19 Aug - RSS SnapShot

Opit's LinkFest! at My Opera

Blacklisted News

• Conditioning Kids For The Cashless Control Grid: C ...

  With the start of the new school year well under way at the high school, a new lunch system is being piloted that will use student fingerprints instead of cards or personal identification numbers to access lunch accounts.

• DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show

  Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases.

• Health rationing by other names: Obama health advi ...
• Freedom of Speech Under Fire: FCC's 'Chief Diversi ...

  The FCC’s Office of General Counsel according to their own website represents them in federal court as well as serving in an administrative capacity. Mark Lloyd the ‘chief diversity officer’ supports the fairness doctrine and has plans of regulating talk radio to support more ‘diversity’ a ...

• Homeland Security Expands Biometric Security Progr ...

  The Department of Homeland Security is expanding a pilot project that uses fingerprint scanners and kiosks to speed travelers headed overseas through airport security.

Project Censored

• WALTER CRONKITE: THE END OF AN ERA – JULY 17, 20 ...

  WALTER CRONKITE: THE END OF AN ERA – JULY 17, 2009 The end of an era is a term too often over-used. But it is a term that is properly used when discussing the passing of Walter Cronkite. It is truly the end of an era in journalism. No other journalist could do what Walter did. He could cal ...

• You Can Now Find Our Investigative Research at the ...

  You can now find all of the investigative research that we have done over the years at our new and exciting Media Freedom International Website Please check the website often for news and updates.

• Analysis of Project Censored: Are We a Left-Leanin ...

  By Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” –Frederick Douglass ...

• Infotainment Society: Junk Food News and New ...

  By Mickey Huff and Frances A. Capell We can do the innuendo We can dance and sing When it’s said and done We haven’t told you a thing We all know that crap is king Give us dirty laundry! Don Henley, Dirty Laundry, 1982 The late New York University media scholar Neil Postma ...

• A Black President Doesn’t Mean Racism is gone in ...

  By Peter Phillips Racial inequality remains in the US. People of color continue to experience high rates of poverty, significant unemployment, police profiling and repressive incarceration. School segregation is a continuing concern among race scholars as well. According to a new Civil Rights re ...

Scoop - NZ

• SmartPay acquires ProvencoCadmus

  SmartPay has announced its acquisition of the payments division of ProvencoCadmus to become New Zealand's largest provider of EFTPOS. SmartPay shareholder, NATCOM, promotes the acquisition. » PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews

• A Guide to Bike Shops in Auckland

  This is a guide to purchasing a bicycle with some good bike shops around Auckland. It's helpful to those who are new to cycling and wondering where to start. » PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews

• Mogul Sued For Duping Desperate Homeowners

  Loan modifications and mortgage refinancing are the hot subject of the moment in the financial world. This is no surprise when there are around 5 million homeowners facing foreclosure with or without the government's aid and 9 million without it. This "need" has opened a practically brand new market ...

• Housing Won't Recover Until Employment Does

  Splinters of good news spurring optimism and a broad market rally over the past few months are also surrounded by various weak indications that the U.S. economy is not quite on a path of sustainable recovery-despite what is perceived by the capital markets. For example, as news across the pond poin ...

• The damage done by finance companies

  Depression, illness caused by stress, and even suicide has been brought on many people by failed finance companies. » PLIGG_Visual_RSS_OriginalNews

Independent ( London )

• Series of blasts kill scores in Baghdad

  A series of explosions killed at least 75 people and wounded more than 300 in central Baghdad on Wednesday, the deadliest day in the Iraqi capital since U.S. troops withdrew from urban centres in June.

• Guy Adams: 'I told the truth!' - Michael Jackson's ...

  Two months into the real-life soap-opera surrounding Michael Jackson’s death, the pantomime villain of the piece has finally broken his silence.

• Violence increases as Afghans prepare to vote

  Gunfire and explosions reverberated through Kabul today on the eve of the presidential election after three gunmen forced a shoot-out in a bank.

• Model to be caned for drinking beer

  A model sentenced to six lashes of the cane for drinking beer will become the first Malaysian woman to suffer the punishment under Islamic law.

• Series of blasts kill 25 in Baghdad

  At least six bomb and mortar attacks hit mostly high-profile targets central Baghdad in quick succession today, killing at least 25 people and wounding 75, police said.

CASMII - Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran

• War? Israeli ambassador to US: Obama’s end-of-th ...

  Summary: Michael Oren 1) Israeli ambassador to US: Obama’s end-of-the-year deadline to Iran has been moved up to September (16 August 2009) 2) Israeli ambassador to US: Iranian nuke could wipe off Israel in seconds (4 July 2009) 3) Israeli army to train overseas for Iran strike operation (5 ...

• Wag The Dog, Again

  Summary: It is curious that in spite of the fact that there is a consensus that Iran is not yet seeking a nuclear weapon and has no capability to accumulate sufficient weapons grade uranium to do so for some time to come, US politicians and media accept without question the Israeli argument that ...

• IRAN: Under Pressure from Hawks, Obama Tacks to th ...

  Summary: But the administration is facing a great deal of pressure to move quickly to sanctions from congressional hawks - backed by hardline organisations within the so-called "Israel lobby" - who have been pushing for a tougher line against Tehran since well before the Jun. 12 elections that t ...

• Iran: Whose War?

  Summary: Huber The logical goal of Iran’s nuclear program is not possession of nuclear bombs but a thriving nuclear energy industry. Having nukes would merely make Iran a target—both Israel and the U.S. would have justification for a massive preemptive strike. We’d know they have them beca ...

• The Ever Present Military Option

  Summary: Last week, retired Air Force Gen. Chuck Wald published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal declaring "There Is a Military Option on Iran." It’s probably not a coincidence that Wald’s piece was hot on the heels of John Bolton’s "While Diplomats Dither, Iran Builds Nukes." source: ...

The Daily Galaxy

• How Fast Can a Human Ulitimately Run? Is a 5.0 Sec ...

  Amazing as Usain Bolt's new world record 100-meter victory was, his time of 9.58 seconds is nowhere near what biostatisticians such as Peter Weyand of SMU thinks is the natural limit for the human body. Experts studying the steady progression...

• Image of the Day: Laser Strikes at Supermassive Bl ...

  It's not the sequel to War of the Worlds! Astronomers at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) site in Chile are trying to measure the distortions of Earth's ever changing atmosphere. Constant imaging of high-altitude atoms excited by the laser --...

• "Relic" Particles Discovered Spanning the Universe ...

  An ancient subatomic signature extends across the universe. It seems that some subatomic particles, invisible and untouchable effects of the very creation of reality, might exist simultaneously across all of space. We're honestly surprised people who say science is boring...

• "Creating Artificial Personalities" (An Evolutiona ...

  We can now engineer entirely artificial personalities, and we don't mean your-kid-for-cash strategies like Hannah Montana. Scientists have now evolved artificial personalities based on simulated genetic algorithms. Meaning they're only one good synthetic-skin invention from getting rid of our specie ...

• Did Early Organic Life Trigger a Massive Global Ic ...

  In what promises to be a hotly debated theory, an international team has propsed that a greenhouse gas once save the world. When Earth was just cooling down from its fiery creation, the "young sun was approximately 30 percent weaker...

Natural News

• NaturalPedia.com Delivers New Encyclopedia of Natu ...

  (NaturalNews) The internet is the vehicle by which knowledge can reach out across the planet and uplift the lives and futures of our fellow human beings. It is the ultimate teacher for those interested in learning, and it bypasses the censorship attempts of medical information "gatekeepers" like the ...

• Home Pesticides Linked to Childhood Cancers

  (NaturalNews) Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a malignant disease of the bone marrow, is the most common cancer diagnosed in children. In fact, nearly one third of all pediatric cancers are cases of ALL. Although this form of cancer can be cured in many cases, in the worst case scenarios the can ...

• Green Tea Prevents Prostate Cancer

  (NaturalNews) Green tea has been used as a medicine for over five thousands years in Chinese medicine. The plant, called Camellia sinensis, has been used to treat many health issues. The tea has been known to lower cholesterol, cure headaches, improve cognition in Alzheimer's patients, dissolve bloo ...

• Swine Flu Vaccine Linked to Paralysis, Leaked Memo ...

  (NaturalNews) A warning letter about the swine flu vaccine was leaked to the DailyMail over the weekend. Written by Professor Elizabeth Miller, head of the Health Protection Agency's Immunization Department, it warns neurologists that the influenza vaccine of 1976 was linked to a devastating neurolo ...

• One in Seven Scientists Say Colleagues Fake "Scien ...

  (NaturalNews) One in seven scientists report that they have known colleagues to falsify or slant the findings of their research, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and published in the journal PLoS One .A number of scientific data falsification ...

• TheGallopingBeaver

• Bad, bad crazy

  Southern Poverty Law Center has a new report out on the very recent rise in the number and scale of American terror groups.

• speling iz imporetunt

  As a person who spends a lot of time dealing with the insufficiency of the Roman alphabet in differentiating the subtle shades of pronunciation that can change meaning in a foreign language, I can actually sympathize with the recent error made by the flunky of Prime Minister Stephen Harper who missp ...

• Maher Rules . . . .

  (Playing off Edstock's post below:) Bill Maher has a New Rule posted at The Huffington Post today . Go . Read . Chuckle. Snicker. Guffaw. Shake your head in astonishment. A sampling: A few weeks ago I was asked by Wolf Blitzer if I thought Sarah Palin could get elected president, and I ...

• Assault rifle at Obama speech a publicity stunt

  for conservative talk radio show Declare Your Independence With Ernest Hancock . Hancock and "Chris", the black man carrying the assault rifle, knew each other "through their work for presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas)". "We know what we're up against," Hancock, also packing heat at the h ...

• Pixel power

  BLENDER IS AN OPEN-SOURCE 3-D animation/modelling program, which you can download for free. It is capable of awesome renderings. BLENDER NATION is a support site for users. Check out " Memory ", a 7-minute video produced by Junichi Yamamoto. The Japanese site, FALCON ONE , is comprehensible throug ...

Media Matters for America

• NBC's Costello butchers health care bill's tax on ...

  NBC News correspondent Tom Costello falsely reported that the health care income surtax in the House tri-committee bill could mean a surcharge of $7,000 for those "with a taxable income of more than $350,000" and a surcharge of $15,000 for those "earning $500,000." In fact, since the surcharge rate ...

• Luntz's "gambit": Fearmongering that Obama is "de ...

  On Fox News' Hannity , GOP consultant Frank Luntz forwarded the false conservative talking point that President Obama plans to cut Medicare benefits, claiming that it "is almost like he's declaring war on Medicare because it's the only way for him to pay for health care," and that it is a "fa ...

• Now they tell us: ABC finally cites "hea ...

  After reporting on August 17 that "there are signs that the administration may be backing off the so-called public option," ABC's World News host Charles Gibson went on to cite "experts" who said, in Gibson's words, "[I]f you take out the public option in terms of insurance, there's going to be ...

• Media reports on AARP membership losses due to h ...

  On August 18, several media figures -- including MSNBC host Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Fox Business Network host Connell McShane, and NBC correspondent Savannah Guthrie -- reported that 60,000 senior citizens have canceled their AARP membership since July 1 because of the organization's support for h ...

• AP uncritically quoted McConnell's claims that he ...

  In an August 18 Associated Press article, David Espo quoted Sen. Mitch McConnell's claim that health reform proposals will be paid for "through massive cuts to Medicare," without pointing out, as FactCheck.org did, that "[t]he claim that Obama and Congress are cutting seniors' Medicare benefits ...

Global Research.ca

• Award Winning Movie: "SUPERPOWER":

  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

• Decline of America's Empire

  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

• The U.S. Dollar Bull Market

  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

• America's "War on Terrorism"

  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

• Hillary Clinton seeks to strengthen US imperialism ...

  For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

TPM Cafe

• Against the Fantasy of a Self-Aerating Media Syste ...

