or get a hard copy at cost — no kick back for me —

http://www.lulu.com/content/8177540

enjoy.

Written By druhempel

According to Tyrone man John Hurson in a text sent at 7.40pm, “We arrived in Gaza 30 minutes ago to one amazing welcome. The excitement is incredible. It is good to be home again and meet all my friends. Beautiful feeling.” John Hurson had also participated in the previous Viva Palestina aid convoy to Gaza.

TV footage of their arrival can be viewed by clicking on the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2M3yUhk5eU

Among those interviewed are the Irish participants from Derry. The Derry members of the convoy are J.J. Crockett, Enna O Donghaile, Eddie McBride, Derek McChrystal and Danny Doyle.

Freda Hughes, spokesperson for the IPSC, said, “The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign sends its congratulations to all those who participated in the convoy. It was a long, hard journey, but they made it. It was a brave effort and some of them were physically attacked by the Egyptian police along the way. The obstruction of the convoy by the Egyptian authorities was shameful and the attack on members of the convoy last night was an absolute disgrace, but we are glad to see that most of the humanitarian aid has finally reached its destination, where it is badly needed.”

She continued, “It is especially appropriate that the siege of Gaza has been broken by this convoy at this time, which is exactly 12 months since the Israeli massacre in which 1,400 Palestinians were brutally killed. It is important to remember that more than 300 of those victims were children. We are also conscious that the Israeli blockade of Gaza continues and its impact is primarily on the civilian population. People in Gaza continue to suffer horribly. The Israeli siege of Gaza must end now.”

There were 10 Irish participants on the convoy, from both north and south of the border, and three vehicles from Ireland.

Among those in Gaza at present are John Hurson from Tyrone, Kate O’Sullivan from Cork, and Dave Carroll, also from Cork. Dave Carroll was injured and required stiches following last night’s attack on the convoy in El-Arish by Egyptian riot police.

Written By dissident

Written By FloydAnderson

Written By nyactriz

This event marks the release of his latest book, “Self Defense for Radicals: A to Z Guide for Subversive Struggle” (and his second novel, “Dear Vito,” will be out by then, too).

We hope you’ll consider joining us, bringing friends, buying the books, and spreading the word far and wide

Info and directions for Bluestockings can be found here

—

Order Self Defense for Radicals: A to Z Guide for Subversive Struggle
(only $4.95)

The e-book version is only $3.00 and can be downloaded here

If you prefer to order via Amazon, here’s the link

Written By mickeyz

For the past twenty years I have followed global developments in the realm of national and geopolitics, the economy, health and human rights. To say there has been no progress or positive developments would be incorrect. Yes there has been progress however weighted against regressive developments, it in my opinion, amounts to very little.

The most obvious, pivotal happening in this first decade, to my mind, that has changed the world forever has to be the attack on the World Trade Center. The controversy surrounding who or what faction is responsible for this catastrophic, life-changing event still exists and whether the truth to the events leading up to this experience is ever made known, the implications of its happening will forever be present.

The dark, ominous cloud of concrete dust and pulverized debris that blew over lower Manhattan on that fateful day still blanket the world ten years later only to have been amplified by the dark clouds of smoke rising from the ashes of bombed out Iraq and Afghanistan. On top of the several thousand innocent souls that perished on September 11, 2001 have been added the deaths of several hundred thousand innocent civilians in these theaters of war that have manifest in response. Are these wars justified? Are they legal? It is beyond me to be asked but if asked: What has been gained from a civilian perspective? The answer would have to be: Nothing.

The event of 911 and subsequently the bombing in London on July 7, 2001, set the stage for dramatic changes within the United States, Great Britain and their ally countries that has forever altered the daily lives of their citizens and the citizens of the entire world.

The purported threat of further terrorist attacks on the US, UK and ally nations has seen unprecedented increases in what is coined as Homeland Security. Domestic and international travel is now burdened by ever increasing layers of security checks to the tune of several hundred million dollars worth of equipment and personnel to invoke. Yet after ten years of such security a lone, twenty three year old Nigerian student can circumvent the elaborate security system at his point of origin as well as in Amsterdam, to render a bomb in his underwear no less. A fact not widely reported in the main stream media about this event is the observance by a verified passenger, on the same flight, that the student DID NOT have a passport yet by someone’s intervention, was allowed to board the plane at both locations. Ask yourself: Could you be so skillful

Ultimately the most significant accomplishment of the 911 and subsequent events has to be the increased perception of fear. Fear has enveloped the entire world and those in power have taken full advantage of this fact. Fear has enabled the insidious erosion of personal freedoms manifest by increased scrutiny of citizen’s daily lives. It has manifest a sense of resignation premised on the feeling that the situation is bigger than anyone person thus acquiescing their civil responsibility to those in government to address and resolve. Yet as the incident of the Nigerian student and more dramatically, the collapse of the global financial system prove that government and the individuals who comprise it, are not capable of such.

This moment in time finds the world’s people fraught with significant, calamitous events from pandemics, global warming and climate change to financial collapse to render dire feelings about what the year 2010 and the future have in store but regardless, the peoples of the world will strive on as they always have and the strength given by the hope for better things to come will provide the resolve to do just so.

So in closing – Happy New Year May your life be fruitful and prosperous!

Written By canadian

Just one example:

US Authorities were not amused.

More . . .

Written By microdot

Though I personally don’t subscribe to all that is presented in the video nonetheless, it is thought provoking. Well worth the time to listen to what is being offered as a point of view of current, global events particularity as they are unfolding in the Middle East.

VIDEO

Here is a related link that goes deeper into the topic and the implication of matters unfolding in Pakistan

LINK

Written By canadian

And don’t worry folks, because unlike GUN and Guerrilla News, I am in no way directly involved in the creation or management of Feral Camel. It is, rather, the product of the independent initiative of a handfull of ex-GNNers who came together under the banner of the Guerrilla Coders Collective * in order to create a new, independent, and user-generated platform for GNN refugees.

If there isn’t much to Feral Camel at this point in time it’s because you all, the GNN community, have yet to make the transition. This echo chamber may still be useful or entertaining for some of you, but it will not remain forever, and eventually this too will be completely shut down. You are of course welcome at GUN, but you are also invited to join Feral Camel and contribute to the birthing of a new community intended to be far more diverse than other projects such as GUN, which many of you have thankfully rejected and neglected to join (lending, in part, to the project’s very success).

Written By ShiftShapers

Just exactly how BIG is that mofo rock?

Corporate Media has been broadcasting that anti-riot police have been shooting at the rioters, but . . . there’s no way those cops are armed — much less using arms — to do anything but protect their faces.

Is that the same kid, throwing another rock? No, it’s another kid, throwing another rock — this time with a green headband. Well, I say “kid” — I suppose they’re at least 18. It would be interesting to hear them try to defend their actions on Global TV.

Written By microdot

Of course, dirty jews commit war crimes, and crimes against humanity, every moment they are alive. Throughout history humans have had to burn jews to save their children.

Although there is a lot of spin about the matter, jews had to be gassed and burned during WW2 because they were killing children. Here are some evil child-killing jews on their way to be burned like rats in pits.

Yet it still continues: In the USA, for example, many thousands of children go missing each year. The greater majority of these children are killed horribly by jews in their Satanic rituals again humanity. jews control the media, politicians and the police in the US, so jew atrocities against humans are covered up.

Written By floopin

The David Icke Newsletter

Hello all …

The political creed of Zionism has big ears and a long trunk and I think it’s time that was pointed out. It also stampedes through our lives at every level and that needs to be said, too.

It has created a pincer-movement on the human mind by hijacking staggering amounts of political, corporate, banking and media power on one side and by using the fear of being called ‘anti-Semitic’ if you dare to state the bloody obvious.

They have been able to do this by equating in public perception that Zionism = Jewish people. It does not. Zionism is a political creed introduced by the House of Rothschild to advance the goals of the Illuminati families that are largely controlled by the Rothschilds.

When people think of Zionism they think of Jewish people. When they think of Israel they think of Jewish people. That’s understandable given the propaganda, but it is seriously misleading and those instant connections need to be broken if we are going to understand what’s going on here.

Zionism means Rothschild just as Israel means Rothschild. When we see the extraordinary number of Zionists in key positions around the world we are looking not at ‘manipulating Jews’, but manipulating Zionists representing the interests and demands of the Rothschilds.

Significant numbers of Jewish people are not Zionists and oppose that appalling creed while many Zionists are not Jewish. These include the Christian Zionists and Obama’s vice-president, Joe Biden, who told Israeli television ‘I’m a Zionist’. Here’s the clip if you can stand it:

If, as Biden rightly says, you don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, how can it be a racial rather than a political movement? It can’t. It’s just made to appear like that to manipulate public perception because opposing Zionism then becomes opposing Jewish people as a whole and the ‘you’re a racist’ card can be played over and over.

Far from protecting and advancing the interests of the mass of Jewish people it has often been devastating for them and caused millions to be labelled unfairly by the actions of the Zionist elite. On the Jews Against Zionism website one feature highlights how Rothschild Zionism targeted Jews who had lived for generations in Palestine side-by-side with Arabs in peace and harmony:

‘The religious Jews who by virtue of their faith, clearly contradicted Zionist nationalism, and who had lived peacefully with their Arab neighbors for generations, became unwillingly identified with the Zionist cause and their struggle with the Arabs.

They requested the United Nations that Jerusalem be designated as a defacto international city. They appealed to the diplomatic corps assigned to Jerusalem — but to no avail. They were hence confronted with the choice of either becoming a part of the Zionist State, which diametrically opposed the interests of Jews as a religion, or abandoning the land of which their forefathers were the first Jewish settlers.’

Let’s get this straight. Zionism doesn’t give a damn about Jewish people. To the Rothschilds and their Zionist gofers and thugs the Jewish people as a whole are merely cattle to be used and abused as necessary – just like the rest of the human population.

The networks of the House of Rothschild were behind Hitler and the rise of the Nazi Party in the Rothschild heartland of Germany where they had changed their name from Bauer in 18th century Frankfurt and launched the dynasty that was to control global finance.

After the war the Rothschilds used public sympathy for Jewish people targeted by the Nazis to press for a homeland in Palestine. This was the alleged reason for the founding of Zionism, but that is only part of it.

As I show in my books, the campaign to impose a Rothschild fiefdom in Palestine goes back at least to the earlier part of the 19th century and probably long before. It was given a massive boost with the Balfour Declaration in 1917 when the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour declared in a letter his government’s support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

This letter was sent by Balfour, an inner-circle member of an elite secret society called the Round Table, to Baron (Walter) Rothschild who funded the Round Table.

Today, Rothschild Illuminati fronts like the Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg Group, Royal Institute of International Affairs, and others, still answer to the Round Table which string-pulls and coordinates from the shadows. This is why Zionists in government are invariably connected with these Rothschild-controlled organisations.

The Rothschilds funded the early settlers from Europe to relocate in post-war Palestine and they also funded and armed the terrorist groups, like Irgun, which bombed and terrorised Israel into existence in 1948, a campaign which forced 800,000 Palestinians to leave the land of their birth.

Israel is simply the State of Rothschild and how appropriate that they paid for the construction of the Israeli parliament building, the Knesset, and the Israel Supreme Court. The name Rothschild means Red-shield and it originates with the red shield ‘Star of David’ symbol (not a Jewish symbol before the Rothschilds) which they displayed on their house in Frankfurt …

The very flag of Israel tells you who owns it. There are many reasons why the Rothschilds and their allies wanted to hijack Palestine and one was to keep the Middle East in a state of disruption and turmoil from which a global war can eventually be triggered to usher in the New World Order of world government dictatorship.

The creation of Israel is a means not an end and the Rothschilds will be quite happy to leave the Jewish population to their fate if it suits them. After all, they’ve done it before.

The world’s second biggest Zionist population is in the United States and given that both America and Israel are controlled by the Rothschild networks it is not hard to fathom why that slither of land in the Middle East receives around a third of all US overseas aid.

