the things you believe you're seeing...

Note to Time magazine;

How disgusting...and the mother went along with the idea, no doubt it was her idea all along... Girl won Hannah Montana tickets with fake essay GARLAND, Texas (AP) — An essay that won a 6-year-old girl four tickets to a Hannah Montana concert began with the powerful line: "My daddy died this year in Iraq." While gripping, it was not true — and now the girl may lose her tickets after her mom acknowledged to contest organizers it was all a lie. The sponsor of the contest was Club Libby Lu, a Chicago-based store that sells clothes, accessories and games intended for young girls. The saga began Friday with company officials surprising the girl at a Club Libby Lu at a mall in suburban Garland, about 20 miles northeast of Dallas. The girl won a makeover that included a blonde Hannah Montana wig, as well as the grand prize: airfare for four to Albany, N.Y., and four tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert on Jan. 9. The mother had told company officials that the girl's f...

Could this be what causes the media to turn against Huckabee? Huckabee's muzzle control problem by Jim Tankersley Republican Mike Huckabee took his presidential campaign for a quick pheasant-hunting expedition in Iowa on Wednesday, and at one point, a reporter asked why he hadn’t invited sporting enthusiast Dick Cheney along. "Because I want to survive all the way through this," Huckabee replied, in a chuckling dig at the vice president’s accidental shooting of a quail-hunting partner last year. Any good sportsman, though, couldn’t miss a distinctly Cheneyesque moment in the press accounts of the former Arkansas governor’s morning hunt: At one point, Huckabee’s party turned toward a cluster of reporters and cameramen and, when they kicked up a pheasant, fired shotgun blasts over the group’s heads. This, friends, is dangerously bad hunting form. Your Swamp correspondent, the son of a longtime hunter education instructor, grew up plying the corn rows and stream banks of rur...

I wonder if Mika's friend is the infamous "Tommy" of Harry Reid... BRZEZINSKI: I agree with you Joe. I actually hear the same thing among my circles that I've been talking to about the story. Having said that though, the one thing that does come to my mind, when you look at this campaign, and you look at all the different choices out there, and all the different visions in terms of what our place should be in the world, I just wonder if some voters will look back at post-9/11, and I have a friend who made a decision right after 9-11, holding her baby, in the polling booth, and she decided to vote for George W. Bush because she thought she would, quote, be safer. She now regrets that decision because she doesn't feel like America is safer and she feels like this President has brought us down a path which is leading us to this very moment right here, which is massive destabilization in Pakistan . Ah Mika, Bush was already president after 9/11 so are you talking ab...

I'm sure Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi had more important things to do, like maybe another non-binding resolution on Iraq... IRS: Late Tax Fix Delays Refunds By JESSE J. HOLLAND – 14 hours ago WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 3 million people will have to wait until February to get their tax refunds because of Congress' late fix to the alternative minimum tax, the IRS said Thursday. Congress put a one-year freeze on growth of the alternative minimum tax last week, shielding many middle- and upper-middle income taxpayers from first exposure to the tax. But Congress' late action means the Internal Revenue Service won't be able to start processing five AMT-related forms until February, delaying potential refunds for those people until that month. Between 3 million and 4 million people filed in January for their 2006 taxes using those forms, with many expecting a refund, the IRS said. The average refund was $2,324, the agency said. "We regret the inconvenience the delay will ...

Clinton's "don't ask" policy As she races through Iowa in the days before next week's caucuses, Hillary Clinton is taking few chances. She tells crowds that it’s their turn to “pick a president,’’ but over the last two days she has not invited them to ask her any questions. Before the brief Christmas break, the New York senator had been setting aside time after campaign speeches to hear from the audience. Now when she’s done speaking, her theme songs blare from loudspeakers, preventing any kind of public Q&A. She was no more inviting when a television reporter approached her after a rally on Thursday and asked if she was “moved’’ by Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. Clinton turned away without answering. Her daughter, Chelsea, had the same reaction when a reporter approached her with a question. Hillary Clinton’s no-question policy didn’t sit well with some of the Iowans who came to see her speak. “I was a little bit underwhelmed,’’ said Doug Rohde, 46, as he le...

Has Huck joined the blame America first crowd? With about 150 supporters crowded around a podium set up on the tarmac of Orlando Executive airport (and about 20 Ron Paul supporters waving signs outside) Mike Huckabee strode out to the strains of “Right Now” by Van Halen and immediately addressed the Bhutto situation, expressing “our sincere concern and apologies for what has happened in Pakistan.”

From the Des Moines Register; Webster City, Ia. – Barack Obama told an audience here that, as president, he would use his position to promote higher education. “We’ve got a president who brags about ‘I was a C student, look at me. I got to be president and I can’t pronounce stupider.’ That’s not the message we want for the White House.” The crowd laughed. Are we now back to how the president pronounces words as a qualification?

