David Drake

Rev. Michael Pfleger, the left-leaning Chicago Catholic priest who ridiculed Hillary Rodham Clinton this week in a racially-charged speech from the pulpit of Barack Obama's church, has contributed to Obama's state Senate campaigns, backed his ill-fated run for Congress and stumped for him in Iowa.

On Sunday, Pfleger mockingly quoted Clinton as saying she shed tears before the New Hampshire primary because "there's a black man stealing my show."

Senator Barack Obama, candidate for President, seems to collect annoying and embarrassing friends like other people collect baseball cards.

[...]

[Pfleger said]: "When Hillary was crying, people said that was put on. I really don't believe it was put on. I really believe that she always thought, 'This is mine. I'm Bill (Clinton's) wife, I'm white, and this is mine. I just got to get up and step up to the plate -- and then out of nowhere came, 'Hey, I'm Barack Obama.' And she said, 'Damn! Where did you come from?! I'm white! I'm entitled! There's a black man stealing my show! She wasn't the only one crying -- there was a whole a lot of white people crying." The congregation went delirious with joy.

To paraphrase that character from Hunt for Red October, "Senator, you have another insane pastor?"

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) believes that on September 11 "we were basically at peace."

Asked to clarify his remarks, specifically asking about the attacks on the U.S.S. Cole during Barack Obama campaign conference call, Kerry said, "well, we hadn't declared war,"

[...]

Asked if al Qaeda was a threat at the time, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee said, "well yes, obviously they were a threat. But, fundamentally we were not at war at that point in time."

Malloy: ["General David Petraeus] is a half-witted, four-star freak."
- 37 minutes into hour one, on his virtually unlistened to NOVA-M program September 13, 2007.

Mike Malloy: "I'm not impressed with [people who wear] uniforms, badges, clerics or reverends."
Spoken after hanging up on a caller who identified himself as a U.S. Military Serviceman who said he served two tours of Iraq.
- A "Best Of" Malloy show, week ending July 15, 2006.

Malloy, speaking about U.S. Troops, ("em" referring to U.S. Soldiers):
"Let 'em die. Let 'em bleed. Let 'em come home without limbs. So disfigured and gross you won't want to kiss your son, daughter, father or brother. Keep putting metallic ribbons on your vans and SUVs. Let 'em bleed. Let 'em bleed."
- Opening show monologue on his virtually unlistened to NOVA-M program on September 19, 2007.

Malloy: "I'm not anti-Military, I'm anti-war."
- May 1, 2007; 42 minutes into hour three

Senator Barack Obama said today that he is considering visiting American troops and commanders in Iraq this summer. He declined an invitation from Senator John McCain to take a joint trip to Iraq, saying, “I just don’t want to be involved in a political stunt.”

After an on-air opinion which shocked and sickened many ... ESPN Radio 1250 host, Mark Madden has been "permanently removed" from the station's airwaves.

On May 21, Madden said on his radio show, "I'm very disappointed to hear Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts is near death because of a brain tumor. I always hoped Senator Kennedy would live long enough to be assassinated. And I wonder if he will receive a get well card from the Kopechne family."

Mary Jo Kopechne died in 1969, while a passenger in a car driven into the water by Senator Kennedy on Chappaquiddick Island, which is near Martha's Vineyard, in Massachusetts. He left the accident scene and waited 10 hours before calling police. Kennedy later pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident where there was bodily injury.

Hours after the comments, Madden reportedly apologized, but it was apparently too little too late. ESPN, based in Bristol, Connecticut, said Madden's comments were "inappropriate and uncalled for." His last day on the air was May 22.

He also received a $6,000 fine, seven years supervised probation, a suspended prison sentence of 48 months and will have to pay further restitution which has yet to be determined.

The suspended sentence means Jones must not violate the terms of his probation or the 48-month sentence will be executed.

He must also register as a sex offender and attend sex offender counseling.

The sentence was more severe than the recommended sentence for the fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct charge against Jones, because of the particularly demeaning and humiliating nature of the act, Judge Marilyn Rosenbaum said.

Jones, however, is eligible be put on work or school release. Despite that, after sentencing, Jones' attorney Earl Gray said his client had been "released" from the University and that he no longer has his athletic scholarship.

