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Michelle Obama will be appearing on Iron Chef, but I discovered that isn't the only reality show she'll be on.

ELCA synods will not have the option of upholding traditional Christian teaching on marriage and homosexuality in their standards for pastors and other rostered leaders according to a draft of candidacy rules released Oct. 10 by the ELCA churchwide organization. No synod or bishop may make decisions on ministry standards that differ from the new policies of the ELCA churchwide organization as defined by the 2009 Churchwide Assembly, the policy draft explains. The ELCA now allows pastors and other rostered leaders to be in committed same-sex relationships. “By the governing documents, all candidacy and call decisions are made on an...

It was one of those nonstop days: President Barack Obama was flying back to Washington from Los Angeles to meet President Mahmoud Abbas, then he was scheduled to tape an interview for "The Colbert Report" and sit down for his regular briefing with advisers. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26404.html?ref=whtm#ixzz0PFq75XQV

Most Republicans likely already think Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Penn.) is a joke, and Thursday evening he proved it when he took the stage at a Pittsburgh comedy club. [...] some of the material was taken from a previous routine he had done at the Washington Improv in 2007, a joke which back then involved Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden now featured Sarah Palin, John McCain, and Rudy Giuliani (videos in two parts embedded below the fold, sexual content warning,

The man behind the world's biggest online Michael Jackson fan club has said heartbroken followers of the star have committed suicide because of his death. Gary Taylor, president and owner of MJJcommunity.com, said he understood the tragedies had mostly taken place outside of the UK but he believed one may have been British.

Today marks the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion to liberate Europe from Nazi tyranny, and what does Google do? Instead of putting up an image to honor the sacrifices made and the triumph of good over evil, they honor Tetris? Tetris? It's a game for heaven's sake. The world owes a debt of honor to the brave men who stormed ashore at Normandy and parachuted in to roll the Nazi conquest of Europe. This is what they came up with for today?

So by now we're pretty much all familiar with Ms. California's response to Perez Hilton's question at the Miss USA Pageant the other night, she just doesn't believe in "opposite marriage," (no offense to the gays) This ain't cool with Miley, and she's going to let the world know.mileycyrus: I'm sad that people use god and religion as an excuse 2 hate, discriminate and deny gays and lesbians equality under the law Later when Perez Hilton asked her to make a specific stand Miley replied with: 'I believe everyone has the right to be happy, that's all i'm saying' Mock...

Obama denies claim of US plot to kill Bolivian president: Official 19 Apr 2009, 2134 hrs IST, AFP PORT OF SPAIN: US President Barack Obama denied at the weekend trying to assassinate Bolivian President Evo Morales, despite claims of such a plot, a US administration official said on Sunday at the close of a summit of American leaders. "The president made clear his administration policy of not supporting any such activity," the official with Obama at the summit in Trinidad and Tobago said. He declined to be identified. Obama made the denial Saturday during a meeting with South American leaders...

The British have begun to worry about the “special relationship” in the Anglosphere since the election of Barack Obama. First, the visit from Gordon Brown failed to get the usual Rose Garden joint-presser treatment from the White House this week. Now the Daily Mail reports that Obama cheaped out on the traditional gift exchange, rustling up some DVDs in exchange for a thoughtful gift from Brown:

[snip] Obama never directly mentioned Bush's name after the ritual thank you at the beginning of his Inaugural Address, but the context of some of his remarks was lost on no one. He criticized "our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age." He promised to "restore science to its rightful place." He rejected "as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." He assured the rest of the world "that we are ready to lead once more." Some writers, including David Sanger of The New York Times, concluded that it was the...

