Outed blogger Rosemary Port blames model Liskula Cohen for 'skank' stink

Sorry seems to be the hardest word for the blogger who anonymously scorned a model as a "ho" and a "skank," igniting a legal and media maelstrom.

Speaking out for the first time since a court order forced Google to reveal her identity, blogger Rosemary Port tells the Daily News that model Liskula Cohen should blame herself for the uproar.

"This has become a public spectacle and a circus that is not my doing," said Port, whose "Skanks in NYC" site branded the 37-year-old Cohen an "old hag."

"By going to the press, she defamed herself," Port said.

"Before her suit, there were probably two hits on my Web site: One from me looking at it, and one from her looking at it," Port said. "That was before it became a spectacle. I feel my right to privacy has been violated."

The pretty 29-year-old Fashion Institute of Technology student added that she's furious at Google for revealing her identity, so much so that she plans to file a $15 million federal lawsuit against the Web giant.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/08/23/2009-08-23_outted_blogger_rosemary_port_blames_model_liskula_cohen_for_skank_stink.html#ixzz0PkE8wmNS

US Air Force prepares drones to end era of fighter pilots

As part of an expanding programme of battlefield automation, the US Air Force has said it is now training more drone operators than fighter and bomber pilots and signalled the end of the era of the fighter pilot is in sight.

In a controversial shift in military thinking – one encouraged by the now-confirmed death of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a drone-strike on 5 August – the US air force is looking to hugely expand its fleet of unmanned aircraft by 2047.

Just three years ago, the service was able to fly just 12 drones at a time; now it can fly more than 50. At a trade conference outside Washington last week, military contractors presented a future vision in which pilotless drones serve as fighters, bombers and transports, even automatic mini-drones programmed to attack in swarms.

Contractors made presentations for "nano-size" drones the size of moths that can flit into buildings to gather intelligence; drone helicopters; large aircraft that could be used as strategic bombers and new mid-sized drones could act as jet fighters.

Good Lord, Child gang hangs boy from tree

A gang of children as young as seven put a rope around a boy's neck and strung him up from a tree, the victim's mother said today.

Bradley McLachlan, seven, was left dangling inches off the ground in a Portsmouth Park after the three attackers reportedly ran off laughing.

He was able to hoist his body upwards before being rescued by an older boy who walked by.

His mother Charleen, 30, from Portsmouth, told The Mirror: "I feel sick and shocked someone could do this, not least other children.

"This wasn't just a game that went wrong, it's far more serious. I can't get my head around it.

"There were marks under his chin and they went right up around the back of his head. The police said he could have died if he hadn't been so small and light."

Bradley needed hospital treatment for severe rope burns to his neck after the incident, which happened last month but details of which have only just emerged.

Police are trying to trace the culprits.

Could smoking pot cut risk of head, neck cancer?

You've heard about using marijuana and drugs derived from it to keep some of the side effects of toxic cancer chemotherapy in check. But what if smoking marijuana for 10 to 20 years could actually protect against certain tumors?

In a study, researchers have found that long-term pot smokers were roughly 62 percent less likely to develop head and neck cancers than people who did not smoke pot.

The new study featured 434 patients with head and neck cancers, which include tumors in the mouth, tongue, nose, sinuses, throat and lymph nodes in the neck, and 547 individuals without these cancers seen in the Greater Boston area from December 1999 to December 2003.

After factoring out the impact of smoking, drinking, and other factors that might influence the results, smoking marijuana from once every two weeks to three times every two weeks, on average, was associated with about half the risk of head and neck cancer, compared with less frequent use.

New Seattle charity aims to help military sexual-trauma victims

When Amando Javier's 15-year secret finally became too much to handle alone, he turned to the people he trusted: his therapist, his sister, his wife. They were supportive, but couldn't help.

Late one night, searching the Internet from his home in New Mexico, he stumbled across a woman living 1,500 miles away in Seattle. Her name was Susan Avila Smith, and she specialized in helping veterans raped while serving in the military — people like him.

He e-mailed her. That day, she e-mailed back.

"She welcomed me with open arms and said she would help me," Javier said.

"She was the only one."

But more are on the way.

Pack Parachute, a new charity co-founded by Avila Smith this summer in Seattle, is designed to give men and women who were raped while serving in the military the financial and emotional aid they need.

Kira Mountjoy-Pepka, the charity's director, chose the name as a reference to the job of packing parachutes for fellow soldiers in case something goes wrong.

China outraged as Japan’s sabre rattler calls for nuclear arms

A TROUBLING insight into ultra-conservative thinking at the top of Japan’s armed forces has emerged after the dismissal of Toshio Tamogami, the chief of the air staff.

He has become a hero to right-wing groups since being sacked last year for writing an article that said imperial Japan was not an aggressor in the second world war. His popularity has caused outrage in China and it could provide an early diplomatic headache for the opposition Democratic Party of Japan if, as expected, it wins the general election on August 30.

A book outlining his philosophy has sold 100,000 copies since March and 20,000 copies of a second book calling for Japan to develop an atomic bomb were printed earlier this month. Tamogami, 61, is giving 20 speeches a month on conspiracy theories and anti-western themes of Japanese victimhood.

Unemployment: The Worst-Hit States In July (MAP)

The state-by-state unemployment numbers didn't change too much from June to July, the government announced on Friday. Fifteen states still have jobless rates above 10 percent, down from 16 in June.

The government announced two weeks ago that the national unemployment rate fell from 9.5 to 9.4 percent, although that may have been a statistical aberration.

Michigan continues to lead the nation in unemployment, with a rate of 15 percent, down from 15.2 percent in June. Rhode Island came in second at 12.7 percent (up from 12.4), followed by Nevada at 12.5 percent (up from 11.9). The largest increases occurred in Wyoming and Arizona, where unemployment rose from 5.9 to 6.5 percent and from 8.7 to 9.2 percent, respectively. Seventeen states saw their unemployment rates decline from June to July.

