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Here's a poser: Suppose a public official is accused of recommending his girlfriend for a promotion, though he was the one who first flagged the potential conflict of interest and officials had refused to let him recuse himself from decisions about the woman. Should he lose his job? That's precisely what happened in 2007 to Paul Wolfowitz, who was run out of the World Bank on the pretext that he had given his girlfriend a raise. In fact, Mr. Wolfowitz had made bank officials aware that his girlfriend already worked at the bank before he accepted the job as president,...

LANCASTER, Pa. – The mother of the nation's first double hand transplant patient says he's out of the hospital and looking forward to returning to his wife and daughter in Georgia. Doris Schafer told the Intelligencer Journal-Lancaster New Era that her son, Jeff Kepner, visited her over the weekend in Lancaster. She says he plans to return to Augusta, Ga., at the end of this week. Schafer says Kepner is considerably happier than when she saw him in June at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, about a month after the transplant. She says her son still has no feeling...

SAN DIEGO - A sailor accused of murdering a fellow seaman on duty at Camp Pendleton committed suicide in the base brig. Jonathan Campos, 32, of Lancaster, was found unresponsive in his cell at about 12:20 p.m., taken to the base hospital and declared dead about 1:15 p.m.,the Los Angeles Times reported. Campos, a petty officer 2nd class, apparently asphyxiated himself with toilet paper. He had been on suicide watch in the brig and was last checked at 11:45 a.m., according to a Navy written statement. Campos was charged with murdering 29-year-old August Provost on June 30 at about 2...

Double jeopardy in before US Supreme Court HOUSTON A former Enron Corp. executive is hoping a little known component of the Fifth Amendment's double jeopardy clause will help him avoid a retrial on charges related to financial fraud at the once mighty energy giant. Attorneys for F. Scott Yeager are set to present oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday on the issue of whether double jeopardy prevents prosecutors from retrying individuals after a jury votes not guilty on some charges, but fails to reach a verdict on others that share an element with the acquitted charges. Prosecutors...

John P. Coale, a prominent Washington lawyer and power-broker, is secretly running Palin's political action committee and working to "protect the Palin brand," according to the Washington Post. He is very, very good at doing that because he can walk through walls and read minds and leave his body and never gets sick because he is a Scientologist. Coale is also the husband of Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren, whom he recruited into the church.

N Korea's Kim died in 2003 and was replaced by lookalike, says Waseda professor Is Kim Jong Il dead? Yes, North Korea’s “Dear Leader” is no more, having passed away in the fall of 2003, writes Waseda University professor Toshimitsu Shigemura in Shukan Gendai (Aug 23-30). A one-time Mainichi Shimbun journalist posted in Seoul, Shigemura is introduced by the magazine as a leading authority on the Korean Peninsula. His latest book, released this month, is titled “The True Character of Kim Jong Il.” If true, the implications are potentially vast. Among them: former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s summit partner during...

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2008 – A significant unmanned aerial vehicle warfighting milestone was reached more than two years ahead of schedule May 1, with the beginning of the 24th MQ-1 Predator combat air patrol in the global war on terror, Air Force officials announced yesterday. This CAP doubles the around-the-clock Predator capability of last year, two years ahead of the Defense Department’s goal of 2010 for 21 Predator CAPs, officials said. Predators now supply more than 13,400 hours of full-motion video to ground forces every month while conducting armed overwatch, force protection and precision air-to-surface engagements with the AGM-114 Hellfire...

Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America. Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation. White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to. Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American. Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the '60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American...

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12/10/2007 - DALLAS (AFPN) -- Military advocates across America are making their support work twice as hard with Army and Air Force Exchange Service "Gifts from the Homefront" gift certificates. While assistance sent through this troop-support initiative provides for the immediate needs of troops throughout operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, revenue generated from the redemption of the gift certificates also strengthens important quality of life efforts for military Families closer to home. "AAFES' dual mission to serve America's troops and generate funds to support military Morale, Welfare and Recreation programs means that resources dedicated to 'Gifts from the Homefront'...

Under pressure from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (which regulates national banks), the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of Thrift Supervision, some national banks will soon be increasing minimum monthly credit card payments so they are closer to 4% rather than the current average of around 2%. Some major banks have already increased the minimum payments and others are about to follow suit.

In a nutshell, Verizon dialed up Akon's people and asked if he'd like to be a spokesperson or a featured artist or whatever on all their cellies. They said they were down. Michelle Malkin got on the case and published Akon's reprehensible lyrics and a video of his crude animal-like assault in Trinidad. We started banging Verizon's media phones line and today they decide Akon was no longer on their A-List. It's not going to save my kid's generation but eventually these idiots are going to reign in their behavior or else. This isn't morality policing. This isn't telling women...

