Blog Posts by Eric Pfeiffer, Yahoo! News

Juanita Tudor Lowrey received government benefits tied to her father, a Civil War veteran. (Charlie Riedel/AP)Ten years after the launch of the Iraq War, a number of critics and analysts have been pointing to war’s extravagant financial cost—to say nothing of its toll on human lives. But a surprising report shows that nearly 150 years after the Civil War's conclusion, the U.S. government is still paying relatives of veterans.

An analysis from the Associated Press found that more than $40 billion annually is being spent on veterans and survivors of wars dating from the Spanish-American War of 1898 up through the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

There are only two recipients of Civil War benefits, both children of veterans and receiving $876 per year.

Although their names are being kept private, the AP estimates that they were both born between 1920 and 1930, meaning their parents were themselves upward of 80 when their children were born.

Juanita Tudor Lowrey, 86, received Civil War benefits tied to her late father from the age of 2 until her 18^th birthday.

Military veteran and former Republican Sen.

The Jedi marriage ceremony could soon be official in Scotland (Rik Henderson/Pocket Lint)The Force is strong with the Jedi in Scotland. A bill under consideration in Scotland would grant those who have literally made "Star Wars" a religion the power to perform marriage ceremonies.

The BBC reports that the Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill would apply to other nonreligious groups such as the Flat Earth Society and the Jedi Knights Society, aka Temple of the Jedi Order.

And while it may sound like a joke to most, the Jedi religion is quite popular in some parts of Europe. In England, it is the second-most popular “alternative religion,” with more than 175,000 people listing themselves as Jedi in the 2012 nationwide census.

"Our current consultation covers not only the introduction of same-sex marriage but also the detail of important protections in relation to religious bodies and celebrants, freedom of speech and education,” a Scottish government spokeswoman said.

"At the moment, marriage ceremonies by bodies such as humanists have been classed as religious, even though

One of the Washington state homes in which Jessica Carde allegedly squatted. (King County prosecutor's office)

A Seattle woman faces felony charges alleging she played the role of a wealthy identity-theft victim and squatted in multi-million dollar luxury homes for five years.

The online newspaper Seattle PI reports that 58-year-old Jessica Carde is still at large while facing 12 felony counts from the King County prosecutor’s office.

How, exactly, did her alleged scheme work? According to Seattle PI, "Carde presented herself as a well-to-do business owner with a significant line of credit who was interested in buying a home. ... But when the time came to make a down payment, Carde claimed to have had her identity stolen before pushing toward a lease-purchase agreement.

"Lease-purchase agreements—also known as rent-to-buy plans—allow a would-be buyer to make payments to the homeowner over time," the site continued. "After the agreed amount of money is paid, the home is signed over to the tenant."

Court documents describe Carde as engaging in "deceptive retaliatory acts against the homeowner to

The controversial film “Loose Change” built a following over the years with its conspiracy theories about the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. On a decidedly less controversial note, Graham Putnam has come up with a conspiracy theory of his own, which he put into a YouTube video entitled “Luke’s Change." The video makes the humorous argument that the Skywalker family from the Star Wars saga actually staged the attack on the Death Star.

In a decidedly satirical tone, Putnam describes the seven-minute film as, “An examination of some questionable events and circumstances leading up to the destruction of the Death Star, through the eyes of an amateur investigative journalist within the Star Wars galaxy.“

Other than repeated references to Aldebaran rather than Alderaan, it’s a pretty humorous clip for Star Wars fans, raising such hard-hitting questions as, “What’s the likelihood that a squad of one-man attack ships, like the X-Wing, could penetrate the heavily fortified defense forces

Does the actor who portrayed Satan in a new miniseries too closely resemble Obama? (Twitter)

The History Channel miniseries “The Bible” has been generating heavenly ratings, with more than 14 million viewers tuning in to its debut episode. But the show generated some controversy with its Sunday night episode in which the character playing Satan made his debut. The controversy was not over anything happening on screen, but rather whether or not the actor playing Satan looks a little too much like President Barack Obama.

Conservative media figure Glenn Beck was the first big name to address the odd similarity, writing on his Twitter account, “Anyone else think the Devil in #TheBible Sunday on History Channel looks exactly like That Guy?”

Beck was not alone, with thousands of viewers and several media outlets jumping on the story. Many were quick to note the similarity reminded them of a recent controversy in which it was discovered that the makers of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” had used a prop of George W. Bush’s head in a grisly scene.

History Channel has been quick to deny any

Elizabeth Gilbert's book brough Eustace Conway to national prominenceEustace Conway, 51, has been called “The Last American Man.” He left his suburban upbringing and literally walked out into the Appalachian Mountains, where he has lived for 30 years. In that time, he’s faced down wild animals and entitled children. But the proprietor of Turtle Island may have finally met his match in the form of red tape.

That’s because, as the Wall Street Journal reports, the Watauga County planning department has created a 78-page report detailing the various health and sanitary violations at Conway’s nature paradise.

"These buildings aren't fit for public use," Joseph A. Furman, county planning director, tells the WSJ, describing toilets made of sawdust and open-air kitchen facilities.

"Modern inspectors know how to measure a board, but not how to build a building," Conway shoots back, saying the very point of Turtle Island is to offer visitors an experience free of modern trappings.

"Codes don't apply to what we're doing," he said.

Conway’s supporters have started

Only about 30 percent of people in the U.S. know how to perform CPR. And that statistic makes the story of one Georgia woman even more remarkable after a 9-year-old boy showed her how to perform CPR on her newborn baby.

Susanna Rohm said she experienced a parent’s worst nightmare: Her 2-month-old son, Isiah, was not breathing.

"I noticed he looked pale, and so I looked at his arm and his leg and they were limp," Rohm told a Fox Atlanta affiliate. "Then I noticed that he looked like he wasn't alive."

In a panic, she dropped and broke her cellphone. Without a landline, Rohm was forced to run into the street, screaming for help as her son’s life hung in the balance.

"I had him in my arms and still screaming over and over. Then I ran outside. I saw two boys playing across the street, and I yelled, 'Go ask your parents to call 911,'" Rohm said.

But the two boys were able to do more than help. Nine-year-old Ethan Wilson sprang into action, showing Rohm how to perform CPR on young Isiah

One of the photos taken from Allan Engstrom's stolen iPad (Engstrom/Facebook)Losing your iPad would be a source of anger and resentment for most people. But one Arkansas man describes his own stolen device as a “continuing fountain of entertainment,” thanks to the often bizarre pictures taken with the iPad that are posted to his iCloud photostream.

"It's been a continuing fountain of entertainment for me,” Allen Engstram told KTHV. “It's just like I'll wake up one day and they'll be new pictures there and I'm like oh my gosh, she has no idea."

Engstram says he lost the iPad on a flight from Phoenix to Denver. He assumed that was the end of the story until one day his son asked Engstram’s wife about a strange photo that appeared in the family’s photo stream.

"He said mommy, who's this? And of course she said, I have no idea who that is. It showed up on my phone too," Engstram said. "After a while we figured out what was going on. That's the person that has my iPad."

And while he doesn’t know if he’ll ever actually get the iPad back, Engstram is making sure to