13 December - RSS SnapShot! Pt 2

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L.A. Times - Greenspace

• More global trade means more forest pests
  Along with U.S. manufacturing jobs, you can count another victim of global trade: American trees. The most destructive forest pests from abroad are arriving at an accelerated pace, according to a new study. Between 1990 and 2006, new ones were...
• Colorado ditches coal
  As part of a groundbreaking plan to reduce pollution from power plants, Colorado's Public Utilities Commission has decided to replace all coal-fired power plants in the Denver area. It's the first time a state has moved to shutter coal-burning plants...
• Two spills in six months dump 1,300 gallons of oil ...
  It's not quite the Gulf Coast, but Salt Lake City has developed a persistent problem with oil spills. On Wednesday evening, the federal Department of Transportation ordered Chevron to temporarily close a pipeline running through Salt Lake City following the...
• Schwarzenegger praises Sunrise Powerlink transmiss ...
  The Sunrise Powerlink transmission line finally broke ground Thursday morning as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and more than 100 protesters looked on. The ceremony was held at a remote site near Boulevard called Rough Acres, where the San Diego Chargers once...
• Coal mine near Bryce Canyon?
  Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit with the Utah Supreme Court in a last-ditch attempt to stop the opening of a 440-acre coal mine near Bryce Canyon National Park. Utah's Board of Oil, Gas and Mining approved the mine in...

water.org

• Teacher provides a wider world view (St.CharlesPat ...
  French Teacher Provides a Wider World View (St. Charles Patch) – Delaney organized a fundraiser in November to benefit Water.org, a charitable organization that provides clean water and sanitation to people in developing nations. “It’s amazing, because I got the students in my French classes involve ...
• Know your charity (NBC)
  How to know where your money goes when you donate to charities this holiday season (NBC Action News) KANSAS CITY, Missouri – [Keith] Stamm is the chief operator for Water.org . The nonprofit group is based out of Kansas City, but it pushes to give clean drinking water to people all over the world. H ...
• Holiday gifts that give back (CBS)
  Holiday Shopping for Gifts that Give Back (CBS – WOWKTV) CHARLESTON, WV – For a health or sports nut, a water bottle is a simple gift that can help others as well. Actor Matt Damon is pitching “hope in a bottle,” in which 100 percent of the profits go directly to Water.org, one of the [...]
• Join a conference call with Damon’s Water.or ...
  Join A Conference Call With Matt Damon’s Water.org (Look to the Stars) – This is your chance to hear first-hand from Matt Damon’s Water.org about their work in Tigray, Ethiopia, the impact their programs are having on peopleâs lives, and their plans for the future in this region. Read full Look to t ...
• Student to swim 10-miles for water (Water.org)
  Carman-Ainsworth High student plans 10-mile swim to raise funds for global effort (Flint Journal/ Mlive – November 29, 2010) FLINT TOWNSHIP, Michigan – Erick Skaff is using his skills in the water to raise money for a clean water cause around the world. The 17-year-old Carman-Ainsworth High School s ...

Before It's News

• Quinoa_and_Black_Bean_Salad
• Oil_speculation_and_futures_prices
• RNC_8217;s_Michael_Steele_to_Step_Down_Today
• Synchronica_and_Am_rica_M_vil_launch_Claro_Messeng ...
• Kids_Shoes_-_small_feet_in_a_shield

Energy Probe - Nuclear Power,Utility Reform

• The Deniers on CBC Radio's 'Ideas'
  The science is settled - is now the mantra of climate change activism? Those who disagree are either in denial or in the pay of an oil company. But long time environmentalist and energy activist Lawrence Solomon says no, the science is not settled on global warming. Ideas producer David Cayley break ...

Margaret's News

• Palestinians are planning to make Netanyahu sweat
  As far as the PA is concerned, Netanyahu cannot continue to evade the Americans, avoiding a clear Israeli roadmap which addresses all the most problematic issues - borders, settlements, refugees and even Jerusalem.Submitted by Margaret Mayer to World �|� �Note-it! �|� �Add a Comment
• Education Ministry official rejects rabbis' anti-A ...
  Cohen said the manifesto was one of a growing number of expressions of racism and negativism over the past few months, and it reflected "an inability to hold serious and deep political discourse free of prejudice, stereotypes, racist statements and negatiSubmitted by Margaret Mayer to World �|� �No ...
• Visiting U.S. envoy Mitchell to push Israel for st ...
  The Americans have heard little new from Netanyahu, with the exception of ideas on security and aspects considered secondary such as the environment and the economy. Submitted by Margaret Mayer to World �|� �Note-it! �|� �Add a Comment
• The unholy alliance between Israel's Right and Eur ...
  The first of the pyromaniacs, the Dutch MP Geert Wilders - almost a permanent guest in Israel - was invited by MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union ) to persuade us that Jordan is Palestine. Submitted by Margaret Mayer to World �|� �Note-it! �|� �Add a Comment
• Netanyahu must stop celebrating victory and listen ...
  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was quick to stress on Friday that the administration's position on the illegitimacy of continued building in the settlements, as well as on the damage it does to Israel's future and to the peace process, has not changedSubmitted by Margaret Mayer to World �|� �No ...

Solar Energy / Energy Boom

• SunPower and Iberdrola Renewables Team Up On Solar ...
  SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWRA) and Iberdrola Renewables have teamed up for a second time, announcing an agreement on a 2 read more
• VideoBoom: Australia's 1,000 Meter Solar Tower
  EnviroMission Limited is currently designing a 200-megawatt solar thermal power plant in Australia.� The solar facility will use EnviroMission's innovative Solar Tower technology.� A single tower will generate enough electricity to powe ...
• LDK Solar Signs Supply Agreement with Leading Chin ...
  Chinese solar manufacturer LDK�Solar Ltd. (NYSE:�LDK) has signed a multi-year solar wafer and polysilicon supply agreement with the Lu'an Group. read more
• Copper Mountain: America's Largest Photovoltaic So ...
  First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq:�FSLR) has completed construction of the United States' largest solar photovoltaic power plant in Boulder City, Nevada. read more
• Fossil Energy Knows It’s a Full Contact Game – Doe ...
  read more

News Blaze

• Religions of The World Teach Unity and Enlightenme ...
  Diversity is a typical characteristic of humanity. It is a common attribute. The development of several different traditions, practices, beliefs and methods of worship originated within the various cultures in different parts of the globe from time-
• Five Civilians Injured and Houses Burned in Darfur ...
  The ground attack occurred this morning in Khor Abeche, a village located 80 kilometres north-east of the South Darfur capital of Nyala, the joint UN-AU mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said in a news release.
• Facebook Co-Founder Zuckerberg Donates Majority ...
  Zuckerberg has estimated $7 billion worth of assets. He is one of the 57th and the youngest billionaire to sign up for 'The Giving Pledge.' It is an effort to invite the wealthiest individuals and families in America to commit to giving
• Christian Evangelist Father Johnson Reveals That ...
  Interview of a Christian Evangelist in India: a revealing one If you have not already read this, it is quite revealing in the way such evangelists think in how they will acquire India as a new Christian country, and how they expect to do it.
• Norwegian Churches Strongly Support The Rights of ...
  Multicultural Church Network wants to challenge the churches, politicians and society in Norway to accept their part of the responsibility for creating a just and inclusive society.

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libcom

• Pennsylvania Teachers Fight State Cuts, Consider S ...
  teacherstrikeUK.jpg The months leading up to the school year is known as 'Strike Season' for the education workers and teachers of Pennsylvania. Two nearby school district workers are fighting the cuts t ...
• Mundus Varaždin – the strike is over, but the stru ...
  mundus.jpg Update on Mundus Varaždin's workers struggle. First article can be found here. On 1 December, the workers of Mundus Varaždin began their two-day strike. The reasons behi ...
• If they block our future, we’ll block the city!
  italy-nov30-2010-bookbloc.png If they block our future, we’ll block the city! Notes on the university mobilizations in the Italian autumn of 2010 Friday, December 3, 2010   by Gian Luca Pittavino ...
• Europe calling: it's just the beginning! from Rome ...
  BOOK_01_672-458_resize.jpg A call from the Italian site uniriot for solidarity and coordination between the emerging European student movements. …You don’t need a weatherman to kno ...
• Wi-Fi signals are damaging trees, states Netherlan ...
  While not the first, PC World is one of the most recent to report that Wi-Fi signal radiation has a negative impact on tree health. Based on Wageningen University within the Netherlands, Wi-Fi radiation is a definite contributor to alterations in sapling development, also as bleeding and fissures i ...

Free Range International

• Afghanistan’s Forgotten Province
  There are a couple of recent articles in the flood of coverage about Afghanistan which caught my eye last week.  The first is factually wrong but I understand what the author was saying and he is, in a sense correct.  The second is factually correct, I understand what that reporter was saying too an ...
• Rules of Engagement
  I have written in the past about night raids and aggressive ISAF convoy tactics causing unnecessary civilian casualties.  I have also written on the importance of not allowing enemy fighters who attack ISAF units to live and fight another day.  Counterinsurgency requires adaptation and my annoyance ...
• Healing Ulcer
  After only 90 days of fighting to root the Taliban out of a place they have owned for over a decade  Gen McChrystal called Marjah a bleeding ulcer. That was an unbelievably stupid assessment given the nature of the enemy, the rules of engagement placed on the Marines by the General, and the paltry a ...
• Afghanistan Summary
  This summary comes from Sami the Finn a.k.a Sami Kovanen, the Senior Information Analyst at Indicium Consulting. Sami has been in Afghanistan for over six years now and is one of the best informed analyst working outside of the ISAF security bubble.  He was kind enough to let me post this update and ...
• On The Border
  The military campaign in Afghanistan is going well apparently.  I read that last Monday here in the Washington Post so it must be true.  But two days ago it took a turn for the worst.  I know that to be a fact too because I read it here in the Washington Post.  The truth is [...]

The Story Behind the Story

• UTAH SOUND MONEY ACT (Brilliant!!!)
  Today I was introduced to Mr. Larry Hilton, JD, MBA – the author of a brilliant piece of much needed legislation that hopefully will pass the Utah legislature, and then each and every other state in this union. Here is his introduction to me for the “Utah Sound Money Act” —- Click here:  Sound Mone ...
• Long Live King and Queen Obama!!!!
  Barack Obama enjoys living like a king, so why shouldn’t Michelle Obama live like a queen? The First Lady was photographed last night in Hawaii wearing $635 per pair designer shoes by Maison Martin Margiela. A woman lucky enough to have a job in this economy and working for the federal minimum wage ...
• Remember November 22, 1963 – The Assassinati ...
  To honor the memory of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, I think it important to post the following correspondence with independent researcher and film-maker John Hankey. This written dialog was first posted on Rense.com by Mr. Hankey back in 2007. A. True Ott, PhD The Reason JFK Jr Was Murdered From John Ha ...
• COLD FUSION IS HERE!!!
  Understanding Lightning âNeltronsâ is Key to Cold Fusion One manâs study of lightning and itâs effects led to his discovery of the Neltron – tiny negative particles of matter smaller than electrons. The Van Allen Magnetic belts discharges tiny negative particles into the part of the air where helium ...
• INSIDERS REPORT: OBAMA SUFFERING FROM SEVERE DEPR ...
  So you state that President Obama is depressed?  How did you come by this information?  From a direct source still working within the White House on a daily basis.  As I had stated previously, tensions at the White House have reached a critical stage.  The infighting among staff is off the charts.  ...

du la bab - Now is the Time

• Downsizing – downscaling? See these tiny hou ...
  Here’s a great company doing inspiring work www.tumbleweedhouses.com The company creator, Jay Shafer started off making a super small mobile home for himself measuring  just 89 square feet! Their video is a testament to less being more – they’re now selling ready made mobile cabins and the plans fo ...
• Air powered environmentally friendly car being pro ...
  Sounds a little strange right – an air powered car – why isn’t this big news I wonder… There’s a great company in France operated by a former Formula 1 engineer now producing cars running on compressed air. They’re not great to look at, super fast, or I’m guessing really comfortable, but they’re in ...
• Deforestation – environmental & human effect ...
  There are many types of forest in the world from Temperate Forest to Tropical forest. The one thing all forests have in common is that the trees in them act as the lungs to our planet converting CO2 to Oxygen.  In addition, forests provide a canopy or shading of the earth which helps maintain temper ...
• Could cancer be Fungus? If so, maybe here’s ...
  Recently I visited a dear friend who has been dealing with breast cancer for over ten years. After a long attempt to avoid surgery and medication, she was forced to have a double mastectomy. She has chosen to avoid the chemo treatments. This takes a lot of courage given that the standard thing to do ...
• Doctors Warn about GM Food Risks
  It’s barely been a week since I wrote about the dangers of genetically modified (GM) foods and now the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) has released a strongly-worded warning about the health dangers associated with Frankenfoods. Calling for a moratorium on GM foods, the AAEM says t ...

Mansbridge One on One - CBC

• Tony Blair, former British PM (Sept 11, 2010)
  He was British prime minister for a decade of change and controversy. This week, as his book "A Journey" hits shelves around the world, Tony Blair is our guest.
• James Cameron, Director and Activist (Oct 2, 2010)
  He's one of Hollywood's most powerful figures, and, he's been one of the oil sands most vocal critics. That combination had the oil industry on edge when Avatar director, Canadian James Cameron visited Alberta.
• Robert Fowler, Held Hostage by al Qaeda in Africa ...
  Kidnapped by al Qaeda. The very thought causes shudders. But it happened to this week's guest: one of Canada's former senior diplomats in Africa on a special mission for the United Nations. The challenge: solving a dispute between the government of Niger and the rebel movement MNJ. This week, the Un ...
• Steve Nash, Two-time NBA MVP (Sept 19, 2009)
  He's one of the best basketball players on the planet, and he's made millions at it. But there's more to this week's guest than just the game. A lot more. This Canadian now makes his name on the courts, in the movies, and doing some pretty good things around the world. This week, he's our guest.
• Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada (Sept ...
  We know it was a recession, but do we know if it's really a recovery? And what about that huge deficit? A dollar again approaching parity with its US counterpart? And the unemployment rate -- could it soon be in double digits? Difficult questions for this week's guest, the man who has to consider th ...

Scotts Contracting

• 12 x Brand New – Discounted Pioneer 25kW Wind Turb ...
  Dec 10, 2010 SAVE OVER $320,000 on 12 Discounted overstock 25kW wind turbines â Brand new with 5 year warranty â West Wind â Pioneer 25kW (50hz or 60hz) for sale â available Q1 & Q2 â 2011. Priced to … Continue reading →
• 2010 Holiday Light Recycling Drive
  StLouisGreen.com Holiday Light Recycling Drive Happening now through January 31, 2011 People are encouraged to recycle old holiday lights and extension cords. All unworkable holiday lights, whether from your tree or outdoor decoration, can be taken to participating Walmart, Goodwill, … Continue read ...
• Guest Post: Trash Reduction: A 30-Day Plan for Eve ...
  Trash Reduction: A 30-Day Plan for Every Homeowner by: Gerald Arnolds is a guest blogger for My Dog Ate My Blog and a writer for Accredited Online Colleges. Day 1: Do some necessary homework. Before you can start to reduce … Continue reading →
• Analysts say ignoring global warming will cost the ...
  Nov 19, 2010 Portsmouth Herald Deborah McDermott Nov. 19, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) — Editor’s note: This is Part 1 of a three-part look at the conference, "Sustainable Future: How Can our Nation Turn the Corner on the Economy and the Environment, and can N.H. Lead ...
• GLOBE Alliance Will Advocate for Sustainability
  GLOBE Alliance Will Advocate for Sustainability Worldwide The Global Leadership in Our Built Environment Alliance has issued a call for partners to help fight climate change by advancing sustainable design. By:Stephani L. Miller The U.S. Green Building Council and the World Green Building Council (W ...

The View From Abroad

• Logic, Not Emotions, Should Rule the Day
  Unemployment benefits meant to help the unemployed actually do more harm than good.
• Logic Not Emotions Should Rule the Day
  Unemployment benefits meant to help the unemployed actually do more harm than good.
• Your Vote Didn’t Count Last Tuesday
  Fed policy decision cancels out the voice of voters.
• Grand Rapids Woman Harassed by Fair Housing Do-Goo ...
  if America is so free why can't you advertise for a "Christian" roommate?
• Statist Policies Cause More Harm Than Good
  A sure fire way to make a situation worse is to involve the government.

Foreign Policy in Focus - Military (US)

• Do Arab States Really Want the U.S. to Attack Iran ...
  Maybe the New York Times and Washington Post should have applied the smell test first.
• There's Light at the End of the Tunnel -- or, It's ...
  Simplifying the COIN game plan.
• Honoring a Prophet of Empire
  In the last year of Chalmers Johnson's life, the deficit hawks' bluff got called.
• To Chalmers Johnson, American Militarism Was to Co ...
  Chalmers Johnson believed that the United States risks "losing our democracy to keep our empire."
• Japan May Become Both More Independent and More Al ...
  The outcome of debate over Japan's weapons export ban will shape the future of its defense policy.

Law.com

• Latest Chevron Outtake: 'They're All Corrupt!'
  Donziger muses 'The judicial system is so utterly weak' in Corporate Counsel's latest release of outtakes from the documentary Crude.
• Minus Kagan, Supreme Court Lets 'Don't Ask' Policy ...
  In an order Friday, the Supreme Court denied a motion aimed at allowing a worldwide ban on enforcement of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military to take effect.
• MGA Loses Effort to Stall Trial in Fee Fight With ...
  A Los Angeles judge issued a tentative ruling Friday denying toymaker MGA Entertainment's efforts to stay a lawsuit that was filed by its former lawyers at O'Melveny & Myers.
• Proskauer and English Firm End Their Merger Discus ...
  Proskauer Rose and SJ Berwin said Friday they had decided against merging, putting to an end months of speculation about a possible trans-Atlantic tie-up between the two law firms. The firms in a joint statement said "we recognized that the timetable necessary to reach the agreements that would ensu ...
• IRS Throws In Towel on Closely Watched Internation ...

Iranian.com

• Iran not to discuss nuclear issues in Istanbul tal ...
  A senior Iranian lawmaker said Tehran will not discuss its "inalienable" nuclear rights with the five UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany (G5+1) in the next round of talks in Istanbul, local satellite Press TV reported on Thursday. Chairman of Iranian Parliament's National Security an ...
• حجم تبلیغات علیه ولایت ورهبری دریک سال گذشته با21 ...
  سپاه نیوز: مسئول روابط عمومی و انتشارات سپاه گفت: حجم تبلیغات دشمن علیه ولایت فقیه و رهبر معظم انقلاب در یک سال گذشته با هجمه های 21 سال اخیر علیه معظم له برابری می کند.read more
• یادداشت سفیر بریتانیا که ایران را به هم ریخت
  جمعه به مناسبت روز بین المللی حقوق بشر، سفیر بریتانیا در ایران در وبسایت رسمی این سفارتخانه یادداشتی منتشر کرد و در آن از وضعیت حقوق بشر در ایران نوشت.read more
• Iran not a rogue state - Australia
  Australia is at odds with its major security ally the United States over Iran, saying it is not a "rogue state" and its nuclear weapons program is for deterrence, not attack, according to U.S. cables released by WikiLeaks.
• مصاحبه امیر ارجمند مشاور میرحسین
  گفتگوی تصویری با مشاور ارشد میرحسین موسوی "اردشیر امیرارجمند" در برلین محرومان جامعه زیر فشار اقتصادی حاکمیت کودتائی

Most Revolutionary Act

• Economic Causes of Obesity
  Epidemiologists have known for decades that rates of obesity are much higher in low income and minority groups. However it's only in the past few years that medical science has understood the mechanisms behind this finding. In my own practice I’ve identified four specific reasons for excessive wei ...
• The Politics of Obesity
  There is a lot of focus in the mainstream media on the growing epidemic of obesity in western countries. The media pretty universally places the blame on individuals. Overweight adults are guilty of “poor lifestyle choices.” While obesity in children is blamed on the failure of the parents to contro ...
• Going Non-Corporate
  (from Lyn Webster – www.pigtitsandparsleysauce.co.nz) For me the most interesting part of Lyn's presentation was her wrap-up, where she talked about the strong temptation to resume buying commercial products when she used up her first homemade batch. Not because they are any better than the homema ...
• Making Non-Corporate Choices
  America's pre-eminent consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader frequently talks about the last two generations growing up "corporate" in their attitudes and lifestyle choices. An important aspect of growing up “corporate” is automatically giving into constant pressure from t ...
• The Best Research Corporate Money Can Buy
  As I have blogged previously, the whole notion of fluoride being safe and good for teeth is based on decades of corporations paying researchers to produce the scientific results they want – and burying research and firing and blacklisting scientists whose studies show otherwise. A Systematic Corpora ...

