17 December - RSS SnapShot! Pt 3

AlterNet - Rights and LibertiesImage by antonkawasaki via Flickr

• Dude, Where's My Mortgage? How an Obscure Outfit C ...
  Banks have scrambled America's system of private property ownership to the point that no one knows who owns what.
• Historic Georgia Inmate Strike: Prisoners Demand H ...
  Georgia prisoners have began a courageous, peaceful and nonviolent protest strike for educational opportunities, wages for their work, medical care and human rights.
• The War on Drugs Is a War on Poor People
  America doesn't have a drug problem. It has a poverty problem. Policy reform -- as salutary as it often is, and like the drug war before it -- risks mistaking symptom for cause.
• Apple Is Largest Distributor of White Power Music ...
  Apple claims it's too big to monitor for hate content -- but MySpace and similar large sites have worked diligently to identify and remove racist music.
• Can Georgia Compete with Arizona as the Most Anti- ...
  Two harsh bills have already been filed ahead of Georgia's 2011 legislative session.

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

• Obama: US will back UN on rights of native peoples
  Associated Press – President Barack Obama said Thursday that the United States will reverse course and support a United Nations declaration defending the rights of indigenous peoples. Obama told Native American leaders that the declaration affirms the importance and rich cultures of native peoples t ...
• EU confident Lisbon Treaty amendment will not need ...
  Irish Times – EU LEADERS are poised this week to agree an amendment to the Lisbon Treaty to create a permanent rescue fund for euro countries, a step they believe they can take without prompting another Irish referendum. At a summit here on Thursday and Friday, the leaders of the 27 member states wi ...
• Abortion laws must be clarified, Ireland told
  The Independent – Ireland has been ordered to reform complex abortion laws after European judges ruled that a ban violated the rights of a woman who feared a cancer relapse during an unplanned pregnancy. The woman was being treated for a rare form of the disease and was forced to travel to the UK in ...
• Japan defence review warns of China’s military mig ...
  BBC – Japan has unveiled sweeping changes to its national defence polices, boosting its southern forces in response to neighbouring China’s military rise. Japan, which shares a maritime border with China, said Beijing’s military build-up was of global concern. Japan will also strengthen its missile ...
• Australia Magistrate ‘outraged’ by detention witho ...
  ABC – A Darwin magistrate has described the decision to hold suspected people smugglers for months without charge as an “outrage against liberty”. Indonesian national Ayub Waang, 20, has been in detention in Australia for seven months since he was arrested on suspicion of people smuggling. Yesterday ...

The Progressive Realist

• Day 3 of Senate Debate on New START: Skeptics’ Arg ...
  Earlier today, Senator Kyl (R-Ariz.) erroneously claimed on the floor of the Senate that New START’s verification system is weaker than the system of the 1991 START treaty. Such superficial comparisons miss the point and twist the facts. The 1991 START was negotiated in a different time and estab ...
• After Demanding Time for Amendments to START, Repu ...
  Republican Senators have been vigorously complaining that they need as much as two weeks or double or even triple the time taken on previous arms control treaties to debate the New START treaty. They have insisted they need all this time because they need ample time to submit amendments to the treat ...
• The Civilian Side Needs Advocates
  Dan Drezner has a good roundup on the challenge of breaking the civilian agency “feedback loop,” which he aptly characterizes as, “State loses operational authority and capabilities because of poor funding, which leads to more tasks for Defense, which leads to even more lopsided funding between the ...
• Why I Won't Help Post Bail for Julian Assange
  Michael Moore explained on MSNBC his decision to post bail money for Julian Assange, primarily on the grounds that the world needed to shine a light on the lies concocted by governments to lead their countries into war. He cited the Gulf of Tonkin lie, which had to wait for years to be exposed ...
• The Symbolic Power of Unilateral Disarmament
  Now this is very interesting: US concern about the future of Trident had first surfaced a few weeks earlier, before Brown’s speech to the UN, when British media carried unattributed political briefings which suggested the Labour government intended to defer crucial Trident replacement decisions. The ...

TAPPED - The American Prospect

• Friday Nerd Blogging.
  Via Ta-Nehisi Coates is an...interesting new AMC series: AMC has officially given a 10-episode series order to Hell On Wheels, the post-Civil War drama (which we previously told you about) set during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad and those uncertain years immediately following ...
• Do We Need More Laws for Sex Offense?
  A new Government Accountability Office report finds that some sexual offenders have found jobs in some schools: In eleven cases, GAO investigators found, the teachers or staff members had targeted children before, and in six of the cases they were in new positions where they abused children again.T ...
• The Little Picture: White House Concert.
  (White House/Samantha Appleton) President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama pretend to sing with an a cappella group in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House during a holiday reception.
• Anti-Anti-Racism.
  Political correctness and people who call things racist are the greatest threats to free speech, says Andrew Breitbart in this video from Reason (zoom ahead to 1:35): This is a nearly pure expression of conservative anti-anti-racism, or the idea that accusations of racism (against white people) ...
• Food Safety in Jeopardy.
  Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register reports that the food-safety bill is in jeopardy. The bill passed first in the Senate and then the House, but because of a procedural kink, the Senate has to vote on it again. Brasher reports that its most likely chance at survival is being attached to a bil ...

Buzzflash

• What the Hell is the Mission in Afghanistan?
  JACQUELINE MARCUS FOR BUZZFLASH A few weeks ago, President Obama slipped away from one of his many White House Christmas parties to give a pep talk to the troops waiting in Afghanistan. In his leather Bush-like jacket, he arrived to boost their morale, shouting "...we're going on the offensive!" ...
• Republican Obstructionism a Risk for National Secu ...
  WALTER BRASCH FOR BUZZFLASH The party of "No," sometimes known as Republicans, has been consistent in its contempt for America. President Obama wanted to continue the Bush tax cuts, but limit them only to those individuals earning less than $200,000 a year and families earning less than $250,000 ...
• Chutzpah! Right Wing Hate Group Plays the "Hate Ca ...
  BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH In the topsy-turvy world that is right wing politics, anti-gay conservative groups are attacking a venerable civil rights organization, accusing it of "character assassination." I'm sure you've heard this before -- and it will not surprise you one bit -- but a liberal o ...
• Basically, Obama is Lying About America's Longest ...
  MARK KARLIN, BUZZFLASH EDITOR FOR TRUTHOUT What a difference a few days makes in government "evaluations" of the longest war in American history. On Monday, The New York Times reported on an ominous assessment - circulating on Capitol Hill - of the Afghanistan war. But by Thursday, the White House ...
• Five Major Governmental/Corporate Media Attacks on ...
  ELAINE SHPUNGIN FOR BUZZFLASH On the 6th of December 2010, I received a message from a friend celebrating the fact that Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks, was leading a Times magazine poll for the next "person of the year." Up to then, I had been somewhat dismissive of the whole ...

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

• Periodic table of videos at the movies
  Regular Sciencebase followers will by now know only too well the Periodic Table of Videos from Nottingham University and my good friend Martyn Poliakoff. The creators of the video series recently ran a competition for viewers to create a movie-style poster to promote the videos and had an astounding ...
• 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 ...

Common Dreams-Progressive Newswire

• US EPA Acts to Control Mercury From Gold Mines
  Image via WikipediaFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 17, 2010EarthjusticeThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued long overdue emission standards for the toxic pollution emitted by gold mining companies’ ore processing facilities. The new control requirements will provide significant reductions in gold mine ...
• Government Changes Attorney Licensing Regulations ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 17, 2010ACLU and Center for Constitutional RightsAttorneys are no longer required to seek permission from the government to provide uncompensated representation to individuals the government has placed on a list of designated terrorists, following a lawsuit filed by ...
• International Migrants Day: A Day to Stand in Sol ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 17, 2010Latin American and Caribbean Community Center (LACCC)December 18th is International Migrants Day as observed by the United Nations. In United States, while many organizations observe this day, much work is needed to address many of the issues, struggles and at ...
• Amnesty International Says Injured Protestors in I ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 17, 2010Amnesty International - USAEyewitnesses have told Amnesty International that protestors seriously injured during Thursday's mass protests in the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan were denied medical treatment amid threats from security forces.Media reports said that ...
• FCC Reportedly Pushing Comcast-NBC Merger Without ...
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 17, 2010Free PressThe Federal Communications Commission could be moving toward finalizing its review of the proposed Comcast-NBC merger as early as next week, according to press reports. The FCC, along with the Department of Justice, is charged with evaluating the m ...

Common Dreams-Views

• House Reps Take Stand for Real Net Neutrality
  by Timothy KarrAs members of the Federal Communications Commission prepare for a vote on Net Neutrality next week, some of Congress' most Internet-savvy members say the rule before the agency doesn't fully safeguard consumers nor clear even the lowest bar for real Net Neutrality protections.read ...
• The New Tax Deal: Reaganomics Redux
  by Robert ReichMore than thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan came to Washington intent on reducing taxes on the wealthy and shrinking every aspect of government except defense. The new tax deal embodies the essence of Reaganomics. It will not stimulate the economy.read more
• Haiti’s Burning
  by Leisa Faulkner and Redginald AlvarezMassive uprisings, shootings and fire blockades cut Haiti into isolated pieces. Earthquake rubble spews onto the street while people struggle to find clean water and sanitation to protect them from the cholera epidemic. Now, political frustrations over a re ...
• Your Right to Protest Is Under Threat
  by Johann Hari So now we know. When our politicians complained over the past few decades, in a low, sad tone, that our young people were "too apathetic" and "disengaged", it was a lie. A great flaring re-engagement of the young has take place this year. With overwhelmingly peaceful tactics, ...
• WikiLeaks and the Public Interest?
  by Andrew KennisReactions to the recent releases by WikiLeaks have ranged far and wide across the spectrum and been voiced with much fervour. Meanwhile, the over-attention to some of the less important details revealed and the intrigues surrounding Julian Assange, the founder of the whistle-blow ...

Newshoggers - AfPak

• Revisiting the Clauswitzian disconnect in Afghanis ...
  By Dave Anderson: Counterinsurgency (COIN) is expensive, time consuming, and often practiced in areas of secondary or tertiary interests. These attributes often lead to a Clauswitzian disconnect between real political constraints and the operational doctrine of COIN, as COIN demands much more than t ...
• Failure, Not Progress, in Afghanistan
  By Derrick Crowe and Robert Greenwald On Thursday, December 16, 2010, the White House will use its December review to try to spin the disastrous Afghanistan War plan by citing "progress" in the military campaign, but the available facts paint a picture of a war that's not making us safer and th ...
• The Pentagon's Credibility Cage Match
  By Steve Hynd In the red corner! The Pentagon and Saint General David Petraeus, who claim that things are getting better in Afghanistan because Petraeus has thrown out the COIN book he wrote the foreword to, escalating airstrikes and unpopular night raids. Wait another Friedman Unit - six months - t ...
• Obama's Afghan Review - The Fix Is In
  By Steve Hynd The six month review of progress in Afghanistan that President Obama promised when he ordered the surge there is due on Thursday. But don't hold your breath for anything radical - the fix is in. Today, Admiral Mullen became just the latest senior official to say that nothing would be c ...
• 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 ...

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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Non-profit organization to promote water conservat ...
  Conservation along Nebraska streams and rivers has become apriority as the state wages so-called “water wars” with itsneighbors.
• 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.

WordPress | Economics

• "Optimism Is Back" - Federal Reserve Bank Minneapo ...
  The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is out with its forecast for 2011 for the Ninth District.  W
• Happy days are here again
  We continue to stumble along wondering where the job creation is. Now economists “across the b
• An Information Revolution in Shopping
  There is an interesting article in the WSJ this past week concerning something I have personally not
• Peter Orszag and the Political-Industrial Complex
  Responding to the news that erstwhile White House Budget Director Peter Orszag is is about to get ve
• The Daily Bail .........
  http://dailybail.com « Rothschild Bank AND Goldman Sachs Are Both On The LIST Of Bondholders Getting

Electronic Intifada

• "We will continue to sing": DAM's Suhell Nafar int ...
  DAM is a Palestinian hip hop trio from Lod, a mixed Palestinian and Jewish town about 20 kilometers from Jerusalem. The Electronic Intifada contributor Hira Nabi spoke with ...
• Israel's new wall
  CAIRO (IPS) - After building a wall in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israel has begun construction on a new wall, this one to keep migrants from Africa out. The ...
• Resisting an ideology of inequality: Jody McIntyre ...
  Over the past month, journalist and activist Jody McIntyre has joined a growing number of students, workers, activists and others in the UK protesting a government decision to cut ...
• A Bethlehem Christmas wish
  More than 2,000 years ago, a miracle happened in Bethlehem and the prophet of peace, love and forgiveness was born. Now Bethlehem, as well as every other Palestinian city, ...
• Outcry in Denmark over firm's involvement in occup ...
  The Danish-British security firm G4S has come under scrutiny after it was revealed last month that it supplies equipment and services to Israel for use at checkpoints and s ...

Afghanistan Sun

• Taliban hideouts can be shut down
  The Taliban on Friday rejected the review of Obama's year-old war strategy in Afghanistan, saying that it has failed on both the military and the civil administration fronts.
• Discrimination Of HIV/AIDS Patients In China; Inte ...
  Hao Yang, China's deputy director of the disease prevention and control bureau under the Ministry of Health, during a forum on Wednesday, "vowed ... to introduce policies and measures to curb discrimi...
• Former Combatants Reconcile in Kabul Sanatorium
  Once bitter enemies during the many Afghan wars in the 1980s and ‘90s, 30 wheelchair-bound men now share a common struggle to live without the use of their legs in Arayeshgahe Falja, a sanatorium on...
• Why the Taliban gave me a Christmas tree
  Political correctness, under the guise of tolerance, tells us not to say, "Merry Christmas." But I've seen that the spirit of Christmas is transcendent – across cultures, nations, and even...
• Obama insists US is on track to begin Afghanistan ...
  The White House claimed yesterday that the American-led allies were making enough progress against al-Qaida and the Taliban for the planned “responsible” withdrawal of US forces in Afgha...

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

• New Insourcing Rules Go Down with Withdrawn Approp ...
  Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was forced to pull the $1.1 trillion fiscal 2011 Appropriations Omnibus bill off the Senate calendar. The bill’s demise not only takes more than $8 billion in earmarks, over $1 billion in healthcare...
• Timeline of Former Interior Secretary's Transition ...
  Earlier this week the Department of the Interior (DOI) Inspector General (IG) released their report investigating whether former Interior Secretary Gale Norton's involvement in the oil shale program while at Interior and continued involvement as general counsel for Shell presented...
• Morning Smoke: Army Overturns Own Findings On Ospr ...
  Where there's smoke, there's fire. POGO's Morning Smoke is a collection of the previous day's investigations, scoops, and opinions related to the world of government oversight. Have a story you'd like to see included? Contact POGO's blog editor. Findings on...
• POGO's Danielle Brian Talks Secrecy in Journalism ...
  POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian is up in Cambridge today for a one-day conference on secrecy in journalism. The conference is entitled "From Watergate to WikiLeaks: Journalism and Secrecy in the New Media Age." At 11:30 a.m. EST, she'll be...
• Morning Smoke: At the Crossroads of a Breakthrough ...
  Where there's smoke, there's fire. POGO's Morning Smoke is a collection of the previous day's investigations, scoops, and opinions related to the world of government oversight. Have a story you'd like to see included? Contact POGO's blog editor. Tell your...Image via Wikipedia

Digital Journal

• Chipping sections of Bluenose ll causes controvers ...
  Many people were upset to hear that the bulk of Bluenose II’s hull had gone through a wood chipper as restoration work takes place on the famous schooner, which is often used as a symbol of Nova Scotia.
• Three time alleged bank robber busted in Ontario
  December was a busy month for an alleged bank robber in the Halton Region of Ontario with three robberies under his belt. That third robbery proved to be his undoing with his arrest shortly afterward.
• Cold killed Neeland Rumble lost in Ontario snowsto ...
  UPDATE: The same fierce winter snowstorm that closed Hwy. 402 in Ontario, stranding about 300 motorists and their passengers, claimed the life of Neeland Rumble, 41.
• Paulie 'Magic Man' Malignaggi from Brooklyn to Que ...
  Boxer Paulie Malignaggi, now with Golden Boy promotions, will make a comeback attempt after his defeat in May against Amir Khan.
• Hospital CEO resigns after huge pay hike revealed
  The past five years had been good for the CEO of Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ontario. It was revealed that the executive was given 81 percent compensation increases over that period. He has resigned now that the details were released.

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

• Canadians split on Afghan extension
  Canadians are split on the Harper government’s plan to extend Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan reports an Angus Reid Poll released on Monday (Jill Mahoney, “Canadians divided on Afghan training mission: poll,” Globe and Mail, 13 December 2010). According to the poll, 48% of Canadians support ...
• Pugliese on the F-35 fighter
  Recent coverage by reporter David Pugliese on the F-35 and Canada: “Can the F-35 win a charm offensive?” Ottawa Citizen, 13 December 2010 “Peter Mackay in F-35 Attack Mode,” Ottawa Citizen, 13 December 2010 “Selling Canada on the need for fighters,” Ottawa Citizen, 12 December 2010 “The untold story ...
• 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 ...

Kevin Trudeau Show

• Panel Wants FDA to Examine Mercury Dental Fillings
  December 16th, 2010 CNN By: Val Willingham A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee said Wednesday that the agency should look at updated data on mercury amalgam dental fillings that may indicate possible medical problems for patients. The panel — after hearing two days of testimony from ex ...
• 10 Foods You Should NEVER Eat!
  I know I’ve posted this before, but as the new year approaches us, I feel that you may need to be reminded. I have this framed in all of my offices, so I would suggest you do the same! 1. Microwaved Food 2. Excitotoxins (MSG – monosodium glutamate, aspartame) and anything you can’t pronounce 3. Hom ...
• The Kevin Trudeau Show: 12-9-10
  Today, Kevin reveals exactly why he does this radio show and why he will never give up the fight! Plus, find out what the banks are doing this time to take your hard-earned money from you! Self Help: Diabetes Cure Show Your Support Invest Your Money Protect You & Your Family Health: Turn Off The Lig ...
• Using Cell Phones While Pregnant Can Cause Behavio ...
  December 8th, 2010 Daily Mail By: Jenny Hope Pregnant women who regularly use mobile phones could increase the risk of their children behaving badly, claims a startling survey. If their offspring then start using the devices at an early age, the chance of problems climbs to 50 per cent, according to ...
• How WikiLeaks Altered The Way We See The World In ...
  December 8th, 2010 The Guardian By: Robert Booth and Haroon Siddique Shortly before 6.30pm on Sunday night, the first cracks appeared in the dam. The largest ever leak of US government classified documents streamed out online, revealing never publicly seen details about Iran, North Korea, Afghanista ...

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...
• Haiti: Women demand role in reconstruction
  Women's civil society groups were noticeable by their absence from the landmark Haiti donor conference on 31 March, which secured pledges of US$5.3 billion over the next two years to support the country’s post-quake recovery. Their lack of a presenc...
• African diplomats reject anti-Cuba resolution pass ...
  The ambassador of the Republic of Congo to Cuba, Pascal Onguemby, rejected the lies included in an anti-Cuba resolution recently approved by the European Parliament. Addressing participants in the inauguration of the Eleventh International Conference...
• USA: Black coalition to protest expanding U.S. war ...
  A newly-formed Black coalition has announced a rally and march on the White House to take place November 7, 2009 beginning in Washington, D.C.’s historic Malcolm X Park. The rally and march are to protest the expanding U.S. wars and other policy ini...
• Stop senate renege on black farmer compensation
  ColorOfChange.org - http://www.colorofchange.org/farmers/?id=1842-429864 is campaigning to ensure that a US senate bill to compensate black farmers in the South for discrimination gives them the money they deserve, rather than capping the total amount available at $100 million, which would only cove ...

War in Context

• Israel leaves us no choice but to boycott
  Ali Abunimah writes: Israel’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, Danny Ayalon, paints a picture of an innocent Israel yearning for peace, virtually begging the intransigent Palestinians to come negotiate so there can be a “two-states-for-two-peoples solution” (“Who’s stopping the peace process?” D ...
• Threat of civil war looms in Lebanon
  The Guardian reports: More than six months of menacing political rhetoric is likely to reach a potent day of reckoning in Lebanon soon when indictments are handed down after a five-year investigation to determine who killed the fragile state’s former leader Rafik Hariri. The indictments are almost ...
• The legal assault on WikiLeaks and press freedom
  As the Justice Department develops a legal strategy for attacking WikiLeaks it will be looking for political cover to defend itself from the charge that it is attacking the First Amendment rights of a free press and will do so by arguing that what WikiLeaks does is not journalism. The administratio ...
• The United States: imperial by design
  In The National Interest, John Mearsheimer writes: In the first years after the Cold War ended, many Americans had a profound sense of optimism about the future of international politics. President Bill Clinton captured that mood when he told the UN General Assembly in September 1993: It is clear ...
• The House Committee for Promoting Islamophobia in ...
  The New York Times reports: The Republican who will head the House committee that oversees domestic security is planning to open a Congressional inquiry into what he calls “the radicalization” of the Muslim community when his party takes over the House next year. Representative Peter T. King of Ne ...

Watts Up With That?

• Lunar eclipse and winter solstice to coincide, fir ...
  How often do you get to witness an event that has not been seen since the year 1378,  over half a millennium, 632 years ago? Of course, weather will make or break the viewing, and it appears the much of … Continue reading →
• Climate Central confuses weather and climate &#821 ...
  Here’s an opportunity for crowd-sourcing a rebuttal to Climate Central’s Top Ten Climate Events of 2010. I think it is mistitled, and should be Climate Central’s Top Ten Weather Events of 2010. Of course it OK when they do it, … Continue reading →
• Warming skeptic gets key Science post – may ...
  From Politico Leading House climate skeptic Jim Sensenbrenner appears to have landed a perch to lead investigations into global warming science. The Wisconsin Republican is set to become the vice chairman of the House Science Committee under incoming Chairman Ralph … Continue reading →
• First measurement of magnetic field in Earth&#8217 ...
  Earth’s internal dynamo generates average field in outer core 50 times that at surface A University of California, Berkeley, geophysicist has made the first-ever measurement of the strength of the magnetic field inside Earth’s core, 1,800 miles underground. The magnetic … Continue reading →
• Friday Funny
  This video has been making the rounds, and the most encouraging thing about it is: it ran on the BBC. The fact that is did speaks to the growing skeptical view of climate change.

