Napolitano Visit Aimed at Beefing Up Afghan Border Security, Customs
FoxNews.com
By Mike Levine
Published December 31, 2010
FNC – Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano eats lunch Dec. 31 with troops at Torkham base near the Pakistan border.
KABUL, Afghanistan — During an unannounced New Year’s Eve visit to Afghanistan, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano traveled to the country’s mountainous border region near Pakistan to see first-hand her department’s efforts in the war effort there.
“Seeing is worth a thousand words,” Napolitano said after the tour, to which Fox News was granted exclusive access. “This all involves safety and security in this part of the world. And that is something that has direct connection as well to the United States.”
She described her department’s role in war-torn Afghanistan as a “complement” to the military operations there.
Her agency has about two dozen officials in Afghanistan, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Customs and Border Protection officers, and Border Patrol agents. Many are training Afghan security forces to manage their country’s borders.
PBS’s Ray Suarez can’t believe the truth about Cuba’s healthcare
HotAir.com
posted at 9:05 am on December 31, 2010 by Fausta Wertz
Ray Suarez is having a snit about Mary O’Grady’s article,
Apparently, Mary Anastasia O’Grady’s critique of Ray Suarez’ PBS piece on Castro’s health care system stung him not only a bit, but a lot. In a rambling and disjointed rebuttal on the PBS News Hour website, Suarez attempted to defend his Castro propaganda-laden report by citing instances where opposing views were presented, but the rebuttal quickly degenerated into a personal attack on O’Grady.
Suarez claims that
Cuba has, for a country of its income, very high life expectancy. Cuba has, for a country of its income, low infant mortality. Cuba has, for a country of its income, low rates of infectious disease.
Yet Suarez forgets to mention that the statistics for any of these are provided by the Cuban government, the same government that has refused access to any independent outside organization to examine the statistics, the criteria for the data, or how the statistics are gathered. Suarez can’t seem to realize that any statistics put out by a totalitarian regime in a closed society are to be questioned.
Additionally, Suarez ignored the medical apartheid system itself.
Suarez says that “Ms. O’Grady has not gotten that memo,” which brings up the cables.
What cables?
Video: GOPro[cb] ud chief defends conservatism from MSNBC tool
HotAir.com
posted at 7:42 pm on December 30, 2010 by Allahpundit
I wonder what inspired this booking. Did Uygur think Barron was going to come on and join him in a round of right-bashing because of the CPAC boycotts? Or was the point simply to have him on so that Uygur could laugh derisively for the benefit of MSNBC’s viewers when Barron inevitably defended conservatives? As background on this, read Gabe Malor’s post at Ace’s site this morning listing some of the socially conservative groups who still plan to attend CPAC notwithstanding GOProud’s participation. There is no “social con boycott” of the event; frankly, it does social conservatives a disservice to suggest that there is.
Barron does a nice job here but could have fielded Uygur’s question better about why so many Republicans voted against repealing DADT. There may be, as RCP argues, a generational gap on this question in Congress, with senators in their early 50s — even conservatives ones like Richard Burr — more prone to siding with the left on gay issues than older Republicans are. That’s perfectly in keeping with national polling showing more tolerance for gays among younger demographics. Which is to say, per Uygur’s critique, while the GOP hasn’t traditionally welcomed gays, it’s far more likely to do so in the future. Click the image to watch.
(MSNBC)
Hawaii’s Governor Weighs Ways to Reveal Obama’s Birth Certificate
FoxNews | Associated Press
Published December 29, 2010
AP – Dec. 27: President Obama, third from left, orders shave ice at Island Snow at Kailua Beach Center while on vacation with the first family in Kailua, Hawaii.
HONOLULU — Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie wants to find a way to release more information about President Obama’s Hawaii birth and dispel conspiracy theories that he was born elsewhere.
Abercrombie was a friend of Obama’s parents and knew him as a child, and is deeply troubled by the effort to cast doubt on the president’s citizenship.
The newly elected governor will ask the state attorney general’s office about what can be done to put an end to questions about Obama’s birth documentation from Aug. 4, 1961, spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said Tuesday.
“He had a friendship with Mr. Obama’s parents, and so there is a personal issue at hand,” Dela Cruz said. “Is it going to be done immediately? No, the first thing on our list is the economy.”
