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Al Gore said in San Jose Saturday that the climate crisis deserves the same type of attention and money from Washington that the financial meltdown is getting. "Instead of a focus only on a bailout, we need to bail in renewable energy," Gore said during a 50-minute speech at the Civic Auditorium. Gore, who turned 60 this year, was a three-term U.S. Senator from Tennessee, vice president for eight years and narrowly lost the 2000 presidential election to George Bush. But it was his move toward environmentalism, symbolized by his starring role in the 2006 documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" and...

Remember the hot immigration debate? The topic won't be headlining either presidential convention this year — and the border security issue barely drew a crowd Monday to a daylong anti-illegal immigration rally in Denver aimed at keeping immigration before politicians this fall. A rally by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps featuring Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr drew just a few dozen people...

MASSIVE Anti-Illegal Immigration Rally at the Democrat Convention! August 25th! We've got some BIG NEWS for you -- the all-star lineup of speakers at the Rally Against Illegal Immigration just got even BETTER! We've just confirmed that Ambassador Alan Keyes, Congressman Bob Barr, and Reverend Chuck Baldwin -- all of them running for U.S. President -- PLUS anti-amnesty hero Rep. Tom Tancredo, will ALL be speaking at the day-long rally, right near the Democratic National Convention! You DO NOT want to miss this event!!!

The Democratic Party is planning a convention designed to soften the edges on the party's support for abortion rights, with a revamped platform and a speaking lineup that reinforces efforts to broaden Democrats' appeal on the hot-button issue. In a statement fraught with symbolism for those on both sides of the abortion debate, Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Pa., an abortion-rights opponent, will be given a prime speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention in Denver later this month. Casey's father, the late Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey, a Democrat who also held strong anti-abortion views, was denied a speaking role at...

Video here, transcript below. “For many months I have warned that there needs to be active international engagement to peacefully address the disputes over South Ossetia and Abkhazia including a high level and neutral international mediator and a genuine international peacekeeping force , not simply Russian troops.” The truth? Obama has never mentioned Ossetia in a speech. McCain, on the other hand, has. Twice.

Abortion has been dividing the culture, including political parties for over 30 years now. In its last several iterations with the Clintons, Al Gore, and John Kerry, the Democratic party platform has been rather decidedly one-sided.Roe v. Wade is to be affirmed and defended. End of story. Oh yes, there was the language of "safe, legal and rare," but the emphasis was always on 'safe and legal,' with 'rare' little more than an afterthought. Barack Obama is a different type of candidate. As he sees it, Roe is not an endorsement of abortion, so much as an affirmation that abortion...

Washington (dpa) - Barack Obama Wednesday charged that the Bush administration has failed to confront the threat of nuclear terrorism and vowed that if elected president, he would lead the effort to corral errant nuclear materials and stay one step ahead of biological and cyber threats. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, aimed to bolster his credentials on national security with the gathering organized by his campaign - billed as a summit on 21st Century threats at Purdue University in Indiana. While Obama is seen as strong on major domestic issues such as health care and the economy, polls...

What women really want: a touch on the arm By Laura Clout Last Updated: 1:42AM BST 21/06/2008 Scientists have come up with a winning formula for men wishing to seduce women, and it has nothing to do with cheesy chat-up lines or good looks. Research shows that a man can significantly increase his pulling power by simply catching a woman's eye and lightly touching her arm. A study at Aberdeen University found that two-thirds of women agreed to dance with a man who rested his hand on her arm for a second or two while making the request. When the...

On one key measure, Obama has seen a big reversal since his denunciation of Wright’s remarks on Tuesday. He now leads presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in the hypothetical fall contest by eleven points, 51 percent to 40 percent. That compares to a tied match-up in a CBS News/New York Times poll that was released last Wednesday

During Barack Obama’s Sunday appearance on Fox News, the interviewer asked him for an example of “a hot-button issue where you would be willing to buck the Democratic Party line” and say that Republicans have the better idea. Mr. Obama’s answer was puzzling because he gave credit where it isn’t due — and thereby undermined what could be a very effective Democratic line of argument. In particular, Mr. Obama attributed to Republicans the idea that regulation can be flexible rather than a matter of “top-down command and control,” and in particular for the idea of controlling pollution with a system...

...The latest revelations on the torture front show - the memo from John Yoo - as well as revelations from Phillippe Sands' book - means that Donald Rumsfeld, David Addington, John Yoo should not leave the United States any time soon. They will be at some point indicted for war crimes. They deserve to be...

