UN Climate Change Conference in December; Taliban Deception Works; Castro Comments on Obama; Our Tax Dollars to Ground Zero Mosque?

Tim Phillip of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative think tank writes: Where do Al Gore environmental radicals and Obama Administration Environmental Protection Agency bureaucrats go this time of year?
They flock to the United Nations "Climate Change" conference to plot their next moves to kill jobs, intrude on our freedoms and dictate the way we live our lives - all in the name of their radical global warming agenda.
Last year, they were in Copenhagen and Americans for Prosperity was there exposing their hypocrisy, delivering our own freedom message and calling out the Obama Administration's cap-and-trade scheme. 
CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL THAT HAPPENED - the proud Socialists march, the UN bureaucrats hopping in limos while they tell all of us to ride bikes and even your AFP team being attacked by eco-hypocrites!
This year, they are in of all places Cancun, Mexico for their U.N. Climate Change Conference.  Once again Americans for Prosperity will be there to attack their job-killing agenda, expose their hypocrisy and provide counter messaging back home to the United States.
[You can go to their website to read more or to sign up for coverage of the UN conference.] http://hotairtourcancun.com/?page_id=60
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The Afghan government and its Nato allies were duped into holding peace talks with a man posing as one of the most senior members of the Taliban leadership, it was revealed today.
According to Afghan and US sources quoted by the New York Times, authorities held face-to-face talks with the man who claimed to be Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, the second highest official in the Taliban movement.
Western sources quoted by the New York Times also confirmed a Guardian report that the man was paid a large sum of money in the hope that he would remain engaged in negotiations. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/23/fake-taliban-dupes-nato-negotiators
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Fox News DC writes: NATO is a "military mafia," the war in Afghanistan is "genocidal" and US President Barack Obama deserves the prize for the "best snake charmer" who ever lived, Cuba's Fidel Castro said Monday.
In an article published in response to the Western alliance's weekend summit in Portugal, the former Cuban leader called NATO an "aggressive institution" that ignored "billions of persons suffering from poverty, underdevelopment, shortages of food, housing, health, education and jobs." http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpps/news/castro-calls-obama-a-snake-charmer-dpgonc-20101122-gc_10750397
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Fox News writes: He wants your money. The developer of the so called "Ground Zero Mosque" is applying for federal taxpayer money to help him build the controversial and contentious project. The funds are designated to help lower Manhattan recover from the 9-11 terrorist attacks, which took place just around the corner from the proposed mosque and cultural center location.
Sharif El-Gamal, the head of SOHO Properties, says the money will be used for a variety of services for Park51, as the project is called.
In a statement, El-Gamal said he is, "…committed to exploring all sources of revenue and funding to build the community center," noting that the request for a reported $5 million would help provide "social service programs....such as domestic violence prevention, Arabic and other foreign language classes, programs and services for homeless veterans, two multi-cultural arts exhibits and immigration services."
El-Gamal did not specify exactly how much of the taxpayers' funds would be allocated to "build the community center."
"It's absolutely disgraceful," said an angry Congressman Peter King (R-NY) who is likely to be the new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Read more: http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/23/ground-zero-mosque-outrage/#ixzz16Cxi35xB

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An Important Email Making the Rounds....

In view of the outrageous aggressive "pat-downs" at our airports these days, while "Big Sis" won't decide yes or no on conceding to CAIR (by not allowing burqa-clad women to be frisked or x-rayed), I find the following to be of importance.  Perhaps you have also received this email:

Absolutely No Profiling!  Pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following multiple choice test.
These events are actual events from history.. They really happened!  Do you remember?

