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In an interview today, the author at the center of a controversy about Amazon’s sale of a self-published pedophile’s guide told TSG that he has sold exactly one copy of the book and revealed that he was involuntarily hospitalized following a “mental breakdown.” Noting that, “I have what they call manic depression,” Phillip Greaves, 47, said that he himself was not a pedophile and that “the best advice I can give a pedophile is accept that masturbation is your best friend.” Greaves’s book, “The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct,” last week became available for...

The Rev. Sun Myung Moon is regaining control of the Washington Times after allies of the South Korean spiritual leader agreed to acquire the paper for just $1 and assumption of most if its debts, according to an internal memo. The memo contradicts rumors that a feud among the Moon's sons over control of the Washington Times prompted the father to buy it back for tens of millions of dollars. The deal is financially similar to the one the Washington Post cut in selling its money-losing Newsweek to businessman Sidney Harmon.

According to Chicopee, MA Police Chief, John Ferraro Jr. (see video below) it all started when Matthew Brace, his girlfriend and their 3-month old daughter went to Pride Travel Center Truckstop (located at 363 Burnett Road, Chicopee, MA 01020). Ferraro states that an employee (currently unnamed) asked Brace how old their daughter was, at which point Brace took his daughter, placed her in the employee’s truck and said “You can have her for a couple of 40’s” (slag for 40 ounce bottles of beer or malt liquor). Once the baby was in the truck, the employee demanded that the child...

A computer game retailer revealed that it legally owns the souls of thousands of online shoppers, thanks to a clause in the terms and conditions agreed to by online shoppers. The retailer, British firm GameStation, added the "immortal soul clause" to the contract signed before making any online purchases earlier this month. It states that customers grant the company the right to claim their soul. "By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, for now...

A Tucson hospital's health-care package promises affluent Mexican women the chance to have their babies in posh surroundings with access to the latest medical equipment. But the marketing materials leave out a key draw in the arrangement: U.S. citizenship for the newborn. Tucson Medical Center's "birth package" gives an official nod to a generations-old practice of wealthy Mexican women coming to U.S. hospitals to give birth. Mexican families do the same thing at all local hospitals, but TMC is the only one actively recruiting their business. The practice is legal, but offensive to some advocates of tougher U.S. immigration standards.

A group of private investors agreed today to buy IndyMac Bank, the Pasadena specialist in exotic home loans that collapsed in July and became the third-largest bank to fail since the government began insuring deposits in 1934. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which has run IndyMac since its collapse, said the bank would be purchased by IMB Management Holdings, a New York-based partnership led by buyout expert J. Christopher Flowers, hedge-fund operator John Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, chairman of private equity firm Dune Capital Management. IMB Management Holdings and the investor group will inject about $1.3 billion in new capital...

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Governor says deal curbs the growth of Indian gamblingOLYMPIA -- Gov. Chris Gregoire is benefiting from more than $650,000 in campaign contributions from Indian tribes that hit the jackpot in 2005 when she killed a gambling compact potentially worth more than $140 million a year to the state. Unlike 22 other states that collect millions from revenue sharing agreements for tribal gambling, Washington gets no money from tribal casinos under the compact that Gregoire renegotiated with the Spokane Tribe. Gregoire backed away from the 2005 agreement that included revenue sharing in an attempt to keep gambling from expanding too quickly...

Granted, McCain has some flaws, but consider the alternative... McCain on lower right In August of 1968, a program of vigorous torture methods began on McCain, using rope bindings into painful positions and beatings every two hours, at the same time as he was suffering from dysentery.[84][79] Teeth and bones were broken again, as was McCain's spirit; the beginning of a suicide attempt was stopped by guards.[79] After four days of this, McCain signed and taped[94] an anti-American propaganda "confession" that said, in part, "I am a black criminal and I have performed the deeds of an air pirate. I...

Sam Zell, a flamboyant Chicago real estate tycoon who has never run a newspaper, has won the battle of the billionaires for the Tribune Company, meeting the company’s demand for a higher bid to match one from Ronald W. Burkle and Eli Broad. Tribune announced that its stockholders will receive $34 a share, or $8.2 billion. Mr. Zell is supporting the deal with a $315 million investment and will join the board. The centerpiece of his proposal is a complex financial structure known as an employee stock ownership plan, which is to pay for much of the deal. Separately, the...

Karachi - A Pakistani man sold his 10-year-old daughter for $500 to pay for his eye operation, a police official in the southern province of Sindh said on Friday. The father Noor Mohammad had agreed to hand his daughter over to a fellow villager, Gul Mohammad Kalohi, once she reached puberty, according to Abdul Hadi, district police officer for Badin, about 250km east of Karachi. "It is a shameful incident and has taken place," said Hadi. "We were informed about this incident from a complaint made by a relative of the father." Police have completed their investigation of the case,...

