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**To get a copy of the book, go to:

Mystery By Aliya Leigh

Paper Back= $14.00

Download = $7.00

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Mystery By Aliya Leigh (E-Book)

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Mystery

By Aliya Leigh

Pain

“Mystery!” I called, but there was no answer.

I jumped up from the bed and saw the pieces of paper on the floor.

“No! No!” I yelled, and then I realized it wasn’t a dream. Mystery was really gone.

“I should just go home,” I said.

I walked into the bathroom and took a shower. I stared at myself in the mirror and saw a defeated man, a man who had lost his true love. I closed my eyes and opened them again. I was hoping that the man would disappear, but he returned.

“There is no hope for me,” I told the man in the mirror, he nodded back.

I put my clothes on, grabbed my bag, and opened the hotel room door. I looked at the room behind me and thought about and how we spent the night together. I felt a tear slowly falling from my eye. The tear ran down my cheek, but I didn’t stop it. I looked ahead and tried to step out of the room, but I couldn’t move. It was as if someone had glued my shoes to the floor. My body was unmovable although I was determined to leave the room. I leaned my body forward to walk into the hallway, but my legs wouldn’t follow. I thought about it and then the letter.

“Mystery said that she put something under her pillow,” I voiced aloud.

I turned my body to face the room; strangely my body was able to do that. I walked back into the room and my body was loose. I felt like I put oil on my stiff bones. I walked over to Mystery’s side of the bed and lifted up her pillow. To my surprise, there was an envelope, which was sealed, and the money I won from the casino. I shook my head and said in a whisper, “Forgive me, Mystery. I thought you were a thief.”

I scanned the room once more and it brought back painful memories so I closed the door and walked away. When I arrived down to the lobby I walked over to the girl at the front desk. It was the girl who gave me the letter.

I took out the money and envelope from my back jean pocket and paid for the room in cash. I put the remaining money in my back jean pocket and left the counter. I didn’t comment on what she said. I just didn’t want to think about the hotel anymore.

“Sir, Sir,” I heard the girl say. I looked back and saw the girl at the front desk waving at me. I turned around and walked to the desk.

“What’s wrong?” I asked in a concerned voice.

“You forgot the envelope. So it was true. You’re going to give the envelope to the police, right?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said. I took the envelope off the counter and left the hotel.

I walked out into the street. I looked at the people around me looking so happy to be alive while I wanted to be dead.

I walked to my car in the garage. Getting in the car, I turned the key in the ignition, but it wouldn’t start. I tried several times to start the car but nothing happened. I banged my head on the steering wheel and hit the horn, which startled me. I felt a tear fall from my eye. This was more than I could take.

I got out of the car, kicked the front tire, and banged on the hood of the car to let out my frustrations. Looking around, I saw a building that caught my eye, the police station. I took the envelope out of my pocket and looked at it. I looked at the police station again. I remembered the words that Mystery had written on the paper.

“What the hell,” I said aloud.

I walked into the police station and saw a woman at the front desk. I put the envelope on her desk and left.

“Excuse me, sir. What is this?” the woman asked.

I turned around. “Someone told me to leave this here, so that’s what I’m doing.”

I turned around and walked out of the building to my car. I got into my car and to my surprise it started. I took a deep breath and drove home, alone, back to New York City.

**To get a copy of the book, go to:

Mystery By Aliya Leigh

Paper Back= $14.00

Download = $7.00

**Go to:

Mystery By Aliya Leigh (E-Book)

$3.73

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Obama's Kenyan Aunt Makes Second Asylum Request to Avoid Deportation

By DEVIN DWYER

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2010—

When President Obama's Kenyan aunt appears before a U.S. immigration judge in Boston today, she says she will literally be making the case for her life.

Zeituni Onyango, 56, is fighting a 2004 deportation order by seeking asylum in this country  a status granted to those who cannot return home out of fear of being persecuted.

But just what persecution Onyango claims to face and whether a judge will find her fears well-founded is uncertain. Onyango first applied for asylum in 2002 "due to violence in Kenya" but was denied and ordered to leave the country.

Instead of returning home, the woman who helped raise the president's half brothers and sister in Kenya and whom Obama affectionately referred to as "Auntie Zeituni" in his memoir, has remained illegally in Boston, living in subsidized public housing.

Now the case, which first surfaced in October 2008, just before the presidential election, is once again drawing international attention and sparking speculation about whether Obama will intervene on her behalf.

"President Obama must either deport his aunt or destroy his own credibility by showing her favoritism," said William Gheen of the conservative Americans for Legal Immigration PAC.

The White House has insisted that it has no involvement with Onyango's case, leaving it to follow an ordinary course before a federal judge who will apply the rule of law. For her part, Onyango told The Associated Press she has not been in contact with anyone from the White House or been contacted by them.

Onyango did not respond to ABC News' requests for interviews.

"She hasn't been in touch with the president. He can't help her," Mike Rogers, spokesman for Onyango's attorney Margaret Wong, told ABC News.

The Department of Homeland Security, which is part of the Obama administration, is prosecuting the case, which will be heard in a closed hearing before U.S. Immigration Court Judge Leonard Shapiro.

Shapiro is a civil service employee and not a political appointee, according to the court.

"The lawyers aren't discussing any strategy, but they feel confident," said Rogers. "Margaret Wong feels 95 percent certain that she will prevail."

Will Obama's Kenyan Aunt Get Rare U.S. Asylum?

While details of Onyango's asylum request are not being disclosed, her case was at least compelling enough to convince Shapiro in December 2008 to take the unusual step of reopening the matter and issuing a stay on her deportation.

Experts speculate that Onyango could be claiming that her relationship to Obama makes her a target of Kenya's political tribal factions fearing her perceived influence, or of Islamic extremist groups seeking to inflict harm on the U.S. president's family.

Asylum is granted by law in cases when an individual faces "persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion," according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.

"Certainly, the Kenyan government would not be interested in harming her," said D.C. immigration lawyer Andres Benach, who regularly takes asylum cases, but is not involved in this case. "So she would have to show that it would be persecution by groups that the Kenyan government is unable or unwilling to control -- maybe al Qaeda-like organizations that operate with a measure of impunity in Kenya."

Convincing a judge that Onyango would face persecution because of her familial relationship with Obama will be hard to prove, Benach said.

Most people who apply for asylum don't receive it because the burden of proof for the feared persecution is that it has at least a 10 percent chance of happening.

"Personal vendettas, random crime, conditions everybody is subjected to, do not support asylum," Benach said.

In 2008, the Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review completed 46,237 asylum cases -- 10,743 of which were granted, 13,199 were denied, and 22,295 were other closures, agency spokeswoman Lauren Alder Reid told ABC News.

Kenyans have made up a relatively small portion of asylum requests over the past 10 years. Of the 343 applications, only 60 were granted asylum.

At today's hearing, Shapiro will hear arguments and receive evidence including possible witness testimony from both sides. He will then decide whether to grant asylum or reinstate the deportation order.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A Ugandan MP accused of calling for a "gay death penalty" says he has been misrepresented and is only trying to criminalise child abusers.

David Bahati says the new offence of "aggravated homosexuality" is a penalty against "defilement" of under-18s.

"There has been a distortion in the media that we are providing death for gays. That is not true," he said.

"When a homosexual defiles a kid of less than 18 years old, we are providing a penalty for this."

(AFP) – 47 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Thursday denounced as "odious" a proposed anti-gay law in Uganda that calls for the death penalty in cases of "aggravated homosexuality."

"We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are, whether it is here in the United States or... more extremely, in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda," Obama said.

The US leader made the remarks at the annual National Prayer Breakfast, a bipartisan gathering of lawmakers and religious leaders in Washington DC.

US presidents traditionally attend the event, but it sparked controversy this year because the Christian group that is a sponsor of the meeting has been linked to Uganda's much-criticized anti-homosexual legislation.

A US ethics group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, wrote a letter to Obama and senior Democratic and Republican lawmakers asking them not to attend the breakfast.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, in town for meetings with US officials, also attended the prayer meeting with Obama and used his address to warn against intolerance.

"I want to defend the right of every person to his moral autonomy, the freedom of all to live with his beloved," he said.

Obama's comments at the meeting came a day after US lawmakers in the House of Representatives introduced legislation condemning the controversial Ugandan bill.

The symbolic US measure asserted that "all people possess an intrinsic human dignity, regardless of sexual orientation, and share fundamental human rights," and warned the Ugandan bill, if enacted, "would set a troubling precedent."

Uganda has been criticized by the United States, the European Union and NGOs over the proposed legislation, which would also criminalize public discussion of homosexuality and could penalize an individual who knowingly rents property to a homosexual.

Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, and punishable by life imprisonment in some instances.

When Joleen Baughman damaged a nerve in her pelvis two years ago in a car accident, she never imagined the outcome would leave her constantly craving sex.

But the 39-year-old mother of two now suffers from restless genital syndrome, which is also known as persistent sexual arousal syndrome, because of the damaged nerve, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Any type of movement — vacuuming, bending over or walking — can leave the New Mexico resident feeling so aroused, "it's embarrassing and it's impossible to concentrate."

Baughman also injured her spine in the accident, and she spent several months recovering at home. She was confused when she started experiencing the intense urges for sex, but she said her husband was happy about it — until he realized how difficult the condition would become for them.

Dr. Sandra Leiblum first defined persistent sexual arousal syndrome as "intense feelings of genital congestion and sensations that are typically unaccompanied by any conscious awareness of sexual desire" in an article published for the Women's Sexual Health Foundation in Cincinnati, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating women and doctors on conditions that may impact sexual health and function.

Sexual activities intended to relieve the symptoms can reinforce the sensations or provide only temporary relief, Leiblum wrote in her report.

"I was very relieved to find out my condition was not psychological," she said. "For a while I thought I was going crazy or that it was somehow my fault. I think a lot of people go through those thoughts with this condition. Being aroused pretty much 24 hours a day is exhausting."

Statement from Human Rights Campaign on "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" U.S. Senate Hearing

2/2/2010

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, released the following statement today from HRC President Joe Solmonese:
 
“Today is a historic step forward in repealing a shameful law that has harmed the military, discharged thousands of talented and patriotic Americans and prevented thousands more from serving their country.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell has been unworkable from the start.  When the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense, who also served under President Bush, direct the military to mitigate the pace of discharges while moving toward implementation, we know that Don't Ask Don't Tell is on its way out.

Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen made clear today that this military review is about how, not if this policy will be repealed despite the protest from vocal opponents on the Armed Services Committee.  As the Secretary said in his opening statement, "The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how best we prepare for it."

We applaud Chairman Levin's suggestion that the discharges be halted while this review is underway, and we urge the President and Congress to move quickly on this important first step.

We acknowledge and appreciate President Obama's leadership in bringing the military into line with his ideal.  Make no mistake -- this would not have happened without his insistence.  And we'll need more of that commitment in the months ahead.

Today's announcement blunts the day-to-day damage of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but we call on Congress to rescind this law and give the Pentagon the full authority to close the books on this stain of discrimination.  Finally, while we respect the view of our military leaders to limit this review to the military itself, we encourage the Secretary to include outside repeal advocates as well.

We will -- as we always have -- work in partnership with the Obama Administration and our allies on the Hill as we continue to work toward full and final repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.”

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

http://aliyaleighlive.libsyn.com

An illegal immigrant who allegedly set the Brooklyn fire that killed five neighbors told cops the demons in his head led him to torch the crowded building, sources said yesterday.

"He confessed to the arson," a police source said. "He didn't indicate any rational motive."

Daniel Ignacio, 27, a Guatemalan national, was charged yesterday with murder and arson. He was ordered held without bail at his arraignment last night.

Ignacio told cops that evil spirits led him to set off the blaze early Saturday in his Bensonhurst building, filled with deeply religious tenants.

"The demons made me do it," he said, according to a police source.

Ignacio also said he was drunk at the time and that he does "stupid things" when he drinks.

'FIEND' LIVED ON VICTIMS' CHARITY

He whined to cops that he had fallen into a deep depression in recent weeks — ashamed about making a paltry $8 an hour as a day laborer and heartbroken he lived so far from his family.

Ignacio, who was deported seven years ago but managed to sneak back into the United States, tried to paint himself in a better light when he was walked from the 62nd Precinct.

"I'm not a monster!" he shouted in Spanish to reporters. "I have compassion!"

Ignacio told cops he used paint thinner to set a roll of toilet paper afire with a cigarette lighter in a baby carriage sitting in a hallway near the stairwell, police said.

After setting the blaze, he went upstairs to sleep off his drunken stupor. Flames quickly erupted near the building's front door, cutting off the building's main exit and blocking firefighters from getting upstairs.

Residents awakened to the roaring blaze, which ate through the staircase and collapsed a floor.

Five people perished, including a frantic mother who, with her husband's help, managed to get their two children out of the burning building.

Cops said that when Ignacio realized what he had done, he helped in the dramatic rescue of one of the kids, a 2-year-old boy.

Ignacio, a second-floor tenant, was inside the building as the fire spread. As smoke and flames swept through the structure, he grabbed the boy, Josias Chan, from his parents and safely handed him off to firefighters at a second-floor window. Ignacio then climbed down an FDNY ladder to safety.

Danielle Eaddy, a lawyer who represented Ignacio at the arraignment, praised his client's efforts in rescuing the child. "There are some holes in this case to say the least," she said outside court.

In the days after the fire, survivors, including the boy's widowed father, Miguel Chan, heaped praise on Ignacio.

But Ignacio quickly went from hero to hellion when surveillance video surfaced showing him leaving the 86th Street building, then returning shortly before the fire started.

Chan "feels very betrayed," said the Rev. Erick Salgado, pastor of the Jovenes Cristianos Church, where many of the tenants worship.

"The devil's always going to tell you to do so many things, but you are responsible to choose what to do and what not to do.

"I thanked [Ignacio] for saving Josias. Now I can't believe he's the one who was charged."

Chan's wife, Luisa Ordoñez, 33, died in her husband's arms. Their baby girl remains at a Queens children's hospital with a fractured skull.

Four other people, including Juan Barreno, 28, a construction worker from Guatemala, also died in the blaze.

"Anytime someone starts a fire in a stairwell, it's a deadly fire," an investigator told The Post. "It's the worst you can get. A fire [that starts in an apartment] isn't half as bad."

Cops said Ignacio has at least one prior arrest, for burglary, and was deported back to his native Guatemala in 2003. He sneaked back into the United States a short time later, officials said.

Residents said he moved in two months ago after showing up one day looking for a place to live.

Chan has retained a lawyer for a possible suit. The attorney, Ben Rubinowitz, said Chan wants to know if anyone else can be held responsible for his wife's death.

Officials from the Fire and Buildings departments are continuing to investigate if there were any other contributing factors, such as illegal subdivision, that would have made it more difficult for firefighters to navigate.

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"But, I Love You"

By Aliya Leigh

The air is cold and dark. People surround a house with cameras, lights and a news van. It is so cold, people breath turn into snowflakes when it hits the air. They are cold; however they need to be ready.

A woman is outside in the spotlight. She is freezing with her wool coat, knitted scarf, and gloves on, with a microphone in her hand. She is ready. She already talked to the police officers who are on the case. She knows the officers are telling her the truth about the case, but she cannot believe. The case is too bizarre.

The reporter stares at the house as if the house did belong there. The house is a normal two-story English Colonial house, with a porch, windows, a front, and front steps. It looks like all the other houses in the neighbor, but it is still out of place. The reporter continues to stare at the house as if the house is calling her name.

“Shari. Shari. Shari,” a cameraman says as he tries to get the reporter’s attention.

The cameraman, who is trying to get the reporter attention, walks over to her and taps her on the shoulder. She jumps and looks at him.

“You scared me,” Shari says in a fright.

“Are you ready to make you mark?” The cameraman asks with his green eyes staring at her.

He beings to stare at the house and shakes his head. He has pain and sorrow emotions on his face, but he snaps out of the trance.

Shari looks at him and asks, “Do I have a choice, Carlos?”

“You are here. We are freezing. I think you need to do it,” the Carlos says with his teeth chattering.

Carlos walks back to his camera and Shari looks at the house for one last time, then she looks into the camera to make her mark in the world of weird journalism.

“We are here at Mr. Zachary Rickman brother’s house. Zachary Rickman killed his brother and his brother's girlfriend with a craving knife over the Thanksgiving holiday. The shock here is, he kept the two dead bodies in this house for three weeks,” Shari says in a professional shock look painted on her face.

“As we can see, the police are taking Mr. Rickman out of the house with handcuffs. This is the weirdest event I ever reported. The police said the woman’s body was…”

Two police officers take Zachary to the police car. Zachary enters into the backseat of the car; willingly without a fight. In the car, he starts to cry and says, “I loved her; I loved her, so why did I kill her?”

When the police officers and Zachary arrives at the station, there are two detectives and an appointed lawyer waiting for him in the interrogation room. When Zachary walks into the station the mood is silent, a person can hear a pin drop on the clement floor. People stop and scare at him as if he is a strange monster from a strange planet. Eyes are following his every move and jester, but the man on display keeps his head down with his tears dropping to the floor. The police officers bring him into the room and orders Zachary to sit down in the chair. He obeys like a little child after a scolding. He sits next to the lawyer and faces the two detectives. The room feels cold without emotion and the man on display lets one of the police officers take off his handcuffs. The man on display looks up at the detectives with his red weary watery eyes that tell a sad story.

“Your name is Zachary Rickman, am I right?” One of the detectives asks the man on display as if he is not capable of understanding English.

“That son of a gun; almost hang himself,” the lawyer says with chuckle.

“If he was going to hang himself, why can he just do it right? Is he that stupid? Does not he know a belt can’t support his weight? He must be insane! I am going to put him in the slammer now,” the detective says.

