• Spy Satellite Photographs New North Korea Attack Sub
• General’s Book “Worse” That Wikileaks
• Will Medvedev Go Toe-To-Toe With Putin in 2012
• No Bottom for Home Price Drop Yet.
• Congress To “Gang-Up” On Federal Reserve
• Pole Dancing As Olympic Sport
• Drug Money Dangers Then and Now
• Gorbachev’s Advice To U. S.
• Most Versus Least Corrupt Countries
• 97-year old Nazi War Criminal Found
• Arab Media Celebrate Israel’s Fatal Carmel Wildfires
• Drake’s Formula Predicting ET
• Federal Judge Impeached 8^th Ever
• America’s Question Obama’s “Leadership Style”

The Kyoto Protocol konked out at the climate change conference in Cancún sealing the fate of the only legally binding climate change treaty, and leaving countries squabbling over the substance and form of a new treaty for the future. Uncertainty and strained economics in many countries shoved discussions over the edge as negotiators succumbed to the reality of its costs, jobs and endangered prosperity.

North Korea has developed and deployed a new type of midget submarine fitted with torpedo launch tubes, South Korean military officials said.

The new Daedong-B midget submarine that measures 17 meters in length, 2.2 meters in height and up to 11.5 tons in weight moves faster than larger submarines and is harder for military radar to detect when surfaced..

The submarine is an offensive system for attacking shipping as well as for clandestine insertion of special warfare operatives

The South has accused the North of sending a similar-class submarine to torpedo the Cheonan warship last March off the South’s Baeknyeong Island, which resulted in the loss of 46 lives. The North denies the charge.

Iranian officials said Israel and the United States have cooperated in identifying and targeting Iranian nuclear scientists. They said Israel was believed responsible for the killing of at least three Iranian nuclear scientists since 2007. The U. S. and Israel have both adopted Sgt. Schultz’s “I see nothing, I know nothing” positions.

A new book by retired General Henry Hugh Shelton  who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001 in the Clinton and Bush 2 administrations makes alarming declarations. Shelton’s autobiography, “Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior,” says among other things:

• a high-ranking, but unnamed, Clinton Cabinet member proposing that General Shelton intentionally allow an American pilot to be killed by the Iraqis to have an excuse to retaliate and go to war (numerous media outlets speculated that this person was Madeleine Albright).
• describes Bill Clinton’s tearful confession to General Shelton that a close Clinton aide lost the “biscuit” (top secret presidential nuclear launch authorization codes) effectively disarmingAmerica’s strategic nuclear forces;
• details a contentious Camp David meeting among President George W. Bush and his National Security Council immediately after 9/11, where internal battle lines were drawn, and
• there were multiple attempts to kill Osama bin Laden that were shot down by Madeleine Albright who also forbade attacking the Taliban calling it “a legitimate sovereign government” of Afghanistan.

Reportedly Albright calls Shelton’s accusations distortions in public and lies in private.

Shelton states that the 2003 Iraq War was begun by the Bush administration based on “a series of lies,” Gen. Shelton considers the Iraq War to be a “fiasco.” He particularly dislikes then Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld disparages his Princeton style saying his approach was “based on deception, deceit, working political agendas, and trying to get the Joint Chiefs to support an action that might not be the right thing to do for the country but would work well from a political standpoint.” Calling that “the worst style of leadership” that he had ever witnessed.

After his first meeting with Rumsfeld, Shelton says he recalls thinking, “We’re going to need some heavy-duty cleaning supplies if all we’re going to do is waste time having pissing contests like this.”

Shelton reportedly considered a run for U. S. Senate in 2008 against Elizabeth Dole but couldn’t get the support necessary to win. Shelton endorsed Hilary Clinton’s presidential bid.

There has been a largely unenthusiastic reaction by both Israelis and Palestinians to a Middle East policy speech by Hilary Clinton last week. The core issue is her statement that “Both sides must agree to a single line, drawn on your map, that divides Israel from Palestine and to an outcome that implements the two-state solution.”

Why is the federal government allowing a state-owned Russian company to gain control of half the uranium mined in the United States?

ARMZ, which is wholly owned by the Russian State Corporation for Nuclear Energy, has paid $610 million for control of Uranium One Inc., a Canadian company that owns two uranium mines in Wyoming.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Committee of Foreign Investment in the United States have both approved the deal, which according to the Financial Times could give ARMZ control of more than half of American uranium production.

“Wyoming’s congressional delegation said the uranium could in theory go overseas and serve against U.S. interests. Everyone in Wyoming said don’t do this. And they did it anyway.”

