Chicken Soup 4 The Damned

'Gilligan' Bob Denver Recuperating

Bob Denver, star of the 1960s television show "Gilligan's Island," is recuperating from quadruple heart bypass surgery, his agent said Wednesday.

Banned Pregnant Graduate Walks Anyway

[Montgomery, AL] A pregnant student who was banned from graduation at her Roman Catholic high school announced her own name and walked across the stage anyway at the close of the program.

Alysha Cosby's decision prompted cheers and applause Tuesday from many of her fellow seniors at St. Jude Educational Institute. But her mother and aunt were escorted out of the church by police after Cosby headed back to her seat.

"I can't believe something like this is happening in 2005," said her mother, Sheila Cosby. "My daughter has been through a lot and I am proud of her. She deserved to walk, and she did...." The father of Cosby's child, also a senior at the school, was allowed to participate in graduation.

'Virility' Statement Fails To Win Over Female Lawmakers

[Springfield, IL] At issue is Blagojevich's comment to reporters Monday that he has the "testicular virility" to make tough decisions in reference to his very public argument with his father-in-law Chicago Ald. Richard Mell over a landfill.

Mell accused the governor of trading state jobs for campaign contributions. Although he later retracted his statements, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine are investigating....

A spokeswoman for Blagojevich said the "testicular virility" comment was appropriate and that the governor was merely trying to convey he had the "guts" to stand up for what he believes.

Diplomatic Turf War Grips Israel

Israeli media suggest the situation became heated when the foreign minister's wife, Judy Nir Moses Shalom, blamed the embassy in Washington for not securing a photo opportunity with Madonna during the US pop star's Kabbalah pilgrimage to Israel last September.

Mrs Shalom, a TV presenter, was said to be so outraged at the perceived slight that she demanded the ambassador's personal secretary, Liran Petersil, be sacked. After Mr Ayalon refused, Mr Shalom's foreign ministry cancelled the aide's position entirely, reports say.

US 'Backed Illegal Iraqi Oil Deals'

In fact, the Senate report found that US oil purchases accounted for 52% of the kickbacks paid to the regime in return for sales of cheap oil -- more than the rest of the world put together....

Yesterday's report makes two principal allegations against the Bush administration.

• Firstly, it found the US treasury failed to take action against a Texas oil company, Bayoil, which facilitated payment of "at least $37m in illegal surcharges to the Hussein regime...."

  After repeated requests over eight months from the UN and the US state department, the treasury's office of foreign assets control wrote to Bayoil in May 2002, requesting a report on its transactions but did not "request specific information by UN or direct Bayoil to answer the UN's questions."

• In its second main finding, the report said the US military and the state department gave a tacit green light for shipments of nearly 8m barrels of oil bought by Jordan, a vital American ally, entirely outside the UN-monitored Oil For Food system....

  Investigators found correspondence showing that Odin Marine Inc, the US company chartering the seven huge tankers which picked up the oil at Khor al-Amaya, repeatedly sought and received approval from US military and civilian officials that the ships would not be confiscated by US Navy vessels in the Maritime Interdiction Force (MIF) enforcing the embargo.

  Odin was reassured by a state department official that the US "was aware of the shipments and has determined not to take action." The company's vice president, David Young, told investigators that a US naval officer at MIF told him that he "had no objections" to the shipments.

The Pentagon declined to comment. The US representative's office at the UN referred inquiries to the state department, which fail to return calls.

Newsweek Apologizes For Errors In Story Alleging Desecration Of Quran That Led To Angry Protests

In an apology to readers this week, Newsweek acknowledged errors in a story alleging U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Quran. The accusations, which the magazine vowed to re-examine, spawned protests in Afghanistan that left 15 dead and scores injured....

[Editor Mark Whitaker said] that the magazine's original source later said he could not be sure he read about the alleged Quran incident in the report Newsweek cited, and that it might have been in another document.... Newsweek Washington Bureau Chief Daniel Klaidman said the magazine believes it erred in reporting the allegation that a prison guard tried to flush the Quran down a toilet and that military investigators had confirmed the accusation.

The rioting in Afghanistan over the false Quran-desecration report was almost as severe as when they rioted over allegations Cameron Diaz dated that married weblogger.

