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In a groundbreaking case, a Paris court will decide for the first time whether to dissolve the Church of Scientology in France, which is facing charges of organized fraud. The demand was made by French prosecutors on Monday (June 15) as they wrapped up their case against the church's Paris headquarters and bookshop. If found guilty, the institutions may also face a nearly $6 million fine. Six members of the church are also on trial, and may also face heavy fines along with prison sentences if convicted. The plaintiffs, two former Scientologists, claim the church conned them into spending tens...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama asked Congress on Tuesday to create a new agency to police the fine print on consumer products like credit cards and mortgages and determine what fees, penalties and interest rates are fair. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency would be in charge of regulating those products in the same way other government agencies regulate the safety of drugs, food and toys. Obama said Americans are demanding it. "Those ridiculous contracts with pages of fine print that no one can figure out—those things will be a thing of the past," the president said in a statement...

At least 27 people have been killed by a car bomb at a market in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, officials say. The attack in the Shurja district came as Iraqis celebrated the withdrawal of US troops from towns and cities in Iraq, six years after the invasion. US President Barack Obama said the move was an important milestone for Iraq, but that "difficult days" lay ahead. The Kirkuk blast came 10 days after a truck bomb killed more than 70 in the city's deadliest attack in over a year. Iraqi and US troops have been on alert for...

National Society of Newspaper Columnists Gives Palin 'Sitting Duck' Award By E&P Staff Published: June 30, 2009 2:32 PM ET NEW YORK She may not have won the Vice Presidency, but Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin did receive a consolation prize from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC): the Sitting Duck Award. Palin, running mate of GOP nominee John McCain, was selected for the award at the NSNC's Annual Conference, held last weekend in Ventura, Calif. She was nominated for "showing it's hard to put your best foot forward when it's in your mouth," according to the NSNC Web site.The...

An email I received from ANSWER. All of their emails are humorous. This one is downright hilarious. Former U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney among activists captured while transporting vital supplies to Gaza A ship carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza was attacked and boarded by Israeli forces today. Former U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney was among the 21 humanitarian activists on board of the “Spirit of Humanity.” The ship was approached by the Israeli Navy while approximately 20 miles off the coast of Gaza, and redirected to the Israeli city of Ashdod. All passengers have reportedly been taken...

Although New Haven's firefighters deservedly won in the Supreme Court, it is deeply depressing that they won narrowly -- 5 to 4. The egregious behavior by that city's government, in a context of racial rabble-rousing, did not seem legally suspect to even one of the court's four liberals, whose harmony seemed to reflect result-oriented rather than law-driven reasoning. THIS STORY On Race, The Slog Goes On For Sotomayor, a Fine Line in New Haven The 'Radical' Who Isn't The undisputed facts are that in 2003, the city gave promotion exams to 118 firefighters, 27 of them black. The tests were...

JACKSON CELEBRATION: Rev. Sharpton Grinding Woman At Apollo...

Defying a coup and bolstered by international support, ousted President Manuel Zelaya said he will return to Honduras on Thursday to serve out the rest of his term. He said he would be accompanied by the Argentine and Ecuadorean presidents, and the U.N. General Assembly and Organization of American States chiefs. But the interim government -- set up after the army bundled Zelaya out of the Central American country on Sunday -- said it would arrest him if he tried to re-enter Honduras.

Manuel Zelaya, the president of Honduras ousted in a coup, has vowed to fly to the country on Thursday to try to reclaim his office after winning the support of US President Barack Obama. As troops surrounded the presidential palace in the capital, Tegucigalpa, following clashes on Monday night, Mr Zelaya said that he planned to travel to Washington, where Mr Obama has denounced the coup as illegal. “I go to Tegucigalpa on Thursday,” he added. Depending on whether he is allowed to enter the country, his planned return to Honduras sets up a potentially explosive showdown with the newly...

Tamaki Sato was confused by the dinosaur exhibit. The placards described the various dinosaurs as originating from different geological periods -- the stegosaurus from the Upper Jurassic, the heterodontosaurus from the Lower Jurassic, the velociraptor from the Upper Cretaceous -- yet in each case, the date of demise was the same: around 2348 B.C... [H]ere in the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky, Earth and the universe are just over 6,000 years old, created in six days by God. The museum preaches, "Same facts, different conclusions" and is unequivocal in viewing paleontological and geological data in light of a literal reading...

