Coming Soon To Your Town

Jennifer Garner Has A Baby, Probably

2009-01-02T07:22:00.001-08:00

Jennifer Garner has more reason than most to celebrate 2009 - and not just because it's a year potentially free of Gary Busey's pervy spittle.

No, apparently Jennifer Garner is having a baby. Or she's had a baby. Or she's about to have a baby. Nobody really seems to know. Jennifer Garner checked into a hospital on New Year's Eve with Ben Affleck, and she's darned if she's not coming out without a baby.

So congratulations to Jennifer Garner. And double congratulations if the baby ends up more like you than Ben Affleck. And triple congratulations if he's not the father. Happy new year!

When it comes to heavy, almost overbearing symbolism, giving birth to a baby at the start of a new year is about as good as it gets. Both signify a fresh start, a blank canvas on which it seems that anything is possible. Both come with a mixture of excitement and trepidation for the future. And, a few months in, you'll be chronically sleepless, covered in shit and wondering what the fuss was all about. They're identical.

So with that in mind, we should all be jolly envious of Jennifer Garner, because if she hasn't had her new baby already, then she's going to have it any minute. According to reports, Garner and husband Ben Affleck have been holed up in a Los Angeles hospital waiting for the baby since New Year's Eve. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Actress Jennifer Garner has sparked reports she's planning to ring in the New Year with a new baby after checking into a California hospital. The star is nine months pregnant with her second child, and she and husband Ben Affleck were spotted entering Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Lucky old Jennifer Garner, we can totally relate to what she's going through - although Ben Affleck has only ever caused us to scream and writhe around in agony for hours on end that time we thought we decided to try and watch Bounce all the way through in one go, not because he knocked us up with an actual baby.

Of course, this won't be the first time that Jennifer Garner has given birth to one of Ben Affleck's children - back in 2005 she gave birth to their first daughter Violet - but it is the first time that we've doubted Affleck's paternity.

Sure, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck might be in a loving, monogamous relationship - but wasn't it just over nine months ago that Gary Busey drooled across Jennifer Garner's neck on the Oscars red carpet? Doesn't she realise that one atom of Busey dribble is more potent than an entire ocean of human sperm? If we were her we'd keep a hammer by the side of the bed, just in case the baby comes out with big buck teeth, weird googly eyes and a horrifying lack of self-awareness. You can't be too careful.

So Jennifer Garner has either had a baby or she's about to - that's the good news. The bad news is there's now another mouth to feed and Ben Affleck isn't exactly going to be able to provide for everyone by directing surprisingly decent but barely-watched arthouse movies about abducted children all the time. So this time next year when Changing Lanes 2 is rush-released, remember that it wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Ben Affleck's randy loins, OK?

People Who Are Dead: Bernie Hamilton

2009-01-02T07:21:00.001-08:00

Actor Bernie Hamilton, who played the no-nonsense police captain on the 1970s TV series "Starsky and Hutch," has died. He was 80. Hamilton died of cardiac arrest Tuesday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said his son, Raoul Hamilton.

Born in Los Angeles in 1928, Hamilton ran away from home as a teenager and wound up staying in someone's garage and attending Oakland Technical High School, where he played football and got involved in acting.

Hamilton appeared in more than 20 films, including "The Young One," "The Devil at 4 O'Clock," "Synanon," "The Swimmer," "Walk the Walk" and "The Organization."

He also had guest appearances on television series before becoming a regular on "Starsky and Hutch," the ABC police drama starring Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul. Hamilton played the brusque, by-the-book Capt. Harold Dobey, a role that gave him wide recognition to this day, his son said.

After "Starsky and Hutch," Hamilton spent the next 20 years in the music business producing R&B and gospel records under the record label Chocolate Snowman.

Virginia Tech crushes Cincinnati in the 75th edition of the Orange Bowl

2009-01-02T07:19:00.001-08:00

Darren Evans gained 153 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries and Cody Grimm had the game-sealing interception, as No. 21 Virginia Tech crushed 12th-ranked Cincinnati, 20-7, in the 75th edition of the Orange Bowl.

Virginia Tech, which is 8-14 in postseason play, was making its second straight appearance in the Orange Bowl as champion of the ACC for a second consecutive season. The Hokies dropped a 24-21 decision to Kansas in last year's Orange Bowl.

Tyrod Taylor threw for 140 yards and was picked off once on 13-of-22 passing and rushed for 47 yards and a score on 15 carries for the Hokies (10-4), who won their final four games to record their fifth straight 10-win season, a current streak only matched by Texas and Southern California. Danny Coale had 52 yards on three grabs in the win.

"I think this is the best football 'team' we've ever had," said Tech head coach Frank Beamer. "We had some tough losses [this season], but no one slipped up. We hung in there together. We always practiced hard. I can't say enough about our players and our coaches.

"We have [had] some great, great seasons here at Virginia Tech. But I believe this is the best team we've ever had."

Tony Pike threw for 239 yards with a TD but was picked off four times on 16- of-33 efficiency for the Bearcats (11-3), who saw their six-game win streak come to an end. Jacob Ramsey tallied 34 yards on four touches while Mardy Gilyard logged 158 yards and a TD on seven catches for Cincinnati, which registered 11 wins for the first time in school history.

The Bearcats were playing in their first January 1st bowl since 1951 after capturing their first-ever Big East title and subsequent BCS Bowl bid. Cincinnati was playing in its 11th bowl game all-time (6-5) and had been solid in the postseason, winning three straight bowl games coming in, including last year's 31-21 decision over Southern Miss in the Papajohns.com Bowl.

"You work out in the summer and preseason camp to get an opportunity to get to this point," said Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly about his team's season. "But you want to finish it off, so there's a lot of disappointment, obviously, in our locker room."

The Hokies got the ball first in the third quarter and drove all the way from their 14 to the Bearcats 18, where the drive stalled. Dustin Keys then snuck a 35-yard field goal inside the left upright for a 13-7 lead with 8:32 left in the frame.

The teams traded punts and Cincinnati took over at its own 14. Isaiah Pead rushed for three yards on first down but Pike was picked off on second down and Tech started at Cincy's 10.

It took Evans three plays to find the end zone as his six-yard score with 11:29 left in the game put the Hokies up 20-7.

The Bearcats then drove from their 40 all the way down to the Virginia Tech red zone and Pike converted on 4th-and-5 from the 11 with a seven-yard pass to Dominick Goodman. Then, on 4th-and-goal from the one, Pike was stopped and Virginia Tech took over on downs.

The Hokies were held to a three-and-out, but John Goebel was called for roughing the kicker on fourth down and Virginia Tech got a new set of downs at the 21. The team was eventually stopped and Cincinnati got the ball back at its own 48. However, Grimm picked off Pike on first down to all but seal the deal.

"We didn't score enough points," Kelly added. "We moved the ball, did the things that we wanted to do, but didn't put points on the board. Seven points is not enough to win against any team."

The Bearcats' opening possession went six plays, spanned 72 yards, lasted just under two minutes and resulted in a 7-0 lead. Pike hit Gilyard twice on the drive, the first time for a 38-yard gain and the second for a 15-yard touchdown.

Each school registered a missed field goal and a punt on the next four possessions, and the Hokies took over at their own 27 on a drive that bridged the first two quarters.

Taylor closed out the nine-play, 73-yard trek with a 17-yard scramble through the Cincinnati defense and into paydirt to tie the game with 13 minutes left in the half.