I'm an easy-going guy. I can be friends with most anyone. Like Will Rogers, I never met a man I didn't like. Well, I guess that's true, since I have never actually MET Bill Maher, Michael Moore, or Keith Olbermann--and even with Olbermann, if we can stick to baseball, maybe we could talk. But the feeling is not necessarily mutual with the DUmmies. Many of them simply HATE OUR GUTS! Witness this THREAD: "How do you feel about maintaining a friendship with a Republican?" DUmmies, don't hate me because I'm a Rethuglican! C'mon, sing with me: "Why can't we...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hundreds of people lined up at some Verizon Wireless stores on Friday to buy the BlackBerry Storm, the first touch-screen phone from Research In Motion that aims to compete with Apple's iPhone . More than 200 people had waited at a Verizon store in mid-town Manhattan early in the morning, many of whom were turned away after it ran out of the new phones less than an hour after opening at 8 a.m. The angry customers caused a ruckus and police came to restore order.

Leaders of a church that's drawn national controversy for its protests at U.S. military funerals say they plan to picket Friday's services for two Scott County High School cheerleaders and sisters killed in a weekend crash.

NEW YORK – John McCain hung his final presidential debate performance on an Ohio plumber who campaign aides never vetted. A day after making Joseph Wurzelbacher famous, referencing him in the debate almost two dozen times as someone who would pay higher taxes under Barack Obama, McCain learned the fine print Thursday on the plumber’s not-so-tidy personal story: He owes back taxes. He is not a licensed plumber. And it turns out that Wurzelbacher makes less than $250,000 a year, which means he would receive a tax cut if Obama were elected president. McCain likes to say that he isn’t...

ROME (Reuters) - Pop star Madonna, once accused by the Vatican of staging one of the most satanic shows in history, surprised fans by dedicating her hit "Like a Virgin" to the pope at a sold-out concert held in Rome. ADVERTISEMENT "I dedicate this song to the pope, because I'm a child of God. All of you are also children of God," the 50-year old "Queen of Pop" told the 60,000 fans that flocked to the Italian stop of her "Sticky & Sweet" world tour on Saturday. Italian newspapers gushed over the singer's electric performance and called the dedication a...

HBO's Bill Maher was spewing some extraordinary hatred for his fellow countrymen again Friday night, this time claiming that he doesn't "trust Americans to do the right thing or make the right choices" because "[t]hey're just too f***ing dumb." Why does he feel this way? Because not everyone is going to vote for Barack Obama. Yes, folks, if you don't vote for the Messiah, it has nothing to do with the issues, or whether the junior senator from Illinois isn't qualified, or even because you think John McCain is a better candidate. According to Maher, if you don't vote for...

Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr’s campaign filed suit Tuesday seeking to remove Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama from the ballot in Texas, alleging that the two major candidates missed the deadline for officially filing to be on the ballot. The lawsuit by the former Republican congressman from Georgia claims that neither McCain nor Obama met the requirement of Texas law that all candidates provide “written certification” of their nomination “before 5 p.m. on the 70th day before election day” because neither had been formally nominated by their respective parties in time. That would have been Aug. 25. Obama...

Prophet Muhammad novel scrapped Plans to release a novel about Prophet Muhammad's child bride A'isha have been scrapped by US publishers Random House over fears it could spark violence. The Jewel of Medina, the debut novel by journalist Sherry Jones, was due to hit shelves on 12 August. Random House said it had been advised the book "might be offensive" to some Muslims, and "could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment." "We decided, after much deliberation, to postpone publication," it added. The decision was taken "for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and...

"Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., has a word with aide Huma Abedin at the start of a campaign rally at Capital High School in Charleston, W.Va."

The Tennessee Republican Party has toned down a fiery press release that included a controversial photo of Barack Obama and blasted the candidate on his stance on Israel. The release was changed after a rebuke from the Republican National Committee. A GOP official told FOX News that the RNC privately chided the Tennessee Republican Party over the content of its online press release titled, “Anti-Semites for Obama,” which followed the endorsement of Obama by Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan. The statement cited Farrakhan, who has called Judaism a “gutter religion,” in claiming an Obama presidency would threaten relations between...

London, February 4: Mahatma Gandhi never existed while Britain's wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill was a fictional character. Don't fret. This is only what most Britons think about the great leaders. According to a survey carried out in Britain, many believe that Mahatma Gandhi and Churchill are just mythical figures like Florence Nightingale, popularly known as the 'Lady with the Lamp'. In fact, almost a quarter of the population have the popular notion that Churchill, "the greatest Briton of all time", was made up. Moreover, despite his celebrated military reputation, 47 per cent of respondents feel the 12th-century English...

