What Adam Curry is reading

To provide for greater safety in the use of firearms. (H.R. 6725) - GovTrack.us
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  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:44
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  H.R. 6725--112th Congress: To provide for greater safety in the use of firearms.. (2012). In GovTrack.us (database of federal legislation). Retrieved January 2, 2013, from http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr6725?utm_campaign=govtrack_feed&utm_source=govtrack%2Ffeed&utm_medium=rss
  ''H.R. 6725--112th Congress: To provide for greater safety in the use of firearms..'' GovTrack.us (database of federal legislation). 2012. January 2, 2013 <http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr6725?utm_campaign=govtrack_feed&utm_source=govtrack%2Ffeed&utm_medium=rss>
  {{cite web|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr6725?utm_campaign=govtrack_feed&utm_source=govtrack%2Ffeed&utm_medium=rss|title=H.R. 6725 (112th)|accessdate=January 2, 2013|author=112th Congress (2012)|date=December 31, 2012|work=Legislation|publisher=GovTrack.us|quote=To provide for greater safety in the use of firearms.}}
"We're Gonna Look Back On This Night And Regret It!" Congressman Jim Moran
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  Source: Uploads by MOXNEWSd0tC0M
  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:41
"Hopefully In The New Year We Can Focus On... NOT Scaring The Heck Out Of People So Much!" Obama
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  Source: Uploads by MOXNEWSd0tC0M
  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:39
Side Effects Promo (Ablixa Advertisement) - IMDb
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  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:24
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Forensic psych on violent minds - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
  Link to Article
  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:11
  Posted July 22, 2012 09:51:22
  Forensic psychiatrist Paul Mullen, an expert in violent criminals, discusses the nature of mass murderers and the modern trend of the public massacre.
  ABC News
  Source: ABC News | Duration: 8min
  Topics:murder-and-manslaughter, psychology, melbourne-3000
MILLOY: EPA's illegal human experiments could break Nuremberg Code - Washington Times
  Link to Article
  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 08:17
  Enlarge Photo
  Illustration EPA Human Experiments by Alexander Hunter for The Washington Times more >The Obama Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says no law empowers any judge to stop it from conducting illegal scientific experiments on seniors, children and the sick.
  That astounding assertion will be tested Friday, when a federal district court in Alexandria decides whether it has jurisdiction to hear claims made by the American Tradition Institute that EPA researchers are exposing unwary and genetically susceptible senior citizens to air pollutants the agency says can cause a variety of serious cardiac and respiratory problems, including sudden death.
  Although the lawsuit only addresses ongoing, purportedly illegal experimentation being carried out at an EPA laboratory on the Chapel Hill campus of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, EPA researchers and grantees have carried out dozens of similarly shocking experiments over the past 10 years at UNC and other schools, including Rutgers University, the University of Michigan, University of Rochester, University of Southern California and University of Washington.
  During that time at those university laboratories, EPA-employed or -funded researchers have intentionally exposed a variety of people to concentrated levels of different air pollutants, including particulate matter (soot and dust), diesel exhaust, ozone and chlorine gas '-- the latter substance more recognized as a World War I-era chemical weapon than as an outdoor air pollutant.
  Over the same period that the experiments in question have been conducted, the EPA has become more and more alarmist in communications to Congress and the public about danger the air pollutants pose to individuals even at commonplace, non-concentrated levels. The EPA has determined, for example, that any exposure to fine particulate matter can cause death within hours or days of inhalation. EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, moreover, has testified in Congress that particulate matter causes about 1 of every 4 deaths in America.
  Not only is diesel exhaust largely made up of ''deadly'' particulate matter, but its components include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which the EPA considers to be cancer-causing. The agency generally says that any exposure to a carcinogen increases the risk of cancer. Diesel exhaust also includes lead. The EPA has determined that lead can be readily absorbed from inhalation into the blood and that there is no safe level of lead in blood.
  The EPA has exposed its human guinea pigs to ozone levels as high as 400 parts per billion (ppb), more than five times higher than the EPA's current standard and six times higher than the standard expected to be adopted in 2013. In a March 2012 letter to Mrs. Jackson from the agency's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Council, a council member unwittingly commented that ''[experimental] exposure of rats to 300 or 400 ppb may be very relevant to humans, but impossible to study in humans for ethical reasons.'' Little did the council member know that EPA researchers routinely '-- but illegally '-- do the ''impossible.''
  Aside from the EPA-determined dangers associated with the air pollutants used in the experiments, there are the human study subjects. While some have been healthy young adults, others have been elderly, asthmatic or both. Many have been diagnosed with ''metabolic syndrome.'' Some had suffered heart attacks and, while they were in rehabilitation, were enrolled as human guinea pigs. EPA-funded researchers apparently have even exposed children to dangerous diesel exhaust and ultrafine particles.
  The American Tradition Institute contends in its lawsuit that the EPA has broken virtually every rule established to protect human subjects used in scientific experiments, including the Nuremberg Code, ethics principles for human experimentation adopted following the Nuremberg Trials at the end of World War II, and similar U.S. regulations known as ''The Common Rule.''
  Rather than defending itself against the serious allegations made by the institute, the EPA instead has said it is essentially above the law and the federal court has no business hearing those serious charges.
  The EPA claims the court has no jurisdiction to hear the case under the Clean Air Act (CAA): ''Nothing in the CAA provides a meaningful standard to evaluate what air pollution EPA chooses to study or how. To the contrary, the CAA gives EPA broad discretion in the subject matter of its research program. Congress broadly mandated that EPA study the health effects of air pollution.''
  Of course, Congress most likely thought the EPA would conduct such research in a lawful manner.
  The EPA also says because ''no judicially manageable standards are available for judging how and when [EPA] should exercise its discretion in deciding what research to undertake, EPA's decision to study the health effects of [particulate matter] using controlled human exposure studies was a decision committed to the EPA's discretion and immune from review under the [Administrative Procedures Act],'' the general law governing the conduct of federal agencies.
  The EPA's view, then, is that because Congress has not enacted a law that expressly forbids the agency from violating the Nuremberg Code and federal regulations governing human testing or that expressly guides judges in evaluating the conduct of agency researchers who experiment on their fellow human beings, the agency has unfettered discretion to do as it pleases with the young, old, sick and anyone else who falls into its clutches.
  Will it really take a special act of Congress to compel the EPA to adhere to common standards of humanity? Stay tuned.
  Story Continues '†'
  View Entire Story
Hurricane Destroyed Evidence Held by New York Police
  Link to Article
  Source: NYT > Home Page
  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:56
  Perched on a narrow crook of land jutting into New York Harbor, the Erie Basin auto pound and evidence warehouse seems a logical place to store hundreds of seized cars, thousands of guns and 9,846 barrels of evidence containing sensitive DNA material.
  It is easy for the New York Police Department to safeguard the secluded bunker, in Red Hook, Brooklyn, from potential thieves.
  But not, it turns out, from the surrounding water.
  As Hurricane Sandy lashed the city, the surge breached the warehouse's roll-top doors and hurtled hundreds '-- perhaps thousands '-- of its barrels into the wet muck. The storm wreaked similar havoc at another Police Department warehouse by the water, along Kingsland Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
  Now, the damage is having an impact on the courts.
  In at least six criminal trials in recent weeks, a police official has had to testify that evidence was inaccessible, but still existed, said Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the Police Department.
  Prosecutors and defense lawyers said they were concerned that many more cases could emerge. ''This is likely to be the tip of the iceberg,'' said Steven Banks, chief lawyer for the Legal Aid Society.
  A defendant in Brooklyn, Manuel Castro, was one of the first people convicted of a crime based, in part, on DNA evidence destroyed during Hurricane Sandy. A jury found him guilty of robbery and attempted assault after a judge allowed testimony on evidence '-- a jacket and boots '-- that could not be produced in court because both articles had been at the Greenpoint warehouse, Mr. Banks said.
  ''We believe the ruling that permitted the evidence to come in was incorrect and we are appealing,'' Mr. Banks said, adding that the situation was ''a recipe for wrongful convictions.''
  Police officials have responded to the storm's destruction by seeking advice from one of the only departments in the country with recent experience in this area: the New Orleans police.
  Since Hurricane Sandy hit on Oct. 29, Phil T. Pulaski, the chief of detectives, and others in New York have been in phone contact with counterparts in the South, said Lt. Scott Lindsly, who helps oversee property and evidence for the New Orleans Police Department.
  ''We're still dealing with this stuff ourselves,'' Lieutenant Lindsly said.
  Mounds of waterlogged evidence bags continue to cause headaches in New Orleans more than seven years after Hurricane Katrina, pointing to the difficulty of preserving DNA evidence after flooding.
  ''If you don't keep it properly stored, you're affecting somebody's life,'' said Robbie Keen, who directs a federally financed DNA project in New Orleans that is still trying to recover evidence.
  Ms. Keen said some of the damaged biological evidence from Hurricane Katrina had been successfully tested, but some had been lost.
  The New York Police Department has assigned 20 officers, 6 civilians and a captain to recover evidence at the two warehouses, under the supervision of Robert S. Martinez, director of the department's Support Services Bureau, Mr. Browne said. The department may also hire a private contractor to help with the cleanup of damaged documents, as New Orleans did.
  Mr. Browne said an occupational safety team within the Police Department determined that the two warehouses had been contaminated, with substances including raw sewage, and that they had to be closed to workers. It was not clear when they would be safe to enter.
  Longstanding problems in the vast police storage system have compounded the storm's effects.
  While the department now puts bar codes on evidence, it relied on paper records until a few years ago. The antiquated system still provides the only way to track millions of items in the department's 11 storage areas.
  ''It was all piles '-- piles, piles, piles,'' said John W. Cassidy, a retired officer who spent more than a decade in the property division. ''It's not like it was organized. You could have 50 vouchers on one pile.''
  Before bar codes were used, important pieces of evidence could occasionally go missing, ''despite extensive search efforts by the N.Y.P.D.,'' according to the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to using DNA evidence to exonerate the wrongfully convicted.
  A month before Hurricane Sandy, the United States Justice Department gave $1.25 million to the Police Department and the Innocence Project to go back and organize DNA evidence that might help overturn wrongful convictions.
  Since August, the Police Department has been considering consolidation of its five evidence warehouses '-- including the two that flooded '-- into a single, new warehouse, Mr. Browne said. He said there were no plans to repair the damaged warehouses. Instead, evidence recovered from Greenpoint and Erie Basin is to be transferred to an interim site in Brooklyn until the single evidence bunker is built.
  In addition to the nearly 10,000 barrels kept at Erie Basin, Mr. Browne said there were an additional 1,177 barrels of DNA evidence at the Kingsland Avenue location. Each barrel could contain a single piece of evidence '-- like a bloody blanket '-- or many smaller items in individual paper bags or envelopes. (Paper is favored over plastic, which can hasten bacterial contamination.)
  Roughly 5,000 ''narcotics items'' and 3,250 firearms were also stored at the Erie Basin warehouse, Mr. Browne said.
  Evidence for a coming rape trial in Manhattan '-- the so-called rape kit '-- had been stored at the Greenpoint location, the defense lawyer in the case said. The lawyer, Edward V. Sapone, said prosecutors told him that the kit might have been damaged in the storm.
  Mr. Sapone said he had been concerned because he believed the evidence stored inside would help prove his client's innocence.
  It turned out that one element in the kit '-- a pubic hair '-- had not been at the warehouse during the storm because it was being tested.
  Mr. Sapone said he received a message on Monday that the prosecutor was going to recommend dismissal of the case because the hair did not match Mr. Sapone's client's.
  But without a trial, the effect of the storm on the rest of that rape kit '-- and possibly others '-- will not be made public in court hearings.
  In New York State, evidence in criminal cases is not presented until a trial begins. And if a plea bargain is offered and accepted beforehand, it is not presented at all.
  ''The government may well be fashioning plea deals based upon the lack of underlying evidence,'' Mr. Banks, of Legal Aid, said. ''We can ask if it's there, but they don't have to tell.''
