********************************

Let's get something straight; the climate is supposed to change. In 4 1/2 billion years, there has never been a time when the Earth's climate remained exactly the same. Careful study of the geological and paleontological record shows that the climate is always changing; that the Earth is always getting warmer or colder in long hundred thousand year cycles.

In the end, the most obvious evidence that the global warming cultists got it wrong, is to look out your doors and windows this winter. Snow has come early to much of the Northern Hemisphere this winter. Ski resorts have opened early, and it looks to be a very hard winter. The same global warming cultists who would point to temperature extremes 10 years ago as proof of their claims, now insist that early snows and frosts and ice should not be construed as evidence of global cooling. Clearly there is a bias at work here.

As I mentioned in the previous section, politicians seek to gain wealth and power and authority by taking something that occurs naturally, transforming it and promoting it as a crisis, and then selling the population a solution in exchange for higher taxes and increased authority over their lives.

Those people still supporting AGW (anthropogenic global warming) are dependent on funding to support their current positions. That funding is in turn dependent in the continuation of faith that AGW (anthropogenic global warming) is correct. After all, when Galileo proved that the Earth Orbited the Sun, funding for continued research into epicycles vanished abruptly, along with tenures and the value of every degree issued in the field of Epicycles.

Over and above the financial incentive, there is another agenda at work. There has been a push forward for the emergence of a global government for many years now. The plan to sell this new global oligarchy to the people the world rests on three pillars. The first pillar is human caused global warming, requiring submission to a global environmental authority. The second pillar was the global swine flu pandemic, requiring submission to a global health authority. The third pillar was the global financial crisis, requiring submission to a global banking authority. All three pillars are in serious trouble. If the pillar of human caused global warming collapses, no doubt it will pull the other two down with it.

So much money and political power has been invested in the myth of human caused global warming that if human caused global warming becomes exposed to the general population as a lie and a hoax, many well-known institutions of government and media will likely collapse from the scandal. The establishment is literally fighting for its life. And we should expect them to take any and all desperation measures to prolong and preserve their power and prestige and privilege.

Lyn Walters, 71, fished in the Merrymeeting River in Alton, N.H., Thursday amid changing fall leaves. (Jim Cole/Associated Press)

--source--"

NEW YORK - The Empire State Building has loomed high over the city for decades, and now it will stand for something new as it gets a green makeover intended to serve as an example to the world.  The $20 million project is expected to save the building's owners $4.4 million annually in energy costs, and will reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 105,000 metric tons during the next 15 years, equal to the annual emissions of 17,500 cars. 

Bill Clinton and Mayor Michael Bloomberg attended the announcement on the Empire State Building's 80th floor yesterday and said they hope the environmental changes at the iconic skyscraper will serve as a model for buildings around the world.  Clinton, whose foundation is helping with the environmental upgrades, said the only way to get property owners worldwide to make over their buildings is by setting an attention-getting example.

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."~~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

On April 4, 1967, exactly a year before his assassination, King gave a speech -- "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" -- at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City.  Clergy and Laity Concerned was one of many groups opposed to the Vietnam War.  This powerful, enlightening speech contains passages which are strikingly, even eerily, more relevant to us today than when King first spoke them.  Replace "Vietnam" with "Iraq and Afghanistan" and this speech is as timely as if it was given this morning.  Anticipating and answering those who criticized him for speaking out against the illegal, unnecessary war on the people of Vietnam, he said:

"I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such... I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government."

"This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation's self-defined goals and positions. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers."

In his 1967 speech, citing such a U.S. foreign policy, even before the term 'blowback' was widely known, King said:

"It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.  Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken -- the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investment."

Boston is striving to become a leader in green building. But glass siding and atriums, common features of green architecture, carry an unintended side-effect: a mortal danger to birds.  An estimated 5 percent of the country's bird population - or about a billion birds - die each year by crashing into buildings they cannot see, according to Daniel Klem, an ornithologist at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania who has studied bird collisions for more than 30 years. Migratory birds, including songbirds whose populations are already on the decline, crash into glass in especially large numbers.

While environmentalists often express concern about the effects of wind turbines and oil spills on birds, few realize that building collision is the second biggest cause of death to birds after habitat destruction, said Karen Imparato Cotton of the American Bird Conservancy.  And that danger is increasing as cities, Boston among them, erect buildings that emphasize natural light, and as improvements in the energy efficiency of glass increase its use.

Two properties of glass that make it so appealing - the way it reflects light and allows us to see through it - are the very reason that birds crash into it. In the windows and glass facades of buildings, birds see mirror-images of trees, sky, and shrubs they want to fly toward, or they may see food, water, or habitat inside or beyond atriums.

The effect of such architecture "flies in the face of conscientious green design," said Hillary Brown, principal for New Civic Works in New York....  Marcia Fowle, a board member of New York City Audubon, said that years ago, she told her husband that a building that uses recycled material and runs on solar power is not green enough. "You can't be green and kill something," she said. "It's a contradiction." 

For once, I AGREE with an environmentalist!

"NASCAR coverage was also expanded on the cable channel New England Sports Network, which is owned by New England Sports Ventures, the parent company of the Red Sox and Fenway Sports Group. The New York Times Co., which owns The Boston Globe, holds a 17 percent stake in New England Sports Ventures."

Yeah, TELL ME AGAIN about GLOBAL WARMING and the ENVIRONMENT!!

by Luisa Morgantini

Luisa Morgantini’s introduction to the Italian Press-book of the movie: LEMON TREE directed by Eran Riklis

How many emotions in this movie? How many truths? Even the trees are suffering in Palestine.

When Teodora Movies contacted me in order to talk about this new movie by Eran Riklis entitled Lemon Tree, I thought of another story told in a book, about an old Palestinian man who, seriously ill, decided to visit his home in Ramleh, from where he was forced to escape in 1948. His son accompanied him. A woman opened the door of his childhood home and did not drive him away; on the contrary she let him in and he asked her if he could see if there was still the lemon tree in the garden: it was still there, he asked for a lemon and he held it tight. The lemon was still in his hand one week later, when he died. The woman, who really exists, is called Dalia, and now that home has been transformed into a school for Israeli students of Palestinian origin and for Israeli Jews.

