Vatican accepts Darwinism and now holds a conference on Alien life

•November 11, 2009 • 2 Comments

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/6536400/The-Vatican-joins-the-search-for-alien-life.html

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding a conference on astrobiology, the study of life beyond Earth, with scientists and religious leaders gathering in Rome this week.

For centuries, theologians have argued over what the existence of life elsewhere in the universe would mean for the Church: at least since Giordano Bruno, an Italian monk, was put to death by the Inquisition in 1600 for claiming that other worlds exist.

Among other things, extremely alien-looking aliens would be hard to fit with the idea that God “made man in his own image”.

Furthermore, Jesus Christ’s role as saviour would be confused: would other worlds have their own, tentacled Christ-figures, or would Earth’s Christ be universal?

However, just as the Church eventually made accommodations after Copernicus and Galileo showed that the Earth was not the centre of the universe, and when it belatedly accepted the truth of Darwin’s theory of evolution, Catholic leaders say that alien life can be aligned with the Bible’s teachings.

Father Jose Funes, a Jesuit astronomer at the Vatican Observatory and one of the organisers of the conference, said: “As a multiplicity of creatures exists on Earth, so there could be other beings, also intelligent, created by God.

“This does not conflict with our faith, because we cannot put limits on the creative freedom of God.”

Not everyone agrees. Paul Davies, a theoretical physicist and author of The Goldilocks Enigma, told The Washington Post that the threat to Christianity is “being downplayed” by Church leaders. He said: “I think the discovery of a second genesis would be of enormous spiritual significance.

“The real threat would come from the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence, because if there are beings elsewhere in the universe, then Christians, they’re in this horrible bind.

“They believe that God became incarnate in the form of Jesus Christ in order to save humankind, not dolphins or chimpanzees or little green men on other planets.”

The Academy conference will include presentations from scientists – by no means all of them Christians – on the discovery of planets outside our solar system, the geological record of early life on Earth, how life might have started on Earth, and whether “alien” life of a different biochemistry to our own might exist here without our knowing, among many other things.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_academies/acdscien/2009/booklet_astrobiology_17.pdf

Click the link above for the PDF on the conference

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/4588289/The-Vatican-claims-Darwins-theory-of-evolution-is-compatible-with-Christianity.html

Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said while the Church had been hostile to Darwin’s theory in the past, the idea of evolution could be traced to St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas.

Father Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Santa Croce University in Rome, added that 4th century theologian St Augustine had “never heard the term evolution, but knew that big fish eat smaller fish” and forms of life had been transformed “slowly over time”. Aquinas made similar observations in the Middle Ages.

Ahead of a papal-backed conference next month marking the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, the Vatican is also set to play down the idea of Intelligent Design, which argues a “higher power” must be responsible for the complexities of life.

The conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University will discuss Intelligent Design to an extent, but only as a “cultural phenomenon” rather than a scientific or theological issue.

Monsignor Ravasi said Darwin’s theories had never been formally condemned by the Roman Catholic Church, pointing to comments more than 50 years ago, when Pope Pius XII described evolution as a valid scientific approach to the development of humans.

Marc Leclerc, who teaches natural philosophy at the Gregorian University, said the “time has come for a rigorous and objective valuation” of Darwin by the Church as the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth approaches.

Professor Leclerc argues that too many of Darwin’s opponents, primarily Creationists, mistakenly claim his theories are “totally incompatible with a religious vision of reality”.

Earlier this week, prominent scientists and leading religious figures wrote to The Daily Telegraph to call for an end to the fighting over Darwin’s legacy.

They argued that militant atheists are turning people away from evolution by using it to attack religion while they also urge believers in creationism to acknowledge the overwhelming body of evidence that now exists to support Darwin’s theory.

The Church of England is seeking to bring Darwin back into the fold with a page on its website paying tribute to his “forgotten” work in his local parish, showing science and religion need not be at odds.

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yeah aliens..acceptance of darwin..conference on aliens..trying to appeal to a wide audience now..or is it softening up for some form of dislcosure coming?

401

A tale of 2 cities in pictures

•November 11, 2009 • 2 Comments

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Joe Cada shows off his US$8.5m haul from winning The World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

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A young Indian child cries as he is rescued with 19 other child labourers from a factory in Delhi.

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the nexus that is the world we live in..from one extreme to another..

401

Saudi and Yemeni fighting continues

•November 11, 2009 • Leave a Comment

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http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/11/200911917305983423.html

Yemeni rebels have released a video of a man who they identify as one of several Saudi soldiers in their custody, as fighting between Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government spilled over into Saudi Arabia.  

The rebels posted footage on the internet on Monday showing a man in military uniform. They also posted a picture of a military identification card, which they claim was issued by Saudi security forces.

The rebels identified the man, who is seen receiving medical attention in the video, as Ahmed Abdullah Mohammed al-Amri, but the authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.

The rebels have said they are holding several captured Saudi soldiers after Saudi ground forces crossed into Yemeni territory last week.

Saudi Arabia has denied crossing into Yemen, and has also dismissed claims that any of its soldiers have been captured. The military has admitted that a number of soldiers are missing.

Saudi Arabia began a series of air raids and artillery bombardments against the Houthi group after its fighters reportedly crossed from northern Yemen and took control of an area called Jebel al-Dukhan.

Riyadh later regained control of the area, Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, the assistant minister for defence and aviation, said on Saturday, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

The rebels have also accused the Saudi air force of using white phosphorous bombs in its offensive.

Mohammad Abdessalam, a rebel spokesman, told the AFP news agency on Monday: “The Saudi air raids resumed this morning. Saudi combat fighter jets launched intense raids against border areas inside Yemeni territory on Sunday night.

“The Saudi military used phosphorus bombs during those night raids, burning mountainous regions.”

A Saudi government adviser denied the charges, telling AFP the military “used flares” and “not phosphorous”.

Hundreds of people have died in northern Yemen since the country’s army began an offensive against the Houthis on August 11.

The fighters, concentrated mainly in the Saada and Amran provinces, are known as Houthis after their late leader, Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houthi, a Zaidi leader who was killed by the Yemen army in September 2004.

An offshoot of Shia Islam, the Zaidis are a minority in a predominantly Sunni Arabian peninsula, but form the majority in northern Yemen. Only a small minority of Zaidis are involved in the Houthi uprising.

The Yemeni government accuses the Houthis of seeking to restore an imamate overthrown in a 1962 coup that sparked eight years of civil war.

The Houthis, now led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, Hussein’s brother, insist they are fighting to defend their community against government aggression and marginalisation.

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i find it intriguing when two muslim countries fight each other..this is just a skirmish at this stage but could easily grow..do you think the saudis could be doing the dirty work for the usa?

401

Rudd gets owned by Climate Depot

•November 11, 2009 • 2 Comments

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http://www.climatedepot.com/a/3689/Australian-PM-Rudd-warns-skeptics-are-too-dangerous-to-ignore-and-are-holding-the-world-to-ransom–Climate-Depot-Responds

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd spewed out a rhetorical barrage on climate skeptics worldwide. See: Australian PM warns skeptics ‘are too ‘dangerous to ignore’ and are ‘holding the world to ransom’ – November 6, 2009. Also see: here and here for more coverage of Rudd’s speech.

Climate Depot has undertaken a point by point rebuttal to Rudd’s claims. The full text of Rudd’s speech is available here.

Rudd Claim: Skeptics are “powerful enough to threaten a deal on global climate change both in Copenhagen and beyond.”

Climate Depot Response: Yes, skepticism, the foundation of science, is and always has been strong enough to derail lavishly funded and politically motivated science based on wildly speculative climate model “predictions” and distortions of past climate records. A “scientifically meaningless” domestic carbon trading or international treaties will not impact global climate in any detectable ways, but will have huge human impacts.

Rudd Claim: Skeptics “constitute a powerful global force for inaction.”

Climate Depot Response: On the contrary, skeptics constitute a powerful force for scientific truth and morality based vibrant energy expansion to the developing world’s poor. To the extent that we can prevent “scientifically meaningless” climate treaties and regulations from passing, then yes, we plead guilty to promoting “inaction.” As former Thatcher science advisor Lord Christopher Monckton has said: “Climate change is a non-problem. The right answer to a non-problem is to have the courage to do nothing.”

Rudd Claim: “Climate skeptics are quite literally holding the world to ransom.”

Climate Depot Response: Reality check Mr. Rudd. Science, economics and reality are holding man-made global warming fear promoters like Rudd to ransom. It must be frustrating Mr. Rudd to have once believed you could hoodwink the people of your nation and the world to believe in climate fears and your purely symbolic “solutions.” Polling data from the U.S., the UK, Canada and your Australia show the public growing more skeptical. (See: Polls: ‘More Americans believe in haunted houses than man-made global warming’ – 37% vs. 36% ) The only “ransom” involved in this debate is the financial demands placed on countries to redistribute money based on collapsing climate fears. See: Reparations: Africa seeks climate change cash…demands billions in compensation for ‘damage caused by global warming’ & Global Carbon Tax Urged at UN Climate Conference & ‘Controlling climate? More like controlling humans’: Beware of ‘unprecedented transfer of wealth, power and control to domestic and global governance’

Rudd Claim: Our “children’s fate – and our grandchildren’s fate – will lie entirely with [skeptics' opposition].

