Sarah Palin had Thomas Muthee and John McCain had John Hagee and Rod Parsely and Barack Obama had Jeremiah Wright. For Rick Perry, his bizarre religious ally may be John Benefiel, the head of the Heartland Apostolic Reformation Network. Benefiel was one of the official organizers of Perry’s controversial The Response prayer rally. In this YouTube clip, Benefiel calls the Statue of Liberty a “demonic idol.”
Author: jonathanturley
Texas Governor Rick Perry has revealed one of the main distinctions that he sees between himself and Barack Obama. He insists that American needs a president who is “in love” with America. As someone who previously indicated that he was contemplating secession of his state from the United States, this appears to be a case of “separation secession making the heart grow fonder.”
The British government has formally asked China, Vietnam and other Asian countries to tell their citizens that rhino horn has no medicinal value to try to save the rhino from extinction. The belief that the horn holds medicinal value is deeply grained within Asian culture, as I discovered years ago in Taiwan.
Continue reading “Britain Calls On Asian Governments To Move Against Sale of Rhino Horn”
In Norwich, England, police are used to folks talking on cellphones while driving. However, they were not prepared for David Secker, 34, who allegedly was steering with his knees while talking on one cellphone and texting on a second cellphone.
Continue reading “Man Arrested After Driving While Using Two Cellphones”
And I cannot even figure out all of the standard options on my IPhone . . .
Continue reading “Meet Marco Tempest: IPod Magician”
This morning, I was stuck in traffic on 395 as police rounded up horses that had gotten loose. Upon arriving at the work, I found this story which is irresistible as part of the spontaneous cowboy theme this morning. The discovery of a book manuscript has led some to suggest that Butch Cassidy did not die with Robert Redford in Bolivia (Ok, with The Sundance Kid). To the contrary, it is claimed, Butch Cassidy died in 1937 as William T. Phillips, a machinist who in Spokane. Somehow dying in your bed after a second career as a machinist does not work quite as well as the shootout with Bolivian cavalry in 1908. I believe Cassidy is shown here sitting with the mustache and bowler on the far right next to the flowers.
Continue reading “Did Butch Cassidy Survive The Bolivan Shootout?”
The children of Rising Western Albemarle High School in Albemarle County, Virginia are finally safe this week after parents found a lurking danger in their school: a copy of the Sherlock Holmes story, A Study In Scarlet. Parent Brette Stevenson first brought the Victorian-era book to the attention of the school board as inappropriate for children. The book contains a harsh and erroneous view of the Mormon religion.
Continue reading “Sherlock Holmes Work Removed From School Library in Virginia”
Blogger Asma Mahfuz has been arrested by Egypt’s military for defaming the military council on the Internet. It is a part of an expanding trend of governments cracking down on first speech by using defamation and blasphemy laws.
Continue reading “Blogger Detained in Egypt For Defamation Of Military”
The United States continues to pour foreign military aid and other funds into Pakistan by the billions despite years of knowledge that the Pakistani intelligence service was protecting terrorist suspects. Now, a report has surfaced that our erstwhile allies arranged to have the Chinese inspect the wreckage of the secret Stealth helicopter used in the operation — even as the U.S. was trying to recover the wreckage from Osama Bin Laden’s compound.
While Congress is rolling back on scientific and environmental programs, it is continuing to spend $200 million in subsidies to pay for people to fly in nearly empty planes from remote airfields under the Essential Air Service program. Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi are planning to kill the 200-year-old page system to save $5 million, but they supported this continuing program costing almost a quarter of a billion dollars. In some cases, a coach ticket cost the taxpayers over $4000 in subsidies.
Continue reading “Air America: Federal Government Spending $200 Million in Subsidies For “Essential Air Service””
We have a couple of good friends who live in Paris, including Eric Tenin who is the founder of parisdailyphoto — a wonderful site featuring his pictures from the City of Light. I was so taken by Eric’s photos (and I so love Paris) that I invited him to send me a picture a week to feature on our blog — our own window into Paris each week. This is the first picture, but more pics can be seen each day on his site.
Continue reading “Paris Picture of the Week”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
The Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK/MKO) has been designated a terrorist organization since 1997 when the Clinton administration put the MEK on the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The Bush administration added two alleged MEK front organizations to the State Department’s terrorist list in 2003.
Continue reading “Buying Your Way Off The US Terrorist List”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
With the end of summer comes the beginning of the fall ritual that is college football. You know, where men of strength and character mold the minds and bodies of our youth into men of strength and character. There are plenty of good examples and one particularly curious one. Oklahoma State FB coach Mike Gundy is a world-wide phenom for his 2007 YouTube meltdown in which he attempted to deflect criticism from a OSU football player with his famous, “I’m a Man. I’m 40!” tirade against the local newspaper reporter, Jenni Carlson, for printing, well, the truth. You can re-live that moment here.
Continue reading “Boys of Fall: Coach Orders Carpenter Off Job For Wearing Wrong Tee Shirt”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
We have previously discussed the events at Widener Law School regarding Professor Lawrence Connell and Dean Linda Ammons, here, here, and here. The university formed a committee to hear the allegations of racial harassment, sexual discrimination, and retaliation. The committee, in its report, found no clear and convincing evidence of a university code violation on the racial harassment or sexual discrimination allegations.
Continue reading “Widener University Goes Soviet On Law School Professor”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
