Uh Oh! “War On Christmas” Hits Copenhagen

The Danish foreign ministry has said “no” to Nordmann fir trees inside the Bella Center where the UN climate conference is taking place.  Danish officials don’t want to offend non-Christian participants at the meetings.

“We have to remember that this is a U.N. conference and, as the centre then becomes U.N. territory, there can be no Christmas trees in the décor, because the U.N. wishes to remain its neutrality on such matters,” the paper quotes the Foreign Ministry’s Svend Olling as saying.

The [Copenhagen] Post explains that “Christmas is a religious holiday” and that Foreign Ministry officials believe it …

EPA Warning: Greenhouse Gases Endanger Human Health

The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a warning that greenhouse gas emissions are a threat to human health, and must be regulated.

Under a Supreme Court ruling, the so-called endangerment finding is needed before the EPA can regulate carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases released from power plants, factories and automobiles under the federal Clean Air Act.

The warning comes as the UN Copenhagen summit (pictured) is set to examine global environmental issues.  The Wall Street Journal headlines “Business Fumes Over Carbon Dioxide Rule,” setting up a divide between pro-business and pro-environment forces.

An …

Why Copenhagen Matters

What happens during the UN climate conference in Copenhagen can change lives.

While a new Kyoto treaty isn’t expected, thanks in large part to the U.S. Senate’s inability to move climate legislation already approved in the House, experts expect the framework for an eventual deal will take shape.

What that deal looks like will ultimately affect how much Americans pay in their gas and electric bills, and how quickly the world cuts greenhouse gas emissions.

“It will set the stage for what’s to come,” said Divya Reddy, an energy policy analyst at the Eurasia Group, a …

Being Good Without God

Humanists believe you don’t need God to be good, and they’re taking ads out featuring smiling people wearing Santa hats with the words: “No God?…No Problem!”

The group [the American Humanist Association], consisting of atheists and others who say they embrace reason over religion, has launched a national godless holiday campaign, with ads appearing inside or on 250 buses in five U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco starting today. The placards depict smiling people wearing red Santa hats with the slogan: “No God? . . . No problem!”i

Humanist leaders say the $40,000 ad campaign, funded …

10 Signs Of How Our Planet Is Doing

Live Science takes a look at how we’re doing on the eve of the Copenhagen UN summit.

10. Arctic Meltdown

One recent study estimated that Arctic waters could be ice free during the summer in as few as 30 years, much sooner than previous estimates. Such catastrophic melt could reinforce the global warming trend and further imperil Arctic residents, from humans to narwhals and polar bears, which were first listed as an Endangered Species in May 2008.

9. Collapsing Antarctic Ice

In April, an ice bridge believed to pin the Wilkins Ice Shelf in place snapped. Wilkins …

SecDef Gates: Expect Major US Troop Presence In Afghanistan For At Least 2-4 Years

This sounds different than the 18-month timeline.  While Afghan troops will take more responsibility in July 2011, only a small amount of US troops will withdraw at that point.  And Gates, who was on three Sunday morning talk shows, says there will be more US casualties at first.

But both [Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton and Gates said having a target date will help move both countries toward a successful transition.

”What we’ve done and what the president’s direction to the commanders on the ground is very clearly: We want this to move. We want it to move …

The Road To Obama’s Afghanistan Decision

The Washington Post explains the lead-up to the president’s Afghanistan speech.  President Obama wanted a faster surge and a more clearly defined exit strategy than was offered in the original options.

At a meeting more than two weeks earlier, he had asked for a plan to deploy and pull out troops quickly — a “surge” similar to the one that his Republican predecessor had executed in Iraq, but with a fixed date to begin withdrawals.

What was in front of Obama — scenarios in which it took too long to get in and too long to get out …

The Salahis Crash An Obama Speech

from SNL

…

Break-Ins At Another Climate Research Center Show Desparation Of Global Warming Deniers

The Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling And Analysis at the University of Victoria has been broken into, another in a series of security breaches in an attempt to discredit climate science.  What interesting timing that this, and the purloined emails from CRU, happened in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit (h/t Laffy at The Political Carnival)

An alleged series of attempted security breaches at the University of Victoria in the run-up to next week’s Copenhagen summit on climate change is evidence of a larger effort to discredit climate science, says a renowned B.C. researcher.

Andrew Weaver (pictured), …

Tea Party Group To Sponsor GOP Debates; Don’t They Claim To Be Non-Partisan?

Tea Party groups in the 5th district of Virginia are sponsoring debates for the Republican nomination to challenge Congressman Tom Perriello.

According to a news release, the debates will be scheduled from January to March in the Danville, Charlottesville and Lynchburg [Virginia] areas. The debates will precede the GOP’s nomination process, whether that is a primary or a convention. TEA Party leaders are calling for a convention.

Tea partiers have gone out of their way to proclaim they are “independent and non-partisan.”  What is clear, though, is that the real agenda is to move the Republican …

Senator Max Baucus Nominated Girlfriend To Be US Attorney; As Story Breaks He Votes With Republicans

Why should only Republicans have messy public/professional lives?  Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus was dating a former staffer when he recommended her for a position as US Attorney for Montana.

The Montana Democrat and his former state office director Melodee Hanes began their relationship in the summer of 2008 after Baucus separated from his wife, Ty Matsdorf told The Associated Press late Friday.

Baucus, a Senate leader helping to shepherd President Barack Obama’s efforts to expand health care, nominated Hanes for the U.S. attorney post in March. But she later withdrew, saying she had been presented with other opportunities …