Doug's Darkworld

• Is America on the Road to Fascism?
  “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”    — George Orwell   When I was a child and a young man, I lived in a free country. Now the government sticks its hands in my pants and searches my crotch if I want to fly a  plane. And already happening, [...]
• Ron Paul on Wikileaks: Lying is Not Patriotic
  I normally don’t publish guest articles, but this week I’m on a  roll. The Time Traveller post was just for fun, today’s post is deadly serious. I was writing my own post on Wikileaks, when I came across Congressman Ron Paul’s latest words on the subject. He covers the situation quite nicely, and s ...
• Wednesday, December 8th: Pretend to be a Time Trav ...
  Yes, it’s that time of year again! International Pretend to be a Time Traveller Day 2010! Yes, all Wednesday, participants  in this event will pretend to be a time traveller visiting the current era. The only “rule” is participants must never tell anyone they are a time traveller.  I’ve more or le ...
• Random Notes in the Margins
  A couple of topics that I was unable to squeeze a whole blog post out on, but nonetheless wanted to say something. And yes, in some cases below I am simplifying or not adding obvious codicils: 1.  Germany’s Chancellor Merkel claims that “multiculturalism has failed.” She didn’t exactly define her t ...
• KOREAN NUCLEAR NIGHTMARES
  December 2nd, 2010. During American and South Korean naval manoeuvres in the Yellow Sea near North Korea a nuclear explosion occurs, sinking a dozen major warships including the American carrier USS George Washington. At least ten thousand American and South Korean sailors and servicemen are killed, ...

FourWinds10

• SeaFood....Anyone? Who Do You Believe Now?
  80-square mile kill zone Gulf of Mexico - "It looks like everything's dead" http://hoodooed.blogspot.com/. � Take the time to watch Diane Sawyers, CBS News! It's in the news. The watch the video that follows.
• Exclusive: Submarine Dive Finds Oil, Dead Sea Life ...
  A mile below the surface in the Gulf of Mexico, there is little sign of life. "It looks like everything's dead," University of Georgia professor Samantha Joye said. In an exclusive trip aboard the U.S. Navy's deep-ocean research submersible Alvin, ABC News was given the chance to observe the impact ...
• While the Gulf of Mexico Weeps
  Please do not forget what BP has done to our Gulf in 2010. VIEW VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ5yqRhb3ms Nov. 11, 2010
• Florida DEP finds Corexit ingredient in 50 PERCENT ...
• BP's Environmental Disaster: Fishermen Report Loui ...

Crisis Maven

• Economic Musings VI: Modern Economies – Dyin ...
  There is a great debate in the history of economics whether there can be under-consumption in any real historic moment of the state of an economy and if so, whether it has detrimental effects and if so, what is to be done about it. And modern economists seem to have found a magic wand with [...]
• Blogs and Web Sites you may want to follow
  The following is a list of blogs and websites that CrisisMaven has followed and observed over the last few months and that readers may want to check out from time to time. Note: neither the sequence of how the blogs are listed here nor any comments by CrisisMaven are an endorsement nor criticism of ...
• Economic Musings VII: Marketing doesn’t adve ...
  Have you ever wondered if marketing and advertising are the same, if not, what’s the difference and which is the more important of the two? And why should you care? The most successful economic model is without doubt the market economy. It is the consequence of the wealth effects of the division of ...
• CrisisMaven’s Blog News 2010-03-07: Over 25,000 We ...
  Yesterday around 16:37 GMT we passed the 25,000 threshold … - next report will probably be posted when we’re past the 50,000 mark. Thanks to all avid readers: on 2010-03-18 at around 19:25 GMT we went past our first 20,000 views on our blog in about eight weeks since we began publishing! After that, ...
• Economic Musings VIII: Is there a limit to economi ...
  Something which puzzles many thinkers and frightens many young people concerned about waste or the pillaging of our natural resources is the question: can “an economy” (whatever that is – we’ll come to that in a minute) grow indefinitely? How can there be unlimited economic growth if we’ve never hea ...

Capital Flow Analysis

• Stock buybacks are bad for investors: Further evid ...
  In the working paper “The Buyback Monitor - July 2009: Corporate Stock Buyback Profits of 273 Firms from 2000 into 2009“, published on the Social Sciences Research Network, M.A. Gumport, CFA, provides further evidence that stock buybacks are not as good for investors as often touted. The following ...
• Why Obama’s healthcare scheme portends stagflatio ...
  The trillion-dollar Obama health care plan increases the odds that US economic recover will be delayed, and that unemployment and inflation will increase. The main thrust of the Obama plan is to increase taxes on individuals earning more than $250,000 a year, while forcing all but the tiniest bus ...
• How long would it take to work off the US trade de ...
  The rest of the world holds $16.8 trillion in US financial assets, according to Federal Reserve release Z.1, as of Q1 2009. [...]
• Why Bernanke’s flawed “exit strategy” policy porte ...
  In a lead op-ed editorial in the Wall Street Journal on July 21, 2009, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke revealed the Fed’s exit strategy with regards to the inflationary effects of the Obama “spending is stimulus” packages and other government measure to contain the current crisis. This articl ...
• Stocks surge on spurious earnings reports: Q2 2009
  No one knows for sure the real earnings of American corporations. In Q1 2009, according to the Federal Reserve flow of funds table F.102, after-tax profits of US non-financial, non-farm corporations, on an annual basis, were about $589.9 billion. However, about 50% of these after-tax earnings were ...

R-Squared Energy Blog

• Critical Decisions Looming for Japan’s Nuclear Ind ...
  Join the forum discussion on this post The following guest post was written by the staff of Global Intelligence Report. SITUATION: Japan is advancing with plans to reprocess spent nuclear fuel and boost its external nuclear exports. These decisions will impact the conduct of Japan’s global non-p ...
• How the RFA Wastes Your Tax Dollars – Part II: Bla ...
  Join the forum discussion on this post In Part I we saw that the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) pays for shoddy studies and then cites them to fear-monger into getting more tax dollars. Hypocritically, when they are challenged with a critical point on ethanol, they attempt to cast doubt by ques ...
• How the RFA Wastes Your Tax Dollars – Part I: How ...
  Join the forum discussion on this post Over the next two posts, I will examine some of the tactics used by the Renewable Fuels Association to justify keeping the $6 billion ethanol subsidy that was made almost entirely redundant when the the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was passed into law in  200 ...
• Book Review: The Impending World Energy Mess
  Join the forum discussion on this post I actually had low expectations for The Impending World Energy Mess by Robert L. Hirsch, Roger H. Bezdek, and Robert M. Wendling. Not because I thought Robert Hirsch and company would put out a sub-par book, but rather I have read so many peak oil books that I ...
• Cellulosic Ethanol Reality Begins to Set In
  Join the forum discussion on this post Delusional Mandates It is hard to believe that just a few short years ago, Congress mandated a massive increase in usage of cellulosic ethanol. This was remarkable, because no commercial cellulosic ethanol facilities even existed at the time. But people like ...

Discovery Educator Network

• Hands-on Activities for Teaching Biology to High S ...
  Tags: biology, activities, Science, lessons, education, resources, experiments, hands-onby: Dean Mantz
• 100 Useful Youtube Channels for Teachers
  Comments:"The following list compiles some of the ones most worthy of attention, as they feature plenty of solid content appealing to their respective audiences and actively try to make viewers smarter." - Melody VelascoTags: Youtube, websites, educationby: Melody Velasco
• Survival of The Hippest- Custom Twitter ID & Hasht ...
  Tags: twitter, shopping, PLN, social_networkingby: Lee Kolbert
• Compiled List of The Top Online Presentation Tools ...
  Comments:Collection of websites and apps to be used as alternative presentation options. - Dean MantzTags: tools, presenting, web2.0, appsby: Dean Mantz
• Social Studies Sites
  Comments:Great collection of American History, World History, and geography resources. - Dean MantzTags: history, livebinders, socialstudiesby: Dean Mantz

Rodale News

• Bee-Killing Chemical Lurks Inside Your Food
  RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) memo recently leaked to a prominent beekeeper outlines agency scientists' concerns over a particular pesticide's effect on honeybees. The pesticide, clothianidin (also known as Poncho), is used to coat corn seeds and other popular foo ...
• Cellphones and Temper Tantrums: A Possible Link
  RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Very few of us know somebody who doesn't have a cellphone. Yet, very few of us have any idea what impact our handy, must-have cellphones have on our health. So far, some research suggests that their overall health impact could be as minor as causing ringing in the ears, but ...
• Make a Week's Worth of Healthy Dinners…Today
  RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—With an eight-hour workday, a two-hour commute, the gym, the kids, and the holidays, a nutritious home-cooked family dinner can be hard to come by—that is, unless you cook read more
• Radically Simple
  Throughout her culinary career, chef Rozanne Gold has given much thought to the notions of simplicity and sophistication in cooking. read more
• Season's Sweetenings: How to Avoid a Holiday Sugar ...
  RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—It’s that time of year, when visions of sugar plums (or sugar cookies) dance in your head. Which leads to that other vision, the one that involves the weight scale, where the numbers keep going up. But great holiday baking doesn’t have to throw your healthy, low-calorie e ...

big think

• What Explains the Lesbian Wage Premium?
  I have an idea for a Hollywood movie. An ambitious, young, heterosexual woman disguises herself as a lesbian in order to land herself the job of her dreams. Her handsome colleague takes her into his confidence and, of course, she falls in love with him. After a series of comedic events, she ...Read ...
• A Different Type of Marketing Blog
  This is your chance to decide what content exists about marketing online - scroll down to read more and leave a comment with your response. Astute readers who visit this site will notice a change happened this morning: this blog is now hosted on bigthink.com, an expert knowledge network visited by ...
• Study: Dialysis Death Risk Is Higher in For-Profit ...
  A majority of Americans who've suffered kidney failure go to Medicare-certified treatment centers three times weekly for dialysis. Many of these are part of large chains, that are for-profit businesses. According to this study, that's unfortunate: It found that patients at for-profit centers had a ...
• When China Rules the World
  The 21st century belongs to China. As the societies of Europe and the United States plateau, developing countries in Asia and South America are racing forward at an unprecedented pace—with China clearly in the lead. This year, China surpassed Japan as the world's second biggest economy. And ...Read ...
• Out of Our Depth: Turner, Painting, Drowning, Swim ...
  If you read as much about art as I do, things that seem unrelated on the surface tend to pool together in the eddies of my consciousness. Two unrelated concepts that recently flowed together into a confluence were Sarah Monks’ essay, “Suffer a Sea Change”: Turner, Painting, Drowning, and Brazilian . ...

Information Liberation

• Reflections on the Origin and the Stability of the ...
  Let me begin with the definition of a state. What must an agent be able to do to qualify as a state? This agent must be able to insist that all conflicts among the inhabitants of a given territory be brought to him for ultimate decision-making or be ...
• Federal DHS officer pretends to be real cop, pulls ...
  AJC.com reports: House had no authority to enforce Georgia's traffic law, however, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, he 'repeatedly activated the emergency blue lights on his federal police vehicle and pulled over motorists." He then would ca...
• A Criminal's a Criminal, No Matter How Powerful
  The state, in legal theory, is the entity that claims the sole right to define what is lawful or criminal activity in a given territory. Perhaps just coincidentally, the state tends to judge the actions of its official agents and favored clients b...
• The Art of Not Being Governed
  I figure part of my job around here is to call attention to new books that relate in some way to the libertarian tradition * that is, to the history of libertarian thought. One such book was first published a little over a year ago, in September 2009...
• Assange Espionage Act Indictment 'Imminent'
  The Espionage Act of 1917 may face its first serious charge and by extension serious challenge in years, as lawyers for Julian Assange say that the US is preparing to indict the whistleblower under the act. The act was originally used to arrest an...

Be Responsible - Be Free!

• Ozboy’s Bar And Grill Is Closed For Repairs
  It’s only temporary. A couple of weeks. But the recent shenanigans round here have forced me to do some thinking about how LibertyGibbert can run better in the future. I’ve spoken to a couple of you about this today, to … Continue reading →
• The Dragon’s Dissent Part III: Naked Nationa ...
  The emergence of China as the world’s new superpower has raised many questions in the international community and across the blogosphere regarding the longer-range agenda of the Middle Kingdom. In a recent discussion on this forum, the question of Chinese … Continue reading →
• U.S. Elections: Will Liberty Win?
  Well today’s the day. As just about every other blog in the sphere is covering the elections today, I thought I’d throw the forum open, and we can discuss the results as they come in, in real time. If as … Continue reading →
• Libertarianism And Drug Liberalization
  G’day everyone, Just arrived back home safe and sound. Sorry there hasn’t been a new post in several days, but just at the moment my family needs me more than the Bar and Grill does. Dr. Dave has graciously stepped … Continue reading →
• Stealing Democracy?
  G’day everyone, Ozboy here. The United States mid-term elections are just one week away, and the mounting resentment many Americans feel about the way their country is being governed appears certain to be made clear at the polls. One of … Continue reading →

FAS - Secrecy News

• Govt Response to Wikileaks Said to Cause More Dama ...
  The U.S. Government insists that the classification markings on many of the leaked documents being published by Wikileaks and other organizations are still in force, even though the documents are effectively in the public domain, and it has directed federal employees and contractors not to access or ...
• Treasury Classification Guide, and Other Resources
  The Department of the Treasury has recently produced a consolidated classification guide, detailing exactly what kinds of Treasury information may be classified at what level and for how long.  It is in such agency classification guides, not in high-level government-wide policy statements, that the ...
• Publishing Classified Info: A Review of Relevant S ...
  “There appears to be no statute that generally proscribes the acquisition or publication of diplomatic cables,” according to a newly updated report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service, “although government employees who disclose such information without proper authority may be subject to p ...
• CRS Seeks Guidance on Using Leaked Docs
  After its access to the Wikileaks web site was blocked by the Library of Congress, the Congressional Research Service this week asked Congress for guidance on whether and how it should make use of the leaked records that are being published by Wikileaks, noting that they could “shed important light” ...
• Intelligence and Border Security, and More from CR ...
  Noteworthy new products from the Congressional Research Service include the following (all pdf). “Securing America’s Borders: The Role of the Intelligence Community,” December 7, 2010. “Hamas: Background and Issues for Congress,” December 2, 2010. “U.S.-Australia Civilian Nuclear Cooperation: Issues ...

Sciencebase - Breaking Science News

• A few facts about asbestos
  Today, medical journal The Lancet has publicly criticised the Canadian government for its attitude towards asbestos, saying that although Canada will not expose its own citizens to asbestos, it will continue exporting the deadly substance to developing nations [Canada accused of hypocrisy, Lancet]. ...
• What is nature worth?
  Each hour 3 species vanish forever, we’ve lost a fifth of the planet’s coral reefs, almost a third of its mangrove forests, and half of the world’s wetlands. But, how do you count the cost? Perhaps a business perspective is needed. If we considered the natural world as providing products and service ...
• Searching for scientific abbreviations
  Ambiguous abbreviations and acronyms are annoyances when it comes to text search and data mining. As a writer-editor, I was always taught to spell out the long form (LF) of a short form (SF) at first mention in a document so that the reader would know that when I mentioned EBV I was referring to [.. ...
• Santa Claus Science
  Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicolas, Kris Kringle, Sinterklaas. Call him what you will, at this time of year, for children who celebrate everywhere, many questions of a scientific nature arise and parents squirm in their efforts to answer them. Now, Gregory Mone, a contributing editor at Po ...
• Latest scientific discoveries
  Forget fruit and veg. Lose weight and cut the booze to reduce cancer risk People should be warned that cancer is linked to obesity and alcohol, rather than urged to eat more fruit and vegetables to protect against the disease. UK trialling testing sugar-coated salt on roads Although they’ve been usi ...

RFF Library

• Outcome of the Work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on ...
  United Nations Climate Change Conference Cancun – COP 16 http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/cop_16/application/pdf/cop16_lca.pdf (advanced unedited version) [Dot Earth analysis: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/11/consensus-emerges-on-common-climate-path/] [From press release] Elements of the ...
• United States-Russia Joint Statement on the Result ...
  US DOE http://www.energy.gov/news/9878.htm Moscow – Earlier this week, Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman, representing the United States government, signed a joint statement with Russia’s Director General of the State Atomic Energy Corporation “Rosatom” Sergey Kirienko on the results of the ...
• DC Circuit Court Ruling: Coalition for Responsible ...
  United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Coalition-for Responsible Reg v EPA (click for ruling) [Washington Post] A U.S. appellate court on Friday turned down a request from utilities, oil refiners and the state of Texas to effectively delay the regulation of greenhouse ga ...
• CBO Cost Estimate: S. 3874, Reduction of Lead in D ...
  Congressional Budget Office http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12017/s3874.pdf S. 3874 would amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to reduce the level of permissible lead content in the composition of plumbing fixtures from 8 percent to 0.25 percent. This change would become effective 36 months followi ...
• Evaluating Limits on Participation and Transaction ...
  Congressional Budget Office http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12006 In response to concerns that the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could have serious and costly effects, the Congress has considered creating a nationwide cap-and-trade program that would limit emissions of those ga ...

Scientific American - News

• Power Plants: Engineers Mimic Photosynthesis to Ha ...
  Plants take advantage of quantum mechanics to harvest sunlight with near-perfect efficiency--though only roughly 2 percent of that capture sunlight ultimately gets stored as chemical energy. Now scientists are studying how this light-harvesting step of photosynthesis is optimized by nature to lear ...
• Blocking a Common Sugar Molecule May Be Key to Pre ...
  Most people have one somewhere: a nasty scar from an old injury. It typically causes no serious harm, but can be unsightly. Scar-reducing creams and other dermatological procedures can help, but no one has known how to prevent scarring in the first place. Now scientists have discovered that the ke ...
• Cancun Talks Yield Climate Compromise
  Elements of last year's Copenhagen Accord moved a step closer to reality as two weeks of talks concluded in Cancun this week with a new consensus on the path forward for international negotiations to combat climate change. Over the objections of Bolivia, the so-called Cancun Agreements text was ...
• Farming the Future: GM Crops Recommended as Key Pa ...
  Agricultural innovation has long sustained the world's masses with an abundance of low-cost food, thanks to the success of the mid-20th century's Green Revolution, which brought industrialization and high-yield grains to India, Mexico and many other developing countries.A prosperous global populatio ...
• Clearing and Present Danger? Fog That Nourishes Ca ...
  The Earth's tallest trees, California redwoods, rely on characteristic coastal fog to reach their towering heights--and that fog may be diminishing, according to new research. [More]

RAWA News

• An inflated claim of health success in Afghanistan ...
  The Christian Science Monitor: Nine years and billions of dollars into the Afghanistan war the US government is eager to show progress. There's just one problem, say healthcare officials in Afghanistan. That claim, also peddled by the British government’s aid agency, the World Bank and at times by t ...
• UN: 7.4 million Afghans are living with hunger and ...
  Reuters: The United Nations on Saturday launched a $678 million humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan, where despite inflows of millions of foreign aid dollars, the world body said about a quarter of the population goes hungry. U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Catherine Bragg ...
• WikiLeaks cables: “US aid will not stop Paki ...
  The Guardian: Pakistan's army is covertly sponsoring four major militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and Mumbai attackers Lashkar-e-Taiba, and “no amount of money” will change the policy, the US ambassador warned in a frank critique revealed by the state department cables.
• British aid worker in Afghanistan was killed by a ...
  The Wall Street Journal: Kidnapped British aide worker Linda Norgrove was killed by a grenade thrown by U.S. special operations forces in a botched rescue attempt, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said an investigation has confirmed. Ms. Norgrove’s death in Afghanistan in October was initiall ...
• Afghan vice-president “landed in Dubai with ...
  Mail Online: Classified diplomatic cables lay bare the extent of corruption at the highest level in Afghanistan, with cash apparently pouring out of the country. One report claims former vice-president Ahmad Zia Massoud flew into Dubai with $52million in cash and was never asked to explain where it ...

frogblog

• If a Judge ordered… (this stinks)
  If a Judge in preliminary proceedings to  a criminal trial ordered: This judgement is not to be published (including any commentary, summary or description of it) in news media or on internet or other publicly accessible database or otherwise disseminated to the public until fina ...
• Deep cuts, deep wounds in UK’s student fees ...
  Here’s eye-witness perspective on the student protests in London The first from NZ academic Bronwyn Hayward who is currently in the UK. She asks:  Where were the adults when Britain’s young people are finding their political voice? And this from Laurie Penny who writes for the New ...
• Podcast: Green Spirituality, Metiria Turei
  Green Party Co-leader, Metiria Turei, discusses the things that drive her to work for a more humane world in this, the third of an occasional series where I talk to Green MPs about their spirituality. The Reverend Dr Anthony Dancer, Anglican Social Justice Commissioner conducts the ...
• General debate, December 11, 2010
• Happy Christmas Minister; what about child poverty ...
  It seems Paula Bennett has been reading my Christmas message. She asked me to sing some of it in the House yesterday. However I wasn’t in the House for the purpose of entertaining the Minister. I wanted to know if she was prepared to meet with the Alternative Welfare Working Group, whose report wa ...

