Cox: 'Evolution' a negative buzzword
By MARY MacDONALD
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0104/30evolution.html
"State Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox said she removed references to evolution from the proposed biology curriculum because it is "a buzzword that causes a lot of negative reaction.""
Darby delays taking action on 'objective origins' curriculum
By MICHAEL MOORE
The Missoulian
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2004/01/30/news/local/znews04.txt
"The debate over teaching so-called "objective origins" science in the school here is too big for two meetings."
Georgia Takes on 'Evolution'
By ANDREW JACOBS
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/30/e...00&en=442347ae564b42d7&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
"A proposed set of guidelines for middle and high school science classes in Georgia has caused a furor after state education officials removed the word "evolution" and scaled back ideas about the age of Earth and the natural selection of species."
Evolution furor heats up
By MARY MacDONALD
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0104/31evolution.html
"Georgia political leaders said Friday that they're embarrassed that the state is at the center of a furor over evolution."
Scientists decry 'evolution' deletion
By MARCIA LANGHENRY
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0204a/01evolside.html
"Calling the state school superintendent's proposal to remove the word "evolution" from state teaching standards "cataclysmic," scientists who spent a year crafting a statement on the importance of teaching evolution scrambled this weekend to add weight to their position."
Evolution is evolution by any other name
by Lou Sessinger
The Intelligencer [PA]
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/137-02012004-238245.html
"It's not often that you run across the words "trend-setter" and "Georgia" in the same sentence, but the folks down yonder in the Peach State might be onto something this time."
Perdue: 'E' word belongs in curriculum
By JIM THARPE
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0204a/01evolution.html
"Gov. Sonny Perdue said Saturday the word "evolution" should stay in the curriculum used for Georgia students, his first effort to quell a firestorm of controversy swirling around a volatile blend of religion and science."
Self-described 'financial pastor' arrested
By Jen McCaffery
Roanoke Times
http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story161947.html
"When federal agents entered William Thomas Warren's home Wednesday, the Troutville man was hiding in a crawl space in his basement, according to a federal affidavit."
Death for Japan cult chemist
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3443857.stm
"A Japanese chemist who oversaw the development of nerve gas used in a 1995 attack on the Tokyo subway has been sentenced to death."
Japan Cult Member Sentenced to Death
Associated Press
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-japan-doomsday-cult,0,3944206.story
"A chemist was sentenced to death on Friday for leading efforts by a doomsday group to develop the nerve gas used in a 1995 attack on the Tokyo subways that killed 12 people, a court official said."
Japanese Chemist Sentenced to Death for Participation in Terror Attacks
by Steven Shayman
Voice of America
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=26C6D00A-F512-4E3F-A62F3F326DB2177F
"A Japanese court has sentenced to death the chemist who helped lead terrorist attacks that killed at least 20 people and injured thousands in 1994 and 1995. The judgment against the senior member of the Aum Shinrikyo terrorist cult comes after an eight-year trial."
The secret society that ties Bush and Kerry
by Charles Laurence
The Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...01.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/02/01/ixnewstop.html
"The "tomb" stands dark and hulking at the heart of the Yale University campus, almost windowless, and shuttered and padlocked in the thick snow of winter storms."
Conspiracies so vast
By Darrin M. McMahon
Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2004/02/01/conspiracies_so_vast/
"HOWARD DEAN SPECULATES on National Public Radio that George W. Bush may have been warned of 9/11 "ahead of time by the Saudis." University professors imply with an air of sophistication that the war in Iraq was a plot to fill contracts for Halliburton. Radio shock-jocks rant against the machinations of the United Nations and the "New World Order." And the conservative pundit Ann Coulter makes the rounds of the talk shows with a book, "Treason," built on the claim that the vilification of Joseph McCarthy was the "greatest Orwellian fraud of our time." The man who warned famously of a "great conspiracy" of communists, it seems, was himself the victim of a plot by "liberals" to blacken his good name."
Take neutral approach to Greenfield's Gravity Hill
By Nathan Cobb
Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/li...neutral_approach_to_greenfields_gravity_hill/
"You may not find your thrill on Gravity Hill, but you will discover that what some folks say about a certain stretch of Shelburne Road is true: Park your car on the slight incline just east of the Route 2 overpass, shift into neutral, and coast uphill. At least that's what appears to happen. Just ask anybody who's motored up the winding road two miles west of downtown in response to the longtime if low-key local buzz."
