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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - In a predominantly black church in a city known for its past racial strife, Bishop Robert Smith is taking sides. His targets: Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and federal restrictions barring Smith's endorsement of Republican John McCain. At the end of a recent sermon, Smith told about 50 worshippers at his Word of Outreach Christian Center: "I will be voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin." Smith, who is black, said neighbors and friends have questioned why he isn't backing Obama, the first black presidential nominee from a major party. "I just tell them it's not...

Thai Police Used Chinese-Made "Explosive" Tear Gas (RTTNews) - Thai investigators have concluded that Chinese-made tear gas canisters used by the police during an anti-government protest rally last week contained a powerful explosive, possibly RDX - a substance that is used as a major component in many military explosives, media reports said. Evidence collected by the forensic team led by Porntip Rojanasunan, Justice Ministry'sCentral Institute of Forensic Science director, revealed that tear gas canisters imported from China contained explosive components as wounds found on the body of a dead victim matched with the size of the tear gas canisters. The...

N. Korea considers severing relations with S. Korea SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea threatened to cut off all inter-Korean ties, citing the new conservative South Korean government's "hostile policy" towards Pyongyang. The Rodong Sinmun, published by the North's ruling Workers' Party, said in a commentary that the Lee Myung-bak administration is "trampling down" the two historic summit agreements between the Koreas in pursuit of confrontation and war with the North.

The 13-year-old, who has been identified only as Roy to prevent him and his family facing persecution on their eventual return to Iran, arrived in Chaim Sheba hospital in Tel Hashomer, near Tel Aviv, on Friday, after a journey assisted by an Israeli businessman of Iranian origin. When surgery, chemotherapy and radiation at medical facilities in Iran failed to help their son, the boy's parents took him to Turkey, where doctors advised them to seek treatment at Sheba. The hospital has a highly regarded cancer treatment programme. The Israeli embassy in Ankara issued permits for them to enter the country....

One group is the focus of the investigation after more than 100 forms turned out to be fraudulent. Election leaders in Wake County sift through dozens of returned letters, a sign voter registration forms from a variety of groups had bogus mailing addresses. Statewide, 135 fake forms --30 in Wake County and about 104 in Durham County-- are the focus of a state investigation --a small number, but still a big issue to republican leaders. "They are a threat to the public at large and two they are engaged in large scale fraud and you don't have to take my...

Rochester, NY—State Police have arrested a University of Rochester instructor for possessing child pornography and have alleged that the suspect was tipped off by a University official. According to WROC-TV, “Gilbert Kirton, 26, of Rochester was charged Friday with one count of possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child.” Police also said Kirton's arrest comes despite being told about the investigation by a Dean at the U of R. Investigators have been looking into Kirton for four months, based on a tip from the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania police department. The Dean has not been publicly identified. However, another local...

This ACORN nut fits my perception of Obama and his supporters perfectly. (VIDEO AT LINK) How in the heck anyone could vote for Obama is, to borrow a phrase, above my pay grade. And after listening to this clip from the Howard Stern radio show, I’m beginning to favor going back to requiring poll testing before people can vote: Good grief.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- "Drill-baby-drill!" With the price of oil falling below $75 a barrel Wednesday - down about 49% from last summer's highs - the industry's battle cry is sounding less and less convincing. But falling oil prices are not the only reason why the air is coming out of the drilling balloon. The credit crunch has hampered oil company's ability to fund big-ticket drilling projects. Meanwhile, the prices that producers pay for raw materials and labor remain high. "Any project that assumed oil would average $100 over the next 10 to 20 years is being seriously reconsidered at...

AL Smith IV and other organizers of tomorrow's Al Smith Dinner - named for his great-grandfather, the former senator and first Catholic candidate for president - were faced with something new yesterday when John McCain requested a teleprompter for his 15-minute speech at the Waldorf before a white-tie crowd including Sen. Hillary Clinton, Rupert Murdoch, Mayor Bloomberg, Christy Turlington, Katie Couric and Henry Kissinger. "It's never been done before," said one source. Barack Obama will also try to be funny for 15 minutes, but didn't ask for a teleprompter. SNIP

If Obama wins then we have effectively turned control of our national defenses over to Code Pink. Our national treasury over to the Chicago mob. Our justice department to the Rainbow Coalition. Control of our elections to ACORN. Our national ministry of propaganda to HuffingtonPost, DailyKos and MoveOn (which admittedly would be an improvement over CNN/ABC/NBC/CBS/NYT/WP/AP, et al). The IRS to Charlie Rangel. Banking/Finance to Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. Housing to Tony Rezco. The new Global Warming Department to Al Gore. The State Department to Clinton, Inc. Education to NOW. The selection of our judges to the ACLU. Homeland...