The next five drives produced little offense and Keys hit a 43-yard field goal as time expired to give Virginia Tech a 10-7 lead at the intermission.

Game Notes

Virginia Tech snapped the ACC's eight-game losing streak in BCS bowls...These teams had met eight previous times and the series was knotted at four wins apiece coming in. The last meeting took place in 2006, as the Hokies posted a 29-13 at home.

Castro warns of US threat to Cuban Revolution

2009-01-02T07:15:00.001-08:00

President Raul Castro on Thursday warned that the US "enemy will never stop being aggressive, dominant and treacherous" on the 50th anniversary of Cuba's Communist Revolution led by his ailing brother Fidel.
The 77-year-old president also said there were tough challenges ahead, with Cuba hard hit by the global economic crisis and the aftermath of three hurricanes in 2008 that caused some 10 billion dollars in damage.

Despite high hopes for improved relations with Cuba's northern neighbor and decades-long foe after the US election of Barack Obama, Raul Castro warned future leaders against softening toward Washington.

"One after the other, all the North American administrations have ceaselessly tried to force regime change in Cuba," Castro, clad in an olive green military uniform, said in a speech in Santiago de Cuba, the city where Fidel proclaimed victory over US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 after 25 months of fighting in the Sierra Maestra mountains.

In the 50 years since, Communist Cuba has outlasted 10 US presidents, faced a missile crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, endured the collapse of its main benefactor, the Soviet Union, and saw many of its citizens flee.

"Resisting has been the pledge and the key of each of our victories during this half-century of tough fighting," said Raul, who officially took over from his 82-year-old brother last February.

Fidel, who has not appeared in public since undergoing major surgery almost two and a half years ago, sent a brief, signed greeting to the Cuban people in Granma, the Communist Party newspaper.

But his image dominated giant banners and billboards in somber celebrations amid a grim economic outlook.

"The next 50 years ... will also be of permanent struggle," Raul Castro said in a 40-minute speech to a crowd of some 3,000 people.

Cuba's Revolution -- led by a young Fidel Castro and legendary Argentine guerilla Ernesto "Che" Guevara -- took on Marxist overtones in May 1961, one month after the attempted invasion of the Bay of Pigs by CIA-backed Cuban exiles.

Then-US president John F. Kennedy declared an economic embargo in February 1962, eight months before the Cold War confrontation known as the Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

A White House spokesman Wednesday said Washington "will continue to seek freedom" for the people of Cuba, without elaborating.

But Obama, who takes over from President George W. Bush on January 20, has promised to ease some rules limiting travel by and remittances from Cuban-Americans. Raul Castro has said he is ready for talks with Obama without "carrots or sticks."

The Cuban president has also promised "structural reforms" -- a departure from his older brother and leading members of the Communist old guard.

But the global economic crisis may impact the pledged changes, as the president signaled in July when he announced greater government control of revenues and tighter agricultural management.

The Caribbean island still officially operates in the Special Period in Peacetime, an extended economic crisis that began in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Life is tough for most of Cuba's 11.2 million people, who earn an average of 20 dollars per month and lean on a parallel economy.

"The Revolution has given us a lot. I'm communist but I wish there were changes in the economy, that's where the problem is," said Pedro, 65, at Thursday's celebrations.

"The situation is really bad. Salaries are not enough to live off. They've made a lot of mistakes," said 41-year-old Joel Romero, who gave up his job as a health worker to rear pigs.

Branded US puppets by Havana, Cuban dissidents say there are 219 "political prisoners" on the island.

During his decades in power, Fidel Castro expropriated foreign companies, jailed political enemies and drove well over a million Cubans into exile.

But he also introduced historic reforms, including major education and health care access advances.

The 50-year celebrations coincide with recent moves by Cuba to broaden its international ties. Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent congratulatory messages Thursday.

Leftist Latin American leaders heaped praise on Cuba's past half-century.

Oil-rich Venezuela, Cuba's main business partner, held a special ceremony to commemorate the anniversary.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, also a major US foe, called Cuba's revolution "the mother of all the revolutions going on in Latin America and the Caribbean."

NEW Corporate Visions Positioning Approach Takes Marketing Brand Messages to Sales Street Level

2009-01-02T07:14:00.001-08:00

You've spent thousands of dollars on outside agencies, voice-of-the-customer segmentation research and offsite meetings to create your company's brand message. Now what? How are you going to translate the 30,000-foot brand message into something that resonates at the 3.0-foot level -- the distance between your sales people and your customer?

The brand to field sales messaging problem
Corporate Visions® Inc., announces the latest release of its Power Positioning 2.0 series, a systematic approach for developing messages and tools that sales people will actually use to deliver your brand more consistently at the all-important point of sales interaction.

Blend creativity and discipline
Traditional marketing messaging efforts fall short in helping sales people help customers make decisions about your products and services. The challenge is that messages are either too high-level and fail to speak to the customers' challenges, or too low-level and filled with product or service details. As a result, customers have trouble seeing your real value.

Power Positioning™ provides a disciplined process that starts and ends with the customer, is synchronized to the customer buying process, and produces messages that can be used consistently and powerfully in customer conversations -- whether used in person, over the phone, on the web, published in marketing communications, in a tradeshow, or promoted in story form by your executives and leaders.

"Power Positioning blends creativity with discipline in a cross-functional workshop setting bringing together product, marketing and sales subject matter experts to create a customer-focused field message," says Tim Riesterer, Corporate Visions' CMO and SVP of Strategic Consulting Services. "You'll create a message that your sales team can't wait to tell, your customers want to hear, and your competition can't touch."

Through a series of interactive, industry-proven methodology, your sales and marketing teams will create differentiated Power Positions™, develop Conversation Roadmaps™, and construct sales tools and message objects that align with specific sales activities in the customer buying cycle.

"Traditionally, corporate branding, marketing communications, and sales training have been managed in silos. Today, companies are aggressively seeking better alignment between these groups to improve performance," says Joe Terry, President of Corporate Visions. "Our latest release of the Power Positioning™ series integrates the messages, tools and training companies need to be different where it counts - in their customer message."

US readying south Afghan surge against Taliban

2009-01-02T07:12:00.001-08:00

The U.S. is preparing to pour at least 20,000 extra troops into southern Afghanistan to cope with a Taliban insurgency that is fiercer than NATO leaders expected.

The new troops will augment the 12,500 NATO soldiers — mainly British, Canadian and Dutch — in what amounts to an Afghan version of the surge in Iraq.

New construction at Kandahar Air Field foreshadows the upcoming infusion of American power. Runways and housing are being built, along with two new U.S. outposts in Taliban-held regions of Kandahar province.

And in the past month the south has been the focus of visiting U.S. and other dignitaries — Sen. John McCain, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, U.S. congressional delegations and leaders from NATO headquarters in Europe.

For the first time since NATO took over the country in 2006, an experienced U.S. general, Brig. Gen. John Nicholson, is assigned to the south.

He says U.S. Gen. David McKiernan, NATO's commander in Afghanistan, has made the objectives clear in calling the situation in the south a stalemate and asking for more troops, on top of the 32,000 Americans already in Afghanistan.

"By introducing more U.S. capability in here we have the potential to change the game," Nicholson said.

The Army Corps of Engineers will spend up to $1.3 billion in new construction for troop placements in southern Afghanistan, said the corps commander in Afghanistan, Col. Thomas O'Donovan.

Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in the last two years, and Taliban militants now control wide swaths of countryside. Military officials say they have enough troops to win battles but not to hold territory, and they hope the influx of troops, plus the continued growth of the Afghan army, will change that.

U.S. officials hope to add at least three new brigades of ground forces in the southern region, along with assets from an aviation brigade, surveillance and intelligence forces, engineers, military police and Special Forces. In addition, a separate brigade of new troops is deploying to two provinces surrounding Kabul.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month that Afghanistan could get up to 30,000 new U.S. troops in 2009, depending on the security situation in Iraq. Col. Greg Julian, a U.S. military spokesman, said Monday that one ground brigade should arrive by spring, a second by summer and a third by fall.

Nicholson said he expects the U.S. forces to be deployed in Kandahar city and along vital Highway 1, which links Kandahar to Kabul, and in neighboring Helmand province, the world's largest producer of opium poppies for heroin.

NATO forces are well positioned in three key areas of northern Helmand, said British Lt. Gen. J.B. Dutton, deputy commander of the NATO's Afghan mission.

"What we have not yet achieved is to join those areas up, so there is a security presence that allows locals to drive safely between those areas. That's the sort of thing we are going to want to improve," he said.

Since 2006, the U.S. has concentrated its forces in eastern Afghanistan, along the border with Pakistan, while the south is policed by 8,500 British troops, 2,500 Canadians and 2,500 Dutch.

Their overall commander is Dutch Maj. Gen. Mart de Kruif — who would also have command of any incoming U.S. forces in the south next year. By the fall of 2010 the top officer in the south will be American.

The infusion of U.S. power risks Americanizing a war that until now has been a shared mission of 41 coalition countries. But Dutton, the British general, suggested there was no choice. "It has to do with national capacity and a number of political considerations in those countries," he said.

In Canada and many European countries, governments face low public support for keeping troops in Afghanistan combat zones.

Dutton said the British contribution is "significant," as well as that of Canada, which he noted has lost more troops per capita in Afghanistan than any other nation.

Nicholson, the U.S. general, said the Canadians have fought "heroically" but simply don't have enough forces to secure all of Kandahar. The Canadian Embassy declined to comment.

More U.S. troops — 151 — died in Afghanistan in 2008 than any of the seven years since the invasion to oust the Taliban, and U.S. officials warn violence will probably intensify next year.

"If we get the troops, they're going to move into areas that haven't been secured, and when we do that, the enemy is there, and we're going to fight," said Nicholson, who spent 16 months commanding a brigade of 10th Mountain Division troops in eastern Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007.

That fighting should eventually clear the way for security and governance to take hold, he said.

"If you want to summarize that as it's going to get worse before it gets better, that's exactly what we're talking about," he said.

Muslims Removed From Airplane

2009-01-02T07:08:00.001-08:00

Officials ordered nine Muslim passengers, including three young children, off an AirTran flight headed to Orlando from Reagan National Airport yesterday afternoon after two other passengers overheard what they thought was a suspicious remark.

Members of the party, all but one of them U.S.-born citizens who were headed to a religious retreat in Florida, were subsequently cleared for travel by FBI agents who characterized the incident as a misunderstanding, an airport official said. But the passengers said AirTran refused to rebook them, and they had to pay for seats on another carrier secured with help from the FBI.

Kashif Irfan, one of the removed passengers, said the incident began about 1 p.m. after his brother, Atif, and his brother's wife wondered aloud about the safest place to sit on an airplane.

"My brother and his wife were discussing some aspect of airport security," Irfan said. "The only thing my brother said was, 'Wow, the jets are right next to my window.' I think they were remarking about safety."

Irfan said he and the others think they were profiled because of their appearance. He said five of the six adults in the party are of South Asian descent, and all six are traditionally Muslim in appearance, with the men wearing beards and the women in headscarves. Irfan, 34, is an anesthesiologist. His brother, 29, is a lawyer. Both live in Alexandria with their families, and both were born in Detroit. They were traveling with their wives, Kashif Irfan's sister-in-law, a friend and Kashif Irfan's three sons, ages 7, 4 and 2.

AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson agreed that the incident amounted to a misunderstanding. But he defended AirTran's handling of the incident, which he said strictly followed federal rules. And he denied any wrongdoing on the airline's part.

"At the end of the day, people got on and made comments they shouldn't have made on the airplane, and other people heard them," Hutcheson said. "Other people heard them, misconstrued them. It just so happened these people were of Muslim faith and appearance. It escalated, it got out of hand and everyone took precautions."

Hutcheson confirmed that it was ultimately the pilot's decision to postpone the flight. But he said the pilot was influenced not only by the complaints from passengers but by the actions of two federal air marshals on board, who had learned of the incident and reported it to airport police.

As a result of that report, federal officials made the decision to order all 104 passengers from the plane and re-screen them and their luggage before allowing the flight to take off for Orlando -- two hours late and without the nine passengers.

Ellen Howe, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, said the pilot acted appropriately.

"For us, it just highlights that security is everybody's responsibility," Howe said. "Someone heard something that was inappropriate, and then the airline decided to act on it. We certainly support [the pilot's] call to do that."

Howe added that the TSA's involvement was limited to conducting a security sweep of the plane after the passengers were removed. Airport police officers' only involvement was to hold the passengers in custody until the FBI arrived, said Tara Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the agency that runs the airport.

Hutcheson said AirTran is not likely to reimburse the passengers for the additional cost of their replacement tickets on USAirways. He said they were given a full refund for their AirTran fares and may fly on the carrier now that the investigation is complete.

The detained passengers said that is not likely.

"It was an ordeal," said Abdur Razack Aziz, the family friend who was also detained. "Nothing came out of it. It was paranoid people. It was very sad."

First-Ever Masonic Inaugural Ball to be Held

2009-01-02T07:05:00.001-08:00

William R. Singleton Hope Lebanon Lodge #7 is hosting the first-ever Masonic Inaugural Ball in honor of President-elect, Barack Obama and Vice-President Elect Joseph Biden. Tickets are limited, so you are encouraged to purchase yours quickly.

Masonic Inaugural Ball
This first-ever event will be held at 8:00 p.m.:

Stars Bistro
2120 P Street, NW
Washington, DC

While other inauguration balls are costing $125-$500 or more per ticket, we've arranged for an evening with some amazing food, a great DJ, and brotherhood, all for $65 per ticket, we've also included an incentive to help pay the baby sitter, couples may go for just $120 a piece.

All proceeds from this event will be donated to the Masonic Foundation of the District of Columbia.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit: http://singletonlodge.org/home/inaugural-masonic-ball/

Directions:

Traffic will be difficult to get through the District of Columbia. We are recommending that people take metro. Stars Bistro is conveniently located west of the Dupont Circle Metro Station (exit north.) There will be valet parking available for those choosing to drive.

Tickets are now on sale for the first-ever Masonic Inaugural Ball held in Washington, D.C.

Animated 'Delgo' Has Worst Wide Release Opening Ever

2008-12-16T07:11:00.000-08:00

Don't feel too left out if you missed seeing the animated adventure
movie "Delgo" this past weekend. No one did. In fact, the movie broke
a record for having the worst opening ever for a film in wide release.
"Delgo" earned a measly $511,920 this weekend on 2,160 screens, not
even breaking the top ten. That's an average of $237 per screen for
the three days. If you figure there were five screenings a day, and
assume ticket prices are about $8, that comes out to two people in the
theater per showing. By comparison, the Golden Globe-nominated drama
"Doubt" earned roughly the same amount of money, but it was only in 15
theaters.