Crop circles to be 'deciphered'
by RAHUL CHANDAWARKAR
Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/456212.cms
"Those with a special interest in extra-terrestrial (ET) life may now shift their attention for a while from the American rovers currently roaming Martian terrain."
Ex-atheist describes near-death experience
By LINDA ANDRADE RODRIGUES
New Bedford Standard-Times
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/01-04/01-31-04/c04rg223.htm
"A native son and newspaper carrier for The Standard-Times in Falmouth, Howard Storm went on to earn a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and for 20 years was an arts professor at Northern Kentucky University. An avowed atheist, he believed that there was no such thing as life after death -- until the day in 1985 when he died and went to hell."
Film crew searches for Sinatra ghost
By Merry Thomas
North Lake Tahoe Bonanza
http://www.tahoebonanza.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040130/NEWS/401300102
"The film crew had barely entered the attractive suite when the young actor sitting on the end of the bed began talking rapidly as he stared at the floor."
Man calls for law to protect Bigfoot
Capital News 9
http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/headlines/?ArID=57411&SecID=33
"Whitehall is known as the birthplace of the U.S. Navy, but if one man gets his way, it may soon add "Protector of Bigfoot" to its resume."
‘Death not an option’ in man’s cancer fight
By Lee Reinsch
Fond Du Lac Reporter
http://www.wisinfo.com/thereporter/news/archive/local_14324477.shtml
"Two years ago, Bruce McMurry didn’t know if he’d see much more than another Christmas."
New Age Students 'Shunning Sciences'
By Gemma Collins
UK Press Association
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2473175
"Industry is facing a major problem because young people are “indulging” in mysticism and New Age leanings, it was claimed today."
Celebrating 5 Years, NCCAM Invites Input for Strategic Planning
Press Release
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/jan2004/nccam-30.htm
"The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), celebrated its 5th anniversary today by launching its second 5-year strategic planning effort. The announcement, made at NCCAM's National Advisory Council meeting, marks the start of a year-long planning effort involving the public, researchers, health care professionals, NCCAM staff, and others with an interest in research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)."
Duke receives $10M gift for Center for Integrative Medicine
Durham Herald-Sun
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-441840.html
"Duke University has received $10 million from the C.J. Mack Foundation to support a new facility dedicated to the emerging field of integrative medicine."
Homeopathy: Getting the most from small doses
Mayo Clinic
http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?objectid=571C769E-4FE3-47AA-8D0E516EF09F1A41
"Had you lived 200 years ago, the health care you received would have been far different from the treatments your primary care physician gives you today. Then, your doctor might have recommended such treatments as bloodletting or taking dangerous doses of sulfur and mercury. Fed up with those options, a German physician devised a new system of treatment called homeopathy — a system that's still in use today."
Herbal mix gives sick cat another life
by Terry Bibo
Peoria Journal Star
http://www.pjstar.com/news/bibo/b217797p009.html
"Sadie presented herself to our family maybe 15 years ago."
'Natural' healers want legal recognition
by Bill Sloat
Cleveland Plain Dealer
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/107563176879930.xml
"Healers who say modern physicians use too many prescription drugs want Ohio to officially legalize their branch of the medical arts, a philosophy that nearly went on life support after the first antibiotics were discovered 70 years ago."
Presidential Candidate Urges Full Disclosure of E.T. Treaties.
Press Release
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/1/emw100696.htm
""Any thinking person can see that the U.S. government conceals the extent of its knowledge about and involvement with extraterrestrial visitors to this planet.""
Into the cuckoo's nest
by Lauren Slater
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,1134105,00.html
"In 1972, David Rosenhan, a newly minted psychologist with a joint degree in law, called eight friends and said something like, "Are you busy next month? Would you have time to fake your way into a mental hospital and see what happens?""
Science and tribal religion clash in 'No Bone Unturned'
By Doug Esser
Associated Press
http://www.indystar.com/articles/1/116706-7091-021.html
"Kennewick Man, the ancient skeleton found in the Columbia River with a spear point in his hip, had an adventuresome life more than 9,000 years ago."
Update: Season Of Sharing Scam
by Jaime Fettrow
WBNG
http://www.wbng.com/data/web_5086.shtml
"The New York Attorney General's office went after Helene Diorio because it says the Vestal woman was involved in an illegal pyramid scheme."
It pays to know what you're signing
By Jim Monday
Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle
http://www.theleafchronicle.com/news/stories/20040131/localnews/325782.html
"Well-meaning, but gullible, people are still being bamboozled by e-mails and letters sent by someone who must be laughing it up once again."