On Sept. 24, Hillary Rodham Clinton received a surprise phone call from the man she’s often denounced as an economic know-nothing: John McCain “McCain said he had been motivated by it, he was very complimentary about what she had proposed and wanted to know more,” said a person with knowledge of the call. Clinton responded coolly. “She didn’t engage him, she just said, ‘Thank you’ and heard him out.” The McCain campaign says the call to Clinton is just further proof that the GOP nominee is a president who can work across party lines.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain is accusing YouTube LLC of acting too quickly to comply with copyright infringement notices by yanking his campaign videos. McCain's campaign sent a letter Monday to YouTube parent company Google Inc., protesting YouTube's removal of unnamed videos from the site after receiving take-down notices claiming copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The McCain camp goes on to suggest that YouTube set up a special process for reviewing the legal merit of take-down requests for YouTube accounts associated with candidates or their campaigns. The letter asserts that numerous times during the campaign, YouTube...

Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu and Republican state Treasurer John Kennedy face off again Wednesday, in the third debate of the Senate race, this one in New Orleans. The debate airs live on C-SPAN 2. SNIP

Proof Obama backed Odinga Set up direct Senate contact for Kenyan opposition leader -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: October 10, 2008 12:05 am Eastern By Bob Unruh © 2008 WorldNetDaily Sen. Barack Obama designated a personal aide as his direct contact for the 2007 Kenyan presidential campaign of Raila Odinga, who later was appointed prime minister after his election loss was followed by widespread, deadly violence that destroyed or damaged 800 Christian churches, according to e-mails obtained by WND senior staff writer Jerry Corsi during a trip to Kenya. Corsi attempted to release this and other information at a Tuesday press conference in...

Go to Page 6 of entry 2. "However, the department also concluded from its review that the activities of the partnership offices were not confined to affordable housing initiatives. Rather, a central purpose of the Partnership Offices was to engage in activities that were primarily designed to obtain access to or influence members of Congress." HUD notified Fannie Mae that it will monitor its partnership activities going forward “to ensure that the offices are being operated in a manner that is consistent with Fannie Mae's charter authorities."

The American people have lost faith in their government. You can tell this by looking at Wall Street. The approval ratings for Congress swings between 9-13 percent. Congress passed a 850-billion dollar "rescue" package and the stock market fell another 800 points. We have "nationalized" the home mortgage business. Uncle Sam now controls this industry, for better or worse, and I’m betting it’s for the worse. When Congress nationalizes the health care industry, expect to get the same results. No wonder Americans don’t trust big government. ----- Snip Capitalism did not cause the problems we are facing today. Had the...

Pam Meister has a great interview at Family Security Matters with the plumber whose wealth Barack Obama wants to redistribute. His name is Joe Wurzelbacher. Wurzelbacher for President! Read the whole thing here. An excerpt: JW: No, there was nothing new. You know, I didn’t appreciate that, actually. PM: There’s a clip of you that’s been shown on television, and it’s all over the Internet on YouTube as well. It’s a very short clip. Do you think it accurately portrays the exchange that you had with Sen. Obama? Obviously there was more to it. JW: I haven’t seen too much...

GERALD F. MASOUDI serves as the Chief Counsel for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He previously served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of International, Policy and Appellate Matters in the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. From 2004-2005, he served as Principal Deputy Chief Counsel and for a time he served as Acting Chief Counsel both for the FDA. Before joining FDA, he was a Partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He also clerked for Judge Frank H. Easterbrook of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Mr. Masoudi earned his bachelor's degree...

Something smells at 2885 Brownlee Avenue in Columbus, Ohio. I strongly recommend that the Ohio Republican Party get on the case before it’s too late. Today’s the last day to challenge voters who registered early in Ohio before the run up to Election Day. Here’s the stench: An entire houseful of young, non-Ohioan Democrat activists have used the Brownlee Avenue address to register themselves to vote in the Buckeye State and secure absentee ballots under extremely shady circumstances — all while mobilizing a large effort to register thousands of others for absentee and early voting. The activists are leaders of...

State Senator Barack Obama signed his candidacy papers for Congress in early December. Later that month, he missed a key gun control vote in Springfield. () When Hyde Park State Senator Barack Obama packed his family off for a Christmas vacation in Hawaii, he thought he would rest up before a grueling Congressional campaign this winter. Instead, he created the first major issue by missing a key senate vote for a gun control measure. The bill, which would have made unlawfully carrying a firearm a felony instead of a misdemeanor, failed in the state senate by six votes in a...

