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Pregnant or breastfeeding women who consume diet soda or other foods and drinks containing aspartame could experience higher rates of autism diagnoses in their sons, a new study has revealed. Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) found that among boys who had been diagnosed with autism, their mothers were three times as likely to report drinking at least one diet soda — or consuming an equivalent amount of five tabletop packets of aspartame — per day. "Our study does not prove causality — it does not prove that maternal intake...

When I was in high school, one of my part-time jobs was driving a hotel van to and from the airport for the Howard Johnson in Skokie, Illinois, a suburb just north of Chicago. It was a great job. I got to know a ton of different types of people. To this day, it’s the second favorite job I ever had. One type of person that I got to know driving to and from O’Hare International Airport were pharmaceutical sales reps from a company, also headquartered in Skokie, called Searle Pharmaceutical. Searle, like a lot of companies in the...

Osama bin Laden’s death at the hands of U.S. special operations forces is a major success in our country’s war against al-Qaeda. As a result of the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation program and the intelligence gained from detainees held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a major fraction of al-Qaeda’s senior leadership has been captured or killed since 2001.

DALLAS, March 4, 2011 – Recalling his own experience as an Eagle Scout, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates last night praised scouting for instilling principles, integrity and honor in tomorrow’s leaders. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates thanks former President George W. Bush after he is introduced during the Circle Ten Council Friends of Scouting dinner in Dallas, March 3, 2011. Gates, a former Eagle Scout, gave a keynote speech. DOD photo by Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates was the keynote speaker at a Circle Ten Council Friends of Scouting dinner here. The secretary told...

Dick Cheney just popped up here at CPAC to introduce his old pal and Bush administration colleague Donald Rumsfeld. Fans of Ron Paul turned what should have been a friendly moment before an audience of fellow conservatives into a screaming match and protest action that resembled what a Cheney-Rumsfeld hug at the Netroots Nation convention might look like. Rumsfeld is being given CPAC's "Defender Of The Constitution" award, a concept that apparently rankled Paul supporters in the crowd. Many of them got up and walked out en masse at the mention of Rumsfeld, though some stayed behind in the conference...

Long-awaited, from-the-hip memoir offers raw, unvarnished look at eight decades of history "If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much." So declares former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in his news book 'KNOWN AND UNKNOWN'. In the book, which streets next week, Rumsfeld details his half-century career in and around the ring -- and West Wing. It is based not only on Rumsfeld's memory but also on hundreds of previously unreleased documents from throughout his career. Now only the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal: # Rumsfeld warned in 2001 of Afghan “swamp” and “not to make a career...

The Pentagon said Monday it no longer includes a Bible quote on the cover page of daily intelligence briefings it sends to the White House as was practice during the Bush administration. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he did not know how long the Worldwide Intelligence Update cover sheets quoted from the Bible. Air Force Maj. Gen. Glen Shaffer, who was responsible for including them, retired in August 2003, according to his biography. For a period in 2003, at least, the daily reports prepared for President George W. Bush carried quotes from the books of Psalms and Ephesians and the...

The fight over national security increasingly threatens to drag the United States into a political civil war that could also fracture Barack Obama's political base. It is turning the President's own Democratic allies into potential enemies, while undermining his domestic priorities in health care and energy reform. Yesterday, New York Times columnist Frank Rich pointed all eyes to the website of Gentleman's Quarterly, which has posted a series of cover sheets to ultra-top-secret intelligence updates that former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld used to prepare daily for former president George W. Bush. It turns out that the cover sheets routinely showed...

Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld routinely used militaristic passages from the Bible on the cover pages of White House intelligence documents, according to new revelations by GQ magazine. It said Rumsfeld displayed the passages over photographs of US forces in Iraq to curry favor with then president George W. Bush, despite concerns about the incendiary impact on the Islamic world if they were ever made public. One republished on the GQ website came from March 31, 2003, showing a US tank roaring through the desert about 10 days after the United States invaded Iraq to topple the regime of Saddam...

