And about that economy thing...

The number of Americans claiming initial jobless benefits fell unexpectedly by 2,000 last week to the lowest level in more than four years as the U.S. labor market continued to strengthen, a government report showed on Thursday.
First-time claims for state unemployment insurance aid dropped for the third consecutive time, to 302,000, in the week ended Feb. 12 from 304,000 in the previous week, the Labor Department Said. It said there were no special factors to account for the drop in claims.
Last week's decline marks the lowest level since October 2000, before the economy tipped into recession.

Reflections from the gene pool.

A high school chemistry teacher was arrested after students claimed he taught his class how to make a bomb, authorities said.
David Pieski, 42, used an overhead projector in class to give instructions in making explosives to students at Freedom High School, including advising them to use an electric detonator to stay clear from the blast, an Orange County sheriff's arrest report said.
In Pieski's classroom in Orlando, authorities found a book labeled "Demo," which includes the chemical breakdown for a powerful explosive, the arrest report said.
One student said he set off an explosive device at a golf course on Jan. 6 and videotaped it, an arrest warrant said. The videotape shows an explosion, and the voice of a young man can be heard shouting, authorities said. Pieski was charged with possessing or discharging a destructive device and culpable negligence. Pieski, who was booked into the Orange County Jail on Monday and released on $1,000 bail, declined to comment.
School Superintendent Judy Cunningham said Pieski was reassigned to a desk job after he was interviewed by authorities. He is still earning his salary.

Attention on deck!

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth will be honored at this Friday's Conservative Political Action Conference for the key role they played in defeating Sen. John Kerry in last year's presidential race.
"These guys could have just gone on with their lives, but they felt strongly that John Kerry's record was being misrepresented," Richard Lessner, executive director of the American Conservative Union, which sponsors the event, said. "We thought this sort of example of citizens stepping forward under adverse conditions should be recognized," Lessner added. "They are impressive."

The UN hard at work.

UN inspectors in Iraq spent their working hours drinking vodka while ignoring a shadowy nocturnal fleet believed to be smuggling goods for Saddam Hussein, a former senior inspector told the US Senate yesterday. In a move that provoked fury from officials of the Swiss firm Cotecna, an Australian former inspector detailed a picture of incompetence, indifference and drunkeness among the men acting as the frontline for UN sanctions.
Arthur Ventham, a former Australian army officer and customs officer, joined the operation in 2002 and worked at various sites in Iraq and neighbouring states.
He said that at Iskendurun in eastern Turkey, some officials had refused to work.
When he asked one of his bosses why, he was told: "They were friends or relatives of potential clients, and are only in the mission so the company could secure future contracts in Nigeria, Comoros and another African country.
"When I said that this was unfair on everyone else, I was told that it was general practice in Cotecna."
Other inspectors had spent most of the day in hotel rooms while others drank beer and talked to the local people.
Inspectors were supposed to check lorries to make sure the UN sanctions regime was being enforced.
At another monitoring site where the UN was supposed to check humanitarian aid supplies, Mr Ventham noticed "the team leader and his fellow countrymen [the nationality is unstated] spending the majority of their time in each other's rooms drinking vodka as opposed to managing and leading the team".
There he noticed small vessels and barges moving to a small island each night.
"I mentioned this to a number of other inspectors saying there was plenty of scope for smuggling and what were the UN doing about it.
"I was extremely surprised by the response that it was common knowledge smuggling was going on at Um Qasir [and that] the oil was being sold on the black market to augment the regime."

Happy birthday to me!

North Korea, which relies on outside aid to feed its people, marked the 63rd birthday of leader Kim Jong Il on Wednesday with feasts of pheasant and venison for the capital's elite.

Best Friends Forever.

Iran and Syria on Wednesday said they would unite against any challenges or threats to their nations' livelihoods, a move that could raise the stakes in the ongoing international dramas involving both countries.

More rumbles from the DNC implosion.