NFL Network To Simulcast Pats-Giants On CBS, NBC Patriots To Go For Record In First 3-Network Simulcast In NFL History NEW YORK (CBS) ― The New England Patriots' shot at history Saturday night will be available for every household in the country with a television after months of wrangling. The game against the New York Giants, in which the Patriots could become the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season, was originally scheduled to be shown only on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation's homes with TVs. But the league announced Wednesday that the NFL Network feed will be simulcast on NBC and CBS. It's a major concession by league officials, who repeatedly said they would not show the game anywhere but the NFL Network. The NFL had faced mounting pressure from politicians in recent weeks to make the game available to more viewers. This will be the first three-network simulcast in NFL history and the first simulcast of any kind of ...

Oh brother...Well first the economy is going quite well thank you very much. But the LA Times decides to kill two birds with one stone ...a bad economy is linked to the flow of illegal immigrants beginning to lessen. Of course! It can't have anything to do with stepped up enforcement and the passing of stricter laws against employers, could it? Nah! Tide of illegal immigrants ebbs By Marla Dickerson, Los Angeles Times MEXICO CITY - Lorenzo Martinez, an illegal immigrant who has lived in Los Angeles for six years, has a message for his kin in Mexico's Hidalgo state: Stay put. The steady construction work that allowed him to send home as much as $1,000 a month in recent years has disappeared. The 36-year-old father of four said desperation is growing among the day laborers with whom he competes for odd jobs. Sporadic employment isn't the half of it. Martinez said anxiety is also running high among undocumented workers about stepped-up workplace raids, deportations and i...

Miss France chief wants to strip queen of crown Fri Dec 21, 2007 7:08pm GMT PARIS (Reuters) - The president of the Miss France beauty pageant said on Friday she wanted the winner of the 2008 competition to hand back her crown after a magazine published suggestive photographs of the 22-year old model. "If she had some courage and a bit of dignity she would say 'I'm resigning because I'm not worthy to carry on as Miss France'," the head of the Miss France committee, Genevieve de Fontenay, told Europe 1 radio. Valerie Begue, who comes from the French-run, Indian Ocean island of Reunion, was elected Miss France 2008 on prime time television earlier this month. She has ruled out standing down, saying the pictures were published without her consent. The photos showed the bikini-clad brunette floating in a swimming pool on a wooden cross in a Christ-like pose. Another one showed her licking condensed milk in a provocative fashion. Anyone standing for the Miss France...

Based on the placement of the story in today's NY Times that assessment seems accurate... Hot Air » Blog Archive » Rudy’s security expenses scandal turns out to be mostly crap?

But will the media report it? .: U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works :: Minority Page :.

The Washington Post highlights the Dems failures ( and some successes ) during their first year back in control of Congress. Talking about Iraq, this last paragraph seems rather odd... Sen. Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), the Senate Democratic whip tasked with trying to find 60 votes for a filibuster-proof majority, acknowledged this week that Democrats' biggest failure stemmed from expecting " more Republicans to take an independent stance" on Iraq. Instead, most of them stood with Bush. "Many of them will have to carry that with them into the election," Durbin said. Since the surge has produced a remarkable turnaround in Iraq and it appears that trend will contiue in 2008, I would think that Republicans that stood by Bush and his Iraq surge policy will be more than happy to trumpet that fact. Durbin's statement illustrates exactly what the problem the Democrats face is. They have so deeply invested themselves in defeat in Iraq that they are unable to admit t...

I thought Jamie Lynn would see the errors of her sister's ways and not take the same road...Well, not so fast; Jamie Lynn Spears says she's pregnant Wed Dec 19, 6:47 AM ET NEW YORK - Another Spears baby is reportedly on the way — and it's not Britney's. Jamie Lynn Spears, the 16-year-old "Zoey 101" star and sister of Britney, told OK! magazine that she's pregnant and that the father is her boyfriend, Casey Aldridge. "It was a shock for both of us, so unexpected," she said. "I was in complete and total shock and so was he." Spears is 12 weeks along and initially kept the news to herself when she learned of the pregnancy from an at-home test and subsequent doctor visit, she told the celebrity magazine, which hits stands in New York on Wednesday and the rest of the country by Friday. What message does she want to send to other teens about premarital sex? "I definitely don't think it's something you should do; it's better ...

Well thats rather strong; Wyoming's Democratic Party chairman says that Hillary Clinton will "completely reverse" progress the party has made in that state and that " most voters in Wyoming seem to hate Hillary Clinton ."

"I'm doctor not a writer!"

Notice how remarkably calm everyone else is...

Moderator: (paraphrased) Senator Obama, you have President Clinton's former national security adviser, state department chief of staff, and other former officials advising you. How can you deliver change when you are using so many former officials of the previous Democratic administration? Hillary: (laughing) I want to hear him answer that. Obama: Well, Hillary, I'm looking forward to you advising me as well.

