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Jonathan Martin at The Politico reports that a John McCain campaign aide was suspended today for sending out a racially-tinged Web video that calls into question Barack Obama's patriotism. Soren Dayton, who works on McCain's political operation, distributed the YouTube link to the video on Twitter, but the link has since been taken down, Martin reports. The video in question highlights some of the controversial statements made by Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright, including his now infamous "God damn America" diatribe. It also questions Obama's patriotism using a clip of the Illinois senator listening to the national anthem without placing a...

John C. Bersia won a Pulitzer Prize in 2000. What happened since then? Eight years later the man apparently canÂ’t even do a Google search let alone deep research. This week he joins the ranks of old media ignorants who wrote about the PentagonÂ’s investigation into documents and tapes captured from SaddamÂ’s regime. Like so many others, he chose to write about it without ever having even seen the report. At least he put his thoughts into the OPINION section instead of a NEWS section, but that suggests he knew he wasnÂ’t writing about the report at all. He was...

Could the Olympics rain down shame on Chinese oppression and Tibet abuses? Let's hope. I hope it all comes crashing down on their heads. Is that wrong? Is it ill-minded and somehow unfair to wish that the Chinese government's notorious record of human rights abuses and absolutely horrid treatment of Tibet be exposed to the world — and the Chinese people themselves — to the point where it is shamed and humiliated and perhaps even forced by unprecedented international scrutiny to upheave its oppressive ways and improve conditions and even (heaven forfend) honor religious and political freedom within its borders?...

ETHANOL MADNESS PART ONE: End the Great 2006 Bio-Fuels Swindle, by EIR staff The current mania for ethanol, biodiesel fuels, "flex-fuel vehicles," and the like, is creating a financial bubble, within which is a swindle, inside of which is a slippery old methane fart waiting to explode. Members of Congress taking part in the swindle, enthusiastically or not, are going to wind up very smelly when the ethanol party ends, the investment boom collapses, and motorists indignantly demand regular gasoline again. Why should we shift to biofuels for transportation — ethanol, for example? Well, first, we'll get 20% less gas...

Hundreds of registered nurses walked off the job at 7 a.m. today to begin a 10-day strike against Bay Area hospitals affiliated with Sutter Health. This is the third such walk-out in less than six months and it will be by far the longest. Similar strikes in October and December lasted two days each. The 10 affected hospitals have hired replacement nurses and will remain open. "We should have this down pat by now," said Jonnie Banks, a spokeswoman for Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley. "It's business as usual," she said. "That includes our trauma center. Our mission here...

Barack Obama’s attempt to defuse the crisis in his presidential campaign caused by videos of his “spiritual mentor’s” bigoted sermons has been spun as “the most significant public discussion of race in decades,” as The New York Times gushed. In fact, Obama merely recycled the tired received wisdom about race in America, the same clichés and nostrums peddled by television, government programs, movies, and just about every classroom in America. That this old racial script is being touted as some sort of fresh and “honest” discussion of race in America proves just the opposite. Liberal Americans, both black and white,...

The Hell, you say? (Keller on Hell, discussed) by Dan Phillips I recently stumbled across an older article by Tim Keller titled Preaching Hell in a Tolerant Age. Keller is something of a celebrity in many circles, and his recent The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism is causing a good bit of blogbuzz. So I thought I'd see how he handled this tense and controversial issue. Keller begins thus:The young man in my office was impeccably dressed and articulate. He was an Ivy League MBA, successful in the financial world, and had lived in three...

HARRISBURG -- The Rendell administration is scurrying to fix a glitch in an online voter registration form, a flaw that could permit the unauthorized disclosure of some people's driver's license numbers and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers. Mrs. Amoros said thousands of people have been signing up to vote in recent weeks -- either first-time voters or those who want to switch their registration to Democrat so they can take part in the April 22 political showdown between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. "It's just been incredible, the number of people changing to Democrat," said Mrs....

NASHVILLE -- State Sen. Ophelia Ford is expected to return to the legislature next week after being absent with an unspecified illness since the session started in January. Ford's temporary assistant, Sherwine Lucien, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the Memphis Democrat had contacted her about booking a flight to Nashville on Monday. "As far as we know, she should be here Monday," Lucien said. Ford has been in and out of the hospital with health issues that have plagued her the past year. The 57-year-old said in March that she had a severe case of anemia that had...

One out of five is not a majority. Democrats should keep that simple fact of political life in mind as they pursue the White House. For a party whose presidential candidates pledge they'll remove U.S. troops from Iraq immediately upon taking office -- without regard to conditions on the ground or the consequences to America's security -- a late February Gallup Poll was bad news. The Obama/Clinton vow to pull out of Iraq immediately appears to be the position of less than one-fifth of the voters.

