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THE green movement’s greatest triumph – the abolition of ozone-destroying CFC gases in the 1980s – may become its biggest embarrassment because of research showing that their replacements are sharply accelerating global warming. CFC, or chlorofluorocarbon, gases were widely deployed in air-conditioning and refrigeration units before they were found to destroy the ozone layer and banned under the 1987 Montreal protocol. They were replaced by HFCs – hydrofluorocarbons – gases that have far less effect on ozone but have since been revealed as extremely powerful greenhouse gases. A ton of HFC23 used in refrigeration has the same global warming potential...

This thread is for posting descriptions and reviews of Science Fiction Literature, and discussion of the same. In order to give a sufficient amount of information if you would like to recommend a book, please provide a summation of the plot along with your thoughts, and an assessment of it’s political leanings either conservative or liberal. An objectionable content warning would be appreciated as well for those who may not wish to encounter said content unaware. Please limit it to one book or series recommendation per thread per person. Feel free to offer opinions of books others have recommended, and...

Television "pitchman" Billy Mays — who built his fame by appearing on commercials and infomercials promoting household products and gadgets — died Sunday. Mays was found unresponsive by his wife inside his Tampa, Fla., home at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday, according to the Tampa Police Department.

The economy is tanking. The Iranian people are revolting over a rigged re-election by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Barack Obama neither condemns the corruption nor encourages the protests. North Korea is threatening some real fireworks on Independence Day by firing a missile at Hawaii. So how's that hope and change working out for you? It's not that Obama isn't doing anything. He's doing plenty. But while national security and America's principled stature in the world are suffering, Obama is working overtime at dismantling all vestiges of a free-market economy. There's a silver lining under this dark cloud. Obama's policies – both...

There's a scene in the 2008 movie "Lava Storm," a low-budget sci-fi flick about magma engulfing the globe, in which a volcanologist hatches a quixotic scheme to save humanity. He'll blow up the local dam to douse the rampaging inferno. Everyone doubts him, of course. "We can't save the world," says his wife. "No, baby," he shoots back. "But maybe we can buy it some time." It's so crazy, it just might work! That was about my reaction when I interviewed the writer and producer of "Lava Storm," West Seattle's Bill Hoffman, about his next big project. Which is, believe...

In my daily Internet travels I occasionally come across articles written by American Muslims which are clearly written to put a positive spin on Islam. Clearly written by an Islamic propagandist. Since the information aspect is a big part of this war, I will start exposing these authors as I come across them. My first in the series was "My Exchange With Hollywood Filmmaker Kamran Pasha" . Today I will write about Eboo Patel who is a member of President Barack Obama Administration's New Faith Advisory Council. Recently Mr.Patel wrote an article entitled "When Muslims Saved Jews".

'OLTL' Star Fired for Not Being 'Gay Friendly' Saturday, June 27, 2009 11:29 PM ET | By Scotty Gore -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patricia Mauceri is fired by 'One Life to Live' for objecting to planned gay storyline (Photo: ABC) (SoapOperaNetwork.com) -- Patricia Mauceri, who has portrayed Carlotta Vega on "One Life to Live" since 1995, has been fired from the show for what is said to be her refusal to participate in the soap's upcoming gay storyline. Daytime Confidential broke the news of Mauceri's firing earlier this afternoon, claiming they were informed by a 'setside source' that the actress reportly flat-out refused...

This week's political garbage. See examiner link below...

Sadly, and to my horror, I am divorcing. This was a 20-year partnership. My husband is a good man, though he did travel 20 weeks a year for work. I am a 47-year-old woman whose commitment to monogamy, at the very end, came unglued. This turn of events was a surprise. I don’t generally even enjoy men; I had an entirely manageable life and planned to go to my grave taking with me, as I do most nights to my bed, a glass of merlot and a good book. Cataclysmically changed, I disclosed everything. We cried, we bewailed the fate...

