI LANKA: Media Face Uncertainties in the Run-u ...
  
  COLOMBO, Jan 15 (IPS) - The string of events involving the Sri Lankan press over the past week has once again brought the embattled Fourth Estate into the limelight. This comes into sharp focus as the country eagerly awaits the upcoming presidential elections.
  
  
  
• MIDEAST: Israel Cannot be Sultan
  
  JERUSALEM, Jan 14 (IPS) - A bizarre diplomatic incident - even by the Byzantine-like standards of the old near East - has threatened already strained relations between Israel and Turkey.
  
  
  
• RIGHTS: U.N. Condemns Land Grabs in Native Territ ...
  
  UNITED NATIONS, Jan 14 (IPS) - Millions of people around the world who belong to indigenous communities continue to face discrimination and abuse at the hands of authorities and private business concerns, says a new U.N. report released here Thursday.
  
  
  

Scoop - NZ

• Phone Calls from the 9/11 Airliners - Response to ...
  
  Given the cell phone technology available in 2001, cell phone calls from airliners at altitudes of more than a few thousand feet, especially calls lasting more than a few seconds, were virtually - and perhaps completely - impossible. And yet many of the reported cell phone calls occurred when the pl ...
  
  
  
• Dubai Crisis Casts Shadow On 2010
  
  Surrounded by oil-rich nations Jordan has been able to make do with its modest resources over the years. In 2010, however, the country will have to face challenges associated with global economic slowdown and the crisis in Dubai."The economic situation, both in Jordan and globally, is a difficult on ...
  
  
  
• First Relief Teams Arrive in Devastated Haiti
  
  Humanitarian relief workers arriving in Haiti are encountering unimaginable pain and suffering. It is still impossible to determine the scale of destruction after Tuesday's 7.0 earthquake, but it is feared tens of thousands have died. US Secretary of State Clinton has compared the catastrophe to the ...
  
  
  
• Google No Champion Of Human Rights
  
  After four years of uneasy operation in the People's Republic of China, yesterday Google practically dared the Chinese authorities to ban it. A press release from the internet giant all but accused the Chinese Government of orchestrating the hacking of Google's servers and the theft of its intellect ...
  
  
  
• Images from Haiti quake [7.0 Richter Scale]
  
  The impoverished Caribbean country of Haiti was struck by a major earthquake on Tuesday night. There are no precise figures on the number of victims yet, but initial estimates indicate that hundreds of people have died. The capital city Port-au-Prince was hit hard and the presidential palace has col ...
  
  
  

Independent ( London )

• Despair as bottlenecks hamper aid
  
  Thousands of people injured in Haiti's massive earthquake spent a third night twisted in pain, lying on sidewalks and waiting for help as their despair turned to anger.
  
  
  
• Anger as bottlenecks hamper Haiti aid
  
  Doctors and search dogs, troops and rescue teams flew to devastated Haiti, a land of dazed, dead and dying people, finding bottlenecks everywhere, beginning at a main airport short on jet fuel and ramp space and without a control tower.
  
  
  
• Vital hours for rescuers as supplies trickle in
  
  Rescue workers and relief supplies from around the world began trickling into the Haitian capital yesterday, more than two days after the earthquake struck. Experts fear thousands of people are still trapped under collapsed buildings and say the next three days will be crucial in determining if the ...
  
  
  
• Brown throws down the gauntlet on overseas aid
  
  Gordon Brown today challenges the Conservatives to support Labour's attempt to pass the world's first-ever law to protect government spending on aid to Africa and other poor countries.
  
  
  
• US strikes back with drone attack on leader of Tal ...
  
  The Pakistan Taliban has denied reports that one of its leaders – a man who was recently linked to the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA operatives inside Afghanistan – had been killed by a US missile strike.
  
  
  

CASMII - Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran

• A killer blow against US-Iran ties
  
  Summary: Dr Ali-Mohammadi The assassination of Dr Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a Tehran University nuclear physicist, on Tuesday, blamed by the Iranian government on the United States and Israel and their fifth-column allies inside Iran, is the latest sign of an ominous, growing shadow war with Iran o ...
  
  
  
• Never Mind the Facts, Let’s Have a War...
  
  Summary: A missile test-fired by Iran last week was reported on the BBC World Service as being “capable of striking Israel”. The choice of words was not unusual. On previous occasions when Iran has test-fired a long-range rocket, the BBC and other western news media dutifully inform us that the ...
  
  
  
• Israeli general Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam denies ...
  
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• Iranian MP says nuclear fuel swap must take place ...
  
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• The US to turn up heat on Iran
  
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The Daily Galaxy

• "Pandora Everywhere" -The Icon for Internet 3.0? ...
  
  Pandora, the next-generation online music streaming service, is looking at life beyond the web, embracing what's emerging as the "device-agnostic" Internet. “We became profitable for the fourth quarter of 2009, and now we’re shooting for profits for the entire 2010...
  
  
  
• "Are Black Holes Actually White?" Stephen Hawking' ...
  
  Stephen Hawkings great discovery was that the mysterious regions in space we call black holes radiate heat through quantum effects. Hawking has said that "black holes are not really black after all: they glow like a hot body, and the...
  
  
  
• Faster Than the Speed of Light? Pulsars Point to " ...
  
  We learned in our intro to science courses that information cannot be transmitted faster than the speed of light. Yet laboratory experiments done over the last 30 years clearly show that some things appear to break this speed limit without...
  
  
  
• Books We Lost to History That Would Have Changed t ...
  
  The vast majority of the knowledge humans have assembled over the centuries, has been lost. The world's geniuses either kept their revelations to themselves and then died, or else they put it down on paper which has long since rotted...
  
  
  
• You Couldn't Make This Up! Moscow Police Watch Pre ...
  
  "During several months of 2009, Moscow police looked at fake pictures displayed on their monitors instead of what was supposed to be video from the city surveillance cams. The subcontractor providing the cams was paid on the basis of 'the...
  
  
  

Natural News

• Food security collapses in Haiti as machete-wieldi ...
  
  (NaturalNews) Overnight, Haiti has gone from an organized, civil nation to a scenario of total chaos with gangs running wild through the streets, ransacking shops and fighting over food with machetes. Learning this, many an ignorant westerner might naively say, "That could only happen in Haiti. It's ...
  
  
  
• Pomegranates may prevent estrogen-driven breast ca ...
  
  (NaturalNews) Many breast cancers are estrogen-dependent. So a class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors (AI) that block the synthesis of estrogen are used by mainstream medical doctors to attempt to slow the growth of estrogen sensitive breast tumors. Unfortunately, as the Mayo Clinic web site poi ...
  
  
  
• Merck Sat on Data Showing Vioxx Risks for Years Be ...
  
  (NaturalNews) A recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine has revealed that information about heart risks from pharmaceutical giant Merck's Vioxx drug was available in 2000, four years before the Merck pulled the drug from the market. Because the information was not published and m ...
  
  
  
• Dr. Brian Clement interviewed on NaturalNews Talk ...
  
  (NaturalNews) This week's NaturalNews Talk Hour features Dr. Brian Clement, Ph.D., LNC, discussing "Holistic Healing: The Power of Raw-Living Foods". It runs this Thursday evening at 6pm Pacific / 9pm Eastern, and registration is FREE. Simply enter your email address in the registration form on the ...
  
  
  
• NaturalNews, CWC pledge $5000 in financial aid to ...
  
  (NaturalNews) As the editor of NaturalNews, I was heartbroken to learn of the devastation caused by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti two nights ago. News of the terrible loss of life was slow to circulate due to the near-complete destruction of the communications infrastructure in Hait ...
  

  TheGallopingBeaver

  
  
• Once more unto the breach...
  
  Last posting from me for some time. For some reason I have an urge to spend some time crashing through northern ocean gales in Winter. OK. I have no such urge. But it feels better if I think it's my own idea. So, anything I was going to do to update the blog and perhaps perform some general main ...
  
  
  
• Your Tax Dollars at Work
  
  OH, HOW I LOVE THE NFB. Stevie probably hates it, but what the hell does he know? Anyway, the good folks at the NFB have posted The Cat Came Back ! Cordell Barker is so brilliant. Enjoy!
  
  
  
• Freedom of Speech
  
  A MODEST CONSTRUCT is an interesting blog I just found. Created by Ben Gunnink [a.k.a. Heliologue] who proclaims that he lives out the phrase “specialization is for insects,” with interests ranging from literature to computer science, linguistics to physics, music to philosophy.  Anyway, he has a ve ...
  
  
  
• Dear Vatican,
  
  I take issue with your simple dogmatic and doctrinaire construction of a judgemental and vengeful sky-god. Given what we now know about everything from quarks to black holes, and the fact we mere humans are made of the same matter as stars, your belief in an emotionally fraught deity seems to be a l ...
  
  
  
• COP15 Copenhagen Blogs
  
  Two of 'em, from folks participating and observing the talks. Here and here . I had meant to post these a while ago, but life happens and I was distracted. Anyway, both are authored by academics researching social and economic dimensions of climate change. It is interesting to compare the discourse ...
  
  
  

Media Matters for America

Image via Wikipedia

• Quick Fact: CNS falsely claims Southers described ...
  
  CNSNews.com falsely claimed in a headline that Erroll Southers, President Obama's nominee to head the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), "Characterized Groups That Were Domestic Security Threats" as "Having 'Christian Identity.'" In fact, as the video CNSNews embedded with the article in ...
  
  
  
• Debunked climate email claims return after right-w ...
  
  Right-wing media outlets have used a National Science Foundation grant awarded to Pennsylvania State University scientist Michael Mann to study the effects of climate change as an excuse to revive debunked claims about emails that were stolen from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University ...
  
  
  
• Limbaugh politicizes tragedies while accusing oth ...
  
  Following the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, Rush Limbaugh said the tragedy would "play right into [President] Obama's hands," adding that the administration would use it to boost its credibility with the "light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country." Limbaugh, w ...
  
  
  
• Wash. Times cites GOP criticism of White ...
  
  A Washington Times article repeated congressional Republicans' criticisms of the Council of Economic Advisers' estimate that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act created up to 2 million jobs, reporting that "Republicans say the numbers simply don't wash." Despite noting that "[t]he government ...
  
  
  
• Top Fox News programs devote scant coverage to Ha ...
  
  On January 13, Fox News' three top-rated programs for 2009 -- The O'Reilly Factor , Hannity , and Glenn Beck -- devoted a combined total of less than 7 minutes of coverage to the earthquake in Haiti, instead choosing to air such things as Beck's hour-long interview with Sarah Palin, Bill O'Reill ...
  
  
  

Global Research.ca

• Award Winning Movie: "SUPERPOWER":
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
  
  
• Latin American Countries Rush Aid to Haiti
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
  
  
• Subscribe to the Global Research E-Newsletter
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
  
  
• Press Conference: Human Drama in Gaza Launch
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
  
  
• Europe in Crisis
  
  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.
  
  
  

TPM Cafe

• Will the Real Reinhold Niebuhr Please Stand Up?
  
  Despite having been a religion major in college, I won't try to dissect Joseph Loconte's interpretation of Reinhold Niebuhr's theology over in AEI's magazine, The American. But the ways Loconte blatantly contorts President Obama's foreign policy intentions cry out for... Foreign policy - Reinh ...
  
  
  
• A Sobering Picture
  
  [See a high-resolution version of the map here.] Yesterday, at my request, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report that provides a thorough understanding of the state of the housing market at the end of June 2009. A... Government Accountability Office - Government - Violenc ...
  
  
  
• Why Obama Must Take On Wall Street
  
  It has been more than a year since all hell broke loose on Wall Street and, remarkably, almost nothing has been done to prevent all hell from breaking loose again. In fact, close your eyes and you could be back... Wall Street - White House - Business - Congress - United States
  
  
  
• Run, Harold, Run
  
  Progressive Democrats have had a not-so-great year. The health care reform bill is less than we hoped. The anti-Americans of the right have gotten stronger.The marriage equality movement has stumbled. Goldman Sachs and Bob Rubin make our economic policy. Teddy... Health care - Progressive Democ ...
  
  
  
• Presented By:

TruthOut

• HAITI LIVE BLOG DAY 3: Obama Taps George W. Bush, ...
  
  Here's the link to Wednesday's live blog. 5:26 pm PDT : We couldn't leave for the day without first reporting on this development. read more
  
  
  
• Special Report: Haiti After the Quake & How to Hel ...
  
  Over 100,000 people are believed dead after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck near the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, on Tuesday afternoon. The quake buried countless buildings, from shantytowns to the presidential palace. All hospitals in Port-au-Prince have been leveled or abandoned. The United ...
  
  
  
• HAITI LIVE BLOG DAY 3: Red Cross Estimates 50,000 ...
  
  Here's the link to Wednesday's live blog. 12:54 pm PDT : Just a reminder for readers who are following developments in Haiti via Twitter to follow these people, who have been providing must-read reports from ground zero, and subscribe to these hashtags. @RAMhaiti read more
  
  
  
• Ten Things the US Can and Should Do for Haiti
  
  One. Allow all Haitians in the US to work. The No. 1 source of money for poor people in Haiti is the money sent from family and workers in the US back home. Haitians will continue to help themselves if given a chance. Haitians in the US will continue to help when the world community moves on to othe ...
  
  
  
• 666 to 1: The US Military, Al-Qaeda and a War of ...
  
  In his book on World War II in the Pacific, War Without Mercy , John Dower tells an extraordinary tale about the changing American image of the Japanese fighting man. read more
  
  
  

Planetsave

• Killer Whales Are Evolving Into Two Different Spec ...
  
  Scientists have found that Killer Whales in the North Atlantic Ocean differ in both diet and genetic makeup. In fact, they’re in the process of splitting into two different species all together. Researchers examined the teeth of 62 whale skeletons, some that were hundreds of years old. They found ...
  
  
  
• Japanese Whalers Strike, Sink Sea Shepherd’s $2 Mi ...
  
  All five crew aboard the Ady Gil, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s new intercepting vessel are safe, but the fate of the prized new boat is in doubt after a collision with a Japanese harpoon vessel left it disabled off the coast of Antarctica. Anti-whaling activists, the Sea Shepherd Conser ...
  
  
  
• Barn Owl’s Wisconsin Appearance A Rare Event
  
  The Common Barn Owl is not so common in Midwestern states where it’s considered vulnerable. A recent surprise appearance in Wisconsin highlighted the species’ fragile status in the region. A raptor listed as an endangered or threatened species in seven Midwestern states made a rare appearance in W ...
  
  
  
• Michigan Offshore Wind Proposal Stirs Waves
  
  A map prepared for Michigan’s Great  Lakes Offshore Wind Council shows areas of high wind power production potential in the state’s offshore waters. One of the first proposals for a major offshore wind project in America’s freshwater has surprised Michigan regulators and begun to stir oppositi ...
  
  
  
• Friendship between LION, TIGER and BEAR
  
  This post contains additional media. Click here to view the full post . . If we could all just get along like these three unusual friends, we would live in a much different world. In human society, people often do not like others simply because they are different. Humans kill over this matter. In ...
  
  
  

Water Quality - WordPress

• Where it all goes
  
  Sometimes, when people find out about my professional work with sewage systems, they ask, “Oh,
  
  
  
• Antibiotics, sex hormones and sedatives in your wa ...
  
  Local efforts to prevent remnant pharmaceuticals from polluting streams and groundwater could go han
  
  
  
• Big Week for Montana Water
  
  by jhwygirl The joint interim Water Policy Committee meets this Wednesday and Thursday to discuss wa
  
  
  
• Down on the Farm, an Endless Cycle of Waste
  
  [Source: Henry Fountain for The New York Times] On dairies and feedlots, manure management is a full
  
  
  
• Pressure rises to stop antibiotics in agriculture
  
  [Source: Margie Mason and Martha Mendoza for the Associated Press, via  Business Week] FRANKENSTEIN,
  
  
  

Public Citizen in Texas

• Public Citizen Welcomes Opportunity for Senate to ...
  
  Statement of Tom “Smitty” Smith, Director of Public Citizen’s Texas Office The latest interim charge of the state Senate Business and Commerce Committee provides a welcome opportunity for Texas to rein in rogue utilities like CPS Energy of San Antonio. Now tasked with studying the costs of municipal ...
  
  
  
• Attention: Green businesses and Austinites!
  
  If you were as frustrated as I was watching world leaders dither in Copenhagen while the Earth heats up and island nations continue making evacuation plans, there is good news on the horizon for Austin. Austin Energy has developed a consensus plan that would establish our own CO2 cap and reduction p ...
  
  
  
• Baby It’s Cold Outside
  
  So put on a sweater and crank up the thermostat! That was the major trend late last week and over the weekend, when arctic weather led Texas to set another winter power usage record.  According to the Abilene Reporter News, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the grid operator for mos ...
  
  
  
• Congressman Pete Sessions ties to indicted financi ...
  
  What’s the difference between the Pete Sessions / Allen Stanford scandal and Pretty Woman? A: Julia Roberts won’t kiss you– for any amount of money The bubbling scandal over the “mini Madoffâ€�, R. Allen Stanford, and the Ponzi scheme he (allegedly) engineered in his bank, Stanford Financial, ...
  
  
  
• Worried About Comanche Peak Water Use?
  
  Are you worried about the water usage of the proposed 2-unit expansion at the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant up near Glen Rose, Texas?  Then you might be interested in the Brazos River Conservation Coalition meeting tonight at 7pm in Granbury, where they will discuss the impacts of increased wate ...
  
  
  

Press TV

• Poll: Obama would lose next election if held now
  
  A new poll shows that US President Barack Obama would lose a reelection contest against a generic candidate just one year after his inauguration.
  
  
  
• Powerful blast kills US soldier in Afghanistan
  
  A powerful explosion, triggered by an improvised explosive device, has killed one more American solider in war-weary Afghanistan.
  
  
  
• Bashir calls on Sudan rebels to join peace talks
  
  Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has called on anti-government rebels to join peace talks in order to end the fighting in the country.
  
  
  
• Saudi airstrikes claim 13 lives in Yemen
  
  Saudi airstrikes have claimed the lives of at least 13 people in the north of Yemen, Yemen's Houthi fighters have said.
  
  
  
• Iran-Saudi Arabia come to blows over Yemen
  
  Saudi Arabia has denied being involved in a military offensive against Houthi fighters in Northern Yemen after Iran's president slammed the country over the issue.
  
  
  

Axis of Logic

• U.S. Mourns the Loss of Lebanon
  
  
  
  
  
• How do you spell success? Venezuelan President Chá ...
  
  
  
  
  
• Earth’s Oceans: Our Largest Plastic Landfills
  
  
  
  
  
• The Mafia Is Running the Giant World Casino
  
  
  
  
  
• How the United States Lost the Wars in Iraq and Af ...
  
  
  
  
  

They Gave Us a Republic

• The Nightowl Newswrap
  
  That's the equivalent of 5 million people dead in this country. "The Red Cross estimates 45,000-50,000 people have died in Haiti's devastating earthquake, as rescue teams race against time to find survivors. The US is sending up to 3,500 troops and 2,200 marines but correspondents say aid is so far ...
  
  
  
• Trying to Replace a Dying Industry With a Dead One
  
  The Kentucky General Assembly never disappoints: sometime after the reality-based world gives up on something stupid and destructive as a bad job, the KY Gen Asses decide it's just what we need. A bill that would lift a more than 25-year-old moratorium on the building of nuclear power plants in Kent ...
  
  
  
• Limbaugh On Haiti
  
  Can there possibly be a more reprehensible, mean minded sonofabitch on earth than El Puerco?   From my email feed from Media Matters/Limbaugh Watch: As the show began, we were wondering just how Rush would deal with his controversial statements about Haiti, in which he said Obama will use the Haiti ...
  
  
  
• Nous a vous, bon courage.
  
  If Americans indeed have a claim to exceptionalism... ...it is not because we have the most toys and can blow the most shit up. If we indeed have a claim to exceptionalism, it is because we have broad shoulders, big hearts, strong backs and iron wills. If we are indeed exceptional, it is because whe ...
  
  
  
• That'll be a winning strategy, I'm sure
  
  The far-right, pro-business, anti-consumer, anti-worker Club for Growth is doubling down on their opposition to efforts to reform the healthcare system. It isn't enough that republicans vote against it. They want republican elected officials and candidates to pledge their fealty and vow that they wi ...
  
  
  

Care 2

• Red squirrels given extra protection in Cumbria
  
  Conservations chiefs have extended a vital red squirrel buffer zone in Cumbria to slow down the migration of greys towards the Scottish border. Submitted by Cher C. to Animals  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  
  
  
• New species discovered in Ecuador
  
  A snail sucking snake and a miniature gecko are among discoveries by a team of scientists in Ecuador's rainforest Submitted by Katie Miller to World  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  
  
  
• "World's Least Known Bird" breeding site discovere ...
  
  Researchers for the Wildlife Conservation Society have discovered the breeding area of the large-billed reed warbler, dubbed in 2007 as "the world's least known bird species," in the remote and rugged Wakhan Corridor of the Pamir Mountains of north Submitted by Cher C. to Animals  |   Note-it!  |  ...
  
  
  
• Neglect in Forrest City, Arkansas Animal Shelter – ...
  
  Yesterday I received a video about Forrest City, Arkansas Animal Shelter and we’ve all heard some horrors about some of the shelters out there; descriptions, pictures, videos, and it makes up angry, pisses us off, hurts us but I want to warn you, if you Submitted by Cher C. to Animals  |   Note-it! ...
  
  
  
• New bird species found in Heart of Borneo
  
  A bird species new to science, The "Spectacled Flowerpecker," has been discovered in the heart of the Bornean rainforest. However, so little is known about the bird that that it has yet to be given a scientific name. Submitted by Cher C. to Animals  |   Note-it!  |   Add a Comment
  
  
  

GreenBiz

• Sustainable Forestry Initiative Releases New Stand ...
  
  After an 18-month review process, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative has released its new standard, with expanded and updated principles, objectives and performance indicators.
  
  
  
• A Blueprint for Greening New York City's Buildings
  
  New York City's buildings are responsible for 66 percent of energy use and 77 percent of the metropolis' greenhouse gas emissions. This report looks at the challenge posed by green buildings and strategies to address it.
  
  
  
• California's Building Code Turns a Deeper Shade of ...
  
  California's Green Building Standards Code, the first of its kind when placed on the books 18 months ago, moved toward a new phase this week with the adoption of mandatory measures that are aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, water use and other environmental impacts of ne ...
  
  
  
• Minnesota Twins Team Up with Pentair to Slash Wate ...
  
  The Minnesota Twins and Pentair Inc., working with sports sponsorship agency GreenMark, are installing a rainwater recycling system that's custom-designed for Target Field and promises to reduce the new ballpark's need for city water by more than half.
  
  
  
• Strong Forecasts for Green Business and Building i ...
  
  What's in store for green business, building and sustainable sites in 2010? Here are my predictions for the year's emerging trends in retrofits, energy efficiency, alternative energy and more.
  
  
  

Reuters Global

• EU Commission nominee inspired by Rumsfeld
  
  EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner-designate Rehn of Finland talks to reporters after addressing the European Parliament Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in Brussels
  
  
  
• Haiti … Too Much Suffering
  
  Reuters correspondent reaches quake-stricken Port-au-Prince overland from the Dominican Republic to see corpses in the streets.
  
  
  
• Taking on Pakistan’s “military-jihadi& ...
  
  Is 2010 going to be the year when Pakistan takes on the so-called military-jihadi nexus? A Pakistani expert says the military may be left with no choiice but to pursue that path to protect the Pakistani state and to meet the challenge from an economically resurgent India.
  
  
  
• U.S. televangelist Pat Robertson says Haiti cursed ...
  
  Controversial U.S. televangelist Pat Robertson said on Wednesday that earth-quake devastated Haiti was cursed because of a past pact that it made with the devil.
  
  
  
• European Parliament’s theatre of politics
  
  Every five years, the European Parliament gets a chance to show its teeth as it quizzes candidates to serve in the European Commission, the powerful body that enforces laws across the European Union. But rather than a rigorous examination of the nominees, it tends to be more of an exercise in politi ...
  
  
  

Paul Krugman

• Stein's Law, New Application
  
  Another thing that couldn't go on forever, and didn't.
  
  
  
• Haiti
  
  Those with the power to help are doing what they can.
  
  
  
• I'm Czar Of The World!
  
  Says Eugene Fama.
  
  
  
• Eh
  
  Canada doesn't seem much worried about problems created by its currency independence. That seems revealing to me -- it suggests that Europeans made too much of the need for the euro.
  
  
  
• Percents And Sensibility
  
  You have to start by assuming wildly dysfunctional financial markets before you can blame the government for the crisis; and if markets are that dysfunctional, who needs the government to create a mess?
  
  
  

No Quarter

• Breaking News: “Poll shocker: Scott Brown surges a ...
  
  This is breaking news from the Boston Herald, based on an unbiased Suffolk University poll: Riding a wave of opposition to Democratic health-care reform, GOP upstart Scott Brown is leading in the U.S. Senate race, raising the odds of a historic upset that would reverberate all the way to the White H ...
  
  
  
• Larry Johnson Will Be on John Batchelor Tonight Re ...
  
  I am listening to John Batchelor’s syndicated radio program (9 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET), and he just announced that “later tonight” he will be speaking with Larry Johnson about the many issues that will be faced in Haiti, including security, the desperation and growing frustrations of the affected people, ...
  
  
  
• Told You So
  
  I wrote the following piece on 5 December 2009. In light of today’s news I wanted to take a victory lap for being right. The obots came out in force back then to tell me I did not know what I was talking about. Here’s the latest bad news: Retail sales unexpectedly [...]
  
  
  
• Tax the Middle Clas$
  
  Is the SEIU right on this one? Is Eastan McNeal, who helped break the CSI – ACORN – SEIU – OBAMA love made with money scandal, agreeing with the union argument that the Cadillac Tax is a repressive worker tax? Even the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. agreed that the world was round. That [...]
  
  
  
• It All Depends On Who Is Saying It
  
  By now, we have all read and/or heard about Harry Reid’s comments regarding Barack Obama in the book, Game Change. In case you missed it somehow, Reid said (and has since apologized for) this: (he) privately described then-candidate Barack Obama during the presidential campaign as a black candidate ...
  
  
  

Environmental Graffiti

• Insects Poke Fun at Photographers
• The Explosive Quest for Immortality
• The Blue City From Above
• Amazing Sparkler Portraits That Won’t Burn a Hole ...
• Environmental Graffiti Meets Artist Cristopher Cic ...

Foreign Policy in Focus

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

Global Elite

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

Al Jazeera

• Aid struggles to reach Haitians
  
  Mounting tensions in Port-au-Prince as hundreds of thousands spend night on the streets.
  
  
  
• 'Arrest made' over Jordan explosion
  
  Taxi driver suspected of planting bomb targeting Israeli diplomats, Al Jazeera learns.
  
  
  
• Guinea demands coup leader's return
  
  Military government's condition could undermine moves to restore civilian rule.
  
  
  
• Men charged over Danish attack plot
  
  US authorities charge suspects for planning terror attacks in Denmark and Mumbai.
  
  
  
• Help arrives in Haiti
  
  Aid reaches quake-hit nation but damage to infrastructure hampers distribution.
  
