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Troops fire tear gas and beat demonstrators on the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy's seizure. Reporting from Tehran and Beirut - Iran's capital erupted in chaos and violence today as anti-government protestors and security forces clashed on the 30th anniversary of the seizing of the U.S. Embassy by radical students. Today's demonstration did not appear to be as large as the huge marches that erupted following the disputed June 12 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But the protest, the largest in six weeks, struck at one of the ideological pillars of the Islamic Republic by showing that a sizable...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama noted Wednesday's 30th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, while insisting he wants the U.S. and Iran to move beyond "suspicion, mistrust and confrontation."

Friend and foe alike have wondered how Barack Obama wangled a seat next to Edward Said (pronounced sigh-EED), at an Arab-American community dinner in Chicago in 1998 on the fiftieth anniversary of the Palestinian nakbah, or disaster. At the time, Obama was an obscure state senator and Said, according to the Nation, was "probably the best-known intellectual in the world." It is possible that the pair had met when Obama was a student and Said a professor at Columbia University. The Los Angeles Times has reported that Obama took at least one course taught by Said. It is possible, too,...

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's main political rival is questioning the president's commitment to fighting corruption. Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah withdrew days ago from a second-round runoff vote because of concerns over fraud. On Tuesday, he said Mr. Karzai's government lacks legitimacy because of the controversial election process that declared Mr. Karzai the winner by default. Abdullah addressed a news conference in Kabul. It followed a similar conference by Mr. Karzai Tuesday in which the president vowed to "make every possible effort" to eradicate government corruption, but also appeared to reject removing high-level officials in any anti-corruption purge.

SNIPPET: "Last November, more than 150 people were killed by terrorists in Mumbai. One target was a centre run by this young Jewish couple, who were murdered and perhaps tortured; miraculously, their toddler son escaped. We went back to Mumbai to find out what really happened that night." SNIPPET: “One more question remains: how did the terrorists and their handlers apparently know the layout of Nariman House, and the schedule of its inhabitants, so well? Suspicion has fallen on Jackie, the Muslim cook. Since the siege, he says he has had about 100 interviews with police and officials, including Israelis....

NBC's "The Biggest Loser" is at the White House tonight. This is not a joke.

Three Grenadier Guards and two Royal Military Police were attacked as they rested inside a compound. The soldiers, who had removed their body armour and helmets, were shot by an Afghan national policeman who then fled. It is not known whether he was a member of the Taliban or being coerced by the insurgents. The gunman is thought to go by the name Gulbuddin and is believed to have had an accomplice. There are also suggestions that he had animosity towards his superiors after being repeatedly moved around the country as part of his duties. He is now being hunted...

A Florida woman is happily answering Rep. Michele Bachmann's call to storm the steps of Capitol Hill on Thursday to protest Democratic health care proposals. The Minnesota Republican has been encouraging the "tea party" protesters who came to Capitol Hill on Sept. 12 to turn out again Thursday afternoon and arrange face-to-face meetings with their elected officials to talk about the health care legislation that could be put to a House vote as early as this week. "The only way they're going to listen is if real freedom-loving Americans come here to Washington noon on Thursday, look at the whites...

DETROIT -- In metro Detroit, voters were asked to decide on everything ranging from mayor, council members, taxes and liquor license terms. Below is a breakdown of the most watched races. Macomb County: 12 cities and one township had elections. Six cities had mayoral matchups: Sterling Heights elected Richard Notte, Mount Clemens elected Barb Dempsey, Centerline elected David Hanselman, New Baltimore elected Thomas Goldenbogen, Roseville elected John Chirkun and Memphis elected Daniel Weaver. Countywide, voters decided on two issues. Residents voted in favor of a an executive-style government similar to those in Oakland and Wayne. Macomb County voters overwhelmingly approved...

Their candidate lost in the end, but for many in the rapidly expanding "tea party" movement, this fall's special House race in upstate New York was a "training ground" that taught its cadre of loosely organized grass-roots activists how to challenge both major parties and has only whetted the movement's appetite for the 2010 midterm elections. Tea party foot soldiers fueled Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman's meteoric rise that drove liberal Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava out of the race, giving the anti-tax, anti-spending activists their first real victory. But the ballot-box clout of the movement remains a question mark after...

