BEIJING — An incident where a Chinese submarine surfaced close to a U.S. carrier group was not threatening but highlighted the need for more communication and transparency between the two militaries, a top U.S. naval commander said Friday. The potentially volatile incident came to light as Adm. Gary Roughead, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, [...]

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The tabloid news this week had shown Angelina Jolie’s Bodyguard roughing up yet another person, this time a group of parents at a school in India. This time the Bodyguard was arrested and hauled off to Jail,  eliciting a “we don’t condone this  type of behavior apology from Pitt. There was no such apology when [...]

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by Craig Dimitri On Saturday, November 18, the showdown between traditional archrivals Ohio State and Michigan, will be overshadowed by the passing of legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler.  The fans of both schools, while mourning his passing, will nonetheless enjoy an afternoon of high-stakes football, taking place over approximately three hours, and with a conclusive [...]

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By Pa Nderry M’Bai “I feel really elevated. I’m dedicating the award to the entire journalism fraternity in the Gambia. It’s a national award. What I will tell the journalists in the Gambia, is to keep pushing the pen and be very professional in the way they do their job.” These were the words of [...]

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by Craig Dimitri Two Ohio Republicans may have survived the Democratic storm surge that flooded the state on November 7, when Democratic gubernatorial and U.S. Senate candidates crushed their GOP opponents.  One is quasi-freshman Rep. Jean Schmidt, the other is long-time Rep. Deborah Pryce.  Let’s talk about Schmidt, first… Schmidt currently enjoys a solid (but by no [...]

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This case is interesting. A judge supported a homeowners association rule that a couple cannot smoke in their own townhouse. First of all, I’m very much into smokers rights. I despise smoking bans and pretty much all “for your own good” legislation. But the issue here isn’t smoking; it’s the right of homeowners associations to control [...]

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Like claims the U.S. was responsible for 9/11 and Republicans were fixing gas prices, the media promoted the left-wing electronic vote-rigging conspiracy. Now that the votes have been cast and counted, Republicans lost, and the silence of the national media has been deafening. The idea was that somehow the company Diebold had programmed the machines [...]

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“I just think it’s time to go back to square one and say, ‘OK, what is the problem here?’ ” said Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day. “Why isn’t accountability and fiscal conservatism and a smaller government not resonating as it did in the past?” Well, I think I can answer that one for [...]

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News Item: Celeb royalty arrive for Tom-Kat wedding This will be all over the news this weekend, so let’s get it out of the way now.  Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes will be tying the knot in Italy on Saturday, and the glitterati are arriving in droves.  One minor kink in the affair is that [...]

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Cops in Seattle are taking their fight to a whole new medium: ads on craigslist. Craig’s List is a popular no frills website service that allows users to post free classified ads, millions of users browse the site daily. Most of them are looking for general services, products or employment from other users but there [...]

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It was a step forward for open government when the Champaign County Circuit Clerk’s office started making court records available online through their website. However, not all records should be put online, such as the name and address of victims of rape. Sheena Smith of the Orange and Blue Observer originally reported that if you [...]

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I’ve previously argued that the McDonald’s coffee case was just as bad as the general public thought it was, despite some intellectuals’ desire to make excuses for it. Even if the coffee was hotter than competitors’, well, the point of a free market is to have a variety of products available. The woman balanced what [...]

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University police officers used a Taser on a student repeatedly during an altercation at the UCLA library at 11:30pm November 15th. There was a video made by one of the students who captured only the end of the altercation with the student shouting profanities at the police and then screaming in pain when he was [...]

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This story pretty much speaks for itself. It seems that conservatives give more to charity than liberals do. Even after controlling for income — some studies, like those finding red states as a whole give a higher percent of income than blue states do, have failed to do that. (Others then counter-argued that people who [...]

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As you may have noticed, my entries have been mostly commentary as opposed to actual news. I’m not sure why that is, but if you all don’t mind, I’ll keep on this vein until something newsworthy happens that I can report on. I’ve done my time in line…between traffic jams, check out lines, restroom lines, [...]

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Cape Cod, MA Fashion writer Christa Worthington, 46, was found murdered in her Truro, MA home on January 6th, 2002. She was naked from the waist down and had a stab wound to her chest. She was found lying in a pool of blood with her then 2 year old daughter Ava clutching onto her. [...]

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From the length and breadth of the UK – and several other places besides – UK Podcasters prepare to assemble for November 18th’s PodcastCon, the UK eqivalent of the Podcast Expo, held this year in Shoreditch, London. Sponsored by Cheeze Media, the adventurous and podcaster-friendly digital agency headed by Jamie Riddell (accent on the second [...]

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South Australia is set to follow the US State of Arkansas by banning smoking in cars when children are present – and has taken the ban even further. Where Arkansas has a US$25.00 fine for smoking in a car prohibits smoking in a car that is carrying a child who is required to be restrained [...]

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Elton John Interview In a special “gay edition,” pop icon Elton John spoke with England’s Music Monthly Magazine’s Jake Shears. Openly gay and in a civil partnership with film director David Furnish, Elton John shared his views on sexuality, the War in Iraq, world violence, and Tony Blair. Referring to world violence, particularly the war [...]