Top ranked Auburn University’s quarterback Cam Newton won the 2010 Heisman as the nation’s best college football player. in an NBC Sports online poll 65% expect he will have to give it up because his father “sold” him for $180,000 to rebuild his church, some think Auburn could be forced to give up the BCS trophy if they win it.

Moscow News Friday opined that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev definitely wants to remain in office after 2012 even though the assumption has always been the Putin wants the presidency back.

Bizarrely Medvedev said on Friday that he thinks WikiLeaks Julian Assange should receive a Nobel Peace Prize despite the revelation that he plays Robin to Putin’s batman.

Akardy Dvorkovich said on Friday in an English language interview with the BBC that he thinks Medvedev would like to compete for the top job at the end of his present term.

When asked if his boss would like to stay on, Dvorkovich said, “I believe he does.”

 Dvorkovich is Chief Economic Advisor to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.

He also said that Medvedev and prime-minister Putin have not made the final decision about who will in fact stand for re-election, Reuters reported. The two have “constructive and friendly relations,” said Dvorkovich.

But many analysts and diplomats expect the prime-minister to make his come back in 2012 and most polls show that he is as powerful as he ever was, Reuters reported. Whether Medvedev has the chutzpah to oppose Putin could be as much “fun” to watch as what appears to be an impending political fight for U. S. President that same year.

Notorious self-described socialist Senator Bernie Sanders droned on for hours Friday trying to block a vote on extending the Bush tax cuts.

Turkey fully cooperated with nuclear shipments to Iran with Prime Minister Erdogan’s full knowledge a French Foreign Ministry cable said.  .

The French cable was released by WikiLeaks and reported on a strategic dialogue with Israel in October 2009. The cable quoted a briefing by Israeli Foreign Ministry director-general Yossi Gal to the Franco-Israeli Strategic Dialogue.

The cable was authored by French Foreign Ministry official Frederic Bereyziat, who expressed skepticism over the Israeli briefing on Turkey.

Gal and other officials were said to have warned that under Erdogan Turkey was moving away from NATO and toward such adversaries as Iran and Syria.

Over the last year, Turkey has defended Iran’s nuclear program. The two countries were also increasing trade, particularly in energy.

On Dec. 1, Erdogan expressed fury over the leaked U.S. cables, particularly one from 2004 in which he was said to hold secret bank accounts in Switzerland.

The cable from then-U.S. ambassador Eric Edelman stated that the education of Erdogan’s children was financed by an unidentified Turkish businessman.

A 2009 cable said Erdogan’s friends were profiting from Turkish trade with Iran.

“The United States is responsible for those diplomats’ false claims and their smears,” Erdogan said. “The United States should ensure that the diplomats are held accountable.”

It was not clear how WikiLeaks acquired the French cable. The lion’s share of cables and memorandums released on Nov. 28 were those from the U.S. State Department.

During the strategic dialogue, the French delegation, led by Foreign Ministry director-general Pierre Sellal, said it would require firm evidence of Turkish cooperation with Iran’s nuclear program. The cable said the Israeli side responded that such evidence was being collected and would eventually be released.

The French-Israeli dialogue, which lasted nearly six hours, also included discussions on Syria. In 2009, Paris moved to restore close diplomatic relations with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Faced with a 100 million euro ($133 million) deficit, one western German city has introduced a per day pleasure tax on prostitutes to help whittle down its budget gap. Dortmund prostitutes buy a 6 euro “day ticket” for each day they work, or face a fine. The city estimates that the new tax will add some 750,000 euros to its coffers each year.

Zillow, Inc. a closely held provider of home price data says homr ptices are expected to plummet another $1.7 trillion this year bringing to total drop to a stunning $9 trillion the Seattle based company predicts.

Zillow says there is little hope 2011 will be much better. Sales of existing homes fell to 4.43 million nationwide compared to 5.81 million averaged over the past decade.

Zillow cites nearly 10% unemployment and expiration of the tax credit.

More that 77% of the decline in home values occurred in the last half of 2010 and Zillow thinks ar further 11% drop is likely for 2011.

Morgan Stanley chimed in saying U. S. homes prices will bottom out 36% below their 2006 top.

Turns out WikiLeaks’ weirdo Assange has a secret bunker built under a Swiss mountain, according to a front page photo spread in a New York newspaper.

U.S. Representative Darrell Issa (R) California, incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he wants to ensure the Federal Reserve is more transparent in its actions and will focus his investigations there we he assumes the chairmanship in January.

Plus, Ron Paul  (R)  Texas, one of Congress’ sharpest critics of the Federal Reserve, has been chosen to lead the House subcommittee that monitors the Fed’s activities, and he promises to push again for a full audit of the nation’s central bank.

