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Love it

Global warming is just HALF what we said: World's top climate scientists admit computers got the effects of greenhouse gases wrong
Leaked report reveals the world is warming at half the rate claimed by IPCC in 2007

Scientists accept their computers 'may have exaggerated'


By David Rose


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2420783/Global-warming-just-HALF-said-Worlds-climate-scientists-admit-computers-got-effects-greenhouse-gases-wrong.html#ixzz2f0BD7DvK
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I hope more truth about this subject is reported.

This still means that you're acknowledging the existence of anthropogenic climate change. Which obviously means it's still an issue.

Also acknowledging that Earth hasn't significantly warmed since 1997, as confirmed by the same report.

No, but it does imply that there is a correlation and that further anthropogenic changes are highly plausible.

Plausible but not definite, especially given that Earth hasn't really warmed in 17 years.

Well, this scientific report seems to be saying the impact is quite minor.

One could also attribute that change to conscientious efforts in the last decade to stem anthropogenic climate change.

Also, the study suggests that climate change is happening at half the rate initially thought - so if we're correct about our beliefs that it is indeed anthropogenic then it's simply going to take twice as long to destroy us if we continue along our previous, ignorant path.

By reducing CFC emissions we may well have reduced the warming anyway.

:-"

Shooting rampage in the U.S. right now at a navy yard.

"If you define mass shootings as four or more people killed in a shooting rampage, then this year the USA has had 250 mass shooting in 260 days."

John Stewart
The Daily Show
19/9/2013

China's child slaves: 'It would be easier to escape if we were allowed shoes'

Tens of thousands of children go missing in China every year, many of whom are forced to work in brick kilns. While individual stories of stolen children make the headlines briefly and then fade, many parents never stop looking. Some say they are spending thousands of dollars searching, unsupported, for their children, fighting to raise awareness of cases that will never be solved. In this video, former child slaves and their parents share their stories

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/video/2013/sep/19/china-child-slaves-video

China's stolen children: parents battle police indifference in search for young

Tens of thousands of children are snatched and sold into slavery every year, but parents say they get little help with their search

Charles Custer
theguardian.com, Thursday 19 September 2013 21.25 AEST

"Back then, they just told me to keep looking," said Yuan Cheng, punctuating the sentence with a lengthy drag on his cigarette. Sitting in his mud-floored home in Hebei province, a few hours north of Beijing, the farmer is talking about the lack of interest from the police when his 15-year-old son, Xueyu, went missing from a construction site in Zhengzhou in 2007.

Six years on, Yuan says the police have finally admitted to him that there was a string of child abductions in the area around the time his son disappeared. But when he went to them, two days after Xueyu went missing, the police said: "Keep looking on your own and we'll talk about it again in a couple of days."

Tens of thousands of children are kidnapped in China each year for sale into adoption, street life, forced labour and prostitution.

The horror faced by parents whose children are stolen is highlighted in Chinese and international media whenever there is a particularly disturbing case. Recently police arrested a hospital doctor in Shaanxi province over her alleged role in stealing newborn babies and selling them. The police investigation managed to track down some of the missing babies and reunite them with their parents.

But that is an unusually happy ending in a country where parents say they are battling police indifference as well as traffickers in the hunt to find missing children.

In 2011, Chinese police rescued 8,660 abducted children, but it is likely that at least double that number were kidnapped. China does not release official figures relating to child trafficking, so estimates are based on the numbers of missing-child reports posted by parents online and of children reported rescued each year.

Estimates range from 10,000 kidnapped per year to as high as 70,000. Most parents who lose children stand very little chance of seeing them again.

At the national level, China takes child abduction very seriously. It has a national anti-kidnapping taskforce that investigates and infiltrates trafficking rings, and there are frequent anti-kidnapping campaigns that encourage citizens to report anything suspicious. But at local level, where the first, crucial reports will be made when a child goes missing, parents say the police just don't seem to care.

"The evening we reported it they went out and patrolled a bit, after that we never saw them looking [for her] again," said Zhu Cuifang, whose 12-year-old daughter, Lei Xiaoxia, went missing in 2011. The police also failed to check surveillance tapes at her school or interview any of her classmates.

Critics say that the slow reaction of local police plays into the hands of the traffickers. The involvement of organised rings means a kidnapped child could be taken thousands of miles and passed between numerous handlers over the first couple of days.

Pi Yijun, a professor at the Institute for Criminal Justice at the China University of Political Science and Law, says: "An important problem is that when a child is lost, the parents go and talk to the police, and the police need to judge whether the kid has got lost or has been kidnapped.