Patronus Analytical

• Greek aid worker kidnapped in Pakistan
• Aid worker killed in Iraq
• Update on kidnapped Greek aid worker
• NGO worker beaten to death in Dhaka
• Canadian aid worker murdered in Honduras

J Kozy

• The Mythical United States of America: Rushing int ...
  The mythical United States of America so highly lauded exists nowhere. It is a Shangri-la. The Preamble of the Constitution makes perfectly clear what kind of nation the United States was meant to be. What exists today fulfills none of those goals. Some have argued that the nation was a fraud fr ...
• As Western Civilization Lies Dying
  The Western commercial system exists to extract more from consumers than it supplies in products and services. Its goal is profit and has never been the improvement of the human condition but to exploit it. When governments institutionalize this system, they place their nations on suicidal paths, be ...
• Is Perfect Research Possible
  Some claim that there is no hope of doing perfect research. So, is there hope of doing perfect research? Of course there issometimes! It all depends on the whetherwhether the subject is limited and whether the researcher can write and is intelligent enough to adequately evaluate the evidence. Un ...
• The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty: Last Gasp of ...
  No civilization in history that collapsed after a period of greatness has ever regained its dominance. Egypt lasted for three millennia; today it is little more than a field for archeological study. The Persian Empire, which lasted for more than three hundred years, became the largest and most p ...
• Specie, Script, and War: The Contradictory Practic ...
  Wars are fought for business, but business and the economy are synonymous. Wars will continue to be fought for the economy as long as this economy is not abandoned. War is a logical consequence of it, not a means utilized by it. No attempt to eliminate war and preserve the economy can succeed. A ...

MoJo - Kevin Drum

• News Flash: Wall Street Still Loathed
  According to Bloomberg, virtually every person in American thinks big Wall Street bonuses should be either heavily taxed or banned outright: More than 70 percent of Americans say big bonuses should be banned this year at Wall Street firms that took taxpayer bailouts, a Bloomberg National Poll shows ...
• Wall Street's Cozy Derivatives Club
  When you make trading of financial instruments open and competitive, it becomes less profitable for dealers and banks. This happened in 1975 with stock broking and in 2002 with corporate bond trading, and in both cases broker-dealers lost billions of dollars as aggressive price cutters entered the m ...
• Defining Corruption Down
  Christopher Caldwell has a cover essay in the current issue of the Weekly Standard about the economic havoc being wreaked in Europe thanks to the straitjacket that the euro has put them in. It's an interesting read, though I don't agree with everything he says. But I'm curious about this sentence, f ...
• Goldsmith on WikiLeaks
  Over at Lawfare, former OLC head Jack Goldsmith has a very nice, compact summary of what I think are the main points in the great WikiLeaks controversy. In particular, even for those who take a dimmer view of WikiLeaks and its founder than Goldsmith does, I really think a lot of people aren't thinki ...
• Silver Nitrate Bleg
  A few days ago I went into the doctor to get a skin tag cut off (it was blocking my peripheral vision and annoying me). And cut it off he did. But first, he told a nearby nurse to get a silver nitrate stick in case there was bleeding. And there was bleeding, so the stick was duly applied. Anyway, a ...

Insanity Report

• IC 216: The Incomplete Show
  Topics for the show: This is a partial show. We lost power in the middle of recording. We didn’t want to lose the 40 minutes we had recorded before so we decided to put what we had up. We talk Redskins, Suing McDonalds, people’s demands at cookouts and the beginning of our discussion on Steve [...] ...
• IC 215: Popeyes Chicken, STDs and Politics
  Topics for the show: Popeyes chicken buffet Going to the doctor’s sucks Westboro Baptist Church takes their protesting to a new disgusting level Ignoring the attention whore that is Sarah Palin Liberals who whine about the President and nothing else Share with your friends:
• FacePalm of the Week: Falling For the Palin Trap
  Sarah Palin is an idiot.  This is a well known fact.  We have video, audio and even “literary” (if you can call it that) evidence of this.  She’s now the punch line of any joke.  “Two guys walk into a bar and…..Sarah Palin” BWAHAHAHAHAHA We know this.  She’s not to be taken seriously.  Which is [... ...
• FacePalm of the Week: Failing For the Palin Trap
  Sarah Palin is an idiot.  This is a well known fact.  We have video, audio and even “literary” (if you can call it that) evidence of this.  She’s now the punch line of any joke.  “Two guys walk into a bar and…..Sarah Palin” BWAHAHAHAHAHA We know this.  She’s not to be taken seriously.  Which is [... ...
• The Incessant Whining of Liberals
  By now you’ve heard from liberals/progressives across the country about the latest “cave in” by President Obama on the Bush Tax Cuts.  I’ll be honest.  I’m shocked.  Not by the perceived “cave in” but rather by the utter lack of grip people bitching have on reality.  Yes…bitching. I realize that som ...

Simple Climate

• Cloud and plant data raise climate projection conf ...
  The cooling effect of clouds will get weaker as the planet warms, while plants' cooling effect will get stronger, findings published this week show, but despite the apparent contradiction the data provides enhanced confidence in climate models.
• What can we do about climate change?
  All year on Simple Climate scientists have suggested steps we can take to tackle climate change, so here's a roundup of what we can do, regardless of what happens in Cancún this week.
• Simple Climate poll part 3: Getting personal
  Choose from explanation 13-20 out of 26 scientists' attempts to clearly communicate climate change on my blog this year, with these efforts focussing on how best to explain the phenomenon to people.
• Marshland massacre by sea rise is avoidable
  Rate of sea level rise looks more important for wetland survival than the rises themselves – although the fact the world looks set for at least its third warmest year ever in 2010 is not a good omen.
• China-US conflict reveals central climate issue
  Current climate negotiations in Cancún, Mexico, suggest that economic growth-obsessed nations should focus more on recognising and accepting their environmental responsibility.

e!Science News

• How cells export and embed proteins in the membran ...
  Like an overprotective parent on the first day of school, a targeting factor sometimes needs a little push to let go of its cargo. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France, have visualised one such hand-over. They were the first to determine the structure of ...
• Ovarian cancer screening saves few lives
  The best currently available screening tests can only slightly reduce ovarian cancer deaths. That is the conclusion of new research published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The results suggest that strategies other than screening, such as prevention a ...
• Apartment-dwelling children in nonsmoking units st ...
  Children living in apartments are exposed to secondhand smoke even when no one smokes inside their own unit. This study, released online today by the journal Pediatrics, strongly suggests that housing type contributes to children's exposure to tobacco smoke, despite the best intentions of parents. ...
• Tracing microbes between individuals towards perso ...
  The human body is home to a complex ecosystem of microbes increasingly recognized as having a critical role in both health and disease. Viruses can attack and change the composition of bacterial communities, yet little is known about how this might influence human health. In a study published onli ...
• Humans helped vultures colonize the Canary Islands
  The Egyptian vulture population of the Canary Islands was established following the arrival of the first human settlers who brought livestock to the islands. A genetic comparison of Iberian and Canarian birds, published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, found that the Egyptian vul ...

unEarthed

• Editorial: Fate of Gray Wolves - And ESA - In Cong ...
  Based on today's editorial, the gray wolf -- and other creatures defended by the Endangered Species Act -- have no finer friend than The Arizona Republic. Here's what the Republic had to say about attempts in Congress to gut the ...
• I Brake For Cute Animals
  The classical "great chain of being" as depicted in Didacus Valdes' "Retorica Christiana" in 1579. Rose Eveleth has an interesting piece on the National Resource Defense Council’s OnEarth blog about zoos choosing to house onl ...
• Court Upholds Nation's Strongest Effort To Curb Cl ...
  This afternoon. the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals swatted down big polluters' attempts to block this nation's most important progress on cutting climate change pollution. This court decision is a huge victory for clean air in Am ...
• Friday Finds: More Money Means More Problems
  BPA was recently discovered in cash. Photo courtesy of stock.xchng BPA found in cash BPA, that ubiquitous, hormone-disrupting chemical that's made its way into everything from baby bottles to can liners, can now also be fou ...
• If You Build It, They Will Come - And That's The P ...
  One of the vexing problems associated with urban sprawl is the associated, call them ancillary, maybe secondary, effects that no one takes responsibility for. In this particular case, we speak of traffic. It's a particularly s ...

Brave New Climate

• Media reactions to the Energy paper – part 2
  In a previous post (part 1), I described some media reactions to my recent Energy paper (on how carbon pricing changes the relative competitiveness of low-carbon baseload generating technologies). The section of the media I covered in that post is often considered to be ‘progressive’ and environment ...
• Idea: financing large capital cost electricity pro ...
  Guest post by Dr Gene Preston. Gene has had a long career as a power system engineer, performing generation planning, transmission planning, and distribution planning for Austin Energy. He is currently doing transmission studies for wind developers. He wrote all his own modeling software including t ...
• Monthly Argument debate: climate change – is ...
  Remember this? Want to see me go head-to-head in a ‘bar room brawl’ with Jim Green and a representative from Friends of the Earth (Cam Walker)? Want to see on what I agree — and disagree — with Arthur Dent (formerly Albert Langer) on energy options for the future and the possibility of nuclear energ ...
• Media reactions to the Energy paper – part 1
  It’s been fascinating to watch the media reaction to our Energy paper on how carbon pricing changes the relative competitiveness of low-carbon baseload generating technologies. It has certainly stirred a lot of interest, and the timing was admittedly celestial, because two other reports on electrici ...
• The arithmetic adds up to nuclear
  Yesterday, The Australian newspaper published an Op Ed piece by Nicholson, Biegler & Brook, entitled Emission reductions are not blowin’ in the wind, which discusses our recent paper in Energy. The print (dead tree) version of the article even had the graph shown here included! However, the editor h ...

Indigenist Opinion

• James Moore: I am Julian Assange
  James Moore: I am Julian Assange I am Julian Assange. I want information so that I can hold my government accountable. If my country acts improperly and in my name, I want the proof. I want to know if there actually is no evidence proving weapons of mass destruction. I want to know if America is w ...
• Join EFF in Standing up Against Internet Censorshi ...
  Join EFF in Standing up Against Internet Censorship | Electronic Frontier Foundation Over the past few weeks, we here at EFF have watched as whistleblowing website WikiLeaks has fueled an emotionally charged debate about the secrecy of government information and the people's right to know. We hav ...
• Wikileaks, Dr. King, and “War Psychosis” � SpeakEa ...
  Wikileaks, Dr. King, and “War Psychosis” � SpeakEasy: "In his critique of the Vietnam War King provided a thorough historical context of the situation to undercut the political myths of his day. He described Ho Chi Minh, the American foe in Vietnam as a selfless and dedicated leader who led a resist ...
• Uthman Badar: WikiLeaks exposes foreign policy's d ...
  WikiLeaks exposes foreign policy's dark side - Unleashed (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) The writing is on the cables. Leaked US diplomatic cables that is, the publication of which by WikiLeaks and the ensuing reaction from various parties around the world re-affirm some concerning realities t ...
• Stating the Obvious: WikiLeaks Indicts and Vindica ...
  Stating the Obvious: WikiLeaks Indicts and Vindicates U.S. Diplomats | FPJ: "The WikiLeaks vs. the US government saga started in July, when 77,000 secret US documents directly relating to Afghanistan were made available to major media organizations. Many of us shook our heads with a mixture of disgu ...

Republicans are a Disease

• Obama Just Lost 2012
  Caving this time cost you your job. Extending tax cuts for the filthy rich while giving crumbs to the starving makes me sick to my stomach. Just giving the Republicans everything they want without so much as a whimper. Barry, you are not a Democrat. In fact I want my money back.
• Republicans, Don’t Listen to David Stockman
  If you are a Republican, you had better not listen to David Stockman, Reagan’s budget director that created the trickle down fantasy. If you accidentally listen to what he says, you would realize that more tax cuts, the main plank in the Republican platform is insane. He is not happy with President ...
• Raise Taxes or Cut Taxes?
  Raising taxes, and spending the money wisely, and on programs that promote economic fairness, stimulates the economy. Cutting taxes on the filthy rich stimulates hoarding, and not the economy. They should teach this in kindergarten. Every single billionaire makes sure the media that serves him teach ...
• Economic Treason
  The Republicans plan on retaking the White House by performing endless economic treason. Regardless what the president, and the Democrats do to repair our struggling economy, the Republicans will stand in the way. The can count on a corporate controlled press to never call them out for filibustering ...
• Republicans Are Herd Animals
  The tea bag caucus, it turns out, got over One Billion in PORK. Whoda thunkit…

Appalachia Rising

• Day of Action and Conference Vision Statements
  Appalachia Rising: Day of Action September 25 – 27, 2010, Washington DC Appalachia Rising is a mass mobilization in Washington DC on September 27, 2010 calling for the abolition of mountaintop removal and surface mining. It is a culmination of the national movement against surface mining and a found ...
• Press Conference to be Held on June 15
  Thousands to March in DC Calling for the Abolition of Mountaintop Removal Press Conference June 15 in Charleston, WV Announces Mass Mobilization Appalachia Rising WHEN: June 15, 10:00 AM WHERE: WV State Capitol Back Steps Near Fountain, Charleston, WV CONTACTS: West Virginia Bo Webb –             304-237-2688      o ...
• Press Inquiries
  All media inquiries should be sent to Bo Webb webb.bo@gmail.com Set up interviews via email. Previous Press Releases and Media Public Launch Press Conference Report Back, with video Press Conference Held on June 15 Announces Appalachia Rising Video June 15 Appalachia Public Launch Press Conference H ...
• New Flier for Appalachia Rising
• Appalachia Rising Uniting Celebrities, Appalachian ...
  Appalachia Rising Uniting Celebrities, Appalachians, and Scientists for the Abolition of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Ashley Judd, Woody Harrelson, Gloria Reuben, Kyra Sedgewick, Kevin Bacon, Ed Begley Jr., Kathy Mattea, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, James Hansen, and Darryl Hannah rallying behind coalfi ...

Amped Status

• The Wall Street Pentagon Papers: Biggest Scam In W ...
  The Global Banking Cartel has now been so blatantly exposed, you cannot possibly get away with pretending that we live in a nation of law based on the Constitution. The jig is up.
• EXCLUSIVE WORLD PREMIERE ~ Ben Bernanke: Public En ...
  In this new music video, for the song "Mr. Big Shot" by Pilot Rai, we feature leading members of the Global Banking Cartel: Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner and Jamie Dimon. We also feature the cartel’s puppet president, Barack Obama.
• Revolution Roundup #2: As Mass Rebellion Spreads T ...
  The Global Insurrection Against Banker Occupation (GIABO) rages on... Over the past few days the people of Ireland, Italy, Britain, Austria and Portugal have all held massive demonstrations against the Global Banking Cartel.
• High Frequency Terrorism: How the Big Banks and Fe ...
  By David DeGraw & Max Keiser The stock market plunge on May 6th was an act of domestic financial terrorism in America. A day that will live in infamy.
• The Financial Oligarchy Reigns: Democracy’s ...
  Democracy is devolving into fascism before our eyes, the "iron law of oligarchy" is once again asserting itself. You cannot have a concentration of vast wealth and Democracy at the same time, and we currently have the greatest concentration of wealth in history...

+972

• Izzie in HolyLand – Part 17: JAWS!
  Izzie has a hunch the Mossad is up to no good again Izzie is quietly munching on a Turkish burekas as she suddenly sees a bizarre link on her Facebook page to a news item from the Egyptian media, claiming the Mossad is behind the latest spate of shark attacks in Sinai. “Speaking on the public TV ...
• Seven houses demolished, 50 children thrown out in ...
  This picture, taken an hour ago in Lod by Amnesty Israel, pretty much says it all: The bulldozers are not digging out people from under the rubble – they’re burying people’s lives under it. They’re not clearing the wreckage of the storm – they’re unleashing the storm onto the bare heads of 50 (fift ...
• Government: No right to attorney for up to a year
  YNET reports this morning  that the ministerial committee for legislation  has voted that the government would endorse a bill allowing courts to deny “security” prisoners right to meet with their attorney for up to a year. Under current legislation, prisoners may be barred from seeing a lawyer for ...
• British parliament debates Israeli military tribun ...
  The British Labour party is now debating what the Israeli labor party refuses to acknowledge, the horrific treatment of Palestinians in Israeli military courts. I have covered the military court system extensively on this website in relation to the repression of the Palestinian popular unarmed strug ...
• Palestinian Non-Violent Leader Released From Israe ...
  Before he had even reached the gate of Ofer military compound, Adeeb Abu Rahmah had his hands in the air in celebration. Abu Rahmah crossed the iron gate of the compound and walked into freedom after eighteen months in military prison. Despite the frigid mountain air, the warmth of Adeeb’s presenc ...

Sustainability,water,etc - Oz gov't

• Art in the Antarctic
  A Melbourne installation artist and a Canberra musician have been announced as the Australian Antarctic Arts Fellows for 2010-2011 season.
• Launch of the Water Metering Tasmania project
  More than 8 billion litres of drinking water each year is expected to be saved through the Water Metering Tasmania project, which was launched today in Hobart.
• Southern bluefin tuna listed as conservation depe ...
  The southern bluefin tuna will receive national protection after federal environment minister Tony Burke listed the species under national environment law.
• West Werribee to benefit from water recycling pro ...
  A landmark water recycling project will make West Werribee one of the most water conscious areas in Victoria.
• New water purchase tenders announced
  The Gillard Government today announced that the next round of environmental water purchasing would start on 22 November 2010 with water purchase tenders in the southern-connected system and the Lower Balonne region of Queensland.

Matt Weidner Blog

• You Think You Got It Tough? Read This…and T ...
  We’re all fighting different battles and each one has its own highs and lows…but this one is a tough one….another example of an American that I cannot stand to see suffering….if we can’t figure out a way to keep this guy in his home, what kind of country are we? Naples Daily News Tweet this! [...]
• You Can’t Eat Gold (Or Bullets)
  Every thinking person in America is at least considering the possibility of widespread collapse of our society either in the immediate or not too distant future.  Whether you believe we are headed to a catastrophic collapse or you think there will be isolated breakdowns in the social, legal and gove ...
• Experts Weigh In- Fraudclosure Continues To Plague ...
  Just last week, the Palm Beach Post reported on hundreds of foreclosure sales that occurred, but which are a catastrophic mess, to put the term politely…. Scores of Palm Beach County homes were sold to investors at foreclosure auction this month for as low as $200 following the collapse of the David ...
• “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most ...
  Ben Franklin said that, not me, but increasingly I find myself turning to the timeless wisdom of our forefathers. I encourage all of you as you struggle through this battle to go back and read the words of our leaders and consider just how similar the issues they were facing then are today. (Ben Fra ...
• ARE YOU AN AMERICAN? DO YOU CARE ABOUT THAT FLAG? ...
  We’re all in a tough spot right now.  Individually, as a country, as a world.  We are all facing major struggles going forward that are going to require real sacrifices.  Having said that, do any of us really know what real sacrifice is?  Do we individually or collectively as a country have the ...

abelard - news

• commemorating almost 30 years of nasa space shuttl ...
  Breath-taking images, with detailed commentary by men who made it work, to remind us of the incredible scientific and engineering achievement that is the Space Shuttle. Video.
• quality time | behaviour and intelligence/politics ...
  Behind the sex crimes accusations against Julian Assange is Swedish Calvinism, it appears. And what is the difference between a liberal and a socialist.
• hannan posts sense on the modern information age | ...
  Astute European politician on why the current leaks from Wikileaks are not really any great shakes.
• bribes required, 2010 - by country | politics news ...
  Useful background data on integrity throughout the world.
• bernanke on the economy | economics news at abelar ...
  From a rare, recent interview with the Fed chairman. Watch him talk it up.

