David Drake

As part of the government’s effort to create universal health care, Americans who don’t purchase medical insurance coverage would be fined more than $1,000 under a plan currently in the U.S. Senate. Similar to laws requiring motorists to carry auto insurance or else face financial penalties, the creation of “shared responsibility payments” is being touted by Democrats as a way to help make sure all Americans have health insurance. The fines could raise as much as $36 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) led a small group of senators and their spouses on a four-day trip to see the Paris Air Show in France. They used an Air Force plane that costs $5,700 an hour to operate and stayed at the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand Hotel, where rooms go for $460 a night.

[...]

Nancy Pelosi and seven Democratic lawmakers prepared for their one-day visit to Afghanistan by first staying eight days in Italy. Cost: $57,697.

[...]

Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA) and four other lawmakers took their families last summer to the Galápagos Islands. They spent $22,000 in an effort to learn about global warming.

Leftwing bloggers revived allegations circulated at the time of the presidential election that she was facing a federal investigation over financial irregularities concerning the building of a sports complex in her home town of Wasilla when she was mayor.

[...]

The undisguised anger in her message suggests hostile media coverage as one obvious factor behind the resignation.

[...]

...an undoubted hint is left hanging in the air that she intends to use her new-found freedom to focus on building a national political voice with an eye on 2012.

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year, he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.

Standing talk straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July Holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid. Remember: Freedom is never free!

It's time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.

. . . Author Unknown

A public memorial service for Michael Jackson will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday after the Jackson family attends a private funeral with close friends.

[...]

Jermaine Jackson said there would be a private ceremony for the singer's family and special guests before the public memorial. He said the family also wants to hold other memorials around the United States.

Los Angeles city officials are planning a massive security operation for Michael Jackson's public memorial service next week, and on Friday urged fans who do not win a ticket in a random drawing to stay away from the basketball arena where the singer will be memorialized.

Organizers have set aside a total of 17,500 tickets through an Internet-based lottery for the televised service at the Staples Center, and for a closed-circuit screening at the nearby Nokia Theater.

Within minutes of the system being announced at a news conference, the computer system crashed. Officials warned additional disruptions were likely as fans from around the world applied for tickets.

"You might want to consider watching this from the comfort of your own home," said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry, who is doubling as the city's acting mayor.

A wide area around the venues in downtown Los Angeles will be blocked off for the 10 a.m. (1700 GMT).

The powerful sedative Diprivan was found in Michael Jackson's home, a law enforcement official said Friday as the city planned for a massive crowd at the singer's memorial service.

Diprivan is an anesthetic widely used in operating rooms to induce unconsciousness. Also known as Propofol, it's given intravenously and is very unusual to have in a private home.

Forty-four percent (44%) of U.S. voters have an unfavorable opinion of former “Saturday Night Live” comedy writer Al Franken as he prepares to join the U.S. Senate as its newest Democratic member.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 34% have a favorable opinion of Franken, who will be sworn in next week as a senator from Minnesota. Twenty-two percent (22%) are not sure what they think of him.

[...]

...29% who have a very unfavorable opinion [of Franken].

Similarly, 19% of Democrats have a very favorable view of Franken, while 51% of Republicans and 32% of voters not affiliated with either party regard him very unfavorably. [VERY Unfavorably! - someone stop me from laughing! - Drake]

Colin Powell, one of President Obama's most prominent Republican supporters, expressed concern Friday that the president's ambitious blitz of costly initiatives may be enlarging the size of government and the federal debt too much.

"I'm concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them," Mr. Powell said in an excerpt of an interview with CNN's John King, released by the network Friday morning.

[...]

"And we can't pay for it all," said Mr. Powell

[...]

The national debt stands currently at $11.5 trillion and the deficit for the current fiscal year is projected to be close to $2 trillion.

[...]

...how much additional bureaucracy [will] be needed to make all of this happen?" Mr. Powell said.

Underemployment, where desperate workers take jobs that are not meeting their desired compensation, hours or level of skill and experience, increased to 16.5% in June from 16.4% in May. The underemployment rate last month was the highest since the Labor Department started tracking it in 1994.

Some analysts, such as Themis Trading’s Co-Manager of Trading Joe Saluzzi, believe underemployment is the “real” amount of unemployed people in the market.

“[16.5% is] the real amount if unemployed people out there. If anything you see wage growth is not there, hourly earnings and the workweek is lower. Now you have a recipe that is a mess here, because nothing is improving. People still want to say that unemployment is a lagging indicator, I don’t get that,” Saluzzi told Reuters.“The only thing we’ve got going is stimulus[.]

So finally we have something firm on Michael Jackson.

On Tuesday morning a motorcade will go from Forest Lawn Mortuary in L.A. to the Staples Center complex in downtown Los Angeles where the public memorial will be held.

We're told the family still hasn't decided whether the memorial will be at the Staples Center or the smaller Nokia Theatre. A decision on that is expected shortly.

Michael Jackson's music producer Quincy Jones has spoken of how the singer's death does still not feel real to him.

On a visit to meet students at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Jones said: "I still don't know how to process it".

"It's too surrealistic for me. I was 50 years of age when I produced Thriller, his age," said the 76-year-old.

"I'd never in the world, in my wildest nightmares, dream he would leave before me," he told BBC Radio Wales.

Quincy Jones won’t be attending Michael Jackson’s funeral this coming Sunday. He was responsible for helping launch Jackson’s career, and the two were very close.

[...]

"I won't go to any more funerals as long as I live. I can't handle it."

The Canadian Football League fined Toronto Argonauts receiver Arland Bruce for "excessive actions" during his tribute to Michael Jackson after scoring a touchdown.

[...]

After scoring on a 21-yard pass that put Toronto ahead 6-0, Bruce removed his helmet, shoulder pads and uniform top, then laid down in the end zone. Bruce said he was honoring the memory of Jackson by pretending to be buried.

Describing himself as Michael's "backbone," an emotional and frequently tearful Jermaine paid tribute to his little brother, and revealed what his surprisingly preferred outcome to last week's tragedy would have been.

"He went too soon, he went too soon," he told Matt Lauer. "I don't know how people are gonna take this, but I wish it was me.

"I've always felt that I was his backbone. Someone to be there for him. I was there and he was sort of like Moses. The things he couldn't say, I would say them. "

The U.S. lost 467,000 jobs in June pushing the national unemployment rate to its highest point in 26 years and into double digits for men, teenagers and the working class.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday that national unemployment stands at 9.5 percent for June, compared with 9.4 percent for May and the highest rate since August 1983.

