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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Megan Williams, who was supposed to take back her story that seven Logan County residents beat, raped and tortured her, didn't speak at a press conference at her lawyer's office on Wednesday. Instead, lawyer Byron L. Potts recanted her claims for her. He said Williams told him that the only injuries that weren't self-inflicted were the bruises on her face. "She is recanting the entire incident. She says it did not happen, and she's scared,'' Potts said. He urged prosecutors to re-examine the cases against the seven people convicted in the attack. Authorities don't believe Williams' new...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict will hold talks with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on Nov 21 in their first meeting since a Vatican initiative making it easier for disaffected Anglicans to convert to Catholicism. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said on Friday the spiritual leader of the 77-million member worldwide Anglican communion will meet the pope while he is in Rome for a conference at a Rome pontifical university. The meeting will take on great significance because it is their first since the Vatican announced a new structure on Oct 20 to welcome conservative Anglicans who want to...

Steve H. Hanke is a Professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., and writes frequently for Globe Asia and Forbes magazine. Professor Hanke starts off his "Hu versus Sarkozy" article (Globe Asia, November 2009) with a warning. There is no more reliable rule than the 95 percent rule: 95 percent of what you read about economics and finance is either wrong or irrelevant. The article contrasts the Chinese versus the French responses to the financial crisis but the major focus is on economic myths. Hanke says that...

Walter E. Williams, professor of Economics at George Mason University will be a guest on the big radio show tomorrow morning. Update (Jim): Professor Williams will join us at 9:35 AM (EST). williams2Jim may add a bit more to this post, and tomorrow afternoon we’ll try to post the MP3 of the interview here on Radio Vice Online. Please visit the live page and tune into the show for a great show Friday.

October 28, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: Eleven Members/Associates of Ummah Charged with Federal Violations One Subject Fatally Shot During Arrest United States Attorney Terrence Berg, Eastern District of Michigan, Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent in Charge (SAC), Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI), Detroit, Michigan, and Police Chief Warren Evans, Detroit Police Department (DPD), Detroit, Michigan announced a federal complaint was unsealed today charging Luqman Ameen Abdullah, a.k.a.Christopher Thomas, and 10 others with conspiracy to commit several federal crimes, including theft from interstate shipments, mail fraud to obtain the proceeds of arson, illegal possession and sale of...

According to Alfred Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded to the person who: "during the preceding year, shall have done … the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, 2009 saw a record 205 nominations who competed against President Barack Obama for this year's Nobel Laureate. We don't know the names of other nominees who were passed over because Nobel Foundation statutes do not permit information about nominations,...

Americans are harder workers, more philanthropic, individualistic, self-reliant, anti-government than people in most other countries. We’ve turned what was an 18th-century Third World nation into the freest and most prosperous nation in mankind’s entire history. Throughout our history, United States has been a magnet for immigrants around the world. What accounts for what some have called American exceptionalism? We Americans, as human beings, are no different from any other people, including Germans, Russians, Chinese, Africans and other people who have produced tyrannical regimes such as those of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Idi Amin. As such we are just as capable...

MIDI - MASTER OF THE HOUSE Something is wrong, so very wrong that someone had to put it to song What's going on...what's that you say...do you feel freedom slipping away There are some who think there is still free speech Obama thugs have lessons that they will teach Negro of the house, they are calling Juan...by the leftists Williams has been set upon Yes, if you do not toe the party line, this is how they're gonna treat you every time Hope and change, that is Obama...we heard foolish people shout But as we lose the country tell...

The Archbishop of Canterbury called for an end to economic growth to save the planet. Dr Rowan Williams said that economic growth based on consumer power had led to towards 'the death of what is most distinctively human'.

In recent praise of Cuba's health care system, Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., said: "You can think whatever you want to about Fidel Castro, but he was one of the brightest leaders I have ever met." W.E.B. DuBois, writing in the National Guardian (1953) said: "Joseph Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature. ... But also — and this was the highest proof of his greatness — he knew the common man, felt his problems, followed his fate." Walter Duranty called Stalin "the greatest living statesman .. . a quiet, unobtrusive man." George...

