BS: I Read it in the Newspaper

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 Jan 05 - 02:06 AM

While they were investigating this crime, somebody broke into the Police Station and stole the toilet. The Police have nothing to go on...

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: GUEST,Amos
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 09:14 AM

Thieves prefer coffee to cars

German detectives are hunting thieves who broke into a car showroom and stole only the coffee machine.

Dozens of brand new Citroen cars were parked in the showroom in Bonn and the keys were on the wall.

But the thieves ignored all the new motors, and instead unplugged and made off with the coffee machine.

Bonn police spokesman Robert Scholten said: "The coffee machine was a pretty good one but not worth as much as a new car.

"Staff only discovered the theft when they went to make a drink in the kitchen and realised the machine was missing."

The showroom which was owned by the Citroen main dealer in Bonn is on the main street. Police so far have no clues as to the identity of the culprits.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Jan 05 - 06:31 PM

Maybe took them off cause she thought she might have got blood on them from beating the guy?

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Amos
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 11:29 PM

Obviously she had something mixed up in her genes...

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 10:03 PM

Posted on Mon, Jan. 24, 2005
Panting to hear more about this one:

Attacker left pants behind, police say

By Aman Batheja, [Fort Worth] Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH - An elderly man was beaten and robbed in his south Fort Worth apartment over the weekend by a woman who left an unusual calling card.

Herman Green, 72, answered a knock at his door Saturday afternoon to find a woman he had never met. She asked him if he had any cigarettes. When Green said no, the woman grabbed Green's cane and beat him with it, according to a police report.

The woman then searched Green's pockets until she found his wallet and took it, the report states.

Before leaving the scene, the woman removed her blue jeans and left them on the floor, according to the report. The woman was wearing additional clothing underneath the jeans, the report states.

Police are investigating the incident, described as an aggravated robbery, robbery Detective Mike Baggott said.

Baggott said he was not ready to explain why the woman left behind her pants but surmised that she might have worn more than one pair because of cold weather.

"Why she would take one pair off is of course not clear," Baggott said.

Anyone with information about the robbery can call Crime Stoppers

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Bert
Date: 20 Jan 05 - 01:47 PM

This inflation is hitting EVERYWHERE!

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Amos
Date: 20 Jan 05 - 12:29 PM

16 POUNDS!?    Jaysus!!    Global warming, ya think?


A

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jan 05 - 11:03 AM

Ouch!


Woman Gives Birth to Giant Baby
January 20, 2005 7:57 AM EST

SAO PAULO, Brazil - A woman in northeastern Brazil has given birth to what one doctor called a "giant baby," a boy weighing 16.7 pounds.

Francisca Ramos dos Santos, 38, gave birth to the healthy boy named Ademilton on Tuesday at a hospital in Salvador, 900 miles northeast of Sao Paulo. He was the largest baby born at the Albert Sabin Maternity Hospital in its 12-year history, the hospital said.

"Obviously the baby was born by Caesarean section," hospital director Rita Leal said. "Both mother and baby are doing just fine."

Ademilton "could truly be considered a giant baby, for he was born weighing what a six-month-old-baby normally weighs," pediatrician Luiz Sena Azul told the Correio da Bahia newspaper.

Santos has four other children - ages 9, 12, 14, and 15 - who were born weighing between 7.7 pounds and 11 pounds.

"She knew Ademilton would be a big baby, but not this big" Leal said. "She, her husband and the hospital staff were caught by surprise."

The average weight for newborns in Brazil is 7.7 pounds for boys and 6.6 pounds for girls.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 01:57 AM

This was a little "card of thanks" published on the obituary page in the Everett Herald yesterday:

Obituary, Everett Herald, Dec. 25, 2004

Card of Thanks

I would like to take this time to thank everyone for all their kind words, cards, flowers and donations in my father, Floyd Wright's name, after his death on December 2nd. Life will never be the same without him. My special thanks go to all the people in Darrington who, after my mother's death in 1995, watched out for my father. Due to the fact that Darryl, Terry, and myself had long since moved to Everett, Dad became very lonely being by himself. You met him for coffee at the Red Top, you made sure he took his medicine, you invited him into your homes for dinner or drinks, and you made sure he went to see the doctor when he was sick. You all were his true friends.

Thank you. Nowhere else could this have happened except Darrington. He loved that town and would not move to Everett and I understand why. He did not want to leave all the people that meant so much to him. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Nancy (Wright) Measor

Darrington is a tight-knit little town that didn't used to accept outsiders easily (there are stories of violent encounters). With the reengineered highway and better maintenance they're not trapped in their little mountain town each winter, but they're still good at looking out for each other. A friend of mine works as a home-health worker up there, spending a few hours a day looking out for a neighbor. I can easily imagine she or someone like her performing the necessary tasks outlined in the thank-you card.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Dec 04 - 06:11 AM

Since I don't know who she really is....

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Dec 04 - 02:00 AM

What a nasty piece of work he is!

Robin, your attention is required at the Mudcat Tavern. Nurse Ratched has been called for several times. Can you locate her for us, do you think? :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Dec 04 - 12:30 AM

Police dog goes down taking nazi off the streets
By Les Kennedy
December 24, 2004



Titan ... 18 months of service before being killed.

White supremacist Luke Curtis thought he was unstoppable - until he met Police Dog 33, a German shepherd known to his handler as Titan.

Curtis had told his girlfriend he would chop up two men with an axe to show her what he was really like. He then took an axe and threatened her father.

Early on Thursday he stepped out of his home in Barbara Boulevard, Seven Hills with a carving knife in each hand ranting neo-Nazi slogans.

The police had him surrounded and were prepared to do anything to bring him down without using bullets.

As the 23-year-old apprentice boilermaker approached the police line that had been placed around the house seven hours earlier, officers shot him with an electric charge from a dart gun. He kept coming and kept ranting.

Police shot him three times with a "bean bag" shot-gun.

But Curtis kept coming, and broke through the police line, still holding the knives.

Senior Constable Sean McDowell then set Titan on his heels. The three-year-old attack dog had served 18 months on the force and was a pet to Constable McDowell's two young children when kennelled at his home.

Titan chased Curtis for about 50 metres before biting into his left arm and forcing him to drop one of the knives. But Curtis plunged the other blade three times into Titan's chest.

By then police had caught up and managed to wrestle Curtis onto the road as he struggled and screamed. But the damage had been done. Titan was dying.

The police account of the siege and Titan's role in capturing Curtis were revealed in a statement of facts read by Magistrate Jennifer Betts when Curtis appeared in Blacktown Court on Thursday charged with nine offences including abduction and aggravated cruelty to an animal.

The Police Commissioner, Ken Moroney, said that Titan's body would be sent to a taxidermist for preservation then put on display at the NSW Police Academy.

He also announced the creation of a Titan Memorial Award, which would be presented each year to the best handler and dog for outstanding police work.

Ms Betts said she was alarmed at Curtis's neo-Nazi ravings and that the offence had happened while on parole for assaulting police and carrying a knife in a public place.

"Certainly the welfare and protection of the community is paramount," she said in refusing bail and ordering Curtis to reappear in Penrith Local Court on January 14.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Dec 04 - 11:12 AM

Here's a story with a bit of a self-interest link: I used to work at Ellis Island as an interpreter with the Park Service, and I met Tom (subject of this article) there. I helped him get this latest printing of the book off the ground, because after 9-11 he was in a hard spot as far as finding a printer. I'm putting the whole thing here because the paper's archive is free for only two weeks, then you have to pay to read it so a link alone won't work.
The temporary link

Worldly flavors of Ellis Island book will whet your appetite
Author pays tribute to past with immigrants' recipes, stories
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
By Sonia Andresson-Nolasco, [Jersey] Journal staff writer

Today, it is unlikely that someone wouldn't know how to eat a banana. But in the early 1900s, when so many newcomers to the Americas set foot on Ellis Island for the first time, the pale yellow fruit, like so many other foods, was an enigma.

"We didn't even know how to eat a banana," said Tom Bernardin, reciting the phrase he often heard uttered by immigrants who had passed through Ellis Island.

Bernardin, 56, the author of the "Ellis Island Immigrant Cookbook," and a former Ellis Island interpreter, met many of these immigrants in the mid-1980s while presenting a slide lecture he developed, "Ellis Island - The Golden Door," at senior citizen centers and nursing homes.

Most of the immigrants he met, then in their 80s, had come through Ellis Island in the early 1900s.

