A health care agency founded by a controversial Episcopal "party priest" is under investigation by the state Attorney General's office.
Agents from the office of Attorney General Tom Corbett raided New Life Home Care Inc. at 48 S. Main St. in Pittston on Tuesday, removing boxes of documents.
"We executed search warrants as part of an ongoing insurance fraud investigation," Corbett's Press Secretary Kevin Harley said.
New Life Home Care Inc., founded in 2000 by the Rev. Gregory Malia, 44, of Laflin, provides services for people with bleeding disorders. According to the company Web site, Malia has hemophilia himself and started the pharmacy "because he saw the need for an advocate between the patient and the HTC (hemophilia treatment center)."
Malia, who holds a Bachelor of Arts in theology from King's College, was ordained in 2002, serving first as assistant vicar at Trinity Church in West Pittston before becoming pastor of St. James Episcopal Church in Dundaff, Susquehanna County.
His lavish tips and generosity in picking up tabs in pricey Manhattan night spots led the New York Daily News to refer to him as a "big-spending, champagne-swilling, club-hopping Episcopal priest from Pennsylvania." He disputed the accuracy of the Daily News' accounts in a January interview with a Times-Shamrock reporter.
Malia made the New York news again after a July 7 incident in Jenkins Township. After running into his estranged daughters at the River Street Ale House, police allege he pulled a .38-caliber handgun on his daughters' boyfriends outside the bar, while two of Malia's female friends beat up his daughters. His preliminary hearing on charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, and reckless endangerment is scheduled for Oct. 6. No charges have been filed or arrests made in the Attorney General's investigation.
The Diocese of Bethlehem suspended Malia in December after the initial newspaper reports surfaced. Last week, the diocese announced he would be demoted for six months. If, at the end of that time, Malia fails to "make matters completely right," he could be defrocked, Bishop Paul V. Marshall stated.
[Bangla Daily Star] Michael Jackson's death has been ruled a homicide caused by a mix of drugs meant to treat insomnia, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press, while his personal doctor told investigators he was actually trying to wean the King of Pop off the powerful anaesthetic that did him in.
Forensic tests found the anaesthetic propofol combined with at least two sedatives to kill Jackson, according to the official, who spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because the findings have not been publicly released. Based on those tests, the Los Angeles County Coroner has ruled the death a homicide, the official said.
The coroner's homicide ruling does not necessarily mean a crime was committed. But it makes it more likely criminal charges will be filed against Dr. Conrad Murray, the Las Vegas cardiologist who was caring for the pop star when he died June 25 in a rented Los Angeles mansion.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2009 00:00 ||
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Apostrophes are your friend. The headline had me at confused.
I definitely want the popcorn concession on this one.
The nation's largest business lobby wants to put the science of global warming on trial.
Whee! This is going to be fun!
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, trying to ward off potentially sweeping federal emissions regulations, is pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to hold a rare public hearing on the scientific evidence for man-made climate change.
Chamber officials say it would be "the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century" -- complete with witnesses, cross-examinations and a judge who would rule, essentially, on whether humans are warming the planet to dangerous effect.
"It would be evolution versus creationism," said William Kovacs, the chamber's senior vice president for environment, technology and regulatory affairs. "It would be the science of climate change on trial."
The goal of the chamber, which represents 3 million large and small businesses, is to fend off potential emissions regulations by undercutting the scientific consensus over climate change. If the EPA denies the request, as expected, the chamber plans to take the fight to federal court. Go for it. But not in the jurisdiction of the 9th Circus....
In the coming weeks, the EPA is set to formally declare that the heat-trapping gases scientists blame for climate change endanger human health, and are thus subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. The so-called endangerment finding will be a cornerstone of the Obama administration's plan to set strict new emissions standards on cars and trucks bankrupt the country and turn us into a third world backwater.
The proposed finding has drawn more than 300,000 public comments. Many of them question scientists' projections that rising temperatures will lead to increased mortality rates, harmful pollution and extreme weather events such as hurricanes. Cranks, the lot of 'em. Just ask Bambi.
In light of those comments, the chamber will tell the EPA in a filing today that a trial-style public hearing, which is allowed under the law but nearly unprecedented on this scale, is the only way to "make a fully informed, transparent decision with scientific integrity based on the actual record of the science." Well, jeez - we can't have that.
