Seattle Times
November 15, 2006
In what could well be the sleaziest, and certainly the strangest, documentary in the history of television, O.J. Simpson has agreed to a Fox TV interview in which he will discuss how he murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman 12 years ago — if, that is, he had actually murdered them.
Done rubbing your eyes?
Good, because there's more. Simpson will be interviewed by Judith Regan, the founder and chief executive of ReganBooks, which will publish Simpson's "If I Did It" on Nov. 30. ReganBooks is an imprint of HarperCollins, owned by News Corp., parent of Fox.
The interview — "O.J. Simpson: If I Did It Here's How It Happened" — will air Nov. 27 and 29, just before the book goes on sale.
"This is an interview that no one thought would ever happen," said Mike Darnell, Fox chief of reality programs.
Simpson was paid a reported $3.5 million for the book, according to the National Enquirer, which first reported its existence last month.
Not much is known about the book or the interview; ReganBooks hasn't yet posted a description on its Web site, although the Enquirer piece noted that Simpson's account of the murders is "so detailed and so chillingly realistic" readers will likely come to the conclusion that Simpson committed the crimes.
Simpson was acquitted in 1995 after the criminal trial but later found liable for the deaths in a civil trial and ordered to pay $33.5 million to the victims' families.
November 15, 2006
November 14, 2006
The Devil Made Me Do It
Newsday.com
November 14, 2006
A mother has told police she killed her 9-year-old son in their Brooklyn home after being overtaken by 'demons,' police said Tuesday. After allegedly smothering the boy on Monday afternoon, the woman apparently tried to kill herself by throwing herself in front a subway train, but survived. Police withheld her name.
The mother told investigators that the trouble began when a birthday celebration for her son didn't turn out as he expected, police said. Apparently the boy expected food and friends at the party, but there was no food and friends didn't show up.
She said as her son became upset, 'demons overtook her' and she 'smothered the boy with a pillow,' Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at a new conference.
At about 4:30 p.m., after calling the boy's father and telling him he needed to go home, the woman jumped in front of the subway train in a Coney Island station, police said. She was hospitalized with a broken leg and severed fingers.
The father discovered the child's body about 30 minutes later inside their third-floor apartment in the Crown Heights section, police said.
November 14, 2006
A mother has told police she killed her 9-year-old son in their Brooklyn home after being overtaken by 'demons,' police said Tuesday. After allegedly smothering the boy on Monday afternoon, the woman apparently tried to kill herself by throwing herself in front a subway train, but survived. Police withheld her name.
The mother told investigators that the trouble began when a birthday celebration for her son didn't turn out as he expected, police said. Apparently the boy expected food and friends at the party, but there was no food and friends didn't show up.
She said as her son became upset, 'demons overtook her' and she 'smothered the boy with a pillow,' Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at a new conference.
At about 4:30 p.m., after calling the boy's father and telling him he needed to go home, the woman jumped in front of the subway train in a Coney Island station, police said. She was hospitalized with a broken leg and severed fingers.
The father discovered the child's body about 30 minutes later inside their third-floor apartment in the Crown Heights section, police said.
Church Backs Euthenasia for Crippled Infants
The Daily Mail
November 12, 2006
The Church of England has broken with tradition dogma by calling for doctors to be allowed to let sick newborn babies die.
Christians have long argued that life should preserved at all costs - but a bishop representing the national church has now sparked controversy by arguing that there are occasions when it is compassionate to leave a severely disabled child to die.
And the Bishop of Southwark, Tom Butler, who is the vice chair of the Church of England's Mission and Public Affairs Council, has also argued that the high financial cost of keeping desperately ill babies alive should be a factor in life or death decisions.
The shock new policy from the church has caused outrage among the disabled.
November 12, 2006
The Church of England has broken with tradition dogma by calling for doctors to be allowed to let sick newborn babies die.
Christians have long argued that life should preserved at all costs - but a bishop representing the national church has now sparked controversy by arguing that there are occasions when it is compassionate to leave a severely disabled child to die.
And the Bishop of Southwark, Tom Butler, who is the vice chair of the Church of England's Mission and Public Affairs Council, has also argued that the high financial cost of keeping desperately ill babies alive should be a factor in life or death decisions.
The shock new policy from the church has caused outrage among the disabled.
