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Oct 30, 2009 — “Plant fossils give first real picture of earliest Neotropical rainforests,” announced a press release from University of Florida.  The fossils from Colombia show that “many of the dominant plant families existing in today’s Neotropical rainforests – including legumes, palms, avocado and banana – have maintained their ecological dominance despite major changes in South America’s climate and geological structure.” The team found 2,000 megafossil specimens from the Paleocene, said to be 58 million years old.  This is only 5 to 8 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs according to conventional dating.  “The new study provides...

2012 Doomsday Not Likely, Mayans Insist Mark Stevenson, Associated Press   Oct. 12, 2009 -- Apolinario Chile Pixtun is tired of being bombarded with frantic questions about the Mayan calendar supposedly "running out" on Dec. 21, 2012. After all, it's not the end of the world. Or is it? Definitely not, the Mayan Indian elder insists. "I came back from England last year and, man, they had me fed up with this stuff." It can only get worse for him. Next month Hollywood's "2012" opens in cinemas, featuring earthquakes, meteor showers and a tsunami dumping an aircraft carrier on the...

The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2009 to US President Barak Obama. The Nobel Peace Prize is an international prize which is awarded annually by the Norwegian Nobel Committee according to guidelines laid down in Alfred Nobel's will. The Peace Prize is one of five prizes that have been awarded annually since 1901 under the auspices of the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm for outstanding contributions in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. Starting in 1969, a Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has also been...

A replica of a mildewed 14th- century scroll has been unfurled and displayed at a library in New York. An eagle clutching arrows and ribbons, on a tattered flag made around 1803, has just been restored and framed for viewing at a Philadelphia museum. Near Boston a museum exhibition decodes cryptic symbols like compasses and columns embossed on metal badges and embroidered onto aprons. That the public is now being enthusiastically shown these previously hidden-away items indicates that Freemasons in America are trying to shed their reclusive, somewhat fusty image. Tour guides at the groups’ lavishly ornamented lodges, mostly built...

RESTON, Va. -- Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Moran faced a storm at a town hall meeting in his Northern Virginia district Tuesday night, with thousands of shouting activists packed into a high school gymnasium to argue for and against a health care overhaul, flanked by dozens of police officers, television cameras and Washington reporters. A rabbi's opening prayer and a Boy Scout troop's recitation of the pledge of allegiance at the start of the meeting failed to calm the crowd, which had begun competing chants almost as soon as they took their seats. Hundreds of supporters of the president yelled,...

Monday night’s Red Eye gave us some insight into the ultra-worthless life of media tool Levi Johnston, father of Sarah Palin’s grandson. Bravo’s Andy Cohen asked if Levi, after posing shirtless for GQ magazine, might ever pose nude. Why would anyone care? Red Eye host Greg Gutfeld put it simply: “He is 17 years old, he’s an idiot, have will have no potential to make money in his life…because he’s an IDIOT.” Last week’s Red Eye also discussed Levi’s latest rambling for www.radaronline.com. He has spoken about how Sarah Palin “took money” and ran from her government post. See more...

California turned down an offer made by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to house several thousand of its prisoners, citing cost considerations as well as a lack of mental-health resources and security coverage. A letter written to the Michigan Department of Corrections by California Department of Corrections Secretary Matthew L. Cate said the decision was due in part to costs. Michigan's offer was more costly than what California currently pays to house prisoners in private facilities in other states. A copy of the letter was made available to The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. Gov. Granholm is now left to decide...

Bad news for those living in “Middle America.” Actress Megan Fox would like Megatron, the evil character from her new movie “Transformers,” to blow you up. Kat Giantis, of Wonderwall, reported the actress was recently interviewed by “Total Film UK.” Although nobody asked her who she would like Megatron to obliterate, she volunteered it anyway.

This week’s endorsement of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist by senior Senate Republicans is being cheered by GOP senators as a move toward the middle. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) endorsed Crist over former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, a protégé of former Gov. Jeb Bush and a more conservative candidate. The decision by McConnell and Cornyn was the first such choice since last month’s defection of Arlen Specter to the Senate’s Democratic conference. Moderate GOP senators like Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine used that opportunity to publicly warn the...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's (R) camp is not happy with Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele's suggestion that base Republicans had a problem with the 2008 presidential candidate's Mormonism. On Monday, Romney's camp responded to the comments Steele made Friday while guest-hosting a conservative radio show, comments a Romney spokesman said were ill-considered. . . . . . Camp Romney fired off a quick response: "Sometimes when you shoot from the hip you miss the target. This is one of those times," Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom told The Hill. After the Romney team expressed its displeasure, Steele offered an...