     HERE'S THE TEST
     1. 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:
            a.. Superman
            b. Jay Leno
            c. Harry Potter
            d. A Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40

     2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by :
            a. Olga Corbett
            b. Sitting Bull
            c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
            d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

     3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
            a. Lost Norwegians
            b. Elvis
            c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
            d . Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

     4. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
            a. John Dillinger
            b. The King of Sweden
            c. The Boy Scouts
            d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

     5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
            a. A pizza delivery boy
            b. Pee Wee Herman
            c.. Geraldo Rivera
            d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

     6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American
         passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
            a. The Smurfs
            b. Davey Jones
            c. The Little Mermaid
            d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

      7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens , and a US Navy diver
          trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:
            a. Captain Kidd
            b. Charles Lindberg
            c. Mother Teresa
            d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

     8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
            a. Scooby Doo
            b. The Tooth Fairy
            c. The Sundance Kid
            d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

     9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
            a. Richard Simmons
            b. Grandma Moses
            c. Michael Jordan
            d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

    10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
            a. Mr. Rogers
            b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems
            c. The World Wrestling Federation
            d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

         11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to
               take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed
               into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers.
               Thousands of people were killed by:
            a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
            b. The Supreme Court of Florida
            c. Mr Bean
            d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

    12. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
            a. Enron
            b. The Lutheran Church
            c. The NFL
            d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

     13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
            a. Bonnie and Clyde
            b. Captain Kangaroo
            c. Billy Graham
            d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
[We can add by now the Fort Hood shooter and the Underwear Bomber, among others.]

     [Remember this is not I writing...] No, I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you?
So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us,
airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people..
They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with
proper identification, secret agents who are members of the President's security detail,
85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winner and former
Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim Males between the ages 17 and 40 alone lest they
be guilty of profiling.  [Heaven help us, and God bless us!]

Happy Thanksgiving!

Spend the day appreciating whatever it may be that is going right for you - your family, friends, passions, pastimes, good books, good deeds, etc.  Life is a blessing~  Happy Thanksgiving!

May you have many more sunrises in your life!

COICA; Warren Buffet's Taxes; Gov't Takeover of More American Land; Dirty Gloves at Airport Inspections; No-fly Lists

The Canada Free Press opines: You can actually put an exact dollar amount on the Constitution. And that amount is $335,906.
That’s the amount that Hollywood gave Senator Patrick Leahy. And in return, Leahy gave them COICA. That’s not the same of some new disease, it’s the abbreviation for Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, the biggest and more comprehensive internet censorship proposal in the history of this country. It would give Attorney General Eric Holder the power to create a blacklist of websites and force all companies that do business in the United States to comply with that blacklist.
Websites that feature collections of articles, such as FreeRepublic or DemocraticUnderground could easily be targeted under the terms of COICA. And so could many blogs, which list entire articles or cite extensively from them. Any site or blog that embeds videos or images which are not authorized by the copyright holder could be similarly targeted. And with the Attorney General of a highly politicized administration wielding the power to preemptively shutter and blacklist entire websites, it would be all too easy for COICA to be used as a club for suppressing dissent.  http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/30274
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Bloomberg writes: “If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further,” Buffett said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week With Christiane Amanpour” that is scheduled to air on Nov. 28. “But I think that people at the high end -- people like myself -- should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we’ve ever had it.”   [It is nice that he thinks that those "like him" should be taxed more.  He has a net worth of over $620 million.  There is a lot of room between those who make $200,000 per year and those of his net worth.]  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-21/warren-buffett-tells-abc-rich-people-should-pay-more-in-taxes.html
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Michelle Malkin reports: LAS VEGAS, NV – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today issued a Secretarial Order elevating the Office of the National Landscape Conservation System and Community Partnerships in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to the level of a directorate within BLM.  
Salazar’s disingenuous pro-jobs spin belies the anti-growth, anti-prosperity, anti-jobs agenda of the green groups who are over the moon about the new maneuver:
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar gave the National Landscape Conservation System a boost this week, elevating its status within the Interior Department and setting conservation as a top priority for the vast federal lands.
The NLCS is a collage of more than 27 million acres of wilderness, conservation areas, rivers and monuments managed and protected by BLM. It was established administratively by President Clinton nearly a decade ago and put into law in March when President Obama signed the public lands omnibus bill. http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=458780655676&id=269123710083
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World Net Daily writes: Martha Donahue in a commentary at Resistnet said she'd spent 30 years in the medical industry.
"For those of you who fly and opt for the 'pat down,' you need to demand the TSA thugs change their gloves. I've been watching on the news how they operate. People are being searched [with] dirty gloves ... gloves that have been in crotches, armpits, touching people who may be ill, people who pick their noses. Do you want those gloves touching you?
"These thugs are protecting themselves from you. You need to be protected from them," she wrote. "In a hospital, nursing home, in-home care, or even labs, that would never even be considered an option."
Asked today about the possibility of contamination being spread from one passenger to another on the gloves of TSA agents, a spokesman for the CDC bailed.
"Please contact the Dept of Homeland Security and/or TSA on this issue," the spokesman told WND.
But in its online writings, the CDC repeatedly makes clear the importance of maintaining clean hands to avoid such transmission of communicable and contagious afflictions. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=231733
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From Townhall: Besides, screening every "known or suspected" terrorist on the full watch list would inconvenience travelers, the TSA believed. "This practice would overburden the Secure Flight system and inconvenience a great number of travelers who are not the individuals identified in the TSDB," said Hawley.
Then, last Christmas, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded a Detroit-bound flight from Europe, wearing explosive underpants. He was on the TIDE list, but not the TSDB -- and thus not the Selectee or No Fly lists.
President Obama ordered national security agencies to re-examine the watch-listing standards. This summer, they made changes to the system. One of these, according to a counterintelligence official, is that they will now watch-list a person when they get terrorism-related derogatory information about that person from only a single source if they judge that the source is credible.
In Abdulmutallab's case, the single source who provided the lamentably ignored derogatory information happened to be his father.
Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in March, TSC Director Timothy Healy also said that the government had reviewed the visa status of all known or suspected terrorists and discovered that there "were approximately 1,100 individuals that had received visas that were in the Terrorist Screening Center database."
Still, as Americans pass through full-body scanners and pat downs this Christmas season, the inverted pyramid is still in place. Not all "known or suspected" terrorists are on the Selectee or No Fly lists, although those lists have grown.  [It's fair to say that we ARE being "inconvenienced" - by the molestation-style pat-downs of those who cannot be considered a threat.]   http://townhall.com/columnists/TerryJeffrey/2010/11/24/working_out_the_terrorist_watch_lists/page/2