Prior to sentencing, the victim read a statement to the court expressing the trauma she endured in the past fourteen months.

"I don't feel there is any punishment that would justify my permanent damage," she said. "I'm the only one that has a mandatory life sentence because of this assault."

...the woman had come to the apartment complex with a friend and some Gopher players. He said she drank heavily with the players and had sex with E.J. Jones, Massey and Daniels before passing out.

Dominic Jones arrived later and had sex with the woman [Note: the charge of Jones having intercourse with the alleged victim was later dropped as it was never proven. - Drake] while Daniels recorded the video on his cellphone, Freeman said. The file had been deleted from the phone, but investigators recovered a part of it, he said.

"It's amazing what the forensics can do to reconstruct that," Freeman said. "That cellphone video, a picture is worth 1,000 words, and that video reflects what happened, at least at that point in time."

The woman's blood-alcohol level was estimated at at least 0.30% by a doctor who reviewed police reports and witness statements, according to the criminal complaint. Stephen Smith, the doctor, based his estimate on her size and weight and descriptions of the amount of alcohol consumed.

That's a level, Freeman said, "in which motor function, including the ability to stand or walk, is lost." He said third-degree criminal sexual conduct occurs when a "victim is helpless. This is the textbook definition of helplessness when you're over .30."

Jones had been charged with third-degree sexual assault for having sex with an 18-year-old woman who prosecutors said was too drunk to give consent.

The Obama campaign called for unity at Saturday’s meeting, as aides said they hope avoid a “circus”-like atmosphere. Pro-Clinton protests, however, are expected outside the meeting.

“We are not encouraging our people to gather and protest,” Campaign Manager David Plouffe said in a conference call with reporters, adding this warning shot. “With a click of a mouse in the Mid-Atlantic, we could get thousands of people there. But in the interest of party unity we are not encouraging a protest. We don’t think a scene is helpful as we try to bring the party together.”

Supporters of Barack Obama’s presidential bid are planning to demonstrate outside the Saturday meeting in Washington where Democratic officials are slated to debate the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations at the party’s summer convention.

John McCain on Wednesday repeated his challenge to Barack Obama to take a ride with him over to Iraq and see the situation on the ground before concluding that U.S. efforts have failed to get the war-torn nation back on track.

Speaking in a town hall meeting in Reno, Nev., the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said he was surprised Obama’s campaign considered it a political stunt when McCain proposed earlier this week that the two travel together to Iraq.

“The security of this nation is more important than any political campaign. To say that we failed in Iraq doesn’t comport with the facts on the ground,” McCain said to applause.

[...]

"He could meet Gen. Petraeus and he could meet Ambassador [Ryan] Crocker, and he could see — he could see the fact that Sadr City is quiet. He could see that the Maliki government has taken control of Basra. He could see that the Iraqi military is leading the fight in these places with the support of American troops,” McCain said.

McCain has visited Iraq eight times since the war began. Obama has been to Iraq once, in 2006, before the surge credited with allowing the oil-rich nation a chance to rebuild.

[...]

“Barack Obama has only visited Iraq once — and that was 871 days ago,” RNC Chairman Mike Duncan said.

“Obama has done shockingly little to educate himself firsthand about the war in Iraq. Instead, he displays an arrogant certainty gained on the campaign trail. … Obama’s failure to visit Iraq, listen and learn firsthand and witness the surge’s progress demonstrates weak leadership that disqualifies him from being commander in chief.”

A group of Muslim workers allege they were fired by a New Brighton tortilla factory for refusing to wear uniforms that they say were immodest by Islamic standards.

Six Somali women claim they were ordered by a manager to wear pants and shirts to work instead of their traditional Islamic clothing of loose-fitting skirts and scarves, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil liberties group that is representing the women.

The women have filed a religious discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

"For these women, wearing tight-fitting pants is like being naked," said Valerie Shirley, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota chapter of CAIR. "It's simply not an option."

CAIR issued a press release calling on Mission Foods to reinstate the women in their jobs. However, the group declined to disclose the names of the women and would not make them available for interviews Tuesday.

