When the Army judge declared a mistrial over defense objection in 1st Lt. Ehren Watada's court martial yesterday, he probably didn't realize jeopardy attached. That means that under the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Constitution, the government cannot retry Lt. Watada on the same charges of missing movement and conduct unbecoming an officer.
Lt. Watada is the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse orders to deploy to Iraq. He clai... (more)
The bogus terror dance continues in Great Britain, where last week nine Muslim men were arrested, supposedly for plotting to kidnap and behead a Muslim British soldier and post a video of the decapitation on the internet.
Two of the nine were released without charge early Wednesday morning. None of the remaining seven suspects has been charged with a crime.
According to reports from BBC and elsewhere, the two ex-suspects said
Harry Hoxsey claimed to cure cancer using herbal remedies, and thousands of patients swore that he healed them. His Texas clinic became the world’s largest privately owned cancer center with branches in seventeen states, and the value of its therapeutic treatments was upheld by two federal courts. Even his arch-nemesis, the AMA, admitted his treatment was effective against some forms of cancer. But the medical establishment refused an invest... (more)
“The US has talked tough without achieving anything.” Han Seung-Joo, South Korea’s former foreign minister (UK Guardian)
There’s been plenty of saber rattling and bold talk about forcing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, but after a 6 year standoff, Bush has decided to give in to Kim Jung Il’s demands. The western media is characterizing the new developments as a “breakthrough”, but, in fact, Bush has retreated on every i... (more)
A columnist at Salon has described Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' sacking of United States Attorneys involved in controversial prosecutions as an act that amounts to a "coup d'etat."
Joe Conason highlights the removal from office of Carol Lam, Bud Cummings, and John McKay, U.S. Attorneys in San Diego, Little Rock, and Seattle respectively, whose prosecutions ran against the partisan interests of the Bush White House. These acts, Conason writes, suggest tha... (more)
Rush-Henrietta has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to fighting in schools.
That isn't sitting well with some parents as it punishes not only the instigator, but also the victim.
Some parents believe things are getting rough at the high school. One told R News about her son being attacked by two brothers. Amy Schubach says even though her son didn't fight, he received the same ten week suspension as the instigators.
Growing references by the US and Israel to the Muslim Middle East as a collection of failed states are part of the propaganda campaign to strip legitimacy from Muslim states and set them up for attack. These accusations spring from the hubris of many Israelis, who see themselves as "God's Chosen People," a guarantee of immunity instead of a call to responsibility, and many Americans, who regard their country as "a city upon a hill" that is "the light of ... (more)
It feels so different watching an aircraft carrier group coming toward you than watching it sailing away from you toward another part of the world.
I'm an American who used to live in New York City. All my life, when I heard about warships, it was US warships going places far away. I never even imagined hostile warships sailing toward New York. Now I'm in Tehran, and aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis is heading our way. And as it sails, people are discussing Israel and/or ... (more)
An expensive 4 x 4 vehicle was ruthlessly crushed – without its owner's knowledge.
The Mitsubishi Shogun, which can cost up to £35,000, was seized and destroyed after its driver was spotted dumping rubbish.
Determined council bosses hunted down the vehicle to an address in Leyland following a spate of incidents last year when large quantities of tyres were dumped in various parts of Wigan.
A Muslim activist has been arrested in east London over allegations of encouraging terrorism.
Abu Izzadeen was held by in Leyton High Road by counter-terrorism officers, Scotland Yard said.
He hit the headlines last September after heckling Home Secretary John Reid but it is understood the inquiry is related to a 2006 speech in Birmingham.
Mr Izzadeen, 31, is being held at a central London police station under Section 1 of ... (more)
Two more ground zero emergency rescue personnel are on the record as stating they were told Building 7 was going to be brought down on 9/11 hours before its symmetrical implosion, completely contradicting the official explanation of accidental collapse.
The new revelations provoke urgent questions about how a building was rigged with explosives within hours when such a process normally takes weeks or months and why the decision was taken to demolish the buildi... (more)
Intelligence provided by former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith to buttress the White House case for invading Iraq included "reporting of dubious quality or reliability" that supported the political views of senior administration officials rather than the conclusions of the intelligence community, according to a report by the Pentagon's inspector general.