Church of Scientology & US Pentagon Lies to Tom Cruise (Alien CIA Cover)
  Link to Article
  Source: hollywoodilluminatidotcom
  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:51
  I'm BACK BITCHES! Hollywood Illuminati 2013! Everybody getting exposed!
  Re: BBC Panorama reporter John Sweeney new book, ''Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of Scientology.
  The BBC sure is quick to expose everyone else's scandal but when it comes to the BBC taking a look at themselves, like why are child rapist working in high level positions at the BBC, all one hears are crickets.
  I do have a problem with The Church of Scientology when it comes to some of their actions. But I do not have an issue with L Ron Hubbard because I know that what L Ron Hubbard said, on 90% of issues, were all pretty much correct & truthful.
  Every time that I even write the words Church of Scientology, I get Scientologist from Hollywood, magically walking behind me, when I go running through Hollywood Hills or on a hiking trail.I like L Ron Hubbard because I know where he got his info and I know what he was trying to do.
  O.K. an E-Meter cost Scientology $40.00 to make and they sell it for $4000.00 but one could also argue that a CD is made from recycled junk, cost less than 1 Cent to produce but the music labels used to sell CD's for $20.00 a pop! That was a crack habit!
  The reason why the music industry has vanished is because greedy music labels tried to rip off 10 year old girls by pushing a product that was simply too expensive.
  So, capitalism cuts both ways and lord knows that Black Protestant Churches in the poorest parts of the U.S., have credit card vending machines and ATM's in their lobbies, so that poor blacks hand over 10% to 15% of their minimum wage check every Sunday or else they will burn in hell according to Hollywood Protestant Minister, TD Jakes!
  John Sweeney is talking about some ''alien base'' built by Scientology back in the 1980'²s, in the state of New Mexico. John Sweeney is saying that this base was built for aliens.
  Well, being a former US Marine with classified access in the 1990'²s, I can say that EVERY government, US Pentagon and US Military under-ground base (which there are tons, including under the city of Los Angeles) was built under the guise of ''aliens''.
  If one were to walk into Down Town Los Angeles, enter the library and ask about the under ground cities beneath Southern California, they simply hand you a book on aliens and reptile creatures. This is misinformation & its wide-spread corruption put out by the CIA and British MI6 back in the 1980s via New Age books by Brad Steiger (Reptiles) & Hollywood Actress Shirley MacLaine (aliens).
  In fact, one could not build an under ground base (not even the US Government) in America, without using the CIA's Alien Narrative, as a way to fool the public.
  Did L Ron Hubbard believe in aliens? No.
  L Ron Hubbard and Scientology along with many government installations, could not obtain permission to build any substantial under-ground nuclear bunker or city system, unless one hid it from the public with an ''alien front''.
  Where did L Ron Hubbard get his alien or unwanted thetan (an alien entity that attaches itself to a living human & causes depression) narrative from? From the top levels of the US Government.
  Even when I was in the US Marine Corp, I went through files of high level government studies, where people were falling under severe depression or even possession, which was so bad that some Marines had to be removed from active duty and placed into a holding area. When regular drugs and medicines failed to improve their conditions, these Marines were sent away to US Pentagon Bases. (This is top secret shit)
  Some of these Marines were sent off to be studied by Government Para-Normal Scientist at the US Pentagon, and when these Marines, that appeared to be suffering from possession, were examined, sometimes for years, with very sensitive equipment, one could actually see little orbs or lights of foreign conscience that entered the heads of these Marines.
  In fact, there was one guy in my barracks, that would take a knife and carve up the center of his hand, to the point that he had an open sore, which would not heal. This guy would stay up all night and talk to his hand and didn't appear normal until the following morning, when we had formation.
  I knew this guy and found out his entire life story. He happened to be one of the guys that were sent off to get studied and since I knew him, I always managed to track his files & even read them.
  His files showed that foreign orbs of conscience (3 of them) would circle him every night and then enter his head, which brought on a possession. And this is what L Ron Hubbard calls ''Thetans''. The Goverment & military knows what a soul looks like.
  Basically what L Ron Hubbard did, was use the cover of a ''Xenu Alien God'' to mask, high level data, that the US Military has confirmed to be real, has documented and studied for decades.
  L Ron Hubbard knew exactly what he was talking about but back in the 60'²s, 70'²s, 80'²s and even today, no one can put this data out to the public unless one wraps it up in ''aliens''.
  The US Government would rather us talk about aliens, than to talk about Lucifer or demons.
  Now does Tom Cruise know all of this data? Likely not. Most Scientologist, at the highest levels, have no idea on who L Ron Hubbard really was nor do they know how L Ron Hubbard got his info.
  This is exactly why the US Pentagon & US Marine Corp are demanding major edits to my book on the Hollywood Illuminati & it is to the point that if I do it, the way that they want me to do it, then I would be no better than a fraud like David Icke and simply have yet another dumb book on aliens and lizards from out of space.
  In conclusion I would like to see John Sweeney attempt to get permission to build a massive under-ground bunker, back in the 1980'²s, and do it without using the ''alien cover''. It just couldn't be done back them. Everything that the government did in secret, was covered up with the reptilian or alien lie
Senate Fiscal Cliff Bill Raises Taxes On 77% Of U.S. Households'...
  Link to Article
  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:23
  And yet they will still pimp this as a bill to prevent tax hikes.
  WASHINGTON '-- Only the most affluent American households would pay higher income taxes this year under the terms of a deal that passed the Senate early Tuesday morning, but most households would face higher payroll taxes because the deal does not extend a two-year-old tax break.
  The legislation, which still must overcome resistance exhibited on Tuesday by House Republicans, would grant most Americans an instant reversal of the income tax increases that took effect with the arrival of the new year. Only about 0.7 percent of households would be subject to an income tax increase this year, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. The increases would apply almost exclusively to households making at least half a million dollars, the center estimated in an analysis published Tuesday.
  But the Senate's decision not to reverse a scheduled increase in the payroll tax that finances Social Security, while widely expected, still means that about 77 percent of households would pay a larger share of income to the federal government this year, according to the center's analysis.
  The tax this year would increase by two percentage points, to 6.2 percent from 4.2 percent, on all earned income up to $113,700.
How did Hitler really die?
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:05
  Hitler's last days were not spent in his Berlin bunker, but in tranquil luxury in an Argentine hotel '' at least, that's the story that director/ producer Noam Shalev and researcher Pablo Weschler are trying to prove in their upcoming documentary, Revealed: Hitler in Argentina, set for release next year.''We will never know the truth,'' Shalev cautions, sitting in the offices of Highlight Films, the video production company he and Weschler run in Bnei Brak. ''But there is enough evidence to build an alternative theory about what happened to Hitler.''
  ''No one believed the Russians' story of Hitler's suicide in the bunker,'' says Weschler. ''As early as the summer of 1945, there were headlines asking, 'Where is Hitler?' all over the world.''
  One difficulty in confirming the basic facts of Hitler's suicide with his wife, Eva Braun, in the final days of the Allies' approach to Berlin, was that the Russian troops did not give access to many forensic investigators. Shalev and Weschler believe that British intelligence officer and historian Hugh Trevor-Roper's investigation was rushed and ''unprofessional.''
  But what inspired them to begin making their film about the evidence they believe leads to proof of Hitler's secret flight to Argentina were recently declassified FBI documents.
  ''In those days, the FBI, not the CIA, was responsible for South America,'' explains Weschler. ''And in declassified documents, we see that the FBI took very seriously the possibility that Hitler fled to Argentina.''
  The FBI set up a special unit to investigate this possibility.
  Shalev and Weschler are convinced they have gathered significant evidence that pinpoints Hitler's whereabouts during the years following World War II. Inspired by the book Hitler's Escape by Italian journalist Patrick Burnside, they have done their own research as well.
  ''When Burnside published his book, in 1998, he got thousands of e-mails from people coming forward with information,'' says Shalev. ''Some of them were crazy, of course, but he had enough information to do more research and write another book.''
  The manuscript of that book, which will be published next year, was a useful guide for Shalev and Weschler, and led them to a famous hotel.
  ''The Eden Hotel in La Falda, Cordoba [in Argentina] was owned by Ida and Walter Eichhorn, who were close friends of Hitler,'' explains Weschler. ''Hitler sent them a Mercedes Benz as a gift. It was the first Benz in Argentina.''
  The once-opulent hotel, now in ruins, was the site of lavish parties, and a host of notables, including Albert Einstein, stayed there in the Twenties and Thirties. The Eichhorns were very vocal in their support for the Nazi party, and made financial contributions.
  They also broadcast speeches Hitler's, whenever he spoke on the radio, throughout the hotel.
  Citing a September 1945 letter from the FBI (one of the documents declassified in the Nineties), Weschler points to the lines that show that the FBI believed that if Hitler got into trouble, he could always find a safe haven with the Eichhorns if he could manage to get there. Weschler found former employees of the hotel who say they met and waited on Hitler after the war there.
  ''It was easy for them to recognize him, because his picture was all over the hotel,'' says Weschler. He says that his research shows that Hitler moved on from the hotel to an isolated rural estate in Argentina, where he lived out his days with Braun and their two daughters, and that he died in the mid-Sixties.
  Particularly persuasive evidence, according to Weschler, is DNA testing done in 2009 on Hitler's skull fragments that were recovered from the bunker.
  ''They showed that they couldn't have been Hitler's skull because they were from a woman under 40,'' says Weschler, a finding that was reported in the mainstream press.
  ''DNA doesn't lie,'' he says. ''The more you look into it, the less credible the official version becomes, and the more plausible an alternative theory seems.''
Death threats anyone? Austrian Prof: global warming deniers should be sentenced to death
  Link to Article
  Source: Set You Free News
  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:04
  By joannenova
  Richard Parncutt, Professor of Systematic Musicology, University of Graz, Austria, reckons people like Watts, Tallbloke, Singer, Michaels, Monckton, McIntyre and me (there are too many to list) should be executed. He's gone full barking mad, and though he says these are his ''personal opinions'' they are listed on his university web site.
  For all the bleating of those who say they've had real ''death threats'', we get discussions about executing skeptics from Professors, wielding the tyrannical power of the state.
  Was he paid by the state to write these simplistic, immature, ''solutions''? Do taxpayers fund his web expenses? (And what the heck is systematic musicology?)
  Prof Richard Parncutt says:''I have always been opposed to the death penalty in all cases'...''
  ''Even mass murderers [like Breivik] should not be executed, in my opinion.''
  ''GW deniers fall into a completely different category from Behring Breivik. They are already causing the deaths of hundreds of millions of future people. We could be speaking of billions, but I am making a conservative estimate.''
  Consequences
  If a jury of suitably qualified scientists estimated that a given GW denier had already, with high probability (say 95%), caused the deaths of over one million future people, then s/he would be sentenced to death. The sentence would then be commuted to life imprisonment if the accused admitted their mistake, demonstrated genuine regret, AND participated significantly and positively over a long period in programs to reduce the effects of GW (from jail) '' using much the same means that were previously used to spread the message of denial. At the end of that process, some GW deniers would never admit their mistake and as a result they would be executed. Perhaps that would be the only way to stop the rest of them. The death penalty would have been justified in terms of the enormous numbers of saved future lives.
  Recant you foolish deniers or we'll kill you! Yeah. Welcome to modern scientific debate.
  Who should die? Anyone named on Desmog:
  Much more would have happened by now if not for the GW deniers. An amazing number of people still believe that GW is a story made up by scientists with ulterior motives. For a long list of climate change deniers and their stories see desmogblog.
  So the denier database becomes the ''death list''. The list decided by PR experts on a funded smear site, who profit from marketing Green corporations.
  But it's ok, he includes a caveat where he says he didn't say what I quoted above, so he can later pretend he isn't discussing real deaths of real people:
  Please note that I am not directly suggesting that the threat of execution be carried out. I am simply presenting a logical argument. I am neither a politician nor a lawyer. I am just thinking aloud about an important problem.
  And we all feel so much better don't we?