Attacks have stepped up on Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and the central bank in the wake of the Nov. 3 announcement that it would buy $600 billion in U. S. government bonds in an attempt to bring down unemployment and prevent inflation.

Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of auditing the Fed: 74% of Adults think it’s a good idea, and just 10% are opposed. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.

Men are more supportive of a Fed audit than women. Both investors and non-investors are strongly supportive of the move.

Republicans favor an audit of the Fed even more strongly than Democrats and adults not affiliated with either of the major parties.

But there continues to be substantial support for auditing the Fed across all demographic categories.

The Fed is currently independent despite its full control of the nation’s monetary supply, but most Americans suspect the Fed chairman is overly influenced by the president in his decision-making.

If you’re having trouble sleeping or want to buy an enemy a gift I suggest reading or giving William Griedner’s 1989 book, Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country.

Researchers found the only known footage of the Titanic. So now there are videos of the three biggest disasters in history: the Titanic, the Hindenburg, and of course, last Monday’s New York Jets game. — Leno

The International Pole Championship (IPC) is a competition organized annually by International Pole Dance Fitness Association (IPDFA) and its competition this year is being conducted in Tokyo. Competitors point out that properly done pole dancing is physically taxing. So much so that some of the competitors dream of it as an Olympic sport.

The IPDFA competition attracted contestants from around the world and has divisions for men, women and the disabled.

So far the international Olympic Committee has not announced its intentions for such a competition. There are 15 winter sports and 28 summer sports recognized by the IOC

Egged on by anarchist taxpayer supported students rioted in London because they are now being asked to pay more of the cost of their otherwise free and heavily subsidized college educations. Riot police showed great restraint in combating the violence.

Some years ago, Colombia gave a national birthday party to one of its greatest writers, the poet and novelist Alvaro Mutis. That was especially gratifying to Mutis, since he had had to flee the country in 1956 on account of misusing Esso Oil’s charitable funds to fund publications by bright young writers, including his best friend, Gabriel García Márquez, and throw parties for them. At the party, he was seated next to the wife of President Virgilio Barco. She told him that her husband had recently visited Washington, DC to ask then US President George H. W. Bush to freeze all the Colombian drug money being laundered in US banks. When Bush asked how much Barco and his people believed was in them, Barco responded “About five billion dollars.”

Bush told him, “It’s about a hundred times that much. I could freeze those funds today, but the US economy would collapse tomorrow morning.” That was in the early 1990s. If the story is accurate, it seems our economy has been in a precarious situation for a long time.

This recollected and report is by a man who knew Mutis well, and wrote a book about him.

Wesley Snipes is starting his prison sentence for tax evasion. First, it was Charlie Sheen, now Snipes. It’s the curse of the movie “Major League.” — Ferguson

Mikhail Gorbachev, 79, the leader of the former Soviet Union whose negotiations with former President Ronald Reagan ultimately led to an end of the Cold War is back on center stage. He is urging the U. S. to ratify the new START agreement; saying U.S. officials who claim Russian democracy has all but disappeared as revealed by WikiLeaks, should be fired and “replaced by normal people”, and Americans are “itching” to resort to military action against Iran - but he cautioned that more time is needed to allow negotiations to work.

Born March 2, 1931 Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was famous for wearing a cowboy hat backwards while visiting the Reagan Ranch here in Santa Barbara and as a moderate actor who moved the USSR toward a more open, democratic place.

His new remarks were made in a private interview and apparently without official sanction from Moscow but, well worth noting.

New York City taxi drivers are being told to start racially profiling their passengers. They’re supposed to report anyone that looks like them.– Conan

After recent reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other government officials received bags of cash from Iran, it’s no surprise that Afghanistan would be near the top of a ranking published last week of the most corrupt countries in the world.

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) from Transparency International, a nongovernmental organization based in Berlin and operating in 70 countries, ranked the Central Asian country second only to Somalia and tied with Myanmar for its level of government corruption.

The annual CPI, first published by TI in 1995, aggregates results from 13 different surveys, though not all surveys cover all countries. The surveys used for the 2010 index took place between January 2009 and September 2010. Businesses often use the index to assess corruption risk in foreign countries.

The ranking of 178 countries, which goes from “highly corrupt” at 0 to “very clean” at 10, assigned a 1.1 to Somalia - the East African country where piracy is a way of life for many - and 1.4 to Afghanistan and Myanmar (the former Burma). At the “very clean” end of the scale, Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore tied for top honors with a score of 9.3.

“Nearly three-quarters of the countries surveyed scored less than 5,” TI chairman Huguette Labelle said, “indicating a severe problem.”

