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Oakland's City Council, amid a rowdy crowd of protesters, narrowly backed off a resolution Tuesday that would have beefed up law enforcement at Occupy protests. The resolution, which lacked the five votes necessary to pass, would have increased police enforcement of laws against blocking streets and assembling without a permit. The proposal came in the wake of a Jan. 28 protest downtown in which 400 people were arrested. Even as they defeated the resolution, council members expressed anger at the tactics of Occupy Oakland during the meeting, particularly group members' persistent shouting. "I am disgusted with the complete lack of...

Lutheranism is dead, or at least soon will be and it wants to take the Catholic Church with it. Herbert W. Chilstrom is former presiding bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Chilstrom has written an open letter to the Bishops of Minnesota asking them to accept gay 'marriage' becuase gays are like blacks or something. May I share a word with all of you who now lead the Roman Catholic community of faith in Minnesota?First, I would go to the wall to defend your right to work for the adoption of the so-called marriage protection amendment. Having said that,...

The names of the jurors who determined Casey Anthony’s fate when they found her not guilty of first-degree murder will be made public Tuesday. Juror identities are usually released in Florida once a verdict is rendered. But, in Anthony's high-profile case, Orange-Osceola Chief Judge Belvin Perry ordered the names remain private. Anthony, 25, was found not guilty in July of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee Marie in the summer of 2008. The 12-member jury, comprised of Pinellas County residents, also found Anthony not guilty of aggravated child abuse and not guilty of aggravated manslaughter of a child.

Adriane Thatcher has written a book (Savage Text) where in he offers an argument for the acceptance of homosexuality in the Christian church. His argument runs along the lines that we should look at the passages that condemn homosexuality as savage text (text that renders scripture holy) – in the same way we should look to passages in the Old Testament that show God’s predilection for child killing, his wrath and vengeful wars against local tribes as savage text. These texts should not be used by the church because they contradict the loving character and message of Jesus. It should...

Several dozen people partook in a discussion about same-sex marriage Sunday morning at Westminster Presbyterian Church, settling nothing but sharing their opinions openly. It was a part of the church’s series of adult education forums; one last week focused on interfaith marriage. Always a controversial topic, same-sex marriage has become yet more prominent in New York this year since the Legislature passed a law legalizing it. The Ledyard town clerk objected to that law and declined to sign same-sex marriages licenses on religious grounds, thereby putting herself near the center of a nationwide debate and drawing a write-in election challenge....

YEKATERINBURG, Russia — The treatment center does not handcuff addicts to their beds anymore. But caged together on double-decker bunks with no way out, they have no choice but to endure the agonies of withdrawal, the first step in a harsh, coercive approach to drug treatment that has gained wide support in Russia. “We know we are skirting the edge of the law,” said Sergei Shipachev, a staff member at the center, which is run by a private group called City Without Drugs. “We lock people up, but mostly we have a written request from their family. The police couldn’t...

As a rule, the press is the scourge of presidents. They’re expected to endure unending scrutiny, mistrust, and badgering—plus hostility if they’re Republicans—by a hectoring herd of reporters and commentators in the mainstream media. But there’s an exception to the rule: President Obama. It’s counterintuitive, but Obama has been hurt by the media’s leniency. Both his presidency and reelection prospects have suffered. He’s grown lazy and complacent. The media have encouraged him to believe his speeches are irresistible political catnip, though they aren’t. His overreliance on words hasn’t helped. The kind of media pressure that can cause a president to...

Long time readers might recall that it was a demonstration at Auckland University against the ACT political party just before the 1999 election that got me motivated in respect of NZ politics. I witnessed a large collection of neo-communists from the university shouting down, with a degree of hate and venom that appalled me, speakers from a political party that advocated a traditional liberal political viewpoint. Here we were in a university, where freedom of political expression should be sacrosanct and the Communists had such a grip on the political discussion, true liberals (or at least as close as NZ...

