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Is Carter right to label Obama row 'racist'? Former US President Jimmy Carter says much of the vitriol against President Barack Obama's reforms is "based on racism". Why have Obama's policies led to such a backlash?

Barack Obama Plays With Star Wars Lightsaber As He promotes Chicago's Olympic Bid 16 Sep 2009 President Barack Obama jokingly jousts with a light saber during a fencing demonstration on the South Lawn of the White House. [Pic in URL] Watched by his wife, Michelle, Mr Obama used a Star Wars lightsaber to "attack" Tim Morehouse, the American Olympic fencer who won a silver medal in men's sabre fencing in Beijing. Mr Obama's "lunge" took place on the South Lawn during an event supporting Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympics. The President said that the whole of America was...

The Financial Crash, U.S. Dollar, Cash and Gold Sep 16, 2009 - 09:21 AM By: Tarek_Saab With the Dow continuing its steady climb into September, economists are giddy with enthusiasm as they usher forth a stream of emotional pontification throughout the news media. Calls for a new bull market and an end to the recession are increasing with the rising levels of optimism (see: MarketWatch). How anyone can be bullish on stocks despite the innumerable economic warning signs is beyond my comprehension. The recent figures in the Daily Sentiment Index reporting that traders are 89-90% bullish is a testament to...

Bill Clinton's Doctor 'Took Close Look at Kim Jong-il' Bill Clinton's doctor, who accompanied the former U.S. president to Pyongyang last month, has told the U.S. government that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is still recovering from what appears to have been a stroke last year but is in stable condition, sources in Washington say. Diplomatic sources said Roger Band, a professor of emergency medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania who regularly checks Clinton's health, accompanied the former president on a visit to the North and got a close look at Kim. Brand had been briefed by...

Should U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., be formally admonished in the House for yelling "You lie!" during President Obama's speech last week? Yes 37.9% No 62.1% Total votes: 823

Killer rabbits attack snakes Sean Muir, TablelanderTuesday, September 15, 2009© The Cairns Post  A PAIR of rabid rabbits has been caught killing a series of snakes near Cairns.For three weeks Armando Del Manso believed his dog was responsible for the dead snakes showing up with teeth marks all over them on his East Barron property’s lawn each morning.But it turns out it was a pair of rampaging rabbits killing the snakes.Pictures: Cairns snakesThe 42-year-old boilermaker first made the discovery Tuesday night when he spotted the two wild rabbits attacking a king brown snake.“The snake was raised up in the air in...

The Consumer Is Not the Customer Townhall.com ^ | September 16, 2009 | Jacob Sullum Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 8:50:32 AM by Kaslin The other day, I was trying to figure out why the paycheck deduction for my health insurance was higher than I had expected. When I called my insurer to ask what the total premium was, the customer service representative said it was none of my business. Three-fifths of Americans, the share with employer-provided health insurance, are in the same situation: Since someone else buys insurance for them, using money they would otherwise receive as wages,...

On Friday, I was at DePauw University in Indiana debating former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. It was two days after Barack Obama's big speech before a joint session of Congress and Mr. Dean is a strong advocate for his party's agenda and a medical doctor, so I expected him to defend the president's idea of adding a "trigger" to health-care reform to ease its passage and thereby guarantee a government takeover of our health-care system. But Mr. Dean turned out to be tougher on triggers than I was. He called them a "terrible" idea. It's now becoming clear...

For Democrats, 60 Senators Is Magic Number for Health Bill CARL HULSE September 16, 2009 WASHINGTON — The unveiling of a compromise health care proposal has Senate Democrats pondering a daunting mathematical challenge: how to keep all 59 Democrats united and attract at least one Republican to pass an overhaul measure. As many lawmakers on Wednesday got their first detailed look at a Finance Committee plan that was months in the making, senators immediately began exploring whether the plan — when combined with elements of another, more liberal one — could win enough senators to reach that magic procedural number...

September 16, 2009, 4:00 a.m. No JokeBy the Editors James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, two guerilla documentarians, have accomplished what neither the Republican party’s sense of outrage nor the Democratic party’s sense of decency could: They have inspired the federal government to begin cutting its ties with ACORN, the shady “community activist” organization that helped bring Barack Obama to power. The set-up was both risible and shocking. Mr. O’Keefe and Miss Giles, who look for all the world like young Republican country-clubbers dressed for a tasteless costume party, walked into a number of ACORN offices and managed to pass...

