Fox News has been running ad nauseum the clip where another Chicago minister is causing “headaches” for Barack Obama after he told the Democratic candidate’s church congregation Sunday that Hillary Clinton felt entitled to the presidency because she’s white.

Catholic pastor Michael Pfleger, who is white, issued a formal apology for his sermon Thursday after Obama put out a statement saying he was “deeply disappointed” by Pfleger’s remarks at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

“I regret the words I chose on Sunday. These words are inconsistent with Senator Obama’s life and message, and I am deeply sorry if they offended Senator Clinton or anyone else who saw them,” Pfleger said.

That was after a video of his sermon was posted on YouTube.

In it, Pfleger mocked Clinton for getting choked up on camera before the New Hampshire primary in January.

“When Hillary was crying … I really don’t believe it was put on. I really believe that she just always thought ‘This is mine. I’m Bill’s wife. I’m white. And this is mine’,” he said, shouting at times. “Then out of nowhere came, ‘Hey I’m Barack Obama’. And she said, ‘Oh damn! Where did you come from? I’m white! I’m entitled! There’s a black man stealing my show’!”

After that, he simulated Clinton crying and then said: “She wasn’t the only one crying. There was a whole lot of white people crying … I’m sorry. I don’t wanna get you in any more trouble. The live streaming just went out again.”

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Well, well, well. Fox News plastering anti Democratic “news” is nothing new. But, jumping on a white preacher giving a sermon in a black church mocking the white canditate must be viewed as a gift from God to Roger Ailes. Fox News just seems to become giddy when they can play up race, gender or sexual orientation. All the while panning down the shirt and up the skirts of the female anchors and guests.

They might as well just sign the deal with NakedNews.com and get on with it. That will blow away all the other cable news channels by a mile.

MSNBC is reporting that Dunkin’ Donuts pulled a television spot featuring talk show host and Food Network personality Rachael Ray this weekend after a Fox news commentator associated it with terrorists.

In the ad, Ray is wearing a scarf that Michelle Malkin said in her nationally-syndicated column resembled a kiffiyeh, Middle Eastern garb that is “popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos.”

In her column, Malkin also noted that it could appear at times that actor Colin Farrell, rapper Kanye West and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean have been photographed in similar scarves that were “distinctive hate couture.”

 Ms. Malkin elaborates further on her website, The keffiyeh kerfuffle.

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Perhaps putting this in context is obviously a little much for those who want to point to all things terror to keep the American people on the watch for the coffee peddling terrorists. This is a stretch even for the most un-abashed right winger. To try and tag of all people, Rachael Ray, with a terrorist label is taking fear mongering to a new level. What’s next, anyone who wears sandals is a terrorist?

Come on, the pundits are taking themselves way too seriously…

Maybe Ms. Malkin should comment on this revelation:

http://gawker.com/5003288/mccain-daughter-dons-islamic-terror-scarf

From AFP – Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden will shortly deliver a “very strong” message to Muslims, a website used by Islamist militants announced on Sunday.

“To the Islamic ummah (nation), soon, God willing, a very strong address from the lion of Islam, Sheikh Osama bin Laden,” the Internet site said.

The announcement comes two days after an audio message posted on the Internet in which bin Laden slammed Western leaders for taking part in Israel’s 60th birthday celebrations.

“The participation of Western leaders with the Jews in this celebration confirms that the West supports this ugly Jewish occupation of our lands and that they stand in the Israelis’ trench against us,” he said on Friday.

Bin Laden vowed that Muslims would battle on for Palestine.

“We will continue the fight against the Israelis and their allies… and we will not give up one inch of Palestine, God willing, as long as there is one sincere Muslim on this earth.”

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Well, there he goes again. Wonder what Ronald Reagan would have done with bin Laden? We need to find a way to re-focus our efforts on capturing bin Laden. We need to get out of the business of nation building and get back to taking care of our own; hopefully the next president will pay attention to our domestic needs. We also need solid, supportive and consistent foreign policy, and work with other nations to improve lives, not start wars.

CNN is reporting that India is on high alert after a series of near-simultaneous explosions killed at least 60 people and wounded 150 others in a top tourist spot, government and local officials told CNN-IBN. India is on high alert after a series of near-simultaneous explosions killed at least 60 people and wounded 150 others in a top tourist spot, government and local officials told CNN-IBN.India is on high alert after a series of near-simultaneous explosions killed at least 60 people and wounded 150 others in a top tourist spot, government and local officials told CNN-IBN.Bicycles and rickshaws were strewn about the streets, with pools of blood nearby, in the northwestern city of Jaipur.

Motorcycles, pieces of which were found at nearly every bomb site, appear to have been used in the attacks, said Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Indian government officials — including Minister of State for Home Affairs Shriprakash Jaiswal — were quick to label it a terrorist attack.

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Terrorist fear at work once again. As a human race, we have to work towards convincing those who kill in the name of religion (revenge) that there is a better way. Northern Ireland figured it out, others can too. We all need to works towards the solution.

The International Herald Tribune is reporting on their website – From Capitol Hill to Wall Street to the campaign trail, the recent surge in oil prices is quickly threatening to supplant the mortgage crisis as the country’s leading economic issue. Last week, prices for crude set another record, finishing at $125.96 a barrel on Friday, while gasoline prices closed in on $4 a gallon.

