he Supreme Court on Monday declined to scrutinize how a discredited military lab analyst helped convict men like former Navy hospital corpsman Ivor Luke. The court's decision leaves intact Luke's 1999 court martial conviction, secured with the help of U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory analyst Phillip Mills. Mills' own career subsequently collapsed amid revelations that he had falsified a report.
But because Navy investigators had destroyed the evidence used to convict Luke of indecent assault, Mills' work could not be double-checked. That's left Luke to argue for the past five years, ever since Mills' misconduct was discovered, that a general pattern of questionable work should suffice to cast doubt on a specific conviction.
Supreme Court declines to hear case involving Army crime lab
Beaches, parks off limits to New York smokers
New York City took its smoking prohibition outdoors on Monday, adding the city's parks and beaches to the list of places where smoking is banned as part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's campaign to promote healthy habits.
The ban, which officials hope will prevent problems caused by second-hand smoke, adds to the city's 2003 ban on cigarettes in bars and restaurants. The new law will not be enforced by police but by some 200 parks personnel who watch over the city's 29,000 acres (12,000 hectares) of park land and beaches. Violators face a $50 fine but officials say the ban is meant to be largely self-enforcing.
Surprise find in Kepler planet hunt: lots of multi-planet systems
NASA's Kepler spacecraft, which is searching for Earth-mass planets orbiting sun-like stars, is finding hundreds of candidate planets, and many more multi-planet systems than expected.
Two years into a 3-1/2-year mission, NASA’s Kepler spacecraft, hunting for planets orbiting some 165,000 stars in the constellation Cygnus, is uncovering planet candidates by the hundreds.
Many of these inhabit multi-planet systems that are unexpectedly flat – the inclination of the planets’ orbits within each of these systems are essentially the same, a feature that may hold clues about how these systems formed and evolved.
‘Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin,’ by former staffer Frank Bailey
Frank Bailey joined Sarah Palin’s campaign for governor of Alaska in its earliest days, showing up at her shabby headquarters in Anchorage with a paintbrush, toilet bowl cleaner and hammer in November 2005 and becoming part of her “Rag Tag Team,” as she fondly dubbed her original inner circle.
He’d grown up poor in Kodiak and worked as an airline baggage handler and middle manager. In Palin, he found a leader who elegantly fused faith and politics. She exuded charm, energy and idealism, and, most important, she inspired trust. Bailey was politically smitten: “In my mind, God had chosen her, and this was His will.”
Doomsayers grounded by their failed rapture predictions
They spent months warning the world of the apocalypse, some giving away earthly belongings or draining their savings accounts. And so they waited, vigilantly, on Saturday for the appointed hour to arrive.
"I had some skepticism but I was trying to push the skepticism away because I believe in God," he said in the bright morning sun outside the gated Oakland headquarters of Family Radio International, whose founder, Harold Camping, has been broadcasting the apocalyptic prediction for years. "I was hoping for it because I think heaven would be a lot better than this earth."
Amerika in a Media-Induced Trance
There has never been a person who has been successfully brainwashed who believed he was brainwashed. It lies within the definition of the word itself. This is the crux of the problem that the crux of the matter reveals. The majority of the people are automatons responding to media and social cues and have no control over their destiny.
WikiLeaks: U.S. cable ties Saudis to Pakistan jihad
A U.S. diplomat in Pakistan accused Saudi and Gulf groups of bankrolling Islamic extremists in a cable revealed by WikiLeaks Sunday. Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported Bryan Hunt, then consul in Lahore, sent the message to the State Department in November 2008, citing local officials and his visits to south Punjab.
Hunt wrote, "Financial support estimated at nearly 100 million USD annually was making its way to Deobandi and Ahl-i-Hadith clerics in south Punjab from organizations in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, ostensibly with the direct support of those governments."
Study shows sharp rise in early autism diagnoses
More children aged 3 and younger are now being treated for autism in Massachusetts, a new study finds. One in 129 children in Massachusetts born between 2001 and 2005 was enrolled in early intervention programs for an autism spectrum disorder by their third birthday, according to the study.
Over the five-year period, the proportion of children aged 3 and younger getting treated rose from one in 178 among children born in 2001 to one in 108 for those born in 2005 — a 66% increase.
Honduras ousted leader Zelaya signs deal for return
Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted from power and forced into exile in 2009, has signed an agreement with his successor, Porfirio Lobo, which will allow him to return to the country.
The accord also paves the way for Honduras' re-entry into the Organisation of American States (OAS). Honduras was expelled from the OAS after Mr Zelaya was removed from power.The accord was negotiated by the Colombian and Venezuelan presidents.
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