The video in question, a showdown match between Juan Williams and Karl Rove. Past the popcorn around! It started innocently enough. Karl Rove explains it’s not the Olympic fiasco that is hurting Obama … it’s not even this month’s unemployment rate, it’s Obama’s overall handling of the economy. Juan steps in it when he accuses Rove and the Bush administration of doing nothing to stop the financial meltdown and that’s when Rove explodes. Let the games begin!

Was up wearly today, and caught the 6 AM EDT re-run of the BOR show. When it first started, I admit I was dissappointed to find that Juan Williams was subbing for BOR, so I just kept the show on, while at the PC, figuring I'd change the channel when the impetus of being bored would provide the impetus to c hange the channel... But as the show progressed, i found that Juan Williams was hosting like I've never hearf him host before. He was engaging, even handed and wouldn't let the guests get away with filibustering either the Left...

Everything you needed to know about the unorthodox roll out of the now-notorious ACORN sting videos was hidden in plain sight in my Sept. 7 column, “Katie Couric, Look in the Mirror.” ACORN was not the only target of those videos; so were Katie, Brian, Charlie and every other mainstream media pooh-bah. They were not going to report this blockbuster unless they were forced to. And they were. What’s more, it ain’t over yet. Not every hint I dropped in that piece about what was to come has played itself out yet.Stay tuned. When filmmaker and provocateur James O’Keefe came...

Here is video of a total meltdown last night by Women's Tennis star Serena Williams at the U.S. Open after she was called for a "foot fall" during Match Point against Kim Clijsters. Clijsters had match point against Williams and Williams was serving. The official called her for a "foot fall," giving Clijsters two match points. Williams walked over to the official and said something several times. The official then went to the other officials and you can then hear Williams disputing with them saying, "I didn't say I will kill you!" She was assessed a one point penalty, giving...

With the massive increases in federal spending, inflation is one of the risks that await us. To protect us from the political demagoguery that will accompany that inflation, let's now decide what is and what is not inflation. One price or several prices rising is not inflation. Increases in money supply are what constitute inflation, and a general rise in prices is the symptom. As the late Nobel laureate professor Milton Friedman said, "Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, in the sense that it cannot occur without a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH, 2009 AT 2:56 PM Ethics Update Posted by Norm Eisen We have previously reported six limited waivers that have been granted by the White House pursuant to the President’s Executive Order on Ethics for Executive Branch personnel – the strongest ethics standards in U.S. government history. Three of these waivers involved lobbying-related issues and three did not. We blogged about them here, here, and here. Several months ago, the public interest community suggested that we also make available in a central place limited waivers...

Air America Radio host Montel Williams tells GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann to slit her wrist. He instructed her to go even further and "start right at the collarbone."

SOMERVILLE, N.J. — Attorneys for Jayson Williams say the retired NBA star's convictions related to a fatal shooting should be thrown out because those who prosecuted him were racially biased. Williams was convicted of four counts of covering up the shooting of a hired driver at his central New Jersey mansion more than seven years ago.

Two big questions hang over President Obama's radical "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones. Is he still a communist? Is he a security threat? Many have assumed that Van Jones' committment to communism ended when the organization he helped to lead STORM (Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement) dissolved in 2002. Yet a 2004 treatise Reclaiming Revolution: History, Summation, and Lessons from the Work of Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement written and endorsed by a majority of former STORM members makes it clear that most ex STORMers are still committed to the revolutionary movement; From page 49. When...

Harvard Professor Henry Gates' arrest has given new life to the issue of racial profiling. We can think of profiling in general as a practice where people use an observable or known physical attribute as a proxy or estimator of some other unobservable or unknown attribute. Race or sex profiling is simply the use of race or sex as that estimator. Profiling represents mankind's attempt to cope with information cost. God would not have to profile since God is all knowing. People differ by race and sex. Let's look at a few profiling examples to see which ones you'd like...

Muslim student viewed coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq as ‘invaders’An American apologized for his actions before being sentenced Friday to 4 1/2 years in prison for conspiring to join the Taliban and fight against U.S. forces. Kobie Diallo Williams, a U.S. citizen, was one of four men arrested in 2006 for taking part in paramilitary training exercises around the Houston area. The training, which was disguised as camping trips, was designed to help the men hone their skills so they could join the Taliban in fighting against U.S. troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Williams, 36, also known as Abdul...