Climate Depot Response: Nice maudlin touch, Mr. Rudd. The fact is children are probably the only ones left that you and your climate fear promoting friends can convince that a climate catastrophe is just around the corner and you and your colleagues are their saviors. You are in luck, Mr. Rudd. Climate Depot takes full responsibility for the fate of your children and grandchildren from any future man-made climate catastrophe. Climate Depot can and will gladly take public responsibility for the children and future grandchildren of our planet for “doing nothing” about climate. So there, problem solved.

Rudd Claim: “The legion of climate change skeptics are active across the world…”

Climate Depot Response: Yes, you are very correct on this point Mr. Rudd. Scientists dissenting from silly and baseless man-made global warming fears are literally standing up around the world – from New Zealand to Canada to Brazil to Mexico to Sweden to South Africa to Japan to Portugal and everywhere in between. See: 2009 U.S. Senate Report: 700 Plus Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Warming Claims and see: ‘Series of inconvenient developments for promoters of man-made global warming fears continue unabated’

The shock to you Mr. Rudd is that even the mainstream media is not abandoning man-made climate fears. See: Losing Their Religion: 2009 officially declared year the media lost their faith in man-made global warming fears

Rudd Claim: “The clock is ticking for the planet, but the climate change skeptics simply do not care.

Climate Depot Response: What clock is “ticking?” The one the UN warned of a ten year tipping point in 1989? See: U.N. Warning of 10-Year ‘Climate Tipping Point’ Began in 1989

In addition, NASA’s James Hansen and former Vice President Al Gore started their comical “tipping point” clocks a few years ago, while Prince Charles claimed a 96-month tipping point in July 2009! Even more absurd, the UN chief further shortened the “tipping point,” warning of ‘incalculable’ suffering without climate deal in December 2009! The question looms: Would you buy a used car from a salesman using such low-brow tactics, let alone, buy into man-made climate fear claims? Mr. Rudd, you must believe the public to be nothing more than a bunch of rubes if you want them to believe your climate tripe. See: MIT Climate Scientist Richard Lindzen: ‘Ordinary people see through man-made climate fears — but educated people are very vulnerable’ – July 6, 2009

Rudd Claim: “The vested interests at work are simply too great.”

Climate Depot Response: What “vested interests?” You are not claiming that skeptics have some sort of funding that is in any way comparable to the tens of billions spent promoting climate fears, are you? See: Gore’s path to become the first ‘Carbon Billionaire’ and see: The Global Warming Science Machine: $79 Billion and Counting

Rudd Claim: Skeptics “are a political attempt to subvert what is now a longstanding scientific consensus…”

Climate Depot Response: “Longstanding scientific consensus?” Surely you jest. Man-made global warming fears did not come in widespread vogue until the late 1980’s. In case you missed it, many of today’s warmers were promoting global cooling as late as 1970’s. See: Climate Depot’s Factsheet on 1970s Coming ‘Ice Age’ Claims: ‘Fears of a coming ice age, showed up in peer-reviewed literature, at scientific conferences, by prominent scientists and throughout the media’ The man-made global warming hypothesis is now failing in the scientific community. See: UK Astrophysicist: ‘The notion that CO2 warms world has come to a dead end’: They are trying to ‘prop up a ’scientific theory’ that has run out of so called facts’ and see: UN IPCC Scientist Declares ‘A Death Spiral for Climate Alarmism’ and see: New Report: UN Scientists Speak Out On Global Warming — As Skeptics!

South African UN Scientist Dr. Will Alexander wrote in March 2009, “’The whole climate change issue is about to fall apart…Heads will roll!” UK scientist Dr. David Bellamy once believed man-made climate fears, but has since reversed his views and become a skeptic. “The ­science has, quite simply, gone awry. In fact, it’s not even science any more, it’s anti-science, Bellamy said in November 2008.

The news is so grim for man-made climate fear activists that they are already looking for the next environmental scare to hype! See: AGW RIP? Is It Time for Next Eco-Scare Already? Gore’s producer Laure David touts plastic crisis: ‘Plastic waste is in some ways more alarming for us humans than global warming’ – July 31, 2009 & UK Green Party: ‘There exists a more serious crisis than the ‘CO2 crisis’: the oxygen levels are dropping and the human activity has decreased them by 1/3 or ½’

Rudd Claim: The consensus is supported by “4000 scientists appointed by governments from virtually every country in the world.”

Climate Depot Response: Why not make up higher numbers? Why not just claim 50,000 UN scientists support the “consensus?” What silliness.

Reality Check: 2009 U.S. Senate Minority Report of dissenting scientists has pushed the total to over 700 skeptical international scientists – a dramatic increase from the original 650 scientists featured in the initial December 11, 2008 release. The 59 additional scientists added to the 255-page Senate Minority report since the initial release 13 ½ weeks ago represents an average of over four skeptical scientists a week. The over 700 dissenting scientists are now more than 13 times the number of UN scientists (52) who authored the media-hyped IPCC 2007 Summary for Policymakers. Update: Numbers Racket: Rudd blunders in claiming ‘4000′ UN scientists: Reality Check: Only 60 UN experts ‘explicitly supported the claim made by the IPCC that global warming represents a threat to the planet’ – Nov. 6, 2009

See: Team of Scientists’ Open Letter To U.S. Senators: ‘Claim of consensus is fake’

Plus UN scientists speak out – against the climate fear claims! New Report: UN Scientists Speak Out On Global Warming — As Skeptics!

Here is a very small sampling of what current and former UN scientists have to say about the UN and its scientific methods.

Warming fears are the “worst scientific scandal in the history…When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists.”UN IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, an award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist.

“The IPCC has actually become a closed circuit; it doesn’t listen to others. It doesn’t have open minds… I am really amazed that the Nobel Peace Prize has been given on scientifically incorrect conclusions by people who are not geologists.”Indian geologist Dr. Arun D. Ahluwalia at Punjab University and a board member of the UN-supported International Year of the Planet.

“Temperature measurements show that the [climate model-predicted mid-troposphere] hot zone is non-existent. This is more than sufficient to invalidate global climate models and projections made with them!”- UN IPCC Scientist Dr. Steven M. Japar, a PhD atmospheric chemist who was part of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Second (1995) and Third (2001) Assessment Reports, and has authored 83 peer-reviewed publications and in the areas of climate change, atmospheric chemistry, air pollutions and vehicle emissions.

“I was at the table with three Europeans, and we were having lunch. And they were talking about their role as lead authors. And they were talking about how they were trying to make the report so dramatic that the United States would just have to sign that Kyoto Protocol,” Christy told CNN on May 2, 2007. – Alabama State Climatologist Dr. John Christy of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, served as a UN IPCC lead author in 2001 for the 3rd assessment report and detailed how he personally witnessed UN scientists attempting to distort the science for political purposes.

“Gore prompted me to start delving into the science again and I quickly found myself solidly in the skeptic camp…Climate models can at best be useful for explaining climate changes after the fact.”Meteorologist Hajo Smit of Holland, who reversed his belief in man-made warming to become a skeptic, is a former member of the Dutch UN IPCC committee.

“The quantity of CO2 we produce is insignificant in terms of the natural circulation between air, water and soil… I am doing a detailed assessment of the UN IPCC reports and the Summaries for Policy Makers, identifying the way in which the Summaries have distorted the science.”South African Nuclear Physicist and Chemical Engineer Dr. Philip Lloyd, a UN IPCC co-coordinating lead author who has authored over 150 refereed publications.

“After reading [UN IPCC chairman] Pachauri’s asinine comment [comparing skeptics to] Flat Earthers, it’s hard to remain quiet.”Climate statistician Dr. William M. Briggs, who specializes in the statistics of forecast evaluation, serves on the American Meteorological Society’s Probability and Statistics Committee and is an Associate Editor of Monthly Weather Review.

Rudd Claim: Skeptic “attempt to twist the agreed science in the direction of a predetermined political agenda to kill climate change action.”

Climate Depot Response: Very interesting choice of words – “agreed science” The “science” of man-made global warming fears is literally the best science politics can manufacture. See New Report: UN Scientists Speak Out On Global Warming — As Skeptics! The problem, Mr. Rudd, is that your view of “agreed science” is collapsing in real world data, peer-reviewed studies and a growing number of dissenting scientists. See: ‘Series of inconvenient developments for promoters of man-made global warming fears continue unabated’

Rudd Claim: “It reminds me of the efforts of the smoking lobby decades ago as they tried for years to politically subvert by so-called scientific means that there was any link between smoking and lung cancer.”

Climate Depot Response: Great analogy Mr. Rudd! Climate Depot agrees, the smoking analogy is very apt. But alas, it is the promoters of man-made climate fears that are mimicking the tobacco lobbyists actions. See: Climate Fear Promoters mimic tobacco industry tactics Excerpt: This [current climate fear promoting] strategy provides a positive “pro-science” public stance that masks the ignominious activity of institutional and professional persecution of numerous scientists whose honest work casts legitimate doubt upon the more alarmist projections of the supposed “consensus.” Like the tobacco industry, this campaign has: “Manufactured uncertainty and fear by stridently proclaiming certainty and consensus based on dubious and uncertain modeled results predicting disastrous consequences of a warmer climate.”