And I, in my little garden, I planted a lemon tree and a olive tree. I did so thinking of all those farmers, those women and men, whom I saw crying during all these years, either screaming or weeping silently. All of them crying because of the pain of seeing their trees uprooted and let die, but also stolen and sold in the markets of Tel Aviv, such as olive trees uprooted in Kalkiliaa area. Thousands and thousands of trees were uprooted and replaced by the wall or the roads that cross the occupied territories and that can be used exclusively by the Israelis, like a true apartheid system.

Like Dalia, Mira in Lemon Tree, who is the wife of the Defence Minister, also perceives the pain and the injustice suffered by Salma, and she can no longer live in that home from where she can no longer see the lemon tree but only a big grey wall. She will leave with the weight of her loneliness and suffering, but proud, while on the other side Salma burns things from her past. This illustrates the madness of that land. Thanks to Eran for this movie that makes feelings come alive and shows the weaknesses, the hypocrisies, but also the humanity of both parties, as well as the asymmetry of those who have the power and the military force and those who suffer humiliation and dispossession. And he sheds light on the great dignity and resistance of both women.

Like the Israeli Women in Black who, since the first Intifadah, have stood in silence, dressed in black every Friday in a square of West Jerusalem saying "No" to the military occupation and who together with several Palestinian women, gathered in the Jerusalem Link, refuse to be "enemies", but try to build something together in recognition of every woman's right to freedom and emancipation. In Italy we have also contributed to this movement and to the construction of an International network of Women in Black (Donne in Nero) against war and violence, that acts in times of conflict and builds relationships and exchanges among women in places of war and violence, such as in Colombia, in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, India, Congo, Kurdistan and many other places. And again, together with Palestinian, Israeli and International women, we created the first International Women's Commission, in order to put into practice the 1325 UN resolution for the participation of women in negotiations. This commission is composed 20 Palestinian women, 20 Israeli women and 20 International women. Among these women, among us, are women who hold important institutional responsibilities but also activists, women who want peace, but a peace that includes justice. There are many people in Palestine and in Israel, and not only the women's movements, who believe in peace and refuse violence: the actions carried out by these movements represent hope, strength, humanity. Our governments and the International Community should be listening to them in order to put an end to the Israeli occupation and to ensure that Palestinians and Israelis can live independently in peace and security, with no walls, no settlers, and so that lemon trees, olive trees and all other species can flourish and not be the subject/object of disputes.

This was also the wish of Hagar, one of the founders of the Israeli Women in Black, who died in on an island in Greece. The day before her death, we were looking at the olive trees, beautiful and luxuriant. «It's wonderful - said Hagar with sadness – to see the olive trees without being afraid that a bulldozer will uproot them in order to make space for a settlement or a bypass road ». We, as women in black, renamed the square in West Jerusalem where we demonstrate every Friday for the last twenty years, Hagar Roublev Square.

I sincerely wish that everyone, men and women alike, will see this movie.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Rescue workers rushed to help residents in flooded towns in southern Brazil yesterday after landslides and floods caused by heavy rain killed at least 59 people and forced 43,000 from their homes....

The state government said the floods and mudslides had affected 1.5 million people, with 150,000 without electricity and four towns out of the 60 affected completely cut off by flood waters. Officials said a landslide ruptured a major gas line from Bolivia, cutting off supplies to the region. Brazilian newspapers showed photographs of streets submerged by the waist-high flood waters in Santa Catarina, which is one of Brazil's wealthiest states. --more--"

It's not an unusual sight from Halloween to the middle of December to see turtles suffering from hypothermia washed ashore on Cape Cod beaches. But what is unusual is the number of turtles that are dying, which can be attributed to the unusually low temperatures hitting the coast over the past week.

The worldwide economic crisis is prompting a growing number of countries to back away from pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions and invest in clean energy, just a week before the start of talks in Poland on a new worldwide climate change treaty.

In the United States, some business groups are calling on President-elect Barack Obama to move cautiously in tackling global warming, saying that a too aggressive response could prolong the economic downturn and cost jobs. But a growing chorus of other businesses, environmentalists, and politicians are calling for a green-based economic recovery.

An enormous federal government investment in clean technology would provide low-cost capital to accelerate energy efficiency, build massive renewable energy projects, and jumpstart a sustainable low-carbon economy, these groups say. Such a Green New Deal, woven into the economic stimulus package being crafted for early next year, could create millions of government-subsidized jobs and build a new energy infrastructure.

More EMPTY PROMISES!!!

"It's a smart thing to do for the economy and a strategically wonderful thing to do for the environment," said David Foster, executive director of the Blue Green Alliance, a partnership between the Sierra Club and United Steelworkers that works to develop green jobs. His group points to a University of Massachusetts report earlier this fall that said a $100 billion investment in clean technology could create 2 million new jobs in the next two years.

"It leads us down the path for energy independence," he said. "It's a historic opportunity."

Oh, you mean, like the ETHANOL DEBACLE!???? I wish Americans would WAKE UP because these ENVIRONMENTAL LIARS are DANGEROUS!!! They DON'T DELIVER on their PROMISES, and they CAUSE GREAT DAMAGE!!!

You don't apply solutions to PROBLEMS that DO NOT EXIST!!! The MSM can push its agenda with all the lies it wants; however, GO OUTSIDE!!! It is FREEZING HERE TODAY!! The ground is ALREADY FROZEN and it is NOT EVEN THANKSGIVING YET!!!!

*********************

Supporters, including the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Natural Resources Defense Council, say such a plan could include federal financial incentives to quickly build large-scale solar, wind, and other renewable projects. It could also include massive investment in new transmission lines to bring renewable power from rural areas into cities, creating a new electricity grid.

