When the school board in Odessa, the West Texas oil town, voted unanimously in April to add an elective Bible study course to the 2006 high school curriculum, some parents dropped to their knees in prayerful thanks that God would be returned to the classroom, while others assailed it as an effort to instill religious training in the public schools.

Yuck.

Bible Course Becomes a Test for Public Schools in Texas

King Fahd, the absolutist monarch of Saudi Arabia who guided his desert kingdom through swerves in the oil market, regional wars and the incessant, high-stakes scrimmage between Islamic tradition and breakneck modernization, died today, the Saudi royal court in Riyadh said. He was 82, according to his official Website.

Saudi Arabia's King Fahd Dies; Abdullah Named New Leader

There is probably no more infuriating sight for drivers than their car attached to a tow truck. But some motorists, prosecutors and lawmakers think some towers are going a little too far.

In one case here, a church's pickup was towed from its own parking lot; in another, a 4-year-old boy was towed away in his mother's car after she went inside her apartment for a few minutes to drop off groceries and a younger child.

Tow Trucks Prowl, and Authorities Crack Down

The six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis opened here today with the top American negotiator stating that the United States recognized the sovereignty of the North Korean government as a "matter of fact" and had "absolutely no intention" of launching a military attack against the Stalinist regime.

Apparently, someone in the administration finally got a clue that their old tactic wasn't working too well...

U.S. Reassures North Korea at Opening of 6-Party Talks

Five companies have agreed to pay $1.16 million in fines to settle charges of sending spam without a warning that it contains sexually explicit material, U.S. regulators said Wednesday.

FTC cracks down on porn spam

The corner of Sarah and Olive looks almost nothing as it did 25 years ago when a 19-year-old drug dealer named Quintin Moss was gunned down from a slow-moving car. The boarded-up houses have been replaced by a new townhouse development marked by sleek stone gates; the drug dealers and prostitutes are gone.

And the man convicted of the killing, Larry Griffin, was executed 10 years ago.

Yet the city's top prosecutor has decided to re-investigate the murder as if it just happened, out of new concerns that the wrong man may have been put to death for the crime.

Executed Man May Be Cleared in New Inquiry

China should use nuclear weapons against the United States if the American military intervenes in any conflict over Taiwan, a senior Chinese military official said Thursday.

Yikes! Someone needs to rein this guy in!

Chinese General Threatens Use of A-Bombs if U.S. Intrudes

janelane wrote:
Seems asinine to develop a pill for which fully 10% of the target consumers cannot afford. And then, in recognition of this fact, to make a complicated pricing system by which some people have to pay the full price and others nothing at all. I'd be interested to see the specifics of what determines who pays. I agree with the graduated pricing structure for drugs, but in the end it only serves to reinforce the overarching top-level problem that drugs are too expensive to begin with.

Drugs really are fantastically expensive (~$1B) to develop and test. Companies must be incented to make this investment. For better or worse, our government is in the business of redistributing wealth and as such, it makes a certain degree of sense that in situations like this where what you're really paying for is an intangible, i.e. patent license, the rich are made to subsidize the poor.

RE: Maker of Heart Drug Intended for Blacks Bases Price on Patients' Wealth

The company that recently broke new ground by winning federal approval for the first drug intended for African-Americans could now be entering new territory with a controversial pricing system for the medicine.

Price discrimination is not necessarily a bad thing.

Maker of Heart Drug Intended for Blacks Bases Price on Patients' Wealth

On June 27th, 2005, the Supreme Court issued a long awaited decision in MGM vs. Grokster that states that P2P software manufacturers can be held liable for the infringing activities of people who use their software.

On July 4th, 2005, Negativland, in collaboration with film maker James Gladman, issues a P2P video reply directly into P2P networks, using P2P as a distribution mechanism for new work of topical content. This new video, called NO BUSINESS, is made almost entirely out of other people's previous cultural creations.

With this holiday gesture, Negativland urges an increased concern for cultural philosophy in the Supreme Court, and more skepticism towards the presumptions of the cultural law makers of commerce.

Download this torrent right now. Watch it immediately after the torrent completes.

Definitely...

Negativland: No Business Video [torrent] (200M)