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Saudi cleric Sheikh Mohammed al-Habadan has declared that a Muslim veil, or hijab, that covers all but the eyes encourages women to use eye make-up to look seductive, the BBC reported Friday. Al-Habadan has called on Saudi women to wear a full veil, or niqab, which covers the entire face, including one eye. The question of how much of her face a woman should cover is a controversial topic in many Muslim societies. The niqab is more common in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, but women in much of the Muslim Middle East wear a headscarf which covers only their...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Even for a party whose president suffers dismal approval ratings, whose legislative wing lost control of Congress and whose presidential nominee trails in the polls, it was a remarkably bad day for Republicans. ... snip ... "This is the president's own party," said Rep. Barney Frank, a top Democratic negotiator who attended both meetings. "I don't think a president has been repudiated so strongly by the congressional wing of his own party in a long time." ... snip ... At one point in the White House meeting, according to two officials, McCain voiced support for Ryan's criticisms...

California's building codes, plumbing standards and criminal laws can be found online. But if you want to download and save those laws to your computer, forget it. The state claims copyright to those laws. It dictates how you can access and distribute them -- and therefore how much you'll have to pay for print or digital copies. It forbids people from storing or distributing its laws without consent.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - \Barack Obama is trouncing John McCain in the race for the White House -- at least in sales of T-shirts, badges, baseball caps and other campaign merchandise. "Everyone is going for Obama," a sidewalk vendor whose stand was smothered in Obama and McCain T-shirts, along with garb for visitors to Washington, told AFP. "We sell about 70 percent Obama stuff -- way more than McCain," said the vendor, who asked not to be named. Obama-embroidered baseball caps sat in the center of the stand; the absence of a McCain equivalent was striking. "I don't think our wholesaler...

Dear Mr. Limbaugh, The Associated Press reports your new contract with Premiere Radio Networks will enrich you with at least $38 million a year over the next eight years. You are making this money on the public property of the American people for which you pay no rent. You, Rush Limbaugh, are on welfare. As you know, the public airwaves belong to the American people. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is supposed to be our trustee in managing this property. The people are the landlords and the radio and TV stations and affiliated companies are the tenants. The problem is...

DALLAS — What do "black hole," "angel food cake," and "devil's food cake" have in common? They're all racist terms, says a Dallas County, Texas, official. A county commissioners' meeting this week over traffic tickets turned into a tense discussion over race when one commissioner said the county's collections office was like a certain astronomical phenomenon. "It sounds like Central Collections has become a black hole," Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said during the Monday meeting. One black official demanded an apology, and Commissioner John Wiley Price, who also is black, said that type of language is unacceptable. At...

PSYCHIATRISTS have detected the first case of "climate change delusion" - and they haven't even yet got to Kevin Rudd and his global warming guru. Writing in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Joshua Wolf and Robert Salo of our Royal Children's Hospital say this delusion was a "previously unreported phenomenon". "A 17-year-old man was referred to the inpatient psychiatric unit at Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne with an eight-month history of depressed mood . . . He also . . . had visions of apocalyptic events."

Dozens of German politicians have tabled a new law to extend voting rights to babies, toddlers, children and teenagers.The bill, which has won the cross-party backing of some heavyweight German politicians, would wipe away decades of "exclusion" and "discrimination" against minors, according to its supporters. Currently the voting threshold in Germany is 18, with an exception in some states, where 16 year olds are allowed to cast a ballot. But that does not go far enough for the new law's backers, who want to ensure voting rights from cradle to grave. If the bill gets adopted, babies will have the...

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This past week, Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., broached the idea of nationalizing U.S. oil refineries. The next day he back-peddled hard, explaining, "We need to be putting national pressure on these oil companies." He was just saber rattling. With a record low approval rate of 42%, many voters favor replacing the entire stinking Congress and starting over. If voters are looking for a primary target for expressing such sentiments, maybe the prize turkey just stuck his head up. Rep. Hinchey's poor choice of sabers suggests he believes he can threaten our country with communism. Isn't that what it means to...