Dandelion Salad

• The New York Times: A Curious Case of Change of He ...
  by Sibel Edmonds Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post 17 December, 2010 Seeing the Light, Sanctioned Illusionary Game, or … I am going to stay true to my pledged position on Wikileaks related topics, and stick with questions rather than hasty analyses and interp ...
• Chris Hedges: Hope is an Action
  by Chris Hedges Featured Writer Dandelion Salad December 16, 2010 [Note: transcript: Hope, Real Hope, Is About Doing Something by Chris Hedges] Singlepayeraction | December 16, 2010 Chris Hedges Protests Obama’s Wars Chris Hedges spent two decades as a foreign reporter covering wars in Latin Americ ...
• Up Against the Fence: Hedges, Ellsberg, Gagnon and ...
  by Bruce Gagnon featured writer Dandelion Salad Organizing Notes December 16, 2010 There were 138 arrested at the White House today as hundreds turned out in the cold and snow for the Veterans for Peace action calling for an end to the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We waited holding onto the ...
• Wikileaks: Documents Confirm US Plans to Destabili ...
  http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ by Eva Golinger Global Research, December 16, 2010 chavezcode.com State Department documents published by Wikileaks evidence Washington’s plans to “contain” Venezuela’s influence in the region and increase efforts to provoke regime change A substantial portion of ...
• Michael Hudson: Why Government is More Afraid of D ...
  http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ TheRealNews | December 16, 2010 Michael Hudson: Deficit Hawks Want a One Two Punch Against the Economy. Why Government is More Afraid of Debt than Depression see The dirty little tax cut Obama signed off on By Jerry Mazza David Cay Johnston Slams Obama-GOP Tax De ...

Your New Reality

• No title
  The Digital Nomad From the book Millennium: Winners and Losers in the Coming World Order :'(Electronic objects of leisure) like the laptop computer, are ubiquitous today, will help create a different human being. "'The memory card (ID card) will become the principal artificial limb o ...
• No title
  See Robot. See Robot Run, at 1:24 : Not yet, but soon.
• No title
  If Robots Design Their Own Religion, We Should Probably Evacuate The Planet By Darryl Mason Very impressive early generation of a homecare robot, loaded with sensors and wi-fi. Not only can this robot get back up when knocked over, this story claims it as the first robot capable of recognising e ...
• No title
  Riots Replace Protests A tense, compelling video from the heart of the recent London anti-austerity protest, otherwise known as DayX3 : Notice at about 1:50 a police paramedic, with a green cross on his should, can be seen also wielding a baton. The UK government, and London police, are so terr ...
• No title
  Axis Of The Evil Dead How would NeoCons deal with the outbreak of a zombie uprising? Daniel W. Drezner at Foreign Policy takes a closer look : The neoconservative policy response to an undead uprising would be simple and direct. To paraphrase Robert Kagan, humans are from Earth, and zombies are f ...

Wired - Science

• Missing Black Holes Cause Trouble for String Theor ...
  By John Timmer, Ars Technica The results continue to pour out of the LHC’s first production run. This week, the folks behind the CMS detector have announced the submission of a paper to Physics Letters that describes a test of some forms of string theory. If this form of the theory were [...]
• Opportunity Rover Finds Fresh Crater on Mars
  SAN FRANCISCO — The Mars rover Opportunity has just rolled up to a fresh new crater that could hold clues to when and why Mars dried up. This image was downloaded from Opportunity at 10 am Pacific time on Dec. 15 and presented in a press conference at the American Geophysical Union meeting Dec. 16. ...
• DIY Biotech Hacker Space Opens in NYC
  A cadre of science entrepreneurs recently opened Genspace, the world's first government-compliant community biotech laboratory. The bedroom-sized facility was two years in the making and, for a $100-per-month membership, anyone can use the space for whatever experiments they dream up.
• Cultural Evolution Could Be Studied in Google Book ...
  Google’s massive trove of scanned books could be useful for researchers studying the evolution of culture. In a paper published Dec. 16 in Science, researchers turned part of that vast textual corpus into a 500-billion-word database in which the frequency of words can be measured over time and spac ...
• Rare Brain Disorder Prevents All Fear
  A middle-aged woman known as SM blithely reaches for poisonous snakes, giggles in haunted houses and once, upon escaping the clutches of a knife-wielding man, didn’t run but calmly walked away. A rare kind of brain damage precludes her from experiencing fear of any sort, finds a study published ...

Israeli Occupation Archive

• Despite court ruling, IDF took Arab land for train ...
  Former Civil Administration head signed order expropriating 50 dunams from West Bank village for rail line connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, now in its fifth decade. Go to the IOA website for much mo ...
• Shin Bet to compensate PFLP member for torturing h ...
  In an unusual move, the Shin Bet security service has agreed to compensate Jamal al-Hindi, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, for a partial disability that he says is due... The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands ...
• Israel denies plans to expand East Jerusalem hotel ...
  Israel has denied that it recently approved expansion plans for a hotel on the Mount of Olives owned by the Jordanian royal family, but documents obtained by Haaretz prove otherwise. The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, now in its fifth ...
• Moshé Machover: The endless so-called ‘peace proce ...
  Israel's strategic aim is to prevent the creation of anything that can even remotely be described as a sovereign Palestinian state; to colonize as much as possible of the best Palestinian lands; and... The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands ...
• Israeli towns continue to rewrite bylaws to keep A ...
  Town draft bylaws: "...multigenerational and variegated communal life that upholds Zionist values and seeks to maintain Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in the spirit of the Declaration of... The Israeli Occupation Archive (IOA) covers Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, n ...

Ria Novosti - Military

• Russia concerned by N.Korea's threat over S.Korean ...
  Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday expressed its concern to North Korea's ambassador Kim Jong-Jae over the reclusive communist state's promise to use military force should its rival South Korea hold live-fire drills in the Yellow Sea.
• Russia to keep Satan ballistic missiles in service ...
  Russia will continue to deploy SS-18 Satan heavy intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) as part of the country's nuclear arsenal until at least 2026, the commander of Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) said Friday.
• Russia adds 2 Topol-M ballistic missiles to nuclea ...
  Russia's Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) have deployed two additional Topol-M silo-based missile systems, SMF Commander Lt. Gen. Sergei Karakayev said on Friday.
• Russian Black Sea Fleet to join NATO naval drills ...
  The Russian Black Sea Fleet will take part for the first time in NATO's Bold Monarch exercise next year, its commander said on Friday.
• Russia lays down new frigate for Black Sea Fleet
  The Yantar Shipyard in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad will start on Saturday the construction of the first Krivak IV class frigate for Russia's Black Sea Fleet, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

NewsWise

• Computer Memory Takes A Spin in Research Supported ...
  Using unique equipment developed by the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at The Florida State University, an international team of researchers has used the spin of atomic nuclei in silicon to store information for longer than a minute and a half. More remarkable still, the team showed that th ...
• Ion Channel Responsible for Pain Identified
  University at Buffalo neuroscience researchers conducting basic research on ion channels have demonstrated a process that could have a profound therapeutic impact on pain.
• North Shore-LIJ and ProHealth Target Employee Well ...
  The North Shore-LIJ Health System and ProHealth Care Associates LLP today announced the opening of "Vivo Health Fitness at ProHealth," a 15,000-square-foot health club located at 3 Delaware Drive in the Lake Success Quadrangle. The center, part of North Shore-LIJ's new push into the wellness busines ...
• Resolve to be Tech Savvy...
  Leading you down the path to tech savvy in 2011 is Ryerson University's Digital Media Zone with some New Year's tech resolutions...
• NAFC Launches Council to Establish National Qualit ...
  The National Association For Continence (NAFC) is heading a newly formed council with the objective of establishing national, independent quality standards for disposable adult absorbent products provided by states to Medicaid waiver recipients.

Natural Health News

• Bad Mercury Science Sacrificed 15 Years of U.S. Ch ...
  A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee has recommended that the agency take a new look at updated data on mercury amalgam dental fillings that may indicate medical problems for patients. The committee also said that more information on amalgam fillings should be posted for both for ...
• Polar Bears and Dogs Playing
  A strange friendship forms between dogs and bears.
• The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast
  A new study suggests that exercising in the morning, before eating, can significantly lessen the ill effects of a poor holiday diet. Researchers recruited healthy, active young men and fed them a bad diet for six weeks.� A group of them that exercised before breakfast gained almost no weight and sh ...
• 4 Ways to Unleash Your Creative Genius
  Self-expression reduces your stress, enhances your immune system, and increases your joy.� U.S. News & World Report offers the following suggestions as ways to nurture your expressive sides: Think like a child. Children don�t have that harsh judge in their head that tells them not to bother.� The n ...
• Biggest Scam in World History Exposed
  The greatest scam in history has been exposed -- and has largely been ignored by the media.� In fact, it�s still going on. The specifics of a secret taxpayer funded �backdoor bailout� organized by unelected bankers have been revealed.� The data release revealed �emergency lending programs� that dol ...

Antemedius

• Julian Assange 1st Presser After Release On Bail
  RT | 17 December 2010 - The founder of the whistleblowing website Wikileaks released on bail by a British court says he will continue his work. An appeal by prosecutors to keep Julian Assange behind bars was rejected. But he'll have to stay in Britain under house arrest until a decision is made on w ...
• Where Is The Great Writ For Brad Manning?
  photo from BradleyManning.orgJulian Assange is the big media story, but the unsung hero, the person who is now suffering the most is Brad Manning. Unfortunately, while Manning suffers in solitary confinement, as he has for the past 7 months, and we scour the leaked material for which he might be ...
• British Judge Says Julian Assange 'May' Be Release ...
  Assange may be released Peter Wilson, Europe correspondent The Australian, December 09, 2010 12:00AM JULIAN Assange has received a glimmer of hope in his battle against sexual abuse allegations. A British judge says the WikiLeaks founder may be released from jail next week unless Swedish prosecut ...
• Today's Cyber War
  It's not a secret: the Internet was always going to radically change the world of information. That's nothing new. What is new, is that the struggle over who controls and possesses information isn't going to be fought solely in the courts or in the legislatures or the media. It's going to be foug ...
• Register Your Outrage Over Obama Cave-In to Republ ...
  I just finished calling Congressman Jim McDermott, my representative in Seattle. I expressed my strong opposition to President Obama’s caving in to Republican blackmail in agreeing under the guise of “compromise” to providing an extension to the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Progressives owe a deb ...

Climategate

• Dean of science…suggesting rising seas t…
  Dean of science…suggesting rising seas this next century of up to 100 metres, or Al Gore six metres. When I see things like that I know these are false. You mentioned the IPCC report; that suggests, at worst on best scenarios, 59 centimetres. http://www.google.com
• ABC science presenter Robyn Williams seeks more tr ...
  ABC science presenter Robyn Williams who in 2007 believed seas could rise 100 meters, seeks more truth from scientists after Climategate.
• How to avoid your own Climategate scandal
  What are the lessons of Climategate? More honesty and transparency in science? Not according to attorney Alan Nelson in the Guardian UK today.  To him, the lesson is how not to get caught next time. So how do universities and academics ensure that their correspondence does not become the “smoking g ...
• What is the “likelihood” that the 2007 IPCC Report ...
  A very interesting analysis of the IPPC Assessment and has some important questions that invite others to help him answer. Please read his article and let him know what conclusions you draw.
• Schools call for a “balanced teaching of global wa ...
  USA Today reports that US schools are finally calling for both sides of global warming to be taught, because it is after all, a theory -- not a fact:

Opinio Juris

• State’s QDDR and Its Academic Cognates
  by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Secretary Clinton yesterday released the much-awaited first Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review.  It’s an important document, and if implemented (a big if, given the shift in Congress and threats to cut State’s funding) it would have important consequences ...
• Non-Selection of Assange Infuriates Time Man of th ...
  by Peter Spiro by Peter Spiro Video here.  (Downfall producers seem to have unblocked these parodies, which had been taken down some time ago for copyright reasons.  Lawprofs might be entertained by this one, clearly composed by someone in our ranks — the mindset of someone who’s taught for a w ...
• Less on the Size of International-Law Faculties
  by Kevin Jon Heller by Kevin Jon Heller Having received a number of emails complaining about how I counted the size of various faculties, I have decided to remove both posts.  As I made clear in the original post, my count was not designed to be scientific and excluded — rightly or wrongly — a n ...
• CIEL’s New(ish) Blog
  by Duncan Hollis by Duncan Hollis I always wish I had more opportunities to blog about international environmental law (IEL), especially in light of recent developments (and thanks to Dan Bodansky for keeping our readers’ abreast of all the happenings in Cancun).  For those of you who have a si ...
• Ninth Circuit Rules No Federal Policy Regarding Ar ...
  by Roger Alford The Ninth Circuit this week ruled that there was no federal policy with respect to the Armenian Genocide, thereby allowing insurance claims brought by Armenian nationals under a California statute to go forward. In Movsesian v. Victoria Versicherung AG, the Ninth Circuit distingui ...

Investigate - Breaking News

• Admission: climate science IS stalking horse for g ...
  Slate magazine calls it: For 20 years, evidence about global warming has been directly and explicitly linked to a set of policy responses demanding international governance regimes, large-scale social engineering, and the redistribution of wealth. These are the sort of...
• BREAKING: Hottest year ever claims based on fake d ...
  You hear it trotted out so often it's tiresome, but for those who still believe the climate scientists who claim 2010 is "the hottest year ever", here's a wake-up call: the data is fake. (another perspective here) It's a similar...
• Britain buried under coldest dump of "global warmi ...
  From Benny Peiser's clmate newsletter, some highlights: The Met Office, using data generated by a £33million supercomputer, claims Britain can stop worrying about a big freeze this year because we could be in for a milder winter than in past...
• CFL light bulbs dangerous to health - fail German ...
  Classic: The energy saving bulbs show mercury levels 20 times higher than regulations allow in the air surrounding them for up to five hours after they are broken, according to tests released Thursday by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA Remember,...
• TGIF Edition latest issue
  Try these links...the second one may work better to open the page first, then click on the TGIF link in the middle of that page to bring up the PDF: http://www.investigatemagazine.co.nz/Investigate/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/tgif3dec10.pdf http://www.investigatemagazine.co.nz/Investigate/?attachment ...

My Care2 Picks

• HAARP Boils the Upper Atmosphere
  HAARP will zap the upper atmosphere with a focused and steerable electromagnetic beam. It is an advanced model of an "ionospheric heater." (The ionosphere is the electrically-charged sphere surrounding Earth's upper atmosphere. It ranges between 40 to 60 Submitted by Past Member to Science & Tech ...
• Scientists suggest that cancer is purely man-made
  Cancer is a modern, man-made disease caused by environmental factors such as pollution and diet, a study by University of Manchester scientists has strongly suggested.Submitted by John Farnham to Society & Culture �|� �Note-it! �|� �Add a Comment
• Oriental hornets powered by solar energy
  The Oriental hornet has a unique ability to harvest solar energy, scientists have discovered. The large wasp species has a special structure in its abdomen that traps the sun's rays, and a special pigment that harvests the energy they contain. Submitted by Hill Rick to Science & Tech �|� �Note-i ...
• If Extradited to Sweden, Assange Will Be Turned Ov ...
  Marianne Ny, the Swedish prosecutor who wants Assange returned to Sweden for questioning posted the following opaque statement about Assange's possible extradition to the United States on the prosecution's website ( basically the UK must agree )Submitted by John Farnham to US Politics & Gov't �|� ...
• Foreclsure Crisis
  Wall Street Journal Special ReportSubmitted by John Farnham to Business �|� �Note-it! �|� �Add a Comment

Angry Indian News

• US doubted probe into activist murder
  US doubted probe into activist murder: [smh.com.au] "AMERICAN diplomats doubted that Indonesia would prosecute the ''masterminds'' behind one of the country's biggest scandals, the poisoning of human... [[Continue reading Inteligentaindigena Novajoservo...]]
• Assange legal case could hang on contradiction | P ...
  Assange legal case could hang on contradiction | Privacy Inc. - CNET News: "Manning reportedly told ex-hacker Adrian Lamo that he had 'developed a relationship with Assange' over many months,... [[Continue reading Inteligentaindigena Novajoservo...]]
• More duplicity from Obama administration on Yemen ...
  More duplicity from Obama administration on Yemen - WikiLeaks - Salon.com: "Now, another top official, Deputy National Security Adviser�John Brennan, has made a similarly misleading statement in a... [[Continue reading Inteligentaindigena Novajoservo...]]
• Assange pactó "no avergonzar" a Israel :: La Rep�b ...
  Assange pactó "no avergonzar" a Israel Editor's Note: We here at APNS have no idea if this is true, but if it is, we have a real serious situation on our hands. All of this is moving at light-speed,... [[Continue reading Inteligentaindigena Novajoservo...]]
• WikiLeaks cables: Cuba's 'best friends forever' ig ...
  WikiLeaks cables: Cuba's 'best friends forever' ignore human rights | World news | The Guardian: "The diplomat made scathing remarks about his colleagues shunning democracy activists, 'kowtowing' to... [[Continue reading Inteligentaindigena Novajoservo...]]

Farm Wars

• Grandma Got Molested At The Airport – Funny Video
  TSA strikes again!
• Toxic Gulf Seafood: Looks good to me, Vern!
  If you can't see, smell, or taste it, and if it looks good, then it must be okay to eat. Or at least will fool the public long enough to rake in profits until the consumer base is sufficiently reduced through disease leading to early death so that the genocidal oligarchs leading us off the cliff can ...
• Chinese government money is buying one of U.S.A.’s ...
  It seems like there’s not much hope for Mt. Hope in Nevada. A brave group of American farmers and ranchers (and so far, Eureka County, NV) are all that is standing between our valuable American resources and water rights, and a Chinese company that has taken a $745 million loan from a bank fully ow ...
• Farm Wars Public Service Announcement: Revolution!
  Thoreau decided that he could not be associated with the government of his day without disgrace. How about our government today? Can we associate with it without disgrace?
• Truth Squad Radio with Brent Johnson, Author of Th ...
  This Sunday's special guest is Brent Johnson of Global Freedom Report radio and author of The American Sovereign.

True/Slant Headline Grabs

• The stupidity of crowds helps kill a planet - Todd ...
  Noted by Jeff McMahon on July 31, 2010 11:07 PM
• Image via WikipediaSex, death, and the noble American toad - Scott Bo ...
  Noted by Jeff McMahon on July 31, 2010 11:07 PM
• How to save a fishery: owning, renting, and expand ...
  Noted by Jeff McMahon on July 31, 2010 11:07 PM
• ‘Gossip Girl’ unethical because of threesome? - La ...
  Noted by Jeff McMahon on July 31, 2010 11:07 PM
• ()
  Noted by user deleted on December 31, 1969 7:12 PM

Citizens for Legitimate Government

• N.Korea vows to strike back if South holds island ...
  ShareThisN.Korea vows to strike back if South holds island drill 16 Dec 2010 North Korea's military threatened Friday to strike back with deadly firepower if South Korea goes ahead with a live-fire drill on the border island of Yeonpyeong. The North "will deal the second and third unpredictable self ...
• Obama approves Bush-era tax cut extension
  ShareThisObama approves Bush-era tax cut extension 17 Dec 2010 President Barack Obama on Friday afternoon signed into law a two-year-across-the-board extension of Bush-era tax cuts, just one day after the House approved the legislation. The bill includes a 2% rollback of Social Security payroll taxe ...
• Obama signs over $858 billion in tax-cuts for weal ...
  ShareThisObama signs over $858 billion in tax-cuts for wealthy By Lori Price 18 Dec 2010 GOP-pwned Barack Obama signed over nearly one trillion dollars to his corpora-terrorist paymasters and GOP overlords. Oh, btw: Shell Oil got a big tax break in this bill, as well. While signing the treasonous Bi ...
• UN mulls internet regulation options
  ShareThisUN mulls internet regulation options --WikiLeaks sparks push for tighter controls�17 Dec 2010 The United Nations is considering whether to set up an inter-governmental working group to harmonise global efforts by policy makers to regulate the internet. Establishment of such a group has the ...
• U.S. Tries to Build Case for Conspiracy by WikiLea ...
  ShareThisU.S. Tries to Build Case for Conspiracy by WikiLeaks 16 Dec 2010 Federal prosecutors, seeking to build a case against the WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange for his role in a huge dissemination of classified government documents, are looking for evidence of any collusion in his early contacts ...

The Briefing Room | Investigate

• Admission: climate science IS stalking horse for g ...
  Slate magazine calls it: For 20 years, evidence about global warming has been directly and explicitly linked to a set of policy responses demanding international governance regimes, large-scale social engineering, and the redistribution of wealth. These are the sort of...
• BREAKING: Hottest year ever claims based on fake d ...
  You hear it trotted out so often it's tiresome, but for those who still believe the climate scientists who claim 2010 is "the hottest year ever", here's a wake-up call: the data is fake. (another perspective here) It's a similar...
• Britain buried under coldest dump of "global warmi ...
  From Benny Peiser's clmate newsletter, some highlights: The Met Office, using data generated by a £33million supercomputer, claims Britain can stop worrying about a big freeze this year because we could be in for a milder winter than in past...
• CFL light bulbs dangerous to health - fail German ...
  Classic: The energy saving bulbs show mercury levels 20 times higher than regulations allow in the air surrounding them for up to five hours after they are broken, according to tests released Thursday by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA Remember,...
• TGIF Edition latest issue
  Try these links...the second one may work better to open the page first, then click on the TGIF link in the middle of that page to bring up the PDF: http://www.investigatemagazine.co.nz/Investigate/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/tgif3dec10.pdf http://www.investigatemagazine.co.nz/Investigate/?attachment ...

