Gerberding's report said, use of the VSD for an ecological study now, comparing autism rates before and after the removal of most mercury from vaccines, "would be uninformative and potentially misleading."

In other words, the studies that CDC has based their "no vaccine-autism link" statements on are useless. Wow.

David Kirby: CDC: Vaccine Study Design "Uninformative and Potentially Misleading"

The school board of a small central Ohio community voted unanimously Friday to fire a teacher accused of preaching his Christian beliefs despite staff complaints and using a device to burn the image of a cross on students' arms.

That's ALL???

Ohio board votes to ax teacher accused of branding - Yahoo! News

An Alabama minister who died in June of "accidental mechanical asphyxia" was found hogtied and wearing two complete wet suits, including a face mask, diving gloves and slippers, rubberized underwear, and a head mask, according to an autopsy report. Investigators determined that Rev. Gary Aldridge's death was not caused by foul play and that the 51-year-old pastor of Montgomery's Thorington Road Baptist Church was alone in his home at the time he died (while apparently in the midst of some autoerotic undertaking).

Safe sex, aside from the "he's dead" part. If this were less common it might be Darwin worthy, but the punchline is he graduated from Liberty University and later worked for the late Jerry Falwell. A former colleague at the school remembered him as well.

Dead Reverend's Rubber Fetish - October 8, 2007

In the past two years, I have spoken with two investigating magistrates in two different European nations, both pro-Iraq war NATO allies. Both were assembling war crimes charges against a small group of Bush administration officials. "You can rest assured that no charges will be brought before January 20, 2009," one told me. And after that? "It depends. We don't expect extradition. But if one of the targets lands on our territory or on the territory of one of our cooperating jurisdictions, then we'll be prepared to act."

Farewell tour of Europe is right. People from the White House try to go back, they get to see prison grey.

Travel Advisory

"I really don't have much of an opinion of his coming," said Lashawn Baker, 33, whose family was just starting to clean her flooded home in a southwest Cedar Rapids neighborhood. "It took him a long time to get to New Orleans and he didn't help any of those people, so I don't think he's going to do anything to help Cedar Rapids now that he's here."

I think this is more telling than the spin the White House is trying to put out. Three years after Katrina and New Orleans is still trashed. I don't think Iowa will be like New Orleans, I think there is a cultural difference between Iowa and N'awlens (which is one of the reasons people go south for Mardi Gras, not to Iowa) and they'll simply rebuild because they will. They got displaced down the road, not 300 miles away.

What they won't get is meaningful help from Washington. They'll send emergency money, which will get eaten up by fly-by-night crap companies, and none of it will actually go where it's needed. Bush has made promises for years. They keep turning out to be worth less than the air used to make them.

Bush promises help for flood-weary Iowans

From March 1 to June 18, 2008, Operation Malicious Mortgage resulted in 144 mortgage fraud cases in which 406 defendants were charged. Yesterday, 60 arrests were made in mortgage fraud-related cases in 15 districts. Charges in Operation Malicious Mortgage cases were brought in every region of the United States and in more than 50 judicial districts by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices based upon the law enforcement and investigative efforts of participating law enforcement agencies. The FBI estimates that approximately $1 billion in losses were inflicted by the mortgage fraud schemes employed in these cases.

They're about 4 years late on starting this one. And luv the name! What's next? Operation Gang Bang going after porn people? How about Operation Executive Decision going after the White House for violating their oaths of office?

Federal Bureau of Investigation - Operation Malicious Mortgage

To defend itself against a lawsuit by the widows of three American soldiers who died on one of its planes in Afghanistan, a sister company of the private military firm Blackwater has asked a federal court to decide the case using the Islamic law known as Shari’a.

WTF??? What? How? Why?

If the judge agrees, it would essentially end the lawsuit over a botched flight supporting the U.S. military. Shari’a law does not hold a company responsible for the actions of employees performed within the course of their work.

Oh, well gee, we aren't responsible because it was our employees, not the company.

Guys, here's a short pier, take a long walk off it. Oh those fins? Those are... dolphins! Yeah! Dolphins! And they want to play in the water with you! It'll be a blast!

Blackwater: Apply Sharia law in US Courts!

Torture "is basically subject to perception," CIA counterterrorism lawyer Jonathan Fredman told a group of military and intelligence officials gathered at the U.S.-run detention camp in Cuba on Oct. 2, 2002, according to minutes of the meeting. "If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong."

Well no shit Sherlock. Does anyone still question whether what we were doing at Abu Ghraib, Bagram or Gitmo was torture? How can that still be in question? Because Georgie said we don't and the President wouldn't lie to us? When has he told the truth?

CIA Played Larger Role In Advising Pentagon - washingtonpost.com

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Justice Department lawyers had brought what is known as a grand jury referral focusing on possible perjury by Bradley J. Schlozman, who was acting head of the civil rights division in 2003.

Yep, this loser. We're quite familiar with him here in Missouri where he acted against DoJ practice to try to throw the 2006 election in favor of his party while acting US Attorney over in Kansas City. See ya Brad, we don't miss you.

Grand Jury Said to Look at Attorneys’ Dismissals - NYTimes.com

The U.S. military hid the locations of suspected terrorist detainees and concealed harsh treatment to avoid the scrutiny of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to documents that a Senate committee released Tuesday.

If we're going to continue to use "War on Terror" we have lost. The point of such "quaint" things like the Constitution and Geneva Conventions are to give concrete examples of what we stand for as opposed to sinking into barbarism.

The current administration has failed at every level, and this news, and the approval of these policies at the highest levels of American government, is a disgrace.

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 06/18/2008 | Documents confirm U.S. hid detainees from Red Cross