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  • Pitty those poor, poor (doomed) polar bears

    Pitty those poor, poor (doomed) polar bears
    The white polar bears are in big danger of losing their species purity!

  • Schumer Asks Ford Not to Run

    Schumer Asks Ford Not to Run
    New York’s political world “reacted swiftly and strongly to the possibility of Harold Ford Jr.’s candidacy for the United States Senate, with top Senate leaders trying to squash the bid and close advisers to Mayor Michael Bloomberg meeting with Mr. Ford on Thursday to plot strategy for a campaign,” the New York Times reports.

    “The developments reflect the seriousness with which Mr. Ford is being viewed as he weighs whether to challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in this fall’s Democratic primary.”

    On Wednesday night, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) “met with Mr. Ford to try to dissuade him from running, according to two people who were told of the meeting and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the conversation was supposed to be kept private.”

    Quote of the Day
    “We had no domestic attacks under Bush; we’ve had one under Obama.”

    — Rudy Giuliani, in an interview on ABC News, apparently forgetting one day.

  • How to Avoid Another Waco: Keeping the Peace in 10-Year Standoff with Armed Family Compound

    How to Avoid Another Waco: Keeping the Peace in 10-Year Standoff with Armed Family Compound
    John Joe Gray has been in a standoff for 10 years, raising the question of when it’s worth risking bloodshed to enforce the law.

    John Joe Gray has been in a standoff for 10 years, raising the question of when it's worth risking bloodshed to enforce the law.

    9 Hours of Sex? 5 Things You Can Do to Burn Off Gross Fast Food Meals
    Here are some creative ways to burn off the bad stuff.

    Here are some creative ways to burn off the bad stuff.

    Not Only Is Profiling for Terrorism Racist, It’s Tremendously Ineffective
    Instead of succumbing to the right-wing drum beat of calls for profiling Muslims, we should adopt a more rational approach to profiling for terrorism based on behavior.

    Instead of succumbing to the right-wing drum beat of calls for profiling Muslims, we should adopt a more rational approach to profiling for terrorism based on behavior.

  • C-SPAN Features Israel Hating Michael Scheuer

    C-SPAN Features Israel Hating Michael Scheuer
    Former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer really, really hates Israel. No, he is not opposed to its policies. He seems to hate the whole idea of Israel and, as in days of yore, blames Israelis and pro-Israel Jews for his, and…


    Central Intelligence AgencyMichael ScheuerAntisemitismJewRace-Ethnic-Religious Relations

    The Difference Between Talking Tough and Acting Smart
    Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) is Chair of the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel. As we have seen since the attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Flight 253, there are those who never will understand the difference between talking tough and acting smart….


    TerrorismWarfare and ConflictWar on TerrorismSeptember 11 2001Yemen

  • Study predicts $1.5 trillion increase in GDP if undocumented immigrants are legalized.

    Study predicts $1.5 trillion increase in GDP if undocumented immigrants are legalized.
    A new study by University of California at Los Angeles professor Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda suggests that comprehensive immigration reform, which includes an earned path to legalization for undocumented immigrants, could generate at least $1.5 trillion in added U.S. gross domestic product over 10 years. Hinojosa explains the data behind his immense calculation: All immigrant workers in […]

    money A new study by University of California at Los Angeles professor Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda suggests that comprehensive immigration reform, which includes an earned path to legalization for undocumented immigrants, could generate at least $1.5 trillion in added U.S. gross domestic product over 10 years. Hinojosa explains the data behind his immense calculation:

    All immigrant workers in this scenario have full labor rights, which results in higher wages — and higher worker productivity—for all workers in industries where large numbers of immigrants are employed. As wage and productivity levels rise, the U.S. economy’s demand for new immigrant workers actually declines over time as the market shrinks for easily exploited, low-wage, low-productivity workers. […]

    The higher earning power of newly legalized workers translates into an increase in net personal income of $30 to $36 billion, which would generate $4.5 to $5.4 billion in additional net tax revenue. Moreover, an increase in personal income of this scale would generate consumer spending sufficient to support 750,000 to 900,000 jobs

    According to Hinojosa, a mass deportation program often cited by right-wing enforcement-only advocates would actually result in a loss of $2.6 trillion over ten years while a solution that only consists of a temporary worker program that labor unions vehemently oppose and some moderate Republicans support would only yield $792 billion increase in GDP and also lead to a decrease in wages.

