Head of Young Republicans pleads guilty to rape and swiftboating his accuser

Michael Flory, a 32-year-old attorney from Jackson, Mich., pleaded guilty to sexual battery on the day he was to stand trial for rape. Flory gained some notoriety at age 18 when he gave a televised speech to the Republican National Convention in the Houston Astrodome in 1992.

The former head of the Michigan Federation of Young Republicans admitted today that he sexually abused a colleague during a national convention here last summer.

The victim, who is 22, declined to speak after Flory's guilty plea.

She and some supporters lamented when the incident became public last winter that Flory and his followers within the Republican organization had been smearing her reputation in retaliation for accusing Flory of rape. Skutnik said she found that to be true.

"People were using every opportunity to try to trash her, on Web sites or whatever," the prosecutor said. "He's been running around telling everybody what a piece of trash she is, so she was very happy to see him plead guilty."

Read more via The Plains Dealer

Pepsi labels Aquafina as Tap Water

NEW YORK (Reuters) - PepsiCo Inc. will spell out that its Aquafina bottled water is made with tap water, a concession to the growing environmental and political opposition to the bottled water industry.

According to Corporate Accountability International, a U.S. watchdog group, the world's No. 2 beverage company will include the words "Public Water Source" on Aquafina labels.
Yahoo News

"If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public sources, then it's a reasonable thing to do," said Michelle Naughton, a Pepsi-Cola North America spokeswoman.

Bush appointee politicizes endangered species list

U.S. could reverse suspect endangered species rulings
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, accused of letting a political appointee meddle in the science of endangered species, said on Friday it could reverse eight decisions if it finds they were inappropriately influenced by political concerns.

The decisions under review affected species as varied as the Hawaiian picture-wing fly and the white-tailed prairie dog. All involved input from Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant secretary who resigned in May after government scientists complained of political interference.

Dale Hall, head of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said hundreds of endangered species decisions from MacDonald's five-year tenure were reviewed after her resignation, and eight were singled out for further evaluation and possible reversal.

"These are important because it's a blemish, I believe, on the scientific integrity of the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior, so we're going to place a pretty high priority on trying to get these done," Hall said in a telephone briefing.

Without being definitive, Hall indicated reversals were likely: "We wouldn't be doing them (the re-evaluations) if we didn't at least suspect that the decision will be different."
Read more Via Reuters

Vodka snobs: Cheaper is Better

Are you a vodka snob? Do you routinely buy a pricey brand over a less expensive one? If so, you're part of a growing trend. "20/20" wanted to see what all the fuss was about … so we conducted a little test.
Read the rest - Via 20/20

Connoisseurs award prize to $2 wine

The connoisseurs may cringe, the snobs may even sob, but the judges have spoken: California's best chardonnay costs less than $3.

Charles Shaw Chardonnay, better known as "Two Buck Chuck," beat hundreds of other wines and was named the top prize in a prestigious tasting competition in California.

"The characteristics that we look for in our gold medal winner & a nice creamy butter, fruity & it was a delight to taste," said 2007 California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition judge Michael Williams.

The affordable wine beat out 350 other California chardonnays to win the double gold. Second place went to an $18 bottle, and the most expensive wines at the event, at the price of $55, didn't even medal.
Read more Via 6ABC (Philadelphia)

MS patient misdiagnosed as insane

A Quebec woman is looking for redress after her husband was misdiagnosed as being insane.
Turns out, he actually had multiple sclerosis.
Anatole Otis was 50-years-old when his health began to deteriorate 14 years ago.
A neurologist told him he was insane.
A T-Q-S news report says it wasn't until 2004, 14 years after his initial diagnosis, that a second neurologist discovered the truth.
His wife, Carmen Plourde, believes appropriate medication would have slowed the disease's progression.
Otis has been confined to a bed for several years.
The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada says the disease was difficult to diagnose as recent as the early 1990's.
Still, the group is stunned a neurologist confused multiple sclerosis with a mental illness.
Via 940AM (Montreal)

Philly tap water beats out bottled water in taste test.

Can people really tell the difference?

So I packed a cooler for a taste test, with New Jersey tap chilled in an empty seltzer bottle; Philly tap, given the same treatment; a bottle of Poland Spring that cost less than $2; and a bottle of 10 Thousand BC "100 percent natural Canadian glacier water," which sells at the Water Works restaurant for - brace yourself - $22 a bottle.
Read more Via: Phila Daily News

This woman's identity used by this man when he was arrested for prostitution

One of these people is Brittany Ossenfort the other is a guy named Richard Phillips.
I'm not entirely sure who is who. They were roommates, Brittany thought she was living with another woman named Michelle. Michelle slowly started look more and more like Brittany. Michelle was arrested for prostitution, he gave Brittany's stolen ID, and still insists he's Brittany.
Story and video here

One photo the GOP does not want anyone to see...

The NAACP invited all 9 Republican candidates to the NAACP GOP Presidential Candidate Forum, but only one showed up: Tom Tancredo. All the Democratic Presidential hopefuls showed up for their forum.
Read more here and here

Samoa butterflies quickly evolve and avoid extinction

CHICAGO (Reuters) - When faced with extinction, butterflies on two South Pacific islands quickly developed genetic defences that helped them fight back, a team of international researchers said on Tuesday.

They said the butterflies' tale is the fastest example of natural selection observed to date and shows evolution can happen quickly when the stakes are high.
Read more via Yahoo News
No idea what this means for the religious fundamentalists who refuse to believe in evolution