Hinode, the newest solar observatory on the space scene, has obtained never-before-seen images showing that the sun's magnetic field is much more turbulent and dynamic than previously known.

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The violent incident marks the fifth time in just a few months that Border Patrol agents have come under fire along the southern border by Mexicans, either trying to smuggle illegal immigrants or drugs into the United States.

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Several foreign embassies in Teheran are updating their emergency evacuation plans should a Western or Israeli attack on Iran occur.

According to foreign sources, foreign diplomats believe a possible attack would take place before the end of 2007. By that time, Iran might have enough enriched uranium to cause a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe from radioactive fallout should its nuclear facilities be damaged or destroyed in an attack.

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Specifically, Judicial Watch is seeking records regarding the immunity deal, the medical treatment Aldrete-Davila received at a military hospital, communications between the three federal agencies named in the suit with the government of Mexico, and all records pertaining to the participation of U.S. government personnel in coordinating the return of Aldrete-Davila to the United States.

Republican members of Congress cite the irony in the case - an alleged drug dealer was found to have nearly 750 pounds of marijuana in his van and managed to gain legal immunity while two border agents are in prison.

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Muslim women wearing the niqab or burka - veils that hide the face entirely - will be allowed to vote in the Quebec elections, without showing their face. That's the directive from the Director general of elections, despite the fact it goes against the electoral law.

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A German judge has stirred a storm of protest by citing the Koran in turning down a German Muslim woman’s request for a speedy divorce on the ground that her husband beat her.  In a ruling that underlines the tension between Muslim customs and European laws, the judge, Christa Datz-Winter, noted that the couple came from a Moroccan cultural milieu, in which it is common for husbands to beat their wives. The Koran, she wrote in her decision, sanctions such physical abuse.

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The Human Rights Campaign, the Sexuality Information Education Council of the U.S., AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families and the National Education Association have all come out in support of the bill since the first time it was introduced in 2005.

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Al Gore was born and spent most of his life in Washington, D.C. Yesterday, he returned to the fever swamp to show he's forgotten none of his old political tricks.

Addressing the House and Senate on global warming, he put forth a litany of half-truths that he twisted into a morality tale. But the facts tell a different story. The former veep is a master politician, not a prophet or a planetary savior.

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 “Historically, casualties have been counted by looking at the actual number of soldiers killed or wounded while in a particular theater of operations. The archaic system we now use is simply not relevant in our more complex times. That’s why we’ve expanded the definition of ‘casualty’.” Expanded they have. Under the new plan, soldiers who contract gout, get sand in their eyes or who have a friend back home who catches crabs from that brunette with the squinty eyes that hangs around the Dairy Queen all summer, will now be considered ”wounded”.

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Democrats have lost control of the House floor on the voting rights issue after minority Republicans presented the Democratic majority with a politically unpalatable motion that their conservative members would be forced to support for fear of angering the gun rights community.

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Personal Note:  I met Elizabeth Edwards in the summer of 2004 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  I didn't know who she was but this woman had stopped and had struck up a conversation with my 9 year old son at an amusement park, Bay Beach.  When I realized I was standing inside this circle of well dressed, serious looking people (all looking at her, and me, and my kids), I realized who she probably was...

When she introduced herself to me, I addressed her as 'Mrs. Edwards' and she insisted I call her Elizabeth.  We spoke briefly and after a few minutes it became apparent that if John Edwards had been at the top of the ticket and this was potentially our next First Lady, George Bush would have been in real trouble.  I kid you not.

Elizabeth Edwards is thoughtful, polite, warm and very, very smart.  I wish her the best in the days to come.

The Bartender

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Not only are they behind bars, they're ready to sing in one! What a con test!

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Americans continue to be indoctrinated with the false idea that the government has our best interests at heart and we should trust them to do what’s best for us. With this rationale firmly in hand, the government has been playing fast and loose with the Bill of Rights and our Constitution, with scant regard for individual freedoms.

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A Republican congressman representing rural southern Michigan is taking heat for saying that most of Iraq is at least as under control as Detroit is.  Freshman Rep. Tim Walberg's comments, made Monday on WILS-AM in Lansing, didn't sit well with Democrats -- who issued a news release Wednesday -- or the office of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

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“To the untrained eye it would seem that the logical place to look for someone who became lost in the North Carolina woods would be the North Carolina woods,” said Saif. “Not so. What the average person may not realize is that 98.7% of all missing Boy Scouts are in fact found on Mr. Jackson’s estate.”

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“In the summer of 2003 I was riding the subway home [when]…I witnessed a woman being slashed. This guy…slashed her across her face as she sat there, and ran off the train…I chased him and…held him until the police arrived, getting cut on my wrist, he had a knife in each hand…I was awarded by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and was awarded the NY Post Liberty Medal for Courage [and] was…on the John Walsh Show. But all this really meant nothing to me, it was my daughter that I held most important.”–Anthony Gallo

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Lawyers and a Muslim group say they will defend at no cost airline passengers caught up in a lawsuit between a group of imams and U.S. Airways if the passengers are named as "John Does" and sued for reporting suspicious behavior that got the Muslim clerics booted from a November flight.

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As Democrats hold more silly hearings to embarrass Republicans, the FBI is warning local police to be alert for Muslim extremists hijacking school buses. Reality check, please

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The alleged members of the al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah network left a handwritten note close to the bodies, vowing more killings to avenge the deaths of Muslims in earlier sectarian violence on Sulawesi island.

"Wanted — 100 more heads," said Judge Lilik Mulyadi, reciting the letter's text. "Blood must be paid with blood, lives with lives, heads with heads."

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Scientists have traditionally relied upon indirect data gathering methods to study climate in the Earth's past, such as drilling ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica. Such samples of accumulated snow and ice drilled from deep within ice sheets or glaciers contain trapped air bubbles whose composition can provide a picture of past climate conditions. Now, however, a group of NASA and university scientists has found a convincing link between long-term solar and climate variability in a unique and unexpected source: directly measured ancient water level records of the Nile, Earth's longest river.

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University of North Carolina law professor Joe Kennedy described the bar's tone in the most-recent documents as somewhat incredulous. He pointed to the bar's following point: "Nifong is arguing that he can make false statements to a court…then use his misrepresentations to claim he committed no violation."

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Is Barbara Walters so desperate for TV ratings that she'd flatter oily dictators? Or is she polishing Hugo Chavez's image to get her licks in against George Bush? Maybe she can tell us

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Character actor Calvert DeForest, best known for his dead-pan appearances as the pudgy, bespectacled everyman Larry "Bud" Melman on David Letterman's late-night TV show, has died at age 85.

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