Senator Ted Kennedy Proves He Is Still Alive And Well:

With Beacon Hill visable through a window behind them Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and his wife Vicki sit together in a family room at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Tuesday afternoon, May 20, 2008. Kennedy has been diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor.

Senator Kennedy looks quite healthy considering the circumstances.

Thomas Beatie Update - The Pregnant Man Is Doing Landscaping:

Keeping the lawn in tip-top shape is a matter of pride for many men and bearded transsexual Thomas Beatie is no different - despite being seven months' pregnant.

Sporting a T-shirt with the logo of his company "Define Normal", the 34-year-old gets stuck into his gardening chores while wife Nancy does her weekend duties at their Bend home in the U.S. state of Oregon.

Thomas, who was born Tracy Lagondino, said he first felt he was trapped in the wrong body when he was in his 20s and quickly went from a Miss Teen Hawaii finalist to taking testosterone and growing a beard.

I'll 'define normal'. Normal; adjective, the exact opposite of a bearded pregnant man mowing his/her lawn at 7-months along.

This Was Shot Immediately After The Massive Quake Hit China:



Chaos is the word. You can donate to the cause over at CNN.com.

Latest Count Has The Cyclone Death Toll At Over 34,000:

YANGON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from Cyclone Nargis has risen to 34,273 in Myanmar, the state radio reported Tuesday evening.

And 27,836 people still remained missing, and the number of injured stood at 1,403, said the report.

Tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five divisions and states -- Yangon, Bago, Ayeyawaddy, Kayin and Mon on May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon sustained the heaviest casualties and infrastructure damage.

In case you were wondering, Myanmar officials are still refusing aid.

The Official Death Toll Has Now Skyrocketed Past 12,000:



There are also more than 18,000 people now listed as missing.

Father Who Raped And Imprisoned His Daughter Cries Foul:

Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who fathered seven children with his daughter while keeping her imprisoned in a windowless dungeon in his cellar, has complained about poor media coverage of the case.

His criticism of the international media's reporting was published in the German tabloid Bild Zeitung.

"I could have killed them all," reads the front page headline of today's Bild Zeitung. And Fritzl, dubbed a monster by the Austrian media, told his lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, "I'm not a monster," according to today's report.

Fritzl is sharing his prison cell with another man who is serving time for taking part in a shooting incident. The men have a TV set and a radio available to them in their cell.

Fritz's lawyer has been seeing him and, according to Bild Zeitung, his client has complained to the lawyer that media coverage has been "unfair" and "completely one-sided."

"I could have killed them all, and no one would ever have known, no one would ever have found out," he reportedly told his lawyer.

Fritzl has confessed to locking up his daughter for almost 24 years, and fathering seven children with her during that time.

I don't think there is anything that could make me feel sorry for this guy. We've written pretty extensively about him at this point and the sooner he dies, the better. Just picturing him in his prison cell complaining about media coverage is infuriating. He imprisoned his daughter for 25 years, raped her and possibly his own granddaughter and he thinks he deserves credit for not killing them. Humanity deserves credit for not killing this monster, yet.

The UK Sun Runs This Screaming Headline Tomorrow Morning:

DEPRAVED Josef Fritzl may have had a SECOND sex slave in his cellar dungeon — granddaughter Kerstin.

Police fear the monster targeted his eldest child by caged daughter Elisabeth after losing interest in her grey-haired mother.

But they have been unable to quiz the 19-year-old because she is in a coma, fighting for her life in hospital with organ failure.

At this point it may be speculation to say he raped his granddaughter but I'm all done giving this creep the benefit of the doubt.

The Person Who Posted The Video (Indy007q) Has Been Reached:

The YouTube poster who initially posted video with subtitles indicating Clinton advisor Mickey Kantor used a racial slur in 1992 has reposted it without the subtitles.

He tells me he enhanced, but didn't alter, the audio.

Another reader extracted and enhanced, again, the audio which you can listen to here.

To my ear, the slur seems like a plausible -- but hardly conclusive -- hearing, but one among many. It's far less clear without the subtitles -- a normal effect. In the context Pennebaker describes -- polling showing Bush weak in, of all places, Indiana, due to Perot's strength -- a reference to the "White House" seems to make more sense.

Ben Smith says Indy007q is an Obama supporter acting independent of the campaign. I've also listened to a isolated clip from the video in question. Smith and others are standing by the original quote but I just don't hear it anymore. Even the tweaked audio is inaudible...

I Was Waiting For More Details Before I Posted This Story:

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the 52-year-old woman known as the "D.C. Madam," committed suicide Thursday morning at her mother's home in a trailer park in the Tampa area, Tarpon Springs Police told FOXNews.com.