Rudd Claim: “What absolute political cowardice” [on the part of skeptics].

Climate Depot Response: Cowardice? Scientists have literally risked their careers to go against today’s politically motivated “consensus.” On the contrary, skeptics are courageous to wage a battle against the “agree science” you take as a matter of faith. See: EPA further muzzles global warming skeptic Dr. Alan Carlin – August 25, 2009 & Other climate fear promoters are using threats and intimidation to silence the climate debate. See: ‘Execute’ Skeptics! Shock Call To Action: ‘At what point do we jail or execute global warming deniers’ — ‘Shouldn’t we start punishing them now?’ – June 3, 2009

Rudd Claim: “What an absolute failure of logic [by skeptics].”

Climate Depot Response: Logic? Let’s review Mr. Rudd. You are lamenting the fact that skeptics are opposed to a “scientifically meaningless” climate “solution” process that could condemn the estimated 1.6 billion energy impoverished people in the developing world to a continued nasty brutish and short existence based on collapsing scientific claims. See: India: ‘It is morally wrong for us to reduce emissions when 40% of Indians do not have access to electricity’ Skeptics promote a vibrant energy policy that promotes development and expands energy around the globe. The sooner we can eliminate the UN from climate and energy policy, the better off energy distribution and the developing world’s poor will become. The world needs energy initiatives, not anti-energy initiatives, and as we go forward, the less the United Nations has to do with climate and energy, the better. The only people “pitching a do-nothing approach to climate change” are the UN and the U.S. Congress. Why else would the Kyoto Protocol not even have a measurable impact on global temps (assuming they were correct on the science ) and it was fully enacted?

It is the U.S. Congress and the “scientifically meaningless” Waxman-Markey bill that even Obama’s EPA admits will not have a measurable impact on global Co2 levels, let alone any measurable or detectable impact on global temperatures. The man-made climate fear promoters have been “pitching a do-nothing approach to climate change…” since the movement’s launch in 1988 by consistently promoting purely symbolic “solutions” to global warming. Mr. Rudd, you claim that carbon trading and UN treaties are some sort of an “insurance” policy against global warming. But a simple question to ask is: Would you purchase fire insurance on your home that had a huge up front premium for virtually no payout if you home burned down? If you answered YES to such an “insurance” policy, then Congress and the UN has a deal for you with their cap-and-trade and climate legislation.

If we did actually face a man-made climate catastrophe and the “solutions” of the UN and Congress were our only hope, we would all be DOOMED!

Rudd Claim: Skeptics “are too dangerous to be ignored”

Climate Depot Response: Fully agree with you Mr. Rudd. Scientific truth, reality based economics are always “dangerous” to climate charlatans peddling their wares of a coming climate catastrophe. It used to be those who stood on street corners warning of the end times were thought of as nutcases, now those same views are held by world leaders. It is sad to see “climate astrology” replace actual science. See: Obama’s ‘Climate Astrologer’: Energy Sec. Chu claims he knows ‘what the future will be 100 years from now’: ‘Shouldn’t Chu be touting these scary predictions of the year 2100 on a boardwalk with a full deck of Tarot Cards? Sadly Mr. Rudd, it is you and your fellow climate alarm promoters that are touting faith based science.

Rudd Claim: “The danger skeptics pose is this – by collapsing political momentum towards national and global action on climate change, they collapse global political will to act at all. They are the stick that gets stuck in the wheel, that despite its size may yet bring the train to a complete stop.”

Climate Depot Response: We plead guilty Mr. Rudd! Our goal is simple: To bring the train to a complete stop. You did figure us out correctly on that point.

Rudd Claim: “Skeptics are well resourced and well represented by political conservatives in many, many countries.”

Climate Depot Response: Wrong again, Mr. Rudd. Politically left scientists and environmental activists are now dissenting from climate fears in growing numbers. See: Politically Left Scientists Now Rejecting Climate Fears – Jan. 2009

Rudd Claim: “This brigade of do-nothing climate change skeptics are dangerous because if they succeed, then it is all of us who will suffer.”

Climate Depot Response: Yes, scientific truth, economic reality and political realism are always “dangerous” to politically and ideologically motivated climate fear promoters. As for “suffering” from failure to “act”, please explain how UN treaties and carbon trading “save the planet?” Even the Washington Post understands climate reality. See: Wash. Post’s Moment of Clarity: ‘Carbon emissions will not be reduced by international bureaucrats sitting in a room and signing a piece of paper’ – July 14, 2009

Rudd Claim: “Their aim is not to convince every person on earth of the follies of acting on climate change. Their aim is to erode just enough of the political will that action becomes impossible.”

Climate Depot Response: Actually Mr. Rudd, the more messrs Gore, Kerry, Brown, Obama, and yourself speak, the more the public grows skeptical. So you and your colleagues have been a huge help in helping to spread skepticism and expand opposition to silly and economically destructive global climate treaties.

Rudd Claim: “If Copenhagen does not deliver the outcome we so urgently need, no individual climate change skeptic will be responsible, but each of them will have played their part.”

Climate Depot Response: Goody! Let us hope Copenhagen does not deliver! For the sake of the planet and its inhabitants. Skeptics will proudly celebrate the collapse of Copenhagen and do so knowing our children and grandchildren will be better off. Yes, our children and grandchildren will be much better off without a UN body that uses used-car salesman tactics dictating meaningless climate “action.”

Rudd Claim: “In this debate the climate change skeptics have erected an intellectual house of cards based on one simple premise: that the cost of not acting is nothing.”

Climate Depot Response: Actually, you have your logic reversed Mr. Rudd. The cost of doing “something” as defined by the U.S. Congress and the UN achieves “nothing” in results. It is all economic pain for no climate gain. At best under UN climate treaties, the world accomplishes “nothing” as far as climate goes, but we risk a neo-colonialism of Western nations imposing regulations on impoverished developing nations that can only be called immoral. See: Flashback 2002: U.S. Environmentalist Laments Introduction of Electricity in Africa; Flashback 2002: Jerry Brown says ‘it’s not viable’ for poverty stricken developing world to emulate prosperity of U.S.Ugandan Activist: ‘African life span is lower than it was in U.S. and Europe 100 years ago. But Africans told we shouldn’t develop’ because wealthy Western nations are ‘worried about global warming’: Excerpt: ‘Telling Africans they can’t have electricity and economic development – is immoral’; Flashback 2003: S. African Activist: Poor countries should just say: ‘Go to hell’ to Wealthy Western Nations: ‘If you don’t want us to fill in our wetlands, then you bomb your big cities like Washington, a third of Holland and Rotterdam and so on, and restore them to being swamps’; Flashback 2002: UN Earth Summit’s Failure Called ‘Good Thing’ For Poor Nations: Excerpt: The first world became rich without the IMFs and World Banks, and the less of them that are around, the more likely the Third World is to do the same.”; It is a moral issue! – ‘People cannot cook’…Chad’s Global Warming Inspired Ban on Charcoal leads to ‘Desperate’ Families! – January 16, 2009

Poor Kenyans rebel as UK grocery store’s “carbon friendly” policies may stop food exports; India: ‘It is morally wrong for us to reduce emissions when 40% of Indians do not have access to electricity’

Report: ‘Green, UN, rich nation and African elites impose deadly anti-development colonialism’ – June 8, 2009; Greenpeace Leader: There is urgent need for the suppression of economic growth in U.S…’Lifestyle of the rich in the world is not a sustainable model’ – August 20, 2009; Flashback 2002: Average American Lifestyle Called “Total Bull—t” by Environmentalist – Excerpt: ‘If anyone in a developing country looks to the U.S. and wants a lifestyle like the average American–it’s total bull—t!’; Flashback 2000: Actor Chevy Chase Says ‘Socialism Works’ — ‘Cuba might prove that’; Black clergymen protest Robert Redford ‘link his environmentalism to racism’; Obama Advisor Warren Buffett ‘repeats criticism of cap and trade, saying it would be a huge, regressive tax’

Rudd Claim: “Skeptics claim that the cost of not acting is nothing.”

Climate Depot Response: Wrong again. Skeptics claim that RESULT of “acting” is nothing in terms of climate results.

Rudd Claim: “Their skepticism is in fact radical in its riskiness and recklessness. By deliberately undermining and eroding the capacity to achieve both domestic and international action on climate change the skeptics are attempting to force the world to take the single most reckless bet in our long history.”

Climate Depot Response: Mr. Rudd, you repeat yourself ad nauseum. There is no “reckless” bet. The way forward is already happening. Improving technologies, expanding energy and growing economies in the developing world will improve the global environment more than any UN treaty or domestic carbon trading ever conceivably could.

Rudd Claim: “Skeptics are doing so in the total absence of any genuine body of evidence.”

Climate Depot Response: Oh please Mr. Rudd. Here is but a sampling of the latest scientific studies and real world data that are challenging your politically motivated science views. See: ‘Series of inconvenient developments for promoters of man-made global warming fears continue unabated’

Rudd Claim: “The logic of these skeptics belongs in a casino, not a science lab, and not in the ranks of any responsible government…their prescription for inaction has all the legitimacy of a roulette wheel.”