  Two must-read posts here and here by James Fallows, on the question of how the wingnuts have got so much mileage out of blatantly false claims about the Obama-Will-Kill-Grandma and other not-so-funny insanities of the month. One of Fallows' readers... Sponsored Topics: James Fallows - China - Uni ...

• Is Netanyahu Keeping Some of his Team in Dark on S ...

  Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon sent this note out on Twitter earlier today: Hopes the rumored settlement freeze is just a rumor, because it hasn't gone through appropriate forums. This is the best news I've heard in a while.... Sponsored Topics: Danny Ayalon - Israel - Benjamin ...

• Modelling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – Part VI

  This is the money post. I put Parts I, II, III, IV and V together to come to the surprising conclusion that both Fannie and Freddie survive. This conclusion is highly-non-consensus and has substantial political and investment implications. Also I... Sponsored Topics: Freddie Mac - Fannie Mae - ...

• Huckabee's pro-settler stance part of bigger US sh ...

  Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is in Israel this week. He's making a point of touring many of Israel's (illegal) settlements in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank. (Richard Silverstein has one version of Huck's settlement-focused... Sponsored Topics: West Bank - ...

• Doesn't Solve Anything--But Pain

  More than a dozen friends and acquaintances have asked me to respond to the Agha-Malley oped in the New York Times, rather unfortunately titled "The Two-State Solution Doesn't Solve Anything"--a follow-up, it seemed to me, to their rather bleak, and... Sponsored Topics: Israel - Two-state solutio ...

TruthOut

• Public Option Is Not Dead

  A primary care physician meets with patients at the Barron Center in Portland, Maine. (Photo: Emilie Sommer / USA Today) read more

• A Non-Islamic No to Religious Profiling

  Reports of religious profiling in the US have given rise to many a raging controversy before. But this one is different. The latest instance has provoked a national outrage this time in a non-Islamic country - India. India has still not stopped talking about the reported detention and questi ...

• Obama: Encouraged on Mideast Peace

  Washington - President Barack Obama won lavish praise from his Egyptian counterpart on Tuesday and spoke of an "extraordinary opportunity" for making peace in the Middle East, saying he was encouraged by U.S. efforts to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Seated next to Presid ...

• GM Boosts Production by 60,000 Cars as It Adds Shi ...

  General Motors Co., benefiting from the Obama administration's "cash for clunkers" program, is boosting production by 60,000 vehicles in the second half, the company said today in a statement on its Web site. GM is adding shifts and overtime as well as restoring weeks of production at select ...

• Iraq's Gays Face Rising Persecution

  Rights groups say attacks and bias are on the rise, with one tallying 87 killings this year. read more

The Heathlander

• A culture of fear

  Pankaj Mishra dissects the ‘culture of fear’ being manufactured by a recent spate of books and articles warning of an impending ‘Eurabia’: ‘Ordinary Muslims in Europe, who suffer from the demoralisation caused by living as perennial objects of suspicion and contempt, are far from thinking ...

• Fighting the fash

  Anti-fascist activists successfully confronted the BNP’s ‘Red, White and Blue’ hatefest [.pdf] (see also this Channel 4 report) in Codnor yesterday: One of the favourite chants of the day was reportedly: “We are black, white, Asian and we’re Jew / And they’re many, many more of us than ...

• Silencing civil society

  Former Israeli military commander Efran Efrati recently testified to the BBC that Palestinian children are ‘routinely ill-treated’ by Israeli soldiers: “You take the kid, you blindfold him, you handcuff him, he’s really shaking… Sometimes you cuff his legs too. Sometimes it cuts off the ci ...

• Gaza Freedom March

  For those who don’t know, Norman Finkelstein and others are organising a mass non-violent global march on Gaza to break the siege. Some updates: - Gaza Freedom March website: http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/ - YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/GazaFreedomMarch - A list of peop ...

• The latest anti-Hamas meme: “child brides”

  Last week, Hamas sponsored a mass wedding celebration in Gaza, perhaps in an attempt to reverse its flagging poll ratings: ‘Nearly a thousand Palestinians celebrated marriage on Thursday night in a ceremony organised by Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip. Hamas dignitaries including Mahmud Zahar ...

Water - AlterNet

• The Fiji Phenomenon: It's a Human Rights and Envir ...

  How did a plastic water bottle, imported from a military dictatorship thousands of miles away, become the epitome of cool?

• Mining's Destructive Legacy on Waterways

  Scientists are now beginning to see that mining's most lasting damage may be the massive amounts of debris dumped into valley streams.

• The CA Legislature Unveiled 5 New Water Bills -- A ...

  I would urge that California's water warriors hold their opinions until they actually read and digest these bills.

• Vitaminwater's Empty Calories Are at the Heart of ...

  Vitaminwater tells its customers to "hydrate responsibly." That means not drinking 125-calorie sugar rushes like ... Vitaminwater.

• Why Corporations, Emerging Powers and Petro-States ...

  In the past six months, big players in the global economy have grabbed 50 million acres of arable land, from Africa to Southeast Asia.

TruthHugger

• Texas Progressive Alliance – August 17, 2009

  It’s time for preseason football games, but the Texas Progressive Alliance is always in midseason form. Here are this week’s blog highlights. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders why we put up with temper tantrums and intimidation from the far right? Everyone should have their say in our d ...

• Without Health Options – Where Is Your Voice? Op ...

  Who needs health care

• Republicans Have Government Insurance, Why Can’t ...

  For weeks I have been listening to all the BS Republicans have spewed about health care reform. Republicans shouted it was socialized medicine and when that didn’t work they came up with other untruths. The fact of the matter is all members of Congress use the public option plan. Republicans are w ...

• Retire Early In Self Defense Could Be A Mistake †...

  /h3> Collect Now, or Later? Timing Your Social Security Benefits With the current state of US and world economy, the alternative to jumping out a window, committing a heinous crime or planting your pup tent under an overpass, is retire early and collect your meager social security check at gene ...

• Texas Progressive Alliance – July 13, 2009

  It’s Monday and it’s time for another version of the Texas Progressive Alliance weekly highlight reel. Off the Kuff suggests that a pro-science PAC could do a lot of good, nationally and in Texas. WCNews at Eye On Williamson reminds us that despite the brouhaha over transportation during the rec ...

Dandelion Salad - Featured Writers' Posts

• Guns and Warm Blankets by Malcolm Steinberg

  by Malcolm Steinberg Featured Writer Dandelion Salad August 19, 2009 Enculturation is the process

• Health Care Reform and the Fascist Response: Why? ...

  by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH Featured Writer Dandelion Salad crossposted on Buzzflash.com August 15,

• Politicizing Ethnicity: US Plan To Repeat Yugoslav ...

  by Rick Rozoff Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/me

• Alex S. Jones’ "Losing the News" by Chris Hedges

  by Chris Hedges Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Truthdig August 14, 2009 I have spent most of my l

• Obama's Corporate Health Care Scam By Timothy V. G ...

  By Timothy V. Gatto Featured Writer Dandelion Salad liberalpro.blogspot.com August 18, 2009 The he

Unexplained Mysteries

• Minister warned over Rendlesham incident

  Newly released files have described how the UK defence secretary was briefed by the head of the armed forces about the famous Rendlesham forest UFO in...

• How to survive a zombie attack

  Mathematicians in Canada have come up with a formula to survive a zombie attack with the key strategy to be to "hit hard and hit often". The team also...

• Life's building blocks found in comet

  NASA have discovered some of life's building blocks in the form of glycine in samples of a comet returned by their Stardust spacecraft. The find suppo...

• Is Aurora behind UK UFO sightings ?

  New files released on Monday have revealed that secret US spy plane Aurora could account for many UFO sightings in the UK. The MoD's UFO desk head Sir...

• NASA completed Ares I-X rocket

  NASA is readying its new Ares I-X rocket for a test launch this fall after its three-year assembly was completed, it is the first time in over 25 year...

Grassroots

• Building a Movement, Haitian Style

  pigs.jpg I spent the better part of last week crisscrossing Haiti’s arid Northwest with Grassroots International’s partner the National Congress of the Peasant’s Movement of Papay (MPNKP). MPNKP is best known to our allies and friends fo ...

• Resilient Hondurans Lead The Way To Protect Democr ...

  IMG00292.jpg Today, thousands of people will fill the streets of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. They are students, housekeepers, children and farmers from different parts of country—many of whom walked 10-12 miles a day to get to the ...

• Yes, We Can - But Will We Join Our Neighbors to Re ...

  More than a month after the military coup in the Central American country of Honduras (for which the term “banana republic” was originally coined due to the overwhelming influence of U.S. fruit corporations in that country), the junta is still in power and shows little real sign of budging. re ...

• They Are Afraid of Us, Because We are Not Afraid o ...

  Tom Loudon from our ally the Alliance for Responsible Trade, which is a member of the Hemispheric Social Alliance (a Grassroots International grantee) is currently in Honduras as part of an international human rights monitoring delegation. Today, August 11th, the Global Day of Action for Honduras, h ...

• On the Global Day of Action for Honduras, Donate y ...

  Want to do something simple to help support Honduran democracy and keep the crisis in the public eye? Donate your status! It’s free, easy, and can make a huge impact. Right now, the corporate news media is mostly silent about what’s happening on the ground in Honduras and the role of US polic ...

Climate

• August 19, 2009

  Lobbyists Sent 13 Fake Letters to Hill (The Politico) A lobbying firm working for a coal industry group sent lawmakers 13 fraudulent letters opposing the House climate bill — five more than initially believed, a House committee has revealed. US Unions, Green Groups to Stump for Climate Chang ...

• August 18, 2009

  Young Activists from 110 Countries Want Climate Action (AFP) More than 800 young environmental activists from 110 countries on Monday began a UN-organized meeting described as the biggest-ever youth gathering on climate change. U.S. Wind Capacity Targets to be Missed Amid Slowdown (Financial ...

• August 18, 2009

  Young Activists from 110 Countries Want Climate Action (AFP) More than 800 young environmental activists from 110 countries on Monday began a UN-organized meeting described as the biggest-ever youth gathering on climate change. U.S. Wind Capacity Targets to be Missed Amid Slowdown (Financial ...

• August 17, 2009

  China Study Urges Greenhouse Gas Peak in 2030 (Reuters) China should set firm targets to limit CO2 emissions so they peak around 2030, a new study by some of the nation's top climate policy advisers has proposed ahead of key UN talks. Canadian Government to Drop Intensity Targets, Follow US Le ...

• August 17, 2009

  China Study Urges Greenhouse Gas Peak in 2030 (Reuters) China should set firm targets to limit CO2 emissions so they peak around 2030, a new study by some of the nation's top climate policy advisers has proposed ahead of key UN talks. Canadian Government to Drop Intensity Targets, Follow US Le ...

TomDispatch

• Tomgram: Withdrawing by Bike from Iraq

  [ Note for TomDispatch Readers: So it's sayonara for a couple of weeks. I'm taking my usual August break. TomDispatch will return sometime the week of August 24th, but will be on a limited posting schedule through Labor Day. Let me take this opportunity once again to thank those of you who hav ...

• Tomgram: Mark Engler, Protesting at Climate Groun ...

  We're so past the Roman Empire by now that it's probably time to update the phrase "fiddling while Rome burns." What about, for instance, "writing fake letters ostensibly from real non-profit groups to weaken a climate-change bill while the planet burns"? It's true. According to the New York Ti ...

• Tomgram: Jamail and Lazare, Lost in Military Limb ...

  [ Note for TomDispatch Readers: In Chalmers Johnson's recent piece, "Three Good Reasons to Liquidate Our Empire," the mission of the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN) was mischaracterized. It has now been corrected at the piece. ] It's not exactly a secret that the U.S. Army and the U.S. M ...

• Tomgram: John Feffer, Their Martyrs and Our Heroe ...

  The way you imagine someone engaged in a suicide attack depends, not surprisingly, on which end of the attack you happen to be on -- in cultural, if not literal terms. In American films and pop culture, there were few acts more inexplicable or malevolent in the years of my childhood than those of ...