Senator Barack Obama said Friday he would return the country to the more traditional foreign policy efforts of past presidents, such as George H.W. Bush, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. At a town hall event at a local high school gymnasium, Obama praised George H.W. Bush - father of the president - for the way he handled the first Gulf War: with a large coalition and carefully defined objectives. Obama began a six-day bus tour through Pennsylvania, the largest remaining primary prize in the contest with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Sen. John McCain is the...

Obama says his pastor 'pained and angered me' 'Denounces' anti-American, racist rhetoric, insists he never heard such talk in person Responding to mounting controversy over radical anti-American and racist statements by his pastor, Sen. Barack Obama issued a statement today to the Christian Broadcasting Network saying he strongly condemns and denounces remarks by Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. that disparaged the country or degraded people. Obama referred to the "firestorm over the last few days" from unearthed video segments of Wright's sermons that the senator described as "some inflammatory and appalling remarks he made about our country, our politics, and my...

Even before they are born, all people carry genetic baggage, genes that were useful to distant, non-human ancestors but are hopelessly outdated, even harmful, to humans as they live today. Chicago scientist Neil Shubin calls this inheritance our "inner fish." People hiccup, he explains, because of a design malfunction in a nervous system and breathing apparatus passed down from fish and tadpoles. Human males are vulnerable to hernias because of their awkward setup for toting around sperm-producing gonads, which developed in fish. "In a perfectly designed world -- one with no history -- we would not have to suffer everything...

ABC News' Eloise Harper Reports: Senator Hillary Clinton, in an interview with ABC News' Cynthia McFadden for ABC News' Nightline, was asked about President Clinton’s controversial comments about race and Senator Obama in the past weeks. Clinton apologized for her husband. “I think whatever he said which was certainly never intended to cause any kind of offense to anyone,” Clinton said, “if it did give offenses then I take responsibility and I’m sorry about that.” "Can you control him?" asked McFadden. “Oh of course,” Clinton replied.

'Love' drove Clinton over campaign line From correspondents in Memphis January 28, 2008 05:51am Article from: Agence France-Presse HILLARY Clinton admitted today her husband Bill's hard-charging campaign tactics had gone overboard, but chalked the ex-president's fiery broadsides up to love and a chronic lack of sleep. A day after rival Barack Obama trounced her in the South Carolina primary, the former first lady also mounted a vigorous defence of the two Clinton White House terms, which Senator Obama has said did not spark transformational change. Senator Clinton was asked on CBS television's Face the Nation whether her husband was "out...

Tom Brokaw says his most conservative friend has told him he might vote for Hillary Clinton. I for one believe the former NBC News anchor. Hillary supporters might indeed constitute the rightward fringe of his friend set. The revelation occured on today's Morning Joe. View video here.

A couple of yahoos interrupted Hillary Clinton’s speech tonight in Salem by waving big signs and chanting “Iron my shirts!” Clinton asked that the lights be turned on, apparently to see them better and declared. “Oh the remnants of sexism, alive and well tonight,” to applause. She then talked about breaking glass ceilings, before joking as the pair were hustled out: “If there’s anybody in the audience who wants to learn to iron his own shirt, we can talk about that.” We followed.to ask what the heck they were thinking. Nick Gemelli, who is 21, and born at least a...

NBC Highlights 'Life-Long Republican' Caucusing for Obama, But...   By Brent Baker | January 3, 2008 - 03:23 ET   On Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, Andrea Mitchell showcased “a lifelong Republican, who twice voted for George Bush, now canvassing for Obama” as a “precinct captain” in Iowa. In an interview two months ago, however, Monica Green listed Ronald Reagan as the last Republican President with whom she “identified” and, asked whether she'd vote for Reagan if he were running against Barack Obama today, she equivocated as she implied Reagan was too anti-communist: “You mean if he was running against...

Say what you will about the looming catastrophe facing the world as the pace of global heating and polar melting accelerates. There is a silver lining. Look at a map of the US. The area that will by completely inundated by the rising ocean—and not in a century but in the lifetime of my two cats—are the American southeast, including the most populated area of Texas, almost all of Florida, most of Louisiana, and half of Alabama and Mississippi, as well as goodly portions of eastern Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. While the northeast will also see some coastal...

BALI, Indonesia (Dec. 7) - The United States and Saudi Arabia are the world's worst "climate sinners," environmental groups said Friday, citing their high and mounting greenhouse gas emissions and inadequate government policies to combat global warming.

