blog-heap o' links
marijuana possession,
an option that exists as of Sept. 1 of 2007, when a new state law went into
effect. So folks found in North Texas with even small amounts of pot will
continue to be hauled off the the hoosegow, even though the legislature passed
the law with an eye toward easing jail overcrowding. By contrast, happy tokers
in the Austin area - if caught by Travis County Sheriff's personnel holding
small amounts of weed - are already being issued tickets for the offense...
halifaxcourier.co.uk/ ...
13:12:23A man was caught with about half an ounce of
cannabis after a
search of his home... sentenced to 100 hours unpaid community work with
supervision and ordered to pay £43 costs... kptv.com/ ... 13:10:31A father and son are in custody
after a weapons complaint led deputies to a huge
marijuana growing
operation in Cowlitz County... northantset.co.uk/ ...
13:10:04POLICE officers have uncovered another
cannabis factory in
Corby... Most of the hydroponics equipment had already been removed from the
now empty property by the offenders and only a small number of cannabis plants
were found at the location. The house has been forensically examined and police
are urging the community to report any suspicious behaviour they think may be
related to cannabis cultivation... banburyguardian.co.uk/ ...
13:09:08HOME-GROWN
cannabis production
is on the increase and landlords should keep close eyes on rented properties,
according to Thames Valley Police... minotdailynews.com/ ...
13:08:42The three members of North Dakota’s congressional
delegation see little hope in Congress for state farmers who want to grow
industrial hemp...
cbs5.com/ ... 13:08:20Firefighters
combating a blaze in an Antioch apartment Sunday night found
marijuana plants
growing inside a closet in the apartment that burned... allafrica.com/ ... 13:07:46HEALTH
experts from the African Union (AU) have asked member states to ban the growing
of cannabis,
popularly known as marijuana. They are worried that the cultivation of the
drug, locally known as njagai, was affecting agricultural production and posing
serious food shortage on the continent. It was also
observed that cannabis users were at a higher risk of contracting HIV, among
other sexually transmitted infections... chron.com/ ... 13:06:46DALLAS
— Many Texans busted for misdemeanor
marijuana possession
are still being jailed despite a new state law that allows police to issue a
citation instead of making an arrest, according to a newspaper report... rockymountainnews.com/ ...
12:32:38Ever since the repeal of Prohibition, alcohol laws in this
country have been a bit nutty... In Fairbanks, Alaska, it's illegal to serve
liquor to a moose. By contrast, in Ohio it's legal to serve booze to a fish,
but not if you get it drunk.... bars... Some states mandate sitting, while
others require standing at the bar to drink... In Iowa it's illegal to run a
tab... Nebraska bars may not sell beer except when simultaneously brewing a
kettle of soup... 
Hillary Clinton... Saturday night in Dubuque... arguing
she risked her life on White House missions in the 1990s, including a
hair-raising flight into Bosnia that ended in a "corkscrew" landing and a
sprint off the tarmac to dodge snipers... news.yahoo.com/ ... 10:03:03Mike
Huckabee, a Republican relying on support from
religious conservatives in Thursday's hard-fought presidential caucuses, on
Sunday stood by a decade-old comment in which he said, "I hope we answer the
alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ..."
opednews.com/ ...
09:49:57Supporters of GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul seem not to
want to hear any assessment of their hero. Their anger must be addressed once
more... [Written by, apparently, a democrat, but somewhat interesting
editorial...] 
SAO PAULO, Brazil... Nearly 300 swimmers looking to cool
off from a heat wave were stung by swarms of jellyfish... 
Police radio
transcripts from the night of a deadly tiger attack revealed a chaotic scene at
the San Francisco Zoo as zookeepers struggled to sedate the animal and medics
refused to enter until they knew they would be safe... hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:03:09
A
small monkey stashed in a man's hat during a flight to New York has died, but
federal health authorities don't know why... fist-sized tamarin... hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:02:24A
55-year-old Sumatran orangutan, believed to be the world's oldest, has died...
Miami zoo... Nonja, who was born on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and lived
in Miami since 1983, was found dead Saturday morning... "She was really a grand
old dame..." news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:50:39Police in California
say the man killed by a tiger in a San Francisco zoo on Christmas Day may have
died trying to save his friend's life. Police say Carlos Sousa, 17, shouted in
an attempt to distract the 300lb (136kg) tiger Tatiana as it clawed his friend
Kulbir Dhaliwal. The animal then killed Mr Sousa with a slash across his
throat, allowing Kulbir and his brother Paul to escape... marijuana grow house
Thursday night containing 171 marijuana plants with an estimated street value
of approximately $200,000, and arrested two of three men seen fleeing the
area... foxnews.com/ ... 11:59:06Across the southwestern U.S.
border and in northern Mexico, scientists such as Krebbs say their work is
increasingly threatened by smugglers as tighter border security pushes
trafficking into the most remote areas where botanists, zoologists and
geologists do their research. "In the last year, it's gotten much worse," said
Jack Childs, who uses infrared cameras to study endangered jaguars in eastern
Arizona. He loses one or two of the cameras every month to smugglers... al.com/ ... 11:57:15
Headline: Birmingham drug addiction expert says parents
can't compare marijuana of today with that of the 1960's... [More of the same
propaganda, disinformation, & spin from the PuriTalibaNazi lie machines....
And of course, if today's weed IS stronger, usage would be self-regulating, but
don't think logically, think of the children! think of the children!]
wandtv.com/ ... 11:55:24A
northwest suburban man is being held on $250,000 bond after authorities say
they found the man's 50
marijuana plants...
could face up to 30 years in prison... [unless he
dies of Valley Fever....] abs-cbnnews.com/ ...
11:54:36ILOILO CITY – Police recovered a huge quantity of dried
marijuana leaves
during a raid Saturday morning in Buenavista town in Guimaras. However, the
subject of the search warrant was able to elude police by jumping into a
river... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:51:19The
Mexican army has confiscated guns from the entire police force of the town of
Rosarito, near the Mexican border with the US. Mexican authorities suspect that
the town's police have been colluding with drug trafficking gangs. Mexican
troops carried out a similar crackdown in January on Tijuana police...
Army Capt. Rowdy
J. Inman, 38, of Panorama Village, TexasArmy Sgt. Benjamin B. Portell, 27,
of Bakersfield, Calif.Army Sgt.
Bryan J. Tutten, 33, of St. Augustine, Fla., died Dec. 25
in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device
detonated near his position during combat operations. He was assigned to the
1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne
Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. The director of the
zoo where a teenager was killed by an escaped tiger acknowledged Thursday that
the wall around the animal's pen was just 12 1/2 feet high - well below the
height recommended by the accrediting agency for the nation's zoos... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:53:38
Almost 80% of the Earth's surface has experienced a sharp
fall in the number of large mammals as a result of human activities, a study
suggests... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:53:20Two Siberian tiger
cubs have been found dead in a refrigerator at a Chinese zoo less than a week
after another incident involving the endangered species... On Thursday a female
Siberian tiger was found dead in the same area. Thieves had broken into its
cage, tranquillised the animal, then butchered it... Tiger
body parts are treasured as medicines in China... Only an estimated 400
Siberian tigers still remain in the wild... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:52:25Plans are in the pipeline
for beavers to be released into the Scottish wild for the first time in 500
years... will improve the eco-system and boost tourism... hosted.ap.org/ ...
09:50:09Thailand's parks and wildlife reserves could hold up to 2,000
wild tigers, about three times their current level, but only if the government
steps up efforts to control poaching, researchers said Monday... hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:50:00Federal
marine mammal experts in Alaska studying the effects of global warming on
walrus, polar bears and ice seals warn there are limit to the protections they
can provide. They can restrict hunters, ship traffic and offshore petroleum
activity, but that may not be enough if the animals' basic habitat - sea ice -
disappears every summer... marijuana in Echols
County and arrested two suspects... cfnews13.com/ ... 22:56:20Marion
County deputies busted up a grow house, catching nearly 200
marijuana plants and
arresting two people... One managed to get away... 
Winfrey's website has been buzzing for weeks with angry
postings about her involvement in the Illinois senator's campaign, something
Hollywood, which always keeps its eye on the public mood, is bound to notice --
this is a town, after all, that measures success by weekly grosses and daily TV
ratings. One posting on her site, Oprah.com, accused the talk diva of being a
traitor... weblogs.chicagotribune.com/ ...
10:29:07Republican Mike Huckabee took his presidential campaign for a
quick pheasant-hunting expedition in Iowa on Wednesday... At
one point, Huckabee’s party turned toward a cluster of reporters and
cameramen and, when they kicked up a pheasant, fired shotgun blasts over the
group’s heads. This, friends, is dangerously bad hunting form...
Huckabee emerged happily from his hunt, three dead pheasants in tow,
Oliphant reports. Asked for a metaphor to describe the hunt, he replied,
"Don't get in my way. This is what happens..."
[This man should never be heard from AGAIN!] latimesblogs.latimes.com/ ...
10:27:00Before the brief Christmas break, the New York senator had
been setting aside time after campaign speeches to hear from the audience. Now
when she’s done speaking, her theme songs blare from loudspeakers,
preventing any kind of public Q&A. She was no more inviting when a
television reporter approached her after a rally on Thursday and asked if she
was "moved’’ by Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. Clinton turned
away without answering. Her daughter, Chelsea, had the same reaction when a
reporter approached her with a question. Hillary Clinton’s no-question
policy didn’t sit well with some of the Iowans who came to see her
speak... 
Two men, one with a suspected broken jaw, have been
airlifted from the Antarctic's most remote research facility after an incident
described as a "drunken Christmas punch-up"... hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:14:51DUBLIN, Ohio... Thieves ruined Christmas for one woman
this year by stealing the pair of 6-foot-tall nutcracker statues from in front
of her house. "We didn't know anyone could be so mean.... It's terrible to say,
but this just took my whole Christmas spirit away..." found [one] torso at a
roadside about a mile away the next day, and Dublin police found other
splintered parts nearby... appeared the statue had been dragged through the
streets by a car... other statue was found in a field, partially burned with
several parts missing... An escaped tiger
killed a zoo patron and injured two others in a cafe at the San Francisco Zoo
Tuesday afternoon... A
wealthy pensioner who murdered his wife... dumped her body among Christmas
presents... before killing himself in a car crash had been discharged from a
mental hospital just days earlier... breitbart.com/ ... 00:04:49Hindu extremists attacked Christians celebrating Christmas
in eastern India, ransacking and burning at least six village churches... One
person was killed... Certain marijuana components may suppress the
tumors of highly invasive cancers, a new study finds... ...The minimal
evidence found at the scene included a shoe and blood in an area between the
gate and the edge of the 25- to 30-foot-wide moat, raising questions about what
role, if any, the victims might have had in accidentally helping the animal
escape. The three victims, all young men from San Jose, were visiting the zoo
together. They were all present just outside the tiger's grotto when the tiger
escaped... The injured victims fled, leaving a trail of blood, which police
believe the tiger followed for 300 yards up a zoo pathway. As the tiger
cornered and attacked one of the brothers, four police officers arrived,
distracted the animal and shot it dead... Authorities were looking into whether
the tiger escaped by latching on to a leg or body part... blogs.usatoday.com/ ...