More at the link.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/26/2009 19:14 ||
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USCC should call Stephen Wolfram as an expert on Computer modelling and chaotic complexity.
It's his book that made me realise (although that is not the intention of the book) that computer models have near zero predictive power unless there are massive dampeners that basically mean the fancy model is pointless.
#2
Let's see - following the Scopes Monkey Trial, William Jennings Bryant lasted all of five days, before dying a broken and disgraced man. Keeping that thought in mind .......
Dick Rutan representing the forces of reason, and Al Gore representing the forces of lunatic hysteria.
#3
Gore would never appear in an honest debate. He's a lying snake-oil salesman. A fraud, and a moral cretin. I hope he dies alone, penniless, freezing to death inside his megamansion
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/26/2009 20:20 Comments ||
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Dick Rutan's argument available in a PowerPoint presentation at http://rps3.com/Files/AGW/Rutan.AGWdataAnalysis%20v11.ppt
#5
I hope he dies alone, penniless, freezing to death inside his megamansion
Sorry dude, by Al's made $100 million since leaving office. There's big money in govt. mandated waste peddling snake oil.
Posted by: ed ||
08/26/2009 20:37 Comments ||
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#6
I can dream, no?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/26/2009 20:46 Comments ||
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#7
No one can take your dreams away Frank. BTW, which mansion would you like Al to expire in?
Fast Comapny Dec 2007: Financial disclosure documents released before the 2000 election put the Gore family's net worth at $1 million to $2 million. After years of public service--and four kids needing high-priced educations--Al and Tipper used to fret occasionally about money. Not anymore. They have a new multimillion-dollar home in a tony section of Nashville and a family home in Virginia, and have recently bought a multimillion-dollar condo at the St. Regis condo/hotel in San Francisco. Available data indicate a net worth well in excess of $100 million.
Posted by: ed ||
08/26/2009 20:50 Comments ||
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#8
Tenn. That way he can be buried in the licensed toxic mining op his daddy set up with Armand Hammer
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/26/2009 21:18 Comments ||
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Lost his job because they didn't believe his two certificates from the same hospital for the same surgery twice, complications from the second surgery left him in constant pain and barely able to walk. The hospital's response:
Paul Gearing, the deputy general manager for surgery at Great Western Hospital, confirmed that an investigation into Mr Wattson's claims was under way. He said: "We are unable to comment on individual cases. However, we would like to apologise if Mr Wattson felt dissatisfied with the care he received at GWH.
#1
A ruptured appendix is very bad news. To prevent peritonitis, he is going to have to suck down large amounts of antibiotics for weeks or even months. And even then, the abdominal cavity is still filled with rotting filth.
#2
A ruptured appendix is indeed bad news: rapidly leads to peritonitis and usually sepsis as well. The cure is to go back in surgically and clean the field, lyse adhesions, and remove any gangrenous bowel. Many times the surgical wound isn't closed but left open to heal by secondary intention. Lots of fluids, antibiotics, etc.
Not good. This is the sort of horror that modern medicine is supposed to prevent.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/26/2009 9:21 Comments ||
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The UK doesn't have modern medicine, it has stalinist medicine.
[Maghrebia] The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) is expected to open its first branch in London, The Guardian reported on Tuesday (August 25th). According to the British newspaper, a London branch of the Tripoli-based sovereign wealth fund could potentially channel "billions of dollars worth of investment" to the UK. LIA has already purchased two London buildings and reportedly plans to expand its real estate holdings in the city.
No doubt Prime Minister Brown, though quivering deep in the cellar, is pleased at what the release of the Lockarbie planner has purchased.
Is Gordo going to cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony?
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2009 00:00 ||
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So, in other words, they let the convicted Lockerbie terrorist out of a Scottish prison so that Libyan dictator Q'Daffy could proceed with plans to buy Britain.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/26/2009 14:17 Comments ||
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#2
Please, somebody tell me I'm wrong.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/26/2009 14:18 Comments ||
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Wish I could, Abu Uluque. That seems to be the little colonel's plan, at least.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it will temporarily restrict issuing U.S. visas in Honduras, raising pressure on the government that took power after a June 28 coup to step down. The State Department, which has repeatedly condemned the judicial order military coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya, said that from Wednesday it would only provide visa services to potential immigrants and emergency cases at its embassy in Tegucigalpa.
