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Barack Obama's big speech on tomorrow night will be delivered from an elaborate columned platform resembling a miniature Greek temple, it has been revealed. The stage is similar to structures used for rock concerts and has been set up at the 50-yard-line, the midpoint of Invesco Field, the stadium where the Denver Broncos' American football team plays. Up to 80,000 supporters will see Mr Obama appear from between plywood columns painted off-white, reminiscent of the White House, to accept the party's nomination for president. He will stride out to a raised platform to a podium that can be raised from...

You think the mainstream media aren't trying to build Barack Obama up as high as possible? Here is a brief video of NBC Nightly News on July 20, where they led the broadcast by referring to BO's trip as his "Tour of Duty." I'm sure our men and women in uniform would agree with that characterization. You can't make this stuff up. . . (see video)

Good morning!No primaries, no Hillary, but lots to do beginning TODAY to prevent an Obama presidency!

Is it possible that California could go for a Republican for the first time since 1988? One of the cable news networks reported last night that McCain had come within a few percentage points of B. Hussein Obama in CA. What could make this happen? #1. The referendum on the ballot that would reverse the State Supreme Court Ruling on same-sex marriage. This will bring Conservatives out in droves. (Hopefully out of their hatred for McCain they won’t vote for B. Hussein Obama.) #2. The craziness that keeps going on in B. Hussein's church. I've got to believe that the...

Campus activist Ryan Sorba delivered his "born gay hoax" lecture at the notoriously pro-homosexualist Smith College in Massachusetts last night. You can see leftist/homosexualist reaction in the blogosphere and watch a video of the rabid activists that refused to let Sorba deliver his blockbuster speech. Here is a pdf of his upcoming book: http://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen/08a/born_gay_hoax/TheBornGayHoax.pdf And here is audio from a previous speech at Framingham State University: http://www.massresistance.org/media/audio/2008/BornGayHoax_033108.m3u

By Natalie O'Brien April 26, 2008 The Australian OUTSPOKEN Muslim cleric Taj al-Din al-Hilali says the Bible "mandates" the wearing of the veil by Christian women. Writing in a new book, Sheik Hilali, who lost his job as mufti of Australia after comparing scantily clad women to uncovered meat, argues that the Bible and the Koran make similar demands of a woman's modesty. Sheik Hilali, who remains the head of Australia's largest mosque, in the southwestern Sydney suburb of Lakemba, says the purpose of the book is to show the commonalities of Islam with the Jewish and Christian faiths when...

**EXCERPT** The same conservative Christian activist who called a meeting last fall to discuss backing a third-party candidate to counter a possible Rudy Giuliani candidacy is revisiting the idea as Sen. John McCain closes in on the Republican presidential nomination. Bob Fischer, a South Dakota businessman and anti-abortion activist, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that while he could back the Arizona senator over either Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama, he made clear that he and others in the evangelical movement are not content with those choices. "I'll be working in other ways to see that we...

If the primary season reveals no decisive front-runner, and if conservative delegates head toward the GOP convention with the nagging feeling that our best candidate wasn't in the race, we urge them to consider acting on what so many Republicans and Reagan Democrats are thinking. Drafting Newt Gingrich is a real solution to the current leadership problem. Even as a vice presidential choice, Gingrich would solidify the ranks and reinforce the GOP's position as the party of bold ideas, but as a presidential choice he could bring about a truly needed Second Reagan Revolution.

As is usually the case in politics, in recent weeks we’ve seen a lot of unfair bashing of John McCain as well as gross distortion of his record. Of the two or three candidates with a shot winning the nomination, only John McCain has been a consistent conservative, dating back to before President Reagan. The issues on which he differs with the party are never moral in nature and even then, he's never supported a tax increase and was only opposed to the last two major tax cuts because they contained no curbs on spending. Romney sounds conservative now, but...

Drudge: Siren only.

This is a little bit humor for this Christmas. Personally, I think it's brilliant...( tip of the hat to Instapundit & Randy Barnett )...