Presidential campaigns are so much about posturing that it's easy to miss what's really going on. Take national security policy. John McCain and Barack Obama want you to think they represent diametrically opposed approaches to national security, when in fact they have quite similar views. And one of the things they have in common is that neither of them wants you to realize they see future security challenges pretty much the same way Donald Rumsfeld did. To prove that point, let's take a little stroll down memory lane. Nine years ago this month, presidential candidate George W. Bush gave the...

The President and First Lady spent the New Year weekend at their ranch in Crawford Texas returning today to Washington where they paid their respects to former President Ford whose body is laying in State in the Rotunda. Later on he and the First lady visited Mrs Ford at Blair House. The President's father also paid his respects to President Ford today as did Donald Rumsfeld On Saturday Vice President Cheney attended and spoke at the State Funeral of Gerald Ford Enjoy your bonus visit to Sanity Island

The following photos may not necessarily be the best photos or the most important but they are chosen because they appeal to me and hopefully to you as well. It maybe because of the content, the expression on the face(s) or just an unusual photo. Originally I was going to attach Part 2 of these photos to tonight's dose (part one were 28th December 2006) but I realised that there were far too many photos to do that and would not be fair to dial up users so I am doing this as a separate thread and also including part...

In the last six years, the Department has made great strides in modernizing its forces to address the threats of the 21st century. I. WAR ON TERROR Overall: A multinational coalition has liberated 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq, with formation of representative governments and security forces. Liberated 31 million Afghans from Taliban control and destroyed Al-Qaeda sanctuary – conquering elements that successfully fought off the Soviet Union for over nine years – and stood up a Loya Jurga governing council eight months after operations began. Liberated 26.7 million Iraqis from a brutal dictatorship and turned over sovereignty of...

The President and First Lady spent the weekend at the White House attending church as usual and also attended Christmas in Washington an annual Christmas event which was taped on Sunday. Today the President and Vice President met with the Secretary of State at the State Department to discuss the situation in Iraq. Over the weekend the outgoing Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld made a farewell visit to the troops in Iraq. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

The President and First Lady spent the weekend in Washington attending church as usual on Sunday morning and Sunday Evening attended an evening gala at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts along with the Vice President and his wife. Today the President had a very mixed and varied day. He accepted John Bolton's resignation which IMHO was expected as his nomination was not going to get confirmed. He also met with with Sayyed Aziz Al-Hakim, an Iraqi Shiite leader, in the Oval Office The President and First Lady attended a performance of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate...

On the radio a couple of weeks ago, Hugh Hewitt suggested to me the terrorists might try to pull a Spain on the U.S. elections. You'll recall (though evidently many Americans don't) that in 2004 hundreds of commuters were slaughtered in multiple train bombings in Madrid. The Spaniards responded with a huge street demonstration of supposed solidarity with the dead, all teary passivity and signs saying "Basta!" -- "Enough!" By which they meant not "enough!" of these murderers but "enough!" of the government of Prime Minister Aznar, and of Bush and Blair, and troops in Iraq. A couple of days...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Wednesday Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is stepping down and former CIA Director Robert Gates will take over at the Pentagon and in prosecuting the war in Iraq. Rumsfeld, architect of an unpopular war in Iraq, intends to resign after six stormy years at the Pentagon, Republican officials said.

Some people get mad at me when I tell them not to vote. But I believe there is a right time to abstain from casting a ballot – particularly if the only choice is a Democrat or Republican who are indistinguishable on the major issues of the day. A good example of a race where a protest vote for a third party candidate or a non-vote would be the right thing to do on Election Day is the New Jersey Senate race between incumbent Robert Menendez, the Democrat, and Republican challenger Thomas Kean Jr. (Column continues below) Pollsters say the...

The President signed a law authorizing construction of a fence along the US-Mexico border and then went on a campaign trip to Iowa and Michigan. Lynne Cheney, appeared on Fox and Friends promoting her new book Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez at the State Department Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

On Saturday the President held talks with military commanders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House along with other administration officers including a video link with the Vice President. Today he and the First Lady welcomed King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden to the White House The President also met with crew members of the Space Shuttle Discovery at the White House and visted the Urban Trust Bank in Washington for a discussion on the economy with small business owners and community bankers. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief...