By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Writer – Wed Oct 28, 8:35 am ET
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A former cashier for The Home Depot who has been wearing a "One nation under God" button on his work apron for more than a year has been fired, he says because of the religious reference. The company claims that expressing such personal beliefs is simply not allowed.
"I've worn it for well over a year and I support my country and God," Trevor Keezor said Tuesday. "I was just doing what I think every American should do, just love my country."
The American flag button Keezer wore in the Florida store since March 2008 says "One nation under God, indivisible."
Earlier this month, he began bringing a Bible to read during his lunch break at the store in the rural town of Okeechobee, about 140 miles north of Miami. That's when he says The Home Depot management told him he would have to remove the button.
Keezer refused, and he was fired on Oct. 23, he said.
"It feels kind of like a punishment, like I was punished for just loving my country," Keezer said.
A Home Depot spokesman said Keezer was fired because he violated the company's dress code.
"This associate chose to wear a button that expressed his religious beliefs. The issue is not whether or not we agree with the message on the button," Craig Fishel said. "That's not our place to say, which is exactly why we have a blanket policy, which is long-standing and well-communicated to our associates, that only company-provided pins and badges can be worn on our aprons."
Fishel said Keezer was offered a company-approved pin that said, "United We Stand," but he declined.
Keezer's lawyer, Kara Skorupa, said she planned to sue the Atlanta-based company.
"There are federal and state laws that protect against religious discrimination," Skorupa said. "It's not like he was out in the aisles preaching to people."
Keezer said he was working at the store to earn money for college, and wore the button to support his country and his 27-year-old brother, who is in the National Guard and is set to report in December for a second tour of duty in Iraq.
Skorupa noted the slogan on Keezer's pin is straight from the Pledge of Allegiance.
"These mottos and sayings that involve God, that's part of our country and historical fabric," Skorupa said. "In God we trust is on our money."
Michael Masinter, a civil rights and employment law professor at NOVA Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, said any lawsuit over religious discrimination might be a tough one to win.
"Because it's a private business, not one that's owned and operated by the government, it doesn't have to operate under the free speech provisions of the First Amendment," Masinter said.
"But we're not talking about religious displays here," he said. "This sounds more like a political message ... Wearing a button of that sort would not easily be described as a traditional form of religious expression like wearing a cross or wearing a yarmulke."
Nothing could be more threatening to our liberty than this meeting in Copenhagen and this treaty Obama will sign. You can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines and let a few of us try to awaken the masses. This is your duty as an American and if you fail you will have basically allowed everything you claim to love and respect to vanish. Once we are under this treaty, everything as you know it today will be gone. Free enterprise and the right of freedom will be extinct!
This is the high definition of Lord Monckton’s 1 hour 30 minute speech. The last five minutes is when he divulges the One World Government which will occur in December 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watc... I suggest you watch the entire video if you can and if you cannot..the last five minutes I posted with this article
(People.com) -- Now that he's finally in the body he always felt he belonged in, Chaz Bono said he's enjoying something that took decades to accomplish.
"It's a long process going back almost a decade," Bono, formerly known as Chastity, told, Entertainment Tonight in an interview airing Thursday and Friday. "I got clean and sober in 2004 and I couldn't have done this before that."
Born the daughter of Cher and Sonny Bono, Chaz, 40, has been undergoing a female-to-male sex change since March, a process that has already had significant physical changes on his body.
"It lowered my voice," he said. "Fat redistributes, muscle growth, hair growth, sex drive increases."
One thing that didn't need changing: His mental and emotional concept of himself as fundamentally male.
People.com: Cher 'will support' Chaz's sex change
"I always felt like the male from the time I was a child," he said. "There wasn't much feminine about me."
"I believe that gender is something between your ears, not between your legs. That is something I discovered in the early '90s. It was just a long process of being comfortable enough to do something about it."
It was turning the milestone age of 40 that spurred him to action.
"I was turning 40 and I thought it's now or never. I want to still feel vibrant and be able to enjoy my life in a male body and not wait until I am an old man."
(CNN) -- Those who knew Canadian folk musician Taylor Mitchell say her passion for her craft was matched by her affinity for nature.
Fresh out of high school, she embarked upon a three-week tour of Eastern Canada earlier this month full of hope over her blossoming career and excited to explore the region with a new car and driver's license.
The 19-year-old rising star was in between gigs when, according to a Nova Scotia Cape Breton Highlands National Park official, she was killed by coyotes during a hike on Tuesday afternoon.
"If there can be any comfort at all, it is knowing that Taylor was doing two of the things she loved most, sharing story and song on the road and spending time in nature's fold," her manager, Lisa Weitz said in an e-mail. "She loved the woods and had a deep affinity for their beauty and serenity."
Mitchell was a "seasoned naturalist" well versed in wilderness camping who wouldn't want the coyotes responsible for her death to be killed, her mother said Thursday.
"When the decision had been made to kill the pack of coyotes, I clearly heard Taylor's voice say, 'please don't, this is their space.' She wouldn't have wanted their demise, especially as a result of her own. She was passionate about animals, was an environmentalist and was also planning to volunteer at the Toronto Wildlife Centre in the coming months," Emily Mitchell said in a statement Thursday.
"Tragically, it was her time to be taken from us so soon," the mother said.
When she was 15, Mitchell began vocal lessons with her future producer, Michael Johnston.
"Taylor inspired and impressed everyone from her musical peers to members of the Canadian roots-music community who were two and three times her age," he said in a statement.
"They saw in her the rarest of the gifts -- an ability to sing not only from the heart, but in a way that transcended her age and experience and became something universal."
The Toronto-based musician's career began to take off earlier this year after the April release of her debut album, "For Your Consideration."
She was nominated for Young Performer of the Year honors by the Canadian Folk Music Awards, which will be awarded in November.
On her Facebook page, she detailed her busy summer performance schedule, describing it as her "craziest summer yet."
In July, she said she took a Greyhound bus to perform in the Young Performers Program at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, her first show west of Ontario, which featured acts including Arlo Guthrie, Neko Case and Elvis Costello.
She played more shows in the Toronto area, relishing the airplay her album was receiving, and worked on songs for her next album, Weitz said.
Yet she managed to return to nature with her aunt, mother and best friend at the family cottage in Owen Sound, Ontario, delighting in its simple joys.
"Our cottage is on the shores of Georgian bay. It's 125 years old with three bedrooms that sleep two and one bedroom that sleeps four, plus a bunkhouse. It's old and creaky and absolutely beautiful. As I sit on my couch in my apartment, I'm homesick for the precariously slanted stairs, tennis courts, lake and wonderful memories," Mitchell said on her Facebook page.
Before she set out eastward for her tour of the Maritimes, she shared her works in progress at the Ontario Council of Folk Music conference in Ottawa, impressing all those in attendance, Weitz said.
"Taylor Mitchell's vocal style and consummate songwriting craft belied her vernal years. Indeed, her songs told the tales of a seeker, a sojourner with a sage wisdom atypical of most, let alone one of such tender years," Weitz said.
On her Facebook page, she had begun counting down the days to her East Coast tour in September, saying in a September 18 status update that she was "feeling the pull of the road."
In her last post on the site, she described playing a show in someone's home, calling it "a welcome dose of normality after a whirlwind weekend" at the Ontario Council of Folk Music.
Those closest to her said they'll derive inspiration from her passion for life.
"Taylor was my shining light, my baby, my confidante and best friend," her mother said. "I don't know how to move forward from here but I know that she would want that for me, and I will try to do that in her memory and celebrate her life in the way she lived it -- with passion, commitment and an unbridled loving heart."
By Emanuella Grinberg, CNN
October 30, 2009 4:14 p.m. EDT
Will Rogers, who died in a plane crash with Wylie Post in 1935
Enjoy the following:
1. Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.
2. Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
3. There are 2 theories to arguing with a woman...neither works.
4. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
5. Always drink upstream from the herd.
6. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
7. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back in your pocket.
8. There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.
9. Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
10. If you're riding' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.
11. Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back.
12. After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral:
When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.
ABOUT GROWING OLDER...
First ~ Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.
Second ~ The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.
Third ~ Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know "why" I look this way. I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved.
Fourth ~ When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.
Fifth ~ You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.
Sixth ~ I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.
Seventh ~ One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young.
Eighth ~ One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.
Ninth ~ Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.
Tenth ~ Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it's called golf
And finally ~ If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh at when you are old.
One dark and stormy evening, Spanish neurologist Juan Gomez-Alonso was watching a vampire movie when he realized something strange; he noticed that vampires behave an awful lot like people with rabies. The virus attacks the central nervous system, altering the moods and behaviors of those infected. Sufferers become agitated and demented, and, much like vampires, their moods can turn violent.
Rabies has several more vampire-like symptoms. It can cause insomnia, which explains the nocturnal portion of the legend. People with rabies also suffer from muscular spasms, which can lead them to spit up blood. What’s stunning is the fact that these spasms are triggered by bright lights, water, mirrors, and strong smells, such as the scent of garlic. (Sound Familiar?)
After watching the Dracula movies a few more times, Dr. Gomez Alonso felt compelled to continue studying vampire folklore and the medical history of rabies. Eventually, he discovered an even more profound connection between the two phenomena: Vampires stories became prominent in Europe at exactly the same time certain areas were experiencing rabies outbreaks. This was particularly true in Hungary between 1721 and 1728, when an epidemic plagued dogs, wolves, and humans and left the country in ruins. Gomez-Alonso theorized that rabies actually inspired the vampire legend, and his research was published by the distinguished medical journal Neurology in 1998.
The Madness Of King George
Dr. Gomez-Alonso wasn’t the first scientist who tried to pin vampirism to a real illness. In 1985, Canadian biochemist David Dolphin proposed a link between vampires and porphyria- a rare, chronic blood disorder characterized by the irregular production of heme, an iron-rich pigment found in blood. The disorder can cause seizures, trances, and hallucinations that last for days or weeks. As a result, people with porphyria often go insane. (Britain’s Kin George III, the one who inspired our founding fathers to start their own country, is thought to have suffered from it.) Porphyria sufferers also experience extreme sensitivity to light, suffering blisters and burns when their skin is exposed to the sun. Another symptom of porphyria is an intolerance to sulfur in foods. Which food contains a lot of sulfur? That’s right, garlic.
Teenage Werewolf
In addition to explaining away vampires, medicine also has some answers for werewolves and zombies. In The Werewolf Delusion (1979), Ian Woodward explains that rabies may have also inspired the werewolf myth. Rabies is transmitted through biting, and the dementia and aggression of late-stage rabies can make people behave like wild animals. Now, imagine that you are living in a village in medieval Europe and you see your friend get bitten by a wolf. A few weeks later, he starts foaming at the mouth, howling at the moon, and biting other villagers. Suddenly that story your grandmother told you about the Wolfman sounds like a decent explanation for what’s going on.
Dawn Of The Dead, Revisited
Zombies may also be creatures of science, at least according to Costas J. Efthimiou, a physicist at the University of Central Florida. In 2006, he attempted to explain the mysterious case of Wilfred Doricent, a teenager who died and was buried in Haiti, only to reappear in his village more than a year later, looking and behaving like a zombie. Efthimiou concluded that Wilfred was not the victim of a curse, but of poisoning. In the waters of Haiti, there is a species of puffer fish whose liver can be made into a powder, which has the ability to make a person appear dead without actually killing him. Wilfred may have been poisoned with the powder and then buried alive. According to one of Dr. Efthimiou’s theories, once underground, Wilfred suffered from oxygen deprivation that damaged his brain. When the poison wore off and Wilfred woke up, he clawed his way out of the grave. (Graves tend to be shallow in Haiti.) Brain-damaged, he wandered the countryside for months until he ended up back in his village.
After Dr. Efthimiou published his explanation of the case, Dr. Roger Mallory, a neurologist at the Haitian Medical Society did an MRI scan of Wilfred’s brain. Although the results were inconclusive, he found that Wilfred’s brain was damaged in a way that was consistent with oxygen deprivation. It would seem that zombification is nothing more than skillful poisoning.
For all the dirty old men out there...just try to watch it until the end if you find yourself getting over emotional..
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
A yard full of halloween decorations has one woman spooked.
A viewer contacted 17 News concerned a registered sex offender is attracting children to his home by putting dozens of Halloween decorations in his yard. However, the Kern County Sheriff's Department says the decorations are legal because the sex offender is not on parole or probation.
According to his wife, registered sex offender Matt Gordon lives in his Rosedale home with his family, including his grandson.
The Megan's Law website says Gordon was charged with "continuous sexual abuse to a child." However, his wife told 17 News the crime happened 12 years ago, and she says her husband has changed.
Neighbor Nichelle Mason says the home is decorated on every holiday. She thinks the decorations should stay.
"He has been a very nice neighbor," Mason said. "I had a flat tire one time and he helped me fixed the flat. So I wouldn't see any harm in it. I know he has a young grandson himself, a little boy, so I've seen him around kids, his own kids, so it wouldn't bother me about his decorations."
Roy Moerike has a young grandson and wants the law to be followed.
"If the law says they cannot light up their decorations on Halloween night, then that's the way it should be," Moerike explained.
"That's the law. I didn't make it. The people made it. As far as the rest of it goes, I think he's just as free as I am to do what he wants to do. We have to at least respect the fact that he had 12 years since his ... and paid his price. I do believe the community should be more aware of who lives around them."
The California Department of Corrections website says sex offenders' homes can't have outside lights or decorations on Halloween, but the rules only apply to offenders who are on parole or probation. Detective Bill Hakker confirmed Gordon is not on parole or probation. Therefore, the decorations are legal.
