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SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 16, 2009 – Five months ago, Army Lt. Col. Tim Karcher was in Sadr City, Iraq, commanding the 1st Cavalry Division’s 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, and preparing to complete the hand-off of the volatile region to the Iraqis. Army Lt. Col. Tim Karcher and his wife, Alesia, leave a physical therapy session at the Center for the Intrepid in San Antonio, Nov. 6, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Heather Graham  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Today, he is relearning how to walk. On June 28, Karcher was on his way to...

CNN’s Carol Costello again omitted the liberal source of a statistic she touted during a report on Wednesday’s American Morning, that 91% of talk radio is apparently conservative. Costello also pushed the left-wing aim of localism in radio programming, playing three sound bites in favor of the proposal, versus two against it.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks fell for the third straight session on Friday, ending lower for the week, after weaker-than-expected reports on durable goods orders and new home sales sparked concerns about the strength of any recovery.

As though the state’s fiscal condition weren’t dire enough, Controller John Chiang sent a letter on May 29 to the governor and legislative leaders saying that on July 31 the state will be $1 billion short of meeting its payment obligations to schools, local governments and vendors. “Based on the May Revision revenue and expenditure estimates provided to us late last week by the Department of Finance and taking into account the actual cash receipts and expenditures my office tracks, it is clear the health of the State’s treasury has significantly deteriorated since the adoption of the (budget), a mere...

Amazing. Yet another Obama appointee apparently has tax problems. Pardon me, usher, but I think I’ve seen this movie before. This time it’s White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. It appears that the former congressman found a handy way to save money. Most members of Congress find themselves having to support two households — one in their home district, and one in or around DC. Some members, in the past, have ended up sharing apartments or town houses. Emanuel took that one step further: he moved into the home of his colleague, Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), staying there for five...

Barack Obama today confirmed that he will take the presidential oath of office using his middle name, Hussein, a choice depicted as routine but likely to be viewed as an olive branch by majority-Muslim nations. Obama's oath-taking plan comes after a campaign season that saw his full name used in a pejorative capacity by several allies of his rival, John McCain. The president-elect described taking the oath with his full name as a run-of-the-mill decision not intended to be significant. "I think the tradition is that they use all three names" to swear in new presidents, Obama told the Los...

"Sarah Palin has been disinvited from a rally next week to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an event that Hillary Clinton pulled out of just a day earlier so as not to be seen alongside the Republican vice presidential candidate. Organizers said they aren’t being partisan. They decided to bar all elected and federal officials from the rally on Monday in fear of a “media feeding frenzy.” The rally was specifically intended to protest Ahmadinejad’s presence at the United Nations."

Biden: Wealthy Americans Must Pay More Taxes to Show Patriotism WASHINGTON — Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that paying more in taxes is the patriotic thing to do for wealthier Americans. In a new TV ad that repeats widely debunked claims about the Democratic tax plan, the Republican campaign calls Obama’s tax increases “painful.” Under the economic plan proposed by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, people earning more than $250,000 a year would pay more in taxes while those earning less — the vast majority of American taxpayers — would receive a tax cut. Although Republican John...

Government brokers responsible for collecting billions of dollars in federal oil royalties operated in a "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" that included having sex with energy company employees, accepting lavish gifts and rigging contracts to favored firms, investigators said Wednesday. The alleged transgressions involve 13 former and current Interior Department employees in Denver and Washington. Their alleged improprieties include influencing contracts, working part-time as private oil consultants and having sexual relationships with — and accepting golf and ski trips, snowboarding lessons and concert tickets from — oil company employees, according to three reports released Wednesday by the Interior Department's...

John McCain said the Republican National Convention may be postponed as federal officials said Hurricane Gustav was gathering to a devastating Category 5 as it headed toward star-crossed New Orleans. “It just wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near-tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster,” McCain told Chris Wallace of “Fox News Sunday,” in an interview taped for tomorrow. “So we're monitoring it from day to day and I'm saying a few prayers, too.” McCain also said: “I'm afraid, Chris, that we may have to look at that situation...