The detective calls some officers to pick Zachary off the floor and to put him in a cell by himself. The officers did, and Zachary starts to cry and mumble, “I loved her; I loved her”, repeatedly, until he falls asleep.

Aliya Leigh
 to John
   
show details 10:18 PM (1 hour ago)
   
I am disappointed in you.  You need to learn from your daughter and wife.  I could not vote for you now.
- Show quoted text -

On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 10:03 PM, John McCain <john@johnmccain.com> wrote:

    Special video message
    from John McCain.

    Listen to his thoughts on
    the State of the Union.

    Watch the video
    My Friend,

    Tonight, during his State of the Union speech, President Obama laid out his vision for our nation's future. As you know, the President and I have differing views on the direction we should take the country, and I stand by my conservative values of reduced spending, low taxes, and a strong national defense.

    I took a few moments to record a special message for you on the issues facing America and I hope you'll take a moment to watch the video by following this link.

    During his first year in office, President Obama and Congressional Democrats have amassed a $12.4 trillion deficit that is growing each day. While the President advocates increased federal spending, I have actively advocated tax cuts, reduced spending and earmark reform to get our economy back on track.

    The non-discretionary spending freeze announced by the President is a start, but what he also needs to do is promise to veto bills laden with pork barrel spending and begin creating jobs for the thousands of out-of-work Americans.

    We currently face a national unemployment rate of over 10%, and it has only grown during President Obama's time in office. As we have seen, trillion-dollar, big-government stimulus packages are not the answer for creating jobs. To stimulate our economy for job growth, we need payroll tax cuts, tax incentives for small businesses and an assurance that Democrats will not raise taxes.

    As a United States Senator, I fight each and every day for these and other conservative values. I won't settle for business-as-usual, behind-closed-doors politics. I'm not afraid to stand up and speak out for the majority of Americans who are angry at the current Democratic leadership in Washington.

    But, to continue serving in this capacity, I must win reelection this year. You can help my campaign today by following this link to watch the video I've recorded for you and after, make a generous contribution of any amount to my campaign.

    The people of Massachusetts confirmed last week what we have been saying for a long time - the American people want a change in Washington and an end to big government solutions to problems like health care. I was proud to be an early supporter of Senator-elect Scott Brown's campaign. It was a landmark victory and I look forward to working with him to block government-run health care, tax increases and increased federal spending.

    I'm proud of my record and service to this country and would like nothing more than to continue serving as a voice for conservative values. Please take a moment to make a donation to my reelection campaign, so that we have the resources to continue fighting. Thank you.

    Sincerely,

    John McCain

    P.S. I've taken a few moments to record an exclusive message for my online community about the issues laid out in President Obama's State of the Union speech. You can follow this link to watch the video. After watching, I ask that you make a donation of $25, $50, $100, $250 or more to my reelection campaign so that I may continue serving as a voice for conservative values. Thank you.

    Watch the video


    Please visit this page if you want to remove yourself from the email list.

    Paid for by Friends of John McCain
    www.JohnMcCain.com


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Aliya Leigh
 to John
   
show details 10:20 PM (1 hour ago)
   
I am a lesbian and a supporter of your campaign for the Presidency.  I love the GOP. My blood bleed Red, like it suppose to be.

Strokes

Cops in Santaquin, outside Salt Lake City, would not comment on the arrest, but Utah County jail records indicate that Coleman, 41, was being held in lieu of $1,725 bail for the 2009 warrant.

Coleman, who was arrested in 2008 for allegedly hitting a man with his pickup truck at a Utah bowling alley, did not return calls for comment.

The arrest is the latest blow for 1970s child star.

Coleman's relationship with his wife, actress Shannon Price, has been rocky over the years, although the alleged victim in the current case is not known.

In July, Price, who met Coleman on the set of the 2006 comedy "Church Ball," was nabbed for locking him out during a fight and trashing the house.

In July 2007, Coleman allegedly unleashed a verbal tirade at Price in a parking lot, leading to a disorderly-conduct charge.

The pair appeared on the TV show "Divorce Court" the next year, but later reconciled.

The father, Daniel Kerrigan, died from a massive heart attack, his wife tells the Herald.

Mark Kerrigan, 45, now faces one count of assault and battery on a person over 60, according to Woburn District Court Clerk John Teeven.

The criminal complaint lists Daniel Kerrigan of Stoneham as the assault victim, Teeven added. Mark Kerrigan is expected to be arraigned today in the Woburn court.

Nancy Kerriganâs mother, Brenda Kerrigan , told the Herald this morning her husband died of a massive heart attack.

âMy husband had a massive heart attack,â Brenda Kerrigan said. âThis is a very difficult time for me.â

A five-page police report of the alleged assault at the Kerrigan Cedar Avenue home in Stoneham states both father and son were yelling and pushing âback and forthâ until the elder Kerrigan fell over.

The police report states Brenda Kerrigan told police the two men were battling until her husband fell. Police also report Mark Kerrigan put his âhands around his fatherâs neckâ and he said he thought his dad was âfaking itâ when he fell to the floor.

Mark Kerrigan had to be subdued with pepper spray, the police report states. He also appeared intoxicated, the report adds.

Police also report spotting blood on the kitchen floor and the elder Kerrigan was found on the floor in the basement. It is not clear why the two men were arguing over the use of the telephone.

Middlesex County District Attorney Gerry Leone and Stoneham Police Chief Richard Bongiorno said yesterday they were probing the death of a man who was found unresponsive at a Cedar Avenue home in Stoneham. The man, who was found unresponsive at 1:30 a.m. yesterday, was taken to Winchester Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Leone said in a statement.

A distraught Brenda Kerrigan said earlier today there is nothing suspicious about her husbandâs death.

âMy God. He had a heart attack,â she said. âThatâs what it was.â

She was contacted before news broke of the charges filed against her son.

Vice President Biden's son Beau announced Monday that he will not run for his father's old Senate seat, leaving the Republican in the race without a Democratic opponent. 

Vice President Biden's son Beau announced Monday that he will not run for his father's old Senate seat, leaving the Republican in the race without a Democratic opponent. 

In a written statement, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden said he had given "serious consideration" to running for Senate but ultimately decided to run for re-election as attorney general. 

"My first responsibilities are here in Delaware," he said. "Therefore I cannot and will not run for the United States Senate in 2010." 

His decision only adds to Democrats' problems in defending their Senate majority. Democrats on Tuesday lost the Massachusetts special election for the seat once held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. 

In Delaware, Biden's pass leaves GOP Rep. Mike Castle, a former governor, in the race without Democratic opposition. 

The announcement puts to rest mounting speculation about Biden's position. 

Harry F. Themal, who's written a column for the Wilmington, Del., News Journal for 20 years, wrote in his Sunday column that the vice president went so far as to urge him to convince his son to run for Senate. 

Biden's office denied the report, turning over a transcript to Politico.com that showed Biden was actually trying to solicit Themal to urge placeholder Sen. Ted Kaufman to run should Beau decide not to. The conversation still reflected an expectation that Biden's son would opt out of the race. 

Kaufman is not expected to run for election. 

Friday , January 22, 2010

On first glance, it could be the ultimate Valentine's Day card -- a gigantic billboard that towers over New York's Times Square, featuring a happy couple with the text: "You are my soulmate forever, Charles & YaVaughnie."

But as every scorned lover knows, looks can be deceiving. This billboard -- which also has gone up in Atlanta and San Francisco -- is the ultimate act of revenge -- a very public retaliation by a dumped mistress aimed at a very wealthy, and married, businessman who is an adviser to President Obama.

YaVaughnie Wilkins posted the signs after she learned that her lover, Charles E. Phillips â president and director of the tech conglomerate Oracle Corporation and a member of Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board â had reconciled with his wife, the New York Post reported.

The billboards -- there are three in New York and one apiece in Atlanta and San Francisco, where Phillips lives -- may have cost Wilkins up to $250,000, at an estimated $50,000 each.

After the billboards surfaced, Phillips fessed up to his longtime affair through a spokesman on Thursday.

"I had an 8-and-a-half-year serious relationship with YaVaughnie Wilkins. The relationship with Ms. Wilkins has since ended, and we both wish each other well," he said.

The billboards also feature a URL of the Web site www.charlesphillipsandyavaughniewilkins.com, which features photos of Phillips' and Wilkins' lengthy relationship.

In an Oracle newsletter from 2006, Phillips was described as an ex-marine and "family man" who has a wife and 10-year-old son, Chas, the New York Times reported.

Click here to read more from the New York Post.

Sen. McCain's office issued a statement affirming his own stance on gay marriage without addressing the ad campaign directly.

"Senator McCain respects the views of members of his family," spokesperson Brooke Buchanan said. "The senator chaired the effort to successfully pass Arizona Proposition 102, the Marriage Protection Amendment, and his opposition to gay marriage remains the same. Senator McCain believes the sanctity of marriage is only defined as between one man and one woman."

Click for more on the McCains' involvement with the issue.

A bearded, hooded Woods was photographed at the Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Servicesâ facility called Gentle Path in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

According to The National Enquirer, Woods is undergoing a six-week intensive treatment under the supervision of Dr. Patrick Carnes, an expert on sex addiction.

SLIDESHOW: Fox411 Tiger Ticker, The Latest Woods News

Woods reportedly entered the facility in late December as part of a bid to save his fiive-year marriage to former bikini model Elin Nordegren. According to the Enquirer, Nordegren demanded Woods enter treatment, or she would divorce him.

The embattled golfer lost several sponsorship deals, including lucrative deals with Gatorade and Accenture, after he was romantically linked to as many as 14 different women, including pancake waitresses, porn stars and club hostesses.

SLIDESHOW: The Women Linked to Tiger Woods

Nordegren, who has since been photographed several times without her wedding ring, moved out of the coupleâs home in Florida, but has not filed for divorce.

According to the New York Post, Nordegren will have to spend a week with Woods at Gentle Path, which will include âdisclosure day,â where he will have to confess all of his infidelities to her in graphic detail.

SLIDESHOW: Elin Nordegren Moving On

But while Nordegren has been all smiles in recent photographs, sources tell RadarOnline.com that Tiger is âtotally devastatedâ and wants to use his time in rehab to show the world he is trying to change.

Woods is planning to return to golf in the spring and hopes his time in rehab will vindicate his name to sponsors, the web site reports.

Article printed from Entertainment: http://entertainment.blogs.foxnews.com

URL to article: http://entertainment.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/01/21/tiger-woods-photgraphed-at-sex-rehab-facility/

Cindy McCain's position stands in contrast to Sen. John McCain's, who opposes gay marriage.

Over the past year, dozens of celebrities from Kristin Cavallari to Steve-O to Kim Zolciak have posed for the "NOH8" photo campaign in an effort to overturn Proposition 8 and legalize same sex marriage in California.

The latest high-profile figure to take part in the initiative is a little more surprising: Sen. John McCain's wife, Cindy.

"I couldn't be more proud of my mother for posing for the NOH8 campaign," daughter Meghan McCain tweeted on Wednesday morning. "I think more Republicans need to start taking a stand for and civil rights in this country and set the example that this is not a partisan issue."

SLIDESHOW: The McCain Women and More Celebs in the NOH8 Campaign.

Cindy McCain's position stands in contrast to her husband's, the former GOP presidential nominee, who opposes gay marriage.

Sen. McCain's office issued a statement Wednesday evening affirming his own stance on gay marriage without addressing the ad campaign directly.

âSenator McCain respects the views of members of his family. The Senator strongly supported the effort to successfully pass Arizona Proposition 102, the Marriage Protection Amendment, and his opposition to gay marriage remains the same. Senator McCain believes the sanctity of marriage is only defined as between one man and one woman.â

The photo shoot took place in the desert outside of Los Angeles last week, Pop Tarts has learned. Cindy McCain's desire to participate took photographer Adam Bouska by surprise.

"I was shooting the cover for Meghan's tell-all political book that she's writing, and her mother just came along for support, and suddenly asked if it was okay if she lent her face for the cause," Bouska told Pop Tarts. "We were definitely surprised. We always knew where Meghan stood on the issue (she was one of the first to pose and show her support in June last year), but we weren't sure about Cindy. She said it shouldn't matter what political party you are part of, that shouldn't be the issue that divides you."

Bouska also said the response he has received since releasing Cindy's photo has been overwhelming.

"Many people feel that she is taking a more progressive stance on gay marriage than Obama," he added. "I hope this will help people see that it is okay to be gay and a Republican. There are so many bigger issues like war and health care we have to worry about; we shouldn't have to be wasting time on this. It is basic human rights."

Meanwhile Meghan McCain is slated to be the keynote speaker during February's National Equality Week at George Washington University; although there was a misunderstanding as to whether or not she was still invited to attend given her opinion on the issue of gay marriage. 

The GW College Republicans withdrew their co-sponsorship of the event after learning that she would be talking about Marriage Equality Week, not "what it means to be a Republican," as they originally were told.

McCain thought this meant her speaking engagement had been canceled, but later tweeted that "until further notice" she was still scheduled to speak at the university.

"The event is still occurring,"  Rob Noel, Communications Director at GW Republicans, told Pop Tarts. "[But] the GW College Republicans will not be co-sponsoring Meghan McCain's visit to GW to deliver the keynote address during Marriage Equality Week. Ms. McCain's views on marriage equality align with neither the Republican Party nor her father's personal stance. Though we fully supported John McCain's candidacy for President, we feel that Meghan McCain's last name is not near as important as the message she advocates."

Twenty years after he came out, Patrick Muirhead, 41, explains why he is suddenly feeling the appeal of the opposite sex

A minor incident in a barberâs shop last week has helped me to realise that I may no longer be gay. Not a fully fledged homo, anyway; perhaps not even a part-timer who helps the team out when itâs busy. It appears I may be going straight.

I was in Tenterden, the Kentish village where I was brought up and to which I have lately returned, working at a nearby aerodrome as a helicopter pilot. I was waiting my turn for a chatty Latvian to apply the hot towels and razor.

A handsome young dad entered with a small, fair-haired boy at his side. The man took a seat and hoisted the wide-eyed child proudly on to his knee. The first haircut, I speculated inwardly, as an unfamiliar fatherly glow and feeling of mild envy swept over me. I could not tear my attention away from the mirrored reflections.

From time to time, the dad leant forward as they waited and whispered close to his sonâs ear, tenderly kissing his fair head. Touching stuff.

But then my eyes lowered and I became transfixed by the sight of the boyâs tiny pink fingers gripping his fatherâs huge, workman-like fist. And I almost wanted to burst into song.

I think my life changed at that moment.

Thatâs love, folks. Simple really. A proud dad, an adored little boy and a beautiful display of dependence and responsibility. It was the epiphany I had needed and I emerged with a dashing new haircut and a desire to procreate.

Gays have children these days, of course they do, and not always to accessorise an outfit. Some gay couples adopt; others follow twisting paths to biological parenthood, often quite expensively, with the involvement of test tubes and cash changing hands. It is, really, a sort of snook to the system of nature. Shooting for the net without the chore of running with the ball. Itâs just not for me.

And lately I have, almost imperceptibly, been laying the groundwork to make parenthood happen in the old-fashioned way. I have been flirting with someone at my local pub, thinking about her at odd times, making excuses to call her and wondering if she likes me. Itâs rather strange.

This will come as a shock to â among others â my male former partner of ten years, gay pals from my former media career, my rabidly heterosexual chums in the aviation industry and, not least, my family (who rather hoped I was going through a phase â albeit for about 20 years). Well, itâs come as a shock to me, too.

I once attended the nuptials of a gay male friend to a girl with whom he had unexpectedly fallen head over heels in love. It was a curious affair: the wedding party was peopled with his ex-lovers â including me, the best man and even the vicar. There is a risk that a wedding guest list of mine could have the same casting issues.

My sexuality was formed behind bike sheds and in school dormitories, a most unimaginatively clichÃd pattern of pubescent fumbling. This propelled me into a lifestyle, reinforced by a social milieu of flamboyant media gays. At the BBC, where I worked for seven years, homosexuality was very nearly compulsory.

At these tidings, my sceptical buddies will splutter, âYou what?! Miss Patsy, trouser-chaser extraordinaire, has decided sheâs now dancing at the other end of the ballroom? Pur-leeeeeeeze!â They have seen little evidence of an interest in the opposite sex during my adult life, nor asked why. And thatâs the clincher.

If there had been an interest, it became eclipsed by other more instant, carnal and deliciously taboo temptations, so it never gained light to grow. For 20 years, my life took a track that stifled the fragile stems of a family man that wanted to emerge.

So I will have to face down a tidal wave of doubt as Iâm coming out in public. People will look at me strangely now â though I doubt theyâll mutter, âWell, of course, we always wondered. After all, he is interested in real ale and piston engines.â

For it is true: I quite like girls. But there is no pink meteor shower for this announcement; no glittered cabaret or niche community willing to clutch me to its bosom and claim me as a sister. Just a little whiff of suspicion.

Some will dismiss it as heresy. I have long argued that homosexuality is natural but abnormal, to a torrent of hostility from gay friends who refuse to acknowledge that what you are and what stake you hold in society are not the same.

Loving your own sex occurs in nature, without artificial triggers. But it is still not average behaviour. Homosexuality is an aberration; a natural aberration. Gays are a minority and minorities, though sometimes vocal, do not hold sway.

A 12th-century chronicler, quoted by the historian Christopher Hibbert in his History of England, wrote of the homosexual king William Rufus: âAll things that are loathsome to God and to earnest men were customary in this land in his time.â In modern times, we have become accustomed to abnormality again.

But two decades of cavorting with my own sex has delivered little that is memorable, except one super-sized sexless friendship with the aforementioned ex-boyf, with whom I spent a decade of my life; numerous hours of internet dating; a dizzying number of casual couplings and a few trips to genitourinary medicine clinics.