A defense lawyer is calling for calm after death threats have been made against teenagers charged in the death of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince, who committed suicide after she was allegedly bullied by schoolmates. "Not to minimize what happened to Phoebe Prince in any way, but translating this into death threats and public harassment has got to stop," says Colin Keefe, who represents Sharon Chanon Velazquez, accused of tormenting Prince, who hanged herself on Jan. 14. "It's gotten way out of control," adds Keefe, who says Velazquez has been driven temporarily from her home.

DUBLIN - Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation Wednesday of Bishop John Magee, a former papal aide who stands accused of endangering children by failing to follow the Irish church's own rules on reporting suspected pedophile priests to police. Magee apologized to victims of any pedophile priests who were kept in parish posts since he took charge of the southwest Irish diocese of Cloyne in 1987. "To those whom I have failed in any way, or through any omission of mine have made suffer, I beg forgiveness and pardon," the 73-year-old Magee said in a statement.

The immigration debate takes a technological turn with a new cell phone device that helps illegal immigrants crossing the desert into the U.S. find water. The Transborder Immigrant Tool was developed by UC San Diego prof and activist Ricardo Dominguez and UCSD lecturer Brett Stalbaum. Both believe it will save the lives of hundreds of people who die each year during their trek across "Devil's Highway." Here's how the tool works. The phone, loaded with free GPS software, displays a digital compass that locates water stations installed by John Hunter, founder of the Water Stations project. Stations that are too...

Tucson, Ariz. (AP) -- A judge has threatened to sentence an Arizona man to 25 days in prison for leaving jugs of water in the desert for illegal immigrants. A federal jury in June convicted Walt Staton of Tucson of littering in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. . . . Staton is a member of the group No More Deaths, which supports humanitarian aid along the border. He was scheduled to be re-sentenced Friday after he told a U.S. magistrate last month that he objected to the court's punishment on moral and legal grounds.

Elizabeth Edwards always seemed like the yin - a genuine human being - to her smarmy husband's too-slick yang. No more. With the release of her memoir "Resilience" and self-flagellation book tour about her life with her cheating hubby, Mrs. E now seems about as believable as her husband. That is: Add the prefix "un." No one should expect the wife of a man with Edwards' hobbies to be completely forthcoming - which is why she never should have written the book. Unless she had decided to show him the door - or if she had come out and said...

[The following is the only known transcript of an interview last week by Independent Star reporter Bias Jones with International Brotherhood of Polar Bears President Grumbles the Bear about the union's dissention from the list of global warming enablers. The interview occurred on an ice floe somewhere north of an Inuit village on Canada’s Ellesmere Island.]

LAKE FOREST – The conversation dealt with transgendered individuals, homosexuality, and theology. Representatives of the gay community today shared their "coming out" stories and discussed religious attitudes toward homosexuality with Saddleback Church staff. "I feel the foundation is being built for other dialogue between Saddleback and the gay community," said Richard Finch... One person talked about being transgender and Christian, attendees said. Another individual talked about being in the brink of suicide because of his childhood church's views on homosexuality. ... Jeff Lutes, executive director of Soulforce — a gay rights advocacy group that organized the project — said the...

....Overall, the results presented in this paper suggest several important facts. First, the findings suggest that there is an explicit and quantifiable cost to public debate during wartime in the form of increased attacks. Based on these results, it appears that Iraqi insurgent groups believe that when the U.S. political landscape is more uncertain, initiating a higher level of attacks increases the likelihood that the U.S. will reduce the scope of its engagement in the conflict. However, the magnitude of the response by Iraqi insurgent groups is relatively small. To the extent that U.S. political speech does affect insurgent incentives,...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2008 – As Iraqi maneuver units continue to make great progress, coalition trainers must concentrate on “enablers” of the force, the general in charge of the effort to train Iraqi forces said today. Army Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik, commander of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq, spoke to military analysts by phone from his headquarters in Baghdad. He said coalition and Iraqi planners understand that enablers -- combat service support functions for the military -- must make progress for the Iraqi military to be a balanced force. The combat units of the Iraqi army are doing well;...

