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Things are heating up on planet Earth. Average global temperatures shattered records this June ... for the second month in a row, according to a new report from the National Climactic Data Center. The NCDC, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, analyzed data from 2,000 weather stations scattered across the globe measuring both ocean and land temperatures and found that global average temperatures surpassed the previous record by 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit. That makes June 2014 the warmest June since record keeping began in 1880. If this trend continues, 2014 could top 2010 as the warmest year recorded.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- I saw a promo the other day for Google (GOOG) Work. Sadly, I can't locate it or I would have inserted it here so you could see it for yourself. However, it might be fitting that you can't see the promo. Because Google's assault on Microsoft (MSFT) continues to fly under the radar. For whatever reason, it's the most under covered story in tech ... in finance ... and for the sake of extraneous ellipses ... the world. But it's real and it's happening. And Microsoft has no idea what to do in response. How could...

For all the attention that is placed on the nation’s estimated 300 million firearms, most guns rest in cases, drawers and safes. Few are holstered. Few get used to actually stop a threat. Even armed soldiers and police officers often go entire careers without firing a shot on duty, reported the St. Louis Dispatch.For many, self-defense is the leading argument for gun ownership rights. It’s also the primary motivation for keeping a firearm, now surpassing even hunting, according to a recent Pew survey.Data on the incidents of guns’ being used in self-defense vary widely from study to study. But only...

Sorry, no link...just saw this reported on local news....one of the Miami stations just giddily told viewers their hero is "slashing his salary".... No mention in the story about federal debt soaring and huge numbers of lost jobs during the clown's tenure....nope. Just talk about the clown and his "solidarity" with federal workers. I wanted to hurl an ashtray at the screen.

Dire predictions about the fate of certain government programs were hardly in short supply recently, as sequester-related budget cuts loomed. So it was hardly a surprise when Education Secretary Arne Duncan got in on the act. “It just means a lot more children will not get the kinds of services and opportunities they need, and as many as 40,000 teachers could lose their jobs,” he said in an interview with Face the Nation. “There are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips, who are getting notices that they can’t come back this fall.” Turns out, though, that it isn’t...

I'm giving up on Drudge report for a while, not going to visit it. There is too much subtext going on, incitement and hyperbole, propaganda and manipulation. The picture that often accompany headlines are not in context with the 'moment' but rather stock photographs that portrait an emotion or sense of predicament that the author wants us to feel. Almost every headline for the past few months have been foreboding impending doom of some sort that I don't want to deal with or be reminded about on a daily basis. Just sticking with Fox News, they temper that stuff down...

The first murder of history occurred on the 25th of Kislev in the year 41 from creation (3720 BCE), when... Cain, killed his younger brother, Abel, as recounted in the 4th chapter of Genesis. Link: From the Midrash

Biden: Because of Bush Administration and Wall Street ‘People Died' and ‘Homes Burned’ By Elizabeth Harrington October 19, 2011 Subscribe to Elizabeth Harrington's posts (CNSNews.com) - Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that “people died” and “people’s homes burned to the ground,” because the Bush administration allowed “God-awful Ponzi schemes” on Wall Street. Speaking at a rally to promote a piecemeal provision of President Obama’s jobs proposal, Biden told police and firefighters that the budget shortfalls of state and local governments were not attributable to state and local governments. “Those of you know it’s not really the fault of your...

The global economy is being held back in part by political problems that are complicating an array of other forces that have conspired against growth, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said.

With Tea Party conservatives and many Republicans balking at raising the debt ceiling, let me offer them an example of a nation that lives up to their ideals. It has among the lowest tax burdens of any major country: fewer than 2 percent of the people pay any taxes. Government is limited, so that burdensome regulations never kill jobs. This society embraces traditional religious values and a conservative sensibility. Nobody minds school prayer, same-sex marriage isn’t imaginable, and criminals are never coddled. The budget priority is a strong military, the nation’s most respected institution. When generals decide on a policy...

New Jersey, the Garden State, has just taken its first step toward becoming the Sharia State, with Governor Christie's nomination of Sohail Mohammed, an attorney to detained terrorist suspects, to a Superior Court judgeship in Passaic County. The Sohail nomination continues Christie's unfortunate pandering to the American Muslim Union and the Islamic Center of Passaic County. Passaic County has the second largest Muslim population in the country. And the Islamic Center of Passaic County is the state's largest mosque, and it's the only one run by an an Imam who was a member of the Hamas terrorist organization. But when...

Just because the motives of many climate change advocates are questionable, even evil, does that mean the entire global warming proposition is a fraud? It is an article of faith among many conservatives that climate change is sham science. Even worse, it is the nexus of a vast conspiracy involving governments, the UN, and climate scientists that is seeking to destroy the industrial economies of the West, create a one world government, and enrich people like Al Gore who have bet a bundle on a reduced carbon emissions future. They believe that either the earth is not warming at all,...

Gallery: The World's 100 Most Powerful WomenThey are heads of state and first ladies, bankers and cultural icons, CEOsand entrepreneurial athletes. A fresh look at power and creative influence.

There is an open secret in the oil industry that dare not speak its name: peak oil. Well, two did speak its name and gained no acclaim for it. One, M. King Hubbert, died years ago. The other and the most controversial, Matthew Simmons, died at his Maine summer home Aug. 8. The peak oil idea is simple: Oil is a finite commodity, and one day we are going to use up all of it. Hubbert, a geologist, began speculating on the effects of the gradual decline in worldwide production in the 1950s. He expressed this in a simple graph,...

Last month, in a speech to the National Press Club, actress Ashley Judd took a break from taking on Sarah Palin and set her sights on business practices in her home state. Judd referred to the mountain top removal of coal in Kentucky as “environmental genocide,” called the process “the state-sanctioned, federal government supported, coal industry operated, rape of Appalachia,” and said the miners should be retrained to take “better jobs” (unfortunately the “vacuous actor” career field is full up at the moment). On Wednesday, the coal industry sponsored a golf tournament at StoneCrest Golf Course in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, and...

Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Stone. At a time when women weren’t allowed to rent a car, play professional sports, fly jets, or serve as police officers, 13 strong women pilots sought the impossible: to be part of the Mercury 13 astronaut program in 1961. Non-Fiction. Lexile n/a.

Now Most Americans Think Gulf Wildlife And Beaches Will NEVER Recover Gus Lubin Jun. 16, 2010, 11:31 AM Image: the sierra club A new Gallup poll shows most people are very pessimistic about the oil spill. 59% of Americans say local wildlife will never cover. 49% say local beaches will never recover. Nearly everyone thinks wildlife and beaches will take more than ten years to recover. Most people say the spill will hurt the economy (83%), push up gas prices (79%), and push up food prices (79%). The polling numbers tell you everything you need to know about major publicity...

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,...