If you want to know if a sex offender is living in your neighborhood, log on to the Megan's Law website: www.meganslaw.ca.gov
If you have a story you would like 17 News to look into, call our newsroom at 283-1717
http://www.kget.com/news/lo...
SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) – For those who value their freedom of expression as much as health, wealth, and prosperity, then Finland is the place to be, with an index ranking the Nordic nation the best in the world.
The 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index, published on Tuesday and compiled by the Legatum Institute, an independent policy, advocacy and advisory organization, ranked 104 countries which are home to 90 percent of the world's population.
The index is based on a definition of prosperity that combines economic growth with the level of personal freedoms and democracy in a country as well as measures of happiness and quality of life.
With the exception of Switzerland, which came in at number 2, Nordic countries dominated the top 5 slots, with Sweden in third place followed by Denmark and Norway.
The top 10 were all also Western nations, with Australia (6th place) and Canada (7th place) both beating the United States, ranked 9th. Britain came in at number 12.
In Asia, Japan was the region's highest ranked country at number 16, followed by Hong Kong (18th place) and Singapore (23rd place) and Taiwan (24th place).
Dr. William Inboden, senior vice president of the Legatum Institute, said the lower rankings for Asian nations were largely due to their weak scores for democracy and personal freedoms.
"Many Asian nations have good economic fundamentals, but the Index tells us that true prosperity requires more than just money," Inboden said in a statement.
"Democratic institutions and personal freedom measures are letting some Asian nations down. Furthermore, countries which have low levels of economic stability, such as Cambodia, finish even further down in the overall rankings."
Cambodia came in the 93rd slot while China, with its tight political controls, came in 75th despite booming economic growth.
And the world's least prosperous country? According to the Legatum Index, it is Zimbabwe, with Sudan and Yemen close runners-up.
The index combines objective data and subjective responses to surveys. More details can be found on http://www.prosperity.com.
This video shows why the Obama Administration was *Whipped Again* by Fox News. A person can take so much, but there's only so much a person can take before you start calling them on their B.S. DJ is a good example of that.
- By David LaGesse
- On 2:11 pm EDT, Thursday October 22, 2009
Yes, Windows 7 didn't even hit the market until Thursday. But that hasn't stopped a fog of myths from enveloping the newest version of the much loved--and much hated--PC operating system from Microsoft.
[Slide Show: The Best of What's New in Windows 7.]
The software giant hoped that wide exposure to Windows 7 would help smooth its entry. Microsoft let millions of consumers and professionals download test versions of the operating system. And by a wide margin, testers have found the new system to be the best yet from Microsoft. Version 7 is leaner, more useful, and prettier than past editions--a worthy effort to update the Windows world.
Still, the fictions are legion. Much of it is innocent confusion that accompanies any major software release. Some of it arises from Microsoft apologists trying to bury the botched release of Windows Vista, sniping Apple fans who want the Mac to continue gaining market share, or diehard techies who revere free Linux software.
[Why some analysts argue that Linux is better than Windows or the Mac.]
With so much misinformation swirling, we've sorted through seven points that are confusing consumers:
1. It's only a minor update to Vista. Overstated, but there is some truth. With Win7, Microsoft had the luxury of going back to basics. Vista was a massive effort to update the core of Windows. The edition following Vista didn't have to be as ambitious. Programmers could focus on the edges of Vista, reducing its hardware-hog tendencies and annoying security nags. But Microsoft went further, adding consumer-friendly functions to paint Windows 7 as an upgrade. HomeGroups greatly simplify home networking, libraries organize jumbled collections of files, and multifinger power makes touch screens more powerful. Aero Peek allows users to roll over 10 or 20 open windows in a flash, proving that Apple isn't the only company that can make computing easier and more fun.
[Even the name suggests that Windows 7 is a return to basics.]
2. Vista users need to upgrade. The Vista launch was painful. The system nagged consumers with unnecessary security concerns, didn't support enough of the hardware that plugs into PCs, and was too bloated to run decently on some hardware advertised as "Vista ready." But most Vista users are past those problems. If they have a system that's working well, Windows 7 offers nothing that's compelling enough to make the switch. Upgrading an operating system costs users in dollars, time, and frustration. Vista is a good operating system--one that's secure and stable. Windows 7 offers nifty new features and runs more quickly. Gamers and power users would appreciate the bump in speed. But most users wouldn't notice a big difference as they surf the Web, write E-mail, and maybe edit a photo or two.
[Microsoft hopefully learned its lessons in the dismal mistakes of Vista's launch.]
3. Windows XP is still better. WinXP ran faster than Vista on many, if not all, computers. It also was more compatible with existing equipment, particularly scanners, printers, and other peripherals. But Microsoft spent years working to make Vista's core more stable and secure, and the company succeeded. Buggy software that runs on a Vista PC is much less likely to cause problems with the rest of the system, resulting in many fewer "Blue Screens of Death." Windows 7 has all those benefits of Vista while also running as fast as, if not faster than, Windows XP. Another consideration is that some companies that make PC hardware and software have already stopped making versions for XP. That trend will accelerate if Win7 proves to be the hit that is promises to be.
4. Windows XP users can't upgrade. It's true that Microsoft has not made it easy to move from WinXP to Win7. If installed over Vista, Win7 will transfer software, settings, and data. Not so with Windows XP. All is not lost, however. XP users can find third-party software that eases the transition. "PCMover Upgrade Assistant" ($30) from LapLink preserves most software, settings, and data when users upgrade their XP machine to Win7, what's called an "in-place upgrade." No need to copy files to an external drive or to reinstall programs. There can be hiccups. Installed programs might need to be reactivated with a call to the manufacturer. But it's relatively painless. And WinXP users qualify for the upgrade prices that Microsoft offers for Win7, rather than having to buy a "full" version.
5. It's too expensive. The price of Windows 7 may seem unreasonable, considering it is a derivative of Vista and Microsoft is charging nearly as much for Win7 as it does for Vista. The Home Premium version, which is what most consumers will want, costs $119 for upgrading to Win7, versus $129 for Vista. The discount seems particularly thin when viewing Win7 as a fix to Vista's problems. But happy Vista users don't have much reason to upgrade (see No. 2). For Windows XP users, the upgrade cost is fair. Plus, for homes with multiple PCs, which seem to be a majority these days, Microsoft is offering a Family Pack that will upgrade three PCs for $150. That's a good deal for homes that can use it.
6. The initial release will be a mess. It's always safer to wait for new software to get tested in the market, and for Microsoft to release the inevitable fixes. But the pedigree of Windows 7 suggests that the problems will be fewer this time. Many bugs and hardware issues were worked out with Vista. For example, Microsoft worked to make sure that hardware drivers for Vista will also work for Win7. Problems will undoubtedly crop up, but they're unlikely to affect the core of the operating system, which also remains largely true to the battle-tested Vista. Win7 at the start seems to be one of the least risky system upgrades to make.
7. Mac users should abandon Apple. The Mac is still the standard for a computer that "just works." Apple has more control over the end product because it also assembles and sells the hardware. The Mac system is also more secure, if for no other reason than that a smaller market share makes a smaller target for criminals. Windows has to run on any batch of hardware that a maker or user throws together. That's one reason Windows requires more tinkering. But Windows also comes from a culture that is more influenced by techies who like tinkering and think everyone else does. Macs cost more. But they also benefit from the aura of success that surrounds the iPhone and iPod. Windows 7 may cut into the momentum behind the Mac, but it alone is unlikely to reverse Apple's gains.
By DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Dan Elliott, Associated Press Writer – Fri Oct 23, 6:49 pm ET
DENVER – The mother of the 6-year-old boy once feared missing inside a runaway helium balloon admitted the whole saga was a hoax, according to court documents released Friday.
Mayumi Heene told sheriff's deputies that she and her husband Richard "knew all along that Falcon was hiding in the residence" in Fort Collins, according to an affidavit used to get a search warrant for the home.
She allegedly told investigators the incident was a hoax meant to make them more marketable to the media.
"Mayumi described that she and Richard Heene devised this hoax approximately two weeks earlier.... She and Richard had instructed their three children to lie to authorities as well as the media regarding this hoax," the affidavit said.
Richard Heene has denied a hoax. His lawyer, David Lane, said Friday he is waiting to see the evidence in the case.
"Allegations are cheap," Lane said.
Mayumi Heene's lawyer, Lee Christian, was traveling and didn't immediately respond to messages left with his office.
Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden has said he will recommend charges against the Heenes including conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, making a false report to authorities, and attempting to influence a public servant. The most serious charges are felonies and carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison.
Alderden said authorities also would be seeking restitution for the costs of the balloon chase, though he didn't provide a figure.
His office has said it will likely be next week before it forwards its findings to prosecutors to decide on charges.
In frantic calls to a TV station, 911 and federal aviation officials, the Heenes reported that they feared Falcon was in the homemade, saucer-like balloon when it was accidentally launched from their back yard last week.
Millions watched as media and National Guard helicopters tracked the balloon across the Colorado plains. It landed in a dusty farm field, where ground crews looked inside but found no sign of the boy.
Later, the relieved-looking couple reported Falcon had been hiding in their garage the whole time. But suspicion heated up when Falcon made a comment on CNN that sounded like "You had said we did this for a show."
Sheriff's deputies questioned the parents separately on Oct. 17, two days after the flight. Mayumi Heene told authorities "she and Richard Heene had lied to authorities on October 15, 2009 (the day of the flight)," the affidavit said.
She told investigators "that the release of the flying saucer was intentional as a hoax.... The motive for the fabricated story was to make the Heene family more marketable for future media interest," the affidavit said.
The Heenes twice had appeared on ABC's reality show "Wife Swap," and acquaintances said Richard Heene had plans for other possible shows.
The producer of "Wife Swap" had a show in development with the Heenes but said the deal is now off. The TLC cable network also said Heene had pitched a reality show months ago, but it passed on the offer.
Sheriff's officials declined to comment Friday.
Among the items taken by authorities during the home search Saturday were video cameras, computers, hard drives, a picture of a flying saucer, receipts, papers, a phone/address book and a flight itinerary. The list didn't identify the passenger, destination or date of travel.
___
Associated Press Staff Writer Kathy Packer contributed to this report from Fort Collins
Adviser compares institution to country club membership
Posted: October 23, 2009
12:30 am Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Cass Sunstein
|
The U.S. government should abolish its sanctioning of marriage, argued Cass Sunstein, President Obama's regulatory czar.
Sunstein proposed that the concept of marriage should become privatized, with the state only granting civil union contracts to couples wishing to enter into an agreement.
Sunstein explained marriage licensing is unnecessary, pointing out people stay committed to organizations like country clubs and homeowner associations without any government interference.
"Under our proposal, the word marriage would no longer appear in any laws, and marriage licenses would no longer be offered or recognized by any level of government," wrote Sunstein and co-author Richard Thaler in their 2008 book, "Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness."
In the book – obtained and reviewed by WND – Sunstein explains his approach would ensure that "the only legal status states would confer on couples would be a civil union, which would be a domestic partnership agreement between any two people."
He proposed marriage not be recognized by the government. Marriages would instead be "strictly private matters, performed by religious and other private organizations," he wrote.
"Governments would not be asked to endorse any particular relationships by conferring on them the term marriage," added Sunstein.
Sunstein slammed current government recognition of marriage as "an official license scheme."
"When the state grants marriage it gives both maternal and symbolic benefits to the couples it recognizes. But why combine the two functions? And what is added by the term marriage?" he asked.
Sunstein explained terminating the issuance of state marriage contracts would not affect the commitments of those in the "partnership."
"People take their private commitments serious," Sunstein wrote. "Members of religious organizations, homeowners' associations, and country clubs all feel bound, sometimes quite strongly, by the structures and rules of such organizations."
Take organs from 'helpless patients'
Sunstein's proposal regarding marriage is hardly the only controversial section of his book. WND reported last week that in the same book, Sunstein defended the possibility of removing organs from terminally ill patients without their permission.
He also strongly pushed for the removal of organs from deceased individuals who did not explicitly consent to becoming organ donors.
Sunstein and Thaler discussed multiple legal scenarios regarding organ donation. One possibility presented in the book, termed by Sunstein as "routine removal," posits that "the state owns the rights to body parts of people who are dead or in certain hopeless conditions, and it can remove their organs without asking anyone's permission."
"Though it may sound grotesque, routine removal is not impossible to defend," wrote Sunstein. "In theory, it would save lives, and it would do so without intruding on anyone who has any prospect for life."
Sunstein continued: "Although this approach is not used comprehensively by any state, many states do use the rule for corneas (which can be transplanted to give some blind patients sight). In some states, medical examiners performing autopsies are permitted to remove corneas without asking anyone's permission."
Sunstein's example of medical examiners removing corneas, however, applies only to patients who are already declared deceased.
After defending the position, Sunstein conceded the "routine removal" approach "violates a generally accepted principle, which is that within broad limits, individuals should be able to decide what is to be done with and to their bodies."
Still, Sunstein did not add that the removal of organs from a living individual should be banned.
Also in the same book, CNSNews.com previously noted Sunstein argued for removing organs from deceased patients who are not registered as organ donors, a policy not without precedent. Spain and some European Union countries have been debating accepting a law of implied consent.
Writes Sunstein: "A policy that can pass libertarian muster by our standards is called presumed consent."
"Presumed consent preserves freedom of choice, but it is different from explicit consent because it shifts the default rule," he writes. "Under this policy, all citizens would be presumed to be consenting donors, but they would have the opportunity to register their unwillingness to donate, and they could do so easily. We want to underline the word easily, because the harder it is to register your unwillingness to participate, the less libertarian the policy becomes."
