WikiLeaks nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Both Julian Assange and his website, WikiLeaks, have been nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.  A member of the Norwegian Nobel committee says the site promotes human rights, democracy and freedom of speech.  

Lake Shore Drive A Disaster; Drivers Stuck For Hours

Lake Shore Drive remained closed Wednesday afternoon, as city workers continued removing stranded vehicles from the roadway in an effort to reopen the road as soon as possible.

Lake Shore Drive was a disaster area overnight, as motorists found themselves stranded for up to 12 hours and ended up in the hospital.

As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, many motorists were just trying to get home, but the blizzard made that impossible.

Initially, Lake Shore Drive was moving smoothly as the evening rush began, but conditions began to deteriorate following several accidents. There were three accidents between Fullerton Parkway and Belmont Avenue 7:15 and 7:45 p.m., one of them involving a CTA bus. Shortly afterward, there were two more accidents in the northbound lanes just south of North Avenue.

The accidents caused cars and buses to back up, and as the snow piled up, vehicles became immobilized and off-ramps became impassable. Lake Shore Drive was closed at 7:58 p.m., and fire and police personnel worked to move as many cars as possible off the highway and remove people who could not get out on their own.

City officials said 700 to 900 cars were involved in the overnight traffic jam on Lake Shore Drive just south of North Avenue. In response, 13 ambulances were dispatched and remained on the scene all night, along with 26 fire companies with 130 firefighters.

Fire personnel were organized into two task forces with 30 firefighter-medics equipped on snowmobiles.

Police also dispatched 30 officers to the Drive, mayor’s chief of staff Raymond Orozco said.

Orozco said first responders tried to get to stranded motorists as quickly as possible, but winds of 60 to 70 mph and snow falling at a rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour made that extremely difficult.

Fire crews were unable to see even one car in front of them for a period of time, Fire Commissioner Bob Hoff said.

Before the city shut down the Drive, traffic had been crawling; it took upwards of an hour to travel only a mile. Many cars were without a full tank of gas, and ended up running out.

WBBM Newsradio 780 was flooded with calls from stranded motorists who said they had been stuck on Lake Shore Drive for over seven hours and saw people abandoning their cars.

Newsradio 780′s Lisa Fielding reports Sue Baker left her Hyde Park office around 5 p.m. and nearly seven hours later, she remained in the same spot, “We haven’t moved. It’s kinda scary. There are snow drifts on our cars now.”

Evanston attorney Craig Roeder says he got on Lake Shore Drive at 6 p.m. and headed north. He says he crept and crawled until just south of Fullerton Parkway, when traffic ground to a halt around 9:30 pm.

And there he sat, in whiteout conditions for six hours, until 3:20 a.m. when WBBM Newsradio 780’s David Roe was interviewing him on the phone.

Source: Chicago.cbslocal.com

New smuggling ploy – catapults

Two alleged narcotics traffickers aligned with a right-wing paramilitary terrorist organization in Colombia have been convicted of conspiring to import multi-ton quantities of cocaine into the United States.

Christian Fernando Borda and Alvaro Alvaran-Velez were extradited from Colombia a year ago and were convicted by a federal jury Thursday.

The Justice Department said Borda led an organization that obtained cocaine from paramilitary groups and smuggled in more than 1,500 tons in drums of palm oil from Colombia in 2005, with additional shipments in 2005 and 2006. The department said Alvaran-Velez, an associate of Borda, facilitated cocaine shipments.

They were allied with Autodefenses Unidas de Colombia, an umbrella group for far-right paramilitary groups that has been designated by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/12/09/colombians-convicted-cocaine-smuggling-plot/#ixzz1CQSRV2p5

Giant Rose Sculptures in New York

 A total of 38 giant rose sculptures, by US artist Will Ryman, have been installed along a section of Park Avenue in New York, Jan 27, 2011. The flowers, the tallest standing at 25 feet, are made of stainless steel and fiber glass resin.

Presidential Flip Floppers

Barack Obama is not the only president to change his mind. Here's a look at other American leaders who flipped-flopped over policies, scandals & more.

Barack Obama

44th president

It's tempting not to negotiate with hostage takers -- unless the hostage gets harmed. Then, people will question the wisdom of that strategy. In this case, the hostage was the American people, and I was not willing to see them get harmed."

--- Barack Obama on his tax cut deal

George W. Bush

43rd president

"U.S. officials never expected that we were going to open garages and find weapons of mass destruction."

--- George W. Bush on weapons of mass destruction claim

Bill Clinton

42nd president

"I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. I misled people, including even my wife. I deeply regret that."

--- Bill Clinton on the Monica Lewinsky scandal

George H. W. Bush

41st president

I did it, and I regret it, and I regret it."

--- George H.W. Bush on raising taxes

Ronald Reagan

40th president

"A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not."

--- Reagan's testimony with regard to the Iran-Contra affair

Richard Nixon

37th president

"I can see clearly now ... that I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate."

--- Richard Nixon on the Watergate scandal

Lyndon B. Johnson

36th president

"I knew from the start that I was bound to be crucified either way I moved."

--- Lyndon B. Johnson on the Vietnam War

John F. Kennedy

35th president

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

--- John F. Kennedy on the space program

Herbert Hoover

31st president

"The willingness of our people to accept this added burden in these times in order impregnably to establish the credit of the federal government is a great tribute to their wisdom and courage."

--- Herbert Hoover on signing the Revenue Act of 1932

Warren G. Harding

29th president

"I am not fit for this office and should never have been here."

--- Warren G. Harding

Andrew Johnson

17th president

"It is true I am asked why don't I join the Democratic Party. Why don't they join me … if I have administered the office of president so well?"

--- Andrew Johnson on his party affiliation

John Tyler

10th president

"In 1840, I was called from my farm to undertake the administration of public affairs, and I foresaw that I was called to a bed of thorns. I now leave that bed which has afforded me little rest ..."

--- John Tyler on why he wouldn't run for re-election