June 18, 2006

U.S. housing boom is biggest since 1890
Jun 16, 2006- CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- The recent housing boom is the biggest the United States has ever seen, economist Robert J. Shiller said on Friday. New data also suggest the market might be at the end of a cycle, he added.

The only time since 1890 that compares to the recent residential real estate market is just after World War II, the Yale University professor said during a presentation on U.S. home prices, held at Standard & Poor's in New York and broadcast to journalists on the Web…
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/750RqBsVB9Jjnqplzr1rGp2?siteid=yhoo&dist=TNMostMailed

Dixie Chicks don't understand the necessity for patriotism (she still doesn't get it)
...The Chicks have traditionally been branded a country band, but clearly it's some time since their diet consisted of ribs, tacos and pancakes...

...when Maines made her comment about President Bush on March 10 2003, 10 days before Operation Iraqi Freedom unleashed "shock and awe" over Baghdad, the Dixie Chicks were probably the biggest act in country music. Yet within days, their music vanished from the charts and the airwaves, apoplectic rednecks crushed piles of their CDs with tractors...

...The Chicks can't hide their disgust at the lack of support they received from other country performers. ""A lot of pandering started going on, and you'd see soldiers and the American flag in every video. It became a sickening display of ultra-patriotism," says Robison.

"The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/06/15/bmdixie15.xml

Art school serves up breast milk cocktail
Jun. 16, 2006. Mother's milk may be the healthiest food for babies, but is it art?

Yes, according to Jess Dobkin, a lesbian mother and artist who will present her work Lactation Station Breast Milk Bar on July 13 at the Ontario College of Art and Design, the institution of higher learning that a few years ago brought you vomiting as performance art.

The audience will be invited to sip during cocktail hours (5 to 8 p.m.) small cups of pasteurized breast milk donated by six lactating new mothers in the community.

...Dobkin, who came to Toronto from New York, and has received grants from the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council, said in a news release she became interested in taboos surrounding breastfeeding...
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1150408210765&call_pageid=968867495754&col=969483191630

Iranian official says Tom and Jerry cartoon is conspiracy to improve image of mice, Jews
February 25, 2006- Tom and Jerry, the lovable cat and mouse locked in cartoon combat, is a Jewish conspiracy, according to an Iranian official.

Prof. Hasan Bolkhari, a cultural adviser to the Iranian Education Ministry, delivered the news last week on Iran's Channel 4 during a broadcast of film seminar where he was lecturing. An excerpt of the video was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

"The Jewish Walt Disney Company gained international fame with this cartoon," said Bolkhari. "It is still shown throughout the world. This cartoon maintains its status because of the cute antics of the cat and mouse – especially the mouse.

"Some say that the main reason for making this very appealing cartoon was to erase a certain derogatory term that was prevalent ...Watch 'Schindler's List.' Every Jew was forced to wear yellow star on his clothing. The Jews were degraded and termed 'dirty mice.' 'Tom and Jerry' was made in order to change the Europeans' perception of mice. One of terms used was 'dirty mice' …It should be noted that mice are very cunning ... and dirty… If you happen to watch this cartoon tomorrow, bear in mind the points I have just raised," said Bolkhari, "and watch it from this perspective. The mouse is very clever and smart. Everything he does is so cute. He kicks the poor cat's a--. Yet this cruelty does not make you despise the mouse. He looks so nice, and he is so clever. ... This is exactly why some say it was meant to erase this image of mice from the minds of European children, and to show that the mouse is not dirty and has these traits. Unfortunately, we have many such cases in Hollywood shows."

The article points out: "Tom and Jerry," the creation of Joe Barbera and Bill Hanna, was created in 1939, the year World War II began and while the Holocaust was in full force, for the MGM cartoon studios, not Disney...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48996

Hundreds rally against Iran's president
Jun. 17, 2006 -More than 700 people gathered Saturday to protest the Iranian president's denial of the Nazi Holocaust as Iran played its second match at the World Cup.

Demonstrators waved Israeli flags at the rally outside the Alt Oper opera house in Germany's financial capital. Some held up signs reading "Support Israel Now!" and "Israel has the right to exist."

They were joined by a small group of Iranian dissidents with their country's flags. Police said there were no incidents at the rally.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has caused international outrage by dismissing the Holocaust as a myth and questioning Israel's right to exist...
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150355512336&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Ayatollah's grandson calls for U.S. overthrow of Iran
'My grandfather's revolution has devoured its children and has strayed from its course'
June 18, 2006

An Iranian Shia cleric – and grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the 1979 Iranian Revolution who dubbed the U.S. the "Great Satan" – has called on the President Bush to "come and occupy Iran" and "break the prison [doors open]."

…Khomeini's opposition is more hardline than that of Iranian exile groups who've called for the U.S. to back a domestic uprising while opposing foreign military intervention, noted the London Telegraph.

Another well-know dissident who also opposes Khomeini's desire for U.S. military action is Reza Pahlavi, son of the late shah. Pahlavi told Time Magazine he could not imagine the U.S. invading Iran.

"I cannot foresee any military action which could be feasible," he said. "The thought of foreign tanks rolling into Tehran is beyond imagination. No Iranian could tolerate an invasion. It would be an attack on our homeland. Even limited air strikes: If you want to alienate people, strike the first blow."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50691

Evangelism Low Priority for Episcopalians
COLUMBUS, OHIO (6/16/06)-The Episcopal Convention this week passed a resolution of "mission priorities" for the church's budget, identifying "Justice and Peace" as the top priority. A proposed amendment in the House of Deputies to make evangelism the first priority was defeated.

According to a recent Gallup survey, Episcopalians are the least likely Christians in America to attend church every week. As the average Sunday attendance of the Episcopal Church continues its rapid decline, and as the average age of Episcopalians continues its increase, both houses of the Episcopal Convention determined that "Justice and Peace" was the more important activity of the church.

"Justice and Peace" gives special attention to the eight Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations, which include the eradication of "extreme poverty and hunger," "universal primary education," the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, and the reduction of child mortality.

Even as the Episcopal Church aims to reduce child mortality, it continues to endorse the practice of abortion. One proposed liturgy in the Committee on Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music includes a prayer entitled "Following the Termination of Pregnancy."

The Rev. Kevin Martin, a deputy from Texas and Executive Director of Vital Church Ministries, spoke to the House of Deputies on Thursday, criticizing the Episcopal Church for its failure to prioritize evangelism. "I can assure you that it is not easy to be an advocate for evangelism in the Episcopal Church," he said…
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4252

Faithful will find it increasingly hard to remain in ECUSA after convention, Anderson says
6/17/2006 ...the president of the American Anglican Council (AAC) sees no turnaround in ECUSA's pursuit of the homosexual agenda, noting that nationally the denomination is now known as "the gay church."

"It is wearing on all of us being Episcopalians. The church is no longer tolerant, open or inclusive, because there is no room for you and me," he said at a midday briefing for those attending General Convention. "As long as any of us is...left in ECUSA, many feel they are not safe if your voice and mine are not silenced for our comfort," he added.

Anderson castigated revisionist bishops who have come down hard on fleeing orthodox priests

"In the last few years ECUSA has become more brutal to those who want to leave," he said. In times past could more easily transfer to an overseas province. Now if a priest cannot stay in ECUSA and wants to affiliate with an overseas province, the responhes of many liberal bishops is "you are inhibited." The priest is summarily deposed without trial.

In fact, he claimed that "There is a new tack (by liberal bishops) to get orthodox priests to renounce their orders" - to get the faithful clergy to remove themselves without bishops having to do so.

"I would urge clergy who are being demanded by their bishop to renounce their orders - don't do it...

Anderson said he had a "wall of honor" of clergy who have paid the price and who have put their lives and families on the line for the sake of the truth and the gospel.

Anderson predicted that following General Convention, some dioceses, parishes, priests and laity will stay in ECUSA for the foreseeable future, but it is going to be increasingly hard...
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4272

A shrinking date for ‘Eve’
Q: Why would evolutionists be interested in Eve?

A: Over recent years, scientists have conducted a lot of research on DNA that is found in the mitochondria of a cell. This DNA is only inherited through females. By comparing mutations (or mistakes) in the DNA of people worldwide, scientists came to a startling conclusion—it looks as if all people living today are descended from one woman … and scientists have called her Eve!

Yet there’s a remarkable new twist.

Based upon mutation rates, scientists once claimed that this ancestral Eve lived hundreds of thousands of years ago. But a more recent study claims that the rate of mutations in man is actually twenty times higher than originally estimated. What does this mean? Using this new figure for mutation rates, the ancestral “mother of all,” as they call her, lived a mere 6,000 years ago!

Of course, the evolutionary scientists don’t accept this new figure, but it’s no surprise to creationists that this research supports the Bible’s teaching that there was a first woman, Eve, created about 6,000 years ago.
More at http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v12/i1/eve.asp

David Bennett<><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove

June 15 2006

Chemistry 101: Diet Coke and Mentos Reaction
More than 100 2 -liter bottles of Diet Coke.
More than 500 Mentos (Note: 1 of each will work). And two men in goggles and lab coats. You can imagine that this portends a fateful—and combustible—encounter. But perhaps you can't imagine just how combustible, nor how stylishly orchestrated. EepyBird compares the results to a "mint-powered version of the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas ." A Blue Man Group-hijacking of Old Faithful comes to mind too, though certainly the Bellagio corners the market on geyser choreography—until EepyBird, that is. After you ogle the video, take in some of the earlier experiments, such as the one that "didn't go quite according to plan" or the one that, gulp, "seemed like a good idea." If you find yourself wondering about the health repercussions of swigging a Diet Coke while mouthing a Mentos, EepyBird offers some reassuring science behind the explosively fresh soda/candy relationship.

see the videos at: http://www.eepybird.com/videos.html

How Does it work?
http://www.eepybird.com/science1.htm

http://picks.yahoo.com/picks/i/20060607.html

Coke doesn't think it's funny http://news.yahoo.com/s/fool/20060612/bs_fool_fool/115014124318

Other Mentos and Coke videos http://video.yahoo.com/video/search?p=diet+coke+mentos&x=0&y=0

Colorado activist high court kills ballot measure to deny services to illegal immigrants on a technicality
DENVER – The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday that a proposal to deny most state services to illegal immigrants cannot appear on the November ballot.

...The proposed constitutional amendment, promoted by Defend Colorado Now, violates a state constitutional requirement that initiatives deal with only one subject, the court said in a 5-2 opinion.

The measure aimed to decrease public spending for the welfare of illegal immigrants in Colorado and restrict access to administrative services, the ruling said.