Drunken-driving deaths up on Super Sunday
By ROBIN FITZGERALD
BILOXI SUN HERALD
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/local/7840513.htm
"It's often said that Super Bowl Sunday brings the highest percentage of alcohol-related traffic deaths and increased domestic assaults."
Link between Super Bowl and violence a myth
By Michelle Durand
San Mateo Daily Journal
http://www.smdailyjournal.org/article.cfm?issue=01-30-04&storyID=27741
"There is a common perception that during the Super Bowl it won’t only be the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers being battered, but also an increased number of domestic violence victims."
Black QB question wasn't dumb as everyone thought
By DAVID CLIMER
The Tennessean
http://www.tennessean.com/sports/columnists/climer/archives/04/01/46230219.shtml
"Of all the dumb questions asked at all the Super Bowls, this was the dumbest: In 1988, some lamebrain with a press credential but minus a clue looked at Redskins quarterback Doug Williams and said:"
Did you hear that ...
By MIKE ARGENTO
York Daily Record
http://ydr.com/story/main/18393/
"Super Bowl Sunday is upon us and, if you believe in the myths surrounding this unofficial American holiday, it means an increase in domestic violence, a big day for avocado growers, a massive strain on water and sewer systems and boom or bust for the stock market."
Super Bowl legends loom large - and false
by Jim Stingl
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/jan04/204058.asp
"Today, Super Bowl Sunday, is not - repeat not - the worst day of the year for domestic violence. Let's keep it that way, football fans."
We check out story before making giant leap
by Manning Pynn
Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edppubcol020104020104feb01,1,6995025.column
"Mrs. Public Editor, formerly a television critic in another city, once received a call from a woman who thought the newspaper should inform its readers that newscaster Ted Koppel is the son of Howdy Doody."
'Left Behind' seminar to feature LaHaye
BY MARIAN RIZZO
Ocala Star Banner
http://www.starbanner.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040131/NEWS/201310341/1027/SPORTS
"Eschatology. Rapture. Second Advent."
Carjack Hoax: Tests Show Cocaine Residue
KOIN
http://www.koin.com/webnews/2004/20040129_meierb.shtml
"Preliminary tests show that cocaine residue was discovered in Darcie Meier's home, according to the Hood River District Attorney's Office."
The Danger of Perpetuating False Urban Myths in Space
by Keith Cowing
SpaceRef.com
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=922
"Everyone loves to poke fun at the government for paying too much for things. Examples such as $500 toilet seats on Air Force planes and the like have taken on mythical stature. NASA is no different."
The big game carries no shortage of tall tales
by JOHN SNELL
The Oregonian
http://www.oregonlive.com/living/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/living/1075553862180580.xml
"When Super Bowl XXXVIII kicks off Sunday, it arrives with a load of expectations -- many of them urban legends passed on without the benefit of fact."
Super Bowl myths fumble the truth
By JAMES A. FUSSELL
Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/7840246.htm
"Super Bowl or Super Baloney?"
Parents want district to remove ‘satanic’ books
Associated Press
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10896593&BRD=1697&PAG=461&dept_id=44551&rfi=6
"School district officials being asked to restrict access to "satanic’’ material in libraries say they’re taking parental concerns seriously but haven’t agreed to pull the books."
Occult book ban demanded
By TIM ZATZARINY JR.
Camden Courier-Post
http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/m013004b.htm
"Two books checked out from his middle-school library helped spark David O'Quinn's interest in satanism and led him down a dark path that included self-mutilation, his parents contend."
Parents: Satanic books in school
By Denise Jewell
Gloucester County Times
http://www.nj.com/news/gloucester/local/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1075540538186380.xml
"A group of parents concerned about two books on the shelves of Chestnut Ridge Middle School are asking the school district to review its entire collection for inappropriate material. They say the two books are satanic-related."
Witness pleaded for her nephew's life
BY MICHAEL P. McKINNEY
Providence Journal
http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20040130_ma30cult.18d35f.html
"Fear overcame Renee Horton. Her nephew Samuel Robidoux's eyes were sunken, his pudgy cheeks a memory. But when she confronted the infant's father, her brother-in-law, he warned her: Accept the boy's starvation as God's will, believe the infant will survive, or your family will suffer."
Defense: Robidoux powerless to aid son
BY MICHAEL P. McKINNEY
Providence Journal
http://www.projo.com/massachusetts/content/projo_20040131_ma31cult.2b1afd.html
"Nightmares and flashbacks wracked Karen E. Robidoux. Her memory stumbled. She trembled. She carried a roll of toilet paper for her crying at meetings with a psychologist. She had left the rigid Attleboro religious sect, but inside a psychiatric hospital, she had only begun to escape it."