Sunstein continues: "Although presumed consent is an extremely effective way to increase the supply of organs available for transplant, it may not be an easy sell politically. Some will object to the idea of 'presuming' anything when it comes to such a sensitive matter. We are not sure that these objections are convincing, but this is surely a domain in which forced choosing, or what is referred to in this domain as mandated choice, has considerable appeal."
Sunstein advocates making it mandatory for all citizens to register either as an organ donor or as unwilling to donate their organs.
"Mandated choice could be implemented through a simple addition to the driver's license registration scheme used in many states. With mandated choice, renewal of your driver's license would be accompanied by a requirement that you check a box stating your organ donation preferences. Your application would not be accepted unless you had checked one of the boxes. The options might include 'yes, willing to donate' and 'no, unwilling to donate.'"
Government must fund abortion
Sunstein is not shy about his view concerning rights to life or abortion.
WND reported that in his 1993 book "The Partial Constitution" Sunstein argued the government should be required to fund abortion in cases such as rape or incest.
"I have argued that the Constitution ... forbids government from refusing to pay the expenses of abortion in cases of rape or incest, at least if government pays for childbirth in such cases," Sunstein wrote.
The Obama czar asserts that funding only childbirth but not abortion "has the precise consequence of turning women into involuntary incubators."
Sunstein argues that refusing to fund abortion "would require poor women to be breeders," while co-opting women's bodies "in the service of third parties" – referring to fetuses.
Sunstein wrote he has no problem with forcing taxpayers to fund abortions even if they morally object to their money being used for such a purpose.
He wrote: "There would be no tension with the establishment clause if people with religious or other objections were forced to pay for that procedure (abortion). Indeed, taxpayers are often forced to pay for things – national defense, welfare, certain forms of art, and others – to which they have powerful moral and even religious objections."
http://www.balloonboygame.c...
well it didnt take long..everyone but DJ can play this online game with the boy and his ballon from colorado..fly through the clouds and experience all the obstacles he did during his imaginary flight..
I thought you were one of those open minded liberals that could take what you dish out...blocking me from your blog?? tsk tsk how unsociable of you..actually Im honored that some one like you that preaches Im no threat all at once changes his mind. kind of a pat on the back..thanks
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Writer – 26 mins ago
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama won a modest victory Tuesday in his continuing effort to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, allowing the government to continue to transfer detainees at the facility to the U.S. to be prosecuted.
The plan to permit terrorist suspects held at the facility to be shipped to U.S. soil to face trial passed the Senate by a 79-19 vote as part of a larger $44.1 billion budget bill for the Homeland Security Department.
The measure already passed by the House now goes to Obama for his signature. The Guantanamo provision generally tracks restrictions already in place that block release of detainees in the U.S., but permits them to be tried here.
Obama in January ordered the facility closed within a year, but the administration has yet to deliver a plan and the effort has hit several roadblocks. Among the problems is unease among Obama's Democratic allies on Capitol Hill, who have refused to fund the effort.
The plan adopted Tuesday requires the administration to develop a plan before any further transfers. It also requires 15 days' notice before a transfer can occur and a certification that the prisoner does not represent a security risk.
The Senate debate over Guantanamo prisoners was relatively sedate. Last week, House Democratic leaders had to press to defeat a GOP effort to block transfer of any of the Guantanamo Bay detainees to the U.S., even to face trial.
"Prosecuting these individuals in our U.S. courts simply will not work and there is too much at stake to grant the unprecedented benefit of our legal system's complex procedural safeguards to foreign nationals who were captured outside the United States during a time of war," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.
"Guantanamo must be closed because it's become a recruiting tool for al-Qaida and other terrorists," countered Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
Separately, a group of retired generals and war veterans Tuesday launched a national campaign to rally support for closing the prison and transferring its inmates.
The campaign, "CLOSE GITMO NOW" begins Tuesday with a relatively modest $100,000 ad buy on cable channels across the country, exhorting Congress to reject the "failed Bush-Cheney policies."
The underlying spending bill also backs the Obama administration's refusal to release new photos showing U.S. personnel abusing detainees held overseas. The measure supports Obama's decision to allow the defense secretary to bar the release of detainee photos for three years.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit to obtain unreleased photos of detainee abuse under the Freedom of Information Act and won two rounds in federal court. The bill would essentially trump the ACLU's case.
The administration has appealed to the Supreme Court and Obama has said he would use every available means to block release of additional detainee abuse photos because they could whip up anti-American sentiment overseas and endanger U.S. troops. His powers include issuing an order to classify the photos, thus blocking their release.
The bill also would extend for three years the E-Verify program, which uses the Social Security Administration database so that employers can verify the immigration status of new hires. A GOP plan to permanently expand the voluntary program and make it mandatory for federal contractors — which passed the Senate in July — was dropped during House-Senate talks.
The E-Verify program is a favorite of lawmakers who prefer an enforcement-first approach to immigration policy. They want to make it mandatory for employers nationwide. But more liberal lawmakers want to pair it with other elements of immigration reform, such as creating a so-called pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in this country.
And Jim DeMint, R-S.C., complained that negotiators dropped a plan to require double-layer fences along 700 miles of the border with Mexico rather than vehicle barriers and high-tech equipment.
The spending bill provides the department with a 6 percent budget increase.
The swine flu virus outbreak escalated today, with the total number of cases confirmed in the United States jumping to 71 and spreading to two more states, health officials said. Experts expect that figure to keep rising.
Acting head of the CDC says he "fully expects deaths from this infection."
"I do expect more cases and expect more states to be affected," Rear Admiral Dr. Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's science and public health program, told a Senate hearing today. "I think we need to be prepared that even if it starts to look a little better, it may get a little worse."
To fight the epidemic, the Obama administration is asking Congress for $1.5 billion. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president was requesting the funds "out of an abundance of caution" to "enhance our nation's capability to respond to the potential spread of this outbreak."
The government's request underscores how seriously U.S. officials are treating the threat. Alarmed by the growing number of swine flu cases and the possibility that a California man may have died from the disease, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency today to help deal with the outbreak.
Inside the CDC's Swine Flu InvestigationCalifornia has confirmed 15 cases of swine flu, and today it was investigating whether two deaths occurred as a result of the virus. According to Los Angeles County public health official Jonathan Fielding, one of the deaths has been discounted as resulting from swine flu, but the other is still being investigated. If this case is confirmed, it would be the first death in the U.S. attributed to the illness.
Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC, declined to comment on the California investigation, but said, "I fully expect we will see deaths from this infection."
Florida has reported an incidence of swine flu today, and Indiana health officials confirmed this afternoon that a student at Notre Dame has swine flu. These developments bring to seven the number of states where the infections are being investigated.
In Orlando, Fla., the chief medical officer at Florida Hospital Loran Hauck indicated the flu has spread to a tourist who visiting the crowded Disney World.
"A case was diagnosed here in Orlando today on a tourist from Mexico who came to Disney attractions two days ago to visit," Hauck wrote in the email. Florida health officials have not confirmed that the tourist was stricken with swine flu.
Indiana joins Ohio, New York, Texas, Kansas and California as states with confirmed cases.
The outbreak is expected to keep growing because the CDC said today the new count includes "a number of hospitalizations."
The CDC in Atlanta has become the center for the swine flu investigation. It is one of only four laboratories in the world that have the expertise to unravel a novel flu strain.
"What we're trying to do is to identify how bad, how good, the swine flu is currently operating -- is it expanding, is it contracting, is it maintaining a steady state," said Phillip Navin, director of the Division of Emergency Operations at the CDC.
With the uptick in cases, the CDC shipped out more anti-virals and sent additional teams into the field.
"I think at the moment we need to be looking forward and making sure that we're doing everything that we can to keep people from getting sick," said Dr. Steve Reed, director of the CDC's Influeza Coordination Unit.
By FELICIA FONSECA, Associated Press Writer Felicia Fonseca, Associated Press Writer – 31 mins ago
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – An Arizona homicide investigation now includes three deaths after a woman died more than a week after participating in a sweat lodge ceremony that hospitalized nearly two dozen people.
Liz Neuman of Minnesota died Saturday at a Flagstaff hospital, Yavapai County sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn said.
The 49-year-old suffered multiple organ damage during the Oct. 8 ceremony at a resort near Sedona, a resort town 115 miles north of Phoenix that draws many in the New Age spiritual movement.
Authorities were treating all three deaths as homicides, but no charges have been filed.
D'Evelyn did not provide a city of residence for Neuman, but public records showed an address in Prior Lake, about 25 miles southwest of Minneapolis.
Neuman was among more than 50 people crowded inside the sweat lodge run by self-help guru James Arthur Ray. An emergency call two hours after they entered the lodge reported two people not breathing.
Twenty-one people were taken to area hospitals with illnesses ranging from dehydration to kidney failure. Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown, N.Y., and James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee died upon arrival at a hospital.
No one else remains hospitalized.
Authorities haven't determined what caused the deaths. Autopsy results on Brown and Shore are pending further testing.
The Rev. Meredith Ann Murray of Bellingham, Wash., who has completed all of Ray's retreats, said Neuman was among Ray's earliest followers and had attended dozens of his events.
According to Ray's Web site, Neuman was the leader of the Minneapolis-area "Journey Expansion Team." The teams, developed by Ray's friends and followers around the country, meet to exchange ideas on his principles. The next Minneapolis-area meeting is scheduled for Oct. 23.
Ray had rented the Angel Valley Retreat Center for his five-day "Spiritual Warrior" event that culminated in the sweat lodge ceremony. Participants paid between $9,000 and $10,000 to attend the retreat.
Ray declined to be interviewed by the sheriff's office on the night of the incident and Arizona authorities said he had not spoken to them as of Thursday. In his first public appearance Tuesday in Los Angeles, Ray told a crowd of about 200 that he has hired his own investigative team to determine what went wrong.
His spokesman, Howard Bragman, has said that Ray's team and Ray's attorney are cooperating with the sheriff's investigators.
More than 100 people attended the funeral for Brown on Saturday at Holy Name of Jesus Church in Otisville, N.Y., according to The Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y. The avid hiker and surfer who had a passion for art was remembered as a spiritual seeker.
Services for Shore were held late Saturday afternoon at the Hubbard Lodge in Milwaukee
By DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Dan Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 11 mins ago
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Authorities are pursuing criminal charges in the case of a boy who vanished into his parents' garage while the world feared he was trapped aboard a helium balloon — prompting speculation of a hoax.
The boy's parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, met with Larimer County investigators for much of the afternoon, but Sheriff Jim Alderden didn't say who would be charged or what the charges would be.
Alderden didn't call Thursday's hours-long drama a hoax, but he expressed disappointment that he couldn't level more serious charges in the incident, which sent police and the military scrambling to save young Falcon Heene as millions of worried television viewers watched.
"We were looking at Class 3 misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough given the circumstances," Alderden said. "We are talking to the district attorney, federal officials to see if perhaps there aren't additional federal charges that are appropriate in this circumstance."
Suspicion that the balloon saga was a publicity stunt arose almost immediately after Falcon was found in the garage rafters, hiding in a cardboard box. Richard Heene, a storm chaser and inventor whose family has appeared on the reality show "Wife Swap," and his wife had said one of the boy's older brothers had said Falcon was aboard the homemade balloon when it took off.
Alderden initially said there was no reason to believe the incident was a hoax. Authorities questioned the Heenes again after Falcon turned to his dad during a CNN interview Thursday night and said "you said we did this for a show" when asked why he didn't come out of his hiding place.
Falcon got sick during two separate TV interviews Friday when asked again why he hid.
Alderden said Saturday that deputies were seeking a search warrant for the family's home, and there would be more information at a news conference Sunday.
After the sheriff went inside, Richard Heene and his wife walked out. As reporters yelled questions, all Heene said was, "I was talking to the sheriff's department just now." He then walked to his car with his wife and a friend, and they drove away.
It wasn't clear where the family was late Saturday night. By 9 p.m., an AP reporter at the family home said the couple hadn't returned after leaving the sheriff's office. Their three sons were believed to have been at home being watched by sheriff's officials earlier in the day, but their whereabouts also weren't known to reporters in the evening.
The day began with Richard Heene knocking on the windows of journalists camped outside his home and promising a "big announcement." A few hours later, he did an about-face when he told reporters that they should leave questions in a cardboard box on the front doorstep.
As Heene walked away, a reporter shouted, "Can you tell us once and for all if this is a hoax?"
"Absolutely no hoax. I want your questions in the box," Heene said, waving a cardboard container before going back into his home.
A circus-like atmosphere formed outside, including men holding signs and occasionally yelling "balloon boy." One sign read, "Put balloon boy on TV: America's Most Wanted."
Other gawkers carried aluminum-foil stovetop popcorn makers that resembled the a flying saucer-like helium balloon launched from the family's backyard Thursday, with 6-year-old Falcon Heene believed to be onboard.
The Heenes have said the balloon was supposed to be tethered to the ground when it lifted off, and no one was supposed to be aboard. A video of the launch shows the family counting down in unison, "3, 2, 1," before Richard Heene pulls a cord, setting the balloon into the air.
"Whoa!" one of the boys exclaims. Then his father says in disbelief, "Oh, my God!" He then says to someone, "You didn't put the (expletive) tether down!" and he kicks the wood frame that had held the balloon.
Falcon's brother said he saw him inside the compartment before it took off and that's why they thought he was in there when it launched. Heene said he had yelled at Falcon before the launch for getting inside.
Over the years, Richard Heene has worked as a storm chaser, a handyman and contractor, and an aspiring reality-TV star.
He and his family appeared on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," and the show's producer said it had a show in development with the Heenes but the deal is now off. TLC also said Heene had pitched a reality show to the network months ago, but it passed on the offer.
