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WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is finding her voice in the world of foreign affairs -- and it’s the sound of hawk-speak, filled with threats and warnings. She has warned that Iran is becoming a military dictatorship. She is trying -- with some success -- to persuade U.S. allies to support stronger sanctions against Teheran. There’s no sign that the U.S. is about to invade Iran but there’s tons of speculation that the Pentagon has been tasked to figure out what bunker-buster bombs would do to Iran’s underground nuclear industry and whether such an attack would help or...

The Democrats' reversal "is like a big body blow," said Mr. Jennings. "You either stammer and fall down, or you stammer and regain your balance. What Americans respect are those people who can take a punch and come back."

Game over: The Clintons stand alone By: Ben Smith January 11, 2010 06:05 PM EST A new book is out with a highly critical but unsourced portrait of Hillary Clinton. This familiar occurrence — it’s happened too many times to count over the years — has usually been greeted with an equally familiar response: A fast and furious counterattack from the Clinton inner circle. What’s notable about the highly publicized release of “Game Change,” however, is the virtual silence from the Clinton camp. The lack of public outrage seems to mark the sputtering end of what was once known as...

According to POLITICO, Obama’s fans in the Beltway are shocked, shocked that he and his White House minions scapegoat White House General Counsel Greg Craig for Obama’s failed promise to close Guantanamo in one year. The closing of Guantanamo – as Obama’s critics have long predicted – ain’t gonna happen, because there’s no place else to put the hardcore terrorists currently housed there. When Obama announced his dubious executive order closing Guantanamo by January 2010, the Kool-Aid drinkers were ecstatic. “See?” they said, “This is why we elected him. We were so right.” No, they were so wrong. It was...

Robert Reich has finally responded to the audio of him telling "brutal truths" to an audience at Berkeley which your humble correspondent chronicled here in NewsBusters on Tuesday. Here are the gems delivered up by Reich as to what he claims an honest candidate for president would say about health care if he didn't worry about getting elected: "We're going to have to, if you're very old, we're not going to give you all that technology and all those drugs for the last couple of years of your life to keep you maybe going for another couple of months. It's...

Obama Advisor Robert Reich Blasted for Promoting Death Panels Washington, DC -- Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin got pilloried for suggesting that the government-run health care system set up under the bills in Congress would lead to "death panels." But, now, a video has surfaced showing Obama economics advisor Robert Reich essentially admitting Palin was right. http://www.LifeNews.com/bio2982.html

Unemployment will almost certainly in double-digits next year — and may remain there for some time. And for every person who shows up as unemployed in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ household survey, you can bet there’s another either too discouraged to look for work or working part time who’d rather have a full-time job or else taking home less pay than before (I’m in the last category, now that the University of California has instituted pay cuts). And there’s yet another person who’s more fearful that he or she will be next to lose a job. In other words,...

Ex-Clinton aide pleads not guilty in prison case(AP) – 8 hours ago LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A former top aide to Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas has pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to smuggle contraband into a prison. Betsey Wright is accused of trying to smuggle tattoo needles, a box cutter, a knife and tweezers into the Varner Supermax Unit while visiting a death row inmate in May. The 66-year-old Wright entered the plea Wednesday in a court filing in Lincoln County Circuit Court. The filing by defense attorney Jeff Rosenzweig also waives her arraignment,...

WASHINGTON -- It isn't easy to put words in the mouth of the president of the United States, but the White House stable of speechwriters does that almost every day. The frustrations of such a prestigious post are painfully recalled by Matt Latimer, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, in his new book "Speech-Less." The subtitle of the book by the conservative speechwriter is "Tales of a White House Survivor." Latimer's book divulges rich insights into the Bush White House. The rivalries, the egos, the fears and the trepidations of having written a prime time speech only to...

RUSH: David Axelrod there saying that Obama doesn't listen to polls, doesn't read polls, doesn't care what NBC says, and the first obligation of the president is to keep the American people safe. No, the first obligation of this president is to make sure our enemies are not offended. Now, yesterday -- and I got a lot of grief on this, caught a lot of grief in the e-mail. Yesterday, I kind of lost it toward the end of the program, all the sound bites and Afghanistan was a big subject yesterday and, you know, the general says we need...

