Category: News

  • At Trial, Flight 93 Myth Finally Becomes Reality

    At Trial, Flight 93 Myth Finally Becomes Reality

    From the Washington Post:

    It began with a muted series of thumps from a sharp knife or maybe clenched fists. The sounds were muffled but unmistakable, one body blow after another, ending with a squishy thud.

    “No, no, no, no, no. No,” came the high-pitched voice of a crew member or flight attendant being subdued. ” . . . Please, please don’t hurt me,” the person said later. ” . . . I don’t want to die.” The desperate plea, captured by the cockpit voice recorder of United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, was played to a transfixed jury yesterday at the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui.

    Here.

  • Rumsfeld Rebuked by Retired Generals

    Rumsfeld Rebuked by Retired Generals

    From the Washington Post:

    The retired commander of key forces in Iraq called yesterday for Donald H. Rumsfeld to step down, joining several other former top military commanders who have harshly criticized the defense secretary’s authoritarian style for making the military’s job more difficult.

    “I think we need a fresh start” at the top of the Pentagon, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004-2005, said in an interview. “We need leadership up there that respects the military as they expect the military to respect them. And that leadership needs to understand teamwork.”

    Here.

  • Maggots in tap wawter 'would be a warning for city'

    From Cape Times:

    If rat-tailed maggots are getting into Cape Town’s tap water, it is a warning that the water system urgently needs checking to ensure no organisms harmful to humans can get into it, entomologists say.

    Eight people in Elsies River, Grassy Park, Goodwood, Sybrand Park and Ottery have reported finding the maggots in handbasins, lavatories, near outside taps or in drains below a row of basins.

    Here.

  • Zimbabwe Minister says MDC may 'Pay Dearly'

    From the Mail & Guardian:

    Zimbabwe State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa said: “Anyone, particularly Tsvangirai, who threatens peace and stability in this country will get capital punishment … and we mean it. We maintain organs of national security such as the army to protect the stability and integrity of our country. They will be instructed to use all resources at their disposal, including guns [to stop protests].”

    In a most chilling reminder to the opposition, Mutasa added: “We have shed blood before to achieve independence. So let no one be fooled that we will fold our arms while they [the opposition] cause mayhem and violence to remove democratically elected governments. They will pay, and pay dearly.”

    Here.

  • Adventures in Testifying

    From the New York Times:

    Mostly, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales refused to answer any question that went beyond his maddeningly narrow talking points. But for anyone who has watched him in action, this was no surprise. Nor was it terribly surprising that he repeated his weak arguments for Mr. Bush to go outside the law for a program that could have been run legally. Mr. Gonzales has yet to find a stretch of presidential power he can’t excuse.

    Here.

  • Lying Through Their Teeth

    From Wired:

    Fifteen minutes later, another reporter called, and at that moment the tooth phone transformed from conversation starter to probable product. Yes, they told the reporter, they were looking to build a prototype, and, yes, possibly have it available within a year.

    That phone call launched a tech hoax whose brew of misrepresentation, obfuscatory articles and the internet created a media blitz that landed them on Time magazine’s 2002 Best Inventions list.

    Here.

  • 'The Benchwarmers': 3 Amigos of Baseball in a Yuk-fest

    'The Benchwarmers': 3 Amigos of Baseball in a Yuk-fest

    From the New York Times:

    This yuck-fest stars the hard-working Rob Schneider as Gus, a landscape gardener with a mighty baseball swing, and two dumb-and-dumber sidekicks: dumb in this case being Richie, a 39-year-old virgin with a Prince Valiant hairdo, played by David Spade with his characteristic insolent laziness; dumber being Clark, a booger-eating mama’s boy played by Jon Heder, using up the last of the 15 minutes he squeezed out of “Napoleon Dynamite.” Mr. Heder and Mr. Spade could not be less appealing; Mr. Schneider, on the other hand, is so strangely endearing here that you wish him better management.

    Here.

  • Testing the Bounds of MySpace

    From the Los Angeles Times:

    I immediately shut her site down.

    I had to ask her to do it for me.

    This is how she responded:

    “I’m really mad because it feels like you’re saying I can’t talk to my friends anymore. On MySpace, I get to talk to my friends and see people I don’t see a lot. You get to keep in touch with everyone and it’s fun. You took away my fun!”

    Here.

  • House of Horror!

    House of Horror!

    From the Daily Sun, Nigeria’s King of the Tabloids:

    A police raid on the stall of an herb seller in Osun State has turned up several human parts meant for sale.

    Oyelaran said: “We don’t kill people, we only pick up accident victims along the expressway and we also use mad people’s skull when they are dead.

    Here.

  • Boobs Enlargement?

    Boobs Enlargement?

    From the Daily Sun, Nigeria’s King of Tabloids:

    Mercy Nwokocha
    I beg, what is this fuss about breast enlargement? After all it is part of beauty technology. Ladies do it because men like you. You people push them into doing it, isn’t it? When you can’t seem to take your eyes off ladies with big boobs, isn’t that a way of encouraging others to go pump up theirs? No, no no! Don’t photograph me. I just sneaked into Lagos from school. I don’t want to appear in the newspaper. I even regret giving you my surname.

    Here.

