U.S. Pilot Was Ordered to Shoot Down UFO

Two U.S. fighter planes were scrambled and ordered to shoot down an unidentified flying object (UFO) over the English countryside during the Cold War, according to secret files made public on Monday.

One pilot said he was seconds away from firing 24 rockets at the object, which moved erratically and gave a radar reading like “a flying aircraft carrier.”

The pilot, Milton Torres, now 77 and living in Miami, said it spent periods motionless in the sky before reaching estimated speeds of more than 7,600 mph (12,000 kph).

After the alert, a shadowy figure told Torres he must never talk about the incident and he duly kept silent for more than 30 years – more

Judge Tosses Suit against God

The Lord has one less thing to worry about.

A Nebraska judge tossed out a state senator’s lawsuit against God, ruling the Almighty can’t be sued because his heavenly address is a bit out of reach.

“There can never be service effectuated on the named defendant,” Douglas County District Court Judge Marlon Polk wrote in his decision on Tuesday.

State Sen. Ernie Chambers sought a permanent injunction against the Holy One to prevent him from unleashing natural disasters that cause “widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants.”

The Omaha senator, who doesn’t have “an atom of religion” in his body, said he decided to target the Lord to prove a point that “every lawsuit must be allowed to be filed.”

His suit was prompted by two attempts by the Nebraska Legislature to limit “frivolous lawsuits.”

Chambers, who is planning to appeal, said courts already acknowledge God’s existence by invoking His name during oaths, so He doesn’t need to be served.

“The court must recognize the consequences of that acknowledgment – that God is all-knowing,” Chambers said. “God does have actual notice.”

As Economy Sinks, Officials Fear Violent Solutions

An out-of-work money manager in California loses a fortune and wipes out his family in a murder-suicide.

A 90-year-old Ohio widow shoots herself in the chest as authorities arrive to evict her from the modest house she called home for 38 years.

In Massachusetts, a housewife who had hidden her family’s mounting financial crisis from her husband sends a note to the mortgage company warning: “By the time you foreclose on my house, I’ll be dead.” Then Carlene Balderrama shot herself to death, leaving an insurance policy and a suicide note on a table.

Across the country, authorities are becoming concerned that the nation’s financial woes could turn increasingly violent, and they are urging people to get help. In some places, mental-health hot lines are jammed, counseling services are in high demand and domestic-violence shelters are full.

“I’ve had a number of people say that this is the thing most reminiscent of 9/11 that’s happened here since then,” said the Rev. Canon Ann Malonee, vicar at Trinity Church in the heart of New York’s financial district. “It’s that sense of having the rug pulled out from under them.”

With nowhere else to turn, many people are calling suicide-prevention hot lines. The Samaritans of New York have seen calls rise more than 16 percent in the past year, many of them money-related. The Switchboard of Miami has recorded more than 500 foreclosure-related calls this year.

“A lot of people are telling us they are losing everything. They’re losing their homes, they’re going into foreclosure, they’ve lost their jobs,” said Virginia Cervasio, executive director of a suicide resource enter in southwest Florida’s Lee County.

But tragedies keep mounting: – more

U.S. Gasoline Price Marks Biggest Drop Ever

The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States recorded its largest drop ever as consumer demand continued to wane and oil prices slid, a prominent industry analyst said on Sunday.

The national average price for self-serve, regular unleaded gas fell 35.03 cents to $3.3079 a gallon on Oct. 10 from $3.6582 two weeks earlier, according to the nationwide Lundberg Survey.

It was the lowest national average price since March 21, 2008. Since peaking at $4.1124 on July 11, the average cost of a gallon of gas has receded by 80.45 cents. Diesel fuel fell 21 cents to $3.95 a gallon, the first time since March that it has been below $4.00 a gallon.

“Plummeting oil prices and caving gasoline demand have combined to bring the biggest retail gasoline price cut in the history of the market,” Trilby Lundberg, who compiles the survey, said in an interview. “We’ve been doing this 58 years. This is truly the biggest price drop.” – more

Never to Part: Devoted Couples Share Life, Death

By all accounts, Aurlo Bonney should have been the first to die.

Once a formidable middle school principal, he had a series of strokes over the last few years. The last one, in March, stole the 92-year-old’s final vestiges of independence, trapping him in bed and robbing him of his once clear and confident voice. But Virginia, his wife of 65 years, was in relatively good physical health. It was her mind that was losing ground to Alzheimer’s disease. But even as her past and future faded around her, Aurlo remained at the heart of her life, crystal clear.