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) — A court on Wednesday issued a landmark ruling classifying Chinese South Africans as black, making them eligible for benefits for those discriminated against under the former apartheid regime. The ruling from the Pretoria high court came after the Chinese Association of South Africa (CASA) challenged their exclusion from laws aimed at redressing economic imbalances under white-minority rule, which ended in 1994. CASA argued that Chinese citizens continue to be marginalised under the country's black economic empowerment and affirmative action legislation. Both laws benefit the country's black, Indian and mixed-race communities. Patrick Chong, CASA leader, described the ruling...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Crude oil futures hit a record close to $140 a barrel Monday as the dollar weakened against the euro. Retail gas prices rose to a record $4.08 a gallon. Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose to $139.89 before retreating to trade up $3.62 at $138.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Many investors buy commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation when the dollar falls. Also, a weaker dollar makes oil less expensive to investors dealing in other currencies. Many analysts believe the dollar's protracted decline is a major factor behind...

7 years ago, when the drilling in America debate began in earnest, the liberals like Chuck Schumer all bleated that it would take 7 years for America to benefit from drilling, and we have to fix it now. They fixed it by attempting to put a further tax on gasoline, which of course, Big Oil (whoever they are) would promptly pass onto the consumer. Of course no one remembers it now. But Schumer is reminding of us of it, by continuing to blast Oil Companies for making money. He also conveniently forgets that we would be producing our own oil...

Guns aren't welcome in Toronto May 30, 2008 04:30 AM Re:Targeting the good guys Letters, May 29 It is interesting to note that letters criticizing Toronto City Council for closing down city-run shooting ranges were sent from Mississauga, Halifax, Wellesley, Ont., Pickering and Peterborough. I supported shutting down the shooting ranges because I believe it is hypocritical for city council to call for a total ban on handguns, while supporting and in fact subsidizing gun culture at city-run facilities – especially when recreation programs to keep kids away from the draw of a street culture that too often includes weapons...

... " 'Oh, this is so terrible: The people they want her. Oh, this is so terrible: She is winning the general election, and he is not. Oh my goodness, we have to cover this up.' " Clinton did not expound on who he was accusing. Watch Clinton talk about the "cover up." » -- "If you notice, there hasn't been a lot of publicity on these polls I just told you about," he said. "It is the first time you've heard it? Why do you think that is? Why do you think? Don't you think if the polls were...

Columbus — Georgia Republican Party chairwoman Sue Everhart said Saturday that the party's presumed presidential nominee has a lot in common with Jesus Christ. "John McCain is kind of like Jesus Christ on the cross," Everhart said as she began the second day of the state GOP convention. "He never denounced God, either." Everhart was praising McCain for never denouncing the United States while he was being tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. "I'm not trying to compare John McCain to Jesus Christ, I'm looking at the pain that was there," she said.

An extremist Mexican "La Raza" group that annually gets millions of U.S. federal grant dollars will receive even more in the next few years thanks to Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank's multi million-dollar earmark to council Hispanics about housing. La Raza already gets millions from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for "comprehensive housing counseling" for Hispanics whether they are in the country LEGALLY OR NOT. Frank is giving the National Council of La Raza, which has raked in millions of taxpayer dollars over the year, $5 million dollars this year and $10 million over the next two years....

U.S. officials are being advised in internal government documents to avoid referring publicly to al Qaeda and other terrorist groups as Islamic or Muslim, and not to use terms like jihad or mujahedeen, which "unintentionally legitimize" terrorism. "There' s a growing consensus [in the Bush administration] that we need to move away from that language," said a former senior administration official who was involved until recently in policy debates on the issue. Instead, in two documents circulated last month by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), the multiagency center charged with strategic coordination of the U.S. war on terror, officials are...

Following are excerpts from an interview with Hamas MP Salem Salamah, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on April 23, 2008. Salem Salamah: There are companies established by the colonialists and occupiers - large companies with branches all over the world, like Pepsi, Pepsi Cola. This is a well-known company. Pepsi is an acronym. P-E-P-S-I - Pay Every Pence to Save Israel. Pay every pence - pence is one hundredth of a dollar – to save Israel. Pay every pence to save Israel. Shouldn't the Muslims have a fund, a company, or a large project to save the Al-Aqsa Mosque?

Check out ballot initiative #101. It calls for a "sex strike" (by women only) annually on Aug. 16th, the birthday of a Sunni child. This is to take place in downtown Denver, and St. Paul MN. (Don't know why MN is required to abide by the CO constitution, but I'm sure there is good cause.) It is a "healing" amendment to the Colorado Constitution. There are currently 127 initiatives filed for Nov. ballot. If 1/3 of them get the required signatures, this could be one of the longest ballots in history. Check out some of the other crazy initiatives as...

