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BERLIN (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told a German magazine he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months. In an interview with Der Spiegel released on Saturday, Maliki said he wanted U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible. "U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."

The Bird Feeder I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it lovingly with seed. It was indeed a beautiful bird feeder. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue. Then came the bird shit. It was everywhere; on the patio tile, the chairs, the table ... everywhere! Then some of the birds turned mean. They would dive bomb me and...

JUNE 28--We hate to call ex-con Paris Hilton a liar, but when she told Larry King last night that she had never taken drugs, it seems that the heiress somehow forgot about the marijuana, hashish, mushrooms, and Quaaludes. Hilton's, um, familiarity with illegal substances was memorialized on home videos she shot over the past several years in various cities. As we've previously reported, her videos are available on a web site that charges about $20 for a one-month subscription. In the seven clips you'll find below, Hilton does (and talks) drugs with sister Nicky, former boyfriend Jason Shaw, assorted swells,...

Last week, Michael R. Bloomberg, the New York City mayor, stood on a sunny public school terrace in Queens and told reporters that he was not running for president. “I’m just going to be giving an energy speech in Houston on Friday and a commencement speech in Oklahoma Friday night,” he said, describing his national campaign-style travel plans. He added coyly, “I don’t know why you would think anything like that.” So it... --snip-- And while aides say he has not been persuaded to mount a campaign, he has fashioned a second-term agenda for the city that is in many...

Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow insisted Monday that contrary to a recent article in a European newspaper, she feels "proud to be American" and would never compare her homeland unfavorably to Britain. In a statement issued through People magazine's Web site, Paltrow said she was "deeply upset" by remarks attributed to her by the Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias, which quoted the actress as saying: "The British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans." "I never, ever would have said that," said Paltrow, 34, who is married to British rock star Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, and...

In response to e-mail generated by a WND story noting Google didn't mark Veterans Day for an eighth straight year, the search engine giant created a form letter explaining the non-commemoration of the holiday was deliberate and out of reverence. "Thank you for your note," read the form response. "We understand your concern and interest in seeing a Veteran's (sic) Day Google logo. If we were to commemorate this holiday, we'd want to express reverence; however, as Google's special logos tend to be lighthearted in nature, this would be a particularly challenging design. We wouldn't want to create a graphic...

Seething at what they consider racist slurs against African-Americans displaced by Hurricane Katrina, activists here Friday took verbal aim at gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman and west Houston residents who last week urged city officials to send evacuees back home. "The nerve of the white man to talk about shipping anyone anywhere," Houston activist Quanell X told a small group of reporters and the public Friday at a Texas Southern University news conference. "This is disgraceful." His comments came as local and New Orleans activists gathered in Houston to craft a response to the comments, which they said smeared the estimated...

But we Americans seem to have short memories. What else could explain the fact that we, generally speaking, so-often lambaste the French, calling them “cowards” for not allying themselves fully with us in every instance? We constantly throw in their faces the fact that we came to their rescue in World Wars I and II. And we’ve all heard the jokes: “Surplus French military rifles for sale. Never fired. Dropped once.”

ALCATRAZ ISLAND, United States (AFP) - A tribal chant rose from a thousands-strong prayer circle on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay as Native Americans held a sunrise "Unthanksgiving Day" ceremony. "What we call it is Unthanksgiving," Bear Lincoln of the Wailikie Tribe told AFP as he waved burning sage to purify the area and ward off evil spirits. "It was the saddest day for us. It was a big mistake for us to help the Pilgrims survive that first winter. They betrayed us once they got their strength." Traditional Thanksgiving feasting in the United States is a tribute to...

I've decide that from this date forward I will no longer donate to any national calamity in any of the so called "Blue States".They don't deserve my help, and afterwards I don't feel they appreciate my help anyway.

ROME - An Italian judge has ordered the arrest of 13 CIA agents for allegedly helping deport an imam to Egypt as part of U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, an Italian official familiar with the investigation said Friday. The agents are suspected in the seizure of an Egyptian-born imam identified as Abu Omar on the streets of Milan in February 2003, according to the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The U.S. Embassy in Rome declined to comment. Prosecutors believe the agents seized Omar as part of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program, in which terror...

This comes as no surprise, but our do-nothing neighbors to the North have declined participation in the missile defense shield. Apparently, the support just isn't there within the House to "risk" the Liberals losing future elections over. The fact that this issue is so charged that Canadians would vote them out of office if they supported it should give us all a little into the mindset of our "allies." I don't know how else to read it other than Canadians prefering to bind our hands when it comes to defense. Does the majority of Canada prefer to see more destruction...