  
  

Green Inc. - NYT

• China Snaps Up California Solar Market
  
  Over the past three years, China's share of the California market, in terms of supplied megawatts, has risen from 2 percent to 46 percent, according to a preliminary report
  
  
  
• Pickens Ad Focuses on Energy Security
  
  The latest advertisement from The Pickens Plan uses Arabic script to paint a picture of energy insecurity.
  
  
  
• On Our Radar...
  
  Prospects fade for climate bill in 2010, T. Boone Pickens reorients on natural gas and other energy and environment news from around the Web.
  
  
  
• Small Firms Slam E.P.A. Clean Air Revisions
  
  The new greenhouse gas regulations would be financially burdensome, small business owners are complaining.
  
  
  
• Podesta and Pickens Stump for Natural Gas
  
  The former White House Chief of Staff and the Texas financier jointly extolled the virtues of natural gas in a press conference Wednesday.
  
  
  

Dot Earth News

• Gaining a Minute in the Race Against Time
  
  The Doomsday Clock is adjusted -- positively.
  
  
  
• Is Pentagon's Haiti Mission a Model for a New Secu ...
  
  The Pentagon's missions in Haiti and after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami could be a model for much more to come.
  
  
  
• Whiplash in the Greenhouse
  
  Do the media, scientists and advocates have a tendency to distort science pointing to the impacts of global warming?
  
  
  
• Haiti's Agony
  
  A potent earthquake is the latest hard knock to hit one of the world's poorest countries.
  
  
  
• Lassoing Hawaii's Marine Trash
  
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the state of Hawaii set out to battle marine trash.
  
  
  

Doug Feith : Hong Pong

• Pearl Harbor: Evidence of shady biz or just a lett ...
  
  Remember the Maine, while you're at it! :-D
  
  
  
• Controlling 9/11 "crippled epistemology" via fake ...
  
  ".... we will suggest below that if the hard core arises for certain identifiable reasons, it can be broken up or at least muted by government action." .... " We suggest a role for government efforts, and agents, in introducing such diversity.  Government agents (and their allies) might enter chat ...
  
  
  
• 'Civil support' apparatus appears, Oh noes: Obama ...
  
  Article I Section 10 Clause 3.... No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State , or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such immine ...
  
  
  
• TSA goon loses notebook tracing blogger leaks; hon ...
  
  Next time at the airport: "resonant effects allow THz waves to unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand"..... But first, Crush the Bloggers with Fake Tweets!!! "Sent Blog Message to entice M... [?] to respond" --Randomly found TSA investigator notebook re manipulating Twitt ...
  
  
  
• New TSA leak PDF; False Flag ops for Detroit Chris ...
  
  An interesting confluence of events as Obama suddenly grants INTERPOL diplomatic immunity of sorts, while an apparent airport false flag operation or at least 'shady biz as usual' unravels pretty quickly. Good times in the shadow state for 2010. We found some snippets on the case from two noted jo ...
  
  
  

Daily Censored

• The “Quiet Revolution”: Charter Schools flex their ...
  
  Uncritically accepting that standardized tests have anything to do with learning and teaching is of course the underlying assumption behind the story about charter schools in the Los Angeles Times. Reporters, Landsberg, Smith and Blume accept the premise that students need high-stakes standardized ...
  
  
  
• Magical Realism — A coup in Honduras, so Twentieth ...
  
  By Saul Landau and Nelson Valdes “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go Communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people.” – Henry Kissinger, June 26, 1970 “I’ve heard many in this room say that they will not recognize the elections in Honduras. … What does that mean ...
  
  
  
• California Passes Legislation to Compete for the R ...
  
  It is clear from witnessing the California Assembly vote what the government role is not in ‘turning around’ schools; it is in ‘turning them over’ to profit driven economies, drawing a virtual chalk line on the public playground around the corpse of public schools.
  
  
  
• Scanners Aren’t the Solution
  
  There's been a push towards scanners since the attempted bombing of flight 253. We take a look at why they aren't the solution.
  
  
  
• Yemen, North Africa and the Spread of Islamic Fund ...
  
  General Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan recently commented that “We’ve been at this for about seven months now and I believe we’ve made progress.” In fact, it is entirely possible that a further build-up of US troops in Afghanistan could militarily defeat the Taliban and al ...
  
  
  

AlterNet's Breaking News

• NBA Jazz down Cavs on buzzer-beater by unheralded ...
• Six share lead at log-jammed PGA Sony Open
• Deng's 25 points lift NBA Bulls over depleted Celt ...
• US newspaper industry 'bible' Editor & Publish ...
• US videogame sales hit record high in December

Institute for Policy Studies

• Eight Years of Guantanamo: What's Changed?
• The State of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream in 201 ...
• Barely Making the Grade: Obama's First Year
• Barely Making the Grade: Obama's First Year
• Yemen: Deja Vu All Over Again

Pine River World News

• America's next security measure: 'Israelification' ...
  
  The following commentary is from The National, Abu Dhabi. America's next security measure:  'Israelification' of airports? ©   The National By Craig Nelson, Associate Editor January 14, 2010 The Obama administration's measures to toughen airport and airline security following last month's failed b ...
  
  
  
• Google's Deep CIA Connections
  
  The following article is from Pravda, Moscow. Google's Deep CIA Connections ©  Eric Sommer Source:   Pravda.ru January 14, 2010 The western media is currently full of articles on Google's 'threat to quit China' over internet censorship issues, and the company's 'suspicion' that the Chinese governm ...
  
  
  
• Iranian scientist assassinated as U.S. steps up wa ...
  
  The following commentary is reprinted with permission from World Socialist Web Site. Iranian scientist assassinated as U.S. steps up war threats ©   World Socialist Web Site By Bill Van Auken January 13, 2010 Massoud Ali Mohammadi, one of Iran's leading nuclear scientists, was assassinated in Tehr ...
  
  
  
• The Death of Liberalism in the United States
  
  The following commentary is reprinted with permission from Global Research. The Death of Liberalism in the United States ©   Global Research By Shamus Cooke January 12, 2010 It's no exaggeration to say that President Obama was the Democrats' last chance to maintain some level of political legitima ...
  
  
  
• Europe Takes up Switzerland's Initiative against I ...
  
  The following commentary is reprinted with permission from Pravda, Moscow. Europe Takes up Switzerland's Initiative against Islamization ©   Pravda.ru By Sergey Balmasov January 12, 2010 The success of the Swiss far-right who managed to obtain enough votes at a referendum to ban the construction o ...
  

  PDA AMERICA

  
  
• IOT: Accountability and Justice
  
  "bmaz," a frequent and extremely knowledgeable blogger on Firedoglake and Emptywheel joined us on this call
  
  
  
• Waxman Attacks Winograd On Israel; Ignites A Polit ...
  
  By Linda Milazzo | PDA Blog Contributor At the behest of his congressional ally, Jane Harman (CA-36), Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman (CA-30) has launched a mean-spirited ideological assault on Harman’s Democratic primary challenger, Marcy Winograd, that ...
  
  
  
• Sing It If You Understand
  
  Cross-posted from Docudharma When Obama needed the votes of progressives to get elected, his message was Change We Can Believe In.  But now that he no longer needs us, now that he has power, he has ...
  
  
  
• Looking into the Continuing Financial Crisis – Wha ...
  
  by Randy Shannon | Treasurer, PA 4th CD Chapter Progressive Democrats of America December 30, 2009 The chart at the right from the St. Louis Federal Reserve shows that banks have record low liquid assets, and that ...
  
  
  
• Tax on Health Care Will Erode Coverage for Middle ...
  
  Cross-posted from the ALF-CIO Blog A new year brings with it lots of hope. Let’s hope 2010 brings a health care reform bill that does not penalize working families with a tax on their coverage. Because right ...
  
  
  

Marler Blog

• 2006 E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak Linked to Organic Pa ...
  
  Chris Martin, then age seven, developed an E. coli O157:H7 infection in September 2006 following consumption of raw milk. He was hospitalized beginning on September 8, suffering from severe gastrointestinal symptoms, including bloody diarrhea. Shortly thereafter, he developed hemolytic uremic syndro ...
  
  
  
• Pollan Does Pullman
  
  I have always had a love/hate relationship with my Alma Mater. I was admitted conditionally (low GPA), but wound up receiving three Bachelor Degrees (Political Science, English and Economics), while at the same time being the first and only student elected to the Pullman City Council. In my spare ...
  
  
  
• Contaminated Flour - Something else to worry about ...
  
  Yesterday’s announcement from Nestle that it had “informed the FDA [on January 11, 2010] that two samples of Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough … had tested positive for E. coli O157:H7…,” came as both a shock, that sick months after a severe E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, product was testing po ...
  
  
  
• Michael R. Taylor, Named Deputy Commissioner for F ...
  
  Michael R. Taylor, J.D., was named Deputy Commissioner for Foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on Jan. 13, 2010. He is the first individual to hold the position, which was created along with a new Office of Foods in August 2009 to elevate the leadership and management of the Foods Progr ...
  
  
  
• Nestle to use heat-treated flour - moves to become ...
  
  Sometimes when bad things happen, companies do step up. A few minutes ago, Nestle USA's Baking Division announced "it will begin using heat-treated flour in the manufacture of its Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough."  This was in response to recent positive E. coli O157:H7 test results that ...
  
  
  

AutoblogGreen

• AutoblogGreen for 01.14.10
  
  Detroit 2010: 1,000 Tesla Roadsters have been built, Model S still over two years away Let's look forward, not backward. Detroit 2010: Smart USA's Jill Lajdziak says lifestyle message can boost sales ...
  
  
  
• AutoblogGreen for 01.13.10
  
  Detroit 2010: BYD's plans to bring the all-electric E6 to the U.S. slightly detailed Nothing says ambition like a Chinese company that wants to be the world's biggest automaker in 15 years. Detroit 2010: ...
  
  
  
• AutoblogGreen for 01.12.10
  
  Detroit 2010: LaHood says Volt is "obviously the kind of green car Americans are looking for" So says the guy who works for the government that owns 60 percent of the company that will sell the Volt. Det ...
  
  
  
• Detroit 2010: Toyota FT-CH a younger, cheaper brot ...
  
  Filed under: Concept Cars , Detroit Auto Show , Hatchback , Toyota Toyota FT-CH live unveiling - Click above for high-res image gallery Toyota brought a downstream version of the small hybrid Lexus LF-CH concept that was unveiled in Frankfurt to the Detroit Auto Show today. The FT-CH Concept - tea ...
  
  
  
• Detroit 2010: LaHood says Volt "obviously the kind ...
  
  Filed under: Detroit Auto Show , Hybrid , Sedan , Government/Legal , Chevrolet , GM , Electric The 2010 Detroit Auto Show kicked off this morning with a positive little speech by United States Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. Speaking about the coming electrification of the automobile, he ...
  
  
  

Rafe's Radar

• TV industry turns blind eye to non-3D viewers
  
  A small but significant proportion of TV buyers can't see the sets' 3D effects. How is the industry addressing them?
  
  
  
• VigLink monetizes your pages quietly
  
  New service turns any link to a commerce site into an affiliate link.
  
  
  
• CES: Decipher your car's idiot light with CarMD
  
  Updated automobile diagnostic tool also gets a refreshed Web service
  
  
  
• Reporters' Roundtable podcast: Elements of tech de ...
  
  This week, the Roundtable is live from CES in Las Vegas. Topic: Design. My two guests, Gregor Berkowitz of MOTO Development (and author of the Design Review blog), and Max Burton of Frog Design, talk with me about design vs. engineering, why Apple's designs are so successful, and how companies ba ...
  
  
  
• CES: AR.Drone helicopter controllable by iPhone
  
  Coolest toy ever? This remote-control helicopter has a video camera that streams to your iPhone or iPod Touch.
  
  
  

Camera Obscura

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

Democracy Now!

• "The Destruction Is Everywhere You Go": Independen ...
  
  Democracy Now! spoke with independent journalist Ansel Herz earlier tonight from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Herz says more than 100,000 people may have died in the devastating earthquake. Tune into Democracy Now! on Thursday for full coverage. Herz was interviewed by Democracy Now! producer Mike Burke. ...
  
  
  
• Holding Corporations Accountable for Apartheid Cri ...
  
  A landmark class action case is under way in a New York federal court, with victims of apartheid in South Africa suing corporations that they say helped the pre-1994 regime. Among the multinational corporations are IBM, Fujitsu, Ford, GM and banking giants UBS and Barclays. The lawsuit accuses the ...
  
  
  
• HOWARD ZINN: "Holy Wars"
  
  Howard Zinn is an American historian, social critic, and activist. He is best known as author of the best-seller A People’s History of the United States . He spoke at Boston University on November 11, on the subject of American “Holy Wars.” Thanks to Robbie Leppzer for filming this event.
  
  
  
• Sick With Terror
  
  The media have been swamped with reports about the attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day. When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, now dubbed the “underwear bomber,” failed in his alleged attack, close to 300 people were spared what would have been, most likely, a horrible, viole ...
  
  
  
• The Fight Against Hydraulic Fracturing is Heating ...
  
  Dozens of New York State and City legislators and environmental activists gathered on the steps of City Hall on Monday to urge Governor Paterson to step back from the Department of Environmental Conservation’s “Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement” (SGEIS), otherwise known as t ...
  
  
  

Farming Pathogens

• Do Pathogens Time Travel?
  
  Evolution arises from a wealth of failure: 1) natural selection requires large and variable populations comprised largely of organisms that fail because their designs do not match their present problems and 2) chance destruction occurs at all spatiotemporal scales. So clearly strict optimization doe ...
  
  
  
• We Are All Astronauts Now
  
  Five years ago I gave copies of this essay to a few friends and family as a year-end holiday gift. As a first stab I think it’s aged well, despite its ignorance of the work of Berger, Harvey, Reichenbach, among others. I offer it now to everyone else in a similar spirit–all in good fun, [...]
  
  
  
• Pigs Do Fly! Implications for Influenza
  
  The influenza genome is segmented. Eight pieces of single-stranded RNA encode for 11 proteins: PB2, PB1, PB1-F2, PA, HA, NP, NA, M1, M2, NS1, and NS2. The segmentation allows influenza of different subtypes infecting the same host to trade segments like card players on a Friday night. Most of the re ...
  
  
  
• Breeding Influenza: The Political Virology of Offs ...
  
  What better way to medicate against a holiday’s genocidal origins and the hunger now swelling worldwide in the wake of a related banker-brought recession than with a bellyful of turkey, stuffing, yams, and pumpkin pie? Despite its rotten ambiguities Thanksgiving remains my favorite American holiday. ...
  
  
  
• A Visitation of the Influenza
  
  In seeping through the world’s every nook and cranny, pandemics have a way of forcing themselves into our lives as a lurking presence. Even the most insular of functionaries, who typically makes his living solving problems by ignoring them, straightens up and takes notice.    As an epidemic wave a ...
  
  
  

Digg Green

• Big Surprise at the End of the Rainbow (PIC)
  
  I was expecting a pot of gold...
  
  
  
• The Top 9 Viral Videos of the Green Movement, 1958 ...
  
  With the onset of YouTube and the emergence of digital advocacy, environmental groups, scientists, corporations, government agencies and independent filmmakers have all taken to the virtual airwaves in an effort to frame the critical environmental issues of today.
  
  
  
• 5 Eco-Friendly Inventions Dreamed Up By Young Mind ...
  
  When it comes to the next great eco-friendly invention (or any cool invention for that matter), we often wonder why we didn't think of it first. Well, this list is probably no different. Each of these were dreamed up by the young minds of students or graduates who were looking for a more eco-friendl ...
  
  
  
• The Threat of a Global Water Shortage (Graphic)
  
  Peak oil is a well documented danger, but what about peak water? A global water shortage could prove far more damaging both economically and politically than a shortage of oil. But how severe is the shortage and how will the planet be affected?
  
  
  
• CES 2010 -YoGen Makes a Splash in Pull-String Char ...
  
  The YoGen hand-held charger is one we talked about back in October, and I finally got to see it in action at CES. It was one of the more popular booths in the Sustainable Planet section, and ..........................
  
  
  

Invisible Opportunity

• A History Of US Secret Human Experimentation
  
  1931 Dr. Cornelius Rhoads, under the auspices of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Investigations, infects human subjects with cancer cells. He later goes on to establish the U.S. Army Biological Warfare facilities in Maryland, Utah, and Panama, and is named to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. ...
  
  
  
• After this awful fiasco over swine flu, we should ...
  
  By Christopher Booker So the Government, as the Daily Mail has revealed, is trying to get rid of £1billion-worth of unwanted swine flu vaccine – because the deadly epidemic they were promising us all last year never materialised. Several things are shocking about this revelation, not least the char ...
  
  
  
• Iran accuses US, Israel in nuclear scientist murde ...
  
  Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it has found traces of US and Israel’s involvement in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear physics scientist. “Primary investigations into the assassination revealed signs of the involvement of the Zionist regime [Israel], the US and their allies in Iran, ...
  
  
  
• Egypt: New find shows slaves didn’t build py ...
  
  By Katarina Kratovac “The myth of the slaves building pyramids is only the stuff of tabloids and Hollywood,” Wildung told The Associated Press by telephone. “The world simply could not believe the pyramids were build without oppression and forced labor, but out of loyalty to the pharaohs.” Hawass sa ...
  
  
  
• Everything Our Governme
  

  Insurgency Watch - Posts

  
  
• InsurgencyWatch moving to True/Slant
  
  In the coming days, InsurgencyWatch will be moving to True/Slant, “an original content news network tailored to both the ‘Entrepreneurial Journalist’ and marketers who want a more effective way to engage with digital audiences.” (That’s what the official about page says.) It’s not a decision I’ve ma ...
  
  
  
• Kerry-Lugar’s First Victim
  
  If true, this is total bullshit: After strong criticism on the Kerry-Lugar bill in Pakistan, the government has decided to replace Pakistan’s ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani and the announcement in this respect is expected within the next two days. There’s nothing in the bill reasonable Pakist ...
  
  
  
• Pakistan’s Civil War Heating Up
  
  In the aftermath of this weekend’s assault on the Pakistani General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the Taliban hit again in Alpuri, in the Shangla district east of Mingora in Swat. According to military sources who asked to remain anonymous because they weren’t authorized to talk to the press, a 13- or ...
  
  
  
• At Home with a Swat Lashkar
  
  I just finished up a few days in Swat and while I’m working on a story about it, I thought you might like to see a few pictures I took while there. Enjoy. Share/Save
  
  
  
• FACTBOX: Uzbek militant leader killed in Pakistan ...
  
  Washington PostFACTBOX: Uzbek militant leader killed in PakistanReutersBy this time he is thought to have fled the region for the safe haven of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. * Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader ...Pakistan to Target Taliba...
  
  
  

AlterNet - DrugReporter

• Sewage as a Measure of Society's Drug Use
  
  Testing municipal wastewater for drugs may be the next big thing in public health research. The methodology will likely confirm the universality of drug use.
  
  
  
• NJ Allows Medical Marijuana for a Fraction of the ...
  
  NJ restricts doctors from prescribing marijuana for anything less than a terminal illness or debilitating condition, such as cancer, AIDS or multiple sclerosis.
  
  
  
• Dorm Room Dealers: A Peek into the Drug World of t ...
  
  Fascinating new book explores why college kids on the path to success would peddle pot or pills. Answer: They're not much at risk -- they're rich and white.
  
  
  
• Fear Mongers Attack a NYC Harm Reduction Pamphlet ...
  
  Arguments by top level city and federal law enforcement agents against harm redution pamphlet have little scientific merit.
  
  
  
• Exile Nation: Drugs, Prisons, Politics & Spiri ...
  
  Entering the world of "Dead Time," the period a convict spends in the county jail awaiting shipment to the penitentiary system which doesn't count towards the overall sentence.
  
  
  

Twilight Earth

• Wendys Restaurant Chain Supports Mountaintop Remov ...
  
  While surfing Facebook today, I ran across "Boycott Mountaintop Removal Supporters," who state that Wendy's Supports Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining. Related posts: Ending Streamlined Mountaintop Coal Removal Permits Is Not Enough West Virginians Come to DC to Protest Mountaintop Removal at the EP ...
  
  
  
• Monsanto News Roundup – A Frankenfood Extravaganza ...
  
  In it's efforts to place patents on life and control the global food market, Monsanto is not only feared by farmers, but by consumers as well. Related posts: Monsanto Bets on the Hungry to Double its Profits by 2012 The World According to Monsanto – Full Documentary Genetically Engineered Seed Com ...
  
  
  
• Report: Monsanto Corn Causes Organ Damage in Mamma ...
  
  A report released by the International Journal of Biological Sciences states that three types of Monsanto corn, cause cancer and organ damage in mammals. Related posts: Monsanto Bets on the Hungry to Double its Profits by 2012 USDA: No Environmental Impact Study Needed to Deregulate Genetically Mo ...
  
  
  
• Interior Secretary Tells Big Oil – Public Lands ar ...
  
  Last week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that big oil will no longer be "the kings of the world" like they were under the Bush administration. Related posts: Wind Could Replace Most if Not All Coal Plants, says Interior Secretary President Bush Opening Public Lands Near Parks for Drilling S ...
  
  
  
• Fast Food Strikes (Out) Again
  
  A recent article in the Huffington Post has me completely infuriated. What did it say about soda? Are you sitting down? Related posts: Putting the Gross in Groceries – Food Inc. the Documentary The Beef Stops Here at Sacred Heart Hospital Good News Monday – Bloggers Donate 720 Cans of Food to Food ...
  
  
  

Inhabitat

• New Zealand Train Station Transformed Into Green M ...
  
  Often times standing around in even the most modern and sleek subway stations can be an utter drag. But imagine the surprise if your local platform suddenly sprouted a vast green meadow! Not too long ago Auckland New Zealand’s Britomart Station received a grassy green makeover that transformed 1,250 ...
  
  
  
• LivingHomes Announces National Availability of Ray ...
  
  Fabulous prefab design just became more accessible as LivingHomes has announced that homes by award-winning architect Ray Kappe will be available at lower cost on a national scale. The six Kappe designs now available nationwide come chock-full of all the green features that LivingHomes are known fo ...
  
  
  
• Kitchen Table Transforms into Secret Fort!
  
  When we spotted this ingenious design by Ingrid Brandth, our unanimous chorus was, “I want one!” The Daily Shelter is an unassuming kitchen table that stealthily transforms into a playhouse or enclosed fort so kids and adults alike can seek shelter within its ‘walls’ to “hide from scary sounds, gh ...
  
  
  
• Airnergy Charges Your Gadgets With Wi-Fi Signals
  
  This year’s Consumer Electronics Show is over, but there are still a number of nifty devices trickling into our inboxes. One of our favorites is the RCA Airnergy, a USB-connected device that converts Wi-Fi antenna signals into usable power for your gadgets. The device is completely self-sustaining — ...
  
  
  
• VIDEO: Inhabitat’s Green Renovation for the Comcas ...
  
  You may (or may not) recall that last year we ran a virtual home makeover design contest with Comcast Town, where the grand prize was a sweet collection of new home entertainment electronics and a green room makeover by yours truly – the editor and (LEED-AP designer) of Inhabitat.com. The lucky win ...
  
  
  

Pogue's Posts

• The Fine Print Behind Google's Nexus One
  
  Google was not at all prepared for its moment to become a hardware company overnight. You call HTC for hardware questions, Google for software questions, T-Mobile for cell-service questions.
  
  
  
• From the Mailbag
  
  It doesn't seem to occur to electronics companies that C.E.S. is the absolute WORST time of year to make an announcement.
  
  
  
• Dragon Breathes Fire Into Touch
  
  A new version of Dragon Dictation works on the iPod Touch (over Wi-Fi).
  
  
  
• How About the Koob?
  
  Makers of e-readers are trying to come up with unique names to beat the Kindle.
  
  
  
• Reader Responses to Review of Google's Nexus One
  
  Reader feedback about my review of Google's new cellphone was unusually voluminous and, in some sectors, vitriolic.
  
  
  

Open Your Eyes News

• Senator: US should consider drone attacks in Yemen
  
  Associated Press – A Senate chairman said Wednesday that the U.S. should consider airstrikes, armed drones and clandestine operations in Yemen to defeat an emboldened al-Qaida force there. The remark by Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, is a rare ...
  
  
  
• Sudan hangs six over 2005 refugee riot in Khartoum
  
  BBC – Six Sudanese men have been executed for their part in a riot at a refugee camp in Khartoum in 2005. The men were held responsible for killing 13 policemen during the riots in which five civilians also died. The violence flared when police tried to clear the Soba Aradi camp, which housed refuge ...
  
  
  
• Full Veil Not Welcome In France, Says Sarkozy
  
  The Guardian – Nicolas Sarkozy last night threw his weight behind moves to ban the full Islamic veil in France, calling for an “unambiguous” parliamentary resolution against an item of clothing he said was “not welcome” in a country which valued sexual equality. The president, who had shied away fr ...
  
  
  
• Netanyahu: Israel will never share Jerusalem with ...
  
  Haaretz – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday that Israel would never cede control of united Jerusalem nor retreat to the 1967 borders, according to a bureau statement. The statement came after Egypt’s foreign minister said in Cairo last week that Netanyahu was ready to discuss mak ...
  
  
  
• Obama outlines $117bn bank levy – Spin or Serious?
  
  BBC – President Barack Obama has said Wall Street must repay $117bn (£72bn) to taxpayers and criticised banks for “massive profits and obscene bonuses”.The tax is to recoup money US taxpayers are expected to lose from bailing out the banks during the financial crisis. “My commitment is to recover e ...
  
  
  

Monkey Smashes Heaven

• Imperialism Kills Up To 100,000 in Haiti
  
  Imperialism Kills Up To 100,000 in Haiti (monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com) Yesterday on 14 January, 2010, up to 100,000 Haitians died after homes and buildings collapsed on them during and after a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake. The Maoist-Third Worldist movement wishes to extend its deepest sym ...
  
  
  
• Dear Maoist-Third Worldist… Many roads to so ...
  
  Many roads to socialism? (monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com) Dear Maoist-Third Worldist, There is no First World Proletariat. Only blockheads fantasize about First World revolutions. First Worldists are a joke. I get it. What I am not sure about is the Maoism side of Maoism-Third Worldism. Isn’t ...
  
  
  
• Σχετικά με τη ρήξη μεταξύ Μάο και Λιν Πιάο.
  
  Σχετικά με τη ρήξη Μάο-Λιν Πιάο Πηγή: monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com «Αγαπητέ Μαοϊστή Τριτοκοσμιστή, Προσπαθώ να κατανοήσω το μυστήριο σχετικά με την πτώση του Λιν Πιάο. Ο Τσου Εν Λάι και ο Ντενγκ Ξιάοπινγκ χρησιμοποίησαν εδάφια του προέδρου Μάο για να επιτεθούν στον Λιν, ωστόσο βρίσκομαι σε σύγχ ...
  
  
  
• Movie Review: Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)
  
  Movie Review: Avatar (James Cameron, 2009) by Prairie Fire (monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com) Avatar (James Cameron, 2009) is part of a long tradition of “going native” movies. In this sense, Avatar has been correctly described as “Dances with Wolves in space.” Nonetheless, there is more to Avatar ...
  
  
  
• United Snakes meddles in Middle East, Iran and Yem ...
  