YEAH!!!! KILL DA WABBITS!!!!! GOD HATES ALL FILTHY SODOMITE WABBITS!!!!!!!!!! PTARMIGANS WILL RISE AGAIN AND TRIUMPH OVER THE EVIL BUNNIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) — High on prescription painkillers and four days without sleep, Michael Berke raced his Harley to the megachurch where he’d found a home. He barged into the church office, cursing loudly and wearing a mesh shirt printed with profanity. In his hands he held a picture of a woman with long, red hair and pouty lips. “This is who I used to be,” he said. “And this” — he gestured to his breastless chest, bald head and red goatee — “is who I’ve become.” He was born a man. After a lifetime as a social misfit,...

The Associated Press NASHVILLE -- Tennessee's two Republican senators on Thursday voted in Washington against a non-binding resolution calling for continued support of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Sen. Bill Frist said the landmark decision is flawed; Sen. Fred Thompson said the Supreme Court should be left alone on the issue."I'm The vote came on a resolution by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. The resolution said: "It is the sense of the Congress that Roe v. Wade was an appropriate decision and secures an important constitutional right and such a decision should not be overturned." A...

On a campaign stop in Coralville, Iowa, Fred Thompson claimed that he helped guide John Roberts' Supreme Court confirmation through a Democratic-controlled Senate, despite Republicans holding the majority at the time. (more)

Here is Fred Thompson speaking on how to save Social Security and Medicare without raising taxes. He was speaking to the editorial board of the Des Moines Register.

Here is Fred Thompson speaking on why he is running for President. He was speaking to the Des Moines Register Editorial Board.

In all the stories that came out of 9/11 -- stories of love, loss and heroism -- Tania Head's tale had it all. As president of the World Trade Center Survivors' Network and as a tour guide at ground zero, she told countless people for the past six years about being burned on the 78th floor of the south tower. Head says she was rescued by a citizen hero, and felt compelled to escape by her promise to return a wedding band to a victim's wife and by her love for a man she later learned had died in the...

It is Back to Dysfunctional Schools Week in the District, where lagging test scores, dwindling enrollment, dilapidated buildings and an incompetence-protecting teachers' union have become the focus of another savior in chief, Michelle A. Rhee. The city's public school system has been befuddling superintendents since the 1960s, each as committed as the next to uplifting the future car jockeys of America. Now here comes Mrs. Rhee, energetic, full of ideas and ever committed to overhauling the worst darn education money can buy. Give the city this. It prepares the future car jockeys of America as well as any municipality in...

Here is a photograph of the Ron Paul 2008 national office in Arlington, Virginia. We have the entire second floor; about 3,000 square feet. The photograph was taken around 6:00 o'clock this morning.

RICHMOND, Va. - Meeting on the grounds of the former Confederate Capitol, the Virginia General Assembly voted unanimously Saturday to express "profound regret" for the state's role in slavery. Sponsors of the resolution say they know of no other state that has apologized for slavery, although Missouri lawmakers are considering such a measure. The resolution does not carry the weight of law but sends an important symbolic message, supporters said.

(Sprague-WTNH) _ The bitter cold weather we're expecting tonight will give some students in Sprague an extended weekend, and students in Bridgeport and Ridgefield an extra hour to get ready for school. School officials in Sprague have canceled class on Friday. There's only one school in this district. It's the Sayles School at 25 Scotland Road in Baltic, a pre-K through 8th grade school. According to the Sprague superintendent's office, school was canceled because of the cold wind chill, and officials don't want children standing at the bus stop to be exposed to frost bite. St. Joseph's school in Baltic...

TRENTON -- Two women who have children fathered by rape defendant Brett "Prince" Barden testified yesterday that the purported city gang member was busy babysitting his troubled son at the time he is accused by police of having sex with a 12-year-old Lawrence girl. In the final day of testimony, Gladys Santiago, of Camden, testified that at the time in question, she had forced the defendant to watch their 8-year-old son -- who was suspended from school in June 2004 -- while she was at work. Advertisement "I thought it was time for his father to step up," Santiago said....

