Insider Report from Newsmax.com
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. New Evidence Debunks Manmade Global Warming
2. Libyans Claim Gadhafi Lied About Daughter's Death
3. After 2 DUIs, Cheney Feared a 'Bad End'
4. Renewable Energy Subsidies a 'Massive Money Sink'
5. Chinese Workers Tops at Faking Sick Days
1. New Evidence Debunks Manmade Global Warming
New research from one of the world's most prestigious scientific organizations indicates that cosmic rays and the sun -- not manmade carbon emissions -- are the major factors influencing global climate.
"The science is now all-but-settled on global warming, convincing new evidence demonstrates, but Al Gore, the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) and other global warming doomsayers won't be celebrating," writes Lawrence Solomon, executive director of Energy Probe, in Canada's Financial Post.
"The new findings point to cosmic rays and the sun -- not human activities -- as the dominant controller of climate on Earth."
The findings, published in the journal Nature, come from CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, one of the world's largest centers for scientific research involving 60 countries and 8,000 scientists at more than 600 universities and national laboratories, according to Solomon.
CERN -- the organization that invented the World Wide Web -- built a stainless steel chamber that precisely re-created the Earth's atmosphere.
"In this chamber, 63 CERN scientists from 17 European and American institutes have done what global warming doomsayers said could never be done -- demonstrate that cosmic rays promote the formation of molecules that in Earth's atmosphere can grow and seed clouds." And the cloudier it is, the cooler it will be, Solomon notes.
"Because the sun's magnetic field controls how many cosmic rays reach Earth's atmosphere (the stronger the sun's magnetic field, the more it shields Earth from incoming cosmic rays from space), the sun determines the temperature on Earth."
So when the sun's magnetic field is strongest, fewer cosmic rays impact the Earth, which in turn leads to decreased cloud formation and warmer temperatures.
The link between cosmic rays and global warming was first proposed by two Danish scientists in 1996, and was immediately denounced by the IPCC.
But CERN scientist Jasper Kirkby, a British experimental physicist, accepted the Danes' theory. He told the scientific press in 1998 that it "will probably be able to account for somewhere between half and the whole of the increase in the Earth's temperature that we have seen in the last century."
It took Kirkby nearly 10 years to convince the CERN bureaucracy to proceed with his plan to create the chamber that replicates the Earth's atmosphere and has produced the recent results.
But CERN "remains too afraid of offending its government masters to admit its success," observes Solomon, author of "The Deniers: The World-Renowned Scientists Who Stood Up Against Global Warming Hysteria, Political Persecution, and Fraud."
CERN told Kirkby and his team to downplay the results by stating "that cosmic radiation is only one of many parameters."
Solomon concludes: "CERN, and the Danes, have in all likelihood found the path to the Holy Grail of climate science. But the religion of climate science won't yet permit a celebration of the find."
2. Libyans Claim Gadhafi Lied About Daughter's Death
Moammar Gadhafi sought to drum up sympathy when he announced that his adopted baby daughter Hana was killed in a 1986 American airstrike, and even organized an event commemorating the 20th anniversary of her death.
But sources in Libya are now saying that Gadhafi lied about Hana's death and she is still alive.
The airstrike targeted Gadhafi's home in Tripoli in retaliation for the Libyan-sponsored bombing of a Berlin nightclub that killed two American servicemen earlier in 1986.
After the strike Gadhafi showed journalists a picture of a dead baby and claimed it was Hana. And some investigators probing the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing theorized that Gadhafi had ordered it to avenge her death.
But after Libyan rebels recently seized Tripoli, a hospital official told The Associated Press that Hana worked for him as a surgeon before the rebels came to the city.
"She was very tense and nervous as soon as the revolution started," said Gassem Baruni, head of the Tripoli Medical Center.
He said he used Hana's influence to secure supplies for the hospital, telling Hana he needed them to treat Gadhafi's troops when in fact he was helping the rebels' cause.
On Tuesday, Swiss officials disclosed that Hana's name had briefly appeared earlier this year on a Swiss government document listing senior Libyan officials targeted for sanctions.
Adel Shaltut, a Libyan diplomat at the United Nations in Geneva, said it was common knowledge that Hana wasn't killed in the airstrike.
"All Libyans knew from the very beginning that it's a lie," he told AP, claiming Hana was married and had children.
And Mohammed Ammar, a Tripoli resident, said his cousin graduated with Hana from medical school last year.
Adding to the mystery, however, some Libyans say they believe that after Hana's death in the airstrike, Gadhafi adopted another daughter and gave her the same name as a memorial to the first Hana.
Hana's current whereabouts, if she is indeed alive, are unknown. Her mother, sister Aisha and two brothers fled to Algeria on Monday, with their spouses and children, and she was not listed among those who had left the country.
