blog-heap o' links
An
Austrian scuba diver died after a shark bit his leg in the Bahamas...
Federal wildlife managers said Thursday they want to increase by
more than 20-fold the amount of land designated as critical habitat for the
threatened Canada lynx, to nearly 43,000 square miles in six states... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:47:43At
least 600 rare Himalayan goats that provide the soft wool for Kashmir's prized
Pashmina shawls have died of starvation... thousands more goats face death
after their desert habitat was blanketed with snow during the region's heaviest
snowfall in 30 years... hosted.ap.org/ ... 16:43:54
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas... When tourists found a 5-inch
green sea turtle bloody and missing three of her flippers, the people who run a
hospital for the endangered animals here gave her little chance of survival.
But the turtle persevered, thanks to injections of antibiotics and a forced
diet of squid. Somehow, she swam with just one flipper, even though she can
only move in counterclockwise circles and has to push her now 10-pound body off
the bottom with her head to breathe... Now, her caregivers hope to make her
what's believed to be the first sea turtle fitted with a prosthetic flipper...
Army Spc. Orlando
A. Perez, 23, of Houston, died Feb. 24 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered
from small arms fire during dismounted operations. He was assigned to the 2nd
Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.defenselink.mil/ ... 00:54:46Army Spc. Micheal
E. Phillips, 19, of Ardmore, Okla., died Feb. 24 in Baghdad, Iraq, from
wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He
was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat
Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky. defenselink.mil/ ... 00:54:33Army Spc. Kevin
S. Mowl, 22, of Pittsford, N.Y., died Feb. 25 at the National Naval Medical
Center, Bethesda, Md., of wounds suffered in Baghdad, Iraq on Aug. 2, 2007,
when the vehicle he was in encountered an improvised explosive device. He was
assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade
Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis Wash. 
In an interview with ABC News' Cynthia McFadden to air on
this evening's "Nightline," Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., says it's tougher for
her to run as a woman than it is for her male opponent... sfgate.com/ ...
23:19:44Editorial... You can't be serious, Ralph... Ralph Nader sure
knows how to marginalize his candidacy for president: He picked a brooding,
far-left running mate who couldn't get elected mayor of San Francisco... boston.com/ ... 23:09:17Ralph
Nader... announced his running mate... Matt Gonzalez... In 2000, he won a seat
on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first Green Party
candidate to get elected in the city by the bay. The Texas-born activist and
lawyer previously lost a race for district attorney in 1999, then lost a race
for San Francisco mayor in 2003... Nader, whom many Democrats blame for costing
Al Gore the White House in 2000, has insisted he did not swing that race... He
has also criticized Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for voting to
fund the war in Iraq and to increase the military budget opposing a
single-payer, government-run healthcare system, supporting nuclear power, and
for not advocating sweeping changes in US policy in the Middle East... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:46:34
Hillary Clinton has lost a prominent black supporter,
Democratic Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, to her rival Barack
Obama. The defection comes the day after the two main Democratic presidential
candidates clashed in a TV debate... 
16-foot python stalked a
family dog for days before swallowing the pet whole in front of horrified
children in the Australian tropics... "The lady who was there threw some
plastic chairs at the snake, but you've got to remember that this is about 50
kilograms (110 pounds) of aggressive muscle..." will soon be relocated...
breitbart.com/ ... 21:59:03for at
least one species of male spider: playing dead... strategy that works best...
to score with the ladies... 
Dayton [Ohio]
police and U.S. marshals called for backup from animal control when they found
two alligators instead of the suspected probation violator they were after...
apnews.myway.com/ ... 21:57:06
LOS ANGELES... Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday
signed one of the nation's toughest laws on pet sterilization, requiring most
dogs and cats to be spayed or neutered by the time they are 4 months old...
The photo of a Muslim-garbed Barack Obama that appeared
on the Internet likely won't have any negative impact on him - but could damage
Hillary Rodham Clinton, experts said yesterday... newsday.com/ ... 21:41:50Hillary Rodham Clinton often invokes her "35 years of
experience making change" on the campaign trail, recounting her work in the
1970s on behalf of battered and neglected children and impoverished legal-aid
clients. But there is a little-known episode Clinton doesn't mention in her
standard campaign speech in which those two principles collided. In 1975, a
27-year-old Hillary Rodham, acting as a court-appointed attorney, attacked the
credibility of a 12-year-old girl in mounting an aggressive defense for an
indigent client accused of rape in Arkansas - using her child development
background to help the defendant. The case offers a glimpse into the way
Clinton deals with crisis. Her approach, then and now, was to immerse herself
in even unpleasant tasks with a will to win, an attitude captured in one of her
favorite aphorisms: "Bloom where you're planted..." Marine Lance Cpl.
Drew W. Weaver, 20, of St. Charles, Mo., died Feb. 21 while conducting
combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Light
Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary
Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif. defenselink.mil/ ... 14:24:32Army Spc.
Keisha M. Morgan, 25, of Washington, D.C., died Feb. 22 in
Baghdad, Iraq, of a non-combat related cause. She was assigned to the Division
Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. The
circumstances are under investigation. 
Republican John McCain quickly denounced the comments of
a radio talk show host who while warming up a campaign crowd referred
repeatedly to Barack Hussein Obama and called the Democrat a "hack,
Chicago-style" politician... blogs.abcnews.com/ ...
10:23:18[Regarding the NYT story on McCain] Huckabee said, "...In fact,
if anything it's helped John McCain and I'm kind of hoping the New York Times
will take me on and run a nasty front page story -- may be the best thing that
could happen to me, certainly was to him..." washingtontimes.com/ ...
