Mayan Dec 21 2012 Doomsday Quashed By Nasa

Washington: Quashing the 'doomsday' rumours, top NASA scientists have assured that the world won't end on December 21, 2012.

"The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012," NASA said on its website.

The 'doomsday story' started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth, scientists said.

This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 - hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012, they said.

The US Space agency also specified that the Mayan calendar does not end in December 2012.

"Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012," NASA said.

"This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then - just as your calendar begins again on January 1 - another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar," it said.

Scientists also clarified that the rumour of a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction is just an "Internet hoax".

"Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. 

If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye," scientists said.

"Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles," they said.

On danger of Earth being hit by a meteor in 2012, scientists said that NASA astronomers are carrying out a study called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit.

"The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs," they said.

Cross Posted From This Source

Filibuster VS Democrats USA

A rule change could prompt a furious GOP revolt. | Jay Westcott/POLITICO Close By MANU RAJU | 11/25/12 1:02 PM EST A partisan war is brewing that could bring the government to a screeching halt as early as January — and no, it’s not over the fiscal cliff. It’s all about the filibuster.

Latest on POLITICO Sportsmen bill falters over duck stamps Intrade to close U.S. accounts Carter building houses in Haiti Losing campaign staffers can relax Trump: 'Self-deportation' cost votes Filibuster fight seizes Senate Democrats are threatening to change filibuster rules, in what will surely prompt a furious GOP revolt that could make those rare moments of bipartisan consensus even harder to come by during the next Congress.

 (Also on POLITICO: Graham: I would violate Norquist's pledge) Here’s what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is considering: banning filibusters used to prevent debate from even starting and House-Senate conference committees from ever meeting. He also may make filibusters become actual filibusters — to force senators to carry out the nonstop, talkathon sessions. Republicans are threatening even greater retaliation if Reid uses a move rarely used by Senate majorities: changing the chamber’s precedent by 51 votes, rather than the usual 67 votes it takes to overhaul the rules. 

 “I think the backlash will be severe,” Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), the conservative firebrand, said sternly. “If you take away minority rights, which is what you’re doing because you’re an ineffective leader, you’ll destroy the place. And if you destroy the place, we’ll do what we have to do to fight back.” “It will shut down the Senate,” the incoming Senate GOP whip, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, told POLITICO. “It’s such an abuse of power.”

 (Also on POLITICO: McCain on abortion: GOP should leave issue alone)

 The push will happen at the start of the new Congress, when Reid will unveil a rules package certain to have some changes to the filibuster. The exact contents of that package have yet to be finalized, as is the decision on whether to invoke the so-called nuclear option — 51 votes — to push it through. 

But Democratic senators are urging Reid to take steps ranging from the most draconian one of virtually eliminating the filibuster to more piecemeal changes designed to discourage the use of the stalling tactic. What Reid appears most likely to do is push for an end to the filibuster on so-called motions to proceed, or the beginning of a debate on bills or nominations. If Reid goes this route, senators could still filibuster virtually any other aspect of Senate business, including any movement to end debate and call for a final vote on a bill.

 And Reid is strongly considering pushing for other filibuster changes, too — most notably requiring senators to actually go to the floor and carry out an endless talking session, rather than simply threaten them as they do now.

Reminiscent of the 1939 movie classic “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” the idea has picked up steam in liberal circles — and its intent is to discourage senators from filibustering, though it would fundamentally change the very nature of the modern Senate. (PHOTOS: Fiscal cliff's key players) “We cannot allow the Senate to be dysfunctional by the use of filibusters,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Reid’s No. 2. “We’ve had over 300 filibusters in the last six years — it’s unprecedented. 

What we’re talking about is very basic — you want to start a filibuster, you want to stop the business of the Senate, by goodness’ sake, park your fanny on the floor of the Senate and speak. If you want to go to dinner and go home over the weekend, be prepared, the Senate is moving forward.

” Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/84195.html#ixzz2DNtQBVZI

Maher Last New Rules

Leo- Friday, November 23, 2012 The celestial weather, such as it is right now, could inflate a small issue into something bigger than it deserves. Put aside any inclination to turn a molehill into a mountain. Things are essentially going very well. The hassle you are dealing with is not of your making. Keep your mood constructive, think before you bark, and you’ll end this day feeling very well indeed.

Cross-posted on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher site. 

New Rule: Now that he's been reelected, President Obama must get back at all those right wing hacks who tried to paint him as an angry black man pushing a liberal agenda by becoming an angry black man who's pushing a liberal agenda. Now, I have been mostly holding my tongue about the president this past season, because I didn't want to muddy the waters in a country where you only get two choices, but Mr. President, there are two ways to look at your 51 to 48 percent victory: One is, we love you. 

The other is, we like you three percent better than Mitt Romney. And by the way, let us never speak that name again... Mitt... let it be a dark and buried memory of a close call with a creature equal parts pure evil and excellent posture, like getting dry humped in a crowded subway by Roger Moore.

 I like this president. In all those secret strategy meetings we had, with me and him and George Soros and The New Black Panthers, I found him to be very agreeable, Allah be praised. But it's now the job of progressives to hold his feet to the fire for causes important to us. If not now, when? There's no third term, Mr. President, so you may as well throw caution to the wind, 'cause it's not like we're using it to produce energy. 

Yes, clean energy, that's just one of many issues, like civil liberties, the drug war, the drone war, the war war, gun control -- that have been on my mind these last four years, and let's just say I've been waiting to exhale. And by that I mean, I've been holding my nose. But you're free now -- with no more elections to win, you are free to never again have to kiss the ass of coal miners and say the words "clean coal." 

