The mean beast known as Global Warming may have some competition in destroying the world. So says LiveScience.com in this article:

SAN FRANCISCO—Global warming may not be the only thing melting Greenland. Scientists have found at least one natural magma hotspot under the Arctic island that could be pitching in.

In recent years, Greenland’s ice has been melting more and flowing faster into the sea—a record amount of ice melted from the frozen mass this summer, according to recently released data—and Earth’s rising temperatures are suspected to be the main culprit.

But clues to a new natural contribution to the melt arose when scientists discovered a thin spot in the Earth’s crust under the northeast corner of the Greenland Ice Sheet where heat from Earth’s insides could seep through, scientists will report here this week at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

“The behavior of the great ice sheets is an important barometer of global climate change,” said lead scientist Ralph von Frese of Ohio State University. “However, to effectively separate and quantify human impacts on climate change, we must understand the natural impacts too.”

The corner of Greenland where the hotspot was found had no known ice streams, the rivers of ice that run through the main ice sheet and out to sea, until one was discovered in 1991. What exactly caused the stream to form was uncertain.

“Ice streams have to have some reason for being there,” von Frese said, “and it’s pretty surprising to suddenly see one in the middle of the ice sheet.”

The newly discovered hotspot, an area where Earth’s crust is thinner, allowing hot magma from Earth’s mantle to come closer to the surface, is just below the ice sheet and could have caused it to form, von Frese and his team suggest.

“Where the crust is thicker, things are cooler, and where it’s thinner, things are warmer,” von Frese explained. “And under a big place like Greenland or Antarctica, natural variations in the crust will makes some parts of the ice sheet warmer than others.”

For all those who are have been brainwashed into the Global Warming movement this article provides hope. Global Warming can still be blamed!

What caused the hotspot to suddenly form is another mystery.

We all know how the story goes: God creates Earth in 7 God-days. After sometime God grows bored with all the animals and plants and decides to create a new species in his own image. Man and Woman instantly appear in one of Earth’s most fruitful and glorious gardens. They frolic for a bit, play games like “hide-n-seek” and “rock, leaf, and sharper rock”. Woman suddenly has an urge to bite into the forbidden fruit. Man and Woman become very rich from their apple farm. Man suggests that they should invest their money into an automotive company that produces only SUVs. Woman agrees, only if they can put some money into the aerosol hairspray industry.

Many years later as Man and Woman are enjoying their retirement vacation to some arctic location they witness a horrifying tragedy. A 200 pound chunk of ice from a melting glacier falls and crushes a waddling group of penguins.

From CTA.ca:

The world’s penguin population is virtually melting away as a direct result of global warming, according to a new report from the World Wildlife Federation.

The new study, Antarctic Penguins and Climate Change, was released to coincide with the United Nations climate conference taking place in Bali, Indonesia.

Nooo! Not the penguins too!!

It suggests that four penguin populations are suffering serious losses due to the shrinking ice shelf, said Julie Langer, of WWF Canada.

“What we’ve looked at is the four populations that actually breed on the Antarctic continent and they are experiencing declines overall — sometimes what you might call population crashes,” Langer told CTV’s Canada AM.

“They’re in a completely disrupted state because of the huge temperature increases that is happening in the Antarctic continent.”

While climate change seems to be having an impact around the world, the effect is most pronounced in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, because the climates are so sensitive to any temperature shifts.

“The poles are actually warming four or five times faster than the rest of the planet,” Langer said.

“You’ve heard about global warming but it’s acute at the poles. As the temperatures increase, the ice melts. When you have less ice at the edge of the continent, you have less algae, less krill, less food for the penguins.”

I know there are people out there who don’t want to hear this… but taxation and carbon credits is not the way to solve Global Warming and the death of the penguins. Instead, we should ride this out. Sure, we can make more fuel efficient environmental friendly vehicles and whatever else that makes you feel good. But, it’s inevitable that the climate is going to change. The Earth has gone through many different phases and it’s not going to stop - EVOLVING - (OH NO, not that word!) just because man says so.

When I was in school they always told us about the different rabbit species separated by a river. Maybe it’s time for the penguins to learn to adapt to the changes and I dunno, learn how to survive the climate change?

It was obvious that Iran made a mistake when they announced that they defeated the United States on “debate” if their nuclear program was for peace or more demonic purposes. They then retracted that statement by accusing the United States of spying on them. Well, no duh! President Bush wants Iran to explain to the world why they had a nuclear weapons program.

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Tuesday called on Iran to explain why it had a secretive nuclear weapons program, and warned that any such efforts must not be allowed to flourish “for the sake of world peace.”