  United Snakes meddles in Middle East, Iran and Yemen.. First Worldist “left� cheers (monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com) The Obama administration is increasing the US involvement in the affairs of both Iran and Yemen. This should be no surprise to anyone since the Obama administration is as fund ...
  
  
  

PakAlert

• A Naturalist Looks at Avatar Movie
  
  Maybe you’ve seen the first billion dollar movie. Maybe you saw it in 3-D, at an IMAX theater, with Dolby Surround Sound. Maybe you saw that movie and wondered what James Cameron was trying to say, if anything, and whether it was just another popcorn matinee movie with little substance behind the sp ...
  
  
  
• Mystery ‘Asteroid’ To Whiz By Earth Today
  
  A mystery space object, believed to be an asteroid, is set to pass close by the earth, Nasa has said, as astronomers attempt determine its origins. By Andrew Hough Nasa said it was more likely to be a tiny asteroid, one of approximately 2 million such objects in near-Earth space such as this on ...
  
  
  
• The Anatomy Of America’s Defeat In Afghanistan
  
  By Mohammed Daud Miraki, MA, MA, PhD With the long awaited decision by the Obama Administration in regards to the new strategy for Afghanistan, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated to the point that the US commanders started using the word ‘defeat’ in their report to Washington. The word d ...
  
  
  
• Sherlock Holmes Movie and Our Dajjali “New Age Rel ...
  
  By Paul A Drockton M.A. I went and saw “Sherlock Holmes”, Hollywood’s latest  New Age Propaganda.  I have been a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle since childhood (the author of the original series), and I doubt he would even recognize the movie or its hero. Yes, I will admit I enjoyed the movie. It [ ...
  
  
  
• Destination: Jerusalem
  
  by: Haris Mumtaz | United States Of Islam The night was shimmering up in the sky and within the silence of words coming out the noise of bombings and explosions. Children stressed, demented under the safety of their shelters while their parents are either resisting on the streets of Gaza or sitting ...
  
  
  

ecogeek

• Fight Over Cape Wind's Fate Will End Soon
  
  The Cape Wind offshore wind power project has been the most contested renewable energy project in the country to date.  It seems every couple of weeks brings a new objection to the project which would install 130 turbines off the coast of Cape Cod in Nantucket Sound.  But Secretary of the Interior ...
  
  
  
• Ford Moves Battery Production to Michigan
  
  At the Detroit Auto Show on Monday, Ford Chairman William Clay Ford announced that the company was going to be investing an additional $450 million in facilities for the production of batteries and electric vehicles. Ford spoke of bringing battery technology back "in house," and returning resea ...
  
  
  
• Report Says NYC Will be Home to 70,000 EVs by 2015
  
  The Detroit Auto Show has showcased a slew of EVs this year.  When it comes time for automakers to start looking for potential markets for these new vehicles, may I suggest New York City?  According to Cleantech Group, New Yorkers will buy 70,000 EVs by 2015. Consulting firm McKinsey & Co. conducte ...
  
  
  
• Audi Scores Some Big Green Points
  
  Audi showed up at this year's North American International Auto Show with some impressive hardware. Not just the cars that they are showing, but also the award for the 2010 Green Car of the Year, which was awarded to the Audi A3 TDI at the LA Auto Show. And today, Audi unveiled their E-tron e ...
  
  
  
• Shipping Map Tracks Invasive Species Stowaways
  
  Invasive species can have catastrophic effects on an ecosystem.  From algae to jellyfish , ports around the world are faced with a problem, but first, it's necessary to understand how the problem got there. Researchers at the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg, Germany set out to crack the ...
  
  
  

Times Online - Science

• Why the Y chromosome is a hotbed for evolution
  
  The Y chromosome is often seen as the rotten corner of the human genome — a place of evolutionary decline that is slowly decaying and threatening the end of man. Reports of its imminent demise, however, have been exaggerated.
  
  
  
• 50,000-mile round trip makes Arctic tern the ultim ...
  
  Cheetah, killer whale, Arctic tern. The latter may sound an unlikely contender for nature’s greatest athlete, yet the small but elegant seabird migrates more than 50,000 miles every year — the longest trek of any creature, according to research.
  
  
  
• TV addicts face 80 per cent higher risk of heart a ...
  
  Couch potatoes who watch TV for more than four hours a day can increase their risk of heart disease by 80 per cent, a study claims.
  
  
  
• Post-election budget squeeze may bring about cuts ...
  
  Entire fields of health research are likely to be shut down if the next government cuts spending on medical science to reduce Britain’s £178 billion budget deficit, The Times has learnt.
  
  
  
• Baroness Greenfield: populist scientist or talente ...
  
  Baroness Greenfield is one of the most colourful and divisive figures in British science. To her friends and fans she is an inspirational communicator of science, a role model for women in research and a tireless campaigner against sexism in the laboratory. Her detractors contend that she is a more ...
  
  
  

Environment _ National Geographic

• North America's Cooling Due to Natural Causes in 2 ...
  
  An unusually long cooling of the Pacific Ocean lowered temperatures across North America—but it's not proof that global warming has slowed down, scientists say.
  
  
  
• "Lost" Amazon Complex Found; Shapes Seen by Satell ...
  
  Hundreds of circles, squares, and other geometric shapes once hidden by forest hint at a previously unknown ancient society that flourished in the Amazon, a new study says.
  
  
  
• Melting Glaciers Nourishing Oceans With Ancient Ca ...
  
  Alaska's marine animals have an unexpected nutrient in their diets: ancient carbon from glacier melt, a new study says.
  
  
  
• Giant Salamanders Helped to Spawn
  
  A new program in Japan is helping giant salamanders get past dams built to control flooding so the rare amphibians can lay their eggs upstream. Video.
  
  
  
• PHOTOS: Dolphin "Drive Hunts" Continue in Japan, E ...
  
  Dolphin "drive" hunts, a bloody tradition denounced in the recent documentary The Cove, continue in Japan and Denmark's Faroe Islands.
  
  
  

drinking liberally in new milford ( with beersphere feeds )

• When it comes to Joe Lieberman...
  
  If Joe Lieberman... Originally uploaded by msgeek93 Nothing to add.
  
  
  
• Rep. Anthony Weiner Teaches Lieberman To Spell
  
  In his own special way : Sharp-eyed Ben was reading my story when he noticed something I had missed: Lieberman managed to misspell the name of Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who, I swear, has uttered the phrase "As long as you spell my name right" in my presence. Wrote Lieberman: "I fear the people who ...
  
  
  
• After waiting 6 months for Franken to join the Sen ...
  
  Months and months of obstruction that the Democratic party had to sit through waiting for Norm Coleman to give up what he had lost in the elections, a reality of election law that the Dem party had to deal with in Minnesota and in the Senate waiting for a 60th vote. And Scotty Brown is out there mak ...
  
  
  
• Some things are worth crowing about:
  
  Via Tengrain at Mock, Paper, Scissors : Our own Cassie is now a published author! Read Cassie’s article in Mother Jones, and be sure to leave a comment for her there . Go Cassie! And the article is worth the read... The Parent Trap — Flickr/kapungo (Creative Commons) We love seeing bad parents ...
  
  
  
• Just a short note to Harold Ford:
  
  A short note to Harold Ford, who is brutally trying to flip-flop his way into New York's Senate race: "Fugghedaboudit" That is all...
  
  
  

SPL Center

• Target of Neo-Nazi Threatmaker Bill White Tells of ...
  
  ROANOKE, Va. — A Citibank employee told jurors this afternoon that she couldn’t concentrate at work but was too frightened to go home after receiving an E-mail with her personal information from white supremacist Bill White. “I was very scared, not only for myself but for my family,” said Jennifer ...
  
  
  
• Canada’s Aryan Guard Muddied Again
  
  Yet another associate of Canada’s beleaguered Aryan Guard has landed in jail. John Richard Marleau — a white supremacist who has attended most of the neo-Nazi group’s events, though he claims not to be an official member — faces multiple charges in connection with an attempted stabbing this week on ...
  
  
  
• Jury Finds Bill White Guilty on Four Counts
  
  A federal jury today agreed with some but not all of the government’s allegations that former neo-Nazi leader Bill White made threats against various people with whom he disagreed. White was found guilty of threatening a Citibank employee, intimidating tenants of a Virginia Beach, Va., apartment com ...
  
  
  
• Hal Turner Trial Set to Begin Tomorrow
  
  The federal trial for white supremacist Hal Turner is scheduled to begin tomorrow morning. Turner, a neo-Nazi blogger and Internet radio host, is charged with threatening to assault and murder three federal judges in Chicago. Turner wrote on his blog that they “deserve to be killed” and posted their ...
  
  
  
• Haitian Catastrophe: For Racists, a Good Laugh
  
  In Haiti, tens of thousands of earthquake victims are dead, with at least one official estimating the number could reach half a million when the full, horrifying effects of Tuesday night’s earthquake in the island nation are finally known. In Arkansas, Billy Roper figured that made for a pretty amus ...
  
  
  

change: org.

• Remember Copenhagen?
  
  The Copenhagen climate conference that dominated December's news was supposed to bring finalization of international agreements, but instead it brought a beginning. The so-called agreement was so provisional, in fact, that it's just 12 paragraphs long . (This blog post is longer.) Work is therefore ...
  
  
  
• Should Cape Wind Get the Go-Ahead?
  
  Opposition to Cape Wind , a proposed wind farm in the Nantucket Sound, was easy to stereotype as a classic case of NIMBYism among the very-rich -- until Native groups weighed in, saying the project would interfere with their religious rituals and an ancient burial ground that's now underwater. The ...
  
  
  
• A Month of Gropers
  
  This month, Amanda Hess' Washington City Paper blog The Sexist is, as she says, " obsessed with groping ." In a serious of pretty awesome articles (some complete with convenient diagrams) Hess delves into the where, when, how, and why of groping -- and what women do about it, or can do, or should. W ...
  
  
  
• Is Christianity the Cause or the Cure?
  
  Did religious institutions cause the financial bubble to burst, or are they the ones who're going to save us from this recession? I've read both sides but don't much believe either. Still, I think it's worth noting how people of faith view the economic downturn. Pastor Jim Wallis, writing in the Was ...
  
  
  
• My Name is Anees And I Am Getting Deported Next We ...
  
  Immigration reform groups are calling for a speedy resolution to the health care impasse and asking legislators to deliver a just and humane immigration reform this year. Events are being held in cities across America with fathers hospitalized , immigrant youth walking thousands of miles for change, ...
  
  
  

Common Dreams -News

• Seeking a Cultural Revolution: From Consumerism to ...
  
  by Matthew Berger WASHINGTON - The last 50 years have seen an unprecedented and unsustainable spike in consumption, driven by a culture of consumerism that has emerged over that period, says a report released Tuesday by the Worldwatch Institute. read more
  
  
  
• Health Insurers Funded Chamber Attack Ads
  
  by Peter H. Stone Just as dealings with the Obama administration and congressional Democrats soured last summer, six of the nation's biggest health insurers began quietly pumping big money into third-party television ads aimed at killing or significantly modifying the major health reform bills movin ...
  
  
  
• Big Haiti Quake Topples Buildings, Thousands Burie ...
  
  PORT-AU-PRINCE - A major earthquake hit impoverished Haiti on Tuesday, toppling buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince, burying residents in rubble and causing many deaths and injuries, witnesses in the city said. The magnitude 7.0 quake, whose epicenter was inland and only 10 miles from Port-au-Pr ...
  
  
  
• Obama Received $20 Million from Healthcare Industr ...
  
  by Brad Jacobson While some sunlight has been shed on the hefty sums shoveled into congressional campaign coffers in an effort to influence the Democrats' massive healthcare bill, little attention has been focused on the far larger sums received by President Barack Obama while he was a candidate in ...
  
  
  
• UN Should Be Sidelined in Future Climate Talks, Sa ...
  
  by Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington and John Vidal America sees a diminished role for the United Nations in trying to stop global warming after the "chaotic" Copenhagen climate change summit, an Obama administration official said today. Jonathan Pershing, who helped lead talks at Copenhagen, instea ...
  
  
  

Lifehacker

• ZScreen Shares Screenshots, Text, and Files Acros ...
  
  Windows: If you want more out of your screenshot tool than simply clipping images, ZScreen can help you capture screenshots, text, and files and share them across some of the most popular image, text, and file sharing services. Click on the image above for a closer look. Since we first shared ZScree ...
  
  
  
• WaveSecure is an All-In-One Lost Phone Solution f ...
  
  Android/Windows Mobile/Symbian: If your phone goes missing or gets lifted, WaveSecure, currently free for Android phones, can lock it from further use, restore your contacts and call/SMS history, and even roughly locate and track its wayward use. For an app that's being given away free to Android Ma ...
  
  
  
• At Least 80 Percent of Corporate Computers Run In ...
  
  Ever wonder why Internet Explorer is still such a big deal among IT workers and developers, despite being the butt of almost every joke about the web? The Devil Mountain Software group tells ComputerWorld that, among the more than 21,000 workplace PCs monitored by its software, Internet Explorer is ...
  
  
  
• Download Glary Utilities Pro for Free; Today Only ...
  
  Windows: Normally $40, Glary Utilities Pro—a system utilities suite—is available for free, today only. We've highlighted the free version of Glary Utilities before, today you've got a chance to grab the professional edition for free. Although you can certainly get all the functionality found in Glar ...
  
  
  
• Bundle Breakdowns Shows Real Cost of Travel Bundl ...
  
  Hotel review site Oyster.com won our admiration with their revealing, if limited, photo fakeouts series . Also worth checking out before you book? Their blog's "Bundle Breakdowns" section, which similarly shines a light on package deals that aren't actually deals. Like the Photo Fakeout series, "Bun ...
  
  
  

Newshoggers - AfPak

• President Obama to Request Another $33 Billion for ...
  
  By Derrick Crowe The Associated Press reports that President Obama "plans to ask Congress for an additional $33 billion" to fight the unpopular Iraq and Afghanistan wars, "on top of a record request for $708 billion for the Defense Department next year." This request comes in the middle of the worst ...
  
  
  
• Pentagon Decides To Increase Size Of Afghan Army
  
  By Steve Hynd I'm unsure why the Pentagon gets to decide this. I mean, one assumes that the Afghan government OK'd it but you never know. The Pentagon has authorized a substantial increase in the number of Afghan security forces it plans to train by next year, in time for President Obama’s deadline ...
  
  
  
• US Is Checking CIA Bomber's Drone Strike Intel
  
  By Steve Last week I wondered what the fallout would be from the revelation that Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the spy-cum-suicide bomber who blew up himself and a bunch of CIA agents, had provided key intelligence for the CIA's program of drone strikes against Al Qaeda's leadership. It raised t ...
  
  
  
• Single Mom To Be Court Martialled For Putting Her ...
  
  By Steve Think Progress has an update on the case of Specialist Alexis Hutchinson, the women arrested by the U.S. Army for missing her deployment date to Afghanistan when her care plan for her 11 month old son fell through. Newshoggers originally broke the story back in November. Back then: The Army ...
  
  
  
• The NY Times Goes There
  
  By Steve Hynd Last week I wrote about the latest UN report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan, noting that "the good news" was that US and allied forces were only killing one kid a day there, as opposed to the Taliban's two. Overall, civilian deaths in 2009 are up 14% over 2008, and again the Tal ...
  
  
  

Water Wars

• Northeast Ohio 2010 enviro-news year: big changes, ...
  
  Plain Dealer File PhotoFast moving clouds blur overhead in a 30-second time exposure from Edgewater Park near Cleveland, Ohio, in this photo taken in February 2009. One of the big envirornmental stories for 2010 is likely to be following...
  
  
  
• WATER: Judge voids landmark California water agree ...
  
  A California judge has tentatively overturned a landmarkwater-use pact that was supposed to help the state make better useof its supply. The decision brings even more long-term uncertaintyabout California's water supply.
  
  
  
• Water Wars in Florida Panhandle (WMBB TV Panama Ci ...
  
  The Environmental Protection Agency and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection are in a battle regarding water quality in northwest Florida.
  
  
  
• After oil there's water for us to fight over (The ...
  
  In 1855, the Suquamish Chief Seattle was asked to sell his land to the United States government. The chief was puzzled by the request: "The president in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own th ...
  
  
  
• City extends medical marijuana moratorium (Sterlin ...
  
  STERLING — The Sterling city council voted unanimously in support of the first reading extending the temporary moratorium on issuance of sales tax licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries.
  
  
  

WordPress | Economics

• Two illustrations of a bust economy
  
  Credit card use for paying mortgages/rents and basic household bills is increasing, as is the cost o
  
  
  
• Religion: should Muslims voice their opinions ?
  
  In the past decade or so, I have heard very little opposition to Muslim extremism from Muslims thems
  
  
  
• Time Value of Money: Finance's Most Important Conc ...
  
  Time Value of Money: Finance’s Most Important Concept By the Autonomous Blogger The time value
  
  
  
• Govt. Pegged Economic Growth At 7.75 Percent
  
  Govt. Pegged Economic Growth At 7.75 Percent . The government today pegged economic growth for the c
  
  
  
• Congressman Ron Paul: The Sad State of America!

Electronic Intifada

• "This is life:" remembering earlier massacres in G ...
  
  "This is the first time I've returned here since my friends were killed," Ahmad Hammad says. He stands at the edge of a vacant plot and gestures to its far end which lies over 1 km from the border sep ...
  
  
  
• Human rights defenders Mohammad Othman and Jamal J ...
  
  On 13 January 2010, Mohammad Othman and Jamal Juma, Palestinian human rights defenders active in the campaign against the annexation wall unlawfully constructed by Israel in occupied Palestinian terri ...
  
  
  
• The United States, Israel and the retreat of freed ...
  
  A new report by Freedom House, a US-government funded think tank, suggests US interference around the world makes countries less free. Despite this, it calls for even more US intervention. The report' ...
  
  
  
• Israel ratcheting up the pressure on Gaza
  
  Even if the Iron Dome missile-defense system unveiled by Israel last week is little more than a new development in Israel's program of psychological warfare against Gaza, the pressure is most d ...
  
  
  
• A second Gaza war around the corner?
  
  Israel's recent aggressions look ominously like the 4 November 2008 attack on Gaza, which killed six persons and shattered the four-month-long truce meticulously respected by Hamas. Predictably ...
  
  
  

CS Monitor - News

• podcast091204
  
  Fewer US jobs lost in November and impact on economy.
  
  
  
• October 16, 2009
  
  The UN Human Rights Council votes to adopt the Goldstone Report on Israel's military incursion into Gaza.
  
  
  
• October 19, 2009
  
  Saudi Arabia is wary of terrorists, especially from neighboring states.
  
  
  
• October 20, 2009
  
  How some TV insiders view parents and children on reality television.
  
  
  
• October 21, 2009
  
  How African Anglicans might respond to the Vatican's offer.
  
  
  

The Wonk Room

• Atomic Scientists Push Back Doomsday Clock – Still ...
  
  The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that it would push the doomsday clock back one minute, to six minutes to midnight, in recognition of President Obama’s efforts to combat nuclear proliferation and climate change. The clock was first introduced in 1947 by scientists concerned that the w ...
  
  
  
• The Case For Temporarily Exempting Union Health Be ...
  
  The White House has agreed to exempt collective bargaining agreements from the Cadillac tax until January 1, 2018 and increase the threshold of the plans affected by the tax. Beginning on January 1, 2013, a family plan that costs more than $24,000 and an individual policy valued at $8,900 will now ...
  
  
  
• Neocon Propaganda Filtering Into Texas Textbooks?
  
  The Washington Monthly has an interesting article on what happens when a state, in this case Texas, brings in a bunch of social conservatives with no relevant scholarly historical expertise to weigh in on the content of public school textbooks. In addition to the usual creationism intelligent design ...
  
  
  
• Illinois AG Madigan: I Warned Regulators About Sub ...
  
  The second day of Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) hearings took place today, featuring a lineup of federal and state regulators and attorneys general. Much of the emphasis was on mortgage fraud and predatory lending, as one major factor in the economic crisis was subprime lenders, fueled ...
  
  
  
• Reid Doubling Back On Lieberman ‘Double Cros ...
  
  The New York Times’ Adam Nagourney is reporting that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) felt that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) had “double crossed him” after he publicly rejected the Medicare buy-in compromise on CBS’s Face the Nation. “Reid had spoken with Lieberman two days earlier, and one of Lieberm ...
  
  
  

thwap's schoolyard

• The harpercon Response to the Torture Scandal Thus ...
  
  harpercon Government: "There's nothing in Richard Colvin's memos that indicates anything wrong. The fact that Colvin says otherwise shows he doesn't remember what he, himself wrote." Committee on Afghanistan: "Can we see the memos?" harpercon Government: "No." Three generals, including the imbe ...
  
  
  
• Childish Pranks
  
  PMO spokesperson Dimitri Soudas on the "Yes Men" stunt : "Time would be better used by supporting Canada's efforts to reach an agreement instead of sending out hoax press releases," Soudas wrote in an email to CBC News. "More time should be dedicated to playing a constructive role instead of childis ...
  
  
  
• The Wit and Wisdom of Damian Brooks
  
  Canadian Cynic links to it here . Damian attempts to answer his own imitation of what us peaceniks and human rights fanatics are saying: "This just proves that we're not doing any good over there and should pull out immediately." Well, so much for your crocodile tears on the plight of Afghan deta ...
  
  
  
• National Security, .... 'eh?
  
  I've long been aware that stephen harper has contempt for parliament. He showed his contempt for our entire system of government last year. He's obviously got contempt for the law. And contempt for his own cabinet and caucus. And his constituency. The only thing he doesn't positively cringe at ...
  
  
  
• Canuck Konstitutional Kryzezz and Tiger Woods
  
  I've been absorbing the day's events. But I gotta hand it to the CBC. When I checked in to get the latest news and analysis of this dramatic forcing of the question of the competing powers of our various, ancient branches of government, ... what do my eyes behold as the lead story on the CBC news ...
  
  
  

Financial Sense Editorials

• Market Observation: Commodity Secular Bull Market ...
  
  by Chris Puplava. "From 2008 to 2009 it was a real gut check for commodity bulls in terms of reevaluating the secular bull market thesis, but from my vantage point the fundamentals behind commodities have not changed. What 2008 to early 2009 is likely to represent in hindsight is a bump along the ro ...
  
  
  
• What the Deflationists Are Missing
  
  by David Galland. "The Democrats’ reinvigorated focus on jobs – the single most important factor in this November’s elections – will soon translate into a flurry of new initiatives designed to put people back to work, most of it funded at taxpayer expense."
  
  
  
• Shipping Chokepoints of the Arabian Peninsula
  
  by Ghassan Abdallah, Ph.D. "The Arabian subcontinent located in Southwest Asia is, evidently, geopolitically very critical due to its vast oil and natural gas reserves. Three easily blocked straits, commonly known as "chokepoints," may hamper ships from entering or exiting this area or the Red Sea ...
  
  
  
• Market Observation: Clear Thought in Confusing Tim ...
  
  by Rob Kirby. "How often have you heard a talking-head or pundit from the print media try to “explain” how the U.S. led global economy faltered the way it has? We’ve been dazzled and fed explanations regarding root-cause, ranging from sub-prime mortgages to credit-default swaps to lack of regulatory ...
  
  
  
• Th*nk*ng (Gadgets)
  
  by Fred Cederholm. "I’ve been thinking about gadgets. Actually I’ve been thinking about CES 2010, phones, drones, stereo-3D- flat screen TV, programming, BETAs/ VCRs/ DVDs/ BlueTeeth (or is it Bluetooth’s?), PDAs, and communicating. The quality of our lives does not seem to be a function of the love ...
  
  
  

on Government Oversight

• Morning Smoke: Is $740 Billion in Defense Funding ...
  
  Obama's promise for honest war budgeting not kept [The Cable] Obama to Announce Fee on Some Large Banks to Help Recoup Funds [Bloomberg] SEC Proposes Banning 'Naked Access' [The Wall Street Journal] Just What We Need: More Pentagon Spending [Huffington...
  
  
  
• Feds Convene at Open Government Workshop Event
  
  As part of an event in the Open Government Directive Workshop Series, agency employees from around the executive branch had a chance to convene Monday at the Department of Transportation and discuss their plans to implement the new Open Government...
  
  
  
• Morning Smoke: Did OMB Threaten an Inspector Gener ...
  
  Lawmakers offer warning to OMB [The Hill] JSF Jumping, but How High? [Defense Tech] Derivatives Exemption Helps Big Wall Street Banks, Gensler Says [Bloomberg] Obama to Announce TARP Fee on Banks on Thursday [Reuters] Obama wants additional $33B for wars...
  
  
  
• Quote of the Day
  
  GAO has come to see these recurrent problems as not due primarily to mistakes, lack of expertise, or unforeseeable events. Rather it is the outgrowth of a system in which key processes and incentives are better at saying "yes" than...
  
  
  
• The Good Old Days of Signing Statements?
  
  The Obama administration apparently has a new policy on signing statements — opinions that the president attaches to bills he is signing into law — that could have us longing for the days when presidents would, to the outrage of...
  
  
  

Science Express

• Milky Way's super-efficient particle accelerators ...
  
  Thanks to a unique "ballistic study" that combines data from ESO's Very Large Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have now solved a long-standing mystery of the Milky Way's particle accelerators. They show in a paper published today on Science Express that cosmic rays from ou ...
  
  
  
• New mechanisms of action found for drugs used to t ...
  
  (PhysOrg.com) -- In the course of his or her life, every seventh German will develop an anxiety disorder that will require treatment. Standard anti-anxiety medications (anxiolytics) are based on the benzodiazepine class of drugs. These calm the patient and quickly diminish feelings of anxiety.
  
  
  
• Research may hold key to maintaining embryonic ste ...
  
  In a new study that could transform embryonic stem cell (ES cell) research, scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered why mouse ES cells can be easily grown in a laboratory while other mammalian ES cells are difficult, if not impossible, to maintain.
  
  
  
• Physical reality of string theory demonstrated
  
  String theory has come under fire in recent years. Promises have been made that have not been lived up to. Leiden (The Netherlands) theoretical physicists have now for the first time used string theory to describe a physical phenomenon. Their discovery has been reported in Science Express.
  
  
  
• Bcl6 gene sculpts helper T cell to boost antibody ...
  
  Expression of a single gene programs an immune system helper T cell that fuels rapid growth and diversification of antibodies in a cellular structure implicated in autoimmune diseases and development of B cell lymphoma, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reported toda ...
  
  
  

TechDirt

• Segway Announces The Most Understated Merger Ever
  
  Considering the amount of hype and buzz that came about when Dean Kamen's Segway was first introduced, it seems like the company is going for the exact opposite in discussing its recent merger with a UK company . The company didn't even mention it for nearly a month, and only said something once ru ...
  
  
  
• Landlords Can't Force You To Sign Up With One Cabl ...
  
  For many years, cable/telco/satellite companies would do "exclusive" deals with apartment buildings and other developers, which would limit what services could be offered in those buildings. Back in 2007, the FCC stepped in to say such deals were illegal. But, of course, there are always loopholes ...
  
  
  
• Obama Administration Considers More Public Access ...
  
  It's hard to comprehend who could be against the idea that federally-funded research (i.e., research funded by your tax dollars) shouldn't become available to the very public who paid for it. But many publishers pushed back hard when the National Institute of Health (NIH) began enforcing a rule tha ...
  