US and Iraqi negotiators have agreed on a draft security pact that would govern the presence of American troops in Iraq after January, Bush administration officials say, but its final approval is far from certain. The draft calls for US troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of June next year and leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the Baghdad government asks them to stay. It also includes a compromise on the biggest bone of contention: legal immunity for American forces, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the evolving diplomacy...

-- Facing Barack Obama's massive Florida campaign, Republican John McCain is scrambling to regain traction with a Friday appearance. As the presidential campaign in Florida enters the homestretch, Democrat Barack Obama is cranking up a sophisticated and far-reaching voter turnout operation, while Republican John McCain scrambles to regain his footing in a state long considered a safe bet. On Tuesday, McCain announced that he will campaign Friday in Miami and Melbourne, while his high-profile stand-in, Gov. Charlie Crist, went on FOX News to tout him as the ''comeback kid'' and dismiss suggestions that he's cooling on the Republican nominee. The...

Posted by /Plain Dealer Washington Bureau Chief October 15, 2008 11:22AM WASHINGTON -- Ohio's Republican U.S. senator has stepped into the fray over claims of attempted voter fraud, asking the Justice Department this morning to assist the Ohio secretary of state in investigating alleged law-breaking involving ACORN. Jennifer Brunner, the secretary of state, has not asked for that help. But Voinovich's office says it can't hurt to have another set of eyes. "It's necessary because there have been enough allegations out there, enough suggestions, and right now the people of Ohio don't have confidence" that the election will not be...

Do you find the general tone of Prefix to be liberal and limp-wristed? Well, Rockanomics, a new online music magazine, wants to offer you a conservative music site that will shy away from the cowardice generally expelled on these pages in favor of promotion of our troops and rock and roll music. Here’s the message that is currently adorning the front page of Rockanomics: Rockanomics.com - the pro-American, pro-Military, conservative online rock journal and music community will relaunch this fall 2008. We’ll be jam packed with music reviews, downloads, interviews and articles about our military heroes, their tremendous successes in...

"It's surprising: despite all the campaigning and intense media coverage, the percentage of American voters who believe Obama is Muslim has not gone down as much as we might expect since a similar Pew study in June, which found that 12 percent believe he is," said Hawkeye Poll Director David Redlawsk, associate professor of political science in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. One thing has changed since the Pew poll: The percentage of Democrats who mistake Obama's religion dropped notably, while the percentage of Republicans who do went up. In June, the percentage was equal regardless of...

Velika Hoca, 14 Oct. (AKI) - By Vjekoslav Radovic - Just 600 Serbs now live in Kosovo's Velika Hoca enclave and many houses now stand empty after their owners moved to Serbia in search of a more secure and better life.The isolated 12th-century village lies some 60 kilometres southwest of Kosovo's capital Pristina, amid rolling hills that are dotted with vineyards. “My family roots here are centuries old, and I want to remain and raise my children in this place, but it’s not going to be easy,” Marko Spasic, 24, told Adnkronos International (AKI). An elementary school art teacher in...

Over the past several weeks, political and financial analysts alike have offered many ideas on how to deal with the effects of the subprime mortgage debacle and the ongoing global financial crisis. One of the most recent suggestions came from the Jihadist community. Actually, it was not as much a “suggestion” as it was a threat. As reported on the Family Security Matters blog on Sunday, October 12th (http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/blog/id.368/blog_detail.asp), a leading Jihadist suggested that capitalism be replaced by an “Islamic economic system.” (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081012151913.899p7n58&show_article=1&lst=1) The threat came from Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, one of the world’s most prominent scholars in the Jihadists’...

The 9,000-year-old remains of a mother and her baby discovered off the coast of Israel provide the earliest concrete evidence of human TB, say researchers. The bones were excavated from Alit-Yam, an ancient Neolithic village near Haifa, which has been submerged in the Mediterranean for thousands of years.

Like editors the world over used to admonish reporters at deadline: “Your lead is buried down copy”, the lead in African Press International’s (API’s) “Mrs. Obama decides enough is enough” comes well down copy: “My husband and I know that there is no law that will stop him from becoming the president, just because some American white racists are bringing up the issue of my husband’s adoption by his step father.” (Emphasis added). In other words, according to the overzealous, you’re-all-racists wife of candidate for presidency Barack Hussein Obama, the fix is already in. The candidate’s wife treated the Norway-based...

