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She is without doubt one of the most senior members of House of Representatives. But now Nancy Pelosi has been forced to face down claims she took steps to make herself look more junior.The House Minority Leader, 71, has been accused of undergoing a face lift to shave a few years off her appearance. It has also been suggested the grandmother of eight had Botox fillers injected into the side of her mouth to keep her looking fresh. In a recent interview with CNBC, Pelosi's face looks noticeably stretched around her mouth area. The lines around her cheeks appear smooth,...

Good Morning America to Botox Mom: We're Canceling That $10K Check!Today 9:37 AM PDT by Marianne Garvey Botox Mom might not be cashing in on her bogus story. A day after coming forward and saying she made up the tale of injecting her 8-year-old daughter with the wrinkle-removing concoction, Sheen Upton is getting stiffed herself—ABC says it won't be paying her the $10,000 the network's Good Morning America forked over to secure her first TV interview as a "photo licensing fee." Here's where things stand in the sordid saga. As we reported yesterday, Upton says she was paid $200 by...

The 8-year-old girl whose mother was injecting her with Botox to prepare her for beauty pageants reportedly has been removed from the mother's San Francisco home. ABC News said Britney Campbell, 8, was removed from the home over the weekend while Child Protective Services investigates reports that her mother, Kerry Campbell, 38, was injecting her with Botox. The mother, a beautician who reportedly has trained as a nurse, had said that her daughter was complaining about wrinkles. Kerry Campbell said Britney "didn’t exactly ask me about (using Botox) but I know that she was complaining about her face having wrinkles...

A San Francisco mother is drawing criticism for giving Botox injections to her 8-year-old daughter. Kerry Campbell says her daughter Brittany asked for the injections and the practice is common in the world of child beauty pageants. "You know, a lot of the moms there, they're giving their kids Botox, and it's pretty much like the thing..."

According to a study published in the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science, Botox may not only numb facial muscles, but also – and for the same reason – numb users’ perception of other people’s emptions.

Study: Botox Cuts Ability To Read OthersPublished on April 23, 2011 by Staff Reporter LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (USA) OfficialWire News Bureau Botox, used to reduce facial wrinkles, may also reduce its users' ability to read other people's emotions, U.S. researchers say. **SNIP** Botox paralyzes facial muscles, and Neal suggested having a less expressive face may make someone less able to read other faces. Neal and his colleague worked with two groups of subjects. One tested 31 women who had been treated with either Botox or Restylane, a skin filler, and the other a somewhat larger group of women and men...

She insists her people are going to win... The Looking Spoon is a conservative humor/satire/art/commentary blog, visit www.thelookingspoon.com to see more posts and art

The newly released 2010 Forbes list of the world's most powerful women has ranked Michelle Obama at number 1, usurping the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and even beating omnipresent singer Lady Gaga into 7th place. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives – and second in line for the US presidency after the vice-president, Joe Biden – is 11th on the list. Earlier this year, Pelosi was heralded as the most powerful woman in US history and the most powerful Speaker in a century. But apparently this was not enough to make the Forbes top 10. Potential 2012...

I imagine these are dark days in the tastefully decorated offices of our congressional representative and speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Republicans only need to pick up 39 seats in the House of Representatives in order to be back in the majority, and pundits estimate that the Grand Old Party is poised to win 45 to 50 seats. A landslide for the Republicans would be a serious humiliation since a large but unofficial part of the speaker’s job is to keep the party in power. What will Pelosi do if Dems lose the majority and she loses her position...

SAN FRANCISCO — I imagine these are dark days in the tastefully decorated offices of our congressional representative and speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. A landslide for the Republicans would be a serious humiliation since a large but unofficial part of the speaker’s job is to keep the party in power. What will Pelosi do if Dems lose the majority and she loses her position as speaker? Will she still be able to sit with the cheerleaders in the lunchroom? The past two speakers who have allowed defeats in the House have each left office. Let’s assume the Democrats...

Had the Republicans taken control of Congress in 2008, the country would have sunk into a depression, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), told CNBC Thursday. “If we had not won re-election and intervened, we would be in a depression,” said Pelosi. She cited tax cuts for the wealthy, two wars and a prescription drug bill that “gave away the store to the pharmaceutical industry,” under George W. Bush, as partially to blame for the current state of the economy.