However, when discouraged workers who have pulled back on job searches are included in the mix, the tally grows to 10 percent, according to the BLS.

Following a testy exchange during Wednesday’s briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas told CNSNews.com that not even Richard Nixon tried to control the press the way President Obama is trying to control the press.

“Nixon didn’t try to do that,” Thomas said. “They couldn’t control (the media). They didn’t try.

“What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” Thomas said. “They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.” [Better late than never, Helen. Good for you! - Drake]

[...]

During [the] briefing, Thomas interrupted a back-and-forth between Gibbs and Chip Reid, the White House correspondent for CBS News, when Reid was questioning Gibbs about who was going to decide what questions would be asked of President Obama in a townhall meeting that was scheduled to take place in Annandale, Va.[.]

President Barack Obama wanted to put a human face on his plans to overhaul health care, and a Virginia supporter did just that Wednesday. Fighting back tears, Debby Smith, 53, told Obama of her kidney cancer and her inability to obtain health insurance or hold a job.

The president hugged her — she's a volunteer for his political operation — and called her "exhibit A" in an unsustainable system that is too expensive and complex for millions of Americans.

[...]

Smith, of Appalachia, Va., is a volunteer for Organizing for America, Obama's political operation within the Democratic National Committee. She obtained her ticket through the White House.

Many had predicted disaster - that plane loads of "drug tourists" would descend on Portugal knowing that they couldn't end up in court. But what one politician called "the promise of sun, beaches and any drug you like" simply hasn't materialised.

In fact, overall drug consumption appears stable or down - government statistics suggest a 10% fall.

Among teenagers, the statistics suggest that the use of every illicit substance has fallen.

[...]

...what strikes me is that there is absolutely no evidence that drug use has risen.

Drug trafficking remains a serious criminal offence: Portugal hasn't legalised drugs. But people caught with a quantity of drugs deemed for their personal use (roughly ten days' supply) are sent to a local dissuasion commission panel.

The one I attended consisted of a social worker and a legal expert and they were looking at the case of Joanna, a heroin addict. The commission has the power to issue fines - while no longer a criminal offence, possession is still prohibited in Portugal - but the user here is addicted to drugs, so a fine is ruled inapplicable. The commission encourages her to go into treatment by offering to suspend other sanctions.

[...]

In the eight years since Portugal shocked the world with its drug policy, the idea that users need care not punishment has swept across Europe. In 10 EU countries, possession of some, if not all illegal substances is not generally pursued as a crime. In Britain, while officially the use of banned drugs is a criminal offence, Ministry of Justice figures (cited in UK Focal Point report [908Kb PDF]) show that 80% of people dealt with for possession are given a warning or a caution.

[...]

...if you take the crime out of drug use, the sky doesn't fall in.

Karl Malden, a versatile Oscar-winning actor who built a six-decade Hollywood career playing heroes and heavies -- and, often, relatable ordinary men -- yet who was certain he was best known as a commercial pitchman for American Express, has died. He was 97.

Malden died Wednesday of natural causes at his Brentwood home, said Mila Doerner, a daughter.

He received his Academy Award for playing Mitch in the 1951 film “A Streetcar Named Desire,” a role he originated on Broadway. Two decades later, he starred in the 1970s TV series "The Streets of San Francisco" with Michael Douglas, then in his late 20s.

[...]

For more than 20 years, Malden was the spokesman for American Express travelers checks who turned "Don't leave home without them" into a national catchphrase in a series of commercials that debuted in 1973.

[...]

"I never thought I was salable," Malden recalled in a 2004 interview. "I learned in my second year of drama school that I was not a leading man -- I was a character actor. So I thought, I'd better be the best character actor around."

[...]

Eva Marie Saint, who worked with him in 1954's "On the Waterfront" and became a good friend, called Malden "a consummate actor."

[She said he] "never changed, he always became the character. If you watch his work, he never falls, there's never a false move."

Funeral plans remained undetermined, and Jackson's family said in a statement that no public or private ceremony would be held at the singer's Neverland Valley ranch in central California.

MICHAEL Jackson's body will make a poignant final journey to Neverland, suggesting the sprawling fantasy retreat could become a permanent memorial.

A motorcade will escort the body on Friday to the King of Pop's 1000ha estate, which was a monument to Jackson's obsession with childhood.

Police said the Jackson family planned a public viewing on Saturday, which could draw a crush of fans to the isolated property 240km north of Los Angeles.

MICHAEL JACKSON's family has confirmed reports a planned public viewing of the King of Pop's remains at his former Neverland Ranch home has been scrapped.

A new statement from the Jackson family reads, "Contrary to previous news reports... there will be no public or private viewing at Neverland.

"Plans are underway regarding a public memorial for Michael Jackson."

The will makes no provision for bequests to Jackson's father or any of his eight siblings, and a court filing indicates that beneficiaries of the Michael Jackson Family Trust are limited to his children and mother Katherine. Six other relatives, including his brother Tito's three sons, are named as "contingent remainder beneficiaries" who would share the estate in the event that Jackson's principal beneficiaries died before he did.

[...]

In the case that Jackson's mother were to predecease him (or was unable or unwilling to serve as guardian), Jackson stipulated that singer Diana Ross should be appointed guardian of his minor children.

Michael Jackson has sold a record 2.6 million digital songs in one week, up from 48,000 a week ago, according to sales data compiled by SoundScan. The feat makes Jackson the first artist to sell over a million downloads in a single week.

The number includes both Jackson's solo work, and albums with the Jackson 5.

A Gallup Poll finds a statistically significant increase since last year in the percentage of Americans who describe the Democratic Party's views as being "too liberal," from 39% to 46%. This is the largest percentage saying so since November 1994, after the party's losses in that year's midterm elections.

Most major demographic and attitudinal subgroups show at least a slight uptick since 2008 in perceptions that the Democratic Party is too liberal. The increasing perception of the Democrats as too far left comes as President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have expanded the government's role in the economy to address the economic problems facing the country.

[...]

...slightly more Americans perceive the Democratic Party as being too liberal (46%) than view the GOP as being too conservative (43%).

The Scottish city of Glasgow will finally be able to see Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” on the screen now that a 30-year ban has been lifted.

Monty Python's "Life of Brian" was released 30 years ago, but not in some cities, among them, Glasgow. The wise men in the Scottish city considered the film blasphemous, what with its story about a Jewish man who was mistaken for the Messiah. But the prayers of Monty Python fans have now been answered. Councilors in Glasgow have ended the ban.