First I admit that I took the meaning of her name from another thread and expanded and documented it a bit, but it is truly very interesting. You entered: SarahThere are 5 letters in your name.Those 5 letters total to 20There are 2 vowels and 3 consonants in your name. What your first name means: Muslim Female Variant of Sara: Pure. Happy. Hebrew Female Princess. In the Bible, Sarah was the wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. Her name was originally Sarai (quarrelsome), but God commanded that her name be changed to Sarah before the birth of her son. Biblical...

Two days ago - October 6th - I posted my observations that the Obama-Ayers link was less about breaking bread with an unrepentent terrorist, and more a statement on Obama’s very dangerous socialist views on education and indoctrinating America’s youth with a particular… and very socialist/Marxist… political slant. Truth is, the more Obama talks of the federal funds he wants to inject into pre-school and early years education, the more uncomfortable I get.In case I had moments of thinking I was just being paranoid… and I’m quite sure that I’m not that well read as a mere blogger amongst trillions…...

The personnel director for San Francisco's welfare department was escorted out of her office the other day and put on unpaid leave as part of an investigation into whether she has been using city workers and city equipment to run her private business. Lydia Chan, who has headed the Department of Social Services' human resources office since 2005 and oversees some 2,000 employees, came under administrative investigation after two whistle-blowers in her agency accused her of having employees make calls and do other work for a day care center she runs.The whistle-blowers also said they had seen Chan carrying city...

Washington -- Two prominent former U.S. senators who support John McCain warned this morning of "a potential nightmare" on Election Day and afterward if measures aren't taken to monitor precincts in battleground states including Ohio. John Danforth, a former senator from Missouri and a former United Nations ambassador, said he is deeply concerned "that this election night and the days that follow will be a rerun of 2000, and even worse than 2000." It could be worse than the hanging chad controversy and recounts in Florida, and lead to political accusations and court fights that could delay the country from...

Leftists wanted unqualified home buyers to get bad mortgages they couldn’t afford and now they want unqualified voters to cast multiple votes for the most unqualified candidate in American history. It’s poetic really. At least they’re consistent. But will millions of fraudulent votes be counted on Election Day? Obama and his fellow anti-American leftists are counting on it. How bout you? (Yes, “anti-American” is the correct term...)

Over at RealDebateWisconsin Fred Dooley was contacted by the mother of a Racine Unified School District 8th grade student in Wisconsin public schools about an outrageous thing she found in her son’s school textbook. Apparently, in this textbook supposedly teaching about literature, one of the books being pushed as a perfect example of that subject is Barack Obama’s memoir Dreams from my Father. That’s right, a book by a current political candidate for president is being pushed on our children as “literature.” It also seems probable from campaign donation records that a principle member of the publishing company is a...

MODESTO, Calif., Oct 13, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- In a violent display of intolerance, an opponent of Proposition 8 attacked and seriously injured a man who was volunteering on Sunday for the initiative to define marriage as between and a man and a woman.

A doll some are claiming utters pro-Islam and even satanic messages has outraged parents in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. People insist they can hear Fisher-Price's "Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo" mumbling "Islam is the light" and "Satan is king," according to KJRH.com and MyFOXKC.com. "There's no markings on the box to indicate there's anything Islamic about this doll," said Gary Rofkahr of Owasso, Okla., who was at work when another man brought the toy in to show his colleagues. Rofkahr said he found various versions of the doll at local Target and Wal-Mart stores, which have since pulled...

Sister Cecilia Gaudette casts a ballot for the first time since 1952.

Aug 3, 2000 | It's hard to say how many more official probes it will take before Jesse Jackson and black leaders accept the bitter truth that black Mississippi teen Raynard Johnson was not lynched but committed suicide. The latest to come to that conclusion is Michael Baden. The world-renowned forensic expert visited Johnson's home and thoroughly reviewed two autopsy reports, one of which was privately commissioned by Johnson's family. He found no solid evidence that Johnson was the victim of racist violence. Baden's findings were made public by the commander of the Mississippi Highway Patrol, an African-American. But even...

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. — A new father has secretly named his baby girl Sarah McCain Palin after the Republican ticket for president and vice president.Mark Ciptak of Elizabethton put that name on the documents for the girl's birth certificate, ignoring the name Ava Grace, which he and his wife had picked earlier."I don't think she believes me yet," he told the Kingsport Times-News for a story to be published Tuesday. "It's going to take some more convincing."Ciptak, a blood bank employee for the American Red Cross, said he named his third child after John McCain and Sarah Palin to "to get...