  But seriously, Global warming deniers are the worst vermin on the face of the Earth, worse than holocaust deniers, tobacco deniers and worse than someone who bombs buildings and shoots children en masse:
  I don't think that mass murderers of the usual kind, such Breivik, should face the death penalty. Nor do I think tobacco denialists are guilty enough to warrant the death penalty, in spite of the enormous number of deaths that resulted more or less directly from tobacco denialism. GW is different. With high probability it will cause hundreds of millions of deaths. For this reason I propose that the death penalty is appropriate for influential GW deniers.
  Here's how the deadly reasoning goesHow does he know we are facing disaster?He knows, because he's read a blog that pretends to be scientific and it says so. The same site resorts to ad homs, and kindergarden namecalling (like ''denier'' and ''Christie Crocks'') and is debunkedall overtheinternet, but the Prof is too poorly trained in reasoning to spot the cheap tricks, and he didn't think to search for ''SkepticalScience debunked''. Oops.
  His killer ''maths'' (if you could call it that)'... given the inherent uncertainty surrounding climatic predictions, even exaggerated accounts must be considered possible, albeit with a low probability. Consider this: If ten million people are going to die with a probability of 10%, that is like one million people dying with a probability of 100%.
  He repeats this:
  For the purpose of argument, let's give the GW deniers the benefit of the doubt and imagine that the scientists are wrong with a high probability, say 90%. If they are right, some 100 million people will die as a direct result of GW. Probably more like a billion, but this is a conservative estimate. If the probability of that happening is only 10%, then effectively ''only'' 10 million people will die. These are the numbers that GW deniers are playing with while exercising their ''freedom of speech''.
  So even if ''Deniers'' are right, they are still murderous and should still be executed. Ooo-K
  Read Full Article
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Obama Promised Public Policy Negotiations. Secrecy Has Failed. So, Why Not Try YouTube?
  Link to Article
  Source: Conscious Life News
  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:03
  Posted by Alcyone_Featured_, PoliticsTuesday, January 1st, 2013By GREGORY FERENSTEIN | TechCrunch
  One universal silver lining to any abject failure is that it presents the opportunity to test out radically different ideas. President Obama has largely ignored his campaign promise to hold policy negotiations in public. But after yesterday's epic budget compromise fail, it seems like a reasonable time to revisit that campaign promise and livestream talks over YouTube'' because the federal government can't do any worse than failing to perform one of its only mandated responsibilities.
  To hear it from the man himself, as a candidate, a more optimistic Barack Obama said this about healthcare:
  I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies '-- they'll get a seat at the table, they just won't be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so that approach, I think, is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process.
  In fairness to Obama, he did live stream a giant roundtable of policymakers '-- the so-called ''healthcare summit.'' To describe the live-streamed discussion as ''shallow'' would be a gross understatement. The GOP smartly stuck to talking points at nearly every turn, and after several hours of conversation no one would have learned more about healthcare if they watched more than 15 minutes of the talks.
  It wasn't a genuine test of transparency, however. Real negotiations are two, maybe three or four people. It's not possible to have a meaningful discussion with 40 people. So after the summit, healthcare politicking continued behind closed doors.
  There are a number of very compelling reasons for secret negotiations: It permits candor; it allows politicians to maintain a partisan public fa§ade; and it shields any particular negotiator from being the target of blame.
  Evidently, none of these were compelling enough to actually work for the budget.
  So here are some benefits, however theoretically, for piloting the next round of budget negotiations on YouTube.
  It Could Mitigate Extremists. Republicans especially have been haunted by a relatively extreme end of the libertarian wing, as many congressmen have reluctantly stuck to Grover Norquist's pledge of no tax increases under any circumstances. If the public could view, in real time, how impractical such an uncompromising position was in negotiations, it might make extremists look utopian.
  Read the full article
Fiscal Cliff Deal: Hollywood Gets Tax Incentive Extension.
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:02
  by Breitbart News1 Jan 2013, 12:33 PM PDTpost a commentSection 317 of the freshly approved legislation includes an extension for "special expensing rules for certain film and television productions." Congress first enacted production tax incentives favorable to the domestic entertainment industry in 2004, and extended them in 2008, but the deal was meant to expire in 2011.
  The fiscal cliff deal extends the tax incentives through 2013--even as payroll taxes rise on ordinary Americans.
  The original tax incentive applied to productions costing less than $15 million to make ($20 million in low-income areas). The 2008 extension applies to all films, up to a deduction of $15 million (or $20 million in low-income areas). The incentive is especially generous to television series; it applies to each TV episode.
  Hollywood players routinely beg the government to raise their taxes so they can pay their "fair share."
  Yet the industry moves new productions to places where existing tax breaks help its bottom line. That means plenty of shows and films are shot in states like New Mexico, which feature highly favorable tax rates, as well as destinations north of the border with similar perks.
  Now Hollywood has used its clout to ensure that its generous tax incentives will continue in a time of fiscal crisis.
Duitse media: Scheiding Sylvie en Rafael
  Link to Article
  Source: Telegraaf.nl - prive
  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:01
  wo 02 jan 2013, 00:41
  HAMBURG - Het droomhuwelijk tussen Rafael en Sylvie van der Vaart is voorbij. Dat melden media in Duitsland. De voetballer en de presentatrice bevestigen de breuk aan de Duitse boulevardkrant Bild.
  "We zijn helaas met de tijd uit elkaar gegroeid. Het was een geleidelijk proces dat niet meer viel te stoppen", aldus een bedroefde Sylvie tegen Bild. "Het klinkt misschien raar, maar we houden nog wel van elkaar en respecteren elkaar."
  Ook Rafael bevestigt het bericht aan de krant. "Ik ben erg verdrietig dat het niet meer werkt tussen ons."
  Sinds de zomer zou het ogenschijnlijk gelukkige huwelijk van de twee onder druk staan. Op oudejaarsavond barstte de bom toen Rafael op een feestje bij hen thuis tijdens een ruzie Sylvie voor de ogen van de gasten een klap verkocht. "Het was heel dom van me. Ik ben een idioot. Het spijt me zeer. Dit had nooit mogen gebeuren", zo citeert Bild de voetballer. Sylvie zou hem overigens al hebben vergeven.
  Sylvie blijft met zoon Damian voorlopig in hun net nieuw ingerichte appartement in Hamburg wonen. Rafael vliegt eerst met zijn club Hamburger SV naar Abu Dhabi voor een trainingskamp. Hij gaat volgens Bild bij terugkomst op zoek naar nieuwe woonruimte.
  Rafael van der Vaart en Sylvie Meis kregen in 2003 een relatie. Ze trouwden in 2005.
  (C) 1996-2013 Telegraaf Media Nederland | Landelijke Media B.V., Amsterdam.Alle rechten voorbehouden.e-mail: redactie-i@telegraaf.nlPrivacy | Cookies | Disclaimer
NBC reporter raises questions about Clinton's health (video)
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Wed, 02 Jan 2013 00:53
  NBC News chief science and health correspondent Robert Bazell raised questions about Hillary Clinton's health on the Today show. 12/31/2012 11:56 AM EDT
  RSSEmail
Letter from the President -- Chad War Powers Report
  Link to Article
  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Tue, 01 Jan 2013 13:55
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  December 29, 2012
  Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
  Due to the deteriorating security situation in the Central African Republic and the potential threat to U.S. citizens, U.S. embassy personnel and several private U.S. citizens were evacuated from Bangui, Central African Republic on December 27, 2012. In addition, at approximately 5:20 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on December 27, a stand-by response and evacuation force of approximately 50 U.S. military personnel from U.S. Africa Command deployed to Chad to support the evacuation of U.S. embassy personnel and U.S. citizens from the Central African Republic. Although equipped for combat, this stand-by security force was deployed solely for the purpose of protecting U.S. citizens and property, if necessary, until the U.S. embassy personnel and private U.S. citizens have been safely evacuated from the Central African Republic.
  This action has been directed consistent with my responsibility to protect U.S. citizens both at home and abroad, and in furtherance of U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.
  I am providing this report as part of my efforts to keep the Congress fully informed, consistent with the War Powers Resolution (Public Law 93-148). I appreciate the support of the Congress in this action.
  Sincerely,
  BARACK OBAMA
Full Text of H.R. 3783: Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012 - GovTrack.us
  Link to Article
  Tue, 01 Jan 2013 13:53
  (1) The United States has vital political, economic, and security interests in the Western Hemisphere.
  (2) Iran is pursuing cooperation with Latin American countries by signing economic and security agreements in order to create a network of diplomatic and economic relationships to lessen the blow of international sanctions and oppose Western attempts to constrict its ambitions.
  (3) According to the Department of State, Hezbollah, with Iran as its state sponsor, is considered the 'most technically capable terrorist group in the world' with 'thousands of supporters, several thousand members, and a few hundred terrorist operatives,' and officials from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qods Force have been working in concert with Hezbollah for many years.
  (4) The IRGC's Qods Force has a long history of supporting Hezbollah's military, paramilitary, and terrorist activities, providing it with guidance, funding, weapons, intelligence, and logistical support, and in 2007, the Department of the Treasury placed sanctions on the IRGC and its Qods Force for their support of terrorism and proliferation activities.
  (5) The IRGC's Qods Force stations operatives in foreign embassies, charities, and religious and cultural institutions to foster relationships, often building on existing socioeconomic ties with the well established Shia Diaspora, and recent years have witnessed an increased presence in Latin America.
  (6) According to the Department of Defense, the IRGC and its Qods Force played a significant role in some of the deadliest terrorist attacks of the past two decades, including the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, by generally directing or supporting the groups that actually executed the attacks.
  (7) Reports of Iranian intelligence agents being implicated in Hezbollah-linked activities since the early 1990s suggest direct Iranian government support of Hezbollah activities in the Tri-Border Area of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, and in the past decade, Iran has dramatically increased its diplomatic missions to Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Argentina, and Brazil. Iran has built 17 cultural centers in Latin America, and it currently maintains 11 embassies, up from 6 in 2005.
  (8) Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies with a presence in Latin America have raised revenues through illicit activities, including drug and arms trafficking, counterfeiting, money laundering, forging travel documents, pirating software and music, and providing haven and assistance to other terrorists transiting the region.
  (9) Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela expressed their intention to assist Iran in evading sanctions by signing a statement supporting Iran's nuclear activities and announcing at a 2010 joint press conference in Tehran their determination to 'continue and expand their economic ties to Iran' with confidence that 'Iran can give a crushing response to the threats and sanctions imposed by the West and imperialism'.
  (10) The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration concluded in 2008 that almost one-half of the foreign terrorist organizations in the world are linked to narcotics trade and trafficking, including Hezbollah and Hamas.
  (11) In October 2011, the United States charged two men, Manssor Arbabsiar, a United States citizen holding both Iranian and United States passports, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iran-based member of Iran's IRGC Qods Force, with conspiracy to murder a foreign official using explosives in an act of terrorism. Arbabsiar traveled to Mexico with the express intent to hire 'someone in the narcotics business' to carry out the assassination of the Saudi Arabian Ambassador in the United States. While in the end, he only engaged a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency informant posing as an associate of a drug trafficking cartel, Arbabsiar believed that he was working with a member of a Mexican drug trafficking organization and sought to send money to this individual in installments and not in a single transfer.
  (12) In February 2011, actions by the Department of the Treasury effectively shut down the Lebanese Canadian Bank. Subsequent actions by the United States Government in connection with the investigation into Lebanese Canadian Bank resulted in the indictment in December 2011 of Ayman Joumaa, an individual of Lebanese nationality, with citizenship in Lebanon and Colombia, and with ties to Hezbollah, for trafficking cocaine to the Los Zetas drug trafficking organization in Mexico City for sale in the United States and for laundering the proceeds.
