California al-Qaeda: Countdown Newsletter 6/8/05

[Patsy Stone]

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Tonight on Countdown
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A father and son were in custody Wednesday after federal authorities arrested the U.S. citizens when the younger man allegedly confessed that he attended an al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan to learn "how to kill Americans." According to prosecutors, Hamid Hayat trained with explosives and other weapons, using photographs of President Bush and other political leaders as targets. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8137181/

Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann broadcasts LIVE at 8 pm et, and the count is never complete without you. Join us.

A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down the links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal U.S. government documents. http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/08/news/climate.php

Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean on Wednesday defended his recent harsh criticism of Republicans, including his observation that they are "pretty much a white, Christian party." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8142785/

Jurors in Michael Jackson's trial started their third full day of deliberations Wednesday on the child molestation charges that could send the pop star to prison. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8144721/

Monica Novotny reports: The strange new world of the FREE "pay-phone" call.

And those automobiles... floating here from Cuba.

That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,
A training exercise became a bit too realistic for a group of sheriff's deputies, who filed a grievance after their boss ordered them to spend a couple of hours behind bars. Leelanau County, Michigan Sheriff Mike Oltersdorf last month required his three dozen law enforcement and corrections officers to spend two hours in the new county jail to prepare for real inmates. The grievance complains of false imprisonment, Oltersdorf said. He called the idea ludicrous. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/J/JAILED_DEPUTIES?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME
Toughen up, newbies

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

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More:
On April 25, Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres. Then they let him into the United States. Now he is a suspect for a murder in Canada. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8132851/

Federal prosecutors, wrapping up a drawn-out lawsuit against the tobacco industry, are demanding only a fraction of the $130 billion that a government witness initially envisioned cigarette makers would have to spend on smoking cessation programs. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8143880/

A security videotape captured images of an officer turning and running after his partner was shot and wounded by a drug suspect, a law enforcement official said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8142857/

When the Stafford Covey Return to Flight Task Group holds its public meeting on Wednesday in Houston, it will announce that it has closed out all but three items NASA must complete before it can launch the space shuttle Discovery in July. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8144109/

A German city is rushing to install a series of drive-in wooden "sex huts" in time for next year's soccer World Cup and an expected boom in the local sex trade, a city official said on Wednesday. Experts estimate as many as 40,000 prostitutes may travel to Germany to offer their services to fans during the tournament. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8144195/

[noamnety]

1. I must be due for a vacation

I read this: "A training exercise became a bit too realistic for a group of sheriff's deputies, who filed a grievance after their boss ordered them to spend a couple of hours behind bars."

and thought they were forced to go bar-hopping. Funny thing to file a grievance about! I was already imagining scenarios before I hit the next sentence - they were forced to learn the effects of drinking, they were tending bars to help real bartenders learn when to cut people off ... so many reasons.

(It's been really hot in my air conditionless office, I've been daydreaming about cold beer.)

[Patsy Stone]

2. LOL

Or it seems you may have already had that beer. :)