After the Christmas Day botched bombing the former Vice President describes the deadly next generation of terrorists in this exclusive interview with political satirist Irving Wesley Hall.

What tactics will the terrorists use next and how can we stop them?

Those questions should be driving media coverage and government deliberation. Instead Democratic and Republican politicians are childishly trying to score points against each other. Government bureaucrats are busily pointing fingers as doomsday speeds down the tarmac.

Syed Fahad Hashmi can tell you about the dark heart of America. He knows that our First Amendment rights have become a joke, that habeas corpus no longer exists and that we torture, not only in black sites such as those at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan or at Guantánamo Bay, but also at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Lower Manhattan.

According to today's New York Times, the "majority of hamburger" in burgers sold by McDonald's, Burger King, other fast food outlets, as well as conventional ground meat sold through grocery chains & provided in kid's school lunches in the US, now contains fatty slaughterhouse trimmings, once relegated to pet food & cooking oil, "typically including most of the material from the outer surfaces of the carcass" that contains "larger microbiological populations."

The NSW Ombudsman is appointed without the process of public selection. And the current Ombudsman did not have to undergo a competitive process for reappointment. Under the Ombudsman Act 1974, the Ombudsman has significant powers, including a wide jurisdiction over public sector agencies and many private agencies that provide services for them.

There is no "war" against terrorism. What George W. Bush launched and Barack Obama insists on perpetuating does not qualify. Not if by war one means doing the obvious and checking a highly suspicious air traveller's underwear to see if explosives have been sewn in.

If Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had put the stuff in his shoes we would have had him because that was tried before, but our government was too preoccupied with fighting unnecessary conventional wars and developing anti-missile defense systems to anticipate such a primitive delivery system.

It was a dark year, 2009, sealing a dark decade. It began with the world in economic free-fall and the Gaza Strip being bombed to pieces (again). We watched the vicious crushing of a democratic uprising in Iran, a successful far-right coup in Honduras, and the intensification of the disastrous war in Afghanistan.

It all ended at Brokenhagen, where the world's leaders breezily decided to carry on cooking the planet.

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell described a superstate called Oceania, whose language of war inverted lies that "passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past', ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past'."

According to current estimates, 33% of the world identifies itself as Christian, 21% Islam, and .22% Jewish. All three religions believe in Armageddon, the end of life as it is currently known. And all three expect Jerusalem to play a major role in the final days of the world.

But how are these attitudes impacting life today? Are powerful men and women influenced by these ideas? And in what direction would they turn the world if they do? In Racing Toward Armageddon, author Michael Baigent attempts to answer some of those questions.

We think the society around us is solid but there is an old political aphorism: the difference between social order and disorder is 36 hours without food. Think about that for even a moment and you know it's true. Food security is the basis of everything we call civilised. This is the perfect time of year to consider the subject because at this time of abundance, we need to know that Australia's food security is declining.

By JAMES KANTER

BRUSSELS — European Union leaders on Tuesday sought to deflect criticism that they had fumbled their strategy at the Copenhagen climate summit meeting, just as a feud between the British and the Chinese over whom to blame for the outcome worsened.

The discussion of Zionist Power Configuration (ZPC) in the US political system revolves around several essential issues, including:

There once was a planet called Earth,

Then, 4.5 billion years after birth,

It evolved a new species,

From DNA pieces,

That polluted for all they were worth.

This continued 'til everyone felt,

The impact of arctic-ice melt,

A global nightmare,

(Or full of hot-air?)

For many, disaster was spelt.

The science said 350 per mil,

Was the most CO2 we could spill,

If it grows any more,

We'll see famine and war,

Our chances? Effectively nil.

Our last shot to counter stagnation:

A treaty to unite every nation!

from the ABC

India has confirmed it worked with China and other emerging nations to ensure there were no legally binding targets from the Copenhagen climate talks.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has told Parliament that India got its way at Copenhagen.

He says India, China, South Africa and Brazil emerged as a powerful force.

Mr Ramesh hailed the lack of legally-binding emissions targets and said the group had protected its right to continued economic growth.