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Famed Native Rights Activist Murdered, Grandson Charged
2008-01-02 03:29:00
Nora Bernard, 72, a First Nation activist noted for bringing a 1996 class action lawsuit against the Canadian government which is worth up to $5 billion and which successfully sought compensation for native students who lost their culture and language while enrolled in the Canadian residential school system for aboriginals, was found murdered in her home in Truro, Nova Scotia on December 27. Yesterday, her grandson James Douglas Gloade, 24, was charged with her first-degree murder.
More About: Women , Crime , Canada , Rights , Grandson

New Year?s Eve Goes Green in Times Square
2008-01-01 06:15:00
When the famous crystal ball dropped at 1 Times Square last night in New York City, it celebrated its 100th anniversary by going green. The famous count-down globe has been reworked with more than 9,000 energy-efficient light-emitting diodes (LED) which only use the amount of electricity required to operate 10 toasters.
More About: Holidays , New Year , Green

Nick at Nite Helps with New Year Resolutions
2007-12-30 00:21:00
Starting on January 1, the Nick at Nite shows on the Nickelodeon TV channel will launch a pro-social “Kick One, Pick One” (KOPO), family-oriented initiative to promote healthy eating and exercise. The online campaign will include PSAs with nutritional and exercise tips and a KOPO website, where families can find healthy recipes and nutritional tips, and sign contracts to monitor their commitment to the goals of exercise, healthy eating and family time. A program to monitor family progress will be available for download at a later date.
More About: Holidays , Health , New Year , Year

Merry Christmas and Mahatma Gandhi
2007-12-25 06:35:00
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” So spoke Mahatma Gandhi of India, who introduced the 20th century to nonviolent civil disobedience
More About: Christmas , Holidays , Hindu , Merry Christmas

Asbestos-Containing CSI Fingerprint Kits Pulled from Shelves
2007-12-22 20:35:00
If you bought the “CSI: Fingerprint Examination Kit” toy for your child for Christmas, you’d better yank that one out from under the tree. The New York-based manufacturer, Planet Toys, has issued a “stop sale” notice for the product over concerns that the talc powder used to take fingerprints contains asbestos, a known carcinogen.
More About: Kits , Shelves

Santa Gives 37,000 Copies of Constitution to Bush for Christmas
2007-12-22 17:18:00
Santa Claus made an early delivery this year, stopping at the White House on Thursday to give President George W. Bush more than 37,000 copies of the U.S. Constitution which citizens want him to read before he makes his New Year’s resolutions.
More About: Christmas , Santa

Teen Dies After CIGNA Denies Liver Transplant
2007-12-22 06:21:00
Nataline Sarkisyan needed a liver transplant. But the California teenager, 17, died last night at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center without ever receiving one. A match was found weeks ago, but her insurance carrier, CIGNA HealthCare, said the procedure was “too experimental.” Now, noted attorney Mark Garagos wants to file murder or manslaughter charges against CIGNA.
More About: Michael Moore , Liver , Dies

Making a Difference at Christmas
2007-12-19 19:35:00
The skies were leaden grey, a cold wind swept across the hills and snow flurries fell on a moving scene in Arlington, Virginia on Saturday. Precisely at noon, more than 2,000 volunteers began laying 10,000 Christmas wreaths at the gravesites of servicemen from all branches of the military in Section 33 - an older, less visited section - of Arlington National Cemetery . Four wreaths were also laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. None of this would have happened were it not for Morrill Worcester, 57, of Harrington, Maine. Who?
More About: Holidays , Iraq

Protect Yourself from Identity Theft with Good Computer Security
2007-12-17 22:47:00
Pajamadeen has a Christmas present for her readers. We’re going to teach you more about personal computer security and how to protect yourself from identity theft and other cyber-ills, often with the use of free or low-cost programs.
More About: Security , Internet , Computer , Identity Theft , Theft

Hackers Penetrate Oak Ridge Nuclear Facility Security
2007-12-09 22:48:00
A cyber attack on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) near Knoxville, Tennessee , in the form of a phishing scam asking e’mail recipients to open attachments, may have stolen personal information about thousands of lab visitors, and was part of an attempt to access networks at laboratories and other institutions throughout the United States. The attack is believed to have originated in China.
More About: Security , Crime , Nuclear , Hackers

Conyers, Georgia Cops Help Robbers
2007-12-09 05:06:00
As the old saying goes, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.” As a theft deterrent, the Conyers (GA) Police Department has sent foot patrols to shopping mall parking lots. But…they’re placing yellow tickets on cars which have packages and other merchandise visible in them, to remind people that they’re easy targets for thieves. Duh.
More About: Christmas , Holidays , Crime , Georgia , Cops

MADD Canada Urges Ford to Pull Kiefer Sutherland from Ads
2007-12-09 04:08:00
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Canada wants the Ford Motor Co. of Canada to pull Emmy award-winning actor Kiefer Sutherland from his voice-overs in Ford’s advertising due to his drunk driving conviction.
More About: Britney Spears , Crime