Why not just PAY to have every home outfitted with SOLAR PANELS?

It would undoubtedly be CHEAPER than THIS:

"billions of dollars of infrastructure investment are needed. ISO New England is working with states and those involved in the electricity market to decide whether all the region's ratepayers, or only those who use renewable power, will pay for the lines"

Yup, they are gonna save ya -- but it's GONNA COST YA!!!!

And they say a cap on carbon dioxide emissions would force power plants and other industries to pay to pollute - which would lower emissions and bring in needed revenue during the economic recovery. They point to several studies that suggest that investment in efficient and renewable energy could create a lot more jobs than the same size investment in the already established oil and gas industry.

Are you tired of the globalist lies and agenda-pushing yet?

Yet even the most ardent environmentalists acknowledge it won't be easy to do now. Any meaningful reductions in carbon dioxide from power plants are likely to raise electricity prices, says Robert N. Stavins, who directs the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements. Even if the costs are marginal, the public and political leaders are unlikely to buy into such a plan during an economic crisis because it will be viewed as hurting industry at a vulnerable time, he says.

How come YOU are ALWAYS getting STUCK, American citizen?

At the same time, he says, the economic crisis could "distract attention" from the environment, and "for that reason alone it would not be surprising if there is less rapid and less intense [response] to global climate change than the predictions being made six months ago."

Good. The less we focus on that fraud, the more we can focus on the REAL ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS: the FOULING of our AIR, WATER, and LAND with POLLUTION!!

I mean, they are dumping prescription drugs in the water supply and they want us to worry about the fart mist fraud?

Some business leaders say that while renewable energy is a laudable goal, no technology exists that could replace the reliability of fossil fuels. If too much federal money is given to subsidize alternative energy or force a stringent cap on heat-trapping emissions, they say the ensuing energy price spike would severely undercut an economic recovery.

"We can't afford that kind of cost today," said William Kovacs, vice president for the Environment, Technology & Regulatory Affairs Division at the US Chamber of Commerce. "We need to drill [for oil and gas] immediately on the outer continental shelf and then take those [royalties] and invest them in alternative technologies."

Public commitment to energy matters has been shown to respond to economic factors. When oil prices topped $130 a barrel, and gas prices soared, Americans drove less for the first time in nearly two decades. But fuel prices are now dropping as demand falls, and people are already driving more often.

I think the MSM is full of s*** on that driving more, driving less, bs. The traffic hasn't seemed any different to me! Will they never stop lying?

The oil price decline and the economic crisis could also cause venture capital investment in renewable power and green technology to falter.

Ever wonder why there is a WHOLE PILE of $$$ just LOOKING for SOMEWHERE and WHERE it comes from, readers? Seems like "ven cap" inevitably is available for biotechs and green corps, etc. Wondering where that ven cap is for MORTGAGES or something like that?

"Yet in many ways, this is an ideal time" for government investment, said Robert Kaufmann, director of the center for Energy and Environmental Studies at Boston University. He says the economic crisis will translate into a slowdown of carbon dioxide emissions from factories and power plants. If an emissions cap is imposed now, "there is more wiggle room under it" for industry, he said. This means businesses would probably pay little to pollute in the short-term, until a recovery takes hold.

WASHINGTON - The federal government has invested billions of dollars over the past 16 years, building a fleet of 112,000 alternative-fuel vehicles to serve as a model for a national movement away from fossil fuels....

Under a mandate from Congress, federal agencies have gradually increased their fleets of alternative-fuel vehicles, a majority of them "flex-fuel," capable of running on either gasoline or ethanol-based E85 fuel....

The latest generations of alternative vehicles have compounded the problem. Often, the vehicles have larger engines than the ones they replaced in the fleet. Consequently, the federal program - known as EPAct - has sometimes increased gasoline consumption and emission rates....

"This is an example of a law that has had a perversely different effect than what was originally intended," said Jim Kliesch, a senior engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental nonprofit organization based in Washington.

They ALL DO!! Let's list a few: Patriot Act, Iraq War resolution, the spying bills, Military Commissions Act, the bailout bill, ETHANOL, etc, etc.)

The Postal Service illustrates the problem. It estimates that its 37,000 newer alternative-fuel delivery vans, which can run on high-grade ethanol, consumed 1.5 million additional gallons of gasoline last fiscal year because of the larger engines. The vehicles that would allow the agency to meet federal mandates were available in six- and eight-cylinder models - not the four-cylinder variety it traditionally purchased. Alternative fuel was used less than 1 percent of the time in 2007-2008....

More than 92 percent of the fuel used in the government's alternative-fuel fleet continues to be standard gasoline. --more--"

SAN PIERRE, Ind. - The air smells clean and sweet off the sprawling corn and spearmint fields, but for this unincorporated town of 156, it is the smell of failure: the failure to reap the rewards of the ethanol boom.

Construction crews were scheduled to start digging up the sandy soil next spring to make way for an ethanol distillery plant in San Pierre. The plant promised to revive the town's economy, bring high-paying jobs to one of the state's poorest counties, and double its tax rolls, a scenario that has played out repeatedly in struggling towns across the Midwest over the past three years.  But last month, the developers of the San Pierre plant announced that the $62 million deal was dead. Banks involved in the project had shut their doors and cut off their lines of credit. Desperate calls to dozens of other financial institutions led to the same answer: No.

Already battered by other market forces, the ethanol industry has been hit hard by the banking world's credit crunch, and the seemingly bright future of the corn-based biofuel has been cast in doubt. 

No one wants to send money after this destructive enterprise. Sounds like the EndGame is in play to me!!!!  Otherwise, why would they be making this destructive stuff?