When straight white males are falsely accused of rape, not only does it make the news, it persists as a top story for months on end. Even when the white males are aquitted [sic], they are still scorned feared and hated. When a gay male is found GUILTY of child molestation, it barely registers and nobody feels it necessary to focus on the orientation of the criminal. Matthew Sheppard was held up as a poster boy of intolerant Christian soceital [sic] oppression, why can't Lombard be held up as an example for why gays should never be allowed to adopt?

The informant told investigators that a customer of ICUii-an online program that offers "adult, discreet videochat," according to the company's Web site-with the user name "cooper2" or "cooperse" had performed acts of child molestation and broadcast it over the Web site. A subpoena sent to ICUii June 15 confirmed that the "cooper2" user name identified by the informant belonged to Frank Lombard, according to the affidavit.

After the sting operation began, the officer alleges that over the course of a Yahoo! Instant Messenger conversation June 23, Lombard-using the display name "F L"-confessed to multiple acts of sexual abuse online using the ICUii video chat program. Lombard identified the minor he had molested as his 5-year-old, black adopted child.

MICHAEL Jackson's family are planning a wake at his Neverland ranch after it was revealed that the King of Pop had a will that allegedly cut out his father. The will, supposedly drawn up in 2002, is said to leave nothing to his father Joe, who he had a frosty relationship and accused of abusing him as a child.

Instead, Jackson is believed to have split his fortune between his three children, his mother Katherine, 79, and a number of charities, The Wall Street Journal reports.

It names lawyer John Branca and a music executive John McLain, a friend of Jackson, as executors, according to the Journal.

The wake planned for Friday or Saturday with a private viewing for the family scheduled for Sunday.

The family intends to hold a wake either on Friday or Saturday ahead of a burial at an undetermined time and place, the reports said. CNN said the family would have its own private viewing on Sunday.

AEG Live [is] the Los Angeles-based concert promoter behind the 50 comeback concerts that had been set to begin July 13 at London's O2 Arena.

The company sold more than 750,000 tickets for the performances, scheduled to run through March 2010, which amount to more than $85 million.

Today, AEG Live announced it would issue full refunds -- including all ticket service charges -- to fans from 200 countries who purchased tickets through "authorized agents."

The Sun of London report painted a tragic picture of a 50-year-old man so frail he weighed only 112 pounds and whose stomach contained no food - just semidigested pills.

Several of Jackson's ribs were broken in the frantic attempt to pump life back into his heart. Four needle wounds were near his heart, apparently from failed efforts to restart it by shooting adrenaline directly into the organ.

Jackson had lost most of his hair, and his haggard face was disfigured by 13 plastic surgeries, The Sun said.

His emaciated hips, thighs and shoulders were riddled with needle marks, the paper said.

However, lawyers said Sunday that claims that Jackson's doctor injected the King of Pop with a powerful painkiller just before his death are "absolutely false."

"There was no Demerol. No OxyContin," Matt Alford, lawyer for Dr. Conrad Murray, told the Daily News.

Instead, Murray tried desperately to save the troubled superstar, who still had a pulse when the doctor found him unconscious in bed Thursday, lawyers said. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation failed to revive him.

Edward Chernoff - lawyer to Dr Conrad Murray who was at Jackson's home when the star collapsed - said he consulted a psychologist when the children asked to see the body.

Prince Michael Joseph Jackson, 12, Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson, 11, and Prince Michael Jackson II, 7, were placed in the temporary care of their grandmother, Katherine Jackson, by a Los Angeles judge.

Questions about whether Jackson fathered the children emerged a day after Debbie Rowe, presumed mother of his two eldest kids, made clear she is considering a custody bid.

TMZ.com reported Tuesday that Jackson was not the biological father of any of his three children, while Us Weekly says the father of his eldest kids is the pop sensation's dermatologist.

Jackson's three kids were all conceived in vitro, and the sperm donor was not the late pop icon, TMZ.com reported.

In another shocking twist, Debbie Rowe is not the biological mother of the two eldest children, "Prince" Michael Joseph Jr., 12 and Paris Michael Katherine, 11, TMZ says.

Rowe merely acted as the surrogate - and was paid handsomely for her services, multiple sources said.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton have converged on Michael Jackson's family since the King of Pop's sudden death last Thursday, acting as semi-official spokesmen and advisers.

[...]

Jesse Jackson paid a condolence call Friday...

...on cable TV and on newspaper websites, it was all Michael, all the time. So, how did a pop singer heavily in debt and desperately hoping for a comeback, one who hadn't really sold any music for years, one who was best known for his bizarre life, obsession with cosmetic surgery and for the allegations of pedophilia against him, become in death the most beloved media figure since JFK?

To understand, you need to go back to that all-conquering popular culture -- and its indispensable adjunct, the cult of celebrity -- and consider the de facto Faustian bargain into which the American news media is sliding.

[...]

Whatever they say, many newspaper editors and TV news producers have begun to allow website hits and social media volume to function as a kind of sub rosa ratings system whose numbers dictate coverage and the play of news stories. What's wrong with that? For one thing, it leads to the sort of irrational excess we've all been through since Thursday. No reasonable editor or producer should ignore the kind of public interest we're seeing. But surrendering utterly to it ultimately undercuts what's genuinely valuable about serious news media.

American flags made in China? Some say it's unpatriotic, but it's also illegal in Minnesota. It's a new law that even some national retailers are not aware of.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS alerted the manager of the St. Paul Pier 1 store that the tiny, China-made U.S. flags it is selling for 95-cents are not allowed under a 2007 state law. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS checked four Twin Cities Pier 1 Imports and found the flags in all of them.

In a statement to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, Pier 1 said "We are unaware of the Minnesota state law that you brought to our attention. We will investigate this issue and make adjustments in order to comply with any applicable Minnesota state law."

"If anything that should be made in this country, it's the flag," said [DEMOCRAT] Rep. Tom Rukavina, who introduced the bill. He hopes other companies will get the message too.

"They should have known the law," [said Rukavina.]

[...]

The company could face a $1,000 fine.

Rukavina, 54, was arrested on Highway 169 in Mountain Iron at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday after deputies saw him driving erratically, the St. Louis County Sheriff's Department said in a news release.

He was cited for fourth-degree DUI after being given field sobriety tests. He took a blood-alcohol test at the county jail and registered 0.15.

The man behind the world's biggest online Michael Jackson fan club has said heartbroken followers of the star have committed suicide because of his death.

Gary Taylor, president and owner of MJJcommunity.com, said he understood the tragedies had mostly taken place outside of the UK but he believed one may have been British.

"I know there has been an increase, I now believe the figure is 12. I believe there may have been one Briton who has taken their life," he said.

