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California’s unemployment rate in August hit its highest point in nearly 70 years, starkly underscoring how the nation’s incipient economic recovery continues to elude millions of Americans looking for work. While job losses continue to fall, the state’s new unemployment rate — 12.2 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — is far above the national average of 9.7 percent and places California, the nation’s most-populous state, fourth behind Michigan, Nevada and Rhode Island. Statistics kept by the state show California’s unemployment rate was 14.7 percent in 1940, said Kevin Callori, a spokesman for the California Employment Development Department.While...

Incredible webcast. In the first 2 minutes of the 3 hour webcast, he Lyndon LaRouche calls Obama criminally insane. Watch Webcast

China is stockpiling commodities such as copper and iron ore as part of a reallocation of its sovereign wealth amid concerns that the value of its dollar assets may decline, according to the Royal Bank of Canada. “It is part of an overall desire to decrease its exposure to dollar assets,” said Brian Jackson, senior strategist at Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong, in an interview on Monday. China fears the hundreds of billions of dollars the US is spending on bank bailouts and stimulus will cause “higher inflation and a weaker dollar,” he said. Premier Wen Jiabao has...

A bill requiring proof of citizenship for those seeking office has been approved by a (Oklahoma) Senate committee and now goes to the Senate floor for a vote.

[T]he entire decision to go after Rush Limbaugh was cooked up by supposedly clever White House aides and outside advisors. David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager last year and a member of his inner circle still, will publish an op-ed in Wednesday's Washington Post chiding Republicans for being "paralyzed with fear of crossing their leader.” [But now Rush] has challenged Obama to a one-on-one debate on his radio show, no teleprompters please. With an ineptness that leaves one breathless, the Obama team has now effectively labeled Obama himself as "paralyzed with fear" if in fact the President doesn't have the guts...

Jesse Jackson would like to tell Barack Obama that he is sorry for ripping the presumptive Democratic Nominee with comments that are said to be very nasty and according to a report from CNN they are too bad for them to say on the air. One report notes that conservative radio host Sean Hannity revealed on air that that Fox News is in possession of an exclusive tape of Reverend Jesse Jackson, recorded after an interview when he thought the microphone was off, slamming Barack Obama for “talking down black people on matters of faith� among other issues. Jackson told...

When State Department Legal Adviser John B. Bellinger III gave a controversial June 6 speech on the subject of "The United States and International Law," he mentioned that the Bush Administration had "put forward a priority list of over 35 treaty packages that we have urged the Senate to approve soon, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea." The latter is now up for Senate ratification, with a vote scheduled on Wednesday, and one of its many controversial provisions is the regulation of land-based sources of pollution. This treaty covers the water and the land. But now...

<p>According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.</p>

JESSICA ROBERTSON NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) - Authorities believe they know what killed the 20-year-old son of Anna Nicole Smith but are awaiting a toxicology report to confirm their findings and are holding open the possibility criminal charges, the Bahamas coroner said Wednesday. Coroner Linda Virgill told The Associated Press that once her office receives the toxicology report on Daniel Smith it may launch a formal inquiry and that there is a possibility criminal charges may be filed in Sunday's death. "We do know the cause of death," Virgill said. "But we need to confirm it with a toxicology report." ......

David Brooks devoted his entire Sunday New York Times column to a truncated verbatim text of an interview he had on background with a Bush administration "policy maker" on our Middle East foreign policy. It reveals several shrewd assessments, but also an undeniable air of unreality and defeatism. If the comments are a true reflection of President Bush's views, then one is obliged to reassess virtually every word the administration expresses on the topics of the Middle East and terrorism.

TMZ has learned that Mel Gibson went on a rampage when he was arrested Friday on suspicion of drunk driving, hurling religious epithets. TMZ has also learned that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department had the initial report doctored to keep the real story under wraps. TMZ has four pages of the original report prepared by the arresting officer in the case, L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy James Mee. According to the report, Gibson became agitated after he was stopped on Pacific Coast Highway and told he was to be detained for drunk driving Friday morning in Malibu. The actor began...