Charles Wrangel; Al Gore and Ethanol; TSA and Organized Chaos; Stripping to Undies for TSA; Fondling by TSA; How to Fix It

On Charles Wrangel:  He was reelected with 80% of the votes. Yet he stood in front of the Ethics Committee and dared to say that he wished the committee had conducted his "trial" before the elections as he had asked, so that he could have cleared his name prior to the elections. Say what?  They had just told him he was indicted on 11 charges of ethics violations. Just how far from reality is this flawed man, anyway?
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Reuters reports from ATHENS, Nov 22 (Reuters):  Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said support for corn-based ethanol in the United States was "not a good policy", weeks before tax credits are up for renewal.
U.S. blending tax breaks for ethanol make it profitable for refiners to use the fuel even when it is more expensive than gasoline. The credits are up for renewal on Dec. 31.
"It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for (U.S.) first generation ethanol," said Gore, speaking at a green energy business conference in Athens sponsored by Marfin Popular Bank.
"First generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small.   

One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president." [Nothing political here, and no personal gain thru the now defunct Chicago Energy Exchanges either.]  http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE6AL0YT20101122?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

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Canada Free Press writes: “At the same time that the federal government is mandating the physical and constitutional violation of air travelers at our airports, they are prohibiting law enforcement officers in Arizona from asking for proof of identity and citizenship from those they suspect as being illegal aliens for ‘constitutional’ concerns.” – Doug Hagmann
“They” could not have planned it any better, initiating enhanced screening procedures right before the busiest travel time of the year. Our visceral reaction, outrage and chants of “don’t touch my junk” are understandable and warranted, but tend to overshadow our visibility of what’s really taking place, which is vastly more than meets the eye.
The American people are being carefully and deliberately conditioned to accept the stripping away of our Constitutional rights, a process in the making for nearly a century. To see how far this conditioning has progressed, just look at how many people are willing to be groped, fondled, nuked, and subjected to other forms of degrading tactics by agents of the federal government for the mere illusion of security. They reason that if it will make air travel safer to have their genitalia fondled, that it is a “necessary evil.” Well, they are only half correct; it is indeed evil, but not necessary.
It would be a mistake to believe that this administration is merely mishandling the current throw-down between the TSA and airline passengers at the boarding gate. It is not being mishandled, but carefully crafted into organized chaos designed to elicit social unrest, [ala Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.] Anyone refusing to comply with the increasingly oppressive federal rules will be considered domestic terrorists, much like we’ve seen with individuals and groups concerned with our Constitution, second amendment rights, and pro-life causes.

