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The decision by First Lady Michelle Obama to leave on schedule for her two-week Hawaii vacation and not wait a few days for her delayed husband will probably cost taxpayers more than $63,000 in additional expenses, according to a White House Dossier analysis. President Obama was supposed to depart for Hawaii Saturday, but decided to stay in Washington until Congress finishes its work for the year. He’s now expected to depart today or tomorrow. But Mrs. Obama chose to leave without him Saturday, taking their two children and the dog along with her.

Battle-weary Bay State Democrats are getting squeezed by U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry this Christmas, as the nation’s richest senator puts the arm on cash-strapped party donors to fill his campaign war chest — even though he’s not up for re-election for another four years. “I think people feel very tapped-out,” said Phil Johnston, former Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman, who is helping to organize Kerry’s Dec. 13 gala. Johnston, who said he is seeing steady ticket sales, still expects a full house. “It’s a measure of John Kerry’s strength among Democrats that this event should be hugely successful,” he said....

The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama urged Japanese youth to "study English, and see the world" during a speech and Q&A session at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on Saturday. The Dalai Lama, currently visiting Japan, made the remarks, when he touched on the problem of the increasing number of Japanese youth committing suicide. "Now, you should participate, wisely, (in) the outside world. But, the youth of Japan remain here, and (having) some problems here. Go (to the) outside world! To Arabia, Africa, Latin America ... You can make many contributions," the Dalai Lama said. The Dalai Lama...

Even a day at the beach is done in presidential style for the First Family. Currently enjoying a relaxing California vacation , Michelle Obama and daughter Sasha arrived at the extravagant beachside mansion of billionaire financial mogul, Howard Marks, on Wednesday afternoon. RadarOnline.com exclusively learned that mother and daughter pulled into the luxurious private estate in Malibu over looking the Pacific Ocean at 3 p.m. They were escorted by a police motorcade and spent a perfect summer day by the beach.

AP photo from article Church website photo of Steve Anderson YUMA, AZ -- Steven Anderson, who ministers at Faithful Word Baptist Church, said he prays for the death of President Barack Obama in a sermon to his congregation. "I'm not going to pray for his good," Anderson said in the sermon. "I'm going to pray he dies and goes to hell." The sermon, which was titled "Why I Hate Barack Obama," was also featured on CNN last week due to the nature of its content, and has since been shown on other programs such as Fox News, MSNBC, ABC...

California consumer affairs chief resigns Carrie Lopez, director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, resigned Friday in the wake of disclosures about expenses she charged to taxpayers. Carrie Lopez quits when shown results of a state audit that found questionable expenses she incurred. The findings went beyond those reported earlier this month by The Times, an official says. By Michael Rothfeld March 28, 2009 Reporting from Sacramento -- The director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs resigned Friday in the wake of disclosures about expenses she charged to taxpayers, including for transportation to attend a Justin Timberlake concert...

Monday morning Tulsa Today posted an analysis by veteran New York journalist and the recipient of seven Long Island Press Awards, Joan Swirsky, titled, “The Great Birth Certificate Scandal/Cover-Up of ‘08” questioning the missing Barack Obama birth certificate and his eligibility to serve as President of the United States. ImageTwo hours and 10,000 page views later, our local Internet Service Provider and domain hosting service, Tulsa Connect locked us off the Internet. This action was taken without warning or formal notice, but after several telephone conversations the picture became clear. Our agreement with Tulsa Connect was for “shared hosting” service....

Former U.S. presidential candidate Al Gore delivers a speech on America's future energy needs in Washington July 17, 2008.

Barack Obama's campaign changed the rules of a highly publicized fundraiser Tuesday, after gambling regulators said the contest — a chance at one of 10 trips to the Democratic National Convention — was an illegal lottery. "We are happy to have resolved this issue working closely with state officials," said Nick Kimball, spokesman for the Obama campaign ... A spokesman for the Colorado Secretary of State said Democrats would have to get a license if they were conducting "a standard raffle where they're buying tickets" in order to win. But under the new rules, supporters don't have to donate money...

