School bomb plotter wanted to kill Jesus

A teen accused of plotting to blow up his high school told police that he wanted to die, go to heaven and kill Jesus, federal authorities said Tuesday.

Prosecutors argued in a federal courtroom that the statements are an indication that 18-year-old Ryan Schallenberger needs a psychological evaluation.

The straight-A Chesterfield High School senior was arrested April 19 and faces several state and federal charges, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. That charge carries a possible life sentence if he is convicted.

"His conduct is bizarre," prosecutor Buddy Bethea told Judge Thomas Rogers III, who did not immediately issue a ruling. "I think it screams out in his conduct that he be evaluated."

I'm not his judge, but my guess is that if he died when he wanted to it would not be Jesus he would be meeting.

More from CNN

Medicare "drifting towards disaster": U.S. official

Medicare is lurching toward disaster and it is too late for the Bush Administration and Congress to do anything about it, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said on Tuesday.

He said the next administration will have to act to stop rising costs and get control of the $400 billion federal health insurance plan for the elderly, which now covers 44 million people.

"Higher and higher costs are being borne by fewer and fewer people. Sooner or later, this formula implodes," Leavitt said in a speech to the right-leaning Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute think-tanks. "There is serious danger here," he added. "Medicare is drifting towards disaster."
More from Reuters

U.S. population seen tripling to 1 billion in century

If the USA seems too crowded and its roads too congested now, imagine future generations: The nation's population could more than triple to 1 billion as early as 2100.

That's the eye-popping projection that urban and rural planners, gathered today for their annual meeting in Las Vegas, are hearing from a land-use expert.

"What do we do now to start preparing for that?" asks Arthur Nelson, co-director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech, whose analysis projects that the USA will hit the 1 billion mark sometime between 2100 and 2120. "It's a realistic long-term challenge."

The nation currently has almost 304 million people and is the world's third most populous, behind China (1.3 billion) and India (1.1 billion). China passed the 1 billion mark in the early 1980s.

Nelson's projection assumes that current fertility rates remain constant but that longevity and immigration will continue to rise.

More from USA Today

Rebates might be too little, too late

Tax rebates are starting to arrive in bank accounts. But many economists doubt that they will keep the economy from recession. The stimulus package, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support earlier this year, will give rebates to about 130 million Americans, costing the U.S. Treasury more than $110 billion. Married taxpayers earning $150,000 or less will get up to $1200 while single taxpayers earning $75,000 will receive up to $600.

But since the measure passed Congress, there have been growing signs that the U.S. economy has already fallen into recession.

"This is will not avert a recession, because it is too late," said Lakshman Achuthan, the managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute. "For this to have kept us out of what was an avoidable recession, it needed to happen a couple of months ago, in January or February."

More from CNN

Heparin Contamination May Have Been Deliberate, F.D.A. Says

Federal drug regulators believe that a contaminant detected in a crucial blood thinner that has caused 81 deaths was deliberately added.
“F.D.A.’s working hypothesis is that this was intentional contamination, but this is not yet proven,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the agency’s drug center, told the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations in written testimony on Tuesday.

Some heparin batches made by Baxter International consisted of more than 30 percent of the contaminant, “and it does strain one’s credulity to suggest that might have been done accidentally,” Dr. Woodcock said.

More from the New York Times

Class for kids: How to be homosexual

A state-funded organization in Maine touted as "a stellar program for social change" is advertising a seminar that essentially provides information to impressionable school-age boys on how to be homosexual, according to a pro-family organization opposing the plans.

The seminar, "Queer, Questioning, Quiet: Developing Gender Identity & Male Sexual Orientation," is promoted by the Boys to Men organization in Portland, Maine, during its coming 2008 conference. The session will feature a presentation by speakers from the homosexual Proud Rainbow Youth for Southern Maine, officials said.

"I think it's outrageous," Michael Heath, chief of the Christian Civic League of Maine, told WND. '"This is now starting to happen in public schools throughout our state. The public needs to wake up, become aware, and speak out against it."