Feith's office "was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda," according to porti... (more)
On the February 7 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews heaped praise on GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, calling the former New York m... (more)
On Feb 5, the Pingan Demolition and Eviction Company in Jiangsu Province's Yangzhou City attempted to forcefully demolish Xue Xiangbiao's house. In order to protect his house from demolition, Xue Xiangbiao climbed on his roof with a container of gasoline and threatened to set himself on fire. The demolition company then halted its actions. Another forced demolition last December led to the death of Yangzhou resident Xue Xianggu.
PARIS, Feb. 6 -- Representatives from 57 countries on Tuesday signed a long-negotiated treaty prohibiting governments from holding people in secret detention. The United States declined to endorse the document, saying its text did not meet U.S. expectations.
Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said the treaty was "a message to all modern-day authorities committed to the fight against terrorism" that some practices are "not acceptable."
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asked British Foreign Minister Margaret Becket on Wednesday to enact a law preventing the arrest of Israel Defense Forces officers in British territory, during their meeting in Jerusalem.
According to a political source in Jerusalem, British authorities promised Israel roughly a year and a half ago that the country would enact a law similar to a Belgian law, passed in the wake of the Belgian warrant issued for the arrest of then-prime minister Ariel Shar... (more)
THE Federal Government has used climate change as a diversion to sneak a national ID card into Parliament, claims the Australian Privacy Foundation.
Draft laws setting up the Access Card, which will replace the Medicare card and provide access to up to 16 other government health and welfare services, were introduced into Parliament this morning.
But the foundation said the card was really a national ID card "pure and simple" with all the features o... (more)
Arizona Senator Karen Johnson (R-Mesa) introduced Senate Concurrent Memorial 1002. The bill would urge U.S. withdrawal from the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, and the North American Union. The text of the legislation is similar to other resolutions offered in South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.
In part, SCM 1002 states:
That the Congress of the United States take action to withdraw the United States from any ... (more)
A SCHOOL is putting CCTV in its toilets to cut down on bullying.
Astley Sports College in Dukinfield has installed the cameras to make sure there are no hiding places for school bullies.
"It's just a clever use of the technology that's available," said deputy head Ian Gilbert. "We had a grant to spend on security so it seemed natural to spend it on CCTV. We surveyed the pupils and asked if they would object to cameras in the toilets. The majority o... (more)
As many as 3,500 schools are taking fingerprints from pupils, often without their parents' permission, a new poll revealed yesterday.
Soaring numbers require pupils to undergo biometric identity checks before they can register in the mornings, buy canteen meals and use the library.
But the trend has prompted furious complaints from parents who are concerned their children's data will be stored on insecure databases. Under current laws, schools do no... (more)
Cash or plastic? From starting with seashells, gold coins, and rewarding soldiers with salt, payment systems have evolved to keep lowering the cost of making each transaction, and separating the real item of value from the point of the transaction.
Bank notes came to represent the value of gold held somewhere else and were far easier to carry, and credit or debit cards helped to identify an individual and link them to their remotely stored pot of gold, bank ... (more)
Cash or plastic? From starting with seashells, gold coins, and rewarding soldiers with salt, payment systems have evolved to keep lowering the cost of making each transaction, and separating the real item of value from the point of the transaction.
Bank notes came to represent the value of gold held somewhere else and were far easier to carry, and credit or debit cards helped to identify an individual and link them to their remotely stored pot of gold, bank ... (more)
Pupils should be taught sex education based on their sexual experience, academics suggest in a radical departure from current methods. Their survey of the sex lives of 13 to 16-year-olds concludes that the range of sexual experience among teenagers is so varied that safer sex cannot be encouraged with one standard model of sex education.
"Some boys are still playing with Lego while others are already having sex, think they know it all but say that contraception is the girl's probl... (more)
ALMOST 100 children may have been infected with HIV or hepatitis as a result of being treated at Canberra Hospital with surgical instruments that had not been sterilised.
Health authorities are searching for patients who had a colon biopsy at the hospital between 1987 and mid-October last year.
The patients, all under the age of three at the time, would have had the biopsy to diagnose Hirschsprung's disease, which affects the colon and can cause severe constipation.
... (more)
After hearing stories about repeated violence at Lauderhill Middle, Jenella Oliphant planned to withdraw her 13-year-old niece from the school on Wednesday.
When she arrived at the campus, she saw paramedics and several police officers responding to a fight that broke out out among three boys, leaving one of them hospitalized with minor cuts from a paring knife.
''You hear about fighting and stuff, but not a stabbing -- not at a middle school,'' Oliphant said. ``I a... (more)
