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Forget Copenhagen CO2 cuts, tune your diesel properly Researchers from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, also the home of famous carbopocalypse doom-prophet James Hansen, have repeated earlier assertions that atmospheric soot may be as important as greenhouse gases in driving global warming. This could be good news for humanity, as atmospheric soot levels would be much easier to reduce. Filtering soot out of exhausts from diesel engines and coal burners is simple compared to removing and sequestering CO2, and as an added benefit the effects would be rapid: soot doesn't persist in the atmosphere for long periods the way greenhouse...

LONDON (Reuters) – Humanity faces a profound emergency and unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, a joint editorial published in newspapers in 45 countries said on Monday. The 56 newspapers said they were taking the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice to implore world leaders to "make the right choice" at U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen. "The politicians in Copenhagen have the power to shape history's judgment on this generation: one that saw a challenge and rose to it, or one so stupid that we saw a calamity coming but did not...

The current crop of conservative “heroes” shows conservatives’ level of desperation in the Obama era. And it’s pathetic. Instead of taking advantage of the Obama morass and elevating great conservative thinkers who espouse family values AND conservative free market values, the lumpenconservatariat has latched onto bimbos, empty vessels, and even liberals, who espouse a single value or two that conservatives like. There’s a difference between coalitions and mergers. And it’s dangerous that so many on the right can’t see the difference to save their lives . . . or save their movement. I’m not talking about real conservatives candidates like...

Talk about desperation. Charlie Crist has set up a fake website to cover the “truth” about Marco Rubio.. Why do I call it a fake website?The website has blog posts time stamped all the way back to 2007 even thought it was only created yesterday. (http://truthaboutrubio.com/) It tries to tie Marco Rubio to a Hitler video parody of Charlie Crist — a video Rubio condemned upon finding out about it (he should have gone after it for a lack of comedic value other than the sun tan jab), but that this Charlie Crist backed site is fixated on. Funny how...

DNC Web Ad: Dancing With The Czars

Entrapment n. In criminal law, the act of law enforcement officers or government agents inducing or encouraging a person to commit a crime when the potential criminal expresses a desire not to go ahead. The key to entrapment is whether the idea for the commission or encouragement of the criminal act originated with the police or government agents instead of with the "criminal. It's turning into quite the morning for NBCers to defend the left on Morning Joe . . . First, Chuck Todd flatly rejected the notion that the MSM failed to adequately report on Van Jones, suggesting coverage...

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Virginia voters finds McDonnell leading Deeds 51% to 42%. That’s little changed from a month ago when McDonnell held the advantage 49% to 41%. All of those figures include “leaners.” Leaners are those who initially indicate no preference for either of the candidates but answer a follow-up question and say they are leaning towards a particular candidate. The survey was conducted shortly after news stories broke about a thesis paper written by McDonnell in 1989. The thesis reflected very conservative views on the role of women in society and other topics. To this...

PHOENIX -- The Obama Administration is on a spending binge that must come to an end -- and without the president's health care reform proposal, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., declared Friday. McCain, who lost to President Barack Obama in last year's election, told Austin Hill, guest host on News/Talk 92-3 KTAR's "Ankarlo Mornings," that "We've amassed over a trillion dollars in additional debt on the American people since the president took office." He said Obama is slipping in the polls because, "The polls are showing the manifestation of the deep concern and worry Americans have about the debt and the...

When self-professed "pro-sex Republican" Meghan McCain visited the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally last year, she was with her father on the campaign trail. She's back again this year and this time she's looking for love. In a tweet posted Wednesday afternoon from the South Dakota gathering, McCain expressed her desire to find herself a pierced and tatted motorcycle man: (screw) harvard MBA's, show me your nipple ring, harley and arm sleeves of tattoos and I will run away with you Except she didn't use the word "screw."

California cities will sue the state if its new fiscal budget includes "stealing" local gas tax funds, leaders for the League of California Cities warned today. "Our intention is to be prepared to file a lawsuit the day after the budget is signed," Chris McKenzie, the league's executive director, said at a news conference in the Sacramento Convention Center. "The (state) Constitution and statutes have never authorized the state to steal gas tax funds."

NEW YORK – John McCain hung his final presidential debate performance on an Ohio plumber who campaign aides never vetted. A day after making Joseph Wurzelbacher famous, referencing him in the debate almost two dozen times as someone who would pay higher taxes under Barack Obama, McCain learned the fine print Thursday on the plumber’s not-so-tidy personal story: He owes back taxes. He is not a licensed plumber. And it turns out that Wurzelbacher makes less than $250,000 a year, which means he would receive a tax cut if Obama were elected president. McCain likes to say that he isn’t...

