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Obama, Hu toast 'strategic mutual trust' at state dinnerBy Christina Wilkie - 01/19/11 10:30 PM ET President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao toasted U.S. and Chinese collaboration and mutual interests on Wednesday night at a festive state dinner for 225 guests at the White House. Their toasts marked the high point of an evening notable for its strict adherence to the protocol and symbolism valued in Chinese culture, but which, at the same time, managed to fulfill the Chinese delegation's request for a thoroughly American dinner party. Guests dined on a meal of pear salad, lobster, ribeye steak and...

Speaking at an event for women in Los Angeles this week, Barbra Streisand complained that society is so misogynistic, even female laboratory mice are being discriminated against. "Gender discrimination drives me crazy," said the multiple Grammy and Academy award-winning actress and singer. "Women are still treated as second-class citizens when it comes to equal pay in the workplace and equal representation in Congress." [Snip] Streisand, who has made contributions toward heart disease research for nearly three decades, then spoke out about gender inequality in medical research. "Gender inequality even extends to mice in the labs," she said. "They're all male!"...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of “Larry King Live” on CNN, the second-to-final show for host Larry King, singer Barbra Streisand explained why she left the country during November’s midterm. “I went to Europe because of this last election,” she said. “I couldn’t face — I didn’t want to be here for this bloodbath. There was no reason for the Republicans to win that many seats in the House, I didn’t think. And that was a — you know, a mistake on the Democrats’ part for not getting their message across, not communicating all that they’ve done that’s good.” ...more (w/video)...

LAKE FOREST, Calif. – Within days of introducing a $50 billion plan to combat AIDS, Sen. Hillary Clinton received a standing ovation at one of the nation's most influential evangelical churches after addressing its "Global Summit on AIDS and the Church." If the Democratic presidential frontrunner's aim was to make inroads into the electorate's heavily Republican evangelical community, her appearance at Saddleback Church with pastor and "The Purpose Driven Life" author Rick Warren apparently didn't hurt.

"There seems to be a pattern here. It takes a Clinton to clean up after a Bush." So said presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., during a speech -- specifically on the economy -- before a crowd in Knoxville, Iowa. Okay, we understand campaign sloganeering -- purportedly funny lines and the like during the campaign season. But shouldn't the Associated Press, in reporting Clinton's line, provide the reader with a little information? Let's look at what incoming President Bill Clinton "cleaned up" when he took over from President George H. W. Bush in late January 1993. Despite the relentless...

Chanukah came early for the Goldberg household last month. On November 23, Barbra Streisand wrote a letter to the editor complaining that the Los Angeles Times picked me up as a columnist. As gleeful as I was, I declined to respond. But now, just last night, Ms. Streisand chose to post to her website the "director's cut" of her original letter to the editor, which apparently had been edited for space and, no doubt, for content by the LA Times. I could resist no longer. As Streisand surely surmises, we in the warmonger and puppy-kicker community take it as a...

Despite statements to the contrary from the director of the National Hurricane Center, Barbra Streisand is declaring a "global warming emergency." "We are in a global warming emergency state and these storms are going to become more frequent, more intense," the singer, actress and liberal activist told Diane Sawyer of ABC News.

LOS ANGELES - Hundreds of pieces of memorabilia from Barbra Streisand’s career will be auctioned off June 5, with proceeds going to charities that the Streisand Foundation supports. ...[snip] The auction, dubbed “Her Name is Barbra,” will feature famous items that trace the career of the singer and actress from the early 1960s to today, ...

Barbra Streisand Heads Back to the Big Screen By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - She may have given up singing in public, but Barbra Streisand (news) hasn't bowed out of the limelight altogether. The 61-year-old performer is heading back to movie screens for the first time in eight years to play Ben Stiller (news)'s mom in a sequel to the hit comedy "Meet the Parents." A spokesman for Universal Pictures said Friday Streisand is in final negotiations for the role. The sequel, "Meet the Fockers," is set to go into production April 5 with Jay Roach back as director....

Susan Sarandon had only nice things to tell People Magazine about the new informational playing cards that reveal all of the hate America first crowd.Susan Sarandon told People Magazine, 'I am elated to know there are enough people to make a full deck.'The actress is in good company. Sean 'Baghdad' Penn who's career is careening into oblivion, made the deck, as did other low IQ actors, like George Clooney and Barabra Striesand.[Featured in the must read scoop section of People Magazine]

The Really Unfair Tax Bush wants to drop the "double tax" on dividends, but that's nothing. Wages withheld for Social Security may get hit three times, a burden on far more (less wealthy) Americans By DONALD L. BARLETT AND JAMES B. STEELE When President Bush talks about his plan to stop taxing dividend income, he says he's doing it, in part, for philosophical reasons. "It's unfair to tax money twice," he said as he unveiled his economic-stimulus plan earlier this month. "There's a principle involved. The government ought to be content with taxing revenue streams or profits one time, not...