• Tomgram: Frida Berrigan, 64 Years Too Late and No ...

  As another August 6th approaches, let me tell you a little story about Hiroshima and me: As a young man, I was probably not completely atypical in having the Bomb (the 1950s was a great time for capitalizing what was important) on my brain, and not just while I was ducking under my school desk ...

Smirking Chimp

• Harry Potter and the Public Option of Fire

  In this summer’s film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the evil Lord Voldemort goes after his arch-nemesis Dumbledore by sending (spoiler alert) the Death Eaters to wreak havoc via a ‘Vanishing-Cabinet’ portal that starts in London and leads straight into Hogwarts. Similarly, the depose ...

• DIVE ARTISTS: Dems 'lose' again on health care

  Man. It’s been years that I’ve forced myself to observe, with muted horror, the degeneration of political discourse in America. Occasionally, I’ve even had the pleasure of taking part in it. But it seems I’m never quite cynical enough to predict the depths we’re willing to plumb as a natio ...

• Don Lemon & CNN, NO To "Real Americans" - YES To R ...

  On Saturday, August 15, 2009, CNN's Don Lemon angrily confronted America's Town Hall Director Alan Hardage for Hardage's use the term real Americans . Below is the video of Lemon's heated exchange with Hardage: Lemon's ire over Hardage's use of real Americans echoes the sentiments of million ...

• Two conventions in Pittsburgh: Netroots Nation and ...

  I'm in Pittsburgh right now -- the city that used to be called "Hell with the lid off," but is now the East-Coast version of Silicon Valley. "What the freak are you doing in Pittsburgh?" you might well ask. They just had a Netroots Nation convention here and I attended it. I'm not sure exactly wh ...

• The Obama Diet

  Healthcare is merely the latest example of what happens when you count on the Obama Administration to get something done. You wait...you wait...and you wait. And then you wait some more. And nothing happens. If Obama had wanted healthcare, he should have demanded full-on socialized medicine. If you ...

Ten Percent

• Malalai Joya- Raising My Voice (Review Part 3)

  ‘Most of the Taliban were long gone before the first bombs fell…And so, in Farah as with the rest of my country, many lives were needlessly lost.’ Glued to the radio Malalai and her family experienced the invasion first through global media reports then as terrifying air strikes rained ...

• Malalai Joya- Raising My Voice (Review Part 2)

  ‘the same donkey, only with a new saddle.’ Malalai and her family returned to Afghanistan in 1992, she was just fourteen and remembers Farah as a terrifying place as the civil war raged. Young girls would be abducted off the street, raped and killed by roaming gangs, Mujahideen troops would ...

• Malalai Joya- Raising My Voice (Review Part 1)

  ‘The truth is like the sun: when it comes up nobody can block it out or hide it’ Malalai Joya is an Afghan woman, the youngest MP in the Loya Jirga and barred from it since 2007 because a woman telling the truth is still forbidden in Afghanistan. In her book Raising My Voice she attempts [.. ...

• Ezra Nawi’s Sentencing Now Scheduled For 21st Se ...

  Dear friends and supporters, Ezra’s sentencing process started this morning (Aug 16′ 2009). Ezra and the “Committee for Ezra Nawi” wish to thank and express our appreciation to all those who testified on his behalf, came to court, wrote letters or signed petitions. As part of today’s hea ...

• Help Ezra Nawi

  Ezra Nawi will be sentenced this Sunday. Over 19,000 people have already asked Israel not to jail him. We will bring their signatures to the courtroom–but we need more. His crime? Watch the video and see for yourself. Ezra tried to stop a military bulldozer from destroying the homes of Palestinia ...

Paul Krugman

• Short(s) notes

  I'm traveling, so posting will be light to nonexistent for the next few days. Herewith a few notes.

• Nick Beaudrot explains it all

  Going with the flow (chart).

• Black cats

  Choking on one's own snark.

• The other Bush bubble

  All about Jeb.

• The public option as a signal

  The public option has become not so much a symbol as a signal, a test of whether Obama is really the progressive activists thought they were backing.

No Quarter

• Obama Blinks; Health Care Reform “Just A Suggest ...

  OK, so I’m putting words in his mouth, but if the shoe fits, let him sleep in it! Turns out our big bad POTUS can’t take the heat, so he’s leaving the kitchen, probably sneaking down to the basement to help his mother-in-law put a hex on his political enemies. Unconfirmed reports by undead sou ...

• Money and The Great American Bank Robbery - Open T ...

  _________ As many recent townhall meetings have shown, the American people are dealing with a few issues of trust in regards to their government. So I thought it might be fun to take a look at two very different videos on Money and what it can do. ________ __________ In this video from a June fo ...

• Money and The Great American Bank Robbery - Open T ...

  _________ As many recent townhall meetings have shown, the American people are dealing with a few issues of trust in regards to their government. So I thought it might be fun to take a look at two very different videos on Money and what it can do. ________ __________ This video is from a June fo ...

• let’s have a NQ town hall on health care!

  A few people, after reading the few posts I wrote on health care, came to the conclusion that I am against universal health care. Some even expressing hostility towards me for living in Italy, *enjoying the luxury of universal health care*. I was even called a shill for the insurance companies. HA T ...

• Bob Novak, Tarnished Legacy [Updated]

  There was a time when Bob Novak was a decent journalist. But he died today discredited and shamed. His tawdry deed was his role in exposing the identity of a covert CIA officer, Valerie Plame Wilson. I knew Bob Novak on a personal basis. I appeared several times on CrossFire, the [...]

Environmental Graffiti

• The North Pacific Gyre: 100 Million Tons of Garbag ...
• Bolivia’s Interminable Mirror to the Sky
• Graffiti Is Watching You…
• The Real-Life Legend of the White Leviathan
• The Land of Cuckoo Clocks & Environmental Beauty

Foreign Policy in Focus

• Global Spin Doctors

  FPIF's weekly update.

• Kosovo, East Timor, R2P, and Ian Williams

  Noam Chomsky refutes Ian Williams' claim that NATO's bombing of Serbia in 1999 did not precipitate atrocities in Kosovo.

• Lack of North American Leadership

  The three amigos met in Guadalajara and failed to usher in a new paradigm of North American cooperation.

• Learning from the British in Iraq

  History suggests that the United States won't be leaving Iraq any time soon.

• The Pursuit of True Security

  For all of the money we spend on defense, are we really all that safer?

Therapy News

• Rare Gene Translates Social Rejection into Physica ...

  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline Basic responses to social rejection are experience throughout life, and may contribute to a negative self-image or feelings of depression in some people. But in others, such responses may be secondary to a physically manifested hurt. A study recently performed at the ...

• Marriage - The Impact of Resentment on Relationshi ...

  By Barbi Pecenco Kolski, MA As a marriage counselor, I often hear people say they are no longer in love with their partner. They really believe that they have fallen out of love. However, quite often, what has happened is that they weren’t attending to both big and small issues in their relationsh ...

• Orthorexia Nervosa: When the Diet-Conscious are To ...

  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline A large number of mental health professionals are likely familiar with the symptoms and consequences of various eating disorder types such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. A fixation on the volume of food consumption is a serious concern for which many seek therapy, b ...

• Study Looks at the Brain’s Reaction to Verbalizi ...

  A GoodTherapy.org News Headline There is a distinctly relieving aspect to coming clean about one’s emotions, whether it’s within the safety and confidentiality of a therapist’s office or simply in the presence of a friend. Seeking to understand why verbally identifying emotions has such a stro ...

• Take a Hike: Research Supports Time Outdoors as an ...

  A GoodTherapy.org News Summary The benefits of being outdoors have often been documented in terms of the healthy effects of sunlight. Despite concerns over too much sun exposure, a reasonable amount of regular sunshine can help boost Vitamin D levels and support a greater mental well-being, leading ...

Mountaintop Removal

• Writer Supports Effort To Make ‘Coal Country’ ...

  Rob Perks of the Natural Resources Defense Council, who has been a tireless opponent of mountaintop removal says: “We wouldn’t tolerate this kind of resource exploitation anywhere else in the country – not in the Sierras, not in the Adirondacks – but we seem able to treat Appalachia as if it ...

• Pancake weather: WNC Read-for-All novel offers viv ...

  There may be no better insider's view of a community visited by mountaintop removal than Ann Pancake's novel “Strange as This Weather Has Been.”

• Jeff Biggers: Take This Mine And Shove It: Tribe i ...

  Last fall, Tom Zeller at the New York Times' Green Inc. blog wrote an eye-opening piece on a possible Indian government and corporate venture in...

• Federal Court Blocks Interior Department Attempt t ...

  Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today rejected an attempt by the Department of Interior to reverse the Bush Administration’s devastating last-minute weakening of the stream buffer zone rule, a key protection for waterways near mountaintop removal coal mines ...

• EPA 'working to resolve interstate issues' (Observ ...

  This article has been read 0 times.

Memeorandum

• Yale Surrenders - Why did Yale University Press re ...

  Christopher Hitchens / Slate : Yale Surrenders — Why did Yale University Press remove images of Mohammed from a book about the Danish cartoons? — The capitulation of Yale University Press to threats that hadn't even been made yet is the latest and perhaps the worst episode in the stea ...

• Liberals revolt over public option (The Politico)

  The Politico : Liberals revolt over public option — The White House's signal that it's willing to back off support for a public health insurance option has sent congressional liberals into full revolt, bluntly warning the administration that no legislation will pass without a government-run ...

• DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show (A ...

  Andrew Pollack / New York Times : DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show — Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases. — The scientis ...

• White House says it did send unwanted e-mails (Phi ...

  Philip Elliott / Associated Press : White House says it did send unwanted e-mails … WASHINGTON (AP) - After insisting no one was receiving unsolicited e-mails from the White House, officials reversed their story Monday night and blamed outside political groups for the unwanted messages from the t ...

• Obama's MySpace page: I'm 52 years old, not 48 (Wo ...

  WorldNetDaily : Obama's MySpace page: I'm 52 years old, not 48 — Would place president's birth during time Hawaii was a territory — If President Obama were indeed born in Hawaii, was it while the islands were a territory of the United States? — A new wrinkle in the dispute over ...

Energy & Environment News

• China’s Incinerators Loom as a Global Hazar ...

  As China runs out of landfill space, it is racing to build incinerators, a growing source of toxic emissions.

• A Battle as the Tide Takes Away Cancún Sand

  A dispute over one hotel’s attempts to replenish its dwindling beachfront is part of a continuing problem with beach erosion.

• Lead Poisoning of Children in China Leads to Distu ...

  A smelting plant’s neighbors clashed with the police after at least 615 of 731 children in two villages were found to have dangerous lead levels.

• Yosemite Journal: Spectacular Distractions Are the ...

  The search is on for a candidate for one of the most scenic jobs in American law: magistrate judge for the United States District Court in Yosemite National Park.

• National Briefing | South: Tennessee: Changes for ...

  The Tennessee Valley Authority is preparing to convert all of its coal waste and gypsum operations to dry storage in the wake of a huge ash spill from a retention pond last year in Tennessee.

5+ quakes - 7 days

• M 5.0, Tonga

  Wednesday, August 19, 2009 13:07:25 UTC Thursday, August 20, 2009 02:07:25 AM at epicenter Depth : 35.00 km (21.75 mi)

• M 5.1, Kepulauan Mentawai region, Indonesia

  Wednesday, August 19, 2009 11:35:21 UTC Wednesday, August 19, 2009 06:35:21 PM at epicenter Depth : 10.00 km (6.21 mi)

• M 5.1, Assam, India

  Wednesday, August 19, 2009 10:45:14 UTC Wednesday, August 19, 2009 04:15:14 PM at epicenter Depth : 10.00 km (6.21 mi)

• M 6.3, south of the Fiji Islands

  Tuesday, August 18, 2009 21:20:47 UTC Wednesday, August 19, 2009 09:20:47 AM at epicenter Depth : 269.00 km (167.15 mi)

• M 5.2, southwestern Ryukyu Islands, Japan

  Tuesday, August 18, 2009 01:47:52 UTC Tuesday, August 18, 2009 10:47:52 AM at epicenter Depth : 10.00 km (6.21 mi)

China Dialogue

• Africa looks to the sun and wind

  Amid surging demand for electricity -- and frequent blackouts – the continent is embracing renewable energy sources. Kenya is set to host the biggest African wind farm, Xan Rice reports. One of the hottest places in the world is set to become the site of Africa’s most ambitious venture in the ba ...

