† FL Manatees Freeze To Death (second item): For the second winter in a row, FL manatees are suffering from global warming a severe cold snap. Having lost all confidence in Global Warming Confidence Man Al Gore, the Fearless Leader Of The Manatees (below, left) has ordered his loyal subjects to swim from the chilly Gulf of Mexico waters and into the warmer discharge canals of the Tampa Electric's Big Bend Power Station, reports The Associated Press:

 

Cold weather can weaken manatees' immune systems and eventually kill them. State officials said 2010 has been a deadly year for the beloved animals: between Jan. 1 and Dec. 17, 246 manatees died from so-called "cold stress." During the same time period in 2009, only 55 manatees died from the cold. In 2008, only 22 manatees succumbed to chilly temperatures.

 

 

Manatee deaths documented from Jan. 1 through Dec. 5 are nearly double the five-year average for that time period, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission statistics. …

 

A total of 699 manatees were found dead between Jan. 1 and Dec. 5; state officials say it's likely the cold temperatures also contributed to many of the 203 deaths in the "undetermined" category and the 68 deaths of manatees whose bodies could not be recovered.  ….

When the water dips below 68, manatees seek warmer waters- usually springs or the power plant discharge canals. The water temperature in the power plant's Big Bend canal ranges from about 65-75 degrees …

 

Adult manatees can weigh up to 1,200 pounds and grow to be 10 feet long. During the warmer months, manatees leave Florida and can be found as far west as Texas and as far north as Massachusetts — although sightings along the Gulf Coast and near the Carolinas are also common.

 

During last year's cold snap, some 329 manatees congregated at the Tampa Electric power station. In Broward County on Tuesday, some 50 manatees gathered in the outfall of a Florida Power and Light plant.

 

† The TSA Emperor Wears No Clothes: Part II: Self-described  "Patriot Pilot" Chris Liu, 50, who posted at least six videos shot with his cell phone on YouTube - since removed - that exposed lax security procedures at San Francisco International Airport told ABC's "Good Morning America" that "There have been numerous articles written about this security problem, and I just wanted to address it," reports The Associated Press:

 

He and his attorney, Don Werno, defended the footage showing how grounds crew can enter secure areas by swiping security cards and without undergoing further screening. …

 

Werno said his client, who has previously remained anonymous, decided to go public after reporters figured out his identity. …

 

Liu has been suspended from a federal anti-terrorism program that let him carry a gun on planes, and the TSA is investigating whether he revealed sensitive information. He works for a major airline but has declined to identify the carrier out of concerns about his job. …

 

One of the clips shows an ax in the cockpit that is used for emergencies. Werno has said his client believes the security pilots go through is "absurd" since once they get in the cockpit they have access to a weapon. …

 

The TSA has said it is confident in the security at San Francisco International Airport.

 

† Look Before You Leap: Part II (second item): NE and other state legislatures are looking to the 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Gonzales v. Carhart to put an end to late-term and partial birth abortions, reports The Washington Post

 

Using that decision as a road map, this spring [Mike Flood, the 35-year-old speaker of NE] wrote and won passage of legislation that bans abortions after 20 weeks. Introducing into law the concept of "fetal pain," it marked the first time that a state has outlawed the procedure so early in a pregnancy without an exception for the health of the woman.

 

The law shut down LeRoy Carhart, the provider who had planned to expand his practice outside Omaha and provide late-term abortions to women across the Midwest.

 

The importance of Flood's bill is likely to be felt far beyond Nebraska. Abortion opponents call it model legislation for other states and say it could provide a direct challenge to Supreme Court precedents that restrict government's ability to prohibit abortion before a fetus can survive outside the womb. …

 

Critics of abortion hail the law as the most prominent and promising outcome of the Supreme Court's 2007 decision, in which, coincidentally, Carhart was the lead plaintiff.

 

The 5 to 4 decision in Gonzales v. Carhart turned away Carhart's challenge to the federal ban on "partial birth" abortion and appeared to mark a significant change in the high court's balancing of a woman's right with the government's interest. …

 

[T]he decision has emboldened state legislators to pass an increasing number and variety of restrictions in hopes that a changed court will uphold them. …

 

The Center for Reproductive Rights concluded that in 2010, state legislatures "considered and enacted some of the most extreme restrictions on abortion in recent memory, as well as passing laws creating dozens of other significant new hurdles."

 

The center's docket of lawsuits challenging state abortion restrictions has grown by a dozen cases in the past two years, President Nancy Northup said.