Kaiser Permanente is contacting 960 mothers whose babies may have been exposed to a health care worker in San Francisco who has an active case of tuberculosis. The worker was assigned to the postpartum unit in the maternity ward of Kaiser's San Francisco Medical Center to care for mothers and infants. Kaiser officials say the infection risk for patients is very low, but testing will be provided along with treatment if necessary.

Windy City newspapers this morning are devoting coverage to a he said/she said mini-scandal roiling among Democratic Convention delegates. From the Chicago Sun-Times.: DENVER -- A black Hillary Clinton delegate on Sunday accused state Senate President Emil Jones of calling her an "Uncle Tom." Jones -- Barack Obama's political mentor -- denied using the racially loaded slur against Chicago political consultant Delmarie Cobb, but two aldermen who said they witnessed the Saturday night exchange back up Cobb's account. "Last night, I was called an 'Uncle Tom' by Emil Jones in the lobby of the hotel, right in front of [Ald.]...

By Michelle Malkin  •  August 18, 2008 12:52 AM No, really. The Obama camp and its media water-carriers are seriously accusing John McCain of “cheating” in his appearance over the weekend at Rick Warren’s Saddleback church forum because he was in his motorcade when the program started– and then escorted to an empty room without media hook-ups. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell spread the unsubstantiated rumor that somehow McCain heard Obama’s questions while on his drive. The nutroots went, well, nuts. The NYTimes piled on (“Despite Assurances, McCain Wasn’t In a ‘Cone of Silence’“). The McCain camp has protested. And now we have...

Bernie Mac blended style, authority and a touch of self-aware bluster to make audiences laugh as well as connect with him. For Mac, who died Saturday at age 50, it was a winning mix, delivering him from a poor childhood to stardom as a standup comedian, in films including the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and his acclaimed sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show." Mac died Saturday morning of complications from pneumonia. "The world just got a little less funny," said "Oceans" co-star George Clooney.

An Islamic subway-ad campaign being promoted by a controversial Brooklyn imam is gaining attention -- with some straphangers angered over the choice of spokesman. The push to promote Islam on the rails this September, in a $48,000 ad campaign sponsored by the Islamic Circle of North America, was reported in The New York Post Monday. Although the group says the ads -- which will coincide with the holy month of Ramadan -- aim to educate non-Muslims and reach out to those interested in joining the faith, many are incensed that Imam Siraj Wahhaj was chosen as the face of the...

EDITORS' NOTE: The New York Times wouldn't print this oped from the GOP candidate.

“We sent a clear message to the West regarding the red lines that should not be crossed.” That sounds like the statement of a victor in a war, dictating terms to the vanquished. And it may well be: free speech is under attack in Canada – the prosecution of Macleans Magazine and author Mark Steyn – and in the United States as well by Islamic governments and groups whose goal is to end free speech when it is aimed at exposing the truth about Islamic terrorism and its roots. Their goal is positively Orwellian. Replace “Big Brother” with the “Organization...

Jessica Alba and her husband Cash Warren are new parents. The 27-year-old actress gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Honor Marie Warren, on Saturday, her publicist Brad Cafarelli said Monday in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Cafarelli didn't provide further details. The couple was married on May 21, 2008, but announced that they were expecting in December. The sex symbol first gained fame as an action star on TV's "Dark Angel," then in films including "Fantastic Four" and "Sin City." Warren and Alba met on the set of "Fantastic Four" in 2005 where he was assistant to director...

A car plowed into a bike race along a highway near the US-Mexico border, killing one and injuring 10 others. Police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez says the 28-year-old driver was apparently drunk ... A photograph taken by a city official shows bicyclists and equipment being hurled high in to the air...

BOSTON (AP) -- Dunkin' Donuts has pulled an online advertisement featuring Rachael Ray after complaints that a fringed black-and-white scarf that the celebrity chef wore in the ad offers symbolic support for Muslim extremism and terrorism. The coffee and baked goods chain said the ad that began appearing online May 7 was pulled over the past weekend because "the possibility of misperception detracted from its original intention to promote our iced coffee." In the spot, Ray holds an iced coffee while standing in front of trees with pink blossoms. Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin complained that the scarf wrapped around her...

