NumbersUSA.com | The Census Bureau reported today that the U.S. population has increased by 1% in 2009, adding another 2.6 million people. According to the bureau, the population is now 308,400,408, and the 2009 increase is due to an increase in births, amounting to a new American every 14 seconds.

BC Local News | Hats off to Tom Beattie (The Times, Dec. 27) for his comments on the illegal invasion of Afghanistan, in which Canada is unfortunately a major player. While I’m at it, hats off to The Times for printing his letter.

Guardian | Wallpaper that can glow with light and bendable flat-panel screens are a step closer thanks to research into organic LEDs (OLEDs), which are widely hailed as the next generation of environmentally friendly lighting technology.

Natural News | The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has issued support for a proposed law that would require the Department of Environmental Protection in New York City to test the city's drinking water supply for personal care product and pharmaceutical residue. Citing numerous studies that have found measurable levels of such contaminants in water supplies around the nation, EWG is encouraging support for measures that would investigate and report contaminant levels to the public.

AntiWar.com | So this Lonesome Luke rich Nigerian kid, Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, hops on a plane bound for Detroit on Christmas Day with a bomb sewn into his underpants.  As the plane begins to land, the kid tries to set off the bomb and it does little more than give him third-degree burns on his tallywhacker, and the entire civilized world goes snake guano.  

CBS News | It all happened at a well-fortified combat outpost in Eastern Afghanistan. Somehow a suicide bomber was able to bring his explosives on the base, walk up to a group of American civilians and blow himself up. It will take an investigation to determine how he did it.

Infowars.com | Wired reports today that two bloggers who posted new airport search procedures in the wake of the exaggerated underwear bomber fiasco received home visits from Transportation Security Administration agents.

Mail Tribune | If you're going to haul away scrap metal from your yard, be prepared to get a state certificate Jan. 1 or you will be breaking the law.

AntiWar.com | Deadly bomb attacks in two Iraqis cities overshadowed the news that a British hostage was released after two and half years in captivity. At least 41 were killed and 138 more were wounded in those explosions and in other violence across the country. Also, Iraq sent a memo to Iran protesting Iranian forces at the Fakka oil field.

AP | An American appeals court on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit by Holocaust survivors who alleged the Vatican bank accepted millions of dollars of their valuables stolen by Nazi sympathizers.

Washingtons's Blog | On November 18th, I suggested that everyone: Move your money from one of the companies that are treating the American Citizen like we work for them and who are holding the economy hostage to a company which has not been bailed out by us, and is not taking our deposits and using them to speculate in casino style gambling. Now Huffington Post - one of the world's most popular news services - has taken up the call.

Salem-news.com | News out of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India reports massive corruption at the highest levels of government, corruption that could only be financed with drug money. In Afghanistan, the president's brother is known to be one of the biggest drug runners in the world.

Infowars.com | Detroit attorney Kurt Haskell appeared on the Alex Jones Show today and detailed his experience at the Amsterdam airport and on flight 253. Mr. Haskell provided information not covered by the corporate media.

USA TODAY | In a marketplace awash in consulting firms that help defense companies sell to the Pentagon, the Durango Group has a unique advantage. The Colorado-based firm has become a base of operations for retired officers who also are handsomely paid by the military for their advice. No other defense consulting firm employs more "senior mentors" than Durango. Of the 59 former officers who work for Durango, 15 also serve as mentors, a USA TODAY investigation found.

Daily Mail | Drug gang hitmen shot dead the grieving family of an elite Mexican marine who died after taking part in a raid that killed a notorious drug lord.