  
  
• ACLU Looking To Challenge Homeland Security On Bor ...
  
  Slashdot points us to the news that the ACLU is looking to challenge Homeland Security's policies that it has pretty free reign in searching your laptop at the border. Now, to date, the courts have said that this is perfectly legal , so it's not clear what is "new" that the ACLU hopes to prove. Ho ...
  
  
  
• Debunking The Silly Complaints From People Who Don ...
  
  Cory Doctorow has a fun column over at The Guardian responding to three of the common quips used by people to dismiss social networks , and pointing out why those complaints miss the mark. He responds to the following three: It's inconsequential -- most of the verbiage on Twitter, Facebook and the ...
  
  
  

VacTruth

• Website Documents Over 300 Gardasil Horror Stories
  
  . . . Christina England vactruth.com 1/13/2010 The numbers of people who have suffered from Gardasil side effects mount daily, Medications.com – Gardasil side effects now has a total of 300 side effects posted for Gardasil. Over 300 children and parents tell their harrowing stories how their liv ...
  
  
  
• Will Dr. Tim O’Shea’s Prediction of th ...
  
  . . . Dr. Tim O’Shea The Doctor Within November 2009 Although the H1N1 panic is at a fever pitch at this time, it’s a safe bet that by summer 2010 the swine flu issue will have faded off into the boneyard of vaccine memorabilia. Remember you read that here. Policymakers have well discerned that t ...
  
  
  
• Drug firms made ‘false H1N1 claims’
  
  
  
  
  
• The British Government refuse to compensate health ...
  
  . . . Christina England American Chronicle 1/11/2010 Yesterday a story broke in Great Britain where hundreds of front line workers had had routine vaccines as a condition of employment and had become vaccine damaged as a result. These workers, which included doctors, nurses, firefighters, prison of ...
  
  
  
• Interview of Jeffry John Aufderheide on the Robert ...
  
  
  
  
  

BroadSnark

• Why Haiti?!
  
  Could things get any worse for Haiti?  Of all places in the world for something like this to happen.  It’s beyond words. I’m from Miami and so have had the privilege of getting to know many Haitian immigrants.  In fact, I had a peak at my ideal world while riding a bus in Miami with Haitian [...]
  
  
  
• Christianity and False Forgiveness
  
  By now you have probably heard about Brit Hume’s on air proselytizing directed at Tiger Woods. If not, you can watch the video below where Hume suggests that Christianity offers a forgiveness that Buddhism does not and recommends that Tiger Woods convert. Really Brit Hume? Christianity offers a sp ...
  
  
  
• Things You Might Have Missed
  
  Great post by Jason Laning In Defense of Anarchism.  In response to the idea that anarchists wouldn’t be able to “resist power-seekers who want to dominate and control others” he says, That is, his hypothetical scenario of an anarchist society doesn’t seem to have many anarchists in it. Instead, ...
  
  
  
• Anarchism – What’s in a Name?
  
  With all the stigma attached to the world anarchism, why call yourself an anarchist? Anarchists are bound to ask themselves that question at some point.  Perhaps you run across another news report where anarchists are blamed for some random violence.  Maybe some pundit compares anarchists to terro ...
  
  
  
• Happy New Year
  
  
  
  
  

Executive Intelligence Review

• To What Are You Loyal?
  
  By Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, January 8, 2010, Vol. 37, No. 1
  
  
  
• What Leibniz Intended
  
  By Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, January 8, 2010, Vol. 37, No. 1
  
  
  
• Unconstitutional `Perpetuity Clauses' Inserted: Ob ...
  
  By Edward Spannaus Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, January 8, 2010, Vol. 37, No. 1
  
  
  
• The Copenhagen Summit: Lies Have Short Legs, or, t ...
  
  By Helga Zepp-LaRouche Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, December 25, 2009, Vol. 36, No. 50
  
  
  
• Bernanke Exits Now!: National Banking
  
  By Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, December 25, 2009, Vol. 36, No. 50
  
  
  

Armies of Liberation

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

Dark Politricks

• Moving Your Money Can Have a Real Effect on Big Ba ...
  
  People have asked whether moving your money from your giant bank to a small community bank or credit union will have any real affect on the too big to fails, given that most of their profits come from speculative investments instead of normal banking deposits. According to the Nation, the answ ...
  
  
  
• Twitter Updates for 2010-01-15
  
  Check out this debate between Ron Paul & the Lesser Baldwin, Stephen about the war on #drugs http://strurl.com/ne #cbb #ronpaul #liberty # Check out Ron Paul on Russia today speak about #Haiti and the expansion of the war on #terror into #Yemen http://strurl.com/oe #ronpaul # #Obama czar wa ...
  
  
  
• Google attack part of widespread spying effort
  
  DG News Service - Google's decision Tuesday to risk walking away from the world's largest Internet market may have come as a shock, but security experts see it as the most public admission of a top IT problem for U.S. companies: ongoing corporate espionage originating from China. It's a problem tha ...
  
  
  
• Obama Information Czar Calls For Banning Free Spee ...
  
  Sunstein: Taxation and censorship of dissenting opinions “will have a place” under thought police program advocated in 2008 white paper Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Thursday, January 14, 2010 The controversy surrounding White House information czar and Harvard Professor Cass Sunstein’s bl ...
  
  
  
• Ron Paul on Russia Today
  
  By Andrew Ward On Thursday, Congressman Ron Paul discussed the disaster in Haiti, airport security, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Federal Reserve secrecy on Russia Today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-IyJjPqmGA View the original article at Campaign for Liberty
  
  
  

food and water watch

• Contaminated Fountain Beverages
  
  My name is Daniel Cooper and I have recently joined the Food & Water Watch food team as an intern. I will be posting weekly blogs on pertinent food issues that affect us all. One such issue involves serious food safety concerns with fast food restaurants (as if you needed another reason to stay aw ...
  
  
  
• Private Water Investments Awash in Controversy
  
  At the start of each new year, investment advisors are busy telling clients where to invest their money.  Despite the weak economy, this year is no different. Morgan Stanley just released it’s global investment “10 Investment Ideas for 2010”.  Number five on that list?  Water. For years we’ve been h ...
  
  
  
• Melamine in Chinese milk…here we go again
  
  The recent revelation that China has once again hidden a major food safety incident involving melamine in dairy products for over a year clearly demonstrates that its food safety system cannot be trusted. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration maintains a staff in China to monitor the safety of food, ...
  
  
  
• Briscoe vs. Environmentalists
  
  As an intern for Food and Water Watch, I attended a meeting in November titled  “Water and Agriculture: Developing Word Solutions” sponsored by Johns Hopkins University. The guest of honor was John Briscoe, a former World Bank Senior Water Advisor, and a current professor at Harvard. He discussed th ...
  
  
  
• ‘Why we took to the streets’
  
  I would like to share this op-ed with you, co-written by our Board member Maude Barlow, about the situation in Copenhagen.  Thank you for reading and Happy New Year! –Wenonah Hauter Why we took to the streets Inaction from business interests and political leaders in Copenhagen has forced the rebirth ...
  
  
  

treehugger

• Emma Watson Designs with People Tree
  
  Image from People Tree Last year TreeHugger had the scoop that Emma Watson, that's Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, was going to launch her own line of eco-clothing. But who with? She wasn't letting on. Now the word is out: she has teamed up with People Tree to design a new line of clothes ...
  
  
  
• 2010 Detroit Auto Show: Honda CR-Z Hybrid Coupe Un ...
  
  Photo: Michael Graham Richard It's Official, Honda Needs to Go Full Hybrid A lot of people have been not-so-patiently waiting for the production version of the Honda CR-Z hybrid every since the concept version was introduced a couple years ago. Fans of the original CR-X HF have been drooling all o ...
  
  
  
• Minke Whale Genetics Study Shows Faulty Logic in J ...
  
  photo: Kike Calvo via AP Images One of the justifications the Japanese whaling industry gives for violating the international ban on whaling is that killing minke whales will help larger baleen whales recover. Well, a new study in Molecular Ecology , conducted by scientists from Stanford and Orego ...
  
  
  
• Ethiopia Wants to Export More Electricity Than Cof ...
  
  The Omo River, future site of gigawatts of hydroelectric dams. Photo: Seth Lieberman via flickr. At least it's not a coal power plant... According to a new BBC article Ethiopia has inaugurated the second 400 MW phase of a controversial hydroelectric scheme on the Omo River. Issues of displacement ...
  
  
  
• Exploring Costa Rica's Mangrove Swamps
  
  Mangroves in Costa Rica. Image credit: Matthew McDermott On a recent trip to Costa Rica, Boing Boing 's science writer Maggie Koerth-Baker had the opportunity to explore a mangrove swamp. While floating amidst the trees, she reports, it was hard not to imagine them to be sentient, Ent-like, creatu ...
  
  
  

Biosingularity

• Nutrient mix shows promise in fighting Alzheimer’s
  
  In the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, patients typically suffer a major loss of the brain connections necessary for memory and information processing. Now, a combination of nutrients that was developed at MIT has shown the potential to improve memory in Alzheimer’s patients by stimulating grow ...
  
  
  
• Needling Molecules
  
  Many experiments in biology rely on manipulating cells: adding a gene, protein, or other molecule, for instance, to study its effects on the cell. But getting a molecule into a cell is much like breaking into a fortress; it often relies on biological tricks such as infecting a cell with a virus or a ...
  
  
  
• ‘Longevity’ Gene May Cut Dementia Risk
  
  The so-called “longevity gene” may do more than add years to your life. It may also help stave off age-related cognitive decline, and this discovery is paving the way for new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease, a study shows. The longevity gene is a variant of the cholesteryl ester transfer protein ...
  
  
  
• Research team develops technique to determine ethn ...
  
  An international team of scientists led by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute has developed a straightforward technique to determine the ethnic origin of stem cells. The Scripps Research scientists initiated the study—published in the January 2010 edition of the prestigious journal Nature ...
  
  
  
• The Year in Biomedicine
  
  Advances in antiaging drugs, acoustic brain surgery, flu vaccines–and the secret to IQ. via Technology Review: The Year in Biomedicine.
  
  
  

CFACT

• Don't Get Mad About the Weather - Get Even
  
  There̢۪s no room to deny the record breaking cold winter right now.
  
  
  
• D.C. drinking water controversy sinks lead scare
• Suburbs ain’t no place for a Street Fightin& ...
• Something fishy about mercury hype
• No end to end of oil fears

Ria Novosti Online News

• Hiddink to make decision on Russia future in Feb.
  
  
  
  
  
• Porno clip causes traffic jam in downtown Moscow
  
  
  
  
  
• Presidential elections in Ukraine: preferences of ...
  
  The Russian Public Opinion Center ( VTsIOM) presents results of a survey conducted in Ukraine before the presidential elections
  
  
  
• Su-27 Flanker, one of 20th century's best combat a ...
  
  Russia's Su-27 frontline fighter was declared one of the best combat aircraft of the 20th century according to an online poll by Flight International, a global aerospace weekly published in the UK.
  
  
  
• Russian parliament approves Strasbourg Court refor ...
  
  The lower house of the Russian parliament on Friday ratified Protocol 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, opening the way for European Court of Human Rights reform.
  
  
  

Ria Novosti - Science & Technology

• NASA reports discovery of 5 exoplanets
  
  NASA's Kepler space telescope, designed to find Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of sun-like stars, has discovered its first five new planets beyond the solar system
  
  
  
• Roscosmos to consider Earth rescue project from de ...
  
  
  
  
  
• Roscosmos to consider project to save Earth from a ...
  
  Roscosmos will soon consider a project to prevent a large asteroid from colliding with Earth after 2030, the head of Russia's space agency said on Wednesday.
  
  
  
• Russian Proton rocket delivers U.S. telecoms satel ...
  
  A Russian Proton-M carrier rocket has delivered into orbit the U.S. telecommunications satellite DirecTV-12, the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos said.
  
  
  
• RIA Novosti's choice: ten key events in environmen ...
  
  Below are top ten environmental and scientific events which RIA Novosti correspondents have chosen for producing the greatest impact in Russia.
  
  
  

Pruning Shears

• Deficit Chickenhawks
  
  No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post Here is a one paragraph summary of our fiscal policy since 1980: A Republican president cheerfully dismisses probity when lobbying for increased defense spending and tax cuts, with the memorably irresponsible quip “I believe the def ...
  
  
  
• This Week In Tyranny
  
  No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post I listen to a technology podcast from CNET called Buzz Out Loud, and on Friday’s show they reported that one Bob Burbach won the Consumer Electronics Association’s “Innovation Movement’s Apps for Innovation ” with a site called GovPu ...
  
  
  
• The OLC Does Not Have a Head. Does It Need a Body?
  
  No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post According to its web site , the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) “provides authoritative legal advice to the President and all the Executive Branch agencies.” Its home page gives a brief, readable description of its functions, which ba ...
  
  
  
• This Week In Tyranny
  
  No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post The TSA subpoenaed a blogger who posted a new screening directive, then backed down . This doesn’t have as much to do with procedures at the TSA (though it has something to do with that) as the outsized sense of authority that feder ...
  
  
  
• Best Music of 2009
  
  Introduction If you dig these songs please consider buying them. Most can be had for less than a buck. All these were downloaded freely and legally this year so I’m posting them in good faith. Links will be live for a week. If you hold the copyright on one and would like it removed, please let me ...
  
  
  

Natural Health News

• Develop Your Greatest Skill -- Language
  
  Studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between people’s abilities with words and range of vocabulary and with success in their chosen fields . Most people depend on language for all sorts of tasks, but rarely take time to sharpen it.  Here are some ways you can do that. Get a good dic ...
  
  
  
• When Fear Can Make You Superhuman
  
  On a summer evening in Tucson, Tom Boyle Jr. saw a Camaro had hit a cyclist. One of the cyclist’s legs was pinned between chassis of the car and the frame of his bike, the other jammed between the bike and the asphalt. After 20 or 30 feet, the Camaro slowed and stopped. Without stopping to think, Bo ...
  
  
  
• New York Seeks to Curb Salt in Food
  
  New York City plans to unveil a broad new health initiative aimed at encouraging food manufacturers and restaurant chains across the country to curtail the amount of salt in their products. The plan, for which the city claims support from health agencies in other cities and states, sets a goal of r ...
  
  
  
• Confessions of a Drug Maker: How a No-Name Drug Be ...
  
  Osteoporosis is a disease that causes bones to become thinner, more porous and break more easily. Osteopenia is different from osteoporosis -- it is a slight thinning of the bones that occurs naturally as women get older and typically doesn't result in disabling bone breaks. Osteopenia is a conditio ...
  
  
  
• Surprising Health Benefit of Yoga
  
  Regularly practicing yoga exercises may lower a number of compounds in your blood and reduce the level of inflammation that normally rises because of both normal aging and stress. A study showed that women who routinely practiced yoga had lower amounts of the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in their b ...
  
  
  

Antemedius

• Haiti: "The world is coming to an end..."
  
  Channel 4 News via The Real News Network - January 14, 2010 Haiti earthquake: '100,000 may be dead' Haiti's President warns the scale of suffering is "unimaginable" Haiti and her people have not only been treated to catastrophe by nature, but have also suffered unimaginably at the hands of other c ...
  
  
  
• Doctors Without Borders Teleconference on Emergenc ...
  
  Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders Teleconference on Emergency Response to Haiti Earthquake January 13, 2010 Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams already working on medical projects Haiti have treated hundreds of people injured in the quake and have been s ...
  
  
  
• Prop 8 Defense Says I Should Not Be Able To Be Mar ...
  
  Things are looking moderately good at the Prop 8 trial. Right now, the plaintiffs (the gay couples who want to be able to marry) are presenting their case so it is expected. We have had the very emotional testimony from the plaintiffs about what being denied this right that every heterosexual citize ...
  
  
  
• A Symbol of Resistance
  
  Miep looks like a pack mule. She goes out nearly everyday in search of vegetables, and then cycles back with her purchases in large shopping bags. She’s also the one who brings five library books with her every Saturday. -- Anne Frank July 11, 1943 Last week we read about the death of Freya Gräfin ...
  
  
  
• Want To Make A Difference In the 2010 Elections? C ...
  
  There is a lot of despair about the state of the Democrats who are in control of the Congress these days. To be fair there is a lot to despair about given the performance of many of the old guard in the party. On the flip side, there is a realization that we are indeed better off with Democrats in c ...
  
  
  

Son of Alex Constantine's Blacklist

• UnderpantsGate: Big Oil, the CIA and the Attempted ...
  
  Also see: American Sponsorship of Global Terrorism By Alex Constantine (Supplementary revisions, 12-30-09, 1:29 pm) It’s All, Once Again, About Big Oil and a Pipeline … Abdulmutallab’s exploding unmentionables “Why Was Umar AbdulMutallab in Houston in August 2008? Whom Did He Visit There? What Did H ...
  
  
  
• Celebrities Lead Charge against Scientology
  
  Hollywood figures quit ‘rip-off’ church as Australian prime minister threatens parliamentary inquiry into its activities Peter Beaumont in London, Toni O’Loughlin in Sydney, and Paul Harris in New York The Observer | 22 November 2009 The security at the red-brick and glass-walled horseshoe of the Jo ...
  
  
  
• Baltimore: Cultist Withdraws Guilty Plea in Baby&# ...
  
  BALTIMORE — A former member of a defunct religious cult has backed out of a plea deal and will face trial on charges he and others starved a toddler to death. Marcus Cobbs had agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of accessory after the fact. But his attorney abruptly withdrew the plea Friday mo ...
  
  
  
• What’s Wrong with this RFID Chip?
  
  RFID chip brought to you by the Carlyle Group and Matrics, Inc.
  
  
  
• Will Donor Scandals Doom Crist’s Senate bid?
  
  ” … Three of Crist’s top fund-raisers have been hamstrung by federal investigations in the past nine months, and a fourth, Jupiter sports agent and real estate investor Marc Roberts, is facing a federal lawsuit alleging he defrauded a business partner out of $100 million to support his own ‘lavish p ...
  
  
  

Climategate

• Obama Czar Sunstein wants to ban Global Warming “D ...
  
  Another one of President Obama's radical czars, this time the Regulatory Czar, Cass Sunstein, argued the U.S. government should ban the right of U.S. citizens to advocate conspiracy theories. That would include banning what we write on this blog--that global warming is a fraud. And it looks like the ...
  
  
  
• It’s the Paint, Stupid! Bad paint jobs cause grow ...
  
  Back in 2007, Anthony Watts discovered a little-reported fact: modern paints now applied to the temperature measuring boxes (called Stevenson screens) are also seriously contaminating the measurements of global ground temperature stations. Related posts: Russian scientists’ say Climategate data ri ...
  
  
  
• Economic stimulus funds that went to Penn State cl ...
  
  In the face of rising unemployment and record-breaking deficits, policy experts at the National Center for Public Policy Research are criticizing the Obama Administration for awarding a half million dollar grant from the economic stimulus package to Penn State Professor Michael Mann, a key figure in ...
  
  
  
• Penn State Protects Michael “Climategate” Mann
  
  Penn State University is now investigating Professor Michael Mann, climatologist at the heart of Climategate. But, it's sounding like a cover-up already. Related posts: Penn State’s paper spreads the word on ex-CIA agent going after Michael Mann Attention Penn State: Top fraud attorney seeks clima ...
  
  
  
• Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Climate Change and the Dooms ...
  
  The influencing factors tof tomorrow's Doomsday Clock reset ar International negotiations on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, expansion of civilian nuclear power, the possibilities of nuclear terrorism, and climate change. Related posts: Climategate: McIntyre and the ‘Divergence Proble ...
  
  
  

Opinio Juris

• Haiti: Should the US Evacuate American Citizens F ...
  
  by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro There are an estimated 45,000 US citizens in Haiti, and there’s an assumption that they should be first in line to receive US assistance.  As Hillary Clinton said yesterday, “They are our principal responsibility, to make sure that they’re safe, to evacuate those wh ...
  
  
  
• Haiti: Should the US Evacuate American Citizens F ...
  
  by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro There are an estimated 45,000 US citizens in Haiti, and there’s an assumption that they should be first in line to receive US assistance.  As Hillary Clinton said yesterday, “They are our principal responsibility, to make sure that they’re safe, to evacuate those wh ...
  
  
  
• Trial Chamber Grants Certification to Appeal
  
  by Kevin Jon Heller by Kevin Jon Heller The Trial Chamber has granted certification to appeal its decision upholding the Registry’s selection of Richard Harvey as stand-by counsel. Here are the relevant paragraphs: 10. With regard to the first limb that must be met before certification to appeal ...
  
  
  
• An Initial Response: Framing Biases and the Role o ...
  
  by Greg Shaffer and Mark Pollack by Greg Shaffer and Mark Pollack We are grateful for the praise and the criticisms of our book from distinguished scholars like Sungjoon Cho, Rebecca Bratspies, and Tomer Broude. We are particularly pleased that all three appreciated our efforts to engage in an i ...
  
  
  
• D.C. Circuit Speaks on Gitmo Habeas Merits
  
  by Deborah Pearlstein by Deborah Pearlstein Cross-posted at Balkinization The new year starts with no shortage of Gitmo-related matters to blog about, starting with today’s important decision from a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling (for the first time) on the merits of one of the ...
  
  
  

Investigate - Breaking News

• More NIWA-style fudging creates doubt about global ...
  
  A hard hitting new report has found US agencies deliberately manipulated world temperature data so they could proclaim 2005 as the warmest year. The investigation, broadcast tonight in the US and now available online, alleges climate research centres are now...
  
  
  
• Obama admin sidelines UN globalists over climate c ...
  
  A top Obama climate official has, in the words of Marc Morano, thrown the UN "under a bus" and says the future of climate change talks may exclude the UN in any significant sense. Jonathon Pershing's comments in the Guardian...
  
  
  
• UK Met Office getting ready to eat crow
  
  Just a wee while ago, the UK Met Office told the Copenhagen summit, in headlines repeated around the world, that 2010 was likely to be one of the warmest years ever, and that the Northern Hemisphere winter would be mild....
  
  
  
• Faith-based global warming
  
  This did the rounds before Christmas, but I didn't get time to post it and on reflection it's a must-watch, simply so you can see blind faith in action.
  
  
  
• Top 10 global warming myths exposed
  
  A local NZ monthly community newspaper published an opinion piece by one "Green blogger" Thomas Everth, known to frequent this blog, on global warming. He was kind enough to take a crack at me in dispatches and a reader brought...
  
  
  

Public News Service

• Saturday Immigration March Expected to Draw Thousa ...
  
  Saturday Immigration March Expected to Draw Thousands Phoenix, AZ – Organizers of tomorrow’s (Saturday’s) immigrant rights march in west Phoenix are expecting up to 20-thousand demonstrators. The marchers are voicing concerns about a federal policy that allows county jail officials to check the immi ...
  
  
  
• Kids Advocate: More Cuts Threaten Arizona’s ...
  
  Kids Advocate: More Cuts Threaten Arizona’s Recovery Phoenix, AZ – Governor Jan Brewer put a high priority on job creation in her State of the State speech, but a leading children’s advocate says further deep cuts to kids’ programs will damage the state’s chances for economic recovery. Comments from ...
  
  
  
• Call for Closed Captioning on the Web Heard by Goo ...
  
  Call for Closed Captioning on the Web Heard by Google Phoenix, AZ – The explosion of video and audio on the Internet has left much of the deaf community behind, but that is starting to change. Groups that advocate for people who are deaf are cheering a recent decision by Google to add automatic capt ...
  
  
  
• New Law Divides Arizona Education Advocates
  
  New Law Divides Arizona Education Advocates Phoenix, AZ – Arizona teachers vow to continue legal action against a new state law they say targets teachers rights. The state’s school boards, meanwhile, defend the reforms as ultimately improving education and benefiting students. Comments from Arizona ...
  
  
  
• Report: Transit Stimulus Spending Gives More Bang ...
  
  Report: Transit Stimulus Spending Gives More Bang for Buck Phoenix, AZ – A new report shows federal stimulus spending on public transportation produces nearly twice as many jobs as highway projects. The analysis from the Arizona Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) calls for more transit funding in ...
  

  Blacklisted News

  
  
• UAE Royal Family Member Sheikh Issa Aquitted Of To ...
  
  He ordered the video be made because he "liked to watch the torture sessions later", "At one point, Issa tells the cameraman to get a close-up. "Get closer. Get closer. Get closer. Let his suffering show,"
  
  
  
• US army to double weapons stockpiled in Israel
  
  The US military plans to double the amount of military equipment it has stockpiled in Israel under a recent agreement with Tel Aviv.
  
  
  
• Carlyle Group to Form Buyout Fund With Beijing Gov ...
  
  Carlyle Group, the world’s second- largest private-equity firm, said it will set up a domestic Chinese private equity fund with the Beijing government.
  
  
  
• Who in their right mind believes in Conspiracy The ...
• Haiti, Failed State: Gangs Armed With Machetes Loo ...
  
  Central Business District Resembles Hell On Earth As Bodies Pile Up And Armed Men Battle Over Food, Supplies
  
  
  

The Intelligence Daily

• Imprisoned for singing
  
  By Dahr Jamail (Socialist Worker) — A soldier who wrote a song expressing outrage at the... For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
  
  
• Iranian scientist assassinated as US steps up war ...
  
  By Bill Van Auken (WSWS) –Massoud Ali Mohammadi, one of Iran’s leading nuclear scientists,... For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
  
  
• Greece condemned for falsifying data
  
  Greece was condemned by the European Commission on Tuesday for falsifying data about its public... For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
  
  
• Shanghai Real Estate Is The Most Obvious Bubble Ev ...
  
  The whole world felt the reverberations of China imposing leverage limits on its banks. Regulators... For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
  
  
• AOL to lay off more than 1,000 workers this week
  
  AOL said Monday that it plans to lay off more than 1,000 workers this week, as the company... For more details, please click on the link to read the article
  
  
  

My AntiWar

• January Proving Deadly for Nato-Led Forces in Afgh ...
• Suicide Attack Reveals Threat to Obama’s Afg ...
• Troops’ Deployment Burden Unprecedented
• Thursday: 31 Iraqis Killed, 88 Wounded
• Yemen in Talks for Surrender of Cleric
  

  Rogue Government.com

  
  
• Only psychiatrists can explain Israel's behavior ...
  
  Our wild world of crime has recently been sent for observation. From the bodyguard of the IDF Chief of Staff to the killers of their own children - all have been sent for observation.
  
  
  
• Astronaut's Urine Clogs ISS Water Recycler
  
  
  
  
  
• Korea Aims to Export 80 Nuclear Power Plants by 2 ...
  
  It has set a target of exporting 80 nuclear plants by 2030 and plans to invest W500 billion (US$1=W1,126) into research and development of nuclear technology over the next seven years.
  
  
  
• Dollar Crisis Looms If U.S. Doesn't Curb Debt
  
  The United States must soon raise taxes or cut government spending to curb its debt, and failure to act will risk a crippling dollar crisis as investor confidence ebbs, a panel of experts said on Wednesday.
  
  
  
• From Blackwater to Xe, the Templar Crusade
  
  Blackwater is a corporation that provides mercenary soldiers and supporting security personnel to the US government.
  
  
  

Innovation Canada

• A Partnership of peoples
  
  (Courtesy of Frontier magazine, University of British Columbia) Forget what you may have heard about anthropology: it is not solely a science of lost cultures, dusty relics and ancient peoples. This widely misunderstood discipline provides a critical link to contemporary history, and its contributio ...
  
