Forums: Ray Nagin

Reporting from Los Angeles and Denver - Self-help guru James Arthur Ray was arrested Wednesday and charged with three counts of manslaughter in connection with an Arizona sweat lodge ceremony that left three people dead in October. ... The charges are linked to the last day of Ray's five-day $9,695-a-person "Spiritual Warrior" retreat near Sedona, where he assembled about 50 people in a makeshift, sauna-like sweat lodge for about two hours. When it was over, three people were dying. Eighteen others suffered burns, dehydration, respiratory arrest or kidney failure. ... Ray said he used the sweat lodge to show people...

I am just so down in the dumps over the made for television address to congress performed by American Idol and speech maker Barack Hopenchange that I wanted to share what made me feel good this morning.

US killtech behemoth Northrop Grumman has has said that it is ready to take orders for the "world's first ruggedised, weaponised high energy solid state laser designed for battlefield applications". The raygun module is dubbed FIRESTRIKE™.

In his best-selling autobiography, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance," presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., writes movingly about his high school best friend, whom he calls "Ray." Ray's real name is Keith Kakugawa. And Kakugawa's life could not have veered more starkly from that of his old friend, the presidential candidate. Kakugawa is currently homeless in Los Angeles, sleeping in the beat-up Mazda of his friend Jason Myles. He has been in and out of prison for the past few decades, mostly on charges related to cocaine possession and dealing. "To be honest with you,...

A massive gamma-ray burst detected last March, believed to be the brightest ever seen, turns out to have been aimed directly at the Earth. A narrow jet that drove material toward us at 99.99995 of the speed of light is revealed in the data, itself wrapped within a somewhat slower and wider jet. The best estimates are that an alignment like this occurs only once every ten years. Says Paul O’Brien (University of Leicester, and a member of the team working on the Swift satellite): “We normally detect only the wide jet of a GRB as the inner jet is...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- On leave from the violence he had survived in the war in Iraq, a young Marine was so wary of crime on the streets of his own home town that he carried only $8 to avoid becoming a robbery target. Despite his caution, Lance Cpl. Robert Crutchfield, 21, was shot point-blank in the neck during a robbery at a bus stop. Feeding and breathing tubes kept him alive 41/2 months, until he died of an infection on May 18. Two men have been charged in the attack, and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said Friday the...

How did we miss this?!?! Apparently, even if Rachael's show were actually getting cancelled (it's not), she won't go down without a fight. The TV chef is working on an animated series that stars herself as a young chef. The show is being produced by Oprah's company, Harpo Productions (naturally) and is scheduled for debut in January 2009. Now, I'm not sure how I feel about this one, but to be quite honest, an animated version of Rachael might be easier on the eyes. Then again, it'll still be her voice.

James Earl Ray's brother claims federal government killed Martin Luther King The dust has never settled since the shots that killed Martin Luther King Jr. were fired, as conspiracy theories continue to swirl around his assassination 40 years later. For years, John Larry Ray has tried to reveal what he says is an uncovered page in history about his older brother's role in the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. He always has contended James Earl Ray was a government "patsy," the fall guy for a sophisticated government plot. In his book "Truth At Last," released today, Ray says...

Mobula Ray pictures reveal spectacular leaps By Paul Eccleston Last Updated: 5:01pm GMT 23/11/2007 It looks like a futuristic space ship skimming over the ocean's surface. Or maybe a triangular shaped prototype aircraft launched from the depths. In fact it is a Mobula Ray, a smaller cousin of the Manta Ray, which puts on a spectacular leaping display. The pictures were taken in the Sea of Cortez at the southern end of the Gulf of Mexico. Found in tropical oceans around the world the mobulas off Mexico are renowned for their acrobatics. They hurtle up from the depths and leap...

Universe's most energetic particles point to huge black holesThe most energetic particles in the universe – ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays – likely come from supermassive black holes in the hearts of nearby active galaxies, says a study by scientists from nearly 90 research institutions worldwide, including the University of Utah. “We discovered the sources of the highest energy particles in the universe,” says Miguel Mostafa, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Utah and one of 370 scientists and engineers belonging to a 17-nation collaboration that operates the $54 million Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina. “The sources are the...

There is a weak new movement among a few misinformed Protestant apologists which attempts to quickly master the Church Fathers and twist them anachronistically (I love this word, especially since it is one of our critic’s favorite words) to fit their Protestant traditions and wishes. Many Protestant apologists, and often the anti-Catholics in complicity with them, simply parrot the likes of William “Bill” Webster, but Webster proves to be much better at it than the parrots. Funny thing how history repeats itself. The Papal antagonists of today are nothing new. This “patristic argumentation” against the papacy was done with much...

Consumer culture and indeed popular culture revolve in large part around shared admiration, shared likes: Fandom, in a word, is a thing that can bring us together. But what about shared dislikes? Can a community form around that? What is the opposite of a fan club? The answer is the Rachael Ray Sucks Community.

Fans of the Food Network hit show 'Iron Chef America' will be in for a real treat this Sunday November 12th as Rachael Ray (with Mario Batali) matches up against Giada DeLaurentiis (with Bobby Flay) in a "Cranberry Battle" on the set of Kitchen Stadium. "Cranberry Battle" preview -http://wms.scripps.com/library/Food_Network/67673.wmv (windows media player) Giada DeLaurentiis - Giada DeLaurentiis profile Rachel Ray - Rachel Ray profileBobby Flay - Bobby Flay profile Mario Batali - Mario Batali profile --- Episode info - In a special Iron Chef America presentation, Food Network All Stars Rachael Ray and Giada De Laurentiis come to Kitchen Stadium...