More from WorldNetDaily

Are scientist mixing Apes and Humans? This could turn out Really Bad

A LEADING scientist has warned a new species of "humanzee," created from breeding apes with humans, could become a reality unless the government acts to stop scientists experimenting.
In an interview with The Scotsman, Dr Calum MacKellar, director of research at the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, warned the controversial draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill did not prevent human sperm being inseminated into animals.

He said if a female chimpanzee was inseminated with human sperm the two species would be closely enough related that a hybrid could be born.

Talk about a Monkey's Uncle!
More from the Scottsman

A new law being pushed in Canada by Big Pharma seeks to outlaw up to 60 percent of natural health products currently sold in Canada

A new law being pushed in Canada by Big Pharma seeks to outlaw up to 60 percent of natural health products currently sold in Canada, even while criminalizing parents who give herbs or supplements to their children. The law, known as C-51, was introduced by the Canadian Minister of Health on April 8th, 2008, and it proposes sweeping changes to Canada's Food and Drugs Act that could have devastating consequences on the health products industry.

Among the changes proposed by the bill are radical alterations to key terminology, including replacing the word "drug" with "therapeutic product" throughout the Act, thereby giving the Canadian government broad-reaching powers to regulate the sale of all herbs, vitamins, supplements and other items. With this single language change, anything that is "therapeutic" automatically falls under the Food and Drug Act. This would include bottled water, blueberries, dandelion greens and essentially all plant-derived substances.

With health care cost going crazy, and many chronic conditions not responding to traditional medicine, I sure wouldn't want to see something like this come to the US, but I would bet that they are already trying to.
More from Natural News.com

Teacher arrested third time for sexual conduct with student

A former Florida teacher already arrested twice for allegedly having sex with two of her students has reportedly scored a hat trick, after police say she again had sex with a previous victim.

Stephanie Ragusa, 29, of Tampa was taken into custody yesterday shortly after Hillsborough County detectives saw her exiting the home of the 16-year-old boy.

It's Ragusa's third arrest since last month on similar sex charges.

"She's in need of help," sheriff's Lt. Fred Asteasuainzarra told the Tampa Tribune.

Her arrest affidavit indicates she drove to the boy's home in her boyfriend's pickup, saying she wanted to discuss her criminal case, but she and the teen ended up having sex.

WARNING - The following article has disturbing content.
From WorldNetDaily

Gas Pumps May Cheat Customers

With the growing price of gas these days, getting less than what you are paying for is an added insult to your budget. But, as the Associated Press (AP) reported this weekend, getting cheated at the gas pump is a pretty common occurrence. Here is what you need to know about becoming aware of the problem and getting reimbursed.

Have you ever noticed that there is a slight delay in the flow of gas when you first start pumping? If the pump hesitates for a second or two before it kicks in, then chances are that you are paying for gas that you aren't actually getting. This can be as high as two extra gallons per fill up. And with gas approaching $4 a gallon in some areas, you could be paying $8 more each time you fill up.
More at the families.com frugal blog

40 Drowning Victims May Have Been Murdered by 'Smiley Face Gang'

At least 40 young men who drowned may have died by far more sinister means — serial killings at the hands of a national gang that revels in murdering young men and leaving smiley-face markings at the scene, a team of retired New York City police detectives and criminal justice investigators said Monday.

They believe the victims, including University of Minnesota student Chris Jenkins and Fordham University student Patrick McNeill, didn't accidentally drown but were actually killed by members of the so-called "Smiley Face Gang."

A smiley-face symbol was found painted at some of the drowning locations — in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa, they said.

"They're telling you here that they're into evil, they're very happy as most serial killers are," said retired NYPD Det. Kevin Gannon. "They're content with their work and what they're doing and the fact that they're thwarting the police."