November 13, 2006
Bush Revives Espionage Act
Village Voice
by Nat Hentoff
November 10th, 2006
Not many Americans know about this trial, slated for next January, that could result in future government suppression of news stories—based on classified information—suchas The Washington Post's reports by Dana Priest of CIA secret prisons in Europe and the James Risen–Eric Lichtblau New York Times revelations on the National Security Agency's secret, warrantless spying on Americans.
The defendants, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, are former and dismissed staff members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the leading pro-Israel lobbying organization.
They are accused by the Justice Department of having received classified information from a Defense Department analyst, Lawrence Anthony Franklin, who has since pleaded guilty and been sentenced to prison. Rosen and Weissman are charged with giving the information to an Israeli diplomat—and to a journalist.
"There's little difference between what the defendants are charged with and what reporters and advocates do day-to-day," says Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy. Aftergood says a conviction would put this nation far along the path to having its own Open Secrets law, the British measure that bars public interest as a defense for revealing classified information. "That would mean a fundamental transformation of the American government," he continues. "Retreating from freedom of the press would mean surrender of the principles of self-rule as the best form of government." [Read More]
by Nat Hentoff
November 10th, 2006
Not many Americans know about this trial, slated for next January, that could result in future government suppression of news stories—based on classified information—suchas The Washington Post's reports by Dana Priest of CIA secret prisons in Europe and the James Risen–Eric Lichtblau New York Times revelations on the National Security Agency's secret, warrantless spying on Americans.
The defendants, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, are former and dismissed staff members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the leading pro-Israel lobbying organization.
They are accused by the Justice Department of having received classified information from a Defense Department analyst, Lawrence Anthony Franklin, who has since pleaded guilty and been sentenced to prison. Rosen and Weissman are charged with giving the information to an Israeli diplomat—and to a journalist.
"There's little difference between what the defendants are charged with and what reporters and advocates do day-to-day," says Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy. Aftergood says a conviction would put this nation far along the path to having its own Open Secrets law, the British measure that bars public interest as a defense for revealing classified information. "That would mean a fundamental transformation of the American government," he continues. "Retreating from freedom of the press would mean surrender of the principles of self-rule as the best form of government." [Read More]
November 12, 2006
America Gets Real...
Times Online
November 12, 2006
The world believes that a new America was born last week. At the flick of a democratic switch out went the wild, warmongering, fundamentalist neocons. Out went the xenophobic fanatics who believe that allies are wimps, that Arabs should be tortured and that dinosaurs inhabited the Ark. European is no longer an American term of abuse and vice versa. Liberals walk free down Fifth Avenue and eat french fries. In short, the great American polity is sane again.
Anyone who criticises America knows that it is among the world’s most paranoid nations. But nothing has more irritated many Americans this past six years than that the world should identify them with George W Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. I once attributed responsibility for Iraq to “America” and was deluged with complaints that the fault lay in Washington, with the Republicans, with the White House, then with the Pentagon, until I was told kindly to restrict my criticism to “Cheney and Rumsfeld”.
Nor have all Americans opposed abortion, homosexuality, stem cell research and evolution, let alone supported Pastor Ted Haggard, extraordinary rendition and biblical truth. As of last Tuesday, Bush’s reincarnation of the Ugly American may be dead, but not all Americans were that ugly nor are all ugly Americans that dead.
Since 9/11 the devil of the apocalypse in American politics has had the best tunes. There is nothing as useful to an insecure leader as fear. But it yielded no consensus. The last two presidential elections were a sign not of a homogeneous America but of a divided one. A bare majority (in 2000 a minority) supported Bush not just because they liked his fundamentalism but because his opponents were unconvincing and his organisation superb.
Nor are all this week’s “neo-Democrats” born-again liberals — far from it.
The election was a clear referendum on six years of Republican rule in Washington, but humility should guide any response to an American election.
A nation does not change its political culture overnight and America is the size of a continent. Reading this election would be like reading a European one in which, God forbid, voters were spread across Andalusia, Bavaria, Sicily and Wales.
