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Pat recognizes the problems and has the answers.
Sadly, the USA is at the most critical point in its history and if we don't turn it around from the path it's on, the country - as we know it - is doomed.
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Tuesday December 11, 2007
"it's bad to have an untouchable area ( 9/11 questions ) in a democracy,." - Naomi Wolf
I know some of you have attacked her for not taking a solid 9/11 truth position,. however I belive that by not taking such a position she is reaching more people that would simple dismiss such a decided position and is indeed getting them to think about 9/11 and question it.
What are your thoughts?Attempts to reduce CO2 emissions "pointless" as sun is cited as climate change culprit
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The so-called scientific consensus that global warming is man-made has been shattered with the release of a major new study backed by three universities which concludes that climate change over the past thirty years is explained by natural factors and that attempts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions are irrelevant.
Climate scientists at the University of Rochester, the University of Alabama, and the University of Virginia report that temperature fluctuations over the past three decades are not consistent with greenhouse model predictions and more closely correlate with solar activity.
The report dismisses attempts to reverse global warming by reducing carbon emissions as ineffective and pointless.“The observed pattern of warming, comparing surface and atmospheric temperature trends, does not show the characteristic fingerprint associated with greenhouse warming. The inescapable conclusion is that the human contribution is not significant and that observed increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases make only a negligible contribution to climate warming," said lead author David H. Douglass.
Co-author John Christy said: “Satellite data and independent balloon data agree that atmospheric warming trends do not exceed those of the surface. Greenhouse models, on the other hand, demand that atmospheric trend values be 2-3 times greater. We have good reason, therefore, to believe that current climate models greatly overestimate the effects of greenhouse gases. Satellite observations suggest that GH models ignore negative feedbacks, produced by clouds and by water vapor, that diminish the warming effects of carbon dioxide.”
Co-author S. Fred Singer said: “The current warming trend is simply part of a natural cycle of climate warming and cooling that has been seen in ice cores, deep-sea sediments, stalagmites, etc., and published in hundreds of papers in peer-reviewed journals. The mechanism for producing such cyclical climate changes is still under discussion; but they are most likely caused by variations in the solar wind and associated magnetic fields that affect the flux of cosmic rays incident on the earth’s atmosphere. In turn, such cosmic rays are believed to influence cloudiness and thereby control the amount of sunlight reaching the earth’s surface and thus the climate. Our research demonstrates that the ongoing rise of atmospheric CO2 has only a minor influence on climate change. We must conclude, therefore, that attempts to control CO2 emissions are ineffective and pointless – but very costly."
The findings of the report help to explain why we are witnessing climate change in almost every corner of our solar system, from Mars to Pluto, to Jupiter and to the moons of Neptune - and clearly identify the sun as the main culprit and not CO2 emissions - which are being used as a pretext for control freaks to completely dominate every aspect of our lives.
Man-made global warming advocates have often made their case by claiming that the scientific consensus is fully behind CO2 emissions as the main driver of climate change, when in fact the UN's own IPCC report was disputed by the very scientists that the UN claimed were behind it.
In reality, a significant number of prominent experts dispute the global warming mantra, but many have been intimidated into silence and had their careers threatened simply for stating an opposing view.
HAT TIP: Canadian Free Press DAVID DERBYSHIRE
UK Daily Mail
Tuesday December 11, 2007
Humans are evolving at a faster rate than at any time in history, according to a study.
Scientists say the speed of natural selection has accelerated so much that within a few generations we will have evolved resistance to diseases such as diabetes and malaria.
Instead of people from different parts of the world becoming more alike over time, they have actually been diverging, the study suggests.
Dr Henry Harpending, a professor of anthropology at the University of Utah who led the study, looked for clues about the speed of evolution in the DNA of 270 people from around the world.
The research showed that the population explosion since the Ice Age 10,000 years ago had accelerated the rate of genetic change.
"We aren't the same as people even 1,000 or 2,000 years ago," he told the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The dogma has been these are cultural fluctuations, but almost any temperament trait you look at is under strong genetic influence.