Mondoweiss

• Mr President, answer Matthew Lee of the AP: &#8216 ...
  Please just watch this. If you don't do anything else today but watch this. Promise me. Then send it to your friends. Words escape me this is so brilliant. It breaks my heart with moral urgency and sorrow. Awake America. Matthew Lee of the Associated Press stands up for days on end for imprisoned Pa ...
• S. African politicians ‘beaten up by IDF&#82 ...
  and other news from Today in Palestine: Settlers/ Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing Sheikh Jarrah: Daoudi family faces first court appearance to fight eviction Today in Jerusalem, the Daoudi family appeared at their first court hearing to defend themselves against fo ...
• Jeffrey Goldberg likens BDS movement to Nazi Germa ...
  If you can�t beat �em, smear �em.� And throw in the word Nazi for good measure. As the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement continues full-steam ahead in its efforts to force Israel to comply with international law, pro-Israel hawks are increasingly attempting to link the movement to an ...
• Say it ain’t so: Zakaria, Huffington and Tom ...
  This one stopped me, made me wonder if I need to have my eyes adjusted. This is an invitation to a benefit next spring for Canadian friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies. On the cover of the invite you will see Arianna Huffington, Thomas Friedman of the NY Times, Fareed [. ...
• Dozens tear-gassed in Bil’in as they walk to ...
  Today dozens of people were injured as a result of inhaling the tear gas due to the clashes that took place in the village of Bil'in. Many people from Bil'in village joined this march along with the peace activists and foreigners who came to give solidarity to Bil'in people, especially after the d ...

Vaccine Resistance Movement

• VRM: The Dark Side of The Vitamin K Shot
  Apart from the trauma inflicted on a newborn of getting the shot, the amount of Vitamin K injected into newborns is 20,000 times the needed dose. The injection also contains a preservative, Benzyl alcohol, that can be especially toxic for your babyâs delicate, young immune system. A parent has to k ...
• VRM: UK Institutes Brand of Medical Martial Law Wi ...
  As of January 1st, 2011, all children in the UK, upon reaching the age of 1, will be subject to a one stop, 6 vaccine assault. In what is being labeled ‘Super-vaccination’ day, babies will now get a series of 3 injections in one visit, a combination of the Measles, Mumps, Rubella [...]
• VRM: Vaccine Clinic – A Concise Compendium To The ...
  PRIMARY FACTORS WHICH DETERMINE THE EXTENT OF VACCINE RELATED NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE: 1. POINT OF ENTRY Vaccines are injected into deep muscle tissue, a route which literally bypasses one’s natural defences altogether. Thus the body is left vulnerable to live viruses, heavy metals, antibiotics, deterge ...
• VRM: The Problem With Vaccines Part 2 – Syne ...
  Toxicity is defined in the Medical lexicon as “a condition that results from exposure to a toxin or to toxic amounts of a substance that does not cause adverse effects in smaller amounts.” Vaccine-induced toxicity, while similar in some respects to this model, requires a deeper understanding in term ...
• VRM: The Awakening Has Begun
  On the heals of Ukraine’s 2009 Black Lung Infection, a mysterious variation of flu which bypassed trachea, targeting the lungs directly, a “bilateral pneumonia, the result of viral distress syndrome, i.e the total destruction of the lungs.” (1.3 million infected, over 75,000 hospitalized), eye witn ...

B.C. Preppers Network

• You Know You're Getting Old When...
  A few weeks back we received our new high-efficiency front loading LG washer and dryer set and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed by them. The set was only around $1000 (on sale) but I felt like I'd gone from a Chevette to a Cadillac when compared to our old set.� A cute little luxury featur ...
• Control Your Home Thermostat On the Internet!
  Today a fellow from our natural gas company came by to install a new thermostat as part of the Peaksaver program that we signed up for.�If you haven't heard of Peaksaver, basically what it does is allow the Ontario government electricity provider to turn off your central air conditioner for ...
• Happy Day!: The Water Bill Arrived!
  After being shocked a few months ago with a water bill of over $240 I decided to do a few things to cut down on our water use We converted our main toilet to a dual-flush and installed a water saving device on the second (haven't switched it over to a dual yet). We also installed a new low- ...
• Strawberry Picking
  Our family went strawberry picking this morning, it's a fun thing to do once in a while and I think it's a good way to help our 3-year old daughter realize where food comes from. While my wife picked berries with our oldest I went for a walk around the farm with our youngest in the stroller. T ...
• Pioneer Solar: PV System For Free?
  I received a flyer from Pioneer Solar in the mail the other day which claims to help people get a solar system installed on their house, farm, or business for free. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, like most things there's good and bad points about it and what might be a good deal for o ...

Michael Yon

• Hostages Press Release
  www.thethayerhotel.com/ Please Click here to view the entire story. {loadposition user8}
• Shooting Star
  16 December 2010Six years ago this week, I was packing for my first trip to Iraq.� Been a long road. Earlier this week, the annual Geminids meteor shower was a beautiful sight to behold.� Using 4 cameras, I made about 3,600 photos over the Andaman Sea.�� Due to computer issues, I�ve been able to re ...
• Ripley’s Believe it Or Not
  14 December 2010 Ripley�s Believe it or Not has asked to publish one of my photos in their next book.� This photo was made in Sangin, Afghanistan during the last time I was with British forces.� Sangin is the most dangerous place in the country.� The enemy is good and the fighting is serious.� The ...
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• American Arrogance
  13 December 2010 There have been many comments about American arrogance.� During my travels to 48 United States and over 50 countries -- most of those states and countries multiple times -- some themes have emerged.There is a pervasive sense in the United States that we are THE best.� I've seen this ...

The Killing Train

• Spinning the leaks
  My daily routine these days includes going to the Wikileaks twitter feed (twitter.com/wikileaks), which took me to this story in the UK Guardian about how Saudi Arabia proposed an Arab force to invade Lebanon. The Guardian is definitely the best site on the Wikileaks, and for data in general - they ...
• Wikileaks Cablegate
  The US Embassy cables put out by Wikileaks are not the truth. Even though I knew it, a part of me was disappointed at how ideological some of the cables were. Take #09TELAVIV1060, "Rep. Wexler discusses Iran with IDF Intelligence". The entire discussion is about the threat posed by Iran to Israel. E ...
• Would anyone be unhappy if Tom Flanagan disappeare ...
  I know I wouldn't... and no, I don't think it's manly. I think it's disgusting.
• Wikileaks Cablegate! Panamanians hope for a succes ...
  I was just peeking around Wikileaks's Cablegate (cablegate.wikileaks.org). This looks like the real thing folks! Take a look at this 1989 cable on Panama for example: http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/cable/1989/12/89PANAMA8545.html SUBJECT: PANAMANIANS HOPE FOR A SUCCESSFUL COUP More analysis to foll ...
• Political theory interlude
  Manuel suggested I read Norberto Bobbio, an Italian socialist writer on democracy. So I picked up his "Which Socialism?" In it, Bobbio argues that there's no necessary connection between democracy and socialism. Contrary to what socialists would like to believe, democracy doesn't automatically happe ...

treehugger

• Last Minute Gift Idea? Try a BPA-Free Tea Maker
  Image: Takeya Today was the perfect day to try out my Takeya tea maker: it's snowing out, I'd rather be cozied up in bed with a good book, and I'm pretty close to putting some USB-heated gloves on. So the perfect cup of hot tea seemed like a smart idea, and I was totally right. ...Read the full ...
• Tesla Motors Will Make $60 Million From Toyota's E ...
  Photo: Toyota Good News for Tesla Fans The Tesla Model S is still pretty far from dealerships, and the Roadster sales aren't quite enough to carry the company on their own (especially in this tough economy). But Tesla's been looking high and low for others sources of cash (the
• Eagles Flourish in Sanctuary, Hints at Species Com ...
  Photo credit: Alaskan Dude/Creative Commons On a ridgetop preserve in Pennsylvania, conservationists and bird watchers gathered for the annual count of migrating bald eagles. It's a tradition that has persisted for 76 years—since the founding of the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. This year, howeve ...
• Bobby Jindal's BP Spill Response a Big $200 Millio ...
  Photo by me, Brian Merchant When I was down in the Gulf, one of the first things I reported on was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's plan to construct giant islands to protect the barrier islands from the incoming oil slick. The plan sounded highly dubious from the get-go, and I couldn't find a ...
• Bicycles vs Cars vs Trains: Interesting Trends via ...
  Image: Screenshot of Google NGram Viewer for "Bicycle, Car, Train, Bus" This morning, my Twitter stream was quickly filled with tweets about this new tool from Google that allows one to search for words within the large Google Books collection. Called the Google Books Ngram Viewer, the tool h ...

Democratic Voice of Burma

• DKBA faction could commence guerilla war in &#8216 ...
  Renegade DKBA commander assertive as he tells DVB from the front line that faction is prepared for guerilla war across Burma if the Burmese army continues its 'offensive'
• Suu Kyi’s ‘time has come and gone’: In ...
  Leaked cable reveals India's views on Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta number 1's extraordinary travel 'arrangements' for his 2004 visit to the world's largest democracy
• North Korea revisited
  View Photo Album With fresh fears about North Korea’s role in a nascent nuclear weapons programme in Burma recently surfacing, DVB revisits a secretive trip taken by senior junta officials, including third-in-command Shwe Mann, to the pariah state in November 2008. The itinerary of the trip took in ...
• Victim of land confiscation facing jail
  Farmer who claims his land and property was destroyed by Rangoon authorities is being tried on charges of trespassing
• China loans billions for gas pipeline
  Additional $2.4 billion loaned by China to speed up the construction of the Shwe pipeline project and as possible cover for Burmese junta

Telegraph - Climate Change

• Save capitalism, not the ozone layer
  To satisfy Chris Huhne's deranged obsession with global warming, we must all pay much, much more for electricity, writes Simon Heffer.
• £500 on electricity bills to pay for green energy
  Analysts say the Coalition's plans will put Britain on course for a "high cost, low carbon" electricity market.
• £500 on electricity bills to pay for green energy
  Energy analysts say the Coalition's plans will put Britain on course for a "high cost, low carbon" electricity market where consumers pay the price for environmentally friendly generating technology.
• Polar bears could be saved by a big enough reducti ...
  Polar bears may be saved by reduction in greenhouse gases.
• Cancun climate change summit: David Cameron 'satis ...
  David Cameron has expressed his satisfaction at a climate change package that will see the rich world committed to forking out billions of pounds every year to stop global warming, but delay plans to cut carbon emissions.

National Geographic | Environment

• Best Pictures: Nat Geo Photo Contest Winners, 2010
  NoneFrom a charging buffalo to an erupting volcano—see the winning pictures of the 2010 National Geographic Photo Contest.
• New Oil—and a Huge Challenge—for Ghana
  The massive Jubilee field begins producing oil this week, but with revenue from the site come concerns about the risk of corruption and environmental compromise.
• Presented By:
• Pictures: Seven Supergreen U.S. Government Buildin ...
  NoneA subterranean labyrinth in the Rockies, breathing curtain walls by San Francisco Bay, and a Manhattan sky park highlight the U.S. government's drive to cut down its prodigious use of energy.
• Killer Alien Weed May Threaten Biggest Animal Migr ...
  An invasive weed was recently found spreading through southern Kenya—and it can kill both native vegetation and the animals that depend on it for survival, scientists warn.

Jurist - Legal Research

• Federal appeals court declines to reconsider Conra ...
  [JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [official website] on Friday declined to reconsider the appeal of Canadian-born media mogul Conrad Black [CBC profile; JURIST news archive]. In October, a three-judge panel upheld two [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] of Black's four convictions, ...
• France court convicts 13 Chilean officials for Pin ...
  [JURIST] A French court on Friday convicted 13 former Chilean officials over the disappearance of four French citizens during the regime of Augusto Pinochet [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. The defendants, primarily high-ranking military officers, were tried in absentia, and one defendant was acq ...
• Nokia sues Apple in Europe for patent infringement
  [JURIST] Finnish telecommunications company Nokia [corporate website] on Thursday filed 13 patent infringement complaints [press release] against Apple [corporate website] in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. The complaints, filed in the UK High Court, Dusseldorf and Mannheim District Courts in G ...
• US pledges support for UN indigenous rights declar ...
  [JURIST] US President Barack Obama announced Thursday that the US will support [press release] the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People [text]. The declaration, adopted [JURIST report] in 2007, is a non-binding treaty outlining the global human rights of approximately 370 million indige ...
• Turkish court opens landmark coup trial
  [JURIST] A Turkish court on Thursday began the trial of nearly 200 military officers accused of plotting to overthrow the government. The 2003 Balyoz Security Operation Plan [Taraf report, in Turkish; Al Jazeera backgrounder], or "Sledgehammer" plot [JURIST news archive], which included plans to bom ...

Atlantic | Mark Ambinder

• A Primary Challenge to Obama?
  The apoplexy of loud liberals probably won't be enough to spur a credible primary challenge to President Obama. That's because Obama enjoys extremely high approval ratings among African Americans, who are not likely to desert him for anyone else, because the White House and the Democratic National C ...
• WikiLeaks: One Analyst, So Many Documents
  To date, Bradley Manning stands accused only of providing a classified video of U.S. operations in Iraq to WikiLeaks. But U.S. government officials say they consider Manning the prime suspect behind the flood of documents that have wound up being promulgated by the group determined to bust U.S. secr ...
• After North Korean Attack, Obama Waits for Beijing
  In the wake of North Korea's artillery fusillade, President Obama's foreign-policy team is looking to see whether China, which has the most leverage with the isolated regime, responds in a way that the administration considers productive. MORE FROM NATIONAL JOURNAL: Ostrich Oversight? ...
• I Am a Blogger No Longer
  This is my final blog post for The Atlantic. Five years ago, as a way to boost the competitive metabolism of The Hotline, Chuck Todd hired me away from ABC News to create "Hotline On Call."  I was to be the first political reporter working for a mainstream news organization whose output would be exc ...
• Billy Joel Explains the Election
  What explains the partial collapse of the Democratic Party in the industrial Midwest? Billy Joel, in Allentown, caught the moment decades before it happened...the last time the economy in Pennsylvania transitioned away from coal and steel.  Educated, hard-working people. The generational tension. Th ...

COAT - Coalition to oppose the Arms Trade

• [COAT] Canada at War in Iraq! New 54-page COAT re ...
• [COAT] Success! AntiCANSEC arms-bazaar campaign - ...
• [COAT] Raging Grans video: CANSEC-NO CANSEX-YES!&q ...
• [COAT] Arms Bazaar in Ottawa Citizen, letters-to-e ...
• [COAT] Oppose the CANSEC War Machine! - coat

Bulletin of American Scientists - News

• US and Vietnam sign nuclear energy agreement | Ass ...
• SKorea on alert after ship hit by mysterious blast ...
• Obama administration may send U.S.-Russia arms tre ...
• Energy Secretary Steven Chu on the nation's energy ...
• More tritium found at Vt. Yankee, NRC plans closed ...

Tikun Olam

• Support Tikun Olam: 2010 Appeal
  In the past year, with the help of you, my readers, and new friends of this site who’ve helped me break major stories censored within Israel, Tikun Olam has broken new ground.  It has gone where few other blogs have gone.  My Israeli sources and I revealed Anat Kamm’s secret arrest and detention. ...
• Bergman on Mossad’s ‘Stupidity, Arrogance’ in Devi ...
  Ronen Bergman has published a story in Friday’s Yediot Achronot on the Stuxnet worm, one of the few comprehensive reports to have appeared in the Israeli media which, as he notes, has studiously (and curiously) avoided an issue that has enflamed the world media.  Bergman’s reporting on this is very ...
• Jerusalem’s Pisgat Ze’ev: Arabs Raus!
  The Jerusalem settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev, named for rightist Revisionist leader Zeev Jabotinsky, knows how to handle Arabs.  Just take it from Moshe Ben Zikri, recently elected “community adminstrator” (in Chicago he’d be called the ward boss or council leader) for the neighborhood.  His most crit ...
• Links for 2010-04-03 [Digg]
  Anat Kam-Uri Blau Top Secret Israeli Leak Case The foreign media continue to open up the gagged Anat Kam-Uri Blau case with new stories in The Guardian, The Times, and The National.
• Interior Minister: Israel Not Enough of Police Sta ...
  Israel’s Interior Minister is doing what government ministers tend to do: he’s shilling for his fiefdom, seeking ever greater wads of government cash to pad his little portion of the kingdom.  Yitzhak Aharonovitch is whining (though he protests: “I haven’t come here to whine, but rather to open eye ...

Ode MagazineImage by tripu via Flickr

• Miyako: A picture of pursuit
  By: Anne Thomas As I watch the many fundamental changes sweeping the world, I find that the young people I teach are either completely taken up with them, or pretty overwhelmed. And I have found among my university students that most often their focus on change lie ...
• The independent bookstore that could
  By: Jeremy Mercer One can’t help but feel the past decade has been Biblically awful for independent booksellers. There was the plague of big chain stores like Barnes & Noble who introduced heavy discounts on bestsellers that couldn’t be matched by smaller stores wi ...
• The goal of history is peace
  By: PeaceCorso I’d never thought of history having a goal, per se, have you? Consider these words from educational philosopher and dean of Yale Law School Robert Maynard Hutchins (January 17, 1899 - May 17, 1977): "The goal toward which all history tends ...
• The oneness of humanity
  By: Anne Thomas The other night I had the privilege of attending a party of Middle Easterners. It was a farewell get-together for an Iranian friend. He and his wife were heading to the U.S. to work at a university. Of course, everyone was happy for them, so the mer ...
• Lessons in Chan living
  By: donaldhwong Do majority of us know what needs to be done to better ourselves, the ones we love and the world? Of course. We all have some idea of what is right and necessary. The difficulty really is in the execution. We are either too busy or too easily s ...

OpEd News

• Bob Koehler, Peace Journalist, on "Courage Grows S ...
  The self-assigned label of "peace journalist" forces me to look deeply at whatever I write about-deeply, spiritually,even(to use an unusual term for a journo)prayerfully.I call the columns I write op-eds disguised as prayers.To be a peace journalist means to plunge deeply into a topic, to let go of ...
• The Leveraged Buy Out of America by its Kleptocrat ...
  At some point over the next five years, Stockman grimly states, the Fed and Treasury will have to sell a combined $5 trillion in debt, and that alone will destroy the supply/demand equilibrium and send interest rates surging, which will result in either debt repudiation or outright bankruptcy. The ...
• Encore, WickedLeaks, and More!
  Thoughts on where WikiLeaks needs to go from here. Government opacity is a curse on freedom, but terrorism is a curse on life as we know it.
• Reply of Lawrence Velvel to Trustee's Objection to ...
  Reply to Trustee's Objection for a Partial Stay
• Is it Time for Democrats to Fight Obama?
  Bush just barely got his tax cuts passed. President McCain wouldn't have come close. Only a Democratic president could so effectively get a Democratic Congress to agree to that for the rich. So much for "centrist" policies benefiting everyone.

Switchboard

• EPA announces standards for Hudson cleanup, starts ...
  Today, EPA released its standards for the rest of the massive project to clean up the toxic waste that General Electric dumped in the Hudson River – one of the most cherished and important waterways in America – starting more than 60 years ago. This highly anticipated release follows ...
• Political differences aside, G. Beck credits local ...
  Much to my surprise, Glenn Beck rightfully acknowledged Mark Rembert and Taylor Stuckert and their collective�good work in starting up Energize Clinton County as "Miracle #1" for Wilmington, Ohio's economic come back.��Of course Mr. Beck doesn't miss a beat to take a dig at 'leftist',� ...
• India Climate Change and Energy News - December 5 ...
  Climate Change India’s Role in Cancun Appreciated “India's role in convincing the BASIC countries to accept the draft proposals in the final stage of negotiations and its five insertions in the draft texts, which was a precursor to the Cancun agreements, has been appreciated by Mexic ...
• Tar sands is dirty business; BP sued; Assess drill ...
  In the New York Times, Susan Casey-Lefkowitz discussed the environmental damage caused by the tar sands industry; Susan was also quoted in The Canadian Press… David Pettit spoke with the Times-Picayune about a recent lawsuit filed by the federal government against companies involved in ...
• Arts-driven revitalization in Kentucky - yes, Kent ...
        To creative-class types who inhabit trendy east and west coast cities and a few mid-country oases like Austin and Boulder, sleepy Paducah, Kentucky (population estimated 25,720 in 2009) might seem an unlikely location for a major revitalization effort being driven by artists.  B ...

Lawyers,Guns,& Money

• Tropical Hot Dog Night In Heaven
  Don Van Vliet, R.I.P. Related posts:We Contemplate Eternity Beneath the Vast Indifference of Heaven “There’s always a little bit of heaven in a disaster area” Saturday night video Related posts:We Contemplate Eternity Beneath the Vast Indifference of Heaven “There’s always a little bit of h ...
• “I Have No Tolerance, Gang, For People Who C ...
  The retirement of Larry King reminds me of one of my favorite SNL paradoies of all time (alas, audio only): Related posts:Wait, Acorn Did Not Commit Voting Fraud? Gang of 14: A Huge Win For the GOP What is wrong with these people? Related posts:Wait, Acorn Did Not Commit Voting Fraud? Gang of ...
• If Anything, Charlie Went Easy On Him
  As a complement to Pierce, enjoy Emma Span on the witless sexism in Bill Simmons’s bestseller. Related posts:Charlie Crist Superstar Friday Cat Blogging Lucy Should Probably Wait Until Charlie Starts Running Related posts:Charlie Crist Superstar Friday Cat Blogging Lucy Should Probably Wait ...
• In Soviet Russia, party writes jokes
  In America, jokes write themselves! Related posts:Teh Soviet Funny Winter War II Would be a Problem for Russia The face(s) of the Republican Party … according to the Republican Party. Related posts:Teh Soviet Funny Winter War II Would be a Problem for Russia The face(s) of the Republican Party ...
• Random Friday Blogging: Cricket, US Politics, Egg ...
  We can all rest easy now, because in the Cricket, normal business has resumed. An analysis of player performance through the second test at Adelaide can be found here.  Dated, obviously, as Mitchell Johnson no longer rates as “atrocious” following Friday’s haul, so perhaps he should be upgraded to ...