An average $3 billion a year is handed to the State of Rothschild as a result of decisions made by American administrations that are always, ‘Republican’ or ‘Democrat’, controlled by the Rothschilds. One hand of the network hands over the cash to another.

This explains why the United States never talks about the arsenal of nuclear weapons stockpiled by one of the world’s most trigger-happy states. Israel refuses to discuss them and the American policy, recently reconfirmed by Obama, is never to ask or bring up the subject.

The last two US administrations are testament to the extent of Zionist (Rothschild) control of America and thus its foreign policy, not least with regard to Iraq, the former land of Sumer and Babylon, which according to some just happens to be part of the ‘Greater Israel’ that the Zionists seek to secure.

The ‘Bush’ government was the glove-puppet of the so-called neo-cons, or neoconservatives, whose only political philosophy in truth was the interests of Zionism. At the heart of the Rothschild-controlled neocon cabal were Richard Perle (Zionist), Paul Wolfowitz (Zionist), Dov Zakheim (Zionist), Douglas Feith (Zionist), John Bolton (Zionist), Lewis Libby (Zionist), the list goes on and on. These were the people who orchestrated the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq on behalf of the Rothschilds.

Economic policy was dictated through the years of Reagan-Bush, Father Bush, Clinton and most of Boy Bush by Alan Greenspan (Zionist), chairman of the privately-owned US ‘central bank’, the Federal Reserve. Privately owned, that is, by the Rothschilds through a network of front people and organisations.

Greenspan introduced the policies of deregulation that culminated, as designed, in the free-for-all frenzy of greed by banks and financial markets in general that led to the crash in the last weeks of the Bush presidency. Greenspan resigned from the Fed before the consequences of his long-term game-plan exploded in lost homes, jobs and savings. He was replaced by Bernard Bernanke (Zionist).

Greenspan was enthusiastically supported in his deregulation through successive administrations by Treasury Secretaries in the Clinton years, Robert E. Rubin (Zionist) and Larry Summers (Zionist), and also by the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the most powerful in the Fed cabal, Timothy Geithner (Zionist).

When Mr. Fake Change won the presidency amid the gathering financial crisis, caused by all of the above, and others, he appointed Geithner as his Treasury Secretary and Summers as head of the White House Economic Council. Both are protégés of Robert Rubin who resigned from Citigroup earlier this year for his role in ‘advising’ it to the brink of collapse.

Obama’s Budget Director is Peter Orszag (Zionist) who headed the company that advised the Icelandic Central Bank in the prelude to the crash of Iceland’s financial system. This has led to Iceland being fast-tracked into the Rothschild-created European Union to ‘save’ its economy. Orszag also advised the Russian Treasury when state-owned assets and resources were handed to Zionist oligarchs, including Roman Abramovich who is famous in the UK as the owner of Chelsea Football Club.

Add to all this the fact that the World Bank is headed by Robert Zoellick (Zionist), who replaced Paul Wolfowitz (Zionist), and that the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, is run by Dominique Strauss-Kahn (Zionist).

Anyone still doubt that the Rothschild network controls global finance and therefore the lives and choices of virtually every man, woman and child on the planet?

The Rothschilds are at the heart of the Obama White House in the form of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (Zionist) and Chief White House Advisor David Axelrod (Zionist). Emanuel has served in the Israeli army and his father was an operative with the Rothschild terrorist group, Irgun, as it bombed Israel into being. This included the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946 that killed 91 people.

Rahm Emanuel also worked closely Robert E. Rubin (Zionist) during the Clinton years to impose NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was designed from the start to be a stepping-stone to a North American, and eventually an American Union, along the lines of the EU. The Zionist world is very small indeed.

David Axelrod ran Obama’s election campaigns and now oversees his every word slavishly read from his teleprompter screens. There is little that Obama says that his Zionist handlers don’t tell him or give him to say.

They have also ensured that US policy for Iran and the Persian Gulf is headed by Dennis Ross (Zionist) who has served Israeli interests in successive American administrations. There will not be a cigarette paper behind the scenes between him and that trio of tyranny, Netanyahu, Lieberman, Barak, the prime minister, foreign minister and defence minister of Israel. Rothschild stooges, in other words.

Zionist Mandelson works for the pyramid

The most influential figure by far in the current British government is Peter Mandelson (Zionist) who continues to amass more titles and powers from the beleaguered Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Mandelson is an insider operative for the Rothschilds and has frequently accepted hospitality from his close friend and associate, Nathaniel Rothschild. This week Mandelson called for the UK to join the (Rothschild) single European currency.

Meanwhile, the hapless and hopeless Gordon Brown did as he was told and appointed Ivan Lewis (Zionist) to be minister of state with responsibility for, wait for it … British policy on the Middle East. Lewis, vice-chair of the Labour Friends of Israel, was an outspoken supporter of Israel’s slaughter of the innocent in Gaza this year. Lewis said of his new job:

‘My responsibility for the Middle East peace process is particularly poignant. I have never hidden my pride at being Jewish or my support for the State of Israel.’

What chance do the Palestinians have of fairness and justice? None.

In France, as I mentioned last week, President Sarkozy (Zionist) is a long-time asset of Mossad, the Rothschild enforcement agency masquerading as the intelligence agency of Israel. Mossad has been implicated in terror attacks and other horrors all over the world because it represents the Rothschild global agenda and not the people of Israel.

Look also at the Zionist (Rothschild) control of the entertainment and media industry in the form of people like Fox News President Peter Chernin (Zionist); Paramount Pictures Chairman Brad Grey (Zionist); Walt Disney CEO Robert Igor (Zionist); Sony Pictures Chairman Michael Lynton (Zionist); Warner Brothers Chairman Barry Meyer (Zionist); CBS CEO Leslie Moonves (Zionist); MGM Chairman Harry Sloan (Zionist); and NBC/Universal Studios CEO Jeff Zucker (Zionist).

The Rothschilds control America

The Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein (Zionist) wrote an article proclaiming that Americans who don’t think Jews (Zionists) control Hollywood are just plain ‘dumb’. Stein went on:

‘The Jews are so dominant. I had to scour the trades to come up with six Gentiles in high positions at entertainment companies. But lo and behold, even one of that six, AMC President Charles Collier, turned out to be a Jew! ... As a proud Jew, I want America to know of our accomplishment. Yes, we control Hollywood.’

And not only Hollywood. Shahar Ilan, a daily features editor with the leading Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz, wrote: ‘The Jews do control the American media. This is very clear, and claiming otherwise is an insult to common knowledge’. Zionists have truly massive influence over the news media with the likes of Rupert Murdoch (Zionist) with his vast television and newspaper empire, and the Sulzberger family (Zionists) who own the New York Times. The list is enormous across television, radio, newspapers and the Internet.

When you look at the number of Zionists in key positions of power and control in politics, banking, corporations, news media, Hollywood and so on, it is sobering to think that Jewish people are just 1.7% of the American population and many of those won’t be Zionists.

What if the same situation happened with Arab people or Chinese, Irish or even black Americans? There would be an outcry and questions asked about how one group can have so much influence over the lives of a whole nation, indeed many nations. And I stress again that, in the end, this control system leads to the Rothschilds and the spider they represent at the centre of the web.

The Rothschilds established B’nai B’rith in 1843 to prevent exposure of the global Zionist networks. The ‘ BB’ is an offshoot of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry and operates worldwide to brand as ‘anti-Semitic’ anyone who exposes the Rothschild operation.

In 1913, B’nai B’rith launched an organisation specifically to target and defame researchers, in fact anyone, who questions, criticises or exposes Israel and the ever-gathering Zionist influence across the world. With typical irony they called it the Anti-Defamation League, better known as the ADL, and claimed it was there to protect Jewish people. As Plato said: ‘This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector’.

The ADL is, in fact, a sub-agency of the Israeli (Rothschild) centre for covert operations, the Mossad, which, according to a former agent, has the motto: ‘By way of deception, thou shalt do war’. If that isn’t the motto, it should be. The ADL is behind the introduction of ‘hate laws’ which are aimed at silencing dissent against Zionism or Israel. The Jewish academic, Noam Chomsky, said this of the ADL in his book, Necessary Illusions:

‘The ADL has virtually abandoned its earlier role as a civil rights organization, becoming “one of the main pillars” of Israeli propaganda in the U.S., as the Israeli press casually describes it, engaged in surveillance, blacklisting, compilation of FBI-style files circulated to adherents for the purpose of defamation, angry public responses to criticism of Israeli actions, and so on.

These efforts, buttressed by insinuations of anti-Semitism or direct accusations, are intended to deflect or undermine opposition to Israeli policies, including Israel’s refusal, with U.S. support, to move towards a general political settlement.’

The American rabbi, Michael Lerner, agrees:

‘The ADL lost most of it credibility in my eyes as a civil rights organization when it began to identify criticisms of Israel with anti-Semitism, still more when it failed to defend me when I was receiving threats to my life from right-wing Jewish groups because of my critique of Israeli policy toward Palestinians (it said that these were not threats that came from my being Jewish, so therefore they were not within their area of concern).’

Firstly, the ADL has never been a civil rights organisation. Its very purpose has been to take them away. Secondly, it is not there to defend anyone, Jewish or otherwise. It’s there to represent the sadistic interests of the House of Rothschild and the wider Illuminati.

It is so important that people are aware of this background to Zionism because at the moment it is basically speeding along unchallenged through lack of awareness and fear of being dubbed ‘racist’.

Well, I couldn’t care less what people say about me with regard to this or anything else. I want to uncover the truth, not win a popularity contest.

Please, let’s circulate this information as effectively as we can and bring it from the shadows to public attention. We must refuse to be intimidated into silence over this.

Martin Luther King said: ‘... we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.’

It is time to stand up, in every sense.

Written By FloydAnderson

History of the Climatic Research Unit

Acknowledgements

This list is not fully exhaustive, but we would like to acknowledge the support of the following funders (in alphabetical order)

British Council,

British Petroleum,

Broom’s Barn Sugar Beet Research Centre,

Central Electricity Generating Board,

Centre for Environment,

Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS),

Commercial Union,

Commission of European Communities (CEC, often referred to now as EU),

Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC),

Department of Energy, Department of the Environment (DETR, now DEFRA),

Department of Health,

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI),

Eastern Electricity,

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC),

Environment Agency,

Forestry Commission,

Greenpeace International,

International Institute of Environmental Development (IIED),

Irish Electricity Supply Board,

KFA Germany,

Leverhulme Trust (Trust was originally endowed with a shareholding in Lever Brothers, which subsequently became part of Unilever.)

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF),

National Power,

National Rivers Authority,

Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC),

Norwich Union,

Nuclear Installations Inspectorate,

Overseas Development Administration (ODA),

Reinsurance Underwriters and Syndicates,

Royal Society,

Scientific Consultants, (?)

Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC),

Scottish and Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research,

Shell,

Stockholm Environment Agency,

Sultanate of Oman,

Tate and Lyle,

UK Met. Office,

UK Nirex Ltd., (UK based ‘independent’ ‘radioactive waste’ management consultants.)

United Nations Environment Plan (UNEP),

United States Department of Energy,

United States Environmental Protection Agency,

Wolfson Foundation and the

World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF).

Written By SunTzu

Written By FloydAnderson

I have always used the same callsign and will keep doing so. Look me up, you may find me on other forums.

While I am sad at GNN’s closing, it is my hope that we will pollinate other grounds, many of which in dire need of expanding critical thinking.

May Tron always keep your batteries at full amp.

Mikecimerian

Written By mikecimerian

Written By bodo

The loyalty espoused by partisan news anchors and radio hosts to the Democratic Party is not only pathetic and void of independent judgment, it also lacks genuine political assessment, and speaks to a culture of concession that is the absolute antithesis of American democracy. Their political assessment involves nothing more than the politics of politics.

