Follow and stream @GreenNewsReport!...



(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Make way for the "grolar" bear; Bad week for BP: the Obama Administration finally sues, while BP also gets the Wikileaks treatment ...PLUS: Surprise! Leaked email reveals Fox "News" slants climate science! Who knew?! ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Coal industry gets coal ($$$$) in its stocking; Eastern Arctic warming trend alarms scientists; CA solar installer sees growth boom in midst of Great Recession; India's water is running out; Civic water-to-go program eliminates need for plastic water bottles; Protecting UN climate summit's "fragile victory"; FDA finally reveals how many antibiotics factory farms use"”and it's a [boat]load; Pros and cons of wind farms ... PLUS: This could get interesting: new study finds evidence of abrupt climate change in Earth's past over a decade or less ....

Not much of a "slippery slope" here, right?...

Of course, one would think that conservatives would be up in arms about such blatant (and stupid) assaults on at least the spirit of the U.S. Constitution's first amendment. However, fake "conservatives" of the Fox "News", Sarah Palin, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Peter King, Sen. Joe Lieberman seem to have no such concerns. They'd prefer, it seems, to see censorship of the media and/or the targeting of a man --- even for assassination --- who has been charged with breaking no U.S. laws.

Unfortunately, the new batch of elected officials heading to D.C. in January look to be just as confused about who and what they are supposed to be defending...

I was interviewed briefly on Monday by David Pakman on his nationally syndicated radio/video-stream show, on issues mostly related to WikiLeaks. Here's that interview...

Related: I'll be guest hosting the nationally-syndicated Mike Malloy Show again this Friday night. What should we talk about?

Guest editorial by Ernest A. Canning

In "Plumbing the Depths of Lawless Executive Depravity", I argued that targeted assassinations threaten the very foundation of our republic. This occurs not only due to the potential for collateral damage but due to the distinct possibility that many whom we target as "suspected" terrorists may be entirely innocent.

A more recent article of mine here, "WikiLeaks' Pakistan, Yemen Cables Expose Unchecked Executive Power, 'Hatred for Democracy'" addressed a specific form of targeted assassinations --- the predator drone strike. In it, I noted that the secret expansion of such strikes into Pakistan and Yemen, as confirmed by diplomatic cables recently published by WikiLeaks and their media partners, reflected a dangerous usurpation of power by the Executive branch.

These two articles, and former CIA field operative Robert Baer, in a must-see RethinkAfganistan.com video (embedded at end of this article), assume the targets of the drone strike are suspected insurgents and terrorists. Both of them deal with the counterproductive effect of unintended civilian deaths ("collateral damage") which serves to destabilize "friendly" governments, provide a recruiting tool for those bent on revenge, and increase the likelihood of "blowback," a CIA term that describes "the unintended consequences of policies that were kept secret from the American people."

Have Baer and I erred in assuming these strikes are not aimed at civilians?...

Follow and stream @GreenNewsReport!...



(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Sorry, Rush. You're a liar: November 2010 the hottest on record; Visit sunny, glowing Chernobyl; Midwest blizzard now threatens Florida's crops; PLUS: A New and Improved climate agreement! Now with more U.S. and China! ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): US Southwest could see 60-year drought; Switching to LED Christmas lights saves one family $71,600; Obama's tax deal: will renewable energy get extended?; Court says EPA can move on carbon pollution standards; FDA: 29 million pounds of antibiotics used in factory farming each year; Feds dismiss need to recall lead drinking glasses; EPA allowed bee-toxic pesticide despite own scientists' red flags; NY governor vetoes "fracking" bill; New payment option for BP oil spill claims fund; Super-toxic rat poison endangers 10k US children each year; Forged foreman's license used for inspections before WV mine disaster ... PLUS: National security: Why we might fight, 2011 Edition ....

Take a look at the short CNN video interview below with 27-year CIA analyst Ray McGovern on WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. It's astonishing and disturbingly telling.

McGovern, as we noted on Friday, is one of a number of high-level intelligence whistleblowers and former government officials who signed a very strong statement in support of WikiLeaks and Assange last week. Other signatories of the statement include Pentagon Papers' whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and the FBI's 9/11 whistleblower and TIME 2002 Person of the Year, Coleen Rowley.

McGovern, who was formerly personally responsible for giving Presidential Daily Briefings to both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton has, for years, been an outspoken opponent of the Bush Administration's unprecedented secrecy regime. He's perhaps best known for his remarkable 2006 confrontation with Don Rumsfeld, calling him directly out as a liar for tying Iraq to WMD and al-Qaeda.

It's embarrassing enough, in the below, to see CNN shamefully use the chyron "ASSANGE: JOURNALIST OR TERRORIST", since Assange has not been charged with anything remotely akin to "terrorism", nor has he like, ya know, a terrorist, either killed someone, tried to kill someone, or even advocated killing anybody --- unlike many of those who have advocated killing him.