Desert Research Institute

• Top Cited Article in the Journal of Human Evolutio ...
  Dr. Glenn Berger is lead author in top-cited article in Journal of Human Evolution. The article "Luminescence chronology of cave sediments at the Atapuerca paleoanthropological site, Spain" was the top-cited article published in the Journal of Human Evolution for the period of 2008 to 2010.
• DRI Researcher Published in Nature Geoscience
  The atmosphere over the Dead Sea, researchers have found, is laden with oxidized mercury. Some of the highest levels of oxidized mercury ever observed outside the polar regions exist there.
• Taking Your Home’s Energy Temperature
  An article authored by DRI Associate Research Professor Emeritus Charles “Fred “Rogers, Ph.D., outlines the best practices for homeowners who are looking to save money on their home heating and cooling bills.
• DRI Researcher Earns National Science Foundation M ...
  DRI Research Professor Hans Moosmüller, Ph.D. and colleagues received $649,801 from the National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program to develop a Photo-Acoustic Light Absorption and Albedo Spectrometer (PALAAS) for the characterization of aerosol radiative forcing in the ...
• DRI Researcher Develops Bioengineering Company
  DRI’s Joseph J. Grzymski, Ph.D. partnered with Adam G. Marsh, Ph.D. from the University of Delaware to develop Evozym Biologics, a company created to bridge the gap between research and innovation and commercial value.

Earth Techling

• Electric Vehicle Puts Power Back In Grid
• Oregon Plant Hosts 1,000 Cleantech Jobs
• Eragy Is Yet Another Energy Mgmt. Firm
• Hawaii, GM Plan Ahead for Hydrogen Cars
• Greenerator Brings Eco Energy To Condos

National Law Journal | U.S.

• No humbugs here
  Law humbug? Not here. Even the crustiest litigator can go all gooey when the holidays roll around. We asked some of the profession's biggest names to share some of their holiday — traditions with our readers. Some are heartwarming. Others are decidedly offbeat. One has a certain Sting.
• Showdown over Web searches
  More than three dozen technology and consumer products companies and trade groups have piled on as amici to a trademark fight between Rosetta Stone Ltd. and Google Inc. in a case that observers hope will settle some thorny questions about Web searches.
• The Probe Patrol
  After two years during which it didn't need to worry about congressional subpoenas, President Barack Obama's legal shop is making preparations for a possible onslaught of Republican investigations.
• PTO to open its first satellite office, in Detroit
  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office plans to open its first-ever satellite office next year, in Detroit, to help cut the mammoth patent application backlog and provide an economic boost to the economically depressed motor city.
• Georgetown Law moves into the national security ar ...
  Georgetown University Law Center is launching a new LL.M. program in national security law — only the second program of its kind at a U.S. law school (nearby George Washington University Law School started an LL.M. in national security and U.S. foreign relations law in 2008).

How Shall We Do The Mountain ?

• Pittsburgh Sets Model to Reject Corporate-Imposed ...
  November 30, 2010 By S.B. Thompson Chambersburg, PA – Edited for length * The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is actively involved in many issues to help prevent corporations from raping America’s land and resources, including speaking out against uranium mining and mountaintop re ...
• Investigating the US Gas Boom
  I know many of you are becoming very aware of the natural gas boom happening in the Mid Atlantic area. This video covers some old ground but it also discusses some very current issues and is a great intro for anyone who is trying to learn about the problems with the fracking process. http://www.thee ...
• Under the Influence of Fracking?
  In addition to the environmental and health threats posed by gas drilling, driving on PA roadways is also becoming more dangerous.  The Pennsylvania State Police and the Department of Environmental Protection announced that during an October three-day joint safety enforcement operation, three out of ...
• Speaking Out on Water Issues
  Tiadaghton Audubon Society is pleased and privileged to have Sean Saville, National Field Director of the National Audubon Society speak on the Gulf Oil Spill at our annual meeting on Wednesday November 17 at 7:30PM in Mansfield Pa at the Holy Child Church, 242 South Main St. He has extensive and in ...
• DEP Makes Oil and Gas Operations More Transparent
  COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA Dept. of Environmental Protection Commonwealth News Bureau Room 308, Main Capitol Building Harrisburg PA., 17120 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 11/1/2010 CONTACT: Jamie Legenos, Department of Environmental Protection 717-787-1323   DEP Makes Oil and Gas Operations More Transpare ...

News Blaze

• North Korea Vows Retaliation for Planned Artillery ...
  If North Korea were to react to that in a negative way and fire back at those firing positions on the islands, that would start potentially a chain reaction of firing and counter-firing, he said.'
• General Hospital Continues to Head in The Wrong Di ...
  When viewers express an interest in seeing new storylines for their favorite, underused characters, the writers often respond by bringing in former or brand new characters instead, then repeat many of the same storylines with them and the lead chara
• EPA Analysis Shows Reduction in 2009 Toxic Chemica ...
  The TRI program publishes information on toxic chemical disposals and releases into the air, land and water, as well as information on waste management and pollution prevention activities in neighborhoods across the country.
• Saugus Theatre Offers Free Tickets to Military Fam ...
  This Saugus theatre continues to offer free tickets to our Military Families. Kaleidoscope is Rhode Island's award-winning, non-profit, professional, touring company.
• Issues Concerning Population to be Discussed at ' ...
  The objectives of Rio+20 are: to secure renewed political commitment to sustainable development; to assess progress towards internationally agreed goals on sustainable development and to address new and emerging challenges.

environment 360

• U.S. Production of Shale Gas Will Double by 2035, ...
  The production of natural gas resources trapped in shale deposits in the U.S. will double over the next 25 years, according to a new government report. In its annual energy outlook report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says the increase in shale will help the nation become less reliant ...
• Cap-and-Trade System To Be Adopted This Week by Ca ...
  California, which has the world’s eighth-largest economy, is expected to approve regulations this week that will impose a cap and a price on CO2 emissions beginning in 2012. The California Air Resources Board is set to adopt key provisions of California’s landmark climate bill, known as AB32, at mee ...
• Did Cancun Prove the UN Irrelevant in Tackling Cli ...
  The Cancun conference is being credited with keeping international climate talks alive. But the real potential for bringing emissions under control may lie in a Plan B, with nations acting on their own in moving toward a low-carbon economy. BY FRED PEARCE
• Concerns About Golden Eagles Thwart Growth of Wind ...
  Fears that wind turbines could threaten protected golden eagles in the western U.S. threaten to undermine several major wind energy projects. Earlier this year, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management indefinitely suspended issuing wind permits on federal land, according to an Associated Press report. Th ...
• London’s New Black Cabs Must Be Electric by 2020, ...
  In a push to improve air quality in London, city officials will require that all new black taxi cabs be electric by 2020. Under increased pressure to reduce the worst air pollution in Europe, London Mayor Boris Johnson says the city will refuse licenses to any taxi older than 15 years beginning in 2 ...

Red Ice Creations

• Mona Lisa Code: Italian Researcher Finds Clue in M ...
  An Italian researcher has sparked new controversy over the world’s most famous painting by claiming Leonardo da Vinci painted tiny letters into the eyes of the Mona Lisa which may finally reveal the disputed identity of his model. "Invisible to the naked eye and painted in black on green-brown are ...
• Manuscripts Reveal Legend of Jesus’ Great-Grandmot ...
  A pious, and ultimately, saintly woman named Ismeria was grandmother to the Virgin Mary, and great-grandmother to Jesus, according to a medieval legend. Now, an examination of two manuscripts from 14th- and 15th-century Florence, Italy, reveals who exactly the legendary great-grandmother was, tellin ...
• Britain: SAS Hit Squads At Shopping Malls
  SAS hit squads are today protecting packed shopping centres from terrorists - with orders to shoot to kill. The regiment’s elite troops are poised to foil any al-Qaeda bid to cause Mumbai-style carnage amid Britain’s Christmas crowds. The Who Dares Wins teams have instructions to strike hard and fas ...
• Ice volcano spied on Saturn moon
  Scientists said on Tuesday they have found the best evidence yet of ice volcanoes on Saturn’s giant moon Titan. Unlike volcanoes on Earth, such a volcano on Titan may spew ice and hydrocarbons instead of molten lava.
• Ukraine to open Chernobyl area to tourists in 2011
  Want a better understanding of the world’s worst nuclear disaster? Come tour the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Beginning next year, Ukraine plans to open up the sealed zone around the Chernobyl reactor to visitors who wish to learn more about the tragedy that occurred nearly a quarter of a century ...

Russia Today

• Computer specialist kidnapped, forced to hack bank ...
  An unlikely hostage was saved by the police in Russia’s Altai region. A programmer was kidnapped, handcuffed to a radiator and forced into “hacking” bank web sites. The abductors have been detained and face 15 years...
• Spaniards tighten belts amid European crisis
  As strikes and demonstrations over austerity measures are sweeping across EU countries, Spain has become the latest to suffer.
• Russia rejects Kosovo election
  The parliamentary election held in Kosovo on December 12 was illegitimate and Russia does not accept its results, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said.
• Massive brawl in Ukrainian Parliament
  A massive violent brawl erupted in the Ukrainian Parliament, the Rada, on Thursday evening.
• Belarus gears for “foregone conclusion” presidenti ...
  This Sunday, Belarus goes to the polls to elect a president. But even opposition candidates are sure that Aleksandr Lukashenko will remain in power.

Dad2059′s Webzine of Science Fiction, Science Fact and Esoterica

• Horse Shoe Shaped UFOs
  Here’s something you don’t see every day, horse shoe shaped UFOs. Here’s a disclaimer though, the first video could be CGI and the second could be the planet Venus. Both are interesting. … Horse Shoe UFO Seen From A Plane ] … Fiery Horse Shoe UAP Seen From The Ground The embedding code was removed, ...
• Soyuz Launch To I.S.S. 12/15/10
  Expedition 25 launch on a Russian Soyuz rocket happened yesterday at 2:09:25 p.m. EST to the International Space Station. One Italian, one Russian and one American was on the flight and will live on the space station for six months. I would like to try it once just to see if I could do it. [...]
• Louisiana Zombie Photo Viral Marketing
  From Mysterious Universe: Recently at my blog The Gralien Report, I took a moment to touch on a story pertaining to a strange trail camera photo, supposedly obtained near New Orleans, Louisiana. The strange image seemed to depict an emaciated, naked, pale-skinned humanoid with large “bug eyes” somew ...
• Cryptoterrestrial in Louisiana
  In the age of YouTube and photoshop, one must be leery of videos submitted as evidence anymore. But this little tidbit made the mainstream media (such as it is) in Louisiana where weird phenomena are common in the Bayou. … ] … This looks like one of the late Mac Tonnies’ classic cryptoterrestrials. ...
• Paracast: The Kivas of Heaven
  I was in an “Ancient Aliens” mood yesterday and caught up on some of the more recent Season 2 episodes on YouTube (and drove my wife nuts LOL). Some of them referenced the American desert Amerinds’ (Hopi, Apache, Ute, Navajo) legends of sky people and how they helped The People as they came out of ...

Tippers News

• Domestic violence
  The statistics are startling: It's estimated that every 18 minutes a woman in the United States is beaten. Submitted by Rose NoFWDSPLZ to World �|� �Note-it! �|� �Add a Comment
• Yes, trafficking happens right here
  A common misconception about human trafficking and modern slavery is that it does not happen here. But it does. It's a documented fact. Take the case of two girls, ages 15 and 16, who ran away from a juvenile home in Fremont in 2007.Submitted by Rose NoFWDSPLZ to World �|� �Note-it! �|� �Add a Comm ...
• Human smuggling
  THERE is no doubt that rampant poverty, unemployment and a bleak future stare young Pakistanis in the face. The situation invariably provides a breeding ground Submitted by Rose NoFWDSPLZ to World �|� �Note-it! �|� �Add a Comment
• Confused cat found wandering streets of of Linz, A ...
  This hungry kitty thought she was the cat that had got the cream when she found a half-full tin of pet food as she prowled for snacks in bins behind a supermarket.Submitted by Maria Oniga to Animals �|� �Note-it! �|� �Add a Comment
• Tiger killing 'a crime against nature'
  Three people have been sentenced to a total of eight and a half years in prison for trying to smuggle tiger skins and bones across the Russian border. And for the first time in this kind of case, a charge of 'ecological damage' might be brought for the Submitted by Maria Oniga to Animals �|� �Note- ...

The Freeman

• Tax Increase Aborted by Congressional Vote
  “Congress approved the most significant tax bill in nearly a decade late Thursday, overcoming liberal resistance to continue for two more years tax breaks enacted under president George W. Bush and to provide a fresh boost of federal support to the tepid economic recovery.” (Washington Post) Tax bre ...
• Massive Spending Bill Abandoned
  “After wrestling with – and finally abandoning – a 1,900-page catch-all spending bill stuffed with more than $8 billion in home-state projects known as earmarks in Washington and pork in the rest of the country, Senate leaders need to come up with a measure to keep the federal government running int ...
• A Boost for the Managed Economy
  All players in the game have revealed themselves to be interventionists.
• About Those English Student Protests
  The best thing I’ve read about the English student protests against reduced government subsidies for higher education is here. In “A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste,” Kevin Carson writes: Arenât these just a bunch of spoiled brats, throwing a tantrum when theyâre cut off from the taxpayer teat? No ...
• Obama, Corporate Heads Discuss Economy
  “Nearly five hours of top-level talks between the leader of the free world and the leaders of the corporate world Wednesday produced agreement on two fronts: They’re making slow, steady progress toward a growing economy. And they’ve got a long way to grow. At a meeting across Pennsylvania Avenue fro ...

Teaching Online Journalism

• Skills for journalists: Again, the question
  What skills does today’s journalist need to have? I do not think this question has only one answer. In a comment on a blog post by Robert Hernandez, Michael Grimaldi wrote: The highest skill of journalism is knowing the number of questions to ask, how many people of whom to ask them, and then rep ...
• Data journalism and programmer journalists
  Some good stuff on this topic: Debate over journalism’s required skills gets heated, by Robert Hernandez: I do not believe you need to master programming to succeed in journalism. I do believe you need to respect and understand the power of each and every craft, not just programming, but photog ...
• Nitpicking some myths about digital journalism
  Andy Boyle wrote a response to Mark S. Luckie’s blog post 5 myths about digital journalism, and because I left a comment on Mark’s post, Andy called me out on Twitter. Now, I know Mark a little and Andy not at all (except via his tweets), but I think they are both bright and sincere young journalist ...
• Online video, audiences, sharing: Putting it all t ...
  I thought about titling this post “Another stupid way news sites waste time and effort by failing to understand the Web and how people use it,” but I thought maybe that was far too broad, since it covers so many things. This post is really about how journalism organizations could use video intellig ...
• Online video, links, and people: Putting it all to ...
  I spend a lot of time speaking (and thinking) about online video — both journalism video and the broader YouTube varieties. When we think about how people use online video — and by “people” I mean mostly North Americans in the college and university student age group — we have to consider sharing. ...

Facing South

• IKEA at center of labor rights controversy in Virg ...
  By Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest When my colleagues and I at Good Jobs First introduced the Subsidy Tracker database recently, our hope was that the information would be helpful to a wide range of campaigns for economic and social justice. I can now offer one particular use. By p ...
• Georgia prisoner strike comes out of lockdown
  By Kung Li Georgia prisoners came out of their cells today, ending the lockdown phase of the largest prison work strike in U.S. history. The coordinated, nonviolent action drew support from around the country. Months in the planning, the work strike this past week surprised prison officials.�� � ...
• INSTITUTE INDEX: Segregation forever?
  Over the past five years, percent of the 100 largest U.S. metro areas where racial segregation increased: 25 Percent of those same metro areas where segregation increased for Hispanics: 50 Percent of U.S. whites who live in predominantly white neighborhoods today: 79 That figure in 2000: 8 ...
• Feds sue companies behind BP oil disaster as exten ...
  The Department of Justice announced yesterday that it was suing BP and eight other defendants for their roles in the oil rig disaster that claimed the lives of 11 workers and spilled 172 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The defendants named in the suit include BP Exploratio ...
• South Carolina's governor-elect targets unions wit ...
  By Corey Hutchins, Columbia Free Times When Gov.-elect Nikki Haley said her nominee to head up the state's labor agency will aid her in helping "fight the unions" -- and specifically help keep unions from organizing at aircraft-maker Boeing's North Charleston assembly plant -- the director of So ...

Worldpress - Africa

• U.S. Dual-Track Policy in Somalia
  In a country with layers of complexity, clan warfare and a broken state, the Obama administration is taking an appropriately complex approach to stabilizing Somalia, one that may or may not bear fruit.
• Preventing Maternal Deaths in West Africa
  Dr. Fredanna M'Cormack and her Bele Uman Project are working in Sierra Leone to save the lives of pregnant mothers and their babies.
• Interview with Kumi Naidoo
  The Greenpeace executive director talks about connections between the environment, poverty, peace, and how the interconnectedness of these issues can drive civil society.
• Zimbabweans Still Suffering
  On a daily basis, the people of Zimbabwe face starvation, poverty, corruption and oppression, and their government is highly unlikely to bail them out anytime soon.
• Re: Blood Diamonds: Still Bloody
  We are seeing a steadily growing tide of discontent with the Kimberley Process.

Canadian Encyclopedia

• Champlain, Samuel de
  Samuel de Champlain, cartographer, explorer, governor of New France (b at Brouage, France c 1570; d at Qu�bec City 25 Dec 1635). The major role Champlain played in the St Lawrence River area earned him the title of
• Physiographic Regions
  Physiography originally meant "the study of natural phenomena," but later usage limited its application to PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY in particular and, more recently, to landforms alone. Physiographic regionalization is here
• Carr, Emily
  Emily Carr, painter, writer (b at Victoria 13 Dec 1871; d there 2 Mar 1945). Her parents were English people who had settled in the small provincial town of Victoria, where her father became a successful merchant and respected
• King, William Lyon Mackenzie
  William Lyon Mackenzie King, politician, prime minister of Canada 1921-26, 1926-30 and 1935-48 (b at Berlin [Kitchener], Ont 17 Dec 1874; d at Ottawa 22 July 1950), grandson of William Lyon MACKENZIE. Leader of the LIBERAL PARTY
• Rebellions of 1837
  The Rebellions of 1837 took place in both Upper and Lower Canada. In LOWER CANADA the rebellion was in large part an expression of a resurgent FRENCH CANADIAN NATIONALISM . The French Canadian majority constituted the

How Can I Recycle This ?

• How can I reuse or recycle a dog’s leather c ...
  Earlier in the week, I had a to-the-point email from Cubby asking: how can i recycle a leather dog collar? My first thought was keeping using it/pass it on – but then I remembered that we’ve got an old leather collar of Lily’s here after the metal work rusted and snapped off in a not-easy-to-fix [.. ...
• How can I reuse or recycle old musical instrument ...
  Amber sent us an email asking about reeds from musical instruments: I’ve got TONS of old alto saxophone reeds lying around, and was wondering if anybody had an idea about how to reuse/recycle them? I am incredibly unmusical but Wikipedia tells me reeds tend to be make from cane, although there are a ...
• How can I reuse or recycle completely dry fudge?
  Recycle This regular Anna left a question on the Suggestion page back in APRIL but I somehow missed it until now – sorry Anna! Her question was: How could I use completely dry fudge? I have two big boxes of completely dry Irish fudge that Iâd like to find a use for. The fudge isnât [...]
• What can I reuse or recycle to make Advent calenda ...
  Advent started yesterday so really I should have asked this question last week but nevermind. We don’t celebrate Christmas but I know that one or two people around the world do – and some of those people have Advent calendars to open on the run up to the 25th. When I was a kid, I’m [...]
• Five fantastic reuses for expanded Polystyrene foa ...
  Expanded polystyrene, the moulded white shapes you get as protective packaging when you buy electronics or large toys etc, is a pain to recycle – it can be recycled now but not many places collect it. Unlike its foam ‘peanuts’ counterpart which can be reused as multi-purpose packaging again and agai ...

Mondoweiss

• Mr President, answer Matthew Lee of the AP: &#8216 ...
  Please just watch this. If you don't do anything else today but watch this. Promise me. Then send it to your friends. Words escape me this is so brilliant. It breaks my heart with moral urgency and sorrow. Awake America. Matthew Lee of the Associated Press stands up for days on end for imprisoned Pa ...
• S. African politicians ‘beaten up by IDF&#82 ...
  and other news from Today in Palestine: Settlers/ Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing Sheikh Jarrah: Daoudi family faces first court appearance to fight eviction Today in Jerusalem, the Daoudi family appeared at their first court hearing to defend themselves against fo ...
• Jeffrey Goldberg likens BDS movement to Nazi Germa ...
  If you can�t beat �em, smear �em.� And throw in the word Nazi for good measure. As the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement continues full-steam ahead in its efforts to force Israel to comply with international law, pro-Israel hawks are increasingly attempting to link the movement to an ...
• Say it ain’t so: Zakaria, Huffington and Tom ...
  This one stopped me, made me wonder if I need to have my eyes adjusted. This is an invitation to a benefit next spring for Canadian friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies. On the cover of the invite you will see Arianna Huffington, Thomas Friedman of the NY Times, Fareed [. ...
• Dozens tear-gassed in Bil’in as they walk to ...
  Today dozens of people were injured as a result of inhaling the tear gas due to the clashes that took place in the village of Bil'in. Many people from Bil'in village joined this march along with the peace activists and foreigners who came to give solidarity to Bil'in people, especially after the d ...