"Human races are evolving away from each other. Genes are evolving fast in Europe, Asia and Africa, but almost all of these are unique to their continent of origin.
"We are getting less alike, not merging into a single, mixed humanity."
The study looked for genetic evidence of natural selection - the evolution of favourable gene mutations - during the past 80,000 years by analysing DNA from northern Europe, China, Japan and Africa's Yoruba tribe.
The Europeans were mostly represented by data from Utah Mormons. It looked at genetic variations called single nucleotide polymorphisms.
Full article here. Mark Felsenthal
Reuters
Tuesday December 11, 2007
The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates on Tuesday by at least a quarter-percentage point to fortify the economy against a credit crunch and housing slump that some economists fear could bring a recession.
Steady if unspectacular hiring and signs the consumer has yet to fold suggest the economy, while cooling, has not entered a precipitous slide. At the same time, deteriorating conditions in financial markets recently led the Fed to make clear it saw risks rising and was ready to respond.
"They now believe the dysfunctional credit markets present more risk to the economy and the financial system than anything found in the economic or inflation statistics," economists at financial services giant Wachovia wrote in a note to clients.
"For the time being, the Fed will focus on righting the financial markets and making sure there is enough stimulus in place to offset the tightening in credit markets and ongoing unraveling of the housing market," they said.
The U.S. central bank meets against a backdrop of widespread unease over the sagging housing market and deepening gloom over exposure to delinquent mortgages at major financial institutions around the world.
Financial markets are betting the Fed lowers the benchmark federal funds rate by a quarter-percentage point to 4.25 percent from its current level at 4.50 percent, and think a surprise half-point reduction is not out of the question.
Full article here. Thomson Financial
Tuesday December 11, 2007
Gold held onto yesterday's gains, steadying above the 800 usd an ounce mark, as the dollar remained weak against the euro amid widespread expectations the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 25 basis points this evening.
Elsewhere, gold was benefiting from a slightly stronger tone in oil. The precious metal, seen as a hedge against oil-led inflation, tends to benefit from high oil prices. It also tends to move in the opposite direction to the dollar.
'The yellow metal has closely tracked the dollar so far this morning, and is a theme likely to continue ahead of the FOMC meeting later,' said TheBullionDesk.com analyst James Moore.
He added while a 25 basis point rate cut has been largely factored in and could trigger some initial profit-taking, 'the longer-term implications of falling US interest rates will draw investors ... towards better performing assets such as gold'.
At 10.19 am, spot gold was steady at 807.95 usd an ounce, against 807.40 usd in late New York trade yesterday.
The dollar steadied at lower levels against the euro, still under pressure from expectations the Fed will cut rates again later today, further eroding the dwindling value of the greenback.
Standard Bank analyst Walter de Wet said precious metals participants will be keen to see if the Fed continues to put sluggish growth ahead of inflation fears in its accompanying statement.
Should it do this, gold could benefit from expectations of further rate cuts ahead.
Full article here. John Byrne
Raw Story
Tuesday December 11, 2007
History has a way of repeating itself.
White House press secretary Dana Perino has been front and center of the White House's push to continue to label Iran a rogue state for its pursuit of uranium enrichment technology.
This comes against the backdrop of a new intelligence estimate positing that the Islamic state abandoned its nuclear weapons in 2003.
Turns out she doesn't know quite so much about nuclear weapons as she supposes. And we're not talking about Iran.
Appearing on National Public Radio's quiz show, "Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me," this weekend, Perino admitted a story she'd previously only shared in private: When a reporter asked her a question during a White House briefing in which he referred to the Cuban Missile Crisis -- she didn't know what it was.
"I was panicked a bit because I really don't know about . . . the Cuban Missile Crisis," said Perino, who at 35 was born about a decade after the 1962 U.S.-Soviet nuclear showdown. "It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I'm pretty sure."
The exchange was first noted in the Washington Post.