The Parallel Parliament

• The New War
  It’s not about Afghanistan, or peacekeeping. It doesn’t deal with expensive airplanes, troop numbers or NATO. It’s actually about ourselves and the unravelling of the seams that hold and characterize the many dimensions of this great expansive tapestry called Canada. We are quietly developing our ow ...
• Christmas Lights at Parliament
  It’s magical and always inspirational. Each year, Parliament does a terrific job of making the buildings and grounds festive and welcoming. It’s obvious that those visiting Ottawa during the Christmas season are in for a real treat, but most don’t think of what a difference it makes to MPs. The few ...
• Santa Claus Joins Ranks Of The Homeless
  Just in time for the global environment meetings in Cancun, Mexico, this country’s Environment Commissioner delivered a harsh report on the Conservative record in battling climate change. As it was being released, the Harper government was being awarded three “Fossil of the Day” awards. Alas, from b ...
• The Great Reversal
  So, Barack Obama caved in to the wealthy. He likely had to if he hoped to win re-election, but still his recent decision has left a bitter taste in many mouths. By going back to the Bush tax cut era, where the wealthy just got a whole lot richer, the President has set in motion [...]
• For Women, A Chance At Last
  The narrative on women’s issues in the modern age has dominated its fair share of political attention in this past year. With the government’s attention on maternal health for the G8 meetings, concern over human trafficking, the primacy of women’s concerns over the loss of the gun registry, and the ...

Vaccine Awakening

• Thousands Of Americans Register for NVIC's New Adv ...
  by Barbara Loe Fisher Thousands of Americans living in all 50 states took action and registered for the new NVIC Advocacy Portal at www.NVICadvocacy.org during Vaccine Awareness Week (Nov. 1-6, 2010) co-sponsored by the National Vaccine Information C ...
• Vaccine Science: A Search for Truth
  by Barbara Loe Fisher February 2009 turned out to be a month when vaccine science was put on trial in the U.S. Court of Claims in Washington, D.C., in mainstream media and on the internet, in the British Medical Journal and in vaccine safety research initiatives by the U.S. Department of Health and ...
• Talking Vaccine Science with Government: Why Do It ...
  by Barbara Loe Fisher After the historic election in November that saw Barack Obama elected President, I wondered what he and his Administration would do about addressing the question that is on the minds of many parents: Why are so many vaccinated children today chronically ill, suffering with lea ...
• Vaccine Bullies & Fighting Back
  By Barbara Loe Fisher During the past decade, families in the United Kingdom, Canada and America have witnessed the demonization of brave doctors and parents of vaccine injured children. It has been both sickening and frightening to watch physicians and some journalists engage in a relentless perse ...
• Doctor-Heroes Standing For Better Vaccine Science
  by Barbara Loe Fisher The cry that was heard around the world in the early 1980's, when mothers and fathers realized an old, crude pertussis vaccine was killing and damaging the brains of their children, is being echoed today by new generations of parents struggling to raise vaccine injured childre ...

2020 Science

• The NNI at 10 – did I really say that?
  I must have been just a little worked up when I spoke with Gwyneth Shaw at the New Haven Independent a couple of weeks ago on nanotechnology.  I’m usually fairly circumspect with my comments to reporters (OK, so I know some readers have just spattered their coffee across the computer screen, but do ...
• Small gods and the art of technology innovation
  There’s something rather liberating about being asked to give a no-holds talk on your perspective on life, the universe and everything.  So when the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center asked if I would speak as part of their “Where do we go from here?” series, I jumped at it. No holds barred is pro ...
• Reviewing the National Nanotechnology Initiative S ...
  Here’s a bit of trivia: with the 4000 character limit on comments on the National Nanotechnology Initiative Draft Strategic Plan, you might as well ditch the official portal, and tweet your comments to the Office of Science and Technology Policy – 28 tweets would do it! As you can probably guess, I’ ...
• Lost in the Maize
  Iâm writing this at Detroit airport, en route to Dubai via Heathrow.  By rights, I should be writing the usual stuff about how traveling to exotic places isnât all itâs cracked up to be – the mantra of the seasoned traveler.  But as itâs the day after Thanksgiving, I thought I would suck it up [.. ...
• Lost in the Maize
  Here’s something that keeps me awake at night (seriously): why, in this age of super-slick graphics and innovative multimedia resources, is it nearly impossible to give presentation that looks as good as they should? How come I can guarantee that when I give a presentation, the slides will be croppe ...

Reader Supported News

• A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivat ...
  The report begins: "On the third Wednesday of every month, the nine members of an elite Wall Street society gather in Midtown Manhattan. The men share a common goal: to protect the interests of big banks in the vast market for derivatives, one of the most profitable - and controversial - fields in f ...
• Operation Payback Floods MasterCard for WikiLeaks ...
  The report begins: "MasterCard's web site was the target Tuesday of denial-of-service attacks from a group that vowed revenge for the company's suspension of its credit-card service on WikiLeaks. According to news reports, the attacks were orchestrated by an 'Internet vigilante group' called Anonymo ...
• AUDIO: Wal-Mart Shoppers: Homeland Security Wants ...
  Excerpt: "In Washington, DC, Metro riders are treated to a recording of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urging them to report suspicious sights to the proper authorities. Now, Wal-Mart shoppers across the country will see Napolitano's message in a video as they stand in the checkout lin ...
• Hackers: Global Cyber War Has Begun
  Intro: "As Julian Assange is held in solitary confinement at Wandsworth prison, the anonymous community of hacktivists takes to the cyber battlefields." Bjorn Hurtig, one of the lawyers of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, left, talks to the media, 11/18/10. (photo: Leif R. Jansson/Scanpix Sweden ...
• House Conservatives Take Aim at Abortion Rights
  The report begins: "A leading Congressional opponent of abortion rights, who is in line to take charge of an influential House panel, plans to press for much stricter limits on the [abortion] procedure." Representative Joe Pitts, left, who will lead an influential House subcommittee, is a strong ...

War Resisters League

• Join the Online Demonstration for Peace in Korea - ...
  President Obama is sending the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington (carrying 75 warplanes and a crew of over 6000) and other warships for additional war-games with the South Korean military beginning Sunday, November 28.� This only escalates the already tense situation on the Kore ...
• IVAW Women’s Retreat this weekend!
  Dear Supporters, My name is Joyce Wagner. I am a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005, and I am a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. This Labor Day, IVAW women will hold our first ever retreat in support of women veterans. Your donation today will help us make [...]
• Protest nuclear warhead test launch tomorrow!
  Protest September 14, 11:55 pm (midnight) missile launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base: NOTE 09/14/10: THIS LAUNCH AND PROTEST HAVE BEEN CANCELED– More info to come! Join the protest of the test launch of a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) thermo-nuclear warhead delivery system ...
• International Days of Action in Solidarity with Br ...
  Support Bradley Manning! Oakland, California, USA Thursday, September 16th, 7-9pm Humanist Hall, 390 27th Street, Oakland CA (Between Telegraph and Broadway) Speakers: DANIEL ELLSBERG, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower COL. ANN WRIGHT (ret.), former US diplomat RAY MCGOVERN, former CIA analyst AIMEE AL ...
• March for Justice on October 2!
  What: One Nation Working Together Who: A broad-based national coalition of labor, racial and economic justice groups, community organizations, and antiwar organizations. Where: Washington D.C. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial When: Saturday, October 2 Dear fellow War Resisters, As the U.S. expen ...

Center for a Livable Future

• Can Organic Farming Feed the World?
  Charles Benbrook, PhD, visiting CLF’s offices earlier this week, sat down with CLF staff to discuss a wide variety of topics, including the future promise of organic farming. Following his keynote lecture at the Polly Walker Ecology Fund, the Livablefutureblog asked the Organic Center’s Chief Scient ...
• Is There a CAFO in Your Neighborhood?
  National consumer advocacy organization Food & Water Watch (FWW) just released the latest version of its Factory Farm Map, which charts the concentration of factory-farmed animals across the country and their subsequent affect on human health, communities and the environment. As most factory farmer ...
• CDC responds to CLF on antibiotic resistance testi ...
  The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, confirms that the CDC “feels there is strong scientific evidence of a link between antibiotic use in food animals and antibiotic resistance in humans.” Frieden offered the CDC’s position in his response to a lette ...
• JHU Students Take the Real Food Challenge
  Colleges and universities in the United States spend over $4 billion every year on food. Imagine if that purchasing power were shifted towards food that is community-based, fair, ecologically sound, and humane. That’s the idea behind the Real Food Challenge (RFC), a national network uniting students ...
• Urban Foraging in Asheville, NC
  While accompanying my fiancé to Asheville, N.C. for one of her residency interviews, I found myself bouncing around from coffee shop to coffee shop in downtown Asheville, scooping up free internet, downing coffee, handling bits of work, bits of personal business and trying to think about whether I c ...

A special project of Foreign Policy and the New America Foundation

• Crazy Like a Fox
  In a fit of anger, Hamid Karzai axes his director of intelligence, Amrullah Saleh. But is there method to his madness?
• Addicted to Contractors
  The United States is hooked on privatized warfare in Afghanistan. And it's more costly than you think.
• How to Whip the Afghan Army Into Shape
  Much of President Barack Obama's strategy rests on the creation of a new, more competent Afghan military. Here's what he'll need to know to get the job done.
• Obama's Indecent Interval
  Despite the U.S. president's pleas to the contrary, the war in Afghanistan looks more like Vietnam than ever.
• Divide and Conquer
  At an upcoming conference in London, the Afghan government will unveil its plan to bring the Taliban rank and file back into the political fold -- and plead for international assistance for its new initiative. 

Field Notes - Alberta Environment

• Tailings regulations all bark, no bite
  ERCB says it can exempt oilsands operators from meeting its regulations Ecojustice Pembina Institute Water Matters ...
• ELC News Brief Vol. 25 No. 1
  Environmental Law Centre The Environmental Law Centre has posted the first issue of the new look News Brief (Vol. 25 No .1) to their website. The issue is about "land use planning in the Lower Athabasca region and features articles on interp ...
• Pembina reacts to Environment Commissioner’s repor ...
  Federal government is failing to adequately monitor and report on water Pembina Institute 7 Dec 2010 Jennifer Grant, director ...
• Pembina reacts as Canada again ranks near last on ...
  Pembina Institute 6 Dec 2010 Matthew Bramley, director of the Pembina Institute's climate change program, made the following statement in response to today's release of the annual Clim ...
• Climate talks in Cancun: there is still time for C ...
  Climate Action Network-Canada 3 Dec 2010 CANCUN, MEXICO — As the first week of United Nations climate talks in Cancun draws to a close, the stage is set for the arrival of political re ...

Stop NATO

• White House Intensifies Military Buildup In Poland
  Stop NATO December 10, 2010 White House Intensifies Military Buildup In Poland Rick Rozoff Immediately on the heels of reports in the Guardian and other Western news media that the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization has crafted a strategy to intervene with nine army divisions in the Baltic ...
• NATO Develops Plans For Military Confrontation Wit ...
  Stop NATO December 8, 2010 NATO Develops Plans For Military Confrontation With Russia In Baltic Rick Rozoff This week plans for U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization military intervention in the Baltic Sea region gained attention after information from American State Department cables released ...
• U.S. And NATO Allies Escalate Military Buildup Aga ...
  Stop NATO December 6, 2010 U.S. And NATO Allies Escalate Military Buildup Against Iran Rick Rozoff The new Strategic Concept adopted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization at its summit in Lisbon, Portugal on November 19-20 reiterated the U.S.-led military bloc’s determination to expand military ...
• North Korea As Pretext: U.S. Builds Asian Military ...
  Stop NATO December 3, 2010 North Korea As Pretext: U.S. Builds Asian Military Alliance Against China And Russia Rick Rozoff On December 1 the U.S. and its South Korean military ally completed four days of naval maneuvers in the Yellow Sea where China claims a 200-mile exclusive economic zone. The U. ...
• U.S. And NATO Prolong And Expand Greater Afghan Wa ...
  Stop NATO December 2, 2010 U.S. And NATO Prolong And Expand Greater Afghan War Rick Rozoff Over 150,000 foreign troops from more than fifty nations will spend another Christmas in Afghanistan. The tenth since the U.S. and Britain invaded the nation on October 7, 2001 and the North Atlantic Treaty Or ...

Before It's News

• Quinoa_and_Black_Bean_Salad
• Oil_speculation_and_futures_prices
• RNC_8217;s_Michael_Steele_to_Step_Down_Today
• Synchronica_and_Am_rica_M_vil_launch_Claro_Messeng ...
• Kids_Shoes_-_small_feet_in_a_shield

Intel Hub

• North Korean State Media Announces Preparation For ...
  Business Insider Joe Weisenthal Pyongyang, December 11 (KCNA) — The war confab of the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean warmongers is, in fact, little short of a declaration of an all-out war aimed at the escalated skirmish, declared a spokesman for the National Peace Committee of Korea in a st ...
• Police State: Everyone Is a Suspect at Walmart, DH ...
  A caller to Walmart is told by customer service that the store is working with Homeland Security to route out âsuspicious behaviourâ including stealing and messing up Walmart displays. Call Walmart and let them know you wonât be shopping there â             1-800-925-6278      . (AD)Prepare Yourself with The Survival ...
• Police Dragged Me From Wheelchair Twice During Pro ...
  The Telegraph By Patrick Sawer A disabled protester is to lodge a complaint against the Metropolitan Police, claiming he was twice dragged out of his wheelchair by riot officers during last week’s chaotic protests against student fees. Jody McIntyre says officers beat him with batons and pulled him ...
• Towards a North American Security Perimeter
  The Intel Hub By Dana Gabriel There are numerous reports circulating that Canada and the U.S. are secretly negotiating a security and trade deal which could be signed as early as January 2011. The proposed agreement would establish a security perimeter as a means to better secure North America and s ...
• WikiLeaks: Texas Company Helped Pimp Little Boys T ...
  Houston Press By John Nova Lomax Another international conflict, another horrific taxpayer-funded sex scandal for DynCorp, the private security contractor tasked with training the Afghan police. While the company is officially based in the DC area, most of its business is managed on a satellite camp ...

FRS

• U.S. Military in Iraq Tries to Intimidate Soldiers ...
  [Many have pointed to the WikiLeaks exposures of US war crimes as the most significant of the disclosures--and the greatest reason for US government efforts to suppress the disclosures (and their messenger, Wikileaks).  This article, from gawker.com, traces some of the specific efforts by the US mil ...
• India: ’Operation NGO Hunt’ in Jharkhand
  [This article from the Indian media exposes the target of government attacks on "Maoists" and "Naxalites" to include adivasis (tribal people) and over 1300 NGOs--advocates of tribal people's rights--in the state of Jharkhand alone.--Frontlines ed.] Mainstream, Vol XLVIII, No 51, December 11, 2010 ’O ...
• UK: Schoolboy warned by “anti-terrorist&#822 ...
  December 10, 2010 The mother of a 12-year-old boy has criticised Thames Valley police for taking her son out of lessons because he was planning to picket David Cameron‘s constituency office today. Nicky Wishart, a pupil at Bartholomew School, Eynsham, Oxfordshire, organised the event on Facebook to ...
• Students, teachers at University of Puerto Rico-Pi ...
  Students at the University of Puerto Rico, a public university that serves 65,000 mostly working class students, have been organizing and mobilizing to defeat a government plan to increase their tuition fee by $800 in January 2011. To protest this attack on their right to education, students sat dow ...
• India: Formation of the People’s Liberation ...
  http://www.thehindu.com/2010/12/05/stories/2010120562591200.htm The Hindu, December 5, 2010   HYDERABAD: When Naxalites announced the formation of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) a decade ago, security agencies dismissed it as an attempt by the rebels to regroup their cadres and propag ...

Ken O'Keefe

• BBC Panorama ‘Death in the Med’ is 100 ...
  This is a letter from Ted (from Liverpool) who pretty much dismantles BBC; please share. Aloha Ted, An absolute joy to read.  I will be spreading this enthusiastically and look forward to seeing how many of the “journalists” at the BBC manage to report the truth about their disgusting propaganda pi ...
• TJP Liberty Report from Gaza ‘Story of Areej ...
  Throughout my time in Palestine I am constantly reminded of how I would feel as a parent to endure not being able to provide all that a child needs.  Whether it be proper food on the table, clean drinking water, schools and supplies or that most basic need of loving security, all of these things [.. ...
• ‘Why I am not writing on Palestine Think Tank anym ...
  Through the fog of deception – By Nahida âWhy I am not writing on Palestine Think Tank anymoreâ PeaceMonger asked ââ¦Nahida, what happened to your article from last year on Palestine Think Tank? â ============================================= In April 2010, after years of association, contribution a ...
• The Strategy of Recognizing Our Enemies, or Why We ...
  The second category of enemies are those who on the surface would appear to be allies - our esteemed fellow conservationists. Unfortunately, Sea Shepherd is the "Lady of the Night" of the conservation movement. Many of our allies do agree with our objectives in the daytime but they don't want to be ...
• TJP Liberty Report from Gaza – Ken O’K ...
  Virtually unreported by the western propaganda machine is the almost daily shootings of Palestinians in the so-called “buffer zone”. This land happens to be the best agricultural land in Gaza and in a state of siege in which 80-90% of the population is reliant upon aid to survive, these shootings ar ...

StillSmallVoice

• Rally for universal health care
  Come join Gov.-elect Dan Malloy and Interfaith Fellowship for Universal Health Care for a 5:30 p.m. rally on Tuesday at Emanuel Lutheran Church, 311 Capitol Ave., in Hartford. The rally is to urge making the implementation of Sustinet a top priority for the new administration. Flickr photo �
• Thank you from the Columbia Cooperative Nursey Sch ...
  On Dec. 3, preschoolers from the school and members of Junior Girl Scout Troop No. 65031 gathered new and gently used coats, hats, and gloves from their neighbors, to be donated to Windham area shelters and social service organizations. The children collected items for three hours in the St. Colu ...
• Since the Tower of Babel...
  ...we all have a piece of the ancient language, said the peoples of Mesopotamia. From Ronald J. Brown, at the New York Public Library blog: ...the ancient peoples also believed that each of the languages spoken in the world was a shard of that shattered vessel of the original God-given language; ...
• Just a bit more on Elizabeth Edwards:
  I know, I know. I already wrote about her here and here and here, but Randy sends this, a David Gibson examination at Politics Daily as to why Elizabeth Edwards, who died last week at age 61, left God out of her final goodbye. Thanks, Randy, for sending the link. AP photo
• A Black Man's Guide to Law Enforcement
  Shafiq Abdussabur, a New Haven police officer, has published a book that's meant to give law enforcement better insight into communities of color. Read Janice Podsada's story here. Photo by Stephen Dunn, for the Courant

Associated Content

• Elizabeth Smart's Captor Found Guilty of Kidnappin ...
  The jury's rejection of the insanity defense in the Brian Mitchell trial follows a trend in recent years toward favoring retribution over treatment.Contributor: Angie Mohr Published: Dec 10, 2010
• Riots in London Over Deficit Reduction Tactic Incr ...
  Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla's motorcade was attacked by rioters in London. What began as a peaceful protest against higher education tuition rates that were tripled by Parliament, turned into a full scale riot. America may face similar....Contributor: R. D. Lamont Published: Dec 10, 2010
• Westboro Baptist Church Conspires to Protest at El ...
  While freedom of speech and expression are constitutional freedoms everyone has, what is the moral or legal standing to slander a public figure at her funeral? Can Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church legally picket Elizabeth Edwards' funeral?Contributor: JC Torpey Published: Dec 10, 2010
• Barbara Walters 10 Most Fascinating People of 2010 ...
  Barbara Walters has chosen General David Petraeus as the most interesting and compelling person of 2010. The choice was revealed last night on her "10 Most Fascinating People of 2010" special. The veteran news personality....Contributor: Hartley Engel Published: Dec 10, 2010
• Prince Charles Attacked by Student Protesters in L ...
  While en route to a variety show in central London Thursday, the Rolls Royce carrying Prince Charles and his wife Camilla was attacked by a band of student protesters, reports CBS News. The couple was....Contributor: Hartley Engel Published: Dec 10, 2010

Popsci - Science

• This Week in the Future, December 6-10, 2010
  This week, Doctor Tentacle appears to be planning an invasion of Central America. Once again, our resident artist Baarbarian has summed up five of this week's most outrageous stories in one illustration. As always, if you are the first to correctly identify all of them in the comments section, you ...
• Video: Smallest Li-Ion Battery Ever Created Swells ...
  Findings could lead to better batteries By building the tiniest functional lithium-ion battery ever, researchers at Sandia National Laboratory have explained why these power sources are so short-lived: their parts engage in an atomic-scale contortion act that leaves them weakened and susceptible to ...
• FYI: How Would NASA Rescue An Astronaut Who Floate ...
  It’s never happened, and NASA feels confident that it never will. For one thing, astronauts generally don’t float free. Outside the ISS, they’re always attached to the spacecraft with a braided steel tether, which has a tensile strength of 1,100 pounds. If it’s a two-person spacewalk, oftentimes th ...
• Making Something From Nothing: Researchers Find Th ...
  It is often said that you can’t get something for nothing, but a handful of scientists from the University of Michigan would beg to differ. Theoretically speaking, they say, you can conjure particles from a vacuum under the right conditions. All you need is an ultra-high-intensity laser, a particle ...
• Scientists Use Stem Cells To Create Mice With Two ...
  Using stem cell technology, scientists have produced male and female mice from two fathers, a breakthrough that could conceivably allow same-sex couples to have their own genetic children. The multi-generational technique combines genes from the chromosomes of two male mice and uses surrogate mothe ...

