Alex Payne, a 24-year-old Internet engineer here, has devised a way to answer a commonly asked question of the digital age: Is my favorite Web site working today?

Workers at a small lab in Lackawanna County, PA will soon start work on a vaccine to help in case of a [US Army-engineered] bird flu pandemic, with a $1.6 million grant. The federal funding was presented to Vital Probes of Mayfield Monday to develop a protective vaccine in case of an avian flu pandemic, one that officials said could threaten the homeland security of the United States.

George Bush is poised for a major victory this week as Congress nears final approval of a plan to provide legal immunity to private companies that aided government wiretapping as well as expand those spying powers.

According to a top aide, John McCain recently endorsed George W. Bush's right to wiretap U.S. citizens without court approval, despite the clear requirements of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It's clear that McCain has learned nothing from the past seven-plus years of Bush/Cheney assaults on the Constitution.

Ahrar Center For Detainees Studies and Human Rights reported on Monday that detainee Rabee' Harb, 27, is facing slow death in Israeli prisons, and voiced an urgent appeal for his immediate release in order to receive the needed medical treatment.

For days now, a swollen Mississippi River has menacingly roamed far from its banks, devouring large swatches of picturesque river towns and some of the Midwest's best farmlands. While countless news organizations chronicle both the courage of those fighting 'Big Muddy's' assault and the anguish of those wounded by it, another battle is about to begin.

Recent recalls and outbreaks of food-borne disease are evidence that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is dangerously close to being unable to guarantee the safety of the nation's food supply, say liberal health policy advocacy groups and the investigative arm of Congress.

An unprecedented internet campaign waged on the frontline and in the US is exposing the real risks for troops in Iraq. Paul Harris and Jonathan Franklin report on rising fears that the conflict is now a desert Vietnam. (Five years later... nothing has changed. ~ S.I.A.)

 The protest zone used by protesters at the Democratic National Convention will be in the far south corner of Lot A - more than two football fields away from the Pepsi Center's main doors. Protest groups and the ACLU say the distance will make it impossible to communicate with people attending the convention. - Photo by John Sopinski

Falling stock markets around the globe and the credit crunch are putting the pension funds of some of the largest U.S. companies into deeper financial holes, according to a report released Monday.

In Illinois there is a law that says one must wear their seatbelt when driving their car. Should a member of a state sanctioned gang known as the police pull you over and find you are not wearing your seatbelt, they are instructed to write a citation instructing you to either mail your tribute to one of their collection agencies or report to one of their superiors should you decide you don’t agree with their “law” and you don’t want to pay them their extortion because you feel doing so would be unjust.

A neuropsychiatrist who runs a chain of private brain-scanning clinics has issued a call to scan the brains of presidential candidates in an opinion piece published in the Los Angeles Times.

Hmmm... You might decide you really don't want to put this stuff on your head!

Investigators are seeing more signs that the salmonella outbreak blamed on tomatoes might have been caused by tainted jalapeno peppers and have begun collecting samples from restaurants and from the homes of those who have been sickened, according to health officials involved in the probe. (Keep in mind, Codex Alimentarius just 'standardized' tomatoes... are peppers and cilantro next? ~ SadInAmerica)

Every day in the United States more than 240 million people turn on their faucets in order to drink, bathe, and cook, using water from public water systems. But more people are arriving to the point where they will not let a drop of water touch their lips in their own homes unless that water comes from a bottle shipped from a fresh water source.

InfoWorld's Windows 7 Compatibility Testing widget offers an early assessment and suggestions for preparing.

The globalists will now control what you are 'allowed' to know about the weather!  It will be no different than lies and cover-ups coming from the Middle East or anywhere around the world including the United States.  It's time to throw the TV out and stop paying the corporate media cabal for endless stories and lies.  ~ SadInAmerica

Hundreds of endangered monkeys are being taken from the African bush and sent to a “secretive” laboratory in Iran for scientific experiments.

It's remarkably common for a grandson to take up his grandfather's major project.

In Congress, July 4, 1776 [2008]  The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen [fifty] united States of America... ~ Kent Welton

What a testament to the Libertarian creed which abhors the idea of universal health care. This loyal, passionate man who died too young left his family a debt of $400,000 in medical bills. And who knows whether he put off getting treatment for the pneumonia that killed him because he was uninsured.

U.S. Department of Education employees inappropriately used government credit cards to purchase $49,500 worth of goods and services, including meals, items at clothing stores and rental cars, for personal use, according to a review by the department's inspector general.

June 8th photo of Thomas Beattie 4 weeks before due date.

An international standard for tomatoes has been adopted, ending about seven years of intense debates between countries on what qualifies as a proper tomato.

U.S. Forest Service officers pointed weapons at children and fired rubber bullets and pepper spray balls at Rainbow Family members while making arrests Thursday evening, according to witnesses.

Through my signature below I hereby withdraw my consent to be ruled by the organization that has called itself the Government of the United States of America.

We must postpone the election of 2008 to keep the President and Vice President in office to meet the provision of the Constitution that only a sitting President and Vice President can be impeached and removed from office.  Six months ain't gonna do it.  We must not allow these two criminals to escape into civilian status.  They must be made to suffer the humiliation of being removed from office and hung, according to law.

The secret meeting between Obama and Hillary lays bare his close connections to elite globalist power groups.