There is no such thing as "clean coal." It's like saying "Internet Privacy" or "Tea Party Intellectual." Or "Fox News Journalist." Another priority should be cutting the defense budget -- we're the home of the brave, let's prove it by getting by with one less submarine. 

Yes, we were involved in a struggle against a radical enemy bent on our destruction -- but the election is over, and we need to recognize that America has the same problem with the defense budget that Mrs. Petraeus has with her husband's penis: it's swollen, and we can't bring ourselves to touch it. And as far as Afghanistan goes, I know you said we're leaving in 2014, but look at it this way: enemies are always on guard for a surprise attack, but they'd never suspect a surprise retreat. Really. 

We can leave right away. Because we've figured out something the Afghans haven't: air travel. And as long as we're ending wars, how about the War on Drugs? Two states, Colorado and Washington, have actually legalized pot now, which gives you as president the rare opportunity to improve the world by doing... absolutely nothing. Just tell Eric Holder to stay the hell out of Boulder, and if the conservatives bitch about it, throw states' rights back in their face -- isn't that their big theme, send it back to the states, the will of the people? 

Well, this is the people who, in those two states on election day, got up off the couch and drove their 1987 Toyota Tercel with the "Visualize World Peace" sticker on the back to the polls, and voted to stop the drug war.

 And then drove home and got back on the couch. And finally, instead of rewriting Social Security, how about rewriting the Patriot Act? How about another look at rendition, and warrantless searches and wire taps? And how about stop listening in on our phone calls and reading our e-mails. I'm not a teenager and you're not my mom, ok? 

And besides, there's a better way to confirm your suspicions that I'm smoking weed and hanging around the wrong people: just watch my show. Real Time With Bill Maher returns with new shows on Friday, January 18th on HBO.

Mayan's predict Dec 21 2012 the end of the world...huh go figure.

An ancient Maya text has emerged from the jungles of Guatemala confirming the so-called "end date" of the Maya calendar, Dec. 21, 2012.

Considered one of the most significant hieroglyphic finds in decades, the 1,300-year-old inscription contains only the second known reference to the "end date," but does not predict doomsday.

"The text talks about ancient political history rather than prophecy," Marcello A. Canuto, director of Tulane University's Middle American Research Institute, said.

HOWSTUFFWORKS VIDEO: ANCIENT MAYAN MYSTERY

Carved on a stone staircase, the inscription was found at the ruins of La Corona, in the dense rainforest of northwestern Guatemala, by an international team of archaeologists led by Canuto and colleague Tomás Barrientos of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.

SLIDE SHOW: 2012 Doomsday and Other Signs of the End Times

The archaeologists made the discovery as they decided to excavate in front of a building that had been heavily damaged nearly 40 years ago by looters looking for carved stones and tombs.

"We knew they found something important, but we also thought they might have missed something," Barrientos said.

Indeed, the archaeologists not only recovered 10 discarded hieroglyphic stones, but also something that the looters missed entirely -- an untouched step with a set of 12 exquisitely carved stones still in their original location.

Combined with the known looted blocks, the original staircase had a total of 264 hieroglyphs, making it one of the longest ancient Maya texts known, and the longest in Guatemala.

According to David Stuart, director of the Mesoamerica Center of the University of Texas at Austin, who deciphered the hieroglyphics, the stairway inscription recorded 200 years of La Corona's history.

ANALYSIS: 2012 Mayan Calendar 'Doomsday' Date Might Be Wrong

Bearing 56 delicately carved hieroglyphs, the stone referring to the year 2012 commemorated a royal visit to La Corona (which the ancient Maya called Saknikte’) by the ruler Yuknoom Yich’aak K’ahk’ from the great Maya capital of Calakmul on Jan. 29, 696 A.D.

World »

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Mitch McConnell Loses Big On Election Day

WASHINGTON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell set two top goals for the 2012 election: a Republican takeover of the Senate and the defeat of President Barack Obama.

By Thomas Ferraro

He achieved neither.

Starting in January, he will be up against a president he tried and failed to bring down, with a Senate minority weaker by two.

"We all had a bad day," said Josh Holmes, chief of staff of McConnell's personal Senate office.

While there is no sign of any immediate threat to his job as minority leader, McConnell is facing intensified criticism from the right, which has seen him for some time as too "establishment."

McConnell blocked much of Obama's agenda the past two years, including his call to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans. But some conservatives complained that he was not sufficiently hardline. They were outraged, for example, when he compromised with Obama and agreed to increase the debt limit in 2011 and extend a payroll tax cut.

McConnell is also looking over his shoulder at his own re-election prospects in Kentucky in 2014 and the possibility of a primary challenge from the right, which could limit his flexibility in negotiations over pressing tax and spending issues such as the "fiscal cliff."

To fend off a possible challenge by a candidate backed by the conservative Tea Party movement, McConnell hired Jesse Benton as his campaign manager - a political strategist with Tea Party ties.

"McConnell will be in the middle of a battle for the heart of the party," said James Thurber of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies. "The Republican Party is shifting to the right under his feet. He may not survive."

Read Full Article

Florida Win For Obama 332 E Votes vs Romney 206 E Votes

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- President Barack Obama was declared the winner of Florida's 29 electoral votes Saturday, ending a four-day count with a razor-thin margin that narrowly avoided an automatic recount that would have brought back memories of the 2000 election.

No matter the outcome, Obama had already clinched re-election and now has 332 electoral votes to Republican challenger Mitt Romney's 206.

The Florida Secretary of State's Office said that with almost 100 per cent of the vote counted, Obama led Romney 50 per cent to 49.1 per cent, a difference of about 74,000 votes. That was over the half-per cent margin where a computer recount would have been automatically ordered unless Romney had waived it.

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