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Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, said today he’s staying in Congress despite speculation he was being considered for Veteran Affairs secretary. The Waco Democrat said Sunday he told President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team that he’ll continue representing his Texas district where voters this month re-elected him to a 10th term. Edwards, who is chairman of the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Committee, said he believed he could be more effective in Congress than the Cabinet. Edwards defeated Republican Rob Curnock to win a 10th term on Nov. 4. He was also reported to be on Obama’s short list of...

President-elect Barack Obama's transition team is flirting with creating a White House "Climate Czar," but climate change crusader Al Gore says he doesn't want the job. The Obama team declined to comment on such a post, even as environmentalists and power industry executives say it's being widely discussed inside the transition offices as a way to spur a clean energy industry, which Mr. Obama has promised will ween the U.S. from foreign oil and create millions of "green jobs." Obama transition chief John Podesta promoted a similar idea earlier in his role as president of the Center for American Progress,...

Google Inc. chief executive officer Eric Schmidt won’t take a technology post in President-elect Barack Obama’s cabinet, according to news reports. Reuters reported that Schmidt declined such a post. Obama said during his campaign for the presidency that he would create a cabinet post similar to a chief technology officer to advise on tech issues. Schmidt, a strong supporter of Obama, was seen by some watchers as likely to be tapped for that post. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is based in Mountain View, Calif. Last week, Obama picked Julius Genachowski, who has links to Ask.com parent IAC/InterActiveCorp and to New Resource...

Obama Holiday Rallies Turned Away by Topeka McDonald's @ 3:12 pm by Chris Good After Internet news circles buzzed Monday about an activist's plans for a national holiday in honor of President-elect Barack Obama, the Kansas McDonald's slated to host the holiday-promoting rallies has said "no." Activist Sonny Scroggins, leader of a group called Bias Busters of Kansas, had planned to hold rallies at a downtown Topeka McDonald's every Tuesday to plan a push for an Obama holiday. A Topeka Capital-Journal story about Scroggins' plans caught some national attention Monday after being featured prominently on the Drudge Report. The McDonald's...

It is rare to hear a note of optimism in the midst of the current financial crisis. But Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg, for one, seems unfazed by problems in the financial services industry or 1,000-point intraday swings in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. What enables Seidenberg to stay unconcerned is the relative success of the telecommunications industry, once seen as a disastrous minefield of overleveraged, barely solvent companies. Even with the credit crisis, the telecommunications industry is in better shape than it has ever been in. It is now competitive, relatively flush with subscribers and strategic options. Seidenberg even...

Lindsay Lohan wanted to stump for Barack Obama, but was turned down with a polite ''thanks, but no thanks,'' the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The trouble-prone actress offered to host a series of events aimed at younger voters, but the Democratic presidential candidate's camp wasn't interested, the paper says. Lohan ''is not exactly the kind of high-profile star who would be a positive for us," a top source on the Obama team told the paper. Lohan and her all-but-confirmed girlfriend Samantha Ronson recently bashed Republican vice presidential hopeful Gov. Sarah Palin on Lohan's MySpace blog. "I really cannot bite my tongue...

HILLARY Clinton may be the most obvious choice to throw into the ring against the new darling of American politics, Sarah Palin, but the failed Democratic presidential candidate is refusing the job. "We're not going to be anybody's attack dog against Sarah Palin," a Clinton insider said yesterday. It's an extraordinary act of hubris from a woman whose success in exposing Barack Obama's weakness in working-class Democratic states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana may have been the reason that John McCain chose a gun-toting, God-loving mother of five as his running mate. Although she is 60 and unlikely to...

One day after it was revealed that Sen. John McCain was to hold a closed-door meeting with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, Jindal said Wednesday that there is no way he will fill the bottom half of the GOP presidential ticket. "I'm not going to be the vice presidential nominee or vice president," Jindal told Fox News. "I'm going to help Sen. McCain get elected as governor of Louisiana." "Let me be clear: I have said in every private and public conversation, I've got the job that I want," Jindal said. It's not uncommon for those being considered for...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Wednesday he does not want to be considered as vice president on the GOP ticket, making him among a growing number of those pulling themselves out of the race. ” I look forward to continuing to be governor of Louisiana. This is a once in a lifetime chance to improve our state. We’ve cut six taxes but we’ve got a lot more work to do right here in Louisiana,” Jindal told “FOX & Friends” on Wednesday.