 Blacklisted NewsImage via Wikipedia

  
  


Image via Wikipedia

• 'It wouldn't be U.S. concern if U.S.S.R sent Jews ...
  The 1973 conversation, recorded on a newly released batch of White House tapes from the final months before Nixon's presidency became consumed by the Watergate affair, took place shortly after the U.S. president had met with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.
• 'Jailed Afghan drug lord CIA informant'
  A top Afghan drug lord jailed in the United States since 2008 has been a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) informant for years, The New York Times reports
• Principle of astrology proven to be scientific: pl ...
  Mention the word "astrology" and skeptics go into an epileptic fit. The idea that someone's personality could be imprinted at birth according to the position of the sun, moon and planets has long been derided as "quackery" by the so-called "scientific" community which resists any notion based on ...
• Market alarm as US fails to control biggest debt i ...
  US Treasuries last week suffered their biggest two-day sell-off since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. The borrowing costs of the government of the world’s largest economy have now risen by a quarter over the past four weeks.
• Tax Exempt Foundations and Think Tanks: The Proces ...
  The hidden influence of tax-exempt foundations and think tanks in the halls of power has dramatically impacted our society, and in turn the world. The Rockefeller dynasty paved the way for eugenics in 20th Century America and heavily influenced the education system. Now Bill Gates’ variou ...

The Intelligence Daily

• U.S. And NATO Allies Escalate Military Buildup Aga ...
  By Rick Rozoff The new Strategic Concept adopted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization at its...
• Mexico: Calderón Tries to “Isolate” Venezuela
  By Weekly News Update on the Americas Mexican president Felipe Calderón has been advising the US on...
• Jobless Recovery? 25 Unemployment Statistics That ...
  By Michael T. Snyder Guess what?  Unemployment is up again!  That’s right – even though...
• Sharon Astyk: The Future of Food – ASPO-USA Confer ...
  By Gail Tverberg Sharon Astyk is a new member of the ASPO-USA board of directors with an amazingly...
• WikiLeaks – State Secrets or Clever Tactics?
  By Claude Salhani Is the US Government Machiavellian enough to orchestrate the recent brouhaha over...

My AntiWar

• Australia: Iran Not Rogue State, Nuke Program &#82 ...
• US Diplomats Broke Laws by Sending Uranium on Comm ...
• Fake WikiLeaks: Pakistan Editor Sacked
• Amazon Cloud Saved WikiLeaks… Until They Wer ...
• Dutch Release Pro-Wikileaks Hacker

CASMII - Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran

• Leaks Suggest Iran Is Now Winning in the Middle Ea ...
  Summary: Iran is winning and Israel is losing. That is the startling conclusion we reach if we consider how things have changed in the Middle East in the two years since most of the WikiLeaks State Department cables about Iran’s regional difficulties were written. source: Truthdigread more
• The US, Iran, Disney and diplomacy
  Summary: Khouri Her one-way admonition on “restoring confidence” is not convincing, given that Iran and many others in the region are deeply dubious of American sincerity in this process, in view of several instances in recent years when the United States had a chance to break through to an agre ...
• War by other means
  Summary: Is there an alternative to diplomacy as war by other means? One -- advocated by countries like Turkey and Brazil -- is diplomacy as the alternative to war. But this would require a negotiating process that included not only a "Western agenda" focussing on Iran's nuclear programme; but ...
• The escalating covert attacks on Iran
  Summary: Car Bomb With a limited number of options, the Americans may have no realistic alternative to engaging with Iran in a serous tension-reduction dialogue. Direct negotiations are decisively advantageous as they may help the Americans withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan without a loss of fa ...
• Swedish FM Carl Bildt: Iran sanctions won't work, ...
  Summary: Bildt and Mottaki Bildt disagreed with Clinton’s view, expressed in our exclusive interview with her two days before, that the international sanctions regime had brought Iran back to the table and was thus having an effect on the Iranian leadership’s decision making. “They were at the t ...

The Daily Galaxy

• A Never-Before-Seen Signal from the Dark Epoch of ...
  "Our goal is to detect a signal from the time of the Epoch of Reionization. We want to pin down when the first galaxies formed and then understand what types of stars existed in them and how they affected their...
• NASA Zooms in on the 1st Carbon-Rich Planet Beyond ...
  Astronomers have discovered that a huge, searing-hot planet orbiting another star is loaded with an unusual amount of carbon. The planet, a gas giant named WASP-12b, is the first carbon-rich world ever observed. The discovery was made using NASA's Spitzer...
• NASA Warns Global Warming Models Wrong -Don't Acco ...
  Top NASA experts say that current climate models predicting global warming are far too gloomy, and have failed to properly account for an important cooling factor which will come into play as CO2 levels rise. According to Lahouari Bounoua of...
• From the 'X Files' Dept: WikiLeaks -"New Diplomati ...
  New leaked diplomatic cables set to be published by Wikileaks will contain fresh details on UFOs, according to the website's founder Julian Assange. The 39 year-old Australian, who is wanted by Interpol over a charge of rape and sexual assault...
• The Daily Galaxy 'Holiday' Contest -Win a Free $50 ...
  Use it towards a purchase of an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Hundreds of Other Apple Products and Accessories. Users of Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon are invited to discover, review and share Daily Galaxy posts you love on...

Natural News

• Interview with Dr Jameth Sheridan, founder of Heal ...
  (NaturalNews) When it comes to superfood formulations, few people have as much technical knowledge and practical experience as Dr Jameth Sheridan, founder of Healthforce Nutritionals (www.Healthforce.com). Dr Sheridan is the creator of the popular superfood products called Vitamineral Green and Vita ...
• General Mills cuts sugar content in children's cer ...
  (NaturalNews) Breakfast cereal giant General Mills recently announced plans to slightly cut the sugar content in its children's cereals in accordance with overall pressures on major food producers to fight childhood obesity and its related diseases by making healthier products. However the company c ...
• Treat depression with omega-3 fatty acids
  (NaturalNews) Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago have confirmed that omega-3 fatty acids exhibit powerful antidepressant and brain boosting benefits that have not received the high level of attention they deserve. The team, led by Dr. John M. Davis, discovered that eicosapentenoi ...
• US life expectancy continues to plummet, but not b ...
  (NaturalNews) A new report published in the journal Health Affairs says the U.S. has dropped to 49th place in overall life expectancy among the nations of the world. The report blames the nation's failing health care system and lack of universal health coverage as the culprit. But the true causes of ...
• Better marketing helps urban agriculture programs ...
  (NaturalNews) Urban market gardens are a great way for inner-city neighborhoods to unite around a common cause and improve the social fabric of their local community -- all while reaping a delicious harvest in the process. And a new study published in the Journal of Natural Resources and Life Scienc ...

Threat Level

• Joining Pro-WikiLeaks Attacks Is as Easy as Clicki ...
  In a Web 2.0 twist in the ongoing attempts to punish Visa, Mastercard, Amazon and PayPal for cutting off donations to WikiLeaks, those seeking revenge by turning their computers into a traffic-flooding zombie no longer even have to download software. Instead they can just visit the right webpage and ...
• Goldman Sachs Programmer Found Guilty of Stealing ...
  A Goldman Sachs programmer was found guilty on Friday of stealing high-speed trading software from his former employer. Sergey Aleynikov, 40, was found guilty in the Southern District of New York on one count of stealing trade secrets and one count of transporting stolen property. He is scheduled to ...
• Pro-WikiLeaks Attacks Sputter After Counterattacks ...
  The attacks by pro-WikiLeaks supporters against companies that cut off services to the secret-spilling website have fallen into disrepair Friday, as the attackers attempt to decide the future of the so-called “Operation Payback.” Much of the organization and communication among the group, which call ...
• Google DoubleClick Caught Serving Malicious Ad
  DoubleClick, the Google-owned ad technology, has been distributing malware in an online ad served through a number of websites, according to the security researcher who says he discovered the attack. The malware infects users who visit a page where an infected banner ad is displayed. It’s installed ...
• Copyright Troll Demands Drudge Report Domain Name
  One of the litigation scare tactics employed by copyright troll Righthaven is it routinely demands allegedly infringing sites to forfeit their domain names. But in private, civil copyright litigation, there is no legal basis for such a demand, even if an allegedly infringing website is ultimately fo ...

PERRspectives : Blog

• Palin Endorses Medicare Rationing
  Fresh off her pronouncements on the Fed's "quantitative easing" and federal aid to the states, Sarah Palin this week added the deficit and Medicare to her Potemkin façade of policy expertise. A year after she first endorsed converting Medicare into a voucher program, Palin took to the pages of the ...
• Billionaires, House Dems Spotlight Estate Tax Give ...
  One day before the House Democratic caucus voiced its opposition to President Obama's tax cut deal with Senate Republicans, Speaker Nancy Pelosi focused on the estate tax as adding insult to injury. But Pelosi isn't alone in shining a spotlight on an estate tax proposal that would drain the U.S. Tr ...
• The Republican War on the States
  For years, American federalism has been characterized by "red state socialism," the one way flow of federal dollars from blue state taxpayers to red state recipients. For example, Sarah Palin's home state of Alaska ranked third in federal tax dollars received per dollar of taxes paid by state resid ...
• FDR on Pearl Harbor, Taxes and Sacrifice
  It is sadly ironic that President Obama held a Pearl Harbor Day press conference to defend his surrender to Republicans over the extension of Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. At a time when the United States is fighting two still-unpaid-for wars, facing staggering budget deficits and struggling to em ...
• Blanche Lincoln's Revenge
  Perhaps the worst part of President Obama's very bad deal on taxes concerns the estate tax. After all, what Ezra Klein deemed "noxious" is a $7 billion annual giveaway to the heirs of the largest fortunes in America. It is estimated that only 0.11% of estates and just 40 family farms and businesse ...

Blackspot News Feed

• The Great Tax Cut Debate - Myths and Facts
  In the lame-duck Congress agenda, perhaps the most substantive debate is over whether to continue tax breaks for the rich. President Obama and most Congressional Democrats want to extend the Bush tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans, everyone making under $250,000. Republicans want to extend the tax ...
• What Landslide?: A Closer Look at the Midterm Elec ...
  By now, everyone has heard of the conservative "tidal wave" that has overtaken Congress and most gubernatorial seats throughout the U.S. Indeed, anyone who has watched mainstream media coverage probably understands the midterm election results as a "rebuke of Obama's policies," with the "Tea Party m ...
• INS Targets Community Leaders, Not Criminals
  When people the world over think of Arizona nowadays, they generally think of Governor Jan Brewer, Sheriff Joe Arpaio or state representative Russell Pearce – the poster children of the state's move toward legalized discrimination and racial profiling. If they are closely following the politics of t ...
• Dancing with Dynamite:How Citizens Can be More Tha ...
  Two years ago, President Obama sailed into the White House on the winds of voters’ desire for widespread social change and their disgust with two wars and a massive recession associated with George W. Bush. Only two years into his presidency and the concurrent Democratic takeover of Congress, howeve ...
• Pope Says Condoms Acceptable 'In Certain Cases'
  Until now, the Vatican had prohibited the use of any form of contraception -- other than abstinence -- even as a guard against sexually transmitted disease.

Consortium News

• NYT Stokes Fears of Iran
  By hyping claims about North Korean missiles in Iran, the New York Times continues its fear mongering, writes Ray McGovern. December 2, 2010
• The Right's Power of Media Money
  In recent decades as the Right poured money into media, the Left opted for other strategies that failed, reports Robert Parry. December 2, 2010
• Gitmo Detainees Given Risky Drug
  Guantanamo Bay prisoners were forced to take an antimalarial drug with risky side effects, say Jason Leopold and Jeffrey Kaye. December 3, 2010
• Flush Republicans Play Hardball
  Backed by money and media, the Republicans flex their political muscle against weakened Democrats, notes Michael Winship. December 2, 2010
• A Full Body Scan for the US Empire
  U.S. officials are furious about the WikiLeaks breach of secrecy, but the disclosures seem like fair turnabout to Phil Rockstroh. December 2, 2010

CounterPunch

• :
• Alexander Cockburn : Autumn of the Driveler
• Carl Ginsburg : Life in the Low to Mid-Teens
• Alexander Cockburn : Loose-Lip McChrystal Did Obam ...
• Alexander Cockburn : He Should Have Kept His Mouth ...

Institute for Middle East Understanding

• US mediation monopoly collapsing (Jillian Kestler ...
  International law must be defined and applied by the world institutions that were established for the purpose, and not by the existing superpower or the party to the conflict that can hir ...
• Adeeb Bbu Rahma released from Ofer Military Prison ...
• 'Our lives became something we'd never dreamt': Th ...
  The book's stark - and inevitably highly political - conclusion is contrary to the view that "Israel is withdrawing from the Palestinian Territories slowly and with the appropriate cautio ...
• Adeeb Abu Rahma, a leader of nonviolent protest, i ...
  Released by the Israeli Occupation Forces today from Ofer Prison is central activist Adeeb Abo Rahma (age 40) who is from the village of Bil'in, after being incarcerated for 18 months, an ...
• Latest Israeli bombing plunges Gaza into darkness ...
  Air strikes by Israeli warplanes at dawn on Thursday caused serious damage to the Gaza Strip's only power plant, plunging the territory -- which already suffers from frequent outages -- into darkness. Media reports said the air strikes hit two sites belonging to Hamas near the Gaza power plant ...

Water - AlterNet

• How Monterey Bay Was Saved from the Brink
  Before Monterey became one of the most celebrated coasts, it was the poster child for industrial devastation.
• The Tragic Death of the Aral Sea
  Large swathes of the Aral Sea has ceded to what is now known as Aralkum desert -- one of the most shocking man-made environmental calamities of the 21st century.
• Melting Glaciers to Bring Floods and Drought
  The third fastest rate of loss is among glaciers in the northwest United States and southwest Canada.
• 5 Fish You Should Eat More Of
  Stories of overfishing and toxic contamination put consumers in a state of confusion and fear at the seafood counter. But there are healthy and sustainable options.
• Reactionary Anti-Immigrant Groups Now Blaming Immi ...
  Center for Immigration Studies Kathleen Parker does little to question the status quo of golf courses, giant casinos and water-intensive agriculture in arid climates.

Public Citizen in Texas

• ERCOT Launched the first phase of NODAL
  The Electric Reliability Council of Texas ran its “one day-ahead market” under the new nodal configuration yesterday and say that, as of last night, the old zonal market has been laid to rest forever. Nodal is a market redesign and technology upgrade designed to enable location-specific pricing at m ...
• Meghana Menon: Re Energize Texas Intern at Public ...
  Public Citizen Texas posted a photo: Meghana Menon majors in Enivronmental Studies at the University of Texas at Austin
• Ali Rawaf: Media and Campaign Finance Intern at Pu ...
  Public Citizen Texas posted a photo: Ali studies Political Science and Int'l Studies at University of Texas at Austin.
• E.P.A. delaying tougher rules on emissions. Are g ...
  In the face of the changes in the political dynamic in Washington, the Obama administration is retreating on long-delayed environmental regulations.  The new rules were set to take effect over the next several weeks, but this move will leave in place policies set by President George W. Bush while it ...
• Flammable water in homes west of Fort Worth!
  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is ordering a natural gas company in Fort Worth to take immediate action to protect people living near one of its drilling operations who have complained about flammable drinking water coming out of their home faucets. Read some of our earlier blogs abo ...

Unexplained Mysteries

• Deer hunter photographs creature in woods
  Speculation is rife over whether the peculiar image could actually be a viral advertisement. Allegedly photographed by a deer hunter and posted on the...
• Neil Armstrong speaks out about moonwalk
  Neil Armstrong has offered new details about the distance he travelled on the moon. On Apollo 11's visit to the moon Armstrong and Aldrin were limited...
• The legend of Jesus' great-grandmother
  Two 14th and 15th century manuscripts have revealed details of Jesus' great-grandmother. St. Ismeria was a beautiful and devout woman who married patr...
• Teenager films "alien" in back yard
  A 16-year-old from Australia has filmed a mysterious creature moving around in his back yard. Alex player claims to have had four encounters with what...
• Kazakhstan to develop elixir of life
  Kazakhstan's president has urged scientists to concentrate their efforts on finding a cure for ageing. 70-year-old Nursultan Nazarbayev said in a stat...

Grassroots

• Setting the Standard for Global Resource Rights De ...
  4420078955_43729050f0_b.jpg The United Nations designates December 10 as International Human Rights Day. At Grassroots International, we give special recognition to the efforts of our partners and allies around the world—but for them, it’s jus ...
• "Miami Rice": The Business of Disaster in Haiti
  Outside Author Info Outside Author Bio:� Beverly Bell is the founder and Coordinating Committee Member and Program Coordinator of Other Worlds, which is a Grassroots International ally. She has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. Grassr ...
• The global forum “For Life, Environmental and Soci ...
  viamarch.jpg By�Cloc/The Via Campesina(Cancún, 5 December 2010) One idea dominated the opening and first working day of the global forum �For Life, Environmental and Social Justice�, organized by La Via Campesina and its allies at their camp i ...
• New Map Shows Concentration of Factory Farms
  Subheadline:� Food & Water Watch Analysis Finds Livestock on Factory Farms Grew by 20 Percent in 5 Years Outside Author Info Outside Author Bio:� Food & Water Watch (a Grassroots International ...
• International Solidarity Cools the Planet
  cancuns.jpg by Sara Mersharead more

Climate

• New York Governor Vetoes Fracking Bill
  Source:� NYT Green Gov. David A. Paterson of New York on Saturday vetoed legislation intended to curtail gas development using hydraulic fracturing until a closer review of its effects can be undertaken.
• BASIC Nations Very Happy with UN Climate Draft: Ra ...
  Source:� Economic Times India said that the BASIC countries were "very happy" with the two draft texts prepared by negotiators on the Kyoto Protocol and a long-term action to combat climate change.
• New Coal Mining Permits Surge in Central Alabama
  Source:� Birmingham News Alabama has released a surge of draft permits for new and expanded strip mines, creating movement on a backlog caused by the EPA's demands for stricter scrutiny of pollution.
• 2010 on Pace to Be Warmest on Record, NASA Says
  Source:� NYT Green An analysis of aglobal temperatures by NASA's Goddard Institute shows 2010 on pace to become the warmest year since the collection of temperature data began 130 years ago.
• Philippines: Mining Firms Urged to Reforest Lands
  Source:� Manila Bulletin In an effort to mitigate the impact of climate change, lawmakers Sunday filed a bill mandating all mining firms to reforest lands and forests affected by their operations.

GreenBiz

• Target Lays Out First Green Goals: 10% Emissions a ...
  Since adding recycling bins at its stores for the first time earlier this year, Target has finalized a set of company-wide goals covering emissions, water and more.
• P&G Unveils First North American Zero-Waste Plant
  Procter & Gamble has announced its first zero-waste-to-landfill manufacturing plant in North America in the latest move towards its goal of becoming a zero-waste company. The company has already achieved zero-waste status for eight manufacturing facilities in other regions, including Belgium and ...
• Target Sets First Emissions and Waste Goals
  Since adding recycling bins at its stores for the first time earlier this year, Target has finalized a set of company-wide goals covering emissions, water and more.
• The Power of One: Coca-Cola
  Bryan Jacob, energy and climate protection manager for Coca-Cola, is in charge of Coke's global effort to reduce the greenhouse gases that are emitted by the company's 10 million vending machines and coolers.
• U.S. Government Launches Clean Energy Export Push
  Eight U.S. government agencies have teamed up to assist renewable energy and energy efficiency exports by providing new funding, easy access to resources and other support.