Barack Obama just delivered a speech on patriotism in Independence, Mo., hometown of what was once America's most powerful haberdasher, and offered a mild rebuke to Wesley Clark, who took on John McCain's military record the other day in rather scorching terms. And just to make it clear, an Obama spokesman sent out this brief statement as Obama was speaking: "As he's said many times before, Senator Obama honors and respects Senator McCain's service, and, of course, he rejects yesterday's statement by General Clark." Obama's speech focused on his own sense of patriotism, quoting Mark Twain (it's good to quote...

Hillary Clinton’s campaign has made little secret that it has been routinely outspent by rival Barack Obama in the extended race for the Democratic presidential nomination and has been forced to curtail checks for some of its vendors and staff. But stiffing your high school alma mater? That’s apparently the case, according to federal campaign disclosure reports that show that among more than $8.7 million listed as debts, the Clinton campaign owed $3,161 to Maine South High School in Park Ridge for renting the school for an event, as well as for catering.

In a speech on Iraq policy delivered Monday at George Washington University, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton recalled facing “sniper fire” on her 1996 trip to Bosnia to visit U.S. troops on a peacekeeping mission. But reporters traveling with the then-First Lady made no reference to any “sniper fire” at the time, and pictures of Clinton arriving at the main air base in Tuzla don’t show anyone ducking or covering. Here’s how Clinton began her speech: Good morning. I want to thank Secretary West for his years of service, not only as Secretary of the Army, but also to the...

Websters II New College Dictionary: "ghoul": 1. an evil spirit or demon in Muslim folklore said to plunder graves and feed on corpses. 2. a grave robber. 3. One who delights in the morbid or loathsome. 4. A former NYC Mayor who earns tens of million dollars and catapults to frontrunner status among Republican presidential hopefuls by standing on the corpses of 3,000 dead 9/11 victims and hundreds of dead and thousands of sick first responders. For anyone who has watched the career of the angry, egomaniacal, authoritarian, thin-skinned, Nixonian, thrice divorced, former Mayor of NY City, it was just...

The most appealing thing about Hillary Rodham Clinton has always been her enemies, who often seem not in their right mind, screaming that she is a murderer and calling her names like "Her Thighness." They make you want to like her. Yet in interviews across the country with women of all ages, races, income brackets and points of view, one of the rare patches of common ground was skepticism about the first female presidential contender with a serious shot at the White House. Over 18 months, I traveled to 20 states listening to women speak at length about what they...

Sen. Hillary Clinton did it again! The former first-lady-turned-presidental-hopeful broke out in a singsong Southern twang before a black audience -- this time in NYC!. Clinton was addressing the National Action Network, a civil rights group founded by Rev. Al Sharpton, on Friday.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu9TQq0C3Ac

Instead of talking in sweeping platitudes about "ethics reform," Senate Democrats might want to prove they mean it by dumping their ethically challenged majority leader, Harry Reid. The Nevada lawmaker has been implicated in yet another land scheme that this time could net him a tidy $50,000 to $290,000. Los Angeles Times investigative reporters Chuck Neubauer and Tom Hamburger, this week revealed that Reid paid $166 an acre for valuable northern Arizona land whose market value, according to the county assessor, four years ago was worth $2,144 an acre. Who would be a big enough fool to sell Reid the...

Geopolitics: Radical chic is thriving in the whirl of parties at the United Nations these days, and no one is being courted more solicitously as one of the downtrodden than Evo Morales of Bolivia. You remember "radical chic," don't you? The 1960s and 1970s phenomenon, described by Tom Wolfe in his "Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak-Catchers" tells how New York's glitterati threw black-tie parties to court supposedly "real" revolutionaries — like Black Panthers, Puerto Rican separatists or Indian liberationists — in a bid to feel "authentic." It's been a long time, but radical chic isn't dead. Which explains why...

<p>FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ON NOT CAPTURING BIN LADEN: 'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...</p>

Excerpts of former President Bill Clinton's remarks earlier this month at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colo. I don't know how long they can make this old dog hunt. Ever since 2000, the 2002 and 2004 elections were about, "No matter how bad you think we are, you can't vote for them, because you can't trust them to defend the country. And oh, by the way, forget about global warming; let's talk about flag burning and gay marriage." I mean, I just don't know how long you can milk that old cow without its milk running dry. ... My...