PORTLAND, Maine — Cecelia Burnett and Ann Swanson had already set their wedding date. When they joined about 1,000 other gay marriage supporters for an election night party in a Holiday Inn ballroom, they hoped to celebrate the vote that would make it possible. Instead, they went home at midnight, dejected and near tears after a failed bid to make Maine the first state to approve same-sex marriage at the ballot box. "I'm ready to start crying," said Burnett, a 58-year-old massage therapist, walking out of the ballroom with Swanson at her side. "I don't understand what the fear is,...

RICHMOND, Va. — Eager to drain the 2009 elections of drama and import, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs claimed Tuesday night that President Barack Obama was “not watching returns.” You can be sure that he is studying them closely now: The off-year elections were in two big races an unmistakable rebuke of Democrats, reshuffling Obama’s political circumstances in ways likely to have severe near-term consequences for his policy agenda and larger governing strategy. Independents took flight from Democrats. They suffered humiliating gubernatorial losses in traditionally Democratic New Jersey, where Obama lent his prestige in a pair of 11th-hour campaign...

—Chris Christie, a Republican former U.S. attorney, unseated New Jersey Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine, a billionaire former Wall Street executive. —In Virginia, Republican Bob McDonnell beat Democrat R. Creigh Deeds to replace the term-limited Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine. U.S. HOUSE: —California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi easily defeated his Republican opponent, attorney David Harmer, in a special election for a Northern California congressional seat. — Democrat Bill Owens won a special election for a rural New York congressional seat that Republicans had held for decades. Some prominent Republicans, including former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, had backed Conservative Doug Hoffman. The...

Atlanta has one more month and one more election to go before it chooses the city's next mayor: Councilwoman Mary Norwood and former state Sen. Kasim Reed will face each other in a runoff Dec. 1. With 100 percent of the vote counted, Norwood led the race with 45 percent. She maintained a comfortable margin throughout the vote counting Tuesday night but was unable to muster the 50 percent required to put the race away. Reed finished a strong second, with 37 percent, and City Council President Lisa Borders faded to a distant third with 14 percent in the eight-way...

Off-year elections can be notoriously unreliable as predictors of the future, but as a window on how the political landscape may have changed in the year since President Obama won the White House, Tuesday's Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey delivered clear warnings for the Democrats. Neither gubernatorial election amounted to a referendum on the president, but the changing shape of the electorates in both states and the shifts among key constituencies revealed cracks in the Obama 2008 coalition and demonstrated that, at this point, Republicans have the more energized constituency heading into next year's midterm elections. The most...

Former Israeli double agent shot dead near Putin's office Shabtai Kalmanovich, a former Israeli double agent who penetrated Golda Meir's government on behalf of the KGB, has been shot dead in Moscow. By Andrew Osborn in Moscow and Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem Published: 7:00AM GMT 03 Nov 2009 Kalmanovich, who later became a prominent businessman and allegedly had links with the Russian mafia, died after an unidentified gunman fired at least 20 shots into his chauffeur-driven Mercedes Benz. Mr Kalmanovich's driver was seriously wounded in the incident. /snip After becoming an Israeli citizen, he joined the Israeli Labour Party, was...

Israel's military intelligence chief has warned that Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have successfully tested an Iranian rocket that can reach Tel Aviv, the Jewish state's largest urban conurbation. That adds a new urgency to Israel's efforts to develop an effective defensive system capable of shooting down short-range rockets that, if the warning by Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin is correct, are becoming a strategic threat. Yadlin says the rocket has a range of 37 miles, 8 miles longer He did not identify the Iranian system, but there have been reports that Iran has been seeking to smuggle Fajr-5 (Dawn)...

<p>DENVER – The Colorado ski town of Breckenridge has voted overwhelmingly to legalize marijuana.</p> <p>Early returns Tuesday night showed the proposal winning with 72 percent of the vote.</p>

Up shot of article (my snap translation):--Obama in a painful situation, because just one year ago, he took these states. Now, tonight, they fell to the Republicans.--It seems that with the election of the 2 Republicans and defeat of Obama, his prized "Health Care" program is in jeopardy.--The results show the sentiment of the American People in those states toward Obama and is a reflection of what might be expected a year from now in the 2010 midterm elections.--Obama had quite a year in Virginia (in 2008), which did not go for a Democrat for President in 44 years, and...