This is all too bad because the story of the making of "Delgo" has the
makings of a great Hollywood underdog story. 36-year-old entrepreneur
Marc Adler decided he wanted to direct and produce a $40 million
computer animated kids' flick completely independent of Tinseltown
behemoths like Disney and Dreamworks.

Starting in 2001, Adler and his small Atlanta-based animation company
Fathom Studios toiled for years on a tight budget. They lined up an
impressive, if eclectic, cast of voice actors including Freddie Prinze
Jr., Jennifer Love Hewitt, Val Kilmer, Malcolm McDowell, Kelly Ripa,
and Anne Bancroft in her final role (she died in 2005). And when Adler
couldn't get a Hollywood studio interested in his movie, he raised
eyebrows by releasing it himself through distributor-for-hire
Freestyle Releasing. It was a huge risk; one that ultimately didn't
pay off. There wasn't the sort of marketing budget needed to make a
film stand out in the already crowded holiday movie season.

Another problem was the quality of the movie. Or lack thereof. The
story -- star-crossed lovers squaring off against an evil queen on a
fanciful world divided between a reptilian people who can move rocks
with their minds and a sprite-like folk who like dragons -- borrows
liberally from "Star Wars," "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Dark
Crystal," just without the charm and intelligence. The script required
the efforts of six, count 'em, six screenwriters, including Adler. The
critics trashed it, giving it a dreadful D average on Yahoo!, which
proved to be lethal.

"Delgo" is not the only major wide release bomb of the year. Three of
the ten worst openings for films in over 2000 locations came out this
year. The raunchy teen sex comedy "College" and the thriller
"Deception," starring Hugh Jackson and Ewan MacGregor, both tanked,
garnering the sixth and ninth worst openings ever respectively. In
both of those cases, the studios dumped the movies with little fanfare
rather than spend millions on marketing a stinker.

Bush sneaks through host of laws to undermine Obama

2008-12-16T07:08:00.001-08:00

After spending eight years at the helm of one of the most
ideologically driven administrations in American history, George W.
Bush is ending his presidency in characteristically aggressive
fashion, with a swath of controversial measures designed to reward
supporters and enrage opponents.

By the time he vacates the White House, he will have issued a record
number of so-called 'midnight regulations' - so called because of the
stealthy way they appear on the rule books - to undermine the
administration of Barack Obama, many of which could take years to
undo.

Dozens of new rules have already been introduced which critics say
will diminish worker safety, pollute the environment, promote gun use
and curtail abortion rights. Many rules promote the interests of large
industries, such as coal mining or energy, which have energetically
supported Bush during his two terms as president. More are expected
this week.

America's attention is focused on the fate of the beleaguered car
industry, still seeking backing in Washington for a
multi-billion-dollar bail-out. But behind the scenes, the 'midnight'
rules are being rushed through with little fanfare and minimal media
attention. None of them would be likely to appeal to the incoming
Obama team.

The regulations cover a vast policy area, ranging from healthcare to
car safety to civil liberties. Many are focused on the environment and
seek to ease regulations that limit pollution or restrict harmful
industrial practices, such as dumping strip-mining waste.

The Bush moves have outraged many watchdog groups. 'The regulations we
have seen so far have been pretty bad,' said Matt Madia, a regulatory
policy analyst at OMB Watch. 'The effects of all this are going to be
severe.'

Bush can pass the rules because of a loophole in US law allowing him
to put last-minute regulations into the Code of Federal Regulations,
rules that have the same force as law. He can carry out many of his
political aims without needing to force new laws through Congress.
Outgoing presidents often use the loophole in their last weeks in
office, but Bush has done this far more than Bill Clinton or his
father, George Bush sr. He is on track to issue more 'midnight
regulations' than any other previous president.

Many of these are radical and appear to pay off big business allies of
the Republican party. One rule will make it easier for coal companies
to dump debris from strip mining into valleys and streams. The process
is part of an environmentally damaging technique known as
'mountain-top removal mining'. It involves literally removing the top
of a mountain to excavate a coal seam and pouring the debris into a
valley, which is then filled up with rock. The new rule will make that
dumping easier.

Another midnight regulation will allow power companies to build
coal-fired power stations nearer to national parks. Yet another
regulation will allow coal-fired stations to increase their emissions
without installing new anti-pollution equipment.

The Environmental Defence Fund has called the moves a 'fire sale of
epic size for coal'. Other environmental groups agree. 'The only
motivation for some of these rules is to benefit the business
interests that the Bush administration has served,' said Ed Hopkins, a
director of environmental quality at the Sierra Club. A case in point
would seem to be a rule that opens up millions of acres of land to oil
shale extraction, which environmental groups say is highly pollutant.

There is a long list of other new regulations that have gone onto the
books. One lengthens the number of hours that truck drivers can drive
without rest. Another surrenders government control of rerouting the
rail transport of hazardous materials around densely populated areas
and gives it to the rail companies.

One more chips away at the protection of endangered species. Gun
control is also weakened by allowing loaded and concealed guns to be
carried in national parks. Abortion rights are hit by allowing
healthcare workers to cite religious or moral grounds for opting out
of carrying out certain medical procedures.

A common theme is shifting regulation of industry from government to
the industries themselves, essentially promoting self-regulation. One
rule transfers assessment of the impact of ocean-fishing away from
federal inspectors to advisory groups linked to the fishing industry.
Another allows factory farms to self-regulate disposal of pollutant
run-off.

The White House denies it is sabotaging the new administration. It
says many of the moves have been openly flagged for months. The spate
of rules is going to be hard for Obama to quickly overcome. By issuing
them early in the 'lame duck' period of office, the Bush
administration has mostly dodged 30- or 60-day time limits that would
have made undoing them relatively straightforward.

Obama's team will have to go through a more lengthy process of
reversing them, as it is forced to open them to a period of public
consulting. That means that undoing the damage could take months or
even years, especially if corporations go to the courts to prevent
changes.

At the same time, the Obama team will have a huge agenda on its plate
as it inherits the economic crisis. Nevertheless, anti-midnight
regulation groups are lobbying Obama's transition team to make sure
Bush's new rules are changed as soon as possible. 'They are aware of
this. The transition team has a list of things they want to undo,'
said Madia.

Gas Price Decline Over!

2008-12-16T07:07:00.001-08:00

An honour guard stands next to an OPEC poster before the arrival of
Algeria's president Abdelaziz … Crude prices sank again Monday ahead
of an OPEC meeting where huge production cuts are expected, though
retail gasoline prices rose over the weekend for the first time in
nearly three months.

After hitting a low of $1.6559 gallon Friday, gas prices rose over the
weekend to break an 86-day streak begun in July after prices topped
$4.11 per gallon, according to the Oil Price Information Service.

With average wholesale costs rising 20 cents per gallon or more since
late November, "there's a sense that the Autumn low of $1.6559 gal may
indeed represent the 2008 low water mark for street prices," OPIS
analyst Tom Kloza said in a note.

Light, sweet crude for January on the New York Mercantile Exchange
peaked briefly above $50 a barrel early Monday, but then fell $1.77 to
settle at $44.51 with more dour economic news from both Asia and the
United States.

