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Bosse enters race for GOP nod in New Hampshire�s satirical 00th district

fiery — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:24:23 GMT

http://www.nowhampshire.com/2009/11/...00th-district/

http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx

It was an honest mistake.

Climategate - hackers reveal cover up

Iceman1977 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:01:28 GMT

Quote:

Climate Skeptics See 'Smoking Gun' in Researchers' Leaked E-Mails
Friday , November 20, 2009

ADVERTISEMENTHackers broke into the servers at a prominent British climate research center and leaked years worth of e-mail messages onto the Web, including one with a mysterious reference to a plan to "hide the decline" in data about temperatures.

The Internet is abuzz about the leaked data from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (commonly called Hadley CRU), which has acknowledged the leak of 61MB of confidential data.

Climate change skeptics describe the leaked data as a "smoking gun," evidence of collusion among climatologists and manipulation of data to support the widely held view that climate change is caused by the actions of mankind. The files were reportedly released on a Russian file-serve by an anonymous poster calling himself "FOIA."

In an exclusive interview in Investigate magazine's TGIF Edition, Phil Jones, the head of the Hadley CRU, confirmed that the leaked data is real.

"It was a hacker. We were aware of this about three or four days ago," he told the magazine, noting that the center has yet to contact the police about the data breach.

TGIF Edition asked Jones about the controversial "hide the decline" comment from an e-mail he wrote in 1999. He told the magazine that there was no intention to mislead, but he had "no idea" what he meant by those words.

"That was an e-mail from ten years ago. Can you remember the exact context of what you wrote ten years ago?" he said.

The Telegraph has posted some of the more scathing excerpts from these emails, which the newspaper suggests points to manipulation of evidence and private doubts about the reality of global warming, though the much of the scientific language in the e-mails is esoteric and hard to interpret.

Others suggest the comments are simply "scientists talking about science." In an interview with Wired, Kevin Trenberth, head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, points out that "if you read all of these e-mails, you will be surprised at the integrity of these scientists."

Still, one notable e-mail from the hacked files clearly describes how to squeeze dissenting scientists from the peer review process:

"I think we have to stop considering Climate Research as a legitimate peer-reviewed journal. Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal. We would also need to consider what we tell or request of our more reasonable colleagues who currently sit on the editorial board�What do others think?"

it is one thing to be wrong and make mistakes with climate change models and it is another thing to altogether lie about it...wow

Scientists Baffled at Global Warming Time-Out

Iceman1977 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:42:36 GMT

Quote:

Climatologists Baffled by Global Warming Time-Out
By Gerald Traufetter

Global warming appears to have stalled. Climatologists are puzzled as to why average global temperatures have stopped rising over the last 10 years. Some attribute the trend to a lack of sunspots, while others explain it through ocean currents.

At least the weather in Copenhagen is likely to be cooperating. The Danish Meteorological Institute predicts that temperatures in December, when the city will host the United Nations Climate Change Conference, will be one degree above the long-term average.

Otherwise, however, not much is happening with global warming at the moment. The Earth's average temperatures have stopped climbing since the beginning of the millennium, and it even looks as though global warming could come to a standstill this year.

Ironically, climate change appears to have stalled in the run-up to the upcoming world summit in the Danish capital, where thousands of politicians, bureaucrats, scientists, business leaders and environmental activists plan to negotiate a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Billions of euros are at stake in the negotiations.

Reached a Plateau

The planet's temperature curve rose sharply for almost 30 years, as global temperatures increased by an average of 0.7 degrees Celsius (1.25 degrees Fahrenheit) from the 1970s to the late 1990s. "At present, however, the warming is taking a break," confirms meteorologist Mojib Latif of the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences in the northern German city of Kiel. Latif, one of Germany's best-known climatologists, says that the temperature curve has reached a plateau. "There can be no argument about that," he says. "We have to face that fact."

Even though the temperature standstill probably has no effect on the long-term warming trend, it does raise doubts about the predictive value of climate models, and it is also a political issue. For months, climate change skeptics have been gloating over the findings on their Internet forums. This has prompted many a climatologist to treat the temperature data in public with a sense of shame, thereby damaging their own credibility.

"It cannot be denied that this is one of the hottest issues in the scientific community," says Jochem Marotzke, director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. "We don't really know why this stagnation is taking place at this point."