Proponents, who include former Democratic Gov. Dick Lamm, already had begun gathering petition signatures to get the measure on the ballot. The state Title Board approved the measure's language this spring.

...“This is outrageous judicial activism, Exhibit A in how courts disregard precedent to reach a political result,” Lamm said in a statement. “This isn't law, it is raw, naked politics.”

...The measure would not stop the state from paying for federally mandated services such as public education or emergency medical care. But Elbel has said it would prevent illegal immigrants from receiving welfare and in-state college tuition...
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060612/NEWS01/60612006

Keeping Taxpayers in the Dark (Ithaca Solar Panels lose $1 million)
Federal Review -June 13, 2006- ITHACA NY--Once again proving that social engineering and taxpayer money shouldn't mix comes this news from Ithaca, New York: In 1999, the Tompkins County Board of Representatives voted to install solar power on the roof of the country library. (In cold, dark upstate NY.) "It will be paid for with $551,025 of County funds -- an addition to the library capital project -- and $455,514 in grants from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the U.S. Department of Energy." So, how much power has their system generated since $1,006,539 was spent to install it? 460,124 kilowatt hours (kWh) since it was installed, in July of 2001. On the open market 460,124 kWh would cost a commercial user (assuming an astronomically high average price of $0.10 per kWh) about $46,000. Only in The City of Evil could spending over a million dollars to generate at most $9,358 worth of electricity per year make sense. Source for generation info
http://www.powerlight.com/mypowerlight/
User Name: library
Password: solarpower
http://www.federalreview.com/2006/06/keeping-taxpayers-in-dark-ithaca-solar.htm

So why dos the previous article call it "the City of Evil "? see: http://www.freerepublic.com/~behindliberallines/

Philadelphia "English-only" eatery faces probe
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A civil rights watchdog agency opened an investigation on Monday into a Philadelphia cheese steak restaurant that posted a sign saying "This is America - when ordering, speak English."

The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations complaint effectively opens a case against Geno's Steaks of South Philadelphia, said Rachel Lawton, acting executive director of the agency.

...The sign may violate the city's Fair Practices Ordinance, which bans businesses from discriminating on the basis of nationality or ethnicity, Lawton said. (how? ethnic people can still eat there, as long as they say "a Cheesesteak please")

"The complaint will say that the sign discourages patronage by non-English speakers because of their national origin and/or ancestry," Lawton , whose agency enforces the city's anti-discrimination laws, said before the official filing.

Geno's will be given up to two weeks to respond and, if the agency determines the sign has violated the city ordinance, will be ordered to take the sign down. If the restaurant refuses, it will be subject to a $300 fine, Lawton said.

Geno's owner Joey Vento, the grandson of Italian immigrants, said he has no plans to remove the sign.

"I don't see why I should have to. It's freedom of speech," said Vento, 66, who opened the restaurant 40 years ago.

He said no one is refused service and no one is discriminated against. The sign, which has been displayed for about six months, is meant to encourage immigrants to learn English, he said.

"If you don't speak English, the sign means nothing," he told Reuters...
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-06-12T222917Z_01_N12312679_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-ENGLISH.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

Troops reducing illegal border crossings
SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO , Mexico - The arrival of U.S. National Guard troops in Arizona has scared off illegal Mexican migrants along the border, significantly reducing crossings, according to U.S. and Mexican officials.

U.S. authorities said Monday that detentions along the U.S.-Mexico border decreased by 21 percent, to 26,994, in the first 10 days of June, compared with 34,077 for the same period a year ago.

Along the Arizona border, once the busiest crossing spot, detentions have dropped 23 percent, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

The desert region's blistering June temperatures typically drive down the number of migrants, but not so drastically, said Mario Martinez, a spokesman with the U.S. Border Patrol in Washington .

...The soldiers aren't allowed to detain migrants and have been limited to projects like extending border fences and repairing roads, but the military's presence is keeping would-be crossers away from the area, migrant rights activists said.

Francisco Loureiro, who runs a migrant shelter in Nogales , Mexico , across the border from Arizona , said migrants are afraid of the U.S. troops after hearing reports of abuse in Iraq .

...Jorge Vazquez, coordinator for Mexico's Grupo Beta migrant aid agency in San Luis Rio Colorado, across from San Luis, Ariz., said that before the troops arrived, his agents encountered at least two dozens migrants daily, most waiting for nightfall to begin their trek through the sandy desert.

"There have been days ... when we've found only three migrants," Vazquez said.

...The deployment plan has been criticized in Mexico as heavy-handed, and the Mexican government has said it will watch to ensure National Guard troops aren't detaining migrants...
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/world/14801438.htm

Energy Department Informs Workers About Data Theft
Energy Department officials on Monday began contacting 1,502 individuals by phone to inform them that their Social Security numbers and other information may have been compromised when a hacker gained entry to a department computer system eight months ago.

The workers, mostly contract employees, worked for the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous agency within the department that deals with the government's nuclear weapons programs.

The computer theft occurred last September, but Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and his deputy, Clay Sell, were not informed of it until last week. It was first publicly disclosed at a congressional hearing on Friday.

...The security breach occurred in a computer system at a service center in Albuquerque , N.M. The file that was compromised contained the names, Social Security numbers, security clearance levels and place of employment of 1,502 people working throughout the government nuclear weapons complex.

The system contained sensitive, but not classified material, department officials said. The NNSA also has a more secure computer system that includes nuclear weapons data and other classified material...
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/06/12/D8I6S4KG0.html

Scientists respond to Gore's warnings of climate catastrophe
"The Inconvenient Truth" is indeed inconvenient to alarmists
Monday, June 12, 2006

"Scientists have an independent obligation to respect and present the truth as they see it," Al Gore sensibly asserts in his film "An Inconvenient Truth.” With that outlook in mind, what do world climate experts actually think about the science of his movie?

Read this excellent article at: http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/harris061206.htm

Scientists who work in the fields liberal arts graduate Al Gore wanders through contradict his theories about man-induced climate change
…real climate scientists are crying over Al Gore's new film. This is not just because the ex-vice-president commits numerous basic science mistakes. They are also concerned that many in the media and public will fail to realize that this film amounts to little more than science fiction…
Read this excellent article at
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=d0235a70-33f1-45b3-803b-829b1b3542ef&

Document shows Saddam-Taliban ties
June 13, 2006 A newly released document from Iraq demonstrates a relationship between former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and terrorist groups – including the Islamic-based Taliban, which harbored al-Qaida in Afghanistan .

The document, posted by the Pentagon's Foreign Military Studies Office, indicates that in 1999 the Taliban invited Iraqi officials to Afghanistan , Fox News reports.

While some intelligence analysts have insisted Saddam's secular regime would not have collaborated with radical Muslim groups, the document says "Islamic relations with Iraq " were encouraged by the Taliban to arbitrate a meeting with the Northern Alliance rebels in Afghanistan and Russia .

The document also mentions two men with ties to Pakistani religious schools, jihad training camps, the Taliban and al-Qaida.

An Iraqi intelligence agent kept a notebook, posted on http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,199052,00.html , that details meetings between al-Qaida and Taliban supporter Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Taha Yassin Ramadan, the former vice president of Iraq , along with other Iraqi officials.

Ramadan was Saddam's right-hand-man, in charge of ensuring orders were carried out by Iraqi officials. A 2002 BBC article stated, " Washington showed considerable interest in him well before the Iraq war."

...The notebook also recorded Maulana Fazlur Rahman as being at the discussion. Rahman has been described as a Pakistani cleric with ties to the Taliban who is a contender for the position of prime minister.

As WorldNetDaily reported, among many documents posted by the Pentagon in March was a letter from a member of Saddam's intelligence apparatus indicating al-Qaida and the Taliban had a relationship with the regime prior to the 9-11 attacks.

The letter by a member of Saddam's Al Mukabarat to a superior, dated Sept. 15, 2001, reports a pre-9/11 conversation between an Iraqi intelligence source and a Taliban Afghani consul.

Earlier this month, a newly translated document captured from the Saddam regime revealed Iraq 's hiding of chemical-weapons materials and the location of their burial.

In 2003, a 16-page top secret government memo to the Senate Intelligence Committee said bin Laden and Saddam had an operational relationship from the early 1990s to 2003 that involved training in explosives and weapons of mass destruction, as well as financial and logistical support, and may have included the bombing of the USS Cole and the Sept. 11 attacks.

...According to the Weekly Standard, the memo reports Saddam's willingness to help bin Laden plot against Americans began in 1990, shortly before the first Gulf War, and continued until the eve of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. It says bin Laden sent ''emissaries to Jordan in 1990 to meet with Iraqi government officials.'' At some unspecified point in 1991, according to a CIA analysis, '' Iraq sought Sudan 's assistance to establish links to al-Qaida.''
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50621

The Tangled Web of Haditha Reports
June 13, 2006 -The media is overflowing with stories about the incident in Haditha on November 19, 2005. There are so many stories and so many interviews but there is a problem. Many of the stories and recountings of events are inconsistent and seem ever changing. More at:http://newsbusters.org/node/5872

Politicians "cannot have it both ways."
6/15/06- ...Kerry (AKA Flipper), who was widely criticized as the party's standard-bearer in 2004 for being too cautious in his criticism of the war, said Tuesday that politicians "cannot have it both ways." [Oh, by the way- Kerry announced this week that he is definitely against intervention in Iraq now though he voted for it… or against it three years ago…]
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/28-06132006-669707.html

Wealthy foreign couples coming to U.S. so they can select baby's sex
June 14 2006- The Chinese want boys, and the Canadians want girls. If they have enough money, they come to the United States to choose the sex of their babies.

Well-off foreign couples are getting around laws banning sex selection in their home countries by coming to American soil -- where it's legal -- for medical procedures that can give them the boy, or girl, they want.

The United States ' lack of regulation means a growing global market for a few fertility clinics. These businesses advertise in airline magazines or post Web sites aimed at luring clients worldwide.

Opponents say this amounts to medical tourism for designer babies and should awaken lawmakers.

...Foes call it ``consumer eugenics'' and say it opens the door to a future where parents will choose their babies' hair color, eye color and potential to grow tall enough to play basketball...
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-614babysex,0,6133219.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Great video: In 1976 LA Dodgers Rick Monday stops flag burners during a baseball game:
mms://a1503.v108692.c10869.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/1503/10869/v0001/mlb.download.akamai.com/10869/library/open/features/monday_flag_350.wmv?media_type=wms&av_type=video&event_pk=486348&product=gen_video

Bush May Meet Vow To Halve The Deficit Three Years Early
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
6/12/2006- Aided by surging tax receipts, President Bush may make good on his pledge to cut the deficit in half in 2006 — three years early.