LONDON, March 22 (UPI) -- Disability activists say they're backing a British mother given a $145 parking ticket when she stopped to revive her severely disabled son.

The number 1 recc'd Diary at Daily KOS (Lamestream media chat site) is an article about our responses to Obama's release of Secret documents pertaining to the War today, under the title above. (I refuse to give KOS the hits by linking, it's on the front page if you want to read it.) Given how KOS diaries seem to magicly end up as MSM pundit talking points within hours, I think we better be informed of this. It goes on like this: "As an attorney who spent her formative practice years defending the Constitution, all I can say about what...

Global warming activists stormed Washington Monday for what was billed as the nation's largest act of civil disobedience to fight climate change -- only to see the nation's capital virtually shut down by a major winter storm. Schools and businesses were shuttered, lawmakers cancelled numerous appearances and the city came to a virtual standstill as Washington was blasted with its heaviest snowfall of the winter. It spelled about six inches of trouble for global warming activists who had hoped to swarm the Capitol by the thousands in an effort to force the government to close the Capitol Power Plant, which...

Republicans who endorsed Barack Obama include: Christopher Buckley - Conservative columnist (and son of National Review founder William F. Buckley) on why he supported and would vote for Obama: As for Senator Obama: He has exhibited throughout a "first-class temperament". .... I've read Obama's books, and they are first-rate. He is that rara avis, the politician who writes his own books. Imagine. ... ...having a first-class temperament and a first-class intellect, President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren't going to get us out of this pit we've dug for ourselves. If he raises taxes and...

President Barack Obama has said he regards Karzai as unreliable and ineffective. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said he presided over a "narco-state." The Americans making Afghan policy, worried that the war is being lost, are vowing to bypass Karzai and deal directly with the governors in the countryside. At home, Karzai faces a widening insurgency and a population that blames him for the lack of economic progress and the corrupt officials that seem to stand at every doorway of his government. His face, which once adorned the walls of tea shops across the country, is today much less...

It's 9 a.m. on my only day off this week. I've got a few things to take care of this afternoon, but for now, I was enjoying a little time on the couch. A documentary about the dust storms across the midwest in the 30's was playing on the History channel, providing a little background noise while I dozed a little. It was nice. But that all changed with a phone call. I knew I should have turned off the ringer when I hit the couch. I croaked a "figures-you-would-have-to-call-just-when-I-was-falling-asleep" hello? The voice on the other end belonged to a...

New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg “would never allow his seat to go to a Democrat,” says a Republican close to President Obama’s presumptive pick for Commerce Secretary. “The only way he would allow it is if he died.” Buzz today is that if Gregg took the gig, his replacement would share parties with New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat. (If Al Franken is deemed the winner here in Minnesota, the Dems would then secure a veto filibuster-proof majority.) But The Hill now reports that Republicans are saying Gregg will only take the job if he’s guaranteed that the seat...

Remember this lady? Wonder when I'll get my Maryjanes? Click on videolink to reminisce.

United Nations organizations said yesterday that it will investigate complaints that Israel used depleted uranium projectiles in the course of the fighting in Gaza, causing health and environmental damage. The inquiry will be conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Environment Protection Organization, at the request of the Arab states' UN envoys. Israel yesterday denied using uranium-depleted munitions during the Gaza Strip offensive and said that this could be proven by any UN investigation. The Foreign Ministry's foreign press spokesman called these accusations blatant, groundless propaganda. "We will investigate the matter to...

Tom Hanks, Executive Producer for HBO’s controversial polygamist series “Big Love,” made his feelings toward the Mormon Church’s involvement in California's Prop 8 (which prohibits gay marriage) very clear at the show’s premiere party on Wednesday night.

Snow wasn't the only thing that fell Saturday: so did pants - and jaws - on the subway. Hundreds of brave New Yorkers dropped their bottoms in Saturday's sub-freezing temperatures before taking to the rails for the eighth annual No Pants Subway Ride. "They couldn't have picked a better day to do this?" asked John Ocskai, 18, of Long Island, wearing a pair of spiffy gray boxers. "This is my first time. I was shocked it was still going on." Dana Sterling, 33, was shivering even before she stripped down to her three pairs of undies. "I'm cold already," Sterling...

