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Forget Copenhagen CO2 cuts, tune your diesel properly Researchers from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, also the home of famous carbopocalypse doom-prophet James Hansen, have repeated earlier assertions that atmospheric soot may be as important as greenhouse gases in driving global warming. This could be good news for humanity, as atmospheric soot levels would be much easier to reduce. Filtering soot out of exhausts from diesel engines and coal burners is simple compared to removing and sequestering CO2, and as an added benefit the effects would be rapid: soot doesn't persist in the atmosphere for long periods the way greenhouse...

A sophisticated hoax has targeted the Canadian government and caused a ruckus at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) currently underway in Copenhagen, Denmark. The elaborate prank is an attempt to embarrass the Canadian delegation to the summit, which has received criticism from the world press for its allegedly obstructionist role in negotiations. At the centre of the ruse is a spoof news release in which Environment Canada announces the launch of “Agenda 2020”, an ambitious plan for reducing the country’s carbon emissions. The release in part states: Agenda 2020 sets binding emissions reductions targets of 40% below 1990 levels...

Granting Tom Maguire’s point that history begins and ends in The One’s mind with his own presidency, I think Obama’s right this time. In a provocative argument designed to rescue his foundering health care plan, President Barack Obama will warn Senate Democrats in a White House meeting Tuesday that this is the “last chance” to pass comprehensive reform…White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told POLITICO: “If President Obama doesn’t pass health reform, it’s hard to imagine another president ever taking on this Herculean task. For those whose life’s work is reforming health care, this may be the last train leaving...

The Shenandoah police chief and two officers under his command are charged with orchestrating a cover-up in the fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant by altering evidence or lying to the FBI in a hate crimes case against two popular football players. The former Shenandoah High School athletes, 19-year-old Derrick Donchak and 18-year-old Brandon Piekarsky, have now been charged with a federal hate crime, accused of beating Luis Ramirez in a park on a night in July 2008 as they headed home from a party, the Justice Department said Tuesday in Washington. State prosecutors who tried unsuccessfully to win ethnic...

N.Korea to Bar Foreigners North Korea reportedly plans to ban foreigners from the country from Sunday until early February, apparently to allow unrest caused by this month's shock currency reform to die down. Ju Sang-song, the minister of People's Security, is in China, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency, though it gave no reason for his visit. The trip by the North's top internal security official may aim to seek cooperation from Beijing in preventing a mass exodus of North Korean middle class citizens angry over the devaluation of their savings. One source in China said that Pyongyang...

Freeper Canteen:Do You Spread Holiday Cheer?   Today We Want To Know...If You Spread Holiday Cheer Click here and take the quiz! At the last question, choose "Get HTML and BBCode ", then submit, to get your answer. After you do so, please post your findings in the Canteen!   Have fun!

SNIPPET: "A King County jury this morning found Naveed Haq guilty of eight counts, including aggravated first-degree murder, in the 2006 shootings at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle." SNIPPET: "Haq opened fire in the federation offices on July 28, 2006, killing employee Pamela Waechter, 58, and wounding Cheryl Stumbo, Carol Goldman, Dayna Klein, Christina Rexroad and Layla Bush..."

The DNR has refuted claims that they have brought mountain lions into Iowa to help control the deer population. But many do not believe that. This cat was checked by the DNR for a tag. None was found. Why would they look for a tag if mountain lions in Iowa are rare and wild?

The White House is once again explaining how uninvited guests wound up shaking hands with President Obama. It was not a state dinner, and they did not crash it on purpose. Still, a couple who showed up at the White House a day early for a tour somehow wound up at an invitation-only breakfast with President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle. It left to the White House once again to explain how people who were not on an event guest list wound up being ushered into the presidential mansion anyway. The improbable adventure of Harvey and Paula Darden, Obama...

Senate Republicans say they want to “smoke out” Democratic senators who could help them bring down the health care bill, and so far, they think they’ve found one in Sen. Jim Webb. With all the attention focused on four other fence-sitting moderates, Webb has voted with Republicans six times on the first series of amendments on the Senate floor — giving GOP leaders some hope that the unpredictable Virginian could buck his party in the end and block the bill. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, No. 4 in GOP leadership, said Webb’s votes “came as a bit of a surprise”...

The Senate has narrowly rejected a plan to allow Americans to import low-cost prescription drugs from Canada and other countries. The amendment by North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan failed on a 51-48 vote. Sixty votes were needed to prevail.

