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An organization supporting ex-homosexuals has filed a complaint against the National Education Association, claiming it was discriminated against based on sexual orientation when the teachers' union denied a request for an exhibit booth at an NEA expo. Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays, or PFOX, which describes itself as "a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting those families whose lives have been affected by homosexuality," filed the complaint with the District of Columbia Office of Human Rights. The NEA's national office is in Washington, D.C. In a statement, PFOX says it applied to lease an exhibit booth at tomorrow's event...

orldCom's bankers have been contacting investors and competitors to gauge their interest in buying major pieces of the embattled telecommunications company — and to assess how much those pieces might be worth, bankers and executives said yesterday.The discussions are part of the maneuvering under way as the banks — which have $2.65 billion in unsecured loans to WorldCom — try to limit their potential losses, while WorldCom executives struggle to keep the company out of bankruptcy court after its disclosure this week of $3.8 billion in accounting discrepancies.One potential buyer, Howard S. Jonas, the chairman of the IDT Corporation,...

"In what experts say is a rare if not near-impossible occurrence on Long Island, at least three people have been diagnosed with brown recluse spider bites this week." "The clustering of three or four cases in one week left many skeptical."

Tonight's Fresno, CA "Support Our Troops" and "Peacenik FReep" rally was attended by seventeen FReepers and patriots. FReepers who were able to make it tonight were: Jim, Chris, and Sheila Robinson JustAmy FriendAnn Senorita GoodieD Gracie1 Mama_Bear JKPhoto Mtngrl@vrwc I counted nine peaceniks across the street from us tonight. The peaceniks had a little graveyard set up on the hood of one of their cars. One grave stone was for "Truth", one was for "Freedom of Speech" and so on. They held their usual signs that said such things as "United Against War" and "Find the Commmon Ground". They had...

n Wall Street, it is called backing in.Each quarter, analysts at securities firms forecast the profit per share of the companies they cover. Companies whose profit falls short of the consensus estimate can be severely punished, their stocks falling 10 percent or more in a day.So some companies do whatever they have to to make sure they do not miss that estimate. Instead of first figuring out their sales and subtracting expenses to calculate the profit, they work backward. They start with the profit that investors are expecting and manipulate their sales and expenses to make sure the numbers...

ut of Many," the work of four respected historians, is one of the biggest sellers among American history college textbooks in the United States, but it is not likely to be available to Texas high school students taking advanced placement history. Conservative groups in Texas objected to two paragraphs in the nearly 1,000-page text that explained that prostitution was rampant in cattle towns during the late 19th century, before the West was fully settled."It makes it sound that every woman west of the Mississippi was a prostitute," said Grace Shore, the Republican chairwoman of the Texas State Board of...

<p>Business leaders and lawmakers yesterday expressed sharp reservations about Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's plan to put limits on new defense construction and leasing within 100 miles of the Pentagon.</p> <p>Robert A. Peck, president of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the region's largest chamber of commerce, said the defense chief's proposal defies logic and would endanger the region's economy.</p>

<p>RICHMOND — About half of Americans are willing to give up personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution if doing so would help protect the country, a survey suggests.</p> <p>The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation survey also found that most respondents considered affordable health care and the right to an education more important to them personally than the First Amendment.</p>

ASHINGTON, June 28 — The Bush administration announced a new anthrax vaccination policy today, including plans to continue vaccinating some military personnel and to stockpile for civilian use a large part of all the anthrax vaccine being produced for the Pentagon.Under the new policy, which reverses an earlier plan to vaccinate all military personnel, the Pentagon intends in the next two weeks to begin vaccinating those who are expected to spend at least 15 days a year in regions where the threat of anthrax attack is considered high. That would include Iraq and other Persian Gulf countries, the Korean...

