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~ EXCERPT ~MERCED, Calif. – The final price of the University of California, Merced's commencement ceremony featuring first lady Michelle Obama was more than $1 million — surpassing the original estimate tenfold. Private contributions and interest on a private endowment fund have helped cover the cost. UC spokeswoman Patti Waid Istas said that nonstate dollars and other contributions will be used to cover the remaining balance of around $362,338.The school had budgeted $100,000 for the May commencement ceremony. The price tag ended up being $1.04 million.

PRINCETON, NJ -- In a new Gallup Poll, 44% of all Americans say they intend to reduce their overall debt over the next six months, with 60% of upper-income consumers planning to do so, compared to 50% of those having middle incomes and 38% with lower incomes. Americans' intentions to reduce their credit use in the months ahead may be the best thing for individual consumers as they work to improve their personal financial well-being, but it does not bode well for the nation's retailers and small businesses. Barring a major shift in consumer attitudes -- particularly among upper-income Americans,...

Leadership: Robert McNamara, architect of the failed U.S. Vietnam war strategy, cultivated a reputation as the smartest man in Washington. But the pride behind his high IQ cost America dearly.When Bob McNamara, who died Monday, was reluctantly convinced in early 1961 by President-elect John F. Kennedy to run the Pentagon, he must have been drunk with self-confidence. He had only weeks earlier been made the first nonfamily member president of Ford. Henry Ford II loved McNamara's grueling work ethic, his seemingly infallible command of statistics, and the record profits he brought Ford in his 15 years there. His academic career...

Nasa astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, has urged the world to forget about returning to our nearest satellite and head to Mars instead. 'Why do we want to go to go back to the Moon?' he asked. 'Some nations want to go for prestige to say they are 'first' in space exploration in the 21st century and they want Nasa to compete with them.

SACRAMENTO -- The state will pay $335,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a woman former state Sen. Carole Migden rear-ended after a wild 30-mile drive in Solano County, attorneys in the case said Monday. Several motorists called 911 after seeing the San Francisco Democrat weaving in and out of traffic on Interstate 80 and Highway 12 on May 18, 2007, in her state-issued Toyota Highland hybrid sport utility vehicle. At one point, Migden sideswiped a guardrail on I-80 near American Canyon Road. "She's been on the phone and reading a book, doing about 80 miles per hour," one driver...

The prevailing view among parents, the general public and mental health professionals that infants as young as six months old "do not remember" traumatic events that happen to them or to their loved ones has recently been disproved, a professor of infant mental health said at a Jerusalem conference on Sunday.... [snip] ... Most professionals and parents have pooh-poohed this idea because infants and young toddlers do not have the verbal ability to describe the trauma, but it nevertheless is stored in their brains, she asserted....[snip]... People are wrong to assume that when traumatized infants grow up and don't speak...

Leadership: The U.S. put on a halo of global citizenship in joining the OAS to condemn Honduras for its "coup." But it was an ill-advised move that will undercut American interests and democracy. Advantage: Hugo Chavez.Never has the U.S. bent over so far backwards to accomodate an tyrant. After Honduran President Mel Zelaya was thrown out June 28 for trying to make himself dictator for life, the U.S. showered him with solicitude and support for his reinstatement. It even voted with the crowd Sunday to suspend Honduras from the Organization of American States, all in the interest of supposedly defending...

WASHINGTON, July 6, 2009 – A new tactical directive for coalition forces serving in Afghanistan re-emphasizes the importance of preventing civilian casualties. Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, released the directive July 2. It builds on previous tactics and is much clearer about use of close-air support, searching Afghan houses and protecting Afghan cultural and religious sensitivities. All coalition forces in Afghanistan must follow the directive. Taliban fighters use a tactic of engaging coalition forces from positions that expose Afghan civilians to danger. Close-air support of coalition and Afghan personnel...

While people get ready to spend their time and money to honor a twisted individual who could sing, Michael Jackson, nary a peep comes from most of the country about Obama voting present as Iran cracks down even harder on those wanting a free and fair election. Guess that's what should be expected when 52% of this country fall victim to one of the great swindlers of our time. Michael Ledeen: The Iranian tyrant, Ali Khamenei, told his cluster of top advisers two days ago that it was time to totally shut down the protests, and he ordered that any...

CHICAGO -- President Barack Obama has raised some eyebrows with his decision to send as ambassador to the U.K. a little-known retired investment banker -- and top fund-raiser -- from his hometown who has little diplomatic experience. The post at the Court of St. James's in London is one of the most prestigious in U.S. diplomatic circles. Though largely ceremonial and rarely controversial, it is a prominent position given the close relations between the U.S. and the U.K. In recent years, it has usually gone to political boosters of the president. Still, the nomination of Louis B. Susman, whose confirmation...