Climate Depot Response: The casino analogy is apt. People are being told that we must enact a new UN climate treaty or face certain doom. The problem is the casino is run by the UN and it is loaded with corruption. (See: Internal Report Says U.N. Climate Agency Rife With Bad Practices – Fox News – December 4, 2008 )The UN casino pit bosses are offering a sucker bet. Put all your money on a “climate treaty” or “carbon trading” and you will be allowed to live. Don’t do it and you will face bodily harm and loss of property. It’s an offer you can’t refuse. See: La Cosa Climate: Commerce Sec. Warns: Americans Need ‘To Pay’ Or Face Mother Nature’s Wrath — Pay up or face ‘floods, droughts and rising sea levels’: An offer you can’t refuse — Pay up or world faces a ‘catastrophe’

Congressional Weather-Makers: ‘Climate Astrologer’ Boxer warns of ‘droughts, floods, fires, loss of species’ — if Senate fails to pass climate bill

What UN casino is not telling patrons is that the “climate treaty” bet is nothing more than pure symbolism that could harm the poorest of residents. People are wising up, gambling with the UN is not a winning bet.

Rudd Claim: “You are betting our jobs, our houses, our farms, our reefs, our economy and our future on an intuition – on a gut feeling; on a political prejudice you have about science…You’ve got to know when to fold ‘em – and for the skeptics, that time has come.

Climate Depot Response: Aha, yes, the time to fold has arrived. Here is a very small sampling of the current reality you want to deny Mr. Rudd: See: ‘Series of inconvenient developments for promoters of man-made global warming fears continue unabated’ and ‘Dramatic acceleration of developments against the claims of a so-called ‘consensus.’

UN Fears (More) Global Cooling Commeth! IPCC Scientist Warns UN: We may be about to enter ‘one or even 2 decades during which temps cool’

‘Sun Sleeps’: Danish Scientist declares ‘global warming has stopped and a cooling is beginning…enjoy global warming while it lasts’

Prominent Russian Scientist: ‘We should fear a deep temperature drop — not catastrophic global warming’ : ‘Warming had a natural origin…CO2 is ‘not guilty’

At long last Mr. Rudd, have you no shame?

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brilliant article by climate depot..you can insert any leaders name into the responses but in this case it is rudd..they all scream “skeptics” and “deniers”..but when faced with facts their claims turn to bulldust

401

The bravest man in Iran or a hoax?

•November 11, 2009 • 1 Comment

Iran Challenging Khamenei

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gA30yThqLX6xY9fjOjKxU6E-oWowD9BPL8V80

An unassuming college math student has become an unlikely hero to many in Iran for daring to criticize the country’s most powerful man to his face.

Mahmoud Vahidnia has received an outpouring of support from government opponents for the challenge — unprecedented in a country where insulting supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is a crime punishable by prison.

Perhaps most surprising, the young math whiz has so far suffered no repercussions from the confrontation at a question-and-answer session between Khamenei and students at Tehran’s Sharif Technical University.

In fact, Iran’s clerical leadership appears to be touting the incident as a sign of its tolerance — so much so that some Iranians at first believed the 20-minute exchange was staged by the government, though opposition commentators are now convinced Vahidnia was the real thing.

Details of the encounter were reported on the state news agency IRNA and in a pro-government newspaper, Keyhan, which gave its account with a headline reading, “The revolutionary leader’s fatherly response to critical youth.” Even Khamenei’s official Web site mentioned the incident.

Still some of those in attendance at the Oct. 28 forum say Khamenei appeared taken aback by the questioning and left the meeting early, according to commentary posted on pro-reform Web sites.

The session began with a speech in which Khamenei told the students the “biggest crime” was to question the results of the June 12 presidential election that returned hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power. Khamenei himself declared Ahmadinejad the victor despite opposition claims of widespread fraud.

After the speech, Vahidnia raised his hand, then for 20 minutes he criticized the Iranian leader over the fierce crackdown on postelection protests, in which the opposition says 69 people were killed and thousands were arrested.

In brief excerpts broadcast on state TV, the thin, bespectacled Vahidnia was shown standing behind a podium, gesturing at times for emphasis.

“I don’t know why in this country it’s not allowed to make any kind of criticism of you,” said the student, wearing a long-sleeved blue polo shirt and appearing calm.

“In the past three to five years that I have been reading newspapers, I have seen no criticism of you, not even by the Assembly of Experts, whose duty is to criticize and supervise the performance of the leader,” he said, referring to the clerical body that chooses the country’s supreme leader.

Khamenei countered, “We welcome criticism. We never said not to criticize us. … There’s plenty of criticism that I receive,” according to accounts in state media and on opposition Web sites.

The boldness of Vahidnia’s comments underlines how Iran’s postelection turmoil has undermined the once rock-solid taboo against challenging the supreme leader. During demonstrations, young protesters have frequently chanted “Death to the dictator” — referring to Khamenei — and even “Khamenei is a murderer.” Several high-ranking pro-opposition clerics have also been openly critical.

The supreme leader stands at the top of the hierarchy of Iran’s clerical rulers, and his word is supposed to be final on political issues. Scores of Iranian writers, bloggers and academics have been jailed for writing what authorities have deemed as insults to Khamenei.

But so far Vahidnia has been spared. The president of Sharif University even defended the student, saying he spoke within the law.

The incident has propelled the soft-spoken man in his early 20s to national prominence and inspired widespread support on the Web.

The night of the encounter, fellow students gathered, shouting, “God is great” and “death to the dictator” in support of their colleague, according to video footage posted on pro-reform Web sites.

“Vahidnia showed a new atmosphere which is the true characteristic of the Iranian people,” Ataollah Mohajerani, a former pro-reform Cabinet minister, wrote on his Web site. “If from now on in gatherings in the presence of the supreme leader one finds the courage to get up and speak in defense of justice and right, the climate of tyranny will suffocate.”

Speaking to The Associated Press, Mohajerani dismissed the idea that Vahidnia could have been planted by authorities, but said the state was using the incident to try to paint itself in a better light.

“Khamenei wants to show that the leader is totally prepared to face criticism,” Mohajerani said in a telephone interview from London.

During the face-to-face exchange, Vahidnia also raised allegations of abuse of imprisoned opposition protesters.

“You, who have the role of a father, when you deal with your opponents in such a manner, your subordinates will likely behave similarly, as we have seen in the prisons,” he told Khamenei, referring to the reports of torture and rape.

He also criticized state-run Iranian television and radio for their depiction of the protests as the work of troublemakers and pawns of Iran’s foreign enemies. “Do you think radio and television have portrayed the recent events accurately or broadcast a caricature-type image of them?” he asked.

The supreme leader countered that he had his own criticisms of state media, including their failure to give enough coverage to the government’s “positive achievements.”

“Don’t assume that because I appoint the head of state television, they bring all their programs to me for approval,” the Iranian leader said, adding that state broadcasts of the situation in the country were “incomplete.”

Vahidnia, a gold medalist at the country’s National Math Olympics two years ago, told the pro-opposition Alef Web site that officials at first barred him from speaking, but Khamenei apparently allowed him to go ahead. He said he was interrupted several times by the event’s moderator who insisted they were out of time. Vahidnia could not be reached for further comment.

The evening of the encounter, state television aired excerpts of Khamenei’s speech but did not show Vahidnia or mention the exchange. Days later, however, it ran a report denying rumors he had been arrested and showed an image of him at the gathering.

In Italy, at least two parliament members have issued calls for their government to offer Vahidnia asylum if necessary.

Lawmaker Benedetto Della Vedova called the student a symbol of the “demands for change and modernity” in Iran. Another parliament deputy, Angelo Bonelli, praised Vahidnia’s “courage” and urged political leaders to stand by his “fight for rights and democracy.”

Vahidnia’s comments were so brazen and unprecedented that many Iranians thought it was staged by the government.

“I thought it was a hoax, to show us that we have freedom here,” said one young Iranian woman who has participated in the opposition demonstrations. She asked not to be identified for fear of getting into trouble with authorities.

“But now that it looks like it was real, I think it’s a huge deal,” she said. “Never before has anyone had the courage to do such a thing.”

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interesting..i smell a hoax..i maybe wrong..but it just doesnt sit right with me..

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Palestinians tear down their wall

•November 11, 2009 • Leave a Comment

2009119164552805738_20

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/11/2009119151639325464.html

Palestinians and foreign activists have torn down segments of Israel’s separation wall in a demonstration marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In the town of Qalandiya in the occupied West Bank, a group of masked activists using a lorry pulled down a two-metre cement block before Israeli security forces confronted them with tear gas grenades.

Several of the estimated 50 demonstrators passed through the hole they had made, hoisting a Palestinian flag and setting ablaze tyres on the other side.

Protesters were wearing shirts with the text “Jerusalem we are coming”, which was the slogan for the protest.

Abdullah Abu Rahma, leader of the People’s Campaign to Fight the Wall, said: “Today we commemorate 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

“This is the beginning of the activities, which we do, to express our hold on our land, and our refusal to this wall – the wall of torture, the wall of humiliation.”

Activists have vowed to hold a week of protests in the Palestinian territories and around the world, including a campaign calling for the release of all anti-wall activists currently imprisoned.