For some people, and some countries, the US can do no right. In the wake of the tsunami and earthquakes in South Asia, critics wasted no time in referring to US aid as "stingy" and "delayed." Even though the US began with an initial aid package of about $35 million, while still trying to assess the need and organize for a much greater commitment, the UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland suggested that the United States and other Western nations were being "stingy" with relief funds, saying there would be more available if taxes were raised.

I'm getting damned tired of being made to feel like I have to defend the United States of America against accusations made by people from other countries who consistently prove themselves to be lacking in any respectability or honor whatsoever, and I think it's about time I expressed a few of my more contentious views concerning the "international community" in general. When this country and its coalition partners first invaded Iraq some 21 months ago, the international press began a disinformation campaign of practically unparalleled proportions, designed specifically to turn world opinion against our efforts to root out and destroy...

I only have access to a few English language television stations while I am visiting Israel: BBC News and CNN International. Every quarter hour they recap the top stories. Today’s big story (after the non-stop images of a tidal wave taking out resorts frequented by Europeans and few Americans) is the comment of U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland who said that western nations, particularly the United States, were being stingy with their aid packages offered for victims of the disaster. Without putting into context the fact that the United States provides more funding to the UN than any...

During the recent presidential campaign, Sen. John Kerry assailed President Bush for alienating key U.S. allies, evidence he maintained of the incumbent's lack of foreign policy acumen and an arena in which the challenger insisted he could "do better." Implicit in this critique was the belief that such allies — notably, the French — were anxious to be our friends, if they were not mistreated by America's leader. In fact, it is increasingly clear the French government under President Jacques Chirac is bent on policies antithetical to U.S. interests. They are not simply anti-Bush, they are anti-American and anti-Atlaniticist. The...

CBS News Mark Strathman reports that before Jessicas death, the family was asked whether Jessica's heart and lungs would like to be redonated.The family refused, and wanted another doctors opinion about keeping her on life support.In North Carolina the familys consent is not needed to take someone off of life support.

MIDI - OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING As we deal with Iraqi transgressions The French haven't learned Chamberlain's lessons At one time we thought they were allied with us Now we don't give a damn if they're hit by a bus Cheese-eating surrender monkeys…that is what they have become Cheese-eating surrender monkeys…oui, oui…the French are such scum Thanks to us they are not speaking German They are giving new meaning to vermin At one time we thought they were allied with us Now we don't give a damn if they're hit by a bus Cheese-eating surrender monkeys…that is what...

Please remember not to leave unsightly matches laying around.

These two Tri-City students, whose last names are withheld for fear of reprisals, are classic examples of students who face college tuition costs triple that of their classmates because they are not legal residents. Alfonso wrote a poem about a better life through education rather than a life of toil in the fields. Laura dreams of college, too. Alfonso, 18, is a realist. While he dreams of a better life instead of summers spent picking cherries and onions, he knows the cold, hard truth - a college education is out of reach. Another Tri-City high school senior fears the same....

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Vanderbilt University is dropping the word "Confederate" from the name of a residence hall, angering a group that helped finance it.Vanderbilt, a private liberal arts university, decided earlier this month to rename Confederate Memorial Hall as Memorial Hall, university officials said.The old name has stirred debate on campus since Vanderbilt renovated the hall in 1988. Some students refused to set foot inside.The United Daughters of the Confederacy, which contributed a third of the funds to build the facility 67 years ago, said Vanderbilt caved in to political correctness."We're very upset," said Carolyn Kent, who was president of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush's spokesman on Thursday expressed outrage that Germany's justice minister drew a link between Bush's saber-rattling on Iraq to the tactics used by Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Spokesman Ari Fleischer said the United States and Germany have long had a strong relationship, "but this statement by the justice minister is outrageous and is inexplicable." The regional Schwaebisches Tagblatt newspaper quoted German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's justice minister, Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, as saying "Bush wants to divert attention from his domestic problems. It's a classic tactic. It's one that Hitler used." The Bush administration has been none too pleased...

THE DEBTS WE OWE Ben Shapiro America is the most powerful, moral and generous nation on the face of the earth. So why do liberals attack it? Ingratitude. Liberals are like spoiled children -- they whine until they get what they want and then neglect to say "thank you." They disdain the hard work and effort of all the heroes who shaped our country, and go out of their way to insult them for not doing more. The various different groups who ally under the umbrella of liberalism simply lack appreciation. That bastion of liberalism, the university system, assaults students...