SPRINGHILL, LA (KSLA) - Governor Jindal will welcome republican presidential candidate senator John McCain to the Bayou State on Wednesday -- a state that political analysts expect McCain to carry without a problem. So the question of where governor Jindal ranks on McCain's list of vice presidential nominees is on the mind of many in Louisiana. The governor answered with a confident no about the possibility of accepting the nomination for the vice presidency. "I'm not going to be VP. I've already got the job that I want. I want to be Governor. I told the people when I was...

France has denied citizenship to a veiled Moroccan woman on the grounds that her 'radical' Islam is incompatible with French values, a legal ruling revealed. The case will re-ignite debate about how to reconcile religious freedom with other rights, which many in France feel are being challenged by the way of life of some Muslims. Le Monde newspaper said it is the first time a Muslim applicant had been rejected because of personal religious practice. 'She has adopted a radical practice of her religion, incompatible with essential values of the French community, particularly the principle of equality of the sexes,'...

When the federal Liberals lose the next election and Stephane Dion is forced to resign, the words "Green Shift" will no doubt appear prominently in the first paragraph or two of his political obituary. As a cautionary tale, it will rank right up there with John Tory's disastrous religious school funding proposal in Ontario. Ironically, the legacy of this self-described green zealot will be to kill serious environmentalism in this country for years to come. That's too bad, because the concept of a carbon tax actually makes sense --even, dare I say, to conservatives. I am talking here about a...

A Virginia Senator with less experience than Obama, and maybe not a lot in common either, takes himself out of the Veepstakes.

Governor Ed Rendell was just asked by John Scott if he would take the VP spot if offered. He said no he would not make a good choice. This is that old "Clinton loyaltly" that Strickland is also abiding by. The Democrat Party is NOT united. Rendell doesn't want to be asked by Obama to be the VP. Rendell continued on that he doesn't have foreign policy experience. And was about to say more on why he wasn't qualified. But John Scott cut him off because of a commercial break.

I’m disappointed, but not surprised.That’s not in the cards,” Thompson said. “That’s not what I want. Well…and I don’t think that call [from McCain] would ever happen. I think John needs somebody else. I would advise him if he asked me that he needs someone else, of a different profile. The presidency is the only job in town that’s worth going through what you got to go through to get it, including the vice presidency….”

NORWICH, Conn. — U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said Friday he has no interest in being vice president on the McCain ticket or in accepting a cabinet post should the Arizona Republican win the presidency in November. “I’m not supporting John with the hope of getting anything else,” Lieberman said at a meeting of the Norwich Bulletin’s editorial board Friday afternoon. “When I decided to endorse him I didn’t think he’d win (the Republican nomination).” Lieberman, a former Democrat who sits with the Senate’s Democratic Caucus, has endorsed McCain and has campaigned extensively with him. He has been widely rumored...

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, a noted Republican, says he thought long and hard before deciding against greeting Bill Clinton when the former president visited campus on behalf of his wife's presidential campaign. Bill Clinton pitched the Penn State ties of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday during a stop in State College, reminding the mostly youthful audience that her father and brother both played football at Penn State. In fact, brother Hugh Rodham, a 1972 graduate, was a backup quarterback under Paterno.

South Bend school officials have rejected a request by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign to hold a rally in the Washington High School gym on Friday. South Bend Community School Corp. board President Sheila Bergerson says Clinton's visit would have interfered with the school day. She says plans called for juniors and seniors to attend the public rally. School board members denied the request Wednesday night. Bergerson says she worried that the school corporation would give the impression it was endorsing Clinton. A Mishawaka schools spokeswoman says Clinton will instead be at nearby Mishawaka High School. Clinton also plans events in...

"I am not runniing for VP." "Have I been clear?" "You can't say I am not ready from day one, but that I am good enough to be VP."

