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"Today, you step forward into a different world," President Obama said, before implicitly giving his own policies credit for changing perceptions of American leadership and his nation's position in the world.

Yes, indeed it is. While everyone and their grandmother is foaming at the mouth how both republicans and democrats hiked the debt ceiling for umpteen times over the past x years, the truth is that never before has the ratio of the proposed debt ceiling to the tax receipt ratio been as high as it is now. At nearly 6 times, this means that the top line (forget bottom line) cash inflows into the Treasury are 6 times lower than the current debt ceiling. And following the upcoming $2.5 trillion this number will surge to almost 8 times. So please...

The White House release of a copy of Barack Obama's long-form Hawaian birth certificate continues to raise more questions – since the name of the president's attending physician differs from previous published reports. The name on the purported birth certificate lists Dr. David Sinclair as the obstetrician who delivered Obama in 1961. But reports by the Buffalo News and supposedly confirmed by the hoaxbusting website Snopes.com indicate the name of Obama's birth physician was Dr. Rodney T. West. Here is an image of what the White House claims is Obama's official, long-form birth certificate, with Sinclair's name listed as the...

Remember the good ol days? Mom's smoked and drank when pregnant, you were raised on home cooking, your crib was covered with Lead Base paint, rode a bike with no helmet on gravel roads, you went outside till the street lights came on, your parents had no childproof lids or seat belts in cars, you got spanked when you misbehaved, had 3 TV channels you got up to change, school always started w/the Pledge of Allegiance, & stores were closed Sunday,you drank water out of a creek or out of water hose and YOU STILL TURNED OUT OK, if you...

Contributing to the impression of shifting sands in his official biography, two newspaper articles from 1990 – apparently based on interviews with Barack Obama – reported that the future president left Hawaii for Indonesia when he was 2 years old, not 6 years old, as he relates in his autobiography. On May 3, 1990, the Associated Press widely published a feature story on Obama highlighting him as the first African-American named as president of the Harvard Law review. "Obama moved to Southeast Asia at age 2 when his parents divorced and his mother married an Indonesian," the Associated Press reported....

I thought I'd be domestic for a bit and explore state parks in Montana. Obviously it's a state famous for mountains and glaciers and geysers (well, most of those are in Wyoming, but still), so I wondered what would be at the "state park" level. Found some next stuff. Each picture comes with a link to the page on the Montana state parks Web site. 1. Giant Springs State Park 2. Medicine Rocks State Park (click this one for full-size 3. Lewis and Clark Caverns (Montana's first state park) A very good image of the caverns (I can't share this...

Coalition forces in Afghanistan are going to have to adopt a "dramatically different" strategy to ensure success, the top US general there says. In his first speech since submitting a report calling for more troops, Gen Stanley McChrystal also said the operation had been "under-resourced". The success of the military operation could not be taken for granted in the face of a growing insurgency, he said. Meanwhile, a Nato strike in Helmand has killed at least six civilians. Women and children are believed to be among the dead. Nato has said it will investigate the incident. It said it had...

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Obama, Pelosi May Be On Different Pages Here’s the deal: Nancy Pelosi’s the deal. She's the speaker now. Mr. Obama won't be president for more than 70 days "from" now.

There once was a woebegone situation that begged for change. The natives were restless, tired of the same old thing year after year after year. President after president failed to inspire, and failed even more miserably to produce the results the people wanted. Everyone agreed it was time to go in a different direction, and to find a different kind of president. And along came just such a man. When he appeared on television, talking about the right way to do things, he was a star. He had never been an executive decision-maker at any level, but he had been...

Although we all know that Islam literally means "Peace" and in practical [ terms of expression ] it stands for " Terrorism" or " Mass Murder of Innocents". Followers of Islam are muslims or Momineen. According to the behaviour , there are 13 types of Muslims. 1) Suicide Bombers : These are the most dangerous type of Muslims , they are willing to die in order to take lives of innocent non muslims.They are filled with deep hatred to massacre non muslims and are willing to go to any extent to do it.Examples : Sept 11 Hijackers Mohammad Atta &...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2008 – The situation in Iraq has improved significantly over the past year, and that progress is enabling some U.S. troops to return home, President Bush today told reporters in Kuwait. President Bush reaches out to troops at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, Jan. 12, 2008. White House photo by Eric Draper   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Iraq is now a different place from one year ago. Much hard work remains, but levels of violence are significantly reduced,” Bush, who is continuing his week-long trip across the Middle East, told reporters at Camp Arifjan. The...