A third homeless shelter near River Street has some business owners in the area upset and planning to move. Last week, a diverse group of religious leaders gathered outside an older commercial building just off Interstate 184, the Connector, to make an announcement they'd held back for months: Boise's Interfaith Sanctuary had secured funding and bought a building to shelter homeless men, women and families. Interfaith Sanctuary provides an alternative to traditional men's and women's shelters, which some people will not use because of religious affiliations. Sanctuary allows families to stay together and will take intoxicated people. For two years,...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Weak law enforcement and compliant Church authorities make Mexico a haven for U.S. pedophile priests fleeing justice, a victims' group said on Wednesday. The Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, which helped bring a lawsuit this week against two of North America's top cardinals, said it knows of 46 mostly U.S. priests hiding out south of the border. "Mexico has really become a secure place because here judicial authorities don't track them down and nothing happens," said group spokesman Eric Barragan......."

ISLAMIST fanatics attacked us and yearn to destroy us. The Muslim civilization of the Middle East has failed comprehensively and will continue to generate violence. The only way to deal with faith-poisoned terrorists is to kill them. And the world's only hope for long-term peace is for moderate Muslims - by far the majority around the globe - to recapture their own faith. But a rotten core of American extremists is out to make it harder for them. The most repugnant trend in the American shouting match that passes for a debate on the struggle with Islamist terrorism isn't the...

Al-Qaida's list of favorite, least favorite Westerners Latest warning video from terror group names enemies, friends in U.S., Britain WASHINGTON – In the latest video from al-Qaida warning of an imminent terrorist attack on the U.S., five specific "Zionist crusader missionaries of hate" are named, while three Westerners, including one American, are actually praised for their efforts toward "peace." Those singled out as enemies of al-Qaida are Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, Steven Emerson, Michael Scheuer and, of course, President Bush. The first three are WND contributors and outspoken media figures who warn about the growing threat of Islamo-fascism. Scheuer is...

US, French diplomats working on new formula that would lead to ceasefire in North; new proposal may be submitted to UN by Friday; sources say agreement based on French military deployment on northern border. Senior Israeli official: Revised UN Resolution will stop short of requiring peacekeepers to disarm Hizbullah Getting close to ceasefire? While the IDF is preparing to expand military operations, a French-American proposal for a cease-fire is being formulated Thursday evening and may be presented to the United Nations Security Council by Friday. According to various reports, the agreement is based on the deployment of French troops on...

Mel Gibson has become the designated Hitler-of-the-Month for August 2006, displacing both Saddam Hussein and Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the previous front-runners. However, conservative Christians, before rushing to condemn or defend their fallen hero, might ponder the incident for a moment, before presuming to form an opinion. To give credit where it is due, Zev Chafets, in his LA Times commentary “Slurring More than His Words”, makes several valuable points. To begin with, Mr. Gibson’s first line of defense—the Tequila made him do it—is absurd. As Chafets commnts, “Evidently Gibson wants people to believe that, although he personally loves Jews, the...

When Hezbollah guerrillas sneaked into Israel last month, killing and capturing Israeli soldiers and setting off the current crisis, their goal was to trade them for a Lebanese man held by Israel. The prisoner, Samir Kuntar, was part of a cell that in 1979 raided an apartment building in the northern Israeli town of Nahariya, terrorizing the Haran family. Mr. Kuntar shot Danny Haran in the head, killing him, while his daughter, Einat, 4, watched, then smashed the girl’s head in with his rifle butt, killing her as well. Mr. Haran’s wife, Smadar, hid in the attic with their 2-year-old...

MEL SAYS SORRY TO THE JEWS Tue Aug 01 2006 11:10:45 ET August 2, 2006 -- There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of Anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge. I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the...