    More at the Wonk Room.

  • Steele’s comments anger congressional Republicans

    Steele’s comments anger congressional Republicans
    Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele, under fire this week for statements he has made while promoting his book, has so angered the party’s congressional leaders that their aides said they told his handlers to “get him to stop.”

    Worried House Democrats huddle on health care
    Worried House Democrats held a caucus-wide conference call Thursday to strategize about health-care reform before lawmakers return to Washington next week.

    Steele comments have GOP aides pleading, ‘Get him to stop’
    Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele, under fire this week for a string of controversial statements he has made while promoting his new book, has so angered the party’s congressional leaders that their aides said they told Steele’s handlers to “get him to stop.”

  • Some Wishes for the Next Decade

    Some Wishes for the Next Decade
    William Galston, The New Republic
    I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade–W. H. Auden, “September 1, 1939”It’s official: For the United States, the Naughts were a lost decade–zero job creation, declining household net worth, and the slowest GDP growth (by far) since the 1930s. And yet, Americans remain remarkably optimistic. In a just-released Gallup poll, 63 percent think the next 20 years will be good ones for the country—down from higher levels in 1990 and 2000, to be sure, but noticeably higher than…

    Can Obama Change — and Keep His Nerve?
    Michael Barone, DC Examiner
    A year ago, I was privileged to be one of several guests at a dinner with President-elect Barack Obama. One thing that struck me and others, aside from his courtesy and fluency, was his air of self-confidence. The man who had risen in just four years from state senator to president of the United States seemed sure he could master the job.I wonder if he is as sure now. It seems to me that two assumptions that Obama carried into the White House — assumptions that were shared by many who hadn't voted for him — have proved to be unfounded. Receive news alertsThe first is that economic…

    What Does the Detroit Bomber Know?
    Michael Mukasey, Wall St. Journal
    There was much to celebrate in the providential combination of an incompetent terrorist and surpassingly brave passengers and crew who saved 288 people aboard Northwest Airlines flight 253 on Christmas Day. There is a lot less to applaud in the official reaction. Well-deserved mockery has already been heaped on the move-along-folks-nothing-to-see-here tone of the administration's initial pronouncements—from Janet Napolitano's “the system worked,” to President Obama's statement that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was an “isolated extremist.” This week…

    PC Amateur Hour
    George Neumayr, The American Spectator
    The Founding Fathers set up a limited federal government. Statists have turned it into an unlimited one, eager to perform any and all superfluous tasks while neglecting core ones. That security debacles, both large and small, increasingly define the Obama administration is to be expected given his frivolous and excessive view of the federal government. Perhaps Janet Napolitano spoke more truly than she realized when she said that the “system worked.” The problem is not that the system failed; it's that a failed system is in place, and the Obama administration…

    Obama Reneges on Health Care Transparency
    Chip Reid, CBS News

  • A new name for the ClubWinschoterGroen

    From January 2010 three municipalities in the Oldambt region in the North-East of the Netherlands merged to form the new municipality of Oldambt. With this merger the work of the ClubWinschoterGroen, has broadened to include the entire new community of Oldambt. To reflect this change they have been renamed as ClubOldambtsterGroen.

    Of course, the goals for the organization remain the same but greater cooperation with other organizations in the Oldambt region, such as nature protection organizations and village societies will become a focus of their work. The merger offers opportunities to promote ecological infrastructures such as connecting nature reserves to the parks and other green areas in the town of Winschoten and other villages. This allows wild animals greater movement between the nature reserves and the parks

    Pilot project for ecological park management

    A pilot project to ecologically manage a 20,000 square meter park in Winschoten has proven a success. At the start of the project the local population were skeptical about the new way of managing the area as it meant the park was less cultivated (more natural). However thanks to consultation meetings, ClubOldambtsterGroen explained their findings with clear illustrations of the benefits for animals, plants and fungi, together with the inhabitants of Winschoten, stressing the crucial role of ecological relations in providing health and well being. Local inhabitants are now very supportive of the ecological management of the park.

    Check the Partner’s page on Countdown 2010 website or www.cluboldambtstergroen.eu for more information.

  • MailBrowser Keeps Gmail Contacts, Attachments Local and Handy

    Firefox/Internet Explorer: If Gmail or Google Apps mail is attached to your workday like your right arm, MailBrowser could be a handy pop-out sidebar tool for making sense of the people who mail you and the files they send.

