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ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Former President Bill Clinton said his weight problem and brush with death are the catalysts behind his foundation's initiative of tackling childhood obesity. Once famous for his love of fast food, Clinton told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta that bad health habits since childhood led to his September 2004 quadruple bypass surgery. That operation, he said, opened his eyes to a larger issue, and he turned his attention to the problem of overweight American children. "The brush with death I had maybe had the biggest impact of all," Clinton recalled. "I realized that one more time I've...

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A judge rejected a U.S. request that a Canadian marijuana activist be held without bail on Tuesday in a case that is likely to ignite debate over the countries' diverging drug policies. U.S. officials say Marc Emery illegally sold millions of dollars worth of marijuana seeds, but Emery's supporters say his business activities were well known for years and tolerated by groups that included Canada's federal health ministry. Emery is a founder of the pro-legalization B.C. Marijuana Party and his arrest comes as the Canadian government is pushing a measure to decriminalize possession of small...

In 1947, Ruhalhah Khomeini, then a mid-ranking mullah in Qom, issued a “fatwa” (opinion) that made it incumbent on “the faithful” to murder Ahmad Kasravi. It took a group of eight “faithful” to plan and carry out the murder several months later. A jubilant Khomeini told his entourage that he had “eliminated that paragon of impiety” for ever. At the time of his murder Kasravi was one of Iran’s leading intellectuals. A veritable Renaissance man, he was a senior jurist at the high court, a distinguished historian, a magnetic orator, a master of the Persian prose, and a best-selling author....

Imams from about 500 British mosques have issued a fatwa condemning violence, which they have presented to politicians at Westminster, as ministers cast around for new laws to help stop a repeat of attacks on London. The fatwa will be read out at mosques during prayers this Friday. Officials say the government is looking to target extremists, particularly Islamic clerics, who glorify or encourage terrorist acts. Such figures could be banned from entering Britain or deported if they are already in the country. Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet British Muslim community leaders today to find ways of tackling the...

Sen. Barbara Boxer says women will die President Bush nominates a pro-life judge to the Supreme Court. Five thousand women a year will die if President Bush nominates a pro-life judge to the Supreme Court — that's the claim of liberal U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. And it's just a sample of the ramped-up rhetoric you can expect as Bush prepares to nominate a replacement for the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor. Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, said Boxer's claim of 5,000 deaths, made to an Associated Press reporter, pure fantasy. "Senator Boxer's reliance on...

Writing in The Observer, Gaby Wood mentions the unthinkable: the Democratic Party letting go of its long defense of abortion rights. In this scenario, the Democrats put up little or no struggle against obviously anti-Roe Supreme Court nominees; let the Republicans do the dirty deed. This so that Democrats can put the issue behind them. Why would they do this? As Wood tells us: "Cynthia Gorney, author of A Frontline History of the Abortion Wars, says she has 'heard it coming from people who you certainly wouldn't have heard it from three or four years ago. It's people who are...

We recently got a call from Don Wycliff of the Chicago Tribune, who we later found out is the "public editor" of that paper. That is supposed to mean that he objectively analyzes complaints about the paper's coverage. He was calling us because we were critical of the media's misreporting of the Iraq War, and we contend that the coverage is a major factor in the military recruiting problem. His bias was apparent in his approach. In his column he did mention a couple examples we cited, but he conveyed his prejudice in how he wrote his piece. Don't take...

WASHINGTON - Thousands of times a year, spy agencies provide government officials with the names of Americans who appear in intelligence reports. John R. Bolton made only 10 such requests. Still, they have become a central issue in his nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations. Intelligence agencies are only rarely allowed to monitor U.S. citizens. When agencies intercept information about an American, intentionally or otherwise, the person's identity is usually protected or the data is destroyed. Bolton asked 10 times for the identities of U.S. citizens or companies whose names were removed from transcripts of classified intelligence intercepts...

If the recent cover stories in National Review and the Weekly Standard are any indication, conservative opinion-mongers are taken with the idea of Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney running for president in 2008. But, given his record of triangulation on abortion, will pro-life voters be equally enthusiastic? The answer will help determine the viability of Romney's candidacy. Not since Gerald Ford narrowly beat back Ronald Reagan's challenge at the 1976 Republican National Convention has the GOP had a pro-choice presidential nominee. Abortion advocacy reduced 1990s Republican rising stars Bill Weld and Christine Todd Whitman from vying for a place on the...

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney says he is considering a possible bid for the Republican nomination for president in 2008. Meanwhile, Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean is criticizing him by saying he has flip-flopped his position on abortion for political gain. "If someone said, well, you know, the governor's testing the national waters, that's a fair characterization," Romney said. "But I'm planning on running for governor. Time will tell, I'll make a final decision and an announcement in the fall, and we'll go from there." He spoke with the Associated Press about his speaking trips to states that lead off the...

