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NEW YORK — A CBS News producer was fired and the network apologized after a Katie Couric video essay on libraries was found to be plagiarized from the Wall Street Journal. The essay was removed from the CBS Web site and an editor's note was posted saying the item should have credited Jeffrey Zaslow of the Journal, the network said Tuesday. The essays are carried regularly on Couric & Co., the anchor's blog on the CBS News Web site. Couric and producers meet once a week to decide on topics and the producers write them for Couric to read on...

Why the left fears global warming more than the right DENNIS PRAGER Observers of contemporary society will surely have noted that a liberal is far more likely to fear global warming than a conservative. Why is this? After all, if the science is as conclusive as Al Gore, Time, Newsweek, the New York Times and virtually every other spokesman of the left says it is, conservatives are just as likely to be scorched and drowned and otherwise done in by global warming as liberals will. So why aren't non-leftists nearly as exercised as leftists are? Do conservatives handle heat better?...

Novelist Anne Rice (search) harshly criticized the response to Hurricane Katrina's aftermath in her old hometown of New Orleans (search). "Why did America ask a city cherished by millions and excoriated by some, but ignored by no one, to fight for its own life for so long? That's my question," Rice wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece published Sunday. Rice, author of the "Vampire Chronicles" books including "Interview with the Vampire," said people have asked her in recent days why so many people stayed behind when they knew the hurricane was coming. "They didn't have any place to...

May 02, 2005, 9:44 a.m. Dominionist Domination The Left runs with a wild theory. What is the real agenda of the religious far Right? I’ll tell you what it is. These nuts want to take over the federal government and suppress other religions through genocide and mass murder, rather than through proselytizing. They want to reestablish slavery. They want to reduce women to near-slavery by making them property, first of their fathers, and then of their husbands. They want to execute anyone found guilty of pre-martial, extramaritial, or homosexual sex. They want to bring back the death penalty for witchcraft....

The largest local union of Border Patrol agents in the country has declared its support for the Minuteman Project in Arizona, while at the same time slamming both the American Civil Liberties Union and President Bush. According to its website, the U.S. Border Patrol Local 2544, which covers the Tucson sector of the agency, the volunteers involved in the border-monitoring Minuteman Project have been nothing but supportive.

Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up' Tim Radford, science editor Wednesday March 30, 2005 The Guardian The human race is living beyond its means. A report backed by 1,360 scientists from 95 countries - some of them world leaders in their fields - today warns that the almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth is being degraded by human pressure. The study contains what its authors call "a stark warning" for the entire world. The wetlands, forests, savannahs, estuaries, coastal fisheries and other habitats that recycle air, water and nutrients for all living creatures are being...

We've had a lot of new folks join up recently. Welcome aboard, this thread is a gentle reminder of some basic posting guidelines. (And for some of you old timers as well) Please read the follow, and ask any questions. We will all try to help you out. SEARCH If it's a breaking news topic, check breaking news first, it's probably already posted. To avoid duplicate posts, please search before posting. Use the published article title to prevent duplicates. The best method to search is to pick a key word or two from the title. If the article you are...

As a social conservative and deeply religious person, she would face no bar in winning the votes of the Christian right, so crucial to winning the Republican nomination. Unlike former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani (R) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — both of whom could probably win in November — she would be very attractive to the pro-life, anti-gun-control, anti-affirmative-action base of the GOP. America longs to put the period on the disgraceful chapter in our nation’s history that began when the first slave arrived at Jamestown, Va., more than 400 years ago. We also want to send a...

From +Archbishop Donoghue, +Bishop Baker and +Bishop Jugis Worthy to Receive the Lamb:Catholics in Political Life and the Reception of Holy Communion August 4, 2004 + As bishops, we have the obligation to teach and guide the Catholic Faithful whom we shepherd in the Body of Christ. A fundamental teaching of our Church is respect for the sacred gift of life. This teaching flows from the Natural Law and from Divine Revelation. Life is a gift bestowed upon us by God, a truth underscored by the commandment: "You shall not kill" (Deut 5: 17 ). The Old Testament also teaches...

This has some bad language, but it's got to be one of the funniest things I've seen. Check it out when the kids ( or the boss ) are not around.

This Kerry vs Bush musical clip is a parody of the tune "This land is your land".Takes awhile to down load, but it's well done...and worth the time.

“Next”. "Good morning. We want to apply for a marriage license." "Names?" "Tim and Jim Jones." "Jones? Are you related? I see a resemblance." "Yes, we're brothers." "Brothers? You can't get married." "Why not? Aren't you giving marriage licenses to same gender couples?" "Yes, thousands. But we haven't had any siblings. That's incest!" "Incest?  No, we are not gay." "Not gay? Then why do you want to get married?" "For the financial benefits, of course. And we do love each other. Besides, we don't have any other prospects." "But we're issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples who've been...

Bill Clinton yesterday united his two loves, Ireland and golf, by buying a two-bedroom apartment that overlooks a Ryder Cup venue. The property comes with full membership for two to the prestigious Kildare Hotel and Country Club - better known as the K Club - 30 miles south-west of Dublin where an 18-hole round costs £190 and first year membership is £60,000. The former American president, who has called Ireland his second home, struck a deal with an estate agent friend for an £850,000 flat while playing golf in Northern Ireland last weekend. It is thought to be the first...

<p>In recent months, President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress have missed no opportunity to heap richly deserved praise on the military. But talk is cheap — and getting cheaper by the day, judging from the nickel-and-dime treatment the troops are getting lately. For example, the White House griped that various pay-and-benefits incentives added to the 2004 defense budget by Congress are wasteful and unnecessary — including a modest proposal to double the $6,000 gratuity paid to families of troops who die on active duty. This comes at a time when Americans continue to die in Iraq at a rate of about one a day.</p>

The Gullible Mr. Kerry-The senator gets fooled again. By Christopher Hitchens So, the junior senator from Massachusetts has finally come up with a winning line. "Vote for me," says John Kerry. "I'm easily fooled." This appears to be the implication of his claim to have been "misled" by the Bush administration in the matter of WMD. And, considering the way in which Democratic Party activists generally portray the president as a fool and an ignoramus, one might as well go the whole distance and suggest a catchy line for the campaign: "Kerry. Duped by a Dope." Given that Kerry once...