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Tom Cruise and Katie (I’m only a Partial Sciencetologist!)  Holmes are  throwing a big shin-dig  wedding in Braccioano, Italy, a sleepy little town outside of Rome that somehow got stuck in a medieval time-warp.  It sports the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle which is a hooty tooty joint for the jet set to have their exclusive weddings [...]

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I recently did a post wondering if sites reselling gift cards would create an additional avenue for dishonest people to commit fraud. After all – gift card fraud – isn’t new and eBay limits the sales of them on their sites because of the criminal activity associated with them. The main reason eBay limited the [...]

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by Craig Dimitri Heading into the election, one of the Republicans perceived to be vulnerable, was Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico.  But she always wins; after replacing a deceased Republican in 1998, she has won four terms in her own right.  In 2002 and 2004, she easily defeated her Democratic challengers, winning by nearly [...]

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Fresh perspectives on today’s news by: Whymrhymer In 2005, a “high-level” study group known as the Alliance of Civilizations was formed at the behest of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Prime Ministers of Spain (José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero) and Turkey (Recep Tayyip Erdog). The mission of the study group was to analyze conflicts around [...]

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A Detroit man was arrested earlier this week in Detroit Metropolitan Airport after he was found to be carrying $78,000, a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide. The man is an unemployed US citizen named Sisayehiticha Dinssa from the Dallas area and was on his way to Phoenix. Dinssa was stopped in [...]

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News Item: Activist discovers hog head on porch Alene Ammond of Cherry Hill was a little more than surprised when she opened her front door and saw a pig head looking up at her.  There are no clues so far as to why the pig head was there, or why a pig head was chosen, [...]

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News Item: Activist discovers hog head on porch Alene Ammond of Cherry Hill was a little more than surprised when she opened her front door and saw a pig head looking up at her.  There are no clues so far as to why the pig head was there, or why a pig head was chosen, [...]

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    The Playstation 3 Mania has hit frenzied pitch folks.  The long lines.  The media hype-o-rama.  Now the muggings.  Yes, the muggings. And shootings.    In Putnam, Conn two men in masks robbed the crowd waiting in line for their precious Playstation III.  One console fan resisted and was shot as a result.  The [...]

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In what is being called the first case of ‘internet rape’, 36 year old Adrian Ringland of England has been arrested after an investigation discovered he was using his computer to terrorize underage girls on both sides of the Atlantic. Ringland started his game by posing as a teenager in chat rooms to find underage [...]

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by Craig Dimitri On Friday, November 17 – ten days after the election that propelled Democrats to take control of both houses of Congress – there were still six Republican-held districts, where the GOP is poised to retain control: five incumbents and the Republican candidate in a Florida open seat. Of the 435 House seats, 428 now have certified winners, after Rep. [...]

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Allstate using astrological signs to predict drivers’ accident probability?   Allstate recently published an advertisement stating they did research on which horoscope signs were historically the best and worst drivers.  They claim they were just using this as a fun ad campaign  and won’t use the data to increase rates.  With the way things are [...]

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Sacha Baron Cohen has come out of character to defend Borat. One has to wonder why, because he adds virtually nothing to the debate. The only worthwhile thing he says is that the people who sang “Throw the Jew Down the Well” in the bar weren’t necessarily anti-Semitic, just not vigilant enough about anti-Semitism. That’s [...]

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Visibly irritated by all the lousy women parkers like herself out there, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed the introduction of smaller cars in Germany to make parking less of an ordeal for Frauen (girls) and those who have to watch them. Park, I mean. Political realist that she is, however – a tough year [...]

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The new book  “If I did it”  by O.J. Simpson is garnering headlines in anticipation of its release On November 30th.  An upcoming interview of Simpson on the Fox Television Network is to follow. A number of issues have been raised regarding this book, other than the obvious is it a confession? When Simpson was found [...]

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I remember the case vividly. One of my patients showed up in the Emergency room complaining of “something hanging out down there”. A quick exam showed what I feared. The uterus had opened, and the umbillical cord of the baby was hanging out. Standard procedure with these things is to get a nurse to put [...]

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Warren Throckmorton, PhD Eat right. Wear seatbelts. Avoid cigarettes. Use sunscreen. Yearly, thousands of college kids hear this wisdom from their university health services and wellness professors. However, it is unlikely that these same students will hear this gem: “Casual sexual liaisons on college campuses are hazardous, especially for young women. Medically and psychologically, it’s [...]

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The Internal Revenue Service said it has more than $2.2 million in unclaimed tax refund checks just waiting for Commonwealth taxpayers to pick up as soon as they update their mailing addresses. The IRS said Thursday there’s an average $1,254 waiting for more than 1,800 taxpayers whose refund checks were returned to the IRS as [...]

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Attention – Due To Allegations of Plagiarism, This Article Is Highly Suspect  Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie’s India visit will certainly remain an affair to remember. Though for all the wrong reasons.  Since the actress’ arrival in India to shoot for A Mighty Heart, her bodyguards have been constantly running into trouble with people wherever Jolie’s [...]

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Attention – Due To Allegations of Plagiarism, This Article Is Highly Suspect The US Senate approved long-stalled legislation on Thursday that is a key step toward India-US nuclear cooperation for the first time in three decades.   The vote was 85 to 12 after the Republican-led Senate defeated a handful of amendments that India said [...]

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