A swimmer caught in a rip tide has been rescued by a lifeboat after he was spotted by a crew member's puppy.

Richard Absalom was walking his new Doberman called Wilson on the beach near the Mumbles lighthouse near Swansea when the dog ran to the sea and started barking.

A swimmer was signalling for help after becoming caught in a current.

Mr Absalom and two colleagues launched the inshore lifeboat from the nearby station and rescued the man.

He said he doubted he would have noticed the swimmer who was in distress in the sea on Sunday morning had it not been for Wilson.

Florida Rep. Ritch Workman, (R-Melbourne), has a plan to get the state working again:

Repeal a 22 year-old ban on dwarf tossing.

Though Workman tells The Florida Current, a publication covering Florida public policy, that he "doesn't condone the dwarf tossing," he filed HB 4063 earlier this week because "the prohibition takes away freedoms and is against the American way."

"To me it's an archaic kind of Big Brother law that says, 'We don't like that activity,' " Workman said. "Well, there is nothing immoral or illegal about that activity. All we really did by passing that law was take away some employment from some little people."

Question is, do little people really want this type of "employment"?

Writes reporter Bruce Richie:

The person with dwarfism is equipped with a harness around his torso and is spun around and eventually thrown by another person onto mattresses placed on the ground. The person who throws the little person for the greatest distance wins the contest, according a 2001 statement by Little People of America.

The activity is exceedingly dangerous, according to the group. Because of orthopedic and neurological complications associated with most forms of dwarfism, the person being tossed is at high risk of back and neck injury.

"Aside from the physical dangers, dwarf-tossing is a demoralizing activity that treats the person with dwarfism as a mere object," a group representative said in 2001.

Iran and Israel may seize every public opportunity to stoke hostility between their two rival nations. But sometimes, like everybody, their envoys apparently get distracted from the whole arch-foe, kabuki body language such diplomatic hostilities mandate.

Witness that Iran's diplomatic delegation somehow managed to park itself at the Israel's seating area at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency last week, as originally reported by Foreign Policy's Turtle Bay blogger Colum Lynch.

In the photo provided to Lynch, Iran's envoy to the UN atomic watchdog agency, Dr. Ali Asghar Soltanieh seems simply to be too absorbed by the diplomatic business at hand to notice the symbolic--if no doubt inadvertent--diplomatic seat-swap with the Israeli delegation on the conference floor. (That's Soltanieh, bearded in the white shirt, sitting at the Israeli delegate's seat, flanked by two standing Iranian aides, talking with his Cuban and Irish counterparts.)

From a secret Justice Department memorandum obtained by the Rude Pundit:
Mr. President,

Since it is now the policy of our administration to target American citizens for killing by missiles delivered by Predator drone aircraft, I am proposing an expansion of the program to include targets beyond our ongoing conflict with al-Qaeda and its affiliates. I propose that we now target executives and others in the finance industry who so far have not been prosecuted for potential crimes that forced the economy of the United States into a long-term decline.

The legal authority for these actions rests with an earlier memo dealing with the targeting of [name redacted, but presumably Anwar al-Awlaki]. To summarize, targeting of American citizens may be done: 1. on foreign soil, even if no actual battles are occurring in that nation; 2. as long as there is an ongoing war; and 3. without regard to due process, as long as the administration is confident that the target has committed crimes against the nation.

To deal with those in reverse order:

THE NEWS: A Dallas oil change business is offering a discount if customers come in and quote the John 3:16 from the Bible.

THE PROVOCATION: Maybe he should start quoting Acts 8:20.

Not familiar with that verse? It contains Peter's rebuke to Simon Magus, who had offered the apostles money in exchange for the gift of the Holy Spirit: "Peter answered: 'May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.'"

Or maybe he should check out Matthew 6:24, which comes straight from the mouth of Jesus: "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

Tom Cruise is the new "Christ" of Scientology, according to leaders of the cult-like religion.

The Mission: Impossible star has been told he has been "chosen" to spread the word of his faith throughout the world.

And leader David Miscavige believes that in future, Cruise, 44, will be worshiped like Jesus for his work to raise awareness of the religion.

A source close to the actor, who has risen to one of the church's top levels, said: "Tom has been told he is Scientology's Christ-like figure.

"Like Christ, he's been criticised for his views. But future generations will realise he was right."

Cruise joined the Church of Scientology in the '80s. Leader L Ron Hubbard claimed humans bear traces of an ancient alien civilization.

