

And the only chance I see for 2010 being worth a damned, is if Congress gets its clock cleaned in November!



U.S. placed under international police-state
December 26, 3:49 PM
Columbia Conservative Examiner
Anthony G. Martin
In the dead of night on December 17, 2009, President Barack Hussein Obama placed the United States of America under the authority of the international police organization known as INTERPOL, granting the organization full immunity to operate within the United States.
Last Thursday, December 17, 2009, The White House released an Executive Order "Amending Executive Order 12425." It grants INTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organization) a new level of full diplomatic immunity afforded to foreign embassies and select other "International Organizations" as set forth in the United States International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945.
By removing language from President Reagan's 1983 Executive Order 12425, this international law enforcement body now operates - now operates - on American soil beyond the reach of our own top law enforcement arm, the FBI, and is immune from Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
What, exactly does this mean? It means that INTERPOL now has the full authority to conduct investigations and other law enforcement activities on U.S. soil, with full immunity from U.S. laws such as the Freedom of Information Act and with complete independence from oversight from the FBI.
In short, a global law enforcement entity now has full law-enforcement authority in the U.S. without any check on its power afforded by U.S. law and U.S. law enforcement agencies.*snip*
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 17, 2009
Executive Order -- Amending Executive Order 12425
EXECUTIVE ORDER
- - - - - - -
AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 12425 DESIGNATING INTERPOL
AS A PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION ENTITLED TO
ENJOY CERTAIN PRIVILEGES, EXEMPTIONS, AND IMMUNITIES
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words "except those provided by Section 2(c), Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act" and the semicolon that immediately precedes them.
BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 16, 2009.



There'll be nowhere to run from the new world government
By Janet Daley
The UK Telegraph
Published: 7:24PM GMT 19 Dec 2009
There is scope for debate – and innumerable newspaper quizzes – about who was the most influential public figure of the year, or which the most significant event. But there can be little doubt which word won the prize for most important adjective. 2009 was the year in which "global" swept the rest of the political lexicon into obscurity. There were "global crises" and "global challenges", the only possible resolution to which lay in "global solutions" necessitating "global agreements". Gordon Brown actually suggested something called a "global alliance" in response to climate change. (Would this be an alliance against the Axis of Extra-Terrestrials?)
Some of this was sheer hokum: when uttered by Gordon Brown, the word "global", as in "global economic crisis", meant: "It's not my fault". To the extent that the word had intelligible meaning, it also had political ramifications that were scarcely examined by those who bandied it about with such ponderous self-importance. The mere utterance of it was assumed to sweep away any consideration of what was once assumed to be the most basic principle of modern democracy: that elected national governments are responsible to their own people – that the right to govern derives from the consent of the electorate.
The dangerous idea that the democratic accountability of national governments should simply be dispensed with in favour of "global agreements" reached after closed negotiations between world leaders never, so far as I recall, entered into the arena of public discussion. Except in the United States, where it became a very contentious talking point, the US still holding firmly to the 18th-century idea that power should lie with the will of the people.*snip*
The Apocalypse of Saint John
the Apostle [Ch 13, Vrs 1-10]
1 And he stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a
beast coming up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten
horns: and upon his horns, ten diadems: and upon his heads,
names of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like to a leopard: and his
feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of
a lion. And the dragon gave him his own strength and great
power.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were slain to death:
and his death’s wound was healed. And all the earth was in
admiration after the beast.
4 And they adored the dragon which gave power to the
beast. And they adored the beast, saying: Who is like to the
beast? And who shall be able to fight with him?
5 And there was given to him a mouth speaking great
things and blasphemies: and power was given to him to do,
two and forty months.
6 And he opened his mouth unto blasphemies against
God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them
that dwell in heaven.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints
and to overcome them. And power was given him over every
tribe and people and tongue and nation.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth adored him, whose
names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb which
was slain from the beginning of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that shall lead into captivity shall go into captivity:
he that shall kill by the sword must be killed by the sword.
Here is the patience and the faith of the saints...
-The Holy Bible (Douay-Rheims 1899)