"(The book gives) people a sense of importance of family, memory, tradition, hope, and respect for their past and admiration for these people," said Bernardin, who has done a lot more cooking since publishing the book. One of his favorite recipes is a Polish honey cake.

Though some immigrants cooked with olive oil, and others with curry or soy sauce, noting the different ingredients used isn't the only aim of Bernardin's book. With 272 pages of recipes and family stories of people from 30 different countries, the book also illustrates the comfort and connection that food provides and demonstrates how food can make connections to the past.

"If you draw a circle to show what we all have in common, we all needed to eat. I wanted to use food to tell the Ellis Island story," he said.

It's the scents and flavors of the foods, passed down from generation to generation, that resurrect a person, place and time. As the new year approaches, Bernardin's book offers a simple way to summon the past.

The book's plain cover, showing the back of a modestly dressed woman with a child over her shoulder - an image Bernardin found in his lithograph collections of immigrant images - also tells a million stories.

"It jumped out at me. It's sentimental, sweet, and you can't see her face, so it can be anyone," he said.

Bernardin never imagined himself working at Ellis Island, even though he had long collected Statue of Liberty memorabilia, until one day a friend suggested he apply for a job there.

"Much has changed," he said. "The 35 original buildings were very dramatic, and had an almost haunted quality. You would arrive there and wander around. But some of the ghosts have been swept away to accommodate the people."

It wasn't until the curators for the National Park Service at Ellis Island began gathering artifacts to reopen the Ellis Island museum following its restoration that Bernardin realized something was missing.

And that something was food.

Inspired by the conversations he had with seniors citizens about food at Ellis Island, Bernardin put notices in newspapers and sent out press releases, starting a national recipe search asking people to send him family recipes. As the letters poured in, Bernardin received more than just recipes. People sent all sorts of family stories, which he felt compelled to include in his book.

And though his family didn't come to America by the way of Ellis Island, he includes two of his own family recipes: cretons, a pork recipe often used on Boston baked beans, and stuffing for pumpkin or turkey.

Bernardin is originally from Lawrence, Mass., where his father, a French-Canadian immigrant, settled after meeting his mother, an Irish-German American, at a wedding at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

For the last 33 years Bernardin has made New York City his home, and has no plans to leave the city he finds "addictive."

Also addictive was the full control he had over his book; something he managed to do by remaining self-published. Even though he has not been able to sell his book at mainstream bookstores, Bernardin has sold more than 73,000 copies.

In addition to recipes, the book has immigrant portraits ranging from Italian and Russian to Swedish and Hungarian faces. Also, there are 24 entries by immigrants about food in a chapter called "Immigrant Food Memories."

He also includes a section called, "Tips on Preserving a Family Recipe." The tips include taking notes or tape-recording discussions with family members about recipes, and videotaping the process of preparing food. There is also a model family tree and information on how to trace your family roots, plus a number of resources to begin the search.

It took Bernardin several years to complete the cookbook and another 13 years to promote it while giving his lectures, which he still offers. The book has been featured on a number of television programs, including the History Channel's Modern Marvels and on QVC and the Food Network.

"(People said) 'You're book inspired me to save my family recipes,'" said Bernardin, emphasizing how much this meant to him. "I didn't even know what I was doing."

Today, Bernardin works as an independent, licensed New York City tour guide, and gives private tours of Ellis Island and other New York City landmarks.

But launching himself as a licensed tour guide didn't come easy. Bernardin obtained his license shortly before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and was forced to cancel a number of scheduled tours because of the disaster.

Like many sectors of New York's tourism industry at the time, Bernardin's business suffered, particularly since two of his main attractions - Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty - were closed to the public. Ellis Island did not open for three months after the attacks and the Statue of Liberty was closed until this past summer.

Though Bernardin was unemployed following the attacks, he managed to get by with help from the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross and other charitable organizations - for which he reserves a special note of thanks in his book.

As a way of giving something back, last Christmas Bernardin organized a food drive for St. Frances Xavier Church in New York City, and wound up helping more than 1,000 families. He has also made it a tradition to grow out his white beard and then, wearing a Santa costume, he visits bars in New York City to recruit people to help him with his drives.

This year, he's doing a toy drive to service the Bailey House - which helps HIV-positive families.

"This is my opportunity to give back," he said. "I dress up and run around and speak to bar managers to start these drives."

For more information about the Ellis Island Immigrant Cookbook, visit http://www.ellisislandcookbook.com/. To contact Tom Bernardin, call [phone] or e-mail [e-mail].

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: kindaloupehackenweez
Date: 18 Dec 04 - 03:08 PM

I am hoping that i am not out of line here by just putting in lyrics of a song that this thread reminds me of.. I do not mean to be rude or disrespectful of the thread or of the people (and and all) of mudcat. I have over stepped my bounds in a couple of threads which has caused myself great embrassment and shame for which i dont ever want to feel again.. For i am new i dont know ya all nor you me. I just jumped in. Like i did in the deep end of the swimming pool in grade school..Thank God for life guards. Anyway to explain as to why and what i do here is because this threads name. John Prine said on one of his albums that when he was in Italy someone brought him a newspaper. The only one in that place, That was in english, which inspired him to write the song "Dear Abby" Which i played for many years. Until (here's the 3rd and 4th line to the previous 1st 2 lines from last week)

My friends they all tell me there no friends at all,

Wont you write me a letter, wont you give me a call,

signed bewildered...(To be contiued???You decide>>)

But in the name of "Fair Game" The town i live has two weekly papers one on wednesday and the other saturday. And i just pulled it out of the box while getting back from doing laundry. Heres a headliner,
From the "Park Rapids Enterprise" Sat. Dec, 18 2004.

          "County board deems EIS unnecessary" along with
          "Film will document impact of ATV's"
          "City authorizes study for airport businesses"
          "Midwest and Norway have similar Christmas traditions"
Huh no head liners concerning Meth Bust. Finally. For furture interest if any in the paper just do the www.park rapids enterprise.com thing and you'll be checking it out first hand.

   Once again i apoligize for last weeks "Head up my ass moments" and conducting myself in undignafide of Mudcat stature. I love this place and dont want to be exsiled. I;m sorry for i do know better.
and there is no excuse. I know my place know and hope to get to know more of ya all in the up comming weeks that im off from work. For work is all i have up till i was introduced to mudcat..Its nice to have a place to go when you get off work or when i get up in the morning> Heck its hard to stay away..I just hope i didnt blow it..
Damit I know i phucked up. I was wrong, I am wrong alot, I havent the wizdom nor the wit i thought i did.. all i can do is make amends and ask for forgiveness....And give you my word not to step out of line again..I have a hard time believing any of you cats can be more disapointed in me than i am of myself..I could of stayed away;(Maybe)
but that wouldnt be right. I did wrong and must if possible make it write. I'll have time these next two weeks to get to know more of ya.,Thats if anyone still wants to get to know me for i dont blame them either. I was a jerk off, I',m better now. Thank you for your time and space....Later..Peace..Love ya's Dont know ya's but love ya's anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 04:15 PM

Maybe this story will get enough attention that they ban smoking in the club--then she wouldn't be at risk of exploding. Might serve them right!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: kindaloupehackenweez
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 02:57 PM

Dear Abbey. Dear Abbey
My feet are too long, My hairs falling out and my rights are all wrong..John Prine

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Nick
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 11:17 AM

Club Bans Oxygen Cylinder Woman

By Pat Hurst, PA

A pensioner who needs an oxygen cylinder to breathe has been banned from her local Royal British Legion because she has been declared a fire hazard.

Gillian Western, 66, has been told her life-saving cylinder is too dangerous because she is a smoker and it could explode if flames mix with the oxygen.

Mrs Western, who lives round the corner from the club, is now house-bound after the branch in Heswall, on the Wirral, told her not to come back.

Wheelchair-user Mrs Western, suffers from chronic bronchial asthma and must take the oxygen with her at all times.

She said: "I have been a member for more than 25 years and have been going in there with the cylinder for two years.

"I think they are just being petty.

"They rang my carer and said, 'By the way we don't want Gill coming in with her oxygen cylinder.' They said it was too dangerous.

"It's not very nice considering I was on the committee."

Mrs Western used to be pushed to the club by her carer to meet friends and watch Liverpool football games on TV.

She has tried going to a local pub but said does not enjoy it and the ban has left her virtually house-bound.

