quote:

The New York Times holds a yard sale
Thomas Lifson
Like an elderly spinster selling off possessions to pay her bills, the New York Times Company is liquidating peripheral assets. Having moved into its brand new 52-story headquarters building, the New York Times Company is holding a yard sale of sorts to dispose of furnishings and other treasures from the old building. But it's the kind of yard sale befitting an elite New York institution that has seen better days: an auction at Christies.

Step right up, Ladies and Gentlemen, and don't be shy. You, too can own a piece of history. Over one thousand lots available, with the most expensive among them estimated at four to six thousand dollars. Conversation pieces abound. How about this?NYT signs

"A GROUP OF THIRTEEN NEW YORK TIMES DEPARTMENT SIGNS,
Estimate 800 - 1,200 U.S. dollars Special Notice This lot is offered without reserve. [....] comprising the following labels: Critics, News Administration, Education, Editorial/Library, Maps, National Edition, Foreign Desk, Metro Reporters, Science, Composing/Circulation, Culture, Graphics, Arts & Leisure
The largest 12in. x 36in. (30.5cm. x 91.5cm.) (13)
Provenance: Removed from the Newsroom."

quote:

San Francisco supervisors condemn Savage
Officials pass resolution against talker for 'hate speech'
Posted: October 2, 2007
5:33 p.m. Eastern

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors today condemned nationally syndicated radio talk-show host Michael Savage, whose program originates in city by the bay, for "hate speech."

It was the board's second attempt at a resolution to condemn Savage for his criticism of illegal aliens in the U.S.

In August, a single vote by a member whose grandfather emigrated from China seven decades ago halted a similar resolution its tracks.

BLOGTOWNE'S EVENING WATCH ON THE MEDIA:All The News That Fits We Print

quote:

Oprah's promotion of porn and adultery shameful, says Christian attorney
Allie Martin OneNewsNow.com
October 2, 2007

A special counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is blasting talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey for promoting pornography on her program.

Hear this Report

On a recent show titled "237 Reasons to Have Sex," Winfrey featured a number of so-called "experts" on marriage and intimacy. Among them was a woman who traveled worldwide experiencing one night stands -- and then wrote a book about the experience. Another guest advocated the use of pornography for couples to enhance their marriage.

ADF special counsel Pat Trueman says it is shameful that Winfrey would advocate destructive behavior on her national talk show. "Shame on Oprah!" says Truman. "There are lots of children who watch the show. Many adults; many, many Christians; she's got a loyal following because she does have good things on her show."

quote:

No right to a painless death penalty
Posted: October 3, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

When Michael Anthony Taylor kidnapped 15-year-old Ann Harrison while she was waiting for her school bus, then raped and brutally murdered her, he didn't seem to care about the pain and agony she suffered at his hand. But now that Taylor has been convicted and sentenced to capital punishment by lethal injection, he's suddenly concerned with how much pain he might feel at his deserved death.

Taylor claims that Missouri's triple-chemical process of lethal injection exposes him to a risk that if he is not sufficiently unconscious he could feel pain but be unable to indicate so. (If this is where I am supposed to feel sorry for Taylor, I'm sorry, but I don't.) Taylor argued to the federal courts, and will soon argue to the Supreme Court, that this chance of pain constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment" in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But Taylor obviously knows what it means to inflict cruel and unusual punishment, and a mere chance of pain is not enough for him to avoid an immediate execution.

The Supreme Court's decision to hear Taylor's case is already causing other states to scramble. In Alabama, Gov. Bob Riley, in a knee-jerk reaction, stayed the execution of Thomas Douglas Arthur, who was supposed to die on Sept. 27 for a 1982 murder-for-hire. Arthur was convicted of shooting Troy Wicker through the eye as his victim slept. While we will never know whether Wicker suffered pain in his death, Gov. Riley is changing Alabama's execution protocol to make sure murderers like Arthur slip peacefully and painlessly away under the watchful and monitoring eyes of state doctors and officials.

quote:

Pro-family advocate disappointed with Supreme Court decision
Rusty Pugh OneNewsNow.com
October 3, 2007

A pro-family advocate says Monday's decision by the U.S. Supreme court -- refusing to hear a case involving religious groups forced to pay for employees' birth control -- is very disappointing.