10:21:55Members of Washington's military and defense establishment
are expressing trepidation about Sen. Barack Obama... But his backers,
including a former Air Force chief of staff, say the rookie senator believes in
a strong military, and with it, a larger Army and Marine Corps... thesmokinggun.com/ ...
10:14:37Pennsylvania man allegedly stabbed his brother-in-law in the
stomach after the pair quarreled about their respective support of Democratic
presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton... blogs.abcnews.com/ ...
10:10:57During a Monday interview with ABC's Dallas affiliate,
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., did not flatly deny the DrudgeReport's charge
that her campaign forwarded a photo of rival Barack Obama in traditional
African dress. She then turned the tables [one of
her favorite evasive tactics] on her Democratic rival and accused him of
using the controversy to distract the public's attention from deficiencies in
his platform and experience... "I know nothing about it,"
Clinton told ABC affiliate WFAA. "This is in the public domain. But let's just
stop and ask yourself: 'Why are you -- why is anybody concerned about
this?'..." [Because of what it says about CLINTONS!] news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:09:44A photo of US
presidential candidate Barack Obama wearing Somali clothing is causing a storm
after it got released to the Drudge Report website... These are the normal
clothes that nomadic people wear... The head turban is especially used by
elderly people as a suggestion of respect. It is something that has no meaning
whatsoever in Somalia culture... There is no religious significance to it
whatsoever... Army Sgt. Conrad
Alvarez, 22, of Big Spring, TexasArmy Cpl. Albert Bitton, 20, of
ChicagoArmy
Spc. Micheal B. Matlock, Jr., 21, of Glen Burnie, Md.Army Staff Sgt.
Bryant W. Mackey, 30, of Eureka, Kan., died Feb. 20 in Mosul, Iraq, of
wounds suffered when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle. He was
assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol, with
assistance from a Joplin police drug-sniffing dog, found 1,100 pounds of
marijuana in a tractor trailer Feb. 15 on Interstate 44... seattletimes.nwsource.com/ ...
17:08:45YAKIMA
— More than 600 pounds of marijuana valued at $5.4 million has been
seized... simultaneous raids on two houses... Two brothers and a woman were
arrested... Three children ages 2, 10 and 17 in Yakima and an infant from the
Wenas-area house have been placed with relatives... ketv.com/ ... 17:07:48trooper seized nearly 84 pounds of marijuana
from a vehicle... found in two black suitcases in the rear cargo area of the
minivan... estimated street value of $84,000... knbc.com/ ... 17:07:05STANTON, Calif. -- A man was arrested Friday
in Stanton when authorities responding to a hang-up 911 call discovered what
they believe to be an indoor marijuana growing operation... 911 call...
apparently made by a computer in the home... "What set the computer off, we
don't know..." stuff.co.nz/ ... 17:06:27Police
found cannabis plants and seedlings, methamphetamine, and a stun gun in a raid
on an Upper Hutt house this morning... ap.google.com/ ... 17:06:16Marijuana is now the
biggest source of income for Mexico's drug cartels and the U.S. is committed to
cracking down harder on traffickers, U.S. drug czar John Walters said
Thursday... [And DOES this tell John that we need repeal... Repeal..!
REPEAL!!!??? Of course not.] Yesterday's inflammatory story, which used anonymous
sources to forward nine-year-old allegations from his first presidential run
suggesting an improper relationship by John McCain with a female
telecommunications lobbyist, received prominent front-page placement;
today's follow-up on McCain's press conference was
relegated to page 20... politico.com/ ... 17:03:11Sen. John
McCain’s presidential campaign claimed vindication Thursday night after a
sophisticated 24-hour counterattack turned a potentially lethal story in The
New York Times into a conservative call to arms... It was a vivid illustration
of the power of the longstanding anti-media grievance among conservatives...
nypost.com/ ... 17:01:42Hillary Rodham Clinton's free-spending campaign blew a
whopping $95,000 at a low-end supermarket-deli chain last month in Iowa - a
telling sign of why she can no longer cut the mustard financially against
Barack Obama in critical states... nytimes.com/ ... 17:01:12Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s latest campaign
finance report, published Wednesday night, appeared even to her most stalwart
supporters and donors to be a road map of her political and management
failings. Several of them, echoing political analysts, expressed concerns that
Mrs. Clinton’s spending priorities amounted to costly errors in judgment
that have hamstrung her competitiveness against Senator Barack Obama of
Illinois... news.yahoo.com/ ...
00:05:35Hillary Rodham Clinton accused presidential rival Barack Obama
of political plagiarism Thursday night, but drew boos from a Democratic debate
audience when she ridiculed him as the candidate of "change you can Xerox."
Obama dismissed the charge out of hand, then turned the jeers to applause when
he countered, "What we shouldn't be spending time doing is tearing each other
down. We should be spending time lifting the country up..."
Scientists have found the fossil of a new herbivorous
dinosaur species that stood five meters (5.5 yards) high and lived 60 million
years ago... long-necked sauropod... Experience with 4,000
Medical Marijuana Patients... This article will indicate some 25 or more
diseases for which it is efficacious... washingtonpost.com/ ...
00:09:35Most
senior citizens spend their birthdays surrounded by family, enjoying their
grandchildren. Authorities say Rodell Cole spent his 72nd birthday Tuesday
making a drug run, hauling nearly $1.4 million in marijuana in the trunk of a
silver 2007 Toyota Camry along the Eastern Seaboard. "In today's society,
people just do things that you'd never imagine," New Carrollton Police Chief
David G. Rice said... was traveling from New York City to North Carolina with
eight drug-filled garbage bags that were stuffed into two large black duffel
bags... backed into a 1994 Nissan Sentra as he was leaving a 7-Eleven... has
cataracts in his left eye... was driving on a suspended South Carolina
license... 152.6 pounds of marijuana... Barack has been crowned Name of the Year by Laura
Wattenberg, creator of Baby Name Wizard, a popular online trend-tracking tool
for parents-to-be at IVillage.com, offering instant advice in the crucial
baby-name derby... blogs.abcnews.com/ ...
