I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life. I’ve never had a drink, never had a joint, never had any drugs, never even had a cup of coffee. So, those are some good things about me. I probably have some bad things about me, too.
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says the current crop of presidential candidates has to “kick it up a notch.” On Wednesday Steele made clear former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is just the guy to do so. Steele on Wednesday lavished praise on the former House speaker in a POLITICO Arena Chat, touting the White House hopeful’s knowledge of government, and network of connections.
On Wednesday Steele made clear former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is just the guy to do so.
Steele on Wednesday lavished praise on the former House speaker in a POLITICO Arena Chat, touting the White House hopeful’s knowledge of government, and network of connections.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) will give the commencement address at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. this weekend. Ahead of the visit, dozens of faculty members from the school and other other Catholic universities are writing to Boehner — who is himself an observant Catholic — challenging his willingness to “gut” social programs while protecting “new tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.” “Mr. Speaker, your voting record is at variance from one of the Church’s most ancient moral teachings” of caring for the poor ...
The Obama administration will likely use a recess appointment to secure a director for the new consumer financial watchdog agency, Democratic Representative Barney Frank said on Wednesday. Frank, speaking to reporters, said Republican senators forced this option when 44 of them said last week they will not vote to confirm a new head without changes to the structure of the powerful agency. "What they've done now is to free the president to pay them no mind at all ... I assume they will now make a recess appointment," Frank added.
Frank, speaking to reporters, said Republican senators forced this option when 44 of them said last week they will not vote to confirm a new head without changes to the structure of the powerful agency.
"What they've done now is to free the president to pay them no mind at all ... I assume they will now make a recess appointment," Frank added.
The state attorney general is probing whether former Sarah Palin aide Frank Bailey misused emails for his scathing book, due out this month ... Former Sarah Palin aide Frank Bailey’s bombshell tell-all, Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin, may be a juicy read, but could it also be unlawful? The Alaska attorney general is investigating Bailey for allegedly using state emails wrongfully in the scathing book, due out later this month, and is working with the state’s IT division to discover whether it is missing emails that may be in Bailey’s possession.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords plans to return to Florida next week to watch the rescheduled launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, which is being commanded by her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. The Arizona Democrat, who suffered brain damage in a January assassination attempt, traveled from her rehab hospital in Houston to Cape Canaveral in late April for a launch that was scrapped just hours before scheduled liftoff because of problems with the shuttle’s power units. After considering several possible dates for the launch, NASA announced Tuesday that the launch has been set for 8:56 a.m. eastern time on May 16.
The Arizona Democrat, who suffered brain damage in a January assassination attempt, traveled from her rehab hospital in Houston to Cape Canaveral in late April for a launch that was scrapped just hours before scheduled liftoff because of problems with the shuttle’s power units.
After considering several possible dates for the launch, NASA announced Tuesday that the launch has been set for 8:56 a.m. eastern time on May 16.
Navy SEAL wannabes lie to get free beers, to get women into bed, to further their civilian careers or to get military benefits. And the number of phonies will probably only grow with the SEALs in the spotlight for the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. In fact, there might be more fakes than the real thing - so despite being outnumbered, retired SEALs and others are doing what they can to stop impostors from stealing the valor that rightly belongs to others who have trained for some of the world's toughest military missions. "There were about 500 SEALs that operated in Vietnam, and I've met all 20,000 of them," joked Steve Waterman, a retired Navy diver from South Thomaston, who said he has exposed more than 100 phony SEALs over the years. The latest crop of fakes includes a Pennsylvania minister who let his congregation believe he was a SEAL and repeated the lie to a newspaper.
In fact, there might be more fakes than the real thing - so despite being outnumbered, retired SEALs and others are doing what they can to stop impostors from stealing the valor that rightly belongs to others who have trained for some of the world's toughest military missions.
"There were about 500 SEALs that operated in Vietnam, and I've met all 20,000 of them," joked Steve Waterman, a retired Navy diver from South Thomaston, who said he has exposed more than 100 phony SEALs over the years.
The latest crop of fakes includes a Pennsylvania minister who let his congregation believe he was a SEAL and repeated the lie to a newspaper.
[The Texas] State Board of Education has seemed to celebrate anti-intellectualism, passing measures to dumb down textbooks. The board notoriously ignored the science community in favor of leaning on "experts" who represented special interest groups that push specific ideologies, serving to inject doubt about evolution and play down climate change.
An online biology textbook up for approval by the Texas State Board of Education is drawing fire from scientific and education groups for tacitly pushing creationism. [...] The textbook's "Origin of Life" chapter details lab experiments that have failed to create life from inorganic materials, concluding that there is a huge gap between "life" and "non-life" ... But from there it makes the considerable leap that biological explanations for the origin of life are discredited. "[T]he legitimate scientific hypothesis," it argues, is that "life on Earth is the result of intelligent causes." The notes to teachers accompanying the chapter leave little doubt that pushing a belief in God is the ultimate goal: [A]t the end of the instructional unit on the Origin of Life students should go home with the understanding that a new paradigm of explaining life's origins is emerging from the failed attempts of naturalistic scenarios. This new way of thinking is predicated on the hypothesis that intelligent input is necessary for life's origins.
The textbook's "Origin of Life" chapter details lab experiments that have failed to create life from inorganic materials, concluding that there is a huge gap between "life" and "non-life" ... But from there it makes the considerable leap that biological explanations for the origin of life are discredited. "[T]he legitimate scientific hypothesis," it argues, is that "life on Earth is the result of intelligent causes."
The notes to teachers accompanying the chapter leave little doubt that pushing a belief in God is the ultimate goal:
[A]t the end of the instructional unit on the Origin of Life students should go home with the understanding that a new paradigm of explaining life's origins is emerging from the failed attempts of naturalistic scenarios. This new way of thinking is predicated on the hypothesis that intelligent input is necessary for life's origins.
The head of cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc. told a cancer nurse Wednesday that while cigarettes are harmful and addictive, it is not that hard to quit smoking.