From the outset, President Bush declared that the battle against Al Qaeda would be a war like no other, fought by new rules against new enemies not entitled to the old protections afforded to either prisoners of war or criminal defendants. But the White House acknowledgment on Tuesday that a key clause of the Geneva Conventions applies to Qaeda detainees, as a recent Supreme Court ruling affirmed, is only the latest step in the gradual erosion of the administration’s aggressive legal stance. The administration’s initial position emerged in 2002 only after a fierce internal legal debate, and it has been...

Illegal immigration is recognized by many U.S. Citizens to be a threat to our nation. It's is a balkanizing process. It disrupts communities. It places financial strain on regions of our nation. It costs our nation tens of billions of dollars a year, if not hundreds. It is destroying our health care system. It disrupts the education system financially and in the teaching process due to language problems. It can place English speaking children at a disadvantage, in that spanish children receive elevated resources while English speaking kids take a back seat in the early years. There are problems of...

Members of the Muslim community in a suburb of Ambilobe, Madagascar, have donated land to the Anglican Diocese of Antsiranana in the Province of the Indian Ocean. “I could not believe my ears,” the Bishop of Antsiranana, the Rt. Rev. Roger Chung, said in an official release published by the telecommunications department of the Anglican Communion Office. “But God’s ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts, says the Book of Isaiah.” According to the chairman of the new parish, Diogene Mahavavy, the Muslim community donated the land after becoming aware of the difficulties that the...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - International envoy James Wolfensohn told Middle East mediators the Palestinian Authority faces financial collapse within two weeks because of Israel's decision to cut off tax transfers after Hamas's election win. Even if the Palestinian Authority survives the coming month with emergency funding, Wolfensohn said "violence and chaos" could break out unless a long-term funding plan is developed for when a government led by the Islamic militant group is in place. Wolfensohn issued the warnings in a letter to the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators -- the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia....

Haniyeh: 'Washington Post' misquoted Khaled Abu Toameh, THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 26, 2006 Palestinian Authority Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh on Sunday denied that Hamas was prepared to make peace with Israel, saying he had been misquoted by The Washington Post. Haniyeh said his comments had been misunderstood. He said he was not referring to a peace agreement, only a "political truce." "I didn't talk about recognizing Israel during the interview with the newspaper," Haniyeh told reporters in Gaza City. "I only said that when Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders, including Jerusalem, and releases all the prisoners and detainees, then...

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The United States will continue to give humanitarian aid to ease the plight of the Palestinians despite militant group Hamas's victory in elections, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Saturday. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch said after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the aid payments to ease the hardship of the Palestinians would be made via humanitarian organizations working in the region.

Ottawa program offers drinks to homeless alcoholics Last updated Jan 3 2006 07:37 AM EST CBC News Shelters across the country are taking a closer look at an Ottawa shelter that gives drinks to homeless alcoholics after a study suggested the program is having a positive impact. Two men in the program receive their drinks at an Ottawa shelter. Dr. Tiina Podymow envisioned the program after volunteering with chronic alcoholics, including some who drank upwards of 40 drinks per day of alcohol and liquids such as mouthwash. Participants in the Managed Alcohol Project were given permanent beds in a shelter...

What Should Society Do With Its “Tookie Monsters” ? The “ Tookie Williams Saga “ has finally ended. After decades of appeals and delays , and more appeals and more delays; after vast agitation by a wide variety of people : ranging from sincere opponents of the death penalty, to shameless self-advocates looking for more media “face time”, Tookie Williams – the convicted murderer of four people finally got the justice a jury of his peers had decreed. There are many who say the death penalty is “barbaric” ; or that it serves no useful purpose. I tend to agree...