  • Amazing world of dwarfs – their thoughts on money, sex & booze

    Amazing world of dwarfs – their thoughts on money, sex & booze

    From the Daily Sun, Nigeria’s King of the Tabloids:

    Jokingly, the three cleaned your chair, making exaggerated motions. You ordered booze. As the booze, a mixture of Gulder, Star beer, and Small Stout, began to roll out, the gist of their sex life began to flow. Other dwarfs sensed what was afoot and quickly joined.

    Here.

  • Threat of Shiite Militias Now Seen as Iraq's Most Critical Challenge

    From the Washington Post:

    Shiite Muslim militias pose the greatest threat to security in many parts of Iraq, having killed more people in recent months than the Sunni Arab-led insurgency, and will likely present the most daunting and critical challenge for Iraq’s new government, U.S. military and diplomatic officials say.

    Assassinations, many carried out by Shiite gunmen against Sunni Arabs in Baghdad and elsewhere, accounted for more than four times as many deaths in March as bombings and other mass-casualty attacks, according to military data. And most officials agree that only a small percentage of shooting deaths are ever reported.

    Here.

  • The Iran Plans

    From The New Yorker, Seymour Hersh, Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb?:

    Other European officials expressed similar skepticism about the value of an American bombing campaign. “The Iranian economy is in bad shape, and Ahmadinejad is in bad shape politically,” the European intelligence official told me. “He will benefit politically from American bombing. You can do it, but the results will be worse.” An American attack, he said, would alienate ordinary Iranians, including those who might be sympathetic to the U.S. “Iran is no longer living in the Stone Age, and the young people there have access to U.S. movies and books, and they love it,” he said. “If there was a charm offensive with Iran, the mullahs would be in trouble in the long run.”
    Another European official told me that he was aware that many in Washington wanted action. “It’s always the same guys,” he said, with a resigned shrug. “There is a belief that diplomacy is doomed to fail. The timetable is short.”

    Here.

  • This Sylvia Blyden nut-case just won't keep her rebel mouth shut

    This Sylvia Blyden nut-case just won't keep her rebel mouth shut

    Here is why you come to this blog.

    From Cocorioko, Sierra Leone’s biggest and most widely read newspaper online:

    Foday Sankoh’s Ex-Press Secretary , Sylvia Blyden , just would not leave COCORIOKO alone. Just when we have forgotten that she exists, she will attack us again. For those appealing to us to leave her alone in her mire, what do you say ? This psychotic woman really wants attention . She will always find a way to get at us. Why is she so envious of COCORIOKO ? WHY WON’T SHE JUST LEAVE US ALONE ?

    Here.

  • Whistle-Blower Outs NSA Spy Room

    From Wired:

    “Despite what we are hearing, and considering the public track record of this administration, I simply do not believe their claims that the NSA’s spying program is really limited to foreign communications or is otherwise consistent with the NSA’s charter or with FISA,” Klein’s wrote. “And unlike the controversy over targeted wiretaps of individuals’ phone calls, this potential spying appears to be applied wholesale to all sorts of internet communications of countless citizens.”

    Here.

  • Dozens die in Iraq mosque attack

    Dozens die in Iraq mosque attack

    From the BBC:

    He said one assailant had entered the mosque through the women’s security checkpoint and had blown themselves up first, while a second had rushed into the mosque’s courtyard and a third to his office before detonating themselves.

    Shias were being targeted “as part of this dirty sectarian war waged against them as the world watches silently,” he was reported as saying.

    Here.

  • Cult Leader Offering Resurrections Held

    From the Moscow Times:

    A cult leader who promised to resurrect children killed in the Beslan school attack has been detained on suspicion of fraudulently obtaining money from parents of the victims, Moscow prosecutors said Thursday.

    Police detained Grigory Grabovoi during a seance Wednesday evening at the Kosmos Hotel in northeast Moscow. Around 30 followers tried to prevent the police from taking him away, but police were able to take him out through a back entrance, NTV reported.

    Here.

  • Somali pirates demand $400,000 for release of ship

    From the Mail & Guardian:

    “I can personally say that $400 000 would be acceptable, a fine offer on both sides,” said the elder, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “This is not a ransom but a fine for illegally fishing in Somalia.”

    Here.

  • Warrantless Wiretaps Possible in U.S.

    Warrantless Wiretaps Possible in U.S.

    From the Washington Post:

    “I’m not going to rule it out,” US Attorney General Gonzales said.

    In the past, Gonzales and other officials refused to say whether they had the legal authority to conduct warrantless eavesdropping on domestic calls, and have stressed that the NSA eavesdropping program is focused only on international communications.

    Here.

  • War Lives on at Museum of the Macabre

    From the Washington Post:

    More than 200,000 Chinese filed through the remains of Japan’s notorious Unit 731 here last year, visiting the ghosts of World War II. In exhibits mounted throughout the bleak headquarters building, they saw wrenching descriptions of biological warfare experiments carried out on thousands of Chinese prisoners from 1939 to 1945.

    The phrase “Do not forget us” has been inscribed on the wall of one room, where visitors can see the names and photos of some of those who received botulism injections, were made to suffer frostbite or had their internal organs removed by Japanese military doctors.

    Here.