After praising Kerry for giving his failed presidential bid "everything he had," ex-DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe complained that his attacks on President Bush were too weak. The top Dem cited Kerry's acceptance speech at the Democratic convention as a prime example. "I think, to be honest with you, Kerry's speech was ridiculous," McAuliffe said. When he received the final approved draft of Kerry's convention speech, he recalled, "I just threw it in the air and said, 'Why don't we just say George Bush is a great guy?'" "Meanwhile," the outgoing chairman griped, "Republicans go to New York and spend four days ripping our face off and they go up 10 points in the polls."

It's official folks...YEEAAARRGH!

Democrats elected Howard Dean chairman of their national party on Saturday, casting their lot with a skilled fund-raiser and organizer whose sometimes caustic, blunt comments can lead to controversy. The 447-member DNC chose Dean on a voice vote to replace outgoing party chief Terry McAuliffe. The former Vermont governor and presidential candidate had promised to rebuild the state parties, take the offensive against Republicans, and better explain party positions on issues.

Those busy little bees.

Israeli military sources said Hamas has used Israel's ceasefire pledge to rebuild its military capabilities. The sources said this includes production of the Kassam-class short-range missiles, anti-tank rockets and mines.
At the same time, Hamas was said to have restored strongholds destroyed by Israel's military. The sources said the strongholds have included weapons factories and warehouses.
"Hamas and other groups are preparing for another offensive," an Israeli military source said. "They are being encouraged and paid by Iran to stage provocations that would end the ceasefire."

What one Iraqi can do.

Early on January 30, outside a school that had been converted into a polling station, 29 year old Sgt. Abdul Amir saw a suspicious man approach.
One of the security guards did his job and saw this man running at him who was a suicide bomber, says Lt. Charles Heaton with the First Cavalry Division.
According to eyewitnesses, Amir grabbed the bomber, pushed him far from the crowd of voters and was blown to shreds when the bomb belt detonated. He probably saved dozens of lives.
Abdul Amir prevented a disaster, says the school principal, who now wants the school to be renamed in Amir's honor.
Even Amir's family while mourning his loss is proud of his death.
He died to save others," says his sister, Amira Kadum. He is a true hero.
On national TV, Iraqi Prime Minster Ayad Allawi called Amir the young democracy's first champion.
Amir's colleagues have turned his police car No. 955, damaged in the blast into a makeshift memorial. All that's left are his police badge, shoes and legacy.
Since the incident, people have been more supportive. We're getting more tips on insurgents, says Amir's colleague, Hosein Maki.
There have been other positive effects. Police say the number of recruits has actually increased since election day after word spread about Sgt. Abdul Amir's selfless act. And despite the relentless attacks by insurgents, many Iraqi police say they feel stronger now, due, in large part, to the courage of a fellow cop, doing his duty, so that others could do theirs.

Sacked in the backfield.

Iraq has arrested a former general in Saddam Hussein's military who has been identified as a leading financier of the Sunni insurgency. The Iraqi Interior Ministry reported that the general has been captured and charged with helping finance the insurgency. The ministry identified the general as Khamis Masin Farhan Al Ugaydi, also known as Abu Saba.

France wants to be buddies, arms Libya.

France wants a fresh start in relations with the United States and both sides have much to contribute to a renewed transatlantic partnership, Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Monday.
He made the remarks before a visit to Paris Tuesday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice aimed in part at repairing ties damaged by the U.S.-led war in Iraq, which France opposed.
"The moment has come for a fresh start in our relations," Barnier said in an interview with the French daily Liberation which was conducted late last week.
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France and Libya have launched a high-level dialogue on defense and military cooperation.
France plans to use the dialogue to win agreement for several defense and military programs in Libya. The French Defense Ministry has been discussing cooperation programs that would include training, intelligence exchange and exercises between the militaries of France and Libya.
Over the weekend, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie held a two-day visit to Tripoli in the first such trip by a Western defense leader to the North African state. This was the first visit by a French defense minister to Libya since the United Nations Security Council lifted an arms embargo in 2004. The European Union has also taken steps to restore weapons sales to Tripoli.

More from the religion of peace.