00:04:36Sen. Hillary Clinton took a swipe at her daughter's
profession today at an economic roundtable discussion at a restaurant in Parma,
Ohio, suggesting wealthy investment bankers and hedge fund managers on Wall
Street aren't doing real 'work.' The former first lady's daughter, Chelsea
Clinton, works for New York-based hedge fund Avenue Capital Group. She
previously worked in New York for McKinsey & Company, her first job after
graduating with her master's degree from Oxford University...
Gorillas Photographed Mating Face-to-Face -- A First...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 23:10:49
A
70-million-year-old fossil of a giant frog has been unearthed in Madagascar by
a team of UK and US scientists. The creature would have been the size of a
"squashed beach ball" and weighed about 4kg (9lb)... nicknamed Beelzebufo or
"frog from hell", was "strikingly different" from present-day frogs found on
the island nation... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 23:10:04The subterranean secrets
of badgers have been revealed by a BBC film crew.... Never-before-seen
behaviour was filmed, including the badgers diligently making their beds each
evening before leaving the setts for a night of foraging... 
Sperm defects caused by
exposure to environmental toxins can be passed down the generations, research
suggests... Scientists say fathers who smoke and drink should be aware they are
potentially not just damaging themselves, but also their heirs...
A team from the University of Idaho in Moscow tested the
effects of a hormone-disrupting fungicide chemical called vinclozolin on
embryonic rats... Routine traffic stop leads
to marijuana arrest... [Routine? Probably a lie....] failed to dim her
headlights... [Driver] allegedly told police she had "weed" in her pocket after
she failed sobriety tests... baristanet.com/ ... 14:43:10it was revealed that three
students en route to school that morning, had eaten home-made bran muffins
laced with marijuana... eagletribune.com/ ... 14:42:32N.H. debates marijuana
decriminalization; Ex-Salem officer, Kingston rep. back bill... If passed, people caught with a quarter ounce of pot would
receive a ticket and a maximum $200 fine... [DECRIM IS NOT STILLCRIM!
REPEAL! REPEAL! REPEAL!] pr.cannazine.co.uk/ ... 14:41:38Cannabis fixed penalty?
124,000 doctors disagree... adaeveningnews.com/ ...
14:40:42Ada
[Oklahoma] police arrested eight people including one juvenile Thursday in
connection with marijuana... Officer... responded to a call about possible
marijuana use... arrived on scene and reportedly could smell marijuana smoke
coming from a residence... knocked on the door and when a man answered, he
smelled a strong odor of burnt marijuana coming from inside the house. He asked
the man if he was smoking marijuana and his reply was yes... theargus.co.uk/ ... 14:39:46When police tried to smash
their way into Britain's most fortified cannabis café for a fifth time
on Thursday, nobody really expected it to be closed down. Why would they?
During previous raids, only five arrests had ever been made, resulting in no
prosecutions and only trace amounts of cannabis being recovered. Is it now time
for the law to turn a blind eye, asks reporter MILES GODFREY, who has visited
the café... telegraph.co.uk/ ... 14:39:08Tens of thousands of
people caught with a single joint of cannabis will get an unofficial criminal
record that could blight their future employment prospects under new police
proposals, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. The new powers are likely to form
part of a summer crackdown on the drug amid concerns about the spiralling
mental health toll from super-strength "skunk" cannabis, which now accounts for
80 per cent of the UK market... [Another epidemic of Moral Hysteria sweeps
the UK...] aftenposten.no/ ... 14:38:08Police found more cannabis
greenhouse operations in otherwise ordinary Norwegian neighbourhoods over the
weekend, and now they're following the scent of links among them all... sciencedaily.com/ ... 14:37:10Patients with fibromyalgia
treated with a synthetic form of marijuana, nabilone, showed significant
reductions in pain and anxiety in a first-of-its-kind study... U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama
slipped away for a private meeting with former rival John Edwards on Sunday to
seek his endorsement as the Illinois senator and Hillary Clinton battle for
Wisconsin... firstread.msnbc.msn.com/ ...
14:10:34
CANTON, OH... Throughout the event, as [Bill] Clinton made
his case for his wife, Holeman’s dissenting voice could be heard. At times
he simply shouted Obama’s name. When Clinton would set up a sure applause
line, Holeman could be heard heckling. As soon as Clinton finished speaking,
the Canton native made a beeline to the ropeline to give Clinton a piece of his
mind... "I asked the president to please stop the bickering between the
campaigns..." Holeman said that Clinton responded by saying Obama came after
him first. Holeman also described Clinton’s reaction to him as "irate." "I
think he even hit me in the face with his hand," he said. "He did give me a
little pop. It was okay, because I understand his tenacity for his wife."
Clinton did engage Holeman for a few minutes, at times pointing directly at
him. It was unclear whether he did make physical contact, however... Some seem surprised that I advocate the
legislation that is supportive of medical marijuana. Let me make it clear that
I do not advocate the legalization of marijuana or any other controlled
substances. This marks the 25th year since I first publicly supported medical
marijuana and the reclassification of marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug to a
Schedule 2 drug (Class I -- no medicinal value; Class II -- medicinal value)...
[Siiiiigh! Just another poor PuriTalibaNazi tyrant or dupe unclear on the
concept of personal liberty....] orange.yourguide.com.au/ ...