H/T to apotheosis at SondraK.com

Sen. Ben Nelson announces support for health-care bill
By Shailagh Murray and Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 19, 2009; 10:55 AM
Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.), the final Democratic holdout on health care, announced to his caucus Saturday morning that he would support the Senate reform bill, clearing the way for final passage by Christmas.
"We're there," said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), as he headed into a special meeting to outline the deal.
Democratic leaders spent days trying to hammer out a deal with Nelson, and worked late Friday night with him on abortion coverage language that had proved the major stumbling block. Nelson also secured other favors for his home state.
Under the new abortion provisions, states can opt out of allowing plans to cover abortion in insurance exchanges the bill would set up to serve individuals who don't have employer coverage. Plus, enrollees in plans that do cover abortion procedures would pay for the coverage with separate checks - one for abortion, one for rest of health-care services.
Nelson secured full federal funding for his state to expand Medicaid coverage to all individuals below 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Other states must pay a small portion of the additional cost. He won concessions for qualifying nonprofit insurers and for Medigap providers from a new insurance tax. He also was able to roll back cuts to health savings accounts.
"I know this is hard for some of my colleagues to accept and I appreciate their right to disagree," Nelson told reporters at the Capitol, of the many changes made at his behest. "But I would not have voted for this bill without these provisions."
With Nelson on board, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid unveiled the final version of a sweeping overhaul of the nation's health insurance system that would expand coverage to an additional 31 million Americans, coming closer to attaining the Democrats' long sought goal of universal medical coverage.*snip*

Holdout Sen. Nelson rejects abortion compromise
By ERICA WERNER
AP News
WASHINGTON (AP) - A moderate Democrat whose vote could be crucial said Thursday an attempted Senate compromise on abortion is unsatisfactory, raising doubts about whether the chamber can pass President Barack Obama's health care overhaul by Christmas.
"As it is, without modifications, the language concerning abortion is not sufficient," Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, a key holdout on the health care bill, said in a statement after first making his concerns known to Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Nelson said there were positive improvements dealing with teen pregnancy and adoption, and that he was open to further negotiations. But in a radio interview earlier in the day with KLIN in Lincoln, Nebraska, Nelson also said that abortion wasn't his only concern and he didn't see how the Christmas deadline was achievable.
The development came with Senate leaders working round the clock trying to finalize their 10-year, nearly $1 trillion bill in time for a final vote on Christmas Eve. Nelson is emerging as a major obstacle - perhaps the only remaining one - since Democrats need his vote to have the 60 necessary to overcome Republican stalling tactics. [emphasis mine]
"Senator Reid will continue to work with Senator Nelson and other senators as we work to get 60 votes," said Reid spokesman Jim Manley.
At the same time, liberals were criticizing the Senate bill for lacking a government-run insurance option, with former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean calling the measure a boon for insurance companies. Andrew Stern, head of the 2.1 million-member Service Employees International Union, said he was deeply disappointed in the bill but stopped short of urging rejection...*snip*
The attempted abortion compromise offered to Nelson was written by another anti-abortion Democrat, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, among others, and was an attempt to secure Nelson's support for the health care bill while also keeping liberals on board. It's the Democrats' latest attempt to strictly separate public and private money that could pay for abortion coverage under a remade health care system in which many lower-income people would be using new federal subsidies to buy health insurance.
Several previous attempts have been dismissed by Roman Catholic bishops and anti-abortion groups as accounting gimmicks, and this one looks like it may fare no better. The language has not been made public but is already drawing criticism from outside groups.
Speaking to reporters, Casey declined to directly address Nelson's objections but said he would keep trying for a compromise.
"We're trying to get this right," Casey said. "I've had ideas on the table for a while now, I'm still working through them and we'll keep talking to anyone who wants to discuss it..."*snip*

Rich nations must assume environmental duties: pope [sic]
Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:53am GMT
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Industrialized nations must recognize their responsibility for the environmental crisis, shed their consumerism and embrace more sober lifestyles, Pope Benedict said on Tuesday.
The pope's call for more environmental commitments came in his message for the Roman Catholic Church's annual World Day of Peace, to be marked on Jan 1 and whose theme is "If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation."*snip*
"Our present crises -- be they economic, food-related, environmental or social -- are ultimately also moral crises, and all of them are interrelated."
He called on all people to "move beyond a purely consumerist mentality" so that they could "rethink the path which we are traveling together" and adapt "a lifestyle marked by sobriety and solidarity" between the haves and the have nots.
Environmental issues deserved the attention of the world community because the were [sic] human rights issues that could influence the right to life, food, health and development.
"Sad to say, it is all too evident that large numbers of people in different countries and areas of our planet are experiencing increased hardship because of the negligence or refusal of many others to exercise responsible stewardship over the environment," he said.
Pope to make climate action a moral obligation
The Independent
By James Macintyre
Published: 22 September 2007
The Pope is expected to use his first address to the United Nations to deliver a powerful warning over climate change in a move to adopt protection of the environment as a "moral" cause for the Catholic Church and its billion-strong following.
The New York speech is likely to contain an appeal for sustainable development, and it will follow an unprecedented Encyclical (a message to the wider church) on the subject, senior diplomatic sources have told The Independent.
It will act as the centrepiece of a US visit scheduled for next April - the first by Benedict XVI, and the first Papal visit since 1999 - and round off an environmental blitz at the Vatican, in which the Pope has personally led moves to emphasise green issues based on the belief that climate change is affecting the poorest people on the planet, and the principle that believers have a duty to "protect creation".*snip*



