Description:
Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
Daily Cartoon
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Terry Wise Ratland Ink Press Nov 14, 2008
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"West Side!!!"

"East Side!!!"

Life With The Secret Service

The Obamas have a head start among First Families in learning to live with the Secret Service's constant presence.
How would you feel if a frowning man in dark sunglasses and wires in his ears grabbed the back of your pants every time you walked into a crowd? That's just one of many less-than-enjoyable aspects of presidential life that the Obama family have been living with, ever since they were christened with their recently-released official Secret Service code names: Renegade (Barack), Renaissance (Michelle), Radiance (Malia), and Rosebud (Sasha).
The Obamas have had some time to adjust; they have had a Secret Service detail since May 2007, the earliest one ever assigned to a presidential contender. The detail was assigned because of concerns that the African-American candidate might face greater dangers. Those concerns were not misplaced, as evidenced by the discovery of several plots to do the candidate harm this fall.
Read More Here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/168899/page/1
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O'Reilly devotes airtime to crazy 'f*ck Obama' video
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly was in the uncharacteristic position on Wednesday of expressing dismay about an anti-Obama video which has appeared on YouTube and at a hip-hop website.
In the portion of the video shown by O'Reilly, a young black woman is training a toddler to repeat, "Fuck Obama. He's not my president." She also states to the camera, "I don't consider him the first black president of the United States of America. ... He's the anti-Christ. ... He's not even black, he's a Muslim or Arab or whatever. His mother was white."
The video appears at World Star Hip-Hop under the title "WTF: Psycho Mother Makes Her 5-Year-Old Daughter Say 'F*ck Obama'" and was apparently originally uploaded to YouTube.
In her full rant, most of which was not shown by O'Reilly, the woman says, "He was put here as a plan. You think McCain didn't know that he was going to lose? Of course he did. Everyone that was in on the plan knew from day one that Barack was going to be president because it's a part of the bigger picture. ... You black people are being brainwashed. Everyone's being brainwashed. Even the white people are being brainwashed. ... He was just elected so that you stupid black people would think you're making a big change in the world, but you're not. ... He's the anti-Christ and world domination is upon us. Six, six, six, the Mark of the Beast."
Read More Here: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/OReilly_gives_airtime_to_crazy_fck_1113.html
Watch Uncensored Video Here:
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh2gbDPiuRR9GBHIwu
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The presidential radio address will be getting a well-deserved upgrade once Barack Obama is sworn into office next year. His weekly radio address will also be uploaded to YouTube for all of the Internet to see, according to the Washington Post.
Read More Here: http://techblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/11/obama-to-deliver-weekly-addres.html
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Bush may be able to block subpoenas even after leaving office
John Byrne
President-Elect Obama seems tepid on investigating Bush

President George W. Bush appears likely to claim executive privilege in blocking subpoenas after he leaves office, according to a report Wednesday.
Three Congressional investigations into the President and his administration remain open. They include the role of Bush advisers Karl Rove and Harriet Miers in the firing of eight US attorneys, the prosecution of former Democratic Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and the torture of detainees held by US forces.
But if Congress filed fresh subpoenas, Bush could file a court petition seeking exemption under executive privilege. President Harry Truman claimed privilege in 1953, a year after he left the Oval Office, and Congress eventually backed down.
Moreover, President-Elect Barack Obama may actually stand in the way of Bush probes. All presidents generally try to preserve the powers of the presidency, and allowing release of information about his predecessor could subject Obama to unwelcome scrutiny after his own departure.
Read More Here: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bush_may_be_able_to_block_1113.html
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President-Elect Obama On 60 Minutes Sunday
Sits Down For His First Interview With Steve Kroft Since Election Day
(CBS) President-elect Barack Obama has agreed to give his first post-election interview to 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft. The interview includes future first lady Michelle Obama and is to take place on Friday, Nov. 14, in Chicago.