"I like it there, it is nice and cosy and all my friends go in there," she added.

Jeff Harrison, county field officer for the Royal British Legion in Cheshire said it was the committee's decision on how they run the club.

He added, "Mrs Western, I understand needs to use oxygen. There is a health and safety difficulty because of smoking. Therefore they have asked her to keep out. It's as simple as that."

The club could not be contacted through telephone calls today.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 10:34 AM

Here's a little bit more about that. They haven't been able to speak to the driver of the Explorer yet, due to her injuries.

Published: Friday, December 17, 2004
link
Many helped, hero says
For truck driver Jim Swett, saving four people in a destroyed Suburban brought back memories of his late grandson.

By Yoshiaki Nohara, Herald Writer

Children could be heard crying from inside the wreckage. Flames were licking the mangled cars. Plumes of acrid smoke filled the air. Amid that chaos along I-5 near Smokey Point on Wednesday afternoon, about a dozen strangers came together to save four lives. "It wasn't just me. It was everybody," said Jim Swett, 68, a truck driver from Sedro-Woolley. The rescue was personal for Swett. He pried open a door on the destroyed Chevrolet Suburban. In the back seat were two children. Both had red hair.

"We knew we did everything we could do to help those people," says Jim Swett, 68, who was one of the first to help at Wednesday's fatal accident on I-5. Swett said his mind instantly went to the memory of his grandson Brandon, who died in a rollover accident four years ago in Whidbey Island. The 15-year-old boy had red hair, too. He stood 6 feet, 1 inch. He was a bundle of energy. His death left a hole in Swett's family. He would have given anything to be there to save him.

On Wednesday, the Sedro-Woolley man helped scoop the crying children from the Suburban. But Swett insisted Thursday that he wasn't the only hero. An off-duty firefighter hooked a towing rope to the Suburban. Others brought blankets and coats to warm the injured pulled from the four-vehicle wreck.

'Get me out of here!'

Swett was heading north on I-5 toward home. It was around 1 p.m. and he'd just delivered flowers and plants to a Woodinville nursery. Near the Smokey Point exit ramp, Swett saw a few cars engulfed in flames and smoke. Immediately, he pulled into the center lane and put on his hazard lights. Swett, who wore a blue T-shirt and sweat pants, grabbed a crowbar and a fire extinguisher, and jumped out of the truck. With a few men, Swett rushed to a burning car. He smashed the window with the crowbar, and they got a wounded woman out of the driver's seat. "She was screaming, 'Get me out of here!'" Swett recalled.

Then, they rushed to the crumpled Chevrolet Suburban with five people trapped inside. A woman in the passenger's seat was dead. He heard two children crying in the back seat. Swett used the crowbar to pry open the door to help the children. He doesn't remember whether they were boys or girls - (it was two boys, 9 and 12) - but their red hair caught his eyes. Swett took one of them in his arms, memories of his grandson rushing through his mind. By the time he and others rescued both boys, flames from another car threatened to spread to the Suburban. There were still two people trapped alive in the wreck. "We were so afraid the gas tank would blow," he said.

An off-duty firefighter at the scene helped Swett tie a rope to the Suburban and to Swett's truck, to pull the wreck away from the flames. Other people emerged from their stopped cars. Swett figures there were at least a dozen, some carrying blankets, others carrying coats. They wrapped the victims up, protecting them from the cold and shock. "None of us were thinking of us," Swett said.

Firefighters and paramedics arrived and took over, bringing hope and relief to the onlookers. "We knew we did everything we could do to help those people," he said.

Calm in a crisis

Swett drove back to Sedro-Woolley around 5:30 p.m. He and his wife, Jean, live on Brandon Lane, a private road named after their grandson. Soon, family, friends and TV news reporters made their way to his door to hear his story. Jean Swett said that in their 48 years of marriage her husband always has been someone who can stay calm in a crisis, identify what needs to be done, and do it. "It doesn't surprise me he did what he did," she said. Her husband was so focused at the accident scene that he didn't realize his arms had been burned by the heat from the fires until his took a bath in the evening.

Swett couldn't be there for Brandon four years ago. But he was there - along with a dozen others - for the Holschen family, when they needed help.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Amos
Date: 16 Dec 04 - 06:42 PM

Thanks, SRS -- it restores me faith in humanity (but not in SUVs!!)


A

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Dec 04 - 10:36 AM

The Herald - Everett, Wash. - www.HeraldNet.com
Published: Thursday, December 16, 2004

Horrific crash kills 1; heroism saves 4 lives
Vehicle crosses I-5 median near Smokey Point

link
By Diana Hefley and Katherine Schiffner
Herald Writers

SMOKEY POINT - A woman was killed and seven other people were injured in a fiery crash that closed northbound I-5 for more than three hours on Wednesday. Crews clean up after Wednesday's fatal crash on northbound I-5 near Smokey Point. The freeway was closed for more than three hours, and traffic backed up to Everett. Police and firefighters called it one of the worst crashes they had ever seen. It snarled traffic well into the evening.

"It looked like a house fire in the middle of the freeway," said Nathan Trauernicht, spokesman for the Marysville Fire Department. The crash brought out heroes such as a truck driver who police credited with saving the lives of four people at the scene.

The three-vehicle wreck happened about 1:30 p.m. just south of 172nd Street NE when a Ford Explorer southbound on I-5 near Smokey Point crossed the grass median into the northbound lanes, colliding with a Chevrolet Suburban, Toyota Tundra and a Mercedes Benz sport utility vehicle in the far right lane, Washington State Patrol Trooper Lance Ramsay said.

The Toyota and Ford Explorer caught fire after the crash, sending plumes of black smoke into the air. A woman inside the Suburban was killed, the State Patrol said. Firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to free two other people from the Suburban. They were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with life-threatening injuries, Trauernicht said.

Martha Holschen, 47, of Bothell, the Suburban driver, was still being evaluated at Harborview late Wednesday and her condition was not known, a nursing supervisor said. Holschen's passengers, Keegan Holschen, 9, and Jake Holschen, 12, were in stable condition at Providence Everett Medical Center's Colby campus, a nursing supervisor said. Another passenger in Holschen's vehicle was not identified. The driver of the Ford Explorer, Juliann Odom, 22, of Bellevue was in satisfactory condition Wednesday night at Harborview, the nursing supervisor said.

Police and firefighters saluted bystanders who stopped to help prevent other deaths. Trucker Jim Swett realized the Suburban had to be moved before it caught fire, too, killing the people trapped inside. "It was hot, hot. It feels like I have a sunburn," Swett said. "We were afraid the gas tank would blow." The Suburban was so close to the burning pickup and Explorer that the heat melted a window and taillights. Swett, 68, and others hooked up a towing strap to his semitruck and dragged the Suburban away from the flames.

Swett "saved four lives," Ramsay said.

Bystanders also broke out a window to rescue a woman inside one of the burning vehicles, and used a crowbar to break open a door to rescue two children inside the Suburban, said Swett, who was on his way home to Sedro-Woolley. Two redheaded girls in the Suburban reminded him of his grandson, who died in a car crash about four years ago, he said. "It brought back a lot of memories. My grandson was a redhead, too," Swett said. "It was great to be able to help."

Swett said he wasn't the only one who came to the rescue. "It was a bunch of good, hard-working people who made the effort," he said. "It makes you feel good that there are people out there to help."

The northbound lanes of the freeway were shut down from 88th Street SE in Marysville to Smokey Point for more than three hours. Traffic was backed up for miles into Everett during the afternoon commute. "We were stuck in it forever," said Amy James, 24, of Everett.

James and a friend were driving from Marysville to Smokey Point. The trip normally takes 10 minutes, but on Wednesday it lasted two hours. Two lanes of I-5 north reopened about three hours after the accident. It could be weeks before troopers know what caused the crash, Ramsay said.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Amos
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 12:05 AM

Okay, maybe it is that windows cause pedophilia, huh? That woukld give Bill Gates a lot to answer for, wouldn't it? Huh? Huh?


I know that seems clownish but there are people out there whose logical capacity is actually on that order.

A

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 11:54 PM

This is only scratching the surface, Amos. Those homes also have doors, windows, a roof, furniture, and frequently, a television and radio. To cherry-pick evidence the way described in the article is to force your evidence to fit your hypothesis, without checking out the field first and seeing what all of the commonalities are.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Amos
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 06:11 PM

Every home in which a pedophile has been found has been likewise found to contain food and bathroom fixtures. This proves beyond all reasonable doubt that eating and defecating lead inexorpabl;y to child abuse.