Reuters Global

• Top 10 from my Nobel night
  The Nobel banquet must be one of the most extravagent annual dinner events on the planet. Every year the organisers allow a few journalists to join the festivities and rub shoulders with prize winners, royalty and other notables. This year, I got to go. The food and wine were certainly fit for a kin ...
• China’s rebalancing act puts consumer to the ...
  China's consumption has been growing. Quite fast, in fact. Yet it still acounts for just a third of GDP, compared with around 60 percent in Europe and about 70 percentin the United States. But that is starting to fundamentally change. A Reuters Special Report by Alan Wheatley, "The Chinese Consumer ...
• This year’s Nobel winner on the importance of a go ...
  The most important thing that ever happened to newly minted Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa? It wasn’t the news two months ago that he had won the prize for literature, or the first time he ever published a book. It was, he said, learning how to read.
• Pakistan talks up al Qaeda/Taliban split
  Pakistan is talking up the possibility of a split between the Taliban and al Qaeda as it tries to refocus the debate over Afghanistan into end goals rather than the means of getting there.
• Does Germany need Europe?
  Jim O'Neill, the new Goldman Sachs Asset Management chairman who is famous for coining the term BRICs, reckons he know why Germany might not be rushing to bail out all the euro zone debt that is under pressure. Europe is not as important to Berlin as it was.

Booman Tribune

• Not Really An Excuse Anymore
  I've said a lot of the same things but that doesn't mean that I agree with the overall point. I don't think the president should morph into "an angry black man" but I do think he needs to start calling the Republicans on their bullshit and showing some scorn, some impatience, and some insistence. ...
• Afternoon Plans Are Ruined
  After getting marooned in Kansas City the Giants find out that the Minneapolis Metrodome has collapsed under the weight of heavy snowfall. I have no idea when they'll be able to play the Vikings, or where. They could play at the University of Minnesota's new stadium but that stadium is outside and ...
• Casual Observation
  I am glad that Dana Milbank has dropped the last facade and come out and openly admitted his contempt for liberals. It had been a while since he was really fooling anyone. Yeah, I know he has a new book out that mocks Glenn Beck. But Milbank is a prep-school Eli with a Skull & Bones pedigree, and ...
• Sunday Morning Open Thread
  How is everyone this morning? We went out to a holiday party last night (our first night out without the baby), and Finny had a grand time with his Grammy. It looks like we kept BooMan out past his bedtime, though - he's still sleeping! :) Discuss
• YouTube Thread
  I'm out for the night. Here is something for you to enjoy. Discuss

European Tribune

• European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 13 ...
  �A Daily Review Of International Online Media�Space on this date in history:1972 - Eugene Cernan...
• Sunday Open thread
  For one day only...
• European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 1 ...
  �A Daily Review Of International Online Media�Europe on this date in history:1582 - adoption of...
• Saturday Open Thread
  Saturday afternoon is Saturday afternoon. Discuss....
• European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - ...
  �A Daily Review Of International Online Media�Europeans on this date in history:1803 - birth of...

Futurismic

• Personal Information: episode 24
  Personal Information is a new serial sci-fi webcomic from Sarah “Does Not Equal” Ennals. Follow Futurismic on Twitter for more nuggets of near-future fun and weirdness! Share and Enjoy:Follow Futurismic on Twitter for more nuggets of near-future fun and weirdness!
• Arguments against life extension
  Via Michael Anissimov, here’s a spectacularly empty diatribe against “deathhackers” by TechCrunch‘s Paul Carr. Carr objects to the idea of radical life extension as advocated by transhumanists, which is fair enough, but as written here most of his objections seem to boil down to personal distate tow ...
• Daddy, where does innovation come from?
  Plenty of folk have been linking to this excerpt from Matt Ridley’s new book The Rational Optimist, and with good reason – it’s a provocative piece that plays to advocates (and opponents) of free trade, open exchange, copyright reform and much more. The basic thesis? The one persistent factor that h ...
• Replacement arms: mechanical or biological?
  Prosthetic limbs are still in their infancy, but there’s a lot of progress being made: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory is working with Darpa (who else?), and has a research grant for trying out their mind-controlled modular prosthetic arm on five test subjects over the next couple of years ...
• How to be a futurist
  The irrepressible Scott “Basic Instructions” Meyer has the lowdown if you’re thinking of a career in futurism: Click through for the whole thing. But take it from me, being a futurist is a lot of work for no money. Or maybe that’s just the way I do it… and I’ve never been featured in a [...]Follow F ...

Therapy News

• The Dr. Phil Phenomenon: Where Good T.V. and Good ...
  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline As Dana Udall-Weiner, PhD points out in a recent Psych Central blog post, the pop-culture counseling of the Dr. Phil show may make for good television, but it gives people a skewed sense of what to expect in a therapy session. Human beings are complex, and uncovering ...
• Flight Patterns: The Story of Les and Mimi. Chapte ...
  By Gretta Keene LCSW and Bill Murray PhD, Family Problems Topic Expert Contributors Click here to contact Gretta and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile Click here to contact Bill and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile Use Who You Are to Change How You Are A Keene Murray Therapy Approach to Family P ...
• The Profound Impact of Human Connection
  A GoodTherapy.org News Summary Many people are so unhappy that they find a therapist or counselor to work through their struggles. Plenty more people are content enough with their lives. But some are truly happy. Where does that happiness come from? Does money buy it? Self-confidence? Safety? Suppor ...
• Santa Was an Artist
  By Barbara ‘Basia’ Mosinski, LCAT, ATR-BC, MA, MFA Art Therapy Topic Expert Contributor Click here to contact Basia and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile Santa Claus lived long ago in a far away land, far from the United States, in the hills of Bavaria before Thomas Nast drew the first caricature ...
• Time and Transformation
  By Nicole S. Urdang, M.S., NCC, DHM, Holistic Psychotherapy Topic Expert Contributor Click here to contact Nicole and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile. There is something appealing about the old saying, “When life hands you lemons make lemonade.” As unpoetic as it may be, I would add, just give y ...

Mountaintop Removal

• New coal mining permits surge in central Alabama, ...
  al.com (blog) New coal mining permits surge in central Alabama, especially in Black Warrior ... al.com (blog) EPA's scrutiny of mining grew out of the controversial practice of "mountaintop removal" as it is employed in Kentucky and West Virginia, Gidiere said. ...
• Most Major Banks Still Fund Mountaintop Removal Mi ...
  Treehugger Most Major Banks Still Fund Mountaintop Removal Mining, Report Finds Treehugger But the real question is -- are their anti-mountaintop removal lending policies any good? The NRDC just issued a report with some not-so-surprising results: ...
• Share Your Story To Help Stop Mountaintop Removal ...
  Care2.com (blog) Share Your Story To Help Stop Mountaintop Removal Mining Care2.com (blog) ... of mountaintop removal mining. The Mountain Heroes series is a chance for all Americans to hear the stories of people who live near mountain top removal ...
• EPA won't release Spruce Mine alternatives study - ...
  Charleston Gazette (blog) EPA won't release Spruce Mine alternatives study Charleston Gazette (blog) And we've also noted the promise of EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson (above) that her agency's handling of mountaintop removal issues would be a model of ... and more��
• Successful and reviled Massey CEO retires in weeks ...
  Kansas City Star Successful and reviled Massey CEO retires in weeks BusinessWeek But environmental activist Larry Gibson, who has long battled Massey and the practice of mountaintop removal coal mining, said there was one thing ... Massey CEO Don Blankenship to retire Dec. 30Bloomberg Massey CEO Do ...

Memeorandum

• John Boehner: Obama disrespectful to me (Jake Sher ...
  Jake Sherman / The Politico: John Boehner: Obama disrespectful to me  —  John Boehner thinks President Barack Obama is engaging, smart and brilliant but also remains smarted by the president accusing him of taking taxpayers hostage to secure a tax break for the rich.  —  In an interview with Lesli ...
• Sweden suicide bomber: Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly ...
  Telegraph: Sweden suicide bomber: Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly was living in Britain  —  An Islamic suicide bomber who attacked Christmas shoppers in Sweden at the weekend is a British university graduate and was living in this country until two weeks ago.  —  The suicide bomb in Stockholm is thoug ...
• Reality Check - The failed attempt by the U.S. to ...
  Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times: Reality Check  —  The failed attempt by the U.S. to bribe Israel with a $3 billion security assistance package, diplomatic cover and advanced F-35 fighter aircraft — if Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu would simply agree to a 90-day settlements freeze to resume tal ...
• Nadler: Obama gave in to 'a bunch of gangsters' in ...
  Vicki Needham / The Hill: Nadler: Obama gave in to ‘a bunch of gangsters’ in tax deal with GOP  —  Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) called Republicans “a bunch of gangsters” who blackmailed Democrats to ensure that the nation's wealthiest retain their tax cuts.  —  Nadler, appearing Sunday morning on C ...
• West Village YMCA axes Santa Claus for Frosty (New ...
  New York Post: West Village YMCA axes Santa Claus for Frosty  —  Tweet  —  He's a lost Claus.  —  A politically correct West Village YMCA has fired Ol' St. Nick in favor of Frosty.  —  Kids who once thrilled at sitting on Santa's lap at the 14th Street McBurney YMCA's wildly popular annual holiday ...

Energy & Environment News

• Green: New York Governor Vetoes Fracking Bill
  Gov. David A. Paterson instead issued an executive order that more clearly defined the types of gas drilling that the state wants to scrutinize before issuing permits.
• New Backing for Gas Line Through Asia
  Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to build a pipeline that would carry gas from Turkmenistan through the Afghan war zone.
• Rigs in Gulf Ready to Drill, but There’s Li ...
  A slow permit process has idled oil rigs and threatened prospects for rig owners, despite the end of the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Ford Starts to Ship an Electric Delivery Van
  The Transit Connect is Ford’s first electric vehicle, coming to market about a year before it plans to challenge the Leaf and the Volt with a battery-powered car, the Focus Electric.
• Chinese Tycoon Focuses on Green Construction
  Zhang Yue advocates limits on greenhouse gases that would also benefit his company, a maker of air-conditioners.

5+ quakes - 7 days

• M 6.2, Bougainville region, Papua New Guinea
  Monday, December 13, 2010 01:14:43 UTCMonday, December 13, 2010 11:14:43 AM at epicenterDepth: 146.90 km (91.28 mi)
• M 5.1, near the north coast of New Guinea, Papua N ...
  Saturday, December 11, 2010 22:11:08 UTCSunday, December 12, 2010 08:11:08 AM at epicenterDepth: 22.00 km (13.67 mi)
• M 5.0, South Sandwich Islands region
  Saturday, December 11, 2010 20:35:04 UTCSaturday, December 11, 2010 06:35:04 PM at epicenterDepth: 63.60 km (39.52 mi)
• M 5.1, south of the Fiji Islands
  Saturday, December 11, 2010 17:13:29 UTCSunday, December 12, 2010 05:13:29 AM at epicenterDepth: 1.00 km (0.62 mi)
• M 5.1, Pakistan
  Saturday, December 11, 2010 15:34:31 UTCSaturday, December 11, 2010 08:34:31 PM at epicenterDepth: 34.60 km (21.50 mi)

China Dialogue

• “There is no alternative to the UN”
  Robert Orr is assistant secretary-general at the United Nations. As Cancún moves into its final hours, he tells Meng Si and Lu Sicheng there is still everything to play for.Robert Orr is assistant secretary-general for policy planning in the executive office of the secretary-general of the United Na ...
• In Mali, the growing reality
  As climate change takes hold, the entire debate about Africa and aid will shift from one dominated by charity and post-imperial responsibility to one framed primarily around environmental justice, writes Madeleine Bunting.Ten years ago, I ended up on the mud flats of the Nile delta with a water engi ...
• Seeing the wood
  Climate-change negotiators are right to focus on forests – they offer a path to adaptation as well as carbon storage, Lu Zhi tells Yang Fangyi. Lu Zhi is the founder of China’s Shan Shui Conservation Center and professor of conservation biology at Peking University. In conversation with Yang F ...
• The multilateral zombie
  Sick but not quite dead, the UN climate process stumbles on. Credible global strategies for reducing emissions must be readied for the moment the politics change, argues Alex Evans.A year on from Copenhagen, things aren’t looking good. Immediately after the 2009 negotiations, some of the more optimi ...
• Moving past Mexico
  Whether the Cancún climate summit succeeds or founders may not matter, writes Andrew Pendleton. Long-term progress depends on national politics.The last time Cancún played host to a major inter-governmental summit was in 2003. Then, the fifth ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation colla ...

AlterNet Top Stories

• The Fed Lied About Wall Street
  The data from the Federal Reserve audit is full of frightening revelations about U.S. economic policy and those who implement it. When Wall Street went off the rails in the fall of 2008, policymakers told the public we had a certain kind of problem, knowing all along that the actual nature of the pr ...
• Baby Steps Made at Climate Summit Pale in Comparis ...
  "All of us will be affected by the lack of ambition and political will of a small group of countries," concluded one NGO.
• How to Have an Open Relationship
  Exploring open relationships can change our assumptions about intimacy and empowerment.
• Phone Companies' $100 Billion Rip-off -- Where Is ...
  The phone companies are soaking all of us for a good chunk of money every month, and they're allowed to conceal it in the fine print of your monthly bill.
• 5 Awards For the World's Most Heinous Climate Vill ...
  As the world heats up and extreme weather increases there are a bunch of high-profile people who just don't get it, are handsomely rewarded not to get it, or both.

Threat Level

• Joining Pro-WikiLeaks Attacks Is as Easy as Clicki ...
  In a Web 2.0 twist in the ongoing attempts to punish Visa, Mastercard, Amazon and PayPal for cutting off donations to WikiLeaks, those seeking revenge by turning their computers into a traffic-flooding zombie no longer even have to download software. Instead they can just visit the right webpage and ...
• Goldman Sachs Programmer Found Guilty of Stealing ...
  A Goldman Sachs programmer was found guilty on Friday of stealing high-speed trading software from his former employer. Sergey Aleynikov, 40, was found guilty in the Southern District of New York on one count of stealing trade secrets and one count of transporting stolen property. He is scheduled to ...
• Pro-WikiLeaks Attacks Sputter After Counterattacks ...
  The attacks by pro-WikiLeaks supporters against companies that cut off services to the secret-spilling website have fallen into disrepair Friday, as the attackers attempt to decide the future of the so-called “Operation Payback.” Much of the organization and communication among the group, which call ...
• Google DoubleClick Caught Serving Malicious Ad
  DoubleClick, the Google-owned ad technology, has been distributing malware in an online ad served through a number of websites, according to the security researcher who says he discovered the attack. The malware infects users who visit a page where an infected banner ad is displayed. It’s installed ...
• Copyright Troll Demands Drudge Report Domain Name
  One of the litigation scare tactics employed by copyright troll Righthaven is it routinely demands allegedly infringing sites to forfeit their domain names. But in private, civil copyright litigation, there is no legal basis for such a demand, even if an allegedly infringing website is ultimately fo ...

Reuters - Most Popular Articles

• Dutchman held over sexual abuse of up to 50 childr ...
  AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch police said Sunday they had arrested a 27-year-old man on suspicion of sexually abusing up to 50 children at childcare centers in Amsterdam, and for the distribution of child pornography.
• Three New Orleans policemen convicted in Katrina d ...
  NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A federal jury on Thursday convicted three current and former New Orleans police officers in the shooting death and burning of a man in the chaotic days following the devastating Hurricane Katrina.
• Austrian banker Kohn was Madoff "victim" - lawyer
  VIENNA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Austrian banker Sonja Kohn, accused in a U.S. lawsuit of being Bernard Madoff's "criminal soul mate", was instead a victim of the man behind the biggest fraud in financial history, her lawyer in Vienna said.
• Swedish police probe blasts as "terror crimes"
  STOCKHOLM, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Swedish police said on Sunday they were investigating two bomb blasts that hit Stockholm's city centre on Saturday night as "terror crimes", and they had established good leads in the probe.
• Murdered Alabama children were tortured: documents
  BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Chase DeBlase and his sister Natalie endured cruelty and torture before their father John DeBlase allegedly murdered them and dumped their bodies, according to court documents.

IntelNews

• News you may have missed #459 (Russia edition)
  Son of CIA double spy strikes deal with FBI. Moscow warns UK of tit-for-tat expulsions. Kim Philby honored by plaque at Moscow FSB HQ. Continue reading →
• Even more underreported WikiLeaks revelations
  It appears increasingly likely that Sweden will extradite Julian Assange to the United States, where the WikiLeaks founder will face espionage charges. But the WikiLeaks revelations keep coming, although not all of them receive the worldwide media attention that they deserve. Take for instance the d ...
• News you may have missed #458
  More arrests of alleged Russian agents in Georgia. Iran defector says Tehran hosted N. Korean techs. Spy scandal MP helped second Russian woman stay in UK. Continue reading →
• Some spy news in the shadow of WikiLeaks’ re ...
  The WikiLeaks revelations continue, and so does the global news storm concerning the whistleblower site. Obviously, the news value of the WikiLeaks disclosures is unquestionable. However, there are notable intelligence-related developments taking place outside the now-familiarWikiLeaks context. Con ...
• FBI allegedly looking for Russian spy inside NSA
  American counterintelligence investigators are allegedly trying to uncover at least one Russian-handled double agent operating inside the US National Security Agency (NSA), according to information published on Wednesday. Continue reading →

War is a Crime.org

• VIDEO: Congressman Jim McDermott Supports Wikileak ...
  After Rep. Ron Paul, Rep. Jim McDermott may be only the second member of Congress to speak in support of Wikileaks. He cites Coleen Rowley's op-ed, which argued that Wikileaks might have prevented 9-11. From Washington Stakeout Jesse Freeston of The Real News joined us on the Stakeout this weekend, ...
• Forget Wikileaks--What about NASAleaks? Is NASA a ...
  NASA sold computers with sensitive data, report says CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA failed to delete sensitive data on computers and hard drives before selling the equipment as part of its plan to end the Space Shuttle program, an audit released on Tuesday shows. NASA is getting rid of tho ...
• WAR. WIKILEAKS. PROTEST: WHY NEW EVIDENCE DEMAN ...
  While only a tiny fraction of the U.S. diplomatic cables scheduled for publication by Wikileaks have thus far been made available, some conclusions can already be drawn. These cables and the Iraq and Afghan War Diaries provide an opportunity for Americans to see our government for what it is. Our go ...
• ASSANGE ACCUSER WORKED WITH US-FUNDED, CIA TIED AN ...
  By Kirk James Murphy, MD From FireDogLake | Original Article\ Yesterday Alexander Cockburn reminded us of the news Israel Shamir and Paul Bennett broke at Counterpunch in September. Julian Assange’s chief accuser in Sweden has a significant history of work with anti-Castro groups, at least one of ...
• US RESPONSE TO WIKILEAKS: DIPLOMACY AS ANOTHER ME ...
  By Debra Sweet From World Can't Wait | Original Article World Can't Wait has put a big part of our efforts in 2010 to promoting the revelations brought forth by wikileaks.ch (note url change) as a means of exposing the illegitimate US occupations of Iraq & Afghanistan. The latest "Cablegate" releas ...

Grist - News

• Climate talks make progress as Bolivia demands mor ...
  by Agence France-Presse. CANCUN -- The world's climate negotiators on Thursday inched toward compromise on fighting deforestation and assisting poor nations, even as Bolivia's firebrand leader demanded more aggressive action. With one day left for the U.N.-led talks in Mexico, South African Pres ...
• Guarded hope at U.N. climate talks
  by Agence France-Presse. CANCUN, Mexico -- Negotiators on climate change were raising their hopes Sunday after signs of modest progress in Mexico, but a dispute over the future of the Kyoto Protocol threatened to derail momentum. The 194-nation talks at the Caribbean resort city of Cancun were ...
• Cancun climate talks hit bump thanks to Japan and ...
  by Agence France-Presse. CANCUN, Mexico -- World climate talks struck a sour note on their third day Wednesday as Japan was accused of weakening the campaign for a post-2012 treaty by retreating from the landmark Kyoto Protocol. With negotiators laboring to unblock a complex, interlinked two-tr ...
• Obama extends drilling ban in wake of BP spill
  by Agence France-Presse. WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has reversed a decision to expand oil exploration off U.S. coasts and, in the wake of the BP spill, will extend a deepwater drilling ban in certain areas through 2017, the administration said on Wednesday. The move, announced by Inter ...
• Worldchanging’s bright green contribution
  by Jonathan Hiskes. Rumors have been floating around for a while, but on Monday the unfortunate fact became public: the sustainability news and advocacy site Worldchanging is shutting down. The 501c3 non-profit will dissolve by the end of the year, though the hope is to preserve its seven-year o ...