Despite his attempts to get on TV, Heene insisted Saturday that he didn't know what kinds of questions were being asked about him because he didn't have cable.
"I'm going to place the box out front. Please write your questions down, because friends are telling me they're saying this and that. I have no idea what the news is saying," Heene said.
By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer Don Babwin, Associated Press Writer – Fri Oct 16, 4:11 pm ET
CHICAGO – The Chicago Police Department is investigating several of its officers accused of forcing a college student they arrested during last month's G-20 summit in Pittsburgh to pose for a group photo with them.
The department, which has been dogged by embarrassing allegations of misconduct in recent years, began investigating the Pittsburgh claims after video of the alleged incident was posted on YouTube.
The video apparently shows about 15 police officers in riot gear posing for a photo with a man they detained kneeling in front of them.
Kyle Kramer, the 21-year-old University of Pittsburgh student forced to pose with police, was returning to campus from a pizza parlor when he was detained by police who were rounding up protesters, his attorney Cristopher Hoel told The Associated Press on Friday.
"He was a college student arrested for walking on campus. That seems to me to make him a victim," Hoel said.
Kramer faced a preliminary hearing Wednesday on misdemeanor charges of failure to disperse and disorderly conduct. Hoel said his client is innocent of both charges.
The department issued a statement saying the officers were working in Pittsburgh on their own time, but that they were still representing the city of Chicago.
"The Chicago Police Department does not tolerate misconduct by any of its members, regardless of where it might occur."
It's possible the officers violated Kramer's constitutional rights, as well as internal departmental rules, said Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor who has studied the department and allegations of police brutality extensively.
If the officers were retaliating against Kramer for something he said that offended them, it is possible they could have violated Kramer's First Amendment right of free speech. The officers also might have violated Kramer's 4th Amendment right against unreasonable search or seizure, Futterman said.
Some fellow police officers declined to comment publicly about the investigation. But they pointed to a popular blog — Second City Cop — that blasted the officers for heaping more ridicule on a department dogged by several recent embarrassing incidents, including the beating of a female bartender by an off-duty officer.
"How do you even begin to defend something like this?" reads the blog. "You can't it's impossible... You are embarrassments."
Pat Camden, who spent more than 30 years with the department and was its spokesman for several years, harshly criticized the officers for damaging the reputation of a department that has been trying to rehabilitate its image that was hurt by several incidents, including one, captured on film and shown worldwide, of an off-duty officer beating up a female bartender.
"When you put on a police uniform you represent the Chicago Police Department and we've got these idiots with a prisoner right in front of them, and supervisors are standing right there," he said, incredulously. "That kind of childish behavior is totally unacceptable."
Some, though, wondered whether Kramer may have willingly posed for the photo with the officers.
Robert Weisskopf, a Chicago police lietenant, said he remembered an incident when a man insisted on being in a photograph along with several officers in riot gear.
And Daniel P. Smith, who wrote "On the Job: Behind the Stars of the Chicago Police Department," had the same thought when he saw the video.
"I could see the guy, thinking, 'They handcuffed me, this would be a great photo for my frat house,'" he said. "That's what it looked like to me."
But Camden said it's hard to imagine how something like this could have occurred, with all of the efforts that have been made to get officers to understand they should always act in public as if their actions are being recorded.
"You continue to make people aware that everything you (police officers) do from the moment you walk out the door until you get home at night is on camera somewhere," said Camden, who said he stresses that in media relations classes he teaches to police supervisors at Northwestern University.
"If you're in the public way, it's more than likely being recorded."
___
Associated Press Writer Joe Mandak in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.
By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer Mary Foster, Associated Press Writer – Fri Oct 16, 7:05 pm ET
NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana's governor and a U.S. senator joined Friday in calling for the ouster of a local official who refused to marry an interracial couple, saying his actions clearly broke the law.
Keith Bardwell, a white justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish in the southeastern part of the state, refused to issue a marriage license earlier this month to Beth Humphrey, who is white, and Terence McKay, who is black. His refusal has prompted calls for an investigation or resignation from civil and constitutional rights groups and the state's Legislative Black Caucus.
Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal said in a statement a nine-member commission that reviews lawyers and judges in the state should investigate.
"Disciplinary action should be taken immediately — including the revoking of his license," Jindal said.
Bardwell did not return calls left on his answering machine Friday.
Bardwell has said he always asks if a couple is interracial and, if they are, refers them to another justice of the peace. Bardwell said no one had complained in the past and he doesn't marry the couples because he's worried about their children's futures.
"Perhaps he's worried the kids will grow up and be president," said Bill Quigley, director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Justice, referring to President Barack Obama, the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas.
Obama's deputy press secretary Bill Burton echoed those sentiments.
"I've found that actually the children of biracial couples can do pretty good," Burton told reporters aboard Air Force One as it flew to Texas.
Humphrey and McKay were eventually married by another justice of the peace, but are now looking into legal action against Bardwell.
Humphrey said she called Bardwell on Oct. 6 to ask about a marriage license. She said Bardwell's wife told her that Bardwell would not sign marriage licenses for interracial couples.
Bardwell maintains he can recuse himself from marrying people. Quigley disagreed.
"A justice of the peace is legally obligated to serve the public, all of the public," Quigley said. "Racial discrimination has been a violation of Louisiana and U.S. law for decades. No public official has the right to pick and choose which laws they are going to follow."
A spokeswoman for the Louisiana Judiciary Commission said investigations were confidential and would not comment. If the commission recommends action to the Louisiana Supreme Court, the matter would become public.
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said in a statement Bardwell's practices and comments were deeply disturbing.
"Not only does his decision directly contradict Supreme Court rulings, it is an example of the ugly bigotry that divided our country for too long," she said.
Tangipahoa Parish President Gordon Burgess said Bardwell's views were not consistent with his or those of the local government. But as an elected official, Bardwell was not under the supervision of the parish government.
"However, I am certainly very disappointed that anyone representing the people of Tangipahoa Parish, particularly an elected official, would take such a divisive stand," Burgess said in an e-mail. "I would hope that Mr. Bardwell would consider offering his resignation if he is unable to serve all of the people of his district and our parish."
Bardwell, a Republican, has served as justice of peace for 34 years. He said he has run without opposition each time, but had decided earlier not to run again. His current term expires Dec. 31, 2014.
___
Associated Press writer Eileen Sullivan in College Station, Texas, contributed to this report.
By P. SOLOMON BANDA and IVAN MORENO, Associated Press Writer P. Solomon Banda And Ivan Moreno, Associated Press Writer – 7 mins ago
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A giant silvery helium balloon floated away from a yard in Colorado with a 6-year-old boy believed to be inside and slowly touched down in a field two hours later with the child nowhere in sight, setting off a frantic search for the boy.
The saga captivated people around the country as they stopped to watch the jaw-dropping sight on television of the balloon gliding through the air. The flying saucer-like balloon tipped precariously at times before gliding to the ground in a field, the culmination of a two-hour, 50-mile journey through two counties.
Larimer County sheriff's spokeswoman Kathy Messick said one of the boy's two older brothers saw 6-year-old Falcon Heene get into a box that was attached to the balloon with pegs. The box was not found when the balloon landed; video appeared to show something falling from the balloon at some point after it launched.
The balloon was owned by the boy's parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, who are storm chasers and also appeared on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap."
Kevin Kuretich, of the Colorado Division of Emergency Management, said authorities were searching the ground along the path of balloon. "We're searching for the boy from the point where this took off to where it landed," Kuretich said.
He said it also had some kind of electric power unit which was run by double-C batteries. He said the balloon did seem to big enough to carry a 6-year-old. Messick also said investigators are looking into every possibility, including whether the boy was ever in the balloon. Yellow crime-scene tape was placed around the home.
Jason Humbert saw the balloon land. He said he had gotten a call from his mother in Texas who told him about the balloon. He said was in field checking on oil well when he found himself surrounded by police who had been chasing the balloon, which came to a rest 12 miles northeast of Denver International Airport.
"It looked like an alien space ship you see in those old, old movies. You know, those black and white ones. I came down softly. I asked a police officer if the boy was OK and he said there was no one in it," Humbert said.
Neighbor Bob Licko, 65, said he was leaving home when he heard commotion in the backyard of the family. He said he saw two boys on the roof with a camera, commenting about their brother.
"One of the boys yelled to me that his brother was way up in the air," Licko said.
Licko said the boy's mother seemed distraught and that the boy's father was running around the house.
In a 2007 interview with The Denver Post, Richard Heene described becoming a storm chaser after a tornado ripped off a roof where he was working as a contractor and said he once flew a plane around Hurricane Wilma's perimeter in 2005.
Pursuing bad weather was a family activity with the children coming along as the father sought evidence to prove his theory that rotating storms create their own magnetic fields.
Although Richard said he has no specialized training, they had a computer tracking system in their car and a special motorcycle.
The Heene family appeared twice on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," most recently in February.
"When the Heene family aren't chasing storms, they devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm," it says.
While the balloon was airborne, Colorado Army National Guard sent an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter and was preparing to send a Black Hawk UH-60 to try to rescue the boy, possibly by lowering someone to the balloon. They also were working with pilots of ultralight aircraft on the possibility of putting weights on the homemade craft to weigh it down.
But the balloon landed on its own in a dirt field. Sheriff's deputies secured it to keep it in place, even tossing shovelfuls of dirt on one edge.
The episode led to a brief shutdown of northbound departures from one of the nation's busiest airports, said a controller at the Federal Aviation Administration's radar center in Longmont, Colo.
FAA canceled all northbound takeoffs between 1 p.m. and 1:15 p.m. MDT, said Lyle Burrington, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association representative at the center. The balloon was about 15 miles northwest of the airport at that time.
Before the departure shutdown, controllers had been vectoring planes taking off in that direction away from the balloon, Burrington said.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency tracked the balloon through reports from pilots.
Neighbor Lisa Eklund described seeing the balloon pass.
"We were sitting eating, out looking where they normally shoot off hot air balloons. My husband said he saw something. It went over our rooftop. Then we saw the big round balloonish thing, it was spinning," she said.
"By the time I saw it, it traveled pretty fast," she said.
The story gripped the television news networks, which set aside other programming to follow the balloon and speculate on the safety of the boy.
"It's got everybody freaked out," said Fox News Channel's Shepard Smith, "and why wouldn't it?"
By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 15, 10:45 am ET
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – James and Maria Ivory's dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida's Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse when they asked their insurer for help — and not only was their claim denied, but they've been told their entire policy won't be renewed.
Thousands of homeowners nationwide who bought new houses constructed from the defective building materials are finding their hopes dashed, their lives in limbo. And experts warn that cases like the Ivorys', in which insurers drop policies or send notices of non-renewal based on the presence of the Chinese drywall, will become rampant as insurance companies process the hundreds of claims currently in the pipeline.
At least three insurers have already canceled or refused to renew policies after homeowners sought their help replacing the bad wallboard. Because mortgage companies require homeowners to insure their properties, they are then at risk of foreclosure, yet no law prevents the cancellations.
"This is like the small wave that's out on the horizon that's going to continue to grow and grow until it becomes a tsunami," said Florida attorney David Durkee, who represents hundreds of homeowners who are suing builders, suppliers and manufacturers over the drywall. "This is going to become critical mass very shortly."
During the height of the U.S. housing boom, with building materials in short supply, American construction companies imported millions of pounds of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap. An Associated Press analysis of shipping records found that more than 500 million pounds of Chinese gypsum board was imported between 2004 and 2008 — enough to have built tens of thousands of homes. They are heavily concentrated in the Southeast, especially Florida.
The defective materials have since been found by state and federal agencies to emit "volatile sulfur compounds," and contain traces of strontium sulfide, which can produce a rotten-egg odor, along with organic compounds not found in American-made drywall. Homeowners complain the fumes are corroding copper pipes, destroying TVs and air conditioners, and blackening jewelry and silverware. Some believe the wallboard is also making them ill.
The federal government is studying the problem and considering some sort of relief for homeowners.
Meanwhile, the AP interviewed several homeowners who, like the Ivorys, were unlucky enough to purchase properties built with Chinese drywall, and are now being hit with a second and third wave of bad news: Their insurers are declining to fill their claims, then canceling the policy or issuing notices that policies won't be renewed until the problem is fixed. The homeowners have little recourse since neither the Chinese manufacturers nor the Chinese government are likely to respond to any lawsuits or reimburse them for the defective drywall.
In each instance, the insurer learned of the drywall through a claim filed by the homeowner seeking financial help with its removal.
The Ivorys have sued, but it could take months for their case and hundreds like it to work their way through the courts. In the meantime, they have moved back to Colorado because their three-bedroom ranch home two miles from the Gulf of Mexico is unlivable and soon will be uninsured.
"It's been an emotional roller-coaster," said James Ivory, who is still making mortgage payments on the house. "It was all in our heads, nice weather down there, calm life, beaches. Now I don't know what to do."
John Kuczwanski, a spokesman for the Ivorys' insurer, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., said their claim was denied because the drywall is considered a builder defect, which is not covered under the policy. It also considers the drywall a pre-existing condition that could lead to future damage, which is why the company won't renew the policy unless the problem is fixed.
"If someone were to have bought a new car and there was a defective part, would that person go to their auto insurance to get that fixed or would they go back to the manufacturer?" Kuczwanski said. "We provide insurance, not warranty service."
Citizens, a last-resort insurer backed by the state of Florida for people who can't find affordable coverage elsewhere, has received 23 claims about Chinese drywall, and has so far denied five. Citizens could not immediately say how many policies had been canceled or not renewed because of the drywall.
Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, agreed that homeowners policies were never meant to cover "faulty, inadequate or defective" workmanship, construction or materials.
Tom Zutell, spokesman for the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, said the cancellations are troubling, but legal. No law prevents insurance companies from canceling policies because of Chinese drywall.
"We are staying out of the fray at the moment," he said.
Even if a homeowner does not file a claim over the drywall and remains covered, they could later be denied a claim for a fire or another calamity if insurance investigators determine the home contained undisclosed Chinese drywall.
"If you think that by not telling your insurance company about the drywall that you're protected, you're sadly mistaken," Durkee said.
A newly married couple in Hallandale Beach, Fla., saved up for five years to buy their first home only to later discover it had Chinese drywall. They filed a claim with their insurer, Universal Insurance Co. of North America, and were denied.
Universal then sent the couple a letter, stating their policy was being dropped because "the dwelling was built with Chinese drywall."
The couple then signed on with Citizens, but didn't divulge the drywall issue, and hasn't filed another claim. The 31-year-old man requested anonymity because he's afraid of losing his insurance policy, and thus his home.
"I honestly don't know what I'd do if that happened," he said. "All this has basically taken us back five years. We saved money to buy this home."
Universal did not respond to requests for comment.
Louisiana lawyer Daniel Becnel Jr., who represents more than 200 owners of homes containing Chinese drywall, is advising his clients to avoid filing claims with their insurers or they could lose their houses.
"I really believe everybody should have an insurance claim with this," Becnel said. "But it's hard to tell somebody to go make a claim, then they lose their policy ... This is a nightmare for people."
"I tell people flat out if you file, you may lose your insurance," agreed Mississippi attorney Steve Mullins, who has about 100 clients with Chinese drywall in their homes.
One of Mullins' clients, Chris Whitfield, a 29-year-old tire repairman in Picayune, Miss., says he moved out of his house because the drywall was making his family sick. His claim was then denied by his insurer, Nationwide, which followed up with notice that he would be dropped because his policy didn't cover unoccupied dwellings.
Nationwide spokeswoman Liz Christopher declined to comment on Whitfield's case and could not say how many drywall claims had been submitted or how many policies had been canceled or not renewed.
Whitfield offered to move back into the house, but he said he was told he'd first have to replace the drywall.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," he said.
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Posted: 2:42 pm EDT October 12, 2009Updated: 6:45 pm EDT October 12, 2009
PALM BAY, Fla. -- An age-old punishment got a 32-year-old mother and her 41-year-old boyfriend from Palm Bay thrown in jail. An 8-year-old girl said a bad word over weekend, so the couple washed her mouth out with soap.
The little girl was hospitalized, but was released and put in the custody of the Department of Children and Families along with a sibling.
While you've probably heard of parents washing their kids’ mouth out with soap, police say in this case it wasn't just a form of discipline, it was abuse.
The couple is in hot water after attempting to discipline the 8-year-old girl using a bar of Irish Spring. Police say Wilfredo Rivera forced the little girl to chew on a half-bar of the green soap for 10 minutes after she said the "F" word.
Police said the little girl was foaming at the mouth and wasn't allowed to wash the soap out until she cleaned up her own vomit.
"The detectives handling this case believed it to the point of abuse, child abuse, and that it was malicious torture,” explained Palm Bay police spokesperson Yvonne Martinez said.
Investigators say Rivera was laughing while the girl's mother did nothing until the couple noticed the girl's lips, throat and tongue were swollen. Then Rivera took her to Palm Bay Community Hospital.
However, police say, Rivera didn't stay to get her any help and left after he found out hospital staff called authorities, including the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Their landlord said Rivera told him they left because their daughter wanted to leave.
"He told me that the child was hungry and he said he knew she wasn't hungry because he had fed her something,” landlord Darwyn Rushing said.
When police discovered the girl at her house, she was still showing signs of some sort of allergic reaction that could have had dire consequences.
"Complications that could have turned life threatening,” Martinez said.
The girl was taken by ambulance back to the hospital and the couple was taken to jail. The 8-year-old girl is not the child of the mother’s boyfriend. Herderner and Rivera, however, do have an 18-month-old child together. Both children are in the care and custody of DCF.
Adriyanna Herdener was released on her own recognizance and her boyfriend was released with $20,000 bond. Eyewitness News tried to contact both of them, but was unable to reach them.
http://www.wftv.com/news/21...
SLIDE SHOW PICS OF THE CREATURE
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By David S. Martin
CNN Senior Medical Producer
NARVIK, Norway (CNN) -- Fresh from medical school, Anna Bågenholm chose to do her residency in the Norwegian city of Narvik because of its spectacular mountain slopes. An expert skier, Bågenholm had gone off the trail with two other young doctors on a warm spring afternoon when she fell.
Rescuers worked frantically to save Anna Bagenholm from a hole in the ice of a mountain stream.
What happened that day in 1999 changed her life and has redefined what is possible in cases of accidental hypothermia.
Bågenholm slid down a steep, icy gully and ended up submerged head first in a hole in the ice in a mostly frozen stream. Only her skis and Telemark boots and bindings protruded from the thick, opaque ice. As the 29-year-old struggled, her friends Marie Falkenberg and Torvind Næsheim began a frantic effort to free her, made impossible by a torrent of frigid spring runoff pouring over them into the hole where their friend was submerged.
They called for help, starting a chain of events that is now part of medical literature and local lore.
Bård Mikkalsen, a police lieutenant in Narvik at the time, took the call.
"I realized this was really a serious case," said Mikkalsen, who has since retired. He scrambled a pair of rescue teams in Narvik, one from the top of the mountain, the other from the bottom. He also contacted the nearest rescue team in Bodø, nearly 200 miles away, but the Sea King helicopter had already left to transport a sick child.  Watch more of Anna Bågenholm's story »
"I told the operator, 'You must send the helicopter to here, and you have only one minute to decide it. You have to call me back. The time is running out.' " The dispatcher turned the helicopter around.
Heading the rescue party from the top of the mountain, Ketil Singstad skied as fast as he could in the wet springtime snow to the spot where Bågenholm remained trapped under the ice.
Singstad said he and others tied a rope to her feet and tried unsuccessfully to pull her free, and the snow shovel and small saw they had brought were no match for the thick ice. Then he saw another rescuer heading up the mountain with a pointed gardening shovel.
Using that tool, rescuers cut a hole downhill from Bågenholm and pulled her through the opening. She had been under the ice for about 80 minutes.
"I thought we were taking a friend, dead, out of the water," Singstad recalled.
Bågenholm's ski companions, both doctors, began CPR and continued until the rescue helicopter arrived. The emergency crew winched Bågenholm up to the hovering chopper, giving her CPR and squeezing air into her sodden lungs as they made the hourlong flight to the University Hospital of North Norway in Tromsø.
Dr. Mads Gilbert, head of emergency medicine at the hospital, was waiting on the helipad.
"She has completely dilated pupils. She is ashen, flaxen white. She's wet. She's ice cold when I touch her skin, and she looks absolutely dead," Gilbert said. "On the ECG [electrocardiogram], which the doctor on the helicopter has connected her to, there is a completely flat line. Like you could have drawn it with a ruler. No signs of life whatsoever. And the decision was made. We will not declare her dead until she is warm and dead."
Gilbert and the waiting team at the hospital were hoping the CPR that Bågenholm received after being pulled from the stream had provided enough oxygen to her chilled brain. When it's cold, the brain needs far less oxygen than it does at normal temperature, 98.6 degrees (37 Celsius), and Bågenholm was definitely cold. Her body temperature was just 56 degrees Fahrenheit (13.7 degrees Celsius). No one had ever been that cold for that long and survived.
Rushed to Operating Room 11 at the hospital, surgeons rerouted Bågenholm's blood through a heart-lung machine and slowly warmed it. More than three hours after her heart stopped, Gilbert recalled watching the video probe of Bågenholm's heart.
"It was standing completely still. No movement. I just saw some little shivering. No fibrillation. And suddenly it contracted. Pssh," Gilbert said, squeezing his fists to mimic a beating heart. "And there was a pause and pssh. A second contraction." Gilbert tears up at the memory.
Bågenholm was alive, but months of recovery lay ahead. Paralyzed for almost a year until her damaged nerves healed, Bågenholm today is a radiologist at the hospital where she was saved. She has returned to skiing and other sports. She and Næsheim began dating in the years since the accident and now live together. Have you cheated death? Tweet your medical miracle and win a copy of "Cheating Death" by Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Bågenholm remembers nothing of the accident and adds that the event did not change her life.
"I'm not so emotional. I'm more practical, I think," she says.
Her case history made the prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet, and stands as a challenge to doctors confronted with victims of severe hypothermia.
Næsheim, who is an anesthesiologist at the University Hospital of North Norway and is on the helicopter emergency medical team there, says the lesson from Bågenholm's case is clear.
"It's the three important things about emergency medicine, which is never give up, never give up, never give up. Because there's always hope."
The shovel that broke through the ice remains on the mountainside in Narvik, hanging from a tree next to the stream as a testament to the possible
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer – Sun Oct 11, 3:58 am ET
MEXICO CITY – Apolinario Chile Pixtun is tired of being bombarded with frantic questions about the Mayan calendar supposedly "running out" on Dec. 21, 2012. After all, it's not the end of the world.
Or is it?
Definitely not, the Mayan Indian elder insists. "I came back from England last year and, man, they had me fed up with this stuff."
It can only get worse for him. Next month Hollywood's "2012" opens in cinemas, featuring earthquakes, meteor showers and a tsunami dumping an aircraft carrier on the White House.
At Cornell University, Ann Martin, who runs the "Curious? Ask an Astronomer" Web site, says people are scared.
"It's too bad that we're getting e-mails from fourth-graders who are saying that they're too young to die," Martin said. "We had a mother of two young children who was afraid she wouldn't live to see them grow up."
Chile Pixtun, a Guatemalan, says the doomsday theories spring from Western, not Mayan ideas.
A significant time period for the Mayas does end on the date, and enthusiasts have found a series of astronomical alignments they say coincide in 2012, including one that happens roughly only once every 25,800 years.
But most archaeologists, astronomers and Maya say the only thing likely to hit Earth is a meteor shower of New Age philosophy, pop astronomy, Internet doomsday rumors and TV specials such as one on the History Channel which mixes "predictions" from Nostradamus and the Mayas and asks: "Is 2012 the year the cosmic clock finally winds down to zero days, zero hope?"
It may sound all too much like other doomsday scenarios of recent decades — the 1987 Harmonic Convergence, the Jupiter Effect or "Planet X." But this one has some grains of archaeological basis.
One of them is Monument Six.
Found at an obscure ruin in southern Mexico during highway construction in the 1960s, the stone tablet almost didn't survive; the site was largely paved over and parts of the tablet were looted.
It's unique in that the remaining parts contain the equivalent of the date 2012. The inscription describes something that is supposed to occur in 2012 involving Bolon Yokte, a mysterious Mayan god associated with both war and creation.
However — shades of Indiana Jones — erosion and a crack in the stone make the end of the passage almost illegible.
Archaeologist Guillermo Bernal of Mexico's National Autonomous University interprets the last eroded glyphs as maybe saying, "He will descend from the sky."
Spooky, perhaps, but Bernal notes there are other inscriptions at Mayan sites for dates far beyond 2012 — including one that roughly translates into the year 4772.
And anyway, Mayas in the drought-stricken Yucatan peninsula have bigger worries than 2012.
"If I went to some Mayan-speaking communities and asked people what is going to happen in 2012, they wouldn't have any idea," said Jose Huchim, a Yucatan Mayan archaeologist. "That the world is going to end? They wouldn't believe you. We have real concerns these days, like rain."
The Mayan civilization, which reached its height from 300 A.D. to 900 A.D., had a talent for astronomy
Its Long Count calendar begins in 3,114 B.C., marking time in roughly 394-year periods known as Baktuns. Thirteen was a significant, sacred number for the Mayas, and the 13th Baktun ends around Dec. 21, 2012.
"It's a special anniversary of creation," said David Stuart, a specialist in Mayan epigraphy at the University of Texas at Austin. "The Maya never said the world is going to end, they never said anything bad would happen necessarily, they're just recording this future anniversary on Monument Six."
Bernal suggests that apocalypse is "a very Western, Christian" concept projected onto the Maya, perhaps because Western myths are "exhausted."
If it were all mythology, perhaps it could be written off.
But some say the Maya knew another secret: the Earth's axis wobbles, slightly changing the alignment of the stars every year. Once every 25,800 years, the sun lines up with the center of our Milky Way galaxy on a winter solstice, the sun's lowest point in the horizon.
That will happen on Dec. 21, 2012, when the sun appears to rise in the same spot where the bright center of galaxy sets.
Another spooky coincidence?
"The question I would ask these guys is, so what?" says Phil Plait, an astronomer who runs the "Bad Astronomy" blog. He says the alignment doesn't fall precisely in 2012, and distant stars exert no force that could harm Earth.
"They're really super-duper trying to find anything astronomical they can to fit that date of 2012," Plait said.
But author John Major Jenkins says his two-decade study of Mayan ruins indicate the Maya were aware of the alignment and attached great importance to it.
"If we want to honor and respect how the Maya think about this, then we would say that the Maya viewed 2012, as all cycle endings, as a time of transformation and renewal," said Jenkins.
As the Internet gained popularity in the 1990s, so did word of the "fateful" date, and some began worrying about 2012 disasters the Mayas never dreamed of.
Author Lawrence Joseph says a peak in explosive storms on the surface of the sun could knock out North America's power grid for years, triggering food shortages, water scarcity — a collapse of civilization. Solar peaks occur about every 11 years, but Joseph says there's evidence the 2012 peak could be "a lulu."