Defense recounts Robidoux burden
By Denise Lavoie
Associated Press
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/local_regional/ap_robidoux01312004.htm
"A woman accused of starving her baby to death to fulfill a religious prophecy broke down in tears yesterday as she listened to a defense psychologist recount her description of desperately trying to breast feed her son in the final days of his life."
Robidoux coerced, court told
By John Ellement
Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/01/31/robidoux_coerced_court_told/
"Karen E. Robidoux was emotionally battered and so isolated from the outside world that she sincerely believed that if she began feeding her dying son, God would kill the child growing inside her, a forensic psychologist testified yesterday."
Niki the Psychic's a safe bet in mind games
By JOHN P. LOPEZ
Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2378661
"The first time I stopped by my Super Bowl psychic's house, she wasn't home."
Sting lands Marin psychic in court
by Don Lattin
San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/02/01/BAGF84MJBO1.DTL
"Marin County psychic Georgina Ritchie may have "the gift of insight, '' but she never dreamt that the new client who walked up the gangplank of her Sausalito houseboat that day was an undercover agent employed by the state of California."
Internet scam tries to hoodwink local
By IAN ROMBOLETTI
Bennington Banner
http://www.benningtonbanner.com/Stories/0,1413,104~8676~1919476,00.html
"If your bank account has been denied insurance due to suspected terrorist activities, don't believe it."
Cruising to stardom
By JOE NEUMAIER
New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/159171p-139689c.html
"Actress Erika Christensen counts Tom Cruise among her mentors."
Eagle admits Nigerian scam role in collapse
by Jock Anderson
National Business Review [NZ]
http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=8118&cid=3&cname=Technology
"Fallout from the Nigerian money scam-linked collapse of high-flying executive head hunter Cambridge Consulting Services _-- revealed exclusively in The National Business Review last week _-- continued to rock the business world today."
Dutch police arrest 52 in e-mail scam raids
Reuters
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/01/30/dutch.scam.reut/
"Amsterdam police said Thursday they had arrested 52 people in the Dutch capital in connection with an e-mail scam designed to defraud people in several countries with get-rich-quick schemes."
419ers enlist Saddam's daughter
By Lester Haines
The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/35240.html
"Just before last Christmas we were delighted to report that Nigerian 419ers had surfaced in post-war Baghdad and had laid their hands on large quantities of gold and cash, like you do."
Football team need winning spell
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/3443697.stm
"A white witch is trying for the second time to lift what many consider to be a curse on a Somerset football club."
Fact or Fiction?
by James M. McPherson
Perspectives [American Historical Association]
http://www.theaha.org/perspectives/issues/2004/0401/0401pre2.cfm
"I recently gave a tour of the Gettysburg battlefield to a group of small-company CEOs and their spouses. As usual in such tour groups, more of them had read Michael Shaara’s novel, The Killer Angels, than any other book about Gettysburg. As we tramped the field, one of the CEOs started a conversation about the line between historical fiction and nonfiction. What was the difference, he asked, between a novelist who invents plausible dialogue or actions and the historian who builds his narrative on fragmentary and often ambiguous evidence? I defended the integrity of our profession and the care that most historians take in sifting and authenticating evidence. But I had to concede that some of my poststructural colleagues believe that historians construct rather than reconstruct the past. I also admitted that the line between historical fact and fiction is sometimes thin and permeable."
Lawmaker to builders: Consider feng shui
Associated Press
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/01/31/offbeat.feng.shui.ap/index.html
"More hippy, dippy jokes about California might be on the way, thanks to a state lawmaker who wants building codes to consider feng shui."
Grants fund consciousness studies
By Don Finley
San Antonio Express-News
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=1121314
"The Mind Science Foundation, founded almost a half century ago to apply scientific principles to the study of ESP and other paranormal phenomenon, is turning its attention to the mysteries of human consciousness."
Charges In Bizarre Fratricide Plot
CBS
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/28/national/main596503.shtml
"A western Pennsylvania man will be tried for creating an audiotape and playing it to his napping 10-year-old stepson in an attempt to induce the boy to strangle or smother his younger half brother."
The World's Greatest Fakes
CBS
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/26/60II/main595875.shtml
"Name an American brand. Any brand, and any kind of product."