For a few weeks now, Muslims in the U.K. have been complaining about and vandalizing billboards in their neighborhoods featuring scantily clad women because the show of skin offends them.
Of particular concern are posters for the show "Desperate Housewives," which show more cleavage than the locals in some parts of East London would like. A group called Muslims Against Advertising has deemed them offensive and encouraged people to tear them down or deface them.
Speaking to the Indo-Asian News Service , Ahmed Shiekh of the Muslim Association of Britain said the issue is not one of free speech "because freedom of speech should end when you offend others."

Those socially enlightened students.

A professor at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas may be punished because he offended one of his students by saying in a lesson on economic planning that homosexuals tend to plan less for the future than other groups.
Hans Hoppe, described as a conservative libertarian economist with 20 years experience at UNLV, says that during the lesson he gave several examples of groups that tend not to plan for the future, among them the very young, the very old, childless couples and homosexuals. He said discussion of homosexuals took up about 90 seconds of a 75-minute lecture.
Within days of the lecture a student had lodged an informal complaint about its content. The university is now threatening Hoppe with a letter of reprimand and wants him to give up his next pay increase.

Reflections from the gene pool.

A man has been arrested after police found him asleep in his car with a meth lab in it while the car was parked in front of the county jail.
Kirk Alan Marvel, 42, whose address wasn't available, was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine and possession of marijuana.
Black Hawk County sheriff's deputies noticed Marvel's car stopped at an intersection near the jail about 4 a.m. Tuesday. Deputies approached the car after it hadn't moved during two green-lights.
Marvel was found asleep behind the wheel, officals with the sheriff's office said.
Inside the car was found crushed pseudoephedrine pills, lithium batteries, a can of starter fluid and a plastic bucket filled with sludge, court records said.
Marvel was being held in Black Hawk County jail on Wednesday under $150,000 bond.

This will keep you up at night.

U.N. human rights experts Friday expressed concern about possible "irreversible psychiatric symptoms" developing among suspected terrorists entering a fourth year of virtual solitary confinement at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"The conditions of detention, especially of those in solitary confinement, place the detainees at significant risk of psychiatric deterioration, possibly including the development of irreversible psychiatric symptoms," the U.N. experts said in a statement.

Someone had a little too much caffeine.

North Korea will turn U.S. military bases in the region into a "sea of fire" if war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, North Korean media on Friday quoted a communist officer as saying.
"If the U.S. imperialists ignite flames of war, we will first of all strike all bases of U.S. imperialist aggressors and turn them into a sea of fire," North Korea's Central Radio quoted officer Hur Ryong as saying, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
Hur was also quoted as saying that the North Korean military will "thoroughly incinerate the aggressor elements that collude with the U.S. imperialists," in an apparent reference to South Korea and Japan, both of which host U.S. military bases.

I give this one three snaps up high.

Uruguay has unveiled what gay activists say is the first monument in Latin America honoring sexual diversity.
The rose-colored block of granite shaped in the form of a triangle went up this week in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo.
Set atop a concrete column, the monument is inscribed with the words: "Honoring Diversity is Honoring Life."
Uruguayan gay activists celebrated the unveiling as an important recognition of the homosexual community in this traditionally conservative Roman Catholic country of 3 million, located between Argentina and Brazil.
"From our little country we are telling the world that sexual diversity is something very positive," said Fernando Fontan, the head of a local gay rights group.

Since when can't you take pride in your work?

The commandant of the Marine Corps has counseled a senior subordinate for saying publicly, "It's fun to shoot some people."
Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, an infantry officer who has commanded Marines in both Afghanistan and Iraq, made the comments "Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. ... It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right upfront with you, I like brawling."
He added, "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil," Mattis continued. "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."

You think this guy sleeps at night?

U.S. and Iraqi security forces are getting closer to capturing or killing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terror mastermind in Iraq, and they missed him by "one hour maybe" as recently as two weeks ago, Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naquib said Thursday."We are following him, I must say that. I think we missed him twice or three times, but hopefully next time we will be able to capture him," Naquib said. Pressed for more details, the minister said, "We missed him by about one hour maybe" on at least one recent occasion. "We will get him - very soon."