The interview is scheduled to be broadcast on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
60 Minutes has covered the campaign and the election closely. Most recently, Kroft and 60 Minutes cameras were with Obama's top aides on election night for a segment broadcast on last Sunday's 60 Minutes that drew 18.5 million viewers, ranking it America's number-one program for the week.
Obama and Republican presidential candidate John McCain both appeared on 60 Minutes in separate exclusive interviews for a special one-hour broadcast of 60 Minutes on September 21. Kroft interviewed Obama and Scott Pelley spoke with McCain.
Read More Here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/13/60minutes/main4599840.shtml
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In unprecedented move, Obama plans meeting with McCain
After a grueling campaign, former rivals Barack Obama and John McCain will sit down Monday to discuss how they can work together over the next four years in a meeting that virtually unprecedented.
"It's well known that they share an important belief that Americans want and deserve a more effective and efficient government, and will discuss ways to work together to make that a reality," Obama-Biden transition spokesperson Stephanie Cutter said in an e-mail.
The meeting will be the first time the president-elect and Arizona senator have spoken since Election Night, a transition aide tells RAW STORY.
The onetime rivals will be joined by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a close confidant of the former Republican presidential candidate, and Rahm Emanuel, Obama's new chief of staff. The two have a longstanding relationship and negotiated the terms of this year's presidential debates.
Read More Here: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_McCain_to_meet_Monday_1114.html
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Campaign Boogeyman William Ayers Talks to 'GMA'
Chris Cuomo Grills '60s Radical Bill Ayers
William Ayers, the 1960s radical whose violent history became a focal point in the 2008 presidential election, said today that the Republicans unfairly "demonized" him in an attempt to damage the campaign of President-elect Obama.
Ayers defended his bomb-throwing past and repeated a statement that has infuriated his critics: "I don't think we did enough."
The college professor also argued to "Good Morning America's" Chris Cuomo today that the bombing campaign by the Weather Underground, the group he helped found, was not terrorism.
The Weather Underground bombed the Capitol, the Pentagon and the New York City Police Department in protest of the Vietnam War.
"It's not terrorism because it doesn't target people, to kill or injure," Ayers said.
Ayers became a boogeyman for Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin, who demanded to know more about Obama's relationship with his Chicago neighbor. Palin accused Obama of "palling around ... with a terrorist."
Watch Video Here: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/story?id=6251086&page=1
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SC priest: No communion for Obama supporters
By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press Writer
COLUMBIA, S.C. – A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."
The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.
"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.
Read More Here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081113/ap_on_re_us/obama_catholics
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Israeli Blockade Creates Food Shortages in Gaza
By Robert Berger
A crippling Israeli blockade on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip is creating food shortages. Robert Berger reports from the VOA bureau in Jerusalem.
A U.N. flour warehouse in Gaza is empty a week after Israel halted shipments in response to Palestinian rocket attacks. A warehouse containing canned meat is also about to run out of supplies, affecting hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
U.N. spokesman Chris Gunness condemned the rocket attacks.
"They are an abomination and they have to stop," Gunness said.
But he said cutting off food supplies is collective punishment.
"We would love to see the borders open because you know, we have supplies going to blind children in Gaza; they are not firing rockets and they should not be punished," Gunness said.
A wave of clashes during the past week is testing a five-month-old ceasefire between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas that rules Gaza.
Fighting erupted when Israel launched a cross-border raid to destroy a tunnel the army said was going to be used to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Seven Palestinian gunmen were killed in the raid. Hamas has retaliated with rocket and mortar fire.
Read More Here: http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-11-13-voa17.cfm
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Indictment Looms In Blackwater Shooting
6 U.S. Security Guards Accused In Baghdad Shootings That Left 17 Iraqi Civilians Dead
(AP) Federal prosecutors have drafted an indictment against six Blackwater Worldwide security guards in last year's deadly Baghdad shootings of 17 Iraqi civilians, The Associated Press has learned.
The draft is being reviewed by senior Justice Department officials but no charging decisions have been made. A decision is not expected until at least later this month, people close to the case said.