HOUSTON—Kobie Diallo Willaims, 36, convicted of conspiring to unlawfully possess firearms by an alien and supporting the Taliban, has been sentenced to prison, United States Attorney Tim Johnson, FBI Houston Division Special Agent in Charge Richard C. Powers and David Kris, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's National Security Division, announced today. At a hearing today before U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr., Williams, a U.S. citizen and resident of Houston, was sentenced to 54 months imprisonment without parole and fined $5,000. Williams pleaded guilty in November 2006 to conspiring with several foreign nationals, some of whom had entered...

"No one has a right to harm another." Just a little thought, along with a few examples, would demonstrate that blanket statement as pure nonsense. Suppose there is a beautiful lady that both Jim and Bob are pursuing. If Jim wins her hand, Bob is harmed. By the same token, if Bob wins her hand, Jim is harmed. Whose harm is more important and should the beautiful lady be permitted to harm either Bob or Jim are nonsense questions. During the 1970s, when Hewlett-Packard and Texas Instruments came out with scientific calculators, great harm was suffered by slide rule manufacturers...

Williams: "What happened here with Professor Gates is not racial profiling at all, absolutely not... President Obama should not have gotten involved in this." VIDEO

Here is video of Bill O'Reilly last night giving his talking points, where he discussed President Obama's horrible week last week, and then talked with Juan Williams and Mary Katherine Ham about President Obama's "missteps," particularly his remarks on the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Williams found it hard to believe that Obama would comment on something he said himself, "I don't have all the facts." Williams also said Obama never should have tried to tie the case to "racial profiling," because no profiling was involved. . . . . . (Watch Video)

The U.S. Naval Academy's PowerPoint display explains diversity by saying, "Diversity is all the different characteristics and attributes of individual sailors and civilians which enhance the mission readiness of the Navy," adding that: "Diversity is more than equal opportunity, race, gender or religion. Diversity is the understanding of how each of us brings different skills, talents and experiences to the fight -- and valuing those differences. Leveraging diversity creates an environment of excellence and continuous improvement to remove artificial achievement barriers and value the contribution of all participants." Admiral Gary Roughead, chief of Naval Operations, says that "diversity is the...

FROM:Dr. Michael S. Brown of Vancouver, WA TOPIC:"NEGROES WITH GUNS" 12/29/01 12:22:27 The year was 1957. Monroe, North Carolina, was a rigidly segregated town where all levels of white society and government were dedicated to preserving the racial status quo. Blacks who dared to speak out were subject to brutal, sadistic violence. It was common practice for convoys of Ku Klux Klan members to drive through black neighborhoods shooting in all directions. A black physician who owned a nice brick house on a main road was a frequent target of racist anger. In the summer of 1957, a Klan...

Republican Phil Williams Claims Victory in House District 6 SpecialBirmingham –Unofficially, Republican Phil Williams claims victory in the House District 6 special election – by a total of 62% to 38% over Democrat Jenny Askins. The HD6 win is the second election in just five weeks that the Alabama Republican Party has picked up a seat in the Legislature. Even more historic is the blow delivered to the over 113 years of Democrat rule in Alabama, as Republicans are within single digits of the majority in the House for the first time since Reconstruction. In the winning effort, the Party...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he will nominate Aaron Williams, a career international development specialist, to be director of the Peace Corps.

Juan Williams, filling in for Bill O'Reilly, was doing a great job mincing Bill Burton, Obama's Deputy Press Secretary. Juan didn't let him get away with the "no new taxes" pledge that Obama may violate, called him out on increased taxes, called him out on Obama requiring homeowners to bring their homes up to energy standards before a home sale, and made Burton tread water on other issues. For being a Liberal, Juan sounded more like O'Reilly tonight - at least in that segment. Catch the video when one is on the Internet.

Why did the founders of our nation give us the Bill of Rights? The answer is easy. They knew Congress could not be trusted with our God-given rights. Think about it. Why in the world would they have written the First Amendment prohibiting Congress from enacting any law that abridges freedom of speech and the press? The answer is that in the absence of such a limitation Congress would abridge free speech and free press. That same distrust of Congress explains the other amendments found in our Bill of Rights protecting rights such as our rights to property, fair trial...