Mystery as spiral blue light display hovers above Norway
By Mail Foreign Service and Will Stewart
Last updated at 5:00 PM on 09th December 2009
A mysterious light display appearing over Norway last night has left thousands of residents in the north of the country baffled.
Witnesses from Trøndelag to Finnmark compared the amazing sight to anything from a Russian rocket to a meteor or a shock wave - although no one appears to have mentioned UFOs yet.
The phenomenon began when what appeared to be a blue light seemed to soar up from behind a mountain. It stopped mid-air, then began to circulate.
Within seconds a giant spiral had covered the entire sky. Then a green-blue beam of light shot out from its centre - lasting for ten to twelve minutes before disappearing completely.
The Norwegian Meteorological Institute was flooded with telephone calls after the light storm - which astronomers have said did not appear to have been connected to the aurora, or Northern Lights, so common in that area of the world.
The mystery deepened tonight as Russia denied it had been conducting missile tests in the area...*snip*



To the Editor: Save the Earth, get rid of trappings of Christmas
By The Post-Standard
December 02, 2009, 6:50AM
In today's Post-Standard, one reader says Christmas traditions do harm to our planet:
To the Editor:
I believe we should think about doing away with Christmas. Our planet is in big trouble, and giving up Christmas would help to save it in many ways.
Not having to do extra driving, looking for gifts, would save on gas and therefore on carbon dioxide emissions.
Millions of trees would not be cut down, allowing them to grow large and to eat up the carbon dioxide which contributes to global warming.
The land normally used for Christmas tree farms could be planted with fast-growing hardwood forests to suck up even more CO2.
No Christmas lights or decorations would mean fewer utilities would be used, therefore saving on our natural resources.
There wouldn’t be so much stuff to swell our already fast-expanding landfills.
I think people would be calmer, happier and less stressed if they didn’t have to deal with the holiday. Many who live alone or have no family ties get depressed around Christmastime. There are even increased numbers of suicides. Not celebrating Christmas would mean folks could save money and not go further into debt buying presents that the recipients didn’t even want or need.
Those wishing to celebrate Christ could have their religious and/or family get-togethers and remember Him for whom Christmas was named. It seems like we’ve gotten rather far away from that.
Mary Armstrong
Cazenovia

Horror Movie Scene Prompts Police Response
WCCO/CBS News
Dec 3, 2009 2:19 pm US/Central
COLOMA, Calif. (CBS) - Bloodcurdling screams and a violent attack caused a Coloma resident to call authorities, but when police arrived on the scene, they discovered the disturbance was just the filming of a horror movie, CBS station KOVR-TV reported.
The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office sent at least eight units to the Coloma Club off Highway 49 early Wednesday morning after receiving a 911 call reporting that a woman was being dragged through the parking lot.
"They were alarmed, certainly, when they showed up," said Josh Cumby.
The situation was defused quickly when authorities found out that it was just actress Ann Hensen and a movie crew filming a scene where she was being dragged away by the living dead...*snip*

