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Dear Friends, Tonight I cast a historic vote to overhaul America’s failing healthcare system to improve the healthcare of all Americans. This bill prohibits exclusions based on preexisting conditions and ensures American families will no longer be one illness or job loss away from bankruptcy. It also protects America’s senior citizens by fixing the donut hole sooner and allowing more drug price-negotiation to ensure seniors are getting the best prices for their medications. For the first time in our nation’s history, we will say that every American deserves access to affordable quality healthcare. I also believe that controlling escalating healthcare...

Washington - -- President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were poised to win a stupendous - but still incomplete - victory Saturday, predicting House passage of the biggest expansion of health care coverage since Medicare's creation in 1964, in the face of unanimous Republican opposition. As a matter of policy and politics, the 10-year, $1.05 trillion legislation is among the most complex and difficult Congress has ever considered. Enactment would prove the signal achievement of Pelosi's speakership. Success or failure will define Obama's presidency. In the hours before the vote, Obama traveled to Capitol Hill to urge fellow Democrats...

House Democrats have cleared an impasse over abortion that has been holding up a vote on sweeping health care legislation. A vote is expected on Saturday - after President Barack Obama makes a late morning trip to the Capitol to make one final pitch for the legislation. According to Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, he and other abortion opponents will be given a chance to insert tougher abortion restrictions into the legislation during debate on the House floor. The leadership hopes that no matter how that vote turns out, Democrats will then unite to give the health care bill a...

Yet another Democrat tax cheat, this time Charles Rangel, is reeling under an investigation from the IRS. Amazingly, Rangel has suddenly "found" nearly a million dollars in assets that somehow escaped his attention when he originally filed his tax return. Of course, like virtually every left-wing crook, from Timothy Geithner, to Barney Frank, to Sandy Berger, there will almost certainly be zero accountability for Mr. Rangel. Meanwhile, any Republican who is even accused of anything, no matter how blatantly erroneous, is railroaded out of office with non-stop

One day after the Herald reported some surprised Bay State inmates - including murderers and rapists - were cashing in $250 stimulus checks, federal officials revealed the same behind-bars bonus was mailed to nearly 4,000 cons nationwide. A federal watchdog is now probing how the cons were cut the checks. The same cash also may have been sent to fugitive felons, people kicked out of the country and even individuals now deceased. It’s all part of the massive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - and what is becoming an accounting nightmare for red-faced feds. “President Obama’s $787 billion...

FALLUJA, Iraq (CNN) -- Like many young boys, Khidir loves playing with toy cars and wants to be a policeman like his father when he grows up. But it was his father's very job that caused the tiny child to suffer the unimaginable.

Gang kicked dog in air and threatened to do same to owner Lisa Kenyon March 20, 2009 A DOG was viciously attacked by a gang of youths while walking through Milnshaw Park, Accrington, with its owner. William Townsley, 66, was walking his 14-year-old partially-blind Cairn terrier Snoopy through the park at around 1pm on Monday. As he was passing the children’s play area, William said a group of around 18 Asian youths racially abused him, shouting obscenities before kicking the defenceless dog in the face and ribs. William, of Devonshire Street, Accrington, said: "I could hear them shouting racial obscenities...

Bangladesh women, children bear scars of acid attacks by Julie Clothier Julie Clothier Sun Mar 8, 4:30 am ET DHAKA (AFP) – At first glance, Bably Akter looks like any other nine-year-old Bangladeshi girl, dressed in a brightly coloured pink and turquoise skirt and top trimmed with silver sequins. A matching headband conceals her left ear, badly deformed and the only obvious sign she is the victim of an acid attack, a practice rampant in the impoverished country, used mainly in domestic disputes and against women and children. As her mother, Parul, recounts the story of how Bably's father put...

Frustrated Senate Democratic leaders dispensed with calls for bipartisanship on the stimulus package Thursday, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying that he won't let anyone "hold the president of the United States hostage." President Barack Obama had once hoped to have the package pass with substantial Republican support. But Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that's now a “distant memory." "So far," he said, bipartisanship "isn't working." But in an interview with Politico, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that the Democrats - not the Republicans - have made a mockery of bipartisanship. “Senators are in a panic – this bill...