Republican John McCain said Friday that Super Tuesday could mark the finish line of his party’s presidential race this year. “Do I think the race will be over on Tuesday? Not often do I ask for divine intercession, but I have asked for that. Yes,” he told reporters on a campaign flight to Chicago. Republicans in 21 states will weigh in on Super Tuesday, February 5. “From what we see in the polls, there is a very good chance it could be over on Tuesday,” said the Arizona senator, adding: “The sooner we get that done, the sooner I can...

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- Joe Biden is complaining that his foes keep saying he'd be a great secretary of state. ...

LOS ANGELES - The wave of recent films set against the backdrop of war in Iraq and post-9/11 security has failed to win over film-goers keen to escape grim news headlines when they go to the movies, analysts say. In a break with past convention, when films based on real conflicts were made only years after the last shots were fired, several politically-charged films have gone on release while America remains embroiled in Iraq. Almost without exception, however, the crop of movies have struggled to turn a profit at the box-office and in many cases have received a mauling from...

It doesn't matter how many Oscar winners are in front of or behind the camera — audiences are proving to be conscientious objectors when it comes to this fall's surge of antiwar and anti-Bush films. Both "In the Valley of Elah" and, more recently, "Rendition" drew minuscule crowds upon their release, which doesn't bode well for the ongoing stream of films critical of the Iraq war and the Bush administration's wider war on terror."Rendition," which features three Oscar winners in key roles, grossed $4.1 million over the weekend in 2,250 screens for a ninth-place finish. A re-release of "The Nightmare...

Bob Kerrey says he will not seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate next year. The former governor and U.S. senator from Nebraska and 1992 presidential candidate says he made the decision not to run for the seat being vacated by Republican Chuck Hagel after discussions with his family. Kerrey says he has unfinished business at New School University in New York, where he is president. But Kerrey says he came much closer to saying yes to a Senate run that he thought he would. So far, no Democrats have declared their candidacy for the seat. Declared Republican candidates are...

100,000 free condoms rejected in D.C. 2 hours, 21 minutes ago More than 100,000 condoms given away in a citywide campaign to reduce HIV and AIDS have been returned because of complaints that their paper packaging can be easily damaged and could make the condoms ineffective. A coalition of nonprofit groups distributing the condoms for the District of Columbia Health Department returned them after they heard complaints and noticed less demand for them. "People were saying, 'These packages aren't any good,' said Franck DeRose, executive director of a group called the Condom Project. Volunteers were told that the paper packets...

CLICK Our primary family worship service is called sacrament meeting. This meeting is held in our meetinghouses on Sunday and lasts approximately 70 minutes. Visitors are welcome to attend. It is common for families to attend, and we are accustomed to having children as part of the congregation. A typical meeting would consist of the following: Hymns: Religious songs sung by the congregation (hymn books are provided). Prayers: Offered by local Church members. Partaking of the Sacrament (Communion): The sacrament is passed to members of the congregation. Speakers: Typically a meeting will have two or three assigned speakers. We do...

Hadley: Bush Will Not Accept Mission Change Offered by Warner, Lugar Sunday , July 15, 2007 AP WASHINGTON — The White House is rejecting as premature a plan by two senior Republican senators to restrict the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq President Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said Sunday the administration has a "very orderly process" set out for reviewing whether its Iraq strategy is working and that should be allowed to play out. Asked in a broadcast interview whether Bush could live with the plan offered by Sens. John Warner of Virginia and Richard Lugar of Indiana,...

Survey provides a snapshot of the senator's challenges as she seeks the Democratic nomination for president. More than half of Americans say they wouldn't consider voting for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president if she becomes the Democratic nominee... The poll by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research found that 52 percent of Americans wouldn't consider voting for Clinton, D-N.Y.

Lately, there has been a growing movement on Free Republic to support the Presidential candidacy of Ron Paul. His supporters claim that he is the only true conservative candidate, and that Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, Fred Thompson, etc. are not conservatives. While Paul may have some good ideas regarding domestic issues, his foreign policy ideas are downright dangerous. Here are ten questions for him that I would like to see answered.