After the attacks of 9/11, many people in the West, including Christians, were asking, “Where are the moderate Muslims?” They may have showed up last fall. A group of what appeared to be moderate Muslim leaders sent a conciliatory message to representatives of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant faiths, offering to work toward a more peaceful coexistence between the world’s two largest religions. How should Christians in the West respond to this offer? A basis for peace? Issued October 13, 2007, and titled A Common Word Between Us and You, the Muslim document stressed the need for peace between...

Jeremiah Wright’s theological mentor, James Cone, Charles A. Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary, is perhaps the most important figure in black liberation theology. Here Cone delivers the 2006 Ingersoll lecture at Harvard Divinity School. Dating from 1893, the Ingersoll Lecture is one of the oldest endowed lectures at Harvard. Cone’s Ingersoll lecture is entitled, "Strange Fruit: The Cross and the Lynching Tree." Cone is clearly an intelligent and charismatic speaker. There are a number of "zingers" in here which I think many listeners will object to. But this lecture is also significantly more toned down...

I've been volunteering for Hillary Clinton across America, knocking on doors and handing out flyers, giving little speeches and putting stickers on jumpers. But everywhere I've been, from Iowa to South Carolina to Nevada to Texas, the toughest constituency for us Hillary volunteers has been young people. A few weeks ago, covered in Hillary badges, I approached a young couple in California and, as I was about to offer up my pearls of electoral wisdom, they just began singing at me. And they were singing Yes We Can, the song by Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.Am, whose video has become a...

Tiny plastic bags used to sell small quantities of heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and other drugs would be banned in Chicago, under a crackdown advanced Tuesday by a City Council committee. Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) persuaded the Health Committee to ban possession of "self-sealing plastic bags under two inches in either height or width," after picking up 15 of the bags on a recent Sunday afternoon stroll through a West Side park.

WASHINGTON – Just when liberals thought it was safe to start identifying themselves as such, an acclaimed, veteran psychiatrist is making the case that the ideology motivating them is actually a mental disorder. "Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded," says Dr. Lyle Rossiter, author of the new book, "The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness." "Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave."While political activists on...

WASHINGTON – Just when liberals thought it was safe to start identifying themselves as such, an acclaimed, veteran psychiatrist is making the case that the ideology motivating them is actually a mental disorder. "Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded," says Dr. Lyle Rossiter, author of the new book, "The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness." "Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave." While political activists...

Come join us for the fun, as the Democratic Party implodes from within!!

Last Oct. 12, California’s Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a controversial Democratic-authored measure, SB 777, that subtly redefines how sexuality and gender may be taught and dealt with in public schools. This law had been held in abeyance until this month while conservatives were given 90 days to collect signatures to qualify a June ballot referendum that would let voters approve or overturn it. On Thursday, the referendum deadline, activists acknowledged that they had fallen short, gathering only 350,000 of the 433,971 signatures required. With the new law in effect, said referendum supporter Karen England, executive director of...

Cynics say if there was a practical way to tax the air, we'd all be wearing breath meters. Recent proposals by global warmists in Australia suggest that fear isn't entirely far-fetched. When the Australian government proposed to counter a declining birth rate with incentives to families who have more children, Barry Walters, a clinical associate professor of obstetric medicine at the University of Western Australia, was outraged because in his mind, children contribute to global warming. Wrote Dr. Walters in the Medical Journal of Australia: "Every newborn baby in Australia represents a potent source of greenhouse gas emissions for an...

An elementary student in Marion County was arrested Thursday after school officials found her cutting food during lunch with a knife that she brought from home, police said. The 10-year-old girl, a student at Sunrise Elementary School in Ocala, was charged possession of a weapon on school property, which is a felony. According to authorities, school employees spotted the girl cutting her food while she was eating lunch and took the steak knife from her. The girl told sheriff's deputies that she had brought the knife to school on more than one occasion in the past. Students told officials that...