The United States, which ranked 19th “cleanest” in the 2009 index, slipped out of the top 20 this year, coming in at 22nd place. Other industrial countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development also declined in the rankings or failed to improve.

For its part, Russia fell to 154th from 146th last year, putting it among the top 25 most corrupt countries and making it the most corrupt of the Group of 20 leading economies.

“With governments committing huge sums to tackle the world’s most pressing problems, from the instability of financial markets to climate change and poverty, corruption remains an obstacle to achieving much-needed progress,” Transparency International said in its report.

The group urged countries to renew efforts to adhere to the UN Convention Against Corruption, which became effective in 2005 and legally binds it 140 state signatories (including Afghanistan) to specific anti-corruption measures.

In addition, TI said that its assessment of the 36 industrialized countries party to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) headquartered in Paris, anti-bribery convention indicated that as many as 20 show little or no enforcement of the rules, “sending the wrong signal about their commitment to curb corrupt practices.”

Sesquipedality (ses-kwi-pi-DAL-i-tee) noun: The practice of using long words.

He was a senior assistant to SS and Gestapo Commander Heinrich Himmler, and befriended Adolf Hitler as well. He was responsible for signing the first order of the Reich instructing the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews, later turning into the Nazi systematic extermination machine.

But for the past 65 years since the end of World War II, Dr. Bernhard Frank managed to hide his direct involvement with the Jewish genocide, walking around freely in Germany and never being prosecuted for his actions.

Now, at the age of 97, he is being exposed for the first time by an American Jew who pretended to be a neo-Nazi.

In the upcoming days a lawsuit is expected to be filed in the United States against Frank, the most senior Nazi criminal still alive today. The suit, which will probably also call for his extradition, will be filed on behalf of US citizens whose families were murdered during WWII as part of the cruel order signed by Frank. The suit claims he is responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

One of the prosecutors, a young 43-year-old American Jew by the name of Mark Gould, was actually the one who managed to expose Frank’s past. In a special Yedioth Ahronothm, a Televiv newspaper with the widest circulation in Israel, interview Gould talks about how he was able to connect the puzzle pieces and uncover the chilling past of an old Nazi criminal.

Coincident with this disclosure is a 600-page report was submitted to Congress in mid-November describing an entangled history of involvements with the CIA and NAZI fugitives. The whole thing reads like real life versions of the film The Boys From Brazil and best selling book The ODESSA File are well known on the subject among scores of others and decades of speculation, accusations and recriminations.

ODESSA was not fiction meaning Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, “Organization for Former SS Members” and was once a robust organization.

Tens of thousands of pages of U. S. intelligence documents declassified as a result of Freedom of Information Act demands and lawsuits. Whether or not Dr. Franks was involved in that or not is not know known.

The Post Office set a dubious record by losing a record $8.5 billion in fiscal year 2010, up $4.7 billion from 2009, and according to its own projections it’s not expected to improve in 2011 or in the “foreseeable future.”

 Despicable as it may be many Arab media outlets have been taking advantage of Israel’s fire disaster to disparage the Jewish state and rejoice over its misfortune. Hezbollah is said to be overjoyed by the deadly fire.

“The great Carmel fire embarrassed Israel’s firefighting capabilities and proved its almost complete incompetence,” a report by Hezbollah’s al-Manar network said.

The Lebanese station said the poor performance came despite Israeli claims regarding the IDF Home Front’s full readiness to cope with any emergency and face the implications of an all-out war.

The Qatar-based al-Jazeera network reported that “Israel failed to contain the fire.” The popular Arab station also noted that the Jewish state had to plead for international help in order to bring the blaze under control.

Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry officials in touch with more than 15 foreign governments described the global amazement at Israel’s requests for help. Officials in Greece, Italy and Germany expressed their surprise at Israel’s helplessness, one source said.

“We have no doubt that in Damascus to Tehran and Beirut people are seeing these problems,” the source said. “Everyone is asking how a state…that went through several wars and is supposed to keep in its warehouses proper equipment for military tests suffers from a shortage of planes and firefighting materials.”

Israel has carefully cultivated an image of tough, invincibility, and the recent wildfire diminishes that image open it up to those pledged to destroy it.

 An overwhelming majority of Americans celebrate Christmas, and for most of those who celebrate, it’s a religious holiday rather than a secular one despite the strong commercial overtones of the season.

 A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 92% of all Adults celebrate Christmas in their family. Six percent (6%) do not. 

Of those who celebrate the day, nearly two-thirds (65%) regard it as a religious holiday. Twenty-eight percent (28%) say they celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday.