13:31:46The tiger that killed one man and mauled two others Tuesday at the
San Francisco Zoo may have been taunted... One of
the three attacked by the cat may have "climbed over a waist-high fence and
then dangled a leg or other body part over the edge of a moat that kept the big
cat away from the public..." seattletimes.nwsource.com/ ...
13:30:49If a Siberian tiger escaped on its own to fatally maul a teenager
at the San Francisco Zoo, it would be a feat that reshapes what is known about
the animal. "They don't jump very high, and they don't jump very far..." While
Tilson is trying to keep an open mind about early accounts that suggested the
tiger somehow crossed a wide moat and a tall fence, "something about this is
just contrary to too much history" of observed tiger behavior... sfgate.com/ ... 13:29:32"She was everything
that a tiger is supposed to be," said big-cat expert Ronald Tilson. "She was
essentially shot and killed for being a tiger..." A year ago, she mauled her
keeper, devouring the flesh from her arm. Should Tatiana have been put down at
that time? "There was no reason whatsoever," said Tilson, director of
conservation at the Minnesota Zoo... "They don't dwell on things. The only thing they dwell on is if someone mistreated them..."
Army Sgt. Peter
C. Neesley, 28, of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., died Dec. 25 in Baghdad,
Iraq, of an undetermined cause in a non-combat environment. He was assigned to
the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry
Division, Fort Stewart, Ga. The circumstances surrounding his death are under
investigation. defenselink.mil/ ... 00:17:52Air Force Senior
Airman Nicholas D. Eischen, 24, of Sanger, Calif., died Dec. 24 in
Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned
to the 60th Medical Operations Squadron, Travis Air Force Base, Calif. The
circumstances surrounding the death are under investigation. defenselink.mil/ ... 00:17:25Army Pfc. George
J. Howell, 24, of Salinas, Calif., died Dec. 21 in Riyadh, Iraq, of wounds
suffered when his vehicle was attacked by an improvised explosive device. He
was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat
Team, 10th Infantry Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, New York.
marijuana plants... amherstdaily.com/ ...
13:47:04SPRINGHILL - A residential
marijuana grow
operation has been busted after members of the North Cumberland Street Crime
Unit conducted a search of a Church Street, home on Friday... a quantity of
marijuana plants, several pounds of cultivated marijuana and equipment used for
the grow operation were seized... news.xinhuanet.com/ ...
13:46:18The Mexican army seized 2.95 tons of
marijuana in the
northern state of Sonora on Tuesday night... officers spotted a suspicious car
and found 354 packets that contained "a dry green herb with the characteristics
of marijuana..." four AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition... Instead of "Little donkey, carry Mary safely on her way",
the youngsters were told to sing "carry Lucy" for fear of offending
non-Christians. The incident, at the school's Christmas concert, appears on a
new calendar alongside 11 other examples of extreme political correctness from
around Britain... desmoinesregister.com/ ...
13:52:14
Firefighters had to rescue the 77-year-old when he got stuck in the
opening to his septic tank. He had dug a hole and reached inside to find a clog
when he lost his balance and became wedged... "It was the worst Christmas Eve
I've ever had..." upi.com/ ... 00:15:08A beefy gent
wearing a red Santa hat and purple G-string in Los Angeles this holiday season
not only didn't pass for Santa but failed a Breathalyzer test, too... denverpost.com/ ... 00:14:43
Jesus may save, but Christians spend Evangelical
buying power is growing, and more companies are answering the call of the
almighty ... dollar... Chet Fitch lived
to make others laugh... Fitch loved the idea of putting a smile on someone's
face, usually with a joke. So when the 88-year-old jester passed away this
October, friends and family thought they'd seen the last of his merry mirth.
But... breitbart.com/ ... 23:25:07Two
black South Carolina ministers listed by Barack Obama's campaign as endorsing
his White House bid say they did no such thing, and at least two others
affirmed their support only after being contacted by campaign workers when
questions were raised about their endorsements... Who Was Jesus? Leaders representing four distinct
religious traditions confront differences over the meaning of Jesus' life...
One billion people around the globe will log on to track Father
Christmas's progress - and the people behind the website are America's
top-secret radar defence experts... Originally an American craze, tracking
Santa is rapidly picking up fans in [the UK] and many others... This time the
images from Santa Cams will be in 3D and the audience the largest yet, thanks
to a link-up with the search engine Google... Harry Shoup is the man who
started all this 52 years ago, after taking a very strange phone call. It's a
remarkable story. "Oh my goodness, I'll never forget it," says Shoup."The red
phone rang," he says. That never happened, and it meant huge trouble. The red
phone was the emergency line: it could only be his commander calling, or the
Pentagon. "I picked it up and I said: 'Yes, sir? This is Colonel Shoup.'" There
was no answer for a moment. Then came the hesitant voice of a small boy. "Are
you really Santa Claus?"... When the boy was told he had actually reached the
radar command centre, he asked a question that would have massive implications
for the base and for millions of children in the half-century to come. "Do you
know where Santa is then?"[Story told for the first time in
full]AMARILLO, Texas
- A blinding snowstorm blew from the Plains to the Midwest on Saturday, causing
at least 5 deaths and dozens of injuries in numerous multi-car pileups and
forcing authorities to close portions of several major highways. Eighteen
people were taken to hospitals, two with life-threatening injuries... In the
Texas pileup, many were holiday travelers, including families with small
children not dressed for the weather... Other drivers spotted them and opened
Christmas presents to provide warmer clothing for the children... The Oklahoma
Highway Patrol said a six-car collision on U.S. 64 in the state‘s
northwest corner involved an ambulance that was carrying victims from another
accident... In northeast Kansas, at least one person was killed in a 30-car
pileup on Interstate 70... close[ed] a 40-mile stretch of the highway...
Arkansas... scattered storms knocked out power to about 6,000 customers...
Follow-up: Bungling crooks hijacked a FedEx truck filled
with Christmas packages Friday - but left empty-handed
because they couldn't figure out how to open containers holding $1 million in
merchandise... marijuana bust in the
Central American nation's history, seizing 4.85 tons of the drug found in an
abandoned boat... enough to roll 17,600 joints...
canyon-news.com/ ...
16:18:55Tuesday night, the Brentwood City Council unanimously approved a
permanent ban on medical
marijuana
dispensaries in the city... action3news.com/ ...
16:18:25Omaha, NE - Two [17yo] Elkhorn High School students... were
caught selling brownies with
marijuana baked into
them at school around noon Friday... Five other students were caught eating the
brownies... battlecreekenquirer.com/ ...
15:51:28Lynn Allen is in a great deal of pain. And he thinks
marijuana would ease
it. The 51-year-old Williamston man was born with hemophilia and was infected
with HIV and hepatitis C more than 20 years ago... Michigan voters will
probably decide next November whether to allow seriously ill patients to use
marijuana based on
the recommendation of a physician. Supporters have turned in nearly half a
million petition signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office — they
need 304,000 valid signatures to get the issue on the ballot... But opponents
question the medicinal value of marijuana and the sincerity of the effort.
Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth is among
them... "There’s plenty of pain medication out there.... I don’t
think anybody’s concern is about ill people. It’s just a way for
people who have a predisposition to use drugs to try to get them legalized..."
[DANG! Tell all those suffering patients who only find relief from pot that
their ploy has been discovered by Sheriff Wriggelsworth of Ingham County!]
newindpress.com/ ...
15:49:15MALKANGIRI:
Ganja plants worth Rs
4 crore were destroyed in Dyke I area under Chitrakonda police limits yesterday
in a raid conducted by the district excise department. No arrests have been
made... wtol.com/ ... 15:48:40CINCINNATI
(AP) - Authorities say a city firefighter was among four people arrested and
accused of being part of a nationwide ring that shipped tractor-trailer loads
of marijuana... the
ring sold more than $3 million worth of marijuana in
Cincinnati every month... received marijuana shipments monthly,
sometimes more often, from southern California... loads ranged from
1,500 to 3,000 pounds... ORWIGSBURG,
Pa... Less than two weeks after a man put 30 $100 bills into a Salvation Army
kettle, someone decided to do one better. On Saturday morning, someone put 31
$100 bills in a Christmas card and dropped it into the tambourine held by
Salvation Army volunteer... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 14:57:59The Queen has launched her
own channel on the video-sharing website YouTube... The Royal Channel will
feature her Christmas Day message, and has recent and historical footage of the
monarch and other members of the Royal Family... The palace said it hoped the
site would make the 81-year-old monarch's annual speech "more accessible to
younger people and those in other countries"... 
Hillary Clinton turns to Chelsea in a bid to soften her
image... [From the photo, I'd say it's Chelsea whose image has been altered,
not to the better....] nydailynews.com/ ... 16:08:36Elect me and oil prices instantly drop, says Hillary
Clinton in Iowa... [along with the rest of the economy, no doubt...]
apnews.myway.com/ ... 16:00:06
Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul on Sunday
defended his efforts in Congress to bring home money to his Texas district,
despite his long-held aversion to big government and congressional votes to
reign in federal spending. "I've never voted for an earmark in my life... I put
them in because I represent people who are asking for some of their money
back... I'm against the tax system, but I take all my tax credits. I want to
get their money back for the people..." [Yup. He's a politician!] reuters.com/ ... 14:55:39Huckabee
risked his standing with Catholic voters on Sunday by courting his evangelical
base at the church of a controversial preacher accused of disparaging
Catholics... Oklahoma City... Alliance Defense Fund... has filed a
lawsuit in response to a ban on the celebration of Christmas in the workplace
by city employees... Oklahoma City officials received a memo from the city
manager stating holiday decorations with an explicitly religious theme would be
banned from the workplace because it posed a legal liability to the city.
"Anything less than full alignment with the U.S. Constitution exposes the city
to legal liability," wrote city manager James D. Couch... "instead of
displaying religious based scenes, opt for winter scenes... items that may not
be displayed include nativity scenes, troparia, cherubs, angels, crosses,
menorahs, and any other symbols of clear religious significance..." A further
restriction moved the city's annual Christmas party to an off-site location and
will require employees to use vacation time to attend... reuters.com/ ... 15:01:09
A Chinese city has beaten the Grinch at his own game,
banning Christmas trees from shopping malls, restaurants and other public
places because they pose a fire hazard... hosted.ap.org/ ... 15:00:47BAL HARBOUR, Fla... A baby Jesus statue here is getting a
Global Positioning System for Christmas... after the previous statue went
missing, even though it had been bolted down... hosted.ap.org/ ... 15:00:10NAPLES, Fla... single mother... scratched a lottery ticket
last week... thought Christmas had come early... ticket indicated she was a
$25,000 winner... looked on the back to find a telephone number to claim her
winnings... "Claim forms supplied by Santa Claus. All winning tickets must be
validated by the tooth fairy and conform to her game rules ... All winners are
losers and must have an excellent sense of humor..." How
can anyone be so mean around Christmas time?.." hosted.ap.org/ ... 14:48:08ROME... The church where the tradition of celebrating
Christmas on Dec. 25 may have begun was built near a pagan shrine as part of an
effort to spread Christianity, a leading Italian scholar says.... the Basilica
of St. Anastasia... The Basilica of St. Anastasia was built as soon as a year
after the Nicaean Council. It probably was where Christmas was first marked on
Dec. 25, part of broader efforts to link pagan practices to Christian
celebrations in the early days of the new religion... hosted.ap.org/ ... 14:46:23BREMERTON,
Wash... [to protest] the commercialism of Christmas... [homeowner] nailed Santa
Claus to a 15-foot crucifix in front of his house... "Santa has been perverted
from who he started out to be..." [Yeah, you really helped restore the
spirit of Christmas for everyone there, fellah, especially the little kids who
will see your display!] efluxmedia.com/ ... 14:38:26woman stabbed her husband during an argument... argument
started when her spouse opened the Christmas present earlier then she intended
for him to do it... 