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2007 – Plans are under way to double the number of provincial reconstruction teams now operating in Iraq by the end of the year, a senior U.S. official said during a news conference in Iraq today. “We will both double the number of PRTs and we will double the number of individuals who are working in the PRTs,” said Rick Olson, chief of the national coordination team in charge of provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq. According to plans, the number of PRTs will increase from 10 to 20, Olson noted, while numbers of PRT personnel will...

A star that survived a massive explosion – only to be destroyed in a second blast just two years later – has piqued the curiosity of astronomers. Its bizarre death might be due to the production of antimatter in its core towards the end of its life. The star that exploded appears to have been a massive type called a Wolf-Rayet star, which begin their lives with more than 40 times the mass of the Sun. It exploded in a galaxy 77 million light years from Earth, with the first blast occurring on 20 October 2004. It was so bright...

The southbound lanes of I- 85 in Coweta County near Newnan were closed for nearly an hour when a motorist was struck and killed early Tuesday after his car broke down. Terrance Harvey, 42, of Forest Park and his brother were driving to work at a construction job in Newnan shortly after 6:30 a.m. when Harvey’s car stalled, authorities said. Coweta Sheriff’s Lt. John LaChance said because of highway work, there was no emergency lane. The two men got out of the car to get to safety behind a barrier wall, but Harvey decided to try to start the car...

Double blow to nuclear detente By Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent, BBC News website A US military response to North Korea's move remains unlikely On the same day, the crises over the nuclear policies of North Korea and Iran have taken a turn for the worse. North Korea's announcement that it intends to carry out a nuclear weapons test is another grave twist in a crisis that appears to be without end or solution. And a senior British official has said it is now clear that Iran will not suspend uranium enrichment and that therefore moves to impose sanctions will...

2006/09/29 09:53 KST N.K. leader uses look-alikes due to fear of assassination: S. Korean official By Kim Hyung-jin SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-il has employed at least two doubles to impersonate him at public functions due largely to his fear of being assassinated, a South Korean intelligence official said Friday. It is no secret that other authoritarian figures such as deposed Iraq leader Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler also used physical doubles at times for political, intelligence and safety reasons. "As far as I know, at least two Kim Jong-il look-alikes fill in for...

WASHINGTON - Beginning Friday, airline passengers will go through double screening to make sure they're not carrying liquids onto planes, the head of the airline industry's largest trade group said. Passengers and their carry-on luggage will be checked not only at the main security checkpoint, but also a second time at the boarding gate. The stepped-up screening in response to a new terrorist threat began Thursday at 25 airports where planes leave for Britain. "It's going to spread across the whole system tomorrow," James May, president of the Air Transport Association, said Thursday. The response to the terrorist threat produced...

Pelosi Address to NAACP's 97th Annual Convention58 minutes ago US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) pictured here in Washington, DC in April 2006. The US Congress prepared to express its support for Israel and to condemn Hezbollah, in parallel votes in the Senate and the House of Representatives expected before the weekend.(AFP/File/Andrew Councill) To: National Desk Contact: Brendan Daly or Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616, both for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi WASHINGTON, July 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke this morning to thousands of members of the NAACP at their 97th annual convention. Below are Pelosi's remarks: "Thank...

Ibuprofen can double risk of heart attack, says medical study By Celia Hall, Medical Editor (Filed: 02/06/2006) Common painkillers such as ibuprofen can double the risk of suffering a heart attack, a study has found. Research published in the British Medical Journal analysed results of 138 trials involving 140,000 patients over several years. It found that ibuprofen and diclofenac, two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), could cause attacks when taken in high doses. Vioxx: Banned in 2004 The drugs have been previously noted for increasing heart attack risk but experts say that this is the biggest and most definitive study of...

So now we know who the two Duke lacrosse players are who are accused of raping an exotic dancer. Reade Seligmann of Essex Fells, New Jersey, and Collin Finnerty of Garden City, New York, have been indicted, arrested, made initial court appearances and paraded before the cameras. Here's the reality: They are halfway to ruin. They are done as athletes. Their academic career — if they had one — is probably toast, and they are for the foreseeable future accused rapists.

The key issue at stake in the battle over the twelve Danish cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad is this: Will the West stand up for its customs and mores, including freedom of speech, or will Muslims impose their way of life on the West? Ultimately, there is no compromise: Westerners will either retain their civilization, including the right to insult and blaspheme, or not.More specifically, will Westerners accede to a double standard by which Muslims are free to insult Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism, while Muhammad, Islam, and Muslims enjoy immunity from insults? Muslims routinely publish cartoons far more...