Last Friday, Palestinian youths almost toppled a segment of wall using a hydraulic car-jack in the West Bank village of Nilin.

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great symbology on the anniversary of the berlin wall coming down..cant see this wall coming down as easy though..

401

G20 support for stimulus’ sends the USD downwards

•November 11, 2009 • Leave a Comment

one_dollar_bill_reverse-united_states_

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8351686.stm

US shares have hit a 13-month high and stock markets in Europe have jumped sharply after the G20 pledged to keep supporting the global economy.

The main Dow Jones index in the US climbed 203 points, or 2%, to 10,223.

Investors took confidence from comments made by the G20 finance ministers on Saturday that they would keep economic stimulus measures in place.

Governments have pumped billions of dollars into their economies to boost demand during the downturn.

They have also kept interest rates very low.

Now that most major economies have started to grow again, there had been uncertainty about when governments would withdraw such support.

But the G20 pledge gave investors hope that economic recovery would continue on the back of continued support.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index climbed 1.8%, France’s Cac 40 gained 2.1%, while Germany’s Dax rose 2.4%.

Talk of low interest rates also put downward pressure on the dollar, which in turn pushed the price of gold to a new all-time high of $1,107 an ounce.

The dollar is seen as a safe haven investment, so when it is weak, many investors prefer the security offered by gold.

However, not everyone is convinced that the good times are here to stay. Some analysts believe that sentiment, rather than company fundamentals such as profitability, is driving shares higher.

“Central banks around the world are continuing to prop up the economy and support risk taking. There’s very little regard for valuation,” said Jack Ablin at Harris Private Bank.

“It looks to me like a pure risk rally and it is consistent with the G20 comments.”

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a fantasy rally on the dow based on stimulus’ that the money actually isnt there for..just print it..keep throwing money at something and it will go up..and when the market goes up the dollar goes down

401

China will have the new world revered currency – Soros

•November 11, 2009 • 3 Comments

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george knows the score..listen to this man..he is a master string puller

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North and South Korea clash on the water..shots exchanged

•November 10, 2009 • 5 Comments

KOREA NORTH

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_koreas_naval_clash

Navy ships of the two Koreas exchanged fire Tuesday along their disputed western sea border, South Korean military officers said.

A South Korean warship shot at a North Korean navy ship that crossed the disputed western sea border on Tuesday morning and the North’s ship shot back, said an officer at the Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Another officer said there were no South Korean casualties, though it was unclear whether there were any on the North Korean side. He said that the North Korean ship was seriously damaged and that it turned back toward northern waters after the brief skirmish.

Both officers spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

Navies of the two Koreas fought deadly skirmishes along the western sea border in 1999 and 2002. The clash in 2002 left six South Korean soldiers dead and others wounded.

The two Koreas have yet to agree on their sea border more than 50 years after the end of their 1950-53 civil war, which ended in an armistice and not a permanent peace treaty.

Instead, they rely on a line that the then-commander of U.N. forces, which fought for the South, drew unilaterally at the end of the conflict.

North Korea last month accused South Korean warships of broaching its territory in waters off the west coast and warned of a clash in the zone, which is a rich crab fishing area.

The latest conflict comes amid international tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and expectations that Pyongyang and the United States may soon engage in direct talks.

Meanwhile, there were no signs of tension along the heavily fortified land border separating the two Koreas. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that were no unusual troop movements on the North Korean side of the land border.

At Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, an Associated Press photographer said the situation there was normal. A group of Chinese tourists was visiting on the North Korean side.

The area is where officers from North Korea hold meetings with their counterparts from South Korea, the United States and other members of the United Nations command.

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i was wondering why it had gotten so quiet over there..its back on now..looks like the north was the aggressor here as they entered southern waters..we await again the next move in this game of chess

401

CIA used Uzbekistan for US/UK torture

•November 10, 2009 • Leave a Comment

CRAIG

http://rawstory.com/2009/11/ambassador-cia-people-tortured/

The CIA relied on intelligence based on torture in prisons in Uzbekistan, a place where widespread torture practices include raping suspects with broken bottles and boiling them alive, says a former British ambassador to the central Asian country.

Craig Murray, the rector of the University of Dundee in Scotland and until 2004 the UK’s ambassador to Uzbekistan, said the CIA not only relied on confessions gleaned through extreme torture, it sent terror war suspects to Uzbekistan as part of its extraordinary rendition program.

“I’m talking of people being raped with broken bottles,” he said at a lecture late last month that was re-broadcast by the Real News Network. “I’m talking of people having their children tortured in front of them until they sign a confession. I’m talking of people being boiled alive. And the intelligence from these torture sessions was being received by the CIA, and was being passed on.”

Human rights groups have long been raising the alarm about the legal system in Uzbekistan. In 2007, Human Rights Watch declared that torture is “endemic” to the country’s justice system.

Murray said he only realized after his stint as ambassador that the CIA was sending people to be tortured in Uzbekistan, country he describes as a “totalitarian” state that has never moved on from its communist era, when it was a part of the Soviet Union.

Suspects in Uzbekistan’s gulags “were being told to confess to membership in Al Qaeda. They were told to confess they’d been in training camps in Afghanistan. They were told to confess they had met Osama bin Laden in person. And the CIA intelligence constantly echoed these themes.”

“I was absolutely stunned — it changed my whole world view in an instant — to be told that London knew [the intelligence] coming from torture, that it was not illegal because our legal advisers had decided that under the United Nations convention against torture, it is not illegal to obtain or use intelligence gained from torture as long as we didn’t do the torture ourselves,” Murray said.

Murray asserts that the primary motivation for US and British military involvement in central Asia has to do with large natural gas deposits in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. As evidence, he points to the plans to build a natural gas pipeline through Afghanistan that would allow Western oil companies to avoid Russia and Iran when transporting natural gas out of the region.

Murray alleged that in the late 1990s the Uzbek ambassador to the US met with then-Texas Governor George W. Bush to discuss a pipeline for the region, and out of that meeting came agreements that would see Texas-based Enron gain the rights to Uzbekistan’s natural gas deposits, while oil company Unocal worked on developing the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline.

“The consultant who was organizing this for Unocal was a certain Mr. Karzai, who is now president of Afghanistan,” Murray noted.

Murray said part of the motive in hyping up the threat of Islamic terrorism in Uzbekistan through forced confessions was to ensure the country remained on-side in the war on terror, so that the pipeline could be built.

“There are designs of this pipeline, and if you look at the deployment of US forces in Afghanistan, as against other NATO country forces in Afghanistan, you’ll see that undoubtedly the US forces are positioned to guard the pipeline route. It’s what it’s about. It’s about money, it’s about oil, it’s not about democracy.”

The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline is slated to be completed in 2014, with $7.6 billion in funding from the Asian Development Bank.

Murray was dismissed from his position as ambassador in 2004, following his first public allegations that the British government relied on torture in Uzbekistan for intelligence.

***

GRAPHIC IMAGE WARNING FOR THE FOLLOWING LINK

George Bush and his mate from Uzbekistan:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3943.htm

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very damning report and you can watch it on the youtube links as well..the link has some pictures which are very graphic but do put into perspective what countries like uzbekistan get away with..all whilst their masters do nothing

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2014 Asian Games – Incheon, South Korea

•November 10, 2009 • Leave a Comment

17th_asiad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Asian_Games

The 17th Asian Games, officially known as the XVII Asiad, is the largest sporting event in Asia governed by Olympic Council of Asia. It will be held in Incheon, South Korea from September 18 to October 4, 2014 with 37 disciplines of sport set to be competed.

http://www.e-architect.co.uk/korea/donghae_hansome_resort.htm

The East Sea, the first place to see the sunrise in Korea, is famous for its beautiful seashores. That is why the development of Hansome is key to the revival of the East Sea area’s tourism industry. The Hansome master plan incorporated a variety of programs to satisfy the needs of the tourist. Lodging facilities include mansion condos, dome houses, a tower condo and the omega hotel with a spectacular view of the East Sea. Shopping facilities include a Bazzar that is centered around a great open spaced plaza. Entertainment facilities include beautiful natural beaches and a indoor sea water theme park that can be used all seasons and a floating swimming pool out in the sea. Marina facilities include a club house and a marina dock.

donghae_hansome_resort_k250909_1

donghae_hansome_resort_k250909_3

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and for those that were wondering..yes..incheon has a ferris wheel as well..no pictures sorry

 http://www.asiawebdirect.com/south-korea/incheon/ramada-songdo-hotel/

Incheon, a metropolitan and major seaport on the west coast of South Korea, situated near Seoul. The city boundaries comprise rice paddies for 21 percent and another 44 percent is forested, where the South Koreas only official Chinatown is located, which sits many of Chinese eateries. Songdo Resort has a large ferris wheel which gives good views of the surrounding area.

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have a look at what they building on the east side of south korea and then look at the logo for the games..see anything similar?

as the sun rises it is first seen at the new development each day and i bet it shines perfectly through the “O”..would you call that sun worship..or just coincidence and a pretty design?