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skepticsearch/
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If you'd like to support the Skeptic NewsSearch, please consider making a donation via PayPal - <http://tinyurl.com/x81m>
By MARY MacDONALD
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0104/30evolution.html
"State Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox said she removed references to evolution from the proposed biology curriculum because it is "a buzzword that causes a lot of negative reaction.""
Darby delays taking action on 'objective origins' curriculum
By MICHAEL MOORE
The Missoulian
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2004/01/30/news/local/znews04.txt
"The debate over teaching so-called "objective origins" science in the school here is too big for two meetings."
Georgia Takes on 'Evolution'
By ANDREW JACOBS
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/30/e...00&en=442347ae564b42d7&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
"A proposed set of guidelines for middle and high school science classes in Georgia has caused a furor after state education officials removed the word "evolution" and scaled back ideas about the age of Earth and the natural selection of species."
Evolution furor heats up
By MARY MacDONALD
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0104/31evolution.html
"Georgia political leaders said Friday that they're embarrassed that the state is at the center of a furor over evolution."
Scientists decry 'evolution' deletion
By MARCIA LANGHENRY
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0204a/01evolside.html
"Calling the state school superintendent's proposal to remove the word "evolution" from state teaching standards "cataclysmic," scientists who spent a year crafting a statement on the importance of teaching evolution scrambled this weekend to add weight to their position."
Evolution is evolution by any other name
by Lou Sessinger
The Intelligencer [PA]
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/137-02012004-238245.html
"It's not often that you run across the words "trend-setter" and "Georgia" in the same sentence, but the folks down yonder in the Peach State might be onto something this time."
Perdue: 'E' word belongs in curriculum
By JIM THARPE
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0204a/01evolution.html
"Gov. Sonny Perdue said Saturday the word "evolution" should stay in the curriculum used for Georgia students, his first effort to quell a firestorm of controversy swirling around a volatile blend of religion and science."
Self-described 'financial pastor' arrested
By Jen McCaffery
Roanoke Times
http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story161947.html
"When federal agents entered William Thomas Warren's home Wednesday, the Troutville man was hiding in a crawl space in his basement, according to a federal affidavit."
Death for Japan cult chemist
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3443857.stm
"A Japanese chemist who oversaw the development of nerve gas used in a 1995 attack on the Tokyo subway has been sentenced to death."
Japan Cult Member Sentenced to Death
Associated Press
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-japan-doomsday-cult,0,3944206.story
"A chemist was sentenced to death on Friday for leading efforts by a doomsday group to develop the nerve gas used in a 1995 attack on the Tokyo subways that killed 12 people, a court official said."
Japanese Chemist Sentenced to Death for Participation in Terror Attacks
by Steven Shayman
Voice of America
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=26C6D00A-F512-4E3F-A62F3F326DB2177F
"A Japanese court has sentenced to death the chemist who helped lead terrorist attacks that killed at least 20 people and injured thousands in 1994 and 1995. The judgment against the senior member of the Aum Shinrikyo terrorist cult comes after an eight-year trial."
The secret society that ties Bush and Kerry
by Charles Laurence
The Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...01.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/02/01/ixnewstop.html
"The "tomb" stands dark and hulking at the heart of the Yale University campus, almost windowless, and shuttered and padlocked in the thick snow of winter storms."
Conspiracies so vast
By Darrin M. McMahon
Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2004/02/01/conspiracies_so_vast/
"HOWARD DEAN SPECULATES on National Public Radio that George W. Bush may have been warned of 9/11 "ahead of time by the Saudis." University professors imply with an air of sophistication that the war in Iraq was a plot to fill contracts for Halliburton. Radio shock-jocks rant against the machinations of the United Nations and the "New World Order." And the conservative pundit Ann Coulter makes the rounds of the talk shows with a book, "Treason," built on the claim that the vilification of Joseph McCarthy was the "greatest Orwellian fraud of our time." The man who warned famously of a "great conspiracy" of communists, it seems, was himself the victim of a plot by "liberals" to blacken his good name."
Take neutral approach to Greenfield's Gravity Hill
By Nathan Cobb
Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/li...neutral_approach_to_greenfields_gravity_hill/
"You may not find your thrill on Gravity Hill, but you will discover that what some folks say about a certain stretch of Shelburne Road is true: Park your car on the slight incline just east of the Route 2 overpass, shift into neutral, and coast uphill. At least that's what appears to happen. Just ask anybody who's motored up the winding road two miles west of downtown in response to the longtime if low-key local buzz."
