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The artificial sweetener aspartame might soon be declared a “possible carcinogen,” or cancer-causing agent, according to a leaked report from the World Health Organization. Aspartame is used in Diet Coke, Coke Zero, chewing gum, diet Snapple, breakfast cereals, ice cream and many other common food and drinks. It’s also sold as NutraSweet, Equal and Sugar Twin. The news about the possible move by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, first reported on Reuters, met with quick resistance from the food industry. “… [T]his leaked opinion contradicts decades of high-quality scientific evidence,” International Council of Beverages Associations executive director...

@disclosetv JUST IN - General Milley admits that U.S. intelligence agencies could not have foreseen the Taliban's rapid rise to power: "There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse in 11 days."

President Obama vowed a more “aggressive” federal response to the spread of Ebola in the United States. And he offered assurance tonight that a “serious outbreak” remains extremely unlikely. “I want people to understand that the dangers of you contracting Ebola, the dangers of a serious outbreak, are extraordinarily low,” he said after meeting with Cabinet members and other top aides. “But we are taking this very seriously at the highest levels of government.” That assurance that a “serious” outbreak is unlikely is markedly less optimistic than the one Obama offered only a week earlier in a call with governors...

“With all due respect, Senator, I don’t think this is an appropriate setting for me to discuss [this issue],” Holder replied during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing when Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., asked if the executive branch was conducting surveillance that would give “unique leverage” over lawmakers. Kirk replied that “the correct answer would be no, we stayed within our lane, and we did not spy on Members of Congress.” Holder assured Kirk that “there is no intention to do anything of that nature — that is, to spy on Members of Congress or to spy on the Supreme Court.”

Paul Ryan has stepped up. Now it's time for the rest of the GOP -- espe cially those seeking to challenge President Obama in 2012 -- to do the same. The House Budget Committee chairman's fiscal blueprint for the next four years fills a gaping hole in the Republicans' effort to seize the fiscal high ground and repeal the excesses of Obamanomics: Not only does it call for necessary reductions and restructurings of the entitlement state, which are slowly choking the productive resources of the nation, but it finally outlines a Reaganesque agenda to grow the economy. The deficits would...

The more we learn about this business of Meg Whitman, Republican gubernatorial candidate in California, supposedly hiring an undocumented worker as a domestic the more we have to ask ourselves, how on earth did Gloria Allred ever become known as a hotshot attorney? The letter from the Social Security Administration that Allred cites as damning proof of Whitman’s wrongdoing does no such thing. Read for yourself: "This letter does not imply that you or your employee intentionally provided incorrect information about the employee’s name or SSN. It is not a basis, in and of itself, for you to take any...

Following bombshell revelations that he claimed he served in Vietnam when he hadn't, Connecticut Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal's once-robust lead in the polls has hit record lows. The Senate hopeful now leads Republican challenger Linda McMahon by a mere three points -- a 10-point drop from two weeks ago, according to according to a Rasmussen poll conducted on Tuesday. The latest poll had Blumenthal at 48 percent compared to McMahon, the co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment, who had 45 percent of the vote. It's the closest McMahon or any other candidate has ever come to Blumenthal in the polls. Blumenthal...

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of the bestselling book The Purpose Driven Life, drew fire last year when he was invited to give the invocation at President Obama's inauguration. His support for Proposition 8 in California, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman only, and his anti-gay-marriage views concerned many in Obama's base. Now Warren's on the defensive again, this time for his affiliation with Martin Ssempa, a Ugandan pastor who has endorsed proposed legislation in Uganda that makes certain homosexual acts punishable by life in prison or even, in some cases, death. Ssempa...

Kevin Jennings is Safe School Czar not by some vetting breakdown. He was an official in the Obama Campaign as its Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual fund-raising co-chair. For twenty years until 2008, Jennings succeeded on a massive scale at pro-homosexual propagandizing of school children. His adeptness and accomplishment at semantic deception are extraordinary. In a 1990 "report" for the Massachusetts Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, it was Jennings himself who re-coined the very term "safe school" to mean a pro-homosexual school. Just as the word "gay" is forever tainted and can now rarely be used in its original sense without prompting...

Everyone marvels at President Obama's rhetorical prowess. But don't be overly bedazzled. With these 13 easy steps, you, too, can give a Barack Obama speech. 1) Create a false center. In his speech Wednesday night, Obama positioned himself between the left calling for a single-payer system and the right agitating to end employer-based health insurance. Presto -- he's the very definition of a centrist. Anyone advocating almost any position can benefit from the same insta-centrism.

Yes, words matter. Even adding one wrong word could cost taxpayers trillions. That is exactly what is being proposed. Currently, publicly funded programs such as Medicare and Medicaid only pay for medically necessary health care. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland Democrat, publicly said President Obama's proposed health care plan will pay for "any service deemed medically necessary or medically appropriate." What a difference the word "or" makes.... Dropping "medically necessary" as a minimum requirement would be disastrous and bankrupt our health care system. ...Think this is fantasy? In December 2000, "HCA The Healthcare Company," a for-profit hospital chain, paid the...

Pre-eminent Mormon scholar argues Romney's answer is not at all a contradictionPresidential candidate Mitt Romney says in a videotaped interview that he doesn't know that God has spoken to anyone since the time of Moses. The comment appears to conflict with his Mormon faith that believes God spoke to founder Joseph Smith and other church prophets subsequently. In the interview with Boston's WCVB, a reporter asks Romney several questions about his faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including how his faith would impact him if he is elected. "Should God speak to you, and ask you...

Attorney general's remarks on citizens' right astound the chair of Senate judiciary panelOne of the Bush administration's most far-reaching assertions of government power was revealed quietly last week when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified that habeas corpus -- the right to go to federal court and challenge one's imprisonment -- is not protected by the Constitution. "The Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas,'' Gonzales told Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Jan. 17. Gonzales acknowledged that the Constitution declares "habeas corpus...

Group Apologizes for Comments Comparing Conservative Christian Group to Gestapo The Associated Press DENVER (AP) - A Washington-based interfaith religious group is apologizing for comments made by some of its members that compared a conservative Christian group to the Gestapo and the Taliban. The letter of apology released Thursday by the president of The Interfaith Alliance said the comments made in May about the group Focus on the Family were inappropriate for public dialogue. "We regret that personal opinions expressed by individuals have been viewed as, associated with or confused with the organizational voice of The Interfaith Alliance," the Rev....

John Kerry denies report of extramarital affair with young woman Updated at 19:54 on February 13, 2004, EST. WASHINGTON (CP) - Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry has denied an allegation that surfaced this week about an extramarital relationship with a young woman. Kerry told an MSNBC radio station Friday: "There is nothing to report, nothing to talk about. There's nothing there. There's no story." Later, on the campaign trail in Madison, Wis., Kerry told reporters: "I just deny it categorically. It's rumour. It's untrue. Period." Kerry said it was the last time he intended to speak about the matter. The...

''Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart'' - Negro spiritual Lord, help me. I'm about to do what smart people never do -- talk religion in public. I do this because of a woman in Russia and a man in Pennsylvania. More about her in a moment. As for him, he stood up from the audience during a Q&A that followed a speech I gave at a university some months back. I'm usually pretty relaxed during those sessions. I've done them enough that I'm seldom surprised by any question. Then this guy stood up and asked, ``Are...