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Since the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, we've witnessed his canonization as a kind of political saint. Media tributes have taken Kennedy's selfless defense of the poor and downtrodden as a matter of course -- and as iconic for our age. The New York Times' worshipful praise was typical. Kennedy, the Times assured its readers, "used his privileged life to give consistent, passionate voice to the underprivileged for nearly a half-century." Was Edward Moore Kennedy, in fact, "one of the greatest senators of our time," as President Obama has declared? No doubt, Kennedy's efforts regarding the poor were unique and...

As he considers a run for governor next year, Mayor Chris Doherty says he supports a woman's right to choose an abortion. Mr. Doherty acknowledged his previously undeclared position when a Times-Tribune reporter asked, following a tip that the mayor was expressing his support for abortion rights to Democrats he met with across the state. "I just believe it's a woman's right to choose," Mr. Doherty said. "It's a private matter what they want to do with their lives, and I don't think government or anybody else should interfere with that." Mr. Doherty said he favors reducing the number of...

(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net

By Doug Page, Staff Writer 11:22 PM Saturday, September 5, 2009 ENGLEWOOD — It is legal, as it stands under state law, for someone to carry a holstered, loaded handgun into a city park. But carry a pocket knife into the same park, and you stand the chance of having it confiscated under a city ordinance. You would be ordered to leave the park and possibly fined. “There is a different law out there that trumps our local ordinance,” Police Chief Mark Brownfield said. “That law is very specific. It deals with the open carry of a firearm. It doesn’t...

"Have you seen these crazy people, largely white, around the country, mad because the President is going to give an education speech?..." "These people are nuts. "They are absolutely crazy." "They are attacking the President." "No one got upset when George W. Bush read a book to some schoolchildren-- upside down!"

The lesson being learned by the left-wing blogosphere from the sputtering Glenn Beck boycott and the Van Jones Affair is not that political arguments should be won on the merits, and in the hearts and minds of the public. No, the lesson being learned is that Democrats and the nutroots do not fight hard enough to smear Republicans, conservatives, and Blue Dog Democrats. As in the kid-glove treatment of Sarah Palin and her family. So a Crooks and Liars blogger wants to up the ante. Boycotting Glenn Beck is not enough because it is not working at depriving Fox News...

Clarice Feldman It seems that Obama is not going to get away with blaming the Brits for releasing the Lockerbie bomber. At least not if Downing Street can help it. The British say the White House and Secretary of State Clinton were fully informed of the decision and are deflecting blame onto the British now that the decision has proven to be unpopular. (Of course, given how the American press hides stories, like Van Jones that reflect badly on the President, unless Americans seek out alternate media or read the foreign press the White House deflection will probably work.)

There are several reasons why I haven't been nearly as outraged by Obama's speech to school kids on Tuesday as many in the blogosphere on the right. First, I've long been on record as supporting more of Obama's education policy than I oppose. Second, I think everyone should agree that the president can and should be a role model to many children. That's not merely because he's the president. He's overcome a lot in his life. There's plenty of life lessons to be learned from his life story. He overcame a childhood full of chaos. He overcame a period of...

President Obama and the US Secretary of State fuelled a fierce American backlash against Britain, claiming Abdelbaset Al Megrahi should have been forced to serve out his jail sentence in Scotland – but a senior Whitehall aide said their reaction was ‘disingenuous’. British officials claim Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were kept informed at all stages of discussions concerning Megrahi’s return. The officials say the Americans spoke out because they were taken aback by the row over Megrahi’s release, not because they did not know it was about to happen. ‘The US was kept fully in touch about everything that...

Iranian report: Teheran developed anti-cruise missile system By JPOST.COM STAFF Iran has developed an anti-cruise missile system, state-run Press TV reported on Sunday. Announcing the latest milestone in the domestic military industrial achievements, Air Force Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani said, "[Despite] thirty years of military sanctions by the enemy, the armed forces have taken appropriates steps toward self-sufficiency and have been able not only to update their equipment, but also to achieve wide-ranging progress in the military and aerospace sector." The Khatam al-Anbiya Air Base, which operates under the supervision of general Miqani, is the unitary supreme body coordinating and...