Scientists in China may use a police dog to teach pandas
to fight after the first artificially bred panda released into the wild was
apparently killed after a battle with other animals, local media reported on
Saturday... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 08:45:17
The world's tallest animal, the giraffe, may actually be
several species... there may be at least six species of giraffe in Africa...
variation in hair coat colour is evident across the giraffe's range in
sub-Saharan Africa, suggesting reproductive isolation... 
Japan has backed down from a highly
controversial plan to hunt endangered humpback whales off Antarctica, after
fierce criticism by Australia. The Japanese whaling fleet, however, still plans
to hunt almost 1,000 whales this season... Musical
Fruitcake -- A collection of the worst Christmas songs ever created...
See dozens of reader images from those not so
happy with the man in the big red suit. Merry Christmas... [Your blog
heaper passes this link along without having actually enabled Javascript to see
the pix] myfoxny.com/ ... 10:30:54A carjacked
FedEx... 18-wheeler... has been found... in Brooklyn... being searched to
determine if any merchandise was stolen... driver was forced out of the truck
in Manhattan's West Side at around 1 am and into another car... A
16-month-old giant panda born at... 1.8 ounces... half the weight of most
newborn pandas is growing into a normal, healthy animal in southwest China...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 16:13:56Three
conservation groups sued the federal government Wednesday to block development
and protect a rare loon that breeds in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve...
yellow-billed loons... Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey
has apologized to Barack Obama for any unintentional insult he committed by
raising the Democratic presidential candidate's Muslim heritage while endorsing
rival candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton... The Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday that the
Christmas story of the Three Wise Men was nothing but a 'legend'... Dr Rowan
Williams has claimed there was little evidence that the Magi even existed and
there was certainly nothing to prove there were three of them or that they were
kings... "Matthew's gospel says they are astrologers, wise men, priests from
somewhere outside the Roman Empire, that's all we're really told. It works
quite well as legend..." concluded that Jesus was probably not born in December
at all... [THAT is hardly news....] hosted.ap.org/ ... 16:24:13Kyrgyzstan...
former Soviet republic has mountains honoring Communist and Russian leaders.
Just in time for Christmas, authorities say they plan to name a snowy peak
"Mount Santa Claus..." hosted.ap.org/ ... 16:23:51AMERICAN FORK, Utah... Merry Christmas to you, Mary
Christmas. That's what the former Mary Young is hearing this holiday season,
after she married Brian Christmas earlier this year... The last name of
Christmas has its origins in Wales... "It was given to people that were born on
Christmas Day..." hosted.ap.org/ ... 16:15:12Mars will be unusually bright this Christmas Eve and the
moon will be shining full... marijuana concealed in a false roof compartment of a
Canadian truck... boston.com/ ... 17:08:31Mass...
proposals to repeal the state income tax, ban greyhound racing, and
decriminalize the use of
marijuana are still
on track... stuff.co.nz/ ... 17:07:361612
tinnies of cannabis
in a snaplock bag between his buttocks... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 17:07:05Two
illegal immigrants caught cultivating plants in a
cannabis factory in
Peterhead have been jailed for a total of 62 months... 60
cannabis plants worth up to £76,000... news.bbc.co.uk/ ...
17:06:33Hundreds if not thousands of
cannabis farms have
been established in upmarket houses in the UK by criminal gangs who could be
serving an international market... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 17:06:05An
investigation by BBC East has revealed the huge proportion of cases of
psychosis involving young people who have been using
cannabis...
[uhh... yeah....] freep.com/ ... 17:05:12An
18-year-old River Rouge man is charged with second-degree child abuse for
allegedly helping a 3-year-old boy smoke a
marijuana-type
cigarette and videotaping the incident... canadianpress.google.com/ ...
17:04:21A man being held in a Dutch police cell on suspicion of growing
cannabis got an
unintended treat in his lunch - a piece of hashish-laced cake... Police...
seized the hash cake earlier in an unrelated investigation and stored it in a
refrigerator - close to lunch packets served to suspects in custody... only
found out... when he told them himself... doctor who was
called to examine him said he suffered no ill effects... drugpolicy.org/ ... 15:45:17The Drug
Enforcement Administration's six-month-old surge against medical
marijuana in
California continues to ramp up with new threats to northern California
dispensaries... lurganmail.co.uk/ ... 15:44:46A
LARGE amount of drugs was found last week in the College Walk area of Lurgan...
£180,000 of
cannibis along
with cocaine and cash... 31-year-old was arrested... newsandsentinel.com/ ...
15:43:49MARIETTA —While investigating a report of a man
forcing his 12-year-old nephew to smoke
marijuana,
officers found drugs and a list of names they say they’ll be looking
into... "We found a list of 10 to 15 people who owe him money from drug
transactions..." [A brute *and* an idiot!] wcpo.com/ ... 15:42:45BOWLING
GREEN, Ky... [49yo] New York man has pleaded guilty... a stop along Interstate
65... last spring that [agents of tyranny] say yielded more than
1,400 pounds of
marijuana...
will forfeit his ownership of the tractor-trailer used to transport the
marijuana... airforcetimes.com/ ... 15:41:03A
Colorado judge ruled Wednesday that police should return dozens of
marijuana plants to a
former Marine and 1991 Persian Gulf War veteran who is a licensed medical
marijuana user. "It’s great
— I need my stuff back..." mohavedailynews.com/ ...
15:40:09BULLHEAD CITY - The arrest of three suspected members of a drug
trafficking organization will significantly reduce the flow of
marijuana from Mexico
into the Tri-state, police said Wednesday... [Yeah, they'd like the sheeple
to believe that....] 51 pounds, 7 ounces of
marijuana with an estimated street value of more than
$100,000... reason.com/ ... 15:38:36In a
recent study published by the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, Health
Canada researchers found higher levels of certain toxins in
marijuana smoke than
in tobacco smoke... 20 times as much ammonia and five times as much hydrogen
cyanide and nitrogen oxides, possibly due to higher levels of
nitrate fertilizer traces in the marijuana... [YUCK!] only the
tobacco smoke contained the potent carcinogens known as tobacco-specific
nitrosamines, and it had "moderately higher levels" of potentially hazardous
compounds such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons. Guess which comparison was emphasized in
the press coverage... borderfirereport.net/ ...
15:37:02U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers working at the
Bridge of the Americas commercial cargo facility made a 789-pound
marijuana seizure
Saturday afternoon. The drugs were concealed within a shipment of decorative
pots and vases... iht.com/ ... 15:32:29Afghanistan's
new drug problem: Marijuana cultivation up 40 percent in 2007... GAUHATI, India... A
man who stuck his arm into the tiger enclosure at a zoo in northeast India bled
to death Wednesday after two big cats tore off his limb as his family and
dozens of visitors watched... hosted.ap.org/ ...
12:31:00MONROVIA, Md... A man subdued a deer that ran through the front
picture window of his house... wrestled the beast to the floor in the living
room, and carried it out through the garage door... [Wife:] "My couch is
ruined..." had to clean blood off her computer, printer and coffee table...
MARIETTA, Ga. -- A coach faces charges
and awaits a court date after police said he led a group of students on a lewd
Christmas prank in Marietta... loaded several middle schoolers into the back of
his pickup truck, and drove them around after dark as they damaged Christmas
displays... , including placing reindeer in sexual positions... sun-sentinel.com/ ... 23:44:38The Pembroke Lakes Mall appears to have the standard
holiday decorations. There's a photo booth with a
Rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer theme by the food court; presents are wedged
between palm trees; poinsettias rise from flower pots and combine into the
shape of a Christmas tree. And next to a pair of benches in front of Dillard's,
on a white-and-blue pedestal, stands a 5-foot-tall menorah. But for Len Torres,
79, of Plantation, who campaigns every holiday season to get Broward malls to
include nativity scenes, that Jewish religious symbol makes Pembroke Lakes'
refusal to set up a creche feel like "a slap in the face..." news.com.au/ ... 23:44:00Christian leaders have branded a television commercial
depicting the baby Jesus tossing gifts back at the three wise men as tacky and
offensive... myfoxwghp.com/ ... 23:43:32Children in the
first through third grades had just completed about three-quarters of the
program when a fight broke out among three parents in the audience... newstimes.com/ ... 12:39:47DANBURY -- A
33-year-old woman was charged with fourth-degree sexual assault Saturday after
allegedly groping a man playing Santa Claus at the Danbury Fair mall... touched
him inappropriately while sitting on his lap. "The security officer at the mall
said Santa Claus has been sexually assaulted..." breitbart.com/ ... 12:38:41SPOKANE, Wash...
A man dressed as Santa Claus was knocked unconscious by a thrown object that
hit his face while he was riding on the back of a truck decorated as a
sleigh... broke his nose and gave him a concussion and two black eyes. "One
second I was up there waving to people, and the next minute I wasn't..." taking
part in Santa Run, sponsored by the firefighters union, which features off-duty
firefighters who dress up as Santa and ride through residential areas handing
out candy to children... 
...Catholic League president Bill Donahue said Huckabee
went beyond wishing people a joyous holiday. Donahue said he was especially
disturbed by the cross-like image created by a white bookcase in the background
of the ad, saying he believed it was a subliminal message... Huckabee said the
bookshelf is just a bookshelf and shrugged off the controversy: "I will confess
this: If you play the spot backwards it says, 'Paul is dead. Paul is dead.'..."
reuters.com/ ...
12:14:21Republican Mike Huckabee defended
a Christian-oriented television advertisement used for his presidential
campaign.... took criticism from Republican candidate Ron Paul on Tuesday for a "Merry Christmas"
advertisement that included a book shelf behind him that looked like a
Christian cross... [Commercial for] Republican Rudy
Giuliani that featured Santa Claus....