Mexico decriminalizes small-scale drug possession

Mexico decriminalized small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin on Friday — a move that prosecutors say makes sense even in the midst of the government's grueling battle against drug traffickers.

Prosecutors said the new law sets clear limits that keep Mexico's corruption-prone police from extorting casual users and offers addicts free treatment to keep growing domestic drug use in check.

"This is not legalization, this is regulating the issue and giving citizens greater legal certainty," said Bernardo Espino del Castillo of the attorney general's office.

The new law sets out maximum "personal use" amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities no longer face criminal prosecution.

Espino del Castillo says, in practice, small users almost never did face charges anyway. Under the previous law, the possession of any amount of drugs was punishable by stiff jail sentences, but there was leeway for addicts caught with smaller amounts.

"We couldn't charge somebody who was in possession of a dose of a drug, there was no way ... because the person would claim they were an addict," he said.

Despite the provisions, police sometimes hauled in suspects and demanded bribes, threatening long jail sentences if people did not pay.

"The bad thing was that it was left up to the discretion of the detective, and it could open the door to corruption or extortion," Espino del Castillo said.

Artificial life is only months away, says biologist Craig Venter

Artificial life will be created within four months, a controversial scientist has predicted. Craig Venter, who led a private project to sequence the human genome, told The Times that his team had cleared a critical hurdle to creating man-made organisms in a laboratory.

“Assuming we don’t make any errors, I think it should work and we should have the first synthetic species by the end of the year,” he said.

Dr Venter, who has been chasing his goal for a decade, is already working on projects to use synthetic biology to create bacteria that transform coal into cleaner natural gas, and algae that soak up carbon dioxide and turn it into hydrocarbon fuels. Other potential applications include new ways of manufacturing medicines and vaccines.

Dr Venter’s prediction came after scientists at his J. Craig Venter Institute, in Rockville, Maryland, announced that they had developed a new method of transplanting DNA into bacteria, promising to solve a problem that has held up the artificial life project for two years.

The team took the first step in 2007 by implanting the genome of a bacterium, Mycoplasma mycoides, into cells belonging to a close relative, Mycoplasma capricolum. This transformed the host bacteria into Mycoplasma mycoides.

Britons bottom of list for economic faith in government and banks

Britons have less confidence in their government's ability to weather the slump than people in every other major industrial nation except Japan, according to a global poll.

The survey, undertaken by the WIN Network polling companies in 22 countries in June and July, show the British and Japanese governments bottom of the trust league. Britons also have the least confidence in their banks.

But the survey, conducted by ICM in Britain, shows that confidence about the UK economy has increased since January, when the survey was carried out for the first time. And while the UK remains among the gloomiest about the future, it suggests that Britons have coped with the crisis better than others, with lower levels of stress and anxiety.

The "level of trust in the government to manage the financial situation" scores an average of 3.3 out of10 in Britain and Japan. Japan has been bottom in the last two surveys. This is the first time Britain has joined it there.

Respondents in China award their government the highest score – an average of 7.2. India, Brazil, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Russia all give their governments an average score of more than 5.

Londoners offered chance to eat sushi off naked models

Nyotaimori - translated as 'female body presentation' - has been the preserve of the Japanese elite for generations, but now an enterprising British duo has introduced it to London.

Despite the credit crunch-defying price of £250 per head, founder Nigel Carlos said there was a "need in the market for it."

Mr Carlos, who started up the venture with Japanese-raised Nick Hepburn, added: "There's obviously high end Japanese restaurants out there, however there is no mainstream, or anybody doing it right or authentically in the UK. We saw an opportunity to bring this kind of traditional dining to London for adventurous London diners."

He admitted the high price tag - which includes champagne on arrival, a 10-course authentic sushi dinner prepared by a genuine Japanese chef, all eaten off the female body, and unlimited alcohol - limited the number of people who could partake in it.

"That basically narrows it down to high net worth individuals, people who are adventurous and want to try something new, people who are following celebrities...also businessmen from abroad wanting to entertain clients."

Mortgage delinquencies hit record high in Q2

More than 13 percent of American homeowners with a mortgage are either behind on their payments or in foreclosure as the recession throws more people out of work, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday.

The record-high numbers in the report are being driven by borrowers with traditional fixed-rate mortgages, rather than the shady subprime loans with adjustable rates that kicked off the mortgage crisis. As of June, more than 4 percent of all borrowers were in foreclosure and about 9 percent had missed at least one payment.

One in three new foreclosures between April and June was from a prime, fixed-rate loan, up from one in five a year earlier. Last year, subprime adjustable-rate loans caused the largest share of foreclosures.

The worst of the trouble is still concentrated in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, which accounted for 44 percent of new foreclosures in the country. Nearly 12 percent of all loans in Florida were in foreclosure, the highest in the country, followed by Nevada at 9 percent.

"Clearly we have not seen the bottom in Florida," said Jay Brinkmann, the trade group's chief economist.

President Barack Obama has pledged to fight the problem, but its foreclosure prevention program, known as "Making Home Affordable," is off to a disappointing start. As of July, only about one in 10 of eligible borrowers had signed up.

Russia could sell Iran fighters, bombers

With concerns in the West about military ties between Russia and Iran, an official at Russia's state arms exporter says if asked, Moscow will be willing to consider orders for military equipment from Tehran.

"If Iran were interested in military transport planes, or tactical battle aviation, we would look at this request," Alexander Mikheyev, the deputy director of Rosoboronexport, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency on Wednesday.

Despite domestic production of fighter jets, Iran seems to be interested in refurbishing its army's aging air fleet.

The Russian official, meanwhile, did not mention the company's willingness for the delivery of a controversial Russian-made air defense system.

While Moscow signed a contract with Tehran in 2007 to supply the powerful S-300 missiles to Iran, there has been interminable confusion reigning over the delivery of the sophisticated defense system.

The S-300 surface-to-air system, known as the SA-20 in the West, can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 km (75 miles) away. It also features high jamming immunity and is capable of simultaneously engaging up to 100 targets.

