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..Current and Forecast Weather for Manhattan
For other cities in North America (and trip planner), type location in top line at this link.

NOAA: Warmest April Global Temperature on Record
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CBC Hourly News
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Worid News at Six
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America's #1 Populist - Jim Hightower On Air
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Mark Fiore Animated Political Cartoons
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Film - Bilderberg and the Obama Deception
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Note-- The symbol ^ indicates that a complete version of the item is available at the link. The archive of recent issues is available here in the column to the left.

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Quotes

Thailand | 'We stay where we are; you stay where you are. Compromise is finished, and the land of smiles will not exist."
-- Natthayot Phajuano< Red Shirt Leader - Monday, May. 24, 2010

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Top Stories

UK | Faced with Societal Collapse Britain Embraces a Coallition Political Arrangement with teeth and national purpose | British Coalition Releases Plan for Government | Video
The New York Times ] By Robert Mackey - May 20, 2010
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On Thursday in London, senior members of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, including the prime minister, David Cameron, and the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, released a 34-page document declaring the new coalition government’s plans. The document, called “The Coalition: Our Programme for Government,” essentially replaces the separate campaign manifestos issued by the two parties last month.

Editor - Britain leaves US behind in the race for the future -- and in solving current national communal issues. Do the political parties in the US have the courage to follow with a government that sets aside partisan politics to serve the basic values of democracy -- not those of individual avarice. At this point there are reasons to be pessimistic -- but that is projection only, not fact yet. Your editor recommends that you click the link and experience what is, in my opinion, an amazing document of national purpose, on a par with the American Constitution in organizing and diecting governmet for its citizens. Do view this video of hope and nationally unified action.

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Breaking News

Pressure piles on BP as Gulf spill widens
Reuters - Monday, May 24, 2010
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BP sharply reduced its estimate on Monday of how much oil it is siphoning off each day from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico that has been spewing oil for a month and threatening ecological disaster. The British-based energy giant said the oil captured on average by a mile-long siphon tube was 2,010 barrels (84,420 gallons/319,500 liters) per day in the six days before May 23, less than half the up to 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons/795,000 liters) per day the company estimated it had been capturing. At times the capture was as low as 1,360 barrels per day (57,120 gallons/216,200 liters).

The oil group believes about 5,000 barrels have been leaking every day, although some experts have given significantly higher estimates for the size of the leak.

The lower estimate came as two members of U.S. President Barack Obama's Cabinet were to visit the fouled Gulf Coast on Monday to keep pressure on BP in hopes of averting a looming environmental catastrophe.

Editor - And Obama's administration is reported to be issuing permits to oil corporations to initiate further drlling. If this proves true, the fallout from the BP blowup is likely to be Obamas Vietnam. Is this an indication that Obama waltzes to corporate interests, as some opine. Read following news item.

US | How to Fight a War - Despite Obama’s Moratorium, Drilling Projects Move Ahead - Commander-in-Chief loses control of the troops?
The New York Times - By Ian Urbina - Sunday, May 23, 2010
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WASHINGTON — In the days since President Obama announced a moratorium on permits for drilling new offshore oil wells and a halt to a controversial type of environmental waiver that was given to the Deepwater Horizon rig, at least seven new permits for various types of drilling and five environmental waivers have been granted, according to records.

Editor - Is Obamma spending too much time on the hustings when he should be attending to his desk and overseeing his administration? What punishments are in place when his directives are ignored -- especially when they involve a national environmental crisis? Is this, at base, more favoritism for the corporate oil industry? Should our representatives in Congress open an investigation into how this happened? It is, after all, one of its prinipal coonstitutional duties of Congress, in its role of representative of the people, to oversee what the administration does to protect the interests of the public. Unfortunatrly, this function seems largeley defunct as our goverment moves more and more to a resemble a model of Mussolini's corporativistic/fascistic manner of ruling the modern state. Unfortunately, too few citizens understand this as they are all too unfamiliar with these historic facts -- or worsr, care. 1984? Sty tuned.

As the ancient Chinese saying goes, "The war was lost when the horse lost a horseshoe."

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Internalional Oil

Rolling News on the BP Burp
Center for Biological Diversity - Current
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More Gulf drilling only if ensure no more spills, Obama
ENN / Reuters- By Matt Spetalnick - Saturday, May 22, 2010
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President Barack Obama said on Saturday that offshore oil drilling could only go forward if there were assurances that a disaster like the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill would not happen again.

Editor -Assurances? What nonsence. Federal regulations are in place by which cororate oil is legally required to comply with safety guides. Morever, Federal regulators are employed to oversea issues of safety and orocedure - without mentioning that the top level administration emanating from the White House is spposed to be riding herd on this critical national activity. Its somewhat comparable to not reglating Wall Street. To launch an attack on BP without acknowledging the role failures of government is grossly unfair. Assurances? These are useless in the rough and tumble of the capitalist or, indeed, socialist world.