"It is a serious situation that these people are going through but Michael Jackson would never want this. He would want them to live."

Michael Jackson’s former wife, Debbie Rowe, is most likely to receive custody of the two children she bore when she was married to the late pop star, legal experts said today.

Although Rowe initially waived parental rights to the children, she later changed her mind, and an appeals court ruled she was the legal mother of Prince Michael Jr. and Paris Michael Katherine.

“When a child has two legal parents and one of them dies, the other takes custody,” said USC law professor Scott Altman.

[...]

A legal fight over Jackson’s children “seems almost inevitable,” Altman said. “It is very hard to reach amicable agreements over child custody in circumstances like that.”

Michael Jackson's mother won temporary guardianship of her late son's three children Monday, and a person close to the proceedings said the Jackson matriarch is also attempting to take control of the King of Pop's estate.

Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff granted Katherine Jackson temporary guardianship of the children and scheduled a hearing for Aug. 3 on Jackson's petition to become permanent guardian of her son's children.

The petition also sought to name Jackson as administrator of the children's estates, but the judge did not grant that request.

Michael Jackson's father, Joe, says planning for the pop star's funeral is awaiting results of a second autopsy.

Joe Jackson told reporters outside the family's Los Angeles compound at midday Monday that the second autopsy is under way, but he expects results soon. The county coroner conducted an autopsy on Friday but has deferred a decision on the cause of death.

Joe Jackson denies reports that his son will be buried at his Neverland ranch. He says, "That's not true."

Michelle Obama - cracking under the pressure of being First Lady - is drinking way more than she should, friends fear.

Longtime pals have been keeping a close eye on her White House booze intake for months, sources told The ENQUIRER, and her husband President Barack Obama even stepped in when she recently consumed too much alcohol.

“When Barack saw Michelle drink more than she should at a recent dinner, he hit the roof. He told her, ‘This is NOT going to turn into a problem!’” a close source told The ENQUIRER.

Accompanied by bodyguards and secret service agents, Mrs Obama, Malia and Sasha ate at the Audley pub in Mayfair.

The Air Force has successfully launched an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile from the California coast to an area in the Pacific Ocean some 4,200 miles away.

Lt. Raymond Geoffroy says the ICBM was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 3:01 a.m. Monday and carried three unarmed re-entry vehicles to their targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of white Connecticut firefighters in a 5-4 ruling that reverses an appeals court finding by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, the Associated Press reports.

The high court found that the firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.

Update at 10:38 a.m. ET: The court ruled that New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results, the AP says. The city said that it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities.

“Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer’s reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions,” Justice Anthony Kennedy said in his opinion for the court. He was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

A black market has developed for some of these and other products. One Twin Cities mother decided to speak out about what happened to her after she tried to save money by injecting herself with silicone.

"I really though that I was getting a bargain and I really didn't do my homework like I should have," said the woman who did not want to be identified.

Her lips and left cheek are disfigured from silicone she self-injected. She was trying to make her upper lip fuller and fill acne scars.

A year and a half ago, another doctor had given her silicone injections. That treatment went well but it wasn't cheap. It was $2700 for a series of three treatment.

So she turned to the Internet and found a site advertising silicone for $10.

The site clearly says the product is to be used externally as a personal lubricant. She thought because it was 100 percent silicone she could inject it. She bought the syringes at a local pharmacy.

"Initially I thought I did a good job," she said.

However, within a day her lips and cheek were disfigured.

"Its very frightening, its very embarrassing having to be in public," she said.

The doctor who is helping her, Dr. Edward Szachowicz, fears in this weak economy more and more patients may try to do their own injections. At his office the price of injectable fillers ranges from $250 to $800. The products last anywhere from four months to up to 18 months.

"I believe that what happened to our patient is a sign of the times," said Szachowicz.

Szachowicz said patients are turning to the Internet, especially overseas sites.

"They are actually getting product in their hands that wasn't previously available," he said.

Now this Twin Cities mother will be going to California to consult with a plastic surgeon. She faces thousands of dollars in medical bills.

"I feel that some of it can be fixed. I don't know how much," she said.

Now she wants to warn others.

"Don't do it," she said. "You don't know what you are getting especially if you're buying these products off the Internet."

"I didn't fall in love with any of them," Spitzer was overheard telling LMDC executive director Avi Schick[.]

...investigators conducting the autopsy were also surprised at how healthy Jackson was.

While he wasn't necessarily normal, he appeared to be stronger than they expected. Investigators were surprised to see significant scarring on his face, this being the first time they had seen Jackson without make-up.

Regulators on Friday shut down five small banks, boosting to 45 the number of failures this year of federally insured banks. More are expected to succumb in the prolonged recession.

[...]

The 45 banks closed nationwide this year compare with 25 in all of 2008 and three in 2007.

A Duke University official has been charged in federal court with offering his 5-year-old adopted son up for sex. Frank Lombard, associate director at the university's Global Health Institute, was arrested Wednesday in Raleigh, the FBI said.

[...]

[An] informant told investigators he had met Lombard on the Internet four years ago. The informant described in graphic detail how he allegedly observed Lombard molesting an African-American child on four occasions over an Internet video chat service called ICUii.

The informant said, according to court papers, that Lombard, who is white, said that he lived in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina and that the child was one of two adopted African-Americans in his custody.

Lombard has been charged with attempting to induce someone to cross state lines to engage in sex with a child, punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Lombard allegedly used the adult Internet service to conduct his video chats. According to an affidavit in support of the arrest warrant, the Internet service indicated that Lombard's profile "stated he was interested in "perv fam fun," a reference to "incestuous child molestation." The service also told investigators that a customer service complaint had been sent to the company in January 2007. A customer who had chatted with Lombard complained to the company that Lombard said he was "into incest" and had adopted two African-American children, court records said. [Any Progressive want to make a case for gay adoption? - Drake]

A Washington, D.C., police detective who was investigating the case set up undercover chats with someone matching Lombard's description during which the detective says he was invited to fly to Raleigh to have sex with the person's 5- year-old adopted child. In his affidavit, Det. Timothy Palchak wrote that he engaged in a chat with someone using the screen name "FL" who provided nude pictures of himself. The pictures matched Lombard's North Carolina driver's license photo, according to the affidavit.

During the chats, according to the affidavit, whom he adopted as an infant, and that he had allowed others to molest his child. "FL" told undercover investigators that he had himself molested his child,"FL" stated that "the abuse of the child was easier when the child was too young to talk or know what was happening, but that he had drugged the child with Benadryl during the molestation," Palchak wrote in his affidavit.