"If I Don't Show Up At Your House I Want To Wish Everyone Happy New Year!" President Obama
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  Source: Uploads by MOXNEWSd0tC0M
  Tue, 01 Jan 2013 13:40
26 USC § 181 - Treatment of certain qualified film and television productions | LII / Legal Information Institute
  Link to Article
  Tue, 01 Jan 2013 12:47
  Source
  (Added Pub. L. 108''357, title II, § 244(a),Oct. 22, 2004, 118 Stat. 1445; amended Pub. L. 109''135, title IV, § 403(e)(1),Dec. 21, 2005, 119 Stat. 2623; Pub. L. 110''343, div. C, title V, § 502(a), (b), (d),Oct. 3, 2008, 122 Stat. 3876, 3877; Pub. L. 111''312, title VII, § 744(a),Dec. 17, 2010, 124 Stat. 3319.)Prior Provisions
  A prior section 181,Pub. L. 87''834, § 2(c),Oct. 16, 1962, 76 Stat. 970, related to a deduction for unused investment credit, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 88''272, title II, § 203(a)(3)(B), (4),Feb. 26, 1964, 78 Stat. 34, applicable in case of property placed in service after Dec. 31, 1963, with respect to taxable years ending after such date, and in case of property placed in service before Jan. 1, 1964, with respect to taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 1963.Amendments
  2010'--Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 111''312substituted ''December 31, 2011'' for ''December 31, 2009''.2008'--Subsec. (a)(2)(A). Pub. L. 110''343, § 502(b), reenacted heading without change and amended text generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: ''Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any qualified film or television production the aggregate cost of which exceeds $15,000,000.''Subsec. (d)(3)(A). Pub. L. 110''343, § 502(d), substituted ''actors, production personnel, directors, and producers.'' for ''actors, directors, producers, and other relevant production personnel.''Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 110''343, § 502(a), substituted ''December 31, 2009'' for ''December 31, 2008''.2005'--Subsec. (d)(2). Pub. L. 109''135struck out ''For purposes of a television series, only the first 44 episodes of such series may be taken into account.'' at end of subpar. (A), added subpar. (B), and redesignated former subpar. (B) as (C).Effective Date of 2010 Amendment
  Pub. L. 111''312, title VII, § 744(b),Dec. 17, 2010, 124 Stat. 3319, provided that: ''The amendment made by this section [amending this section] shall apply to productions commencing after December 31, 2009.''Effective Date of 2008 Amendment
  Pub. L. 110''343, div. C, title V, § 502(e),Oct. 3, 2008, 122 Stat. 3877, provided that:''(1) In general.'--Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the amendments made by this section [amending this section and section 199 of this title] shall apply to qualified film and television productions commencing after December 31, 2007.''(2) Deduction.'--The amendments made by subsection (c) [amending section 199 of this title] shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2007.''Effective Date of 2005 Amendment
  Amendment by Pub. L. 109''135effective as if included in the provision of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, Pub. L. 108''357, to which such amendment relates, see section 403(nn) ofPub. L. 109''135, set out as a note under section 26 of this title.Effective Date
  Pub. L. 108''357, title II, § 244(c),Oct. 22, 2004, 118 Stat. 1447, provided that: ''The amendments made by this section [enacting this section] shall apply to qualified film and television productions (as defined in section 181(d)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by this section) commencing after the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 22, 2004].''
Bill Text - 112th Congress (2011-2012) - THOMAS (Library of Congress)
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  Tue, 01 Jan 2013 12:08
  THIS SEARCH THIS DOCUMENT GO TONext Hit Forward New Bills SearchPrev Hit Back HomePageHit List Best Sections Help Contents Display Bill 4 of 4There are 3 other versions of this bill. {title: 'THOMAS - Bill Text - H.R.8.EAS', link: 'http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.8.EAS:/' }
  Bill PDFHelp]/`/C?query:c112" Printer FriendlyCongressional Record ReferencesBill Summary & StatusH.R.8 -- American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (Engrossed Amendment Senate - EAS)
  BeginningSECTION 1. SHORT TITLE, ETC.
  TITLE I--GENERAL EXTENSIONSSEC. 101. PERMANENT EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF 2001 TAX RELIEF.
  SEC. 102. PERMANENT EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF 2003 TAX RELIEF.
  SEC. 103. EXTENSION OF 2009 TAX RELIEF.
  `SEC. 6409. REFUNDS DISREGARDED IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS AND FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS.
  SEC. 104. PERMANENT ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX RELIEF.
  TITLE II--INDIVIDUAL TAX EXTENDERSSEC. 201. EXTENSION OF DEDUCTION FOR CERTAIN EXPENSES OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS.
  SEC. 202. EXTENSION OF EXCLUSION FROM GROSS INCOME OF DISCHARGE OF QUALIFIED PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE INDEBTEDNESS.
  SEC. 203. EXTENSION OF PARITY FOR EXCLUSION FROM INCOME FOR EMPLOYER-PROVIDED MASS TRANSIT AND PARKING BENEFITS.
  SEC. 204. EXTENSION OF MORTGAGE INSURANCE PREMIUMS TREATED AS QUALIFIED RESIDENCE INTEREST.
  SEC. 205. EXTENSION OF DEDUCTION OF STATE AND LOCAL GENERAL SALES TAXES.
  SEC. 206. EXTENSION OF SPECIAL RULE FOR CONTRIBUTIONS OF CAPITAL GAIN REAL PROPERTY MADE FOR CONSERVATION PURPOSES.
  SEC. 207. EXTENSION OF ABOVE-THE-LINE DEDUCTION FOR QUALIFIED TUITION AND RELATED EXPENSES.
  SEC. 208. EXTENSION OF TAX-FREE DISTRIBUTIONS FROM INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT PLANS FOR CHARITABLE PURPOSES.
  TITLE III--BUSINESS TAX EXTENDERSSEC. 301. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF RESEARCH CREDIT.
  SEC. 302. EXTENSION OF TEMPORARY MINIMUM LOW-INCOME TAX CREDIT RATE FOR NON-FEDERALLY SUBSIDIZED NEW BUILDINGS.
  SEC. 304. EXTENSION OF INDIAN EMPLOYMENT TAX CREDIT.
  SEC. 305. EXTENSION OF NEW MARKETS TAX CREDIT.
  SEC. 306. EXTENSION OF RAILROAD TRACK MAINTENANCE CREDIT.
  SEC. 307. EXTENSION OF MINE RESCUE TEAM TRAINING CREDIT.
  SEC. 308. EXTENSION OF EMPLOYER WAGE CREDIT FOR EMPLOYEES WHO ARE ACTIVE DUTY MEMBERS OF THE UNIFORMED SERVICES.
  SEC. 309. EXTENSION OF WORK OPPORTUNITY TAX CREDIT.
  SEC. 310. EXTENSION OF QUALIFIED ZONE ACADEMY BONDS.
  SEC. 312. EXTENSION OF 7-YEAR RECOVERY PERIOD FOR MOTORSPORTS ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEXES.
  SEC. 313. EXTENSION OF ACCELERATED DEPRECIATION FOR BUSINESS PROPERTY ON AN INDIAN RESERVATION.
  SEC. 314. EXTENSION OF ENHANCED CHARITABLE DEDUCTION FOR CONTRIBUTIONS OF FOOD INVENTORY.
  SEC. 315. EXTENSION OF INCREASED EXPENSING LIMITATIONS AND TREATMENT OF CERTAIN REAL PROPERTY AS SECTION 179 PROPERTY.
  SEC. 316. EXTENSION OF ELECTION TO EXPENSE MINE SAFETY EQUIPMENT.
  SEC. 317. EXTENSION OF SPECIAL EXPENSING RULES FOR CERTAIN FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS.
  SEC. 319. EXTENSION OF MODIFICATION OF TAX TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PAYMENTS TO CONTROLLING EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS.
  SEC. 320. EXTENSION OF TREATMENT OF CERTAIN DIVIDENDS OF REGULATED INVESTMENT COMPANIES.
  SEC. 321. EXTENSION OF RIC QUALIFIED INVESTMENT ENTITY TREATMENT UNDER FIRPTA.
  SEC. 322. EXTENSION OF SUBPART F EXCEPTION FOR ACTIVE FINANCING INCOME.
  SEC. 324. EXTENSION OF TEMPORARY EXCLUSION OF 100 PERCENT OF GAIN ON CERTAIN SMALL BUSINESS STOCK.
  SEC. 325. EXTENSION OF BASIS ADJUSTMENT TO STOCK OF S CORPORATIONS MAKING CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS OF PROPERTY.
  SEC. 326. EXTENSION OF REDUCTION IN S-CORPORATION RECOGNITION PERIOD FOR BUILT-IN GAINS TAX.
  SEC. 327. EXTENSION OF EMPOWERMENT ZONE TAX INCENTIVES.
  SEC. 328. EXTENSION OF TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING FOR NEW YORK LIBERTY ZONE.
  SEC. 329. EXTENSION OF TEMPORARY INCREASE IN LIMIT ON COVER OVER OF RUM EXCISE TAXES TO PUERTO RICO AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS.
  SEC. 330. MODIFICATION AND EXTENSION OF AMERICAN SAMOA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CREDIT.
  SEC. 331. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF BONUS DEPRECIATION.
  TITLE IV--ENERGY TAX EXTENDERSSEC. 401. EXTENSION OF CREDIT FOR ENERGY-EFFICIENT EXISTING HOMES.
  SEC. 402. EXTENSION OF CREDIT FOR ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLE REFUELING PROPERTY.
  SEC. 403. EXTENSION OF CREDIT FOR 2- OR 3-WHEELED PLUG-IN ELECTRIC VEHICLES.
  SEC. 404. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF CELLULOSIC BIOFUEL PRODUCER CREDIT.
  SEC. 405. EXTENSION OF INCENTIVES FOR BIODIESEL AND RENEWABLE DIESEL.
  SEC. 406. EXTENSION OF PRODUCTION CREDIT FOR INDIAN COAL FACILITIES PLACED IN SERVICE BEFORE 2009.
  SEC. 407. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF CREDITS WITH RESPECT TO FACILITIES PRODUCING ENERGY FROM CERTAIN RENEWABLE RESOURCES.
  SEC. 408. EXTENSION OF CREDIT FOR ENERGY-EFFICIENT NEW HOMES.
  SEC. 409. EXTENSION OF CREDIT FOR ENERGY-EFFICIENT APPLIANCES.
  SEC. 410. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF SPECIAL ALLOWANCE FOR CELLULOSIC BIOFUEL PLANT PROPERTY.
  SEC. 412. EXTENSION OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS EXCISE TAX CREDITS.
  TITLE V--UNEMPLOYMENTSEC. 501. EXTENSION OF EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION PROGRAM.
  SEC. 502. TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF EXTENDED BENEFIT PROVISIONS.
  SEC. 503. EXTENSION OF FUNDING FOR REEMPLOYMENT SERVICES AND REEMPLOYMENT AND ELIGIBILITY ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES.
  SEC. 504. ADDITIONAL EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS UNDER THE RAILROAD UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ACT.
  TITLE VI--MEDICARE AND OTHER HEALTH EXTENSIONSSubtitle A--Medicare ExtensionsSEC. 601. MEDICARE PHYSICIAN PAYMENT UPDATE.
  SEC. 602. WORK GEOGRAPHIC ADJUSTMENT.
  SEC. 603. PAYMENT FOR OUTPATIENT THERAPY SERVICES.
  SEC. 604. AMBULANCE ADD-ON PAYMENTS.
  SEC. 605. EXTENSION OF MEDICARE INPATIENT HOSPITAL PAYMENT ADJUSTMENT FOR LOW-VOLUME HOSPITALS.
  SEC. 606. EXTENSION OF THE MEDICARE-DEPENDENT HOSPITAL (MDH) PROGRAM.
  SEC. 607. EXTENSION FOR SPECIALIZED MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLANS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS INDIVIDUALS.
  SEC. 608. EXTENSION OF MEDICARE REASONABLE COST CONTRACTS.
  SEC. 609. PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT.
  SEC. 610. EXTENSION OF FUNDING OUTREACH AND ASSISTANCE FOR LOW-INCOME PROGRAMS.
  Subtitle B--Other Health ExtensionsSEC. 621. EXTENSION OF THE QUALIFYING INDIVIDUAL (QI) PROGRAM.
  SEC. 622. EXTENSION OF TRANSITIONAL MEDICAL ASSISTANCE (TMA).