Scientists are giving even money that alien life will be found by 2026 bouyed by Yale University’s revised estimate of 300 sextillion stars in the universe. Plus, because up to 90 percent of the stars in the universe are red dwarf s and astronomers now believe habitable planets can indeed orbit them the likelihood increases.

So, if you calculate Drake equation R * f_p * N_e * f_l * f_i * f_c * L = N revising the Milky Way galaxy (our neighborhood)  adding back in those Red Dwarfs you get 3,600 likely life forms someplace in our home galaxy and relatively nearby that have, do or will exist on planets around a portion of those stars.

R - Rate of formation of suitable stars in our galaxy (aggregate number)	R =	1 billion10 billion100 billion200billion300 billion400 billion500 billion600 billion
fp - Percentage of those stars with planets	fp =	.0001% (1 of 1,000,000).001% (1 of 100,000).01% (1 of 10,000).05% (1 of 2,000).1% (1 of 1,000).5%1%2%5%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
Ne -Number of planets per star that could sustain life like earth	Ne =	.33.5.6711.52345
fl - Percentage of those planets where life actually develops	fl =	.0001% (1 of 1,000,000).001% (1 of 100,000).01% (1 of 10,000).05% (1 of 2,000).1% (1 of 1,000).5%1%2%5%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
fi - Percentage of planets from fl with intelligent life	fi =	.0001% (1 of 1,000,000).001% (1 of 100,000).01% (1 of 10,000).05% (1 of 2,000).1% (1 of 1,000).5%1%2%5%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
fc - Percentage of planets from fi where technology develops	fc =	.0001% (1 of 1,000,000).001% (1 of 100,000).01% (1 of 10,000).05% (1 of 2,000).1% (1 of 1,000).5%1%2%5%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
L - “Lifetime” of communicating civilizations (years)	L =	1 / 1,000,000,000th (10 years)1 / 100,000,000th (100 years)1 / 10,000,000th (1,000 years)1 / 1,000,000th (10,000 years)1 / 100,000th (100,000 years)1 / 10,000th (1,000,000 years)1 / 1,000th (10,000,000 years)1% (100 million years)10% (1 billion years)20% (2 billion years)30% (3 billion years)40% (4 billion years)50% (5 billion years)100%

Of course there are a lot of “ifs” in Drake equation. Since our ‘little’ Milky Way galaxy is ‘only’ about 100  thousand light year in diameter almost all of those communicating civilizations would come and go in the 10,000 years predicted civilization’s lifespan. Iin as much as if someone said “hello” today it could take up to 100,000 years for the signal to get here from there - so we and they would have been gone for up to 90,000 years.

So it seems prudent to look within 10,000 or 20,000 light years - we can see that far through the dust and stuff in the Milky Way. When we do we can see 4,706 objects within 20,000 light years in the Orion arm where we all hang out. Plug that into Drake equation and it is unlikely anybody else is in our neighborhood right now.

If you want to play with it go to Drakes Equation calculator and fiddle with it. The equations been around since my high school days and I  recall trying to calculate it with a slide rule - of course that was in muzzle loader days when personal computers were science fiction.

According to a report, the worst drivers in the U. S. A. are in Washington, D.C. Republicans can only turn right, Democrats can only turn left, and Obama is weaving all over the place. — Leno

The U.S. Senate found Federal Judge G. Thomas Porteous of Louisiana guilty on four articles of impeachment last week, and kicked him off the bench. He’s the 8^th crooked federal judge to be impreached and convicted in U. S. history.

The most recent previous impeachment of a federal judge was last year.

Then Judge Samuel B. Kent of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas resigned after being impeached on charges of sexual assault, obstructing and impeding an official proceeding and making false and misleading statements, according to the website of the Federal Judicial Center.

Before that, Judge Walter L. Nixon of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi was impeached in 1989 on charges of perjury before a federal grand jury. The Senate convicted him and removed him from office that year.

I’ll give you an idea how bad it is for him (Obama) now. Now Democrats want to see his birth certificate.– Leno

Voters continue to have mixed feelings about the president’s leadership style. 28% of Likely Voters view the president’s leadership as too confrontational, while 30% say he’s too cooperative. Another 31% say his leadership style is about right. Since the beginning of the year, the number of voters who view the president as being too cooperative has ranged from a low of 21% to a high of 31%. Just after Obama first took office in January 2009, just 17% said he was too cooperative.

When Obama first took office in January 2009, 60% said his leadership style was about right.

It is appropriate to consider these figures a baseline bcause they were compiled before this week’s antics.

It’s so cold that the security guys at the airports are putting their hands in their own pants. - Letterman