More at Fox News

Secondhand Smoke: Damage in Mere Minutes

Just 30 minutes in a smoky room can cause profound blood vessel injury in healthy young adults, greatly increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a new study published in the May 6 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The findings add to the growing body of evidence that suggests that there is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke, also called environmental tobacco smoke, contains an array of harmful chemicals, including nicotine, which have been shown to increase one’s risk for cardiovascular disease. Exposure to such smoke causes upwards of 50,000 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers every year in the United States, making it a major public health concern.

More from WebMD

Credit card rates hustle higher

Even as the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates, financial institutions have sharply raised rates for credit card customers — even those who pay on time — as they grapple with losses from other bad consumer loans.

This month, Washington Mutual (WM) told some credit card customers that it was raising their rates by as much as 100%. Discover (DFS) is lifting its penalty rate to 31%, effective May 1, and may apply that maximum to consumers who exceed their credit limit twice in a rolling 12 months.

Bank of America (BAC) raised rates for some customers in March — triple, in some cases, though spokeswoman Betty Riess says, "It would be very rare."

More from USA Today

Truckers rally in Washington, seeking lower gas prices

Horns blaring in a deafening fanfare, a convoy of truck drivers arrived in Washington on Monday to protest high fuel prices.

The truckers planned an afternoon rally at the Capitol as they call on Congress to stop subsidizing big oil companies, release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, and end exports of oil from Alaska, among other things.

Many of the truckers arrived from Harrisburg, Pa., and other cities to the north. A passenger in one truck held a sign that read "Enough is Enough," and one trucker used a bullhorn to yell at Congress as he drove past.
More at Yahoo News

Last day to save Christian radio?

Today is the last day for public comments on a proposed Federal Communications Commission rule change some say would threaten the licenses of Christian radio stations from coast to coast.

At issue is a proposal that would require every radio station to take programming advice from community advisory boards representative of the area's population.

Advocates of Christian programming say that would require Christian broadcasters to seek advice from non-Christians and even those opposed to the Christian message. Some radio stations fear organized groups of atheists, for instance, could demand representation on the new FCC-mandated advisory boards that would factor into licensing decisions.

More from WorldNetDaily

Radio Free Europe hit by an "unprecedented" cyberattack

Websites run by US Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, based in eastern Europe, have been hit by an "unprecedented" cyberattack, management said Monday.

"The attack, which started on April 26, initially targeted the website of RFE/RL's Belarus Service, but quickly spread to other sites," a statement on its website said.

"Within hours, eight RFE/RL websites (Belarus, Kosovo, Azerbaijan, Tatar-Bashkir, Radio Farda, South Slavic, Russian, and Tajik) were knocked out or otherwise affected," it added.

More from Breitbart

Could Gas Soon Cost Ten Dollars a Gallon?

Get ready for another economic shock of major proportions — a virtual doubling of prices at the gas pump to as much as $10 a gallon.

That's the message from a couple of analytical energy industry trackers, both of whom, based on the surging oil prices, see considerably more pain at the pump than most drivers realize.

These increases are taking place before the all-important summer driving season, signaling even higher prices ahead.
More from the New York Sun

Church battles for property lost to bake sale tax dispute

The city of Chicago has been handed another defeat in its effort to take over a church's property in order to use in it a redevelopment project, according to officials with the Alliance Defense Fund.

Government officials took title to the property after they first claimed the organization had failed to pay sales taxes on fundraising bake sales, even though such activities are exempt from sales tax requirements, and then sending notifications of the taxes due as well as the tax lien sale to the wrong address.

More at WND

New Orleans floodwalls stuffed with newspaper?

Some New Orleans residents are questioning whether the millions spent to repair levees and floodwalls in the wake of 2005's devastation from Hurricane Katrina has made their city any safer after a witness to the recent construction revealed expansion joints between floodwall panels had been filled with newspaper instead of the rubber foam called for in the project's specifications.

New Orleans CBS affiliate WWL-TV visited a section of floodwall in St. Bernard Parish with a resident who asked not to be identified and who showed the news crew a section of floodwall where he had observed the contractor filling the openings between the walls with newspaper during repairs in 2006.

"The whole length of the wall was stuffed with newspaper," the resident said.