  SEC. 623. EXTENSION OF MEDICAID AND CHIP EXPRESS LANE OPTION.
  SEC. 624. EXTENSION OF FAMILY-TO-FAMILY HEALTH INFORMATION CENTERS.
  SEC. 625. EXTENSION OF SPECIAL DIABETES PROGRAM FOR TYPE I DIABETES AND FOR INDIANS.
  Subtitle C--Other Health ProvisionsSEC. 631. IPPS DOCUMENTATION AND CODING ADJUSTMENT FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF MS-DRGS.
  SEC. 632. REVISIONS TO THE MEDICARE ESRD BUNDLED PAYMENT SYSTEM TO REFLECT FINDINGS IN THE GAO REPORT.
  SEC. 633. TREATMENT OF MULTIPLE SERVICE PAYMENT POLICIES FOR THERAPY SERVICES.
  SEC. 635. ADJUSTMENT OF EQUIPMENT UTILIZATION RATE FOR ADVANCED IMAGING SERVICES.
  SEC. 636. MEDICARE PAYMENT OF COMPETITIVE PRICES FOR DIABETIC SUPPLIES AND ELIMINATION OF OVERPAYMENT FOR DIABETIC SUPPLIES.
  SEC. 637. MEDICARE PAYMENT ADJUSTMENT FOR NON-EMERGENCY AMBULANCE TRANSPORTS FOR ESRD BENEFICIARIES.
  SEC. 638. REMOVING OBSTACLES TO COLLECTION OF OVERPAYMENTS.
  SEC. 639. MEDICARE ADVANTAGE CODING INTENSITY ADJUSTMENT.
  SEC. 640. ELIMINATION OF ALL FUNDING FOR THE MEDICARE IMPROVEMENT FUND.
  SEC. 641. REBASING OF STATE DSH ALLOTMENTS.
  SEC. 642. REPEAL OF CLASS PROGRAM.
  SEC. 643. COMMISSION ON LONG-TERM CARE.
  SEC. 644. CONSUMER OPERATED AND ORIENTED PLAN PROGRAM CONTINGENCY FUND.
  TITLE VII--EXTENSION OF AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMSSEC. 701. 1-YEAR EXTENSION OF AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMS.
  SEC. 702. SUPPLEMENTAL AGRICULTURAL DISASTER ASSISTANCE.
  TITLE VIII--MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONSSEC. 801. STRATEGIC DELIVERY SYSTEMS.
  SEC. 802. NO COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT IN PAY OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.
  TITLE IX--BUDGET PROVISIONSSubtitle A--Modifications of SequestrationSEC. 901. TREATMENT OF SEQUESTER.
  SEC. 902. AMOUNTS IN APPLICABLE RETIREMENT PLANS MAY BE TRANSFERRED TO DESIGNATED ROTH ACCOUNTS WITHOUT DISTRIBUTION.
  Subtitle B--Budgetary EffectsSEC. 911. BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
  THIS SEARCH THIS DOCUMENT GO TONext Hit Forward New Bills SearchPrev Hit Back HomePageHit List Best Sections Help Contents Display
Obama Signs FISA Warrantless Wiretapping Program Extension Into Law
  Link to Article
  Tue, 01 Jan 2013 10:31
  WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has signed into law a five-year extension of the U.S. government's authority to monitor the overseas activity of suspected foreign spies and terrorists.
  The warrantless intercept program would have expired at the end of 2012 without the president's approval. The renewal bill won final passage in the Senate on Friday.
  Known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the law allows the government to monitor overseas phone calls and emails without obtaining a court order for each intercept.
  The law does not apply to Americans. When Americans are targeted for surveillance, the government must get a warrant from a special 11-judge court of U.S. district judges appointed by the Supreme Court.
  Also on HuffPost:
Full Text of S. 3714: A bill to alleviate the fiscal cliff, and for other purposes.
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  Tue, 01 Jan 2013 10:18
  site InformationGovTrack.us is a project of Civic Impulse, LLC. Read about GovTrack.
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Bill Text - 112th Congress (2011-2012)
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  Tue, 01 Jan 2013 10:13
  THIS SEARCH THIS DOCUMENT GO TONext Hit Forward New Bills SearchPrev Hit Back HomePageHit List Best Sections Help Contents Display Bill 2 of 2There is 1 other version of this bill. {title: 'THOMAS - Bill Text - S.3454.ES', link: 'http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.3454.ES:/' }
  Bill PDFHelp]/`/C?query:c112" Printer FriendlyCongressional Record ReferencesBill Summary & StatusS.3454 -- Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (Engrossed in Senate [Passed Senate] - ES)
  BeginningSECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
  Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
  SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
  TITLE I--BUDGET AND PERSONNEL AUTHORIZATIONSSEC. 101. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
  SEC. 102. CLASSIFIED SCHEDULE OF AUTHORIZATIONS.
  SEC. 103. PERSONNEL CEILING ADJUSTMENTS.
  SEC. 104. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT ACCOUNT.
  TITLE II--CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY SYSTEMSEC. 201. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
  TITLE III--GENERAL INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY MATTERSSEC. 301. RESTRICTION ON CONDUCT OF INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES.
  SEC. 302. INCREASE IN EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS AUTHORIZED BY LAW.
  SEC. 303. NON-REIMBURSABLE DETAILS.
  SEC. 304. AUTOMATED INSIDER THREAT DETECTION PROGRAM.
  SEC. 305. SOFTWARE LICENSING.
  SEC. 306. STRATEGY FOR SECURITY CLEARANCE RECIPROCITY.
  SEC. 307. IMPROPER PAYMENTS ELIMINATION AND RECOVERY ACT OF 2010 COMPLIANCE.
  SEC. 308. SUBCONTRACTOR NOTIFICATION PROCESS.
  SEC. 309. MODIFICATION OF REPORTING SCHEDULE.
  SEC. 310. REPEAL OF CERTAIN REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
  TITLE IV--MATTERS RELATING TO THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCYSEC. 401. WORKING CAPITAL FUND AMENDMENTS.
  TITLE V--OTHER MATTERSSEC. 501. HOMELAND SECURITY INTELLIGENCE PROGRAM.
  SEC. 503. PROTECTING THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUPPLY CHAIN OF THE UNITED STATES.
  SEC. 504. NOTIFICATION REGARDING THE AUTHORIZED PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE.
  SEC. 505. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS RELATED TO THE OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE.
  SEC. 506. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT FOR DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE AGENCY.
  SEC. 507. BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
  THIS SEARCH THIS DOCUMENT GO TONext Hit Forward New Bills SearchPrev Hit Back HomePageHit List Best Sections Help Contents Display
Bill Text - 112th Congress (2011-2012)
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  Tue, 01 Jan 2013 10:07
  THIS SEARCH THIS DOCUMENT GO TONext Hit Forward New Bills SearchPrev Hit Back HomePageHit List Best Sections Help Contents Display Bill 4 of 4Final version (Enrolled Bill) as passed by both Houses. There are 3 other versions of this bill.Bill PDFBillno should always have and extension i.e. h1.ihPrinter Friendly[Help] Congressional Record ReferencesBill Summary & StatusH.R.6620 -- Former Presidents Protection Act of 2012 (Enrolled Bill [Final as Passed Both House and Senate] - ENR)
  --H.R.6620--
  H.R.6620
  One Hundred Twelfth Congress
  of the
  United States of America
  AT THE SECOND SESSION
  Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
  the third day of January, two thousand and twelve
  An Act
  To amend title 18, United States Code, to eliminate certain limitations on the length of Secret Service Protection for former Presidents and for the children of former Presidents.
  Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
  SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  This Act may be cited as the `Former Presidents Protection Act of 2012'.
  SEC. 2. ELIMINATING CERTAIN LIMITATIONS ON THE LENGTH OF SECRET SERVICE PROTECTION FOR FORMER PRESIDENTS AND FOR THE CHILDREN OF FORMER PRESIDENTS.
  (a) Former Presidents- Section 3056(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking `unless the former President did not' and all that follows through `warrant such protection'.
  (b) Children of Former Presidents- Section 3056(a)(4) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking `for a period' and all that follows through `comes first'.
  Speaker of the House of Representatives.
  Vice President of the United States and
  President of the Senate.
Bill Text - 112th Congress (2011-2012)
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  Tue, 01 Jan 2013 10:05
  THIS SEARCH THIS DOCUMENT GO TONext Hit Forward New Bills SearchPrev Hit Back HomePageHit List Best Sections Help Contents Display Bill 4 of 4There are 3 other versions of this bill.Bill PDFBillno should always have and extension i.e. h1.ihPrinter Friendly[Help] Congressional Record ReferencesBill Summary & StatusH.R.6014 -- Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act of 2012 (Received in Senate - RDS)
  HR 6014 RDS
  112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
  H. R. 6014
  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
  December 19, 2012
  Received
  AN ACT
  To authorize the Attorney General to award grants for States to implement DNA arrestee collection processes.
  Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
  SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.This Act may be cited as the `Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act of 2012'.
  SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.For purposes of this Act:
  (1) DNA ARRESTEE COLLECTION PROCESS- The term `DNA arrestee collection process' means, with respect to a State, a process under which the State provides for the collection, for purposes of inclusion in the index described in section 210304(a) of the DNA Identification Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14132(a)) (in this Act referred to as the `National DNA Index System'), of DNA profiles or DNA data from the following individuals who are at least 18 years of age:
  (A) Individuals who are arrested for or charged with a criminal offense under State law that consists of a homicide.
  (B) Individuals who are arrested for or charged with a criminal offense under State law that has an element involving a sexual act or sexual contact with another and that is punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year.
  (C) Individuals who are arrested for or charged with a criminal offense under State law that has an element of kidnaping or abduction and that is punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year.
  (D) Individuals who are arrested for or charged with a criminal offense under State law that consists of burglary punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year.
  (E) Individuals who are arrested for or charged with a criminal offense under State law that consists of aggravated assault punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year.
  (2) STATE- The term `State' means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
  SEC. 3. GRANTS TO STATES TO IMPLEMENT DNA ARRESTEE COLLECTION PROCESSES.(a) In General- The Attorney General shall, subject to amounts made available pursuant to section 5, carry out a grant program for the purpose of assisting States with the costs associated with the implementation of DNA arrestee collection processes.
  (b) Applications-
  (1) IN GENERAL- To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, in addition to any other requirements specified by the Attorney General, a State shall submit to the Attorney General an application that demonstrates that it has statutory authorization for the implementation of a DNA arrestee collection process.
  (2) NON-SUPPLANTING FUNDS- An application submitted under paragraph (1) by a State shall include assurances that the amounts received under the grant under this section shall be used to supplement, not supplant, State funds that would otherwise be available for the purpose described in subsection (a).
  (3) OTHER REQUIREMENTS- The Attorney General shall require a State seeking a grant under this section to document how such State will use the grant to meet expenses associated with a State's implementation or planned implementation of a DNA arrestee collection process.
  (c) Grant Allocation-
  (1) IN GENERAL- The amount available to a State under this section shall be based on the projected costs that will be incurred by the State to implement a DNA arrestee collection process. Subject to paragraph (2), the Attorney General shall retain discretion to determine the amount of each such grant awarded to an eligible State.
  (2) MAXIMUM GRANT ALLOCATION- In the case of a State seeking a grant under this section with respect to the implementation of a DNA arrestee collection process, such State shall be eligible for a grant under this section that is equal to no more than 100 percent of the first year costs to the State of implementing such process.
  (d) Grant Conditions- As a condition of receiving a grant under this section, a State shall have a procedure in place to--
  (1) provide written notification of expungement provisions and instructions for requesting expungement to all persons who submit a DNA profile or DNA data for inclusion in the index;
  (2) provide the eligibility criteria for expungement and instructions for requesting expungement on an appropriate public Web site; and
  (3) make a determination on all expungement requests not later than 90 days after receipt and provide a written response of the determination to the requesting party.
  SEC. 4. EXPUNGEMENT OF PROFILES.The expungement requirements under section 210304(d) of the DNA Identification Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14132(d)) shall apply to any DNA profile or DNA data collected pursuant to this Act for purposes of inclusion in the National DNA Index System.
