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“That’s one of the ways most evident nowadays especially with the election — to think you can turn on the presidential debate and you can have people actually say they think being gay is wrong is shocking in 2012. It’s shocking to me.”

A former Tacoma Community College music instructor will be in court next month to answer charges that he convinced one of his voice students she could reach lower octaves if she took off her clothes or did sex acts while singing. Kevin Gausepohl, 37, is charged in Tacoma Municipal Court with seven counts of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes and one count of obstructing a law enforcement officer. The charges are misdemeanors. Gausepohl allegedly told a Gig Harbor High School student he was conducting a study on how sexual arousal affects vocal ranges. The girl, 17 at the...

Oh, the irony. Thanks to capitalism, she’s filthy rich (estimated earnings of $48 million in 2010!) — as much a part of the 1 percent as Michael Moore and just as ignorant of her membership in it. But never mind all that: The oh-so-desperate-to-be-an-adult Miley Cyrus proves her invincible immaturity with a remixed-song-and-video-tribute to Occupy Wall Street, unaptly named “Liberty Walk.” Doesn’t she realize it’s the Tea Party that proudly and rebelliously says, “Don’t tread on me”? No, of course she doesn’t, any more than Mila Kunis understands Middle America.

A few years ago, Joe Therrien, a graduate of the NYC Teaching Fellows program, was working as a full-time drama teacher at a public elementary school in New York City. Frustrated by huge class sizes, sparse resources and a disorganized bureaucracy, he set off to the University of Connecticut to get an MFA in his passion—puppetry. Three years and $35,000 in student loans later, he emerged with degree in hand, and because puppeteers aren’t exactly in high demand, he went looking for work at his old school. The intervening years had been brutal to the city’s school budgets—down about 14...

Vice President Joe Biden lashed out at critics today who have claimed that his and the President's efforts to get a job's bill passed is mere "campaigning." "Are we campaigning?" he said. "Yes! We are campaigning to change this environment." Biden was in York, Pa., visiting the Goode Elementary School to argue that the American Jobs Act would support 400,000 education jobs. Because of budget cuts, the York School District has been forced to lay off 100 teachers. Waxing at times poetic, Biden stressed the importance of education in keeping the nation competitive. "If our students suffer, our future suffers,”...

Henry County investigators looking for a man suspected of breaking into a car got some unexpected help when the alleged thief inadvertently posted a photo of himself on his victim's Facebook page. Suspect in car break-in took a photo of himself and it automatically uploaded in victim's Facebook page. "The suspect apparently took a picture of himself on the victim's phone, and due to her settings, it automatically uploaded to her Facebook page," Bolton said. Bolton said that the victim had pulled up at the daycare around 5:30 p.m. to pick up her child, and parked next to a black...

FREEMAN: "Mitch McConnell. Their stated policy, publicly stated, is to do whatever it takes to see to it that Obama only serves one term. What’s, what does that, what underlines that? “Screw the country. We’re going to whatever we do to get this black man, we can, we’re going to do whatever we can to get this black man outta here.” MORGAN: "But is that necessarily a racist thing?" FREEMAN: "It is a racist thing."

When the Green Bay Packers visited the White House on Friday to celebrate the team's Super Bowl title, linebacker Desmond Bishop(notes) wasn't with his teammates. He had forgotten his license on the team charter plane and without a license, there's no getting past White House security.

No, this wasn’t meant to be a joke. Although many believe the 2005 response to Hurricane Katrina was a colossal failure at every level of government, former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin appeared on MSNBC on Friday to offer preparedness advice for those in Hurricane Irene’s path. Speaking with Martin Bashir, Nagin gave government agencies and their leaders high marks for their preparations. But he said only time will tell if the public follows their instructions.

Gore lauds Romney on climate position By Jordan Fabian - 06/15/11 01:17 PM ET Former Vice President Al Gore on Wednesday praised GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his acknowledgement of global climate change. Gore, who has championed climate issues since losing the 2000 presidential race, posted a note on his blog that praised Romney for being consistent on his position that humans have contributed to rising global temperatures. "Good for Mitt Romney — though we've long passed the point where weak lip-service is enough on the Climate Crisis," Gore wrote. "While other Republicans are running from the truth, he...