Those crazy Iranians.

Iran will never scrap its nuclear program, and talks with Europeans are intended to protect the country's nuclear achievements, not negotiate an end to them, an Iranian official said Wednesday.
The remarks by Ali Agha Mohammadi, spokesman of Iran's powerful Supreme National Security Council, are the latest in a hardening of his country's stance amid ongoing talks with European negotiators. They also reflect Tehran's possible frustration at the lack of progress.
Europe is pressing Iran for concessions on its nuclear program, which the United States claims is aimed at producing atomic weapons. In exchange for nuclear guarantees, the Europeans are offering Iran technological and financial support and talks on a trade deal.
"We have the power to negotiate because we keep our (nuclear) achievements in our hands and we are negotiating to protect them," Mohammadi said Wednesday. "It's definite that we will protect our scientific achievements as a basic pillar, whether talks make progress or not."

Sacked in the backfield.

German police carried out a series of raids Wednesday on individuals suspected of providing financial and other support to Islamic extremist activities outside the country.
Thirty-three apartments and four businesses were searched early Wednesday morning, most in the southern state of Bavaria, police said.
The action was directed primarily against 24 people suspected of supporting the network, largely of Arab origin including people of Lebanese, Iraqi, Egyptian and Tunisian nationality.

A day late and a dinar short.

Iraq's leading Sunni Muslim clerics said Wednesday the country's landmark elections lacked legitimacy because large numbers of Sunnis did not participate in the balloting, which the religious leaders had asked them to boycott.

It's official folks.

The United States has developed new evidence which bolsters earlier indications that North Korea is the source of nuclear material exported to Libya, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
The new data also involves more proof that Pyongyang reprocessed all 8,000 spent fuel rods from a nuclear facility at Yongbyon, enough to fuel about a half dozen nuclear weapons.
Nine months ago, international inspectors came up with the first evidence that North Korea may have provided Libya with nearly two tons of uranium hexaflouride, the material that can be fed into nuclear centrifuges and enriched into bomb fuel. Libya surrendered its huge cask of the highly toxic material to the United States when it dismantled its nuclear program last year, it said.
Now, intelligence officials say, extensive testing conducted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee over the last several months has concluded that the material did not originate in Pakistan or other suspect countries, and one official said that "with a certainty of 90 percent or better, this stuff's from North Korea."

Reflections from the gene pool.

A drunken German who bought three hand grenades at a flea market in Bosnia has been arrested after throwing one out of the window to see whether it worked.
The 36-year-old took the three hand grenades home to Frankfurt as souvenirs where he kept them in a drawer for ten years.
But after drinking heavily with friends he showed one of them the explosive devices and decided to pull the pin on one after his pals claimed they did not believe they were real.
The grenade exploded between two blocks of flats and police who quickly traced the man thanks to eye-witnesses seized the two other unexploded grenades.
He was released after he sobered up and faces charges of illegal possession of explosives.

Sacked in the backfield.

Oman has acknowledged the detention of hundreds of nationals amid a crackdown on Al Qaida.
The sultanate has refused to give details of the crackdown. But government spokespeople said the crackdown was meant to foil plots to attack the country.
Omani Information Minister Hamad Bin Mohammed Al Rashdi said authorities have detained an unspecified number of people. He did not deny reports that more than 300 people have been arrested in the crackdown in late January.

More Palestinian peace efforts.

Hamas and Hizbullah have agreed to continue the war against Israel.
Leaders from the two groups met in Beirut and discussed strategy amid efforts to arrange a Palestinian Authority ceasefire with Israel. The Islamic insurgency organizations rejected the ceasefire and said they would maintain the war against the Jewish state.
"They agreed that the option of resistance and steadfastness was the only choice to confront the current situation," Hizbullah said in a statement after the meeting.
The statement said the Jan. 30 meeting comprised of Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Masha'al. Both groups have received significant support from Iran.

Hollywood, take a bow.

