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A younger Augustine and his mother, Monica, in a scene from Restless Heart-The Confessions of Augustine. Credit: Ignatius Press. Denver, Colo., Aug 20, 2012 / 10:33 am (CNA).- “Restless Heart,� a feature film about the famous theologian St. Augustine of Hippo, is now available for sponsored theatrical screenings across the U.S. Ignatius Press, the film’s American distributor, is encouraging individuals, parishes, church groups or other organizations to bring the film to their towns. Interested groups and individuals should work with local theaters and other venues to book a screen. Ignatius Press said it will provide a copy of the...

Healthy Lunchtime Challenge Winner at First Kids’ State Dinner Says His Favorite Food Is ‘Steak’ By Penny Starr August 20, 2012 (CNSNews.com) – Nine-year-old Michael Lakind was one of 54 children from around the country whose recipe was picked as a winner in first lady Michelle Obama’s Healthy Lunchtime Challenge. Lakind and the other winners were invited to attend a “state dinner” at the White House on Monday where they were served “Yummy Cabbage Sloppy Joes,” baked zucchini “fries,” kale “chips” and salad of quinoa, black beans and corn. But when an NBC reporter asked what his favorite food is,...

EXCLUSIVE: Rosie O’Donnell had a real and serious heart attack last week. She just blogged about it on www.rosie.com. Rosie nearly died from what is known the Widow maker. According to her posting shevwas 99 percent blocked. She received a stent during angioplasty and is home, recovering.

How Long Do We Have To Wait Before Wrong Is Wrong? 08/19/2012 8:47 PM Cullen Roche A good economist will always give you a prediction or a timeframe, but never both. This applies to a great deal of people outside of economists and market pundits and I think it also has to do with the fact that asset managers generally garner more respect regarding predictions than economists do. You see, a money manager HAS to give you both. There is no hedging in the commentary from an asset manager because they’re backing up predictions with an investment portfolio. Portfolio managers...

Today's "surprise" Whitehouse Press meeting by the _resident, made me laugh along with the nervous laughter by the reporters. The _resident's remark while commenting about Governor Mitt Romney's tax returns was quote... "I'm not asking to disclose every detail of his [Romney's] medical records, although we [Presidential candidates] normally do that as well." "... although we normally do" [insert chuckle here] and he should have added... except mine because they are sealed. Blabber-mouth at the store told me it was because of a cocaine overdose but I have now way to know if that's true or not. Sealed like information...

You may have noticed the recent hype about global warming, a hot summer, looming devastation from freakish weather and all the same old stuff recycled again. You may also have noticed one of the reasons: Gov. Jerry Brown wants to justify shaking down corporate California, again. Well, not only does Brown get the temperature wrong, he also hypes the threat of extreme weather events. Which is to say he gets that wrong too. So, are we amidst horrific extreme weather events? Normally we’d just say, “not exactly.” In this case, we have to say, ”You’ve gotta be kidding.”...

* The dramatic assault by a dozen Japanese nationalists infuriated China, which issued an official protest to Tokyo * It sparked a number of anti-Japanese rallies across China Tensions between Japan and China threatened to boil over yesterday in a row over a group of disputed islands. Around ten right-wing Japanese activists swam ashore the main island in the Senkaku archipelago and raised the national flag. They carried out the stunt to call on China to give up its claim to the islands, which are under Japanese control. Infuriated, Beijing issued an immediate rebuke as thousands of Chinese took to...

It's probably no coincidence that Gov. Jerry Brown recently launched a website to scare Californians into embracing his global-warming hype. The state is about to launch a cap-and-trade scheme that potentially will raise billions of dollars for the government, ostensibly to fight global warming. In reality, the money is likely to be diverted to more mundane political uses – like backfilling the huge budget hole perpetuated by Mr. Brown and the Democratic-controlled Legislature...