Crop circles to be 'deciphered'
by RAHUL CHANDAWARKAR
Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/456212.cms
"Those with a special interest in extra-terrestrial (ET) life may now shift their attention for a while from the American rovers currently roaming Martian terrain."
Ex-atheist describes near-death experience
By LINDA ANDRADE RODRIGUES
New Bedford Standard-Times
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/01-04/01-31-04/c04rg223.htm
"A native son and newspaper carrier for The Standard-Times in Falmouth, Howard Storm went on to earn a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and for 20 years was an arts professor at Northern Kentucky University. An avowed atheist, he believed that there was no such thing as life after death -- until the day in 1985 when he died and went to hell."
Film crew searches for Sinatra ghost
By Merry Thomas
North Lake Tahoe Bonanza
http://www.tahoebonanza.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040130/NEWS/401300102
"The film crew had barely entered the attractive suite when the young actor sitting on the end of the bed began talking rapidly as he stared at the floor."
Man calls for law to protect Bigfoot
Capital News 9
http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/headlines/?ArID=57411&SecID=33
"Whitehall is known as the birthplace of the U.S. Navy, but if one man gets his way, it may soon add "Protector of Bigfoot" to its resume."
‘Death not an option’ in man’s cancer fight
By Lee Reinsch
Fond Du Lac Reporter
http://www.wisinfo.com/thereporter/news/archive/local_14324477.shtml
"Two years ago, Bruce McMurry didn’t know if he’d see much more than another Christmas."
New Age Students 'Shunning Sciences'
By Gemma Collins
UK Press Association
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2473175
"Industry is facing a major problem because young people are “indulging” in mysticism and New Age leanings, it was claimed today."
Celebrating 5 Years, NCCAM Invites Input for Strategic Planning
Press Release
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/jan2004/nccam-30.htm
"The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), celebrated its 5th anniversary today by launching its second 5-year strategic planning effort. The announcement, made at NCCAM's National Advisory Council meeting, marks the start of a year-long planning effort involving the public, researchers, health care professionals, NCCAM staff, and others with an interest in research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)."
Duke receives $10M gift for Center for Integrative Medicine
Durham Herald-Sun
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-441840.html
"Duke University has received $10 million from the C.J. Mack Foundation to support a new facility dedicated to the emerging field of integrative medicine."
Homeopathy: Getting the most from small doses
Mayo Clinic
http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?objectid=571C769E-4FE3-47AA-8D0E516EF09F1A41
"Had you lived 200 years ago, the health care you received would have been far different from the treatments your primary care physician gives you today. Then, your doctor might have recommended such treatments as bloodletting or taking dangerous doses of sulfur and mercury. Fed up with those options, a German physician devised a new system of treatment called homeopathy — a system that's still in use today."
Herbal mix gives sick cat another life
by Terry Bibo
Peoria Journal Star
http://www.pjstar.com/news/bibo/b217797p009.html
"Sadie presented herself to our family maybe 15 years ago."
'Natural' healers want legal recognition
by Bill Sloat
Cleveland Plain Dealer
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/107563176879930.xml
"Healers who say modern physicians use too many prescription drugs want Ohio to officially legalize their branch of the medical arts, a philosophy that nearly went on life support after the first antibiotics were discovered 70 years ago."
Presidential Candidate Urges Full Disclosure of E.T. Treaties.
Press Release
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/1/emw100696.htm
""Any thinking person can see that the U.S. government conceals the extent of its knowledge about and involvement with extraterrestrial visitors to this planet.""
Into the cuckoo's nest
by Lauren Slater
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,1134105,00.html
"In 1972, David Rosenhan, a newly minted psychologist with a joint degree in law, called eight friends and said something like, "Are you busy next month? Would you have time to fake your way into a mental hospital and see what happens?""
Science and tribal religion clash in 'No Bone Unturned'
By Doug Esser
Associated Press
http://www.indystar.com/articles/1/116706-7091-021.html
"Kennewick Man, the ancient skeleton found in the Columbia River with a spear point in his hip, had an adventuresome life more than 9,000 years ago."
Update: Season Of Sharing Scam
by Jaime Fettrow
WBNG
http://www.wbng.com/data/web_5086.shtml
"The New York Attorney General's office went after Helene Diorio because it says the Vestal woman was involved in an illegal pyramid scheme."
It pays to know what you're signing
By Jim Monday
Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle
http://www.theleafchronicle.com/news/stories/20040131/localnews/325782.html
"Well-meaning, but gullible, people are still being bamboozled by e-mails and letters sent by someone who must be laughing it up once again."
