FURTHERMORE. . .

CANADIAN PRESS - A giant ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields
has snapped free from Canada's Arctic, leaving a trail of icy boulders
floating in its wake. The mass of ice broke clear from the coast of
Ellesmere Island, about 800 kilometres south of the North Pole. Warwick
Vincent of Laval University, who studies Arctic conditions, travelled to
the newly formed ice island and couldn't believe what he saw. "It was
extraordinary," Vincent said Thursday, adding that in 10 years of
working in the region he has never seen such a dramatic loss of sea ice.
"This is a piece of Canadian geography that no longer exists.". . .
Scientists say it is the largest event of its kind in 30 years and point
their fingers at climate change as a major contributing factor.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/cp_n122847A.xml.html

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GREEN CAR CONGRESS - China's Ministry of Science and Technology and six
other ministries jointly issued a preliminary report on the country's
first national assessment of climate change and its impacts. . .
According to the report, China's average annual temperature will
increase between 1.3° and 2.1° C by 2020. By the middle of the century,
average temperatures will rise by as much as 3.3° C and by 2100 by as
much as 6° C. . .

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/12/china_releases_.html

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WALL STREET JOURNAL - Sen. Tim Johnson remained in critical condition as
he turned 60, but a neurosurgeon at George Washington University
Hospital said his "overall general medical condition has improved and he
is gradually being weaned from the sedation." Johnson had surgery Dec.
13 to stop a hemorrhage in his brain. His health has been an issue
because Democrats hold only a slim majority in the new Senate.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/

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BOSTON GLOBE - Tom Andrews, the Maine congressman-turned-anti-war
activist who heads a national coalition that opposed the invasion of
Iraq, says the group plans to step up efforts to get the new Democratic
Congress to bring the troops home. Andrews, the national director of
the Win Without War coalition, said the group plans to lobby members of
Congress, hold special events, organize via the Internet and place
advertisements to help mobilize public opinion.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/12/28/
ex_congressman_to_lobby_to_bring_troops_home_from_iraq?rss_id
=Boston.com+--+Maine+news

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AP - Authorities are trying to figure out how dozens of pieces of
luggage belonging to international air travelers ended up in a trash bin
behind a Houston pet store. FBI Special Agent Rolando Munoz said 68
pieces of luggage from various international flights were discovered. He
said the luggage was turned over to Continental Airlines to sort out. .
. Sgt. Dana Wolfe, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office,
which first responded to the luggage report, said tags on the bags
showed some of the travelers were going to or from London and Dubai. . .
Investigators said some of the luggage had been opened and had valuables
removed, according to KPRC

http://www.ketv.com/news/10615072/detail.html

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SAY UNCLE - It's that time of year where The Brady Campaign to Prevent
Gun Ownership issues its grades. . . Since 2001, [right to carry]
states, where more people carry guns in public, consistently average a
"D". Brady continues to be unhappy with the country's direction
regarding gun control: between 2001 and 2005, RTC states increased from
32 to 38 and Brady downgrade the U.S. average from "C-" to a "D+." Their
response is curious, since the national violent crime rate fell 7.0%
during this time frame. Even worse for Brady, violent crime trends are
not spread equally across all states. RTC states (average Brady grade
"D") saw an aggregate 7.8% drop in violent crime, while non-RTC states
(average Brady grade "B") saw a 5.2% decrease.

http://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2006/12/13/brady_grades/

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DOUGLAS FISCHER - A look back across 500 years' worth of wildfire
history shows fire season intensity across Western North America
increases in direct proportion to, of all things, surface temperatures
of the North Atlantic Ocean. Given that the Atlantic warms and cools in
60-year cycles and the ocean is entering its next warm phase,
researchers predict a decades-long increase in widespread fires across
the Western United States in the coming years. And global warming only
will exacerbate that trend, the scientists say.

http://hughhewitt.townhall.com

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DEAN BAKER - The Financial Times reports that the value of euro notes in
circulation worldwide now exceeds the value of dollar notes. This should
tell us two things. First, the dollar is not essential to world finance.
People are happy to hold euros and other currencies, no one needs to
hold dollars. Second, the euro passing the dollar is not some sort of
cataclysmic event. As long as people still have faith in the basic
soundness of the dollar, they will be happy to hold it, even if it
slides to number 2 by some measures. Of course, if investors become
convinced that the currency is on a downward path, then it could lead to
a serious run. In short, the world does not need the dollar, but it is
also not anxious to throw it in the toilet, or at least not yet.

http://www.prospect.org/deanbaker/

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BLACK AND WHITE IN FRONTIER MICHIGAN
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6670689

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EDWARDS USING NON-TRADITIONAL APPROACH TO CAMPAIGN
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/
AR2006122801000.html?nav=rss_politics

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TOP GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS GO AFTER WATCHDOGS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Watchdogs-Under-Fire.html?
_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

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