Missouri Republican Todd Akin has begun moving toward ending his candidacy after his remarks on rape and abortion provoked a firestorm, a top Republican said. "Akin is taking concrete steps to withdraw by tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.," a senior Republican told BuzzFeed, adding that Akin could still change his mind. But a Republican close to Akin said his position hasn't changed: He's still in the race. Tomorrow afternoon is an important deadline: If he files papers to end his candidacy in Jefferson City tomorrow he can end his candidacy unilaterally; after that, he would have to file an application in...

Brown wants you to believe global warming "poses an immediate and growing threat to California's economy, environment and to public health," and that reducing greenhouse gas emissions, "which are warming the planet," is necessary "to prepare for the unavoidable impacts of climate change, including the increased likelihood of both flooding and drought." That's the same phony scare story repeated until many people finally tuned it out. It failed to persuade Congress to intervene with a law to limit greenhouse gas emissions, even though Congress almost never has seen a trumped-up crisis that didn't justify overreaching intervention... But, as the Sacramento...

After Mass on Sunday, North Carolina pastor Rev. Andre Mangango was approached by a man who, a day earlier, was introduced as Mitt Romney’s running-mate for the 2012 presidential election.“I am Representative Paul Ryan and this is my son,� the man said.Ryan reportedly attended the 7:30 mass that morning with a group of Secret Service agents at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina prior to campaign events later that day in the state.“Our rights come from nature and God, not government,� Ryan said, in his post-nomination speech. “We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes.�Those words characterize Ryan’s understanding...

Maureen Dowd really, really dislikes Paul Ryan, resenting even the man's moderate demeanor for hiding what she is sure is "full-tilt virulence." Her Sunday column for the New York Times, "Beware a Beautiful Calm," not only extensively quotes that well-known political commentator Tom Morello (of the left-wing rock band Rage Against the Machine, which hasn't released a studio album since the year 2000), but diagnosed Ryan as psychologically "hysterical." What happens when you realize you are the machine you’re raging against? Tom Morello, the Grammy-winning, Harvard-educated guitarist for the metal rap band Rage Against the Machine, punctured Paul Ryan’s pretensions...

Canada, which has redefined marriage and therefore parenthood, is facing growing cases like this one: A judge in this small northern Ontario town has ruled that allowing a biological father access to his 22-month-old son, who is being raised by his biological mother and her lesbian partner, is not in the best interests of the child because of “the risk of there being an adverse affect to the child.” Citing arguments that introducing the child to his father would cause the boy confusion and insecurity, Justice Norman Karam of the Ontario Superior Court in Cochrane said, “Despite the child’s young...

Withdrawal of candidacy, deadline for, how made. 115.359. 1. Any person who has filed a declaration of candidacy for nomination and who wishes to withdraw as a candidate shall, not later than the eleventh Tuesday prior to the primary election, file a written, sworn statement of withdrawal in the office of the official who accepted such candidate's declaration of candidacy. Any person nominated for an office who wishes to withdraw as a candidate shall, not later than the eleventh Tuesday prior to the general election, file a written, sworn statement of withdrawal in the office of the official who accepted...

President Obama defended the tone of his campaign today, saying his team doesn't "go out of bounds." The president was asked by CBS's Nancy Cordes if he had compunctions about the tenor of the campaign, saying that "your campaign has suggested repeatedly without proof that Mr. Romney might be hiding something in his tax returns, they have suggested that Mr. Romney might be a felon for the way that he handed over power of Bain Capital, and your campaign and the White House have declined to condemn an ad by one of your top supporters that links Mr. Romney to...

Overlooked in the furor surrounding Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposal — a plan, it should be recalled, that wouldn’t start until 2023 and even then would affect only new beneficiaries — is a just-published study in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) suggesting that, well, Ryan might be right. The study finds that a voucher-type system might noticeably reduce costs compared to “traditional” fee-for-service Medicare. Three Harvard economists did the study, including one prominent supporter of President Obama’s health-care overhaul. The study compared the costs of traditional Medicare with Medicare Advantage, a voucher-like program that now enrolls about 25...

