Six in the Morning

1. AMBASSADOR ASKED FOR CUTS FROM AFGHAN DETAINEE REPORT: Former Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan, Arif Lalani, ordered diplomat Richard Colvin to cut out incriminating information from a report about treatment of Afghan detainees. (Globe and Mail)

2. OUR PATHETIC CLIMATE COMMITMENT: The Pew Centre is reporting that carbon emission reduction commitments made by developed nations are half what scientists say we need to avoid climate catastrophe. And Canada's commitments are the weakest of all the nations studied. We've mentioned it twice before on the blog, but it seems now is a good time to recall what George Monbiot has to say about Canada becoming a corrupt petrostate. (Globe and Mail, monbiot.com)

3. CRU DIRECTOR STEPS DOWN AMID E-MAIL SCANDAL. The director of the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit, Phil Jones, has stepped down as climate liars and hooligans continue to scream for blood. This is probably a good move optics-wise, but, holy typhoon in a teacup, the CRU e-mails are being spun into a big-news event by a group of very suspicious right-wing ne'er-do-wells. (DeSmog blog)

4. U.S. TROOP PUSH PLEASES CANUCKS: Canada's foreign affairs minister says he's pleased as punch that the US has committed 30,000 more troops to the Afghanistan mission. (CBC)

5. SASK PARTY DELAYS SCHOOL FUNDING FORMULA: Further hamstringing the ability of school boards to plan for the future, the Sask Party has announced it will likely take longer than two years to put together a new funding formula for Saskatchewan schools. (Leader Post)

6. EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT THE TIGER WOODS AFFAIR I LEARNED FROM THE TAIWANESE NEWS: Media outlets have been having a hey day speculating about Tiger Wood's car accident despite having little information to go on. That hasn't stopped one Taiwanese news outfit from assembling a CGI recreation of the event based on the scraps of info available. Truly bizarre footage. And yet strangely amusing. (TheWeek.com)