In Pratt, Kan., the grinding mill machinery stands silent at the Gateway Ethanol plant. It was open for less than six months before running out of money, and there were no bank loans available to keep it going. The company has filed for bankruptcy.  In Royal, Ill., developers abandoned efforts to build a plant there and in six other locations, citing an inability to obtain financing. Plants have been shuttered, or plans for new ones halted, in Mead, Neb.; Belle Fourche, S.D.; Blairstown, Iowa; and Melrose, Minn. 

Want to see how many taxpayer dollars Congress poured into this losing monstrosity?  Richers Take Bath in Ethanol

Less than two years ago, the idea of distilling corn into a gasoline substitute won over Wall Street and rural residents, with visions of reviving the weakened farm economy and investing in greater US energy independence and green energy. Other agricultural businesses - from local co-ops to small-town merchants - saw a boost, as farmers suddenly had money for new clothes, spa visits, and farming equipment.

Indiana was slow to join this party, in part because much of the surplus corn grown in the state is shipped to livestock producers in the US Southeast or to Asia, said Chris Hurt, an agricultural economist with Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. And unlike states such as Iowa, South Dakota, and Minnesota, Indiana legislators didn't provide state subsidies for ethanol production. 

Are YOU KIDDING ME?  We have people STARVING IN OUR COUNTRY and they are sending grain to Asia for FACTORY FARM FEED?

In 2005, there was only one ethanol plant operating in Indiana. But by the end of 2006, after the state general assembly pushed through millions in incentives and Governor Mitch Daniels signed legislation mandating that state vehicles' use of biofuels when possible, there were plans to build at least 25 more, Hurt said.  But the current credit squeeze, along with other market developments, has shut down this Indiana town's ethanol dreams. It is just the latest development in a rocky year.... 

Gee, I WONDER WHAT THOSE UNMENTIONABLES MIGHT BE!

The number of lawsuits aiming to block new production facilities from being built has steadily grown. The suits were filed by concerned environmentalists or local residents who don't want their rural community turned into a site for industry. --more--"  

What?  The ENVIRONMENTALISTS are against BIOFUELS?  Then they must REALLY BE BAD -- and yet, here is the AGENDA-PUSHING MSM MINIMIZING the PROBLEMS and CONSEQUENCES while CONTINUING to SHOVEL THIS SHIT!!! 

Something is going on, America, and the words POPULATION REDUCTION keep filtering into my brain.

WAKE UP, America!!!!!!!!!!

"Brazil's biofuel industry dries up; Economy stalls ethanol efforts" by Alan Clendenning, Associated Press  |  November 23, 2008

SAO PAULO - Brazil's biofuel industry just months ago was being flooded with billions in new investments for vast new sugarcane plantations and gleaming distilleries that churn out the cheapest ethanol on earth. But the global financial crisis has put the brakes on that boom, drying up foreign investment and domestic credit, stalling new projects and prompting cash-strapped ethanol producers to indefinitely postpone expansions.....  

Well, there are SILVER LININGS in EVERYTHING, aren't there?

The Brazilian and US governments are meanwhile funding research and development projects to spur ethanol start-ups throughout Latin America, but the financial crisis will inevitably delay private sector investment, US Agriculture Secretary Edward Shafer told the Associated Press....  

Yup, so they are going to GO AHEAD with this ABOMINABLE FAILURE and CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY DESPITE all the CONSEQUENCES!!!  This is why the ENVIRO-CULTISTS (still haven't seen them protesting NASCAR) are DANGEROUS, folks!!! They are not some earthy-crunchy nutties that are harmless, folks; they and THIER LIES are DANGEROUS!!!!!!!!!

The full extent of the damage to one of Brazil's most promising export industries is still unknown: The sector is dominated by private companies owned by wealthy families who have attracted foreign partners but are not required to report their finances publicly.... 

Oh, it is ALL ABOUT the $$$$$!!!! 

Yeah, LET the PEOPLE EAT SHIT!!!!

--more--"

An area of sleet and snow moved into southern Craven County this morning as a cold front swept across North Carolina. Areas of snow were reported earlier today from Greenville northward, but by 9 a.m., the frozen precipitation migrated south through New Bern, James City and Havelock.

Temperatures hovered above freezing, so the winter mixture did not cause major road hazards. It is the second time this week flakes have fallen on Havelock.... It will, however, remain cold. Lows tonight are expected to be in the low to mid 20s, according to the National Weather Service, with highs Saturday in the middle 40s.

WASHINGTON - Winter looks likely to be mild in the Midwest and dry in the Southeast, the government said yesterday.

Oh, the GOVERNMENT SAID, huh?

"The almanac's winter forecast is at odds with that of the National Weather Service, whose trends-based outlook calls for warmer-than-normal temperatures over much of the country.... the almanac was on target in the 2008 edition when it called for the Northeast and the Great Lakes to be hit with a long, cold winter with lots of snow."

"The Old Farmer's Almanac, based in Dublin, N.H., predicted "global cooling" for the next two decades. The forecast was based on an expected change in sunspots and ocean temperatures, still better-understood factors than climate change, said the almanac's editor, Janice Stillman."We're looking forward to cooler-than-normal conditions for quite some time," Stillman said in a telephone interview."

Yeah, that about goes with what has been happening around here; ground is already frozen!

Once again, the AmeriKan MSM is EXPOSED as AGENDA-PROMOTING PROPAGANDISTS and COMPLETE LIARS!!!!!!!!!

You know, I think I will go with FARMERS from now on rather than the MSM and its mouthpieces of propaganda!

Need more LIES?

Warmer-than-average temperatures are expected for the nation's center, especially Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center said above normal readings are also likely in a large area extending from New Mexico, Colorado, and Nebraska in the west to southeastern South Dakota and southern Wisconsin.

Most of Michigan is in the warm area, which extends east to western New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, the western edge of Virginia, and North Carolina and northern Georgia. The rest of the 48 contiguous states have equal chances of being warmer or cooler than normal, the forecast said.... --more--"

Yeah, well it HAS TO BE ONE OR THE OTHER, doesn't it? Pffffftttt!!!

