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A Minneapolis woman is still trying to come to grips with what happened to her guide dog Thursday night at the downtown Target store. Lolly Lijewski and her dog Brook had just gone into the store when a woman kicked the working dog. A stranger passing by stepped in to help. "As I was coming into the foyer of the store, my dog's feet seemed to go out from under her," said Lijewski. Lijewski didn't know what happened to her service dog. "Then there was a young girl to our left who said, 'Someone just kicked your dog,'" said Lijewski....

Maybe he was blinded by grief, but is anyone else weirded out by Ryan O’Neal’s admission in Vanity Fair that he tried to hit on his own daughter at the funeral of his lady love Farrah Fawcett? Ew. “I had just put the casket in the hearse and I was watching it drive away when a beautiful blonde woman comes up and embraces me,” O’Neal admits in the September issue. “I said to her, ‘You have a drink on you? You have a car?’ She said, ‘Daddy - it’s me, Tatum!’ I was just trying to be funny with a...

Astonishing. From Jimmy Arone at Big Hollywood, a roundup of Bill Maher's Real Time monologue from last Friday night: In defending his friend, Maher thought Republicans had over reacted and this was just a case of ‘fake’ outrage. Much ado about nothing. He then went on talking about how Letterman had invited Sarah Palin and her young daughter, Willow, to appear as guests on his show but the Governor declined because she thought it would be wise to keep her daughter away from him. Said Maher, “…that’s right, he’s 62 years old, he’s gonna [f**k] her right there on stage…it...

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell -- the architect of the 2004 law that brought slots casinos to the state -- now wants to legalize the use of video poker machines in taverns and clubs in a move to generate $500 million in tax revenue for his state.

ABC Radio news just announced Sen. John Edwards will admit to the affair with Rielle Hunter in an interview with the network, but insists the child is not his. We return you to your regularly-scheduled FReeping.

Leave it to liberals to pile on Sen. John McCain with cheap shots about his age, and we're not talking making jokes about him serving in the Civil War or what not. Mocking John McCain's age, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann imagined that the senator could easily segue from talking about foreign policy or the economy to talking about "buying more Depends or something like that." (h/t Conservative Punk) "You can dissassociate yourself from that remark if you wish," Olbermann immediately added in his exchange with Rachel Maddow of the liberal Air America radio network. Yesterday NewsBusters noted a liberal blogger who...

Oh boy one has to believe that Huckabee will be getting some blow-back from this. These push polls have even brought out the South Carolina Attorney General to make this statement: “Last evening the Associated Press reported that that an out-of-state special interest group, Common Sense Issues, had launched a massive push polling effort disparaging John McCain and other candidates for president. In their push poll, Common Sense Issues makes several misleading claims regarding John McCain’s record.“Allow me to set the record straight. In the U.S. Senate, John McCain has been an unwavering voice for the rights of the unborn....

BOW, N.H. (AP) -- Democrat John Edwards says his experience as a trial lawyer makes him the presidential contender best able to give voters hope — and to give the establishment grief. Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, has focused his campaign on pledges to change a government system he says is rigged against most voters. "While you shop (for candidates), I hope you will think about two key things: Who can you trust to tell you the truth about what's wrong in Washington, and who can you trust to fight like hell to make it right?" Edwards said...

WASHINGTON (CNN) — New York Rep. Charlie Rangel, a prominent supporter of Hillary Clinton, sharply criticized Republican presidential frontrunner Rudy Giuliani's personal life Monday, highlighting the fact that the former New York City mayor and his wife have each been married three times. "Two people, six spouses. It's a little complicated if you're not religious, especially if you're running against a Mormon," Rangel told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in a reference to Giuliani's chief rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. For the record, Romney has only been married once. "I think America has to look at all these things, and there...

Chicago tops L.A., will bid for Olympics By HOWARD FENDRICH, AP Sports Writer 15 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Now Chicago takes on the rest of the world. The Windy City's bid to hold a Summer Games for the first time moved to the international stage Saturday when the U.S. Olympic Committee capped a yearlong search for an American candidate for 2016 by picking Chicago over two-time host Los Angeles. "It's just beginning," said Patrick Ryan, Chicago's bid committee chairman. "It's a long road."Having won over the USOC despite lacking venues ready for an Olympics, Chicago's task is to persuade...

One of the largest defense firms in the region has been awarded a $100-million contract, Rep. John Murtha said Wednesday. Murtha said Kuchera Defense Systems in Somerset County was granted a 10-year air-to-air missile project by Raytheon Missile Systems. He said the contract does not necessarily mean the military is gearing up for 10 more years of fighting in Iraq. "This war is going to end in the next year or so. There's no question in my mind this war is going to build down," Murtha said. He said while the war continues, he is in favor of a draft....

WASHINGTON - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged he was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group. "The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson to be aired Friday, according to a transcript provided to The Associated Press. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards." Gingrich argued in...

Chuck swung by the Daily News for an editorial board meeting this morning, which you'll be able to read more about in tomorrow's News. A couple of tidbits from his broader discussion (forthcoming in book form) of how he sees the shifting terrain and the Democrats' edge struck me: "We're in better shape than [Republicans] are, because they don't realize that Reaganomics is dead, that the Reagan philosophy is dead," he said. "We realize that New Deal democracy, which is still our paradigm, which is sort of appeal to each group ... that doesn't work any more." He had said...