Why is it—after the terrible but easily expected news of an escalation in Afghanistan—so hard for the majority of the left side of America’s incessant political debate to just say, “Obama, this health care bill sucks?” Howard Dean, former Democratic Governor of Vermont and presidential candidate, did:

“If I were a senator, I would not vote for the current health-care bill. Any measure that expands private insurers’ monopoly over health care and transfers millions of taxpayer dollars to private corporations is not real health-care reform. Real reform would insert competition into insurance markets, force insurers to cut unnecessary administrative expenses and spend health-care dollars caring for people. Real reform would significantly lower costs, improve the delivery of health care and give all Americans a meaningful choice of coverage. The current Senate bill accomplishes none of these.” (The Washington Post, 12/17/09)

The general public seems to be as willing as their President and the Democratic Party to get anything they can, instead of what we deserve. The urgency of meeting the needs of one senator, Joe Lieberman, isn’t even necessary, nor is it productive. The urgency of meeting the needs of all Americans is unquestionably off the table.

Written By derekpostlewaite

Written By FloydAnderson

The protest first congregated at Queen’s Park, where several speakers spoke to the crowd about the shady dealings of the Olympics and their corporate sponsors. There were speakers from several organizations. There were about five police officers on bikes keeping an eye on the crowd.

The march proceeded north on College Street from Queen’s Park where the marchers were encouraged to take to the street by one of the radical organizers. The marchers then took to the street against the orders of the police to “stay on the sidewalk”. The police attempted to contain and control the protesters dozens of times without success. After weaving through alleys and side streets to avoid police blockades, several hundred protesters swarmed a main intersection on Yonge street. The marchers then moved northbound on Yonge, where they forced the organizers of the torch relay to divide the torch in two so they could keep their corporate charade going. Not without being delayed by over an hour.

After delaying the torch, protesters dispersed, with many re-congregating at Nathan’s Phillip Square for the official Olympic welcoming ceremony. A sizeable block managed to raise an Olympic Resistance Network banner in the middle of the thronging crowd, and during a pro-Olympic montage video, the clearly audible chants of “NO OLYMPICS ON STOLEN NATIVE LAND” caused the event organizers to raise the volume on the PA system twice in an attempt to drown them out.

Overall, the event was a great success, and served as a forewarning of what they can expect in Vancouver/Whistler in Feb, 2010.

No justice no peace, fuck the police!

- Anonymous Olympic Resistance

Written By deaner

Now, I know I recently revealed that I’ve come to terms with the “left-right” ideology distraction, realizing that it pushes real issues aside. But that doesn’t change the fact that most people cling to a label or a narrow category that generalizes their political persuasion. So, if I were to choose one to harp on, and I’m going to, it would definitely be the “moderate” ideology and the “moderate” individual.”

Being a moderate offers nothing more than an arrogant cop-out to the world of politics. What is so extreme and excessive about feeling well grounded in regards to one’s opinions and positions? Is there no right and wrong in the mind of a moderate? Are the conditions of America’s health care system, the moral hazards of a guiltless and unpunished financial system, and our permanent war economy, issues that are just, kinda bad?

A counterargument I can imagine popping up in response to my remarks would be: But being a moderate is having an opinion and is being well grounded. It is being well grounded in sustaining an open-mindedness to the many answers in the face of an issue.

Countering the counterargument, I would say that there is and always will be, a right and a wrong. The moderate persuasion aims to conciliate the two, ignoring the problem. The moderates, like Barack Obama, want to keep the banking “fat cats” happy, regardless of what scathing remarks our President makes about their conduct and what illuminations he offers in regards to why he chose to run for president. They believe that the paper economy is the real economy in America, and without the bailouts, our economy would have collapsed. They don’t see the difference between “our” economy, and the economy of credit-default swaps, predatory lending, detrimental market speculation, and all the other games the scoundrels on wall street are still playing and still getting away with.

This past Friday, December 11, 2009, the House of Representatives passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009. As one who has not read the bill, I don’t entirely know what to expect, nor should I fully doubt the intentions or the achievements of the Democratic Party in passing the bill. But, as one who has read what I trust to be a pretty good summary of the bill by the Associated Press, there’s plenty of reason to do so.

The Republicans argued that the bill would “institutionalize bailouts,” in other words, perpetuate the moral hazard that they helped create, by approving the bailouts in the second go around, and offering no solutions in the realm of regulation; remember, they hate regulation all together. Furthermore, in the AP report by Jim Kuhnhenn, it is revealed that “the bill would create a Financial Services Oversight Council made up of the Treasury secretary, Federal Reserve chairman and heads of regulatory agencies to monitor the financial markets for potential threats to nation’s system.” Try to swallow that one. It’s tantamount to asking the giant HMO’s to monitor their claims to make sure every paying American is receiving quality health care.

Reflecting on the fact that the current chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, was asleep at the wheel, so to speak, when the financial behemoths were destroying “our” economy, and our current Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, was head of New York’s Federal Reserve bank, suffering from the same symptoms as Bernanke, why involve them? To back up my harsh criticism, I’ll offer some citations from someone irrefutably credible: Robert Scheer, Editor & Chief of Truthdig.com. Mr. Scheer has been covering this mess since it first started making heads turn, and more recently, in his piece “Still Doing God’s Work on Wall Street,” Scheer explains:

“Geithner, now treasury secretary, was previously the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY), where he negotiated the deal to pay Goldman Sachs and the other top banks in full to cover their bad bets on securitized mortgages. Barofsky’s report concluded that Geithner’s scheme represented a “backdoor bailout” for the financial hustlers at the center of the market fiasco. Noting that Geithner denies that was his intention, the report states, “Irrespective of their stated intent, however, there is no question that the effect of FRBNY’s decisions — indeed, the very design of the federal assistance to AIG — was that tens of billions of dollars of Government money was funneled inexorably and directly to AIG’s counterparties.”

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has been naturally outspoken about the possible reappointment of Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Fed:

“Before Ben Bernanke became the Fed chairman in 2006, he headed the council of economic advisers for President Bush – one of the most right-wing presidents in American history. He also sat on the Fed board of governors from 2002 to 2005. Perhaps more than anyone else, Bernanke was in a position to diagnose the impending economic disaster and take steps to stop it. Tragically, not only did he fail to prevent the economic collapse that we have experienced, he did not even warn the American people that it was coming until it was too late. Equally distressing, his actions since the crisis began may leave taxpayers holding the bag for an even bigger bailout in the future.” Sanders goes on to lay out the duties of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve:

“As chairman of the Federal Reserve, Bernanke has four main responsibilities: (1) to conduct monetary policy in a way that leads to maximum employment and stable prices; (2) to maintain the safety and soundness of financial institutions; (3) to contain systemic risk in financial markets; and (4) to protect consumers against deceptive and unfair financial products.” Bernie Sanders says that Bernanke has been an “abysmal failure” in all four of those areas.

If one is to believe that another Chairman of the Fed would be trustworthy and responsible, why not halt the inclusion of that seat in the Oversight Counsil until a majority of Americans can once again sleep at night. As far as the Treasury Secretary inclusion is concerned, we’ve got a lot more to reform, say, the Executive branch, before we can stop that from happening. For now, all we can do is hope that Geithner is asked to resign before he does anymore damage to our wallets.

What did moderates of the 19th century, during the time of a robust anti-slavery movement, think of the issue? If they were anything like they are today, I would say that a majority of moderates believed slavery was immoral and should be abolished, but they didn’t have the brass to do anything about it, nor were they sure of its ramifications in respect to the economy. As far as women’s suffrage was concerned in the 20th century, moderate husbands probably felt that their own wives should have the right to voice their opinion via voting, but they doubted that the right would be granted in their own lifetime, so they definitely weren’t going to do anything about it. They continuously voted for the Democrats who, for years, failed to answer the call of the women’s rights movement. They ignored Eugene Debs five times. And now they belittle the political common sense of Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney, not because of their politics, but rather the politics of politics. Moderates and a majority of Americans, regardless of what stripe, have given into a two-party system that has cultivated pseudo-events (to use a phrase coined by Chris Hedges) out of political gatherings, gerrymandered a majority of the districts in every state like a territorial pack of wolves, and the system only answers to Mr. Big Bucks, while shouting a big “fuck you” to the American people.

Aghh…moderates: Who needs ‘em?

Written By derekpostlewaite

Today’s global warming is unique among the Earth’s warm periods. The rise in average world-wide temperature (0.7°C over the past 100 years) is much faster-paced than the warming after an ice age (4 – 7°C over 5000 years).[90] And the rise of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere (80 parts per million (ppm) — up 27% — over the past 100 years) is much, much faster-paced than the rise of CO2 after an ice age (about 80 ppm in 5000 years). Since CO2 is the main greenhouse gas, and since there has not been much rise in solar radiation over the past 100 years, we are left with the greenhouse effect as the only explanation for today’s warming.[91][92] Scientific models show that the greenhouse effect has indeed caused today’s warming.[93][94] And data shows that the burning of fossil fuel has mainly caused the rise in CO2, giving another unique feature to today’s warm period: it is caused by the activity of an animal species — the human.[95]

For comparison, here is a look back at other warm periods:[96]

• The Medieval Warm Period (900-1400 A.D.) brought more warmth to northern Europe and some other regions of the Northern Hemisphere, but did not much raise average world-wide temperature. The highest average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during this period were about those of the mid-20th century.

• The Mid-Holocene Epcoh (6000 years ago) marked the peak warmth of the current natural inter-glacial period. Since then, the Earth should be gradually and naturally cooling towards the next ice age in 50,000 years or so. But today’s warming climate change has halted that trend for a while, and may even — with continued fossil fuel burning — cancel the next ice age.[97][98]

• The Eemian Stage (120,000 years ago) was the prior inter-glacial period. Regular wobbles in the Earth’s orbit cause the coming and going of the Earth’s ice ages on about a 100,000 year cycle. The orbital wobbles affect the amount of solar radiation hitting the planet. When the solar radiation on the continents strengthens, it triggers the inter-glacial warming. After hundreds of years of warming, CO2, having maybe been flushed from the deep ocean, rises in the atmosphere, which amplifies the warming, driving the glaciers back towards the poles.[99]

• The Pliocene Epoch (5.3 – 2.6 million years ago) was the last warm period before the glacial cycles started. Northern Hemisphere ice sheets had not yet formed, as high atmospheric CO2, the Earth’s orbital state, and constant El Nino winds and ocean currents likely kept them at bay.[100]

• The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (55 million years ago) was a big warming climate change (5 – 8°C over a few thousand years) from an already-warm climate. Somehow, a huge amount of greenhouse gas got up into the atmosphere, as clathrates in the ocean may have melted to free trapped methane, or a massive volcano may have heated up vast swaths of coal.[101]

• During the Mid-Cretaceous Age (120 to 90 million years ago) the Earth was very different. Rolling back 100 million years of continental drift, we find the continents clumped together, giving very different ocean currents and climatic rhythms. CO2 levels were at least twice today’s, and it was so warm that the tropical breadfruit tree likely grew in Greenland (55°N).

Each warm period has its own story, but today’s is not yet finished. The effects of today’s climate change could put heavy stress on human and other life that has gotten used to the more-or-less regular climate since the last ice age.[102] As more CO2 is added to the atmosphere, the outlook for future life becomes more dire. Now, it is up to the human species to muster its social sense and clever wit, and stop the rise of CO2 in the atmosphere that it started.

Sources

⁹⁰ IPCC FAQ 6.2: Is the Current Climate Change Unusual Compared to Earlier Changes in Earth’s History?

⁹¹ IPCC FAQ 6.1: What Caused the Ice Ages and Other Important Climate Changes Before the Industrial Era?

... There are three fundamental ways the Earth’s radiation balance can change, thereby causing a climate change: (1) changing the incoming solar radiation (e.g., by changes in the Earth’s orbit or in the Sun itself), (2) changing the fraction of solar radiation that is reflected (this fraction is called the albedo – it can be changed, for example, by changes in cloud cover, small particles called aerosols or land cover), and (3) altering the longwave energy radiated back to space (e.g., by changes in greenhouse gas concentrations). In addition, local climate also depends on how heat is distributed by winds and ocean currents. All of these factors have played a role in past climate changes.