Gruma Corp., the Irving, Texas-based parent company of Mission Foods, released a written statement Tuesday denying that any employees were terminated or disciplined at the New Brighton plant. However, the company made clear the six women have been relieved of their responsibilities for the time being, and may ultimately lose their jobs if they don't wear uniforms.

"Should these employees choose to adhere to the current Mission Foods uniform policy, they may return to their positions with the company," the company statement said. "However, these positions will need to be filled as soon as possible and cannot be held indefinitely."

A company spokeswoman said she could not provide photographs of the uniforms.

"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes—and I see many of them in the audience here today—our sense of patriotism is particularly strong."

"I had an uncle who was one of the, part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps[.]"

Children as young as six are being sexually abused by peacekeepers and aid workers, says a leading UK charity.

Children in post-conflict areas are being abused by the very people drafted into such zones to help look after them, says Save the Children.

After research in Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, the charity proposed an international watchdog be set up.

[...]

The UN has said it welcomes the charity's report, which it will study closely.

Save the Children says the most shocking aspect of child sex abuse is that most of it goes unreported and unpunished, with children too scared to speak out.

[...]

Heather Kerr, Save the Children's Ivory Coast country director, says little is being done to support the victims.

"It's a minority of people but they are using their power to sexually exploit children and children that don't have the voice to report about this.

Twelve-year-old Elizabeth - not her real name - was walking in fields with her brother, following an aunt who had gone ahead to work on the family's plot of land near the town of Man in north-western Ivory Coast, when they were approached by "les casques bleues", as UN peacekeepers are known.

Her brother took a biscuit from one of the men; she refused.

As Elizabeth tried to run away, one of the soldiers seized hold of her. There were 10 of them.

I spoke to Elizabeth near her home. She said: "They grabbed me and threw me to the ground and they forced themselves on me... I tried to escape but there were 10 of them and I could do nothing... I was terrified.

"Then they just left me there bleeding..."

Elizabeth was raped by 10 peacekeepers and abandoned.

Her village elders say they tried to take the case to UN officials at the camp nearby. But Jean-Baptiste Domade, one of the village chiefs, said they were made to wait for ages and then sent away.

Elizabeth's brutal rape is one of an unknown number of sexual assaults carried out by peacekeepers and aid workers, the very people who are brought in to post-conflict areas around the world to protect the vulnerable.

A report by Save the Children UK says such assaults are continuing and, despite an undertaking by the UN and other international bodies to operate a policy of zero tolerance, little appears to be done on the ground to stop the attacks taking place.

The 10 peacekeepers accused of the attack on Elizabeth have returned home.

As Barack Obama bashes the Tennessee GOP as “low class” for criticizing his wife, the Daily KosKidz show Tennessee what “class” really means.

So you can appreciate all the details in this Photoshop masterpiece, here’s the full sized image.

...fast on the heels of Obama telling us we can't use the anti-American statements of his wife as a campaign issue we get the kiddies over at the DailyKos doing their best to "help" Barack Obama by making an image of Michelle Obama hanging from a tree with robbed KKK figures torturing her with a branding iron and claiming that this is the "NEW IMPROVED" GOP strategy. So much for the subtleties and civility that Barack claims he wants, eh?

Guantanamo is kept top-secret so you and I won't know how many innocent people have been locked up there[.]

The war on terror, to most people, is a lame joke[.]

"It's the soldier, not the reporter who has given us
Freedom of the Press.
It's the soldier, not the poet, who has given us
Freedom of Speech.
It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the
Freedom to Demonstrate.
It's the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the
Right to a Fair Trial.
It's the soldier who salutes the flag, serves under the flag and
Whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who gives the protester the right to burn the flag."

Hillary Clinton today brought up the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy while defending her decision to stay in the race against Barack Obama.

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," she said, dismissing calls to drop out.

Obama's camp immediately fired back.

"Sen. Clinton's statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign," Obama campaign spokesman said in a statement.

[...]

She later issued an apology for the remark.

"I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever," the former first lady said.