In hindsight, says their family, it makes sense that on June 11, 2008, when Virginia died, Aurlo was there to watch over her, just as he always had. And, though no one expected it at the time, it also made sense that just eight days after Virginia passed, after Aurlo had laid her to rest and done all the last things he could for her, he also quietly died – more

Mysterious Light Caught On Fitness Club’s Cam

A surveillance camera at a workout club recently caught some mysterious images when no one was inside the building.

Like the name implies, Anytime Fitness is open around the clock. The idea is that people can work in a workout at their convenience.

“Every day when I come in, I review my surveillance. ‘What did I miss while I was asleep?'” said Kim Peterson of Anytime Fitness.

But Peterson said she has no idea what she missed when some mysterious images were recorded on Sept. 12.

“They’re motion cameras. So I thought, what motion is triggering it? And we kind of got a series of weird pictures we could not explain,” Peterson said.

Peterson said she knows there was no one in the building when the camera started recording – more

Is Sarah Palin Flirting with America?

The GOP veep pick winked at the camera at least  five times during Thursday’s debate with Joe Biden, raising more than a few eyebrows among campaign and body language gurus.

The wink can be many things to many people, she explained, depending on the winker.

From women, it can be a flirty, even steamy invitation when delivered in certain contexts.

From men, it can by anything from downright lecherous to quaint and endearing, a kind of ocular smile.

But the Palin wink, as deployed by the 44-year-old Alaska governor, is another popular variant – the knowing, we’re-sharing-a-little-secret wink.

One example came after Biden hit GOP nominee John McCain for saying  the fundamentals of the economy were “strong,” even as Wall Street teetered on the brink of collapse.

Palin fired back that McCain was talking about American workers and their strong work ethic, then added, “That’s a positive. That’s encouragement (wink!). And that’s what John McCain meant.” – more

Palin Is Ready? Please.

Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, “to spend more time with her family”? Having stayed in purdah for weeks, she finally agreed to a third interview. CBS’s Katie Couric questioned her in her trademark sympathetic style. It didn’t help. When asked how living in the state closest to Russia gave her foreign-policy experience, Palin responded thus:

“It’s very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America. Where—where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to—to our state.”

There is, of course, the sheer absurdity of the premise. Two weeks ago I flew to Tokyo, crossing over the North Pole. Does that make me an expert on Santa Claus? (Thanks, Jon Stewart.) But even beyond that, read the rest of her response. “It is from Alaska that we send out those …” What does this mean? This is not an isolated example. Palin has been given a set of talking points by campaign advisers, simple ideological mantras that she repeats and repeats as long as she can. (“We mustn’t blink.”) But if forced off those rehearsed lines, what she has to say is often, quite frankly, gibberish  – more

Sarah Palin Swimsuit Video Surfaces

You’ve never seen a vice presidential candidate quite like this.

Footage has surfaced of Sarah Palin – John McCain’s running mate for the White House – taking the stage 24 years ago in a one-piece swimsuit for the title of Miss Alaska – more

Surgeon Removes His Penis Without Consent

A man who claims his penis was removed without his consent during what was supposed to be a circumcision has sued the doctor who performed the surgery.

Phillip Seaton, 61, and his wife are seeking unspecified compensation from Dr. John M. Patterson and the medical practice that performed the circumcision for “loss of service, love and affection.” The Seatons also are seeking unspecified punitive damages from Patterson and his medical practice in Louisville, Kentucky.

A woman who answered the phone at Commonwealth Urology would not take a message for the doctor Thursday. But the Seaton’s attorney said the doctor’s post-surgical notes show the doctor thought he detected cancer and removed the penis. Attorney Kevin George said a later test did detect cancer.

“It was not an emergency,” George told The Associated Press on Thursday. “It didn’t have to happen that way.”

Seaton was having the procedure on Oct. 19, 2007, to better treat inflammation.

The lawsuit filed earlier this month in state court claims Patterson removed Seaton’s penis without consulting either Phillip or Deborah Seaton, or giving them an opportunity to seek a second opinion.

The couple also sued the anesthesiologist, Dr. Oliver James, claiming he used a general anesthesia even though Seaton asked that it not be administered.

The Seatons’ suit is similar to one in which an Indianapolis man was awarded more than $2.3 million in damages after he claimed his penis and left testicle were removed without his consent during surgery for an infection in 1997.