EXCLUSIVE: Four New York City men were arrested Wednesday in connection with an alleged plot to blow up New York City synagogues and other city locations, WNBC's Jonathan Dienst has learned. Raids by the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force in the Bronx captured the suspected ringleader and three followers in what law enforcement sources are calling a homegrown terrorist plot. Investigators stress the suspects' meetings had been infiltrated early on and there was "no chance" the alleged plot could succeed. Investigators said several of the suspects are Muslims who allegedly talked about destroying two Jewish temples, including at least one...

Behold one of the new "Fairness" Doctrines - "media diversity" - coming soon to a radio station near you. President Barack Obama's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released the names of the thirty-one members of their Advisory Committee On Diversity For Communications In The Digital Age. This May 7 gathering is made up of a laundry list of left-wing grievance groups, with a smattering of radio and television companies included to break up the monotony. Not a single conservative organization is taking part in this Commission - more than a dozen Leftist groups are. A little ironic for a "diversity"...

"Twitter is the side project that took," says company co-founder Biz Stone, 35. "Now it's our chance to do something transformative." When I arrive at Twitter's headquarters on a recent morning, Jerry Brown is waiting in the lobby -- just another day at the world's hottest high-tech company. "It's pretty bizarre," says co-founder Evan Williams, 37. "At least once per day we look at each other and say, 'What the hell?' It's like we're living out the script of the ultimate start-up company story." But other than the familiar face of California's attorney general standing near the steel front door,...

Democracy and majority rule give an aura of legitimacy to acts that would otherwise be deemed tyranny. Think about it. How many decisions in our day-to-day lives would we like to be made through majority rule or the democratic process? How about the decision whether you should watch a football game on television or "Law & Order"? What about whether you drive a Chevrolet or a Ford, or whether your Easter dinner is turkey or ham? Were such decisions made in the political arena, most of us would deem it tyranny. Why isn't it also tyranny for the democratic process...

There's so much confusion and emotionalism about discrimination that I thought I'd take a stab at a dispassionate analysis. Discrimination is simply the act of choice. When we choose Bordeaux wine, we discriminate against Burgundy wine. When I married Mrs. Williams, I discriminated against other women. Even though I occasionally think about equal opportunity, Mrs. Williams demands continued discrimination. You say, "Williams, such discrimination doesn't harm anyone." You're wrong. Discriminating in favor of Bordeaux wine reduces the value of resources held in Burgundy production. Discriminating in favor of Mrs. Williams harmed other women by reducing their opportunity set, assuming I'm...

Most of our nation's great problems, including our economic problems, have as their root decaying moral values. Whether we have the stomach to own up to it or not, we have become an immoral people left with little more than the pretense of morality. You say, "That's a pretty heavy charge, Williams. You'd better be prepared to back it up with evidence!" I'll try with a few questions for you to answer. Do you believe that it is moral and just for one person to be forcibly used to serve the purposes of another? And, if that person does not...

Our Colonial ancestors petitioned and pleaded with King George III to get his boot off their necks. He ignored their pleas, and in 1776, they rightfully declared unilateral independence and went to war. Today it’s the same story except Congress is the one usurping the rights of the people and the states, making King George’s actions look mild in comparison. Our constitutional ignorance -- perhaps contempt, coupled with the fact that we’ve become a nation of wimps, sissies and supplicants -- has made us easy prey for Washington’s tyrannical forces. But that might be changing a bit. There are rumblings...

Rep. Maxine Waters, one of Los Angeles' most enduring liberal politicians, has come under scrutiny because of bailout funds that went to a bank in which her husband had owned stock and served on the board. Waters was a senior member of the congressional committee dealing with the financial crisis when OneUnited Bank -- one of the nation's largest minority-owned institutions -- received $12 million in bailout funds. Her husband, Sidney Williams, served on the bank board until early last year and held at least $500,000 in investments in the bank in 2007, the most recent year for which public...

Attorney General Eric Holder said the United States is "a nation of cowards" when it comes to race relations. In one sense, he is absolutely right. Many whites, from university administrators and professors, schoolteachers to employers and public officials accept behavior from black people that they wouldn't begin to accept from whites. For example, some of the nation's most elite universities, such as Vanderbilt, Stanford University and the University of California, have yielded to black student demands for separate graduation ceremonies and separate "celebratory events." Universities such as Stanford, Cornell, MIT, and Cal Berkeley have, or have had, segregated dorms....

