Despite attempts by some current religious figures and politicians to redefine the Constitutional meaning of religious freedom in the narrow context of Christianity, everyone in this country has the right to practice whatever religion they choose -- or to practice no religion at all. Religious freedom also means, however, that anyone can claim to be a prophet no matter how ridiculous or insidious his or her beliefs.



Such is the case with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of… Continue

In my February 27th blog, I wrote about the case of Don Siegelman, a Democrat and former Alabama governor, who was charged with conspiracy and bribery and sentenced to seven years in prison. Fifty-two former state attorneys-general had asked Congress to investigate whether the charges brought against Siegelman were part of a five-year secret campaign to ruin the governor orchestrated by President Bush's former chief political adviser Karl Rove.



Yesterday, the House Judiciary… Continue

Yesterday’s indictment of Lori Drew of suburban St. Louis, who allegedly helped create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist to convince Megan Meier she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans, is a long overdue wake-up call to all those who are bullying or harassing others by posting and sending fraudulent messages on the Internet.



Drew was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to… Continue

The hottest crime story in Minnesota and on the Internet involves the death of Chris Jenkins, a University of Minnesota college student whose body was found in the Mississippi River in February of 2003. Originally ruled “undetermined” or “drowning” by the Minneapolis Police Department, the cause of death was recently changed to “homicide” because of the dogged efforts of Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte, two retired NYPD detectives.



Gannon and Duarte have investigated more than 40… Continue

According to a report by a Pentagon panel, the dollar value of Army contracts quadrupled from $23.3 billion in 1992 to $100.6 billion in 2006. While the Pentagon outsourced hundreds of troop support jobs to private companies, the number of Army contract supervisors was cut from 10,000 in 1990 to 5,500 currently.



In what writer Naomi Klein calls “disaster capitalism” in her terrific book The Shock Doctrine, this collusion between the private sector and the Pentagon and the resulting… Continue