This Just In...the thread for news.

[Justin]

Germany Has Built Clean Energy Economy U.S. Rejected in 80s

InsideClimateNews (Berlin) -- The view from the Reichstag roof on a sun-drenched spring afternoon is spectacular. Looking out over Berlin from the seat of the German government, you can see the full sweep of the nation's history: from Humboldt University, where Albert Einstein taught physics for two decades, to the site of the former Gestapo headquarters.

I'm not here to see this country's freighted past, however. I've come to learn about what a majority of Germans believe is their future—and perhaps our own. There is no better place to begin this adventure than the Reichstag, rebuilt from near ruins in 1999 and now both a symbol and an example of the revolutionary movement known as the Energiewende. The word translates simply as, "energy change." But there's nothing simple about the Energiewende. It calls for an end to the use of fossil fuels and nuclear power and embraces clean, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass. The government has set a target of 80 percent renewable power by 2050, but many Germans I spoke with in three weeks traveling across this country believe 100 percent renewable power is achievable by then.

Continued: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-1....sustain.story

[Ramplate]

Germany has always had the scientific drive to forge ahead and make advances by leaps and bounds. I'm not surprised at this

Nice posting by the way, Justin. Nice to have little teasers to see if more needs to be read

[Justin]

No problem.

[Tolkien]

America turned it down because we're impatient. If we can't have it now, we don't want it.

[FranklinTard]

i don't think it had anything to do with the technology, it has to do with our hatred of science in america and our fervent belief in creationism.

gop should look to the latinos for the coming elections. incredibly religious group of people that also believe in creationism, which basically makes it so they don't believe in science, and with science comes global warming (just look at rubeo's remarks on the age of the earth from this month). dems are just lucky the gop are filled with immigrant haters... for now.

[Ramplate]

Other power industries are worried about their profits

[Justin]

Originally Posted by FranklinTard

i don't think it had anything to do with the technology, it has to do with our hatred of science in america and our fervent belief in creationism.

gop should look to the latinos for the coming elections. incredibly religious group of people that also believe in creationism, which basically makes it so they don't believe in science, and with science comes global warming (just look at rubeo's remarks on the age of the earth from this month). dems are just lucky the gop are filled with immigrant haters... for now.

Did you hear about Pat Robertson? Apparently he believes the Earth is older than 6,000 years now.

[JBond]

7000?

[Dracula]

Originally Posted by FranklinTard

gop should look to the latinos for the coming elections. incredibly religious group of people that also believe in creationism, which basically makes it so they don't believe in science, and with science comes global warming (just look at rubeo's remarks on the age of the earth from this month). dems are just lucky the gop are filled with immigrant haters... for now.

Probably bad advice. Voters of color really don't seem to bring their religious beliefs with them to the ballot box the way that white evangelicals do. Just look at the African American electorate, which is theoretically as religious as any group, and that doesn't stop them from voting democrat by large margins.

[FranklinTard]

Look at gay marriage in Cali though, it was repealed thanks to the black vote. When the curtains closed they voted with Jesus and the Mormons. If anyone can figure out how to out Jesus anyone, its the grand old party. Only a matter of time.

[Justin]

Thousands attend anti-Nazi rally in Hungary to protest lawmaker’s call to screen Jews

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Thousands attended an anti-Nazi rally Sunday in Hungary organized by Jewish and civic groups to protest a far-right lawmaker’s call to screen Jews for national security risks.

The rally was unusual because politicians from both the government and opposition parties shared a stage outside parliament.

Marton Gyongyosi of the far-right Jobbik party said Monday in the legislature it was time “to assess ... how many people of Jewish origin there are here, and especially in the Hungarian parliament and the Hungarian government, who represent a certain national security risk.”

Gyongyosi later apologized to “our Jewish compatriots” for his statement, but added that Hungary needed to be wary of “Zionist Israel and those serving it also from here.”

Some 550,000 Hungarian Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Hungary’s Jewish population is now estimated at 100,000.

Antal Rogan, parliamentary faction leader of the governing Fidesz party, addressed the crowd, which Hungarian media estimated at over 10,000 people.

