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Worst Ideas of the WeekBy Examiner Editorial Staff - 1/25/09 From Gitmo with hate1| Former detainee returns to terrorism The details: President Obama’s order to close the Guantanamo Bay detainee center within a year looks questionable in light of this: Said Ali al-Shihri, a former Gitmo detainee, is now the deputy leader of Al-qaida’s branch in Yemen. Some 60 other former detainees likewise have rejoined terrorist groups. Frankly unethical2| House chairman interferes with bailout The details: Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, snuck a provision into the bank bailout to help a local Boston bank that otherwise would...

Bush changes mind, may save auto giants Facing the potential bankruptcy of iconic American firms, President Bush on Friday abandoned his longstanding objection to using using the Wall Street bailout fund to help save G.M., Ford and Chrysler. A frustrated Republican congressional official said: "If only they had said this last week, we could have saved ourselves a full week." Ten hours after the Senate rejected a separate lifeline for the automakers, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a statement it would be "irresponsible" to let the companies crash. So she said Bush will "consider other options," including...

WASHINGTON - Key supporters of a Wall Street bailout package prodded lawmakers to approve the plan hours ahead of a difficult House vote today, with President Bush saying it is needed to "keep the crisis in our financial system from spreading throughout our economy." "Every member of Congress and every American should keep in mind that a vote for this bill is a vote to prevent economic damage to you and your community," said Bush, fully aware that congressional passage of the $700 billion compromise legislation is far from assured. "With this strong and decisive legislation," he said, "we will...

Got Gas? You'll need it for the 10 worst commutes in the U.S. (LifeWire) - Lost time and endless aggravation are two of the biggest drawbacks of a grueling commute by car. But gridlock on the way to work also harms the environment by pumping extra pollution into the air and wasting precious fuel. How wasteful and time-consuming a commute becomes depends in part on how slowly traffic moves and how long it is stalled, says David Schrank, an associate research scientist at the Texas Transportation Institute, part of Texas A&M University in College Station. Things start to get...

Now, 2 Obama backers, Bernie Mac and Morgan Freeman,hospitalized A bad day for Barack Obama donors. Morgan Freeman, the iconic voice of God in several films and reliable good-guy co-conspirator of Christian Bale's Batman in "The Dark Knight," is in serious condition in a Memphis hospital after a late-night car accident near his home in Mississippi. The popular Freeman, who is 71, gave the Obama presidential campaign $2,300 on March 8. And comedian Bernie Mac, popular TV-film funnyman who got a little vocally naughty at a recent Obama fundraiser, is seriously ill with pneumonia in a Chicago hospital.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline prices have fallen more than 10 cents per gallon in a week and could fall another 25 cents by the end of summer, a sign the worst is over for U.S. motorists this vacation season. The decline tracks a record pullback in the price of crude that has come amid mounting evidence high energy costs and an economic slowdown are shrinking American demand for fuel, auto and travel group AAA said Friday. "We expect pump prices below $4 this weekend and we could see the price fall another 25 cents before Labor Day...

Detroit has earned another dubious honor, the second place on Forbes magazine's list for the worst cities in the United States for jobs.

WHAT DID JESUS BRING OUT IN PEOPLE? This has been an interesting topic for me much of my life. I've pondered it long and hard. But what are your opinions, perspectives, convictions, observations? Some might think that on the face of it, it would be an easy question to answer. Jesus--perfect Love, Wisdom, Gentleness, Kindness . . . must have always brought out the Best in people--in all He met. Sounds lauditory. Sounds kosher. But what does the historical record indicate? Was it the same for all people? All types of people? All personalities? People of all value orientations? Were...

A U.S. toy safety group released its annual "10 Worst Toys" list Tuesday, highlighting both hidden dangers like lead paint on a bathtub boat and more obvious hazards, such as a spinning plastic pirate's dagger. World Against Toys Causing Harm has released the list around the holidays for 35 years, but this year it came amid a number of recent high-profile recalls, particularly of toys made in China. Most recently, millions of the "Aqua Dots" toy beads were recalled and the Chinese government confirmed they contained a substance that can turn into a " date-rape" drug after ingestion. Among the...

Last year, models made a median hourly wage of $11.22, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a bit less than twice the minimum wage of $5.85. Not so glamorous. "Most models take other jobs. They're waiters. It gives them the flexibility to go to model calls and auditions," said Ean Williams, executive director of DC Fashion Week, a designer showcase held twice a year in the nation's capital. "There are a lot of people that are very beautiful, very talented, that don't make it in the business." The young and beautiful aren't the only ones working like dogs and...