I will spare you tales of exploits in the gloaming world of fast gay encounters. You would simply not believe what I have seen and done. You would not want to know.

I can however disclose that I was once pursued in a subterranean gay haunt by the homosexual rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. Scantily clad, he was quite resistible. Like Oscar Wilde, I have âfeasted with panthersâ. And survived.

In novels such as E. M. Forsterâs Maurice, a seminal work of gay literature, the message was tolerance. It was never a charter for parity. Civil partnerships really are little more than theatrical shams involving men making a point in matching wedding cravats, of embarrassed grandparents and monstrously camp multi-tier cakes.

I wince when gays describe boyfriends as âhusbandsâ, subverting a solemn institution created to provide stability for child-rearing. Besides, it seems highly perverse that gays should fight for freedom from the bonds of heterosexual morality and then set to copying their oppressors by creating similar contracts of their own.

I was never convinced of my sexuality. True, I never liked football or fighting and I do make a beautifully light Victoria sponge when the need arises. But I shamble like a bloke, I burp and fart without shame and Iâve never really got Barbra Streisand. There was a little voice, lost long ago in the drowning din of my homosexuality, that still called quietly; the smothered, smaller voice of a boy who liked girls.

And then, two summers ago, I met Olga. She was a knockout-looking Ukrainian, washed ashore as a waitress in a breakfast bar in Ocean City, Maryland, on the East Coast of America. I was working locally as a pilot. A group of aviators slouched in each morning for coffee, eggs and grits. She took a particular interest in my chopper.

We began an e-mail exchange and she would send me numerous pictures of the industrial city of Cherkassy, her hometown, where people who swim in its river find that they glow at night. I liked Olga. She was pretty. Nothing happened, though â I wanted more than a passport-hunter and children whose presence would send Geiger counters into a frenzy.

Pilots have a habit of attracting female attention, as the numerous airline captain/stewardess couplings attest. The phenomenon even has a name: pilotitis. So, when I became a helicopter instructor, I was ready for dilated pupils and blushes when I took female students skywards. OK, I must admit, I am still waiting . . .

But for the first time in my life, Iâve been getting to know girls. Itâs been a blast. As a teacher, I find them naturally adept at flying helicopters. They listen and they are good at multi-tasking. They are fun to be around and sometimes theyâre pretty.

I had a girlfriend once, 24 years ago, when I was in my late teens. It really wasnât a great success, as the two decades of uninterrupted homosexuality that followed it possibly demonstrate. We lived together briefly and âdid itâ. But she wore striped pyjamas and it was confusing. What Iâm saying is, Iâm ready for another go. No pyjamas, though, this time.

I want a wife to love and a child to protect. And I want to look at them both and know that they are mine and I am needed by both and I can be like the workmanâs fist, clutched tightly by the little pink fingers in the barber shop. The rock of the family.

Does this mean that I no longer like men? No, of course not, and I wonât pretend. But in the streets and avenues of this country there must be many husbands whose interests are divided but whose choices are determined not by sexuality but emotionality.

Would I be a good husband? I hope so. Would I keep faith? Well, I would try. The same siren voices to stray call to all men, all the time. I would be no different.

The late jazz singer, art critic and gay-straight convert George Melly was the first celebrity I interviewed as a young radio reporter in my previous career who told me about his Damascene transformation. He was 30 years old, on a country bicycle ride with a group of friends, when it happened. Floridly gay, he suddenly noticed that he was staring at the girls, rather than the boys, and declared to himself, âOooh, youâre heterosexual now, dearie.â He went on to enjoy a long and happy marriage.

So anything is possible. With the right kind of understanding girl, who loves me and possesses pragmatism and patience, I can picture myself as a good husband and dad.

Next month, I will be embarking on the first step of catch-up, to acquire parenting skills by volunteering as a befriender for children in care via a local charity. After vetting, there is special training and then a two-year commitment to visit and take out a child who needs a friend and a new perspective on adults.

This may be time-consuming, thankless and possibly distressing on the one hand. On the other, I will get free entry to various local zoos and the fabulous childrenâs JCB digger driving centre near Maidstone â without looking like a weirdo.

How good will it feel to see a smile break across an unhappy childâs face? That is my goal. Surely that is the magic that only parents usually know. And one day perhaps I will see that smile on my own offspringâs face and it will be heaven-sent.

So there was symmetry in rediscovering myself last week in a barber shop in the village of my childhood, the place of my innocence, before lifeâs twisting turns. As the last line of The Great Gatsby says: âSo we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.â Sometimes, in the past, we rediscover ourselves and new paths to our futures.

Hillary Rodham Clinton blasted China and other countries that restrict Internet access to their citizens in a speech Thursday morning, citing new policy initiatives to foster freedom. 

Hillary Rodham Clinton blasted China and other countries that restrict Internet access to their citizens in a speech Thursday morning, citing new policy initiatives to foster freedom. 

In the wide-ranging address at Washington's Newseum, Clinton said that in the last year there has been what she called a "spike in threats to the free flow of information." She announced plans to make unrestricted access to the Internet a top foreign-policy priority. 

The announcement comes in the wake of accusations last week that Chinese hackers penetrated Google's computer networks. 

"We look to the Chinese government to conduct a through and transparent review" following the incident, Clinton said, arguing that countries that restrict free access to information and basic Internet freedom risk walling themselves off in the next century. She said the U.S. would address differences with China on Internet freedom "candidly and consistently."

Clinton cited Tunisia and Uzbekistan for stepping up their censorship of the Internet as well. And she said that in Vietnam, access to popular social networking sites has suddenly disappeared.

The growing role of the Internet in foreign policy became clear last year during protests in Iran after allegations of election fraud. The government tried to crack down on protesters' Internet communications, but they circumvented digital blockades to send out video and Twitter messages about violence against demonstrators.

In one new initiative, the State Department plans to offer financial support to grass-roots movements that promote Internet freedom and advance U.S. diplomatic goals. As part of this, she unveiled a competition to develop the best tools, citing an application form Microsoft that could bring digital health care to remote locations. 

Clinton also hopes to diminish the "honor" beatings and killings of women in the Middle East by family members who discover they are using social media on the Internet, such as Facebook or Twitter, said Alec Ross, a senior adviser.

The secretary of state cited plans to convene a high-level meeting on Internet freedom next month with those firms that provide network access, in another effort to foster Internet freedom.

Clinton sees Internet freedom as critical to America's longstanding promotion of democracy abroad, Mr. Ross added. She aims to shrink the proportion of the global population, now 30%, who live in countries that censor the Internet, he said.

"When we sit across the table from governments and talk about what matters to us, this is now on the table," Mr Ross said.

In her remarks, Clinton said it is clear that information technologies are transforming the world, yet it is unclear how that transformation will affect the human rights and welfare of much of the world's population.

Police said the man called Marlborough Police on Monday to say he'd paid the woman and a third party $150 to have sex with him on Sunday, but she wouldn't follow through.

Police said they're still investigating the third party.

___

Information from: New Hampshire Union Leader, http://www.unionleader.com

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Alleged burglar showers, cuts hair, fries chicken

EASTON, Pa. (AP) - An eastern Pennsylvania man was charged after he allegedly broke into a home, cut his hair and prepared fried chicken before being discovered. The man was charged with breaking into the home in Easton, about 50 miles north of Philadelphia. According to court documents, the homeowner returned home Sunday to discover him watching TV and cooking chicken.

Authorities said the man threw a rock through a front door window to get inside and appeared to have rummaged through every room in the house. He also took a shower.

The man faces burglary, criminal trespass and other charges and was being held on $15,000 bail.

-------------

 Police: Angry man kidnaps snowball-tossing teen ANSONIA, Conn. (AP) - Police said a prank turned potentially dangerous when a man angry about a snowball hitting his car allegedly pulled a knife on a group of youths and kidnapped one of them. No one was injured. Joshua Good, 25, was to be arraigned Monday in Superior Court on charges including first-degree kidnapping, threatening and reckless endangerment. The kidnapping charge carries 10 to 25 years in prison.Police said a group of youths was throwing snowballs near Colony Park Friday night when Good's car was hit. Police say Good threatened the youths with a knife and forced a 13-year-old boy into his car.Authorities say Good drove the boy home and didn't hurt him.Good posted $150,000 bail. He didn't immediately return a phone message Wednesday.___Information from: New Haven Register, http://www.nhregister.com

ANSONIA, Conn. (AP) - Police said a prank turned potentially dangerous when a man angry about a snowball hitting his car allegedly pulled a knife on a group of youths and kidnapped one of them. No one was injured. Joshua Good, 25, was to be arraigned Monday in Superior Court on charges including first-degree kidnapping, threatening and reckless endangerment. The kidnapping charge carries 10 to 25 years in prison.

Police said a group of youths was throwing snowballs near Colony Park Friday night when Good's car was hit. Police say Good threatened the youths with a knife and forced a 13-year-old boy into his car.

Authorities say Good drove the boy home and didn't hurt him.

Good posted $150,000 bail. He didn't immediately return a phone message Wednesday.

___

Information from: New Haven Register, http://www.nhregister.com

DALLAS (AP) - Here are the seven secrets to a long life: Stay away from cigarettes. Keep a slender physique. Get some exercise. Eat a healthy diet and keep your cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar in check.

Research shows that most 50-year-olds who do that can live another 40 years free of stroke and heart disease, two of the most common killers, says Dr. Clyde Yancy, president of the American Heart Association. The heart association published the advice online Wednesday in the journal Circulation.

The group also is introducing an online quiz to help people gauge how close they are to the ideal. If you fall a bit short, it offers tips for improving.

"These seven factors- if you can keep them ideal or control them- end up being the fountain of youth for your heart," said Dr. Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, a cardiologist who was lead author of the statement. "You live longer, you live healthier longer, you have much better quality of life in older age, require less medication, less medical care."

Specifically, those with ideal cardiovascular health can answer yes to the following seven questions:

_ Never smoked or quit more than one year ago.

_ Body mass index less than 25.

_ Get at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week.

_ Meet at least four of these dietary recommendations: 4 1/2 cups of fruit and vegetables a day; two or more 3.5-ounce servings a week of fish; drink no more than 36 ounces of sugar-sweetened beverages a week; three or more 1-ounce servings of fiber-rich whole grains a day; less than 1,500 milligrams a day of salt.

_ Total cholesterol of less than 200.

_ Blood pressure below 120/80.

_ Fasting blood glucose less than 100.

The online quiz calculates a score based on the answers, 10 being the ideal.

Doctors say the quiz is a good way for people to get a handle on how they're doing, especially since people often think they're doing better than they actually are.

The heart association found just that in a recent survey that showed 39 percent of Americans thought they had ideal heart health, yet 54 percent of those had been told they had either a heart disease risk factor or needed to make a lifestyle change to improve heart health, or both.

With America's obesity epidemic, weight especially is a pitfall for patients trying to meet these seven health factors, doctors say.

"Many people are surprised to find out how overweight they may be," said Dr. Randal Thomas, director of the cardiovascular health clinic at the Mayo Clinic.

Lloyd-Jones, also chair of the preventive medicine department at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, said, "People I think are far too accepting of their waistlines."

Thomas praises the online tool for giving people a score so they'll have something to work toward. It offers advice for problem areas: for instance, advising someone who's over weight to set a goal of losing a pound a week by burning up to 3,500 more calories than are taken in.

Yancy, the heart association president and medical director of the Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute in Dallas, said the organization has a goal for 2020 of improving cardiovascular health of Americans by 20 percent while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent.

He said that in the last decade, there's already been a nearly 40 percent reduction in death from heart disease and a nearly 35 percent reduction in death from stroke. He said those goals were achieved with improvements in treatments and prevention.

Linda Alvarado, 54, of Houston, said she knows how hard- and important- the changes can be. After having a quadruple bypass at the age of 47, she improved her diet and exercise, losing 40 pounds. Recently though, with a new 40-minute commute, some of those diet and exercise commitments have been put aside. While she's kept the lost pounds off, she would like to lose five more pounds.

"It's really up to you," Alvarado said.

___

On the Net:

American Heart Association's My Life Check, http://www.heart.org/MyLifeCheck

(CNN) -- We are all sick at heart to witness the unfathomable suffering in Haiti. Why do bad things happen to innocent people? Why Haiti, again? Even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said recently, "It is biblical, the tragedy that continues to stalk Haiti and the Haitian people."

How we make meaning of this suffering will be crucial to how we respond, in the long term, as a global community.

My Haitian in-laws, visiting from Boston, Massachusetts, to take some comfort with us, announced that the verse of the day on their favorite Bible Web site is from Revelation 16:18. "And there were voices and thunders and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as has not been since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great."

The word "earthquake" appears sixteen times in the Bible. It was clear to them -- and many other Christians -- that the earthquake was part of God's plan. Why God ordains such disasters is a mystery that is not ours to question. It is only our job to have faith.

iReport: Looking for loves ones in Haiti

A friend who barely escaped the collapse of her house in the quake writes that people in her Port-au-Prince neighborhood are living this time as the apocalypse. They are gathering en masse, singing hymns and praying nonstop as they wait for disaster aid -- and Jesus.

For them, the meaning of their suffering is clear. How else to interpret the collapse of their entire world, earthquake, famine, death, disease and drought? They are God's children living out the last chapter of the Bible.

Fundamentalist Pat Robertson says that the earthquake is the devil's work. Haitians are cursed by a pact with Satan that their ancestors made, he says. Distorting a Haitian national myth, he is referring to a famous Afro-Creole religious service said to have sparked and launched the Haitian War of Independence in 1791. Ironically, historians tell us that such a single ceremony never happened --although surely there were many slave gatherings, and many Afro-Creole religious rituals in the region.

Haitians do not mistake African religiosity for Satanism as Robertson does, so for them the ceremony was a spiritually charged political rally. Slaves gathered to plan and inspire themselves for the outrageous feat they would succeed in performing: a slave revolution, the abolition of slavery, and by 1804, national independence.

Afro-Creole religion, known as Vodou, still underpins the philosophy of many Haitians, though by no means everyone. A spirit-priest I know reads the earthquake as an allegorical message from the spirits who infuse the land. "The land is our mother," he said. When you abuse the land -- deforest her, plant only one crop, overpopulate her, erode her soil -- she explodes, searching for a way to rebalance.

The spirit of the land had become sick with abuse. Her children -- the eldest ones, the ones in charge, the Haitian government -- had no policies, no laws to protect the land or use it wisely. The spirit-mother exploded with fever. "We know this has a scientific cause," said the spirit-priest. "But look how the government buildings caved in. This tells us something."

In the last several years there has been a saying among Haitians that "the country is finished." "Peyi-a fini," they say in Creole. It has been called a dying land, a failed state, a product of irreversible environmental degradation.

For social scientists, there is nothing metaphysical about the question "Why Haiti?" Longstanding structural reasons have produced a dysfunctional system long in crisis. Beginning as a French slave society, the nation was founded at a severe disadvantage. France demanded enormous payment for abandoned property after the revolution, starting a cycle of debt that was never broken.

Deep and abiding racism prevented the U.S. and Europe from recognizing Haiti for 60 years. Trade was never established on even terms. The military ruled the state, culminating in the brutal Duvalier dictatorship, which the U.S. supported.

No robust civil society developed -- there's no vigorous tradition of PTAs and town planning boards. A brain drain evacuated top talent from the country, while the U.S.-subsidized farm industry sent surplus crops to Haiti, undercutting local prices there. Farmers abandoned their lands, flocked to the capital, and built the shanty towns that have now collapsed into rubble, burying the innocent and vulnerable, strong and powerful alike.

The suffering Haitians are enduring is a natural disaster worsened by human-made conditions. It is a spiritual crucible. But it is also a crisis of meaning. For Christians it is to have faith, hope, and charity. For fundamentalist Protestants, it is to convert all souls, give aid, and wait for Jesus' return. For Vodouists, it is to regain balance with the land and the unseen spiritual world.

For many social scientists, it is to strengthen Haitians' capacity for self-government, to relieve the debt Haiti owes, to reforest the land, and to figure out how to divorce aid from dependence.

How we interpret the suffering of the good people of Haiti will lay the groundwork for how we walk forward.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Elizabeth McAlister.

Tiger Woods is considering a $3 million donation that would send doctors and supplies to Haiti, rap icon Russell Simmons told the Daily News.

"Tiger Woods is working on sending a mobile hospital with 50 EMTs to go set up a triage," Simmons said Wednesday night.

Simmons and representatives from Wyclef Jean's Haitian relief organization Yele have asked Woods to support the effort. Simmons spokesman has been in touch with Woods managment team and they are "excited" about the idea.

"I am waiting to have the conversation [with Tiger] tomorrow morning," Simmons' spokesman Marcus Harris said. "I am hopeful that it is a yes."

"I am just asking for his heart and his hand," he said.

"Just to meet the needs of the people."

Simmons wants celebrities and hip hop artists to join the relief effort in the wake of the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, killing untold thousands and destroying the city.

He reached out to several big names in the hip hop community to discuss producing a song for the country, he said. "Wyclef shouldn't be the only face of this," said Harris.

"If you can get a great song by a superstar it will be a cry for help. It will be an everlasting memory. A strong song will inspire."

A Haitian relief effort would be Woods first foray into public life since he took an indefinite leave of absence from golf following a massive sex scandal.

The Tiger Woods Foundation has put millions toward education and support projects for children around the world since 1996.

sgoldsmith@nydailynews.com

   The Arizona day is hot as hell.  Torrid heat fills the air, forcing steam to surge from the pavement like vapor from a boiling pot of water.  North Phoenix appears deserted as people wander into stores and public buildings attempting to evade the oppressive heat.

      A cab rolls quickly down a main street with a girl inside.  Sheâs uncomfortable and the cab driver isnât helping matters but she has no choice. She doesnât share the reasons for her apprehension with him though he inquires about her state of mind several times.