While pressing governments to install protection for power grids, Joseph counsels readers not to "use 2012 as an excuse to not live in a healthy, responsible fashion. I mean, don't let the credit cards go up."
Another History Channel program titled "Decoding the Past: Doomsday 2012: End of Days" says a galactic alignment or magnetic disturbances could somehow trigger a "pole shift."
"The entire mantle of the earth would shift in a matter of days, perhaps hours, changing the position of the north and south poles, causing worldwide disaster," a narrator proclaims. "Earthquakes would rock every continent, massive tsunamis would inundate coastal cities. It would be the ultimate planetary catastrophe."
The idea apparently originates with a 19th century Frenchman, Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, a priest-turned-archaeologist who got it from his study of ancient Mayan and Aztec texts.
Scientists say that, at best, the poles might change location by one degree over a million years, with no sign that it would start in 2012.
While long discredited, Brasseur de Bourbourg proves one thing: Westerners have been trying for more than a century to pin doomsday scenarios on the Maya. And while fascinated by ancient lore, advocates seldom examine more recent experiences with apocalypse predictions.
"No one who's writing in now seems to remember that the last time we thought the world was going to end, it didn't," says Martin, the astronomy webmaster. "There doesn't seem to be a lot of memory that things were fine the last time around."
“Paranormal Activity”
was photographed at Peli’s home during a seven-day sprint in 2006 with a crew of three that included co-producers Toni Taylor, Peli’s then-girlfriend, and Amir Zbeda, one of the filmmaker’s best friends.
Peli, whose name means “wonder” or “marvel” in Hebrew, is a native of Israel who dropped out of school there when he was sixteen to start his own software company. Three years later, he and Zbeda emigrated to the U.S., where Peli developed animation and video game programs.
After meeting Taylor and deciding to settle down, Peli went house-hunting during the height of the real estate boom. After being outbid on several houses, they finally managed to land a suburban tract home. “It was the first time I’d ever lived in a house; I’d only ever rented small apartments,” says Peli. “In quiet suburbia, I quickly learned that you become conscious of every little noise, especially at night.
“The house, or the ground around it, was settling; things were falling off shelves in the middle of the night,” he continues. “I’m not saying there was a ghost or anything, because the incidents, or whatever you would call them, were happening months apart.”
And for the next couple of years those nighttime noises – however intermittent – persisted.
“It all got the techno-geek side of me thinking, ‘Maybe it would be cool to set up video cameras as a way to figure out what was going on,’” Peli says with a grin. “If those cameras caught something good, I thought that could make a pretty interesting movie.”
Once he had written a script, Peli and Taylor decided it was time to make some long-needed home improvements. The couple put in new wood flooring, hung some pictures on the walls and rearranged their bedroom. They even constructed the Ouija board that plays a central role in the narrative.
At a marathon casting session in Hollywood, which yielded 150 aspirants, Peli discovered Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat. “They were among the very few actors we saw who slid right into character when we threw them our standard question, which was ‘So tell me why you think your house is haunted?’
“When we put Katie and Micah together, they were absolutely convincing as a couple that had been together for years,” Peli continues. “They were telling stories about their vacations, talking about how Katie’s mom didn’t approve of them living together. They came up with elaborate backstories for their characters on the spot. That was the moment when I actually green-lighted the movie in my head, because I wasn’t going to do it unless I could find actors who could pull it off.”
Peli’s overall goal was to come up with footage that would “feel very organic – I didn’t want the actors to worry about lighting or camera angles or anything like that. At the same time I didn’t want it to look bad. It was all about the performances and not distracting the actors with filmmaking issues.”
The exception is the static shot that’s established when Micah sets up the camera on a tripod in his bedroom. “I’d worked on that shot for months,” Peli explains. “I was playing with all different types of lighting; it had to be natural. You need to be able to barely see what’s happening in the bedroom while still maintaining a degree of clarity for the audience.”
Capturing the action outside of his character’s bedroom would be up to Sloat who, as it turned out, had been a camera operator for his college TV station. “He framed the shots well – sometimes too well – and I would have to ask him to close the viewfinder and just point and shoot,” Peli recalls with a laugh.
Although Peli felt that Micah and Katie needed very little direction, he set some rules: improvisation is okay, but don’t use each others’ names in vain, and no forced exposition.
Peli applied similar rules of naturalism to sound and production design.
“As is the case with films like ‘The Blair Witch Project’ and ‘Open Water,’ I wanted there to be only a little bit of blood in the movie. That’s the way I like scary movies; you don’t have to go over the top. In the same way, I wanted the sound effects to be subtle. We establish the drone of the room tone and then we document a low-frequency rumble, which is really all you need. The fact that we have a lot of scenes in the movie that are totally quiet forces the audience to be quiet and really pay attention to every little thing. Silence only emphasizes that little tap on the wall you know is not supposed to be there.”
Production was so stealthy, Peli notes, the neighbors never knew he was making a movie. Nor, really, did anyone else.
After just seven days of shooting, with support from Taylor and Zbeda, who contributed everything from story ideas to props to stunt design and execution, Peli loaded the footage into Sony Vegas editing software on his home PC.
He submitted “Paranormal Activity” to Screamfest, a boutique festival for cult and homemade horror held each October at the legendary Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Peli admits today he was “terrified” when Screamfest founder Rachel Belofsky “forced” him to send a DVD of his movie to Steve Barton, editor of the popular horror website Dread Central, which turned out to be a good move: Barton and others at the site were the first to praise “Paranormal Activity” and continued to champion it even after its Screamfest debut.
“It quickly became apparent the community was really embracing the movie,” says Peli. “People were blogging wildly, asking our little website how they could see the film. It was surreal. It got me thinking about ‘Paranormal Activity’ in theatrical terms.”
A few days after the first screening, Peli recalls being approached by all kinds of people from that first audience – men and women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. They all reported having problems sleeping at night, sometimes for several nights. “At first I thought people were just using a figure of speech to describe a scary movie,” Peli says. “But reports of sleeplessness have persisted after every screening since.”
The Screamfest screening helped Peli find an agent at CAA and a subsequent berth at Slamdance. It also attracted the attention of Steven Schneider, an academic-turned-producer whose numerous books on the horror genre brought him to Hollywood in 2003.
Schneider recalls pulling a DVD of “Paranormal Activity” from a pile of submissions and watching it at home alone one night. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this director is really asking the audience to experience what this couple is feeling,’” he says. ”But what really hooked me was that first night scene, after Micah puts his camera on a tripod. We've seen a lot of horror movies with gyrating, hand-held camerawork, so that static shot seemed almost subversive. I could tell the filmmaker intuitively knew how to build suspense. Then the movie slowly sucked me in, my sense of dread kept growing, and Oren's very clinical method of filmmaking - along with the naturalism of Katie and Micah's performances - really affected me. I couldn't sleep.”
Schneider shared the movie with producer Jason Blum. Schneider had a deal with Blum’s production company while both were based on the Paramount lot. “I recognized that ’Paranormal Activity’ was a lot like ‘Blair Witch’ in the way that it delivered purely on an audience level,” Blum says. “Both were designed to be theatrical experiences, exercises in terror told with the intimate medium of video, felt viscerally by large groups of strangers united in a darkened room.”
At Slamdance, the film was seen by a young executive from DreamWorks, Ashley Brucks, who recommended it to her boss, Adam Goodman, now president of production at Paramount Pictures.
Paramount Pictures will release the movie this fall, at the same time as Peli begins his next film, an independent thriller called “Area 51,” with Blum aboard as producer and Schneider as executive producer.
“One of the things I wanted to do was create something that people could say defined horror for their generation,” concludes Peli, “the way after ‘Psycho’ people said they would never take another shower; after ‘Jaws’ and ‘Open Water’ that they would never again swim in the ocean; and after ’Blair Witch’ that they would never again go camping in the woods. I figured, well, sleeping at home is something you can’t really avoid. So if I can make people scared of being at home, ‘Paranormal Activity’ might do something.”
http://www.paranormalactivi...
Saints preserve us...Could it be the new administration has actually found out war is war?? I think its time we begin an investigation and file charges against the President and those involved in this atrocity.
Congress set to act to keep abuse photos hidden
By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer Mark Sherman, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 16 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Congress is set to allow the Pentagon to keep new pictures of foreign detainees abused by their U.S. captors from the public, a move intended to end a legal fight over the photographs' release that has reached the Supreme Court.
Federal courts have so far rejected the government's arguments against the release of 21 color photographs showing prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq being abused by Americans.
The Obama administration believes giving the imminent grant of authority over the release of such pictures to the defense secretary would short-circuit a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act.
The White House is asking the justices to put off consideration of the case until after a vote on the measure in the House and Senate, as early as this coming week. The provision is part of a larger homeland security spending bill and would allow the defense secretary to withhold photographs relating to detainees by certifying their release would endanger soldiers or other government workers.
The ACLU said the court should not disturb a ruling by the federal appeals court in New York ordering the photographs' release. The pending congressional action "does not supply any reason for delay," Jameel Jaffer, director of ACLU's national security project, told the court.
The dispute is on a list of cases the Supreme Court could act on Tuesday.
Lower courts have ruled that a provision of FOIA allows documents to be withheld from the public for security reasons only in instances where there are specific threats against individuals.
President Barack Obama initially indicated he would not fight the release of the photographs. He reversed course in May and authorized an appeal to the high court.
The president said he was persuaded that disclosure could further incite violence in Afghanistan and Iraq and endanger U.S. troops there.
The photographs at issue were taken by service members in Iraq and Afghanistan and were part of criminal investigations of alleged abuse. Some pictures show "soldiers pointing pistols or rifles at the heads of hooded and handcuffed detainees," Solicitor General Elena Kagan said in the appeal to the high court.
In one, "a soldier holds a broom as if 'sticking its end into the rectum of a restrained detainee,'" Kagan said, quoting from an investigation report prepared by the Pentagon. Two investigations led to criminal charges and convictions, she said.
Kagan said the military has identified more than two dozen additional pictures that could be affected by the court's ruling.
The government made much the same argument to prevent the release of 87 photographs and other images of detainees at detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
International outrage resulted when photographs from the Iraqi prison showing physical abuse and sexual humiliation of inmates that took place under the Bush administration were revealed. One picture showed a naked, hooded prisoner on a box with wires fastened to his hands and genitals.
The government dropped its appeal related to those photographs after they were made public and posted on the Internet.
The ACLU, in seeking the other pictures, said the government had long argued that the abuse at Abu Ghraib was isolated and was an aberration. The new photos would show that the abuse was more widespread, the ACLU said
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Dear Conservative American,
I am sure you were as shocked as I was to hear this morning that the Nobel Peace Prize committee awarded Barack Obama the Peace Prize.
Barack Obama, a Peace Prize winner?
The same Barack Obama who has only been in office for less than nine months?
The same Barack Obama who can't decide on an Afghanistan peace strategy? The same Barack Obama who has given speeches overseas (many times apologizing for America), with very little to show for it?
I graduated from college with a degree in International Relations. I'm not certain that I have the qualifications for a Nobel - but I think I might have more qualifications than the President does. In fact, you may have more qualifications than the President does.
As the President of the Institute for Liberty, whose letterhead contains the likenesses of President Ronald Reagan, whose strength of character and clarity of vision helped bring down the Wall in Berlin; Margaret Thatcher, who sought peace through strength in the cold war and former UN Jeanne Kirkpatrick; I feel we must speak out and send a message to Norway and the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.
I believe that we, as Americans, need to let the Nobel Peace Prize committee know that awards should be given on merit and actual accomplishment, not just on the empty rhetoric of speeches.
I want you to join me and the Institute in sending a message to the Nobel Prize committee. Urge them to re-focus and to reward those who deserve prizes based on success, not speeches.
What's even more alarming is this: it has been reported that the deadline for Nobel Prize nominations was Feb. 1 - just two weeks after Mr. Obama was inaugurated!
The Wall Street Journal wrote today that it was given based on the "hope" Mr. Obama would accomplish something.
Haven't we seen the word Hope overused? The President has made promise after promise with few, if any, foreign policy results, while at the same time delivering us unprecedented amounts of debt, massive amounts of liberal liberal big government and continued high unemployment.
Norway controls the prize and today Siv Jensen, leader of Norway's main opposition party, said, "It is wrong to give him the peace prize for his ambition. You should receive it for results."
Jensen is right! We need to send a message that as Americans we are concerned that the Nobel Prize Committee would take this step. As American citizens we need to speak out.
CNN reported that The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it honored Obama for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
This, even though the President has been in office for only a few months and was nominated only two weeks after he took office.
Maybe it should not surprise.
The Committee chose to include Yasser Arafat in 1994, even though he spent a lifetime promoting terror against Israel, for his efforts promoting "peace." Apparently it was in the "hope" that he too would accomplish something or change his ways.
The Peace Prize Committee needs a wake up call. As Americans we can join together to deliver the message.
Reuters has reported that Obama will travel to Oslo to collect the Nobel Peace Prize. They said Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said he spoke with Obama to confirm the trip.
As my friend and former administration official, Aaron Taylor, said this morning, "He should accept Peace Prize on behalf of the Armed Forces of the United States, the greatest guarantor of peace in the history of the world."
I am a military spouse, and I wholeheartedly agree! It would certainly be a gesture that would elevate the prize to those who deserve our respect and admiration for ensuring America remains free.
As Americans we can also help send this message by joining together to express our concern over this prize.
Sincerely,
Andrew Langer
President
The Institute for Liberty
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS
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By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe, Ap Medical Writer – 1 hr 45 mins ago
ATLANTA – Health officials said Friday that 76 U.S. children have died of swine flu, including 19 new reports in the past week — more evidence the new virus is unusually dangerous for the young.