Tehran has opted to acquire the sophisticated S-300 system to counter potential air strikes on its nuclear facilities as Israel continues to mention such measures as prudent in dealing with the Iranian program.

Israeli and US officials have strongly urged Moscow not to supply the missiles, and the issue has been the subject of intense diplomatic wrangling for years.

The US, Israel and their European allies -- Britain, France and Germany -- claim the Islamic Republic has military objectives in its nuclear enrichment program.

Hurricane Bill becomes Category 4 storm and threatens Bermuda

The first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic season has gathered strength with sustained winds of up to 135 mph, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

Bill posed no threat to oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico but authorities in Bermuda have warned residents to be prepared.

With winds extending 45 miles from the eye of the storm, Bill is expected to push well past the Leeward Islands late on Wednesday and early on Thursday but hurricane centre officials still urged islanders to be on the alert.

"The core of this dangerous hurricane will be passing well to the northeast of the northern Leeward Islands late today and early Thursday," the centre said in a advisory statement.

The storm has the potential to grow in the next 24 hours and turn toward the northwest.

Hurricanes of Category 3 or higher on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale are considered "major" and are the most destructive type.

US city plans curfew to combat rising crime

The measure would be the first time an American city has imposed a curfew in a non emergency situation.

Residents in Patterson, New Jersey, would face imprisonment or fines if they are caught outside between the hours of midnight and 7am although people travelling in cars would not be included.

The Mayor of Patterson, which has a population of 147,000, said the drastic measure was being considered following a spate of shootings linked to drugs.

The curfew would last for at least two months and will be voted on by city leaders next month.

Paterson, New Jersey's third-largest city, has had six murders and 30 shootings already this year.

Mayor Jose Torres said: "We're trying to think outside the box. This was triggered predominantly by fear among city residents over the shootings that have been occurring this summer."

But civil rights leaders have condemned the proposed curfew.

Ed Barocas, from the American Civil Liberties Union, said: "An adult curfew is unprecedented in our state."

Law experts also said the curfew was unconstitutional.

Jon Shane, a professor of policing administration at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, said "It's just completely unheard of."

New Orleans was the last city to have a curfew imposed when National Guard soldiers patrolled the streets following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Buffett: We're Going to Be Crushed Under Mountain of Debt

A highly influential American has finally hit the panic button about the tremendous mountain of debt the country is piling up.

Last year, Warren Buffett says, we were justified in using any means necessary to stave off another Great Depression. Now that the economy is beginning to recover, however, we need to curtail our out-of-control spending, or we'll destroy the value of the dollar and many Americans' life savings.

Some not-so-fun facts from Buffett's editorial today in the New York Times:

* Congress is now spending 185% of what it takes in
* Our deficit is a post WWII record of 13% of GDP
* Our debt is growing by 1% a month
* We are borrowing $1.8 trillion a year

$1.8 trillion is a lot of money. Even if the Chinese lend us $400 billion a year and Americans save a remarkable $500 billion and lend it to the government, we'll still need another $900 billion.

So, where's it going to come from? Most likely the printing press. And, ultimately, Buffett says, that will destroy the value of the dollar.

Panning for gold makes a comeback in bad economy

Ashley Michalak and Nate Neitz are dipping pans of dirt into a long wooden trough on a hot summer day. But these aren't ordinary pans, and it's not ordinary dirt. They're gold pans, and the dirt — they hope — is pay dirt. The two cousins are panning for gold at the Cotton Patch Gold Mine in the heart of the nation's oldest gold-mining country. "It's cool. You never know what you're going to find," says Nate, 12.

Ashley, 11, has found two small pieces of gold, about the size of a pencil tip. By the end of the day, the two will bring home 10 small flakes of gold in tiny plastic bottles.

Bob Michalak, their grandfather, brought them to the gold fields just to have fun hunting treasure on a hot summer day. But the nation's shaky economy has sent gold rocketing to $950 an ounce, as investors spurn greenbacks for the yellow metal — which, they figure, will always be worth something. High gold prices, combined with increasing economic uncertainty, means that more families are including gold panning in their vacation plans. And, because a little bit of gold can become a lot of money, gold panning for some people is more than a hobby: It's a source of much-needed income.

College-Entrance Test Scores Flagging

Only about a quarter of the 2009 high school graduates taking the ACT admissions test have the skills to succeed in college, according to a report on the exam that shows little improvement over results from the 2008 graduating class.

The Iowa City, Iowa-based ACT said 23% of this year's high school graduates had scores that indicated they were ready for college in all four ACT subject areas, or had at least a 75% chance of earning a grade of C or better in entry-level courses. Last year, a similar ACT analysis found that 22% of the class of 2008 was college-ready.

"We're not making the progress we need to be making," said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, an advocacy group focused on boosting high-school graduation rates. "The only way you improve these numbers and get them higher is by improving your secondary schools."

About 1.48 million of the 3.3 million members of the high school class of 2009 took the ACT, typically in their junior year. ACT said its report was based on comparing students' ACT test scores in English, reading, math and science with the grades they earned in related courses during their first year in college.

DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show

Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases.

The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.

“You can just engineer a crime scene,” said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper, which has been published online by the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.”

Dr. Frumkin is a founder of Nucleix, a company based in Tel Aviv that has developed a test to distinguish real DNA samples from fake ones that it hopes to sell to forensics laboratories.

The planting of fabricated DNA evidence at a crime scene is only one implication of the findings. A potential invasion of personal privacy is another.

Using some of the same techniques, it may be possible to scavenge anyone’s DNA from a discarded drinking cup or cigarette butt and turn it into a saliva sample that could be submitted to a genetic testing company that measures ancestry or the risk of getting various diseases. Celebrities might have to fear “genetic paparazzi,” said Gail H. Javitt of the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University.

Taleban paid to call off election attacks

TALEBAN commanders have been bribed with cash from the international community to hold off violent attacks in the run up to Thursday's Afghan elections, The Scotsman has learned.
Intelligence sources say the money was given to fighters in the hope it would form the basis of permanent peace talks with the Taleban. The news came as the head of the British Army warned that UK troops might remain engaged in operations in Afghanistan for another five years.

