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Jan. 12, 2007 — It's a case with headline-grabbing details, even for Southern California — home to the trial of the century. Girls and boys gone wild on Halloween night. An alleged hate crime, a violent attack fueled by racial slurs. The "F" word. The "B" word. Parents of the suspects accuse prosecutors of making a rush to judgment. Meanwhile, a virtual stable of defense attorneys is accused of putting prosecution witnesses at risk by leaking their names. There are reluctant witnesses and those facing intimidation by reported gang members. A witness known as the Good Samaritan may now be...

Is Maureen Dowd Necessary? The Times op-ed columnist adds nothing to the debate between the sexes. By Katie Roiphe Posted Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2005, at 1:12 PM ET She's clearly projecting ... Maureen Dowd's penchant for provocative overstatement has found its most recent outlet in a much talked about excerpt of her new book, Are Men Necessary?, in the New York Times Magazine. In it she bemoans a perceived return of 1950s values and courtship rituals and portrays a younger generation of women as grasping, shallow housewife wannabes and "yummy mommies." In the most inflammatory and intriguing passages, she claims...

THE FOLLOWING IS AN E-MAIL FROM MY BROTHER IN AFGHANISTAN, AN OFFICER TRAINING AFGHAN TROOPS. (I asterisked out e-mails and phone numbers for obvious reasons.) *** Well look who is here without official clearance trying to dig up dirt.... I thought that the below information would be helpful as 60 Minutes has been snooping around - it is hard to tell what their actual agenda is but it doesn't matter as they have not been credentialed by CFC-A. V/R LTC Gary S. Cleland CJTF-76 LNO to OSC-A (Police Reform Directorate) DSN: *** Cell: *** NIPR: *** SIPR: *** All, 60...

SUBHEAD: A policeman and 44 insurgents die in a gun battle after U.S. and local forces come under fire in a province known for harboring rebels. By Halima Kazem Special to The Times May 5, 2005 KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan police and U.S. military forces said Wednesday that they had killed 44 suspected insurgents in a battle in a volatile province known for harboring Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. One Afghan policeman died in the fighting Tuesday in the Dai Chopan area of Zabol province.

For 20 years I have kept my silence. I will do so no longer. In the debate over John Bolton's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, it finally has been made clear to me that a human being who yells at another human being does not deserve to hold high office. It's what Sen. George Voinovich calls “the Kitchen Test.” And so, it's time I finally told the painful truth: Ted Kennedy yelled at me. He hurt my feelings. Therefore, those who believe John Bolton does not deserve to be confirmed must surely also agree that Senator...

They signed up 500,000 supporters with an Internet petition -- but Bill Clinton still got impeached. They organized 6,000 candlelight vigils worldwide -- but the U.S. still invaded Iraq. They raised $60 million from 500,000 donors to air countless ads and get out the vote in the battle-ground states -- but George Bush still whupped John Kerry. A gambler with a string of bets this bad might call it a night. But MoveOn.org just keeps doubling down. Now that Howard Dean has been named chair of the Democratic National Committee -- an ascension that MoveOn helped to engineer -- the...

Have you heard of "cutting"? If you're a parent, you'd better read up. "Cutting" refers to self-mutilation -- using knives, razor blades or even safety pins to deliberately harm one's own body -- and it's spreading to a school near you. Actresses Angelina Jolie and Christina Ricci did it. So did Courtney Love and the late Princess Diana. On the Internet, there are scores of websites (with titles such as "Blood Red," "Razor Blade Kisses" and "The Cutting World") featuring "famous self-injurers," photos of teenagers' self-inflicted wounds and descriptions of their techniques. The destructive practice has been depicted in films...

He'll (Bush) have even less (support) if Iraq continues to deteriorate. The official line that we're making progress and it'll get much better after the Jan. 30 elections has no credibility. This week the New York Times revealed a bleak picture painted by a classified cable from the CIA's Baghdad station chief. Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, after a recent trip to Iraq, said some areas are actually more dangerous than a few months ago. The early line on training Iraqis to take over the security tasks is not encouraging. "Peter Galbraith, a serious student of the Iraqis and Kurds, just...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi journalist who stayed in Fallujah to report on the battle for his hometown says he and hundreds of other civilians who eventually turned themselves in to escape the violence suffered tough, sometimes humiliating, treatment from American and Iraqi guards. Abdul-Qader Saadi said he was subjected to multiple searches and interrogations; went unfed the first two days; was blindfolded and handcuffed; and had to sleep for days in a wooden cage buffeted by cold winds at a desert detention camp. Saadi, who has reported part-time for The Associated Press since early in the year, also complained...

WASHINGTON -- Inside the Bush administration policymaking apparatus, there is strong feeling that U.S. troops must leave Iraq next year. This determination is not predicated on success in implanting Iraqi democracy and internal stability. Rather, the officials are saying: ready or not, here we go. This prospective policy is based on Iraq's national elections in late January, but not on ending the insurgency or reaching a national political settlement. Getting out of Iraq would end the neo-conservative dream of building democracy in the Arab world. The U.S. would be content having saved the world from Saddam Hussein's quest for weapons...

I'd like to make some stickers out of 9/11 photos. I'm having trouble finding the picture of the poor man falling from the WTC with his clothes on fire. In LA some jerks and their guerilla vandalism are putting out paste-on posters with diatribes about arms and legs flying and does anyone have a needle and thread. I'd like to put this picture on some Avery labels, along with a shot of the 2nd plane approaching the South Tower, and put them on top of this poster with a caption saying: "You Mean For This?"

<p>It has been so long since I posted, I'm afraid I might have forgotten how. For a while now, I've had a post in my head, but honestly, I don't know how to approach it. So I guess I will just have to spit it out.</p>

The Silver Star Several of those who appear in the ad have signed brief affidavits, and we have posted some of them in the "supporting documents" section to the right for our visitors to evaluate for themselves. One of those affidavits, signed by George Elliott, quickly became controversial. Elliott is the retired Navy captain who had recommended Kerry for his highest decoration for valor, the Silver Star, which was awarded for events of Feb. 28, 1969, when Kerry beached his boat in the face of an enemy ambush and then pursued and killed an enemy soldier on the shore. Elliott,...

BAGHDAD, July 21 (UPI) -- Iraqi security reportedly discovered three missiles carrying nuclear heads concealed in a concrete trench northwest of Baghdad, official sources said Wednesday. The official daily al-Sabah quoted the sources as saying the missiles were discovered in trenches near the city of Tikrit, the hometown of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "The three missiles were discovered by chance when the Iraqi security forces captured former Baath party official Khoder al-Douri who revealed during interrogation the location of the missiles saying they carried nuclear heads," the sources said. They pointed out that the missiles were actually discovered in...