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President Obama drew rave reviews for his unorthodox selection of Dr. Sanjay Gupta as the nation's surgeon general. Not only is Dr. Gupta an accomplished neurosurgeon, but as CNN's in-house doc he has also proven himself a bona fide celebrity. People magazine tagged him as one of 2003's "Sexiest Men Alive," and the swooning that met Obama's announcement suggests... --snip-- TAKING THE IDEA mainstream has brought its share of problems, though. The Los Angeles Times profiled a mechanic last year who has converted his fleet of vehicles to be fueled by fryer grease from a local chowder house. Then Sacramento...

Who is leading the Republican Party?[ ] Michael Steele. He's got the official vote and mandate from party leaders.[ ] Rush Limbaugh. His support comes from the GOP base.[ ] No one. The party is wandering aimlessly. VOTE: http://www.newsvine.com/_question/2009/03/03/2500543-who-is-leading-the-republican-party

MARCH 3--Angered that her local McDonald's was out of Chicken McNuggets, a Florida woman called 911 three times to report the fast food "emergency." Latreasa Goodman, 27, last Saturday called police to complain that a cashier--citing a McDonald's all sales are final policy--would not give her a refund. When cops responded to the restaurant, Goodman told them, "This is an emergency. If I would have known they didn't have McNuggets, I wouldn't have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don't want one." Goodman noted, "I called 911 because I couldn't get a...

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- The Hannibal Police Department had several contacts with Manuel Cazares since 2006, including arrests on charges of assault and burglary involving the woman he is now accused of killing. But it wasn't until officers discovered the bodies of Amanda Thomas and Carl Patrick Epley in a Hannibal apartment Saturday morning that police checked the immigration status of Cazares and learned he was in the country illegally.

Trading was choppy and ended on the down side Tuesday after the previous day's big sell-off. The Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 5 points to 696.33. It last closed below 700 on Oct. 28, 1996, when it finished at 697.26.

THE lawns are green and well-tended. The swimming pools are filled with water, not mosquitoes. Steve Cushman, head of the local chamber of commerce, counts just 27 empty storefronts out of 410 along the city’s main shopping street—a rate that many cities in California would envy. In the past year Santa Barbara County has seen a slight increase in employment. The secret to its health? Hostility to development and lack of youth. Nowhere in California is immune to recession, but the oldest areas are proving most resistant. Of the ten counties with the lowest unemployment rates, nine, including Santa Barbara,...

Double-Dip Spending DOUBLE-DIP 122 Federal Accounts Double-Dip From Both Stimulus And Omnibus, Spending Billions More Than Budgeted   SEN. MITCH McCONNELL: “Back in January, I suggested to the Democratic leadership that we take up the omnibus appropriation bill first. And I did that because I wanted to make sure that we were not engaged in duplicate spending when we finally went to the stimulus.” (Sen. Mitch McConnell, Press Conference, 02/24/09)   122 STIMULUS FUNDED ACCOUNTS ALSO FUNDED IN OMNIBUS BILL EXTRA MONEY FOR ARTS ENDOWMENT  DIP:               $50 Million in Stimulus: “For an additional amount for `Grants and Administration', $50,000,000 to be distributed...

President Obama’s 2010 budget seeks to double U.S. aid payments to other countries despite a $1.75 trillion deficit and the worst recession in over a quarter of a century. Obama’s landmark proposal heralds a massive increase in the size of government, and “puts the United States on a path to double U.S. foreign assistance,” according to the White House budget overview. That would mean annual U.S. foreign assistance expenditures at over $50 billion a year, although it’s not clear yet how quickly Obama intends to attain that goal. The president also plans to rapidly expand the size of the State...

Conclusion Although the pretribulation rapture theory is very popular today, given arguments that are offered in support of this doctrine we must declare Pretribulationalism to be contrary to the clear teachings of Scripture. Simply put, there is not one shred of evidence that can be found in the Bible to support the pretribulation rapture. The typical Pretribulational arguments offered reveal a pattern: of imposing one’s presuppositions onto a text without any exegetical justification whatsoever; of finding subtle meaning between words and/or phrases that were never intended by the author; of spiritualizing or ignoring passages that contradict the Pretribulational paradigm; and,...

Former England cricketer Chris Broad has been hailed a hero of the terrorist ambush in Lahore after throwing himself on top of a critically injured umpire Ahsan Raza during the attack. The 51-year-old former batsman was travelling in a motorcade carrying players and officials which came under fire outside the Gaddafi Stadium. Eight people were killed and seven members of the Sri Lankan squad, including its English assistant coach Paul Farbrace were wounded. The attack cast the future of the game in Pakistan, one of the co-hosts for the 2011 World Cup, into serious doubt. Mr Broad, who was to...