The Government is planning a new Whitehall commission that will try to tackle the growth of the "nanny state". Gordon Brown is personally leading the "radical" initiative, having accepted that government has "assumed more responsibility for people's lives than is healthy or desired". He wants the new body to explain to the public why it should no longer do so. advertisement In June, the Prime Minister asked the Better Regulation Commission (BRC), the independent watchdog, to work out the plans and it is understood the final details are now being agreed. If the proposal is given the green light, the...

Conservatives would bolt GOP over Rudy By: David Paul Kuhn June 11, 2007 04:57 PM EST A growing number of influential social conservatives are speaking out against Rudy Giuliani, with some threatening that they will take flight from the Republican Party in 2008 if the former New York mayor is the GOP nominee. Giuliani's support for abortion rights and gay rights has not to date prevented him from winning the support of a sizable number of socially conservative voters, according to polls. But the continued strength of his candidacy is causing alarm among leaders of conservative advocacy groups, many of...

Publics around the world favor dramatic steps to strengthen the United Nations, including giving it the power to have its own standing peacekeeping force, to regulate the international arms trade and to investigate human rights abuses. Large majorities believe the United Nations Security Council should have the right to authorize military force to prevent nuclear proliferation, genocide and terrorism. However support is not as robust among the publics polled for accepting UN decisions that go against their countries’ preferences. These are some of the findings from a survey conducted by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and WorldPublicOpinion.org, in cooperation...

...the average monthly page views at The Drudge Report have been 250 million. EconomicPolicyMonitor.com (EPM) calculates that traffic of this size results in multi-millions in monthly revenue for Drudge...Given that the average price to earnings ratio in the, slowly declining circulation, newspaper industry is 23, a value on the internet driven revenue stream of Drudge can easily justify a near billion dollar value for the site, maybe more...

I just thought I would throw it out there for your consideration. Duncan's choice is NOT negotiable. Newt's IS :) Why Newt?... Because yes, we can forgive those who deserve a second chance, and besides, he will pay the price by running in the second slot, as the Vice-President (Not that there is anything wrong with that!). Then, having gained invaluable experience, fully rehabilitated for his indiscretions, THEN, he will be ready to be president. He is still a young man so he's got the time.

But that analysis may be too simple. In Delaware Giuliani is asked for the umpteenth time if his views on 'social issues' would be fatal to his presidential ambitions. 'I don't get to decide what the issues are. But they are not usually the ones you think they are going to be,' he says. He is right. National security will still be the overwhelming issue of 2008. Giuliani's strong credentials there could make up for weaknesses elsewhere. There are also signs that his problems with the conservatives could be overstated. First, their power is waning. In 2006's congressional elections the...

Moves Closer To Full-Fledged Presidential Run (CBS/AP) WASHINGTON -- Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Monday defended the Iraq war and criticized Al Gore's global-warming movie. As for his presidential ambitions, Giuliani coyly inched closer to a formal announcement. "I am 100 percent committed," he said. "That official part, I still have to do a formal announcement. But we'll figure out how to do that. My idea is that I'm going to try to announce this in 100 different places." Giuliani, a Republican, said he supports efforts to move California's 2008 presidential primary from June to February, a...

Saddam Hussein has been convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging.he former Iraqi leader was convicted over the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail following an assassination attempt on him in 1982. His half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and Iraq's former chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar were also sentenced to death. Former Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan got life in jail and three others received 15-year prison terms. Another co-defendant, Baath party official Mohammed Azawi Ali, was acquitted. Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants will be given the right to appeal, but that is expected...

What He’s Trying to Say By BEN WALLACE-WELLS The White House, like any castle, has its own peculiar rituals, and in the five months that Tony Snow has been President George W. Bush’s press secretary, he has begun to learn them. [snip] ...a man named Lester Kinsolving, a radio host and reporter for a Baltimore station with a big grin and game-show-host wavy hair, will interrupt a back-and-forth on, say, the operational capacities of Al Qaeda to read confounding questions he has written out, word for word, before the press briefing began. “Tony,” Kinsolving began one morning in September, “The...

They're mostly a liberal bunch. Yet the would-be chairmen in a House under Democratic control promise to rule from the center. They'd have little choice, given the likely balance of power they would confront if elected. George W. Bush would still occupy the Oval Office, and no one thinks Democrats could win control of the House by more than a few seats next month. And that would include three dozen or more moderate "blue dog" Democrats. The dynamics ensure that despite the overwhelmingly liberal cast of the chairmen-to-be — as measured by liberal interest groups such as Americans for Democratic...

