There Goes The Neighbourhood

Back from the dead: One third of 'extinct' animals turn up again David Derbyshire Environment Editor 29th September 2010 Daily Mail Conservationists are overestimating the number of species that have been driven to extinction, scientists have said. A study has found that a third of all mammal species declared extinct in the past few centuries have turned up alive and well. Some of the more reclusive creatures managed to hide from sight for 80 years only to reappear within four years of being officially named extinct in the wild. The shy okapi – which resembles a cross between a zebra and a giraffe – was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1901. After increasingly rarer sightings, it vanished from the wildlife radar for decades from 1959, prompting fears that it had died out. But five years ago researchers working for the WWF found okapi tracks in the wild. Other mammals ‘back from the dead’ include the rat-like Cuban solenodon, the Christmas Island shrew, th...

Astronomers spot 'potentially hazardous' asteroid just ONE month before it is due to pass close to Earth By Daily Mail Reporter 28th September 2010 Astronomers have spotted a 'potentially hazardous' asteroid less than one month before it is due to pass close to Earth. The object, given the name '2010 ST3', is 150 metres in diameter and will pass within four million miles of Earth in mid-October. It was discovered using the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) PS1 telescope in images taken on September 16th, when it was about 20 million miles away. It is the first 'potentially hazardous object' (PHO) to be discovered by the Pan-STARRS survey, using a new telescope designed to scan the skies for dangerous asteroids. 'Although this particular object won't hit Earth in the immediate future, its discovery shows that Pan-STARRS is now the most sensitive system dedicated to discovering potentially dangerous asteroids,'...

The end really is nigh... but don't panic, there's only a 50% chance of it coming in the next 3.7BILLION years By Niall Firth 30th September 2010 Daily Mail There is a 50 per cent chance that time will end within the next 3.7 billion years, according to a new study. Some physicists believe that our universe - and everything in it - will continue to expand at an ever-increasing rate, splitting into newer universes as it goes. This is known as theory of 'eternal inflation' and has spawned the idea of the 'multiverse' in popular science-fiction. But a group of scientists have argued that the laws of physics do not work in a universe that is never-ending and continues to expand – it must end at some point. A star explodes in a Hubble space image. Some scientists believe that our universe is not never-ending and will finish suddenly one day in the future And Raphael Bousso, at the University of California, Berkeley, has worked out when this is most likely to happen. ...

Royal Society issues new climate change guide that admits there are 'uncertainties' about the science By Niall Firth 30th September 2010 Daily Mail The UK’s leading scientific body has been forced to rewrite its guide on climate change and admit that it is not known how much warmer the Earth will become. The Royal Society has updated its guide after 43 of its members complained that the previous version failed to take into account the opinion of climate change sceptics. Now the new guide, called ‘Climate change: a summary of the science’, admits that there are some ‘uncertainties’ regarding the science behind climate change. And it says that it impossible to know for sure how the Earth's climate will change in the future nor what the possible effects may be. The 19-page guide says: ’It is not possible to determine exactly how much the Earth will warm or exactly how the climate will change in the future, but careful estimates of potential changes and associated uncertainties...

When Bush mentioned Jesus, when Bush said the words of Christ played a role in his life - the Left laughed, went into hysteria, apoplexy, and finally a catatonic state. Obama says something slightly different, but not significantly.  I sure hope the same left are mocking Obama, otherwise they would show themselves for the ... HYPOCRITES that they are. Just sayin. ALBUQUERQUE — President Obama expounded Tuesday on the reasons he became a Christian as an adult, telling a group of residents here that he was a “Christian by choice” and that “the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead – being my brother and sister’s keeper.” obama

Colour-coded based on race: whites = pink.  blacks = blue. Hispanic = orange.  Asians = green.   Los Angeles 2000 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315078/Race-maps-America.html#ixzz10ZVzPPFD Click on map to make it larger.                                     map

Amidinejad again states, he is not trying to get a bomb: He briefly touch on the four sets of sanctions imposed on his country by the United Nations over Tehran's refusal stop enriching uranium and to prove Iran is not trying to build an atomic bomb. Some members of the Security Council have "equated nuclear energy with nuclear bombs," Ahmadinejad said. He accused the United States of building up its nuclear arsenal instead of dismantling it and reiterated his call for a nuclear-free world. "The nuclear bomb is the worst inhumane weapon which must totally be eliminated. The NPT (Nonproliferation Treaty) prohibits its development and stockpiling and calls for nuclear disarmament," the Iranian president said.                       iran

And Obama wanted to sit down with this man, no conditions.  He attacked Bush for not having done so earlier, and his supporters picked up on the theme - that Obama won't be afriad to talk to people he disagrees with, as a contrast to Republicans who are afraid of people and consequently won't talk to them, An entirely idiotic paradigm for anyone, but understand that Retardicans had their reasons - they argued Am indinejad was a loose nut, sought the destruction of Israel and a world war, was not stable, and would lie and deceive to get a nuclear bomb.  Obama and his minions rolled their eyes. The U.S. delegation left the hall after Ahmadinejad said there were three theories about the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks: _That "powerful and complex terrorist group" penetrated U.S. intelligence and defenses. _"That some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the...

