People living near Vice President Dick Cheney are hearing mysterious, earth-shaking blasts coming from the U.S. Naval Observatory, which has been the site of the vice president?s residence since 1974. The Navy says the explosions are part of a classified construction project. Navy spokeswoman Cate Mueller says it?s an “infrastructure improvement, a utility upgrade,” but it may be an underground bunker.
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Anti-war protester Tom Hayden thinks that opposition to the war on Iraq is far greater than the opposition to the war in Vietnam was at a similar stage, but he doesn?t think this is reflected in the media, where the Iraq war is reported as if there?s no question about it taking place?the only question is when. “The anti-war movement does not have a voice in the national debate equal to our numbers,” he says. “The corporate media has ignored or trivialized the movement … the talk shows are filled with right-wing pundits or failed military officials.” He criticized the New York Times and PBS for underestimating the numbers at the recent anti-war demonstrations in Washington.read more
If you hear birds chirping in the winter, it means they’ve built up enough fat reserves to survive the cold nights and have enough energy left to defend their territory. When food is scarce, they have to decide whether to spend their energy hunting for food or use it to sing. A bird sings at dawn if it has enough energy left over from keeping warm the night before.
John McNamara of the University of Bristol says, “Because birds can’t predict exactly how much energy they need to survive the night, they need to build up enough fat reserves by dusk to cater for the worst-case scenario. And as most nights are not that cold, they should have enough energy reserves left over at dawn to sing.”
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Global warming will make world poverty worse, which could destabilize the third-world countries where millions of poor people live and make them more open to government extremism. The UN’s Rajendra Pachauri says, “Large areas of poverty are dangerous for the world as a whole as they provide fertile ground for extremist views…Things go wrong. People want to blame someone.”
The recent extreme weather worldwide, such as the rain and floods that hit central Europe this summer, may mean that climate change is already here. “Purely by association, there is something to worry about,? he says. ?In the last 10 years, the number of such freak incidents has doubled.”
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