General Sir Richard Dannatt, in Edinburgh yesterday for the official opening of the UK's first purpose-built recovery centre for injured service personnel, said it would take "a bit of time" before Afghan forces were able to take over responsibility for security in the country.

President Hamid Karzai is tipped to be re-elected this week after the bloodiest month for British troops in the eight-year war. His brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, and another key Afghan government figure in reconciliation efforts, Arif Noorzai, have been in negotiations with the Taleban.

Building block of life found in comet trail

The amino acid glycine was found in samples from comet Wild 2 brought back to Earth by the American Stardust probe.

The substance is one of 20 amino acids which join up in chains to create millions of different proteins, the molecules from which all the cells and structures found in living organisms are made.

Although comets are known to carry organic molecules, this is the first time one has been shown to harbour such an important element of life.

A space scientist involved in the research today described the find as “exciting and profound”.

Comets are dirty snowballs of ice and dust which date back to the birth of the Solar System.

Some scientists believe they may have planted seeds of life, as well as vast quantities of water, on the Earth.

The American space agency Nasa’s Stardust probe passed through dense gas and dust surrounding the icy heart of Wild 2 on January 2, 2004.

Town Hall Anger Headed to Washington

The angry Americans expressing themselves at lawmaker town halls around the country are heading to Washington. A planned September 12 taxpayer march on Washington, initially focused on taxes and corporate bailouts, is gaining momentum from the recent town halls where the administration's healthcare proposal has been hit for being too big and expensive. Organizers are now expecting thousands to parade on the White House and Congress to demand that Washington keep taxes low. Initially a follow-up to the springtime tea parties, the Saturday "Taxpayer March On D.C." is bringing together "tea party patriots, 'Resistnet,' FreedomWorks, Campaign for Liberty, and a host of other limited-government groups to storm the Capitol," organizers say. A conservative organizer tells Whispers that "a lot of unhappy taxpayers are busing in from as far away as 700 miles" and that much of the crowd will include seniors worried about healthcare and personal finances.

On the organizing site for the march, http://912dc.org, buses are being chartered and hotel deals are being offered to those coming to Washington.

Lockerbie bomber: release 'absolutely wrong', says Hillary Clinton

Mrs Clinton said it was ''absolutely wrong'' to release Megrahi, adding: ''We are still encouraging the Scottish authorities not to do so and we hope that they will not.''

Megrahi - who has terminal prostate cancer - successfully dropped his appeal against conviction on Tuesday amid mounting speculation he could be moved to Libya within days on compassionate grounds.

Mrs Clinton has already called Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, to say Megrahi should serve out his sentence in Scotland.

After the bomber's appeal hearing, she told US reporters: ''I just think it is absolutely wrong to release someone who has been imprisoned based on the evidence about his involvement in such a horrendous crime.''

Three appeal judges in Edinburgh heard Megrahi's condition had worsened ''very considerably'' in recent days.

Defence QC Margaret Scott said: ''Up-to-date medical reports from three eminent experts also concurred in the view that he has a very aggressive cancer, that his condition is grave and that the prognosis is extremely limited.''

Social media and the internet do not spread democracy

It’s been a demoralising political summer for the Internet’s social media idealists. The early promise of a democratic Twitter powered revolution in Iran has been replaced by a series of bleak lessons in digital realpolitik. A summer that began so optimistically on the noisy, crowded streets of Tehran, is ending in the silent gloom of a co-ordinated global Internet campaign against a lone Georgian blogger.

Back in June, it seemed that real-time social networks like Twitter and Facebook could help co-ordinate an effective democratic resistance to the authoritarian Ahmadinejad regime. But today, little remains of that optimism except the rather pathetic symbolism of Twitter’s green tinged user-photographs and those dwindling band of western opponents of the current Iranian government who still claim their location as “Tehran”.

Meanwhile, life has rampaged elsewhere on the Internet's real-time stream. Iran got bumped from Twitter’s trending topics first by Michael Jackson’s sudden death, then by the dramatic Twitter and Facebook outages earlier this month, and now, of all things, by the NHS, which has become a lightening rod in America for and against attacks on Obama’s health care proposals.

Pretty Cool

Impact Of Cannabis On Bones Changes With Age, Study Finds

Scientists investigating the effects of cannabis on bone health have found that its impact varies dramatically with age.

The study has found that although cannabis could reduce bone strength in young people, it may protect against osteoporosis, a weakening of the bones, in later life.

The team at the University of Edinburgh has shown that a molecule found naturally in the body, which can be activated by cannabis – called the type 1 cannabinoid receptor (CB1) – is key to the development of osteoporosis.

It is known that when CB1 comes into contact with cannabis it has an impact on bone regeneration, but until now it was not clear whether the drug had a positive or negative effect.

Best And Worst Cities To Find A Job: Indeed.com's Rankings

Though the Obama Administration has warned that unemployment will reach 10 percent this year, job markets across the country may not be uniformly bad. According to a new report by the search engine Indeed, the best city to find a job is Washington, D.C., where there are six job postings for every unemployed person. Before you get too excited, Washington, D.C. and Jacksonville, Florida are the only cities on the list in which job postings actually outnumber the unemployed.

The list ranks the 50 most populous U.S. cities by the ratio of job postings to unemployed citizens. Here's the rest of the top 10 - and each city's respective ratio:

'Uh-Oh They're Here' A persistent blogger annoys police, and winds up in jail.

A 34-YEAR-OLD woman, the mother of a 12-year-old girl, has been locked up in a Virginia jail for three weeks and could remain there for at least another month. Her crime? Blogging about the police.

Elisha Strom, who appears unable to make the $750 bail, was arrested outside Charlottesville on July 16 when police raided her house, confiscating notebooks, computers and camera equipment. Although the Charlottesville police chief, Timothy J. Longo Sr., had previously written to Ms. Strom warning her that her blog posts were interfering with the work of a local drug enforcement task force, she was not charged with obstruction of justice or any similar offense. Rather, she was indicted on a single count of identifying a police officer with intent to harass, a felony under state law.