A

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 01:29 PM

She has the right idea!

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 Nov 04 - 08:00 PM

Porn Prohibitionists Miss Point
By Regina Lynn
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65831,00.html

All week I've been thinking about the recent "porn is heroin" hearing, which concluded that porn bypasses the cognitive speechmaking part of the brain, turns men into rapists and -- my favorite -- releases damaging "erototoxins" into the bloodstream.

The stated point of the hearing was to determine whether Congress should fund studies about the effects of pornography addiction on families and communities, and whether it should launch a public health campaign to warn people of the dangers of online porn.

If it's going to spend money in this arena at all, I'd rather Congress fund studies about the effects of pornography in general, including its effect on the economy, on technological innovation, on sexual function and dysfunction, and so on. Even the anti-porn panelists who testified before Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) admitted the dearth of such studies.

I would hate to see anyone confuse "addiction to porn" with "existence of porn" and pursue a study about addiction without establishing a base line for normal use. Porn did not become a billion-dollar industry on addiction alone.

Porn addiction -- which I define as an overwhelming compulsion to watch porn, such that viewing porn becomes your top priority, taking precedence over work and family -- is certainly a cause for concern and possibly intervention.

Yet like any addiction, when the substance in question is relatively harmless to most people, as porn seems to be, criminalizing that substance backfires. Porn, like alcohol, is an indulgence that I suspect the vast majority of people enjoy in moderation, in small doses or not at all.

And porn, like alcohol, is meant to be a treat for adults. In fact, everyone I've spoken within the adult industry also supports the separation of children and adult content -- that's why it's called adult content.

The panel's concern that the internet makes pornography much more available to children than it was in the good ol' days of the printing press is a valid one. I have no objection to increasing our efforts to educate adults in how they can keep pornography away from children, or to developing better content filters, age-validation tactics and other yet-to-be-invented technologies that would make it almost impossible for kids to find porn online.

If nothing else, just think of the pool of brilliant problem-solvers we'll create, and the security experts that will arise out of a generation of Sneakers.

As a whole, however, the witnesses in this particular hearing fail to inspire my confidence. While some of their concerns make sense -- I mean, really, who could argue that addiction is healthy or that young children should view sexual imagery? -- some of their examples expose the shaky foundation beneath their case.

To wit: Psychiatrist Jeffrey Satinover claims that porn "causes masturbation."

What's so bad about masturbation? We're born sexual beings -- even infants masturbate, long before they can say "free porn," much less Google it. Given the other challenges we're facing, from the war in Iraq to the 30 percent of American children living in poverty, autoeroticism is hardly high on the list of threats to families or society. I'd hate to have to replace it with macramé just because a handful of people can't stand the thought that I might be taking longer showers than they deem necessary.

And it wouldn't hurt certain people to let go of their obsessive guilt and add this simple pleasure to their daily routine.

Dr. Mary Anne Layden states that "the myth that women are sexually aroused by engaging in behaviors that are actually sexually pleasuring to men is a particularly narcissistic invention of the pornography industry."

What? I'm plenty aroused by fellatio and other "behaviors" that are "pleasuring to men." That's why I'm fun in bed, even though I may inadvertently be proving her point, as my delight in such activities is a result of the healing power of cybersex. (Cybersex did more to help me overcome childhood sexual trauma than two years of therapy. But that's another column.)

And then Dr. Judith Reisman says that police always find pornography when searching the homes of rapists and pedophiles, and suggests that porn consumption leads to crime.

I'm more inclined to believe that poverty, disenfranchisement, desperation, racism, child abuse, ignorance and gang mentality contribute more to serious crimes than pornography does. I also suspect that almost everyone, especially males, keeps a stash of adult content somewhere. I have a small cache myself. But of course most of us aren't subject to police searches, and therefore our collections remain private.

It seems to me that if Congress were to fund an in-depth, scientifically valid, nonpartisan study on porn's role in society, we could lay this question to rest. Then the porn prohibitionists would have to stop inventing scare tactics to support their agenda. They'll either be proven right, which they won't be, or they'll be exposed for the meddling, big-government proponents they are.

Now, where can I get those erototoxins?

See you next Friday,

Regina Lynn

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Nov 04 - 03:44 PM

Here are a couple of interesting articles to do with privacy and protecting yourself from identity theft. After reading these, and feeling virtuous for not carrying my social security card, I had a thought and went through my wallet. No less than four other cards used my SSN as my ID. So I've removed them and will request that each of these accounts give me a unique account number not tied to my SSN.

Too many carry Social Security cards

NEW YORK, NY, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- An American Express study found U.S. consumers have a lot to learn about how to protect themselves against identity theft.

While 77 percent of those who participated said they take precautions to secure their personal financial information, but nearly half still make the mistake of carrying their Social Security numbers in their wallet, American Express officials said in a statement.

Experts warn that Social Security numbers are the ultimate prize for criminals.

One consumer had a $32,000 truck, a pricey apartment and a cell phone charged in her name without even having her wallet stolen -- a thief stole her personal information from a real estate application and racked up $50,000 in debt.

(follow the link for the rest)

Safeguard your Social Security number

Protect yourself from identity theft by keeping a tight rein on your Social Security number. Only a few organizations have the right to demand it. Here's how to fend off the rest.

"I think it's spooky. Everybody has that one number, and everything about you is tied to it," worries Jim Edwards, program director at WJNO in West Palm Beach, Fla.

"Put it in a computer and poof -- here's your bank account, your phone number, where you work."

The key to all that private information? Your Social Security number.

Edwards was way ahead of most people. Back in the early '80s, he refused to give his Social Security number when he enrolled at Miami Dade Community College. The school wanted to use it as a student identification number, but Edwards held his ground and the school gave him a different number -- all zeros, as he recalls.

Today, schools, phone companies, utilities, health clubs, insurance companies, video stores -- just about everybody wants your Social Security number. Some of the more prevalent uses are to get your credit rating and determine whether you pay your bills, and to keep track of you through name and address changes.

[snip]

Who has the right to ask for your digits?

While any business can ask for your Social Security number, there are very few entities that can actually demand it -- motor vehicle departments, tax departments and welfare departments, for example. Also, SSNs are required for transactions involving taxes, so that means banks, brokerages, employers, and the like also have a legitimate need for your SSN.

Most other businesses have no legal right to demand your number.

"There is no law prohibiting a business from asking for your Social Security number, but people don't know they can say no," says Carolyn Cheezum of the Social Security Administration.

(follow the link for the rest)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 10:11 AM



Robin Hood duo aims to sink Coke, return profits
By Paul Marinko in London
November 27, 2004

An anti-capitalist former stockbroker and the son of Sir James Goldsmith have launched an audacious attempt to halve the value of shares in The Coca-Cola Co, the worldwide Coke parent based in Florida.

Radical activist Max Keiser has joined forces with the editor of The Ecologist magazine, Zak Goldsmith, to launch a hedge fund that will donate the profits from short-selling Coke's shares to the "victims of Coke's business model in places like India and Colombia".

The idea is that, as a boycott spreads, the money in the fund will increase as shares in the company drop.

Mr Keiser, founder of activist website karmabanque.com, believes the stunt will reduce Coca-Cola shares from their current value of $US41 to $US22. The campaign says it will "commit to as much money as it takes to take down Coke", but Mr Keiser refused to say whether the son of the late billionaire had invested any money of his own in the project. He said Mr Goldsmith's role in the campaign was to promote it in his magazine. Mr Goldsmith was unavailable for comment.

Mr Keiser said the hedge fund already had "several hundred thousand dollars" in it despite not yet being listed, and he was approaching several big banking figures, including George Soros, to increase the value.

The high-risk strategy would see the hedge fund borrow shares in Coke from a broker and sell them at less than their market value, gambling on them dropping in value thanks to the boycott. It would then buy them back at less than it sold them for and pocket the difference before handing them back to the broker. But if the value of the stock goes up, the hedge fund will lose money.

Any profit made would be ploughed into supporting communities around the world which investors felt had suffered at the hands of Coca-Cola.

As Coca-Cola is one of the world's largest corporations, valued at about $US95 billion, the attempt is unlikely to succeed. But Mr Keiser remained optimistic. "There's a general anti-American feeling out there which is growing all over the world," he said. "People now associate Coke's brand with the American brand and they are rejecting it across the globe. The company has never been more vulnerable."