⁹² IPCC FAQ 2.1: How do Human Activities Contribute to Climate Change and How do They Compare with Natural Influences?

FAQ 2.1, Figure 2. Summary of the principal components of the radiative forcing of climate change. All these radiative forcings result from one or more factors that affect climate and are associated with human activities or natural processes as discussed in the text. The values represent the forcings in 2005 relative to the start of the industrial era (about 1750). Human activities cause significant changes in long-lived gases, ozone, water vapour, surface albedo, aerosols and contrails. The only increase in natural forcing of any significance between 1750 and 2005 occurred in solar irradiance. Positive forcings lead to warming of climate and negative forcings lead to a cooling. The thin black line attached to each coloured bar represents the range of uncertainty for the respective value. (Figure adapted from Figure 2.20 of this report.)

⁹³ IPCC FAQ 8.1: How Reliable Are the Models Used to Make Projections of Future Climate Change?

There is considerable confidence that climate models provide credible quantitative estimates of future climate change, particularly at continental scales and above. This confidence comes from the foundation of the models in accepted physical principles and from their ability to reproduce observed features of current climate and past climate changes. Confidence in model estimates is higher for some climate variables (e.g., temperature) than for others (e.g., precipitation). Over several decades of development, models have consistently provided a robust and unambiguous picture of significant climate warming in response to increasing greenhouse gases.

⁹⁴ ‘Bush on “The Fundamental Debate”’ – RealClimate.org, 2006-03-31

Data show that carbon dioxide levels are rising, they are now 30% higher than at any time during at least the past 650,000 years, and likely even the past several million years. This rise is caused entirely by human activities. This is also demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt by data – for a start, we know how much CO2 we have emitted, and the observed rise is equal to 57% of this (the rest has been taken up by ocean and biosphere). That carbon dioxide acts as a greenhouse gas, trapping longwave radiation, is also a measured fact and well-established physics since the 19th Century. ...

What about a “natural” explanation for the observed global warming? There is none. Indicators and measurements of solar activity show no increasing trend over the past 60 years. The orbital cycles, which cause the ice ages, would currently tend towards cooling, if anything. There is no remotely feasible alternative explanation for the observed warming published in the scientific literature.

⁹⁵ IPCC FAQ 9.2: Can the Warming of the 20th Century be Explained by Natural Variability?

... Human activities over the last 100 years, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, have caused a rapid increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Before the industrial age, these gases had remained at near stable concentrations for thousands of years.

⁹⁶ ‘Paleoclimatic Data Before 2000 Years Ago’ – National Climate Data Center

⁹⁷ ‘The global cooling myth’ – RealClimate.org, 2005-01-14

Interpretations of future changes in the Earth’s orbit have changed somewhat. It now seems likely (Loutre and Berger, Climatic Change, 46: (1-2) 61-90 2000) that the current interglacial, based purely on natural forcing, would last for an exceptionally long time: perhaps 50,000 years.

⁹⁸ ‘The Long Thaw: How Humans are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth’s Climate, David Archer Publisher’s description:

In The Long Thaw, David Archer, one of the world’s leading climatologists, predicts that if we continue to emit carbon dioxide we may eventually cancel the next ice age and raise the oceans by 50 meters.

Archer shows how just a few centuries of fossil-fuel use will cause not only a climate storm that will last a few hundred years, but dramatic climate changes that will last thousands. Carbon dioxide emitted today will be a problem for millennia. For the first time, humans have become major players in shaping the long-term climate. In fact, a planetwide thaw driven by humans has already begun. But despite the seriousness of the situation, Archer argues that it is still not too late to avert dangerous climate change–if humans can find a way to cooperate as never before.

⁹⁹ ‘What does the lag of CO2 behind temperature in ice cores tell us about global warming?’ – RealClimate.org, 2004-12-03

From studying all the available data (not just ice cores), the probable sequence of events at a termination goes something like this. Some (currently unknown) process causes Antarctica and the surrounding ocean to warm. This process also causes CO2 to start rising, about 800 years later. Then CO2 further warms the whole planet, because of its heat-trapping properties. This leads to even further CO2 release. So CO2 during ice ages should be thought of as a “feedback”, much like the feedback that results from putting a microphone too near to a loudspeaker.

In other words, CO2 does not initiate the warmings, but acts as an amplifier once they are underway. From model estimates, CO2 (along with other greenhouse gases CH4 and N2O) causes about half of the full glacial-to-interglacial warming.

¹⁰⁰ ‘Rolling up the circus tent: Dispatch #7’ – RealClimate, 2007-12-19

The Pliocene was the latest warm time in the Northern Hemisphere before the great glaciations of the Pleistocene closed in. To some extent, as we increase the atmosphere’s CO2 content, we are traveling backward in time so far as climate is concerned. Hence the Pliocene, which ended about two million years ago, has attracted a lot of attention as an analog climate for what may lie ahead. It’s not a perfect analogy, but the challenge of understanding Pliocene climate provides another test of the operation of model physics in a warm climate. ...

... There was also a modelling talk by M. Vizcaino, evaluating several factors proposed to have accounted for Pliocene warmth. The ones that seem to contribute the most to conditions unfavorable for Northern Hemisphere glaciation are elevated CO2, the orbital configuration, and a permanent El Nino.

¹⁰¹ ‘Climate myths: It’s been far warmer in the past, what’s the big deal?’ – by David L Chandler, New Scientist, 16 May 2007

The warmest [“hothouse Earth” period] was probably the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which peaked about 55 million years ago. Global temperatures during this event may have warmed by 5°C to 8°C within a few thousand years, with the Arctic Ocean reaching a subtropical 23°C. Mass extinctions resulted.

The warming … was caused by the release of massive amounts of methane or CO2. It was thought to have come from the thawing of methane clathrates in deep ocean sediments, but the latest theory is that it was caused by a massive volcanic eruption that heated up coal deposits. In other words, the PETM is an example of catastrophic global warming triggered by the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

¹⁰² ‘Climate myths: It’s too cold where I live – warming will be great’ by Michael Le Page, New Scientist, 16 May 2007

As global temperature climbs to 3°C above present levels – which is likely to happen before the end of this century if greenhouse emissions continue unabated – the consequences will become increasingly severe. More than a third of species face extinction. Agricultural yields will start to fall in many parts of the world. Millions of people will be at risk from coastal flooding. Heatwaves, droughts, floods and wildfires will take an ever greater toll.

There are two factors should borne in mind when thinking about the impacts. Firstly, even countries that escape the worst of the direct effects will feel the economic effects of what happens elsewhere. There may be social and political problems too, as migration increases and water becomes increasingly scarce in some regions.

By Quinn Hungeski – Posted at TheParagraph.com

Written By hungeski

Do it today.

Written By HEMPforVICTORY

PhysOrg.com) — The genetically modified cyanobacterium consumes carbon dioxide and produces the liquid fuel isobutanol by using energy from sunlight.

reference article

WHY IS THIS DEVELOPMENT NOT BEING DISCUSSED BY THE MEDIA IN CONTEXT OF COPENHAGEN???

Written By canadian

Written By ShiftShapers

Written By FloydAnderson

Written By bacchus

I first read about Jim Hightower around a year ago, in one or more books I was reading at the time. I know, I’ve been asleep, obviously. Then, while perusing through a Big Lots store, I saw one of his books stacked unappealingly amongst other books (Big Lots offers some good books, and for only $3 dollars, but some of the stores could care less about selling them from the looks of the display). The book is called “Let’s Stop Beating Around the Bush,” the focus on whom you should easily grasp. It’s a fun book, coupled with hard facts presented in a laid back, humorous manner, so to me, it’s the kind of book you keep in your bathroom.

Imagine, in my bathroom I discovered the quote in The Nation magazine a few days ago in the December 7, 2009 issue. Well, I guess I didn’t really discover it, I rather, read what others thought was an outstanding statement. The quote has really got me thinking. Combine it with Dennis Kucinich’s (D-OH) recent lashing out against former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum on FOX News’ “On the Record,” concerning the constant initiative of politicians and pundits to turn every issue into a “left and right issue,” and I’m sold. Not only is the incessant blame of everything on each party coming from the opposite side useless, it’s a facade, and a facade that needs wiped off the screen, and cleared out of our ears. Let’s look at two major issues of the day: wall street bailouts and health care reform.

Before George W. Bush left office, he left us with an enormous debt, a debt that included $700 billion in TARP funds to irresponsible and wreckless banks and financial institutions, and it was a bailout he told congress they must hand over. Before he won office, Barack Obama voted “YES” to the urgent “request,” as did his opponent, John McCain. Considering that John McCain’s party overwhelmingly voted “NO” to the first bailout bill, HR 3997 (Repulican House members registered 133 nays), is there any point in questioning that his “YES” vote was a symbol of his devotion to the status quo, and his devotion to big money interests, onsidering the fact he was running for president with less than two months to go.

Speaking conspiratorily, one could suggest that the financial bailouts were timed perfectly in regards to when congress voted on the bill, ultimately determining which side got the votes of the paper economy. In light of the bill’s original failure, one could go further in suggesting that the Republicans lost the 2008 election in part to it’s original denial of the financial bailout, despite their presidential candidate siding with the finanicial institutions and an unsustainable economy. Shortly after the bill failed, on Oct 3, 2008, NPR reported: “The U.S. House has reversed itself and given final approval to a giant economic bailout bill. The measure — revised, re-framed and expanded — passed comfortably by a vote of 263 to 171. It attracted 26 more Republicans and 32 more Democrats than last Monday night.” Well, you can make your own conclusions, but I’m one who stands by the assertion that it wasn’t a persuasion derived from “left and right” politics. It is more likely that 26 republicans and 32 democrats were attracted to the bill via “top and bottom” politics.

The issue of health care reform and the debate over its manner embodies more of the same politics. Proponents of the bill, HR 3962, which passed just over a month ago, have received large contributions from the health care industry. Some people included on this list of recipients are Max Baucus and Barack Obama. A report by the SunLightFoundation.com, with data from OpenSecrets.org, revealed that “Lobbying disclosure filings for the first quarter of 2009 reveal that five of Baucus’ former staffers currently work for a total of twenty-seven different organizations that are either in the health care or insurance sector or have a noted interest in the outcome. The organizations represented include some of the top lobbying organizations in the health sector: Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Researchers of America (PhRMA), America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Amgen, and GE Health Care. The former staffers turned lobbyists include two former chiefs of staff, David Castagnetti and Jeff Forbes, and one former legislative assistant, Scott Olsen. Other former staffers working with health care portfolios include Angela Hoffman and Roger Blauwet.” The report went further when telling that “In 2008, Baucus received $1,148,775 from the health sector and $285,850 from the insurance sector. For his career he has received $2,797,381 from the health sector and $1,170,313 from the insurance sector. Our current president, Barack Obama, is “number two in contributions from the pharmaceuticals and health products industry,” according to SourceWatch.org.

Despite the bill’s difficult passing with a weakened public option (a generous description considering that the idea was intended to cover 130 million and was drained to cover, at most, 10 million), the Los Angeles Times reported some unsurprising news today, at least in quality, not specifics, in an article entitled “Senate Democrats reach healthcare deal on ‘public option’.” In the second paragraph, Janet Hook and Noam N. Levey report that “Under the compromise developed by a group of conservative and liberal Democrats, the Senate legislation would no longer include a new government-run insurance program, or “public option,” for Americans who do not get coverage through their employers.” The alternative to the public option is now a government contract with a nonprofit insurer. Furthermore, “The tentative deal faces an uncertain fate in the full 60-member Democratic caucus, which will have to remain largely united if Democrats are to overcome a GOP-led filibuster and pass a bill before Christmas.” Once again, we’re not dealing with true ideology. It’s pure top and bottom politics. It’s the politics of the people vs. big business. It’s clearly top and bottom politics when the so-called “left” of American politics is urging its so-called “defenders” and “progressives” to push through legislation that doesn’t even resemble the kind that actually puts the needs of all Americans on the table.