A recent “Freedom of Information” request has revealed that nearly 10,000 documents still exist that the 9/11 Commission were told were destroyed, and this may not fare very well for Barney Frank. According to Scott Malone of NavySeals.com and Christopher Law from the Public Education Center, these documents show that the CIA knew that several of the hijackers on 9/11 who were in the country were associated with Al-Qaeda. But authorities were powerless to deport them because of an amendment to an immigration law that Frank had authored.

ATLANTA - Former president Carter, a Democrat and frequent critic of President Bush, sees eye-to-eye with him on immigration. Carter on Wednesday called the Republican president's commitment to immigration reform "quite admirable," saying he agrees with Bush's support of a system that would eventually grant citizenship to some illegals. The Senate is set to vote as early as Thursday on a bill that calls for tougher border security as well as an eventual chance at citizenship for millions of men and women in the country illegally. The law should secure the nation's borders while "at the same time treating those...

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Benjamin Daines was browsing the Web when he clicked on a series of links that promised pictures of an unreleased update to his computer's operating system. Instead, a window opened on the screen and strange commands ran as if the machine was under the control of someone -- or something -- else. Daines was the victim of a computer virus.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush approved Dubai's $1.24 billion takeover of Doncasters, a British engineering company with U.S. plants that supply the Pentagon, the White House said on Friday. The decision, announced by White House spokesman Scott McClellan, followed a congressional uproar over security fears that scuttled another Dubai state-owned company's plan to acquire operations at major U.S. ports. The interagency Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States sent its confidential recommendation on the Dubai takeover of Doncasters to Bush on April 13. "The president this morning accepted the committee's recommendation," McClellan said. "The committee recommended approval...

Election records of a September special election that put Ophelia Ford in a state Senate seat show that someone may have used the name of a man who had been dead for six weeks to vote. Ford, a Democrat, beat Republican challenger Terry Roland by 13 votes in a race in which 8,750 ballots were cast. The election was to replace Ford's brother John Ford, who resigned in May after being indicted on bribery charges. The name Joe L. Light was entered into the poll registration book during the Sept. 15 election at the Memphis precinct where Light was registered...

GAINESVILLE, Georgia (AP) -- A 37-year-old woman was charged with child molestation after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy whom she married last week. The woman also is allegedly pregnant with the boy's child, though paternity hasn't yet been determined, his grandmother and guardian told The Associated Press on Monday.

In an initial chat with Miers, according to several people with knowledge of the exchange, Leahy asked her to name her favorite Supreme Court justices. Miers responded with "Warren" -- which led Leahy to ask her whether she meant former Chief Justice Earl Warren, a liberal icon, or former Chief Justice Warren Burger, a conservative who voted for Roe v. Wade . Miers said she meant Warren Burger, the sources said. A Republican member of the committee, Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), said after meeting with Miers: "I think the hearings matter in her case probably more than others." Graham said...

SOME QUICK THOUGHTS ON HARRIET MIERS: This pick reinforces several traits Bush doesn't want reinforced right now. It's a pro-business pick. In Texas Miers specialized in "commercial litigation, including antitrust and trade regulations and intellectual property disputes" according to this bio. It's a pro-crony pick. She was Bush's personal lawyer as far back as the 1980s, and obviously loyalty to Bush trumped intellectual firepower. Finally, the Miers pick cements the idea that Bush is politically weak and scared of a major fight with Democrats. As Bill Kristol just pointed out on Fox, this choice will be depressing to conservatives at...

Let's not support any kind of 'illegal' here September 29, 2005 1:06 am I applaud those who recognize that "illegal" means someone has "broken the law" ["No free pass for illegal immigrants," Sept. 22]. If someone enters the U.S. without going through the legal process of immigration, it is against the law. The short-sighted individuals who make grandiose analogies about the American Indian being tread upon by whites from Europe are completely out of touch.Most individuals against "illegal immigration" are "legal immigrants" who know the value of the process. And those against "illegal immigration" are not all racists and...