Tax revenues are running $176 billion, or 12.9%, over last year, the Treasury Department said Monday. The Congressional Budget Office said receipts have risen faster over the first eight months of fiscal '06 than in any other such period over the past 25 years — except for last year's 15.5% jump.

…With the economy topping $13 trillion this year, a $270 billion deficit would equal less than 2.1% of GDP, easily beating the president's 2.25% goal…

A CBO analysis last week noted that withheld individual income and payroll taxes are up 7.6% from a year ago, with the gains picking up in recent months.

"Those gains suggest solid growth in wages and salaries in the national economy," CBO said.

While gains are broad, those at higher-income levels are enjoying bigger salary hikes. Because they pay higher rates, federal tax revenues soar when they do well.

Those making over $200,000 now pay 46.6% of total income taxes, presidential adviser Karl Rove recently said. That's up from 40.5% — despite Bush's tax cuts.

…Corporate income taxes are up about 30% from last year's pace.
http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=5&issue=20060612&view=1

Jersey girl widow's book
Two elected New Jersey Democrats, angry about Ann Coulter’s characterizations of the Jersey Girls, are asking the booksellers in the Garden State not to stock Ann Coulter’s new book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism. Are they aware that one of the Jersey Girls widows, described at Amazon.com as “one of the country’s most outspoken activists and critics of the current administration,” has her own book coming out soon? It’s called Wake-Up Call : The Political Education of a 9/11 Widow. The author is Kristin Breitwesier…In order to take full advantage of the occasion, Breitwesier’s book is scheduled for release in September; the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks….
More at: http://americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=5380

Report from Iraq
...I just received a newsletter report from LTC Craig Osborne, commanding officer, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry, in Iraq. Here is what he has to say:
More at: http://americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=5379

Post-al-Zarqawi Raids Kill 104 Insurgents
Jun 15, 2006 BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- American and Iraqi forces have carried out 452 raids since last week's killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and 104 insurgents were killed during those actions, the U.S. military said Thursday.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said the raids were carried out nationwide and led to the discovery of 28 significant arms caches.

He said 255 of the raids were joint operations, while 143 were carried out by Iraqi forces alone. The raids also resulted in the captures of 759 "anti-Iraqi elements."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_RAIDS?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-06-15-08-25-20

Supreme Court upholds police evidence in searches without knocking
6/15/2006 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that police can use evidence collected with a warrant even if officers fail to knock before rushing into a home.

Justice Samuel Alito broke a 4-4 tie in siding with Detroit police, who called out their presence at a man’s door then went inside three to five seconds later.

The case had tested previous court rulings that police armed with warrants generally must knock and announce themselves or they run afoul of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches.

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, said “whether that preliminary misstep had occurred or not, the police would have executed the warrant they had obtained, and would have discovered the gun and drugs inside the house.”

The court did not say how long police officers must wait after knocking before they enter a home to execute a search warrant.

Suppressing evidence is too high of a penalty, Scalia said, for errors in police searches.

…Hudson’s lawyers argued that evidence against him was connected to the improper search and could not be used against him.

Scalia said that a victory for Hudson would have given “a get-out-of-jail-free card” to him and others.

“It weakens, perhaps destroys, much of the practical value of the Constitution’s knock-and-announce protection,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for himself and the three other liberal justices...

"It weakens, perhaps destroys, much of the practical value of the Constitution’s knock-and-announce protection,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote... Hmmm...I looked and just can't seem to find the phrase "knock and announce" in the Fourth Amendment. Mr. Breyer, the ban is on “unreasonable” search and seizure. If the police have a warrant and time is of the essence then it is reasonable. Why give the scum a chance to destroy or hide the evidence? DB

Papers show 'gloomy' state of insurgency
6/15/2006 BAGHDAD, Iraq - A blueprint for trying to start a war between the United States and Iran was among a "huge treasure" of documents found in the hideout of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraqi officials said Thursday. The document, purporting to reflect al-Qaida policy and its cooperation with groups loyal to ousted President Saddam Hussein, also appear to show that the insurgency in Iraq was weakening.

...While the coalition was continuing to suffer human losses, "time is now beginning to be of service to the American forces and harmful to the resistance," the document said.

The document said the insurgency was being hurt by, among other things, the U.S. military's program to train Iraqi security forces, by massive arrests and seizures of weapons, by tightening the militants' financial outlets, and by creating divisions within its ranks.

"Generally speaking and despite the gloomy present situation, we find that the best solution in order to get out of this crisis is to involve the U.S. forces in waging a war against another country or any hostile groups," the document said, as quoted by al-Maliki's office.

According to the summary, insurgents were being weakened by operations against them and by their failure to attract recruits. To give new impetus to the insurgency, they would have to change tactics, it added.

"We mean specifically attempting to escalate the tension between America and Iran, and American and the Shiite in Iraq," it quoted the documents as saying, especially among moderate followers of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential Shiite cleric in Iraq.

...Al-Maliki's office said the document provides "the broad guidelines of the program of the Saddamists and the takfiris inside al-Zarqawi's group."

"Takfiri" is a reference to an extremist ideology that urges Muslims to kill anyone they consider an infidel, even fellow Muslims. It is the ideology that many Iraqis, especially in the Shiite community, use to describe al-Zarqawi and his followers...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060615/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_terror_blueprint_4;_ylt=As8I2tDd083qvKHOaTcUCp5X6GMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

Joe Wilson: US Should Negotiate With Iraqi Terrorists
Washington (CNSNews.com) - Former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, whose wife was at the center of a CIA leak case argued Wednesday that the U.S. needs to bring Iraqi insurgents and their "foreign patrons" to the conference table for negotiations... (why not? After all they have only one demand, Islamation of the entire globe)
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200606/NAT20060615a.html

David Bennett<><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove

June 13, 2006

Red Neck Vacation
Billy Bob and Luther were talking one afternoon when Billy Bob tells Luther, "Ya know, I reckon I'm 'bout ready for a vacation. Only this year I'm gonna do it a little different. The last few years, I took your advice about where to go.

Three years ago you said to go to Hawaii . I went to Hawaii and Earlene got pregnant.

Then two years ago, you told me to go to the Bahamas ,and Earlene got pregnant again.

Last year you suggested Tahiti and darned if Earlene didn't get pregnant again."

Luther asks Billy Bob, "So, what you gonna do this year that's different?"

Billy Bob says, "This year I'm taking Earlene with me."

The world's funniest joke was written by Spike Milligan
June 9, 2006- Detective work by a professor investigating the psychology of humour has revealed that Spike Milligan was the author of the world's funniest joke.

Five years ago, Prof Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, did an online experiment in which 300,000 people from around the world took part in LaughLab, where they voted for the best gag.

Yesterday, at the Cheltenham Science Festival, Prof Wiseman said he has now discovered that it was almost certainly written by Milligan.

The joke runs as follows: Two hunters are out in the woods in New Jersey when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed.

The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps 'My friend is dead! What can I do?' The operator says: 'Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead.' There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says 'OK, now what?'

"It is very rare to be able to track down the origin of any joke but this is an exception," said Prof Wiseman. "There is some very rare footage from 1951 showing the Goons in their first TV appearance. Just by chance I saw it on a documentary and saw a version of the very same joke."

The material would have been written by Spike Milligan and the script reads:

Michael Bentine: I just came in and found him lying on the carpet there.

Peter Sellers: Oh, is he dead?

Bentine: I think so.

Sellers: Hadn't you better make sure?

Bentine: All right. Just a minute.

Sound of two gun shots.

Bentine: He's dead.

Prof Wiseman contacted Milligan's daughter, Sile, and she is as certain as she can be that he would have written the gag. She said she was "delighted that dad wrote the world's funniest joke".

Prof Wiseman said: "I think what is interesting here is that a joke from the 1950s still works, and how it has transformed over time from a cosy sitting room to hunters in New Jersey."

He added: "Spike Milligan was clearly into surreal humour. The sort of people who like his stuff will be people with a high tolerance for ambiguity because the sketches don't really have a sense of closure."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml

Ernest Scribbler famed comedian also has “the funniest joke”... (Monty Python skit)
Voice Over:This man is Ernest Scribbler... writer of jokes. In a few moments, he will have written the funniest joke in the world... and, as a consequence, he will die... laughing.

Ernest stops writing, pauses to look at what he has written... a smile slowly spreads across his face, turning very, very slowly to uncontrolled hysterical laughter... he staggers to his feet and reels across room helpless with mounting mirth and eventually collapses and dies on the floor.

Voice Over:It was obvious that this joke was lethal...no one could read it and live...

Ernest's mother enters. She sees him dead, she gives a little cry of horror and bends over his body, weeping. Brokenly she notices the piece of paper in his hand and picks it up and reads it between her sobs. Immediately she breaks out into hysterical laughter, leaps three feet into the air, and falls down dead without more ado. Cut to news type shot of commentator standing in front of the house.

Commentator:This morning, shortly after eleven o'clock, comedy struck this little house in Dibley Road. Sudden... violent... comedy.Police have sealed off the area, and Scotland Yard's crack inspector is with me now.

Inspector:I shall enter the house and attempt to remove the joke.

About now an upstairs window in the house is fiung open and a doctor, rears his head out, hysterical with laughter, and dies hanging over the window sill.

or better yet:
A Roman Catholic priest, a Jewish Rabbi, and a Muslim Imam walk into a bar.

The bartender looks at them for a moment, then asks, "What is this, some kind of joke?

British Petroleum (BP) boss predicts oil price fall …
Browne points out the Caspian Sea and Russia still boast large reserves The head of one of the world's biggest oil firms says oil prices could fall by nearly two-thirds within a decade from the current $70 (£38) a barrel.
Lord Browne, the chief executive of the British oil giant BP, predicted prices would remain high in the near future.

But he said that large reserves still remained undiscovered or untapped, and that new technology would bring down extraction costs.

Sustained high oil prices have sparked fears of a global downturn.

"We cannot really count on oil prices easing very much in the near future," Lord Browne said in an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel.

But he said in the medium term - the next five years or so - prices could average about $40 or so per barrel.

In the long term, the next decade or so, "it could even be $25 to $30"...

...Lord Browne said large new oil fields are still being discovered, citing the Caspian Sea as an example. He said western Africa and Russia still had large reserves.

He added that technological developments meant the amount extracted from oil reserves could rise from the current 40% or 45%, to perhaps 50% or 60%.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5070310.stm

Not bad for a non-profit outfit
$63M in 'Profit' Not Enough for Planned Parenthood; It Wants More from Feds(AgapePress) - One of the leading pro-life groups in America is wondering why the nation's largest abortion-provider, Planned Parenthood, continues to beg for government funds -- even though the non-profit is just coming off one of its best years ever in terms of income and "excess revenue."