Also still undecided is whether the Justice Department would charge the guards with manslaughter or assault, according to the people, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.
It's also possible that prosecutors ultimately will seek charges against as few as three of the guards, whose identities are still secret. Depending on the charges, an indictment would carry maximum sentences of five to 20 years.
Read More Here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/14/national/main4604344.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4604344
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Girl's lesson: Bias, like shirts, picked out at home
John Kass
Catherine Vogt—the brave 8th grader who used a T-shirt test to find out about political tolerance in Obamaland—is something of a celebrity now, thanks to you readers of this column.
By the time you read this, she will have already finished a round of TV and radio interviews, including a PBS spot for a Philadelphia station. It's all somewhat unsettling for a 14-year-old girl who had important high school entrance exams Thursday and a tryout for "The Music Man" at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School in Oak Park.
"Well, a lot of people came up to me and told me that they saw me in the paper, and my teacher told me that a lot of people were telling her 'Way to go, way to support your student' and everything," Catherine told me Thursday. "It's been very exciting and hectic too."
The Catherine Vogt Experiment on Diversity of Thought took place before the presidential election. She shared her idea secretly with her history teacher, Norma Cassin-Pountney.
Catherine wore a McCain shirt one day and secretly recorded the comments of teachers and students in her journal. The next day, she wore an Obama shirt and also recorded the comments.
Her findings?
Read More Here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-14-nov14,0,3405674.column
And Here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-13-nov13,0,2881384.column
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By Logan Murphy
This story has little to do with sports, although you wouldn't know it from reading this article. Former center for the University of Texas Longhorns, Buck Burnette, made a racially charged threat against the president-elect of our nation and is lucky he only got kicked off his school's football team and didn't land himself in jail. The article brings up valid points about social networking sites and their potential pitfalls, but the real story here is about a racist pig who threatened our soon-to-be president.
AUSTIN — A template on facebook.com asks, “What are you doing right now?” An ill-advised response led to Buck Burnette’s expulsion from the University of Texas football team.
What began as a private text-message exchange on Election Night between Burnette and a friend soon became available for anybody with a computer to see.
In the status update section of his Facebook page, Burnette posted, “All the hunters gather up, we have a (slur) in the White House,” in reference to Obama’s becoming the first African-American elected to the presidency. Burnette said the comment was a text message he received from a friend and that he exercised bad judgment posting it on his page. He later apologized in a written note that was read by Brown during a team meeting. Read on...
Why is this bigot still a student at the University of Texas? My guess is that if he weren't a starting player for a nationally ranked football program he would already have been expelled and thrown out on his ass. People have been expelled for less, and I'm curious to know if the Secret Service has investigated the incident.
Watch Video Here: http://www.keyetv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=BAB78BA0-108A-423A-9802-AB706E2FD0CA&gsa=true
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Palin Trashes Media, Moments After Proclaiming Her ‘Respect’ For ‘The Profession’
Katie Couric told Page Six recently that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) “should keep her head down, work really hard and learn about governing.” On Larry King Live last night, Palin responded to Couric’s remark by thanking her for the advice, claiming she wouldn’t offer Couric any advice in return because of her “respect” for the media. However, she then proceeded to trash the media as biased and unfair:
PALIN: Well, thank you, Katie Couric, for your advice. And I won’t reciprocate in giving her any advice, that’s for sure, because I have respect for her and the profession that she is in. I would have greater respect though for the entire profession called mainstream media if we could have great assurance that there is fairness, that there is objectivity throughout the reporting world.
Watch Video Here: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/13/palin-couric-king/
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The Daily Show: The Biggest Election '08 Losers
Jon Stewart lampooned this election season's "Biggest Losers" during his program earlier this week. Stewart highlighted the many follow-up interviews given by John McCain and Sarah Palin, in which both candidates attempted to improve their somewhat tarnished images with mixed results.