PORT SAINT LUCIE, Fla. -- A South Florida mother wants her son's teacher fired after his classmates voted him out of their kindergarten class. Alex Barton, 5, was instructed by his teacher last week to stand in front of the class at Morningside Elementary in Port St. Lucie and listen as his classmates described what they disliked about him, according to a police report. The boy's teacher, Wendy Portillo, then had the class vote on whether Alex should be kicked out of the class, authorities said. Click here to find out more! Alex's mother, Melissa Barton, said she was shocked...

TOKYO - When Yosuke the parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught — recite his name and address to a stranger willing to help. Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from a neighbor's roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo. After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital while police searched for clues, local policeman Shinjiro Uemura said. He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet. "I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the...

Obama attacks Bush over Iran barb Mr Obama accused Mr Bush a "launching a political attack" Barack Obama has accused George W Bush of attacking him after the US president compared those in favour of talking to terrorists to Nazi appeasers. The White House has denied that the remarks - from a speech to the Israeli parliament - were aimed at Mr Obama. Mr Obama, who is the frontrunner to become the Democrats' presidential nominee, has argued in favour of negotiating with the Iranian regime. But he has ruled out talking to militant organisations like Hamas. 'False comfort' "Some...

WASHINGTON — Groping for a quick response to rising gas prices, Congress voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to order the Bush administration to stop depositing oil in a national reserve even though lawmakers predicted the impact for consumers would be modest at best. “Is it a giant step? No,” said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, a leading proponent of the idea of trying to influence the price of gas by redirecting supplies from the reserve to the commercial market. “But is it a step finally, at long last, in the right direction? It is.” Despite initial resistance from the...

Detroit City Council Votes to Begin Removal Process of Mayor Kilpatrick. In a 5 to 4 vote, however one Council Women thinks the Mayor may be making overtures in regards to resigning

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—The U.S. military is confirming that a former Guantanamo detainee from Kuwait carried out a recent suicide attack in northern Iraq. A spokesman for U.S. military's Central Command told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi took part in an attack in Mosul. U.S. Navy Cmdr. Scott Rye says authorities don't know the motive for the attack, which was reported last week by Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television. Iraqi security forces were apparently targeted. The U.S. transferred al-Ajmi to Kuwaiti custody from Guantanamo in 2005. A Kuwaiti court later acquitted him of terrorism charges.

Rep. Vito J. Fossella (R-N.Y.) was arrested overnight in Alexandria and charged with driving while intoxicated, court records showed today. Fossella is scheduled to appear in Alexandria General District Court on May 12 for an advisement hearing, the records said. No other details were immediately available. Reached by phone, Fossella's communication director had no immediate comment on the report. Fossella was elected to Congress in a special election to represent the 13th Congressional District of New York in November 1997, according to a biography on his Web site. The district includes Staten Island and the Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and...

Robert “Mike” Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), continued to slam his Democratic counterparts for an ad they are running against presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). Duncan on Tuesday accused Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean of running an ad that features footage from director Michael Moore’s controversial movie “Fahrenheit 9/11.” The ad, which slams McCain for his now-famous New Hampshire town hall line that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for 100 years, features footage of an improvised explosive device (IED) going off near U.S. soldiers. ABCNews confirmed it was the same footage that...

Jimmy Carter, the former US president has been compelled to cancel his scheduled visit to the Gaza Strip. Mr Carter had wanted to talk with leaders of Hamas, but was unable to obtain permission from Israeli officials to enter the Palestinian-controlled territory. Mr Carter, who will stay in the Middle East to try to gain permission for the visit to the Gaza Strip, did manage to meet a former Hamas minister in Ramallah on the West Bank. He also has plans to meet the Syrian Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal. Israel is known to be angry at the former president's private...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court upheld the most common method of lethal injections executions Wednesday, clearing the way for states to resume executions that have been on hold for nearly 7 months. The justices, by a 7-2 vote, turned back a constitutional challenge to the procedures in place in Kentucky, which uses three drugs to sedate, paralyze and kill inmates. Similar methods are used by roughly three dozen states. The governor of Virginia lifted his state's moratorium on executions two hours after the high court issued its ruling. "We ... agree that petitioners have not carried their burden of showing...