Hollywood Conservatives Say Gore Should Lose Oscar Over Climate-Gate
Updated December 04, 2009
FOX News
Two conservative screenwriters say Al Gore should be stripped of his Oscar in light of the global warming questions raised by leaked e-mails out of a British research center.
Just days ahead of an international climate change conference, global warming guru and former Vice President Al Gore has been hit by an inconvenient scandal -- one that's reverberated all the way back to Hollywood.
Two conservative screenwriters say Gore should be stripped of his Oscar in light of the global warming questions raised by leaked e-mails out of a British research center.
The former vice president earned the Oscar in 2007 for his climate change manifesto "An Inconvenient Truth." He later went on to earn a Nobel Peace Prize and become one of the world's leading authorities on global warming.
But Roger Simon and Lionel Chetwynd, both members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, put out a statement Thursday calling for the Academy to take it all back in light of the controversy skeptics have dubbed Climate-Gate.
"I personally call for the Academy to rescind this Oscar," Simon said. "In the history of the Academy ... not to my knowledge has an Oscar ever been rescinded. ... I think they should rescind this one."
Though their demand will almost certainly not be met, it marks the latest effort by conservatives to draw attention to the controversy in the run-up to an international climate change conference next week in Copenhagen -- where Gore just canceled a lecture he was supposed to deliver...*snip*

Obama science officials defend warming research
Associated Press
Dec 2 03:18 PM US/Eastern
WASHINGTON (AP) - Top White House science officials defended the validity of global warming research against repeated Republican attacks Wednesday that cited leaked e-mails from some climate researchers.
The e-mails from a British university's climate center were obtained by computer hackers and released last month. Climate change skeptics contend the messages reveal that researchers manipulated and suppressed data and stifled dissent...*snip*

Meet Obama's climate 'experts'
Socialists, conspiracy theorists, supporters of spreading wealth
Posted: December 02, 2009
9:37 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Amid an international climate-change scandal involving hacked e-mails just days before a major U.N. climate summit of world leaders, it is instructive to profile top White House officials who are drafting President Obama's climate policy.
Some of the officials include known supporters of socialism who have advocated using environmental activism to spread America's wealth.
'Climate czar' Carol Browner
Carol Browner's official title is assistant to the president for energy and climate change. She formerly served as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency administrator during the Clinton administration and was Florida secretary of the environment.
Browner was a member of the Commission for a Sustainable World Society at Socialist International, a group that Discover the Networks reports is the "umbrella for 170 'social democratic, socialist and labor parties' in 55 countries."
The Washington Times explained Browner's group called for "global governance" and asserts rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change.*snip*
'Regulatory czar' Cass Sunstein
According to Cass Sunstein, administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, global climate change is primarily the fault of U.S. environmental behavior and can, therefore, be used as a mechanism to redistribute the country's wealth.
The Obama czar penned a 2007 University of Chicago Law School paper – obtained and reviewed by WND – in which he debated whether America should pay "justice" to the world by entering into a compensation agreement that would be a net financial loss for the U.S.
Sunstein leans on the side of such an agreement, particularly a worldwide carbon tax that would heavily tariff the U.S.
A prominent theme throughout Sunstein's 39-page paper, "Climate Change Justice," maintains U.S. wealth should be redistributed to poorer nations. He uses terms such as "distributive justice" several times. The paper was written with fellow attorney Eric A. Posner
"It is even possible that desirable redistribution is more likely to occur through climate change policy than otherwise, or to be accomplished more effectively through climate policy than through direct foreign aid," wrote Sunstein.
He posited: "We agree that if the United States does spend a great deal on emissions reductions as part of an international agreement, and if the agreement does give particular help to disadvantaged people, considerations of distributive justice support its action, even if better redistributive mechanisms are imaginable.
"If the United States agrees to participate in a climate change agreement on terms that are not in the nation's interest, but that help the world as a whole, there would be no reason for complaint, certainly if such participation is more helpful to poor nations than conventional foreign-aid alternatives," he wrote.
Sunstein maintains: "If we care about social welfare, we should approve of a situation in which a wealthy nation is willing to engage in a degree of self-sacrifice when the world benefits more than that nation loses."*snip*
'Science czar' John Holdren
Holdren is assistant to the president for science and technology, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and co-chairman of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
He has been a longtime climate-change alarmist who has advocated ideas such as enforcing limits to world population growth.
Holdren's name was in the e-mails hacked from the Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia University in the U.K., which show that some climate researchers declined to share their data with fellow scientists, conspired to rig data and sought to keep researchers with dissenting views from publishing in leading scientific journals.
FrontPageMag.com noted Holdren has endorsed "surrender of sovereignty" to "a comprehensive Planetary Regime" that would control all the world's resources, direct global redistribution of wealth, oversee the "de-development" of the West, control a World Army and taxation regime, and enforce world population limits.*snip*