I'm not sure when this started, but a crucifix cross* appears to have become a regular part of Hillary Clinton's wardrobe. She wore a gold one July 20, for a speech criticizing advertising directed at children. No picture available.) And she wore the diamond-studded one pictured above to the News last week. A Google Images search doesn't seem to turn up any others, though whenever you think you've noticed something new about Clinton, her aides usually produce rock-solid evidence that it has always been thus. Clinton's Christianity, while never exactly lapsed, has rarely been forefront; noticing the jewelry doesn't strike...

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union embarked on the most massive military buildups in history. Part of President Reagan's strategy for winning was to entice the Soviets into a competition it could never even hope to win. A communist economy by its very nature is ill-equipped to compete with a free-market, capitalist system whether it's foreign trade or weapons technology. And so, slowly the Soviet economy became a basket case due to the communists desire to exceed America in an enormously expensive arms race. After the Cold War, with the Soviet threat gone and with...

(If you're thinking what you're thinking is just a joke; you might be horrified to know that any play on words in the original title is intentional.) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- New York, NY- July, 26 2006—- A presidential bust of Hillary Clinton is set to be unveiled at the Museum of Sex on August 9, 2006 at 10 am. Accentuating her sexual power and bolstered by the presidential seal, The Presidential Bust of Hillary Rodham Clinton: The First Woman President of the United States of America will be officially open for public viewing on August 9 for a limited six...

People who drink alcohol are up to four times more likely than non-drinkers to be hurt from physical injuries such as a fall or punch, new research shows.

By now, most people around politics know that former New York Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani would be seeking the nomination for president of the United States. A recent column by Washington's premiere political pundit, Robert Novak, only underlines the obvious: The question is not If Giuliani runs, but When he openly declares that he is running. Though Novak does not say when, I would speculate that Giuliani will announce by the end of this year. A recent Gallup Poll asked the question of its participants: Who they would opt for as the Republican front runner in the 2008 presidential election?...

WASHINGTON - Julian Bond has condemned the war in Iraq and administration policy on education and the economy, yet the NAACP’s chairman is urging President Bush to attend the civil rights group’s annual convention. “We are eminently hopeful that the president will come,” said Bond, whose speech Sunday evening helps kick off this week’s conference. Bush has avoided the conventions since taking office in 2001. His schedule for Wednesday lists an event with the notation “TBA,” or to be announced.

His dragon-slaying heroics have kept his legend alive through the centuries. But the Church of England is considering rejecting England's patron saint St George on the grounds that his image is too warlike and may offend Muslims. Clergy have started a campaign to replace George with St Alban, a Christian martyr in Roman Britain. The scheme, to be considered by the Church's parliament, the General Synod, has met a cautious but sympathetic response from senior bishops. But it clashes with the increasing popularity of the saint and his flag in England. The World Cup brought out millions of St George...

With "In Mortal Danger" skyrocketing up the bestseller charts and public concern growing daily over America's illegal immigration problem, the book's author, Rep. Tom Tancredo – the nation's undisputed heavyweight champion of the border security issue – just may be elected president, a popular cable TV newscaster said yesterday. Since the official launch of his sensational book Monday, Tancredo has been on a media blitz – his book bulleting up the Amazon bestseller list from 7,311 on Monday to 25 yesterday. On Fox News' "Your World with Neil Cavuto" yesterday, host Neil Cavuto introduced Tancredo this way: "Illegals coming into...

WASHINGTON - Immigration issues are always ripe for demagoguery, particularly in an election year. But the solution to the very real problems along the U.S.-Mexican border can be found, ironically, in that other part of the world that demagogues love to ridicule: old Europe. Two years ago, the European Union admitted 10 new members. Like Mexico, all of these nations were poor, some of them fairly backward and most recently ravaged by war and dictatorship. The leaders of the European Union wisely created policies for fostering regional economic and political integration that make the North American Free Trade Agreement "look...