It’s unclear what Abercrombie could do because Hawaii’s privacy laws have long barred the release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who doesn’t have a tangible interest.
Denmark Arrests 5 Suspected of Planning Terror Attack
FoxNews | Associated Press
Published December 29, 2010
Dec. 29: Police patrol in front of apartments in Herlev, west of Copenhagen, after Denmark’s intelligence service arrested four people suspected of planning an “imminent” terror attack against a newspaper that printed the controversial Prophet Muhammad cartoons. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service, known as PET, said three of the four men were residents of Sweden and had entered the country during the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. Jakob Scharf, the head of PET, said that “an imminent terror attack has been foiled.” He described some the suspects as “militant Islamists.” (AP)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Five men planning to shoot as many people as possible in a building housing the newsroom of a paper that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were arrested Wednesday in an operation that halted an imminent attack, intelligence officials said.
Denmark’s intelligence service said it arrested four men in two raids in suburbs of the capital, Copenhagen, and seized an automatic weapon, a silencer and ammunition. Swedish police said they arrested a 37-year-old Swedish citizen of Tunisian origin living in Stockholm.
“An imminent terror attack has been foiled,” said Jakob Scharf, head of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, or PET. He described some the suspects as “militant Islamists with relations to international terror networks” and said that more arrests were possible.
Great news: Congress Discovers Exciting New Ways to Earmark
HotAir.com
Maybe I’ve been wrong all along. Maybe it really is time for a third party.
Though Mr. Kirk and other Republicans thundered against pork-barrel spending and lawmakers’ practice of designating money for special projects through earmarks, they have not shied from using a less-well-known process called lettermarking to try to direct money to projects in their home districts…
Lettermarking, which takes place outside the Congressional appropriations process, is one of the many ways that legislators who support a ban on earmarks try to direct money back home.
In phonemarking, a lawmaker calls an agency to request financing for a project. More indirectly, members of Congress make use of what are known as soft earmarks, which involve making suggestions about where money should be directed, instead of explicitly instructing agencies to finance a project. Members also push for increases in financing of certain accounts in a federal agency’s budget and then forcefully request that the agency spend the money on the members’ pet project…
[A] New York Times review of letters and e-mail to government agencies from members of Congress shows that the practice is widespread despite the fact that both President George W. Bush and President Obama have issued executive orders instructing agencies not to finance projects based on communications from Congress.
London is home to organizational arm of Hamas in Europe
Atlas Shrugs
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
From: Pamela Geller
London is home to organizational arm of Hamas in Europe Jihadwatch hat tip Roy BHamas is a jihad terrorist group, but to disallow it a presence in London would be “Islamophobic,” now, wouldn’t it? “London is home to Hamas hub, says Israel,” from AFP,
JERUSALEM — Israel’s defence ministry has accused a London-based Palestinian centre of “terror-affiliated activities” and being the organisational arm of the militant Islamic Hamas movement in Europe.Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and advocates violent opposition to the Jewish state, is designated by the European Union as a terrorist organisation.
An Israeli defence ministry statement issued on Tuesday said that the Palestinian Return Centre in Ealing, north London, organises conferences in Europe at which it plays taped speeches by Hamas leaders who are banned from entering the EU.
“The centre is involved in initiating and organising radical and violent activity against Israel in Europe, while delegitimising Israel’s status as a nation among the European community,” the statement said.
Stalled From The START
PersonalLiberty.com
December 28, 2010 by Ben Crystal
If there were any doubts as to President Barack Obama’s religious affiliations, then this past Wednesday ought to roast them like chestnuts in an open fire. With assistance from the more pliable Republican spines in the Senate, Obama handed the Russian military machine one whopper of a Christmas gift.
Carrying through on his campaign promise (for once), Obama managed to push the New START treaty through the just-ended lame-duck session of the Senate. To hear Obama and the treaty’s backers tell the tale, New START will ensure a lasting peace across the planet. However, a perusal of the treaty’s provisions reveals that peace remains far from guaranteed; and may have gotten a lot more expensive — for us.
According to Senator John Kerry:
“…we move the world a little out of the dark shadow of nuclear nightmare…”
Outside Chernobyl — to which nuclear nightmare might the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts be referring? The reason huge swaths of the planetary rabble have never been subjected to a nuclear nightmare is that one nation — the United States — has been willing and able to invest in and maintain a deterrent arsenal.