“Iran is dangerous,” Bush said after an Oval Office meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. “We believe Iran had a secret military weapons program, and Iran must explain to the world why they had such a program.”

Bush’s comments came after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that it was “a step forward” that U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded that Tehran stopped developing its nuclear weapons program four years ago.

Ahmadinejad told reporters that an “entirely different” situation between the United States and Iran could be created if more steps like the intelligence report followed.

“We consider this measure by the U.S. government a positive step. It is a step forward,” Ahmadinejad said.

“If one or two other steps are taken, the issues we have in front of us will be entirely different and will lose their complexity, and the way will be open for the resolution of basic issues in the region and in dealings between the two sides,” he said.

Iran has said its nuclear program is peaceful, but until last week, the United States and Western allies had countered that Iran was hiding plans for a bomb.

“Iran has an obligation to explain to the IAEA why they hid this program from them,” Bush said, referring to the nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Iran is dangerous, and they’ll be even more dangerous if they learn how to enrich uranium,” Bush said. “So I look forward to working with the president,” Bush said, referring to Napolitano, the Italian leader, “to explain our strategy and to figure out ways we can work together to prevent this from happening for the sake of world peace.”

I woke up for an hour to watch the speech. I wanted less teleprompter and more from the heart spontaneous reflections about his religion and what it means to him. What we got was fine, but I was hoping for more.

From the Associated Press:

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Republican Mitt Romney, confronting voters’ skepticism about his Mormon faith, declared Thursday that as president he would “serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause,” and said calls for him to explain and justify his religious beliefs go against the profound wishes of the nation’s founders.

At the same time, he decried those who would remove from public life “any acknowledgment of God,” and he said that “during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places.”

In a speech less than a month before the first nomination contests, Romney said he shares “moral convictions” with Americans of all faiths, though surveys suggest up to half of likely voters have qualms about electing the first Mormon president.

“I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it,” Romney said. “My faith is the faith of my fathers. I will be true to them and to my beliefs.”

Nonetheless, he strove to clarify his personal line between church and state, recalling a similar speech delivered by John F. Kennedy in 1960 as Kennedy sought to become the first Catholic elected president.

“Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions,” Romney said at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, 90 miles from Kennedy’s speaking site in Houston. “Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin.”

He added: “If I am fortunate to become your president, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause and no one interest. A president must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States.”

Romney’s speech lasted about 20 minutes and was interrupted a dozen times by applause from the invited audience. He said the word “Mormon” only once, otherwise referring to “my religion,” “my faith” and “my church.”

Terror at Omaha Mall.

OMAHA, Neb. — Omaha police said nine people were dead, including the alleged shooter, after shots were fired inside the Von Maur store at Westroads Mall on Wednesday afternoon.

Sgt. Teresa Negron said there are nine fatalities. She said officers found the suspected shooter dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Negron could not describe the shooter, but said he was a male. Negron said most of the victims were inside Von Maur.

The gunman has been identified:

OMAHA, Neb. — The shooter at Westroads Mall was identified as Robert A. Hawkins of Bellevue, according to the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Department, and a suicide note said he was going to be famous.

Hawkins, 19, had been arrested on a couple of misdemeanors in November and was due in court this month. One charge included minor in possession of alcohol. He was arrested on Nov. 24. He was due in court for an arraignment on Dec. 19.

Sarpy County deputies said they are getting a warrant to search Hawkins’ home in the Quail Creek neighborhood in Bellevue.

The woman who owns that house at 4302 McCartey Drive, who only gave her first name of Debra, said Hawkins had a lot of emotional instability. She said she thought he was turning things around. She said he had just learned that he was fired from McDonald’s.

Debra said Hawkins was coming out of his room Wednesday morning when she last saw him.

“He said he’d gotten fired and was pretty upset and said, ‘This is the only way,’ and we tried to talk to him,” Debra said. “He was just a very troubled — I had no idea that he was this troubled. I don’t know if it was because he got fired from McDonald’s.”

Debra said she saw Hawkins with a gun last night and thought he and her sons were going hunting, which they did quite often.

Shooter was said to be a black male in his 30’s. Possibly wore fatigues. Possible more than one shooter? Fox News is citing a local NBC report that one person has a self-inflicted wound. KETV has a photo of a male matching the description of the shooter in custody. FoxNews radio is reporting that the shooter is in custody dead.

Police radio reports 2 people dead, up to 10 victims. KETV reporting that are multiple fatalities. 9 Dead confirmed, and 5 victims in Omaha hospitals.

Shots said to be random. 35 to 40 shots said to have been fired. Event said to have occurred in a gift-wrap customer service line. Employees and customers were among the victims.

Officers are stilling trying to clear the mall store by store.