"Lead, follow, or get out of the way," they used to say in my dewy youth, oh so long ago. "Get in the way when everyone else has moved on," used not to be one of the options.
The Obama administration has urged Honduran authorities to accept proposals put forward by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, whose efforts to end the crisis have stalled over the de facto government's refusal to allow Zelaya to return to power.
And instead the Micheletti government followed Honduran law ...
The San Jose accord proposed last month by the Nobel Peace Prize winner would have allowed Zelaya to return to office until elections are held by the end of November.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the visa decision was intended to reinforce an Organization of American States' delegation that landed in Honduras on Monday to try to persuade the de facto government to accept the Arias' plan. "In support of this mission and as a consequence of the de facto regime's reluctance to sign the San Jose accord, the U.S. Department of State is conducting a full review of our visa policy in Honduras," Kelly said in a written statement.
"As part of that review, we are suspending non-emergency, non-immigrant visa services in the consular section of our embassy in Honduras, effective August 26," Kelly added. "We firmly believe a negotiated solution is the appropriate way forward and the San Jose Accord is the best solution."
A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity told reporters the visa decision was "a signal of how seriously we are watching the situation" and said Washington was considering other steps though it was premature to disclose these.
Another U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the visa suspension would chiefly hit Honduran tourists and business people, although he noted that most of these already have multiple entry visas that are still valid.
The legitimate de facto government, which has resisted pressure from Western hemisphere governments and international bodies to reinstate Zelaya, vowed on Tuesday to stick to a plan to hold a presidential election in November, even if other countries don't recognize the result.
"There will be elections whether they are recognized or not," the country's caretaker leader Roberto Micheletti told foreign ministers from the region on a visit with Organization of American States chief Jose Miguel Insulza.
Micheletti said his country could survive any economic sanctions imposed over his refusal to allow Zelaya's return. "We are not afraid of anyone's embargo," Micheletti told the ministers. "This country can get by without your support."
The Honduran crisis has divided Washington. Earlier this month, 16 Democratic Congressmen wrote to Obama urging him to freeze the assets of legitimate government coup leaders. But a group of Republican senators has sought to hold up confirmation of State Department appointments due to the administration's support for Zelaya, an ally of Venezuela's leftist president Hugo Chavez.
Advocacy group Human Rights Watch on Tuesday urged the international community, and the United States in particular, to ratchet up pressure on the legitimate de facto government in light of a report documenting abuses against Zelaya's supporters.
How about the reports of Zelaya supporters rioting and smashing stuff?
Don't be silly. Rioting and property destruction are among the basic human rights of the Left. It's only newsworthy when they are deprived of their rights.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said on Friday that four people had been shot dead in protests since the June 28 coup. It also criticized more than 3,500 arbitrary arrests aimed at silencing protests.
"The U.S. government, in particular, could play a key role through the use of carefully targeted sanctions," said HRW director for the Americas, Jose Miguel Vivanco. Vivanco said the Obama administration should directly target members of the legitimate de facto government by denying them access to the U.S. banking system and targeting private companies associated with these officials.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/26/2009 00:00 ||
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wrote my Congressman Duncan D. Hunter about this. The Reps should be the crap out of Obama and DOS over their bolivarian friendship
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/26/2009 6:49 Comments ||
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We need a Coventry for recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. Somewhere to keep them where they won't cause any more damage to the general public.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/26/2009 15:09 Comments ||
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They are messing with our archeology expeditions?
[Iran Press TV Latest] Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has accused US right-wingers of being racists, saying they hate President Barack Obama because he is Black. "I don't have the slightest doubt that the racist right will do everything possible to wear him down, blocking his program to get him out of the game one way or another," he wrote in a column published on Tuesday. "The extreme right hates him [Obama] for being African-American and fights what the president does to improve the deteriorated image of that country," Castro added.
