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When then President Bill Clinton spoke at former President Richard Nixon’s funeral, he suggested that the “day of judging President Nixon on anything less than his entire life and career come to a close.” The speaker had no clue at the time how much he would need that kind of big-picture graciousness later on, but these sentiments are common on such occasions. Having been a member of the clergy for 32 years, it has been my duty to officiate memorial services, comforting mourners while doing my best to eulogize the deceased. The word eulogy is rooted in scripture, most often...

English translation in first comment. Aber der Demokrat Barack Obama dürfte Ihren Geschmack treffen. Immerhin wird er als der neue Kennedy gefeiert. Ist er es denn wirklich? Kennedy: Barack Obama ist alles - und er ist auch okay, weil er halt Demokrat ist wie ich. Aber er ist kein Kennedy - für mich jedenfalls nicht. Und wenn Sie das sagen ... Kennedy: ... nun ja, wir sind die Kennedys - er nicht. Obama hat seinen eigenen Stil und Background. Er ist sicher ein beeindruckender Mann, der andere durch seine Persönlichkeit und Reden mitreißen kann, so wie mein Onkel die Menschen...

When he served as deputy attorney general, now Attorney General Eric Holder gave a "neutral leaning positive" recommendation that led to President Bill Clinton's pardoning of gazillionaire fugitive Marc Rich, who was on the lam in Switzerland hiding from federal charges of fraud, evading more than $48 million in taxes, racketeering and trading oil with Iran in violation of a U.S. embargo. Holder also had a role in the 1999 Clinton pardons of 16 Puerto Rico independence terrorists -- members of the bomb-happy FALN or the splinter group Los Macheteros -- who had been convicted on such charges as bank...

If the Kennedy Era in American politics is over, instead of just taking a breather (Joseph P. Kennedy II has been mentioned as a possible candidate for his Uncle Ted's Senate seat), what did it mean? Character failings are not irrelevant to how well one serves the public; it was because of Chappaquiddick that Ted Kennedy was defeated by Robert Byrd as Democratic party whip in the Senate in 1971. But defenders are so quick to dismiss these issues, so let's stick to policy instead, and see if the liberal argument that Kennedy's political work made up for his personal...

Apple has debuted a new ad in their "Get a Mac" campaign called "Trainer" which prominently features actor Robert Loggia ("Big," "Scarface," and "Independence Day," among hundreds of other projects). In the new ad, Loggia plays a physical trainer trying to whip poor PC into shape with inspirational messages such as, "Come on get started you bucket of bolts" — which we imagine has to be pretty close to, if not exactly, how the Windows sufferers start each miserable day — and "PC Mag rated Mac #1 in customer support. Are you just going to take that?" Already tired, PC...

When she was 16, Crystal Renn signed a $250,000 modeling contract and moved to the city. But after starving herself for years to stay at 95 pounds, she gave it all up to become a plus-size model -- and finally, at size 12, achieved major success. With her memoir, "Hungry," due out Sept. 8, Renn tells her story to The Post. Nine years ago, when I was 14 years old, a modeling scout spotted me at an etiquette class in my hometown of Clinton, Miss., and pulled me aside to show me a photo of supermodel Gisele in a clingy...

For those of us on the O’Malley beat, there were lots of interesting moments yesterday, but none more so than the lengthy greeting that Cardinal Sean O’Malley had with PresidentObama. O’Malley, of course, is the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston and has been sharply critical of Obama’s support for abortion rights (“This man has a deplorable record when it comes to prolife issues,’’ O’Malley told me after the election). I asked O’Malley’s spokesman, Terry Donilon, what the two men talked about, and he e-mailed back, “If he chooses to speak about it, he will in the blog, but it was...

Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer yesterday announced an interest rate hike for September 2009, thus becoming the first central banker throughout the developed world to raise interest rates since the economic crisis began last year. The increase isn't big: Fischer is raising the Bank of Israel's overnight lending rate to banks by 0.25%, to 0.75%. A rate of 0.5%, which had been in place for five months, is all right for an economy in deep recession, a top official at the Bank of Israel told TheMarker yesterday. But Israel isn't in deep recession: Enough indicators show improvement to warrant...

FLINT, Michigan -- Don't rub the stars from your eyes: you really might see award-winning actor Brian Dennehy chatting up fellow star Fred Thompson at Gillie's Coney Island in Genesee Township or Blackstone's in downtown Flint. The pair have signed on to two of the leading roles in "Alleged," a new movie on the historic Scopes Monkey Trial being shot at Crossroads Village starting Sept. 14. Dennehy will portray Clarence Darrow and Thompson will play William Jennings Bryan in an original screenplay (not a remake of the Spencer Tracy classic) about the famous courthouse battle over evolution. Names have not...