More from Worldnetdaily

Lexington Is USA's Worst City For Allergy Sufferers

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), Lexington, Kentucky, is the worst city for allergy sufferers in the USA. The AAFA has issued the 2008 Rank - Rankings for the Allergy Capitals, which lists the top 100 cities for allergies. Greensboro, N.C.; Johnson City, Tenn.; Augusta, Ga.; and Jackson, Miss. Follow Lexington in the top five.

I live about 70 miles SE of Lexington, and my allergies have been almost the worst ever. Leave your car outside for a few hours and you have to use your windsheid wipers to rid the bright yellow pollen. The flowers this year are just amazing though.
More from Medical News Today

Pawn shops receive scores of gold teeth

Pawnshop owners say the high price of gold has led to a mass influx of people seeking to sell their gold teeth, dental caps, fillings and bridgework.

Pawn shop proprietors said that while in previous years they would occasionally encounter people seeking to sell their gold teeth, the number of customers seeking cash for their dental work has skyrocketed, WKMG-TV, Orlando, reported Thursday.

"People are really cashing in. If a dentist passes away, their kids come in with a big pile of gold teeth," said Scott Taber, owner of Taber Coins, which regularly purchases dental gold and resells it to gold smelters.

Taber and others attribute the phenomenon to the worth of gold, which peaked March 17 at $1,038.60 an ounce and currently stands at about $920. Experts have predicted the price could rise again in the near future.
From UPI

Maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.

Maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.

No, this is not a drill.

You've seen the TV footage of food riots in parts of the developing world. Yes, they're a long way away from the U.S. But most foodstuffs operate in a global market. When the cost of wheat soars in Asia, it will do the same here.

Reality: Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster.

"Load up the pantry," says Manu Daftary, one of Wall Street's top investors and the manager of the Quaker Strategic Growth mutual fund. "I think prices are going higher. People are too complacent. They think it isn't going to happen here. But I don't know how the food companies can absorb higher costs.
More from the Wall Street Journal

Japan sees wave of suicides using detergent-produced gas

At least four people killed themselves Friday by inhaling fumes from a detergent mixed with other chemicals amid a wave of similar suicides that has reportedly claimed about 50 lives this month in Japan.

Authorities are alarmed by the sudden rise in such incidents — an average of two a day were reported in April — because the chemicals are easy to get and the fumes could spread to affect bystanders or rescuers.

The government has been battling to contain the country's alarmingly high suicide rate. The government said 32,155 people killed themselves in 2006. Japan has a population of 128 million.

More from Yahoo news

When $100,000 makes you Go Broke: The Invisible Hand Forces Americans Into Debt.

Many people from states with moderate housing prices have a very hard time understanding how a family earning $100,000 a year is having a challenging time staying in the middle class ranks. The idea of a six-figure income certainly doesn’t connote the same wealthy status as it did a decade ago. But where is all the money going then? Now that we are quickly approaching the great Wal-Mart voucher stimulus revolution and will see our accounts increase by $600 to $2,400 depending on our family situation, once we look at the cost of monthly items we realize that this money is a drop in the bucket for most Americans. In fact, there is so much debt out there that many are now saying they’ll use the money to pay off current debt or save; certainly not the intention of what the current government has in mind. They would love nothing more if you went and blew your stimulus check on a new laptop or stove and one month later, are back in the same spot.

This is the problem with deficit spending on many levels. At a certain point debt will crush an economy if it is not handled properly. We have done an abysmal job managing debt over the past few decades and now we are seeing the after effects of this. Today I want to put out a hypothetical budget for a family with 2 kids earning $100,000 a year and show you how easily it is to go into debt. This data is conservative and I will talk about a few of major line items later in the article. So now I present to you going broke on $100,000 a year:

Find out how right here.

Bangladesh stops poor from collecting rotten rice

Bangladesh deployed troops at a dumping site near the country's main Chittagong port on Saturday to stop poor people from collecting rotten rice, officials said.

"The dumping site has been cordoned, and the relevant authorities have been asked not to dump rotten rice at unrestricted spots anymore," a security official said.