“have ferris wheel.. can host” :)

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Chavez warns army to “prepare for war”

•November 10, 2009 • Leave a Comment

pphugochavez061109

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26323722-23109,00.html

Venezuela must prepare for war – Chavez

President Hugo Chavez has urged his military leaders to prepare “for war” and to ready citizens to “defend the homeland” as tensions mount over fractious ties with neighbouring Colombia.

“Let’s not waste a day on our main aim: to prepare for war and to help the people prepare for war, because it is everyone’s responsibility,” Mr Chavez said during his weekly radio and television show.

The comments come at a tense time for the region as Colombia signs a controversial military agreement with the United States to let US forces use seven military bases in Colombia for anti-drug operations.

Mr Chavez has repeatedly voiced deep fears of US encroachment in the region.

“Students, revolutionaries, workers, women: all are ready to defend this sacred homeland called Venezuela,” he said on Sunday, adding that the best way to “avoid war is to prepare for it”.

Relations between the neighbours were frozen in July after Colombia announced an agreement to lease the use of military bases to the United States.

Bilateral trade, which in 2008 exceeded $US7 billion ($7.58 billion), has largely subsided since then, notably as tensions have risen along the border region, which extends some 2000 kilometres.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110697&sectionid=351020704

Chavez approval falls, as shortages continue.

Rations on power and water in Venezuela have put citizens under pressure, challenging President Hugo Chavez’s popularity in his strongholds.

The rationing, which is expected to go on for months, has spread through out the nation, and has even caused disturbance in poor areas, where the leftist Venezuelan leader enjoys a broad support.

People of the poor Marino neighbor hood in the eastern city of Puerto la Cruz, bang pots and pans every time the power goes out. During a two-day outage they marched to the local electricity office, burning tires and throwing rocks.
“I only have a bit of food and it’s going off,” said Maribel Taberoa, one of the protesters.

In a series of TV appearances Chavez blamed the shortage of water on what he called the driest season in Venezuela in 40 years, and inappropriate bathroom habits.

He recently called on his people to stop singing in the shower and to end their showers in three minutes.

The state water company vowed that people who waste water will face fines of five times the value of the water.

While Venezuela has experienced water shortages before, the low rainfall and the power cuts are the worst in the country.

Chavez is very popular among the poor and rural areas, but his overall approval ratings have dropped from over 60 percent in 2009 to around 50 percent now, according to pollsters.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=17621

Venezuela Catholic leaders fear Chavez’s property confiscations could target Church.

Widespread anxiety exists among Catholic leaders in Venezuela who fear that President Hugo Chavez could try to confiscate churches, schools and other church property and try to “eliminate” the work of the Catholic Church, a source close to the Venezuelan Bishops Conference has told Aid to the Church in Need.The source, who asked not to be named, told the international Catholic pastoral charity that tensions have increased after President Chavez’s decision to confiscate leading financial institutions and businesses around Maracaibo Lake which are connected with the oil industry.

Six weeks ago in a densely populated area of the capital Caracas a district council leader announced plans to seize several church-run schools, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports.

Government figures characterized the initiative as part of an effort to protect historic buildings of national importance. Church figures fear that it is the first step in a thoroughgoing confiscation program affecting church property nationwide.

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/ahmadinejad-to-visit-this-year-chavez-20091109-i415.html

Ahmadinejad to visit this year: Chavez

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Sunday he expects to welcome a visit this year by his Iranian counterpart and key ally President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

During his weekly radio and television show Alo Presidente, Chavez was joined by Iranian ambassador to Venezuela, Amad Sobani, who he said was preparing for the official trip before the end of 2009.

During the program Chavez, also appearing alongside Housing Minister Diosdado Cabello, said the first 240 homes of a 2,400-dwelling development were ready, built with cooperation from Tehran.

As part of an agreement with the Islamic republic, Chavez said over 10,000 homes were being built throughout central Venezuela.

“Iran is attacked like us by the empire,” Chavez said, referring to the United States, in a segment describing his relationship with Tehran. “We are accused of exporting terrorism, but they are the killers.

Venezuela and Iran, both voracious critics of the United States, have forged close ties in recent years. Their relationship has extended in the political arena, military cooperation, and technology transfers.

The pair most recently met when Chavez visited Ahmadinejad in Tehran in September, where they signed agreements to strengthen cooperation between the two nations.

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see the symmetry..when chavez loses support the rhetoric gets booted up..just the same game as is played in other countries..a visit from mahmoud wont go down very well i wouldnt think..the threats of war have been going on for a while and dont ignore them..venezuela is a candidate for military action down the track..no doubt in that..if they do anything to colombia the usa will in there real fast..

401

China secures African resources with debt relief to 30 nations

•November 10, 2009 • Leave a Comment

_42276426_conductor_ap

From the inaugural forum in 2006

http://allafrica.com/stories/200911090306.html

Africa will receive $10 billion in concessional loans from China over the next three years.

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao pledged the money at the 4th ministerial conference of the Sino-Africa Forum in Egypt saying, his country was committed to fostering relations with the continent.

China will also assist the development of clean energy, encourage Chinese financial institutions to lend to smaller African firms, and facilitate access for African products.

The forum is aimed at boosting a relationship which is now economically booming.

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame who attended in his capacity as chairman of the East African Community said trade between the region and China had grown by over 200% from 2007.

He said partnership with China will be crucial for the infrastructure projects planned to facilitate the region’s vast potential for commerce and investment.

China is currently trading with all 53 African states, and signed agreements to relieve or cancel the debt of more thann 30 countries in the last cooperation summit in Beijing in 2006.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/chinas-links-to-africa-grow-with-pledge-of-10-billion-in-preferential-loans/article1356090/

In the latest dramatic boost to its African expansion, China is pledging $10-billion (U.S.) in preferential loans to Africa, along with 100 clean-energy projects and lower customs duties on up to 95 per cent of African exports.

The low-interest loans, earmarked for social programs and infrastructure development in Africa over the next three years, announced yesterday at the latest China-Africa summit, are twice as big as China pledged in 2006 at the last such summit.

“Whatever change may take place in the world . . . our policy of supporting Africa’s economic and social development will not change,” Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told officials from 49 African countries at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The rapid growth in China’s investment and trade in Africa has provoked controversy across the continent, but it is undoubtedly successful. China’s annual trade with Africa, a mere $2-billion in 1999, soared to an astonishing $107-billion last year, allowing China for the first time to rival the United States as the continent’s biggest trading partner.

The growth in China-Africa trade last year alone was 45 per cent. Chinese investment in Africa, meanwhile, reached almost $8-billion last year, primarily in the energy and mining sectors.

But that trade and investment is also generating unease and criticism, especially on questions of human rights. Last month, just weeks after Guinea’s soldiers killed more than 150 people and raped scores of women in public, China struck a $7-billion mining deal with Guinea’s repressive regime.

The deal would allow a Chinese company, China International Fund, to gain access to Guinea’s wealth of mineral resources, including bauxite, diamonds and gold. The deal has been criticized by human-rights groups, since it could help to prop up a brutal dictatorship, but China has refused to give any details of the deal.

China has also become a major economic ally of controversial regimes in Sudan, Angola, Zimbabwe, Congo and other African countries. Many of these countries are providing oil or mineral exports to China – a key strategic need for Beijing’s economic growth.

Equally controversial is China’s impact on labour rights and local manufacturing in Africa. Its exports and investors are often criticized for flooding African markets, squeezing out local competitors, and weakening labour standards.

In countries such as Ethiopia, where Beijing has become a major economic partner, Chinese construction companies are often praised for improving the country’s potholed roads. China is also a leading investor in Ethiopia’s telecommunications sector. But, at the same time, it is criticized by many Ethiopians for providing surveillance systems that allow the government to monitor the cellphones and e-mails of opposition leaders.

On the eve of the China-Africa summit, Mr. Wen did his best to deny the perception that China is interested only in Africa’s natural resources. He noted that China sent doctors and construction teams to African countries in the Maoist era, when it saw Africa as a potential ideological ally.

China’s leading oil company in the continent, Sinopec, is importing only a third as much oil from Africa as the amount imported by the U.S. company Exxon Mobil Corp., the Prime Minister told the state-owned China Daily newspaper.

In addition to the $10-billion in preferential loans, Mr. Wen announced a $1-billion loan fund for small and medium-sized businesses in Africa, and he pledged to continue the cancellation of debts to China by the least-developed African countries.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26321865-1702,00.html

The FOCAC summit in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh is the fourth of a gathering that is held every three years.

China is expected to increase its assistance to Africa and reduce or cancel some countries’ debts, according to a draft copy of an agreement to be signed at the end of the summit, Egypt’s official news agency MENA reported.

The Asian giant pledged 5.0 billion dollars in assistance at the last FOCAC summit in Beijing in 2006, and has signed agreements to relieve or cancel the debt of 31 African countries.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hFELtH5zHiMUEKJJyCm2Gri1y4QwD9BQSIUO0

China’s premier stressed Saturday that his country’s push to boost already burgeoning trade ties with Africa was “sincere and selfless,” as the Asian powerhouse battled criticism its quest for natural resources was at the expense of the poverty-ravaged continent.

In a speech punctuated with terms like “equality” and “mutual benefit,” Wen Jiabao appeared to be setting the stage for a China-Africa summit starting Sunday that would allow Beijing to both continue its investment inroads into Africa and mute critics who argue that its need to fuel its growing economy has allowed it to ignore the dismal human rights records of many of the continent’s nations.