No one at Coca-Cola was available to comment due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Previous boycotts of major companies have had mixed results. Success stories include Barclays Bank deciding to pull out of apartheid South Africa in 1986 after a campaign halved the bank's share of student accounts. Greenpeace managed to slash Shell's pump sales with a boycott over plans to dump the Brent Spar oil platform in the Atlantic.

But the Baby Milk Action Group's boycott of Nestle has failed to damage the company in nearly 25 years. Likewise, it was not the Burma Campaign's boycott attempts of British American Tobacco that forced the cigarette company out of the country but pressure from the Blair Government.

The Guardian

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 10:08 AM

Aid threatened as US fights war crimes court - World - www.smh.com.au



Aid threatened as US fights war crimes court
By Colum Lynch in New York
November 27, 2004

The Republican-controlled US Congress has stepped up its campaign to curtail the power of the International Criminal Court by threatening to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid to governments that refuse to sign immunity accords that shield US personnel from being surrendered to the tribunal.

The move marks an escalation in US efforts to ensure that the first world criminal court can never judge US citizens for crimes committed overseas.

More than two years ago Congress passed the American Servicemembers' Protection Act, which cut millions of dollars in military assistance to many countries that would not sign the Article 98 agreements, as they are known, that undertake not to transfer to the court US nationals accused of war crimes.

A provision inserted into a $US338 billion ($425 billion) government spending bill for next year would bar the transfer of assistance money from the $US2.5 billon economic support fund to a government "that is a party" to the criminal court but "has not entered into an agreement with the United States" to bar legal proceedings against US personnel. Legislators are to vote on the budget on December 8.

Congress's action may affect US development programs designed to promote peace, combat drug trafficking, and promote democracy and economic reforms in poor countries.

The legislation includes a national security waiver that would allow President George Bush to exempt members of NATO and other key allies, including Australia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Argentina, South Korea, New Zealand or Taiwan. The waiver was added after the State Department raised concern the cuts could undermine programs that advance US foreign policy.

The criminal court was established by treaty in 1998 to prosecute perpetrators of the most serious crimes, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The treaty has been signed by 139 countries and ratified by 97.

The Clinton administration signed the treaty in December 2000, but the Bush Administration renounced it in May 2001. It says it fears that an international prosecutor might conduct frivolous investigations and trials against US officials, troops and foreign nationals sent overseas on behalf of the US.

"This is a body based in The Hague where unaccountable judges and prosecutors could pull our troops, our diplomats up for trial," Mr Bush said in his first re-election campaign debate with Senator John Kerry.

Washington's important European allies, including Britain, France and Germany, have opposed the US move on the grounds that it undermines the treaty.

The court's advocates say the tribunal was created to hold future despots in the ranks of Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Idi Amin accountable for mass killings.

The Washington Post

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 09:22 AM

Apology as schools get porn emails - National - www.smh.com.au




Apology as schools get porn emails
By Les Kennedy
November 26, 2004

When principals at five NSW primary schools received confidential emails from police seeking to identify three girls at risk, the images they unlocked showed the girls in explicit poses and an unidentified man having sexual intercourse with one of the girls.

The Child Protection and Sex Crimes Squad sent photographs of the girls, aged between 4 and 8, to 1800 principals on Wednesday. The photos were meant to be only head shots.

By 11.30am yesterday five principals had complained to police that they had received full pornographic images of the girls.

"I can only imagine that they would have been horrified by them," the head of the State Crime Command, which incorporates the squad, Assistant Commissioner Graeme Morgan, said in a public apology to the principals and any other school heads who saw the full images.

The bungle was attributed to a combination of human error and older computer systems at some schools that were incompatible with police computer software.

Mr Morgan said the officer involved in the bungle was unlikely to be disciplined, although an inquiry was being conducted and measures were being taken to prevent it happening again. He said the photos were not related to any arrests made under Operation Auxin, the nationwide swoop on internet child pornography users. Mr Morgan said 80 per cent of principals had received the photos without problem and police had asked that the files be deleted.

The decision to seek help from principals followed police consultations with Education Department lawyers after a 30-year-old man was arrested in Cessnock last week with the photos. The man, who will appear in Cessnock Court on December 15 charged with possessing child pornography, allegedly told police he received the photos as internet spam from an associate whom police have yet to locate. Mr Morgan said there was nothing to indicate the girls were from NSW or Australia, but Cessnock police had asked the child protection squad to help locate them.

Meanwhile, Warren John Daines, 50, who was to have been sentenced yesterday as the first of 47 NSW men charged under Operation Auxin with possessing internet child pornography, has had his case adjourned to February 18. Daines, a company director of Quakers Hill, pleaded guilty in Blacktown Court last month to possessing child pornography.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 12:36 PM

Still going through the P.I. photos. The photo credit says "A deer chews on a rope that became tangled in its antlers as it wanders a backyard in Petersburg, Alaska. (AP Photo/ Petersburg Pilot, Klas Stolpe) (November 17, 2004)"

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 12:27 PM

Here is an interestingly whimsical photo, of a protest in Seattle over not reducing the budget to deal with street trees.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 10:32 PM

Here's one that might impact a few 'catters:

AOL Tells Customers to Find New Carrier

November 12, 2004 10:45 AM EST

DULLES, Va. - America Online, which earlier this year stopped signing up new broadband customers, is telling existing broadband subscribers in nine Southern states that they must find a new broadband carrier by Jan. 17.

Those customers who do not switch to a new broadband carrier by that date will have their accounts revert to AOL's traditional dialup service, said AOL spokeswoman Anne Bentley.

The company has been e-mailing its customers in those nine states that they can switch to high-speed broadband service offered by BellSouth Corp. for a special promotional rate.

Most of AOL's 23 million subscribers receive standard dialup service for $24 a month. The company will not disclose how many customers still receive the $54 monthly broadband service, which Bentley acknowledged is relatively expensive compared to other broadband pricing packages now available to consumers.

Bentley said she expects AOL will phase out existing broadband customers in the rest of the country in a similar manner over the next year.

The affected states are Florida, Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.

America Online is a unit of Time Warner Inc.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Nov 04 - 11:51 AM

Such a valuable contribution to our ongoing discussion of topical news stories, super ted. Here's a story just for you:

Counting All the Time
Link

One, three, six, ten .... not being able to focus on anything but counting has really concerned me lately. Why do I do this, and what causes it? Counting has become an everyday, normal part of my life. I do not just count numbers, I also group them and add them up in my head. In school I usually count and add the numbers on a clock, or I group and add the number of people in my class. In a car, I count the numbers on license plates, the letters on billboards, even the white dashes on the interstate.

My problem became clear to me two years ago while watching "Dateline." I discovered I am not the only person with this problem, and that it has a name: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

OCD is an anxiety disorder that may have genetic origins and is believed to be caused by an imbalance of

serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a chemical that acts as a messenger between the orbital cortex (the front part of the brain) and the basal ganglia (deeper structures of the brain). When the serotonin levels are unbalanced, messages that go from one part of the brain to another get messed up, resulting in repetitive thoughts. These intrusive impulses are called obsessions, and they drive people with OCD to act out time-consuming rituals or habits known as compulsions.

My time-consuming rituals finally had a name and reason. My counting was not because I was insane, but because of a chemical imbalance in my brain.

People suffer from different types of OCD. Obsessions are thoughts, images or impulses that occur over and over again out of a person's control. They feel disturbing and intrusive, and a person usually recognizes that they do not make sense. Excessive worries about dirt and germs and being obsessed with the idea that they are contaminated, or may contaminate others, are major concerns of someone with OCD. They may also have obsessive fears of having accidentally harmed someone, even though they usually know this is not true. Obsessions are accompanied by uncomfortable feelings such as fear, disgust, doubt or a sensation that things have to be done "just so."

People with OCD typically try to make their obsessions go away by performing compulsions. About 90 percent of those with OCD have both obsessions and compulsions. Compulsions are acts a person performs over and over again, often according to certain "rules." Each person has their own set they follow. For example, someone with an obsession about contamination may wash their hands until they become raw or even bleed. A person may count objects over and over because of an obsession about losing them.

Counting is one compulsive disorder, others are washing, touching, arranging, hoarding, saving and praying. While my compulsive disorder, counting, seems to have a reason - an obsession - I am not sure what my obsession is, because the fear of losing something is not my problem.