Hundreds of poor people thronged the dumping site as the Food Department started ditching some 500 tonnes of damaged rice on Friday.

Nearly half of Bangladesh's 140 million people live on an income less than a dollar per day and their plight has worsened since rice and other food prices started rising this year.

More from Boston.com

Could Oil Prices Double by 2012?

The price of oil is likely to hit 150 dollars (Canadian, US) a barrel by 2010 and soar to 225 dollars a barrel by 2012 as supply becomes increasingly tight, a Canadian bank said Thursday.

The CIBC report says the International Energy Agency's current oil production estimates overstate supply by about nine percent, since it wrongly counts natural gas liquids -- which are not viable for transportation fuel -- in its numbers.

Analyst Jeff Rubin in his report noted accelerating depletion rates in many of the world's largest and most mature oil fields. He estimates oil production will hardly grow at all, with average daily production between now and 2012 rising by barely a million barrels per day.

From Breitbart

15,000 Christians blocked from Jordan River

Israel blocked thousands of Christians from making a pilgrimage yesterday to the Jordan River site where Jesus was baptized, citing safety concerns.

About 15,000 faithful from around the world planned to be baptized over two days on the muddy western banks 20 miles from Jerusalem to mark Holy Week according to the Orthodox Christian calendar.

Israeli officials said they closed the steep entry into the river, which runs between Jordan and the Israeli-controlled West Bank.
More from The Washington Times

Want a fatal heart attack? Try drinking four RED BULL energy drinks per day.

Alfredo Duran, 40, who drank four cans of Red Bull every night, collapsed and died after working a supermarket night shift.

An inquest into his death heard that he had an enlarged heart and that caffeine may have triggered an attack.

Dr Ian Roberts, a pathologist, said the amount of Red Bull Mr Duran drank could have contributed to his death.

From The Telegraph

For a Refreshing Hint of Tear Gas, Light Up a Cigarette

Cigarettes are America's biggest killer, but what is in them? Find out all the yucky stuff the tobacco companies don't want you to know. This I will tell you if you smoke. If your less than 60, take your age, divide it by 10, then subtract it from the number 10. The number you come up with will be how many years you will add to your life if you quit in the next year.
The bad stuff that is in your smokes - From Wired

Obama aide says he didn't mean to blaspheme Jesus

An Obama adviser denies he had blasphemous intent by including in his lectures a video of a 'gay' Jesus Christ sashaying nearly naked down a city street to the tune of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," only to get run over by a bus.
More from WorldNetDaily

Innocent schoolboy machine-gunned in bed

An innocent 15-year-old schoolboy was sprayed with bullets from a machine gun as he lay in his own bed after becoming the victim of mistaken identity during a gang war, a London court heard on Friday.

Michael Dosunmu was hit by four bullets, one fatally wounding him in the heart, fired by two gunmen who had burst into his home in south London looking for his brother.

More from Christianity Today

ACLU says restrictions to library porn would be unconstitutional

Are public library restrictions against pornography access unconstitutional?

That's what the Sacramento Public Library Authority Board will decide when it votes on a resolution that could make porn available in its libraries. A meeting is scheduled tomorrow night.

Last month, when the issue was first addressed, the American Civil Liberties Union maintained the position that restricting public access to pornography in libraries would be unconstitutional, while attorneys for the Pacific Justice Institute disagreed.

"The Constitution doesn't require that we pay for public access to porn," he said. "It may require, at least under current interpretation, to be allowed in homes, but not that you and I pay for it.

More from WorldNetDaily

Your Stimlus Check might not be here till Mid-July

This will actually depend on your Social Security number, and if you have your refunds sent by direct deposit.
Check out the IRS Roll-out of rebates here.

Will New FCC Regs Kill Christian Radio?