The Chinese premier, who met earlier in the day with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo, outlined a strategy for economic growth that includes traditional mainstays like increasing trade and gradually eliminating tariffs on exports from some of Africa’s neediest countries. But the sharpest language was in comments about developing human resources, technology transfer agricultural ventures and developing the continent’s poor infrastructure.

China’s efforts in Africa are “sincere and selfless, without political strings attached,” Wen told hundreds of Chinese and African businessmen gathered at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik a day before the main policy forum. That gathering is expected to attract leaders from across the continent.

In explaining the focus on training local talent, he said China’s training of 15,000 African professionals has provided the continent with “a human resource more valuable than gold.”

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nothing to new to us..but if anything the involvement of china in africa has increased again..and their debt relief for 30 nations will open many many doors..love the symbolsim of the pic used from the first forum in 2006..mugabe said it was a good move..always good to have someone like mugabe backing you! :)

401

20 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

•November 10, 2009 • Leave a Comment

Berlin-Wall-falls

berlinwall

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Germany Wall Anniversary

Germany Wall Anniversary

Germany Wall Anniversary

Germany Wall Anniversary

lech

Germany Wall Anniversary

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quite a spectacle..once people power got hold there is nothing governments can do to stop it..a great lesson for us as we look to the problems we have in our time

401

Ukraine Swine Flu update

•November 9, 2009 • Leave a Comment

y218406540201085

http://www.javno.com/en-world/death-toll-rises-to-135-in-ukraine-flu-epidemic_280736

An epidemic of flu and respiratory infections has now taken 135 lives in Ukraine, the health ministry said, as the country Saturday received a new portion of medical aid from Europe.

A total of 871,037 people have been recorded ill with flu and acute respiratory infections since late October, with 39,603 of them hospitalized, including 317 people in a grave condition, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the panic over the flu epidemic has caused speculation of the possible imposing of a state of emergency and postponing of the presidential elections, scheduled on January, 17, 2010.

The secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council Raisa Bohatyriova said in a TV interview that there were some prerequisites for the emergency measures.

“To save other people perhaps we need the state of emergency. And there are the constitutional prerequisites (for that)…,” Bohatyriova said.

But Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko refuted that the epidemic may influence the date of the presidential elections, saying that “for the moment there is no need for the cancellation of the elections.”

Analysts suggested that rival Ukrainian leaders may be trying to exploit popular fears in campaigning ahead of January 17 presidential polls, as each candidate seeks to take the initiative in fighting the outbreak.

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appears to have slowed down but now we wait to see the bordering countries and how they cope with any outbreak..

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Kazakhstan leader meets the Pope and signs huge energy deal with Italy

•November 9, 2009 • Leave a Comment

Nazarbayev_Nursultan_adnk--200x150

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Religion/?id=3.0.3960833172

Vatican: Pope meets Kazakh leader

Pope Benedict XVI met the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, at the Vatican on Friday. A Vatican statement said Nazarbayev and the pope discussed issues including the peaceful coexistence of different religions, and the economic crisis.

“During the course of the cordial discussions, attention turned to….the economic crisis in the light of the (papal) Encyclical ‘Caritas in Veritate’, to inter-religious dialogue and to the promotion of peace, on the eve of Kazakhstan’s presidency of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe,” the Vatican said.

The OSCE is the world’s largest regional security organisation whose 56 participating states span a geographical area from Vancouver to Vladivostok. Kazakhstan will assume the OSCE presidency in 2010.

After meeting the pontiff, Nazarbayev, a practising Muslim, met the Vatican’s secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for relations with states.

The Vatican stressed the good relations between the majority-Muslim country and the church.

Nazerbayev is on a state visit to Italy and has met Italian president Giorgio Napolitano and prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Islam is the largest religion in the country followed by the Russian Orthodox Christian faith and Nazarbayev has worked to promote interreligious dialogue in his country.

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Business/?id=3.0.3960480758

Kazakhstan: Italian energy giant signs new oil and gas deal

Italian energy giant ENI is looking for new opportunities to explore and develop the vast oil and gas resources of Kazakhstan. The company’s chief executive, Paolo Scaroni, on Thursday signed a new accord with Kairgeldy Kabyldin, president of the country’s major gas utility, KazMunayGas, in Rome.

The deal was one of 13 commercial agreements backed by the president of Kazakhstan, Nursaltan Nazarbayev, and Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, during a state visit to Italy by the leader of the central Asian country.

President Nazarbayev said the new agreements would result in bilateral investment totalling 6 billion dollars.

The new accord between the two energy producers foreshadows exploration and production activities and strategic industrial facilities in Kazakhstan.

Under the agreement, which followed a preliminary memorandum of understanding signed in July 2009, Eni and KazMunayGas (KMG) will jointly study the Isatay and Chagala exploration areas located in the Caspian Sea (photo).

Chagala, in the northeast of the Caspian Sea, is close to the vast offshore Kashagan field and directly west of the Tengiz field.

Eni and KMG are looking at a number of industrial initiatives including a gas sweetening plant, a gas turbine power plant, a drydock shipyard and the upgrading of the Pavlodar refinery, the largest in the country.

In a statement ENI said that final investment decisions on all projects were expected within two years after the completion of detailed technical and commercial studies.

ENI is expected to further strengthen its presence in Kazakhstan, where it jointly operates the Karachaganak field and is an equity partner in the Kashagan field.

ENI is one of seven major international oil companies, including ExxonMobile, Total, Shell and ConocoPhillips, that are currently developing the vast Kashagan oil field in the northern Caspian Sea.

The Kashagan oil field is a complex industrial project – the largest oil discovery since Prudhoe Bay in Alaska 40 years ago.

With almost 35 billion barrels of oil in place, it is expected to produce 1.5 million barrels per day when fully operational.

When completed Kashagan is expected to provide 10 percent of Europe’s daily energy demand.

Bilateral trade between Italy and Kazakhstan is currently estimated to be worth 13 billion euros a year.

http://in.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idINIndia-43748120091106

Berlusconi hails Kazakh men for population growth

Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi praised the virility of Kazakhstan’s men during a visit to Rome by its president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, saying this was the reason for the former Soviet country’s population growth.

The comment by the 73-year-old Italian leader, who often boasts of his own virility and has been in trouble for hosting parties with prostitutes, came at a meeting with Nazarbayev that Berlusconi said sealed business deals for “billions of dollars”.

The Italian prime minister, praising Kazakhstan’s “great natural resources and huge demographic growth” at a meeting with Nazarbayev late on Thursday, added with a smile that the latter “demonstrates the great vitality of all Kazakh males”.

Nazarbayev says his country’s population had grown by 1.4 million over the last decade to reach over 16 million people.

He thanked Berlusconi for supporting the Kazakh presidency of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) next year, which has sparked controversy due to his poor record on human rights.

The Kazakh leader, who was due to visit Roman Catholic leader Pope Benedict on Friday, said people from 49 different religious denominations lived together in Kazakhstan, making it “an example of how to live together in peace and tolerance”.

Human rights campaigners say Kazakhstan is not fit to chair the OSCE because it flaunts human rights and silences critics of the government. But analysts say Western criticism of Nazarbayev is muted because of his country’s vast oil and gas reserves.

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thanks to intrigued for the links..

2 of our favorite things to watch..the pope and kazkhstan..and we get a double whammy here

“Nazarbayev and the pope discussed issues including the peaceful coexistence of different religions”

401

Weekend news in pictures

•November 9, 2009 • 2 Comments

rihanna-good-morning-america-fridayhood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yankee paradepelosi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRITAIN G20 FINANCE MINISTERS MEETING

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what news did you remember this morning when you woke up?

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Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood to Beyonce: “You are accused of encouraging vice and debauchery.”

•November 8, 2009 • 8 Comments

beyonce_bet_01

http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/music/2009/11/06/1257247733625.html

As Egypt gears for pop diva Beyonce Knowles’ first performance in North Africa, Islamic conservatives are branding her show an “insolent sex party” that threatens the Muslim nation’s “social peace and stability”.

On giant posters palstered across the Egyptian capital advertising the Friday evening concert, Beyonce sports a revealing, flame-covered outfit and grips a set of motorcycle handlebars extending from her hips – a sharp contrast to Cairo streets, where most women wear the traditional Muslim headscarves.

TV ads promoting the show, part of Beyonce’s “I Am …” world tour, have run on Egyptian and Arab satellite stations. The tour, which took Beyonce to the United Arab Emirates last week, had grossed $US53.5 million ($58.66 million) as of October, according to Billboard magazine.

But in Egypt, Islamic lawmakers and their supporters have waged campaigns on social networking web sites, accusing the government of encouraging debauchery and calling for the concert’s cancellation.

“Why are you encouraging this insolent sex party?” lawmaker Hamdi Hassan from the opposition Muslim Brotherhood wrote in a letter to the government. “You are accused of disturbing social peace and stability, encouraging vice and debauchery.”

Another Islamic lawmaker, Ali Laban, called for banning the “nudity concert.”

A Facebook campaign against Beyonce’s concert collected nearly 10,000 supporters.