Media Consortium

• Clyde Bentley updates his timeline for newspapers ...
  Three main points from this post that are important. 1) "For newsrooms that are behind on mobile—and the vast majority of them are,” said Bentley, “the mobile web site is most important thing they need to catch up on. When you’re using a mobile device, you should get taken to mobile site. Technicall ...
• Jonathan Stray » Does journalism work?
  "Journalism has no theory of change — at least not at the level of practice. I’ve taken to asking editors, “what do you want your work to change in society?” The answer is generally along the lines of, “we aren’t here to change things. We are only here to publish information.” I don’t think that’s ...
• Nicholas Christakis on the networked nature of Twi ...
  We need metrics, in particular, to determine “which online interactions represent real relationships, where an influence might possibly be exerted.” ..And that has big implications not only for news organizations, but also for the platforms that are hoping to translate their ubiquity into financia ...
• The New York Times Introduces The Evolution of the ...
  As reported by the Atlantic, The New York Times has snuck in an update to its hyperlink feature. The new feature allows users to link to and highlight individual sentences and paragraphs in its web stories. While it could be a tad complicated for an average reader, it’s a great tool for writers and ...
• Fundly + Facebook = Millions in Micro-Donations fo ...
  One startup that's trying to capture the heat of micro-donations and make them more social is Fundly, which started life as BlueSwarm in 2009 before moving to Palo Alto, Calif., from Boston. The donation platform lets candidates begin taking micro-donations online quickly, and even embed those effor ...

Reality Asserts Itself

• Drug Wars in Juarez Fuels Boom in El Paso
  My colleague Malak Behrouznami recently returned from Juarez Mexico where she grew up as a child. She as a wonderful heritage - her father is Iranian and her Mother is Mexican. She went Juarez for family and journalistic reasons. One of her objectives was to find out why Juarez has become a terroriz ...
• PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI NEGOTIATIONS TO NOWHERE NOT TH ...
  A few months ago when shooting a documentary in the Middle East, we met Zeina, a 13-year-old Palestinian living in a Beirut refugee camp. She was traumatized as she watched the Israeli Gaza war on television. It changed her life. She now thinks of revenge and cannot understand the Israeli children w ...
• FROM JOE McCARTHY TO GLEN BECK – TIME TO END FEAR ...
  I listened to Glen Becks "Restoring Honor" speech today hoping to find something of substance to write about. I found a stringing together of such empty phrases it does not bear discussion.  The more important issue is why a man whose megalomania seems to have no bounds can become such a phenomena ( ...
• PAKISTAN FLOODS AND A FAILED POLICY - UN Sec. Gen ...
  Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, says of the flooding in Pakistan "The world has never seen such a disaster. It's much beyond anybody's imagination". At least 20 million people have lost their homes, more than 1600 have died, and disease and hunger will claim many, many more l ...
• China and the end of the end of history
  Many economists and political analysts think the current recovery, as it's being called, is a rather temporary phenomenon. Many expect the recession to kick back in, and perhaps within a few years get much more serious. What does that mean in terms of the future of the world economy and world politi ...

Great Beyond ( Nature )

• A Rising Star
  Nothing is quite as surreal in science as watching America’s top geophysicists boogie to a cover of Journey’s "Don’t Stop Believing." But Nature jumped down the rabbit hole last night and joined the fun at the American Geophysical Union’s awards banquet, where journalist Roberta Kwok was honored ...
• Drugmaker will fight FDA decision to restrict brea ...
  Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche intends to challenge the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its decision to revoke approval of the drug Avastin (bevacizumab)for the treatment of advanced breast cancer. US regulators announced yesterday that the drug’s marginal benefits for breast cancer ...
• ITER feels the squeeze
  ITER, world’s largest fusion project, is feeling as squeezed as hot plasma in a tokamak. But it isn't superconducting magnets applying the pressure, it’s the European Parliament, which this week rejected a plan to cover a €1.4 billion (US$1.8 billion) gap in the project’s construction budget. Thi ...
• Research trip to the Antarctic: Antarctic goes vir ...
  Science journalist Jane Qiu has now reached the Palmer ecological research station on the Antarctic Peninsula, joining researchers investigating how climate change has affected the region in recent decades. Please check back for her dispatches from the bottom of the world. Cold rooms seem redunda ...
• Massive UK lab gets the nod
  The most ambitious research project of the new, deficit-cutting British government has just got the go-ahead to start construction. The £500 million (US$ 778 million) UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation (UKCMRI) will be home to 1,250 scientists. Led by Nobel-prize-winner Paul Nurse, the in ...

new geography

• Pittsburgh's Tunnel of LOV
  Before Pittsburgh’s light-rail “Tunnel to Nowhere” under the Allegheny River came along, my favorite Port Authority boondoggle was the Wabash Tunnel under Mt. Washington. Most Pittsburghers know all they need to know about the notorious "Tunnel to Nowhere." Still under construction and still di ...
• Dallas: Building America's Largest Urban Park on t ...
  A flood protection site in Dallas is being transformed into America’s largest urban park. The economic and ecological benefits of conserving this slice of North Texas are destined to reverberate well beyond the city limits. Blackland Prairie is the most endangered large ecosystem in North America. ...
• Hasta La Vista, Failure
  In his headier and hunkier days, Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke boldly about how �failure is not an option.� This kind of bravado worked well in the gym�and in a remarkable career that saw an inarticulate Austrian body-builder rise to the apex of Hollywood and California politics. But Schwarzenegger�s ...
• Can We Replicate in the 21st Century What we Accom ...
  Can the American republic replicate in the 21st century what its people accomplished in the 20th: widespread economic prosperity at home, the conquering of tyrannies and fascist ideologies abroad, the application of science to eradicate disease and improve life? These accomplishments took great effo ...
• If California Is Doing So Great, Why Are So Many L ...
  Superficially at least, California’s problems are well known. Are they well understood? Apparently not. About a year ago Time ran an article, "Why California is Still America's future," touting California's future, a future that includes gold-rush-like prosperity in an environmentally pure little ...

GM Watch

• UK minister claims labeling for clones impossible
• Ohio farmers are "snatching up" non-GM seed - but ...
  1. Ohio bucks GMO trend across the Midwest 2. Judge's ruling on GE beets exposes inherent danger in prevailing food system Ohio farmers are "snatching up" non-GM seed (item 1) - but what is a farmer to do when his seed supplier has only GM seeds available for purchase (item 2)? --- --- 1. Ohio b ...
• U.S. Presidential Commission's recommendations on ...
• Cisgenics, intragenics, and non-browning apples - ...
• Fury as China's pro-GM ministry of agriculture ban ...

spiked

• Hating Wills’n’Kate: the new conformis ...
  The smart set’s disdain for the royal engagement is driven less by republicanism than by a desire to prove their superiority to the masses.
• The skyline’s the limit for London
  The Shard shows we’re more than capable of building big if we elbow aside conservative views of the capital.
• The many myths of Erin Brockovich
  The town featured in that Julia Roberts film may have been sickened more by lawyers than by a power company.
• There’s more to economics than tinkering wit ...
  The obsession with Ireland’s corporation tax rate is a distraction from the serious business of creating new wealth.
• There is little noble about this Nobel award
  What a fate Liu Xiaobo has suffered: outrageously imprisoned by the Chinese and cynically exploited by Westerners keen to bash Beijing.

Cryptogon

• Pfizer Targeted Nigerian Attorney General to Under ...
  Via: Democracy Now: Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks show the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer hired investigators to find evidence of corruption against the Nigerian attorney general to pressure him to drop a $6 billion lawsuit over fraudulent drug tests on Nigerian children. Researchers did not ...
• CIA Gave Torturers $5 Million Legal Shield
  Via: AP: The CIA agreed to cover at least $5 million in legal fees for two contractors who were the architects of the agency’s interrogation program and personally conducted dozens of waterboarding sessions on terror detainees, former U.S. officials said. The secret agreement means taxpayers are pay ...
• U.S. and Canada Planning North American Perimeter
  Via: National Post: The Conservative government is set to announce a landmark security and trade deal with the United States, designed to create a perimeter around North America and allow people and goods to flow more freely across the border. Sources suggested that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and ...
• Ireland’s Credit Rating Cut Five Levels by M ...
  Via: Bloomberg: Ireland’s credit rating was cut five levels by Moody’s Investors Service and further downgrades are possible as the government struggles to contain losses in the country’s banking system. The rating was lowered to Baa1 from Aa2, Moody’s said in an e-mailed statement from London today ...
• Nashville: Sheriff Rolls Out Mobile Booking Unit
  Via: WSNV: The Davidson County Sheriffâs Office has a new mobile booking unit. Itâs a bus bought and outfitted with a $300,000 grant from the state to help police officers get back on the street more quickly after an arrest. … But there’s a missing step that’s causing some concern: the officer never ...

The Economic Collapse

• Did The Price Of Oil Help Cause The Financial Cris ...
  Oil prices are starting to spin out of control once again.  In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February hit 91.89 dollars a barrel on Friday.  New York crude moved above 88 dollars a barrel on Friday.  Many analysts believe that 100 dollar oil is a virtual certainty no ...
• Trillions In Secret Fed Bailouts For Global Corpor ...
  Has the Federal Reserve become the Central Bank of the World?  That is what some members of Congress are asking after the Federal Reserve revealed the details of 21,000 transactions stretching from December 2007 to July 2010 that totaled more than $3 trillion on Wednesday.  Most ...
• Debt = Money, Money = Debt
  Where does money come from?  You would think that question should be so simple that any 10-year-old child could answer it, but that is not the case.  You see, the truth is that the vast majority of American adults cannot even answer that question.  Yet we all use money every day.  W ...
• Tipping Point: 25 Signs That The Coming Financial ...
  The financial collapse that so many of us have been anticipating is seemingly closer then ever.  Over the past several weeks, there have been a host of ominous signs for the U.S. economy.  Yields on U.S. Treasuries have moved up rapidly and Moody's is publicly warning that it may ha ...
• Less Money, More Problems
  How in the world is the U.S. economy going to recover if the American people have less money to spend?  Millions of American families are heading into 2011 knowing that either they won't be seeing an increase in income or that their incomes will be smaller next year.  Long-term unem ...

Desertification

• Farmers across the globe are creating value-added ...
  Read at : http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6563?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+worldwatch%2Fall+%28Worldwatch+Institute%29 Eat locally processed food to support health, communities by Danielle Nierenberg and Amanda Stone Originally published in the Detroit News on December ...
• Tree-based agricultural systems improve food secur ...
  Read at : http://www.onearth.org/onearth-blog/on-seeing-the-farms-for-the-trees On Seeing the Farms for the Trees BY WENDY GORDON It was the Forestry Day at the COP 16 meetings in Cancun, but for this first-timer to a global convention (this one being the United Nations … Continue reading →
• Water.org is driving the water sector for new solu ...
  Read at : http://www.ngonewsafrica.org/?p=5531 Kenya: Curbing Water Crisis By Nonso Ndumanya Water is essential not only to personal health, but also to healthy economic, geopolitical, and environmental conditions around the world. Yet due to population growth, climate change, and mismanagement, … C ...
• The ‘University of the Bush’ brings to ...
  Read at : http://www.new-ag.info/news/newsitem.php?a=1827 New initiative to include pastoralists in research University of the Bush aims to enable pastoralists to engage with and comment on pastoralist-relevant research David Hughes/Future Agricultures A new initiative that brings together leading p ...
• Book : Food versus fuel (New Agriculturist)
  Read at : http://www.new-ag.info/book/review.php?a=1828 Food versus fuel – An informed introduction to biofuels Edited by Frank Rosillo-Calle and Francis X. Johnson Published by Zed Books Website: www.zedbooks.co.uk 2010, 216pp, ISBN 978 1 84813 383 9(Pb), £14.99 The prospect of growing … Continue ...

The Paper Trail

• Corporations Aim to Narrow SEC’s Proposed Wh ...
  Midnight is the deadline to weigh in on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s plan to offer whistleblowers a bounty of up to 30 percent of settlements over $1 million and protection for alerting the government to corporate malfeasance.
• In Webcast Debut, Fed Meeting To Propose Limiting ...
  The Federal Reserve Board takes a step into 21st century transparency this afternoon when it offers a first-ever webcast meeting, giving the public a peek into how the secretive U.S. central bank operates.
• SEC Moves Ahead On Oil, Mining, Derivatives Transp ...
  The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new transparency rules today mandated by the Dodd-Frank reform law for mining companies, international oil producers, as well as companies that buy or use certain “conflict” minerals from Africa.
• Bank Lobbyists Plead to Delay Derivatives, FDIC Fe ...
  A fundamental principle of Lobbying 101 is that when a regulatory issue isn’t going your way, ask for more time. So it’s not surprising to see Wall Street and banking lobbyists starting to plead with regulators to delay the aggressive deadlines set by the Dodd-Frank reform law.
• Reform Reading:  AEI Urges Closer Look at Der ...
  A roundup of news and commentary to help consumers monitor the transparency and accountability of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

backofthebook.ca

• WikiLeaks’ Canadian secrets not all that sec ...
  By Frank Moher I can tell from our logs that a lot of people are still looking to find out what Wikileaks' purloined cables have revealed about Canada, but the answer remains: Not a whole lot. Little enough, in fact, that it's possible to run the Canadian content all in one ...
• Hang the holidays
  By Bev Schellenberg What has happened to our celebratory schedule? It seems it was only a few weeks ago I bought a witch hat and cape for my daughter, a baron costume for my son, and carved a pumpkin. In fact, it was only a few weeks ago. Now here I ...
• The security perimeter: It’s Aliiiiiive!
  By Alison@Creekside Well, it's back. The "one security perimeter" deep integration SPP/FTAA zombie, now with new and improved emphasis on security. You're shocked, I'm sure. Like it ever really died. The re-animators just learned not to dig it up and parade it around in parliament too often ...
• The polygamists down the street
  By Jodi A. Shaw Last week, Angela Campbell, a professor of law at McGill University, testified at a constitutional reference case examining Canada’s current polygamy law that the practice ought to be decriminalized. I wasn’t sure if I should gasp or applaud. Campbell visited Bountiful, B.C. in ...
• A little 4Chan justice for Mastercard
  By Frank Moher So 4Chan has finally found something useful to do with all its suppressed testerone and brought down the Mastercard site, in retaliation for the credit card company's decision to stop processing donations to WikiLeaks. They've also apparently done some serious damage to PayPal (for ...

Worldnews

• Measure lets Washington residents deduct stat ...
  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama signed an $858 billion tax measure Friday that will allow Washington state residents to deduct state sales tax paid on their 2010 and 2011 returns. The House of Representatives gave final approval to the compromise bill in the wee overnight hours Thursday aft ...
• Obama signs massive tax bill, hails deal with ...
  WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has signed an $858 billion tax bill he...
• Reviewing the Ford Explorer
  In Sunday’s Automobiles section, Christopher Jensen evaluates the new Ford Explorer, which offers greater comfort for passengers and somewhat diminished off-road capability, Mr. Jensen writes: What consumers will find is a radically changed Explorer with an emphasis on ride and handling, better ...
• Obama says tax deal will help middle-class ...
  WASHINGTON - (AP) âEuro" says a tax cut package that's about to become law will give a much-needed holiday-season boost to...
• Michelle Obama wears 'second hand' dress
  Michelle Obama has set the US fashion world abuzz by wearing a second-hand dress to a Christmas celebration in Washington. < Article Michelle Obama wears vintage, sparks panic Michelle Obama fashion gallery Michelle Obama hides new clothes from Barack Michelle Obama wore the second-hand dress t ...

Alex in Wonderland

• Report: Active-Duty Army PSYOPS Soldiers Embedded ...
  To better manufacture consent, U.S. Army soldiers are embedded as intern and fellows at local TV affiliates, along with previously reported newspapers and national outlets.
• Daily Briefing—15th-16th Sept 2010
  News and views from around the web posted to the Wonderland Wire
• Report: U.S. Troops ‘Still Killing Civilians’ in I ...
  A U.S.-Iraqi night raid results in the deaths of eight civilians weeks after U.S. combat operations were announced as over.
• Military Welfare Budget Won’t Thin Any Time ...
  Ivan Eland sat with RT to discuss the astronomical political clout held by the welfare queens of the military-industrial complex that will thwart any translation of the Pentagon's rhetoric into actual policy
• Because the System’s Not Rigged Enough for Cops an ...
  Kevin Carson on the criminal injustice system 'shrills' pushing the narrative that the letter of the law aides criminals against so-called 'crime fighters'.

MY Daily Apple

• CHLORAPREP ONE-STEP (Chlorhexidine Gluconate And I ...
  Updated Date: Dec 15, 2010 EST
• OXYGENgas [The Service Center LLC]
  Updated Date: Dec 15, 2010 EST
• States Now Fund Most Embryonic Stem Cell Research ...
  Title: States Now Fund Most Embryonic Stem Cell Research in U.S. Category: Health News Created: 12/14/2010 4:05:00 PM Last Editorial Review: 12/15/2010
• NHS private hospital bill rises
  The NHS is paying private hospitals nearly £35m a month to treat patients - a rise of more than 60% in a year, figures obtained by the BBC show.
• NAFC Executive Director To Appear As Expert On PBS ...
  Nancy Muller, PhD, executive director of the National Association For Continence (NAFC) appeared, as an expert panelist, on a television episode of Second Opinion, about fecal incontinence. Produced by WXXI Public Broadcasting in Rochester, New York, West 175 Productions and the University of Roches ...

Common Dreams

• CIA Chief in Pakistan Leaves after Drone Trial Blo ...
  by Declan WelshThe CIA has pulled its station chief from Islamabad, one of America's most important spy posts, after his cover was blown in a legal action brought by victims of US drone strikes in the tribal belt.read more
• Gains in Kandahar Came with More Brutal US Tactics ...
  by Gareth PorterWASHINGTON - The Barack Obama administration's claim of "progress" in its war strategy is based on the military seizure of three rural districts outside Kandahar City in October.But those tactical gains have come at the price of further exacerbating the basic U.S. strategic weakness ...
• Red Cross Briefed US on Indian 'Torture' in Kashmi ...
  NEW DELHI - The International Committee of the Red Cross provided US diplomats in 2005 with evidence of the systematic use of torture by Indian security forces in Kashmir, leaked US diplomatic cables revealed Friday.In a confidential briefing, the ICRC told the diplomats of 177 visits it had made to ...
• US, Last Holdout on Native Rights Declaration, Rev ...
  by Matthew O. BergerWASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama announced Thursday he was reversing the U.S.'s position and endorsing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.The reversal comes three years after the U.N. adopted the measure in 2007, despite being opposed by th ...
• Obama Gets His Tax Deal, Reanimating Reaganomics
  by John NicholsSupply-side economics prevailed-at least politically-late Thursday, as the US House grudgingly approved President Obama's deal with congressional Republicans to extend Bush-era tax cuts for billionaires, creates broad estate-tax exemptions for millionaires and shapes economic poli ...

The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

• James Moore
• Neill Blomkamp
• Sarah Polley
• Jay Baruchel
• David Suzuki

Examine Religion - Tweets

• ExamineReligion: Meet world's next Neurological Su ...
  ExamineReligion: Meet world's next Neurological Surgeon, Baltimore youth, Ari Jones - Part 1 http://exm.nr/eejqkh
• ExamineReligion: Spirituality and who is Jesus? ht ...
  ExamineReligion: Spirituality and who is Jesus? http://exm.nr/eRjcfo
• ExamineReligion: Christmas biasis http://exm.nr/hw ...
  ExamineReligion: Christmas biasis http://exm.nr/hwn4Ty
• ExamineReligion: Provo Tabernacle: Christmas trage ...
  ExamineReligion: Provo Tabernacle: Christmas tragedy, Christmas hope http://exm.nr/fkDgyk
• ExamineReligion: He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, by ...
  ExamineReligion: He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, by Dr. Kathy Crisp http://exm.nr/fm2nnp

Energy Collective

• Sustainability: The Crux of the Matter with Albert ...
  The oil industry, Alberta's provincial government, and the Canadian federal government are all breathing huge sighs of relief with the release of the Royal Society of Canada's report [pdf] on the Alberta oil sands.
• Toyota, Tesla and Collateral Use of Advanced Batte ...
  The NAATBatt conference last week in Louisville nominally focused on the impact of plug-in electric vehicles on the grid.� But its real focus was on the importance of using stationary, grid-connected energy storage technology, both as a way to mitigate the impact on the grid of new PEV load and as a ...
• Cancun: A reason for optimism?
  Looking at a set of newspaper headlines earlier this week one might get the impression that nobody was quite sure whether progress had been made in Cancun or if it was another UN standoff. At least in the media clippings I had, the sense of achievement ranged from “Cancun Agreements put 193 nations ...
• Christmas for Renewables
  Last night the US House of Representatives passed the compromise tax bill without any amendments and by a healthy margin, though narrower than the 81-19 vote in the Senate on Wednesday. The bill now goes to the President for his signature.
• House of Representatives Passes Ethanol And Biodie ...
  Last night the House of Representatives passed the Bush tax cut package which contained several key ethanol and biodiesel tax incentives by a vote of 277 to 148. The Senate had passed the same measure on Wednesday by a vote of 81 to 19. The bill contained five key ethanol tax provisions, including: ...

Green House - USA Today

• California OKs rules to cut greenhouse gas emissio ...
  Despite Congress' failure this year to pass a climate law, California regulators have approved the nation's largest system of financial incentives to get the owners of power plants, refineries and other major polluters to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
• Report: American drywall emerges as potential dang ...
  Two years after thousands of American learned that Chinese drywall had contaminated their homes, a new group of homeowners allege similar problems with U.S.-made drywall, reports ProPublica,
• Eco-minded gift givers have plenty of choices
  How about a necklace made from recycled circuit boards, cufflinks from old typewriter keys or drink coasters from vinyl records?
• Al Gore slams Fox News on climate coverage
  Al Gore, often derided by climate skeptics for his clarion call on the perils of global warming, is blasting Fox News for its coverage of climate change.
• U.S. sues BP, eight others for Gulf spill damage
  The United States, for the first time, is suing BP and eight other companies for billions of dollars in damage from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst in US history.

