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An ancient fossil crocodile coated in armadillo-like body armor was unveiled yesterday at an environmental museum in Brazil. Dubbed Armadillosuchus arrudai, the newly described species of crocodile roamed the arid interior of Brazil about 90 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period, scientists said. It was 6.6 feet (2 meters) long, weighed about 265 pounds (120 kilograms), and had a relatively wide head with a narrow, toothy snout. Body armor has never been "found in any other fossil or living crocodile species," Ismar de Souza Carvalho, a paleontologist at the Federal University in Rio de Janeiro, said via email....

Jim Corcoran, the owner of one of Canada's largest and most lavish spas, has launched a human rights complaint against the Bishop of Peterborough Ontario for refusing him permission to continue to serve as an altar server. Corcoran admits that he is homosexual and lives with another homosexual man, but says that he follows the Church's teaching and lives a chaste lifestyle. According to the Catholic Register, Bishop Nicola De Angelis asked Corcoran to accept his decision that he not serve on the altar based upon the bishops' desire to avoid public scandal.

What the country needs now is a new bureaucracy to manage the growing appetite for apologies, amends and remedies for various other slights. The apology could be the lasting legacy of Barack Obama. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of oppressed people are no doubt eager to line up for their apology, waiting to be rewarded for slights real and imaginary, ranging from inability to find a parking space to ancient indignities suffered by long-forgotten ancestors... ...Congress is considering a resolution thanking the slaves, most of them dead and gone beyond the reach of Congress since late in the 19th century, for their...

Dear Twins: I’m having a little get-together at my house to celebrate Calvin’s 500th birthday in July. Do you have any recommendations on appropriate party snacks I could serve? — Caroline Burr, Casper, WYMaurice: Good question, Caroline. With all the whoop-de-doo about Calvin’s 500th, you would think just one reformed theologian out there would have the decency to shut up about Calvin’s influence on soteriology long enough to tell us what kind of treats to bring to a party.Emmett: You came to the right place, Caroline. Maurice and I are known as the idiot-savants of Calvinistic party planning.Maurice: Well, you’re...

This afternoon, catch the very first broadcast of the twice-weekly "Senate Doctors" show, part of a growing GOP effort to increase outreach and inform Americans about alternatives to the agenda being put forth by President Barack Obama and his Democratic Party as the nation hurtles toward an intense debate over health care reform in America. The group is comprised of several Republican medical doctors currently serving in the U.S. Senate. From the Senate Doctors' press release: WASHINGTON – Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced today a new, live, online show – “Senate Doctors ” – broadcasting here every...

In this report we get a nice one-two punch. Not only are we seeing Democrats once again refusing even a tiny compromise with Republicans on Obama’s takeover of nearly 20% of our economy with his healthcare plans, but we also get to see another example of why Huffington Post is not journalism. I like a nice one-two punch for a Wednesday. For one thing, the HuffPo article hilariously calls Democrat pitbull Rahm Emanuel a “conservative Democrat.” But let’s start with the more important political point and deal with the HuffPo chicanery second. In a HuffPo “report” by Sam Stein, we...

The total solar eclipse of July 22 2009 will be visible across south-east Asia and the western Pacific. This will be a spectacular total eclipse, lasting over 6½ minutes at maximum and visible to millions of people over a path up to 258 km wide. The total eclipse begins just off the coast of India at 00:51:17 UT on July 22, and ends in Polynesia at 04:19:26 UT on July 22. The maximum eclipse is at 02:35:21 UT on July 22, when the total phase will last a stunning 6 minutes and 39 seconds. The partial eclipse will be visible...

The allegations in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by former Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly threatens to become a courtroom drama focusing on the Oakland mayor's office - and who's really in charge. To some Oakland residents, Edgerly may represent the antithesis of political reform. She was accused of interfering with a police investigation, she hired her friends and family, and she underestimated the 2008-09 budget deficit by millions of dollars. But she is also a veteran political insider who knows - and can allegedly prove - how things really work in the mayor's office. Ever since Mayor Ron Dellums...