PLANET-DISSOLVING DUST CLOUD IS HEADED TOWARD EARTH!Monday September 12, 2005 By MIKE FOSTER CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Scared-stiff astronomers have detected a mysterious mass they've dubbed a "chaos cloud" that dissolves everything in its path, including comets, asteroids, planets and entire stars -- and it's headed directly toward Earth! Discovered April 6 by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the swirling, 10 million-mile- wide cosmic dust cloud has been likened to an "acid nebula" and is hurtling toward us at close to the speed of light -- making its estimated time of arrival 9:15 a.m. EDT on June 1, 2014. "The good news...

A rookie state parks ranger who shot and killed an apparently unarmed man at Elephant Butte Lake last week fired the gunshots into the man's back, the victim's family claimed this week. Charles Teschner Jr., the brother of shooting victim Bruce Teschner, said a doctor with the state Office of the Medical Investigator has informed the family that Bruce Teschner was shot twice during the Aug. 23 incident. The doctor told him one of the bullets from the .40 caliber Glock handgun struck Teschner in the upper back and another struck him in the back of the neck, said Charles...

A boat party in an exclusive area of Long Island Sunday night was interrupted - when a severed human hand mysteriously dropped out of the sky onto the deck of a boat, police said yesterday.

George Galloway could face an investigation by Scotland Yard if British diplomats conclude that there is a case for action in the wake of fresh Iraqi oil allegations, it emerged today.The Foreign Office said that it had launched an urgent review of a US Senate sub-committee's claims that Saddam Hussein's regime granted Mr Galloway rights to sell up to £268 million worth of oil. The Charity Commission also confirmed that it was considering a fresh look at its own probe into a charity set up by the former Labour MP, which American senators have claimed was used to conceal payments...

NASHVILLE - Gov. Phil Bredesen dismissed his chief legislative lobbyist from his position Monday and said he has agreed to undergo counseling on "workplace harassment and the misuse of alcohol." Mack Cooper, 45, was appointed in November 2004 to the cabinet-level position, which carries the title: senior adviser for legislation and policy. He had previously held the No. 2 position on Bredesen's lobbying staff. The move was announced in a statement distributed to media late Monday. The statement said that officials, "out of consideration for the privacy of the other parties involved," would not release details about "any specific incident...

Computer users risk blood clots  01.04.05By REBECCA WALSH  People who sit for hours in front of a computer may be at risk of developing blood clots in their legs, a study suggests. The condition has been associated with long-haul air travel but a paper published in today’s New Zealand Medical Journal, suggests sitting still for long periods at a computer could also cause deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The researchers, led by Professor Richard Beasley of the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, have proposed the acronym "SIT" - seated immobility thromboembolism - to cover all forms of seated immobility associated...

Does anyone know if WorldNet Daily is down or not? I've been trying to get onto that site for a couple hours and no dice. Have they been hacked again?

ATLANTA - A former Atlanta police major and his wife were sentenced to prison Thursday for a scam in which they charged people a fee to help them reclaim money or other belongings from the department's property room. In Atlanta, people can reclaim their property for no charge by showing up at police headquarters and presenting identification. John Woodard, a 29-year veteran of the Police Department and former supervisor of the Property Control Unit, was sentenced to three years behind bars. His wife, Debra, 47, got two years. Prosecutors said the Woodards ran a business called R.A.P. Ltd. that led...

SPRINGDALE, Ark. (AP) - Michael Henson left the auto parts store with more problems than when he arrived. For that, he can thank his dog. Henson, whose truck had been experiencing a sticking throttle, left his dog in the truck when he went into the O'Reilly Auto Parts store in Springdale on Sunday. "He'd left the truck running - I guess to show the people at O'Reilly's - and the dog jumped over and knocked the truck into gear," police Sgt. Billy Turnbough said. The truck raced into the building, stunning Henson and clerk Josh Hopper. "The guy said he...

Millionaire Kerik A Former Deadbeat Homeland Security nominee was once bankrupt NYPD cop DECEMBER 7--While a recent stock windfall has left Bernard Kerik sitting on $6 million, President Bush's nominee to head the Homeland Security department hasn't always been so flush. In fact, Kerik was once a deadbeat who declared bankruptcy when he couldn't handle his credit card bills, loan repayments, or Sears and J.C. Penney tabs. Kerik filed for Chapter 7 protection in October 1987, when he was a 32-year-old New York Police Department officer living in Greenwich Village, according to federal court records. As detailed in Kerik's bankruptcy...