  
  
• Decade in review
  
  The first decade of the 21st century will be remembered as a decade of breakthroughs in science and technology. “It’s well known that discoveries in science are often drivers for important technological developments; for example, fuel cells,” says Thomas Ellis, director of research at the Canadian L ...
  
  
  
• i2eye with James Hesser
  
  Two years ago, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2009 the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, people around the globe have been marking the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo Galilei. Laypeople, especially children ...
  
  
  
• Model scientists
  
  When hurricane season officially blew to a close in the Atlantic basin at the end of November, two Quebec researchers did not exhale in relief. That’s because René Laprise and Louis-philippe Caron were still looking for hurricane data from the past to help create a tool to predict future storm patte ...
  
  
  
• i2eye with Andrew Weaver
  
  As a child growing up in Victoria, if Andrew Weaver had to choose between watching a hockey game or a Jacques Cousteau program, the ocean explorer won out every time. Now a professor and Canada Research Chair in Climate Modelling and Analysis at the University of Victoria, Weaver has joined a crew o ...
  
  
  

Signs of the times

• 666 to 1: The U.S. Military, al-Qaeda, and a War o ...
  
  In his book on World War II in the Pacific, War Without Mercy, John Dower tells an extraordinary tale about the changing American image of the Japanese fighting man. In the period before the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, it was well accepted in military and political circles that the Japanese we ...
  
  
  
• Ahmadinejad criticizes Saudi military intervention ...
  
  Addressing people in the southern city of Ahvaz on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad said Saudis should have mediated between the Houthi fighters and the Yemeni government and not used military weapons against their Muslim brothers. The president said the hegemonic powers have involved Saudi Arabia in the Yem ...
  
  
  
• 50 years later, British government apologizes for ...
  
  The British government apologized on Thursday to sufferers from the thalidomide scandal, half a century after thousands of babies were born with birth defects after their mothers took the morning sickness pill. "The government wishes to express its sincere regret and deep sympathy for the injury an ...
  
  
  
• FLASHBACK: Climate change by Jupiter
  
  The alignment of the planets, and especially that of Jupiter and Saturn, control the climate on Earth. So explained Rhodes Fairbridge of Columbia University, a giant in science over much of the last century whose accomplishments are perhaps unsurpassed for their breadth, depth, and volume. This one ...
  
  
  
• Protein Needed to Develop Auditory Neurons Identif ...
  
  Loss of spiral ganglion neurons or hair cells in the inner ear is the leading cause of congenital and acquired hearing impairment. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health found that Sox2, a protein that regulates stem cell form ...
  
  
  

Threat Level

• Google Hack Attack Was Ultra Sophisticated, New De ...
  
  Hackers seeking source code from Google, Adobe and dozens of other high-profile companies used unprecedented tactics that combined encryption, stealth programming and an unknown hole in Internet Explorer, according to new details released by researchers at anti-virus firm McAfee. “We have never ever ...
  
  
  
• Hack of Adobe Conducted Via Zero-Day IE Flaw
  
  The recent hack attack on Adobe occurred through exploitation of a zero-day vulnerability that affects all versions of Internet Explorer, according to a security researcher with a leading anti-virus firm. Microsoft learned about the vulnerability only Wednesday evening and is planning to release an ...
  
  
  
• Eight-Year-Old on TSA Terrorist Watchlist Gets Fri ...
  
  The Transportation Security Administration, attempting to squelch nefarious rumors, has asserted on its web site under a “Mythbusterâ€� feature that “No 8-year-old is on a T.S.A. watch list.” Unfortunately for the TSA, the New York Times found an 8-year-old on its list. Mikey Hicks, a Cub Scout in ...
  
  
  
• China Stands Firm in Response to Google Threat
  
  China has hit back at Google in its response to the search giant’s announcement this week that it may pull out of China if it can’t reach an agreement about censoring content. Two government officials said on Thursday that internet companies must obey the laws of China and help the government steer ...
  
  
  
• High Court Bars Cameras in Gay Marriage Trial
  
  The Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked cameras from a federal civil trial in San Francisco concerning the legality of same-sex marriage. The decision came two days after the court tentatively sided with same-sex marriage foes who told the court they would be harassed and intimidated if their testimo ...
  
  
  

PERRspectives : Blog

• Obama Right to Ask Bush to Aid Haiti Effort
  
  Like a child who begrudgingly has to invite his weird cousin to his birthday party, there are some things a president simply must do. So it must have been when President Obama asked George W. Bush to join with U.N....
  
  
  
• GOP Defends Trent Lott, Calls for Reid to Resign
  
  While President Obama declared "the book is closed" on Harry Reid's past "negro dialect" comment, Republicans are using the imbroglio to reopen the book on the disgraced Trent Lott. On Sunday, RNC chairman Michael Steele and Arizona Senator Jon Kyl...
  
  
  
• Steele the Latest Republican Chosen by God
  
  The first Republican Abraham Lincoln famously proclaimed, "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side." Sadly, as RNC Chairman Michael Steele confirmed again this week, his successors believe the...
  
  
  
• On Terror, GOP Goes from Oprah to Donald Trump
  
  Witnessing the Republican reaction to the Obama administration's handling of the failed Christmas bombing is like watching reruns of The Apprentice. Like Donald Trump, each conservative talking head proclaims "You're Fired!" to members of the Obama team. Of course, when...
  
  
  
• For Redemption, Tiger Woods Should Become a Republ ...
  
  Fox News anchor Brit Hume is rightly being mocked for suggesting that the road to redemption for a philandering Tiger Woods begins with his conversion to Christianity. But Hume's on-air evangelical fervor doesn't merely show his religious bigotry in general...
  
  
  

Blackspot News Feed

• Ridge Defends Napolitano From Right-Wing Attacks: ...
  
  Tom Ridge, who served under President Bush, defended Napolitano, explaining that blame for the incident does not rest solely on her shoulders.
  
  
  
• Deported for a Tablet of Xanax? Immigrants Face Re ...
  
  Is being charged twice with possession enough to warrant deportation? Many U.S. courts think so.
  
  
  
• Bechyovinka
  
  There is a secret town in Kamchatka. One can get here only by sea or a helicopter… Yet another amazing photo-essay at English Russia, this time depicting the abandoned "submariners’ town" of Bechyovinka: Pure post-civilisation artporn.
  
  
  
• Obama Pushes Excise Tax, House Dems Fight It
  
  President Obama remains steadfastly committed to forcing the Senate's Chevy tax on health plans over the House's millionaire's surtax.
  
  
  
• Links for 2010-01-07
  
  Plastic Logic aims QUE e-reader at business crowd"Plastic Logic on Thursday unveiled a long-anticipated QUE electronic reader aimed at giving business travelers a "paperless briefcase.""(tags:computing ) French panel: Tax Google to fund the arts"How to help prop up the ailing music industry? Tax Goo ...
  
  
  

Consortium News

• Haiti and America's Historic Debt
  
  As Haiti suffers another natural disaster, few Americans know their historic debt to the Caribbean nation, observes Robert Parry. January 13, 2010
  
  
  
• Cheney's Attack Shields Failures
  
  Rather than face the Bush administration's failures, ex-Vice President Cheney has stayed on the attack, writes Ivan Eland. January 12, 2010
  
  
  
• Asking Europe for American Answers
  
  Though many people live happier lives in Europe, Americans resist the idea of learning any of those lessons, writes David Swanson. January 12, 2010
  
  
  
• Do Republicans Deserve a Reward?
  
  Republican prospects are surging, even in Massachusetts where a special election could give the GOP a reward, says Robert Parry. January 11, 2010
  
  
  
• Obama Picks CIA Insider for Inquiry
  
  President Obama names CIA apologist John McLaughlin to probe Fort Hood and Christmas Day attacks, notes Melvin A. Goodman. January 11, 2010
  
  
  

CounterPunch

• Ashley Smith : The Incapacitation of Haiti: Before ...
• Harvey Wasserman : Hard Core Green: How to Kick Co ...
• Dean Baker : The Case for Bernanke: a Really Bad J ...
• Brian Cloughley : Selective Compassion
• Brock L. Bevan : One Night in Sana'a: Parties, Fre ...

Institute for Middle East Understanding

• A U.S. charade in peace effort (Miko Peled, The S ...
  
  Unless the U.S. and Israel begin to move in the direction of Palestinian independence, freedom and equal rights, one may expect more popular resistance. Since Egypt is only a servant in this issue, the prote ...
  
  
  
• Interview with Hassan Mousa (haitham al katib)
• Will you marry poor me (Eva Bartlett, Inter Press ...
  
  "If we had money we'd get married right away," says Samir, 23. He has found his bride, but not the money to hold the wedding. The Israeli siege imposed shortly after Hamas's election in early 2006 has ruled ...
  
  
  
• Palestinian bulldozers pave the way for new settle ...
  
  Bulldozers carving out new suburbs in the occupied West Bank are a common occurrence; used as a means by Israel to increase its grip on the area and encroach deeper into Palestinian land. For once, however, ...
  
  
  
• U.S. tells Abbas pushing hard for Mideast talks ( ...
  
  A senior U.S. envoy told the Palestinian president on Thursday that Washington is working hard to find a way to broker a resumption of peace talks with Israel, a senior Palestinian official said. Earlier, Pa ...
  
  
  

Water - AlterNet

• Water For Haiti, Now
  
  In any disaster like this, after search, rescue, and immediate medical care, clean and safe water becomes a critical need.
  
  
  
• Why Are Exxon Mobil and XTO Energy Meeting With Co ...
  
  As Congress reviews the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, that could have big impacts on Exxon's acquisition of XTO Energy.
  
  
  
• Why Commonly Used Pesticides May Be To Blame for t ...
  
  We need to delve deeply into the potential link between a widely used chemical and the health of our food producers and their communities.
  
  
  
• How Alaska Should Help Fishermen and Women Survive ...
  
  There is an opportunity for this state to demonstrate that it will act fairly and responsibly to protect its residents from oil spill impacts when the law fails to do so.
  
  
  
• Mountaintop Removal Mining Has Obliterated 700 Mil ...
  
  That's a long ways -- nearly a quarter of the entire length of the United States.
  
  
  

TruthHugger

• Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round Up Jan 4, ...
  
  The Texas Progressive Alliance is still somewhat amazed to be living in the year we make contact, and we hope we’re all still going strong when Odyssey Three rolls around. Texas has most drilling, worst regulation. Texas made national news this week in the ProPublica investigative report and they us ...
  
  
  
• Weary Soldiers At Risk, They Know This
  
  A poignant editorial on Al Jazeera seems to have more in depth observations than America’s Corporate media.  Mainstream media must follow the money, toe the line for sponsors and political perks that promise ’scoops’. ‘The US military is exhausted” By Sarah Lazare The call for over 30,000 more tro ...
  
  
  
• Darth Vader Strikes Again
  
  The botched terrorist attack on Christmas Day is NOT Obama's fault.
  
  
  
• Try To Remember America
  
  Well, few public schools, and few private schools, will fill in the gaps between America the fantasy and America the reality.  The name of America has been invoked with reverence when describing its history of righteous endeavors.  What is seldom included in these filtered history lessons, is some o ...
  
  
  
• Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round Up Dec 14, ...
  
  TXsharon at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS helps you follow the money to see why Governor Perry and others want Texans to keep breathing toxic air. BossKitty at TruthHugger is proud to give a Hat Tip to Houston – Annise Parker inherits a City of Progress. The Stonewall Democrats of Denton Coun ...
  
  
  

Dandelion Salad - Featured Writers' Posts

• No title
  
  by Cindy Sheehan Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbo
  
  
  
• Exclusive: Brit Hume, Haiti, and the two Earthquak ...
  
  photo by Dandelion Salad by Rocket Kirchner Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Rocket Kirchner (blog) R
  
  
  
• David Mamet in Austin: A Story of Three Parts by D ...
  
  by Daniel N. White Featured Writer Dandelion Salad January 14, 2010 Part I David Mamet is the Univer
  
  
  
• Guantánamo Guard and Ex-Prisoners Meet (via the BB ...
  
  by Andy Worthington Featured Writer Dandelion Salad www.andyworthington.co.uk 14 January 2010 On Mon
  
  
  
• Bilderbergs of the world unite! By William Bowles
  
  By William Bowles Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Creative-i January 14, 2010 “In Post-War Iraq, Use
  
  
  

Unexplained Mysteries

• NASA photographs "trees" on Mars
  
  These tree-like shapes aren't actually trees at all but sand dunes coated in a thin layer of frozen carbon dioxide. The new photographs have caused qu...
  
  
  
• Stonehenge one of world's most threatened wonders
  
  Britain's famous prehistoric monument Stonehenge has become one of the most threatened wonders of the world. Traffic around the site as well as the ca...
  
  
  
• Sheep gives birth to lamb with "human face"
  
  A sheep in Turkey has given birth to a dead lamb with a human-like face thought to be the result of a rare mutation. A vet performed a caesarean to fr...
  
  
  
• Last ever MoD UFO figures released
  
  The MoD has released its final UFO figures following the closure of their UFO department at the end of last year. The figures indicate that UFO report...
  
  
  
• Jesus spotted on naan bread
  
  A man ordering a meal at an Indian diner was surprised to find what he believed to be the face of Jesus on a piece of naan bread. The image was formed...
  
  
  

Grassroots

• Tell Congress to Urge Homeland Security to Grant T ...
  
  Repost - from TransAfrica Forum (Jan 13 2009) read more
  
  
  
• Rethinking Aid... Again: Responding to the Earthqu ...
  
  haiti200808-218.jpg Over the years, Grassroots International has had an opportunity to talk about rethinking emergency aid with our partners, including those in Haiti. Now, in the wake of a devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince, those conve ...
  
  
  
• Jamal Juma' of Stop the Wall Released by Israeli A ...
  
  After suffering more than a month in detention without charges, Jamal Juma’, the coordinator of the Stop the Wall Campaign has been released by Israeli authorities.  A Grassroots International partner, Stop the Wall is a coalition of Palestinian non-governmental organizations and neighborhood commit ...
  
  
  
• All Hands Responding to the Haiti Emergency
  
  haiti200407-040.jpg   read more
  
  
  
• From Jerusalem with Love - Blog from the Middle Ea ...
  
  israel200903-17.jpg   The “special treatment” began in the Newark Liberty International Airport where the departure gate for Continental Flight 84 to Tel Aviv, Israel was walled off and separated from all the other gates and passengers. In ord ...
  
  
  

Climate

• January 15, 2010
  
  Investors Urge Governments to Take Immediate Action on Climate Change (Guardian) Over 450 investors controlling $13 trillion of assets have urged governments to pre-empt a climate treaty and take immediate action on global warming, or risk losing the opportunity to establish a low-carbon economy ...
  
  
  
• January 14, 2010
  
  UN Should Be Sidelined in Future Climate Talks, Says Obama Official (Guardian) America sees a diminished role for the UN in trying to stop global warming after the "chaotic" Copenhagen summit, Jonathan Pershing, the U.S. deputy special climate change envoy, said. Britain Confident of Climate D ...
  
  
  
• January 13, 2010
  
  Green Group Seeks Ethics Probe of Murkowski-Lobbyist Ties on EPA Amendment (The Hill) Greenpeace has asked the Senate's Select Committee on Ethics to probe the "depth of the relationship" between Sen. Murkowski's (R-Alaska) staff and two industry lobbyists they consulted about a proposal to bloc ...
  
  
  
• January 12, 2010
  
  Energy Lobbyists Guided Murkowski's Anti-EPA Bill (Washington Post) Two former Bush administration officials, both lobbying for clients with an interest in energy legislation, helped craft the amendment Sen. Lisa Murkowski planned to offer in attempt to bar the EPA from regulating carbon dioxide ...
  
  
  
• January 11, 2010
  
  Largest U.S. Farm Group Rallies against Climate Bill (Reuters) The largest U.S. farm group will oppose aggressively "misguided" climate legislation pending in Congress, said Bob Stallman, president of the 6 million-member American Farm Bureau Federation. Rich Nations 'Ganged Up' in Copenhagen ( ...
  
  
  

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

• If Massachusetts goes Republican, all hell breaks ...
  
  Having worked for the House Democratic leadership and senior Democratic senators, being a serious vote-counter with an occasional dose of Niccolo Machiavelli, I ask: What happens if the Republicans win the Senate in Massachusetts, and might it have the ironic result of reviving the public option and ...
  
  
  
• The Tea Party Movement's Jewish Problem
  
  While some Tea Party supporters have shamelessly used the Jewish historical experience - especially Holocaust imagery - to press their case, other tea partiers have taken to blaming the Jews for causing the nation's current difficult economic conditions. At TP rallies some protesters have carried s ...
  
  
  
• We're all terrorists: Fear of flying is all the ra ...
  
  If the goal of terrorism is to spread terror, suspicion and chaos among otherwise peaceful civilians, the terrorists appear to be winning. The "Christmas Day bomber" has sent the media into full panic mode. Rudy Giuliani, holder of copyright on all aspects of 9/11 (except the blame), has even been t ...
  
  
  
• Will Obama Now Fulfill His Windfall Profits Tax Pr ...
  
  Lloyd Chapman of the American Small Business League asks a very simple question : With oil at or near $80 a barrel, will the Obama administration now deliver on its promise to enact a windfall profits tax on big oil companies? Some history: Obama promised to enact such a tax during the campaign, and ...
  
  
  
• Haiti and America's Historic Debt
  
  Announcing emergency help for Haiti after a devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake, President Barack Obama noted America’s historic ties to the impoverished Caribbean nation, but few Americans understand how important Haiti’s contribution to U.S. history was. In modern times, when Haiti does intrud ...
  
  
  

Ten Percent

• Donate To Haiti Relief
  
  Lots of ways here or Disasters Emergency Committee Haiti Earthquake Appeal or Partners in Health
  
  
  
• This Is Rape Culture
  
  Absolutely disgusting -Men cleared as rape woman’s group sex fantasy revealed-(ht2 PennyRed) so if a woman has sexual fantasies that means she can’t be raped, which is what this seems to imply. That male prosecutor and judge think a woman having sexual fantasies destroys her credibility? Well we’re ...
  
  
  
• Guantanamo Guard & Former Detainees Meet
  
  I have put the Newsnight piece onto YouTube for a global audience, I think even Paxman was a little choked up by it. Humanity WIN, fascism FAIL! Guantanamo guard reunited with ex-inmates
  
  
  
• Haiti Links
  
  The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) donate here. Or SOA Watch is joining other Latin America and Caribbean Solidarity and human rights groups in raising funds for food and water, health and shelter relief for those affected by the earthquake and for community re-building efforts. To ...
  
  
  
• Woolas- Childsnatcher
  
  No one knows how many children have been snatched from their beds in this way in Britain in the past year. But the Immigration Minister Phil Woolas admitted in a letter to a concerned MP recently that more than 1,300 children were detained at three immigration removal centres in the UK during the 15 ...
  
  
  

Booman Tribune

• Haiti: What Bush Wouldn't Have Done
  
  Sometimes getting the job done to save lives after a a natural disaster means doing whatever it takes. Yet somehow I can't imagine George Bush doing this to help Haiti: ... Thursday night, the United States reached an agreement with Cuba to allow American planes on medical-evacuation missions ...
  
  
  
• Closed Briefings
  
  I guess I must not understand the purpose of closed briefings. Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security intelligence subcommittee, said in a telephone interview that administration officials had told lawmakers in closed briefings on Wednesday t ...
  
  
  
• Froggy Bottom Cafe
  
  
  
  
  
• Serious Question
  
  Does anyone else feel like today was a good and important day for Obama and his presidency? A lot of things on his plate and he handled them all really well.
  
  
  
• Casual Observation
  
  I'd really be much happier with the health care reform bill if it strips the private insurance industry of their anti-trust exemption. And, they totally deserve to have that happen to them.
  
  
  

European Tribune

• Live-blogging the EU Commisioner confirmation hear ...
  
  from the European Parliament's portal: the Commissioner-designate for Agriculture and rural development Dacian Cioloş and...
  
  
  
• European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 15 ...
  
   A Daily Review Of International Online Media Europeans on this date in history:1923 – Ivor Cutler,...
  
  
  
• Thursday Open Thred
  
  Open!...
  
  
  
• Taxing the bankers
  
  After the first steps in the UK and France (with a 50% surcharge on bonuses...
  
  
  
• To hell with divisions, how many think tanks does ...
  
  From the ever-entertaining Atlantic Community.org, a Very Serious Place. Pavol Demes: Practical “thinkers” are among...
  
  
  

Futurismic

• Airnergy! Snake-oil gadget recharger debuts at CES ...
  
  Oops, looks like someone slipped up here. SlashDot points us to a Gizmodo report from the Consumer Electronics Show about a device called the RCA Airnergy, which purportedly soaks up wi-fi signals into an internal battery, which you can then use to recharge your iPod, phone, satnav or whatever. Read ...
  
  
  
• Lightspeed Magazine open to story submissions
  
  Hey, writer-types – remember when we plugged the soon-to-open Lightspeed Magazine, a new online science fiction magazine curated by the inestimable John Joseph Adams? Well, Lightspeed won’t be publishing anything until June 2010, but for the fictioneers among you (especially those who find Futurism ...
  
  
  
• The Tender Mash-up
  
  Since I chose to write about things made of metal skins and electrical guts in November, and then about warm-blooded carbon-based life in December, I couldn’t resist a combination. I call it the tender mash-up because the fusion of man and machine might result in an emotional being with a huge leap ...
  
  
  
• The iMister? Downloadable digital perfumes
  
  COSMOS Magazine has a round-up of the current state-of-play in the nascent field of digital scent reproduction. We can do some pretty impressive stuff with digital media for our eyes and ears, and research into haptic technology seems to be ramping up in order to conquer the heretofore neglected sen ...
  
  
  
• Stoned neural networks, wet computers and audio Da ...
  
  Here’s a handful of links from the weird and wonderful world of computer science… First of all, Telepathic-critterdrug is described as “a controversial fork of the open source artificial-life sim Critterding, a physics sandbox where blocky creatures evolve neural nets in a survival contest. What we’ ...
  
  
  

Therapy News

• Australia GPs Struggle with Mental Health Qualific ...
  
  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline Though some would argue that most general practice physicians are ill-equipped to work with mental health cases in a meaningful way, family doctors and other medical practitioners are often at the front lines of mental health concerns, and frequently serve as connecti ...
  
  
  
• Reasons for the Affair
  
  By Dana Vince, LMHC, Infidelity / Affair Recovery Topic Expert Contributor Click here to contact Dana and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile There are many reasons why an affair happens. It can rarely be narrowed down to just one thing. Sometimes it is factors in the relationship that have the great ...
  
  
  
• Steps to Aid Therapy for Soldiers in the UK Deemed ...
  
  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline Discussions about the need for an increase in attention to the mental health needs of those in the armed services have become heated recently in the United States, but other parts of the world are showing that they’re not immune to the strain of war on soldiers, eithe ...
  
  
  
• Significant Depression Risks Shown for Army Wives
  
  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline Focus is often given to the mental health needs of soldiers deployed in combat, but it may often be the case that entire families feel the effects of deployment in a similar way. Giving strength to this idea is an investigation of the impact of deployment on the wives ...
  
  
  
• Study Suggests Prolonged Breastfeeding Improves Me ...
  
  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline The idea that a stronger bond may be created between a mother and her child if breastfeeding is performed during the first few month’s of a baby’s life has been supported for some time, though the precise effects of breastfeeding on the mental health of children and a ...
  
  
  

Mountaintop Removal

• Mountaintop removal mining: EPA says yes, scientis ...
  
  Boston Globe Mountaintop removal mining: EPA says yes, scientists say no Scientific American (blog) On the heels of the US Environmental Protection Agency announcement that it would allow a proposed coal mine involving mountaintop removal ... Scientists Agree Mountaintop Removal Mining is Destroyin ...
  
  
  
• " Our Very Own Pact With Satan " - Brad Blog (blog ...
  
  " Our Very Own Pact With Satan " Brad Blog (blog) TODAY: Haiti's epic humanitarian crisis; Chinese toys toxic again; Rolling Stone calls out the 'IDIOTS'; PLUS: Disastrous Mountaintop Removal mining. ... and more »
  
  
  
• 'WV has alternatives' other than MTR, Bobby Kenned ...
  
  West Virginia Public Broadcasting 'WV has alternatives' other than MTR, Bobby Kennedy, Jr. says West Virginia Public Broadcasting Kennedy says he first became aware of mountaintop removal as a teenager. His father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy visited West Virginia during his 1968 ...
  
  
  
• 'Green News Report' 1/14/09 - Brad Blog (blog)
  
  'Green News Report' 1/14/09 Brad Blog (blog) PLUS: The pervasive destruction of Mountaintop Removal mining ... All that and more in today's Green News Report! Got comments, tips, love letters, ... and more »
  
  
  
• JP Morgan still financing mountaintop removal mini ...
  
  JP Morgan still financing mountaintop removal mining Ethiopian Review JPMorgan Chase has been funding six of the top eight coal mining companies responsible for mountaintop removal coal mining in the United States. ...
  
  
  

Memeorandum

• Banks Set for Record Pay (Stephen Grocer/Wall Stre ...
  
  Stephen Grocer / Wall Street Journal : Banks Set for Record Pay   —  Top Firms on Pace to Award $145 Billion for 2009, Up 18%, WSJ Study Finds  —  Major U.S. banks and securities firms are on pace to pay their people about $145 billion for 2009, a record sum that indicates how compensation is clim ...
  
  
  
• White House budget director blames old computers f ...
  
  Ian Swanson / The Hill : White House budget director blames old computers for ineffective government   —  A big reason why the government is inefficient and ineffective is because Washington has outdated technology, with federal workers having better computers at home than in the office.
  
  
  
• What Karl Rove got wrong on the U.S. deficit (Davi ...
  
  David Axelrod / Washington Post : What Karl Rove got wrong on the U.S. deficit   —  For its Topic A feature last Sunday, The Post invited a panel of political operatives to offer their advice to the Democratic Party on strategy for 2010 [Sunday Opinion, Jan. 10].  Improbably, one of the operatives ...
  
  
  
• Nelson tries to repair damage at home (Manu Raju/T ...
  
  Manu Raju / The Politico : Nelson tries to repair damage at home   —  Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson and his wife were leaving dinner at a new pizza joint near their home in Omaha one night last week when a patron began complaining about Nelson's decisive vote in favor of the Senate's health care bill.  ...
  
  
  
• MA Senate moved to Toss-Up (The Rothenberg/The Rot ...
  
  The Rothenberg / The Rothenberg Political Report : MA Senate moved to Toss-Up   —  Democratic desperation and other compelling evidence strongly suggest that Democrats may well lose the late Senator Edward Kennedy's Senate seat in Tuesday's special election.  Because of this, we are moving our rati ...
  
  
  

Energy & Environment News

• Regulator Imposes More Limits on Speculative Tradi ...
  
  The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said its move was intended to stave off a repeat of the 2008 surge in oil prices.
  
  
  
• Russia-Belarus Oil Dispute Threatens Europe&#x2019 ...
  
  The two countries failed to renew an agreement on crude oil export tariffs that expired on New Year’s Eve, raising the prospect of another midwinter fuel shut-off.
  
