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he US Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, has rejected criticism that she is not experienced enough, in her first US TV interview. Speaking to ABC News, Mrs Palin said she was "ready" to serve the US as deputy to John McCain. On foreign affairs, the 44-year-old Alaska governor said she backed Nato membership for Ukraine and Georgia. Mrs Palin was also quizzed on previous comments she made describing the war in Iraq as being a "task from God". She said she was quoting the words of Abraham Lincoln: "I would never presume to know God's will or to speak God's...

In her first major interview since being named as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin adopted a tough tone on national security and claimed she was ready to lead the nation if necessary. The Alaska governor categorized the recent Russian invasion of Georgia as "unacceptable". She said that if Georgia become a member of Nato, then war with Russia might be necessary in order to protect a US ally. "Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a Nato ally, if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help," she...

In bailing out Fannie and Freddie, the feds up the ante on a bet that they may not be able to cover.Just days after the White House nationalized quasi-private mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, all eyes were on Lehman Brothers. The investment bank saw its share price plunge from $70 a year ago to $7 Wednesday—or $3 less than Bear Stearns shareholders got when the feds rescued its creditors from bankruptcy in March. It’s possible that we’re now about to see the real consequences of Uncle Sam’s Fannie and Freddie action, and that the taxpayers’ inn for indigent...

Barack Obama yesterday made a belated personal appeal to Bill Clinton for advice on how to fight back against a resurgent Republican presidential campaign. The lunchtime meeting in New York between the Democratic party's two towering figures came amid growing despair at Obama's slide in the polls in the past week. Democratic figures are openly expressing fears that he does not have a strategy to counter the rising appeal of John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin. Although Clinton extravagantly praised Obama in his speech to the Democratic convention in Denver last month, the relationship between the two has...

** EXCERPT ** This is one promise that Senator John McCain might struggle to keep if he does win in November. When asked by Time's Rick Stengel, moderating the 9/11 anniversary forum on national service here at Columbia University in uptown New York city, whether he would give Barack Obama a cabinet job, he responded that he would. "Governor Schwarzenegger has made the service czar a cabinet-level appointment," Stengel said. "Would you, as president, do the same and would you name Senator Obama to your cabinet for National Service?" McCain paused for a beat before replying with a smile: "Yes!"...

For much of the latter part of summer, police officers in Helena, Arkansas, shouldered military-style M-16 rifles equipped with laser sights and patrolled the streets of this little community of 15,000. White signs on large blue barrels were placed in a 10-block area, warning that it was under 24-hour curfew. "Everybody is subject to being stopped and questioned," said Mayor James Valley. "Our officers will ride in unmarked vehicles, pull surprises on people and check everybody out to see who they are." A crime spree prompted a similar lockdown in Hartford, Connecticut. After a chain of shootings that left one...

Apple has increased its home notebook PC share to now rank #4 in the home installed base. It has strengthened its position among the socioeconomically elite, attracting the younger, more highly-educated, and higher income households, as well as the self-employed, according to the Apple Profile Report 2008 from MetaFacts, Inc. “Like the camel slipping its nose under the tent, Apple is reaching into American households as the 2nd or 3rd Home PC,” said Dan Ness, Principal Analyst at MetaFacts, in the press release. “Where Apple shines is as the 3rd PC, ranking fifth with 8% of 3rd Home PCs, and...

-snip- She staked out a hawkish line on Russia. If Georgia were a member of Nato, she made clear, then America and its allies would have to defend its independence. It may have sounded gung-ho, but who could disagree with a central tenet of Nato membership? In the end this interview is unlikely to dramatically alter already strongly held perceptions Perhaps a more experienced politician would have avoided hypotheticals. But then isn't such straight talk part of her appeal? An antidote to the more academic thought processes of say a Barak Obama. Governor Palin did seem rather hazy when asked...

Frankly, I’m amazed that the Democratic party is anything more than a cult. How in the world do they garner more votes than the Libertarians or the Greens? They are beholden to trial lawyers, teachers unions and the ecological crazies. So, why is it that upwards of 55 million Americans are ready, even anxious, to vote for Barack Obama in November? It’s a scary thought. But not half as scary as the notion of “Hail to the Chief” becoming Senator Obama’s theme song. Democrats insist that we shouldn’t drill off the Pacific coast or in Alaska or in the Dakotas...