This was to be the crowning year of California Sen. Barbara Boxer's career: More than three decades as a liberal environmental crusader had landed her at the helm of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, with lead jurisdiction over climate-change legislation. It was a chance to make history. But Boxer's legislation to limit carbon emissions died almost the moment it passed her committee on a party-line vote, amid a wall of GOP opposition. The breakdown crystallizes Boxer's vulnerability to the criticism from Carly Fiorina, her Republican challenger in November's general election, that she is a "bitter partisan" who has...

While House Democrats contemplate a possible return to the minority, Nancy Pelosi's future is up in the air. As the first female Speaker, Pelosi had a harder-than-normal climb to the top job and might not be expected to relinquish party leadership automatically. But Hill Democrats hint that she might step down in the event of a GOP takeover, whatever its size. The key, they note, is how large the Democratic loss turns out to be. For now, Pelosi's staff scoffs at the idea that she will be moving on. "It's not even a consideration," says Jennifer Crider, Pelosi's political director....

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is "absolutely" convinced Democrats will hold on to their majority when voters go to the polls in November. Pelosi told members of the Democratic caucus she has faith in the caliber of the party's candidates going into the fall elections, The Hill reported Wednesday. "They won their districts before and they will win them again," Pelosi told her first meeting with her caucus since the August recess. She said Democrats will provide a clear contrast to their Republican opponents who want to take the country back to the "failed" economy of the Bush...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Indiana Rep. Joe Donnelly is taking an unusual jab at his party's leadership in a campaign ad that refers to climate change legislation as "Nancy Pelosi's energy tax." The two-term Democrat is pulling a page from Republican strategists in trying to distance himself from policies that have some voters wary. Brian Vargus, a political science professor at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, said he doesn't think Donnelly's criticism of Pelosi will mean much to voters. "Much of the leadership of the Republican Party has already realized that most people in Indiana don't even know who Nancy...

Alleged cosmetic crook worried about appearance during arrestAlleged "Beauty Bandit" Maria Elizabeth Chrysson was ready for her closeup during her arrest Monday night, telling arresting officers she was disappointed the press wasn't there to capture her capture. Chrysson allegedly asked officers get in touch with the media as she was hauled away in handcuffs from the Latin Cafe on the corner of 25th Street and Biscayne Blvd. last night. Chrysson was spotted in the restaurant by someone who had seen her on the news and tipped off police. The 29-year-old, whose Miami-Dade mugshot showed a touch of grey in her...

With clouds swirling over Representative Charles B. Rangel, Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended Democrats’ record on ethics on Thursday. At her weekly briefing, Ms. Pelosi, a former member of the House ethics panel, praised House Democrats’ work to “drain the swamp” of misconduct, describing the changes made under her party’s watch as the toughest in a generation. “Drain the swamp we did, because this was a terrible place,” said Ms. Pelosi, who made Republicans’ ethics issues a major part of her pitch during the Democrats’ push to take back the House in the 2006 midterm elections. “We have made a tremendous...

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino teenage singer Charice Pempengco says she prepared for her debut on the hit TV show "Glee" by getting Botox and an anti-aging procedure "to look fresh on camera." The 18-year-old Charice, whose singing career rocketed after appearing on Ellen DeGeneres' and Oprah Winfrey's talk shows, underwent a 30-minute Thermage skin-tightening procedure and Botox to make her "naturally round face" more narrow, celebrity cosmetic surgeon Vicki Belo told ABS-CBN television.

As part of the speaker's annual news conference with children of journalists and congressional aides for Take Our Daughts and Sons to Work Day (23 April 2010), the current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, revealed when she was a teenager, she was just interested in dancing and not politics. When I was your age I wanted to be a teenager...I wanted to dance, I don't mean dance professionally, just dance," she confessed. Would she be a good candidate for season 11 of "Dancing with the Stars"?

As Pelosi, 69, nears the most important vote of her career, she'll need to draw upon all her experience as a leader (and parent) in doling out sticks and carrots to reach the magic number of 216 votes to pass health care reform. Those who've opposed Pelosi have soon found themselves stripped of a committee: just look at John Dingell and Jane Harman — two Dems who clashed with Pelosi and who somehow ended up losing their committee chairmanships. While it's crucial for Democrats to pass health care ahead of the midterm elections, Pelosi is fully aware that if she...