It begins through conditioning, involves nationalization, and relies heavily on the conditioning and on the malaise of the people. http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/30235

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NBC News reports: When a San Diego man opted out of security screening using the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) at Lindbergh Field Friday, he stripped down to his underwear in an attempt to avoid the pat-down procedures.

Wolanyk was arrested for refusing to complete the security process and for recording the incident on his iPhone, according to his attorney.  [Well, that is one way to hide the truth and increase our fear, isn't it?]  Source: Passenger Chooses Strip-Down Over Pat-Down | NBC San Diego

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From ABC News: The beleaguered head of the Transportation Security Administration said today that at least one airport passenger screening went too far when an officer reached inside a traveler's underwear, and the agency is open to rethinking its current protocols. 

"The woman who checked me reached her hands inside my underwear and felt her way around," she said. "It was basically worse than going to the gynecologist. It was embarrassing. It was demeaning. It was inappropriate."
That search was against protocols and "never" should have happened, TSA Administrator John Pistole told "Good Morning America" today.   [Can we expect any disciplinary action against any of the overzealous agents?]   http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/tsa-responds-passenger-outrages-underwear-search-happen/story?id=12208932
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Richard Kantro of American Thinker writes: How to fix [airport security]? Simple to see, really, for you and me. Or for a president who actually meant the oath he bobbled. Do what the Israelis do. Train intuitive, intelligent, perceptive tough guys to visually check everyone; leave the grannies and three-year-olds mostly alone; stare down the ones that feel "wrong," and get to work on them. Do lots and lots of racial profiling of the right kind of people. Seen many Jewish and Christian bombers in the news lately? Me neither.

But all that would require that the president do two things that are against his religion and his training at the Church of Wright: (1) acknowledge that jihadist Muslims are the problem; and (2) admit that the Israelis know how to handle it.

Don't look for either of those to happen too soon. Methinks we'll be at odds with the TSA for a while longer yet.  http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/11/tsa_2_america_0.html

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ABC News reports: U.S. intelligence has picked up terrorists discussing the use of prosthetic or medical devices to conceal explosives, sources tell ABC News.
The revelation about the intelligence, which is not new but relevant to debate over new security measures at airports, comes as the White House today acknowledged that the implementation of the security procedures has not gone perfectly. http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/tsa-responds-passenger-outrages-underwear-search-happen/story?id=12208932
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The beloved Thomas Sowell writes: If anything good comes out of the airport "security" outrages, it may be in opening the eyes of more people to the utter contempt that this administration has for the American people.
Those who made excuses for all of candidate Barack Obama's long years of alliances with people who expressed their contempt for this country, and when as president he appointed people with a record of antipathy to American interests and values, may finally get it when they feel some stranger's hand in their crotch.
As for the excuse of "security," this is one of the least security-minded administrations we have had.
When hundreds of illegal immigrants from terrorist-sponsoring countries were captured crossing the border from Mexico— and then released on their own recognizance within the United States, that tells you all you need to know about this administration's concern for security.
When captured terrorists who are not covered by either the Geneva Convention or the Constitution of the United States are nevertheless put on trial in American civilian courts by the Obama Justice Department, that too tells you all you need to know about how concerned they are about national security.
The rules of criminal justice in American courts were not designed for trying terrorists. For one thing, revealing the evidence against them can reveal how our intelligence services got wind of them in the first place, and thereby endanger the lives of people who helped us nab them. http://www.creators.com/conservative/thomas-sowell/airport-quot-security-quot.html
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The Canada Free Press opines: You can actually put an exact dollar amount on the Constitution. And that amount is $335,906.
That’s the amount that Hollywood gave Senator Patrick Leahy. And in return, Leahy gave them COICA. That’s not the same of some new disease, it’s the abbreviation for Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, the biggest and more comprehensive internet censorship proposal in the history of this country. It would give Attorney General Eric Holder the power to create a blacklist of websites and force all companies that do business in the United States to comply with that blacklist.
Websites that feature collections of articles, such as FreeRepublic or DemocraticUnderground could easily be targeted under the terms of COICA. And so could many blogs, which list entire articles or cite extensively from them. Any site or blog that embeds videos or images which are not authorized by the copyright holder could be similarly targeted. And with the Attorney General of a highly politicized administration wielding the power to preemptively shutter and blacklist entire websites, it would be all too easy for COICA to be used as a club for suppressing dissent.  http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/30274
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Just What is Corruption?