Written By derekpostlewaite

Did anyone ask back then who would pay for the Boer war?

Geological survey, PDF format

Introduction
In Afghanistan rare metals (lithium, caesium, tantalum and
niobium) occur in three main deposit types: pegmatites,
mineralised springs and playa-lake sediments (Figure 1).
The most potentially significant, easily extractable resources
of rare metals in Afghanistan occur in mineralised springs
and playas, although there is also considerable potential for
exploiting hard-rock pegmatite deposits. Globally, rare metals
are produced from deposits in these three settings, chiefly in
Chile, Argentina, the USA and Turkey. Lithium has many
uses, for example in batteries, in the glass and ceramics industry,
and in high performance alloys for aircraft. Most tantalum is used
to produce capacitors that are used in laptop computers, mobile
phones and digital cameras. Niobium is primarily used in specialist
steels although it also shares some uses with tantalum since it has
almost identical chemical properties.

Written By mikecimerian

VIDEO-UPRISING

Since the late 90’s my interest in national and global politics and geopolitical events has increased substantially due in part to the administration of GWB and the significant changes that arose in US politics and the advent of Homeland Security.

I had personal experience while visiting Washington DC in summer of 2003 purely as a tourist doing as any visitor to a new place: I took pictures with my newly purchased digital camera. Little did I know that I was being observed, by whom I could not tell you but for certain I was being watched. Confirmation of this came by the appearance of not one but two Washington Police cruisers. I was detained and questioned on the spot as to what my business was and why was I taking pictures. The officers were courteous but curt in their questioning. They recorded my personal details asking for my passport as evidence of my identity. To convince them that I had no ill-intent I offered for them to view the photographs taken and they could decide for themselves, and they did. I was left with a stern warning NOT TO PHOTOGRAPH ANY FEDERAL BUILDING – it was illegal to do so. Well being in Washington DC that pretty much said don’t take ANY photographs period.

“”

So no doubt this confrontation heightened my paranoia of what was happening to the `land of the free’ and too gave cause for an even greater interest on what was developing in the US, Canada and the world as a whole. It is from here I will attempt to explain in a brief a way as possible what happened next.

It was the winter of 2004 just after the re-election of GWB and his gang that I had an experience that I can only say was somewhat overwhelming. It can only be described as a vision. A vision of what was yet to come and it was not pretty. The timeline for these events were generalized as though being echoed by what was being seen. To paraphrase what appeared to me was an escalation of civil unrest occurring in the US spawned by the policies of the US administration centered on homeland security, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the general sense of foreboding. The seriousness of events would start to show amongst the population of the US by late 2007 and into 2008 however by 2009 people will finally start becoming involved and more vocal of their disapproval of what was happening however the population was divided in their opinion. Full escalation of events would occur in 2010 and continue to escalate to full blown civil unrest replete with violence in the streets – full out civil war. Simultaneous to this the situation in the Middle East and other parts of the world will too become embroiled in more violence given that the US was occupied with its own domestic problems. Effectively the entire world would be embroiled in severe military and civil conflict up through to 2015 that full out war had erupted that would continue to 2017 by which time many have died and a greater part of civilized society was in tatters. It was at this point people finally came to their senses and started to rebuild to new societal values ridding themselves of the dogma and stupidity that had changed the world.

At the time this all happened I seriously put it down to just heighten anxiety and vivid if not wayward imagination but, now that I am living through the time line of my `vision’ I have to ask: was it prophecy or imagination.

What would you say?

Written By canadian

http://en.cop15.dk/

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon previews the COP15 climate talks.

Lord Monckton on Copenhagen and the Fabricated Climate Scare.

Written By FloydAnderson

Does anyone know the exact context of this newsreel? It was posted July 11, 2009. Doesn’t it look like Obama is making introductions? So it wouldn’t be Russians snubbing him.

Some headlines from last July:

Obama’s Rollback Strategy: Honduras, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan (and the Boomerang Effect)

Obama’s War

Somali-Americans subjected to first Obama ‘terror’ prosecution

Written By microdot

Written By FloydAnderson

150 Coal Plants Canceled
http://wind4me.com/2009/12/01/150-coal-plants-cancelled/

In 2008, more WIND power was installed than Coal Power

Progress Energy to shutter 30 percent of N.C. coal plants
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2009/12/02/progress-energy-to-shutter-30-percent-of-nc-coal-plants/

Copenhagen Failure Defied by $200 Billion in Green Investments
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aydnnTmHti8c

Analysis by SpiralMan,

At 20% compound annual growth of renewables-related investment that leads to $1.2 Trillion by 2020, far larger than the $450B UN IPCC thought would be necessary to have a significant chance of avoiding the worst of the AGW problems, and which they also thought would require regressive energy taxes or Wall street enriching cap and trade.

And BTW, if you want to raise taxes to pay these upgrades or to disincentivize bad behavior, please leave energy taxes alone, but raise property taxes. Property is where the wealth ends up that is extracted from everyone on the planet’s labor, and it is low property taxes which encourages people to buy oversized houses to maximize their mortgage interest tax deduction in the US or to maximize their untaxed sale from a 2-year flip in Canada. These favorable tax treatments of real estate drives real estate development sprawl, and thus energy consumption for the vehicles that have to traverse these greater distances, and for heating or cooling these houses on an individual basis instead of having the energy systems integrated in multistory complexes with their attendant economies of scale not possible in single family detached dwellings.

So
the world will easily double, and possibly triple, the IEA’s recommended spending level even without Copenhagen, and strictly on the basis of the technology becoming increasingly affordable.

In other words, if the IPCC models are really worth anything, then global temperatures and sea levels, etc will not rise by much in 100 years.

BTW:

$200 BILLION spent on Green tech next year is how much larger than what King CONG companies are alleged to be spending on supporting Climate Skeptics?

When will the paranoid ecofascists recognize that they do more harm to the Solar Revolution then its open enemies in King CONG?

With their damning of solar with faint praise and presenting renewables as being so weak and statically expensive that it requires world society turning over even greater power and sovereignty to an imperial state to impose regressive taxation, green corporate cronyism, and wall street carbon ponzi bubble, this type of supporter actually hurts the solar revolution more than any oil company can.

Solar will inevitably win because 1) it is based on the same semiconductor and optoelectronic technologies of computing and the Web, which already have a proven record of exponential cost reduction over 5 decades using ever smaller amounts of ever more common materials, 2) because we live in a solar system not an earth system, and 3) because solar is the most democratically located resource on the planet, national, municipal or enterprise energy security can be most easily achieved by the largest numbers of people on the planet via solar.

Fear based motivations such as combating climate change are unnecessary and counterproductive.

The only question and the only answer that matters regarding energy and environment irrespective of whether there is or is not AGW, is Equal Watts?!

Written By Maybe_Meme

Written By FloydAnderson

In this pursuit if there is one thing learned is that the science community is not an effective source of information at least not in a language a layperson as myself is capable of clearly understanding. There is a definite vocabulary that prohibits those of us without a PhD in any of the sciences from comprehending. This definitely poses a shortcoming in trying to put your mind around a concept of theory being postulated (to use one of their words).

No, I am of a simpler mind. I like to rationalize concepts in terms that most can relate to by illustrating a theory in real terms that can be understood at least sufficiently enough to be rebuked or if not completely dismissed. Take for example my rationale for the creation of the universe, as we know it (if nothing else it might make you hungry).

To illustrate a possible explanation for the creation of the universe I will use the analogy of a recipe. It could be any recipe but I am going to make Chili (the edible kind but by extension it could in fact the country).

As in any recipe you must start off with the ingredients. For chili I will use ground meat, a variety of vegetables, essential kidney and assorted beans, tomato, chili powder and other seasoning and of course water or other form of liquid.

Now like any recipe it is essential to apportion the various ingredients to an optimum quantity in combination to render an optimum result. Too much of any one ingredient could spoil the final product. So a degree of judgment/intelligence need be applied in the composing of this brew of chili.

Now lets us assume this is the first time ever that what will ultimately be called `chili’ has been made. The obvious question would be then: `How, when and possibly even, why, are the quantities i.e. the ultimate recipe, to be determined if it was never done before?’ Is it result of an all powerful, omnipresent creator or simply the result of evolutionary chance?

As eluded to above, I like to put things to be explained in a simple form of logical reason to derive a reasonably plausible explanation and in this instance all I can suggest is that by taking all the desired ingredients for making chili and just dumping them into a pot and waiting for something to happen would, I think you can agree, be a long time in happening. I mean who would ever think some form of energy i.e.: heat need be applied to get the brew to start stewing to an edible state over and above the quantities of individual ingredients and to even consider that they need be contained in some form of container; is that to be plastic, metal, wood, etc.?

So as can be seen the from this concept of creating, for the first time ever, a simple bowl of reasonably edible chili can be so complex that by comparison, the creation of the universe is infinitely more complex and obviously it would seem unreasonable to expect it to be the product of pure chance that is unless you are willing to wait an infinitesimal length of time.

That raises the question: Just what is Time?

Time is essentially IRRELEVANT!

That is right you heard it here first.

(Author’s Note: There was an interval of some 24hrs before restarting this discussion on Time during which I was fortunate to view a documentary on the life and time of Stephen Hawking world famous physicist. I came away from that viewing realizing that for all their verbiage and convoluted mathematics, they really don’t know what they are talking about. All discussion seems based on Newton and Einstein conceived notions of what the universe is made of only to conclude that they are stumped by the presence of Gravity and how it fits neatly into the equation of `All’. From zero point energy, the big bang and the latest rational of super string theory: they simply don’t know anything for sure.)

For starters let me say I am no physicist nor am I any where near being a mathematician. I would even go so far as to say I may be kind of `dumb’ but forgive me for saying, I can not be any dumber than those who purport to know. It is from this stance that I present the following rational of the All that is, are and ever shall be – amen!

To make this easy I wish to you picture in your mind something I am sure ever reader is familiar with: a piece of twine – string (clue).

On examination a piece of twine is comprised of individual strands of material be it wool, grass, leaves, etc.

Now take that piece of twine and unravel it. First the individual strands begin to unfold from the tight twist that comprises the twine.

Then take an individual strand and continue to untwist it as to unravel it. Continuing this long enough and eventually the individual fibers that comprise the strand begin to flake apart.

Now take an individual flake that comprises the individual fiber. Continue this decomposition to the level of individual molecules then further still to the proton, electron, neutron representing the atomic structure the element from which the string was ultimately produce from.
Having completed the task, in your minds eye, reconstruct the piece of twine. In doing so you will visualize and realize the Universe.

You say but the twine is only one thing, yes, but if you are familiar with a Latin expression: “Sicut in altitudine (or: ‘sublimitate’) et in profundis” roughly translated to mean: “as in the height so in the depth(s)”:

The saying is derived from the Hermetic teachings of Hermes Trismegistus and in my opinion serves as a clue to understanding how the universe comes to be.

To go one step further with the analogy of the twine: take that piece of twine and combine it with other individual pieces of twine of infinite length and variable thickness and then weave them as you would see in a woven sweater or even a blanket. Ultimately what ever it is that you consider in your mind’s eye; every object within our three-dimensional existence is a `weaving’ of strings of materials that are comprised of individual fibers that are made up of individual flakes down the quantum level of super string (where have I heard that term before)

You say what about Gravity, how do you account for this implied force? Referencing Hawking this is one of the four known forces in physics yet the least understood and the major stumbling block to understanding the physics of the universe.

In response: Gravity is the force that binds and it does it regardless of time. This force is electro-magnetism – this is the force that binds at the atomic level and upward through the scale of reality. To visualize it take the piece of string and twist it so very tight then loosen it. The force applied by your hands is comparable to if you will gravity being applied by your muscle energy that has its root in the molecular structure of your being.