OVERWORKED nurses have been ordered to stop all medical work five times every day to move Muslim patients’ beds so they face towards Mecca.The lengthy procedure, which also includes providing fresh bathing water, is creating turmoil among overstretched staff on bustling NHS wards.But despite the havoc, Mid- Yorkshire NHS Trust says the rule must be instigated whenever possible to ensure Muslim patients have “a more comfortable stay in hospital"And a taxpayer-funded training programme for several hundred hospital staff has begun to ensure that all are familiar with the workings of the Muslim faith.The scheme is initially being run at Dewsbury...

The Royal Commonwealth Society is at the centre of an embarrassing row after it barred a well-known Roman Catholic commentator from attacking intolerance towards Christians at its annual carol service. Cristina Odone, the former deputy editor of the New Statesman, was to be one of the "celebrity readers" at the service in St Martin in the Fields church in central London next month, which is attended by diplomats and politicians. But she has pulled out of the event, accusing the society of demonstrating exactly the kind of intolerance she had planned to criticise. "I am incandescent," she said. "I was...

An armed mob of thousands of Sudanese held a loud demonstration in Khartoum’s “Martyrs Square” demanding that a British woman be put to death. The controversy started in September when Gillian Gibbons, a second-grade teacher, allowed her seven year-old Muslim students to name a stuffed teddy bear. The class voted overwhelmingly to name the bear Muhammad, after the student who owned the toy. Muhammed, of course, is also the name of Islam’s prophet. For this Gibbons was sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation. "Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan,” declared Abdul-Jalil Nazeer...

Mannequins removed from Peshawar shops after threats Islamabad (PTI): Garment shop owners in northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar are removing mannequins from their displays or covering them up with clothes following threats from militants. A meeting of the shopkeepers' association of Karimpura in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), on Wednesday discussed the threatening letters from militants. The association decided to either remove the mannequins from shops or cover them up fully with clothes. The meeting was informed that 10 militants visited Shaheen Bazaar, a market for women, and asked shopkeepers to remove mannequins. The militants claimed...

Excerpt - see link: Local NAACP had objected to staging of 'Ten Little Cancellation of the Lakota East High School play "Ten Little Indians" by school administrators has created a stir in the community. The leader of the local NAACP said administrators, who canceled the play citing its violent content and racial title, made the right decision. But one Lakota board member said she disagrees with the decision.

Had Toni Vernelli gone ahead with her pregnancy ten years ago, she would know at first hand what it is like to cradle her own baby, to have a pair of innocent eyes gazing up at her with unconditional love, to feel a little hand slipping into hers - and a voice calling her Mummy. But the very thought makes her shudder with horror. Because when Toni terminated her pregnancy, she did so in the firm belief she was helping to save the planet.

A Colorado city is considering a plan that one attorney calls the epitome of the war against Christmas. Tonight, the Fort Collins City Council will meet and decide the fate of a task force report that urges the city to decorate with white lights, winter symbols not traditionally associated with any particular holiday, and unadorned garlands of greenery. City staffers are also encouraged to remove ornaments or stars from trees and red ribbons from wreaths. Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, says the task force is seriously misguided. "I think it's absolutely ridiculous that anyone would consider banning red and...

Police in Finland have found a suicide note written by an 18-year-old student shortly before he went on a gun rampage at his school and killed eight people. Pekka-Eric Auvinen said goodbye to his family and explained his hatred towards society, the police said.

Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) says he is “concerned that this country is being led by someone who is mentally ill.” “I seriously believe we have to start asking questions about his mental health,” Kucinich, said in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board. “Despite overwhelming evidence, I have yet to hear the President admit that extraterrestrials pose a danger to Earth. I have seen there craft myself.” Kucinich said that a classified report revealed that the United States’ most recent mission to Mars a few years back discovered these “transformer machines.” “It’s only a matter of time before...

Can the media make you sick? It is a real question. Do you read a news headline and get that sinking feeling in your stomach? Or have you learned to avoid those headlines completely? I know one woman who can burst into tears from reading the newspaper. A medical doctor I know feels close to despair on an everyday basis, set off by media headlines --- most of which are dubious or plain false. Other people I know hate George W. Bush, not because of anything real, but because they have been constantly indoctrinated with media falsehoods, day after day...