      From the moment he picks her up, he senses that something is wrong. Her presence makes the atmosphere of the vehicle dense and overwhelming.  Heâs tempted to tell her that she needs to exit the cab, yet he worries thereâs something amiss. She clearly needs help, in spite of her attempts to hide it.

      When the driver initially picks her up alongside a narrow two-lane highway in Casa Grande, she seems frightened. Unsettled, but intent on showing the cab driver exactly who was in control, she snaps at him several times during the ride from Casa Grande to North Phoenix. As the vehicle approaches Chandler, the girl manages to calm down and relax, but in North Phoenix, she again becomes tense. 

      âGirl, are you okay?â he asks again.

      âStop asking me questions. Just get me there,â she answers impatiently.

      âOkay,â he replies with a glaring look through the rearview mirror.

      He drives as fast as he can towards her destination, just as anxious to get rid of her as she is of him.  She didnât give him an address, but he instinctually knows where to go.  Nervously the girl looks out the windows to see if anyone was following them or looking at her. When the cab stops for a red light she panics. 

      âMove you jackass! Hell, I know you run red lights all the time!â she chides.

      Unable to withstand her abuse any longer the driver vows internally that she has snapped at him for the last time. 

      âListen, I am not getting a ticket because of you. Sit down and shut the hell up!â  He canât understand why she is so rude but he has had enough of her verbal abuse.

      Momentarily shocked that the cab driver talked to her in that manner, the girl clamps her lips tightly together.  She needs to get to her destination, and fast, before she had another weird headache, which wouldnât be good.

      âJust drive the car,â she manages wearily.

      âThis is my car; remember that. When I get you to your destination, then we can part ways, no charge,â he lectures.

      âOkay, fine, whatever, just shut up. Shut up, now!â she barks.  The light turns green and the girl once more peers out the car windows.

      âGo! Go now and drive faster!â she urged desperately.

      The cab driver mumbles words under his breath, loud enough for her to hear this time, making her even more agitated.

      âI donât need this,â the girl exclaims angrily.

      Suddenly, she canât breathe. Something inside her body is trying to make its way out. Putting her fingers on her temples, she rubs her head. What she is experiencing is worse than any headache, but she canât find the words to describe it. Sheâs dizzy and wants to scream but knows she needs to relax and calm down; she must at least seem normal rather than crazy. Her thoughts are so intense sheâs compelled to smack the side of her head with extreme force. It gives her a headache, but she doesnât care. She needs to banish the thoughts before they drive her insane.

      Unable to stand the cab or the driver any longer, she unlocks the car door and kicks it open while the car is still in motion. She rolls out and eventually comes to a painful halt on the scorching sidewalk. People in the stores run up to help, but she refuses. 

      âLeave me alone!  Get away from me!â she shouts.

      The pounding in her head worsens until she canât open her eyes. Thoughts swirl ridiculously; she wants to be left alone because she doesnât know these people. She canât explain the logic in her headâdoesnât make sense. She didnât know the cab driver, yet she trusted him to pick her up from a remote location and drive her over 50 miles.  Now on a city street strangers are offering to help, but she canât trust them at all.

      Frightened of the bystanders coming to her aid, the girl screams. There are absurd images in her mind as if she were in a tightly confined little room where she can only stand erect. Doors made of strong plastic sheets hold people on the outside and keep them from tearing a way into the box to reach her.  Itâs impossible to break through and she sees imprints, feeling people on the other side of the doors trying to grab her. Not knowing what they want or what they are thinking, sheâs terrorized and needs to be saved.

      A man emerging from a fast food restaurant down the street notices the commotion on the sidewalk ahead of him. Hearing the screams and recognizing the voice he drops his food and sprints over.   

      When he reaches her he takes control of the crowd of people surrounding her.

      âLeave her alone!  Step back!â he shouts at them as he shoves his way through.

      The girl looks up and struggles to see the clear image of the man in front of her. Her head is pounding and the sun is in her eyes but she recognizes his voice.

      âI know who did it. Iâll tell you everything, I promise, but you need to promise me one thing.â

      âWhat?â the man asked.

      âIâll tell you in your office.â

      âThe truth?â the man asks.

      âYes, the truth.â

      He helps her to her feet, but she starts to collapse as soon as she tries to walk.  Catching her quickly, he picks her up and carries her into the nearby police station. She knows she has cuts on her face and her arm feels broken.  Her leg is hurt but it hardly registers. Feeling deeply dehydrated the girl doesnât care if her face and body are scarred for life.

      âNathan, meet me in the interviewing room and bring four bottles of water,â the man says to another detective.

      Her rescuer carries her into a sparse room and helps her into a chair. Sheâd been there before with the same two detectives. Before today, she had been unwilling to tell them anything about herself or the game.

      âAre you okay?â the man asks.

      âI donât care about myself, just help me. I promise, this time, I will tell you the truth.â  She tries to focus on him but sounds a bit incoherent.

      Nathan enters the room with a pad of paper, pen, and some bottled water.  He studies her carefully as he unscrews the water and hands it to her. Drinking hurriedly, she finishes the entire bottle.

      âAre you okay, Emma?â Nathan asks.

      Scanning the room, the girl searches for a feel of the activity that she canât explain, not even to herself. Temporarily relieved of the inexplicable pounding headache and overwhelming feelings within, she is still deathly afraid. 

      Emma wants to tell the detectives everything about what happened to the students, but she knows they wonât believe her. Even she finds it hard to believe when she thinks about what transpired; she is a big part of its reality. Knowing the danger of relating the events, she is frightened of what could happen to her, but she must tell them the whole truth.

      âYes, Iâm okay; but now Iâm in danger,â Emma replied softly.

      âHow much danger?â the man asks.

      âI could die.â

      âYou didnât care about the students that were killed, but now that your life is in danger, you want to help us?â he asks incredulously.

      âYes. I know it sounds bad, but I was scared. I didnât know how to explain about the game, or if you would even believe me. Iâm willing to tell you everything now, but you need to help me.â

      âHelp you with what?â Nathan replies impatiently.

      âI need to get out of here. Out of the state or out of the country, choose whatever; I donât care. I need four bodyguards, two women and two men â the best. I need a full-time doctor onsite â the best. They will look after me until the person dies. I mean it. This is not a joke. I am serious about this. If you can do this, I will tell you everything.  I will give you the name of the person responsible,â Emma said.

      âAndrew, sheâs serious. Can we do this?â Nathan inquired.

      Andrew thinks about everything the girl said. He ponders it carefully because she has lied to him before when the first body was found. 

      He takes a deep, hard look at Emma. Her face now has cuts on it and her nose bleeds as she wipes it with her hand. When she lifted her left arm, it hurt so terribly that she wanted to cry, especially when she used it to wipe her nose. She is as pale as a ghost and shakes as though she were withdrawing from drugs. This is a different Emma than before. The first time she was in the interviewing room, she acted like a rich, spoiled brat and didnât have a care in the world about anyone. She was insulting towards the detectives and the police department.

      âOkay, weâll do it, but you need to tell us everything,â Andrew stated firmly.

      âI will tell you everything, I promise,â Emma said.

      âSo who killed those students?â Andrew asked.

      âWell, this may sound crazy, but it was the game master of MUDD. In theory, it was the players of MUDD,â Emma said.

      Andrew and Nathan stared at each other and then looked at Emma. Their faces showed the questions they had on their minds and what she needed to explain to them.

      âMUDD. What is that?â Andrew asked.

      âItâs a game that is played on the Internet. You download the game software onto your computer; then you connect to the Internet through the software and play the game with people on the Internet,â Emma said.

      âSo, were you one of the players?â Andrew asked.

      âYes, I was.â

      âSo, youâre saying you killed the students,â Andrew said.

      âYes and no,â Emma said trying not to sound evasive.

      She turned pale; her blood ran cold and her heart was beating hard and fast.

      âWhat do you mean?â Andrew asked.

      âThe game master killed the people, but there is another side to it,â Emma said.

      âTell me,â Andrew prodded.

      âI am part of a group of pirates,â Emma said.

      Nathan chuckled and could not look at Emma. Emma stared ahead and continued.

      âAs I said before, I am part of a group of pirates. We download movies, games, software and music from the Internet,â Emma said.

      She began to sit up straight in her chair and her skin was changing back to her normal skin color.

      âYou know what Iâm talking about. The commercial with the actor that was part of that Lord of the Rings movie; heâs asking people not to download illegal movies because movies help pay the salary of millions of people that worked on the movie. Well, I feel this way; I believe that the top actors and actresses should split their pay with the people who work underneath them. The movie industry should make better movies, so people would not illegally download them. Why should I pay ten dollars to see a bad movie when I can see it for free? Think about this; society pays actors by watching their movies. If I was working and I did an inadequate job at my place of employment, should my employer pay me a salary? When actors improve their performances, then I will pay for the movies. The music industry should make better music. Why should I pay twenty dollars for a CD when I only like one song? Concerning software, I do not like Bill Gates. I use a Linux system at home. I download Microsoft software, so I can make the nerds beg for it. Nerds are willing to do anything for the crappy software. If you saw my hard drive, your penis would salute me.â

      She smiled at the detectives. She was proud to be one of the best pirates on the Internet. She always thought that if you were going to be a pirate, be a good one.  With that in mind, she felt this was the reason why she was never caught and arrested for any computer crime. She was proud of her network system at home, even though it wasnât a lack of funds prompting her actions. She did not brag about her network system to feel better about herself, but to find a worthy challenger.

      Talking to the detectives about her network system and piracy made her feel at ease. Taking another bottle of water she unscrewed the cap and drained completely. She placed the empty bottle on the table and looked at the detectives with a self satisfied smile.  When she had entered the interviewing room she was white as a ghost and shaking, but now, she seemed comfortable and calm, as though she were having a friendly conversation about the weather.  The detectives looked at each other and continued to write notes on their pads.

      Andrew glanced uncertainly at Emma. He didnât know what he had expected to hear from her. He wasnât sure if he should treat her like a know-it-all spoiled brat or a scared girl who was trying to regain her composure so she could tell the story.

      Oddly enough Andrew felt a bit protective of Emma like a father towards a daughter.  He knew he could be Emmaâs father because his son was her age.  Maybe that was why he was afraid of what Emma would reveal about her involvement in the studentâs deaths.  He didnât want to think of her being capable of murdering her other classmates.

      âSo you pirate software, music, movies, and games to teach these industries a lesson, correct?â Andrew asked.

      âYes and no,â Emma answered.

      âSo, what then?â Andrew persisted.

      âItâs my high. See, when I want something, Iâm going to get it. I search for it and consider it fair play. When I find what I am looking for, I download it, and that part gets me excited because I donât know what to expect. When the download finishes, I lay back in my chair to see if the item transfers properly. When I open the item, it gives me a rush,â Emma told them.

      Leaning back into her chair she closed her eyes and smiled. The detectives knew what she was thinking.

      âSo, anyone can download this game, right?â Andrew asked.

      Emma opened her eyes and sat up straight. 

      âNo, only hardcore pirates can download the game. Think about it - most of the students that died were honor students. The game master picks you and gives you a subject. You have to find the title and then the game within your subject. Each person is given a different subject. What gives you the high is the attempt to find the game. After you download the game and install it, you can play it. The game is addictive. At first, you are having the time of your life, but then you realize the game is not only a gameââ

      Stopping suddenly Emmaâs skin turns pale. The thought of what she had just said to the detectives scared her. She felt herself getting cold again. Scanning the room once more she looked at the detectives nervously. This time, she was looking for technology. Being afraid of it surprised her since she lives on the edge of technology every minute of the hour.

      âRemember, if I tell you everything, you will protect me, right?â Emma said.

      âWho is the game master?â Andrew asked.

      âItâs a woman. An evil woman with power,â Emma said.

      Emma shook her head up and down rapidly, which she herself could not explain. It was as if someone took control over her body.

      âWhat do you mean?â Andrew asked.

      âShe can get to you through any electronic means, even through a cell phone. She can hear and see you anywhere,â Emma said.

      Andrew and Nathan sat dumbfounded shaking their heads.

      Emmaâs story had to be convincing.  She knew in the back of her mind that the detectives wouldnât believe her and she would be arrested, even if she could bring the evil woman to the police station. Even if the evil woman told the detectives that she herself killed the students, the detectives would still arrest Emma because theyâd never believe the woman.

      âEmma, start from the beginning. When did you find out about this program?â Andrew began.

      âTen months ago,â Emma said.

     âLetâs begin,â Andrew said. 
 

I went to church today and there was a presence over the building which made me feel, I was in heaven standing before God.  I felt so bless the be there.

When I got up this morning, I was tired and was having the strangest dream ever.  I was dreaming, I was in this crappy hotel room with a person and I was planning to have sex with this person, but the hotel was so nasty and disgusting, we decided not to have sex.  Then, I woke up.  I don't know what the dream meant, but I knew I had to get up for church. 

I was dragging this morning, but I'm happy I went.  Rev. Patrick gave the most faith building sermon that made God stand at attention and praise his own name.  It was about cleaning and rebuilding your house.

Now, your house or temple is your body.  We live in our bodies, but sometimes we don't like to clean it and it gets cluttered.  Sometimes we have to tear the house down and rebuild again - which is so true.

We keeping doing the same old same old, day in and out; we don't get further in our goals because we are afraid or refuse to change.  Then, we wonder why the same old, same old keeps happening to us over and over. 

I know, I'm changing and improving myself with the help of my friends and God in whom I trust.  I have put my life in God's hands, even though I still have my trust issues and my insecurities. 

We all need to take the crap out of ourselves and fill it in with good and positive things.  Like a cavity in our mouth, the dentist have to drill out the cavity and clean out the decaying part of the tooth and then replace it with a filling.

It's hard to change our lives for the better and it takes strength and guts to do so. You have to be determine and have friends pushing you along and having your back.  That's why, the type of friends you have are so important.  These are the people who can tear you down or build you up.

Even the partner, you choose in your life is so important. Your partner will  be the closest person in your life next to yourself. Find a partner who loves, support and cares about you and YOU have to do the same.  It's a give and take partnership until the day you or the other person dies. 

For me, I'm still my crazy self and the life of the party.  I try to stay positive everyday with a thought, a smile or a saying.  We have one life, so make the most of it.  Love yourself and the others around you. 

Be yourself and Be happy because you don't know what tomorrow may bring. Trust in your higher power and listen to its voice.  Have faith and light in yourself and in your friends. 

Do what YOU want to do and be safe about it.  We always think about what other people would think; which is wrong. They don't live in your shoes or pay your bills.  We need to live for ourselves instead of living through other people lives.  If that person insults you and make you feel bad about yourself, drop them like a bad habit. 

Because, remember "LIFE IS ABOUT YOU AND ONLY YOU." 

Be yourself! We all say it, but do we mean it?

In life, we are all actors playing a role, but do you know your âRealâ self. Sometimes, we forget who we are inside. Who we are is important, in our lives. If we forget who we are, we will be playing a character with out an ending.

So, JUST BE YOURSELF. Remember, we all fart, sniff, tap on our bellies like a drum, burp and all the other body functions that makes us human. There is a time and place for all the bodily functions, so be careful.

We also need to improve ourselves.

For women (examples):

1. Makeup

2. Working Out

3. Yoga

4. Massage

5. Going to the salon

6. Day Spa (For the whole day)

7. Shopping

8. Cleaning your house nude

9. Getting a sex toy

10. Watching porn

For men (examples):

1. Working Out

2. Getting a massage

3. Having a man day out

4. Buying a new suit

5. Watching porn

6. Color your hair

7. Take a dancing class

8. Play fantasy football

9. Shopping

10. Buying a hot tub

See, it can be a little thing or a big thing to put a smile on your face and skip in your step.

When you feel good about yourself, life can be sweet.

We all need to feel good about ourselves, but it's so hard.  Why?  Because maybe we are going through problems in our lives, weight, race, color, how we were raised and other things.

We may feel so bad about ourselves that we bring our overly happy friends down and become a Debbie Downer, then a loner. Who wants to be around a person who thinks so negative about the world, themselves and others?  And when you are alone, there's no one but the four walls who become your best friends in life.  You get into a rut and then you're alone with no one, and in the end, accomplished nothing. 

God or whoever you pray too, gave us life and the will to do something about it, so in the end, we have family and friends missing us when we die. 

True story, my great Native American aunt, told me tribal stories about life, death and mother earth.  She forced me to learn the traditions of my people, even though I didn't care.  She was strong Indian woman, she could have been Geronimo's perfect wife.  When she got older, her friends and family members were dieing off, one by one.  Her husband died young and left her childless.  Her best friends died in their prime and coming from a 13 children family, my grandfather and her were the only ones left.  So, she was completely alone. 

The family put her in a nursing home, in Flushing, Queens. She loved the nursing home because the people there were funny.  There was an old homosexual man in a wheel chair, still trying to get laid. I don't know his name, but he would sit in his wheel chair and wait for the fresh meat to roll in on a bed or chair.  He tried to have sex with this one guy, but the guy wasn't gay.  They fought and the gay guy looked for someone else.  A playa will always be a playa.

When my great aunt turned 94 years old, she said, "I'm ready to die."  She was serious.  She mentioned all the things she had done in life and how full her life was.  She was bless to have a life on Virginia farm where she was raised with means and workers, she went to college (I think she went to Virginia Tech with her other sister), traveled, had fun, partied hard, loved hard and lived the hi life.  She was ready, but there was one last thing she had to do.  On her future death bed, she completely told off my grandfather (everything she held inside came out. Her face was so red, she looked like a Redskin) and died two days later. 

That's how I want to die.  I want to live a full life and then die.  But, to live a full life, we need to know how to live; it starts with YOU. 