On Saturday, Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, both allies of Washington, demanded an investigation and punishment for those behind the reported desecration of the Quran. The story also sparked protests in Pakistan, Yemen and the Gaza Strip. The 22-nation Arab League issued a statement saying if the allegations panned out, Washington should apologize to Muslims. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said in an interview for CNN's "Late Edition" that the allegations were being investigated "vigorously."

"If it turns out to be true, obviously we will take action against those responsible..."

Bush Not Told About Plane Scare Until After Biking

Bush was about a half-an-hour into his ride at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland when an unidentified Cessna airplane came near the White House, sending the Secret Service scrambling to evacuate Vice President Dick Cheney and move First Lady Laura Bush to a secure location. McClellan said the president's Secret Service detail was informed about the plane at about 11:59 a.m....

Fighter planes were immediately scrambled to intercept the plane, and the threat level at the White House was raised all the way to "red" before the "all clear" was given at 12:14 p.m. McClellan said Bush was informed about the incident around 12:50 p.m. at the end of his ride [which started 11:34].

Bush Asked To Explain UK War Memo

Eighty-nine Democratic members of the U.S. Congress last week sent President George W. Bush a letter asking for explanation of a secret British memo that said "intelligence and facts were being fixed" to support the Iraq war in mid-2002....

"While various individuals have asserted this to be the case before, including Paul O'Neill, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, and Richard Clarke, a former National Security Council official, they have been previously dismissed by your administration," the letter said.

But, the letter said, when the document was leaked Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman called it "nothing new."

Pregnant Woman 'Tasered' By Police Is Convicted

In a two-day trial that ended Friday, the officer involved, Officer Juan Ornelas, testified he clocked Brooks' Dodge Intrepid doing 32 mph in a 20-mph school zone....

"I said, 'Well, I'll take the ticket, but I won't sign it,'" Brooks testified. Officer Donald Jones joined Ornelas in trying to persuade Brooks to sign the ticket. [Their supervisor, Sgt. Steve Daman] authorized them to arrest her when she continued to refuse....

In his testimony, the Taser officer said he pressed the prongs of the muzzle against Brooks' thigh to no effect. So he applied it twice to her exposed neck. Afterward, he and the others testified, Ornelas pushed Brooks out of the car while Jones pulled. She was taken to the ground, handcuffed and placed in a patrol car, the officers testified....

Brooks said she was worried about the effect the trauma and the [50,000 volt] Taser might have on her baby, but she delivered a healthy girl Jan. 31.

'Bewitched' Statue Bothers Some In Salem

...the plans for the salute to "Bewitched" didn't go over well. That's because TV Land decided the place for this nine-foot tribute to America's most beloved housewife witch is in the middle of Salem, Mass., a town best known for hanging 19 citizens accused of witchcraft....

"It's like TV Land going to Auschwitz and proposing to erect a statue of Colonel Klink..."

Scientists Snub Kansas Evolution Hearings

Scientists have refused to participate in state Board of Education hearings this past week on how the theory of evolution should be treated in public schools, but they haven't exactly been silent. About a dozen scientists, most from Kansas universities, spoke each day at news conferences after evolution critics testified before a board subcommittee....

The theory of evolution says that changes in species can lead to new species, and that different species, including man and apes, have common ancestors. Intelligent design advocates contend the universe is so complex it must have been created by a higher power.

Captured Al-Qaeda Kingpin Is Case Of 'Mistaken Identity'

The capture of a supposed Al-Qaeda kingpin by Pakistani agents last week was hailed by President George W Bush as "a critical victory in the war on terror...." Bush called [Abu Faraj al-Libbi] a "top general" and "a major facilitator and chief planner for the Al- Qaeda network Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, said he was "a very important figure."

Yet the backslapping in Washington and Islamabad has astonished European terrorism experts, who point out that the Libyan was neither on the FBI's most wanted list, nor on that of the State Department "rewards for justice" programme....

"Al-Libbi is just a 'middle-level' leader," said Jean-Charles Brisard, a French intelligence investigator and leading expert on terrorism finance. "Pakistan and US authorities have completely overestimated his role and importance. He was never more than a regional facilitator between Al-Qaeda and local Pakistani Islamic groups."