"It doesn't even matter who you vote for. Vote for somebody," she added to shouts of "Obama!"

Senator Barack Obama will intensify his assault against Senator John McCain, with new television advertisements and more forceful attacks by the candidate and surrogates beginning Friday morning, as he confronts an invigorated Republican presidential ticket and increasing nervousness in the Democratic ranks...

These are just a few of the foul thoughts from the left. Let them keep talking, because they're goring their own pigs. The country now knows that the lies they've told us about equal treatment for all women and all people was just a way to get them headlines and make them money. I'm no bra-burning hippy chick who faints at the sight of a former community organizer, but my estrogen is on fire with this hateful treatment of a woman. Attacking her because of her policies is one thing. But going after her because you don't like her hair,...

What has happened to the Republican party. When I was 18 I cast my first vote ever for Ronald Reagan. I did that proudly. I had a bumper sticker on car and I put a yard sign in my parents yard. Since then it has been down hill all the way. Now in 2008, the best argument that I have heard for voting for McCain is that he is not Obama. I have no enthusiasm for McCain. Not only do I not have a bumper sticker on my car or a yard sign in my yard, I am embarrassed to...

Recall, Barack's bride had already cautioned that her husband would not let Americans be complacent. Under an Obama administration, the right to opt out and be left alone – an essential ingredient of American individualism – would be frowned upon. Obama himself has called for "shared sacrifice." "At $3.5 billion a year," reported the Washington Post, Obama's "service plan would "grow the AmeriCorps program … expand the Foreign Service and create an Energy Corps to conduct renewable energy and environmental cleanup projects." Pilfering from the people so as to establish brigades that'll corral them into this or the other service...

Hair Plugs Cause Rare Infection August 28, 2001 - New York, NY When Dr. Bruce E. Hirsch saw the 44-year-old man, he was ``about as sick as possible.'' The cause? A hair plug gone awry. ``It's very rare, but...this poor guy had a hair transplant done in a dermatologist's office in New Jersey and gets a lot of bleeding,'' recalls Hirsch, an internist at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York. ``He had septic shock, which went to his lungs and made holes there.'' As more and more men turn to hair plugs as a surgical antidote to baldness,...

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin tore through the Republican National Convention like a lead sled in the Iditarod dogsled race, while Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who chose to forgo a scheduled convention speech by staying away to deal with Hurricane Gustav, catapulted to the top tier as a GOP presidential candidate in 2012 or 2016. Indian American Republicans who attended the convention Sept. 1-4 unanimously raved to India-West about Senator John McCain’s vice presidential choice and Palin’s stiletto-like jibes at Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama in her acceptance speech. “She sent a vibrant message to Middle America that she connects...

Conspiciously absent from September 11th memorial service, the Obama campaign claimed Michelle Obama was home with her children for the 1st week of school. However, on Sep. 10th, she spent most of the day at a "Working Mothers" roundtable in Fishers, Indiana (a 3.5 hour drive from Chicago). FISHERS, Ind. — More evidence Indiana is in play this presidential election year: the Obama campaign focused on the state again Wednesday. This time it was Michelle Obama, right in the heart of Republican territory.

DURHAM, N.C. - Duke University says former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s son was properly dismissed from the golf team and was never promised a spot on the squad. Andrew Giuliani sued Duke in July, claiming he was improperly cut from the team earlier this year and that the coach violated a contract he entered when he agreed to come to the university and pay $200,000 in tuition and fees. But Duke said in a court filing Wednesday that the 22-year-old Giuliani was properly suspended after throwing an apple in the face of another player, breaking a golf club during...

September 12, 2008                                     Friday of the Twenty-third Week                                 in Ordinary Time       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 11 Cor 9:16-19, 22b-27 Brothers and sisters:If I preach the Gospel, this is no reason for me to boast,for an obligation has been imposed on me,and woe to me if I do not preach it!If I do so willingly, I have a recompense,but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship.What then is my recompense?That, when I preach, I offer the Gospel free...