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PRESIDENT Barack Obama admitted "I screwed up" after his political soul mate and pick to lead health reform Tom Daschle withdrew in a storm over personal tax issues. On Mr Obama's worst day in the White House so far, he also lost another nominee - Nancy Killefer, who he had named as Government budget watchdog, and termed one of his most "important'' appointments - also over tax issues. The twin bombshells overshadowed Mr Obama's bid to showcase his economic stimulus plan in a flurry of television interviews and reflected the potential traps he has set for himself by promising a...

It seems as though Barack Obama has not officially been sworn in as President of the United States due to TWO.. yes TWO... screwed up Oaths...

I was just on a website reviewing the various proposals that Californians will be voting for next month, and I clicked on their "President" link. Lo and behold, I see that after Obama and McCain, the next name that will actually appear on the ticket is Alan Keyes, running as an American Independent.I think he's a little extreme, but I'm considering casting a protest vote for him, if only to send the message "I am not happy with our current GOP choice." Now, before you tell me I'm throwing my vote away, consider: I live in California, land of fruit...

Bush admits U.S. 'screwed up' over N. Korea banking impasse (Kyodo) _ U.S. President George W. Bush admitted during his talks in April with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the U.S. government failed to fully read North Korean actions over the recent banking impasse, saying Washington "screwed it up," sources close to the Japan-U.S. relation said Thursday. The remark may be seen as a rare acknowledgment by Bush that the United States erred in handling the stalemate over the transfer of North Korean funds that effectively has held up the six-nation nuclear talks since March, the sources told Kyodo...

Lately in Sarajevo, it has become common to see vans with tinted windows in which women in black hijab and children are escorted, usually by two bearded men in the traditional Wahhabi short trousers. Only until six months ago, Nermina from Sarajevo was one of those women dressed in hijab. For five years she was a follower of the Wahhabi movement and wore a long black dress concealing her entire body and a veil covering her hair, neck and face. She also had to wear gloves. Nermina (not her real name) left the movement and abandoned the hijab after feeling...

President Bush has staked out a hardline position on Iraq that is out of step with even his top military advisers and leaves the United States few options, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden said in Iowa Tuesday. "With him digging himself in (Monday), he went even beyond what I'm confident his military advisers are saying, that under no circumstances are we going to leave," Biden said. Biden's comments came as he opened his latest swing through Iowa in Cedar Rapids, where he campaigned for congressional candidate Dave Loebsack. Biden said he had traveled to war torn Iraq this summer. During the...

AOL criticized for spilling search data Internet division of Time Warner acknowledges 'screw-up' for releasing information on 20 million AOL searches. August 7 2006: 11:57 AM EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) -- AOL on Monday said it released a small portion of keyword search information for about 658,000 anonymous AOL users in a move that ignited a firestorm of criticism on the Internet amid calls for tighter protection of the privacy of users' Web searches. The Internet division of media conglomerate Time Warner (down $0.20 to $16.36, Charts) released information on about 20 million searches done from its AOL software over...

Engineers investigating the collapse of the Interstate 90 connector tunnel said this afternoon that they have found about 240 more "suspect bolts" securing concrete ceiling tiles similar to those that fell Monday night and crushed a woman to death. In some areas, inspectors have found a gap of at least 1/16 of an inch between the steel hangers and concrete, according to Michael P. Lewis, the state's Big Dig project director. “It may not be a failure,” Lewis said, speaking at an afternoon press conference. “It may just be a natural gap.” Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Chairman Matthew J. Amorello said...

Investigators unraveling how concrete ceiling panels cascaded onto a car in one of the Big Dig tunnels should focus on some basic, troubling questions about the way the tunnel ceiling was built, civil engineers and highway construction specialists said yesterday. Officials from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority suspect that the accident that killed Milena Del Valle began with the failure of a single steel hanger that helped hold up the concrete ceiling, setting off a chain reaction that caused other hangers to fail and send 12 tons of concrete to the highway surface as Del Valle's husband drove underneath. ...