In a statement, Kennedy Jr. said: “It is clear from the context that Hillary was invoking a familiar political circumstance in order to support her decision to stay in the race through June. I have heard her make this reference before, also citing her husband's 1992 race, both of which were hard fought through June. I understand how highly charged the atmosphere is, but I think it is a mistake for people to take offense.”

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- With gasoline and diesel prices soaring to record levels, American drivers are cutting back sharply on the miles they travel, the Department of Transportation reported Friday. Total vehicle miles driven fell in March by 4.3%, or 11 billion miles, compared with the year earlier. It was the largest year-over-year decline in miles driven since the government began keeping records in 1942. Americans drive more than 3 trillion miles each year.

Arthur Firstenberg wants the city of Santa Fe, N.M., to ban wireless Internet signals in public buildings on the grounds that he and his associates are allergic to the radio waves.

"I get chest pain. It doesn't go away right away. I suffer for a couple of days," he tells KOB-TV. [I declare shenanigans on Arthur and others making this claim!- Drake]

The station says Firstenberg and dozens of "other electro-sensitive people" are arguing that the city's proposal to establish WiFi hotspots in public places is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The city attorney is looking into the issue, according to KOB-TV. But the World Health Organization says there's little to suggest that electromagnetic fields are responsible for the "range of non-specific symptoms" that such sufferers have described. [In other words Arthur - and far be it from me to support any statement made by WHO - your symptoms are all in your head. - Drake]

"A number of studies have been conducted where [electromagnetic hypersensitivity] individuals were exposed to [electromagnetic fields] similar to those that they attributed to the cause of their symptoms. The aim was to elicit symptoms under controlled laboratory conditions," the organization says. "The majority of studies indicate that EHS individuals cannot detect EMF exposure any more accurately than non-EHS individuals. Well controlled and conducted double-blind studies have shown that symptoms were not correlated with EMF exposure."

"I know Obama has a perfect record from AIPAC," some Floridians seem to be saying[.]

By November, as the old saying goes, the Jews will most likely be good for Barack Obama.

[...]

The largest pro-Israel lobbying group in the country, AIPAC, says McCain, Obama and Clinton all meet their approval. "All three candidates," said spokesman Josh Block, "have strong congressional voting records on issues important to the pro-Israel community and have demonstrated their commitment to the special relationship between the United States and Israel."

"I'm confident," Obama said, "that Israel is ready and willing to make some of these concessions if they have the confidence that the Palestinians can enforce an agreement." This is exactly right. And it is a sign that President Obama would not pressure only one side (Israel) because the other side (the Palestinians) are immune to American pressure.

Why is it that, every time Barack Obama and his shills at the National Jewish Democratic Council try to persuade us that he has nothing against Jews or white people in general, he does something to convince us that he is right at home with the country’s worst hate-mongers? We have already documented Obama’s ties to the racist pastor Jeremiah Wright and the prominent racist and anti-Semite Al Sharpton extensively

Senator Barack Obama (Ill): “Reverend Sharpton is a voice for the voiceless, and a voice for the dispossessed. What National Action Network has done is so important to change America, and it must be changed from the bottom up.” Having praised and endorsed an individual who was at least indirectly involved in two fatal hate crimes (Crown Heights riots, arson of Freddy’s Fashion Mart), Obama has now added the anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic hate group MoveOn.org to his growing entourage of bigots and hate-mongers.

Throughout his career, Mr. Obama has enjoyed close ties to Jews, including various employers, law school buddies, wealthy donors on the north side of Chicago who backed his early political career, and the many Jews in the Hyde Park community where he lives.

[...]

"I’ve been in the foxhole with my Jewish friends, so when I find on the national level my commitment being questioned, it’s curious," he said recently in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg on theatlantic.com.

AIPAC leaders are pushing for a different kind of offensive against Iran: a new program of sanctions much harsher than any prior one imposed through the United Nations. The plan, which one panelist called a "quiet campaign" to strike at Iran on the financial battlefield, would include increased pressures on foreign allies who do business with Iran, a U.S.-wide campaign of divestment, and other measures intended to put crippling economic pressure on the Islamic republic.

...the Justice Department issued a new indictment of Lawrence Franklin, the Pentagon official accused of passing secrets to officials of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying outfit. The indictment is bad news for the Bush White House and Karl Rove.