But the war of words has not derailed the glitzy concert, due hundreds of miles south of Cairo in the luxury Red Sea resort of Port Ghalib.

Organisers said “ultra” security will be deployed to protect the thousands of concertgoers.

Beyonce cancelled her stop in Malaysia last month following opposition from a conservative Islamic party.

Malaysia requires female artists to cover up from the shoulders to the knees and bans any showing of cleavage.

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, is torn between a growing secular and economically prosperous class and a large mainly conservative, poor population.

The government has been squeezing Islamic conservatives with security crackdowns and administrative measures aimed at curbing outward manifestations of conservatism.

Beoynce’s event organiser Ahmed Beltagi said tourism and police officials cooperated to make the concert happen because they believe it’s a way to promote Egypt as a centre of culture, entertainment and art.

“We are Muslims too … this will not stop Egypt from hosting an award-winning, first class artist,” Beltagi said.

“We should salute her instead of criticising her,” he said of the diva.

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“You are accused of disturbing social peace and stability, encouraging vice and debauchery.”

had to laugh..

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Gore’s next movie to target a spiritual response to climate change

•November 8, 2009 • 2 Comments

AlGoreNationalPostCartoon

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/02/al-gore-our-choice-environment-climate

Nobel winner adapts fact-based message to reach those who believe they have a moral duty to protect the planet in Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.

Al’s Gore’s much-anticipated sequel to An Inconvenent Truth is published today, with an admission that facts alone will not persuade Americans to act on global warming and that appealing to their spiritual side is the way forward.

In his latest book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, the man who won a Nobel prize in 2007 for his touring slideshow on disappearing polar ice and other consequences of climate change, concludes: “Simply laying out the facts won’t work.”

Instead, Gore tells Newsweek magazine in a pre-publication interview, that he has been adapting his fact-based message – now put out by hundreds of volunteers – to appeal to those who believe there is a moral or religious duty to protect the planet.

“I’ve done a Christian [-based] training program; I have a Muslim training program and a Jewish training program coming up, also a Hindu program coming up. I trained 200 Christian ministers and lay leaders here in Nashville in a version of the slide show that is filled with scriptural references. It’s probably my favourite version, but I don’t use it very often because it can come off as proselytising,” Gore tells Newsweek.

Gore’s book arrives at a time of intense international scrutiny of America’s moves on the environment ahead of an international meeting on global warming at Copenhagen, now just more than a month away.

It draws on the scholarly approach Gore developed for Inconvenient Truth. Since 2007, the former vice-president has been calling experts together from fields ranging from agriculture to neuroscience to discuss possible solutions to climate change.

The book draws on 30 such “solutions summits”, as well as Gore’s countless telephone conversations with scientists at America’s best institutions. According to the book’s press release, “Among the most unique approaches Gore takes in the book is showing readers how our own minds can be an impediment to change.”

New polling last month showed a steep decline in the numbers of Americans who share Gore’s sense of urgency in acting on climate change.

The book aims to reach those Americans by familiarising readers with emerging alternative energy sources, such as geothermal, biomass and wind power, as well as the possibilities of making cleaner coal power plants, and developing a more efficient and responsive “smart” electrical grid.

Gore also explores how deforestation, soil erosion, and the rising world population are multiplying the effects of rising greenhouse gas emissions.

Much of the material was developed through the series of brainstorming sessions organised by Gore. Since 2007, the former vice-president has been calling experts together to discuss possible solutions to climate change. He has also held countless telephone conversations with scientists at America’s best institutions.

“He is one of the only politicians that takes the time to actually talk to scientists who are producing the cutting-edge stuff and he comes in with questions. He doesn’t ask us how our results impinge on a particular policy he actually asks about science,” said Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist at Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who spoke to Gore along with colleagues four or five times for the book. “Nobody that we have dealt with has ever taken as much time to understand the subtlety of the science and all the different complications and what it all means as Al Gore.”

Those conversations led Gore to politically inconvenient conclusions in this new book. In his conversations with Schmidt and other colleagues at the beginning of the year, Gore explored new studies – published only last week – that show methane and black carbon or soot had a far greater impact on global warming than previously thought. Carbon dioxide – while the focus of the politics of climate change – produces around 40% of the actual warming.
Gore acknowledged to Newsweek that the findings could complicate efforts to build a political consensus around the need to limit carbon emissions.

“Over the years I have been among those who focused most of all on CO2, and I think that’s still justified,” he told the magazine. “But a comprehensive plan to solve the climate crisis has to widen the focus to encompass strategies for all” of the greenhouse culprits identified in the Nasa study.

The former vice-president has been working behind the scenes to try to nudge the White House and Congress to move forward on a 920-page proposed law to cut America’s greenhouse gas emissions and encourage its use of clean energy sources like solar and wind power.

On Saturday, he told the German newspaper, Der Spiegel, he was “almost certain” Obama would attend the negotiations. The White House has so far refused to make a commitment.

But Gore has also been confronted with almost daily fresh reminders of the difficulties of prodding Americans to action.

The proposed legislation has set off a ferocious debate about the costs of dealing with climate change – with conservative Democrats and Republicans saying reducing America’s use of oil will deepen unemployment and hurt average American families.

Republicans in the Senate have threatened to boycott a session today that had been called to move forward a draft of a 920-page proposed law to deal with climate change.

Progress on the bill is seen as crucial to getting a binding deal at Copenhagen. Barbara Boxer, the chair of the Senate’s environment and public works committee, said yesterday she was ready to move ahead without any Republican participation.

9780743572040

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“Gore tells Newsweek magazine in a pre-publication interview, that he has been adapting his fact-based message – now put out by hundreds of volunteers – to appeal to those who believe there is a moral or religious duty to protect the planet.”

‘facts alone will not persuade Americans to act on global warming and that appealing to their spiritual side is the way forward.”

“I’ve done a Christian [-based] training program; I have a Muslim training program and a Jewish training program coming up, also a Hindu program coming up. I trained 200 Christian ministers and lay leaders here in Nashville in a version of the slide show that is filled with scriptural references.”

does he mean so called “green” texts in the bible?

there is no end to the levels gore will go to push this onto the people..

401

Chinese rich list growing as American technology and dollars go their way

•November 8, 2009 • 4 Comments

newsmlmmd.f028161604567861509df0ec19ff7890.8710_wang-chuanfu-is-the-founder-of-rechargeable-batterb

http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/04/china-richest-billionaires-buffett-baidu-china-billionaires-09-wealth_intro.html

A quick comparison of our new Forbes China Rich List with that of the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans, published in September, appears to tell a familiar story. China’s 400 Richest are worth a record $314 billion, but that is just one-fourth the total net worth of their American counterparts. China’s richest person, BYD’s Wang Chuanfu, has a net worth of $5.8 billion, far below the $50 billion fortune belonging to America’s richest citizen, Microsoft’s Bill Gates. In the U.S., Wang would only rank no. 40, tied with petroleum magnate Harold Hamm.

But the more interesting story is the fact that Chinese tycoons are making huge gains, at a time when many of the world’s richest haven’t been as lucky, thanks to strong economic growth and rebounding stock markets. Shanghai’s main index is up 69% and Hong Kong’s 56% in the past 12 months. As a result, we pinned down a record 79 billionaires, up from 24 a year earlier, more than Germany, Russia or India had in March when we published our worldwide billionaire rankings. The U.S. has 391 billionaires, but that’s down from 489 a year ago. The total net worth of the China 400 jumped 81%, or $141 billion, at a time when American’s wealthiest lost $300 billion, or 20% of their cumulative total, dropping to $1.27 trillion.

Chinese tycoons are also giving some of their American rivals a run for their money. Baidu’s ( BIDU – news – people ) Robin Li is worth $12.4 billion less than his rivals at Google ( GOOG – news – people ), Sergey Brin and Larry Page, but he has bragging rights for keeping Google at bay in China; his Internet search engine’s market share in his native country is about double that of its American nemesis. Chinese billionaire Chen Yihong’s China Dongxiang is seen as one of the country’s most competitive sports apparel brands, going up against internationals like Philip Knight’s Nike ( NKE – news – people ).

Rather than just a rivalry, there is also a growing collaboration of resources–capital, technology and people–between the U.S. and China that will likely help lead to continuing good fortunes for the Asian nation’s increasingly global entrepreneurs. Warren Buffett’s investment through a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK – news – people ) in China’s car and battery maker BYD highlights the trend this year (read the story on Wang here). That Buffett support helped push up its co-founder Wang Chuanfu’s net worth by $4.7 billion, the biggest dollar gain of anyone on the list, and propelled him to the top spot in the rankings. Two other BYD executives, Lu Xiangyang and Xia Zuoquan, are billionaires as well. In September, Duke Energy ( DUK – news – people ) signed an agreement with Rich List-member Wang Yusuo’s ENN Group to jointly develop commercial solar power projects in the U.S.

U.S. investment banks and capital markets are also courting Chinese businesses like never before. China Rich List members who took companies public in the U.S. this year include Zhou Xin (China Real Estate) Charles Zhang (Changyou) and Chen Tianqiao (Shanda Games).

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i read that usa and china really want a G2 not G20..they believe they are the most important countries in the world..and they maybe right

401