Oops... Michelle Malkin is sleep-blogging the debate.

But even more disturbing is that these same 9 Dems voted YES on similar resolutions to honor Islam and Indian religions. Maybe they need to be reminded that the country was founded on Christian values...Congressman Steve King commenting on Fox & Friends yesterday... “The [nine] naysayers didn’t make it to the floor to debate. I would like to know how they could vote Yes on Islam, Yes on the Indian Religions and No on Christianity when the foundation of this nation and our American culture is Christianity…I think there’s an assault on Christianity in America.”

But it's beginning to get on my nerves...from today's debate. Huckabee: "I can't part the Red Sea, but I can part the red tape."

The AP again screws up the Kyoto protocol history. Now why would they do that? "The U.S. is the only major industrial nation to reject Kyoto. President Bush contended the emissions cuts would harm the U.S. economy, and should have been imposed on China, India and other fast-growing poorer economies." But these are the facts; "On July 25, 1997, before the Kyoto Protocol was finalized (although it had been fully negotiated, and a penultimate draft was finished), the U.S. Senate unanimously passed by a 95-0 vote the Byrd-Hagel Resolution (S. Res. 98),[40] which stated the sense of the Senate was that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing as well as industrialized nations or "would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States" On November 12, 1998, Vice President Al Gore symbolically signed the protocol. Both Gore and Senator Joseph Lieberman indicated that the p...

Aside from the fact that the gunman took his own life, this is quite a story...and now Jeanne Assam will not have to live the rest of her life thinking she killed another human being, he took care of that himself; Vet lauds female guard who felled gunman By Kieran Nicholson The Denver Post Article Last Updated: 12/10/2007 06:53:56 PM MST Larry Bourbonnais, a combat-tested Vietnam veteran, said it was the bravest thing he's ever seen. Bourbonnais, who was among those shot by a gunman Sunday at New Life Church, watched as a security guard, a woman later identified as Jeanne Assam, calmly returned fire and killed the shooter. "She just started walking toward the gunman firing the whole way," said Bourbonnais, who was shot in the arm. "She was just yelling 'Surrender,' walking and shooting the whole time." Bourbonnais, 59, had just finished up a hamburger in the cafeteria on the sprawling church campus when he heard gunfire, he recalled. He headed in the dir...

According to retired CIA office John Kiriakou waterboarding used on Abu Zubaydah broke him in 35 seconds and disrupted dozens of plots and probably saved thousands of lives... Coming in From the Cold: CIA Spy Calls Waterboarding Necessary But Torture Former Agent Says the Enhanced Technique Was Used on Al Qaeda Chief Abu Zubaydah By RICHARD ESPOSITO & BRIAN ROSS Dec. 10, 2007 In the first public comment by any CIA officer involved in handling high-value al Qaeda targets, John Kiriakou, now retired, said the technique broke Zubaydah in less than 35 seconds. (Editor's Note for Video to the Left: Material from this video transcript may not be used without crediting ABC News in each instance of use. In all cases, use must be limited to one minute or less without the explicit permission of ABC News.) "The next day, he told his interrogator that Allah had visited him in his cell during the night and told him to cooperate," said Kiriakou in an interview to be broadcast ton...

Civil Rights Icon Calls Obama Too Young Dec 8, 5:52 PM (ET) By ERRIN HAINES ATLANTA (AP) - Civil rights icon Andrew Young says Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is too young and lacks the support network to ascend to the White House. In a media interview posted online, Young also quipped that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has her husband behind her, and that "Bill is every bit as black as Barack." "He's probably gone with more black women than Barack," Young said of former President Clinton, drawing laughter from a live television audience. Young, 75, was quick to follow his comment on Bill Clinton with the disclaimer, "I'm clowning."

Why does Marueen Dowd feel the need to stretch her youth into her 20s ? To make a point by bashing Mitt Romney of course! Why else? When I was a kid, we used to drive on the Beltway past the big Mormon temple outside Washington. The spires rose up like a white Oz, and some wag had spray-painted the message on a bridge beneath: Surrender Dorothy! But a Glenn Reynolds reader points out; But if you're imagining Dowd as a pigtailed six-year-old in the back of the family station wagon, think again. The temple was finished in 1974 . Maureen Dowd was born in 1952 . So she was a "kid" who was old enough to vote and drink. (According to this source, the graffiti first appeared in 1973, when Dowd would have been 21.) Thanks to reader Conrad Kiechel for the tip. I remember the graffiti, too, though, which was still there in the 1980s when I was a "kid" practicing law in Washington. By then Dowd was pushing 40. So after that whopper I find it hard to swallow this one; ...

When will the Dems realize that their own words always come back to haunt them, and lose them elections. From the Washington Post on Dems being briefed on waterboarding on 2002, even one Dem named Pelosi; In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) , was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk. Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said. "The brief...

