Glenn Greenwald scoop! It turns out accused WikiLeak Army guy Bradley Manning has been rotting in solitary confinement for five months in the Marine brig in Quantico, Virginia, and hasn't yet been brought to trial. Greenwald says this is very torturey, but what is the U.S. supposed to do? Let him move freely among the other military prisoners and implant them with KNOWLEDGE BOMBS? As punishment for maybe, ALLEGEDLY, giving all of Hillary Clinton's gossip to some weirdo Australian, the military keeps him cooped up in that box for 23 hours a day and denies him a pillow and blanket, without access to so much as a Snuggie or Contour Leg Pillow. And then Obama, who's letting this disgusting stuff all go on, AGAINST the advice of Morgan Freeman, comes in wearing his Batman costume to ask questions about the knowledge bombs. READ MORE »
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The world population is increasing by 74 million people a year. If we were deer the hunting season would be every day. Find out more about human population growth with this infographic.
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Christian financial hypocrisy in politics.
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Wisco: Irrational non-solutions to the WikiLeaks "problem"
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2010 to be hottest year on record
While every snow flurry or cool snap is often cited as evidence of the folly of "global warming" by critics, scientists at the NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies have released data showing that 2010 now ranks as the hottest climate year on record.
The combined land-ocean temperature readings from NASA's Goddard Institute indicate that 2010 has surpassed what it identified as the previous warmest climate year, 2005.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data shows that 1998 was the warmest year on record with 2005 close behind. The findings have been released after another failure to reach a significant reductions in emissions in the Cancun summit.
Nations again refused to make the cuts necessary to prevent global temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels by 2100.
This report comes with the disclosure that a top FOX executive ordered correspondents not to cite global warming statistics and to question the basis for climate change claims.
Source: Washington Post
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But it's got to happen now. "Cutting global greenhouse emissions might yet save the polar bear and its Arctic habitat, according to scientists in the US. It has been suggested that emissions of greenhouse gases have already put the Arctic ice cap and the polar bear on an irreversible path towards extinction. But a new study suggests rapid emission cuts could help preserve ice cover to save the iconic bear. Details are published in the academic journal Nature. A US Geological Survey team led by Dr Steven Amstrup predicted back in 2007 that two-thirds of the world's 22,000 polar bears would disappear by half way through the next century. This was based on industrial emissions continuing on a "business as usual" basis. Elsewhere, a study suggested industrial emissions of greenhouse gases might have already put the world on target for temperature rises which would result in rapid and perhaps irreversible ice loss in the Arctic. Dr Amstrup and colleagues now say that such dire forecasts might be avoided if industrial societies act quickly to cut emissions."
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Looks like the first big government shutdown is imminent. This month.
Yesterday, Democrats' chief appropriator, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) unveiled what's known as an omnibus spending bill -- a bundled up package of appropriations legislation, earmarks, and other measures -- which would keep the government running for a year.In response, most Republicans -- even those whose multimillion dollar earmark requests are included in the legislation -- are saying, "Hell no you can't!"
All those old people who voted wingnut last month? They won't be getting their Social Security checks or Medicare reimbursements if the government shuts down. But, you know, President Obama is black and a liberal, so shaming him will make up for it. No?
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John Boehner finally figures out how to 'hold back' those tears
"AS SENATOR McCONNELL HAS SUGGESTED, NO MATTER WHAT THEY ASK ME, I'M SIMPLY GONNA' THINK ABOUT THE POOR, THE UNEMPLOYED. AND ANYBODY ELSE WHO DOESN'T BELONG TO A COUNTRY CLUB."
Striking resemblances between BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster and a little-reported giant gas leak in Azerbaijan experienced by the UK firm 18 months beforehand have emerged from leaked US embassy cables.Also of note related to BP are serious allegations about stealing $10 billion of oil
The cables reveal that some of BP's partners in the gas field were upset that the company was so secretive about the incident that it even allegedly withheld information from them. They also say that BP was lucky that it was able to evacuate its 212 workers safely after the incident, which resulted in two fields being shut and output being cut by at least 500,000 barrels a day with production disrupted for months.
Other cables leaked tonight claim that the president of Azerbaijan accused BP of stealing $10bn of oil from his country and using "mild blackmail" to secure the rights to develop vast gas reserves in the Caspian Sea region.
Nigeria's anti-corruption police have dropped charges against Dick Cheney, the former US vice-president, over a multi-million dollar bribery case after the energy firm Halliburton agreed to pay up to $250m (£161m) in fines.
The move followed the intervention of ex-president George Bush Sr and former secretary of state James Baker, according to Nigerian press reports.
The country's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it met officials representing Cheney and Halliburton in London last week after filing 16-count charges relating to the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in the conflict-ridden Niger delta.
This kind of prosecution would set a pretty awful precedent for our press, yet the only protest I've seen from the US media is a letter from some journalism professors. Contrast this with Australia, where representatives from major media outlets sent a protest to their prime minister.
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Christopher Hitchens has two recent essays that are well worth a read: In Slate he writes about recently released Nixon tapes featuring Dick and Henry talking about their views of the world. The second article in Vanity Fair focuses on the madness, paranoia and extreme conspiracy theories that inform, drive and animate the TeaBagger movement. He calls them out, but his real target is the many "reasonable" conservative pundit apologists—like Ross Douthat—who will whitewash anything for temporary partisan advantage.
And as Sullivan reports, Douthat is outraged that Hitch called him out. Of course Kissinger has been outraged about Hitch for years. So now Henry and Ross can chat about mean old Christopher Hitchens and their hurt fee fees the next time they meet.
And we can hope that Christopher Hitchens keeps hurting the feelings of the world's biggest pricks for as long as he can. Even when I disagree with him he is always a joy to read.
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Nancy broke out Thor's hammer and once again gets it done:
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"Great news, my children! The Senate has just passed the tax cut plan by a wide margin!"
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The True Message From the Rich: "Most of You People Should Die Soon."
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It would really suck to be a headline writer for The Onion right now. How the hell do you satirize the fact that Halliburton is paying a $250 million bribe to Nigeria to get an indictment of former VP Dick Cheney dismissed, when the indictment is for...wait for it...bribery.
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Friendly reminder: please stay scared this holiday season!
Ho ho ho, Merry AL QAEDA WILL KILL US ALL, and to all a good night! This is not a joke, people: Iraqi authorities have "obtained confessions" ("obtained" — is that what they call it now?) from captured insurgents who say Al Qaeda is "planning suicide attacks in the United States and Europe during the Christmas season." The Christmas cockbombing thing didn't really work out, so maybe someone will try shoving a whole bunch of Bomb Bags up their bunghole instead? These sorts of threats are always very credible, so please take these torture-extracted confessions seriously and hide in your basement for the rest of the year. Ah, Yuletide Fear. [AP]
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Well, this makes 4,500 dead and 10,000 maimed Americans, plus a million dead and mutilated Iraqis, not to mention a couple of trillion dollars down that desert toilet, all worthwhile. "The UN Security Council has voted to lift most international sanctions imposed on Iraq during the Saddam Hussein era. The vote is intended as a recognition of the political progress made in Iraq. One resolution ends sanctions that were imposed to stop Iraq building nuclear, chemical or biological weapons."
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From the Rude Pundit, a reminder that even liberals have the right to draw a line and say: No Further.
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In the heat of the debate over the "don't ask, don't tell" repeal bill, which was eventually passed by the House Wednesday by a 250 to 175 margin, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) delivered a floor speech railing against overturning the military protocol on the grounds that allowing gay servicemembers to serve openly would be a threat to America's "existence."