Seven men convicted of killing the Grenadian prime minister in the 1983 coup that spurred a US military invasion of the Caribbean island state (pictured: US soldiers arrest Marxist militiamen) have been released from jail. AFP - Seven men convicted of the murder of Grenadan prime minister Maurice Bishop during a 1983 coup were set free Saturday, 26 years after the killing that spurred a US military invasion. Former deputy prime minister Bernard Coard was released, along with former ministers and senior officers from the People's Revolutionary Army, after Governor General Carlyle Glean reviewed their sentences. Scores of relatives, former...

SEATTLE (AP) -- A cougar that prowled through Seattle for about a week and forced the closure of the city's largest park was captured early Sunday, wildlife officials said.

EL MIRADOR, Guatemala (Reuters) - One of Guatemala's greatest ancient Mayan cities may have died out in a bloody battle atop a huge pyramid between a royal family and invaders from hundreds of miles away, archaeologists say. Researchers are carrying out DNA tests on blood samples from hundreds of spear tips and arrowheads dug up with bone fragments and smashed pottery at the summit of the El Tigre pyramid in the Mayan city of El Mirador, buried beneath jungle vegetation 8 km from Guatemala's border with Mexico. Many of the excavated blades are made of obsidian which the archaeologists have...

That Bernard Madoff’s multi-billion dollar fraud flourished for many years under the nose of the Securities & Exchange Commission is a powerful indictment of the SEC as a complicit handmaiden of Wall Street corruption of enormous scale. The SEC Inspector General, who is supposed to be autonomous but strangely must submit his reports directly to the agency he is required to watchdog, has been investigating how this so-called specialty regulator managed to miss such rampant fraud for so long. On September 2, the SEC released an “executive summary” of 22 pages signed by the IG David Kotz August 31. Its...

Trippi: GOP trying to turn Obama into another Jimmy Carter Posted: September 6th, 2009 12:21 PM ET From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart WASHINGTON (CNN) – A prominent Democratic strategist said Sunday that Republicans are trying to turn President Barack Obama’s administration into another “failed presidency” like that of former Democratic president Jimmy Carter. “They’re going to keep gunning,” Democratic strategist Joe Trippi said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, referring to conservatives’ recent — and ultimately successful efforts — to target Obama’s green jobs adviser Van Jones over controversial comments he made before becoming a part of Obama’s...

This is a victory for Glenn Beck, for conservatives, and for America. But this means that the Obama administration has yet one more reason to play dirty. Their bag of tricks is nowhere near empty, and we need to keep the pressure on. Until now Rush Limbaugh has been public enemy #1. That is why the White House went after him as the "head of the Republican Party".

They have been told as bedtime stories by generations of parents, but fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood may be even older than was previously thought. A study by anthropologists has explored the origins of folk tales and traced the relationship between varients of the stories recounted by cultures around the world. The researchers adopted techniques used by biologists to create the taxonomic tree of life, which shows how every species comes from a common ancestor. Dr Jamie Tehrani, a cultural anthropologist at Durham University, studied 35 versions of Little Red Riding Hood from around the world.

"We knew it!" Comment: So, this is the Dems secret in moving bills through the House. No wonder it smells like an out-house. Link to Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNuoNN66Pm4&feature=player_embedded

House Dem: There will be no bipartisan bill By Michael O'Brien - 09/06/09 11:14 AM ET There will be no bipartisan healthcare reform bill, one member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus flatly declared Sunday. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said that there wouldn't be the bipartisan bill favored by the president and some centrist Democrats, with Republicans to blame. "I appreciate the work that's been done by the president to try and get a bipartisan bill, but there will be no bipartisan bill," Waters said during an appearance on ABC. "The Republicans are not going to support a credible health care...

A manufacturing problem with the U.S. Navy's new Virginia class SSNs (nuclear attack subs) has delayed the commissioning of a new boat, the USS New Mexico. The ceremony will be delayed from November 21st, to sometime in January or February. The problem has to do with bolts that were not manufactured to specifications. These bolts hold together the track system that is used to move torpedoes and other weapons around the "weapons room". The poorly manufactured bolts will hold the tracks together under peacetime conditions. But in the stress of combat (like depth charges or violent maneuvers) they are likely...