The regular flu kills between 46 and 88 children a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That suggests deaths from the new H1N1 virus could dramatically outpace children's deaths from seasonal flu, if swine flu continues to spread as it has.
CDC officials say 10 more states, a total of 37, now have widespread swine flu. A week ago, reports suggested that cases might be leveling off and even falling in some areas of the country, but that did not turn out to be an enduring national trend.
"We are seeing more illness, more hospitalizations, and more deaths," the CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat said at a press conference Friday.
The new virus, first identified in April, is a global epidemic. The CDC doesn't have an exact count of all swine flu deaths and hospitalizations, but existing reports suggest more than 600 have died and more than 9,000 have been hospitalized. Health officials believe millions of Americans have caught the virus.
The virus is hitting young people harder. Experts believe older people are suffering from it less, perhaps because they have a bit of immunity from exposure over the years to somewhat similar viruses.
Most healthy children recover and often suffer only mild symptoms. But some have died from it, often from a second infection that moves in while the body is weakened from the flu.
Kids with asthma or chronic heart or respiratory conditions also are at greater risk for serious complications.
Experts say it's important for parents to watch their children's symptoms carefully. If a child appears to get better, but fever and a cough return, there may be a second infection. Other trouble signs are rapid or difficult breathing or bluish skin color.
Vaccinations against swine flu began this week and so far, states have ordered 3.7 million doses. Demand is exceeding supply, and people seeking the vaccination should ask their state or local health department where to go, said Schuchat, who heads the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
Health officials also said more data is trickling in from several clinical trials of the new vaccine, and so far no serious side effects have been reported.
Preliminary results from one study indicate that both a seasonal flu shot and a swine flu shot are effective when given during the same doctor's office visit. However, the government is not recommending that people get the nasal spray versions of the seasonal and swine flu vaccines at the same time.
The nasal sprays contain weakened, live virus, and the government doesn't have data on how a person's immune system would react to exposure to both at once, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
___
By NANCY GIBBS Nancy Gibbs – 38 mins ago
The last thing Barack Obama needed at this moment in his presidency and our politics is a prize for a promise.
Inspirational words have brought him a long way - including to the night in Grant Park less than a year ago when he asked that we "join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand." http://www.time.com/time/ph... target="_blank">(See pictures of Obama in Grant Park.)
By now there are surely more callouses on his lips than his hands. He, like every new president, has reckoned with both the power and the danger of words, dangers that are especially great for one who wields them as skillfully as he. A promise beautifully made raises hopes especially high: we will revive the economy while we rein in our spending; we will make health care simpler, safer, cheaper, fairer. We will rid the earth of its most lethal weapons. We will turn green and clean. We will all just get along. http://www.time.com/time/ph... target="_blank">(See pictures of eight months of Obama's diplomacy.)
So when reality bites, it chomps down hard. The Nobel committee cited "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." His critics fault some of those efforts: those who favor a missile shield for Poland or a troop surge in Afghanistan or a harder line on Iran. But even his fans know that none of the dreams have yet come true, and a prize for even dreaming them can feed the illusion that they have. http://www.time.com/time/sp... target="_blank">(See the Top 10 Obama Backlash Moments)
Maybe the prize will give him more power, new muscles to haul unruly nations in line. But peacemaking is more about ingenuity than inspiration, about reading other nations' selfish interests and cynically, strategically exploiting them for the common good. Will it help if fewer countries come to the table hating us? To a point. But it's a starting point, not an end in itself.
At this moment many Americans are longing for a president who is more bully, less pulpit. The president who leased his immense inaugural good will to the hungry appropriators writing the stimulus bill, who has not stopped negotiating health care reform except to say what is non-negotiable, whose solicitude for the wheelers and dealers who drove the financial system into a ditch leaves the rest of us wondering who has our back, has always shown great promise, said the right things, affirmed every time he opens his mouth that he understands the fears we face and the hopes we hold. But he presides over a capital whose day-to-day functioning has become part-travesty, part-tragedy, wasteful, blind, vain, petty, where even the best intentioned reformers measure their progress with teaspoons. There comes a time when a President needs to take a real risk - and putting his prestige on the line to win the Olympics for his home town does not remotely count.
Compare this to Greg Mortenson, nominated for the prize by some members of Congress, who the bookies gave 20-to-1 odds of winning. Son of a missionary, a former army Medic and mountaineer, he has made it his mission to build schools for girls in places where opium dealers and tribal warlords kill people for trying. His Central Asia Institute has built more than 130 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan - a mission which has, along the way, inspired millions of people to view the protection and education of girls as a key to peace and prosperity and progress.http://www.time.com/time/in... target="_blank">(See an interactive guide to Obama's first 100 days.)
Sometimes the words come first. Sometimes, it's better to let actions speak for themselves
Glenn Thrush, Manu Raju Glenn Thrush, Manu Raju – Thu Oct 8, 6:02 am ET
The eye roll said it all.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid emerged from the White House Tuesday with broad, bicameral smiles — until Reid put his arm around Pelosi to announce that “everyone” would support “whatever” http://www.politico.com/new...>Afghanistan policy the president produces.
Pelosi doesn’t agree with that — not at all — and the TV cameras captured the California Democrat rolling her eyes and slightly recoiling from Reid’s grasp as he spoke. Back at the Capitol, Pelosi made it clear to staff that she was angry about Reid's unilateral offer of unequivocal support, a person familiar with the situation said.
http://topics.politico.com/...>Pelosi insisted Wednesday that it wasn’t so, telling POLITICO that she was “not upset,” adding: “I don’t know where you would have heard such a thing.”
But whatever the precise level of Pelosi’s frustration, this much is clear: If President Barack Obama decides to send more troops to Afghanistan, he risks setting off an internal party struggle on a foreign policy issue that may well define his performance as commander in chief.
Pelosi, reflecting the views of anti-war voters who gave Democrats the majority and of the progressives who elected her as speaker, has publicly expressed reservations about Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s calls for the deployment of 40,000 additional troops. And she resents his penchant for going public.
Although Pelosi is waiting for Obama to propose a strategy, she seems more receptive to the creation of a smaller force focused on anti-terrorism operations on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, an approach reportedly favored by Vice President Joe Biden.
http://www.politico.com/new...>Reid has maintained a far more open posture — and has refused to take a position until Obama lays out his long-awaited strategy for the 8-year-old war.
Democrats say Pelosi and Reid will eventually sort out their differences, but Republicans, who are more unified in their support of McChrystal’s plan, are sensing weakness.
“There are obviously people on the left who do not want the president involved in the general’s recommendations, but there are others who are supportive of it,” said Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), the Senate minority whip. “They have a split within their party. ... In our party, that split just doesn’t exist.”
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Reid’s No. 2, isn’t disputing that assessment.
“I think there are going to be divided opinions, within the House, within the Senate and between the parties,” he told POLITICO. “This is not a cut-and-dried, black-and-white issue.”
At Tuesday’s White House meeting with about 30 leaders of Congress, Reid and Pelosi were not as vocal as some of the other members in the room. Reid deferred to others to speak, and Pelosi thanked the president for the meeting, Durbin later recalled, and Senate Armed Services Chairman http://topics.politico.com/...>Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said that the leaders avoided talking specifics.
Levin called on the president to focus on a counterinsurgency strategy to assist and train Afghan forces, and Obama’s old rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), called on the president to develop his strategy in a “timely fashion.”
Still, coming out of the meeting, Reid said: “Madam Speaker, the one thing that I think was interesting is that everyone, Democrats and Republicans, said that ‘whatever decision you make, we will support it’ — basically. So we will see.”
Later in the news conference, Reid sought to clarify his remarks, saying that he meant that Republicans were in agreement that the president is the commander in chief and sets the policy on military strategy. And Pelosi chimed in, saying that “there was agreement that it was a difficult decision for the president to make,” but added that support from the Democrats in Congress “remains to be seen when we see what the president puts forth.”
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid, downplayed the episode and dismissed talk of a split between Reid and Pelosi, saying that he was “confident” that the president’s strategy would have “broad support” in Congress and with the public.
But complicating matters, as always, is Reid’s precarious 2010 reelection prospects. He could benefit from taking a more hawkish approach to the war, as he appeals to moderate and conservative voters in Nevada — and tries to erase the memory of his now-infamous proclamation in 2007 that the Iraq war was “lost.”
For now, he is taking a more wait-and-see approach, saying, “I don’t think we need 100 secretaries of state.”
Still, there are perils for Reid, particularly if Obama sides with http://topics.politico.com/...>McChrystal and force-feeds congressional Democrats a major troop surge. Even if Reid supports the president on such a policy, he could face a mini-revolt from progressives in his own chamber.
“I’m not at all convinced that we need more troops,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “I need a lot of convincing before I would vote for more troops.”
“I think what Reid is doing is right,” Brown added. “Reid is doing it right in terms of giving the president time to do it.”
By ERIC GORSKI, AP Religion Writer Eric Gorski, Ap Religion Writer – Thu Oct 8, 12:26 pm ET
The global Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, meaning that nearly 1 in 4 people in the world practice Islam, according to a report Wednesday billed as the most comprehensive of its kind.
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report provides a precise number for a population whose size has long has been subject to guesswork, with estimates ranging anywhere from 1 billion to 1.8 billion.
The project, three years in the making, also presents a portrait of the Muslim world that might surprise some. For instance, Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon, China has more Muslims than Syria, Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined, and Ethiopia has nearly as many Muslims as Afghanistan.
"This whole idea that Muslims are Arabs and Arabs are Muslims is really just obliterated by this report," said Amaney Jamal, an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University who reviewed an advance copy.
Pew officials call the report the most thorough on the size and distribution of adherents of the world's second largest religion behind Christianity, which has an estimated 2.1 billion to 2.2 billion followers.
The arduous task of determining the Muslim populations in 232 countries and territories involved analyzing census reports, demographic studies and general population surveys, the report says. In cases where the data was a few years old, researchers projected 2009 numbers.
The report also sought to pinpoint the world's Sunni-Shiite breakdown, but difficulties arose because so few countries track sectarian affiliation, said Brian Grim, the project's senior researcher.
As a result, the Shiite numbers are not as precise; the report estimates that Shiites represent between 10 and 13 percent of the Muslim population, in line with or slightly lower than other studies. As much as 80 percent of the world's Shiite population lives in four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq.
The report provides further evidence that while the heart of Islam might beat in the Middle East, its greatest numbers lie in Asia: More than 60 percent of the world's Muslims live in Asia.
About 20 percent live in the Middle East and North Africa, 15 percent live in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2.4 percent are in Europe and 0.3 percent are in the Americas. While the Middle East and North Africa have fewer Muslims overall than Asia, the region easily claims the most Muslim-majority countries.
While those population trends are well established, the large numbers of Muslims who live as minorities in countries aren't as scrutinized. The report identified about 317 million Muslims — or one-fifth of the world's Muslim population — living in countries where Islam is not the majority religion.
About three-quarters of Muslims living as minorities are concentrated in five countries: India (161 million), Ethiopia (28 million), China (22 million), Russia (16 million) and Tanzania (13 million).
In several of these countries — from India to Nigeria and China to France — divisions featuring a volatile mix of religion, class and politics have contributed to tension and bloodshed among groups.
The immense size of majority-Hindu India is underscored by the fact that it boasts the third-largest Muslim population of any nation — yet Muslims account for just 13 percent of India's population.
"Most people think of the Muslim world being Muslims living mostly in Muslim-majority countries," Grim said. "But with India ... that sort of turns that on its head a bit."
Among the report's other highlights:
• Two-thirds of all Muslims live in 10 countries. Six are in Asia (Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey), three are in North Africa (Egypt, Algeria and Morocco) and one is in sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria).
• Indonesia, which has a tradition of a more tolerant Islam, has the world's largest Muslim population (203 million, or 13 percent of the world's total). Religious extremists have been involved in several high-profile bombings there in recent years.
• In China, the highest concentrations of Muslims were in western provinces. The country experienced its worst outbreak of ethnic violence in decades when rioting broke out this summer between minority Muslim Uighurs and majority Han Chinese.
• Europe is home to about 38 million Muslims, or about five percent of its population. Germany appears to have more than 4 million Muslims — almost as many as North and South America combined. In France, where tensions have run high over an influx of Muslim immigrant laborers, the overall numbers were lower but a larger percentage of the population is Muslim.
• Of roughly 4.6 million Muslims in the Americas, more than half live in the United States although they only make up 0.8 percent of the population there. About 700,000 people in Canada are Muslim, or about 2 percent of the total population.
A future Pew Forum project, scheduled to be released in 2010, will build on the report's data to estimate growth rates among Muslim populations and project future trends.
By Sayed Salahuddin Sayed Salahuddin – Wed Oct 7, 7:08 am ET
KABUL (Reuters) – The Afghan Taliban pose no threat to the West but will continue their fight against occupying foreign forces, they said on Wednesday, the eighth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that removed them from power.
U.S.-led forces with the help of Afghan groups overthrew the Taliban government during a five week battle which started on October 7, 2001, after the militants refused to hand over al Qaeda leaders wanted by Washington for the September 11 attacks on America.
"We had and have no plan of harming countries of the world, including those in Europe ... our goal is the independence of the country and the building of an Islamic state," the Taliban said in a statement on the group's website www.shahamat.org.
"Still, if you (NATO and U.S. troops) want to colonize the country of proud and pious Afghans under the baseless pretext of a war on terror, then you should know that our patience will only increase and that we are ready for a long war."