North Sea Oil Well Evacuated
ENN / Reuters - By Wojciech Moskwa and Gwladys Fouche - Friday, May 21, 2010
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Norwegian oil and gas producer Statoil said on Friday it had evacuated the Gullfaks C platform in the North Sea after changes in well pressure led to a fault on one of two valves designed to prevent a blowout. Bellona said the situation was "very critical" and highlighted continued risks of offshore oil and gas exploration in the wake of BP's well blowout and environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Editor - This has been a recurring problem at this drilling site since 2008

Europe

Crisis Imperils Liberal Benefits Long Expected by Europeans
The New York Times - By Steven Erlanger - May 22, 2010
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PARIS — Across Western Europe, the “lifestyle superpower,” the assumptions and gains of a lifetime are suddenly in doubt. The deficit crisis that threatens the euro has also undermined the sustainability of the European standard of social welfare, built by left-leaning governments since the end of World War II.

Europeans have boasted about their social model, with its generous vacations and early retirements, its national health care systems and extensive welfare benefits, contrasting it with the comparative harshness of American capitalism.

Europeans have benefited from low military spending, protected by NATO and the American nuclear umbrella. They have also translated higher taxes into a cradle-to-grave safety net. “The Europe that protects” is a slogan of the European Union.

But all over Europe governments with big budgets, falling tax revenues and aging populations are experiencing rising deficits, with more bad news ahead.

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National News

Baby Gap: Germany's Birth Rate Hits Historic Low
Time Magazine - By Tristana Moore / Berlin - Sunday, May 23, 2010
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Pakistan | In Violent Karachi, Insurgency Finds a Haven
The New York Times - By Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah - May 21, 2010
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KARACHI, Pakistan — In this violent city of 18 million people, where the country’s wealthiest live just miles from thousands of extremist religious schools and their Taliban supporters, lies the urban front line of Pakistan’s struggle with Islamic militancy.

UK | Candidates To Lead UK's Labour Party Renounce Iraq Conflict As 'catastrophic' And 'wrong'
CBS News / AP - Monday May 24, 2010
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LONDON - Two of the front-runners to head Britain's Labour Party sought to move on from divisive recent history Saturday by renouncing the Iraq war entered by their former leader, Tony Blair. Lawmaker Ed Balls said the 2003 invasion was wrong, while rival Ed Miliband said the conflict had destroyed trust in the party.

"It was a mistake, it was an error. It wasn't just thousands of people (who) lost their lives, it is also millions of people who lost trust in us because they didn't think that we did it in the right way," Balls said. "There weren't weapons of mass destruction, the evidence wasn't sound, so we should say loud and clear, in retrospect, we got it wrong."

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United States Government

"In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress." -- John Adams

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." -- Mark Twain

Attack the Reforrmers / Audio
Jim Hightower - By Jim - Friday, May 21, 2010
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Topical issues

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Activism at the Ground Level

"The strength of a democracy is, as in nature, in the roots, not in the flamboyant leaves and flowers that wither and die after a couple of days in public office."
-- Editor, homosapiens.ki

Grassroots International -Who We Are | VIDEO
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Arts & Culture

Dance Video | MICA | "Blame It On The Girls"
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Musical Group Video | Neville Brothers - Yellow Moon
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Out of the Hills | Jesus Is Coming Soon -The Oak Ridge Boys
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Musicians mix Coldplay and Taylor Swift together - Enjoy
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Music Video | "Democracy Is Coming to the USA" - Leonard Cohen
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Music Video | Leonard Cohen | "First We Take Manhattan, Then We Take Berlin"
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Music Video | Jordan Page - "Listen" | What If This Happened On Your Block?
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Music Video | Jordan Page - "Pendulum"
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Music video - Neville Brothers performing "Fearless" -
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Communities and Species

Book | "The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society" by Frans de Waal
American Scientist - Review by by Joan Silk - May 23, 2010
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The thesis of Frans de Waal's new book, The Age of Empathy , is that empathy comes "naturally" to humans, by which he means that it is a biologically grounded capacity that all people share. According to de Waal, empathy has deep evolutionary roots, having originated before the order Primates came into existence. The antiquity of empathy firmly fixes its place in human nature, he believes, making it a robust trait that develops in all societies. De Waal makes an impassioned and eloquent case that understanding the role of empathy in nature can help us build a kinder and more compassionate society. His message will have considerable resonance for many readers.