If an elected official is having an affair, they should stay out of the spotlight, avoid public contact, say nothing that would get them noticed.  If they do, and they are noticed and people do follow them about and they are discovered - they need to resign.  Regardless of party.  If however the congressman is single, and he is seeing someone - the very idea you would smear him because the person he is sleeping with happens to be a lobbyist is so low, I have no problem with a policy of tit-for-tat, rip through the Democratic ranks and uncover who everyone is sleeping with gay and straight, and publish it all, regardless of consequences.  Then, those public figures in the media - you know the ones, whether on FOX or CNN, or maybe the Washington Post or New York Times - and yes, those reporters and journalists do become public figures (or at the very least quasi-public or public figures for purposes of one issue) - expose them all.  Broadcast to the world who they...

I am not sure about the degree to which it shows OBAMA in a negative light, so much as it shows others negatively.  If you accept the premise - Obama wants out of ther war(s) and everything he does and says is to that end, then what I have read does not show him as misguided, rather his minions are an infighting rabble. Bob Woodward book details Obama battles with advisers over exit plan for Afghan war By Steve Luxenberg Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 22, 2010; 12:11 AM President Obama urgently looked for a way out of the war in Afghanistan last year, repeatedly pressing his top military advisers for an exit plan that they never gave him, according to secret meeting notes and documents cited in a new book by journalist Bob Woodward. Frustrated with his military commanders for consistently offering only options that required significantly more troops, Obama finally crafted his own strategy, dictating a classified six-page "terms sheet" that sought to limit ...

Hey - start marching against Obama and his usurpation of your civil liberties.  if not, you have no right to ever protest a Republican president when he once again, infringes upon the civil liberties of some people living in the US.  You will have lost all credibility among all sentient beings. Feds: Privacy Does Not Exist in ‘Public Places’ By David Kravets September 21, 2010 3:29 pm WIRED The Obama administration has urged a federal appeals court to allow the government, without a court warrant, to affix GPS devices on suspects’ vehicles to track their every move. The Justice Department is demanding a federal appeals court rehear a case in which it reversed the conviction and life sentence of a cocaine dealer whose vehicle was tracked via GPS for a month, without a court warrant. The authorities then obtained warrants to search and find drugs in the locations where defendant Antoine Jones had travelled. The administration, in urging the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Dis...

"We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever . . . we absorbed it and we are stronger." So said Obama, according to a Bob Woodward account from his just about to be published 'Obama's Wars'. No, Mr. Obama we cannot accept or absorb.  You will be impeached and every Democrat who stands with you will be washed out of Congress.  We can not and we will not absorb any attack. obama

September 20, 2010 Recession Ended in June 2009 The National Bureau of Economic Research, the arbiter of the start and end dates of a recession, determined that the recession that began in December 2007 ended in June 2009. The business-cycle dating committee met by phone on Sunday and came to the determination. “In determining that a trough occurred in June 2009, the committee did not conclude that economic conditions since that month have been favorable or that the economy has returned to operating at normal capacity. Rather, the committee determined only that the recession ended and a recovery began in that month,” the committee said in a statement. The 2007-2009 recession is the longest in the post-WWII period. The decision by the NBER means that any future downturn in the economy would be considered a new recession and not a continuation of the recession that began in 2007. “The committee waited to make its decision until revisions in the National Income and Product Accounts, relea...

I would make a guess and say that Mr. Obama grew up wealthier than Mr. Boehner.  That BP and corporate interests have donated far more to Senator Obama and now President Obama than have contributed to Mr. Boehner. John Boehner: the second of 12 kids from Ohio who is Barack Obama's elitist target The White House is attempting to cling on to Democratic control of Washington by portraying an Ohio congressman who grew up in near poverty as an elitist country club Republican controlled by wealthy lobbyists. By Toby Harnden, Reading, Ohio 17 Sep 2010 The Daily Telegraph President Barack Obama is doing his best to turn Representative John Boehner, the House minority leader, into Public Enemy Number One. If Republicans win back the House of Representatives in November, as polls indicate, he will replace Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. In a recent speech, Mr Obama mentioned Mr Boehner by name nine times. A fundraising email sent out from BarackObama.com this week stated that corpora...