"At present, in Chinese law, they need to be missing for 24 hours to be listed as a missing person or as kidnapped, but that 24 hours is also the most crucial time – so there is a major conflict there. How can you judge quickly whether the child has got lost or is being hidden as a prank or really has been kidnapped? That's a serious problem."

Often, it is a problem that is never fully resolved. In rural areas and the outskirts of cities where migrant workers live, children aren't too difficult to acquire, adds Pi.

China's one child policy has created an environment where finding a buyer for a boy is rarely difficult; there are always parents somewhere who want a son to support them in their old age but don't want to pay the fines for additional children just to end up with more daughters.

Child kidnapping is so prevalent in China that even when a stolen child tells people what has happened, sometimes nothing is done.

Wang Qingshun was kidnapped and sold to "adoptive" parents in the 1980s. The couple who bought him already had two daughters and thought it would be easier to buy a son than keep trying to have one naturally.

While he was growing up, Wang told his neighbours that he had been kidnapped and that the people he lived with were not really his parents. But they didn't report this to the police until a decade later.

While individual stories of stolen children make the headlines briefly and then fade, parents never stop looking. Many say they are spending thousands of dollars searching, unsupported, for their children, fighting to raise awareness of cases that will never be solved.

In the six years that Yuan Cheng has been searching for his son, he has helped rescue other children who had been kidnapped and sold into forced labour, but he hasn't found Xueyu yet.

Zhu Cuifang and her husband, Lei Yong, haven't found Xiaoxia either. Still, they press on, because as Zhu put it, "if we can't find our daughter, life is meaningless".

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/sep/19/china-stolen-children?

Swedish court rules that it is ‘okay’ to masturbate in public

A 65-year-old man who pleasured himself on a Stockholm beach acquitted of sexual assault because he ‘was not targeting a specific person’

ADAM WITHNALL THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2013

A court in Sweden has ruled that a man who openly masturbated on a beach in Stockholm did not commit an offence because he was not “pleasuring himself towards a specific person”.

The 65-year-old man had been charged with sexual assault after he was seen on 6 June removing his shorts and masturbating near the water’s edge.

The district court of Södertörn issued a judgement in which it said that it “may be proven that the man exposed himself and masturbated on this occasion”, according to the Swedish English-language news website The Local.

Yet the court acquitted the man, and said the man had not committed an offence because he did not direct his activities towards a specific person.

And it appears that Sweden’s prosecution service will accept the ruling, with public prosecutor Olof Vrethammar telling the Mitti newspaper that he wasn't planning to appeal.

“For this to be a criminal offence it's required that the sexual molestation was directed towards one or more people. I think the court's judgement is reasonable,” he said.

When asked if it was now acceptable to masturbate in public if you don't direct it towards a specific individual the prosecutor said it was “okay”.

“The district court has made a judgement on this case. With that we can conclude that it is okay to masturbate on the beach.”

Mr Verthammar added that acts of masturbation in public may still be regarded as “disorderly conduct”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/swedish-court-rules-that-it-is-okay-to-masturbate-in-public-8826589.html

Australia's defence forces to be maintained at battle-ready status

Date
September 21, 2013

Australia's new Defence Minister, David Johnston, says he wants to keep the military battle-ready for further possible conflicts in the unstable Middle East and south Asia.

Senator Johnston said that after 14 years of involvement in overseas conflicts from East Timor to Afghanistan, the Australian Defence Force had a strong fighting momentum that should not be lost as troops return from Afghanistan.

In an interview with Fairfax Media, he said he plans to maintain and ''augment our readiness'' for future fights, which will most likely be in the unstable region stretching from Pakistan to the Levant, including even fresh trouble in Afghanistan.

''It will be Pakistan across to Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan. That's the area where there will be instability and that's the area that we might need to go back into at some point in the future.

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''I can't foresee that right now, but … if you were to look at where the next area of instability is likely to be - and we're seeing it unfolding in Syria today - a contribution from Australia is most likely to be in that part of the world in the future. I think Pakistan is also highly problematic.''

The West Australian Senator (pictured), a former justice and customs minister in the Howard government and Tony Abbott's defence spokesman, stressed he did not see Australians fighting in Syria.

He said he was not preparing for any particular conflict ''in an alarmist sense'' but was determined to build on the knowledge and skills the Australian Defence Force had gained running counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan. That included exposure to enemy tactics such as the use of improvised explosive devices and fighting in urban areas among a civilian population ''against a very, very resourceful and callous enemy.

These are experiences that we've lived and breathed for 10 years and we've become quite expert in those things. And we've got to make sure those lessons are passed on to our soldiers in the future.

''Operationally, we're starting to come down [in Afghanistan], so we've got to maintain some interest for the troops. They've got to keep training, got to keep a level of readiness.''