 

† There’s Many A Slip ‘Twixt The Cup And Lip: Far, far fewer people are signing up for high-risk insurance coverage than the Obama administration thought, reports The Washington Post:

 

Federal health officials contend that the plans, known as high-risk pools, are experiencing expected growing pains. It will take time to spread the word that they exist and to adjust prices and benefits so the plans are as attractive as possible, they say.

 

State-level directors of the plans agree, in part. But in interviews, they also said that the insurance premiums are unaffordable for some who need the coverage - and that some would-be customers are skittish about the plans' stability as federal lawsuits and congressional Republicans are trying to overturn the entire law. The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, the program's official name, is an early test of President Obama's argument that the public will embrace the politically divisive law once they see its advantages firsthand. According to some health policy researchers, the success or failure of the pools also could foreshadow the complexities of making broader changes in health insurance by 2014, when states are to open new marketplaces - or exchanges - for Americans to buy coverage individually or in small groups. …

 

Last spring, the Medicare program's chief actuary predicted that 375,000 people would sign up by the end of 2010. In early November, the Health and Human Services Department reported that just 8,000 people had enrolled. HHS officials refused to provide an update, although they collect such figures monthly, because they have decided to report them on a quarterly basis.

 

† Putting The “Boo” In Boomer: If their Depression-era parents can be likened to ants, who scrimped and saved for the winter of their lives, Baby Boomers are like grasshoppers who frittered away every opportunity to set aside enough resources to see them through retirement, reports The Associated Press:

 

Through a combination of procrastination and bad timing, many baby boomers are facing a personal finance disaster just as they're hoping to retire. Starting in January, more than 10,000 baby boomers a day will turn 65, a pattern that will continue for the next 19 years. …

"The situation is extremely serious because baby boomers have not saved very effectively for retirement and are still retiring too early," says Olivia Mitchell, director of the Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research at the University of Pennsylvania.

There are several reasons to be concerned:

‡ In 1980, some 39 percent of private-sector workers had a pension that guaranteed a steady payout during retirement. Today that number stands closer to 15 percent, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C.

‡ 42 percent of those workers now have 401(k)s. But the past decade has been a lost one for stocks. …

‡ 22 percent of homeowners, or nearly 11 million people, owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. Many are boomers. …

Too many boomers have ignored or underestimated the worsening outlook for their finances, says Jean Setzfand, director of financial security for AARP, the group that represents Americans over age 50. By far the greatest shortcoming has been a failure to save. The personal savings rate - the amount of disposable income unspent - averaged close to 10 percent in the 1970s and '80s. By late 2007, the rate had sunk to negative 1 percent. …

Many seem to view their plight through rose-colored granny glasses. An AARP survey last month of boomers turning 65 next year found that they worry no more about money than they did at age 60 - before the recession or the collapse of home prices. But in an acknowledgement of reality, 40 percent said they plan to work "until I drop."

 

Not good enough, says The Washington Post's Robert Samuelson – a Baby Boomer who himself just reached the age of 65. He advocates “significant cuts in Social Security and Medicare benefits for baby boomers” or “we will be condemned to some combination of inferior policies”:

We can raise taxes sharply over the next 15 or 20 years, roughly 50 percent from recent levels, to cover expanding old-age subsidies and existing government programs. Or we can accept permanently huge budget deficits. Even if that doesn't trigger a financial crisis, it would probably stunt economic growth and living standards. So would dramatically higher taxes. There's a final choice: deep cuts in other programs, from defense to roads to higher education. …

 

[N]ot making cuts would also be unfair to younger generations and the nation's future. We have a fairness dilemma: Having avoided these problems for decades, we must now be unfair to someone. …

 

Solutions are clear. Social Security's eligibility ages (66 now for full benefits and 62 for reduced benefits) could be gradually raised. Benefits could be cut for wealthier retirees. At 65, new Medicare beneficiaries could pay some or all of their insurance costs until they reached eligibility for full Social Security benefits. Even then, better-off recipients could pay higher premiums. These and other changes should start soon - in a few years once the recovery strengthens. …

 

Overhauling Social Security and Medicare has many purposes: to extend people's working lives; to make them pay more of the costs of their own retirement, as opposed to relying on subsidies from younger Americans; to prevent spending on old-age welfare from crippling other government programs or the economy; to create a bigger constituency for cost control in health care. America's leaders have tiptoed around these issues, talking blandly about limiting "entitlements" or making proposals of such complexity that only a few "experts" understand.