CELEB Big Brother prat George Galloway is today exposed in his revolting true colours — fawning before Saddam Hussein’s murderous son Uday. An astonishing video shown in part on the Sun TV Bulletin depicts Galloway, 51, laughing and joking with the evil psychopath during a 20-minute meeting in an Iraqi palace. The Respect party MP, who Sun readers can boot off the Channel 4 show tonight, has sickened viewers with his antics in the BB house. Galloway’s crawling around the tyrannical old Iraqi regime was even more disgusting. He famously met dictator Saddam in 1994 and told him: “Sir, allow...

George Galloway tonight became the fourth person to be evicted from the Celebrity Big Brother house as he admitted he had failed in his aims during almost two weeks of reality TV. The Respect MP attracted 64.7% of the public vote after being nominated alongside fake celebrity Chantelle Houghton and US basketball star Dennis Rodman. As he emerged from the house, a smiling Mr Galloway was met with boos and cheers from the crowd who gathered for tonight's double eviction.

MARINE CORPS RECRUITING STATION SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Jan. 17, 2006) -- Recruiters thought they were seeing double when a young man they sent to boot camp walked back into the office. It was like déjà vu at Recruiting Sub-station Round Rock (Texas) when 23-year-old Jason K. Lewis walked into the office in late October. “I saw Lewis walk in and I thought, ‘What is he doing back already?’” said Gunnery Sgt. Samuel R. Ybarra, former Staff NCOIC of RSS Round Rock. The Bertram, Texas, resident was supposed to be at his Military Occupational School learning how to be a military...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A record number of convicts killed themselves in California prisons during 2005 - double the national inmate suicide rate, according to state records. The trend approaching one suicide each week is triggering new complaints from class-action lawyers that the state is stalling prevention efforts. Prison officials deny delays, saying they thwart the vast majority of suicide attempts. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported 44 suicides in an inmate population that is at an all-time high - nearly 164,000 - though inmates' attorneys have so far been able to confirm only 41 deaths as suicides. Either...

U.S. Air Force Senior Airmen Levana Raum and Levina Sumang Twins Double Up in Desert By U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Cassandra Locke 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs SOUTHWEST ASIA, Dec. 28, 2005 — U.S. Air Force Senior Airmen Levana Raum and Levina Sumang have been brought closer together by sharing their deployment experiences at a forward-deployed location. The twin sisters volunteered to deploy together so they could get an opportunity to catch up on quality time after once going their separate ways. “I love being deployed with my sister," Raum said. "We’re very close, and it’s nice...

Hillary engages Clinton double act for White House By Philip Sherwell (Filed: 27/11/2005) Hillary Clinton has enlisted her husband to attack the White House over Iraq in an attempt to shore up her sliding support among Democrat activists. The New York senator, who is expected to run for the White House in 2008, has been alarmed by a drop in her opinion polls ratings as she pays the political price for backing President George W Bush's decision to topple Saddam Hussein. Bill and Hillary Clinton: Past and future leaders? Her hawkish stance was originally a useful way to shed her...

PHILADELPHIA - The U.S. Mint seized 10 Double Eagle gold coins from 1933, among the rarest and most valuable coins in the world, that were turned in by a jeweler seeking to determine their authenticity. Joan S. Langbord plans a federal court lawsuit to try to recover them, her attorney, Barry H. Berke, said Wednesday. Langbord found the coins among the possessions of her father, longtime Philadelphia jeweler Israel Switt, who had acknowledged having sold some of the coins decades ago. She now operates her father's business. David Lebryk, acting director of the Mint, had announced in a news release...

Although a small number of wrongfully convicted individuals have been exonerated by post-conviction DNA testing recently and released from prison. For example, Thomas Doswell of Pennsylvania who spent 19 years behind bars and Luis Diaz of Florida who spent 26 years behind bars for crimes they did not commit. Now Peter Rose, who served 10 years in a California state prison, fortunately and rightfully so, after a finding of "factual innocence," which clears the way for him to collect compensation from the state, as much as $100 a day for the time spent in prison, which adds up to more...