G.I. Jane Breaks the Combat Barrier

As the convoy rumbled up the road in Iraq, Specialist Veronica Alfaro was struck by the beauty of fireflies dancing in the night. Then she heard the unmistakable pinging of tracer rounds and, in a Baghdad moment, realized the insects were illuminated bullets.

Lisa Bodenburg, shown in Iraq in 2008, is a Marine sergeant who is one of the few women to be a crew chief on a Huey helicopter.

She jumped from behind the wheel of her gun truck, grabbed her medical bag and sprinted 50 yards to a stalled civilian truck. On the way, bullets kicked up dust near her feet. She pulled the badly wounded driver to the ground and got to work.

Despite her best efforts, the driver died, but her heroism that January night last year earned Specialist Alfaro a Bronze Star for valor. She had already received a combat action badge for fending off insurgents as a machine gunner.

“I did everything there,” Ms. Alfaro, 25, said of her time in Iraq. “I gunned. I drove. I ran as a truck commander. And underneath it all, I was a medic.”

Before 2001, America’s military women had rarely seen ground combat. Their jobs kept them mostly away from enemy lines, as military policy dictates.

'Hidden Portal' Concept Described: First Tunable Electromagnetic Gateway

While the researchers can't promise delivery to a parallel universe or a school for wizards, books like Pullman's Dark Materials and JK Rowling's Harry Potter are steps closer to reality now that researchers in China have created the first tunable electromagnetic gateway.

The work is a further advance in the study of metamaterials, published in New Journal of Physics (co-owned by the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society).

In the research paper, the researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Fudan University in Shanghai describe the concept of a "a gateway that can block electromagnetic waves but that allows the passage of other entities" like a "'hidden portal' as mentioned in fictions."

The gateway, which is now much closer to reality, uses transformation optics and an amplified scattering effect from an arrangement of ferrite materials called single-crystal yttrium-iron-garnet that force light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation in complicated directions to create a hidden portal.

Preacher threatened with arrest for reading out extracts from the Bible in public

Andrea Minichiello Williams, the director of the Christian Legal Centre, has written to Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, over the incident.

She claims that Mr Hayworth and his father, John, 55, were unlawfully and unfairly treated as they preached Christianity in the city at the end of July.

"They were clearly told that reading the Bible and preaching can be offensive and that they could be arrested," she wrote.

"Furthermore, they were subjected to abuse and intimidation. They were told that they were being monitored and filmed," she wrote.

Critics claimed that a Muslim preaching his religion in the street would not have been treated in such a way by police.

Mr Hayworth, a voluntary worker who is married with two children, has been a street preacher in the Manchester area for five years and he is often accompanied by his father.

He said that he and his father had decided to preach from 11am at St Ann's Square in Manchester instead of their usual place on nearby Market Street.

He was reading passages from the Old and New Testaments while his father distributed leaflets containing the message of the gospel.

"At 2pm, I was approached on more than one occasion by several police officers who falsely accused me, stating that I was inciting hatred with homophobic and racial comments," he said.

Deal: United States soldiers will deploy to Colombia

Some American troops will soon find themselves stationed at military bases scattered across the South American nation of Colombia with a mission to use advanced Predator drone technology to aid in fighting the drug trade and to combat terrorism, according to published reports Saturday.

But Colombia’s neighbors certainly do not see it that way.

In Venezuela, officials bristled. President Hugo Chavez warned, “the winds of war [are] beginning to blow.”

Chavez has already accused Colombian troops of making an incursion over the border and regional tensions are running high. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa also took exception, saying the United States would target Colombia’s neighbors if the deal is finalized.

“It has also sparked concern from moderate Colombian allies, such as Chile and Brazil, who want assurances that U.S. forces won’t be operating outside Colombia’s territory,” The Wall Street Journal adds.

Who is funding the Afghan Taliban? You don’t want to know

KABUL — It is the open secret no one wants to talk about, the unwelcome truth that most prefer to hide. In Afghanistan, one of the richest sources of Taliban funding is the foreign assistance coming into the country.

Virtually every major project includes a healthy cut for the insurgents. Call it protection money, call it extortion, or, as the Taliban themselves prefer to term it, “spoils of war,” the fact remains that international donors, primarily the United States, are to a large extent financing their own enemy.

“Everyone knows this is going on,” said one U.S. Embassy official, speaking privately.

It is almost impossible to determine how much the insurgents are spending, making it difficult to pinpoint the sources of the funds.

Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef, former Taliban minister to Pakistan, was perhaps more than a bit disingenuous when he told GlobalPost that the militants were operating mostly on air.

Missing ship Arctic Sea spotted in mid-Atlantic

A cargo ship that mysteriously disappeared after sailing through the English Channel was last night spotted in the Atlantic by the Portuguese Navy.

There was an unconfirmed report that hijackers were demanding a $1.5 million ransom for the 15 Russian sailors aboard the vessel, the Arctic Sea, after they had been missing for more than two weeks.

The vessel’s disappearance started an international maritime search when it vanished shortly after the crew made contact with Dover coastguard on June 28. The ship sailed along the South Coast but its tracking beacon seemed to disappear near Penzance.

A ship believed to be the Arctic Sea was last night being monitored in international waters about 400 nautical miles north of the Cape Verde islands, an archipelago that lies west of Senegal. A Russian warship was sent to the area with orders to free the crew.

Pedro Reis, director-general of defence of Cape Verde, a former Portuguese colony, said: “The ship is located at a distance of 400 nautical miles north of Sao Vicente, outside Cape Verde’s exclusive economic zone.”

US food groups warn of sugar shortage

US sugar prices are trading near 30-year highs on growing concerns about global supplies.

India, the world's second-largest sugar exporter, has seen falling output after lower-than-expected rainfall during the monsoon season. While production in Brazil, another key producer, has been hit by too much rain.