Oh, wait - as I write this, my

obsession has become clear to me! I have an obsession with even numbers. I count and add all the time to get even sums. To me, even numbers are the only ones that are "real." I cannot stand odd numbers; they almost terrify me. This is going to sound really weird, but odd numbers do not have friends, and even numbers do. At some time I must have felt I needed the comfort of knowing someone was always there for me.

This problem must have started with my parents' divorce; they split up when I was in first grade and I started counting soon after. It is estimated that one million children and adolescents in the United States suffer from OCD, which could mean three to five children with OCD per average-sized elementary school and about 20 teenagers in a large high school.

Treatments for OCD vary. It can be treated with a mild anti-depressant, and behavior therapy is effective, too. A combination of these two helps most sufferers find relief.

When I first realized I had OCD, I did not think it was that bad, but then I started recalling everything I count. I amazed myself; not only do I count people, letters and numbers, but also pictures on the wall, windows in my house, chairs at a table, doors in a building, lights in a room, icons on a computer screen. The list goes on and on. You would think doing this must exhaust me, but the truth is I barely notice. I will be in the middle of counting something, and realize, Oh, I'm counting again.

I'm debating treatment. It is scary to think that counting and adding are not normal. If I were to get treatment I would have a lot more time to concentrate on more important subjects. I guess I will just have to wait and see what feels right.

And here's a bonus, an article on "Overriding Obsession: Thought Control" from the BBC online.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 11 Nov 04 - 11:36 AM

100 I thank you.    ted - 1
                leadfingers -0

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 11 Nov 04 - 11:36 AM

99

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Nov 04 - 11:10 AM

This UPI story was linked to from my Internet Provider's front page:

Pregnant baboon bumped to later flight
November 11, 2004 09:32 AM EST

HOUSTON, Nov 11, 2004 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A pregnant baboon escaped while being loaded onto a jetliner at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday. The animal was among primates being shipped to a zoo in the San Francisco area when she got out of a cage and ran from the Continental Airlines plane.

"They were going to load her cage into the belly of the plane with the other animals," said Houston airport system spokesman Roger Smith. "In the process of loading, the door came open and she escaped."

The baboon climbed into the rafters below an elevated terminal concourse but never got into a passenger area, Smith said. Airport workers were able to contain her, and Houston animal control specialists called to help took special precautions because of her pregnancy were able to subdue her. She was put back into her cage but had to wait for a later flight, as the other primates had already left.
   

When I read the headline I thought there was going to be some sort of "all species treated equal" story about heavy Americans forcing airlines to use more fuel to get the planes up in the air. i.e., perhaps they would start by bumping fat animals and then move up to bumping heavy people.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Sep 04 - 10:48 AM

Bill Berkowitz
Working For Change
03.10.04

Salvation Army discriminates

One of nation's largest charities sued by employees for religious discrimination

All is not well with one of the nation's largest charities.

Eighteen current and former employees of the Salvation Army's social services arm have filed suit against the organization, accusing it of "imposing a religious veil over secular, publicly financed activities like caring for foster children and counseling young people with AIDS," the New York Times reported in late February. "I was harassed to the point where eventually I resigned," said Margaret Geissman, a former human resources manager who told the Times that her superior asked for the religions and sexual orientations of her staff. "As a Christian, I deeply resent the use of discriminatory employment practices in the name of Christianity."

The employees, "including senior administrators and caseworkers that are Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and nonreligious," filed their lawsuit in United States District Court in Manhattan. They're being represented by the New York Civil Liberties Union and by Martin Garbus, a well-known First Amendment lawyer. At a press conference announcing the suit, Garbus pointed out that it strikes at the heart of the president's faith-based initiative and the separation of church and state. Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, added that "It's critical at this stage of the game to put a stop to proselytizing with government money."

According to Reuters, the Salvation Army Greater New York Division receives $89 million a year in taxpayer money, mostly from the state, New York City and Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island. Anne Lown, a plaintiff and an associate director of the Army's children's services agency in New York, said that the charity employs nearly 900 people and provides services for more than 2,000 children.

The Salvation Army is no stranger to controversy revolving around issues related Bush's faith-based initiative. Six months after the initiative's unveiling in late January 2001, it was revealed that top-level administration officials had been conducting secret meetings with the Salvation Army to enlist its political and financial support for the then-flagging project. According to the Washington Post's Dana Milbank, the meetings, which included Karl Rove, the president's chief political strategist, and Don Eberly, the then Deputy Director of the newly opened White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, had been going on for several months.

An internal Salvation Army document indicated that in exchange for its support, "which included plans for an Army-sponsored $100,000 public relations campaign," the charity would receive assurances that any bill passed by Congress would contain a provision allowing religious charities to sidestep state and local anti-discrimination measures barring discriminatory hiring practices on the basis of sexual orientation.

After the Washington Post's story broke, the administration moved into denial mode, the Salvation Army backtracked, and congressional opponents of the initiative were furious. Salvation ArmyGate was one reason Bush's faith-based initiative languished legislatively on Capitol Hill for more than three years.

In retrospect, it appears that the Salvation Army didn't need any special exemption to discriminate against its employees. According to the New York Times, the plaintiffs are charging the Salvation Army's New York division of coercing them into "sign[ing] forms revealing the churches they had attended over the past 10 years, name their ministers and agree to the Army's mission 'to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.'" Some litigants claimed they were let go "after years of working in secular jobs when they objected to signing the forms. "Others," the Times reported, "said the new religious focus violated the social workers' ethics code and could have chilling effect on their work... for example, preventing them from giving condoms to people infected with H.I.V. or forbidding abortion counseling."

Responding to the suit, the Salvation Army said in a statement that it was "reviewing the issues outlined in the complaint and look[ing] forward to responding openly about our work and our employment practices as they relate to The Salvation Army's Mission." The organization pointed out that its "policies and procedures were entirely consistent" with laws governing the employment practices of religious institutions. "In the past," the New York Times reported, "local Salvation Army officials said that the forms had long been in use around the country and that their policies were permitted under terms of contracts with New York City and New York State. No employees are forced to uphold church beliefs unless they are in a position of ministry, they have said."

According to Family News in Focus, an online news service of Dr. James Dobson's Christian-based organization, Focus on the Family, in September, the Salvation Army "began... to require that employees acknowledge and support the religious mission of the Army -- which is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Employees in the social services and child-welfare programs are also required to identify their church affiliation, going back a decade."

That date runs parallel to the issuance of a position paper on a concept called "religious hiring rights" by the administration. In "Protecting the Civil Rights and Religious Liberty of Faith-Based Organizations: Why Religious Hiring Rights Must Be Preserved," Team Bush argued that religious organizations receiving government grants retained the right to hire anyone they pleased, based on whatever criteria is in concert with their organization's religious mission.

Several pieces of legislation with "religious hiring rights" provisions were under consideration by Congress last year including "The School Readiness Act of 2003," H.R. 2210, which allows religious organizations receiving government funds for providing Head Start services to discriminate in their hiring practices, and the $4 billion Workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act, which passed the House on a 220-204 vote.

In early February, a few days after the Bush White House issued a "Statement of Administration Policy" calling on the House to defeat any amendments to the Community Services Block Grants Act, H.R. 3030, requiring faith-based agencies receiving federal funding to comply with federal civil rights standards, and threatening a veto of any bill amended to prohibit discrimination by faith-based agencies funded by American taxpayers, the House defeated three Democratic-sponsored provisions.

Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, indicated that he thought the employee suit was an attempt to ratchet up the fight against federal dollars going to faith-based groups. "There is a caveat written into the law that an organization that is religious cannot lose its religious identity if it accepts federal funding," Cromartie told Family News in Focus.

However, as Arthur Eisenberg, legal director for the New York Civil Liberties Union, pointed out: "For years, The Salvation Army has run these programs very successfully without injecting religion into the workplace. Religion is irrelevant to the success of these programs and it should remain so."

For more please see the Bill Berkowitz archive.

Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement. His Working ForChange column Conservative Watch documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the American Right.
                 
According to Reuters, the Salvation Army Greater New York Division receives $89 million a year in taxpayer money.

(c) 2004 Working Assets Online. All rights reserved

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Sep 04 - 09:41 AM

Big Bird's Grandparents lived in Loch Ness?

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Sep 04 - 09:26 AM

Naw--everyone knows Snuffy has a long NOSE, not a long neck! (You could make a stronger case for Big Bird.)