The best available guide is the exit polls. Any midterm vote is conditioned by anti-incumbent, anti-Washington sentiment. After 12 years of a Republican Congress that failed to bring either Bill Clinton or Bush to book, outsiders might conclude that the American constitution of checks and balances needs reform. A flurry of scandals during the campaign capped a widespread aversion to the corruption of Bush’s Washington and a sense that something must be done about public spending that has risen faster under Bush than under any president since Johnson. [Read More]
November 12, 2006
The world believes that a new America was born last week. At the flick of a democratic switch out went the wild, warmongering, fundamentalist neocons. Out went the xenophobic fanatics who believe that allies are wimps, that Arabs should be tortured and that dinosaurs inhabited the Ark. European is no longer an American term of abuse and vice versa. Liberals walk free down Fifth Avenue and eat french fries. In short, the great American polity is sane again.
Anyone who criticises America knows that it is among the world’s most paranoid nations. But nothing has more irritated many Americans this past six years than that the world should identify them with George W Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. I once attributed responsibility for Iraq to “America” and was deluged with complaints that the fault lay in Washington, with the Republicans, with the White House, then with the Pentagon, until I was told kindly to restrict my criticism to “Cheney and Rumsfeld”.
Nor have all Americans opposed abortion, homosexuality, stem cell research and evolution, let alone supported Pastor Ted Haggard, extraordinary rendition and biblical truth. As of last Tuesday, Bush’s reincarnation of the Ugly American may be dead, but not all Americans were that ugly nor are all ugly Americans that dead.
Since 9/11 the devil of the apocalypse in American politics has had the best tunes. There is nothing as useful to an insecure leader as fear. But it yielded no consensus. The last two presidential elections were a sign not of a homogeneous America but of a divided one. A bare majority (in 2000 a minority) supported Bush not just because they liked his fundamentalism but because his opponents were unconvincing and his organisation superb.
Nor are all this week’s “neo-Democrats” born-again liberals — far from it.
The election was a clear referendum on six years of Republican rule in Washington, but humility should guide any response to an American election.
A nation does not change its political culture overnight and America is the size of a continent. Reading this election would be like reading a European one in which, God forbid, voters were spread across Andalusia, Bavaria, Sicily and Wales.
The best available guide is the exit polls. Any midterm vote is conditioned by anti-incumbent, anti-Washington sentiment. After 12 years of a Republican Congress that failed to bring either Bill Clinton or Bush to book, outsiders might conclude that the American constitution of checks and balances needs reform. A flurry of scandals during the campaign capped a widespread aversion to the corruption of Bush’s Washington and a sense that something must be done about public spending that has risen faster under Bush than under any president since Johnson. [Read More]
House Resolution 4752
Library of Congress
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
H.R. 4752
To provide for the common defense by requiring all persons in the United States, including women, between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes. [Read More]
Looks like they're going to bring back the draft...
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
H.R. 4752
To provide for the common defense by requiring all persons in the United States, including women, between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes. [Read More]
Looks like they're going to bring back the draft...
November 11, 2006
UK MoD Warns Of ET Invasion Danger
Daily Mail
November 10, 2006
UFO sightings and alien visitors tend to be solely the reserve of sci-fi movies. So when a former MoD chief warns that the country could be attacked by extraterrestrials at any time, you may be forgiven for feeling a little alarmed. During his time as head of the Ministry of Defence UFO project, Nick Pope was persuaded into believing that other lifeforms may visit Earth and, more specifically, Britain.
His concern is that "highly credible" sightings are simply dismissed. And he complains that the project he once ran is now "virtually closed" down, leaving the country "wide open" to aliens. Mr Pope decided to speak out about his worries after resigning from his post at the Directorate of Defence Security at the MoD this week.
"The consequences of getting this one wrong could be huge," he said. "If you reported a UFO sighting now, I am absolutely sure that you would just get back a standard letter telling you not to worry. ''Frankly we are wide open - if something does not behave like a conventional aircraft now, it will be ignored. "The X-Files have been closed down." If these words had come from a sci-fi fanatic, they could be easily dismissed by cynics. But Mr Pope's CV - he was head of the UFO project between 1991 and 1994 - cannot be ignored.
When he began his job, he too was sceptical about UFOs but access to classified files on the subject and investigation of a series of spectacular UFO sightings gradually changed his mind. And while Mr Pope says that there is no evidence of hostile intent, he insists it cannot be ruled out. "There has got to be the potential for that and one is left with the uneasy feeling that if it turned out to be so, there is very little we could do about it," he said. "If you believe these things are extra terrestrial craft then you cannot rule out that what is happening is some kind of covert reconnaissance." [Read More]
November 10, 2006
UFO sightings and alien visitors tend to be solely the reserve of sci-fi movies. So when a former MoD chief warns that the country could be attacked by extraterrestrials at any time, you may be forgiven for feeling a little alarmed. During his time as head of the Ministry of Defence UFO project, Nick Pope was persuaded into believing that other lifeforms may visit Earth and, more specifically, Britain.