• Geoengineering: plastic forests

  Could synthetic trees help to cool the planet? chinadialogue continues its series that examines geoengineering proposals from scientists around the world. What’s the big idea? Forests of synthetic “trees”, designed to capture and store carbon dioxide, could be used to effectively offset cl ...

• Removing chemicals from our food

  Recent studies show that food safety in China still needs improvement. Organic production is the answer, argues Jiang Gaoming. Here he explains how to make the shift. Environmental group Greenpeace recently tested vegetables purchased in supermarkets and markets in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou at ...

• Beginning of the end for oil?

  Greenpeace and others see the industry approaching a tipping point, thanks to price declines, technological advances and climate policies. Controversial investments in Canadian tar sands may be doomed. David Teather reports. A long-term decline in the demand for oil could undermine the huge investme ...

• Solar futures at the foot of Everest

  Passive solar homes could help to improve people’s daily lives and protect the environment on the Tibetan plateau, finds Cai Rupeng. The summer had only just started, but village elder Yuzhen was already looking forward to winter. Standing in front of her home in Tingri , Tibet, one looks up and s ...

Daily Censored

• O’Reilly to Dr. Marc Lamont Hill: Tearing Up a ...

  Read the full story at News Hounds On tonight’s O’Reilly Factor (8/18/09), O’Reilly hosted Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, and vehemently denied the fact that there is any racist element to the town hall meetings. Ai, yai, yai. With video. Okay, let’s start at the beginning. At a Missouri town hal ...

• O’Reilly to Dr. Marc Lamont Hill: Tearing Up a ...

  Read the full story at News Hounds On tonight’s O’Reilly Factor (8/18/09), O’Reilly hosted Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, and vehemently denied the fact that there is any racist element to the town hall meetings. Ai, yai, yai. With video. Okay, let’s start at the beginning. At a Missouri town hal ...

• Mission Impossible: Seeking Common Ground with Fas ...

  By Dennis Loo In light of the Town Hall brawls, the following points regarding the Dominionist movement – Sarah Palin is a Dominionist – are worth a close look. I begin this article with an extended excerpt from Katherine Yurica: Conquering by Stealth and Deception How the Dominionists Are Succe ...

• Taiwan president under fire over typhoon response

  Read the full story at Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories Critics say Typhoon Morakot is Ma Ying-jeou’s Hurricane Katrina. He has been faulted for weak leadership in dealing with a devastating storm that killed at least 127, with hundreds still missing. …

• Why Lockerbie bomber is likely to be released

  Read the full story at Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories The Libyan intelligence agent convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 drew closer to release from a British jail on Tuesday when a procedural hurdle was removed. …

AlterNet's Breaking News

• Germany, Hungary mark anniversary of Iron Curtain ...
• France arrests three ETA suspects
• Tight budget quashes US space ambitions: panel
• Nine dead as car bomb blasts rock Baghdad
• Taiwan ministers might resign as storm row grows

Institute for Policy Studies

• Their Martyrs and Our Heroes

  Powerful, developed countries have suicide bombers too.

• Taxing Wealth for the Common Good

  Business leaders and wealthy individuals call for a repeal of the Bush-era taxes on high incomes.

• The Destruction of the Black Middle Class

  Left out of the commentary on race and class over the Gates affair has been talk of the increasing impoverishment — or, we should say, re-impoverishment — of African Americans as a group.

• Asia's Axis of Evil?

  Burma and North Korea are the pariahs of Asia. Are these birds of a feather flocking together?

• Obama: Renegotiate NAFTA as You Promised

  Mexican, Canadian, and U.S. leaders should scrap their failed "Security and Prosperity Partnership" and begin overhauling the North American Free Trade agreement at an upcoming Guadalajara meeting.

Reuters - Most Popular Articles

• Buffett says U.S. on slow path to recovery: report

  (Reuters) - The United States economy is out of the emergency room and appears to be on a slow path to recovery,, Warren Buffett wrote in an opinion column in the New York Times.

• PlayStation 3 slims down in size, price

  COLOGNE, Germany (Hollywood Reporter) - Before it even started, Sony stole the show.

• Hurricane Bill grows to major storm, should miss U ...

  MIAMI (Reuters) - Hurricane Bill, the first of the 2009 Atlantic season, strengthened into a Category 3 storm on Tuesday with top winds near 125 miles per hour (205 km per hour), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

• Baby boomers still getting high, U.S. agency says

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Baby boomers, now well into middle age, are still turning on to illegal drugs, doubling the rates of illicit drug use for the older generation, according to U.S. government statistics released on Wednesday.

• Views unchanged on Obama's healthcare plans: poll

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans remain skeptical of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform drive, but their views have not changed much after weeks of sometimes angry protests at public meetings, according to an NBC poll released on Tuesday.

Godspace

• Playing Children’s Games As Spiritual Practi ...

  It is a bright and sunny morning in Seattle with the promise of a hot day ahead. For most of us it is a work day but I think that if we were honest with ourselves we would rather be out playing with the kids so this post below by Julie Clawson seemed appropriate. Julie describes [...]

• Intergenerational Friendships as Spiritual Practic ...

  I am back from the MSA Celtic retreat on Camano Island (more on that later) and realizing that my expectations of what I could accomplish were a little unrealistic. And then our internet was down all morning and I was just about pulling my hair out trying to get caught up. What ever happened to ...

• Unemployment as a Spiritual Practice

  I am now back from Australia and as you can imagine the posts for my series on What is a Spiritual Practice have been mounting up while I have had limited internet access and less time to focus on such things. Â Thanks for your patience and for your prayers during this challenging season. Today’ ...

• Editing your Life: The Spiritual Discipline of Edi ...

  I am sitting in Sydney on a beautiful but crisp winter’s morning watching the rainbow lorikeets out in the trees. Â My Dad’s funeral is over and I will head back to Seattle in 2 days time. Â I have been very aware of prayer and the grace of God in the midst of this. Â Thanks to [...]

• Living in Transition as Spiritual Practice

  I am now in Sydney Australia after what has been one of the easiest long international trips I have made for a long time. Â I even slept for several hours on the flight which makes me very aware of the fact that people have been praying for me. Today’s article comes from Guy Chmieleski who is [. ...

Equality Trust

• Shattering the myth of equality

  An article by Boris Frankel in Melbourne's newspaper 'The Age'.

• Polly Toynbee: This bold equality push is just wha ...

  Polly Toynbee writing about the new Equality Bill today's Guardian. "Harriet Harman's bill is a frank recognition of the role of class in Britain. A decade earlier, it might have had a real impact..."

• Seumas Milne: This naked display of class egotism ...

  "It's more than a week since Alistair Darling's budget, but the howls of protest haven't stopped for a day ever since. That's not been the public sector employees facing a harsh squeeze on jobs and pay who've been squealing, or the million workers expected to join the dole queues in the next year, ...

• Bob Holman on social breakdown

  Bob Holman writes in the Glasgow Herald about the evidence in The Spirit Level.

• Inequality is the root of our unhappiness

  Former director of the Institute of Education Peter Mortimore, writing in today's Education Guardian.

IntelNews

• Botched CIA mission in Siberia revealed

  Five American “tourists” temporarily detained in 2001 by Russian border agents were in fact CIA agents on a covert mission to Siberia, court documents have revealed.

• Kazakh ambassador to London was KGB spy, paper cla ...

  British authorities may consider expelling Kazakhstan’s ambassador to the UK a newspaper alleged he used to be a KGB spy.

• News you may have missed #0070

  Sudan president replaces intelligence chief. Pakistan's former spy chief blames US for Afghan drugs. Lebanese minister denies link with Israeli ISP.

• Document reveals US spies saw Iran behind Lockerbi ...

  A US intelligence report available to the lawyers of a Libyan former intelligence agent convicted for his role in the Lockerbie air disaster blames Iran, not Libya, for the attack.

• Brazil conspired with US to overthrow Allende, mem ...

  Four official documents from 1971, recently declassified by the US Department of State, show high-level collaboration between the US and Brazil in plans to overthrow the lawfully elected government of Chile.

Res'Eau-WaterNet

• Too Many Canadians Without Safe Water: $5.2M to He ...

  For six million Canadians, quenching their thirst isn’t a matter of simply turning on the kitchen faucet.

• Dr. David Wilkinson appointed Director of the Clea ...

  RES'EAU-WaterNET researcher Dr. David Wilkinson was recently appointed Director of the Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC), beginning July 1, 2009.

• Walkerton Clean Water Centre Receives Ontario Mini ...

  The Walkerton Clean Water Centre (WCWC) – a RES’EAU-WaterNET partner – received the 2008 Emerald Award for innovation from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment at an awards ceremony held on March 3, 2009.

• Filling the glass

  Innovation Canada : Showcasing Research Excellence in Canada

PDA AMERICA

• A Progressive Response to Mitch Stewart & OFA

  Dear Mitch Stewart & OFA, I am glad you are still Organizing for America — we need the activated grassroots energy that swept Mr. Obama into office to keep things moving forward. But I have ...

• Progressive Democrats take a stand on health care

  From the RNN: The Real News Network Some members of Congress are going to fight for a robust public option and a single-payer amendment VIDEO CAN BE VIEWED BY CLICKING HERE An amendment introduced by representative Anthony ...

• Who Decides About War?

  WhoDecidesAboutWar.org National Conference on War Powers, Law, and Democracy October 2-3, 2009 Washington D.C. Who decides about war and peace? Congress? The President? The Courts? The People? What kind of national defense should the U.S. have? What ...

• Another Scandal Near New Orleans

  By Jayne Lyn Stahl There have been no shortage of news stories about how detainees have been treated at Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Ghraib before it. Likewise, there has been a lot of talk about so-called ...

• CDPP Report for August 2009

  CDPP report, August 2009, Mervis Reissig and Anna Givens Two of us have volunteered to continue working with the Congressional District Point Person program for PDA. As CD Point People ourselves and longtime volunteers for ...

Marler Blog

• Third E. coli Lawsuit to be Filed Against JBS Swif ...

  Three Family Members Sickened in Wisconsin, One Gravely. A Wisconsin family sickened in the JBS Swift Beef Company outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 will file suit against the company Wednesday. The lawsuit will be brought by the Seattle-based foodborne illness law firm Marler Clark in the Federal Court, ...

• Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough back on store shelv ...

  Even though I live near Seattle, I tend to read a lot of other newspapers. A client from one of the rash of E. coli O157:H7 cases that have hit the Cleveland, Ohio area this summer sent me Janet Cho’s “puff piece” on Nestle re-introducing “its trademark Nestle Toll House refrigerated chocol ...

• Non-E. coli O157:H7 Serotypes linked to Hemolytic ...

  I was reading recently an article in the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases by R. J. Pomajz, M. Varman, A. Holst and A. Chen entitled, Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) incidence and etiologies at a regional Children’s Hospital in 2001–2006. Here is the abstract: Hemo ...

• The Reality is Non-O157:H7 Shiga-toxin E. coli Cau ...

  June Dunning, E. coli O146:H21, 2006, Death Right up until the time of her death, Ms. Dunning remained an active, self-aware and outgoing woman. Her health had always been good too. For the last seven years of her life, June lived in Hagerstown, Maryland with her daughter, and her son-in-law. On ...

• Milan McDonald's Inspection Reports from 2008 - 20 ...

  I must admit having the video of a former employee saying that she worked at McDonald's while infectious with Hepatitis A , and that she told her manager that she had Hepatitis A after the employee was released from the hospital, is priceless. However, having the inspection reports from the Rock Is ...

