"Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch"....

Scientists have just completed an unprecedented journey into the vast and little-explored "Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch." On the Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (SEAPLEX), researchers got the first detailed view of plastic debris floating in a remote ocean region. It wasn't a pretty sight. The Scripps research vessel (R/V) New Horizon left its San Diego homeport on August 2, 2009, for the North Pacific Ocean Gyre, located some 1,000 miles off California's coast, and returned on August 21, 2009...Link

Dick..........

Last spring, the news media trumpeted Vice President Dick Cheney’s challenge to release the CIA’s torture memos. It was a move Cheney supported because, he said, the documents would vindicate his claims that the Bush administration’s torture program operated within the law, and provided indispensable information in protecting the US from further terrorist attacks. Since Monday, when the CIA released a significant part of those documents — a 2004 CIA inspector general’s report on torture practices — there has been hardly a mention in the mainstream press about the fact that the report largely contradicted what the former vice president has been saying in public...Link

Watermelon Juice: The New Fuel?..........

Aug. 26, 2009 -- A staple of backyard barbecues and summer time snacks, watermelon is also a promising new source of renewable energy. According to a new study, leftover watermelons from farms' harvests could be converted into up to 9.4 million liters (2.5 million gallons) of clean, renewable ethanol fuel every year destined for your car, truck, or airplane's gas tank. Agriculturally, watermelon is a peculiar fruit -- each year farmers across the country leave between 20 and 40 percent of their crop to rot on the ground. These are the ugly ducklings of the lot; though perfectly fine on the inside, the misshapen or blemished melons simply won't sell at the grocery store...Link

Conservatives & Liberals Dislike Libertarians.

The conservative masses are railing against the socialism coming out of the Obama administration, and rightfully so. Socialism has proven to be the bane of mankind. With its resurgence under the Obama administration, it continues to pose a giant threat to the economic freedom and well-being of the American people...Link

Senate Republicans plan Grayson fundraiser.

If there was any doubt who the Republican establishment in Washington favors in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race next year, it's waning. Two dozen members of the Senate Republican caucus — including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee — will hold a $500-per-person fundraiser for Secretary of State Trey Grayson on Sept. 23 at the committee's headquarters in Washington...Link

To go after those who ordered war crimes...

When Attorney General Eric Holder appointed veteran Justice Department prosecutor John Durham on Monday to look into CIA interrogation abuses, sources indicated that his mandate would be “relatively narrow.” The Washington Post described Durham’s authority as being limited “to look[ing] at whether there is enough evidence to launch a full-scale criminal investigation of current and former CIA personnel who may have broken the law in their dealings with detainees.”...Link

The Shell Game...............

The Federal Reserve is monetizing US Treasury debt and is doing so openly, both through its $300 billion commitment to buy Treasuries and by engaging in a sleight of hand maneuver that would make a street hustler from Brooklyn blush...Link

Argentina rules on marijuana use........

The supreme court in Argentina has ruled that it is unconstitutional to punish people for using marijuana for personal consumption. The decision follows a case of five young men who were arrested with a few marijuana cigarettes in their pockets. But the court said use must not harm others and made it clear it did not advocate a complete decriminalisation...Link

World’s Most Efficient Solar Cell............

The race for the world’s most efficient solar power cell is forever played out in fractions of percentages. The latest victory comes from scientists at the University of New South Wales in Australia, who have concocted a multi-cell combination that converts 43% of sunlight into electricity, besting the previous record of 42.7%!...Link