She was once lauded as one of the world's most beautiful women. Before becoming the First Lady of France, her dazzling good looks had captured the hearts of Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton. But, it seems, age and lifestyle - not to mention those infidelity rumours - have taken their toll on Carla Bruni. An unflattering close-up shot this week has revealed how the once radiant former model's face is looking tight and stretched, while her skin appears dull and lifeless. To get to the bottom of 42-year-old Carla's curious look, JENNY STOCKS asked beauty experts to give us their...

The government watchdog group Judicial Watch obtained documents from the Air Force detailing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s use of US Air Force aircraft for Congressional Delegations (CODELs). According to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Speaker’s military travel cost the United States Air Force $2,100,744.59 over a two-year period — $101,429.14 of which was for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol. The following are highlights from the recent release of about 2,000 documents related to Pelosi's travel: •Speaker Pelosi used Air Force aircraft to travel back to her district at an average...

In early 2006, a mysterious cosmetics trader named Rakhman began showing up at salons in St. Petersburg, Russia, hawking a popular anti-aging drug at suspiciously low prices. He flashed a briefcase filled with vials and promised he could deliver more -- "as many as you want," he told buyers -- from a supplier somewhere in Chechnya. Rakhman's "Botox" was found to be a potent clone of the real thing, but investigators soon turned to a far bigger worry: the prospect of an illegal factory in Chechnya churning out raw botulinum toxin, the key ingredient in the beauty drug and one...

It's a good thing the health care debate has moved on to the Senate, because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has completely lost her voice. Her vocal cords have shut down, her husband, Paul, told me when I ran into him at Ron Cowan's holiday party at Teatro ZinZanni the other night. Pelosi has been getting advice from everyone on how to fix it. President Obama told her, "hot water and lemon," at the recent Kennedy Center Honors gala.

A libertarian conservative has declared his plans to "take out Nancy Pelosi" in the 2010 election to stop her from devastating the nation. John Dennis, a businessman and real-estate investor in California's 8th congressional district, told WND, "I've decided to run because the statist Pelosi agenda will destroy America." Rep. Pelosi's district covers most of San Francisco, and Democrats have held the seat since 1949. Since first winning the House seat in a 1987 special election, Pelosi, 69, has breezed to re-election 10 times. President Obama received 85 percent of the vote there in 2008.

A few weeks ago, on a Thursday around noon, Nancy Pelosi whirls through the second floor of the Capitol in a sea-foam pantsuit with lots of gold jangling on her arms. The Speaker of the House, the highest-ranking woman in government and third in line to the president, is about to walk the pink-painted halls of her private chambers to another series of closed-door meetings with the Democratic caucus about the health-care bill. Today, she’s set up a powwow of progressives in one of her conference rooms, and another for the Blue Dogs down the hall, but first she has...

A communique from the conscience of our nation, who was so troubled by Joe Wilson’s outburst that she not only made sure he was censured — after he apologized to Obama — but then proceeded to tear up publicly over the state of political discourse in America, just to let you know how much she cares. How much ? This much: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says there’s no reason for Rep. Alan Grayson to apologize for his “Die quickly” remark, since Republicans have made statements just as outrageous as his. “If anybody’s going apologize, everybody should apologize,” Pelosi told...

In a rare display of public emotion, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) choked up Thursday morning recalling the anti-gay rhetoric in the late 1970s in San Francisco, which culminated in the assassinations of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay S.F. Board of Supervisors member, and Mayor George Moscone. Pelosi, responding to a question about whether anti-government rhetoric posed a threat of domestic violence, said that protesters on all sides had the right to voice their opposition to legislative proposals in a heated fashion. But then Pelosi -- whose weekly press conferences are legendary for their highly scripted nature and her...

“I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw … I saw this myself in the late '70s in San Francisco,” Pelosi said, choking up and with tears forming in her eyes. “This kind of rhetoric is just, is really frightening and it created a climate in which we, violence took place and … I wish that we would all, again, curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made.”

California's U.S. senators tend to fall into two categories – headline-grabbers and dependable workhorses for the state's interests. For the past 17 years, the state's two senators have been Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. Both elected during the much-heralded "year of the woman," they have followed the state's time-honored pattern. Boxer draws media attention with her quixotic political forays, often involving some left-of-center cause having nothing to do with California, while Feinstein is the go-to person for the state's economic and political interests. It explains why voter polls consistently find that Feinstein is among the state's highest-rated political figures while...