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) is reporting that in Fiscal Year 2004-2005, it generated $882 million in income, one-third of which ($272 million) comes from American taxpayers. During the same time period, PPFA showed an "excess revenue over expenses" -- known outside not-for-profit entities as "profit" -- of $63 million, the second highest ever for the abortion-provider in one year. Yet Planned Parenthood continues to clamor for more federal funds. Jim Sedlak of American Life League (ALL) calls that "absolutely incredible."

...And it goes beyond abortions, according to Sedlak. He explains Planned Parenthood also uses tax dollars to downplay abstinence among America's youth...."They have [conducted] specific attacks on our young people, and they are increasing those attacks as they put more and more money into their brand of sex education and vehemently fight against abstinence sex education."

Why? As Sedlak points out, Planned Parenthood only benefits financially from youth who are sexually active...
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/92006b.asp

I’m glad he lived long enough to understand what happened…
Military: Zarqawi lived for nearly an hour after airstrike 6/12/2006 BAGHDAD (AP) — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi lived for 52 minutes after a U.S. warplane bombed his hideout northeast of Baghdad, and he died of extensive internal injuries consistent with those caused by a bomb blast, the U.S. military said Monday.
Col. Steve Jones, command surgeon for Multinational Forces, said an autopsy concluded that al-Zarqawi died from serious injuries to his lungs. An FBI test positively identified al-Zarqawi's remains.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad, said U.S. forces arrived about 28 minutes after a fighter jet bombed al-Zarqawi's hideout outside Baqouba on Wednesday. Medics secured al-Zarqawi's airway but his breathing was shallow and labored, and he expelled blood from his mouth.

...Al-Zarqawi died 24 minutes after coalition forces arrived, he said.

Jones said the autopsy conducted Saturday showed that al-Zarqawi died from injuries to his lungs.

"Blast waves from the two bombs caused tearing, bruising of the lungs and bleeding," he said. "There was no evidence of firearm injuries."

The al-Qaeda in Iraq leader also suffered head and facial wounds, bleeding in his ears and a fracture of his lower right leg.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-06-12-zarqawi-autopsy_x.htm

Military Press Release: COALITION FORCES KILL SEVEN TERRORISTS, WOUND THREE, DETAIN TWO
12 June 2006
http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentcom1/Lists/Press%20Releases/DispForm.aspx?ID=3197&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecentcom%2Emil%2Fsites%2Fuscentcom1%2FLists%2FPress%2520Releases%2FCurrent%2520Releases%2Easpx

It just keeps getting better. However I object to the fact that they feel like they have to have the following disclaimer at the end:

“Coalition Forces take every precaution to mitigate risks to civilians while in the pursuit of terrorists and deeply regret any injury or death.”

What ever happened to "War is Hell"?

Looks like they're having to dig deeper to find a replacement...
IRAQ: Al-Zarqawi heir also killed, Jordanian services say
06/12/2006 Amman, 12 June (AKI) - Islamic militant, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who is indicated by the US command in Iraq as potential successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, also died in the raid that killed the Jordanian militant, according to intelligence sources in Amman...
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.309451213&par=0

David<><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove

June 11, 2006

Superhero in tights chases down Minn. purse snatcher
June 10, 2006 MINNEAPOLIS - Cameron Evans suits up in superhero garb as part of his job, but he may never have guessed that his alter ego, "Luke Pie-Rocker," would save someone's day.

Teresa Skarman was walking home Tuesday night when a purse snatcher grabbed her red leather bag.

The 55-year-old grocery store bagger screamed for help and Evans - sporting orange tights, black boots and cape - chased the mugger.

A delivery man for Galactic Pizza, Evans tailed the robber for blocks, until two bystanders helped corner the crook in an alley. They ended up letting him go in exchange for the purse.

Skarman said she admires Evans' bravery. "I'm so thankful," she said, clutching her red purse. "He's my hero."
http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1318305

Failed knife-wielding mugger pleads with victim for bus fare home
05/16/2006 BERLIN -A knife-wielding mugger was reduced to pleading with a pensioner for his bus fare home after she refused to hand over her purse, police in northern Germany said Tuesday.

… the youth pulled a 10-inch blade on the woman in the seaside town of Binz and threatened to stab her unless she handed over her bag, police said. She refused.

"Then he tried to invoke her pity," a police spokeswoman said. "He said 'at least give me five euros ($6.40) for the bus ride home'. But she just walked off and left him standing."
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2006-05-16T184621Z_01_L16729979_RTRUKOC_0_US-GERMANY-MUGGER.xml&src=rss

Feisty Woman, 86, Teaches Mugger A Lesson
Jun 9, 2006 (CBS) NEW YORK She's 86, had five strokes, a broken hip and Wednesday, Elisabeth Rubin fought a mugger to a draw not far from Madison Square Garden.

Rubin was look[ing] at the watches in the Tourneau window at 34th and 7th Avenue. "In the glass I saw him coming up behind me acting strange," she said.

…he hit her in the arm, then in the head as he grabbed the purse resting on her walker…Rubin was determined to hang onto the bag..."He pulled, I pulled." she said.

That's when Elisabeth, who'd been in tougher situations as a Jew eluding the Nazi's in Europe, made her move. With the purse strap tangled around her arm, she grabbed her large umbrella from the walker, snapped it open and "I beat him with it," she said with a smile.

Then, she added, "I wish I'd poked him in the eye" with the sharp end.

The mugger eventually wrested the purse from Elisabeth, looked inside, saw how much "bread" he netted, and threw it to the ground, kicking at her walker. She said the guy yelled in her face in Spanish, "you're a prostitute." To which Rubin said she replied, "you're mother's a prostitute!"

Then she said the bad guy took off running. She took off in the other direction as fast her walker would take her. On Thursday, she said, the police took her around the neighborhood to see if she could spot the squat, middle aged, mustachioed mugger.

He better hope the police catch him before she does.

"I would say to police, let me beat him up."

"You could do that? A young reporter asked.

"Oh yes."
http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/local_story_159173428.html

Foiled Burglar Sues Store Employees for 'Emotional Distress'
June 11, 2006 ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A man who was beaten by employees of a store he was trying to rob is now suing.

Police say Dana Buckman entered the AutoZone in Rochester, New York, last July, brandished a semi-automatic pistol and demanded cash.

That's when employees Eli Crespo and Jerry Vega beat him with a pipe and held Buckman at bay with his own gun.

Buckman escaped when they retreated into the store to call 911, but he was arrested a week later. He pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and was sentenced to 18 years in prison as a repeat violent felon.

Now Buckman is suing the auto parts store and the two employees who beat him, claiming they committed assault and battery and intentionally inflicted emotional distress.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C198988%2C00.html

Palm tree ahead --danger
10/06/2006- Palm trees along the seafront at Torbay have been emblematic of the English Riviera for decades. Now they have become emblematic of the modern obsession with health and safety.

Council officials have written to the chamber of trade saying the trees are a potential hazard because their sharp leaves could cause injuries to eyes or faces.

...Torbay council's senior urban design and landscape officer, Paul Osborne, said in his letter "They can cause maintenance problems and, as they have very sharp leaves, need to be carefully used in the streetscapes, where they could cause injury to eyes/faces if inappropriately placed… It is usually not appropriate for palms to be placed in heavily pedestrian streets."

...Colin Charlwood, a Liberal Democrat councillor, said: "The truth is that, like everything else, health and safety regulations mean we have to be mindful that palm trees could be dangerous…. What if one of those leaves caught a child in the eye, for example? It is a little bit like keeping tigers: they are beautiful to look at but you wouldn't want them wandering the streets. What is being suggested is not that we don't have them, but that they need to be placed out of harm's way."

...Adrian Sanders, the Torbay Liberal Democrat MP, believed the council was being "far too cautious…We have lived with these trees for years and years and there have never been any injuries, as far as I am aware. Palms are part of Torbay. I certainly would not want to see a reduction."

...Dennis Axford, the mayor of Penzance, which also has palms, said: "If you stick your head into a palm tree I suppose you might get scratched. But if you brush by a bed of nettles you are bound to get stung…Where does it stop? Will we be banning rose bushes from public gardens in case people hurt themselves?"

Torbay council denied it was going "health and safety mad".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/10/npalm10.xml

Businessman claims county-order violates his religious beliefs, values
June 8, 2006- A film-and-video lab owner has filed suit against a county Human Rights Commission for ordering him to duplicate two pro-homosexual videos produced by a lesbian activist.

Tim Bono and Bono Film and Video, Inc. of Arlington, Va., is challenging the authority of the Arlington County Human Rights Commission, the Arlington County Board and Arlington County.

The controversy began when Tim Bono was contacted by lesbian activist Lilli Vincenz via e-mail to reproduce documentaries entitled "Gay and Proud" and "Second Largest Minority."

Bono told Vincenz his company does not duplicate material that is obscene, could embarrass employees, hurt the company's reputation or runs counter to the company's core values and to Christian ethics.

Vincenz filed a complaint with the Arlington Human Rights Commission under the county's nondiscrimination ordinance, which was amended to include "sexual orientation."

… the commission entered a decision directing Bono Film to "provide the requested duplication service..."

Bono, represented by Florida-based Liberty Counsel, argues Virginia law, under a provision called "Dillon's Rule," prohibits local government from passing or enforcing nondiscrimination laws that are not authorized by the state…

…Erik Stanley, chief counsel of Liberty Counsel, contends that just as a newspaper is not required to run every proposed ad, a duplicator or printer is not obligated to reproduce every proposed copy.

…Stanley points out that several years ago, the Virginia attorney general issued an opinion concluding that local "sexual orientation" laws violated state law.

Bono's case is similar to that of Scott Brockie, a Canadian Christian printer who was penalized $5,000 in 2001 for refusing to print letterhead for a homosexual advocacy group.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50554

Government-mandated political correctness
June 10, 2006 ...In April, the commission directed Bono to "provide the requested duplication service at the complainant's expense, or in the alternative to assist the complainant in locating a suitable facility where this service can be provided at the Bono Film and Video's expense."

Apparently, one's religious views must be confined to the home and at church, because the commission essentially said that Bono's religious beliefs – in his own place of business – were infringing on the rights of an individual.

...Should Bono lose his right to decide what takes place in his own business, I wonder where this could end. Could Christian schools lose the right to determine that only Christians may serve as teachers and staff members? Could Christian churches be compelled to hire homosexuals as Sunday school teachers even though homosexuality is proscribed in the Bible? Could religious schools that make use of federal education dollars be penalized if they do not hire homosexual staff members?