Yes, of course it is. Three weeks ago John McCain was ahead, and a furious attack on Sarah Palin was underway. And Americans were several trillion dollars richer. Our stocks will recover if the American economy, powered by democratic capitalism's relentless innovation and productivity, is allowed to work its magic again. That is the record of our often disparaged but inevitably triumphant attachment to economic liberty. The task for John McCain between now and the time the last vote is cast on November 4 is to speak this truth and articulate this record and thus help repair the damaged confidence...

In a desperate bid to help U.S. banks recapitalize, Washington is dropping its inhibitions and reaching out to Canadian financial institutions to gauge their willingness to participate in rescue operations. The Federal Reserve has activated a back channel that puts the central bank in direct contact with chief executives at Canada's largest banks and insurers, according to a person familiar with the dialogue. They are approaching "banks with major assets in the U.S. like [Toronto-Dominion Bank] and Royal [Bank of Canada], because when they have a bailout situation they want everyone who is a potential buyer to look at it,"...

Racist slurs were spray-painted across a large Barack Obama presidential campaign billboard alongside a heavily trafficked stretch of US-23 in Pittsfield Township sometime overnight Tuesday. And the U.S. Secret Service is investigating what now appears to be two threatening letters against Obama that were received in Livingston County, according to news reports. Michigan State Police were on the scene of the billboard Wednesday morning, and have called in for tracking dogs, police said. Black spray paint was used to draw three swastikas, symbols of Klan hoods and to write "KKK," "Rebel" and two racial slurs. The billboard, roughly 10 feet...

Amie Parnes reports from Lebanon, VA: Obama poked fun of McCain and Palin's new "change" mantra. "You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig." "You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink." "We've had enough of the same old thing." The crowd apparently took the "lipstick" line as a reference to Palin, who described the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull in a single word: "lipstick."

Rumor That Palin Called Obama 'Sambo' Spreading Across Internet By Terry Trippany September 6, 2008 - 22:31 ET A new whisper campaign is forming in the blogosphere and creeping into web search engines across the internet as a self proclaimed e-zine called "LA Progressive" is spreading a false rumor that Sarah Palin called Barack Obama 'Sambo' while dining in an Alaska restaurant. Charley James, the author of the article that is unlikely to have his blogspot site shut down for Obama bias, also claims through 'anonymous sources' that Palin called Hillary Clinton a "b#^@h" in the same breath. It is...

If you want to know why ... John McCain came to pick a total unknown with a Down Syndrome baby as his replacement as war-president, you have to understand the immense importance of the Christianist base. McCain isn't one of them, however much he tries to re-tell his life-story to make it so. They know it, he knows it, and he needed a religious running mate. He might have succeeded with Pawlenty, who is a solid pick that a mature and responsible campaign would have selected in a heartbeat. Instead - partly out of insane cynicism (did he really believe...

Let it be known on this day that I predict Michelle Obama will come up pregnant before the election. Where would I get such a crazy idea? Hillary! That's right, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Let's see who can remember this gem from 1996. In the run up to the 1996 primaries, the polls were not looking so great for the Clintons and they had no idea there was a cake walk ahead of them. Although the Republicans were riding the "Contract with America" wave, Bob Dole was just beginning to spend his war chest fighting off party rivals, even though everyone...

BERLIN (Reuters) A woman trying to make "manure bombs" using stockings, slipped into a slurry tank and fled the scene naked, German police said Friday. Two women entered a farm in the northern village of Eberholzen Wednesday evening and started to fill the stockings with manure. "One of them slipped into the manure tank, right into the cow muck," said a spokesman for local police. "The other one helped her out. We found their clothes in a field. One seems to have run off completely naked, the other in her underwear." Police said it was unclear what the women had...

Gordon Brown will today blame Margaret Thatcher for Britain's low rates of social mobility and accuse the former Conservative Prime Minister of creating a lost generation by "denying many children the chance to progress". The keynote speech coincides with the unveiling of plans to pay poorer parents for signing up their children to state health and education schemes. The Prime Minister will say that the economic policies of Conservative governments in the 1980s meant Britain has become a harder place for poor people to get ahead. He will also call on Britons to improve their work ethic and "aim high"...