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Technorati - What's Hot in Blogs

• The Rubberbandits "Horse Outside"
  The Rubberbandits new single, "Horse Outside"
• Flash Is Going To Kill Granny! - The Hate Flash Me ...
  Did a bad Flash pop-up ad traumatize you as a child? Another tech meme spread for our own good?
• Life Settlement Mistakes
  Mistakes to avoid in a life settlement transaction.
• Report: Twitter Establishing European Headquarters ...
  British Office to Open in 2001, With Former Google Employee at the Helm
• How U.S. Students are Competing on the World Stage
  U.S. employment eligibility in the world arena depends on the quality of our next generation's education.

Time - Top Stories

• Sarah Palin's Haiti Visit: Blink and You'd Miss It
  The former Alaska governor pays a lightning visit to the troubled Caribbean nation with Fox News in tow, but most of the locals didn't notice
• Terror Attacks Shake Sweden Out of its Calm
  A society accustomed to seeing wars and political violence as problems that affect others wakes up to a new menace at home
• Shut Out by Mubarak, Egypt's Opposition Considers ...
  With the regime's conduct of the recent election closing off the parliamentary avenue, opposition parties coalesce into a democracy movement
• Box Office: Yawns for Narnia, Tsouris for The Tour ...
  Box Office: Yawns for Narnia, Tsouris for The Tourist
• Red Sea Shark Attacks: Killing Spree Puzzles Scien ...
  In an eerie echo of the 1975 movie, tourism-conscious local Egyptian officials called a tragically premature all clear. But the Red Sea shark wave has scientists puzzled

Farming Pathogens

• Vote Farming Pathogens
  Farming Pathogens post ‘The Alan Greenspan Strain’ is nominated for a 3 Quarks Daily award for political blogging. Public voting is open today until 11:59pm EST. Vote here. The successful nominations out of the round of public voting will be judged by Lewis Lapham, of Harper’s and Lapham’s Quarterly ...
• Grainmorrah
  I gave the following presentation Friday night at Give & Take, an interactive show and tell happy hour held monthly at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis. Both informative and a lot of fun. Even our ancestors, without a smartphone among them, played like kids on the harvest moon. But fair warning: histo ...
• Help/Harm
  Many of us only reluctantly accept one of life’s toughest lessons. In the course of doing our very best to make a better world–decades all blood, sweat and tears in the face of hideous odds–we may discover ourselves really fouling a few things up. The road to hell, etc., etc. Never realizing our mis ...
• Virus Dumping
  Man came to shake my hand / and rob me of my farm –Ryan Bingham Dumping grain on another country is a classic maneuver in economic warfare. When a country’s borders are opened by force or by choice, by structural adjustment or by neoliberal trade agreement, when tariffs and other forms of protection ...
• We Can Think Ourselves into a Plague
  The power of the mind is a New Age staple. But, really, can I concentrate enough to levitate myself (much less get my laundry done today)? The materialist answers, funny you mention it, but, yeah, you can. A few minds thought through the ideas that produced the airplane and perhaps soon enough the p ...

Suzie-Q

• One November’s Dead: The American War Dead Disappe ...
  by Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com, Dec 7, 2010 America’s heroes?  Not so much.  Not anymore.  Not when they’re dead, anyway. Remember as the invasion of Iraq was about to begin, when the Bush administration decided to seriously enforce a Pentagon ban, in existence since the first Gulf War, on media ...
• Happy Holidays!
  Ray Charles — Merry Christmas Baby, at The Monastery Of Ettal, Germany, 1979.
• Blowing Billions on War While American Workers Go ...
  by Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe, The Huffington Post,  Dec 5, 2010 When asked by USA Today‘s pollsters last week, sixty-eight percent of Americans said we worry that the cost of the Afghanistan War hurts our ability to fix problems here in the U.S. This week, we learned just how right we were ...
• Noam Chomsky: The Charade of Israeli-Palestinian T ...
  By Noam Chomsky, In These Times, Dec 2, 2010 It is hardly a secret that for 35 years the U.S. and Israel have stood virtually alone in opposition to a consensus on a political settlement that is close to universal. Washington’s pathetic capitulation to Israel while pleading for a meaningless three-m ...
• War Dominated US Foreign Policy Is Destroying the ...
  Join Peace Vet-Led Protest at White House on December 16th by Kevin Zeese, Dissident Voice,  December 9th, 2010 The White House is in the midst of a strategic review of Afghanistan. This review is coming at a time when the reality is hard to ignore: Afghanistan cannot be won, the cost is escalating ...

Solari

• Obama’s Sellout on Taxes
  By Michael Hudson Game Plan for a Flat Tax, Social Security Cutbacks and Austerity I almost feel naïve for being so angry at President Obama’s betrayal of his campaign promises regarding taxes. I had never harbored much hope that he actually intended to enact the reforms that his supporters expecte ...
• Julian Assange’s Lawyers ‘Preparing Fo ...
  By Steven Morris Legal team for WikiLeaks founder says Washington may be planning to invoke Espionage Act to indict their client. Lawyers acting for Julian Assange, the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, said today they are preparing for a possible indictment by the US authorities. Jennifer Robinson sai ...
• 6 Companies That Haven’t Wussed Out on WikiL ...
  By Tana Ganeva As more and more companies bend under government pressure, a few are standing up for the site. Giants like PayPal, Amazon.com, Visa and MasterCard almost instantly crumbled under government (and p.r.) pressure to drop WikiLeaks, depriving the site of vital funding sources and online ...
• Franklin Sanders on Silver
  What are the last four words you are most likely to hear shortly before you lose vast amounts of money?  “It’s different this time.”  Those are the words I am hearing from people who object to swapping silver for gold & believe that by the end of this week silver will reach $600 an ounce. -Frankl ...
• University Tuition Fees in Europe and North Americ ...
  By David Cutler Parliament votes Thursday on plans to raise tuition fees for university students, an issue which has split the Liberal Democrats and provoked unrest. Student demonstrations, sometimes violent, have erupted in London and other major cities against proposals to almost triple tuition fe ...

Insurgency Watch - Newswire

• Times Scare
  ISLAMABAD–The apparent links between Pakistan and Faisal Shahzad are certainly cause for concern, but let’s not lose site of things here. The attack in Times Square was a fizzle. The rush to claim credit is a bit embarassing for the TTP and looks like it was — like the attack itself — a rush job. [. ...
• 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 AfghanistanSri Lanka Gu ...
• 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��

AlterNet - Rights and Liberties

• Budding Prospects: Youth Activists Push Marijuana ...
  Fueled by serious funds, young advocates of legalization are poised for big gains.
• Why These Are Times of Crisis for Global LGBT Equa ...
  Dispatches from an international conference of activists fighting for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex equality.
• The 6 Most Shocking Cases of Police Stun-Gun Abuse
  Some of the most egregious examples of taser abuse by police around the country, illustrating why the willy-nilly increase of taser use is terrible for citizens.
• Islamic 'Pipeline to Extremism' Turns Out to Be Mo ...
  The railroading of suspects into the justice system is reminiscent of tactics used by the FBI and prosecutors during the era of McCarthyism and COINTELPRO.
• How Comcast, AT&T and Big Telecoms Threaten th ...
  If big internet service providers have their way, they'll be able to choose which artists you get to hear and see on the media platforms from which art goes viral.

Sideways News

• Could you be a 10:10 community champion?
  The Guardian Newspaper and Franny Armstrong, through the Guardian 10:10 campaign, challenge organisations and individuals to cut their carbon footprint by 10%.
• Brit mums strict about eco-chores
  Families in the UK are increasingly likely to be nagged about doing eco-chores, a new study conducted on behalf of the Energy Saving Trust has revealed.
• UK venue offers rainforest weddings
  Getting married in a luscious rainforest has never been easier or more eco-friendly, according to the Eden Project.
• Battery recycling 'too difficult'
  The European Recycling Platform (ERP) reports that while only a third of households at present recycle batteries, four out of five said they would do so if it was made easier.
• 10 green resolutions to save you money
  By taking green steps at home, you can save money and make life easier. Being smart about waste, consumption and resources won't only win you the thanks of forthcoming generations: you'll feel the financial benefit immediately. 1. Make money from old electronics As your electronic goods become obsol ...

Fabius Maximus

• Second thoughts by 2 major boosters of the Af-Pak ...
  Summary:   Guest author Bernard Finel discusses yet another think-tank report giving prescriptions for the Af-Pak War.  But this one is a surprise, a serious walk-back by one of the powerful institutional advocates of our foreign wars.  Perhaps they’re cutting their losses and gearing up for t ...
• The insight that must precede reform of America: t ...
  Summary:  The last few weeks have produced news confirming that the Constitution is dead, the still heart of the Republic.  Realistic planning for reform must start with that grim fact or remain pie-in-the-sky fantasy. From the mailbag:  “There is only one peaceful solution to our great crisis, f ...
• The story of the early 21st century: the future a ...
  Summary:  This is the first in a series looking at the US and global situations.   Here  we look at one of the large processes ending the post-WWII era — the leveraging and deleveraging of the developed nations.  It’s as much a psychological and political process as an economic one.  It’s a ...
• The latest jobs news, watching the recovery in act ...
  Summary:   Corporate profits are strong.  Spending by the rich is skyrocketing (look at art prices).  The Republican’s top objective is extending the tax cuts for the rich and cutting social security and medicare benefits for everybody else.  So the economy must be doing fine, with excellent jo ...
• The home-grown aspect of the jihadist menace
  Summary:  Much of our home-grown terrorism results from the government’s careful nurturing, clearly seen in the many cases since 9-11.  It’s yielded a full harvest:  a fearful and tame public.  Here are some of these stories. Domestic jihadist terrorists since 9-11 comes in several forms.  Mo ...

Open Your Eyes News

• One million petition EU to halt GM crop approvals
  Reuters- Campaigners presented a petition of more than a million signatures to the EU executive on Thursday, demanding a halt to approvals of new genetically modified (GM) crops. The petition is seen as a test case for the “European citizen’s initiative,” introduced under the EU’s new constitutional ...
• U.S. Posts $150.4 Billion November Budget Deficit
  Wall St Journal – The U.S. government ran its 26th straight monthly budget deficit in November amid wrangling over a package that would extend big tax cuts to Americans trying to recover from recession. The Treasury Department, in its regular budget monthly statement, said the government spent $150. ...
• Cables show Ireland irked Vatican on sovereignty
  Associated Press â Newly released U.S. diplomatic cables indicate that the Vatican felt “offended” that Ireland failed to respect Holy See “sovereignty” by asking high-ranking churchmen to answer questions from an Irish commission probing decades of sex abuse of minors by clergy. That the Holy See ...
• Wholegrains reduce stroke by as much as drugs: res ...
  Daily Telegraph – Researchers asked 200 people to eat a diet with three portions of whole grains per day or none. A diet high in fibre is known to reduce blood cholesterol and improve digestive health. It was found that the diet rich in wholegrains reduced blood pressure. Read article
• China inflation rises again
  Financial Times – Chinese inflation jumped again in November to over 5 per cent, putting pressure on the authorities to raise interest rates and further rein in the huge monetary stimulus of the last two years. The consumer price index rose by 5.1 per cent in November, higher than expected and up fr ...

The Progressive Realist

• A Hell of a Heel
  Andrew Exum’s observations from a trip to Afghanistan are interesting, but this paragraph contains about 90 percent of what I think you need to know: We have two “Achilles heels” in the current strategy: Afghan governance and insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan. What these two weaknesses have in comm ...
• Leaders Urge Senate to Ratify New START Before Yea ...
  Yesterday, more than 30 leading civil, scientific and religious leaders sent a letter to Sens. Harry Reid, Richard Durbin and Charles Schumer urging them to move New START forward before the end of the year.  “Failure to act on the New START treaty this year would undermine the country’s national ...
• How China, Rest of World Can Get Along
  For years much of Asia and the rest of the world had thought -- or at least wished -- that China's ascent as an economic superpower would be a "peaceful rise" full of "win-win" solutions reflecting the country's oft-stated desire for a "harmonious world." There were reasons for such hope. Over the l ...
• Cancun Conference a Success In Spite of Oil Compan ...
  CANCUN, Mexico — Most observers agree that the Cancun deal is a tremendous achievement for UN climate process and a testament to the dogged diplomacy of the tireless Mexican hosts. After reaching what was a seemingly impassable divide over the future of the Kyoto Protocol, negotiators worked into th ...
• Do Arab States Really Want the U.S. to Attack Iran ...
  [The] cables reveal how Iran's ascent has unified Israel and many longtime Arab adversaries — notably the Saudis — in a common cause. Publicly, these Arab states held their tongues, for fear of a domestic uproar and the retributions of a powerful neighbor. Privately, they clamored for strong acti ...

TAPPED - The American Prospect

• Lightning Round: A Conspicuous Lack of Dog-Whistle ...
  As Jamelle and Brendan Nyhan correctly observe, the president making filibuster reform a major priority would go a long ways towards reconnecting the Professional Left to his administration. The reason is because liberals, unlike conservatives, conspicuously lack dog-whistle politics. If the presid ...
• The Little Picture: Déjà Vu.
  (Flickr/Brent Danley) Former President Bill Clinton, who today conducted the White House press briefing to voice his support for Obama's tax deal.
• No One Will Cut the Queen's Budget.
  Across the pond, our special friends in the United Kingdom are facing a snipey debate over budget cuts. This includes increases on student tuition that have sent young folks into the streets, where they attacked a limousine carrying the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall: On Regent Street ...
• The U.S. Senate Alignment Chart.
  Happy Friday. -- Jamelle Bouie and Adam Serwer
• Limiting Access to Abortion.
  Via Kay Steiger, the Guttmacher Institute rounds up the ways in which states are curbing access to abortion in advance of the establishment of health-care exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. Many states already restrict the ways in which private insurers can cover abortion, but some states ...

Buzzflash

• The $7 Billion New Nuke Attack on Taxpayers
  HARVEY WASSERMAN FOR BUZZFLASH The White House and nuclear power industry are on the brink of grabbing $7 billion in new taxpayer-funded loan guarantees for new reactors.  But they can be stopped (www.nukefree.org). Taxpayer and environmental (www.nirs.org) groups are asking citizens to call th ...
• How Obama Alienated His Base: Let Me Count the Way ...
  JACQUELINE MARCUS FOR BUZZFLASH Like Bush, never signed the Kyoto Treaty Fearing GOP, kept Bush's polluting emission standards Never prosecuted Bush war crimes of practicing torture, never so much as investigated those crimes; holding detainees indefinitely at Guantanamo ...
• Mitch McConnell May be Chinless But Lately He Hasn ...
  TONY PEYSER FOR BUZZFLASH Mitch McConnell may be Chinless But lately he hasn't been Winless. President Obama appears to Shine less Sadly seeming to be supremely Spineless.read more
• People Want a President Who Takes a Strong Stand a ...
    MARK KARLIN, BUZZFLASH EDITOR FOR TRUTHOUT Remember the old cliche about the optimist seeing a glass that is half full, while the pessimist views it as half empty? That's basically the analogy for whether or not you buy President Obama's lacerating attack on progressives yesterday. Obama argues th ...
• Can We Reignite the Spirit of '08?
  BOB KOEHLER FOR BUZZFLASH   The candidate of soaring hope turns out to govern as a middle-of-the-road Republican, progressive - "socialist" - only in the labels of vilification stuck on him by his opponents. The great uprising of spirit that swept Barack Obama into office in 2008 has dissipated ...

Glenn Greenwald - Salon

• Anti-WikiLeaks lies and propaganda - from TNR, Lau ...
  The New Republic, Matt Lauer, Dianne Feinstein, others lead a demonization campaign against the whistle-blowers
• The lawless Wild West attacks WikiLeaks
  That the whistle-blowing site has been charged with no crime is no barrier to severely punishing it
• WikiLeaks debate with Steven Aftergood
  Examining WikiLeaks with a transparency advocate and harsh critic of the whistle-blowing site
• More Joe Lieberman-caused Internet censorship
  Does anyone care that the Connecticut Senator is single-handedly suppressing political content from the Internet?
• Joe Lieberman emulates Chinese dictators
  The Connecticut Senator pressures Amazon to block Americans from viewing WikiLeaks documents

The BiPartisan Report

• Sex, lies and ‘edited’ videotape
• Nihilism 1 American People Nil
• Sheldon Whitehouse brings truth to the Senate floo ...
• Pesky facts spoil GOP’s mammogram arguments
• Those holier than thou Conservatives

Sciencebase

• A few facts about asbestos
  Today, medical journal The Lancet has publicly criticised the Canadian government for its attitude towards asbestos, saying that although Canada will not expose its own citizens to asbestos, it will continue exporting the deadly substance to developing nations [Canada accused of hypocrisy, Lancet]. ...
• What is nature worth?
  Each hour 3 species vanish forever, we’ve lost a fifth of the planet’s coral reefs, almost a third of its mangrove forests, and half of the world’s wetlands. But, how do you count the cost? Perhaps a business perspective is needed. If we considered the natural world as providing products and service ...
• Searching for scientific abbreviations
  Ambiguous abbreviations and acronyms are annoyances when it comes to text search and data mining. As a writer-editor, I was always taught to spell out the long form (LF) of a short form (SF) at first mention in a document so that the reader would know that when I mentioned EBV I was referring to [.. ...
• Santa Claus Science
  Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicolas, Kris Kringle, Sinterklaas. Call him what you will, at this time of year, for children who celebrate everywhere, many questions of a scientific nature arise and parents squirm in their efforts to answer them. Now, Gregory Mone, a contributing editor at Po ...
• Latest scientific discoveries
  Forget fruit and veg. Lose weight and cut the booze to reduce cancer risk People should be warned that cancer is linked to obesity and alcohol, rather than urged to eat more fruit and vegetables to protect against the disease. UK trialling testing sugar-coated salt on roads Although they’ve been usi ...

Common Dreams-Progressive Newswire

• In Poll After Poll, the American Public Supports t ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 10, 2010America's VoiceAs the House-passed version of the DREAM Act moves toward a Senate vote as early as next week, new polling shows the bill's popularity among the American people, and underscores the importance of its passage.  A new Gallup poll finds that 54 ...
• Amnesty International Condemns Reports of a New "C ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 10, 2010Amnesty International - USAAmnesty International today condemned reports that Iran's state-controlled Press TV will tonight broadcast a new "confession" by an Iranian woman who faces possible execution by stoning or hanging."If reports are accurate that tonight ...
• Victims Of Human Rights Violations Denied Access T ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 10, 2010ACLUAccess to justice for victims of civil and human rights violations has been severely curbed over the last decade, according to a report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union.read more
• Responsible Wealth Members Vigorously Reject Obama ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 10, 2010United for a Fair EconomyResponsible Wealth, a nationwide network of more than 700 business leaders and high wealth individuals, vigorously rejects President Obama’s bargain with the Republican leadership on taxes announced Monday and applauds House Democra ...
• Climate Talks Lurch Forward but Fail to Make Signi ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 11, 2010Center for Biological DiversityThe international climate talks closed here today in Cancún without substantial forward progress on the central issue of establishing science based greenhouse pollution reduction targets. On the positive side, the conference was ...

Common Dreams-Views

• Attacks on Government Workers in Tax Deal
  by Laura FlandersRepublican activist Grover Norquist once famously declared that he'd like to shrink the federal government to the point where he could drown it in a bathtub—but a little-noticed provision in the “tax cut compromise” we discussed today with Bernie Sanders might well drain the states' ...
• The FCC's Guide to Losing Net Neutrality Without R ...
  by Craig AaronEver have to negotiate a contract or try to sell a used car? Would you start off the give-and-take by naming the lowest price you're willing to accept and then try to get a better deal? Of course not. Yet somehow that's the exact "strategy" the Obama administration seems intent on pu ...
• The Returning Issue of Palestine's Refugees
  by Saeb ErekatBefore his murder in 1948, Lord Folke Bernadotte, the first UN mediator to the Arab-Israeli conflict, stated: "It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent [Palestinian] victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes, whil ...
• Obama's Tax Cut Debacle: When Compromise is the En ...
  by Mark EnglerI think we need a new aphorism or analogy to counter the old saying, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” This is the principle that President Obama has once again offered up, this time after disastrously caving in to the Republicans over tax cuts for the rich. A new, con ...
• In The Cold Climate of Politics, We'll Miss Elizab ...
  by Linda MilazzoToday Elizabeth Edwards was laid to rest. It's a sad day for her family, her friends and her country. If there were ever a time in America when compassionate voices are needed, now is that time. Elizabeth had compassion for children, health care, equal rights, the poor, and ending ...