  SEC. 5. OFFSET OF FUNDS APPROPRIATED.Any funds appropriated to carry out this Act, not to exceed $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2013 through 2015, shall be derived from amounts appropriated pursuant to subsection (j) of section 2 of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135) in each such fiscal year for grants under such section.
  SEC. 6. CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO THE DEBBIE SMITH DNA BACKLOG GRANT PROGRAM.Section 2(a) of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
  `(6) To implement a DNA arrestee collection process consistent with the Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act of 2012.'.
  Passed the House of Representatives December 18, 2012.
  Attest:
  KAREN L. HAAS,
  Clerk.
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Bill Text - 112th Congress (2011-2012)
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  Tue, 01 Jan 2013 09:53
  THIS SEARCH THIS DOCUMENT GO TONext Hit Forward New Bills SearchPrev Hit Back HomePageHit List Best Sections Help Contents Display {title: 'THOMAS - Bill Text Versions- H.R.1', link: 'http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.1:/' }
  There are 5 versions of Bill Number H.R.1 for the 112th Congress. Usually, the last item is the most recent.
  1 . Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (Introduced in House - IH)[H.R.1.IH][PDF]2 . Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (Engrossed in House [Passed House] - EH)[H.R.1.EH][PDF]3 . Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (Placed on Calendar Senate - PCS)[H.R.1.PCS][PDF]4 . Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013 (Engrossed Amendment Senate - EAS)[H.R.1.EAS][PDF]5 . Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (Public Print - PP)[H.R.1.PP][PDF]THIS SEARCH THIS DOCUMENT GO TONext Hit Forward New Bills SearchPrev Hit Back HomePageHit List Best Sections Help Contents Display
Details of the fiscal cliff Senate bill
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  Tue, 01 Jan 2013 09:45
  Updated: Tuesday, 01 Jan 2013, 3:50 AM ESTPublished : Tuesday, 01 Jan 2013, 3:50 AM EST
  WASHINGTON D.C. (AP) - Highlights of a bill approved Tuesday by the Senate aimed at averting wide tax increases and budget cuts scheduled to take effect in the new year.
  The measure would raise taxes by about $600 billion over 10 years compared with tax policies that were due to expire at midnight Monday.
  It would also delay for two months across-the-board cuts to the budgets of the Pentagon and numerous domestic agencies.
  The House is expected to vote on the bill Tuesday or Wednesday.
  Highlights include:
  Income tax rates: Extends decade-old tax cuts on incomes up to $400,000 for individuals, $450,000 for couples. Earnings above those amounts would be taxed at a rate of 39.6 percent, up from the current 35 percent. Extends Clinton-era caps on itemized deductions and the phase-out of the personal exemption for individuals making more than $250,000 and couples earning more than $300,000. Estate tax: Estates would be taxed at a top rate of 40 percent, with the first $5 million in value exempted for individual estates and $10 million for family estates. In 2012, such estates were subject to a top rate of 35 percent. Capital gains, dividends: Taxes on capital gains and dividend income exceeding $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for families would increase from 15 percent to 20 percent. Alternative minimum tax: Permanently addresses the alternative minimum tax and indexes it for inflation to prevent nearly 30 million middle- and upper-middle income taxpayers from being hit with higher tax bills averaging almost $3,000. The tax was originally designed to ensure that the wealthy did not avoid owing taxes by using loopholes. Other tax changes: Extends for five years Obama-sought expansions of the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit, and an up-to-$2,500 tax credit for college tuition. Also extends for one year accelerated "bonus" depreciation of business investments in new property and equipment, a tax credit for research and development costs and a tax credit for renewable energy such as wind-generated electricity. Unemployment benefits: Extends jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed for one year.
  Cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors: Blocks a 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors for one year. The cut is the product of an obsolete 1997 budget formula.
  Social Security payroll tax cut: Allows a 2-percentage-point cut in the payroll tax first enacted two years ago to lapse, which restores the payroll tax to 6.2 percent. Across-the-board cuts: Delays for two months $109 billion worth of across-the-board spending cuts set to start striking the Pentagon and domestic agencies this week. Cost of $24 billion is divided between spending cuts and new revenues from rule changes on converting traditional individual retirement accounts into Roth IRAs.
The Official Website of I.F. Stone
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  Mon, 31 Dec 2012 21:47
  Download a complete copy of The Best of I.F. Stone!
  Edited by Karl Weber and with an introduction by Peter Osnos, this book collects the essential writing of I.F. (Izzy) Stone'--the brilliant investigative journalist whose work is as fresh and as urgent as the day it was written.
  Click here for more info.
  Rare Audio and Video Content:
The four business gangs that run the US
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  Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:15
  Illustration: Michael Mucci.
  IF YOU'VE ever suspected politics is increasingly being run in the interests of big business, I have news: Jeffrey Sachs, a highly respected economist from Columbia University, agrees with you - at least in respect of the United States.
  In his book, The Price of Civilisation, he says the US economy is caught in a feedback loop. ''Corporate wealth translates into political power through campaign financing, corporate lobbying and the revolving door of jobs between government and industry; and political power translates into further wealth through tax cuts, deregulation and sweetheart contracts between government and industry. Wealth begets power, and power begets wealth,'' he says.
  Sachs says four key sectors of US business exemplify this feedback loop and the takeover of political power in America by the ''corporatocracy''.
  First is the well-known military-industrial complex. ''As [President] Eisenhower famously warned in his farewell address in January 1961, the linkage of the military and private industry created a political power so pervasive that America has been condemned to militarisation, useless wars and fiscal waste on a scale of many tens of trillions of dollars since then,'' he says.
  Second is the Wall Street-Washington complex, which has steered the financial system towards control by a few politically powerful Wall Street firms, notably Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and a handful of other financial firms.
  These days, almost every US Treasury secretary - Republican or Democrat - comes from Wall Street and goes back there when his term ends. The close ties between Wall Street and Washington ''paved the way for the 2008 financial crisis and the mega-bailouts that followed, through reckless deregulation followed by an almost complete lack of oversight by government''.
  Third is the Big Oil-transport-military complex, which has put the US on the trajectory of heavy oil-imports dependence and a deepening military trap in the Middle East, he says.
  ''Since the days of John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Trust a century ago, Big Oil has loomed large in American politics and foreign policy. Big Oil teamed up with the automobile industry to steer America away from mass transit and towards gas-guzzling vehicles driving on a nationally financed highway system.''
  Big Oil has consistently and successfully fought the intrusion of competition from non-oil energy sources, including nuclear, wind and solar power.
  It has been at the side of the Pentagon in making sure that America defends the sea-lanes to the Persian Gulf, in effect ensuring a $US100 billion-plus annual subsidy for a fuel that is otherwise dangerous for national security, Sachs says.
  ''And Big Oil has played a notorious role in the fight to keep climate change off the US agenda. Exxon-Mobil, Koch Industries and others in the sector have underwritten a generation of anti-scientific propaganda to confuse the American people.''
  Fourth is the healthcare industry, America's largest industry, absorbing no less than 17 per cent of US gross domestic product.
  ''The key to understanding this sector is to note that the government partners with industry to reimburse costs with little systematic oversight and control,'' Sachs says. ''Pharmaceutical firms set sky-high prices protected by patent rights; Medicare [for the aged] and Medicaid [for the poor] and private insurers reimburse doctors and hospitals on a cost-plus basis; and the American Medical Association restricts the supply of new doctors through the control of placements at medical schools.
  ''The result of this pseudo-market system is sky-high costs, large profits for the private healthcare sector, and no political will to reform.''
  Now do you see why the industry put so much effort into persuading America's punters that Obamacare was rank socialism? They didn't succeed in blocking it, but the compromised program doesn't do enough to stop the US being the last rich country in the world without universal healthcare.
  It's worth noting that, despite its front-running cost, America's healthcare system doesn't leave Americans with particularly good health - not as good as ours, for instance. This conundrum is easily explained: America has the highest-paid doctors.
  Sachs says the main thing to remember about the corporatocracy is that it looks after its own. ''There is absolutely no economic crisis in corporate America.
  ''Consider the pulse of the corporate sector as opposed to the pulse of the employees working in it: corporate profits in 2010 were at an all-time high, chief executive salaries in 2010 rebounded strongly from the financial crisis, Wall Street compensation in 2010 was at an all-time high, several Wall Street firms paid civil penalties for financial abuses, but no senior banker faced any criminal charges, and there were no adverse regulatory measures that would lead to a loss of profits in finance, health care, military supplies and energy,'' he says.
  The 30-year achievement of the corporatocracy has been the creation of America's rich and super-rich classes, he says. And we can now see their tools of trade.
  ''It began with globalisation, which pushed up capital income while pushing down wages. These changes were magnified by the tax cuts at the top, which left more take-home pay and the ability to accumulate greater wealth through higher net-of-tax returns to saving.''
  Chief executives then helped themselves to their own slice of the corporate sector ownership through outlandish awards of stock options by friendly and often handpicked compensation committees, while the Securities and Exchange Commission looked the other way. It's not all that hard to do when both political parties are standing in line to do your bidding, Sachs concludes.
  Fortunately, things aren't nearly so bad in Australia. But it will require vigilance to stop them sliding further in that direction.
  Twitter: @1Ross Gittins
MSNBC: AMERICA'S GUN CULTURE
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"The Real First Responders Are The Teachers In This Case! I Mean We Give Them Fire Extinguishers!"
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"Something Fundamental In America Has To Change" President Obama
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Sandy Hook Massacre Survivor Files 100 Million Dollar Lawsuit Against State Of Connecticut
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High School Student Suspended For Writing A Poem About Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre
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Al-Qaeda In Yemen Offers $160K In Gold To Anyone Who Kills U.S. Ambassador'...
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  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:11
  Via Haaretz:
  Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen has announced that it will pay tens of thousands of dollars to anyone who kills the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa or an American soldier in the country.
  A piece of audio produced by the group's media arm, the al-Malahem Foundation, and posted on militant websites on Saturday said it offered three kilograms of gold, worth $160,000, for killing the ambassador.
  The group said it will pay 5 million Yemeni riyals ($23,000) to anyone who kills an American soldier inside Yemen.
  It did not say how the bounty could be collected, but said the offer is valid for six months.
  The bounties were set to ''inspire and encourage our Muslim nation for jihad,'' the statement said.
VIDEO-David Brooks: 'Sometimes Obama Governs Like a Visitor From a Morally Superior Civilization' | MRCTV
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  MRC TV is an online platform for people to share and view videos, articles and opinions on topics that are important to them -- from news to political issues and rip-roaring humor.
  MRC TV is brought to you by the Media Research Center, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit research and education organization. The MRC is located at: 325 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. For information about the MRC, please visit www.MRC.org.
  Copyright (C) 2012, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
VIDEO-No Joke: NBC's David Gregory Asks Obama If Fiscal Cliff Is His ''Lincoln Moment'''... | Weasel Zippers
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  Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:09
  What a jackass.
  Via Weekly Standard:
  NBC host David Gregory asked President Barack Obama this morning, ''Is this your Lincoln moment?''
  The question came up after Obama invoked the movie Lincoln when talking about Republicans and Democrats coming together to work out a deal on the ''fiscal cliff.
  ''Well, no,'' Obama said in response to Gregory's question. ''Look, a) I never compare myself to Lincoln. And b) obviously the magnitude of the issues is quite different from the Civil War and slavery. The point, though, is democracy has always been messy. We're a big diverse country that is constantly sort of arguing about all kinds of stuff. But eventually, we do the right thing.''
VIDE-Obama: Gun Control 'If People Decide It's Important' | Crooks and Liars
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  Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:04
  Well, now, it's not exactly true that a president can't do something without the people behind him, is it? After all, the overwhelming majority of people who voted for the president wanted him to protect Social Security and Medicare and he's since done such a rapid pivot from his campaign speeches, I'm surprised his head didn't fly off! What he's done is devote himself to changing public opinion by every possible means -- which is what leaders are supposed to do, except in this case, for the wrong thing. But obviously, it can be done!