How you feel about yourself, is how you are going to live and who your friend are. 

1. Wake up with a good thought. It may sound stupid, but when you have a good simple thought in your mind, it makes you smile.  With a smile, your life feel uplifted.  A thought, email, scripture, saying or sex can put you in a good mood. 

2. Think of some positive. With a good thought, positivity will come and your day will be smoother.

3. Do something to build yourself up. I go to the gym and swingers parties to build my self-esteem. Why, swinger parties? Because, I have to strip nude in front of people, even though I don't want to have sex with them.  One or two girls who are lesbians may show up, but I don't think about that.  In my mind, I have to strip and walk around nude, it's freeing me. When I am nude, I have to let people see me in the most venerable state. NO ONE has the perfect body, only Photoshop.  I go to the gym to work out and to feel good about myself. 

In my tweets, I mentioned about my picture on the social networks.  This picture and the other pictures in my calendar are so important to me. I used to be overweight and ugly, plus I come from a family which suffers from eating disorders. As a teenager, I was bulimic.  I would throw up before school, during school and after dinner.  I was smart with my bulimia, I would always carry my tooth brush to brush my stomach acid from my teeth. I was a throw up pro.  I was also taking diet pills, laxatives and throwing up all at the same time.  My teeth were OK, but my hair was falling out by the hand full. 

I didn't love myself and didn't care.  All I cared about was my college classes and working. I had boyfriends, but it seemed that I was forced to date them.  I never kissed them and my mother promise them a fortune and high social status if they married me.

I was such a geek.  I was so much a geek, my mother paid the popular girls in my social group to take me to the popular parties.  At the parties, I would be social, but I found my gift; people would tell me their secrets and I could sell them for money.

When I accepted myself as a lesbian, I became free. I started to love myself. 

We all want our lives to be better, but it takes self-esteem, love, hard work and confident in order to get the good life. Be happy and be around good friends and people.  Smile.  Think good thoughts. 

The debate on the Have Your Say website, which was originally entitled "Should homosexuals face execution", has attracted more than 600 comments, only 200 of which were deemed suitable for publication. Last night it was listed as the most popular forum on the BBC's Web site.

The corporation changed the headline to "Should Uganda debate gay execution?" after lobbying by the BBC Pride board, which is composed of gay and lesbian staff at the corporation.

The forum"s introduction said: "Should homosexuals face execution? Yes, we accept it is a stark and disturbing question. But this is the reality behind an Anti-Homosexuality Bill being debated on Friday by the Ugandan Parliament which would see some homosexual offences punishable by death."

While many contributors expressed shock that the question was up for discussion, some agreed with the notion that gay people should be put to death.

Chris from Guildford, wrote: "Totally agree. Ought to be imposed in the UK too, asap. Bring back some respectable family values. Why do we have to suffer 'gay prideâ festivals? Would I be allowed to organise a âstraight prideâ festival? No, thought as much!! If homosexuality is natural, as we are forced to believe, how can they sustain the species? I suggest all gays are put on a remote island and left for a generation â after which, theoretically there should be none left!"

Another, from Aaron in Freetown, said: "Bravo to the Ugandans for this wise decision, a bright step in eliminating this menace from your society. We hope other African nations will also follow your bold step."

Continue reading at The Times of London

By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 15, 2009; 3:30 PM

The D.C. Council gave final approval Tuesday to a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, setting off a wave of excitement in the gay community even as opponents vow to continue the fight on Capitol Hill.

The bill, approved by a vote of 11 to 2, will now go to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), who is expected to sign it before Christmas. The bill will become law in the spring if it survives a 30-day legislative review period.

After the vote, dozens same-sex marriage supporters rose to their feet and began cheering in the council chamber, despite council rules prohibiting public demonstrations.

"In many ways, this is the final prize," said council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), one of two openly gay council members.

To block the legislation, the Democratic-controlled House and Senate and President Obama would all have to sign off on a disapproval resolution within 30 legislative days, which advocates say is not likely.

"We believe we are firmly rooted in the right side of history, and I know we are going to prevail," said council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), who is also gay and sponsored the bill. "But we are going to have to remain vigilant to protect this right."

During the debate, council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) said he could not support the bill but acknowledged the body was making history.

"This must be a proud day for you David, Mr. Graham," said Barry, a onetime civil rights leader, "Just as it was a proud day for me when the voting rights bill was passed in 1965. But this is a democracy and I reserve the right to disagree."

Council member Yvette D. Alexander (D-Ward 7), who like Barry represents neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, also voted against the legislation, saying her constituents have told her they oppose same-sex marriage.

The Rev. Anthony Evans, associate minister of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, said he and other ministers will not relent in their efforts to block the legislation. Led by Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church, opponents of the bill have sued in Superior Court to try to force a referendum to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

"We are going to exercise our constitutional rights," Evans said. "This is not a win today. This is an insignificant blimp that cannot become law until the process ends, and we are going to stop it in every way we can."

But gay rights leaders, who say they have prepared for this moment for decades, heralded the vote as a historic day in the worldwide struggle for gay rights. The Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights organization, is teaming with the D.C. Council to host a celebration tonight at the Longview Gallery in Shaw.

On Monday night, about 350 same-sex marriage supporters held a pre-vote rally at a city recreational center in Shaw. Some of those who attended were religious leaders, underscoring how more than 200 faith leaders in the District have endorsed same-sex marriage.

Deacon Maccubbin, 66, the owner of the Lamba Rising book store on Connecticut Avenue in Dupont Circle, said he never thought he would be alive to see same-sex marriage be legal in the District.

"I'm really blown away by this," Maccubbin said. "When I came to Washington in 1966, we didn't even have basic civil rights. We didn't even have a police department that would talk to us, but we had a supportive community and that continues to this day."

Maccubbin had a "holy union ceremony" with his longtime partner, Jim Bennett, the co-owner of Lamba Rising, in 1982. The two plan to get married as soon as the same-sex marriage bill becomes law.

"This is a moment in history that I think all gay people have been waiting for," Erika Zommer, 27, of Northeast, said in an interview at the rally. "But I think with my generation, I knew this day would come."

Is up and running.  The store is selling 2010 calendars with sexy pictures of me and also uplighting words for each month, to help you get through the year.   Included in the store are posters, mouse pads, mugs, tee-shirts and bags.  The merchandise is so cool, I'm a fan.  The store can be found, http://www.zazzle.com/aliyaleigh

Aliya Leigh -- Book Store

"Mystery" By Aliya Leigh

Jeremy and Julie met by pure fate, but can their love stand the test of time and death? Jeremy is a player of women with the motto: âYou need to screw and then lose. Marriage is for the deranged and insane.â But, a road trip with a beautiful mysterious dark-skinned woman with crystal blue eyes, made him fall in love. In the end, he became broken. Mystery is a story of hope, life, survival and living in the moment. It reminds you; life doesn't have a redo button. So live for today as if it was your last.

http://stores.lulu.com/aliyaleigh

âLike many of you who live in New Jersey, I've been following the progress of the marriage-equality legislation currently being considered in Trenton,â Springsteen writes. âI've long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor [Jon] Corzine when he writes that, âThe marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is -- a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law.â "

Springsteen continues, "I couldn't agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now.â

Chris Christie, the stateâs incoming Republican governor, however, has said he will veto the measure if it is passed, despite classifying himself as a Springsteen fan. On Monday, the bill was approved by one vote by a state Senate committee, according to the Associated Press, but Democrats are saying they may not have the 21 votes needed for it to pass in the Senate.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Bruce Springsteen at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in 2007. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Print: $18.74

Aliya Leigh's most sexy, mind blowing, exciting 2010 calendar. Buy it and you won't be sorry. I promise.

Edited By: Leigha Baugham | myfoxatlanta.com

For those of you who think the world should no longer care about a celebrity love triangle that resolved itself years ago, you might want to avoid bookstores for a few weeks.

Montreal author/professional rabble-rouser Ian Halperin released his latest explosive celebrity exposÃ, Brangelina: The Untold Story of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, on Tuesday, unleashing a whole new wave of juicy Brangelina gossip on the unsuspecting public.

Halperin's been making the media rounds to promote his book, and is standing behind his allegations, telling PopEater: "If anyone can prove one factual error in the book, I'll sleep naked in Times Square for a month. That's how much I believe in this book."

Here are some of the most surprising things revealed by the author, who claims to have interviewed more than 900 sources for the book:

Angelina is a master media manipulator. Halperin says the first hints that Jolie tightly controls her public image came after the Golden Globes in 2000, where she was repeatedly spotted kissing her brother, James Haven.

According to the author, she immediately deflected the scandal by creating another one - stealing Billy Bob Thornton away from actress Laura Dern. He tells PopEater: "She's what magicians would call misdirection. That's what she's a master of in her camp. She checks herself into a mental institution, and next thing you know, she elopes with Billy Bob Thornton, and that was a very concerted effort to make sure she was never with James Haven again, because Hollywood was ready to blacklist Angie."

Halperin also says Jolie spread lies about Jennifer Aniston in the media, planting a story that claimed Pitt broke up with his wife because she didn't want to have his children.

"It was Angelina who came up with the whole story about Jennifer not wanting to have kids," a source connected to 20th Century Fox, which produced Mr. and Mrs. Smith, told Halperin. "She was convinced that is the story that would resonate with all these women who saw her as a man-stealing bitch."

In fact, Halperin claims Aniston desperately wanted Pitt's children, built a dream nursery in their Beverly Hills mansion and even suffered two miscarriages during their marriage.

Jennifer Aniston is just as saintly as she would have you believe. Halperin claims Jolie went out of her way to vilify Aniston and spread lies about her in the media, but Aniston handled the divorce drama with grace.

The author tells PopEater: "What she did was perhaps the most commendable way I've ever seen a Hollywood star deal with such devastation. She was able to keep quiet about it all, get into spiritual counselling, and really move forward slowly but surely, without sounding like a victim or sour grapes. She could have come out and lambasted Jolie, and she chose not to."

Halperin also claims Pitt's family prefers Aniston over Jolie. "I talked to several people in Brad's family who wished they'd break up today," he told the New York Post.

Brangelina have hot, hot sex. Okay, so maybe this isn't really surprising. Halperin tells the Post that their physical attraction on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith convinced Pitt to leave Aniston for Jolie. "Brad had never had such incredible sex. My sources say that they sometimes spent 18 to 20 hours a day in bed." He also interviewed a limo driver who witnessed them "going at it in the back seat" twice.

In a written statement, Woods said, âI have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings.â

Last week, two days before Woods crashed his sport utility vehicle into a fire hydrant and tree outside his house, the National Enquirer published a story alleging that Woods had been seeing a New York nightclub hostess, and that they were recently together in Melbourne, where Woods competed in the Australian Masters.

SLIDESHOW: Tiger Woods' three alleged mistresses.

The woman, Rachel Uchitel, denied having an affair with Woods.

Since then, San Diego cocktail waitress Jaimee Grubbs told to Us magazine that she had a 31-month-long affair with the golf champ, and Life & Style magazine has a story claiming Woods had a sexual relationship with Vegas nightclub manager Kalika Moquin.

The allegations of infidelity continue to multiply as the ramifications from his accident recede. The world's most famous golfer will only be cited for careless driving outside his home in the exclusive gated community of Isleworth. It will add four points to his driving record, but he will not face criminal charges, the Florida Highway Patrol said Tuesday.

POP TARTS: George Clooney Playfully Pokes Fun at Tiger Scandal.

Woods, 33, who was briefly unconscious after the crash, did not speak with investigators at the time of the accident. Authorities said he complied with Florida law by providing his driver's license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance to investigators.

Florida "is not pursuing criminal charges in this matter nor is there any testimony or other evidence to support any additional charges of any kind other than the charge of careless driving," said Sgt. Kim Montes, a spokesman for the highway patrol.

But while Woods will not face criminal charges, he may face backlash from fans, and even sponsors, if new details of alleged sordid affairs continue to surface.

POP TARTS: Sponsors Will Have Woods on a Short Leash.

Us magazine obtained a frantic voicemail from Woods to Grubbs begging the 24-year-old to take her name off her phone.

"My wife went through my phone and may be calling you," he told Grubbs on the recording. "So if you can, please take your name off that. Just have it as a number on the voicemail. You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. Bye."

OPINION: Leave Tiger Alone Already!

Grubbs shared some of the 300 racy text messages between her and Woods, including requests for "naughty" photos and promises to "wear you out."

Woods was reportedly willing to pay for Grubbs' travel expenses and, according to Radar Online, did the same for Uchitel. Radar reports that it was Tiger's organization that booked and paid for Uchitel's stay in Australia.

FULL COVERAGE: Click for FoxNews.com's complete coverage of the Tiger Woods scandal.

But the National Enquirer's report on the Uchitel affair may not have been the first time the magazine had dirt on the billionaire golfer. According to the New York Post, the Enquirer covered up a story of a steamy extramarital affair two years ago in exchange for an exclusive cover story for sister magazine Men's Fitness.

Former Fitness editor Neal Boulton told the Post that he left the magazine after the "seedy" deal went through in 2007.

"We were going to [do a quid pro quo with] America's favorite sports star, just to get his name on the cover of a magazine," Boulton said. "That was too much for me. That's when I high-tailed it out of there."

LIVESHOTS: Read Tiger Wood's full statement.

In his statement, Woods pledged to be a better father and husband, all while denouncing the press' scrutiny of his private life.

"No matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to some simple, human measure of privacy. I realize there are some who don't share my view on that. But for me, the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one's own family. Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions.

RELATED: Are Men Wired To Cheat?

"I will strive to be a better person and the husband and father that my family deserves. For all of those who have supported me over the years, I offer my profound apology."

The Senate decision Wednesday comes after months of delays and arm twisting of lawmakers sympathetic to the bill but representing conservative districts. It follows a referendum in Maine earlier this month that struck down a gay marriage law before it took effect.

Advocates say they aren't surprised by the decision. Most, including Gov. David Paterson, say they at least wanted a floor debate and vote.

Gay marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont. A New Hampshire law takes effect Jan. 1.

-----

This doesn't even make sense.  It's NEW YORK!

The former "American Idol" finalist explained some of his onstage antics at the American Music Awards by telling a radio show last week that he continues to overcome image issues from his youth.

"I suffered from a little bit of an ugly-duckling complex in my early 20s. When I was in high school I was 250 pounds and that creates some stuff ... some body image stuff, some confidence issues. And I got a lot of my confidence from the validation I got as a performer," Lambert told the Morning Jolt's Larry Flick on Sirius satellite radio.

The singer does believe he could have made a better first impression to follow up his successful run on "American Idol" than he did with the much-maligned risquà dance sequence he did on the AMAs.

"I think in hindsight I look back on it and I go, OK, maybe that wasn't the best first impression to make again, the first second impression. I mean, I had fun up there," Lambert told Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show Tuesday.

The singer said he was concerned that fans who watched his performance -- in which he kissed a male band member and simulated oral sex with a dancer onstage -- felt "disrespected," he told DeGeneres.

"I respect people and feel like people walked away from that feeling disrespected. I would never intend to disrespect anybody. So that was not my intention," Lambert said.

The former "American Idol" finalist also said that his performance was shocking to some people because he broke away from the typical media-friendly portrayal of gay men.

"People aren't used to seeing gay man portrayed that way on TV. The gay male image in the media tends to be ... safe," Lambert said. "I was putting on a character, putting on a persona, being this kind of rock star, kind of dangerous kind of guy. ... I don't know, something came over me and got caught up in the moment and maybe went a little too far."

ABC, the network that broadcast the AMAs, received more than 1,500 complaints over Lambert's behavior on the program. The network subsequently canceled a scheduled live performance by Lambert on "Good Morning America" later in the week. CBS's "The Early Show" invited Lambert to speak and perform on that program following ABC's cancellation.

On "The Early Show," Lambert was joined by his mother, Leila, who said she was a little taken aback by her son's performance on the AMAs. She said she ultimately just went with the flow and was proud of him for being so inspiring to his fans.

His father took a harsher stance, Lambert told DeGeneres.

"My dad was like, 'Maybe you should apologize, Adam,' " Lambert said.

He said he told his father, "I don't feel like I did anything wrong -- it just wasn't maybe the right judgment call. It's a taste thing more than an obscenity thing. I think it's just a taste level."

But Lambert said he didn't fault "Good Morning America" for canceling his performance.

"I don't blame them. I got carried away. It was stuff that I did not do in rehearsal, so they were probably a little bit taken aback," he said. "They gave me a great opportunity to close the AMAs and I would never want to smack that gift horse in the mouth. I think they were taking a leap of faith having me do that, and it unfortunately it didn't work out as we all thought it would."

A report released by the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee blamed the Bush administration for failing to capture or kill Osama bin Laden when the al Qaeda leader was cornered in Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountain region in December 2001. The report, released Sunday, said the situation in Afghanistan presented greater problems today because of the failure to nab bin Laden eight years ago.

Bin Laden had written his will, apparently sensing he was trapped, but the lack of sufficient forces to close in for the kill allowed him to escape to tribal areas in Pakistan, according to the report.

It said former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top U.S. commander Gen. Tommy Franks held back the necessary forces for a "classic sweep-and-block maneuver" that could have prevented bin Laden's escape.

"It would have been a dangerous fight across treacherous terrain, and the injection of more U.S. troops and the resulting casualties would have contradicted the risk-averse, 'light footprint' model formulated by Rumsfeld and Franks," the report said.

When criticized later for not zeroing in on bin Laden, administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, responded that the al Qaeda leader's location was uncertain.

"But the review of existing literature, unclassified government records and interviews with central participants underlying this report removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden was within our grasp at Tora Bora," the report said.

On Tuesday, Obama will travel to West Point, New York, to announce his decision on a request by his commanding general in Afghanistan for up to 40,000 additional troops.