Two recent Oregon Supreme Court cases demonstrate the American Civil Liberties Union's commitment to the pornography industry, claims an internationally respected expert and Justice Department consultant on the subject. According to Judith Reisman Ph.D., the cases – State of Oregon v. Ciancanelli and City of Nyssa v. Dufloth/Smith – demonstrate that the ACLU will defend the most extreme elements of a business that now, as these cases show, includes "live sex shows." Late last month, the Oregon Supreme Court struck down a state law banning live sex shows as well as an ordinance that regulated the conduct of nude dancers....

Some Parables for a Troubling World In Texas, a young woman decided to pose for photos at a tiger preserve. She was scheduled to graduate from high school ,and wanted “something different” for a graduation picture. She climbed on the back of the tiger – which promptly seized her by the throat – as tigers will – and killed her. In the Grand Canyon , tourists are killed every year when they try to pose for pictures with the resident grizzly bears. There seems no way to get it through their heads wild animals are capable of being …wild. In...

Back in 2003, netwmd.com spearheaded an effort to oppose the Palestinian Solidarity Movement's (PSM) "conference" at Ohio State University (OSU). Despite the fact that the PSM is basically a group of pro-Palestinian terrorist supporters and enablers, Ohio’s “mainstream” Jewish community, including the Ohio State Hillel, did nothing to oppose the 2003 hate fest at OSU – this is even after repeated requests on my part for their assistance. [1] Yesterday, I received a form letter from Hillel decrying the PSM, and asking for money to “help Jewish students respond to the one-sided, anti-Israeli propaganda of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement on...

After 14 weeks of trial, and seven days of deliberation, the Jackson case came down to a battle of two videos. Both videos played at the end of closing arguments showed the statement of the young accuser to the police, and the Bashir documentary outtakes that showed a side of Michael Jackson that is innocent and wistfully childlike. In the end, the jury decided that Michael Jackson was not guilty of molestation. Everyone knows that Michael Jackson is more than weird, he is a universe unto himself. But the jury may have leaned on a universe of innocent love and...

An academic awarded a doctorate by Glasgow University for his thesis which described sex between adults and children as sometimes positive was criticised last night by child abuse experts. Richard Yuill said his research, based on interviews with paedophiles and their victims, "challenged the assumption" that sexual relations between adults and under-16s were inherently abusive. "The conclusions are that in such relationships I think you've got the good, the bad and the ugly, and that's where I stand on that," he said in the Times Higher Education Supplement. But child abuse experts said his thesis would play into the hands...

UN accused of collaborating with HezbollahRelatives of Beni Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Sawaed convene press conference ahead of filing civil suit against UN. Charge kidppings couldn’t have succeeded without UN assistance and active involvement. Anat Shihor-Aharonson “Today we can say with certainty that the UN was actively involved in the kidnappings of our sons”, the families of Beni Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Sawaed charged during a press conference they convened ahead of filing a civil suit against the UN in a US court, eight months after their bodies were returned to Israel for burial as part of the...

UN accused of collaborating with HezbollahRelatives of Beni Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Sawaed convene press conference ahead of filing civil suit against UN. Charge kidppings couldn’t have succeeded without UN assistance and active involvement. Anat Shihor-Aharonson “Today we can say with certainty that the UN was actively involved in the kidnappings of our sons”, the families of Beni Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Sawaed charged during a press conference they convened ahead of filing a civil suit against the UN in a US court, eight months after their bodies were returned to Israel for burial as part of the...

DUBAI (Reuters) - The Philippines will withdraw its forces from Iraq (news - web sites) "as soon as possible," Philippine Deputy Foreign Minister Rafael Seguis said on Monday in a statement he read out on al Jazeera television. "In response to your request, the Philippines ... will withdraw its humanitarian forces as soon as possible," Seguis said according to al Jazeera's Arabic translation of his remarks. His statement was addressed to the group which is holding a Filipino driver hostage.