Representative Charles Wrangel

While in the Capitol city last week, I was able to be part of the "stake-out" outside the Committee on House Administration, waiting for nearly 2 hours with all the media to get into the hearing room for the ethics hearing of Representative Charles Wrangel.  I ended up being the only citizen-journalist who got one of the 60 or so chairs in the room, with only about 6 others like myself standing behind.  I heard one person in the media say, "those are the Tea Party people."  I guess anyone could tell by the small size of my camera that I was a visitor.

I had to feel embarrassed and sorry for this 80 year old man when he was the first person other than media who entered the room.  For at least 6-7 minutes he stood in front of the media while they all took dozens of photos of him, cameras flashing and clicking. What theater!

For one and a half hours those on the Ethics Committee as well as the Committee's chief counsel gave prepared remarks, sparing no disdain for the shame he had brought on both himself and the House of Representatives, especially as the head of the most powerful committee, Ways and Means, which enacts the taxation of all Americans.  They also condemned him for accentuating American distrust of the House and all government. 

Congressman Charles Wrangel is a decorated Korean War veteran, a man who participated in the March from Selma with Dr. Martin Luther King, and a man who has brought a lot of federal dollars to his constituents.  He said at his Ethics Committee hearing that he "was not corrupt", that he never "sought any personal gain".  He said he was "overzealous in his efforts to raise money for a non-profit college center to be named in his honor". He said, " I have dedicated my life to this Congress and my country and my community." 

As was pointed out mostly by Rep. Bonner and Chief Counsel Chisam, Rep. Wrangel set himself above those Americans who are kicked out of rent-controlled apartments in NYC which are meant to be used only for residential purposes; those who are forced to pay back taxes along with enormous fines and perhaps imprisonment; those Americans who pay for the Congressional stationery and his official time in office; those companies and people who were perhaps strong-armed many companies into donating many millions of dollars to support the Charles Wrangel Center at NYU at a time that their businesses were before Wrangel's committee; those Wrangel scholarship students who then witness its leader being so unethical; those who are expected to divulge rental income of 17 years and pay taxes on it or go to jail .  His unethical actions, in spite of having a forensic CPA for all those years, does amount to more than just overzealous activity and should result in a Censure.

Almost laughably, here are some of his excuses, along with him being such a good guy:
1) I didn't ask to be given a rent-controlled apartment!  THEY asked me to fill the space, so that they would have a tenant! 
2) I didn't ask the NYU to build a center with my name on it - THEY asked me! [All well and good.  It was the way he helped it be funded that was inappropriate. Weren't these first two excuses perfect chances for him to say he could not do it because it goes against the ethics rules of the House?]
3) My use of Congressional stationery was just sloppy.  [Not extra incentive for donations?]
4) When asked if he has paid back taxes, or will do so beyond the reach of the Statute of Limitation by the IRS (an extra 10 years), he angrily shouted that he absolutely will not.  [I thought the IRS can only go back 7 years - unless they find FRAUD.]
4) And the most laughable to me - Wrangel said that it was an unfair hearing because he was not allowed to have any friendly witnesses there to testify.  There was no list of the good things he has done. What makes this ridiculous is that his witnesses were in the building and had been sworn in, ready to testify in his favor just three days before.  When Rep. Wrangel decided to stomp out of the hearing because in spite of being investigated for 2 1/2 years and spending $2 million on attorneys, he had only been given the official list of alleged violations just 8 days before, he gave up the right for those witnesses to be heard.  It reminded me of the plea from the two brothers who killed their parents that they be judged with leniency because they are now orphans.  No, I am not saying the Rep. did anything so horrible, just that he alone caused his outcome.

