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> The military has said it needs a hybrid armored vehicle to provide the same type of protection as mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles that have been used in Iraq. But it must be far more agile, lighter and provide increased maneuverability to handle Afghanistan's rocky terrain. The Defense Department has previously said it could buy between 2,080 and 10,000 of the so-called MRAP-All Terrain Vehicles for use by the Army and Marine Corps. >

Polar bear encounters on the North Slope oil fields have risen to record levels the last two years, a sign that increasing numbers of the white giants may be prowling on land because the sea ice they prefer is shrinking, scientists said. Oil field sightings along the southern Beaufort Sea coast jumped to 321 in 2007 and 313 in 2008, said Craig Perham, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist in Anchorage. That’s more than double the 15-year average of 138. It’s also a sharp rise from 232, the previous high in 2005

BOGOTA – The regime that ousted Manuel Zelaya in Honduras claimed Tuesday that the deposed president allowed tons of cocaine to be flown into the Central American country on its way to the United States. "Every night, three or four Venezuelan-registered planes land without the permission of appropriate authorities and bring thousands of pounds ... and packages of money that are the fruit of drug trafficking," its foreign minister, Enrique Ortez, told CNN en Espanol. "We have proof of all of this. Neighboring governments have it. The DEA has it," he added. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Payne in...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Thomas Hoenig, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, was critical of the government's "ad hoc" rescue efforts during the financial crisis, saying that those actions have institutionalized the concept of "too big to fail" in our economic system. "The current crisis has made it clear that the group of systemically important firms that might be deemed worthy of special consideration by policy-makers is larger than previously thought," Hoenig said in a Tuesday speech at New York University. Small banks see a competitive advantage flowing to larger firms, he added. Fed Chairman Ben...

The Environmental Protection Agency took a major step toward tougher reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks Tuesday by giving California the green light to impose new requirements that could become the national model for combatting tailpipe pollution linked to global warming. The EPA granted California's long-standing request — denied by the Bush administration — for a waiver to allow it to pursue more stringent air pollution rules than required by the federal government. It cleared the way to implement immediately a 2002 state pollution law requiring new cars to increase their fuel economy 40 percent by 2016....

Tulsa - A man is in the hospital after police say he tried to attack another man with a hatchet, but ended up being shot. -- The investigation revealed that during a domestic dispute between a man and a woman, another man became angry and began chasing the man involved in the argument with a hatchet. The chase continued to a nearby home, where the homeowner came out to see what was going on. The homeowner went back into the home, got his pistol and returned outside, yelling at the men to stop. That's when the man with the hatchet...

Obama's Cairo Speech Inspires Islamic Group to Give Qurans to US Leaders June 30, 2009 6:02 PM ABC News' Elizabeth Gorman reports: Prompted by President Obama's speech directed to the Muslim world in Cairo in early June, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today launched its "Share the Quran" campaign distributing free Qurans to local, state, and national leaders across the United States. The organization's spokesperson said it will also send a copy to Obama and Vice President Biden. "This is pure educational. I want to make it clear that this is not proselytizing or a campaign or project to...

JENSEN BEACH - A man was charged with domestic battery after he drenched his wife with a garden hose and attacked her for smoking in the house, according to a police report. The altercation began Saturday evening when the victim entered the couple's residence in the 1400 block of Northeast Chardon Street while smoking a cigarette. The affidavit says the victim's husband, John Jeffrey Murray, 51, began yelling at her about smoking in the house and sprayed her with the hose. When the victim picked up the phone and began calling a friend, Murray believed she was trying to call...

See the video Democrats refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance! In this case, though, the context actually improves the story. This takes place in Albany, where the New York state Senate remains locked in a power struggle in an evenly divided chamber. Rather than an insult to American patriotism, the Democrats here engaged in an insult to the intelligence of New Yorkers:

One of the traits of leftist activism is to constantly repeat falsehoods about an issue, while claiming they are actual truths. This tactic has been widely used in the global warming debate and its success is evident every single night on the MSM network news. There are a couple of leftist climate blogs that specialize in this tactic, one of which is Realclimate.com. A famous climate scientist has just called them out on their most recent falsehood propaganda. It's good to see hard-nosed climate scientists pushing back on pseudo-scientific garbage coming out of these leftist sites.