16:33:20Headline: Police seize cannabis worth $8000...
Plant City, Florida...
[Ironically] Deputies arrested 4 people and found over 1,000 pounds of
marijuana... montanasnewsstation.com/ ...
16:31:00A
pro-medical-marijuana group says a large-scale marijuana bust this month, that
law officers in Dillon [Montana] touted as a major success, was instead the
persecution of a terminally ill man, who needed the drug to help ease his
suffering... Patients and Families United... says the police action won't stand
up in court, thanks to Montana's 3-year-old Medical Marijuana Law... criticized
law officers for making a terminally ill man's last days miserable, because of
the worry that he would end up in prison... jamaica-gleaner.com/ ...
16:30:12Jamaica... ...The strong smell of marijuana (weed/ganja) hits the
nostrils as we manoeuvre our way on the bumpy road. Further on, a group of
'spliff'-smoking young men stare suspiciously as the vehicle passes. We stop to
ask a resident of the community about the lifestyle of the residents of Slipe.
"Wi farm illegal things," she tells us without hesitation. "What kind of
illegal things? Weed. Everybody do it and everybody know, all in the swamp dem
plant it," she replies. "We just have to tek the risks, all if the police come
cut it down, we nuh have nuh other choice..." news.com.au/ ... 16:28:55TWO men face drug
trafficking charges today after police seized... 1025 hydroponic... cannabis
plants during a raid in Melbourne's north... Minnesota man Larry Sinclair claims he took cocaine in
1999 and participated in homosexual acts with Barack Obama in a video posted on
YouTube. According to World Net Daily, he has also filed a suit in Minnesota
District Court, alleging threats and intimidation by Obama's staff... boston.com/ ... 16:17:31Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential
front-runner, picked up a total of 50 GOP national convention delegates from
Michigan and Louisiana yesterday... a majority of Michigan's presidential
delegates also say they will support the Arizona senator... As a result, McCain
has 903 total delegates nationally, according to an Associated Press tally.
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has 245, while Romney's total dropped to
253. A total of 1,191 are needed to secure the nomination... nypost.com/ ... 16:07:48Barack Obama's primary-night results were strikingly
underrecorded in several districts around the city -- in some cases leaving him
with zero votes... including Harlem's 94th and other historically black
areas... when, in fact, he had pulled in hundreds, the Board of Elections said
yesterday... Initial results in the 94th, for example, showed a 141-0 sweep for
Hillary Clinton, but the recount changed the tally to 261-136... reuters.com/ ... 16:02:22White House hopeful Hillary Clinton... is courting
working-class voters with a new message of economic populism similar to the
theme of John Edwards... 
Burma's military government is moving hundreds of zoo
animals from Rangoon to Naypyidaw, the country's new capital... In recent
years, Burma's entire government has been moved from Rangoon to shiny new
buildings in Naypyidaw. The city has been built in the middle of an area of
tropical scrubland, away from the main centres of population. But the military
leadership appears to have felt that something was missing. After all, what
capital city would be complete without a zoo?.. One zookeeper said the
elephants had howled and refused to eat when their herd was split up....news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 21:54:14Authorities in the
eastern Indian state of Orissa have rejected the results of a fresh count of
the tiger population. It shows that Orissa has between 37 to 53 of the 1,411
tigers in India. But authorities say a 2005 local census found 192 animals in
the state... hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:53:40New
York... Police say a [45yo male] Parks Department employee took his city-issued
golf cart on a rampage, running over and killing five birds in a public park...
Three pigeons and two seagulls... String of Crowd Fainting Incidents Hits Obama Rallies...
Los Angeles Times on one of the six recent fainting incidents: "Barack Obama's
first and only rally on election day came to a sudden and lengthy stop when a
young woman in the Dartmouth College gym fainted, and was eventually rolled off
on a gurney by emergency medical technicians. At first Obama half-narrated the
episode, saying soothing things like, 'She's OK,' 'She's talking.' But the
longer she lay on the floor, the quieter Obama got, standing on the podium,
arms folded, looking worried as the medical crew worked..." reuters.com/ ... 22:43:01U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain accused
President Vladimir Putin of preparing to lead a puppet government in Russia in
a blistering critique on Friday... [McCain... doing his part to keep the
Cold War going....] 
Hundreds of Danish Muslims have been demonstrating in
Copenhagen against the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad they
consider offensive. The cartoon depicts the Prophet with a bomb in his
turban... Protestors marched in the capital's streets shouting "God is Great!"
and "Freedom of speech is like a plague!"... [There you
go folks... the evil enemy bastard spawn of Satan anti-human right monsters
have made their position clear.] The American College of Physicians, the second-largest
doctors group in the United States... has endorsed using
marijuana for medical purposes, urging the government to roll back a
prohibition on using it to treat patients and supporting studies into its
medical applications. issued a policy statement on medical marijuana this week
after it was approved by its governing body, the group said on Friday... hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:51:55Cameron
[Texas] police say a toilet confiscated in a drug investigation yielded bags of
cocaine... back-hoe dug out the sewer line, which led to more bags of what
police say is cocaine... 
An earthquake
shook southern Greece just after 12 p.m. (5 a.m. EST) on Thursday and was felt
as far away as the Egyptian capital Cairo but there were no reports of
casualties... 6.5 on the Richter scale... Some two hours later an aftershock,
measured at 6.4, hit the same area... struck at a depth of 30 km (19 miles)
which minimized the possibility of major damage. The aftershock further
minimized the risk of more strong tremors... "It was not as strong as other
times but we felt it," a local farmer in Kalamata said... reuters.com/ ... 12:55:47An earthquake
shook the Lake Kivu region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday,
further damaging buildings hit by quakes earlier this month... magnitude 5.4,
followed two quakes that hit Africa's Great Lakes region on February 3, killing
more than 40 people and injuring hundreds, mostly in southern Rwanda...