In his first extended public apperance since getting out of prison, Plaxico Burress announced Monday in New York City that he has partnered with the National Urban League and the Brady Center to combat gun violence. “I want to see every child have a chance to succeed. I have an opportunity to make a difference,” Burress said via the New York Post. Quickly rehabbing his public image with a partnership like this is a page taken directly out of the Michael Vick playbook. So is the news Monday that Tony Dungy will serve as a mentor to Vick. Magic Johnson...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Folks, I'm telling you look how unsure Obama is. He doesn't even dare to speak to audiences in the United States now! He has to go to Europe to find an audience with grownups, and look! He loves hanging around with monarchs. He really envies the Queen. He hopes to be that someday. (He's gotta learn how to do a toast.) You see that? That's hilarious. Now, if that had been Bush? (snorts) Well, you know what they'd be doing. The media today for Obama says, "Couldn't the Queen have bailed him out? Couldn't the Queen have...

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - A Fort Wayne man was charged with inhaling toxic vapors for the 48th time after his wife called police and told them he was huffing paint in their apartment last Thursday

As horrific as nuclear meltdowns are, they pale in significance to the global meltdown of climate change. The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant reminds us of the mortal threat we pose to the living earth itself. The good news? We can do something about that crisis. In contrast to the stark drama of the 9.0-magnitude trembler and tsunami that devastated northern Japan last week, the causes of climate change are far more prosaic. They are rooted in society, not nature, and they are entwined with daily life – automobiles, the meat industry, manufacturing. The deeper lesson of...

"Every state has different demographics, every state has different problems. It's good to allow them to work out their own problems rather than a one-size-fits-all federal government stupid, dumbass program," Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said at Utah State University.

Hatch: Health law a 'dumb-ass' programBy Jordan Fabian - 02/28/11 01:43 PM ET GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah) reportedly directed a few profane insults toward President Obama's healthcare law in a speech late last week. During at an appearance at an event sponsored by the Utah State University College Republicans, Hatch was asked whether he thought the nation's healthcare system needs serious reforms. He acknowledged that states have different problems when it comes to healthcare, but called the federal law Democrats passed last year a "dumb-ass program" that will not solve them. "Every state has different demographics, every state has...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A player with the San Diego Chargers was arrested over the weekend in Indianapolis on charges of public intoxication and resisting arrest. Early Saturday, police said wide receiver Legedu Naanee, 27, walked into an active crime scene in the 300 block of South Meridian Street, where two people had been shot, one fatally. Investigators said Naanee, who smelled of alcohol, was repeatedly told to leave the scene but refused. When officers tried to place him in handcuffs, they said he resisted. Naanee was sprayed with pepper spray, handcuffed and placed in a patrol car. According to the police...

Chris Matthews on Friday said that Hosni Mubarak's exit from Egypt and the jubilation now happening in Tahrir Square took Barack Obama to have happen. As soon as he said it on the 5PM installment of MSNBC's "Hardball," the host quipped, "His critics will probably say, 'Yeah, we knew this was coming'” (video follows with transcript and commentary): CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: You know, gentlemen, I’m a little bit jubilant right now, a little bit frisky so I’ll say something that will bother people. But if you have, a lot of the people in this country think the President of the...

"Rep. Christopher Lee is a married Republican congressman serving the 26th District of New York. But when he trolls Craigslist's "Women Seeking Men" forum, he's Christopher Lee, "divorced" "lobbyist" and "fit fun classy guy." One object of his flirtation told us her story." "That afternoon, a man named Christopher Lee replied. He used a Gmail account that Rep. Christopher Lee has since confirmed to be his own. (It's the same Gmail account that was associated with Lee's personal Facebook account, which the Congressman deleted when we started asking questions.) By email, Lee identified himself as a 39-year-old divorced lobbyist and...

Less than a week after a State of the Union address that relegated foreign policy to an almost parenthetical concern, the turmoil in Egypt serves reminder yet again how global events can surprise and demand a presidency's attention nonetheless. ... Finally, as my former NSC colleague Elliott Abrams points out, Egypt vindicates President George W. Bush's strategic insight in his 2003 speech to the National Endowment for Democracy: Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe -- because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased...

