2012 Rise In CO2 Levels Second-Highest In 54 Years

WASHINGTON — The amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the air jumped dramatically in 2012, making it very unlikely that global warming can be limited to another 2 degrees as many global leaders have hoped, new federal figures show.

Scientists say the rise in CO2 reflects the world's economy revving up and burning more fossil fuels, especially in China.

Perdue Chicken Processing Plant Worker Talks Gross Chicken Nuggets, Unclean Birds On Reddit

In 2010, over a year before the pink slime scandal came to light, there was a viral photo of pre-chicken nugget meat paste, more technically known as mechanically-separated poultry. While the validity and origins of the photo remain slightly dubious, the picture cast light on the fact that the ingredients in chicken nuggets may be a bit suspect. These suspicions have continued -- most recently when Melanie Warner, author of the book "Pandora's Lunchbox," conducted an experiment in which she left chicken nuggets out, only to find they they completely liquefied after a couple of months.

Senate Republicans Open To Gutting Voting Rights Act, Despite Scalia's Analysis

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia argued last week that the court may need to reject the key element of the Voting Rights Act because political pressures would prevent Congress itself from doing so.

"I don’t think there is anything to be gained by any senator to vote against continuation of this act," Scalia said during a Supreme Court hearing. "And I am fairly confident it will be reenacted in perpetuity unless -- unless a court can say it does not comport with the Constitution. That’s the concern that those of us who have some questions about this statute have. It’s a concern that this is not the kind of a question you can leave to Congress."

Eric Holder: Drone Strike To Kill U.S. Citizen On American Soil Legal, Hypothetically

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration believes it could technically use military force to kill an American on U.S. soil in an "extraordinary circumstance" but has "no intention of doing so," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter disclosed Tuesday.

Holder's March 4 letter was disclosed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who had asked whether the Justice Department believed President Barack Obama had the legal authority to order a targeted strike against an American citizen located within the United States.

John Baird Warns Palestinian Of 'Consequences' For Pursing Israel At UN

OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has told a powerful pro-Israel lobby that Palestinians will feel "consequences" from Canada if they pursue the Jewish state at the International Criminal Court.

Baird issued the warning just as the federal government considers whether to end hundreds of millions of dollars in Canadian humanitarian aid to the Palestinians when it expires at the end of this month.

Peter Kent defends budget cuts in Environment Department and Parks Canada

OTTAWA – Environment Minister Peter Kent is dismissing opposition concerns about a significant decrease in visits to national parks, coinciding with $51 million in projected spending reductions at Parks Canada for the next year.

Kent defended the government’s budget cuts Tuesday in response to questions raised by NDP deputy environment critic Anne Minh Thu Quach at a House of Commons environment committee hearing.

Contracting out at DND up by $500 million despite promises to cut

OTTAWA - Money spent by National Defence on outside consulting and professional services has increased dramatically, even as the Harper government was warned the practice needed to be curbed.

Spending on external contracting rose by $500 million between 2009 and 2011, the year retired lieutenant-general Andrew Leslie advised the department it could safely cut 30 per cent of those agreements.

The contracting figure stood at $2.7 billion when Leslie, former top army commander, tabled his watershed analysis of how to overhaul the military in 2011.

Two polls show how, and maybe why, Alberta's Tory coalition is crumbling

It's interesting to juxtapose the results of two new polls on related but different topics that were released yesterday -- a Think HQ poll of Alberta voter intentions and an Environics poll of Albertans attitudes about taxes and public services.

The results of the former were published in the afternoon by CTV; the results of latter were released in the morning by the Alberta Federation of Labour, for which the survey was done.

If you believe them, the Think HQ numbers show support for Premier Alison Redford and her party alike falling through the floor.

Environics' results show extremely strong support among Albertans for a return to a progressive income tax, higher corporate and wealth taxes, and higher petroleum royalties.

Feds' reasons for acquiring fighter jets implausible, says Liberal MP

PARLIAMENT HILL—A series of war or terrorism scenarios, including attacks against terrorist cells in other countries and “state on state war fighting,” dominate a series of possible missions the federal government has set out for five fighter jets, including the controversial Lockheed Martin F-35, that are now under consideration as potential replacements for Canada’s aging fleet of CF-18 fighters.

In reaction to requests for more information from firms who want to sell their fighters to Canada, as part of a review of options the government began after its $45.8-billion plan to acquire a fleet of 65 F-35 jets hit a brick wall last April, the government last Sunday released a 22-page questionnaire that included six “vignettes” the new fighter planes might face from 2020 past 2030, four of which involve terrorist attacks within Canada, terrorist attacks from abroad, or war operations as part of a coalition.

Contraband tobacco bill sets mandatory minimum sentences

The Harper government has introduced legislation to set mandatory minimum prison sentences for trafficking contraband tobacco.

A new 50-officer RCMP anti-contraband force is also being created to target illegal tobacco sales.

The new bill, introduced Tuesday afternoon in the Senate, creates a new Criminal Code offence for trafficking in contraband tobacco. The maximum penalty for a first offence would be six months imprisonment for a summary conviction and five years in jail for an indictable offence.