I have read several comments by FReepers about the slaugthering of Theo van Gogh and see a lot of half truths about it. Therefore I will write this short report from Utrecht (The Netherlands). Theo van Gogh was a very famous film maker and columnist in The Netherlands. His movies were about several topics including a remake of Romeo and Julia with a Dutch girl and a Morrocan immigrant. He was a very generous guy as all his friends mentioned at the funeral and a good citizen (working for his son's sportclub). His other side was his fun in provoking...

[Breaking News Ticker] SADDAM’S ITALIAN LAWYER GIOVANNI DE STAFANO TOLD A LONDON-BASED DAILY THAT A MEETING WAS HELD BETWEEN HIMSELF AND OSAMA BIN LADEN AT THE RASHID HOTEL IN BAGHDAD IN 1998. (AL-SHARQ AL-AWSAT, LONDON, 10/15/04)

Miss Universe de-frocked: Jennifer Hawkins stumbled during a fashion show at Westfield shopping centre in the Sydney suburb of Miranda yesterday, snagging her dress on her shoe and losing the lot. Her modesty was saved by a g-string. Photos: Russell Scarf/Network Ten

Something bad is happening to Pings, 'My Comments', Messages........I hope it isn't permanent......Make it stop, Please

nation's artists and musicians have a particular place in its social and political life. Over the years I've tried to think long and hard about what it means to be American: about the distinctive identity and position we have in the world, and how that position is best carried. I've tried to write songs that speak to our pride and criticize our failures. These questions are at the heart of this election: who we are, what we stand for, why we fight. Personally, for the last 25 years I have always stayed one step away from partisan politics. Instead,...

Just as Arnold Schwarzenegger was starting to be taken seriously as a politician, his past life has come back to haunt him in the form of a new film in which he plays a Turkish sultan - highly sexed and given to drinking, belching and leering. The actor turned governor of California is keen to play down his latest film appearance in the comedy Around the World in 80 Days. The behaviour of his character, Prince Hapi, could stir memories of allegations levelled at Mr Schwarzenegger during his campaign last summer that he groped and fondled women. As governor, Mr...

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) will name Sen. John McCain to a commission that will investigate Iraq (news - web sites) intelligence failures, an administration official said Thursday. Bush will formally create the nine-member panel on Friday with an executive order. The bipartisan commission will be directed to deliver its findings next year, which means they will come in after the November presidential elections. The president had resisted creating a commission but reversed course as political pressure mounted. In another reversal, Bush also announced support this week for a two-month extension of the reporting date for a...

Thousands of villagers in two remote Chinese provinces ransacked buildings set aside as Sars quarantine centres in a sign of increasing unrest over government attempts to contain the disease. Villagers built roadblocks to stop ambulances from getting through and mobs badly damaged offices and medical facilities. Some officials and policemen were beaten. One incident, in the southern province of Henan, happened just over a week ago. The unrest appears to have continued for three days. The other was in the eastern province of Zhejiang at the weekend. In a third incident, near Beijing, a school was set on fire by...

Dictator's Collusion In The Iraq 'War' By Parviz Esmaeili The Tehran Times 4-9-3 Note - This is the first story to point in the direction of possible/probable answers to a number of key questions about the US-UK zionist subjugation of Iraq. When the Iraqis failed to blow a single bridge - a classic and mandatory defensive military strategy - suspicions arose immediately. Aside from a handful of oil well-head fires in the South, there was no effort to torch Iraq's oil assets by Saddam. The repeated deployment of the regular Iraqi army and the Guard into exposed areas in the...

The Duke Of Medina Sidonia By William S. Lind 31 March 2003 In planning a war, the most important task is to understand what can be planned and what cannot. In general, the initial disposition of forces can be planned, and it must be planned with great care. As Field Marshal von Moltke said, "A mistake in initial dispositions can seldom be put right." But Moltke also said, "No plan survives its first contact with the enemy." Once you cross the enemy's border, you have to adjust and improvise constantly. The conduct of war, as distinct from preparation for war,...

