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It's no secret that members of the Saudi royal family have provided extensive financial support to al Qaeda. But now, as Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times reports, thousands of pages of previously undisclosed documents provide a detailed look at this disgusting phenomenon.

About four years ago, I was on the receiving end of some querulous reader e-mail. The Ninth Circuit federal appeals court in California had sent some social conservatives into orbit: ruling that there was no fundamental parental right to control the content of sex-education instruction in public schools. I made the mistake of agreeing with the ruling in a post on the Corner.

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After seven years of combing fields and beaches with a metal detector, the only thing housewife Mary Hannaby had to show for her hobby was an old dental plate. But all those efforts paid off when her first proper find turned out to be a 15th-century gold treasure valued at £250,000 or more. The find is thought to be part of a high-quality reliquary or pendant, and depicts the Holy Trinity. Mrs Hannaby, 57, from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, heard her metal detector's tell-tale beep while out on one of her regular six-hour Sunday detecting walks with her son, woodcarver Michael,...

WAPO reports: Kerry's spokeswoman now tells The Sleuth the senator really didn't mean what he said, though his clarification would hardly qualify as an apology. "We stand corrected, the truth is every Democrat hopes Governor Palin is in the public eye for a long, long time, especially on the 2012 presidential ballot," Kerry spokeswoman Jodi Seth says. "Lately it's been Vice President Cheney that everyone hopes would lose the cameras and go for a long leisurely hike on the Appalachian Trail. And good grief, if anyone thinks John Kerry is afraid of strong, smart women, they sure haven't met his...

Newspaper editors and TV producers undercut the value of serious news media when they let website hits and social media volume dictate their coverage.Given his recklessly eccentric and peripatetic personal life, Michael Jackson's premature death seems almost foreordained -- one of those deaths Yeats had in mind when he wrote of a friend's lost son: "What made us dream that he could comb gray hair?" Still, the global outpouring of grief and the frenzy of public attention focused since Thursday on Jackson's death is an acknowledgment not only of his popularity but of the reach and influence of America's most...

Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, are bracing themselves for a purge if, as expected, he returns to office following the country’s bitterly disputed presidential election. His defeated rival, Mir Hos-sein Mousavi, who came a distant second in a poll he insists was rigged by the regime, has continued to defy what he has called “huge pressures” to halt his campaign for a new vote. Last week his communications with the outside world were severely restricted, his web page was taken down and his newspaper was closed, with 25 of its employees arrested. Supporters said they feared Mousavi could...

On June 10, the world’s oldest living twins sisters were reunited at age 104. In the tradition of visiting relatives after the spring wheat harvest, the older twin, Cao Daqiao, visited her sister, Cao Xiaoqiao, in Fanjialing Village of Weifang City, Shandong Province. Although both sisters live in Weifang City, they live in different villages and rarely get to see each other. Born in 1905, the sisters are recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest twins. Since their husbands both had the same last name Liu, last year Guinness named them Qiao Senior and Qiao...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A gun-toting Kentucky pastor says it's OK to pack heat at church _ at least for one day. Ken Pagano asked his flock to bring their unloaded handguns _ in holsters _ to New Bethel Church in Louisville for a celebration of the Second Amendment. When the event got under way a little after 5 p.m. Saturday, about 200 people _ many carrying small firearms _ sat in the Pentecostal church sanctuary. "We are wanting to send a message that there are legal, civil, intelligent and law-abiding citizens who also own guns," Pagano said in greeting...

Florida officials say one passenger chased another down the aisle of a county bus during a fight over news of Michael Jackson's death. The Broward County Sheriff's Office says 54-year-old Henry Wideman was released Saturday on $5,000 bond on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A phone number for him rang unanswered. According to a release from the sheriff's office, 60-year-old James Kiernan announced news of the pop singer's death on a bus Thursday night. The driver, who wasn't identified, said Jackson should have been jailed long ago. The sheriff's office says Wideman got angry when Kiernan...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Local banks in Georgia, Minnesota and California were closed Friday by state regulators, bringing the total number of failed banks this year to 45, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The financial crisis has taken a heavy toll on small banks across the nation as losses in the housing market mount and unemployment dents household wealth. Analysts expect the trend to continue even as larger banks stabilize and the overall economy begins to recover. -snip-