[Lombard] told the investigator "he could not molest the adopted 5-year-old child when his partner was around, however the partner was leaving for a four-day business trip the next day, which would allow him the ability to molest the child just as he did the last time his partner had left town."

Michael Jackson was a child prodigy, a musical genius and remains an idolised artist despite a troubled life in later years.

Los Angeles County Coroner's office spokesman confirmed the pop star's death on Thursday.

Lieutenant Fred Corral told CNN that Jackson, 50, was pronounced dead at 2:26pm local time, (0726 AEST) after reportedly suffering a cardiac arrest.

Earlier, it was reported he was hospitalised on Thursday after suffering a cardiac arrest.

The Los Angeles Times and entertainment website TMZ.com said the pop icon had died after paramedics could not revive him.

Farrah Fawcett, who epitomized the all-American ideal of beauty, has died after a three-year battle with cancer. She was 62. Her spokesman, Paul Bloch, says Fawcett died Thursday morning in a Santa Monica hospital.

In September 2006, Fawcett learned she had anal cancer. The devastating news led to a reconciliation with her on-and-off boyfriend, Ryan O'Neal, 68, the father of their troubled son, Redmond, 24. O'Neal was by her side as Fawcett went through chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and the actress was declared cancer-free in February 2007. But later that spring, she learned the cancer had returned. After growing weary of ineffective treatments in the USA, Fawcett traveled to Germany in September 2007 for alternative cancer therapies.

"Did she die peacefully?"

"Was she conscious enough to talk to people to hear what they had to say? Was she THAT conscious?"

"Who was at her bedside when she died?"

"When Ryan was talking to Farrah, what was he saying?"

"Redmond (son of Ryan and Fawcett) is in jail. Did he get to talk with her before she died?"

What just happened to American healthcare reform?

The political prospects for major U.S. healthcare reform have taken a decided turn for the worse in recent days (at least from the point of view of many Democrats). And you don't need to be some totally plugged-in Washington insider to understand that.

Just take a look-see at the stock market performance of industry players such as Aetna Inc , Cigna , UnitedHealth Group, and WellPoint . Shares have been trending higher of late. What's been slowly dawning on Wall Street is that the legislative process in Washington is unlikely to produce a national public health insurance option that could eventually squeeze out the private sector.

Fact is, the prospects for any sort of bill that would produce major changes are in as much doubt as at any time since President Obama took office. Worried that the plan was growing too expensive, the critical Senate Finance Committee appears to have jettisoned any idea of a public plan option and is also cutting back on subsidies to help fully insure the nearly 50 million Americans who don't have health insurance for one reason or another.

In the last two weeks we've seen President Obama endure treatment that he isn't exactly accustomed to: harsh criticism from his own party, a significant slip in the polls, and unfavorable headlines instead of glowing, inflated puff pieces. It seems that biting off more than he can chew when it comes to health care, government intervention into the private sector, and ballooning deficits have left him choking in what might be the first major sea change as his policy positions have started to eclipse his personal popularity.

[...]

The Obama administration has yet to tell us why the government can successfully run universal health care when we can't even run the socialized health programs we already have in place: Medicare (which is hemorrhaging money) and Medicaid (which is putting many states in the red). As new reports surface that Obama lacks the support in Congress to pass this behemoth bill, expect it -- and his popularity numbers -- to fall apart, and fast. Look for a White House that will begin to scale back expectations. Still, the lack of details and support will likely quickly trigger a collapse in confidence.

"Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No. I don't do it in front of my family. And, you know, I would say that I am 95 percent cured."

THE FACTS: It's hard to say how "cured" someone is when they're still trying to kick the habit. Obama promised to quit his one-time five-smoke-a-day average during the campaign, at the urging of his wife. [Another "promise"...another LIE from The Kenyan. - Drake]

...77 Democratic lawmakers today urged President Obama to use his executive powers to order a halt to military discharges under the controversial "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law and work aggressively with Congress to pass new legislation to overturn what they describe as a discriminatory policy that harms national security.

"We urge you to exercise the maximum discretion legally possible in administering Don�t Ask, Don�t Tell until Congress repeals the law," states the letter, organized by Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Democrat of Florida.

[...]

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, asked about the policy last week, made it clear that he believes it is ultimately up to the Congress to reverse it and that the administration has few options unless it repeals the law.

"Until the law is changed, our ability to change the policy is extremely limited, if not nonexistent," Gates said.

...he made "Hi-Yo!" and "Heeeeere's Johnnnny" parts of the American lexicon.

McMahon was the straight man for Carson's famed Carnac the Magnificent skits, during which Carson would guess an answer before McMahon even read the question.

"We didn't rehearse," McMahon told Larry King in a 2005 interview after Carson died. "You know, we never - I never saw it 'til, you know, I only - I'd see on the rundown, "Carnac," that's all I would see."

Ed McMahon was an old-school salesman. He never denied it, never apologized for it and never had a reason to.

He put himself through school, he always said, by pitching vegetable slicers. Seventy years later he was hawking "cash4gold" and FreeCreditReport.com.

No Rolex watches here. Ed McMahon's people were ordinary folks.

Amateur video apparently showing a young Iranian woman dying in Tehran after she was allegedly shot by pro-government militia on Saturday has caused outrage in Iran and abroad.

The woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, was buried on Sunday.

[...]

Eyewitnesses and video footage of the shooting clearly show that probably Basij paramilitaries in civilian clothing deliberately targeted her. Eyewitnesses said they clearly targeted her and she was shot in the chest.

She passed away within a few minutes. People tried to take her to the nearest hospital, the Shariati hospital. But it was too late.

Her name is Neda, which means "voice" in Farsi, and her death has become the central rallying cry of the Iranian rebellion.

The fresh-faced teenage girl killed by what appears to be a single sniper shot on the streets of Tehran Saturday is now a potent symbol for Iran's pro-democracy protesters.

Her shocking and quick death in the arms of her howling father was captured on closeup video, posted to Facebook and came to life on computer screens across the globe.

President Barack Obama, citing his own struggle to give up smoking, signed a law on Monday giving the U.S. government broad regulatory power for the first time over cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Obama said the law would curb the ability of tobacco companies to market their products to the young.

"Almost 90 percent of all smokers began at or before their 18th birthday," Obama said at a White House ceremony before signing the bill.

"I know -- I was one of these teenagers, and so I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it's been with you for a long time."

Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said Obama's smoking habit was "something that he continues to struggle with." He declined to answer directly whether the president still smoked. [But is Pbama still smoking crack-cocaine, Mr. Gibbs...because that's what we really want to know! - Drake]

The law followed a campaign by tobacco industry foes in Congress for more than a decade to put cigarettes under the control of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

It allows the FDA to put strict limits on the manufacturing and marketing of tobacco products but stops short of allowing it to ban cigarettes or their addictive ingredient nicotine.

Nearly 20 percent of Americans smoke, and tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year in the United States due to cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other ailments.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 33% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-four percent (34%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -1. Today is the second straight day the President’s rating has been below zero (see trends).

[...]

Most voters still place the blame for our nation’s economic woes on the Bush Administration, but a growing number say it’s Obama’s economy now. The number blaming Bush has fallen to 54%. That’s down eight points from a month ago.

Consumer confidence, while still up since the beginning of the year, has retreated to its lowest level in two months.

Goldman said it would set aside half of its £1.2bn first-quarter profit to reward staff, much of it in bonuses. It is believed to have paid 973 bankers $1m or more last year, while this year's payouts are on track to be the highest for most of the bank's 28,000 staff, including about 5,400 in London.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA extracted about $11.4 billion from American International Group Inc. before the insurer’s collapse as the firms demanded to hold cash against losses on mortgage-linked securities, according to regulatory filings.

Goldman Sachs got $5.9 billion and Societe Generale received $5.5 billion of about $18.5 billion in collateral paid by AIG in the 15 months before the September bailout. The payments helped settle AIG’s obligations on $62.1 billion of credit-default swaps that the Federal Reserve later removed from the New York-based insurer as part of the rescue. Officials at AIG, Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale declined to comment.

President Obama’s choice as chief of protocol for the State Department, a position that carries the status of an ambassadorship, did not file tax returns for 2005 and 2006, errors she corrected last November.

The nominee, Capricia Penavic Marshall, has placed blame for the problem on the Postal Service and on miscommunication between her husband and their accountant.

[...]

...Ms. Marshall has said the errors were unintentional. [Well, of course they were unintentional. Timmy Geither, Kathleen Sebelius, Ron Kirk, Hilda Solis, Nancy Killefer, Tom Dasschole, et al said the same thing. - Drake] She has said that her husband failed to recognize that the couple’s accountant had included the tax returns for 2005 in a binder he provided with copies of the returns, and that the actual paperwork was never mailed.

The couple learned something was awry, Ms. Marshall has said, when the Internal Revenue Service notified them last fall that their 2006 return had never arrived. She wrote that an agent “advised us that there were a large number of tax returns misplaced by the D.C. post office for the 2006 tax year.”

That call led the couple to the discovery that the authorities had no record of their returns for 2005 and 2006. No late fees or penalties were assessed when they later submitted the returns.

The state is the first in the country to quit putting up new "deer crossing" signs and to stop replacing worn-out ones because deer are crossing roads nearly everywhere — including busy stretches of Twin Cities interstates.

[...]

"We have more deer in Minnesota now than we did when the pilgrims landed," said [said Pat Hahn of the motorcycle safety division at the state Department of Public Safety].

The [flashing lights] system set up along Minnesota 23 near Camden State Park decreased deer collisions by 57 percent over an 18-month study period, according to MnDOT. But the 0.9-mile system — featuring a wall of light beams that trigger flashing roadside lights to warn motorists when deer approach — cost $150,000 to build.

The system could be expanded along stretches of highway near Racine and Winona in southern Minnesota. A Minneapolis consulting firm is putting together estimates to produce the system in standard — and cheaper — lengths.

A more effective system — but equally unwieldy — would be to line Minnesota roads with unending stretches of 8-foot fencing, said Bob Weinholzer, MnDOT's state programs administrator and its unofficial "deer guy."

David Scheiner, an internist based in the Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park, has a diverse practice of lower-income adults from the nearby housing projects mixed with famous patients like U.S. Sen. Carol Mosely Braun, the late writer Studs Terkel and, most notably, President Barack Obama.

Scheiner, 71, was Obama's doctor from 1987 until he entered the White House; he vouched for the then-candidate's "excellent health" in a letter last year. He's still an enthusiastic Obama supporter, but he worries about whether the health care legislation currently making its way through Congress will actually do any good, particularly for doctors like himself who practice general medicine. "I'm not sure he really understands what we face in primary care," Scheiner says.

Scheiner takes a few other shots too. Looking at Obama's team of health advisors, Scheiner doesn't see anyone who's actually in the trenches. "I have a suspicion they pick people from the top echelon of medicine, people who write about it but haven't been struggling in it," he says.

Scheiner is critical of Obama's pick for Health and Human Services secretary--Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who used to work as the chief lobbyist for her state's trial lawyers association.

"He doesn't see all the pain, it's so tragic out here," he says. "Obama's wonderful, but on this one I'm not sure if he's getting the right input."

North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July, a Japanese news report said Thursday, as Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.

U.S. defense officials say that the military has deployed missile interceptors and radar to safeguard Hawaii from a potential North Korean missile test expected around July 4.

[...]

Speaking at a Pentagon news conference yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the United States is prepared if North Korea test-fires a missile toward the island.

[...]

Obama called a nuclear-armed North Korea a "grave threat" to the world.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), had a request for Army Corps of Engineers division leader, Brigadier General Michael Walsh.

[...]

"Could you say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am? It's just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title. I'd appreciate it."

Only 6 percent of Jewish Israelis consider the views of American President Barack Obama's administration pro-Israel, according to a new Jerusalem Post-sponsored Smith Research poll.

[...]

50% of those sampled consider the policies of Obama's administration more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli[.]

[...]

The numbers were a stark contrast to the last poll published May 17, on the eve of the meeting between Netanyahu and Obama at the White House. In that poll, 31% labeled the Obama administration pro-Israel, 14% considered it pro-Palestinian[.]

On Thursday, the European Commission released a strategic document in which it called for some significant changes to the way that the Internet's name assignment system operates. Currently, the system is managed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a private, nonprofit corporation. The EU doesn't seem to have a specific beef with how ICANN operates, but it's been consistently unhappy about the fact that ICANN answers only to the US government and is incorporated under California law. With ICANN's current charter coming to an end this September, the EU is starting a campaign to give it a more international flavor.

[...]

"The EU also believes that future internet governance arrangements should comply with key principles, in particular, the respect for human rights and freedom of expression as well as the need to preserve stability and security of the Internet."

Nations like China and Iran have recently demonstrated that their desire for "stability and security" winds up in pretty direct conflict with traditional European human rights values. The EU will have to pursue a careful balancing act if it hopes to obtain a level of oversight it finds acceptable without opening ICANN to being a vehicle for politically expedient limits.