Examination of New START calls to mind the warnings at some national parks: “Please don’t feed the bears.” In the case of the Russians, Obama has made what he considers a diplomatic gesture. The problem is that the Russians look at diplomatic gestures the way ursines look at roast beef sandwiches: “Nice sandwich. I wonder if we can get the whole arm.”
A Very “Bad Day” For an American
TownHall.com
Complaining could be the bane of a columnist. Most of what we do is observe other people and tell them what they’re doing wrong. Despite that I want to share with you a “horrible” day.
Recently, my wife and I went to a UCLA basketball game. I was already in a grumpy mood, having to get dressed and go out on a rainy Sunday night. UCLA had just returned from a heartbreaking loss at Kansas during which they showed signs that this year’s team was on the rebound from last year’s disappointing season. But they just blew this game amidst a truly poor outing. The 9th ranked women’s team would have likely fared better. Like the rest of the crowd, we left the arena early in a very dejected frame of mind.
When we arrived home, we found that the power was out in our neighborhood. In Los Angeles, a little rain wreaks havoc. We always enter our house through the garage and never use a house key, but without any power our garage door wouldn’t open, and we had neglected to take our house key with us. We spent a few moments in our driveway, wistfully looking at our lovely but powerless house that we couldn’t enter. Ultimately, we were able to contact our house-sitter who thankfully had a key. The 30 minute round-trip drive proved to be a waste as we returned to home to find the power restored. On top of that, I found that my article had not been posted by my editor, meaning it wouldn’t be available per normal on Monday. With that, I wondered what would be the next shoe to drop.
Obama’s Fantasy World – START Will Make Us Safer
FloppingAces.net
Posted by: Curt @ 4:57 pm, December 23, 2010
This START treaty is bad bad bad….for one very important reason. It reduces our ability to defend ourselves.
Ariel Cohen, a Senior Research Fellow in Russian and Eurasian Studies at The Heritage Foundation, notes that the Russians have repeatedly stated they have to right to back out of the treaty if the U.S. missile defense systems is deemed a threat to them.
When has it not been a threat?
This constraint on our missile defense system was the main reason this treaty should never have happened:
Washington has agreed to limitations on its ballistic-missile-defense options (something the administration’s representatives vehemently deny); ambiguous language on rail-mobile ballistic missiles; vague limitations on conventional global-strike systems and a significant degradation of the START verification regime from 1991. All these measures limit U.S. defense options not vis-à-vis Russia, but North Korea, China, and in the future, Iran; and provide the Russian Federation’s Strategic Rocket Forces with unfair advantages.
U.S. warned China: We won’t hold South Korea back if the North provokes again
HotAir.com
posted at 8:16 pm on December 23, 2010 by Allahpundit
That’s according to this report that was being passed around on Twitter earlier. In the spirit of the season, and since his vacation’s off to a, er, bad start, I’ll raise a glass of eggnog to The One for this.
The delegation that visited Beijing included Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Jeff Bader, senior director for Asian Affairs of the National Security Council. They were said to have delivered a “very tough message” to China. China is North Korea’s closest ally and has been under rising pressure from the U.S. to rein in the North after the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island on Nov. 22.
Republicans Aim to Block FCC’s New Internet Rules Before They Go Into Effect
FoxNews.com
By Stephen Clark
Published December 22, 2010
Sens. John Ensign (l) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (r) are among the Republicans who are planning to stop the FCC’s new Internet rules pushed by Chairman Julius Genachowksi (c), before they go into effect. (AP)
The Federal Communications Commission this week adopted a plan to police the web, but it will take at least a couple of months to implement the new rules – a procedural delay that could benefit Republican critics in Congress who are determined to erect a blockade.
The Internet regulations — which aim to prevent service providers from discriminating against websites and companies using their networks — cannot go into effect until 60 days have passed after they have been posted in the Federal Register. But the rules won’t be released until the dissent by commissioners who voted against them are addressed.
A source with knowledge of the FCC’s workings told FoxNews.com that the rules are likely to be made public in January, putting them on track to be enacted sometime in March.
What Do the FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules Mean for You?
PC Magazine
By: Chloe Albanesius
December 22, 2010
Net neutrality is in the headlines again, but what does it mean for you? Is this just some wonky, inside-the-Beltway chatter that won’t have an impact on our daily lives or an issue that will affect how we access the Web in the future? The short answer is: both.
