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Reports that US President Barack Obama is to scrap plans to deploy a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic have provoked anger in Europe. The Wall Street Journal reported that the US is to shelve the plan, which was first mooted by the Bush administration and has been a source of friction with Russia ever since. The move would be a cause of celebration in Moscow but of real concern to Eastern European countries which have looked to Washington for support against their former imperial master Russia. The US has said the shield is to guard against...

Researchers found that women are overcome by a burning desire to share gossip as soon as they hear it. They will typically spill the beans to at least one other person in 47 hours and 15 minutes. Depending on who the gossip is about, their boyfriend, husband, best friend or mother are most likely to be the initial recipients of the information. The study of 3,000 women aged between 18 and 65 also found that four out of ten admitted they were unable to keep a secret – no matter how personal or confidential the news was. It also found...

The Marxist Revolutionary and Obama’s Environmental Policies By: John Perazzo FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, September 17, 2009   The Apollo Alliance, which helped craft portions of the $787 billion “stimulus” legislation that the President signed into law in early 2009, exerts a powerful influence on the environmental views and policies of the Obama administration. Specifically, the Alliance had a hand in writing the “clean energy and green-collar jobs provisions” of the bill, for which $86 billion was earmarked. Apollo Alliance’s name gained some notoriety in recent weeks because of its ties to Van Jones, the communist revolutionary who resigned his post as Obama’s “Green Jobs Czar” during Labor...

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.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. State Department announced its decision to cut off non-humanitarian aid to Honduras in order to protest the arrest and expulsion of former president Manuel Zelaya, the country’s democratically elected leader. Expressing his approval for this measure, Zelaya issued a press release stating, “It is gratifying that the United States has taken a strong position against the coup.” This quote highlights the nature of the decision. By reducing funding to the interim government, the State Department has openly backed Zelaya in a political confrontation that has gripped Honduras since late June. But perhaps the U.S. government...

It sounds like a joke, but it’s all too real: you know American foreign policy is unraveling when France is the stern international voice of sanity on Iran and Israel. This report (h/t Jeffrey Goldberg) explains: French intelligence agencies are certain that Iran is hiding a nuclear weapons program, President Nicolas Sarkozy says.“We cannot let Iran acquire nuclear” weapons because it would also be a threat to Israel, Sarkozy said during a meeting at the Elysee presidential palace with lawmakers from his conservative UMP party on Tuesday. “It is a certainty to all of our secret services. Iran is working...

Police: Arrest 'soon' in Annie Le slay; focus on Raymond Clark DNA September 17, 2009 By BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, NEWSDAY.COM and NEWSDAY STAFF Police investigating the murder of Annie Le said early Thursday morning they expect to make an arrest shortly, as attention focused on DNA taken from Yale University animal research technician Raymond Clark. New Haven police spokesman Joe Avery said an arrest was expected “soon” in the death of Le, who worked in the same lab as Clark. Avery would not elaborate on the time frame, but a news conference was scheduled for 8:00 a.m. The New...

WASHINGTON -- My absurdity meter has blown up. The current news has been simply too much for this frail device, which I attach to my television set to give me a daily reading of the news' absurdity content. First, two wholesome young people conduct a sting operation in the offices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, presenting themselves as dealers in the sex business and receiving practical advice as to how to successfully conduct business and launder money. Then former President Jimmy Carter claims a congressman's terse, albeit ill-tempered, declamation was "based on racism." Finally, a United...

A San Diego businessman (Bryan Bloom) who is part of a group that worries the California Air Resources Board's rules on diesel emissions will devastate parts of the state's economy for no scientifically valid reasons passed along this photo from New York City. This is what's at the address that the web site of "Thornhill University" lists for its U.S. campus.

Brendan Steinhauser of FreedomWorks reports on the 9/12 taxpayer march on Washington, DC. Harry Wu and Nicole Kempton of the Laogai Research Foundation discuss human rights violations in China. Wu gives his reaction to a People's Republic of China 60th anniversary celebration planned for the Ellipse, near the White House. For more information, see

A number of experts believe that aggressive enforcement of the 1970s-era Community Reinvestment Act contributed to the mortgage meltdown, and thus to the greater financial crisis, by requiring financial institutions to lend to unqualified borrowers. Now, the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives is responding to that situation by proposing to expand the scope and power of the Community Reinvestment Act. This morning House Financial Services Committee chairman Rep. Barney Frank held a hearing on H.R. 1479, the "Community Reinvestment Modernization Act of 2009." The bill's purpose is "to close the wealth gap in the United States" by increasing...

WASHINGTON – The latest health overhaul plan circulating on Capitol Hill gives health insurers, drug makers and large employers reasons to heave sighs of relief, sparing them the higher costs and more burdensome rules included in other Democratic-written alternatives.

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Imagine they went undercover at say Halliburton and uncovered a few million dollars in corruption. Does anyone here really think that Foxnews would be the only ones trying to get their faces on TV for interviews? They would be interviewed on all of the national news, CNN, 60 Minutes, Dateline, Oprah and down the line. These two have Fox, and some of the media are now playing coverage which is favorable to ACORN (CNN last night with Campbell Brown). Anyone who said there was no media bias before now has no argument.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A measure to put Amtrak passengers on the same footing as airline passengers, allowing guns in checked-through baggage, was passed by the U.S. Senate Wednesday. The legislation, part of the transportation and housing appropriations bill, was approved 68-30. It would deny federal subsidies to Amtrak if it doesn't change its rules. The House version does not include the provision. Domestic airlines allow licensed gun owners to transport their weapons in their checked-through baggage. One senator said the gun measure "is going to put a severe burden" on Amtrak, CNN reported. But the measure's sponsor, Sen....

(AUTOMATIC TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH):ACORN fronting "Borat to the right" L'organisation de gauche ACORN , qui lutte contre la pauvreté aux États-Unis, n'en est pas à sa première controverse. The leftist organization ACORN, which fights against poverty in the United States, is not at its first controversy. During the last presidential campaign, she found herself in the crosshairs of Republicans, who were accused of falsifying voter registration campaign. ACORN, which openly supported Barack Obama, believed to have gathered 1.3 million voters poor, mostly black, in 21 states during the largest voter registration operation of the country's history ... But the...

In his "Big Two-Hearted River," Hemingway wrote of his autobiographical Nick Adams: He was there, in the good place. We went wheels-up for our "good place" when, in this dubious summer of our discontent, the ayatollahs and newsbunnies of video and print began gushing in orgasmic rapture about the first six months of the Bush-blaming Obama presidency and the heavenly service of a certain late Massachusetts senator. Time to get out of Dodge. Our "good place" is a riverside cabin constructed of cedar logs and wrapped in a wilderness forest featuring birches and towering pines. It is reachable -- almost...

Being “Like Ronald Reagan” The Only Positive Political Description “Progressive” is becoming more of a dirty word, but all political labels – except “being like Ronald Reagan” – are falling into disfavor with many U.S. voters, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. “Liberal” is still the worst and remains the only political description that is viewed more negatively than positively. Being like Reagan is still the most positive thing you can say about a candidate. So says the latest Rasmussen polling on the subject.

Here is a video report on the request by top U.S. Commander in Afghanistan - Gen. Stanley McChrystal - for a "surge" of troops in Afghanistan. This report says the request made to President Obama is for "tens of thousands" of additonal troops. Other reports are saying it is in the 30,000-40,000 range. We currently have 62,000 troops in Afghanistan, with another 6,000 to be there by year's end. Such a "surge" would put U.S. Forces over the 100,000 mark in Afghanistan. The report says Obama has signaled he will be very slow in making a decision, largely because many...