Persons and Events that provide historical precedent: 1)His creation of fear and terror in the electorate and his desire to take revenge on the rich people of America The Reign of Terror in France in the early 1790's under Robespierre and the destruction of the aristocracy 2)His desire to eliminate right-wing talk radio Chavez taking over radio stations in Venezuela 3)The establishment of national civilian security force Hitler's Brownshirt militia 4)The MSM in the pocket of Obama Goebbels and his Propaganda ministry 5)The treatment of Sarah Palin as crazy by Obama's team The treatment of women in America until roughly...

For a world first, the announcement came with remarkably little fanfare. But last month, the Swedish Riksbank entered uncharted territory when it became the world’s first central bank to introduce negative interest rates on bank deposits. Even at the deepest point of Japan’s financial crisis, the country’s central bank shied away from such a measure, which is designed to encourage commercial banks to boost lending. But, as they contemplate their exit strategies after the extraordinary measures of the past two years, central bankers will be monitoring the Swedish experiment closely. Mervyn King, the Bank of England governor, has hinted he...

AUSTRALIA'S last two servicemen missing in action from the Vietnam War have begun their final journey home. The remains of Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert Carver, both lost in 1970, have been placed aboard a RAAF Hercules transport aircraft for the trip from Hanoi, Vietnam, back to Australia. Family members and former comrades of the RAAF's 2 Squadron observed the solemn ceremony at Noi Bai Airfield as their caskets were carried aboard the aircraft. The family members and former servicemen will accompany them on the journey home. Parliamentary secretary Dr Mike Kelly said the aircraft would fly...

The parallels between Barack Hussein Obama and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin are intriguing. To be sure, there are differences: Barack Obama is not the absolute ruler of a tyrannical state. Lenin was. We are not about to see a violent Bolshevik coup like Lenin's. (At least, I'm fairly sure.) America in 2009 is not Russia in 1917. So we won't equate them. And yet, without losing sight of those facts, the similarities are too strong for mere coincidence. So I'm going to make up the word "Leninoid," as a reminder that Obama isn't Lenin  -- but he must have hired the...

Kennedy biographer Ed Klein on Wednesday refuted the absurd claim made earlier in the morning by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that with Teddy’s passing “Barack [Obama] is now the last brother.” In fact, when WOR radio’s Steve Malzberg addressed what Matthews said on the “Today” show, Klein responded, "Makes me want to puke."

New banks will be kept under strict supervision for a longer period of time because they are failing at a higher rate than more established lenders, US regulators said on Friday. The new policy from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation comes as regulators try to cope with a rising number of bank failures as the recession takes its toll. New lenders – those who have been insured less than seven years – have been ‘’over represented’’ on the list of institutions that failed during 2008 and 2009 and they pose an ‘’elevated risk’’ to the fund that protects depositors, the...

Special Dispatch - No. 2505 August 25, 2009 Pakistan Taliban Commander: We Have 'Thousands of Suicide Bombers' Who Can 'Target Washington, Paris, London, and Kabul' On August 25, 2009, a Pakistani Urdu-language newspaper reported that Waliur Rehman, the commander of the Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal district of South Waziristan Agency, had said that his group has "thousands of suicide bombers" who can "target Washington, Paris, London, and Kabul."

The unstoppable Angeles National Forest fire threatened 10,000 homes Saturday night as it more than tripled in size and chewed through a rapidly widening swath of the Crescenta Valley, where flames closed in on backyards and at least 1,000 homes were ordered evacuated. Sending an ominous plume of smoke above the Los Angeles Basin, the fire was fueled by unrelenting hot weather and dense brush that has not burned in 60 years.

The talk in Washington is that Senate Democrats are preparing to push through health care reforms using parliamentary procedures that will allow a simple majority to prevail in their chamber, as it does in the House, instead of the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster that Senate Republicans are sure to mount. With the death of Senator Edward Kennedy, the Democrats do not have the votes just among their 57 members (and the two independents) to break a filibuster, and not all of these can be counted on to vote in lock step. If the Democrats want to enact...

BOSTON (FOX25, myfoxboston) - A woman that appears to be the daughter of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg gives the middle finger to an unknown crowd member during Thursday's procession. [video]

NEW YORK (AP) - It's 9 1/2 feet wide and 42 feet long and is billed as the narrowest house in New York City. But there's nothing small about its asking price : $2.7 million. Located at 75 1/2 Bedford St. in Greenwich Village, the red brick building was built in 1873, sandwiched in a narrow space that used to be an alley between homes at 75 and 77 Bedford. The narrow house is considered a curiosity and is one of the neighborhood's most photographed homes. A small plaque on the house notes that poet Edna St. Vincent Millay once...