  
  
• Decision Promised Soon on Cape Cod Wind Farm
  
  Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that he intended to decide whether to approve the wind turbine project no later than April.
  
  
  
• Administration Loosens Purse Strings for Transit P ...
  
  New guidelines will make it easier for cities and states to spend federal money on transit projects like light rail.
  
  
  
• Forget Wind. Pickens Turns Focus to Gas.
  
  The Texas billionaire has tried to get Americans to embrace new sources of energy. His new advertising campaign might stir controversy.
  
  
  

5+ quakes - 7 days

• M 5.3, Ryukyu Islands, Japan
  
  Friday, January 15, 2010 11:08:37 UTC Friday, January 15, 2010 08:08:37 PM at epicenter Depth : 127.00 km (78.91 mi)
  
  
  
• M 5.0, Kermadec Islands region
  
  Friday, January 15, 2010 10:38:26 UTC Friday, January 15, 2010 10:38:26 PM at epicenter Depth : 10.00 km (6.21 mi)
  
  
  
• M 5.4, Kermadec Islands region
  
  Friday, January 15, 2010 10:14:02 UTC Friday, January 15, 2010 10:14:02 PM at epicenter Depth : 10.00 km (6.21 mi)
  
  
  
• M 5.2, West Chile Rise
  
  Thursday, January 14, 2010 08:42:12 UTC Thursday, January 14, 2010 02:42:12 AM at epicenter Depth : 10.00 km (6.21 mi)
  
  
  
• M 5.3, Tonga
  
  Wednesday, January 13, 2010 16:21:23 UTC Thursday, January 14, 2010 06:21:23 AM at epicenter Depth : 10.00 km (6.21 mi)
  
  
  

China Dialogue

• A fight for life in the Andes
  
  Peruvian villagers already on the edge of survival are enduring bitter cold linked to climate change. Now, reports Annie Kelly, they are having to choose whether to save their livelihoods or their children. For alpaca farmer Ignacio Beneto Huamani and his young family, life in the Peruvian Andes , a ...
  
  
  
• What to watch for in Washington
  
  The global recession, US mid-term elections and a weak Copenhagen deal all play a part in the future of cap-and-trade legislation. Suzanne Goldenberg explains what lies ahead in 2010. What is the state of play for climate-change legislation in America? Barack Obama put his reputation on the line ...
  
  
  
• Thinking the unthinkable
  
  A new book by Stewart Brand, one of the founders of the modern environmental movement, challenges green orthodoxy and considers some frightening scenarios, writes John Elkington. Imagine Karl Marx calling for capitalism, Gandhi advocating war or the Pope embracing atheism. That is the scale of the d ...
  
  
  
• Saving water in America (2)
  
  In the second half of a two-part article on America’s dam-building legacy, Zhang Keijia finds a reverence for rivers among the people of the southern United States. In the attractive Atlantic coast city of Savannah , where the river of the same name meets the ocean, we visited the US Army Corps of E ...
  
  
  
• Saving water in America (1)
  
  A dam-building fervour in the south-western United States nearly killed its rivers, before a concerned public started a campaign to nurture them back to health. Zhang Kejia explores the lessons for China. The Colorado River is one of the most dammed in the world. Over the last two hundred years, for ...
  
  
  

AlterNet Top Stories

• Do Obama and Geithner Have the Same Flaw: Accommod ...
  
  Tim Geithner has a long history of caving to moral pressures and smoothing over colossal failures. But his personality is much like Obama. Maybe that's how he keeps his job.
  
  
  
• Sewage as a Measure of Society's Drug Use
  
  Testing municipal wastewater for drugs may be the next big thing in public health research. The methodology will likely confirm the universality of drug use.
  
  
  
• Ice Cream Has Meat in It? 7 "Vegetarian" ...
  
  Sadly, being a vegetarian isn't just about skipping pepperoni on that pizza. You want believe which foods contain ingredients deriving from meat.
  
  
  
• Why Do People Want to Have Sex with the 9-Foot Tal ...
  
  So many people have been seduced by 'Avatar' that lusting for blue aliens could become a part of mainstream culture.
  
  
  
• Muckraking AlterNet Coverage Exposes Wrongful Inca ...
  
  After 23 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, Michael Tillman, a victim of police torture, is finally free.
  
  
  

Threat Level

• Google Hack Attack Was Ultra Sophisticated, New De ...
  
  Hackers seeking source code from Google, Adobe and dozens of other high-profile companies used unprecedented tactics that combined encryption, stealth programming and an unknown hole in Internet Explorer, according to new details released by researchers at anti-virus firm McAfee. “We have never ever ...
  
  
  
• Hack of Adobe Conducted Via Zero-Day IE Flaw
  
  The recent hack attack on Adobe occurred through exploitation of a zero-day vulnerability that affects all versions of Internet Explorer, according to a security researcher with a leading anti-virus firm. Microsoft learned about the vulnerability only Wednesday evening and is planning to release an ...
  
  
  
• Eight-Year-Old on TSA Terrorist Watchlist Gets Fri ...
  
  The Transportation Security Administration, attempting to squelch nefarious rumors, has asserted on its web site under a “Mythbusterâ€� feature that “No 8-year-old is on a T.S.A. watch list.” Unfortunately for the TSA, the New York Times found an 8-year-old on its list. Mikey Hicks, a Cub Scout in ...
  
  
  
• China Stands Firm in Response to Google Threat
  
  China has hit back at Google in its response to the search giant’s announcement this week that it may pull out of China if it can’t reach an agreement about censoring content. Two government officials said on Thursday that internet companies must obey the laws of China and help the government steer ...
  
  
  
• High Court Bars Cameras in Gay Marriage Trial
  
  The Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked cameras from a federal civil trial in San Francisco concerning the legality of same-sex marriage. The decision came two days after the court tentatively sided with same-sex marriage foes who told the court they would be harassed and intimidated if their testimo ...
  
  
  

Reuters - Most Popular Articles

• SCENARIOS-What happens next in Google standoff wit ...
  
  BEIJING, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Google Inc jolted investors and China this week by threatening to quit the Communist Party-run nation over censorship and hacking, and both sides are tight-lipped about what they expect to happen next.
  
  
  
• Obama ally Reid in danger of losing re-election bi ...
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may pay the ultimate political price for championing President Barack Obama's liberal agenda: He could lose his seat back home in Nevada.
  
  
  
• China Internet population hits 384 million
  
  BEIJING, Jan 15 (Reuters) - China's population of Internet users jumped by nearly a third to 384 million at the end of last year, an official report showed on Friday, days after Google threatened to retreat from the expanding market.
  
  
  
• Banks, experts eye possible ways around Obama fee
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - No sooner does Washington propose a new tax than an army of experts tries to figure out ways to avoid it.
  
  
  
• Anger grows in quake-hit Haiti over aid delay
  
  PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Desperate Haitians set up roadblocks with corpses in Port-au-Prince on Thursday to demand quicker relief efforts after a massive earthquake killed tens of thousands and left countless others homeless.
  
  
  

Equality Trust

• Should Wall Street execs be required to donate to ...
  
  You know things are out of whack when an investment bank is considering forcing its employees to donate to charity. That plan is reportedly in the works at Goldman Sachs, with bonuses, some as high as eight figures, being paid to bankers this week. Read the full article in The Seattle Times
  
  
  
• The importance of economic equality - Time.com
  
  Read the Time.com Q&A with ichard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.
  
  
  
• Call for fundamental rethink of the value of work
  
  Hospital cleaners are worth more to society than city bankers, according to a new method of calculating the value of different jobs published today. The new economics foundation (nef) called for a "fundamental rethink" of how the value of work was recognised and rewarded. The think tank said its s ...
  
  
  
• The Spirit Level - New Statesman book of the decad ...
  
  Wilkinson and Pickett's study gave scientific weight to a long-held claim of the left: that people are happier and healthier when they live in societies where wealth is distributed more equally. But the book's influence stretches across party lines and its findings are likely to shape political deba ...
  
  
  
• Levelling the bankers' bonuses
  
  Read a letter by Malcolm Clark, Director of the One Society Campaign in today's Guardian, about the positives for bankers of losing their bonuses. Peter Preston (The rewards of banking, 7 December) has a point: bankers are human too. Most of them want exactly the same as us: a decent quality of life ...
  
  
  

IntelNews

• News you may have missed #0254 (activism edition)
  
  US activists file lawsuit over domestic spying. Antiwar activist to stage sit-in at CIA HQ. Is there legal basis for CIA drone strikes in Pakistan?
  
  
  
• News you may have missed #0253
  
  Iran undecided on nukes, says US military spy chief. Nobel winner demands Germany uncover Romanian ex-spies.
  
  
  
• Did Hamas penetrate US Consulate in Jerusalem?
  
  I was first alerted to this story on The Jerusalem Post on January 9, but I thought I would wait for follow-up stories in the US media before reporting it on this website. Strangely, none have appeared.
  
  
  
• News you may have missed #0252
  
  Released documents show Nixon team spied on Ted Kennedy. Right-wing militias infiltrated Colombian spy agency in 1990s.
  
  
  
• Spanish spies remain active in UK territory of Gib ...
  
  The British Crown has ruled Gibraltar since the early 1700s, but Spain has never ceased to claim national rights over the territory. Today, la Cuestión de Gibraltar (the Gibraltar question) is as critical an issue in Spanish-British relations as it has been for over 300 years. A recent article in Gi ...
  
  
  

After Downing Street.org

• 666 to 1: The U.S. Military, al-Qaeda, and a War ...
  
  In 2001, George W. Bush declared the U.S. "at war" against al-Qaeda. Barack Obama also claims that we are "at war" and that al-Qaeda is our main enemy. In their latest collaboration, Nick Turse and Tom Engelhardt take this claim seriously by offering a comparison of the two militaries, the two en ...
  
  
  
• On YouTube: Guantánamo Guard and Ex-Prisoners Meet ...
  
  On YouTube: Guantánamo Guard and Ex-Prisoners Meet (via the BBC) By Andy Worthington | AndyWorthington.co.UK Newsnight ran an extraordinary two-part feature on Guantánamo, bringing former guard Brandon Neely over from the United States to meet — and apologize to — former prisoners Shafiq Rasul and ...
  
  
  
• Ex-Gitmo Guard Meets With Ex-Detainees
  
  Ex-Gitmo Guard Meets With Ex-Detainees By Bryant Jordan | Military.com A former GI at Guantanamo Bay has made his separate peace with two of the men he once guarded, apologizing to the former detainees in a TV broadcast Tuesday night for what they went through at the island base. Neely has previou ...
  
  
  
• Nonprofit Warns Candidates Against Accepting Supp ...
  
  Nonprofit Warns Candidates Against Accepting Support From The Chamber Of Commerce For Midterm Elections | Press Release Chamber Funds Tainted By Scandal; Chamber CEO Under Criminal Investigation The StopTheChamber.com campaign today issued the following warning to any 2010 candidate who accepts a ...
  
  
  
• "Peace Island" Petition To Stop US Military Missil ...
  
  We, the undersigned global organizations and individuals, call upon the South Korean and US governments to cancel all plans to build a Navy base on Jeju Island. The base will destroy coral reefs that have been listed as world heritage environmental sites by the UNESCO Pand will destroy the fishing ...
  
  
  

Grist - News

• Scientists cautiously optimistic as Doomsday Clock ...
  
  by Agence France-Presse NEW YORK -- The minute hand of the Doomsday Clock was moved back slightly Thursday, indicating the world has inched away from nuclear or environmental catastrophe, but still is not out of danger. "It is six minutes to midnight," the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which creat ...
  
  
  
• Small cars make it big at Detroit Auto Show [slide ...
  
  by Grist   DETROIT—Small, hybrid, and electric cars took center stage at the Detroit Auto Show this week, as automakers adapt to the changing demands of a market ravaged by recession and soaring fuel costs. A clutch of manufacturers also displayed fuel-efficient cars with designs inspired by Europe ...
  
  
  
• Grist exclusive: A fiery battle over land in Braz ...
  
  by Brenda Baletti On the Arapiuns River, barges of illegally taken timber smolder after being set aflame to protest logging in Gleba Nova Olinda, Amazon Rainforest. All photos: Brenda Baletti While world leaders were meeting in Copenhagen to address the challenge of climate change last month, indig ...
  
  
  
• Break with consumerism to save the world, Worldwat ...
  
  by Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON -- The world faces environmental havoc unless people shift from a culture where success is measured by the accumulation of goods to one where people are admired for living sustainably, experts warned in a report published Tuesday. "It's no longer enough to change ...
  
  
  
• Ford Fusion Hybrid wins 2010 Car of the Year, no g ...
  
  by Ashley Braun The Ford Fusion Hybrid. Photo courtesy Ford Motor Company via FlickrNo green spin necessary, the Ford Fusion Hybrid sedan was soundly voted the 2010 Car of the Year . While not the first-ever hybrid vehicle to win this award (even for Ford), it is notable that the 2010 North America ...
  
  
  

Popular Bookmarks on Del.icio.us

• OpenSCAD - The Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller
• 14 jquery and CSS demos I wish I knew much before ...
• Cross-domain requests with jQuery – James Padolsey
• Matthew Lyons Illustration Blog
• Seven things you need to know about augmented real ...

Technorati - What's Hot in Blogs

• Daily Five: Houston and Philadelphia Discuss a Tra ...
  
  Each day, we'll take a quick look at five of the most important stories going on in the NBA.
  
  
  
• Marvin Harrison Case: Proof That Investigative Jou ...
  
  New details surrounding Marvin Harrison's possible involvement in two shootings have law enforcement officials' interested.
  
  
  
• University of Southern Indiana Player Jeron Lewis ...
  
  College basketball player Jeron Lewis dies after fall during game.
  
  
  
• Gilbert Arenas Charged With Felony Gun Possession
  
  Gilbert Arenas has been charged with a felony, will the Wizards try to void his contract?
  
  
  
• Pittsburgh's Social Media Community Comes to Aid o ...
  
  Pittsburgh social media sensation Virginia Montanez is using her power and influence to help two sisters and one orphanage in Haiti.
  
  
  

Time - Top Stories

• Big Earnings Gains May Not Lift S&P 500 Stock Pric ...
  
  Expect to see big earnings gains from U.S. companies in the months ahead, but don't be surprised if stocks don't budge
  
  
  
• African Immigrants in Italy: Slave Labor for the M ...
  
  Recent riots by Africans in southern Italy have exposed a brutal Mafia-run labor system in which migrants work long days for little pay and fear for their lives
  
  
  
• Haiti Earthquake: Corpses Pile Up Across Port-au-P ...
  
  Port-au-Prince is a series of open graves and funeral pyres and no one knows how many have died. But the living are pulling together to clear away the rubble
  
  
  
• Taking on the Banks: Obama's New Populist Pitch
  
  The White House has calculated that the best way to avert midterm electoral disaster for the Democrats is to channel voter anger through a populist appeal
  
  
  
• A Tax Compromise Moves Health Reform One Step Clos ...
  
  Health care legislation took a major step toward the finish line today, when the White House and congressional leaders reached a deal on one of the major remaining issues
  
  
  

Washington Independent

• Analysts Question Al-Qaeda Efforts at Counterterro ...
  
  Analysts -- those who have worked on al-Qaeda and on other threats -- describe themselves as "drinking from a firehose" of information shared with the National Counterterrorism Center by the partner intelligence agencies.
  
  
  
• Fees, Infighting, Capsize More Tea Party Events
  
  After I wrote my story this morning on the National Tea Party Convention and the troubles the movement’s been having as it moves into the political big time, I received more reports of troubled Tea Party events. According to Big Chief Entertainment, LLC, some conservative donors wanted to put togeth ...
  
  
  
• Massachusetts: Toss-Up
  
  The Cook Political Report, calling it “one of the toughest [calls] we’ve had in a long time,” joins the Rothenberg Political report in calling the Coakley-Brown race a “toss-up. The modern electoral history of federal statewide races in Massachusetts argues strongly that while state Attorney General ...
  
  
  
• Here’s One Show of Support for Scott Brown
  
  This is part of the voicemail that callers get when they’re unable to reach someone at GOP Senate candidate Scott Brown’s campaign headquarters in Massachusetts. Due to the high demand for lawn signs and bumper stickers, we are currently out. We encourage you to show your support for Senator Brown b ...
  
  
  
• Geithner to Testify on AIG
  
  Via The Hill, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee later this month to testify on his role surrounding the $62 billion funneled through the AIG bailout to other Wall Street firms — payments that officials at the New York Federal R ...
  
  
  

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

• President Obama wants record $708 billion for mili ...
  
  Yahoo! News Associated Press By ANNE GEARAN and ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writers Anne Gearan And Anne Flaherty, Associated Press Writers – Wed Jan 13, 2010 WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanis ...
  
  
  
• Health Insurance Industry Contributed Millions To ...
  
  Health Insurers Funded Chamber Attack Ads National Journal Tuesday, January 12, 2010 By Peter H. Stone Just as dealings with the Obama administration and congressional Democrats soured last summer, six of the nation’s biggest health insurers began quietly pumping big money into third-party televisi ...
  
  
  
• Democratic Leaders Reach Compromise on Taxing Heal ...
  
  DAVID M. HERSZENHORN | NYT | January 14, 2010, 12:37 pm The White House and Congressional leaders have reached a tentative deal on a proposed excise tax on high-cost, employer-sponsored insurance plans to be included in the final version of major health care legislation, according to officials famil ...
  
  
  
• Republican Fear-Mongering And Overreaction To The ...
  
  For much of the last decade, the Republican line about liberals has been that whenever we downplayed the urgency of the so-called terrorist threat (or dared to criticize then-President Bush for that matter) we were somehow emboldening the terrorists. For example, during the 2004 campaign, John Kerry ...
  
  
  
• Haiti Earthquake: Death Toll May Surpass 100,000 ( ...
  
  Haiti Earthquake: Breaking News, Updates (VIDEO) Huffington Post |  Nicholas Sabloff   First Posted: 01-13-10 10:24 AM   |   Updated: 01-13-10 04:59 PM Updates from Haiti below — Follow the latest breaking news via our Haiti Twitter list — See the latest images here — Read the lates ...
  
  
  

Solari

• Big Bank CEOs Spin
  
  Yesterday morning,  executives from the banks which control the NY Fed and, in that capacity, serve as the depositories and agent for the US government, testified before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. This is the first day of hearings by the commission. This video, while long, is a relativ ...
  
  
  
• Money & Markets ~ Charts 1.14.10
  
  View this week’s chart comparisons of gold against fiat currencies, oil and the Dow. Stay tuned for our next Money & Markets segment of The Solari Report on Thursday, January 7, 2010. Click here to view all charts as a pdf file. See previous Money & Markets Charts blog posts here. Currency charts a ...
  
  
  
• Community Call to Prayer
  
  Photo by David Liechty (Trip to Jerusalem 2009) O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God [...]
  
  
  
• GM Corn Causes Liver and Kidney Damage
  
  Genetically modified maize can damage the liver and other internal organs in mammals, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Biological Science. In the study, rats were fed three GM maize products (NK 603, MON 810, MON 863) found in food and feed around the world, for fo ...
  
  
  
• Angels Still Don’t Play This HAARP
  
  Continue reading Angels Still Don’t Play This HAARP
  
  
  

Global Insights

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

Insurgency Watch - Newswire

• Stepping up - University at Buffalo The Spectrum
  
  Stepping up University at Buffalo The Spectrum The president of Pakistan , Asif Ali Zardari, recognized the direness of the situation and began to mobilize military forces to combat the Taliban . ... and more »
  
  
  
• Obama, us leaders should contemplate future of Afg ...
  
  BBC News Obama, us leaders should contemplate future of Afghan women Chicago Tribune Would nuclear-armed Pakistan become even more vulnerable to its own Taliban insurgency ? Will a defeat embolden America's enemies? That line of thinking must ... Vietnam syndrome has begun in Afghanistan Sri Lanka ...
  
  
  
• Officials: Campus blasts perplexing - United Press ...
  
  Officials: Campus blasts perplexing United Press International ISLAMABAD, Pakistan , Oct. 21 (UPI) -- The International Islamic University, where bomb blasts killed at least six people, is a unique Pakistani institution ... and more »
  
  
  
• Schools closed in Pakistan after bombing - GMA new ...
  
  Schools closed in Pakistan after bombing GMA news.tv An Associated Press reporter met three Taliban fighters Tuesday traveling in a car with darkened windows at Shaktoi, a town close to the border between ... and more »
  
  
  
• An Evolving Afghan Policy - American Chronicle
  
  An Evolving Afghan Policy American Chronicle ... triumph for the forces of Islamic extremism, al-Qaeda would once again gain a foothold, and the return of the Taliban would likely destabilize Pakistan . ...
  
  
  

AlterNet - Rights and Liberties

• Muckraking AlterNet Coverage Exposes Wrongful Inca ...
  
  After 23 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, Michael Tillman, a victim of police torture, is finally free.
  
  
  
• One Man's Struggle Against America's Broken Immigr ...
  
  Meet Jean Montrevil: A Haitian immigrant whose troubled past may be enough to get him kicked out of the U.S.
  
  
  
• We Love Seeing Bad Parents Punished, But Why Don't ...
  
  Despite our obsession with punishment as entertainment, there is nearly no news coverage of children with incarcerated parents.
  
  
  
• Did the Mafia Set Off a Series of Racial Battles w ...
  
  The clashes began Thursday night in Rosarno, a working-class city amid citrus groves in Calabria, the toe of Italy’s boot.
  
  
  
• What Reid's Race Gaffe Tells Us About Inequality
  
  If we weeded out every lawmaker guilty of racial insensitivity, Congress would be empty. A far bigger problem is the structures of inequality reflected in gaffes like Reid's.
  
  
  

Sideways News

• 'Illuminators' wanted for Hadrian's Wall
  
  Walkers, ramblers and history buffs across the country have been offered the chance to take part in a unique celebration aimed at illuminating Hadrian's Wall. Organisers are looking to recruit 500 volunteers to help create a "line of light" across the entire length of the historic landmark, which ru ...
  
  
  
• Local groups scoop £1m green prize
  
  Four community groups across Britain have won part of a £1 million prize after cutting carbon emissions by a third. More than 350 groups entered Nesta' s Big Green Challenge, which encouraged communities to set up emission-saving projects in their area.
  
  
  
• Body part maker 'top job' for future
  
  Being a body part maker or virtual lawyer are among the jobs people could be doing in 20 years' time, according to a new report commissioned by the Science: So What? So Everything campaign.
  
  
  
• Yoga 'prevents age-related illness'
  
  Yoga is more than just a way to get fit, according to new research which suggests it can help prevent a number of age-related illnesses. Researchers at Ohio State University have discovered that yoga helps reduce cytokine levels in the body which lead to the inflammation linked with arthritis, osteo ...
  
  
  
• Biogas will arrive in the UK this year
  
  The first biogas supply is due to be delivered to the UK this year by green energy company Ecotricity . A highly effective low-carbon energy alterative, biogas is produced from biodegradable waste such as sewage, food and wood which release emissions known as biomethane as they decay. While biometha ...
  
  
  

Fabius Maximus

• FM newswire for 15 January, hot articles for your ...
  
  Contents – some updates to previous posts on the FM website, and 3 Quotes of the Day About our shameful prisons, a stain on America About the “mancession” Can the European Union survive the recession? About Japan, slowly sinking Quotes of the Day about our response to jihadists’ terrorism (1)  A ...
  
  
  
• RAND explains How Terrorist Groups End, and gives ...
  
  This study was, of course, ignored.  As a general rule, the US government’s interest in advice is inversely proportional to the relevant expertise and knowledge of the source.  Best of all is to know little about the subject, but have an active imagination and firm grasp of what the answers shoul ...
  
  
  
• Another way our world is changing, while we pay at ...
  
  I strongly recommend reading this:  “The Edge 2010 Annual Question: How is the Internet changing the way you think?“, Edge: the world question center — 167 answers from an array of world-class scientists, artists, and creative thinkers.  If you lack the time to read them, here are some of the most ...
  
  
  
• FM newswire for 14 January, hot articles for your ...
  
  Today’s links to interesting news and analysis… India’s hidden role in the Af-Pak War:  “Afghanistan: The Forgotten Conflict in Kashmir“, Pankaj Mishra, blog of the NY Review of Books, 8 December 2009 Pro-war extremist collides with actual expert on Iran (results are illuminating, but not p ...
  
  
  
• Some good advice from Zbigniew Brzezinski
  
  The late American strategist John Boyd (Colonel, USAF) said that a grand strategy focused our nation’s actions — political, economic, and military — so as to: Increase our solidarity, our internal cohesion. Weaken our opponents’ resolve and internal cohesion. Strengthen our allies’ relationships to ...
  
  
  

sibeledmonds - tweets

• sibeledmonds: Yemen: Militarization of Geopolitica ...
  
  sibeledmonds: Yemen: Militarization of Geopolitical Energy Choke-Points & Energy Crisis - US Corporate Loss…at Boiling Frogs http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
  
  
• sibeledmonds: The Kissinger-Brzezinski Eurasian Pl ...
  
  sibeledmonds: The Kissinger-Brzezinski Eurasian Plan: Specter of Serial War, Obama’s Neocons, Profiling & More by Nafeez Ahmed http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
  
  
• sibeledmonds: Yemen, Energy Crisis &the Nigerian C ...
  
  sibeledmonds: Yemen, Energy Crisis &the Nigerian Crotch Bomber Part 2: The Kissinger-Brzezinski Eurasian Plan by Nafeez Ahmed http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
  
  
• sibeledmonds: Dr. Nafeez Ahmed on the Privatizatio ...
  
  sibeledmonds: Dr. Nafeez Ahmed on the Privatization of Security and the Militarization of Society- Read it at Boiling Frogs http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
  
  
• sibeledmonds: Yemen, Energy Crisis & the Nigerian ...
  
  sibeledmonds: Yemen, Energy Crisis & the Nigerian Crotch Bomber: Part 1 by Dr. Nafeez Ahmed at Boiling Frogs Post- http://boilingfrogspost.com
  
  
  

WIRED Magazine | Science

• Satellite Photos of Haiti Before and After the Ear ...
  
  > The pictures and video from on-the-ground reports in Haiti following the magnitude 7 earthquake Tuesday are truly heartbreaking. But it is difficult to imagine the full extent of the damage to that country and its capital, Port-au-Prince, in particular. These new sate ...
  
  
  
• Bizarre Sea Sponge Compound Finally Synthesized by ...
  
  A 17-year long intense competition to synthesize a fascinatingly weird and complex compound has finally ended. The first 25-step process for building the compound, Palau’amine, out of molecular components was published in Angewandte Chemie last week. You might think that the substance causing all t ...
  
  
  
• Bird-Like Lungs May Have Helped Dinosaurs’ Ancesto ...
  
  Lungs with one-way air flow may have helped dinosaurs’ ancestors become dominant when oxygen levels dropped after the Permian-Triassic extinction. It was a period around 250 million years ago when most land-based life died off. Air follows a one-way loop in alligator lungs, scientists found, a patt ...
  
  
  
• Hubble Unravels Odd Galaxy’s History
  
  Not all spiral galaxies look or behave alike, as this new image from the Hubble Space Telescope of the unusual galaxy NGC 2976 shows. With this new detailed view, astronomers were able to use the brightness and color of its stars to reconstruct the galaxy’s history. The galaxy, which is located 12 ...
  