LONDON (AFP) — The price of oil rocketed to a record high point of 127.43 dollars per barrel on Friday, as US President George W. Bush prepared to urge Saudi Arabia to pump more crude, analysts said. New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, beat the previous all-time peak of 126.98 set on Tuesday owing to worries about tight supplies despite a downgrade to global oil demand growth for 2008. The contract later stood at 126.90 dollars, up 2.78 dollars from Thursday's close. London's Brent crude contract for June spiked as high as 125.85 dollars,...

Live NOW on FOX, CNN, and MSNBC! The Holy Messiah Obama is throwing Rev, Wright under the Bus!!

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested Monday she'll press on with the campaign after Tuesday's crucial primaries, arguing that momentum is on her side despite 11 straight losses to rival Sen. Barack Obama. "I'm just getting warmed up," Clinton told reporters, looking ahead to a busy day of campaign events in Ohio and Texas where polls show a close race ahead of Tuesday's primaries. Clinton's husband, former President Clinton, has asserted that his wife must win both Texas and Ohio to keep her campaign alive. On Friday, Hillary Clinton's advisers recast the stakes, saying if Obama...

Hillary Clinton is looking for a late comeback ahead of this week’s Super Tuesday 2 primary and is doing whatever it takes — whether testing her comedic chops or hitting her Democratic presidential primary opponent as ill-equipped to manage a crisis. Whether it is working is anyone’s guess. Refusing to go down without a fight, Clinton was in Ohio Sunday after showing up unannounced to deliver the “Live from New York” introduction to Saturday Night Live. She also participated in a follow-up sketch from last week that mocked the seeming kid-glove treatment the media give to Obama.

AUSTRALIAN troops have been forced to use some of their heaviest firepower to fight Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan during a series of recent skirmishes, the Department of Defence says. The soldiers have been using 81mm mortars, which can hit targets kilometres away but which have not been widely used by Australia since the Vietnam war. No Australian soldiers were killed or injured in the fighting and it was not clear if any Taliban had been hit. The Taliban have launched multiple simultaneous attacks during the past fortnight. The raids have been aimed at a security post that soldiers from the...

Former President Bill Clinton campaigns for his wife, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., at a rally in Dallas, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008. RE: Last picture...he seems overwhelmed and in a daze, caught up in the excitement of the fans....it's probably like a drug to him.

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky., Feb. 2, 2008 – The double-suicide bombings in Baghdad on Feb. 1, carried out by two women, may indicate desperation on the part of a beleaguered insurgency, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters here. The insurgents’ use of women to launch suicide attacks may be “a manifestation of the success of our military operations,” Gates told reporters at Fort Campbell, Ky. Feb. 1, after meeting with 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) soldiers and military spouses. More than 70 people died and dozens were injured as the result of two suicide bombings carried out by two women...

As a Conservative I am lost. I will not, under any circumstances vote for John Mclame. He has sold Conservatives out. Nor will I vote for Jesus' favorite candidate Schmuckabee. I believe the most Conservative candidate is Thompson and can't help but wonder who is voting in these things. If Mclame or Schmuckabee is the nominee I can't vote. It will pain me deeply to not vote, but either of those clowns are no different from the lefty. Me question to my FRiends is.. WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO??? The situation seems rather desperate.

Soon after the July 23 report from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo revealed the "Troopergate" dirty tricks scandal, a political operative wise in the ways of Albany made a prediction: Gov. Spitzer would make a sharp left turn to try to save his skin. "He'll pander to all the liberal interest groups and hope they'll protect him," the wise man told me. Buy that man a beer. Two months later, the prediction has come true. The governor who took office vowing to clean up Albany has lost so much public support that he is reduced to feathering the nest of the...

Is Fred Thompson a member of the Church of Christ? As the 64-year-old former Tennessee senator reportedly mulls a bid for president, a number of readers have e-mailed The Christian Chronicle with that question. The 106th Congressional Record listed Thompson’s religious affiliation as “Church of Christ (Stone Campbell).” In an interview with the U.S. News and World Report this week, Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo said: “Thompson is indeed a Christian. He was baptized into the Church of Christ.” Corallo did not immediately return calls from the Chronicle seeking additional information about the politician and Law and Order actor’s religious background....

SACRAMENTO -- A judge Tuesday rejected a request by Republican activists for a preelection hearing on their bid to bar Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown from becoming attorney general if the Democrat wins Nov. 7. Brown supporters declared victory and predicted that the lawsuit, which they called a "political stunt," would evaporate after his election day showdown with state Sen. Chuck Poochigian (R-Fresno). Republican officials say they will continue to press for a hearing after the election to get a fair airing of their challenge to Brown's qualifications to hold office. The activists focused their challenge on Brown's eligibility under a...