June 28, 2009 Nanny reveals tragic secret life of Jackson Maurice Chittenden and John Harlow Los Angeles THE nanny who became “mother” to Michael Jackson’s three children has told how she regularly had to pump his stomach to remove dangerous cocktails of drugs. Grace Rwaramba, 42, who flew from London to Los Angeles yesterday in the hope of being reunited with his children, has given a graphic account of the singer’s increasingly desperate final months. She paints a grim picture of Jackson, sometimes penniless but deluded about his “riches”, leading a nomadic life, moving from country to country and hotel...

Bringing new meaning to the term "wearing your Sunday best," a pastor in Kentucky is encouraging his parishioners to strap a holster to their church clothes today and proudly display their weapons. Pastor Ken Pagano of the New Bethel Church in Louisville has declared today -- June 27 -- as "Open Carry Celebration" day, to promote responsible gun ownership. Pagano told ABCNews.com: "As a Christian pastor I believe that without a deep-seeded belief in God and firearms that this country would not be here. I'm not ashamed of that fact. I'm proud of it." Pagano said no one will be...

I share my home with 11 cats - four cheetahs, five lions and two tigers By AMY OLIVER 27th June 2009 Sharing a bed with your furry friend has taken on a whole new meaning for Riana Van Nieuwenhuizen. The sanctuary worker shares her South African home with not one but FOUR orphaned cheetahs, five lions and two tigers. Forty-six-year-old Riana said: 'I love them all. But they're a handful.' [Pics in URL] Two of Riana Van Nieuwenhuizen big cats fight to be top dog in her South African home Riana bought her first cheetah, Fiela in 2006, after realising...

President Obama’s health care TV special turned out to be more revealing than he intended. When asked whether he would accept the limitations on care prescribed by a government run health plan like Medicare when it came to members of his own family, the President responded: “no.” “A national health care plan is aimed at ensuring a minimum standard of care for ordinary people who don’t have the resources for better care,” the President explained. “People with missions critical to the survival and prosperity of the nation—like the president, cabinet, members of congress and the like—will, naturally, need to receive...

A Logan County judge ruled last week that the state Department of Environmental Protection should grant Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. the permits it needs to develop gas wells in the 3,300-acre Chief Logan State Park. Story by Dan Page Email | Bio | Other Stories by A Logan County judge ruled last week that the state Department of Environmental Protection should grant Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. the permits it needs to develop gas wells in the 3,300-acre Chief Logan State Park. Let's give a rousing cheer for Logan County Circuit Judge Roger L. Perry, whose opinion protects the...

Last week we witnessed Jesus' divine power at work on the forces of nature (Mark 4:37-41). Today's Gospel stories reveal his power over disease and death. In these powerful accounts, Jesus reminds us of the importance of faith. Nothing is possible without faith. On the way to Jairus' house (Mark 5), Jesus encounters interruptions, delays, and even obstacles along the road. The people in the passage transfer their uncleanness to Jesus, and to each Jesus bestows the cleansing wholeness of God. Let us consider for a moment each situation. The hemorrhaging woman Jesus' miraculous healing of this woman who...

Hey all, this really lifted me today and I thought I would share it with you all. All is not Lost!!!!!!!

Fort Payne authorities say they have solved a murder committed 23 years ago and the killer was a man who has since died of cancer. On April 19, 1986 at 7:40pm, the police got a call that a man had been shot at his home on Scenic Drive. Paramedics rushed 25 year old Mark Allen Phillips to Dekalb Hospital in Fort Payne where he was pronounced dead. Police say facts came to light recently. Certain facts of the case were not released to the public in 1986 and those facts have helped to verify that the person that we have...

A 13-story apartment building under construction in Shanghai has toppled over almost intact, killing one worker. Footage broadcast on state broadcaster CCTV shows the whole building lying on its side. The building reportedly tipped over at the base, crumbling to the ground in one big piece. It's believed the 28-year-old worker killed had gone into the building to get his tools and tried to jump out the window when the building fell.