    “Could be,” in this case, because MailBrowser, which is basically a Firefox or Internet Explorer sidebar that’s aware of what you’re looking at in Gmail or Google Apps, is somewhat of a mixed bag, with the total payout depending on how you use Gmail. If having a complete backup of your IMAP history cached locally for easy message access sounds appealing, your sidebar is going to hold a lot of helpful data. You get a complete list of everyone you’ve ever contacted, from one or more Gmail/Apps accounts, and you can tag contacts to make them friendly to searching and sorting.

    As for file attachments, MailBrowser is even more helpful on that front. Because your files are cached and stored locally, you can use any desktop search software, or just Windows’ own file indexing, to find the stuff you’ve been sent. MailBrowser also provides thumbnail previews of the files you’re digging through, so it’s easy to pin down the Word document you’re looking for.

    Then again, MailBrowser takes a seriously long time to download the average account, as you might expect, and isn’t always on point when it comes to handling multiple accounts, multi-person emails, or even people who have emailed more than one account you’ve hooked up.

    If having your attachments and contact information at your fingertips, and locally cached, is a valuable resource for your Google-Mail-addicted ways, you could do worse than MailBrowser. It’s a free download for Windows systems only, and requires Firefox 3.0 or later or Internet Explorer 7 or 8.

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  • Panasonic’s 152-inch plasma dwarfs all who stand in its way

    When we told you all about the new Panasonic 152-inch 4k 3D plasma we were totally guessing about just how big it would look in real life. So of course we all had to head over to the Panasonic booth and pose for shots (there’s a few more shots after the break) to get an idea of just how big it is. As you can see the thing is just massive and while we’d love to have one of these, even if we could afford to buy it, it is very unlikely it’d fit in our living room. We’re sure you agree when we say that those silly little details won’t get in the way of our dreams.

    Continue reading Panasonic’s 152-inch plasma dwarfs all who stand in its way

    Panasonic’s 152-inch plasma dwarfs all who stand in its way originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Apple’s Lala acquisition leads to 30-second song previews on the web

    We have a sneaking suspicion that this wasn’t the only reason Apple bought Lala, but it looks like the first fruits of the acquisition have now begun to show themselves in the form of 30-second song previews on the company’s recently-launched, browser-based iTunes Charts. Not exactly a web-based version of the iTunes store, to be sure, but it’s a start… sort of.

    Apple’s Lala acquisition leads to 30-second song previews on the web originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 06:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • VIDEO: Quick Look: LG Chocolate BL40 – CES 2010

    Adriana takes a quick look at the huge 4-inch HD widescreen display of the candybar LG phone “the rest of the world” (outside the U.S.) is enjoying: The BL40. Is there reason to be jealous? You be the judge. Filmed live at CES 2010. 


  • Moritz Waldemeyer’s Home Disco is Best iPod Dock Ever [Moritz Waldemeyer]

    Now this is what I call an iPod dock. Behind it, crazy guy Moritz Waldemeyer, the guy behind OK Go‘s LED suits for their tours a couple of years back. What is it, chaps? A smoky, light-y Home Disco!

    Waldemeyer was commissioned by swank UK design-porn magazine Wallpaper to come up with a Home Disco. Doubling up as a coffee table, the HD (my kinda HD, forget all that 1080p bollocks) has a “Haze Machine” – what non-dry ice smokers would probably call a bong – which will certainly fire up the party when Great Auntie Ethel comes to stay. This is so on my list of 2010 Chrizzle presents. [We Heart]







  • Scott Niedermayer, the Canadian Olympic hockey team captain gets a Honda FCX

    Scott_Niedermayer_with_Honda_FCX2.jpg
    The captain of the 2010 Canadian Olympic hockey team, Scott Niedermayer is all smiles. And this time, its’ not the goals and victories making him smile. It’s the delivery of his new Honda FCX Clarity Fuel Cell electric vehicle. Using Honda’s V Flow fuel cell stack, the car produces electrical energy from hydrogen. Scott seems eager to go green with his new car and states that growing up in Canada has deepened his love for nature, making him realize the need to save it. This car sure does its part with a zero carbon footprint and absolutely no emissions. Fuel cell vehicles can be easily fueled up now in Canada with the growing number of hydrogen fuel stations.

    So all Scott needs to do is, drive his Honda a few kilometers, have it filled up in just five minutes and enjoy long and eco friendly drives with his wife and their four sons who love the outdoors and nature, as much he does. The Captain of the Canadian Olympic hockey team has gone green, what about the rest of his team?