Watch Here: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081201/losers_video
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Callie Shell, who took this photo, describes the scene:
Waiting: Obama listens from a back stairwell as he is introduced in Muscatine, Iowa. It was his second or third speech of the day. Unlike many of the politicians I have photographed in the past, I find it is easy to get a photograph of Obama alone. He lets his staff do their jobs and not fuss over him. Nov. 7, 2007.
There's many more photos by Shell at digitaljournalist.org.
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Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State?
There are numerous reports tonight that Hillary Clinton may be under consideration for Secretary of State in the Obama administration.
From the Washington Post:
There's increasing chatter in political circles that the Obama camp is not overly happy with the usual suspects for secretary of state these days and that the field might be expanding somewhat beyond Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and maybe former Democratic senator Sam Nunn of Georgia.
There's talk, indeed, that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) may now be under consideration for the post. Her office referred any questions to the Obama transition; Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to comment.
And NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports:
Two Obama advisers have told NBC News that Hillary Clinton is under consideration to be secretary of state. Would she be interested? Those who know Clinton say possibly. But her office says that any decisions about the transition are up to the president-elect and his team.
Clinton was seen taking a flight to Chicago today, but an adviser says it was on personal business. It is unknown whether she had any meeting or conversation with Obama while there.
Read More Here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/13/hillary-clinton-secretary_n_143735.html
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Sarah Palin Baffles Reporters By Rehashing Stump Speech At RGA Conference
Sarah Palin said today that she doesn't want to comment on the strategy behind the McCain/Palin campaign now that it's over, which is too bad, because that's basically the only thing (besides her aspirations for 2012, and snow machines) that anyone wants to talk to her about. BUT! That doesn't mean she's ready to give up on the stock stump speech she gave over and over again on the trail, though, apparently to the utter bafflement of reporters who are, by now, really bored to tears with the travails of Tito The Builder.
Jonathan Capehart told MSNBC's David Shuster, "I watched her entire speech, and I had to remind myself that the election was a week ago, and this was not a McCain/Palin rally." Is that crazy white-haired lady who thought Obama was "an Arab" a Republican Governor? Probably! "Everything you heard at a McCain/Palin rally since she was selected as the Vice Presidential nominee since September, and even down to the same rhetoric was in that speech," said Capehart.
Jonathan Martin added that Palin's speech was "perplexing" and "jarring," which are the two nicest things ever said about a Palin speech. He added that he wasn't "sure if she wanted to, you know, re-litigate the past campaign or look forward and diagnose where the party should go from here. And it was sort of a little bit of both, but also neither."
Capehart added, "She needs to stop." And, according to David Shuster, 52% of people polled agree that it's time for Sarah Palin to go home. By contrast, 45% say they can't get enough of her. Funny how those numbers seem to correspond with another large accounting of the American electorate that was recently taken!
Watch Video Here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/13/sarah-palin-baffles-repor_n_143620.html
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FBI joins investigation of Klan initiation death
COVINGTON, Louisiana (CNN) -- A woman recruited over the Internet and shot to death during a Ku Klux Klan group's initiation rite felt a need to be wanted and was eager to be part of a group, authorities say family members told them.
Her relatives told investigators that Cynthia Lynch, 43, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, had never been outside her home state, said Capt. George Bonnett of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Department.
But she recently traveled to Louisiana for the Klan initiation ceremony and was taken to a campsite in the woods near Sun, Louisiana, about 60 miles north of New Orleans. Bonnett and Sheriff Jack Strain gave CNN this account of what happened:
During the rite, members of the Klan group, which calls itself the Sons of Dixie, shaved Lynch's head. When she asked to be taken to a nearby town, an argument began and the group's leader, Chuck Foster, allegedly shot her to death without warning.
Lynch wanted to leave the campsite because she was homesick, investigators concluded after talking to Lynch's family in Tulsa.
Read More Here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/11/13/klan.slaying/index.html
Watch Video Here:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/11/13/klan.slaying/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
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Crowd of 1 million could attend Obama Inauguration
WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration is expected to draw 1 million-plus to the capital, and already some lawmakers have stopped taking ticket requests and hotels have booked up.