Just a few weeks ago, Britain's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research added more fuel to the fire with its latest calculations of global average temperatures. According to the Hadley figures, the world grew warmer by 0.07 degrees Celsius from 1999 to 2008 and not by the 0.2 degrees Celsius assumed by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And, say the British experts, when their figure is adjusted for two naturally occurring climate phenomena, El Ni�o and La Ni�a, the resulting temperature trend is reduced to 0.0 degrees Celsius -- in other words, a standstill.

The differences among individual regions of the world are considerable. In the Arctic, for example, temperatures rose by almost three degrees Celsius, which led to a dramatic melting of sea ice. At the same time, temperatures declined in large areas of North America, the western Pacific and the Arabian Peninsula. Europe, including Germany, remains slightly in positive warming territory.

Mixed Messages

But a few scientists simply refuse to believe the British calculations. "Warming has continued in the last few years," says Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). However, Rahmstorf is more or less alone in his view. Hamburg Max Planck Institute scientist Jochem Marotzke, on the other hand, says: "I hardly know any colleagues who would deny that it hasn't gotten warmer in recent years."

The controversy sends confusing and mixed messages to the lay public. Why is there such a vigorous debate over climate change, even though it isn't getting warmer at the moment? And how can it be that scientists cannot even arrive at a consensus on changes in temperatures, even though temperatures are constantly being measured?

The global temperature-monitoring network consists of 517 weather stations. But each reading is only a tiny dot on the big world map, and it has to be extrapolated to the entire region with the help of supercomputers. Besides, there are still many blind spots, the largest being the Arctic, where there are only about 20 measuring stations to cover a vast area. Climatologists refer to the problem as the "Arctic hole."

The scientists at the Hadley Center simply used the global average value for the hole, ignoring the fact that it has become significantly warmer in the Arctic, says Rahmstorf. But a NASA team from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, which does make the kinds of adjustments for the Arctic data that Rahmstorf believes are necessary, arrives at a flat temperature curve for the last five years that is similar to that of their British colleagues.

Marotzke and Leibniz Institute meteorologist Mojib Latif are even convinced that the fuzzy computing done by Rahmstorf is counterproductive. "We have to explain to the public that greenhouse gases will not cause temperatures to keep rising from one record temperature to the next, but that they are still subject to natural fluctuations," says Latif. For this reason, he adds, it is dangerous to cite individual weather-related occurrences, such as a drought in Mali or a hurricane, as proof positive that climate change is already fully underway.

"Perhaps we suggested too strongly in the past that the development will continue going up along a simple, straight line. In reality, phases of stagnation or even cooling are completely normal," says Latif.

part 1 .....................

Alan Grayson wants to restrain the Federal Reserve.

Raines5 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:14:24 GMT

Hell yeah, Alan Grayson.

The video he's talking about: http://www.youtube.com/user/RepAlanG.../7/n0NYBTkE1yQ

Another video where he owns the Federal Reserve; http://www.youtube.com/user/RepAlanG.../4/mXmNpdYpfnk

President Obama's Interview with Fox.

Raines5 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:21:42 GMT

Part 1.

Part 2.

CIA seeks to recruit Arab-Americans.

Raines5 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:52:27 GMT

And this is how they do it..? And I find it funny that it was first aired in Dearborn, Michigan, which is the most heavily concentrated area of Arabs in the country. Any opinions?..

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091119/...cruiting_arabs

Quote:

DEARBORN, Mich. � There's a swirl of activity in a spacious, modern kitchen as final meal preparations are made.

An older man tries to swipe a felafel off an appetizer plate but instead gets a loving hand slap from a woman. The happy, well-dressed guests move to a table full of food in a dining room adorned with Middle Eastern wall-hangings.

It's an inviting, if idealized, dinner party scene from any Arab-American home � at least that's what the CIA seeks to convey in the first television commercial of its kind. The agency, in turn, hopes it's an inviting message to U.S. Arabs.

"Your nation, your world," a male voice says with a Middle Eastern accent, as the frame moves outside and pans out to show the party through a window of a gleaming, high-rise building. In seconds, the shot zooms out to an image of the U.S. from space. "They're worth protecting.

"Careers in the CIA."

The commercial, which the agency plans to debut on mainstream and ethnic TV stations and Web sites nationwide within the next few months, represents artistic and technological leaps for the agency. Until now, its print, broadcast and Web advertising has focused on the variety of career options and the diversity among its ranks, but the agency hasn't used a storytelling approach to sell its message.

It's part of an ambitious outreach effort to communities the CIA deems critical to reducing the threat of terrorism in the U.S. The agency has a five-year plan to boost fluency in Arabic and other languages.