Newshoggers - AfPak

• Pretending To Have An Afghan Exit Strategy
  By Steve Hynd A key part of the supposed strategy for Western withdrawal from Afghanistan is meant to be training their security forces so that "they can stand up while we stand down". That key component becomes questionable as soon as one realises that the U.S. expects to be footing the bill for th ...
• Top Analysts Blame American Intransigence In Not T ...
  By Steve Hynd It has long been the conventional wisdom among D.C.'s "very serious people" that the U.S. must use military force to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table "on our terms". It's the whole point of NATO's Lisbon agreement and of Petraeus' strategy in Afghanistan since it's perhaps th ...
• The partisan tribal war and the war in Afghanistan
  Commentary By Ron Beasley As I have said here more than once the circus in Washington DC is not about ideology but is tribal warfare. Juan Cole takes a look at why the conflict in Afghanistan no longer appears to be news. So here’s the reason the whole bloody Afghanistan war is off the radar: it isn ...
• For Afghanistan, A Wind Of Change From Washington
  A Guest Post by Keith Boyea The Washington political winds have changed, but unless you closely observed such things, you may not have felt the breeze. Yesterday, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a well-connected Washington DC think tank, released a report on Afghanistan titled, Respon ...
• Bad Hippies! No December Afghanistan Review For Yo ...
  By Steve Hynd Karl Eikenberry is the latest administration official to tell us that the thorough review of progress that Obama promised the nation a year ago when he ordered the Afghan surge will instead be just a rubberstamp of "staying the course" for another Friedman Unit. I won't prejudge the De ...

Water Wars

• Water wars: Hearing looms on eminent domain takeov ...
  According to the California Department of Public Health, drinking water being served to Lake Forest Water Company customers exceeded state arsenic levels in 2007, and the problem has not been corrected, despite water company owner Rick Dewante saying it has.
• DeKalb: County can’t put off expensive water fixes
  DeKalb: County can’t put off expensive water fixes
• Water Wars: Georgia Lawmakers Meet to Discuss Futu ...
  ATLANTA -- Georgia lawmakers met this week to discuss how to increase the state's water supply.
• War over water will produce no winners
  When Mark Twain decreed "whisky is for drinking, water is for fighting over", he might as well have been talking about the Murray-Darling river system.
• Part 1: Setting The Stage For America’s Degraded F ...
  By writing about severe consequences heading, like a Hurricane Katrina, toward not just New Orleans five years ago, but every state in America--readers chastise me.

WordPress | Economics

• What I learned in Econ Class
  I watched a video in Econ class Thursday that was called “The Accent of Money” and it talked about t
• HAITI TRIP
  Just a quick update on our Haiti trip: We arrived in Haiti last Sunday evening, then monday we worke
• The State of America and the World
  (This article is an edited version of my responses in an email discussion on the Pickens Plan social
• A neat piece I found on line... Makes you think ab ...
  From Pruning Shears: Who funds the right wing noise machine? You do, when you buy the following prod
• The Week Ahead
  As markets make the last strides towards year end it appears that currencies at least are becoming i

Electronic Intifada

• Latest Israeli bombing plunges Gaza into darkness
  Air strikes by Israeli warplanes at dawn on Thursday caused serious damage to the Gaza Strip's only power plant, plunging the territory -- which already suffers from freque ...
• Boycott roundup: day of action against TIAA-Cref
  Palestine solidarity activists are organizing a day of action today to encourage "people of conscience" to join the more than 18,000 who have already signed a US-wide petition urgi ...
• Palestinian American hip-hop artist asks you to "C ...
  Chicago-based Palestinian American rapper Gon isn't apologizing. In his recently released hip-hop album Consider Violence, Gon aggressively confronts political and personal ...
• Defiant Jerusalem Palestinians say "we will remain ...
  A huge Palestinian flag was carried up a steep hill in Issawiya on 3 December, passed hand-to-hand between the at least 200 Palestinians, Israelis and international activis ...
• They call them martyrs
  They call them martyrs, their fallen soldiers, their sons, brothers and fathers. Engraved on the walls of the refugee camp are their names and messages from their loved ones. Their ...

Afghanistan Sun

• Afghan AG Calls for Annulment of Election Results
  Afghan Election Commission Releases Final Election Results Afghanistan's attorney general has asked the country's Supreme Court to annul results from the recent parliamentary elections, because of ext...
• Eight die in Afghan minibus bombing
  U.S. and Afghan forces launched a major operation in September to secure Zhari, a lush farming region of irrigation canals and grape vineyards that the
• Afghan insurgents kill at least six foreign soldie ...
  KABUL (AFP) - An insurgent attack killed six foreign soldiers in Afghanistan's Taliban-infested south on Sunday, NATO said, days before the White House publishes a review of US strategy in the inc...
• Suicide attack kills 6 NATO troops in southern Afg ...
  A suicide attacker detonated a minibus packed with explosives near the gates of a military base in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing six NATO troops and two Afghan soldiers, officials said.Afgha...
• Croatia to send more troops to Afghanistan
  12/12/2010ZAGREB, Croatia -- Parliament decided on Friday (December 10th) to send 30 more soldiers to Afghanistan, thus boosting the Croatian contingent in the country in the next two years to up to 3...

Futurismic

• Personal Information: episode 24
  Personal Information is a new serial sci-fi webcomic from Sarah “Does Not Equal” Ennals. Follow Futurismic on Twitter for more nuggets of near-future fun and weirdness! Share and Enjoy:Follow Futurismic on Twitter for more nuggets of near-future fun and weirdness!
• Arguments against life extension
  Via Michael Anissimov, here’s a spectacularly empty diatribe against “deathhackers” by TechCrunch‘s Paul Carr. Carr objects to the idea of radical life extension as advocated by transhumanists, which is fair enough, but as written here most of his objections seem to boil down to personal distate tow ...
• Daddy, where does innovation come from?
  Plenty of folk have been linking to this excerpt from Matt Ridley’s new book The Rational Optimist, and with good reason – it’s a provocative piece that plays to advocates (and opponents) of free trade, open exchange, copyright reform and much more. The basic thesis? The one persistent factor that h ...
• Replacement arms: mechanical or biological?
  Prosthetic limbs are still in their infancy, but there’s a lot of progress being made: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory is working with Darpa (who else?), and has a research grant for trying out their mind-controlled modular prosthetic arm on five test subjects over the next couple of years ...
• How to be a futurist
  The irrepressible Scott “Basic Instructions” Meyer has the lowdown if you’re thinking of a career in futurism: Click through for the whole thing. But take it from me, being a futurist is a lot of work for no money. Or maybe that’s just the way I do it… and I’ve never been featured in a [...]Follow F ...

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
  �

on Government Oversight

• SENATE PASSES WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ENHANCEMENT ...
  POGO just received word that the Senate has passed the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2010 (S. 372) by unanimous consent. The passage of S. 372 in the Senate follows a decade-long struggle to strengthen whistleblower protections for federal employees....
• Federal Procurement Update: A Meeting of the Contr ...
  This morning OFPP Administrator Daniel Gordon and George Washington University Professor Steven Schooner spoke at a contracting meeting entitled “Federal Procurement Update.” Moderator Gail Bassin of JBS International presided. I attend many such conferences and meetings to learn about the...
• Are No Child Left Behind-Funded Tutors Ripping Off ...
  Several studies of the No Child Left Behind Act’s performance in raising student achievement through federally-funded “supplemental education services” (SES)—i.e. tutoring—for low-performing schools have shown that it is having a negligible effect. “Third-party evaluations of these services are find ...
• MSPB Report Highlights Whistleblower Challenges
  The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) released a new report this week entitled "Whistleblower Protections for Federal Employees." According to the Board's press release, "this is the first MSPB report to address in such depth the legal challenges that whistleblowers...
• Federal Service Contract Inventories: A Failure to ...
  The federal government continues to operate on the fictitious and unsubstantiated assumption that all federal services performed by contractors are provided as a cost-savings to the American taxpayer. POGO conducted an empirical study, soon to be published, that puts the...

Digital Journal

• Wilderness Committee says toxic water released int ...
  The nickel mine once owned by Sheriff Gordon at Lynn Lake, Manitoba was abandoned over in 1976, leaving 25 million tonnes of tailings behind. The government of Manitoba stepped in, dedicating millions of dollars to the reclamation of the abandoned mine.
• Teddy Bears for Africa makes Toronto appearance
  The Teddy Bears of Hope is a campaign from the children of Canada to the children of other parts of the workd. The hope is that these much loved bears can bring hope and love to children dealing with crisis.
• Rene Cormier's global adventure on a bike
  Rene Cormier talks about his travels in the book, The University of Gravel Roads: Global Lessons From a Four-Year Motorcycle Adventure. Cormier was at the Toronto Motorcycle Show on Saturday talking to fans and selling his book.
• Bike Show in Toronto spotlights latest on the mar ...
  The Toronto Motorcycle Show is taking place this weekend in Toronto at the Metro Convention Centre on Bremmer Road. Enthusiasts and hardcore bikers alike were seen browsing the latest motorcycle products out on the market.
• Tar sand extraction impacting First Nation rights, ...
  A new study that examined the impacts of tar sands operations on the Athabasca River and two aboriginal nations living downstream from those industries concluded oil sands operations are removing large amounts of water from the Athabasca River.

End Homelessness | Change.org

• Mississippi Launches Plan To End Child Homelessnes ...
  Fulfilling the wishes and happiness of children is at the heart of the holiday season. So, now seems particularly timely for Mississippi to launch a new plan to end child homelessness (pdf) in the state.  What better way to set the season of giving in motion than by committing to finding safe and st ...
• Thanksgiving 2.0: Food, Poverty and Telling the Tr ...
  This Thanksgiving, most of us around the country shared a bountiful harvest feast with friends and family. We celebrated all that we are thankful for by gorging ourselves right into a food coma. It's the American way. Unfortunately, it's also the American way to be thankful for all that we have whil ...
• Homeless People Wanted: Must Be Open to Demeaning, ...
  What are they thinking? People obviously don't see the homeless as human or they wouldn't attempt to hire them to do most of the insane, demeaning and illegal jobs out there. Here's a small sampling: Rob dead bodies. The Aokigahara forest at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan is the site of 50 to 100 su ...
• LA Plans to Make Homelessness Go the Way of the Do ...
  Instead of pretending homelessness doesn't exist, creating new laws to make it illegal to sit or sleep in public, or sending homeless residents on a one-way trip out of town, Los Angeles County may attempt to actually do something about ending homelessness. And the county is setting the bar high; it ...
• Don't Let Violence Against the Homeless Go Unpunis ...
  Despite its economic troubles, Detroit is not known for being kind to the homeless. That's too bad, since there are nearly 10,000 homeless people living there. In October, police say that Steven James Diponio, 54, became so enraged at Charles Duncan, 42, who was homeless and sleeping behind a school ...

Ceasefire.ca

• Ottawa off course on jets
  Tamara Lorincz and Steven Staples comment on the government’s plan to purchase F-35 stealth fighters (Tamara Lorincz & Steven Staples, “Ottawa off course on jets,” Chronicle-Herald, 11 December 2010): Representatives from the Department of National Defence were in Halifax recently to promote the con ...
• Canadians “may underestimate security threat”
  The Harper government is worried about Canadian opposition to its plans to more closely integrate Canadian and U.S. border security efforts (Steven Chase, “Ottawa crafts plan to ward off criticism over U.S. border deal,” Globe and Mail, 10 December 2010). As the Globe and Mail reports, the Departmen ...
• Commons supports nuclear disarmament
  The House of Commons gave its unanimous consent to a motion in support of nuclear disarmament on December 7th. New Democrat MP Bill Siksay moved: That the House of Commons: (a) recognize the danger posed by the proliferation of nuclear materials and technology to peace and security; (b) endorse the ...
• “No one believes in Afghanistan any more”
  European Union President Herman Van Rompuy told the United States in 2009 that “no one [in the EU] believes in Afghanistan any more,” according to a U.S. account of the meeting leaked by WikiLeaks (“‘No one believes in Afghanistan any more:’ EU leader in WikiLeaks cable,” Globe and Mail, 5 December ...
• WikiLeaks: France went to bat for Omar Khadr
  U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on Wednesday reveal that France’s Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, asked the U.S. to consider releasing Omar Khadr from Guantanamo Bay. Kouchner, who played a founding role in the international humanitarian NGO Médecins sans frontières, personally ...

Kevin Trudeau Show

• Living With Kevin: Day Two
  This morning I arose to aroma of eggs cooking on the stove and toasted organic cheese in the broiler. I came out of my room to Kevin creating a meal for champions! It was a meal full of protein, fiber, carbs and dairy. Everything you need to start a day off right. Then we went to [...]
• The Kevin Trudeau Show: 12-7-10
  Today, Kevin reveals why the constitution doesn’t matter anymore and how you can help crush the tyranny once and for all! Plus, find out how you could go on a cruise to the Bahamas FREE and win $500 today JUST by listening to THIS show!! Self Help: Eat The Good Stuff The Safe Way To Lose Weight Get ...
• Playboy Playmate Feels Overexposed After TSA Scan
  December 7th, 2010 AOL News By: David Moye A former “Baywatch” beauty is feeling overexposed after going through what she says was a humiliating body scan by Transportation Security Administration agents at Los Angeles International Airport. Donna D’Errico, who was the Playboy Playmate in September ...
• Good Nutrition Can Save Your Sight
  December 7th, 2010 Natural News By: James Schreiber Healthy eating can reduce not only health care costs, but also the deterioration of the quality of your eyesight for years to come. A 2009 study published in Ophthalmology has revealed that a combination of a low glycemic index diet with nutrients ...
• Natural Ways to Clear Up Acne
  December 7th, 2010 Natural News By: Danna Norek Acne is a problem that doesn’t just affect teenagers, but also affects millions of adults as well. Drugs used to be the preferred method to clear up acne, but there are many natural methods that work very well. Natural methods are preferred, since the ...

Pambazuka News

• Break the Silence Congo week
  The purpose of the Break the Silence Congo Week is to raise consciousness about the devastating situation in the Congo and mobilize support on behalf of the people of the Congo. Break the Silence Congo Week will take place from Sunday 17 October to S...
• Global: Afro-Colombian women fight prejudice by em ...
  On an improvised stage “Bombón de chocolate” (Chocolate Candy) is being performed. The play, which narrates the story of an African-Colombian girl who feels rejected because of the colour of her skin, is one of the events at a special day on drug add...
• Global: May for the Cuban 5
  The month of May started with a great number of activities in support of the Cuban 5. On May 1st hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched on International Workers Day in Havana and other cities. They were joined by hundreds of internationalists in de...
• Haiti: Where solidarity means survival
  Perhaps more than anything today, Haiti needs a new macro-economy, one based above all on meeting the needs of its citizens. Post-earthquake economic restructuring could include equitable distribution of resources, high levels of employment with fair...
• 45 years after the assassination of Malcolm X
  Malcolm X was assassinated 45 years ago this weekend. Earlier this year, WNYC Radio unearthed a 1960s interview between the civil rights leader and a reporter named Eleanor Fischer. On this somber anniversary, we consider Malcolm X’s legacy through t...

War in Context

• The end of hypocrisy
  Carne Ross has provided one of the most concise and cogent analyses of the impact of the WikiLeaks cables release and concludes that the challenge this event has thrown up can only be met with one solution: “that governments must close the divide between what they say, and what they do.” A knee-jer ...
• Talk to terrorists
  Thanassis Cambanis writes: Ronald Reagan framed the debate over whether to talk to terrorists in terms that still dominate the debate today. “America will never make concessions to terrorists. To do so would only invite more terrorism,” Reagan said in 1985. “Once we head down that path there would ...
• ‘Our lives became something we’d never dreamt’: Th ...
  Donald Macintyre reports: For anyone who has covered Israel, the West Bank and Gaza over the past few years, reading Occupation of the Territories, the new book from the Israeli ex-soldiers organisation Breaking the Silence, can be an eerily evocative experience. A conscript from the Givati Brigad ...
• Republicans who excused extremism in the name of v ...
  Christopher Hitchens writes: It is often in the excuses and in the apologies that one finds the real offense. Looking back on the domestic political “surge” which the populist right has been celebrating since last month, I found myself most dispirited by the manner in which the more sophisticated c ...
• Embedded with the Taliban
  For an American cable news organization to embed reporters with the Taliban would be a bold move. CNN isn’t bold. But on Saturday evening it took the moderately risky move of airing a Norwegian journalist’s film of life with Taliban fighters. “Some people might see this and think that you are tryin ...

Watts Up With That?

• An Open Letter to Dr. Subra Suresh
  Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach Dear Dr. Suresh: My sincere and heartfelt congratulations on your being appointed Director of the US National Science Foundation (NSF). It is indeed an honor for anyone. In particular it is a great achievement for … Continue reading →
• Tisdale K.O.e’s GISS’s latest “w ...
  Bob Tisdale writes: I’ve been holding off telling you about my most recent post in hopes that GISS would continue with their warmest-year nonsense.  And they did. Using correlation maps, animations, graphs and a youtube video, the post shows how leftover warm … Continue reading →
• Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup
  THIS WEEK: By Ken Haapala, Executive Vice President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP) The 16th Conference of Parties (COP) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is finishing up in Cancun. The gathering is part of the UN’s … Continue reading →
• Metrodome Collapses in Minneapolis – will th ...
  Remember when Joe Romm said the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis was related to”climate change”? And again… The truth, never reported on Climate Progress, is far different: In fact if you search for the keywords:  “heat, weather, climate” as a … Continue reading →
• Hansen feels the need to explain why GISS is high ...
  I was working on a general report yesterday, but in checking background for it, I discovered this recent missive from Dr. Hansen. I suppose when your agency is the “odd man out”, you feel a need to explain yourself. Note … Continue reading →

Dandelion Salad

• SOS in a Bottle: Raising the Political Asylum Quot ...
  by Sibel Edmonds Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post 12 December, 2010 An Appeal to the International Community In this urgent message delivered by ultra snail method of delivery due to restrictions placed upon our communication means (warrantless mass surveill ...
• Can the working class unite? by Jen Roesch
  http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ by Jen Roesch SocialistWorker.org November 4, 2010 Jen Roesch looks at where ideas like racism and sexism that divide workers come from–and how the working class can overcome this obstacle to unity and solidarity. ONE OF the most common objections to socialism is ...
• John Pilger: A nod and a wink (1975)
  http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ NoBrandProduction | December 09, 2010 1975. The use of Conspiracy laws in British justice. John Pilger: A nod and a wink (1975) 1/2 John Pilger: A nod and a wink (1975) 2/2 see Pilger-John
• “The 15% Solution,” Serialization, 11th Installmen ...
  Note: The Preface and Chapters One through Nine can be found here: The 15% Solution. by Jonathan Westminster, Ph.D. aka Steven Jonas, MD, MPH Featured Writer Dandelion Salad crossposted on TPJmagazine.us December 12, 2010 This is the eleventh installment of a project that is likely to extend over a ...
• Chris Hedges: Time is running out
  with Chris Hedges Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Truthdig December 8, 2010 Truthdig editors discuss WikiLeaks with Chris Hedges, the pope with the Rev. Madison Shockley and Fed revelations with Nomi Prins in this radio special for Pacifica’s KPFK. Editor’s note: This radio special originally aired ...

Your New Reality

• No title
  The music of Inception gives everything a heavy, slightly sickening edge. Imagine it playing at a wedding. Or a funeral.
• No title
  The 2nd shooter got a real early start in the business. Via Reddit .
• No title
  It's Propaganda, Yes, But Maybe It's From Our Side, To Reassure Us North Korea Can't Defend Itself As war appears to be about to dawn between North & South Korea, if it didn't actually already begin two or three days ago, this very strange indeed video appears on the UK Telegraph site. The Teleg ...
• No title
  I've been trawling through hours and hours of amazing footage shot at early 2003 anti-War On Iraq protests in Sydney. Again and again it smacks me in the face that all of the protesters, including the tens of thousands of Australian school students who marched against the war, knew more about the qu ...
• No title
  Very soon, this could be what you find when you go to your favourite independent news site to load up on truth to help fight the daily barrage of lies. Piracy prosecutions can and will be used to close down news sites. Not CNN or FoxNews of course. I mean the ones that carry actual, real news. ...

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