As a result, sugar supplies are tight and getting tighter as Asia ratchets up demand ahead of the annual festival season.

US refineries have been operating at record rates to keep the market supplied but sugar inventories in the country are now at a 34-year low.

Shortages could mean consumers will have to pay more for their products and jobs will be at risk, the food producers said in a letter to Tom Vilsack, the US Secretary of Agriculture.

The letter was written under the umbrella of The Sugar Policy Alliance.

Woman Sets Self On Fire, Walks Around Miami Mall

It was a shocking scene for shoppers at a Florida mall Thursday when a woman set herself on fire and then walked around engulfed in flames.

Authorities say the 43-year-old woman, Cecilia Casals of North Miami Beach, doused herself with a flammable liquid at the Mall of the Americas.

A witness says he was about to pay for earrings for his girlfriend at a nearby kiosk when he heard screams and thought someone had fallen.

When he turned around, he saw the blaze and realized someone was within it.

It appears to have been a suicide attempt, but authorities have not said why Casals set herself on fire, reports CBS station WFOR-TV in Miami.

Emergency crews arrived on the scene a short time later and air-lifted the victim to a nearby hospital for treatment.

US tests system to beat web censorship in China and Iran

The "feed over email" (FOE) system will deliver news using a technology that evades web-screening technologies employed by restrictive regimes.

According to a senior official at the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent US government agency responsible all international broadcasting sponsored by Washington, the system is now actively being tested in China and Iran.

The news feeds are sent through email accounts including those operated by Google Inc, Microsoft Corp's Hotmail and Yahoo Inc.

"We have people testing it in China and Iran," Ken Berman, the Board's IT chief told the Reuters news agency.

He provided few details on the new system, which is in the early stages of testing. He said some secrecy was important to avoid detection by the two governments.

The Internet has become a powerful tool for citizens in countries where governments regularly censor news media, enabling them to learn about and react to major social and political events.

What the Fuck, Denmark?!?

...Just hit the link above. This makes me sick. And another reason why this Blog exists. Fuck!

Will Michigan Nullify Federal Gun Laws?

Introduced in the Michigan House on August 11, 2009, the “Firearms Freedom Act” (HB-5232) seeks “to make certain findings regarding intrastate commerce; to prohibit federal regulation of firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition involved purely in intrastate commerce in [the State of Michigan]; to provide for certain exceptions to federal regulation; and to establish certain manufacturing requirements.”

The bill was authored by Rep. Phillip Pavlov and currently has 44 co-sponsors.

While the HB5232’s title focuses on federal gun regulations, it has far more to do with the 10th Amendment’s limit on the power of the federal government. It specifically states:

The regulation of intrastate commerce is vested in the states under amendments IX and X of the constitution of the United States, particularly if not expressly preempted by federal law. Congress has not expressly preempted state regulation of intrastate commerce pertaining to the manufacture on an intrastate basis of firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition.

Some supporters of the legislation say that a successful application of such a state-law would set a strong precedent and open the door for states to take their own positions on a wide range of activities that they see as not being authorized to the Federal Government by the Constitution...

Taliban Now Winning?

The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy in the eight-year-old conflict by increasing the number of troops in heavily populated areas like the volatile southern city of Kandahar, the insurgency's spiritual home.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned that means U.S. casualties, already running at record levels, will remain high for months to come.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the commander offered a preview of the strategic assessment he is to deliver to Washington later this month, saying the troop shifts are designed to better protect Afghan civilians from rising levels of Taliban violence and intimidation. The coming redeployments are the clearest manifestation to date of Gen. McChrystal's strategy for Afghanistan, which puts a premium on safeguarding the Afghan population rather than hunting down militants.

Two boys watch a U.S. soldier Sunday during a dawn patrol in Kunar Province in northeastern Afghanistan. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander, is making protection of civilians a priority over hunting Taliban rebels.

Gen. McChrystal said the Taliban are moving beyond their traditional strongholds in southern Afghanistan to threaten formerly stable areas in the north and west.

Missing ship may have secret cargo

A secret cargo and not just timber may be on board a missing ship whose last known radio contact was with British Coastguards, it has been suggested.

Russia's navy fleet and two nuclear submarines have been scrambled as efforts intensified to locate the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea and its 15-strong Russian crew.

Experts and marine authorities continue to be baffled that the 4,000-tonne vessel "disappeared" after its last official recorded positioning off northern France on July 30.

Mikhail Voitenko, editor of Russia's Sovfracht maritime bulletin, said the ship, carrying about £1 million-worth of sawn timber from Finland to Algeria, might have been targeted because it was also loaded with an unknown cargo.

He told the Russia Today news channel: "The only sensible answer is that the vessel was loaded secretly with something we don't know anything about. We have to remember that before loading in Finland the vessel stayed for two weeks in a shipyard in Kaliningrad. I'm sure it cannot be drugs or illegal criminal cargo. I think it is something much more expensive and dangerous."...

US-Russia stand-off looms as Moscow announces expansion of military bases

The prospect of a US-Russian naval stand-off in the Black Sea loomed today after Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would spend nearly half a billion dollars next year beefing up military bases in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia.

Much of the money is expected to fund construction of a new naval base in the Abkhaz town of Ochamchira, within striking distance of Georgia's Poti and Batumi ports, which have been regularly visited by US warships since the war in Georgia last summer. An existing Russian airbase further north in Gudauta is also likely to be enlarged.

"We will allot a very large amount of money — 15-16bn roubles (£300,000) — for the development of our military base and strengthening of Abkhazia's state border, next year," the Russian prime minister told reporters at his summer residence in Sochi, ahead of a surprise visit to the Moscow-backed republic today. "This is an additional and serious guarantee of the security of Abkhazia and South Ossetia," he added.

Nato is increasingly nervous at Russia expanding its military reach beyond its borders and expressed "concern" earlier this year over reports that Russia planned to increase its military footprint in Abkhazia. Only Russia and Nicaragua have recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent and under international law the construction of bases on what is officially Georgian territory will be illegal. Tbilisi has said it will protest against the plans "at every international level".