Army Sgt. Corey
E. Spates, 21, of LaGrange, Ga., died Feb. 10 in Diyala Province, Iraq, of
wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He
was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood,
Texas. defenselink.mil/ ... 23:39:58Army Staff Sgt.
Javares J. Washington, 27, of Pensacola, Fla., died Feb.
11 at Camp Buehring in Kuwait City, Kuwait, from injuries sustained in a
vehicle accident. He was assigned to the 6th Battalion, 101st Aviation
Regiment, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault),
Fort Campbell, Ky. The incident is under investigation. Sydney's premier zoo is celebrating the news that its
9-year-old Asian elephant is pregnant, but animal rights groups are shocked
that the zoo has let a juvenile elephant fall pregnant... Erica Martin, Asia
Pacific Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare... said that
under captive breeding plans elephants should be at least 11-years-old before
conceiving... birth would be the first by a captive elephant in Australia...
hosted.ap.org/ ...
11:27:36Eighty-four spoon-billed sandpipers have been discovered in a
coastal stretch of Myanmar, offering hope for saving the endangered birds, a
conservation group said Thursday... hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:23:56
A tropical garden is opening in downtown Washington,
brightly colored plants, warmth and humidity, and hundreds of butterflies
fluttering around visitors. Best known for dinosaur bones and a giant stuffed
elephant, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History on Friday is
opening a new, permanent, butterfly pavilion... hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:23:24CLEVELAND... Animal doctors are using human drugs on a
pair of zoo gorillas with heart disease... hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:23:07
A fossil found in Wyoming
has apparently resolved a long-standing question about when bats gained their
radar-like ability to navigate and locate airborne insects at night. The
answer: after they started flying... hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:20:28Conservationists
welcomed an Indian government plan to create eight new reserves to protect the
country's dwindling tiger population... The former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney
is expected to endorse his former rival John McCain... 
Some greeting-card Web sites had trouble meeting demand on
Valentine's Day, although one apparently prepared for the rush and did better
than usual Thursday... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:22:19
...hyper inflation in the flower business, which occurs in
the run up to Valentine's Day: an economic burden grudgingly borne by men.
However, it makes Nadezhda, who owns a little florist's stall in the
underground station near the coffee shop, a fan of the free market economy.
She's expecting 2008 to be her most lucrative year. "In Russia we have a
saying: every flower has its buyer..." hosted.ap.org/ ... 13:11:32The odds are stacked against Valentine's Day in Hamas-ruled Gaza: The holiday is
considered "haram," or forbidden by Islam, most
residents don't have money for frills and the requisite red roses are grown
only beyond a closed border with Israel... Hamas police
looked the other way despite the religious taboo, reflecting the Islamic
militants' policy of not going against popular consensus when it comes to
social norms... hosted.ap.org/ ... 12:53:14The official New York City condom has a different look and
a sexy new slogan: New Yorkers are being encouraged to "get
some" on Valentine's Day... reuters.com/ ... 12:08:17Valentines Day in South Korea means chocolates, romantic
dinners and a high-tech mobile phone device that can
secretly check the passion in the voice of a lover... Army Pfc. Jack T.
Sweet, 19, of Alexandria Bay, N.Y., died Feb. 8 in Jawwalah, Iraq, of
wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He
was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat
Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y. defenselink.mil/ ... 19:09:45Army Spc. Michael
T. Manibog, 31, of Alameda, Calif., assigned to 1st Battalion, 21st
Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division,
Schofield Barracks, HawaiiArmy Sgt. Timothy P. Martin, 27, of Pixley,
Calif., assigned to 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade
Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, HawaiiArmy Staff Sgt.
Jerald A. Whisenhunt, 32, of Orrick, Mo., assigned to 1st Battalion,
21st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry
Division, Schofield Barracks, HawaiiArmy Sgt. Gary D. Willett, 34, of
Alamogordo, N.M., who was assigned to 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment,
2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks,
HawaiiU.S., Mexican and Canadian scientists on Tuesday announced
the discovery of Velafrons coahuilensis, a duck-billed dinosaur... with a
sail-shaped crest on the top of its head lived at a Mexican seashore...
"Velafrons was probably a beach bum..." late Cretaceous... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:13:23A new fossil species of flying reptile with a wingspan of
less than 30cm (1ft) has been discovered in China... nearly complete
articulated skeleton... one of the smallest pterosaurs known... has been named
Nemicolopterus crypticus, which means "hidden flying forest dweller"...
toothless, sparrow-sized... some of the foot bones are curved in a way not seen
in other members of this reptile group. This, say the authors, indicates the
pint-sized creature spent much of its time living in the trees... 
Starring horse-riding lions, the Sickest Show on Earth...
Just when it seemed that the Chinese had plumbed the depths of animal
humiliation, along comes something even worse. The country which gave you bears
riding bikes now proudly presents ... lions and tigers on horseback... rides
around the ring while a trainer with a whip keeps it moving. After that, a
35-stone tiger climbs up on the same terrified steed for its turn in the
limelight... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:14:53A
golden eagle who was blinded after flying into an electricity pylon...
developed cataracts... has had her vision partially restored by a
ground-breaking operation... hosted.ap.org/ ... 13:00:40
PHILADELPHIA... Monday... Imagine finding 50 chickens
running loose in your high school... "We don't know where the chickens came
from or who they belong to.... I'm pretty sure there is a very upset poultry
farmer somewhere who wants them back..." 