WASHINGTON -- The Hon. Newt Gingrich's recent oracular rumble to a luncheon audience at the Brookings Institution, during which he threatened to seek the Republican presidential nomination if a "vacuum" remains in the Republican field, reminded me of an inescapable insight I suffered sometime in 1998. Gingrich is the Republicans' Bill Clinton. Being a Republican, Gingrich is not as vacuous as the Arkansas huckster, nor as amusing. In fact, he can be boring. Springing from the same late 1960s Jugendkultur as the Boy President, Gingrich is the career pol, the hustling, self-promoting narcissist, the sempiternal fantasist. When he was Speaker...

Democrats close to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton take seriously a possible third-party presidential candidacy in 2008 by Michael Bloomberg despite the mayor of New York’s disavowal of interest. One prominent investment banker with political connections predicts that Bloomberg will dispose of his multibillion-dollar business interests before his term as mayor ends a year before the presidential election. While expected to continue his heavy philanthropy, he will have millions to spare for a presidential campaign. A footnote: Unity08, the third-party movement established by ex-Jimmy Carter aides Hamilton Jordan and Gerald Rafshoon, is reported by political insiders to be seeking financial aid...

THE BEST THING HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON could do for humanity is not run for president. Nothing against her personally, mind you; it's just that her aspirations could get in the way of her husband's worthier ones. In our continuing quest to find an appropriate job for our favorite ex-president — a year and a half ago we suggested he become chairman of the Democratic Party — we now offer an even better suggestion. This time, it's a post he has coveted. Not long after leaving office in 2001, Clinton reportedly told an aide that his dream job would be secretary-general...

We were informed by my child's principal that Senators Hillary Clinton and Blanch Lincoln would be at his school for a reading program presentation. The letter said that only students and faculty could attend -- no parents or friends would be admitted. Usually the school has a real open door policy for parents. The program will not be taped (for later viewing of parents) as Clinton's press secretary will not allow it. So I can't even review what was said or hold anyone accountable. Supposedly this event is not to be used for political purposes. So what is it for?

SENATOR Hillary Clinton is the favourite among Democratic voters to be the party's candidate in the 2008 presidential election, a new poll shows. But only 12 per cent of Democrat voters believe the wife of former president Bill Clinton can overcome the hostility of US Republicans to take the White House, according to the Financial Dynamics poll for The Hotline political newsletter. The New York senator had support from 38 per cent of Democrats, a 24 percentage point lead over nearest rival Senator John Kerry, the losing Democratic candidate in the 2004 election. "The depth and breadth of Hillary Clinton's...

Zimbabwe's white farmers say they have been invited to apply for land - in an apparent U-turn by the government which has seized their land.

A person entering the workforce today in America might face a much longer career than Mom and Dad. Life expectancy in the United States is now around 78 years. But if anti-aging therapies prove to work as well for humans as they have for worms, flies, and mice in laboratories, by the year 2050 people might routinely reach the ripe old age of 120. That could place a tremendous burden on the economy if people continue retiring at 65 or earlier. The retirement age might have to be boosted to 85 to prevent economic collapse, figures Shripad Tuljapurkar of Stanford...

The White House is obviously not listening to the congressional uproar over Dubai Ports World. Lawmakers want to know why a federal panel allowed a state-owned United Arab Emirates shipping firm to pay $6.8 billion to acquire six major American ports -- including critical ones in New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia -- despite its home country's glaring ties to international terrorism. But the White House is yawning.

President Bush's advisers are resigned to the Democratic capture of the White House in 2008, according to senior Republican sources close to the White House. GOP sources said White House strategists have attempted to persuade Mr. Bush that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat and her party’s current front-runner to be the next presidential nominee, cannot be defeated in 2008. Bush strategists said the president should instead focus on seeking to retain the Republican majority in both houses of Congress in 2006 and 2008. "There is nobody in the White House that will openly say we lost the presidency...

HE MADE millions as a businessman, saved the scandal-plagued 2002 Winter Olympics, appeals to social conservatives, is liked by moderates, boasts chiselled good looks and has been a successful Republican governor in one of America’s most liberal states. In Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts Governor who all but threw his hat into the 2008 presidential race yesterday, Republicans have the almost perfect candidate. Except for one potential problem: Mr Romney is a Mormon. After announcing that he would not be seeking a second term as Massachusetts governor, a widely anticipated move that clears the way for a 2008 White House bid,...