Migraine suffers have 'different brains' By Nick Allen Last Updated: 11:01am GMT 20/11/2007 Scientists have discovered structural differences in the brains of people who suffer from migraines. The researchers found variations in the cortex area that processes pain and other sensory information from the body. They said it was unclear whether the anomalies actually cause migraines or are themselves caused by severe, recurrent headaches. Brain scans were carried out on 24 people who had a long history of migraines and 12 who did not. The area of the brain that detects pain, touch and temperature, known as the somatosensory cortex,...

Cowboy sets out to show a different America Associated Press FREDONIA - When rancher Bill Inman decided to show there's more to America than what's seen on the nightly news, he hopped on his horse Blackie and started riding.And riding, and riding.Weary of the daily drumbeat over war, crime, poverty and assorted social ills, he and his wife are burning through their life savings to tell the stories of hardworking, honest everyday people in rural America. Inman soaks it all in atop Blackie, a 16-year thoroughbred-quarter horse mix who's averaging 20-25 miles a day along backroads from Oregon to...

Source: Washington University in St. Louis Date: August 26, 2007 Gambling Addiction Assessment Tool Applies Equally For Different Races Science Daily — "With African-Americans and other minority groups having both problem and pathological gambling rates that are 2-3 times higher than Caucasian gamblers, accurate diagnosis is essential to treat gambling addiction," says Renee Cunningham-Williams, Ph.D., a leading gambling addictions expert and visiting associate professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis. Unfortunately, as with other mental health disorders, African-American and other minority groups receive disparate care from symptom recognition and diagnosis through treatment. In a first step to...

That was Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's message to conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh during a spirited, but largely predictable, 15 minute on-air discussion this morning. For those who haven't breathlessly followed how we got here: in an NBC interview this week, Schwarzenegger was asked about criticism from conservatives like Limbaugh. The governor called Limbaugh "irrelevant." Limbaugh later fired back, calling Schwarzenegger a "sellout". This morning, the governor...extending the shelf life of this story... spent 15 minutes on Limbaugh's show engaging in a verbal jousting match that seemed to end in a draw. Schwarzenegger began by trying to squelch talk of...

We know teens are having sex and opting for oral sex over intercourse because they think it's safer. Now a team of UCSF researchers may be the first to analyze how it makes adolescents feel. Ninth- and 10th-graders surveyed at two California high schools between 2002 and 2004 revealed mixed emotions that for many included guilt and feeling manipulated. Girls were more likely than boys to feel bad about themselves afterward and to "feel used." Boys were more likely than girls to say sexual activity made them feel self-confident and popular. "We tend to focus on the health consequences of...

California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are embracing two different approaches to fighting global warming as the new Democrat-led Congress prepares to take action on the issue. Feinstein has attracted industry support with a bill targeting the electricity sector that would allow trades of pollution credits. Boxer, who chairs the Senate's environment committee that will hold hearings on the issue, has signed onto legislation aiming for more dramatic cuts of heat-trapping emissions. Both Democrats are citing California's landmark anti-global-warming law, passed last year, which imposed the nation's first cap on greenhouse gas emissions. They're also both optimistic about the...

Army Command Sgt. Maj. John Moody, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, visits with Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, while Staff Sgt. Bradley Hoy, command personal security detachment team leader, pulls security during a mission in southern Baghdad. Photo by Spc. Jason Dangel. By Spc. Jason DangelSpecial to American Forces Press Service FOB PROSPERITY -- In the early morning hours, a Soldier awakens as a stern voice blaring over his radio instructs the leader to rally his men and be ready to move into Southern Baghdad in less than 30 minutes.Fifteen minutes...

7/3/2006 - SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- Last year Airman 1st Class Samantha Riddle spent Independence Day floating down a river and watching fireworks. The day meant nothing more than a chance to hang out with friends and to enjoy a day off from the daily grind of working in the medical field. Now, as a graduate of Air Force basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, one of the Air Force's newest members has a new respect for the holiday. "As a member of the military I have a greater appreciation of what this holiday means. In the future,...