The bitter state of relations between Iceland and Britain over the collapse of Icesave has emerged in official documents warning the UK that it was inflicting damage equal to the Treaty of Versailles. A diplomatic row erupted between the two nations after Landsbanki, the parent bank of Icesave, failed last October affecting 300,000 British savers. But private correspondence reveals that relations were even frostier than publicly disclosed after the Treasury froze the assets of Landsbanki as security in case Iceland refused to compensate British savers. A letter from Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, Iceland's then foreign minister, addressed to the UK several...

WASHINGTON, July 6, 2009 – Afghan and coalition forces foiled an attack on a combat outpost, captured a key terrorist leader and destroyed a bomb-making facility in operations in Afghanistan today, military officials reported. Afghan soldiers and NATO International Security Assistance Force servicemembers killed at least 10 militants and detained another after responding to an attack on a combat outpost in Paktika province this morning. Insurgents attacked the outpost with indirect fire, including multiple rockets and mortars. The force responded with counter fire, close-air support and attack helicopters. No civilian casualties were reported. Elsewhere, Afghan and coalition forces assaulted a...

July 06, 2009, 4:00 a.m. A Thug’s PrimerHow to win liberal friends and oppress your people. By Victor Davis Hanson How strange that our rather nondescript, sober friends abroad do not garner attention from the current administration, yet overt enemies in Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran, Venezuela, and the West Bank most certainly do. Is there some covert code of conduct known to these dictators that allows them to win a pass from supposedly liberal Americans, who profess to value human rights, religious tolerance, and consensual government? Here’s a tutorial for up-and-coming thugs abroad, who wish to ingratiate themselves with Western...

Michael Jackson will be buried this week– without his brain. As his family tries to finalise details for the King of Pop’s funeral on Tuesday they have been told it will be held back for tests. They faced the grim choice of waiting up to three weeks for Jackson’s brain to be returned to them or go ahead and bury him without it – which they have decided to do. Los Angeles Coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey confirmed that neuropathology tests will be carried out to see if it holds any clues to the exact cause of his death. But the...

Stimulus: "The truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited," Vice President Joe Biden told ABC News. Really? What about the "worst economy since the Great Depression"?Those who pushed through this year's $787 billion fiscal "stimulus" seem to be counting on the American people's short memory. Wasn't it just last year that we were told, repeatedly and with stark emphasis, that this economy was the "worst" since the Great Depression? That was the pretense for not only the stimulus, but for the federal takeover of the U.S. auto industry and the quasi-takeover of the...

BAGHDAD, July 6, 2009 – In 2006, an insurgent’s bomb destroyed the police station in Tarmiyah, Iraq -- near Taji, north of the Iraqi capital -- leaving a burning pile of rubble. Today, the station has risen from the ashes and is a new source of pride and an improvement for security for the town. Army Pfc. Jordan Robinson pulls security watch from a guard tower at the new police station in Tarmiyah, Iraq, July 3, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jon Soles  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Soldiers of the 591st Military Police Company, 93rd Military Police...

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: As job losses mount, Democrats are growing impatient about the impact of the massive stimulus package passed earlier this year, with talk beginning on Capitol Hill about a possible second stimulus bill. Today on ABCNews.com’s “Top Line,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said a second stimulus is “probably needed,” and predicted that Congress is likely to act before the end of the year to inject even more federal dollars into the economy.

Dems to reveal how they'll pay for healthcareBy Mike Soraghan Posted: 07/06/09 05:17 PM [ET] By the end of this week, House Democrats may have answered the biggest question looming in the healthcare debate – how they plan to pay for their overhaul. Leadership aides say they will introduce a bill by Thursday or Friday, in preparation for votes in committee next week. And that bill, they say, will include a way to pay for the bill. “It is premature to point to any specific provision, but the House is committed to ensure that healthcare reform is paid for,” said...

Nicholas Sarkozy, the French president, issued the strongest condemnation of Iran's leadership yet seen from a world leader as the country's dispute with European states grew increasingly bitter. In remarks that coincided with a fresh denunciation of Western meddling in Iranian affairs by its top leader, Mr Sarkozy said he was "shocked" by Iran's behaviour. He said: "We believe the Iranian people deserve better than the leadership they have today." After meeting with Gordon Brown in Evian-les-Bains, Mr Sarkozy declared France stood "shoulder-to-shoulder" with Britain in its efforts to secure the release of embassy employees under arrest in Tehran. "We...

WASHINGTON, July 6, 2009 – Vice President Joe Biden and Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, presided over a July 4 naturalization ceremony in which 237 servicemembers deployed to Iraq became American citizens. U.S. servicemembers take the citizenship oath inside Al-Faw palace at Camp Victory, Iraq, July 4, 2009. White House photo by David Lienemann  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “You are the reason America is strong,” Biden told the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who hailed from 59 countries, including Iraq, during the ceremony in the rotunda of former dictator Saddam Hussein’s Al-Faw palace...