Everyone expressed gratitude and relief at the end of the hostage crisis yesterday in Rochester, New Hampshire, when police arrested the disturbed man who created it. No one got hurt and a sick man will get the care he needs, and the community will receive protection from him as well. It demonstrated the competence and patience of the Rochester police department in resolving a standoff that only gained national attention because it took place in the campaign headquarters of Hillary Clinton. Somehow, later that evening, the Clinton campaign decided this makes Hillary look presidential, at least to Larry Sabato and...

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez is not about to turn the other cheek after a catching a verbal slap from Spanish King Juan Carlos last weekend. The fiery leftist leader of Venezuela all but openly warned Spain that his country doesn't need Spanish investment, and that he expects the king to offer an immediate apology.

Dave Filipi, a 48-year-old family doctor, made his way to the back room of McKenna's Blues Bar near the University of Nebraska's Omaha campus. Nervously smoothing his suit, he lingered in the doorway. "To be honest, I'm a Republican," Filipi sheepishly said as two dozen curious faces swinging around toward him. "Trust me, you're not the only one here," Solomon Kleinsmith, the head of the group "Nebraskans for Obama" and himself a lifelong Republican, replied with a chuckle. "Come, sit down." Political organizing for Democrats in red states like Nebraska can often feel a bit like leading AA meetings. But...

How much housecleaning has taken place in the United Nations’ scandal-ridden, billion-dollar procurement department? And will it continue? Those are the questions raised — and only partially answered — in a 46-page report on the efforts of the U.N.’s special procurement task force that has just been submitted to the U.N. General Assembly. The report is signed by Inga-Britt Ahlenius, head of the U.N.’s watchdog Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), who also supervises the 20-member task force.

CONCORD, N.H. - Don Schwartz, who describes himself as "a super-Deaniac progressive type," decided to back Hillary Clinton - whose centrist views, he concedes, do not necessarily match his own - for a simple reason. He wanted, finally, to be with a winner.

Don Schwartz, who describes himself as "a super-Deaniac progressive type," decided to back Hillary Clinton - whose centrist views, he concedes, do not necessarily match his own - for a simple reason. He wanted, finally, to be with a winner. "I was actually surprised how many people said they were for Hillary," Schwartz said. "Now, they're getting to know her, and they're starting to like her. She is a nice person!" That reaction to the kind feelings the New York senator is able to generate has been a common one in New Hampshire, where a range of Democrats said last...

Zogby Poll: 51% of Americans Want Congress to Probe Bush/Cheney Regarding 9/11 Attacks; Over 30% Seek Immediate Impeachment 67% also fault 9/11 Commission for not investigating anomalous collapse of World Trade Center 7 Kansas City, MO (Zogby International) September 6, 2007 - As America nears the sixth anniversary of the world-churning events of September 11, 2001, a new Zogby International poll finds a majority of Americans still await a Congressional investigation of President Bush' and Vice President Cheney's actions before, during and after the 9/11 attacks. Over 30% also believe Bush and/or Cheney should be immediately impeached by the House...

Bill Clinton says Hillary gaining military support BY MELISSA NELSON ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER DESTIN, Fla. -- Former President Bill Clinton says his wife has strong support among military voters and that the Democratic presidential candidate is up to the task of rebuilding the nation's military after years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I think she will do better than you think (with military voters) because she has an enormous amount of allies around the country in the military," Clinton told The Associated Press on Monday night following a private, $2,300-a-plate fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Florida Panhandle....

(PORTSMOUTH, NH) Dozens of Evangelical groups, meeting for the first time under the umbrella organization Council For New World Evangelicals, have called for John Roberts to step down as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and allow Ruth Bader Ginsburg to assume command. According to a statement issued today and sent to President George Bush, “Ruth Bader Ginsburg would be the perfect choice to head a more tolerant and less divisive Supreme Court. Pamela R. Falcone, president of Evangelicals For Birth Tolerance, acknowledges Ginsburg’s longstanding support for abortion, but doesn’t find that prohibitive. “I’m getting sick tired of people perceiving...

A strong majority of Americans — including nearly two-thirds of Republicans — favors allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens if they pay fines, learn English and meet other requirements, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found. That is a striking show of support for the central tenet of legislation that has stalled in the Senate amid vocal opposition from conservatives to provisions allowing such a path to citizenship. Only 23% of adults surveyed opposed allowing immigrants to become legal. That bolsters the view, shared by President Bush, that the bill's opponents represent a vocal minority, whereas most people are...

