A former congressman has been charged in connection with his work for an Islamic charity accused of funneling money to an Afghan warlord, prosecutors announced Wednesday… The money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges against former Michigan Rep. Mark Deli Siljander are part of a 42-count indictment released by the U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas City, Missouri.

Siljander “vehemently denies the allegations in the indictment and will enter a not guilty plea,” said his attorney, James Hobbs.

Prosecutors allege Siljander’s co-defendants — the directors of an Islamic charity — hired him to get the organization off a list of agencies suspected of links to terrorism and paid him with stolen U.S. government funds…

Siljander is accused of lying to federal agents and prosecutors about his work for the group, which allegedly steered $260,000 to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar — an ally of the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Read through the details. As far as I can see, no one in this chain of charges has been found guilty of anything – yet. Though indicting a former member of Congress isn’t exactly commonplace.

Why is the Army losing so many talented midlevel officers? The early retirement of a lieutenant colonel ordinarily wouldn’t merit the slightest mention. But today’s news that Lt. Col. John Nagl is leaving the Army is a big deal.

It’s another sign, more alarming than most, that the U.S. military is losing its allure for a growing number of its most creative young officers. More than that, it’s a sign that one of the Army’s most farsighted reforms—a program that some senior officials regard as essential—may be on the verge of getting whacked.
[…]
The prolonged and repeated tours in Iraq were among the reasons for the trend. This is not the case for Nagl. But he represents another problem that the all-volunteer military is facing—the growing influence of the modern soldier’s family. It’s not that more soldiers have families than was once the case; in fact, the numbers are about the same as they were 30 years ago. But it is the case that more men in the military are married to professional women. In the past, many, if not most, officers married women who had grown up in military families.

Canada puts U.S. on torture watch list

Omar Khadr’s lawyers say they can’t understand why Canada is not doing more to help their client in light of new evidence that Ottawa has put the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on a watch list for torture.

Khadr — a Canadian citizen who was just 15-years-old when he was captured in Afghanistan more than five years ago and taken to Guantanamo — has claimed that he has been tortured at the prison. Now, CTV News has obtained documents that put Guantanamo Bay on a torture watch list.

Khadr’s U.S. military lawyer says the new documents contradict Harper’s assurances that his client is receiving fair treatment.

Scientists develop computer that can ‘translate’ a dog’s bark What would a dog say if it could talk? “Stranger”, “fight”, “walk”, “alone”, “ball” and “play”, according to scientists who have developed a computer programme to translate dog barks.

The special programme analysed more than 6,000 barks from 14 Hungarian sheepdogs in six different situations.

In a series of tests the team of scientists, from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary led by Csaba Molnár, discovered that a computer could recognise whether a dog was in a stranger, fight, walk, alone, ball or play scenario.

---

Built in 1871, Stockholm Central Station is the largest train station in the country and in the Nordic region. Around 250,000 persons pass through it every day. It is the heat generated from these visitors that the state owned company, Jernhuset, wants to use for heating the new complex which will include an office building, a hotel and a retail section. How does it work? quite simply, the heat generated will warm up water running through pipes which will be installed in the station. The water will be pumped to the new building and used to heat the spaces inside.

“This is old technology, but used in a new way. It’s just pipes, water and pumps, but we haven’t heard of anyone else using this technology in this way before,” said Karl Sundholm leader for the new project.

I noticed this the other day – and forgot to post it – until I was reminded by a report on DW-TV.

Cost for the system? 20,000 Euros.

• Missed news redux.
• Commentary on the Apple laptop. I wish it was light rather than thin.
• Sun buys MySQL. I do not like this deal.
• Microsoft rumored to buy Logitech? Why? What is the point?
• Is Intel’s energy efficiency scheme a crock? One researcher thinks so.
• Associated Press and Reuters twist same story two different ways.
• Weird Microsoft patent sounds like it is from Stalin’s Russia.

Northwest News and Weather

HILLSBORO, Ore. – A bizarre investigation is underway in Hillsboro, after police said they were contacted by a family whose grandmother died during a recent road trip, yet they decided to keep driving with the body in thier RV until they reached Oregon.