Official disclosure of extraterrestrial life is imminent
October 21, 12:27 AM
Honolulu Exopolitics Examiner
Michael Salla, Ph.D.
An official announcement by the Obama administration disclosing the reality of extraterrestrial life is imminent. For several months, senior administration officials have been quietly deliberating behind closed doors how much to disclose to the world about extraterrestrial life. Dissatisfaction among powerful institutions such as the U.S. Navy over the decades-long secrecy policy has given a boost to efforts to disclose the reality of extraterrestrial life and technology.
The impending disclosure announcement follows upon the secret implementation of a year long openness policy on UFOs and extraterrestrial life. Over the period February 12-14, 2008, the United Nations held closed doors discussions where approximately 30 nations secretly agreed on a new openness policy on UFOs and extraterrestrial life in 2009. The openness policy was implemented but never publicly announced due to threats against UN diplomats not to disclose details of the secret agreement. h The secret UN agreement was based on two conditions. First, UFOs would continue to appear around the world; and second, the openness policy would not lead to social unrest in liberal democracies. Both conditions have been satisfied making it possible for the next stage to begin – official disclosure of extraterrestrial life.*snip*
Vatican prepares for extraterrestrial disclosure
November 12, 9:26 AM
Honolulu Exopolitics Examiner
Michael Salla, Ph.D.
The Vatican has just completed a five day conference astrobiology where scientists convened to discuss the detection and implications of extraterrestrial life. A major driving force behind the conference was the Director of the Vatican Observatory, the Jesuit priest Father Jose Gabriel Funes. In May 2008, Funes gave an interview to the Vatican’s L’Osservatore Romano newspaper saying that the existence of intelligent extraterrestrials posed no problems to Catholic theology. The conference itself was officially convened by the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences, chaired by its religious leader Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, and was held on private Vatican grounds from November 6-10. Together with Funes’ 2008 interview and subsequent public comments by him, the conference demonstrates a welcome openness by the Vatican on the possibility and implications of extraterrestrial life. The Vatican’s openness to discussion of extraterrestrial life is no accident. It is part of an openness policy secretly adopted by the United Nations in February 2008. In fact, the Vatican is playing a leading role in preparing the world for extraterrestrial disclosure.*snip*
The Vatican’s new openness on extraterrestrial life is consistent with reports of secret discussions held at the United Nations that began in February 2008. The Vatican’s permanent representative to the UN, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, was reported to have attended along with a number of other prominent government officials to discuss increased UFO sightings and the implications of extraterrestrial visitation. Significantly, Migliore's position requires that he maintains close relations with the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences. At the time of the secret UN discussions, Migliore made a presentation on moral issues associated with scientific problems such as climate change. Most importantly, the UN discussions reportedly led to a new policy of openness being adopted by approximately 30 nations that would begin in 2009.*snip*


Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
FOX News
Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.
The three, all members of the Navy's elite commando unit, have refused non-judicial punishment — called an admiral's mast — and have requested a trial by court-martial.
Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named "Objective Amber," told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.
Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.*snip*



In the trenches on climate change, hostility among foes
Stolen e-mails reveal venomous feelings toward skeptics
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Electronic files that were stolen from a prominent climate research center and made public last week provide a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes battle to shape the public perception of global warming.
While few U.S. politicians bother to question whether humans are changing the world's climate -- nearly three years ago the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded the evidence was unequivocal -- public debate persists. And the newly disclosed private exchanges among climate scientists at Britain's Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia reveal an intellectual circle that appears to feel very much under attack, and eager to punish its enemies.
In one e-mail, the center's director, Phil Jones, writes Pennsylvania State University's Michael E. Mann and questions whether the work of academics that question the link between human activities and global warming deserve to make it into the prestigious IPCC report, which represents the global consensus view on climate science.
"I can't see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report," Jones writes. "Kevin and I will keep them out somehow -- even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!"
In another, Jones and Mann discuss how they can pressure an academic journal not to accept the work of climate skeptics with whom they disagree. "Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal," Mann writes.
"I will be emailing the journal to tell them I'm having nothing more to do with it until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor," Jones replies.
Patrick Michaels, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute who comes under fire in the e-mails, said these same academics repeatedly criticized him for not having published more peer-reviewed papers.
"There's an egregious problem here, their intimidation of journal editors," he said. "They're saying, 'If you print anything by this group, we won't send you any papers.' "
Mann, who directs Penn State's Earth System Science Center, said the e-mails reflected the sort of "vigorous debate" researchers engage in before reaching scientific conclusions. "We shouldn't expect the sort of refined statements that scientists make when they're speaking in public," he said.
Christopher Horner, a senior fellow at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute who has questioned whether climate change is human-caused, blogged that the e-mails have "the makings of a very big" scandal. "Imagine this sort of news coming in the field of AIDS research," he added...*snip*