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is asking federal officials to rethink their policy on workplace immigration crackdowns that involve established businesses and to focus on employers that mistreat workers instead. The mayor said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that work-site raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement could have "severe and long-lasting effects" on the local economy, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. ICE made more than 4,900 work-site arrests nationwide in fiscal 2007, a 45-fold increase over the number in 2001, authorities said. More than 130 undocumented workers were arrested at a San Fernando Valley manufacturing company in...

With the demotion of Mark Penn, it is appropriate to take stock of the Clinton campaign. There is no doubt that it has been a poorly run campaign. But what has been so bad about it? We could point to a lackluster message, or Bill's various gaffes over the last three months, or the staff that couldn't stop watching soap operas long enough to pay the bills. There's something to all of these things, but I think they are symptoms of an underlying malady. As you well know, Obama has a huge lead in pledged delegates. But you might not...

Last week Air America suspended Randi Rhodes for abusive, obscene language at a recent public appearance in San Francisco which was sponsored by an Air America affiliate station. Air America Media was informed last night by Ms. Rhodes that she has chosen to terminate her employment with the company. We wish her well and thank her for past services to Air America. We will soon announce exciting new talent and programming that will accelerate Air America’s growth in the future.

President Hugo Chavez ordered the nationalization of Venezuela's cement industry, saying his government cannot allow businesses to continue exporting raw materials needed to help tackle a domestic housing shortage. Speaking during a nationally televised address Thursday, Chavez said the affected cement companies, which include Mexico's Cemex SAB, France's Lafarge SA and Switzerland's Holcim Ltd, will be paid fair compensation in the state takeover. "We are going to prepare a plan to modernize these cement plants," he said. Chavez, who says he is leading Venezuela toward "21st century socialism," said the nationalization would take place in the "short term," but did...

LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) - Jessie Vigil's black-and-white car sports a red-and-blue emergency bar across the top and the word "police" painted on the doors. Vigil, however, isn't a cop. Law enforcement agencies say what he's done with his car isn't illegal as long as he doesn't act like a police officer. He started decorating his 2007 Ford Mustang last summer to look like the police cruiser in the "Transformers" movie because his 7-year-old son, Thomas, was fond of the film. "My intent was to re-create the movie car," said Vigil, a 35-year-old disabled veteran from the war in Iraq....

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did something Wednesday night that she almost never does. She apologized. And once she started, she didn't seem able to stop.The New York senator, who is in a tight race with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, struck several sorry notes at an evening forum sponsored by the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a group of more than 200 black community newspapers across the country. (snip) Earlier in the day, Hillary Clinton supporter and fundraiser Geraldine Ferraro gave up her honorary position with Clinton's campaign after she said in an interview last...

"Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69."

Bill not only slips by saying, "if you elect ME," he doesn't even notice he did it. Classic.

(IsraelNN.com) Iran's fundamentalist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unleashed a fresh round of threats Wednesday against Israel, calling the only Jewish country in the world a "filthy microbe" and a "savage animal." Speaking to an Islamist rally in the southern city of Bandar Abbas that was broadcast on national television, Ahmadinejad told supporters "World powers have created a black and dirty microbe named the Zionist regime and have unleashed it like a savage animal on the nations of the region." The attack was the latest in a recent flurry of Iranian threats against Israel. In recent weeks two leading Iranian generals have...

Howard Wolfson, the Clinton campaign's communications director, today accused Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) of committing “plagiarism” in a speech in Milwaukee on Saturday night. Wolfson made the explosive charge in an interview with Politico after suggesting as much in a conference call with reporters. On the call, Wolfson said: “Sen. Obama is running on the strength of his rhetoric and the strength of his promises and, as we have seen in the last couple of days, he’s breaking his promises and his rhetoric isn’t his own.” "When an author plagiarizes from another author there is damage done to two different...