The former Cuban president also said that Obama does not want to change the US political and economic system. Obama had inherited many problems from his predecessor, George W. Bush, and was trying to resolve them, according to Castro. However, the "powerful extreme right won't be happy with anything that diminishes their prerogatives in the slightest way."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2009 00:00 ||
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The Army also runs a prep school for potential West Point cadets, including enlisted soldiers, round didn't prepare them sufficiently for the academic requirements at the academy. Those who graduate from the prep school and go to West Point usually do fine once there.
MOSCOW -- One week after Russia said one of its warships seized a freighter laden with lumber and liberated the Russian crew from pirates, Moscow said the ship may have been carrying more than timber after all.
The comments from a top Russian official, Alexander Bastrykin, are likely to deepen speculation around the history of the ship, the Arctic Sea, which the government had insisted was a victim of rare piracy in European waters. After the crew reported being attacked by pirates off Sweden in July, the ship disappearedbefore Russia announced it had found it intact, with its crew, off the west coast of Africa.
"We aren't excluding the possibility that they could have been carrying more than just lumber," Mr. Bastrykin said Tuesday, according to Russia's Interfax news agency. The comments by Mr. Bastrykin, head of the powerful Investigative Committee, which reports to Russia's president, are the first official concession that the ship might have been carrying sensitive cargo.
Observers in Russia and abroad say the strange behavior of the crew as well as the Kremlin's response suggest the ship may have been smuggling arms or drugs. The ship was officially carrying a load of timber to Algeria, which experts say wasn't worth the cost of mounting such a caper on the high seas.
Algeria could get timber from sources a lot closer unless the order specifically called for Russian birch. And even then it would have been shipped from a Russian port on the Black Sea.
Since Russia seized the ship, its crew has been held incommunicado, and family members have complained they are unable to talk to the crew. Some of the crew were allowed to call family Tuesday to report they were in good health, Interfax said, but they still weren't allowed to reveal their whereabouts.
Why it almost seems as if the crew are being treated as suspects ...
Russia has dismissed suggestions of arms or drug smuggling aboard the Arctic Sea, and says the piracy appears to be a mundane case of hijacking for ransom. Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday that an initial check of the Arctic Sea's cargo revealed "nothing suspicious," but that a closer inspection was needed to settle the question.
None of the official court filings contains a reference to the smuggling of weapons, a defense attorney for two of the alleged hijackers said Tuesday. "There is no mention of [illegal] arms," said Konstantin Boronovsky, in an interview with Radio Ekho Moskvy. He stressed, however, that he could only cite files he had been able to read.
Mr. Bastrykin said investigators have been holding the crew because it was unclear whether some of them may have been involved in the hijacking. "We need to figure out whether someone might have been involved," he said.
The ship itself is bypassing Algeria, where it was supposed to unload its cargo of timber, and is being taken to the Russian port of Novorossiisk, Mr. Bastrykin said, where it will undergo a search. A port official in Novorossiisk said the ship would only arrive in mid- to late September, Russian government news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Mikhail Voitenko, editor of trade magazine Maritime Bulletin, said the government likely knows what the Arctic Sea's contents are, but is undecided about what to reveal. He said it would have been irrational, however, for pirates to seize a load of timber.
"If it's a criminal cargo, it would have to be a very large one to make this worthwhile," he said. "If it's three or four thousand tons of heroin, I can understand this. Otherwise this makes no sense."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/26/2009 00:00 ||
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Drugs wouldn't necessitate a bulkhead makeover:
The official version of events was questioned by Yulia Latynina, a leading Russian opposition journalist and commentator. "The Arctic Sea was carrying something, not timber and not from Finland, that necessitated some major work on the ship," she wrote in the Moscow Times newspaper on Wednesday.
During two weeks of repair works in the Russian port of Kaliningrad just before the voyage, the ship's bulkhead was dismantled so something very large could be loaded, she wrote.
"To put it plainly: The Arctic Sea was carrying some sort of anti-aircraft or nuclear contraption intended for a nice, peaceful country like Syria, and they were caught with it," she said.
#3
Who in his right might would be shipping heroin *from* Russia? That rather seems like shipping oil from the American Northeast - the locals are enthusiastic consumers in their own right.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/26/2009 15:07 Comments ||
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Russia is the major transshipment point for heroin into northern Europe, usually through Scandanavia but also through the Baltic to Germany IIRC.