An Official at the Calgary Zoo in Canada say the gorilla that visitors had photographed holding a knife had no intent for violence.

The photos showed Barika, the gorilla, holding the blade and pointing it at another gorilla in her cage.

The knife was left behind by a zookeeper who had entered the cage to prepare food, Cathy Gaviller, the zoo's director of conservation, education and research, said.

[...]

...primates will pick up new items in their cages because they are curious, but they quickly get bored if they cannot eat the object or figure out a use for it, she said.

[...]

Gorillas do use tools in captivity, but they have no concept of using weapons and would have never thought to be violent with a knife, Gaviller said.

A number of news outlets -- from The Chicago Sun-Times to the Cape Cod Times are carrying reports that legendary CBS newsman Walter Cronkite is "gravely ill." He is 92.

Most are based almost entirely on Mediabistro's TVNewser report, which quotes an unidentified source at CBS. TVNewser adds that the network began updating its obit of Cronkite "more than a week ago."

Walter Cronkite's spokeswoman denied Friday that the legendary newsman is gravely ill, saying he's recuperating from a recent sickness.

"The news reports that have gone out are overstated," said a spokeswoman for the 92-year-old CBS icon.

"He has suffered no major health crisis. He is at home. He was recently ill, and he's home recuperating. He's not gravely ill."

Rumors about Cronkite's health have been swirling for weeks, sparked by the cancellation of a planned appearance.

The Obama White House has denied requests by msnbc.com and a nonpartisan watchdog group for the names of White House visitors. The watchdog group says it filed suit Tuesday, accusing Obama of "following the same anti-transparency policy as the Bush administration."

The Obama administration is fighting to block access to names of visitors to the White House, taking up the Bush administration argument that a president doesn't have to reveal who comes calling to influence policy decisions.

Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to introduce a new era of transparency to Washington, and despite two rulings by a federal judge that the records are public, the Secret Service has denied msnbc.com's request for the names of all White House visitors from Jan. 20 to the present. It also denied a narrower request by the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sought logs of visits by executives of coal companies.

Cuts in federal funding to hospitals proposed by President Barack Obama would endanger the already struggling industry, the head of the American Hospital Association said Monday.

Rich Umbdenstock, president and chief executive of the trade group, said it is “deeply disappointed and concerned” that the administration is proposing cuts to hospitals at a time when more patients are relying on their local hospital for care.

[...]

Obama has suggested trimming federal payments to hospitals by about $200 billion over the next 10 years, saying greater efficiencies and broader insurance coverage will justify the change

[...]

The health program for senior citizens covers a large proportion of patients at many hospitals. Umbdenstock said that Medicare and other federal health programs already pay hospitals, on average, more than $32 billion a year below the cost of the care they provide.

He said that cutting programs that reimburse hospitals that treat many poor and uninsured patients — the Medicare and Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital programs — “could severely jeopardize hospitals’ ability to care for their patients and communities.”

“These programs also help to mitigate the financial shortfalls hospitals experience from government program underpayments and treating undocumented immigrants,” Umbdenstock said.

Those programs support both services for uninsured children and adults, and “essential community services” including trauma and burn units, disaster readiness, neonatal care and emergency psychiatric treatment, he said.

Umbdenstock urged Congress not to reduce the disproportionate share hospital payments “before coverage expansions are universal and fully implemented as part of reform, and Medicare and Medicaid shortfalls are addressed.”

Barack Obama isn't used to hearing boos.

For all the young president's popularity, the response he got Monday from doctors at an American Medical Association meeting was a sign his road is only going to get rockier as he tries to sell his plan to overhaul the nation's health care system.

The boos erupted when Obama told the doctors in Chicago he wouldn't try to help them win their top legislative priority—limits on jury damages in medical malpractice cases.

But what could they expect? If Obama announced support for malpractice limits, that would set trial lawyers and unions—major supporters of Democratic candidates—on the attack. Not to mention consumer groups.

An apology from David Letterman was good enough for Sarah Palin - but not for protesters who demanded the late night host's dismissal Tuesday at a Broadway demonstration.

"Fire Dave! Fire Dave!" the crowd of about 50 protesters chanted as Letterman fans filtered into the Ed Sullivan Theater for the show's taping.

"I hope to have him see the light," said demonstrator Josephine Sarnok, 59, of Newark. "I think it was over the line."

BettyJean Kling, 61, accused Letterman of using the Alaska governor's family to boost his ratings. She stood by a large plywood sign with the words "Fire the pervert" spray-painted across the front.

[...]

Letterman sparked the controversy with a crack about Palin's visit to Yankee Stadium last week. The one-time GOP vice-presidential candidate attended the game with her 14-year-old daughter, Willow.

The Governor was offended and called Letterman on it. Letterman’s response was insufficient so the Governor and her supporters persisted. Now Mr. Letterman has issued a 2nd apology and the Governor has accepted. As far as she is concerned honor is satisfied so the matter is closed. Who am I to say otherwise?

My goal wasn’t a scalp. My goal was to have the same rules applied to defend the honor of conservative woman in general and Governor Palin that would be applied if a a liberal woman’s honor was outraged.

An inspector general fired by President Barack Obama said Friday he acted "with the highest integrity" in investigating AmeriCorps and other government-funded national service programs. Gerald Walpin said in an interview with The Associated Press that he reported facts and conclusions "in an honest and full way" while serving as inspector general at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

In a letter to Congress on Thursday, Obama said he had lost confidence in Walpin and was removing him from the position.

Walpin defended his work on Friday. "I know that I and my office acted with the highest integrity as an independent inspector general should act," he said.

Obama's move follows an investigation by Walpin finding misuse of federal grants by a nonprofit education group led by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who is an Obama supporter and former NBA basketball star. Johnson and a nonprofit education academy he founded ultimately agree to repay half of $847,000 in grants it had received from AmeriCorps.

Walpin was criticized by the acting U.S. attorney in Sacramento for the way he handled the investigation of Johnson and St. HOPE Academy.

"It is vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as inspectors general," Obama said in the letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Vice President Joe Biden, who also serves as president of the Senate. "That is no longer the case with regard to this inspector general."

[...]

Walpin had identified millions of dollars in AmeriCorps funds that were wasted or misspent and "it appears he has been doing a good job."

The inspector general found that Johnson, a former all-star point guard for the Phoenix Suns, had used AmeriCorps grants to pay volunteers to engage in school-board political activities, run personal errands for Johnson and even wash his car.

In August 2008, Walpin referred the matter to the local U.S. attorney's office, which said the watchdog's conclusions seemed overstated and did not accurately reflect all the information gathered in the investigation.