The Grand Old Party's 2012 presidential pool isn't looking so grand these days. Add Nevada Sen. John Ensign's and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's extramarital affairs to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's unconvincing TV speech and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's family dramas, and the Republican presidential herd is thinning fast -- leaving many to wonder who will lead the party in its attempt to reclaim the White House. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels are the names now being whispered in Republican circles as potential...

Iranian police clash with up to 3,000 protesters AP – In this photo taken on Monday, June 15, 2009, a woman passes Iranian police officers, as they stand guard … By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer Witnesses in Iran say police have clashed with up to 3,000 protesters near a mosque in north Tehran. They say security forces fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, and some demonstrators fought back, chanting: "Where is my vote?" Witnesses at the scene tell The Associated Press that some protesters claimed they suffered broken arms or legs in Sunday's clashes around the Ghoba...

A   Tampa police say Billy Mays, the television pitchman known for his boisterous hawking of products such as Orange Glo and OxiClean, has died. He was 50. Authorities say Mays was pronounced dead this morning after being found by his wife at home. There were no signs of a break-in, and investigators do not suspect foul play. The coroner's office expects to have an autopsy done by Monday afternoon.

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- The United States may have been behind the killing of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year-old Iranian woman whose fatal videotaped shooting Saturday made her a symbol of opposition to the June 12 presidential election results, the country's ambassador to Mexico said Thursday. "This death of Neda is very suspicious," Ambassador Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri said. "My question is, how is it that this Miss Neda is shot from behind, got shot in front of several cameras, and is shot in an area where no significant demonstration was behind held?" He suggested that the CIA or another intelligence...

TRIBUTE TO NEDA AND ALL BRAVE IRANIAN WOMEN Please watch this great video that represents the depths of the depravity of the tyranical Islamic rule that the people of Iran, and particularly its women, suffer under. The likes of Khamanei & Ahmadinejad need to suffer the same fate of Benito Mussolini & Nicolae CeauÅŸescu. We cannot forget, or give up on the freedom fighters in Iran. Please remember them, remind your representatives of them, and support them in any way you can. Please join us at: Americans on facebook for Iranian Liberty

Thanks for viewing! A red shoulder hawk and children Bible song!

C-SPAN video of Friday's Cap and Trade debate in the House

CNN -- Jesse Levey is a Republican activist who says he believes in family values, small government and his lesbian mothers' right to marry. Levey is part of the "gayby boom" generation. The 29-year-old management consultant is the son of a lesbian couple who chose to have a child through artificial insemination. He's their only child. Critics of same-sex marriage say people such as Levey will grow up shunned and sexually confused. Yet he says he's a "well-adjusted heterosexual" whose upbringing proves that love, not gender, makes a family. "You can imagine what my parents thought when I was 13...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Sunday said the Senate needs more time to review the record of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor after new material surfaced from her time with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. “Just a day or so ago, we discovered that there are 300 or so boxes of additional material that has just been discovered from her time working with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund,” McConnell said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” “The committee needs to have access to that material and time to work through it so we...

How Did Mr. Jackson Live so Long? I am sorry Michael Jackson passed away, but baffled when sober commentators pontificate about what the “autopsy findings” will bring, and note his sometimes bizarre behavior. Does one think? Again, with all due respect, it was hard to see clips of Michael Jackson in a normal mode-without the singer grabbing and/or pointing to his genitals or whispering in an infantile voice. (Another strange thing was to see Jackson on mainstream television at an awards ceremony gesticulating in a genital-obsessed fashion that apparently was just “dance” and good fare for senior citizens as if...

DEVELOPING: Television pitchman Billy Mays — who built his fame by appearing on commercials and infomercials promoting household products and gadgets — died Sunday, FOX News confirms. Mays was found unresponsive by his wife inside his Tampa, Fla., home at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday, according to the Tampa Police Department. Police said there were no signs of forced entry to May's residence and foul play is not suspected. Authorities said an autopsy should be complete by Monday afternoon. Mays, 50, was on board a US Airways flight that blew out its front tires as it landed at a Tampa airport...