  President Obama called the Dec. 14th shooting in Newtown, Connecticut ''the worst day of my presidency,'' and said during a rare interview on Meet The Press, that he will propose a package of reforms that will likely include new regulations on assault-rifles and high-capacity ammunition clips, and enhanced background checks for gun purchases. A commission headed by Vice President Joe Biden is currently drafting gun safety recommendations.
  But Obama stressed that reform cannot happen without broad public support, suggesting that he will rally public opinion for sensible gun safety regulations or drop the effort if Americans are not on board.
  Why? He didn't do that with the chained CPI, no matter how many polls showed people didn't want Social Security cuts. Instead, he's the Little Engine That Could. Toot, toot!
  ''We're not going to get this done unless the American people decide it's important and so this is not going to be a matter of me spending political capital. One of the things that you learn having now been in this office for four years. The old adage of Abraham Lincoln's, 'with public opinion there is nothing you can't do and without public opinion there is very little you can get done in this town.'''
  Obama also rejected the National Rifle Association's (NRA) call for more guns in schools, arguing that ''the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem.'' He promised to listen to all sides of the gun debate before making any legislative recommendations.
  ''It is not enough for us to say, 'This is too hard so we're not going to try,''' Obama said. ''So what I intend to do is I will call all the stakeholders together. I will meet with Republicans. I will meet with Democrats. I will talk to anybody. I think there are a vast majority of responsible gun owners out there who recognize that we can't have a situation in which somebody with severe psychological problems is able to get the kind of high capacity weapons that this individual in Newtown obtained and gun down our kids. And, yes, it's going to be hard.''
HILLARY CLINTON HOSPITALIZED
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Dennis Kucinich Accuses US Govt Leaders Of Creating A "Manufactured Crisis" To Screw Americans Again
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The End of Pasta - Newsweek and The Daily Beast
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  Mon, 31 Dec 2012 14:47
  A world without pasta seems inconceivable. Mac-and-cheese-loving children across the United States would howl in protest. Italy might suffer a cultural heart attack. Social unrest could explode in northern China, where noodles are the main staple.
  Wheat stands to fare the worst in the years ahead, for it is the grain most vulnerable to high temperatures. (Ryan Mcvay / Iconica-Getty Images)
  But if humans want to keep eating pasta, we will have to take much more aggressive action against global warming. Pasta is made from wheat, and a large, growing body of scientific studies and real-world observations suggest that wheat will be hit especially hard as temperatures rise and storms and drought intensify in the years ahead.
  Hurricane Sandy's recent devastation of New York and neighboring states reminded Americans of what Hurricane Katrina demonstrated in 2005: global warming makes weather more extreme, and extreme weather can be extremely dangerous. But flooding coastlines aren't our only worry. Climate change is also imperiling the very foundation of human existence: our ability to feed ourselves.
  Three grains'--wheat, corn, and rice'--account for most of the food humans consume. All three are already suffering from climate change, but wheat stands to fare the worst in the years ahead, for it is the grain most vulnerable to high temperatures. That spells trouble not only for pasta but also for bread, the most basic food of all. (Pasta is made from the durum variety of wheat, while bread is generally made from more common varieties, such as red spring.)
  ''Wheat is a cool-season crop. High temperatures are negative for its growth and quality, no doubt about it,'' says Frank Manthey, a professor at North Dakota State University who advises the North Dakota Wheat Commission. Already, a mere 1 degree Fahrenheit of global temperature rise over the past 50 years has caused a 5.5 percent decline in wheat production compared to what would have occurred in the absence of global warming, according to a study published by David Lobell, a professor at Stanford University's Center on Food Security and the Environment.
  By 2050, scientists project, the world's leading wheat belts'--the U.S. and Canadian Midwest, northern China, India, Russia, and Australia'--on average will experience, every other year, a hotter summer than the hottest summer now on record. Wheat production in that period could decline between 23 and 27 percent, reports the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), unless swift action is taken to limit temperature rise and develop crop varieties that can tolerate a hotter world.
  ''International agricultural research centers and the private sector have woken up to the fact that higher temperatures are almost inevitable and they have little in their genetic toolbox to deal with them,'' says Gerald Nelson, a senior research fellow at IFPRI. ''We are all worried.''
  The record-breaking summer of 2012'--which brought the hottest July in U.S. history and the worst drought in 50 years (a drought that continues to afflict 60 percent of the nation)'--hints at what may lie ahead. Corn and soybean yields plummeted in 2012, driving up world food prices, increasing hunger, and triggering protests in Indonesia that recalled the street riots that afflicted dozens of nations after the last big food-price jump in 2007''08.
  ''We stressed our farm crops this year pretty strongly, and many of them almost folded,'' says Jay Fuhrer, a U.S. Department of Agriculture extension agent in North Dakota. ''Does that concern you as a consumer? It should.''
  As it happens, North Dakota, where Doug Opland has been growing durum wheat since he was a kid, is one of the centers of global pasta production. North Dakota agriculture officials will tell you, accurately, that their state produces some of the highest-quality durum in the world, boasting both a high protein count and the pale golden color demanded by discriminating pasta lovers. Durum, after all, thrives under conditions of limited rainfall and cooler temperatures, and North Dakota boasts both. It is late October, but as Opland drives his pickup onto a 300-acre field where he grew durum last year, his tires leave tracks on a fresh dusting of snow.
  ''This is the new center of durum-wheat production in our state,'' says Opland, a beefy 51-year-old who lives near the northwestern North Dakota town of Minot and sits on the board of directors of the U.S. Durum Growers Association. Durum used to be grown throughout North Dakota, but over the past 30 to 40 years, the growing zone has shifted farther west as weather conditions have changed. ''Rainfall patterns have shifted,'' explains Professor Manthey. ''It's become too wet in eastern North Dakota for durum.''
  ''I don't think there's any question'' that climate change is already affecting wheat production in North Dakota, says Roger Johnson, a former durum farmer who was the state's agriculture commissioner from 1996 to 2009. Johnson points out that Dakota Growers Pasta Co., one of the nation's leading pasta producers, built a combined durum mill and pasta-making plant in Carrington, a town in eastern North Dakota, in 1993. At the time, the decision made economic sense. But as the durum zone has shifted west, transport costs have increased, putting the Carrington plant at a competitive disadvantage. ''Looking at the cost of logistics, it has certainly had a negative impact,'' says Ed Irion, the plant's general manager.
  An oil boom has benefited North Dakota and also upended its traditional way of life. (Evelyn Hockstein / Polaris)
  Extreme and volatile weather patterns are especially threatening to durum, which is more finicky than conventional wheat varieties. If too much rain falls at the wrong time, durum's quality can be ruined. Too little rain isn't good either. Because durum is trickier to grow, farmers require a price premium over what conventional wheat earns. Already, Opland and other farmers complain, grain companies have been shrinking these premiums to boost their own profit margins. As climate change intensifies and durum gets even harder to grow, how high will the price premium have to rise to entice farmers to take the risk? Opland wonders whether he will plant durum at all next year.
  Nonspecialists sometimes suggest that agriculture can easily adapt to climate change by shifting crops to more climatically congenial locations. Last July, Rex Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil, called climate change ''an engineering problem [that] has engineering solutions,'' one of which is to ''move crop production areas around.''
  But reality is not so simple. ''If you eat most of what you grow, as is the case for many farmers in the world's poorest countries, moving your farm is not an option,'' IFPRI's Nelson points out. Indeed, even a more prosperous farmer in North Dakota can't just pick up and move to follow changing weather conditions.
  Tillerson's proposal also ignores soil quality, the foundation of food production. ''As a general rule, the farther west and north you go [in North Dakota], the more fragile the soil and the lower its fertility,'' says Johnson. ''So the durum production area runs out of a place to go.''
  Moving west also puts durum in direct competition with the richest business enterprise in human history, an industry that has very different plans for the prairies of North Dakota.
  Donny Nelson (no relation to Gerald) farms on land he inherited from his grandfather, who arrived in northwestern North Dakota 100 years ago to homestead a plot along Clark Creek. That's Clark as in Lewis and Clark, the two most famous explorers in U.S. history, the men Thomas Jefferson commissioned to map the vast lands of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
  Wearing an ear-flapped cap against the cold in late October, Nelson coaxes his truck uphill toward 20 acres of land where he and his brother grew durum last year. Now 14 of those acres are encircled by a chain-link fence and covered with concrete. Two green and yellow pumps belonging to the Hess Oil company are sucking oil from deep below the surface, their noses bobbing up and down like huge metallic birds dipping their beaks into a pond.
  ''We can't stop 'em from coming here,'' says Nelson, shouting over the roar of the natural gas flaring yellow-white from a pipe at the far end of the plot. Why not? Because his family owns only the ''surface rights'' to these 20 acres. The underground ''mineral rights'' are owned by someone else, who leased the rights to Hess.
  Nelson likewise had no way of stopping a second pumping station, 100 yards farther on, that is also located on land where he used to grow durum, nor of preventing the laying of two pipelines to carry these pumping stations' oil and gas to market.
  ''This is the epicenter of the Bakken oil play,'' says Nelson, driving through snow flurries to a third, larger pumping station that also occupies land previously planted with durum. ''Hess has applied for 150 new drilling permits in our township alone and another 150 in the next township over. That's 300 new pumping stations in just six square miles.''
  The Bakken deposits have unleashed one of the largest oil booms in U.S. history. The development of controversial ''fracking'' technology, which enables drillers to extract oil and natural gas from previously inaccessible underground locations, has given rise to a massive expansion of production. In November the International Energy Agency projected that the U.S. will become the world's leading oil producer by 2020, surpassing even Saudi Arabia. The Bakken deposits are a big reason why.
  For North Dakota, the Bakken boom has been both blessing and curse. It has helped lower unemployment to 2 percent and generated enough tax revenue to give the state a $1.6 billion budget surplus. However, it has also upended the state's traditional lifestyle and transformed a remote, ruggedly beautiful place into a sprawling, get-rich-quick industrial zone.
  Teddy Roosevelt, the godfather of American conservationism, used to hunt big-horned elk on these prairies. Now his former ranch overlooks land that is dotted with thousands of oil wells and enough pipes flaring natural gas that, like giant torches, the flares are visible from outer space.
  Such flaring is a major contributor to global warming. Flaring in the U.S. and the world's 19 other largest oil-producing nations releases as much greenhouse gas as does the entire nation of Italy, according to the World Bank.
  The local water supply and its quality are also threatened. Fracking pumps millions of gallons of fresh water underground at high pressure to force oil and gas deposits to the surface. This water is extracted from an aquifer beneath North Dakota, ''and we have no right to do that to future generations who'll need that water,'' says Nelson. Then the contaminated water is brought back to the surface and disposed of in huge storage ponds, risking spills that can pollute creeks and soil.
  Perhaps most worrisome for the future of pasta, the Bakken oil boom is gobbling up prime farmland. By an accident of geology, the Bakken oil deposits lie beneath the very area to which climate change has shifted durum production, an area that in recent years also has accounted for most of the world's durum exports. The U.S. and Canada are the two leading exporters of durum, with most of their production coming from western North Dakota, eastern Montana, and the southern half of Saskatchewan. Lay a map of the durum production zone onto a map of the Bakken oil deposits, and the two match almost exactly.
  Driving west from Minot one afternoon, Opland passed a new housing development and a freshly completed La Quinta Inn'--one of 18 hotels recently built to accommodate oil-boom workers. ''That housing development covers 160 acres, the hotels even more,'' Opland says. ''That land won't come back to farming, not in our lifetimes.''
  Of course North Dakota is not the only place on earth where durum is grown. Durum originated in the Mediterranean basin 12,000 years ago, and 75 percent of the world's durum is still grown there. The problem is, climate change is projected to hit the Mediterranean even harder than North Dakota. A region already known for its hot, dry climate will become even hotter and drier, scientists say. As the frequency and intensity of heat waves and drought increase, yields of nonirrigated crops are projected to decline by 5 to 15 percent in Italy and southern France by the 2050s, according to a new report by the European Environmental Agency. Yields in Spain and Portugal could fall by 15 to 25 percent.