Nancy Pelosi says townhall protestors carry swastikas. ...

Say what you like about Barack Obama, but the man has some brilliant ideas. To help fund his $1 trillion overhaul of the US healthcare system, for example, he wants to tax vanity. Obama's allies have proposed a 10 per cent levy on every plastic surgery procedure (if not medically necessary) ....... This is one piece of social engineering that can harm no one; and if it saves just one American from looking like a Siamese cat in a wind tunnel, Obama will not have ruled in vain.

Nose jobs, breast enhancements, tummy tucks and liposuction could be hit with a ten per cent tax to help foot the bill of Barack Obama's $1 trillion overhaul of the health care system. Max Baucus, the chairman of the senate finance committee which is drawing up one of several versions of a health care reform bill, described the proposed cosmetic surgery tax as "interesting", "creative" and "kind of fun". Americans last year spent $10.3 billion (£6.3 billion) on 12.1 million operations or procedures to improve their looks or replace the hair on their heads. Five million doses of wrinkle-reducing Botox...

Face-lifts, tummy tucks and hair transplants could be hit with a new tax to help finance the trillion-dollar healthcare overhaul plan, according to sources familiar with the Senate talks. The Senate Finance Committee has discussed imposing a 10 percent excise tax on cosmetic surgery deemed unnecessary for medical purposes. The idea was broached in a meeting with OMB Director Orszag in mid-July, after which Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus told reporters he had heard some "interesting," "creative," and "kind of fun" ideas. The tax, which has not been officially scored, would plug some of the revenue gap senators are seeking...

DON'T GO THERE: DEMS EYE 10% TAX ON BOTOX, COSMETIC SURGERY Mon Jul 27 2009 17:18:00 ET Face-lifts, tummy tucks and hair transplants could be hit with a new tax to help finance the trillion-dollar healthcare overhaul plan, CONGRESS DAILY reports. The Senate Finance Committee has discussed imposing a 10% excise tax on cosmetic surgery deemed unnecessary for medical purposes. DAILY's Peter Cohn reveals: The idea was broached in a meeting with OMB Director Orszag in mid-July, after which Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus told reporters he had heard some "interesting," "creative," and "kind of fun" ideas. MORE Developing...

Pelosi promises health-care reform will pass in HouseShailagh Murray,Paul Kane, Washington Post Sunday, July 26, 2009 Defying skeptics in her party, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, vowed today to overcome lingering obstacles and pass health-care reform in the House, restoring momentum to President Obama's top domestic priority and order to her own unruly Democratic caucus. **SNIP** A health-care victory in the House this week would be a stirring moment for Obama and allow more breathing room for the Senate, where finance negotiators are trying to write a bipartisan bill that must be melded with a separate health committee version....

Dr Simon Ourian, a cosmetic surgeon based in Beverly Hills, California, claimed that he stumbled upon its unexpected powers by accident while treating his mother who was suffering from migraines after having chemotherapy which had made her hair fall out. Familiar with Botox's use as a headache treatment, he injected the chemical – the medical name for a form of Botulinum toxin – into her scalp but was surprised to find that it also appeared to help her hair to grow back. He said that he tested his discovery on volunteers for three years, adding a mixture of vitamins to...

Job hunting in a recession is a tough assignment - with almost one in ten people out of work in the US, it takes more than a spruced-up CV, a tidy haircut or a smart new suit to stand out from the crowd these days. But doctors in the US have found a new way to give the unemployed a leg-up with a "Botox bailout", offering thousands of dollars worth of free Botox injections, liposuctions and other cosmetic procedures to ensure they look their very best - and perhaps a little more youthful - at interviews. "If people feel good...

A stroke victim who has been paralysed for more than two decades can walk again after being injected with Botox. Russell McPhee was a healthy meat worker who played football, cricket and basketball when, at the age of 26, he collapsed suddenly at work. When he woke in hospital he was told he had suffered a stroke and would never walk again. “I felt my life had ended,” he said. “I lost my job, my wife left me, I ended up with nothing.” Today, Mr McPhee, 49, of Gippsland in Victoria, can walk almost unaided for up to 20 metres...