Dems have Kinky in the cross hairs Blitz depicting him as racist aims to rally base; his camp slams effort 09:42 AM CDT on Thursday, October 12, 2006 By GROMER JEFFERS Jr. / The Dallas Morning News Chris Bell hasn't been able to coax rival Kinky Friedman out of the race for governor, but his fellow Democrats are preparing a media and campaign offensive against the independent, planning in part to portray him as a racist. The blitz is aimed at not only stopping Mr. Friedman from poaching Mr. Bell's base voters but also at exciting Democrats who could determine...

This is a letter I just got via email from Dem headquarters. I hope there will be many comments on here about what this says regarding Democrat jobs (if any) being rather non-essential -- not to mention the slack work ethic it expresses. Why do I get mail from them? You could, too, if you'd play a few games with the idiots. Here goes: Dear -------, Four weeks from today, what will you be doing? On November 7th, America will vote. All the polls say that people have had enough. We're poised to win historic victories up and down the...

NWN has learned that the Phil Angelides for Governor campaign has sent a letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger demanding that he release all those audio tapes on the Governor’s Office computer system by October 4th. Or else, they will. You’ll recall the infamous backfiring tape flap earlier in the month. Using a cyber trick that Democratic spinners couldn’t explain for an agonizing period of time, Angelides opposition researchers surreptitiously came up with a tape of a private Schwarzenegger discussion with top staffers in which he mused about ethnology. Which they then leaked to the Los Angeles Times, which promptly slapped...

Rome's Catholic, Muslim and Jewish leaders have united to condemn pop star Madonna's decision to stage a mock-crucifixion when she performs in the Italian capital on Sunday a stone's throw away from Vatican City. The lapsed-Catholic diva's latest irreverent performance sees her wearing a fake crown of thorns and descending on a suspended, glittery cross as part of her worldwide "Confessions Tour". Having already been criticised in the United States, Catholics priests from across the Eternal City have gone one further saying the act is blasphemy Cardinal Ersilio Tonino, speaking with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI said: "This time...

WASHINGTON (ap) _ Republicans are howling over a Democratic political Web site ad that displays flag-draped coffins and a fake police mug shot of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, arguing that the ad politicizes war casualties and is an insult to the families of the troops killed in Iraq. The 75-second ad by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee begins with a somber musical score and images of war, high gas prices, the coffins, pollution, breached levees, followed by pictures of Texas Republican DeLay, disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. "Washington Republicans have sold...

Two American soldiers, missing since an insurgent ambush at the checkpoint they were manning last Friday, were found dead just south of Bhagdad: Their bodies were recovered Tuesday. An Iraqui General confirmed to the Associated Press that the soldiers' bodies showed signs of torture, and that the men appeared to have been killed in a particularly "barbaric" way. This assertion appears to be backed up both by the fact that DNA tests were scheduled to positively identify the remains, and by the claim of responsibility made by the self-titled new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, who posted on an Islamist...

I am a bit speechless. SCO's conference today was to say Unix developers can make some money if only they'll develop for SCO again. If they pay you a $1000 then will you at least take a look? Will you code for them for a BMW? As for SCO's anti-Linux litigation scorched earth policy... well, it's never mind about all that. I have to ask, though. What happens if you look at their UNIX code? Does your brain belong to SCO forever more? What if you later wanted to contribute to GNU/Linux? Oh. I think I get it. It's really...

MADONNA’S world tour began in typically provocative fashion when the pop singer hung from a cross, shouted an obscenity at an image of President Bush, showed video footage that seemed to compare Tony Blair to Adolf Hitler, and writhed around on a device that combined a horse’s saddle with a stripper’s pole.As if that were not enough, the singer also wore a crown of thorns, dressed up as various male icons — James Brown and John Travolta included — and even briefly played the electric guitar. Early reviews of the event on Sunday night were positive, but the show failed...