Hear this Report

The Supreme Court declined to enter a dispute over whether Catholic, Baptist, and other groups can be forced to pay for employees' birth-control pills. The court let stand a ruling upholding a New York law that forces religious-based social service agencies to subsidize contraceptives, as part of the prescription drug coverage they offer employees. Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America says it is very disappointing because the real impact goes much deeper.

"The New York law that forces organizations to pay for something that they consider to be immoral goes deeper than the idea of even censorship -- that the government can tell you what you cannot say," says Wright. "This is telling people what they must do and what they must pay for, even though they vigorously object to it."

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/10/profamily_advocate_disappointe.php

BROOKLYN'S BLURBS YOU GIVE ME 22 MINUTES I GIVE YOU THE WORLD

quote:

Judge Denies Craig Motion to Revoke Plea
Oct 4 02:32 PM US/Eastern
By PATRICK CONDON
Associated Press Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Minnesota judge on Thursday rejected Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's bid to withdraw his guilty plea in an airport sex sting, a major setback in Craig's effort to clear his name and hang on to his Senate seat.

"Because the defendant's plea was accurate, voluntary and intelligent, and because the conviction is supported by the evidence ... the defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea is denied," Hennepin County Judge Charles Porter wrote.

Craig, a Republican, can appeal Porter's ruling. But it wasn't immediately clear if he would. Telephone calls and e-mails seeking comment from Craig spokesmen Sid Smith in Boise and Dan Whiting in Washington, D.C. weren't immediately returned.

quote:

Obama Stops Wearing Flag Pin

Thursday, October 4, 2007 2:26 PM

WATERLOO, Iowa -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has stopped wearing the American flag lapel pin that has become a common symbol of patriotism since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Asked about the decision Wednesday in an interview with KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Illinois senator said he hoped to show his patriotism by explaining his ideas to citizens.

"I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest," he said in the interview. "Instead, I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testament to my patriotism."

quote:

Do We Want Another 9/11?

Friday, October 5, 2007 11:29 AM

By: Ronald Kessler

In their efforts to demonize the American intelligence community, Democrats and the media are playing with our safety.

The latest example is the way these critics are minimizing and distorting warnings from Mike McConnell, director of National Intelligence, about how defenseless America would become if warrants were required to intercept terrorists’ calls and e-mails even when those communications are in foreign countries.

The issue should not be controversial. Going back to the founding of the National Security Agency in 1952, the government could intercept calls and e-mails of targets situated in foreign countries without a warrant. But because most such communications now pass through U.S. switching systems in fiber optic cables, a Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA) court judge ruled on May 31 that intercepting such communications requires a court order.

quote:

Again! 10 Christians slaughtered
over alleged Muhammad cartoon
61 injured, 9 churches burned, hundreds displaced after rumored 'insult' to Islam
Posted: October 5, 2007
7:53 p.m. Eastern

Rampaging Muslims have killed 10 Christians, injured 61 others, destroyed nine churches and displaced more than 500 people in northern Nigeria, according to eyewitnesses – all because Muslim high school students claimed a Christian student had drawn a cartoon of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, on the wall of the school’s mosque.
[b
The rampage occurred Sept. 28 in the town of Tudun Wada Dankadai, in Nigeria's northern state of Kano.

According to Compass Direct News, which specializes in reporting on Christian persecution worldwide, there are 1,500 students at the high school, called Government College-Tudun Wada Dankadai, of which only 14 are Christians, and only seven of those actually live on campus. The Christian students at the school insist no one ever saw the alleged cartoon, and furthermore that no one in the tiny minority group of Christians would have dared such a feat, especially during Ramadan.

quote:

Obama Hopes to Surprise Clinton in Iowa

Friday, October 5, 2007 3:56 AM


WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's hopes for the Democratic nomination hinge on getting hundreds of thousands of new voters fired up enough to actually turn out _ and on spending a good chunk of his $80 million at the very end of a front-loaded campaign.