Prior Art

• Recent Patent Litigation Weekly Columns
  Much of the patent news that was published on this blog has been moved to the IP Insider section of the Corporate Counsel website. Here's a list of the last several Patent Litigation Weekly columns— Oct. 25, 2010: Big Patent-Licensing...
• Paul Allen v. The Internet
  Former Microsoft executive and billionaire Paul Allen sued several major Internet companies and three large retailers for patent infringement today, asserting that four patents originating at Interval Research, Allen's dot-com era think tank, cover basic web browsing and e-commerce technologies....
• Citing Possible Bias, ACLU Asks Rader to Recuse Hi ...
  With the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit set to consider a landmark case over the validity of human gene patents, attorneys for the plaintiffs in the suit are asking the court's chief judge to recuse himself from the matter—before the panel that will hear it has even been selec ...
• Law360 Calls Lawyer-Owned Shell Company a "Public ...
  seems to have a pretty flexible definition of that term. Last month, it included . Who is so concerned about such fairness? That would be , the Texas law firm that owns Americans for Fair Patent Use, which is a limited liability company set up to prosecute a false marking lawsuit filed in E ...
• Eben Moglen on Bilski, software patents, and big p ...
  Moglen's position on the subject of software patents—that they should be banned—is, to say the least, outside the mainstream in legal circles. It has, however, garnered support among software developers and other techies, especially those who work in the world of open-source and free softw ...

Peoples Voice

• CDC revises estimates of foodborne illness; still ...
  By Rady Ananda After author Ben Hewitt revealed that the oft-quoted figure of 77 million foodborne illnesses a year came from a 1999 study based mostly on assumption, the Centers for Disease Control released a revised estimate of 48 million. The new revision still uses the assumption, which Hewitt ...
• Baron Otto Von Bolschwing, SS Veteran of Eichmann' ...
  By Katherine Smith, PhD The Long-hidden report: CIA created ‘safe haven’ for Nazis in the US obtained by the New York Times November 13, 2010, may be the most concrete account yet of the role that prominent members of Germany's Nazi party played in the early, formative years of the CIA, following W ...
• Afghans: Victimized by Conflict, Occupation, Extre ...
  by Stephen Lendman In his book "Freedom Next Time," John Pilger used CIA Vietnam terminology calling Afghanistan "the grand illusion of the American cause," describing long-suffering Afghans victimized by conflict, violence, occupation, extreme deprivation and genocide. A December 15 ICRC pr ...
• The coming worldwide socialist revolution
  By Dennis Rahkonen The "fabulous" wealth of the super rich didn't miraculously fall from the sky, nor is it attributable to the imagined entrepreneurial genius or other supposedly superior qualities of Mister Money Bags. In most cases, there's a direct link connecting palatial estates in plush, ga ...
• The True Richard Holbrooke Legacy
  by Stephen Lendman Dead on December 13 at age 69 after two aorta tear surgeries failed to save him, Western media headlines hailed the man London Guardian writers Ed Pilkington and Adam Gabbat called a "giant of US foreign policy," saying his loss leaves "a substantial hole to fill." On Dece ...

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

• A holiday gift from the CCPA: Enhanced publication ...
  For a limited time the CCPA is opening its entire cache of research free of charge � giving full public access to our publications via a database run by the Canadian Electronic Library. Browse our books, peruse chapters from our education journal Our Schools/Our Selves, and utilize the key-word se ...
• Canada's richest 1% taking more than ever before
  A major report by CCPA Senior Economist Armine Yalnizyan shows Canada's richest 1% enjoy more of the gains from economic growth than ever before in recorded history. The report looks at income trends over the past 90 years, revealing the richest 1% took 32% of all growth in incomes between 1997 and ...
• New York Times article: Income Inequality too big ...
  New York Times writer Robert Frank says it's time to tackle the problems of income inequality in this article.
• Let's Do Something About Poverty!
  The Saskatchewan office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is a proud partner of Poverty Free Saskatchewan (PFS), a coalition of groups attempting to develop a comprehensive anti-poverty program for the province. Today we released Let's Do Something About Poverty!, in order to encourage ...
• The growing gap and the problem of recession
  Bruce Livesey writes a blog in the Progressive Economics Forum showing the link between worsening income inequality and the threat of a Great Recession that could 'go on indefinitely'. Read the blog here.

World Wide Hippies

• Weekly Trivia
  A new Trivia Question will be posted every Friday at 8:00 pm (EST). You can post your answer in the comments section below the question and be entered into a chance to win a WWH Bumpersticker! This man and his band are Rock and Roll on a Global scale. Proving that there are more ways to “bring [.. ...
• It’s a Great Time to Be Rich
  The next two years will be the best in living memory for many wealthy Americans to shield their income and fortunes | Bloomberg A bonanza of new and extended tax benefits could make it as easy as ever for the rich to stay that way. Under legislation approved by the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, Dec. 15, ...
• Captain Beefheart Dead At Age 69
  Experimental rock legend, born Don Van Vliet, died today from complications from multiple sclerosis | Rolling Stone Don Van Vliet, who became a rock legend as Captain Beefheart, died today from complications from multiple sclerosis in California. His passing was announced by the New York-based Micha ...
• Drug War Death Toll
  Mexico Drug War Death Toll Climbs to 30,196 Since 2006, Government Says | Bloomberg Mexican Attorney General Arturo Chavez said that 30,196 people have been killed in drug-related violence nationwide since President Felipe Calderon took office four years ago. The number of deaths from January to Nov ...
• McCain Is Just Plain Wrong
  Sen. McCain’s Opposition to DADT Repeal Is Prejudiced, not Principled | Huffington Post Senator John McCain, leader of efforts to block the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” took pains during recent Senate hearings to disavow the possibility that he might be motivated by prejudice. Senator McCain s ...

Michael Moore - Must Read

• Statement by Michael Moore on Accusations Against ...
  Excerpt from "Dear Government of Sweden ...an open letter from Michael Moore"I don't pretend to know what happened between Mr. Assange and the two women complainants (all I know is what I've heard in the media, so I'm as confused as the next person). And I'm sorry if I've jumped to any unnecessary o ...
• Daniel Ellsberg on Wikileaks and Julian Assange on ...
• Bernie Sanders' "Berniebuster" Filibuster Against ...
• The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
  A soft landing for America 40 years from now?� Don�t bet on it.� The demise of the United States as the global superpower could come far more quickly than anyone imagines.� If Washington is dreaming of 2040 or 2050 as the end of the American Century, a more realistic assessment of domestic and g ...
• The New American Oligarchy
  There is a war underway. I'm not talking about Washington�s bloody misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq, but a war within our own borders. It�s a war fought on the airwaves, on television and radio and over the Internet, a war of words and images, of half-truth, innuendo, and raging lies. I'm talki ...

Salon

• President signs tax cut bill into law
  President Barack Obama signed into law a huge, holiday-season tax bill extending cuts for all Americans on Friday, saluting a new spirit of political compromise as Republicans applauded and liberals seethed. The benefits range from tax cuts for millionaires and the middle class to longer help for th ...
• Venezuela congress grants Chavez decree powers
  Venezuelan lawmakers have granted President Hugo Chavez broad powers to rule by decree, undermining the clout of a new congress that takes office next month with a bigger opposition bloc.
• More duplicity from Obama administration on Yemen
  Earlier this month we noted discrepancies between an Obama administration official's statements about a conflict in Yemen and the fact that, as exposed by WikiLeaks, the administration provided weapons to fuel that same conflict.�
• CNN will co-host presidential debate with PAC-affi ...
  CNN will co-host a Republican presidential debate next year with the Tea Party Express, which is basically a PAC run by Republican political operatives. It is a slightly puzzling decision from a "basic standards of journalistic ethics" standpoint, although from a "desperation for attention and th ...
• The Republican congressman who supported terrorism
  Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., is set to assume the chairmanship of the House Homeland Security Committee in January, and today comes the news that he intends to launch an investigation of "radicalization" among American Muslims.

SMB News

• Indonesian volcano rumbles as president visits cam ...
  For SMB News Indonesian volcano rumbles as president visits camps PURWOBINANGUN: Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano spewed more deadly heat clouds Wednesday as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited some of the 50,000 evacuees in shelters. Searing gas billowed from the crater of the 2,914-metre (9 ...
• Kasaba throws spit on the camera
  \Kasaba throws spit on cameraMUMBAI: Ajmal Kasaba webcam spit on Tuesday during a hearing in the Bombay High Court for confirmation of the death penalty, which led the court strictly tell him to behave properly. Judjes a warning when they Kasaba altercation with the police and spit at the camera saw ...
• K’taka Speaker disqualifies 16 MLAs
  For SMB News KBANGALORE: Hours ahead of the trust vote for beleaguered Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in the Assembly, Speaker K G Bopaiah disqualified sixteen rebel MLAs, including eleven from ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), legislative sources said on Monday. Bopaiah signed the disq ...
• Twin bombing at Shah Ghazi’s shrine kills 8
  For SMB News Twin bombing at Shah Ghazi’s shrine kills 8 KARACHI: Eight people including two children were killed and over 65 others suffered injuries when two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine in Clifton, official sources said here Thursday. Two heads, believed ...
• Musharraf seeks Pak nation’s apology for ‘mistake
  For SMB News Musharraf seeks Pak nation’s apology for ‘mistakes’ LONDON: Former president Gen. (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf Friday admitted that political mistakes were committed in the twilight years of his regime and sought apology from Pakistani nation for the same. “These mistakes caused damage to t ...

Toronto Star - Editorials

• Scaffolding report: A road map to safer work sites
  A report prompted by the scaffolding deaths almost a year ago is calling for an overhaul in Ontario’s workplace safety rules.
• Afghan review: Obama’s year of hope
  Barack Obama's strategic review on Afghanistan says that 2011 may be a turning point.
• Vehicle tax: An overly hasty repeal
  Toronto's vehicle tax was killed in excess haste, and with too little concern for fairness.
• Credit cards: Give retailers more options
  There is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone has to pay the cost for Canada’s credit card transactions and the freebies that are doled out as inducements to consumers to use them.
• Lloyd murder: Lift the veil of silence
  Did police miss a chance to track down sex killer Russell Williams during the long night and day of horror on Jan. 28-29, during which he stalked, terrorized, abducted and murdered Jessica Lloyd? That raw and urgent question still hangs over this n ...

Energy Collective

• Sustainability: The Crux of the Matter with Albert ...
  The oil industry, Alberta's provincial government, and the Canadian federal government are all breathing huge sighs of relief with the release of the Royal Society of Canada's report [pdf] on the Alberta oil sands.
• Toyota, Tesla and Collateral Use of Advanced Batte ...
  The NAATBatt conference last week in Louisville nominally focused on the impact of plug-in electric vehicles on the grid.� But its real focus was on the importance of using stationary, grid-connected energy storage technology, both as a way to mitigate the impact on the grid of new PEV load and as a ...
• Cancun: A reason for optimism?
  Looking at a set of newspaper headlines earlier this week one might get the impression that nobody was quite sure whether progress had been made in Cancun or if it was another UN standoff. At least in the media clippings I had, the sense of achievement ranged from “Cancun Agreements put 193 nations ...
• Christmas for Renewables
  Last night the US House of Representatives passed the compromise tax bill without any amendments and by a healthy margin, though narrower than the 81-19 vote in the Senate on Wednesday. The bill now goes to the President for his signature.
• House of Representatives Passes Ethanol And Biodie ...
  Last night the House of Representatives passed the Bush tax cut package which contained several key ethanol and biodiesel tax incentives by a vote of 277 to 148. The Senate had passed the same measure on Wednesday by a vote of 81 to 19. The bill contained five key ethanol tax provisions, including: ...

EU Times

• ‘Birther’ Dismissed from Army for Refusing Deploym ...
  An Army doctor who disobeyed orders to deploy to Afghanistan because he questioned President Barack Obama’s eligibility to be commander in chief was sentenced by a jury Thursday to six months in a military prison and dismissal from the Army. The military jury spent nearly five hours deliberating pun ...
• Pope calls Christians the most persecuted
  Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday that Christians suffer more religious persecution than any other group, denouncing lack of freedom of worship as an “intolerable” threat to world security. The message reflected a pressing concern by Benedict in recent months for the plight of Christian minorities in ...
• Assange free from prison, back to leaking secrets
  WikiLeaks founder freed from custody, to keep spilling US secrets from English country mansion. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was released on bail Thursday â confined to a supporter’s 600-acre estate but free to get back to work spilling U.S. government secrets on his website as he fights Sweden’ ...
• UFO shot out of sky above Israeli nuclear plant, m ...
  The Israeli Air Force shot down an unidentified flying object (UFO) over the Dimona nuclear plant in the Negev Desert Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said. The object appeared in a designated no-fly zone, the air force was scrambled and the object was shot down, the IDF said. The object could ha ...
• Thor movie to be Boycotted by Council of Conservat ...
  Idris Elba (RocknRolla, “The Wire”) plays a Norse god by the name of Heimdall in Marvel’s “Thor” film. Heimdall is sometimes referred to as “The White God,” which is why the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC) is planning to boycott the movie when it hits theaters on May 6th 2011. The group wro ...

Stonecipher News

• Don't Quit Your Day Job
  This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Ashworth College. All opinions are 100% mine. With approximately 4,000,000 students today, more than 20 percent of all students enrolled in higher education are taking at least one course online. Self paced online courses all ...
• Breast Cancer Gene May Raise Men’s Risk, Too
  Source: HealthDay News: "A faulty gene that greatly increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer also boosts a man’s risk for the disease, a new study finds. While most people think of breast cancer as a woman’s illness, in rare cases men can develop breast tumors as well. The new study found that me ...
• Diabetics Urged to Confer With Their Doctor About ...
  According to Amanda Gardner HealthDay Reporter, "THURSDAY, July 15 (HealthDay News) -- One day after a U.S. advisory panel recommended that the controversial diabetes drug Avandia stay on the market -- albeit with added restrictions -- several medical organizations are urging patients not to change ...
• Top Five Cleaning Mistakes
  This is a short video about the common mistakes when cleaning. You may still be sleeping with bugs after cleaning.
• Repression and the Ruling Class
  From my Triond collection: I recently read Louis Althusser’s article on Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. He discusses the production for conditions of reproduction by breaking down the Marxist theory into several fundamental aspects. Althusser discussed the differences between the proleta ...

Liquida : Worldwide News & Opinion

• Arsenal v Barcelona, Man United v Mareille, Spurs ...
  Champions League last 16 draw Roma v Shakhtar Donetsk AC Milan v Tottenham Valencia v Schalke Inter Milan v Bayern Munich Lyon v Real Madrid Arsenal v Barcelona Marseille v Manchester United Copenhagen v Chelsea First legs to be played on 15/16 and 22/23 February Second legs to be played on 8/9 and ...
• Master/PhD – Theoretical & Computational Chemistry ...
  Up to 4 graduate student positions in theoretical and computational chemistry will become available in my group by May 2011, September 2011 or January 2012. The successful applicants will be involved with the development of new computational methods or applications of state-of-the-art methodology to ...
• The Galleon Net Widens — Insider Trading or Witch ...
  Image by Getty Images via @daylife It started on October 16, 2009, when six individuals were arrested for securities fraud and conspiracy. Those accused included executives from New Castle Partners, IBM, Intel and McKinsey, who have since pleaded guilty. At the center of the Galleon insider trading ...
• Unauthorized US strikes kill 26 Pakistanis
  Press TV Four non-UN-sanctioned US drone strikes have claimed the lives of at least 26 people in northwestern Pakistan amid public protest. The unauthorized airstrikes took place in the Khyber Agency tribal region on Friday. It’s the second consecutive day the US drones target the same region. On T ...
• Sarah Palin Good Morning America Video Dec. 17, 20 ...
  Here is the Sarah Palin Good Morning America video from Fri. Dec. 17, 2010. The interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts of the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican VP candidate was conducted on location in Wasilla, Alaska and covered a range of topics. Article continues below. Sarah Palin addresse ...

Groklaw

• Judge Blocks Copyright Trolls in Porn-downloading ...
  In a big victory in the fight against copyright trolls, a judge in West Virginia has blocked an attempt to unmask accused file sharers in seven predatory lawsuits involving the alleged illegal downloading of pornography. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), working with Charles J. Kaiser of Phi ...
• Judge Drops Thousands of Anonymous Alleged Porn Do ...
  In seven orders issued Thursday, Wheeling, W. Va., federal district court chief judge John Bailey effectively dismissed complaints against all but seven of the thousands of John Doe defendants Ford sued in West Virginia.... The judge stopped short of dismissing the pornographic film producers' suits ...
• Yahoo! Please Open Source Del.icio.us So It Can Li ...
  One couldn't help but shed a tear today with the news that Yahoo! as part of its latest round of layoffs was killing Del.icio.us, along with MyBlogLog and several other properties. While they may not be money makers or strategic to Yahoo! anymore, Delicious and the others still have plenty of fans o ...
• E.U. Deepens Investigation Into Google
  The publishers accused Google of manipulating search rankings and have called on it to reveal its algorithm and stop giving preference to its own operations. The publishers also accused Google of failing to pay newspapers even though the company earned large amounts of money by posting advertisement ...
• McDermott, O'Melveny Partners Testify Before WikiL ...
  Both lawyers were called to Capitol Hill to testify as part of a panel on the legal and constitutional issues raised by WikiLeaks' release of confidential U.S. State Department cables earlier this month, according to The Blog of Legal Times, a sibling publication. (Video of the proceedings can be vi ...

WideShut

• Debt Free Money and Less Fraction In The Reserves
  An analysis of the financial collapse and solutions to national debt and the corrupt fractional reserve system.
• £500 Green Tax On UK Energy Bills
  UK energy bills to rise by £500 to pay for green powerplants under EU agreement.
• December 14, 2010, WideShut Webcast On Resistance ...
  On this week's show Keelan discusses the obvious push for a New World Order, and the global awakening Brzezinski fears.
• The Private Security Takeover
  Seven EU countries have more private security than police, and in the UK they are quite clearly abusing their non-power.
• Localism Bill: No Money, Sort It Out Yourselves
  Localism Bill is just a sugar-coated pill to help the people swallow unjust cuts.

Waterkeeper Alliance

• Protected coastal areas poised for last approval
  Protected coastal areas poised for last approval
• CREB Hires New Full-time Miles-Riverkeeper
  CREB Hires New Full-time Miles-Riverkeeper
• Chevron gets 30 year lease in Santa Monica Bay
  Chevron gets 30 year lease in Santa Monica Bay
• Court Rules GA Failed To Set Safe Limits On Pollut ...
  Georgia court rejects state's air quality permit for Plant Washington, a proposed 850 mega-watt coal-fired power plant in Sandersville, GA
• Riverkeepers Excited About Olin Announcement
  Riverkeepers Excited About Olin Announcement

Politics in the Zeros

• Picower estate to pay $7.2 billion in Madoff settl ...
  That amount is the entire amount the trustee asked for in the lawsuit and is also that entire amount that Picower withdrew. In another settlement, the family of Carl Shapiro settled for $650 million. So, if these were ill-gotten gains, is anyone going to prison? Or is that just so for the little peo ...
• Polizeros podcast. Afghanistan Strategy Review. Ac ...
  Josh Mull talks about the Afghanistan strategy review, the third of Obama’s Administration, where the withdrawal date got moved forward from 2014 to June 2011. This could indicate the elites now understand the war is no longer winnable, even as we carpet bomb that country and destroy villages to sav ...
• Don’t trust the cloud for all your data
  Adam Curry on the demise of delicious (and Yahoo Buzz, as well) and why we need to take steps now to insure that our online data is not vulnerable to a service going down. If the stories that are being posted are true, then once again we see the perils of trusting the cloud. Years [...]
• Vertical farming
  The Economist remains unconvinced that vertical farming is viable, given the cost of artificial indoor light. Indoor growing works superbly as long as there is just one floor because light can come in through the roof. But artificial light is essential when there is more than one floor. However, one ...
• US cities in peril
  Detroit police patrols in 20% of city: expect bankruptcy in 2011 Camden, America’s second most violent city, lays off half of police department. If police stop patrolling an area then organized crime will move in and take control, just like in favelas in Brazil. Don’t think it can’t happen here. Pol ...

TVNZ - Top Stories

• Two die in separate car accidents overnight
  Two men have died in separate car accidents overnight, in which both their vehicles ran into power poles
• Gisborne gang brawl leaves two hospitalised
  A gang brawl in Gisborne overnight has left two people hospitalised, with one in a critical condition.
• Cable: Defence funding behind anti-nuclear law
  New Zealand's anti-nuclear legislation was influenced by wanting to cut defence costs as well as by idealogy, a cable between Wellington and Washington claims
• Wikileaks' Assange says fears US extradition
  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said that he was the target of an aggressive US investigation and feared extradition to the United States was "increasingly likely"
• Serious assault victim hospitalised in Napier
  A person is in hospital after a serious assault at Napier's Taradale Club last night

Just World News

• Standoff-ending precedents: The 'USSR' and Iran
  I was just reading the generally sensible 'Talk of the Town' piece on Iran and WikiLeaks that Rick Hertzberg had in the Dec. 13 issue of the New Yorker, that landed on our stoop this afternoon. (Sorry, can't easily find a link for it.) The piece is interesting because-- though Hertzberg seems to ta ...
• Visser's book on Iraq now available for sale!
  Reidar Visser's magisterial 300-page book A Responsible End? The United States and Iraq, 2005-2010 is now available for sale from Amazon. Actually, it's already selling really well there! Long-time JWN readers will be quite familiar with the work of this smart and dedicated European researcher, who ...
• U.S. diplomacy in tatters-- and not from Wikileaks
  Our country's ability to influence events around the world is in tatters-- and this was already the case before the latest round of Wikileaks started to dribble out to the public. Yesterday there were "elections" in Egypt and Haiti, two countries deep within the U.S. sphere of influence. Both electi ...
• Robinson and Brahimi: Wrong on Hamas and women
  Mary Robinson and Lakhdar Brahimi have a piece in HuffPo today in which they argue, probably correctly, that it is Gaza's women and children who are paying the highest price for Israel's now years-long siege of Gaza. They write: Women in this conservative society find their domestic responsibiliti ...
• Celebrate Laila's book launch today!
  Today's the day! Laila El-Haddad will be launching her first book, Gaza Mom: Palestine, Politics, Parenting, and Everything In Between at 6:30 pm EST in Washington DC's Palestine Center. The event will be livestreamed. So come in person if you can-- but if you can't, make sure to watch the livestrea ...