ENGLAND fans will be allowed to smoke dope before Sunday’s crunch clash with France — to keep them calm. Cops in Lisbon plan to crack down on drunk supporters while turning a blind eye to those spotted puffing on a spliff. Pot-smoking fans have been assured they will not be arrested, cautioned — or even have their drugs confiscated. Last night experts said the Portuguese police’s “Here We Blow” policy would reduce chances of a punch-up between rival fans. Alan Buffry of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance said: “If people are drinking they lose control, if they smoke cannabis they don’t....

THE PERSECUTION OF RUSH GOES ON MARK A SITY 12/26/03 Years ago, Brett Favre had a problem with pain killers. He was buying them illegally after a prescription ran out for after an injury that still hurt. He became addicted. After the news came out, he apologized to his fans, went into treatment, and all was right with the world. Not a soul seems to be interested in investigating Ozzy Osbourne’s drug use, but there might be a reason for this. Ozzy seems to be attempting to prove the theory of evolution by devolving into lower forms of life before...

Mary Jo Melone, a columnist for the left-wing St. Petersburg Times, says it's impossible to compare Bill Clinton the rapist to Arnold Schwarzenegger the groper because "Clinton's women wanted him." In a hysterical 627-word tantrum denouncing the male and female voters who "elected a serial groper," Melone rages, "Whatever were they thinking?" As the campaign ended, we heard Schwarzenegger compared to the illustrious and sexually industrious Bill Clinton. You know what followed. If Clinton could be forgiven, why not Schwarzenegger? There was a difference, if not in their conduct than in their choices. Clinton's women wanted him. Will Melone...

John Burns, the great New York Times reporter, offers us a brutally blunt assessment of how badly Western correspondents covered Saddam Hussein's regime. His report, excerpted by The Wall Street Journal and Editor & Publisher, is spreading rapidly on the Internet and is bound to have an impact on the public's already low respect for most journalists. The compulsively candid Burns, until recently the New York Times bureau chief in Iraq, wrote his comments for the new book "Embedded: The Media at War in Iraq" (The Lyons Press), a collection of first-person accounts by journalists in Iraq. Burns, who has...

Immediately after the President's speech on Iraq, ABC radio went to its damage control and counterattack segment(under the guise of analysis). First up was a foreign policy 'expert', which they loudly trumpeted as working for the Reagan, Bush, and (suddenly mumbled) Clinton administrations, implying that he was oh so impartial. He immediately began to attack Bush's credibility, focusing on how there was no connection between Al Queada and Iraq. Said Bush wants badly to imply such a connection, while being careful not to actual state any proof, since "clearly there is absolutely no connection between Iraq and Al Quaeda." I...

WASHINGTON, June 27 — In one of the first consequences of its landmark ruling on gay rights on Thursday, the Supreme Court today set aside the lengthy prison sentence imposed on a gay Kansas teenager for having had sex with a younger boy. In a brief order with little elaboration, the court vacated the 17-year sentence imposed in 2000 on the defendant, Matthew Limon, and returned the case to the Kansas courts "for further consideration in light of Lawrence v. Texas." The case of Lawrence v. Texas, which was decided on Thursday and overturned an Texas antisodomy law, upheld the...

Ex-President Bill Clinton "sexually molested" a female steward aboard Air Force One and was later forced to apologize to the woman, a bombshell new book by White House whistleblower, Lt. Col. Robert Patterson reveals. The identity of the woman, an enlisted member of the Air Force, is being protected by Lt. Col. Patterson. But the searing new account of a commander-in-chief preying upon a military subordinate could spell trouble for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who, as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, would have jurisdiction to investigate the incident. In "Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Osama bin Laden succeeded magnificently, it seems, in at least one of his goals: creating a rift between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Odds are that Osama shrewdly sought to create discord by deliberately choosing Saudis to be the grunts of 9/11, picking them to fill 15 of the 19 hijacker positions, even though the teams were led by an Egyptian, Mohamed Atta, and other key players were from Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. Al Qaeda had plenty of Yemenis, Kuwaitis and north Africans whom it could have tapped, but it apparently went out...