February 23, 2005

FBI Warns Beware Of Fake "FBI" E-mails WCPO - If you get an unexpected e-mail from the FBI, first of all don't worry -- and secondly, don't open the attachment. That advice comes from the real FBI -- or Federal Bureau of Investigation 11:17:16 PM

Toothpaste that fixes cavities Telegraph.co.uk -A toothpaste has been developed that can rapidly and seamlessly fix little cavities without need for drilling. 11:15:24 PM

Churchill Admits He's Not Native American starbulletin.com - Ward Churchill, the outspoken Colorado professor who created a national uproar by comparing 9/11 victims to Nazis, told an overflow crowd at the University of Hawaii last night that he is the target of a right-wing strategy to attack academia. "I was targeted because they thought I would be an easy target," Churchill told the crowd of about 800. "That was a mistake. Churchill did address the issue of his ethnicity, admitting that he is not Native American. "Is he an Indian? Do we really care?" he said, quoting those he called his "white Republican" critics. "Let's cut to the chase; I am not," he said. UPDATE: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin has printed a retraction to their report that Ward Churchill admitted he was not a native American 2:52:46 PM

"Something is Changing". "The whole Mideast is changing," observed the anchorman for France 2's evening news Monday night. That's such a commonplace observation at this point that it wasn't a story; the assertion was a mere transition from one remarkable Mideast story to another. Of course, the major Mideast story this week was the massive demonstration in Beirut by hundreds of thousands of Lebanese demanding that Syria's puppet government resign, and that Damascus withdraw its troops and intelligence operatives. Walid Jumblatt, the man at the center of this Lebanon's intifada has some ideas about Mideast change, too. "[T]his process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," Jumblatt tells the WaPo's David Ignatius. "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world." Writes Ignatius, "Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. 'The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it.'" [Hit and Run] 9:14:06 AM

China Daily Man in Court over Plot to Assassinate Bush Scotsman, UK -Family and friends who packed a Virginia courtroom to support Ahmed Omar Abu Ali laughed out loud when prosecutors alleged that he had plotted to assassinate President Bush. "Three words describe him: calm, quiet peaceful," said Jamal Abdulmoty, who knows the Abu Ali family. "He was very wise, very mature for his age. We cannot imagine" that he would be involved in an assassination plot. His father, Omar Abu Ali, said Ahmed was born in Houston and raised in northern Virginia, just a few miles from the nation’s capital. He attended the Islamic Saudi Academy and graduated as class valedictorian. The private school’s teachings have come under scrutiny since the September 11 attacks. Federal court documents in a case against another academy graduate suspected of terrorism indicate that student discussions following September 11 took an anti-American bent and that some students considered the attacks legitimate “payback” for American mistreatment of the Muslim world. Last year, the school also faced criticism for using textbooks that taught first-graders that Judaism and Christianity are false religions. Read this to find out more about the "Islamic Saudi Academy." 8:47:22 AM