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The White House’s refusal to make a top technology official available to Congress is drawing some heat on the Hill. The White House declined this week to make Chief Technology Officer Todd Park available to testify at a House Oversight hearing next Wednesday on the rollout of Healthcare.gov. White House Assistant Director for Legislative Affairs Donna Pignatelli said Mr. Park is currently too busy helping fix the troubled healthcare website to appear, and suggested he testify in early December instead.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: So the media started having heart palpitations late yesterday afternoon. The president apologized. Finally, the president apologized. He had an interview with F. Chuck Todd on NBC, and the president apologized for lying to you. That's what they said. But he didn't really do that, folks. He didn't take any responsibility for his actions. All he said was that he's sorry you misunderstood him. He's sorry that your misunderstanding has made you unhappy. He did not apologize, nor is he sorry for lying to you when he said you could keep your policy and your doctor and...

The results are finally in regarding the death of Nobel-Prize winning poet Pablo Neruda — he was not murdered. Friends of the poet launched an investigation based on the testimony of his former driver Manuel Arayas in 2011. According to Arayas, Neruda had been poisoned in September 1973 by agents of Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship and the official documents, which claimed he died from cancer, were hiding the truth. Judge Mario Carroza picked up the case, ordering the exhumation of Pablo Neruda in April of this year. After a long list of tests and forensic procedures, including those conducted...

Margarine is on the way to becoming illegal, but businesses will be required to employ 300 pound men in dresses. Because America is now Sweden. 10 Republican Senators courageously joined the effort to prevent businesses from firing men who wear dresses. How many Republicans voted for the bill?: 10. Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.). At this point, McCain isn’t exactly a surprise. Ayotte unfortunately does whatever he tells her. Why did...

The number of Illinoisans able to sign up for new health insurance plans offered under the Affordable Care Act in October is likely in the hundreds, a top state health official said Friday. Jennifer Koehler, director of the Illinois state health insurance marketplace, said that because of continued problems with the federal website that operates the state exchange, she projects the number of people in Illinois who enrolled in coverage in the first month to be "far less than some were expecting."

This case is proving a tough nut to crack: Thieves have been making off with shipments of walnuts and almonds in California's Central Valley. The latest heist is valued at $400,000. Rich Paloma, a reporter with The Oakdale Leader, tells NPR's All Things Considered that in the most recent nut job — he's counted six thefts of walnuts and almond shipments in recent months — the thieves cut through a fence. "The walnuts were in three double-trailer sets ... apparently the suspect or suspects hooked up their own tractor to [it] and then drove it off through the fence and...

A Sudanese man divorced his wife after receiving a text on his mobile phone by an unknown sender telling him to divorce her so he can have her for himself. The husband was out of his house in the capital Khartoum when he received the SMS, which said he should divorce his wife for him. “He got mad and rushed back to his home to ask his wife about the message…but she denied any knowledge of the message and its sender,” Alkhartoum daily said. “The husband then started to call the sender but that mobile was always switched off…he got...

The victim had gone to his home to invite the couple for his mom’s birthdayA man stabs his best friend to death simply because he was paranoid that the latter spoke to his wife. Police sources at Oke-Efon, Abeokuta, Nigeria, say the 50-year-old suspect has been arrested, while his accomplice who helped him in the beastly act is still on the run. Media reports say the suspect got into a fit of rage on “seeing the deceased on his wife’s bed”. The victim had gone to his house to invite the couple to his mom’s 80th birthday, said the deceased’s...

It is the secret ingredient of many a homemade meal. But the precise contents of this tangy relish itself have remained a mystery. Until now. After more than 170 years, the original recipe for Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce has been revealed. It was found in notes dating from the mid-1800s that were dumped in a skip by the sauce factory. Brian Keogh, a former Lea and Perrins accountant, discovered the notes, which were neatly written in sepia ink in two leather-bound folios, and rescued them. Today, the label on bottles of the sauce lists vinegar, molasses, sugar, salt, anchovies,...

Sporting a brace on his left knee, Mariota turned in his worst performance of the season in Oregon's loss to Stanford, its first of the year. He finished with negative rushing yards for the first time this season and could not get the Ducks on the scoreboard until the fourth quarter, when he threw two touchdowns. The comeback effort fell short after Oregon could not recover a second onside kick.