Congressman Proposes Bill: No Gitmo Detainee May Set Foot on U.S. Soil Tuesday, March 03, 2009 By Michael W. Chapman, Managing Editor (CNSNews.com) – Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) has introduced a bill that would prevent any of the detainees in the soon-to-be-closed Guantanamo Bay prison from being allowed into the United States. Back on Jan. 22, President Barack Obama issued an executive order mandating the closure of the prison, known as Gitmo, within 12 months. Gitmo holds nearly 250 enemy combatants from the war on terrorism. With the question in mind of where those prisoners will go, Rep. Shadegg introduced...

President Obama said Tuesday that he is not intently focused on the “day-to-day gyrations of the stock market,” comparing the downward roller-coaster on Wall Street to the fickle nature of political polls. “You know, it bobs up and down day to day,” Mr. Obama said. “And if you spend all your time worrying about that, then you’re probably going to get the long-term strategy wrong.” With British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at his side in the Oval Office, Mr. Obama said it was more important to focus on whether lines of credit were flowing, businesses were making new investments and...

ALBANY - Gov. Paterson is running - and not just for re-election. The governor, in a soon-to-be published interview with Runner's World magazine, talks at length about his love of - and difficulties with - jogging. Paterson, who is legally blind, even posed for this picture in his Albany office - knobby knees notwithstanding - wearing a T-shirt from the Achilles Track Club, which encourages disabled people to become athletic. Noting that he had relatively recently taken up jogging, Paterson said, "Running has given me the chance to be athletic.

My mom was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer a little under five months ago. It had spread into the lymph nodes, and getting the news was one of those things that I will never forget. I would throw myself under the wheels of a bus if doing so would protect my mother; and hearing that she had cancer - the very same form of cancer that took her own mother's life - was frightening. My mom went through 3 months of chemo that left her as bald as a cue ball, and had surgery this week. She is now...

I electronically submitted my taxes a month ago, and I'm still waiting for my tax refund from NC (direct deposit). Got my Fed (direct deposit) two weeks ago, and for the last two years, NC has been quicker. Is NC holding my money hostage? Has there been any press on widespread refund delays, and I've missed it? Thanks in advance.

Salem, OR (LifeNews.com) -- A new report from Oregon shows the number of people killed via assisted suicide there has increased 30 percent in the last two years. The news comes just two days before Washington becomes the second state to legalize assisted suicide.The new report from the state health department finds 88 prescriptions for lethal medications were written during 2008 compared with 85 during 2007 and 65 during 2006.Of those who received the deadly drugs, 54 people used them to take their own lives, 22 died from their underlying disease or medical condition and another 12 had not...

Alma 34 9 For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made. 10 For it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice;...

Even 'Dr. Doom' Is Scared: Economy Much Worse Than Roubini Predicted Posted Mar 02, 2009 01:35pm EST by Aaron Task in Newsmakers, Fed Chairman Bernanke raised eyebrows (and, briefly, the market) last week when said there's a "reasonable prospect" the economy will bottom this year and be in recovery in 2010. But Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett disagrees: The economy "will be in shambles throughout 2009 and...probably well beyond," the Oracle of Omaha declared this weekend. In sum, Buffett and much of the rest of humanity are just now coming around to Nouriel Robuini's way of thinking, the economist known as...

Or did he through the Gnostic Gospels? I watched the Gospel of Judas on National Geographic last evening. As in the Gospel of Mary it to focuses on the *Hidden Realm* of GOD, the Stars, the Clouds etc... One of the most stunning truths imaginable has been hidden so well for the last 2000 years that we have not caught a glimpse of its light until the recently surfaced Gospel of Judas. This gospel suggests, among other things, that all generations of people have sat in judgment of Judas based simply on information given to the masses by the most...

Saudi Arabia's top diplomat called on Arabs on Tuesday to stand up to Iran's ambitions in the region, including its nuclear program. According to the AP, Prince Saud al-Faisal told a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo that non-Arab states should not interfere in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Saud stressed that resolution of disputes among Arabs depended on a unified and a joint vision in dealing with the Iranian challenge in regard to the Gulf security and the nuclear issue. “In order to cement Arab reconciliation, we need a common vision for issues that concern Arab security...