Citizens United, headed by former Whitewater investigator David Bossie, is set to release this week three billboards in view of the Kodak Theater where the Oscars are to be held later this month.
The billboards will, with a touch of sarcasm, "thank" Hollywood for helping to re-elect George Bush.
The ads will feature such liberal celebrities as Michael Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Ben Affleck, Martin Sheen, Chevy Chase, Barbra Streisand and Sean Penn all of whom the billboards credit with the President's November victory.
Both versions of the Citizens United ad thank Hollywood for its unwitting help in returning the President to the White House.
One of the ads expresses gratitude for "4 more years" and the other proclaims, with glee, "W. Still President."
Already, word of the billboards has Hollywood in a tizzy and the Citizens United campaign has been featured on CNN and Fox News.
Making the experience more painful for the disappointed Hollywood big wigs is the location of the three billboards their proximity to the Kodak Theatre, home of the Academy Awards.
Worse, the billboards are set to be displayed for the entire month of February, which will have them proclaiming their message on the night of the Oscar awards on Sunday, Feb. 27.

Oh the humanity!

Deprived of their flat-screen TVs, mobile phones, pizza deliveries and long visits from lovers, inmates at Mexico's top security prison complained on Monday they are being treated "like dogs."
A government crackdown in prisons, aimed especially at drug lords and other violent criminals, has the prisoners of La Palma jail close to Mexico City up in arms at the "subhuman" conditions they face.
On Monday, they paid for a full-page advertisement in Mexico's top daily Reforma and called on President Vicente Fox to respect their human rights. They also want the right to buy the soft drinks of their choice from the jail's small store.
Over the past month, Fox has sent troops into prisons across Mexico, including La Palma. In cell-by-cell searches, soldiers have stripped inmates of their illegal luxuries. Conjugal visits have been halted too.

Sacked in the backfield.

Kuwaiti Police burst into suspected terrorist hideouts throughout a tranquil suburb Monday, arresting a reputed terror boss and setting off a ferocious gunbattle that killed at least four of his followers and a bystander.
The raid - the fourth in three weeks - reflected a new sense of urgency in the battle to crush Islamic extremists deeply opposed to the presence of U.S. forces in this oil-rich emirate.
Kuwait's prime minister, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, called for the "uprooting of this phenomenon and the removal of this cancer before it spreads," Faisal al-Hajji, the acting information minister, told the state-owned Kuwait News Agency on Monday.

Dead Terrorist Alert!

Egyptian Security forces clashed with Islamic militants in the mountains of Sinai on Tuesday, killing a suspect in last year's deadly bombings of beach resorts on the peninsula, the government said.
The gunbattle erupted as police were chasing militants believed involved in the October bombings at the Sinai resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, which killed 34 people, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry identified the suspect killed Tuesday as Mohammed Abdel Rahman Badawi, saying he took part in the Sinai bombings and was found armed with an automatic rifle and a handgun.

You say you want a revolution?

King Gyanendra dismissed Nepal's government and imposed a state of emergency on Tuesday, cutting off his Himalayan nation from the rest of the world as telephone and Internet lines were severed, flights diverted and civil liberties severely curtailed.

Reflections from the gene pool.

A trio of Swiss businessmen have launched a new drink for gay people called Queer Beer.
Michael Hutmacher, 32, came up with the idea with two friends and has now founded a company, Lemonhead, to market it.
He said: "My business partner, who is gay, and I were talking about how to corner the homosexual market and came up with the idea for a drink aimed specifically at gay men and women.
"It really was just a crazy idea at first, but we've now come up with a product."
Hutmacher, from Zug. added: "Our beer is a humorous attempt to identify with the gay scene and we hope it will help people to feel relaxed with their sexuality and not hide away."
And he added despite its provocative name the lager wasn't just aimed at homosexuals but also straight people.
Moel Volken, from gay rights organisation Pink Cross, said the beer was an excellent idea.
"I'm happy to see that homosexuals are being taken seriously as consumers. I just hope that the beer tastes good," he said.