In a reversal of policy, the United States on Monday backed an Iranian initiative to deny United Nations consultative status to organizations working to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, a coalition of 39 organizations, led by the Human Rights Campaign, Human Rights Watch, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, called for an explanation of the vote which aligned the United States with governments that have long repressed the rights of sexual minorities. "This vote is...

The federal official in charge of the bungled New Orleans rescue was fired from his last private-sector job overseeing horse shows. And before joining the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a deputy director in 2001, GOP activist Mike Brown had no significant experience that would have qualified him for the position. The Oklahoman got the job through an old college friend who at the time was heading up FEMA. The agency, run by Brown since 2003, is now at the center of a growing fury over the handling of the New Orleans disaster. ``I look at FEMA and I shake...

Do overbearing, shoe-removing searches at the airport make you feel safe? How about the crisp black and white uniforms of screeners since Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) took over? Sadeq Naji Ahmed is Exhibit A that you are not safer, that the TSA isn’t screening the screeners. He’s also proof positive that radical Muslims in the military can get away with saying anything, while other soldiers cannot. For almost two years, Ahmed was a baggage screener at Detroit’s Metro Airport, despite his frightening background. Ahmed, a Yemeni Muslim since indicted in federal court in Detroit, was honorably discharged from...

was absolutely astounded yesterday when Florida Governor Jeb Bush held that press conference and talked about the State of Florida taking custody of Terri Schiavo. He presented to the media the opinion of a doctor that Terri Schiavo was not in a persistent vegetative state .. but rather just in some sort of a period of reduced consciousness. This doctor has never seen Terri Schiavo, except on videotape, and he's issuing findings that are completely at odds with doctors who have been personally examining Terri for many months. Think about this for a moment. Attending physicians conduct their examinations and...

Sen. John Kerry reiterated his pledge on Monday to sign the form that would allow the government to release all his military records, but said he wanted to know exactly what was in his file before doing so. "I have a stack of different material they sent me," Kerry told radio host Don Imus. "Every time they send me something I want to know what they sent me." "I'll get it done," Kerry insisted in the next breath. Last week the 2008 presidential hopeful suggested he wanted to review his full Navy file to make sure of "what is in...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

Alleged US deserter Hassoun may be in Lebanon US Marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, charged with desertion in a mysterious case in which he left his unit in Iraq and turned up in Lebanon, has again gone absent and appears to have returned to Lebanon.The US military has tracked records from bank machines indicating that Hassoun made his way to Canada and then back to Lebanon, the country of his birth, said a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.The Marine Corps formally declared him a deserter on Wednesday.Major Matt Morgan, a Marine Corps spokesman at Camp Lejeune, said Hassoun...

Argentine warship hits Brazil ship From correspondents in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil December 1, 2004 AN Argentine warship inadvertently fired on a Brazilian frigate during joint naval exercises in the Atlantic Ocean, injuring five people, officials said. Four Brazilian sailors and an Argentine officer were hurt during live-fire training late on Monday night off the coast of Brazil near Cabo Frio, 125km north-east of Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian Navy said. The accident happened when an Argentine warship fired a shot from one its canons, hitting the Brazilian frigate Rademaker. The five men were taken to a naval hospital in...

No one disputes the fact that it was right here in Arizona that John Kerry inflicted one of many near-mortal wounds to his presidential aspirations. Now we might know why. In a fascinating postmortem of the campaign, the latest issue of Newsweek hints the reason could be traced to domestic discord between Kerry, his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, and daughter Vanessa Kerry. It was at the Grand Canyon in August that John Kerry was asked if, knowing that Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction, he still would have voted for the war. By answering in the affirmative, Kerry undercut...

"Playing Hamlet" John Kerry political cartoon.  May 24, 2004...To be, or not to be the nominee? Sen. John Kerry has a money problem. Once he accepts the Dem presidential nomination, he locks into the $75 million from the FEC and his unlimited fundraising comes to a complete halt -- five weeks before his opponent’s, President Bush. That means Bush has five more weeks than Kerry to raise unlimited campaign dollars. How did this happen? Democrat Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe, wanting the selection process for the Democrats to be over early, scheduled the Democrats’ Convention in Boston from July 26...