Drunken-driving deaths up on Super Sunday
By ROBIN FITZGERALD
BILOXI SUN HERALD
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/local/7840513.htm
"It's often said that Super Bowl Sunday brings the highest percentage of alcohol-related traffic deaths and increased domestic assaults."
Link between Super Bowl and violence a myth
By Michelle Durand
San Mateo Daily Journal
http://www.smdailyjournal.org/article.cfm?issue=01-30-04&storyID=27741
"There is a common perception that during the Super Bowl it won’t only be the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers being battered, but also an increased number of domestic violence victims."
Black QB question wasn't dumb as everyone thought
By DAVID CLIMER
The Tennessean
http://www.tennessean.com/sports/columnists/climer/archives/04/01/46230219.shtml
"Of all the dumb questions asked at all the Super Bowls, this was the dumbest: In 1988, some lamebrain with a press credential but minus a clue looked at Redskins quarterback Doug Williams and said:"
Did you hear that ...
By MIKE ARGENTO
York Daily Record
http://ydr.com/story/main/18393/
"Super Bowl Sunday is upon us and, if you believe in the myths surrounding this unofficial American holiday, it means an increase in domestic violence, a big day for avocado growers, a massive strain on water and sewer systems and boom or bust for the stock market."
Super Bowl legends loom large - and false
by Jim Stingl
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/jan04/204058.asp
"Today, Super Bowl Sunday, is not - repeat not - the worst day of the year for domestic violence. Let's keep it that way, football fans."
We check out story before making giant leap
by Manning Pynn
Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edppubcol020104020104feb01,1,6995025.column
"Mrs. Public Editor, formerly a television critic in another city, once received a call from a woman who thought the newspaper should inform its readers that newscaster Ted Koppel is the son of Howdy Doody."
'Left Behind' seminar to feature LaHaye
BY MARIAN RIZZO
Ocala Star Banner
http://www.starbanner.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040131/NEWS/201310341/1027/SPORTS
"Eschatology. Rapture. Second Advent."
Carjack Hoax: Tests Show Cocaine Residue
KOIN
http://www.koin.com/webnews/2004/20040129_meierb.shtml
"Preliminary tests show that cocaine residue was discovered in Darcie Meier's home, according to the Hood River District Attorney's Office."
The Danger of Perpetuating False Urban Myths in Space
by Keith Cowing
SpaceRef.com
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=922
"Everyone loves to poke fun at the government for paying too much for things. Examples such as $500 toilet seats on Air Force planes and the like have taken on mythical stature. NASA is no different."
The big game carries no shortage of tall tales
by JOHN SNELL
The Oregonian
http://www.oregonlive.com/living/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/living/1075553862180580.xml
"When Super Bowl XXXVIII kicks off Sunday, it arrives with a load of expectations -- many of them urban legends passed on without the benefit of fact."
Super Bowl myths fumble the truth
By JAMES A. FUSSELL
Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/7840246.htm
"Super Bowl or Super Baloney?"
Parents want district to remove ‘satanic’ books
Associated Press
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10896593&BRD=1697&PAG=461&dept_id=44551&rfi=6
"School district officials being asked to restrict access to "satanic’’ material in libraries say they’re taking parental concerns seriously but haven’t agreed to pull the books."
Occult book ban demanded
By TIM ZATZARINY JR.
Camden Courier-Post
http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/m013004b.htm
"Two books checked out from his middle-school library helped spark David O'Quinn's interest in satanism and led him down a dark path that included self-mutilation, his parents contend."
Parents: Satanic books in school
By Denise Jewell
Gloucester County Times
http://www.nj.com/news/gloucester/local/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1075540538186380.xml
"A group of parents concerned about two books on the shelves of Chestnut Ridge Middle School are asking the school district to review its entire collection for inappropriate material. They say the two books are satanic-related."
Witness pleaded for her nephew's life
BY MICHAEL P. McKINNEY
Providence Journal
http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20040130_ma30cult.18d35f.html
"Fear overcame Renee Horton. Her nephew Samuel Robidoux's eyes were sunken, his pudgy cheeks a memory. But when she confronted the infant's father, her brother-in-law, he warned her: Accept the boy's starvation as God's will, believe the infant will survive, or your family will suffer."