  In the short term, hotter temperatures might actually boost wheat yields, at least in some places. A study of western Australia, a key wheat exporter, found that, up to a 3.6ËšF rise in temperature, yields increased. But a coauthor of the study, Prof. Senthold Asseng of the University of Florida, cautioned that this result might not hold true in locations closer to the equator, such as India, the world's second-largest producer and consumer of nondurum wheat after China.
  ''In India, a [3.6ËšF] temperature increase might be too much, because they already have high average temperatures,'' says Asseng. Even this increase would also make heat spikes, droughts, and other extreme weather events more frequent and severe. ''In India, 90 percent of wheat production is irrigated,'' says Asseng. ''The biggest threat to their production is, where will that water come from in the future?''
  Global temperatures are headed for increases much larger than 3.6ËšF. A new report by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers warns that, on current trends, earth will warm by a staggering 11ËšF by 2100. Such an increase would be incompatible with civilization as we know it, scientists say. Joe Romm, a former Department of Energy official who blogs at Climate Progress, warns that ''Dust-Bowl conditions could stretch all the way from Kansas to California by mid-century.''
  Fred Kirschemann is one of the deans of sustainable agriculture in the U.S. His family farm in central North Dakota has been growing durum and other crops since the 1950s and was certified organic in 1980. Conventional agriculture is a losing strategy against climate change, Kirschemann argues, for two reasons. First, conventional agriculture makes climate change worse by consuming large amounts of fossil fuel (to make fertilizer and run equipment). Second, conventional agriculture is also exceptionally vulnerable to climate change, largely because it favors vast plantings of single crops'--so-called monocultures'--that lack the biological diversity to cope with extreme weather, pests, diseases, and other consequences of rising temperatures.
  ''The conversation I've been having with the young family that's now managing my farm is: let's imagine that 10 years from now extreme weather events are twice as common as they are today, and oil is at $300 barrel, so fertilizer costs jump,'' says Kirschemann. ''That's the kind of thinking we need to be doing.''
  But that's not a conversation many agricultural stakeholders in the United States appear ready to have. Congress spent much of this year preparing a new Farm Bill, the legislation passed every five years that shapes U.S. food and agricultural policy. Despite watching the Farm Belt suffer one of the harshest summers in memory, neither Democrats nor Republicans so much as mentioned climate change in their respective bills. For its part, the National Pasta Association also ''has not address[ed] the future of durum as it relates to climate change,'' says a spokesperson.
  In North Dakota, current Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring says man-made climate change does not exist. Goehring says it does not bother him that the National Academy of Sciences, like its counterparts in every other industrial nation, has repeatedly affirmed otherwise. Goehring, a Republican, adds, ''I think an agenda is being pushed.''
  At a durum and wheat mill in Minot owned by the Philadelphia Macaroni Co., general manager Kevin Schulz is equally dismissive. Philadelphia, he says, makes pasta from durum milled at this plant for Kraft and Campbell's Soup.
  ''I don't think we've ever given it a thought,'' he replies with a grin, adding, ''I don't believe in man-made climate change.''
  Informed that scientists at both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency linked the record heat and drought of summer of 2012 with man-made climate change, Schulz says this is news to him. Nevertheless, he holds firm to his conviction that climate change is a ruse to justify greater government regulation: ''I just don't think we've got enough data to say climate change is real.''
  Not everyone is sticking his head in the sand. Barilla, the largest pasta company in Italy, claims to be taking a number of measures. To limit its climate-related risks, says spokesperson Marina Morsellino, Barilla is globally diversifying its supply chain so that bad weather in one region does not leave the company without adequate supplies of durum. It is also ''developing new varieties more resistant to ... extremely dry or wet conditions,'' she adds, while encouraging farmers to employ such traditional practices as rotating durum with numerous other crops, a strategy Morsellino says can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 55 percent.
  Even in North Dakota, some of the most old-school farmers are coming around. Glen Bauer, a 71-year-old farmer who describes himself as ''very conservative'' politically, nevertheless is a proud advocate of sustainable agriculture. As the year's first full snowstorm coats his fields with an inch and a half of white, Bauer extols the virtues of ''no till'' agriculture and diversified crop rotation, both of which enhance the health and fertility of soil'--the first line of defense against climate change (though Bauer says he hasn't decided yet whether climate change is real).
  Instead of digging up the soil every spring before planting and again in autumn to clear the stalks left behind after harvest, Bauer keeps the soil sheltered by cover crops. In spring he plants anew with a ''no-till drill'' that punches seeds lightly through the cover crop and into the soil below.
  ''When we get hotter, drier weather, no till makes a big difference,'' Bauer says, his thick-fingered hand reaching down to scrape snow from a field of durum harvested in August. ''This cover crop is keeping moisture in the soil for next year.'' Pointing across the field through swirling snow, he adds, ''If you went to my neighbor's field, where he tills the conventional way, the soil would be bare. When temperatures warm up in the spring, his soil will dry up real quick, which can become a problem in July.'' By improving the soil's drainage, the use of no till and multiple-crop rotation also provides resilience to the very wet weather that punished North Dakota durum growers in 2011.
  Above all, sustainable agriculture builds the soil's organic matter and overall health. ''Microorganisms and earthworms like cover crops because it keeps the soil cooler,'' Bauer explains. ''When we used to do conventional farming, we never saw earthworms in our fields. Now we see lots of them.''
  The end of pasta will not come overnight. If it comes'--and it might still be avoided, if humans act swiftly enough'--it will come in fits and starts, as harvests falter one year but not the next, and it will be expressed more in shockingly high prices for pasta than in an absolute disappearance of spaghetti and macaroni from grocery-store shelves.
  But this need not happen, not if America finally gets serious about climate change. That means, among other things, shifting to climate-smart agriculture. If we want to continue enjoying pasta and many other foods we currently take for granted, we need more farmers to emulate the sustainable practices of Glen Bauer and Fred Kirschemann. We also need, desperately, to limit global warming, because even the most skillful adaptation measures cannot cope with 7ËšF of global temperature rise. That means the federal government must stop ignoring the mounting climate crisis and take swift aggressive action to slash greenhouse gas emissions.
  The televised horrors of Hurricane Sandy may help break the climate silence that still afflicts many Americans. ''Mother Nature is better at bringing people to Jesus than any politician is,'' notes Jay Fuhrer, the extension agent. But a fear of offending friends and neighbors still inhibits many. ''The first thing we always talk about here is the weather, because it affects our lives so much,'' says Donny Nelson. ''But global warming, people just don't get into it.''
  Mark Hertsgaard is a fellow at the New America Foundation and the author of six books that have been translated into 16 languages, including, Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth.
Belgi is grootste exporteur van pistolen - De Standaard
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  Mon, 31 Dec 2012 13:39
  BRUSSEL - Belgi is het Europese nummer (C)(C)n voor de export van machinegeweren en pistolen. Het risico dat die op de Amerikaanse priv(C)markt belanden of in handen van Syrische rebellen vallen, kan daar niets aan veranderen.
  Belgi is weliswaar geen speler van belang op de markt van het wapentuig van (C)cht zwaar kaliber '' de vliegtuigen en tanks worden in de grote Europese landen geproduceerd. Maar het hoeft voor geen enkel land onder te doen op het vlak van vuurwapens. Belgi verkoopt voor 834,5 miljoen euro aan wapens, waarvan 504 op de markt van de kleinere vuurwapens. Dat blijkt uit een rapport van het onderzoekscentrum GRIP.
  'Op de algemene wapenmarkt is Belgi maar een subtopper', zegt Nils Duquet, expert van het Vlaams Vredesinstituut, dat onder het Vlaams Parlement ressorteert. De drie groten zijn Frankrijk (9,99 miljard), het Verenigd Koninkrijk (7 miljard) en Duitsland (5,4 miljard). 'Met een omzet die traditioneel tussen de achthonderd miljoen en het miljard schommelt, is het de op acht na grootste exporteur in Europa. Maar op het vlak van vuurwapens is Belgi de absolute top.'
  FN Herstal
  Op de markt van de kleinere vuurwapens is Belgi derde na Duitsland en Oostenrijk. Als alleen machinegeweren en pistolen in aanmerking komen, leidt Belgi de dans, en dat is geheel en al op het conto van de FN-fabrieken in Herstal te schrijven. Elk jaar verhuizen er voor 273 miljoen euro aan wapens naar het buitenland. Belgi heeft daarmee een aandeel van 25 procent in de totale handel van kleinere vuurwapens, tegenover 2,2 procent in de gehele wapenmarkt.
  Het buitenland, dat betekent op de eerste plaats de Verenigde Staten. Duquet: 'Dat is de grootste afzetmarkt voor FN', zegt Duquet. De wapens zijn bedoeld voor het leger en de politie, maar in de VS is het niet denkbeeldig dat die machinegeweren en pistolen ook op de civiele markt belanden.'
  Ook het Midden-Oosten is een favoriete afzetmarkt. Er gaat voor 81,3 miljoen euro aan Belgische vuurwapens naar daar, dat is zo'n 45 procent van de totale Europese handel. Haast alles (92 procent) gaat naar Saudi-Arabi, dat 69 procent van zijn vuurwapens in Belgi haalt.
  Duquet vindt dat een gevaarlijke situatie. 'Je kunt wel clausules in de contracten inschrijven over doorverkoop, maar een controle daarop is nooit waterdicht. We weten dat Saudi-Arabi de Syrische rebellen steunt, dus wie kan controleren wat er met die wapens gebeurt? Kijk naar de geweren die we ooit aan Libi verkochten. Die waren bestemd voor de bescherming van humanitaire konvooien naar Sudan. Maar zodra de opstand uitbrak in Libi, werden ze volop in dat conflict gebruikt.'
VIDEO-LOVE GOVERNMENT-Leader Pelosi's Remarks On The Newtown Tragedy - YouTube
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  Mon, 31 Dec 2012 13:30
Hillary Clinton in hospital with blood clot
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  Mon, 31 Dec 2012 11:23
  NICK O'MALLEYDecember 31, 2012
  In hospital ... US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Photo: Reuters
  The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has been admitted to a New York hospital for treatment for a blood clot, in the wake of her treatment for a concussion earlier this month. The blood clot was discovered during a follow-up examination on Sunday.
  A State Department senior adviser, Philippe Reines, said in the statement the clot stemmed from a concussion Mrs Clinton sustained several weeks ago.
  He said Mrs Clinton was being treated with anti-coagulants at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, where she would be monitored for the next 48 hours.
  ''Her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion,'' he said. ''They will determine if any further action is required.''
  Dr Keith Black, a neurosurgeon with the Cedars-Senai Medical Center, told CNN that given the publicly available information he believed it was likely she had suffered a deep vein thrombosis, a condition in which a blood clot forms in a deep vein, often in the leg.
  Mrs Clinton sustained a concussion when she fell on December 15. It was reported at the time she had been dehydrated while suffering from a stomach virus. The virus forced her to withdraw from talks in Morocco over the Syrian crisis.
  While recovering from the virus and concussion she delayed her testimony before a Congressional committee over the State Department's response to the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
  At the time some Republican critics accused her of over-playing her illness to avoid the testimony. On Sunday a Republican consultant and former Senate press secretary, Matt Mackowiak, apologised on Twitter for questioning the seriousness of Mrs Clinton's condition.
  Mrs Clinton is set to retire from her post in the coming days to be replaced by Senator John Kerry.
  While there had been mounting excitement in Democratic circles around the country that she was retiring to prepare for a presidential campaign in 2016, there have been persistent rumours in Washington's diplomatic circles that she was suffering from a long-term illness.
  There is no evidence to support the rumours, though Mrs Clinton herself had commented on her exhaustion when asked about her presidential plans.
  Mrs Clinton, 65, has won widespread admiration for her performance as the nation's top diplomat, travelling an estimated 1.6 million kilometres in 400 days over the past four years.
Demand A Plan - Demand Celebrities Go F*CK Themselves!
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  Mon, 31 Dec 2012 11:17