(AP) Having one type of diabetes is bad enough, but two? Doctors are seeing a new phenomenon dubbed double diabetes that makes it harder to diagnose and treat patients — especially children. The mix can strike at any age, and comes in various forms: Children who depend on insulin injections because of Type 1 diabetes gain weight and then get the Type 2 form in which their bodies become insulin resistant, for example. Or someone with classic Type 2 symptoms isn't responding to therapy, and tests reveal they also are developing the insulin-dependent form of the disease. Or they may...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of people from countries other than Mexico arrested trying to cross the U.S. southern border has almost doubled this year, the head of the U.S. border patrol told the U.S. Congress on Tuesday. David Aguilar told the House of Representatives appropriations subcommittee on homeland security the United States was continuing to experience a rising influx of what he termed OTMs -- other than Mexicans -- trying to enter the country illegally. "Apprehensions are running at a rate of 175 percent for fiscal year 2005 over FY 2004's record number of OTM apprehensions on the southwest...

Unrest 'could double' oil price By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (Filed: 27/06/2005) A warning of a possible near doubling in the cost of oil was issued yesterday as UK prices rose to more than £4 a gallon and the AA Motoring Trust said the price of diesel was approaching £5 a gallon. Further rises were expected next week, it said. The price of crude oil could soon reach $100 a barrel, compared with the present historic high of $60, if there was further supply disruption in Russia or a political upset in Saudi Arabia, a leading German institute said. The IFW World...

When it comes to the 2003 capture of the "Butcher of Baghdad", there will always be doubting Thomas’s to claim that the Iraqi dictator is one of his own stand-ins. The "That’s not Saddam!" chorus must have hit "I told you so" mode when news hit that raw DNA data can be--and actually was--manipulated at Cellmark, the world’s largest DNA testing firm. Cellmark did the data work in some of the United State’s most high profile cases, analyzing data in the murder investigation of JonBenet Ramsey and the O.J. Simpson case. Last November, Cellmark fired one of its analysts, Sarah...

A moment of absent-mindedness paid off in a big way for Robert Rochester of Colden. Forgetting he had already bought a Lotto ticket for the April 30 drawing, he bought another one with identical numbers. When those numbers were picked, he won two-thirds of the $19 million prize. A Nassau County teacher bought the third ticket. "Everybody's ecstatic. This guy well-deserves it," said Cindy Vastola, the store manager who sold him the ticket at Beardi's Pizza and Colden Farm Fresh Market. Rochester, 56, usually buys tickets for the Wednesday and Saturday Lotto jackpots early in the week at Beardi's. "I...

RNC Research - For Immediate Release May 6, 2005 DAY 8 AFTER PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES SOCIAL SECURITY PROPOSAL; HISPANICS SHOW SUPPORT, BUT DEMOCRATS STILL SAY NO President Bush's Job Approval Rating On Social Security Has Seen A Net 7-Point Improvement Since Westhill/Hotline's Last Survey On April 7th. (Westhill/Hotline Poll, 800 Registered Voters, Conducted 4/28-5/1, Margin Of Error +/- 3.5%) "According To A Study By The Non-Partisan Pew Hispanic Center, 49% Of Hispanics Approve Of President Bush's Plan For Individual Investment Accounts, Compared With 35% Of All Americans." (Raul A. Reyes, Op-Ed, "Cinco De Mayo And Social Security," USA Today, 5/6/05) "The...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Sex abuse allegations against U.N. peacekeepers and other staff more than doubled last year, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report released Thursday, calling the increase "deeply troubling." There were 121 allegations in 2004 compared with 53 allegations reported in 2003, Annan said in a report to the U.N. General Assembly. Annan said the rise in allegations could be partly due to new measures put in place by the U.N. to encourage alleged victims to come forward. He added that the figures collected for last year may not reflect the extent of the abuse because...

Only a Liberal could love this much

LONDON (Reuters) - UK advertising regulators signaled a weariness of the double entendre used by French Connection to sell its FCUK brand and warned the clothing chain again, this time over a promotion for its line of fragrances. In an ad placed for French Connection by Zirh International in the Boots pharmacy chain's magazine, a picture of a young couple sitting on a bed in their underwear included fold-out samples of perfume with the phrases "open here to try fcuk her" and "open here to try fcuk him." Though it received just two complaints, the UK's self-regulatory Advertising Standards Authority...

    The New Year's Eve Party has begun!  Welcome to everyone that is joining us for this huge celebration! I am Queenie and I will be hosting the festivities tonight along with the Canteen Deejays. In this section, you will find a variety of fun celebratory music! Remember that this music is dedicated to our Troops and their families! Happy New Year everyone!! (Music will be removed on Monday afternoon!) Don't forget to request music through email: canteenusa@canteenusa.com ("Music Request" in the subject line please), on the thread, and via FReepmail! Thank you!   Big Bad Voodoo Jive...