Eco-friendly kangaroo farts could help global
warming RANCHO CORDOVA,
Calif... Motorists may be in for a surprise if they spot flashing red lights in
their rearview mirrors... Police are stopping law-abiding motorists and
rewarding their good driving with $5 Starbucks gift cards... [OMG! PLEASE
STOP THIS VIOLATION BEFORE IT SPREADS! "PULL OVER! YOU'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING
WRONG!" IS THE LAST DESTRUCTION OF OUR FREEDOM FROM UNWARRANTED SEARCH &
SEIZURE! And all disguised as Chrismas ho-ho-ho!] news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:42:12two... actors... were
carrying unloaded firearms as they filmed a scene in a rough suburb of the
capital Luanda... police roared up to the set... in a pick-up truck and
"started shooting at everybody at close range"... shot dead [the] two...
actors... [director Radical Ribeiro:] "They went on shooting until I shouted
out: 'Please don't shoot, this is a movie.'" The officers then stopped firing
and left without attending to the wounded... 
Yes, UFOs do exist, Japan's
top government spokesman said Tuesday. The comment by chief cabinet secretary
Nobutaka Machimura drew laughter from reporters at his regular briefing on
government policy... "Personally, I definitely believe they exist," he said,
apparently tongue in cheek... hosted.ap.org/ ... 01:21:02Dec 17... Science fiction
writer Arthur C. Clarke [b 1917-Dec-16] listed three wishes on his 90th
birthday: for the world to embrace cleaner energy resources, for a lasting
peace in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, and for evidence of extraterrestrial
beings... "I have always believed that we are not alone in this universe..."
Humans are waiting until extraterrestrial beings "call us or give us a sign....
We have no way of guessing when this might happen. I hope sooner rather than
later..." Air Force Maj. Perry H. Jefferson, U.S. Air Force, of
Denver, Colo. will be buried April 3, 2008 in Arlington National Cemetery near
Washington, D.C. On April 3, 1969, Jefferson was an aerial observer on board an
O-1G Bird Dog aircraft on a visual reconnaissance mission over a mountainous
region in Ninh Thuan Province, Vietnam. The pilot of the aircraft, then U.S.
Army 1st Lt. Arthur G. Ecklund, radioed Phan Rang airbase to report his
location, but contact was lost soon after. An extensive, three-day search and
rescue effort began, but no evidence of a crash was found. Hostile threats in
the area precluded further search efforts. In 1984, a former member of the
Vietnamese Air Force turned over to a U.S. official human remains that he said
represented one of two U.S. pilots whose aircraft was shot down. In 1994 a
joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) team, led by the Joint
POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), interviewed two Vietnamese citizens
regarding the incident. The witnesses said the aircraft crashed on a
mountainside, the pilots died and were buried at the site. They said two other
men were sent to the site a few days later to bury the pilots. The team
excavated the crash site described by the witnesses and found aircraft
wreckage. No human remains were found. In 2000, the remains turned over in 1984
were identified as Ecklund's. In 2001, a Vietnamese national living in
California turned over to U.S. officials human remains that he said were
recovered at a site where two U.S. pilots crashed. These remains were
identified in 2007 as Jefferson's.... defenselink.mil/ ... 15:29:11Army Pfc. Juctin
R. P. McDaniel, 19, of Andover, N. H., died Dec. 17 in Baghdad, Iraq, of
injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident in Taji, Iraq. He was
assigned to the 524th Combat Service Support Battalion, 45th Sustainment
Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, Fort Shafter, Hawaii. The
circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation. defenselink.mil/ ... 01:10:11Army Sgt. Austin
D. Pratt, 22, of Cadet, Mo., died Dec. 15 in Balad, Iraq, of injuries
sustained in Baghdad, Iraq, in an incident that is currently under
investigation. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment,
4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), located at
Fort Polk, La. Drug traffickers
in a Rio slum opened fire on a helicopter carrying a Santa to a children's
party, apparently mistaking it for a police helicopter... "Luckily, nobody was
hurt..." hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:28:04One dry cleaner
now knows how to get on Santa's naughty list: lose his suit... reuters.com/ ... 10:16:33As Christmas approaches, Christians around the world turn
to thoughts of the Holy Land and the great figures in the Bible. For some who
come on a visit, the religious energy is enough to make them recite scriptures
on the street or claim to be King David or Jesus. The phenomenon is known as
the Jerusalem Syndrome, though psychiatrists disagree whether it can affect
otherwise healthy people, or causes only those predisposed to psychoses to
believe they have seen the Messiah. The police set up a unit in the city... to
deal with the minority of tourists each year who believe they are characters
from the Bible, and hospitals have special wards to treat wayward travelers...
marijuana has
sparked an online debate on who is wrong -- father or son... [Easy one.
Father erred terribly.] the popular and hard-to-find Guitar Hero III
videogame he had bought him for Christmas... reuters.com/ ... 09:53:51The city of Amsterdam announced plans Monday to clean up its
infamous "red light" district to fight human trafficking, money laundering
and drug abuse and replace prostitutes' windows with upmarket boutiques...
[How to go in the exact wrong direction with social controls. The reason
these other problems exist is because prostitution is still taboo and
technically illegal!] reuters.com/ ... 09:44:20The
United States has reached a deal with the European Union, Japan and Canada to
keep its Internet gambling market closed to foreign companies, but is
continuing talks with India, Antigua and Barbuda, Macau and Costa Rica... The
decision is a disappointment for European online gambling companies who hoped a
case brought by Antigua several years ago at the World Trade Organization gave
them a foothold to get back in the U.S. market after being kicked out by
Congress last year... 
Researchers in a remote jungle in Indonesia have
discovered a giant rat and a tiny possum that are apparently new to science,
underscoring the stunning biodiversity of the Southeast Asian nation...
"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way
out." --Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962... 
The
world's sea levels could rise twice as high this century as UN climate
scientists have previously predicted... hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:27:29Behind
the millions of words at the Bali climate conference, in documents, speeches
and slick brochures, lay a set of simple numbers: 2 and 445 and "25 to 40."
That's 2 degrees Celsius, 445 parts per million of carbon dioxide, and a
25-to-40-percent reduction in global-warming gases - a formula, some say, to
save the planet from climate change's severest consequences... The long and
sometimes baffling drama of electing a U.S. president, marked by obscure rules
and long-held traditions, enters its decisive stage in two weeks. The nominee
of each party will be determined via a grueling marathon of state-by-state
contests that begins on January 3 in Iowa and is followed five days later in
New Hampshire, with all other states joining in over the next few months. Eight
Democrats and eight Republicans, many of whom have been campaigning for more
than a year, are vying for the right to face off in the November 4, 2008,
election to choose a successor to Republican President George W. Bush, who will
leave office after two terms... reuters.com/ ... 10:22:51Arizona
Republican Sen. John McCain... on Monday won the endorsement of independent
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a former Democratic vice presidential
nominee... Army Pvt. Daren
A. Smith, 19, of Helena, Mont., died 13 Dec., in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds
sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 3rd
Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain
Division (Light Infantry), Fort Polk, La. The incident is under investigation.
defenselink.mil/ ... 22:36:01Army Sgt. 1st Class
Jonathan A. Lowery, 38, of Houlton, Maine, died Dec. 14, in Mosul, Iraq,
of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit using small arms fire.
He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, III Corps,
Fort Hood, Texas. defenselink.mil/ ... 10:27:13Army Staff Sgt.
Michael J. Gabel, 30, of Crowley, La.Army Cpl. Joshua C. Blaney, 25, of
Matthews, N.C.Army Sgt. Samuel
E. Kelsey, 24, of Troup, Texas, died Dec 13 in Tunnis, Iraq, of wounds
suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated. He was assigned to 3rd
Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry
Division, Fort Stewart, Ga. defenselink.mil/ ... 10:25:39Army Spc. Brynn
J. Naylor, 21, of Roswell, N.M., died Dec.13 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds
suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit using small arms fire. He was
assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team,
2nd Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo. 2news.tv/ ...
22:28:11Sheriff Gary Raney said, "Cleaning up the neighborhood. Cleaning
up the streets, getting it away from our kids," that's
exactly what local authorities are doing this weekend. Police found 90
marijuana plants in a Treasure Valley home... [TTTHIIINNNKKK OFFFF THHHEEE
CHHHHIIILLLL- DDDRREENNNN!] thisislondon.co.uk/ ...
22:27:33London... The rise of the suburban high: Gangs are setting up
cannabis farms in
prosperous neighbourhoods... belfasttelegraph.co.uk/ ...
22:26:37Gardai in Cork have seized 80 thousand euros worth of
cannabis following
two separate operations in the city. Four kilos of the drug... rrdailyherald.com/ ...
10:19:12ROANOKE RAPIDS - A Roanoke Avenue barbershop... sheriff's office
agents along with Roanoke Rapids Police officers... discovered several grams of
crack and marijuana. Officers also found photos of known female drug offenders
who, according to officers, frequented the shop getting drugs in exchange for
sexual services. "He wasn't cutting a lot of hair.... We found several boxes of
condoms in the back room of the business..." cocaine hidden in the owner's
underwear... firearm hidden in the seat of a barber chair... thenorthwestern.com/ ...
10:17:12WINNECONNE – A voice mail message Winneconne Police Chief
Peter Running received at his home assured him the package on his doorstep was
nothing to fear; it would not explode... Inside was a blue velvet bag
containing a glass pipe and some green leafy material, which tested positive
for marijuana... A
note with the package said it had been found on South Third Street near where a
car had been parked earlier. A Winneconne woman, intent on doing her civic
duty, had left the package at Running's home... gulflive.com/ ... 10:16:12Officers
with the Narcotics Task Force of Jackson County raided two homes Wednesday for
marijuana production,
including the home of a Gulfport doctor... willitsnews.com/ ... 10:15:46The
most comprehensive look at the issue to date is
Marijuana and
Medicine: Assessing the Science Base, conducted by the U.S. Institute of
Medicine and published in 1999... When Dutch
police stopped a car for a broken headlight and noticed the driver was
accompanied by a prostitute, they gave him a break - and let him pay the
traffic fine in cash rather than sending the ticket to his home.... otherwise
his wife could have seen that he was ticketed on the Europalaan (a well known
pickup strip) in Utrecht, with all the consequences that would bring...." "In
the spirit of Christmas ... the man was allowed to leave the police station
euro50 ($75) poorer but with an easy heart..." hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:01:05OBERLIN, Kan... A postcard featuring a color drawing of
Santa Claus and a young girl was mailed in 1914, but its journey was slower
than Christmas. It just arrived in northwest Kansas... dated Dec. 23, 1914, and
mailed to Ethel Martin of Oberlin, apparently from her cousins in Alma, Neb...
mystery where it spent most of the last century... Ethel Martin is deceased...
ended up with Bernice Martin, Ethel's sister-in-law. She said she believed the
card had been found somewhere in Illinois. "That's all we know..." was placed
inside another envelope with modern postage... hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:59:43The
equestrian community of Norco, known has Horsetown USA, has put its boot down:
The chubby Bob's Big Boy mascot isn't Western enough, even with a cowboy hat...
Barbara Walters likes to receive
Christmas greetings from high-profile celebrities and leaders, but apparently
not if they refer to the Bible. On Thursday's episode of
ABC's The View, Walters expressed dismay that President and Mrs. Bush would
send out greetings containing Scripture... "First of all, let me show you
the cover of the White House, which is nice and bland…So that's pleasant
enough. This is what interested me, that it is a religious Christmas card.