Polls in Ohio and Kentucky are now closed. Go here for the latest results as they come in. Pike County, Ky. Lawrence County, Ohio Ohio Amendments Meigs County, Ohio Athens County, Ohio Scioto County, Ohio Gallia County, Ohio Vinton County, Ohio Jackson County, Ohio �

Jacksie King was an elderly grandmother who lived in a small Illinois house on dead-end Gaty Avenue since her youth. At 87, she mostly stayed at home and enjoyed frequent visits from her daughter. Her life changed one December night when an unidentified intruder cut her phone lines, pried the security bars off her window and invaded her home. After severely beating her, the man robbed her house and escaped. The case was never solved. Two months later, King awoke to the sound of an intruder breaking through her storm door at 2 a.m. As before, the bars were pried...

BREAKING

NBC reverses Bloomberg call Wow: This is looking to be a very long night for the billionaire-incumben-frontrunner in New York. With more than a third of the votes in, it's a one-point race. NBC called it for Bloomberg -- but just reversed that call. The New York Times continues to indicate that Bloomberg has won.

TRENTON, N.J. – Republican Chris Christie has defeated Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine in New Jersey. With 71 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, Christie had 50 percent of the vote to Corzine's 44 percent. Christie, a 47-year-old former federal prosecutor, became the first member of his party in a dozen years to win a statewide contest in heavily Democratic New Jersey. The Republican victory deals a blow to President Barack Obama as he readies for next year's midterm elections. Obama campaigned heavily for Corzine.

A New Jersey hospital is denying accusations that ACORN workers have been inside collecting absentee ballots for the state's gubernatorial race. East Orange General Hospital CEO Kevin Slavin said Tuesday that "all proper protocols" were followed as part of its program to allow patients to vote via absentee ballot, and that no third-party groups were signing up patients. "Other than the specifically designated and trained staff to hand out and collect these ballots, no advocacy groups were authorized nor allowed access to the hospital to hand out absentee ballots to patients as has been recently reported in unsubstantiated blogs and...

BERLIN - The Mossad espionage agency used Trojan Horse programs to gather intelligence about a nuclear facility in Syria that the Israel Defense Forces destroyed in 2007, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported yesterday. According to the magazine, Mossad agents planted the malware on the computer of a Syrian official while he was staying in London, at a hotel in the upscale neighborhood of Kensington. The program copied details about Syria's illicit nuclear program and sent them directly to the Mossad agents' computers, the report said. Israel's raid on the al-Kabir site in Syria's eastern desert on September 6, 2007...

Junk Science: The oracle of climate disaster has a new book out on global warming that should be on the fiction list. He asks us to commit economic suicide while he rakes in millions from his green investments. 'Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis," Al Gore's sequel to his 2006 tome "An Inconvenient Truth," came out Tuesday. Printed on recycled paper using low-VOC (volatile organic compound) ink, it will undoubtedly be a best-seller and on the desk of every attendee at next month's climate change conference in Copenhagen. In a press release announcing the book, the Oscar-...

Republican Bob McDonnell easily won the Virginia governor’s race last night just a year after the state went overwhelmingly for President Obama and the Democrats. Unofficial results showed the former state attorney general defeated his Democratic opponent Creigh Deeds. The state had a Republican governor for the past eight years. The Virginia race and the contest for governor of New Jersey are viewed as the first referendum on Mr Obama and the Democratic Congress before the 2010 mid-term elections. A year ago, Mr Obama became the first Democrat in 44 years to carry Virginia in a presidential race. This time...

Washington (CNN) – President Obama is not planning to watch Tuesday nights election returns, Obama aides Robert Gibbs and David Axelrod tell CNN. Obama is more likely to watch Tuesday night's Chicago Bulls game than any political coverage, according to Axelrod. The president's senior staff have also decided not to hold a watch party to keep an eye on election returns as they come in.