 

The Associated Press offers five steps to retirement planning for baby boomers:

 

‡ Have A Plan (“[H]aving an idea of your expected monthly income and expenses in retirement is essential);

‡ Save More (“Set savings goals you can reach, step by step.”);

‡ Retire Later (“Working longer … allows your existing savings additional time to grow.”);

‡ Scale Back Your Lifestyle (“Recognize that you'll need to make compromises to reach your goals.”); and

‡ Delay Taking Social Security: If you file for Social Security benefits as soon as you're eligible at age 62, your payments are reduced by about 30 percent from what they would be at full retirement age.

 

Another way to prevent Baby Boomers from outliving their meager savings: Monthly end-of-life discussions with their doctors.

 

† All The News That’s Fart To Print: Agence France-Presse reports that fertilizer is in such short supply in North Korea that the Number One seller at certain stores is Number Two:

 

Shops selling human excrement began operating in this year, as acute shortages of fertiliser in the sanctions-wracked country put a price on faeces, an analyst said.

 

Aid groups have said human waste has long been used on domestic crops in the impoverished communist state, but there is now a trade in the readily available commodity, a North Korea analyst told a seminar at a South Korean university.

 

"Each household used to use human excrement as fertiliser. But because it's hard to keep up with the amount, 'human manure' shops showed up at markets," Kim Young-Soo, a professor at Seoul's Sogang University, told the seminar.

 

 [Hat Tip: OpinionJournal]

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (seventh item, Multiculturalism: Jihad By Other Means): The Associated Press reports that “[i]n Germany, where the racial crimes of the Nazis have bred extreme sensitivity toward the rights of minorities” a new survey finds that “Germans are even more negative toward Muslims than their European neighbors”:

 

Spooked by what many see as a terrorism threat, ordinary people are becoming increasingly vocal in opposing radical Muslims. They are ditching traditions of tolerance and saying 'no' to cultures that do not share their democratic values. …

 

While the majority of the Dutch (62 percent), French (56 percent), and Danes (55 percent) think positively of Muslims, only 34 percent in western Germany and 26 percent in the formerly communist east, the poll by the University of Muenster said.

 

The pollsters said they questioned 1,000 people in western Germany, 1,000 in eastern Germany and 1,000 in each of the other European countries surveyed. They gave a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

 

One such German, a “soft-spoken, bespectacled” 60-year-old father of three, Wilfried Schultz, founded the group "Citizens for Moenchengladbach," to fight the building of a madrassa for 200 students in that city, reports AP:

 

His organization … points to online videos of the Muslim group [Invitation to Paradise] that call for the execution of secular Muslims, demand women never leave their homes without male chaperones and say people who have sex before marriage will go to hell. …

 

Mr. Schultz [an Internet consultant who had studied theology and law] said the hard-line group began arriving about five years ago, robed men and veiled women who stood out in sharp contrast to other Muslims of Moenchengladbach. …

 

A few weeks ago, the city banned further construction on the school, citing security concerns. The congregation is suing to have the decision reversed. …

 

German intelligence services, however, say they have an eye on Invitation to Paradise because it belongs to the Salafist movement, which often has been linked to terrorist plots and seeks to revive strict Muslim doctrine dating back to the era of the 7th-century Prophet Muhammad.

 

"Not every Salafist turns into a terrorist, but we know that future terrorists have almost always visited Salafist workshops and schools," writes the intelligence service of the state of Lower Saxony, where Invitation to Paradise also is active.

 

"Their indoctrination has a radicalizing influence, and that's one reason why these schools are dangerous," it says in its 2009 report.

 

So far, Germany has not been attacked by Islamic terrorists, but several plots have been foiled, and last month the government raised its security level nationwide.

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (sixth item, Marketing To Muslims): The Associated Press reports that “[t]he worldwide market for Islamically permitted goods, called halal, has grown to more than half a billion dollars annually,” but that “[a]long with new customers, however, the companies draw critics and can become targets in the ideological battle over Islam and terrorism”:

 

Nestle, for example, has about 20 factories in Europe with halal-certified production lines and advertises to Western Muslims through its marketing campaign called "Taste of Home." …

 

In the United States, iconic American companies such as McDonald's (which already has a popular halal menu overseas) and Wal-Mart have entered the halal arena. In August, the natural grocery giant Whole Foods began selling its first nationally distributed halal food product - frozen Indian entrees called Saffron Road. …

 

Abdalhamid Evans, project director with the World Halal Forum Europe, which works with the global halal industry, said a recent backlash has prompted some mainstream businesses in Europe to keep a lower profile about their halal products or scale back their offerings.