With the perception that is being presented here consider us – we humans, as a point of the discussion:

Every individual is built on the blueprint of a unique piece of DNA. I would suggest that DNA is a basic `string’ component to the body that is humanity. That each individual is a piece of fiber inter-twined as one living entity made up of the same basic road map with immeasurable differences on a global scale of perception but necessary to the unfitness of the whole. As individuals and as a body-whole we represent a force of electro-magnetism embodied and enveloped in an infinitely large pool of electro-magnetism we call the universe along with each and every other manifestation that comprises our visual reality.

I think by now you get a sense of what I am talking about and if you explore the present school of thought to be physics and that of quantum mechanics I believe you will recognize elements of thought that blend into my theory of All however unlike conventional wisdom – my theory has a cohesive logic to plausible conclusion.

Before closing I wish to get back to the subject of Time and why I believe it to be irrelevant in the scheme to explain and comprehend All.

Time in my opinion is an invention of linear thinking. Argument in our world, reality, would say it is essential to sustain an order but it is this reasoning that supports my argument to its irrelevance.

Our ancestors translated the natural, cyclical movement of the planets, namely the Sun and the Moon, into an order of time. But cycles are a function of process not a linear experience.

The cosmos is not as orderly a place as we are led to believe. It is chaos on a scale incomprehensible to us yet out of that the randomness of influence by measurable and non-measurable forces, eventually convolute into something – on Earth we call it mass. Yet it may be something uniquely different somewhere else in a higher order of dimension. For each string of existence in the weave, that comprises the body, that is the universe, represents a dimension of existence and may it be possible to traverse one dimension to another at the points within the weave, the strings touch one-another.

There is much more I can say to lend to a comprehension of All that I can confidently say is consistent with much of the conjecture that is proposed by contemporary physics and quantum mechanics such as the universe looking as though a do-nut (see and you thought my ideas are ridiculous) but I will save that discussion for later.

Please try to absorb what I have written and challenge it both in your own mind’s comprehension and investigate what others like Hawking are pushing.

Written By canadian

Taking from the lyric of Buffalo Springfield’s song titled ` For What It’s Worth’:

`There is something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear..’

Seems a good opener to a discussion on the controversial subject of Climate Change and Global Warming that, from the outset, are generally assumed to be the same thing but with a little research, it will clearly show that they are related but unique discussions unto themselves.

The recent, heightened attention by Internet Blog Websites and to a lesser extent main stream media (MSM), initially in response to the upcoming COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE dealing with these two subjects, fuel was added to the fire as result of the recent (reported 20/11/09) hacking of email from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Angliae LINK . The publication of these emails has put a major `chink’ in the armor of the proponents of climate change and global warming as being derived from the increase in greenhouse gases namely, carbon dioxide (CO2) and the related global legislation being discussed such as Cap and Trade (United States) Carbon (Footprint) Taxation (Canada, EU member states, etc).

To my interpretation of the debate it centers around two fundamental school-of-thought as to the cause(s) for global warming and climate change:

a) The pro-climate change science and supporters within international governance, NGO and activist communities, supports the findings of empirical study that the primary contributor to these changes is the significant increase of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2). A result from growth of industrialization around the globe but primarily in the north-western hemisphere countries such as the United States, Western and regions of Eastern European countries exacerbated by the recent and increasing industrial development of China, India and similar developing countries. This movement does fully acknowledge the presence and affects of other influences such as solar radiation (Sun spot activity) and other naturally occurring climatic influences but, deem these as secondary to the principal culprit: industry sourced carbon dioxide (CO2) emission globally.

b) The anti-climate change advocates point to science research that debunks the claim that CO2 is the leading contributor to the obvious changes being experienced globally. The supporters to this movement have made concerted effort to find fault with the pro-movement’s science and now with the release of email evidencing the purported manipulation of raw source climate data and the censoring, withholding and even destroying of relevant data, has brought the whole pro position into question.

So where do we the general public go from here? How do we make clearer our understanding of this important and relevant issue that has and will continue to have, an affect on our quality of life.

Face it, if exceptionally funded scientist privy to all available data and resources for its collection don’t truly know what the hell is going on here, how can the common layperson be expected to know?

I obviously do not have the answer to this imperative question. All I can do is put forward factors sourced and links to available websites on the subject that may allow you, the reader to this article, to become more familiar with the facts supporting each side of the argument. To aid in some small way toward a clearer understanding in order to formulate your own opinion such that when the time comes to choose you will be better equipped to render your own, independent choice on which case should go forward.

To that end: Every attempt has been made to represent, by the linkages and references to follow, both sides of the debate as well as to introduce discussion on the other contributing factors that seem to reside on the periphery of the principle, debated factors.

1. CLIMATE DEBATE DAILY" This is a good starting point as it presents directly the `Call To Action’ versus `Dissenting Opinion’

2. The Real News Network: Coverage of the debate leading up to COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE in Dec/09...

Coverage of Hacked Email related to Climate Change...

Canada’s image being tarnished by lack of Federal government legislation on tar sands pollution

3. Source of hacked emails found by date and viewable in text form

NPR.org have a number of video and audio many of which are on matters affecting or effected by global warming and some discussion on what impact global warming is having on underdeveloped nations countering by the economic costs due to the restrictions imposed by climate change policy on industrial development. As stated in one of the clips featuring central Africa (paraphrasing) `You cannot mill steel or run any heavy industry on just the power from solar panels’ as would be demanded if the legislation manifests as the pro-climate change camps’ expectation. Solar and wind resourced energy being the principle source of electrical energy. A nation with an abundance of natural energy in oil and natural gas, they are prohibited from optimizing, watch it being siphoned off to the singular benefit of the industrialized nations that represent the majority in support of climate change legislation and policy

Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page for `Related NPR Stories’

4. CORBETT REPORT. COM The Corbett Report provides pod cast, interviews, articles and videos about breaking news and important issues from 9/11 Truth and false flag terror to the Big Brother police state, eugenics, geopolitics, the central banking fraud and more. The `more’ being climate change and global warming

5.BRASSCHECK TV presenting full spectrum video and reference coverage of events of the day in all realms of daily life with a slight, bent for advocacy

6. VIDEO: CLIMATEGATE – WHOSE WHO

7. A must see this six part video produced broadcast in 1990 by CH4 UK: GREENHOUSE GAS CONSPIRACY – An interesting opportunity to see how much has NOT changed after almost 20 years of debating this issue-

8. To anyone aware of the H.A.R.R.P. Black Ops program being conducted under that auspices of the US Air Force in Alaska this article might be of some interest and pose yet another argument for evidence of climate change. Environmental Warfare: Climate Modification Schemes: A prophetic observation made in the mid-1970’s – Intervention in atmospheric and climatic matters . . . will unfold on a scale difficult to imagine at present. . . . this will merge each nation’s affairs with those of every other, more thoroughly than the threat of a nuclear or any other war would have done. — J. von Neumann

9. Michael Coren and Lord Christopher Monckton – Michael Coren Show Canadian TV Broadcast discussing Climategate

10. YouTube video showing temperatures dating back several thousands of years based on Greenland ice core samples

Well I will be adding to and updating this article from time to time. If you have anything to contribute please forward the link or information via email naykd@writing.com

To close here is the lyric `For What It’s Worth’ by BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD. To read the lyrics in light of the climate change debate, they seem most appropriate:

ARTIST: Buffalo Springfield

TITLE: For What It’s Worth

Lyrics and Chords

There’s something happening here

What it is ain’t exactly clear

There’s a man with a gun over there

Telling me I got to beware

I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound

Everybody look what’s going down

/ E – A – / / / / E D A C /

There’s battle lines being drawn

Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong

Young people speaking their minds

Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound

Everybody look what’s going down

What a field-day for the heat

A thousand people in the street

Singing songs and carrying signs

Mostly say, hooray for our side

It’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound

Everybody look what’s going down

Paranoia strikes deep

Into your life it will creep

It starts when you’re always afraid

You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what’s that sound

Everybody look what’s going down

Stop, hey, what’s that sound

Everybody look what’s going down

Stop, now, what’s that sound

Everybody look what’s going down

Stop, children, what’s that sound

Everybody look what’s going down

© Copyright 2009

Written By canadian

There are now Featured Threads on the front page of the GNN Archive.

http://gnnarchive.blogspot.com/

Written By FloydAnderson

But it’s become clear to me that there’s something else that has been a huge part of America’s Thanksgiving Day for several decades: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Personally, I not only find it boring, but more importantly, I see it as just another outlet for the commercial or private sector to swallow up America’s holiday candor, and swell our eyes with giant, corporatized balloons. They’ve taken Christmas, there’s no doubt about that. They’ve had Thanksgiving for a while now, at least as far back as I can remember. And car lots and furniture stores have provided us with yet another reason to lose our wallets on less exciting, but just as worthy holidays, like Labor Day and Veterans Day.

Wikipedia informed me that a balloon of Uncle Sam introduced the parade of 1938. Now, 71 years later, Ronald McDonald took part in introducing the parade for the 3rd time. How many kids would rather have a happy meal than a slice or two of turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy? Unfortunately, I’d say the number is pretty high, considering McDonald’s has trained our little one’s to indulge in the worst combinations of sugar, salt, and fat. And obviously, Macy’s could care less.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade routinely has a list of musical performers that shape the minds and attitudes of America’s youth. Disney-backed musicians like Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers have performed at the parade in recent years. Even the Cheetah Girls, formerly the R&B group 3LW, feign like their young teenagers and pander to the trivial and frankly, frightening desires, of young girls to be popular and sexy.

The sponsors of the commercial parade are callous, as are the head honchos from Macy’s who are responsible for its production. They think nothing of the impact they have on America’s youth through the sponsors who molest the minds of a vulnerable population. They think only of targeting the vulnerable, pushing addictions to cheap, genetically-modified food, and teaching kids that there will always be someone more attractive, more appealing, and more desirable than they are. Watching the parade is like watching a long line of commercials on television. The only difference is: one sees the result of a destructive consumer culture through the lines of people standing in awe of a myriad of private companies that could care less about their future.

Written By derekpostlewaite

Chicken Fuckers of the world UNITE!!1111!!!!!!

You have nothing to lose but £13 million in Grant money1111!!!!!ONEoneONE

Written By SunTzu

By SpiralMan

How about 40% x 10 by 2050!

No force, neither Big Oil nor any government has been more of a problem for the advancement of solar and wind then alleged environmental campaigners who consistently understate the potential of solar.

The fact that every last one of the IPCC reports on Climate Change consistently broadcast CO2 emission scenarios that assume that there is minimal contribution from renewable energy is a testament to this campaign.

Every one of the alarmist articles about impending ecological catastrophe has accepted these IPCC assumptions of Little Solar

I have seen the same thing with Greenpeace’s annual collaborative report with the European Photoelectric Industrial Association where every year for almost 10 years they have failed to make an accurate prediction about how much solar would be installed in the years to come. For a while, no matter if they increased the predicted rate of installation, reality beat their estimates by an ever larger margin.

I call this overall dynamic whereby alleged environmentalists talk of the need for solar and wind and urgent change, yet they almost always add in the claim that “renewables will likely only make a small contribution,” Damning Solar With Faint Praise.

I could easily insinuate ulterior motives, but I won’t waste my breath right now.

Instead I will just flatly state the following:

- Solar’s price drops at least Three-fold every decade, and has been doing so since 1970, ie. For 40 years!

- This year solar power reached parity with grid-delivered retail electricity to residential and commercial users if produced on large-scales, ie not just on your family’s roof, where it costs twice as much.

- By or before 2020, Solar will be as cheap as or cheaper than Coal, Oil, Nuclear, or natural Gas (King CONG), even at point of production utility grade wholesale electricity

- Solar’s worldwide growth rate of installation last year was 92%; it has consistently exceeded a 45% annual growth rate for a decade – At that growth rate, and with the continuing plummeting of the price of solar panels, Solar power will produce < 400% of today’s Global Power by 2050

First Solar Has Produced 1,000 MW of Solar Panels

[1,000 MW = 1 Gigawatt = baseload electricity for 1,000,000 households or full load for 200,000 heavy usage North American households.
This company a few weeks ago announced that it hit production costs of ~ <$1/Watt of panel, ie. 10c/kWh.]