U.S. President Barack Obama has said defeating the militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan is a top foreign policy priority and is evaluating whether to send thousands of extra troops to the country as requested by the commander of NATO and U.S. forces.
In a review of the war in Afghanistan submitted to the Pentagon last month, U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, in charge of all foreign forces, said defeating the insurgents would likely result in failure unless more troops were sent.
There are currently more than 100,000 foreign troops in the country, roughly two-thirds of who are Americans.
SAFE HAVEN
The Taliban statement comes at a time when Western officials warn that deserting Afghanistan could mean a return to power for the Taliban and the country could once again become a safe haven for al Qaeda militants, who could use it as a base to plan future attacks on Western countries.
The Taliban have made a comeback in recent years, spreading their attacks to previously secure areas. The growing insecurity has further added to the frustration of ordinary Afghans with the West and President Hamid Karzai's government, in power since the Taliban's ouster.
Since 2001, each year, several thousand Afghans, many of them civilians, have been killed in Afghanistan, with Taliban and al Qaeda leaders still at large despite the rising number of foreign troops.
In the statement, the Taliban said the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan for its refusal to hand over al Qaeda leaders, was hasty and unjustified. Washington had not given leaders of the movement any proof to show the involvement of al Qaeda in the September 11 attacks, it said.
Washington was using the so-called war on terror in Afghanistan and in Iraq as part of its expansionist goals in the Middle East, central and southeast Asia, it said.
It recalled the defeat of British forces in the 19th century and the fate of the former Soviet Union in the 1980s in Afghanistan as a lesson to those nations who have troops in the country.
Qari Mohammad Yousuf, a spokesman for the Taliban, said the withdrawal of foreign troops was the only solution to a conflict that has grown in intensity and has pushed some European nations to refuse to send their soldiers into battle zones or to speak about a timetable to withdraw from the country.
Some 1,500 foreign troops have also died in Afghanistan since the Taliban's ouster causing many nations to question the presence of its soldiers in the country and whether stability can ever be achieved eight years after the overthrow of the militants.
(Editing by Sugita Katyal)
By LOLITA BALDOR and BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE, Associated Press Writers Lolita Baldor And Brett J. Blackledge, Associated Press Writers – Mon Oct 5, 10:55 pm ET
WASHINGTON – An Afghan immigrant accused of plotting a terrorist attack in New York after receiving training in Pakistan was in contact with a senior al-Qaida operative, intelligence officials familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press.
The CIA learned about Najibullah Zazi through one of its sources and alerted domestic agencies, including the FBI, intelligence officials said.
U.S. intelligence organizations first became aware of Zazi in late August, a senior administration official said. Interest in Zazi surfaced just weeks before prosecutors claim he was planning to strike on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
The intelligence and administration officials declined to offer more details on the operative and spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
The fact that intelligence officials learned of Zazi through a CIA source sheds more light on the government's claim that the charges against him are part of a broader, international case and begins to explain why the investigation triggered such a large offensive from the nation's intelligence community.
It also shows the case stems from the CIA's counterterrorism efforts to track al-Qaida and not an investigation initiated in this country by someone's suspicious actions, like most other domestic terrorism cases handled by the FBI.
President Barack Obama began receiving briefings on the investigation in late August, updated at least daily and sometimes several times a day as intelligence officials were crafting their case against Zazi, senior administration officials said.
Zazi initially was characterized to Obama as a person of interest because of suspected involvement in terrorist activities, the officials said. Obama's primary interest in those briefings was to ensure an attack was prevented and all involved in the plot were identified, the officials said.
The CIA declined to comment Monday, spokesman George Little said.
Federal agents began watching Zazi in Denver in early September. He drove a rental car to New York on Sept. 9, but left the city to return to Denver on Sept. 12 after learning that investigators were looking for him, prosecutors said. FBI agents raided three apartments in Queens two days after Zazi left the New York area.
Zazi and his lawyer agreed to meet with investigators at FBI offices in Denver on Sept. 16. And after three days of meetings, Zazi was arrested and charged with lying to federal agents.
Speaking Monday in Colorado at a conference of police chiefs, Attorney General Eric Holder said the plot had the potential to kill scores of people.
Zazi, 24, is the only suspect publicly identified in the terror plot. More arrests are expected. Prosecutors have said three others in New York City worked with Zazi, although they do not currently pose a threat.
Calls to Zazi's lawyer were not returned Monday.
Zazi was initially arrested on charges that he lied to federal investigators. He remains held without bond and has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. The charges related to his statements to investigators later were dropped.
Zazi's father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, and a Queens, N.Y., imam, Ahmad Wais Afzali, face charges of lying to investigators last month when first questioned about Zazi.
Prosecutors said Zazi received explosives training at an al-Qaida training camp. They have accused him of planning an attack in New York, perhaps on the city's subway system around the anniversary of the 9/11 World Trade Center attack, using powerful homemade bombs of hydrogen peroxide and flour. Would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid attempted to use the same type of explosive in 2001 and the material was used by the terrorists in the London bombings in 2005 that killed 52 people.
Zazi was recruited and trained by al-Qaida to make the bombs from common supplies purchased at beauty supply stores, intelligence officials said, although they declined to say when that occurred. Zazi's contact with the senior al-Qaida operative occurred through an intermediary, one official said.
Zazi, who moved to the U.S. with his family as a teenager, has denied any involvement in a terror plot. He has said his travels to Pakistan, which began in 2006, were to visit family, including his wife, whom he married on that first trip.
The case against Zazi involves classified information as well as evidence the FBI collected in searches of Zazi's computer that discussed bomb making.
Prosecutors submitted court documents saying they intend to use electronic information the FBI obtained through the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
___
Associated Press writers Adam Goldman in New York and Eileen Sullivan, Matt Apuzzo and Lara Jakes in Washington contributed to this report.
ISLAMABAD – Taliban militants claimed responsibility Tuesday for the deadly suicide bombing at the U.N. food agency's heavily fortified compound in Islamabad, saying international relief work in Pakistan is not in "the interest of Muslims."
The attack, which killed five workers for the World Food Program on Monday, pushed the U.N. to temporarily close its offices in the country and exposed the vulnerability of many international relief agencies working to provide aid to millions of civilians affected by the fight between the government and Islamic militant groups.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik accused the Taliban of carrying out the attack to avenge the Aug. 5 slaying of their leader Baitullah Mehsud in a U.S. drone attack.
Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq confirmed his group was behind the strike in a phone conversation with The Associated Press and lashed out at foreign aid workers here.
"We proudly claim the responsibility for the suicide attack at the U.N. office in Islamabad. We will send more bombers for such attacks," he said in a phone conversation with The Associated Press. "The U.N. and other foreign (aid groups) are not working for the interest of Muslims. We are watching their activities. They are infidels."
He added that the Taliban would not target Muslim relief groups.
Tariq said the Taliban's future targets would include Pakistani security officials, government offices and American installations.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani Taliban says it launched the deadly attack at the U.N. food agency's offices in Islamabad because international relief work was not in "the interest of Muslims."
Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq said Tuesday his group targeted the World Food Program because the U.N. and foreign aid groups are "infidels."
The blast at the World Food Program offices Monday killed five people.
Tariq said the Taliban would launch more attacks on Pakistani and U.S. targets.
LOS ANGELES – The FBI says they've arrested a Chicago-area man who is accused of taking surreptitious nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews in a hotel room.
The bureau says in a statement that 48-year-old Michael Barrett of Westmont, Ill., was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare Airport Friday night.
The FBI says Barrett faces federal charges of interstate stalking for taking the videos, posting the videos online and trying to sell them to celebrity Web site TMZ.com.
The charges were filed in Los Angeles.
Andrews is identified in the federal complaint as E.A.
The videos were taken through a modified peephole while Andrews was undressed in hotel rooms in Nashville, Tenn. and Milwaukee, Wisc., in 2008.
I mean come on isnt everybody from that area a liberal and voted for owe? there wasnt a McCain supporter in that whole state.
Us Magazine - October 1, 2009 8:15 AM PDT
Us Magazine
Jon Gosselin is attempting to shut down production of TLC's Kate Plus 8 by denying permission to videotape his eight children, according to reports.
Through his attorney, Mark J. Heller, Jon, 32, has written two letters to TLC lawyers. In the letters -- dated Sept. 29 -- Gosselin demands the network cease and desist production and leave his property, according to The Insider. On Thursday morning, he even posted a sign outside his family's $1.1 million estate in Wernersville, Pa. It read: "Notice: no film crew or production staff from TLC is permitted on this property under penalty of trespass."
See more reality romances gone bad
In one of the letters, Jon's attorney writes: "Effective immediately, no production crews are to enter Jon's family home for any reason. In the event that anyone enters the marital property, Jon Gosselin will notify the local authorities to effectuate police action against any trespassers."
According to Gosselin's lawyer, both Jon and Kate, 34 -- who announced they were ending their 10-year marriage in June -- own the home where the show is filmed.
See what celebs look like with Kate Gosselin's hair
Jon has joint custody of the kids and is able to make decisions about their welfare, his lawyer says.
"Jon realized his family was like a trainwreck, so he decided to put the brakes on the divorce and on the show ... because if he didn't, the family would be in a mortal accident ... the victims of a trainwreck," his lawyer tells Entertainment Tonight. His attorney also tells ET the original agreement between TLC and the Gosselin family "may very well be 'null and void' and unenforceable." But he claims that TLC never secured the special permits required by Pennsylvania Child Labor Law as a "prerequisite" for the Gosselin children's involvement in Jon and Kate Plus 8.
See the Gosselin family in happier days
Heller also claims that TLC "failed to designate the appropriate compensation to be allocated to the children" and "it may ultimately be determined that TLC has not provided for compensation for the eight children over the past four years."
Philadelphia Daily News reports many black officers have similar hairstyle
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 5:43 a.m. PT, Tues., Sept . 22, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - Police in Philadelphia say a white officer who came to work with cornrows was ordered by a black superior to get a haircut because the braids violated department standards.
The Philadelphia Daily News reported Monday that Officer Thomas Strain was put on desk duty this month because of the braids, even though the paper reported dozens of black officers wear cornrows.
"They pulled him out of roll call and took him right up to the inspector's office," said an officer who asked to remain anonymous.
Reached last week, Strain declined to comment to the paper about the hair hubbub.
'Professional' look
Police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore says Strain's boss told the officer to cut his hair to look more "professional."
Vanore says officers' hats must fit "in a military manner" over their hair, and that Strain's hat did not. Strain got a haircut; he declined comment to the paper.
Interviewed by the Daily News, Vanore said he couldn't explain why black officers with cornrows weren't ordered to get haircuts — unless they're women. The policy for female officers is slightly more permissive, he said.
Friends, according to the newspaper, described Strain as a hardworking cop who hails from a family of police officers and who adores police work.
The former Marine served in Iraq, where he twice survived explosions when his Hummer hit roadside bombs in 2006, co-workers said.
"He's a guy that, when things go bad, you want him there," the officer told the paper.
By MICHAEL SCHERER / WASHINGTON Michael Scherer / Washington – Wed Sep 30, 2:30 pm ET
When Barack Obama arrives in Copenhagen on Friday, he might be forgiven if he mistakes the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting for just another social call in his old Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. A number of the President's closest friends, biggest fundraisers and longtime political supporters will be making the trip as well.
Even before he committed to become the first U.S. President to attend such an event, the Chicago Olympic effort was already being substantially orchestrated by the group of people who are most responsible for supporting Obama's rise to the White House. And while the White House denies that the substantial overlap between Obama's personal and political network and the Chicago 2016 organizing committee played any role in his abrupt decision to reverse himself and attend the Olympic meeting in Denmark, the potential conflicts of interest have raised eyebrows. http://www.time.com/time/ph... target="_blank">(See TIME's photo-essay "A Long History of Olympic Politics.")
Two of the 13-member board of directors for the Chicago 2016 committee who plan to attend the Copenhagen meeting, John W. Rogers Jr. and Marty Nesbitt, are close Obama friends, having worked for his presidential campaign as a member of the campaign's national finance committee and campaign treasurer, respectively. Several other friends and important campaign advisers, including investment banker James Reynolds Jr. and Hyatt hotel heir Penny Pritzker, are expected to attend the Copenhagen meeting as well. Valerie Jarrett, a senior Obama adviser and close family friend, quit the Chicago 2016 board when she formally joined the White House, but she has promised "unprecedented" government support for the Games.
"To say Barack and Michelle and others like Rahm [Emmanuel] aren't more interested in Chicago than Cincinnati just isn't credible," says Allen Sanderson, a sports economist at the University of Chicago. "It's just like saying that Obama wouldn't be more interested in his own daughters than two kids picked at random at the Sidwell Friends School."
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs went to great pains on Monday to assert that Obama saw the trip to Copenhagen as an official duty, not a personal one. "If it had been Los Angeles, I think the notion that the President would have done less because it was a different U.S. city just doesn't hold a lot of water," Gibbs said. He later added that none of Obama's friends would be flying to Copenhagen aboard Air Force One, though at least one might return on the official presidential jet. http://www.time.com/time/ph... target="_blank">(See pictures of Eunice Kennedy Shriver's Special Olympics.)
Though Gibbs spoke of the economic impact of the Games as a boon for the entire nation, outside analysts expect most of the economic benefits to be focused in Chicago and the surrounding area, where many of Obama's biggest boosters are heavily invested in the real estate and tourism industry. Estimates for the economic stimulus of the Games vary widely, from $4.4 billion in an independent study by Anderson Economic Group to $22.5 billion, according to a number circulated by the Chicago 2016 committee. Yet if the cost of the Games exceeds expectations, as happens with most Olympics, local taxpayers may find themselves saddled with much of the expense.
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