National housing prices continued to slide last quarter, dropping an average of 1.5% over the year before, according to the latest report by the National Association of Realtors. But things are looking up for two-thirds of the country's big cities where median home sale prices rose. Leading the charge was Seattle, where prices increased 8.9%; in San Jose, Calif., they rose 8.8%; and in Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., prices jumped 8.3% and 8.4% respectively. Compare that to Detroit and Cleveland. In these metros, prices fell 7.1%. Skies aren't much sunnier in the West. Median home sale numbers in Sacramento, Calif.,...

This Congress has chosen to fight an ideologically civil war of Blue States against Red States, netroots against talk radio, earmarks against what is good for America, judicial activism against strict constructionism, and societal redefinition against traditional values.

UK floods: More rain forecast, worst to come By David Millward, Graham Tibbetts, Richard Edwards and Toby Helm Last Updated: 2:17am BST 23/07/2007 Gordon Brown's proposals to build three million homes in the South East could lead to even more flooding, the Government has been warned by its own planning consultants. With vast swathes of the country underwater, the Prime Minister's new government found itself under attack not only over its handling of the crisis, but also accused by the Tories of adopting policies that could make things even worse. Last night the Environment Agency issued 56 flood warnings across...

In-town Chicago mail system worst in U.S. CHICAGO, March 11 (UPI) -- A report that Chicago's in-town overnight mail delivery is the nation's worst appears indicative of the city's overall problem with postal satisfaction. The Chicago Sun-Times said that in addition to Chicago's struggles with in-town mail delivery, the Illinois metropolis has been failing in nearly every postal area related to customer satisfaction. While 92 percent remains the average quality rating of U.S postal delivery, only 77 percent of Chicago residents rated their mail services "excellent, very good or good." In response to instances of mail fraud and delivery problems,...

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is the worst country in the industrialized world in which to be a child, closely followed by the United States, the United Nations Children's Fund said on Wednesday. The UNICEF charity looked at 40 indicators to gauge the lives of children in 21 economically advanced nations -- the first study of its kind -- and found Britain's children were among the poorest and most neglected. Britain lagged behind on key measures of poverty and deprivation, happiness, relationships, and risky or bad behavior, the study showed. It scored better for health and safety of children but languished...

So many awful movies, so little time. We can’t list them all, so which of these five films was the biggest stinker of the year? Little Man Nacho Libre RV Ultraviolet Basic Instinct 2

GENEVA - U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said Friday the anger on all sides in the Middle East is the greatest he has seen in two decades of trying to help the troubled region make peace. "I've never seen nations as polarized as during this recent visit," said Egeland, who was in Lebanon, Israel and the Gaza Strip at the end of July. "People were enraged collectively in Lebanon, everybody against the Israeli indiscriminate onslaught," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "In Israel, they were a united front to support the strong military measures. In the Palestinian...

Fruity headache for cafe ownersBy Samantha Williams and Karina Dunger 03jul06 Cafe workers ... Julie Hanssens and Jodie Lee / Troy Bendeich BAD weather is set to affect the price of oranges after already crippling Australia's banana industry. The worst frost in 24 years has destroyed 40,000 tonnes - about 25 per cent - of the citrus fruit produced in southern Australia. "They won't hit skyrocketing prices of bananas but there will be some price hike due to the reduction of fruit on the market," Riverina Citrus CEO Peter Morrish said. Oranges currently sell for $2.50kg, with experts predicting rises...

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German police have arrested a man on suspicion of murdering a woman with a Bockwurst sausage. Prosecutors and police said the 50-year-old was arrested after the discovery of a woman's body in an apartment in Zwickau, eastern Germany. They said she had choked on a Bockwurst, which is a popular large German sausage. The prosecutors said the man had given a patchy account of events, acknowledging that he may have "administered" a Bockwurst to the woman. They are now working to establish exactly what happened in the run up to her death.

Democracy: Peru's Alan Garcia should never have been re-elected to anything, given his disastrous term as president from 1985 to 1990. That voters forgave and re-elected him Sunday only shows how bad the alternative was. Two months ago, when the first round of Peru's presidential elections was held, there was reason to despair. Free-market candidate Lourdes Flores was knocked out of the running by just a few thousand votes. That left Alan Garcia squared off against a far-leftist of the Hugo Chavez stripe, Ollanta Humala, giving many Peruvians a difficult and loathesome choice. Garcia wasn't just a bad president; he...