Climate Skeptics See 'Smoking Gun' in Researchers' Leaked E-Mails
Saturday, November 21, 2009
FOX News
Hackers broke into the servers at a prominent British climate research center and leaked years worth of e-mail messages onto the Web, including one with a reference to a plan to "hide the decline" in temperatures.
The Internet is abuzz about the leaked data from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (commonly called Hadley CRU), which has acknowledged the theft of 61MB of confidential data.
Climate change skeptics describe the leaked data as a "smoking gun," evidence of collusion among climatologists and manipulation of data to support the widely held view that climate change is caused by the actions of mankind. The authors of some of the e-mails, however, accuse the skeptics of taking the messages out of context, adding that the evidence still clearly shows a warming trend.
The files were reportedly released on a Russian file-serve by an anonymous poster calling himself "FOIA."
In an exclusive interview in Investigate magazine's TGIF Edition, Phil Jones, the head of the Hadley CRU, confirmed that the leaked data is real.
"It was a hacker. We were aware of this about three or four days ago," he told the magazine, noting that the center has yet to contact the police about the data breach.*snip*
The Telegraph has posted some of the more scathing excerpts from these emails, which the newspaper suggests points to manipulation of evidence and private doubts about the reality of global warming, though the much of the scientific language in the e-mails is esoteric and hard to interpret.*snip*
New Documentary Challenges Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' on Global Warming
Updated November 21, 2009
FOX News
In 2007, a British High Court judge ruled that Al Gore's global warming film contained nine significant errors and should no longer be screened in schools unless accompanied by guidance notes to balance Gore's "one-sided" views.
Al Gore's award-winning global warming film "An Inconvenient Truth," socked two years ago by a British court ruling that found several errors, is facing additional scrutiny with the release of a new documentary that seeks to rebut many of Gore's claims.
In Gore's film, directed by Davis Guggenheim and released in 2006, the former vice president argues that humans are causing climate change, a problem he says is the biggest moral challenge facing the globe.
If humans don't act to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, Gore contends, the deaths caused by climate change will double in 25 years to 300,000 people a year, and more than a million species worldwide could be driven to extinction in half a century.
The film went on to win Academy Awards for Gore and Guggenheim and to re-energize the environmental movement.
But in 2007, a British High Court judge ruled that Gore's film contained nine significant errors and should no longer be screened in schools unless accompanied by guidance notes to balance Gore's "one-sided" views.
The film's "apocalyptic vision" was not an impartial analysis of climate change, High Court Judge Michael Burton said, adding that the film is "substantially founded up scientific research and fact" but that the errors were made in "the context of alarmism and exaggeration."
Buoyed by the ruling, two Irish journalists -- Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney -- released a documentary in which they gather evidence outlining the damage of global warming hysteria. In "Not Evil Just Wrong," they challenge the claims made in Gore's film and conclude that the film is not worth screening in schools because it is shown there as "an article of science, not faith."*snip*

Sarah Rules' Aren't Uniform at U.S. Military Bases
by
FOXNews.com
Officials at North Carolina's Fort Bragg have laid down a strict set of do's and don'ts for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin during a book signing event there on Monday. But at Fort Hood, the largest military base in the nation, she'll be treated just like anyone else.
When it comes to the Sarah Palin "Rogue Tour," officials at Fort Bragg, one of the nation's largest military installations, appear to have laid down a strict set of do's and don'ts -- or did they?
Fort Bragg officials on Thursday said the news media would be barred from covering Palin's book-signing event scheduled for next Monday out of fear that it could turn into an anti-Obama rally.
Their decision reportedly also barred Palin from giving any speeches, autographs or taking photos with troops. Base officials later relented, allowing limited media coverage, but whether Palin was barred from speaking or interacting freely with base personnel and families was unclear.
"We have not put any restrictions on soldiers for taking any photos," said Tom McCollum, the public affairs officer at Fort Bragg. "Sarah Palin's people stepped forward and said she will not stop and pose for photos. That is not a Fort Bragg restriction."...*snip*