Pearl Harbor Remembered
2007-12-08 02:50:00
My father’s been gone 10 years now, but we remember how he always recalled December 7th, the anniversary of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , as a day of great importance.
More About: World War I , Arizona

National Christmas Tree Lighting Goes Green
2007-12-07 17:59:00
With the 84th lighting of the National Christmas Tree last night by President George W. Bush in Washington, DC, the Colorado spruce, which has stood in place for 28 years, went green.
More About: Lighting , Green

Louisiana Couple Sentenced in Medical Scam
2007-12-07 15:58:00
As the old saying goes, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” And Brent Eric Finley, 38, of Rayville and his wife Stacey, knew it. But all good things must come to an end, and both now face long prison sentences for bilking family and friends out of at least $873,000 in a medical scam.
More About: Medical , Louisiana , Crime , Couple , Scam

Healthy Toys Website Helps Parents Avoid Toxic Toys
2007-12-06 23:48:00
Just in time for Christmas, a website developed by The Ecology Center of Ann Arbor, Michigan has come up with a user-friendly searchable data base where shoppers can input the names of toys to find out what, if any, chemicals or toxins such as arsenic, lead, mercury or PVC are in contemplated Christmas purchases.
More About: Website , Toys , China , Parents , Healthy

Santa Using Sign Language Delights Children
2007-12-06 20:55:00
Ron Swartz, 52, of Clarkston, Michigan, is putting the excitement back into visiting Santa Claus for hearing-impaired and deaf children.
More About: Christmas , Children , Language , Sign

Omaha Nebraska Gunman Identified
2007-12-06 05:48:00
Robert A. Hawkins, 20, of Bellevue, Nebraska , has been identified as the shooter who killed nine people - including himself - and injured five others at the Westroads Mall this afternoon in Omaha , NE.
More About: Gunman

New Diabetes Glucose-Monitoring Microchip
2007-12-05 22:56:00
An implantable RFID (radio frequency identification) microchip to continuously monitor blood sugar levels in patients with diabetes mellitus, which will remove the need for painful and expensive daily finger sticks, is under development.
More About: Diabetes , Monitoring , Croc

Entertainment News: Rapper Pimp C Dies
2007-12-05 19:25:00
Chad Butler, better known as rapper Pimp C, was found dead in his room yesterday at the Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles. The 33-year-old Texan was credited with popularizing Texas and Southern hip-hop music.
More About: News , Entertainment , Celebrities , Pimp C

Cancer Tests Cancelled Due to Nuclear Reactor Shutdown
2007-12-05 16:49:00
Tests to detect cancer in thousands of patients throughout Canada , the United States and other countries have been cancelled because the Chalk River, Ontario nuclear reactor, which produces radioisotopes for more than two-thirds of the world?s nuclear medicine imaging, has been closed for repairs.
More About: Health , Cancer , Nuclear , Reactor

O.J. Simpson Book Available Online, Goldman Sues
2007-12-04 02:00:00
A notorious Swedish website, The Pirate Bay (TPB), has made O. J. Simpson ’s book, If I Did It, available for download in its entirety, for free. Fred Goldman is suing to have the book removed from the popular file-sharing website. Goldman is the father of Ron Goldman, who was slain along with Nicole Brown Simpson in 1994. In a recent Florida court battle, a Federal judge awarded Goldman and his daughter, Kim, the rights to 90 percent of the profits from sales of the book, because the Goldman family has been unable to collect little of the $35 million civil judgment they won against Simpson. Goldman has also sued TPB for profits lost due to illegal downloads. But, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Pirate Bay says they aren’t subject to United States law. The lawsuit also alleges that Pirate Bay is receiving advertising dollars from companies such as Jamster, Target, Wal-Mart and The Wall Street Journal. Goldman’s a...
More About: Book , Online

Santa Claus Hates You T-Shirts Sell Out
2007-12-04 00:39:00
Urban Outfitters, well-known for their T-shirts and previous controversial games such as Ghettopoly, a Monopoly parody, has released a new T-shirt that would please Scrooge or the Grinch. Instead of a smiling happy Santa , the black shirt shows Santa giving the finger, with “Santa Claus Hates You” printed on the garment. Urban Outfitters refused to comment on whether they were receiving complaints about the T-shirt. But they’ve sold out in many locations, so someone must like them. Last year, the company sold a Christmas tree ornament called the “Glittering Gun,” amidst calls for a boycott of the chain. In other strange holiday news, at least one post office is requiring people who answer Dear Santa letters to provide photo identification and sign a liability waiver, due to concerns that sexual predators might answer letters that children write to Santa. According to Doylestown, PA Postmaster Eileen Wilkinson: “A corporation or nonprofit must ...
More About: Shirts , Sell , T-Shirts