STOWE, Vt. - A new connector lift between Mount Mansfield and Spruce Mountain. A spectacular new base lodge scheduled to open this fall as part of a $400 million investment program. A new ski in/out base hotel, and fresh memories of one of the great weather winters in many years.

It would seem, as the first skiers and snowboarders arrive to open the season Saturday, that Stowe Ski Resort would be nothing but bullish on the winter ahead. In fact, that's the case for many locals and longtime Stowe watchers....

**********

And what if parent company American International Group (AIG), the well-known recipient of an $85 billion government bailout, includes Stowe as an asset to sell off in an effort to repay the bailout?

.... Not that the AIG issue is easily brushed aside, but in the wider scheme of what the company owes, "I think most people consider Stowe a pretty small blip on the AIG asset sheet," said Neil Van Dyke, who owns the Golden Eagle Resort. --more--"

LIMA, Peru - Countries on both sides of the Pacific have reason to be very afraid of climate change. Rising sea levels could swamp coastal farms, higher temperatures wipe out species, and increasingly violent storms exact a widening human and financial toll.

(Do I even have to mention the outrageous, fear-mongering, agenda-pushing lies?)

But at this week's summit of 21 Pacific Rim nations, global warming is barely on the agenda. In its place: the financial crisis....

Good!! Seems everything has a silver lining, even the planned destruction of the world economy. Either that, or it was a bulls*** issue to start!!

*************

Foreign and trade ministers in Lima warned the economic group's countries yesterday that protectionist measures would only deepen the crisis. They endorsed an action plan proposed last weekend at an economic summit in Washington, which calls for increased government stimulus efforts and improved financial regulation.

That's exactly what I would expect a bunch of globalists to say!

Your GLOBALIZATION has CAUSED THIS CRISIS, a-holes!!!!!!!

Advocates of action on climate change say that despite the immediate threat of a global depression, global warming could become a much greater problem in the long run.... --more--"

They are f***ing incredible.

Tell me something, lying fart misters: do you ever get tired of shoveling s***?

WASHINGTON - Democrats steered the House toward more aggressively tackling global warming and other environmental problems yesterday, toppling veteran Michigan Representative John Dingell, a staunch supporter of Detroit automakers, from an important energy panel in favor of California liberal Henry Waxman.

The switch could help President-elect Barack Obama on Capitol Hill with one of his favored issues: trying to curb global warming by limiting greenhouse gas emissions. But Waxman's combative stance on climate change and other issues also could alienate Republicans and moderate Democrats, making it harder to get the bipartisan support Obama will need....

Shouldn't be too hard seeing as it is NOT HAPPENING!!!

*************

Driving Waxman's bid was the issue of global warming.... Waxman was the candidate of change in a year dominated by that theme. He likened the first years of the Obama administration to a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get things done.... --more--"

So ANTE UP, America!!!

You are going to be paying CARBON TAXES -- all because of a DAMNABLE LIE!! From the same folks who brought you the ETHANOL DEBACLE!!

Come here, America, and pull my finger! Pffffffftt!

It is billed as the crown jewel of Columbia Point, a glittering new seaside neighborhood of luxury condominiums, fine dining, and shopping on a rare available parcel of Boston waterfront, on the shores of Dorchester Bay. But before a shovel is in the ground, developer Corcoran Jennison says the entire $1.5 billion project is in jeopardy, citing an unusual concern: The prospect of horrible smells.

Company officials say an odor-control facility that the state plans to build nearby as part of a mammoth sewer tunnel project will periodically spew a malodorous fog over Dorchester and South Boston, including the upscale development.

:-) Take a deep breath, richer!!!

Worried about the possible stench, Corcoran Jennison officials have begun spreading the word at media outlets and community meetings this week, saying they want the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to put the facility underground to mitigate the potential smell.

"It would seem like rotten eggs, like rotten cabbage," said Michael Lannan, vice president of Tech Environmental, a Waltham odor-control consultant hired by Corcoran Jennison to study the potential smell associated with the planned facility.

But the MWRA is vowing to move ahead with construction as planned. The authority, along with state and federal officials and environmental groups, says the facility will produce no smell. Officials assert that the odor-control facility will, in fact, make the air smell better....

Then why you got that gas mask on?

***************

In one Corcoran Jennison model, Lannan, the company's odor-control specialist, suggested that the stench on the worst days could stretch across South Boston and Dorchester. He delineated the smelliest areas on a map with three circles: red, yellow, and green.

"Inside the red, it would be like a bathroom you'd go into and want to leave," he said. "Inside the yellow, it would be like a bathroom you'd go into and probably continue to do what you needed to do, but you'd want to get out of there as soon as possible. And in the green, it would be like a bathroom."

Take a DEEP, DEEP SNIFF, richer!!!! :-)

(For the record, my town literally smells like dog shit. I'm not kidding; go outside and take a whiff)

Lannan recommends several changes, including building the facility underground and replacing a large above-ground structure with a simple, short ventilation stack. By doing so, Lannan said, the MWRA would improve the aesthetics - a concern of Corcoran Jennison's - but more importantly, eliminate downwash, a phenomenon that occurs when wind traveling above a structure, like a building, redirects a previously rising plume downward toward the ground....

And whom does he think is going to pay for this? Taxpayers?

I DON'T THINK SO!!! You can STAND the STENCH, richer!!

We all have to endure yours, so pfffffffttttt!!!!

--more--"

See you at the (sorry to say it, but...) shit pit in the labor camp, neighbor!

Look, we are ALL FOR a CLEAN ENVIRONMENT; however, this FRAUD of an ISSUE is not addressing the REAL PROBLEMS: the CORPORATE and WAR MACHINE POISONING of OUR PLANET!!!!

I would like to know: HOW did they GET THERE?  AIRPLANE?  What was the CARBON FOOTPRINT on that? 

Oh, those are meant for US not YOU, huh?

Obama, who spoke to the conference by video, pledged to make America more energy independent and to also slash carbon emissions by focusing on alternative sources such as wind and solar. He also vowed to work more cooperatively with other nations on climate change.

