The astrologer made one prediction too far The authorities in Sri Lanka have arrested a popular astrologer who predicted that the president will be ejected from office, police say. Chandrasiri Bandara announced last week that the government would flounder in September and October because of political and economic problems. The opposition have condemned the arrest [...]
Archive for June, 2009
Sri Lanka astrologer is arrested after predicting president’s fall
Posted in Politics, tagged Sri Lanka on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off
Round-the-world solar plane debut
Posted in Energy and Environment, Travel and Transportation on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off
Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard has unveiled a prototype of the solar-powered plane he hopes eventually to fly around the world. The initial version, spanning 61m but weighing just 1,500kg, will undergo trials to prove it can fly at night. Dr Piccard, who made history in 1999 by circling the globe non-stop in a balloon, [...]
Highway To Heaven
Posted in Religion on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off
For some, it is comforting to know that God decrees who will be saved, without regard to merit. For others, it isn’t at all. ‘You can and you can’t / You will and you won’t / You’ll be damned if you do / And you’ll be damned if you don’t.” Thus 19th-century Methodist Lorenzo Dow [...]
“Occasionally, he would voice frustration with U.S. policies,” noted the Washington Post of Walter Kendall Myers, the aging New Leftist recently arrested with his wife, Gwendolyn, on charges of spying for Cuba. “But to his liberal neighbors in Northwest D.C.,” the story continued, “it was nothing out of the ordinary. ‘We were all appalled by [...]
Iran: Desperately Seeking Yeltsin
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Editorials and opinion, tagged Iran on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off
At a June 9 demonstration in Tehran, a supporter of Mir Hossein Mousavi stands next to a poster of him, whistling as she films the event with her mobile phone. Iran today is a revolution in search of its Yeltsin. Without leadership, demonstrators will take to the street only so many times to face tear [...]
That Other Affair
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics, tagged Ensign, Sanford on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off
Sen. Ensign’s infidelity merits further investigation. IT WAS JUST a week ago that Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) was in the spotlight for his admission of marital infidelity. Now comes fellow Republican and would-be presidential hopeful Mark Sanford’s clumsy admission of adultery, and Mr. Ensign is, so political pundits judge, yesterday’s news. That’s too bad, because [...]
Today in History – June 26
Posted in This day in history, tagged June 26 on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Friday, June 26, the 177th day of 2009. There are 188 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin, where he expressed solidarity with the city’s residents by declaring: “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner). On this date: In [...]
Entertainment – June 26
Posted in Entertainment Today, tagged June 26 on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off
Selected Discography for Michael Jackson A selected discography of Michael Jackson’s music: —— No. 1 songs: ”Ben,” 1972. ”Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” 1979. ”Rock With You,” 1980. ”The Girl Is Mine,” 1982. ”Beat it,” 1983. ”Billie Jean,” 1983. ”Say Say Say,” 1983. ”Bad,” 1987. ”I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” 1987. ”The Way [...]
Human Nature Today
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Living on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off
Has there ever been a time when there were so many different views of human nature floating around all at once? The economists have their view, in which rational people coolly chase incentives. Traditional Christians have their view, emphasizing original sin, grace and the pilgrim’s progress in a fallen world. And then there are the [...]
The Real Mob at Stonewall
Posted in Editorials and opinion, tagged Stonewall on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off
I WAS perhaps the unlikeliest person in the world to cover the Stonewall riots for The Village Voice. It was June 27, 1969. I had graduated from West Point only three weeks earlier and was spending my summer leave in New York before reporting for duty at Fort Benning, in Georgia. After a late dinner [...]
Not Enough Audacity
Posted in Economy and business, Editorials and opinion, Health on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off
When it comes to domestic policy, there are two Barack Obamas. On one side there’s Barack the Policy Wonk, whose command of the issues — and ability to explain those issues in plain English — is a joy to behold. But on the other side there’s Barack the Post-Partisan, who searches for common ground where [...]
Today’s papers – June 26
Posted in Today's Papers, tagged June 26 on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off
HISstory The real big news of the day is, of course, the death of Michael Jackson. The Los Angeles Times banners the news and devotes three-quarters of its front page to the King of Pop. USA Today hands over practically all of its Page One real estate to a huge picture of the icon. Jackson [...]
To-Do List: A Sentence, Not 10 Paragraphs
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off
By trying to do too much, he risks not doing enough. Something seems off with our young president. He appears jarred. Difficult history has come over the transom. He seemed defensive and peevish with the press in his Tuesday news conference, and later with Charlie Gibson on health care, when he got nailed by a [...]
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or, being [...]
What Sanford Should Have Said
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off
Can’t anyone make a dignified apology? We can now add the sad-eyed Gov. Mark Sanford, making his tearful public confessional, to the galaxy of similar fallen stars we have seen in this state before. The question no one has ever answered is how they all fell into the grip of the same delusion: namely, that [...]
Pop icon Michael Jackson, 50, is dead
Posted in Arts and Entertainment on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead today after paramedics found him in a coma at his Bel-Air mansion, city and law enforcement sources told The Times. Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Steve Ruda told The Times that paramedics responded to a 911 call from the home. When they arrived, Jackson was not breathing. The [...]