Russia's entire Atlantic fleet join international hunt for 'pirate' ship that vanished by Kent coast

The Russian Navy's entire Atlantic fleet is searching for a cargo ship which pirates are suspected of hijacking before passing though the English Channel, it emerged today.

At least five warships and several submarines have joined the international hunt for the vessel which vanished along the Kent coast with a crew of 13 Russians on board.

The 3,998-tonne ship, which was also carrying £1million worth of timber, has not been seen for two weeks and it may now be in Africa.//

Text a Message to Outer Space?

This site is collecting messages that will be transmitted to Gliese 581d, a planet outside our Solar System which may support life. Comments are moderated: inappropriate messages will de rejected, and messages must be in English (so we can evaluate them)...

Check out Legion, opening in 2010

Strong Meteor Shower Expected Tonight

The annual Perseid meteor shower is expected to put on a good show this week for those willing to get up in the wee hours of the morning and wait patiently for the shooting stars.

In North America, the best time to watch will be between midnight to 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 12, but late Tuesday night and also Wednesday night could prove fruitful, weather permitting.

The Perseids are always reliable, and sometimes rather spectacular. The only things that puts a damper on the August show are bad weather or bright moonlight. Unfortunately this week, as the Perseids reach their peak Tuesday and Wednesday nights, the moon will be high in the sky, outshining the fainter meteors.

Still, skywatchers around the globe will have a good chance of spotting the brighter meteors. Some already are enjoying the show, already underway

The Perseids are bits of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, which has laid down several streams of debris, each in a slightly different location, over the centuries as it orbits the sun. Every August, Earth passes through these debris streams, which spread out over time.

U.S. Web-Tracking Plan Stirs Privacy Fears

The Obama administration is proposing to scale back a long-standing ban on tracking how people use government Internet sites with "cookies" and other technologies, raising alarms among privacy groups.

A two-week public comment period ended Monday on a proposal by the White House Office of Management and Budget to end a ban on federal Internet sites using such technologies and replace it with other privacy safeguards. The current prohibition, in place since 2000, can be waived if an agency head cites a "compelling need."

Supporters of a change say social networking and similar services, which often take advantage of the tracking technologies, have transformed how people communicate over the Internet, and Obama's aides say those services can make government more transparent and increase public involvement.

Some privacy groups say the proposal amounts to a "massive" and unexplained shift in government policy. In a statement Monday, American Civil Liberties Union spokesman Michael Macleod-Ball said the move could "allow the mass collection of personal information of every user of a federal government website."

Even groups that support updating the policy question whether the administration is seeking changes at the request of private companies, such as online search giant Google, as the industry's economic clout and influence in Washington have grown rapidly...

Horses being killed in South Florida -- for their meat?

Geronimo was a beautiful painted quarter horse. Geronimo "was irreplaceable," says the woman who owned him.

"He was a type of horse that he got along with everybody," says owner Ivonne Rodriguez. She had Geronimo for five years -- until his slaughtered carcass was found under a tree.

For Geronimo, home was a 10-acre pasture in a rural area of Miami-Dade County. The horse, Rodriguez says, made many people happy over the years.

"He was ridden by everybody," she says. "He was irreplaceable."

Geronimo had a distinct look -- brown and white, with a thick white stripe that ran from his forehead to his nose. It was this mark that helped a neighbor identify Geronimo after he was reported missing.

Someone is killing horses in Southeast Florida.

Israeli seeks damages from EU over Hamas rocket attacks

Israeli and Belgian lawyers acting for Eyal Katorza, who is also a French citizen, are preparing a legal case demanding that the EU does more to protect the 300,000 Europeans living in Israel.

Legal documents, seen by The Daily Telegraph, have accused the EU of indirectly funding Palestinian terrorism because of a failure to "prevent the misuse of European funds by non-profit organisations which use these funds to finance terrorism".

Mr Katorza has demanded EU "reparations for lost job income, reparations for physical and psychological damages, reparations for property damages, monies for reinforced buildings against missiles or any other military projectiles".

Lethal algae take over beaches in northern France

Its rugged northern coastline is a favourite summer destination for Britons. But holidaymakers have been warned away from certain beaches in northern Brittany that have been swamped by tonnes of potentially lethal rotting green algae.

Hundreds of local residents and environmentalists demonstrated on the otherwise picturesque beach of St-Michel-en-Grève at the weekend as the "green menace" manifested itself in record piles of noxious seaweed swamping the shore.

A man has also taken legal action after he was left seriously ill from breathing in fumes from the decomposing algae. Vincent Petit, a 27-year-old vet, had to be dragged unconscious from a patch of rotting algae a metre deep this month after the horse he was riding collapsed and died from fumes given off by the sludge on the beach. The horse died within minutes.

Courtroom Yawner Jailed for Six Months

(Aug. 10) -- As Clifton Williams sat in the courtroom in Joliet, Ill., awaiting his cousin's sentencing on drug charges, little did he know he would soon be the one in jail.
As Judge Daniel Rozak sentenced Williams' cousin to two years probation, Williams yawned, an act that earned him six months in jail on contempt charges, the Chicago Tribune reported...

GM turns to eBay to sell cars

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co and eBay Inc are launching a test program in California that will allow consumers to negotiate with dealers and buy new vehicles online, the companies said on Monday.

The car shopping website -- gm.ebay.com -- marks a departure from the way new vehicles have traditionally been sold in the United States and is aimed at helping GM recapture lost market share a month after it emerged from bankruptcy.

The online marketplace provides the No. 1 U.S. automaker with a new venue to sell new vehicles as it cuts the number of U.S. dealerships by more than 40 percent to 3,600 by the end of 2010 as part of its efforts to return to profitability.

It also expands an existing partnership covering GM's certified used vehicles sold through eBay. Most of the vehicles sold on eBay Motors -- a site that sells various types of vehicles and auto parts -- have been used...

Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?