"Few challenges facing America - and the world - are more urgent than combating climate change," he said in the video. "Climate change and our dependence on foreign oil, if left unaddressed, will continue to weaken our economy and threaten our national security."  --more--"

Hey, politicians: LIES are DANGEROUS and THEY, too, THREATEN OUR SECURITY!!!!!!!!

WASHINGTON - The unwanted horses seemed destined for death. The wheels had been set in motion to put down about 2,000 healthy mustangs, those in a federally maintained herd of wild horses and burros that no one wanted to adopt.

The Bureau of Land Management knew that euthanasia was a legal alternative, but officials were proceeding slowly, afraid of an intense public outcry. The wild horses had become too expensive to maintain, and cattlemen argued that turning them loose would be a drain on the already scarce grazing lands of the West.  Then Monday, at a public hearing in Reno to discuss the issue, a solution arrived on a white horse, so to speak.

Madeleine Pickens, wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, made known her intentions to adopt not just the doomed wild horses but also most or all of the 30,000 horses and burros kept in federal holding pens. Lifelong animal lovers, the Pickenses a few years ago led the fight to close the last horse slaughterhouse in the United States. 

Madeleine Pickens is looking for land in the West that would be an appropriate home for the horses.  She is working with the BLM staff to adopt the horses, said Henri Bisson, the bureau's deputy director, while the agency persuades Congress to shift $20 million in funding to feed and protect the horses now in captivity for another year..... 

Not that I don't want the horses cared for (I do); however, Americans can't get any mortgage relief, yet we got millions to take care of wild horses?

**************

The federal government has been rounding up wild horses since the 1980s, putting them in holding facilities and offering them for adoption to horse lovers, who promise not to sell them for slaughter. But the roundups became aggressive under the Bush administration. As of June, BLM was holding 30,088 animals, more than triple the 9,807 held in 2001.... Meanwhile, the pace of adoptions has been falling as the cost of feeding and caring for the wild horses has skyrocketed. --more--"

Personally, I don't care what the reason, nor do I know the answers. What I DO KNOW, however, is I AM SICK of DEATH!!!  I am TIRED of the KILLING and SNUFFING OUT of INNOCENT LIVES -- be they human, animal, or plant!!! 

They are ALL SENTIENT LIFE FORMS and DESERVE RESPECT!!!!!!!! 

This was startling. Across the world there were reports of unseasonal snow and plummeting temperatures last month, from the American Great Plains to China, and from the Alps to New Zealand. China's official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its "worst snowstorm ever". In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years.

The evidence is unequivocal. Measurable, let alone dangerous, manmade global warming is not happening, and is not likely to happen in the future. The major cause for concern is the possibility of severe cooling. Global climate has always changed and recent climate changes are not unusual. The world was warmer in the mediaeval warm period, in the Roman warm period and on many occasions before then. During these periods agriculture and civilisations flourished. During cold periods like the little ice age there was famine, plague and war....

When it comes to the issue of climate change, Arnold Schwarzenegger is muscling his way into the international spotlight.

Today, the California governor will convene a two-day "Global Climate Summit" in Beverly Hills, Calif.

(Blog author just shaking his head)

More than 600 environmental officials and activists from Borneo to Bulgaria, along with five US governors and regional politicians from foreign nations, are expected to attend.... --more--"

And HOW DID THEY GET THERE? Airplane?

So what was the CARBON FOOTPRINT on that, huh?

PFFFFFFFTTTTT!!!!!

LOS ANGELES - Stacks of charred bricks, blackened shells of cars, and burned tree trunks were all that remained yesterday in much of the community some residents once called the "Beverly Hills of mobile home parks."

The mostly retired residents returned to see what was left of their homes at Oakridge Mobile Home Park, where winds with hurricane intensity blew a wall of fire through nearly 500 manufactured homes and set them ablaze so quickly that even firefighters had to drop their hoses and run.

"It looks like a war zone - no trees, no buildings," said Michele Warneck, 54, who burst into tears after returning from the park.... "It's a disaster. It looks like Hiroshima," said Joan Costa, carrying plastic bags filled with makeup and medicines she had pulled from her home.

Elsewhere, the largest of the fires has burned more than 28,000 acres in Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles counties, and has destroyed more than 250 homes and apartment units. San Bernadino became the fourth county declared a state of emergency.

The first of the wildfires broke out in the Montecito area of Santa Barbara County, about 90 miles northwest of Sylmar. The causes of all the fires were under investigation, although officials labeled the Santa Barbara-area fire "human-caused," said Doug Lannon, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection."--more--"

Notice how they try to SCAPEGOAT a PERSON?

If memory serves, the last time it was downed power lines:

"Typically, fires created by human error, lightning or a downed power line create large embers that can fly as far as a mile away with the force of the Santa Ana winds behind them, setting off new blazes. Early indications point to downed power lines as the culprit"

or illegal immigrants:

"Illegal immigrants who have crossed the border where some of the fiercest fires have raged this week often start campfires that get out of control"

DIAMOND BAR, Calif. - More residents of Southern California were urged to leave their homes yesterday despite calming winds that allowed a major aerial attack on wildfires, which have destroyed hundreds of homes and blanketed the region in smoke....

The smell of smoke pervaded metropolitan Los Angeles. Downtown skyscrapers were silhouettes in an opaque sky, and concerns about air quality forced organizers to cancel a marathon in suburban Pasadena, where 8,000 runners had planned to participate.... --more--"

GREAT FALLS, Mont. - The financial crisis is threatening to halt scores of proposed power plants, which could stretch the nation's power supplies to the limit, driving up prices and setting the stage for shortages....

Even before the extent of the credit crisis was fully known, the nation's largest power providers warned of even bigger blackouts to come with the power grid under ever growing strain. Without additional power plants, observers say, a shift to more expensive sources could end up soaking customers. The alternative is more frequent and potentially extended outages.... --more--"

Translation: Your standard of living is gonna go right down the toilet, American. Welcome to Iraq!!! I'll bet RICHERS always have enough power and resources.

