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I remember a high school class where we were asked to write an essay about whether we were a conformist or a non-conformist. Of course, everyone wrote that they were non-conformist except for ME. I figured that if you are a TRUE non-conformist you would go against the crowd and actually proclaim yourself a conformist PLUS I also figured out that we have to act as conformists in at least 95% of what we do in order to function in society. For example, speaking a common language, abiding by traffic regulations to avoid accidents, getting vaccinated, etc.. Of course,...

BEIJI, Iraq - Five U.S. Army soldiers are being investigated for allegedly raping a young woman, then killing her and three members of her family in Iraq, a U.S. military official said Friday. The soldiers also allegedly burned the body of the woman they are accused of assaulting in the March incident, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. The U.S. command issued a sparse statement, saying Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of coalition troops in Baghdad, had ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged killing of a family...

On Fox right now

CAIR'S HADITHA PUBLICITY GRAB By Michelle Malkin · June 13, 2006 11:04 PM ***update: Blackfive reports: "I received the original video "Hodji Girl" (that was the title) back in early March from a Corpsman who thought that Corporal Joshua [Belile] was hilarious. I sent it around to my friends with the caveat not to post it so [Belile] wouldn't suffer the wrath of the humorless asshat sycophants in charge of the military or suffer the unbelievable media bias that is now occurring. I'm certain that Joshua and the Sweater Kittenz will be fine through this...there are probably agents all over...

DNC Chair Howard Dean: "If Karl Rove had been indicted it would have been for perjury. That does not excuse his real sin which is leaking the name of an intelligence operative during the time of war. He doesn't belong in the White House. If the President valued America more than he valued his connection to Karl Rove then Karl Rove would have been fired a long time ago. So I think this is probably good news for the White House, but its not very good news for America."

CBS/AP) An Iraqi man who was one of the first people on the scene of the U.S. airstrike targeting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said he saw American troops beating a man who had a beard like the al Qaeda leader. The witness, who lives near the house where al-Zarqawi spent his last days, said he saw the man lying on the ground near an irrigation canal. He was badly wounded but still alive, the man told Associated Press Television News. U.S. troops arriving on the scene wrapped the man's head in an Arab robe and began beating him, said the local...

Our cousins in Great Britain, from whom we inherited a language, a political culture and, most specifically, the principle of freedom of speech, are going off the deep end, to judge from the jailing of Edward Atkinson. Here's the background. Last year, the U.K. was rocked by a high-profile abortion case. This was because the demise of "Baby A," as she became known, was photographed and videotaped. This evidence of her brutal end was widely distributed in the U.K. The abortion took place at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, not far from where Mr. Atkinson lives. This...

A. Top 10 Chomsky Lies About Communist Mass Murderers 10. THE LIE: “in comparison to the conditions imposed by US tyranny and violence, East Europe under Russian rule was practically a paradise.” THE TRUTH: The communists murdered 4.5-5 million people in Ukraine; 400,000 in Poland; 360,000 in Romania; 300,000 in Belarus; 200,000 in Hungary; 100,000 in East Germany; 100,000 in Lithuania; 70,000-100,000 in Yugoslavia; 30,000-40,000 in Bulgaria; 20,000 in Czechoslovakia; and 5,000 in Albania. Other atrocities included the murder of over 500,000 POWs in Soviet captivity and the mass rape of at least 2 million women by the Red Army...

"Unfortunately, all too often "Islam" and "terrorism" are juxtaposed in news reports and editorials. A word search on news stories published in major newspapers over the past decade shows that reporters are hundred times more likely to associate Islam with terrorism or militancy than all other faiths combined. Such lopsided portrayal is indicative of deep-seated misunderstandings about Islam, and sometimes just plain prejudice. Surely all terrorists are not Muslim, neither are all Muslims terrorists."

I once knew this woman who was a Democrat. She was a Democrat all her life mainly because by deeply ingrained definition, "Democrats are right and Republicans are wrong." I know just where she was coming from. After all, at the age of eight I asked my Dad what all this talk about "parties" were that I was hearing on the radio. I figured there were some fun parties like birthday parties that I was missing out on. My father then informed me that the parties were political parties and then explained the difference between the parties thusly: "Democrats...

A San Francisco Chronicle Herb Caen Lecture featuring Dan Rather, who was anchor and managing editor for the CBS Evening News for 24 years, and now serves as a correspondent for 60 Minutes and hosts and produces long form programming examining major global topics and events for the Discovery Channel, will be in conversation with Orville Schelll, Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism. Often referred to as "the hardest working man in broadcast journalism," ...