Investors were looking at more signals of deteriorating demand, rather
than at any OPEC action to cut supply, said Phil Flynn, an analyst at
Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.

"They really can't surprise the market," he said of OPEC. "When we
trade commodities, we have the tendency to buy the rumor and sell the
fact, and of course right now we've done a pretty good job in pricing
in the OPEC rumors."

On Monday, Toyota said it would indefinitely delay a new assembly
plant in Mississippi due to auto industry downturn.

Growth in China's factory output fell to its lowest level in nearly
seven years as trade plunged.

In London, January Brent crude fell $1.81 to settle at $44.60.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which accounts for
40 percent of global supply, has signaled it plans to announce a
substantial reduction of output quotas at its meeting Wednesday in
Algeria.

But in a hint of what could come out of the ministers' gathering, OPEC
President Chakib Khelil evoked OPEC's last Algeria meeting four years
ago, where "we reduced by 2 million barrels."

"It was a historic conference, and it enabled us to meet the challenge
of falling markets," he told reporters.

Kuwaiti oil minister Mohammed al-Eleim said Monday that OPEC was
"undoubtedly inclined" to cut production. But he added that any
decision would balance the need for a cut with its impact on the
ailing world economy and producer nations' need for revenue to fund
development projects.

Analysts have questioned whether OPEC members will follow through with
any announced cut.

"They're talking about a severe cut, but the question is their
discipline," said Christoffer Moltke-Leth, head of sales trading at
investment firm Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore. "Unless they really
surprise the market, this cut may not support the price much."

Flynn said oil has also been affected by falling equity markets.

"You can talk about OPEC cutting production, but if the economy goes
into the tank there's not going to be nobody left to buy their oil
anyway," he said.

Oil has jumped from a four-year low earlier this month of $40.50 a
barrel on expectations that an OPEC output reduction could be the
catalyst to stabilize the oil price, which has fallen 65 percent since
July.

Investors largely ignored two previous cuts this year that pulled a
total of about 2 million barrels of oil from the market each day,
focusing instead on a slowing global economy that's hurt crude demand.

More bad macro-economic and company news from the U.S. and Europe over
the coming weeks will likely push oil prices lower, Moltke-Leth said.

"I expect crude to continue its slide and I don't think OPEC is going
to prevent that," Moltke-Leth said. "Demand destruction in the major
economies will still very much be on the agenda. We could go as low as
$30 a barrel."

From Sunday to Monday, the national average for regular gas fell
three-tenths of a penny overnight to $1.66 a gallon, according to auto
club AAA, the OPIS and Wright Express.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures fell 4 cents to settle at
$1.0369. Heating oil fell 3.3 cents to settle at $1.4601 a gallon
while natural gas for January delivery rose 15.7 cents to settle at
$5.645 per 1,000 cubic feet.

McCain declines to back Palin for 2012

2008-12-16T07:06:00.001-08:00

John McCain pointedly refused to say Sunday that he would back former
running mate Sarah Palin if she runs for president in 2012, saying
there are plenty of other good people in the Republican Party to
consider.

"Oh, no," McCain said on ABC's This Week program when asked if Palin
could count on McCain's support if she seeks the Republican
presidential nomination.

"Listen, I have the greatest appreciation for Governor Palin and her
family, and it was a great joy to know them. She invigorated our
campaign. She was just down in Georgia and invigorated their campaign.

"But I can't say something like that. We've got some great other young
governors. I think you're going to see the governors assume a greater
leadership role in our Republican Party."

As examples, he mentioned Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Utah Gov.
Jon Huntsman.

Pressed by moderator George Stephanopoulos, McCain joked that it's
still early to expect him to take sides so soon after losing his own
campaign.

"My corpse is still warm, you know?" he said.

Girl asks Santa to stop her relative's molestation

2008-12-16T07:05:00.001-08:00

A 55-year-old Pharr resident was arrested after a young relative wrote
a letter to Santa Claus wishing that the man would stop molesting her.

The 9-year-old girl wrote the letter and turned it in at Cesar Chavez
Elementary School.

A counselor at the school "reported that the student had turned in a
wish list to Santa wishing for her (relative) to stop touching her and
her sister," according to a probable cause complaint.

Pharr police investigators believe Andres Enrique Cantu molested the
girl throughout a four-year period, according to the complaint.

The Monitor is not disclosing Cantu's relationship to the victim to
protect her identity.

The years of sexual abuse allegedly occurred in the girl's own bedroom
while family members slept.

Cantu was arrested Friday and charged with continuous sexual abuse of
a young child. His bond was set at $100,000. If convicted, Cantu could
face 25 to 99 years in prison.

The girl wrote her letter to Santa Dec. 11.

The following day, she was interviewed at the Children's Advocacy
Center in Edinburg, which works with abused children. There, she told
authorities the details of her molestation, according the complaint.

The counselor who reported the situation to police could not be
reached for comment Monday. Pharr police investigators also could not
be reached to discuss the alleged crime.

The charge against Cantu is a new one, created by the Texas
legislature last year. It is part of a series of changes to the penal
code called Jessica's Law, designed to heighten punishments of sexual
predators.

Advocates of blind fault 'SNL' skit about N.Y. Gov. Paterson

2008-12-16T07:04:00.001-08:00

The National Federation of the Blind says it considers NBC's Saturday
Night Live skit making fun of New York Gov. David Paterson an attack
on all blind Americans.
Federation spokesman Chris Danielsen says the portrayal on Saturday's
television show suggesting Paterson as befuddled and disoriented
because of his blindness is "absolutely wrong."

The skit features SNL actor Fred Armisen as Paterson, who must appoint
someone to replace Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Armisen says he has three criteria: economic experience, upstate
influence and someone with a disability and unprepared for the job —
like himself. He holds up a chart illustrating the state's job losses
upside down.

Paterson says he can take a joke, but adds that most blind people
can't find work and the skit's "third-grade" humor won't help matters.

Russian warships headed for Cuba

2008-12-16T07:03:00.001-08:00

Russia said on Monday it was sending a group of warships to Soviet-era
ally Cuba in its latest defiant naval move around US waters, part of a
drive to revive old Cold War ties with Latin America.

The warships will visit Havana on December 19-23, the navy said,
continuing a tour that has already taken in US foes Venezuela and
Nicaragua and seen the ships pass through the Panama Canal for the
first time since World War II.

"This will be the first visit to Cuba by Russian warships since the
Soviet era," the Russian naval headquarters said in a statement.

The destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and two other ships already held
exercises with Venezuela's navy in the Caribbean Sea last month.

The naval manoeuvres close to US waters are seen as a riposte to
Washington's own moves in Russia's Soviet-era sphere of influence,
including in the Black Sea.

US officials have said they see no military threat from Russia's naval
manoeuvres but continue to keep a close eye on the situation.

The naval visit to Cuba, scene of a dramatic 1962 stand-off between
Moscow and Washington over nuclear missiles, comes as tensions over US
missile defence plans in eastern Europe have prompted talk of a
renewed Cold War among some analysts.

Last month Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made a tour of Latin
America where he visited Cuba and Venezuela and met former Cuban
leader Fidel Castro, part of efforts to revive what he called
"privileged relations" from Soviet times.

Last week he also received Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner,
another Latin American critic of the United States.

Nicaragua's leftist President Daniel Ortega is to visit Moscow on
Thursday, after he risked Washington's wrath this summer by following
Russia in recognizing two Moscow-backed rebel regions of Georgia as
independent.

