• Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
• Bill McKibben of 350.org.

• "Brunch With Bernie".
• Anything goes on townhall Friday!!
• Why Copenhagen summit may be a disaster.
• Geeky science rocks! – could hook worm infections help cure celiac disease?

• Santa's Flying a 747 Tonight, Doug Stone.
• Catch the Reading Bug, Monty Harper.
• The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late), Alvin And The Chipmunks.
• The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Ennio Morricone.
• Free Love, Derek James.
• Hanukkah Blessings, Barenaked Ladies.
• Lighten Up, It's Christmas, The Geezinslaws.
• Science Rocks!, Rock Chick & Science Geek.
• What a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong.

"Iraq's hope of luring international oil companies with its mother lode of oil met with mixed results Friday, with only two deals struck as security fears appeared to weigh heavily on the country's second oil auction this year. ...

In the first deal of the day, European oil giant Shell teamed up with Malaysia's state-run Petronas to beat out a consortium grouping France's Total SA and China National Petroleum Corp. to win the southern Majnoon field. The 12.58 billion barrel behemoth in the Basra region was the biggest on offer in the first day of the auction. ...

The second and final deal of the day was on the 4.1 billion barrel Halfaya field. CNPC, Petronas and Total teamed up on that bid, beating out three other consortiums led by Italy's Eni, Norway's Statoil ASA and India's ONGC."

"France on Thursday said it would follow Britain’s lead in levying a supertax on bankers’ bonuses, giving added momentum to efforts to curb high levels of financial sector pay.

The British and French moves stirred the first real public debate as to whether the US should adopt a windfall tax, too. However, with the administration wary and no instant surge of support in Congress, there appeared to be little prospect that the US would join the European drive in the near term."

"Let me be blunt about what amazes me when it comes to global warming. In the U.S., it’s largely an issue for Democrats, “progressives,” liberals, the left, and I simply don’t get that. Never have. If the word “conservative” means anything, the key to it must be that word at its heart, “conserve”; that is, the keeping or not squandering of what already is, especially what’s most valuable.

And for us humans, what’s better than our planet? It’s the only home we’ve got and -- though I was one of those 1950s boys who read H.G. Wells and Isaac Asimov, as well as plenty of pulp sci-fi, and spent too much time dreaming about other planets and the stars -- probably the only one we’ll ever have. For us, there is nowhere else. Wreck it and you wreck us.

Don’t think for a minute that global warming will destroy planet Earth. It’s already made it through worse moments than ours, and worse climate conditions than industrial civilization has to offer. Planet Earth has no sense of time. Give it 10 million, 20 million, 100 million years, and it will reconstitute itself in some fashion and spin on, life included, until our sun gives out. But the way things are going, we may not do so well.

The Soviet Union, that “evil empire,” fell after only 70 years, to everyone’s amazement. Barely the span of human life."

"Could unknown benefits from one of the oldest parasites of the human digestive tract hold the key to cure for celiac disease?

Australian scientists think so. Encouraged by successful treatments of Crohn's and ulcerative colitis by American researchers using a pig whipworm (Trichuris sues), a team of Australian researchers is recruiting volunteers with celiac disease for trials using human hookworm (Necator americanus).

The researchers have undertaken a similar preliminary study using a human hookworm in Crohn's patients.

Researchers hypothesize that the disappearance of intestinal parasites from humans in developed countries may be responsible for the upsurge in many diseases including Celiac Disease, Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, asthma and hay fever."

"How Do you spell relief? N-O-G-O-P-S"