WcP Blog

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U.S. National Debt is $11.5 trillion (updated 1 July 2009) and has continued to increase an average of $3.91 billion per day since September 28, 2007! Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the U.S. deficit "dangerous". Canada's deficit is short-term and not structural.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the U.S. deficit "dangerous"

"The Liberal Party cites the United States as their fiscal model ... In the United States the deficit is running at four times the size of our deficit. It is a dangerous, long-term structural deficit that existed even before the recession began, one that will require tax increases eventually." Harper said last Thursday his government is set to post a record high deficit of C$50.2 billion this year but promised to balance the books again in 2013-14.

Harper has repeatedly said Canada's deficit is short-term and not structural. The White House forecast last month the U.S. deficit for fiscal 2009 would swell to $1.84 trillion, more than four times the then-record $455 billion deficit for fiscal 2008.

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Photos courtesy of AuthenticHistory.com and federalbudget.com

Original Source: Reuters

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The ocean is warming about 50 percent faster than reported 2 years ago, near the worst-case predictions of the 2007 report by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The heavy rain & severe flooding paralyses central Europe: houses were swept away by rising floodwaters. In England and Wales, around 5 million people in 2 million properties live in flood risk areas.

Rising ocean temperatures near worst-case predictions

The ocean is warming about 50 per cent faster than reported two years ago, according to an update of the latest climate science. A report compiling research presented at a science congress in Copenhagen in March says recent observations are near the worst-case predictions of the 2007 report by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In the case of sea-level rise, it is happening at an even greater rate than projected - largely due to rising ocean temperatures causing thermal expansion of seawater.

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Nearly a Third of Whales Killed in Japan Antarctic Hunt are Pregnant, Whaling Commission Hears This Week

MADEIRA, Portugal - Data provided by the Japanese government has revealed a large number of pregnant and lactating female whales killed. The data was made public at the International Whaling Commission meeting Monday, June 22, 2009.

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His music is a lasting legacy. As a songwriter, singer and dancer, Michael Jackson was an undoubted genius and the most important pop-music figure since Elvis Presley as well as being related to him, marrying Elvis Presley’s daughter Lisa Marie in 1964. Michael Jackson has two lovely children: daughter Paris and son Prince with ex-wife Debbie Rowe. Most of Michael Jackson's closest friends had also been child stars, one of them is actress Elizabeth Taylor who said "I loved Michael with all my soul...I don't think anyone knew how much we loved each other - the purest most giving love I've ever known."

MICHAEL JACKSON  read more »

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Photos from National Geographic Best Photo Awards - Nature.

Top left: Glass might have separated Morgan Hurley from Kimani, one of the lowland gorillas at the Franklin Park Zoo, but these two didn't seem to have any trouble sizing one another up. When Kimani wandered off to check out some other visitors, Morgan did her best to get the young gorilla's attention.

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Photos courtesy of authorstream.com, izismile.com, greenexpander.com, Bill Brett / Boston.com, and National Geographic

Original Source: Boston Globe

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Photo: Kalalau Beach. The natural beauty and isolation of Na Pali were populated by Native Hawaiians continuously for six centuries through the early 1900s. In recent decades, however, it has lured half-million visitors annually who hike its trails, camp overnight in its valleys, buzz over its 3,000 foot cliffs in helicopters and, sadly, at times prove poor stewards of Na Pali. Inset: How much Beer will the average person consume in a lifetime? National Geographic Human Footprint looks at how beer is consumed by the average American over a lifetime.

Photo: Na Pali Coastline of Kauai. Inset: Have you considered the impact of the cars that you will own over your entire lifetime? National Geographic Human Footprint took at look and the numbers are staggering.

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Photos courtesy of ecopreservationsociety.wordpress.com, secretofthecrystalskullsmovie.com / Diane Cook & Len Jenshel, Wings Over Kauai, and National Geographic

Original Source: Eco Preservation Society and Crystal Skulls

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In the 1990 general election, Suu Kyi earned the right to be Prime Minister in a 392-out-of-489-seats landslide victory as leader of the winning National League for Democracy party, but her detention has prevented her from assuming that role.

Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi spent her 64th birthday in prison Friday, as demands for her freedom erupted across the internet and at rallies worldwide. Suu Kyi has spent more than 13 of the last 19 years in detention, mostly under house arrest. Her party won Myanmar's last elections in 1990 but the junta rejected her victory. After an uninvited American swam to her tightly guarded lakeside home last month, she was arrested and is now on trial for violating the terms of her house arrest.  read more »