That's not only because the Franklin case is embarrassing for the administration, the Pentagon, and their neocon allies. (Franklin worked with Douglas Feith, who until recently was a senior Pentagon official close to the neocons.) The Franklin indictment is a sign that Rove and any other White House aide involved in the Plame/CIA leak might be vulnerable to prosecution under the Espionage Act.

Can we surmise which “Jewish nonprofit in Washington” might’ve been the source of the e mail list? Would its acronym consist of five letters beginning with “A?” I think so. Then the question becomes: how did the spreaders of the smear get AIPAC’s list? Were they given it by staffers or key volunteers? We may never know the answer. But this sure smells of the type of chicanery for which AIPAC is famed/notorious.

In early March, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) held its forty-seventh annual conference in Washington. AIPAC's executive director spent twenty-seven minutes reading the "roll call" of dignitaries present at the gala dinner, which included a majority of the Senate and a quarter of the House, along with dozens of Administration officials.

As this event illustrates, it's impossible to talk about Congress's relationship to Israel without highlighting AIPAC, the American Jewish community's most important voice on the Hill.

[...]

...most in Congress see far more harm than reward in getting in the Israeli lobby's way. "There remains a perception of power and fear that AIPAC can undo you," says James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute.

[...]

By blindly following AIPAC, Congress reinforces a hard-line consensus: Criticizing Israeli actions, even in the best of faith, is anti-Israel and possibly anti-Semitic; enthusiastically backing whatever military action Israel undertakes is the only acceptable stance.

AIPAC, our dangerous parasite never sleeps.

It should come as no surprise then that an anti-Semitic Holocaust apologist like Pastor John Hagee was invited to AIPAC, and was given a raucous ovation. As I reported for the Nation last year, through his new lobbying organization, Christians United for Israel, Hagee is emerging as the most influential leader of the Christian Zionist movement, which has bolstered the Israeli right with the grassroots muscle of the evangelical right. I go on to explain in detail that Hagee is a dangerous crackpot whose stated desire is to see Israel engage in an apocalyptic nuclear war with Iran.

Today, on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Barack Obama lost his cool, calling names and making unspecified threats. Why? Ostensibly, it’s because the Tennessee Republican Party issued an Internet video featuring Michelle Obama saying she’s proud of being an American only because her husband is running for president. Well, yes, we all heard that awhile ago.

But the real reason for Obama’s extraordinary freakout is that he fears the release of the videotape, reported here, of Michelle Obama in the pulpit of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church railing against “whitey.” And we don’t mean Whitey Ford. Four Republican sources have told me that the tape exists. I’ve also been informed that Karl Rove and his allies have a copy of it and are using it to raise funds for independent expenditure groups. The tape, I’m told, will be disclosed as the GOP October Surprise. It’s a ticking time bomb.

[...]

Does Obama have a copy of the “whitey” video? We know that he knows that his wife knows. The video really does exist. If we have to wait until October to see it, Obama might explode before then from the tension.

I now have it from two three [sic] four sources (three who are close to senior Republicans) that there is video dynamite–Michelle Obama railing against “whitey” at Jeremiah Wright’s church. Republicans may have a lousy record when it comes to the economy and the management of the war in Iraq, but they are hell on wheels when it comes to opposition research. Someone took the chance and started reviewing the recordings from services at Jeremiah Wright’s United Church of Christ. Holy smoke!! I am told there is a clip that is being held for the fall to drop at the appropriate time.

Barack Obama used the Senate floor today to jab at his rival, John McCain, for McCain’s opposition to the GI Bill. Obama flew to Washington early this morning to vote in favor of the bill, which he co-sponsored with Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. In his brief remarks before the Senate, Obama said he respects McCain’s military service but “can’t believe” his opposition to a bill which would increase education funding for troops.

[...]

[McCain responded]: "Perhaps, if Senator Obama would take the time and trouble to understand this issue he would learn to debate an honest disagreement respectfully. But, as he always does, he prefers impugning the motives of his opponent, and exploiting a thoughtful difference of opinion to advance his own ambitions. If that is how he would behave as president, the country would regret his election."

