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FAIRFIELD, Iowa (AP) - Oprah Winfrey meditated with more than 400 women in southeastern Iowa and also talked to students about her spiritual journey. Suzanne Stryker says she was among the women participating in the transcendental meditation Wednesday at the Maharishi School in Fairfield. She says no one in the meditation group knew the TV personality was going to be there until Winfrey, who heads the OWN television network, arrived with a film crew. The private Maharishi School specializes in "consciousness-based education" for kindergarten through 12th grade.

Rep. Anthony Weiner's stunning wife had a front-row seat to the mother of all sex scandals - she served in the Clinton White House during Monicagate. And now, 34-year-old Huma Abedin has to deal with her hubby's own public shame, as he tries to explain away his connection to a lewd Twitter picture. Weiner said yesterday his beautiful spouse - a longtime aide to now-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton - doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. "She's seen an awful lot," Weiner told MSNBC

The lunch conversation inevitably turned to whether the White House would display its crèche, customarily placed in a prominent spot in the East Room. Ms. Rogers, this participant said, replied that the Obamas did not intend to put the manger scene on display — a remark that drew an audible gasp from the tight-knit social secretary sisterhood. (A White House official confirmed that there had been internal discussions about making Christmas more inclusive and whether to display the crèche.) Yet in the end, tradition won out; the executive mansion is now decorated for the Christmas holiday, and the crèche is...

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<p>EDITOR'S NOTE: This story appeared on the front page of The Washington Post on Monday under the headline,"In Flag City USA, False Rumors About Obama Are Flying." It was also distributed to 669 news organizations in 56 countries, including The Courier. An editorial and related letters to the editor are on Page A4.</p>

Israel justified over military exercise - Obama Agencies Published: June 21, 2008, 10:35 Florida: US presidential candidate Barack Obama said that Israel is justified in providing for its security amid the "extraordinary threat" posed to it by Iran. He spoke after The New York Times quoted unnamed US officials as saying that Israel had carried out a large military exercise this month that appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Democrat Obama, who is running against Republican John McCain in the November election, was asked at a news conference in Jacksonville, Florida whether...

NEW YORK - NBC News said Tuesday it has reprimanded the employee responsible for mistakenly flashing a picture of Osama bin Laden on MSNBC as Chris Matthews talked about Barack Obama. "This mistake was inexcusable," MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines said. It happened during the opening of "Hardball" Monday evening. Matthews was previewing a story on the controversy over Obama's use of another politician's words, and a picture of bin Laden briefly flashed on the screen beside him with the headline "Words About Words." The Obama campaign immediately called NBC to complain, and Matthews apologized on the air a few minutes...

[excerpted] ...."Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation. Context matters," the Illinois Democrat said in remarks prepared for delivery to a conference of Call to Renewal, a faith-based movement to overcome poverty. "It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase `under God,"' he said. "Having voluntary student prayer groups using school property to meet should not be a threat, any more than its use by the High School Republicans should threaten Democrats." ..... Obama said millions of Christians, Muslims...

Sen. Barack Obama chastised fellow Democrats on Wednesday for failing to "acknowledge the power of faith in the lives of the American people," and said the party must compete for the support of evangelicals and other churchgoing Americans. "Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation. Context matters," the Illinois Democrat said in remarks to a conference of Call to Renewal, a faith-based movement to overcome poverty. "It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase `under God,'" he said. "Having...

WASHINGTON -- The roster of aspiring presidential candidates seems to grow by the week here in the nation's capital, where the season of speculation and seduction is in full blossom. Never mind that the urgent political matter for Republicans and Democrats is the fight for control of Congress, considering Election Day is less than six months away. These days, two questions rise above most others in the echo chamber: Who, exactly, is flirting with a bid for the White House and is Sen. Barack Obama among them? It's a ritual that unfolds every four years, at this very time, when...