“I came because in this situation I cannot stay quiet,” Rogan said. “Hungary defends its citizens.”

Rogan said he would take his two sons to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, where it is estimated that one-third of the Nazis’ victims were Hungarian.

Some posters held by protesters mocked Gyongyosi by showing him with a Hitler moustache and the crowd chanted “Jobbik go away!”

Attila Mesterhazy said his opposition Socialist Party would boycott Parliament’s foreign affairs committee as long as Gyongyosi remained its vice chairman. He also called on Prime Minister Viktor Orban to address the issue in Parliament next week.

Jobbik president Gabor Vona, however, said the protest was part of an “artificially induced campaign of lies” meant to divert attention away from Hungary’s economic problems and that the groups that took part in the rally wanted to “destroy” Jobbik.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...=sm_btn_reddit

[Ramplate]

North Korea: Researchers Find 'Unicorn Lair'

North Korea has raised eyebrows around the world by announcing that researchers have proved the existence of the unicorn.

The official state news agency says archaeologists "reconfirmed" the existence of a "unicorn lair" in Pyongyang, once used by an ancient Korean king.

The Korean Central News Agency reports that archaeologists made the extraordinary discovery when they spotted a rectangular rock carved with the words "unicorn lair" 200m from the city's Yongmyong temple.

The report quotes Jo Hui Sung, director of North Korea's history institute, explaining how the find tallies with information in history books from the 16th century.

He says: "Korea's history books deal with the unicorn, considered to be ridden by King Tongmyong, and its lair.

"The temple served as a relief palace for King Tongmyong, in which there is the lair of his unicorn."

There has been speculation that the report may be a spoof response to the Onion's satirical article declaring that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is "the sexiest man alive for 2012".

That article attracted worldwide attention after China's Communist Party newspaper apparently neglected to confirm it was a joke and published it as fact.

Others have suggested the story has a political aim - to assert the supremacy of North Korea over its more prosperous southern neighbour.

It claims that the unicorn discovery "proves" that Pyongyang in the north was "a capital city of Ancient Korea as well as Koguryo Kingdom".

Official news from the totalitarian state - often featuring dubious claims about its scientific achievements or the love the impoverished people have for their dictator - has been met with scepticism in the past.

Memorably, one report claimed that Kim Jong-il shot a 38 under par round of golf - including 11 holes-in-one - on his first and only attempt at the sport.

The late leader's official biography claimed that his birth in Baekdu mountain was prophesied by a swallow and heralded with a double rainbow and a new star in the heavens.

A North Korean newspaper also once reported that Kim had invented a new snack that could cure the nation's hunger problems called "a double bread with meat" - although cynics said the product sounded rather like a hamburger.

[Justin]

Corporate Profits Hit Record High While Worker Wages Hit Record Low

By Pat Garofalo on Dec 3, 2012 at 9:25 am

A constant conservative charge against President Obama is that he is inherently anti-business. However, businesses keep defying the storyline by making larger and larger profits, rebounding nicely out of the Great Recession.

In the third quarter of this year, “corporate earnings were $1.75 trillion, up 18.6% from a year ago.” Corporations are currently making more as a percentage of the economy than they ever have since such records were kept. But at the same time, wages as a percentage of the economy are at an all-time low, as this chart shows. (The red line is corporate profits; the blue line is private sector wages.):

Corporations made a record $824 billion in profits last year as well, while the stock market has had one of its best performances since 1900 while Obama has been in office.

Meanwhile, workers are getting the short end of the stick. As CNN Money explained, “a separate government reading shows that total wages have now fallen to a record low of 43.5% of GDP. Until 1975, wages almost always accounted for at least half of GDP, and had been as high as 49% as recently as early 2001.”

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/201...-wages-record/

[Ramplate]

How did this guy get a job? And why is a convenience store employee allowed to boot a vehicle? And who the hell doesn't know what an ambulance looks like?

Store employee fired after ‘booting’ ambulance



One generally assumes that an ambulance with its lights flashing can park wherever it pleases. This past weekend in New Orleans, a parked ambulance was "booted" by a convenience store employee, who was apparently annoyed that the ambulance had parked in his store's lot. Never mind that the paramedics were treating a man inside the store. That employee has since been fired.