Authorities believe... Price shot a goose... set his
shotgun down on the bed of his truck while attempting to release his...
tracking dog... chocolate lab... to retrieve the bird... [dog] stepped on [the]
loaded shotgun... triggering a fatal blast into the man's thigh.... [Sheriff:]
"We found muddy paw prints on the gun in the area of the trigger, indicating
the dog accidentally caused the shotgun to discharge...." hosted.ap.org/ ... 12:57:42WINONA, Minn... Bella, a 3-year-old golden
retriever/collie mix who was once rescued as an abused puppy, returned the
favor to her owners by alerting them to a house fire. With help from Maddie, a
6-month-old golden retriever, Bella helped get Sue Feuling and her 9-year-old
daughter, Mckenzie, out of the house last week. The dogs didn't make it...
couldn't coax the dogs out of the house, even when she tried to run back in to
yell for them... "Bella must have thought Mckenzie was still in the house..."
With results starting to come in, U.S. media are
projecting Democratic Senator Barack Obama will win his party's presidential
primary election in Virginia... online.wsj.com/ ... 14:22:50The Clintons' Terror Pardons By DEBRA
BURLINGAME... Mr. Clinton justified the clemencies by asserting that the
sentences were disproportionate to the crimes. None of the petitioners, he
stated, had been directly involved in crimes that caused bodily harm to anyone.
"For me," the president concluded, "the question, therefore, was whether their
continuing incarceration served any meaningful purpose." His comments,
including the astonishing claim that the FALN prisoners were being unfairly
punished because of "guilt by association," were widely condemned as a
concession to terrorists. Further, they were seen as an outrageous slap in the
face of the victims and a bitter betrayal of the cops and federal law
enforcement officers who had put their lives on the line to protect the public
and who had invested years of their careers to put these people behind bars.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission affirmed a pre-existing Justice Department
assessment that the sentences, ranging from 30 to 90 years, were "in line with
sentences imposed in other cases for similar terrorist activity..."
latimesblogs.latimes.com/ ...
14:20:31
In a statement to supporters on his website,
first mentioned here early Saturday, Paul admits, "With Romney gone, the
chances of a brokered convention are nearly zero. But that does not affect my
determination to fight on, in every caucus and primary remaining and at the
convention for our ideas, with just as many delegates as I can get..." reuters.com/ ... 14:07:23Ailing
Cuban leader Fidel Castro took on front-running U.S. Republican presidential
candidate John McCain on Monday, accusing him of lying about Cubans torturing
American prisoners of war in Vietnam. At a campaign stop in Miami last month,
the Arizona senator told anti-Castro exiles that American POWs held with him in
Hanoi were tortured by "a couple of Cubans..." McCain has vowed to keep up
decades-old U.S. pressure for political change in Cuba's one-party state...
Undeterred by the threat
of a hostile takeover, slumping Internet pioneer Yahoo Inc. completed an
acquisition of its own Tuesday by buying online video service Maven Networks
Inc. for $160 million... Yahoo's latest attempt to expand its online
advertising network... reuters.com/ ... 13:41:36Canada
has joined China and Russia on the U.S. software, music and movie industries'
annual list of countries with the worst record of fighting piracy of copyright
goods... hosted.ap.org/ ... 13:41:05In the
basic configuration, each cable serves about 500 households, which share about
40 megabits per second of download capacity. If each household gets Internet
service with a maximum download speed of 10 mbps, that means four of them
downloading at full speed can saturate the connection. "Fundamentally, the
cable companies have come at this from kind of a disadvantage," said Rob Malan,
chief technology officer of Arbor Networks, which provides traffic-management
equipment. "One greedy person on that network knocks the whole neighborhood
offline..." solutions cost money... hosted.ap.org/ ...
13:39:43Starbucks Corp. and AT&T Inc. will start offering a mix of
free and paid wireless Internet service in most of the global coffee retailer's
U.S. shops, beginning this spring... ends a six-year Starbucks partnership with
T-Mobile, which did not include free Wi-Fi and charged higher fees than
AT&T will... Starbucks said it will give customers who use a Starbucks
purchase card two hours of free wireless access per day. More time than that
will cost $3.99 for a two-hour session. Monthly memberships will cost $19.99
and include access to any of AT&T's 70,000 hot spots worldwide. Nearly all
of AT&T's broadband Internet customers, about 12 million, will
automatically have unlimited free Wi-Fi access at Starbucks, the companies
said... news.bbc.co.uk/ ...