Musician Chris Llewellyn was among those who sprang into action after a man shoved a flight attendant and tried to open an exit door. Chris Llewellyn was staring out the window of Delta Airlines Flight 110, watching the landscape of Los Angeles rise up toward the plane, when he heard the screams of a male flight attendant: "Help me! Help me!" Turning quickly, he saw that a passenger had pushed the attendant to the floor and was trying to open the rear emergency exit. Chris Llewellyn Video: Passengers take down man..."Don't come near me," the man warned. "I have a...

RADICAL international animal rights group PETA has launched its most bizarre campaign yet, demanding fish be renamed "sea kittens". PETA - People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals - believes calling fish sea kittens will make sea food less appealing. It wants to change the image of fish as slimy and slithery creatures by claiming they are similar to cuter, more popular animals. "Would people think twice about ordering fish sticks if they were called sea kitten sticks?" PETA asked on its website.

Are Catholics Born Again? | Mark Brumley | IgnatiusInsight.com http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2007/mbrumley_bornagain_nov07.asp "Have you been born again?" the Fundamentalist at the door asks the unsuspecting Catholic. The question is usually a segue into a vast doctrinal campaign that leads many ill-instructed Catholics out of the Catholic Church. How? By making them think there is a conflict between the Bible and the Catholic Church over being "born again." To be honest, most Catholics probably do not understand the expression "born again." Yes, they believe in Jesus. And yes, they try to live Christian lives. They probably have some vague awareness that Fundamentalists think...

Hundreds of people lined the busiest intersection near the Galleria on Sunday, chanting and waving Palestinian flags to protest the Israeli bombing in Gaza. "People are very upset, obviously. They are angry," said Said Fattouh, host of the radio talk show Arab Voices. "Nobody knows when it will stop." The protest grew spontaneously, with several Arab-American organizations spreading the word. People said they heard about it through e-mail, text messages and telephone calls and traveled to the intersection of Westheimer and Post Oak to participate. Members of the Houston Coalition for Justice Not War said they would hold a second...

Madoff's firm sent clients performance statement riddled with inaccuracies and other suspicious signs that should have raised red flags.......a Nov. 30 performance report suggests Madoff's outfit purchased Apple at $100.78 on Nov. 12. However, even accounting for a usual 3-day settlement period, the stock never traded at $100 a share.....trading range was between $90.01 and $92.43..... Others note Madoff used outmoded bookkeeping method to record performance data, and that his presentation, lacks details...... "These look like statements from the mid '90s..." said attorney Ross Intelisano, who's been retained by Madoff clients..... The lack of transparency is surprising since Madoff was...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A San Francisco judge struck down a state law Tuesday that requires low-income women to live in California for six months before qualifying for state-funded care during pregnancy and immediately after childbirth. The 1991 law violates the Constitution by penalizing women who exercise their right to move to California, said Superior Court Judge Patrick Mahoney,

... Lewis-Burks said she received 14 such e-mails and more than a dozen letters — including a half-pound package mailed from Alaska — making that claim despite Obama’s birth certificate showing that he was born in Hawaii. She said the anti-Obama messages might arise from racism among people who can’t accept a black president, but she believes it’s more likely the senders are misinformed. “I think it’s ignorance,” she said. “I understand ignorance and it’s not bliss — it’s sad.” ....

JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell and Adolf Hitler Campbell. Good names for a trio of toddlers? Heath and Deborah Campbell think so. The Holland Township couple has picked those names and the oldest child, Adolf Hitler Campbell, turns 3 today. This has given rise to a problem, because the ShopRite supermarket in Greenwich Township has refused to make a cake for young Adolf's birthday. "We believe the request ... to inscribe a birthday wish to Adolf Hitler is inappropriate," said Karen Meleta, a ShopRite spokeswoman. The Campbells turned down the market's offer to make a cake with...

This past week, Gov. Chris Gregoire of Washington State allowed—in the spirit of multiculturalism and intellectual-immolation for which the Northwest is (in)famous—a large sign to be placed next to a Nativity scene and a Christmas holiday tree (and a menorah) in the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington: "At this season of THE WINTER SOLSTICE may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds." Yes, I am truly shocked: I cannot believe that a Nativity scene and...