Usually in the past when I have received a Christmas card, it's been 'happy
holiday's' and so on- And this says: "'You alone are the Lord. You made the
heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all
that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You gave life to everything,
and the multitudes of heaven worship you.' "That's from Nehemiah in the Old
Testament. I don't remember- and I'm sure people will remind me-getting a
religious card. Now does this also go to agnostics and atheists and Muslims and
-... Don't you think it's a little interesting that the
president of all the people is sending out a religious Christmas card?.."
[OMG!!!] reuters.com/ ... 10:06:21Latvia [whoops]... A Riga forestry agency said on
Wednesday a state body had invited residents to cut their trees from forests
located 50 km (30 miles) or more outside the capital, but people had instead
descended on protected areas around the city... hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:59:04At least 26
motorists were left baffled and broke when they used their bank debit cards to
pay for street parking in municipal spots in the central Norwegian city of
Trondheim last week. Because of a computer glitch, the machine dispensing
windshield parking permits multiplied the amount of time they bought by 10,000,
and automatically deducted it from their bank accounts... charged between
$37,000 and $148,000... For many, the withdrawal of the vast sums on Wednesday
left their bank accounts spectacularly overdrawn, and their debit cards frozen
in the middle of an already hectic Christmas shopping... 
An Australian man's claim that he saw a
kangaroo hop down a beach, swim into the sea and get attacked by a 7ft long
shark seemed wildly implausible. But Daniel Hurst is resolutely sticking by his
story, dubbed by the Australian media Jaws vs Skippy, and now a second witness
has backed up his extraordinary sighting... reuters.com/ ... 10:04:30
As many as 26
endangered crocodiles have been found dead over the last three days in northern
India and experts attribute the rare mass deaths to cirrhosis of the liver...
Poisoning was not suspected as fish in the river had not died... marijuana. The
50-year old homeowner had a medical marijuana card
-- which allows him access to medical marijuana... eveningsun.com/ ... 16:17:20A
Berwick Township man accused of growing marijuana in his
bedroom closet was sentenced Tuesday in Adams County court to
three months in prison... news.enquirer.com/ ... 16:16:02A
Butler County jury has convicted a trio of drug dealers in connection with a
50-pound pot bust earlier this year... Demarian Harry, 32; David Garcia, 38;
and Jeffrey Craft, 22... guilty of
marijuana possession
and trafficking. Harry and Craft were also convicted of gun offenses... 50
pounds of marijuana plus four guns and $15,000 cash... Marijuana trafficking charges carry a mandatory 10 years in
prison. The marijuana possession charges carry a mandatory eight years in
prison... "We need to cut off the supply lines and these convictions are
a step in that direction," [PuriTalibaNazi Inquisitor] Robin Piper said
in a news release. "The penalties are harsh because the crimes are
significant..." stopthedrugwar.org/ ...
16:13:09In a
reprise of a tactic first used against Los Angeles and Sacramento area
dispensaries, the DEA this week sent letters to dozens of owners of buildings
leased to San Francisco dispensaries warning them that their buildings could be
seized. Dispensary operators responded by filing suit in federal court to stop
the agency, and a high-ranking congressman has promised to hold hearings on the
matter... Medical marijuana has been legal in California since 1996, and
currently, hundreds of dispensaries are operating in the state to provide
marijuana to patients qualified under the state's admittedly loose law... blog.oregonlive.com/ ...
16:12:02Two Washington residents were arrested Thursday afternoon after
a traffic stop that yielded about 21 pounds of
marijuana... safety
belt violation... [yeah, sure....] sfgate.com/ ... 16:11:23Walnut
Creek, Calif... A car crash and a routine traffic stop led the California
Highway Patrol to seize more than 800
marijuana plants,
worth an estimated $2 million on the street, during three raids in Vacaville,
Walnut Creek and Martinez... Obama with a one-point edge over
Hillary Clinton... indicating that Clinton's once-imposing lead has evaporated
in the run-up to New Hampshire's Jan. 8 primary... Navy Chief Petty
Officer Mark T. Carter, 27, of Fallbrook, Calif., died Dec. 11, as a
result of enemy action while conducting combat operations in Iraq. He was
permanently assigned as an East Coast-based Navy SEAL.... defenselink.mil/ ... 18:00:49Army Staff Sgt.
Gregory L. Elam, 39, of Columbus, Ga., died Dec. 11 in Kandahar,
Afghanistan, as a result of a non-combat related illness. He was assigned to
the 54th Quartermaster Company, 49th Quartermaster Group, 101st Airborne
Division (Air Assault), located at Fort Lee, Va. This death is under
investigation. defenselink.mil/ ... 18:00:26Army Cpl. Tanner
J. O'Leary, 23, of Eagle Butte, S.D., died Dec. 9 in Musa Qal'eh,
Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated.
He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th
Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. defenselink.mil/ ... 17:58:04The
Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the
remains of two U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Korean War, have
been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full
military honors.Air Force Col. Douglas H. Hatfield, of Shenandoah,
Va.Air
Force Capt. Richard H. Simpson, of Fairhaven, Mich.Modified stem cells from muscular dystrophy patients eased
symptoms of the disease in mice... hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:56:11Wake up
to find your shoulder killing you but don't recall an injury? It could be the
start of frozen shoulder, a curse of middle-aged women and one of the most
puzzling joint conditions... The shoulder's normally smooth lining becomes so
inflamed it resembles cherry Jell-O. That leads to scar tissue, making the
shoulder too stiff to move... Known medically as adhesive capsulitis...
estimated to strike between 2 percent and 3 percent of the population, the vast
majority women ages 40 to 60... too few sufferers get diagnosed in time for a
simple shot that could cut an astounding year or more off recovery time...
Japanese scientists say they've used genetic
engineering to create mice that show no fear of felines... SINGAPORE... Vets on Wednesday fitted Asian elephants Tun
and Jamilah with specially-made protective boots made from a durable,
breathable fabric in a bid to relieve their chronic foot lesions... en.wikipedia.org/ ... 09:22:25The
gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), sometimes called the Indian gharial or
gavial, is one of two surviving members of the family Gavialidae, a
long-established group of crocodile-like reptiles with long, narrow jaws. The
gharial is the second-longest of all living crocodilians: a large male can
approach 6 meters in length... hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:22:13LUCKNOW,
India... Wildlife officials discovered the bodies of one male and 20 female
gharials - massive reptiles that look like their crocodile relatives, but with
long slender snouts - in the Chambal River over the last three days... The
deaths have concerned conservationists, who believe there are only some 1,500
gharials left in the wild, many of them in a sanctuary based along the Chambal,
one of the few unpolluted Indian rivers... marijuana from a man
camping along Interstate 80 in west Omaha... Deputies [of PuriTalibaNazi
oppression & tyranny],,, searched a camper... after seeing its license
plate was partially obscured... 90 packages of marijuana - some wrapped as
Christmas gifts - which together weighed 1,940 pounds...
estimated to be more than $3 million... ktiv.com/ ... 21:35:42Sioux County sheriff's deputies
have uncovered a marijuana growing operation along the Big Sioux River, near
Hudson, South Dakota... 500
marijuana plants
worth $500,000... abc.net.au/ ... 21:35:07Police say
the death of a man in bush in northern Tasmania does not appear suspicious...
police are continuing to investigate his car which was camouflaged, as well as
a number of marijuana
plants found nearby... There is some indication that Indian hemp is being grown
in the area... ktuu.com/ ... 21:34:22Juneau
[Alaska] police say they've arrested three people suspected of using the U.S.
Postal Service to receive illegal drugs... three pounds
of marijuana...
officers [of oppression and insane tyranny] also confiscated a
17-plant marijuana grow operation... marijuana plants, processed marijuana and a .20-gauge shotgun...
freep.com/ ... 21:22:04During a
year-long crackdown on
marijuana growers
across Michigan, state law enforcement officer have more than doubled the
number of pot plants seized from fields and gardens and indoor greenhouses...
[And it's still probably a smaller percentage of what's out there than the
year before...!] 35,586 marijuana plants...
announcement came at the conclusion of the 2007 Cannabis Eradication and
suppression Program... [PuriTalibaNazi gangsters!] sunstar.com.ph/ ... 21:20:36A
suspected drug user was caught by a barangay councilman watering his two
fully-grown marijuana
plants last Thursday morning... [Why was the councilman watering this guy's
plants? :)] the-signal.com/ ... 21:19:56Two
men were caught with more than 20 pounds of
marijuana in Newhall
Wednesday after attempting to sell the drug to an off-duty CHP officer last
week... A top campaign adviser to Hillary
Rodham Clinton resigned Thursday, a day after suggesting Democrats should be
wary of nominating Barack Obama because his teenage drug use could make it hard
for him to win the presidency... Clinton herself apologized to Obama as they
waited to fly to Iowa for a debate... reuters.com/ ...
17:42:58Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said he
considers his rival Mitt Romney's Mormon faith a religion, not a cult, but
questioned whether Mormons believe "Jesus and the devil are brothers..." After
a debate in Iowa on Wednesday, Huckabee apologized for the comment...
New York City...
a Bangladeshi Muslim... tried to stop the Christmas-versus-Chanukah subway
beating has two black eyes and a sore nose - but no regrets... hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:59:18LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J... Someone is hanging
Christmas ornaments... on trees along the Garden State Parkway... easily
visible to motorists blasting down the southbound lanes... "Somebody has a lot
of holiday spirit, which is great, but a lot of spare time at night, which is
not so great," said Joseph Orlando, a spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike
Authority, which operates the parkway... hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:56:32suspected drunken driver... apparently mistook the lights
of the tree for lights strung between buildings... drove... through a ring of
traffic cones and... slammed her Lincoln into Santa Barbara [Calif]'s 50-foot
Christmas tree... hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:50:37RUTLAND, Vt... a strange man walked up and handed her an
envelope. It contained a Christmas card and $50 in cash. It was just one such
encounter reported by staff and customers of local businesses this holiday
shopping season. A "Mystery Santa" has been approaching perfect strangers and
handing out the cards and cash... reuters.com/ ... 10:25:36ROME... Christmas cake has become the latest product that
the government and manufacturers want to protect from foreign imitations... By
law they must be made according to strict rules, including using only butter
and beer yeast. But those rules do not apply abroad, meaning exported Italian
cakes may not be up to scratch, and foreign-made versions may only bear a vague
resemblance to the tall, puffy, golden desserts prized by Italians. "Just think
-- seven out of 10 panettoni and pandori exported to the United States do not
respect the production norms. Seven out of 10 Americans buying an
'Italian-style' panettone are getting a fake..." 
Web
browser developer
pera Software ASA complained to the
European Commission about Microsoft Corp. on Thursday and asked regulators to
force the company to give users a choice of Internet software with its Windows
operating system. The small Norwegian company also alleged that Microsoft was
holding developers back from making programs that work with each other
"by not following accepted Web standards..." [Nothing
new in that!] Microsoft said its Internet Explorer browser... supported a
wide range of Web standards... [Just not the standard and accepted
ones!] "Microsoft's unilateral control over standards in some markets
creates a de facto standard that is more costly to support, harder to maintain,
and technologically inferior and that can even expose users to security
risks..." Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner said his company was championing open Web
standards and "cannot rest until we've brought fair and equitable options to
consumers worldwide..." Army Spc.