But resistance could come from U.S. Arabs who have felt the sting of suspicion since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Many Arabs and Muslims have been dubious of the government's intelligence gathering and believe spying is going on in mosques and other places.

The CIA on Wednesday held a private screening of the commercial and another 30-second spot aimed at recruiting Iranian-Americans. Each drew applause from the group of about 40 people gathered for the viewing in Dearborn, in the heart of Michigan's large Middle Eastern community.

Daw Alwerfalli, a mechanical engineering professor at Lawrence Technological University in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, said he liked the casual approach. An added benefit and point of pride for Alwerfalli: His son, Tamer, was among the actors.

"It's talking to anybody � it shows that the CIA cares about the integrity of the family in general," Alwerfalli said.

Suehaila Amen, 30, thought the commercial was visually appealing and positive, but it "didn't resonate" with her because it didn't fully deliver on its message.

"I just saw family together sharing a meal, doing what we do best � the hugs and kisses over great food and great company � but I didn't see why it's important to the CIA," said Amen, a community activist in Dearborn.

The ad's soft-selling, storytelling approach emerged from focus groups and conversations with CIA employees of Middle Eastern heritage. The research revealed that Arab-Americans want to retain their ties to their homelands but embrace a sense of duty to the U.S. They stressed a desire to work in places where they can use their experiences and enjoy an exciting career.

"It's important for them to know we understand how important their culture is to them. They're not going to lose that once they walk through the front doors of the CIA to work," said Christina Petrosian, chief of advertising and marketing for agency's recruitment and retention center.

Petrosian and her team filmed the commercial in the same Hollywood studio that once was home to Desilu Productions and the pioneering 1950s sitcom "I Love Lucy," which itself broke ethnic barriers by costarring Cuban-American actor Desi Arnaz in the role of Ricky Ricardo.

Petrosian believes the commercial portrays a broad yet authentic slice of life that will resonate with its audience.

"We hear over and over again, 'The CIA is not even on my radar to come and apply,'" she said. "Showing the commercial in this way � with a Middle Eastern focus � hopefully that will generate that interest."

This 5th Grader has the right idea...

morrowindgoty1 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:16:55 GMT

I guess I was wrong when I said I hate kids or just is just an exception to the rule.

Quote:

Will Phillips isn't like other boys his age.

For one thing, he's smart. Scary smart. A student in the West Fork School District in Washington County, he skipped a grade this year, going directly from the third to the fifth. When his family goes for a drive, discussions are much more apt to be about Teddy Roosevelt and terraforming Mars than they are about Spongebob Squarepants and what's playing on Radio Disney.

It was during one of those drives that the discussion turned to the pledge of allegiance and what it means. Laura Phillips is Will's mother. �Yes, my son is 10,� she said. �But he's probably more aware of the meaning of the pledge than a lot of adults. He's not just doing it rote recitation. We raised him to be aware of what's right, what's wrong, and what's fair.�

Will's family has a number of *** friends. In recent years, Laura Phillips said, they've been trying to be a straight ally to the *** community, going to the pride parades and standing up for the rights of their *** and lesbian neighbors. They've been especially dismayed by the effort to take away the rights of homosexuals � the right to marry, and the right to adopt. Given that, Will immediately saw a problem with the pledge of allegiance.

�I've always tried to analyze things because I want to be lawyer,� Will said. �I really don't feel that there's currently liberty and justice for all.�

After asking his parents whether it was against the law not to stand for the pledge, Will decided to do something. On Monday, Oct. 5, when the other kids in his class stood up to recite the pledge of allegiance, he remained sitting down. The class had a substitute teacher that week, a retired educator from the district, who knew Will's mother and grandmother. Though the substitute tried to make him stand up, he respectfully refused. He did it again the next day, and the next day. Each day, the substitute got a little more cross with him. On Thursday, it finally came to a head. The teacher, Will said, told him that she knew his mother and grandmother, and they would want him to stand and say the pledge.

�She got a lot more angry and raised her voice and brought my mom and my grandma up,� Will said. �I was fuming and was too furious to really pay attention to what she was saying. After a few minutes, I said, �With all due respect, ma'am, you can go jump off a bridge.' �

Will was sent to the office, where he was given an assignment to look up information about the flag and what it represents. Meanwhile, the principal called his mother.

