FAITH-BASED VOLUNTEERS INDICTED
Prosecutors have charged two volunteers who say they tried to save the lives of three sick migrants stranded in the desert. Daniel Strauss and Shanti Sellz are facing up to 15 years in federal prison and a half-million-dollar fine. The Border Patrol maintains that the work of the faith-based group No More Deaths was encouraging migrants to cross illegally into the United States. Part of the gravamen, the government maintains, is that the group's leaders were warned that volunteers could be arrested but that the warnings were dismissed by the group as absurd.
(NEWSDAY, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

PATDOWNS ALLOWED ONLY BETWEEN CONSENTING PLAYERS
Florida's courts - and now a federal district court - have sided with Valrico civics teacher Gordon Johnston, a Tampa Bay Buccaneers season ticket holder who challenged the practice of pre-game security patdowns outside the Bucs' stadium.
(ST PETERSBURG TIMES, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

WORLD IS GOING TO END - YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!
"Continuing the yellow journalism trend of marketing scary ideas, Paula Zahn Now featured a segment on whether the crisis in the Middle East is actually a prelude to the end of the world, marking the third time in nine days that CNN has devoted airtime to those claiming that the ongoing Mideast violence signals the coming of the Apocalypse.
(MEDIA MATTERS)

MERCHANDISING THE "NEW ARMAGEDDON"
Continuing the recent right wing media trend of packaging the problems in the middle east as some sort of "new apocalypse", Michael Savage irresponsibly predicted Israel is 'going to lose in Lebanon' unless it wins a 'devastating, catastrophic, overwhelming victory' in which 'nothing is left living in southern Lebanon, south of the Litani River.' Later in the program, Savage chastised the Israeli government for displaying a 'Holocaust mentality' by shying away from his proposed course for victory, adding that Israel cannot continue to 'live' unless it 'frees itself of the men who are acting as though they are still hiding in the sewers of Warsaw' and 'act[ing] like Holocaust Jews hiding in the sewer.'"
(MEDIA MATTERS)

DON'T BLOW THEIR COVER?!?
"In what has to be the biggest Barney Fife operation every conducted by the federal government, a Hartselle minister and a former Alabama State Bar President were among many people cited for alleged acts of public indecency and lewdness at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge in Limestone and Morgan counties. The offense? Peeing in the woods."
(DECATUR DAILY NEWS)

RABBIS CONFRONT BUSH ON TORTURE
Invoking centuries of Jewish law, hundreds of American rabbis confront Bush."Many Muslims have left countries where dictators used torture, and for that reason came to America. We don't want America to torture as well.

SIDEBAR:

Muhammad also warns against inhumane behavior. Captives were very important to him. 'Don't torture the creation of God' - Muhammad said this three times. No event or situation should warrant torture."
(VILLAGE VOICE)

BUSH BLOCKED PROBE
"Bush refused to grant security clearances for investigators who were looking into the role lawyers representing the Justice Department played in crafting the program, under which the National Security Agency listens to telephone calls and reads e-mail without court approval, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee."
(DETROIT FREE PRESS)

FINGER'S OWNER IDENTIFIED
"Police have released the identity of the man who mailed a severed finger to his girlfriend here in Corpus Christi. Authorities said Robert Hanna is the man who is believed to have cut off one his own fingers and then mailed to it to his former girlfriend.The finger was sent in a small, gift box with a love letter that read: "I want to let you know, this is how much pain I'm going through because of the pain I've caused you. I want you to know this is my last attempt to reach out and touch you." "
(MSNBC, unearthed by M Prince)

FEDS FUND ABORTION MISINFORMATION
"A new study released by Rep. Henry A. Waxman finds that federally funded pregnancy resource centers often mislead pregnant teens about the medical risks of abortion, telling investigators who posed as pregnant 17-year-olds that abortion leads to breast cancer, infertility, and mental illness."
(HOUSE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM, unearthed by Common Dreams)

THE ISRAELI/ARAB DOUBLE-BIND
"The extremists on both sides of the Arab/Israeli conflict have always formed a kind of tacit alliance, with the supporters of 'greater Israel' and 'no Israel' understanding their joint interest in preventing any moves towards a peace compromise. That is the main reason why Israel encouraged the growth of Hamas as it emerged in the 1980s. Unwilling to negotiate with the secular nationalists of Fatah, even as they were moving towards support for a two-state solution, the Israeli authorities thought it would be a clever idea to promote their Islamist rivals."
(GUARDIAN, unearthed by Common Dreams)

IMMIGRATION LOVES A VACUUM
The mass migration of Latinos to northwest Georgia to Dalton, which is known as the carpet capital of the world, has changed the character of everything from factory floors to schools to superstores. On this night, Wal-Mart's ubiquitous TV monitors alternately promoted arroz and rice, aparatos and electronics.
(WASHINGTON POST)

A KINKY KAMPAIGN
"In a state known for its cast of larger-than-life political personalities, Kinky Friedman may be the most eccentric Texan ever to throw his Stetson into the political ring. At the very least, he's the first Jewish cowboy to seek the governor's mansion and probably the only gubernatorial candidate in the country who boasts about never having held a real job. His campaign slogans: 'Why the Hell Not?' and 'How Hard Can It Be?' Wherever he goes, he spouts corny, populist one-liners that can make him seem like a thawed relic from another era - which, truth be told, he kind of is. 'I'm for the little fellers,' he exclaims, 'not the Rockefellers!'"
(NEWSWEEK, unearthed by Brent Gourley)

UBERPOWER:AMERICA'S IMPERIAL TEMPTATION
"Uberpower,' as the menacing neologism suggests, is a book about American overreach. But it is not an anti-imperialist tract of a by-now familiar kind. Rather, it represents the pained thinking of an Atlanticist convinced that American diplomacy is at its best when 'building an order that would advance American interests by serving those of others.'"
(NYT BOOKS SECTION)

COORS EXEC GETS DUI
"Beer baron Peter Coors' driver's license has been revoked after his arrest for drunken driving following a wedding celebration."
(MSNBC, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

RELIGIOUS OUTREACH TO CUBA LIMITED BY NEW POLICY
"The ties between Christian communities in Cuba and the United States are currently being threatened by proposed limitations on religious interchange, including stringent restrictions on travel and humanitarian aid. During the past year, major U.S. church denominations and religious organizations have experienced a number of unprecedented obstacles that impede their relationships with partner churches in Cuba. Administration actions have restricted their religious travel to Cuba and limited their ability to bring Cuban religious leaders to the United States, thus hindering their capacity to exchange, encourage, and commune with their faith partners in Cuba."
(LATIN AMERICAN WORKING GROUP)