A Houston businessman now living in Canada claims he's President John F. Kennedy's love child — and he wants the Kennedy clan to help him prove it. Jack Worthington, 46, who bears a striking resemblance to the assassinated leader, has appealed to the Kennedys to provide DNA from the former president or from males directly related to JFK's father, Joe Kennedy. A spokeswoman for the Kennedys didn't return calls for comment. Worthington didn't say why he came forward now but insists he isn't out for financial gain. He told a Canadian television station, "I would sign an agreement with the...

(CNN) -- Five young men died Saturday when the car they were in drove off the end of a private airstrip near Ocala, Florida, became airborne for 200 feet and slammed into an oak tree, authorities said. "This had to be the worst vehicle crash that I have ever seen during my career," said Randy Robinson, a spokesman for the Emergency Medical Services Alliance with 27 years on the job. The 2008 BMW was split in two in the wreck, which happened at 3:45 a.m., said Lt. Mike Burroughs, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol Troop B. He told...

NEW YORK - Make no mistake: "Change" is in the air, the undisputed buzzword of the turbulent 2008 campaign. Lodged squarely at the intersection of politics and marketing, the word has had an almost spellbinding power over voters in election after election. Even if we have not been able to agree on — or even know ourselves — exactly what we wanted a change to. "We're obsessed with it. We can't let it go, can we?" says Marian Salzman, chief marketing officer for advertising titan J. Walter Thompson. "It's the word of the day, minute and hour, and I don't...

Roger M. King, a television syndication executive who helped make national stars of talents like Oprah Winfrey, Alex Trebek and Dr. Phil McGraw, died on Saturday. He was 63. Mr. King suffered a stroke on Friday at his home in Boca Raton, Fla., and died the next day at a nearby hospital, said Chris Ender, a spokesman for CBS, where Mr. King last worked. Mr. King joined CBS in 2000 after King World Productions, the family company he and his brother, Michael, built into a leader in television syndication was sold to CBS for $2.5 billion. Mr. King, according to...

Just reported on Fox News

Slip of the tongue? Yesterday on CNN’s “The Situation Room” Hillary Clinton spoke about what she would do about licensing illegal immigrants when she is president again. Watch:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2007 – America’s memories of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks may recede with time, but citizens shouldn’t become complacent about the real threat of another terrorist attack on the homeland, President Bush said at the National Defense University here today. “They intend to strike our country again,” Bush said of global terrorists’ plans. And, if such an attack is made, it likely would “make 9/11 pale by comparison,” the president emphasized. The commander in chief’s role in light of this situation “is to never forget the threat and to implement strategies that will protect the...

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he doesn't wear the American flag lapel pin because it has become a substitute for "true patriotism" since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Asked about the decision Wednesday in an interview with KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Illinois senator said he stopped doing so shortly after the attacks and instead hoped to show his patriotism by explaining his ideas to citizens. "The truth is that right after 9-11 I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9-11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I...

BENSON — The Pony Express will ride again during Butterfield Stage Days on Oct. 13, and the U.S. Postal Service will issue a special postmark to commemorate the event. At noon, special Pony Express riders will be sworn in by Postmaster Lesley Tower in a ceremony in Lions Park. They will carry the mail from Benson to the Dragoon post office, arriving in Dragoon around 3:30 p.m. The Benson post office will offer a special postmark commemorating the 22nd Annual Pony Express Ride. The postmark, which features a Butterfield Overland Stagecoach design, will be available from 9 a.m. to noon...

AP) WASHINGTON The Senate voted Thursday to condemn an advertisement by the liberal anti-war group MoveOn.org that accused the top military commander in Iraq of betrayal. The 72-25 vote condemned the full-page ad that appeared in The New York Times last week as Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, testified on Capitol Hill. The ad was headlined: "General Petraeus or General Betray Us? Cooking the books for the White House." The ad became a life raft for the Republican party as the war debate kicked into high gear. With several Republicans opposed to President Bush's war strategy,...