AP Exclusive: Pentagon to recruit aliens on visas Digg Facebook Newsvine del.icio.us Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 5 mins ago Featured Topics: Barack Obama Presidential Transition Play Video Reuters – An Iraqi-like answer in Afghanistan? The Pentagon has issued a directive putting the fight … WASHINGTON – Struggling to find enough doctors, nurses and linguists for the war effort, the Pentagon will temporarily recruit foreigners who have been living in the United States on student and work visas, or with refugee or political asylum status....

First Church leaders from Britain and Scotland foolishly backed the UK sharia courts. Now the Church wants Islamic prayer rooms and foot washing basins built in all Catholic schools. This has all been approved by the Archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols who is the likely successor to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor. This position would make Nichols the leader of the county's over 4 million Catholics.

TACOMA, Wash. — A new middle school under construction in Tacoma could be named for president-elect Barack Obama. But district policy on school names requires people to be dead at least two years or to have already served a presidential term. Superintendent Art Jarvis asked the school board to alter the policy at the Dec. 11 meeting and put Obama's name in the running.

Barack Obama’s election as president is fueling ratings among syndicated television newsmagazine shows—and they are returning the favor. It’s a symbiosis in which shows such as “Access Hollywood” and “Entertainment Tonight” cover the Obama family like royalty, bringing back a Camelot mythology to the White House. In return, they are enjoying a ratings bump with unexpected staying power. “We’re going to treat the Obamas like a Hollywood family,” said Rob Silverstein, executive producer of NBC Universal Television Distribution’s “Access Hollywood.”

12 Obama voters were interviewed, could not idenitfy the Speaker of Harry Reid. They thought Sarah Palin said there were 57 states.

LINCOLN, Neb. – The mother was running out of more than patience when she abandoned her 18-year-old daughter at a hospital over the weekend under Nebraska's safe-haven law. She was also running out of time: She knew that state lawmakers would soon meet in a special session to amend the ill-fated law so that it would apply to newborns only. "Where am I going to get help if they change the law?" said the mother... To the state's surprise and embarrassment, more than half of the 31 children legally abandoned under the safe-haven law since it took effect in mid-July...

Ads proclaiming, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake," will appear on Washington, D.C., buses starting next week and running through December. The American Humanist Association unveiled the provocative $40,000 holiday ad campaign Tuesday. In lifting lyrics from "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," the Washington-based group is wading into what has become a perennial debate over commercialism, religion in the public square and the meaning of Christmas. "We are trying to reach our audience, and sometimes in order to reach an audience, everybody has to hear you," said Fred Edwords, spokesman for the humanist group...

Veteran Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) defeated his GOP challenger William Russell after his toughest reelection race in his 34-year House career. NBC News projected Murtha the winner with 56 percent of the precincts in his district reporting and Murtha ahead of Russell with 58 percent of the vote. Murtha won in 2004 by 61 percent. Murtha watched his poll numbers shrink days before election after he called his constituents “racist” and “redneck” and accused Marines of killing civilians in “cold blood” in Hadditha, Iraq. Murtha, the chairman of the House defense appropriations committee, had some high-level support in the last...

BALTIMORE, Md. -- Biden accepted the endorsement of the National Association of Police Organizations this morning on behalf of the Democratic ticket, pledging to again provide a seat at the table for local law enforcement. Biden, speaking on a conference call with NAPO President Tom Nee, made a plug for the “Biden Crime Bill,” which he said was contributed to a 30 percent drop in violent crime in the 1990s. “Then, for some reason, because this administration and my good friend John don’t think it’s a role of the federal government to be involved in local law enforcement … they...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, there is no consensus outside the United States that Islamist militants from al Qaeda were responsible, according to an international poll published Wednesday. http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?articleId=32140442&channelId=2951&buyerId=newsmeatcom&buid=3281

If ever there was a car made for the times, this would seem to be it: a sporty subcompact that seats five, offers a navigation system, and gets a whopping 65 miles to the gallon. Oh yes, and the car is made by Ford Motor (F), known widely for lumbering gas hogs. Ford's 2009 Fiesta ECOnetic goes on sale in November. But here's the catch: Despite the car's potential to transform Ford's image and help it compete with Toyota Motor (TM) and Honda Motor (HMC) in its home market, the company will sell the little fuel sipper only in Europe....