These rule changes could:

1. Require Community Advisory Boards: One board overseeing all broadcasters in that area. Appointed individuals who may not be friendly to the Christian mission of the station.
2. Require Additional Staffing: Adding tens of thousands of dollars in additional monthly expense to each affected station (even including some of our smaller facilities which ultimately might force us to leave the air in some areas).
3. Force Many of Our Translator Stations Off The Air: This rule would give priority to many new Low Power FM stations (LPFM) rather than existing translator stations. This means many of our translators would no longer be able to carry Christian programming.
   Check the page at the K-Love Website to see how to petition the FCC to help keep Christian radio on the air.
   

$100 fill-ups arrive at gas pumps

Noel Bosse and Ken Davis watch as the numbers keep spinning at the gas pump -- 70 bucks, 80 bucks. Gulp, guzzle, then it stops: $101 for about 25 gallons.

The $100 fill-up has arrived in the United States.

"I think it's absolutely ridiculous," Bosse said with disgust.

San Francisco is the most expensive city, averaging $3.97 a gallon. However, a drive around the city shows that many stations have jumped over $4.

The national average for regular unleaded is $3.53 and rising daily. Last year at this time, it was $2.86 per gallon. According to AAA, 24 states and the District of Columbia are averaging at or above $3.50 a gallon for regular unleaded. The state with the lowest gas is in New Jersey, at $3.34 per gallon.

Green says Americans should expect the price to increase another 25 cents over the next month and continue to climb over the summer months.

"A national average approaching $4 a gallon should not be ruled out by consumers later this year," he said.
More from CNN

The Cult Of Oprah

A YouTube video which features talk show host Oprah Winfrey denying Jesus as the only way to God and promoting New Age ideas has received over 5 million views and is still climbing.

The under seven-minute video montage, entitled "The Church of Oprah Exposed," was posted about month ago and has since claimed the Top Favorites spot in the Web site's News & Politics category.

One clip in the video shows Oprah blatantly denying Jesus as the only way to God.

"How can there be only one way to heaven or to God?" Oprah asked her audience in a show taped years ago.

When one woman in the audience asked, "What about Jesus?" Oprah defiantly answered, "What about Jesus?...There couldn't possibly be one way."

more from The Christian Post

Also - A study on "New Age Christ" according to Oprah - from the Orange Co. News

China down to 12 days worth of coal - report

CHINA only has enough coal for 12 days of consumption, three days less than a month ago, state media reported Wednesday, sounding the alarm bells over the nation's most important source of energy.

In certain parts of China, such as densely populated Hebei province in the north, reserves are down to less than a week, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the China Electricity Regulatory Commission.

In the period since early March, coal reserves have slumped by 12 per cent to 46.7 million tonnes, according to the commission.

Reasons for the shortage were "multi-dimensional," the commission was quoted as saying, without elaborating.

Demand for coal has risen rapidly since China experienced brown-outs early this decade, motivating a construction frenzy in the power industry, with large numbers of new coal-fired plants emerging across the country.

China counts on coal for about 70 per cent of its energy consumption, a proportion that has stayed almost unchanged for the past nearly three decades despite a skyrocketing rise in demand for power.

From news.com.au

Judge: Bible distribution violated First Amendment

A federal judge in New Orleans found today that the Tangipahoa Parish School Board violated the First Amendment by allowing Gideons International to pass out pocket Bibles to Loranger fifth-graders during school hours last year, court records show.

In an 11-page order, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier wrote the practice is unconstitutional under multiple legal standards in federal case law testing whether government and religion are too closely entangled.

The distribution of the Bibles was “ultimately coercive” on an elementary school child, “a religious activity without a secular purpose” and “amounted to promotion of Christianity by the School Board,” Barbier wrote.

Throughout history man has tried to stop God's Word from being spread, but in the long run these efforts are futile.

More from The Advocate

Gore Used Fictional Video to Illustrate ‘Inconvenient Truth’

It goes without saying that climate realists around the world believe Nobel Laureate Al Gore used false information throughout his schlockumentary "An Inconvenient Truth" in order to generate global warming hysteria.

