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E-mails and other records of Dr. Eric Whitaker -- one of President Obama's best friends -- have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury... The investigation involves "faith-based initiatives" and health-awareness campaigns funded by the Illinois Department of Public Health when Whitaker ran the agency for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich... Obama has said he recommended Whitaker for that job, which Whitaker landed in April 2003. The president's friend resigned in October 2007 to join Obama's wife, Michelle, as an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center. On Friday, Whitaker defended his work as the state's former top health official,...

An analysis.

DEAN: Well, no, I think this is an exception. The northeast is not a conservative place. And I think—I still believe that Martha can pull this out. But if she doesn‘t, I think the voters of Massachusetts are going to find out that Scott Brown doesn‘t vote anything like the average voter of Massachusetts. So, I don‘t really think it‘s that. I really think that you got to stand up and be strong, and people really were hoping that it was going to be a real push for some differences. It‘s—and a lot of this is not anybody‘s fault. Well,...

In a blow to the bill grinding through the Senate, Howard Dean bluntly called for the bill to be killed in a pre-recorded interview set to air later this afternoon, denouncing it as “the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate,” the reporter who conducted the interview tells me. Dean said the removal of the Medicare buy-in made the bill not worth supporting, and urged Dem leaders to start over with the process of reconciliation in the interview, which is set to air at 5:50 PM today on Vermont Public Radio, political reporter Bob Kinzel confirms to...

Huilu has added the 1940's(?) Brit 'Sherlock Holmes' TV series to their line up, with episodes 1 to 39. Back when I only had terrestrial TV, I used to enjoy watching the nightly episode aired on my local PBS channel before going to sleep.

KURT Campbell can shoot from the hip and September 11, 2007 was no exception. Writing on a blog on The New York Times that day, having recently returned from a family trip to Australia, Campbell claimed that George W. Bush and "his massive entourage" diverted from a secret trip from Iraq to Sydney the week before just to help out an "old mate" John Howard get re-elected. "While the agenda in Australia also called for a meeting with 21 Asian leaders to discuss weighty policy matters like global climate change and to listen attentively while others opined - just the...

Government-run Healthcare Would Backfire, Making 'Public Option' the Only OneFormer DNC chair's government-run insurance program is sure to backfire. Just ask his wife the doctor By Phil Gingrey, M.D. Posted May 21, 2009 Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has recently inserted himself into the debate on health reform, creating a website and collecting signatures on a petition calling for a "public option" as part of any health reform bill. The action is unsurprising from an individual who previously called President Obama's healthcare reform plan "perfect" and stated that "it's ridiculous to say care would be inferior" in the...

Howard Dean: Rep. Gingrey ‘an embarrassment’By Bob Cusack Posted: 06/10/09 07:14 PM [ET] There were some serious fireworks on C-SPAN Wednesday as former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean went after two GOP lawmakers-cum-physicians. It all started earlier this week when physician-turned-Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) said he had recently read that Dean’s wife, Dr. “Elizabeth” Steinberg, was no longer taking Medicaid patients because the government reimbursement rates are too low. Dean fired back on Wednesday, saying, “Dr. Gingrey is just plain wrong. He’s an embarrassment. First of all, my wife is not named Elizabeth, as her name is Judith. Second...

LOS ANGELES – The greatness of Shaquille O’Neal(notes) demands that his name, his legacy, never drifts far from an NBA Finals. Even when he’s long out of the league, that’ll still be true. For the immortals, the lifetime benefits include the exhaustive examination of the next generation’s stars to your standards. How does Tom Brady measure to Joe Montana?

The fourth-place network, which has struggled to launch new shows, is "doubling down on its scripted commitment," said Ben Silverman, co-chair of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. NBC's announcement jumped the gun on the traditional "upfront week" in which networks present their lineups to the advertisers who make preseason ad buys.

It's a thriller, not an attack on the Howard's By Jeff Miller on April 23, 2009 I am producing a movie on Ron Howards family. In the movie based on my research I say his father was a drug pusher and his mother is a prostitute and that Ron Howard engages in S&M. All of the portrayal of Ron Howard and his family in my movie and the prequel I am doing later will be highly negative. I will present the Howard family as something totally based on lies and question whether his parents really were his parents in the...

Looks like Ritchie spent some time in Europe and has a problem with american "miltarism", but it looks like with Obama as President, he will get what he wishes for, a weakened America that looks like most of Europe..

Film director Ron Howard is “very optimistic” about the future of America, so long as the nation makes an “adjustment,” to fulfill his hope a “more progressive” nation will mean “at a certain point I don't think we'll be so consumed with being the pre-eminent super-power and, you know, driven by sort of militarism and this need to export, you know, democracy.” Howard's reasoning, on Friday night's Real Time with Bill Maher, came in response to Maher's formulation that America has “seen better days. We're sort of in place that has made a lot of people nervous. Some people would...

THE kumbaya crowd which pressed for East Timor's independence must shoulder much of the blame for the failure of its dysfunctional Government. But while the collective of liberation theologists and civil rights lawyers cheered Fretilin's Portugese-educated Marxist guerrilla leaders, the same candle-wavers protested against the toppling of the mass murdering Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein. Yet East Timor, with a population estimated at about one million, whose independence was internationally recognised on May 20, 2002, is now arguably in proportionately worse shape than Iraq, population 26 million, where the first election under its new constitution took place just last December. The...

Last week, Fox News reporter Chris Wallace rightfully challenged Ron Howard’s comparisons of George W. Bush to Richard Nixon, whose illegal behavior while president led to his resignation. Howard, who is director of the new film, Frost/Nixon, which chronicles reporter David Frost’s interviews with the disgraced Nixon after he left office, seems to think, like many on the left, that George Bush was not only a bad president but a lawbreaker who should face investigation and possibly criminal sanction.

Phils 4- Rays 3

Ron Howard For Obama: Although not particularly funny (like the Mac-PC commercials) or substantive (like the Mac-PC commercials) this celebrity endorsement is sort of amazing.

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama is keeping Howard Dean as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, while bringing in one of his top strategists to oversee the party's operations. Obama made changes at the party headquarters his first order of business as the presumed presidential nominee. Campaign adviser Paul Tewes was dispatched to help lead the changes Thursday, with Dean still as the chairman. Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Obama appreciates Dean's hard work to grow the party. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. WASHINGTON (AP) — Campaign officials...

AUSTRALIAN troops have begun arriving home from Iraq, signalling an end to the nation's combat mission in the war-torn country and fulfilling an election promise made by Kevin Rudd. The first of about 500 soldiers from the Overwatch Battle Group (West) 4 and Australia's Army Training Team reportedly touched down in Brisbane late this afternoon. The soldiers had been stationed at Tallil air base, 300km south of Baghdad, and were responsible for providing security training for Iraqi forces, as well as reconstruction and aid work. A British military spokesman in the southern city of Basra has confirmed the withdrawal was...

JOHN Howard has broken his post-election silence from the other side of the world, defending his ousted government and attacking his successor before an audience of leading US conservatives. The former prime minister was in Washington DC to receive a top conservative honour, and used the platform to say he was "disappointed" Australia was withdrawing combat troops from Iraq. He said now was not the time to abandon the Iraqi people, who needed space to capitalise on the advances made by the US troops' surge strategy in Baghdad. "It would be a tragedy if those gains were surrendered now by...