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Compiled by Steve Jalsevac
GLOBAL WARMING
Forecasters keep eye on looming ‘Solar Max’ – Breitbart
The coming year will be an important one for space weather as the Sun pulls out of a trough of low activity and heads into a long-awaited and possibly destructive period of turbulence.
The latest cycle began in 1996 and for reasons which are unclear has taken longer than expected to end.
Climate PR effort heats up – Politico
The Senate’s leading global warming skeptic, Oklahoma Republican Jim Inhofe, said he’s not concerned about another blitz of information, whether from Obama or anyone else. “No matter what they do, whether it means being more articulate or anything else, they’re fighting a losing battle because the science is cooked,” Inhofe told POLITICO. “The trouble is they’re not trying to educate the public. They’re trying to influence the public.”
EPA moving unilaterally to limit greenhouse gases – Google News
Announcing plans for new power plants and oil refinery emission standards over the next year. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson said the aim was to better cope with pollution contributing to climate change.
White House Plans to Push Global Warming Policy, GOP Vows Fight – Fox News
After failing to get climate-change legislation through Congress, the Obama administration plans on pushing through its environmental policies through other means. On Jan. 2, new carbon emissions limits will be put forward as the Environmental Protection Agency prepares regulations that would force companies to get permits to release greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
Berlin sees most snow in December since 1900s
The German capital of Berlin has experienced more snow this month than any other December of past 110 years, as more bitter cold is expected in the country’s east, the German Weather Service (DWD) said Tuesday.
BRITAIN’S winter is the coldest since 1683 and close to being the chilliest in nearly 1,000 years
ECONOMIC CRISIS
What are the odds on the Euro’s survival? – Mercator
Europe is on the cusp of change. A European Union heads-of-state summit on December 16 launched a process aimed to save the common European currency. If successful, this process would be the most significant step toward creating a singular European power since the creation of the European Union itself in 1992 — that is, if it doesn’t destroy the euro first.
Year of bullying, bluff and bailouts leaves euro fighting for its life
Archbishop Dolan, Bishop Blaire Urge Congress to Support Tax Credits for Low-Income Families
a low-income family with two children, with one income at the minimum wage ($15,000 a year), stands to lose roughly $1,400 if the 2009 Child Tax Credit reform is eliminated.
U.S. fiscal health worse than Europe’s: China adviser – Reuters
The U.S. dollar will be a safe investment for the next six to 12 months because global markets are focused on the euro zone’s troubles but America’s fiscal health is worse than Europe’s, an adviser to the Chinese central bank said on Wednesday.
Economies rise and fall with the family
Governments cannot afford to keep treating family values as an optional extra, says a government minister. By disfiguring and devaluing family values, governments around the world are crippling their economies and reducing precious budget revenues, argues Lithuanian Economy Minister Dainius Kreivys.
TSA ABUSE OF AIRLINE PASSENGERS
Ron Paul: Cut out this Soviet-style nonsense
Congressman launches bill, suggests searches would cease if Obama, top officials had them
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, introduced the Air Traveler Dignity Act to protect Americans from physical and emotional abuse by federal Transportation Security Administration employees conducting screenings at the nation’s airports. Paul suggested the controversial screening techniques would vanish if top-ranking government officials were themselves subject to them.
India to protest envoy’s US ‘pat down’ search, wants apology
According to The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Shankar was singled out from a group of 30 passengers and pulled aside. Witnesses told the paper that she was chosen as she was wearing a sari. The Clarion-Ledger added that Shankar had asked for a private security check, but she was led to clear box for the ‘pat down’ in public view. ‘The way they pat them down – it was so humiliating,’
Terrorizing Our Own – Canada Free Press
We molest 3 year olds in airports, because we can’t possibly screen Muslim terrorists. Airline travelers flying the unfriendly skies are presented with two options, that are actually only a single option, to have themselves and their children degraded in public in order to spare Muslim feelings. That we have a ban on profiling travelers, but no ban on molesting or humiliating them, tells us everything we need to know about why we have the current system that we do.
Woman arrested at ABIA after refusing enhanced pat down
Claire Hirschkind, 56, who says she is a rape victim and who has a pacemaker-type device implanted in her chest, says her constitutional rights were violated. She says she never broke any laws. But the Transportation Security Administration disagrees. Hirschkind was hoping to spend Christmas with friends in California, but she never made it past the security checkpoint.
“I turned to the police officer and said, ‘I have given no due cause to give up my constitutional rights. You can wand me,’” and they said, ‘No, you have to do this,’” she said. Hirschkind agreed to the pat down, but on one condition. “I told them, ‘No, I’m not going to have my breasts felt,’ and she said, ‘Yes, you are,’” said Hirschkind.
When Hirschkind refused, she says that “the police actually pushed me to the floor, (and) handcuffed me. I was crying by then. They drug me 25 yards across the floor in front of the whole security.” Other travelers KVUE talked to say they empathize with Hirschkind, but the law is the law.
MISCELLANEOUS
Britain’s Left Are Panicking – American Thinker
London’s descent into anarchy over a rise in university tuition fees shows just how deeply the entire leftist enterprise relies on their takeover of the university system. The once-great British university system has been slowly degenerating thanks to the progressive socialist agenda since the 1960s. Most universities are funded by the state and have pages upon pages of government interference that they must abide by.
The traditional understanding of a university as an institution of learning has been replaced by the view that university is a place where one has an “experience” or discovers oneself. Over time, student life has focused more on drink, drugs, and casual sex (assisted by state funded “safe-sex” schemes) than on lectures. Less time in the library and more time in the Student Union bar means more opportunities to be roped into left-wing-controlled “activism,” whether it is fair-trade, animal rights, eco-extremism, or plain old Marxism and anti-Americanism.
Progressives are Running the Universities – Front Page Magazine
It is well known that progressives have been able for decades now to exercise their control through domination of hiring committees and the imposition of politically correct speech codes designed to exterminate dissent.
Most medical research is wrong? Are you kidding? by Michael Cook
No. In fact, the leading figure in medical statistics says plainly, “most claimed research findings are false”.
A moral crisis, not a money crisis – Mercator
Want to know how to push American kids back to the top of the education ladder? A leading educator has an agenda for teachers and parents.
Private world of Canadian MP’s bills – Laura Stone, Postmedia News
Of the 405 private member’s bills introduced by individual MPs since 2008, eight have been passed into law. About 100 new bills were introduced solely in 2010, with the rest carried over from previous sessions.