 

In the U.K., after Kentucky Fried Chicken rolled out halal menu options in several dozen stores, the restaurant chain pulled the items in a few locations in the face of protests. Critics dubbed the menu "terror chicken."

 

Last September, the Daily Mail of London reported that many British supermarkets, fast-food chains, hospitals, schools, pubs and sporting arenas such as Wembley Stadium, were serving some halal meat and poultry without notifying the public. …

 

In the uproar that followed, Barnabas Aid, a group that fights Christian persecution worldwide, started a petition in Britain against what it called the "imposition" of halal. It "may be interpreted as an act of Islamic supremacy," the group said.

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (second item, A To Z Approach On Illegal Immigration In AZ): The Washington Times notes that AZ “is positioned like never before to expand its efforts to combat illegal immigration”:

 

The November election saw Republican Jan Brewer elected to a second term as governor, largely on the strength of her decision to sign the headline-making law, while the Republican Party added to its already sizable majorities in the state House and Senate.

 

Most significantly of all, Russell Pearce was elected Arizona Senate president. For those who may not have heard of Mr. Pearce, let's just say that the 63-year-old Republican from Mesa wants to crack down on illegal immigration like desert javelinas want to eat prickly-pear cactus.

 

"I'm not stopping until the problem is solved, and clearly the problem is not solved," Mr. Pearce said in a telephone interview. "The cost is destroying this country, and it can no longer be ignored. I think America's had it. I think that's why we had the results we did in the election of 2010." …

 

Mr. Pearce is … routinely described by the left as a nativist, a bigot and worse. His ascension to the top Senate post was greeted by the liberal Phoenix New Times with a story that described him as "Arizona's Pope of Prejudice."

 

Even so, Mr. Pearce says he has no intention of backing down. He noted that Senate Bill 1070 has received consistently strong support in nationwide polls, to the point where other states are considering similar legislation.

 

"America's on our side, so why would we retreat from doing what's right?" he said. "We have a direct moral obligation to enforce the laws of our nation."

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, 10 Reasons Michelle Obama Should Be Proud – Really Proud – Of America): This latest installment in The Stiletto Blog’s ongoing series meant to help instill the necessary pride of country in Michelle Obama’s consciousness to enable her to serve as an unofficial ambassador focuses on 17-year-old Rudy Favard, a linebacker and co-captain of the Malden Catholic High School football team, who drives to the home of Patty and Rick Parker four nights a week to carry Sammy, their 8-year-old son who has severe cerebral palsy, upstairs to bed because the boy is too heavy for his parents or twin brother, Ben. The Boston Globe reports:

 

Until recently, Rick carried Sammy up those 14 stairs to his bedroom each night. But a few months ago, Rick had major surgery for a life-threatening heart condition, and now he can’t lift much at all, let alone a 75-pound child.

 

“We thought Rick was going to die, and we were terrified,’’ Patty recalled. “We knew right away he had to stop carrying Sam.’’

 

Patty couldn’t carry him, either. Desperate, she called her pediatrician, who put her in touch with Elizabeth Paquette, the nurse at Malden Catholic High School. Paquette said she’d take care of it. The boys at Malden Catholic are taught to embrace service: She’d find plenty of students to help.

 

Rudy Favard was the first kid Paquette came across after that call. …

He greeted the Parkers, and went over to Sammy, gently lifting the boy’s left arm and sliding his hands under his back, the way Rudy’s father, a professional caregiver, had shown him. He lifted Sammy and held him close to his chest … carefully maneuvered him around the corners on the narrow stairway.

 

You couldn’t help but be struck by the painful contrast between the two boys: The robust athlete cradling the pale, helpless child; the young man preparing to go out into the world carrying someone who never will.

 

Rudy asked The Globe’s reporter, “Is it OK if this article is more about Sam than me?,’’ explaining:

 

“He’s done more for me than I’ve done for him. There are times when I don’t want to go to practice, and then I look at Sam. By God’s grace, I can do what I’m doing, so I should keep it up. I’ve never been one to complain a lot, but just seeing Sam reaffirms everything, you know?’’

 

[Hat Tip: lemonfemale, a contributor to this blog.]