I'm sure critics will say these are ludicrous propositions, but I see them as legitimate concerns. Our nation has become so politically correct and obsessed with "diversity" and "multiculturalism" that the core values that defined America for decades have now become offensive to many. When one considers how the Ten Commandments, our nation's motto and the Pledge of Allegiance have come under attack, it is not farfetched to foresee America's pulpits becoming the next target of secularist forces.

Rev. Jerry Falwell
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50584

Michael Berg Refuted
http://americandaily.com/article/13964

Chimp-human hybridization: two of a kind or two different kinds?
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2006/0531chimp.asp

David<><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove

June 9, 2006

Judge orders a game of 'rock, paper, scissors' to settle dispute
6/9/2006 TAMPA — A federal judge, miffed at the inability of opposing attorneys to agree on even the slightest details of a lawsuit, ordered them to settle their latest dispute with a game of "rock, paper, scissors."

The argument was over a location to take the sworn statement of a witness in an insurance lawsuit.

In an order signed Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell scolded both sides and ordered them to meet at a neutral location at 4 p.m. June 30 to play a round of the hand-gesture game often used to settle childhood disputes. If they can't agree on the neutral location, he said, they'll play on the steps of the federal courthouse.

The winner gets to choose the location for the witness statement. http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2006-06-09-rock_x.htm

Environmentalist's rice bowls endangered...
Manatees off Fla. endangered species list
Jun 9 Fla. - The state wildlife commission has voted to take the manatee off Florida's endangered species list, saying the animal's population is on the rebound.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to designate the manatee as a threatened species rather than endangered. It also voted to remove the bald eagle from its list of threatened species.

State officials said the decisions would not affect how the species are protected. Both the bald eagle and manatee remain protected under federal law, including the 1973 Endangered Species Act. "There will be no less protection," commission spokesman Henry Cabbage said.

But some environmentalists said the reclassifications could set in motion a downward spiral of state funding...

"As species like the manatee are reclassified to a less imperiled status ... state funding for research...will likely be directed elsewhere," said attorney Martha Collins.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060609/ap_on_sc/threatened_manatees

Local Police Attempt to Block Collection of Pro-Marriage Petitions
June 7, 2006 (AgapePress) - A pro-family group in Florida is outraged over the behavior of some police officers last weekend who tried to stop a petition drive aimed at protecting traditional marriage.

Last weekend members of the Florida Family Policy Council were at a Promise Keepers conference in Broward County where they were collecting petitions for the Florida4Marriage campaign, an effort to get onto the November 2008 ballot an amendment protecting traditional marriage. The pro-family group had paid a fee to have a booth at the PK event at which it was collecting the petitions in support of the campaign's goal of gathering 611,009 signatures by July 12, 2006.

...several members of the City of Sunrise Police Department arrived at the scene and ordered Council vice president Nathan Dunn to stop collecting the petitions, and then removed the petitions from public view. A discussion ensued, during which John Stemberger -- president and general counsel for the Council -- was summoned to the scene. The group says Stemberger's request for an explanation of what law or ordinance was being violated was ignored by Police Sergeant Stephen Allen, who it says then began lecturing nearby volunteers on what Jesus taught about homosexuality, claiming that the petition effort was a waste of time and that he was the authority and they should obey him.

"It quickly became apparent that [Allen] was a supporter of gay marriage and personally disagreed with the marriage amendment effort," says the Council's press release...

...At the height of the confrontation, notes the press release, the police sergeant "continued to interrupt with abusive and irrelevant personal remarks" and even threatened Stemberger with arrest if the petitions were not immediately removed from the table.

...The incident finally ended when an official with the Bank Atlantic Center intervened to tell the officers that no laws or rules were being broken, and that the petitions could be distributed at the table. Allen and the other officers then left the scene.

...The pro-family group says the officers' "harassment and intimidation" should be a reminder to families of the culture war that is going on. "If we do not stand up to this type of abuse of power, then our constitutional rights will continue to be violated," says Stemberger.
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/72006a.asp

Spinning The Reality Of Iraq War
By ALICIA COLON May 16, 2006 -It's that time of year when New Yorkers start making their summer vacation plans. Renting a place in the Hamptons? Nah, been there, done that. How about a Parisian jaunt? Noooo. Too many riots. Well, how about visiting a country that's ancient, historic, beautiful and exotic - Iraq? Sure, there's a little war going on there, but when you look at the violent death statistics in the world, it's safer than a number of other popular travel destinations. Believe it or not...

...some startling figures that demonstrate how off-base journalists are when it comes to reporting on the war in Iraq... the violent death rate in Iraq is 25.71 per 100,000. ...compare it to places like Colombia (61.7), South Africa (49.6), Jamaica (32.4), and Venezuela (31.6). How about the violent death rates in American cities? New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina was 53.1. FBI statistics for 2004-05 Washington (45.9), Baltimore (37.7), and Atlanta (34.9). http://www.nysun.com/article/32787

It appears Zarqawi got to see US forces gazing down at him before he died...
Zarqawi Found Alive After Bombing
June 09, 2006 Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was found alive by Iraqi police and U.S. forces who arrived at the scene of the bombing raid near Baqouba, a U.S. official told FOX News on Friday.

"Zarqawi was alive when U.S. forces arrived on the site," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said in a satellite interview from Iraq. "The Iraqi police arrived first, they found him in the rubble, put him on a gurney of some type."

Caldwell, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said Zarqawi tried to roll off the gurney to escape once he became aware of the fact that he was being taken into custody by coalition troops Wednesday night after two 500-pound precision guided bombs blew up his safehouse near Baqouba.

U.S. forces immediately identified him as Zarqawi but were unable to interrogate him because he died "shortly after" being pulled from the rubble, Caldwell said.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,198850,00.html

..."Zarqawi did survive the airstrike," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad said. "We did in fact see him alive."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/09/iraq.al.zarqawi/index.html

A Tale of Two Media Outlets
FOX: Imagine if we saved him and kept him alive. What then there would be trial? What a waste of tax payer's monies.

CNN: Are we certain he died from the bombs and not from a bullet from one of the coalition forces? (does it matter? DB)

Two good points I heard on Bill Bennett's "Morning In America" show
- Yesterday BB played the audio from Iraq of the announcement of the death of al-Zarqawi. The room full of Iraqi journalists burst out in cheering and clapping and one lady even made that funny noise happy, excited, Muslim women make. Far different than the dour “objective” and aplogetic response from the modern US press when we succeed at anything. "Gee, we can't be patriotic 'cause we'll loose our credibility of being objective." They lost that credibility a long time ago.

- A caller noted that in the last 3 years California has had over 6,000 murders and other violent deaths while Iraq is approaching 2,500. As BB pointed out these deaths are very different as the soldiers deaths are for a good and noble cause while most of the deaths cited in California involve varying degrees of drugs and criminal activities.
--------------------
Media looks for abuse or foul play...
Asked whether Zarqawi was shot after U.S. ground troops arrived at the scene of the airstrike, Caldwell said he could not give a definitive answer based on what he had read in the latest official U.S. military report on the event.[In other words did we try to save his life or did we murder him...]

"He was conscious initially, according to the U.S. forces that physically saw him," Caldwell told Fox. "He obviously had some kind of visual recognition of who they were because he attempted to roll off the stretcher, as I am told, and get away, realizing it was U.S. military."

"Zarqawi attempted to sort of turn away off the stretcher, everybody resecured him back onto the stretcher but he died almost immediately thereafter from the wounds he'd received from this airstrike," Caldwell said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060609/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/air_strike_al_zarqawi

...U.S. troops conducted 39 raids late Thursday and early Friday based on information gleaned from searches in the hours after the al-Qaeda leader's death....

At the news conference, the spokesman also provided a revised death toll from the attack...Caldwell said it now appears there was no child among those killed... (that should at least make the anti-war crowd a little happier…not!)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-06-09-zarqawi_x.htm

Arab News Editorial: Turning Point
9 June 2006 -The outpouring of joy with which Iraqis from all communities have greeted the news of the death of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, says everything. They, Sunnis and Shiites alike, are sick of the endless slaughter of innocents for which Zarqawi was often responsible and for which he, with his infinite capacity for cruelty, became the incarnate symbol. They are sick of the kidnappings, the beheadings, the suicide bombings which he organized or inspired. The removal of this monster, who will go down in history as the most evil person in the Middle East for well over a century give Iraqis a chance to believe in the future once again, to hope that it will be better. They can believe it because they know that while the death of this publicity-seeking thug who clawed his way over the corpses of thousands by an absolute ferocity to the very peaks of depravity and notoriety will not end the violence, it will drain it. This may be the beginning of the end of the so-called Sunni insurgency which Zarqawi spearheaded (a misnomer if ever there was one — the overwhelming majority of Iraqi Sunnis are as revolted by the mass slaughter of Shiites as everyone else).

...Zarqawi’s elimination could therefore prove a psychological turning point for Iraq — the chance to rebuild and reunite, to reconcile Iraqi with Iraqi, to put fear behind them. It is the most significant event in Iraq since the capture of Saddam Hussein. It provides a tremendous boost to the government of Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki who has made reconciliation his priority — rightly so, for without it, there is no hope of ending the insurrection, no hope of ending the fear and suspicion on which the violence thrives...

The Iraqis have reason then to hope. They know that the violence will continue but the giant shadow of death stalking the streets of their cities daily has been removed. The worst may be past. And not only for Iraqis. Jordanians, Moroccans, Turks too will rejoice.

We can all rejoice. The death of Zarqawi makes the world a safer place. A notable victory in the global war against terrorism has been achieved.http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=83511&d=9&m=6&y=2006

Overpressure bombing effects (or why Zarqawi still had a face after the bombing)
...One of the least understood phenomena of a bomb blast is overpressure. Everything in the blast perimeter is subject to a sudden and profound increase in air pressure. This wave of blast overpressure declines rapidly the further it travels. A person 10 feet from a bomb blast will experience nine times the overpressure of a person 20 feet away. But it gets messy and unpredictable. A person who happens to be standing between the bomb and a strong wall is subjected to more blast effect because solid surfaces reflect the blast wave.

You, as you read this, are subjected to normal air pressure of 15 pounds per square inch, depending on how close you are to sea level. The rapidly expanding gases of the bomb push the air out of the way generating air pressures of as much as 700 tons per square inch in the immediate area. But even on the outer perimeters of the blast area overpressures can be deadly.