"We also highlighted numerous questions and further investigation they needed to conduct, including the fact that they had not done an audit to establish how much AmeriCorps money was actually misspent," Acting U.S. Attorney Lawrence Brown said in an April 29 letter to the federal counsel of inspectors general.

Walpin's office made repeated public comments just before the Sacramento mayoral election, prompting the U.S. attorney's office to inform the media that it did not intend to file any criminal charges.

In settling the case, the government agreed to lift its suspension of any future grants to the academy and Johnson agreed to immediately repay $73,000 in past grants. The academy was given 10 years to repay the remaining $350,000.

U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy has checked into an unnamed medical facility for help with his recovery from substance abuse, the Rhode Island Democrat said in a statement Friday.

In May 2006, Kennedy, the son of Sen. Edward Kennedy, was admitted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, a day after slamming his car into a security barricade on Capitol Hill. [Telling the cops he was on his way to a vote. Only he wasn't. He was lying. - Drake]

At the time, Kennedy said he had been suffering from addictions and depression since he was a young man.

It seemed absurd: A terrorist being told that he had "the right to remain silent ..." as he was captured on the battlefield. Surely that would never happen. But now a U.S. congressman believes it's happening in Afghanistan, likely by order of the Justice Department.

Rep. Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican and credible veteran of the Army and FBI, says that he has watched the Mirandizing of terrorist suspects. If so, the practice severely handicaps this country's effort to wipe out terrorism.

The Miranda warning is based on the Constitution's Fifth Amendment, which guarantees criminal suspects the right to not self-incriminate, or testify against themselves, as well as the right to an attorney who can be present during questioning.

Less than three months ago, President Obama clearly staked out his position on Mirandizing terrorist detainees.

"Do these folks deserve Miranda rights?" he asked CBS' Steve Kroft during a March 22 "60 Minutes" interview. "Do they deserve to be treated like a shoplifter down the block? Of course not."

When pressed about speculation that the administration has made a significant policy shift on Mirandizing suspected terrorists, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was coy, saying he had "no reason to disbelieve a member of Congress."

Asked on a follow-up question if it would be "a surprise at the White House" if the Mirandizing was taking place, Gibbs said: "It's not a surprise to me."

That's an unmistakable admission that the administration has, in fact, changed course and is now treating terrorism as it would domestic crime. Now it's just a nuisance, reduced, as Sen. John Kerry was hoping for in 2004, to an offense that has to be endured like prostitution and gambling.

And here we thought it was about life, death and the preservation of America and Western civilization.

If Rogers is right, forget waterboarding. A Mirandized terrorism detainee cannot even be interrogated. A hostile combatant who might have information that can save lives on a foreign battlefield or in an American city has the option, one he is sure to take, to just remain silent — that is, until he begins to taunt his interrogators while his lawyer is present.

What if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had been Mirandized rather than waterboarded? He reportedly told his captors that "I'll talk to you guys after I get to New York and see my lawyer." But instead of huddling with an attorney, he rode the waterboard and gave up information that saved American lives.

Biden tells "Meet the Press" that "everyone guessed wrong" on the impact of the stimulus, economy was worse off than anyone thought.

[Biden backed] away from the estimate that the funds could create or save 3.5 million jobs, instead promises 600,000 by the end of the summer.

[The scooter lady] thinks that [motor vehicle only drive-through policies] do a disservice to everybody without a car. She's not interested in money for her inconvenience. She wants the fast-food giants to serve every customer regardless of mode of transport whenever they're open.

"They pissed off the wrong person," she said.

Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.

The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature.

[...]

The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint.

Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country.

[...]

[Kildee] said: "The obsession with growth is sadly a very American thing."

Two U.S. officials reportedly said that the U.S. was prepared to give Palau up to $200 million in development, budget support and other assistance in return for accepting the Uighurs and as part of a mutual defense and cooperation treaty that is due to be renegotiated this year.

[...]

Figures on Palau's federal budget weren't immediately available, but if it is close to its size in 1999, when it was $71 million, the deal with the U.S. would in effect more than double the nation's spending and make it the fastest growing economy in the world.

[...]

But the move has riled some lawmakers.

"The Obama administration has still failed to present a credible plan for closing Guantanamo Bay by its self-imposed deadline, but paying $12 million per-head to send trained terrorists to an island paradise hardly seems like a good one," said Rep. Pete, Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee.

"There are many questions the administration must answer including what guarantees it has that the Uighurs will stay in Palau once freed and what plans are in place to keep them from linking up with the radical-jihaddist separatists operating a short distance away in Indonesia and on the Filipino island of Mindanao?

"Without solid answers to these questions, American is left with the first of many bad solutions to a problem solely of the administration's creation."

A senior US official has told the BBC Washington decided not to tell London ahead of time about a deal to resettle four Guantanamo detainees in Bermuda.

A diplomatic row blew up over Bermuda's decision to accept the four Chinese Muslim Uighurs on a US request.

Bermuda is a British overseas territory but the US official said Washington had acted secretly to ensure success.

[...]

The unnamed senior official also told the BBC that Washington was attempting to shield the UK from Chinese anger.

Beijing has demanded the return to China of all 17 Uighurs held by US forces but Washington says they could face persecution in China.

[...]

Now a senior US official has told the BBC it was a deliberate decision not to consult London on the resettlement, after other countries came under pressure from China not to accept the Uighurs.

In a highly unusual move, a senior US official said Washington opted to keep details of the deal from London until the last minute to enable Britain to deny all knowledge of the deal and thus avoid China's anger, says the BBC's Washington correspondent Kim Ghattas.

The official said they expected London to be upset but added he felt the deal was made on solid ground, in direct talks with the Bermuda government, who accepted the men as part of guest worker programme.

Britain, meanwhile, has expressed anger that it was not consulted, saying in a Foreign Office statement: "The Bermuda government consider this to be a matter regarding their day-to-day responsibility for immigration.

For the time being London has reserved its expressions of ire for Bermuda, with a spokesman for the UK prime minister insisting Bermuda bore "the primary responsibility for ensuring that the constitutional requirements on the Bermudan government were adhered to".

Britain is supposed to handle Bermuda's defence, security and foreign affairs, but it delegates the authority to make decisions on immigration to Bermuda.

According to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, the Obama Administration has not yet abandoned the possibility of releasing some of the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay into the United States.

[...]

Congress has vehemently opposed such a possibility and officials have conceded that at the moment such a plan is “not doable.” The administration is left scrambling to find nations which will accept detainees which have been ordered released by the courts.