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A judge sentenced a "tormented and disturbed" Michigan woman to at least five years in prison Friday for falsely accusing two men of rape, a punishment that came just days after she pleaded no contest to a cancer scam in a separate case that also challenged her credibility. St. Clair County Judge Daniel Kelly exceeded the guidelines, saying it would be a "travesty of justice" to sentence Sara Ylen to less. In December, Ylen, 38, was convicted of making up a story about two men attacking her at her Lexington home, 80 miles northeast of Detroit. The jury also convicted...

The Environmental Protection Agency was warned as early as July 2010 that a senior executive who claimed to be a CIA agent was collecting pay and bonuses not allowed by law but took no action for years, according to a new report from the agency’s inspector general. Auditors warned EPA administrators that continuing “retention bonuses” for John C. Beale, which were not authorized, had pushed his salary above the legal maximum, according to the report, obtained Tuesday by The Washington Post. In July 2010, the EPA’s human resources office contacted Beale’s Office of Air and Radiation with a document it...

TYSONS CORNER -- Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic fundraiser and confidant of Bill and Hillary Clinton, will be Virginia's next governor after defeating his conservative opponent, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, on Tuesday in a race that confirmed the state's status as an increasingly blue battleground. The marquee contest was marked throughout by historically high spending, a relentless barrage of attacks on both sides and campaign trail cameos by some of the nation's most prominent political figures. With more than 99 percent of precincts reporting, McAuliffe led Cuccinelli by less than 2 percent — 48 percent to 46 percent — or...

Christine O’Donnell is considering a new bid for the Senate. The conservative activist who rode a tea party wave to victory in a Delaware special election primary four years ago is interested in challenging Sen. Chris Coons (D) in 2014, the Wilmington News Journal reports. O’Donnell would have difficulty winning over skeptics in the Delaware GOP, many of whom see her as a liability. After beating moderate Republican Rep. Mike Castle in the 2010 primary, O’Donnell lost in a landslide to Coons amid a series of missteps and damaging revelations about her past.

Christine O'Donnell, the former U.S. Senate candidate from Delaware, told the Wilmington News Journal in an interview this weekend that she is considering running again in 2014 to challenge incumbent Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.).

When last we left Dean Chambers, the Duffield, Va., resident was licking his wounds in Virginia’s coal fields, trying to figure out how he’d fooled himself and much of a nation into believing the Mitt Romney would win the election. Chambers, 45, the founder of UnskewedPolls.com, ultimately decided he had incorrectly forecast that too few Democrats would vote. He admitted this mistake. Now, it appears he’s reconsidering. Recently he launched a new website, BarackOFraudo.com. It seeks to understand how four states that he had incorrectly predicted would go to Romney — Virginia, Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania — actually went to...

Oddly enough, perhaps the biggest loser in last week’s Republican debacle wasn’t even on the ballot. He didn’t shake a single hand, nuzzle the napes of any newborn babes or promise eager voters pie in the sky or peace on Earth. His name was Karl Rove. And all he actually did was squander a staggering $300 million by backing candidates who turned winnable races into laughable routs, producing tepid ads transforming would-be zealots into couch potatoes and firmly establishing himself as the political world’s pre-eminent empty-suit analyst. Perhaps even worse, he set himself up as the clearinghouse for wealthy conservative...

You can even register your wedding on his campaign website. Could he be any more pompous?

As Michelle Obama does the television show rounds this week, it is not just her new book that she is showcasing. The First Lady, notorious for her demure, arm-baring outfits, also appears to be showing off her wardrobe, making the most of costume changes between each television appearance. On Tuesday, Mrs Obama appeared on both Good Morning America, The View and The Daily Show to promote her new gardening book and to discuss her healthy eating campaign.

Ethics: As Democrats demonize Wall Street CEOs as the "greedy" fiends of the financial crisis, they've lined their own pockets — both before and after the crisis. Nancy Pelosi's just the latest example. The former House speaker allegedly gamed financial reforms to boost her personal stock portfolio. The brewing scandal is complicated, but here's the Reader's Digest version: After a Pelosi staffer left to lobby on behalf of credit-card giant Visa, Pelosi delayed bringing to the House floor a bill to end lucrative "swipe fees" for Visa and other credit providers. The bill couldn't have come at a worse time...