His concern is that "highly credible" sightings are simply dismissed. And he complains that the project he once ran is now "virtually closed" down, leaving the country "wide open" to aliens. Mr Pope decided to speak out about his worries after resigning from his post at the Directorate of Defence Security at the MoD this week.
"The consequences of getting this one wrong could be huge," he said. "If you reported a UFO sighting now, I am absolutely sure that you would just get back a standard letter telling you not to worry. ''Frankly we are wide open - if something does not behave like a conventional aircraft now, it will be ignored. "The X-Files have been closed down." If these words had come from a sci-fi fanatic, they could be easily dismissed by cynics. But Mr Pope's CV - he was head of the UFO project between 1991 and 1994 - cannot be ignored.
When he began his job, he too was sceptical about UFOs but access to classified files on the subject and investigation of a series of spectacular UFO sightings gradually changed his mind. And while Mr Pope says that there is no evidence of hostile intent, he insists it cannot be ruled out. "There has got to be the potential for that and one is left with the uneasy feeling that if it turned out to be so, there is very little we could do about it," he said. "If you believe these things are extra terrestrial craft then you cannot rule out that what is happening is some kind of covert reconnaissance." [Read More]
November 10, 2006
November 08, 2006
Nancy Pelosi's Tough New Rules
CBC.ca
November 8, 2006
No House member may accept any gift of any value from lobbyists, or any firm or association that hires lobbyists. No free travel.
House members will no longer be able to slip in special-interest projects on unrelated legislation. Further, all bills will be made available to the public a full 24 hours before a final vote.
Under the Pelosi rules, lobbyists will no longer be able to use the House gym (you'd be surprised how much gets negotiated in a sauna). Lobbyists will no longer be allowed onto the House floor or to use the cloakrooms just off the floor, preventing last-minute arm-twisting.
What's more, no member or staffer will be able to negotiate for employment in the public sector without disclosing such contacts to the House Ethics Committee, and within three days of such contact being made.
Finally, all of this will be audited and investigated by a new Office of Public Integrity, and that office reports, directly and only, to the U.S. Attorneys Office. [Read More]
November 8, 2006
No House member may accept any gift of any value from lobbyists, or any firm or association that hires lobbyists. No free travel.
House members will no longer be able to slip in special-interest projects on unrelated legislation. Further, all bills will be made available to the public a full 24 hours before a final vote.
Under the Pelosi rules, lobbyists will no longer be able to use the House gym (you'd be surprised how much gets negotiated in a sauna). Lobbyists will no longer be allowed onto the House floor or to use the cloakrooms just off the floor, preventing last-minute arm-twisting.
What's more, no member or staffer will be able to negotiate for employment in the public sector without disclosing such contacts to the House Ethics Committee, and within three days of such contact being made.
Finally, all of this will be audited and investigated by a new Office of Public Integrity, and that office reports, directly and only, to the U.S. Attorneys Office. [Read More]
Snake-Handling Christian Dies Of Snake Bite
FOXNews.com
November 8, 2006
A southeastern Kentucky woman was bitten by a snake during a church service and later died, a law enforcement officer said. Linda Long, 48, of London died Sunday at University of Kentucky Medical Center, said Brad Mitchell, a detective with the Laurel County Sheriff's Office. Long died about four hours after the bite was reported, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
Officials said Long attended East London Holiness Church. Neighbors of the church told the newspaper the church practices serpent handling. Lt. Ed Sizemore of the Laurel County Sheriff's Office said friends went with Long to a local hospital Sunday afternoon, and she was taken to UK. "She said she was bitten by a snake at her church," Sizemore said.
Handling reptiles as part of religious services is illegal in Kentucky. Snake handling is a misdemeanor and punishable by a $50 to $100 fine. Police said they had not received reports about snake handling at the church. Snake handling is based on a passage in the Bible, in the Gospel of Mark, that says a sign of a true believer is the power to "take up serpents" without being harmed.
Church officials could not be reached for comment.