BATON ROUGE, La. -- An experimental toxin sprayed on mosquitoes in several U.S. counties has turned the pests into insect Einsteins! The insecticide, which was rushed through development in an effort to curtail this summer's West Nile virus outbreak, not only failed in eliminating the bugs, but also increased their brainpower to a level that some believe is superior to that of human beings. Dr. Thomas Jarrad, head of the Institute for Entomological Sciences, was one of the first to study the brilliant bugs. "Apparently, the insecticide stimulated a growth hormone in the mosquitoes that is creating new and more...

Redskins Try End Run to Save Millions Workers' Compensation Wouldn't Apply to Team By Michael D. Shear Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, January 18, 2003; Page A01 RICHMOND, Jan. 17 -- Legislation filed in Virginia today on behalf of the Washington Redskins ownership would virtually exempt the team from paying millions of dollars to its players for injuries suffered on the field. Senior Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly have lined up behind the measure, introduced just before today's deadline for new legislation. The bill was introduced in the House and Senate a week after the Virginia Supreme Court...

Internet dating has prompted a return to Seventies-style free love. But this time it’s got no soul, writes Naomi Wolf Casual sex is back. One more relic of the early 1970s is apparently returning to the scene: hipster trousers and peace movements have been joined by a resurgence of the “zipless f---”, as Erica Jong christened it. If you hadn’t noticed this, don’t feel too bad. It could have to do with where you live. According to New York magazine, arbiter of all things cutting edge in Manhattan, the new fleshpots are teeming in certain urban centres in America. At...

Politics earns Chinese tycoon jail cell Venture with N. Korea annoyed wrong people, observers believe 11/29/2002 Associated Press BEIJING - Maybe he was arrogant. Maybe he thought, like many of China's new elite, that the company he built and the riches he amassed would protect him. Maybe he underestimated the hazards that come from mixing economics and politics in a nation struggling to balance both. Whatever the case, 39-year-old Yang Bin, an obsequious, cherub-cheeked tycoon who became point man for North Korea's foray into capitalism, is in big trouble with China, the country where he was born but whose...

The front-runner in Brazil's presidential election has said he wants to "widen [his] alliances" ahead of the final round of the poll. Despite winning nearly twice as many votes as his nearest opponent in the first round on Sunday, left-wing candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva still remained short of an absolute majority to win outright. He said he would seek the support of those opposed to the country's current, free-market economic model to win the second round. All power to the Soviets! Workers control the means of production! Someone needs to tell Lula this went out of style over...

AYODHYA, India (AP)-- Nearly 10,000 paramilitary troops moved into town Saturday after police said an Islamic separatist group threatened to blow up a Hindu temple at the site of a demolished 16th century mosque. Security was tightened as thousands of Hindus began arriving in Ayodhya to hold a Sunday prayer ceremony close to the ruins of the Babri mosque razed by Hindu nationalists eight years ago. That demolition triggered riots killing 2,000 people. Intelligence reports say a Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, planed to attack the temple, where Hindus keep idols of their gods and goddesses, a police officer said on...

Teacher In Space Highlights O’Keefe NASA Vision Speech Space News, April 15, 2002, page 3 A highly touted policy speech by NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe disclosed plans to send teachers to space, but con-veyed no dramatic change in the direction of the U.S. space agency. NASAs plans to send astronaut-in-train-ing Barbara Morgan, a former elementary school teacher, to the international space station no sooner than 2004 was the highlight of O'Keefe's April 12 speech at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York. NASAs public affairs operation billed O'Keefe's speech as a major address,...

MANILA -- Philippine authorities are searching for more than four tons of explosives -- twice the amount used in the Oklahoma City bombing -- that might have been bought by an Indonesian man identified as the key supplier of explosives for a multinational terrorist plot.The search has raised concerns among investigators that the Philippines has become a major source of bomb material for use throughout Southeast Asia and that large quantities might have been moved to other countries."We are worried about it. We don't know where the missing explosives are," said a Philippine prosecutor who helped interrogate Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi,...