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During a visit to a Rio de Janeiro slum, President Barack Obama joined a group of children as they kicked around soccer balls. (March 20)

DANVERS (MA)— A driver who police said was texting behind the wheel managed to escape serious injury late Sunday night after his car plunged off the Water Street bridge and into the Waters River. Police plan to summons Gerald Maher, 21, of 195 Maple St., Danvers, to court for negligent operation of a motor vehicle and texting while driving, police Capt. Pat Ambrose said. The charge of texting behind the wheel carries a civil fine. Just where the car — a white, 1999 Nissan Altima — landed in the river remained a mystery yesterday. Maher, who was alone in the...

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, April 3) -- Accubanc Mortgage Corporation of Dallas,Texas, has agreed to a pay $2.148 billion in a settlement with the Department of Housing and Urban Development for discrimination in loan practices. HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo announced the largest settlement ever in an unfair housing dispute. Accubanc will make the money available through mortgage loans and program development to increase home ownership over the next three years. The loans will allow 15,700 low- and moderate-income families and minority families to obtain home mortgages that were previously denied. Accubanc is expected to take a loss on the loans, although the...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Levi Johnston, the father of Sarah Palin's grandson, says he wishes he hadn't apologized for telling lies about the former Alaska governor because he's "never lied about anything." Johnston says in an interview on CBS' "The Early Show" to air Friday that he wishes that he hadn't issued the apology to Palin.

Daily Gut: Ashton Kutcher Blames Republicans For Oil Spill Posted By Greg Gutfeld You know what I do when I’m confused about an issue? I turn to Ashton Kutcher. And whatever he says – the opposite is true. (see :53 – 1:10 [1]) Leave it to Ashton to use catastrophe as a club to beat Republicans with – although the last time I checked Obama favors drilling – and most of America agrees. Except of course those shallow, stupid celebs who think their private jets fly on pixie farts. But hey, if it hadn’t been for greenies, this whole mess...

President Obama will be "re-elected overwhelmingly," Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) confidently predicted today. Appeaing on Imus in the Morning, Dodd rejected a comparison between Obama and Jimmy Carter and said Obama will be more politically successful. "No, no, no. You're wrong on that," Dodd told Imus of the Carter comparison. "That's a mark we'll put it down. This man will be reelected and reelected overwhelmingly." Meanwhile, speaking of his own decision not to run for re-election, Dodd said he would not run even if he was 100% sure he would win. Dodd recounted making the decision as he visited Ted...

If you give a Doofus the Presidency, He’s going to expect you believe him. When you ask him tough questions, he’ll tell you tall tales. When he’s finished with tales, he’ll smile with glee. Looking for others to blame and to smear, make them your villains, with him if you dare. Then onto the business, he wants to control. It’s for our own good, how often we’re told. Read the entire post... Based on the childrens book; If You Give A Mouse a Cookie by : Laura Joffe Numeroff

NEW YORK (AP) - The Rev. Al Sharpton on Saturday threatened to sue conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh for writing in a column that the civil rights leader played a role in two New York race riots. In a column published by the Wall Street Journal on Saturday about his derailed bid to become part-owner of the St. Louis Rams, he accuses Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson of making comments that helped get him booted from a group that was trying to buy the NFL team. Limbaugh derided Sharpton as having played "a leading role in the 1991 Crown...

MSNBC uber-dork Keith Olbermann has done it again. The cable channel's principal pontificator -- in naming syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin "the worst person in the world" on Wednesday night -- blasted her "total mindless, morally bankrupt, knee-jerk, fascistic hatred, without which Michelle Malkin would just be a mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it." AirAmerica.com blogger Megan Carpentier found Olbermann's remarks more than slightly misogynistic, and said, "By attacking Michelle Malkin's politics with an assault on women of every political persuasion, and then indicating a desire to see her physically harmed, a person might understandably get the idea that...

Quote: President Obama took his chances on a high-profile visit to Copenhagen because the White House was getting a "clear message" that his presence could clinch the Olympics for Chicago, The Chicago Tribune reports. "The intelligence that we had from the U.S. Olympic Committee and Chicago bid team was that it was very close and therefore well worth our efforts," said Valerie Jarrett, a senior White House adviser. "The message was that...a personal appeal from the president would make a huge difference." President Obama first tried lobbying quietly through phone calls, and had not decided until a few days before...