Other candidates _ usually trailing, like Obama _ have tried similar plans in the past and failed. But none of them had nearly the money Obama has. And the scheduling conditions of the 2008 campaign have never existed before.

Obama's plan is all about the Iowa caucuses.

http://www.newsmax.com/politics/obama's_plan/2007/10/05/38355.html

quote:

Bush: All religions pray to 'same God'
'That's what I believe. I believe Islam is a great religion that preaches peace'
Posted: October 7, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern


President George Bush has repeated his belief all religions, "whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God" – an assertion that caused outrage among evangelical leaders when he said it in November 2003.

Bush made the statement Friday in an interview with Al Arabiya reporter Elie Nakouzi.

Al Arabiya is Al Jazeerah's top competitor in the Mideast.

LINK HERE

quote:


Theologian Says Bible Does Not Condemn Gays
By
Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter


An evangelical theologian is visiting several churches this fall refuting the common Christian interpretation of the Bible that Jesus and Scripture opposes homosexuality.

Jack Rogers, professor of Theology Emeritus at San Francisco Theological Seminary, is trying to get a positive word out in the Christian churches about the gay and lesbian community and thinks churches should be leading the charge for their equal rights.

“I’m trying to help people understand that the Bible rightly interpreted, which I would think is through the lens of Jesus’ redemptive life and ministry ... does not condemn Christian people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered," said Rogers, according to The Lawrence Journal-World.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20071006/29599_Theologian_Says_Bible_Does_Not_Condemn_Gays.htm

quote:

October 7, 2007
...Obama told an evangelical church in South Carolina: "I am confident we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth."

GREENVILLE, South Carolina (CNN) — After speaking to an evangelical church on Sunday in this traditionally conservative South Carolina city, Sen. Barack Obama said that Republicans no longer have a firm grip on religion in political discourse.

"I think its important particularly for those of us in the Democratic Party to not cede values and faith to any one party," Obama told reporters outside the Redemption World Outreach Center where he attended services.

"I think that what you're seeing is a breaking down of the sharp divisions that existed maybe during the nineties, when at least in politics the perception was that the Democrats were fearful of talking about faith, and on the other hand you had the Republicans who had a particular brand of faith that often times seemed intolerant or pushed people away," he said.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/10/07/obama-gop-doesnt-own-faith-and-values/

quote:

NY Guv’s Driver’s License Plan Threat to Entire Nation

By Mike Cutler

We all know that politics have played a major role in the creation and fueling of the immigration crisis now confronting our nation. Democrats have favored the massive influx of illegal aliens because they believe that the great majority of these new immigrants will vote for Democrat candidates. Republicans, on the other hand, have seen cheap labor in their massive numbers, and they believe the fruits of that labor will help generate corporate campaign contributions.



Added to this toxic mix are the various groups that stand to benefit greatly by having millions of people enter our country. Immigration lawyers see potential clients. Advocacy groups see political leverage and money. Employers of illegals see cheap, compliant and exploitable labor. Even some homeowners see gardeners, nannies, cooks and maids.



In fact, just about everyone makes out on the deal except for one group of people. A group of people that, while large in number, is finding the government to be increasingly less willing to represent them and their best interests.

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/homeland.php?id=1384914

quote:

As Obama Talks Religion, Questions Surround His Controversial Pastor

Monday, October 08, 2007

Barack Obama has put his religion back into the headlines, trumpeting the power and salvation of faith and asking a church audience in South Carolina to help him become “an instrument of God” and join him in creating “a Kingdom right here on Earth."

But the Democratic contender's talk on Sunday of breaking down religious and political differences has some critics questioning the Illinois senator's own beliefs — and those of the man identified as his spiritual adviser — and whether his messages of spiritual inclusion and tolerance have remained consistent.