  
  
• Wednesday’s Near-Earth Asteroid Caught on Film
  
  A team of astronomers from Italy captured images of the asteroid that passed by Earth Wednesday at a distance one-third that between the Earth and the Moon. The rock, between 30 and 50 feet across, was not in danger of striking the planet and probably would have burned up in the atmosphere before h ...
  
  
  

The Progressive Realist

• Will the Real Reinhold Niebuhr Please Stand Up?
  
  Despite having been a religion major in college, I won't try to dissect Joseph Loconte's  interpretation of Reinhold Niebuhr's theology over in AEI's magazine, The American. But the ways Loconte blatantly contorts President Obama's foreign policy intentions? Well they're like fish in a barrel; I can ...
  
  
  
• Leading Indicators: Off the Radar News Roundup
  
  - South Korea announced plans to cut out middlemen in arms procurement deals, in an effort to root out corruption. Is there a country on earth whose arms procurement process isn't riddled with corruption? Seems to be a universal problem. - I mentioned the surprising competitiveness of South Korea's ...
  
  
  
• The Coming Pentagon Boost: Obama Strong on War Fun ...
  
  For all the talk around town of increasing pressure on defense spending in a time of austerity, high unemployment and eye-popping deficits, the Pentagon budget is poised to reach the historic level of $700 billion – a 4.8 % increase over Obama's FY2010 request (and a 125% increase since 2001). Wh ...
  
  
  
• Sovereign Default Risk
  
  George Magnus is worried about the possibility of sovereign defaults among OECD countries. He says that “[c]oncerted fiscal restraint could trigger another recession,” which sounds to me like an argument for avoiding concerted fiscal restraint. But he says “the lack of it could end up in bigger defa ...
  
  
  
• Obama’s Most Overlooked Foreign Policy Accomplishm ...
  
  The one-year anniversary of President Obama’s inauguration is leading to the usual spate of analyses of Obama’s foreign policy record. Time magazine already had this brief rundown , Helene Cooper at the New York Times looked more prospectively with a focus on the politics of national security , ...
  
  
  

TAPPED - The American Prospect

• Lightning Round: Raising Taxes? No, No, Raising "K ...
  
  One assumes Senate candidate Scott Brown is willing to lie about his knowledge of and participation in the tea party movement because he correctly concludes that such an association would not go over well in the Bay State. Yet what's more interesting is that the tea partiers are willing to finance ...
  
  
  
• The Little Picture: Teddy Pendergrass.
  
  R&B legend Teddy Pendergrass died Wednesday at the age of 59. (AP Photo)
  
  
  
• The Campaign Finance Mainstream Shifts.
  
  At a Brookings Institution event this morning, four of the most prominent mainstream scholar/advocates of campaign finance reform set forward a new approach -- albeit one that might seem familiar to Prospect readers . Tom Mann of Brookings, Norman Ornstein from AEI, Michael Malbin of the Campaign Fi ...
  
  
  
• Von Spakovsky Fudges Details On The Noxubee Invest ...
  
  Hans von Spakovsky , a Bush political appointee in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and career vote-supression advocate , has long argued that the career attorneys in the Voting Rights Section resisted filing voter suppression cases against black plaintiffs in Noxubee, Mississippi and ...
  
  
  
• The Sound of the Melting Pot.
  
  Via Sociological Images , the Modern Language Association has created a terrific set of interactive maps showing where people speak different languages all over the country. You can map a particular language, compare states down to the county or zip code level, and get all kinds of interesting data ...
  
  
  

Andy Worthington

• On YouTube: Guantánamo Guard and Ex-Prisoners Meet ...
  
  On Monday and Tuesday evenings, the BBC’s Newsnight ran an extraordinary two-part feature on Guantánamo, bringing former guard Brandon Neely over from the United States to meet — and apologize to — former prisoners Shafiq Rasul and Ruhal Ahmed, two of “The Tipton Three,â€� from the West Midland ...
  
  
  
• Fear and Paranoia as Guantánamo Marks its Eighth A ...
  
  On the eighth anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, the fate of the 198 prisoners still held is, in many ways, no clearer than it was a year ago. President Obama has released 42 men since taking office on January 20, 2009, but has already admitted that he will miss his self-imposed deadline for ...
  
  
  
• An interview with Andy Worthington about Guantánam ...
  
  The following interview, with Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files, was conducted by email by Elizabeth Ferrari, and was originally published on Democratic Underground. Elizabeth Ferrari: Andy, last week was a terrible week for lies and misinformation regarding Guantánamo, particularly c ...
  
  
  
• Guantánamo: Shaker Aamer’s Daughter Delivers Lette ...
  
  On Monday January 11, as part of activities in London to highlight the eighth anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, and to demand justice for the 198 men still held, Johina Aamer, daughter of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident held at the prison, delivered a letter to Gordon Brown at 10 Dow ...
  
  
  
• On Eighth Anniversary, Guantánamo Allows Little Ho ...
  
  One year ago, as George W. Bush prepared to leave office, there were high hopes that Barack Obama would move swiftly to undo his ruinous legacy of torture, “extraordinary rendition” and indefinite detention without charge or trial. The most potent icon of the Bush administration’s overreaction to th ...
  
  
  

Buzzflash

• Economic Hit Man John Perkins Talks to BuzzFlash A ...
  
  BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW We're headed for disaster. You'd have to be totally blind not to recognize that. So if we don't change -- if this crisis doesn't force us to change -- there will be more and more and more and more. And who knows what the ultimate outcome will be? If we continue to resist, we'll d ...
  
  
  
• Barbara's Daily BuzzFlash Minute for January 13, 2 ...
  
  BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZFLASH MINUTE With all this talk about what John McCain did or didn't know about Sarah Palin, I find it amazing that people are so quick to forget! Doesn't anyone remember that John McCain will do anything for a vote , he compromised his so-called "ideals" to acquire the votes he ...
  
  
  
• Alastair Campbell, Aide To Former PM, Says Britain ...
  
  There will be much more spin to come Which I bet will get even better; Perhaps Tony Blair wasn't a "poodle" But more like an English Setter .VERSE CASE SCENARIO read more
  
  
  
• The Tea Party Movement's Jewish Problem
  
  BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY By Bill Berkowitz Some tea partiers have insensitively used Holocaust imagery, while others are blaming Jews for the country’s economic problems. While some Tea Party supporters have shamelessly used the Jewish historical experience – especially Holocaust imagery – to pres ...
  
  
  
• Palinology 101, 100, 099 ...
  
  Body As a new Fox News employee, her first words were a devilishly playful Fox News lie: "It’s wonderful," said Sarah Palin in announcing her done deal and upcoming gig, "to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news." The easy deconstruction of that calculated disdain is t ...
  
  
  

Glenn Greenwald - Salon

• Harold Ford's warped understanding of "capitalism"
  
  (updated below) The incomparably horrific Harold Ford -- who sounds ready to challenge incumbent New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a primary -- contradicted himself so egregiously in his cringe-inducing New York Times interview yesterday that it's hard to know whether one should ...
  
  
  
• The fundamental unreliability of America's media
  
  Consider the record of the American media over the last two weeks alone.  Justin Elliott of TPM documents how an absolute falsehood about the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing -- that Abdulmutallab purchased a "one-way ticket" to the U.S., when it was actually a round-trip ticket -- has been ...
  
  
  
• An Iranian nuclear physicist is murdered
  
  Back in February, 2007, a controversy erupted when University of Tennessee Law Professor Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds advocated that, in response to Iran's nuclear activities, the U.S. should be "killing radical mullahs and iranian [sic] atomic scientists" -- in other words, have the U.S. Governmen ...
  
  
  
• "Political reporting" means "royal court gossip"
  
  No event in recent memory has stimulated the excitment and interest of Washington political reporters like the release of Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's new book, Game Change , and that reaction tells you all you need to know about our press corps.  By all accounts (including a long, miserable ...
  
  
  
• Helen Thomas deviates from the terrorism script
  
  (updated below) Following up on Thursday's post concerning our collective refusal to discuss how American actions and policies fuel Terrorism:   at a White House press conference yesterday with Janet Napolitano and John Brennan, Helen Thomas shows -- yet again -- that she's one of the very fe ...
  
  
  

The BiPartisan Report

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

Sciencebase

• Chemophobia and risk
  
  As a chemist by training, I’ve always been loath to give credence to unfounded criticism of synthetic chemicals that might stoke up chemophobia. Indeed, on several occasions I have written about how our bodies have evolved to cope with all kinds of chemicals regardless of whether they are synthetic ...
  
  
  
• Intute Hot Topics
  
  My latest news round up on the Intute website is now live: Getting a grip on catalytic troublemakers, detecting toxic compounds in chlorinated water, and a trip to the Martian lake district. Related Posts:Moon, Earthquakes, Chemical WeaponsBasic Chemistry ResourcesIntute hot topics in physical ...
  
  
  
• Scientists torn between cash and kudos
  
  With ailing banks propped up by billions in taxpayers’ money and nations rolling through the mud of economic recession is it any surprise that we get mightily frustrated to hear of their enormous bonuses and golden pension pots? Of course not… But, here’s a thought… As the lines drawn between com ...
  
  
  
• Cancer, pneumonia, regulations, theranostics
  
  The 1st of January issue of SpectroscopyNOW is live: MRI nanoparticles seek and destroy cancer cells – A single nanoparticle can be tracked using real-time MRI as it homes in on cancer cells. A fluorescent dye used to tag the nanoparticle couples with heat therapy to kill the targeted cells. Naomi ...
  
  
  
• Classic musical science and Stradivarnish
  
  It won’t necessarily be music to the classical purist’s ear, but chemists have been instrumental in revealing the secret beneath the varnish on a Stradivari violins, and the secret is: there is no secret. Antonio Stradivari is perhaps the most famous instrument maker of all time. He is especially c ...
  
  
  

Common Dreams-Progressive Newswire

• Haiti Earthquake
  
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 13, 2010 Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) BRIAN CONCANNON read more
  
  
  
• PFAW Condemns Pat Robertson’s Comments on Haiti Ea ...
  
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 13, 2010 PFAW People For the American Way President Michael B. Keegan today condemned a statement made by Religious Right leader Pat Robertson ( VIDEO ), who said that the nation of Haiti has been cursed ever since it “swore a pact to the Devil.” read more
  
  
  
• CPC Co-Chairs Release Statement Opposing Health Ca ...
  
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 13, 2010 Congressional Progressive Caucus Leaders of three top telecommunications companies have joined with labor groups to oppose the Senate’s proposed excise tax on high-cost health plans. In a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg and A ...
  
  
  
• NEW REPORT: Economic Stimulus Better for Whites - ...
  
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 13, 2010 United for a Fair Economy A new report released today finds that African Americans and Latinos are continuing to disproportionately experience economic hardships, and that targeted economic policies are required to address the racial economic divide in the US. ...
  
  
  
• ACLU Requests Information On Predator Drone Progra ...
  
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 13, 2010 ACLU In a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed today, the American Civil Liberties Union asked the government to disclose the legal basis for its use of predator drones to conduct "targeted killings" overseas. In particular, the ACLU seeks to find ou ...
  
  
  

Common Dreams-Views

• Shadow-Boxing With the CEOs: Day One at the Financ ...
  
  by Les Leopold The heads of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America came to testify and said... just about nothing. Yes, they made mistakes. But gee, they had learned a great deal and they certainly didn't cause the crash. They promised they are managing risk better, ev ...
  
  
  
• George W. Obama
  
  by Nat Hentoff Before President Obama, it was grimly accurate to write, as I often did in the Voice , that George W. Bush came into the presidency with no discernible background in constitutional civil liberties or any acquaintance with the Constitution itself. Accordingly, he turned the "war on ter ...
  
  
  
• Harold Ford's Warped Understanding of 'Capitalism'
  
  by Glenn Greenwald The incomparably horrific Harold Ford -- who sounds ready to challenge incumbent New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a primary -- contradicted himself so egregiously in his cringe-inducing New York Times interview yesterday that it's hard to know whether one should feel ...
  
  
  
• 'Regulators Should No Longer Ignore Rigorous Scien ...
  
  by Sandra Diaz Just days after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the expansion of the largest mountaintop removal coal mine in West Virginia, prominent national scientists published a blockbuster study which concludes that mountaintop removal 's impacts are "pervasive and irreversibl ...
  
  
  
• Economic Rights, Then and Now
  
  by Susan Feiner Economic security today? Yes. read more
  
  
  

Karl Burkart

• Homeowners: sell your own carbon credits
  
  My Emissions Exchange just sold its first carbon credit on behalf of the Wilsons, a family in Harrisburg, PA.
  
  
  
• Phosphorescing TV's to save 75% on electricity
  
  LPD is the new OMG in energy-efficient TV technology, using as much energy as a single light bulb.
  
  
  
• Pope emerges as new climate leader
  
  Pope Benedict XVI is turning out to be one of the greatest advocates for climate regulation.
  
  
  
• Santa Monica revels in 1st electric Ranger
  
  G2E (Gas to Electric) converts first Ford Ranger for the City of Santa Monica, proving that conversions are a viable alternative.
  
  
  
• Monitor celeb heart rates on Kilimanjaro
  
  Jessica Biel, Emile Hirsch, and a crew of celebs and activists are climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise awareness of the water crisis.
  
  
  

Water Privatization

• City ending privatization of sewer, water systems ...
  
  By late 2008, revenue coming into Evansville’s Water and Sewer Utility had declined seriously.The utility’s reserve fund, also bearing increased costs, had gone from $14 million to about $5 million in the course of four years. Anxious city officials showed the numbers to American Water, the private ...
  
  
  
• Alliance campaigns against water privatization (Sc ...
  
  The Alliance is campaigning to keep water rights in public ownership through local councils. Alliance Economic Development Spokesperson Quentin Findlay says a proposed local government bill of ACT MP Rodney Hide due to be introduced to Parliament in ...
  
  
  
• After oil there's water for us to fight over (The ...
  
  In 1855, the Suquamish Chief Seattle was asked to sell his land to the United States government. The chief was puzzled by the request: "The president in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own th ...
  
  
  
• Letters to the editor (Berkeley Voice - Albany Jou ...
  
  Since 1972, the Clean Water Act has protected our waters from pollution. Unfortunately, recent Supreme Court decisions have significantly weakened the bill, putting protected bodies of water back into harm's way.
  
  
  
• Under the Dome for Jan. 14 (The Olympian)
  
  Good morning. Today is Thursday, Jan. 14, the fourth day of the 60-day legislative session.
  
  
  

Guardian

• Bosch announces 900 job losses
  
  • Cardiff car parts factory to close in summer 2011 • Unions describe 'terrible blow' About 900 jobs are set to go in Wales as German engineering firm Bosch prepares to shut a car parts factory near Cardiff next year. A Unite union representative described the news as a "terrible blow". The company ...
  
  
  
• Internet fraud site traced to Wembley
  
  • Personal data and tutorials in hacking offered online • Founder of site traced to London internet cafe To the casual observer, there was little to distinguish the Java Bean internet cafe in Wembley from the hundreds of others dotted around the capital. But to surveillance officers staking it out m ...
  
  
  
• Polygamist 'messiah' held in Israel
  
  • Jewish sage alleged to control cult of at least 17 women • Disciplinarian believed to have fathered dozens of children Israeli police have arrested a self-styled Jewish sage and disciplinarian who ran a tightly controlled cult of at least 17 women with whom they believe he fathered dozens of child ...
  
  
  
• The crazy frogs of Ecuador
  
  Scientists uncover a treasure trove of previously undiscovered biodiversity in threatened rainforest
  
  
  
• Woman killed trying to stop car thief
  
  Victim suffers fatal head injuries after being mowed down by thief as he stole her sports car A woman who confronted a thief as he tried to steal her sports car was killed yesterday after he deliberately drove the vehicle at her. She was hurled on to the bonnet, suffering serious head injuries, when ...
  
  
  

McClatchey

• Lawmakers agree to scale back tax on health plans
  
  WASHINGTON — The White House, congressional leaders and union officials on Thursday announced a tentative agreement in their health care negotiations, to pare back a proposed excise tax on high-end insurance policies for middle-class workers.
  
  
  
• Justice Department eyes possible fraud on Wall Str ...
  
  WASHINGTON — Turning its scrutiny to bigger fish in the subprime mortgage scandal, the Justice Department is investigating whether lenders or Wall Street firms defrauded investors in the sale of risky mortgage securities, its Criminal Division chief disclosed Thursday.
  
  
  
• Obama aid to Yemen could risk backlash in Arab wor ...
  
  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's decision to boost U.S. aid to Yemen to help the small Arabian Peninsula country fight al Qaida risks tying the U.S. more closely to an autocratic ruler whose repression of economic and political grievances is strengthening the terrorists and pushing his impoveri ...
  
  
  
• Deadly bombings strike Iraqi holy city of Najaf
  
  NAJAF, Iraq — Three bombs exploded in quick succession after sunset Thursday in the southern holy city of Najaf, killing up to 25 people and wounding scores of others, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said.
  
  
  
• Trading commission proposes curbing speculation in ...
  
  WASHINGTON — In a move aimed at limiting financial speculators' ability to drive up oil prices, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday proposed restrictions on the number of energy contracts that any single investor can hold and new limits on the trading activities of Wall Street banks ...
  
  
  

BBC - Richard Black's Earth Watch

• Back to school on biodiversity
  
  I'm spending part of this week at biodiversity school. Not any ordinary school, mind, but Britain's Royal Society . This week it hosts a conference with the somewhat arcane title Integrating Ecosystem Services into Biodiversity Management - which doubles as the triennial conference of the InterAca ...
  
  
  
• Conservation contemplates the pre-emptive strike
  
  Among those who work on and care about the preservation of nature's plants and animals, the word "endangered" is an absolute touchstone. Endangered species will in general have more conservation resources devoted to them. There may be political or community or scientific action aimed at saving them ...
  
  
  
• Arctic roots of 'upside-down' weather
  
  It's cold in Kirkcaldy , freezing in Frankfurt and brass monkeys in Bryn Mawr... a winter spell with weather that's unusually - well - wintry. But not everywhere; in fact, other places in the Northern Hemisphere are seeing weather that's unseasonably warm. In Goose Bay in Newfoundland, it's barely ...
  
  
  
• 2010: Intruders on a biodiverse year?
  
  In a somewhat dank and dreary London back garden, I've just been watching grey squirrels carrying off and eating bits of stale Christmas cake that we'd left out for them and the birds. If we'd been quick enough with the camera, it would have made a fantastic picture, with the bushy-tailed squirrel ...
  
  
  
• Best wishes from a white land
  
  Just a quick note, today, to say "best wishes" to everyone about to celebrate Christmas or some other winter festival. Here in London, it's been refreshing (in more ways than one!) to see snow on the ground and kids out playing in it - a reminder of childhood days. For me, it's time to put the lap ...
  
  
  

Afghanistan Sun

• Pak Defence Minister admits US used several airbas ...
  
  Islamabad, Jan.15 : Pakistan Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar has admitted that several air bases in Pakistan were used by the US forces for carrying out operations inside Afghanistan, but added that none of the airbases are being used by the foreign forces at present.
  
  
  
• Imran Khan calls for talks with Taliban to avoid & ...
  
  London, Jan.15 : Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has once again asked the government to withdraw troops from the tribal areas and start a dialogue with the Taliban failing which would result in a 'catastrophe' for the country.
  
  
  
• Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud killed i ...
  
  Islamabad, Jan 14 (IANS) Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud is believed to be among the 15 militants killed Thursday in a US drone strike in the country's northwest but this could not be independently confirmed.
  
  
  
• Japan ends Afghan refueling mission after 8 years
  
  U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan for eight years, after the legal mandate for the mission expired.The government, which came into power in September vowing an independent diplomatic course ...
  
  
  
• Inspirational Comedy Night to Give Hope and Laught ...
  
  Brain injury survivor and inspirational comedian, Hugh Chatfield, to host “Inspiration for Injured Service Members & Veterans” at Gotham Comedy Club’s Vintage Lounge on January 2...
  
  
  

Futurismic

• Airnergy! Snake-oil gadget recharger debuts at CES ...
  
  Oops, looks like someone slipped up here. SlashDot points us to a Gizmodo report from the Consumer Electronics Show about a device called the RCA Airnergy, which purportedly soaks up wi-fi signals into an internal battery, which you can then use to recharge your iPod, phone, satnav or whatever. Read ...
  
  
  
• Lightspeed Magazine open to story submissions
  
  Hey, writer-types – remember when we plugged the soon-to-open Lightspeed Magazine, a new online science fiction magazine curated by the inestimable John Joseph Adams? Well, Lightspeed won’t be publishing anything until June 2010, but for the fictioneers among you (especially those who find Futurism ...
  
  
  
• The Tender Mash-up
  
  Since I chose to write about things made of metal skins and electrical guts in November, and then about warm-blooded carbon-based life in December, I couldn’t resist a combination. I call it the tender mash-up because the fusion of man and machine might result in an emotional being with a huge leap ...
  
  
  
• The iMister? Downloadable digital perfumes
  
  COSMOS Magazine has a round-up of the current state-of-play in the nascent field of digital scent reproduction. We can do some pretty impressive stuff with digital media for our eyes and ears, and research into haptic technology seems to be ramping up in order to conquer the heretofore neglected sen ...
  
  
  
• Stoned neural networks, wet computers and audio Da ...
  
  Here’s a handful of links from the weird and wonderful world of computer science… First of all, Telepathic-critterdrug is described as “a controversial fork of the open source artificial-life sim Critterding, a physics sandbox where blocky creatures evolve neural nets in a survival contest. What we’ ...
  
  
  

geopolitics | geoeconomics

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

Whistleblowers Protection Blog

• California Court of Appeals reinstates whistleblow ...
  
  The California Court of Appeals for the Fourth Appellate District has ruled this week that a lower court erred, for the second time, in dismissing a lawsuit brought by David Ohton, a strength and conditioning coach at San Diego State University (SDSU). In 2003, Ohton had filed an official report det ...
  
  
  
• Burmese court sentences whistleblowers to death
  
  A court in Rangoon, Burma, has sentenced two government employees to death for leaking information about official visits to North Korea and Russia. The Democratic Voice of Burma reports that Win Naing Kyaw and Thura Kyaw now face execution. The All Burma Monks Alliance (ABMA) called the death senten ...
  
  
  
• Birkenfeld tells WSJ about high level cover-up
  
  UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld told a Wall Street Journal reporter that the government's decision to send him to jail arises from “a cover-up at the highest levels.” Brikenfeld noted how the UBS clients who actually cheated on their taxes got either house arrest or probation, but the messenger ...
  
  
  
• Truck safety public hearings scheduled
  
  My friends at the Truck Safety Coalition provide the following information about public hearings on proposed new Hours-of-Service (HOS) rules. As part of the process of preparing for the new Hours of Service proposed rulemaking, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is holding thre ...
  
  
  
• Study documents federal court bias against employe ...
  
  Professors Kevin Clermont and Stewart Schwab have published a study of how employees fare when they bring employment law claims in federal court. In Employment Discrimination Plaintiffs in Federal Court: From Bad to Worse? which is to be published in the Harvard Law & Policy Review, they summarize t ...
  
  
  

Defense and the National Interest

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

Digital Journal

• RCMP officer's body pulled from Haiti rubble, one ...
  
  Mounties across Canada are grieving the loss of an officer on peace duty in Haiti. Sgt. Mark Gallagher was found dead in the rubble of his residence. Senior officer Supt. Douglas Coates is still missing and has likely come in harm's way.
  
  
  
• The Things We Left Behind is Blue Rodeo's Best Yet
  
  There are still times when a specific recording captures time and feelings which are important. Records like All Things Must Pass and Astral Weeks hold familiar memories we can relive forever.
  
  
  
• Jim Rogers: China not in a bubble, Chanos couldn't ...
  
  Jim Chanos, who expects the Chinese economy to collapse, has faced criticism from Jim Rogers. He called his recent assessment of China wrong and said, "I find it interesting that people who couldn’t spell China 10 years ago are now experts on China."
  
  
  
• Cypress Mountain closes runs to prepare for 2010 W ...
  
  Cypress Mountain Resort has closed access to runs as it preps for the Olympic Games. The runs were closed for public use on Wednesday and will not reopen until March 9.
  
  
  
• BBC sacks reporter for being Hells Angels spokesma ...
  
  A 51-year-old man employed by the BBC for over two decades, most recently as correspondent for Mid-Wales, has been sacked after it emerged that he was a spokesman for the Hells Angels, the motorcycle gang which has members throughout the world.
  
  
  

End Homelessness | Change.org

• Shelters Enter the 21st Century
  
  Behold the next generation of homeless shelter: The Bridge Homeless Assistance Center in Dallas has been helping that city's 6,000-person homeless population -- and racking up architecture awards -- since it opened in May 2008. Most recently, The Bridge was awarded the American Architecture Award , ...
  
  
  
• Homelessness in Suburbia
  
  Mental health, addiction and poverty are not city issues. They are not rural issues. In fact, they are not geographic issues at all. Still, homelessness is often associated with urban areas, simply because this is where most social services are concentrated. Many people refuse to believe that this i ...
  
  
  
• Housing the Homeless, Pissing Off the Government
  
  San Luis Obispo County, California has an estimated 3,500 homeless people. Its shelters have 125 beds. This is simple math. So why would a senior citizen named Dan de Vaul be sent to jail for housing 30 homeless people in a farmhouse and some trailers on his ranch? Well, that's not so simple. The st ...
  
  
  
• One Million Acts of Extraordinary Compassion
  
  Neil Donovan is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change. Change.org asked Neil Donovan to respond to questions to provide context for his work and the causes he supports. Change.org: What cause or causes would you most like to promote as a Changemaker ...
  
  
  
• Crooner Jimmy Wayne Walks For Homeless Teens
  
  Country singer Jimmy Wayne's boots were certainly made for walking -- to raise awareness about homeless youth. On January 1, Wayne set out for the 1,660-mile solo journey from Nashville to Phoenix he's calling the "Meet Me Halfway " campaign. Walking about 25 miles a day, with just a 50-lb. backpack ...
  
  
  

Ceasefire.ca

• Civilian deaths increase in Afghanistan
  
  According to the United Nations, 2009 was the deadliest year for civilians in Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban government in 2001. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan’s Annual Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 2009 reports that at least 2412 Afghan civi ...
  
  
  
• Canadians see climate change as greater threat tha ...
  
  According to a recent poll, Canadians are much more likely to view climate change as a “critical threat” to Canada’s “vital interestsâ€� than international terrorism. Commissioned by the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute (CDFAI) and conducted by the Innovative Research Group Inc., t ...
  
  
  
• Canada and UN peacekeeping
  
  A new fact-sheet published by the Peace Operations Working Group documents the collapse in Canadian government support for UN peacekeeping since the early 1990s. As recently as 1992, Canada was the single largest contributor of personnel to UN peacekeeping missions. We have since fallen to 56th pla ...
  
  
  
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• Bill Robinson joins us as Ceasefire.ca Editor
  
  Ceasefire.ca is very happy to welcome Bill Robinson to our team. Bill has been writing about Canadian defence and security policy issues since 1983. He was on the staff of Project Ploughshares, and has done research and writing for Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the Polaris Institute, ...
  