Hillary Clinton: Faith Saved My Marriage Tuesday, June 05, 2007 WASHINGTON — In a rare public discussion of her husband's infidelity, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that she probably could not have gotten through her marital troubles without relying on her faith in God. Clinton stood by her actions in the aftermath of former President Clinton's admission that he had an affair, including presumably her decision to stay in the marriage. "I am very grateful that I had a grounding in faith that gave me the courage and the strength to do what I thought was right,...

SINGAPORE (AFP) - China's military build-up is purely defensive, the deputy chief of the world's biggest standing army said Saturday, amid US concerns over Beijing's intentions. "Strategically, we adhere to self-defence and would win only by striking after the enemy has struck," Lieutenant General Zhang Qinsheng, deputy chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), told an international defence forum in Singapore. "China shall never fire the first shot. Such an approach is consistent with the ancient Chinese thought to use caution before getting into a war, use force only for a just cause, put people first...

A new comprehensive analysis of antidepressants for children and teenagers says that the benefits of treatment outweigh the risks. The Food and Drug Administration found risks in prescribing antidepressants to children and teenagers in a 2004 study, subsequently issuing a warning against the use of these drugs. The study found that a possible side effect was the worsening of suicidal feelings above what would have happened without the drugs. After the warning, U.S. youth suicides increased and some mental health experts said reluctance to try antidepressants might be to blame. The new study, to be published in tomorrow's issue of...

NEW YORK (AP)--Paula Abdul's spacy behavior on "American Idol" have prompted many to ponder if there;s a tumbler or two of booze in that red cup on the table in front of her on the Fox talent contest.That's nonsense, the 44-year-old "Idol" judge tells Us Weekly magazine in its Feb. 16 issue. "I've never been drunk. I have never done recreational drugs," she says. "Just look at my 20-year-career. Tell me someone who is into partying or doing drugs that could have done that."

She not only is a lifelong Republican, but an anti-big government conservative Republican who campaigned for Robert Dole in 1996. Oh, and one other thing. The mere thought of Hillary Clinton becoming president makes her stomach churn. As her husband, Robert Stross - also a conservative Republican - puts it, "We don't believe anything Hillary says, and we think she'll do whatever it takes to get elected." All of which makes the Madison couple's recent decision all the more intriguing: They've joined the Wisconsin chapter of DraftObama.org, a grassroots movement to help the progressive Democratic senator from Illinois win the...

KUWAIT CITY: Washington will launch a military strike on Iran before April 2007, say sources.The attack will be launched from the sea and patriot missiles will guard all oil-producing countries in the region,.....

Islamabad: A tribal leader in South Waziristan area near the Afghan border has threatened retaliation following an attack by Pakistan Army gunship helicopters at a suspected militant training complex in the region. The threat came as security forces were continuing a search in the area for several injured militants who included a senior Al Qaida operative, an Arab named Abu Nasir. These militants managed to flee after the raid. Tribal leader Bailullah Masud made the threat yesterday in a statement to BBC Urdu service, which quoted him as saying: "We will take revenge action in 10 to 15 days." He...

Unverified as of this writing, and the devil is in the details, but Haaretz is reporting a historic agreement between Israel and Syria: Secret understandings reached between representatives of Israel, Syria. In a series of secret meetings in Europe between September 2004 and July 2006, Syrians and Israelis formulated understandings for a peace agreement between Israel and Syria. The main points of the understandings are as follows: * An agreement of principles will be signed between the two countries, and following the fulfillment of all commitments, a peace agreement will be signed. * As part of the agreement on principles,...

WHO knew it would take a world-famous soccer superstar to finally get the passions for professional football roiling through Los Angeles once again? Of course, we're talking "futbol," as soccer is known in much of the world, and not the National Football League. Within hours of the announcement that David Beckham - the English soccer superstar known for his singular sartorial style as well as his Spice Girl wife - was joining the L.A. Galaxy, the buzz of excitement across Tinseltown was greater than anything the NFL could have inspired. This is the biggest sports news to hit Los Angeles...

KUWAIT CITY: Washington will launch a military strike on Iran before April 2007, say sources. The attack will be launched from the sea and Patriot missiles will guard all oil-producing countries in the region, they add. Recent statements emanating from the United States indicate the Bush administration’s new strategy for Iraq doesn’t include any proposal to make a compromise or negotiate with Syria or Iran. A reliable source said President Bush recently held a meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Dr Condoleezza Rice and other assistants in the White House where they discussed...