The question is how one defines corruption, I suppose, as well as personal gain.  Breaking ethics rules to gain donations for a major center with his name on it, saving campaign money by illegally having a lower rent apartment, hiding from the House the ownership of a condo in Dominican Republic and then hiding the rental income from that condo for 17 years - those can certainly be called by some to be both corruption as well as personal gain.  What a sad way to manage an important and powerful career.  What a sad note to the trust most Americans had in Congress.

Who Said That Manmade Global Warming is a Settled Science? The Trouble With Windmills;

National Review writes: One of the most stridently debated public policy controversies of the past 15 years. But it is dying a quiet death. In a little reported move, the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) announced on Oct. 21 that it will be ending carbon trading – the only purpose for which it was founded – this year.
Although the trading in carbon emissions credits was voluntary, the CCX was intended to be the hub of the mandatory carbon trading established by a cap-and-trade law, like the Waxman-Markey scheme passed by the House in June 2009.
At its founding in November 2000, it was estimated that the size of CCX’s carbon trading market could reach $500 billion. That estimate ballooned over the years to $10 trillion.
The CCX was the brainchild of Northwestern University business professor Richard Sandor, who used $1.1 million in grants from the Chicago-based left-wing Joyce Foundation to launch the CCX. For his efforts, Time named Sandor as one of its Heroes of the Planet in 2002 and one of its Heroes of the Environment in 2007.
The CCX seemed to have a lock on success. Not only was a young Barack Obama a board member of the Joyce Foundation that funded the fledgling CCX, but over the years it attracted such big name climate investors as Goldman Sachs and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the CCX’s highly anticipated looting of taxpayers and consumers – cap-and-trade imploded following its high water mark of the House passage of the Waxman-Markey bill. With ongoing economic recession, Climategate, and the tea party movement, what once seemed like a certainty became anything but.
CCX’s panicked original investors bailed out this spring, unloading the dog and its across-the-pond cousin, the European Climate Exchange (ECX), for $600 million to the New York Stock Exchange-traded Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) – an electronic futures and derivatives platform based in Atlanta and London. (Luckier than the CCX, the ECX continues to exist thanks to the mandatory carbon caps of the Kyoto Protocol.)  http://www.nationalreview.com/planet-gore/252703/rip-al-gores-chicago-climate-exchange-has-died-greg-pollowitz
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The UK Independent writes: Hundreds of local revolts against wind farms have jeopardised the plan to use them to generate more than a quarter of Britain's electricity, figures seen by The Independent reveal.

New wind farms are needed to have any chance of creating enough renewable energy to reduce reliance on coal and gas power production. But planning approvals for them in England are at an all-time low, with only one in three applications getting the go-ahead from councils in the face of angry and organised opposition from people living nearby.

More than 230 separate local campaign groups against wind farms are operating across the UK, from Scotland and Kent to Norfolk, Yorkshire and Cornwall. These groups are scoring striking successes in defeating planned wind farms – even when faced with the weight of official recommendations. http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/power-failure-uks-wind-farm-plans-in-disarray-2118493.html