Bush Budget Scraps 9,790 Border Patrol Agents Houston Chronicle President uses law's escape clause to drop funding for new homeland security force. Washington -- The law signed by President Bush less than two months ago to add thousands of border patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border has crashed into the reality of Bush's austere federal budget proposal, officials said Tuesday. Officially approved by Bush on Dec. 17 after extensive bickering in Congress, the National Intelligence Reform Act included the requirement to add 10,000 border patrol agents in the five years beginning with 2006. Roughly 80 percent of the agents were...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (April 28, 2006) – As Iraqi security forces develop and the permanent government is seated, the Iraqi government, with support from the international community, is working to reform security institutions and eliminate insurgent resources. Praise for the Iraqi’s national unity government was one of the topics in this week’s Multi-National Force Iraq press conference. MNF-I Spokesman Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch started the press conference by congratulating the people of Iraq and Iraqi leaders for reaching agreement on the top leadership posts for a national unity government. “There will be challenges … remember, democracy in Iraq equals failure for...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2006 – Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that while Taliban and al Qaeda attacks have increased in southern and eastern parts of his country, the type of attacks show the terrorists' desperation. Karzai spoke on CNN's "Late Edition" yesterday. He said the Taliban and al Qaeda are launching attacks against schools, school children, the clergy, provincial officials and teachers. "Attacks have, in the past year, been against civilians," he said. "This is a clear sign that the terrorism is weakening in the military sense, that they can no longer fight the troops or the coalition or the...

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed on Wednesday his country would not surrender its nuclear ambitions and blasted an agreement between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to take up the case. "Those who possess stocks of nuclear arms meet together and take decisions and think that the Iranian people will submit to their decisions," the president said. "I tell these countries who want to violate the rights of the Iranian people that the Iranian people will not be influenced by their propaganda," he said, vowing the Islamic republic would "continue on the road to victory"....

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2006 – Continued acts of brutal violence performed by terrorist groups operating in Iraq depict a desperate and frustrated enemy, President Bush said yesterday in Louisville, Ky. "It's hard for me to believe that we've got soldiers passing out candy to young kids, and a killer comes and kills the kids and the soldiers," Bush said in remarks given at the Kentucky International Convention Center. Bush said this shows that terrorists in Iraq will do anything to try to force America to withdraw its military forces from the country. "They will go to no ends to defeat...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 2006 – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called today's escalated violence in Iraq another indication that Dec. 15 elections there were "a major blow to al Qaeda" and a sign of desperation among terrorists hoping to disrupt the Iraq's progress. Scores of people were reported killed and wounded today in two car bombings in Iraq. After three successful elections in Iraq during 2005, with increasing voter turnout with each election, terrorists recognize their failure to stop the democratic process from moving forward, Marine Gen. Peter Pace told Pentagon reporters today. "And I think what...

OTTAWA (CP) — Prime Minister Paul Martin will venture into violence-plagued Toronto Thursday and announce a sweeping ban on handguns, Canadian Press reports. Martin is scheduled to visit Toronto's troubled Jane-Finch area to make a "safer communities announcement." Liberal sources have confirmed the announcement includes a ban on handguns.

Democrats claimed “victory for the American people” Tuesday after the Senate Intelligence Committee agreed to continue an investigation into prewar intelligence claims made by the Republicans, the Senate minority leader said. Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session for more than two hours Tuesday, accusing Republicans of ignoring intelligence that President Bush used before invading Iraq. A phase-by-phase investigation will resume, Reid announced after the secret session. It will be the second stage of a probe that Democrats have been pressing for for a year. An appointed six-member task force — three members...

Editor's note: The State Hornet received this letter via e-mail from the State Treasurer's office last Thursday. In the interest of fairness, you can view the Governor's stances on the special election propositions here. Dear Editor: From the day he took office, Governor Schwarzenegger started bringing the Bush agenda to California, dragging our state down the path of debt, division and diminished opportunity. Just like President Bush, who promised to be a "compassionate conservative," Governor Schwarzenegger told Californians he was a different kind of Republican. But Schwarzenegger's special election has exposed the Bush agenda that has always lurked beneath the...

BEIRUT: In the latest official Syrian comment on the increasing pressure on Damascus, Premier Naji Otari said "all the gates of hell will open on the U.S. if it attempts to attack Syria." Otari was replying to a report this week in Newsweek magazine revealing that Washington had debated launching military strikes inside Syria against camps used by insurgents operating in Iraq.

The evolution of complex and physiologically remarkable structures such as the vertebrate eye has long been a focus of intrigue and theorizing by biologists. In work reported this week in Current Biology, the evolutionary history of a critical eye protein has revealed a previously unrecognized relationship between certain components of vertebrate eyes and those of the more primitive light-sensing systems of invertebrates. The findings help clarify our conceptual framework for understanding how the vertebrate eye, as we know it, has emerged over evolutionary time. The work is reported by Sebastian Shimeld at the University of Oxford and colleagues at the...