Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist will join a line-up of distinguished speakers at a symposium, open to the public, addressing the threat of radical Islam. Also on the roster for the Nov. 10 and 11 event in Las Vegas – titled "Understanding the Threat of Radical Islamist Terrorism" – is Hamid Mir, the only journalist to have interviewed Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahri since the 9-11 attacks. In addition, honored guests will include John O'Neill, co-founder and spokesman for Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth; Retired Capt. Larry Bailey, who was president of Vietnam Vets for the Truth; and internationally syndicated columnist and television talk-show hostess Arlene Peck. The symposium is presented by America's Truth Forum a grassroots, non-partisan, educational organization. Tickets are $150 per attendee and require advanced purchase due to security protocol. Information can be found on the group's website.Gilchrist, co-author with Jerome Corsi of "Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders," founded the multi-ethnic Minuteman Project in 2004 after years of frustrated efforts to get the government to enforce immigration laws. He is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and recipient of the Purple Heart for wounds suffered during service ...   more »

By George Jones, Political Editor
Last Updated: 2:52am BST 24/10/2006
Audio: Philip Johnston on the DNA database
Tony Blair called yesterday for the national DNA database to be expanded to include every citizen.He said there should be no limit on the development of the database because it was vital for catching serious criminals.   
Tony Blair claimed during a trip to the Forensic Science Service in London that extended use of DNA had public backing
The Conservatives accused him of attempting to expand the DNA database by stealth and called for Parliament to vote on whether details of people who were innocent or not charged should be included against their wishes.
The Prime Minister said the public backed the extended use of DNA and urged police forces across the country to make use of technological advances to reopen thousands of unresolved "cold cases".
During a tour of the Forensic Science Service headquarters in London, he dismissed concerns of opposition politicians, saying the public backed the database because it was "helping us track down murderers, rapists".
The national DNA database has expanded by about a third to 3.6 million profiles since the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which allowed police to take ...   more »

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 »