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest private employer, announced in a letter to President Obama today that it will support a requirement that all businesses provide health insurance coverage as part of sweeping health reform legislation. The endorsement of the so-called employer mandate represents a dramatic reversal for the retailing giant and a boost for the White House as it tries to inject momentum into its top domestic priority. “We are for shared responsibility,” Wal-Mart President and CEO Mike Duke wrote. “Not every business can make the same contributions, but everyone must make some contribution.” The letter, which was co-signed by the...

IsraelNN.com) The Center for American Progress, an American think tank which has served as a source for several of the Obama administration’s policies, issued a report recommending that control of Jerusalem be taken away from Israel. Operating with the premise that the Old City of Jerusalem is the central problem in the peace process, the report discusses various options for a third-party entity that would replace Israel as its administrator.

PETERSBURG, Kentucky (AFP) – For a group of paleontologists, a tour of the Creation Museum seemed like a great tongue-in-cheek way to cap off a serious conference. But while there were a few laughs and some clowning for the camera, most left more offended than amused by the frightening way in which evolution -- and their life's work -- was attacked. "It's sort of a monument to scientific illiteracy, isn't it?" said Jerry Lipps, professor of geology, paleontology and evolution at University of California, Berkeley.

Prosecutors: Jefferson's wife hid bribesPublished: June 30, 2009 at 3:59 PM ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 30 (UPI) -- A firm owned by the wife of former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., earned thousands of dollars but incurred no business expenses, an accountant said. Jack Swetland, a New Orleans accountant who had worked with the Jeffersons since 1982, testified Monday at William Jefferson's bribery and fraud trial in Alexandria, Va., The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Tuesday. Prosecutors allege Andrea Jefferson's ANJ consulting firm was a shell company that accepted payments from companies who had sought William Jefferson's help in brokering deals in...

...The most recent high-water mark in media health care bias was last Wednesday, when ABC broadcast on four separate occasions from the White House during what they said was a day of their "moderating" a health care "conversation" with President Barack Obama. So we decided to offer up the other side of the deliberation in which ABC - and the media as a whole - aren't engaging.

I want to go to my local Tea Party with my own poster. I have created it in MS Word but now need to have it made into a visible poster!Where do my fellow FReepers go to get their posters made?

Sometimes what's politically irresistible is economically nonsensical, as we may soon be reminded. The Obama administration, desperate for revenue and spotting an easy target, is proposing three hefty tax increases on business. If the administration gets its way, the result will be bad news for all Americans. The first instance of dangerously mixing politics with economics was the administration's announcement in May that it wanted to "reform our international tax laws" so that they don't "stack the deck against job creation here on our shores." In a smooth bit of political rhetoric, the White House linked international corporations to individuals...

In college football recruiting today, it's never too early. The entire process has been accelerated. In fact, it's now so fast that one rising star has decided where to play his college football even though he hasn't played a down of high school football. The player is Evan Berry of Fairburn, Ga. Berry is the younger brother of Tennessee super safety Eric Berry. Evan Berry has decided to follow in the footsteps of his brother and father after accepting a verbal scholarship offer to play for the Volunteers and coach Lane Kiffin. "Yes, I committed to Tennessee," Evan said. "It's...

Updated: 06/30/09 01:48 PM State Senate Democrats use bizarre maneuver to start passing bills ALBANY — In a bizarre twist, Senate Democrats claimed this afternoon they have established a quorum when a Republican senator — on his way to a lounge adjacent to the chamber — was counted as present for the purposes of holding a legal session. The Democrats quickly gaveled in and started passing a long list of stalled bills submitted by Gov. David A. Paterson. "I think it's fraud," said Sen. Frank Padavan, a Queens Republican, who the Democrats counted as present for the noon-time session. Padavan...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev has told Russians they must kick the alcohol habit. "We drink more now than in the 1990s, although those were difficult times," the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Medvedev as saying on Tuesday. Health Minister Tatyana Golikova has been ordered to devise an anti-alcohol strategy. "We need to prepare a corresponding programme and take appropriate measures," Medvedev said. A report by The Lancet medical journal last week said alcohol-related diseases caused around half of all deaths of Russians between the ages of 15 and 54. Vodka is enshrined in Russian culture despite efforts by previous...