Of course Egyptian / Arab media is honest and presents such accurate insights into all matters without bias. 15 September 2010 BBC News Egyptian newspaper under fire over altered photo Egypt's state-run newspaper has come under fire for altering a photograph to suggest President Hosni Mubarak was leading the Middle East peace talks. Al-Ahram showed Mr Mubarak walking on a red carpet ahead of US President Barack Obama as well as the Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders. The original image, taken at the White House when talks were formally re-launched, shows Mr Obama leading the way and Mr Mubarak trailing behind. The original image from the White House, taken on 1 September Talks resumed in Egypt on Tuesday. The manipulated photograph ran above an article on page six of al-Ahram's Tuesday edition, entitled The Way to Sharm el-Sheikh. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US peace envoy George Mitchell travelled to the Egyptian Red Sea resort to mediate the discussions...

A SENIOR Democratic Congresswoman, law degree, professor of law at Georgetown, and a Congresswoman since 1990 ... has, at the very least violated quite a few ethical duties in the following phone conversation.  Perhaps even several laws ... The lobbyist apparently didn't see eye to eye with her, or this would never have been released! Whether Reid, Pelosi, Waters, Rangel, Jefferson ... the Democrats have a real pantheon of ethical violators.  Makes the Republicans look less weaselly. DEMOCRATS IN A PANIC This is, uh, Eleanor Norton, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. Uh, I noticed that you have given to uh, other colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. I am a, um, Senior Member, a twenty year veteran and am Chair of the Sub-committee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management. I’m handling the largest economic development project in the United States now, the Homeland Security Compound of three buildings being built on the uh, o...

It is true, the Koran burning and the anti-mosque sentiment.  However, the Times Square bomber and the 5 in Virginia, occur BEFORE these issues.  The shooter at Fort Hood - BEFORE. Nine years on Dawn Editorial Saturday, 11 Sep, 2010     Nine years since the tragic events of Sept 11, 2001 there is an unmistakable sense that Islamophobia is on the rise in the West, a development that could have dangerous consequences on the fight against militancy across the world. Consider that in the early years after 9/11, the Muslim community in the US was heralded as an example of how followers of Islam could find a comfortable niche for themselves in western society. That is no longer true, with the furore over the ‘ground zero mosque’ and a malevolent attempt by a fringe pastor in Florida to deliberately hurt Muslim sentiments dominating the news in recent weeks. Of course, not all of this is happening in a vacuum. Faisal Shahzad (the young man of Pakistani origin who attempted...

Dutch anti-Islam MP addresses NY mosque rally Sunday, 12 Sep, 2010 NEW YORK: Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders told thousands of people protesting against plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero on Saturday that it was time to take a stand. “This is where we have draw the line,” Wilders said before some 2,000 people fiercely opposing a Muslim organization’s plans to build an Islamic cultural center close to the site where the World Trade Center once stood. “America, New York, and Sharia are incompatible. New York stands for freedom,” he told the crowd. “That is why we are here today to draw a line today on this sacred spot. We are here in the spirit of America’s founding fathers, we are here in the spirit today in the spirit of freedom.” “We must never give a free hand to those who want to subjugate us,” Wilders added. “Draw this line so that New York... will never become New Mecca.”The firebrand Dutch politician, who calls Islam fascist and wants to stop Muslim immigration and the b...

US will ‘never’ be at war with Islam: Obama Sunday, 12 Sep, 2010 WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama, marking the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks at a time of bitter religious tensions, pledged Saturday the United States will “never” be at war with Islam. In the wake of tense controversy surrounding a renegade Florida pastor’s threat to publicly burn hundreds of copies of the Koran to mark 9/11 and debate over plans to a Muslim community center and place of worship near Ground Zero, Obama urged his compatriots to be “tolerant.” As Americans, we will not and never will be at war with Islam,” he said at a memorial service at the Pentagon to remember the 184 people who were killed after a hijacked plane slammed into the Defense Department headquarters. “It was not a religion that attacked us that September day. It was Al-Qaeda, a sorry band of men, which perverts religion.” The extremists who ordered and carried out the attacks that ultimately brought down the World Trade...

I am sure this was on all the news stations. Saudi diplomat seeks asylum in US Sunday, 12 Sep, 2010     WASHINGTON: A Saudi diplomat in Los Angeles reportedly has asked for political asylum in the United States, claiming his life is in danger if he is returned to Saudi Arabia. The report Saturday by NBC News quoted the diplomat, Ali Ahmad Asseri, as saying that Saudi officials have ordered him back to his country because he is gay and had become a close friend to a Jewish woman. Asseri in a letter also reportedly criticised the role of militant imams in Saudi society. NBC said that Asseri, who is first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, was questioned by the Department of Homeland Security after he applied for asylum. The department declined comment to The Associated Press when asked about the diplomat. A call to Asseri's lawyer was not returned Saturday.                 gay

Mr. Calderon - this issue is very much akin to the emperor and his new clothes.  Everyone says one thing, but the truth is very different from the common conversation. To be very clear Mr. Calderon - Mexico has the moral authority of a pedophile speaking out against discriminatory practices against pedophiles.  You have NONE, ZERO ... among all human beings who reason and use logic when they think. More human beings have been murdered trying to cross the border to the US, by Mexican gangs, police, and soldiers than by the entirety of the US border patrol and all others engaged in trying to stem this illegal tide. You can't protect your own citizens let alone those who cross illegally into your country for jobs. You have no moral authority and in fact, control less than 2/3 of your 'country' while the other (more than) 1/3 is controlled by cartels. This is the truth Mr. Calderon, not the fantasy you wake up each morning trying to blow life into, in order that you not fall in...