General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt said Tuesday that NBC Universal will lose an estimated $200 million on the February Olympics. GE is "counting on a tough economy around the Olympics," Immelt said. "It's just a tough time for an event like that," he said, referring to the Olympics as a "no-margin" business. NBCU would post an operating profit increase in 2010, Immelt said, but the Winter Olympics will instead bring a decrease. Speaking on other matters at an annual investor conference, Immelt declined to predict when the government may approve the proposed NBCU joint venture with Comcast. But he expressed...

The government is "urgently" looking into reforming the law after a UK court issued an arrest warrant for former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni. The warrant was granted by a London court at the request of Palestinian plaintiffs, provoking Israeli anger. It was revoked on Monday when it was found Ms Livni was not visiting the UK. Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Israel was a "close friend" of the UK's and stressed he was keen to "avoid this sort of situation arising again". Pro-Palestinian campaigners have tried several times to have Israeli officials arrested under the principle of universal jurisdiction,...

Paper taking donations for Web content This holiday season, you have several options of where to donate your money: Salvation Army, Toys for Tots, soup kitchens. But have you considered the Miami Herald? It's not quite a charity case yet, but the paper of record in the Magic City is accepting handouts if you have any spare change. Starting today, users of the Herald's Web edition can make donations to the paper on each story. A link at the bottom of each story directs users to "Support ongoing news coverage on Miamiherald.com." Through the link, you can pay any amount...

She's the best-selling author of "Going Rogue,'' a former VP candidate and governor of Alaska, and now Sarah Palin has a surprising new role -- as the most bankable star in Democratic fundraising drives aimed at firing up the grassroots, and their checkbooks, before the 2010 midterm elections. California's 700,000-member progressive Courage Campaign has Palin as its marquee name in a fundraising letter that's out this week. No wonder: with George W. Bush -- the last bigname Republican that Democrats Loved to Hate -- gone, the Campaign prominently stars Palin in an effort to to bulk up the coffers for..the...

Note: Telephone transcript and web posts included. 15 December 2009 "AMF X 2" SNIPPET: "Ehsanul Islam Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed were sentenced to prison yesterday in US District Court in Atlanta, Georgia. Sadequee got 17 years, and Ahmed 13 - both are subject to 30 years court supervision upon release. (Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the second link and read some of Judge Duffy's remarks to Sadequee). • Terrorism Defendants Sentenced • Federal Judge Sentences 2 Muslim Americans for Conspiring to Aid Terror Groups Sadequee and Ahmed were part of the global network of jihadis that...

COPENHAGEN (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon said world leaders faced a "defining moment in history" as they balanced their nation's interests with a global clamour to halt the juggernaut of climate change. With just over three days left to broker one of the most ambitious, yet also fiendishly complex, deals in human history, conference chair Denmark appealed for all sides to embrace the spirit of compromise. But China and the United States -- the world's two biggest carbon polluters -- brushed aside European calls for concessions on emissions reductions, the thorniest issue of all. Related article: UN system to...

The world has only seven years before climate change causes a “point of crisis” that will drive food shortages, terrorism and poverty, the Prince of Wales has warned. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the ministerial segment of the Copenhagen climate conference, the Prince said the “survival of the species” was in peril. The talks have been dogged by walk-outs and protests as the poor world becomes increasingly frustrated at the lack of refusal by richer countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Yesterday Yvo de Boer, the head of negotiations, admitted things are moving “too slowly” as pressure grew on...

Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for a “planetary transformation” to save the world from climate change. The Governor of California said an international agreement at Copenhagen will usher in a new era of renewable energy and economic growth through manufacturing green technology. Even if a deal cannot be done between nation states, he said cities and regions such as California are moving forward in transforming their industries and individual lifestyles. And he offered to host a summit for “sub-national governments” such as California and London to make sure climate change is tackled on a regional level. Speaking in the Danish capital,...

Are children reared by two individuals of the same gender as well adjusted as children reared in families with a mother and a father? Until recently the unequivocal answer to this question was "no." Within the last decade, however, professional health organizations1, academics, social policymakers and the media have begun asserting that prohibitions on parenting by homosexual couples should be lifted. In making such far-reaching, generation-changing assertions, any responsible advocate would rely upon supporting evidence that is comprehensive and conclusive. Not only is this not the situation, but also there is sound evidence that children exposed to the homosexual lifestyle...