    Scott_Niedermayer_with_Honda_FCX.jpg

    Scott_Niedermayer_with_Honda_FCX3.jpg

    Scott_Niedermayer_with_Honda_FCX4.jpg

    Scott_Niedermayer_with_Honda_FCX5.jpg

    [Honda]

  • Viacom's Billion-Dollar Suit Against YouTube Finally Moves Forward

    One of the biggest lawsuits concerning Google at the moment is starting to move forward after almost three years. The Viacom versus YouTube suit has been in the preparation phase, but is now set to get into the ruling process as both sides have made requests for a summary judgment by the court. This is the first step in getting… (read more)

  • Pradeep Sharma Encounter Specialist News

    Lakhan’s brother, Advocate Ram Prasad Gupta, had filed a petition in the high court alleging that his brother was murdered in cold blood by a police team headed by Pradeep Sharma. Sharma was arrested last night.
    The state government had allotted 17 acres of land on the foothills of Bhujiya hillock to the traders of Bheed Bazaar who had lost their shops in the earthquake, said a source.

    The traders were, however, asked to procure a G-5 certificate from the district collector of Kutch before they could lay claim to the land.

    But many traders, who were not even affected by the calamity, managed to get land by presenting fake certificates. A complaint in this regard was also filed by Henry Chako, Kutch secretary of All India Anti Corruption Crime Preventive Council, an NGO.While collector of rajkot , pradeep sharma was arrested for misusing his powers to give shops meant for use of earth quake effected traders. At that time pradeep sharma was placed in kutch. Government had alloted plots for rebuilding of shops demolished by earth quake. This shops were to be given to traders who were earthquake effected at nominal price but mr pradeep is accused of giving false documents to people who got entitled for such shops due to false documents.

    Its good to see that law is finally catching up with powerful people of system but still the most powerful ones .

    Share/Save/Bookmark

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    1. Pradeep Sharma, Pradeep Sharma Encounter Specialist Lakhan’s brother, Advocate Ram Prasad Gupta, had filed a petition…
    2. Tajikistan Earthquake Today The epicenter of the quake was in Vanj district and…
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  • Pradeep Sharma, Pradeep Sharma Encounter Specialist

    Lakhan’s brother, Advocate Ram Prasad Gupta, had filed a petition in the high court alleging that his brother was murdered in cold blood by a police team headed by Pradeep Sharma. Sharma was arrested last night.
    The state government had allotted 17 acres of land on the foothills of Bhujiya hillock to the traders of Bheed Bazaar who had lost their shops in the earthquake, said a source.

    The traders were, however, asked to procure a G-5 certificate from the district collector of Kutch before they could lay claim to the land.

    But many traders, who were not even affected by the calamity, managed to get land by presenting fake certificates. A complaint in this regard was also filed by Henry Chako, Kutch secretary of All India Anti Corruption Crime Preventive Council, an NGO.While collector of rajkot , pradeep sharma was arrested for misusing his powers to give shops meant for use of earth quake effected traders. At that time pradeep sharma was placed in kutch. Government had alloted plots for rebuilding of shops demolished by earth quake. This shops were to be given to traders who were earthquake effected at nominal price but mr pradeep is accused of giving false documents to people who got entitled for such shops due to false documents.

    Its good to see that law is finally catching up with powerful people of system but still the most powerful ones .

    Share/Save/Bookmark

    Related posts:

    1. Pradeep Sharma Encounter Specialist News Lakhan’s brother, Advocate Ram Prasad Gupta, had filed a petition…
    2. Tajikistan Earthquake Today The epicenter of the quake was in Vanj district and…
    3. Taiwan Earthquake Today 2009 The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.4-magnitude quake was…

    Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

  • 2011 Ford Edge and 2011 Lincoln’s SYNC to Feature twitter

    It’s 2010. We haven’t replaced road vehicles with flying cars as fantastically predicted but now, some of us will have twitter in their cars. The 2011 Ford Edge and the 2011 Lincoln MKX will allow audio access to the social network’s feeds thanks to MyFord and respectively MyLincoln touch dashboard, Motorauthority reported.

    This is the latest integrated feature in Ford’s SYNC system. The technology includes an 8-inch touch screen LCD, two 4.2-inch color LCDs on each side of the sp… (read more)