Imagine that, Americans like watching movies that show the US military kicking ass! Not According to Script Hollywood gets shown up by pro-war YouTube videos and a didactic antiwar cat. BY BRENDAN MINITER Friday, December 7, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST The guns of war have fallen silent for Hollywood. Studio executives, who could once count on Americans filling theaters for just about any war movie they produced, are finding this year's war flicks to be a bunch of duds. "Lions for Lambs," Robert Redford's case against the war in Afghanistan, is a flop. It stars Mr. Redford, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise and may not make back its $35 million price tag. Brian De Palma's "Redacted" played to empty seats. Even "The War," Ken Burns's much-anticipated World War II documentary that aired on PBS in September, met a less-than-explosive reception. But Americans haven't lost their taste for war footage. They've just found a better place to see the type ...

From Don Surber: "Will Dems Defect on Iraq?" Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D.: “I’ve never felt more hopeful about the success of the effort than coming back from this trip.” Unless they want to be labeled as rooting for defeat they will defect in droves... See the story...

I guess when a song about the Iraq war comes out the MSM assumes it anti-war...well Billy Joel's new tune "Christmas in Fallujah" is neither pro or anti-war. It straddles the issue in order to tell the story of soldiers dealing with being away from their families during the Christmas season. Its a pretty good tune but I doubt it will be on everyones Christmas playlist nor will it probably be a big seller. And that is probably due to Billy not singing on the tune but rather the lead vocal is by Cass Dillion. Billy Joel releases anti-war song 2 hours, 2 minutes ago NEW YORK - Billy Joel has released a new pop single, the anti-war "Christmas in Fallujah." Just don't expect to hear his voice on it. ADVERTISEMENT At 58, Joel felt he was too old to sing the song, which was inspired by letters the Piano Man received from soldiers in Iraq. So he gave it to Cass Dillon, a 21-year-old singer-songwriter from Long Island. "I thought it should be somebody youn...

But the opportunity to push Hillary has "in charge" continues... Clinton Seizes Opportunity After Crisis Politico: Democratic Hopeful Looked Like A Woman In Charge After Hostage Drama Dec 1, 2007 (The Politico) This story was written by David Paul Kuhn. Friday afternoon began with possible tragedy: A hostage crisis at Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire. As the incident unfolded Clinton’s campaign closed its doors and canceled her public appearances. But nightfall brought a happy ending: the campaign workers safe, the man in police custody - and Clinton flying to the scene to express thanks. The hostage-taking itself offered a rare, if small, genuine drama in a campaign season governed by strict schedules and scripted stump speeches. And as soon as it ended, Clinton took full advantage of the opportunity she had unexpectedly been handed. In her New Hampshire press conference, she stood before a column of police in green and tan uniforms. She t...

A correction from the NY Times; Because of an editing error, a front-page article in some editions yesterday about the Republican presidential debate misstated the response of former Senator Fred D. Thompson in a passage about high points for many candidates. During the debate, he offered a spirited defense of gun rights, not gun control.

Yes he did say that yesterday. The Politico has analysis; Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), one of the leading anti-war voices in the House Democratic Caucus, is back from a trip to Iraq and he now says the "surge is working." This could be a huge problem for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders, who are blocking approval of the full $200 billion being sought by President Bush for combat operations in Iraq in 2008. Murtha's latest comments are also a stark reversal from what he said earlier in the year. The Pennsylvania Democrat, who chairs the powerful Defense Subcommittee on the House Appropriations Committee, has previously stated that the surge "is not working" and the United States faced a military disaster in Iraq. ... But Pelosi, who is scheduled to speak to a Democratic National Committee event in Virginia on Friday, will surely face tough questions from reporters regarding Murtha's statement on the surge. "This could be a rea...

From CNN's Washington burea chief David Bohrman via Howard Kurtz; Bohrman said he had no problem using questioners who have voiced support for other candidates as long as they are not donors or formally affiliated with any campaign. "We bent over backwards to be fair," he said. "We're not perfect. But we tried extremely hard ." It took viewers and bloggers about 5 minutes to figure out Kerr was on Clinton's staff. They used this cool tool called Google.

6,000 Sunnis join pact with US in Iraq By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer Nearly 6,000 Sunni Arab residents joined a security pact with American forces Wednesday in what U.S. officers described as a critical step in plugging the remaining escape routes for extremists flushed from former strongholds. The new alliance — called the single largest volunteer mobilization since the war began — covers the "last gateway" for groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq seeking new havens in northern Iraq, U.S. military officials said. U.S. commanders have tried to build a ring around insurgents who fled military offensives launched earlier this year in the western Anbar province and later into Baghdad and surrounding areas. In many places, the U.S.-led battles were given key help from tribal militias — mainly Sunnis — that had turned against al-Qaida and other groups... The ceremony to pledge the 6,000 new fighters was presided over by a dozen sheiks — each draped in black...

