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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American states where more people own guns have higher murder rates, including murders of children, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health reported on Thursday. The study, certain to provoke arguments in a country where gun ownership is an important political issue, found that about one in three U.S. households reported firearm ownership."Our findings suggest that in the United States, household firearms may be an important source of guns used to kill children, women and men, both on the street and in their homes," said Matthew Miller, assistant professor of health policy and injury prevention, who...

Still stinging from having to defend the use of spying on people within the US, and the practice of "rendering" terrorism suspects, President Bush today in a press conference had to dodge new attacks stemming from the shocking revelation that US troops, on his orders, are using live ammunition in Iraq and elsewhere in the world, where they are deployed. "I think I speak for all civilized people, when I say it's shocking that US military troops are using live ammunition - shooting real bullets! - during the course of their duty in warzones," said Charles Schumer, (D-NY). "This practice...

1. DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against that freshly painted part you were drying. 2. WIRE WHEEL: Cleans rust off old bolts and then throws them somewhere under the work bench at the speed of light. Also removes fingerprint whorls and hard-earned guitar calluses in about the time it takes you to say, "Ouch..." 3. ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning steel pop rivets in their holes until you...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A California man was in custody on Friday after trying to enter a parking garage near U.N. headquarters with two firearms and a five-gallon container of gasoline in his car, U.N. and police officials said. Vernon Wilker, 59, from Salton City, California, told law enforcement authorities he had a property dispute in California and was coming to the United Nations to file a lawsuit, U.N. chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Wilker had not yet been charged and was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan criminal court, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's office said.Wilker, driving a Ford...

p { margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1px } <p>hr { height: 0.0125in; background-color: black } <p>span.WPFloatStyle { visibility: hidden; position: absolute; left: 10px; right: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 225); border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; border-color: black; margin-top: 25px; padding: 6px; line-height: normal } <p>span.WPNormal { font-family: "Palatino Linotype", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-indent: 0in } <p> This article originally appeared in Social Theory and Practice, Vol. 29, No. 2 (April 2003), pp. 297-324. Reprinted by permission of Social Theory and Practice. Numbers in brackets (e.g., &#8220;[297]&#8221;) indicate the page...

Madera - Madera Police were dispatched to a Halloween party in the Madera Villa Apartments Sunday night. Before the evening was over three people were placed under arrest and one was shot while handcuffed in the back of a police car. Around 8:30 Madera Police officers arrived at the northwest Madera apartment complex and were greeted by party goers who threw bottles and cans at the officers. Every Madera Police unit was then called to the scene, but they still could not get the upper hand on the situation. A call was made to the Madera County Sheriffs Department who...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) ruled on Monday that police do not violate the constitutional right to privacy when a dog sniff of a vehicle during a lawful traffic stop turns up contraband.   The justices by a 6-2 vote, in a majority opinion written by Justice John Paul Stevens (news - web sites), set aside an Illinois Supreme Court ruling that such searches required reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. "In our view, conducting a dog sniff would not change the character of a traffic stop that is lawful at its inception and otherwise executed...

Climate Change: Incorrect information on pre-industrial CO2  Statement written for the Hearing before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation                                     March 19, 2004 Statement of Prof. Zbigniew JaworowskiChairman, Scientific Council of Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection Warsaw, Poland                                                                        I am a Professor at the Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection (CLOR) in Warsaw, Poland, a governmental institution, involved in environmental studies. CLOR has a “Special Liaison” relationship with the US National Council...

From Longmont, to the north is a pinkish glow, and to the south, straight up, and to the northeast are green bands or glows.

18:43 PDT MIAMI (AP) -- A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit claiming federal agents used excessive force in an armed raid to seize Elian Gonzalez at the home of his Miami relatives four years ago. An order issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke concluded the six agents who conducted the raid were legally immune to the lawsuit, and she found no constitutional violations. "We're pleased with the judge's decision," said Charles Miller, a Washington spokesman with the Department of Justice. [...] "We are shocked and disappointed by the court's decision," Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch,...