Hours out of the hospital, US Senator Edward M. Kennedy sought refuge this afternoon in the serenity of Nantucket Sound, taking his 50-foot schooner on a two-hour sail.

"It was wonderful to be on the water," Kennedy said, shuffling off a dock after his return. "It's all it takes."

A former Army Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who was cleared of spy accusations is now a Democratic National Convention delegate pledged to Sen. Barack Obama.

Former Capt. James J. Yee was among the delegates who were elected by precinct representatives Saturday at the party's 9th Congressional District convention at North Thurston High School.

Others chosen at the gathering were Zach Smith, a former supporter of ex-Sen. John Edwards who is now pledged to Clinton, and Natalie Stevens, an alternate pledged to Obama.

Yee, a West Point graduate, was accused in 2003 of being part of a spy ring at the U.S. prison for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay. He spent 76 days in solitary confinement before being exonerated and later resigned from the Army, receiving an honorable discharge.

Yee was certainly not exonerated or cleared; the charges were dropped, according to Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, because there were “national security concerns that would arise from the release of the evidence” if the case proceeded.

Recently, James Yee appeared on Syrian television to describe the horrors of Guantanamo Bay, even though he never actually witnessed any horrors[.]

Looks like a perfect delegate for Barack Obama.

Former President Jimmy Carter praised his White House chief of staff Wednesday as a master political strategist who helped make a "peanut farmer from the South" president of the United States.

Hamilton Jordan, 63, died Tuesday at his Atlanta home after a long fight against lymphoma. Carter said he talked to Jordan Tuesday afternoon.

Jordan — along with former Carter Press Secretary Jody Powell and a handful of others, including media executive Gerald Rafshoon — cobbled together and implemented a plan that in the mid-1970s seemed impossible. They turned the one-term governor of a then-small Southern state into the alternative for which a demoralized post-Watergate America was searching.

Make no mistake. Had there been no Hamilton Jordan, there might never have been a President Jimmy Carter.

It may be the mother of all doom and gloom gas price predictions: $12 for a gallon of gas is “inevitable.”

Robert Hirsch, Management Information Services Senior Energy Advisor, gave a dire warning about the potential future of gas prices on CNBC’s May 20 “Squawk Box”. He told host Becky Quick there was no single thing that would solve the problem, due to the enormity of the problem.

“[T]he prices that we’re paying at the pump today are, I think, going to be ‘the good old days,’ because others who watch this very closely forecast that we’re going to be hitting $12 and $15 per gallon,” Hirsch said.

Peter Robertson, vice chairman of the board of Chevron Corporation , noted that “Congress has recently made some hard policy choices on renewables and energy efficiency.

“We hope you can also make the equally hard choices to open up more federal lands and allow us to responsibly produce more American oil and natural gas, which can supply us for decades to come,” Robertson stated.

He argued that “punitive measures that weaken us in the face of this international competition are the wrong solution at this critical point in our history.”

ConocoPhillips’s Lowe agreed.

“We urge you not to pass measures that have public appeal but would be counterproductive, such as tax increases that diminish our investment capabilities, reduce the attractiveness of high-cost domestic production, or disadvantage U.S. oil and gas companies,” Lowe told senators. “This has been tried before with extremely negative results: reducing supplies, eliminating jobs and resulting in higher prices. The nation cannot afford to make that mistake again.”

In an attempt to report about the new findings from the Department of Education Monday, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS went to Tarik ibn Zayad Academy in Inver Grove Heights.

While on school grounds, our crew was confronted by school officials. Our photographer was injured while wrestling with the two men over the camera.

Our photographer was examined by paramedics and suffered minor shoulder and back injuries.

The state education department on Monday directed the charter school to "correct" two areas related to religion at the school on Monday.

Tarik ibn Zayad Academy, which focuses on Middle Eastern culture and shares a mosque with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, came under fire after a teacher alleged that the school was offering religious instruction in Islam to its students.

"Ahmadinejad never said 'wipe Israel off the map.' That's a deliberate misquote" [by Republicans].

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has openly called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

[...]

"As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map," said Ahmadinejad, referring to Iran's revolutionary leader Ayat Allah Khomeini.