"No-drama Obama"? The president's flight to Copenhagen ...to make a personal pitch for holding the 2016 Olympics in Chicago was an audacious move -- and a dramatic failure. "Second City Absorbs Its Latest Defeat," read the (rather snotty) headline in the New York Times. But shed no tears for Chicago...With a projected half-billion-dollar deficit next year, the Second City is better off without the Games. We can't say the same for Obama's reputation after his in-person appeal failed to get his adopted hometown past the first round of voting. What new project can the president undertake to save face? How...

WASHINGTON — House Republicans say it's payback time for the recent reprimand of one of their own for heckling President Barack Obama. They want a Democratic lawmaker to apologize or face a reprimand for saying the GOP wants Americans to "die quickly" if they get sick. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla. – a first-term congressman known for a provocative style – refused to back down on Wednesday. As Republicans threatened to introduce a resolution disapproving of his remarks, he returned to the House floor and mocked their outrage by citing research showing that nearly 45,000 people die each year for lack...

US national Micky Louis Mayon, one of the FBI's 100 most wanted criminals, was apprehended in an apartment in Tel Aviv's Florentine neighborhood Sunday by a newly-created task force dealing with illegal immigration. Mayon, 33, is wanted in the US for several federal crimes, including membership in the Ku Klux Klan, the burning of vehicles belonging to federal judges and several charges of severe violence. According to intelligence information relayed by Interpol, Mayon has been residing in Israel illegally since entering the country in 2008 and has changed his location every couple of days since his arrival. Mayon was transferred...

The first couple took full advantage of the cool spring night. After a date night out on Saturday evening, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama decided to take a stroll when their motorcade arrived back at the White House. So they began walking on the driveway of the White House South Lawn while holding hands. First they passed the West Wing, then their children's swing set. They kept walking, swinging their hands together. There were no Secret Service agents right behind them - the agents stood off... (read the story for more) As the Obamas walked behind shrubbery...

  The White House just put up a Flickr Stream (291 photos uploaded yesterday, 1 uploaded today) of their comings and goings. These are some pretty good shots.If you can't get enough of your Obamas and Bidens and Emanuels and presidential dogs, look no further. If not, look at little further.  Also, if you've got one of those digital picture frames with Flickr support, you can probably hook up your frame to directly feed photos from the White House stream and pretend you're some kind of secret agent or witch, being able to see their every move. [Flickr] - Gizmodo  

Vice President Joe Biden shakes hands with Armando Robles a worker at Serious Materials Chicago, Monday, April 27, 2009, in Chicago. The company formally known as Republic Windows and Doors declared bankruptcy in December 2008, leaving over 260 people unemployed. Serious Materials acquired the assets of the factory in February and plans to rehire 250 union employees tied to spending under the Recovery Act Vice President Joe Biden. left, listens as U.S. Sen. Roland Burris introduces U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin while speaking at at Serious Materials Chicago, Monday, April 27, 2009, in Chicago Vice President Joe Biden tours an assembly...

CRESTVIEW -- Around 6 a.m. on April 18, officers were called to investigate a car that had been parked and left running for about an hour at an intersection. When they arrived, they found a man asleep in the driver's seat and a woman sleeping on the back seat, according to the driver's Crestview Police Department arrest report. The officer reached in and turned the vehicle off. He then woke up the driver and asked him why he was sleeping in a car at an intersection. He didn't answer, but later said he was "sleepy." He said that he had...

President Barack Obama points to a familiar face in the crowd as he walks across the South Lawn of the White House after returning to the United States Sunday, April 19, 2009 in Washington. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (2nd R) talks with Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega (L) as U.S. President Barack Obama arrives for a meeting with Central American leaders at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain April 19, 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama arrives at the official dinner of the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, April 18, 2009. U.S. President...

[Video, photo, definitions] According to the media we hate, George Bush was a moron for saying, “Nu-cu-lar” (despite the fact that he captained a nu-cu-lar submarine, Jimmy Carter said it the same way). We’re still waiting to hear how stupid Barack Obama is for mispronouncing “defibrillator” on the Tonight Show. Guess the story was simply lost in the flood of mainstream reportage of the President’s “Special Olympics” quip. Oddly enough, ...