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Sep 04 - 03:42 AM

I wonder if it's related to the Snufflufugus that lives in Sesame Street?

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Sep 04 - 03:20 AM

Yes, it does! Have any tourists been sucked off of the surface of the lake lately?

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Mudlark
Date: 26 Sep 04 - 02:58 AM

Dinocephalosauras sounds suspiciously like what's been hiding in Loch Ness...

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Sep 04 - 11:54 PM

An article from Scientific American.com.

Ancient Long-Necked Reptile Was Stealthy Suction Feeder
   
Scientists have unearthed the fossil of an ancient aquatic reptile that sported a neck almost twice as long as its meter-long body. The 1.7-meter-long neck appears to have been too rigid to twist around in search of prey, however, so its function was at first uncertain. "This animal was one of those things that comes along and says 'wait a minute, you don't know as much as you thought you did'" about what long necks are good for, says Michael LaBarbera of the University of Chicago, one of the authors of a paper detailing the find published today in Science.

The Guanling limestone formation in China, where the new specimen was found, was deposited on the ocean floor about 230 million years ago in the Triassic period, when dinosaurs were becoming prevalent on land. The fossil belongs to the carnivorous species Dinocephalosaurus orientalis, which scientists first described only last year. It is a protorosaur, a group of reptiles that includes Tanystropheus, whose ludicrously long neck has stimulated debate since its discovery in the 1850s. Unlike Tanystropheus, however, Dinocephalosaurus had flipper-shaped limbs, indicating a largely aquatic lifestyle.

The authors suggest that the long, thin neck enabled Dinocephalosaurus to sneak up on prey in murky water without revealing its full size. In addition, the 25 neck vertebrae bore ribs running along the spine. Straightening the spine and extending the ribs could have rapidly increased the volume of the neck, sucking in both prey and water. Some modern fish rapidly expand their mouths to accomplish a similar "suction feeding." --Don Monroe

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 10:42 PM

The story as it appears here was at an Earthlink news site that isn't a stable URL. I found a similar story here. But the one below is pretty interesting, and not that long, so I posted all of it.

MIT Works to Power Computers With Spinach
September 23, 2004

BOSTON - "Eat your spinach," Mom used to say. "It will make your muscles grow, power your laptop and recharge your cell phone... "

OK. So nobody's Mom said those last two things.

But researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say they have used spinach to harness a plant's ability to convert sunlight into energy for the first time, creating a device that may one day power laptops, mobile phones and more. Photosynthesis, the process by which plants use light beams for energy rather than eating food like animals, has been known to scientists for decades.

But attempts to combine the organic with the electronic had always failed: Isolate the photosynthetic proteins that capture the energy from sunlight, and they die. Inject the water and salt needed to keep the proteins alive, and the electronic equipment is destroyed. That was until Shuguang Zhang, associate director of MIT's Center for Biomedical Engineering, discovered that protein building blocks called detergent peptides could be manipulated to keep the proteins alive up to three weeks while in contact with electronics.

"Stabilizing the protein is crucial," said Zhang, who collaborated with researchers from MIT, the University of Tennessee and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, including electrical engineers, nanotechnology experts and biologists. "Detergent peptide turned out to be a wonderful material to keep proteins intact." The scientists, whose findings were first reported by in NanoLetters, a publication of the American Chemical Society, then created a "spinach sandwich."

Why spinach?

In reality, any number of plants could have been used. But the researchers chose spinach because "it is cheap and is easily available from the grocery store," Zhang said. The spinach was ground up and purified to isolate a protein deep within the spinach cells. A top layer of glass was coated underneath with a conductive material and a thin layer of gold to aid the chemical reaction. In the middle, the spinach-peptide mixture sits on a soft, organic semiconductor that prevents electrical shorts and protects the protein complexes from a bottom layer of metal.

By shining laser light on the "sandwich," researchers were able to generate a tiny current. While one device by itself can't generate much energy, billions of them together could produce enough electricity to power a device. "It's like a penny," Zhang said. "One penny is not much use, but 1 billion pennies is a lot of money."

Practical applications are still a decade or so away, but the advantages include the technology's lightweight qualities, portability and environmental friendliness. "There is no waste," Zhang said. The researchers suggest the technology could be used as a backup energy supply for battery-powered portable devices. "We have crossed the first hurdle of successfully integrating a photosynthetic protein molecular complex with a solid-state electronic device," said Marc Baldo, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 06:00 AM

The Australian: Safe space protest ends in eviction [September 01,
2004]



Safe space protest ends in eviction
Brendan O'Keefe
September 01, 2004

THREE Wollongong University students campaigning for a safer space for gays on campus have described as "overkill" an operation by 10 armed riot police to eject them from a room they had occupied for 47 hours.

The students, the remainder of an original group of 16 who entered a booked function room on Thursday and locked it down hours later, were evicted on Saturday afternoon.

Spokeswoman Annaliese Constable told the HES that about 20 officers, including armed riot squad police, members of the police rescue squad and regular police officers either burst into the Belmore Room or were on hand outside to arrest the three.

Ms Constable and two others, Daniel Brown and Dominika Grossy, were charged with trespass.

A university spokesman said the eviction was a "hygiene issue".

"If it was a hygiene issue, why didn't they send up a bar of soap?" Ms Constable said.

The students, from the Allsorts gay and lesbian group, had been campaigning for "a couple of years" with letters to and meetings with the university for a safe space on campus.

Once inside the Belmore room, the students declared it their space.

Their present room is off-campus and is not patrolled by university security. It is prone to flooding and rainwater runs down internal walls near powerpoints.

Earlier this year, a female student was trapped in the queer space by a man who blocked the door with his bike and threatened to "burn the woman to death" for being a lesbian, Allsorts said in a statement.

The students want the university to move them on to campus and to provide security patrols and better health and safety standards.

Mr Brown, queer delegate on the Students Representative Council, said of the raid: "It was total overkill. We had 10 armed riot police with helmets and shields burst into the room. I was totally and utterly speechless and shocked.

"The fact that a peaceful student protest was burst into by 10 riot police ... we were leaning against the door and getting smashed against it. The police were totally high on adrenalin and quite aggressive."

Mr Brown said he was frisked twice and that Ms Constable and Ms Grossy were frisked at Wollongong police station.

Acting vice-president (administration) Chris Grange was unable to comment in detail because charges were pending.

In a statement, however, he said students "should follow the proper procedure of raising their concerns through the SRC [to bring] the relevant issues forward to university management".

The occupation was the culmination of Sexuality Week activities at the university, during which, Ms Constable said, Allsorts banners were stolen, torn down and stomped into the dirt and a petition was stolen and defaced with messages such as "die fags".

Allsorts will tomorrow present vice-chancellor Gerard Sutton with its award to Wollongong as the "most homophobic university in Australia".

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Aug 04 - 11:41 AM

Published: Friday, August 27, 2004

Doctors transplant jawbone grown on man's back
Stem cells may have played part in pioneering operation

By Emma Ross, Associated Press

LONDON - A German who had his lower jaw cut out because of cancer has enjoyed his first meal in nine years - a bratwurst sandwich - after surgeons grew a new jaw bone in his back muscle and transplanted it into his mouth in what experts call an "ambitious" experiment. According to this week's issue of The Lancet medical journal, the German doctors used a mesh cage, a growth chemical and the patient's own bone marrow, containing stem cells, to create a new jaw bone that fit exactly into the gap left by the cancer surgery.

Tests have not been done to verify whether the bone was created by blank-slate stem cells, and it is too early to tell whether the jaw will function normally in the long term. But the operation is the first published report of a whole bone being engineered and incubated inside a patient's body, and then transplanted.

Stem cells are the master cells of the body that go on to become every tissue in the body. They are a hot area of research, with scientists trying to find ways to prompt them to make desired tissues, and perhaps organs. But while researchers debate whether the technique resulted in a scientific advance involving stem cells, the operation has achieved its purpose and changed a life, said Stan Gronthos, a stem cell expert at the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science in Adelaide, Australia. "A patient who had previously lost his mandible (lower jaw) through the result of a destructive tumor can now sit down and chew his first solid meals in nine years ... resulting in an improved quality of life," said Gronthos, who was not connected with the experiment.