His comments were the first time in years that such a high-ranking Iranian official has called for Israel's eradication, even though such slogans are still regularly used at government rallies.

Democrat Barack Obama told seniors Sunday that Republican John McCain would threaten the Social Security that they and millions like them depend on because he supports privatizing the program.

Obama turned to a bedrock, pocketbook issue as he spoke to about 130 people at an assisted living facility and sought to tie the GOP's presidential nominee-in-waiting to an unpopular President Bush on an issue that motivates seniors.

"Let me be clear, privatizing Social Security was a bad idea when George W. Bush proposed it, it's a bad idea today," Obama said.

Victoria Switzer was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna Country, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispirting. One caller, Switzer remembered, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree."

Next Tuesday, January 15th, Michigan will hold its primary. Michigan Democrats should vote for Mitt Romney, because if Mitt wins, Democrats win. How so?

For Michigan Democrats, the Democratic primary is meaningless since the DNC stripped the state of all its delegates (at least temporarily) for violating party rules. Hillary Clinton is alone on the ballot.

[...]

...we want Romney in, because the more Republican candidates we have fighting it out, trashing each other with negative ads and spending tons of money, the better it is for us. We want Mitt to stay in the race, and to do that, we need him to win in Michigan.

[...]

So Michigan Democrats and independents who want to see the Republican battle royale continue should just take a few minutes on Tuesday, January 15th to cast a ballot for Mitt Romney in the Republican primary.

[...]

So why are we doing this? Because we can. Because it'll be fun. And because we've suffered Republican meddling, stealing, and disenfranchisement in our elections for far too long.

“The film alleges that Muslims lack the ability to live in peace with other cultures, that women have an inferior position in society than men," [said Brno Islamic Foundation Chairman Muneeb Hasan].

State meteorologists were predicting the coldest 17th of May in 50 years this weekend. Not necessarily bad weather, given the heavy wool national costumes that many Norwegians wear to celebrate their Constitution Day.

If you want your broken arm fixed quickly, then shelling out 2400 kroner may be the way to go come 1 August, when a new private hospital in the city enclave of Frederiksberg opens[.]

[...]

'Politicians either have to acknowledge that access to health care is no longer equal for everyone or we'll have to pay for everyone to have the same conditions and spend whatever it costs,' said Martin Strandberg-Larsen, researcher at the National Institute of Public Health.

“Rome's 'Duce' to freeze out US film stars...”

[...]

“has launched a campaign to promote Italian films at the expense of those featuring Hollywood stars such as Nicole Kidman and Leonardo Di Caprio, who are to be blacklisted”.

The last of a generation of traditional clowns, the Ancona-born performer worked as both an actor and advisor on circus scenes for Italian director Fellini, contributing to the films La Strada, I Clown, Amarcord, Roma and Casanova.

Republican Mike Huckabee responded to an offstage noise during his speech Friday to the National Rifle Association by suggesting it was Barack Obama diving to the floor because someone had aimed a gun at him.

Hearing a loud noise and interrupting his speech, Huckabee said: "That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He's getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he — he dove for the floor."

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii.

If you consider the history and believe that Hawaii is not legally a part of the United States, as many do, then one might ask, is Obama a natural born citizen of the United States?

One could even make the argument that being born in Hawaii, he's a Hawaiian national! I believe the most compelling legal analysis based on Hawaiian kingdom and international law and precedent, is that the Hawaiian national population today is comprised of descendants of Hawaiian subjects and those foreigners who were born in the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1898.

[...]

As an American, I participate in the political system that's been imposed here, and as a Democrat, I will be caucusing for Obama[.]

[...]

...for the presidency, the constitution specifies not just nationality, but a "natural born citizen" so my understanding is that jus sanguinis does not apply to that specific requirement, only jus soli. One has to be born in the United States to be president, and technically, Obama wasn't.

Middle East adviser to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign resigned Friday after a newspaper reported on his regular meetings with members of the Hamas militant group.

Rob Malley said he wanted to stop being a distraction for the campaign after facing attacks from the blogosphere for months for allegedly being anti-Israel, a charge he denies. Malley is a former National Security Council aide to President Bill Clinton.