Their trip began in California and they first headed to Arkansas. It was meant to be a special trip for the 79-year-old woman to see loved ones before she died. She was suffering from renal failure but was expected to live long enough to complete the trip. After Arkansas, the family began driving the RV toward Oregon but their grandmother died in Wyoming. However when she died, the family decided to keep driving and transported the body more than 1,000 more miles, until they reached Hillsboro. “They said a Dr. had told them, based on her condition that if she did die, they should continue to drive to their destination,” said Lt. Michael Rouches with the Hillsboro Police Department. “She had a personal physician here in Hillsboro and the idea was that the physician would have her medical records and information about her condition.” One of the family members told KGW that the grandma had told the family it was her wish to be in Oregon for her final days.

Even so, the Office of the Medical Examiner is helping with the investigation. Lt. Rouches said, “Their intentions in starting this thing were good.”

Life imitates art? (or maybe life imitates Hollywood)

With the possible exception of “the dog ate my homework,” there is no handier excuse for human misbehavior than the midlife crisis. Popularly viewed as a unique developmental birthright of the human species, it supposedly strikes when most of us have finally figured ourselves out — only to discover that we have lost our youth and mortality is on the horizon.

No doubt about it, life in the middle ages can be challenging. (Full disclosure: I’m 51.) What with the first signs of physical decline and the questions and doubts about one’s personal and professional accomplishments, it is a wonder that most of us survive…

But surely someone has had a genuine midlife crisis. After all, don’t people routinely struggle with questions like “What can I expect from the rest of my life?” or “Is this all there is?”

Of course. But it turns out that only a distinct minority think it constitutes a crisis.

Have a bud who goes for a beer – wearing his letterman jacket? He bought the jacket to go with his new car?

Borg office party organizer

Microsoft submitted a patent application in the US for a “unique monitoring system” that could link workers to their computers. Wireless sensors could read “heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure”, the application states.

The system could also “automatically detect frustration or stress in the user” and “offer and provide assistance accordingly”. Physical changes to an employee would be matched to an individual psychological profile based on a worker’s weight, age and health. If the system picked up an increase in heart rate or facial expressions suggestive of stress or frustration, it would tell management that he needed help…

Microsoft refused to comment on the application, but said: “We have over 7,000 patents worldwide and we are proud of the quality of these patents and the innovations they represent. As a general practice, we do not typically comment on pending patent applications because claims made in the application may be modified through the approval process.”

What would Patrick Stewart do?

Virginia lawmaker seeks ban on replica genitalia after girl spots rubber testicles on truck
It is one thing to dangle fuzzy dice from a rear view mirror, but decorating a truck’s trailer hitch with a large pair of rubber testicles might be a bit much in Virginia.

State lawmaker Lionel Spruill introduced a bill Tuesday to ban displaying rubber replicas of male genitalia on vehicles,
calling it a safety issue because it could distract other drivers.

Under his measure, displaying the ornamentation on a motor vehicle would be a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of $250.

Click pic if you need a pair

Click pic to watch Tom explain all

For many years, Tom Cruise has been one of the top actors in Hollywood who has dated and married some of the world’s best looking women. Yeah, occasionally his wacky ‘religious’ beliefs have gotten him into trouble, but then he’d make another blockbuster film and so what if the tabloids made money on his personal life. He put himself out there.

Hopefully the video will stay up, unlike the original on YouTube that got yanked.

Associated Press – January 15, 2008:

A Girl Scout who was robbed while selling cookies led police straight to a 12-year-old suspect — who wrote her name and address on a cookie order form before the theft.

The Girl Scout, 10-year-old Nicole Grant, told police she was selling cookies with a friend Sunday when a girl ordered cookies from her, then snatched Nicole’s zip-top bag, containing $28 in cookie money, and fled on a bicycle.

Savannah-Chatham County police said they tracked down the suspect using the order form the girl had filled out. The Girl Scout later identified her as the thief.