The basic news is that the Federal Communications Commission approved net neutrality rules yesterday and those rules give the commission the authority to step into disputes about how Internet service providers are managing their networks or initiate their own investigations if they think ISPs are violating its rules.
One important thing to note is that the FCC hasn’t actually released the full text of its net neutrality rules yet. The Republican commissioners voted against the plan yesterday, and according to FCC procedures, the commission must respond to any dissent before releasing its rules. So it could be another day or two before the commission adds that response and publishes the rules.
That being said, the FCC did provide an overview of what’s included in the order and it breaks down to three high-level rules: transparency; no blocking; and no unreasonable discrimination.
Transparency: Does your ISP slow down its network at peak times? Does it have a usage cap? What about roaming fees? The transparency requirement basically requires broadband providers – fixed and wireless – to be more transparent about their activities. They need to be upfront about how they manage their networks, how well (or poorly) their networks perform, as well as details about their plan options and pricing. Most ISPs would argue that they already do this, but if you disagree, you could conceivably take it up with the FCC.
No Blocking: Much of this net neutrality debate started in 2007 when Comcast was accused of blocking access to P2P networks like BitTorrent because people using BitTorrent on Comcast’s network were slowing down the experience for everyone else. Comcast denied cutting off access completely but said it did delay access to P2P sites during peak times. Under the FCC rules, an ISP would not be able to pick and choose apps or service to block in order to improve network performance. Your ISP would not be able to block access to Netflix’s streaming service, for example, or Xbox Live just because a select few people were clogging the system.
CBS Airs Hoax Cover of Bush Memoir
FoxNews.com
Published December 22, 2010
[Editor: And the LEFT LIBERAL PROGRESSIVES can't stop being childish!]
YouTube
Shown here is the image of a fake cover for former President George W. Bush’s recent book.
CBS News aired a fake cover of former President George W. Bush’s memoir over the weekend, after a staffer apparently got duped by a hoax image floating around the Internet.
The image of the faux cover, along with that of several other genuine book covers, was flashed on screen for a fraction of a second during the introduction to a feature package Sunday about how book covers are designed.
The title of the Bush book read: “Desision Points … How I Managed to Go Eight Years Without Making One Good Decision.”
Save for the headline, the cover image looked similar to that of the real book, “Decision Points.”
CBS issued a statement acknowledging it made a “mistake,” saying nobody could see it “because you’d have to freeze the frame to notice it.”
“Clearly we have to be more careful when downloading material,” CBS said, calling the incident a “cautionary tale” about the risks of Internet content.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/22/cbs-airs-hoax-cover-bush-memoir/#ixzz18rl2sCiB
Census Results Could Shape 2012 Presidential Campaign
FoxNews.com
Published December 21, 2010
Census Bureau Director Robert Groves announces results for the 2010 U.S. Census at the National Press Club Dec. 21 in Washington.
Presidential hopefuls got a taste Tuesday of what the 2012 campaign trail might look like as the Census Bureau announced which states would gain and lose congressional seats based on the results of the once-a-decade head count.
The results appeared to set the stage for potential Republican gains in Congress in the next cycle, with GOP-leaning states in the South and West picking up seats while liberal strongholds lost representation across the board. Whether and to what degree those partisan gains materialize will depend in part on how state legislatures redraw the congressional districts next year.
FCC Approves Plan to Regulate Internet (Progressives: “Control the media…”)
FoxNews.com | AP
Published December 21, 2010
AP – In this March 12 photo, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is interviewed at his office in Washington.
WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday approved a plan to regulate the Internet despite warnings that it could strangle industry investment and damage an economy that is still struggling to recover.
The 3-2 vote fell along partisan lines with Democrats capitalizing on their numerical advantage.
The rules would prohibit phone and cable companies from abusing their control over broadband connections to discriminate against rival content or services, such as Internet phone calls or online video, or play favorites with Web traffic.
Lawmakers in both parties have been arguing for months that Congress, not the Obama administration, should take the lead role in deciding whether and how much to police the web. But despite a brief backing-off earlier in the year, the FCC pushed ahead with its new regulatory plan.
Graham Blasts GOP ‘Capitulation’ During Active Lame-Duck Session
Newsmax.com
Tuesday, 21 Dec 2010 07:00 PM
The latest Democratic victory: A 67-28 vote Tuesday closing off debate on the President’s New START treaty with Russia limiting nuclear arms. Despite a tense, closed-door meeting among GOP senators before the vote, 11 Republicans agreed to close off debate on the New START agreement.