Executed for murder in 1957, the Church is considering his beatification."Only five hours to live! In five hours, I shall see Jesus.” As day dawned over Paris, a slim, dark-haired young man stepped through a doorway into the courtyard of La Santé Prison. Surrounded by guards, hands and feet shackled, he walked to the guillotine erected in a corner of the yard during the night. He was pale but otherwise calm. On the scaffold, he asked the priest beside him for the crucifix and kissed it. Before the blade fell, he uttered his last words: “Holy Virgin, have pity on...

What a difference a day makes. Twenty-four hours after Barack Obama's teaching moment on race, the landscape was littered with eminent pundits, lying agog in the weeds, overcome by euphoria and flummoxed by failing eupepsia. Their squeals of praise were universally breathtaking: "It was an extraordinary moment of truth-telling." "A masterpiece!" "A profile in courage!" "Brilliant, inspiring, intellectually supple!" "Searing, nuanced, gut-wrenching and loyal." "A speech we have all been waiting for for a generation." The punditocracy, having overdosed on nuance, seared by supple and sore from all those wrenched guts, is fresh out of exclamation points, now on back...

Dean's Secret Plan Revealedby Jed Babbin (more by this author) Posted 03/21/2008 ET Updated 03/21/2008 ET       THE Chairperson THE Democratic Party 430 S. Capitol St. SE, Washington DC 20003 HIGHLY CONFIDENTIALFrom: Chairperson Doctor Governor Former Candidate for President Howard Dean To: Ms. Karen Thurman, Florida State Chairperson Mark Brewer, Michigan State Chairperson All other State Chairpersons Subject: Florida-Michigan Plan Let me just say, no one understands rage better than I do. I’ve heard from most of you (three or four times by now. Some of you have even approached me in darkened parking lots, that was just...

Hillary Rodham Clinton upped the tempo of her fundraising and her spending last month, only to be eclipsed by rival Barack Obama. At month's end, with debts of nearly $9 million, her money was nearly spent and he was sitting atop $30 million in available cash. Obama's campaign spent at a rate of nearly $1.5 million a day in February, a crucial month that began with the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday and ended with both candidates marching to a showdown March 4 in Texas and Ohio. Clinton, riding her best fundraising period yet, spent about $1 million a day on...

Our Nation, Our Military, Our Mission by Alan CarubaMarch 21, 2008   Americans know that we have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but I suspect they have little idea that nearly a half-million of our soldiers, marines, airmen, sailors and coast guard are in far-flung places prepared to deter and defeat the enemies of, not just our nation, but of the freedom we enjoy and want to extend worldwide. “About 490,000 U.S. service personnel are forward-deployed around the world.” The quote above is from Major General Richard Sherlock, director of operational planning for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It should be...

DHARAMSALA, India (CNN) -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday criticized China for its crackdown on anti-government protesters in Tibet and called on "freedom-loving people" worldwide to denounce China. The Dalai Lama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi greet each other Friday in Dharamsala, India. "If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China's oppression in China and Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world," Pelosi told reporters. "The situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world." She made the comments during...

LAS VEGAS — A police officer who went to a motel room where a large quantity of ricin was later found has tested positive for trace amounts of a substance that can be derived from the poison's source, authorities said Thursday. "We did have one sample that had trace detectible levels of ricinine," said Pat Armour, manager of the Southern Nevada Public Health Laboratory, the local coordinator of sampling in the ricin case. The male officer has shown no signs of illness or symptoms of ricin poisoning, officials familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press. The officials spoke on...

NORTH HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- A former Norwin homecoming queen accused of attacking her sister with a prosthetic leg and threatening to burn down a neighbor's trailer was ordered on Wednesday to go to rehab. Donna Sturkie-Anthony showed up for her preliminary hearing before District Judge Douglas Weimer, but the 41-year-old woman's hearing was continued so she can go to Greenbriar Treatment Center. Police said Sturkie-Anthony's sister came to visit her at Lincoln Mobile Home Park on Route 30 in January, and the two started arguing about her alcohol abuse. Then, police said Sturkie-Anthony pulled off her sister's prosthetic leg and...

Here is the complete text of the Governor's e-mail endorsing Obama: Dear Friend: During the last year, I have shared with you my vision and hopes for this nation as we look to repair the damage of the last seven years. And you have shared your support, your ideas and your encouragement to my campaign. We have been through a lot together and that is why I wanted to tell you that, after careful and thoughtful deliberation, I have made a decision to endorse Barack Obama for President. We are blessed to have two great American leaders and great Democrats...

Hillary Clinton calls President Bush's talks with the Saudis about increasing oil output "pathetic." But it's not as pathetic as her co-president husband locking up billions of tons of clean coal in exchange for political contributions. As Bush wrapped up his Middle East trip, Sen. Clinton commented: "President Bush is over in the Gulf now begging the Saudis and others to drop the price of oil. How pathetic." A large part of America's energy dependence on foreign sources can be traced to Sept. 18, 1996, when President Bill Clinton stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon on the Arizona...