Guatemalan girl describes alleged enforced prostitution She testifies in federal court how a group of immigrants duped her into coming to the U.S., forced her to sell herself and kept her captive. By Scott Glover January 9, 2009 When Sandra agreed to make the perilous trek from her native Guatemala to the United States in 2006, she said, she was lured by the prospect of a job as a housekeeper that would enable her to send money to her impoverished family back home. Her father had a hernia that prevented him from working, and money was so tight that she...

Taliban carries out selective killings in Swat By: PTI Date: 2009-01-03 Holding sway over the restive Swat valley, Taliban have begun selective killings, targetting dancers, politicians and paramilitary personnel. Six persons were killed by the Taliban yesterday in troubled northwestern Swat valley, where violence by militants has claimed hundreds of lives since last year. The mutilated bodies of two Frontier Constabulary personnel were found by the roadside near Mingora, the main town of Swat district yesterday, media reports said today. The throats of both men were slit. They had been kidnapped earlier from a police post. A note found near...

NEW YORK TIMES: "About that Mortgage, Senator . . ." It turns out that the chieftain of Countrywide -- which is smack in the middle of the mortgage mess -- extended privileged borrowing status to two Senators, Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, and Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota. Both Senators deny any ethical violations.   The disclosure of the V.I.P. arrangments by the political website Politico.com left constituents angry and suspicious -- particularly because the revelations came just as Congress was rousing itself to do something about the mortgage foreclosure crisis.   It would be nice to think that...

Three killed, 16 wounded in S. Yemen MIL-YEMEN-FESTIVAL-DEATH Three killed, 16 wounded in S. Yemen SANAA, Jan 13 (KUNA) -- At least three people were killed and 16 others were wounded on Sunday in the southern city of Adan when chaos broke out during the "Tolerance and Conciliation Festival" marking the 22nd anniversary of the 1986 massacre by the Socialist Party which ruled the then South Yemen. Security sources told KUNA that "infiltrators" sparked off a sound bomb and, in the commotion, took control over a machine gun and opened fire randomly at those present. The perpetrators were apprehended, the...

Husband cut off wife’s ears, nose on Eid day by Abudlhadi Hairan December 23, 2007 Qalat: A man named Mumtaz in southern Zabul province of Afghanistan first shaved wife, Nazia’s head and then cut off her ears, and nose and damaged her teeth on the first day of Eid ul Adha, an Islamic ritual of sacrifice. Hospital sources in Qalat, center of Zabul, told this scribe by phone that Nazia, 17, was admitted on Wednesday (First day of Eid) evening and now she was in a critical condition due to the severe beating she has borne. Provincial Police Chief of...

In his new book, "The Conscience of a Liberal," New York Times columnist Paul Krugman makes a strong case for his belief that the political success of the Republican Party and the conservative movement over the past 40 years has resulted largely from their co-optation of Southern racists that were the base of the Democratic Party until its embrace of civil rights in the 1960s. A key piece of evidence for Mr. Krugman is that Ronald Reagan gave his first speech after accepting the Republican presidential nomination in 1980 near Philadelphia, Miss., where three civil rights workers were murdered in...

Maulvi beheads teenager student in Gujarat for Rs. 7,000 2007-12-19 Gujarat Global News Network, Vadodara In a gruesome incident a Maulvi beheaded his 15 year old student for recovering Rs.7,000 which the boy's father had taken from him. The maulvi (Islamic teacher) who was a friend of the victim's father stayed nearby and had given a loan of Rs.7, 000 to his friend. On not getting his money back the accused Narulhaq Abdulhaq Saiyad beheaded Abid Ali Saiyad and packed the head in a plastic bag and dumped it on the terrace of his house. According to the police Narulhaq...

Jailed teddy teacher: I feared I would be raped by Sudanese prison officers wanting to teach me a lesson By ANDREW WILKS - More by this author » 9th December 2007 The teacher imprisoned in the Sudan for naming a teddy bear Mohammed has told how she feared being raped by her guards during her incarceration. Gillian Gibbons, who was arrested when a school secretary complained to the authorities two months after the stuffed toy was named by pupils at Unity High School in Khartoum, said her greatest worry was that her guards would "teach the blaspheming white woman a...