Hysterics over DADT repeal are an insult to the military
HotAir.com
Originally posted at David Horowitz’s Newsreal:
There have been a lot of different responses to the news that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has been repealed. President Obama is planning to sign the bill this week. Supporters are touting it as a victory for civil rights. Before the Senate passed the repeal, critics continued to voice concerns, including the Commandant of the Marine Corps. Some have continued to voice those concerns — others, however, have taken those concerns one step too far. At what point does concern turn into hysterics, and when does it becoming insulting to our honorable men and women in uniform?
My husband is currently serving in Afghanistan in the Marine Corps. He loves his country and the Corps. His MOS — military occupational specialty — is an 0311, an infantry rifleman. This is a combat MOS. Like many Marines, he wasn’t a fan of repealing DADT. The number one concern I have heard from many Marines around Camp Lejeune was how the repeal would affect unit cohesion, although there are many other issues that come into play. The benefit of DADT has been that it allows the military to remain neutral on homosexuality. Now, the military will have to reconcile service with the gay rights agenda. How will the military now be forced to handle a gay soldier in a relationship? Will they be forced to approve of gay public displays of affection? What about those in the military who aren’t comfortable with their children seeing two men kiss while they’re doing their grocery shopping in the commissary? How will the military be forced to handle a gay soldier who gets married in a state that allows gay marriage? Will gay spouses receive military benefits now, too? And what about the gay servicemembers who aren’t married because their state doesn’t allow it, but are in committed relationships — do they qualify for benefits, too? Will gay and straight servicemembers be allowed to sleep in barracks together? What about when a unit is deployed, and the men are forced to sleep in even closer quarters? What will happen to the soldier or Marine who is uncomfortable with sleeping next to a gay man?
12 Arrested in Suspected UK Terrorist Plot
TheBlaze.com
- Posted on December 20, 2010 at 8:15am by
Jonathon M. SeidlLONDON (AP) — British anti-terrorism police said Monday they arrested 12 men in early morning raids on three cities to protect the public amid fears of a holiday season terrorism plot.
Assistant Commissioner John Yates, the U.K. ‘s lead police officer for counterterrorism, said the suspects were detained in London, in the central English city of Stoke-on-Trent and in Cardiff, Wales.
The arrests follow several weeks of surveillance and are not believed to be linked to other recent plots against Europe or the recent bombing in Sweden.
“The operation is in its early stages so we are unable to go into detail at this time about the suspected offenses,” Yates said in a statement. “However, I believe it was necessary at this time to take action in order to ensure public safety.”
Police said 11 of the suspects were arrested at or close to their homes at around 5 a.m., while the remaining man was detained at a property in the central England city of Birmingham.
Five of the arrested men are from Cardiff, four from Stoke-on-Trent and three from London, officers said.
Saudi King Interested in Moving Ground Zero Mosque to Defunct Hospital, NYPost Reports
Newsmax.com
A New York lawyer with ties to the Saudi royal family claims the desert kingdom’s King Abdullah might want to move the controversial ground zero mosque to an Islamic cultural center he would build on the site of a shuttered Manhattan hospital. According to attorney Dudley Gaffin, the king also would pay to reopen most of the hospital units that closed when St. Vincent’s Medical Center filed for bankruptcy in April, sources told the New York Post.
Gaffin is floating the possibility to gauge community reaction, the New York Post reported Sunday in a story it labeled as an exclusive.
“He’s asking what it would take to put in a bid,” the Post quoted a community leader who did not want to be identified as saying. “He says the king wants to do this as a PR move — to save the hospital and move the mosque away from the World Trade Center site. He wants to show that Muslims can do good works.”
The 87-year-old king is recovering from back surgery at another Manhattan hospital.
© Newsmax. All rights reserved.
(New York Post)
WikiLeaks Hints at Israeli-Palestinian Cooperation
FoxNews | Associated Press
Published December 20, 2010
AP-2010 – Dec. 20: Former British Prime Minister and International Mideast envoy Tony Blair, left, meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah. A cable released by WikiLeaks on Dec. 20 suggested close cooperation between Israel and forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas when rival Hamas militants overran the Gaza Strip three years ago.