The Prime Minister has arrived at the summit promising to make a “final push” for a global deal on cutting carbon emissions. Downing Street signalled Mr Brown is prepared to spend more money on environmental causes to avert what he said would be an economic catastrophe caused by unrestrained global warming. Arriving in Copenhagen, Mr Brown said: "Over the next three days the leaders of almost every nation on earth will gather in Copenhagen. Their role; their opportunity; their responsibility: to shape the future of humanity. It is a defining moment." The Prime Minister flew into the Danish capital two...

Declaring that insulation is "sexy," President Obama today pushed Congress to create a program giving homeowners cash incentives to improve their energy efficiency by replacing windows, caulking leaks and modernizing heaters and air conditioners. He traveled to a Home Depot store in Alexandria, Va., to pitch a job-creation plan some have dubbed "cash for caulkers" -- government incentives given directly to consumers to spur economic activity, similar to the popular "cash for clunkers" rebates that spurred a surge in auto sales last summer. Obama also held a roundtable at the store that included the chief executive of insulation-maker Owens Corning...

Declaring that insulation is "sexy," President Obama today pushed Congress to create a program giving homeowners cash incentives to improve their energy efficiency by replacing windows, caulking leaks and modernizing heaters and air conditioners. He traveled to a Home Depot store in Alexandria, Va., to pitch a job-creation plan some have dubbed "cash for caulkers" -- government incentives given directly to consumers to spur economic activity, similar to the popular "cash for clunkers" rebates that spurred a surge in auto sales last summer. Obama also held a roundtable at the store that included the chief executive of insulation-maker Owens Corning...

A new fundraising letter from Sen. John Kerry (D) of Massachusetts gives a strong hint about how Democrats may try to stir their base to action during the 2010 election season: scare them with the prospect of a Sarah Palin nation. “Think GOP obstruction is bad now?” Senator Kerry asks in a fundraising letter sent out Tuesday morning by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “Just imagine what Washington would look like if a bunch of new senators – inspired by Sarah Palin and the tea party crowd – took over.” In recent months, the political right has been energized by...

Cosco (China's container ship company) CEO is seriously investigating the creation of nuclear powered container ships. This site has already examined a study of the economics of nuclear power for commercial shipping. The study showed that a nuclear ship would be $40 million per year cheaper to operate when bunker oil is at $500/ton. Those studies had indicated improved economics when bunker fuel is over $300/ton. Bunker oil is currently about $375/ton. Also, changing to nuclear powered container ships would reduce air pollution by the equivalent of about 20,000 cars converted to electric per container ship that is converted. A...

During World War II, the Germans would throw you into a POW camp free of charge. Today, POW Escapes will sell you the experience of spending a week in a newly-constructed Luftwaffe prisoner of war facility for just $3,500. For a short time, you will feel what it was like for airmen captured and held captive by the Lufwaffe during the war. $3,500 buys you a sightseeing tour of the Jewish Ghetto and Nazi installations, a week in the camp, your meals, a POW camp uniform, recreated documents and a “liberation dinner” at the end of your stay where your...

A House Democrat from Connecticut said Tuesday that Sen. Joe Lieberman should be recalled from office over his opposition to the Senate health care bill. "No individual should hold health care hostage, including Joe Lieberman, and I'll say it flat out, I think he ought to be recalled," Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) told POLITICO. Connecticut has no recall law for state officials, and the Constitution does not authorize states to recall members of Congress since each house has the authority to police its own members. But DeLauro’s comments speak to concerns running through Democratic circles in Connecticut and in Washington...

(CNSNews.com) – Mark Lloyd, the chief diversity officer and associate counsel at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), says he is not carrying out a “secret plot funded by George Soros” aimed at getting rid of conservative talk-show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Lloyd, the keynote speaker at a Monday forum sponsored by the Media Access Project (MAP), also said that there was a “right-wing smear campaign” against him. "I am not a Czar appointed by President Obama," said Lloyd. "I am not at the FCC to restore the Fairness Doctrine through the front door or the back door, or...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Joe Lieberman, who has sent Democratic leaders and the White House scrambling in recent days to find a compromise that would win his support for legislation overhauling the U.S. health care system, signaled Tuesday that their efforts have nearly succeeded. "I'm getting to a position where I can say what I wanted to say all along: that I'm ready to vote for health care reform," the independent from Connecticut told reporters Tuesday. Lieberman had threatened to join Republicans in throwing the legislation off the tracks if Democrats included a proposal to expand Medicare -- a compromise that...