Obama is expected to send more than 30,000 U.S. troops and seek further troop commitments from NATO allies as part of a counterinsurgency strategy to wipe out al Qaeda elements and stabilize the country while training Afghan forces.

By releasing the report Sunday, Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, focused attention on the past failure of the Bush administration to take out bin Laden, saying that had created a greater problem today.

"Our inability to finish the job in late 2001 has contributed to a conflict today that endangers not just our troops and those of our allies, but the stability of a volatile and vital region," Kerry, D-Massachusetts, wrote in a letter of transmittal for the report.

When Kerry was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, he argued that the Bush administration botched the pursuit of bin Laden and that then-President George W. Bush "took his eye off the ball" in Afghanistan to invade Iraq.

The accusations were hotly disputed by Bush supporters and Franks. However, Gary Berntsen, the CIA operative who led the pursuit of bin Laden at Tora Bora, said in 2005 that his request for up to 800 U.S. troops to cut off the al Qaeda leader's escape route was denied.

Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations committee, told CNN's "State of the Union" that the new report "does serve as a convenient way for, perhaps, Democrats to say once again, there's another failing of the past administration" and that "all the problems have accumulated."

"I think we have to accept that there were many failings," said Lugar, of Indiana. "But the problem right now is, what do we do presently? What will the president's plan be? How much confidence do we have in this president and this plan?"

Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, responding to Lugar's comment, told CNN that Obama faced "the culmination of decisions that were made eight years" earlier, which he said "made the situation much more difficult" today.

According to the report, "removing the al Qaeda leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat."

"But the decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide," it said.

The report called bin Laden's escape "a lost opportunity that forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and the future of international terrorism, leaving the American people more vulnerable to terrorism, laying the foundation for today's protracted Afghan insurgency and inflaming the internal strife now endangering Pakistan."

The report also highlighted bin Laden's will, dated December 14, 2001, as an indication of the dire situation he faced.

"Bin Laden expected to die," it said, noting that a copy of the will that surfaced later is regarded as authentic.

"Allah commended to us that when death approaches any of us that we make a bequest to parents and next of kin and to Muslims as a whole," the report quoted bin Laden's will as saying, adding that he "instructed his wives not to remarry and apologized to his children for devoting himself to" holy war.

However, the report said, "fewer than 100 American commandos were on the scene with their Afghan allies and calls for reinforcements to launch an assault were rejected."

"Requests were also turned down for U.S. troops to block the mountain paths leading to sanctuary a few miles away in Pakistan," it continued. "The vast array of American military power, from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of the Marine Corps and the Army, was kept on the sidelines. Instead, the U.S. command chose to rely on airstrikes and untrained Afghan militias to attack bin Laden and on Pakistan's loosely organized Frontier Corps to seal his escape routes.

"On or around December 16, two days after writing his will, bin Laden and an entourage of bodyguards walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area. Most analysts say he is still there today."

The law requires the stateâs 30,000 convicted sex offenders to file their home, e-mail and social networking addresses with the state. Out of that pool, only about 27 percent revealed e-mail addresses or social-networking usernames to authorities, and only 10 percent divulged a Facebook or MySpace username.

The remaining 22,000 or so registered sex offenders who did not supply online identity information are either in prison or homeless, lack computer access or simply chose not to respond, an unidentified state Division of Criminal Justice Services representative told the New York Daily News.

The e-STOP system only works if criminals volunteer their social networking identities, as they are required to do within 10 days of creating a new account under penalty of new felony charges. Proponents of the law have declared it a success.

âBefore e-STOP, sexual predators freely lurked in social networking sites trolling for innocent victims,â said executive director of Parents for Meganâs Law and the Crime Victims Center Laura Ahearn to the Daily News. âWith e-STOP, Attorney General Cuomo has sent a clear message that there is a new sheriff in the cyberworld protecting our most vulnerable.â

New York State supplied the account names to Facebook and MySpace over the past two months as part of the first stage of the e-STOP sweep. The next step is to check whether any of the offenders violated the terms of their early release from prison by setting up a profile on the sites.

Incidentally, sex offenders â like many others â appear to favor Facebook over MySpace. Out of the 3,533 offenders whose accounts were terminated, 79 percent were on Facebook and 51 percent were on MySpace. Many had accounts on both networks, while 21 percent used MySpace exclusively and 49 percent used Facebook exclusively.

(Update: the final paragraph of this article originally failed to distinguish between the number of social networking accounts and the number of account holders; those percentages have since been corrected.)

Aliya Leigh

5025 North Central Avenue

#221

Phoenix, AZ 85012

Phone: (520) 405-2724

Fax: (623) 889-9889

Email: aliyaleigh@gmail.com

Police officers working with the Manhattan district attorney's office searched circulation offices of The New York Times in Queens, the New York Post and the Daily News in Manhattan, and El Diario in Brooklyn, the official said, speaking to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Investigators were seeking paperwork related to the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union, which packages and delivers newspapers across the region.

Calls to the union's headquarters were not answered Tuesday. The news deliverers' parent union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, referred inquiries to the local union.

The New York Times issued a statement saying that the office of an employee at its plant in Queens' College Point area had been searched but that its news side was not part of the investigation.

Rosana Rosado, publisher of El Diario-La Prensa, also said that the Spanish-language newspaper is not a subject of the investigation and that the search warrant was seeking information into allegations of corruption at the union.

Bob Leonard of Dan Klores Communications, speaking for the Daily News, declined to comment on the raid. A call to the Post was not returned.

The 1,600-member union wields considerable power over news companies that rely on their drivers to deliver hundreds of thousands of papers each day, and allegations of connections to organized crime are not new.

District Attorney Robert Morgenthau charged that the union was under mob control more than a decade ago, after an investigation that also involved a 1992 search of the Post and Daily News offices.

The probe led to criminal charges against union members including then-President Douglas LaChance, who authorities accused of being an associate of the Luchese crime family. He was acquitted in 1995 of strong-arming the Post into switching delivery companies.

 * Feed: http://aliyaleighlive.libsyn.com/rss * Wonderland : http://wonderland.podbean.com  *Two weeks free, sign up: Netflix * Get 50% off one item when you type âWOWâ for the offer code upon checkout. When you do, youâll get 3 FREE DVDâs, a FREE extra gift and FREE shipping. Just use offer code âW-O-Wâ at http://www.Adamandeve.com  * Check out http://www.yourgayhistory.com To celebrity OUR GLBT HISTORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The New Face of Psychotic, Twisted, Gory, Experimental Crafted Horror

Phoenix, AZ (November 11, 2009) - Aliya Leigh, is a hot sexy lesbian republican scriptwriter, blogger, podcaster, voice over actress and author; who speaks her mind about anything. Her message comes from world events, her heart and life. She will make you laugh, cry and be in shock. From titles like, âDrink Urine and Lose Weightâ, âWe Need Abortionâ, and âGay McCainâ. With a new film script, she is the psychotic demented horror writer with a score to settle.

Aliya Leigh is announcing her first major film script, called âI Love Youâ. "I Love You", Brenda Lopez was raised by a mother who sold her to men, but found love when she met Alex. Zack tells his brother Alex his feelings towards Brenda; which starts a psychotic, twisted, graphic, gory experimental game of the mind and physical strength. 

Will Brenda and Zack survive?

âPeople have described the script, as a bad acid trip without the acid,â Aliya Leigh says.

The film script, âI Love Youâ, is ready to be sold to production companies and studios.

About Aliya Leigh

Aliya Leigh is the host of a podcast called, âLesbian Lifeâ, (http://aliyaleighlive.libsyn.com). Since February 2008 to today, her listeners has grown from 500 to 40,000 downloads a day. With the success of âLesbian Lifeâ, she started a weekly show based on fairy tales characters with attitude, teenage problems and lack of common sense called âWonderlandâ (http://wonderland.podbean.com). In âWonderlandâ, she perform all the voices for the show, from simple minded Alice to Deville the Prince of Darkness to Strawberry Shortcake the Muslim. She is a contributing writer for Carpe Diem Fashion Magazine. She has written books and treatments for television. She also produces and works on indie films around Arizona.

Aliya Leigh performs community service around her community and a Trustee on the National Writerâs Union board. She make appearances at literary award shows, speaks at seminars about copyrighting and other topics which plagues the writing world, and acts as a fundraiser for causes.

In her spare time, she plays video games, hang out with friends, travels and plays her violin. She is a member of Log Cabin (Republican group in the LGBT community), ASCAP, National Writerâs Union and an active member of her church.

###  

If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Aliya Leigh, please contact:

Aliya Leigh

5025 North Central Avenue

#221

Phoenix, AZ 85012

Phone: (520) 405-2724

Fax: (623) 889-9889

Email: aliyaleigh@gmail.com

 * Feed: http://aliyaleighlive.libsyn.com/rss * Wonderland : http://wonderland.podbean.com  *Two weeks free, sign up: Netflix * Get 50% off one item when you type âWOWâ for the offer code upon checkout. When you do, youâll get 3 FREE DVDâs, a FREE extra gift and FREE shipping. Just use offer code âW-O-Wâ at http://www.Adamandeve.com  * Check out http://www.yourgayhistory.com To celebrity OUR GLBT HISTORY

Monday , November 02, 2009

By John Brandon

Some of the most innovative, interesting, and, well, strange tech has nothing to do with computing monoliths like Google or Microsoft. And it's just around the corner.

Here's our list of the tech trends, products, and innovations that are available today â or coming online shortly â and how they'll affect your life next year.

1. You'll attend an online funeral
Sites such as Otrib.com and Tributes.com let you leave a memorial to loved ones who have passed on. But some people are holding the funeral itself online, using webcasting services at sites such as Funeralrecording.com and Funeralone.com. This lets anyone attend, from anywhere.

Why the trend is important: Webcasting a funeral might sound morbid, but it means more people can share in the life of someone without the expense of travel.

2. You'll start life-casting

Given the confluence of ubiquitous cell phone use, high-speed 3G service, and a growing desire to connect with people in more tangible ways, life-casting has finally arrived. Services such as Qik.com let you stream a live video from your cell to the world without the usual video hiccups and complex setup.

Why the trend is important: YouTube videos are static. They capture a fleeting moment, but not as it happens in real-time. Life-casting is the true expression of our own self-worth (ahem).

3. Your body will control video games

Microsoft is championing a new Xbox controller: you. The technology, called Project Natal, lets you perform dance movies or kick a ball, while a camera tracks your movements using infrared and shows the results on screen. A microphone can also capture voice commands. Meanwhile, Sony has announced the PlayStation Motion Controller, a wand that helps accomplish the same you-as-the-controller goal.

Why the trend is important: It's about time someone invented a better way to shoot bad guys than the same joysticks and gamepads we've used for the last few decades.

4. You'll leave your tape measure at home

A new service called GeoEstimator uses satellites and aerial photographs to make roof measurements that are just as accurate as making the measurements in person. The service can help contractors, insurance companies, and estimators avoid crawling up on roofs.

Why the trend is important: Virtual measurements save time, sure, but they also pave the way for the further integration of satellite data in our lives, such as determining exact property boundaries.

5. You'll (finally) use a content aggregator

You probably already know about Digg.com and other services that help you find interesting stories and pictures. And plenty of sites â such as YouTube.com â let you share goofy videos. Toobla.com is different: It's an aggregator for videos, photos, documents and Web sites, so you can not only store videos and photos but share them online. It's also more visual than a storage service such as Box.net.

Why the trend is important: We're all inundated with too many digital files, and Toobla does a good job of making the storage more interesting and accessible for your friends and family members.

6. You'll burn your business cards

Salespeople hand them out at trade shows and they might help you win a free lunch. That's right: business cards just won't die. Several iPhone apps â such as Beezcard and SnapDat â allow you to share contact details, but not everyone has an iPhone. A Swiss company has made the PokenZoo, a cute, inexpensive device you touch to another Poken to swap contacts.

Why the trend is important: Saves paper, but also finally alleviates business workers from having to carry these annoying cards around whether they go.

7. You'll chat with faceless minions

One new trend regurgitates an age-old concept: On sites such as Omegle.com, you can chat with complete strangers. AOL has provided this capability for eons (isn't that what chat boards are all about?), but Omegle.com puts a random spin on it, pairing you safely and anonymously with an arbitrary total stranger. You can chat with some dude in Norway or Japan in less than 5 seconds.

Why the trend is important: Other than the fun factor, Omegle indicates the final piece in the globalization puzzle.

8. Your gadgets will have gadgets

Cell-phone boosters have become popular in the past few years, purporting to improve coverage and signal quality. Most have added, oh, one bar at most. The zBoost ONE (www.wi-ex.com) can boost your connection up three bars. The device is so innovative, it won a Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) award recently.

Why the trend is important: People in rural areas and deep within office complexes often can't participate in the mobile revolution. A booster makes high-speed access viable for everyone.

 * Feed: http://aliyaleighlive.libsyn.com/rss * Wonderland : http://wonderland.podbean.com  *Two weeks free, sign up: Netflix * Get 50% off one item when you type âWOWâ for the offer code upon checkout. When you do, youâll get 3 FREE DVDâs, a FREE extra gift and FREE shipping. Just use offer code âW-O-Wâ at http://www.Adamandeve.com  * Check out http://www.yourgayhistory.com To celebrity OUR GLBT HISTORY

Gay activists were frustrated that Obama, who insists he staunchly supports their overall civil rights agenda, didn't speak out forcefully in defense of Maine's marriage law before Tuesday's referendum. 

Conservatives, in contrast, celebrated Maine voters' rejection of a law that would have allowed gay couples to wed, depicting it as a warning shot that should deter politicians in other states from pushing for same-sex marriage.

"Every time the citizens have voted on marriage, they have always sided with natural marriage," said Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Christian legal group. "Maine dramatically illustrates the will of the people, and politicians should wake up and listen."

Gay activists were frustrated that Obama, who insists he staunchly supports their overall civil rights agenda, didn't speak out forcefully in defense of Maine's marriage law before Tuesday's referendum. The law was repealed in a vote of 53 percent to 47 percent.

"President Obama missed an opportunity to state his position against these discriminatory attacks with the clarity and moral imperative that would have helped in this close fight," said Evan Wolfson of the national advocacy group Freedom to Marry. "The anti-gay forces are throwing millions of dollars into various unsubtle ads aimed at scaring people, so subtle statements from the White House are not enough."

The White House, asked about the criticism, had no immediate comment.

The marriage debate is simmering in at least a half-dozen states where a same-sex marriage bill is pending or where a court ruling or existing law is being eyed by conservatives for possible challenge.

Had Maine's law been upheld by voters, it would have become the sixth state to legalize gay marriage â and the first to affirm it by popular vote. In Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Iowa, gay marriage resulted from court decisions or legislation.

California is sure to be a major battleground over the next several years. Last year, conservatives succeeded in winning public approval of Proposition 8, which overturned a state court ruling allowing gay marriage. Gay rights groups want to take the issue back to the voters but are divided on a timetable.

In the aftermath of the Maine vote, some California activists appealed to their supporters for money to help them put a measure on the 2010 ballot. Other activist leaders want to wait until 2012.

"It's never too early to go back to right a fundamental wrong," said Chaz Lowe of Yes! on Equality, who favors shooting for 2010. "A lot of people are angry, a lot of people are upset. It at least has the potential to be a mobilization for the grass roots."

Some California activists said the outcome in Maine strengthened their belief that it will fall to the U.S. Supreme Court â not the voters â to make gay marriage legal. A federal lawsuit challenging Prop. 8 is scheduled to go to trial in January, the first step in a legal journey that is expected to reach the high court in a few years.

"The results in Maine underscore exactly why we are challenging California's same-sex marriage ban," said Chad Griffin, president of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the Los Angeles group spearheading the lawsuit. "The U.S. Constitution guarantees equal rights to every American, and when those rights are violated, it is the role of our courts to protect us, regardless of what the polls say."

The situation elsewhere:

_ In New Jersey, the election Tuesday of Republican Chris Christie as governor puts extra pressure on gay rights supporters to win passage of a pending same-sex marriage bill before the legislative session ends in January. Christie says he would veto such a bill, while lame-duck Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, says he would sign it.

_ In Iowa, where the state Supreme Court legalized gay marriage last April, conservatives have no quick way to overturn the ruling. Their only option would be to amend the state constitution through a ballot measure â in 2014 at the earliest â and that effort would need approval from a legislature whose current Democratic leaders don't even want to debate the issue.

_ In New Hampshire, conservatives have filed legislation to repeal the state's new gay-marriage law and amend the constitution to ban such unions. Kevin Smith, executive director of the conservative Cornerstone Policy Research, said he doubts the measures will pass, but hopes the vote in Maine will give gay-marriage opponents ammunition for the 2010 elections.

"It gives us more fodder to go back to people and say, 'Look, they aren't letting you vote on it,'" Smith said.

_ In Washington, D.C., conservatives are trying to force a popular vote on a bill headed toward City Council approval that would legalize gay marriage. Michael Crawford, one of the leaders of the local pro-gay marriage campaign, said the result in Maine increased his determination to avoid a ballot measure.

"The same cabal of anti-gay groups who stripped away marriage equality from our families in California and Maine now have their sights on D.C.," he said.

Crawford was among numerous gay rights leaders complaining about the campaign tactics of the groups that opposed same-sex marriage in Maine and California.

In both states, California-based political strategist Frank Schubert oversaw an advertising campaign warning that "homosexual marriage" would be taught in public schools.

The campaign to defend gay marriage countered that Maine's state curriculum guidelines contain no reference to marriage, and the state's Democratic attorney general, Janet Mills, issued an opinion backing that up. But the ads continued.

"It is infuriating to see that the same fear-mongering ads that were used to pass Prop. 8 a year ago have triumphed again at the expense of so many," said Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest national gay rights group.

Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, came away with a different message.

"Over and over again, the American people have affirmed marriage at the ballot box and turned aside the demands of a movement that remains largely driven by Hollywood, some extreme activists and a few activist judges," he said. "We hope the message sent by Maine's voters will be heard in Washington and state capitals around the nation."

Spirit Journeys: Mystics & Muses
Friday & Saturday: December 11 & 12, 2009, 7:30 pm
Faith Lutheran Church
801 E. Camelback, Phoenix

Sunday, December 13, 2009, 4:00pm
Church of the Epiphany
2222 S. Price Road, Tempe

Join us as we honor and celebrate the winter holidays of Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and Winter Solstice. Our Spirit Journeys, both as a society and individuals, often contain a dual nature: the more serious spiritual element circumscribed in mystery and expressed through a mystical nature, and the lighter side of the holidays, found in the creative "imp.â Along with a performance of pieces from Benjamin Brittain's Ceremony of Carols, we will also bring you an arrangement of Silver Bells and a piece entitled Deck the Halls in 7/8, which is a rhythmic version of the holiday classic.

**Faith Lutheran does not have accessible bathroom.

Exquisite Journey: Fierce Beauty
Friday & Saturday, March 12 & 13, 2010, 7:30 pm
Faith Lutheran Church
801 E. Camelback, Phoenix

The March concert is presented in honor of Women"s History Month and will examine the journey of fear, chaos and even joy that comes with a life threatening illness. Our desire is to present the intensity and fierceness that the human spirit displays during these times. The centerpiece of the concert will be Diane Benjaminâs Where I Live: A Breast Cancer Oratorio. This sublime work brings together strings, percussion, choir, soloist and narrator in a stunning musical/spoken word offering that leads us through the uncertain journey of illness and recovery. The second half of the concert offers music that will be a celebration of the determination and resiliency of the human spirit. Plan now to be part of this very moving event.

**Faith Lutheran does not have accessible bathroom.

Passionate Journeys: Passionate Kisses!
Friday & Saturday, June 11 & 12, 2010, 7:30 pm
Faith Lutheran Church
801 E. Camelback, Phoenix

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Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said.

Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.

"There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," Bardwell said. "I think those children suffer and I won't help put them through it."

If he did an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said.

"I try to treat everyone equally," he said.

Bardwell estimates that he has refused to marry about four couples during his career, all in the past 2 1/2 years.

Beth Humphrey, 30, and 32-year-old Terence McKay, both of Hammond, say they will consult the U.S. Justice Department about filing a discrimination complaint.

Humphrey, an account manager for a marketing firm, said she and McKay, a welder, just returned to Louisiana. She plans to enroll in the University of New Orleans to pursue a masters degree in minority politics.

"That was one thing that made this so unbelievable," she said. "It's not something you expect in this day and age."

Humphrey said she called Bardwell on Oct. 6 to inquire about getting a marriage license signed. She says Bardwell's wife told her that Bardwell will not sign marriage licenses for interracial couples. Bardwell suggested the couple go to another justice of the peace in the parish who agreed to marry them.

"We are looking forward to having children," Humphrey said. "And all our friends and co-workers have been very supportive. Except for this, we're typical happy newlyweds."

"It is really astonishing and disappointing to see this come up in 2009," said American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana attorney Katie Schwartzmann. "The Supreme Court ruled as far back as 1963 that the government cannot tell people who they can and cannot marry."

The ACLU sent a letter to the Louisiana Judiciary Committee, which oversees the state justices of the peace, asking them to investigate Bardwell and recommending "the most severe sanctions available, because such blatant bigotry poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the administration of justice."

"He knew he was breaking the law, but continued to do it," Schwartzmann said.

According to the clerk of court's office, application for a marriage license must be made three days before the ceremony because there is a 72-hour waiting period. The applicants are asked if they have previously been married. If so, they must show how the marriage ended, such as divorce.

Other than that, all they need is a birth certificate and Social Security card.

The license fee is $35, and the license must be signed by a Louisiana minister, justice of the peace or judge. The original is returned to the clerk's office.

"I've been a justice of the peace for 34 years and I don't think I've mistreated anybody," Bardwell said. "I've made some mistakes, but you have too. I didn't tell this couple they couldn't get married. I just told them I wouldn't do it."

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Forget Sarah Palin. The maverick female of the Republican Party is Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe.

The 62-year-old, moderate Maine lawmaker announced Tuesday she will vote for a Democratic health care bill, breaking with her party and giving a major boost to President Barack Obama's goal of expanding coverage.

"When history calls, history calls," Snowe told her colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee, several hours into the debate.

Snowe had kept virtually all of Washington guessing how she would vote. She had not even let Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in on her secret.

Then she captured all of Washington's attention.

"The status quo approach has produced one glaring common denominator, that is that we have a problem that is growing worse not better," she said in explaining her support for the bill.

While she described the legislation as flawed, she said it bolsters what works in the nation's health care system as well as trying to rein in the rising costs of health care.

Democrats, aware that Snowe could be the only Republican in Congress to vote for their health care overhaul, have spent months addressing her concerns about making it affordable and how to pay for it. Obama has sought her vote in phone calls and meetings.

Snowe made clear to her Democratic colleagues that her support could be a one-shot deal.

"My vote today is my vote today. It does not forecast my vote tomorrow," she said.

With her support, however, Democrats might have the 60th vote required to overcome Republican objections to the bill. Snowe's support would mean that the final version of the bill could _ technically _ be called bipartisan, a key tenet of Obama's agenda.

Snowe has broken with her party on several occasions.

Earlier this year, she was one of three Republicans who crossed party lines to vote for Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus bill. Before that, she defied then-President George W. Bush and voted for legislation he eventually vetoed _ but that later passed under Obama _ providing health care to millions of children.

Snowe also was one of the "Gang of 14" Democratic and Republican senators who resolved a standoff over judicial nominations.

In Maine, former Gov. Angus King, a political independent, compared Snowe's decision to the late Republican Sen. Margaret Chase Smith's "Declaration of Conscience" speech in which she called for the nation _ and her own party _ to reject McCarthyism.

"This is a vote of conscience and a vote of concern for her constituents and concern for the country. And I think it took plenty of courage. I don't think it's possible for any of us to fully appreciate the pressure she's under and has been under to vote with her Republican colleagues," King said. "The fact that she was willing to split with them, I think, is a real testament to her integrity."

____

Associated Press writer David Sharp in Portland, Maine contributed to this report.

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PHOENIX - State employees in Arizona can take advantage of domestic-partner benefits for the next 12 months even though the Legislature's last budget took them away.

The Department of Administration says the benefit will be available until October 2010, because cutting it before then might put the state in violation of contract laws.

The benefit was to be cut off when the state's insurance plan began Oct. 1, but the budget won't take effect until nearly two months into the contract period.

An opinion by the Attorney General's Office concluded the benefit's elimination during this fiscal year would conflict with employees' expectations.

The administration of former Gov. Janet Napolitano created the benefit through a policy change and won its approval from a board.

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NEW YORK â  New York City police say a 49-year-old gay man leaving a corner deli near his home was beaten by two men in an apparent hate crime.

Jack Price remains in a medically induced coma. He is in serious but stable condition.

Police say the two suspects taunted Price and yelled anti-gay slurs while he was in the store early Friday. They attacked him outside, not far from his home in the middle-class Queens neighborhood of College Point.

Twenty-six-year-old Daniel Aleman was arrested Sunday and charged with assault and aggravated assault as a hate crime. The name of his attorney was not on record.

A second suspect is being sought. The police department's Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating.

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It's out goal to stop this!!!!

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Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace. The foundations for the prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel wrote his last will, leaving much of his wealth to the establishment of the Nobel Prize. But who was Alfred Nobel? Articles, photographs, a slide show and poetry written by Nobel himself are presented here to give a glimpse of a man whose varied interests are reflected in the prize he established. Meet Alfred Nobel - scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, author and pacifist. 

Qualified Nominators

The Nobel Peace Prize may also be awarded to institutions and associations.

Source: http://nobelprize.org

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Introduction to the HCG Diet

HCG is an acronym for the hormone Human Chorio Gonadotropin, which is found in both men and women, though pregnant women have the highest levels of HCG in their bodies. HCG injections or supplements are typically given to women who need help ovulating and to men who want to increase their sperm count. A daily HCG injection is also one component of the controversial HCG diet plan.

The HCG hormone can be made synthetically or extracted from a pregnant woman's urine and then processed for use by other humans. The HCG diet shots are said to benefit both men and women similarly, though experts don't recommend that women get the injections if they are already pregnant or nursing, and thus already have elevated HCG levels.

Advocates of the HCG diet believe that, by adhering to the diet plan and taking daily injections of HCG, participants can successfully reach their targeted weight. They say that dieters following the HCG diet should expect to lose somewhere between a half pound and 3 pounds (.23 to 1.36 kilograms) each day on the low-calorie, high-fiber plan [source: HCG Diet Info]. The diet has its fair share of believers. After all, any eating plan that consists of a mere 500 calories will most likely result in weight loss. But, at the same time, some people have found that the injections made no difference [source: Sylvester]. And the drug lacks substantial research, so exposing your body to such a restrictive diet may not be in your best interests.

To know if the HCG diet is right for you, be sure to read about the specifics of the plan and the possible dangers. Check out the next page for information on the day-to-day dieting plan.

HCG Diet Plan

Shifting into the HCG diet is likely to be quite a lifestyle change. Participants are required to cut their caloric intake to roughly 500 calories and take a daily injection of HCG hormones. More water, vegetables and fiber in the daily meal plan is said to accelerate the weight loss [source: HCG Weight Loss]. There is no established exercise regimen, and the duration of the diet is up to the individual, as the plan dictates that the rules be followed until the target goal is reached.

The original HCG diet plan is quite restrictive and particular. For breakfast, you can have only tea or coffee without sugar. The diet puts a one-tablespoon limit on how much milk you can consume each day, so if you require milk with your coffee and tea, you'll want to keep this in mind. For lunch and dinner, you can cook 100 grams (.22 pounds) of lean meat or seafood and pair it with one vegetable from this list of 13: asparagus, beet greens, cabbage, celery, chard, chicory, cucumbers, fennel, green salad, onions, red radishes, spinach and tomatoes. For lunch and dinner, you can eat one toast cracker and an orange, apple, half a grapefruit or strawberries [source: Goldsmith].

Advocates of the HCG Diet say that combining the extremely low-calorie diet with the HCG hormone injections will lead to immediate weight loss without the common side effects of many restrictive diets, such as hunger pains, headaches and nausea. They believe that because the HCG injections burn fat, the hormone provides the body with necessary energy while reducing hunger and keeping the body out of starvation mode [source: Derma Health Institute].

Read the next page to explore the other component of this diet, the HGC hormone injections.

HCG Diet Injections

The HCG diet's success rests on its namesake -- the HCG hormone. Before starting, it's in your best interest to understand how the hormone is administered and what it does. Administration is usually through two methods -- either an oral supplement or a liquid injection. An injection for weight loss contains somewhere between 125 IU and 200 IU [source: HCG Weight Loss]. The best places for HCG injections are just beneath the skin or straight into a muscle. For your safety and comfort, you may want to ask your doctor to demonstrate the correct injection technique before trying it on yourself [source: Drugs].

You also need to understand what the hypothalamus is. This gland is responsible for regulating your body's fat storage and metabolism. The HCG shots are said to command your hypothalamus to release fat from storage, which triggers your body to combine that fat and your 500 calories as energy. Then the shots should help your body get rid of excess fat by burning it daily [source: HCG Diet Info].

After dedicating yourself to the daily 500-calorie diet and the HCG injections, advocates say you'll have better eating habits for the rest of your life. Once you've achieved your target weight, it's a good idea to leave the drastic diet but maintain a sustainable, healthy lifestyle [source: HCG Diet Info]. After all, you can't count on your body to maintain your goal weight if you immediately fall back into your old eating habits.

Click to the next page to find out what dangers exist if you decide to go on the HCG diet.

HCG Diet Dangers

The FDA has approved HCG injections for use in fertility issues, but not in dieting. There haven't been enough comprehensive studies to test and ensure its capabilities. While advocates claim that lower doses of the hormone are used for dieting, the scientific and medical communities still lack substantial evidence that the HCG shots are safe over an extended period of time [source: Goldsmith].

There are a few dangers that come with injecting HCG into your body. First of all, you want to make sure the medication hasn't gone bad, either by changing color or accumulating particles. As with any injected medication, the potential for blood clots exists. Some women who have injected HCG have experienced a serious condition called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). OHSS can be deadly, so you should take note of symptoms like pelvic pain and stomach, arm or leg swelling. Other less serious side effects might be headaches and depression. Young boys taking HCG might experience premature puberty [source: Drugs]. Pregnant or nursing women could cause harm to their babies if the hormone is passed on [source: HCG Diet Info].

And although advocates claim that HCG keeps the body functioning properly, a diet of 500 calories is below virtually any healthy amount recommended by most doctors. Weight loss is almost guaranteed when you're eating so much less than the recommended daily allowance, but you may risk your health. And although the HCG is supposed to help with side effects, in one study the HCG injections showed no different feelings or results than a placebo injection [source: Sylvester].

The HCG diet has the potential for incredible results, but not without the risk of significant side effects. As with any diet, you should always talk to your doctor before implementing any significant change. To learn more, visit the links on the following page.

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I emailed a girl who I cared about, deeply and I will shared that with you.  Plus, the drama in the AZ. 

OH LORD.

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* The kingdom is within yourself. Do whatever makes you happy.

* Do whatever lifts your spirts in life.

* You choose if you want to live happy or sad. It's your life, you live it how you want.

* How do you feel about yourself?  If you like yourself continue doing what you are doing. If you dislike yourself, then change for the better.

* BE BALANCE

* BE AWARE

* BE RESPONISBLE

Love yourself

Aliya Leigh!!!

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Obama to Address Gay Rights Organization

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 But, stay tuned for more drama in the AZ!

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In High School, I did a year of internship at Smith Barney as a computer programmer.  The building was located in downtown Manhattan; which was a few blocks from the Twins Towers. 

Sometimes, I had to run errands at the Twins Towers a lot, but I didnât care.  It was cool being out of the office. In the Twins Towers, you had the New York and New Jersey train systems, an underground mall and offices.  So I did window shopping in the Twin Towers and I got to see my friends. 

In my circle of friends, it was a honor working in the Twin Towers because it meant you were making good money and had a steady job.  It was just cool saying, âI work in the World Trade Centerâ aka âI wok in the World Trade Centaâ (in New York language).

Before I left New York City to move to a backward country place called Arizona,  I was offered a job at ILX in the World Trade Center.  I didnât take it and moved to Arizona.  Now, thinking back, I could have died on Sept 11, 2001.  13 of my friends died on that day, my uncle was buried alive but found and my brother had to see a therapist because he saw the planes go into the buildings and the damage it caused. 

But, as New Yorkers do, we survive, but itâs hard to forget.  I never went to my friends memorials because how can someone died like that, it only happens in the movies.  But, it did happen. 

From a New Yorker point of view, New York has changed.  There is more security in the streets.  You have to ask a cop if you can take a picture of a landmark. When I go to ground zero, there is dead silence.  New York has become a military country, within the US.  Itâs sad.

When I went back to NYC after Sept 11, I had to get used to the new New York City and now when I visit, I got used to the security which is sad and heart breaking because I miss my old New York and the mindset.  I miss the rudeness, busy life, running to work,  no security cameras following you and no metal detectors and searches before you go into the Empire State Building. 

When I was young and before Sept 11, I would watch New York City getting blown up and damaged in the movies and on TV because I knew it will never happen in real life.  But it did. 

The movie Cloverfield, will be a movie I will never forget and should get award for giving us a reality check.  Before Cloverfield, I could watch New York getting destroy and laughing about because who would think New York City would suffer a terrorist attack and when Sept 11 made us change our thinking.   With Cloverfield, it made me enjoy seeing New York City getting damage on the big screen.  Crazy monsters like Godzilla destroying New York, thatâs funny and not real. 

Sept 11, made me change myself.  It told me, breathing air and living is not a right, but a privilege you should not take likely. Live life and enjoy it.  Hug your friends and be open about your feelings.  Tell your friends, lovers, families and spouses how much they mean to you in your life because you made not see them again. 

For example, I was a brideâs maid in a wedding, in New York City.  The bride was a real bitch.  After the $30,000 wedding in Garden City, she piss off the whole wedding party. One of the brideâs maids, named Vicki was a good friend who used to take me to parties and functions.  I was a geek at the time and she was the popular girl.  She helped me to become popular, like all those teenage movies. 

After the reception, I told her goodbye and she needs to visit me in Arizona.  She said, âI will, because I need to see the Grand Canyon.â  She never called me because she died in the World Trade Center; two months later.  The bride never got the chance to say, âIâm so sorry, I was a bitch.â  Now, the bride has a son, divorce and living with her mother.  I never spoke to the bride again after the wedding because I donât need craziness in my life. 

For Vicki, she left behind a husband and young 1 year old child. Now, her husband moved to the South, got remarried and the child is doing well. 

So, we need this day to reflect on our lives and thank God that you are blessed. Sometimes I forget, but I have Sept 11 and my friends to remind me. 

So, be determine to live life to the fullest and enjoy it because tomorrow you may day.  I want to die with a smile on my face because I know I have done everything to that point in my life and enjoyed it.  

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Loveology

By Aliya Leigh

How should I act on a date?

How do you want the date to end, is the real question. Now, the date depends on you, not your friends, family or a magazine because they are not you. I can't stand how people judge me about be dating. For example, some people just want the booty call, while others are looking for that special someone. So, before you go the first date with someone new, you need to ask yourself, "How do I want the date to end?â

You can end the date in different ways, for example, âthe hook upâ, âjust friendsâ, âno wayâ, âbooty callâ and âyou're so special, I like youâ.