Witness: Shooter was a tall man. He was standing in the children’s section. Raising his gun in the hair shooting numerous rounds into the air.

KETV 7:24: Gunman left three notes. One to his family, One to his friends, and One that was titled, “My Will”. He lost his job at McDonalds recently. Landlord took him to give him safe shelter, stability. Her sons grew up with the Gunman. Warrant has been issued for the house.

Flashback:

Police Remove Grenade from Westroads Parking Lot

Posted: Dec 1, 2007 04:26 PM

Omaha, NE - Police removed a grenade from the parking lot outside Westroads Mall late Friday.

Omaha Police say someone found the grenade in the mall parking lot near The Cheesecake Factory. It was still intact - meaning the pin had not been removed. Police say no one was around when they found the grenade. The bomb squad safely removed it from the area.

Police do not have any suspects at this hour.

Related News Articles

- Worst Mass Slaying In Nebraska History Claims 9
- More Known About Westroads Mall Shooter
- Two Surviving Victims Identified After Westroads Shooting
- Six Minutes of Mayhem
- Troubled Youth Ends in Bloodshed

For Immediate Release from Fred08.com:

Fred Thompson Statement on the National Intelligence Estimate

McLean, VA - Fred Thompson released the following statement today on the latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) regarding Iran:

“The accuracy of the latest NIE on Iran should be received with a good deal of skepticism. Our intelligence community has often underestimated the intentions of adversaries, including Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and North Korea. And are all of the CIA detractors now going to take intelligence pronouncements at face value? It’s awfully convenient for a lot of people: the administration gets to say its policies worked; the Democrats get to claim we should have eased up on Iran a long time ago: and Russia and China can claim sanctions on Iran are not necessary. Who benefits from all this? Iran.

“And what if the NIE estimate is accurate? It’s essentially an analysis of Iran’s intentions at a point in time. Meanwhile, Iran continues to enrich uranium for allegedly peaceful purposes, but which would allow them to easily transition to a nuclear weapons program at any point in the future. Maybe even now–now that so many seem willing to forget Iran’s past deceptions and ongoing intransigence. After all, a nuclear weapons program is simply an extension of the process by why uranium is enriched for civilian nuclear fuel. To this day Iran has yet to comply with international demands and its Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty requirements for open inspections and other safeguard measures.

“The bottom line is that the United States must continue to improve its human intelligence capabilities and intelligence analysis. We must hope for the best, but not let our guard down for a moment. If something appears to be too good to be true, it very well may be.“

Huckabee: 20%
Giuliani: 17%
Romney: 13%
McCain: 13%
Thompson: 10%
Paul: 7%

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows a new national leader in the race for the Republican Presidential Nomination. While enjoying an amazing surge, Mike Huckabee has earned support from 20% of Likely Republican Primary Voters nationwide. Three points back, at 17%, is Rudy Giuliani. That’s the lowest level of support ever recorded for Giuliani in the tracking poll and represents a seven-point decline over the past week. Huckabee has gained eight points during the same time frame (see recent daily numbers).

After the attack War against Huckabee he still has managed to overtake Rudy in the national daily polls. Will this lead continue into the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary?

The Associated Press reporting:

TEHRAN, Iran - A new U.S. intelligence review concluding Iran stopped developing an atomic weapons program in 2003 is a “declaration of victory” for Iran’s nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday.

The U.S. intelligence report released Monday concluded that Iran had stopped its weapons program in late 2003 and shown no signs since of resuming it, representing a sharp turnaround from a previous intelligence assessment in 2005.

“This is a declaration of victory for the Iranian nation against the world powers over the nuclear issue,” Ahmadinejad told thousands of people during a visit to Ilam province in western Iran.

“This was a final shot to those who, in the past several years, spread a sense of threat and concern in the world through lies of nuclear weapons … Thanks to your resistance, a fatal shot was fired at the dreams of ill-wishers and the truthfulness of the Iranian nation was once again proved by the ill-wishers themselves,” Ahmadinejad said, drawing celebratory whistles from the crowd.

Yea… okay Mr President. The same guys you are accusing of spreading “a sense of threat and concern in the world through lies of nuclear weapons” is the same government that gives you your so-called vindication. We love the spin though!

Iran has touted the new U.S. intelligence report as vindication of its claims that its nuclear program is peaceful and Iranian officials insist that Washington should take a less hawkish stance and drop attempts to impose new sanctions in light of the report’s surprise conclusions.

Just like the liberal media before it, Iran is totally glossing over the fact that there was a Nuclear Weapons program in 2003. That that program was halted because of pressures from the United States and coalition forces (See Iraq War). And, that by now the Iranians have probably restarted their weapons program and we’ll hear about it in the next intelligence report due in 2013.