DOHERTY: NEW SCIENTIFIC DATA JUSTIFIES REPEALING GLOBAL WARMING RESPONSE ACT URGES STATE TO HOLD OFF ON DAMAGING NEW REGULATIONS AS CLIMATE CHANGE THEORIES CLASH Responding to various new scientific reports questioning the concept of global warming, Assemblyman Michael Doherty today called on Governor Corzine to hold off on proposing any new regulations associated with the state’s Global Warming Response Act and urged the Legislature to repeal that act when it returns to legislative business after Labor Day. “There are many credible members of the scientific community who have questioned the theory of global warming, and now we have some scientists...

SANTA ANA A 22-year-old man is in custody after police said he and another man unwittingly tried to carjack an unmarked police car with two uniformed officers inside. At 9:30 p.m. Thursday, the officers were investigating illegal fireworks activity in the 2200 block of Eastwood Avenue when a sports utility vehicle pulled up in front of their unmarked police sedan, said Santa Ana Police Department Comm. Steve Colon. The two men got out of the SUV and took "an aggressive approach toward the officers," Colon said. The driver acted as if he had a weapon in his waistband, police said....

U.S. Forest Service officers pointed weapons at children and fired rubber bullets and pepper spray balls at Rainbow Family members while making arrests Thursday evening, according to witnesses. "They were so violent, like dogs," Robert Parker told reporter Deborah Stevens of the libertarian-oriented, Round Rock, Texas-based We the People Radio Network [www.wtprn.com] after the incident. "People yelled at them, 'You're shooting children,'" Parker said during an interview on the network's "Rule of Law Show." About 7,000 people have arrived at the gathering near Big Sandy in the Wind River Mountains for the annual Gathering of the Tribes, a seven-day event...

Amazing news: We smashed our goal and have given away over half a million Obama bumper stickers! Since folks are so enthusiastic about showing their support for Obama, we're going to open this up to everybody. That's right: We'll give a free bumper sticker to every American who wants one. Can you take a moment to forward this email to your friends, family, and colleagues and let them know that they can order a FREE Obama bumper sticker? (If you haven't ordered yours yet, you can do so at the link below, too.) https://pol.moveon.org/obamastickers/?id=12816-4889794-1Lbpl7&t=4

Emily Nordling has never met a Muslim, at least not to her knowledge. But this spring, Ms. Nordling, a 19-year-old student from Fort Thomas, Ky., gave herself a new middle name on Facebook.com, mimicking her boyfriend and shocking her father. “Emily Hussein Nordling,” her entry now reads. With her decision, she joined a growing band of supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who are expressing solidarity with him.....

Fellow Socialists! I have intercepted a copy of the forthcoming DNC platform well before its public release. And this despite routine interference with my internet access by the fascist Bush regime. It is time to kick our legs out while squating in a celebratory dance incomprehensible to corrupt sheep-pimp Americans! Because of Democrats, we are now half of the American polity! The document follows: THE OFFICIAL PLATFORM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY (USA) 1.We must withdraw our brave, helpless troops from the quagmire that is Iraq in order to relive the glory days of our post-vietnam triumph over Nixon. Some may...

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WASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) -- Dozens of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee members have failed to pay their full dues to the U.S. political group, U.S. House Democratic leaders say. U.S. House of Representatives Democratic leaders say that such lapses in membership payments to the committee have totaled millions of dollars, the Politico, a Washington publication, said Thursday. The absent or incomplete membership payments by some committee officials have prompted talk of sanctions against delinquent Democratic lawmakers, the Politico said. U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., is among those supporting sanctions, suggesting that offending committee members should be banned from congressional delegation...

Congressional Democrats and Republicans used their Saturday radio addresses to continue their war of words about gasoline prices, each accusing the other of blocking efforts to reduce the cost of fuel. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) said Republicans want to increase domestic energy production, clear the bureaucratic path for new refineries, push for more nuclear plants to generate electricity and enact tax breaks for “green” homes. But he said Democratic leaders who control Congress have refused to advance the energy legislation he has introduced. “Rather than hearing bipartisan solutions, the Democrats have insisted on a partisan agenda absent of any solutions...