Obama has written and spoken about being inspired by the preaching of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., and his calls to “spur social change.” The title of Obama’s second book, “The Audacity of Hope,” which essentially launched his presidential bid, was taken from a sermon by Wright.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,300135,00.html

quote:

Happy Government Employees' Day!
Thomas Lifson
Greetings from the People's Republic of Berkeley, where Columbus Day is known as "Indigenous People's Day." I have learned to get over my annoyance at the disrespecting of Columbus and implicit single digit salute to the America we really live in, a place built upon the European culture Columbus brought to the New World.

I think it is clever of the City of Berkeley to find a way of not honoring Columbus while retaining a day off for city workers. Believe me, if anyone had proposed simply taking Columbus Day off the calendar of paid holidays, we would have seen how shallow the tangible commitment to multicultural orthodoxy. Renaming the day and keeping the holiday amounts to simply another example cheap moral exhibitionism.

I am deeply grateful for the arrival of Columbus on a personal level. Few individuals have so radically changed the history of the world. But I am quite frankly perturbed that Columbus Day has become one of those holidays that government workers get at the expense of everyone else who has to work to pay taxes. I think of government workers as a literal overclass, with privileges that most other Americans do not enjoy. Along with gold plated health care and retirement benefits, job security, and getting paid for jury duty, they get more holidays than most taxpayers.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/10/happy_government_employees_day.html

quote:

Same-sex marriage reading right for 2nd-graders?
Transcript of Dem candidates' replies to question at Dartmouth debate
Posted: October 9, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Editor's note: The following is a transcript of the replies of the leading Democratic presidential candidates to a question about the propriety of reading literature about same-sex marriage and homosexuality to second-graders.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58034

quote:

Matthews on Matthews

On today's "Morning Joe," Joe Scarborough asked Chris Matthews if Republican candidates would try to get a "cheap applause line" tonight by pointing to his recent controversial comments.

Said Matthews:

I've been thinking about that....It's not my stage tonight. I don't have much standing to retort in real time.

However, I do have one sensitive point and that is, I don't mind being wrong -- I try to be right. I don't mind somebody saying I'm not fair -- I try to be fair. ... If someone says I'm not independent, it's going to be very hard for me to bite my tongue. ...

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/networks/matthews_on_matthews_68595.asp

quote:

Thompson avoids gaffes in debut debate
Oct 9 10:04 PM US/Eastern

Newcomer Fred Thompson muscled into his debut debate with Republican White House rivals Tuesday, avoiding gaffes, vowing to battle "Islamic fascism" and declaring the race "boring" without him.

Despite a nervy start and mocking reviews since he entered the fray last month, the screen star and former senator grew in confidence in his first televised clash with party foes.

Thompson dodged snares laid by debate moderators and top rivals, New York's ex-mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, called for a robust foreign policy and backed the Iraq troop surge policy.

quote:

MSNBC Analyst: Thompson ‘Shaky’ in Debate Debut

quote:

Gunman Dies, 5 Injured at Ohio School
Oct 10, 6:39 PM (ET)

By JOE MILICIA


CLEVELAND (AP) - A 14-year-old suspended student, dressed in black, opened fire in his downtown high school Wednesday, wounding four people as terrified schoolmates hid in closets and bathrooms and huddled under laboratory desks. He then killed himself.

A fellow student at SuccessTech Academy alternative school said the shooter, who was suspended for fighting two days earlier, had made threats in front of students and teachers last week.

"He's crazy. He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody," Doneisha LeVert said. "We didn't think nothing of it."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071010/D8S6LA8G0.html

quote:

Whoopi Calls On Sharpton To Apologize To Duke Players
On 'The View,' Whoopi Goldberg call on Al Sharpton to apologize to the Duke Lacrosse team.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dd0_1192025762&p=1

Democrat goes to war over 'phony' Rush probe

quote:

San Francisco Archbishop Responds After Caught on Video Giving Communion to Gay Men Dressed as Nuns

By John-Henry Westen

SAN FRANCISCO, October 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Last Sunday, October 7, San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer said Mass at a Catholic church in the heart of the 'gay district' of Castro. Most Holy Redeemer parish has a lamentable reputation of having caved in to demands of homosexual activists. One group of homosexual activists which until recently operated regularly out of the parish was called "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence", men who wear makeup and dress as Catholic nuns. Archbishop Niederauer was filmed giving two members of this group Holy Communion Sunday.