<p>WASHINGTON - Lawyers for Saddam Hussein have asked a U.S. judge to block his transfer to the custody of Iraqi officials poised to carry out his execution.</p> <p>Hussein's lawyers filed documents Friday afternoon asking for an emergency restraining order aimed at stopping the U.S. government from relinquishing custody of the condemned former Iraqi leader to Iraqi officials, a spokeswoman for a federal court in Washington D.C. said.</p>

On site report from Kristinn at a Cindy Sheehan anti war rally being held at the Independence Mall outside the Constitution Center. , Cindy said that she is determined t not only wants to see George Bush impeached but she wants to see him tried for Crimes Against Humanity. She states is so determined to see this done she says she will live for 1000 years. She went further by saying that even if she were involved in a fiery plane crash she would walk out alive just to see this done. Kristinn yelled out to her as she was...

TORONTO (Reuters) - An undergraduate program at Canada's august University of Toronto offers discussions on flogging, restraint, and role-play, as well as an arts course called "Queerly Canadian." But teachers and students insist it's a serious academic program that isn't simply about sex.

When Christine Drake worked as a Starbucks barista, the Seattle woman with psychiatric disabilities said it was the first time in her life that she "felt a sense of accomplishment." But after two years on the job, a new manager at the Starbucks store at 425 Queen Anne Ave. N. in Seattle allegedly discriminated against Drake, decreased her hours and berated her in front of customers, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Lisa Cox, an EEOC lawyer, said the world's largest coffee retailer ignored Drake's requests for help and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by not accommodating...

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- By far the glossiest, most glamorous part of the Clinton Foundation is an offshoot called the Clinton Global Initiative, a celebrity and CEO-studded conference held in New York City each September. This year's event, Sept. 20 to 22, will be the second CGI, and it's expected to draw some 1,000 eminences, ranging from executives (Rupert Murdoch, Josef Ackermann) to activists (Carl Pope of the Sierra Club) to governmental types (Jacques Chirac, Laura Bush, and most likely Hank Paulson, whose wife, Wendy, went to college with Hillary Clinton). Citigroup has pledged $5.5 million and is backing a...

NEW YORK -- I hear Osama bin Laden laughing. I heard him all day on Sunday and Monday as the mass murder of Sept. 11, 2001, was memorialized at the Pentagon and in that field in Pennsylvania and especially here, where the most people died and where countless cameras recorded it all for posterity and an abiding, everlasting anger. He laughs, the madman does, whenever George Bush says, as he has over and over, that America is "winning this war on terror." Bin Laden knows better. He has already won.

Well, I gave Katie a chance...an honest chance. I watched her debut and I watched her tonight, since Rush was on. Not a damn thing has changed except the gender of the person in the anchor chair. The leftist drivel is a joke. Tonight, perky Katie apparently believes a 5 or 6 year old video tape of Useless never-bin-Laiden is a triumph of terror over Bush's liberation of 50 million Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq. The BIG LEAD of the night was something like "On a day when the President says we're safer in the war on terror, Al...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's leftist presidential candidate threatened to disrupt the swearing in of his ruling party rival Saturday, a day after lawmakers blocked the outgoing president from delivering his state-of-the-nation speech to Congress in an escalating crisis over the July 2 election. Leftist legislators yelling for a recount of votes surrounded the congressional podium on Friday, leaving President Vicente Fox, wearing his presidential sash, standing at the door of the chambers with no choice but to hand in his annual, written report and leave. Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he will never recognize a victory by...

Serious movement in D.C. – and if I hadn't been there, I would not have believed it. For several months Joan Wire and her daughter have been trying to secure an appointment with a highly effective government official we'll simply call Mr. Washington. Joan Wire is the stalwart wife of Mike Wire. Mike is the storied "man on the bridge," the single most critical eyewitness in the saga of TWA Flight 800, the 747 that was inexplicably blown out of the sky on the night of July 17, 1996. The CIA built its notorious zoom-climb animation around Mike's position on...

