Daily Rotten Archives January 3, 2004 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 Jehovah endorses George W Bush in 2004 Virginian-Pilot | Submitted by: Ronan "Pat Robertson said today that God told him President Bush will be re-elected in a landslide. 'I think George Bush is going to win in a walk,' the religious broadcaster said on his 700 Club program on the Virginia Beach-based Christian Broadcasting Network, which he founded. 'I really believe I'm hearing from the Lord it's going to be like a blowout election in 2004. It's shaping up that way.' ... The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, a frequent Robertson critic and executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said ... 'Maybe Pat got a message from Karl Rove and thought it was from God.'" Read article... Influential Muslim endorses slavery arabianews.org | Submitted by: A. P. Palled "Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan is the author of the religious books currently used to teach 5 million Saudi students, in schools both within Saudi Arabia and abroad - including those in the Washington, D.C. metro area. 'Slavery is a part of Islam,' he says in the tape, adding: 'Slavery is part of jihad, and jihad will remain as long there is Islam.' ... Al-Fawzan refuted the mainstream Muslim interpretation that Islam worked to abolish slavery by introducing equality between the races. 'They are ignorant, not scholars,' he said of people who express such opinions. 'They are merely writers. Whoever says such things is an infidel.' ... Among Al-Fawzan’s other controversial beliefs is the right to ban the marriage of Arab women to non-Arab Muslims, according to his book Al-Mulkhas Al-Fiqhee (Digest of Law). He has also issued a fatwa forbidden the watching of TV." Read article... Woman donates estate to help white babies London Telegraph | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "A court in Australia has upheld the right of an eccentric old lady to leave money to a Sydney hospital for the exclusive treatment of 'white babies,' ruling that such an act did not breach the country's laws on race discrimination. Justice Peter Young, a judge in the New South Wales supreme court, ruled that the 82-year-old Sydney woman, Marjorie Williams, was entitled to attach conditions to a charitable gift but he rejected a second proviso in her will that her house be sold only to a 'young white Australian couple.' He argued that this was too difficult to define." Read article... Army backing away from cowardice prosecution MSNBC | Submitted by: optional "[Staff Sgt. Georg-Andreas Pogany], an Army interrogator assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group, was charged with cowardice Oct. 14 after suffering what he described as a panic attack from seeing a mangled body of an Iraqi man who had been cut in half by American gunfire in Iraq. After he asked for counseling, Pogany’s commanders sent him back to Fort Carson to face a court-martial on a cowardice charge, which can be punishable by death. The Army later replaced it with the lesser dereliction-of-duty charge, which could have put Pogany behind bars for six months. The Army dropped that charge Dec. 18 and offered Pogany a hearing on nonjudicial punishment, called an Article 15, for dereliction of duty. Instead Pogany requested a court-martial, which is much like a civilian trial in which a judge or jury decides the suspect’s fate." Read article... Why Texas remains a national laughingstock Houston Chronicle | Submitted by: the big bitch "[Joanne Webb] had been busted in a sting operation for selling sex products during private, in-home get-togethers... Tucked into a Texas law on public indecency is this definition of an obscene device: 'A device, including dildo or artificial vagina, designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs.' It's not illegal to buy them or to own them. It's not even illegal to sell them - they are widely available in adult bookstores and specialty shops that trade in erotica - unless they are sold for their intended purpose... 'Wal-Mart is violating the statute,' she says. 'So are the drugstores and everyone else who sells condoms.'" Read article... Norway unhappy about perversely flawed anesthetic Aftenposten | Submitted by: wingnut "The drug Xylocain Dental Adrenalin is used by dentists across the country to kill sensitivity in an area prior to drilling or other treatment. But instead of killing pain, the once reliable medication results in intense pain within an hour or two of application, and patients also report intense headaches, vomiting and sensitivity to pain during treatment. The Norwegian Medicines Agency believes the reason could be linked to an unusually low level of adrenalin in the medication and the group has demanded that the product be taken off the market at once." Read article... San Francisco's richest hobo San Francisco Chronicle | Submitted by: Soylent "Lou Dinarde is homeless, he often sleeps in the gutter or on the sidewalk, and he has plenty of cash - a trust fund that at one point was worth nearly $700,000. He draws $2,500 a month from the fund plus $500 a month in Social Security... Trouble is, he can't resist the bottle. He abandoned his career as a carpenter three decades ago for life on the streets. 'I'm rich, but I like it out here. I ain't sleeping inside,' Dinarde mumbled through sips of vodka last summer, as he sat with legs splayed in front of St. Francis of Assisi Church. 'You can't make me.'" Read article...