A top Pentagon official said Monday that a US missile defense drill will simulate an Iranian attack, a departure from the usual scenario of a North Korean attack, according to Reuters. Previously, we have been testing the GMD system against a North Korean-type scenario. This next test ... is more of a head-on shot like you would use defending against an Iranian shot into the United States. So that's the first time that we're now testing in a different scenario," Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, head of the US Missile Defense Agency said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in...

...Friedman's departure left outgoing Houston Mayor Bill White and hair-care millionaire Farouk Shami as the two main contenders for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and lessened the chances of the race going to a runoff. While it does not clear the field for White, it gives him the advantage over a less-known and less experienced opponent. White has a track record in office and proof he can win elections. Shami says he will spend $10 million of his own money to win the nomination with his rags-to-riches life story, but he still will have to answer the ultimate question: Is Texas...

Those hoping to ride the state's high-speed train next decade will have to dig much deeper into their wallets than officials originally thought, a harsh reality that will chase away millions of passengers, according to an updated business plan released Monday. The average ticket on the bullet train from San Francisco to Los Angeles is now estimated to cost about $105, or 83 percent of comparable airfare. Last year, the state said prices would be set at 50 percent of comparable airfare and predicted a ticket from San Francisco to Los Angeles would cost $55. As a result of the...

We never saw this kind of violence at the Tea Parties or Town Halls!Glenn Beck compares the violence at Copenhagen to Nancy Pelosi’s tearful concern over “rhetoric” from the Tea Partiers! This is sure to send the Beck haters into fits!Video at FA

Heavy snow and temperatures 22 degrees below normal are now forecasted for the Global Warming conference in Copenhagen. As weather forecasts are updated, here is a screen shot as of apprx 11:20pm EST: The average December high for Copenhagen is 39F and the average low is 32F

Pope Benedict XVI called for urgent action to protect the environment, saying Tuesday that climate change and natural catastrophes threaten the rights to life, food, health — and ultimately peace. In his annual message on the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Peace, the pope argued that the world's economic, social, and environmental problems are moral crises that require mankind to rethink its way of living. "We can no longer do without a real change of outlook which will result in new life-styles," he said, touching again on a theme that has earned him a reputation as the "green pope."...

European ministers worked to salvage a deal at the Copenhagen climate summit today as fears grew that some world leaders, scenting failure in the negotiations, could decide to stay away at the last minute. After several days marked by increasingly bitter exchanges between the world's two biggest polluters, China and the United States, and a five-hour walkout by African delegates, the conference chair, Connie Hedegaard of Denmark, asked a group of European ministers to lead "informal" negotiations on the key blockages. "It's just like schoolchildren," Ms Hedegaard said today. "If they have a very long deadline to deliver an exercise...

Dictators and despots are coming to Copenhagen for the Climate Summit. A few of the world’s most notorious leaders will be landing in Copenhagen this week as heads of state and government arrive for the Climate Summit – including presidents who resort to violence, threats and electoral fraud to stay in power. Robert Mugabe Harrassment of electoral observers in 2002 meant that Robert Mugabe was denied entry into the European Union – and it is only because the Climate Summit is a United Nations event that he is allowed to set foot on Danish soil. During last year’s presidential election,...

NZ link to plane seized with North Korea weapons Liam Baldwin | Tuesday December 15 2009 - 03:42pm A New Zealand company has been linked to a cargo plane seized in Thailand suspected of smuggling North Korea arms this week, possibly to the Middle East. Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted Georgian officials linking New Zealand registered company SP Trading to renting the plane – an Ilyushin-76 aircraft – to deliver its cargo. The plane was seized at Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport late last week during a refuelling stop. It was discovered that it contained 30 tonnes of weapons from North...

/begin my excerpts China: Classified Documents on Submarine Leaked... Intel Authorities on Alert (regarding) China's newest nuclear-powered submarine development Classified information at China's Weapon's Industry Research Institute leaked by hacking (Beijing=Yonhap News) Kwon Young-suk = Classified information on Chinese navy's submarine was leaked to foreign intelligence, and the Chinese intelligence authorities are on heightened alert. China's Globe Daily reported on Dec. 14 that classified materials were stolen at China Weapon’s Industry Research Institute which does PLAN's submarine projects. The authorities said, "Foreign intelligence stole via Internet hacking all of top secret information and files on materials used for building China's...