Apple is Wall Street's all-time MVP —that's Most Valuable Property. On Monday, Apple's surging stock propelled the company's value to $623 billion, the world's highest, ever. It beat the record for market capitalization set by Microsoft Corp. in the heady days of the Internet boom. After a four-month dip, Apple's stock has hit new highs recently because of optimism around what is believed to be the impending launch of the iPhone 5, and possibly a smaller, cheaper iPad. Apple Inc. has been the world's most valuable company since the end of last year. It's now worth 53 percent more than...

In response to Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin's bizarre comments about abortion and rape, conservative columnist Ann Coulter is calling on Akin to resign for the good of his country and the pro-life cause: Dems spent @ $2 million on ads boosting Todd Akin in the primary, according to the NYT - nyti.ms/Rc4sbh Pls withdraw @ToddAkin!we will rally around Akin as GOP hero if he withdraws for the good of the country. Roe is at stake!

Sunday Aug 19, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Inducing abortion to discontinue a woman's pregnancy may increase her risk of breast cancer, according to a study recently published in Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention. The study led by A.R. Jiang of Division of Epidemiology Jiangsu Province Institute of Cancer Research in Janjing China showed induced abortion was associated with significantly increased risk of breast cancer. The researchers found the association after analyzing data from 668 cases of breast cancer and 682 population-based controls in Jiangsu Province of China. Specifically, premenopausal women who had chosen to abort pregnancy three or more times...

On Thursday, the iconic Gibson Guitar Corporation issued a press release stating that government officials raided their Tennessee manufacturing facility over warrants concerning the legality of the importation of wood purchased from India that they use in their world famous guitars. The wood–which is certified and regulated by the Forest Stewardship Council–is not illegal, but rather subject to a domestic law in India frowns upon the processing of this wood by non-Indians. (Gibson uses American labor for the processing.) Gibson’s press release claims that, while this incident marks the second raid of their facility in around two years, this is...

re hours after Politico reported on Republican Congressman Eric Yoder's admitted skinny-dipping in the Sea of Galilee in Israel, CBS highlighted the story on its Monday morning newscast. By contrast, the network was slow to report on former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner's lewd photo scandal in 2011. On June 1 of that year, ABC and NBC's morning shows reported on the "underwear uproar," while CBS's Early Show punted on the story. The following day, CBS played up conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart's early role in spreading word of the New York liberal's indecent Twitter pic: "Supporters of Weiner note that it...

The Norwegian news portal VG Nett is reporting that a Muslim terrorist group, Ansar al-Sunna’, is threatening that if a section of the nation's capitol isn't transformed into a sharia-complaint Muslim nation, an attack rivaling 9/11 will be launched upon the Scandinavian nation.VG Nett has stated that the Norwegian Police Security Service (Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste - PST) is already familiar with many members of this particular terror group.As translated by Michael Laudahn, "If norwegian soldiers can take planes to Afghanistan, then Osama and Mohammed can also take planes to Norway, inshaAllah.Now, the government must wake up and assume responsibility, before this...

A militant Islamist leader whose forces have just conquered two-thirds of the West African state of Mali vows to launch holy war against the West. Omar Ould Hamaha, the military commander of Ansar Dine, or "Defenders of the Faith", which has scored a stunning victory in Mali against the failed state's armed forces, now controls a region larger than France which includes three paved runways that could be used to fly in weapons or drugs. He said: "Even if they (western forces) don't come here, when we have finished conquering France, we will come to the USA, we will come...

The former Marine who was detained by the federal government over Facebook posts critical of the government is being held in a psychiatric ward, Peter Bacqué of the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

Legendary comedienne Phyllis Diller, who blazed a trail for a generation of female comics with her bawdy, self-deprecating stand-up routines, has died at age 95, according to TMZ. (The Associated Press and The Hollywood Reporter have since confirmed.) Diller had been suffering health problems as of late: She recently hurt her hip and wrist in a fall and has been living under hospice care at her home. She passed away there, surrounded by family. The comedienne, known for her wild hair and distinctive laugh, enjoyed a six-decade-long career in comedy: She started out filming a local TV special entitled "Phyllis...