AutoblogGreen

• AutoblogGreen for 08.19.09

  Bill Nye the Science Guy luvs electric cars And he's not shy about it. EV club members get first rides in Coda Automotive electric sedan Could the vanilla style actually work in the EV's favo ...

• AutoblogGreen for 07.29.09

  Aptera newsletter reveals production interior, doesn't answer every question Will this calm the trouble in Apteraville? Spy Shots: Is this Porsche 911 mule hiding a shocking secret? What's th ...

• AutoblogGreen for 07.30.09

  Honda Insight sales withering with competition from Prius They might not be true competitors, but Prius sales are crushing Insight sales. Tesla lawsuit update: Eberhard not declared one ...

• AutoblogGreen for 07.31.09

  Greenlings: What's up with natural gas vehicles? Seems like a sensible alternative. So what's the government doing to help? What about the car companies? REPORT: 9 of Top 10 clunkers being traded in are large trucks ...

• AutoblogGreen for 08.03.09

  2010 Nissan Leaf electric car: In person, in depth -- and U.S. bound The stakes are getting higher, the EV game more intense. Don't buy the hype, says GM; Volt's aerodynamics "superior to most, if not all ...

• IPS - Inter Press Services

• SRI LANKA: Religious Feast Embodies a Nation&# ...

  MADHU, Sri Lanka, Aug 19 (IPS) - The jungle church was once again filled with devotees camping out for days to take part in the feast of the Virgin Mary of Madhu. It had been over 27 years since the last occasion when tens of thousands of believers streamed into the church located at Madhu, in ...

• MIDEAST: Israel Turns Dubiously to Africa

  JERUSALEM, Aug 19 (IPS) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been busy pursuing one aspect of the Obama Administration's agenda - carrying to Africa the U.S. message of accountability. With a rather different agenda, Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Liberman also has Africa in his s ...

• MIDEAST: Embattled Hamas Shows its Moderate Face

  RAMALLAH, Aug 19 (IPS) - The Islamic resistance movement Hamas's rule of Gaza is facing protracted political and military opposition from within Gaza, other Palestinian territories and abroad.

• ZIMBABWE: Small-Scale Farmers Gearing Up to Take ...

  HARARE, Aug 19 (IPS) - Zimbabweans like to believe that there is strength in numbers, which is the idea behind a local non-governmental organisation’s attempt to organise small-scale rural cotton farmers in cotton producer associations.

• POLITICS-BURMA: Pro-democracy Camp to U.S. Senato ...

  BANGKOK, Aug 19 (IPS) - A rare visit by a United States senator to Burma – billed as "successful" in some quarters – is winning little applause from sectors critical of the military regime that rules the country.

The Intelligence Daily

• Top 50 US War Criminals Who Need to be Prosecuted

• Russia and Georgia: Caucasian calculus

• Obama Administration Revives Bush-Era Quarantine R ...

• Winners and Losers in the American Warfare State

• Rove and Miers to Testify Publicly Before Congress ...

My AntiWar

• Amnesty int’l withdraws from Israel concert ...

  rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rAmnesty International has announced that it will abstain from any involvement in the Leonard Cohen concert in Tel Aviv and will not be party to any fund that benefits from the concert’s proceeds. Amnesty International’s announcement followed an international ou ...

• US Senator’s Visit Could Herald New Myanmar ...
• Ascetic Afghan Presidential Candidate Wins Support
• Paratroopers Off to New Job Training Afghan Police
• Judge Orders Release of Yemeni From Guantnamo

Rogue Government.com

• A third of nurses will refuse to have the swine f ...

  Up to a third of nurses will say no to the swine flu jab because of concerns over its safety, a poll has found.

• Big Tropical Storms in Atlantic Hit 1,000-Year Hi ...

  A new report in the scientific journal Nature indicates that the last decade has seen, on average, more frequent hurricanes than any time in the last 1,000 years. The last period of similar activity occurred during the Medieval Warm Period.

• CIA's Black Helicopters End Up In Court

  More than seven years ago a group of Americans traveled to Siberia to buy a pair of Russian Mi-17 helicopters for the CIA’s post-9/11 clandestine operations in Afghanistan.

• District 9 - A Science Fiction Film With Sophisti ...

  The sophistication of New World Order propaganda originating from Hollywood is reaching an insane level. Proof of this can be seen with the new release of the Peter Jackson produced and Neill Blomkamp directed science fiction film District 9.

• Britain/U.S. knew about extermination of Jews, Va ...

  L'Osservatore Romano said the British and American governments ignored, downplayed or even suppressed intelligence reports about the Nazis' extermination plans.

Innovation Canada

• Ocean view

  The winch at the rear of the ship slowly lowers a 13-tonne steel capsule about the size of three minivans into still water in early July. The shell, painted a garish yellow, is a trawl-resistant frame designed to deflect fishing nets. More important, once settled on the ocean floor, the capsule will ...

• Space reader

  (Article courtesy of the University of Windsor) Bill McConkey probably won’t be around to see the day when humans are finally able to travel tremendous stretches through outer space to distant planets such as Jupiter. When they do make that journey, however, they’ll owe a significant debt of gra ...

• Filling the glass

  Walkerton, Ont., North Battleford, Sask., and the Kashechewan First Nation Reserve, in Northern Ontario, have all become high-profile — and tragic — examples of what can go wrong when a community’s drinking water becomes contaminated. Surprisingly, they are not alone. At any given time, 1,700 ...

• i2eye with Bartha Maria Knoppers

  “Don’t plan your career — be curious.” That’s the credo that Bartha Maria Knoppers, the new director of the Centre of Genomics and Policy at McGill University and Génome Québec Innovation Centre, espouses — and one she lives by. Knoppers turned her love of books into a master’s in c ...

• Environmental legacy

  (Article courtesy of University of Regina) University of Regina biologist Chris Somers is fascinated by how humans and wildlife interact and how animals respond to human-modified environments. “My research often combines animal ecology in the field, environmental chemistry and genetics,” explain ...

Signs of the times

• UFO 'near miss' at Gatwick Airport, London coincid ...

  Evidence of an extraordinary UFO 'near miss' at Gatwick was unearthed this week, as the Government dusted off hitherto secret files. In a bizarre coincidence, police also revealed a spate of UFO reports in Crawley over the weekend, just two days before the Ministry of Defence 'X-Files' were release ...

• Top Swedish newspaper says Israeli troops kill Pal ...

  A leading Swedish newspaper reported this week that Israeli soldiers are abducting Palestinians in order to steal their organs, a claim that prompted furious condemnation and accusations of anti-Semitic blood libel from a rival publication. "They plunder the organs of our sons," read the headline i ...

• World Can't Be Changed Without Fighting Western Pr ...

  Sometimes I am chased by nightmares: I am in the middle of some bombed out refugee camp, maybe in Congo (DRC) or in some other desperate country at the periphery of media interests. Children are running around with swollen bellies, clearly suffering from malnutrition. Many women in the camp have swo ...

• New England Journal of Medicine: Gluten Can Cause ...

  Welcome back everyone. I hope you all made it a great weekend. I did! Seems that since I've written the last few articles, I've received numerous comments on gluten. Don Shepherd, John Ho and Pat Becker all made comments on the dangers of gluten. One does not have to have Celiacs disease to be ...

• FLASHBACK: Paul Weyrich's Teaching Manual?

  On January 28, 2002, The American Prospect, Inc., published Fair-Weather Friend; Going Down as it Came Up; School Sprays; They're Back! a brief excerpt reads: "Two years ago, ur-conservative Paul Weyrich stunned the religious right by calling for a retreat from temporal concerns. "Conservatives h ...

Threat Level

• BSA Softens Anti-Piracy Message

  The Business Software Alliance has a new anti-piracy video that for the first time uses humor instead of scare tactics to get out its message. The alliance, consisting of about 80 companies — including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe — is the counterpart to the Recording Industry Association of Amer ...

• Outspoken Privacy Advocate Joins FTC

  Christopher Soghoian, an outspoken privacy advocate who drew the ire of a congressman two years ago when he published information about a serious breach in airline security, has been hired by the Federal Trade Commission to work in the division of privacy and identity protection in its Bureau of Co ...

• TJX Hacker Charged with Heartland, Hannaford Breac ...

  The constellation of hacks connected to the TJX hacker is growing. Albert “Segvec” Gonzalez, a former Secret Service informant who is already awaiting trial over his involvement in the TJX hack, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in New Jersey, along with two unnamed Russia-based conspira ...

• Patent Lawsuit Threatens to Clip Twitter’s Wings

  TechRadium, a little known Texas-based player in the emergency mass-notification field, didn’t just wake up this month and decide to sue Twitter for patent infringement. The company says it didn’t care about Twitter when the Twitterati was watching the tweets of NBA superstars, musicians, polit ...

• Luckless Predator Only Attracted to Undercover Cop ...

  It’s official. There’s nobody in the chat rooms but pedophiles and undercover police. On Thursday, a federal appeals court upheld the conviction of an Indiana man whose online efforts to proposition underage girls led him to not one, not two, but three undercover cops, none of whom apparently kn ...

PERRspectives : Blog

• CBS Slams AARP, Promotes Right-Wing ASA Instead

  As its 2003 support for President Bush's overpriced, unfunded and deeply flawed Medicare prescription benefit showed, the AARP can make some strange political bedfellows. In a segment Monday slamming the 40 million member organization over role in the current health...

• Obama Falling Victim to Krugman's Law. Again.

  Following President Obama's lead, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Sunday announced that a public option is "not the essential element" of the administration's health insurance reform push. Sadly, that development seems to signal that, as with the...

• Right-Wing Rage: Recurring Symptom of a Preexistin ...

  There's nothing new under the sun, especially when it comes to the frothing at the mouth right-wing rage over health care reform. But thanks to the 24/7 media's transformation of politics into just another form of entertainment, delusional Birthers, deceitful...

• Health Scare: When Politics is Entertainment

  "When politics is just another form of entertainment," I lamented in a presentation on the 2008 campaign last year, "the first thing that suffers is the truth." And so it is with the incendiary health care debate and so much...

• Smoking Grassley on Health Care Reform

  After his predictable experience with unified Republican obstructionism on the stimulus bill, President Obama must be high if he thinks there's a glimmer of hope for bipartisan cooperation on health care reform. Not because Sarah Palin is doubling-down on her...

Blackspot News Feed

• Guns and Warm Blankets by Malcolm Steinberg

  by Malcolm SteinbergFeatured WriterDandelion SaladAugust 19, 2009Enculturation is the process by which a person learns the requirements of the culture by which he or she is surrounded, and acquires values and behaviors that are appropriate or necessary in that culture. (Wikipedia)There has been a qu ...

• MI5: Wedding emails sparked terror swoop

  Propaganda Alertcompiled by Cem ErtrFeatured WriterDandelion Salad20August 2009excerpts from: Wedding emails sparked terror swoopby Martin Bentham, Evening Standard, 14 August 2009Seven Pakistani terror suspects were arrested after MI5 decided that their emails contained codewords for a deadly bomb ...

• Plutocracy Tightens Its Chokehold: American Dream ...

  Sent to DS by the author, thanks, Robert.By Robert S. Becker, Ph.D.Dandelion Saladwww.beyondchron.orgAugust 19, 2009CapitalismOriginally uploaded by Lorri37Despite recession, Americans continue to believe progress is sustainable, even if resources aren’t and that growth of total wealth generates p ...

• Obamas Corporate Health Care Scam By Timothy V. Ga ...

  By Timothy V. GattoFeatured WriterDandelion Saladliberalpro.blogspot.comAugust 18, 2009The health care debacle has gone exactly the way I pictured it would. It seems that every day that passes brings with it a new concession to the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry and the health prov ...