The Denver Postjim spencer Gun law targets public data By Jim Spencer Denver Post Columnist Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - The document is titled "ATF Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative Trace Analysis Report." The report talks about the guns kids used in crimes in 1999. It incorporates data from 38 cities, including Denver and Aurora. The data contain the top 10 manufacturers of guns that kids used in crimes. The data show a small percentage of gun dealers accounting for a large percentage of so-called "crime guns." The data include all kinds of important stuff. Some researchers and citizens...

In a brief statement today, Nancy Pelosi has joined the growing number of house Democrats calling for the resignation of Al Qaeda's number two man, Mullah Omar today, over the way the organization has handled the beheading of Nick Berg, a non-combatant civilian American working in Iraq. "I join the outrage expressed by my fellow Democrats at the murder of Nick Berg, and I call for Omar to resign from his position in Al Qaeda," she said in a prepared statement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) said on Monday that it would decide whether the federal law that prohibits felons from possessing firearms or ammunition includes foreign convictions.   The justices agreed to decide the issue after U.S. appeals courts issued conflicting rulings on whether the law covers convictions in courts outside of the United States and after the U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites) urged that a uniform national rule be established. The case concerned an appeal by Gary Small, who had been convicted in Japan in 1994 for violating that nation's customs...

From Sydney to Tokyo, from Santiago, Chile, to Madrid, London, New York and San Francisco, demonstrators condemned U.S. policy in Iraq and said they did not believe Iraqis are better off or the world safer because of the war. Journalists estimated that at least a million people streamed through Rome, in probably the biggest single protest. In London, two anti-war protesters evaded security to climb the landmark Big Ben clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, unfurling a banner reading "Time for Truth." About 25,000 demonstrators gathered in central London, many carrying "Wanted" posters bearing images of President Bush (news...

Today there are very strong winds on the front range in Colorado, and a fire is conspicuously visible in the mountains near Jamestown, northwest of Boulder. Apparently Colorado has sent a majority of fire-fighting aircraft to California, so they aren't here. The fire is out of control.

How could anyone possibly vote against Referendum 1A, the "Worthy Cause Tax"? Referendum 1A would extend an existing 0.05-percent sales tax for Boulder County nonprofit human service agencies, and these charities' undoubtedly promote worthy causes? But if you are tolerant of other people's values and causes they want to support, a "no" vote is the only option. This referendum is not about whether you, a single voter, want to give "a penny for a worthy cause." It's about whether you want to force, through power of law, your neighbors to support a particular set of charities instead of their own...

Some kind freeper took the time and effort to edit and repost one of my own writings, though he neglected to properly credit me. The sad thing is how much improved it has become by this reposting. The offense of plagiarism aside, and it is an offense, I send my deepest regards to all who assisted in that improvement. Original post: Broward County Voters.... The improved article is posted here: Voters say it is a conspiracy TOPICS:

The illegal drug trade has established thousands of underground people to serve as distributors of illicit substances, which people by the millions, lacking any knowledge, other than the assurances of criminals, about the exact contents of what they are ingesting, knowinginly inhale and inject into their bodies. The caves of Afghanistan were found to contain heroin, as well as weapons and other customary tools of terrorists. America also supported the Taliban's efforts of drug eradication. Suppose some shipments of drugs were assembled that had been spiked with anthrax or smallpox or other bioweapon. Some of these would be intercepted, but...

Column displays flawed logic In his June 22 column, the News Tribune's Jim Heffernan opines that only people intending to shoot others could possibly want to carry guns. Does he think the police should change their motto from "To Protect and Serve" to "We Intend to Shoot People -- That's Why We Carry Guns"? He appears to fear gun mayhem, but without good reason: It hasn't happened in any of the other 30-odd states that have already adopted "shall-issue," despite the repeated predictions of doom from the gun prohibitionists. Carrying his argument further: Why do women carry rape whistles around,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Home is not the safest place for a child to be, according to two U.S. studies published on Monday. Then what is? The studies by researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center found that home injuries, though continuing to fall, remain a leading cause of death in children and teens, especially blacks. And it was not always simply because children spend most of their time at home; the deaths came from fires and other preventable causes, the researchers told a meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Seattle. The good news was that the annual rate of...