The Russian moves in Central and Latin America follow heightened
tensions over Russia's military onslaught in Georgia, a close US ally.

Russia strongly objected to US naval deployments off Georgia's Black
Sea coast, accusing the United States of covertly rearming Georgia, a
charge Washington denied.

On Monday the Russian navy avoided direct reference to the United
States, saying that visits to Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela
signified "long-term prospects for developing cooperation among these
countries' navies in the interest of building stability and trust on
the world's oceans."

During the Cuba visit, residents will be welcomed aboard the Russian
ships and Russian officers will lay flowers at a memorial to Cuban
campaigner for independence and critic of US expansionism Jose Marti,
the navy said.

Last week the navy said it was sending ships from its Pacific Fleet to
join ships from the Northern Fleet for exercises with India's navy and
in parallel would continue anti-piracy operations off Somalia.

Despite the growing Russian assertiveness, defence experts have said
Russia's navy remains severely weakened following years of post-Soviet
neglect.

That impression was reinforced by the inadvertent fatal poisoning last
month of 20 people aboard a Russian nuclear-powered submarine that was
undergoing tests off the Pacific coast.

Zimbabwea Students Face Hard Times

2008-12-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

Students at Fort Hare University, South Africa, have turned to menial
jobs such as car-washing, security guarding and street vending to earn
a living after the government failed to send them money to return
home.

Worse still, the students who are on government scholarships have
found themselves living in the open after the university authorities
chucked them out of the institution's accommodation they had been
offered after campus closed for the festive season.

The university, where President Robert Mugabe was once a student,
closed its doors for the year a fortnight ago and authorities advised
the Zimbabwean students to return home for the festive period.
However, the government, stung by critical foreign currency shortages,
has failed to come to the rescue of the students.

Parents who spoke to the Zimbabwe Independent said they were disturbed
by the government's failure to send home the students when it was the
state bankrolling their studies at Fort Hare.

"My child is stuck in South Africa and the government is not taking
action," a parent who asked for anonymity said. "They did not even
bother to tell us that they have no money or transport to send our
children back. Right now, I don't know how my child is surviving
without food or shelter. It is very worrying."

Criticism and complaints have dogged the scholarship programme over
the years, especially in the manner the government selects
beneficiaries.

Complaints of favouritism and nepotism have rocked the once efficient
programme whose major intentions have been to support underprivileged
students.

The programme has of late become a Zanu PF project meant to buy
loyalty and votes.

Mugabe initiated the scholarship and has since established similar
programmes with the universities of Rhodes, KwaZulu Natal,
Witwatersrand, Cape Peninsula, and Walter Sisulu.

In 2008 alone the government through the presidential scholarships
sent more than 481 students to South African universities.

While the government has expanded the presidential scholarship
programme, it has ironically slashed financial support to students at
local institutions owing to the crunch financial situation back home.

Student riots over payouts are now the order of day at various
institutions of higher learning.

Lecturers' strikes over poor salaries and working conditions have also
become a permanent feature in the education sector, painting a gloomy
picture of the future of education in Zimbabwe.

Efforts to get a comment from the coordinator of the presidential
scholarship fund Chris Mushohwe and Higher Education minister Stan
Mudenge were fruitless as they were reportedly out of their offices.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson plans return to acting

2008-11-21T12:18:00.001-08:00

Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson best known on TV for his role as a gruff district attorney on NBC's "Law & Order," dropped out of the crowded GOP primaries in January after his much-anticipated presidential campaign failed to gain strong support among conservatives. And now he's going back to the small screen after his foray into Republican presidential politics over the last year.

He campaigned heavily for eventual nominee John McCain, and had recently tried to gain support to be in charge of the Republican National Committee. But his former finance chairman, B.C. "Scooter" Clippard, said Thompson told him Wednesday that he was returning to acting and
dropping his RNC bid. "He seriously considered it, but he called and said that it was not in the cards," Clippard said.

Clippard said he did not know which television programs might be interested in Thompson. "He has some wonderful opportunities back in the television market that probably financially far outweigh being chair of the RNC," Clippard said.

Thompson, 66, was a lawyer and character actor before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1993, only to turn his back on politics after his first full term in favor of a full-time acting career in 2002. And while his presidential ambitions didn't pan out, at least Thompson got to play the commander in chief as Ulysses S. Grant in the 2007 TV movie "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."

Thompson began his acting career playing himself in the film "Marie" in 1985, about a high-profile legal case he handled in Tennessee.

Testimony In Murder Trial Begins for Rapper T.I.

2008-11-21T12:15:00.001-08:00

Rap star Clifford "T.I." Harris is charged with shooting and killing Philant Johnson, an assistant to T.I. two years ago following a concert appearance in Cincinnati.

He took the stand in a Hamilton County courtroom Friday to testify for the prosecution in the murder trial of 34-year-old Hosea Thomas.

The shooting occurred as T.I. and his entourage were leaving a concert after-party at the Club Ritz. Prosecutors say that T.I. and Johnson were in two vans heading South on Interstate 75, when they were chased by a Jeep Cherokee, when the shooting occurred in May of 2006. T.I.
says his security people tried to keep him away from the fight. Security for the Club Ritz wanted to pull him away, but Harris says he resisted, telling them, "I am straight with you, you should be dealing with what's going on."

"I noticed headlights, you know, trying to get around and get into the lane of oncoming traffic making efforts to pull up along side of us. Basically, me and Ron was having the same conversation that I just told you. 'If a fight brake out, I'm cool. You need to go make sure
everyone else is alright so we can leave. Don't just stand here with me and do nothing.' So Ron and I were having that discussion. And I also noticed headlights and I attempted to bring it to Ron's attention. 'Do you see what's going on around you? Are you looking?' And he said, 'Yeah, I got it, I got it.' He kept talking, kept talking, and before I knew it, shots rang out," the rapper describes.

Three members of T.I.'s entourage were injured during the gun battle between the cars on the interstate. Thomas faces charges of murder and felonious assault, among other charges. T.I. admitted on the stand that he faces federal gun charges in connection with a previous
unrelated incident.

Among the first questions to T.I. was to describe his relationship with Johnson. T.I. says he grew up in Atlanta with Johnson, who he describes as "my oldest living friend." T.I. says Johnson's family and his family knew each other well. Johnson helped arrange personal business for T.I. as well as made touring arrangements for T.I.'s entourage. T.I. also described the fight that broke out at the Club Ritz nightclub in Roselawn before the shooting incident. He told the jury, "At first it started out with 5 to 6 people, then it escalated to 15 to 20 people, then 30."

Islamists say they'll fight Somali pirates

2008-11-21T12:13:00.001-08:00

In the past two weeks Somalia's increasingly brazen pirates have
seized eight vessels including the huge Saudi supertanker. Several
hundred crew are now in the hands of Somali pirates. The pirates dock
the hijacked ships near the eastern and southern Somali coast and
negotiate for ransom.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said today that the Saudi government
was not and would not negotiate with pirates, but what the ship's
owners did was up to them.

A radical Islamic group in Somalia said today that it would fight the
pirates holding a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of
crude oil. Abdelghafar Musa, a fighter with al-Shabab who claims to
speak on behalf of all Islamic fighters in the Horn of Africa nation,
said ships belonging to Muslim countries should not be seized.