Johnathan A. Lahmann, 21, of Richmond, Ind., died Dec. 10 in Tikrit,
Iraq, of wounds suffered in Bayji, Iraq, when a improvised explosive device
struck his vehicle. He was assigned to the 59th Engineer Company, 20th Engineer
Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas. defenselink.mil/ ... 14:01:42Army Spc. Randy
W. Pickering, 31, of Bovey, Minn., died Dec. 9 in Baghdad, Iraq, of
injuries sustained in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the
Regimental Support Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.
The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation. Canabis Protectio
Association and announcement of the Trade Fair-AveMarja that will be held in
Bologna, Italy, on the 25th - 26th - 27th of April 2008. The Association In
Canabis Protectio originates from a split occurred within the "Cannabis Tipo
Forte" Association, a group that in the past years has been organising trade
fairs and events related to the topic of Hemp. The activities of In Canabis
Protectio are aimed at the promotion and protection of hemp, considering all
forms and uses of this plant. These initiatives arise from the desire of
creating a network at the national and international levels alike, which is
capable of involving all the lovers of these plants in actively participating
to festivals, debates and trade fairs... news.ncmonline.com/ ...
13:47:57The Seattle Police Department said Vietnamese
marijuana growing
organizations purchase homes throughout the Puget Sound and construct elaborate
indoor cultivation factories on the premises. Investigators are just now
pulling open the curtains on a secretive world. Many of which end deadly...
courierpress.com/ ... 13:47:19An
Evansville man is due in court this morning after police say they discovered...
[3.3] pounds of marijuana in his home... was initially stopped on South Governor
Street when officers checked his license plate and found it did not match his
vehicle. After smelling the odor of marijuana from the vehicle, the affidavit
said officers... found $3,000 inside a Crown Royal bag in his pocket... Police
did not find any evidence of drugs in the car, but the affidavit said when an
officer returned to his squad car, where [victim] was held during the search,
he found a small bag of marijuana on the floorboard. [Victim] reportedly told
the officer the bag had been concealed in his shoe... thestatesman.net/ ...
13:45:27ANGUL, Dec. 11: In a raid conducted jointly by the excise
department, the police and the forest officials,
cannabis plants worth
over Rs five crore have been destroyed at Chhendipara area today... Earlier
this month, cannabis plants worth over Rs 10 crore was also put on fire in the
area... ap.google.com/ ... 13:44:19Those
President Bush granted pardons or a commuted sentence...
[included]Jackie Ray Clayborn, of Deer, Ark., convicted in 1993 of
manufacturing marijuana...Paul Dwight Hawkins, of Lafayette, La., convicted in 1990 of
conspiracy to import marijuana...Billy Joe LaForce, of San Antonio, convicted in 1991 of
conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute...Steven Wayne Whitlock, of
Sarasota, Fla., convicted in 1990 of conspiracy to import marijuana... marijuana, according
to the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, and they're buying those homes in
upscale neighborhoods... [Heh... might be the salvation of the slumping
housing market...?] earthtimes.org/ ... 13:39:29Two
North Dakota farmers, who filed a federal lawsuit in June to end the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration's (DEA) ban on commercial
hemp farming in the
United States and had their case dismissed on November 28, have filed a notice
of appeal today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit...
Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims joined Britain's equality
watchdog Monday in urging Britons to enjoy Christmas without worrying about
offending non-Christians... nydailynews.com/ ... 10:14:58A string of Christmas lights sparked a fire in a Bronx
apartment building Sunday that led to 26 injuries, including one that was
life-threatening... [Democrat focus group:] Obama, they worried, can't win the
nomination; voters aren't ready for an African-American president (a point
expressed most directly by the two black women participants), and he may not be
sufficiently experienced. A couple of victories in Iowa and New Hampshire would
cure most of those problems. The concerns about Clinton, 60, a New York
senator, are that she is devious, calculating and, fairly or not, a divisive
figure in American politics. Those are a lot tougher to overcome... ardemgaz.com/ ... 10:53:18...Mike
Huckabee told Southern Baptist pastors Sunday night... "The reason we have so
much government is because we have so much broken humanity.... And the reason
we have so much broken humanity is because sin reigns in the hearts and lives
of human beings instead of the Savior..." he said, the catalysts for the
nation's recent school shootings... were driven by "the winds of spiritual
change in a nation that has forgotten its God.... Government knows it does not
have the answer, but it's arrogant and acts as though it does.... Church does
have the answer but will cowardly deny that it does and wonder when the world
will be changed.... If we'd been doing what we should have -- giving a dime
from every dollar to help the widows, the orphans and the poor -- we now
wouldn't be giving nearly 50 cents of every dollar to a government that's doing
... what we should have been doing all along..." The most basic unit of
government is... "...Mom and Dad raising kids and teaching them respect for
authority, others and God..." thecarpetbaggerreport.com/ ...
10:12:26"If the federal government is truly serious about doing
something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the
carriers of this plague [from the general population]..." Mike Huckabee..
during his 1992 Senate campaign... By any reasonable standard, Huckabee’s
comments were ridiculous and offensive, but at least for his sake they were
made 15 years ago... On Fox News Sunday this morning, former Arkansas Gov. Mike
Huckabee denied that he ever called for quarantining AIDS patients in 1992,
claiming that he "didn’t say that we should quarantine," but that the
onset of the AIDS epidemic "was the first time in public health protocols" that
"we didn’t isolate the carrier." […] Huckabee then asserted that he
stands by his 1992 comments, saying he wouldn’t "run from" or "recant"
them... Sweet Jeebus, it’s as if this guy is practically trying to make
himself appear foolish... marijuana more than five pounds in a drug-free zone... His two
children, 18 months and 5 years old, went into the custody of Child Protective
Services... Grayson County [PuriTalibaNazi taboo enforcement
priest-thieves] said they seized more than 25 pounds of marijuana, $12,000
in cash, a 2001 Lincoln LS automobile, a Phillips 60-inch television, a
Playstation III, and a gun safe after finding the marijuana inside the house...
emediawire.com/ ... 21:39:37One
day after the Union of Medical
Marijuana Providers
filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court, Central District of
California (case CV07-07951) challenging the DEA's tactic of sending
threatening letters to hundreds of owners of Commercial Property who rent to
Marijuana Providers, the House Judiciary Committee will question the agency
about the practice... chron.com/ ... 21:38:52EL PASO,
Texas... A drug-sniffing dog found about 30 pounds of
marijuana hidden
inside six holiday candles at the Mexican border over the weekend...
17-year-old boy... said he was bringing the candles as a gift from his
grandmother in Mexico to his mother in the U.S... edmontonsun.com/ ...
21:38:01Mounties seized over $1 million of
marijuana near Edson
on Sunday... Charged with possession of a narcotic for the purpose of
trafficking is Thanh Tam Vo, 54, from Edmonton... A search of the vehicle
located 70 kg of marijuana... reuters.com/ ... 20:08:12Party
drugs a hit with wealthy in Singapore... reuters.com/ ... 20:01:14U.S.
judges can impose lighter prison sentences than federal guidelines specify, the
Supreme Court ruled on Monday in cases involving crack cocaine and ecstacy that
could add pressure to overhaul sentencing practices... In a related ruling, the
court also supported the right of judges to depart from sentencing guidelines
in a case involving distribution of the drug ecstasy. Both rulings were by 7-2
margins -- decisive votes by a court often ideologically split on major
issues... cowra.yourguide.com.au/ ...
10:40:02Police are expected to interview the owner of a Woodstock house
today after raiding the property on Thursday and finding 115
cannabis plants under
cultivation... ranged in size from 10cm to large plants measuring 1.6m...
hidden from view by what appears to be a specially constructed colorbond fence.
A comprehensive drip watering system had been installed and the cultivation
system was well planned... also found equipment associated with the use of
cannabis... [This is all such a comedy of horrid absurdity. Substitute
grapes and OMG! They found wine glasses and a corkscrew, too! Such
criminals!] kuam.com/ ... 10:37:31A Southern
High School senior has been charged with selling drugs on school grounds...
18-year-old... along with several other minor students, is accused of selling
marijuana to other
students on the Santa Rita campus... selling "joints" at a rate of three to
four a day... allegedly would sell the marijuana cigarettes and then give the
money to one person, who was not identified in court documents. In return, he
would receive joints, which he would then smoke himself... [The way this is
written almost makes it sound like a scene right out of Reefer Madness. And
this is obviously not a school promoting entrepreneurship and free
enterprise!] medheadlines.com/ ... 10:35:08The
Larimer County Drug Task Force in Colorado has been given a court order to
return marijuana
plants and related paraphernalia they illegally confiscated in August 2006 from
a couple using the stuff for medical purposes... They’re also facing a
lawsuit seeking damages "in excess of $100,000" for the plants that didn’t
survive the ordeal and for the glass pipes, bongs, and growing equipment they
broke while it was in their possession... [Blogheaped this before... just
seemed to bear repeating....]marijuana from inside
the vehicle when they stopped it... [Driver] failed field sobriety tests and
was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, possession of
marijuana and failure to obey a traffic control signal... news-tribune.net/ ... 09:23:06On
Friday afternoon, Indiana State Police arrested two Indianapolis men in Clark
County on charges of drug posession... Trooper... on Interstate 65... noticed
in his rear view mirror... a black Mercedes Benz SUV. tailgating him... moved
over into the middle lane of Interstate 65 and the Mercedes passed him. He
followed the vehicle for a short distance and then stopped it for following too
closely and speeding... noticed an odor of green marijuana coming from the
vehicle... asked the occupants if he could search the vehicle and the
passenger... said yes... a black duffle bag... 12 plastic zip lock baggies
containing a total of approximately 10 pounds of suspected
marijuana...
approximate street value... $10,000... [Stopped for tailgating and speeding
right there in front of a cop? Either they were smokin' too much of their own
product, OR we just have this cop's alleged excuse for stopping them. Point is,
NO COURT COULD EVER TELL if a cop was lying or not about why he stopped and
harrassed these citizens!] iht.com/ ... 09:19:22Gaza's Hamas
rulers announced a major drug bust on Sunday, torching large sacks of
confiscated drugs in a bonfire. Hamas displayed tables full of
marijuana, neatly
pressed blocks of hashish, small piles of cocaine and ecstasy pills at a news
conference to show the results of a two-week-long drug raid... netted 115
arrests of dealers and growers, and more than 200 kilos (440 pounds) of
marijuana, 340 blocks of hashish and 2,340 marijuana plants were confiscated...
said some of the drugs, valued at $4 million (€2.7 million), were smuggled
through tunnels into Gaza from Egypt... [This from people who believe
blowing up your neighbor is not just acceptable behavior but the will of God!