CHICAGO - Sen. Barack Obama accused the Bush administration Monday of a "stubborn refusal" to attack the causes of climate change, and said tougher fuel standards, stricter curbs on oil imports and more investment in cleaner energy are essential to avert global catastrophe. "Saying that America is addicted to oil without following a real plan for energy independence is like admitting alcoholism and then skipping out on the 12-step program," the Illinois Democrat said. He referred to one of the principal themes of President Bush's State of the Union address Jan. 31. "It's not enough to identify the challenge. We...

WASHINGTON Jan 29, 2006 — To more effectively oppose Supreme Court nominees in the future, Democrats need to convince the public "their values are at stake" rather than use stalling tactics to try to thwart the president, said a senator who opposes Samuel Alito's confirmation. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., predicted on Sunday that an effort to try to block a final vote on Alito would fail on Monday. That would clear the way for Senate approval Tuesday of the federal appeals court judge picked to succeed the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Democrats fear he would shift the court rightward...

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama said efforts by Democratic leaders in the Senate to drum up support for a filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito’s confirmation are likely to fail, and he appeared to be leaning against delay tactics. “I have to tell you, the votes are probably not there for a filibuster,” the senator said during a stop in the Quad-Cities to open a new congressional office in Moline and to speak to the Quad-City Times editorial board. “It’s my understanding that at least seven Democrats have announced they will not be supporting it, meaning at most you’d get...

Print this page WASHINGTON -- This week, Sen. Barack Obama found himself in new territory -- breaking from his bipartisan honeymoon and preaching the Democrats' party line on ethics. Whether the Illinois Democrat is deviating from his freshman game plan of staying above the fray or launching a new strategy will soon play out. But this much is clear: by taking a leading role in the Democrats' ethics reform campaign kicked off on Wednesday -- potentially key to his party reclaiming the House or Senate in November -- Obama has opened a new chapter in his Senate career. And that...

Obama might be walking on hot water January 22, 2006 Everybody knows that when U.S. Sen. Barack Obama walks, lilacs bloom from his every footstep, even in parking lots. He can cross the Potomac without bridge or boat. When his fellow Democrats became hungry, he feeds them by the thousands with two perch and a bag of Cheetos. And what about that nice Shiraz flowing from the Senate water cooler? According to his glowing media, there is nothing he can't do. And when he saved Sen. Hillary Clinton from her own big mouth--she told a black audience that Congress was...

Republicans controlling the federal government practice Social Darwinism, a discredited philosophy that in economics and politics calls for survival of the fittest, according to a Democratic U.S. senator. Sen. Barak Obama of Illinois, a fast-rising Democratic star, told Florida party members that only a philosophy among Republicans of sink or swim explains why some Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans still live in cars while Republicans in Washington prepare next week to enact $70 billion in tax breaks. "It's called the 'Ownership society' in Washington. This isn't the first time this philosophy has appeared. It used to be called Social...

By my count, twelve United States senators are considering a run for president in 2008: six Democrats (Evan Bayh, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, Russ Feingold, and John Kerry) and six Republicans (George Allen, Sam Brownback, Bill Frist, Chuck Hagel, John McCain, and Rick Santorum). For Biden, Kerry, and McCain it would be their second presidential campaign....

Democrat presidents misled and troops wound up dead? That's what Sen. Barack Obama seemed to be saying in a wide ranging interview with the Chicago Tribune this week. Commenting on claims that President Bush used on bogus intelligence to take America into the Iraq war - he noted that more than one Democratic president has done the same thing. The revelation came as Sen. Obama recounted a recent town meeting where an audience member had asked him about the war, saying: "Shouldn't the president be impeached for lying?" The top black Democrat recalled answering: "Well, FDR, JFK, LBJ -- we...

Warren Buffett sits on the edge of a soft brown sofa, closely watching as Sen. Barack Obama navigates the well-appointed living room. He moves his square glasses closer to his face, unfolds his arms and springs to his feet when the time comes to welcome his guest to Nebraska. "There he is," Buffett says with a wide grin, pulling Obama toward him with a hearty handshake. "You're the hottest ticket in town today." The sage of money and finance, America's second-richest man seldom becomes invested in politicians. But he has made an exception for the junior Democratic senator from Illinois,...