LONDON (Reuters) - A British woman has been ordered by police to take down a sign on her garden gate which read "Our dogs are fed on Jehovah's Witnesses." Janet Grove, who owns a terrier puppy called Rabbit, insisted the sign was a gentle joke to discourage callers at her front door. Her late husband put the sign up more than 30 years ago when members of the church called at their house on Christmas Day. But police were forced to act after receiving a complaint. "We were informed by a member of the public who found the sign to...

CAMDEN, N.C. — A former Blackwater USA employee said Friday an addiction to prescription pain killers led her to try to extort $1 million from the security company by threatening to leak information about the killings of four contractors in Iraq. Laura Holdren-Nowacki, 35, of Moyock, made the admission in a statement released after she pleaded not guilty to one count of extortion. District Attorney Frank Parrish said outside of court that, at Blackwater's request, he will ask Monday for the charge to be dropped. Holdren-Nowacki said she suffered from "significant depression and severe migraine headaches" and had taken significantly...

VAN NUYS - As they pass time on the corner of Kester and Oxnard streets looking for work, day laborers tell stories. They talk about a man who drives by in the afternoons, pretending to need someone to mow the lawn, trim some trees or paint the garage. What the man really wants is sex. And he's looking for a man to hire for the day. "I tried to ask him what kind of work he wanted, and at first he said one thing, then another, so I didn't want to go," one worker recently said at the Van Nuys...

Murtha says U.S. poses top threat to world peace South Florida Sun-Sentinel Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.25.2006 MIAMI — American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said to an audience of more than 200 in North Miami Saturday afternoon. Murtha was the guest speaker at a town hall meeting organized by Rep. Kendrick B. Meek, D-Miami, at Florida International University's Biscayne Bay Campus. Meek's mother, former Rep. Carrie Meek, D-Miami, was also on the panel. War veterans, local mayors, university students and faculty were in...

It's a spring break morning, and by 11 a.m. at the Anderson home, chaos is erupting. School is out for the week, and the twin boys are throwing a ball inside the spacious, two-story house. Upstairs, the preteen daughter pretends not to hear her mother calling. Lauren Anderson, a tanned and well-dressed stay-at-home mom who seems incapable of sitting still, cajoles her offspring to behave as she waits for a babysitter to arrive. Her youngest, Nicole, five, is frowning. Nicole's face is framed with delicate brown braids, and her fingernails are painted a rainbow of colors. She plans to go...

THESE ARE THE SENATORS WHO VOTED TO GIVE SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS TO ILLEGAL ALIENS REGARDLESS OF POLITICAL PARTY, THESE POLITICIANS NEED TO BE DEFEATED IN 2006, 2008 OR 2010, WHENEVER THEY NEXT COME UP FOR OFFICE. SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW; THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES NEEDS TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION -- THAT IS, UNLESS THEY DO NOT MIND SHARING THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY WITH FOREIGN WORKERS WHO NEVER PAID INTO IT AND AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE BEING LEFT OUT. Grouped by Home State Alabama: Alaska: Stevens (R-AK), Yea Arizona: McCain (R-AZ), Yea Arkansas: Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Pryor (D-AR),...

I am curious why none of the media covers the most important aspect of the Malvo shootings. If you look at Newspapers on the dates when the shootings are underway you discover something I find quite interesting. The shootings begin to dominate the news the day before the debate on the Iraq war starts and they catch them the day after the declaration of war??? If you ask most people "do you remember the debate about starting the second Iraq war", they will all answer "yes of course". But if you followup with the question "name one point in the...

I recently received a reply to a post that stated: "This should be beneath a "freeper". Sad." So I asked.. what is it that makes a FReeper? My reply (and I will admit was tasteless) was also questioning. It stirred controversy and was removed? Why Moderators? Can you not tell me? Did it not meet with your "FReeper" mentality? According to all posted guidelines it should be listed but no, you chose to delete it. Yes.. I'm the first one IBTZ, I'm sure you'll nick me for speaking up..