McClatchy Co. said it plans to sell the Star Tribune of Minneapolis to a private-equity firm for $530 million, in a move to reduce debt. McClatchy said it decided to sell the newspaper to Avista Capital Partners through a private bidding process "after a strategic reevaluation of its portfolio of holdings" following McClatchy's purchase of Knight Ridder earlier this year. McClatchy said it expects a future cash tax benefit equal to about $160 million related to the sale, putting total cash proceeds at about $690 million. McClatchy purchased the Star Tribune from Cowles Media in 1998 for a total of...

LOS ANGELES - Like a train wreck or a car accident, when rich people do battle, everybody stops to watch. Billionaires Ronald Burkle, Eli Broad and David Geffen haven't taken off the gloves but all signs point to them fighting for ownership of their troubled hometown newspaper, the Los Angeles Times. The fortunes of the Times, the nation's fourth-largest daily newspaper, are being watched closely by a newspaper industry beset by sales, staffing cutbacks and circulation drops. Last week Burkle and Broad teamed up to bid for Chicago-based Tribune Co., which acquired the paper in 2000 when it bought Times...

THE NEW WORLD DISORDER Foreign ownership of U.S. airlines? Bush ready to defy Congress' ban despite pilots' fears of another Dubai ports deal The Department of Transportation, acting under President Bush's orders, is preparing to issue an administrative ruling that would open U.S. airlines up to foreign ownership, despite specific prohibitions and warnings from Congress, as well as predictions by pilots that another Dubai ports controversy is in the offing. The proposed ruling puts the Air Line Pilots Association, or ALPA – the largest airline pilot union in the world representing 61,000 pilots who fly for 40 U.S. and Canadian...

PSYCHIC Uri Geller and two partners have bought the Tennessee house Elvis Presley lived in before moving to Graceland, with a winning bid of $US905,100 ($1.18 million) on eBay, he said today. "We are unbelievably pleased. This is a piece of history," Geller said by phone from England. "We intend to restore it to its old glory. We would like to bring sick children there (for tours), Palestinian children, Israeli children, American children," the Israeli-born Geller said. "Hopefully one day we might get approval to turn it into a museum." Presley bought the four-bedroom, two-bath house at 1034 Audubon Drive...

TRENTON – As the U.S. Senate continued debates on how to handle the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, more than 100 people rallied outside the State House on Thursday to demand that undocumented students be allowed to pay in-state college tuition rates. The protesters, mainly Latino college students and undocumented immigrants from around the state, expressed frustration over a bill in the Education Committee of the state Senate that has languished since 2003. The bill would allow illegal immigrant students to pay in-state tuition rates. A similar legislative proposal, known as the DREAM Act, is pending at the federal...

White House report alleges Belarus has sold arms to Iran By Adrian Blomfield in Minsk (Filed: 19/03/2006) Belarus moved closer to international isolation yesterday after the White House submitted a largely classified report to Congress accusing the country's president of illegally selling weapons to Iran. The report, prepared on the eve of an election in Belarus widely denounced as a sham, comes amid condemnation of a brutal crackdown on his opponents by President Alexander Lukashenko, labelled Europe's last dictator by the Bush administration. According to United States officials, the report accuses the 51-year-old president of turning himself into "one of...

HONG KONG — Even in China, where local Communist Party officials asked for his autograph, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could not escape being master of a traveling celebrity opera in which politics frequently gave way to simply being famous. Schwarzenegger ended his six-day trade mission to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong King on Saturday without any substantial business agreements for California firms. A Riverside County pump company could soon have an announcement on expanding its China business. And there may be news from Aeros, a Tarzana blimp maker already established here. That company wants to sell more dirigibles to the authoritarian...

TRENTON, N.J. - Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sen. Jon Corzine (news, bio, voting record) no longer holds shares in Goldman Sachs, his former employer, according to his campaign. The disclosure regarding Corzine's finances came Tuesday after two lawyers alleged the senator had potential conflicts of interest because the Wall Street firm does business with the state. In response to media inquiries about the allegations, Corzine spokesman Tom Shea said the senator had directed the trustees of his blind trust to immediately divest Goldman Sachs shares from his portfolio. The campaign then learned, Shea said, that Corzine's trust had already been divested...

NEW YORK (AP) – Toys ‘R’ Us is reportedly being sold. The Wall Street Journal and New York Times today report the retail chain is being bought up by a consortium of two private-equity firms and a real estate developer for more than $5.5 billion. Toys ‘R’ Us is the nation’s second-biggest toy retailer. An official announcement is expected today. Last night’s deal ends a 7-month-long auction that had been expected to end with the sale of only the company’s toy division. The New Jersey-based firm reportedly wanted to hang on to its more lucrative Babies ‘R’ Us stores, but...