Climate change data dumped  —  SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.  —  It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show …

Swiss voters back ban on minarets  —  Swiss voters have supported a referendum proposal to ban the building of minarets, official results show.  —  More than 57% of voters from 26 cantons - or provinces - voted in favour of the ban, Swiss news agency ATS reported.

America vs. The Narrative  —  What should we make of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who apparently killed 13 innocent people at Fort Hood?  —  Here's my take: Major Hasan may have been mentally unbalanced — I assume anyone who shoots up innocent people is.  But the more you read about his support …

Senate Report Explores 2001 Escape by bin Laden From Afghan Mountains  —  WASHINGTON — As President Obama vows to “finish the job” in Afghanistan by sending more troops, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has completed a detailed look back at a crucial failure early in the battle against Al Qaeda …

Across U.S., Food Stamp Use Soars and Stigma Fades  —  A GROWING NEED FOR A PROGRAM ONCE SCORNED Greg Dawson and his wife, Sheila, of Martinsville, Ohio, help feed their family of seven with a $300 monthly food stamp benefit.  Center and right, the food pantry in Lebanon, Ohio …

Predatory lending has an ugly tail end  —  Talk about burying the lede.  The NYTimes has run a story which purports to be about the plans by the Treasury Department to pressure banks to do more to renegotiate delinquent mortgages.  It has all sorts of blather from Treasury about using …

A friendly chat with the global warming evangelist who lives in my head  —  Hello, hyperventilating zealot.  Greetings, denialist scum.  Now that we've dispensed with the formalities, please allow me to point and laugh at you.  Ahem.  Ha ha ha!  Point point point!  Shut up.  That's what you'd like me to do.

MIT analysis backs Obama  —  A new analysis by a leading MIT economist provides new ammunition of Democrats at the Senate being formally debating the historic health-reform bill being pushed by President Barack Obama.  —  The report concludes that under the Senate's health-reform bill …

By January, he will have accomplished more than any first-year president since Franklin Roosevelt.  —  About one thing, left and right seem to agree these days: Obama hasn't done anything yet.  Maureen Dowd and Dick Cheney have found common ground in scoffing at the president's “dithering.”

PRIORITIZING THE PUBLIC OPTION.... That Americans approve of the idea of a public option is no longer in doubt.  After months of polling, we've consistently seen a majority of Americans say they like the idea of a public plan competing against private insurers.  The results have bolstered proponents of the idea, on and off the Hill.

Are We Going to Let John Die?  —  If Joe Lieberman or other senators came across John Brodniak writhing in pain on the sidewalk, they presumably would jump to help him and rush him to a hospital.  —  Unfortunately, an emergency room won't help — indeed, the closest E.R. has told him not to come back, he says.

When Results Go Bad ...  Guest post by Willis Eschenbach  —  One of the claims in this hacked CRU email saga goes something like “Well, the scientists acted like jerks, but that doesn't affect the results, it's still warming.”  —  I got intrigued by one of the hacked CRU emails …

Huckabee: ‘Less than likely’ I'll run in 2012  —  Mike Huckabee, the former Republican governor from Arkansas who has his own Fox show told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday” that a 2012 presidential bid is “less than likely” and depends on whether Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, keeps liking his show.

4,000 Patriots Rally With James O'Keefe at St. Louis Tea Party Protest  —  4,000 patriots rallied in St. Louis today.  —  James O'Keefe of ACORN-busting fame, headlined the Holiday Tea Party Protest.  —  Robert Brenner took this photo from the top level of a parking garage next to the park.