Defense: Robidoux powerless to aid son
BY MICHAEL P. McKINNEY
Providence Journal
http://www.projo.com/massachusetts/content/projo_20040131_ma31cult.2b1afd.html
"Nightmares and flashbacks wracked Karen E. Robidoux. Her memory stumbled. She trembled. She carried a roll of toilet paper for her crying at meetings with a psychologist. She had left the rigid Attleboro religious sect, but inside a psychiatric hospital, she had only begun to escape it."
Defense recounts Robidoux burden
By Denise Lavoie
Associated Press
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/local_regional/ap_robidoux01312004.htm
"A woman accused of starving her baby to death to fulfill a religious prophecy broke down in tears yesterday as she listened to a defense psychologist recount her description of desperately trying to breast feed her son in the final days of his life."
Robidoux coerced, court told
By John Ellement
Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/01/31/robidoux_coerced_court_told/
"Karen E. Robidoux was emotionally battered and so isolated from the outside world that she sincerely believed that if she began feeding her dying son, God would kill the child growing inside her, a forensic psychologist testified yesterday."
Niki the Psychic's a safe bet in mind games
By JOHN P. LOPEZ
Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2378661
"The first time I stopped by my Super Bowl psychic's house, she wasn't home."
Sting lands Marin psychic in court
by Don Lattin
San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/02/01/BAGF84MJBO1.DTL
"Marin County psychic Georgina Ritchie may have "the gift of insight, '' but she never dreamt that the new client who walked up the gangplank of her Sausalito houseboat that day was an undercover agent employed by the state of California."
Internet scam tries to hoodwink local
By IAN ROMBOLETTI
Bennington Banner
http://www.benningtonbanner.com/Stories/0,1413,104~8676~1919476,00.html
"If your bank account has been denied insurance due to suspected terrorist activities, don't believe it."
Cruising to stardom
By JOE NEUMAIER
New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/159171p-139689c.html
"Actress Erika Christensen counts Tom Cruise among her mentors."
Eagle admits Nigerian scam role in collapse
by Jock Anderson
National Business Review [NZ]
http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=8118&cid=3&cname=Technology
"Fallout from the Nigerian money scam-linked collapse of high-flying executive head hunter Cambridge Consulting Services _-- revealed exclusively in The National Business Review last week _-- continued to rock the business world today."
Dutch police arrest 52 in e-mail scam raids
Reuters
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/01/30/dutch.scam.reut/
"Amsterdam police said Thursday they had arrested 52 people in the Dutch capital in connection with an e-mail scam designed to defraud people in several countries with get-rich-quick schemes."
419ers enlist Saddam's daughter
By Lester Haines
The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/35240.html
"Just before last Christmas we were delighted to report that Nigerian 419ers had surfaced in post-war Baghdad and had laid their hands on large quantities of gold and cash, like you do."
Football team need winning spell
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/3443697.stm
"A white witch is trying for the second time to lift what many consider to be a curse on a Somerset football club."
Fact or Fiction?
by James M. McPherson
Perspectives [American Historical Association]
http://www.theaha.org/perspectives/issues/2004/0401/0401pre2.cfm
"I recently gave a tour of the Gettysburg battlefield to a group of small-company CEOs and their spouses. As usual in such tour groups, more of them had read Michael Shaara’s novel, The Killer Angels, than any other book about Gettysburg. As we tramped the field, one of the CEOs started a conversation about the line between historical fiction and nonfiction. What was the difference, he asked, between a novelist who invents plausible dialogue or actions and the historian who builds his narrative on fragmentary and often ambiguous evidence? I defended the integrity of our profession and the care that most historians take in sifting and authenticating evidence. But I had to concede that some of my poststructural colleagues believe that historians construct rather than reconstruct the past. I also admitted that the line between historical fact and fiction is sometimes thin and permeable."
Lawmaker to builders: Consider feng shui
Associated Press
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/01/31/offbeat.feng.shui.ap/index.html
"More hippy, dippy jokes about California might be on the way, thanks to a state lawmaker who wants building codes to consider feng shui."
Grants fund consciousness studies
By Don Finley
San Antonio Express-News
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=1121314
"The Mind Science Foundation, founded almost a half century ago to apply scientific principles to the study of ESP and other paranormal phenomenon, is turning its attention to the mysteries of human consciousness."
Charges In Bizarre Fratricide Plot
CBS
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/28/national/main596503.shtml
"A western Pennsylvania man will be tried for creating an audiotape and playing it to his napping 10-year-old stepson in an attempt to induce the boy to strangle or smother his younger half brother."
The World's Greatest Fakes
CBS
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/26/60II/main595875.shtml
"Name an American brand. Any brand, and any kind of product."
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