Beaten by teacher, boy prepares for third surgery PTI Thursday, December 06, 2007 18:46 IST ISLAMABAD: A 13-year-old Pakistani boy who was beaten by his teacher for not completing his homework is preparing to undergo a third surgery. Mudassar Aslam, a Class IX student of Himayatul Islam High School in Hyderabad, has already undergone two major intestinal surgeries after his teacher beat him. Aslam was rushed to Liaquat University Hospital on November 21 after he complained of severe abdominal pain. His teacher, Buland Iqbal, trashed him with a stick after tying him up. The boy said, "I was beaten with...

“A good wife must live in fear” 05/07/2007 SAUDI ARABIA Women are forbidden to drive, to show their head and to speak in public, and to shake a man’s hand. On television, preachers incite husbands to beat their wives “for their own good”. Saudi journalists describe the countless prohibitions facing Muslim women in their country and appeal for a distinction between religious truths and social customs. Riyadh (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Without permission, women cannot even drive a car or change the colour of their clothes, and television preachers warn that women who shake a man’s hand are committing “adultery of the...

Mere suspicion of an illicit affair in Jordan often leads to "honour killings" Author: IRIN Published on Nov 26, 2007, 08:00 Women activists call for greater rights. A quarter of all women killed in Jordan for having an illicit relationship die merely because they were suspected of involvement in such a relationship, while only 15 per cent are killed after adultery is proven, a study by UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has revealed. The study was unveiled on 25 November to mark the UN global campaign entitled Sixteen Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women, organised by UNIFEM....

Headline News Sunday, November 25, 2007 by Staff Writer Israeli-Arab men brutally rape 'dirty Jew' A group of young Israeli-Arab men recently attacked and raped two intoxicated Jewish teenage girls near the coastal city of Netanya, the Israeli police released for publication on Sunday. The shocking attack took place two weeks ago, when the six Arab men happened upon the two Jewish girls as they sat drinking late at night in a public square in Netanya. According to Ynet, the girls resisted the men's advances, but were soon after were compelled, either physically or due to their inebriated state, to...

Saudi lawyer in rape victim plea Story Highlights - Woman sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail under Islamic law - Judge more than doubled 19-year-old's sentence for speaking to the media - Woman's lawyer loses law license for speaking to Saudi-controlled media - Human rights group: Lawyer faces three-year suspension and disbarment (CNN) -- A Saudi Arabian human rights attorney is asking the government to allow him to represent a woman who was gang-raped -- and then sentenced to prison for speaking out about the case. The attorney, Abdulrahman al-Lahim, had his license revoked last week by...

Serbia: Muslim prosecutor arrested for using sex-slaves November 19, 2007 SERBIANNA Serbia's chief prosecutor has arrested regional vice prosecutor in the Muslim dominated region of Novi Pazar for misuse of office. The charge alleges that Senad Palamara is implicated in a human trafficking ring in Novi Pazar and was the "user" of sexual services of the trafficked women that were available in a JetSet night club in the Serbian city of Sombor. The indictment says that during period from December 2005 to July 2007 Palamara repeatedly had sex with a 25 year old Marija K who was forced into prostitution...

Daughter's pregnancy signs raised suspicion 20 Nov 2007, Pinak Priya Bhattacharya,TNN JALPAIGURI: A 36-year-old man who married his teenage daughter, apparently after convincing his wife that he was carrying out divine instructions, kept the event under wraps for more than six months. Until, his 15-year-old daughter began showing signs of pregnancy. Villagers of Kasiajhora found out about Afazuddin Ali's wedding when one of them found the girl showing pregnancy's swelling signs. The sordid drama of what happened, however, unfolded on Monday when Ali was produced in court. When Ali, a daily labourer who has three daughters and two sons moved...

Surfer's Baja tale is warning to others Camping trip ended in robbery, assault By Terry Rodgers UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER November 19, 2007 Pat Weber didn't plan on being part of a crime trend that has generated worldwide buzz this past week, but he didn't have much choice. The Encinitas resident and surfing instructor got lost on a dirt road in Baja California last month while looking for a surfing spot called Cuatro Casas. He and his girlfriend decided to park for the night on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Just after sundown, two men wearing ski masks approached Weber's motor...