MIAMI (AP) - The rumors can stop swirling: The baby grand piano that turned up on a Miami sandbar was burned to tatters by New Year's revelers, then brought to its new home by a television designer's teenage son who said Thursday he hoped the idea might help him get into a prestigious art school. And now, it has been removed. Captain John Nicholson with Biscayne Towing and Salvage said the piano was taken away, but couldn't give other details.

"Beloved" was the flop that launched Oprah's flab -- or some of it at least. The 1998 drama's box-office failure prompted the Queen of Daytime to embark on a "massive, depressive, macaroni-and-cheese eating tailspin," she tells Piers Morgan on the premiere of his new show. In a teaser from the "Tonight" interview with the star, Oprah Winfrey says she turned to comfort food when "Bride of Chucky" beat "Beloved" in its opening weekend. "I remember... hearing that we got beat by something called 'Chucky,' and I didn't even know what Chucky was," she says. "I asked my chef at the...

A University Park man who killed a neighbor whose dog urinated on his lawn was sentenced today to four years probation. "This is not justice," said Gail Williams, the slain man's aunt. Charles Clements, 69, a great-grandfather, former Marine and retired truck driver who took great pride in his lawn's appearance, could have been sentenced to as much as 20 years. In declining to send Clements to jail, Will County Judge Daniel Rozak noted the episode was Clements' first contact with the legal system in his 69 years. He also said the slaying wasn't about a dog urinating on a...

Sen. Bob Bennett left his now-empty Senate office for the last time Wednesday. The three-term senator for Utah cast his last vote Wednesday — Congress is now adjourned until the next session starts Jan. 5 — and packed up a few jackets and two hats before turning off the lights to his office and walking out for the last time. Bennett, who lost his re-election bid, said he wasn’t saddened by leaving and is focusing on his future ventures. “I don’t really have any nostalgia,” he said, “because it’s been clear this is happening for a long time.”

London • It has come to this: Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is complaining that someone leaked a Swedish police report on his alleged sexual offenses. In an interview with the British newspaper The Times, Assange complained about reporting in the rival newspaper The Guardian, which is one of several publications that has been helping WikiLeaks edit its trove of secret U.S. diplomatic files in exchange for an early look. The Guardian published details Saturday of the Swedish police report in which two women accuse Assange of rape, based on what it described as “unauthorized access” to prosecutors’ files....

Meghan McCain: Sarah Palin must be anti-education because she uses common phrases I don't understand Ace of Spades flags this revealing passage in Meghan McCain's latest column which is -- surprise! -- another attack on Sarah Palin. Anyway, remember how Sarah Palin called the Bush family "blue bloods" after they tacitly endorsed Romney? Well, here's what Meghan McCain had to say about that: The reference to "blue bloods" was made after former President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara said in an interview that they thought Mitt Romney was essentially the man to watch in 2012, followed by an...

No charges will be filed against a Kearns man who shot and killed a would-be burglar last week. The homeowner was “legally justified” when he shot 19-year-old Kyle Stuart Poulton during an attempted break-in Nov. 8, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday. The man “had a real, and legally justified, fear for the safety of his family and believed he was attempting to prevent his home from being burglarized,” the DA’s Office found. On Nov. 8, the man was at his home, near 5600 South and 5100 West, when someone rang the doorbell around 1:30 a.m., according...

RedState founder Erick Erickson caused a stir in the social media sphere this week when he posted a blog item declaring that Sen. Orrin Hatch was retiring. It took Hatch’s office just minutes to deny the “scoop.” “Despite the provocative and inaccurate headline, Senator Hatch fully intends on running for re-election,” Hatch spokeswoman Antonia Ferrier said Thursday. Erickson’s headline, “Hatch is retiring,” was much more definitive than his actual post, which questioned whether he would retire or get defeated in his next election for supporting earmarks. On that note, Ferrier added, Hatch has “been on the side of earmark reform,...