Rice explains new US view on Iran nukes

Also from the Associated Press:

Rice said Tuesday it would be a “big mistake” to ease any diplomatic pressure on Iran despite the new U.S. findings.

“It doesn’t mean you should take the pressure off,” she said en route to Ethiopia to see African leaders. “It puts a premium on diplomatic efforts.

“I continue to see Iran as a dangerous power in international politics,” Rice told reporters traveling with her. “At this moment, it doesn’t appear to have an active weaponization program. That frankly is good news. But if it causes people to say, ‘Oh, well, then we don’t need to worry about what the Iranians are doing,’ I think we will have made a big mistake.”

Since 2003 Iran “elected” Ahmadinejad and his religious nutjob views into office. The rhetoric against Israel increased dramatically. Including various times when he said that Israel would be forced into the sea, or wiped off the face of the earth (depending on the translation). There should be caution over Iran and what’s going on with it’s civilian nuclear plant.

The article continues.

Rice said it may take some time for U.S. allies to understand the administration’s new conclusions on Iran, but she said there should be great concern still about the Islamic republic’s continuing preprocessing and enrichment of uranium, which Tehran insists is only for civilian energy production. Such an enrichment program also could lead to nuclear weapons production.

“We need to do everything we can to stop them from being able to perfect this enrichment and reprocessing program,” she said.

The U.S. secretary of state urged nations such as China and Russia not to harden their stance against a new round of sanctions, arguing that the fact that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 because of international pressure shows that diplomacy works.

“We know that pressure has worked in the past and it caused them to do something very important,” Rice said. “Now let’s use our collective efforts to cause them to take the next important step,” she added, referring to a potential halt to its enrichment of uranium.

Rice said she wants officials from other countries to try to understand the nuance of the new U.S. intelligence assessment.

“People need the opportunity to absorb what they’ve heard,” she said. “We have been completely transparent about what the intelligence assessment says. And people need a chance to read it. When they do that and when they read it in its detail and nuance, they will be able to see the points that I have made.”

President Bush: “Come Clean” Iran!

Continuing on the Associated Press tour:

Two days after a new intelligence report said that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program four years ago, Bush demanded that Tehran detail its previous program to develop nuclear weapons “which the Iranian regime has yet to acknowledge.”

“The Iranians have a strategic choice to make,” he said. “They can come clean with the international community about the scope of their nuclear activities, and fully accept the long-standing offer to suspend their enrichment program and come to the table and negotiate, or they can continue on a path of isolation.”

The administration is worried that the new National Intelligence Estimate — representing a consensus of all U.S. spy agencies — weakens its leverage over Iran and its ability to build global pressure on Tehran to stop its uranium enrichment program.

Bush, arriving here on a campaign fundraising trip, said he had consulted with members of his national security team, who gave him a report about what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley have learned in talks during the past several days with their counterparts in Britain, Germany, France and Russia.

“These countries understand that the Iranian nuclear issue is a problem, and continues to be a problem and must be addressed,” Bush said.

Backing the U.S. intelligence community, Bush said he appreciated its work in helping people to understand past and present activities in Iran and helping the administration develop a sound policy.

“It is clear from the latest NIE that the Iranian government has more to explain about its nuclear intentions and past actions,” Bush said.

I agree. The fact is they were developing a nuclear weapons program. Now they need to answer why.

Mitt Romney is set to share his “Faith in America” speech tommorow.

From Reuters:

BOSTON (Reuters) - From baptism of the dead to a ban on coffee, Mormonism’s doctrines are alien to many Americans and that is unlikely to change when Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gives a long-awaited speech on his faith this week, religious scholars say.

Thursday’s address by the former Massachusetts governor, who would be the first Mormon president of the United States, could fuel more questions than answers about a faith many powerful evangelical Christian voters dismiss as a cult.

“I can’t see him really making a kind of passionate defense of Mormonism. That’s not going to win votes. On the other hand, to pretend he is an evangelical is not going to win. He is in a very awkward position,” said Alan Wolfe, director of Boston College’s Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life.

During the Democratic NPR radio debate held here in Des Moines the candidates were asked one question they don’t have the answer to.

John Edwards answer revealed all I need to know from him…

“Who I would chose as my vice president and whether to consider any of these people sitting at the table,” he joked. “But seriously, restoring democracy and giving it back to the American people.”(From Cameron’s Corner FoxNews Blog)

Senator Edwards, of course you don’t have the answer to “Restoring Democracy.” But you do use some shiny keywords that I’m sure resonates with your voter base, regardless of the substance. So good for you! Thanks for stopping by in Des Moines.