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Venus Williams won her 40th singles title Saturday, defeating Virginie Razzano of France 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championship. During the trophy presentation, Williams spoke about Shahar Peer, the Israeli player who was denied entry into the United Arab Emirates for the tournament because of what organizers called security concerns. "I felt like I had to talk about her," Williams said. "I thought it was brave of her to come here and try and play despite knowing that it is not going to be easy for her. My dad grew...

LONDON, February 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com, with files from VirtueOnline) - As long as a homosexual partnership is "faithful and lifelong," it presents only the same ethical questions as a natural marriage, wrote the head of the Church of England in a series of letters, dating from 2000 and 2001, that have only just been made public. The London Times revealed this weekend that Dr. Rowan Williams, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, made the statements in a series of letters to Deborah Pitt, a psychiatrist and evangelical Christian living in his former archdiocese in South Wales, while Williams was still the...

Dr. Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Oakland-based Independent Institute, penned an article in The Christian Science Monitor (2/9/2009) that suggests the most intelligent recommendation that I’ve read to fix our current economic mess. The title of his article gives his recommendation away: “Instead of stimulus, do nothing—seriously.” Stimulus package debate is over how much money should be spent, whether some should given to the National Endowment for the Arts, research sexually transmitted diseases or bail out Amtrak, our failing railroad system. Dr. Higgs says, “Hardly anyone, however, is asking the most important question: Should the federal government be doing...

Dr. Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Oakland-based Independent Institute, penned an article in The Christian Science Monitor (2/9/2009) that suggests the most intelligent recommendation that I've read to fix our current economic mess. The title of his article gives his recommendation away: "Instead of stimulus, do nothing -- seriously." Stimulus package debate is over how much money should be spent, whether some should given to the National Endowment for the Arts, research sexually transmitted diseases or bail out Amtrak, our failing railroad system. Dr. Higgs says, "Hardly anyone, however, is asking the most important question: Should the federal government...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was set up to combat fraudulent practices. The SEC's website explains that "Ponzi schemes are a type of illegal pyramid scheme named for Charles Ponzi, who duped thousands of New England residents into investing in a postage stamp speculation scheme back in the 1920s." It goes on to say, "Decades later, the Ponzi scheme continues to work on the 'rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul' principle, as money from new investors is used to pay off earlier investors until the whole scheme collapses." That is how the SEC described the recent Bernard Madoff $50 billion Ponzi scheme, "a...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was set up to combat fraudulent practices. The SEC's website explains that "Ponzi schemes are a type of illegal pyramid scheme named for Charles Ponzi, who duped thousands of New England residents into investing in a postage stamp speculation scheme back in the 1920s." It goes on to say, "Decades later, the Ponzi scheme continues to work on the 'rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul' principle, as money from new investors is used to pay off earlier investors until the whole scheme collapses." That is how the SEC described the recent Bernard Madoff $50 billion Ponzi scheme, "a...

It was not precisely lip-synching, but pretty close. The somber, elegiac tones before President Obama’s oath of office at the inauguration on Tuesday came from the instruments of Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and two colleagues. But what the millions on the Mall and watching on television heard was in fact a recording, made two days earlier by the quartet and matched tone for tone by the musicians playing along. The players and the inauguration organizing committee said the arrangement was necessary because of the extreme cold and wind during Tuesday’s ceremony. The conditions raised the possibility of broken piano strings,...

President Obama was sworn into office placing his hand on Abraham Lincoln's Bible. That is the last Bible I would use to be sworn into office. You say, "Why? Didn't Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation free your ancestors?" It all depends where they were living. Let's examine the document's text to see why. President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, which reads, "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall...

President Obama was sworn into office placing his hand on Abraham Lincoln's Bible. That is the last Bible I would use to be sworn into office. You say, "Why? Didn't Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation free your ancestors?" It all depends where they were living. Let's examine the document's text to see why. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which reads, "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof...

Congress' financial messBy Walter Williams News media people, often plagued with little understanding, fail miserably in their duty to inform the public. This is particularly evident in their reporting on the current financial meltdown, suggesting it was caused by deregulation and free markets. **SNIP** A New York Times article, "Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending" (9/30/99), reported, "Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people?" The pressure was the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act that was beefed up during...