3. After 2 DUIs, Cheney Feared a 'Bad End'
Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he arrived at a turning point in his life when he woke up in jail with a hangover after his second drunk driving arrest in a year.
The night in jail came after 22-year-old Cheney was busted in Rock Springs, Wyo., in July 1963. He had been arrested in Cheyenne, Wyo., in November 1962 for "operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and drunkenness."
The first arrest resulted in a 30-day suspension of his driver's license and forfeiture of $150 bail, The Smoking Sun website disclosed. The second case ended when Cheney paid a $100 fine.
Cheney writes in his newly released memoir "In My Time" that after work building electrical transmission lines, he would "spend considerable time in one of the local bars" where he and his fellow workers "consumed vast quantities of beer" and "if something stronger was called for," bourbon.
The beer and bourbon combination "helps explain how I managed to get arrested twice within a year for driving under the influence," Cheney recalls.
After the second arrest, Cheney said he realized that "if I didn't fundamentally change my ways, I was going to come to a bad end."
Cheney spent several hours reflecting on the "self-destructive path I was on," then moved out of the apartment he shared with a drinking buddy, telling him: "I'm going to make something of my life."
Cheney went on to compile a resume that includes U.S. congressman, White House chief of staff, secretary of defense, corporate CEO, and vice president.
4. Renewable Energy Subsidies a 'Massive Money Sink'
Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power are heavily dependent on government subsidies yet contribute little to America's domestic energy production, according to a new report.
The report from the Energy Information Administration, the Department of Energy's research arm, reveals that the federal government gave out $37.2 billion in direct energy subsidies in 2010, an increase of more than $19 billion over 2007.
"This 50 percent increase from three years ago confirms that federal energy favors are part of our out-of-control spending problem," Robert L. Bradley, Jr., the CEO and founder of the Institute for Energy Research, writes in Forbes.
Of the $19 billion increase, additional subsidies for renewable energy sources amounted to more than $9 billion, a 186 percent increase. Subsidies for renewables now total more than $14 billion.
Wind power was a major recipient of federal energy funds, taking in nearly $5 billion in subsidies last year -- a more than tenfold rise from 2007. Solar energy rose to $1.13 billion, and biofuels (ethanol) rose to $6.6 billion.
"Funneling money into renewables is certainly politically popular," Bradley observes.
"But at the end of the day, someone ought to ask: What exactly do green firms have to show for all that money? And the truth is: Not much."
Wind power today represents just 1.2 percent of total domestic energy production, despite the billions of dollars in subsidies.
"The reality is that, up to this point, renewable energy has been a massive money sink," according to Bradley, author of the book "Edison to Enron: Energy Markets and Political Strategies."
"Green energy is all red when it comes to consumers and taxpayers."
Robert Bryce, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, also pointed out the shortcomings of wind power in an article for National Review Online.
He noted that Texas has more than 10,000 megawatts of wind-generation capacity, yet during a particularly hot four-day period, the state's wind turbines produced no more than 2 percent of the total power demand even though their capacity is to produce nearly 15 percent.
That's because of a "dirty little secret," according to Bryce: "When power demand is highest, wind energy's output is generally low. The reverse is also true: Wind-energy production is usually highest during the middle of the night, when electricity use is lowest."
Bradley concludes: "If wind or solar or biofuels truly represent a revolution in American energy, that's great -- but let them compete on the open market. If these sectors can pump out low-cost, efficient energy, customers can be trusted to buy it."
5. Chinese Workers Tops at Faking Sick Days
In a surprising disclosure, a new global survey on employee absenteeism reveals that the country where workers are most likely to call in sick when they aren't is China.
The survey by The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated -- a leading workforce management firm -- found that 71 percent of employees in China admit to calling in sick when they are not actually ill.
France had the smallest number, 16 percent, while the United States had 52 percent. Other nations in the survey were India (62 percent), Australia (58 percent), Canada (52 percent), the U.K (43 percent), and Mexico (38 percent).
When respondents were asked why they had taken a day off and falsely claimed they were sick, the overwhelming response in every country was that workers felt "stressed/needed a day off."
Other reasons include the need to take care of a sick child and not having enough paid leave.
Most respondents in the survey -- conducted by Harris Interactive -- said they spent their "sick" day in bed or watching television; workers in India and Mexico said they also spent time meeting with friends or relatives.
Nearly half of Chinese workers surveyed, 45 percent, said that providing more paid time off to employees would discourage taking days off with a feigned illness; 34 percent of Americans and just 12 percent of Mexicans agreed.
Employees in every country said given the opportunity to work from home and the option of taking unpaid leave would also discourage bogus sick days.
"This survey provides a fascinating look at the issue of absenteeism around the world," said Joyce Maroney, director of The Workforce Institute.
"It is interesting to see both the many similarities between regions and the marked differences."