The operation was done by Dr. Patrick Warnke, a reconstructive facial surgeon at the University of Kiel in Germany. The patient, a 56-year-old man, had his lower jaw and half his tongue cut out almost a decade ago after getting mouth cancer. Since then, he had only been able to slurp soft food or soup from a spoon. Artificial jaws made from plastic or other materials are not used because they pose too much of a risk of infection. Warnke and his group began by creating a virtual jaw on a computer after making a three-dimensional scan of the patient's mouth. The information was used to create a thin titanium micro-mesh cage. Several cow-derived pure bone mineral blocks the size of sugar cubes were then put inside the structure, along with a human growth factor that builds bone and a large squirt of blood extracted from the man's bone marrow, which contains stem cells.

The surgeons then implanted the mesh cage and its contents into the muscle below the patient's right shoulder blade. He was given no drugs other than antibiotics to prevent infection from the surgery. The implant was left in for seven weeks, when scans showed new bone formation. It was removed about eight weeks ago, along with some surrounding muscle and blood vessels, put in the man's mouth and connected to the blood vessels in his neck. Scans showed new bone continued to form after the transplant.

Four weeks after the operation, the man ate a German sausage sandwich, his first solid meal in nine years. He has reported no pain or any other difficulties associated with the transplant, Warnke said, adding that he hopes to be able to remove the mesh and implant teeth in the new jaw about a year from now.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Aug 04 - 07:53 PM

Many of the Nigerian children could stand to be rescued as well.


Children abandoned in Nigeria restart their lives in Texas
August 18, 2004 04:46 PM EDT

Houston, Texas (dpa) - Seven children who returned to the United States after being left to fend for themselves in Nigeria by their adoptive mother are restarting their lives in foster care, reports said Wednesday. The three boys and four girls ranging in age from 8 to 16 were discovered August 4 living in squalor in an orphanage by Warren Beemer, a youth pastor from a San Antonio church who was in Nigeria on a tour of his church's missions. The children returned to Houston on Friday.

Beemer said he was shocked to discover the children whom he recognized as American when he heard one of the girls speaking English. "She said in a very strong, spirited way, 'Houston', when I asked where she was from," Beemer said on CNN Wednesday. "She told us all her brothers and sisters were there and led us to a dark room where they just sat there along a wall looking at us." The children told Beemer that their mother, who adopted the two sets of siblings in 1996 and 2001, had taken them to Nigeria in October and enrolled them in a school.

A relative of their mother's fiance lives in Nigeria, Estella Olguin, a child protective services official in Harris County Texas told the Houston Chronicle. But he apparently deserted them, and the children were sent to the orphanage after their tuition money stopped. The children's mother returned to Houston about a month after taking them to the western African country. The Chronicle reported that the woman, who has not been charged with any crime, went to Iraq as a civilian food-service worker in April, but is now back in Texas. She had been approved for the adoptions after passing an evaluation conducted by a nonprofit child welfare agency in Houston, Olguin said.

Beemer told CNN that the children said their mother consistently used support money she received for the children to buy things for herself and had taken them to Nigeria because she didn't want them any more. The woman recieved monthly payments of 512 dollars per child, according to the Chronicle. The amount was based on their status as minority siblings wishing to stay together, which made them a special needs case considered hard to adopt.

Houston child protective services cut off the payments in March when the service learned the children were not living with her. The children told Beemer they had informed numerous people in Nigeria that they had been abandoned by their adoptive mother, but they had begun to believe they would never get home to Houston. Beemer quizzed them about their lives in Texas. He said they talked enthusiastically about Houston's professional sports teams. Then, Beemer said, they put their hands over their hearts and sang the American national anthem.

"I promised them they would be going home," Beemer told the Chronicle Tuesday. "I said, 'Guys, in no uncertain terms, you will be going home.'" Olguin said child protective services officials were trying to get medical and psychological care for the children and enroll them in school. Three of the children were treated for malaria after returning to Houston.

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Aug 04 - 10:16 AM

Dogone!

Washington Man Jumps Off Ferry to Rescue Dog
August 16, 2004 06:11 AM EDT

BREMERTON, Wash. - When Jeff Fisher noticed his dog had gone overboard, he wasn't sure if the ferry would stop to retrieve Ruben. So the Bremerton man jumped off the ferry into Puget Sound's chilly waters to save his beloved Labrador-blue heeler mix. "He's as much a part of our family as our baby will be," Fisher said as he dried himself off after being pulled out of the water Friday evening. He and his wife are expecting their first child.

It all started when the ferry Hyak had engine trouble and stopped on the way from Seattle to Bremerton. Fisher and Ruben got out of their car to see what was going on and while Fisher was talking to some other dog owners, Ruben disappeared. "A guy said, 'Your dog just jumped overboard!'" Fisher told The (Bremerton) Sun.

Ruben apparently went overboard as the ferry was starting up again. Fisher said he ran to the back of the boat, saw someone point to a dog in the water, then grabbed a life buoy, jumped in and started swimming. Once in the water, he could no longer see Ruben. "It was really hard to see in those big waves," he said Saturday in an interview with KIRO Television.

The ferry stopped, backed up and sent out a life boat to rescue both Fisher and Ruben. "I was expecting to be in trouble ... but they totally understood that I had to get my dog," he said.

Fisher said the ferry crew were "nothing but nice the whole time," although they advised him to keep his dog on a leash next time. "We obviously do not encourage people to jump into the water from the ferry," said Patricia Patterson, spokeswoman for Washington State Ferries. "But I understand the reaction. If it were my dog, I likely would have done the same thing." Fisher didn't need to jump, though. Ferry crew members are trained to stop to rescue any pet that goes overboard.

Samantha Fisher said she was "freaked out" when she saw her husband in the water. "I didn't want to lose a husband and a dog five weeks before I had a baby," she said. "But it didn't surprise me that he jumped. He's been a lifeguard for a long time, and he loves dogs."

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Aug 04 - 09:19 AM

This story is one that is so depressing that it needs an examination for many reasons. On the surface as a cautionary tale about anger management and a sense of proportion, but from a societal viewpoint, as an examination of mental health. Who raised this guy and his partners in crime, how, and what did he learn in prison? This man was caught trespassing. He and the three youths he hired got worked to such a frenzy that they would not only bludgeon, but render un-identifiable, these people over their impound of a video game.

Here is the whole story

4 Officers Fired Over Custody Allegation
Four Probation Officers Fired for Allegedly Letting Murder Suspect Slip Through the Cracks (AP)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Aug. 9, 2004 — The state fired a probation officer and three supervisors Monday for allegedly failing to keep custody of an ex-convict who is the lead figure in the vicious beating and stabbing deaths of six people last week. Crosby had no answer for why Victorino slipped through the cracks.

[snip]

Police said the killings were the brutal culmination of an argument between Victorino and one of the victims, believed to be Erin Belanger, 22. She was singled out for a beating so brutal that even dental records were useless in trying to identify her. Victorino and three teenage defendants have been charged with first-degree murder and armed burglary. The four were denied bond and appointed public defenders Monday during their first court appearance.

Authorities say the source of the dispute was an Xbox video game system and clothes owned by Victorino. Belanger's grandparents, from Maine, own a Florida winter home that was supposed to be vacant this summer, but police said Victorino and other squatters used it in July as a party spot. Joe Abshire, Belanger's brother-in-law, said Erin had talked to him recently about heading to the vacant house to go swimming one day and finding about six people living there. The squatters were kicked out, but they left behind the Xbox and clothes. Belanger took the items back to the three-bedroom rental home she shared with friends.

Over the next days, deputies were called to the grandparents' house six times. The victims also reported a tire-slashing at their home and a threat. The squatters warned Belanger that "they were going to come back there and beat her with a baseball bat when she was sleeping," Abshire told The Sun of Lowell, Mass., for Sunday editions.

All four suspects were armed with aluminum bats when Victorino kicked in the locked front door, according to arrest records. The group, who wore black clothes and had scarves on their faces, grabbed knives inside and attacked victims in different rooms of the three-bedroom house as some of them slept, authorities said. Victorino, the last to leave the house, took the Xbox, police said.

The victims, who ranged in age from 18 to 34, were found in bloody beds, and on bloody floors, and there were crimson spatters on the walls and the ceiling. "This is the worst thing that I've ever seen in my career," said Sheriff Ben Johnson, a 33-year veteran of law enforcement. "The brutal force used against the victims ... it's indescribable."

[snip]

Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
From: Amos
Date: 03 Aug 04 - 12:43 AM

What do ya know. I am impressed!! Shows you you should be careful what you categorize and how, doesn't it??

A