De Waal has long been a critic of the notion that evolution drives us (and our primate relatives) to express the darker sides of our natures. He has been impatient with colleagues who are fixated on the struggle for existence and give short shrift to the need for cooperation and accommodation among interdependent animals that live in groups. Thus, while many primatologists have focused on evolutionary pressures that generate high levels of competition and conflicts within a group, de Waal has emphasized the importance of the mechanisms that primates use to defuse tension, resolve conflicts and repair the damage caused by them.

Kenya | Farmers vs. Lions: A Battle to the Death in Kenya
Time Magazine - By Nick Wadhams in Nairobi - Friday May 10, 2010
Apologies, l[nk lost.

For the cattle herder, it was Newton's third law in practice. Lions north of Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve killed a couple of his cows, so he took an equal and opposite reaction and poisoned three lions. The man was arrested and admitted to killing the lions, which is illegal in Kenya. But he got off scot-free after a local politician reportedly intervened on his behalf.
The poisonings, which occurred in April, were only the latest in a spate of big-cat killings since the start of the year — at least 25, scientists say — that have spurred new warnings that the country's lions will go extinct in the next few years. The news is equally alarming for conservationists who fear that, despite millions of dollars spent on countless programs to save the lions over the years, their efforts are just not working. Kenya's lion population has declined from 20,000 to less than 2,000 in 50 years and there are very few places in the country where the animals are not under threat.

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Economy and Finance

"I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." -- Winston Churchill

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -- Ronald Reagan (1986)

Bloomberg Economic News
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Bloomberg Current Worldwide Financial News
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Health / Fitness and Nutrition

Nuts Lower Cholesterol, Study Finds
A diet with nuts, including pistachios, significantly lowered total and LDL-cholesterol levels, in addition to triglycerides, a new study found.
ENN / LiveScience Staff - Monday, May 24, 2010
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The finding, published earlier this month in the Archives of Internal Medicine, confirms other evidence that nuts can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, researchers said. The report was authored by Joan Sabaté of Loma Linda University's School of Public Health, and the research was funded by the International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research & Education Foundation.

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Political Issues

"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." -- P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Real clear Politics Daily Rundown
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Science and Technology

Bloomberg Index of Current Science News
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Hubble spots a planet-eating star
BBC News - Monday, May 24, 2010
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The Hubble Space Telescope has captured evidence of a Sun-like star "eating" a nearby planet. Astronomers knew that stars were capable of swallowing planets in orbit around them, but this is the first time the event has been "seen" so clearly. Although the planet was too far away for Hubble to photograph, scientists have created an image of it, based on analysis of the telescope's data.

Book | "Predicting the Unpredictable: The Tumultuous Science of Earthquake Prediction" By Susan Hough
Powell's Books - A review by Cosma Shalizi - May 16, 2010
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Earthquake prediction is, in an important sense, a solved problem. Earthquakes are vastly more common in certain parts of the world than others, and they occur at a reasonably steady statistical frequency in a given location. We even know why this is so. Earthquakes are most frequent in those parts of the world where the tectonic plates run up against each other and try to move past each other. Where the plates meet, we get fault lines. When the material on one side of the fault sticks to that on the other, strain builds up and gets released in sudden movements: earthquakes. So the baseline prediction is that earthquakes occur near faults, with frequencies about equal to their historical frequencies, because the mechanics of tension and relaxation change very slowly.

This lets us say things like "Once in about every 140 years, the Hayward fault in northern California has a quake of magnitude 7.0 or greater." But some people, including some seismologists, are not content with this level of understanding and these actuarial "forecasts"; they want to be able make highly accurate predictions -- to be able to say precisely when and where an earthquake will occur and what its impact will be ("magnitude 7.1, directly beneath the stadium at the University of California, Berkeley, the day after the Big Game with Stanford in 2010"). As recently as the 1970s, this goal seemed feasible to professionals and the U.S. government, but now most geologists believe that it is extremely unlikely ever to be accomplished. In Predicting the Unpredictable, Susan Hough tries to explain both the initial enthusiasm for precise predictions and how and why that enthusiasm dissipated.

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Social Issues

"Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
-- Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

Book | "Nurtureshock: New Thinking about Children" By Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
Powell's Books | The Science of Parenting - A review by Ethan Remmel - May 2, 2010
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Does praise undermine a child's confidence? Can gifted children be reliably identified in preschool? Why do siblings fight, and how can they be discouraged from doing so? Are popular children more aggressive? Do videos like those in the Baby Einstein series help infants learn language?

Nurture Shock: New Thinking about Children addresses such questions, examining how recent research in developmental psychology challenges conventional wisdom about parenting and schooling. Aimed at laypeople rather than academics, the book made the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list last year and was listed as one of the year's best by Barnes and Noble, Discover Magazine, Library Journal and others.

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