"...we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election."

"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals."

Barack Obama accused President Bush of "a false political attack" Thursday after Bush warned in Israel against appeasing terrorists[.]

[...]

"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack," Obama said[.]

An exasperated Biden skewered Bush over that in a conference call with reporters, calling the comments “pure politics,” “blatant,” “beneath the presidency,” “truly disgraceful,” “outrageous,” “disturbing,” “ridiculous hypocrisy” and “long-distance Swiftboating.” He even said Bush “oughta get a life.”

“For this president to go on the attack against Barack Obama,” Biden said. “It cannot go unanswered.”

Democrat John Edwards is expected to formally endorse Barack Obama, fresh signs of the party establishment embracing the likely nominee.

Campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Edwards will join Obama at his Grand Rapids, Mich., rally where he will announce his endorsement.

I have been telling Brody File readers for months that if Barack Obama becomes the Democratic nominee he will make a pitch to win over independent/moderate Evangelicals. Well, we now have evidence.

Look at the flyer below:



In Kentucky, he is making a direct appeal to Evangelicals with flyers that mention his conversion experience and they highlight a big old cross. Remember Mike Huckabee’s supposed subliminal cross in his Christmas campaign ad? Well, the Obama campaign ditches the subliminal and goes for the in your face cross.

Speaking about Michael Vick, Byrd said: "I am confident that the hottest places in Hell are reserved for the souls of sick and brutal people who hold God's creatures in such brutal and cruel contempt!"
[And to that, I add the hottest places in Hell are also reserved for those who were proud members of the Ku Klux Klan - Drake].
Source: WaPo Blog.

“The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia. It is necessary that the order be promoted immediately and in every state in the Union. Will you please inform me as to the possibilities of rebuilding the Klan realm of W. Va.”

“I will never submit to fight beneath that banner with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."

“There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much.”
Source: Think Exist: Famous quotes

Obama told the man not to believe that internet rumor: "That is bogus. These e-mails been sent around, each state, depending on what state I'm about to go into, suddenly you start seeing this smear campaign. I lead the pledge of allegiance when I'm presiding in the Senate, so you can see it on videotape. I've been saying the pledge since I was 3 years old. If you get these letters from Nigeria saying, 'We've got a lot of money for ya,' don't give 'em your bank account number."

...the myth that much of people's time on the internet is spent visiting porn sites was refuted by the study's figures.

Organic beer production emits substantially more greenhouse gases than ordinary beer.

Citywide bans were impossible to implement after having been deemed an infringement on basic human rights by the Constitutional Court. However, in July 2007, Ústí nad Labem found a way to establish a number of alcohol-free zones within its city limits.

Tayside Police firearms officers have drawn but never discharged the high-voltage tasers they were armed with more than two years ago.

Global temperatures may not increase over the next decade because of natural variations in the climate which will offset man-made warming, scientists predicted yesterday.

Researchers attempting to model what might happen to the climate of the North Atlantic over a period of decades suggest that the temperature of the sea and Europe and North America may cool slightly.

If you are a regular lip balm or lip gloss user you should perhaps bear in mind that there is a good chance your risk of developing skin cancer is greater, according to researcher, Dr. Christine Brown, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas. The balms/glosses actually attract the ultraviolet rays.

[...]

Shiny lip balms/glosses have the opposite effect of sun blocks - they attract the rays to the lips.

Senate candidate Al Franken, dogged by accusations that he failed to file tax returns in California, said Tuesday he will pay about $70,000 in back income taxes in 17 states dating to 2003.

Most of the income at issue was from speeches and other paid appearances by the comedian-turned candidate, who said he got bad advice from his accountant but takes responsibility for the errors.

[...]

"What happened is our accountant made a mistake, and all of these are repercussions of that same mistake," said Franken. "His mistake was not understanding the law, the obligation to pay these state taxes."

"I'm a corporation . . . . I love corporations that play by the rules and we have to make them play by the rules."

According to the theories of Sigmund Freud, psychological projection is a psychological defense mechanism whereby one "projects" one's own undesirable thoughts, motivations, desires, feelings, and so on onto someone else[.]