Yahoo to pay Chinese families It settles with relatives of journalists jailed for dissent after it revealed their names to police. By Alex Pham Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 14, 2007 A week after lawmakers shamed its executives as moral "pygmies," Yahoo Inc. on Tuesday reached an out-of-court settlement with the families of two Chinese journalists thrown into jail for dissidence after the company disclosed their identities to local police. Yahoo promised to pay the families' legal bills and to create a fund to "provide support to other political dissidents and their families," but the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company wouldn't...

Teheran cracks down on “moral vices” The death of a girl, arrested by Iranian police because she was in the company of a male friend, is declared a “suicide”. Iran’s Supreme Leader approves the list of “vices” to be fought, among them makeup and hats. Teheran (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Iran’s government daily’s today published a list of moral vices which police are called to counter, among them make up and hats in the place of veils. The officers added that they are also bent on cracking down on “decadent” films, drugs and alcohol. This is the latest move in a ferocious...

Activists Already Planning RNC Disruptions MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ― Shrouded in black, with a bandanna masking her face, the self-proclaimed anarchist slips into her combat boots and dashes through town, tossing a Molotov cocktail here, launching a bowling ball there. The YouTube video is more parody than threat: The flaming cocktail ignites a charcoal grill, and the bowling ball knocks down pins instead of crashing through a Navy recruiting office window. But as the video fades to black, the message onscreen is clear: "We're getting ready. What are you doing?" With less than 10 months to go before the Republican National...

Monday, November 12, 2007 Terror Teaser..."Babes of FARC" Heat Up Colombian Jungle Terror group hopes "Babes of FARC" wins over sympathizers. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) posted "Babes of FARC" photos to promote their communist revolutionary cause. The Colombian FARC terrorists released their calendar for 2007-2008.

Wasilla women indicted on Halloween theft charges HALLOWEEN CRIME: Eight children who were robbed testify. By ANDREW WELLNER PALMER -- Eight children whose candy was taken from them at gunpoint by two women on Halloween in Talkeetna, according to Alaska State Troopers, testified Thursday before a grand jury. Two women -- Kendra Grace Butts, 18, and Amber Marie Martin, 20, both of Wasilla -- were indicted Friday on seven counts of robbery, one of attempted robbery and eight of assault. If convicted, they face a maximum of 180 years each in prison. The minimum sentence for robbery with a gun...

11/09/2007 PAKISTAN Another attack on the giant Buddha of Swat In the valley of Swat, north western Pakistan, Islamic militants have launched a second attack in less than a month on the gigantic sacred statue. The head, shoulders and feet have been destroyed while the militants threaten a third and final attack. Islamabad (AsiaNews) – A group of Islamic militants have attacked for the second time in less than a month the giant Buddha carved in the rocks of Swat Valley, in north western Pakistan. Despite the many requests for greater protection, the government has failed to intervene in any...

Remembering Kristallnacht, the 'Night of Broken Glass' By Hilda Pierce November 9, 2007 Crystal Night is a beautiful name for an evil event that took place in Austria and Germany on the night of Nov. 9, 1938. It was orchestrated on the orders of Adolph Hitler's minister of propaganda, Josef Goebbels. Adolf Eichmann also had a part in organizing the “Night of Broken Glass,” the night of burning synagogues, smashing windows of Jewish stores, looting, killing or torturing Jews on the streets and in their homes, 69 years ago today. It is a historical date because it was also the...

Dispute rages over al-Durrah footage By Martin Patience BBC News, Jerusalem They were images broadcast all over the world. The TV footage of a young Palestinian boy, Muhammad al-Durrah, and his father cowering in front of a wall as Israeli forces and Palestinians exchanged gunfire at a crossroads in Gaza. The 12-year-old Muhammad was killed during the incident in September 2000. For Palestinians and many people around the world, the death - coming in the early weeks of the second Palestinian uprising - became a symbol of the brutality of the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza....

Informer tells of corrupt Mexico October 25, 2007 By Jerry Seper - An informant who worked for U.S. authorities for more than four years says government, police and military authorities in Mexico have been corrupted by drug smugglers, often carrying out kidnappings and killings on the orders of drug cartel bosses. The accusations are outlined in sworn testimony before a U.S. immigration judge by Guillermo Eduardo Ramirez Peyro, a former Mexican police officer who was paid $224,000 for information U.S. anti-drug agents used to convict dozens of high-ranking Mexican drug traffickers. Ramirez told U.S. Immigration Judge Joseph R. Dierkes in...