JERUSALEM — A cable released by WikiLeaks on Monday suggested close cooperation between Israel and forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas when rival Hamas militants overran the Gaza Strip three years ago.
The disclosure could embarrass Abbas and his Fatah movement, which Hamas has accused of working with the Israelis. Abbas’ standing among Palestinians has already been weakened by his failure to make progress in peacemaking with Israel.
The June 13, 2007, cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, citing a conversation that took place during the civil war that ended with Hamas’ takeover of Gaza, cites Israeli Security Agency chief Yuval Diskin as saying Israel had “established a very good working relationship” with two branches of the Palestinian security service.
Abbas’ internal security agency, he said, “shares with ISA almost all the intelligence that it collects.”
Palestinians have a complex relationship with Israel, pursuing peace talks on the one hand but considering it an enemy on the other, because of its occupation of the West Bank and its settlements there. Collaboration with Israeli security is seen by Palestinians as an onerous offense.
The START Treaty Must Be Opposed
Newsmax URGENT Editorial
Reposted: December 19, 2010
Within days, maybe hours, the U.S. Senate will vote on ratifying the New START treaty.
[CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON AND SENATORS AND TELL THEM TO OPPOSE THE TREATY- today at 202-224-3121.]
If approved, it will be a dangerous and capricious move that will undermine our security for years to come.
Some Senate Republicans appear ready to cave in to the strong-arm tactics the Obama administration and Sen. Harry Reid are using in their effort to ram through a lame-duck Congress one of the most sweeping nuclear treaties the United States has ever signed, a treaty that has many problems that could jeopardize America’s national security.
Make no mistake about it: Limiting nuclear weapons on all sides is a worthy call. As President Ronald Reagan said, “A nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought.”
But Reagan also understood that treaties with the Russians must be made deliberatively, be fair to both sides, be verifiable, and be linked to good behavior on the Russians’ part.
None of these attributes would be complied with fully if the United States signed New START today.
U.N. Security Council Tries to Diffuse Korea Tensions
FoxNews.com | Associated Press
Published December 19, 2010
AP
Dec. 19: A South Korean fishing boat sails by a South Korean navy facility and navy ship near Yeonpyeong island, South Korea.
UNITED NATIONS – World powers trying to defuse tensions between North and South Korea met in an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council on Sunday, but diplomats said China objects to the North being singled out for criticism over two deadly attacks this year that have helped send relations to their lowest point in decades.
China and Russia, the countries with the closest ties to North Korea, have expressed concern about the South Korean military’s plans to conduct one-day, live-fire drills by Tuesday on the same front-line island the North shelled last month as the South conducted a similar exercise.
The United States supports South Korea, a staunch ally, and says any country has a right to train for self-defense.
The North warned of a “catastrophe” if South Korea goes ahead with the drills. The reclusive communist government in Pyongyang said it would strike back harder than it did last month, when two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed on Yeonpyeong Island.
Will Tuesday Be the Darkest Day in 456 Years?
FoxNews.com | Space.com
By Joe Rao
Published December 18, 2010
A painting of a total lunar eclipse viewed from the surface of the moon, as imagined by Lucien Rudax in the 1920s.
Break out the flashlights. When a full lunar eclipse takes place on the shortest day of the year, the planet may just get awfully dark.
The upcoming Dec. 21 full moon — besides distinguishing itself from the others in 2010 by undergoing a total eclipse — will also take place on the same date as the solstice (the winter solstice if you live north of the equator, and the summer solstice if you live to the south).
Winter solstice is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and marks the official beginning of winter. The sun is at its lowest in our sky because the North Pole of our tilted planet is pointing away from it.
So, how often does the December full moon coincide with the solstice? To answer this question, let’s use Universal Time (UT), also sometimes referred to as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). We do this because in answering this question, it’s important to define a specific time zone.
For example, if you live in Honolulu, this December’s full moon does not fall on the date of the solstice. Hawaii Time runs 10 hours behind GMT and the full moon occurs on Dec. 20 at 10:13 p.m. local time, while the solstice comes the following day at 1:38 p.m. Alaska, too, will have the full moon and the solstice occur on these respective dates, but in a time zone one hour later than Hawaii.
But both the full moon and solstice do occur on the same date (Dec. 21) in Greenwich, as well across the contiguous United States and Canada.
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