Last week, I had the opportunity to address over forty members of the United States Congress with the goal to encourage their recognition of the importance of engaging the Iranian people and their ongoing struggle for human rights and democracy. I began my remarks by asking, "If the U.S. is to continue to assert engagement as the path forward in the case of Iran, whom precisely should the engagement be with?" The answer: the "Green Movement" of the Iranian people. If the U.S. supports the Iranian people in their struggle for democracy -- for human rights and liberties -- it...

Here's the list, per a release from Rep. Mike Pence's office. My personal favorite -- #108, the "Program for treatment of child sexual abuse victims and perpetrators." Personally, I kind of like Gov. Jindal's program for the treatment of child sexual abuse perpetrators. I am curious, though, as to what Pelosi has in mind. Maybe Republicans ought to move to strike the "and perpetrators" part of that program? * * Excerpt: 1. Retiree Reserve Trust Fund (Section 111(d), p. 61) 2. Grant program for wellness programs to small employers (Section 112, p. 62) 3. Grant program for State health access...

<p>WASHINGTON – Republican Bob McDonnell opened a lead in early counting in Virginia's governor's race Tuesday as independent voters swung behind the GOP and fled Democrat R. Creigh Deeds, a reversal from a year ago when they catapulted President Barack Obama to the White House.</p>

DIAMOND BAR, Calif. — A cluster of brush fires erupted along the fringes of suburban neighborhoods in eastern Los Angeles County on Tuesday. Helicopters and SuperScooper airplanes roared low over homes to drop loads of water on the flames in hilly terrain just outside back yards. Lines of widely separated flame moved across rolling grasslands. Weather appeared to be on firefighters' side, with little wind evident. County Fire Inspector Steve Zermeno said reports of five to eight separate fires near State Route 60 came in about 11:45. The area is about 25 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. About 150...

Democrats have blown so many deadlines for getting health reform done this year that insiders are increasingly skeptical they can finish by year’s end — and some even suggest the effort might slip to a new deadline, before the State of the Union address. The discussions are an acknowledgment that with only two months left in the year, Democrats are still a long way from sending a bill to the president’s desk. The House could take up reform on the floor as early as this week, with a good shot at passing something by Veterans Day. But in the Senate,...

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New Jersey Democrats have admitted that a series of robocalls on behalf of third party candidate for governor Chris Daggett were paid for by the Democratic State Committee - final proof that Daggett has been a spoiler for Republican Chris Christie all along. Matt Friedman of Politiker New Jersey writes: A Democratic spokeswoman says the party's chairman, Joe Cryan, was not aware of the robocalls when he denied that the state committee had anything to do with them yesterday afternoon. Cryan, who told PolitickerNJ.com yesterday afternoon that the Democratic State Committee had "absolutely" nothing to do with the call, could...

Russia has provoked outrage in Poland by simulating an air and sea attack on the country during military exercises. The armed forces are said to have carried out "war games" in which nuclear missiles were fired and troops practised an amphibious landing on the country's coast. Documents obtained by Wprost, one of Poland's leading news magazines, said the exercise was carried out in conjunction with soldiers from Belarus. The manoeuvres are thought to have been held in September and involved about 13,000 Russian and Belarusian troops. Poland, which has strained relations with both countries, was cast as the "potential aggressor"....

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010. Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others. But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and...

When Dede Scozzafava votes today, she will see her name on the Republican line for the 23rd Congressional District. She plans to pull the lever for her Democratic opponent, then take the rest of the day off to do laundry and take care of other chores she ignored in the last two months of debating and defending her candidacy. Scozzafava quit the race three days before the election and threw her support behind the Democrat, Bill Owens. Scozzafava had been elected as a pro-choice Republican to be mayor of Gouverneur and member of the New York state Assembly. Suddenly, she...

In a year of job losses, foreclosures and bag lunches, Americans have spent record-breaking amounts of money on guns and ammunition. The most obvious sign of their demand: empty ammunition shelves. At points during the past year, bullets have been selling faster than factories could make them. Gun owners have bought about 12 billion rounds of ammunition in the past year, industry officials estimate. That's up from 7 billion to 10 billion in a normal year.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other newspapers owned by the Tribune Co. plan to cut back on use of the Associated Press (AP) next week to test whether they can do without content from the US news agency. The Chicago Tribune said the plan to "utilize as little content from the Associated Press as practical" was aimed at determining whether the Tribune Co., which declared bankruptcy in December, can sever ties with the AP. The Chicago-based Tribune Co. has been looking for ways to cut costs and in October 2008 it gave the AP the...