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Disturbing statistics on the number of Hispanics who daily go hungry in America was released at a press conference on Wednesday by the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). The national Hispanic civil rights group found that nearly one in five people lack nutritious food. NCLR officials said in a press release that increasing federal nutrition assistance programs would help decrease the growing "food insecurity" faced by 19.6 percent of Latinos in America. "Lack of access to resources is forcing far too many Latino families into choices no one should have to make, such as between...

A senior al-Qaida operative deliberately planted information to encourage the US to invade Iraq, a double agent who infiltrated the network and spied for western intelligence agencies claimed last night. The claim was made by Omar Nasiri, a pseudonym for a Moroccan who says he spent seven years working for European security and intelligence agencies, including MI5. He said Ibn Sheikh al-Libi, who ran training camps in Afghanistan, told his US interrogators that al-Qaida had been training Iraqis. Libi was captured in November 2001 and taken to Egypt where he was allegedly tortured. Asked on BBC2's Newsnight whether Libi or...

They're mostly a liberal bunch. Yet the would-be chairmen in a House under Democratic control promise to rule from the center. They'd have little choice, given the likely balance of power they would confront if elected. George W. Bush would still occupy the Oval Office, and no one thinks Democrats could win control of the House by more than a few seats next month. And that would include three dozen or more moderate "blue dog" Democrats. The dynamics ensure that despite the overwhelmingly liberal cast of the chairmen-to-be — as measured by liberal interest groups such as Americans for Democratic...

Kerry says he deserves 2nd chance in '08 1 hour, 29 minutes ago Sen. John Kerry says he deserves a second chance if he decides to take another crack at becoming president. The Massachusetts Democrat, who lost to President Bush in 2004, said it is a basic principle that "Americans give people a second chance. And if you learn something and prove you've learned something, maybe even more so. Now, I don't know what I'm going to do yet. We'll make that decision down the road." Ronald Reagan twice unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for president before he got it...

China denounces "brazen" North Korea nuclear test 2 hours, 42 minutes ago China said on Monday it firmly opposed North Korea's nuclear test, denouncing it as "brazen" in unusually strong language, and demanded Pyongyang stop any action that could worsen the situation. China also urged North Korea to return to six-party talks it has hosted aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear programmes. The talks, which have been stalled for nearly a year, also group South Korea, Japan, the United States and Russia. "The DPRK has ignored the widespread opposition of the international community and conducted a nuclear test brazenly on...

HOT DANG--IT'S FRIDAY!!! This thread is dedicated to your employers and co-workers. It's dedicated to the people you love and the people you hate. This thread is dedicated to all the office games and pranks. This thread is dedicated to the office flirts and the office tards. We salute the fond memory of the office snitch and the promoted kiss-@ss. We dedicate this thread to those that frequent the restroom and those caught in the janitor's closet. We even salute you, Guy That Wears Way Too Much Cologne Here's To Office Politics: Rock On OFST!

1967 TYRONE GARNER 2006 Defendant in landmark sodomy ruling was not motivated by politics The key civil liberties victory for gays was 'fight against all odds' Tyrone Garner, whose arrest in violation of Texas sodomy laws led to a challenge before the Supreme Court and an eventual victory that struck down such statutes across the country, died after a lengthy illness, friends said Wednesday. He was 39. Garner, who died Monday of meningitis in a Houston-area hospital, was openly gay but not politically active when he chose to fight his arrest in court, said his lawyer, Mitchell Katine. "He was...

West responsible for extremism: Musharraf * President says Pakistan not inherently prone to terrorism or extremism * Blames 1979 US mission in Afghanistan for militancy in region BRUSSELS: President General Pervez Musharraf has blamed the West for breeding terrorism in his country by bringing in thousands of mujahideen to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and then leaving Pakistan alone a decade later to face the armed warriors. Musharraf told the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Tuesday that Pakistan was not the intolerant, extremist country often portrayed by the West, and terrorism and extremism were not inherent in Pakistani...

My fellow members of the American Legion, I have made some serious mistakes and miscalculations in our struggle against Islamic extremism over the past five years. Some of these were made out of anger and impatience in the months after we were so viciously attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. Others were made out of my heartfelt belief that our American values—freedom, democracy, market economics—are the surest path away from the fury and despair that have plagued the nations at the heart of the Islamic world. I still believe deeply in those values. I am still convinced that we are facing...