Probably just a few delinquents, one small fraction of a group with no ties to anyone else. Christians in Gaza Fear for Their Lives as Muslims Burn Bibles and Destroy Crosses By Kimberly West June 18, 2007 After defeating their rivals in Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, Muslim extremists are focusing their attacks on Christians in Gaza City. Christians in Gaza City have issued an appeal to the international community and a plea for protection against the increased attacks by Muslim extremists. Father Manuel Musallem, head of Gaza's Latin church, told the AP that Muslims have ransacked, burned and looted a school and convent that are part of the Gaza Strip's small Romany Catholic community. He told the AP that crosses were broken, damage was done to a statue of Jesus, and at the Rosary Sister School and nearby convent, prayer books were burned. Gunmen used the roof of the school during the fighting, and the convent was "desecrated," Mussalem tol...

"In addition to being offensive, the Gainesville protest puts at risk those brave Americans who are fighting abroad for the freedoms and values that we believe in as Americans," said Crist, who is running as an independent for the U.S. Senate. Which includes, Mr. Crist, the right to burn a Bible, stomp on a flag, or throw blood on a Secretary of State. Islam

(I cannot link this story due to the fact it is from a paid service, although it can be located at the NY Post) • 5 Sep 2010 • New York Post • By ISABEL VINCENT and MELISSA KLEIN LET’S MECCA DEAL The mosque money trail has taken another strange turn. The original owners of 45-47 Park Place mysteriously walked away from an $18 million cash offer for their damaged Ground Zero building in 2007, only to accept $4.8 million 18 months later from mosque developer Sharif El-Gamal. El-Gamal also happened to give the building owner’s son a job. The original owners of the Ground Zero mosque site mysteriously spurned dozens of higher bids before selling the prime downtown real estate at a bargain-basement price. The Pomerantz family, which had owned the building since the late 1960s and fielded offers after the patriarch died in 2006, rejected at least one bid that was nearly four times what prospective mosque builder Sharif ElGamal eventually paid, The Post has learned. El-Gamal did offer what c...

Tony Blair made at least one significant statement in his memoir.  He may well have written down, for us, many critical and valuable lessons, learned and still to learn.  Who knows, we may find out, if we read it. What we do know, from excerpts provided by the English press and the Wall Street Journal, is he has made one significant contribution - To summarize: I profoundly disagree with the statist, so-called Keynesian response to the economic crisis; I believe we should be projecting strength and determination abroad, not weakness or uncertainty; I think now is the moment for more government reform, not less; and I am convinced we have a huge opportunity for engagement with the new emerging and emerged powers in the world, particularly China, if we approach that task with confidence, not fear. In short, we have become too apologetic, too feeble, too inhibited, too imbued with doubt and too lacking in mission. Our way of life, our values, the things that made us great, remain...

OBAMA:  We have met our responsibility.  OBAMA:  The surge will fail, it will make everything worse. OBAMA:  The surge is NOT working.    2008 OBAMA:  The surge will fail, we will fail.   2007 / 2008 Now, some of the Obamessiah supporters will say, he didn't know X and Y back then, and it was only because he was elected that the world became less dangerous (just the opposite actually). The issue is - if you are running for the highest office in our country, DON'T SPOUT OFF on crap you know nothing about.  It shows how reckless and irresponsible you really are.  Further, it shows off all the stupid fools who cheer you on when you do spout off - how how utterly naive and foolish they are. When you run, don't talk, and you won't be charged with being a fool. obama

Post documents growth of intelligence since 9/11 Jul 19, 5:24 AM (ET)   WASHINGTON (AP) - Since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, top-secret intelligence gathering by the government has grown so unwieldy and expensive that no one really knows what it cost and how many people are involved, The Washington Post reported Monday. A two-year investigation by the newspaper uncovered what it termed a "Top Secret America" that's mostly hidden from public view and largely lacking in oversight. In its first installment of a series of reports, the Post said there are now more than 1,200 government organizations and more than 1,900 private companies working on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in some 10,000 locations across the U.S. Some 854,000 people - or nearly 1 1/2 times the number of people who live in Washington - have top-secret security clearance, the paper said. [This does not mean everything it purports to mean.  Our intelligence services, military service...