Does anyone really believe that Queen Nancy is telling the truth? Even many Democrats are distancing themselves from her. Pelosi should have taken a few lessons from Bill Clinton on the art of lying. She isn't doing too well on her own. Imagine, this woman is third in line to become President of the United States. Scary thought. (Although Joe Biden, as second-in-command is even more frightening.) If Nancy Pelosi were a Republican, she would have been forced to step down as Speaker of the House by now. As we all know, Republicans are held to a much higher standard...

With her integrity increasingly in doubt, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should step down for the good of the country. It is clear as the story unfolds that she knew as much about waterboarding as anyone in the Bush administration, and thus, her only motive for hiding what she knew is for partisan political purposes. This is hypocrisy at its worst.

Nancy Pelosi insisted today that she did not know waterboarding was happening. Via Politico: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing back on GOP charges that she knew about waterboarding for years and did nothing. Pelosi says she was briefed by Bush administration officials on the legal justification for using waterboarding — but that they never followed through on promises to inform her when they actually began using "enhanced" interrogation techniques "In that or any other briefing…we were not, and I repeat, we're not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation techniques were used. What they did tell...

More Botox Uses 'Spell Bright Prospects for Manufacturer' For the last decade or so, Botox has been the most popular anti-wrinkle treatment. But more research has revealed other uses as well, the New York Times reported Sunday. In addition to treating four problems approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -- eye muscle disorders, neck muscle disorders, excessive sweating and eyebrow furrows -- a number of medical journals reported that Botox also alleviates hair loss, drooling, chewing and swallowing problems, and pelvic muscle spasm. The paper quoted Mitchell Brin, a chief scientific officer for Botox at Allergan, the...

After her stroke, Francine V. Corso, a software engineer who worked on NASA’s lunar lander, was housebound from 1992 to 2001. Her left arm was twisted up near her neck, making it difficult to pull on a blouse, and her fingers curled so rigidly that her nails buried themselves in her palm. When she finally learned to rise from her wheelchair, her contorted left leg had the so-called horse gait of many brain-injury victims — she stepped toe-downward, and then fought to keep her foot from rolling over. Now, with injections of botulinum toxin every three months, she says, “I’m...

LONDON: Botox injections can lead to depression, a new study has warned. The jabs help you get rid of wrinkles by partially freezing muscles but scientists have found that they also stop people from being able to express their feelings visually. That leads to them keeping emotions bottled up inside and perceiving the world in a negative way. "Suppressing negative emotions is something we do every day to be polite," the Sun quoted Dr Judith Grub, who led the research in Holland, as saying. "However, my research shows that paralysing muscles that help you to express emotion leads to internalising...

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To heck with Champagne, break out the Botox. It's inauguration party time. "We have been absolutely swamped since the election with people desiring rejuvenation procedures for the upcoming inauguration," says Washington, D.C., cosmetic dermatologist Tina Alster. "My normal load for cosmetic procedures has doubled, except for hyaluronic acid fillers — Perlane and Restylane — which have almost tripled," reports cosmetic and laser surgeon Hema Sundaram, who runs two offices in the Washington, D.C., area.

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (C) holds aloft the $700 billion financial bailout bill after she signed it, in an attempt to provide relief for the current financial and banking crisis, at the US Capitol in Washington, October 3, 2008. Also pictured are: Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) (Back row, L-R), Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) and Rep. John Larson (D-CT)."

Senator Joe Biden's performance at last week's vice-presidential debate has come under renewed scrutiny after a plastic surgeon said he would bet his "next paycheck" that he had resorted to cosmetic procedures. The claim by Dr Oleh Slupchynskyj of New York's Aesthetic Institute was strenuously denied by David Wade, a spokesman for Mr Biden. "I don't know how to say no firmly enough. Absolutely not. That's not a misdiagnosis, that's called malpractice," he said. But the comments fuelled speculation that in his contest with the self-styled "pitbull in lipstick" Sarah Palin, Mr Biden may have been a senator with Botox....

Economic times being what they are, folks in Tinseltown are “naturally” concerned about the supply of botox needed at the ready. Goddess forbid there would ever be a shortage. It could happen, though, if pols like Joe Biden continue to hog the stuff just to put on their best debate faces. At the recent veep debate, Joe’s frozen eyebrows and ironed forehead made him look as though he had gotten confused and thought he was going for a part in “High School Musical.” It seems as though handlers gave Joe the wrong juice because what the Delaware senator really could...