CNN's Soledad O'Brien defended the stimulus bill on Monday's Early Start, calling it a "big thing" that President Obama accomplished and adding that police officers and firefighters kept their jobs because of it. "[I]f the stimulus hadn't been passed, then what would have happened to the economy?" she threw a Democratic talking point at Rep. Mike Burgess (R-Tex.). "Didn't that to a large degree help the economy? You're not going to argue certainly that it didn't?" [Video coming soon.] "And I think there are firefighters and teachers and police officers whose jobs were kept, would not have had jobs, whose...

Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin's advisers are making preparations to withdraw from the race Tuesday, GOP operative Richard Grenell and RedState.com editor Erick Erickson report. Grenell cited "GOP sources" in his tweet announcing the withdrawal, which has yet to be confirmed by Akin. Akin has been under fire since saying women have biological defenses to fend off pregnancy after a "legitimate rape."

Whipped this one out quickly. Hope it works. HITLER RANTS ABOUT FREEPER FOUNDER JIM ROBINSON

Borrowing Rep. Ron Paul's presidential campaign push, Mitt Romney said Monday he thinks the Federal Reserve should face an audit. "Very plain and simple, the answer is yes. The Federal Reserve should be accountable. We should see what they're doing," Mr. Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said at a town hall in New Hampshire. Mr. Paul, the Texas congressman who is still technically in the running for the Republican nomination, though he does not have the delegates to win it at next week's convention, made an audit of the Fed a chief part of his campaign. Earlier this year,...

Nancy Cordes, CBS: As you know, your opponent recently accused you of waging a campaign filled with anger and hate. You told Entertainment Tonight that anyone who attends your rallies can see that they are not angry or hate-filled affairs. But in recent weeks, your campaign has suggested repeatedly - without proof - that Mr. Romney might be hiding something in his tax returns. They have suggested that Mr. Romney might be a felon for the way that he handed over power of Bain Capital. And your campaign and the White House have declined to condemn an ad by one...

You may pay more than ever for a late-summer drive. U.S. drivers paid an average of $3.72 per gallon on Monday. That's the highest price ever on this date, according to auto club AAA, a shade above the $3.717 average on Aug. 20, 2008. A year ago, the average was $3.578.

The program, known as the Hardest Hit Housing Market fund, is part of a $7.6 billion federal effort to help underwater homeowners in 18 states. California received $2 billion. But when banks and lenders who service loans refused to write down even a small portion of the negative equity loans, California decided to use the taxpayer money to pay 100 percent of the mortgage reduction.

Akin said he has no plans to withdraw.“I don’t know that I’m the only person in public office who’s suffered from foot-in-mouth disease here, and this was a very, very serious error. On the other hand, there are so many good people in Missouri who nominated me, and they understood my heart,” Akin said.... Akin said no Republicans have called him and asked him to withdraw from the race.“No one has called me and said, ‘Todd, I think you should drop out,’” Akin said. “No one has said that. But I gather people are saying that in the media, but they didn’t specifically call...

Don't blame Palin, she backed Sarah Steelman. Akin, what a loser.

This is one I just had to share. My wife called me from the parking lot of her office. She was standing next to a car and she told me she just had to call me. She said the car had a bumper sticker that read: "Welfare Mothers are Better Lovers." My wife said the back seat was full of coffee cups and power drinks. My wife said, "Well of course they do...they obviously don't have jobs and it appears they stay up all night practicing." Only in MA.

“First of all, nobody accused Mr. Romney of being a felon,” President Obama meeting with White House press corps -- 8/20

The Social Security Administration (SSA) confirms that it is purchasing 174 thousand rounds of hollow point bullets to be delivered to 41 locations in major cities across the U.S. No one has yet said what the purpose of these purchases is, though we are led to believe that they will be used only in an emergency to counteract and control civil unrest. Those against whom the hollow point bullets are to be used — those causing the civil unrest — must be American citizens; since the SSA has never been used overseas to help foreign countries maintain control of their...