There's good reason I use the term PuriTalibaNazi!] couriernews.com/ ... 09:06:38State police arrested two
Florida residents Monday night after a K-9 unit alerted officers to the
presence of illegal drugs inside a vehicle the pair were driving eastbound on
Interstate 40... Trooper... said in a report he immediately noticed a "slight"
odor of raw marijuana... [Driver and passenger allegedly] “extremely
nervous....” [Driver] denied Goodman permission to search the vehicle... a
specially-trained K-9 unit alerted to the presence of drugs inside the
vehicle... two large duffel bags containing 20 smaller vacuum-sealed bags with
about 20 pounds of "potent marijuana buds" in each, according to Goodman’s
report. They also found three smaller bags containing about 4 ounces of
hashish, a highly concentrated form of marijuana with a higher street value,
according to the report, which estimated the total street value of the find at
about $20,000... mindfulwebworks.com/ ...
09:04:09"WHAT'S THAT SMELL??" scowled Officer Green, and ordered me out
of my car... [How I learned for sure that "routine traffic stops" are never
"routine" under Prohibitionist PuriTalibaNazi tyranny. Remember, you only read
about the ones where they CAUGHT someone, not all the unsuccessful
shakedowns....]lufkindailynews.com/ ...
09:03:19The narcotics division of the Angelina County Sheriff's
Department made two arrests and seized 4.5 pounds of
marijuana after a
routine traffic stop... [LIARS! Profiling & drug searching may have
become "routine," but it's not really a "traffic stop...."] 
Firefighters said a grease fire that left $50,000 in
damage to a Topeka [Kansas] home erupted after a dog shut a woman out of the
house while fish was frying on the stove... Scientists have the first evidence that those
"reprogrammed stem cells" that made headlines last month really have the
potential to treat disease: They used skin from the tails of sick mice to
cure the rodents of sickle cell anemia...
PETA... is calling for a boycott of M&Ms, Twix candy
bars and other snack foods made by Mars Inc, claiming the company funds
experiments that kill mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits... PETA spokeswoman
Kathy Guillermo said in an interview the experiments seemed aimed at developing
health claims for chocolate because it contains flavonoids. Health studies have
found that flavonoids protect against heart disease and cancer. Guillermo said
the boycott would start on Monday... reuters.com/ ... 09:49:40
A giant spitting cobra,
measuring nearly nine feet and carrying enough venom to kill at least 15
people, has been discovered in Kenya... hosted.ap.org/ ...
09:35:47Manatees will remain on Florida's endangered species list for
now... news.bbc.co.uk/ ...
08:46:23Rarely-heard recordings of birdsong from the biodiversity
hotspot of Madagascar have been compiled and released by the British Library.
The 127 Madagascar birds featured on its new CD include threatened species such
as the long-tailed ground-roller and Benson's rock thrush... marijuana... chroniclet.com/ ... 12:47:17A
Florida couple turned themselves in to police Friday on charges accusing them
of operating a large-scale
marijuana-growing
operation in the basement of a home... the operation went
astray when the couple got into a fight with a friend, who then called
police... borderfirereport.net/ ...
12:46:24Border Agents in Brownsville Seizes More Than 1,200 Pounds of
Marijuana... near the
Rio Grande River... 1,245.5 pounds with a total value of $996,400... abc.net.au/ ... 12:45:33Police
found 700 cannabis
plants at a rural property in Whroo, north of Seymour, yesterday morning...
borderfirereport.net/ ...
12:45:09Border Patrol agents assigned to the Casa Grande Border Patrol
Station discovered 103 bundles of
marijuana hidden in
an abandoned vehicle near the Village of San Miguel, Ariz. on the Tohono
O’odham Reservation yesterday... 2,517 pounds... estimated street value of
$2,014,160... [Or maybe $2000 at non-black-market prices...?] yomiuri.co.jp/ ...
12:44:08YOKOHAMA--The Kanagawa prefectural police on Thursday raided
four locations, including a shop in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, that allegedly sold
hemp seeds, in an
attempt to confirm and crack down on channels whereby the seeds are illegally
imported and supplied... A Winter Haven man was arrested
late Thursday after he allegedly ran over his neighbor's Christmas decorations
and then shot the neighbor... reuters.com/ ... 10:42:18CANBERRA... A Santa in an Australian department store said
on Wednesday he has been fired for saying "ho ho ho" and singing Christmas
songs to children... Employment company Westaff... had earlier asked its Santas to say "ha ha ha" because the word "ho," which
is American slang for whore, could offend women... hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:28:05When city officials planted a 7-foot-tall Christmas tree
next to a 20-foot-tall menorah in the plaza in front of City Hall, some
residents barked... What's up with the giant menorah and the Charlie Brown
Christmas tree?.." hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:30:31Microsoft Corp. quickly shut down Santa Claus' Web
privileges after it found out the automated elf it created for kids to instant
message with was talking naughty, not nice... a reader of a United
Kingdom-based technology news site, The Register, reported that a chat between
Santa and his underage nieces about eating pizza prompted Santa to bring up
oral sex... After declining the writer's repeated invitations to eat pizza, a
frustrated Santa burst out with, "You want me to eat what?!? It's fun to talk
about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else." The exchange ended
with the writer and Santa calling each other "dirty bastard..." Microsoft
disabled Santa Tuesday... hosted.ap.org/ ... 08:56:05TYLER, Texas... 42-foot-tall inflatable... "Frosty" the
snowman... worth about $10,000... taken from a tree farm... $1,000 reward...
Frosty is described as a white male, sporting a red hat
and scarf, with a pipe in his mouth... Nintendo is considering pulling UK television advertising
for its popular Wii console in the run up to Christmas because it is battling
to meet demand... reuters.com/ ... 10:01:26Facebook
said on Wednesday it will allow members to turn off a controversial feature
that monitors the Web sites they visit... In a note in his blog... its chief
executive apologized for not responding sooner to privacy complaints... reuters.com/ ... 10:00:48A
left-wing German politician withdrew charges against online encyclopedia
Wikipedia on Friday for promoting the use of banned Nazi symbols in Germany...
even though she still believed neo-Nazis could take advantage of such sites.
"Filing charges is obviously the wrong path to go down in this dispute so I am
today withdrawing them after intensive discussions with Wikimedia..." reuters.com/ ... 09:57:07Nielsen
is unveiling a new service aimed at ensuring that video distributed on the
Internet is done only in ways sanctioned by its owners, the Wall Street Journal
said in its online edition... [no tech details] Army Sgt. Kyle
Dayton, 22, of El Dorado Hills, Calif., died Dec. 3 in Ashwah, Iraq, of
injuries suffered from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the
2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd
Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. The incident is under investigation. defenselink.mil/ ... 12:49:37The
Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the
remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been
identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military
honors.Marine Pfc. Donald M. Walker, of Springfield, Ky., will be
buried Dec. 7 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Walker was
assigned to the Service Company, 1st Service Battalion, of the 1st Marine
Division deployed near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. On Nov. 27, 1950,
three Communist Chinese divisions launched an attack on the Marine positions.
Over the next several days, U.S. forces staged a fighting withdrawal to the
south, first to Hagaru-ri, then Koto-ri, and eventually to defensive positions
at Hungnam. Walker died on Dec. 7, 1950, as a result of enemy action near
Koto-ri. He was buried by fellow Marines in a temporary United Nations military
cemetery in Hungnam, which fell to the North Koreans in December 1950. His
identity was later verified from a fingerprint taken at the time of the burial.
During Operation Glory in 1954, the North Korean government repatriated the
remains of 2,944 U.S. soldiers and Marines. Included in this repatriation were
remains associated with Walker's burial. The staff at the U.S. Army Mortuary in
Kokura, Japan, however, cited suspected discrepancies between the biological
profile from the remains and Walker's physical characteristics. The remains
were among 416 from Operation Glory subsequently buried as "unknowns" in the
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (The Punchbowl) in Hawaii. In April
2007, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command exhumed remains from The Punchbowl
believed to be those of Walker. Although the remains did not yield usable DNA
data, a reevaluation of the skeletal and dental remains led to Walker's
identification.... marijuana is suing
the force to get his job back... After Chiofalo was fired, a police spokesman
said: 'The officer's excuse was not credible.'... Army Sgt. Kyle
Dayton, 22, of El Dorado Hills, Calif., died Dec. 3 in Ashwah, Iraq, of
injuries suffered from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the
2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd
Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. The incident is under investigation. defenselink.mil/ ... 10:14:00The
Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the
remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Korean War, have been identified
and will be returned to his family for burial with full military
honors.Army
1st Lt. Dixie S. Parker, of Green Pond, Ala. will be
buried Dec. 6 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.
Representatives from the Army met with Parker's next-of-kin to explain the
recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military
honors on behalf of the secretary of the Army. Parker was assigned to Battery
B, 8th Field Artillery Battalion, 25th Infantry Division then occupying a
defensive position overlooking the Kuryong River in P'yongan-Pukto Province,
North Korea. On Nov. 27, 1950, Parker was killed in his foxhole while serving
as a forward artillery observer. His body was not recovered. In 2000, a joint
U.S./Democratic People's Republic of Korea team, led by the Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command (JPAC), excavated a site overlooking the Kuryong River in
P'yongan-Pukto Province where U.S. soldiers were believed to be buried. The
team recovered human remains and non-biological evidence including Parker's
identification tags and first lieutenant rank insignia.... cannibis along with
cocaine and cash... sj-r.com/ ... 10:10:46A
Jacksonville man who mailed himself nearly 37 pounds of
marijuana was
sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison... newschannel5.com/ ...
10:09:21MEMPHIS, Tenn. - For the second time in less than a week Shelby
County sheriff's deputies seized a million dollars worth of
marijuana. Deputies
arrested six people and seized $1,200 pounds of drugs from two trucks... blog.mlive.com/ ... 10:08:03Three
young men accused of plotting to rob a Lima Township homeowner for
marijuana - including
a teen who was shot in the back as they fled - are now facing charges for their
alleged roles in the incident... police arrested the homeowner... on charges of
assault with intent to commit murder, assault with intent to do great bodily
harm less than murder, felonious assault, use of a firearm in the commission of
a felony, and manufacture of marijuana... foxnews.com/ ... 10:05:28Two men posing as gardeners
turned a Greek Orthodox nunnery near Thessaloniki into a marijuana farm with
more than 30 large cannabis plants... Army Cpl. Blair
W. Emery, 24, of Lee, Maine, died Nov. 30 in Baqubah, Iraq, of wounds
suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was
assigned to the 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade,
Fort Lewis, Wash. defenselink.mil/ ... 11:07:06Army Spc. Matthew
K. Reece, 24, of Harrison, Ark., died Dec. 1, in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds
suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was
assigned to the 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade
Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. defenselink.mil/ ... 11:06:41The
Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have
been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full
military honors.Army Staff Sgt. Maurice H. Moore, of Baltimore, Md. will be
buried in Baltimore on Dec. 4. Representatives from the Army met with Moore's
next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process, and to
coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the
Army. On May 12, 1968, North Vietnamese forces overran the Kham Duc Special
Forces camp and its surrounding observation posts in Quang Nam-Da Nang Province
(formerly Quang Tin Province), South Vietnam. Moore was one of the 17 U.S.
servicemen unaccounted-for after the survivors evacuated the camp. Search and
recovery efforts at the site in 1970 succeeded in recovering remains of five of
the 17 men. A sixth man was returned alive during Operation Homecoming in 1973
after having been held prisoner of war by the North Vietnamese. Between 1993
and 2006, joint U.S./Vietnam teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command
(JPAC), conducted eight investigations and four excavations in the vicinity of
the camp site. The team interviewed former North Vietnamese officers and
soldiers who participated in the battle. Some recalled seeing the bodies of
U.S. servicemen near one of the observation posts, and U.S. eyewitness accounts
placed Moore near the post. During an excavation conducted in 1998, two U.S.
servicemen who survived the battle accompanied JPAC to help locate the
observation posts, but found no evidence of human remains. Later excavations
conducted in the area yielded human remains, identification media and personal
effects for Moore and several other Army soldiers, including Maj. Frederick J.