�She said we have to talk about Will, because he told a sub to jump off a bridge,� Laura Phillips said. �My first response was: Why? He's not just going to say this because he doesn't want to do his math work.�

Eventually, Phillips said, the principal told her that the altercation was over Will's refusal to stand for the pledge of allegiance, and admitted that it was Will's right not to stand. Given that, Laura Phillips asked the principal when they could expect an apology from the teacher. �She said, �Well I don't think that's necessary at this point,' � Phillips said.

After Phillips put a post on the instant-blogging site twitter.com about the incident, several of her friends got angry and alerted the news media. Meanwhile, Will Phillips still refuses to stand during the pledge of allegiance. Though many of his friends at school have told him they support his decision, those who don't have been unkind, and louder.

�They [the kids who don't support him] are much more crazy, and out of control and vocal about it than supporters are.�

Given that his protest is over the rights of gays and lesbians, the taunts have taken a predictable bent. �In the lunchroom and in the hallway, they've been making comments and doing pranks, and calling me ***,� he said. �It's always the same people, walking up and calling me a gaywad.�

Even so, Will said that he can't foresee anything in the near future that will make him stand for the pledge. To help him deal with the peer pressure, his parents have printed off posts in his support on blogs and websites. �We've told him that people here might not support you, but we've shown him there are people all over that support you,� Phillips said. �It's really frustrating to him that people are being so immature.�

At the end of our interview, I ask young Will a question that might be a civics test nightmare for your average 10-year-old. Will's answer, though, is good enough � simple enough, true enough � to give me a little rush of goose pimples. What does being an American mean?

�Freedom of speech,� Will says, without even stopping to think. �The freedom to disagree. That's what I think pretty much being an American represents.�

Somewhere, Thomas Jefferson smiles.

http://www.arktimes.com/articles/art...0-3823aa79c021

Al Gore Photoshops Fake Earth

fiery — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:27:07 GMT

Nice job Al with your new book. He has hurricanes spinning the wrong way.The ice cap is gone but the edges of it dont melt. And he has a hurricane on the Equator which is impossible. This guy is a joke! Even though co2 levels are rising temperatures and hurricane activity has dropped.

MSNBC Grills Young Girl in Line at Palin Book Signing

fiery — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:39:03 GMT

What a creep this liberal reporter is.

Liberals don't want to hear from the people

Pennywise38 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:15:25 GMT

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/sto...te-091119.html

Quote:

MPPs tossed from legislature over HST debate

Several Tories were thrown out of the Ontario legislature Thursday for "unparliamentary" language, as the tone of the debate over Ontario's move to harmonize its sales tax with the GST became increasingly nasty.

Sarnia MPP Bob Bailey accused Premier Dalton McGuinty of being afraid to hold public hearings about the looming HST, saying McGuinty doesn't want to hear how taxpayers really feel.

The Progressive Conservatives are threatening to use every delaying tactic they can to force public hearings on the 13 per cent single sales tax, which is to take effect in 2010.

Tory MPPs disrupted second reading on the HST bill several times by banging their desks, repeatedly interrupting the Speaker and shouting down Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.

Conservative MPPs Peter Shurman and Ted Chudleigh were also thrown out of the legislature for unparliamentary language.

McGuinty has said voters can pass judgment on his government's decision to harmonize the sales taxes in the 2011 Ontario election.

AFTER it is said and done the people can decide? Provincial Liberals across the nation are ignoring the people, In Ontario, New Brunswick, British Colombia...This is the state of democracy, how great.

Then again McGuinty is hated universally.

Declaring War On Political Correctness

fiery — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:13:15 GMT

He should have been Obamas preacher.

Should Tim Geithner resign?

Raines5 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:18:29 GMT

I'm not sure if he should. At the time Obama took the Presidency, we were losing jobs at 6 percent a month. About 750,000 a month. Since Obama has taken office we're not losing around 125,000 a month. A substantial change. However, Tim Geithner bailed out big business (though I don't completely disagree with it), but he isn't taking notice of the little person. He's not paying attention to the citizens or the small businesses.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125864421370955721.html

Quote:

WASHINGTON�Snowballing frustration about the economy burst into a political fracas Thursday, with several lawmakers calling on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to resign over angst about unemployment and Wall Street bailouts.

The criticism came largely from House Republicans, who have long been critics of the Treasury secretary. Mr. Geithner's job status doesn't appear to be in serious jeopardy and several Democrats at a congressional hearing leapt to his defense.