The "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence", whose motto is "go and sin some more" and describes itself as a "leading-edge order of queer nuns," planned to hold regular bingo games at Most Holy Redeemer parish until Catholic activists reported the plans to the press. A local homosexual newspaper, the San Francisco Bay Times, reported that the events at the parish included sexually explicit activities. Prizes included porn DVDs and "sex toys" the paper said.

Since then the parish has refused the "Sisters" use of its facilities. However, according to local Catholic activists some of the "Sisters" continue to attend services at the church.

Rest Of Sickening Article & PHOTO

quote:

MASTERMIND OF FIRST TWIN TOWERS ATTACK CLAIMS HE HAS CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY
Thu Oct 11 2007 13:19:11 ET

Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, claims he converted from Islam to Christianity, Scott Pelley reports in a story that brings viewers inside the secretive "Supermax" prison where he is being held. Pelley also reports that some 900 force feedings were performed on other al-Qaeda terrorists who went on repeated hunger strikes to protest conditions at the Colorado top-security federal prison. The 60 MINUTES segment will be broadcast Sunday Oct. 14 (7:30-9:00 PM, ET/7:00-9:00 PM, PT) on the CBS Television Network.

The prison in Florence, Colo., which the government calls ADX-Florence for Administrative Maximum, houses the nation's toughest and most infamous criminals, such as Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph, would-be 9/11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols and shoe bomber Richard Reid. 60 MINUTES obtained exclusive footage of prisoners inside the facility, where special-case prisoners are allowed only a phone call a month, spend 23 hours a day in their 12-by-7 cells and can get mail only from people approved by the prison.

Robert Hood, its warden from 2002 to 2005, says Yousef was a special case. He never left his cell because he did not want to face the indignity of a strip search required for recreation. "He has that Charlie Manson look," says Hood of Yousef. "He has some charisma about him. He's in [prison] uniform, but you know that there's a powerful person you're looking at," Hood says. Told that Yousef has begun leaving his cell and now claims to be a Christian, Hood says, "He's playing a game with someone. If he's doing that, he's doing it for the reaction....He is the real deal," he tells Pelley. As a Muslim, Yousef prayed almost every hour, remembers Hood.

quote:

Low birthweights linked to 9/11
The stress of the attacks may have affected pregnancies

An increase in low birthweight babies born in and around New York in the months after 9/11 has been blamed on stress caused by the attacks.

The journal Human Reproduction reported a two-thirds increase in the risk of giving birth to a slightly underweight baby in the week after 9/11.

The University of California at Berkeley researchers found it was higher even months later.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7037842.stm

quote:

Terrorist Mastermind Now A Christian?
60 Minutes' Scott Pelley Reports On Supermax Prison And Its Inmates

Oct. 11, 2007

Play Video

(CBS) Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, claims he converted from Islam to Christianity, Scott Pelley reports in a story that brings viewers inside the secretive Supermax prison where he is being held.

Pelley also reports that some 900 forced feedings were performed on other al Qaeda terrorists who went on repeated hunger strikes to protest conditions at the Colorado top-security federal prison.

Pelley's report will be broadcast Sunday, Oct. 14, at 7:30 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. PT.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/11/60minutes/main3357727.shtml

quote:

Gore, U.N. body win Nobel Peace Prize

By DOUG MELLGREN, Associated Press Writer 13 minutes ago

OSLO, Norway - Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and lay the foundations for counteracting it.

Gore won an Academy Award this year for his film "An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary on global warming, and had been widely expected to win the prize.

"His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change," the citation said. "He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071012/ap_on_re_eu/nobel_peace_13;_ylt=AiFdsoYbWvys7SY5g9c.z00E1vAI