This just in, from Yahoo! NEWS: Press Release Source: Rush Limbaugh Reports Stating Rush Limbaugh Was Arrested Are Inaccurate; Limbaugh's Attorney Holds Press Conference at 8:00 pm TonightFriday April 28, 7:55 pm ET WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- A spokesman for Rush Limbaugh said some news reports that state Mr. Limbaugh was arrested are inaccurate. Separately, Rush Limbaugh's attorney, Roy Black will hold a press conference at 8:00 pm this evening at the Marriott Hotel at 1001 Okeechobbee Road in West Palm Beach, Florida. Mr. Black will discuss the agreement reached today with the State Attorney's Office...

Public expects Booming Economy to get even worse The U.S. economy grew at its strongest rate in 2-1/2 years during the first three months of this year, a Commerce Department report on Friday showed. Gross domestic product grew at a 4.8 percent annual rate in the January-March first quarter. Senators Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid and Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Friday the economy was too strong for the little guy to catch up. When it comes to public perception regarding the state of the economy, the perception couldn't be much gloomier. So says "right-wing" Fox News Channel, citing its latest...

ABC News reporter John Stossel once did a show called "Tampering With Nature" in which he quizzed schoolchildren on their perceptions of the health of the environment. He asked the children "whether America's air and water were getting more polluted. The kids loudly agreed that they were," recounted Dennis Avery of the Hudson Institute in a July 2001 article. "When Stossel told the kids that Environmental Protection Agency monitoring shows the air and water getting rapidly cleaner, they shouted 'No!' One little boy yelled 'They lie!'" Not much has changed. Environmental alarmism remains dominant in the popular culture. But there's...

Yep, the "newspaper" which gave us so many drama queen stories about Katrina that turned out to be woefully inaccurate wins the top prize in US journalism. Kind of tells you something, doesn't it?From Saudi-owned Reuters [excerpted]: Jim Amoss (L), Editor of the Times-Picayune newspaper, congratulates publisher Ashton Phelps, Jr. after learning the paper won two Pulitzer Prizes in New Orleans April 17, 2006. The Times-Picayune of New Orleans and The Sun Herald of Biloxi, Mississippi, shared the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for excellent coverage of Hurricane Katrina. The Times-Picayune also won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting...

FRIDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- Fetuses cannot feel pain, therefore U.S. legislation requiring doctors to tell women that the fetus will feel pain, or to provide pain relief during abortions, has no scientific basis and may harm the women involved, a leading expert contends. "This is an unwarranted piece of legislation because there is good evidence that the fetus cannot feel pain at any stage of gestation," said Stuart Derbyshire, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Birmingham, U.K. He authored an review of the available data on the subject in the April 15 issue of the British...

Saudi Author Dr. Muhammad Al-'Arifi on Show Produced by Saudi Ministry of Religious Endowments: Women in the West Marry Dogs and Donkeys; 54% of Danish Women Do Not Know Who Fathered Their Babies Following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi author Dr. Muhammad Al-'Arifi, which aired on Al-Risala TV on April 6, 2006. Dr. Muhammad Al-'Arifi: One of the most important things that distinguish Man from beast is the ability to control one's desires. Allah said about some of the infidels: "They are like cattle; nay, they stray farther off the path." If you look at them, you will...

American Gun BY ROGER EBERT / April 7, 2006 "American Gun" tells three stories that are small, even quiet. The stories are not strident but sad, and one of them is open-ended. They are about people who find that guns in the hands of others have made their own lives almost impossible to live. The first story involves a mother named Janet, played by Marcia Gay Harden, whose son shot and killed other students at his Oregon high school three years ago, and then was shot dead. She carries on with her remaining son, David (Chris Marquette), who attends a...

WASHINGTON, April 7 — That President Bush authorized an aide to disclose classified intelligence on Iraqi weapons, as asserted in court papers, comes as no shock to official Washington. The leaking of secrets has long been a favored tool of policy debate, political combat and diplomatic one-upmanship. "We've had leaking of this kind since the administration of George Washington," said Rick Shenkman, a presidential historian at George Mason University.

Racing circuit was angered by crew visiting Martinsville track for story NBC tried to dispel rumors that it was investigating NASCAR for a segment on anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, saying the focus of the story will be a widespread look across the country. "Dateline is not planning a story about NASCAR," the network said in a release Thursday. "We are following up on a recent poll and other articles indicating an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. ... The NASCAR race at Martinsville was a stop we have made in our research on this story, which...