Property Values Set to Fall 43% From Current Depressed Levels Michael David White November 02, 2009 Price Trends / WAR OF THE WORLDS: If you use a 20-year time horizon, and assume prices will return to the trend line, then our residential property bubble will bottom after values fall over 40% from current levels (see above (c) aka “(y) - (z)” aka “Loss Today to Bottom”). I make no predictions. I do watch numbers. The chart shows a catastrophe of falling real estate values loaded up on top of our current catastrophe in real estate values. No one would question...

CHICAGO (AP) - Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher, researchers say. The estimate comes from an analysis of 30 years of national data, and it bolsters other recent evidence on the pervasiveness of youngsters at economic risk. It suggests that almost everyone knows a family who has received food stamps, or will in the future, said lead author Mark Rank, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis. "Your neighbor may be...

Imagine this. At a time of political turmoil, a charismatic, telegenic new leader arrives virtually out of nowhere. He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care. The news media swoons in admiration -- one simpering anchorman even shouts at a reporter who asks a tough question: "Why don't you show some respect?!" The public is likewise smitten, except for a few nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader's origins and intentions. The leader, undismayed, offers assurances that...

In another era, it was Paul Revere red flagging patriots with the immortal words, “The British are coming!”. Until patriots arrive on Congress steps Thursday at noon, it’s “We the People are coming!” The courageous, Paul Revere like call to action is from bottom liner Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who wouldn’t let Democrats—who changed the locks on doors against the opposition—keep her from turning the tide on the countdown to Obamacare. Waiting on the Congress steps will be radio talk-show giant, bestselling Liberty & Tyranny author and beloved American folk hero Mark Levin along with “Midnight Cowboy”, “Obama-is-the-false-prophet” crusader Jon...

Republican House members will be joined by actor Jon Voight and nationally-syndicated radio talk show host Mark Levin to host a “House Call on Congress” this Thursday. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has led the charge announcing the event last week. Bachmann spoke with HUMAN EVENTS yesterday about the effort to lobby members of Congress in person on their health care vote. “We’re billing this as an emergency house call on Congress. We want to bring all of the town halls of August here to Washington, D.C. because in two months, they’ve forgotten the message that the American people sent loud...

Cannot post article due to rules. Here is MY summary: Texas man gets $26,174 to fix roof and fence at his apartment building. Government claims 450 jobs saved. Police department in Plymouth Conn receives $15,355 for new computers. Government claims 108 jobs saved at this department of 22 cops. Southwest Georgia Community Action Council- recieves $1.3 million. Government claims 935 jobs saved (out of only 500 employees!) In reality, they used the money for a pay raise. Teach For America- received $2 million to help fund salaries for their 125 employees. Government claims 1425 jobs created or saved.

Israelis were given yet another reason to view US President Barack Obama with suspicion last week when he appointed former senator Chuck Hagel as the new head of his Intelligence Advisory Board. Hagel has long rubbed Israel and its supporters the wrong way, and last month he reiterated his antagonistic positions when addressing the liberal Jewish lobby group J-Street. Hagel told his audience that meeting Arab demands for a Palestinian state on ancient Jewish lands is "is central, not peripheral, to U.S. vital security interests in combating terrorism." Israel has for years been trying to impress upon Washington to not...

The Government Will Default On Its Debts Economics / Great Depression II Nov 02, 2009 - 08:01 AM By: Gary_North The governments of every major nation are going to default on their debts. There are two relevant questions: (1) How? (2) When?Establishments around the world all deny this. They have gained power and wealth by means of the expansion of government. They have justified their success by insisting that the government-business alliance is the only way to establish economic growth and economic security for the masses. This claim rests on a more fundamental claim, namely, that an unhampered free market...

Americans are a little less enthusiastic about the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama this time around. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% of adults say they would be at least somewhat likely to vote for Obama if he was up for reelection right now. Forty-nine percent (49%) say they would be unlikely to vote for the president’s reelection. Thirty-four percent (34%) would be very likely to support Obama, while 40% say they would be not at all likely to do so. The question did not specify whom the president would be running against and also was...