According to a report from WWLTV.com, the paramedics put the patient in the back of the ambulance and began to drive away when the vehicle came to a sudden stop. The medics saw that someone had put a boot on their vehicle. When a store employee finally removed the boot, the tire was flat. The paramedics had to call for backup while the man with chest pains waited in the back.

[Related: Snow traps drivers for days in giant Russian traffic jam]

Jeb Tate, spokesman for New Orleans Emergency Medical Services, said, "We actually had to delay that patient's care by calling another ambulance out here to come transport this patient."

Now, a few days later, WWLTV.com reports that the convenience store employee has been fired and issued a citation by the New Orleans Police Department for simple criminal damage to property. According to the police report, the man, Ahmed Sidi Aleywa, claimed that he didn't know that the vehicle was an ambulance and that he doesn't speak English.

[Knerys]

What ever happens to this world in the future...we will all deserve it. -_-

[JBond]

You should read "The Stars My Destination." :p

[Deexan]

[JBond]

So he's back!

[Ramplate]

So much for crime going down


Day 1 of Legal Pot Marred by Deaths at Alleged Wash. Growing Center

The first day of legal marijuana use in Washington State was marred by an attempted robbery ending with two deaths at an alleged pot-growing facility just south of Seattle.

The possession of pot became legal in the state Thursday after voters passed a measure decriminalizing it in November. Day two kicked off with more celebrations under the Space Needle tower, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported, but the Pierce County Sheriff's Department investigated an attempted robbery in Puyallup at an alleged growing center foiled by a homeowner who shot two alleged burglars in front of his 9-year-old son.

Officers say they arrived at the home of the man, 35, Thursday to find two masked men dead on the floor and marijuana plants in the attic, ABC affiliate KOMO-TV News reported.

While the law passed in November made it legal to carry and consume marijuana, Sgt. Sean Whitcomb of the Seattle Police Department said cultivating and selling the drug outside of medical dispensaries is still a crime.

"When you're engaged in that type of criminal activity, there is an element of risk," Whitcomb told ABC News Friday.

The legislation leaves Washington in a "murky place," Whitcomb said. Smokers who have purchased marijuana from a street dealer are in the clear.

But the dealer "is still committing a felony," he said.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Seattle sent out a statement Wednesday reminding residents that pot is still illegal under federal law and cannot be brought onto federal property.

"Regardless of any changes in state law, including the change that will go into effect on December 6th in Washington State, growing, selling or possessing any amount of marijuana remains illegal under federal law," the memo from U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said.

Federal officials have not said whether they will take action in Colorado and Washington where possession laws now conflict with nationwide drug classifications, but Seattle Police told ABC News Thursday that federal agents were hands-off on pot smokers in the state.

In an ABC News poll released shortly after the election, 48 percent of Americans expressed support for legalizing marijuana.

[FranklinTard]

sounds completely unrelated though. just a guy illegally growing that 2 other dudes tried to rob.


dying over pot. pretty sad gravestone.

[Wyldstaar]

I wouldn't read too much into it. Illegal pot growers are going to continue to be around for a while until the legal dispensaries are able to become firmly established in the community. That takes time. Any time there's a radical change in the law, it takes a while for things to work themselves out and adapt. This is just the first of many growing pains to come.

[Justin]

Clinton: Drug war 'hasn't worked'

By KEVIN CIRILLI | 12/7/12 6:11 PM EST

Former President Bill Clinton says in a new documentary that his administration’s attempts to limit drug trafficking from Colombia “hasn’t worked.”

Clinton joined other world leaders — including former President Jimmy Carter — in filmmaker Sam Branson’s new documentary, “Breaking the Taboo,” which premiered Thursday at New York’s Google headquarters and charges that the global war on drugs is a failure.

“What I tried to do was to focus on every aspect of the problem. I tried to empower the Colombians for example to do more militarily and police-wise because I thought that they had to. Thirty percent of their country was in the hands of the narcotraffickers,” Clinton says in the film, which is available free online.

In the film, narrator Morgan Freeman says, “the U.S. spent billions of dollars funding military operations” in Colombia to cut of cocaine coming into America.