"This cult has to be the most evil organisation I've ever encountered - children are exposed to graphic images of a near-naked man being tortured, and told that eating his flesh and drinking his blood are some kind of passport to paradise," says a shocked Chris Rooty, an undercover reporter who spent six months infiltrating a sinister religious movement which has been insinuating itself into every aspect of British life, including schools, social clubs and even the armed forces, in its relentless quest for converts. "Worse still, they encourage these same children to confess their 'sins' - which can include anything from supposedly impure thoughts to sexual experimentation - to the cult's priests, invariably older men, for their vicarious pleasure!" Indeed, Rooty strongly suspects that the priests derive some form of perverted sexual gratification from these confessions, fuelling their own warped fantasies of underage sex. "I have no doubt that they sit in those confessionals whacking off to those kids giving up their secrets," he says, although he admits that doesn't have any actual proof that this has ever occurred.

"Certainly, they seem to have an unhealthy fixation with children, particularly pre-pubescent boys, the prettiest of whom they get to dress in frilly, effeminate robes and sing devotional songs whilst the priests look on in ecstasy! These boys are also often required to stay behind after services and 'help' the priests." The cult justifies its child fixation through the words of its prophet who, they claim, ordered 'suffer the little children unto me'. "This cult - the Church of Christ, or whatever it is they call themselves - is clearly simply a cover for systematic child abuse, " opines Rooty. "For goodness sake, they even admit that their chief prophet used to send his band of all male disciples out to procure children for him! When he wasn't doing that he was apparently indulging in some form of masochistic autoerotic practices which eventually went too far and resulted in his death!" Despite the cult's unsavoury practices, and the fact that its most senior priest is a former member of the Hitler Youth, it enjoys the support and patronage of many of Britain's rich and famous, including royalty. "I was shocked to find that the Queen herself is the honourary head of one of its major sects - the so-called Church of England," says Rooty. "It is thanks to support of her and other establishment figures like Tony Blair, not to mention influential celebrities of the calibre of Cliff Richard - that it has evaded proper scrutiny for so many years."

Terrorist organisation's magazine reportedly says it is 'ridiculous' for Iran's president to blame the attacks on the US government

Al-Qaida has sent a message to the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, asking him to stop spreading conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks.

Iranian media on Wednesday reported quotes from what appears to be an article published in the latest issue of the al-Qaida English language magazine, Inspire, which described Ahmadinejad's remarks over the 11 September attacks as "ridiculous".

In his UN general assembly speech last week, Ahmadinejad cast doubt over the official version of the 2001 attacks.

"The Iranian government has professed on the tongue of its president Ahmadinejad that it does not believe that al-Qaida was behind 9/11 but rather, the US government," the article said, according to Iranian media. "So we may ask the question: why would Iran ascribe to such a ridiculous belief that stands in the face of all logic and evidence?"

New York - In a moving and beautiful ceremony held atop Lower Manhattan's gleaming, 120-story-tall Freedom Tower, the nation commemorated the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by raising a glass to the stable democracy of Afghanistan and to a decade of unprecedented peace and prosperity across the globe.

As a brilliant cascade of red, white, and blue fireworks lit up the skyscraper's observation deck, those in attendance reflected on the horrible tragedy that improbably, and stirringly, gave way to a harmonized Middle East and one of the most triumphant and fruitful eras in the history of the great American republic.

"A decade ago, 3,000 of our citizens perished in a senseless attack on American soil, and as I stand here today atop this magnificent edifice, celebrating the thriving republic of Afghanistan and all our allies in the now wholly stable Muslim world, it's clear the U.S. has not only risen from the ashes, it has flourished," said former U.S. president and master of ceremonies George W. Bush, who was widely applauded after 9/11 for respecting the rights of citizens at home and abroad while combating terrorism through largely peaceful means. "These last 10 years could have been divisive, turbulent, sad, hopeless, and grotesque. But instead, they were the exact opposite of those things. And for that we must all feel both blessed and truly proud."

Think of how more palatable world news would be if delivered by a hand puppet. Floods, war, disease, famine, all made easier to digest with a set of googly eyes and useless arms.

But in the interest of those really suffering, it's probably best that we don't have The Felt Network reporting on daily events. However, ESPN did employ some fuzzy pals to explain the data collection and subtle nuances behind Nielsen Ratings.

Here's hoping future editions also cover online outlets like Hulu, YouTube, iTunes, and BitTorrent. Wouldn't mind seeing their depiction of a pirating puppet.