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If Joe Scarborough is right, this could be a game-changing blow to Barack Obama . . . On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough left no doubt that he believes the Obama administration acquiesed to the release by the British government of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, the convicted Lockberbie murderer and terrorist. View video here.

The funeral services for two Virginia Tech sophomores who apparently were shot to death last week in the Caldwell Fields section of the Jefferson National Forest are scheduled for today in Lynchburg. As of Sunday evening, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office still was seeking leads for the shooting, which they believe occurred either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Services for David Lee Metzler, 19, of Lynchburg and Heidi Lynn Childs, 18, of Forest will be held at Heritage Baptist Church, which both students attended. Metzler's service will be at 1 p.m., while Childs' will be at 3 p.m. Each service...

Link only, per FR posting rules. Link is here

If we'd had insatiable 24/7 cable news networks in July 1969, the accident on Chappaquiddick Island in which a passenger in a car driven by Sen. Edward Kennedy drowned would likely have dominated the national consciousness for months. Special programs every night devoted to nothing but pundits bickering over the depths of the 37-year-old Kennedy's responsibility for the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, 28. Town-hall-style chat shows every afternoon in which ordinary Americans issued their verdicts and sentences before the evidence was in.

Conservative political activists associated with the so-called "Tea Party" protests have started a cross-country bus convoy dubbed the Tea Party Express. They plan to stop in 33 cities. . . .

Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) has a poll up regarding the health care bill. Wants to get a "sense of the nation" apparently. Voting is heavily in favor of passing a universal health-care bill, etc - THIS year. Voting is NOT restricted to his constituents. You know he's going to wave this thing around to boost support for ObaMarxCare unless it gets swamped against him. He wants a piece of the taxpayer's mind? I say let him have it. Poll's here if you're interested: http://sanders.senate.gov/polls/index.cfm

The Term "Axis of Evil" has been a source of liberal derision ever since President Bush coined the phrase in his 2002 State of the Union address... Seven years later Iraq is a fledgling democracy, but North Korea and Iran are still at it, in fact they are working together: The United Arab Emirates has seized a cargo ship earlier this month bound for Iran with a cache of banned arms from North Korea, the first such seizure since sanctions against North Korea were ramped up, diplomats and officials told The Associated Press Friday. The seizure was carried out in...

In August our ubiquitous president became the nation's elevator music, always out and about, heard but not really listened to, like audible wallpaper. And now, as Congress returns to resume wrestling with health care reform, we shall see if he continues his August project of proving that the idea of an Ivy LeagueHuey Long is not oxymoronic.

A Jaguar convertible sits in the driveway of Latasha Jackson's million-dollar mansion in Menomonee Falls. Built on a hill with a sprawling back deck overlooking a pond, the 7,600-square-foot home features an indoor swimming pool and indoor basketball court. Jackson is not an Olympic swimmer, a professional basketball player or a celebrity of any sort. She is a day care provider in the city of Milwaukee. She built her fortune with taxpayer funding from the Wisconsin Shares program. Despite recent records that indicate Jackson was running what police and regulators refer to as a "child-care ring" - adding mothers with...

Although written in July 09, this is still relevant quote: Obama was holding an evening prime-time news conference at a time when his long-running post-inaugural honeymoon appears to be ending. Several polls show his job approval rating dropping and that Americans are having doubts about his prescriptions for the economy and healthcare. They are concerned that his $787 billion economic stimulus plan has not helped the economy and are having sticker shock at the $1 trillion cost of the healthcare plan.

"I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic, Your Holiness," Ted Kennedy wrote to Pope Benedict XVI, in a letter dramatically read by Theodore Cardinal McCarrick at the senator's burial, "and though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings." But it's not Senator Abortion's 11th hour effort to transform himself into Senator Catholic that has the media up in arms. "Why couldn't the pope have replied in his own name?" Sam Donaldson incredulously asked on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. "I was disappointed." Time magazine found it noteworthy...

Never before in the two hundred and thirty three year history of the Republic have we faced as great a threat to our individual freedoms as that which is Obama. He has sought not only to co-opt a huge segment of the economic capacity of this nation through the government seizure of the banking and automotive industry, but now he and his fellow leaches on the national wealth seek to annex an even larger segment of the nation’s identity. The proposed government takeover of the health care system represents a direct threat to the individual sovereignty of each and every...

I don’t know what the listed Kennedy family crest looks like. It may be a drunken “liberal lion” driving off a bridge for all I know. Nevertheless, on Saturday during the funeral for “Sir” Edward Kennedy we got a glimpse of the real Kennedy family crest proudly displayed by one of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg’s daughters Rose 21 or Tatiana 18. One of these “lovely” damsels held up her middle finger to a FOX TV camera for her adoring fans to feast on. The Kennedy family crest has always been the middle finger. The patriarch of the family, Joseph senior regularly...

Equities broke their winning streak on Friday and now they may be looking to start a new streak. All three major indices are down between one half and three quarters of a percent. That's not that bad. One major index in China was off by 6% this morning on price to earnings "fears". Stocks retreated from Shanghai to Frankfurt on speculation the six-month rally has outpaced prospects for earnings growth.

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - August 31 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "On mine arm shall they trust." - Isaiah 51:5 In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no...

The Islamic republic has test-fired missiles capable of reaching Israel, southeastern Europe and U.S. bases in the Mideast, and published reports say Iran is within a year of developing its own nuclear bomb. And security experts warn that even one nuclear device in the hands of a rogue nation could be used against the United States in a devastating electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. So why isn't the Obama administration doing more to prevent a nuclear nightmare? “I get very, very nervous about it,” Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., told Newsmax.TV's Kathleen Walter. “I think Iran will have a nuclear weapon. I...

Eleven most Expensive Catastrophes 11. Titanic: $150 million 10. Tanker Truck vs. Bridge: $358 million 9. MetroLink Crash $500 million 8. B-2 Bomber Crash: $1.4 billion 7. Exxon Valdez: $2.5 billion 6. Piper Alpha Oil Rig: $3.4 billion 5. Challenger Explosion: $5.5 billion 4. Prestige Oil Spill: $12 billion 3. Space Shuttle Columbia: $13 billion 2. Chernobyl: $200 billion 1. (Ready for this...) Election of Barack Obama: $800 billion--in the first two months!

Word For The Day, Monday,8/31/09 In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day". insipience;noun lack of wisdom; foolishness. Etymology: 1375–1425; late ME < L insipientia foolishness, equiv. to insipient- s. of insipiēns foolish (in- in- 3 + -sipient-, comb. form of sapient- sapient ) + -ia; see -ence Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the Word for the Day in a sentence. The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for...

SEATTLE - Police this weekend uncovered what they call a "secret camp" near North Seattle Community College while searching for evidence related to an overnight shooting spree. Two suspected gunmen are in custody in connection with the Friday night shooting, which prompted a massive police callout and a two-hour closure of I-5. Detectives and K-9 units searching a wooded area just between the college and the interstate found a site covered in camouflage netting that they believe is home to the two men. The area contained bathroom and kitchen supplies, fireworks, cell phones, sleeping bags and piles of books, which...

teaser at Drudge: RASMUSSEN POLL: Obama Approval Hits Another New Low at 46%... Developing...