But joining the anti-Geithner chorus in increasing numbers are more liberal Democrats who say the White House's economic policies haven't done enough to boost job growth. The degree of venom aimed at Mr. Geithner is also unusual, as was his willingness to fire back.

During a Joint Economic Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Rep. Kevin Brady (R., Texas) told Mr. Geithner "the public has lost all confidence in your ability to do the job."

Mr. Geithner traded barbs with the Republicans, occasionally raising his voice to the point of shouting. "What I can't take responsibility is for the legacy of crises you've bequeathed this country," he told Mr. Brady.

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D., Ore.) a vocal liberal who called on Mr. Geithner to resign this week, said in an interview that the Treasury secretary's policies are too closely geared to Wall Street. "Quite frankly, all the gambling on Wall Street is doing nothing to put people back to work in America and rebuild our economy," he said.

The tension comes amid a growing unease from Democrats as they approach the 2010 midterm elections with the unemployment rate at 10.2%. Several Capitol Hill aides said support for Mr. Geithner has frayed, but noted he makes an easy target for critics because he is considered the face of White House economic policy.

Overshadowing third-quarter economic growth of 3.5% are fears about the weak state of the job and housing markets. Rank-and-file lawmakers have come under increasing pressure at home to address the shaky economy, said several Democratic leadership aides.

House Democratic leaders have vowed to take up job-creating legislation in December.

Mr. Geithner has played a lead role in the White House's response to the economic crisis and tried to steer a middle ground, resisting pressure from liberal Democrats to overtly punish Wall Street executives while also fending off Republicans who have slammed the White House's stimulus package.

One issue that has dogged Mr. Geithner is criticism of his record at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he was president before joining the administration. The New York Fed oversees the country's largest bank holding companies and is supposed to police Wall Street behavior.

The topic was reignited this week. A government report charged that the New York Fed caved into demands from big banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., when it paid them in full for risky deals they had made with bailed-out insurer American International Group Inc. Critics say the government should have forced the banks to accept less.

Mr. Geithner defended the decision Thursday, saying the government lacked the powers it needed to handle the collapse of a company like AIG.

"Coming into AIG we had, basically, duct tape and string," he said.

Mr. Geithner's tenure as Treasury secretary has been occasionally rocky. He faced criticism before he was confirmed by the Senate because of questions over his income taxes and his role in the government's response to the financial crisis.

His political capital improved in the spring when stress tests he ordered on the country's largest banks helped rebuild confidence in the banking system. At the same time, the Treasury has struggled to get Congress to line up behind its plan to revamp financial regulation, a top administration priority.

Criticism at the hearing was voluminous. Rep. Michael Burgess (R., Texas) said the White House should "provide some tax relief and then get the heck out of the way" for the U.S. economy to recover.

Mr. Geithner immediately countered: "That broad philosophy helped produce the worst financial crisis and the worst recession we'd seen in generations."

When asked why the Obama administration wouldn't wind down the Troubled Asset Relief Program by the end of the year, Mr. Geithner said officials were "working to put the TARP out of its misery." The program officially expires Dec. 31, although the Treasury is widely expected to extend its life.

Some Democrats at the hearing rushed to support Mr. Geithner. "It just amazes me how there are some people here who are trying to pretend, and I think consciously and intentionally pretending, that the economic circumstances that we're confronting, all of them, mysteriously materialized over the course of the last nine months or so, which is totally, completely false," said Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D., N.Y.).

Mr. Geithner told the panel Thursday the government's steps were "absolutely necessary to break the back of this financial panic" and without the steps "you would have an economy still falling, not growing."
�Deborah Solomon and Michael R. Crittenden contributed to this article.

A glimpse of Obamacare...

Iceman1977 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:30:13 GMT

Anyone see the news story yesterday about the government panel of experts that decided women should not get mammograms so early because they are expensive?

Turns out the people on the panel were not practicing doctors and NONE of them were oncologists lol.

well - there has been some serious outrage from the pink breast cancer folks suggesting that this 'panel' is the represenatation of obamacare and how they will tell doctors and patients what types of procedures they are allowed to have and when they will have them. this is indeed how you reduce costs thru rationing care - hope everyone is happy with that.

Holder Shattered by Graham at KSM Hearing

SecondRevolutionTX — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:35:17 GMT

Smash
http://www.thefoxnation.com/911/2009...am-ksm-hearing

Doctors speaking of Health Reform.

Raines5 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:55:16 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkGGDOp4uUg

Pay attention from 2:10-2:31, he makes great points. Preventative care.