13:33:58Broadband speeds around the world... [map] Currently in
the UK the big issue is the gap between advertised and actual speeds, so while
10Mbps might be available from a few suppliers, very few actually get this
speed. According to speedtest.net - a global speed test created by actual users
and approved by most of the major ISPs in the US - the real speed is closer to
3Mbps. Things get faster next year as ADSL2+ comes online promising speeds of
up to 24Mbps, although as with all DSL technology, there are physical limits
and only those close to the exchange will actually get the top speeds. Virgin
Media is currently trialling a 50Mbps cable service and BT is also
experimenting with fibre to the home, which could offers speeds of up to
100Mbps... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:30:53Mobile
firms from across the world have launched a new alliance which aims to block
paedophiles using phones to send or receive child sexual abuse images... Among
planned measures will be a block on mobile phone access to websites which host
abusive content. There will also be hotlines to report services carrying
inappropriate images... reuters.com/ ... 13:30:12The
European Commission conducted antitrust raids against Intel Corp's Munich
offices on Tuesday and against retailers selling products of the world's
largest chip maker, the Commission and the chip maker said. The European Union
watchdog's actions ratcheted up pressure on Intel and broke new ground by
raiding Germany's huge Media Markt-Saturn and British electrical goods retailer
DSG International Plc, which owns Dixons and Currys. Intel has been preparing
for a Brussels hearing on March 11 and 12 to answer pending charges it abused
its dominance of the market for central processing units (CPUs) at the heart of
every PC... reuters.com/ ... 13:04:15Research
In Motion's ubiquitous BlackBerry experienced a "critical severity outage" on
Monday afternoon that left users stranded without wireless e-mail access, its
maker said... By about 5:30 p.m. Eastern time -- more than an hour after RIM
notified its customers of the problem -- some customers said a few e-mails were
trickling through. Others, however, continued to be without service. Still
others appeared to enjoy a respite from a device affectionately dubbed the
"CrackBerry" by its more compulsive users... reuters.com/ ... 13:03:26Yahoo Inc rejected
Microsoft Corp's unsolicited $41.6 billion takeover offer as too low on Monday,
forcing the software maker to either sweeten the bid or adopt a hostile
approach to clinch a deal... Meanwhile, Mrs Clinton has appointed a new campaign
manager after this weekend's setbacks... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 23:54:29Illinois Senator Barack Obama has won the Democratic
caucus in Maine, defeating Hillary Clinton... reuters.com/ ... 23:42:25Sen. Hillary Clinton, viewed last
year as virtually unstoppable in her bid to become the U.S. Democratic
presidential nominee, is now seeking to portray herself as the
underdog against rival Sen. Barack Obama... breitbart.com/ ... 16:36:05Obama,
who is vying to become the first black president in US history, "would
certainly not last long, a black man in the position of president. They would
murder him," [British Nobel literature laureate Doris] Lessing, 88, told the
Dagens Nyheter daily... Recent weeks have seen a rash of new studies
of marijuana hitting the mass media, generating scary headlines like "Smoking
Pot Rots Your Gums," "Cannabis Bigger Cancer Risk Than Cigarettes" and "Pot
Withdrawal Similar to Quitting Cigarettes." Most of this coverage can be boiled
down to a fairly simple equation: Flawed science + uncritical
reporting = misinformation... Mercifully, the U.S. mass media were so
distracted by Super Tuesday, Heath Ledger's autopsy and the latest Britney
Spears trauma that reports of these studies didn't get as much play as they
might have. That's good, because the research had significant gaps, and the
reporting ranged from slapdash to flat wretched... ukpress.google.com/ ...
10:38:25The
charity Rethink says there is growing evidence that the health risks associated
with cannabis use requires a similar approach to that taken with tobacco...
Cigarette rolling papers should carry printed warnings about the dangers of
cannabis... [Have they done tests on what happens when you SMOKE THAT INK,
you stupid $#!+s?] abc.net.au/ ... 10:34:38
Police say a man has been charged over the discovery of a
large amount of cannabis at a house at Helensburgh on Sydney's southern
outskirts... two children were also living at the house... plants had an
estimated street value of $64,000... boston.com/ ... 10:33:53Although Georgetown lawyer
Steven Epstein is an emphatic and public supporter of legalizing marijuana, he
gets a little evasive when asked about his own recreational use of the drug. "I
have used marijuana in the past," he said. "And I have liked it..." [Well,
there you have it folks, he's used it so he's a psychotic drug abuser who
should be locked up, not listened to....] "It doesn't seem logical to me,"
he said. Possessing marijuana "should be a matter of choice." It may very well
be - at least in Massachusetts - if three initiatives backed by local reform
groups make it onto this year's ballot... ap.google.com/ ...
10:32:09Marijuana vending machines in Los Angeles violate international
treaties and should be shut down, the U.N.-affiliated drug control board said
Friday... [REPEAL PROHIBITION! TO HELL WITH UNTIED NATIONS TYRANNY! LET'S
SELL FINE WINE IN VENDING MACHINES, TOO!] Army Sgt. Bradley
J. Skelton, 40, of Gordonville, Mo., died Feb. 6 in Baghdad, Iraq, of
wounds suffered when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device during
combat operations. He was assigned to the 1138th Engineer Company, 35th
Engineer Brigade, Missouri Army National Guard, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. defenselink.mil/ ... 17:41:28Army Spc. Miguel
A. Baez, 32, of Bonaire, Ga., who was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 325th
Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division,
Fort Bragg, N.C.Army Sgt. John C. Osmolski, 23, of Eustis, Fla., who was
assigned to the 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team,
82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. Army Sgt. Timothy R. Van Orman, 24,
of Port Matilda, Pa., who was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry
Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry),
Fort Drum, N.Y.A leatherback turtle has been tracked swimming from the
coast of the Papua province in Indonesia to Oregon... in what may be the
longest trip for marine vertebrae between breeding and feeding sites... reuters.com/ ... 17:24:02More than 160 feral cats and kittens have been rescued
from the site of the London 2012 Olympics as demolition work continues at a
pace... 