"It was her, and she's deceased," said Frank Ruggiero, a public information officer with the Tarpon Springs Police Department. "There's no question that it was a suicide."

Palfrey apparently hanged herself with a nylon rope that she wrapped around a metal beam in a shed on the property, according to police.

Authorities said her 76-year-old mother, Blanche Palfrey, positively identified the dead woman as her daughter.

She left behind a suicide note as well. No word yet on what is in the note but you can imagine it will eventually find it's way to the media. I don't think she would have been sentenced to much more than five years in prison but Palfrey made it clear that she wouldn't be going back. Palfrey made her way into the shed as her mother was sleeping this afternoon. She may have used a three-wheeled bicycle to stand on as she placed a nylon rope around her neck and called it quits.

And that, my friends, is how this story ends...

Update: Not so fast. Hours after her death, conspiracy theories...

Hustler magazine publisher and free-speech advocate Larry Flynt -- one of Palfrey's staunchest advocates -- was the strongest voice forwarding the notion that Palfrey's death was not by her own hands.

"I think the media should be very cautious in treating this as a suicide," Flynt told FOXNews.com in a telephone interview from his Beverly Hills office.

Asked if he believed Palfrey was murdered, Flynt responded: "I personally believe that's what happened, but I have no proof."

'Horror Father' Warned Captives That He Would 'Gas Them':

AMSTETTEN, Austria -- An Austrian man who held his daughter captive for 24 years and fathered her seven children repeatedly warned his captives that they would be gassed if they tried to escape, a spokesman for investigators said Thursday.

The revelation came as authorities also said that Josef Fritzl forced his captive daughter to write a letter last year indicating he may have been planning to release her from the windowless dungeon where she lived with three of their children.

Police Col. Franz Polzer said Elisabeth Fritzl wrote in late 2007 to her family, who believed she had fled to a cult, that she wanted to return home but "it's not possible yet."

Not only did he force her to write this letter, he pretended to be her in a 1994 phone call. I must say, at risk of offending some, you almost have to give this guy some credit. I'm quite impressed with time-locked doors and an entire house, essentially, built under his own. Don't get me wrong, he's a vile, disgusting man who should spend the rest of his life in prison - but he did manage to pull this whole charade off for more than a quarter century.

Officials are also looking into claims that there was a 'second man' who entered the cellar on several occasions. Other outlets are reporting that a neighbor may have heard 'knocking' and pleas for help from the victims but brushed them off and told no one. The most disturbing development comes from the UK Sun which says the children communicate with 'growls' and walk around on all fours 'like a monkey.' These children will never live a normal life...

Officials: 31 Of 53 Girls From Sect Ranch Have Been Pregnant:

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Texas child welfare officials say more than half the teen girls swept into state custody from a polygamist sect's ranch have been pregnant.

Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar says 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 were living on the ranch in Eldorado. Of that group, 31 already have children or are pregnant.

State officials took custody of all 463 children at the Yearning For Zion Ranch more than three weeks ago after a raid prompted by calls to a domestic violence hotline.

They neglected to mention this stat during their appearance on Larry King Live. It's a pretty damning revelation that more than 50% of these teenagers are or have been pregnant.

Photos Of The Cellar Where Woman Was Held For 24 Years:




The 73-Year-Old Father Who Raped And Held Her There:



It was clearly the most disturbing story of the day yesterday. More details emerge today shedding light on a haunting tale.

She said that on August 28, 1984, when she was 18, he lured her to the basement and drugged and handcuffed her before locking her up.

The following day her parents reported her missing and her details were circulated by Interpol.

But a month later it was assumed she had disappeared voluntarily when her parents claimed to have received a letter from her asking them to stop searching.

It was believed she had joined a cult and police stopped looking for her.

In fact she was in the cellar and was "continuously abused" during the 24 years, said police.

Of the seven children she gave birth to there, three girls and three boys survived but the twin died shortly after being born because it was not properly cared for, according to police.

This woman must be a psychological mess. I seriously doubt that someone who was continuously abused for such a long period of time could ever function normally in society. Her children will suffer the same problem. Remember, these kids had never even been in the light of the sun before this weekend. The children haven't had schooling of any kind and odds are they aren't up to speed with the general public as their mother clearly had no grasp on current events. The problems in this case are many in number and my thoughts are obviously with the family. Needless to say it doesn't look good.

Update: Sky News takes us inside the 'secret' cellar.



Update: Diagram of the living space below this sickos home.