The Somali pirates have the support of their communities and rogue
members of the government. Often dressed in military fatigues, pirates
travel in open skiffs with outboard engines, working with larger ships
that tow them far out to sea. They use satellite navigational and
communications equipment and an intimate knowledge of local waters,
clambering aboard commercial vessels with ladders and grappling hooks.
They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rocket
launchers and grenades -- weaponry that is readily available
throughout Somalia.

Attempt by Germany to Ban Scientology Dropped

2008-11-21T12:11:00.001-08:00

Germany is dropping its pursuit of a ban on Scientology after finding
insufficient evidence of illegal activity, security officials said
Friday. Domestic intelligence services will continue to monitor the
group, officials said.

The German branch of the Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology has
been under observation by domestic intelligence services for more than
a decade. Top security officials asked state governments in December
to begin gathering information on whether they had sufficient grounds
to seek a ban.

The Church of Scientology welcomed the ministers' decision to stop
seeking a ban as the "only one possible." "There never was a legal
basis to open such proceedings," said Sabine Weber, a spokeswoman for
Scientology in Germany. Scientology further called on officials to end
the observation, and what it called "the discrimination and the
harassment that go along with it."

Germany has said it considers Scientology to be in conflict with the
principles of the nation's constitution, calling it less a church than
a business that uses coercion to take advantage of vulnerable people.

A report on extremism last charged that Scientology "seeks to limit or
rescind basic and human rights, such as the right to develop one's
personality and the right to be treated equally."

Mukasey checks out of hospital, returns to DOJ

2008-11-21T12:09:00.001-08:00

Attorney General Michael Mukasey was given a "clean bill of health"
and went back to work Friday after his harrowing collapse at a
late-night dinner speech.

The 67-year-old Mukasey, accompanied by his wife, Susan, told
reporters and cameras at midday Friday that he felt "excellent" as he
stepped into a van for a ride back to the Justice Department.

Mukasey never transferred his authority to a deputy during the time
when he was rushed to George Washington University Hospital late
Thursday and while there under observation during the night. He passed
a host of tests Friday, he said, including a treadmill stress test, an
MRI and a CT scan.

"As you may have heard, I collapsed briefly last night at the
conclusion of a speech," the retired federal judge said in a
late-morning e-mail to his departmental staff.

"All tests at the hospital have come back with good results, and I
feel fine," Mukasey's e-mail said. "Thank you for your good wishes and
your good work. It has been and remains an honor to serve with you."

Florida teen kills self on live webcam

2008-11-21T12:07:00.001-08:00

Abraham Biggs Jr., 19, was found in the bedroom of his home in
Pembroke Pines, Florida, on Wednesday and an autopsy showed he died of
a toxic combination of opiates and benzodiazepine, a drug used to
treat anxiety and insomnia, the Broward County Medical Examiner's
Office said. He had committed suicide by drug overdose in front of a
webcam streaming live video to the Internet and some viewers may have
egged him on, authorities said on Friday.

"We have ruled it a suicide. Part of the terminal event was recorded
on a website and there was streaming video," said Dr. Steve Cina,
deputy chief medical examiner of Broward County. A police spokesman
said detectives were investigating the case but would not release any
details.

Biggs had written blogs about his intentions and some of the viewers
who were watching the event live may have goaded him on, Cina said.
"There is some indication of that, yes," he said. In a purported
suicide note posted by Miami television station WPLG on its website,
Biggs said: "I hate myself and I hate living." The note said he had
"thought about and attempted suicide many times in the past."

The Miami Herald newspaper said another suicide in Broward County was
broadcast live on the Internet a few years ago. Last year, a
42-year-old man killed himself in front of a webcam in what was
believed to be Britain's first suicide on the Internet. Viewers saw
him climb onto a chair, tie a rope around a ceiling joist and hang
himself.

Who's gonna deal? Madonna and Guy Ritchie

2008-11-21T12:02:00.001-08:00

Madonna and Guy Ritchie were granted a preliminary decree of divorce Friday.

Neither appeared at the brief court session in which "Ciccone M L v
Ritchie G S" was one of 17 cases given a preliminary decree. After six
weeks and a day, the divorce can become final.

The decree said the divorce was granted on the basis of Ritchie's
"unreasonable behavior," but did not elaborate.

British news media reported, without identifying the sources of their
information, that the celebrity couple had reached a settlement that
would see the pop superstar keep the majority of her estimated 300
million pound ($445 million) fortune.

Reports in the Evening Standard and the Times of London said the
couple had also reached a deal regarding their two children: Rocco, 8,
and David Banda, 3, who was adopted from Malawi in 2006.

The newspapers said the two boys will split their time between Britain
and the United States, while Lourdes -- Madonna's 12-year-old daughter
from a previous relationship with personal trainer Carlos Leon -- will
live with her mother in America.

As far as division of assets, Guy reportedly keeps the couple's
sprawling $20 million English estate, while Madonna gets the $14
million London pad.

Requests for comment from representatives for the couple were not returned.

Madonna and Ritchie, director of "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock and Two
Smoking Barrels," married in December 2000 at Skibo Castle in the
Scottish Highlands.

Palin talks turkey while workers slaughter one in the background

2008-11-21T12:00:00.001-08:00

Aides to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential
nominee, should do a better job picking the locations for her
on-camera interviews. While the GOP vice presidential nominee talked
politics after pardoning a turkey for Thanksgiving, the camera caught
workers slaughtering turkeys in the background.

For what it's worth, President Bush is set to pardon a turkey of his
own next week. We don't expect to see any blood and guts during that
event.

GM Execs get criticized then return leased jets

2008-11-21T11:59:00.001-08:00

General Motors Corp(GM.N) will return two of its leased corporate jets
amid intense criticism in Washington this week on the luxury travel
arrangements of its chief executive even as the company pleads for
federal aid.

CEO Rick Wagoner was in the capital to testify on the company's dire
financial situation but his testimony was overshadowed by irate
lawmakers who blasted him for flying on a private jet to ask for
public funds and failing to make personal sacrifices in exchange for
federal assistance.

Chief executives from Ford Motor Co, and Chrysler LLC, who were also
there to plead for $25 billion in federal aid, came under fire too for
flying to Washington in private jets. GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said
on Friday GM decided to return the aircraft because of a "really
aggressive cutback in travel." Wilkinson said the decision to return
the leased corporate jets was made before this week's hearings and
that the company in September returned two other of the seven jets it
had at the beginning of the year.

"There is a perception issue," Wilkinson said of Wagoner's travel to
Washington on a private jet. "We need to be very sensitive to that
going forward." He, however, said the company has not decided on what
mode of transportation Wagoner would take if had to travel to
Washington again.

Wagoner and Ford CEO Alan Mulally are required by their companies to
fly by private aircraft for security reasons, according to company
documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The
policy for Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli is not required to be
disclosed because the company is not publicly traded.

Skeptical lawmakers took to task the three CEOs for their luxurious
travel arrangements at congressional committee hearings. "Couldn't you
have downgraded to first class or something, or jet-pooled or
something to get here?" Rep. Gary Ackerman, a New York Democrat, asked
the executives at a hearing held by the U.S. House Financial Services
Committee. Even Democrats who said they were sympathetic to the
automakers' plight expressed frustration that the executives used
private jets while professing ruthless cost-cutting measures.