Chancellor Merkel Visits the Debt President
Posted in Economy and business, Editorials and opinion, Politics, tagged Germany, United States on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
The occupant of the White House may have changed recently. But the amount of ill-advised ideology coming from Washington has remained constant. Obama’s list of economic errors is long — and continues to grow. US President Barack Obama signs the Supplemental Appropriations Act in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA [...]
‘The Main Thing Was to Survive at All’
Posted in Conflicts and wars, tagged Nazis, World War II on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
Concentration camp brothels remain a hushed-up chapter of the Nazi-era horrors. Now a German researcher has probed the dark subject — and has revealed the meticulous cruelty of the so-called “special buildings.” Kicking them with his boots, the SS soldier drove Margarete W. and the other women prisoners out of the train and onto a [...]
Mixed signals among the coca bushes
Posted in Economy and business, Health, Law, tagged Coca, Cocaine on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
An apparent fall in cocaine production conceals the remarkable resilience of an illegal industry A YEAR ago when the United Nations’ annual survey showed a rise of 27% in the area planted with coca in Colombia in 2007, the government expressed “serious doubts” about the reliability of the estimate. On June 19th Colombian officials were [...]
No cover up
Posted in Law, Living, Politics, Religion, tagged Burqa, France on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
The government takes on a “walking prison” WHEN the French government decided in 2004 to ban the Muslim headscarf in state schools and other public buildings, it set off a heated debate over religious expression and women’s rights in a secular state. Now Nicolas Sarkozy has sparked another by calling the burqa, a head-to-toe Islamic [...]
Heading for the emergency room
Posted in Economy and business, Health, Politics on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
America’s health care is the costliest in the world, yet quality is patchy and millions are uninsured. Incentives for both patients and suppliers need urgent treatment NO ONE will be astonished to hear that health care costs more in Indiana than in India. However, a few might be surprised to learn that Americans spend more [...]
Demography means virtually all of us will have to work longer. That need not be a bad thing WHEN Otto von Bismarck introduced the first pension for workers over 70 in 1889, the life expectancy of a Prussian was 45. In 1908, when Lloyd George bullied through a payment of five shillings a week for [...]
ObamaCare Isn’t Inevitable
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health, Politics on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
Americans are increasingly concerned about the cost — in money and personal freedom — of the president’s nanny-state initiatives. While still good, President Barack Obama’s political health is deteriorating, threatened by what he thought would be balm — his ambitious plan for a government takeover of health care. Mr. Obama remains slightly more popular than [...]
Hillary Is Wrong About the Settlements
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Politics, tagged Israel, Settlements on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
The U.S. and Israel reached a clear understanding about natural growth. Despite fervent denials by Obama administration officials, there were indeed agreements between Israel and the United States regarding the growth of Israeli settlements on the West Bank. As the Obama administration has made the settlements issue a major bone of contention between Israel and [...]
High Court Eases Oversight of Arizona English Program and Rules that an Accused Has a Constitutional Right to Cross-examine Forensic Analysts
Posted in Supreme Court decisions, tagged Horne v Flores, Melendez-Diaz v Massachusetts on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
The Supreme Court ruled for Arizona officials who challenged federal court supervision of a program to educate students who aren’t proficient in English. By a 5-4 vote, the court reversed an appeals court ruling in a 17-year-old lawsuit intended to close the gap between students in Nogales, Ariz., who are learning to speak English and [...]
Supreme Court Rules Strip Search of 13-Year-Old Girl Unconstitutional
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Supreme Court decisions, tagged Redding, Safford United School District on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
Vote Is 8-1; Justice Thomas Dissents The Supreme Court rapped school officials for strip-searching a 13-year-old girl in a fruitless hunt for ibuprofen, ruling that an investigation based on almost no evidence violated the Fourth Amendment ban on “unreasonable searches and seizures.” Savana Redding, right, and her lawyer Adam Wolf, stood outside the Supreme Court [...]
Ahmadinejad Assails Obama as Opposition Urges Defiance
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Politics, tagged Iran on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the opening ceremony of the Mehr petrochemical facility in southern Iran on Thursday. As Iran’s embattled opposition leader said he would “not back down for a second” in challenging the disputed elections, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told President Obama on Thursday to avoid interfering in Iran’s affairs and demanded an apology from [...]
Entertainment – June 25
Posted in Entertainment Today, tagged June 25 on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
German Jews Horrified by Britney Holocaust Role The news that Britney Spears may hit the silver screen as the star of a Holocaust-era romantic tragedy has raised eyebrows in Germany. The plot calls for the pop-star to travel back in time to a concentration camp — and the Central Council of Jews in Germany says [...]
Today in History – June 25
Posted in This day in history, tagged June 25 on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Thursday, June 25, the 176th day of 2009. There are 189 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On June 25, 1950, war broke out in Korea as forces from the communist North invaded the South. On this date: In 1243, Cardinal Sinibaldo Fieschi was elected pope, taking the name Innocent [...]
New cancer drug ‘shows promise’
Posted in Health, tagged Cancer on June 25, 2009 | Comments Off
The treatment was tested on breast cancer patients Researchers say a new type of cancer treatment has produced highly promising results in preliminary drug trials. Olaparib was given to 19 patients with inherited forms of advanced breast, ovarian and prostate cancers caused by mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. In 12 of the patients [...]