And if you think the GLOBAL WARMING CULTISTS are going to save us, get a load of this:

"billions of dollars of infrastructure investment are needed. ISO New England is working with states and those involved in the electricity market to decide whether all the region's ratepayers, or only those who use renewable power, will pay for the lines"

Yup, they are gonna save ya -- but it's GONNA COST YA (it ALREADY IS, read to end)!!!!

How about the COMPANY that is going to PROFIT PAY FOR IT?

"Wind from the north; Canada has clean energy aplenty for the Bay State, but can't we provide our own?" by Beth Daley, Globe Staff | November 17, 2008

WEST CAPE, Prince Edward Island - .... Some fear that a flood of clean power from Canada will undercut New England's efforts to become a national leader in green energy and technology. Jobs could be lost, they caution, and local utilities may have less incentive to reduce their use of coal and other fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.

Where are those jobs anyway?

Concerns also exist that the construction of expensive transmission lines to bring renewable energy from Canada could drive up the region's electricity rates, already among the highest in the country....

Sigh. Pffffft! Oops! Sorry, I just contributed to "global warming."

**********

Many of the proposed projects are far from the power grid and transmission lines would have to be erected at a cost of about $1 million a mile. That means billions of dollars of infrastructure investment are needed. ISO New England is working with states and those involved in the electricity market to decide whether all the region's ratepayers, or only those who use renewable power, will pay for the lines.

It is not clear how much ratepayers' bills would increase if all customers were required to pay for transmission lines, an approach that would make renewable power less expensive. Stephen R. Connors, director of the Analysis Group for Regional Energy Alternatives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the financial cost would probably be small because transmission costs are a fraction of customers' bills, and there is the added benefit of getting secure energy right over the border.

They ALWAYS PROMISE THAT!!!!

Energy Secretary Bowles, however, is adamant that Massachusetts consumers should not pay for the lines, saying the power companies would be receiving a vast subsidy if it were allowed. Business groups say the same. "These transmission lines could cost tens of billions of dollars. That is going to add a lot of money to ratepayers' " bills, said Robert Rio, senior vice president for government affairs for Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

Pucker up that pooper again, taxpayers and homeowners!!!

How much Canadian renewable power is exported to New England will also depend on whether states give companies financial credits designed to encourage construction of these projects....

Excuse me? States giving out "financial credits?" In like, the form of a CHECK?

Oh, God, ANOTHER SPECIAL INTEREST SUBSIDY!!!!!

One project that qualifies for those financial credits in Massachusetts is the Prince Edward Island facility owned by Suez Renewable Energy North America. --more--"

So a CANADIAN FIRM is getting U.S. TAXPAYER $$?

Aaaaaaahhhh!!!

WaterMill, from Kelowna, B.C.-based Element Four (www.elementfour.com), is something like an outdoor dehumidifier that you mount on the side of your house. The UFO-shaped device draws moisture out of the air to produce up to three gallons of water per day for drinking and cooking.

That should take a bite out of the water bill for most families. And it doesn't matter how filthy the air might be, according to Element Four. What you drink from the WaterMill will be filtered, as pure as the water from a mountain stream. One reason you install the WaterMill on the outside of your home is that the air inside is more polluted, according to Element Four.

What am I doing in here then?

Another reason: The 45-pounds WaterMill is big and ugly, more than two feet across and about a foot deep. It's an energy sipper, though: A gallon of water should cost you about 11 cents to produce. Those in sunnier climes can take their water-making entirely off-grid, by powering the WaterMill with a 600-watt solar panel, according to Element Four.

Available in February 2009, you will be able to buy and install the WaterMill and use it to feed a fridge's water dispenser or a spigot fixed to your kitchen sink. It costs about $2,000.

--more--"

CONCORD - .... The long ride behind a farmer on a tractor just got longer. City and town clerks across the state notified local officials last week that the 2-mile limit for tractors traveling on state roads has been expanded to 10. An obscure clause tucked into the Massachusetts Dairy Farm Revitalization Bill enacted in August, the measure quintuples the time drivers could spend staring into a neon orange caution triangle on the back of a farm vehicle.

That may lead one to wonder why - when the state's farm numbers are in decline, and the state and national economy sit imperiled - the tractor came to rule the road.

State Representative Steve Kulik (Democrat of Deerfield) said he added the change at the request of a dairy farmer living in Charlemont. That's Charlemont, a town of 1,300 people - and even fewer registered drivers - in the western reaches of the state.

:-)

Yeah, and the jerks in this state are pissed off about it -- including the tone of the BG's article here.

:-)

"I know this sounds like a quirky little thing, and it is," Kulik said of the change in an interview. "But in a small way, it will be important to farmers. And I don't think it's a problem for the average motorist."

Not for me; I like to eat.

Patient or peeved, communities sit at an interesting crossroads. Tractors and farm equipment, vestiges of a simpler, slower agrarian era, must share the road with high performance cars and their high-octane drivers. Conflict comes with the territory....

Jeff LaFleur, executive director of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association:

"You don't complain about a farmer with your mouth full."

Umm, actually, the a-holes in Massachusetts do!! Read their complaints here

What a-holes we "liberals" are, 'eh?

WITH EACH passing day, the bad news gets more alarming. Sales are shrinking, revenue is declining, and jobs across the nation could be lost.

The industry is in crisis. Time is of the esssence. Delaying support will cause irreparable harm. President-elect Barack Obama, please rescue the newspaper industry. A thriving, vibrant press is a critical national need. Besides, newspaper writers across the country helped elect you....

No one in government is going to back a newspaper bailout and no one should.  Yet these same arguments are winning bailouts for other industries.  Where will they end? Is there an objective economic formula for deciding who gets one?

Yeah, the cut off is the American people.  They get nothing.