I just watched Bill O'Rielly talk with George Stephanopolis and I was struck with a sense of deja-vu. I have seen this BS before and steffi was on the inside that time. I find it impossible to believe that this excuse for a journalist has more than 20 viewers outside of the beltway and New York. The boy is about as objective about politics as my 18 year old cat is about home life. I mean, as long as she has a clean box, food and water, she is happy, but this nitwit is happy with nothing more than re-processed...

Obama transition chief and head of the leftist Center for American Progress, John Podesta, laid in to Glenn Beck tonight with a spirited but after the fact defense of former Obama administration official Van Jones that was posted tonight at Think Progress:Van Jones is an exceptional and inspired leader who has fought to bring economic and environmental justice to communities across our country. He has chosen to resign because he believed he was serving as a distraction to the president’s agenda. I respect that decision. Van was working to build a common ground agenda for all Americans, and I am...

BURBANK, Calif. - Spider-Man and Iron Man have a new boss: The Walt Disney Co. Disney announced this morning that it is buying Marvel Entertainment -- and the more than 5,000 Marvel characters. They include X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor. "This is a great fit for us," Disney boss Bob Iger told CNBC this morning. He said the acquisition was a way to attract more boys. Disney said the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share -- or about $4 billion. Iger said the acquisition will grow both Disney and Marvel.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Kenneth Bacon, a former reporter and Pentagon spokesman who later served as a top advocate of displaced people all over the world, died Saturday, according to Refugees International. He was 64. Kenneth Bacon was "one of the great voices in humanitarian advocacy," says Joel Charny of Refugees International. Kenneth Bacon was "one of the great voices in humanitarian advocacy," says Joel Charny of Refugees International. Bacon had served as the president of Washington-based Refugees International since 2001, the group said in a statement Saturday. The former Wall Street Journal reporter died Saturday morning from an aggressive melanoma...

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The chief of staff of former President Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas was charged on Wednesday with smuggling tattoo needles into the death row unit of the state prison. Betsey Wright, a death penalty opponent, reportedly plans to surrender to authorities next week. According to a police report posted online by the Arkansas Times, Wright tried to bring in contraband into the maximum security unit during a May 22 visit. The items were an ink pen with tweezers and a needle, a knife, a boxcutter and 48 tattoo needles hidden in a Nachos...

Bill Clinton's chief of staff when he was governor of Arkansas is expected to turn herself in after authorities issued a bench warrant for her arrest for allegedly smuggling contraband into a state prison, her attorney told CNN Wednesday. Betsey Wright served Clinton as chief of staff for 7 years in Arkansas and ran 3 successful campaigns for governor. Betsey Wright allegedly smuggled a red Doritos bag containing 48 tattoo needles, a pen with tweezers and a needle inside, a Swiss Army knife and a box cutter into the Varner Unit, a high-security state prison in Grady, Arkansas, according to...

Ex-Clinton aide named in prison case Staffer for then-governor faces charges of smuggling items onto death row LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A former chief of staff for Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas faces felony charges accusing her of trying to smuggle a knife and 48 tattoo needles onto the state's death row. The charges against Betsey Wright come as The Associated Press obtained documents showing death-row inmate allegedly passed love letters and contraband to a guard with whom he committed a sex act. Combined, the events represent just the latest in a series of high-profile incidents at...

<p>LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- A former chief of staff for Bill Clinton when he was Arkansas' governor has been charged with attempting to smuggle contraband goods into the state's death row.</p> <p>Betsey Wright, of Rogers, faces 51 felony charges stemming from her arrest May 22 at the state's Varner Unit. An Arkansas State Police report claims she attempted to smuggle in a box cutter, a pocket knife, tweezers and tattoo needles.</p>

<p>LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A former chief of staff for Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas faces felony charges accusing her of smuggling a knife and 48 tattoo needles onto the state's death row.</p> <p>The charging of Betsey Wright, 66, of Rogers, Ark., comes as The Associated Press obtained documents showing death-row inmate passed love letters and contraband to a guard he committed a sex act with. Combined, they represent just the latest in a series of high-profile incidents at the state prison system, ranging from two convicted murderers escaping in guard uniforms to a man being shot to death at a contraband checkpoint.</p>