Comedian Phyllis Diller -- who paved the way for today's female comics -- has died, TMZ has learned. Sources close to Diller tell us the comedian died at her L.A. home, surrounded by family. She was 95. We're told Diller had recently fallen, hurting her wrist and hip, and her health had been on the decline ever since. She had been living in hospice care at her home. Diller suffered a heart attack in 1999 and was later fitted with a pacemaker.

The world is entering a "golden age of gas" with Australia set to be a key contributor to it. With seven world-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in the country currently under construction, it is clear that Australia is positioning itself to emerge as the leading player in the global LNG market. Four of the projects draw from gas fields in Western Australia (Gorgon, Prelude, Wheatstone and Ichthys) and three are in Queensland (Queensland Curtis LNG, Gladstone LNG and Australia Pacific LNG). Gorgon will have three trains producing 15 million tones per annum (mtpa) of LNG from 2014. Wheatstone will...

First lady Michelle Obama hosted the first-ever 'state dinner' for kids at the White House Monday, lauding the virtues of healthy eating. "Thank you all for teaching kids about healthy eating," Obama told the parents in the audience.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Families waiting for San Francisco's cable cars on a recent morning couldn't help but notice Kenny the Clown, who wore a curly rainbow wig as he twisted brightly colored balloons into animal shapes for visitors, blasting Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" from an iPad at his feet. Little did the clown know that the tablet doubling as his stereo would turn out to have been stolen from the home of the late Steve Jobs. "The thing that is embarrassing to me is I'm a huge fan of Steve Jobs," said Kenneth Kahn, 47, a professional entertainer who...

Breaking: Senior GOP official: Akin advisors making preparations for a withdrawal tomorrow.

President Obama weighed in on the national storm surrounding by Rep. Todd Akin, calling his comments "offensive." "The views expressed were offensive. Rape is rape," Obama said in a surprise appearance at the White House briefing. "And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we're talking about doesn't make sense to the American people. And certainly doesn't make sense to me," Obama said.

Hearing this from several sources.

s President Barack Obama was departing his impromptu appearance at the White House press briefing on Monday, ABC News White House correspondent Jake Tapper had some parting words for the president. “Don’t be a stranger,” Tapper said from the briefing room. Tapper’s sentiment seemed to be expressing a consensus among the White House press corps. Prior to this Monday appearance, Obama had not made a solo press conference since June 19. ...more (w/video)...

I’ll bet you didn’t know that conservative enthusiasm for the Mitt Romney Paul Ryan ticket is an illusion; or that it is actually the Republicans that steal elections through manipulation of voter turnout using (gulp!) photo ID! How about this – those polls you see showing voters like Romney/Ryan’s economic plans – THEY ARE ALL FAKE! The Hundreds of thousands of people going to Chick-fil-A? – not real! Because the CFA buildings are all alike the CONSERVATIVE news media showed us B roll of the same 34 customers telling us they were seen all across the country! Because of his...

Brittney Leon and Terri-Ann Simonelli, a pregnant same-sex couple, went to a Las Vegas hospital where they were told their legal domestic partnership was invalid, as far as the hospital was concerned. Hours later, after being “emotionally upset” over their treatment, Brittney Leon, the pregnant mother, lost their baby. Nevada has banned same-sex marriage, but a 2009 Nevada law makes domestic partnerships equivalent to marriage, yet Spring Valley Hospital’s official policy is that same-sex couples must secure a power of attorney in order to be able to make medical decisions for each other, or even to be notified of the...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama tried Monday to distance himself from an advertisement run by a supportive outside group suggesting there was a link between the death of a laid-off steelworker's wife and Republican Mitt Romney's former company. But Obama said he intends to keep raising sharp contrasts between himself and the GOP challenger. "I don't think that Governor Romney was somehow responsible for the death," he said.

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