A Chrysler spokesman said the automaker also leases or charters jets.
He, however, declined to comment on whether the company was rethinking
the use of private jets for executive travel, saying it was a "private
matter." Ford did not have an immediate comment on its corporate jet
policy. According to Ford's proxy, CEO Mulally's compensation
included $752,203 in 2007 for personal use of company aircraft. About
two years ago, the head of Ford's North American operations, Mark
Fields, gave up use of a corporate jet for personal travel to his home
in Florida after the arrangement came under criticism at a time when
the automaker was losing billions and slashing jobs. He now flies
first class on commercial planes.

al Qaeda Video: Humiliate Bush

2008-10-30T12:35:00.001-07:00

Hope these guys don't come to my town. In the meantime, Libi, one of the top al Qaeda commanders has called for President George W. Bush and the Republicans to be "humiliated," without endorsing any party in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, according to a video posted on the Internet.

The remarks were the first comments from a leading al Qaeda figure referring, albeit indirectly, to the U.S. elections. Muslim clerics often end sermons by calling on God to guide and support Muslims and help defeat their enemies.

"O God, humiliate Bush and his party, O Lord of the Worlds, degrade and defy him," Abu Yahya al-Libi said at the end of sermon marking the Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr, in a video posted on the Internet.

Bin Laden made little mention of Bush's Democratic challenger John Kerry, telling Americans: "Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands and each state which does not harm our security will remain safe."

In 2004 al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden issued his first video in more than a year just days before the elections to deride President Bush and warn of possible new September 11-style attacks.

Oldest Hebrew Text Ever, Found

2008-10-30T12:29:00.001-07:00

Hey this won't be coming to your town anytime soon, unless your town is Jerusalem. On Thursday, Archaeologists in Israel reported that they had unearthed the oldest Hebrew text ever found. The text was found while excavating a fortress city overlooking a valley where the Bible says David slew Goliath.

The dig's uncovering of the past near the ancient battlefield in the Valley of Elah, now home to wineries and a satellite station, could have implications for the emotional debate over the future of Jerusalem, some 20 km (12 miles) away.

Archaeologists from the Hebrew University said they found five lines of text written in black ink on a shard of pottery dug up at a five-acre (two-hectare) site called Elah Fortress, or Khirbet Qeiyafa.

Experts have not yet been able to decipher the text fully, but carbon dating of artifacts found at the site indicates the Hebrew inscription was written about 3,000 years ago, predating the Dead Sea Scrolls by 1,000 years, the archaeologists said.

Several words, including "judge," "slave" and "king," could be identified and the experts said they hoped the text would shed light on how alphabetic scripts developed.

Modern-day Israel often cites a biblical connection through David to Jerusalem in supporting its claim, which has not won recognition internationally, to all of the city as its "eternal and indivisible capital."

Palestinians, saying biblical claims have been superseded by the long-standing Arab population in Jerusalem, want the eastern part of the city, captured by Israel in a 1967 war, to be the capital of the state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"The chronology and geography of Khirbet Qeiyafa create a unique meeting point between the mythology, history, historiography and archaeology of King David," said Yosef Garfinkel, the lead archaeologist at the fortress site.

In a finding that could have symbolic value for Israel, the archaeologists said other items discovered at the fortress dig indicated there was most likely a strong king and central government in Jerusalem during the period scholars believe that David ruled the holy city and ancient Israel.

McCain Not Gonna Make It

2008-10-30T12:25:00.001-07:00

Here's something that is not coming to your town soon, The Maverick. He's losing so now he throws Palin under the bus. He's looking for a scapegoat, for someone to blame when McCain loses on Tuesday. Her name is Sarah, Sarah Palin.

In recent days, a McCain "adviser" told Dana Bash of CNN: "She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone." Imagine not taking advice from the geniuses at the McCain campaign. What could Palin be thinking? Also, a "top McCain adviser" told Mike Allen of Politico that Palin is "a whack job." Maybe she is. But who chose to put this "whack job" on the ticket? Wasn't it John McCain? And wasn't it his first presidential-level decision?

And if you are a 72-year-old presidential candidate, wouldn't you expect that your running mate's fitness for high office would come under a little extra scrutiny? And, therefore, wouldn't you make your selection with care? (To say nothing about caring about the future of the nation?) McCain didn't seem to care that much. McCain admitted recently on national TV that he "didn't know her well at all" before he chose Palin.

But why not? Why didn't he get to know her better before he made his choice? It's not like he was rushed. McCain wrapped up the Republican nomination in early March. He didn't announce his choice for a running mate until late August.

Wasn't that enough time for McCain to get to know Palin? Wasn't that enough time for his crackerjack "vetters" to investigate Palin's strengths and weaknesses, check through records and published accounts, talk to a few people, and learn that she was not only a diva but a whack job diva? But McCain picked her anyway. He wanted to close the "enthusiasm gap" between himself and Barack Obama. He wanted to inject a little adrenaline into the Republican National Convention. He wanted to goose up the Republican base. And so he chose Palin. Is she really a diva and a whack job? Could be. There are quite a few in politics. (And a few in journalism, too, though in journalism they are called "columnists.") As proof that she is, McCain aides now say Palin is "going rogue" and straying from their script. Wow. What a condemnation. McCain sticks to the script. How well is he doing?

In truth, Palin's real problem is not her personality or whether she takes orders well. Her real problem is that neither she nor McCain can make a credible case that Palin is ready to assume the presidency should she need to. And that undercuts McCain's entire campaign.

This was the deal McCain made with the devil. In exchange for energizing his base by picking Palin, he surrendered his chief selling point: that he was better prepared to run the nation in time of crisis, whether it be economic, an attack by terrorists or, as he has been talking about in recent days, fending off a nuclear war. "The next president won't have time to get used to the office," McCain told a crowd in Miami on Wednesday. "I've been tested, my friends, I've been tested."

Never has a man been tested so many times - unless you're Lance Armstrong, my friends!

'Angels and Demons' on the Silver Screen

2008-10-30T12:01:00.000-07:00

Here it comes again, Dan Brown's words are coming to life on the big screen in the movie adaptation of his best-selling novel "Angels and Demons." As with "The Da Vinci Code," Ron Howard is directing "Angels and Demons" and Tom Hanks stars as Harvard religious expert Robert Langdon

Though the movie will not be released until May 2009, a trailer can be viewed at AngelsandDemons.com a little later today.

The suspense thriller follows Langdon on a globetrotting, secret door-finding adventure during which he meets a beautiful Italian scientist who joins in a hunt for truth. At the center of the action is a mysterious, ancient group called the Illuminati and its most-despised enemy: the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church has been a recurring element in Brown's work and the source of much offscreen controversy.

In June, the church banned producers from filming key scenes in any church in Rome on the grounds that the book is "an offense against God," a Catholic Church spokesman said.
The slight was not directed at the script or the film's producers, Rome Diocese spokesman Monsignor Marco Fibbi said at the time, but rather at the book's author.

"Normally, we read the script, but this time it was not necessary," Fibbi told the Ansa Italian News Agency. "The name Dan Brown is enough."

Members of the Catholic Church denounced "The Da Vinci Code" as a novel when it came out in 2004, and its film version in 2006.

A subplot of the book included a theory in which Jesus married Mary Magdalene and fathered their children -- an idea Fibbi said was "morally offensive" and "harmful to religious feeling."
Howard pushed onward for "Angels and Demons," however, by filming scenes in substitute locations and on Hollywood sets.