A local resident stands near a section of China's Yellow River which has turned red after pollution caused by discharge from a sewage pipe in Lanzhou, in western Gansu province Monday Oct. 23, 2006. A kilometer-long section of the river turned "red and smelly" after a sewage pipe discharged red liquid on Sunday. Environmental protection officials took samples and were trying to determine whether the sewage was toxic. (AP Photo/EyePress)
(AP) -- A half-mile section of China's Yellow River turned "red and smelly" after an unknown discharge was poured into it from a sewage pipe, state media said Monday.
The incident in Lanzhou, a city of 2 million people in western Gansu province, follows a string of industrial accidents that have poisoned major rivers in China over the last year, forcing several cities to shut down their water systems.
It wasn't immediately clear what was tainting the section of the Yellow River. Environmental protection officials took samples and were trying to determine whether the sewage was toxic, the official Xinhua news agency said.
"Residents were alarmed to see a sewage pipe pouring red water into the country's second longest river" on Sunday between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., the agency ...   more »

By Bob Unruh
Islam is being taught in the nation's public schools as a religion to be embraced because "organized Islamists have gained control of textbook content," according to an organization that analyzes textbooks.
The American Textbook Council has concluded that the situation is the consequence of "the interplay of determined Islamic political activists, textbook editors, and multiculturally minded social studies curriculum planners."
It has gone so far that correcting the situation now becomes a problem, because "educational publishers and educational organizations have bought into claims propounded by Islamists – and have themselves become agents of misinformation."
That comes from Gilbert T. Sewall, who not only wrote the organization's report on Islam and textbooks, but also generated a response to the flood of criticism he encountered.
William J. Bennetta, author of The Textbook Letter and a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, also has documented dozens of instances of advocacy for or against a belief system, and has produced a list of books where the "religion preaching" leaves them "unfit for use."
Indeed, Middle East Forum director Daniel Pipes even has repeatedly expressed concern about the "privileging of Islam in the United States" and warns the stakes go well ...   more »

A coalition united by its determination to stop efforts to merge the U.S. into a North American Union is organizing a grass-roots effort to make it an issue in 2008, vowing to campaign against any candidate, Republican or Democrat, who won't side with them.
Spearheaded by Conservative Caucus Chairman Howard Phillips; WND columnist and author Jerome Corsi; and activist Phyllis Schlafly, leaders of the 50-member coalition held an event at the National Press Club yesterday, expressing support for a proposed congressional resolution that denounces any effort by the U.S. to enter into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada.
Corsi said lawmakers need to be held accountable, and the plan, along with calling for a congressional investigation, is to train members of Schlafly's Eagle Forum to lobby on Capitol Hill when the 100th Congress convenes in January.
"We want to make it a major issue of the 2008 campaign," Corsi said. "The coalition will work to oppose any candidate who doesn't sign on, Republicans and Democrats alike."
The resolution – sponsored by Republican Reps. Virgil Goode Jr. of Virginia, Tom Tancredo of Colorado, Walter Jones of North Carolina, and Ron Paul of Texas – expresses "the sense of Congress ...   more »

BY EDWARD PENTIN
VATICAN CITY — Were Hitler and Stalin possessed?
The devil gets more attention in the popular culture at Halloween than at any other time in the year. But it’s not often one hears the question put so specifically.
When Rome’s chief exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, told Vatican Radio in August that he believed Hitler and Stalin were “certainly” possessed by the devil, it made headlines around the world.
Regarded as the Church’s most experienced and prominent exorcist, Father Amorth warned Vatican Radio listeners Aug. 27 that the devil can possess not only individuals but also entire groups and populations.
“I am convinced that the Nazis were possessed by the devil,” he said. “If one thinks of what was committed by people like Stalin or Hitler, certainly they were possessed by the devil. This is seen in their actions, in their behavior and in the horrors they committed.”
After his comments were made public, some accused the veteran exorcist of making excuses for the atrocities perpetrated by the two infamous dictators, and essentially of defending them by using the “devil-made-me-do-it” excuse.
“It absolves the Nazis from their crimes,” Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los ...   more »