Secret Service Agents Seize Ray Comfort Tracts Press Release On June 1st, 2006, Secret Service agents showed up at the office of Great News Network in Dallas, Texas and demanded their entire stock of $1 million dollar gospel tracts that are produced by Ray Comfort’s ministry, Living Waters. The tracts are used by Ray Comfort and his co-host Kirk Cameron and have been promoted on their national television program. Reports were that the Secret Service was going to pay a visit to Comfort’s national offices in Bellflower, California and confiscate their entire stock. Apparently someone in North Carolina took one...

Mayor Ray Nagin, ridiculed nationally and derided some locally following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, has been re-elected to office in a fairly tight race against Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu. Nagin took over 80 percent of the African-American vote and just over 20 percent of the white vote in defeating Landrieu. The totals are in contrast to four years ago when Nagin got 84 percent of the white vote in his race against Richard Pennington. Nagin received national attention as the mayor of a devastated city, especially with calls for the federal government to "get off their ass" and help...

NEW YORK — A former federal prosecutor who succeeded Kenneth W. Starr as independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation has been charged with stalking his ex-girlfriend, police said. Robert W. Ray surrendered to police on Thursday. He was given a desk appearance ticket and released, police said. A complaint filed by Ray's ex-girlfriend says he had been e-mailing, calling and visiting her against her wishes after their relationship ended. Ray, 46, is now in private practice at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. He did not immediately return a message left at his Parsippany, N.J., office on Friday. Listings for...

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Entertainer Bill Cosby urged New Orleans' black population on Saturday to cleanse itself of a culture of crime as it rebuilds from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina last year. Cosby, whose criticism of some aspects of modern African-American culture has stirred controversy in recent years, told a rally headed by black leaders that the city needed to look at the "wound" it had before Katrina struck. "It's painful, but we can't cleanse ourselves unless we look at the wound," Cosby told the rally of about 2,000 people in front of the city's convention center.

‘Brokeback' an Oscar? What about Ray Nagin? If you're like me, you've had it with all the hype about “Brokeback Mountain.” Practically every major media enterprise in the nation has proclaimed it the front-runner to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards program on March 5. Not that we needed them to tell us. It was loudly proclaimed - even before the film's release to theaters - that this picture, about two sheepherders who give new meaning to the phrase “on the back forty,” would take all the major Oscars. Even my editor - no cowboy himself, although some days...

Just hours after the Associated Press (AP) ‘shocked‘ New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin yesterday by showing him video of a FEMA briefing during Hurricane Katrina in which government officials speculate about the impact of the expected Category 5 storm, the AP has shown the mayor a second “alarming and disgusting” video. The first video shows President George Bush, Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff and then-FEMA Director Michael Brown, among others, dealing with how to respond to the developing disaster, and what to make of inconsistent reports from New Orleans about the condition of the Lake Pontchatrain levees. The second video,...

I would like to ask you all to say a prayer this Thanksgiving Day for my good friend Ray. Ray is a loyal friend of mine, as well as one of the most brilliant conservative minds I have ever encountered. I know very little about his ailment at this time, except that he has very serious liver problems and has already undergone one surgery. I am hoping that with the help of all of our prayers that Ray will pull through this and allow many more years of conversations between he and I, and make this thread a bright light...

New Orleans mayor crosses party lines, endorses Jindal Staff Reports Posted on November 4, 2003 New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin crossed party lines Monday and endorsed Republican Bobby Jindal for governor. "Bobby Jindal understands that all of Louisiana benefits from and needs a strong New Orleans," Nagin said. With Jindal as governor, "New Orleans and the rest of the state will be partners, not adversaries - which is critical because we can only move this state forward together." Pollster Verne Kennedy surveyed voters on the possible impact of Nagin's endorsement of Jindal prior to its announcement. "It will be a...

Perhaps it’s not a huge surprise, since filmmaker Twentieth Century Fox has been sitting on the board of the Blu-Ray Disc Association since last October, but today the company formally announced that its home entertainment subsidiary will release new TV programs, films and other titles on the Blu-Ray disk format when Blu-Ray hardware launches in North America, Japan and Europe.

FILM REVIEW; Portrait Of Genius, Painted In Music By A.O. SCOTT Published: October 29, 2004, Friday WHEN Ray Charles died in June, he had ascended to the most rarefied level of fame; no longer merely a celebrity, he had become an institution. There is no doubt that he deserved this status, or that he enjoyed it, but universal esteem is not always a blessing for an artist. Some of Charles's music has become so familiar that we risk growing deaf to the audacity and innovation that made it great in the first place. The opening bars of ''Hit the Road...

Summary - (Jul 29, 2004) NASA's Swift satellite is due to arrive at Florida's Cape Canaveral today, to prepare for its launch in October. Named after the fast-moving bird, Swift will track down the fastest and most powerful known explosions in the Universe: gamma ray bursts. Swift has one instrument to detect bursts in the sky, and then it can swing around two high-resolution telescopes in less than a minute for a closer look. It'll also inform the astronomical community of a blast so that anyone watching the sky can tune in as well and watch the explosion unfold....

Justifying the War in Iraq Raymond Brown - May 4, 2004 Bowbe4me11@aol.com Following the events of September 11th, America found herself in awe and shock. Americans watched the smoke rise from the Twin Towers as people jumped from the building out of desperation and plummeted to their death. With the fall of the towers, American life changed forever. America was attacked on her own soil for the second time, the first being the invasion of Pearl Harbor. America now found herself at war with a new enemy, one that wears no uniform, that has no country of origin, but is...