The bulk of Australian troops are set to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of the year. However, in a reminder of the continuing danger, three special forces soldiers were wounded last week in a battle with insurgents.

A Defence statement issued on Friday said the three elite soldiers had received ''minor fragmentation wounds'' while helping Afghan forces fight off insurgents.

Senator Johnston's remarks come amid a continuing international standoff over the response to Syria's suspected use of chemical weapons.



Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/australias-defence-forces-to-be-maintained-at-battleready-status-20130920-2u5he.html#ixzz2fRAHlMe6

Shrinkage on a Swedish beach?

Will the USA’s new power plant pollution limits kill coal?

Last updated on 20 September 2013, 5:32 pm

EPA emission reduction proposals will require power stations to be 40% cleaner than current coal plants


(Pic: Beemwej)
By Sophie Yeo

The US has unveiled its plans to limit the pollution from new power plants, in a key part of Obama’s climate action plan to severely cut carbon emissions by 2020.

Gina McCarthy, the administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), announced new regulations for America’s coal industry in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington on Friday.

The new proposals mean that new coal fired plants are limited to emitting 1,100 pounds of CO2 for each megawatt hour of power they produce, while most gas plants would not be allowed to exceed 1,000.

It is a significant cut. The dirtiest of all fossil fuels, coal-fired power plants currently spew out 1,600 and 2,100 pounds of CO2 per hour.

“These carbon pollution standards are flexible and achievable,” said McCarthy. “They pave a path forward for the next generation of power plants.”

While the gas plants should be able to meet this target without the introduction of any new technology, the more polluting coal-fired plants will need to install carbon capture and storage (CCS) equipment to meet the EPA’s demands.

Since CCS has yet to be implemented on a commercial scale, the new regulations will likely feed into the perception that Obama is waging a “war on coal”, and could potentially launch a series of legal objections.

“Today’s announcement … is direct evidence that this Administration is trying to hold the coal industry to impossible standards,” said Joe Manchin, a Democrat Senator from the coal producing state of West Virginia.

Climate Action Plan

Obama’s environmentalist credentials, along with his decline in popularity with those with an interest in the coal industry, were boosted last June when he delivered a speech at Georgetown University, laying out his Climate Action Plan.

He directed the EPA to take direct action on tackling climate change, bypassing the obstinate Congress, in order to cut US emissions by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020.

Many have interpreted the new coal plant regulations as a sign that he is serious about hitting this target. Kevin Kennedy, director of the U.S. Climate Initiative at the World Resources Institute, said sending this signal to the coal industry was a “very important step”.

But he added that the real test would come next June, when the administration has said it will face the much more difficult battle of regulating the emissions from existing power plants.

“If you look at what’s currently being built, there are very few new coal plants in the pipeline, so it probably won’t have a lot of effect on the new builds over the next five to ten years,” he said.

“But if you really want to look at what’s going to get emission reductions in the electric sector, it’s the rules that they’ll be proposing next June to take a look at the existing power plant fleet that are going to be much more important in getting near term reduction, and there’s lot of opportunity for cost effective reductions out of the existing power plant fleet.”

Problems for coal?

China has also recently indicated a serious intention to tackle the problem of air pollution in the country, further signposting that the end may be nigh for the coal industry.

Last week, the central government published plans to ban new coal-fired power plants in the provinces surrounding Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as listing targets to ensure overall coal consumption peaks by 2017.

Recent decisions by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank are also adding volume to coal’s death toll, as they announced that they were to stop almost all lending to coal projects.

The upcoming IPCC report, the UN document which brings together the most recent climate science, is expected to say for the first time that the world has a “carbon budget” if it is to stay within the limits of “safe” global warming.

It could warn that less than a quarter of the planet’s coal, oil and gas reserves can be burnt if we are to stay within this allowance.

But in a recent article, Ben Caldecott, Head of Government Advisory at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), says it’s foolish to write off King coal too soon.

Long term pressures are likely to see its share of the global energy mix fall, but the scale of legacy coal assets means it is embedded into the energy plans of many countries for some time to come.

Models run by BNEF indicate global installed generation capacity using coal will only fall from 36% in 2013 to 21-23% in 2030.

“A Roman Empire-like decline and fall looks the most likely scenario, though with significant disparity between Asia (particularly China) and the rest,” he says

“If governments get their act together internationally and agree a timetable for coal’s phase out, this could bring about a quicker phased end to coal, but that depends on international climate negotiations in desperate need of rejuvenation.”

- See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/2013/09/20/will-the-usas-new-power-plant-pollution-limits-kill-coal/?#sthash.kPsZbLJa.dpuf

Numbers of people pardoned or granted clemency by the President of the United States

George Washington

President George Washington pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 16 people during his term.