Of course not! They knew exactly what they were doing last night with all of the planted democrat activist/supporter questions disguised as regular people or republican voters, not to mention the oh-so obvious plant of the retired gay Brig. General Keith H. Kerr.....Why is anyone surprised. Michelle Malkin has got the scoop and be sure to click through to all of her links...

From the Washington Post they give us the view of a cabbie in Baghdad and it matches the rest of the news that is finally making its way out of Iraq; Haider Abbas, a 36-year-old taxi driver, had only a few moments to answer what is often a life-or-death question in this city: Would he drive a passenger home? The home, on that scorching afternoon last month, happened to be in Adhamiyah, a notoriously dangerous neighborhood where several cabbies had been gunned down. Abbas hadn't been there in two years. But the fare pleaded that it had become safer, so the cabbie reluctantly agreed to go. "To tell you the truth, I thought I had just traded my life for 5,000 dinars," or $4, said Abbas, who was shocked when he arrived in the traffic-jammed streets of Adhamiyah to see shops open and people strolling in the road. "Then I suddenly realized that security really is returning to Baghdad." In a city where few residents believe official statements on declining violence, w...

From the Canada Free Press; CFP: Al Gore buddy owner of sunken ship that left huge carbon footprint on Antarctic Ocean floor

I must admit I did not know what the original title of the book "Ten Little Indians" was...however this is just lunacy! A widely performed school play has been canceled by Lakota officials after a recent meeting with a local NAACP official. The internationally acclaimed play - Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians” - was to be performed by students at Lakota East High School this weekend. But Gary Hines, president of the local NAACP branch, recently complained to Lakota officials that the play, based on Christie’s 1939 mystery novel, was inappropriate for a school production. Hines said the book’s original title and cover illustration used for its initial publishing that year in England was a racial slur toward blacks and included a cover illustration of a black person and a hangman’s noose. “The original title was ‘Ten Little (N - - - - - -),’ and it is important to say that because that was the actual title,” Hines said Monday. The title of the inter...

What a maroon! After the October 20th primary election for which only 27.5% of the city's registered voters turned out, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said he was "disgusted." In a television interview, Nagin said "it was kind of offensive to me, because here I am bustin' my butt every day and all I'm asking citizens to do is to plug into the democratic process." It's now reported that Nagin himself was a no-show at the polls in October.

...and you probably haven't, from Capt Ed ; Retailers expected a boost between 4-5% on "Black Friday". They got almost twice that, as shoppers flooded the malls on the day after Thanksgiving, the traditional kickoff of the Christmas shopping season. Consumers shrugged off the credit crunch and the rhetoric of the doom-and-gloom Democrats, who promise that poverty lurks just around the corner. One might think that this would make headlines -- but despite the AP's report, few of its clients appear to have selected it for the Sunday papers.

According to Rasmussen Reports ; 67% Prefer Merry Christmas while 26% Opt for Happy Holidays Thursday, November 22, 2007 Advertisment As the holiday season begins, 67% of American adults like stores to use the phrase “Merry Christmas” in their seasonal advertising rather than “Happy Holidays.” A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 26% prefer the Happy Holidays line.

Sects unite to battle Al Qaeda in Iraq QARGHULIA, Iraq — Despite persistent sectarian tensions in the Iraqi government, war-weary Sunnis and Shiites are joining hands at the local level to protect their communities from militants on both sides, U.S. military officials say. In the last two months, a U.S.-backed policing movement called Concerned Citizens, launched last year in Sunni-dominated Anbar province under the banner of the Awakening movement, has spread rapidly into the mixed Iraqi heartland. Of the nearly 70,000 Iraqi men in the Awakening movement, started by Sunni Muslim sheiks who turned their followers against Al Qaeda in Iraq, there are now more in Baghdad and its environs than anywhere else, and a growing number of those are Shiite Muslims. Commanders in the field think they have tapped into a genuine public expression of reconciliation that has outpaced the elected government's progress on mending the sectarian rift. The must enjoy stories like this ; Failing to Win ...

Last week Britian accused Santa of being to fat and a poor role model and threatened to ban him. And now Australia goes one better... Santas warned 'ho ho ho' offensive to women SYDNEY (AFP) - Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported. One disgruntled Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm warned him not to use "ho ho ho" because it could frighten children and was too close to "ho", a US slang term for prostitute. "Gimme a break," said Julie Gale, who runs the campaign against sexualising children called Kids Free 2B Kids. "We are talking about little kids who do not understand that "ho, ho, ho" has any other connotation and nor should they,...

I thought our position in the world was at its lowest... Britain, France Argue Which Is Closest U.S. Ally By NICHOLAS WAPSHOTT Staff Reporter of the Sun November 13, 2007 Not to be outdone by President Sarkozy's amorous overture to President Bush in Washington, Prime Minister Brown of Britain has used the first major foreign policy speech of his premiership to insist that Britain is America's closest ally. After decades of Anglo-French rivalry, in which France has vehemently deplored the global influence America and Britain have attained and what every president of France since Charles de Gaulle has described as "Anglo-Saxon culture," Mr. Sarkozy claimed during his visit to Washington last week that France, not Britain, is now America's best friend and partner. And now in Denmark pro-American leader Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his party was reelected ; Denmark's governing coalition, led by Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has won a general election, but is ...

Search Called off After 2-Year-Old Found Posted: Today at 12:22 p.m. Updated: 57 minutes ago Raleigh — A search for a 2-year-old girl was called off shortly after noon Tuesday when the child was found.

Imagine if she gets asked two tough questions on Thursday? This is really getting ridicules! From Drudge: CNN's Wolf Blitzer has been warned not to focus Thursday's Dem debate on Hillary. 'This campaign is about issues, not on who we can bring down and destroy,' top Clinton insider explains. 'Blitzer should not go down to the levels of character attack and pull 'a Russert.'' Blitzer is set to moderate debate from Vegas, with questions also being posed by Suzanne Malveaux... Developing...

Wouldn't it be funny if the ratings went up? About 500 unionized news writers could soon join their creative colleagues on the picket line. T he writers, employees of CBS News television and radio, are expected to overwhelmingly approve a strike authorization. Represented by Writers Guild of America East, the writers were scheduled to vote Thursday.

Student given question to ask Clinton: I wasn't only one Student Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff said a staffer told her what to ask at a campaign event for Sen. Hillary Clinton. GRINNELL, Iowa (CNN) — The college student who says she was told what question to ask at one of Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign events told CNN Monday that she wasn't the only one at the event who was a plant and said "voters have the right to know what really happened." In an exclusive interview with CNN, Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff, a 19-year-old sophomore at Grinnell College in Iowa — whose story in her campus newspaper has now been widely circulated — said that giving anyone specific questions to ask is "dishonest," and the whole incident has given her a negative outlook on politics. Gallo-Chasanoff, an undecided voter, said what happened was really pretty simple: she says a senior Clinton staffer asked if she'd like to ask the senator a question after an energy sp...

A very fascinating read... The truth is Hollywood people are massively uninformed. They live in a bubble and, outside what they read in the New York Times and hear on NPR, they know almost nothing about what is really going on in the Middle East. And very few of them are curious to find out, because they assume what they already know is true and they have no impetus to investigate further. But there is deeper reason for this than mere convenience and received conventional wisdom. These are not curious people because they are highly self-protective. They live a hugely privileged lifestyle, often based to a great degree on luck (and they know it), and this existence could only be threatened by contradictory information. Who wants that – particularly when it would alienate your colleagues, hurt your reputation and cause work problems? Better to produce movies that validate the orthodoxy, even if they are economic disasters. Your colleagues will be impressed and you might win a prize (De P...

At least we won't have to put up with these insipid green logos and tinted visuals on the late night talk shows; NBC had hoped to extend its “Green is Universal” environmental campaign to late-night this week. Ed Begley Jr. was lined up to share eco-friendly advice on “The Tonight Show” and guests with the word “green” in their names — like the actor Seth Green and the musician Jackie Greene — were booked on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.” Those plans have been sidelined.

HENLEY DEFENDS EAGLES' WAL-MART DEAL Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com) 2007-10-24 20:26:43 - THE EAGLES star DON HENLEY has defended the band's decision to strike a distribution deal with U.S. supermarket chain Wal-Mart. The group's new album, Long Road Out Of Eden, will be sold exclusively through the retailers in North America, but the band has been criticised for working with the supermarket giant due to Henley's credentials as a long-time environmental activist. The new album also includes critical references to American consumerism and big business - with many fans accusing The Eagles of hypocrisy. But Henley is convinced their relationship with Wal-Mart can help in the fight for green issues. He says, "You would have thought we made a deal with the devil. We caught plenty of flak. Some of my environmental friends are a little upset because we made this deal. But on the other hand, I have a direct line n...

Ellison wants to ban photo ID as requirement for voting By FREDERIC J. FROMMER Wednesday, October 31, 2007 Requiring photo IDs to vote in federal elections would be banned under legislation introduced Wednesday by Rep. Keith Ellison, who said such requirements disenfranchise minorities, the poor, women, elderly and young people. “While photo IDs seem harmless, they are in fact the modern day poll tax,” Ellison, D-Minn., said in a statement. Ellison, who serves on the Judiciary Committee, got an important backer for the bill, as the panel’s chairman, Michigan Democrat John Conyers, signed on a co-sponsor…

I think he should take this offer.. .

Thats clears it up.... "Senator Clinton supports governors like Governor Spitzer who believe they need such a measure to deal with the crisis caused by this administration's failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform,'" her campaign said. Mrs. Clinton's aides said her statement was intended to signal that she broadly supported Mr. Spitzer's goal of awarding driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Mr. Spitzer initially proposed a blanket program of awarding full-fledged driver's licenses to illegal immigrants; in the face of sharp opposition from the Legislature, he backed off and presented a two-tier program system of awarding licenses to illegal immigrants. Mrs. Clinton's advisers said that she had not studied either plan , and was not specifically endorsing either of them . [E.A.]

Thats where this article was placed in the print edition of the USA Today today...but if a suicide bomber attacked you can be sure it would have been Page 1A; Page 5A U.S. deaths in Iraq lowest since March 2006 General: All Baghdad-area violence falling since June By Jim Michaels USA TODAY The number of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq is headed for the lowest level in more than a year and a half and the fifth consecutive monthly decline. Twenty-seven Americans have been killed in action in October, with one day left in the month, Pentagon records show. That would be the lowest monthly level since March 2006, when 27 servicemembers died in hostile action, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Pentagon reports. The total number of U.S. deaths, including accidents, in October so far is 35, records show. A new strategy, backed up by 30,000 more U.S. servicemembers, has led to a decline in violence and weakened al-Qaeda, commanders say. The U.S. military started building combat outposts and movin...

So she does support drivers licenses to illegal immigrants because she said it "makes a lot sense" or she doesn't support it because she didn't say the words "I support the idea" ??? You tell me...

Someone should Harry Reid know this.... Boy Started California Fire, Officials Say By DAISY NGUYEN, AP SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (Oct. 31) - A prosecutor will be asked to consider the case of a boy accused of starting a massive wildfire by playing with matches. Fueled by ferocious desert winds, the fire quickly spread, burning more than 38,000 acres and destroying 21 homes. The boy, whose name and age were not released, admitted to sparking the fire on Oct. 21, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Diane Hecht said Tuesday. "He admitted to playing with matches and accidentally starting the fire," she said in a statement. The boy was released to his parents, and the case will be presented to the district attorney's office, Hecht said. It was not clear if he had been arrested or cited by detectives.

Harry and Nancy should be so proud of themselves... Bush says he'll veto health bill again By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 1 hour, 8 minutes ago WASHINGTON - President Bush accused Democratic lawmakers on Friday of wasting time by passing legislation to expand children's health coverage, knowing that he would veto it again. At the same time, he criticized Congress for failing to approve spending bills to keep the government running. Bush said Congress had "set a record they should not be proud of: October 26 is the latest date in 20 years that Congress has failed to get a single annual appropriations bill to the president's desk." He also complained that Congress had failed to pass a permanent extension of a moratorium on state and local taxes on Internet access, and that the Senate had not yet confirmed Michael Mukasey as attorney general. Further, he chided Congress for failing to approve more money for Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate on Thursday night...

The coming media non-firestorm over Joe Biden's comments concerning school performance in Iowa compared to Washington DC; After a lengthy critique of Bush administration education policies, Biden attempted to explain why some schools perform better than others — in Iowa, for instance, compared with the District. “There’s less than 1 percent of the population of Iowa that is African American. There is probably less than 4 or 5 percent that are minorities. What is in Washington? So look, it goes back to what you start off with, what you’re dealing with, ” Biden said. Ok...if this were a Republican he'd already have resigned and been referred to as the 'disgraced former Senator Joe Biden' but since he is a Dem it will be explained by saying that Biden is just such an intelluctual that he has a hard time explaining to us regular people what he really means.

Norman Hsu wants he felony conviction thrown out...read why. Disgraced political donor Norman Hsu wasn't hiding from anyone over the past few years, his lawyers say. If California authorities really wanted to find him, they could have asked Hillary Rodham Clinton or one of the other prominent Democrats he showered with cash donation. Hsu is asking a judge to toss his 15-year-old felony fraud conviction, arguing that his right to a speedy trial was violated because authorities weren't actively pursuing him .

Since you probably won't hear much about this like you did when it happened; University Of Florida Police Cleared In Use Of Taser On Student GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- University of Florida police were justified in using a Taser against a student who refused to stop questioning Sen. John Kerry on campus last month, according to a state investigation released Wednesday. SLIDESHOW: Student Tasered During Press Conference RAW VIDEO: Student Shot With Taser During Press Conference READ: FDLE Report On Tasering Of UF Student (PDF) Some had questioned the use of force in using the stun gun against student Andrew Meyer, leading to the investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. A summary of the agency's report was released Wednesday. (PDF: Read Full Report) "In short, the FDLE determined that our officers acted well within state guidelines," university President Bernie Machen said in a letter to students, faculty and staff. Two officers who were placed on administr...

Interesting article written by a journalist who lives in Jena, LA and has covered the story from the beginning; Media myths about the Jena 6 A local journalist tells the story you haven't heard . By Craig Franklin from the October 24, 2007 edition Jena, La. - By now, almost everyone in America has heard of Jena, La., because they've all heard the story of the "Jena 6." White students hanging nooses barely punished, a schoolyard fight, excessive punishment for the six black attackers, racist local officials, public outrage and protests – the outside media made sure everyone knew the basics. There's just one problem: The media got most of the basics wrong. In fact, I have never before witnessed such a disgrace in professional journalism. Myths replaced facts, and journalists abdicated their solemn duty to investigate every claim because they were seduced by a powerfully appealing but false narrative of racial injustice. I should know. I live in Jena. My wife has ta...

GIRLS SOCCER Norwalk wins first since 2003 to halt 48-game winless streak Published October 24 2007 Norwalk 3, Bridgeport Central 0 - Lindsay Macri, Alyssa Schlegel and Tory Turchick each scored a goal to help Norwalk (1-12) pick up its first win since the 2003 season and snap a 48-game winless streak. The Bears had an 0-42-6 combined record beginning from when they lost their season finale to Cheshire in the 2003 state tournament. They finished 9-10 in 2003. Norwalk goalkeeper Carly Babel made four saves, including a big one when she made a save on the penalty kick when the game was still scoreless in the ninth minute. Ashley Lampman assisted Macri on Norwalk's first goal in the 21st minute. Adaobi Ogbenta had 16 saves for Bridgeport Central (0-10-2). Copyright © 2007, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. My daughter has played on the team since her Freshman year in 2005 and this is the first time she has experienced the thrill of victory!

From the USA Today in 2003; FBI: al-Qaeda detainee spoke of fire plot PHOENIX (AP) — The FBI alerted law enforcement agencies last month that an al-Qaeda terrorist now in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States. Rose Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, told The Associated Press that officials there took note of the warning but didn't see a need to act further on it. The contents of the June 25 memo from the FBI's Denver office were reported Friday by The Arizona Republic. Davis declined to share a copy of the memo and an FBI spokeswoman in Denver didn't immediately return a telephone call. The Republic reported that the detainee, who was not identified, said the plan involved three or four people setting wildfires using timed devices in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming that would detonate in forests and grasslands after the operatives had left the country...

The Science and Public Policy Institue documents "35 scientific inaccuracies and exaggerations" in Al Gore's movie.. 35 Inconvenient Truths The errors in Al Gore’s movie ImageA spokesman for Al Gore has issued a questionable response to the news that in October 2007 the High Court in London had identified nine “errors” in his movie An Inconvenient Truth. The judge had stated that, if the UK Government had not agreed to send to every secondary school in England a corrected guidance note making clear the mainstream scientific position on these nine “errors”, he would have made a finding that the Government’s distribution of the film and the first draft of the guidance note earlier in 2007 to all English secondary schools had been an unlawful contravention of an Act of Parliament prohibiting the political indoctrination of children. Al Gore’s spokesman and “environment advisor,” Ms. Kalee Kreider, begins by saying that the film presented “thousands and thousands of facts.” ...

On World News Tonight anchor Charlie Gibson said that because there were no roadside bombs or suicide bomber attacks that there was no news to report from Iraq. That statement tells you why we never hear the success stories from Iraq from the MSM. Unless there is death and violence they are not interested. Well here is a bit of interesting news; FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq – A 72-year-old man stopped a suspected suicide bomber from detonating himself at a checkpoint in Arab Jabour Oct. 14. The man approached a checkpoint where Mudhehr Fayadh Baresh was standing guard, but did not make it very far. Baresh, a tribal commissioner and member of the Arab Jabour Concerned Citizens program, said he ordered the man to lift his shirt - using training received from Coalition Forces - when he did not recognize him as a local villager. The suspect refused to lift his shirt. Baresh repeated the command again, and the suspect exposed his suicide vest, running toward the checkpoint. Baresh o...

Bravo! N.C. leads in immigrant crackdown Local law enforcement agencies are hastening to join a federal program that lets them check the status of those they jail Kristin Collins, Staff Writer North Carolina is becoming a national leader in rooting out illegal immigrants in its local jails. The state has largely avoided controversial municipal ordinances that crack down on illegal immigrants, their employers and their landlords. But many sheriffs and police chiefs are eager to enforce immigration law, federal officials say. Eighteen law enforcement agencies in North Carolina, more than any other state, have asked to join a program that would allow them to check the immigration status of those they arrest and jail. Sheriff's offices in Wake, Durham and Johnston counties are among those that have applied. Four more sheriff's offices are already enrolled in the program, and their efforts led to the deportation of thousands of immigrants in the past year. The program allows law en...