IT'S NOT EASY for Senator John Kerry these days. Having failed to capture the White House and facing the likely prospect of getting steamrolled by Hillary Clinton for the 2008 Democratic presidential nod, Kerry has been doing all he can to stay on the national radar screen. His latest tact, on display at a town hall meeting in Massachusetts on June 2 and eventually reported on by the national media, has been to suggest that he lost the presidential election because too many voters were, basically, ignoramuses and that the major media should now seek his guidance on which issues...

I have learned to appreciate my enemies. They can be useful as indicators as to whether I am on the correct path. Once again they are making me proud. When Kerry returns to Washington he says that he is going to bring up an impeachment issue regarding the WMD falsification charges. He has a memo written by Matthew Rycroft, who is one of Tony Blair's aides. The Downing Street memo, unfortunately for Kerry, doesn't have any quotes from either Blair or Bush. Worldnetdaily.com had a nice article on this new attempt by the left to regain power, with a quite...

POLS PUSH FOR MINT BAN By LINDSAY POWERS Sun May 22, 4:17 AM ET Political momentum is building for safer candy. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton told The Post she is raising the issue with the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission early this week. She called the deaths, just two days apart, of Jocelys Santiago, 5, and Ashley Morrison, 4, "completely preventable." City Councilwoman Christine Quinn, who chairs the Health Committee, is introducing legislation this week to ban large, round candy. She also wants a council hearing on the subject before schools let out for summer....

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The City Council has agreed to let voters decide whether to keep a 43-foot-tall wooden cross atop Mount Soledad by donating the land to the federal government. On Tuesday, the council voted 6-3 to place the issue on the July 26 ballot, which also includes a mayoral election. The council rescinded its previous rejection of a plan to donate the land to the National Parks Service for a veterans memorial. That plan had been a key part of a federal bill designed as a last-ditch effort to preserve the cross on public land. Supporters raised more...

A pro-life activist says he's "profoundly disappointed" that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has "snubbed a dialogue with pro-life groups" - after she expressed interest in finding common ground with them. The Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said pro-life leaders, including himself, have been trying for two months to arrange a face-to-face meeting with Sen. Clinton, but she has declined. In late January, Sen. Clinton urged a group of abortion rights supporters to find common ground with pro-lifers. "We should be able to agree that we want every child born in this country to be wanted,...

SAN FRANCISCO - Among the many land mines that dot the California political terrain, few are as treacherous or unpredictable as the matter of illegal immigration. The subject blew up in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's face last week, at a speech before the Newspaper Association of America. Responding to a question, the Republican governor suggested officials should ''close the border in California, all across Mexico and the United States'' to stem the flow of undocumented migrants. Critics pounced, and Schwarzenegger apologized the next day. He blamed faulty English for the gaffe, and said he was for ''securing the borders'' instead. ''We...

Southern heritage buffs vow to use the Virginia gubernatorial election as a platform for designating April as Confederate History and Heritage Month. The four candidates have differing views on the Confederacy, an issue that has been debated for years in the commonwealth. "We're not just a few people making a lot of noise," said Brag Bowling, a spokesman for the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the oldest hereditary organization for male descendents of Confederate soldiers. "This is not a racial thing; it is good for Virginia. We're going to keep pushing this until we get it." Each candidate recently shared his...

SAN FRANCISCO – One year after failing to win control of the Sierra Club in a bitterly contested election, advocates for stricter immigration limits are back, arguing that the venerable conservation group can best protect the environment by reducing U.S. population growth. The club's 750,000 members are voting this month on whether the organization should push for tighter restrictions on immigration. Five seats are open on the 15-member board of directors, which sets club policy and commands the $100 million annual budget. Sierrans for U.S. Population Stabilization, club activists seeking to limit immigration, are backing five candidates and pushing a...

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the most striking. Blogger Miguel Octavio in Caracas, Venezuela, has suggested the best way for Venezuela to draw some earnings from its Citgo refineries here in the U.S. is to sell shares. Houston-based Citgo has been in the news lately, with Hugo Chavez "threatening" to sell its eight U.S.-based refineries. Chavez says he doesn't get enough money out of them, and the U.S. markets suspect he'd like to sell to more easily cut off oil to the U.S. There are a lot of horse laughs in Houston, of course, given how much money he'd lose...

  2005 Sports Illustrated Swimsuits    Michelle Alves BORN: Londrina, Brazil AGE: 25 Ana Beatriz Barros BORN: Itabira, Brazil AGE: 22 Yamila Diaz-Rahi BORN: Buenos Aires AGE: 28 Alicia Hall HOMETOWN: Las Vegas AGE: 19 Bridget Hall BORN: Springdale, Ark. AGE: 27 Michelle Lombardo BORN: Glastonbury, Connecticut AGE: 21 Marisa Miller BORN: Santa Cruz, Calif. AGE: 25 Fernanda Mota BORN: Rio de Janeiro AGE: 23 Petra Nemcoba BORN: Karvina, Czech Republic AGE: 25 Oluchi Onweagba BORN: Lagos, Nigeria AGE: 23 Frankie Raider BORN: River Falls, Wisc. AGE: 30 Daniella Sarahyba BORN: Rio de Janeiro AGE: 19 Shakara Ledard BORN:...