November 8, 2006
A southeastern Kentucky woman was bitten by a snake during a church service and later died, a law enforcement officer said. Linda Long, 48, of London died Sunday at University of Kentucky Medical Center, said Brad Mitchell, a detective with the Laurel County Sheriff's Office. Long died about four hours after the bite was reported, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
Officials said Long attended East London Holiness Church. Neighbors of the church told the newspaper the church practices serpent handling. Lt. Ed Sizemore of the Laurel County Sheriff's Office said friends went with Long to a local hospital Sunday afternoon, and she was taken to UK. "She said she was bitten by a snake at her church," Sizemore said.
Handling reptiles as part of religious services is illegal in Kentucky. Snake handling is a misdemeanor and punishable by a $50 to $100 fine. Police said they had not received reports about snake handling at the church. Snake handling is based on a passage in the Bible, in the Gospel of Mark, that says a sign of a true believer is the power to "take up serpents" without being harmed.
Church officials could not be reached for comment.
November 05, 2006
Evangelical Church Dumps Gay Leader
CTV.ca
November 3, 2006
The church of a top U.S. evangelical pastor embroiled in a sex scandal has dismissed him after its investigative board found him guilty of inappropriate sexual acts.
Their statement confirmed that "we, the Overseer Board of New Life church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard. Our investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct."
Ted Haggard, who is 50 years old and married with five children, is also the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). The NAE is an umbrella group that claims a membership of 45,000 conservative yet very diverse churches. Pastor Haggard was an outspoken opponent of gay marriage and has been a person of political influence among American political conservatives, with regular access to President George W. Bush.
November 3, 2006
The church of a top U.S. evangelical pastor embroiled in a sex scandal has dismissed him after its investigative board found him guilty of inappropriate sexual acts.
Their statement confirmed that "we, the Overseer Board of New Life church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard. Our investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct."
Ted Haggard, who is 50 years old and married with five children, is also the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). The NAE is an umbrella group that claims a membership of 45,000 conservative yet very diverse churches. Pastor Haggard was an outspoken opponent of gay marriage and has been a person of political influence among American political conservatives, with regular access to President George W. Bush.
November 02, 2006
Homosexual Evangelical Leader Resigns
Myrtle Beach Online
November 2, 2006
The Rev. Ted Haggard, senior pastor at New Life Church, resigned Thursday as president of the 30-million-member National Association of Evangelicals, following allegations he paid a Denver man for sex over the past three years. He also placed himself on administrative leave from New Life Church, pending an investigation of Jones' claims, a move church officials said is standard after allegations of impropriety.
A man who identified himself as Mike Jones, 49, of Denver told The Associated Press Thursday that he has voicemails from Haggard as well as an envelope he said Haggard used to mail him cash. Jones declined to make any of that available to the AP. "There's some stuff on there (the voice mails) that's pretty damning," he said.
Jones alleged on Wednesday he and Haggard had a three-year relationship. Jones told his story to a KHOW radio in Denver and to KUSA. Jones told The Associated Press that Haggard paid him to have sex nearly every month. Jones said he had advertised himself as an escort on the Internet and that a man who called himself Art contacted him. Jones said he later saw the man on television identified as Haggard. He said he last had sex with Haggard in August. He said he did not warn him before making his allegations public this week.
November 2, 2006
The Rev. Ted Haggard, senior pastor at New Life Church, resigned Thursday as president of the 30-million-member National Association of Evangelicals, following allegations he paid a Denver man for sex over the past three years. He also placed himself on administrative leave from New Life Church, pending an investigation of Jones' claims, a move church officials said is standard after allegations of impropriety.
A man who identified himself as Mike Jones, 49, of Denver told The Associated Press Thursday that he has voicemails from Haggard as well as an envelope he said Haggard used to mail him cash. Jones declined to make any of that available to the AP. "There's some stuff on there (the voice mails) that's pretty damning," he said.
Jones alleged on Wednesday he and Haggard had a three-year relationship. Jones told his story to a KHOW radio in Denver and to KUSA. Jones told The Associated Press that Haggard paid him to have sex nearly every month. Jones said he had advertised himself as an escort on the Internet and that a man who called himself Art contacted him. Jones said he later saw the man on television identified as Haggard. He said he last had sex with Haggard in August. He said he did not warn him before making his allegations public this week.
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