Ransbottom and Staff Sgt. William E. Skivington Jr., who were identified in
2006.... cannabis crop in an
empty warehouse nearby... hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:36:05
KANSAS CITY, Mo.... Law enforcement authorities have
discovered that people are willing to go to great lengths to get high,
including a troubling new method... "Toad smoking," which is a substitute for
"toad licking," is done by extracting venom from the Sonoran Desert toad of the
Colorado River. The toad's venom - which is secreted when the toad gets angry
or scared - contains a hallucinogen called bufotenine that can be dried and
smoked to produce a buzz. In October, a Kansas City man was charged with
possessing a controlled substance after Clay County authorities determined he
possessed a toad with the intent to use its venom to get high. Clay County
Prosecutor Daniel White said possessing the toad is not illegal, but using it
to get high off its venom is... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:22:31The
lead singer of a well-known Mexican band has been abducted, tortured and
strangled to death, officials say. Sergio Gomez, of the K-Paz de la Sierra
band, was seized after a concert in the western state of Michoacan on Sunday.
The motive for the attack is unclear but Michoacan has been the scene of
gruesome drug-related violence. Several musicians have been killed over the
year, including performers of the popular "narcorrido" music whose lyrics
recounts tales of drug-trafficking... abc.net.au/ ... 10:14:05Police are
reminding Tasmanians never to sell alcohol without a licence. They have
arrested a 30 year old man on Tasmania's west coast for allegedly running an
illegal liquor business... texarkanagazette.com/ ...
10:13:48HOPE, Ark.—A brick of
marijuana weighing
about 11 pounds, with a street value of $3,300, was found in the trunk of a car
driven by a Hot Springs, Ark., man who said he had been Christmas shopping in
Texarkana... stopped for following too close to another vehicle... [by a]
Arkansas State Police Interstate Criminal Patrol[man] and his partner... drug
detection dog... Tommy... [Sounds like profiling & one more set-up to
me.] ksat.com/ ... 10:12:04SAN ANTONIO
-- ...The couple called deputies to their home... for a home invasion... During
the investigation, deputies found two upstairs bedrooms had been converted into
a marijuana factory,
complete with lamps and redirected duct work... "It's anywhere between 20 to 25
plants, and they're in the infant stages..." The person who
kicked down the door has not been located... ["Who ya gonna
call...?"] reporterherald.com/ ... 10:10:39Monday may have been
the first day in Colorado history that someone got their
marijuana back from
the police... But the marijuana and equipment returned Monday were
mostly dried out, broken or dead. Plants were dried and dead in evidence bags,
a glass bong was shattered. The Masterses and their attorneys said they plan to
seek compensation for the damage to all the equipment. "The Fort Collins Police
absolutely did not obey the state law..." nctimes.com/ ... 10:09:40TECATE -
A U.S. Border Patrol agent found a large stash of
marijuana and the
opening to an apparent smuggling tunnel today in a commercial trailer about 350
yards north of the U.S.-Mexico line... Stacked inside the unit - from floor to
ceiling in spots - were wrapped bundles of cannabis... NORTH COLLEGE HILL, Ohio — Two Boy Scouts and their
fathers selling Christmas trees were knocked to the ground by three men with
sawed-off shotguns who took about $350... Both adults and one boy also were
punched... They were gutsy enough to not have masks and stupid enough to hit a
kid," said police Sgt. Robert Kidd. "What kind of man hits a kid?.." ...To rebut Obama's comments that
he was not running "to fulfill some long-held plans" to be president, the
Clinton campaign cited an AP interview with Obama's kindergarten teacher, who
remembered he wrote an essay entitled, "I Want to Become President." Asked by
reporters Monday if he had any response to Clinton's latest attacks, Obama
said, "No," paused, then added, "It's silly season. I understand she's been
quoting my kindergarten teacher in Indonesia..." BARTLETT, Tenn... Tabitha Cain has fed a feral cat she
calls Wild Oats for several years, but now she's thinking of changing the
feline's name to Survivor. That's because she says the cat survived for 19 days
with a peanut butter jar stuck on its head. "We tried to get her, but being the
type of cat you can't catch, she kept running and hiding...." They found the
once chubby cat on Wednesday, too thin and weak to flee. They caught her with a
fishing net and used some oil to get the jar off her head... telegraph.co.uk/ ... 09:59:07Packed lunches of whale
meat were served up on the streets of Tokyo yesterday as the Japanese government stepped up its campaign to encourage the
public to eat more whale... Ukrainian
officials summoned a vet Friday to determine whether a crocodile, captured
after six months on the run, was comatose or dead. "The crocodile is showing no
signs of life. We are not specialists and, to be honest, we don't know whether
it's dead or alive..." hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:18:30
About 2,500 penguins en route to their Antarctic mating
grounds could be sickened by a diesel fuel spill from a cruise boat that struck
an iceberg and sank last week... Areas surrounding the mile-long spill site
include breeding grounds for Antarctic and Adelia penguins, and the largest
mating colony for Papua penguins... marijuana... the
marijuana was expertly wrapped and coated with a petroleum
product [yuck!] to avoid detection... likely a product of Mexico...
agoracosmopolitan.com/ ...
10:06:41...There is a criminal conspiracy at work against the
hemp plant and its
derivatives, against marijuana, pot, weed, and reefers, whatever you want to
call it. The plot is masterminded by the politicians and the police, who have
made marijuana use a federal crime, in the so-called war on drugs. What a laugh
that is. Figures in Canada are likely similar, but that boondoggle in the
United States has caused the American taxpayers $70 billion a year and over the
past 35 years costs approach a trillion dollars. Result? Drugs remain CHEAPER
and MORE available that 35 years ago... timesanddemocrat.com/ ...
10:04:57Four individuals, including a 59-year-old woman and her son,
were arrested on drug-related charges Friday after police concluded a
month-long drug investigation in Swansea... officers [of repression &
tyranny] seized 2.5 pounds of marijuana and about $1,470 in cash... street
value of the marijuana is estimated to be about $4,500... bizjournals.com/ ... 10:03:27This
week's Los Angeles Business poll asked: Should employers have the right to fire
employees with prescriptions of medical
marijuana?...Marijuana Policy
Project and two New Hampshire patients will challenge presidential candidates
Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney to back up their statements
regarding medical marijuana with scientific evidence. The challenge will be
announced at a Manchester press conference featuring a mobile billboard with
images of the three candidates bearing Pinocchio noses... In response to
questions asked by medical marijuana patients and supporters, Giuliani, McCain
and Romney have all claimed that medical marijuana is either not needed or "too
dangerous" for medical use. The MPP Medical Marijuana PAC will offer the
maximum $10,000 contribution ($5,000 for the primary campaign, $5,000 for the
general election) to any of the candidates who can prove that their claims are
true... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:20:50Police
have arrested a man who took several hostages at Hillary Clinton's campaign
office in Rochester, New Hampshire, ending a lengthy siege. The man, who
claimed he had a bomb strapped to his chest, had... demanded to speak to Mrs
Clinton, who was not present... The man... is believed to have a history of
mental illness... Computers outranked peace and happiness for the most
desired gift this year in an annual U.S. survey by the
consumer electronics industry's largest trade organization... [What a
surprise.] hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:09:28In a December newsletter to the families of elementary
school students, Spokane Public Schools' list of "important dates" didn't
include Christmas. Hanukkah, Human Rights Day, winter break, the Islamic holy
day Eid al-Adha, first day of winter and Kwanzaa all made the list. But no
Christmas. "It was absolutely an error of omission," district spokeswoman
Terren Roloff said. "In our efforts to be inclusive, we missed the obvious..."
Hutton School parent Jane Harper noted the absence of Christmas but didn't
think the omission was meant as a message to Christians. "Christmas is so
dominant in our society. I don't know that anyone should feel slighted..."
...Rowling, 42, admits... "There have been times since
finishing, weak moments, when I've said 'Yeah, all right' to the eighth
novel... If - and it's a big if - I ever write an eighth book, I doubt that
Harry would be the central character. I feel I've already told his story. But
these are big ifs. Let's give it ten years..." 
Canada's Royal Ontario Museum unveiled the skeleton of a
massive dinosaur on Wednesday that had been lost for decades -- in its own
collection. The 25-metre (85-foot) long Barosaurus, the largest dinosaur ever
to go on permanent display in Canada... 
Arkansas 5-year-old... was in a stand with his grandfather
when a black bear came from a thicket at the side of the road... shot the bear
with his youth rifle... [grandfather says the boy's] 10th great-grandfather was
Davy Crockett... taught his grandson how to shoot when the boy was 2 years
old... 
Chicago... Coming up for a vote Wednesday is a proposal to
ban chickens... the Chicago alderman who proposed a Chicago ban say chicken
lovers forget that the birds attract rodents... 
58-year-old Canadian pig
farmer... convicted of murdering six women - a fraction of the total number he
is thought to have killed... still faces murder charges for the deaths of 20
more women, most of them prostitutes and drug addicts from a seedy Vancouver
neighborhood... If convicted on all those charges, he would become Canada's
most prolific serial killer... ...During his trial, a prosecution witness,
Andrew Bellwood, said Pickton told him how he strangled his victims and fed
their remains to his pigs. Health officials once issued a tainted meat warning
to neighbours who might have bought pork from Pickton's farm, concerned the
meat might have contained human remains. The jury of seven men and five women
took 10 days to reach a verdict... 
"Tin Man" takes the beloved L. Frank Baum fantasy classic
"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" -- the source for a fairly popular 1939 feature
film -- and transforms it into the equivalent of an acid trip replete with
crazed sociopaths and one very scary sex-bomb sorceress. This wouldn't be so
odd had it played the story for laughs, but this six-hour miniseries comes
across as strangely earnest rather than campy. Say this for it: The thing
manages to hold our interest in the same way it might were David Lynch to plan
your office Christmas party... a peculiar, occasionally arresting and wholly
funky attempt to bring a measure of contemporary fantasy/sci-fi hip to a tale
we want to be neither hip nor self-aware. If it only had a brain, a heart and
the nerve...