The human body contains two principal air-filled spaces -- the lungs and the nasal cavity and attached sinuses. A human subjected to a bomb blast wave instantly has hundreds and perhaps thousands psi of pressure pushing on these cavities. A mere 15 psi above normal is considered the threshold for possible lung injury, so imagine what happens to those near the epicenter of a bomb blast.

The chest caves in. The lungs inside it are compressed violently in on themselves -- so violently that the entire network of pulmonary vessels connecting them to the heart and the rest of the body are sheared off.

When the instant of blast overpressure passes, the lungs suddenly re-expand, like a crushed rubber ball rebounding in the hand of a strong man. But now they are filled with a huge volume of blood, blood that should be flowing to the heart and other parts of the body.

Blood that would normally return to the heart through the left ventrical has now overwhelmed the lungs. No blood in the left ventrical equals no blood in the heart equals no pulmonary output to the body. Blood pressure -- zero. The body is instantly starved.

Up above, in the skull, at the same instant, the overpressure works in another way. The nasal and sinus cavities implode. That part of the skull called the cribiform plate ruptures, snaps and may be thrust upward into the base of the brain.
http://www.alternatevoice.com/blog_archives/000148.html

Bin Laden Keeps Lower Profile Than Zarqawi
06-08-2006 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -Tracking down Osama bin Laden has proven tougher than getting to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi because the top al-Qaida leader does almost nothing to call attention to himself and is protected by a ring of far more faithful followers, intelligence experts said Thursday.

...According to a senior Pakistani security official, bin Laden avoids using the Internet or satellite phones.

Bin Laden "has seen the fate of those who used satellite phones. He has seen that many such people were arrested by us, and they included some close associates of the al-Qaida chief," the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his job.

...The Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, Gen. Zahir Azimi, said he hopes al-Zarqawi's death will kick start the hunt for bin Laden. "The hunt for Osama continues," he said.

..."They've been able to escape detection as they aren't communicating and aren't effectively involved in al-Qaida operations. It makes it very hard to run them down, but moves them significantly from an operational role to a symbolic one," he said.

"It doesn't make any sense to talk of getting closer to them. One day they will be killed or captured, and it will happen like that," the diplomat said, snapping his fingers.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/06/08/international/i140437D26.DTL

Special ops A-Team helped nail Zarqawi
U.S., British defense chiefs formed task force to kill him 2 months ago
June 8, 2006 WASHINGTON – When Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq, was killed today by 500-pound bombs dropped by two F-16 fighter jets on a house north of Baghdad, it was the result of intelligence information gathered, in part, by an elite task force of international special operations forces formed just a month ago with the express purpose of taking him out.

The "A-Team" created for the mission drew on the skills and expertise of U.S. Army Green Berets, "Tier 1" of Britain's Special Air Service and the Israeli Mossad... The unit was part of the already-secret Task Force Black run by Britain's MI6 out of coalition forces headquarters in Baghdad. Nicknamed "The Untouchables," it was given a no-holds barred brief in pursuit of Zarqawi in May.

To avoid detection, the team dressed in clothes bought from second-hand stalls in Baghdad's back-street markets. They regularly sprayed themselves with a pungent, sweat-smelling odor known as "souk scent." Each man wore contact lenses that turned their eye color brown or black. The goal was to permit them to look like any other Iraqi peasant as they hunted the most bloodthirsty killer in Iraq.

"The Untouchables" were assured in advance they need fear no investigation into their methods to bring Zarqawi to summary justice. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Though Zarqawi was done in ultimately by massive bombs delivered from high-tech fighters, the unit members were each equipped with L115A-338 sniper rifles that allowed them to kill at 1,000 yards. But the key to the mission was the fact that each made high-risk surveillance operations into normally no-go areas in Iraq.

While officially Israel denies any presence in Iraq, four Mossad assassins were assigned to serve with the unit.

"The Untouchables" also used thermal-imaging equipment to probe the "rat holes" the terror chief used as he flitted around Baghdad and other cities. They also had at their disposal a CIA-operated Predator unmanned aircraft able to provide a real-time video feedback of any area where Zarqawi was spotted.

Zarqawi boasted on his website of beheading innocent victims, including the murders of more than 1,000 British and American soldiers in Iraq over the past two years. Zarqawi also led terrorists that killed thousands of Iraqis through relentless suicide bombings and organized attacks. Many of the bombings were directed at large crowds of Shi'ites under a strategy U.S. and Iraqi officials said was designed to trigger a civil war.

Gen. Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman, Britain's vice chief of the defense staff, had told senior officers in Baghdad that "removing this terrorist will be a massive blow against al-Qaida."

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told a news conference today the big breakthrough that led to Zarqawi's location came while U.S. forces were trailing Zarqawi's spiritual adviser, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman.

"Through painstaking intelligence efforts we were able to start tracking him, monitoring his movements. ... Last night, he went to meet [Zarqawi] again at 6:15 p.m. when the decision was made to go ahead and strike that target," he added.

Zarqawi came from humble beginnings – a former street thug from Jordan. But he remained elusive despite several U.S. military offensives, a $25 million bounty on his head and the capture of what officials said were several of his aides.

...An Israeli security official told WND final information on Zarqawi's whereabouts came from Jordanian intelligence, saying Egyptian intelligence had the same information.

...Caldwell said important information was found at the location that led to 17 simultaneous raids later that night in Baghdad and its outskirts that uncovered a "treasure trove" of information...
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50559

New York Times Convicts Marines in Haditha
Edward I. Koch
June 7, 2006 Edward I. Koch, Democrat, author, lawyer and talk radio host, was a member of the U.S. Congress and, for 12 years, the 105th mayor of New York City. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/6/6/175458.shtml

Coulter: Zarqawi Dead, Bin Laden ‘Irrelevant’
June 8, 2006 ...Ann Coulter, author of the white-hot "Godless," turned her sights on events in Iraq during a Thursday visit to Fox News Channel’s "Cavuto on Business” where she commented on the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

"It is a great day for America, a great day for our troops, a day to be proud,” she said. "This is an amazing victory.”

..."It was almost like the way I would parody some liberals,” Coulter told show host Neil Cavuto. "We heard things like, ‘This is just going to encourage the cycle of violence’” [A comment from Michael Berg, father of Nicholas Berg, a contractor beheaded by al-Zarqawi]. Its funny how they [liberals] describe the war on terrorism in the most limited way possible – only as the pursuit of Osama bin Laden. He’s irrelevant now. He’s hiding in a cave. Al-Zarqawi was still killing people.”

Coulter said despite any hand-wringing liberals may have in America about this incident and the war as a whole, the killing of al-Zarqawi was a great event.

"The insurgency has been dealt an enormous blow,” she said, "so much more than if we had been served Osama’s head on a silver platter.”
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/6/8/175544.shtml?s=ic

Surprise: Old media downplay Zarqawi's death
Jun 9, 2006- Before you assume liberals are acting in good faith in casually dismissing the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as "symbolic," don't forget their endless carping about our failure to capture Osama bin Laden.

Zarqawi, Al Qaeda's lead commander in Iraq, was arguably more important to the terrorist movement these days than Osama, since the terrorists' primary focus has been on Iraq, pouring the lion's share of their energies and resources into preventing the Iraqi people from succeeding in their quest for liberty and constitutional self-rule.

These perennial critics aren't the least bit sincere. Before Saddam was captured they complained of our failure to bring him to justice. When he was captured, they downplayed the event.

Liberal bloggers are unnerved, realizing it will be difficult to spin Zarqawi's death to deny Bush and the American military credit. If they truly supported the troops, they wouldn't be investing one second strategizing over how to control damage to their miserable cause, but rejoicing in this American military triumph. But don't be too hard on these amateurs. They haven't been spinning as long as their mentors in the Old Media. Maybe they should take notes and learn some lessons.

As if to show the upstart bloggers how it's done, the Old Media were quick to issue disclaimers so that the great unwashed would not read too much into this event, as if we red-state, reality-challenged militarists might be operating under the misapprehension that Islamofascists are motivated to kill infidels solely because of their hero worship of a particular leader.

Newsbusters.org provides a number of examples of the media's lukewarm reception of the news. NPR's website hastened to caution that Zarqawi's death was symbolic and "may change little about the situation on the ground." Perhaps, but Zarqawi himself will not be orchestrating or performing any more beheadings or other murders, which will have more than symbolic significance to those Zarqawi would have murdered.

ABC's Diane Sawyer asked former White House adviser and Bush critic-at-large Richard Clarke whether Iraq was any safer and the war would end any sooner after Zarqawi's death. A glum Clarke said, "Well, unfortunately, the answer is no." He then said Zarqawi only commanded a few hundred people out of tens of thousands involved in the insurgency. Huh? Were the libs saying that before he was killed?

NBC's Tim Russert said the death would probably not "change things on the ground," noting that "foreign fighters are not the only threat that confront Iraq. There is this sectarian violence between the Sunnis and the Shiites, and that is separate above the killing of Zarqawi we're witnessing today."

Yes, Tim, but would it be too painful for you to acknowledge that one of Zarqawi's primary missions was to foment that sectarian violence? Indeed, the Washington Post just reported that, "The stated aim of Zarqawi, 39, in addition to ousting foreign forces from Iraq, was to foment bloody sectarian strife between his fellow Sunni Muslims and members of Iraq's Shiite majority … "

If Zarqawi's death doesn't impress you guys, how about the "treasure trove" of information about terror operations in Iraq that we acquired in 17 raids in and near Baghdad following the attack on Zarqawi? Is that symbolic?

How about the information that led to the attack, which U.S. Army Major Gen. William B. Caldwell IV said was acquired from within Zarqawi's network. Is that symbolic? Of course not, but the not-so-mainstream reporters found another angle from which to attack it. At today's White House press briefing, one reporter suggested that since Zarqawi was fingered by another terrorist, perhaps he wanted "to see Zarqawi dead so that [he] could move into the created vacuum." And they call us reality-challenged!

Similarly disappointing, though not surprising, was the reaction of not-very-hawkish-at-all Congressman John Murtha, D-Pa., whose destructive statements we have no right to challenge because of his military record. (See Ann Coulter's brand-new best seller, "Godless" on the infallibility and incontestability of certain liberal mouthpieces.)

Murtha admitted Zarqawi's killing was significant, but refused to concede to CNN's Carol Lin that it wouldn't have occurred if U.S. troops hadn't been on the ground in Iraq. He also used the occasion to complain about the monetary cost of our continued presence in Iraq and reiterated his claim that Iraq was engaged in a civil war of which Al Qaeda was only a small part. "I think they'll settle this themselves, just like we settled our civil war ourselves. … We've diverted ourselves from the real war on terrorism to the war in Iraq."