  
  

Kevin Trudeau Show

• Carbon Dioxide: Next Big Scam
  
  January 14, 2010 Financial Post By Patricia Adams Deloitte Forensic calls it “the white collar crime of the future.” Kroll, a business risk subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan, the global professional services firm, calls it “a fraudster’s dream come true.” These two global financial services firms are r ...
  
  
  
• SEC Works With AIG To Hide Bailout
  
  January 14, 2010 Infowars.com By Kurt Nimmo Earlier today House representative Edolphus Towns subpoenaed documents related to the so-called “backdoor bailout” of AIG, including documents from Timothy Geithner, the former New York Fed chief and current Treasury secretary. The House Oversight and Gove ...
  
  
  
• Haiti’s History of Misery
  
  January 14, 2010 BBC News Until it was destroyed in the earthquake on Tuesday, Haiti’s presidential palace was the most beautiful building in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Gleaming white, its imposing, harmonious structure was a symbol of the promise that has so often been dashed in this country of 1 ...
  
  
  
• Blackwater Could Be Making a Comeback
  
  January 14, 2010 Press TV An up-for-grabs State Department deal could help the infamous US ’security’ contractor Blackwater stage a comeback as a leading security firm, reports say. The contractor, which now operates under the name of ‘Xe Services LLC,’ may be awarded a one-billion-dollar contract b ...
  
  
  
• Army Corps of Engineer Change Chemical in Drinking ...
  
  January 14, 2010 Washington Examiner By Michael Neibauer The main disinfectant in the drinking water of nearly 1 million D.C. and Northern Virginia residents is being switched by the Army Corps of Engineers to thwart the threat of terrorists releasing deadly chlorine gas. The switch will be from chl ...
  
  
  

Pambazuka News

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

War in Context

• Haiti, the devil and Pat Robertson
  
  Haiti, the devil and Pat Robertson By David Waters, Washington Post, January 13, 2010 Pat Robertson is at it again. The purported Christian minister who suggested assassinating Venezuela leader Hugo Chavez and nuking the U.S. State Department, the reputed follower of Jesus who blamed the 9/11 terror ...
  
  
  
• Report: Turkey warns Lebanon that Israel may be pl ...
  
  Report: Turkey warns Lebanon that Israel may be planning attack Haaretz, January 14, 2010 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week warned Lebanese leaders that Israel may be planning an attack on its northern neighbor, Lebanese sources told the London-based Arabic language daily A-Sharq ...
  
  
  
• The meritocracy and Jewish kinship network
  
  The meritocracy and Jewish kinship network By Philip Weiss, Mondoweiss, January 13, 2010 A lot of people are talking about David Brooks’s distastefully-smug column in the Times yesterday about Jewish achievement, in which he says that we are 2 percent of the U.S. population and 25 percent of this an ...
  
  
  
• Sharon’s real legacy - keeping the Arabs out of si ...
  
  Sharon’s real legacy - keeping the Arabs out of sight By Aluf Benn, Haaretz, January 13, 2010 Let’s assume the optimistic forecast by special U.S. envoy George Mitchell comes true and in two years the establishment of an independent Palestine is declared at a ceremony. The event will be broadcast on ...
  
  
  
• Rawabi, and the American mission to civilize the W ...
  
  Rawabi, and the American mission to civilize the West Bank By Ahmed Moor, Mondoweiss, January 14, 2010 The Palestinian Authority, in coordination with the American government, is building a new settlement in the West Bank. This one is intended to provide 40,000 “Palestinians with homes in an Americ ...
  
  
  

Watts Up With That?

• John Coleman’s hourlong news special “ ...
  
  I’ve watched part 4, which had an early release. The video is cheering, and supported with a multitude of graphics and interviews. “Chiefio” aka E.M. Smith and Joe D’Aleo make strong appearances. Here is the KUSI introduction: A computer programmer named E. Michael Smith and a Certified Consulting M ...
  
  
  
• More on John Coleman’s Special tonight &#821 ...
  
  via SpaceRef.com PRESS RELEASE Date Released: Thursday, January 14, 2010 Source: KUSI-TV Climate researchers have discovered that NASA researchers improperly manipulated data in order to claim 2005 as “THE WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD.” KUSI-TV meteorologist, Weather Channel founder, and iconic weatherman ...
  
  
  
• FOIA’d emails from Hansen and GISS staffers ...
  
  From a Judicial watch press release NASA Scientists Go on Attack After Climate Data Error Exposed Contact Information: Press Office 202-646-5172, ext 305 Washington, DC — January 14, 2010 Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced to ...
  
  
  
• John Coleman’s TV Special Tonight – Gl ...
  
  Is civilization doomed because of man-made global warming? You’ve been told your carbon footprint could lead to skyrocketing temperatures, melting ice caps, dying polar bears and “superstorms.” But there is another side to the story, and you can see it on KUSI this Thursday night. KUSI meteorolog ...
  
  
  
• Pielke Senior: Correspondence with Phil Jones on K ...
  
  From Roger Pielke Sr.’s website: Klotzbach Et Al 2009 Corrigendum Published – Contribution To The Correction By Phil Jones The Corrigendum to our paper Klotzbach, P.J., R.A. Pielke Sr., R.A. Pielke Jr., J.R. Christy, and R.T. McNider, 2009: An alternative explanation for differential temperatur ...
  
  
  

Dandelion Salad

• Keiser Report №8: Should Tiger Woods Convert to Is ...
  
  http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ RussiaToday January 14, 2010 Every week Max Keiser looks at all the scandal behind the financial news headlines. This week Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, talk about Geithner’s AIG shenanigans, Goldman’s 259% bonuses and the teamsters defeat of Goldman S ...
  
  
  
• Haiti, Pakistan and Drones & Cheney Protest by Cin ...
  
  by Cindy Sheehan Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox January 10, 2010 Here at Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox, our hearts go out to the people of Haiti who have had to endure so much in their country and who are now devastated by the mind-boggling tra ...
  
  
  
• Zbigniew Brzezinski: The Afghan war and the &#8216 ...
  
  http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ http://therealnews.com/ Zbigniew Brzezinski on Afghanistan and the American strategy for Eurasia and the world (Part 1) Zbigniew Brzezinski is a Polish-American political scientist, geostrategist, and statesman who served as United States National Security Advi ...
  
  
  
• Iran blames Israel, US for nuke scientist murder + ...
  
  http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ RussiaToday January 13, 2010 Iran has accused Israel and the US of killing a nuclear physics professor in Tehran, claiming his death was an effort to slow down the countrys nuclear program.The country’s government blamed Tuesdays bomb blast on an armed Iranian ...
  
  
  
• Marginalizing Martin: Ignoring MLK’s Still-Relevan ...
  
  by Ed Ciaccio Dandelion Salad Featured Writer January 13, 2010 “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mid-January means it’s time to commemorate the birthday of a true African-American peacemaker who was awarde ...
  
  
  

Your New Reality

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  Where Social Skills Are Valued More Highly Than Propensity For Violence American biologist George B Schaller : "Baboons live in a peaceful society in which not aggression but friendship achieves the desired result. "Baboons are individuals; each has its own temperament and idiosyncrasies, each h ...
  
  
  
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  Haiti. The earthquake : The aftermath : The prime minister of Haiti worries that "hundreds of thousands may have been killed."
  
  
  
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  Hey Now, Don't Go Forgetting Who Made All Those Pretty Trees.... The Vatican reviews Avatar, with some hard-to-hide nervousness about how religiously influential the movie, and its sequels and prequels and vidgames and TV series and books, its eco-theology, will become, or what they might inspire : ...
  
  
  
• No title
  
  Tarantino : 'In general cinema, violence is the biggest attraction. I'm a big fan of action and violence in cinema. That's why Thomas Edison created the motion picture camera — because violence is so good." This is somebody who has seen little real-life violence.
  
  
  
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  Preparing Americans for the reality of war in the homeland :
  
  
  

Wired - Science

• Satellite Photos of Haiti Before and After the Ear ...
  
  > The pictures and video from on-the-ground reports in Haiti following the magnitude 7 earthquake Tuesday are truly heartbreaking. But it is difficult to imagine the full extent of the damage to that country and its capital, Port-au-Prince, in particular. These new sate ...
  
  
  
• Bizarre Sea Sponge Compound Finally Synthesized by ...
  
  A 17-year long intense competition to synthesize a fascinatingly weird and complex compound has finally ended. The first 25-step process for building the compound, Palau’amine, out of molecular components was published in Angewandte Chemie last week. You might think that the substance causing all t ...
  
  
  
• Bird-Like Lungs May Have Helped Dinosaurs’ Ancesto ...
  
  Lungs with one-way air flow may have helped dinosaurs’ ancestors become dominant when oxygen levels dropped after the Permian-Triassic extinction. It was a period around 250 million years ago when most land-based life died off. Air follows a one-way loop in alligator lungs, scientists found, a patt ...
  
  
  
• Hubble Unravels Odd Galaxy’s History
  
  Not all spiral galaxies look or behave alike, as this new image from the Hubble Space Telescope of the unusual galaxy NGC 2976 shows. With this new detailed view, astronomers were able to use the brightness and color of its stars to reconstruct the galaxy’s history. The galaxy, which is located 12 ...
  
  
  
• Wednesday’s Near-Earth Asteroid Caught on Film
  
  A team of astronomers from Italy captured images of the asteroid that passed by Earth Wednesday at a distance one-third that between the Earth and the Moon. The rock, between 30 and 50 feet across, was not in danger of striking the planet and probably would have burned up in the atmosphere before h ...
  
  
  

Israeli Occupation Archive

• Jonathan Cook: The Iron Dome
  
  The increasing isolation of Gaza -- and the ratcheting up of pressure -- is designed to send a message to Gaza: that Hamas has nothing to gain, and everything to lose, from resisting Israel’s... The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, now in ...
  
  
  
• Tensions rise in Turkey’s dispute with Israel
  
  Alon Liel, a former director-general of the Israeli foreign ministry and an expert on relations with Turkey, said Mr Ayalon’s treatment of the ambassador had made “Israeli diplomacy look... The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, now in its f ...
  
  
  
• John Pilger: For Israel, a reckoning
  
  A new global movement is challenging Israel's violations of international law with the same strategies that were used against apartheid The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, now in its fifth decade. Go to the IOA website for much more... ...
  
  
  
• Steve Sheffey: Obama’s First Year: Pro-Israel
  
  IOA Editor: A pro-Israel Democratic party activist enumerates the many ways in which president Obama supports Israel and its aggressive policies, including the 42 year long Occupation - no less, and... The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, ...
  
  
  
• Larry Derfner: To be Israeli today
  
  We're at war with the Middle East, with Europe, with liberal Jews in the Diaspora and with a pathetically small handful of dissenters at home. We trust no one. We see anti-Semites everywhere. We'd... The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, no ...
  
  
  

Ria Novosti - Military

• Search for missing Su-27 fighter
  
  
  
  
  
• CIA chief confirms deaths of 7 agents in Afghanist ...
  
  CIA chief Leon Panetta has confirmed in an official statement that seven CIA operatives were killed and six others wounded in a recent terrorist attack in eastern Afghanistan.
  
  
  
• N. Korea urges dialogue on nuclear-free Korean Pen ...
  
  North Korea stressed dialogue in improving relations with the United States as a key step toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula in a New Year's message on Friday
  
  
  
• Russia's Nerpa sub passes final trials
  
  Russia's Nerpa nuclear attack submarine, damaged in a fatal accident during tests in November last year, has successfully passed final trials.
  
  
  
• Russia eyes new arms markets in Asia-Pacific regio ...
  
  Russia is planning to strengthen its positions as a key supplier of weaponry in the Asia-Pacific region by seeking new customers at a major arms show in Malaysia, state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has said.
  
  
  

NewsWise

• Methodist First in Houston to Treat Brain Aneurysm ...
  
  A 68-year-old woman became the first patient in Houston to have her brain aneurysm treated with a recently FDA-approved liquid material instead of traditional open skull surgery or platinum coils.
  
  
  
• Nanostructures Hold Promise as Fast, Tiny Switches ...
  
  Building microscopic materials known as superlattices on the surface of gold may lead to a treasure for researchers interested in faster, smaller, and more energy efficient computing devices, say researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T).
  
  
  
• Concern Over Possible Loss of Fossil Resources
  
  A proposed coal mining project on Ellesmere Island (Nunavut) in Canada's eastern High Arctic is currently under review. The area includes some of the most significant fossil sites in the world, and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology is deeply concerned over the possible loss of these valuable re ...
  
  
  
• 'Copyright Criminals' Film on Hip-hop Sampling Air ...
  
  The practice of remixing existing bits and pieces of sound to create new music is a central component of hip-hop and other contemporary forms of music making. The problem is, recycling even two seconds of someone else's song without permission is a copyright infringement. "Copyright Criminals," a do ...
  
  
  
• American Mathematical Society to Award Prizes
  
  The American Mathematical Society will award several major prizes on Thursday, January 14, 2010, at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco. The AMS prizes are among the world's most important honors given for outstanding contributions to mathematics.
  
  
  

Intel Trends

• Georgia 'preparing terrorist acts in Russia'
  
  The following article is from RIA Novosti, Moscow. Georgia 'preparing terrorist acts in Russia' Source:   RIA Novosti January 14, 2010 VLADIKAVKAZ - Foreign instructors are preparing terrorist groups to launch attacks in Russia, an Interior Ministry official said on Thursday. "Terrorist groups ar ...
  
  
  
• Mujahideen update: Situation in South Waziristan
  
  [ Blogmaster note :  The following post appeared on a mujahideen forum this date. Some details are withheld.] Quote: [T]he situation in South Waziristan Agency is extremely knotty. It has been cordoned off from all three sides, Jandola-Kotakai, Wana-Tiaraza and Razmak-Makin since six months. Entire ...
  
  
  
• J. Peter Pham, PhD: When the Jihadists Take Mogadi ...
  
  The following commentary is from Family Security Matters. When the Jihadists Take Mogadishu ©  J. Peter Pham, PhD Source:   Family Security Matters January 14, 2010 Last Friday, the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council voted to extend for another six months the mandate of its woefully u ...
  
  
  
• Eric Sommer: Google's Deep CIA Connections
  
  The following article is from Pravda, Moscow. Google's Deep CIA Connections ©  Eric Sommer Source:   Pravda.ru January 14, 2010 The western media is currently full of articles on Google's 'threat to quit China' over internet censorship issues, and the company's 'suspicion' that the Chinese gover ...
  
  
  
• IntelTrends 14-JAN-2010
  
  Bakassi: Ex-militant leader warns Cameroun Nigerian Trib., 14 Jan Dan Don Atekpi, leader of defunct Bakassi Salvation Front (BSF), has sent jitters down the spine of Nigeria-Cameroun border communities, saying "Bakassi Peninsula will certainly boil again in 2010." Georgian president likely to ask S ...
  
  
  

Organic Consumers.org

• Chemicals and Drugs Found in Nine Major Sewage Slu ...
  
  This USGS and EPA study published in 2008 from research done in 2006 is the first comprehensive examination of biosolids, and the results indicate that biosolids have high concentrations of these emerging contaminants compared to treated liquid wastewater effluent. What is not known at present is th ...
  
  
  
• Scientist Discusses Negative Impacts of Roundup Re ...
  
  Robert Kremer is a microbiologist with the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service and an adjunct professor in the Division of Plant Sciences at the University of Missouri. He is co-author of one of five papers published in the October 2009 issue of The European Journal of Agro ...
  
  
  
• Haiti: How US Ag Policy Hit Before the Earthquake ...
  
  Haiti just suffered a terrible earthquake and I encourage everyone to make a donation at the Haiti Action Web site to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. Also, this post explains how US agriculture policies hit Haiti before the earthquake, making it the poorest country in the hemisphere. Click here to ...
  
  
  
• Full-Body Scanners Used on Air Passengers May Dama ...
  
  In researching the biological effects of the millimeter wave scanners used for whole body imaging at airports, NaturalNews has learned that the energy emitted by the machines may damage human DNA. Click here to read this article
  
  
  
• Devastation in Haiti
  
  Surely by now most of you will have heard about the unimaginable disaster that has befallen Haiti, and in particular Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince. Late yesterday, a powerful earthquake destroyed much of the already desperate country's infrastructure and killed untold numbers of men, women, and ch ...
  
  
  

fotoFrontera

• Wallpapers: Happy new year 2010
  
  Nota: Haz click aquí o sobre la imagen para entrar y ver todas las fotografías. Hace algunos días, tuvimos la oportunidad de ofrecerte una excelente colección de wallpapers sobre el año nuevo 2010 . Creemos que no fue suficiente y el día de hoy, te ofrecemos a través de Foto Frontera, 10 nuevas imág ...
  
  
  
• Feliz año nuevo 2010
  
  A nombre del Banco de Imágenes Gratuitas y como editor de este medio de difusión interactiva, me permito antes que todo agradecer a cada uno de ustedes por la preferencia que nos han dado. No me resta más que desear sinceramente que la unión, la paz y el amor prevalezcan en cada una de las familias ...
  
  
  
• Wallpapers: Año Nuevo 2010
  
  Nota: Haz click aquí o sobre la imagen para entrar y ver todas las fotografías. La cuenta regresiva a iniciado y la llegada del Año Nuevo 2010 es inminente. Por lo tanto, te invito a disfrutar nuestra colección de imágenes gigantes con el mensaje "Feliz Año Nuevo 2010" Espero que te gusten. No olvid ...
  
  
  
• Fotografías de niñas y niños
  
  Nota: Haz click aquí o sobre la imagen para entrar y ver todas las fotografías. Para quienes están buscando imágenes y fotografías de bebés , hoy les deseo recomendar un sitio que contiene muchas imágenes de estos lindos seres o pequeñas criaturas. Conozca de cerca a estas pequeñas niñas y niños . D ...
  
  
  
• Steve Carter y su colección de paisajes naturales
  
  Nota: Haz click aquí o sobre la imagen para entrar y ver todas las fotografías. Steve Carter, tiene el honor de presentarnos su excelente colección de imágenes basadas en Paisajes Naturales . De verdad que te recomiendo mucho la visita a este sitio porque al igual que yo, quedarás impresionado. [ver ...
  
  
  

Executive Intelligence Review

• To What Are You Loyal?
  
  By Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, January 8, 2010, Vol. 37, No. 1
  
  
  
• What Leibniz Intended
  
  By Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, January 8, 2010, Vol. 37, No. 1
  
  
  
• Unconstitutional `Perpetuity Clauses' Inserted: Ob ...
  
  By Edward Spannaus Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, January 8, 2010, Vol. 37, No. 1
  
  
  
• The Copenhagen Summit: Lies Have Short Legs, or, t ...
  
  By Helga Zepp-LaRouche Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, December 25, 2009, Vol. 36, No. 50
  
  
  
• Bernanke Exits Now!: National Banking
  
  By Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. Reprinted from Executive Intelligence Review, December 25, 2009, Vol. 36, No. 50
  
  
  

Center for a Livable Future

• Fish and Health: More to the Story
  
  I’d like to expand a little on my recent interview for a CNN piece by Elizabeth Landau entitled “Farmed or wild fish: Which is healthier?” At face value, this question can partialy be answered by comparing the nutritional content in farmed and wild fish and weighing the health benefits of fish consu ...
  
  
  
• My Response to Caitlin Flanagan’s Article “Cultiva ...
  
  This post is in response to the recently published article in the Atlantic Magazine by Caitlin Flanagan titled, “Cultivating Failure.” Ms. Flanagan makes the argument that the school garden movement presently building in California and nationwide is somehow stripping students of valuable time to bec ...
  
  
  
• The Ethanol Policy Trap
  
  Mention the biofuel ethanol from corn in anything but glowing terms in Iowa five years ago and one had probably best apply for witness protection. Created by political pressure from the corn and the high  fructose corn syrup industry with the lobbying from ADM and later other corn related lobby grou ...
  
  
  
• Meatless Monday Begins Week of Volunteer Events in ...
  
  Charm City government leaders are following the lead of the Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) and fully embracing the Meatless Monday campaign. Members of the the Mayor’s office, city employees and BCPS officials visited Hampstead Hill Academy this Monday to serve students meat-free meals. Accord ...
  
  
  
• Is the UK Abandoning the Precautionary Principle o ...
  
  The latest posting by FoodforeThought summarizes recent debate in the United Kingdom about the role of genetically modified (GM) crops in planning for future food security. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) report, Food 2030 was released at the Oxford Farming Conference. ...
  
  
  

Norwegianity

• The kids are alright
  
  Haiti: David Dayen Ken Silverstein with some background More background Wikipedia Ashley Smith on Haiti Hot on the heels of the right reverend Pat Robertson’s spew on Haiti, Michele Bachmann does an interview with him on CBN News. Andy Birkey has more. - The always quotable Sarah fucking Palin. And ...
  
  
  
• Psalms 6:66
  
  Please allow me to introduce myself I’m a minister of wealth and taste I’ve been around for a long, long year Stole Haiti’s wealth and faith I was around when Papa Doc Exacerbated history’s pain Made damn sure Limbaugh Touched himself and sealed his fate Pleased to meet you Hope you guessed my name… ...
  
  
  
• Have I mentioned Nasser Kazeminy lately?
  
  Les Leopold is calling today’s Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hearing a perp walk, which is as good a description as any. Digby, still more from Digby, an upbraiding of Digby by a disgruntled Wall Street God, and an SEC suit for Bank of America. All of which has led Juan Cole to make this sugg ...
  
  
  
• Linkendumpen (Ebola v.)
  
  Wow. All I can say is that these links are all fresh, some maybe a bit too fresh. - Sarah Palin: Bree’s The Palin Plan TBogg Watertiger Tild All of which pales next to the excrescence that is and forevermore will be Tucker Carlson (and which is indistinguishable from the worst of Fox): Digby TBogg T ...
  
  
  
• Remembering Nixon
  
  Hey kids, you know what time it is? It’s time for a new Clusterfuck Nation, that’s what fucking time it is. - - Scott Horton reviews the NYTimes editorial on mercs. Funny, I could have sworn Markos Moulitsas spelled out all the reasons why mercenaries suck years ago. Just before the knuckledraggers ...
  
  
  

The Seferm Post

• Thalidomide Scandal: UK Government Says 'Sorry', O ...
  
  Health Minister Mike O'Brien said: ''I am extremely pleased to announce the details of the three-year pilot scheme agreed with the Thalidomide Trust that will help Thalidomide survivors meet their changing and increasing health needs as they approach older age.
  
  
  
• Tiger Woods To Donate $3 Million To Haiti Relief F ...
  
  "Tiger Woods is working on sending a mobile hospital with 50 EMTs to go set up a triage," Simmons said Wednesday night, according to the Daily News.
  
  
  
• Underweight Rachel Zoe Claims: 'I'm Not Too Thin'
  
  Zoe, one of the most influential stylists in the world, who has dressed Cameron Diaz, Nicole Richie, Mischa Barton and Lindsay Lohan, has long maintained that she is healthy despite her shrinking frame.
  
  
  
• Beyonce Gets Intimate With Libyan Leader Muammar G ...
  
  The event featuring the R&B star seems to have been hosted by Motassim Bilal Gaddafi, known as Hannibal. The rumoured fee for Beyoncé's hour-long warble: $2m. Usher also took the stage, with Jon Bon Jovi, Lindsay Lohan, Russell Simmons and models Miranda Kerr and Victoria Silvstedt in the crowd. ...
  
  
  
• Mom Caught Trading Her 2-Year-Old Daughter For Gun
  
  Authorities say Tanya Nareau of Mesa has been charged with the unlawful sale of a child and solicitation to possess a weapon by a prohibited person.
  
  
  
  
  
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  Durham-based energy firm to share in $44M federal grant
  

  Local Tech Wire (blog)
  

  - Jan 15, 2010
  

  - 33 minutes ago
  

  The other award of $33.8 million went to the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium that is led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pacific ...
  

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  CPV Renewable Energy Company and TVA Announce Second Long-Term Wind PPA
  

  PR Newswire (press release)
  

  - Jan 14, 2010
  

  - 22 hours ago
  

  CPV Cimarron was one of the renewable energy projects selected from more than 60 responses to a TVA request for proposals issued in December of last year. ...
  

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  Colo. Dems Want to Raise Renewable Energy Standard
  

  ABC News
  

  - Jan 13, 2010
  

  - Jan 13, 2010
  

  AP Colorado Democratic state lawmakers want to increase the amount of electricity coming from renewable sources, saying the move will help the environment ...
  

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  Valero Renewables Closes on Purchase of Two Ethanol Plants
  

  Hoosier Ag Today
  

  - Jan 14, 2010
  

  - 11 hours ago
  

  Valero Renewable Fuels Company, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO), announced Thursday that it has closed on its ...
  

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  Human Habitat

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  ecology water energy
  

  UC Davis Ecology Student Reportedly Found Following Haiti Quake
  

  Fox40
  

  - Jan 14, 2010
  

  - 16 hours ago
  

  DAVIS - A local graduate student who was considered missing following the massive earthquake in Haiti has been heard from and is reportedly safe and sound. ...
  

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  Nigeria: Senate Decries Poor Funding of Ecology Sector
  

  AllAfrica.com
  

  - Jan 15, 2010
  

  - 6 hours ago
  

  The Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology has said that sufficient funds are not being committed to check the various environmental challenges facing ...
  

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  Has 'Avatar' Backlash Begun?
  

  MTV.com
  

  - Jan 14, 2010
  

  - 14 hours ago
  

  Both the official newspaper and radio station of the Vatican have slammed the film, singling out the film's worship of ecology as paying too much attention ...
  

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  Experts Meet to Look for Solutions to Bainbridge's Wyckoff Superfund Site
  

  Kitsap Sun
  

  - Jan 14, 2010
  

  - 12 hours ago
  

  That was the thrust of an expert panel convened by the state Department of Ecology on Bainbridge to brainstorm ways of cleaning up the former wood-treatment ...
  

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  Judge Voids Landmark California Water Agreement
  

  ABC News
  

  - Jan 15, 2010
  

  - 24 minutes ago
  

  AP A judge invalidated a landmark pact Thursday intended to curtail Southern California's overuse of water from the Colorado River but left the deal in ...
  

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  Aid groups struggle to get food, water to Haitians
  

  Fort Worth Star Telegram
  

  - Jan 15, 2010
  

  - 1 hour ago
  

  We need pure water." From Europe, Asia and the Americas, more than 20 governments, the UN and private aid groups were sending planeloads of high-energy ...
  

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  Boil water advisory rescinded for the city of Canton
  

  Abilene Recorder Chronicle
  

  - Jan 15, 2010
  

  - 1 hour ago
  

  The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has rescinded a boil water advisory for the city of Canton, which is located in McPherson County. ...
  

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  Black is back & cod heats up in cool water
  

  New York Daily News
  

  - Jan 15, 2010
  

  - 4 hours ago
  

  Good tidings for New York anglers. Blackfishing reopens on Sunday after about a month's closure. The same restrictions as before apply: four fish measuring ...
  

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• nt and Media Tells Us Is Fa ...
  
  By Chimp at chimpplanet.blogspot.com The swine flu is fake! Global Warming is fake! The bird flu pandemic was fake! WMDs in Iraq were fake! Al-Qaeda is fake! Osama bin Laden is fake! “Death Panels” are fake! “Joe The Plumber” was fake! Saddam Hussein statue toppling was fake! Homeland Security Terro ...