This afternoon [10/18/2007] the editorial desk of Noticiero Digital contacted the news department of Mérida radio station Estudio 102.7 FM, who confirmed the information reported this morning. They added that the recently inaugurated monument was destroyed by gunfire. The glass monument honoring Argentinian guerilla Ernesto Guevara was not well received by the area's communities, to whom [Che] represented a figure who was totally foreign to its history and values.

On This Day In History - October 9, 1967 Professional revolutionary "Che" Guevara is executed in Bolivia Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, better known to the world as "Che" Guevara, is executed by Bolivian armed forces on this day in 1967. Born in Argentina, Guevara was a professional revolutionary who became involved in the Guatemalan revolution of the 1950s. It was during this time that he discovered Marxism and became a fervent convert to the philosophy. Following the overthrow of the Guatemalan government by a U.S.-sponsored coup in 1954, Guevara traveled to Mexico where he joined up with Cuban revolutionary...

Children of Che Guevara meet Iran’s culture minister Tehran Times Culture Desk September 27, 2007 TEHRAN -- Two children of Ernesto Che Guevara met Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi here on Tuesday. Aleida and Camilo Guevara are currently visiting Iran and are scheduled to meet with high-ranking Iranian officials. The culture minister paid tribute to Che Guevara and said Iran and Cuba have one point in common, which is the fact that both have experienced U.S. hostility. Saffar Harandi added that Cuba has made good progress over the years, and congratulated Aleida and Camilo on...

Gov's aide did time in '80s terror case SPRINGFIELD | Blagojevich stands by Guerra, who refused to testify before grand jury September 7, 2007 BY DAVE MCKINNEY Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief SPRINGFIELD -- A high-ranking official in Gov. Blagojevich's office spent nearly two years in a federal prison for refusing to aid a government terrorism probe into a series of bombings in Chicago and New York City. Steven Guerra, Blagojevich's $120,000-a-year deputy chief of staff for community services, was identified by federal prosecutors as a member of the Puerto Rican separatist group, FALN, which was behind a wave of violence...

Fresh violence claims eight civilians in Thailand's deep South Posted : Tue, 28 Aug 2007 07:33:04 GMT Author : DPA Pattani, Thailand - Attacks on state schools and Thai-Buddhist communities by suspected separatist have claimed eight civilians lives in two days in Thailand's tortured deep South, provincial officials said Tuesday. The fresh wave of violence coincided with the launch Tuesday of a 104-page report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch which roundly blasts the region's Muslim insurgency for targetting civilians in its political struggle. Two public school teachers were gunned down on Monday in Pattani, 720 kilometres south of...

Saudi family killed domestic workers says rights group AFP August 17, 2007 DUBAI -- A Saudi family beat to death two Indonesian women workers in an attack that Human Rights Watch said Friday highlighted the government's failure to deal with employers who seriously abuse domestic staff. "The brutal killings of these Indonesian domestic workers occurred in an atmosphere of impunity, fostered by government inaction," said Nisha Varia, senior researcher in the Women's Rights Division of the New York-based rights group. "Not only do the authorities typically fail to investigate or prosecute abusive employers, the criminal justice system also obstructs abused...

'They were shouting 'Sieg Heil'' Aug. 17, 2007 8:49 By JPOST STAFF AND JEREMY LAST Hapoel Tel Aviv supporters who were ejected from Thursday night's soccer match against Bosnian side Siroki Brijeg after throwing firecrackers blamed the home supporters for provoking the trouble with anti-Semitic chanting. The referee stopped the UEFA Cup second qualifying round game at the Pecara stadium for some 20 minutes, leading the players off the pitch, before the decision was made to kick out the Hapoel fans. Hapoel supporter Eyal Heled gave his account of events to Army Radio on Friday: "Disturbances broke out when fans...

Tribal council sought after Pakistani girls offered as brides Posted Fri Aug 17, 2007 Authorities in Pakistan are searching for 11 influential members of a tribal council, or jirga, after the country's Supreme Court ordered their arrest. Three other members of the jirga have been detained for demanding that five young girls be handed over as brides to the family of a murder victim. The five little girls are between the ages of two and six. They were meant to be the price for ending a 10-year-old feud over a murder. The tribal council ordered that they be handed over...