First Truths

• State-Corporate Healthcare: No "Right to Choose"
  I responded to Monday's U.S. District Court decision on the new healthcare law for C4SS.
• Cartelization Harries the UK Student
  Britain's education oligopoly bleeds its students dry while the ruling class invokes "austerity." My analysis here.
• The Ivory Coast and "Power-Sharing"
  The election controversy in Ivory Coast has raised the idea of "power-sharing" within the country, an idea that arguably, when carried to its ultimate end, leads to anarchy. Read my comment here.
• Liberty or Authority: The Social(ism) Question
  Although the vicissitudes of the political season belie the fact, when November draws to a close the state will persist. And with it will remain its ring of members, superficial substitutions notwithstanding, all ready to deal in douceurs with wealth created by the productive among us. Convinced a ...
• The State's Corporate Wasteland
  Corporations, while they are celebrated as paragons of innovation and efficiency, suffer from the same slow reaction time, waste, and lack of creativity that defines government agencies. Taking into account the fact that the state and the corporation are pieces of the same coercive puzzle, a system ...

Media Co-Op

• Algonquins of Barriere Lake - Fight for Self-Deter ...
  On Dec 13 2010, over a hundred members of Barriere Lake Algonquin Nation, along with supporters from Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, took their message to parliament (on uncede ...
• Gunshot Wounds and Evictions: Taking Advantage of ...
  Repression against Indigenous Peoples around the world even more under-reported Originally posted on Intercontinental Cry With the world's media focused on Wikileaks--and activists still working though the COP16 Summit in Cancun--governments h ...
• G20 police training exaggerated powers outside fen ...
  Cops told to be on guard for âbagpipe players,â âyoung peopleâ and âfirst aid equipmentâ Police trainers appear to have told officers at last June’s G20 summit in Toronto that special search and arrest powers extended far beyond the so-called ...
• Continued Support and Solidarity with the Morong 4 ...
  On December 10, while the President of the Philippines, Noynoy Aquino, instructing the Department of Justice to withdraw charges against the 43, the health workers remain incarcerated.� For over 10 month, they live in fear, anxiety, subjet to torture, intimidation, forced confessions, sickness, and ...
• Photos from Barriere Lake action on Parliament Hil ...
  A mass demonstration by members of Barrere Lake First Nation and their supporters on Parliament Hill this afternoon (Mon Dec 13) was met by silence from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan. Members of the First Nation presented copies of the UN Declaration on the Ri ...

David Seaton's News Links

• The travails of Pfc Bradely Manning
  From the beginning of his detention, Manning has been held in intensive solitary confinement. For 23 out of 24 hours every day -- for seven straight months and counting -- he sits completely alone in his cell. Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted; he's barred even from exerc ...
• Is "freedom" just another word for nothing left to ...
  David Seaton's News Links There is a world, a universe, of pain in the following quote from the Financial Times: If you want something to get angry about, I wouldn�t look at tuition fees. I�d look at a little graph produced by Leon Feinstein of the Institute for Education, which shows tests of cogn ...
• Holbrooke and Assange: the end of empire and the d ...
  Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan." The last words of Richard HolbrookeDavid Seaton's News LinksAmerica's most famous über-diplomat went out like an old Roman: his last words, lucid and noble, are worthy of the best moments that American history has to ...
• Wikileaks (virtual world) versus lynching the Prin ...
  David Seaton's News LinksOn Saturday the 11th of December, about 50 people demonstrated in favor of Julian Assange in front of the US Embassy in London. The demonstration was organized on the Internet.� Two days before, in the same city, a crowd of rioting students nearly lynched the Prince of Wales ...
• Tea Time 2010: Hope trashed, audacity smashed and ...
  "2008 answered the question,' Is America ready for a black president?' In 2010 we'll answer 'Are we ready for an orange speaker?'" � Paul Begala (hat Doonesbury)David Seaton's News LinksIt seems that much of the fate of the Republic is presently in the hands of a tearful man, dyed orange, whose surn ...

EWG - Environmental Working Group

• EWG response to EPA’s review of chromium-6 health ...
  December 15th, 2010 Read our Press Release Download PDF. November 23, 2010 Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket Mail Code: 2822T U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. Washington, DC 20460 Re:... [[ This is a content summa ...
• Lawmakers, Researchers, Doctors Reject Schwarzeneg ...
  Contact: Renee Sharp, (510) 444-0973 x302 or renee@ewg.org Read our letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Oakland, Calif. – Lawmakers, public health advocates, scientists, public utility managers and medical doctors are demanding that... [[ This is a content summary only. ...
• Put Low Radiation Smart Phones on Your Shopping Li ...
  Contact: EWG Public Affairs, (202) 667-6982 alex@ewg.org or leeann@ewg.org Washington, D.C. — Shoppers looking for smart phones with the most features don’t have to expose themselves to higher radiation levels to get what they want, a new... [[ This is a content summary only ...
• Obama Signs Child Nutrition Act
  Contact: EWG Public Affairs: 202-667-6982 Alex Formuzis alex@ewg.org or Leeann Brown leeann@ewg.org Taking an historic step to improve the health of children across the country, President Obama signed into law today (Dec. 13) the Healthy,... [[ This is a content summary only ...
• Child Nutrition Act Signed
  Contact: EWG Public Affairs: 202-667-6982 Alex Formuzis alex@ewg.org or Leeann Brown leeann@ewg.org Taking an historic step to improve the health of children across the country, President Obama signed into law today (Dec. 13) the Healthy,... [[ This is a content summary only ...

Dr. Mercola Natural Health

• This Kills Twice as Many People as AIDS – Why are ...
  About $282 million was paid to doctors by drug companies last year. Is this compromising the best interests of their patients?
• Amazing Woman with No Arms
  This woman lives an amazing, fulfilling life despite her differences.
• Top 10 Food Additives to Avoid
  Some food additives are worse than others. Food Matters suggests these as the top ones to avoid: Artificial Sweeteners Aspartame, also known as Nutrasweet and Equal, is believed to be carcinogenic and accounts for more reports of adverse reactions than all other foods and food ...
• Canadians Vote Against Fluoridated Water Supplies
  The residents of Waterloo, Ontario in Canada have voted to stop adding fluoride to their water supply.�The decision has been welcomed by anti-fluoride campaigners. The incoming head of the Ontario Dental Association, Dr. Harry Hoediono, has condemned the decision, claiming that people are unaware o ...
• Higher Levels of this Mineral Linked with Lower He ...
  A new study reports a protective effect against the risk of sudden cardiac death in women who consume higher levels of dietary magnesium. Researchers analyzed data from more than 88,000 women. Over the 26 year follow-up period, women whose magnesium intake was among the highest 25 percent of the su ...

JAMA

• Ensuring Safe and Effective Use of Medication and ...
• Improving the Supply of Donor Organs: Being Carefu ...
• 2011 Theme Issue on Violence and Human Rights--Cal ...
• Antiretroviral Treatment for HIV-Infected Infants ...
• Antiretroviral Treatment for HIV-Infected Infants ...

Survival - tribal peoples

• Tribe reveals new evidence of uncontacted Indians ...
  Kayapó Indians dance at a protest against the Belo Monte dam © T Turner A tribe in the Brazilian Amazon has revealed new evidence showing that there are uncontacted Indians living in the area of the planned Belo Monte mega-dam, and has warned that these Indians are seriously threatened by the p ...
• Success! USA is final country to support tribal ri ...
  All countries that opposed the Declaration, including Australia, now support it. It is a small step in creating real change for tribal people like this Aboriginal boy. © John Miles/Survival The United States has formally endorsed the UN Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, meaning t ...
• Survival calls on Obama to support the UN Declarat ...
  The UN Declaration sets standards by which governments' treatment of indigenous people can be judged. © 1996 Fiona Watson/Survival To mark tomorrow’s opening of the White House Tribal Nations Conference, Survival has called on President Obama to support the UN Declaration on the rights of indi ...
• Borneo tribesman arrested in palm oil conflict
  Oil palms planted on recently-deforested land, Sarawak © M Ross/ Survival An Iban tribesman in Sarawak, in the Malaysian part of Borneo, has been arrested and charged with attempted murder following an argument with workers from a palm oil company. Tribesman Liam Rengga denies the charges, and ...
• Botswana government rejects high-profile court rul ...
  Four years later, the Botswana government continues to reject the High Court ruling. © Survival Four years on from a court victory which saw the Kalahari Bushmen win the right to live on their ancestral lands, the Botswana government has issued a statement flouting the ruling. In 2002, the Bo ...

Montreal Gazette

• Welfare of the children should always come first
  Deyan Perisic is dead at age 10 and his 12-year-old sister, Danyela, lies injured in a Texas hospital. No one, in the face of these facts, can pretend that the best interests of these two children prevailed once the state was forced to get involved in their lives.
• It makes no sense to keep making cents
  Every now and then the Senate shows that it might be worth, as it were, the pretty penny we put out to maintain it. Such was the case this week when the sober-thinking Upper Chamber landed an extensively researched and soundly reasoned report that advised doing away with the one-cent coin.
• Welfare of the children should always come first
  Brought up, by some accounts, by parents who were essentially at war with one another, the children had been part of the battlefield for some time. Their father, Predrag Perisic, 55, was insisting they live with him in Texas. Their mother, Vera Vucerakovich, 46, wanted them back in Montreal, ...
• Editorial: Full disclosure is best hospital policy
  At first glance the record of recent “adverse events” at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital seems alarming. On second look, however, both the figures and the hospital’s readiness to make them available are cause for reassurance.
• Editorial: Our police forces still don't understan ...
  To hear the Montreal police department tell it, its officers are virtual models of colour-blind, racially sensitive policing. Days after Fredy Villanueva, 18, was shot and killed by a police officer in 2008, then-police chief Yvan Delorme said: "We give sensitivity training to every police o ...

Food World Order

• before your next grocery trip, get the non-gmo sho ...
  non-gmo shopping guide: get the app & download the pdf! from NonGmoShoppingGuide.com: The Institute for Responsible Technology is a world leader in educating policy makers and the public about genetically modified (GM) foods and crops. We investigate and report their risks and impact on health, e ...
• grocer a&p files for chapter 11 reorganization
  from ap: The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., once the nation's largest grocer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday after years of struggling with enormous debt and rising competition from low-priced peers. The 151-year-old company, based in Montvale, N.J., operates 395 stores ar ...
• 12/9 binge & purge: nano-foods & merck muppets
  dems try to pass 'food safety' by hiding it in hr3082* even forbes agrees: more fda authority won't improve food safety* leaked cables reveal gmo, agrofuel agendas* food stamp rolls continue to rise* artificial 'nano-food' could soon show up at a store near you* rat in curry prompts c ...
• eu food safety chief forced to quit gm lobby role
  from the ecologist: A key figure in charge of food safety within the EU has been forced to quit her director role at a pro-GM group. European Green MEPs had called for EFSA chair Diana Banati's resignation after she had failed to disclose her seat on the board of directors of the International Life ...
• 'botox apples' genetically modified to keep from b ...
  from delish: The expression "one bad apple spoils the bunch" may soon have to be retired. Okanagan Specialty Fruits, a Canadian biotechnology company, has petitioned the USDA for approval of its genetically modified "non-browning apple." The company is marketing the fruit as the "Arctic" while criti ...

CrusadeWatch

• "Crorepathy" Fr. Jegath Gasper Raj main ...
  source:  Asian Tribune The Sri Lankan Catholic Church, the Catholic Radio Veritas based in Phillipines, the Tamil Catholic hierachy and its priests have been the main links of the global network of the Church to protect, promote, provide succor and cover to the internationally banned T ...
• Sex, lies and money in the church
  source: Indian Express, October 24, 2010 Shevlin Sebastian It was midnight. Fr Jose George could not sleep because there was no fan in his room. Jose knocked on Anna Jacobs door. When she opened it, he told her he could not sleep. She invited him inside, because there was a fan. ...
• Denigration of Buddhism & conversion of the vu ...
  source:  Vijayvaani.com,   Oct 25, 2010 Christianisation was the third force of colonialism as best expressed by Jomo Kenyatta, the late Kenyan leader, who said: When the white man came he had the bible we had the land. Then he said let us close our eyes and pray. When we opened our eyes ...
• Christianity's contributions mostly negative, Amer ...
  source:  Christian Century, October 26, 2010 (RNS) When asked about Christianity's recent contributions to society, Americans cited more negatives than benefits, according to a new survey.
• Evangelism as part of foreign political strategy
  source:  The organiser, Oct 3, 2010  By Manju Gupta Evangelical Intrusions, Sandhya Jain, Rupa & Co., Pp 251 (HB), Rs 395.00 THIS book comes at an opportune moment when repeated reports of religio-political violence in the north-eastern states are pouring in, accompanied by the ris ...

Whole Truth Coalition

• .Lies, Damned Lies and Scottish Justice
  Robert Green, the man who was brave enough to speak out about the horrific paedophile rapes of Hollie Greig, the most probable murder of her uncle Robert Greig to “shut him up”, and the sickening wall of silence by the Scottish establishment, has been arrested. We believe the charge is Breach of th ...
• Child Rapists Protected By The State
  In the October 2009 print edition of the UK Column, we reported in our article “BBC Hides Truth of Girl’s Sexual Abuse Ordeal” the shocking ordeal of Downs Syndrome girl, Hollie Greig, who was horribly abused by an Aberdeen paedophile ring, over a period of ten years. After investigating and planni ...
• An Invitation to Meet Hollie and Anne Greig
  ‘Hollie and Anne would like to thank their many supporters for their continuing hard work and support. Towards that end, they have decided to host an informal function near Berwick-upon-Tweed at the Marshall Meadows Hotel on Sunday the 21st of March from 2 until 5pm. The Marshall Meadows Hotel is s ...
• Robert Green Speaking at Truthjuice Llangollen, Ma ...
  Wednesday 24th March 2010 at 7pm Reporter Robert Green was arrested in Aberdeen for the crime of seeking justice and an investigation into the case of Down’s Syndrome girl, Hollie Greig, who says she was serially-raped over a decade by an establishment paedophile ring operating in Scotland. Robert ...
• Mary Rodwell The New Human Vers. 02

The Economic Collapse

• Did The Price Of Oil Help Cause The Financial Cris ...
  Oil prices are starting to spin out of control once again.  In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February hit 91.89 dollars a barrel on Friday.  New York crude moved above 88 dollars a barrel on Friday.  Many analysts believe that 100 dollar oil is a virtual certainty no ...
• Trillions In Secret Fed Bailouts For Global Corpor ...
  Has the Federal Reserve become the Central Bank of the World?  That is what some members of Congress are asking after the Federal Reserve revealed the details of 21,000 transactions stretching from December 2007 to July 2010 that totaled more than $3 trillion on Wednesday.  Most ...
• Debt = Money, Money = Debt
  Where does money come from?  You would think that question should be so simple that any 10-year-old child could answer it, but that is not the case.  You see, the truth is that the vast majority of American adults cannot even answer that question.  Yet we all use money every day.  W ...
• Tipping Point: 25 Signs That The Coming Financial ...
  The financial collapse that so many of us have been anticipating is seemingly closer then ever.  Over the past several weeks, there have been a host of ominous signs for the U.S. economy.  Yields on U.S. Treasuries have moved up rapidly and Moody's is publicly warning that it may ha ...
• Less Money, More Problems
  How in the world is the U.S. economy going to recover if the American people have less money to spend?  Millions of American families are heading into 2011 knowing that either they won't be seeing an increase in income or that their incomes will be smaller next year.  Long-term unem ...

CASSE

• Ecosystem Services: Pricing to Peddle
  Markets are good for several things, but allocating ecosystem services is not one of them.
• Real Economies and the Illusions of Abstraction
  Hazel Henderson, a true champion of the steady state economy, digs deep into the deficiencies of our economic and financial systems.
• A Shift in the Burden of Proof
  The World Bank and other proponents of growth need to prove that growth is actually "economic" instead of "uneconomic."
• From Black Friday to a Better Way
  Rethinking consumption and consumer spending may be the key to enjoying the holidays.
• In Search of Answers about Economic Growth
  It's time to rethink the dilemma of economic growth and find some much-needed answers for the economy.

The Talking Clock

• Getting Britain back? Solve the mystery of who our ...
  There seems to be so much 'news' around at the moment, that there's no doubt a lot of news being deliberately 'lost' by those with the mindset of seeing atrocities as opportunities to bury 'bad news'. But there's one small piece of detail which has been written about in the last twenty-four hours ...
• While the UK sleeps on oblivious, the search term ...
  Where is Boris Johnson and what will he do about this? The search term "Martial Law UK" has just become the most searched for phrase in the world according to Google Trends. The screenshot above was taken at 11pm UK time. Look at the right and see what the most searched for phrase is. Yet, ...
• Let's do a revolution, English style... where can ...
  We have a lot of comedy fans visiting the blog at the moment it appears - so welcome to you if you're one of those. The post you're looking for is HERE. It is hilarious - and it should be Christmas #1 in my view... Back to normal business - keeping it light for now. It occurs to me that we ...
• Sunday Paper Review: 5th December 2010
  Before we get into this week's Sunday newspaper review, we've seen a very large number of people searching for 'Wikileaks' and 'Princess Diana' this week... ...even more people came here searching for that combo as came here searching for "Nick Clegg" and "hated"... and that seemed to be somethin ...
• Has the Archbishop of Canterbury (and all women) s ...
  Some of you may remember the fuss that was caused by comments in 2008 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who advocated: "the adoption of parts of Sharia, or Islamic law, in Britain." He may wish to reconsider that position further today after - unusually in this ultra-politically co ...

Facing South

• IKEA at center of labor rights controversy in Virg ...
  By Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest When my colleagues and I at Good Jobs First introduced the Subsidy Tracker database recently, our hope was that the information would be helpful to a wide range of campaigns for economic and social justice. I can now offer one particular use. By p ...
• Georgia prisoner strike comes out of lockdown
  By Kung Li Georgia prisoners came out of their cells today, ending the lockdown phase of the largest prison work strike in U.S. history. The coordinated, nonviolent action drew support from around the country. Months in the planning, the work strike this past week surprised prison officials.�� � ...
• INSTITUTE INDEX: Segregation forever?
  Over the past five years, percent of the 100 largest U.S. metro areas where racial segregation increased: 25 Percent of those same metro areas where segregation increased for Hispanics: 50 Percent of U.S. whites who live in predominantly white neighborhoods today: 79 That figure in 2000: 8 ...
• Feds sue companies behind BP oil disaster as exten ...
  The Department of Justice announced yesterday that it was suing BP and eight other defendants for their roles in the oil rig disaster that claimed the lives of 11 workers and spilled 172 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The defendants named in the suit include BP Exploratio ...
• South Carolina's governor-elect targets unions wit ...
  By Corey Hutchins, Columbia Free Times When Gov.-elect Nikki Haley said her nominee to head up the state's labor agency will aid her in helping "fight the unions" -- and specifically help keep unions from organizing at aircraft-maker Boeing's North Charleston assembly plant -- the director of So ...

CenterLine

• Today’s Terrorism News
  Lawyers for Zubaydah Ask Poland to Open Investigation Lawyers for Abu Zubaydah, a Palestinian detained at Guantanamo, have filed a lawsuit in Poland to request a formal investigation into whether Zubaydah was mistreated at a secret CIA-run prison in the … Continue reading →
• Today’s Terrorism News
  Guyanese Man Gets Life Sentence for JFK Bomb Plot Abdul Kadir, a former Guyanese politician who was convicted earlier this year for plotting to detonate the fuel system at JFK International Airport in New York, was sentenced to life in … Continue reading →
• Today’s Terrorism News
  Virginia Man Arrested After Threatening DC Metro on Facebook A Virginia man was arrested earlier this month and charged with communicating threats via interstate communications after allegedly making threatening comments about bombs on DC Metro trains on Facebook. According to … Continue reading →
• Today’s Terrorism News
  Sweden Investigates Suspected Bomber’s Past for Clues Swedish investigators said Monday that they were â98 percentâ certain that the man killed Saturday in twin car bombings in Stockholm was the suspected bomber, a man they identified as Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, … Continue reading →
• Today’s Terrorism News
  Bombings in Stockholm Wound Two, Kill Suspected Bomber Two car bombings in central Stockholm Saturday wounded two people and killed the suspected bomber in an attack that the Swedish foreign minister called a terror attack, according to reports. The suspect … Continue reading →

Short Sharp Science

• Obama's 'science integrity' guidelines arrive, wit ...
  After a difficult gestation of 18 months, Barack Obama's administration has finally released guidelines intended to provide scientific integrity in government
• Our adventures in culturomics
  A tour through five million digitised books yields some unexpected results
• Green Machine: Sunny microchips are self-powered
  A new technique that layers solar cells directly on computer chips could eliminate the need for batteries in certain applications
• London: The tuberculosis capital of Europe
  A review in the Lancet has concluded that London is the capital of tuberculosis infections in Europe
• Finding the inner you: Google's body browser
  Google has turned its attention inwards, using its mapping technology to visualise the human anatomy

Tech Drive In

• Top 6 Eyecandy Compiz Animations and Effects that ...
  Who doesn't like some eyecandy for their desktops, definitely not me. Compiz has enthralled Ubuntu users for years now. When GNOME officially ditched Compiz for Mutter for its next version, Ubuntu decided to stick with Compiz for its Unity Shell. Compiz is actively being developed now and we can exp ...
• If Web Browsers Were Celebrities..
  Now, here is something interesting for you all. The following infographic lists your favorite browsers with interesting 'character' description. Take a look. You Favorite Browsers Compared With Celebrities Thanks to waylou for this awesome infographic. Hope you all liked it as much a ...
• Official Ubuntu Advertising Team is Now Alive and ...
  Official Ubuntu Advertising Team is now alive and kicking. The team is focused on advertising and sharing the love of Ubuntu with others through various mediums. The project strives to produce professional quality advertisements and promotions and deliver them to the general public. And the support ...
• Bitcoin - Open Source Virtual Currency Project tha ...
  Bitcoin is an open source peer-to-peer digital currency project. Peer-to-peer (P2P) in this context means that there is no central authority to issue new money or keep track of transactions. Instead, these tasks are managed collectively by the nodes of the network. This is one important open source ...
• Grooveshark Interface Receives an HTML5 Boost!
  As if you don't know this already, Grooveshark is an online music broadcasting application. Nobody puts it better than TNW, "Grooveshark is a wonderful application that we intend on using until someone sues them into the ground." Grooveshark ditched its previous Flash based interface and now has a m ...