Some people are bartering on Craigslist for places to stay for the Jan. 20 ceremony when the Illinois senator takes the oath of office. They are offering cash or even help with dishes for residents willing to open up their homes.
The National Park Service, which is planning for an inaugural crowd of at least 1 million, will clear more viewing space along the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route. Jumbo TV screens will line the National Mall so people can watch the inauguration and parade, park service spokesman David Barna said Thursday.
The District of Columbia's delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, is urging planners to use arenas and stadiums to help with overflow crowds wanting to view the ceremonies on big-screen TVs. She is also urging churches to hold viewing parties.
Read More Here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/13/obamas-inauguration-may-d_n_143698.html
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The Color of Change
Obama's Victory Is a Sign of Racial Progress on Multiple Levels
By KI MAE HEUSSNER
In the days leading up to the election, Tracy Rector, 37, wore a button emblazoned with the message: "I'm Indian and I vote."
That simple statement belies a complex heritage that spans no fewer than four continents. But, for the sake of convenience, the Seattle mother of two was willing to let brevity trump accuracy.
Her 13-year-old son, however, wasn't.
"Where do I get a button that says, 'I'm Cuban, French, Sicilian, Native American, African-American, Irish, Mexican, Hungarian and Scottish ... and I vote?'" Rector's son Chai asked her.
As Barack Obama's profile soared, she said, so too did her sons' eagerness to embrace and identify with every piece of the racial whole they inherited from both of their parents.
"[Chai] feels as if his peers treat him differently because the most powerful person in the world is a person of color," Rector told ABCNews.com.
But Obama's victory isn't only significant because it provides a new generation of mixed race Americans with a powerful role model and a relatable story of growing up with multiple loyalties.
His example, as a man with both black and white parents, gives a country, too comfortable with a rigid approach to race, a new opportunity to examine the outdated color lines and social pressures that define, in many ways, all of its people.
"I think it's time for the conversation to open in this country," Rector said. "Things aren't just black and white; there's gray in that middle ground and it's very fruitful. For us to have a president who is biracial and multicultural, it's going to bring to light for many people a deeper understanding of race."
Read More Here: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=6249150&page=1
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Commentary: Letter to Obama on the Muslim world
By Arsalan Iftikhar
Special to CNN
Editor's Note: Arsalan Iftikhar is an international human rights lawyer, founder of www.TheMuslimGuy.com and contributing editor for Islamica Magazine in Washington. This is one in a series of letters to the new president that will appear on CNN.com in the next several weeks.
(CNN) -- First of all, as one of more than 66 million Americans of all races, religions and ethnicities who voted for you, your electoral victory was one of the proudest moments of our collective lives.
As our American political history witnessed the magnitude of our nation's first African-American president, our society was also able to collectively (and finally) exhale, knowing that the mailbox at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. would now read "Obama" instead of "Bush."
With hardly a moment's rest, as you transition toward Inauguration Day, our nation (and the rest of the world) will not wait for long before seeking your leadership on many pressing global issues.
From an economic recessionary mess to a perpetually broken health care system with 46 million American neighbors as uninsured casualties, your soon-to-be administration will face some monumental domestic and foreign policy issues that will affect us for generations.
From an ill-conceived war in Iraq to an oft-forgotten war in Afghanistan, from global flashpoints from Tel Aviv to Islamabad, your diplomatic and political interaction with the Muslim world may decide the success (or failure) of your foreign policy legacy.
Your unenviable task will be to undo the catastrophic policies of George W. Bush and his fellow neoconservative ideologues, facing the specter of al Qaeda's sinister terrorism while undertaking public diplomacy efforts addressing anti-Americanism around the world.
Read More Here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/12/iftikhar.obama/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
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From a War Zone to Stateside Nightmare
Recruiters Describe Brutal Working Conditions They Say Led to Soldier Suicides
Staff Sgt. Nils Aron Andersson was a newlywed of just a few hours and had completed his first counseling session when he shot himself atop a parking garage.