• Conservative Columnist Robert Novak Dead at 78

  Washington - Conservative columnist and CNN talk show host Robert Novak, whose unmasking of a covert CIA agent sparked a political and legal firestorm, died on Tuesday, US media reported. read more

Consortium News

• Why the Right's Propaganda Works

  The Right's success in selling lies about President Obama's health reform derives from its media clout, writes Robert Parry. August 19, 2009

• A Power Equal to a Thousand Words

  Filmmaker David Kasper reflects on President Obama's troubling decision to conceal photographic evidence of war crimes. August 18, 2009

• Fromme-Peltier: Inequality of Mercy

  Does Indian leader Leonard Peltier deserve mercy like "Squeaky" Fromme, ask Dennis Bernstein and Miguel Gavalan Molina. August 18, 2009

• PanAm103 Verdict: Justice or Politics?

  From the Archive: The Obama administration won't question the weak evidence in the PanAm 103 bombing conviction. By William Blum.

• Israel Evicts Palestinians from Homes

  Israeli police ousted two Palestinian families from homes in East Jerusalem, drawing rare U.S. criticism, reports TheRealNews. August 17, 2009

CounterPunch

• David Michael Green : Guess What? He's a Terrible ...
• Paul Craig Roberts : Americans: Serfs Ruled by Oli ...
• Marshall Auerback : Debt Revolt? Tax Strike? There ...
• Franklin Lamb : AIPAC Sends in the Clowns
• John Ross : Three Amigos Summit

Institute for Middle East Understanding

• The second stage should be bypassed (Walid Salem, ...

  The second stage of the "Performance-based Road Map" for Israeli-Palestinian peace is the most ambiguous and problematic among the three stages of the plan. Partly this is because of the contradiction betwee ...

• UN launches multi-million dollar Gaza Ramadan appe ...

  The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, is launching a Gaza Ramadan Appeal for $181 million to provide food, jobs and other assistance for one million Palestinian refugees. Seven months after the ...

• Fatah's gauntlet (Amira Hass, Haaretz)

  The decision by Fatah's Sixth Congress that the movement is sticking to negotiations as a means of achieving independence, statehood and peace is an admission that the use of arms during the second intifada ...

• Israelis and Palestinians are the best of enemies ...

  Israelis and Palestinians will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the world's most bitter arch enemies. To the world, the word "Palestinian" is automatically associated with "Israeli" and vice versa. H ...

• Israel declares shooting of American an 'act of wa ...

  Israel has declared the shooting of unarmed American demonstrator Tristan Anderson in the West Bank to be an "act of war" in a bid to avoid compensating his family. The Israeli Ministry of Defense sent a let ...

Planetsave

• Freshwater Dreams and Schemes

  The North American Great Lakes contain 6 quadrillion gallons of freshwater, about one-fifth of the world’s available freshwater supply. For more than 25 years, residents of the Great Lakes region have feared large-scale public works projects to take freshwater from the Lakes to thirsty, faster- ...

• Coal Strip Mine Would Destroy Salmon Streams in Co ...

  PacRim Coal’s plan to strip mine coal right through 11 miles of salmon-bearing streams in Alaska would destroy critical wetlands and headwater streams beyond the point of restoration, according to three new studies by scientists. The salmon fisheries along the Chuit River would be severely damaged ...

• Tourist Mosquitoes Threaten the Galapagos

  If you could declare a home town of evolution it would be the Galapagos Islands. Back in 1835 a sea sick young naturalist, Charles Darwin, landed on the Galapagos to conduct a little research. That research was the genesis of Darwin’s seminal work “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural ...

• Growing Acid in our Oceans: A Looming Threat to Se ...

  This picture is a picture of the beautiful Monterey, California coastline. This is where I grew up. It is famous for it’s beautiful sea life. Sea otters, jelly fish, sea lions, kelp forests all populate the Monterey coast. The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean in the world. Yet, with all th ...

• Great Lakes Offshore Wind Aesthetics

  [social buttons] While public opinion remains divided about the risks and benefits of installing wind farms in the Great Lakes, several of the eight states with Great Lakes water are racing to be first to approve projects capturing energy from frequently strong offshore winds. It remains to be seen ...

Water Quality - WordPress

• Parkinson's Disease: Rural Well Water Linked to Pa ...

  Rural Well Water Linked to Parkinson’s Disease wordpress:

• National Resource Defense Council Reports on Water ...

  Beach name Rating details 100 yrds ENE of Little Bridge, Causeway, Nags Head 100 yrds. o

• Great Water Quality at Outer Banks Beaches

  Recently, environmental experts reported that the Outer Banks has some of the nation’s cleanes

• Water awareness: global survey of public perceptio ...

  Molson Coors Brewing Company [has] announced a strategic collaboration with Circle of Blue in suppor

• 2008/2009 Water Quality Committee Annual Report

  The Glen Lake Association Water Quality Committee has focused on the following activities during the

Public Citizen in Texas

• Austin Energy’s Generation Plan: More Renewables ...

  It has been less than 24 hours since I received a copy of Austin Energy’s Generation Plan recommendation and there’s a lot here to like. Before I get to the highlights, let me just say that those of you who spoke up, filled out the survey, played the sim game and demanded more renewable ener ...

• Grassroots vs Astroturf- the difference in citizen ...

  Most people have a good general conception of what a real grassroots movement looks like: citizens get outraged over some injustice or inequity and get organized and get active. These campaigns are built from the bottom up. And what happens when you don’t have a grassroots movement but want to ...

• Boerne Makes Move on Local Renewable Power

  I came across this article recently in the Express-News’ Northwest Daily and had to share. Boerne, population c. 9,400, located about 30 miles northwest of San Antonio, will soon establish a framework for the development of distributed generation. Under the terms of an ordinance that passed a fir ...

• Texans care about climate change too

  Being an environmentalist in Texas, sometimes it feels like the whole world is against you. Â There’s a common assumption that folks around here just don’t care as much about the environment as elsewhere, and that people don’t see climate change as all that much of a threat. Â When I tell ...

• San Antonio Mayor’s Nuclear Town Hall Tonight

  Tonight, August 10, is Mayor Castro’s Town Hall Meeting, where he wants to allow the community to tell city council and himself what they think about going the nuclear route. This is so important to attend. It will be at the City Council Chambers downtown where Flores and Commerce meet (map belo ...

Press TV

• Media blackout imposed as Afghans await polls

  Afghanistan has called on local and international media outlets to refrain from reporting violent incidents a day ahead of crucial presidential elections.

• Pro-government militia takes second Somali town

  Pro-government militia forces have reportedly captured a second town from rebels as President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's fragile administration seeks to uproot insurgency in the lawless country.

• Iran denies French academic is political victim

  Iran's Foreign Ministry says French academic Clotilde Reiss, who has been detained in Iran on charges of espionage, is not a political victim despite French government's efforts to portray her case otherwise.

• Estrogen 'can' treat breast cancer relapse

  While estrogen-lowering drugs are currently used to treat breast cancer, a new study shows that estrogen itself can fight the tumor in those suffering a comeback.

• In Australia, Qantas annual income falls 88%

  Qantas Airways, Australia's largest carrier, has reported a large drop in its annual profits, as demand for air travel has fallen due to the global economic downturn.

Axis of Logic

• U.S.: Troy Davis must "prove his innocence" after ...

• Money is God, Greed is King and Corruption Runs th ...

• Latin America: Social Movements in Times of Econom ...

• The 'Anti-Starbucks' Starbucks

• Exclusive: Kill Them All and Cover Them with Bulls ...

They Gave Us a Republic

• The Nightowl Newswrap

  You're missing the point of elections, idiots. "Afghanistan has called on domestic and foreign media not to cover any violence on the day of the presidential election in case such reports scare away voters." The ones scared away by violence you don't want anyway; the ones disgusted by your cowardic ...

• You Shouldn't Have Apologized, Jack

  The first independent poll of the U.S. Senate race in Kentucky has Dan Mongiardo up 39-31 over Jack Conway among Democratic respondents. Cross-tabs aren't available yet, and the respondents weren't likely voters, but only one politically significant thing has happened in this race in the last month, ...

• The funniest political news of the year.

  Cross posted from Show Me Progress Chad Livengood of the Springfield, Missouri News-Leader "re-tweeted" my comment about Vicky Hartzler (r - to the right of Attila the Hun ) challenging Representative Ike Skelton (D) (Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee) in Missouri's Fourth Congressional ...

• The Guns of August

  Count me among those horrified that the Secret Service did not round up and detain the dozen people carrying firearms, including automatic rifles, outside President Obama's town hall event in Phoenix yesterday. As Josh Marshall explains to a concerned reader, there are good reasons for not arresting ...

• Playing Calvin Ball* With Health Care Reform

  The Rude Pundit attends a health care reform Town Hall, and leaves with this insight: This is a bullshit movement. Oh, sure, there's real emotions and real people, but it's a limp cock being strenuously fluffed by a media on its knees for the right wing of this country. It's a bullshit movement beca ...

Care 2

• World’s Largest Leather Exporter Backs Out of Ama ...

  Just a couple of weeks ago, soya traders agreed to extend a moratorium on buying soya linked to Amazon destruction. However, as discussed in January, 80% of Amazon deforestation is from cattle farming. With continued involvement of major international Submitted by Cher C. to Animals | Note-it! ...

• RSPB volunteers: answer the call of the wild

  When it comes to life satisfaction, voluntary work is one of the highest rated in terms of personal reward. As Winston Churchill wrote: “You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give.” Submitted by Cher C. to Environment | Note-it! | Add a Comment

• Bird brains prove to be very sexy! Video!

  Brainy male birds are more sexually attractive to female birds, scientists have discovered. Submitted by Cher C. to Animals | Note-it! | Add a Comment

• Save the Sierra ! TAKE ACTION !

  Sierra Pacific Industries is California’s largest forest destroyer, wreaking havoc on the forests, plants and animals of the Sierra Nevada. The companies below continue to buy from SPI, effectively endorsing their practices. Tell these companies to vote Submitted by Cher C. to Environment | Not ...

• Age toll taken on wild red deer

  A study of wild red deer on the Isle of Rum has found their ageing process can be dramatic and sudden. Submitted by Cher C. to Animals | Note-it! | Add a Comment

GreenBiz

• Cash for Killing Your Lawn: Cities Get Creative on ...

  In Las Vegas, the biggest desert city in the U.S., and still one of the fastest-growing regions in the nation, the local water utility is offering cash incentives to replace water-sucking lawns with drought-resistant landscapes.

• PepsiCo Opens Green Beverage Plant in China

  The company expects the plant, located in western China in the city of Chongqing, will use 22 percent less water and 23 percent less energy than other PepsiCo plants in the country.

• IBM Sets Its Big Green Sights on S.F. Bay Water Qu ...

  Big Blue is teaming up with San Francisco's Public Utilities Commission to monitor and reduce pollution in the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay.

• IBM Sharpens Focus on Business and Battery Efficie ...

  The company announced today the creation of the Green Sigma Coalition to integrate IBM’s Green Sigma consulting service with the products and services of several big-name partners. A second project will take aim at the development of tomorrow’s lithium-ion batteries.

• Starbucks Coffee: Green or Greenwashed?

  Starbucks is given credit by many for revolutionizing the American coffee drinking experience. The company, however, is both praised and criticized by environmentalists. Is Starbucks a leader of sustainability or a greenwasher?

Reuters Global

• India, Pakistan : re-opening the wounds of Partiti ...

  A new book by former Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh challenges the conventional belief in India that Mohammad Ali Jinnah's insistence on a separate Muslim homeland forced the Partition of the subcontinent in 1947.

• All change for Nigeria?

  All looks set to change for corporate Nigeria after the central bank's bailout of five troubled banks and the removal of bosses who were at the top of the business elite.

• It’s all the fault of those people who work ...

  PHOTO CREDITS: Tango REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci Bubbles REUTERS/Claro Cortes Grasshoppers REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci Ants REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate

• North Korea’s “Dear Leader” open ...

  A North Korean traffic officers directs cars on the streets of Pyongyang under a new umbrella. Photo provided by North Korea's official KCNA news agency on August 13, 2009.