Factory stores' price markdowns are alluring, but those 'deals' are often less than they seem. Getting your money's worth takes a little legwork. Americans have a long-standing love affair with bargains. Look no further than the warehouse clubs, discount stores and outlet malls that carpet the country. But in a persuasive new book, "Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture," Ellen Ruppel Shell, a correspondent for The Atlantic, describes the web of marketing and manipulation that discount retailers use to drain cash from your wallet. Outlet malls are among the worst offenders, Shell says, with their glittering promises of "the...

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus finally unveiled his health-care plan yesterday to a chorus of bipartisan jeers. The reaction is surprising given that President Obama all but endorsed the outlines of the Baucus plan last week. But the hoots are only going to grow louder as more people read what he's actually proposing. The headline is that Mr. Baucus has dropped the unpopular "public option," but this is a political offering without much policy difference. His plan remains a public option by other means, imposing vast new national insurance regulation, huge new subsidies to pay for the higher insurance costs...

Back in 2004, when he was the editor of a conservative magazine at Rutgers University, James O'Keefe III mounted a satirical campaign to ban Lucky Charms cereal from campus dining halls on the premise the breakfast fare was offensive to Irish-Americans. The operation, which included a hidden-camera video with a Rutgers dining services official, was intended to demonstrate what O'Keefe saw as the absurdity of political correctness. Two years later, while a law student in California, the Bergen County native took on larger prey, using the same undercover tactics to expose crooked counselors at Planned Parenthood. Now, with a string...

Police: Mom Stabs 2 Young Daughters at Calif. Home By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS September 16, 2009 WESTMINSTER, Calif. (AP) -- A woman who allegedly stabbed herself and her two young daughters with a knife called 911 to get help and report the crime Wednesday morning, according to an audio recording of the call. ''Hi, I just stabbed my daughters and myself,'' she breathlessly told the emergency operator on the audio recording. ''It's all bloody.'' Police found the unconscious 5-year-old stabbed in the chest at a Westminster home. Officials say they found her mother, Thuy Le, in another room, clutching her...

Very funny song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLcilJGPo68&feature=rec-HM-fresh+div

Last week, the president delivered an education speech that fell somewhat short of the standard set by Lenin in his address at the Finland Station launching the Bolshevik Revolution. Barack Obama told America's schoolchildren to work hard, respect their teachers and take responsibility for their own success. Which, in the language of the tinfoil-hatters, reads: Allahu akbar, comrades. It would be a pleasant surprise if conservatives who took the president of the United States addressing youths as an opportunity to stumble toward the fainting couch realized that they had made fools of themselves. Fat chance. Obama Derangement Syndrome is pandemic...

Tonight "America's Got Talent" crowned Kevin Skinner as the winner of season four. After a video synopsis of last night, Nick asks the judges for predictions about the winners. Piers says he has no idea this year. Sharon says tonight is bittersweet but she can't wait to see who America has chosen. The Hoff makes more "Hoff" puns while being dressed like an extra from "Dick Tracy."

A Hofstra University student who accused a group of men of gang-raping her inside a campus dorm has recanted her tale, sources said. “She admitted it was consenual and the district attorney is dismissing the charges and releasing the suspects,” a law enforcement source told the Post. The accused men — Rondell Bedward, Jesus Ortiz, Kevin Taveras, Stalin Felipe — are expected to be released from custody as soon as tonight. The 18-year-old woman accused Ortiz of taking her cellphone around 3 a.m. Sunday at a frat party at on-campus club Hofstra USA. She claimed that she followed the man...

Barclays has been accused of "banking by sleight of hand" after creating a new company to take over its most toxic assets and ringfence future losses.

Here is video of outstanding conservative Michelle Malkin talking with Sean Hannity tonight about the ACORN Scandal. Malkin said some victory has already been won in that ACORN has been cut off from some funds - particularly Housing and Urban Development. She said the next step should be a complete investigation into how ACORN has spent Federal dollars in the past, and how they are spending present funds. Malkin said "journalism is alive and well on the internet," but the old media is virtually dead. Their lack of coverage of the ACORN story is just proof of that reality. ....