But in the exchange that follows, as posted yesterday, note the telling positions expressed by CNN's Don Lemon about not only his, but CNN's apparent regard for WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange as "a pariah". He seems genuinely taken aback at the notion that, as McGovern tells him, CNN "should be following his example."

Watch the whole thing, please, for other important points and CNN embarrassments, but the section I mention above is transcribed below the video, along with one point on which McGovern appears to be wrong...

We recently detailed the "very awkward position", as Constitutional Law professor Jonathan Turley described it, that the U.S. could find itself in in regard to Nigeria's indictment of Dick Cheney on bribery charges last week, considering the long-standing extradition treaty the U.S. holds with Nigeria. The allegations against Cheney include some $180 million in bribes said to have been paid in exchange for some $6 billion in contracts during his tenure as CEO of Halliburton.

So how might the U.S. government avoid that "very awkward position"? It appears Halliburton may be willing to pay some $500 million to Nigeria to help them do just that, according to the Global Post...

UPDATE: One point worth noting here is that we have recently learned, thanks to the diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks and their media partners, that the U.S. Government has proven more than willing to step up to the plate to protect the Bush Administration from prosecution on charges related to torturing of citizens in a number of countries. The Bush Administration itself brought diplomatic pressure to stop investigations into CIA torture in Germany, according to information in those leaked cables, and even the Obama Administration stepped up to protect Bush officials from prosecution in Spain.

Where we now know they've been willing to do so in the past, thanks to the release of those cables, it seems perfectly reasonable to speculate that the Obama Administration would be willing, even eager, to apply similar pressure to Nigeria here in order to protect Cheney and to help avoid the "very awkward situation" the U.S. would find itself in with the issuance of an Interpol "red notice" requiring us to help "find" and then extradite the indicted Cheney to Nigeria.

To that end, no doubt the U.S. has much leverage, economic and otherwise, to bring to bear over a country like Nigeria to help "encourage" them to accept such a settlement of a half a billion dollars from Halliburton. Whether such settlements are legal under Nigerian law (as someone quoted in the linked article suggests they are not) is a different question, but one that I'd not be surprised to see ignored so that this matter can go away quickly. Hoping there's someone out there whose willing to leak evidence of such diplomatic pressure when and if it is brought to bear. Which, of course, is just another reason why we need media organizations like WikiLeaks!

UPDATE 12/14/10: The reported $500 million settlement is now being reported as $250 million, according to a spokesperson from Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), even as Halliburton maintains "there is no legal basis for the charges." The agreement would need to be ratified by the government, he says, with a decision on the deal expected by the end of the week. The statement comes after "Representatives for Cheney and Halliburton met with Nigerian officials in London over the weekend."

Dear "Tea Party": Whether you know it or not, your founding father is below. If you are to be what you claim you are (what you've been told to believe you are), then pay attention to what Rep. Ron Paul --- who actually is --- said on the floor of the U.S. House this week.

If you really think you are "conservative", isn't it time you started acting like it? Like Paul (The Elder, unlike The Younger) has been doing now for years? Pay attention. This is for you...

Text transcript follows below...

It's been quiet around here over the last 24 hours or so, largely because I've been absolutely fascinated following what is going on with WikiLeaks across the net, the nation and the world, despite the decidedly much-less-than-one-might-have-otherwise-expected coverage of the continuing fall out from new documents as they are released, the unprecedented cyber/info war for and against them which continues to rage, and the various whistleblowing heroes speaking up in defense of the "revolutionary" media organization.

For the record, to date, WikiLeaks has released just 1,295 out of the 251,287 leaked diplomatic cables they purportedly have so far. That's about "0.5% down, 99.5% to go" as they tweeted today. That, despite the inaccuracies you'll continue to hear and read in the media about the organization "causing havoc" and being "anarchists" by "indiscriminately dumping 250,000 classified documents!" It should be noted that almost all of the cable documents released to date have been published first by WikiLeaks' media partners such as the UK's Guardian, Germany's Der Spiegel, Spain's El Pais and the New York Times.

Never mind the very serious substance of the cables themselves --- it's not simply "embarrassing gossip" and "nothing new" as many in the media are shamefully downplaying it, perhaps because they didn't report it first! --- there is so much information and opinion flying out here about WikiLeaks and Assange themselves, it is difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with it all. In general, if you haven't noticed over the years, I only tend post when I feel I have something to contribute to any particular issue. So, of late, I've simply been trying to take much of it in, trying to make sense of it all in this extraordinary moment in history, and tweeting items of note (via @TheBradBlog) as I come across them in the bargain.

A few of those things, and a discussion --- at times, a somewhat contentious debate --- I had with someone on Twitter today in regard to WikiLeaks and Assange et al, are below, and I'd very much love to hear your thoughts on all of it. Read on...