HOLY S*** GUYS STRUGGLE STRIKES GOLD AGAIN! http://il.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20110324_0000757.NIL.htm/qx LOLOLOLOLLLOLOLOLOLOLOOLOL So that’s why Zuckerman wants money! Send this to Cain and all your media outlets!

<p>For those of us who experienced the 1960s firsthand, there is something familiar about the Occupy Wall Street protests. But it isn't what the critics are harping about. Yes, there's a certain tie-dye feeling to the encampment at Zuccotti Park, where I wandered around last week. But when people refer to the protesters as "hippies" and sneer about their hygiene, they miss the point entirely. Those who focus on the look and feel of the OWS movement ignore the obvious fact that, like the early protesters of the 1960s, they are mainly educated, middle-class and completely sincere.</p>

A fight has broken out between the White House, its defenders and a conservative public watchdog group over first lady Michelle Obama's travel costs and how they are calculated. The dispute stems from a Judicial Watch release yesterday, reported by Whispers, that said the first lady's June goodwill mission to Africa cost $424,142 just for her Air Force C32A. Judicial Watch said it used Pentagon calculations to come up with the price to taxpayers, multiplying the hourly cost of $12,188 by the number of flight hours, 34.8. [Read: Michelle Obama's Africa Trip Cost More than $424,142.] The White House later...

“I was not always the very best student that I could be when I was in high school, and certainly not when I was in middle school,” Obama said, speaking at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School. “I did not love every class I took. I wasn’t always paying attention the way I should have,” Obama said. “I remember when I was in 8th grade I had to take a class called ethics. Now, ethics is about right and wrong, but if you’d ask me what my favorite subject was back in 8th grade, it was basketball. I don’t think ethics...

The heckler was booed by the crowd when he began his rant with "The Christian God is the only and only true living God. The creator of heaven and the universe." "Jesus Christ is God! Jesus Christ is God! Jesus Christ is God! Jesus Christ is the son of God!" the man continued. "You're the antichrist!" the man said. The crowd responded with an enthusiastic cheer of "four more years" afterward. "First of all, I agree Jesus Christ is the Lord. I believe in that," Obama said to tepid applause.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a fiery summons to an important voting bloc, President Barack Obama told blacks on Saturday to quit crying and complaining and "put on your marching shoes" to follow him into battle for jobs and opportunity. And though he didn't say it directly, for a second term, too. Obama's speech to the annual awards dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus was his answer to increasingly vocal griping from black leaders that he's been giving away too much in talks with Republicans -- and not doing enough to fight black unemployment, which is nearly double the national average...

U.S. first lady Michelle Obama stands with U.S. tennis player Serena Williams (R) as she takes part in a "Let's Move" tennis clinic at the U.S. Open to promote physical activity for kids, in New York September 9, 2011.

<p>European royals make do with a less lavish lifestyle than the supposed citizen-executive of a so-called republic.</p> <p>This will be grand news to Schylar Capo, eleven years old, of Virginia, who made the mistake of rescuing a woodpecker from the jaws of a cat and nursing him back to health for a couple of days, and for her pains, was visited by a federal Fish & Wildlife gauleiter (with accompanying state troopers) who charged her with illegal transportation of a protected species and issued her a $535 fine. If the federal child-abuser has that much time on his hands, he should have charged the cat, who was illegally transporting the protected species from his gullet to his intestine.</p>

A Day in the Life of the Clear and Pres_ent Danger in the WH (and the golf course too) Now on Vacation .. Whew! But, rumor is .. He's coming back! :-o

(CNSNews.com) – At a hastily convened news conference Friday evening, President Obama offered his explanation of why debt negotiations with House Speaker John Boehner fizzled, and he once again raised the specter of entitlement checks not going out if the debt ceiling isn’t raised soon. “Well, when it comes to all the checks, not just Social Security -- veterans, people with disabilities -- about 70 million checks are sent out each month -- if we default then we’re going to have to make adjustments. And I’m already consulting with (Treasury) Secretary (Tim) Geithner in terms of what the consequences would...