WICHITA, Kan... Two Komodo dragons have hatched at the
Sedgwick County Zoo, apparently without the fertilization of a male... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:57:12A
previously unknown sub-species of bird has been discovered in the southern
grasslands of Nepal... a warbler with a very long tail and slender beak... has
been named the Nepal Rufous-vented Prinia... its tiny population means the
sub-species is endangered... smh.com.au/ ... 09:14:38
The Australian
Government has released evidence challenging Japan's claims that its [whale]
hunt is the most efficient and humane possible. The images show "scientific
research" that needed multiple rifle shots to finish off the mammal... [It's
really creepy that we as a planet are still debating whether or not to kill
whales in the 21st Century!] How Romney's Departure Equals Victory for Paul With the
unexpected concession of Mitt Romney, Ron Paul is suddenly thrust into serious
contender status... Today Mitt Romney dropped out of the race. Remember what
just happened in West Virginia? Ron Paul delegates threw their support to
Huckabee to knock Romney out of contention. Eliminating Romney from the race
was part of the West Virginia strategy to win delegates. Romney lost WV and
went on to lose many other Conservative votes to Ron Paul throughout the
country on Super Tuesday. Romney had hundreds of delegates going to the
national convention that were committed to him. Many of these delegates are now
free to vote for an alternate candidate. Does anyone really believe that
Romney's supporters want to vote for McCain after the savage attacks that
McCentury levied on Romney? They will be looking for a Conservative alternative
to McCain. Right now that means either Huckabee (if he can keep going) and
Paul. We are back in play!.. dailypaul.com/ ... 15:59:07February 7th, 2008 by GiveMeLibertyOr... Just when it
looked like all was lost, WE'RE BACK IN BUSINESS WITH
ROMNEY OUT!!! Very soon Huckabee will also drop out and that will make
it a 2 man race. With only 2 candidates left people will at least notice Ron
Paul, and when they finally notice him and look into him, he should be able to
garner losts of support and maybe start tons of momentum. People only need to
know about him and his message, and when they are informed that's when he gets
his support... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 15:57:48Senator McCain congratulated Mr Romney and invited his
supporters to join him. "You are welcome to join my campaign, and it will be a
campaign based on conservative principles and a consequential election about
the country's future," he said. "I'd be deeply humbled to receive the
nomination of my party as we continue to move forward in this campaign..."
reuters.com/ ... 15:57:19Mitt Romney ended his struggling U.S. presidential bid on
Thursday, clearing the way for John McCain to become the all-but-certain
Republican nominee and begin mending fences with disgruntled party
conservatives... online.wsj.com/ ... 09:50:03Mrs.
Clinton's "individual mandate" for health care, which Mr. Obama has now had the
nerve to expose for its inevitable government coercion. Mrs. Clinton's proposal
requires everyone to buy health insurance, along with more insurance
regulation, a government insurance option for everyone and tax hikes. Mr. Obama
likes all that but his mandate would only apply to children... [Creepy
creeping socialism...!] apnews.myway.com/ ... 09:40:07Republican presidential candidate John McCain skipped a
difficult Senate vote Wednesday on whether to make 20 million seniors and
250,000 disabled veterans eligible for rebate checks as part of a proposed
economic stimulus package. The Arizona senator's decision to miss the vote
appeared to come at the last minute, after his plane had landed at Dulles
International Airport outside Washington just before the proceedings opened on
the Senate floor... 
At least 55 people were killed
and hundreds injured Tuesday and Wednesday by dozens of tornadoes that plowed
across Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama. It was the
nation's deadliest barrage of twisters in almost 23 years.
"We had a beautiful neighborhood. Now it's hell..." At least 12 people
died in and around... Hartsville, a community about an hour from Nashville...
The conditions for bad weather had lined up so perfectly that the Storm
Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., put out an alert six days in advance...
reuters.com/ ... 17:25:53Tornadoes and thunderstorms shattered parts of the U.S.
South on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 52 people and injuring more
than 150... "My husband and I got into the bathtub with our little girl. I
remember flying through the air. It was very scary. Then it was real quiet and
we saw our house was gone. Our baby was unhurt..." news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:36:45Two
people were killed and five more were missing after heavy rainfall triggered a
landslide on the Indonesian island of Java... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:34:19Severe
flooding caused by weeks of heavy rain is now known to have left 48 people dead
and some 40,000 families homeless... Two rivers in one of the worst-hit
provinces, Beni, have broken their banks and are threatening to cut off the
main city in the region, Trinidad... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:33:49At least 45 people have been killed and dozens injured by
violent tornadoes in... Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky... 24
people in Tennessee, 13 in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky and one in Alabama...
dozens of tornadoes... upturned vehicles, destroyed buildings... uprooted
trees. Hundreds of thousands... without power... Flames shot hundreds of feet
in the air after the Columbia Gulf Natural Gas pumping station near Green
Grove, Tennessee, caught fire... struck by a tornado... "It just took the house
and everything and my horses and my dog," Dara Reasonover told CNN. "I don't
know if they're alive or dead, but we'll make it..." 
Thousands of goats that provide fine wool for Kashmir's
famous Pashmina shawls are facing death because of heavy snow in India's
mountainous Ladakh region... Nearly 100,000 Pashmina goats have been affected
by a shortage of food because winter pastures near the Chinese border have been
covered after unexpected heavy snowfall... 
HARRISBURG, Pa... Gorton's Inc. recalled about 1,000 cases
of frozen fish in 10 states on Friday after confirming that
items a Pennsylvania customer reported finding in her food were pills...
described... as beige and aspirin-size. "It's kind of frightening to not
only find something in your mouth, a foreign object.... But then basically my
heart stopped when my daughter said, 'I have one in my mouth, too,' and pulled
it out..." 
Google announced today that
it plans to join five other international companies in building an additional
undersea cable between the US and Japan. The need for the cable itself is
unsurprising, given that trans-Pacific bandwidth needs grew by 63.7 percent
between 2002 and 2007, but the fact that Google is joining the consortium of
Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, KDDI Corporation, Pacnet, and SingTel is
unusual. Google is insisting, however, that this new move does not signal a
change in focus for the company... 
Fossil hunters have found the remains of ancient mammals
that were related to today's rabbits and hares. The 53-million-year-old
specimens consist of small ankle bones unearthed in Gujarat, central India...
The oldest lagomorphs known before this were from Central Asia and date to
between 40 and 48 million years ago... 