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Washington • The public doesn’t get it. My party lacks ideas. Activists are too shrill. Those are not things you normally hear from a politician. But in the past few months, they’ve all come from the mouth of three-term Sen. Bob Bennett, who in losing his re-election bid in May seemingly won a consolation prize: freedom of speech. “The Republican Party is short on ideas,” Bennett, a Republican, told NBC News recently. “They’re very long on slogans right now, but they’re short on ideas.” In May, Bennett bluntly dismissed the idea that he would retire: “Retired people die.” Or start...

<p>While President Obama vacationed in Martha's Vineyard, the Oval Office got a makeover, but one quote on the new carpet is wrongly attributed.</p>

It’s a goofy picture that does not reflect his competence as president. The Associated Press caption is boring: “President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama walk through a rainy Columbia Parc Development in New Orleans, Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010, on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)” But it does make him look goofy. So, how many newspapers or TV outlets will show it? We shall see over the next 24 to 48 hours. http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/20221 . .

FORT MEADE, Md. (NNS) -- The commanding officer of U.S. Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station (NCTS) Bahrain was relieved Aug. 21 due to loss of confidence in her ability to command. Commander, Naval Network Warfare Command, Rear Adm. Edward H. Deets III, relieved Cmdr. Mary Ann L. Giese. The decision to relieve Giese comes after a preliminary investigation into allegations that she had been involved in inappropriate relationships with other Navy personnel. The investigation results call into question Giese's ability to continue to effectively lead her command. Lt. Cmdr. Donald E. Hocutt, executive officer for NCTS Bahrain, has temporarily assumed...

A Navy panel says the service should discharge former astronaut Lisa Nowak, who lost her NASA job over a bizarre airport attack on a romantic rival. The panel made the recommendation Thursday after a daylong hearing at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville. The recommendation now goes to the Naval Personnel Command. A final decision will be made by the Secretary of the Navy. The panel recommended downgrading Nowak from captain to commander and giving her a discharge of "other than honorable." Nowak was sentenced to a year on probation last November after pleading guilty to third-degree felony burglary and...

The angry rants first surfaced last summer on an anonymous New Jersey blog. Law school is a “scam,” the blogger wrote. Administrators are greedy “charlatans” who could not care less about education, and students are but “hapless lemmings” who have been tricked into paying a fortune to enter “America’s most overrated, miserable and saturated industry.” Within months, the blog was drawing up to 5,000 unique readers a day, many of whom praised the anonymous writer — known only as Law is 4 Losers — as a hero for exposing the lies they say they, too, were fed about secure jobs...

A 31-year-old Utah man has been sentenced to six months in jail for fondling a maternity nurse who was wheeling his pregnant girlfriend to the delivery room of a hospital in Ogden. Second District Judge Scott Hadley sentenced Adam Manning, of Bountiful, to 180 days in the Weber County Jail. Manning pleaded guilty in June to a reduced charge of felony attempted forcible sexual abuse. Defense attorney Randall Marshall argued that Manning’s action Oct. 9 at McKay-Dee Hospital resulted from a brain injury during a vehicle crash 10 years ago and involved no violence.

The girlfriend of the man who gunned down eight people before turning the gun on himself at a Connecticut beer distributorship Tuesday said she heard evidence of enough racial harassment the man had allegedly suffered at work to drive someone "crazy."

Federal agents have arrested an animal rights activist known as “Lone Wolf” for a Colorado fire and suspect him of setting fire to a leather factory and restaurant in Salt Lake County. Walter Bond, 34, of Salt Lake City, was captured in Colorado on Thursday on a charge of torching a Sheepskin Factory near Denver — a fire that caused an estimated $500,000 in damage to the business, which specializes in sheepskin products ranging from shoes to rugs to seat covers. Although Bond’s arrest is tied specifically to that April 30 blaze, investigators believe he is the same man who...

Indonesian Muslims told to change prayer direction JAKARTA, July 16 — Indonesia’s Muslims learned today they have been praying in the wrong direction, after the country’s highest Islamic authority said its directive on the direction of Mecca actually had people facing Africa. Muslims are supposed to face the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia during prayer and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued an edict in March stipulating westward was the correct direction from the world’s most populous Muslim country. “But it has been decided that actually the mosques are facing Somalia or Kenya, so we are now suggesting...