Free Coffin for Next Drunk Driver
2007-12-03 16:42:00
Just in time for the holidays, a southern Maryland newspaper, St. Mary’s Today, is offering a free coffin to the next drunk driver from the Charles, Calvert and St. Mary’s County, MD region who kills themselves while drinking and driving. The text in the newspaper ad reads: “Free Coffin Giveaway to the 1st DRUNK DRIVER TO KILL THEMSELVES DURING THIS HOLIDAY DRINKING AND DRIVING SEASON! Tired of all the nagging of loved ones, stupid commercials from MADD, cops, judges and addiction counselors? Throw a final bender this Christmas and get a cheaper funeral by being the ST. MARY’S TODAY Christmas Party DWI Dead Driver Winner! We will throw in a FREE wooden coffin…however, you could just call a cab and save us the pile of scrap lumber.” Every week, Ken Rossignol, editor of the weekly paper, publishes the names and photographs of those charged with a DWI in the community. However, he feels people still aren’t getting the message. Rossignol ...
More About: Drunk

Health Canada Approves HIV-AIDS Drug
2007-12-03 02:12:00
Health Canada has approved a new HIV-AIDS drug, Isentress. The medicine, the first in a new class of medications designed to treat HIV-positive patients who have multiple resistances to other HIV drugs, is known generically as raltegravir. Isentress, manufactured by Merck-Frosst, is an integrase-inhibitor, blocking the integrase enzyme which the HIV virus needs to insert its DNA into the chromosomes of host cells. Gilead Sciences of Foster City, California is also developing eltegravir, another integrase inhibitor. Dr. Mark Wainberg, an AIDS expert and McGill University professor who practices at Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, was quoted at CTV as saying: “The amount of virus in the blood stream goes down much faster with this drug than with other drugs…I think it is a drug that has the potential to do so much good. You know, there are even things we hope we can do with it that we don’t want to talk about (yet).” Raltegravir will be used with othe...
More About: Health , Drug , Aids , Prove

Surgeon General Thinks Santa is Too Fat
2007-12-02 16:46:00
In yet another recent politically correct dig at Santa Claus, acting U.S. Surgeon General Rear Adm. Steven K. Galson told the Boston Herald on Friday that Santa Claus is too fat and is setting a bad example for children. “It is really important that the people who kids look up to as role models are in good shape, eating well and getting exercise. It is absolutely critical,” he said in the Herald interview. In recent times, Santa has been barred from putting little children in his lap and has had his pipe taken away in some locations. In Australia, he’s no longer allowed to say “ho, ho, ho,” for fear of offending morally upright women. (Kind of like how the word “gay” got co-opted in recent decades.) British Santas were recently sent to weight loss boot camp. And, according to Tim Connaghan, founder of the International University of Santa Claus, some American Santas don’t offer “Merry Christmas” greetings, for fear of ...
More About: Urge

Crazy Clinton Fan Hijacks National News
2007-12-01 17:49:00
Yesterday was a bad day for Leeland Eisenberg, 47, of Rochester, New Hampshire. Apparently as usual in his life, things didn’t go as planned. Facing an appearance in court yesterday on a domestic violence charge, the paranoid schizophrenic, who has a fondness for alcohol, instead bought some road flares and told his son to watch the afternoon news. It was a great day for Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (D-NY). Soon, nationwide media attention would focus almost exclusively on Eisenberg’s antics and Senator Clinton’s Rochester campaign headquarters. At 1:00 p.m., Eisenberg strapped the road flares to his chest and took four campaign workers hostage at Senator Clinton’s Rochester office on Main St. He told terrified hostages that the road flares were a bomb, demanding to speak to Sen. Clinton and complaining to all who would listen - including CNN, which he called several times while holed up and drinking - that he had a mental illness and wasn&rsqu...
More About: News , National , Crazy , Linton

YouTube, Yahoo Censor Human Rights Blogger
2007-11-30 19:12:00
Award-winning human rights blogger Wael Abbas, 33, of Cairo, Egypt has been silenced by both YouTube and Yahoo , causing a global outcry from human rights activists. Abbas, who won the 2007 Knight International Journalism Award for his efforts to raise standards of journalistic excellence in Egypt, has blogged at Misr Digital, or Egyptian Awareness, since 2004, covering human rights issues and supporting freedom of speech in ways not addressed by traditional Egyptian media. The Cairo resident often posts cell phone videos about torture, sexual harassment, police brutality, sit-ins, strikes and demonstrations in Egypt, which are often sent to him anonymously by people too afraid to speak out otherwise. The video which led to the YouTube and Yahoo take-down showed a police officer sodomizing an Egyptian bus driver with a stick. It helped convict two police officers of brutality - a rare occurrence in Egypt. The video is supposedly available at this Faux News link, but we can&rsquo...
More About: Youtube , Blogger , Human , Rights

Georgia Court Strikes Down Sex Offender Law
2007-11-26 01:15:00
The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a statewide law limiting where registered sex offenders can live. The 2006 statute was considered one of the toughest in the nation.
More About: Offender , Fender , Offend

Paul McCartney?s Wife Bites Hand that Feeds Her, Again
2007-11-23 19:16:00
In an interesting example of the pot calling the kettle black, Lady Heather Mills McCartney , 39, who is embroiled in a bitter divorce battle with ex-Beatle and musical superstar Sir Paul Mc Cartney, 65, castigated the rich on Wednesday. Sir Paul had offered her approximately $50 million to go away, but Lady Heather, who characterized the rich as snobbish and miserly during her rant, has upped the ante to $100 million.
More About: Wife