Thomas’s Navy Cross citation states: “His deadly accuracy accounted for at least one enemy dead and held the aggressors at bay until an Army rescue helicopter landed.” It is assumed Thomas was given credit solely for the VC killed and witnessed at the rescue chopper. When a second Army rescue helicopter landed to retrieve the bodies of the dead co-pilot and gunner, the soldiers noted a plethora of VC dead all around the area. One was as close as three yards from Thomas’s shooting position, and the furthest was 150 yards. It was clear to those on the scene that...

First, I cannot confirm that the posterior in question belongs to the 16-year-old daughter of the Brazilian president, but that's what I'm hearing. Second, just as our president's past associations with Marxists and leftist radicals should have presented us with a pattern from which we could discern his plans for America, it looks as though this G-8 meeting is presenting us with a pattern from which we can discern our president's favorite anatomical feature. Consider this photo from the G-8, from an Italian site:

The New York Philharmonic, hoping to notch another exotic destination in its touring history, said on Thursday it had been invited to perform in Cuba and was seriously considering such a visit. The orchestra’s president, Zarin Mehta, and other of its officials planned to travel to Havana on Friday to investigate concert halls, hotels and other logistical matters. The Philharmonic has received licenses to travel there, in light of the United States embargo. The trip would be yet another recent dip into cold-war waters for the Philharmonic. It would take place just a few days after the orchestra returns from...

TAMPA (Bay News 9) -- A woman was accidentally shot in a public bathroom when the woman in the stall next to her dropped her handgun, police said.

ABC's Dana Hughes reports from Nairobi: Ahead of his trip to Ghana tomorrow, President Obama has invited Africans across the continent to send him a text message with their questions and thoughts. The invitation is extended on the State Department’s America.gov Website, telling Africans “Those who respond early will receive SMS highlights from his speech in Accra, Ghana, on Saturday, July 11. “ The service is being offered in both English and in French and some Africa’s most populous countries have their own short codes.

Some of you will recall that on July 8, 1947, a little over 60 years ago, witnesses claim that an unidentified flying object (UFO) with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and mule ranch just outside Roswell , New Mexico . This is a well known incident that many say has long been covered up by the U.S. Air Force and other federal agencies and organizations. However, what you may NOT know is that on March 31st 1948, nine months after that historic day, guess who was born: Albert A. Gore, Jr.. See what happens when aliens breed with...

Launch countdown operations are continuing on schedule today at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The countdown to space shuttle Endeavour's STS-127 launch began on time July 8 at 10 p.m. EDT.

Faced with massive deficits and dwindling tax revenues, the U.S. government is "turning every rock it can over to find as much revenue as it can," says Ken Rubinstein, senior partner at Rubinstein & Rubinstein. In addition to potential tax hikes, Rubinstein sees a wholesale change in how America treats foreign holdings of U.S. individuals and corporations, citing: •Repatriation: The Obama administration has discussed raising taxes on profits earned overseas by U.S.-based corporations. •Flexing Muscles: The U.S. government will ask all nations to sign a "tax information exchange agreement." •Crackdown on Havens: Beyond the government's ongoing case against UBS, pending...

Well now they've gone and done it: "The staff of the SEC has expressed its belief that California's recently issued IOUs are 'securities' under federal securities law. As such, holders of these IOUs and those who may purchase them are protected by the provisions of the federal securities laws that prohibit fraud in the purchase or sale of securities," the agency said. That was a mistake. Here's why.

One day after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced she would leave office by the end of July, Palin's attorney blasted what he said were "false and defamatory" claims on the Web about why Palin is resigning. Palin's legal counsel warned that if Internet posters didn't stop reporting rumors as fact, they would face legal action. Only one individual was named: Alaska blogger and radio talk show host Shannyn Moore. Forbes spoke with Moore earlier in the month.Forbes: What was your reaction to Gov. Palin personally identifying you as a target in a four-page legal warning? Moore: A reporter friend of...