Even Thin Solar Can’t Weather Silicon Glut

[First Solar is one of the many Thin Film solar companies that have arisen (eg Nanosolar) or retooled (eg Sharp Electronics) in response to a shortage of Silicon wafers. For decades, solar panels were made from excess crystalline silicon from the computer chip industry.
Starting in 2001 or so, the demand for solar had grown large enough that the leftovers from the computer industry weren’t sufficient, so prices escalated for crystalline silicon.

Silicon is the second most abundant element of the crust of the Earth (exceeded only by Oxygen).

1/4 of the Earth’s crust is Silicon.

When you are looking at sand dunes, you are looking at Silicon. So there is absolutely no shortage of Silicon.

But until just recently, there was a shortage of the processed Silicon necessary to make panels.

No longer!

The higher prices of crystalline silicon stimulated a lot of investment in new fabrication facilities, which are just coming on line this year. Already there is a glut of Silicon.

So, we can now see that there is a serious dogfight between these two different technologies, and will drive the retail price of solar panels much lower, closer and closer to the price of production, which we now know via First Solar’s announcement, and by inference that they are facing serious competition via the lowering of the price of silicon, is $1/W.

In the end, Silicon will win.

It is everywhere.

It’s made from sand.

Sand is in deserts.

Deserts are baked in intense, predictable, cloudless sunshine.

Deserts are perfect locations for solar-powered, Silicon fabrication plants to make solar panels which will be located in these same deserts.

Making panels takes very little labor, but it does require some energy. Solar panels capture 20-30 times as much energy as it takes to make them right now, but energy capture efficiencies are growing while energy to produce them is dropping all the time. (Thinner silicon wafers and concentrated solar using mirrors and lenses focused on smaller wafer squares, means even less silicon is used.)

Since the solar energy which powers these factories will effectively tend towards a cost of $0, solar panels will ultimately cost only a little bit more than the sand that they are made of.

Cost per 1W of solar panels
1970 $100.00
1980 $28.50
1990 $8.50
2000 $3.00
2010 $1.00 (equivalent to CONG retail electricity)

2020 $0.30 (cheaper than CONG wholesale electricity; these version 2.0 technologies are already visible)
2030 $0.10
2040 $0.03
2050 $0.01

Looking at that price cheapening trajectory, it is quite obvious that solar power replaces every other energy source on the planet, and enables every single human on the planet by 2050 (10B – 12B) to be affordably energized to the same level as today’s Americans.

400% of Today’s Global Power will come from Solar by 2050

Written By Maybe_Meme

“froid. some advice – kill yourself. seriously. i knwo that may seem kinda rude, but really, think about it…. yo knwo what to do. kill yourself. you are beyond worthless. kill yourself. do it today. straight up. kill yourself and as many amerikkkans as you can. you are the reptiles, friod. kill the reptiles. kill yourself. now.”
-Livingston

Written By FloydAnderson

We Are Change Chicago
November 30, 2009

CHICAGO IL – On Tuesday, November 24th 2009, We Are Change Chicago attended a book signing with former vice president Al Gore, at the Borders Bookstore on 150 N. State Street.

The previous Thursday, news had begun to circulate that hacked documents and communications from the University of East Anglia’s Hadley Climate Research Unit (CRU) had been published to the internet. The information revealed how top scientists conspired to falsify data in the face of declining global temperatures in order to prop up the premise that man-made factors are driving climate change. Please review ClimateGate for Dummies.

To ensure the public that the media and Al Gore are aware of the facts that prove global warming to be a hoax, patriots from WAC Chicago marched to the book signing. Scattered throughout a crowd of a few hundred were members of WAC Chicago ready to ask Al Gore what he thought about ‘ClimateGate.’

First up was Saad Ali. As he approached Gore, he peacefully and respectably asked, “Sir, can you comment on the emails and documents that were hacked [ClimateGate] that reveal… that the research was a fraud and that it was all manipulated?” Gore, with an evil smirk, claimed that “he never read them.” By the look on his face and his stutter, it became quite clear that Gore was extremely uncomfortable with the question, so he quickly glared towards his security. The agents grabbed and assaulted Saad, escorting him away from Gore for merely asking a simple question. The press took notice and started filming and snapping pictures of what was going on. One of which appeared the next day in the Chicago Sun Times.

^{We Are Change Chicago at the Al Gore book signing.}

Following Saad’s confrontation, Sati Word, a member of WAC Chicago, questioned Gore on why the IPCC hasn’t released any reports on sunspot activity. However, before he could get an answer from Gore, security grabbed Sati and escorted him out of the building.

A little while later, Anthony, an activist from We Are Change Ohio, approached Gore and handed him the petition of the 31,486 scientists who say that Global Warming is a complete hoax. Anthony asked, “What do you think about the science behind this sir?” Mr. Gore rolled his eyes, and security escorted him out of the building.

Steve (swizzlesteve), was the last activist to question Gore. Within seconds of asking, “Any comments on ClimateGate? The emails that prove it’s a scam, a farce, that global warming is a joke, any comment?” Mr. Gore is heard to utter a few “uhhhhhhhs” and security quickly steps in to remove him as well.

The press was waiting outside Borders. They wanted to find out who this group was, that dared question what the elite had forced us to consume as truth. WBBM news radio, 780, ran a sound bite of WAC Chicago, WGN news ran footage, Medill Reports wrote an article, and blog posts were popping up all over the internet about the Al Gore confrontation in Chicago. Many also asked about the footage of WAC Chicago chasing after Gore’s SUV after the event. You will find all of it in this video. Al Gore was confronted multiple times in line, outside the event as he rushed to his waiting Mercedes SUV, (were you expecting something electric?), and once again in the streets of Chicago. We Are Change had people outside with signs, banners, fliers, and DVDs. Activists were inside asking questions and demanding answers; the world is waking up, it’s a great time to be alive.

^{We Are Change Chicago outside Borders}

Written By FloydAnderson

Written By mtnlungta

Commentary Here.

Written By Namaste_Rich

Shift – ...let us know what made GNN v1.0 so much better than GNN v2.0 so we can incorporate those qualities into the new site.

Ok, this is probably my last blog… no, this isn’t a tearful goodbye, we’re just out of time and I don’t really blog anymore. But since Shift asked, as many have in the past, I figured I’d take a crack at what was great about the old site vs. the new.

An Embedded Chatroom

Now, the main mistake people (Anthony and Stephen) made upon implementing this idea here was forgetting that THE CHATROOM ACTIVITY ON GNNv1 WAS VIEWABLE FROM THE FRONT PAGE, AS WELL AS AT THE BOTTOM OF EVERY PAGE. This let everyone know, at a glance, what people on the site were chatting about, how many users were chatting as opposed to lurking, and if the people chatting were people you would want to chat with. Merely having a button on the screen that opened a chat-box isn’t enough.

Truth be told, it’s what first drew me to the site, and many others would probably say the same thing. It’s where all the bullshit we now flood the boards with used to be placed. It was where the community dealt with each other on a personal basis. It was where drama was laughed at. It was where the ‘bumped for lulz’ stuff never had a chance to fuck up the boards. It was where people who were just here for fun and conversation went for fun and conversation.

Here’s some history: The Great Chat War. Some user (Heynow?) said something to another user (Bambi.) I think it was about forwarding pictures of her to a nazi-gangbang site or something. It didn’t go over well. Drama ensued, people fought in the chatroom for hours, if not days, over this. Harsh things were said, friendships were strained… but I don’t remember it spilling into the forums very much. That wasn’t what they were for.

Contributions From The Overlords

This was a mistake. They never should have touched the forums after hitting the ‘on’ switch. Why? Well, not to point out the obvious, but THE CORE USERS OF THE SITE ARE/WERE ANONYMOUS ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT-MINDED PEOPLE WITH HUUUUUUUGE AUTHORITY ISSUES. There is NO place on the boards for ANYONE in ANY authoritarian position. Ever. If you can ban me, do not chat with me. Do not post your own writing, do not comment on others’ writing, nothing. PM them if you want to encourage them, but once you wield the banhammer you become persona non grata. Fuck off and write a book. You are no longer a member of the tribe. Don’t like it? Then don’t officiate a website for people who hate people who officiate websites.

The problems on GNNv1 may not have been started when the overlords would show up in the chatbox (I dare you to chat with Stephen and stay mad at him) but they were certainly exacerbated by it. The trolls on GNNv1 were congenial to S&A. They were there to fuck with users, not the owners. That was until things started happening that separated Anthony and Stephen from the herd. I still remember Anthony banning RisingLegion in the chatbox for telling him to fuck off. That’s when regs started trolling the boards and becoming drama queens.

A Lack Of Cut-And-Paste

Really. There was a higher percentage of original content. Sure, supporting info was C&P’d if necessary, but not as many of the threads were pre-existing writing from somewhere else that someone decided would provoke conversation. And supporting info was linked to, not plunked onto the thread. In most cases it wasn’t necessary, as the person making an argument used his own words to (try and) make a concise point.

This led to a measure of respect for the writing. That sound like a fairy tale? Well get this: the usual LULZers (me, rem, memnoch, shit… anyone who frequently derails threads) would have thought twice before crashing a conversation back then. Why? Because someone took the time to create it. Its sort of the way that forum stuff gets burnt with cigarettes like an ugly stepchild, but not so much the articles.

I really do think this is one of the HUGE problems this site has had. The headline section and all of the threads that are nothing more than a crtl-c snag from somewhere else has devalued the writing, the contribution, and the effort.

Wanted Someone Banned?

No. It changes everything. Unless we’re talking overt death threats that were not apologized for, almost no one would have thought to approach an overlord to ban someone. It was not a paternal system. There was no higher authority to appeal to. Did people complain? Sure, a handful. Never institute a policy change on the pleading of a handful.

Once the complainers were listened to once, authority was discovered in our midst. A steady trickle of intelligent people started to disappear. Don’t do that to yourself. Drama plays out, it goes away. Overlords don’t understand the relationship you and someone you’ve been chatting with every day for a year has built up. They can’t. The only option besides ‘no appeal to authority allowed’ is eventually ‘no tolerance.’

Remember That BANNNING DID NOT WORK. EVER.

How much proof do you need? This entire GNN run was proof positive that you cannot ban someone who does not want to be banned. How do you handle this? My theory is that you don’t. Everything is permissible. But you GIVE THE COMMUNITY THE TOOLS IT NEEDS TO MARGINALIZE TROLLS. Even Youtube has an up/down comment-voting system to get rid of retards.

We Didn’t Have Spammers

Look, spamming is spamming, whether or not you agree with it. Having 150 threads a week devoted to, say, anarchism makes all of the other pieces with an anarchistic bent seem like just more floodwater. It gets lost in the wash with everything else. Neverknwo drowned out the Alien/NWO conversations, Sisyphus has made anything with a heavy undercurrent of homosexual rage seem old hat, and Floyd has made mocking anything that Alex Jones would speak of into a reflex.

Promise Nothing. Ever.

Do not tell people that X will be available in two weeks. Just make it happen and enjoy the surprise. We are a whiny, whiny people online and we have a HUGE feeling of entitlement. Tell me I can have something for free on a website I hang around on for free and it doesn’t show up? Why not just rape and murder my mom while you’re at it, you evil prick?!?

On GNNv1 we were not offered anything, because Dimitri (poet, prophet and coder) just made shit appear. Log in one day and HEY! In the chatroom it tells you whenever a new thread is started! OOOH! The site e-mails you whenever anyone replies to your post? Look at THAT! A function that allows registered users to talk to each other without anyone else seeing what they are saying! Neat-o! And he came in here and explained how it all works, you say?!? WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN?!?

Good luck, folks…

Written By Truthcansuk

What’s amazing about this is not so much the disclosure of the evidence. The fact that climate science was being driven politically has been apparent to anyone really willing to delve into it for a while now.