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http://www.savewesternny.org/docs/pierpont_testimony.html
I would like to stress that these are not “farms.” One doesn’t “farm” wind any more than one “farms” water in a hydroelectric dam or “farms” neutrons in an atomic plant. These are large, industrial installations. They make large-scale, industrial noise. “Jet engines” is the most common description I hear in surveying people—a jet engine that doesn’t go away and which you can’t get used to.
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This page gives recent evidence to support the concern that putting wind turbines only 1000 feet away from homes and schools (as provided in the Adams County Wind Ordinance) would be reckless with the health of Adams County residents.  Even though some people are able to tolerate living that close, there is ongoing scientific investigation into the reasons why at least 25% to 50% of people living within a half mile of a turbine will suffer from a variety of physical and psychological symptoms. 
It is of particular concern that the severity of symptoms has led a small but growing number of people to abandon their homes (and be unable to sell them), not only in the United States but also in other countries.  Far from "just being in their head," this issue has already led the World Health Organization and other respected scientific groups around the world to seek longer setbacks ranging from one-half mile (2640 feet) to one mile and a half (7920 feet) from homes, schools, and businesses. http://www.adamscountywind.com/Revised%20Site/Windmills/Health%20Effects/Health%20Effects.htm
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University of New Hampshire and outside researchers are creating a computer model to help organic dairy farmers cut greenhouse gas emissions such as methane, because Beano probably isn't an option.
Nitrogen- and carbon-based greenhouse gases are produced via a complicated system at dairy farms that is affected by everything from the weather to the soil to the feed to cow burps, among other things.
"Cows emit most of their methane through belching, only a small fraction from flatulence," said the project's principal investigator, Ruth Varner of UNH's Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space.
UNH has been awarded a $700,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to create a computer model that measures the amount of greenhouse gases an organic dairy farm produces and thus provide ways to cut those emissions.  http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=UNH+scientists+to+study+cow+burps+.+.+.+and+more&articleId=c43c3680-3551-47ed-be8a-0b5b87880d6e

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Breitbart reports: A top UN panel on Friday called for increased taxes on carbon emissions and international transport to raise 100 billion dollars a year to combat climate change. The group led by the prime ministers of Norway and Ethiopia also said there could be a tax on international financial transactions.  http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.65d35f849629004f3f01ff977b2a3e33.741&show_article=1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

American Thinker opines: Since 2007 the price of food around the world has just about doubled. Bad harvests, inflation, or George Bush didn't cause this price increase. According to a secret report from the World Bank, reported in the UK's Guardian, 75% of the increase in price has one source:  "Biofuels." This contrasts with US claims of only a 3% biofuels-caused increase. The World Bank also says that rising food prices have pushed 100 million people worldwide below the poverty line. Riots have been sparked from Bangladesh to Egypt.

Where is the outrage? Where are the MSNBC stories on food riots? Where is Sean Penn? [The law of unintended consequences is in play.  So if 100 million more people are now in poverty, just how do they buy the food they need to survive?]  http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/11/the_biofuels_scam.html
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The DesMoines Register writes: A remark by President Obama at his postelection news conference Wednesday should send Iowa’s wind energy advocates into full alert.
When asked about environmental issues, the President suddenly started talking up natural gas, saying there are “terrific natural gas resources” in the United States.
He’s right about that, with big new shale gas discoveries coming on line not only from traditional fossil-fuel producing regions in Texas, Louisiana and Colorado, but also in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.
A big national swing to natural gas would represent a Plan  B for Obama and politically-savvy environmentalists now that the Cap and Trade bill most likely has been blown away for good with the results of the election last Tuesday. http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2010/11/07/obama-jumps-on-natural-gas-bandwagon/
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Pajamas Media writes: Kansas is ranked second in the nation behind Montana for wind energy potential, a fact which should have environmentalists jumping for joy. Instead, they’re trying to block the construction of transmission lines to wind farms in south central Kansas and north central Oklahoma.
Why? Well it all has to do with the lesser prairie chicken. According to a story by the Hutchinson News in February of this year, ranchers and wildlife officials in the area are teaming up with groups like the Sierra Club to block the construction of the lines, which would apparently run through prime breeding territory for the bird. Studies by Kansas State University show the birds will not nest within 400 yards of a power line, and the counties through which the lines would run are where the largest concentrations of the birds remain. Indeed, Kansas is the last state in the nation with a hunting season for lesser prairie Chicken.
The problem developers ITC Great Plains (a Kansas subsidiary of a Michigan company) and Prairie Wind Transmission (a joint venture between Westar Energy and Electric Transmission America) are facing: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is saying if more habitat is lost — and 60 percent of it has been lost in western Kansas alone — they’ll have to list the bird as “threatened.” In that case, the developers may find themselves with wind farms to nowhere. [It needs to be reiterated here that windmills are known to lead to bird kills, human illnesses, and stress caused by the noise.  There is no perfect solution, and all alternatives to oil and gas have their major problems.]  http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/environmentalists-blocking-wind-farms-and-solar-and-geothermal/
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