Taunton second-grader suspended over drawing of Jesus Father angered by forced psychological evaluation of boy, 8 By Gerry Tuoti, Staff Writer GateHouse News Service Posted Dec 14, 2009 @ 10:20 PM Taunton — A Taunton father is outraged after his 8-year-old son was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross. The father said he got a call earlier this month from Maxham Elementary School informing him that his son, a second-grade student, had created a violent drawing. The image in question depicted a crucified Jesus...

Why wouldn't you just fire a pistol the normal way? As police chased Raymond "Ready" Martinez through Times Square on Thursday, the street hustler and aspiring rapper fired two shots, holding the gun sideways "like a character out of a rap video."

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15. Today’s update is a slight improvement after the President’s ratings fell to new lows over the past three days (see trends). Sixty-two percent (62%) believe that Afghanistan will be tougher than Iraq. However, 50% agree with the President’s assertion that it’s a “just war.” Overall, voters remain divided on the President’s strategy, with 37% in favor...

The United Nations has declined Denmark’s help to quicken the snail's pace of accreditations to the COP15 Climate Summit. The chaotic scenes at the entrance to the United Nations Climate Conference at the Bella Center continue today with people waiting hours to get through an apparently undermanned U.N. accreditation system. The congestion caused by the thousands trying to get into the summit caused Danish police to call for a second day of temporary closure of the Bella Center metro station. Although Denmark is host for the summit, accreditation is in the hands of the United Nations. “The bottleneck is in...

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged countries to redouble efforts to reach a final deal against climate change in Copenhagen, in an effort to rescue failing talks at what has been dubbed the 'Last Chance Summit'. World leaders began arriving at the UN climate summit Tuesday, seeking to give a shot in the arm to the floundering talks after warnings that the whole event was at risk of ending in failure. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were among the heavyweights expected in the Danish capital where officials and...

Considering he was tying my hands behind my back at the time, Henrik was surprisingly good company. “I like your laptop,” he said. “I want to put one of those on my — how do you say it — Christmas wish list.” He sat me in a line in front of an Italian anarchist and said, by way of goodbye: “I like London. Enjoy your stay in Copenhagen.” Henrik, a Danish riot policeman, had just arrested me. For those climate change activists wondering how the Danish police would deal with a week of planned protests outside the UN climate change...

Cigarette smoking is out but pot use is in among the nation's teenagers, who also report a higher use of prescription painkillers and a waning perception about the risk of illicit drugs, a federal study on students has found. As more states move to approve medical marijuana, and pot legalization and decriminalization become more mainstream in the national discussion, teens seem more accepting of pot use, according to a study released Monday by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The national survey, "Monitoring the Future," was conducted by the University of Michigan and queried 47,097 students in the eighth, 10th...

Global Warming: The Alaskan governor who knew polar bears weren't endangered says the planet isn't either and challenges the oracle of climate change. Al Gore says despite the CRU e-mails, the situation is of the utmost gravity. In a Dec. 9 Washington Post op-ed, Sarah Palin noted that the Climate-gate e-mails from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia "reveal that leading climate 'experts' deliberately destroyed records, manipulated data to 'hide the decline' in global temperatures and tried to silence their critics from publishing in peer-reviewed journals." This did not sit well with Gore. "The entire North...

Al Gore, the former US Vice-President, has become embroiled in a climate change spin row after claiming that the Arctic could be completely ice-free within five years. Speaking at the Copenhagen climate change summit, Mr Gore said new computer modelling suggests there is a 75 per cent chance of the entire polar ice cap melting during the summertime by 2014. However, he faced embarrassment last night after Dr Wieslav Maslowski, the climatologist whose work the prediction was based on, refuted his claims.

It's been three days now in this cold cold country and the only way to describe the COP15 Copenhagen Summit is ABSOLUTE CHAOS! Whether its the negotiations, or the organisational abilities of the hosts, every process has been in disarray. Monday morning as temperatures dipped to -2 degrees Celsius, over one thousand people stood in the queue outside the Bella Centre, the main venue of the COP15. Along with me were over 10 journalists from print and TV networks across India, including Sunita Narain from the Centre for Science and Environment, waiting patiently to be let in. Minutes went into...

Justice cannot wait for a deal to stop global warming at the Copenhagen climate conference, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said. The Nobel Laureate joined an “international climate hearing” organised by Oxfam that allowed 1.5 million “witnesses” to the damage caused by climate change around the world to make their case for action. Witnesses included farmers in Uganda going hungry because of drought and families from Bangladesh affected by floods. Archbishop Tutu said he has seen for himself the effects of climate change in his home country of South Africa. “I too, stand before you as a witness. I have seen...