A Brazilian spider delivers more than a painful bite that sends most victims to the hospital. Its venom stimulates an hours-long erection. Now scientists have figured out the chemical that seems to be responsible for the penis boost. In Brazil, emergency room staff can immediately spot the victims of a bite from the Brazilian wandering spider (Phoneutria nigriventer). Patients not only experience overall pain and an increase in blood pressure, they also sport an uncomfortable erection. "The erection is a side effect that everybody who gets stung by this spider will experience along with the pain and

Giuliani is the preferred candidate for 34 percent of likely Republican voters, according to the poll. Giuliani has a double-digit lead over his nearest rival, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who is the choice candidate for 18 percent of potential Republican voters. Conservative endorsements In a move to attract conservatives skeptical of his position on social issues such as gun control, abortion rights and same-sex civil unions, Giuliani's campaign Monday announced endorsements from Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, and former Solicitor General Ted Olson. "Obviously, I disagree with Rudy on some significant social issues, and these are very important to me...

We the moderate Muslims are doing our best to build Bridges and spread the Peace with "People of the Book" (Jews, Christians, Muslims), and others who are also our brethrens in humanity. But we can’t do it alone and we need your help. We can tell you that most people around us, are loving, and supportive of us. This is a great Country, as we are free to practice Islam, and contribute to our society. Sometimes we get hate emails, but for each one of those, we may receive dozens and dozens of positive and supportive messages. It is true...

But that analysis may be too simple. In Delaware Giuliani is asked for the umpteenth time if his views on 'social issues' would be fatal to his presidential ambitions. 'I don't get to decide what the issues are. But they are not usually the ones you think they are going to be,' he says. He is right. National security will still be the overwhelming issue of 2008. Giuliani's strong credentials there could make up for weaknesses elsewhere. There are also signs that his problems with the conservatives could be overstated. First, their power is waning. In 2006's congressional elections the...

Long dismissed by Washington insiders as incapable of receiving the Republican Party's presidential nomination because of his pro-abortion rights, pro-gay rights and pro-gun control views, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was lavished with praise Friday by an icon of American conservatism. "He is much stronger than anyone could have predicted six months ago," said former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich from Georgia. "New York is four times safer than it used to be. It's one of the greatest achievements of government capability in the 20th century. And Rudy just has to go out and say, 'This is who...

'America's mayor' in strong position for '08 With the 2008 race off to a fast start, there have already been some big surprises (Obama, anyone?). But the biggest shocker so far has to be how strong "America's mayor" is running in the polls. The most recent poll has Giuliani leading the Republican field by five points (with 31 percent to John McCain's 26 percent, according to Real Clear Politics). True, it's early. But the numbers do reflect a deep reservoir of support among some GOP primary voters. Giuliani has a few things going in his favor. For starters, he has...

Rudy Giuliani will prevent a conservative crack-up. Today, after very little effort, Giuliani is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination. Dick Morris is predicting a Giuliani vs. Clinton race in 2008. Yet some conservatives are dubious of the man who cleaned up New York, returned it to a vigor unimaginable from the 1960s through the 1980s, and then led New York and the country heroically through 9/11. Well, one knows a politician by the company he keeps, and Giuliani has around him the financial people who created the libertarian-conservative Manhattan Institute. He relied heavily on the Institute's policies while governing...

In the months leading up to the 2006 midterm elections, as pundits and bloggers looked forward to the '08 presidential election, there was almost a universal sense of conventional wisdom that John McCain was the plainly recognized frontrunner, whereas Rudy Giuliani's stature as a contender would immediately plummet "once those conservatives found out about those liberal social views of Rudy's." Then, during the summer of 2006, the mainstream media and beltway thinkers had their proof. A serious political action organization was formed by a group of hardcore social conservatives, dedicated to tearing down any chance of Rudy's at grabbing the...

AL Gore will phone John Howard today to invite him to a screening of his climate warning film -- the one George W. Bush refused to watch. The former US vice-president, in Sydney to promote his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, said he disagreed with the Prime Minister's approach to climate change, which focuses on developing clean coal technology rather than giving priority to renewable energy. "I like him, he's a friend," Mr Gore said of the PM yesterday. "I disagree with him on this issue but I hope he will see the movie." ... ...extremes are predicted to get worse...