"I came home and I asked my husband," she said on air. "I said, 'Wasn't that like the Bay of Pigs thing?' And he said, 'Oh, Dana.' "
Perino was referring to the White House briefing held on October 26, when a reporter asked her, "Do you want to address the remarks by President Putin, who said the United States setting up a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe was like the Soviet Union putting missiles in Cuba, setting up a Cuban missile crisis?"
"Well, I think that the historical comparison is not -- does not exactly work," Perino had responded.
FULL AUDIO CLIP CAN BE HEARD AT THIS LINKJohn Kiriakou told US broadcaster ABC that "water-boarding" was used when his CIA team questioned suspected al-Qaeda chief recruiter Abu Zubaydah.
He said it might be torture but that it "broke" the detainee in seconds.
US authorities are investigating the CIA's destruction of videotapes of al-Qaeda suspects being interrogated.
Mr Kiriakou said the day after water-boarding was used on Abu Zubaydah, the detainee told his interrogator that Allah had visited him in his cell during the night and told him to co-operate.
'Principles compromised'
"From that day on, he answered every question," the retired agent said.
| | WATER-BOARDING Prisoner bound to a board with feet raised, and cellophane wrapped round head. Water is poured onto face and is said to produce a fear of drowning |
"The threat information he provided disrupted a number of attacks, maybe dozens of attacks."
But he added: "Like a lot of Americans, I'm involved in this internal, intellectual battle with myself weighing the idea that water-boarding may be torture versus the quality of information that we often get after using the water-boarding technique. And I struggle with it."
He said he felt water-boarding's use had "compromised [American] principles in the short term" and was unsure the technique would be justified any longer.
"At the time, I felt water-boarding was something we needed to do," he said.
"And as time has passed, and as September 11th has, you know, has moved farther and farther back into history, I think I've changed my mind."
The interview is said by ABC News to be first public comment by any CIA officer involved in handling top al-Qaeda suspects.
Cover-up claims
It comes as an official inquiry is launched into the CIA's destruction in 2005 of two videotapes showing interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects.
One of the detainees in the deleted footage, filmed in 2002, is understood to be Abu Zubaydah, the man referred to by Mr Kiriakou.
The Palestinian was captured in Pakistan in 2002 and sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The CIA says it destroyed the tapes to protect the identity of its agents.
But Democrats have accused the agency of a cover-up to hide evidence of possible detainee torture.
The administration of US President George W Bush has always maintained it does not allow the use of torture.
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has completely stopped selling any of its oil for U.S. dollars, an Iranian news agency reported on Saturday, citing the oil minister of the world's fourth-largest crude producer.
The ISNA news agency did not give a direct quote from Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari. A senior oil official last month said "nearly all" of Iran's crude oil sales were now being paid for in non-U.S. currencies.
For nearly two years, OPEC's second biggest producer has been reducing its exposure to the dollar, saying the weak U.S. currency is eroding its purchasing power.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who often rails against the West, has called the U.S. currency a "worthless piece of paper."
Foes since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, Tehran and Washington are also at odds over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme as well as over policy in Iraq.
"In line with the policy of selling crude oil in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, currently the sale of our country's oil in U.S. dollars has been completely eliminated," ISNA reported after talking with Nozari.
Nozari told ISNA: "In regards to the decrease in the dollar's value and the loss exporters of crude oil have endured from this trend, the dollar is no longer a reliable currency."
"This is why, at the meeting of the heads of states, Iran proposed to OPEC members that a currency (for oil exports) would be determined that would be reliable and would not cause any loss to exporter countries," he said.
At a November summit of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries heads of state, Iran suggested oil should be sold in a basket of currencies rather than dollars, but failed to win over other members except Venezuela.
Ahmadinejad and his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, are vocal critics of U.S. influence in the world.
Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, international affairs director of the state owned National Iranian Oil Company, last month told Reuters that most of Iran's oil export earnings were in euros, with some in yen.
(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian, writing by Fredrik Dahl, editing by Anthony Barker)