While no one disputes that China and other emerging economies are craving more crude, the stunning rise of oil from $62 a year ago is hard to explain as only a matter of supply and demand. After all, analysts have noted adequate inventories.

Over the same period, the dollar has declined nearly 15 percent against the euro, and the jump in oil prices “is very much driven by the dollar,” says Roger Diwan, a managing director at PFC Energy, a consulting firm in Washington.

Simply put, buying oil has become a way for hedge funds, pension funds and other institutional investors to offset their exposure to dollar-based assets like United States stocks and bonds, Diwan says. And many traders have followed the market’s momentum, aggravating the trend.

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The key statement is ” Analysts have noted adequate inventories”. Brokers are driving the prices now, and supply and demand is no longer the deciding factor. Good point is made in the story about the tipping point. Maybe we just need to go ahead and reach it so we change our usage behavior and start taking control over our own energy policy.

Do every thing you can to help move us towards energy independence.

From Breitbart.com -Israeli President Shimon Peres warned on Monday that if Iran becomes a nuclear power it will create a “nightmare” for the whole world and not just the Jewish state.

“Iran is a danger not only for Israel but also for the rest of the world,” Peres told foreign journalists.

“A nuclear Iran will be a nightmare for the world,” he said at a press conference held ahead of celebrations on Thursday for the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence.

Peres said he saw a “worrying” prospect developing in Iran under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the combination “of a weapon of mass destruction and a rhetoric of mass destruction.”

“Nobody is threatening Iran,” he said. “On the other hand, Iran is threatening to wipe Israel off the map.”

In his speeches, Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of the Jewish state although he has never threatened that Iran would try to bring it about.

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Iran just keeps ratcheting up the nuclear saber rattling. Their continued work on nuclear facilities, plus the talk about the total destruction of Israel means one thing. One attack by Iran, and they will be wiped off the face of the earth, and their oil fields will be radioactive for a half life. The Israel’s won’t mess around, and neither will the U.S.

Iran is certainly trying to keep the pot stirred to try and gain more influence in Iraq, but Ahmadinejad needs to be careful. He could like a very quick fuse, and that would result is Iran being no more. The Iranian people don’t deserve that, just as the Israel’s don’t deserve to be threatened every day with annihilation.

From the Times Online – Police files revealing that Josef Fritzl had previous convictions and charges for rape emerged today as his victims came forward to speak about their ordeals.

Officials in Linz, Upper Austria, found files from 1967 showing that Fritzl was a known sex offender. His record contains a conviction for a rape and an attempt rape as well as an arrest for public exposure.

At least two victims have come forward so far. A nurse from Linz, who claims she was raped by Fritzl in October 1967, when she was 24, told a local paper: “As soon as I saw his picture on TV I knew: It was him. I recognised him by the eyes. I could not sleep the whole night after that.

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This guy is the worst of the worst. Holding his daughter (and her kids by him) hostage for 24 years, leaving them there even when he goes on vacation. What a sick and deranged person. And those kids will probably never be able to fully process his actions. On the one hand, he is their father. On the other hand, he is also their grandfather. These kids will need help the rest of their lives.

The poor daughter. How she must feel after all these years of fear, uncertainty and doubt at the hands of her father. She must just be numb after all these years.

Hopefully, this guy dies in prison.

ThinkProgress.org reports on its website that on April 29th, 2008, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly made the incredible claim that the United States never invaded Iraq: “We didn’t invade Iraq.” He added, “It was a declaration of war, it was a declaration to enforce the first Gulf War Treaty.”

O’Reilly himself has, in the past, admitted that the United States invaded Iraq:

- “I’ll submit that most folks still have no idea why the Bush administration invaded Iraq.” [1/28/08]

- “Iraq was invaded to create a friendly country between Iran and Syria, thereby pressuring those nations into a more sensible foreign policy.” [3/6/06]

O’Reilly’s “first Gulf War Treaty” claim is also questionable. During a March 15, 2004 interview, former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix challenged O’Reilly on this exact point:

O’REILLY: [W]e liberate Iraq – liberate Kuwait, all right, and then we have a treaty, and the treaty says U.N. weapons inspectors are allowed to do X, Y, and Z, and 17 times Saddam says – violates those. Now you can understand why the United States government might be a little teed off about that. [...]

O’REILLY: But do you understand that when you have 17 violations of a treaty, a war treaty, that you basically have to take action?

BLIX: Well, you’re talking about a war treaty. It was a cease-fire. It was not a war treaty.

O’REILLY: Oh, come on. Now don’t play semantics here, sir.

BLIX: Second – all right. I’m trying to be precise. You are imprecise.

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Fox News is sparing no exaggeration to continuing its quest to justify the Iraq War. There is no statement to incredible for them to make it seems. 1st, there were Bill O’Reilly’s claims that there aren’t any homeless vets sleeping under overpasses (many folks offered to introduce him to them right in New York City, now this claim that it wasn’t an invasion. It’s very sad how many people get their ‘”news” from Fox. To those who hear this from Fox, and do nothing about it (i.e. keep watching this and giving Fox ratings) — This is analogous to those who heard knocking coming from the dungeon of Josef Fritzl’s house, and did nothing about that.

Wake up Fox viewers…demand truthfulness from them. We should all take a stand against biased reporting.