Sex video causes outrage in Nigeria's Muslim north Mon 13 Aug 2007 ABUJA (Reuters) - An amateur video of a northern Nigerian film actress in a sex scene has caused a public outcry in the Muslim north, prompting a movie industry body to expel actors deemed "immoral", a local newspaper reported on Monday. Leadership newspaper said the eight-minute video clip, recorded for private use on a mobile phone by the actress's boyfriend and showing the two of them naked, had circulated widely among mobile phone users across the north. "This was the first time such exposure involving Hausa-Fulani persons was...

Iran authorities lash man for having bible in car - report Mon. 13 Aug 2007 Iran Focus Tehran, Iran, Aug. 13 – Iranian authorities in Tehran lashed a man on his back earlier this year for having a bible in his car, an Iranian Christian group said in a report on its website on Friday. The man was only identified by the initials A. Sh. On 5 May, the man, driving his vehicle, was involved in a road accident with a car belonging to security guards for a government official in Tehran. A bible and a video of Jesus Christ...

Honor Killings in Turkey Claimed Lives of Mother, Daughter Posted GMT 8-11-2007 A woman (47) deserted her husband in Kars, in eastern Turkey, and moved in with her divorced daughter (27), mother of three. They were located by the husband/father and his son who came yesterday to the women's home in Kocaeli, where the 19 year old son brutally killed his mother and his sister by beating them on the head with a bat, with his three young nephews watching. Upon his arrest the 19 year old said that he had killed the women to clean the honor of his...

Arafat's doctor: His blood had HIV, but poison killed him 12/08/2007 By Danny Rubinstein , Haaretz Correspondent Late Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat's blood contained the deadly HIV virus, Arafat's personal physician told Jordanian media over the weekend. Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi stressed, however, that Arafat did not die of AIDS - which is caused by the virus. Jordanian news site Amman quoted al-Kurdi - a former Jordanian health ministry official - as saying that the virus had been injected into Arafat's bloodstream close to his death, and that the real cause of the chairman's death was poison. Hours earlier, al-Kurdi...

Italy: Court discriminates against Muslim girls Apparently, if you're a Moroccan in Italy you don't have the same rights as ethnic Italians. Friday, August 10, 2007 The Italian supreme court recently rejected an appeal by the prosecution in the case of a Moroccan girl who had been beaten by her family, her parents and her brother. The appeal was rejected on the grounds that it was for her own good and for her non-conformity with their culture, she had gone out with a friend and her life style was not accepted by her parents. This story starts in 2003 when...

Disabled woman viciously beaten by husband By Wendy Barlow A MAN who subjected his disabled wife to a violent beating which left their bedroom blood splattered has been jailed for two-and-a-half years. Burnley Crown Court heard how Adam Stephenson, 37, had repeatedly punched and kicked victim Samantha Smith on two occasions within four days but claimed to still love her. Miss Smith escaped and went to hospital after the second beating and it was only because medics alerted police the violence came to light. Stephenson, of Cronkshaw Street, Burnley, said to have converted to Islam in a bid to beat...

Ted Nugent Blames Hippies for Divorce, Abortion, Drugs and Crime 7/3/07, 2:22 pm EST It was only a matter of time before Ted Nugent decided to rain on the Summer of Love’s anniversary parade. In an article from today’s Wall Street Journal titled “The * Summer of Drugs,” the notoriously opinionated guitar god took some time off his busy hunting schedule to blame “stoned, dirty, stinky hippies” for “rising rates of divorce, high school drop-outs, drug use, abortion, sexual diseases and crime, not to mention the exponential expansion of government and taxes.” * Highlights (including some choice words for Jimi...

Freed doctor describes torture ordeal inside Libyan jail · Medic left with scars after being caged with dogs · Bulgarian nurses raped claims Palestinian Kate Connolly in Berlin Monday July 30, 2007 The Guardian The Palestinian doctor who was held in Libyan custody along with five Bulgarian nurses on charges they infected hundreds of children with HIV, has described in detail how they were tortured during their eight-year ordeal. Ashraf Alhajouj, 38, said he was beaten, held in cages with police dogs and given electric shocks, including to his private parts. He said that he and the nurses were sometimes...