If newspapers aren't producing news in a format that people want to purchase, it's the industry's problem. If Detroit isn't producing cars people want to buy, that's Detroit's problem - not the taxpayers'.  --more--"

The agenda-pushing lies don't help, either.

Nevertheless:

"Saving Detroit - from itself" by Matthew F. Pawa | November 16, 2008"

Matthew F. Pawa, a lawyer in Newton, is an adjunct professor at Boston College Law School.

....   There is a third option: a government takeover of these companies with a mandate to make the green cars of the future. Only the creation of a government corporation with the power to take these companies over, shake up their management, unshackle them from their pension and healthcare liabilities, renegotiate union contracts, and give them a clear mission to produce the ultra-efficient, green cars of the future will save the American automobile industry.... 

The WORST of ALL WORLDS!!!! 

**************

The government should not provide taxpayer money to companies whose leaders remain hostile to the massive fuel economy improvements and greenhouse gas emissions reductions that are vital to our energy and environmental security....    Letting these companies die also should be off the table. They employ more than 200,000 people. These workers, their company towns, the dealerships nationwide, and millions of other workers reliant on the automobile industry would face economic catastrophe if the companies fail. Taxpayers would likely pick up the costs of pensions and other liabilities. The social costs would be enormous.

If taxpayers spend billions on a company like GM, which currently has a market value of $1.8 billion, we should have ownership. Congress should create a government corporation, charge it with buying a controlling stake in struggling, domestic automobile manufacturers, and give it a clear mission to shake up these companies and produce the clean, green cars of the future. 

Fascism is NO PROBLEM to the ENVIRONMENTALIST, huh?  One more reason to oppose their silly agenda!

A government-run automobile company could draw on the best minds and innovations in the country. Small companies that already have developed breakthrough technologies but lack the money to mass produce their vehicles could be brought into the enterprise. Broad legal authority could be granted to renegotiate union contracts. America could get out of the back seat on fuel economy and take a leadership role in producing the green cars of the future. And eventually, the government could sell off its stake piece by piece. 

Yeah, so PRIVATE INDUSTRY can BENEFIT AGAIN!! It's called SOCIALISM for the RICH!!!!

There is precedent for successful government corporations. Volkswagen was wholly government-owned for over a decade and even now remains partially government-owned. For over 70 years the Tennessee Valley Authority has met President Franklin Roosevelt's call for "a corporation clothed with the power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a private enterprise." 

That's FDR's FASCISM, man!!!  No surprise that this piece of scitte is on the OPS PAGE!!!!

The challenges America now faces are comparable to those we faced in the Great Depression. And they call for similarly far-reaching and visionary measures. The taxpayers should rescue the domestic automobile industry from itself. 

Why?  We ALREADY PAYED for their OUTSOURCING of said jobs!!!!!

A firefighter called for more water as hundreds of dwellings in the Oakridge Mobile Home Park burned to the ground yesterday in Los Angeles. What remained of the park smoldered after Santa Ana wind-whipped fires swept through the area. (David McNew/Getty Images)

I don't think that dribble is going to put out that fire!

LOS ANGELES - Southern Californians weathered a second straight day of devastation yesterday as wind-blasted wildfires destroyed hundreds of homes, shut down major freeways, and forced thousands of residents in the path of flames to flee to safety.

A fire that ravaged the Sylmar community in the hillsides above Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley grew to 6,500 acres - more than 10 square miles - and was only 10 percent contained. It sent residents fleeing in the dark of early morning as notorious Santa Ana winds topping 75 miles per hour torched cars, mobile homes, and bone-dry brush.

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said he was concerned that people might have died in the Oakridge Mobile Home Park because cars were found in the debris. He said police will have to wait until the ground cools to bring in search dogs.  "We have almost total devastation here in the mobile park," Los Angeles Fire Captain Steve Ruda said. "I can't even read the street names because the street signs are melting."

Fire officials estimated that 10,000 people were under orders to evacuate. Among them were residents of the Oakridge park, where about 500 trailers were lost to the flames. Many had housed senior citizens. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles, a day after he did so to the northwest in Santa Barbara County, where 111 homes burned to the ground Thursday night in the wealthy, star-studded community of Montecito.

And as many as 30 homes, some of them mansions, burned in a fire in Orange and Riverside counties, officials said. The Los Angeles blaze, whose cause is under investigation, threatened at least 1,000 structures, said Melissa Kelley, a city fire department spokeswoman. A burned resident was in serious condition, and four firefighters were treated for minor injuries.

At an evacuation center, Lucretia Romero, 65, wore a string of pearls and clutched a purse and jacket she took with her as firefighters shouted at them to flee hours earlier. Her daughter, Alisa, 42, wore a blood-stained shirt and pants. A helicopter dropping water on their home caused the entryway ceiling to collapse. Debris scratched her forehead and gave her a black eye.  They were optimistic that their home of 30 years survived because firefighters were there when they left. But the family cat, Doris, was missing.

Lucretia Romero said she saw smoke above the hills beyond the front door and then, within an hour, saw that a canyon across from her home was red with flame.  "They would drop water, the water would squash the flames and then two minutes later the flames would come back," she said. Firefighters soon banged on the door and gave them 10 minutes to evacuate.

Flames swept across the park and scorched cypress trees, Ruda said. Firefighters had to flee, grabbing residents and leaving hoses melted into the concrete.  Ruda produced a burned US flag on a broken stick as a sign of hope and bravery for firefighters. "The home that this flag was flying from is gone," he said.

The Santa Anas - dry winds that typically blow through Southern California between October and February - tossed embers ahead of flames and sparked new flare-ups. Walls of flame raced up ridge lines covered in sun-baked brush and surrounded high-power transmission line towers. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said power lines were down in places, and he asked residents to conserve power to help avoid possible blackouts.

Shortly after midnight, fire burned to the edge of the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center campus, knocking out power and prompting officials to remove two dozen critical patients.

--more--"