It was January 2005, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton had just finished a solemn speech about abortion rights — urging all sides to find “common ground” on the issue and referring to abortion as “a sad, even tragic choice to many, many women.” Stepping offstage, she took questions from reporters, and found herself being grilled about whether she was moderating her own pro-choice position. And suddenly it happened: Mrs. Clinton let loose a hearty belly laugh that lasted a few seconds. Reporters glanced at one another as if they had missed the joke. But nothing particularly funny had occurred; it...

Al Gore, the former US vice-president, on Wednesday called for a “Marshall plan” to make job creation and measures to address climate change compatible and urged President George W. Bush to commit to mandatory cuts in carbon dioxide emissions. “This is an emergency,” Mr Gore told the opening session of the Clinton Global Initiative. “I think that the key to fighting global poverty is to have the wealthy nations and the developing nations join together to reduce global warming … I think what we need is a global Marshall plan to make the creation of jobs around the reduction of...

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is preparing to announce a new policy that will enable illegal aliens to obtain a driver's license. The state's Department of Motor Vehicles no longer will require applicants to provide Social Security numbers or proof they're eligible for Social Security cards, the New York Post and New York Sun reported. Under the new rules, valid foreign passports, previous state driver's licenses and other verifiable proofs of ID will be considered on a point-based system, according to a source who spoke to the Post. "The DMV does not believe it's in the business checking a person's...

Below is a commentary that I write once a week and send to an email list. I share it here as well. THE DAY MY WORLD CHANGED A personal story "Imagine a place where there is no justice and no truth, only unbridled hedonism, a preoccupation with personal satisfaction even to the point of causing pain to others. Imagine being vulnerable to being seized and used by any other being who stumbles upon you. Scream all you want and no one will hear you because no one really cares or understands. Well, this is the place of the demonic." (Author...

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Osama bin Laden appeared for the first time in three years in a new videotape Friday, telling Americans they should convert to Islam if they want the war in Iraq to end, according to a transcript obtained by ABC News. The videotape appeared to have been recently made, since bin Laden refers to the Democratic victory in COngress and to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was elected in May. "I invite you to embrace Islam," bin Laden said, according to a transcript posted by ABC News on its Web site. "It will also achieve your desire...

DENVER: A group of students paying higher out-of-state tuition to attend college in Kansas cannot challenge a state law allowing some illegal immigrants to pay lower in-state tuition, a federal appeals court ruled. The ruling, issued Thursday, dealt only with whether the plaintiffs could challenge the 2004 Kansas law and did not address the merits of the law. A trial judge in Kansas had ruled the students lacked standing to challenge the law because they did not face a "concrete and imminent" injury. A three-judge panel of the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed in its ruling Thursday

The History Channel is running a pretty good special on the assorted groups behind the 9-11 conspiracy theories. I decided to take a look at some of these sites, particularly the site devoted to the "documentary" called "Loose Change". This is the one that Charlie Sheen is supposed to be considering narrating. What I found was the usual collection of goofballs, morons and runaway nutjobs. It seems no amount of factual information can influence these people. What they display is the expected amount of self-delusional fantasies and paranoia. What I found that I DID'T expect (but should have) was that,...

A blog written by antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan and posted on MichaelMoore.com criticizes Charlotte police for allowing counter-protesters to "try to intimidate us" during Sheehan's antiwar rally Tuesday in Bryant Park. But in a memo to top police administrators, one captain said officers had no issues during the two-hour event and expressed surprise at the complaints. "At the School of the Assassins in Columbus, GA, and in Charlotte, NC, we ran into similar problems: police presence that seemed to be there to foster violence. At both places the neo-Nazi, pro-war fascist group "Gathering of Eagles" came out to mostly try...

<p>A grand feast of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp was winding down, and a group of friends was sitting on the back patio of a Capitol Hill home, sipping red wine. Suddenly, a hooded man slid in through an open gate and put the barrel of a handgun to the head of a 14-year-old guest.</p>

Sixty miles up, you sit in a chair on the open deck of a small rocket, admiring the stars above, the Earth far, far below. The vacuum beyond your visor is cold, but it would boil your blood if your pressure suit failed. You give your parachute straps a reassuring pat. It’s utterly silent. Just you and your fragile body, hovering alone above the Earth. “Space Diver One, you are go,” crackles a voice in your ear, and you undo your harness and stand up. There’s nothing for it now: You paid a lot of money for this. You breathe...