David<><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove

June 8, 2006

Special forces to use strap-on 'Batwings'

6th June 2006 A new way to get to work!http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=389357&in_page_id=1770

Data Theft Affected Most in Military

National Security Concerns Raised (Washington Post, June 7, 2006, Pg. 1)Social Security numbers and other personal information for as many as 2.2 million U.S. military personnel-including nearly 80 percent of the active-duty force-were among the data stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs analyst last month, federal officials said, raising concerns about national security as well as identity theft.

'Reality TV' Not So Real, Says ArticleJune 6, 2006(AgapePress) - It may be the fad that just won't die, and it may be highly popular among couch potatoes, but it seems that the one thing "Reality TV" isn't is, well, real.

An article in Time magazine revealed some of the tricks frequently employed on reality shows. For example, producers of ABC's "The Dating Experience" thought it would make for more interesting television if a female participant was perceived to like one of the male contestants, when in reality she did not.

How did the producers solve this problem? Time's James Poniewozik said: "So they sat her down for an interview. Who's your favorite celebrity? they asked. She replied that she really loved Adam Sandler. Later, in the editing room, they spliced out Sandler's name and dropped in audio of her saying the male contestant's name."

Apparently such tactics are a regular part of reality television. Poniewozik said the above example even has a name -- "Frankenbiting." The moniker comes from the fact that sound bites are "stitched together" to create a sentence that wasn't actually spoken by a participant.

Other tricks: fake settings are built, maybe an office or an apartment that gives the impression the contestants are at a real location; a "misleading montage," in which footage shot days apart is reassembled to create a more interesting story line; or even dubbing in sounds over a scene in which participants are off-screen, to suggest something that never really occurred -- like sex...

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/62006c.asp

Who's doctoring reality shows?

July 21, 2005- The word is "frankenbiting," and it's one of those delicious terms of art in the reality TV trade that means exactly what it implies: A producer on a show decides he or she doesn't like the way a particular taped interview went with a contestant, so "improvements" are made. A snip here, a snip there, a little highly selective editing, and -- presto! -- the "frankenbite" (as in "sound bite"), in which the contestant is made to say something that he didn't actually say.

...Certainly, no one should be shocked, shocked, to learn that there's some monkey business going on here. Moreover, no one should confuse "The Real Gilligan's Island" with, say, "Frontline." But reality fans might be surprised to learn just how much is, in fact, phony. And if this lawsuit goes to trial -- which is what the WGA/West wants -- they just might.

...Harmon "Todd" Sharp, who most recently was a "Bachelor" producer ...says shows like "The Bachelor" are indeed "scripted," and about the only thing that isn't piped is the dialogue -- although, he adds, "if you want a conversation to happen, and it's not happening, we might stop the camera and say, ', we need you to talk about something ... '"

Sharp, who is one of an estimated 1,000 reality TV "writers," says a typical 42-minute episode has to be culled from hundreds of hours of tapes, so it is up the to the "writer" to structure a story out of this mishmash. "One of the arguments I've heard is that they say we don't actually write down dialogue, but my response to that is that if a writer were hired to adapt a book to a screenplay and didn't write any dialogue, then he'd still be called a 'writer.' That's what I do -- set the structure and story arc ... "

...Sharp recalls an incident during a show he worked on called "The Dating Experiment," in which a female contestant despised a male contestant, whom she was supposed to like for purposes of the story. On camera, she was asked, "Who do you love?" and the answer was Adam Sandler. In the frankenbite, Sandler's name was dropped, and the hated contestant's name spliced in....http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-gay-realitydoctoring-0721,0,329167.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

How Reality TV Fakes It

Jan. 29, 2006 ...Granted, in the pantheon of shocking headlines, REALITY SHOWS MANIPULATED ranks with PORK RINDS FATTENING, RESEARCHERS SUSPECT. But even savvy viewers who realize that their favorite reality shows are cast, contrived and edited to be dramatic may have no idea how brazen the fudging can be. Quotes are manufactured, crushes and feuds constructed out of whole cloth, episodes planned in multiact "storyboards" before taping, scenes stitched together out of footage shot days apart.

And while we may have long suspected that a cast of camera-smitten future trivia answers can't really be that interesting without professional help, details of how these shows manipulate reality have begun leaking out--because of a dispute with the employees hired to do the jiggering. Those staff members--who create story lines, coach interview answers and cobble together video--say their work amounts to writing, and they are suing their networks and production companies, arguing that they deserve to be covered by the Writers Guild of America.

Their employers call them story editors, segment producers and so forth and don't recognize them as union employees. Those designations save money--Guild members have better pay, benefits and protections. But they also preserve an illusion: that the shows are authentic and true to life, free of anything close to "writing."

...Jeff Bartsch, a freelance reality-show editor...worked on Blind Date, a syndicated dating show that features hookups gone right--and comically wrong. If a date was dull or lukewarm, the editors would juice the footage by running scenes out of order or out of context. To make it seem like a man was bored, they would cut from his date talking to a shot of him looking around and unresponsive--even though it was taken while she was in the restroom and he was alone. "You can really take something black and make it white," Bartsch says.

...The first season of Laguna Beach, MTV's reality series about rich teens in Orange County, Calif., centered on a love triangle among two girls (LC and Kristin) and a boy (Stephen). The problem, says a story editor who asked not to be named, was that the triangle didn't exist. LC and Stephen, he says, were platonic friends, so the producers played Cupid through montage. LC "would say things about [Stephen] as a friend," says the editor. "[LC] said, 'I just love this guy.' All you have to do is cut to a shot of the girl, and suddenly she's jealous and grimacing."

...If reality participants think the enhancement amounts to a lie, they have little recourse, since they usually sign a thick stack of waivers. On The Amazing Race last year, Jonathan Baker savagely berated his wife Victoria Fuller and alienated fellow contestants and service workers around the globe. But Baker says his villainy was trumped up in the editing room. One episode showed him appearing to be kicked out of a cab after browbeating the driver. Really, Baker says, the driver had an accident and couldn't continue. "I got the worst rap of anyone in reality television ever," Baker says...

...Sarah Kozer, a contestant on the Fox dating show Joe Millionaire, says producers doctored a scene in which she went for a walk behind some trees with the show's bachelor, Evan Marriott, to make it seem as if they had oral sex. The producers added sound effects and captions, she says, and dubbed in a line--"It's better if we're lying down"--that she had said earlier in the day in a different context. "It couldn't have been more misrepresented and fictional if it had been completely scripted," she says. (Fox declined to respond.)...http://time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/printout/0,23657,1154194,00.html

Dixie Chicks tour struggling in several markets

Jun 7, 2006 NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Initial ticket sales for the Dixie Chicks' upcoming tour are far below expectations and several dates will likely be canceled or postoned.

Ticket counts for the 20-plus arena shows that went on sale last weekend were averaging 5,000-6,000 per show in major markets and less in secondaries, according to sources contacted by Billboard. Venue capacities on the tour generally top 15,000.

...early ticket sales are clearly not meeting projections. The plug was pulled on public on-sales for shows in Indianapolis (August 23), Oklahoma City (September 26), Memphis (September 27) and Houston (September 30) because of tepid pre-sales in a national promotion with Target stores.

The Memphis show has been pulled off the route and the status of the shows in Indianapolis, Houston and Oklahoma City remains uncertain. Industry speculation has it that much or all of the tour may be postponed. At the very least, it is likely routing and capacity will be reconfigured.

...After two shows in London, the North American tour was set to begin July 21 in Detroit. But with ticket sales below expectations, it is possible the route and capacities may be further reconfigured.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyid=2006-06-07T230808Z_01_N07224908_RTRUKOC_0_US-DIXIE.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

Record low temperatures set at Tallahassee and Apalachicola on Wednesday

(7 June 2006) A record low temperature of 54 degrees was set at Tallahassee Regional Airport yesterday. This breaks the old record of 57 set in 1991. The low temperature of 60 degrees at Apalachicola breaks the old record of 62 set in 1997.
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=32311#REC

Store owner, 81, shoots robbers

Three men were hospitalized — including a liquor store owner — after two men tried to rob him outside his store in the Shawnee neighborhood store late Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The liquor store owner shot them after they pistol-whipped him, said Officer Dwight Mitchell, a Louisville Metro Police spokesman.

None of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening, he said.

Police were called to Wilson’s Liquors, 3804 River Park Drive, just before 5 p.m. The owner was parking his car in a garage behind the business when the two men attacked him and tried to rob him, police said.

He then pulled a gun and shot at the two robbers, who ran off, Mitchell said.

...Police would not say how many times he shot the men or where they had been shot...Officers later found one suspect five doors down from the liquor store...The other suspect turned up at Jewish Hospital, Mitchell said.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060606/NEWS01/60606031/-1/rss

PG' rating mean 'Pro-God'
Narrow focus draws 'PG' rating for Baptist-backed film 07-JUN-06 The Motion Picture Association of America is crystal clear when it describes why its "PG" rating exists _ it's a warning flag.

"The theme of a PG-rated film may itself call for parental guidance," states the online explanation of the rating system. "There may be some profanity in these films. There may be some violence or brief nudity. ... The PG rating, suggesting parental guidance, is thus an alert for examination of a film by parents before deciding on its viewing by their children. Obviously such a line is difficult to draw."

Disagreements are a given. The Christian moviemakers behind a low-budget film called "Facing the Giants" were stunned when the MPAA pinned a PG rating on their gentle movie about a burned-out, depressed football coach whose life _ on and off the field _ takes a miraculous turn for the better.

"What the MPAA said is that the movie contained strong 'thematic elements' that might disturb some parents," said Kris Fuhr, vice president for marketing at Provident Films...

Which "thematic elements" earned this squeaky-clean movie its PG?

"Facing the Giants" is too evangelistic.

The MPAA, noted Fuhr, tends to offer cryptic explanations for its ratings. In this case, she was told that it "decided that the movie was heavily laden with messages from one religion and that this might offend people from other religions. It's important that they used the word 'proselytizing' when they talked about giving this movie a PG. ...

"It is kind of interesting that faith has joined that list of deadly sins that the MPAA board wants to warn parents to worry about."...the scene that caught the MPAA's attention may have been the chat between football coach Grant Taylor _ played by Alex Kendrick _ and a rich brat named Matt Prader. The coach says that he needs to stop bad-mouthing his bossy father and get right with God.

The boy replies: "You really believe in all that honoring God and following Jesus stuff? ... Well, I ain't trying to be disrespectful, but not everybody believes in that."