John Adams

President John Adams pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 21 people during his term.

Thomas Jefferson

President Thomas Jefferson pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 119 people during his term.

James Madison

President James Madison pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 196 people during his term.

James Monroe

President James Monroe pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 419 people during his term.

John Quincy Adams

President John Quincy Adams pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 183 people during his term.

Andrew Jackson

President Andrew Jackson pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 386 people during his term.

Martin Van Buren

President Martin Van Buren pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 168 people during his term.

William Henry Harrison

President William Henry Harrison was one of only two presidents who gave no pardons. This was due to his death shortly after taking office.

John Tyler

President John Tyler pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 209 people during his term.[

James K. Polk

President James K. Polk pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 268 people during his term.

Zachary Taylor

President Zachary Taylor pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 38 people during his term.

Millard Fillmore

President Millard Fillmore pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 170 people during his term.

Franklin Pierce

President Franklin Pierce pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 142 people during his term.

James Buchanan

President James Buchanan pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 150 people during his term.

Abraham Lincoln

President Abraham Lincoln pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 343 people during his term.

Andrew Johnson

President Andrew Johnson pardoned about 7,000 people in the "over $20,000" class by May 4, 1866. More than 600 prominent North Carolinians were pardoned just before the election of 1865.[10] President Andrew Johnson pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 654 people during his term.

Ulysses S. Grant

President Ulysses S. Grant pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,332 people during his term.

Rutherford B. Hayes

President Rutherford B. Hayes pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 893 people during his term.

James Garfield

President James Garfield was one of only two presidents who gave no pardons. This was due to his assassination shortly after taking office.

Chester A. Arthur

President Chester A. Arthur pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 337 people during his term.

Grover Cleveland

President Grover Cleveland pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,107 (est.) people during his two, non-consecutive terms.

Benjamin Harrison

President Benjamin Harrison pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 613 people during his term.

Grover Cleveland (2nd term)

President Grover Cleveland pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,107 (est.) people during his two, non-consecutive terms.

William McKinley

President William McKinley pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 918 (est.) people during his term.

Theodore Roosevelt

President Theodore Roosevelt pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 981 (est.) people during his term.

William Howard Taft

President William H. Taft pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 758 people during his term.

Woodrow Wilson

President Woodrow Wilson pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 2,480 people during his term.

Warren Harding

President Warren G. Harding pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 800 people during his term.[

Calvin Coolidge

President Calvin Coolidge pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,545 people during his term.

Herbert Hoover

President Herbert Hoover pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,385 people during his term.[

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Democratic President Roosevelt granted 3,687 pardons in his four terms in office.

Harry Truman

Democratic President Harry Truman pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 2,044 people during his term

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,157 people during his term.

John F. Kennedy

Democratic President John F. Kennedy pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 575 people during his term.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,187 people during his term.

Richard Nixon

Republican President Richard Nixon pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 926 people during his term.

Gerald Ford

Republican President Gerald Ford pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 409 people during his term.[

Jimmy Carter

Democratic President Jimmy Carter pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 566 people during his term.

Ronald Reagan

Republican President Ronald Reagan pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 406 people during his term.

George H. W. Bush

Republican President George H. W. Bush pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 77 people during his term.

Bill Clinton

Democratic President William J. Clinton pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 459 people during his term.

George W. Bush

Republican President George W. Bush pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 200 people during his term.

Barack Obama

Democratic President Barack Obama has pardoned 16 people as of March 2011 in his term of office.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_or_granted_clemency_by_the_President_of_the_United_States

12 years of 'Bush' and only 277 pardons

6 years so far of Obama and only 16 pardons

Pathetic.....

Thought it might be worth noting there was a terrorist atatck in Kenya yesterday, around 40-50 dead and hostages still being kept

Somali Al shabab have taken responsibility, terrible scenes r.i.p.

Australian killed.

R.i.p to all victims.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds_3uhLRWhQ

If haven't got the time watch at the 4min mark.

Classics never die.

Not a rumour, Israeli forces are fighting Al Qaida together with the Kenyan army.

Can guarantee that if Israel retaliates, there will be another attack somewhere.

Not a question of if, IDF is fighting alongside Kenyan troops against the terrorists.

Well yeah. Israel supports US, Israel support for Kenya, Al-Qaida/Al Shabaab hate the US and Israel, Al Shabaab are from Somalia and dislike the Kenyans for military operation in Somalia... can only lead to something more.

Edited by MVFCSouthEnder: 23/9/2013 05:01:46 PM

Perhaps. But hey, it's not like they were in love with Israel before this... In any event, the shopping centre was targeted because it was part-Israeli owned and because it had a large number of non-Muslims using it.