Staff Sgt. Patrick Henderson had made plans with his wife and stepson to go fishing the night he hanged himself in his shed.
Now their friends and family members are speaking out against the job they say led the men to kill themselves -- recruiting for the Army.
The families have said high-pressure, sometimes abusive tactics used on recruiters combined with lingering combat-related mental health problems drove the soldiers to suicide. There have been four suicides in the Houston Recruiting Battalion alone, including three in the past 18 months.
The allegations have led one senator to call for an investigation into whether the military is covering up a "toxic" work environment.
The Army has launched an internal investigation into the Houston allegations, but spokesmen for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command and the Army itself did not respond to the specific charges raised by the friends and relatives of the recruiters who committed suicide, saying the investigation is a response in itself.
Read More Here: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=6239531&page=1
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Did 'American Idol' Play Part in Former Contestant's Death?
When the body of a former “American Idol” contestant who was obsessed with Paula Abdul was found outside the "Idol" judge's home Tuesday, several reports suggested that the woman's harsh rejection during her audition on the show may have sparked the downward spiral that ended in her apparent suicide.
But neither the “Idol” judges nor the show are to blame, a well-known psychiatrist told FOXNews.com.
“Goodspeed’s apparent suicide was certainly not just because of her experience on ‘American Idol’” said Dr. Keith Ablow, a FOX News contributor, pointing to the likelihood that Paula Goodspeed, 30, suffered from several other serious mental health issues that led to her death.
“It’s certainly possible that someone who is emotionally vulnerable could be deeply injured by a perceived failure in the public eye,” Ablow said. “But her apparent suicide was certainly not just because of her experience on the show.”
Read More Here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,451524,00.html
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Shaquille O'Neal's hero gives abuse victims a way out
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Volunteering with local law enforcement, Shaquille O'Neal has learned from his peers that domestic violence calls are among the most dangerous for police officers.
"[It's] a very disturbing thing," said the NBA star, who has dealt mainly with children's cases. "I don't really think a lot of women know what to do."
That's where Karen Earl comes in.
As executive director of the Jenesse Center, the oldest domestic violence intervention program in south central Los Angeles, California, Earl is a "tireless and fearless" champion of women and children living in abusive situations, O'Neal said.
The Phoenix Suns center called Earl "the pillow of women's society."
For more than two decades, Earl has helped give victims a way out through the Jenesse Center, which provides shelter, education, outreach and legal services to more than 8,500 victims of domestic violence every year.
"Thank God for Miss Earl," O'Neal said. "She takes women that have been involved in domestic abuse situations and gives them a place to come rest their head."
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, an estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year, and one in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.
Earl has heard countless stories of domestic abuse and has seen a range of tipping points before victims seek help. She is working to lower these statistics.
She recalled one woman whose husband beat her with an iron; for another, "the beatings were standard, but when he sold their refrigerator and she couldn't keep her baby's milk cold anymore, she knew it was time to go."
Watch Video and Read More Here:
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Could You Pass Obama's Background Check?
President-Elect Tries To Weed Out Controversial Candidates
Applicants for President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet get ready to chronicle your life story.
Those interested in joining Obama's administration have to pass an extensive background test.
The Obama transition team is sending a seven-page, 63-item questionnaire to every candidate for Cabinet and other high-ranking positions in the incoming administration.
It includes requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well.
Obama wants applicants to “list all aliases or ‘handles’ you have used to communicate on the Internet,” and asks people to include any e-mail that might embarrass the president-elect, along with any blog posts and links to their Facebook.com pages.
Hoping to weed out anyone with ties to companies at the center of the $700 billion bailout, question 18 of the Obama application asks whether “you, your spouse or any member of your immediate family” have been affiliated with Fannie, Freddie, American International Group, Washington Mutual and any other institution getting a government bailout.
“President-elect Obama made a commitment to change the way Washington does business, and the vetting process exemplifies that,” Stephanie Cutter, chief spokeswoman for the Obama transition office, told the New York Times.
Traffic fines of $50 and less don't have to be reported.