Russia on alert after double jet crash Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow and Colin Blackstock Wednesday August 25, 2004 The Guardian (UK) The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, last night ordered the FSB security services to begin an investigation after one passenger plane with 42 people on board crashed and another aircraft carrying 52 went missing within minutes of each other after taking off from Moscow. The involvement of the FSB and an order for airport security to be tightened suggested the possibility that the incidents could have been caused by terrorism. The emergencies ministry confirmed that one plane had crashed...

As this column has noted more than once, in a Church wracked by dissent and scandal in every nation, Fr. Nicholas Gruner of Canada, who has done nothing wrong, is the one and only priest in living memory the Vatican apparatus has seen fit to condemn publicly with an announcement in L’Osservatore Romano—the very day after 9/11! Fr. Gruner’s "offense" is his all-too-effective promotion of the Fatima Message as it relates to the current crisis in the Church and the world. The curious treatment of Fr. Gruner has prompted this running "Double Standard Update" feature. The latest example of the...

Crushing double defeat at polls for Berlusconi By Bruce Johnston in Rome (Filed: 29/06/2004) The Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi suffered one of the worst setbacks of his political career yesterday when he was badly defeated in local elections, including in his provincial stronghold around Milan. In two rounds of elections his centre-Right coalition, which swept to national power three years ago with the largest majority in post-war history, lost 52 out of 63 provincial council contests. The centre-Right also lost 22 out of 30 mayoral races. Trouble at home: Silvio Berlusconi at the Nato summit yesterday Critics said the...

US accused of double standards after granting Saddam prisoner-of-war status By Robert Verkaik and Rupert Cornwell 17 December 2003 The US administration was accused of gross hypocrisy yesterday after granting Saddam Hussein the legal rights that for more than two years it has denied the 660 detainees held in Guantanamo Bay. The treatment of Saddam as a prisoner of war under the terms of the Geneva Conventions and the promises he will be given a fair trial contrast sharply with the status of the "illegal combatants" picked up by the coalition forces in the war against terror. The decision has...

Double blow for Mugabe's allies By Anton La Guardia in Abuja (Filed: 06/12/2003) President Robert Mugabe's allies suffered a double defeat last night after they failed to secure Zimbabwe's reinstatement to the Commonwealth and lost the fight to unseat Don McKinnon, the organisation's secretary-general. Mr Mugabe addresses his ruling Zanu-PF party congress in Masvingo The decisions amounted to a victory for Tony Blair, who came to the Commonwealth summit in Nigeria determined to ensure that Zimbabwe was not re-admitted before it had halted the repression of political opponents. The battle now moves to the terms and conditions that Zimbabwe will...

US goods set to double in price as Europe plans huge trade war By Stephen Castle in Brussels 11 November 2003 American jeans, Florida orange juice and dozens of other US products could double in price from next month because of a growing transatlantic trade war. The World Trade Organisation gave the European Union permission yesterday to impose huge import tariffs, which will allow price increases of between 8 and 100 per cent on a range of goods. The row, which began when America imposed special duties of up to 30 per cent on European steel last year, reached a...

GOING TOO FAR by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher September 22, 2003 For some, it's love of the game. For others, it's an opportunity to get away for two or three hours to watch athletes at the top of their game doing what they do best. For players, it's a dream come true, getting paid to do what they did in the playground as a kid. For fans, it's a chance to relive their childhood as they take their children or just some friends to whatever game they're watching.However, in the last couple of years, I've had to ask myself...

<p>AL OUJA, Iraq - Saddam Hussein, dressed in a greasy blue jumpsuit, spends his afternoons pumping gas at this sleepy village's service station, just south of his hometown of Tikrit.</p> <p>Or at least that's how it looks to visiting motorists who pull in for a fill-up and quickly do a double take at Mohammed Hussein Daoud, with his unmistakeable heavy jowls, bushy mustache and big dark sunglasses.</p>

<p>YUCAIPA, Calif. (AP) - A deputy shot and killed a man who had just fatally shot his neighbor in a dispute over slashed tires, authorities said. Donald Van Zant, 74, shot his neighbor Saturday while standing next to a sheriff's deputy, said Robin Haynal, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. Carl Miles, 49, died at Loma Linda University Medical Center.</p>

<p>Accelerated logging in the Sierra Nevada is the best way to ease fire threats, protect wildlife, create jobs and ultimately have more old-growth forests a century from now, the Forest Service said Thursday.</p> <p>Without a sharp increase in logging aimed at thinning overstocked forests across 11.5 million acres of the Sierra, fish and wildlife habitat will face far greater risk from wildfires, the agency said in an environmental study.</p>