Headlines

Jihad is over (if you want it), part 2: The Scotsman reports that after al-Qaeda bombers killed 60 and injured 96—including many Palestinians—in Amman, a backlash against the terror group is underway. Al-Qaeda issued three "explanations" (which some read as apologies) for the bombing of the international hotel, after Jordanians took to the street chanting "Burn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!"

Bill O'Reilly loves America: Radical-right windbag Bill O'Reilly is catching flak for OKing an al-Qaeda attack on San Francisco. In his 11/8 broadcast, he said that because San Francisco has barred military recruiters, the city deserves no federal funds, adding: "if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead." Understandably, a backlash against O'Reilly, through the advertisers on his programs, has begun.

The prophecy of Pat: Pat Robertson condemned voters in Dover, Pennsylvania to armegeddon for turning out council members who advocate "intelligent design," this week by saying, "I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city." Meanwhile, famed sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson introduces a new four-book set of Darwin's works calling the alternative theory of creation "a default argument advanced in support of a non sequitur."

Blockade bars prize-winning scientist: The Bush administration has denied a visa to a Cuban scientist who has devised a low-cost synthetic vaccine that prevents meningitis and pneumonia in small children. Vicente Verez-Bencomo was invited to accept an award for a vaccine that could help prevent a disease that kills 700,000 children each year, yet the government says his visit would be "detrimental to the interests of the United States." Exactly what, then, are the interests of the US?

Man "cured" of HIV: A man who tested positive for HIV in Scottland in 2002 is now completely free of the disease. Doctors have confirmed that both tests—the ones that determined him positive and negative for the disease—were accurate. The man, however, has refused to undergo testing to see how his body recovered from the disease.