#5
Yep, it is alleged that Russia was mysteriously utiliz far more firepower = potent mil assets than needed to search for a ship carrying merely "lumber"???
[Iran Press TV] The United States has not made significant progress in Internet connection speed as it stands 28th in the world, according to a new US report. "Our nation continues to fall far behind other countries," the Communications Workers of America (CWA) said in the report on Tuesday. "People in Japan can upload a high-definition video in 12 minutes, compared to a grueling 2.5 hours at the US average upload speed," it said.
The average download speed in South Korea is 20.4 megabits per second (mbps) - four times faster than the US average of 5.1 mbps. Japan follows South Korea with an average of 15.8 mbps trailed by Sweden at 12.8 mbps and the Netherlands at 11.0 mbps, the report said. It said tests conducted by speedmatters.org found the average US download speed had improved by only nine-tenths of a megabit per second between 2008 and 2009 - from 4.2 mbps to 5.1 mbps.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2009 00:00 ||
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Might just have something to do with size. South Korea is about the size of Florida. It also has to do with the fact that it is the United States of American. That's 50 separate public utility commissions dealing with regulatory aspects that effect bandwidth. Try wiring the four corners area [Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico] with large areas and low population density versus any major metro corridor something the Netherlands doesn't have to deal with.
#2
Those willing to pay more can get faster. I have children to send to college, so I'm not willing to pay more. The nice thing about America is that we have such choices.
#3
Since America has the majority of the worlds servers hosted there the ping speed will probably be the best in the world, however bandWIDTH at the last mile or so might be rubbish due to scale factors.
Like everything IT it's probably best to look at the Log2 of speeds rather than the raw figures.
#8
A lot of these countries installed their infrastructure recently. Countries who started playing this game from the beginning are still dealing with a lot of legacy stuff. Besides, I don't need a huge bandwidth. I'll order it if they get the holographic killer app.
#10
HMMMMM, HMMMMM, so IOW its NOT the OWG-NWO SKYNET reading, recording, stopping, andor altering, etc. our personal emails at will widout having to ask us or tell us, D *** NG IT ITS BECUZ US NET SPEED IS TOO SLOW + BANDWIDTH NOT BIG ENUFF???
After years spent hunting for the buried remains of prehistoric animals, a Canadian paleontologist now plans to manipulate chicken embryos to show he can create a dinosaur.
Cool! They've been doing similar things to insects for years, but this is the fun part of science -- when they manage to do the same to higher animals. No doubt they'll learn many useful things, as well.
Hans Larsson, the Canada Research Chair in Macro Evolution at Montreal's McGill University, said he aims to develop dinosaur traits that disappeared millions of years ago in birds.
Larsson believes by flipping certain genetic levers during a chicken embryo's development, he can reproduce the dinosaur anatomy, he told AFP in an interview. "What could possibly go wrong?"
Though still in its infancy, the research could eventually lead to hatching live prehistoric animals, but Larsson said there are no plans for that now, for ethical and practical reasons -- a dinosaur hatchery is "too large an enterprise." "Unless I can interest a billionare with a private island."
"It's a demonstration of evolution," said Larsson, who has studied bird evolution for the last 10 years. "If I can demonstrate clearly that the potential for dinosaur anatomical development exists in birds, then it again proves that birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs."
The research is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Research Chairs program and National Geographic.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2009 00:00 ||
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More dark meat, please.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/26/2009 5:52 Comments ||
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They've been doing similar things to insects for years.
I remember a sci-fi story where the big problem in South America was the genetically engineered flying scorpions.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/26/2009 9:14 Comments ||
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Does this mean they can also bring back the passenger pigeon, dodo, and huia?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Bangla Daily Star] Michael Jackson's death has been ruled a homicide caused by a mix of drugs meant to treat insomnia, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press, while his personal doctor told investigators he was actually trying to wean the King of Pop off the powerful anaesthetic that did him in.
MOSCOW -- One week after Russia said one of its warships seized a freighter laden with lumber and liberated the Russian crew from pirates, Moscow said the ship may have been carrying more than timber after all.
After years spent hunting for the buried remains of prehistoric animals, a Canadian paleontologist now plans to manipulate chicken embryos to show he can create a dinosaur.