Follow and stream @GreenNewsReport!...



(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Crunch time in Cancun as the UN climate summit races to a close; Major moves in the US over coal, oil and emissions ...PLUS: More WikiLeaking: from Nigeria (who loves both Shell and Dick Cheney!) to Canada to BP ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Now hiring: Craigslist ad for a coal baron; Parking lots a major cause pollution in US lakes; Sec. Chu announces Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Export Initiative; "Opportunities and Challenges" in nuclear energy: report; Clearing the air: Is your house making you ill?; Report: Global Clean Power: A $2.3 Trillion Opportunity; Improved car batteries 5 years off ... PLUS: US v. China: Building a Skilled Clean Energy Work Force --- a Tale of Two Countries ....

"We will fire at anyone or anything that tries to censor WikiLeaks, including multi-billion dollar companies such as PayPal. ... The major shitstorm has begun."

That's the message currently posted by the hacker group calling themselves "Anonymous", as part of what they call "Operation Payback".

The group has already reportedly succeeded in taking down both MasterCard and Visa's servers following the two corporations freezing the credit card transactions of WikiLeaks.

Earlier, according to RAW STORY, Anonymous issued a statement which read:

What appears to be the first real and serious --- at least the first known and serious --- "all-out cyber war", as Secure Computing Magazine is now calling it, seems to be underway. In this case, however, it wasn't the hackers or even a foreign government who appear to have fired the first shots, but the U.S. Government who did so via apparently successful tactics used to intimidate both Amazon and PayPal into cutting off service to WikiLeaks, the international media organization which has leaked thousands of classified U.S. documents, but has been charged with breaking absolutely no U.S. laws.

The entire episode reveals a number of very serious concerns, and at least one that may not be quite as obvious...

Via AP...

For more on the "very awkward position" the U.S. may soon find itself in regarding the possible legal requirement of sending Cheney to Nigeria, with whom we have a long-standing extradition treaty, see our story from last Friday quoting Constitutional law profession Jonathan Turley on this rather interesting turn of events.

No doubt there are plenty of diplomatic cables flying around on this between the U.S. and Nigerian governments right about now. Let's hope someone shares them with WikiLeaks soon.

Follow and stream @GreenNewsReport!...



(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Happy Birthday, ANWR!; Go to hell, Sen. Inhofe!; You knew it had to be there: the WikiLeaks documents on last year's UN climate summit in Copenhagen ...PLUS: Stop-n-start in high stakes negotiations at this year's UN climate summit in Cancun, as climate science predictions come true around the world ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Einstein's Fridge: it runs on heat; World running out of new places to fish; Massey's controverial coal baron to retire; USDA removes major barrier to school salad-bar initiative; How some politicians stumble on science; Can wild rice halt mining in Minnesota?; BP: Gulf oyster biz still plagued by BP oil spill; Lobbyists buy big seat at the table of food safety legislation; New developments in harnessing tidal power; 5 Lessons From Haiti's Disaster ... PLUS: Yummy!: Why is flame retardant in your butter? ....

I'll be joined by GLENN GREEWALD, Salon's great blogger, constitutional attorney and author (of How Would a Patriot Act?, A Tragic Legacy, and Great American Hypocrites LIVE today during the 3p PT/6p ET hour on KPFK, the Pacific Radio outlet in Los Angeles (90.7FM), San Diego (93.7FM), Santa Barbara (98.7FM) and China Lake (99.5FM) where I'm sitting in one more day for Harrison. The show will again be streamed live via KPFK.org.

We'll be picking up where things left off a bit, following my interview last week with "Pentagon Papers" whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and the extraordinary events that have happened since, as the all-out assault on WikiLeaks --- by the U.S. Government, both major political parties and, most disturbingly, the media --- continues to grow.

See Greenwald's piece last week at Salon on Sen. Joe Lieberman "emulating Chinese dictators" by what seems to be an abuse of his post as Chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee in helping to intimidate WikiLeaks' Internet server Amazon.com into shutting them down, and some in the MSM's support of the notion that WikiLeaks is the bad actor here, despite having broken no laws and being charged with no crime.

That was last week, and things have gone quickly downhilll from there, with U.S. colleges warning students not to read or link to WikiLeaks, Government agencies (including the Library of Congress) restricting access to them, PayPal cutting off their account, and now even Switzerland freezing their defense fund account.

This seems to be all out "Information/Cyber War", at the very least, and like nothing we've ever seen in this country. Greenwald has more on all of this today, and it's chilling --- particularly his UPDATE on that link.

We'll talk LIVE about all of that and much more on today's show beginning at 3pm PT! Please tune in live here...

POST-SHOW UPDATE: The complete interview with Greenwald follows. Lots of interesting stuff to dig into. Enjoy...

Download MP3 or listen online [appx. 48 mins]