IT’S too bad so many people are falling into poverty at a time when it’s almost illegal to be poor. You won’t be arrested for shopping in a Dollar Store, but if you are truly, deeply, in-the-streets poor, you’re well advised not to engage in any of the biological necessities of life — like sitting, sleeping, lying down or loitering. City officials boast that there is nothing discriminatory about the ordinances that afflict the destitute, most of which go back to the dawn of gentrification in the ’80s and ’90s. “If you’re lying on a sidewalk, whether you’re homeless or a millionaire, you’re in violation of the ordinance,” a city attorney in St. Petersburg, Fla., said in June, echoing Anatole France’s immortal observation that “the law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges.”

Israel planned Iran strike during unrest: Report

As Iran was grappling with the post-election unrest, Israel was reportedly preparing to strike the country's nuclear facilities, a US diplomatic source says.

According to the US diplomat who is based in Jerusalem (al Quds), Israel asked the US administration for a green light to attack Iran's nuclear facilities and its other vital structures in the aftermath of the country's post-election turmoil.

The call for the military strike came after the official announcement of the poll result in Iran prompted widespread protests across the country as opposition supporters took to the streets to protest "fraud" in the June 12 election.

Kuwaiti newspaper al-Jarida cited the diplomatic source as saying that the request was put forward by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, bearing President Shimon Peres's signature as well...

Sen. Joe Lieberman advocating US strike against Iran

Senator Joe Lieberman is advocating a US military strike against Iran if economic sanctions fail to work. Lieberman has long advocated economic sanctions against Iran in the Senate. His strong support of the Iraq war and hawkish position on the middle east has put him at odds with much of the democrat base costing him the democratic primary. Lieberman was re-elected as an independent, however still caucases with the democrats.

Speaking in the Senate Lieberman stated that "only through “crippling sanctions do we have a chance to convince the Iranians to stop this nuclear weapons program." he went on to say that "stiffer sanctions are necessary in order to “save ourselves” from having to make the most difficult choice, which he said was “doing nothing in regard to a nuclear Iran, and taking military action.”

Lieberman told Washington TV that "because this is the choice we will be faced with and to me in that moment I think there is only one choice, but we don’t have to make it now, and it’s why these sanctions proposals are so important."

Two town halls turn into near-riots

Ah, American democracy: Over the past week, members of the House -- currently in recess -- have been holding town hall meetings that have gotten progressively nastier as more and more organized opponents of the Democrats' healthcare plan have shown up to protest. The debate between the two major parties over the town halls has gotten pretty nasty too, with claims and counter-claims about who, exactly, is un-democratic and who's trying to stifle the voice of the people.

Now, the tension is really starting to erupt, and on Thursday night, two of the town halls turned violent.

At one, a forum on aging held in St. Louis County by Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo., six people -- one of them a reporter -- were arrested. Two people, one conservative and one staffer with the Service Employees International Union, were reportedly sent to the hospital with minor injuries sustained during scuffles at the event.

In Ybor City, Fla., there were similar scuffles, some of which were reportedly broken up by law enforcement, but no arrests. That forum was organized by a state legislator, Democratic Rep. Betty Reed, but U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., was also there. She didn't get much of a chance to address the crowd, though -- the Tampa Tribune reports, "Castor tried to speak for nearly 15 minutes but the crowd drowned her out, chanting, 'You work for us,' 'Tyranny, tyranny,' and 'Read the bill.' She ultimately left the meeting early, further angering some attendees."

Opposition outcry as Italy legalises vigilante patrols

Silvio Berlusconi's government, which has already put several thousand soldiers on the streets of Italy, will tomorrow legalise vigilante patrols and set out the guidelines under which they will operate.

The plans prompted an outcry from opposition politicians and police unions, but got a mixed reception from Italy's mayors, who must decide whether they want law enforcement volunteers in their towns. An overwhelming majority of those in favour run cities in the north, where the anti-immigrant Northern League has long argued for wider use of vigilantes.

The interior minister, Roberto Maroni, a member of the Northern League, denied that the plan was to introduce vigilantism to Italy: "The decree does not create [vigilante] patrols; it regulates them."

After rejecting the scheme, Rome's mayor, Gianni Alemanno, a former neo-fascist, appears to have embraced it. The head of his council's security committee, Fabrizio Santori, said vigilantes in flurorescent jackets would be deployed in parks, outside schools and at tourist sites.

Taking advantage of a gap in existing legislation, volunteers have formed groups to carry out patrols in cities including Milan, Padua, Parma and Bologna.

Last month vigilante groups from the left and the right clashed violently in the Tuscan town of Massa Carrara.

New U.S. Embassy in Iraq cloaked in mystery

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq’s turbulent future.

The new U.S. Embassy also seems as cloaked in secrecy as the ministate in Rome.

“We can’t talk about it. Security reasons,” Roberta Rossi, a spokeswoman at the current embassy, said when asked for information about the project.

The Town Hall Mob

There’s a famous Norman Rockwell painting titled “Freedom of Speech,” depicting an idealized American town meeting. The painting, part of a series illustrating F.D.R.’s “Four Freedoms,” shows an ordinary citizen expressing an unpopular opinion. His neighbors obviously don’t like what he’s saying, but they’re letting him speak his mind.

That’s a far cry from what has been happening at recent town halls, where angry protesters — some of them, with no apparent sense of irony, shouting “This is America!” — have been drowning out, and in some cases threatening, members of Congress trying to talk about health reform...

Aesop's Fable - or fact? Meet the world's cleverest bird

As the 2000-year-old story goes, the crow filled the bucket of water with stones until the level became high enough for him to quench his thirst.

Just a fable? Apparently not. Footage shows a rook - a relation of the crow - performing the feat to reach a worm floating on the water's surface.

The study, published by Current Biology, says that crows are innovative tool users, even though they are not known to use tools in the wild.

Footage of the experiments shows the rook first assessing the water level by peering at the tube from above and from the side, before picking up and dropping the stones into the water.

The birds were extremely accurate, using the exact number of stones needed to raise the worm to a height where they could reach it.