Is the lovable charismatic Barack Obama hiding the fact that he has a girlfriend? Or is he the victim of the 'Bradley Effect?' Rumors are swarming that Obama has committed adultery on Michelle Obama with a woman by the name Vera Baker. Vera baker is a staffer who worked for Barack Obama during his run for the United States Senate in 2004. Rumor has it that Michelle Obama was complaining about the supposed close friendship between Barack Obama and Vera Baker and before the public knew it, she was transferred to work at the Caribbean on the island of Martinique....

NEW YORK — The United States has slipped into recession, the head of the San Francisco branch of the Federal Reserve, the nation's central bank, said Tuesday. "The recent flow of economic data suggests that the economy was weaker than expected in the third quarter, probably showing essentially no growth at all," said Janet Yellen Tuesday in an address in Palo Alto, California. "Growth in the fourth quarter appears to be weaker yet, with an outright contraction quite likely," she said. "Indeed, the U.S. economy appears to be in a recession." Yellen spoke just hours after official data showed the...

SCRANTON – With signs representing groups from Italians to hockey moms, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin invoked the name of former Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey as she energized a crowd of more than 6,000 Tuesday in Scranton. Speaking at a McCain-Palin rally at the Riverfront Sports Complex, the Alaska governor was greeted by a sea of supporters wearing red in a show of support for the Republican ticket. Palin’s 38-minute speech highlighted running mate Sen. John McCain’s economic recovery plan, help for distressed homeowners and energy independence, including clean-coal technology. Accompanied by her husband Todd, whom she called “Alaska’s...

California attorney Marc Angelucci scored a tremendous victory today as the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento ruled that California’s exclusion of men from domestic violence violates men’s constitutional equal protection rights. ... cont.

A Columbian associate of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is once again linked to FARC terrorists and Marxist Dictator Hugo Chavez with the revelation of damning new messages concerning Columbian Senator Piedad Córdoba that are currently being investigated by Columbian military officials. Once again we have a powerful American politician, this one the Speaker of the House of Representatives, linked to those attempting to institute Marxist regimes to our South. Why does the U.S. media steadily ignore the ties Speaker Pelosi has to Charvez and the terrorist group FARC through her association with Senator Córdoba? Isn't it awfully big news...

ACCION USA Erika Eurkus, 617-616-1559 Senior Director of Capital and Brand Development ACCION USA, the nation's largest nonprofit microloan provider to low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs, is reporting that more alternative credit sources are needed for the smallest of small businesses to help keep them viable in these tough economic times. "With the current credit crunch affecting businesses of all sizes, we are seeing an exponential increase in the need for alternative credit sources for 'Main Street' entrepreneurs or microbusinesses," said Gina Harman, President and CEO of ACCION USA. "Our typical clients come to us even in times of economic prosperity...

'Eugenic Abortion’: With Pre-Natal Testing, 9 in 10 Down Syndrome Babies Aborted Monday, October 13, 2008 By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer (CNSNews.com) – In 1972, a year before the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion on demand nationwide, virtually all children with trisomy 21, or Down syndrome, were born. Less than a decade later, with the widespread availability of pre-natal genetic testing, as many as 90 percent of women whose babies were pre-natally diagnosed with the genetic condition chose to abort the child. The practice has been described by one physician as “eugenic abortion.” One survey of...

John Roberts writes dissent that debuts new genre: Supreme Court noir The Supreme Court of the United States. Just after 10 o'clock. John Roberts was working his usual shift. Chief justice of the United States. Three years on the job. His reputation? Incisive questioner. Good writer. Fast. Funny. Roberts knows his way around an opinion. Even a dissent. Like the one he issued Tuesday. The case? Pennsylvania's top court threw out a drug bust because the police officer who saw an apparent exchange between two suspects did not have enough evidence to make the arrest. Roberts wanted his court to...

UPDATE: US Sen Dodd To Introduce Consumer Protection BillBy Patrick Yoest Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said Tuesday that he plans to unveil a legislative package including consumer protection measures pertaining to credit cards, predatory lending, bankruptcies and subprime mortgages. Dodd, D-Conn., said that he will seek passage of the package - either on its own or as part of an economic stimulus bill - as soon as mid-November, when the Senate will hold a lame-duck work session after the Nov. 4 election Dodd framed the package as a counterpart to a...

Canada Conservatives 'set to win' The Conservatives' victory looks unlikely to bring a majority Voting has ended in Canada's third general election in four years, with early results showing victory for the ruling Conservatives. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has headed a minority government since 2006, called the snap poll in a bid to secure a majority in parliament. The main challenge has come from the Liberals led by Stephane Dion. However, despite winning more seats, Mr Harper still looks likely to fall short of a parliamentary majority. The first polls opened at 0830 local time (1100 GMT), with...