When Lt. Abuhena Saif-ul-Islam first arrived at the Camp Pendleton military base in California, recruits often asked the Muslim chaplain what the crescent on his lapel meant. Saif-ul-Islam, a Bangladeshi immigrant, jokingly told them he was an astronaut. Nowadays, fewer sailors find the Islamic symbol unfamiliar. But Saif-ul-Islam, a U.S. Navy chaplain since 1999, still is questioned often about his religion during training sessions he conducts at bases across the nation. "They want to know if non-Muslims can go into a mosque," Saif-ul-Islam said. "They ask why people in Iraq are behaving [violently] if Islam is so peaceful. It's a...

Oslo's Sperm Bank seeks to double its number of donors but is not interested in contributions from homosexuals. A legislative change in January 2005 gave the child of a sperm donation the right to know the identity of the donor when reaching age 18. The sperm bank at Rikshospitalet, Oslo has been trying various recruitment drives to make up for the resulting reluctance but the Bank is far from its goal of finding 30-40 new donors every year, newspaper Dagsavisen reports. Nevertheless, the Bank is unwilling to accept homosexual donors, despite the regulations not mentioning the exclusion of this group....

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday forcefully rejected a letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seeking cooperation with Germany, saying it did not even deserve an answer. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki delivered the letter to the German embassy in Tehran earlier this week. A German government official who saw the letter told Reuters it criticised Israel and said Germany and Iran should cooperate in dealing with Zionism and solving the Palestinian problem. "He's repeating the old thinking, which is totally unacceptable to us," Merkel told ZDF state television. "Israel's right to exist is a key part...

A report set for publication this week from In Touch Weekly will claim that Ashlee Simpson is considering posing nude for Playboy. Will Ashlee Strip for Playboy? The singer is now on tour and hotter than ever and if this report plays out, this may just be the move that pushes her to the A-list.

In stores tomorrow, you might find this in the CD racks ... Ministry's new "Rio Grande Blood" album. Revolting beyond belief.

For an update on the firestorm in San Francisco over the ban on the adoption of children by gay couples and Catholic Charities, see this article by Valerie Schmalz. This is at Ignatius Press's online magazine Ignatius Insight.

I started this thread to express my disgust with the GOP as they rush headlong into an amnesty bill in the Senate.I pledge, and I ask all of like mind to pledge, that if any bill passes the Congress and is signed into law that includes a guest worker program or amnesty in any form; or increases the number of immigrants allowed into the US legally; or does NOT include severe and agressive prosecution of employers who hire illegals; or does not include provisions for the construction of a wall on our southern border; or does not include provisions for...

The Portland City Council will have to ignore the recommendation of citizen advisers if it wants to accept a controversial gift of bronze statues from Portland Sea Dogs owner Daniel Burke. The Public Art Committee, an advisory group appointed by the council, voted 6-1 Wednesday to recommend that the council reject the statues, which depict a traditional family of four going to a baseball game. The vote came after Burke's attorney said no changes will be made to the sculptures. The statues generated heated public debate during the last week as issues of government intervention and family diversity clashed with...

Uncle Sam wants YOU, that famous Army recruiting poster says. But does he really? Not if you're a Ritalin-taking, overweight, Generation Y couch potato — or some combination of the above. As for that fashionable "body art" that the military still calls a tattoo, having one is grounds for rejection, too. With U.S. casualties rising in wars overseas and more opportunities in the civilian work force from an improved U.S. economy, many young people are shunning a career in the armed forces. But recruiting is still a two-way street — and the military, too, doesn't want most people in this...

'Brokeback' named Hollywood word of the year Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:33 AM ET LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - And the winner for Hollywood's word of the year is "Brokeback," thanks to all the talk around the water cooler and Internet jokes that have turned a film about two gay cowboys into a cultural phenomenon. The nonprofit group Global Language Monitor placed "Brokeback" -- as in the film title "Brokeback Mountain" -- at the top of its list of Hollywood words and phrases that captured attention this year. Paul JJ Payack, the head of Global Language Monitor, said the movie became...