• Pakistan’s Enemy No.1

  An overwhelming majority of Pakistanis consider the United States to be the greatest threat to the nation, far more than traditional rival India, and the Taliban, according to a new poll.

Ezra Klein

• Tab Dump

  • The best of Frank Bruni. • The problems in primary care. • Stan Collender on reconciliation. • Vermonters are very healthy. • Mike Huckabee is a useful reminder that people can be both genial and crazy.

• Can Reconciliation Work for Health-Care Reform?

  I've argued before that reconciliation will not work for comprehensive health-care reform. Today, Kevin Drum comes to the same conclusion . Stan Collender, a budget expert, backs him up . I go into the reasons in more detail here , but the Health Insurance Exchanges would probably be thrown out. The ...

• The Futility of Compromise

  Jon Kyl held a conference call today to declare that the GOP will not support a co-op compromise. That's not to say you couldn't pick off a few Republican votes. But it's pretty clear that the GOP will oppose this happily and aggressively too. This is a dynamic we saw in 1994. A compromise is offe ...

• Was Hedging on the Public Option All Part of the M ...

  I doubt this was part of some master plan, but Noam Scheiber has a smart take on the long-term fallout of yesterday's "liberal revolt" over the public plan: Prior to all the apoplexy on the left, the two poles of the debate were the president, who wanted a reasonable, fairly moderate set of health ...

• Why Is Max Baucus Sticking by Chuck Grassley?

  "I walked away from Senator Grassley. I tend to work with Senator Grassley. But there comes a time when you just gotta say, 'Sorry.' These things get watered down too much, it's just not right, so I just broke with him on that and pushed through a Medicare bill that finally got 60 votes. We had to ...

Booman Tribune

• No More Use for Useful Idiots

  Carl Hulse and Jeff Zeleny report in the New York Times: Given hardening Republican opposition to Congressional health care proposals, Democrats now say they see little chance of the minority’s cooperation in approving any overhaul, and are increasingly focused on drawing support for a final pla ...

• Serious Questions

  So, are we feeling stupid enough yet to declare Chuck Grassley an obstructionist instead of a partner for health care reform? No? How stupid do we have to feel then?

• Quote of the Day

  This one comes from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH): “When a bully asks for your lunch money, you may have no choice but to fork it over. But cutting a deal with the bully is a different story, particularly if the ‘deal’ means helping him steal others’ money as the price of protecti ...

• Pentagon Bandaids for PTSD

  We are all aware that the rate of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is extremely high among soldiers who have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly among those who have served multiple tours of duty. The constant stress of combat situations among all levels of troops, whether officiall ...

• Thought Experiment on Health Insurance

  For the sake of argument, let's say that every privately owned home in the country is going to get old, have its electrical system go bad, catch on fire, and burn to the ground. And let's say that you own one of these homes. Since you know that it's going to burn to the ground, and you know you ar ...

European Tribune

• European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 19 ...

  A Daily Review Of International Online Media Europeans on this date in history:1881 – George Enescu,...

• Tuesday Open Thread

  How was your day?...

• Monday Open Thread

  Time to chat!...

• European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 17 ...

  A Daily Review Of International Online Media Europeans on this date in history:1686 – Nicola Porpora,...

• Sunday Open Thread

  Sunday lounge...

Futurismic

• The next economic bubble

  One of the many fascinating aspects of the recent crisis of credit is discovering that many people predicted something like this would happen as far back as 2002, like the hilarious stockbroker/blogger Daniel Davies does here. Since reading his analysis of the post dot-com boom I have been on the lo ...

• The next economic bubble

  One of the many fascinating aspects of the recent crisis of credit is discovering that many people predicted something like this would happen as far back as 2002, like the hilarious stockbroker/blogger Daniel Davies does here. Since reading his analysis of the post dot-com boom I have been on the lo ...

• The future is biological

  Wired does an excellent job of focusing on a day-to-day aspect of an imminently transformative technology. Much is spoken of the coming biotech revolution, but industrial designers like Tuur Van Balen focus on the how biotechnology will present itself at the most basic level: The 1s and 0s of softwa ...

• Smallest ever free-flying device

  The world’s smallest free-flying device has successfully flown. The DARPA-commissioned nano-air-vehicle flew TK without external support: Aeronvironment has released a video that shows its “nano air vehicle” (NAV), which is the size of a small bird or large insect, hovering indoors without suc ...

• The future is biological

  Wired does an excellent job of focusing on a day-to-day aspect of an imminently transformative technology. Much is spoken of the coming biotech revolution, but industrial designers like Tuur Van Balen focus on the how biotechnology will present itself at the most basic level: The 1s and 0s of softwa ...

Yahoo! Canada News

• YahooCanadaNews: Taliban gunmen storm Afghan capit ...

  YahooCanadaNews: Taliban gunmen storm Afghan capital on eve of vote http://tr.im/wGlG

• YahooCanadaNews: Ryan M. for Y! CA News. Canadian ...

  YahooCanadaNews: Ryan M. for Y! CA News. Canadian inflation rate hits lowest level in 56 years http://tr.im/wGlx

• YahooCanadaNews: Obama's team shares winning strat ...

  YahooCanadaNews: Obama's team shares winning strategies with NDP http://tr.im/wsSV

• YahooCanadaNews: Ryan M. for Y! CA News. Volkswage ...

  YahooCanadaNews: Ryan M. for Y! CA News. Volkswagen threat 'tantamount to blackmail': Opel union leader http://tr.im/wsuW

• YahooCanadaNews: NDP name change may prove awfully ...

  YahooCanadaNews: NDP name change may prove awfully embarrassing in Quebec http://tr.im/wqGT

Global Elite

• President European Commission Advocated World Gove ...

  Jurriaan Maessen. Infowars. July 24th, 2009 On September 7, 1992, two term President of the European Commission Jacques Delors gave a speech to the Royal Institute of International Affa ...

• Billions of People Expected to Die Under Current C ...

  Barbara Minton, Natural News, July 21st, 2009 Your right to eat healthy food and use supplements of your choice is rapidly vanishing, but every effort has been made to keep you in the d ...

• Bioweapons, Dangerous Vaccines, and Threats of a G ...

  Stephen Lendman, Global Research, July 7th, 2009 Although international law prohibits the use of chemical and bacteriological weapons, America has had an active biological warfare progr ...

• Today we’re all prisoners in the USA

  Papers, Please! June 2, 2009 As of today, June 1, 2009, even U.S. citizens are officially prisoners in the USA, or exiles barred from entering our own country without the government’s ...

• Biopiracy, GM Seeds and Rural India "Over 100,000 ...

  Priya Kumar, Global Research, June 2, 2009 The reality for the average Indian remains the same: agricultural cultivation and the ability to farm is the bedrock of rural living. With its historical practices, values, and communal sentiments of ...

Al Jazeera

• Central Baghdad blasts kill scores

  At least 75 people die in bomb and mortar attacks around the government "Green Zone".

• Deaths in attack on Afghan capital

  Three people killed in raid on a bank in Kabul, a day before presidential election.

• South Korea aborts space launch

  Seoul's first space launch to send satellite into orbit stopped minutes before take-off.

• China in $40bn Australia gas deal

  Liquefied natural gas sale comes despite strained relations between the countries.

• Apology over China lead poisoning

  City mayor says sorry and promises improved health standards before reopening smelter.

Green Inc. - NYT

• A Boost for Photovoltaics in California Deal

  Southern California Edison on Tuesday announced a deal to buy 550 megawatts of electricity from two massive photovoltaic solar farms to be built in the Mojave Desert by First Solar.

• Companies Nudge Rallies Against Climate Bill

  A downtown theater in Houston is expected to be crowded today with oil company workers who will hear speakers claim that the Waxman-Markey climate change bill will destroy millions of American jobs and raise costs for consumers.

• The Greenhouse Gases that Cool Your Fridge

  A campaign is underway to persuade global leaders to accept so-called natural refrigerants with little or no greenhouse gas impact.

• Arizona Sees a Snub in Solar 'Study Zones'

  Arizona officials are complaining that the federal government short-changed their sunny state when it designated "solar energy study zones" to accelerate development of solar power plants in Western states.

• The Continuing Allure of Rooftop Wind

  Four wind turbines, rising 45-feet above a 22-story building in downtown Portland, Ore., won't produce a significant amount of power - but the architects that put them there say they'll provide important information about urban wind farming.

Dot Earth News

• Coming of Age as a Person and Species

  Does a film on sex and insecurity offers lessons on humanity's global growth spurt?

• Energy Frontiers: Space Solar, Hot Lots

  A closer look at potentially transformational energy ideas.

• Data Gap on Atlantic Storms and Warming

  More questions raised about recent hurricane trends.

• A Billion Teenagers, for Better or Worse

  Some of the world's poorest and most turbulent regions are witnessing explosive population growth, meaning enormous numbers of teenagers and children.

• Landslide Losses Not Inevitable

  With planning, the risks from landslides like those in Taiwan can be reduced.

Doug Feith : Hong Pong

• Introducing Feidt Design LLC - yr handy electronic ...

  You better believe it! I filed for Feidt Design LLC with the Secretary of State a week ago, and got the certificate on Friday! Here's the intro message. (And there was much rejoicing!!) It's a lot of fun to set up a new biz :-) Thanks for visiting Feidt Design! Hey all, Thanks for stopping by the ...

• Thanks to Rose for finding my phone! Plus: I'm sta ...

  I nearly had a horrible day today, leaving my trusty old Helio phone on a bench at the University of Minnesota mall. A good samaritan named Rose picked it up and called the Boiler Room coffee shop back after I tried the phone. I got it back! Thanks a ton, Rose, you saved yet another messy situation ...

• Hat tip for Joaquin Phoenix conspiracy

  Not a bad idea! Which makes this potentially one of the greatest performances any modern actor has ever given -- or at least one of the most baldly courageous. The closest comparison would have to be Andy Kaufman's utter commitment to his obnoxious Tony Clifton persona, but Phoenix is going Kaufman ...

• Tough times south of the border

  Duly noted: Mexican TV reporter ducking stray bullets: Hat tip to the thoughtful Texas farmer Don , who knows what you ought to know about the War On Drugs. This video was recently the #1 most discussed from Mexico on YooToob... Plus, don't miss the five stages of complete social collapse! http://c ...

• Pirate Bay Trial and Kopimi: The Kopimi Manifesto

  I can't say I get it. But I like it. In these apocalyptic and bitchy times, it is high time to get some sarcastic Swedish hacker philsophy out there. Now is the time. The spectrial is apparently the place. How could we forget the Pirate Bay Spectrial?! They released a Pirate Bay Manifesto - POwr, Br ...

• AlterNet Top Stories

• Whoa, 'District 9' Is a Really Good Sci-Fi Action ...

  There are a couple of strokes of genius in District 9 that renew hopes for the future of genre film.

• Anti-Choice Zealots Make Bank Promoting the " ...

  The 'egg-as-person' crusade is driving big money to anti-choice groups.

• The Fiji Phenomenon: It's a Human Rights and Envir ...

  How did a plastic water bottle, imported from a military dictatorship thousands of miles away, become the epitome of cool?

• House 'Under Water'? Do Like the Banks Do and Just ...

  Banks aren't taking possession of houses after foreclosure, creating a "shadow inventory" that may derail the recovery.

• Is Obama Squandering Our Best Chance for Better He ...

  After a brilliant beginning, Obama seems to be abandoning his principles on health care by hedging on a public option.

Threat Level

• BSA Softens Anti-Piracy Message

  The Business Software Alliance has a new anti-piracy video that for the first time uses humor instead of scare tactics to get out its message. The alliance, consisting of about 80 companies — including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe — is the counterpart to the Recording Industry Association of Amer ...

• Outspoken Privacy Advocate Joins FTC

  Christopher Soghoian, an outspoken privacy advocate who drew the ire of a congressman two years ago when he published information about a serious breach in airline security, has been hired by the Federal Trade Commission to work in the division of privacy and identity protection in its Bureau of Co ...