Clinton later says: “Well obviously, if the expected results was that we would eliminate serious drug use in America and eliminate the narcotrafficking networks — it hasn’t worked.”

The documentary was made before Washington and Colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana, but its release comes as U.S. officials — including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — remain critical of its legalization. The Office of Drug Control Policy declined to appear in the film. Clinton said in November at a foreign policy forum in Washington that she was “not convinced” that legalizing marijuana would end violence related to drug trade.

Carter says he faced similar drug war problems as President Barack Obama and criticizes former President Ronald Reagan.

“When I was president, we had the same problems with drug production and distribution and consumption that we presently face. We tried as best as we could to minimize the emphasis on our criminal punishment, and I made a major statement to the Congress asking for changes in the law.”

He continued: “President Reagan and his wife [Nancy] adopted the drug program as the No. 1 issue for her to proclaim. She had a phrase: Just say, ‘No,’” Carter says in the film. “She made it clear that her prohibition against drugs included marijuana and everything else. So I don’t think that there’s any doubt that President Reagan made a profound impact then on the consciousness of our country, and I think that he also shaped the opinion of many members of our Congress.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2012/1...LCsA26w.reddit

[Ramplate]

They're right, it never worked. Catchy slogan "Just say no" but the people who were behind it were saying no anyway.

It's the big fish of the harder drugs that need to be addressed - not the user. A person who has drug problems doesn't need legal problems on top of it all. At least not all of them.
The mandatory sentences that put casual users in prison for as long as drug dealers are not fair.

[Ramplate]

Father fatally shoots son outside Pennsylvania gun store

(Reuters) - A seven-year-old boy was shot to death by his father on Saturday in the parking lot of a gun store in western Pennsylvania in an apparent accident, state police told Reuters.

Craig Allen Loughrey was shot in the chest by a handgun his father, Joseph V. Loughrey, 44, was holding as they were getting into the family vehicle at Twig's Reloading Den in Mercer, about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, a Pennsylvania State Police spokesman said.

The boy died at the scene of the shooting, which happened at 10:50 a.m. His father was questioned by investigators, but police said the evidence pointed to an accident.

The two were from nearby Fredonia, Pa., police said.

[Ramplate]

Colorado students accused of sickening class with pot-laced brownies

BOULDER, Colo (Reuters) - Two University of Colorado at Boulder students are accused of bringing marijuana-laced brownies to a college class, sickening their unsuspecting professor and five classmates, police said on Sunday.

Thomas Cunningham, 21, and Mary Essa, 19, were arrested Saturday on suspicion of second-degree assault, fraudulently inducing the consumption of a controlled substance and conspiracy charges, university police spokesman Ryan Huff said.

Huff said three of those who ate the brownies were hospitalized, suffering from the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active property in marijuana.

"If someone views this as a prank, it's no laughing matter," Huff told Reuters. "These (charges) are all felonies which carry potential prison time."

According to Huff, police were summoned to a classroom building Friday morning on a report that a female professor was complaining of dizziness and was drifting in and out of consciousness. The instructor, who was not identified, was transported to a hospital.

Later Friday, the mother of a student in the class notified police that her daughter also was hospitalized after suffering "an anxiety attack."

The family of a third student also notified police that their daughter felt like she was going to black out after attending the class, and that they took her to a hospital.

All three have since been released from the hospital.

Huff said the students brought the brownies to class as part of a "bring food to class" day, and those who ate the brownies were unaware that they were laced with pot. Five students and the instructor fell ill after eating the brownies, police said.

Investigators questioned the instructor and 11 of the 12 students who attended the class and determined that Cunningham and Essa baked the brownies and served them to the unsuspecting class, Huff said. Both remain in the Boulder County jail pending a bond hearing.

Last month, Colorado voters approved the recreational use and possession of small amounts of marijuana.

In response to the legalization vote, University of Colorado president Bruce Benson sent a message to college alumni last week, saying that marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and its use on the university's campuses could jeopardize research grant money.

"Marijuana threatens to cost the university nearly a billion dollars annually in federal revenue, money we can ill afford to lose," Benson said.