Case About Bird Flu

• MERKEL PREVENTS EUROZONE MELTDOWN BUT CAN EUROPE B ...
  Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel backed by other European leaders managed to stop economic devastation for millions of people across the eurozone on Thursday by blocking the introduction of eurobonds and the expansion of the 750 billion euro bank bailout fund at a Brussels summit on Thursday. Whil ...
• Germany honours Prince Harry, shuns the Guttenberg ...
  A TV take show special featuring German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU) and his wife in a German military base in Afghanistan has flopped, attracting only 1,01 millionen viewers yesterday, a figure below the SAT 1 average audience. German media criticised the Guttenbergs of underta ...
• Trial of activists spotlights problems in Austrian ...
  The corruption plaguing the Austria’s justice system has been dramatically highlighted by the trial of 13 animal rights activists under a new paragraph introduced to deal with organised crime. Though millions of euros have been spent, and a 200,000 page report compiled, it has become evident Judge S ...
• EUROPE AT CROSSROADS: Feudal economy and political ...
  Ahead of a key meeting of eurozone finance ministers  in Brussels today on how to rescue the euro,Germany’s conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel and Austrian Social Democrat Chancellor Werner Faymann have paired up forming an unlikely Batman and Robin to try to save the people of Europe from an unp ...
• Support for Ireland’s government plunges to ...
  The Irish Times – Thursday, December 16, 2010 Government feels brunt of public’s anger DAMIAN LOSCHER, Managing Director Ipsos MRBI ANALYSIS: Relatively unscathed by Budget cuts, over-65s alone buck the anti-Government trend TODAYâS IRISH Times /Ipsos MRBI poll lays bare the public anger towards h ...

Invisible Opportunity

• A Transmission from the Invisible Planes
  If your idea of loving someone is to give them things in place of the love, you’re going to have a front row seat through the years to what that policy accomplishes. In the age of black materialism you’re going to find all kinds of people who insist that you should give them things, because [...]
• Global Warming Causes Kidney Stones
  You really couldn’t make this stuff up! Kidney stones are one of the most painful urological disorders. They’re also one of the most common. One in 10 people will experience the pain of passing a kidney stone at some point in their lives. New research says where you live may put you at higher risk [ ...
• Is Your Doctor Being Paid and Manipulated by the D ...
  By Dr. Mercola Many people are still completely unaware of the many ways in which they are being manipulated into taking dangerous and unnecessary drugs. There’s the $5 billion direct-to-consumer marketing, of course, which is rather obvious. But physicians also play a major role, and the manipulati ...
• ‘Israel involved in Kosovo organ trade&#8217 ...
  Jonathan Ratel, who serves in Kosovo as part of the EU’s rule of law mission, has announced that the seven suspected Kosovons working as physicians for a clinic called Medicus in the capital, Pristina, belong to an international network that trades in the organs of people suffering from extreme pove ...
• US lies about Flight 253 “crotch bomber&#822 ...
  The US government who lied for wars in other resource-rich countries are lying about what happened on Delta Flight 253 with an alleged underwear/crotch bomber. Below is a summary of facts reported at this time… Before the flight to the US: * Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab traveled to Yemen to meet with â ...

Veterans Today

• FRANKLIN LAMB: Australia rejects Israeli ordered M ...
  In issuing its findings of fact and conclusions of law ACMA found that Al Manar did not violate Australian law, and was free to broadcast in the country Franklin Lamb’s Saturday Mideast Report –- Al Manar Australia’s Parliament and main stream media may not differ all that much from other western co ...
• Dream Nightmare Act- Put A Stop To This Now
  The Dream Act should stay a Dream because as it stands it is a nightmare of too many calories in this bill that will be up for the vote shortly. I do not like to see this as a party issue but it seems like that is all that our elected officials see. I look at cost factors, impacts on our system tha ...
• NEVER FORGET: How 9/11 First Responders Were Betra ...
  Thursday night marked the final “Daily Show” of the year — and the decade — so it’s fitting that Jon Stewart spent its entirety discussing something both near to his heart and tied an event that happened nearly 10 years ago: the 9/11 First Responders Bill. By Katla McGlynn in the Huffingon Post Stew ...
• GOP’s Wall Street Whitewash; GOP Absolves Ba ...
  Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), incoming G.O.P. chair of the House Financial Services Committee: “[M]y view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks.” By Paul Krugman in the NYT When the financial crisis struck, many people — myself included — considered it a teachable moment. ...
• Wisconsin State Sen. Russ Decker—Scumbag of the Ye ...
  Think U.S. Rep John A. Boehner (R – OH) and Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) are the lowest of pond scum.They’re rookies. Meet Wisconsin State Senator Russ Decker (D-Wausau, WI), who has transformed himself from “proud union member to Republican stooge sticking it to state employee unions“. Decker is upset ...

electric politics

• Priorities
  To be honest, the shrimp fishermen don't matter. The Gulf coast tourist traps don't matter. The economic effects of the spill. Don't matter. It's not about the money. What matters is that we're destroying the environment, killing countless innocent creatures. I keep hoping things may not be quite a ...
• Regime Change Politics
  We tell ourselves that humans are sentient animals. Yet here in the U.S. our politics seem rather more directed by delusion, or denial, than reason. Collectively, we not only do not know that our political system does not produce democratic results, we pretend the results are democratic no matter h ...
• The Death and Life of Intelligence Analysis
  Magical thinking drives the Neocons' perpetual efforts to start a war with Iran. Politicians, by and large, fail to apprehend the danger. If it weren't for analysts like Dr. Thomas Fingar — and many others — who have held the line on explaining the real costs of war, we would by now be well and tru ...
• (Unlawful) Targeted Killing
  The U.S. government should not murder people abroad. A simple enough rule, yet in a bizarre, barbaric, and cold-blooded fashion Washington now not only claims the right to murder anyone it wants, anywhere it wants, abroad, including American citizens, but actively carries out such intent with drone ...
• The Power of Imagination
  Harkening back to an earlier age, the prolific and brilliant author and anthologist Michael Sims helps us to understand science, natural history, literature, and all manner of other things. A Renaissance man. In Dracula's Guest he explores through Victorian eyes the universal human fear of the dark ...

PR News

• PR image still improving after ethics issues
  Several instances of questionable PR and public affairs practices became public this week, reflecting the industry's somewhat shaky definition of ethical PR.
• GlobalHealth PR adds to network
  WASHINGTON: GlobalHealth PR added three agencies to its network - Guess What PR in Lisbon, Alert Media Communications in Warsaw, and Paradigma Pel Comunicación in Buenos Aires.
• BerlinRosen names McDonald MD
  NEW YORK: BerlinRosen Public Affairs hired Andy McDonald as MD of the firm's national issue advocacy practice, effective January 1.
• Banfield Pet Hospital taps Coyne
  PARSIPPANY, NJ: Banfield Pet Hospital, which has 770 hospitals in various US neighborhoods, hired Coyne PR as its AOR, following a competitive review.
• Fortune 50 companies failing to promote mobile too ...
  NEW YORK: Few Fortune 50 companies are promoting their mobile communications tools to reach stakeholders, a new study says.

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.  ...

k2p blog

• UN to “investigate” its introduction o ...
  The United Nations secretary-general plans to call for an independent commission to study whether U.N. peacekeepers caused a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 2,400 people in Haiti, an official said on Wednesday.
• Winter variations and global warming
  A good thing that Cancun didn't do too much and deferred everything again but of course the jamboree can - and will - continue next year in S. Africa. Global warming is going out of fashion and I have the gut feeling that climate alarmism is beginning to be seen in perspective.
• Chemistry unsettled
  A change will be made to the atomic weights of some elements listed on the Periodic table of the chemical elements.
• Capitation fees: The stench of corruption in the I ...
  All degrees and especially post graduate degrees in medicine, engineering and IT related subjects from private colleges in India are granted solely for the payment of a capitation fee.
• Bring back my incandescent light bulb!
  Consumer protection organisations have demanded a suspension of the EU ban on incandescent light bulbs, citing official tests that showed the new compact fluorescent lamps to be dangerous if broken.

Left Foot Forward

• Look Left – Wikileaks saga comes to town as Assang ...
  Julian Assange tastes "the fresh air of London" as he is released on bail; Eric Pickles unveils savage cuts to local councils; and the rest of the week's news.
• The government must invest in today’s youth ...
  Ben Fox argues the government must invest in the youth of today to avoid a lost generation.
• Johnson: Clegg’s talk on bankers’ bonu ...
  Despite hard talk over bankers' bonuses Nick Clegg is being accused of "hot air" over the issue by shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson, reports Chris Tarquini.
• Local authorities face much higher cuts than Pickl ...
  Eric Pickles has masked the true cuts to local government budgets by using a total inflated by council tax and NHS social care funding, reports Rosanna Singler.
• Cameron misinformed on EU bailouts says top Tory
  Prime minister David Cameron faces criticism from within his own party over claims he has prevented Britain contributing to a potential European Union bailout.

Consumerist

• Products You Shouldn't Buy During The Holidays
  Marketers and retailers want you to think that now is the time to spend, because you won't find better deals at any other time of the year. While that may be true for some products, you're best off waiting to buy several big-ticket items. Kiplinger identifies 10 things you shouldn't buy for Christ ...
• This Sanitary Napkin Is Up On Its Current Events
  While the whole WikiLeaks thing has become and incredibly divisive topic in recent weeks, at least one company has found a way to use the hot-button issue to its advantage. A Pakistani ad agency hired to create a campaign for the Butterfly brand of sanitary napkins (is there a less outdated-soundi ...
• Eagle-Eyed TSA Screeners Don't Notice Loaded Handg ...
  If you thought the TSA's inability to notice a 6-inch hunting knife was a sign that airport screeners might as well be watching Spongebob instead of X-raying you and your stuff, here's further proof. A man in Houston says the TSA screeners didn't blink an eye at the loaded .40 caliber handgun he'd ...
• Top Posts Of The Week And Open Thread
  Man Cons Woman Into Paying For eBay Auction She Won This Dunkin' Donuts Tip Cup Has Trust Issues Man Rigs UPS Package With Car Alarm In Attempt To Catch Thief Jos. A. Bank Advertises "Super Jew Day" Sale? Buzzwords To Avoid When Looking For A New Job
• Walmart Manager Opens Up His Own Business... With ...
  As avaricious as Walmart is, we're sure that the company would be at least mildly amused at the idea of one of its store managers taking the initiative to begin his own business selling similar products. But we're guessing that Big W isn't exactly thrilled if said manager uses $250,000 worth of sto ...

Whistleblogger - GAP

• Serpico, MacLean Support Whistleblower Legislation ...
  Orange County Register: Will Serpico, MacLean, Finally Get New Whistleblowers Law? This article specifies how Frank Serpico, Robert MacLean, and many other well-known whistleblowers have expressed support for passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (S. 372) by writing a letter ...
• 63 Good Government Groups Urge Issa to Support Vot ...
  Conservative, Oversight Groups Plead Representative Not to Delay Crucial Reform (Washington, D.C.) – Today, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) and over 60 other groups, including the National Taxpayers Union and Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, sent a letter to Rep. Darrell ...
• Satyam Scandal Still Haunts World Bank
  Last week, Senator Lugar sent out this press release, "Lugar Urges International Development Banks to Step Up Corruption Cases." Bless the man for trying to uphold notions of honesty not-currently-in-vogue in most of the rest of the world -- or in government for that matter. Lugar had asked the mult ...
• Good Government Groups Support Passage of S. 372, ...
  Government Accountability Project: Oversight Groups Overwhelmingly Support Passage of Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act A “vote alert” sent yesterday by the National Taxpayers Union is just one of the latest actions from over 90 good government groups that support passage of S. 372, the ...
• Criticisms of S. 372 Are Flawed and Dangerously Mi ...
  We’re at the crossroads of a breakthrough for free speech rights; however, there has been a divergent campaign in the 11th hour. Today, Ms. Julia Davis wrote an article titled “Kill the Bill” – referring to S. 372, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. Curiously, days earlier this same autho ...

UK Progressive

• The New Tax Deal: Reaganomics Redux
  More than thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan came to Washington intent on reducing taxes on the wealthy and shrinking every aspect of government except defense. The new tax deal embodies the essence of Reaganomics. It will not stimulate the economy. A disproportionate share of the $858 billion deal wil ...
• Rep. Barney Frank Speaks Out on DADT – The ‘Distra ...
  Representative Barney Frank (D) represents the Massachusetts Legislative District I grew up in. I was long removed from it when he took over and the district was gerrymandered after a census took one seat away from MA and gave it to either Florida or California. Barney is openly gay and has long bee ...
• Oprah is Not Gay, Folks!
  Oprah is known everywhere around the world, and has touched nearly everyone. Her media stardom and public ministry make her omnipresent as well as omnipotent. Her converts would argue she is also omniscient, especially with her monthly oracle — O, The Oprah Magazine– pontificating the principles of ...
• Louis Serves Up Can of Racist Whupass Fearmongerin ...
  Representative Louis Gohmert (R-TX) has given many a disgraceful, racist, homophobic and xenophobic speech in the House. Yesterday during the debate on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the law under which gay servicemen and women are being outed, prosecuted and kicked out of the US Military by the h ...
• Ten EU Countries Create Europe’s 1st Renewable Ene ...
  Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom have teamed up to plan a €30 billion ($43 billion) sustainable energy project in the North Sea as part of efforts to address climate change and expand renewable energy. The plan is to conn ...

NewsAlert

• UBS dress code dicates how to smell, apply makeup ...
  The Chicago Sun-Times
• Donation Drive at Newsalert: Help Us
  It's our semi-annual donation drive. Please donate to Newsalert. Hopefully you value this website. Your contribution helps keep this site going. All donations are appreciated no matter what the size. Click on the Paypal button down below. Thanks to everyone who's contributed so far, we really apprec ...
• OK Sen. Inhofe, Rep. Lucas Demand Answers After Fe ...
  The Blaze reports on the Federal Reserves' war on religion.
• End of omnibus jeopardizes funding for Wall Street ...
  The Hill reports on the move to not increase spending:The omnibus that has now been set aside included substantial boosts to the budgets of the SEC and CFTC, both of which are entrenched in the massive task of writing rules implementing the new law. The CFTC would have received a 69 percent boost to ...
• Which States Will Gain/Lose House Seats?
  Political Wire

JoNova

• A journalist who confuses journalism with propagan ...
  Great news: This commentary appears in The Weekend Australian tomorrow (in a slightly different edited version). Below was what I submitted, before the edits, with the links intact. Comments are open at The Australian. I’ll be posting less often over the Southern Summer, possibly quite irregularly, ...
• Could we make that flood worse?
  It’s not like we need another case study in just how creatively dumb bureaucracy can be, but Jennifer Marohasy has been relentless in pursuing the extraordinary case of a government contracting a corporation to pour nearly 7000 Mega litres into a area facing life threatening floods. That’s more than ...
• Global Warming — it’s just another joke
  Armstrong and Miller mock the Global Warming thought police as they tell us to ignore our lying eyes, and give us glossy printed pamphlets telling us what we are allowed to think. The formerly fashionable theory of man-made catastrophe is becoming the regular butt of jokes. Bear in mind that half of ...
• Inflation: the creeping hand of corruption
  You might think inflation and climate science are only linked metaphorically. But the corruption in science is fed by the corruption in our currencies. The monetary system that allows a privileged few to print money from nothing is the same system that allows massively misdirected spending. When the ...
• Cancun in a nutshell: nothing achieved but it’s a ...
  After the awful post-Climategate-and-Copenhagen year, more than anything else, the Big Scare Campaign needed a PR win. And in that sense Cancun was a major victory. Nothing legally binding has came out of it, but the headlines would warm the hearts of all on Team-Scare-Us. The most important thing f ...

ReNew America

• The Islamic tsunami
  (Washington Times) - Is an Islamic tidal wave coming? "There is a plan to take over Western civilization," warns David Rubin, "and we need to recognize it for what it is." Mr. Rubin is a native New Yorker who served as mayor of the Israeli town of Shiloh. He spoke to The Washington Times about his n ...
• Iraq: Al Qaeda planning holiday attacks in West
  (Associated Press) - Iraqi authorities have obtained confessions from captured insurgents who claim al Qaeda is planning suicide attacks in the United States and Europe during the Christmas season, two senior officials said Wednesday...
• Reagan aide: START treaty 'seriously flawed'
  (NewsMax) - Instead of pressuring reluctant Republican senators for rapid ratification of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, the Obama administration should just drop it, says Richard Perle, a key architect of President Ronald Reagan's strategy to end the Cold War...
• Republican seeks to block U.S. Internet rules
  (Reuters) - The top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee filed an amendment on Thursday to halt U.S. regulators' plans to act on contentious Internet traffic rules next week...
• Obama quietly erasing borders
  (WorldNetDaily) - Acting quietly, below the radar of U.S. public opinion and without congressional approval, the Obama administration is implementing a key policy objective of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP, to erase the border with Mexico and Canada...

Truth Offering

• Truth Offering w/ Matt Gordon - December 15, 2010
  Check out our first Podcast featuring TruthOffering.com's Matt Gordon. Topics range from WikiLeaks and Internet censorship, to food freedom and the Federal Reserve. Being that it's our first Podcast, it's a work-in-progress. So, please leave any and all feedback. Thanks...and enjoy: �
• Why We Must End the Fed Before They End Us
  With more and more people becoming aware of how corrupt our massive, out of control government has become, I think this article is a great next step toward full awareness.�Our nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan has angered many people in those nations. And rightfully so...I think it's safe to s ...
• "I.O.U.S.A.: Solutions": Or Are They?
  Having just finished watching, I.O.U.S.A.: Solutions on CNN, I'm quite disappointed. Let me explain why. The original I.O.U.S.A. took an unbiased, by-the-numbers look at our nation's unsustainability with regard to unfunded liabilities, such a Social Security, Medicare, Medicare Part B, pension prog ...
• The Obama Deception
  Full disclosure, I am a fan of Alex Jones. And one of his more compelling documentaries is called, The Obama Deception, which is a slightly misleading title, because it probably makes anyone who likes Barack Obama immediately think it's a right-wing documentary that aims to discredit the president. ...
• The Great Water Fluoridation Conspiracy
  Some would say that water fluoridation, among other unfounded effects, can, and does, promote good dental hygiene. Water fluoridation in the US has been widely used since the 1970’s, but got its big break in the Nazi Death camps; you may not believe it, but the Nazi’s fluoridated water to keep the p ...

2012 Blog

• Prince Charles and 2012 Topics
  First of all, I severely doubt HRH Prince Charles is a 2012er, and although I respect his principles, I never thought I would write a blog post about him. But today it crossed my mind that perhaps he has a role to play in the peripheral topics of 2012. He has written a book called [ ...
• Chinese Pyramid: Excavation Now
  Many tourists in China have seen the terracota warriors and been told that the nearby tree-covered hill is the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang. Tourists are unaware, and Chinese authorities have refused to admit that the “tomb” is actually one of the largest pyramids in the world. Legend ...
• Our Galactic Centre: “enormous energetic eve ...
  Every time a scientist tells us we have nothing to fear, another will admit that they often don’t know much at all. Some 2012 theorists have suggested our galactic centre might be the cause of a 2012 event. For some, like me, it is because most galaxies have very energetic centres, ...
• Sitchen RIP / Beringian Explorers / Djedi Robot
  Zecharia Sitchen passed away on October 9th, in New York City, at the age of 90. He wrote a large volume of books on a singular topic, and has many fans, as well as numerous detractors. I’ve gotten a few leads from his work, but he isn’t trustworthy enough to reference I’m afraid. S ...
• Disinformation Overload
  It is becoming increasingly probable to me that disinformation in the areas of 2012 / crop cricles / UFOs is real, and a deliberate governmental ploy. I offer as evidence the purported 400 whistleblowers who have described evidence of aliens or UFOs visiting Earth, yet none of them ...

Facing South

• IKEA at center of labor rights controversy in Virg ...
  By Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest When my colleagues and I at Good Jobs First introduced the Subsidy Tracker database recently, our hope was that the information would be helpful to a wide range of campaigns for economic and social justice. I can now offer one particular use. By p ...
• Georgia prisoner strike comes out of lockdown
  By Kung Li Georgia prisoners came out of their cells today, ending the lockdown phase of the largest prison work strike in U.S. history. The coordinated, nonviolent action drew support from around the country. Months in the planning, the work strike this past week surprised prison officials.�� � ...
• INSTITUTE INDEX: Segregation forever?
  Over the past five years, percent of the 100 largest U.S. metro areas where racial segregation increased: 25 Percent of those same metro areas where segregation increased for Hispanics: 50 Percent of U.S. whites who live in predominantly white neighborhoods today: 79 That figure in 2000: 8 ...
• Feds sue companies behind BP oil disaster as exten ...
  The Department of Justice announced yesterday that it was suing BP and eight other defendants for their roles in the oil rig disaster that claimed the lives of 11 workers and spilled 172 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The defendants named in the suit include BP Exploratio ...
• South Carolina's governor-elect targets unions wit ...
  By Corey Hutchins, Columbia Free Times When Gov.-elect Nikki Haley said her nominee to head up the state's labor agency will aid her in helping "fight the unions" -- and specifically help keep unions from organizing at aircraft-maker Boeing's North Charleston assembly plant -- the director of So ...

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