• TJX Hacker Charged with Heartland, Hannaford Breac ...

  The constellation of hacks connected to the TJX hacker is growing. Albert “Segvec” Gonzalez, a former Secret Service informant who is already awaiting trial over his involvement in the TJX hack, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in New Jersey, along with two unnamed Russia-based conspira ...

• Patent Lawsuit Threatens to Clip Twitter’s Wings

  TechRadium, a little known Texas-based player in the emergency mass-notification field, didn’t just wake up this month and decide to sue Twitter for patent infringement. The company says it didn’t care about Twitter when the Twitterati was watching the tweets of NBA superstars, musicians, polit ...

• Luckless Predator Only Attracted to Undercover Cop ...

  It’s official. There’s nobody in the chat rooms but pedophiles and undercover police. On Thursday, a federal appeals court upheld the conviction of an Indiana man whose online efforts to proposition underage girls led him to not one, not two, but three undercover cops, none of whom apparently kn ...

Reuters - Most Popular Articles

• Buffett says U.S. on slow path to recovery: report

  (Reuters) - The United States economy is out of the emergency room and appears to be on a slow path to recovery,, Warren Buffett wrote in an opinion column in the New York Times.

• PlayStation 3 slims down in size, price

  COLOGNE, Germany (Hollywood Reporter) - Before it even started, Sony stole the show.

• Hurricane Bill grows to major storm, should miss U ...

  MIAMI (Reuters) - Hurricane Bill, the first of the 2009 Atlantic season, strengthened into a Category 3 storm on Tuesday with top winds near 125 miles per hour (205 km per hour), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

• Baby boomers still getting high, U.S. agency says

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Baby boomers, now well into middle age, are still turning on to illegal drugs, doubling the rates of illicit drug use for the older generation, according to U.S. government statistics released on Wednesday.

• Views unchanged on Obama's healthcare plans: poll

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans remain skeptical of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform drive, but their views have not changed much after weeks of sometimes angry protests at public meetings, according to an NBC poll released on Tuesday.

Godspace

• Playing Children’s Games As Spiritual Practi ...

  It is a bright and sunny morning in Seattle with the promise of a hot day ahead. For most of us it is a work day but I think that if we were honest with ourselves we would rather be out playing with the kids so this post below by Julie Clawson seemed appropriate. Julie describes [...]

• Intergenerational Friendships as Spiritual Practic ...

  I am back from the MSA Celtic retreat on Camano Island (more on that later) and realizing that my expectations of what I could accomplish were a little unrealistic. And then our internet was down all morning and I was just about pulling my hair out trying to get caught up. What ever happened to ...

• Unemployment as a Spiritual Practice

  I am now back from Australia and as you can imagine the posts for my series on What is a Spiritual Practice have been mounting up while I have had limited internet access and less time to focus on such things. Â Thanks for your patience and for your prayers during this challenging season. Today’ ...

• Editing your Life: The Spiritual Discipline of Edi ...

  I am sitting in Sydney on a beautiful but crisp winter’s morning watching the rainbow lorikeets out in the trees. Â My Dad’s funeral is over and I will head back to Seattle in 2 days time. Â I have been very aware of prayer and the grace of God in the midst of this. Â Thanks to [...]

• Living in Transition as Spiritual Practice

  I am now in Sydney Australia after what has been one of the easiest long international trips I have made for a long time. Â I even slept for several hours on the flight which makes me very aware of the fact that people have been praying for me. Today’s article comes from Guy Chmieleski who is [. ...

Pine River World News

• PERU: Native group threatens to seize oil faciliti ...

  IntelTrends - The following article is from Latin America news agency, Prensa Latina, Havana. Indigenous Ultimatum to Peru Government © Prensa Latina August 18, 2009 Lima, Aug 18 (Prensa Latina) - The regressive count for the restart of protests of indigenous in the zone of the Amazon takes on ...

• Afghanistan election sham

  The following commentary is from the Tehran Times. Afghanistan election sham © Tehran Times By Salman Ansari Javid August 17, 2009 Some 40 candidates are contesting in Afghanistan's second presidential election in its history on Thursday. Afghans are expected to go to the polls with enthusiasm a ...

• Iraqi MP demands to establish headquarters of Yeme ...

  IntelTrends - The following article is from al-Sahwa. Iraqi MP demands to establish headquarters of al-Houthi rebels in Baghdad © al-Sahwa August 16, 2009 (Sahwa Net) - Head of Iraq parliament's Foreign Committee Sheikh Hamam Hamaudi has called for establishing a headquarters for al-Houthi rebe ...

• Tribalism main obstacle to democracy in Afghanista ...

  The following article is from Today's Zaman, Istanbul. Tribalism main obstacle to democracy in Afghanistan, say Afghan intellectuals © Today's Zaman By Emine Kart August 16, 2009 ANKARA - Days ahead of Thursday's presidential election in Afghanistan, which will be the second since the Taliban re ...

• JIHAD IN NIGERIA: Boko Haram sect threatens Nigeri ...

  Pine River World News / IntelTrends August 15, 2009 If you thought that Boko Haram, the Islamic sect at the center of recent clashes in northern Nigeria, would simply go away after their leader was executed by police you may well be mistaken. Mohammed Yusuf's death certainly dealt a blow to the mov ...

• PsyBlog

• Brainstorming Reloaded

  · Why brainstorming is ineffective and how to fix it. Brainstorming was once thought a fantastic way for groups to generate new ideas. Although not as fashionable as it once was, brainstorming is still frequently used in business and, often inadvertently, for all sorts of personal decisions; peop ...

• Consumer Psychology

  · How and why we consume and how our beliefs, ideas and senses influence consumption. Peter Drucker, the management consultant, famously argued that about 80% of all products and services fail or fall well short of targets within six months of launching. Clearly markets have little understanding ...

• Why Left to Right Punches Are More Aggressive, Pow ...

  Reading and writing from left to right is a skill so well-practised, so ingrained in language, that it's easy to ignore. Yet, according to some research, the direction in which language flows could have implications that spread into many other areas of our experience. Consider that people are often ...

• Persuasion: The Right-Ear Advantage

  If you want someone to comply with a random request for a cigarette, you should speak into their right ear, according to a new study by researchers in Italy. Marzoli & Tommasi (2009) had a female confederate visit a disco and approach 176 random people asking for a smoke. Clubbers were about twice ...

• 10 Rules That Govern Groups

  Much of our lives are spent in groups with other people: we form groups to socialise, earn money, play sport, make music, even to change the world. But although groups are diverse, many of the psychological processes involved are remarkably similar. Here are 10 insightful studies that give a flavou ...

After Downing Street.org

• Healthcare Lobbyists: 6 For Each Member Of Congres ...

  Healthcare lobbyists: 6 for each member of Congress By Andrew Malcolm | LATimes Excerpt: ...here are some startling lesser-known facts, pulled together by two diligent Bloomberg News reporters, Lizzie O'Leary and Jonathan Salant: Every one of those 534 members of Congress now has six (6!) lobby ...

• China Warns Of 'Arms Race In Outer Space'

  China warns of 'arms race in outer space' By Associated Press | Google News China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi called Wednesday for international diplomacy to avert an "arms race in outer space." Space should be reserved for peaceful purposes, Yang told the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament in ...

• Q&A: "Punishment Has to Be Top Priority in U.S. M ...

  Q&A: "Punishment Has to Be Top Priority in U.S. Military" Catherine Makino interviews Ann Wright, retired U.S. army colonel | IPSNews Ann Wright is a former U.S. diplomat who served in the military for 29 years. She was a deputy ambassador in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Mongolia and Micronesia. Sh ...

• Afghanistan War Resister Sentenced

  Afghanistan War Resister Sentenced By Dahr Jamail | Truthout Sergeant Travis Bishop, with the US Army's 57th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, pled not guilty at a special court martial on Thursday to two counts of missing movement, disobeying a lawful order and going absent without leave (AWOL). Fr ...

• American’s Colony Guam: Having No Say When Washi ...

  American’s Colony Guam: Having No Say When Washington Tries to Increase your Population by 25%!! By Ann Wright, U.S. Army Reserve Colonel (Retired) The United States and the Chinese governments have some remarkable similarities when it comes to colonization. The Chinese government has sent a hu ...

Grist - News

• Let’s (re)do school lunch

  It’s time to get active in the campaign to improve school lunches, says Kurt Michael Friese.

• Ruminations on the Obama era, with a side of spicy ...

• Cheap-chicken ad from KFC hides true cost of food; ...

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• Stalking the wild leeks of spring

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Sidebar Search

Water Power

water floods pollution

Gov. sets conditions for water legislation

Los Angeles Times

- Aug 18, 2009

- 13 hours ago

By Bettina Boxall The chances that Sacramento will break the stalemate on California water policy this summer grew dimmer Tuesday when Gov. ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

Water Main Break Shuts Road in Alexandria

Washington Post

- Aug 19, 2009

- 1 hour ago

By William Branigin A water main break in Alexandria shut down a section of South Reynolds Street Wednesday morning, forcing commuters to use alternate ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

Gloucester says water is safe to use, despite plant woes

Boston Globe

- Aug 18, 2009

- 8 hours ago

By Kathy McCabe GLOUCESTER - City officials said yesterday that a breakdown at a water treatment plant over the weekend poses no risk to public health or ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

On tap in Milford: Steaming anger

Boston Globe

- Aug 18, 2009

- 9 hours ago

Janis George boiled water to wash dishes in her Milford home after coliform bacteria was found in the town's water supply. (Bill Greene/ Globe Staff) By ...

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To Do

renewable recycling conservation

8 airlines to use renewable synthetic diesel for ground equipment

Los Angeles Times

- Aug 18, 2009

- 16 hours ago

By Tiffany Hsu Eight major airlines have agreed to use renewable synthetic diesel fuel for their ground service equipment at Los Angeles International ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

Renewable energy laws pass Australia's parliament

Reuters

- Aug 19, 2009

- 7 hours ago

"Today's decision is a victory for common sense, it's a victory for the environment and it's a victory for renewable energy," conservative environment ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

Majority of Texans Want More Renewable Power - Survey

SustainableBusiness.com

- Aug 19, 2009

- 3 hours ago

A new survey shows that a vast majority of Texas residents believe it's important for the state to develop and use renewable energy--even if it costs them ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

ATC backing study of renewable energy transmission

Bizjournals.com

- Aug 18, 2009

- 22 hours ago

Officials said bolstering such a network in the region is key to connecting renewable energy generation in states such as North and South Dakota and ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

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Human Habitat

ecology water energy

Tasmanian Devils Being Wiped Out by Social Ties

FOXNews

- Aug 19, 2009

- 1 hour ago

The study will be published in the journal Ecology Letters. The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) resides only on the island of Tasmania, ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

Ecology notifies thousands of court hearing in final phase of ...

Access Washington

- Aug 18, 2009

- 17 hours ago

YAKIMA – Ecology will publish legal ads in three Central Washington newspapers notifying 6630 lawsuit defendants of a court hearing on water right claims in ...

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clipped from Google - 8/2009

Ecology, Kittitas Co. discuss changing water agreement

Yakima Herald-Republic

- Aug 19, 2009

- 10 hours ago

Changes to a proposed water management agreement between Kittitas County and the state Department of Ecology governing new water wells may be in the offing, ...

clipped from Google - 8/2009

New Orleans may be home to Arcology: Architecutural Ecology (Video ...

Examiner.com

- Aug 18, 2009

- Aug 18, 2009

Some architectural firms have banded together to design a 1200 foot high arcology structure for New Orleans. The architects are referring to the plan as ...

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I tried to add unresolved Search Results to yesterday's post. Editing gave the strange result of being added - and not showing up on the post when Published!
That's not the first time that's happened, either. Blogging has its mysterious components even for those who have used blogs for years.
Sidebar Search is a special nuisance because it often will not load : so that getting results is an especially critical operation!