Exultant Chuck Says He’ll Veto the Next Alito; New King of Washington Promises Moderate Court; Rove-like, Plans Permanent Democratic Majority; More N.Y. Homeland Money, Iraqi Federalism More than the inability to influence Iraq policy or the President’s tax cuts, Chuck Schumer says that the single greatest failure of the Democrats as an opposition party was allowing Samuel Alito to join the Supreme Court. “Judges are the most important,” said Mr. Schumer, who orchestrated the implausible Democratic takeover of the Senate last week. “One more justice would have made it a 5-4 conservative, hard-right majority for a long time. That won’t...

<p>Philadelphia - A special three-judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals convened Wednesday to hear arguments on whether a Federal Civil Rights suit may proceed against Gov. Ed Rendell and overturn a 2003 lower court ruling that there was insufficient evidence. Rendell is charged with conspiring to suppress the First Amendment rights of protesters by having Teamsters Local 115 beat them while they demonstrated outside Philadelphia's City Hall during a Democratic fundraiser featuring President Bill Clinton. Rendell, who was mayor of Philadelphia at the time, admitted in a deposition following the Oct. 2, 1998 beatings to personally inviting Teamsters Local 115 Secretary-Treasurer John Morris and instructing the union to "drown-out" the Clinton protesters. "I specifically said I didn't want any interaction with the demonstrators. I wanted this to be extremely peaceful and extremely positive," Rendell also claimed in the deposition, which was taken two years after the fact. Morris was caught on video by local media placing a fedora over protester Don Adams' head, signaling the Teamsters to knock him to the ground and assault him. Adams was treated at a nearby hospital for a concussion, lacerations and multiple bruises. His sister, Teri, sustained minor injuries. Testimony from Morris' chief of staff revealed that, after the beatings, Rendell called Morris about the Teamsters who participated in the attack and said, "nothing is going to happen to these guys," and "I know how these things go." He then suggested that Morris and the Teamsters file a criminal complaint against Adams, which they did two days later on Oct. 4, 1998, alleging that he struck a woman in their group. Even though there was no police reports supporting the Teamster's claim, the incident was caught on video, and the District Attorney's Office pursued trial against Adams, who filed suit against the Teamsters and Rendell several months later. At one point, the Teamsters offered to drop their charges against him if he dropped his case. During that time, they launched a media campaign and accused Adams of being a woman-beater. Adams rejected the deal and was found not guilty on July 8, 1999. Five teamsters then pled guilty to various charges of assault and were granted probation, and Morris died in 2001. Arguments surrounding Rendell's involvement center not on how convincing the evidence is, but whether his interaction with Morris after the fact - consoling the Teamsters and advising them to sue Adams - can be used as evidence to support the charge of conspiracy. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in United States vs. Smith in 2002 that concerted actions to conceal unlawful behavior are relevant to a finding of conspiracy. The Supreme Court reached a similar conclusion in United States vs. Brodie last year. However, Philadelphia Law Department attorney Jane Lovitch Istvan, who represents Rendell, argued in brief, "The alleged conversation in this case ... contained no evidence of attempted concealment, nor is there a pattern of other alleged attempts to conceal." "I think he might have a case," Circuit Judge Restani said during oral arguments surrounding Adams' claim. The three circuit judges were appointed to hear the case from outside the Third Circuit Court's jurisdiction after a motion asking the entire Circuit to recuse itself was granted. This recusal was issued due to the fact that Rendell's wife, Judge Marjorie Rendell, sits on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.</p>

Fighting a Swift Boat with Truth by: Xpatriated Texan Tue Sep 19, 2006 at 00:20:12 AM EDT I have a question for you. What were you doing in February of 1996? It was a month that saw yet another major snow storm hit New Jersey. Bill Clinton signed a telecom bill to widen competition and market access in cable television. Republicans were watching rightwing freakjob Pat Buchanan bury Bob Dole and Steve Forbes in the New Hampshire primary. Jersey Journal article, first pageKirsten Danis was writing an article [Page one, Page two] for the Jersey Journal revealing that then-Congressman Bob...

The City Council asked Mayor Ron Gonzales to resign on Wednesday in the wake of his indictment over a secretly negotiated garbage contract. Gonzales voted against the proposal, which passed 8-3, and said he has no plans of quitting. Gonzales was booed by a heckler at one point when he vowed to stay in office. The council is now mulling ways to strip Gonzales of his power. Possible actions, according to City Attorney Richard Doyle, include cutting Gonzales' office staff's budget, revoking his city-issued credit card, withholding his travel funds, and reducing the mayor's $105,000 salary to as low as...

What's the price of Iraqi lives? We have witnessed enough to know that the US military is behaving more like Barbarian hordes than a well-trained army. Eyewitnesses, who insisted that Marines went on a rampage killing innocent Iraqi civilians to avenge the loss of their friend, have been proved right.   By Linda S. Heard , Special to Gulf News  Does man's inhumanity to man know no bounds? Last November, an IED (improvised exploding device) planted at a roadside near the Western Iraqi town of Haditha took the life of a US Marine. An official report of his death...

In the last year, ever since Tom DeLay became embroiled in the Jack Abramoff scandal, the Washington Post alone has published 168 articles mentioning Abramoff and DeLay. The Post's dogged Abramoff investigator, Susan Schmidt, has written 39 articles on Jack Abramoff in the last two years. Almost half of those made page A1 of the Post, and most were over 1,000 words in length. The Post has written enough about this scandal to fill a book -- literally -- and they probably will. Since Rep. John Murtha made his splash in November with his call for an American troop withdrawal...

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin has called for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, saying it's the only solution after recent religious violence in that nation. Harkin's comments place him among the first members of Congress to publicly state that the war in Iraq has become a fight between Muslim factions. The criticism follows a CBS poll last week that showed 65 percent of respondents disapproved of President Bush's handling of the war, his worst marks since the war started three years ago. A White House spokesman says retreat before victory would be reckless.