Army relents, allows media to Palin book event
Reverses earlier decision to bar reporters from Fort Bragg appearance
MSNBC/AP
November 20, 2009
RALEIGH, N.C. - The U.S. Army said Friday it would open former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's appearance on Fort Bragg to media, a reversal from earlier in the week when the military wanted the event closed out of fears it would prompt political grandstanding against President Barack Obama.
The attempt to ban media at the event scheduled for Monday was met with protests from The Associated Press and The Fayetteville Observer. The military then proposed limited media coverage, but lifted that plan Friday.
"Given an outpouring over the past two days of media interest in covering the Nov. 23 book signing at Fort Bragg's North Post Exchange, Fort Bragg will assist interested news media who wish to cover former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin," said a statement released by Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum.*snip*

Marine Fights for His Life and Fair Compensation
Reported by: Laura Nichols
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
KOMU News
SPRINGFIELD - The VA won't pay for one Marine's injury.
Lance Cpl. Josef Lopez deployed to Iraq in 2006 when he was 20 years-old. He enlisted in the Marine Corps fresh out of high school and was enthusiastic about serving to protect the lives of others. He never thought that he would almost lose his own life from something as routine as a vaccination....*snip*
The smallpox vaccine that Joe got from the Department of Defense just days before deployment was the reason for it all. Joe had an adverse reaction causing incredible damage. The bottom line: his immune system was eating away at his nervous system causing the nerves to deteriorate....*snip*
The VA Department of Insurance Chairman, Stephen Wurtz, says Joe was denied because his injury didn't come from a traumatic combat event, but from a needle. He also said the government can't afford to cover injuries from vaccines.
"Any additional claims under TSGLI are paid by the government, and the government would now be paying that many more claims during a period of conflict," Wurtz commented.
Lopez said what upset him even more is the fact that they amended the TSGLI bill after he applied to specifically disqualify vaccine injuries form compensation. The Lopezes visited Missouri U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill to explain their fight for fair compensation. McCaskill is now working on a bill that would extend coverage to service members injured by vaccines.
"It would give him the same coverage and frankly I really think we need to take care of this young man and his family," Sen. McCaskill said in a satellite interview with KOMU. "He was willing to take care of us."
Through all of this Joe is not just sitting around. He now races a specially made hand cycle in the Marine Corps Marathon each October to raise money for other Marine families. His mom, Barbara participates in the 10K....*snip*

ATHEIST SOROS FUNDS CATHOLIC GROUPS
By Cliff Kincaid
November 13, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
The critical role of the Catholic Church in passing national health care reform legislation is coming under serious media scrutiny. But the story has taken a strange turn. It has now been revealed that George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund operator and well-known atheist, has been pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into “progressive” Catholic groups that are significant players in the national debates over health care and immigration.
On the surface, it would appear that Soros would be opposed to many positions of the Catholic Church. A major financial backer of the ACLU, Soros supports such causes as drug legalization, the rights of “sex workers” and felons, euthanasia, radical feminism, abortion rights, and homosexual rights. He does all of this in the name of promoting an “open society.”
But a review of the records of his Open Society Institute finds that a group calling itself Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG) has received $200,000 from them over the last several years.
James Todd of Pewsitter.com, which represents traditional Catholics, calls such groups “CINOs,” or Catholics In Name Only. He explains, “This group and several others have sprung up recently—I suspect purposely organized and funded—to counterbalance the growing influence of the faithful Catholics AND to try to deceive and mislead the middle of the road Catholics that have determined the last 13 Presidential elections.”
An AIM investigation also finds, however, that Soros money has gone into the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), an organization established by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops back in 1988. It has received at least $530,000 from the Open Society Institute.
The two issues merge in the fact that the Catholic Bishops are demanding that national health care legislation cover illegal aliens...*snip*

City’s Largest Dailies Raided in Deliverers’ Union Inquiry
By RUSS BUETTNER
New York Times
Published: November 17, 2009
The police raided the offices of New York City’s three largest daily newspapers on Tuesday as part of an investigation into possible corruption within the union that delivers newspapers in the metropolitan area.
Officers from the Police Department’s Organized Crime Investigation Division sought documents related to the hiring and promotion of members of the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers’ Union, according to a warrant served at the printing plant of The New York Times in College Point, Queens...*snip*