<p>ALEXANDRIA, Va. — FBI Director Robert Mueller addressed the controversy that surrounded his appearance at the American Muslim Council's annual convention Friday by telling attendees and protesters that his speech is meant to demonstrate that the United States appreciates its Muslim citizens.</p>

<p>Rep. James P. Moran, Virginia Democrat, borrowed $50,000 from America Online founder James V. Kimsey last year — the second time in two years he has taken a loan from a friend for help with his personal financial troubles.</p> <p>"There may be questions about my judgment in accepting this loan," Mr. Moran said yesterday in a prepared statement. "But there was no compromise of the public trust involved in this transaction."</p>

THREAD 016 Dregs and Flakes Posts since 1/29/02 18,657 Click here to read article

Israeli Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Ben Eliezer recently interviewed two failed suicide bombers, concluding that they needed “hope” for their own state, reported Ha’aretz. It wasn’t an original observation. In fact, “hope” is the new buzzword. Giving Palestinians “hope” is the new cure-all, the new snake oil. Israelis are charged with dashing that “hope” by settling the very lands Palestinians want and driving them to murder and mayhem. Never mind that Palestinians have repeatedly turned down that land, most recently at Camp David. Many in the world are assuring Israel that offering that land to them AGAIN will...

  Email This ArticleThe Population Dud    AUSTIN RUSE After years of "successful" population-control efforts, experts are realizing that their fears were groundless. And as fertility rates continue to drop, well below expected levels, new concerns are emerging. It dies a slow death; still it dies. At a recent UN meeting, the myth of over-population died just a little bit more. Officials at the UN Population Division officially announced that they were lowering their predictions of world population by as much as 1 billion people. Only two years ago, the UN statisticians had thought that the world would reach a...

<p>The appalling story of the pedophile priests deserves all the negative press it has been getting. But is the press critical of them because they are pedophiles or because they are priests? After all, there are many other pedophiles, some of them with their own organizations, and they are welcomed on our leading academic campuses, as well as getting a free pass in the mainstream media.</p>

Since Bill Clinton successfully redefined the meaning of "sex" to beat a Monicagate perjury rap, an epidemic of oral sex has swept through the nation's teenage population. Now America's young men seem ready to emulate Clinton in another regard, with more than a third of college age students saying they'd evade the draft if called to fight the war on terrorism. According to a new poll commissioned by Bill Bennett's Americans for Victory over Terrorism, a full 37 percent of college students surveyed nationwide said they would "be likely to evade the draft if it was reinstituted." One fifth...

<p>Israel's top two security chiefs met with U.S. lawmakers and Defense Department officials this week at a series of secret briefings to gather support for a joint U.S.-Israeli anti-terror office.</p> <p>Brig. Gen. David Tzur and Minister of Interior Security Uzi Landau met with U.S. officials Thursday in the hope of creating a new office to fight terrorism.</p>

SACRAMENTO – Faced with a monumental budget deficit, state lawmakers appear poised to raid a $3.7 billion account used by cities and counties to pay for public safety, health programs and parks. Top Democrat budget writers have delivered an ultimatum to Republicans: either support tax hikes and a plan to borrow from schools or the state will be forced to take money from local governments. Republicans branded the threat "extortion." Cities and counties have become increasingly suspicious of lawmakers as the the state budget gap widens, reaching an unprecedented $23.6 billion. In the desperate search for revenue, $3.7 billion...

<p>Retired Gen. Wayne A. Downing, who resigned this week as President Bush's top anti-terrorism adviser, was frustrated with an inability to initiate policies quickly from his National Security Council post.</p> <p>Administration sources said the hard-charging Gen. Downing proposed that the Defense Department create special hostage-rescue teams in the event al Qaeda terrorists begin taking Americans prisoner. But, said two senior officials, the Pentagon balked at it and other proposals.</p>

<p>JERUSALEM — The Israeli army distributed a photograph of a wide-eyed Palestinian baby dressed like a suicide bomber — complete with a Hamas headband and what appeared to be an explosives belt — stirring anger yesterday among Israelis, who accused Palestinians of arming their children with hatred.</p>