The coach replies: "Matt, nobody's forcing anything on you. Following Jesus Christ is the decision that you're going to have to make for yourself. You may not want to accept it, because it'll change your life. You'll never be the same."

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=RELIGION-FAITH-06-07-06

Obituary: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
The BBC Obit (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5058262.stm) does not mention al-Zarqawi was a Jordanian born "TERRORIST". They call him an "insurgent." CNN called him an “Iraqi insurgent” even though he is not an Iraqi.

When the news came out in the US the maim-stream press, who by the way had previously said al-Zarqawi was more important to get than bin-Laden and severely criticized the President for not getting him, tempered the news by stating this was just one man and won't likely impact the other (terrorist) organizations and might embolden his followers. They avoided the connection that nailing al-Zarqawi is like intercepting the football and running it in for a touchdown, it can be a huge momentum changer... DB

It was noted on FreeRepublic that when the news broke on Democratic Underground (the liberal version of conservative FreeRepublic), the posters immediately started wringing their hands and complaining about how this may help Bush ...DB

Al Zarqawi death “more important” than bin Laden’s: expertsKhaleej Times ^ 6/8/06 LONDON - Abu Musab Al Zarqawi’s death should be a cause for celebration across the entire Arab world and could be felt more keenly in the area than the death of Osama bin Laden, leading British academics said on Thursday.

Professor Paul Wilkinson, chairman of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrews University in Scotland, said: “I do not think any of the decent majority in the Arab world will mourn his passing.”

Michael Clarke, director of the International Policy Institute at King’s College London, said that because of the devotion Al Zarqawi inspired in his followers, his loss to Al Qaeda could be felt more keenly than the death of bin Laden.

Professor Clarke said: “If Osama is captured or killed, I would say it probably would not make much of a difference to the movement. But in the case of Zarqawi being killed, it is quite a big blow, which will not be felt immediately.”

Al Zarqawi appeared to have influence over 10,000 fighters, and had a “big handle on the Sunni and external elements. That will raise big questions for Al Qaeda”, said Clarke.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/June/theworld_June252.xml§ion=theworld&col=

"Canadian Mounties Always Get Their Man" says Rush Limbaugh
In Canada, mum's the word on marriage of gay MountiesThe Washington Post- TORONTO — It promises to be a grand June wedding, two scarlet-coated officers of the famed Royal Canadian Mounted Police standing before a justice of the peace with an escort of similarly spiffy Mounties observing the nuptials on the eve of Canada Day, a national holiday.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003044625_mounties07.html

Air America Deflates Despite Bush's SlideMay 4, 2006- Just past its second birthday, Air America, the Left’s great hope to defeat the Right in the talk radio wars, has no reason to celebrate.

Winter 2006 Arbitron ratings, leaked to Matt Drudge earlier this week and reported in greater detail by the invaluable Radio Equalizer blog, show Air America registering a weak 1.0 share in Los Angeles, an even tinier share in Chicago, and a catastrophic drop in New York City, where flagship station WLIB hemorrhaged nearly half its listenership over the last ratings period, falling from a mediocre 1.4 to a pathetic 0.8 share.

That’s smaller than the all-Caribbean format the network replaced when it first launched in New York and nowhere near the ratings of conservative heavyweights like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity in the city. Air America’s Gotham numbers are so dismal that WLIB is booting the network off the station later this summer, industry publication Mediaweek has just announced.

...even hard-core liberals (who make up only about one-fifth of the American electorate, it’s important to remember) must find Air America’s incessant and often moronic Bush bashing monotonous and unentertaining—the kiss of death for talk radio... liberals already have NPR—and for that matter, the New York Times, network newscasts, CNN, and most of the mainstream media. Conservative and libertarian voices dominate the radio dial because they offer a much-needed response to the liberal media mainstream. The Right has done well on cable television and in the blogosphere for the same reason. Air America, created and kept afloat by a handful of wealthy liberal financiers, meets no such market demand.

Even as Air America’s hosts snicker about President Bush’s plummeting approval ratings, the network seems destined to disappear from the radio dial before the president leaves the White House.

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=14577

Air America Crashes and Burns in Atlanta

Atlanta Journal constitution06/07/2006- Joe Weber, who recently purchased WWAA-AM/1690, will be migrating his eclectic music format from 1160 starting Monday June 12. 1690 has run liberal talk show syndicate Air America the past couple of years. Weber is planning to keep only Al Franken from noon to 3 p.m. He says his focus is on mornings and drivetime and by keeping Franken, he hopes to grab a few of those Air America fans. This does mean no more access to Rachel Maddow, Janeane Garafalo, Jerry Springer and Randi Rhodes unless you have XM Satellite radio or you can listen online....

Vet under fire for debarking neighbor's dog (I wonder if he makes house calls...)Muskogee veterinarian Dr. James Risch admits he impulsively neutered and de-barked his neighbor’s 10-week-old puppy, thinking it was a stray.

...Miller’s complaint states she had the puppy, Max, two days when Risch took it from her fenced-in yard and neutered it and de-barked it...

....Risch described de-barking as a ventriculocordectomy, which he said was a “simple procedure that reduces the volume of the bark but does not inhibit the dog’s ability to bark.”

http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060606/NEWS01/60606005/1002

Conn. City Evicts Residents With Eminent Domain

June 6, 2006- New London, Conn. city officials voted to evict two residents whose refusal to give up their riverfront houses helped lead to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling that governments may seize property for private development projects.

The City Council voted 5-2 in favor of eviction Monday. An attorney for the residents said they are considering continuing to fight.

...The city has been trying for a decade to redevelop the once-vibrant neighborhood at the point where the Thames River joins the sea. Seven homeowners challenged the city's plans to seize the property and build a hotel, convention center and upscale condominiums, saying eminent domain can't be used to make way for private development.

However, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last year to uphold the city's right to take the homes, saying municipalities have broad power to do so in favor of private development to generate tax revenue.

...Charles Frink, one of the two council members who voted against the plan, said supporters should admit their mistake.

"I can't accept a possible reduction in taxes by having neighbors thrown out of their property," he said. "This is morally abhorrent to me. I refuse to profit from my neighbor's pain."

http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/6/6/132848.shtml?s=ic

New Orleans' Chief Backs Down on Gun Grab

June 6, 2006- Within two hours of an announcement that the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) was calling for a Justice Department investigation of New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley’s plan to confiscate guns again if a major storm hits the city this year, SAF learned that Riley has backed off.

"Somehow,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, "I don’t believe this is a coincidence. Earlier this year, as our attorneys were about to enter a motion for contempt against Riley and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in federal court, the city finally admitted that it did have hundreds of seized firearms in its possession. That came after months of denial the city had taken guns from anybody.

"Now, days after Riley told a New Orleans radio station that he was planning another gun grab,” Gottlieb continued, "we have him suddenly back pedaling almost immediately after we announce our complaint to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales...

"For months, we and the National Rifle Association, who was our partner in the lawsuit against the city, were stonewalled, ignored and lied to about the post-Katrina gun confiscations,” Gottlieb said....http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/6/6/205657.shtml?s=ic

Smashing media myths

Dr. Walter E. Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. June 7, 2006Read article at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50535

A Convenient Pack of Lies (Re: Al Gore)

June 8, 2006 http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=22828

Expert Thinks Evangelicalism Could End Chinese Communism

(AgapePress) - An American anti-Communist activist says he is encouraged by a recent report that after years of atheism, the Chinese people are returning to religion. He believes that is going to be an increasing problem for the Chinese Communist Party.

D.J. McGuire is president of the China Support Network and the China E-Lobby. He says a recent article in the Chinese newspaper, the Epoch Times, points out that years of Communist rule has not brought the Chinese people satisfaction or spiritual transcendence, with the result that many are turning elsewhere to fill the void.

"The Chinese people are suffering a crisis of faith," McGuire contends. "As one would expect, Maoism has not brought them fulfillment of any kind. They're now relying on radical nationalism, the CCP is, in order to survive, and that's exactly the sort of thing that only works temporarily."

But while the Communist regime looks to nationalistic fervor for salvation, the activist says the Chinese people are returning to the very thing the government fears -- religion. "What we now see is a people, the Chinese people, crying out for faith, crying out for fulfillment," he explains. "And they're finding it, increasingly, in Christianity."

The more Christianity spreads, McGuire asserts, "and the farther and deeper that spreads, the more treacherous it is for the Chinese Communist Party." He says this is because there is something fundamentally different about the Christian church.

"What makes Christianity different," the head of the China Support Network notes, "in particular evangelical Christianity -- and I say this as someone who was born and raised Catholic -- [is that] evangelical Christianity is connected but it's decentralized, which makes it much harder for the communists to stamp out and remove."

Other religious communities, such as Falun Gong and Roman Catholicism, are more centralized, McGuire points out. "And that is why I think the rise of evangelical Christianity is one of the things that will lead to the end of the Chinese Communist regime."

Because of the structure of China's underground Christian church in cells or house church communities rather than a centralized "head" that can be easily cut off, McGuire says he believes evangelical Christianity will eventually lead to the end of Communist Party rule in China. He believes this is one reason why the Communist Chinese regime is so afraid of the church.
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/religiontoday/1400326.html

But Canada's Not in Iraq and That Causes Terrorism, Right? (observation by Rush)

Terrorists Wanted to Behead Canadian PM, Jun. 7, 2006- The terrorism suspect who allegedly plotted to behead the Prime Minister was a Canadian soldier for four years and likely received weapons training. (ah...it's the military's fault)
...Chand, who later converted to Islam and went by the name Abdul Shakur, is charged with belonging to a terrorist group, receiving training and recruiting or training others to participate in terrorist activity. The charges partly involve allegations that Chand and eight other suspects spent five days last winter in a remote field in Washago, Ont., to participate in terrorist training.

...Chand was one of 17 suspects arrested Friday and Saturday as part of a massive police raid. They are accused of being members of an alleged homegrown terrorist cell, plotting attacks in Canada...

...Chand's lawyer, Gary Batasar, stunned the courtroom by revealing that his client and the 16 others are accused of being involved in a "detailed terrorist plot," which included plans to storm the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, take political hostages, harm hostages if Canadian troops did not withdraw from Afghanistan, and to attack media outlets including the CBC.

Relying on a synopsis provided by government lawyers, Batasar indicated that Chand was also alleged as a suspect "likely to behead Prime Minister Stephen Harper."

...Sometime after leaving the military, Chand began hanging out near the Salaheddin Islamic Centre in Scarborough, playing sports with some of the youths and becoming interested in Islam, the centre's imam, Aly Hindy, said yesterday...http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1149630613348&call_pageid=968332188492
David<><
http://freewill-predestination.com/
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove/