Blog Heap o'Links for May 2011

Does it matter if the president chooses to play golf on Memorial Day, and for the second time in his presidency (he did so as well in 2009)? I think it does, and it displays extraordinarily bad judgment, not only by Obama himself but also by his advisers. His chief of staff for example should have firmly cautioned against it. President Obama is not just any American but Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces. The United States is currently engaged in a major war in Afghanistan with over 100,000 troops on the ground, and more than 1,500 have already laid down their lives for their country. The least the president can do on Memorial Day is spend the whole day with veterans and servicemen's families while acknowledging their sacrifice. As Koffler points out above, President George W. Bush stopped playing golf out of respect for the families of Iraq War dead. This demonstrated not only good judgment but humility and respect for the men and women who keep America safe.

The dancers? They weren't innocent tourists moved to sway by the majesty of Jefferson. They were professional protesters — Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin and Iraq war veteran Adam Kokesh among the group — who were making a point about freedom and liberty in an event they promoted on Facebook. They boogied with Jefferson to challenge this month's U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that dancing at memorials is forbidden "because it stands out as a type of performance, creating its own center of attention and distracting from the atmosphere of solemn commemoration," according to the panel's ruling.

George Will: "There's no undecided vote in this country anymore on Sarah Palin The threshold question, it's not usually asked, but it's in everyone's mind in a presidential election. 'Should we give this person nuclear weapons?' And the answer [Palin], answers itself. That doesn't mean she can't be without political consequence." When Republicans call into question another Republican's national security chops you know there's real animus goin' on.

Rodriguez remained in the Harris County Jail Monday with no bail set. He is also charged with possession of less than a gram of cocaine and evading arrest. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. Investigators say Rodriguez flew past flashing lights early Sunday, as he was traveling east on the North Loop when his car struck Will near the Yale exit. The HPD officer, just two years on the job, was investigating a hit-and-run accident along Loop 610 North when a driver, apparently drunk, ignored the flashing lights of patrol cars and steered his Volkswagen around a makeshift barrier set up to block the freeway. Rodriguez' vehicle plowed into Will, killing the 38-year-officer at the scene. The officer leaves behind a pregnant wife, Alicia, whom he married last year. He also has two stepchildren: a 10-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl. Just before he died, Will yelled at the witness he was interviewing to "get out of the way," just before the speeding vehicle careened through the police barricade. ... "The witness had no time to look around or react, except to leap over the concrete barrier that divides the freeway," Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland said. "He credits Officer Will with giving him the prior warning of getting out of the way. It actually saved his life, or he said, he would have been struck with Officer Will."

[Associated Press:] acting as healer-in-chief to a devastated community... [ABC News:] the nation's pastor [UUURRRKKKKKK!]

The bus was filled with soccer fans coming home after watching a match in Seattle.... bus driver tried to change lanes to avoid a disabled pickup truck in the right lane... a passenger car was in the left lane... both the bus and the car then swerved to avoid each other, rolling in the process... Two people in the bus died... 21 injured...

reflect on what and who America's real enemies are. There are really only two principal answers to that...Islam and all those who enable it to further its raison d'etre of conquering the United States and the West, establishing a worldwide Islamic Caliphate and imposing Islamic Law, Sharia, on everyone. Among others, that includes Jihadists, so-called religious figures, businessmen, academics, 'ordinary citizens', leftists and Western politicians who are furthering its rise in their home countries and around the world, such as President Obama.

The Dutch government on Friday said it would start banning tourists from buying cannabis from "coffee shops" and impose restrictions on Dutch customers by the end of the year. [So much for liberty. Shouldn't something either be banned or not? What is the morality behind such goofy restrictions? None that's consistent or sensible. But we're talking about Law. European Law at that! Dutch European Law.] "In order to tackle the nuisance and criminality associated with coffee shops and drug trafficking, the open-door policy of coffee shops will end...." [Ummmm....]

For more than two decades, a local Boy Scout troop has dedicated countless hours decorating the graves of military veterans at two community cemeteries in honor of Memorial Day. Bartlesville Boy Scout Troop 6 placed hundreds of American flags at the White Rose Cemetery and Memorial Park Cemetery earlier this week as a tribute to the men and women who have sacrificed for the country's freedom. "The Scouts look forward to this project every year," said Charles Lewis, Troop 6 scoutmaster. "In a way, it feels like we know the veterans themselves when we read the grave markings."

Nine NATO service members were killed Thursday in Afghanistan, including seven U.S. troops among eight who died when a powerful bomb exploded in a field where they were patrolling on foot, officials said. Two Afghan policemen also died and two others were wounded in the explosion in the mountainous Shorabak district of Kandahar province, 12 miles from the Pakistan border, said Gen. Abdul Raziq, chief of the Afghan border police in the province. "Two months ago, we cleared this area of terrorists, but still they are active there," Raziq said.

Standardized Reference Committee Text Alterations to First Printing Function of the Standardized Reference Committee: Excerpt from the Standardized Reference Text Committee Draft Report, December 2008 Since the first edition of The Urantia Book was published in 1955, there have been a number of changes made over the years.

Today Canada demonstrated leadership at the G8 and clobbered Barack Obama and his Israel hating buddies: "Canadian delegation blocks mention of 1967 lines in Group of Eight leaders' joint statement calling Israel, Palestinians to return to peace talks.

Both strategically and ideologically, Netanyahu's speech constituted a massive concession to Obama. The premier had good reason to believe that his speech would preempt any US demand for further Israeli concessions during his visit to Washington. Alas, it was not to be. Instead of welcoming Netanyahu's unprecedented concessions, Obama dismissed them as insufficient as he blindsided Netanyahu last Thursday with his speech at the State Department. There, just hours before Netanyahu was scheduled to fly off to meet him in the Oval Office, Obama adopted the Palestinian negotiating position by calling for Israel to accept that future negotiations will be based on the indefensible — indeed suicidal — 1949 armistice lines. So, just as he was about to board his plane, Netanyahu realized that his mission in the US capital had changed. His job wasn't to go along to get along. His job was to stop Obama from driving Israel's relations with the US off a cliff.

The bullet which killed Yonatan Netanyahu was most likely provided to his killer through the largesse of Andrei Gromyko. The same man to whom Zakaria now compares Yonatan's younger brother, Binyamin. Perhaps Zakaria just hadn't thought of calling Binyamin Netanyahu, the elected leader of a sovereign nation and a stalwart US ally, a talk show slut. With Zakaria's column, it becomes clear that Barack Obama's mainstream media will stoop to any low, no matter how vile or disgraceful or personal, to protect their guy.

Every two to three years, Eddie Sales trims and prunes the crape myrtles at his church, Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church. But this year, the city of Charlotte cited the church for improperly pruning its trees. "We always keep our trees trimmed back because you don't want to worry about them hanging down in the way," said Sales, a church member. The church was fined $100 per branch cut for excessive pruning, bringing the violation to $4,000.

While the People's Republic of China holds over $1.1 trillion of our debt, EPA is busy giving grants to China (see here, here, here, here , here, and here). The Chinese grantees include their Ministry of Environmental Protection. [h/t to http://twitter.com/#!/brandondutcher/statuses/74911828555202560]

A 30-year-old model celebrating her birthday at an Atlanta hotel plunged to her death Saturday after she and a pal crashed through a 10th-floor window while "play wrestling...." Rescuers discovered her friend, who tumbled off that same roof, on an outdoor patio.... in critical condition with several broken bones....

Dressed in black jeans, leather jacket and crash helmet, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate joined tens of thousands of bikers in a rally honouring military veterans. [Great pictures] Mrs Palin joined the riders in the Pentagon parking lot before heading to the rally on the Mall in downtown Washington. "Nice to meet you," Mrs Palin told one fellow rider. "Thanks for doing what you're doing for the veterans."

Palin-flamethrower, Geoffrey Dunn of the Huffington Post released The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power May 10th and Frank Bailey, former Aide to Palin, teamed up with Palin-critic Jeanne Devon to release Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years on May 24th. Ardent opponents of Sarah Palin have been highly-anticipating these books which promised to tear down Palin's public image for the long-term. Interestingly, Geoffrey Dunn's book has not even hit Amazon's top-100 list since its release; and after a week of media coverage including appearances on NBC, ABC's The View, Fox News, CNN, and many more, Frank Bailey's "memoir" disappointingly debuted at #40 and has already fallen to #75.

But, to me, the DNC reaction to Cain's quote reveals something more than the candidate's potential. It also hints at the total vigilance with which opponents will demonize the only serious budget plan presently on the table. As a strategy, that makes sense because, so far, it's proved effective. Whether GOP candidates speak highly of or, in Gingrich's case, foolishly of "the Ryan budget," they can't say those three words without igniting a firestorm. The DNC response to Cain is yet more evidence that Republican presidential hopefuls will have to learn to talk about the House plan in a compelling way.

Sarah Palin is joining a group of about 400,000 motorcyclists for the annual Rolling Thunder "Ride for Freedom," which coincides with a bus tour that is renewing speculation about her 2012 presidential ambitions. Palin, who has no official speaking role at the event, is kicking off her bus tour in Washington, where she will participate in the annual event, in which bikers ride from the Pentagon to the Vietnam War Memorial to draw attention to missing service members and prisoners of war.

Greenfield introduces the notion that there are plenty of jobs, but not enough workers with sufficient skills. It seems, according to the article, that there has been a "talent mis-match" forming since the 1970's that is only now coming to a head -- just in time for Obama to skate by on his woeful performance on the economy. You see, it's not his fault!

Soquel High Senior Mikey Donnelly wore a white t-shirt for his senior class photo Tuesday. About 10 of his friends did the same. That decision may seem harmless. But Soquel High suspended Donnelly for three days because of it. Donnelly said the school told him people were offended and intimidated by his group, claiming they're a white supremacist gang. "I do think this is BS," says Donnelly. "I'm not a white supremacist in any way shape or form. If I did say white power, I would probably say it just as much as I say black power." He's not the only one upset. "I feel disrespected," says Soquel High Senior David Mine. Mine also wore a white t-shirt and was also suspended. He's missing out on finals and that could jeopardize his graduation. "I'm Asian," says Mine. "I don't see how I can be a white supremacist. I'm against it completely."

Musician Gil Scott-Heron, who helped lay the groundwork for rap by fusing minimalistic percussion, political expression and spoken-word poetry on songs such as "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" but saw his brilliance undermined by a years-long drug addiction, died Friday at age 62.

...10-year-old boy... said the alligator ran at him, so he started hitting it with sticks and jumped on its back... dragged the alligator home and suffered only minor scratches on his hands and arms... officers let [him] off with a stern talk but no charges...

More than a dozen companies plan to drill up to 3,000 wells around here in the next 12 months. The Texas field, known as the Eagle Ford, is just one of about 20 new onshore oil fields that advocates say could collectively increase the nation's oil output by 25 percent within a decade — without the dangers of drilling in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the delicate coastal areas off Alaska. There is only one catch: the oil from the Eagle Ford and similar fields of tightly packed rock can be extracted only by using hydraulic fracturing

The pilot of a Delta jet that blew a tire and then caught fire as it landed in Atlanta today is being credited with getting the plane through it with no serious injuries to any of the passengers on board.

In a highly unusual step, Navy Cmdr. Dave Koss announced Friday that "with deep personal regret … I will be voluntarily leaving the greatest flight demonstration team." "I performed a maneuver that had an unacceptably low minimum altitude," Cmdr. Koss said in a statement. "This maneuver, combined with other instances of not meeting the airborne standard that makes the Blue Angels the exceptional organization that it is, led to my decision to step down."

In this corner, we have Andrea Mitchell — who managed to locate the one Rolling Thunder organizer who did not realize the group formally invited Sarah Palin to their Memorial Day event. In the other, Team Sarah — who was contacted by a retired board member, Michael DiPaolo, who had connections in Alaska and got Palin to agree to attend. Mitchell used her ignorant contact to prepare another trite hit-piece on Palin.

The First Lady is not content with corrupting American children at the White House. In a Q&A with British high school girls at Oxford University Michelle continued to promote the rapper Common. Bizarre.

Obama's new Minister of Propaganda gets a tweetful

the last few weeks have cast him as the least competent manager of America's Middle East diplomatic portfolio in a very long time. He has infuriated and frustrated long term friends, but made no headway in reconciling enemies. He has strained our ties with the established regimes without winning new friends on the Arab Street. He has committed our forces in the strategically irrelevant backwater of Libya not, as he originally told us, for "days, not weeks" but for months not days. Where he has failed so dramatically is in the arena he himself has so frequently identified as vital: the search for peace between Palestinians and Israelis. His record of grotesque, humiliating and total diplomatic failure in his dealings with Prime Minister Netanyahu has few parallels in American history.

"He has never been rejected in his life, and I think there's something -- I'm not qualified to diagnose him -- but there's something wrong with a guy that is s going to go out of his way to do all these things... he is incredibly arrogant and he really believes that he can talk anybody out of anything." -Okla US Sen. Jim Inhoff, in an excellent mood.

House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, on Wednesday blamed most of President Barack Obama's political problems on racism. [They're getting lamer and lamer, these race-baiting Democrazies. It's raaaacism — sorry… not!]

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday met with representative delegates of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) and the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC). But while the meeting was meant to shore up bipartisan support for Israel from American Jewish political organizations, it quickly became a partisan bickering match, with the chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Debbie Wasserman Schultz, using the platform to tell Republican Jews to stop doing what they're doing.... Sitting in front of Netanyahu, the DNC chair asked the RJC to "pledge to refrain in 2012 from using Israel as part of the issues in campaigns...." RJC executive director Matt Brooks [said]... ""They decided to hijack these meeting in order to, in front of the prime minister, put a gag order in effect to prevent us from speaking out on Israel...." Asked about Netanyahu's reaction, Brooks said Netanyahu was "clearly uncomfortable and at one point said, 'do you guys want me to leave the room and give you guys some privacy?'"

On the merits, Judge Sumi takes an expansive view that all that flows from an Open Meetings violation is subject to being voided. The alleged violation took place at a committee meeting which merely moved the legislation to a full vote. The actual vote approving the legislation complied with the Open Meetings Law under any scenario. Beyond these procedural problems, Judge Sumi made a fundamental -- and unbelievable -- mistake. Judge Sumi found (Opinion at page 10, Findings of Fact and Conclusion of Law no.79) that there was "no conflicting Senate" rule which would contradict Open Meetings Law time requirements. But there was such a rule, Senate Rule 93(2), which provides that no notice to the public, other than posting on a bulletin board, is needed for a committee meeting when the Senate is in special session. In her findings of fact (nos. 15, 29, 57), Judge Sumi found that the Senate was in special session at the time of the committee meeting at issue. At no point in her decision does Judge Sumi address Senate Rule 93. If there were an argument why Rule 93(2) was not a conflicting rule of the Senate, one would have expected Judge Sumi to address it.

In a decision issued Thursday, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi said she would freeze the legislation because GOP lawmakers on a committee broke the state's open meetings law in passing it.... Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) filed a complaint saying that GOP legislative leaders had not given proper notice to the public in convening a conference committee of lawmakers from both houses to approve Walker's budget-repair bill.... [Uh-huh....]

It's one thing to titillate progressive theatergoers with scenes of physical abuse and psychological torture and lines like "You're f—ing f—ed." But David Mamet had at last gone too far. He'd turned into a f—ing Republican.

Mildred "Patty" Baena's daughter is breaking her silence about her mom's scandal -- claiming the ONLY reason people care about it is because Arnold was in an interracial affair. [Until i read this, I had no idea about "race" being any kind of factor in Da Governator's betrayal of his marraige, nor does it make any difference.]

for Dale and Tara Cameron and their six children, what they expected to be a warm welcome at nearby Del Crest Middle School instead turned dark and ugly as the Camerons were initially greeted with a firm "no" from the school's assistant principal Sheila Wilson. It was only after the entire Cameron family appeared at the door — storm clouds growing darker behind them — that Wilson "reluctantly" let the Camerons into the school cafeteria where Wilson's family and pets were safe and out of the approaching storms. ...

Missouri Senator Roy Blunt says he's asking the federal government to reimburse 100 percent of the cost to local governments dealing with the Joplin tornado aftermath. [Why?]

the man supplied a Texas driver's license to police called to investigate a suspicious person report. But police say the man, who arrived on a flight from Dulles International Airport and was carrying a black duffel bag, couldn't get his birth date right on the first try. Investigators say he fled, tossing away a wallet containing counterfeit ID cards from states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and Florida. The man was captured outside the airport

Q: Your decision could have a very negative impact on tourism in Egypt and on the image of the post-revolutionary Egypt… A: "I know. I agree with you, but what can I do? I cannot work during this mess. Antiquities are my life. I cannot see with this mess in front of me. I cannot work with these dishonest people trying to tell everyone else that they are honest. I was writing an article before you came about a situation similar to this that happened 4000 ago in Egypt. A nice man, his name was Ipuwer, tells us on a papyrus what he saw when he took a look at the state of the country. He describes chaos - how the poor became rich and rich became poor. The lady who had a mirror before cannot find the mirror now. She looks at her face in the water. People robbed the pyramids, they robbed everything. That is what is happening now too! It is something I cannot stop! I can work if there is discipline and honesty, but dishonest people have begun to appear and to attack the honest people. I can stand against them if antiquities are safe, but at the moment antiquities are not safe!" [h/t to templeofmut.wordpress.com for the link & quote]

In a passage likely to attract particular scrutiny, the BEA said the pilot "maintained" the nose-up command despite fresh stall warnings 46 seconds into the four-minute emergency. "The inputs made by the pilot flying were mainly nose-up," the report added. The Airbus jet climbed 3,000 feet to 38,000 feet despite the crew having decided earlier against a climb, and then began a dramatic descent, with the youngest pilot handing control to the second most senior pilot a minute before impact. The captain returned after "several attempts" to call him back to the cockpit but was not at the controls in the final moments, according to information gleaned from black boxes. By the time the 58-year-old returned, just over a minute into the emergency, the aircraft was in serious trouble: plunging at 10,000 feet a minute with its nose pointing up 15 degrees and at too high an angle to the air to recapture lift.

Aviation industry sources told Reuters pilots appeared to have acted contrary to normal procedures in raising, rather than lowering, its nose in response to an alert that the plane was about to lose lift or, in technical parlance, 'stall'. But they said information from black boxes hauled up from the Atlantic floor earlier this month was still incomplete. The 2009 emergency began with a stall warning two and a half hours into the Rio-Paris flight and nine minutes after the captain had left the cockpit for a rest period. Shortly before, a junior pilot had told flight attendants to prepare for a "little bit of turbulence"

The Walt Disney company has withdrawn its application to trademark the term 'SEAL Team 6', on its toys, games and a TV show... said it was withdrawing its application with the US Patent and Trademark Office "out of deference to the Navy's application" for these trademarks… [All the massive criticism and mocking had nothing to do with it. Micky, Goofy, and Donald going after Osama bin Beagleboy seemed like such a good idea at the time?]

In my recent article on 60 Minutes and its coverage of Al Sharpton, I mentioned a little about the Dunbar Village rape story. This is another one of those stories (like Pigford) that SHOULD be something everyone in America has heard of. But you've probably never heard of Dunbar Village because (like Pigford) it's a story with both black victims and black wrongdoers, where professional race-baiters like Sharpton and the NAACP were on the wrong side. This creates a strange vacuum where nobody really wants to touch the story. It's so outside of the mainstream media's narrative and usual demographics that they have no idea how to approach it.

Who will watch the watchers? In a world of ubiquitous, hand-held digital cameras, that's not an abstract philosophical question. Police everywhere are cracking down on citizens using cameras to capture breaking news and law enforcement in action.

Former governor Rod Blagojevich told jurors hearing tapes in which he refers to a U.S. Senate Seat appointment as ''f--ing golden'' makes him wince. ''I'm an f-ing jerk and I apologize,'' he said on the stand Thursday.

"By next month, every driver in the U.S. will be required to have a black box in their vehicle... in order to monitor driving habits..." Somehow, I completely missed this one sneaking up on us in the rear-view mirror. It's one thing to have a crash monitor, but with just the addition of transmitters -- and you know, if they aren't there already they soon will be -- any cop (or robocop automated traffic monitoring device) will be able to look inside your car and pull out everywhere you've been, every turn you took, whether you unbuckled your seat belt for a moment, and anything about your body that can be remotely monitored. If laws were reasonable, this would be offensively invasive. Since cops have increasingly become "[you name it] warriors" instead of peace officers, traffic cops are increasingly required (and some delight) to be unforgiving, and citizens are increasingly seen as "revenue enhancement" sources, this is FRIGHTENING TYRANNY.

A 22-year-old Australian university student has solved a problem which has puzzled astrophysicists for decades, discovering part of the so-called "missing mass" of the universe during her summer break. Undergraduate Amelia Fraser-McKelvie made the breakthrough during a holiday internship with a team at Monash University's School of Physics, locating the mystery material within vast structures called "filaments of galaxies".

Cabler leads a team of volunteers [from Bartlesville] who use chainsaws to clear debris. He says removing downed trees typically leads to more meaningful conversations when people are in great times of need. "That's what's really saddened us a lot of times," he shares. "You'll run into people who no one has even come to check on them, or their neighbors haven't even checked on them. Neighbors don't know each other anymore a lot of times."

A puppy crawled home with two broken legs after being thrown high into the air by a tornado that ripped through Alabama.... "This is probably the most dramatic we've seen as far as an injury in an animal that's survived this long," said Phil Doster at Birmingham Jefferson County Animal Control shelter, who is caring for Mason following surgery. The shelter has dealt with hundreds of pets hurt by the storms....

Bartlesville police responded to a call of a domestic disturbance in the 100 block of Northwest Cheyenne. Officers were looking for a man who resisted arrest. Reportedly, the police didn't find the individual. Officers were searching the neighborhood and smelled a strong odor of marijuana. A man opened a door and slammed the door at an officer's face. The officer searched the home and found a bottle of marijuana on the sink. [DAMN PROHIBITION! DAMN PROHIBITION! DAMN PROHIBITION!]

Scientists hope robotic suits to be tested at a Bochum University clinic will enable paraplegics to regain the ability to walk, according to a Friday news report. Daily Die Welt reported that the technology could also prove controversial because of the unnatural strength it affords anyone wearing such a suit.... Yoshiyuki Sankai, the CEO of Cyberdyne, said multiple requests to use the suit for non-medical purposes have been turned down. Several military agencies, for example, have inquired about the suits, apparently attracted by the unnatural strength they afford the person wearing it. All military requests have been rejected though, according to Sankai, because the technology is ultimately intended to benefit people, not hurt them.... [Yeah, like we can put the toothpaste back in the tube.]

Italian government officials have accused the country's top seismologist of manslaughter, after failing to predict a natural disaster that struck Italy in 2009, a massive devastating earthquake that killed 308 people. A shocked spokesman for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) likened the accusations to a witch hunt.

School officials in Neptune Township, N.J., have bowed to the demands of the ACLU and will cover decades-old religious signs posted in the historic Great Auditorium to allow a 70-year tradition of high school graduations to continue. Instead of the sign, "Holiness to the Lord," a banner will be posted over it saying, "Neptune Township School District … A Community of Learners." In addition, a banner with the words "So Be Ye Holy" will be covered with another banner saying, "Neptune High School: A School of Excellence and No Excuses."

The serious, old-fashioned people are saying that there's a conventional, old-fashioned way to finance a campaign, and if Sarah Palin isn't using it, then she must not be running. And York is adding: If she is running, she will fail. But there may be a new way, despite what happened to Fred, and she may be doing it, and it may very well work. The Tea Party worked. Things have changed since the days of Fred Thompson.

like Mr. Trump, whose flirtation with a presidential run may or may not have been a stunt to ramp up ratings for his show on NBC, Ms. Palin is a celebrity and an entertainer whose motivations for keeping political speculation alive remain unclear to everyone but herself (and, maybe, her husband, Todd.) "Together let's prepare ourselves for the days ahead by reminding ourselves who we are and what Americans stand for," she announced on her Web site. The days ahead? Was she hinting at a campaign that is coming? Or perhaps setting the stage for a new reality show on The Learning Channel [Oh, how clueless the clueless can be!]

Rather than use a new unit, Sarah wisely chose to inexpensively wrap the family RV with vinyl, just as they do in NASCAR and the NHRA. High impact, low dollars. Folks, this is how Sarah Palin ran Alaska, and put billions of dollars away for a rainy day. Remember, she sold off the high dollar, and useless jet the previous governor bought, and also laid off the cook and much of the staff at the Governor's Mansion. In fact, her office spent a cool million less than either of the previous two governors, in the same time period. This is why we need Sarah Palin sitting in the Oval Office. The woman is thrifty.

Palin's bus tour will begin this Sunday with a Memorial Day Weekend appearance at a motorcycle rally on the National Mall — a clear move by Palin to align herself with the blue collar, downscale, working stiffs who fueled her rise. At the end of Palin's bus tour, the documentary commissioned by Palin to show off her political accomplishments will see its release — starting in the first voting state of Iowa. Does that sound like a woman who isn't launching a 2012 bid for the White House?

The insiders are largely agreed: Sarah Palin isn't really running for president. She is more interested in making money and getting publicity. So her movie, bus tour, and poll numbers mean nothing. Zero. Nada. The best example of this is probably found in Byron York's column today: "The bottom line is Sarah Palin is not going to run for president," says a Republican adviser close to front-runner Mitt Romney. "She's making money, she's moved on, she's kind of an entertainer rather than a politician. She still has some sway with the grass roots, but she is not going to run." "I don't think she's going to run," says a Republican close to Tim Pawlenty. "She has faded a lot in the last few months. I look at what she's doing now and say that she's found a way to get back in the story." The obvious point here is that operatives working for Palin's rivals have an incentive to dismiss her. (Ironically, I think this might actually entice her to run.) It would be a mistake for readers to believe analysis coming from Palin's political rivals. But they're not alone. A lot of political insiders and campaign experts I talk to are convinced Palin is just in this for the attention — that she won't run because running and losing would destroy her "brand." They point to the fact that her team isn't engaged in the organizational logistics a traditional presidential campaign must have in place to win in, say, Iowa, as evidence she isn't running.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A judge has ruled that the campaign finance law banning corporations from making contributions to federal candidates is unconstitutional.

Utah looks likely to be the next state to follow the example set by Texas in attempting to make TSA grope downs a felony. Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman has introduced a bill into the Utah House of Representatives that would ensure TSA agents would have to abide by the same Fourth Amendment limits that police do when performing searches on Americans.

Two injured US military veterans traveling to a ceremony to honor the lives of fallen friends who gave their lives to protect the rights enshrined in the Constitution were harassed by TSA thugs, with one of them having his crotch grabbed... The TSA agents responded to the men having set off metal detectors by interrogating them about what they were hiding in their bodies. "What are you hiding in your face?" screamed one. "My friend told me that one TSA agent came up to him and asked what he was hiding in his leg, but before my friend could answer he said that the TSA agent grabbed him, without notice, right in the crotch area as if trying to find something hidden," writes Bellow. When the TSA goon grabbed his crotch and didn't let go, the veteran felt inclined to lash out violently but was somehow able to control his fury.... But it's not just airports that are being manned by this cadre of cretins — sports stadiums, prom nights, highways, bus terminals and train stations are all being patrolled by this literal occupying army that is turning America into a checkpoint-festooned police state....

Middle East envoy Tony Blair says Barack Obama launched his peace initiative because he's concerned about what might happen to Israel if Palestinians unilaterally declare statehood. [White is green, up is sideways, East is North, and Obama is concerned about Isreal.]

"On my radio show yesterday, I used vile and inappropriate language when talking about talk show host Laura Ingraham. I am deeply sorry, and I apologize. It was wrong, uncalled for and I recognize the severity of what I said. I apologize to you, Laura and ask for your forgiveness. It doesn't matter what the circumstances were. It doesn't matter that it was on radio and I was ad libbing. none of that matters. none of that matters. What matters is what I said was terribly vile and not of the standards that I or any other person should adhere to. I want all of you to know tonight that I did call Laura Ingraham today and did not make contact with her and I will apologize to her as i did in the message that I left her today.

It started out as a hobby, a way for the Dollarhite family in Dixa, Mo., to teach a teenage son responsibility. Like a lemonade stand. But now, selling a few hundred rabbits over two years has provoked the heavy hand of the federal government to the tune of a $90,643 fine. The fine was levied more than a year after authorities contacted family members, prompting them to immediately halt their part-time business and liquidate their equipment.

If all religions are equally capable of inspiring violence and all religious texts can be easily misinterpreted, we shouldn't have to look very far to find the daily acts of violence and mass deaths caused by Christians, justifying it all by quoting their holy books. I mean, there are more Christians on earth than Muslims, so if moral equivalence is true, we should find more Christian than Islamic terrorist networks, more Christian than Islamic beheadings, kidnappings, murders and bombings. There should be a Christian Al Qaeda, a Christian Taliban, and a Christian Hamas, etc., etc., etc. But, the fact is, these things do not exist. So, in terms of ongoing relevance, numbers killed and overall scope, Christian violence is not even remotely in the same league as Muslim violence. Not even really close, let alone equal.

Donors in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are estimated to have been sending up to $100 million annually to radical Islamic schools in Pakistan that back extremist groups, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable. The cable alleged that financial aid for a "sophisticated jihadi recruitment network" was coming from "missionary" and "Islamic charitable" organisations in the Gulf, ostensibly with the direct support of the Saudi and UAE governments.

Casey Anthony partied, promoted nightclub events and even entered a swimsuit contest around the time the toddler disappeared, and the woman never appeared worried, depressed or angry, according to testimony Wednesday. Also, a neighbor testified that Anthony borrowed a shovel two days after 2-year-old Caylee was last seen alive.

Computer errors resulted in some 450 inmates with "a high risk for violence" being wrongly released from California prisons, the Los Angeles Times reported in its Thursday edition. On top of the 450, more than 1,000 prisoners, deemed to be at high risk of committing drug and property crimes, were also released into the community. All the offenders were placed on "non-revocable parole" -- a program that does not require them to report to parole officers.

"I don't have very much say to you. I know exactly what you did, and I know that you know what you did was wrong and you did it with a full knowledge of that," Elizabeth Smart told her kidnapper in a calm, collected, confident and emphatic voice. "I want you to know that I have a wonderful life now. No matter what you do, you will never affect me again. You took away nine months of my life that can never be returned. But I know that in this life or the next, you will be held responsible for what you have done and I hope you're ready for that when it comes." ... Assistant U.S. attorney Felice Viti said that in his years as a prosecutor, he has "never met a more poised, dignified or special person than Elizabeth Smart. ... I just thought, 'Good for her. She finally had the opportunity to talk to Brian David Mitchell in a setting that she was empowered.'" Prosecutor Diana Hagen also praised Smart and her family for their commitment to seeing justice done. Every time the prosecution struggled with how much they should reveal in court publicly about the abuses Smart suffered and how much detail to go into, Elizabeth Smart and her family showed extreme courage to do whatever was needed for a conviction, she said. ... Assistant U.S. attorney Felice Viti said that in his years as a prosecutor, he has "never met a more poised, dignified or special person than Elizabeth Smart. ... I just thought, 'Good for her. She finally had the opportunity to talk to Brian David Mitchell in a setting that she was empowered."

With his last words, Beaty apologized to the murder victim's parents. He told them "God will let you see her again,"

"While we all recognize that the imposition of a life sentence will do nothing to ease the pain and the mental anguish Elizabeth has suffered as a result of her nine-month capitivity, it is a measure of justice for Elizabeth and it will certainly ensure Brian David Mitchell never inflicts such intolerable and upspeakable cruelty ton anyone else again." — U.S. Attorney for Utah Carlie Christensen

"Folks wondering about Larry Allen, who was living near the Stained Glass Theater, he is fine," an announcer said Wednesday afternoon. "He's staying with friends." Another listener reported, "I want everyone to know that Alice DuBois, 94 years old, is alive and well. We hadn't heard from her until yesterday afternoon. We thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers." Pleas were rampant on social networks. Advertise | AdChoices "This little boy was taken to Memorial Hall," one poster wrote next to a picture posted on KRGZ-FM's Facebook page. "His name is David and all he know's is that his mother's name is Crystal and his brother is Zachary. He was airlifted to Tulsa. Please help find his mom." Missing children, seniors Other cries for help were low-tech: A tornado-battered pickup truck was spray-painted with the message, "Looking 4 Zachary Williams Age 12," along with a phone number.

What do psychopaths want? What are their motivations? Hare: They want many of the same basic things that the rest of us want, but, in addition, have an inordinate need for power, prestige, wealth, and so forth. They differ from most of us in terms of how much they "need," their sense of entitlement to whatever they want, and the means with which they are willing to achieve their ends. They also differ dramatically from others in the communal nature of their needs and goals. That is, the sense of altruism, concern for the welfare of family, friends, and society, and the social rules, expectations, and reciprocity that guide most people are irrelevant to psychopaths. They operate according to their own self-serving principle: look out for number 1, no matter what the cost to others, and without guilt or remorse.

Dr. Vaknin States "I must confess I was impressed by Sen.Barack Obama from the first time I saw him. At first I was excited to see a black candidate. He looked youthful, spoke well, appeared to be confident - a wholesome presidential package. I was put off soon, not just because of his shallowness but also because there was an air of haughtiness in his demeanor that was unsettling. His posture and his body language were louder than his empty words. Obama's speeches are unlike any political speech we have heard in American history. Never a politician in this land had such quasi "religious" impact on so many people. The fact that Obama is a total incognito with zero accomplishment, makes this inexplicable infatuation alarming. Obama is not an ordinary man. He is not a genius. In fact he is quite ignorant on most important subjects." ... Dr. Sam Vaknin, the author of Malignant Self Love believes "Barack Obama appears to be a narcissist". Vaknin is a world authority on narcissism. He understands narcissism and describes the inner mind of a narcissist like no other person. When he talks about narcissism everyone listens. Vaknin says that Obama's language, posture and demeanor, and the testimonies of his closest, dearest, and nearest suggest that the Senator is either a narcissist or he may have narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Narcissists project a grandiose but false image of themselves. Jim Jones, the charismatic leader of People's Temple, the man who led over 900 of his followers to cheerfully commit mass suicide and even murder their own children was also a narcissist. David Koresh, Charles Manson, Joseph Koni, Shoko Asahara, Stalin, Saddam, Mao, Kim Jong Ill, and Adolph Hitler are a few examples of narcissists of our time. All these men had a tremendous influence over their fanciers. They created a personality cult around themselves and with their blazing speeches elevated their admirers, filled their hearts with enthusiasm, and instilled in their minds a new zest for life. They gave them hope! They promised them the moon, but alas, invariably they brought them to their doom. When you are a victim of a cult of personality, you don't know it until it is too late. One determining factor in the development of NPD is childhood abuse....

Had Factcheck.org captioned a photo of the back of the document where the seal was admittedly applied, many of us may have long ago noticed that the seal's image and text were lowered, not raised, from the surface of the paper. The seal photographed appears on the back of the document as a "lowered" image of a 'Hawaii Department of Health' seal. It is not a 'raised' seal…and that means the document photographed by Factcheck.org is not legally certified according to Hawaii's regulations. This attempt to deceive the public is diabolically tricky, slippery and yet…so simple to prove: We have high resolution photographs of the front and back of the seal in various light and at various angles that prove it.

This is how President Obama signed the guestbook at Westminster Abbey earlier today....

It is a great privilege to commemorate our common heritage, and common sacrifice. Barack Obama 24 May 2008

House lawmakers from both parties are siding with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over President Obama in their differing approaches to the Israel-Palestine border dispute. ... Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) said Tuesday that Obama is "tilting toward Hamas" ... Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.), for one, said the president "absolutely … made a mistake ... With all of the political turmoil and unrest in the Middle East, I don't understand why the president injected himself into that issue right now...." Both Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.), the House Democratic whip, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have also rejected Obama's proposal in recent days, telling the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that preconditions have no place in the negotiations. ...

U.S. President Barack Obama's Palestinian Authority-Israel peace plan is a "formula for war," writes Bret Stephens, foreign affairs editor and deputy editorial page editor of The Wall St. Journal. In an op-ed article in the Journal, Stephens charged that the president's approach to Israel and his relationship to American Jews has showed that he "has mastered the concept of chutzpah." "What Mr. Obama offered is a formula for war, one that he will pursue in a second term. Assuming, of course, that he gets one," Stephens wrote.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood unveiled new fuel-economy window stickers for cars and trucks, saying "we're not just sitting around waiting for high gasoline prices to come down." His ride of choice to the unveiling: This 12-mpg Chevy Suburban SUV.

President Obama's proposed 2011 budget did not include funds for Constellation, therefore essentially canceling the program. It sent shock waves throughout NASA, the Congress and the American people. Nearly $10 billion had been invested in design and development of the program.... Obama's advisers, in searching for a new and different NASA strategy with which the president could be favorably identified, ignored NASA's operational mandate and strayed widely from President Kennedy's vision and the will of the American people. -NEIL ARMSTRONG

On March 30, the 30th anniversary of the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, Jim Brady, who sustained a debilitating head wound in the attack, and his wife, Sarah, came to Capitol Hil... met with White House press secretary Jay Carney. During the meeting, President Obama dropped in and, according to Sarah Brady, brought up the issue of gun control, "to fill us in that it was very much on his agenda," she said. "I just want you to know that we are working on it," Brady recalled the president telling them. "We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar."

An astounding Department of Justice threat to cancel airline flights to and from Texas, in addition to underhanded lobbying by TSA representatives, has killed efforts in the state to pass HB 1937, a bill that would have made invasive pat downs by TSA agents a felony.

Left-leaning Ed Schultz has been suspended from MSNBC for referring to fellow host Laura Ingraham as a "right-wing slut" and "talk slut" on his syndicated show Tuesday. [Next week, he'll be an MSNBC VP]

So much for civility, at least at MSNBC — the home of the "Lean Forward" mantra. On his Tuesday radio program, liberal talker and MSNBC host Ed Schultz took a shot at conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham for her criticism of President Barack Obama's trip to Ireland, where he enjoyed a Guinness, while the Midwestern United States was being hit by severe weather... "So much for civility, at least at MSNBC — the home of the "Lean Forward" mantra. On his Tuesday radio program, liberal talker and MSNBC host Ed Schultz took a shot at conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham for her criticism of President Barack Obama's trip to Ireland, where he enjoyed a Guinness, while the Midwestern United States was being hit by severe weather..."

A Hartford teacher accused of forcing students to clean the classroom toilet with paper towels and a cleaner with bleach is on administrative leave. For two years, Catherine Saur required any student who used the bathroom to clean the toilets, even if they only went to the bathroom to wash their hands. .. [Mother] complained when her son had an allergic reaction to the cleaner and told her what his Kennelly School art teacher was requiring student to do in the bathroom of a portable classroom....

Friends of alleged hotel sex fiend Dominique Strauss-Kahn secretly contacted the accusing maid's impoverished family, offering them money to make the case go away since they can't reach her in protective custody, The Post has learned. ... "They already talked with her family," a French businesswoman with close ties to Strauss-Kahn and his family told The Post. "For sure, it's going to end up on a quiet note." [HANGING HIM BY THE B@77S IN TIMES SQUARE would be cruel and unusual, though.]

The man accused of wounding Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killing six in a shooting rampage in Arizona is mentally incompetent to stand trial, a judge ruled Wednesday after two deputy U.S. marshals dragged the man out of the courtroom because of an angry outburst. As survivors of the deadly January attack looked on, Jared Lee Loughner lowered his head, raised it and said what sounded like "Thank you for the freak show. She died in front of me." His words were loud but indistinct, and it wasn't clear who he was talking about. ... The ruling came after Burns said two mental health professionals had concluded Loughner suffers from schizophrenia and is mentally unfit for trial.... Neither expert thought Loughner was faking his mental health problems....

Cox said however six rotations or instances of wall clouds were seen in Washington County, among them being one spotted over Food Pyramid on U.S. Highway 75 south of Bartlesville, one above downtown Bartlesville, another above downtown Dewey, one north of Dewey and one north of Ramona.

SEDALIA, Mo. -- A tornado injured at least 15 people, destroyed homes, overturned trucks, and heavily damaged a school bus barn on Wednesday.

In Newcastle, south of Oklahoma City, a storm blew the steeple off Jesus Alive Church and flung it nearly 100 yards away, where it landed on the doorstep of the longtime pastor's 86-year-old mother, Lovina Frizzell. "I said, 'Oh, my goodness, there's the steeple,'"

A 54-year-old Missouri woman has died after suffering a heart attack when told of her father's death in the Joplin tornado.

The elite media and glitterati of Hollywood of the New York entertainment industry have wanted the political blood of the entire Palin family since her successful acceptance speech during the 2008 GOP convention. The establishment Republicans would like to cling to the old ways, and are desperately promoting candidates who they think will do just that. In light of the new Tea Party attitude, in which we would like to jettison the "ruling class" dictates with "country class" common sense, I would ask for everyone to enter into the primary season with an open mind and a willingness to go beyond the usual news sources for information on all the candidates. PLEASE LOOK AT SARAH PALIN WITH "NEW EYES". ... One other note, related to this: It has become known to me that Mitt Romney's staff and Michelle Bachmann's people are seen together often and work quite closely together. I need for all of my friends to be very cautious about Bachmann — especially since she has very close connections with Tea Party Express (spearheaded by establishment Republicans). I recall that Mitt was tag-teamed out of the 2008 primary by McCain and Huckabee. I sense a deal is made between the pair in the event Palin is running. ...

Maricopa County employees have been busted for drugs and human trafficking. The workers, a deputy and two female detention officers, were among 12 people arrested in a Phoenix-based international drug smuggling ring, authorities. Arpaio, the self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in the country, said law enforcement is tough enough without having to worry his own team. "We have enough violence without having moles in my own organization that put my deputies in danger," Arpaio said. One of the detention officers, Marcella Hernández, told authorities that she is eight-months pregnant with the child of Francisco Arce-Torres, the alleged drug ring's leader who court documents say is also a member of the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.

My friends, the momentous trials of the last century, and the unfolding events of this century, attest to the decisive role of the United States in advancing peace and defending freedom. Providence entrusted the United States to be the guardian of liberty. All peoples who cherish freedom owe a profound debt of gratitude to your great nation. Among the most grateful nations is my nation, the people of Israel, who have fought for their liberty and survival against impossible odds, in ancient and modern times alike. I speak on behalf of the Jewish people and the Jewish state when I say to you, representatives of America, Thank you. Thank you for your unwavering support for Israel. Thank you for ensuring that the flame of freedom burns bright throughout the world. May God bless all of you. And may God forever bless the United States of America.

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said TSA is too politically correct when it chooses which passengers to search at airport security checkpoints. ... "I walked through … right behind me there was a grandmother — little old lady, and she was was patted down," Broun said on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal." "Right behind her was a little kid who was patted down. And then right behind him was a guy in Arabian dress who just walked right through. Why are we patting down grandma and kids?" ... Broun did not specify any other reasons the man looked suspicious other than his dress. [Ummmm.... the point is the CONTRAST of Gramma with Osamma.]

A boisterous group of protesters angry over the Texas Senate's failure to vote on the airport groping bill tried to enter the public gallery this afternoon and were blocked by state troopers. Shouting "treason" and "cowards" and carrying signs and placards, the group of perhaps as many as 100 people entered the State Capitol shortly after 3 p.m. and first went to the House chamber. There, House members quickly informed the shouting group that it was the Senate that had failed to take action late Tuesday on House Bill 1937, which would have made it a crime for security checkpoint screeners to handle the private parts of anyone they screened. The group then marched to the Senate side of the Capitol and tried to enter the third-floor public gallery. Troopers with arms folded blocked them from entry. They stood outside for several minutes, chanting: "Co-wards, co-wards," Trea-son, trea-son," and shouted slogans accusing senators and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst of being "federal pimps" and "scallawag trash." They vowed to vote out of office Dewhurst and the senators who opposed passage of the bill. After shouting chants for about 30 minutes, the group left and troopers reopened the gallery doors. The activists then went to other parts of the Capitol to continue their protest.

the two leaders liken the effort to free Arab people from authoritarianism to the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall in the 1980s. They liken their personal efforts to two leaders who came before them: Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

When the president toasted the Queen the orchestra misunderstood a pause and what seemed to be a cue from the president for "God Save the Queen" to begin playing.... "To the Queen," the president finally said. He lifted his glass to her, she smiled a bit uncomfortably. But because the song was playing, no one drank from his or her glass, including the president, who put his glass down on the table. [AFTER being told to by the Queen!!]

Most notable from the wine cellars of the famous palace: A Echezeaux Grand Cru 1990, Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, that goes for $1,000 - $1,700 per bottle in the United States. There were a bunch of other wines, like Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin champagne and a very nice $170 1963 port President and first lady Michelle Obama, who are noted for dinner dates at Washington's finest restaurants, have probably had before.

Vice President Joe Biden did not applaud after Netanyahu called for an undivided Jerusalem.

The White House has named Jesse Lee to a new position within its communications department titled Director of Progressive Media & Online Response. According to The Huffington Post, Lee will essentially be responsible for building up Obama's online presence as he prepares for his reelection bid, and squashing any negative stories....

Something else bothers us about the media mockery of Harold Camping, as justifiable as it may be. Why are only religious doomsday cultists subjected to such ridicule? Reuters notes that "Camping previously made a failed prediction Jesus Christ would return to Earth in 1994." Ha ha, you can't believe anything this guy says! But who jeered at the U.N.'s false prediction that there would be 50 million "climate refugees" by 2010? We did, but not Reuters.

The Afghan intelligence agency said Monday that the reclusive leader of the Taliban has disappeared from a suspected hideout in Pakistan and has been out of contact with his commanders for days — adding further questions about Mullah Mohammad Omar after a media report said he was killed. The Taliban denied the claim on the Afghan news channel Tolo that Omar was shot dead while being moved inside Pakistan with the help of a former Pakistani intelligence official. The Taliban spokesman countered that Omar was alive and was somewhere inside Afghanistan.

The brazen attack on a Pakistani naval air base has sent shockwaves through the nuclear-armed country, raising concerns about the military's ability to protect sophisticated weaponry . The ease with which six Taliban militants stormed the PNS Mehran base in Karachi, close to the city's busy commercial airport, and destroyed two newly US-supplied P-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft has unnerved Pakistan's military establishment. The militants held off security forces for more than 16 hours, killed 12 naval personnel and injured 14. Their primary objective appeared to be some of the military's most sophisticated electronic warfare equipment, as they wiped out Pakistan's anti-submarine warfare capability in a single stroke.

"I'm right here, standing right here and I hear a yipe," says Murphy, standing behind his home which sits in a marsh along the St. Lucie River. "I look down. The gator's right here with Doogie in his mouth." Murphy didn't hesitate, after all Doogie is more than a dog, he's a constant companion. "I must have cleared this by a foot," says Murphy, referring to the rope railing that runs along the dock. "I had loafers on and I hit the back of that gator. It was like jumping on a pile of rocks. But when I did, I caught him right behind the head here, I hit him here and his mouth opened and Doogie took off and the gator turned around and went under the boat and out he went." Murphy found Doogie shaking with terror and bleeding from deep gouges the gator's teeth made. He's now receiving antibiotics through an IV. Veterinarian Andrea Pace thinks Doogie will be OK.

The Supreme Court ordered California on Monday to release tens of thousands of its prisoners to relieve overcrowding, saying that "needless suffering and death" had resulted from putting too many inmates into facilities that cannot hold them in decent conditions. It is one of the largest prison release orders in the nation's history, and it sharply split the high court. ... In dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia called the ruling "staggering" and "absurd." He said the high court had repeatedly overruled the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for ordering the release of individual prisoners. Now, he said, the majority were ordering the release of "46,000 happy-go-lucky felons." He added that "terrible things are sure to happen as a consequence of this outrageous order." Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with him.

seen whipping the leash and dog around while inside the elevator... charged with one count of torturing and injuring animals and one count of unlawful possession of marijuana... after an extensive examination was found to be in good condition with no injuries...

A long commute to work might further job prospects and put more money in the bank but it could also increase the risk for divorce by 40 percent

Nabil Shaath, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Netanyahu's insistence on keeping key parts of the territories the Palestinians want for their state is a "declaration of war against the Palestinians." [HA! Like the declarations of death to Isreal were just sneezes? It's been war all along!]

My Friends, Israel wants peace because we know the pain of terror and the agony of war. We want peace because we know the blessings peace could bring to us and to our Palestinian neighbors. But if we hope to advance peace with the Palestinians, then it is time that we admitted another truth. This conflict has raged for nearly a century because the Palestinians refuse to end it. They refuse to accept the Jewish state. This is what this conflict has always been about.

A newborn tossed down a housing project's trash chute survived the eight-story fall because he landed on a pile of garbage and the compactor was jammed... A maintenance worker heard a baby boy's cries... in stable condition... [Mother], 18, was arrested on charges of attempted murder and endangering the welfare of a child....

The only people who know are Storm's brothers, Jazz, 5, and Kio, 2, a close family friend and the two midwives who helped deliver the baby in a birthing pool at their Toronto home on New Year's Day. "When the baby comes out, even the people who love you the most and know you so intimately, the first question they ask is, 'Is it a girl or a boy?'" says Witterick, bouncing Storm, dressed in a red-fleece jumper, on her lap at the kitchen table. "If you really want to get to know someone, you don't ask what's between their legs," says Stocker. When Storm was born, the couple sent an email to friends and family: "We've decided not to share Storm's sex for now — a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm's lifetime (a more progressive place? ...)." Their announcement was met with stony silence. Then the deluge of criticisms began. Not just about Storm, but about how they were parenting their other two children.

In unusually strong language, he told members of Congress that Judea and Samaria are part of the ancient Jewish homeland that our forefathers walked in and that the 650,000 Jews living there "are not 'occupying' the region." He strongly criticized the changed versions of history that are being promoted by others. Interrupted dozens of times by standing ovations, after minutes-long applause as he entered the chamber, Netanyahu also said that there are 300 million Arabs in the MIddle East, but the only ones who are free are Israeli citizens.

Engineers at Ford have developed a prototype car seat that uses electrocardiograph (ECG) technology to monitor the heart's electrical impulses and detect signs of irregularity, resulting in an early warning that a driver should seek medical assistance, such as for a heart attack, high blood pressure, electrolyte imbalances or other cardiovascular issue.

Bartlesville Police Chief Tom Holland announced that local emergency personnel working in Joplin have recovered five bodies. The Fire Department located two dead and one survivor of the storm while members of the Police Department found three bodies in a nursing home.

Several crews from Washington County left Sunday night for the Joplin, Missouri area to help with the search and rescue effort after the devastating tornado hit there. Crews from Washington County Emergency Management, Bartlesville Fire Department, Bartlesville Police Department and numerous other volunteers were on site Monday morning.

Several crews from local agencies are assisting in search and rescue efforts in the Joplin, Mo., area after a devastating tornado hit the city. Crews from the Bartlesville Fire Department, Bartlesville Police Department, the Washington County Sheriff's Office and Washington County Emergency Management are all on the scene. According to BPD Capt. Jay Hastings, the department sent six or seven members of the Special Operations Team (SOT), as well as several reserves. "I'm not sure how many reserves went right now," he told the Examiner-Enterprise today. "They are going to work security." According to Washington County Undersheriff Steve Johnson, the sheriff's office has two deputies there right now.

Bartlesville police have joined other Oklahoma police departments to lend a helping hand in tornado devastated Joplin, Mo,. through which a tornado Sunday evening tore a path of destruction and left more than 100 people dead.

last year the rabbi of the synagogue, David Twersky, announced no one should pray outside the main synagogue. That day, Rottenberg's car windows were broken, then his house windows, then 100 people chanted outside his home "Aron Rottenberg, leave the neighborhood," then the attempted firebombing. Police acknowledged that these incidents occurred but have made no arrests in any of them

Two liger cubs - a cross between a male lion and a female tiger - are being nursed by a dog at a zoo in Weihai, eastern China.

An animal welfare group is investigating the treatment of a panhandling dog often seen holding a pipe in its mouth for hours outside New York City's professional baseball stadiums.

forecasters predict a towering plume of Icelandic ash could cover the whole of Britain by the end of the week.

At least 122 people died, a number that seems likely to rise. An additional 1,500 people remained on the official list of those who remained unaccounted for, which ballooned in a flood of worried phone calls but is gradually shrinking as the names of the living and the dead are scratched off. The police said two people were found alive Tuesday, in addition to seven found on Monday. Because cellphone service was knocked out by the storm on Sunday and remained spotty two days later, many residents were unable to contact friends and relatives who may still be alive. Residents' frustration and fears grew as officials declined to share the names of the dead and the missing, and they have turned to local radio and Facebook.

A monster tornado killed at least 116 people in Joplin, Missouri when it tore through the heart of the small city, ripping the roof off a hospital and destroying thousands of homes and businesses. Weather officials said the tornado that hit the city of 50,000 at dinner time on Sunday was the deadliest single tornado in the country since 1947 and the ninth-deadliest tornado of all time, they said. Emergency officials said on Monday 116 people were killed and about 400 were injured. According to local officials many had massive internal injuries.

The twister brought death and destruction with a fast fury that was hard to escape.

Have there been more tornadoes in 2011 than previous years? Short Answer: No, the tornadoes are just hitting populated areas. Carbin: "There is no indication of an upward trend in either intensity or numbers.

In his commencement speech at Hamilton College on Sunday, former Vice President Al Gore told the graduates that global warming is "the most serious challenge our civilization has ever faced." But as an undergraduate at Harvard University in the late 1960s, Gore--one of the most prominent spokesmen on climate change today--earned a "D" in Natural Sciences.

Spirit has been incommunicado for more than a year despite daily calls by NASA. The cause of Spirit's silence may never be known, but it's likely the bitter Martian winter damaged its electronics, preventing the six-wheel rover from waking up. The space agency tried every trick to listen for Spirit to no avail. Project manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the last commands will be sent up Wednesday. Though orbiting spacecraft will continue to listen through the end of May, chances are slim that Spirit will respond.

Shortly after Republicans swept last November to a historic victory in which Sarah Palin was credited with playing a central role, the former Alaska governor pulled aside her close aide, Rebecca Mansour, to discuss a hush-hush assignment: Reach out to conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon with a request. Ask him if he would make a series of videos extolling Palin's governorship and laying to rest lingering questions about her controversial decision to resign from office with a year-and-a-half left in her first term. It was this abdication, Palin knew, that had made her damaged goods in the eyes of some Republicans who once were eager to get behind her potential 2012 presidential campaign. The response was more positive than Palin could have hoped for. He'd make a feature-length movie, Bannon told Mansour, and he insisted upon taking complete control and financing it himself -- to the tune of $1 million. The fruits of that initial conversation are now complete. The result is a two-hour-long, sweeping epic, a rough cut of which Bannon screened privately for Sarah and Todd Palin last Wednesday in Arizona

the president took an incident where the cause was unclear and blamed Israel for it. And of course the tragic deaths of these girls took place because the United States did nothing to help prevent Hamas from taking over the Gaza Strip and then Hamas broke a ceasefire and attacked Israel. Since then, the Obama Administration has pressured Israel to reduce sanctions on Hamas to an absolute minimum and provided $400 million to pay salaries in the Gaza Strip, which benefits Hamas's rule. In addition, since the Palestinian Authority has just announced it will pay money to those who are prisoners of Israel, U.S. taxpayer money will now go to reward those who have committed terrorist attacks.

"We don't have a lot of margin for error," Netanyahu said to the president. "Because, Mr. President, history will not give the Jewish people another chance." Netanyahu, whose father is a retired academic, offered the president repeated history lessons, saying Jews have "been around for almost 4,000 years. We have experienced struggle and suffering like no other people. We've gone through expulsions and pogroms and massacres and the murder of millions. But I can say that even at the dearth of -- even at the nadir of the valley of death, we never lost hope and we never lost our dream of reestablishing a sovereign state in our ancient homeland, the land of Israel."

One of these young men grew up to be a great world leader, presenting the face of Western Civilization to its barbaric enemies. The other never did grow up...

One of the contentions of those opposing the effective nationalization of our healthcare system has been that the quality of care will necessarily decline as the government finds itself forced to introduce rationing to control costs. ObamaCare's supporters reply with the only rejoinder they've got: "nuh-uh."

Authorities detained a Saudi woman on Saturday after she launched a campaign against the driving ban for women in the ultraconservative kingdom and posted a video of herself behind the wheel on Facebook and YouTube to encourage others to copy her.

the root of the problem is cultural and religious, a Jew-hatred rooted in the core of Islam and supplemented with Nazi influences that pervade Islamic society from from the street to the elites and is fed and reinforced in the mosques, in the media, and by Arab governments every day. How can you expect to make peace when so many believe it is a divine command to make war on you, and that you are nothing but "Human pieces of filth?"

A law published in the official Palestinian Authority Registry last month grants all Palestinians and Israeli Arabs imprisoned in Israel for terror crimes a monthly salary from the PA.

US intelligence agents have staked out suspected "terrorists" in Sweden, without the authorisation of the government there, the online edition of a Swedish daily reported Sunday.

"It's vicious," said a Pakistani official briefed on the interrogation of the widows. "The older wives think the younger one tipped off the Americans or was tracked when she came to join him."

The DC Universe has gone through so many needlessly confusing transformations a roadmap to the place would give M.C. Escher vertigo.

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. - Emergency crews from Washington County are on their way to help provide relief in Joplin, Mo., where a tornado hit and reportedly caused multiple deaths.

Love for a goofy comedy is one of many paradoxes about Malick, the film world's version of J.D. Salinger. The director dislikes being photographed, avoids public appearances - he skipped the premiere of his highly anticipated, long-delayed "Tree" last week here at the Cannes Film Festival - and turns down all interview requests (including this one), creating an impression of a cranky, precious artist.

we borrowed and spent nearly one trillion dollars (that's $1,000,000,000,000) on the assurance of President Obama and the (Social) Democrats that doing so would stimulate the economy, create new jobs, and restore prosperity. Instead, we bought a bunch of pork-barrel projects and waste that only made unemployment worse. We'd have been better off if Obama and Congress had done nothing. That monument to incompetence alone should cost them the 2012 election. You've been handed a club, Republicans: use it.

Sharon Watson, spokesman for the Kansas National Guard, said state emergency officials determined that 200 houses sustained damage, minor to major, in Reading and the area around the town. She said 20 homes were destroyed, all in the city, which is about 20 miles northeast of Emporia. Some injuries were reported, but Watson said no one was believed to be seriously hurt but added that officials were still in the early stages of assessing.

John, the Revelator, certainly didn't diminish our 'fear of God.' His revelations, along with others revered as 'holy men of God' has fueled the fires of fear and suspicion. According to the Urantia Papers, those events are grossly distorted and are exaggerated narratives—advocating there just is no such a 'wrathful and angry God' who, out of anger, destroys his children, but a kind and loving Father who never-endingly seeks to bring peace and harmony among his children

Here's why we support her: on the role of government, she says, "Less is more"; on the debt and deficit, she says, "Reign in spending"; on foreign relations, she says, "Stand with Israel"; on national security, she says, "Secure our borders"; on Obamacare, she says, "Repeal and replace"; on terrorism, she says, "We win, and they lose"; on the economy, she says, "Lower taxes"; on our military, she says, "If you love your freedom, thank a vet"; on American exceptionalism, she says, "That's nothing to apologize for"; on education, she says, "Allow school choice"; on abortion, she says, "Choose life"; and on energy, she says, "Drill, baby, drill." Unlike those determined to discount her, often without any factual reasons, we have done our research. We have evaluated her record, we have read her writings, and we have paid attention to her interviews. In so doing, we recognize that on the issues, she receives an A+. We see that she espouses the common sense principles that Americans are crying out for now. Add to that the "down-home sense" that is admittedly Governor Palin, and we know we have the full package.

Here is what Ross said on why we support Gov. Palin: -On the role of government, she says, "Less is more" -On the debt and deficit, she says, "Reign in spending" -On foreign relations, she says, "Stand with Israel" -On national security, she says, "Secure our borders" -On Obamacare, she says, "Repeal and replace" -On terrorism, she says, "We win, and they lose" -On the economy, she says, "Lower taxes" -On our military, she says, "If you love your freedom, thank a vet" -On American exceptionalism, she says, "That's nothing to apologize for" -On education, she says, "Allow school choice" -On abortion, she says, "Choose life" -And on energy, she says, "Drill, baby, drill."

Pictures really are worth thousands of words

Palin may have purchased a house in Scotsdale, Arizona.

Cain, 65, who lives in suburban Atlanta, made his announcement at Atlanta's Centennial Park, urging Americans frustrated by the country's direction to read the Constitution. "Keep reading," he said. "Don't stop at life, liberty and pursuit of happiness." [Uh, Herman? That's the Declaration, not the Constitution.]

After months of stewing and despite widespread encouragement from many within his party, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels sent out an e-mail to supporters early Sunday saying he had decided against jumping into the 2012 presidential race.

I was informed that Mr. Trump had been threatened in such a way that his business was endangered. I don't have the details of this threat, but it was apparently enough to cause Donald Trump to send out his statement to not run within hours of receiving the threat. He does not strike me as a man who scares easily, so whatever that threat was, it must have been substantive enough to do just that.

Maybe. On Fox News Sunday this morning, however, Cain imitated Sarah Palin's blank stare when Chris Wallace asked him about the right of return. "The right of return?" he said. After Wallace explained the Palestinian demand to return to the homes they were "thrown out of" [sic!] in 1948, Cain said that would be negotiated between the Israelis and Palestinians. "I don't think Israel has any problem with Palestinians' returning," he said. Even though Cain had told Wallace just a few moments before that he would offer the Palestinians "nothing," because he is not convinced they are committed to peace and democracy, his cluelessness on the right of return suggests that Cain is more blowhard than gadfly.

Agents also found radio chargers and car batteries used to power communications gear. They told NBC producer-photographer Al Henkel and me that Mexican surveillance teams will work in these mountains for 30 to 60 days at a time. "They locate themselves up on these ridgelines, up in caves, hidey holes, 'spider holes' we call them," said DEA agent Todd Scott. He and the agents wondered if this particular "spider hole" was home to the two men just seen running away.

Drafted by my office, Kansas's Secure and Fair Elections Act combined three elements: (1) a requirement that voters present photo IDs when they vote in person; (2) a requirement that absentee voters present a full driver's license number and have their signatures verified; and (3) a proof of citizenship requirement for all newly registered voters. Although a few states, including Georgia, Indiana and Arizona, have enacted one or two of these reforms, Kansas is the only state to enact all three. Other states are moving in the same direction. The Texas legislature sent a photo-ID bill to Gov. Rick Perry's desk last Monday. And next year Missouri voters will get a chance to vote on a photo-ID requirement. Immediately after the Kansas law was signed in April, critics cried foul. They argued that voter fraud isn't significant enough to warrant such steps, that large numbers of Americans don't possess photo IDs, and that such laws will depress turnout among the poor and among minorities. They are wrong on all three counts.

The AARP is the nation's biggest seller of Medigap policies, or supplemental healthcare plans that add onto what Medicare won't cover for seniors. The senior citizens interest group advocated for Obamacare to include an attack on Medigap policies' biggest competitor, Medicare Advantage. Though the White House and HHS dismiss allegations of political favoritism when it comes to who's getting exceptions from the new health care regulations — such as in the recent uproar over the disproportionate number of Obamacare waivers that went to companies in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's district — Obamacare critics say the mere appearance of the administration helping friends is disturbing.

created a quandary about how best to deal with a student to whom some referred as "dark," "creepy," "strange," "bizarre" and "psycho." Although administrators ultimately did suspend Loughner, the e-mails raise questions about how far colleges and other schools should go in reacting to disruptive students and at what point officials should take serious steps.

The Tucson community college that booted attempted assassin Jared Lee Loughner asked federal firearms agents to check his background three months before his shooting rampage. ... eventually suspended him ... student emailed a writing teacher that Loughner put a knife on his desk ... similar complaint from another student... in trouble again four months later after a math teacher said in an email that he appeared to be on drugs... returned to class and was laughing inappropriately and staring at classmates with an "evil" smile... More disruptions... campus cops contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to look into him as a "person of interest." ... "Arizona has one of the most lenient criteria for a commitment procedure which, having read the police reports, should have been initiated...."

A Palestinian radical group believed to be responsible for a series of abductions and attacks has been labeled a foreign terrorist organization by the United States. Known as the Army of Islam, the group "has been responsible for numerous terrorist acts against the governments of Israel and Egypt, as well as American, British and New Zealander citizens," the State Department said.

In August 1998 al-Qaeda killed 12 Americans and 200 others in bombings at two American embassies in east Africa. President Clinton ordered the CIA to dismantle al-Qaeda and, in Scheuer's words, "take care" of bin Laden. The Pentagon launched cruise missile attacks on bin Laden's training camps, but he had left the compound hours earlier. Scheuer estimates they had at least eight further opportunities to assassinate bin Laden in the following months. "I'm not saying it would have been simple to take care of the problem, but it got progressively harder when we didn't take those opportunities. One 50 cent round could have put us all out of our agony." In June 1999, he sent off an angry memo to senior officers asking why his men were risking their lives on someone America apparently had no interest in stopping. "I don't know what you are doing when you talk to the President but he will not get a better opportunity than this," he told them. Scheuer was dismissed from his job and spent the next two years running counter-heroin operations in Pakistan and the Middle East. On September 11, 2001, he was back at CIA headquarters in Langley. Arriving home exhausted at 11.30pm, he took a shower and crawled into bed when his phone went. It was his successor at the bin Laden unit. "We need you back," he said. ...And the next generation of al-Qaeda? "They will be even more cruel and bloody-minded."

Timothy, who is about 4 feet 2 inches tall and weighs about 70 pounds, was last heard from May 13 during a cellphone call with a relative, authorities said. At the time, he was near Sterling and Rock Falls with his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen. The next day, Fry-Pitzen's body was found in a Rockford motel room, where she apparently had committed suicide. Fry-Pitzen stated in a note that she'd left Timothy with adults she didn't identify.

...threatened to kill her by cutting her up and cutting up the two-year-old and a nine-month-old boy. Court records indicate [he] has at least five felony convictions and is currently on probation.

A Bartlesville man, asked to change a diaper for a 2-year-old, went into a rampage Thursday evening and threatened to "cut up" a mother and her two children ... [42yo] faces charges of domestic abuse, assault with a dangerous weapon, felony threats to kill and child abuse. ... she had asked Blakeley to change her 2-year-old daughter's diaper when he picked up the girl by the hair, threw her onto a bed, grabbed her legs and pulled her off the bed. Police examining the toddler saw fingernail marks on the upper part of her left leg. The woman reportedly proceeded to tell police that during the incident Blakeley had been making threats to kill her and her two children — the 2-year-old and a 9-month old — saying at one point he threatened to cut her up and her kids and to "pile them on top of her...."

It's been more than two months since 8.9 magnitude earthquakes struck Japan and took a toll on Japanese people and crippled the economy. Various relief measures are underway at various stages to restore normalcy in the ravaged island nation with aid flowing in from various quarters and volunteers pledging their support to restore the lives.

The ocean floor shifted sideways by 79 feet in the Japanese earthquake in March - much further than scientists originally predicted. And researchers are warning that immense amounts of seismic stress remain stored in the area, putting it at risk of further devastating earthquakes.

Indiana Republican governor Mitch Daniels was hit in the forehead by a swinging door [What's that meta phor?]

six Republican senators wrote President Obama asking if he will comply with the War Powers Act, which says Congress must authorize action that lasts more than 60 days.

In an effort to satisfy those arguing he needs to seek congressional authorization to continue US military activity in accordance with the War Powers Resolution, President Obama wrote a letter to congressional leaders this afternoon suggesting that the role is now so "limited" he does not need to seek congressional approval. [LAW? I AM TEH WON! I DON'T NEED NO STEEKIN' LAW!]

Netanyahu swiftly rejected Obama's call for Israel to pull back to the borders that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War. Roughly translated from Hebrew, a statement from the Prime Minister's office said that they appreciated Obama's commitment to peace, but called the pullback to the 1967 borders "indefensible," and said that the Palestinians were less than an honest partner in the peace process.

@SarahPalinUSA Sarah Palin Dear Mr. President, please allow our ally, PM Netanyahu, to respectfully arrive through the front door this time. Thanks,Concerned Americans

Much of the speech was simply outdated boilerplate from the 1960s. This line, for example — "In a global economy based on knowledge and innovation, no development strategy can be based solely upon what comes out of the ground" — ignores the decades of economic diversification pursued by most of the oil producers of the Middle East. Muammar Qaddafi is an outlier and a nut; Algeria, Egypt, Iran, and the Arab nations of the Persian Gulf have all made strides in diversifying their economies. The presidential way to bring up diversification would have been to praise the efforts made already, and pledge US support to continuing or expanding them. Instead, Obama chose to lecture his audience on the need for diversification — sounding very much like someone who hasn't gotten any updated information on this topic since he was awarded his baccalaureate degree in the early 1980s

@SarahPalinUSA Dear Mr. President, please allow our ally, PM Netanyahu, to respectfully arrive through the front door this time. Thanks,Concerned Americans

Mr. Liu co-wrote a 2008 book, "Keeping Faith with the Constitution," intended to offer a liberal alternative to conservative approaches to legal interpretation. He is a past board chairman of the American Constitution Society, a network of scholars, students and practitioners that liberals established as a counterpoint to the conservative Federalist Society. While Republican administrations often have looked for judicial nominees with academic pedigrees to promote conservative legal views, Democrats have concentrated on diversifying the bench with women and minority candidates.

Senate Republicans staged the first successful filibuster of a judicial nominee since 2005 on Thursday, dealing a blow to the Obama administration on the long-stalled nomination of Goodwin Liu to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. ... Republicans have maintained that Liu's liberal views on issues like same-sex marriage and affirmative action put him outside the mainstream, pointing to his writings that additional individual rights can be found in the Constitution. ... Liu also drew Republican ire over his criticism of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in testimony when the conservative judge was nominated to the court. ...

the last-minute furor highlights the discord as they head into what one Israeli official described as a "train wreck" coming their way: a United Nations General Assembly vote on Palestinian statehood in September. Mr. Netanyahu, his close associates say, desperately wants Mr. Obama to use the diplomatic muscle of the United States to protect Israel from the vote, not only by vetoing it in the Security Council, but also by leaning hard on America's European allies to get them to reject it as well. Mr. Obama has indicated that he will certainly do the first. But it remains unclear how far Mr. Obama can go to persuade Britain, France and other American allies to join the United States in rejecting the move, particularly as long as Mr. Netanyahu continues to resist endorsing the pre-1967 lines.

U.S. President Barack Obama's endorsement of a longstanding Palestinian demand on the borders of their future state sets the stage for what could be a tense meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday. Netanyahu, who has had strained relations with Obama, headed for Washington saying the president's vision of a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967 -- as part of his vision for an elusive U.S.-brokered peace deal -- could leave Israel "indefensible." The White House talks had never been expected to yield any significant progress to revive long-stalled peace talks, but now that prospect seemed dimmer than ever.

I hereby release into the public domain the following graphics to anyone and everyone to use, totally free, gratis, no rights reserved, etc. ... the ever-so-useful Race Card [and rubber stamp].... Our progressive betters intend to sling plenty of incendiary accusations at us no matter what we do, so we might as well start countering the meme now....

the MSM isn't about The News, it's about The Agenda, and what they do is no different than what they accuse Big Business of doing. Only instead of conspiring through a secret monopoly with other companies to fix prices, they conspire through a secret monopoly of other media outlets to create a version of the truth —which we call The Narrative.... It's a form of Orwellian GroupThink intentionally designed to turn up into down, wrong into right, lies into truth. And it's a testament to how horribly misguided and failed the Left's ideas are that the undeniable power of the MSM hasn't yet been able to turn America into a member of the European Union....

A Tucson, Ariz., SWAT team defends shooting an Iraq War veteran 60 times during a drug raid, although it declines to say whether it found any drugs in the house and has had to retract its claim that the veteran shot first. And the Pima County sheriff scolded the media for "questioning the legality" of the shooting.

The five officers had "no choice but to shoot" when they breached the front door of the house in the 7100 block of South Redwater Drive and saw Guerena holding a rifle, Storie said. The home is on the southwest side, near South Wade and West Los Reales roads. The house was targeted as part of an investigation into home invasions and drug rip-offs. The Guerena house was among homes that "were identified as locations where these activities were being carried out from." No arrests have been made from any of the other homes where SWAT served search warrants

Scores of Australians suspended or sacked for planking have taken to Facebook to vent their frustration. Woolworths, the country's biggest employer, has axed eight employees in three states for performing the potentially dangerous stunt on top of meat grinders, display shelves, trolleys and stacks of milk crates and then boasting about it online. [Why is the unimportant nonsense the first paragraph and the company rightly preventing problems in its headquarters relegated to second? Because Journalists are infants!]

When asked three separate times due to the astounding callousness as it relates to trampling the inherent natural rights of Americans, he emphatically indicated that he would use random house to house checks, adding he felt people will welcome random searches if it means capturing a criminal. Speaking under the condition of anonymity, a local city Police Chief with 30 years experience in law enforcement directly contradicted the Newton County Sheriff's blatant disregard for privacy & liberty, stating that as an American first, such an action is unconscionable and that his allegiance is to the Indiana and federal Constitutions respectively. However, he also concurred that the ruling does now allow for police to randomly search homes should a department be under order by state or federal officials or under a department's own accord.

The letter concludes: "I fear that he is a man with a problem that may make him ill-equipped to lead an institution where women work under his command." "AT HIS BEST" So who is DSK? The tag, a conscious nod to JFK, was first used by the media and his own handlers during Strauss-Kahn's rise to prominence in the early 1990s. He is a socialist who makes no secret of his vast wealth and lavish lifestyle.

Some women avoid wearing skirts for fear of attracting unwanted attention. Others trade whispered tips about overly forward bosses. A 2008 internal review found few restraints on the conduct of senior managers, concluding that "the absence of public ethics scandals seems to be more a consequence of luck than good planning and action." This is life at the International Monetary Fund

A five-year survey of 200,000 galaxies, stretching back seven billion years in cosmic time, has led to one of the best independent confirmations that dark energy is driving our universe apart at accelerating speeds.

Amazon announced that eBooks are now the most popular sales format on Amazon.com, outselling the joint sales of hardback and paperback books. Since April 1, 2011, for every 100 print books Amazon has sold, it has sold 105 Kindle editions. It took Amazon just about four years to make that statement come true, and it represents the tipping point.

A man left paralyzed after a car accident was able to stand and take steps after electrical stimulation of his spinal cord

It's time for the American people to stand by our strongest ally, the Jewish State of Israel, and reject this foreign policy blunder of epic proportions. [h/t to cjwk on HillBuzz]

With Mike Huckabee out of the race for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, three well-known politicians, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Newt Gingrich, emerge as leaders in Republicans' preferences. Republicans, however, have less intensely positive feelings about these three than they did about Huckabee. Two less well-known potential candidates, Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain, generate high levels of enthusiasm among Republicans who recognize them. ... Republicans' nomination preferences at this point largely appear to reflect name identification. ... Romney and Palin are essentially tied; Gingrich does slightly less well even though he and Romney have nearly identical name identification. Ron Paul and Bachmann are the only other potential candidates with name recognition above 50%....

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was quick on the draw Thursday in voicing clear displeasure with President Barack Obama's mideast policy speech. "Israel appreciates President Obama's commitment to peace," the response began, curtly. "Israel believes that for peace to endure between Israelis and Palestinians, the viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of the viability of the one and only Jewish state." "That is why Prime Minister Netanyahu expects to hear a reaffirmation from President Obama of U.S. commitments made to Israel in 2004, which were overwhelmingly supported by both Houses of Congress." "Among other things," Netanyahu reminded Obama, "those commitments relate to Israel not having to withdraw to the 1967 lines which are both indefensible and which would leave major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria beyond those lines." "Those commitments also ensure Israel's well-being as a Jewish state by making clear that Palestinian refugees will settle in a future Palestinian state rather than in Israel."

In a speech at the state department, Mr Obama said the future of the US was bound to the Middle East by forces of economics, security, history and fate. "It will be the policy of the US to promote reform, and to support transitions to democracy," he said. The speech was Mr Obama's first comprehensive response to revolts sweeping the Arab world, analysts say. "We face a historic opportunity," he said. "We have a chance to show that America values the dignity of a street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator." "As Americans have been seared by hostage taking, violent rhetoric, and terrorist attacks that have killed thousands of our citizens - a failure to change our approach [in the Middle East] threatens a deepening spiral of division between the United States and Muslim communities," Mr Obama added.

President Barack Obama will use his speech to the Arab world today to call for billions of dollars in financial assistance to Egypt and Tunisia as part of a comprehensive approach to the "Arab Spring" movement that he hopes will boost democratic reforms and America's reputation in the region. The aid package, which would unfold over two to three years, would include an estimated $1 billion in debt cancellation, $1 billion in loan guarantees and several billion more in financing from multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, according to three senior administration officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.

Knesset members on the Right expressed outrage on Thursday night at US President Barack Obama's call for the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps in an exchange of territory for security. They called upon Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to reject Obama's plan when he meets with him on Friday in Washington.

President Barack Obama is endorsing the Palestinians' demand for their future state to be based on the borders that existed before the 1967 Middle East war, in a move that will likely infuriate Israel. Israel says the borders of a Palestinian state have to be determined through negotiations.

"President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus. He has disrespected Israel and undermined its ability to negotiate peace," Romney said in a statement. "He has also violated a first principle of American foreign policy, which is to stand firm by our friends," added the former Massachusetts governor.

a teacher found bags of heroin in the backpack of a 7-year-old student. ... 7-year-old kindergarten student cut his finger with a razor blade. His teacher started questioning him and discovered 18 suspected heroin stamp bags in his backpack and locker. ... told them he got the drugs from his father's bedroom. Police searched the boy's home, but did not find any drugs. The boy also said he gave heroin to three of his friends. ...

Some students say Principal Kenney has been hypnotizing students for a couple of years, either in a classroom group setting or individually one-on-one. But school district officials say, while they were aware of Kenney's technique, his permission had limited use." "He was authorized to demonstrate in psychology class with parent permission," says Leatherman. Kenney reportedly had permission from Wesley's parents to use hypnosis on their son. "It's ridiculous to hold him responsible, to say because that child was hypnotized [and] he killed himself, that's just wrong," says parent Vincent Giacinto.

someone mentioned a letter, handwritten and dated 1876, with what appeared to be a smallpox scab pinned inside -- light brown, about the size of a pencil eraser and crumbling. The scab got the attention of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), home to one of the world's two known caches of live smallpox viruses. Alerted by a government scientist in Maryland who was concerned that the scab might transmit infection, the agency dispatched two CDC representatives to Richmond. They donned disposable surgical gowns and gloves, lifted the scab from a display case, sealed it in bio-bags inside a red cooler and whisked it back to a high-security lab deep within the CDC's Atlanta headquarters.

United Airlines ad across the street from ground zero that reads "You're going to like where we land"

New districts like Kangbashi are springing up across China as the world's second-largest economy undergoes an unprecedented urbanisation process with hundreds of millions of people heading to fast-growing metropolitan areas. Ordos is part of a nationwide building boom that has been fuelled by a massive credit binge, raising fears of a real estate bubble and a potential explosion in bad debts, especially among local government investment vehicles.

Noted illustrator and sometime comics artist Jeffrey Catherine Jones died yesterday of complications from emphysema.... In one of the highest compliments imaginable, illustrator Frank Frazetta called Jones "the greatest living painter."...

not once did Josh Ferrin even think of laying claim on the more than $45,000 cash that he found in his garage. In fact, he gave it all back. "You can't make plans for money like this that's found in a situation like this," Ferrin said. "It just doesn't feel right to do anything but give it back."

"Right now, we don't know exactly what happened, but from what we are told, she was cooking, and for some unknown reason, the pressure cooker fell," said Lt. Ignatius Carroll, of Miami Fire Rescue. "The impact caused it to explode. Maybe pieces from the pressure cooker severed her leg completely." The woman's leg was severed below the knee

accused of stealing two laptop computers from Walmart. ... 35-year-old... during his appearance Thursday in Washington County District Court, upon hearing the bond amount asked the judge to lower it, his reason being he had two daughters to care for. ... Associate District Judge [said] his daughters were not a reason to lower his bond, but rather would have been a good reason not to commit the crime in the first place. ...

Police now believe a man who allegedly ran down another man with a car while wearing clown-type makeup is not a "Juggalo," as initially suspected.... "We don't have any evidence to support him (Davis) being in the Juggalos," Holland said today. "We know our Juggalos here. They've always been law abiding and, for the most part, keep to themselves. We've never had problems with them in the past." Holland said the investigation indicates Davis is not a member of the local group. "There is a group of Juggalos that gets together here locally," Holland said. "As a national group, they have their own slang (and) their own signs."

Within seconds, TSA officials notified police that the bomb was fake and the incident was merely a drill to test the response of screeners and the communication system. For security reasons, Hogan declined to say how many officers responded to the incident.

A 12-year-old Dallas student was bound to a chair with duct tape and beaten by four classmates as a substitute teacher stood and ignored the attack

Is Tim Pawlenty the Process-of-Elimination Candidate? [quick answer... no.]

"I want a government that is much more humble about it's ability to tell you what to do whether it's people on either side of the ideological spectrum," Gingrich said on Limbaugh's radio show. "And by the way it was not a reference to Paul Ryan, there was no reference to Paul Ryan in the answer." Gingrich apologized to Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, on Tuesday and said he regretted calling the Wisconsin Republican's Medicare plan "right-wing social engineering." But when asked Thursday by Limbaugh why he apologized to Ryan if he was not referring to his plan, Gingrich said, "It was interpreted in a way which was causing trouble, which he doesn't need or deserve and it was causing the House Republicans trouble."

slobbering and gushing over Obama reaches Matthewsian levels. One can almost feel the tingles just reading it.

Why is the White House in full defense mode against a book by a small publisher contending Barack Obama is not legally eligible to be president? Today, the Obama re-election campaign launched an all-out attack on a brand new book critical of Obama, "Where's the Birth Certificate," by bestselling author Jerome Corsi, Ph.D., calling it delusional, laughable and a "joke." If this sounds like major déjà vu, it's because the Obama election campaign did exactly the same thing in 2008 when it mobilized a major assault on Corsi's previous book about Obama, the No. 1 New York Times bestseller "The Obama Nation." And that was a response to the impact of his previous No. 1 New York Times bestseller, "Unfit for Command."

Less than two hours after Mark Warren posted the story on the Esquire website, he added a disclaimer: "For those who didn't figure it out yet, and the many on Twitter for whom it took a while: We committed satire this morning to point out the problems with selling and marketing a book that has had its core premise and reason to exist gutted by the news cycle, several weeks in advance of publication. Are its author a

Corsi provides a useful history into the thinking that informed Article 2, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, the natural-born citizenship clause. In brief, the founders did not want a president with divided loyalties. Regardless of where Obama was born, the fact that his presumed father was a British citizen at the time of Obama's birth, and had every intention of remaining one, made Obama's case at least as worthy of adjudication as McCain's. But that was not to be. From the beginning, one questioned Obama's eligibility, indeed any of his credentials, at his own risk. The introductory section of Corsi's book shows those who may have forgotten with what incredible impunity the Obama campaign was allowed to proceed.

Judge Roy Moore, a former state Supreme Court chief justice who twice has mounted gubernatorial campaigns in Alabama, has established an exploratory committee to consider a challenge to Barack Obama for the White House in 2012. Moore, whose plans were announced at RoyMoore2012.com, told WND that his campaign would be simple: telling people how he'd work on the problems facing America. And his administration, he said, would be simpler: just doing what he said.

"I think my dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men," West said. "It's understandable. As a young brother who grows up in a white context, brilliant African father, he's always had to fear being a white man with black skin. All he has known culturally is white…When he meets an independent black brother, it is frightening."

Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of World Net Daily Books, which published Corsi's work, said he never spoke to the magazine and that the book is "selling briskly." "I have never spoken to anyone from Esquire. Never uttered these words or anything remotely resembling them to anyone. It is a complete fabrication," Farah told The Daily Caller. "The book is selling briskly. I am 100 percent behind it. This has all the earmarkings of a White House dirty trick — but, of course, only the Nixon administration was capable of dirty tricks like that, according to our watchdog media." Corsi's book, titled, "Where's the Birth Certificate? The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President," hit stores this week. The book claims to contain evidence that Obama was not born in the United States.

In a stunning development, Jerome Corsi's birther book, Where's the Birth Certificate? The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President, has been recalled, its publisher announced Wednesday [BS]

for those who didn't figure it out yet, and the many on Twitter for whom it took a while: We committed satire this morning... [Poor, poor Mark Warren and Esquire. OOOPS!]

President Obama's 2012 presidential campaign today started selling "Made in the USA" t-shirts featuring images of both President Obama and the long-form birth certificate he released copies of last month. "Wear your support for this campaign with an official Made in the USA T-shirt," his website advertises. Donate $25 or more today and we'll send you your limited-edition shirt.

Several veteran and prize-winning journalists who covered presidents from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush say that the current crop of White House correspondents are too timid and deferential and have played a role in killing the impact of presidential news conferences.

The White House Press Office has refused to give the Boston Herald full access to President Obama's Boston fund-raiser today, in e-mails objecting to the newspaper's front page placement of a Mitt Romney op-ed, saying pool reporters are chosen based on whether they cover the news "fairly."

Reportedly the Iranian companies participating in the forum will be from the industrial sector, which includes producers and manufacturers of chemical materials, household items, paint and coloring, food stuffs and chocolate. A financial analyst is also expected to be accompanying the delegation. The Futurallia Forum is an annual international conference created for business and trade networking, as well as accessing ways to connect small businesses with larger trade outlets, financial facilities, as well as technological promotion and agreements for greater international economic growth. This is despite the U.S. sanctions put in place by the Obama administration. The Iranian leaders, who have continuously refused to give in to U.N. demands to halt their nuclear enrichment program and are under four sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions, must be jubilant that the Obama administration is backpedaling on the mandated sanctions and has allowed the State Department to issue them visas and host the delegation here in the United States.

The motivation is political — a cynical effort to restrict voting by traditionally Democratic-leaning Americans. In more than 30 states, GOP legislators are on the move, from a sweeping rewrite of Florida's election laws to new rules for photo identification in Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina and more than 20 other states. As a result, 11% of Americans —21 million citizens of voting age who lack proper photo identification — could be turned away on Election Day. And these people tend to be most highly concentrated among people of color, the poor, the young and the old.

Is grandma about to be thrown off a cliff? Wait until you see the latest shocking Medicare ad.

The Esquire story, written by Mark Warren, spread across the Internet moments after being posted on the magazine's website Wednesday morning. Esquire has said it was a joke and Warren told TheDC he has no regrets about posting it. "He is an execrable piece of s---," Warren said of Corsi. [Such good old reasoned thinking is hard to argue. Gagggg]

DAVID Cameron yesterday announced the start of Britain's withdrawal from Afghanistan. The PM revealed the first 450 troops will be brought home this year. But the move is bitterly opposed by military chiefs, who claim it risks throwing away the gains made by British forces.

Owners of Android smartphones are being warned to avoid public WiFi networks after researchers found a security flaw that could affect the vast majority of devices based on Google's software.

Nearly two dozen men were injured in an elevator accident Wednesday morning in Chelsea. It happened around 7 a.m. at the Bed, Bath and Beyond on 6th Avenue near 18th Street. Authorities said a freight elevator dropped three floors to the ground when cables supporting the elevator snapped.

United Airlines is apologizing for briefly restarting use of flight numbers of two planes that crashed after being hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001. United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson says the airline regrets the recent use of flight numbers 93 and 175, and has acted to remove the numbers from the airline's computer system.

The woman, who is in her 40s, responded: "I killed my son. I want to kill myself." She was taken into custody at the Concord State Police barracks. State Police officials confirmed that they are questioning the woman in connection with the discovery of the boy's body which was found fully-clothed under a green fleece blanket on Dennettt Road in South Berwick, Maine on Saturday.

The post, written by Assistant Surgeon General Ali Khan, instructs readers how to prepare for "flesh-eating zombies"

"I am not going to sit and debate the ethics of this," Wilson said. "But from his standpoint, he did what he was supposed to do -- he informed the state, and the state said he could keep using the card. The problem is with the state."

Japanese astronomers claim to have found free-floating "planets" which do not seem to orbit a star. Writing in Nature, they say they have found 10 Jupiter-sized objects which they could not connect to any solar system. They also believe such objects could be as common as stars are throughout the Milky Way.

A group of researchers agrees that Earth is facing a mass extinction event, but they are daring to overturn dogma on how fast species are disappearing. The researchers say they have discovered why current estimates are overblown, and they recommend a different way to calculate the rates.

Southwest Airlines has apologized to a mother and daughter... were told by a gate agent they each had to purchase two seats. "And said that we were, in fact, too fat to fly, without an additional ticket,"

The Gingriches were participating in a book signing before the Minnesota Family Council's annual dinner in Minneapolis when a protestor by the name of Nick Espinosa opened a box containing glitter and dumped it over the two of them. "Feel the rainbow, Newt," Espinosa said as he poured the box of glitter over Gingrich's head. "Stop the hate. Stop anti-gay politics. It's dividing our country and it's not fixing our economy.

Patrick Layton "Pat" Paulsen (July 6, 1927 — April 24, 1997) was an American comedian and satirist notable for his roles on several of the Smothers Brothers TV shows, and for his campaigns for President of the United States in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1988, 1992, and 1996, which had primarily comedic rather than political objectives, although his campaigns generated some protest votes for him. [In honor of Newt Gingrich's presidential bid, RIP]

Today's first, and highly visible, self-immolation features Newt Gingrich. Readers will recall Newt attempted to make himself the face of the Tea Party movement when it first arose. It seems that getting hit with glitter was the high-point of his day yesterday, as he had to go on an apology tour regarding his comments about Paul Ryan's innovative entitlement reform program. Today, his spokesman said: THE BELTWAY LITERATI ARE TRYING TO DESTROY HIM!

Twenty percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters say they'd support the former Massachusetts governor, while 18 percent say they'd support the former Alaska governor. Newt Gingrich comes in third place with 11 percent.

NEWT GINGRICH: I didn't do anything to Paul Ryan. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you did. You undercut him and his allies in the House. You're an embarrassment to our party. GINGRICH: I'm sorry you feel that way. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself? [Video]

The former Alaska governor's political action committee, 2012 Can't Come Fast Enough, has reportedly sent out a mailing to South Carolina Republicans. "Taking back control of the House last year was only the first step," Ms. Palin writes in the mailer first reported by The Fix. "Now you and I must fix our eyes on 2012. Our goal is to take back the White House and the Senate." The move is the first indication that Ms. Palin remains interested in seeking the Republican presidential nomination. [First indication... heh!]

"We can't bridge the gulf of where we need to go on mandatory spending," Coburn said Tuesday afternoon. "I don't see that there's going to be any fruition in continuing them at this time. "We're at an impasse," Coburn continued. "There's no reason to sit and talk about the same things over and over and not get any movement."

A bipartisan "Gang of Six" senators is unlikely to reach agreement on a proposal to reduce the government's long-term budget deficits, Senator Tom Coburn said today. Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican and member of the group, said his colleagues are "just too far apart on basic issues." Other members of the group said they remain hopeful for a deal.

Among our imminent and future voters — students in our schools — how many know about the separation of powers? In the National Assessment of Educational Progress — NAEP ("The nation's report card"): "Only one in 10 demonstrated acceptable knowledge of the checks and balances among the legislative, executive and judicial branches, according to test results released on Wednesday." (New York Times, May 4) And what of their parents? Of 1,000 citizens who were asked in a Newsweek poll: "'What is the supreme law of the land?' 70 percent of the 1,000 citizens polled by Newsweek couldn't answer correctly." (ABC News, May 13) Answer: The Constitution! Among the high-school seniors surveyed by the NAEP, three-quarters could not name "a power granted to Congress by the Constitution." What most startled me was "the nation's report card" revealing that "a smaller proportion of fourth- and eighth-graders demonstrated proficiency in civics (who we are as Americans) than in any other subject the federal government has tested since 2005, except history, American students' worst subject."

Former President Jimmy Carter and former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari were hoping to visit the State Department this week to brief officials on their recent trip to North Korea, but nobody at the State Department was available to meet with them. Carter and Ahtisaari, both Nobel Peace Prize laureates, had been eager to give their readout of their meetings in North Korea April 26 and 27 to U.S. officials and press their case for a resumption of food aid to the Hermit Kingdom. The two are members of the Elders, a group of senior figures who have been informally engaging with regimes that official governments won't deal with, in the hopes of finding pathways to peace. They traveled to North Korea last month with former Irish President Mary Robinson and former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Bruntland. Other members of the Elders include Kofi Annan, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, and Aung San Suu Kyi.

Eight years as president is enough, thank you. At least that's what Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says President Barack Obama told her the other day. Clinton said Tuesday that she and Obama often marvel over foreign despots who want to stay in power for decades. [AAAHHHHHH! EIGHT YEARS TOO MANY!]

After Osama bin Laden was killed, 13-year-old Vito LaPinta posted an update to his Facebook status that got the Feds attention. "I was saying how Osama was dead and for Obama to be careful because there could be suicide bombers," says LaPinta. A week later, while Vito was in his fourth period class, he was called in to the principal's office. "A man walked in with a suit and glasses and he said he was part of the Secret Service," LaPinta said. "He told me it was because of a post I made that indicated I was a threat toward the President."

Of the 204 new Obamacare waivers President Barack Obama's administration approved in April, 38 are for fancy eateries, hip nightclubs and decadent hotels in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's Northern California district. That's in addition to the 27 new waivers for health care or drug companies and the 31 new union waivers Obama's Department of Health and Human Services approved.

Addressing the graduates of Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis yesterday, Obama said he met the daughter of the principal and found out that she attends a different school. "She was worried that the boys would be afraid to talk to her if her mom (the principal) was lurking in the hallways," Obama said. He quickly added: "Which is why my next job will be principal at Sasha and Malia's high school -- and then I'll be president of their college."

Terry Lakin... was just released from prison.... after serving five months of a six-month sentence for refusing to go to Afghanistan.... [Thanks to the President's recalcitrance to provide ordinary personal documents]

A Saudi mother said Sunday she defied a ban on women drivers in the ultra-conservative kingdom by getting behind the wheel for four days without being stopped. Najla al-Hariri, a housewife in her mid-30s, said she drove non-stop for four days in the streets of the Red Sea city of Jeddah "to defend her belief that Saudi women should be allowed to drive." "I don't fear being arrested because I am setting an example that my daughter and her friends are proud of,"

LOUISVILLE, Ky - One child is dead and more than 20 hurt after a school bus crash... bus swerved to miss a deer in the road, then overturned in a ditch... the 29 children aboard were returning from a field trip to Paducah...

France's BEA air crash investigation agency said yesterday it had managed to transfer all the information stored in the devices hauled from the seabed two weeks ago, almost two years after the Airbus A330 vanished.

A man who won $2 million on a Michigan lottery show has told a TV station that he still uses food stamps. ... told WNEM: "If you're going to ... try to make me feel bad, you aren't going to do it."

McDonald's is to change the way customers order its meals in Europe, partly replacing cashiers and the use of banknotes at its 7,000 fast-food restaurants in the region with touchscreen terminals and swipe cards. [Eeew. I have to touch that screen after other people? Eeew!]

The film starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain drew a scattering of harsh, prolonged boos, answered by enthusiastic applause from others at the press screening. Debuting in U.S. theaters May 27, "The Tree of Life" is only Malick's fifth film in a nearly 40-year career, and his first at Cannes since 1979's "Days of Heaven," which earned him the festival's directing prize.

British scientist Stephen Hawking has branded heaven a "fairy story" for people afraid of the dark [Scientist flounders in theological ignorance, people for some reason pay attention to the odd little man far out of his league]

Timothy Ray Brown tested positive for HIV back in 1995, but has now entered scientific journals as the first man in world history to have that HIV virus completely eliminated from his body in what doctors call a "functional cure." Brown was living in Berlin, Germany back in 2007, dealing with HIV and leukemia, when scientists there gave him a bone marrow stem cell transplant that had astounding results. "I quit taking my HIV medication the day that I got the transplant and haven't had to take any since," said Brown, who has been dubbed "The Berlin Patient" by the medical community.

Thirty-four-year-old Reynel Alcaide of Burbank, Illinois, faces federal charges, including interfering with a flight crew, for the incident on May 8. Alcaide was on a Continental Airlines flight from Houston to Chicago when he allegedly tried to open the jet door. The flight was diverted to St. Louis.

SINGAPORE — Terrified passengers aboard a blazing jetliner prayed together before the plane made an emergency landing on Monday... landed back in Singapore "without incident" just before 2 a.m. It said the crew shut down the engine after receiving a "stall warning."..

Schools are helping teenage girls keep abortions secret from their parents. Imogen Neale reports. A mother is angry her 16-year-old daughter had a secret abortion arranged by a school counsellor. Helen, not her real name, found out about the termination four days after it had happened. "I was horrified. Horrified that she'd had to go through that on her own, and horrified her friends and counsellors had felt that she shouldn't talk to us," she said. She had suspected something was wrong, but her daughter insisted her tears were over everyday teenage dramas.

An Ohio woman says a charter school is punishing her daughter for not immediately reporting that she saw two classmates having sex on a school bus and for changing her seat during the bus trip.... told her Friday that her daughter cannot attend the eighth-grade prom or picnic. The mother thinks that's unfair.... the two other students were suspended....

some scientists with expertise in imaging and cancer... question why the TSA won't make the scanners available for independent testing by outside scientists....

"People don't realize the risk we're taking by taking care of these patients," the newspaper quoted Dr. Albert Triana of South Miami as saying. "There's more risk of something going wrong and more risk of getting sued. Everything is more complicated with an obese patient in GYN surgeries and in [pregnancies]," he told the newspaper. It is not illegal for doctors to refuse overweight patients, but it has medical ethicists worried.

Mitt Romney, usually cautious and measured in describing his nascent campaign, allowed himself a minor indulgence in describing to reporters the fundraising call-a-thon that netted his presidential bid $10.25 million here Monday. "That's a terrific start," Romney began, in typical expectation-setting mode, before catching himself: "Actually it's more than just a start — it really gives us the boost that we need at this early stage in my effort."

Bachmann's penchant for earmarks dates back to her days in the Minnesota state Senate. Despite her reputation as a fiscal conservative, from 2001-2006, then-state Senator Bachmann proposed more than $60 million in earmarks... when Republicans sought an earmark moratorium, Bachmann pushed to exclude transportation projects from the ban.... Bachmann may also be plagued by her involvement in a controversial pardon. In 2007, Bachmann wrote a letter requesting a presidential pardon for a convicted drug-smuggler and money-launderer named Frank Vennes. ...

"with allies like that, who needs the left?"

On his radio program Monday morning, former Education Secretary Bill Bennett, who knows Gingrich well but is also close to Ryan, reacted angrily to Gingrich's remarks. Referring to Ryan's Medicare plan as "right-wing social engineering" is, Bennett said, "an unforgivable mistake, in my judgment." Bennett went on to say that Gingrich "has taken himself out of serious consideration for the [2012] race." [Full disclosure: I appear on, and sometimes serve as guest host of, the Bennett program.] Gingrich's remarks rankled for three reasons. One, they hurt the Republican plan. Two, they were particularly disdainful; Gingrich didn't just said that he disagreed with Ryan, he referred to Ryan's plan as "right-wing social engineering." And three, they contradicted what Gingrich himself has said about Ryan's budget. To make that last point, Bennett played a clip of an interview he conducted with Gingrich on April 5, barely more than a month ago. At that time, Gingrich was full of praise for the Ryan budget. "Paul Ryan has stepped up to the plate," Gingrich said. "This is a very, very serious budget and I think rivals with [what] John Kasich did as budget chairman in getting to a balanced budget in the 1990s, just for the scale and courage involved…" "Paul Ryan is going to define modern conservatism at a serious level," Gingrich continued on April 5. "You can quibble over details but the general shape of what he's doing will define 2012 for Republicans."

White House hopeful Newt Gingrich called the House Republican plan for Medicare "right-wing social engineering," injecting a discordant GOP voice into the party's efforts to reshape both entitlements and the broader budget debate. [NEWT is SO out]

Police on Tuesday detained 513 undocumented migrants from Latin America and Asia who were crammed into two trucks bound for the United States

Iran is building intermediate- range missile launch pads on the Paraguaná Peninsula, and engineers from a construction firm — Khatam al-Anbia — owned by the Revolutionary Guards visited Paraguaná in February. Amir al-Hadschisadeh, the head of the Guard's Air Force, participated in the visit, according to the report. Die Welt cited information from "Western security insiders." The rocket bases are to include measures to prevent air attacks on Venezuela as well as commando and control stations.

Monday's policy outlines the moves the United States must make in partnership with allies to promote compatible, secure, reliable and unfettered information exchange. "This is a strategy that goes beyond any singular partner or agency," John Brennan, President Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, said during a formal unveiling of the framework at the White House. Academics have long warned that poor interagency collaboration and misaligned domestic and foreign cyberspace policies are hurting U.S. efforts to, among other things, cut off financial support for terrorist groups. Nabbing the groups backing, for example, suicide bombers requires balancing national security and individual online privacy. Government officials typically must trace credit card transactions, online payments, emails and other communications to understand the target's day-to-day activities.

"Do you know you can't openly carry here in Philadelphia?" Dougherty asked, according to the YouTube clip. "Yes, you can, if you have a license to carry firearms," Fiorino said. "It's Directive 137. It's your own internal directive." Fiorino was right. It was perfectly legal to carry the gun. But that didn't matter to the cop: Fiorino offered to show Dougherty his driver's and firearms licenses. The cop told him to get on his knees. "Excuse me?" Fiorino said. "Get down on your knees. Just obey what I'm saying," Dougherty said. "Sir," Fiorino replied, "I'm more than happy to stand here -" "If you make a move, I'm going to f------ shoot you," Dougherty snapped. "I'm telling you right now, you make a move, and you're going down!" "Is this necessary?" Fiorino said.

Bartlesville man was arrested Sunday after police uncovered a small baggie of marijuana during a traffic stop. … After Elias was placed in handcuffs, one of the officers left Elias to go speak with the driver. According to this officer's account, he heard the other officer saying to Elias, "What are you doing? You need to wait." Looking over to see what was going on, the officer saw Elias "drop his pants and boxers to his ankles and start urinating on the ground...." [Hmmm. Bet more than pot was involved in that one.]

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) admitted for the first time on May 15 that most of the fuel in one of its nuclear reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant had melted only about 16 hours after the March 11 earthquake struck a wide swath of northeastern Japan and triggered a devastating tsunami.

Two leading makers of lighting products are showcasing LED bulbs that are bright enough to replace energy-guzzling 100-watt light bulbs set to disappear from stores in January. ... The new bulbs will also be expensive — about $50 each — so the development may not prevent consumers from hoarding traditional bulbs.

"The new paradigm is $10,000. Anything under $10,000 is considered an inexpensive car." Low supply and high demand, a flat economy and a rush to trade in larger vehicles that consume a lot of gas for smaller ones are all reasons for the shortage of used cars, several local dealers said. ... The nation's Cash for Clunkers program took almost 1 million vehicles off the road. People who got $3,500 for the cars they turned in would probably get $5,000 to $7,000 for the same trade today ... The Cash for Clunkers program was an example of government shortsightedness, which contributed to the lack of used cars on the market today, Lookingbill said. The 800,000 vehicles that were junked through the clunkers program would have been sold three to five times for a total of 3 million sales, Lookingbill said. The number of available older cars on the market used to peak at about 20 million, but the number is nowhere near that today ...

agents arrested Hafiz Muhammad Sher Ali Khan, the 76-year-old imam of the Miami Mosque, more commonly known as Flagler Mosque. They charged that he and his family had funneled more than $50,000 to Pakistani terrorists over the past three years.

A blast on a passenger bus killed at least seven persons in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province Saturday evening... Around 20 passengers were also injured... three women and a child were among the dead... police did not confirm the suicide attack... Motives... unclear... No group has claimed responsibility....

In a literal application of the sharia law of an eye for an eye, Iran is ready for the first time to blind a man with acid, after he was found guilty of doing the same to a woman who refused to marry him. Majid Movahedi, 30, is scheduled to be rendered unconscious in Tehran's judiciary hospital at noon on Saturday while Ameneh Bahrami, his victim, drops acid in both his eyes. [See http://mindfulwebworks.com/radical/vengeance-is-not-justice for Mindful's response to praise for this barbarism.]

Martin Gardner's recent book, Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery, is designed to undermine the credibility of The Urantia Book. To accomplish this purpose Gardner deals almost entirely with the human concept carriers of the spiritual truths, not the spiritual truths themselves. In actuality, history may show that it helped to focus attention on the real spiritual quality of the Fifth Epochal Revelation (which he totally ignores) that will ensure its recognition and appreciation for centuries to come. Although Gardner's book abounds with misinformation, erroneous assumptions, and fantastic speculations, it may be fortuitous that it appeared early in the Urantia movement.

The guy who displayed the placard insisted that he didn’t write the message, but was "just helping out" and is actually a member of the JDL. (JDL stands for Jewish Defense League) The text says: "St. Marks Church taken over by Neo Nazis (Drug Trafficking Frank Morales, Urantia Cultist Les Jamieson, Eminem wannabee Luke Rudkowski) and their sympathizers (Tom Foti etc…) Time for a boycott! Death to Nazism! Long live Globalism…" [Honestly, I have no idea nor much interest what this is all about, but pass it along.]

An In-Depth Timeline Showing the Possible Use by the Intelligence Community of "Synthetic Telepathy" in the Urantia Movement, Teaching Mission (TeaM), A Course in Miracles (ACIM), Findhorn, and Other Religious/Cultic Organizations. [Sort-of intriguing]

What happens when religious community degenerates into dangerous cult?

…a bold young man with long auburn curls and intense brown eyes. He had lived as a fruitarian in the jungles in Ecuador with a spiritual teacher named Johnny Lovewisdom. He knew about living on the land, gardening and smuggling various herbs. Every time we would pass the cannabis filled "peace pipe," he would bring out this big blue book and start telling me about The Urantia Book. I knew Jesus was groovy, but didn’t want to feel limited by any one teacher.

Three Histories of the Urantia Book by Matthew Rapaport

After a low-key announcement on television, Republican congressman Ron Paul of Texas was drowned out by cheers and applause as he kicked off his third presidential campaign yesterday in the state with the earliest primary.

"I think things could have been done somewhat differently," Paul said this week. "I would suggest the way they got Khalid [Sheikh] Mohammed. We went and cooperated with Pakistan. They arrested him, actually, and turned him over to us, and he's been in prison. Why can't we work with the government? ... "I think respect for the rule of law and world law and international law. What if he'd been in a hotel in London? We wanted to keep it secret, so would we have sent the airplane, you know the helicopters in to London, because they were afraid the information would get out?" [Oof! Why Ron Paul should never be President.]

host Fareed Zakaria. In an interview with fellow CNN host Elliot Spitzer, Zakaria admitted Obama and he talk regularly about the Middle East and international policy, a point that Spitzer said makes his heart "warm:

U.S. President Barack Obama is announcing a new initiative to increase domestic oil production, while moving toward lowering the country's dependence on imported oil. [After Obama & his political kin have spent decades destroying America's domestic production, what matters this lame propaganda sop?]

[video]

Tom Edwards, the county attorney in rural Motley County east of Lubbock, said on Friday that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives was responsible on Tuesday for sparking a fire that consumed 150 acres. "You can quote me on it: That bunch has a real corner on stupid," Edwards told Reuters. Tom Crowley, a spokesman with the federal agency, said bureau officials were assisting four local bomb squads -- at their request -- to destroy some explosives. Firefighters were on hand, he said. The wind picked up, but the explosives were too dangerous to move, so the officials went ahead and destroyed the explosives.

INDIANAPOLIS - Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes. In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer's entry. "We believe ... a right to resist an unlawful police entry into a home is against public policy and is incompatible with modern Fourth Amendment jurisprudence," David said. "We also find that allowing resistance unnecessarily escalates the level of violence and therefore the risk of injuries to all parties involved without preventing the arrest." David said a person arrested following an unlawful entry by police still can be released on bail and has plenty of opportunities to protest the illegal entry through the court system.

A stash of pornography was found in the hideout of Osama bin Laden... not yet sure precisely where in the compound the pornography was discovered or who had been viewing it. Specifically, the officials said they did not know if bin Laden himself had acquired or viewed the materials....

The former president said he was "not overjoyed" to hear that elite US commandos had taken out bin Laden in Pakistan, explaining that the covert strike had been carried out not "out of hatred but to exact judgment." "The guy is dead. That is good," Bush said, according to an ABC news contributor who attended the event. "Osama's death is a great victory in the war on terror. He was held up as a leader."

I badly want there to be a Wonder Woman movie, a film that captures the character's playfulness, her code of honor, her proud sexuality, and her plain old fashioned badassery. But it's incredibly difficult to imagine any Hollywood project capturing that mix....

The homeless Bulgarian who decapitated a British woman in Tenerife yesterday thought he was 'a prophet of god'

[Best Bartlesville headline of the year (so far, anyway)]

U.S. Navy SEALs, like the teams that killed Osama bin Laden, are grateful for nation's show of support but are growing angry with the continued focus on their operation, tactics, and tools, claiming it could jeopardize future raids and their safety.

The residents of the Chiricahua-Peloncillo drug and human smuggling corridor that runs from the Mexican border north through eastern Arizona and western New Mexico are circulating a petition to send to the White House in response to President Obama's recent immigration speech. "It is with great wonderment and sadness that we listened to your May 10 speech on immigration issues. All of the joking about moats and alligators cut residents of Portal, AZ, to the core as we sheltered with friends or at a Red Cross evacuation site, to survive a terrible fire that still threatens our lives and property, as well as our ecotourism-based economy," the letter reads. ... Cochise County, Ariz., Sheriff Larry Dever, who penned an op-ed in The New York Times Friday describing the plight of border residents, told FoxNews.com that the petition is a plea for the administration to take a closer look at the hardships they are suffering. "These people are not overreacting. What they suggest in letter is very deep part of their belief system based on their experience and their experience has been horrific -- they see human smuggling and drug trafficking, they sit on their porch and watch people walk through, they've had their homes burglarized," Dever said. "It's a beautiful landscape and for those that moved out there for a sense of tranquility and peace, that's been destroyed...."

FlyerTalk members are outraged not so much because the baby food and juice box were taken away from their rightful owners, but rather that if they indeed tested positive for trace amounts of explosive materials, why was further testing not performed by the Transportation Security Administration personnel — or, at least, treat the items as if they were indeed dangerous?

DEADLY suicide bomb attacks in north-west Pakistan avenging the death of Osama Bin Laden have killed 80 people. The twin blasts ripped apart the paramilitary force's training centre for the Frontier Constabulary in Shabqadar, Charsadda district. Police say both blasts were caused by suicide attacks

The family of Frankie Girard is claiming that their son's civil rights were violated after a teacher allegedly told him that hanging his picture of the American flag would offend another student. ... [Superintendent Dr. Paul Burnim said] nobody ever told Franklin the drawing was offensive, and said the only reason it wasn't hung was because Franklin was supposed to be doing other work; not drawing a picture. ... [Hmmmm]

...the 40 minutes it took to kill bin Laden and scoop his archives into garbage bags were all recorded by tiny helmet cameras worn by each of the 25 SEALs. ... Officials reviewing those videos are still reconstructing a more accurate version of what happened.... The SEALs first saw bin Laden when he came out on the third floor landing. They fired, but missed. He retreated to his bedroom, and the first SEAL through the door grabbed bin Laden's daughters and pulled them aside. When the second SEAL entered, bin Laden's wife rushed forward at him -- or perhaps was pushed by bin Laden. The SEAL shoved her aside and shot bin Laden in the chest. A third seal shot him in the head.

60-year-old Staten Island resident, a retired MTA employee, says he's spent at least that sum -- his life savings -- on 1,000 subway-car placards, and even more ads on bus kiosks and subway cars. They say: "Global Earthquake: The Greatest Ever! Judgment Day May 21, 2011." In a self-published book, "The Doomsday Code," Fitzpatrick says the Bible offers "proof that cannot be dismissed." ... If you want to set an alarm clock, the quake will happen just before 6 p.m.... book is based on the teachings of Harold Camping, an 89-year-old radio host with a poor track record of end-of-the-world prophecies....

One of the reactors at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant likely suffered a substantial meltdown of its core, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday, offering a fresh assessment of the reactor that suggests it came closer than the operator had previously revealed to a catastrophic meltdown. ... more than half melted...

Researchers examining the San Andreas Fault in central California have found evidence that distant earthquakes can trigger episodes of accelerated (but still very slow) slip motion, deep on the fault.

Tragedy at the copper mine of Rudna, Poland 3 miners were killed in the KGHM copper mine at Rudna, a village in the vicinity of Glogow. Rudna has 1,300 inhabitants. 10 of them were slightly injured and 2 miners had to be hospitalized. Other miners were safely evacuated. The copper mine is about 15 km from the epicenter of the earthquake (mining shafts might have been drilled towards the epicenter location). Scientist will have to study the origin of this earthquake. As this is a mining area, there is a very big possibility that the origin will be mining related.

Austin opened up the door to the dryer — it's about 1-by-1½ feet wide — and squeezed in, shutting the door behind him. As he did, some glass struck the outside of the door and shattered. For several minutes he heard the tornado pull his house apart, the sound of glass breaking, of items falling from shelves. Five minutes after things died down, an aunt, Jessica Wambold, came to the house to find him. Only then did he climb from the dryer.

The eruption of the Etna volcano in southern Italy early Thursday is connected to the earthquakes that rocked the Spanish region of Murcia, killing 12 people and injuring more than 170 others.... "We are currently witnessing an intense seismic activity in the entire Mediterranean area from Spain all the way to Malta which has a certain impact on regional volcanoes...." The eruption sent flying massive quantities of lava and volcanic ash, which spilled on the main town of Catania and other nearby villages but luckily caused no serious damage....

DC Troll on HillBuzz: ...Bottom line — Sarah controls this election decision — her process and her timing — so all please stop falling for the trap by the those above — as Sarah has said repeatedly it is WAAAY toooo early to jump in — the rule have changed folks!

Kill each other over money and white boys for fun. That line, in case anyone missed it in a previous column on the topic, comes from rapper Common's song "Don't Come My Way." It is a blatantly racist sentiment and incites violence. Another of his lyrics—this one from the song "The Bitch in Yoo"—spells America with three k's ("amerikkka") and is too heavily peppered with profanity and iterations of the b-word to reprint. So much for the lunkheaded liberal efforts to excuse the man's opus as "socially conscious" or to dismiss objections to it as a manufactured controversy. Inviting a progenitor of hate speech to the White House is an affront on all things American. It is every bit as misguided as it would have been for the president—who is half-white, after all—to invite a white supremacist to the East Room to recite selections from his collected "verse." [H/T to Patti http://hillbuzz.org/2011/05/12/thursday-open-thread-may-12-2011/#IDComme...

It is likely Obama met Common at the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ were both men were members.

In an afternoon session, first lady Michelle Obama had welcomed various poets to the White House poetry event, but notably ignored the rapper, whose stage-name is Common. ... Common was introduced at the evening session without any reference to the conservatives' derision of his poetry or to some police advocates' dismay.... [CONSERVATIVES? SOME POLICE?] The president could not easily walk away from the rapper for fear of offending vital supporters in the African-American community, and he could not afford to fully embrace the rapper at this evening's event because that endorsement risks the president's effort to portray himself as a post-racial healer of social divisions....

The White House on Wednesday defended the decision to invite the hip-hop artist Common to a celebration of poetry hosted by President Obama and his wife, Michelle, saying they disavow some of the rapper's controversial lyrics but accusing critics of blowing the issue out of proportion. "He's spoken very forcefully out against violent and misogynist lyrics," press secretary Jay Carney told reporters... Common celebrated a former Black Panther who was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper... also has called for former President George W. Bush to be burned...

[Jones editorial cartoon with classroom, "Foreign Policy" on the chalkboard, Obama as child with all A+'s, Bush with D-, and teacher saying "You must have cheated off George!!!" Seriously! Not just stupid but about as lame as political cartoons get. Oh, hey, Bush got better grades in college than John Kerry. Obama got... oh, that's right, we don't know what Obama got. F-, Cartoonist Jones!]

Graduate communications student Benjamin Haas had earlier been given permission by the school to burn the flag. But because he lacked a local burn permit, he agreed instead to read a statement in an area of the university known as free speech alley. As Haas read the statement, a crowd around him erupted into cheers and jeers, many shouting "Go to hell, hippie, go to hell." "You had a lot of people on both sides of the debate getting into a lot of fights," said James Haralson, manager of Tiger TV, the university television station. "The students started yelling obscenities at him. People started throwing bottles at him."

MUNICH (Reuters) - A German court convicted John Demjanjuk on Thursday for his role in the killing of 28,000 Jews in the Sobibor Nazi death camp, then set the 91-year-old free because of his age. ... Stephan J. Kramer, secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told Reuters that the verdict was "not revenge but the execution of justice, even 65 years later." Victims' groups said the main point for them was the guilty verdict and they refrained from criticizing the decision to set Demjanjuk free.

San Francisco. It's poised to become the first U.S. city to restrict delivery of Yellow Pages business directories. The Board of Supervisors cast a 10-1 first vote on Tuesday to ban unrequested home and business delivery of the hefty telephone directories. There will be a second reading and final vote next week. The idea is to protect the environment, fight neighborhood blight and help the economy. And advocates say the Internet makes the directories unnecessary. [EVERYONE has Internet, riiight? Riiiight. Broadband, too, of course.]

You know the moment when you realize that fine, accomplished brother is with a White woman? Let's call it "the wince." Three-time Grammy Award-winning artist, writer, actress, philanthropist, mother and all-around Renaissance woman, Jill Scott gets to the root of our feelings on the matter in the April issue of ESSENCE... [It's only racism if Whate Fokes do it, huhh.]

When liberal investor George Soros gave $1.8 million to National Public Radio , it became part of the firestorm of controversy that jeopardized NPR's federal funding. But that gift only hints at the widespread influence the controversial billionaire has on the mainstream media. Soros, who spent $27 million trying to defeat President Bush in 2004, has ties to more than 30 mainstream news outlets — including The New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press, NBC and ABC. Prominent journalists like ABC's Christiane Amanpour and former Washington Post editor and now Vice President Len Downie serve on boards of operations that take Soros cash. This despite the Society of Professional Journalists' ethical code stating: "avoid all conflicts real or perceived." [Journalists have a code of ethics? Who knew?]

The notebook, which was described by one official as a "professional journal," detailed al Qaeda doctrine, potential targets and how to carry out attacks against them. U.S. intelligence analysts conducted a handwriting analysis of the journal and believe it was personally written by bin Laden, who another official described as a "meticulous note-taker."

The first member of Congress to view [photos] ... was Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe. [Said] "They are gruesome, of course, because it was taken right after the incident..." bin Laden was in his underwear at the time of his death.

He says witnesses say Davis and a passenger in his car were yelling before the victim was hit and as he was being dragged. Holland says his department is still trying to figure out exactly what led up to the incident. He says there is a group of so-called "Juggalos" in Bartlesville, known to wear this type of makeup, but Holland says he hasn't encountered violence among the group. "Juggalos" are self-proclaimed fans of the band "Insane Clown Posse," and are known to wear makeup to show their allegiance to the band.

A Bartlesville man was sent to the hospital Tuesday night after a car driven by a man wearing black and white face paint struck him and dragged him for 100 feet before fleeing the scene, according to police. Police later arrested 20-year-old Andrew Joseph Davis, the alleged driver, on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and a felony count of hit and run. ... One neighbor reportedly said the two occupants in the car were yelling "Woop! Woop!" during the incident.

Not for Cain is the dialect of programmed candidates controlled by Republican Party hacks or "up-and-coming political stars." As was obvious during the debate, Cain does not require handlers and consultants. No political consultant would ever tell a candidate to answer a question, to which he cannot truly give an informed answer, as Cain did on a question of national security, "I don't know all the facts." Few, if any, would encourage a candidate to endorse Benjamin Netanyahu's view on the ultimate aims of the jihadists. Cain speaks with total self-confidence born of ability and achievement, not the unearned laurels of sycophants. Cain speaks blunt truths about how far we have fallen from our charters and the necessity to restore them and revere them again. As he recently told Neil Cavuto when refusing to walk back comments about a ban on Muslims in a Cain administration, he only wants "true patriots" around him, committed and dedicated to the Constitution, the Declaration, and the laws of this country. What else matters? [Mindful H/T to HillBuzz for the link.]

While even casual hip-hop fans wouldn't characterize him as a controversial rapper, Common found himself under the microscope after First Lady Michelle Obama invited him to the White House for an arts event. In question: the lyrics to "A Song for Assata," about convicted cop-killer and former Black Panther Assata Shakur. FOX News and Sarah Palin condemned the decision after the Daily Caller published some of Common's lyrics, including some that criticize former President George W. Bush. For New Jersey police, the outrage centers on "A Song for Assata" lyrics like "Your power and pride is beautiful. May God bless your soul." Shakur, formerly known as Joanne Chesimard, was convicted for the 1973 slaying of Trooper Werner Foerster on the New Jersey Turnpike. She escaped prison in 1979, and is living in asylum in Cuba.

instead of the usual way of asking her to the senior prom, Tate and two friends went to the high school campus in the middle of the night and posted 12-inch tall, cardboard letters on the outside of the building -- at the main entrance. The message that many saw when they arrived to school Friday, read: "Sonali Rodrigues, Will you go to prom with me? HMU Tate." She said yes. "It took a lot of effort," said Tate. He posted the letters, one at a time, in a "safe and thoughtful way" to avoid trouble. ... Because of what he did, Tate can't go to the prom. Tuesday, after meeting with his headmaster, Tate and his two friends were each given one-day, in-house suspensions and banned from the prom. Tate was told the administration felt what they did was a safety risk.... [If only we had zero tolerance for educator insanity]

Only one of the five people killed in the raid that got Osama bin Laden was armed and fired any shots, a senior defense official said Thursday

Osama Bin Laden's son has denounced the Al Qaeda leader's killing as 'criminal' and said he reserves the right to take legal action against America. [Uh, yeah, good luck with that one, Omar. I feel the heat from lawyers rubbing their hands together in anticipation, though.] He also branded his father's burial at sea as a 'humiliation' for his family. [Sorry for the uninvolved members of the family, but humilation of the monster was kind-of what we might be hoping for.]

A return to the gold standard by the United States within the next five years now seems likely, because that move would help the nation solve a variety of economic, fiscal, and monetary ills, Steve Forbes predicted during an exclusive interview this week with HUMAN EVENTS. "What seems astonishing today could become conventional wisdom in a short period of time..."

President Barack Obama stood near the border with Mexico on Tuesday and declared it more secure than ever... I gotta say I suspect there are still going to be some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time. ... Maybe they'll need a moat," he said mockingly to laughter from the crowd. "Maybe they'll want alligators in the moat...." [WHAT AN ... everybody's got one.]

President Obama doesn't seem to have even peered out his Air Force One window to view the swelling Mississippi, a minimal show of interest for which George W. Bush was pilloried when he took a peek at the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At least Bush bothered to look.... White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One, was asked whether Obama had bothered to get a view from above. "I haven't seen him do that but I haven't been with him for the full flight so far...."

This operation was a setup. The Pak Army knew enough to clear the ground and the air. Otherwise, all it takes is one guy with an RPG to blow up a helicopter that's flying low enough and slow enough to land and take off again. It might take 15 minutes on the ground to do the job, and you're a sitting duck for UBL's bodyguards and random soldiers. So this had to be coordinated with all the big players on the ground. It's like a Chicago mob hit: Everybody knows except the target.

In her new biography of Ann Dunham, A Singular Woman, New York Times reporter Janny Scott corrupts Barack Obama's nativity story even more than a cynic might have thought possible. In so doing, Scott follows an ignoble media tradition that deserves exposure as does the story that it corrupts.

No one on Earth has done more to help al-Qaeda in the last six weeks than Barack Obama. ... setting up al-Qaeda financially for years to come. One of the first things the U.S.-led coalition did when it invaded Libya in March was to help the radical Islamist led rebels capture the oil fields.... capable of generating $34 billion ... a year. ... With billions they'll eventually reap in profits from the oil each year, they could easily wage a multi-front jihad and have plenty of money left over for a bio weapon to wipe out the entire American East Coast. ... The pattern by the Obama administration is almost eerie. First, al Qaeda-led rebels capture part of a country and declare it an Islamic emirate or caliphate. Then Obama backs the overthrow of that country's embattled leader, declaring that he must go in the interest of democracy, even when that goes against U.S. interests in the War on Terror. That's exactly what happened in Libya. It's what happened again in Yemen. ...

a breakdown of the instantly iconic image of Barack Obama and his security team watching the Osama Bin Laden mission unfold. We zoomed in on each of the participants here and named them.

The west must state clearly that it will not abandon Afghanistan after the handover of security to local forces in 2014 or risk further fighting in the region from an emboldened Taliban, the commander of British forces in the country has warned.

...Adam Powell Grade School... "It hasn't been a problem all this time and all of a sudden they can't have breakfast because of their shoes," Kahlia Edwards, the boys' mother, says. Edwards says the boys have been wearing the shoes all year and administrators never complained. She's confused. The boy's great aunt is livid. "I don't care if they had on orange shoes, they were in line to eat," Robin Price says. "I'm not going to feed you because you have the wrong shoes? Shoes? No, no." ...

Does it really come as a surprise to anyone that al-Qaeda targets train and subway systems? As far back as seven years ago, AQ killed almost 200 people in Madrid, and the next year killed dozens in London by attacking public rail systems. Now, however, Senator Chuck Schumer wants Homeland Security to step up screening at rail stations with a "do not ride" list after discovering that Osama bin Laden had planned to attack our train systems....

I'll say what everyone else is thinking but is too scared to say. The Obama regime is almost certainly directly complicit in these deaths. The time, location and most especially, the PASSENGERS in the Chinook were passed to the Taliban. Additionally, you can't take out a Chinook with small arms fire or even standard RPGs such as the Taliban use. The Taliban needed serious weaponry to take this helo down, and that serious weaponry needed to be in exactly the right spot at exactly the right time, ready to fire. Why would the Obama regime kill Americans? I think the question is, why WOULDN'T the Obama regime kill Americans? The Obama regime is composed of Marxist-Leninist psychopaths. A glancing, superficial survey of 20th century history shows one glaring fact above all others: MARXISTS MURDER PEOPLE WITHOUT COMPUNCTION. Marxists also hate Americans, by definition.

Martin Bashir to Fmr. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO): "To follow your logic, would you have then preferred the death of the president as opposed to bin Laden?" Tancredo responds: "Of course not, my God."

Pakistani officials said today they're interested in studying the remains of the U.S.'s secret stealth-modified helicopter abandoned during the Navy SEAL raid of Osama bin Laden's compound, and suggested the Chinese are as well. The U.S. has already asked the Pakistanis for the helicopter wreckage back, but one Pakistani official told ABC News the Chinese were also "very interested" in seeing the remains. Another official said, "We might let them [the Chinese] take a look."

The List of Things That Offend Muslims... to illustrate the futility of the multicultural approach to Islam....

American imperialism, corporate avarice, abuses of our power abroad and our historical support of corrupt dictators like Hosni Mubarak have created an abhorrence of us that, unfortunately, persists. We need to recognize how the rest of the world sees us, and figure out how to change that. Until we do that, more Osama bin Ladens will arise, and more innocent people like my sister will die. [h/t to Cuzzin Brandon ]

Rome will be shaved off the face of the Earth tomorrow, as a devastating earthquake will reduce the Eternal City to a pile of rubble, according to widespread rumors on social networking sites which are causing a rising panic among residents. ... Italy's National Geophysical and Volcanology Institute... "Earthquakes can't be predicted. We cannot forecast, nor can we exclude, that a quake will occur on May 11, June 11 or any other date...." [Unscientific panic mongers: SEE! 'Nor can they exclude!' It must be true!!]

The bus driver who talked an armed student out of a plan to hijack the bus said God was to thank for defusing the crisis Monday afternoon. ... "I thought he was immediately going to use it on me. But after he had stopped and I began to get into conversation with him I was a little calmer, you know, and said a little prayer in my heart, and I got a clear mind after that." Okoduwa told the boy to calm down and began asking the boy various questions. Police say the boy planned to have Okoduwa drive him to Washington D.C. where he wanted to shoot government officials. ... "I could not do much thinking at the time.... I would mostly attribute it to God — if it wasn't for His help, things would have gone differently on that bus.... It wasn't anything specific I did that changed the situation.... I just stepped into a providential grace — if you call it — that's why he cooperated with me."

homeless man... entered the woman's apartment to use the bathroom.... she found him and screamed... [he] ran out of the room with his pants around his ankles, tripped and fell down the stairs and died.... [Talk about undignfied deaths!!]

An 82-year-old former Nepalese foreign minister has died in his attempt to become the oldest person to climb Mount Everest [Better than lying in a nursing home.]

Swiss adventurer, Yves Rossy, has finally completed his flight over the Grand Canyon in a custom-made jet suit after being forced to cancel last week due to red tape.

A visit to the Washington County Courthouse will soon be like going to the airport, thanks to a Homeland Security reimbursable grant issued to the Washington County Sheriff's Department. The Washington County Board of Commissioners during their regular meeting Monday approved the purchase of an x-ray machine to be positioned just inside the entrance of the courthouse. [THE WAR ON CIVILIZATION CONTINUES!]

Twelve suspected members of the Zetas drug gang and a member of Mexico's Navy were killed in a shootout on an island in a lake that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border... The suspected drug traffickers used the island for storing marijuana...

Microsoft is on the verge of buying Skype for $8.5billion - despite the Internet phone service making a loss of $7million last year. The deal would be the biggest in the 36-year history of the world's largest software company.

A crazed naked man seen menacing New York City subway passengers on a scary new viral video was handcuffed and transported to a Bronx hospital last week, but not charged in connection with the bizarre incident

The university has ended the popular Human Sexuality course that, for the past, 20 years has entertained and informed students because of a February demonstration that involved a motorized sex toy penetrating a female guest... used a reciprocating saw fitted with an adult pleasure device on his fiance... in front of a class... [AAAHHHHHH!]

Taking the pill or another type of hormonal contraceptive upends this natural dynamic, making less-masculine men seem more attractive, according to a small but growing body of evidence. The findings have led researchers to wonder about the implications for partner choice, relationship quality and even the health of the children produced by these partnerships.

His biggest mistakes don't even get reported as such. I can offer up several on the national security front, but here are just two mistakes that you've seen hints of lately in the news. The first actually was made in his earliest days in the White House. (But we're paying the price for it now, and will for years to come.) At around the same time he was taking the oath of office, the soldiers of the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team were completing preparations for their upcoming Iraq tour....

A long-simmering movement by liberal stalwarts in southern Arizona to break away from the rest of the largely conservative state is at a boiling point as secession backers press to bring their longshot ambition to the forefront of Arizona politics. [GREAT IDEA! GIVE THEM THE MEXICAN BORDER COUNTIES!]

Errors happen. Miscommunications happen. Confusing the name of which of bin Laden's myriad sons died (Hamza, not Khalid), for example, is no biggie. But the hourly revamping of key details of Sunday's raid suggests something far beyond the usual realm of situational uncertainty that accompanies any military operation. The Navy SEALs did their job spectacularly. The civilians tasked with letting the world know about the mission, however, have performed like amateur dinner theater actors in a tragi-comic production of "Rashomon-meets-The Blind Men and the Elephant-meets-Keystone Kops." Incapable of straightforward answers, Team Obama's clarity-challenged civilians have led nauseated news-watchers through more twists and turns than San Francisco's Lombard Street. Take your Dramamine, and let's review.

Iran is conducting final tests at its first nuclear power plant and it is expected to start generating electricity in the next two months

U.S. officials in Kabul said on Monday the movements of staff in parts of Afghanistan's volatile south were being restricted, warning of more attacks after a two-day siege came to a bloody end and insurgents killed at least 11 people in other attacks.

Police detonated charges near the SUV at 149th St. and Morris Ave. before declaring it a false alarm. Still, the sight of cops, firefighters and bomb-sniffing dogs flooding the streets of Melrose left neighbors jittery.

At some point during the attack, the man and the cat reportedly were injured by a knife the man was holding.... [Cat "attacked" man. Man draws knife. Cat was mortally wounded, but man went to hospital. WIN, CAT!]

Four people were arrested after a suspicious incident at Denver International Airport.... Airport personnel noticed someone videotaping the security lines. Police then confronted the person with the camera and the three people in line who were being taped. Two of those people did not have IDs or boarding passes. Police arrested the man with the camera and the three people in line. Police say they don't know what the group was doing. They were arrested on suspicion of interfering with a transportation facility....

A friend of three of the passengers on Flight 1706 told WWJ that the plane was evacuated after a threatening note was found in the bathroom. ... "The first time the captain came on, he said that there was a threat. The next time he came on to give us more details he said that there had been a note left in one of the lavatories...."

Two terrifying rail security breaches occurred within hours of each other in the city yesterday -- including one at the World Trade Center, where a man slipped into the PATH tunnel and walked all the way to Jersey before saying he had left a bomb in the tunnel. That scare -- and an unrelated escapade involving four "urban explorers" infiltrating the under-construction Second Avenue Subway tunnel -- come just days after the feds warned that al Qaeda could be targeting US trains.

SAN FRANCISCO - Crew members and passengers wrestled a 28-year-old man to the cabin floor after he began pounding on the cockpit as an American Airlines flight approached San Francisco.... yelling unintelligibly... 28-year-old Rageit Almurisi. He carried a Yemen passport, but it wasn't clear if his nationality was also Yemeni... no clear or known ties to terrorism.... A Continental Airlines flight from Houston to Chicago diverted in St. Louis after a 34-year-old man from Illinois tried to open a plane door during the flight... a Delta Air Lines flight from Detroit to San Diego was landed instead in Albuquerque, New Mexico, because of a security scare but authorities found "no suspicious devices" on the plane ... declined to clarify the nature of the "potential security threat" ...

Pakistani media aired the name of a man they said is the Central Intelligence Agency's station chief, prompting questions about whether the Pakistani government tried to out a CIA operative in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden. The U.S. is looking into the matter.

The release of the videos — recovered from Bin Laden's compound — by U.S. intelligence officials is clearly designed to expose the Bin Laden myth as a carefully manufactured fraud: the godfather of terror reduced to a doddery old man with nothing to do but watch videos of himself.

A Coon Rapids man went to suburban Detroit and fatally shot his 20-year-old stepdaughter in the head because she left Minnesota to live with her father and was not adhering to Muslim customs

Climate change will disrupt wi-fi connections, cause regular power failures and lead railway lines to buckle unless Britain spends billions of pounds, Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary has warned. [Yes, climate changes. Deal!]

Those leaving the Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter these days are either overjoyed after finding their pets lost when tornadoes ravaged the region or heartbroken and often moved to tears when they don't.

DALLAS — The Mockingbird DART station and the surrounding area, including the Angelika Theater, were evacuated Saturday after a police dog alerted authorities to a passenger onboard with two suspicious packages.... Riders traveling through downtown stations reportedly expressed alarm after a man asked them for help carrying a duffel bag and a large box..... determined the packages were not a threat.... "He was actually trying to pay people to help him get packages on and off the train...."

At the time of his arrest, Almurisi was in possession of a Yemeni passport as well as a California identification card

The president is expected any day now to sign an executive order that routs 70 years of efforts to get politics out of official federal business. Under the order, all companies (and their officers) would be required to list their political donations as a condition to bidding for government contracts. Companies can bid and lose out for the sin of donating to Republicans. Or they can protect their livelihoods by halting donations to the GOP altogether—which is the White House's real aim. Think of it as "not-pay to play." ... The president is expected any day now to sign an executive order that routs 70 years of efforts to get politics out of official federal business. Under the order, all companies (and their officers) would be required to list their political donations as a condition to bidding for government contracts. Companies can bid and lose out for the sin of donating to Republicans. Or they can protect their livelihoods by halting donations to the GOP altogether—which is the White House's real aim. Think of it as "not-pay to play." ...

They video include outtakes of his propaganda films and, taken together, portray him as someone obsessed with his own image and how he is portrayed to the world.

[White House Insider:] During that meeting, Hillary Clinton was first to pledge her full support for Panetta, indicating she would defend him if necessary. Similar support was then followed by Gates. The following day, and with Panetta's permission, Clinton met in private with Bill Daley and urged him to get the president's full and open approval of the Panetta plan. Daley agreed such approval would be of great benefit to the action, and instructed Clinton to delay proceeding until he had secured that approval. Daley contacted Clinton within hours of their meeting indicating Jarrett refused to allow the president to give that approval. Daley then informed Clinton that he too would fully support Panetta in his actions, even if it meant disclosing the president's indecision to the American public should that action fail to produce a successful conclusion. ... Jarrett, having been caught off guard, was now scrambling to determine who had initiated the plan. She was furious, repeating the acronym "CoC" and saying it was not being followed. This is where Bill Daley intervened directly. The particulars of that intervention are not clear to me beyond knowing he did meet with Jarrett in his office and following that meeting, Valerie Jarrett was not seen in the West Wing for some time, and apparently no longer offered up any resistance to the Osama Bin Laden mission. ... [Heh... Son and Brother of Da Mayor knows where ALL the Chicago skeletons are buried!]

Said Obama: "I asked Michelle the other day, I said, 'What's your favorite food' -- because we were sitting around with the girls. She said, 'Ah, Mexican food.'" The crowd loved the news. "You do not want to be between Michelle and a tamale," joked the president. "It's true. It's true. But she's moving, though, so she can afford to have as many tamales as she wants," said Obama in a nod to his wife's "Let's Move" healthy campaign. [I don't usually say this, but, OMG! This man has less than no class at all!]

Intense fighting is taking place in Afghanistan's second city of Kandahar amid co-ordinated militant attacks, including at least six suicide bombs. The Taliban says it is behind the triple assault on the provincial governor's office, the Afghan spy agency and a police station. About 23 people including three police have been injured in the fighting, which spread panic on the streets. US helicopter gunships are reported to have been involved.

Intelligence analysts are sifting through phone numbers and email addresses found at Osama bin Laden's compound to determine potential links to Pakistani government and military officials while U.S. officials and analysts raise concerns about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear materials.

An international series of protests known as SlutWalks, sparked by a Toronto police officer's flippant comment that women should avoid dressing like "sluts" to avoid being raped or victimized, is taking root in the United States.... The police officer made his comments in January to a group of York University students at a safety forum. He later apologized, but his comments were publicized widely on Facebook and Twitter. They inspired a march in Toronto last month that drew more than 3,000 people, as well as SlutWalks since then in Dallas, Asheville, North Carolina, and Ottawa, Ontario....

... climbed over a four- to five-foot railing at the Sedgwick County Zoo and approached the Amur leopard, which then grabbed him with a paw or paws and tried to bite the boy... mauled on the head and neck.... enclosure is eight feet from the protective railing. A sign outside the enclosure reads: "DANGEROUS ANIMALS: Please respect their space by staying on your side of the guardrail." ... The Amur leopard, which lives in the Far East, is considered "critically endangered," with only 30 to 35 known to remain....

Minor delays on BART trains in Oakland Friday morning ... unruly passenger talking loudly about weapons of mass destruction ... someone named Michelle King posted on Twitter, "on the train to sf; Of the many crazy people, there's one right now clapping loudly and talking about WOMD...." About five minutes later, King posted, "update — bart police came and got him...."

Two Muslim religious leaders say they were asked to leave a commercial airliner in Memphis on Friday and were told it was because the pilot refused to fly with them aboard. [There's more to the story]

A bulletin issued Thursday by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and obtained by ABC News describes the terror organization's chilling desire to derail a train on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. "As of February 2010, al-Qa'ida was allegedly contemplating conducting an operation against trains at an unspecified location in the United States on the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001," the document reads, using an alternate spelling for bin Laden's terror group. "As one option, al-Qa'ida was looking into trying to tip a train by tampering with the rails so that the train would fall off the track at either a valley or a bridge."

The intelligence source said that there are "numerous" leads giving them locations but cautioned that they are fluid as al Qaeda leaders may be on the run, changing their locations. [Heh, yeah, I would think so!]

Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, said Bin Laden believed "his network was strong enough [that] he'd get a heads-up" before any US strike against him. He suggested that Bin Laden's confidence might have been the reason his compound was only lightly guarded. It may also explain why Bin Laden was not armed when he was killed during the operation in the early hours of Monday. ... Seal teams had to "breach three or four walls" inside the compound to get to Bin Laden's building because the Black Hawk helicopter carrying commandos whose mission was to land on the roof was the one that suffered mechanical failure. His disclosure that Bin Laden was carrying 500 Euros in cash raised obvious questions about whether the al-Qa'ida chief was intending to flee to Europe, as US dollars would have been the obvious choice of currency to carry if he intended to change it in countries neighbouring Pakistan....

Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, said Thursday the helicopter damaged when it hit the compound's wall was heavily loaded and lost lift because of a change in air temperature. "It was not a mechanical failure," he said. One reason for the skittishness about discussing the helicopters is now becoming clear: They were stealthy choppers not known to be used in the field.

Al Qaeda confirmed the death of Osama bin Laden on Friday in an Internet message that vowed revenge on the United States and its allies, including Pakistan [YAY! Confirmation from Al Qaeda!]

U.S. commandos missed with their first shot at the world's most wanted man poked his head out of a third-floor room in his fortress.... U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee: "I hope they went in with the idea of killing him, not capturing him. We needed to take this guy out. And I know that's what the executive order said. "The other thing you have to remember is that this was pitch dark. When they got into the room with bin Laden, they already had to go through some other folks downstairs, two of which they killed. And they were having to use explosives to blow doors open. By the time they got to him, they didn't know what they would find. "They blew the door open, and they looked down the hallway and he stuck his head out of the room that he was in, and saw them, and ducked back in. They fired a shot, and missed him the first time — and then went to the room. And that's when they killed him. "They did in fact find an AK-47 and a pistol in bin Laden's room. Whether he was making any move to get to that is not clear. But taking him down in pitch-dark conditions was the right thing to do." ["...taking him down in pitch-dark conditions was the right thing to do."]

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) doubles down…. "The initial information on the courier was obtained from waterboarding in 2003. That came from Khalid Sheik Mohammad… People who were on the ground and very familiar to the situation told me this."

seen as an aging terrorist hiding in barren rooms, short of money and struggling to maintain his grip on al-Qaida.... Three of bin Laden's wives were living with him in the compound and are being interrogated by Pakistani authorities, who took them into custody after Monday's raid, along with 13 children, eight of them bin Laden's.... One of the wives, identified as Yemeni-born Amal Ahmed Abdullfattah, told interrogators she had been staying in bin Laden's hideout since 2006 and never left the upper floors of the large but sparsely furnished building,... Disputes over money between bin Laden and his No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, led the group to split into two factions five or six years ago.... Bin Laden was "cash strapped" in his final days....

Commandos who conducted the assault on bin Laden's compound in Pakistan gave Obama first-hand accounts of what happened, and he awarded them the highest presidential honor a military unit can receive... most Americans regard the secretive special operations unit that killed bin Laden -- the mastermind of the September 11 hijack-plane attacks on the United States -- as national heroes... A huge "Job well done!" banner hung from the wall.... ["MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!"]

PWND - Osama Bin Laden T-Shirt

...pushing her [4-month-old] baby in a stroller down a flight of stairs at the Lake Street light rail train station Tuesday evening ... during an argument between the mother ... and her boyfriend ... She was heard yelling at him, "You already got a 12 and 14 year old you don't give a s*** about and now you don't give a s*** about this one! I'm gonna push this one down the steps! I'm pregnant again!" ... instead of picking the baby up to check on its welfare, ran to her boyfriend and started punching him in the face ... she kicked two officers and spat at one of them ... admitted to drinking at least five beers before the fight.... [The world's most popular beverage!]

Rita Chretien, 56, was found alive on Friday by hunters near the Humboldt National Forest, in northeastern Nevada. Her husband Al Chretien is still missing. The couple vanished shortly after leaving their Penticton, B.C., home March 19. They were on their way to a trade show in Las Vegas, but didn't check into the hotel they had reserved. Rita survived 49 days in the wilderness on snow, a small amount of trail mix and prayer, said long-time family friend Dave Goertzen. She lost about 30 pounds and they're working on balancing her electrolytes at a hospital in Twin Falls, Idaho

...says he was also told his mother would need an extra-large casket and burial vault or a double grave site. The woman weighed 230 pounds. ... At the April 9 funeral, the gravesite ended up being too small for the oversize casket, and ended up being damaged in an attempt to force it into the grave....

A Swiss adventurer dubbed "JetMan" told a TV station in Los Angeles that his planned flight over the Grand Canyon was canceled Friday. It would have been the first time he made the attempt in the U.S. and three years after he flew into the record books by crossing the Channel between Britain and France.

He knew everyone and he knew their comings and goings, their kith and kin and the joke around town as I was growing up was that he always knew the size casket you would need. The joke never really was funny and it certainly isn't now but humor is one of the ways people deal with those who see to the end of the life needs and necessities that Arnold did for way over 50 years. And he was a handsome man right to the end; strong and well-groomed and well-informed on top of it all. I always thought he looked a bit like Omar Sharif. He had that sturdy dependable look about him all the years I remember him and never seemed to really age up until about the time of Richard Kane's funeral. That's the first hint that I had that Arnold might indeed be mortal after all when he took a fall outside the church.

Robert Boyce, 50, appeared Tuesday in Washington County District Court for a preliminary hearing during which the state presented testimony by Mike Lippman and Millard Latimer as witnesses. The judge ruled there was "reasonable and probable cause" to charge Boyce with two counts of second degree arson, conspiracy to commit second degree arson, manufacturing meth, conspiracy to manufacture meth, filing a false insurance claim and concealing hazardous waste unlawfully. The judge then ordered him to appear in court on June 22 for formal arraignment. Boyce is being held at the Washington County jail on a $500,000 bond.

"In a Town This Size," by director Patrick V. Brown, will be shown as part of the BareBones International Film Festival on Saturday. The documentary, dealing with a long-suppressed tragedy of childhood sexual abuse, initially premiered in Oklahoma at the Trail Dance Film Festival in Duncan in January. It has since been shown at the Litchfield Hills Film Festival in Connecticut earlier this month and is scheduled to be shown at Tulsa's Circle Theatre on June 5 as part of a fundraiser and community awareness panel. No date for a Bartlesville screening has yet been announced. Brown, 50, now resides in Los Angeles, but grew up in Bartlesville and counts himself among the victims portrayed in the film.

Lance Corporal Bryce Crostwait, United States Marine Corps, received a hero's welcome as he returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Lisa Croswait, Bryce's mother: "I'm so glad you're back!" Marine Lance Corporal Bryce Croswait: "I am too, Mom." Crostwait, whose mother works as a teacher's assistant at Bartlesville Public Schools, was greeted not only by loved ones but also by students from his former middle school.... Crostwait's unit endured a particularly high number of casualties while serving in Afghanistan We're used to seeing the Patriot Guard at the homecomings and military women they've never even met. But Friday, they stuck around at the airport for a very personal arrival. "I knew it would come. Just had to wait for it. My turn," Tommy Johnson, father, said. Tommy Johnson's a veteran and a member of the Patriot Guard. His son Justin spent a year in Afghanistan serving in the 101st Airborne. "Our mission was to secure the area they call the home of the Taliban," SPC Justin Johnson said. Shaking the hands of soldiers who walked in his shoes left the 24-year-old speechless. SPC Justin Johnson: "It's rewarding. I mean, some of the people here, I don't even know. Just the fact that they took the time to come up here to welcome me home." Tommy Johnson,: It means a lot. SPC Justin Johnson: It means a whole lot. Both military men will only be home a few weeks. They say they don't have any big plans, just quality time with friends and family. They both return from Afghanistan days after the world learns Osama Bin Laden was killed by American forces -- a victory they're proud of but say the war on terror goes on.

The PaperPhone has a flexible electronic display that is set to herald a new generation of computers. Extremely lightweight and made out of a thin-film, the prototype device can do everything a smartphone currently does.

The U.S. military has tried in the past to build a stealth helicopter, but has kept secret if it has indeed succeeded. The wreckage in Abbottabad appeared to have exotic coatings and distinct surfaces and edges reminiscent of stealth aircraft such as the B-2 bomber and the F-22 fighter, aviation experts say. Equally important, they pointed to an unusual dishpan-shaped cover over the tail rotor, perhaps designed to make the aircraft quieter. ... remnants of the aircraft suggested extensive use of nonmetallic composite parts, which reflect less radar energy. Likewise, he said the tail's remains suggested that it was designed to shroud or mask metal parts, which are much more visible to radar. ...

The helicopter has been the subject of intense scrutiny in recent days after photos of its tail-end were circulated online following the 40-minute night raid. Some experts have speculated that the vehicle may be a highly modified helicopter that is part of one of the military's secret "black stealth projects..." could be a modified Blackhawk helicopter that is designed to fly quietly and evade radar detection, David Cenciotti, a military aviation journalist and information securities expert.... [So, doing the raid this way instead of bombing not only risked American lives but may have cost us technologically.]

The quasi-Christian mix of science and religion in "The Urantia Book" — the text Stockhausen bought from the wizardly figure — became the spiritual basis for a huge operatic cycle, "Licht" ("Light"). Written from 1977 to 2003, "Licht" exceeds even Wagner's "Ring" cycle in its epic proportions, comprising seven full operas, one for each day of the week, and clocking in at 29 hours total. Stockhausen died in 2007, without having seen "Licht" staged in its entirety. But his work has found new life at the Cologne Opera, which in recent weeks presented the culmination of the cycle, "Sonntag" ("Sunday"). To house the production the company built two theaters within the cavernous Staatenhaus am Rheinpark, part of the city's exhibition center.

David Beamer, father of 9/11 victim Todd Beamer on FOX News: "I feel some chagrin now, though, about how the rest of it has been handle. And frankly it started May Day, 2011 when the president announced what had happened. The excessive use of the personal pronoun that he used in his remarks, I really felt that was the beginning of the Commander-in-Chief putting too much spotlight on himself, taking too much credit for what the remarkable Americans had done. And of course it's only now accelerated to a greater degree in the media. "

The reason still cameras are not allowed during live presidential addresses is because of the noise from the camera shutters and the placement of the teleprompter, not for any sinister conspiracy-type reasons like we were hoping. And it's been going on a long time. The problem, according to Poynter, is that while many newspapers disclose that the photo they use is a re-enactment, some do not. And publishing these photos goes against the National Press Photographers Association Code of Ethics, which includes this relevant passage: "Resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities." We had no idea there was an ethics code for photojournalists....

"Once those teams went into the compound I can tell you that there was a time period of almost 20 or 25 minutes where we really didn't know just exactly what was going on. And there were some very tense moments as we were waiting for information. "We had some observation of the approach there, but we did not have direct flow of information as to the actual conduct of the operation itself as they were going through the compound."

Osama bin Laden and his comrades offered no resistance when killed by U.S. special forces in a Pakistani town, Pakistani security officials said on Thursday. U.S. accounts of what happened have changed throughout the week, and initial characterizations of a 40-minute gun battle have given way to officials being quoted as saying only one of the five people who were killed had been armed. ... "The people inside the house were unarmed. There was no resistance," one of the officials said. "It was cold-blooded," said the second official.... Photographs acquired by Reuters and taken about an hour after the assault show three dead men -- not including bin Laden -- lying in pools of blood. No weapons could be seen in the closely cropped images. ...

"Those were 38 of the most intense minutes. I have no idea what any of us were looking at that particular millisecond when the picture was taken," she said on Thursday when asked about the photo during a visit to Rome. "I am somewhat sheepishly concerned that it was my preventing one of my early spring allergic coughs. So it may have no great meaning whatsoever," Clinton added.

The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive.

Osama bin Laden's house, described by the US government as a $1m (£605,000) mansion, is in fact worth no than $250,000 say property professionals in Abbottabad

The White House Tuesday blamed "the fog of war" for conflicting statements in its recounting of the events surrounding the Abbottabad raid that killed Osama bin Laden, but the history of misstatements from U.S. government officials about various combat operations raises questions about whether briefers also were subjecting us to a counterterrorism strategy and not just completely confused in their initial statements.

Senior Pakistani security officials said Osama bin Laden's daughter had confirmed her father was captured alive and shot dead by the US Special Forces during the first few minutes of the operation carried out at the huge compound in Bilal Town, Abbottabad. ... About the slain woman: officials said she could either be Bin Laden's wife or a close family member since she offered to sacrifice her life for him. "As per our information, she shielded Bin Laden during the operation and was killed by American commandos...." a 12-year-old daughter of bin Laden was among the six children rescued from the three-storey compound. The daughter has reportedly told her Pakistani investigators that the US forces captured her father alive but shot him dead in front of family members. ... according to information Pakistani officials collected from detained persons, Osama was neither armed nor did inmates at the compound fire at the US choppers or commandos. "Not a single bullet was fired from the compound at the US forces and their choppers. Their chopper developed some technical fault and crashed and the wreckage was left on the spot" ...

Onondaga Nation Territory -- Leaders of the Onondaga Nation blasted as "reprehensible" the code name used for Osama bin Laden in the commando assault that killed him: "Geronimo." "We've ID'd Geronimo," U.S. forces reported by radio Sunday to the White House. Later, word came that "Geronimo" was dead. Geronimo was an Apache leader in the 19th century who spent many years fighting the Mexican and U.S. armies until his surrender in 1886. "Think of the outcry if they had used any other ethnic group's hero," the Onondaga Council of Chiefs said in a release Tuesday. "Geronimo bravely and heroically defended his homeland and his people, eventually surrendering and living out the rest of his days peacefully, if in captivity." "Geronimo is arguably the most recognized Native American name in the world," the chiefs said, "and this comparison only serves to perpetuate negative stereotypes about our people."

Osama bin Laden was not armed when a U.S. Navy SEAL raiding party confronted him during an assault on his compound in Pakistan, the White House said Tuesday.... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... Carney: Resistance did not require a firearm shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... He said the decision to kill rather than capture bin Laden was made by forces on the ground, not by the White House.... There were many other people who were armed in the compound.... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... Asked if President Barack Obama is involved in the photo discussion, Carney said the president is involved in every aspect of this issue. ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ...

Barack Obama kept military commanders hanging by declaring he would 'sleep on it' before taking 16 hours to give the go-ahead to raid Bin Laden's compound. ... But the next morning after 16 hours, Obama summoned four top aides to the White House Diplomatic Room. Before they could speak, the president put his fist on the table and declared 'It's a go'. ... [He can make a fist? With the middle finger not extended? Who knew?] ... Mr Obama went straight to the Oval Office in his golf shoes, instead of to the residence as he normally does after golf.... Comedy Central host, Jon Stewart, was no less effusive on 'The Daily Show.' 'I suppose I should be expressing some ambivalence about the targeted killing of another human being. And yet - uhhhh, no!' ... [Hmmmm] ... 'How about those Navy SEALs?' said Letterman. 'They jump out of a helicopter and they break into the compound, and they fire a warning shot into his head.' [Hmmmm]

...today I stand proudly with my new friends of the formerly antiwar left in a mindlessly jingoistic salute to President Obama for an extralegal military assassination well done....