On Friday, it was revealed by ABC News that one of the famous shots of supposed Antarctic ice shelves in the film was actually a computer-generated image from the 2004 science fiction blockbuster "The Day After Tomorrow." [audio available here]

More including Video from NewsBusters

9 Most Obnoxious Hidden Airline Fees

As their corpulent systems collide with increasingly harsh economic realities, airlines are getting making up more creative fees and charging for things that used to be free. Here's 9 of the worst offenders of the hidden airline fees.
Check them out at the Consumerist

Also from Wired -

Continental's 757s Running Low on Fuel on Some Transatlantic Flights

China vaults past USA in Internet users

China, already the world leader in cellphone use, has surpassed the USA as the No. 1 nation in Internet users.

The number of Chinese on the Internet hit more than 220 million as of February, according to estimates from official Chinese statistics by the Beijing-based research group BDA China. The government is likely to confirm the leap at its half-yearly report in July.

The longtime Internet leader, the USA, which founded and developed the network of computers, had 216 million users at the end of 2007, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

More from USA Today

Life Expectancy Drops for Some U.S. Women

For the first time since the Spanish influenza of 1918, life expectancy is falling for a significant number of American women.

In nearly 1,000 counties that together are home to about 12 percent of the nation's women, life expectancy is now shorter than it was in the early 1980s, according to a study published today.

More from the Washington Post

Also - U.S. Cancer Prevention Stalling? from WebMD

Rice says Carter was warned against meeting with Hamas

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday the Bush administration explicitly warned former President Jimmy Carter against meeting with members of Hamas, the Palestinian faction that controls the Gaza Strip and which is regarded by the U.S. as a terror group.

"I just don't want there to be any confusion," Rice said. "The United States is not going to deal with Hamas and we had certainly told President Carter that we did not think meeting with Hamas was going to help" further a political settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
More from MyWay

It looks like the food rationing has begun

Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.
More from the New York Sun

HD TV Ain't What It Used To Be

As cable TV companies pack ever more HD channels into limited bandwidth, some owners of pricey plasma, projector and LCD TVs are complaining that they're not getting the high-def quality they paid for. They blame the increased signal compression being used to squeeze three digital HD signals into the bandwidth of one analog station.

The problem is viewers want more HD channels at a time when many cable and satellite providers are at the limits of their capacity, said Jim Willcox, a technology editor for Consumer Reports magazine.

More from Wired

Your Food Packages are SHRINKING!

Food companies have increasing costs and can't keep selling items at higher prices so they put less food in them. I just bought some Frito-Lay peanuts a few days a ago and they dropped from two ounces to one and one half. the example here is ice cream, but we are seeing this all over the place. Watch your packages carefully.
From The Consumerist

Shoppers don't have a clue how many calories are in their food.

Quick, what at McDonald's has the most calories? A Big Mac, two Sausage McGriddles, a large chocolate shake, or four hamburgers? If you guessed a Big Mac, you’d be in good company. And you’d also be wrong.
Get some answers see why we need calories listed clearly.
From The Consumerist

The Cure For World Hunger

This is for real. The actual cure is at my other blog. Check it out -
The Cure For World Hunger at Pure, Good and Wonderful

Invention of the microwave unleashed global obesity ripple effect

The invention of the microwave may have been intimately connected to the beginning of an epidemic in obesity, according to Jane Wardle, a professor of clinical psychology at University College London. "I looked at the figures showing rates of obesity in the population over many years, and it seemed very clear [that] it began between 1984 and 1987," Wardle said in a debate at the Cheltenham Science Festival, which took place from June 6-10.
More from NaturalNews.com

Obama linked to gun control efforts

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has worked to assure uneasy gun owners that he believes the Constitution protects their rights and that he doesn’t want to take away their guns.

But before he became a national political figure, he sat on the board of a Chicago-based foundation that doled out at least nine grants totaling nearly $2.7 million to groups that advocated the opposite positions.

The foundation funded legal scholarship advancing the theory that the Second Amendment does not protect individual gun owners’ rights, as well as two groups that advocated handgun bans. And it paid to support a book called “Every Handgun Is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns.”

More from Polictico