TAIPEI, Taiwan - The weight of the world's tallest skyscraper — specially built to withstand Taiwan's frequent earthquakes — could be causing a rise in the number of tremors beneath it, a professor from the island wrote in a scientific journal

Senator McCain of Arizona is emerging as an early favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 as a result of a shift in the issues dominating the American political landscape, according to political analysts.Intensifying public concern about the war in Iraq, the prospect of protracted corruption trials in Washington, and renewed qualms among Republicans about federal spending are all putting wind into Mr. McCain's sails while setting back most of the senator's rivals for the nomination."If Iraq and foreign policy and national security and deficit spending are important issues, that will benefit people like McCain," the publisher of a...

When I extolled the virtues of our federal system of government in a previous column ("Sovereignty, from sea to sea," Times op-ed, Sept. 21), I left out an unfortunate and pernicious side effect of having a government of multiple jurisdictions — taxes. Multiple layers of government, while encouraging balance of power and competing regulatory ideas, also mean multiple layers of taxation. In Seattle, this means the federal government, state government, King County and the city of Seattle all take their pick at one's paycheck, business, house, car and, of course, purchases of goods, including gasoline. The complexity and opaqueness of...

Saturday, 8 October 2005, 09:46 GMT 10:46 UK Boy George on US cocaine charge Musician Boy George has appeared in court charged with possessing cocaine after being arrested in New York. The 44-year-old performer was detained at about 0300 (0700 GMT) on Friday by police responding to a report of a burglary at his luxury Manhattan home. A spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's office said he was released after being charged with possession of a controlled substance. It is alleged he had more than an eighth of an ounce (5g) of cocaine. The charge carries a maximum penalty of...

Launch Complex 33 is the site of the first launch of a V-2 rocket in the US. No longer a weapon of war, it was used as an instrument of science to help the US gain experience in handling and firing large rockets. Today Launch Complex 33 is a tourist attraction as the WSMR museum continues to preserve this important piece of space history for later generations. "During our visit last Nov. to the WSMR we noticed they had a smaller rocket on the original V-2 launch pad at Complex 33. We were also informed by museum staff they would...

WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush asked Congress on Tuesday to consider giving him powers to use the military to enforce quarantines in case of an avian influenza epidemic. He said the military, and perhaps the National Guard, might be needed to take such a role if the feared H5N1 bird flu virus changes enough to cause widespread human infection. "If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country? And how do you, then, enforce a quarantine?" Bush asked at a news conference. "It's one thing...

ONE in three people does not believe official statistics according to a survey ... by the Office for National Statistics. Only four in ten trust government figures - suggesting that spin doctors have created a climate of public distrust about official statistics, even when the data is accurate. Just 17 per cent think government figures such as hospital waiting lists and reported crimes are produced without any political interference and only 14 per cent feel such figures are used honestly. But the report itself highlighted a common pitfall of statistical analysis: one third of those surveyed said they "didn't know"...

True legacy?? A Chinese company is honoring ex-president Bill Clinton by naming a new line of condoms after him - along with a companion line of condoms that will be named after his ex-girlfriend, Monica Lewinsky........

With the shuttle fleet grounded and the International Space Station staffed by a skeleton crew, NASA is set to unveil plans on Monday to take people and cargo to the moon.Even before the official announcement, there is criticism from Capitol Hill over the reported $100 billion cost of the lunar program, given U.S. government commitments to the Iraq war and the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. "This plan is coming out at a time when the nation is facing significant budgetary challenges," Rep. Bart Gordon, a Tennessee Democrat on the House Science Committee, said in a statement. "Getting agreement to move...

President Bush's push to give the military a bigger role in responding to major disasters like Hurricane Katrina could lead to a loosening of legal limits on the use of federal troops on U.S. soil. Pentagon officials are reviewing that possibility, and some in Congress agree it needs to be considered. Bush did not define the wider role he envisions for the military. But in his speech to the nation from New Orleans on Thursday, he alluded to the unmatched ability of federal troops to provide supplies, equipment, communications, transportation and other assets the military lumps under the label of...