Earlier this week, on a prominent Mobile, Ala. morning drive show (Sean & Wayne, 106.5 WAVH), Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano made a pretty big gaffe during an interview. As it was wrapping up Napolitano wanted to pat herself on the back for working with Alabama officials on day one in responding to the Gulf oil spill. And while mentioning that she had met with Alabama officials including Gov. Haley Barbour. The problem – he’s governor of Mississippi. Napolitano is no stranger when it comes to gaffe’s. She at one point claimed the 9/11 hijackers entered the country through...

LAYTON -- An off-duty Farmington police officer was among eight men arrested during a prostitution sting operation conducted Thursday by Layton police. Farmington Police Lt. Shane Whitaker, 40, of Farmington was cited with a Class B misdemeanor of sexual solicitation, Layton Police Lt. Quinn Moyes said. Whitaker had come to a local hotel expecting to meet a prostitute, Moyes said. The undercover sting targeted those who patronize prostitutes and was set up with an ad placed on an Internet site. Potential clients call the number and make an appointment with what turns out to be a police decoy. Officers did...

A Talladega man sustained burns over about 90 percent of his body after climbing a fence into an Alabama Power substation on Stephen J. White Memorial Blvd. early Friday morning. Police Chief Alan Watson said Willie Eugene Lewis scaled the fence around the substation sometime before 2 a.m. Friday. He then began climbing on some of the equipment, grabbing on with both hands. Some 44,000 volts of electricity proceeded to pass through his body, burning the clothes off his back and burning off his genitals. In spite of this, Lewis was able to walk to the emergency room of Citizens...

Republicans and a dozen Democratic defectors in the Senate have dealt a defeat to President Barack Obama just days after he pressed Congress to renew pieces of last year's economic bill. After coming out on the losing end of a 52-45 test vote, Obama's Democratic allies have been forced back to the drawing board in their efforts to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless and provide $24 billion in aid to cash-strapped state governments.

Washington (AP) - President Barack Obama says his talks with Gulf fishermen and oil spill experts are not an academic exercise. They're "so I know whose ass to kick." One target for the presidential foot: Tony Hayward, the embattled chief executive of BP. Obama was asked by Matt Lauer of NBC's "Today" about Hayward's past comments that "I want my life back," that the Gulf was "a big ocean" and that "the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest." "He wouldn't be working for me after any of those statements," Obama said, according to excerpts...

Nuke the BP oil spill drill hole, it will seal it just as the Russians have done at 9 other sites. Too much money and environmental damage is at stake and we can no longer allow PC & environazis to prevent the correct action from being considered and taken. Obama promised to use science in determination of policy, yet they have taken the nuclear option off the table.

Dave Matthews: You walk. I jet. (video)

Video at link

http://www.conservatives4palin.com/2010/05/barack-obama-says-that-europe-is.html Remember the left made fun of palin without evidence that Palin didnt know Africa was a continent? Heres one for Obama.

Vancouver, Washington. Beware the Beckies Dear Editor; I’m not quite old enough to be a hippie, but I have two older brothers who were; both went to Woodstock. It looks like we have a new anti-establishment movement, the Tea Party “Beckies.” Once they’ve smoked some Glenn Beck, had a dose of Rush Limbaugh, and gotten Sarah Palin-ized, they’re ready to tune-in (to Fox), turn-off (their brain), and reload. We’ve gone from Woodstock to Weirdstock, communes to militias, free love to open carry, long hairs to cross hairs, peace signs to the bird, from gurus to guns. We don’t sit-in; we...

President Barack Obama wore a White Sox cap during his ceremonial first pitch at the Washington Nationals game yesterday, but before any rabid Pale Hose supporters get too excited about it, they should know he had a bit of a problem naming any player by name. The first fan was interviewed during the game's television broadcast by former Sox pitcher Rob Dibble, who asked the president about his favorite players on the South Side growing up. This is was the point that the usually eloquent Obama began stammering. "You know uh ..... I ... I thought that ... uh .......