What’s amazing is how drastically, and how quickly, this seems to have shifted the debate. Clearly, there hasn’t been time for any formal surveys yet, but judging from the reactions to news pieces online, the political movement to “fight climate change” has suffered a drastic blow.

I invite you to read this recent piece on the Christian Science Monitor’s Bright Green Blog by Alexandra Marks, titled “Hacked climate emails: conspiracy or tempest in a teapot?” (she says teapot) and then to read the comments below. One would think that the audience of an environmental blog at a moderate paper like the CSM would be among the more sympathetic towards the Climate Change movement. There’s little sympathy to be found now.

As one poster writes:

As a long time AGW [anthropogenic global warming hypothesis] supporter I must say I found the emails very disturbing.

I spent hours reading them myself. I don’t know if they qualify as “smoking gun” that the AGW science is bust, but I just cannot ignore it.

I feel ashamed for the behavior of our leading scientists. Even more than feeling ashamed – I feel betrayed.

For years I trusted that science will prevail over the unsubstantiated skeptic view. These emails reveal a very disturbing picture of ideology overriding science. Science being bent out of shape to support a hypothesis.

They reveal unbelievable arrogance. These people whom I trusted so much think they are
- above the law (destroying email, refusing FOIA, tax evasion)
- above the data (“hide the decline”, remove the cooling blimp)
- above their peers (get uncomforting journal editors fired, block skeptic publications)
- above the rest of us (manipulate the message, presentation and media)

Similar stories are replaying at other mainstream liberal sites. Check out the Huffington Post’s threads if you wish.

What’s emerging is that the most damning information is not in the hacked emails themselves, but in some of the secret “science” software which has been released, which is reportedly tricked-out to massage data to show warming. Again, this is from the people who handle the world’s temperature records.

On online forums, it seems like the debate is turning into a rout. Arguing on the basis of peer-reviewed science consensus is worthless in the face of evidence of top climate scientists threatening to keep dissident opinions out of publication even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!

If what I’m seeing is accurate; that public opinion has shifted dramatically on the issue of ‘Climate Change,’ practically overnight, on the basis of a mere 163 megabytes of data, then the revolutionary implications for the future are startling.

Imagine the data which is currently lurking on all kinds of servers right now. Data which is likely accessible to hackers, IT professionals, site administrators etc. The revolutions of the future may well be very quick and bloodless. One day we may wake up and find a news article reporting that a low-paid whistleblowing server manager has leaked an email from Karl Rove to Dick Cheney titled “Re:9-11,” which might then be followed by an on camera admission along the lines of “but that’s taken out of context,” and then it really all be over. Imagine the Federal Reserve transaction records being dumped to a server in Russia, or of internal communiques between mainstream media bosses and their reporters. I wonder what kind of terminology the World Bank and IMF use internally. I’m sure you can imagine a few more scenarios yourself.

Senator Jay Rockefeller has recently stated his opinion that “the internet is the number one threat” to security in the nation. He’s a smart man. I’m sure he knows about many emails which are floating around out there right now. He’s the former chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. And I’m sure he’s very nervous.

Written By bacchus

One thing I did a few weeks back was check the Google and the Wiki for the overlords’ write-ups. It was enlightening. On Steevee’s Wikipedia page GNN is given its own separate section, and it’s even right near the top, high above the mentions of his books, music videos, films, medals for films,. Strange that he still plays up his unwanted, unloved child, assuming he could get away with editing that page a bit without anyone really giving a damn. I think it’s a safe bet, even more so now that he want to just, you know, pull the power cord, cut the switch, pull the plug, dump the dog, on years and years of hundreds of people’s writing, most of it, some of it, half of it anyway, worth reading, if one ever finds the time.

Even on Stephen’s production Co. Website, on the page named MISSION, we read this first:

revolutiontheory is a new media production company formed by producer Lisa Hsu and Sundance-award winning writer/director Stephen Marshall, who co-founded Guerrilla News Network (GNN). Previously, the partnership has produced award-winning short documentaries for GNN and music videos broadcast on MTV, MTV Europe and selected for RES Fest.

That’s got GNN written all over it. (You just love the word guerrilla, don’t you?) So why exactly, is he in favor of killing his favorite bio lede? Other than the fact that dealing with Floopin and his ilk can become a pain in the butt?

Similarly, on The Team page at the Shooting War website, Anthony heads up the list with this blurb:

SHOOTING WAR creator and writer Anthony Lappé is Executive Editor of GNN.tv, the web site for the Guerrilla News Network.

He is the co-author of their book True Lies (Plume) and the producer of their award-winning Showtime documentary about Iraq, BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire’s Edge. He has written for The New York Times, the Huffington Post, New York, Vice, and Salon, among many others, and has been a producer for MTV News and Fuse. He is a frequent guest on Air America and other radio stations across the country. His blog, The Bunker, can be found here.

Stunning, isn’t it? I never knew Anthony was so proud of us. Big watermelon cheers to HuffPost and NYT placing way down that list. Hey, I wrote for Vice too, waaaaay back; first issue ever apparently worth money now, when it was called Voice. The God’s truth.

Strangely, Anthony’s photo is missing from that page and you get an “Internal Server Error” when I try to load the picture. That must mean the CIA theories are true!

But, I’m not dumb, and I know it really doesn’t cost that much to run a site like GNN. Its traffic load is puny. This is easily confirmed at Alexa.com, but why bother? It’s cheap enough, and we can pass a hat around if need be. I’m still baffled that each of the overlords, (I’m using that word in a fond, slightly friendly sense, not a pejorative) actually wish to blow a three-to-five year wide hole in their collective resumes.

Part of the problem is surely that GNN never became what the founders wanted it to become. I think they were hoping for something more like OhMyNews.com and feel like they ended up with, uh, something different, and puny. It’s just not sexy, okay?

Is that it? Yeah, come on, come clean. You guys plaster GNN all over your resumes, but you won’t leave the site standing for posterity? Why not shut it down and leave it there, as in, shut down the functionality? Or don’t. It’s not really necessary. There are some people using the site for respectable purposes. You could introduce some moderation and be rid of pests like Floopin in no time. It doesn’t need to take up your (relatively more) precious time.

Because it would be frickin’ nice if someone, or someones, were nice enough to not destroy the work of others just because their knickers were in twists.

And because in this here Innernet, there actually are hundreds and thousands of links pointing back at various pages on the GNN. (That’s the real thing.) Any one of those could be important, you know, butterfly effect and all that, and that’s the shit that keeps people going instead of rolling over and dying, right.

So if one of you guys has read this far, here’s my karmic jinx to you if you persist in going further down this deathly road and not turning back in short order, cause you’re truly doing the wrong thing and someone’s gotta try to tell you the right way. Hear? Holler back, muthafuckas. You used to work with Eminem right? so you must know how.

Written By Beagle17

The weather throughout the country seems unusually mild and significantly wetter than normal. The question that comes to mind is: Why? What is contributing to this unusual weather pattern across Canada? Some put it down to the periodic El Nino that sweeps across Canada and the northern United States but then, could it have something to do with the contentious issue of global warming a.k.a. climate change?
Ironically, Al Gore the former vice-president of the United States, Nobel and Academy award winner and current guru/advocate for climate change initiatives to the World, is touring promoting his latest book on the subject entitled: Our Choice: A Plan To Solve The Climate Crisis
Without having an opportunity to review the book it can only be assumed that it is further advocacy toward recognizing and addressing the issue of global development and population growth resulting in increased volumes of carbon dioxide that contribute to higher global temperatures and the ramifications of doing so.

Even a mild interest in the subject and controversy surrounding climate change a.k.a., global warming will realize the differing schools of thought that exist as to the root constituents of the changes that are materializing globally on a daily basis in the form of draughts and wild-fires, excessive rainfall and resulting flooding and visible changes to plant life cycles and wild-life migration patterns.

Research into the many publications available on the Internet would attribute these changes to that stated: increase in carbon dioxide emission; to the affects of solar and planetary activity within the galaxy reflected by diminished solar flare activity, increased planetary temperatures and weakening of the Earth’s electro-magnetic shielding allowing for increased infiltration of solar radiation.

Arguably, what ever is to be the actual cause of the changes being experienced, the course being advocated by Al Gore and his following, can do no harm and would likely benefit everyone in the long run. The only short-term negative aspect is the high cost to the global economy: the dollar and cents aspect. If nothing else, it is this concept of `money’ that poses the biggest stumbling block to anything substantive being accomplished in this direction. And how foolish is that? The potential for major decline of global civilization is predicated on a fiat currency, a paper money that has no true value. This can only be seen as a reflection of the insidious greed of humanity in that the value of money an artificial entity, be placed ahead of the good and wellbeing of humanity.

The manner by which The (Global) Powers That Be are managing this issue and the lack of intervention by the majority of the world’s population on the issue can only result in continued increase in the deterioration of the quality of life on planet Earth.

Mother Nature will not wait for humanity to choose. Her wrath will increasingly be made apparent as time unfolds and there will be no one to point the proverbial finger of blame to accept each and all that occupy this World.

Good luck and good night!

Written By canadian

If you support this request, please add yourself as a signatory in the comments thread.

Written By ShiftShapers

We have since learned that those self hating Americans and Osama supporters were correct. We have learned of the collusion of the new york times and the pentagon through ‘un-named sources’ in a circular self affirmation of lies.

We played in sport across the internet with each wild claim about Iraq, although knowing full well war was a deadly game. At times it was only a matter of four hours or less for the latest claim to be debunked. Remember the Ballon trailers story? The so called mobile weapons laboratory which was a hydrogen generator for weather balloons?

It was crazy! Millions of people marched world wide on more than one occasion in protest of the war. It seemed for one instant that it might be possible to avert the inevitable.

No! Money, profit, multi-agenda packs prevailed and we have today’s reality.

One good thing that we did get is progressive radio and more progressive voices on the air in both TV and radio. The ability to engage in topics without the pigeon holes and forced frame of mind of fear and emergency. I dont agree with all progressives by any means, and I don’t think that is good entertainment or talk.

Its been great. America sent an overwhelming message to Washington in the last election. THere have been endless ‘I Told You So!’ moments since bush left office about the ‘war on terror’ propaganda. Most of it we knew about but since, there seems to be book deals and books about the stuff coming out.

Today I find myself surprised to hear the same crap from progressive radio. THey have started using derogatory handles in concert. Climate change deniers, ‘bad’ non-insured Americans costing us ‘good’ insured Americans more money. Just dont mention the people with insurance that declare bankruptcy due to un covered health costs.

Or how about the obvious one that pisses me off today. When you hear a caller talk to your favorite progressive talk show host about the legality of mandated health insurance, the host screams out about car insurance mandates and that they are constitutional.

The last I heard, Driving was a choice and life is NOT. If you cannot see the difference between a privilege to drive and being alive then you are certainly not qualified to be in broadcasting of any sort. The day I wake up a criminal because I do not have health insurance will be akin to the shot heard around the world.

Climate change is another one! Hell yes I think we could pollute less. Hell yeah, since the sixties as far as I can remember, controlling pollution has been on our minds. Earth day was the child conceived in the 1960 from freedom loving, earth loving people.

If you think WE are going to let just any hucksters sell us the solution you better think twice! Its obvious from the players that Carbon trading as is being thrust upon us is Bull shit. We know the advocates of carbon trading who are heading to Copenhagen will cause more damage than entire villages would in a single year.

We KNOW from the leaks that it is a hard sell scam and those who would want to increase a global type authority such as the UN or NAFTA or WTO IMF etc.. will help this scam along.

Here is the bottom line. The more I hear you progressives sound like FOX news in the run up to the Iraq war, the less I will listen. Fuck You! I do not deny climate change! I deny you the time to sell me the scam that it is. And your network will dry up just like the conservative networks you were able to knock down.

We’re listening because we are smart enough to recognize the obtuse propaganda on the other networks, and we WILL drop you off the button and tune back into local colleges in a heartbeat.

Please, Im sick of it.

Written By Smelter