Friday, November 08, 2013 Friday Afternoon Roundup - Welcome Back Dukakis Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog WELCOME BACK DUKAKIS Twenty years ago, New York’s long nightmare ended with a Giuliani victory over Mayor Dinkins. Now the nightmare returns as former Dinkins staffer and terrorist supporter Bill de Blasio will begin wrecking the city where Dinkins and his Democratic predecessors left off. Bill de Blasio vowed to undo Giuliani’s reforms and turn back the clock on fighting crime and terrorism. Giuliani’s victory was a wake-up call to Democrats that one of the more dangerous cities in the...

Americans maintain a high opinion of the US-Israel alliance but are wary of any involvement in a potential Iran conflict, according to an Anti-Defamation poll. Asked if Israel could be counted on "as a strong, loyal ally," 76 percent of respondents agreed and 17 percent disagreed. ...However, respondents were wary of any military engagement with Iran.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH:  Look at that, even Fox is getting this wrong.  Fox is reporting that Obama said that he's sorry people are losing their plans.  He did not say he's sorry people are losing their plans.  He did not say that.  He said he's sorry you feel the way you feel over having lost your plan.  He's sorry that you believed him.  Or he's sorry that you misunderstood him.  It's the EIB Network, and it's Friday, my friends.  So let's go to. JOHNNY DONOVAN:  And now, from sunny South Florida, it's Open Line Friday! RUSH:  Yes, sir.  On the...

As a former trainer reveals, the U.S. government deployed nonhuman operatives—ravens, pigeons, even cats—to spy on cold war adversariesThere would be a rustle of oily black feathers as a raven settled on the window ledge of a once-grand apartment building in some Eastern European capital. The bird would pace across the ledge a few times but quickly depart. In an apartment on the other side of the window, no one would shift his attention from the briefing papers or the chilled vodka set out on a table. Nor would anything seem amiss in the jagged piece of gray slate resting...

This year, trade in the standard-issue entree for a bird with a bit more flavor. Here's where to find the best quail, pheasant, wood pigeon, duck and goose'LET'S FACE IT, turkey really isn't all that interesting," said Hank Shaw, author of the new cookbook "Duck, Duck Goose: Recipes and Techniques for Cooking Ducks and Geese, Both Wild and Domesticated" (Ten Speed Press). "I mean, I like turkey OK." Pause. "It's fine. But gamebirds are much more interesting. They taste more of themselves," said Mr. Shaw. That taste can vary widely. Some gamebirds, like quail and squab, can be mild enough...

Context: Freed inmates to be dropped at CPD headquarters in the Vista (Columbia SC) Starting Friday night, something like a dozen inmates freed from the Richland County jail will be dropped nightly at Columbia police headquarters in the Vista rather than at the downtown bus terminal. The change in drop-off sites is part of a temporary plan devised by interim Police Chief Ruben Santiago to deal with longstanding complaints about inmates who wander from the bus terminal at Sumter and Laurel streets, where they are free to roam around the city. Already, the new plan is causing worry among businesses...

Fukushima is the most terrifying situation I can imagine. You ask, what can we do? First of all you have got a government that is in total collusion with Tepco, they’re lying through their teeth. […] The fourth one has been so badly damaged that the fear is if there’s another quake of a 7 or above that that building will go, and then all hell breaks loose. And the probability of a 7 or above quake in the next 3 years is over 95%. […] They don’t know what to do. We need to get a group of international...

Congress is gearing up for a series of votes on measures that could upend the entire Obamacare scheme, as both the House and Senate now have bills that would allow Americans to keep their health insurance policies in the face of the Affordable Care Act, no matter what. **SNIP** Sen. Mary Landrieu, a liberal Louisianan who voted for the Affordable Care Act in 2009, is up for re-election in 2014. Like many Democrats who fear public anger over the law, she is moving to political redefine herself as an oath-keeper.

Much has been made of the Washington Redskins, with a national campaign dedicated to getting the NFL franchise to change the nickname and the team itself supporting high schools that share the name. Yet, as offensive as the Redskins name may be, there's a prep mascot in California that is just as offensive, if not even more so. The sports teams at Coachella Valley High School (Thermal, Calif.) compete as the Arabs. If that seems culturally offensive to you, that's because it is. The school's mascot is a cartoonish caricature of the most offensive traits prescribed to people from the...

The top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee accused the panel's chairman, Representative Darrell Issas R-California, of selectively leaking documents related to testing done on HealthCare.gov, the troubled Obamacare website. Rep. Elijah Cummings D-Maryland, made the allegation Friday amid a battle over Issa's request for testimony from the Obama administration's top technology officer, Todd Park, at a hearing scheduled for next week. Issa has hinted he may subpoena Park to compel his testimony. Earlier this week, Issa released a statement saying stress tests conducted on HealthCare.gov one day before its launch concluded the site was only "able...