The hook up date, is my favorite and specialty date. It has my name all over it. So, what is âthe hook upâ date? It's a date where you just want to have sex after a dinner or any type of function. The mistake people have with âthe hook upâ, is that after the hook up, you have a relationship; which is not true. Sometimes, the hook up doesn't turn into a long lasting relationship. On a hook up date, you prepare yourself and your body, meaning you know you look hot and you feel hot to the point that everyone will stare at you and wish you were with them. During the date, you feel the mood. Think with your gut not your head. If the date is going well, then you have nothing to worry about, just be yourself. When you start making out in the car, you know it's on. Now, at this point you can control the situation. You can just make out or go all the way, but you need to remember, you may not have a second date and to always have protection.

The just friends date, is OK. I had a few myself. It's a date you or the other person want to establish a date, but at the end you become friends. Again, you need to trust your gut and to give hints to see what direction the date is going. When you became friends it's cool because more friends and more people to talk too, plus sometimes friends become lovers. So, if the date turns into friends, don't worry about it. There are millions of fish in the sea.

The no way date, is easy to spot. During the date, if the person you are with or you yourself starts talking on the phone with a friend or texting, then this is a no way date, meaning that basically you are just wasting time and money on something you don't care about. When it is a no way date, just end it. You can be the ass or let the other person be the ass. For example, I was on a date and the person was just texting friends while we were eating. When you know, it's a no way date, just end it and throw away the number because wasting time is not good. Now, if you just want the date to be a booty call, then talk about it and if each party agrees to the terms; during sex DON'T TALK, JUST DO.

The booty call date is easy. If each party agrees to the terms then just have fun. Just be safe and stick with the terms. With a booty call, don't let feelings get into the way because it's just physical relationship. When emotions get involve, talk to the other person and let the relationship go, if you can't handle it anymore. It's better to leave then to stay in a relationship and the other party doesn't feel the same way.

The you're so special date is the best. So I save the best for last. It's a date when the two parties feel a connection to point they can say, âI want youâ, meaning you two belong with each other. Sometimes the relationship will blossom in the moment you meet or at the end of the date. Remember to trust your gut. You will know, when the right person comes along. Romance novels ideas come from real life relationships, so your love story will happen, just be patience and keep your options open.

Dating is dating. How you act on the date is your business, not your friends or a magazine. I hate it when people base your lives for a romance novels, movies and their own friends. Novels and movies are loosely based on real life. Your friends may seem happy when you see them, but you don't know the drama in their house. So base your love life on yourself and gut. Remember, cause and effect. What you cause has an effect, so whatever you put out into the universes will come back to you.

Keith Griffin of Jensen Beach is charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography. He told investigators he was downloading music and his cat jumped on the keyboard after he had left the room. When he returned, he found "strange things" on his computer, according to the sheriff's report.

Griffin, 48, is being held on $250,000 bond. A neighbor is taking care of the cat â who has not been charged.

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So watch you cats around the computer because they are so super smart and have fingers

Everyone's life has its ups and downs, I don't care how famous or rich or poor or alone you are.  It's life. 

As beings, we create our own life.  So, go out there in the world and create.  Because we only have one life, so make the best out of it.

Twitter said in its status blog Thursday that it was "defending against a denial-of-service attack," in which hackers command scores of computers to a single site at the same time, preventing legitimate traffic from getting through.

For users of the fast-growing messaging service, the outage means no tweeting about lunch plans, the weather or the fact that Twitter is down.

also seemed to be experiencing problems, at least intermittently. Facebook spokeswoman Brandee Barker said the company was looking into it and would have an update "as soon as possible."

The Twitter outage began at about 9 a.m. EDT, said Ken Godskind, chief strategy officer at Web performance monitoring company AlertSite. The site still had access problems late morning.

NEW YORK â 

In a resolution adopted by the APA's governing council, and in an accompanying report, the association issued its most comprehensive repudiation of "reparative therapy" â a concept espoused by a small but persistent group of therapists, often allied with religious conservatives, who maintain gays can change.

No solid evidence exists that such change is likely, says the resolution, adopted by a 125-4 vote. The APA said some research suggests that efforts to produce change could be harmful, inducing depression and suicidal tendencies.

Instead of seeking such change, the APA urged therapists to consider multiple options â that could range from celibacy to switching churches â for helping clients live spiritually rewarding lives in instances where their sexual orientation and religious faith conflict.

The APA had criticized reparative therapy in the past, but a six-member task force added weight to this position by examining 83 studies on sexual orientation change conducted since 1960. Its report was endorsed by the APA's governing council in Toronto, where the 150,000-member association's annual meeting is being held this weekend.

The report breaks new ground in its detailed and nuanced assessment of how therapists should deal with gay clients struggling to remain loyal to a religious faith that disapproves of homosexuality.

Judith Glassgold, a Highland Park, New Jersey, psychologist who chaired the task force, said she hoped the document could help calm the polarized debate between religious conservatives who believe in the possibility of changing sexual orientation and the many mental health professionals who reject that option.

"Both sides have to educate themselves better," Glassgold said in an interview. "The religious psychotherapists have to open up their eyes to the potential positive aspects of being gay or lesbian. Secular therapists have to recognize that some people will choose their faith over their sexuality."

In dealing with gay clients from conservative faiths, says the report, therapists should be "very cautious" about suggesting treatments aimed at altering their same-sex attractions.

"Practitioners can assist clients through therapies that do not attempt to change sexual orientation, but rather involve acceptance, support and identity exploration and development without imposing a specific identity outcome," the report says.

"We have to challenge people to be creative," said Glassgold.

She suggested that devout clients could focus on overarching aspects of religion such as hope and forgiveness to transcend negative beliefs about homosexuality, and either remain part of their original faith within its limits â for example, by embracing celibacy â or find a faith that welcomes gays.

"There's no evidence to say that change therapies work, but these vulnerable people are tempted to try them, and when they don't work, they feel doubly terrified," Glassgold said. "You should be honest with people and say, 'This is not likely to change your sexual orientation, but we can help explore what options you have."'

One of the largest organizations promoting the possibility of changing sexual orientation is Exodus International, a network of ministries whose core message is "Freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ."

Its president, Alan Chambers, describes himself as someone who "overcame unwanted same-sex attraction." He and other evangelicals met with APA representatives after the task force formed in 2007, and he expressed satisfaction with parts of the report that emerged.

"It's a positive step â simply respecting someone's faith is a huge leap in the right direction," Chambers said. "But I'd go further. Don't deny the possibility that someone's feelings might change."

An evangelical psychologist, Mark Yarhouse of Regent University, praised the APA report for urging a creative approach to gay clients' religious beliefs but â like Chambers â disagreed with its skepticism about changing sexual orientation.

Yarhouse and a colleague, Professor Stanton Jones of Wheaton College, will be releasing findings at the APA meeting Friday from their six-year study of people who went through Exodus programs. More than half of 61 subjects either converted to heterosexuality or "disidentified" with homosexuality while embracing chastity, their study said.

To Jones and Yarhouse, their findings prove change is possible for some people, and on average the attempt to change will not be harmful.

The APA task force took as a starting point the belief that homosexuality is a normal variant of human sexuality, not a disorder, and that it nonetheless remains stigmatized in ways that can have negative consequences.

The report said the subgroup of gays interested in changing their sexual orientation has evolved over the decades and now is comprised mostly of well-educated white men whose religion is an important part of their lives and who participate in conservative faiths that frown on homosexuality.

"Religious faith and psychology do not have to be seen as being opposed to each other," the report says, endorsing approaches "that integrate concepts from the psychology of religion and the modern psychology of sexual orientation."

Perry Halkitis, a New York University psychologist who chairs the APA committee dealing with gay and lesbian issues, praised the report for its balance.

"Anyone who makes decisions based on good science will be satisfied," he said. "As a clinician, you have to deal with the whole person, and for some people, faith is a very important aspect of who they are."

The report also addressed the issue of whether adolescents should be subjected to therapy aimed at altering their sexual orientation. Any such approach should "maximize self-determination" and be undertaken only with the youth's consent, the report said.

Wayne Besen, a gay-rights activist who has sought to discredit the so-called "ex-gay" movement, welcomed the APA findings.

"Ex-gay therapy is a profound travesty that has led to pointless tragedies, and we are pleased that the APA has addressed this psychological scourge," Besen said.

Edwin Sele touched down at Sky Harbor Airport hours after two of the four suspects in the case, also Liberian refugees, appeared in Maricopa County Juvenile Court. Judges said it was up to attorneys whether the suspects could meet with Sele.

Sele said he wanted to meet with the Liberian community in Phoenix, and also the victim and the suspects.

"I'm a father, I'm a grandfather, I wouldn't want this to happen to my child, and Liberians don't think that way," Sele said, refuting reports that rape is condoned in Liberia and the victim often is blamed.

The young rape suspects, in handcuffs and shackles, went before separate judges, who ordered them kept in custody while the crime is investigated further.

One of the boys slouched in his oversized chair and was expressionless for most of the hearing. But, he began crying when Judge Aimee Anderson told him she was proud of his accomplishments while he was in custody and that she realized it was tough for him to be detained. The boy's age is uncertain because of paperwork discrepancies; he is either 9 or 10 years old.

A 9-year-old boy charged in the case appeared before another judge.

The two judges left prosecutors the option of changing sexual assault charges against the boys to sexual conduct with a minor.

The boys will return to court Aug. 18 for a mental competency hearing.

The court proceedings revealed the two boys are cousins and that their parents have returned to Africa. Other family members were in court, but decided not to speak to reporters and were escorted out by security personnel. One of the uncles drove toward reporters with horn blaring and stopped just short of the pack to pick up family members.

A third suspect, 14 years old, has been charged as an adult, and prosecutors moved this week to have a fourth suspect, 13 years old, also tried as an adult.

The father of the alleged victim said Tuesday that he knew nothing about the ambassador's visit and that he had no opinion about trying the suspects as adults.

"I have nothing to say," he told News/Talk 92-3 KTAR.

Martha Riveria, who lived next door to the 13-year-old suspect, did have a comment.

"I'm so proud justice is served. She's a little girl and she deserves to be protected and if parents are not there to do it, justice is doing what needs to be done."

Riveria said the 13-year-old should be tried as an adult.

"At age 13, you already know what you're doing, what is wrong and what is right."

Riveria said the suspect's family moved out of the complex last weekend.

The rape was not reported for a week and officials said cultural differences caused the victim's family to blame her instead of her attackers.

Sele said the Liberian government does not condone rape, as some media reports have said.

"We think this is a special, isolated case," he said, adding, "We are very concerned about the well-being of the 8-year-old girl, who only is a baby."

The suspects all are Liberian refugees, like the victim.

Police said the four boys lured the girl to an empty storage shed July 16 with the promise of chewing gum, then restrained her and took turns raping her.

The suspects were arrested July 21.

The 14-year-old faces charges of kidnapping, sexual assault, attempted sexual conduct with a minor and four counts of sexual conduct with a minor. His arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 10.

The case ignited an international outcry after Phoenix police reported the girl's parents said they were ashamed of her and didn't want her back, which led Child Protective Services to take custody of her.

The family's pastor says the father's statements were all a misunderstanding resulting from a language barrier and that the family desperately wants her back.

(Copyright 2008 Bonneville International Corporation. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.)

I am told the report was finished very recently and most of the tests were conducted at the Coroner's Office and samples were for the most part not sent to outside labs. The Coroner's Office is not holding a press conference as they had originally planned, but is waiting for direction from the LAPD.

That doesn't mean they won't release cause of death, but the Coroner's Office doesn't want to jeopardize the investigation and is waiting for LAPD guidance.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE:    One of our sources has told me for a couple of days that he does believe the release of the toxicology report will come next week. Having said that, anything can happen, so we remain prepared to cover the release when it is anounced. This all comes as we also prepare for the court battle coming Monday over custody of the Jackson children and control of his will. I have just been e-mailed this statement from the Special Administrators listed in the 2002 Jackson will, who are preparing for that courtroom battle on Monday.  Since being appointed by the Probate Court as Special Administrators of the Estate of Michael Jackson, John Branca and John McClain, who were specifically designated by Michael Jackson in his will to be executors of his Estate, have been focused on preserving Michael's legacy and carrying out his wishes. According to two of my sources from different offices involved in this search.....They insist, this is NOT a raid. A raid "is when we go in with guns, knock down doors and arrest people." He continues, "This is serving a search warrant as part of an intense ongoing investigation."

The Special Administrators have and will continue to provide timely information to Mrs. Jackson's counsel regarding potential business opportunities for the Estate. Any inference that we have not been forthcoming in providing information to Katherine Jackson's attorneys is not accurate.

There is one agreement being requested by Mrs. Jackson's attorneys where the other party to the contract has agreed to provide the document to Mrs. Jackson and her attorneys but requested that the terms be kept confidential and not be shared with third parties. Mrs. Jackson's lawyers have refused that offer.

Based on comments made on The Today Show by one of Mrs. Jackson's attorneys it appears that they want to rewrite Michael's will to make Mrs. Jackson "Guardian of the Estate" and have her appointed as an Executor and Trustee of Michael Jackson's Estate.

In his will Michael was very specific that his mother act as the Guardian of his children and that Mr. Branca and Mr. McClain be the Executors of his Will and Trustees of his Trust.

FROM TUESDAY:

The reason why the raid is taking place in Las Vegas today and not last week is due to complications with obtaining a search warrant on Dr. Murray's home. As one tells me "Justice is sometimes slow and there is a strict protocol and method we have to follow. This is not a totalitarian state and we have to absolutely respect the right of someone being investigated like Dr. Murray."

6 Agencies are taking part (state, Fed and local). This is very similar to last weeks search warrant in Houston. It is under seal, initiated by Las Vegas Police and led by LAPD. The investigators are looking for documents and records. They are building a very detailed case and much of this stuff can't easily be destroyed without obvious.

The DEA is taking part in this investigation NOT due to a possible manslaughter investigation. They are strictly looking at Doctor Murray and his connection to the drugs involved in this case and possibly others.

Remember, last week we reported there might be more searches of locations connected to Dr. Murray.

I am also told: Investigators DO NOT feel that Dr. Murray is a flight risk. As of right now, they don't expect to arrest him any time soon, but that could always change on short notice. They suggest this investigation closely resembles the Anna Nicole investigation, which took months to wrap up.

I am also told, "prosecuting a person in a case like this is extremely difficult and some prosecutors would argue almost impossible. It is so hard to prove."

Multiple sources tell me the toxicology report on Michael Jackson is complete and that the Coroner's Office has submitted it's report to the LAPD.                                                                                                        I am told the report was finished very recently and most of the tests were conducted at the Coroner's Office and samples were for the most part not sent to outside labs. The Coroner's Office is not holding a press conference as they had originally planned, but is waiting for direction from the LAPD.                                                                                      That doesn't mean they won't release cause of death, but the Coroner's Office doesn't want to jeopardize the investigation and is waiting for LAPD guidance.

Multiple sources tell me the toxicology report on Michael Jackson is complete and that the Coroner's Office has submitted it's report to the LAPD.                                                                                               I am told the report was finished very recently and most of the tests were conducted at the Coroner's Office and samples were for the most part not sent to outside labs. The Coroner's Office is not holding a press conference as they had originally planned, but is waiting for direction from the LAPD.                                                                                 That doesn't mean they won't release cause of death, but the Coroner's Office doesn't want to jeopardize the investigation and is waiting for LAPD guidance.

The son of Academy Award winner Michael Douglas has been arrested once again â this time in the Big Apple for getting in the middle of a deal to sell an eye-popping pile of crystal meth, law-enforcement sources said yesterday.

The 30-year-old sometime-actor/sometime-DJ was busted on July 28 at the Gansevoort Hotel in the Meatpacking District by a DEA task force, the sources said.

He had been staying at the hotel for some time in a room rented by his father, and when authorities barged in, they found the place a mess and Cameron Douglas "very strung out," according to the sources.

An informant had told the investigators that Douglas â grandson of Kirk Douglas â was the middleman in a deal to move a half-pound of crystal meth from California to New York to sell.

Guy Ritchie's plan to put a gay spin on the relationship of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in his new movie about the detective and his sidekick could backfire.

Robert Downey Jr., who plays Holmes, has revealed the crimebuster will sleep with and have sweaty grappling scenes with Watson, played by Jude Law, in "Sherlock Holmes," due out Christmas Day.

"We're two men who happen to be roommates, wrestle a lot and share a bed. It's bad-ass," Downey told Britain's News of the World. Added much-in-the-news Law: "Guy wanted to make this about the relationship between Watson and Holmes. They're both mean and complicated."

But Michael Medved, a former Post movie critic, says Downey and Law must be joking. "There's not a seething, bubbling hunger to see straight stars impersonating homosexuals," Medved told us. "I think they're just trying to generate controversy . . . They know that making Holmes and Watson homosexual will take away two-thirds of their box office. Who is going to want to see Downey Jr. and Law make out? I don't think it would be appealing to women. Straight men don't want to see it."

Roger Johnson, editor of the Sherlock Holmes Journal, observed that in Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories, "Watson is something of a ladies' man, but a faithful husband to his wife. And Holmes is essentially asexual, with no erotic interest in women or men."

I need to have steady girlfriend.  The chasing after different girls is getting old.  It one girl after the next.  The same old same old.  You meet, have sex and they leave.  Maybe you will talk a few times or you don't, I never cared.  I would talk about them anyway. 

With some girls, the sex is exciting, dull, down right boring, weird and sick. I have done it all and had my fill.

Now, I'm ready to settle down and have a family.  But, I need to find the right girl first. I know she is out there, but where?