Low-income apartment dwellers and middle-class condo owners have shared Westhaven Park Tower since the building opened in 2006 -- an innovative setup that the city hoped would unite residents and exemplify Chicago's $1.6 billion overhaul of public housing. Proximity, however, has not led to harmony. The most recent skirmish inside the 113-unit midrise on Hermitage Avenue on the West Side concerned building security. Another flare-up centered on the proper use of the lobby: Public housing residents -- who make up a third of the building -- saw it as a place to hang out; condo owners did not.

Embezzler Bernard Madoff, who swindled clients out of at least $50 billion, was sentenced to 150 years imprisonment Monday. Very few media reports have focused on the damage that Madoff did to left-leaning foundations and political causes. I wrote about this topic in the American Spectator in January. The record-breaking fraud is forcing the closing of the JEHT and Picower foundations, longtime supporters of leftist groups. Left-wing groups funded by those charities include ACORN (known for its massive voter-fraud campaigns), the Center for Constitutional Rights (a pro-Castro member of the open borders lobby), and Alliance for Justice (which supports habeas...

On Today's Show...   As Predicted, State-Run Media Props Up Failing Obama Economy Unemployment is up everywhere. Consumer confidence, home sales, stocks and personal wealth are down. But on State-Run CNN, it's morning in America! (Rush 24/7 Members:  Listen) President Obama Aligns with Marxist Dictators on Honduras Chavez, Castro, Ortega, and Obama back a fellow authoritarian. (Rush 24/7 Members:  Listen) » A Great Michael Ramirez Political Cartoon: Restore the Dictator in Honduras!   It Can't Happen in America? "Obama can't appoint himself president for life like this Honduran nut, Rush." No? A Democrat is already trying to repeal presidential term limits....

On the red carpet at the BET Awards, as CNN’s Don Lemon interviewed him, Joe Jackson was contemptuous and put-off, willing to give only terse, perfunctory answers to complicated questions. Jackson, resembling a baked potato in a pair of cheap sunglasses, came off more as a gold miner eager to stake a claim than the grieving father of his world-famous son. I have friends who have lost parakeets, dogs, guinea pigs and wino uncles, and they’ve spent more time in mourning than Michael Jackson's father. I've been more distraught over bad sushi. He struck me as someone with a hurried...

SPRING VALLEY LAKE • What possibly started as a fight over a crow led to a melee involving at least 50 people during Spring Valley Lake’s Family Festival, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Victor Valley station officials. Two groups of people were barbecuing along the east beach near Spring Valley Parkway and Country Club Drive on Saturday night when a member of the first group kicked a crow that was hopping around their area, said Stella Hodson, spokeswoman for the Victor Valley station. “Someone from the second group took exception to the abuse of the bird and confronted the...

Inflation isn't caused by the actions of private citizens, but by governments, by an artificial expansion of the money supply required to support deficit spending. No private embezzlers or bank robbers in history have ever plundered people's savings on a scale comparable to the plunder perpetrated by the fiscal policies of Barack Obama.

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), founder of the Out of Iraq caucus, criticized Dick Cheney and the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq. Rep. Moran wouldn't declare the US the winner in Iraq, but said that Iran won the war.

Here is audio of Rush Limbaugh today pondering whether President Obama is laying the groundwork to stay in office beyond 2016! Limbaugh thinks it is possible that Obama's followers will seek to change the U.S. Constitution (22nd Amendment) to allow him to serve more than two terms. On the face of it, I would say this is doubtful, but it really would not surprise me considering the blind allegiance so many seem to have for him. . . . . . (Watch Video)

St. Peter's crucifixion is portrayed in a mural by Michelangelo in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to inaugurate the chapel July 4 after a five-year, $4.6 million renovation. (CNS/courtesy of the Vatican Museums) VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Work on the Pauline Chapel in the Apostolic Palace was not so much a restoration as a restitution of the pope's prayer space, said the director of the Vatican Museums. Containing the last two murals Michelangelo ever painted, the private papal chapel had been under scaffolding for more than five years; it was...

As MSNBC and CNN battle for second place, second-quarter Nielsen numbers show the network's programs now rank one through 10 in total viewers on cable news. Since Obama came into office, Fox has continued not only winning, but doing so at unprecedented levels. As the Hollywood Reporter noted last week, the network is having its "best year yet," with the competition in the ratings, shifting from not only the news networks but all of basic cable. Indeed, Fox came in 3rd this quarter, behind only USA and TNT. Across the board, already top-rated shows are up by percentages in the...